Tuesday March 4th
I've been in Sydney 2 whole days and I still haven't seen the bridge. I was beginning to think it was a myth, so I decided I'd better get up to the city centre to see it. So off I went on the local bus, which luckily goes all the way into the Rocks, the oldest area of Sydney, which is right down by the bridge, actually under it (most buses stop at other places slighty further away).
I actually jumped off the bus (more on that later) right outside the visitor centre so I was able to pick up loads of maps, brochures etc, inclusing a few for self guided walks which I felt would be right up my street. I wandered around the Rocks for a while, all the time catching glimpses of the big 2 (the bridge and the opera house) between the buildings. I saw a few Irish bars in this area (apparently its the place for St Patrick's day) but luckily my rule is suspended now, so I didn't have to go in (because they are pretty dodgy places). Anyway eventually the big 2 won out, so I headed off to the bridge.
The bridge has 4 towers at each corner, and one is open to climb, about 200 steps. After the Tiger Cave temple this is nothing so I went up and got a great view of the whole harbour. After that I walked across the bridge to the North Shore and as far as Luna Park, which is an all year round sort of Funderland for Syndeysiders, and is about as fun as that description implies. The North Shore seemd nice, but its away from all the action, so I walked back. The Bridge is about a mile in lenght, so it takes about 10 minutes to cross.
Some people might be aware that there is a bridge climb available on the Sydney Harbour Bridge, and may be wondering if I did it. Well the answer is I didn't. Not because of the heights, I've no problem with them, but because of the time it would take. It takes 3.5 hours and in that time I've walked around the Rocks, up the lookout tower, which gives similar views, across the bridge, and then back again, and finally around to Circular Quay.
After lunch in Circular Quay it was off to see the opera house, the second of the big 2, up close. I'd already taken a number of pictures of it from various angles over a distance, and to be honest this is the beast way to photo it. Up close I thought it was not as impressive, and if anything it is starting to show its age. So I didn't actually hang around for long, and instead went for a walk through the botanic gardens to Maquarie point, which has probably some of the best gound based views of the harbour.
And I still wasn't done, I then walked up to Hyde Park to go to Hyde Park Barracks museum, which is a museum dedicated to the early immigrants into Australia, the convicts, a lot of whom were of course Irish. After that period in its life it became a immigration station for Irish women after the famine. So a fair bit of Irish history is involved. The museum also does some geneology reseach, because apparently it is a cool thing these days to have a convict ancestor. Using this I was able to find 9 Costellos who came over as Convicts, and one female Costello who came over as an orphan from the famine. It is actually quite a common name here (you never have to spell it for people provided you pronounce it the Aussie way).
I finished up by getting the bus back to Coogee. I heard quite a few Irish accents talking into their mobile phones. Coogee is where a lot of the Irish backpackers base themselves when doing their work stay in Sydney. I think there were more Irish on this bus than there have been on the 42 home to Malahide in the last few years.
Monday, March 31, 2008
A Lazy Day
Monday March 3rd
Lazy as I'm beginning to get a bit predictable in the titles.
Anyway it was a lazy day. After the lack of sleep last night, and with this being the first time in ages not in a hotel, and with no real deadline for getting up, I ended up sleeping until after 11 am, a straight 11 hours, which I haven't done for many years.
Once up I availed of the local washing facilities, and then headed back to Coogee Bay for brunch. I bought breakfast for the rest of the week, although the Weetabix isn't exactly the same as the ones at home, its the closest to a normal breakfast I've had for a while.
After that I decided to do the coastal walk from Coogee to Bondi Beach. This walks along a large part of the Eastern Suburbs coastline in Sydney and is particularly spectacular with rocky headlands separating nice coves with beaches ranging from the small, to the large. Bondi is the largest, and most commercialised, so inevitable it proves to be a bit of a disappointment with the nicer beaches in the middle coming first. But the whole walk is particularly cool, especially at there were some large waves crashing on the rocks that day.
It seemed like a long walk, there was a lot of climbing up and down steps, but I think it was my photo taking that was delaying me. One thing the guide books do not tell you about Sydney, is how hilly it is.
Also I did have to step out of the way of a lot of joggers running past me. Already I've noticed that there are way more people here into jogging, walking, cycling, or anything to keep them fit than there is at home. Presumably this explains why a lot of the girls are particularly fit looking.
One thing I noted about Bondi was that there were a lot of heavily tanned blokes sleeping on the beach. It was only then I remembered that the Mardi Gras thing had only ended on Saturday so there were a lot of tired 'lads' around. I didn't really like Bondi, so I headed back, and did get back a lot quicker than I got there, presumably because there were fewer photos this time.
A particular highlight of the walk is that you walk through an old cemetary for part of the way. Although it was mostly closed for repair, on the way back I did find an old Costello grave from 1914.
That evening I met a couple of Janets friends for dinner in a nearby pub. And that was my lazy day (lazy, in that I felt I did nothing, except walk about 12 km)
Lazy as I'm beginning to get a bit predictable in the titles.
Anyway it was a lazy day. After the lack of sleep last night, and with this being the first time in ages not in a hotel, and with no real deadline for getting up, I ended up sleeping until after 11 am, a straight 11 hours, which I haven't done for many years.
