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Budapest - The City of Spas

2011-03-21T04:43:00.249+11:00

Budapest was the next trip off the block, and the only trip in the month of March. Budapest managed to make its way onto the itinerary after some cheap Malev tickets came into being in or around January. Return tickets for £88 sealed the deal, with much of what was to happen being decided after I bought the flights. A wonderful trip, and a nice relaxing getaway - didn't have massive expectations and I would have to say that Budapest impressed me.

Friday afternoon it was off to Gatwick. First trip to Gatwick and it was pretty simple to get to. Strangely enough I bought a one-way ticket online via The Train Line - and the best place for me to catch the train to Gatwick from work would be to make my way to Elephant and Castle. Righto. Quite a straight forward process getting to Gatwick - First Capital Connect train takes you right to the Southern Terminal. The only thing I didn't know beforehand was that Gatwick had two terminals - a North Terminal and a South Terminal. Thankfully I wasn't pressed for time, so I made it all with plenty of time to spare.

Checking in at the airport was easy. Hand over the passport, hand over the confirmation, and sure enough a boarding pass follows shortly after. This was the case for me. Unfortunately this did not apply to the elderly woman next to me. I saw the lady hand over both her confirmation and passport... shortly afterwards she was denied boarding. Her passport expired 2 weeks ago. The look of shock and then disappointment was quite heart breaking. She was packed and ready to go, was probably her holiday for the year, and she was stopped at the check-in counter. She was directed to the booking counter so that she could rebook her tickets, so I hope that she'll be able to get to Budapest in the near future!

Upon arrival in Budapest it was a simple matter of hopping onto a shuttlebus to our hotel and getting rest for the weekend ahead. Accomodation was in town in a place called the Hotel Mamaison Andrassy, via a deal. Normally I wouldn't go to an upmarket place due to the prohibitive costs - yet this place was a steal for 30 odd quid a night inclusive a small bread and croissant breakfast delivered to the room each morning!

Saturday was a day full of walking. The day started off with a walk down to the Metro. As we weren't sure how far it was into the city we decided to head down the "yellow line" all the way to Vorosmarty ter, the start point of the Free Budapest Walking Tour.(Thankfully the Hotel is right near a Metro stop on the Yellow Line).

The Free Budapeset walk was great - the tour was led by a bubbly local guide, Anges.We started off in the Square then moved along to the River, walked across the Chain Bridge, trekked up to the Hungarian Eagle perched near the entrance to the Palace Museum, to finish up by the Fishermans Wharf. The walk itself was pleasant but Agnes just made the walk so much more interesting. She provided a touch of historical background without boring you and was quite honest about her thoughts - particularly about the modern Hungary. Very refreshing. It also helps that she was animated, passionate and keen to mix with all the tourists.

Getting around Budapest by foot is simply the best way to go. There are plenty of hop-on-hop-off bus stops around Budapest but you might not get to soak in everything unless you take it slowly. I found that some of the best parts of the walk were the view of the Palace from the Pest side (near the Princess statue), and the view towards Parliament House from the Chain Bridge. Now, the walking tour only really covered the Castle Hill site of Buda and the area around Volosmarty Square in Pest. That's plenty for a 2.5 hour walking tour though.

Once the walking tour was complete it was off to have a bit of a break in a nearby shop... hard to describe what it was - it was a little corner store on the bottom, bordering on a mini-supermarket, and upstairs it was a small cafe. Don't remember the name of the place, yet they served up some great hot chocolate... although that may have been due to the fact that I was a touch cold after walking around in the open for so long.A small group of us chilled out upstairs for a while before heading down to the Jewish Quarter by foot for some lunch (quick lunch at a place called Koleves Pub, where I had some goulash - soup-form).

The tour for the afternoon, the Communist Walking tour, was just simply amazing. As a tourist you could wander around, look at the sights, be happy with what you've seen and be done with it. However, one of the things you don't always get... is a sense of how those in other countries live or have lived. This tour was extremely informative, and I thoroughly enjoyed it - i'd even go so far as to rate this tour above the standard sightseeing tour.

Some of the interesting tidbits of information that was passed on was the fact that travel beyond Hungary is more expensive since the fall of Communism - travel to Soviet bloc states used to be extremely cheap, as the Soviet nations subsidised travel. Another interesting fact was that there were two passports under Communist Hungary - a red one for travel within the Soviet Union and a blue one for travel outside the Soviet Union! Obviosuly the blue ones were not something which would be available to many Hungarians.

Tales and facts weren't just the only thing that was great about the trip. One of the unplanned features of the walk was the sight of dogs frolicking in a grassy area in front of Liberty square, with a no dogs sign in plain sight. Policemen were standing nearby chatting away happily. Quite entertaining, and quite post-communist. Finally, at the very end of the tour was a bit of a show and tell and the thing I liked most out of all of the pieces on display was a board game - "How to be a a loyal farmer". Classic!!

Once the tour was done it was time for some dinner. We were recommended a place called Frici Papa. After being given some verbal directions we got totally lost. Not ideal. A quick search on google gave us some phony addresses... with an alternative search finally getting us to the place that we wanted to go. The search for dinner wasn't entirely a disaster as we worked up some hunger, ate a hearty meal (goulash again, non-soup form), and it was cheap as chips!

The evening was spent at Bar Instant. Quite an interesting place with some bizzare decor - an open (internal) courtyard with a top floor, plenty of rooms, low lighting, sports on the big screen television, and a school of fish floating around by the ceiling in the middle of the courtyard. The place was packed full of locals as well as a smattering of tourists... and the drinks didn't cost too much at all (although it could very well be expensive for Budapest, I wouldn't know!).

The remaining full day in Budapest was designed to be more pedestrian, as it incorporated a trip to one of the baths. As the Szechenyi thermal baths were the closest to the hotel, at a few minutes down the road by foot, that's where three of us ended up all morning. After stopping over at Heroes Square for a short time we arrived at the thermal baths. We were there for a good few hours.

After getting changed and moving into the first few rooms I must admit that it was a little uninspiring - just looked like a big bathroom with a few pools (all with slightly different temperatures ranging from 30 degrees to 38 degrees Celcius). However from this low initial impression things definitely got better, we moved out to a larger inside pool which sported some sparse decor before hitting the outside baths - which were awesome. This was where the party was at! A couple of large, attractive outdoor pools teeming with people. Was a treat to be outside in a warm pool with the sky above. The whole experience was thoroughly enjoyable.

The trip to Szechenyi was a real high point of the day, and the afternoon paled in comparison - a quick lunch stop, a visit to the Terror House, and a break at Gerbeaud Gasztronomica. The Terror House was informative as it detailed the nastier side of life under both a Nazi and Communist regimes. What was most shocking about the whole thing was the guestbook - written in Chinese was a comment along the lines of... Terrible, all lies. Talk about an intense comment!

As the flight back to London was Monday morning there was one more evening left in Budapest. Nothing was planned so a walk along the River Danube and back along the Chain Bridge was in order. It was a lovely, albeit cold, night to be out. As there was plenty of time to kill I spent some time mucking around with my camera... as i've not really had the opportunity to use my SLR at night thus far. Taking long exposure photos in the evening was actually quite fun - little did I know that I was out for over an hour just taking photos!

That's all there is for Budapest. Back to the hotel to get some rest, up early for a morning flight (which was delayed)... followed by a pleasant flight back to London!

Costs Snapshot

Return Economy Flights with Malev - £88
Walking Tours - Free* (if you're happy with what they provide you can tip, I sure did!).
Frici Papa (Dinner) - 4375HUF for 3 (~£14 for 3)

Tips

Gatwick has 2 terminals, North and South. Trains take you to the South Terminal! You can check which terminal that you need to go to so that you can plan accordingly.
Make sure your passport is valid for travel - you may laugh, but it may cost you!
Small change is required for the Metro - ATMs give big denominations, you'll need small change for the Metro.
Book early to get massages at the Spas.

Scotland - The New Years Adventure (Part 2)

2011-01-04T09:41:00.263+11:00

The first few days of 2011 were spent roaming around Scotland - the 1st of January in Edinburgh, the 2nd of January roaming the highlands, and the 3rd of January visiting the border and Roslyn Chapel. Quite the beautiful place, although it would be even more so in the summer! Due to the lack of forward planning, the exploration of Scotland was done via a pairing of tours (with different operators).

1 Jan - Arthurs Seat

Woke up late this morning due to being out and about through to the early morning. Manged to get up at 11, meaning that there were a few hours of rest. It's always quite rushed when it comes to holidays - no time to waste. First order of business was to get some brunch - so we went over to a pub down on Grassmarket.

Ordered a hearty big breakfast with juice. I didn't quite read what was included in the big breakfast, just assumed that it was the usual sausage, bacon, eggs, tomatoes, and toast. All of what I listed was included with one more delicacy - haggis! Time to try the national food of Scotland. Haggis wasn't really for me, to be frank. It's quite solid and hearty, packs quite a punch when it comes to flavour - i'm sure it's not the healthiest either... but it's just not for me. I'm glad I tried it though.

Whilst the original plan was to wander around Edinburgh and then visit the castle, we change the plan to visit Arthurs Seat. An awesome change of plan. Arthurs Seat is located in Holyrood Park and is a nice little trek. The incline up to the top is a gradual one, yet chilly without a proper windcheater. I didn't really know what to expect from Arthurs Seat, yet the views were quite majestic. At 251 meters above the city the vantage point provides views out into the far distance in every direction!

The Seat was such a lovely place we ended up staying there for quite some time, the locals that we befriended the evening before came out again to provide some local pointers. Unfortunately there aren't alot of daylight hours in the heart of winter so by the time we got back it was getting dimmer and dimmer. Not much opportunity to see some of the other sights such as the Castle.

We all popped into a local pub for a drink once we got back into Edinburgh proper. There was where the decision was made to do a ghost tour - the Mackenzie Poltergeist. The ghost tour started off well with a bit of information about a little dog called Bobbie who came back to his masters grave every day after he was buried - so the story goes. Next was a stroll around the graveyard - with stories of how many dead rested beneath us, how bodies were taken for the local medical school, and how people were buried alive... starting a nice trade in bells attached to the internals of coffins - resulting in the phrase "dead ringers".

Onto the main part of the tour. The tour guide was actually very good and we all knew that something big was coming up when we crowded around one of the buildings. Multiple warnings were given to us about not to be too silly and not to try and frighten eachother. Apparently Mackenzie comes out and either leaves marks on the victim or victims and feeds on negative emotions. Rightio. So in we all go into a dark, dark, building - a wannabe mausoleum. The tour guide continued as we were all in total darkness. As opposed to feeling scared and uncomfortable, I was assaulted by foul body odour instead. Gross. After a while some dude in a ghost suit popped out from behind the tour guide and yelled out. Since I saw the 'ghost' approach I wasn't surprised by him... however I did feel the push of people backwards as others reeled in shock.

The group scare marked the official end of the ghost tour, and the end of our day. One of the more interesting tidbits of information - was that apparently Mackenzie has tweaked a nipple, yes, tweaked a nipple.

As with all of my trips - there's nothing like a good story. This one about attempting to sleep at night in a hostel dorm. So after the ghost tour it was straight to bed. Nothing special about that. I was awoken during the night by one of the other occupants in the dorm coming back to rest, male. Not a big deal as people come back at different times. I settled in to sleep... however approximately 10 minutes later there was a knock on the door. The dude that just came back opened the door and in came a girl. No prizes for what was going to eventually happen next. Now, the couple settled into bed and didn't make a noise - which I thought was great. Then things changed. Rustling of the sheets, the odd creak of the bunk bed, and the quiet muffled breathing made for a restless evening.

2 Jan - Lochness, Urquart Castle, and the Highlands

An early start to the day this morning as we were scheduled to go on a Timberbush tour - Lochness, Glencoe and the Highlands was the name of the tour. The start point of the tour was along the Royal Mile - and once we got there, at about 8am in the morning there were stacks of people! There must have been at least 3 busloads of people hopping onto the Timberbush buses. Talk about a gravy train! It could very well be that there wasn't really much else to do on the 2nd of January.

Once everyone was aboard the bus we were away! One of the first things that I noticed was that there was a large group of Italians at the back, chatting away. Quite loudly, in fact. Not a problem straight away. However, I knew it was going to be a long day when they just kept talking through the security announcement from the bus driver at the front - who kept plugging away even though there was commotion at the back. How to evacuate the bus and the emergency door/window at the back made a mention... so if something happened... we were all as good as dead. Heh. I'm front loading this mention as they were really quite atrocious, I wouldn't pick Italians as being terrible tourists - and i'm sure it's not representative. However, it was one of the big negatives of the day.

Ignoring the obnoxious Italians at the back, the journey was actually quite pleasant. I knew that Scotland was a beautiful place to visit, yet I was still pleasanly surprised. It's really a place worth visiting - the New Zealand of the North... apparently. Scotland would be even better in the summer, so it's one place that i'll definitely end up visiting again. Through the day we ended up in the Scottish Highlands, stopping at the Lochness, and visiting Urquart Castle. After that, it was on the way back to Edinburgh.

The highlight of the tour was being at the Loch at Urquart Castle. Why? Well, it could be the fact that i'm partial to castles, ruined or not, or it could be the calmness of the place. The great thing about the visit was that the lake seemed so still, and the air so crisp - "fresh", as it were. The experience could best be described as uplifting, whilst also clearing the mind. Good times!

One of the great things about the bus tour is that it was choc full of information. Whilst it's not everybody's cup of tea, I quite like learning bits and pieces of history and culture wherever I go. I learnt about the kilt, how the traditional Scot would carry two knives (one in his sock), the Massacre of Glencoe, the Jacobite uprising, and the number of random bits and bobs as we made our way through the Scottish north. The coach driver was extremely knowledgable, just talked all day!

Back at the hostel by midnight. New tenant in the room this night. Female. No special guests, got some sleep. Nice.

3 Jan - Scottish Border and Roslyn Chapel

The last full day in Scotland was quite relaxing. Another tour, yet in the other direction - down to the Scottish Border and back via Roslyn. This tour involved visiting the Scottish Border region, and the Roslyn Chapel. The last feature of the day was to catch a train back to London.

So the tour - it was quite a laid back tour. There were only a dozen or so tourists on the coach, and it was nice and quiet. The highlights of the tour were the visit to Scott's view and Rosslyn Chapel. Clearly the big ticket item of the tour was Roslyn.

Rosslyn Chapel, for those who aren't aware, has been popularised by Dan Brown's book The Da Vinci Code. Visitors to the chapel have exploded from several thousand a year, to tens of thousands a year! If the numbers aren't correct - the order of magnitude is.

