Located in Makena State Park, a short 20 minute drive south of Kihei, Naupaka is very close to most of the island’s more affordable tourist accommodations yet is still reasonably quiet. The volcanic black sand is relatively coarse compared to Hawaii’s white sand beaches and there aren’t any typical public beach amenities but it’s still a great place to stop for a picnic and to take in some unique views. Snorkeling and kayaking are also supposed to be good here, but be very careful of the sharp volcanic rocks surrounding the beach!

Of course, if there is a typhoon heading on its way between Maui and Oahu like there was on the day that we visited you might just want to stop, take a few pictures, and get back to the hotel like we did. I’m not sure where this sailboat was heading for safe harbour.

To get to Naupaka you just head south from Kihei and go past the Grand Waliea and Four Seasons. After that you’ll pass a couple of golf courses. About a mile past the Makena Beach & Golf Resort you’ll see a small dirt road with a yellow gate. Follow the very bumpy dirt road for a few hundred yards until you get to a small parking area next to the beach.

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This is the view from the bumpy dirt road.

This post was submitted to Travel Photo Thursday [budgettravelerssanbox.com], Friday Daydreamin’ [rwethereyetmom.com], and Photo Friday [deliciousbaby.com]

© Average Traveller | Travel Blog, 2012. | Permalink | 17 comments
Post tags: Beach, Black Sand, Hawaii, Maui

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It’s pretty busy around here today so I’ve got a quick and dirty one for you. This post is inspired by the Happiest Potties on Earth hosted at MousePlanet where they document not only where each restroom is in Disneyland but also rate amenities and typical cleanliness!

I don’t really have a potty obsession, but I do happen to have a favorite bathroom at Hong Kong Disneyland. As you walk down Main Street if you take a right turn just past the Corner Cafe there is a secret entrance to Tomorrowland via the lavatory for the Starliner Diner. Not only does this water closet magically transport you from Main Street to Tomorrowland, but it has possibly the coolest restroom signs anywhere. Check it out and it might be your favorite loo too!

Apologies to those who are a little squeamish about the business end of our digestive tracks but another unique feature of the restroom is a mainland style squatter toilet. It’s a bit of a novelty for most westerners which is why I’ve decided to share it. I’d warn you to look away if you are sensitive but this post is really too short for that. Don’t worry – there is only one of these next to a whole bank of western style sitters (note that I said sitter as in s-i-t “sit” there). I took this shot right at park opening so it should be clean!

This post was submitted to Travel Photo Thursday [budgettravelerssandbox.com], Friday Daydreamin’ [rwethereyetmom.com], and Photo Friday [deliciousbaby.com].

© Average Traveller | Travel Blog, 2012. | Permalink | 17 comments
Post tags: Disney, Hong Kong, Restrooms

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I was first clued in to Dario [averagetraveller.com] through watching Anthony Bourdain’s No Reservations and David Rocco’s Dolce Vita shows on TV. They both stopped in at this little meat shop in Tuscany and visited a larger than life butcher with a serious passion for beef. High on my list of foods to try in Florence was Bistecca alla Fiorentina, a Tuscan style super thick grilled t-bone or porterhouse steak and a specialty of Dario’s. Where better to try Tuscan steak than in the back of one the most famous butcher shops in the region? Luckily Panzano was the next town down the road from where we were staying!

The Officina della Bistecca is described on the website as a

convivial way of answering the difficult question of the perfect way of cooking Her Majesty the Bistecca alla Fiorentina and her Sisters the Costata and the Panzanese steak. We await you with the grill lit, to enjoy together good food, good wine, friendship and lots of beautiful steaks to devour.

We enter the Antica Macelleria Cecchini butcher shop [maps.google.com] and are invited through a door at the back and up some stairs to a small dining room mostly filled with a long communal table.  The table is nicely set with place settings, wine glasses, bread, some vegetables, and a huge pile of raw meat. On one side of the room are two grills suspended over large piles of flaming coals.

The house wine flows as we choose a place to sit and meet the people who we will be eating with for the next few hours. Once everyone is seated and mildly drunk Dario enters and gives a passionate speech about steak. I’m not sure of the details of the speech because it is all in Italian but the general message comes through with his passionate arm waving, giant grin, and his caressing of the various cuts of meat in front of us. Those who understand him cheer with all the support of the wine in their systems and the rest of us cheer along for fun. Meanwhile, Dario’s assistants have started cooking the meat and serving the first course of Beef “Sushi” Tartare.

This dish is a great example of Italian cooking. Little more than chopped beef, olive oil, lemon, and salt, it’s somehow light and rich at the same time. The servers scoop a small portion on each plate and then follow-up with more as soon as you finish what they first gave you. We later regret not pacing ourselves a little better.

Soon the various steaks start coming off of the grill and are cut with more passionate announcements and flair by Dario and his assistants. As before, the cost of enjoying a little too quickly is having a little more to enjoy until your stomach starts sending you messages that your brain and mouth try desperately to wash away with more wine. We build up through a few different cuts of meat and finally end up at the star of the show – the Bistecca alla Fiorentina.

In addition to the amazing steak, they also serve up some simple raw vegetables and Tuscan beans, both of which they suggest that you season with their “Chianti Butter”  – a delicious blend of lard mixed with herbed sea salt.

Finally after a couple of hours of food, wine, and laughs, they bring out some house liquors and this olive oil cake that just like the appetizer is both rich and light. Despite being full and drunk I somehow eat four or five small pieces of it.

Following the epic meal we explore the small town of Panzano while waiting for sobriety so we can drive back up the road to our hotel. Of course, after all of that I still manage to try a little gelato from a small shop before heading back to the little convertible [averagetraveller.com] that we rented.

To make a reservation for the Officina della Bistecca you can send an email to them at macelleriacecchini@tin.it. Dario’s wife is from California and she manages everything in English. At 50 € per person including wine, the workshop is no more expensive than eating Bistecca alla Fiorentina in Florence, plus you get a great show to go along with the meal! Workshops are available Tuesday, Friday, and Saturday evenings at 8pm and Sundays at 1pm. I strongly recommend the Sunday afternoon time slot so that you can enjoy the wine without worrying about rushing home.

This post was submitted to Travel Photo Thursday [budgetravelerssandbox.com], Friday Daydreamin’ [rewethereyetmom.com], Photo Friday [deliciousbaby.com], and Wanderfood Wednesday [wanderlustandlipstick.com]

© Average Traveller | Travel Blog, 2012. | Permalink | 22 comments
Post tags: Foodie, Italy, Steak, Travel Photo Thursday, Tuscany

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Plan Ahead

Don’t try to see the zoo in a day. The zoo has 9 different animal zones and covers 100 acres in Balboa Park. If you only have one day to spend there you won’t be able to see everything, especially if you have kids in tow. To make sure that you don’t leave disappointed, check out the San Diego Zoo website [sandiegozoo.org] before you show up and come up with a list of must-see attractions. Once you know what you want to see check out the online Park Map [sandiegozoo.org] to come up with a rough plan of attack. This will help to minimize having to zig zag unnecessarily across the huge park. Keep in mind that popular exhibits such as the pandas, koalas, and polar bears can get quite crowded so you’ll want to allow lots of time.

As you make your plan remember that animals are less active and much more likely to be hiding in the shade when it is hot out. Try to schedule any shows or indoor attractions for the hottest parts of the day. Even better, if you have some flexibility try to see the zoo on a cloudy or overcast day.

Buy Tickets Ahead of Time

Depending on how many days you are planning and whether you expect to go to Sea World and the Safari Park, there are many different ways that you can buy your tickets [sandiegozoo.org]. The zoo offers single day tickets and two-day tickets (which can be split with one day at the Zoo and one day at the Safari Park). There is also a 3 for 1 pass which allows unlimited visits to the Zoo, Safari Park, and Sea World for 7 days after first use of the ticket. Sometimes you can even get a discounted 3 for 1 pass from Costco. If you live neaby you are probably best off getting a membership; however, they limit most memberships to people who live in the 91900-92899 zip code range.

Use Zoo Transit Early and Often

There is a double-decker bus tour that covers most of the park and it is usually a good idea to try to do this when you first arrive at the park. The guided tour will give you a good feel for the layout of the zoo and may inspire you to add some attractions to your park plan. The line-up for the bus tour can get pretty long so if you can get there early you might be able to avoid some of the late comer crowd.

In addition to the guided bus tour, there is an Express Bus system in the Zoo that will take you from place to place. Express bus stops are marked on the park maps and are especially handy for getting up hills. You can also use the Skyfari tram to cross from near the park entrance all the way to the back of the park.

Bring Good Walking Shoes

Despite all the transportation in place you will still be walking a lot. The size of the Zoo and the hills make things tough even for the more fit visitors, and despite the best laid plans it’s likely that you will end up having to do a bit of circling back to take advantage of show times and special exhibits.

Thankfully they know that you are probably going to have sore feet so they have placed these cool animal print painted foot massage stations around the park. Be sure to bring lots of quarters for these if you like foot massages or if you think your kids might get a kick out of them (they will).