Unfortunately the chapel is undergoing reconstruction work, and will be doing so for some time. Not only is it an admirable chapel it's got a marvellous history... as well as some mystique. A few quick points - The chapel was incomplete and was intended to be much, much grander (I would really love to have seen the place if it were completed in it's original form). The Chapel was shut down during the English Reformation - the St.Clares of Roslyn were one of those that held out practicing Catholicism well into the Reformation until they were told to shut up shop. There's also a great story surrounding the master stonemason and the apprentice, but i'll leave that for the experts to tell - great story.

So after the tour was completed there was some time to kill before we needed to head back to London. One of the ideas, admittedly not my own, was to visit a Comedy Club. Fantastic idea. Into town we went and it was immediately obvious that we were at the right place. A quiet street, residential feel, long queue. Once the doors opened the line gradually thinned. Unfortunately as we reached the front door the remaining 2 dozen people left lining up were told that the venue was full. Aww :(.

So fast forward to the train trip back from Edinburgh Waverly back to London Euston. Now, I thought that this would be a great opportunity to get some rest. I couldn't have been more wrong. First of all the legroom that I normally would have had available was cramped by some lady bringing along something like 3 bags. That wasn't the worst of it. Some time during the night I could hear a mobile phone conversation. From what I could hear at the beginning of the conversation it wasn't going to be a short one. The jist of the whole scenario was that the girl in the carriage was on the phone with her cheating boyfriend. The conversation went on and on - "why are you doing this to me? why did you run off with some Spanish trash?". This went on for a good 20 minutes or so before one of the other passengers told her to take it outside.

As I was near the front of the carriage I could still hear her conversation after she moved passed the sleeper carriage door. The conversation went downhill very quickly, with a solid sprinkling of swearing and name calling. "You are the devil" she yelled, "don't say that to me - you ran off with that Spanish sl*t and visited her family!!". Ouch. Not the easiest to be upset by her keeping me awake knowing that she's just been cheated on. Finally the phone conversation ended and she went back to her seat, tears streaming down her face. Rest did not follow as she sobbed and cried her way back to London.

Scotland - The New Years Adventure (Part 1)

2011-01-01T11:11:00.015+11:00

Scotland was where I spent New Years Eve and the first couple of days of 2011. Glad I did it. I haven't really seen much of the Northern Hemisphere since arriving in London, but this is the primer which will hopefully open the door for the year ahead! Edinburgh was recommended as a place to celebrate the new year, so that's where I went - with a couple of pals of course.

The transportation mode of choice was the train. Popping onto The Train Line website makes purchasing train tickets quite simple. Next, to celebrate the New Year one can't go past the Hogmanay - Edinburghs way of heralding a new year... unfortunately I wasn't going to be there for the torch procession from the Castle! The hardest part of the whole enterprise was finding accomodation - with less than a moth to go, every single place that I found was booked out and/or required a minimum stay (of 3 to 4 nights stays). After hours of searching I eventually found a hostel a short walk away from the action - just about the last place I could find (Budget Backpackers) - great name, I know. At 50 quid a night each for a 4 person dorm, not what i'd call budget!

So New Years Eve, Kings Cross Station, 2pm. Onto a First Capital Connect train bound for Edinburgh. Now for some reason I thought that seats weren't allocated, this is probably based on my experience in the UK 5 years earlier - where I had a BritRail pass and just hopped on to trains wherever and whenever I wanted. It was not the case this time. Allocated seats was the name of the game, with ticket stubs on each seat outlining who should sit where. My distant memory seemed to recall plenty of little tables on the train in four seat blocks. Wrong again! Anyway... back to the main story... as the train travelled 200kph time passed quickly as I took the opportunity to catch up with my co-travellers as well as fit in a quick nap in anticipation of the long night ahead!

The three of us arrived in Edinburgh Waverly Station and quickly disembarked and headed for our accomodation for our stay in Scotland. Unfortunately for us, the most direct route available to us was closed - due to the Hogmanay, perhaps. So, out the side entrance of Waverley we went and headed on down to Cowgate. We checked in, dumped our bags, and quickly headed out again - 4 person dorm, the three of us plus one random (who wasn't in at the time).

The first order of business was to get a bite to eat before joining the rest of the revellers at the street party. We were told of a few places to eat by the hostel reception and made our way to a couple of them. It was almost 9pm, yet the kitchens for just about every pub we went to was closed! I would have thought business would have been good. Nevermind, an Italian restaurant was open on Grassmarket - so that's where we ate, with a few ciders to get the night started!

We eventually arrived at the street party at 10:30pm. We walked past the police cordon and security check... inside! Once we passed the security checkpoint two things were immediately obvious - the amusement park rides (for example... a Ghost Train) and a small music stage. I was expecting the music stage, but not the rides! The most popular of the rides was the reverse bungee, crowds gathered around the ride to watch people get flung into the evening sky. I ended up going onto a ride, but not the reverse bungee - not sure what it's called but it was a swing which also rotated - not the best thing to go on after a few mulled wines!

As midnight approached the volume of people seemed to jump. After doing a tour of the street party boundaries it was time to camp out and find a spot to watch the fireworks. The most popular place seemed to be just down the road from the Edinburgh castle, and that's where we stayed. Whilst waiting for the fireworks to start a few random local students decided to have a quick chat with us. Each of us were approached differently but mine went something like this:

Male Student: "Hey there, yea you - can I ask you a question?"
Mark: "Sure, go ahead"
Male Student: "See this girl over here, name is Julia, what do you think of her?"
Mark: "Sorry? Not sure if I heard you correctly"
*Male Student taps girl on the shoulder and she turns around*
Male Student: "Julia here, what do you think of her?"
Mark: "She's great!"
*Julia, Male Student, and Male Student's mate all have a bit of a laugh*

Very random indeed.

Next, the fireworks. The fireworks were nice, and the crowd were very much behind the display infront of them. I liked them, although I must admit... nothing on Sydney. Perhaps i'm a little biased, but i've been hard pressed to find something better than the New Years Fireworks in Sydney. There was a variety of fireworks - bright and colourful, sprial and whiney, fizzy and glittery - it was all there (clearly my descriptive skills leave much to the imagination!).

Once the fireworks were over it was time to hit the music stage - as there was only the one hour left before the street party festivities were set to close. So up we went to mingle in with the crowd, straight into the middle of the mass of people crowding around the stage. Bright lights, dancers, it was all there. The singer could have been a somebody, I wouldn't know. Whilst we were dancing in the middle some old middle aged guy appeared and started dancing closely to any young person he could find. Very creepy. Eventually he made his way near us and hovered close, as there was a cluster of young girls not too far away from us. Extremely creepy. After a while we got chatting to a few locals, as the creepy old guy was a primer for conversation.

Meeting up with a couple of local Scots was great. Always great to meet new people. After the street party finished up we headed on over to the Doctors pub. Now this pub got its name due to it's location - the old hospital (a.k.a. the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh) used to be located just about across the road. So it's not too difficult to find out where the name comes from! Fortunately Doctors was still open for a while, so we all sat down and had a few drinks. Good times. Now would be a great time to add that I was picked up at the bar... but that's a total lie.

We eventually got kicked out of Doctors pub as it was closing time. Not quite finished yet. For a little while longer we continued the festivities at a local flat. Some strange gingery drink from M&S seems to jog my memory somewhat... but I have no idea. Finally ended up getting to the hostel (in the rain) close to 7am in the morning. Rest quickly followed.

So Hogmanay was decent - something that's worth doing with friends, not exactly party-party-party. As it turns out it's a great way to meet some locals! I was quite surprised that there weren't lots of people wandering around drunk - but that's probably because the lines for alcohol were so long... one would sober up just getting to the counter. More food and more music would be good... although I must admit I didn't sign up for one of the concert/street party combination tickets. Next time, perhaps.

That was part 1... in part 2, more Scotland! ... and some travel quirks.

Inca Highlands Day 8 - Maccu Piccu in all it's glory!

2010-10-24T07:36:00.232+11:00

An extremely early start this morning, after a rainy night. 3:45am was the wake-up tim to ensure that we were packed up and ready to go by 4:30am. A difficult start to the flagship day. The reason for the early start was due to the fact that the porters needed to catch their only train out of Maccu Piccu town. Ensuring that we were fully packed and ready to go by 4:30 would enable them to load up, run to town, and catch the train with a little bit of time to spare. Missing the train would mean that the porters would have to stay overnight in the town - not exactly the most desirable result for them.

Breakfast was brief, once that was done we waited in the hall of the Winay Wayna campsite - waiting for the opening of the final track of the Inca Trail to Maccu Piccu. The wait was uneventful - plenty of tired faces about. As the opening time drew closer we all started to gather at the checkpoint (as the path was shut at night) and continued to wait.

The moment the gates opened a small cheer went out and people began to stream through the checkpoint. The pace wasn't exactly cracking as there were several people along the way wanting to be first, yet were far from quick. For those that wanted to blitz their way to Maccu Piccu they simply reverted to calling out 'porter' and bolting through as people made room. Efficient.

The first hour of the walk was mostly uneventful, the scenery from the prior day was tough to beat. Eventually I made it to what has been labelled 'the gringo killers'. Though I didn't realise it at the time. For those that are unaware the gringo killers is a series of steep stairs that only last a few minutes... so long as you're able to keep going. I powered up the 50-odd steps, passing countless people along the way (who were clamouring up using their hands and knees). I was totally focussed on getting to Maccu Piccu that I didn't realise the obstacle was over. Continuously moving is the key!

Just past the gringo killer steps lay the Sun Gate - the first place that you can get a panoramic picture of Maccu Piccu. I didn't really know how large Maccu Piccu was going to be, so I was somewhat surprised at the awesome size of the complex. Unsurprisingly, plenty of people were milling about taking their photos of Maccu Piccu. It wasn't actually the easiest to take photos of the complex as clouds continually rolled in and out (just like the Cloud forest, the day before).

Another half hour or so later we were at the outer terraces of Maccu Piccu. We were allowed to take a few happy snaps overlooking the main complex before we were instructed to head down to the official Maccu Piccu ticket gates to check-in with the authorities - another immigration-like checkpoint.

Speaking of immigration we were all entitled to a Maccu Piccu passport stamp. Awesome, just what I wanted! Quite a few tourists had lined up to the little office behind pseudo-immigration to get the coveted stamp. One of the ladies in the tour managed to get a hold of the stamp and provide her own imprint... albeit with one major exclusion... the shillouette of Maccu Piccu (the top half of the stamp). That's bad luck. It was soon my turn - as opposed to doing it myself I had to give my passport up for it to be stamped. I pointed to where I wanted my passport stamped. Boom, boom. Maccu Piccu stamp, followed by a date stamp. I was pleased... until I had a look at my passport. Problem. The text below the Maccu Piccu shillouette was missing. Nooooo! All this way, all of the kilometers walked, all for a fail stamp. The minor consolation was that the two imperfect stamps could join to make one whole stamp. Frustrating!

There's much to learn about the Inca by examining the site of Maccu Piccu. Furthermore, there's much more that's left to learn about the Inca... as nothing has been recorded in writing. Throughout the morning we heard about how Maccu Piccu was left undiscovered by the conquering Spanish centuries ago. We learnt about how an American came to find the site of Maccu Piccu (Bingham) in the early 20th century. In addition to a history lesson we also got a spiel about the Inca themselves, their beliefs, and their architectural achievements.

One of the more interesting things that I took notice of was the statement that Maccu Piccu was only built a century before the Spanish arrived. Bizzare. I would have though that Maccu Piccu was around for ages. Just makes you think what made the Inca disappear considering that the Spanish never found the place.

Another interesting tale that was mentioned through the morning was that there was an Inca civil war immediately prior to the Spanish arriving in the region. More tidbits of information that i'm sure most of the general population wouldn't be aware of!

All of the above was mentioned on the tour provided by the trail leader Liborio. However, not everything was so smooth in the complex as a whole. As we were walking past the entrance to Huayna Piccu (a tough hour or so climb that affords an alternate view over Maccu Piccu), a man collapsed. As soon as the man collapsed a woman (perhaps his wife?) cried out. People suddenly rushed to the incident and started crowding around. As the tour group continued on - I was at the back - I left the scene to rejoin the group.

Upon the conclusion of the guided component of the tour, capped off by a group photo, we were left to our own devices. Before the guides headed off they left a few notes on how to get to lunch in the town below. Several of us were quite tired after all of the activity over the past few days so we chilled out on the terraces.

There was more to see in and around the Maccu Piccu complex, such as visiting an Inca bridge, but relaxing on the terraces was what we did. The more hardcore trekkers would have trekked up to Huanu Piccu for an additional challenge. Not this time. Nothing wrong with chilling and snacking.

As for my favourite bits of the complex itself - the view from Funerary Rock (although I didn't go to the rock, just took a photo from a rough approximation), Intiwatana (a rock pillar that pointed to the four cardinal directions... showing that they knew of astronomy and could predict solstaces), and the Sacred Rock (putting on display some of the finer features of Inca architecture... with the principal temple being nearby).

One of the stranger things about the local Peruvians was their interest in Asians. At some point during my time at Maccu Piccu I needed to use the bathroom. There was only the one. Upon leaving the bathroom and about a minute into my journey back to the group I was stopped by a pair of Peruvian girls. They beckoned me over and showed their digital camera to me, and one of them asked "photo?". I assumed that they wanted me to take a photo of them. Wrong. Once I reached for the camera the girl holding her camera shook her head pointed at her friend and said "No. You there". I obliged. (It's not like I haven't asked to be in a photo with others before!) The girls swapped - another photo. Totally bizzare. It also happened to some other asians in the group as well.

Back at the terrace, munching away at some Peruvian Chocolate. Inca Chocolate, I think it was called. Yuck. Wasn't quite for me. That's probably because it was too rich... or just too bad. Hard to tell. To pass a bit more time there was a quick photo session of "Whrere's Mark", where i'd run down to a crowded area in my yellow Gore-tex jacket mingle into the crowd and photos were taken. Nice.

Whilst we were on the terrace we got a glimpse of the fate of the man who had collapsed earlier in the day. It was not good. A stretcher was being carried by four gentlemen with the man that had collapsed (or at least that's who I thought it was) resting on the stretcher with a white blanket over him. Whilst the stretcher runners jogged through back towards the entrance an arm popped out and flopped about. The prognosis looked grim indeed.

Once our time was up it was time to start our long journey back to Cusco. First up it was a bus ride down to Aqua Galientes town, where we had our last lunch with the trekking guides. Followed up by a several hour train ride (which consequently took us back through Kilometer 82) to Ollantaytambo. The last leg back to our hotel in Cusco was by coach. The major drawcard for coming to Peru had now been conquered! Some well earned rest this night, that's for sure.

Inca Highlands Day 7 - Inca Ruins Galore

2010-10-23T08:33:00.217+11:00

Waking up and extracting myself out of the sleeping bag on the morning of the third trail day was tough! Tough because of the ardurous day prior, and tough because it was early in the morning - 5:30/6am start. Some advice for people doing the tour... stretch. It really helps in the long run.