BYOFood

The zoo has decent food offerings including healthier choices; however, if you want to save a few dollars the zoo allows you to bring your own food in with you. Note that they don’t allow you to bring large coolers into the park so you’re limited to small insulated bags that will fit in a backpack or under a stroller.

For more pictures you can check out our San Diego Zoo 2011 Flicker set.

This post was submitted to Travel Photo Thursday [budgettravelerssandbox.com] and Friday Daydreamin’ [rwethereyetmom.com].

© Average Traveller | Travel Blog, 2012. | Permalink | 25 comments
Post tags: San Diego, Tips, Travel Photo Thursday, Zoo

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The basic idea behind a natural environment zoo is that cages are kept to a minimum and barriers between the animals and the people are made to be as unobtrusive as possible, often using berms and moats to act as “invisible” barriers. The largest feature at the Safari Park are the large Asian Savanna and African Plains covering 300 acres where different animals roam and mix without dividers. While there aren’t set areas where you will find specific animals, the tend to hang out together and have their favorite spots (likely close to where their food is).

There are viewing platforms all around the open habitat; however, because the animals tend to roam around the best way to see them is on one of the guided safari tours. A tram safari is included with your park admission, but you can also upgrade to smaller private tours in carts and caravans [sdzsafaripark.org] for an additional fee. Fees collected for safaris go to support the conservation and educational programs at the park.

Of course, the open plains are really only open to those animals that play nicely with others – mostly the vegetarian type. The more predatory creatures are segregated into their own areas.

Another very cool exhibit that they have is the Cheetah Run where they let you watch a cheetah at near full speed along a specially built strip of grass. If you decide not to pay extra for reserved seating be sure to get there early. We arrived 45 minutes before show time and got spots along the fence, although we had to fight off many late comers who thought that it would be okay to lean over top of our kids to get a view. After I stopped being polite about it most of them decided to move along and pester some other well planned people further down the fence.

While watching the crowds build shortly before the Cheetah Run we noticed one brave woman go off-path and head up the hill behind us to get a better view. She was one of the few for which these signs did not make an impression:

Like all major zoos these days there is a strong focus on conservation and education but if you still carry a little guilt about animals in captivity you might still enjoy the San Diego Zoo Safari Park. They go a long way to making sure that the animals are well respected, have reasonably natural habitats, and are given the space to stretch their legs. The park is 35 miles out of San Diego and takes about an hour to get to by car. Be warned that there is a lot of walking and a lot of hills and stairs to climb. Of course, the best part of this park is the Roar and Snore overnight program, but that’s another post.

Update: To see more pictures be sure to check out my San Diego Zoo Safari park 2011 Flickr set!

This post was submitted to Travel Photo Thursday [budgettravelerssandbox.com], Photo Friday [deliciousbaby.com], and Friday Daydreamin [rwethereyetmom.com].

© Average Traveller | Travel Blog, 2012. | Permalink | 21 comments
Post tags: Safari, San Diego, Travel Photo Thursday, Zoo

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Of all the things that I look forward to when planning a trip to Hong Kong, sampling desserts at one of the many dessert shops is high on my list. Luckily there are plenty of great dessert shops in and around Causeway Bay where I can get my fix after a good meal and/or while Mrs A|T shops.

View Hong Kong 2012 Dessert Tour in a larger map

While Hong Kong has all kinds of dessert places, I prefer to seek out some of the more traditional Hong Kong style sweets that are difficult to find or replicate anywhere else in the world. Unlike western desserts that are usually cream based and very sweet, Hong Kong desserts are typically very light and only cost a few dollars per serving (in US or Canadian dollars) which means that you can easily go dessert hopping after a meal and not feel guilty.

Two of the most traditional Hong Kong Desserts are Dun Lai and Tofu-fa. Dun Lai is a steamed milk pudding and is a favorite of Mrs A|T since she has a soy allergy. It’s a little firmer than a custard and is typically sweetened only very lightly. Our favorite place to have this is at the Yee Shun Milk Company in Causeway bay. Traditionally Dun Lai is served flavored with ginger, but at Yee Shun they have many options including coffee and chocolate flavors. It can also be served hot or cold.

Tofu-fa is a tofu based pudding. To many westerners used to Tofu being served with savory sauces the idea of a tofu based dessert may seem strange, but it is worth trying. Tofu-fa is made with the softest possible form of tofu, where it pretty much barely holds together. A decent jiggle of the bowl with start to break it up. In this form the tofu has almost no flavor but an amazing silky texture that makes an amazing dessert when paired with any kind of sweet liquid. There are many great places to get this dessert in Hong Kong but my favorite is Yan Wo Dou Bun Chong also in Causeway Bay. Like Dun Lai, the Tofu-fa is served hot or cold and is  traditionally paired with a ginger sugar syrup or just a plain simple sugar syrup.