We were told that today was going to be another long day, 16 kilometers horizontally, wildly differing altitudes - "Peruvian flat" one of the tour guides joked. This was mostly true. Long, yet definitely not as tough. The great thing about the third day of the trek was that there was quite a bit to see!

The journey to the third and final peak began after another solid breakfast. The first sight of the day was only a short stroll away, the Inca guardhouse called Runkuraqay. As it was relatively early in the morning still, it was a quick fly by. That decision was primarly driven by the promise that there was plenty more to see.

The journey up to the peak of the second pass at 3,800m was steep due to the fairly large steps on the way up. Whilst the stairs were steep, the journey up to the summit seemed significantly easier. It's possible that the body was getting used to the tough inclines.

After a short stop with a bunch of the tour group it was time to move onward. The section to follow was the one between the second and third pass - this proved to be one of the most fun parts of the trail. The section consisted of a significantly steep descent, a block of Peruvian flat in the middle, followed by a moderately steep incline up to the third pass.

This section of the track was quite beautiful. The main reason for this being that it is the section that provides a view of the majestic Cloud Forest. Lush, fertile jungle speads ownwards as far as the eye can see at the bottom of a valley, accompanied by a fluid rolling mist that hovered just above. Photos that I took definitely couldn't capture the majesty of the place.

Along the way there was a significant Inca landmark for us to view, Sayacmarka. Sayacmarka was a large monestary-like building that was dominantly perched overlooking the cloud forest. As the mist was quite heavy I decided to skip the detour up to the ruin and continue onward.

Travelling down to Sayacmarka was highly entertaining as some of us were trying to get down at pace. Skipping through sections of steps seemed to be what the porters were doing, so this is what some of us attempted to do - with varying degrees of success. At several points along the trail I would let a porter pass through and I would attempt to follow them down as far as possible. One attempt of mine was even caught on video! As I had a yellow windproof jacket tied to my backpack I looked like a bit of a chicken waddling down the Inca trail.

After passing Sayakmartha we descended down lower into the Cloud Valley. Along the way, approximately 5 to 10 mintes onwards, there was another small outpost. Perhaps another guard post. Perching up on top of the walls of the little guard post proved to be an interesting rest point, as I could observe the other members of the group pass by the trail path just underneath.

Lunch was served just prior to the Phuyupatarnarka Inca site, at approximately 12:30pm. Originally we were meant to eat earler at the Chaquicocha campsite, yet this was moved further on as we were progressing quite well as a group. Lunch was another pleasant one... salad, soup, a particularly satisfying chicken drumstick, Inca version of fried rice, and a few salads. Yum, yum.

After lunch it was time for another Inca lesson, this time at the Inca site Phuyupatamarka. Here we learnt about the fundamentals of the Inca religion and the level of knowledge that the Inca had of astronomy. Impressive considering that the Inca had no formal standard of writing. Unless of course the whole talk was BS. Hah.

The cloud forest walk continued, not terribly difficult. The walk was quite leisurely with the guide Liborio accompanying us for a fair section of it - highlighting particular flora and fauna of the region along the way. Very interesting, although I struggle to recall much of it!

From Phuyupatarnarka there was approximately an hour or so descent followed by a choice marked by an electric power pylon. The quicker path lead to the Winay Wana campsite, the other would lead to the same campsite via the awe-inspiring views provided by Intipata. The Intipata route was chosen.
Plenty of mischevous snaps were taken at Intipata - including the Jestar starjump, a machete fight, and contemplative seated yoga poses. Intipata provided sweeping views of the river below and the towering land masses perched on each side.

Once we were over taking photos it was finally time to check into the campsite at Winay Wana. Campsite 2 to be precise. There was the option to do a further walk (not too far away) but just about everyone decided to stay at camp. The reason for this was that the rare commodities of hot showers and cold beer were available at the campsite!

I decided to make the 10 minute trek down to Winay Wana itself, rather than kick off my boots at the campsite. Unlike the some of the concave terraces seen along the Inca trail so far, the terraces of Winay Wana were convex. Not only were there terraces to be seen, but there were also well preserved buildings on display (missing their thatch rooves). Very green and very neat. The third trekking day was definitely jam packed full of visual treats.

I thought that the line to the showers was long, wrong! Once I got back from my trip to Winay Wana there was an extensive queue. As disgusting as it may sound, I avoided the shower for one more day. Instead, I opted for a cold water head bath - alternatively known as putting my head under a cold water tap.

Dinner was quite a feast - consisting of pasta, lasagne, jelly, and a birthday cake for one of the trekkers in the group. The chef came out with quite a nice orange zest cake. Impressive given the lack of proper utilities out in the middle of nowhere.

There was much entertainment to be had next, with regard to the cake. In a strange turn of events the birthday boy was tasked with cutting his own cake. Unfortunately for him the knife and the scoop were in the wrong hands. The result of this were diabolical pieces of cake. Admittedly the cake was on the crumbly side, so it was probably inevitable anyway.

To make matters worse (or funnier, depending on your perspective) a female member of the group offered to cut the remainder of the cake. Made sense. However, one of the other guys in the group decided that it would be a good idea to affix a headlamp to the girl cutting the cake. Fail. The headlamp fell onto the cake. Haha! A true comedy of errors.

The third evening would prove to be the last one on the trail. The next day would see us on the grounds of Maccu Piccu itself! As it was the last evening for all of us (i.e. with the porters and the chef) it was time for us to present a few gifts and say a few parting words. A sad evening.

Inca Highlands Day 6 - Steep Climbs on the Inca Trail

2010-10-22T23:12:00.182+11:00

After a rainy evening with a reasonable amount of rest I was awoken at approximately 5am by roosters. Yes, roosters. This was the surprise that the tour leaders alluded to last night. Roosters were milling around the campsite signalling the dawn. It was actually quite entertaining hearing them cluck and crow as they waddled around just outside of the tent.

Hot cocoa tea was brought to our tents shortly after the roosters quietened down. The delivery of the tea set the clock ticking. We had thirty minutes to pack our bags and be ready to leave the tent. Quite the struggle for me as i'm generally quite a slow packer of bags - evidenced by my near-miss with the initial flight down to South America.

One of the frustrating things that I realised in the morning was that I left my pants resting against the side of the tent, as I had changed to shorts for the evening (sleeping bag). The side of the tent became moist overnight as a result of the evening rain. This meant that I had the pleasure of starting the day with wet pants! Not the best start to the day, that's for sure.

This morning was a bright and lovely one. As it was such a nice morning the mess tent was put away so that we could have breakfast with the blue sky in clear view. Breakfast out in the open was hearty and refreshing. Omelettes, banana pancakes, bread with jam - much needed fuel for the day ahead.

After everything was packed away it was time for a meet and greet - where all of the trekkers, porters, and guides would all say hello to eachother. A good idea since we would all be spending several days with eachother. This greeting was quite a large affair as there were 13 trekkers, 3 guides, 1 chef, and 18 porters!

This would have normally have been an event free affair, yet for this trip the introduction proved to be very entertaining. The porters went first, and it was clear that most of the porters had come from the nearby Sacred Valley - the Anta region, to be specific. The porters weren't all young, with ages ranging from the early 20s right up to the late 40s. Unexpected for some. The usual occupation of the porters, their day-job, was farming.

Thanks to the introduction I got a good sense of the organisation required to ensure that we would all have a resonably comfortable trek to Maccu Piccu. Each day porters would have to carry cookware, cutlery, tents, stools, our duffel bags, food, supplies, and their own daily items (clothing, toiletries, etc). Not a trivial logistics operation!

It was the trekkers to introduce themselves after the porters had done theirs. When it was my turn I tried my best to inject some Spanish into the introduction. I didn't manage much - most of what I could come up with was something like "Hola, Buenos Dias Muchachos, mon nombre es Marko". Don't even know if that's correct.The rest of my introduction was in English - which was subsequently traslated by one of the trekking guides.

The most entertaining segment was to come. It was time for one of the ladies in the group to perform her introduction. After a brief introduction she was asked if she was single or attached (a question that all of the younger ladies was asked). She stuttered and eventually answered that she was single. The porters all seemed entertained and one of the younger single porters was being ridiculed by the other porters. The trek guide grabbed the single porter and I grabbed the single girl and we brought them together. The porter passed on a peck on the cheek and that was it. After the incident I was politely told "Mark, i'm going to kill you". Hillarious!

Onto the trek itself. The second day of the trail walk was said to be the hardest by the guides, and there was no reason to dispute this. The journey from Wayllabamba to Paqaymayu was indeed ardurous, as it had involved a particularly steep and extensive climb of 1200m in its first phase before a shorter yet equally steep descent.

The uphill leg was tough, yet the previous day's walk helped me understand how much weight would be ideal for carrying. I carried much less on my back on the second day of the trail than the first - dropping at least a litre of water and a couple of items of clothing. It was not as cold as some claimed that it would be!

The experience of the climb changed as the altitude increased. The initial phase of the climb was mostly warm and humid, with trees and foliage providing a shade from the sun. The climb was made more difficult thanks to the heat and humidity, yet the streams that ran close to the stony path upwards provided a useful cooling function.

The latter parts of the climb to the peak of the second pass were quite different. Vegetation was sparse, the stream was nowhere to be seen, and the sun was able to bear down on me with no problems - having said this... it was cool. Not cold, just cool. The steepness of the climb was similar, the environment was quite different.

By the time I made it to the peak of the second pass I was a little tired. A break was in order. The peak provided a sweeping view of the climb just completed with snow capped mountains as a backdrop. I took the opportunity to rest up,take some photos, and chat with som members of the tour group. More importantly, I was starting to get hungry and lunch was nowhere in sight. Lunch was to be a couple of hours further on, at Pacqaymayu.

Half an hour passed and it was time to move onto the last segment of the day - the descent leg. I felt that the descent leg was tougher than the ascent leg. Why? Most likely because I was hungry, I wasn't fresh, and nature was calling. Having said this, the descent was much easier after making a slight detour off the well warn track. I wasn't the only one who made a temporary diversion though, everyone does it!

Through the second day I noticed something different with the Maccu Piccu trek when compared to the Everset Base Camp trek in Nepal - the method in which the group as a whole travelled. In Nepal we effectively had 2 groups, a fast group and a slow group, and stops every 30-45 minutes or so - regrouping at key places. In Peru, people are allowed to go at their own pace with guides towards the back and someway towards the front. An interesting contrast.

At 3pm I stumbled into Pacqamayu Camp #5, lead to the specific campsite by our chef Cesar. Boy, was I glad to see camp. After quickly selecting a free tent it was time to head to the mess tent for some well deserved lunch! I was starving! Lunch was fantastic, although that could have been because I was very hungry. Cevice (fish) salad was the starter, followed by a prawn soup, finished off by an alpaca, plaenta, and rice dish.

Pacqamayu camp was the site of the evening camp, so thankfully no more trekking was planned for the day. Due to the lateness of lunch, it was only an hour and a half or so left remaining before afternoon tea was scheduled. There was the option to stay and have some afternoon tea... but I passed. I took the opportunity to rest up and napped until dinner time. Popped out for dinner and a quick chat before it was back to bed again (with nothing leaning against the side of the tent).

Inca Highlands Day 5 - The Trek Begins!

2010-10-21T23:38:00.000+11:00

Today marked the first day of the Inca Trail leading to Maccu Piccu! Exciting. We departed from our hotel early in the morning. The group was hearded onto a coach bound for a place called Kilometer 82. Now I don't know why someone would call a place Kilometer 82, but at least it's a unique name!

First up, a bit of administration was required. The morning was a bit of a rush as we had restrictions on what we were allowed to bring along to the trek. A 5kg duffel bag (which was weighed) and whatever I could carry on my back was all that was permitted. The rest of the luggage would have to be left at the hotel.

Initially I thought that it would be quite warm and therefore packed light - only using up just over 3 of the 5kg allocation. Others in the tour used up their entire allocation, citing the extra clothing that they intended to pack. Taking this on board, I threw in some warmer clothing... bringing my duffel bag up to 5kg.

We arrived at Kilometer 82 by the mid-morning and it was a bustling place. Coaches, minibuses, porters, guides, trekkers, and locals filled the little bus compound. After a quick introduction to our trekking guides Liborio and Tina we were handed a little snack pack. Some biscuits, a few little sugar lollies, and a banana. Then we were off! We had commenced our our 4-day journey to Maccu Piccu.

The first stop of the trek was literally two minutes away by foot - a group photo under the "Welcome to the Inka Trail" sign by the railway line. Everyone looked quite happy and excited. I remember thinking that it would be interesting to see both the before and after shots! Once we had taken a good set of photos (as everyone had a camera) we were off to passport control.

Why is there passport control? Now that would be a very good question. Technically speaking the whole Maccu Piccu National Park area is another country, or so we were told. Perhaps something was lost in translation there... maybe it's akin to the Vatican and Italy.

All of us needed to provide our passport and entrance pass before being allowed though the checkpoint and across the footbridge on the other side. The interesting thing about the whole process was that we had to line up in particular order - simpler administration. No matter, one more stamp on the passport and away I went - at a start altitude of 2450m.

The late morning consisted of a nice gradual walk towards our lunch stop - a 2 hour walk away. It was a pleasant walk. We passed along the Urubamba river and observed a track section of the recently rebuilt railway line that connects Cusco to Maccu Piccu.

On the way to lunch we came across a very well preserved Inca settlement called Llactapapa. The distinguishing feature of this particular Inca site was that it seemed to follow the undulating stream as it snaked through the valley below. Furthermore, many of the structures remained intact (minus the thatch rooves). Something that I wasn't expecting!

Unfortunately for us it began to drizzle as we were peering down at Llactapapa, getting an explanation of the importance of settlements like Llactapapa for the Incan economy. The rain wasn't too heavy at this point. The 3 soles poncho that I bought the day before was well worth it!

Lunch. I knew that we were going to get food made for us along the way but I didn't quite know what to expect. Pleasantly surprised is one term i'd use for the lunch provided, excellent is another. First up, the trekkers and guides were all seated in a large mess tent.

With the rain progressively getting heavier we were served both our first cup of hot munja tea (munja being a herb) and a fantastic guacamole entree. Next was a hearty chicken and vegetable soup. The series of dishes was rounded out with an apacca, corn puree, and rice dish. The series of three dishes were easily some of the better meals that i've had so far in Peru! If the chef were to publish a cook book, I would buy it in a heartbeat.

A few more hours of gentle walking under light drizzle brought us to our first evening campsite - Wayllabamba, situated at 3,000 meters. It was fairly obvious that we reached our campsite as there was a row of bright red domes set against a lush green backdrop.

As soon as we entered the campsite we were told of the location of the toilets and then were assigned our tents. One thing i'll say about the tents provided are that they're quite spacious. The tents can quite comfortably fit 2 people. The tents were also provided with air matteresses for extra comfort. Handy!

At approximately 5:30pm we were called out for a treat at the newly erected mess tent. The surprise was afternoon tea! Cocoa tea and popcorn. Yummy. Definitely something unexpected. We were warned not to spoil our dinners, yet the two platters of popcorn were finished.

Dinner was served shortly after afternoon tea, 6:30pm. With people given free time to either sit in the mess tent or head back to the privacy (or relative privacy) of the sleeping tents. Another fantastic meal was served up by the chef before we all went to bed. On the way out we were promised a special surprise in the morning, and with that idea in our minds we went back to the tents to snooze.

Inca Highlands Day 4 - The Sacred Valley

2010-10-20T11:07:00.181+11:00

Not too early a start this morning, especially when compared to the previous one. A more reasonable 8am was the time in which we were to all assemble. Breakfast in the Cusco accomodation was adequate, with bread and condiments being made available. There was some Peruvian cereal on offer (with pinkish milk), but I didn't take any. Playing it super safe.

The Sacred Valley tour started off with an introduction by the guide for the day (Roger), who subsequently introduced the driver. Once the introductions were done, we were off to our first stop - a small market approximately 40 minutes out from Cusco.

As I irresponsibly failed to bring a hat along to South America, I went searching for a hat in the markets. I found an interesting hat reminiscent of the good, the bad, and the ugly (in black) but it didn't quite fit. No purchase. The trip to the market wasn't completely fruitless though, as the highlight was just in front of the market proper.

In front of the market proper was a small llama and alpaca pen, inclusive of an aged shepard. The people on our tour bus, as well as tourists from another van, flocked to take photos of the various four legged animals. Obviously, I joined in. There was this cute little llama wandering around just in front of the pen, which was open. Some of us got the opportunity to feed the baby llama before the shepard shut up shop. Clearly wasn't getting as many soles as he was expecting. For taking photos, I provided a small donation.

Once we had spent 30 minutes at the market it was time for us to move on to our next location, an Inca site close to a village called Pisac. We all quickly hopped onto the bus and we were off. En route to the Inca site we stopped along the side of the road for a few happy snaps - very picturesque, with the clouds floating above and the mountains encircling the valley below.

The Inca site near Pisac consisted of well preserved terraces as well as a few intact buildings. There were approximately two dozen terrace levels spanning the face of one of the mountains, and just about all of them were still standing. The guide assured us that only a small percentage of the free standing terraces had to be explicitly restored (due to terrace walls eroding and collapsing). It's clear that the agricultural knowledge of the Inca was quite advanced.

At Pisac the tour group learnt about the rise of the Incas - which included the subjugation of the local populations, the gradual spread of the Inca empire over time, and the importance of the Andean Cross. Whilst the historial and cultural aspect of the tour was not everyone's cup of tea I definitely found it interesting.

By the time we finished the Pisac ruins it was off to lunch - as it was late afternoon we stopped at a small village nearby. Unfortunately for the village and its occupants a mudslide had hit the area and caused a significant amount of damage... with approximately 100 families losing their livelihood due to the destruction of their homes and land.

Lunch was a buffet lunch at a place called Inca House. Given that we were in the middle of nowhere, it was quite nice. We were advised in Lima to avoid buffets, but down in the Sacred Valley with a different tour guide... it was a different story. The lunch was quite pricey, at 35 soles, but it did the job. The lunch also included a complementary glass of Pisco Sour (a popular local alcoholic drink).

On the way to our next location we learnt a little bit more about Inca textile skills. There was a particular segment on how the Inca used to colour their fabrics. All of the colours that the Inca created were natural, which would turn out to be dull in appearance (so if colours are bright - they're synthetic). Different colours required different ingredients and techniques. For example, to get red you had to harvest tiny little insects and squash them and use their blood. Simple enough. Other ingredients used to obtain different colour palettes included herbs and even human urine!

The next stop on the Sacred Valley tour was an Inca town called Ollantaytambo. Apparently this is the oldest Inca town that is still inhabited - with many of the buildings and infrastructure that were in place during the age of the Incas still intact. The locals still live here just like they did in ages past, with a few extra modern luxuries.

One of the highlights of Ollantaytambo is the nearby unfinished temple - a substantial monument that is still surviving to this day. The ingenuity of the Inca was obvious - huge slabs of rock that must have weighed tens of tonnes formed the structure of the temple. Not only was it amazing that they managed to lug the masses of granite hundreds of meters uphill... they were able to build walls made of these hulking stones without the aid of mortar or adhesive material. Quite impressive.

The visit to the temple at Ollantaytambo was not without incident. Humour always seems to creep into holidays. The tour group was on its way out of the temple complex via a narrow path, we paused at a junction that provided a great vantage point for photos. We all took our time taking pictures and were prompted to move on when another group of tourists appeard behind us. Some of the members of the tour group were resting up on the slope of the mountain, as others in the group were actively taking photos.

Now, one of the ladies in the group behind us wanted assistance taking a photo, with the lady in front and the temple as the backdrop. One of the guys in our group hopped down and almost fell off the side of the track - due to the momentum of hopping down. There was a moment where everyone gasped. He didn't fall off, although it was a long, long way down to the bottom. The photo was taken without any further dramas. Many jokes followed afterwards about how 'mamacitas' can inspire guys to do crazy things!

A sleepy bus ride back followed the Ollantaytambo city visit. I did buy a small hat with llama images on them in the Ollantaytambo market on my way out - which would come in handy for the Inca trek itself. Once we were back in town we all split up to do our own thing. For me and a couple of others, it was back to the cafe for some safe food. Carbo loading for the big trek ahead, which was to start the next day. Avoid Spaghetti Bolognaise.... it's just different. Carbs are carbs, I guess. Anyway, an early evening followed dinner and that ended the day.

Inca Highlands Day 3 - Arrival in Cusco

2010-10-19T10:41:00.116+11:00

The morning began with a 5am wakeup call. This wasn't organised by me, it was organised by the tour guide - and it came as a bit of a shock. For a minute there I thought that work was calling me up, wanting to discuss an issue! Not only was the wakeup call totally unexpected, it was half in Spanish. Did the job though. The reason for the call was due to the fact that we had a 7:20am flight to Cusco to catch. After showering and packing the bags it was down for breakfast. Breakfast was the same breakfast as the morning I arrived in Lima - scrambled eggs, ham, cheese, juice.

A transfer bus to Lima airport (Aeropuerto Internacional Jorge Chavez) was arranged by the tour, we arrived at the airport with no incident. Everyone on the bus was in high spirits, considering that it was still early in the morning. At the airport we were handed our e-tickets and proceeded to check-in. Nothing too special so far - except for the fact that the Gate number that I had on my ticket differed from others in the tour. Turns out that they just print any old number when they haven't assigned a gate to a flight. I must say, it would have been much easier to print nothing and tell us to monitor the departure boards!

Whilst the scheduled departure time of the Lima to Cusco flight was 7:20am, we didn't depart on time. The plane (Peru Airlines) set out for our next destination at 8:00am instead. The journey only took an hour, I slept. I woke up fairly tired - that could have been due to the early morning start or the impact of altitude... as Cusco is roughly 3300m above sea level. We were met by our guide, Belge, after we picked up our bags and left the terminal building. There was only time for a quick hello before we were whisked away to our accomodation.

The hotel in Cusco was pretty good. The room was clean, the bathroom was nice, and the shower did it's job. What more could you ask for? As for the negatives - the room was a bit cold and the key to the room did not snugly fit the lock. Getting into the room always took a few tries. All good.

The first day in Cusco was quite light - as we were all supposed to acclimatise to the higher altitude. We were given free time until after lunch and were given a few recommendations on where to eat. Given that we didn't know much of the place, we took up one of the recommendations - a little cafe that was effectively down the road.

Once we were done with lunch we commenced our walking tour of Cusco, led by our tour guide, Belge. The tour was only brief, then again Cusco isn't exactly the largest of towns. The focus of the tour was the Plaza de Armas and surrounds. I was actually impressed by the plaza, as I wasn't expecting much - it was quite a pleasant place to just sit and relax. Once the walking tour finished, some of us headed back to the Plaza de Armas and chilled out in a cafe. The cafe, funnily enough, was called Cafe Bagdad. No idea where the name came from, and I didn't ask.

One thing that i'll mention about Cusco is that it is quite polluted. I don't mean that there is litter on the ground and that it's a gubby place to be, I was referring to the air quality. I originally thought that the air in and around Lima was bad, but Cusco was horrendous. Just about every car on the road would be spewing noxious clouds out the back of their mufflers.

The tour had its first organised dinner at a local restaurant. I can't recall the name of the restaurant, but it was more on the higher end of what was available. The food here was great! I ordered a chilly chicken dish that was akin to curry. Yum, yum. I also tried small portions of what some of the others were eating as well, with one of the more exotic dishes that I tried being alpaca. Guinea pig was on offer as well, but that was ordered by another table. Many made a mental note to give it a try at a later stage.

After dinner had concluded it was time to head back to the hotel for some rest. A big day ahead was planned for us, a tour of the Sacred Valley. It was still early on in the tour, so everyone signed up. A wise decision as we'd be back for another free day post-Inca trail.

Inca Highlands Day 2 - Lima - To Rimac and Back!

2010-10-18T21:44:00.000+11:00

The second day of the Inca Highlnds tour ensured that I saw much more of Lima and surrounds. The day saw me visit both the rough end of Lima as well as the more pituresque, the hustle and bustle in the heart of town as well as secluded views looking over the town. The day in isolation would have been a good one, if it wasn't for other groups telling us what we could have done in the day. More on that a little later on.

The morning was supposed to be an early one, with several people aiming to wake up really early (5:30am) to see the celebrations in the main square outside the Presidential Palace (Plaza de Armas). The event was the Procession of the Lord of Miracles - where purple could be seen everywhere, banners are hung off balconies and people dress up in as much purple garb that they can find. I set an alarm for 5:30am, found that I was just too tired, and went back to sleep. I reawoke at 8:30am.

Heading down for breakfast, I met up with those that left earlier in the morning to see the Procession of the Lord of Miracles. They had just come back for breakfast. Good timing. There were a few others in the room for breakfast and we discussed what we could do for the remainder of the morning (as the half-day tour of Lima would be beginning in the afternoon). I didn't really have much of an idea, as I hadn't done any research on what to do in Lima - as I had assumed the tour had it all covered. I was happy to go for a stroll, as were the others in the know. We set off shortly after breakfast had concluded.

I'm not exactly where the target destination was for the morning but we first made it to Plaza de Armas where, as expected, the area was bathed in purple. Even though the speeches and the main procession had passed there were hundreds of people milling about. Perhaps the locals were staying out and enjoying the sunshine, as it was a lovely day outside.

After cutting through the Plaza de Armas the aim was to cross the bridge behind the Presidential Palace. We headed up towards the river towards the Library with the aim of cutting back behind the presidential palace. The road was blocked off by the military. Standing at the blockade we watched as the side gate of the palace opened up. Several military men milled about before an artillery piece was rolled out of the gate. The men carted the artillery piece down the road, and that was that.

As the bridge behind the palace was closed off, we went to cross north of the river via the main arterial road, Abancay. As we crossed the road it seemed as though we had crossed into another world. The feeling of complete safety evaporated as the integrity of the buildings in view deteriorated. As we turned left and walked down Via de Evitamiento, abandoned and burnt out buildings also came into view! Digital cameras that were in plain view promptly made their way into the concealed security of backpacks. We had arrived in Rimac.

Rimac happens to be one of the most run-down areas of Lima, and this was confirmed with conversations later on in the day with local guides. Without this knowledge we forged onwards, passing through a small market. One thing that was of particular note was that there were several stalls selling Chinese food. Bizzare, especially in a place like Peru.

Our stay in Rimac was not an extensive one. A currency exchange person stopped to talk to me, whilst some of the others continued. He gestured to me that we should not continue - I imagine that he was saying the exact same thing. The shaking of the head followed by pointing ahead of us wasn't really the set of gestures that I really wanted to see. I nodded and thanked the exchange person and called out to some of the others. Some of the group ahead were much further on. I didn't have to do too much as some military men had stopped the lead elements of the group and started talking to them, apparently they were strongly told to head back. So turn back we did.

The way back was much more direct as the bridges behind the palace seemed to have opened up. As it was lunchtime, and not too far away from the start time of the tour we dispersed. Three of us decided to have something quick and ate at a chicken shop on the Plaza des Armas (Roccos?). Nothin too special about the meal except for the fact that I tried some Inca Cola. I just had to try Inca Cola as I saw the advertisment for it everywhere!

At 2pm we all gathered in the hall at the hotel to set off for our half-day Lima tour, organised by the local tour leader. Two minibuses were provided for us and we split up accordingly. After a short drive through downtown Lima, we were out onto one of the highways - where there was an accident on the side of the road. As we approached the accident zone, we slowed to a crawl. Looking to the left as we passed by it didn't look good at all. An overturned sedan sat on the side of the road, just shy of the median strip down the centre. It looked as though the car had hit the median strip, which was actually demarked by a raised slab of concrete along the centre of the highway, and rolled over. Glass shards and shrapnel were everywhere. Approximately a dozen people were milling about the car, some trying to assist the driver out of the car, and some just watching. Quite the chaotic scene.

The journey past the accident was incident free, and in a short space of time we were in the district of Miraflores - the playground of the more affluent in Lima. We were taken to a local park in the area and were permitted to walk around. The park was reasonably large and was distinctively green. Water isn't the most readily available resource in Lima and therefore its use to ensure the health of the park emphasised the affluence of the area. So we were told, anyway. In the park we were given some basic information about Lima - it's population, size, number of districts, and the city's demographics.

Huaca Pucllana was the next stop after the stroll through the park.Whilst we didn't enter the Huaca Pucllana site, we did get a good view of the structures within from outside of the enslosure walls. The intriguing thing about the series of structures is that it's made up entirely of little mud slabs, that surprisingly hasn't totally decayed away after all this time. Probably better that way, as i'm not too sure how many people were in the mood to spend extra dosh. There was a bloke out the front trying to sell books about Huaca Pucllana, yet nobody was interested. It was at this point we got a bit of a primer on ancient pre-Inca cultures - the Lima and Wari cultures.

We must have only been there for about 20 or so minutes before we were back in the mini-bus. The next stop was the Monumento al Soladado Desconocido, in Chorillos - an area to the south west of Lima. The moument was located at the top of a windy road overlooking Lima as well as the Pacific Ocean. The monument, located not too far away from a stack of communications towers, was to commemorate the persistance of the Peruvian armed forces during the Chilean occupation of Lima. All news to me.