Another place that is well known for Tofu-fa is Auntie Sweet near the Tin Hau MTR station, but what they are famous for are their durian based desserts. I tried out their signature dish which is cold tofu-fa with a durian sauce and fresh durian fruit on top. Durian is infamous for its pungent scent that people may love or hate. The smell is so strong and offensive to some that it is banned in many places.  The flavor and texture can range from soft and sweet with an almond flavor to firmer and garlicy/gingery. Unfortunately the one I had at Auntie Sweet (on the right) was very much on the garlic and gingery side and I didn’t really enjoy it that much.

Auntie Sweet also serves the contemporary tapioca and jelly style of dessert. These desserts are typically made with grass jelly, coconut jelly, or tapioca served with fruit and fruit purée or juice. One of the most popular places for these desserts is Honeymoon Dessert which has become so famous that it has grown to a full chain of dessert shops. There are two in Causeway Bay, a full sit-down restaurant version at the World Trade Center mall and a counter service version at the Times Square mall food court. My favorite dish from Honeymoon is mango and sweet black sticky rice in coconut milk.

While the quality and value of the desserts at Honeymoon are still very good, being a chain makes it a little less hip so we also checked out a couple of small shops. One of them, Cong Sao, is located next to the Holiday Inn Express near Times Square Mall in Causeway Bay. This place serves slightly more modern and stylish versions of the fruit desserts. This watermelon and tapoica dessert is very refreshing on a hot and humid Hong Kong evening.

Another place that we loved is Xiao Tian Gu near the Tin Hau MTR station. Xiao Tian Gu is in a bit of an industrial area where a number of new little restaurants and dessert places are opening up. This was my favorite of all the fruit dessert places. While the presentation of this mango and coconut tapioca dessert isn’t fancy, the tapioca has just the right amount of al dente bite to it.

I’ll follow-this map up with mini reviews of each shop. Be sure to check back soon for updates! For now be sure to check out the other spots from my Hong Kong Eatinery.

© Average Traveller | Travel Blog, 2012. | Permalink | 2 comments
Post tags: Causeway Bay, Dessert, Foodie, Foodie Five, Hong Kong, Maps

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Toy Story Land is similar to Toy Story Playland opened at Walt Disney Studios Park near Paris. The area is surrounded by tall bamboo meant to look like grass and is themed to make you believe that you’re toy sized. Giant versions of familiar toys are everywhere.

There are three main rides in Toy Story Land. The largest of the three is the RC Racer ride, a giant U-shaped ride meant to look like a Hot Wheels track. Starting in the middle, the ride car goes forward up once side and backwards up the other, progressively going higher and higher on each pass through the loading station until you get to the very top. It’s not a particularly fast ride and the wide curve doesn’t give you much of a drop sensation but you do get some very nice hang time on each pass.

If a dropping sensation is what you’re looking for, the Toy Soldier Parachute Drop may be more to your liking. While it’s got more of a drop feeling than the RC Racer, the ride is meant for all ages and the drops are not overly menacing.

Surprisingly, the ride that seems the most tame is actually the one that I found the most wild. The Slinky Dog Spin is a Tilt-a-Whirl type ride with ride cars built into a giant Slinky Dog chasing its own tail in a circle. The bumps in the track aren’t very large, but the seats are wide enough to seat 3 and use only one giant lap bar per car so centrifugal force sends you sliding towards the outside while you go up and down.

This new area of the park also has a couple of meet and greet areas to take pictures with characters as well as a food stand that sells Pizza cones which are exactly what they sound like. They’ve done a great job with theme and there are loads of great details to explore including these great popsicle stick benches. I was very tempted to see if they had any residual popsicle flavor but quickly realized that actually licking the bench would be a bad idea. You have to admit they look real enough to imagine that woody, fruity, sugary taste that you tried to suck out of the stick when you were a kid.

Overall this is a great addition to the littlest Disney park and goes a little way into making Hong Kong Disneyland a bigger destination. Grizzly Gulch and Mystic Point lands are scheduled to open in 2012 and 2013 respectively. By the time they finish those expansions I expect that any complaints about the lack of attractions will be a distant memory.