One thing about the area in which the Monumento al Soladado Desconocido resides is that it's not exactly well to do. From the platform you could see the run down houses down below - blocks and blocks of brown sprawled out as far as the eye could see. Having said that, there was a reasonbly nice football (soccer) stadium nearby. I guess that goes to show how important football is in South America!

There was one last stop to the tour after the Monumeno al Soladado Desconocido - the Lovers Statue back in Miraflores. However, there were two minor disruptions on the way down. We were first stopped by a man who was holding a rope taught, where the rope was connected to the rockface on the opposite side of the road. We were warned about this as we set off from the top of the road, obviously this came true. The driver gave the man one sol and we were off again. The second disruption was a pair of sleeping dogs on the road, as we approached the dogs continued to lie there. We stopped in front of them, the dogs continued to lie there. The driver beeped the horn, the dogs poked their heads up and continued to lie there. We ended up driving around them.

The final stop of the tour was the lovers statue in Lima, which provided more ocean views as the sun began to set. As expected there were couples milling about enjoying the sunset. Unexpectedly it was also the place where you could go paragliding. Some people seemed interested in paragliding but it was far too late to do so, and we were already committed to the tour. Once the sun had set we hopped back into our transports and were taken back to our hotel.

Back at the hotel we had a chance to freshen up and prepare for a group dinner at a local restaurant. At this point we were notified of our plan for the next morning - an early breakfast to be served at 5am so that we could be at the airport in time for a 7:30am flight. One of what was to be many early starts.

Dinner was fairly simple chicken dish with chips, as recommended by the guide for the day. No alcohol and no strange food this evening. What I did try though was the local chilli, aji - loved it. I do know that there are lots of types of chilli, but whatever it was... it was fantastic. I loaded up, by adding the chilli to both the chicken and the chips!

Anyway, as there was an early morning ahead of us we all left the restaurant not too long after 9. Sleep promptly followed..

Lazy First Day in Lima - South America awaits...

2010-10-17T23:59:00.124+11:00

The replacement 1am Iberia flight passed by issue free - even managed a couple of hours of sleep! A busy drama filled day ensured that I was tired enough to fall asleep. The plane landed at approximately 6am in the morning, and it was off to immigration.

The wait at immigration was brief, although it was longer than it should have been thanks to my luck in picking queues. The slowest queue of the lot was, once again, the one that I chose. Great. Whilst waiting in line a young German tourist started talking to me, wondering what I was doing in South America. We had a brief chat and swapped stories, I was to do Maccu Piccu and she was to stay in Peru for serveral months with no specific plans. There's a contrast.

Our conversation ended when I passed through immigration and waited for my luggage. Luggage was being unloaded painfully slowly so I proceeded to the money exchange booth nearby, then went back to waiting. One thing that I always find a tad annoying about baggage collection is how everyone hovers around the conveyer belt. It doesn't matter where in the world I end up, people seem to always act the same way.

As soon as all of the passengers make their way from the plane to the corresponding luggage conveyer belt people line up right against the conveyer belt - restricting both vision and other people's access to the belt even if their luggage were to appear. Terribly frustrating. It would make much more sense if everyone stayed back a couple of meters then more people would be able to see the bags on the belt as they rolled through, and people would be able to collect their bags if they saw them. Simple!

Being the honest broker that I am I was stopped at the customs gate. The customs declaration form for Peru states that people are able to bring along 2 memory sticks for cameras for personal use. I brought three. At the end of the day it would be much easier just to say that there was nothing to declare, but I wrote in that I had 3 memory sticks. After a quick confirmation by the customs officer, I was waved through.

The taxi ride in from the airport to Hotel Maury was brief and only cost 45 soles, which equates to almost 18 dollars or so. Not the cheapest, though I didn't have anyone with me to share the cost of the cab. I managed to get to the hotel not too long after 7, and proceeded to have breakfast. I may not have arrived in time to check-in the evening before - but I was able to eat the scrambled eggs, toast, and jam breakfast that I was entitled to. Woo!

After waiting around with Jo for the others to wake up 7 of us set off to explore Lima. We only made it as far as a block or so before we all stopped. A shady looking money exhange vendor provided a decent rate and the money changing began. A group of tourists huddled around a dodgy money changer. Quite the sight. After a few trades the exchanger ran out of local money to exchange - he was willing to get more, but we decided to call it quits and move on.

We made it another block before we were interrupted by a street procession. The procession was lead by a lifesize figure pair of a woman and a baby child on a platform adorned with flowers, which was being carried down the street that we were walking down. We stopped to watch the procession, as did many locals.

The parade was a colourful and lively one, heading away from the central plaza. Perhaps it is preparation for a large event! We stopped to observe for approximately half an hour before deciding to move along to the Palace square - which was only a few streets away.

The sqaure itself was nice, although not fantastic. There were plenty of people in and around the square, particularly in front of the palace - where a parade was taking place. Obviously we took a look. Nothing too special. The most interesting component of the parade, was one of the guards on our side of the palace gates. A soldier with dark glasses armed with what looked to be an AK-47. Intense!

We watched the parade for about 15 minutes, at which point the parade ended. The crowd began to disperse. We decided to head off towards the Convento de Santo Domingo and proceeded to exit the area of the palace. Standing by the wall at the edge of the plaza was a column of police. The police saw the swarm of asians with cameras and beckoned one of the girls over, photo time. Apparently the girls didn't ask for a photo with the cops, but the cops did. Two of the girls in the group joined the column for the photo and one of them was lucky enough to have a cop drape his entire arm over her. Hillarious. The race for which girl could pique more interest was on! The photo detour didn't take too long, line up, snap, and we were away.

Downtown Lima isn't all that large, most touristy things are in a several block area. In no time we were outside of Convento de Santo Domingo. The group split into two groups, one to investigate the Convento de Santo Domingo, and the other group... wander around Lima, with a lunchtime meeting place of Convento de San Francisco. I was with the wander around Lima group.

Lunchtime provided much entertainment. The meeting place for everyone was to be at Convento de Santo Domingo, arguably the most important religious complex in Lima. In the courtyard some locals were selling food - an interesting assortment of local dishes. Not quite knowing what to get, we had a look at what was on offer and what seemed to be popular. One of the ladies that worked on the food stall sprung to action, visibly excited that some Chinese people had stopped by.

I don't really understand the total fascination with Chinese people by local Peruvians, but it's definitely there. The lady at the food stall eagerly assisted us in selecting our meals. She didn't speak English and we didn't speak Spanish, so it was an entertaining exchange. After we sat down at a nearby table the lady at the food stall was keen to continue conversing, so she called up her son - who could speak Mandarin. She passed her mobile to one of the girls and a brief conversation followed. A match made in heaven, so the rest of us joked!

There wasn't just the one phone call to the son over the course of lunch, there were several. Which was helpful, yet odd at the same time. The lady at the food stall was helpful to the point of giving us free drinks, a wonderfully refreshing maize drink (that was purple) was offered! Once we had finished lunch she helped us get started with the Convento tour with a peek into the temple, she then lead us to the starting point of an English speaking tour. So very helpful, we were very lucky.

The tour through the Convento de San Francisco was informative and it actually surprised me. I wouldn't have expected there to be a vast library in Lima. Not wanting to be offensive, I just didn't expect it. The library of Convento de San Francisco contained massive prayer books and held thousands of dated texts, quite amazing. One of the more entertaining moments was when we were asked if we had any questions about the library - one member of the tour asked "Are these books original?", classic!

The highlight of the tour of the Convento de San Francisco was a visit down to the catacombs. The catacombs was one of the few places that locals were buried in a younger Lima. A severely limited view of the chapel was available though one of the roof grills on the top floor. Furthermore, the catacombs had several levels and the level in which you were buried depended on status. The members of the convent would be buried on the top level and the poorest of society at the bottom. Tens of thousands of people have been buried there! The odd thing about the whole setup is that the bones have been arranged in a decorative manner by the archaeologists that discovered the catacombs. Having said that, it probably looks much better than a mess of bones!

The visit to the Convento de San Francisco capped off a busy day, i've written too much already! Not many more things of note happened in the afternoon before returning to the hotel. Quickly zooming through the rest of the day - back at the hotel we all had our rooms re-assigned in preparation for the tour, all of the members of the tour had an opportunity meet eachother and we were briefed on the tour ahead. Two important events for the next day: early morning festivities in the palace square, and a guided tour of Lima in the afternoon.

London to Lima... the journey that almost wasn't to be

2010-10-16T23:59:00.000+11:00

Ok, so it's all a little late but I did make notes of my holiday as it progressed. So i'll start from the top. I'll consolidate all of the links into the one page once I get enough written up. Now, it's time to rewind to the very start of my journey way back on the morning of Saturday the 16th of October 2010!

I woke up in the morning at approximately 4:30am, for a 7:25am flight departing from Heathrow Airport. It all seemed like a very good idea at the time, given that I only had a few minor things left to pack. I finalised the packing, double checked what I had packed, hopped into the shower and got myself ready. Once I was all done, I grabbed all my gear and headed on down to the London Underground - Kings Cross Station, Picadilly line, all the way to Heathrow Airport.

Now, I wasn't checking the time through all of the stages of getting ready. Not ideal. As soon as I rolled out of bed I just assumed I had enough time. Really bad. Usually i'm quite early for flights, although that may be hard to believe after this particular fail. I was at Kings Cross Station at a quarter to 6. Considering that I really needed to be at the airport two hours prior to departure, this was not good. I must have had a brain snap when setting the alarm, as I must have been preparing to be at the airport by 7:25, instead of 5:25. Excuses, excuses.

As soon as I hopped onto a plane bound for Heathrow I began to worry. Checkin would definitely close by the 60 minute to-go mark, meaning that i'd need to traverse through 24 train stops inside of 40 minutes. Not likely. As soon as I started counting the train stops that were remaining, I realised the abject totality of my failure. Whilst the train ambled along to Heathrow I began to look at alternatives to get to South America... the mobile phone searches were not promising. An extra 5 minute stop at Earls Court did not help to settle my nerves.

The train finally made its stop at Heathrow (Terminals 1,2,3) and I dashed towards the Iberia counter. At 6:45am I just knew that it was already game over with respect to check-in. Hope and luck was all I really had left. Just having a sit and a cry wasn't really an option. As was expected I was not allowed to board - I told them my situation, apologised profusely and handed in my travel itinerary. The people at the counter, one male and one female, proceeded to check alternative flights. The flight later in the evening... sold out.... the flights for the next day... sold out. Searching for the next available flight turned up something, yet not the answer that I was looking for. The next available flight out to Lima was next Friday. OMG.

After hearing that the next available flight was to be in a weeks time the lady at the desk attempted once more to get me onto the plane. By this stage it was 7:00, only 25 minutes to go before scheduled departure. Thankfully this time, after some pleading by the helpful lady at the desk, I was given the green light. I ran to a nearby check-in desk that was suddenly manned, dumped the bags and was instructed to run to the gate. Thank you Iberia! With lady luck on my side nothing else could have gone wrong - or so I thought.

I sprinted to the gate to ensure that I was not to be denied a second time. I did get a few curious glances as I steamed along to Gate 23, I didn't care. A few short minutes later, I was standing in the queue (of 4) to get into the waiting area of Gate 23, puffing and panting. I handed over my passport and boarding pass, and walked into the waiting area pumping my fists in the air. Within two minutes of my sitting down a communique went out to the passengers of Gate 23: due to French strike action, boarding was to be delayed until further notice.

Delays in flights wouldn't usually be a problem, if the flights were direct. In this particular case, the plane that I was waiting to board was bound for Madrid. Furthermore, the transit time between the connecting flight to Lima was two hours. Not the healthiest of margins, that's for sure. People were initially quite calm, but as time progressed people in the waiting area were starting to worry. It turns out that I wasn't the only one who had a connecting flight, there were a total of 40 people who were, like me, bound for Lima. There were also others who were connecting over to the once-a-week flight bound for Guatemala.

After the one hour late mark we were given the go-ahead to board the plane, to the relief of those heading for Lima. Unfortunately it was all too late for those bound for Guatemala, who had only a mere one hour transit time planned for their journey. Relief once again swayed back to worry for the Lima bound passengers, including me, as the in-plane announcement by the captain mentioned that there would be another 40 odd minute delay whilst something was being done about the impact of the French strike action. Sigh.

At 9:20am the captain finally announced that we were departing, which was met with cheering and clapping in the passenger cabin. Assuming that Iberia were to hold the connecting flight to Lima, all would be good and I would be in South America by the evening. Relatively speaking, the flight to Madrid itself was quite uneventful. I dozed.

Upon landing in Madrid (Barajas) a special announcement was made by the captain for those bound to Lima. We were instructed to disembark via the back of the plane, as there was a passenger bus waiting for us to help us on our way. Things were definitely looking up. Why else would they give us a bus if there wasn't a plane waiting? The Lima 40 quickly made it onto the bus and the mood was jovial, overall. The bus passed under the tarmac into a series of tunnels and popped up on the other side after a short drive. Upon disembarking we were told to make our way upstairs to the main terminal area.

Madrid (Barajas) airport is a nice airport overall, but it does seem to have plenty of twists and turns. There seems to be escalators and elevators going up and down all over the place. Somehow it all works, but it's a bit of a mess to the first-time visitor. Back to the main story, there was an airport worker in uniform waiting for us up on the main foyer. He waited for us to all gather and quieten down before making his big announcement. The plane bound for Lima had already left. Before he could finish what he had to say, people began to interject, and interject quite rudely... meaning that he had to repeat himself several times. I caught the gist of it and moved off to be one of the first to get sorted out - go to the Iberia service desk, and they'll arrange for alternative plans.

I jogged up to the check-in area and moved to the first customer service desk that I could find. It was busy, I lined up and waited. After a few minutes, an Iberia staff member wandered over and mentioned that I could use the nearby Business Class service desk. Woo! First time i've dealt with Business Class staff. The lady at the counter was quite helpful and told me that Iberia would provide a hotel for my duration in Madrid and that they've scheduled a 1am flight to Lima (as opposed to the midday flight that I was originally supposed to be on). Better late than never!

By the time I was issued new tickets and was given a hotel voucher for the 4-star Tryp Alameda Aeropuerto hodel (Sol Melia Group) it was approximately 2pm. With the remainder of my time left in Madrid I decided to check-in to the hotel, have lunch there, and make a quick dash around the city.

As for Madrid - I was only able to see the Palace from the outside, visit the Plasa Espana, and take a quick stroll on the Via Grande before calling it a day - making the journey all the way back to the airport accomodation. For reference, the airport is at the far edge of the Madrid metro system, with a 45 minute journey each way.

As opposed to the morning, there were no issues with the transfer to the hotel and the 1am flight bound for Lima. Finally, my South America trip was about to begin - the journey that almost wasn't to be.

Musicals, Travel Preparation, and the Regent Street Festival

2010-09-27T06:01:00.043+10:00

After all of the festivals and what not that's been going on - things have definitely quietened down a bit. Could be the case that less is on now that summer has ended and the grey and rainy London that everyone knows and loves has set in... or that i'm just getting lazy of late. So what's happened recently? Well, musicals are one... and the Regent Street Festival. is another.

Now that i'm in London, heading over to the West End to see some shows is something that was recommended to me. After having a look around at what was on offer, and what was cheap, a couple of shows came up. Sister Act and Avenue Q. Tickets were cheap, but that's because they're finishing up. Haha! Whatever, cheap tickets are cheap tickets :).

Both shows were great, and I ended up getting quite good seats at the end of the day! One by pure luck, and the other because there were some vacancies (read: I moved there). The singing performances of the leads in Sister Act were just awesome, and Avenue Q was quite entertaining... not as rude as I thought it would be - I loved the Bad Idea Bears - yeeeaaaaaayyyyyy!! (If you don't know what that means... go see Avenue Q).

What else have I been doing in my downtime? Well, i've been getting ready for South America! One of the most important things i'll need to do to ensure a quick return into the UK from South America is to have a Yellow Fever shot done, and proof that i've been vaccinated! Last weekend, I did just that - I went across to the Sameday Doctor and got the Travel Pack Plus. Three needle jabs later and I was a cocktail of disease! By the time the 16th of October rolls around - i'll be all set!

Finally, nothing like a little festival to finish up the weekend. Last weekend was the Regent Street Festival. Apparently the Regent Street Festival is a celebration of shopping. Fair enough. Apparently, there is a theme each year for the Festival and this year it was fashion... "The Mile of Style" was the slogan... perhaps to coincide with the close of London Fashion Week.

Regent Street was closed off to traffic and all of the stores in the area put up sales or specials. Some offered discounts on their wares, and others offered gifts that accompanied purchases... all of which were helpfully pointed out with a festival guide. I'm not exactly sure if the stores did well or not, but they got no help from me as I didn't end up buying anything.

One thing that was good for the festival was the presence of a catwalk, which was set up in the middle of the street. The catwalk was used to showcase what was on offer. Smart. I decided to wait it out and see what the fuss was all about, i've never seen a live catwalk show before. I parked myself in one of the seats in the front, and waited for the show to begin.

The catwalk show seemed to last twenty minutes or so, but time passed pretty quickly. Models of both genders wandered in and out promoting various brands. The clothes that were on show weren't all following the one theme - from casual to formal, and from light to bulky... it was all there.

After watching the catwalk show, I did come away thinking that I should really look at getting a jacket for winter. Advertising so works. One of the things that I thought as the show progressed was - just because something looks nice on one of the models, doesn't necessarily mean that it'll be nice if I were to be in the same position. Meh.

Finally, i'll close up with an unexpected twist to the catwalk. Towards the second half of the catwalk one of the female models burst out in underwear. Yes, that's right - just lingerie. The cat was let out of the bag, a lingerie store exists on Regent street. Gasps rippled through the crowd as the first female model came into view. The girls in the crowd got a bit of a show as well as the male model that came afterwards ripped his shirt off. Hah. The second last model, female, revealed a tad much... and the last model - she was the hottest. Anyways, that's it for now.... time for some photos.

Open House London 2010... and the Pope!

2010-09-20T06:17:00.052+10:00

Last weekend it was the London Open House Weekend - two days in which many buildings that are typically closed to the public are open for exploration. Although you could probably guess that from the name. I spent both days wandering around London to see what was out there! In other news, the Pope (yes, the holy father himself!) was in town and I managed to catch a glimpse of him.

Prior to arriving in London, I had no idea about the event and what it aimed to do. Now that i've experienced it, I think it's a fantastic idea! The aim of the London Open House Weekend, organised by group called Open City, is to ensure that everyone appreciates, learns about, and understands good architecture. Given that London is a city rich with culture and history, it's a fantastic place to start up an initiative like this.

Now, the London Open House Weekend actually kicks off on the Friday night with either a 10 or 20 mile walk, beginning at 7pm. I didn't end up going to this as it was too late for me to become involved! Something for next year, perhaps. The Night Hike is actually a walk that supports a charity - Maggie's, a centre for those who are suffering from cancer.

Saturday was the first day where I headed out to experience London Open House. The first stop was the Chartered Accountants Hall. Don't know why I started with the Chartered Accountants Hall... probably because it was on the way to the Bank of England - the Bank being on my 'must do' list. The Chartered Accountants Hall was built in 1890 and was alot larger on the inside when compared to how it looked from the outside! The Chartered Accountants hall has a modern presentation hall with plenty of space and a lectern, but also has an older hall that's quite Victorian - a domed reception hall with a chandelier, a painted wall and even a century-old clock.

Next it was off to the Bank of England. Well not quite. Upon arriving at the Bank of England there was a line along one of the walls of the bank... unfortunately the line wrapped along three of the four walls around the bank. The expected wait to get into the Bank of England was two hours. I didn't wait, but made a mental note to get in early on the Sunday.

The Leadenhall Market, Lloyds of London and the Royal Courts of Justice were waypoints onto Westminster. Some of the notable things along the way included seeing an actual shipping logbook from the HMS Euraylus as part of Lloyds' Lord Nelson Collection, and seeing a clothing demonstration at the Royal Courts (one of the crowd got to don a full Justice's uniform)!

After hopping on a bus from the Royal Courts out to Whitehall it was off to Admiralty House and then the Horse Guards. Nothing too flashy to note here, and that statement is inclusive of the changing of the guard. Upon leaving the grounds of the Horse Guards a crowd started to gather on the main road. Bizzare. On closer inspection it wasan anti-pope rally! Why people would bother protesting the pope's presence is beyond me.

Based on the rally's location it wasn't too hard to guess that the pope was going to appear nearby. After asking around we found out that the pope was indeed going to be present. This was confirmed by the large police presence. The pope was going to move from the Treasury building, past Buckingham palace, up the Mall, and all the way over to Hyde Park.

I set up camp outside the Treasury building where the barriers were to be placed. Best spot. The only caveat for locking down this spot was that I was over an hour early. So just like how I had to wait for the fireworks on Waterloo bridge for the Thames Festival, I had to wait over an hour for the pope to pop out of the Treasury building in the pope mobile.

The wait for the pope passed by slowly, but this was helped by having a chat with a couple of the policemen that were milling about. Found out that the policeman guarding the gate directly in front of me is in the last 100 to be one of the two-dozen or so policemen lucky enough to escort the olympic flame as it makes its way through England in 2010.

Finally, at long last, the pope came out of the Treasury building.... in his trusty popemobile! As the popemobile pulled out of the Treasury building and turned right onto his way to Hyde Park I got a wave from the pope. If not, well... close enough. As the popemobile trundled down the road at a brisk walking pace the pope continued to wave. A few of us in the crowd started running along-side the popemobile hoping to see as much of the pope as possibe. After a brief chase, I gave up and headed on home... as the crowds thickened, limiting mobility. An eventful first day of the London Open House, with a special guest appearance!

After all the excitement on the Saturday, Sunday just couldn't compete. Having said that, Sunday was still an eventful day. I was able to see the Bank of England, made it out to Greenwich, before heading back to City Hall.

Woke up early on Sunday morning to make sure that I could get in and see the inside of the Bank of England. I arrived at 9:45am, just in time for the 10 am opening. Not early enough. By the time I got there, there was already a line.. and it was long. It was 10:45 before I got to the doors of the Bank of England.

Out of all of the open houses, I learnt most by attending the Bank of England. Learnt that the Bank of England was initially a commercial bank not originally owned by the state, is built on top of some Roman mosaics, took over a local parish, has its own internal water supply, and is quite elaborte inside! My pick for the weekend.

After the tour of the Bank of England was complete I had a quick look at some of the currency on display. Knowing that I didn't have too much time to play with (as many of the open houses would have closed by 4pm), I quickly headed out to Greenwich via the DLR - my first ever journey on the Docklands Light Rail.

Why Greenwich? The Old Royal Naval College. No particular reason other than wanting to see where budding young sailors went to train so that they could defend the Empire. Given the importance of the Navy to the British, I thought that it would be a neat place to go.

The Old Royal Naval College is still in use today, in parts... as it's a part of the University of Greenwich. I was a bit late for the tours around the College, so I went for a bit of a wander. Really nice place, although much of the grounds are being refurbished. The Chapel and the Dining Hall are amazing, extremely elaborate... and I imagine outrageously expensive to kit out back in the day.

The Royal Observatory was the next stop on my pass through Greenwich, although the Observatory is usually free. Even though it wasn't a part of the London Open House, I was nearby, so it was still worth a visit. Didn't really have the time to go through all of the bits and pieces that the Observatory had to offer (i.e. the educational aspects of astronomy). Toured the grounds, took a few snaps of the Prime Meridian, then it was back to town.

I finished up my London Open House weekend with a trip to City Hall - the work place of the Mayor of London. The most notable aspects of City Hall are the strange spirally staircase going through the heart of the building, the large satellite photo of London on the floor of the ground floor, as well as providing a nice view of Tower Bridge.

Another busy week comes to an end.

The Thames Festival and the Proms in the Park

2010-09-15T06:40:00.043+10:00

Extremely busy weekend this one, as it was the Last night of the Proms on Saturday as well as being the weekend of the Thames Festival. There seems to be quite a bit happening in the City of London of late! Good thing I haven't headed offshore yet - fills up the weekends :).

After getting up in the morning it was off to the Thames Festival - one of the bigger arts festivals in the UK... presumably to pay tribute to the importance of the River Thames. Funnily enough, I only really came across this event after walking through the London Information Centre one week prior! Knowing my luck, i'm sure i'll have a full annual calendar packed with things to do and see... upon the eve of my departure back home to Australia. Haha.

So the Festival itself was sprawled over four zones, along both banks of the River Thames - from Embankment to the west all the way out to Tower Bridge in the east. On the Saturday I began under the Huntingdon Bridge, traced my way through the southbank underneath the Oxo Tower, along the Jubliee walk and finally across Southbank Bridge. Not too many highlights on the first day - just the sand sculpture work and the Rivers of the World gallery making it into the mildly-interesting book. Clearly the first day of the Thames festival was not the best planned by me.

One of the reasons why the first day of the Thames festival was somewhat uneventful, was due to the fact that there was something planned for the Saturday evening - Proms in the Park. I delieberately cut the day short. Now, for those that are unaware of what the Proms are - it's effectively a two month long series of shows that features mostly classical orchestral music. The highlight of the Proms would be the Last Night of the Proms - which features some very patriotic British songs... some of which include Rule Brittania, Jerusalem, and Land of Hope and Glory.

Interestingly enough, some last-minute discounted tickets appeared and it was off to Hyde Park to see Proms in the Park! Arrived reasonably early, approximately 5pm, to get a good spot. Managed to find a good spot close up to the left tv screen, in front of the front left lighting tower. Some tips for those who want to get a good show is to get there early, bring a portable chair, bring a jumper, and bring a flag to wave.

Funnily enough, I would have thought that there would be more classical music playing at Proms in the Park given that the Proms itself is somewhat of a spotlight on classical music. However, Proms in the Park had a lot more variety. Proms in the Park ended up being a bit of a mini-ABBA songfest and a mini-Neil Sedaka featurette. Very fun given that everyone in the crowd was getting into it. Plenty of sing-a-longs and much dancing.

After the warm-up acts mentioned above, along with a few others, it was time for the main Park event - which included singing from Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, singing from José Carreras, and a neat little percussionst duo act. Once the entertaining live show in the Park concluded, it was time for the patriotic part on the big screens - straight from the Royal Albert Hall. Although I didn't know all of the words to the British tunes - they did have karaoke style text overlaying on the live feed into the Hall. Phew. Overall a great night, will have to go again next year!

Why not fill up an already busy Saturday with a Sunday filled with just as much. After a bit of a sleep in on Sunday morning, and following some domestic chores, it was off to the second day of the Thames festival. As I wasn't really all that interested in the going-ons in Zones 3 and 4, I decided to explore the key areas that I somehow missed on the Saturday - Jubilee Park.

There was much more happening at Jubilee Park, and good thing too - as I needed to do something before the Night Parade and the Fireworks. Jubilee Park was the home of the Freedom Stage, the Freedom Space and the Focus on Korea Stage. The definite highlights of the afternoon were the Taekwondo show (i.e. kicking blocks of wood) and the breakdancing shows in the Freedom Space.

Once the afternoon passed by it was time to get into a good position in preparation for the Night Parade. Only really got back just in time as the celebrants were already lining up along Victoria Embankment! Jogging down the street I found a nice place to set up shop, standing on the rails along the median strip some way down Victoria Embankment, nice and high above the crowds below.

Just prior to the commencement of the Night Parade the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, wandered up Victoria Embankment to meet the crowd and get the parade started. Something I unexpected. The parade lasted for a good hour or so, and by the end of the parade itself my feet were absolutely wrecked! The parade was entertaining, and I felt that it was better than the one held earlier at Notting Hill. Having said that, many of the participants of the Notting Hill Festival were back once more to participate in the Thames festival. One of the highlights that I clearly remember was the robot - interacting with the crowd with its booming metallic voice!

The last spectacle of the night, following the Night Parade, was the Fireworks. The fireworks were scheduled for 9:45pm between Waterloo and Southwark bridges. As I was towards the head of the Night Parade proceedings I arrived early at Waterloo Bridge at approximately 8:30pm. Having said that... by the time I got to Waterloo Bridge it was already packed, thankfully I managed to slip into a spot approximately one third the way down from the north bank.

The hour or so long wait wasn't exactly exciting, however it's easy to be observant when there's not much going on. A couple wandered past and hovered around me as there was a small sliver of a spot next to me. Strange couple. Looked like a foreign lass of european descent and a local British lad. Much awkward conversation - perhaps it was the language barrier. Over the course of the time that they stood waiting there I found out that they had brought nothing to eat or drink, and they both were out of cash. After approximately half an hour of waiting and a bit of pressure by the lad to head back home, they were gone.

Onto the fireworks - they started on time, and all of us that were watching got a bit of a heads up prior to the main event with the release of some test fireworks going off along the south bank. To be honest, I wasn't really expecting much of the fireworks. In the end, they were quite reasonable. The fireworks lasted about ten minutes, and there was a good mixture of colour, size, and type of firework. A good way to finish off my post - with one of the happy snaps of the evening.

Borough Markets, British Library and the London International Animation Festival

2010-09-05T21:16:00.034+10:00

Exploration and culture was the main flavour of the weekend. Borough Markets, the British Library, and the London International Animation Festival was what filled up the weekend just past. Still haven't been offshore yet, i'll get there!