This post was submitted to Travel Photo Thursday [budgettravelerssandbox.com], Friday Daydreaming [rwethereyetmom.com], and Photo Friday [deliciousbaby.com]

© Average Traveller | Travel Blog, 2012. | Permalink | 23 comments
Post tags: Disney, Disneyland, Hong Kong, Travel Photo Thursday

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Just like getting to the airport, people planning to take public transit to Disneyland can head towards the Central MTR station on Hong Kong Island. Once at Central you follow the signs to the Tung Chung train line and on the way you can even stop to buy your Disney passes at an official Disney ticket booth. One quirk that I found is that if you use another MTR line to get to Central station you actually have to leave the fare paid zone to get to the ticket booth and then re-enter. If you get to Central MTR by taxi I believe that the ticket booth is on the way in. Once you have your tickets you can hop on the train to the Sunny Bay Station where you will transfer to the Disneyland Train.

After arriving at Sunny bay you can cross the platform and wait for the Disneyland Resort Line. It’s pretty hard to miss the train once you see it:

After a very short hop from Sunny Bay you arrive at the nicely themed Disneyland Resort MTR station. From there you take the escallator up to the plaza and you are steps away from Hong Kong Disneyland.

The trains run from 6:15am to 12:45am the next day so you shouldn’t have any trouble getting to where you’re going. If for some reason you miss the last train out, or if you’d prefer to cab, it costs around $300 hkd for a cab from Disneyland back to Hong Kong Island once you include bridge and tunnel tolls.

This post was submitted to Travel Photo Thursday [budgettravelerssandbox.com], a weekly collection of travel photos hosted by Budget Traveler’s Sandbox. Also posted to Photo Friday [deliciousbaby.com] by Delicious Baby and:

© Average Traveller | Travel Blog, 2012. | Permalink | 11 comments
Post tags: Disney, Hong Kong, How to, Train, Transit, Travel Photo Thursday

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The museum’s permanent exhibit features 11 small galleries describing the defence of Hong Kong from the Ming Dynasty, through the Opium Wars, British rule, World War II, to modern Chinese rule. Built in a modern steel and glass structure erected on top of the original fort, each of the small galleries can be seen in 5-10 minutes and includes stories and artifacts from each period. Outside of the main buildings you can look at some of the original structures including defensive strongholds and barracks which used to defend the fort. It was sobering to stand at those sites and consider that many people must have died on those spots when this fort fell to the Japanese in WWII.

Currently there is a special exhibit featuring the Winnipeg Grenadiers and the Royal Rifles, two WWII regiments of the Canadian forces sent to protect British Hong Kong from Japanese invasion. These troops were rushed into battle without proper weapons and training for the terrain and suffered heavy losses. Nearly all the Canadians were killed or taken as prisoners of war.

Walking down the hill to the water level you will find the torpedo station that the British built [hk.coastaldefence.museum] to test and launch torpedos into the channel before the turn of the last century. The Brennan Torpedo was the first that could be controlled to direct the torpedo at a specific target. You can still see the tunnel that torpedos were launched from running out into the harbour.

Located a short walk from the Shau Kei Wan MTR station [hk.coastaldefence.museum], the Hong Kong Museum of Coastal Defence is easily a half day excursion, although you will want to make sure that you stop for a snack near the MTR station [averagetraveller.com] afterwards..

This post was submitted to Travel Photo Thursday [budgettravelerssandbox.com], a weekly collection of travel photos hosted by Budget Traveler’s Sandbox. Be sure to check it out!

© Average Traveller | Travel Blog, 2012. | Permalink | 9 comments
Post tags: Hong Kong, Museum, Travel Photo Thursday

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You can sometimes find these in Chinatowns across the world, but just as with most street food there is no way to recreate the sights, smells, and general atmosphere of where these things come from originally. Freshly made these are slightly crispy on the outside while soft, moist, and airy on the inside.

The Gai Daan Jai pictured above was freshly made in a food stand right next to the Shau Kei Wan MTR Station [explorehk.com].  Note the holes punched in the paper bag to prevent steam from softening the crisp exterior which clearly indicates very good attention to detail. The Shau Kei Wan station is pretty far away from everything on Hong Kong Island, but it’s the closest stop to the Hong Kong Museum of Coastal Defence, which is where we were going that day.

As a member of the waffle family, eggettes are cooked by heating batter between two hot griddles with egg shaped indentations. It’s not clear if the name comes from the fact that the waffle bubbles are vaguely egg shaped or if it is due to the egg content in the batter, but both seem to make a lot of sense.

This post was submitted to Travel Photo Thursday [budgettravelerssandbox.com], a weekly collection of travel photos hosted by Budget Traveler’s Sandbox.

© Average Traveller | Travel Blog, 2012. | Permalink | 13 comments
Post tags: Hong Kong, Street Food, Travel Photo Thursday

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