After stumbling out of bed on a slightly overcast Saturday morning it was off to the Borough Markets (the weather wasn't quite good enough to trek up to Primrose Hill). I took the tube down to Moorgate and walked down accompanied by a friend from work. Admittedly, heading to the Borough Markets wasn't quite my idea... but a good idea nevertheless.

There always seems to be drama on my way to go see something. Bizzare. Last week it was wedding busses, now this week it was Nike leggings advertisments. On the way from St.Paul's towards Tate Modern (along the Millenium Bridge) there was a reasonably attractive lass jogging up and down on the spot, holding her hair up. Odd. She then stopped, rolled up her top to ensure that her midrift was exposed and did it again. Something was clearly not right. I continued walking across the bridge, and it all became clear. A cameraman was filming - I just didn't see him as he was behind a light shield (I didn't know it was one of those light shields until I focused on it properly). Below is a quick snap that I took of the situation.

After a stroll eastwards along the Thames from the Millennium Bridge we finally hit the Borough Markets. It was quite obvious that we had arrived based on the fact that there were umbrellas with the words “Borough Markets” emblazoned across them. Another good indicator besides the glaringly obvious was the mass of people milling about the banks of stalls inside three large connected pavilions. The stalls inside sold plenty, as variety seems to be the name of the game. Goods on offer included things such as cheeses, vegetables, cakes, seafood, wine, bread, olives … even plants!

One thing about the Borough Markets is that it isn’t all that big. There are just the three pavilions and everything is packed in fairly tight. You could easily do the entire circuit inside of an hour. Having said that, there’s definitely plenty on offer! I didn’t end up buying anything – with the exception of lunch. As it was roughly lunchtime I settled on a Bratwurst Roll with Sauerkraut, Ketchup, and Mustard. A decent feed, albeit a bit pricey.

There were a few things in the markets that were a bit more appealing than my lunch. The first notable item was a cheese stall. You could smell this stall from a mile away, and there were quite a few people queued up to sample the stall's wares. The interesting thing about this was that they had a block of cheese held in place under a flat rectangular prism heating the top of the block of cheese. Now, it was open for people to see so you could see the cheese ripple and bubble as it cooked. Looked quite tasty!

Another set of items to note was a pyramid of giant meringues. I’m not exactly a meringue connoisseur, and I’m not exactly sure how big they are supposed to be… but these things were massive. Each were a great deal larger than a fist! The stall that housed these meringues were at one of the extreme corners of the markets, so it didn't get alot of foot traffic. Several people did stop by and sample one though! Picture below.

A couple more shots from the markets:

On Saturday afternoon, after all was done with the Markets, I headed off to the British Library to see the Magnificent Maps exhibition. I decided to round out some sight seeing with some culture. The exhibition was great and is really something to see if you’re nearby, as it closes on the 19th of September. If I’m a bit of a nerd for visiting the exhibition, so be it. I used to love looking at the Altas when I was a young kid, and my relatives always used to quiz me on the geographic details when I was younger – “What’s the capital of Venezuela?” and “What’s the highest mountain in South America?” would be prime examples. Alas, age has stripped this information away from me.

Anyway, back to the reason why I enjoyed the exhibition. The exhibition appealed to me as it brought maps into perspective. In the modern age, we just take maps for granted and they effectively are a vehicle of factual information. If you want to find out where you are – a smartphone with GPS can tell you where you are and directions on where to go (if you so wish). In a not so intelligent sense, the maps scattered around London city provide a similar function.

Maps in ages past were used as items of prestige, a way for monarchs and aristocrats to display to guests the vastness of their dominion or estate. Maps were also prime vehicles for propaganda – something that isn’t immediately obvious in the modern age. Also, you get an understanding of knowledge at the time the map was created. For example in the Fra Mauro World Map of 1450, Earth was viewed as the centre of the universe!

Alas, no photos allowed inside the exhibition. Maybe it was no flash photography, but I was busy reading all the plaques and scrutinising details of maps, in anycase.

Finally, on Sunday evening it was the finale of the London International Animation Festival. I actually stumbled across this as I was wandering around the local shopping centre – and I must say that it was a pleasant surprise. I’ve never really been to an Animation Festival before, so I didn’t know what to expect. I’ve watched Anime (Japanese Animation) before, but I imagined that this would be quite different… and it was.

By the time I found out about the Festival it was just about over. That’s not an issue though as the very last session that had an available ticket was the “Best of the Festival” session at 7pm. Nice. Why sit through hours of both good and bad clips, when you can just see the good ones. Genius!

The show had an assortment of clips sourced from the competition as a whole. Some of it I didn’t enjoy – things like abstract computer-generated pieces, and sketch films that literally went all over the place. I’m sure from a technical standpoint they were great, but entertainment value was not really up to the mark. However, for every one that I diliked there was one that I thoroughly liked.

One of my favourites was a cute little animation from Canada about a runaway train, where the runaway train hits a steep hill after smashing through a bridge. In order to keep going they needed to burn items for fuel. Compounded by an exchausting supply of coal, the passengers reverted to burning clothes and part of the train itself to continue to struggle up the hill. An entertaining part was when money bags from the first class carriage were being passed to the back of the train, in exchange for clothing coming back to fuel the fire at the front of the train.

The other couple of clips that I enjoyed included a rebellious (read not-PG) clip where the oppressive state (represented by orange) struggles to contain a movement led by a man in a blue Gordini (sports car), a psychologically profound clip of a violent father from the perspective of the father’s son, and a somewhat dark/depressing wood-carved animation about a grandfather who passes away wanting a nice coffin in a poor ration-based state.

Clearly a busy weekend!

Notting Hill Festival 2010

2010-09-05T06:37:00.022+10:00

Last weekend was the August Bank Holiday in the UK - where Bank Holiday equates to a general public holiday. On the Sunday and Monday of the Bank Holiday I went to one of London-town's big street festivals - the Notting Hill Carnival. Wasn't sure what to expect upon arrival, but it was a decent couple of days out - pulsing music, decent food, and plenty of colour!

Sunday marks the first day of the two-day festival, and it's designed to be the day for kids. In actual fact, spent much of the first day just wandering around the carnival area - getting bearings for the big street floats the next day. Sunday was therefore quite sedate - there were several parades milling about the streets but nothing significant. This may be due to the fact that I was in the wrong area altogether, or that there weren't all that many groups doing the rounds.

Bank Hoilday Monday was where it was all at. Since I already did the rounds on the Sunday, Monday was all about finding a good spot to see the show! Got to the show early and parked a little way down from the Judging panel. Great idea, right? Almost.

The layout of the judging area was that all the judges, the support tent, and vip guests were all along one side of the road... whereas the rest of the gathereres would be on the other side of the road. This meant that at times, the crowd near the judging area would only see the back of the dancers/revellers/whatever you'd call them. That and occasionally you'd have your view blocked by minders, official photographers / cameramen, and or police (although the police did do a good job managing the crowds).

A few representative pictures of the days events is posted below. Most memorable thing about the event is the music... carribean accented words blaring out of the speakers... "Part-eee Hard" thump, thump, thump, "Part-eee Hard!"... or "Wah-ter", boom, boom, "Wah-ter". Sometimes the music got so loud that it felt like the beats were pushing me away. Intense. Anyhoo, enough for now!

St Paul's and the Museum of London

2010-08-29T03:47:00.024+10:00

There is nothing like spending a beautiful blue-sky summer London day out and about. What does Marky do on a day like this? Climb 528 steps up a cathedral, of course! As today was a lovely day, I decided to trek up to the Golden Gallery of St.Pauls Cathedral to get a different perspective of London. Finished off the afternoon learning about London itself at the Museum of London.

Woke up this morning and saw that it was a lovely day outside, which made me think "I should try and get a panoramic view of London". Great idea. So initially I was thinking that i'd visit Primrose Hill, up by Regents Park. So I popped online for some alternative ideas on how to get a good view of London and found out that I could climb up to the dome of St.Paul's. Fantastic! Given that it was effectively down the road for me, I was sold.

I thought that my journey to St.Pauls would have been uneventful. I was wrong. On the way over to the Cathedral I spotted a dobule decker London bus... with a twist. The bus had the words "The Wedding Special" and "Just Married", a bit hard to make out on the photo below... but at least the ribbon is on the front! Talk about a uniquely London way to get hitched!

Upon arriving at St.Paul's I milled about the perimeter, a truly marvellous building. No point bolting to the top without first admiring the building from the outside! Obviously, St.Paul's is a popular place for tourists - heck, I was there. I noticed a couple of German school groups, as well as a couple of bus loads of tour-guided travellers. Plenty of local English locals as well. Good thing, too. Apparenty maintenance and upkeep of the Cathedral is in the order of 3 or 4 million pounds a year! I didn't feel so bad about parting with 12 pounds and 50 pence after reading coming across that tidbit of information.

After paying the admission fee and having a brief chat with the chap who was guarding the South Entrance, I headed for the top - a journey that totaled 528 stairs (one way). It was actually a lot easier than I thought. The journey up to the Whispering Gallery is wide and smooth, a whole deal more comfortable and open than I expected. Once I got to the Whispering Gallery I was stunned. You just have to go to see, if you haven't already been. The dome above me was overwhelming in size and equally elaborate. A real shame that I couldn't take a photo.

Continuing my journey up to the top was different. The staircase was stone and cramped, just like it was in years past. Not quite the Chu Chi tunnels in Vietnam, but not the cosiest either. The Stone Gallery provides the first lofty views of London, I stopped to have a look for a little while before continuing. Moving from the Stone Gallery up to the Golden Gallery was the least pleasant part of the journey. There's a step thin metal spiral staircase that shoots straight upwards - thankfully there's only 152 of them though.

The view from the Golden Gallery is lovely. A small sample is contained below, beautiful isn't it?
(You can see what a lovely day it was in 'Sunny' England, haha!)

After heading to the top, I ventured down into the Crypt of the Cathedral. Not as breathtaking as the view up top, but it did provide some novel tidbits of information that I didn't know before - things such as... the crypt being the resting place of Lord Nelson (Battle of Trafalgar)!

Babbling on too much now. Just quickly, went to the Museum of London nearby and spent a few hours there. The permanent exhibitions on the history of London were quite interesting. (I didn't have enough time to look at the contemporary sections). Nothing like a bit of history and culture to finish off the day. Notting Hill festival over the next few days, so a packed weekend!

Election '10 and looking for Accomodation

2010-08-24T23:58:00.016+10:00

Week 2 has passed by and it's been full of two things: looking for long-term accommodation and the Australian Federal Election. Not exactly the two items I was really banking on spending much of my time on when I initially signed up for a stint in the UK. I’ll be able to get onto the travel, culture, and all that jazz as soon as i’ve planted myself somewhere... having said that, the Notting Hill Carnival is in London over the weekend, so I won't have to go far!

Tip #2: When searching for accomodation start early.

My first tip for those who are planning on moving on over to work is to start early, and keep at it. Finding a place isn’t the easiest, and there can be quite a lot of competition in the London letting market. One frustrating thing to note is that some of the aggregators can be incorrect (in the sense that properties that have already been rented out or are under offer still show up as ‘hits’).

Given that I didn’t start early enough, nor hard enough – I’ve had to extend my stay at London House for another couple of days. I didn’t quite post up any pictures of London House (it's lovely), so feast your eyes on the pictures below. I'm not sure if I mentioned this last time… I did get a free upgrade from a one-bedder to a two-bedder due to the fact that all the one-bedders were fully booked!

Having said all of this I have actually found longer-term accomodation, it's an expensive shoebox in Bloomsbury. Thankfully it is a hop skip and a jump away from Kings Cross St.Pancras and Russel Square tube stations, so it's a expensive shoebox that happens to be convenient! Just for reference, I was initially looking in and around Angel (Islington), but I was quickly running out of town. Even though the inside is a shoebox, the front of the building looks half-decent! More on the shoebox later, once I move in.

For the second part of today’s blog: the Australian Federal Election. Well, well, well. Very interesting to see a hung parliament! At least I can tell myself that spending the first couple of weeks in London getting involved in campaign work (admittedly only a few days worth) wasn’t a complete waste of time.

Working the booth at Australia House (also known as Gringotts Bank in the Harry Potter movies) was reasonably entertaining this year. Had a great conversation with an Angolan security guard about growing up in Africa and how he wanted to go to Australia when he was younger, discussed the differences in political systems with a lovely Conservative lass from Oxfordshire who had an Aussie friend that’s hardcore Labor, and tried to convince Greens volunteers to consider a 1 Green 2 Libs UK Only “preference deal” (they weren’t biting). Haha! Hillarious.

It’ll prove interesting to see what the result will be! I knew I was onto a good thing when the Libs were out at $4 at the start of the election campaign! Risk-return wise, great odds… so I thought anyway.

First week in London town

2010-08-18T07:21:00.025+10:00

One week in London has passed. My how time flies! Only one week in and already falling behind on the blogging. Ok, so a few notes on getting into London - Heathrow Immigration took a bit of time but the process was quite smooth, lugging around luggage on the tube isn't the easiest... and there are alot of people from Australia in London!

Landed at roughly 7pm on a Tuesday morning and all seemed to be going peachy. I get off the plane and head to the immigrations and customs area. Big lines. The tv screens perched on the ceilings provided a distrcation, but after a few minutes there was nothing new. After about half an hour of waiting, I hit the "45 minutes to go" sign, and started looking around the room... trying to guess the nationality of people based on their look and attempting to verify by looking at their passport. Wasn't having too much success. I either looked very suspsect or bored, at this stage.

Finally, it was my turn to head up to the counter. As I approached the counter, I heard the immigration officer next to me was telling a bloke "ok, what we are going to do is send you home - do you understand that?". The guy next to me was being deported! Ouch. I moved up to the desk without looking at the scene unfolding next to me and handed in my passport, landing card, and my letter of assignment. A few questions later, stamp stamp, and I was in!

The good times didn't quite begin straight away though, as I had quite a bit of luggage. The tube is excellent, I was able to get into town with no major troubles - hopped onto a train and I was in Central London. Easy. Public transport in Sydney is so far behind London that it's just not funny. One thing that you'll find (not really a complaint) is that there are a fair few stairs about the place as the underground stations are... underground. Hauling luggage up the stairs isn't the easiest - but I got there in the end.

Tip #1: In London you stand on the right rather than on the left on the escalators.

Nothing groundbreaking to report in the first week though, as i'm still getting sorted. For the first few days in London I was staying at the Travelodge, and then later moved to the much nicer (read expensive) London House serviced appartments. London House is great, I really enjoy staying there - a few minutes away from work, and it's a pretty swish place with all the amenities... unfortunately it costs over 800 pounds a week! So... i'll be out of there by the end of the month as I need to search for longer term accomodation.

As for exploration in the time i've spent thus far in London, not much. I haven't really done all that much as of yet, and what I have done is mainly centered around tube stations. The stations that i've been to thus far include: Angel, Kings Cross St. Pancras, Temple, St.Pauls, Moorgate, Holland Park, and Shepards Bush.

As much as i've said that it has been largely uneventful, this doesn't mean It definitely hasn't been a boring time thus far. It turns out that there are quite alot of Aussies up here in London, and that includes people that I know (whether it be for work, study, or travel). So in some respects, it feels almost like home. Definitely a smooth transition into the UK so far.

One final note that i've been getting a few questions about. Details on my first weekend here. I'm probably one of the first ever to do this... but I spent a few hours on my first Saturday here in London campaigning for the Australian Federal Election down in Australia House. Crazy? Yes. However, it doesn't matter where I am - it's always hard not to help out. So for those of you that are in the UK, it's time to do the right thing. No prizes for guessing who I voted for, lol.

I really should be looking at accomodation rather than blogging, come to think of it. Will try and get some photos out in future posts as well. That's it for today.

Singapore's 45th Birthday

2010-08-12T06:02:00.031+10:00

On the morning of the 9th of August I departed for Singapore, a stopover before beginning work in the UK. Little did I know that I would arrive on the day of Singapore's 45th birthday. Talk about good timing! As a result of the celebrations, I didn't really get all that far... not that it was bad thing.

I rolled out of bed at a quarter to 5 on Monday morning. Early. Had a quick shower, double checked what I packed and then headed out the door. On the way to the airport! No breakfast required as the 8am Singapore Airlines flight has breakfast included.

Flying economy only allows you to check in 20kg of luggage. I had more, given that I was relocating to the UK for work. Thankfully I was only really several kilos over, they let that pass... after I did a reshuffle from check-in luggage to hand luggage, of course. After a few teary goodbyes it was onto the plane and off to Singapore - A380 style.

Landed in Singapore mid-afternoon, and it was hot. 31 degrees Celcius. Typical Singapore, I was told. I opted to stay over in Singapore as opposed to fly direct to London. I didn't think i'd be able to deal with such a long transit time, and I thought that it'd be a good way to check out the new hotel - Marina Bay Sands.

Marina Bay Sands is a decent place - much of it isn't quite complete yet, but it's getting there. The SkyPark and the Hotels are complete, but some of the boutique restaurants and shops are yet to be filled out. Not quite the Venetian in Macau with respect to the overall package, but it's aiming to get there.

Upon arrival the place was packed. There were people everywhere. Since it was quite warm I decided that i'd go for a bit of a splash in the Infinity Pool and check out the Skypark (aka roof). Whilst lining up to get to Level 57, I found out two things - 1, entry to the top is granted by being a hotel guest or paying for an admission ticket. 2, it was Singapore's National Day holiday. Clearly point 2 is the reason why there were so many people strolling about at Marina Bay Sands.

I heard rumors of a spectacle, so I decided that I was going to camp out up on the roof. After about 45 minutes of waiting, I finally made it up to the top floor (the volume of people wanting to head up to the Skypark was just crazy!). Since it took so long to get up to the top, the decision to stay for a while was made easy. Quickly moving on: the atmosphere and the views of Singapore were great!

Marina Bay Sands - Roof

Marina Bay Sands - Roof view of Singapore

Perhaps waiting around for the celebrations to start (I ended up being on the roof for 3+ hours) wasn't the best of ideas, but since it took so long for me to get to the top... and since it was a national holiday - there wasn't really much of a choice. Watching the celebrations was entertaining, though... so it wasn't a total waste. Some of the displays on offer included parachute landings into one of the stadiums below, choppers flying around carring the Singaporean flag, newly purchased fighter jets (F-15s) performing aerial maneuvers (inc. a shackle), and fireworks!

National Day Celebrations - Aerial Shows

National Dy Celebrations - Aerial Shows

Could write more, but that's probably enough for now. Quick bullet points to finish off:

Ate on the cheap - pork bun and cha sieu wonton noodles for dinner, and a chicken bun for breakfast.
Airport, checkin, A380 to London
Watched 1 film per leg: Kick As$ and Iron Man 2.

More to come about the UK soon!

Queenstown - the week that was

2010-08-04T11:55:00.035+10:00

It's Wednesday and i'm back from a week in Queenstown, New Zealand. Fantastic place, and fun times! It's a real shame that i've had to come home so soon. Snowboarding and exploring was the name of the game for this trip! This week is also my last week in Sydney, the countdown to adventure begins!

5 of us departed for New Zealand on a gloomy Monday evening. Several hours later, 1am local time, we were at Christchurch Airport. With half of the airport closed off and the need to stay overnight we settled by the yellow arrivals wall for some rest. Sleeping by the yellow wall sucks... it's cold and the ground is uncomfortably hard. Shouldn't expect any less really. Didn't get much rest by the wall.

With my jacket over my head, there was more than just the cold and the solid ground to contend with. I struggled to sleep as there was gunfire (arcade gunfire) chattering through the terminal. After a while I decided to wander out and a pair of tards were playing Time Crisis 4. They were clearly in for the long haul as they had a mound of coins on the ground next to them. The benefit of not being able to sleep was that I got to explore the recently opened-up sections of the airport!

Now if you're going to sleep at Christchurch airport, try the soft benches in front of the International Departures section. Part 2 of the Christchurch sleepover was much more comfortable... but even this location is not ideal. I awoke approximately an hour and a half later with a pair of elderly people sharing my "bed". Awkward. I then proceeded to search for another resting place.

As the idiom goes, third time lucky, and this is what it was like with the search for a peaceful rest. Upstairs in the cafe area (on the way to the obeservation deck) is the best pace to sleep. Up in the cafeteria area there are some comfortable long soft seats, a dream to sleep on. If you manage to get up there, sleep there. Simple. Strange start to the post... but thought i'd share this little tidbit! Once 9am hit, I was on a plane to Queenstown.

Queenstown is a lovely place, and accomodation wise... the closer the better. That's the way I see it anyhow. I stayed at the Four Seasons Motel. The accom was clean, close, toasty... and not overly expensive. A decent place to stay. No complaints from me.

Day 1 in Queenstown wasn't a full one, so we decided to go Clayshooting. Now this was good fun! Didn't know what to expect but the instructor, Blake?, was a really down-to-earth guy who took us for a bit of a tour in his van before taking us down to blow clay disks out of the sky. Now I wasn't the best at this, and one of the girls came out on top - but this is a must do in Queenstown in my opinion.

Obviously shooting clay wasn't really the main aim of the holiday. One of the main aims was to get some more experience with snowboarding. I've only ever been once before, so trying to master the S-turns was something that I wanted to do. Reasonably successful, but at a price. Spent plenty of time on my backside and knees. One stack was so severe that my beanie, goggles, and glasses went flying!

Spent one day on each of the nearby ski fields around Queenstown. First up was Cadrona, then the Remarkables, and then Coronet Peak. Each had it's advantage - best runs go to Cadrona runs, best view is from the Remarkables, and Coronet Peak has the best food/organisation. Since i'm a bit of a newbie when it comes to boarding I didn't quite get to all of the runs across the different snow fields... but as always, the newbie areas are the worst. People everywhere, and many of them without any semblance of control. As soon as you learn the basics, my tip is to head out and practice in some less crowded (albeit harder) areas. No pain, no gain!

After a few days of boarding it was time to chill out, and we decided to go and visit the Onsen Hotpools. Apparently this is the thing to do after a few solid days in the snow! I would recommend it, as it's not too expensive... and much cheaper than a massage. We went in the evening (the last session was at 10pm), and it was a treat. You get to sit in a hot pool (a little too hot at times), muck around with the roof so that the stars can be seen, turn on the pressure jets, and get sprayed in the face with cold water. Entertaining. Oh, and I also got addicted to the Apple and Guava (organic) fruit juice.

The following day was wet and gloomy, so didn't really do all that much. We quickly found out that there isn't all that much to do on a rainy day in Queenstown. Funnily enough we ventured down to watch Inception. I thought that this was a great film... thrilling and thought provoking albeit with a predictable twist at the end.

The final day in New Zealand was a treat. Rented a car from Apex, a Subaru Legacy, and took a cruise out to Glenarchy, to do a bit of trailwalking. This has to be New Zealand at its best. The drive out to Glenarchy was amazing - snow capped mountains draped with puffy clouds, windy roads following the shoreline, and the pristine blue waters of Lake Wakatipu. Unfortunately we had a limited amount of time and was only really able to do the Lake Sylvan trail walk. Some of the most fun i've had on that track - wet, boggy, and full of adventure. Great times! A great way to finish up in New Zealand.

Back on the home front. Things are quickly coming together. I've booked the short term accomodation in London - a couple of blocks out from work. Furthermore, i've managed to successfully create a UK bank account (fairly painless), and suspend health insurance cover. Only a few days to go... how exciting!

Passport is back and no turning back

2010-07-25T17:11:00.004+10:00

Finally! My passport is back avec working visa. How exciting! Thankfully it arrives on the eve of my departure to NZ. A really busy week this week - thankfully the stars seem to be aligning. Obviously there are some major hurdles to jump over the next couple of weeks... but I now have the green light to depart. Many thanks to all of you who have shown support and have been wishing me well!

Earlier in the week there was the distinct possibility that I would not be able to leave for New Zealand on Monday. The reason why? My passport. At the start of the week it was in Canberra, still awaiting for my work visa to be affixed. Thankfully, the passport finally came back via courier on Friday morning! Relief. Subsequent to this i've been able to finalise accomodation and will need to finish packing over the weekend. If anyone has any tips on this to do and see in Queenstown, feel free to shoot off some suggestions.

As soon as my passport was returned to me, I was able to get moving on some of the outstanding items on my "things to do before going to the UK" checklist. Signed off on my assignment letter and contract, and also applied for a UK bank account. Some other random tidbits that I was able to do was to arrange for an optometrist session on Monday, as well as re-book my flights to South America (for later this year).

Thanks so much to everyone for being supportive and wishing me well. It's great to have such good friends and i'm sure i'll be back from time to time! Obviously I still need to work on my drinking stamina.

That's enough from me this week as i'm still yet to finish packing for NZ, and still have HEAPS to do before I skip the country. As some would say.... all green!

Only 9 days of work before i'm off to the UK!

2010-07-18T16:39:00.004+10:00

I will only need to rock up to work 9 more times before i'm off to the UK, very soon! As another calendar week flys by I am more and more convinced that I should have given myself an extra week or two to prepare for departure! Now, it's not that I have done nothing over the week (i've not done terribly much), it's just that I may have underestimated slightly.

First thing that I managed to achieve over the week was visit the dentist. I haven't really been diligent as i've not been to the dentist for about a year... and it serves me right. I haven't been avoiding my dentist, as he's quite a good one, i've just been extremely lazy. Thankfully, there is nothing significantly wrong with my teeth - which is a relief! However, it was recommended to me that I take out my top left wisdom tooth. Sigh. Damn teeth! Will have to see if I can schedule this in before I depart.

I also sent in an overseas elector form into the Australian Electoral Commission this week. Just thought i'd get that out of the way before I go. What happens next? Julia Gillard decides to call the election for August 21. Might have to go try my luck over at Australia House when the time comes. I wonder if the major parties campaign outside Australia House in the UK? Hmm...

Onto my visa. My passport is still in Canberra, and I haven't heard anything. This is quite normal though, so i've been told. Hopefully there aren't any issues and i'll get it back this week. I'm due to depart for New Zealand on Monday the 26th... so hopefully i'm not going to be stuck in Sydney. That would be a real shame!

As for accommodation in Singapore en route to London. I've picked that this week as well. The Singapore Stopovers don't look so bad, courtesy of Singapore Airlines. I've chosen to stay at the Marina Bay Sands. There seemed to be quite a few ads for this on the news.com.au website over the past few weeks - it's new and it's novel... also saw a piece on it on one of the magazines I was flicking through at the dentist's... so it's fate! Haha. Will write more on it once I get there, looks nice!

Finally, I managed to get myself a new pair of shoes in preparation for the City to Surf on the 8th of July. Mizunos. On a related note, I went for a training run yesterday, and came out the loser. Comfortably ran 7km, but after a few hours ended up with a niggle around my left knee. Hope that disappears so that I can keep running. That's it for another week!

Visa Updates and Flights Booked

2010-07-11T16:31:00.010+10:00

London is just that little bit closer as another week rolls by! I should really knuckle down and start preparations for the big relocation. However, the big tick for the week is that i've got a departure date locked in. T-minus four weeks and counting... i'll be skipping the country on the morning of the 9th of August.

So the first item of news is a visa update, specifically continuing on from where I left off - biometrics collection. On Monday I headed down to the British Consulate down at the Gateway to get my fingerprints recorded. I rocked up, sat down, and waited to be called. As I was the only person there, the wait was extremely brief. I've never had my fingerprints taken before so this was a novel experience - something which will be a regular feature once my adventures begin in the Northern Hemisphere! Strange note: the only thing that I seem to recall whilst waiting was the slogan "Better Work, Better Britain" emblazoned against the wall alongside a silhouette of the United Kindom and the national flag.

Fingerprint collection was quick and easy, even though there were a few minor complications. Normally, all you would have to do is press down hard onto an electronic touch pad, and the prints get recorded. However, as it was an unusually cold Sydney day the first attempted read of my fingerprints was not successful. After rubbing the tips of my fingers (to warm them up), the second attempt still came up with a blank. Apparently my fingers were too dry, as well as being too cold. So, out comes the dettol hand sanitiser. After some sanitiser and kinetic therapy on the fingertips - success! Mugshot, stamp, stamp and i'm out the door. The whole process was done inside of 15 minutes. Easy.

As I prepared all of the supporting documentation for the visa prior to trekking down to the British Consulate, I immediately sent my visa off for processing post-fingerprinting. A couple of days pass by and I get an email confirming that my visa application has been successfully lodged. Hopefully, this means that i'll be getting my visa back sometime this week. Exciting times!

I've got a departure date locked in, Monday 9 August. Well actually, a first day at work is locked in for Wednesday 11 August - just working back from there! After doing a quick internet search on flights, i've settled with Singapore Airlines. I probably could have gotten a cheaper deal in the end, but i'm partial towards Singapore Airlines. I'll be flying on A380s for both legs (Syd->Sing and Sing->Lon), and staying overnight in Singapore. I will figure out where to stay later on! Now, "why are you stopping over in Singapore?" is a question that you may ask... well... i'm thinking that 24 hours in transit is just way too long!

Finally, what have I got to do over the week ahead? I'll need to organise short-stay accomodation in London (temporary place to stay until I find a proper place to live) and i'll need to get myself sorted for an upcoming NZ ski trip (27 Jul - 03 Aug) that I signed up for before I even knew about the UK offer. Plenty to do, so I had better stop writing!