Once up I availed of the local washing facilities, and then headed back to Coogee Bay for brunch. I bought breakfast for the rest of the week, although the Weetabix isn't exactly the same as the ones at home, its the closest to a normal breakfast I've had for a while.
After that I decided to do the coastal walk from Coogee to Bondi Beach. This walks along a large part of the Eastern Suburbs coastline in Sydney and is particularly spectacular with rocky headlands separating nice coves with beaches ranging from the small, to the large. Bondi is the largest, and most commercialised, so inevitable it proves to be a bit of a disappointment with the nicer beaches in the middle coming first. But the whole walk is particularly cool, especially at there were some large waves crashing on the rocks that day.
It seemed like a long walk, there was a lot of climbing up and down steps, but I think it was my photo taking that was delaying me. One thing the guide books do not tell you about Sydney, is how hilly it is.
Also I did have to step out of the way of a lot of joggers running past me. Already I've noticed that there are way more people here into jogging, walking, cycling, or anything to keep them fit than there is at home. Presumably this explains why a lot of the girls are particularly fit looking.
One thing I noted about Bondi was that there were a lot of heavily tanned blokes sleeping on the beach. It was only then I remembered that the Mardi Gras thing had only ended on Saturday so there were a lot of tired 'lads' around. I didn't really like Bondi, so I headed back, and did get back a lot quicker than I got there, presumably because there were fewer photos this time.
A particular highlight of the walk is that you walk through an old cemetary for part of the way. Although it was mostly closed for repair, on the way back I did find an old Costello grave from 1914.
That evening I met a couple of Janets friends for dinner in a nearby pub. And that was my lazy day (lazy, in that I felt I did nothing, except walk about 12 km)
Saturday, March 29, 2008
A Long Day
Sunday 2nd March
Once I get on a plane I immediately reset my watch to the local time at the destination. This meant it was almost midnight once the plane took off. Of course if you could go asleep then and there it would be OK, but they do insist on serving food and I never pass up a free meal. Anyway as I later found out, it wasn't going to be too easy to sleep with the rather large German gentleman sitting beside me. About 4 hours into the flight, and 2 hours into my sleep, he managed to elbow me in the head (he was asleep also so I guess it was an accident) and that was the end of my sleep.
The arrival in Sydney was fairly OK. As the first plane in that morning the queues at immigration and customs were fairly short, so I was out and in a taxi fairly quickly. Mind you I had to give the taxi driver directions to get to my cousin's place as he didn't see to know where it was, nor how to work his GPS. My minimal knowledge of Sydney was still better than his. (Apparently it is not uncommon in Sydney, or Dublin come to think of it, to have a taxi driver with no local knowledge.)
One other thing, having left the rain of Singapore behind, I was disappointed to see the rain of Sydney on my arrival, but it did clear up very quickly.
Anyway I got there, and got in eventually (a small bit of oversleeping on Janet's part) and we went down to Coogee Bay for breakfast with my other cousin, John, and his family. However we couldn't really stay long because I had to get to the SCG (Sydney Cricket Ground) to watch Australia take on India in the final of a one-day cricket tournament. It was my Christmas present from my sister, but in fairness she thought I was arriving in Sydney the day before. Luckily it was a day night match so didn't start until 2.45pm.
I'm not a cricket journalist, so I won't give a match report. If you really want to see what happened I suggest go to CricInfo.Com. Anyway in the end India won with a bit to spare. The result was known from about 8pm, so a lot of the Aussies, who aren't the best losers in the world, started leaving. Although in fairness a lot of them stayed on until Tendulkar got his century, his first in Oz, and he did get a standing ovation for it.
One thing about the SCG confused me for a while, I knew they had the Paddington end and the Randwick end, and I knew Paddington was North of Randwick. So when the opening bowler was bowling from the Randwick end I looked to me left thinking thats where it was. Of course he was off to my right. I'd used the Sun to work out the directions, forgetting I was now in the Southern hemisphere, so it was in the North not the South. I never even celebrated crossing the equator for the first time.
Not all the Aussies left early by their own accord, some left early by the hand of security. There was a fair amount of drinking going on, although it was only lite beer. They now can only sell low alcohol beer in the stadium because there has been so much trouble in the past. It was a bit disappointing that my first beers in Oz had to be LA, but what can you do. Anyway a lot of the lads would have been tanked up before the start so it didn't take too much more to put them over the top.
With all the empty premium seats (they were great seats, thanks Clare) in my area vacacted by Aussies, the Indians started coming down from the cheap seats, so by the time the Indians won there was a really good atmosphere again. It also seemed to get warmer as the night went on, which is a good thing because when the sun went down the temperature really dropped.
While it was a good thing that the cricket started late, it was also a bad thing because it was 10 when it was over, and 11 when I got back. With only 2 hours sleep the night before it made for a very long day, I was yawning a lot the whole way through the cricket, and unlike most others, it wasn't because I found it boring.
Once I get on a plane I immediately reset my watch to the local time at the destination. This meant it was almost midnight once the plane took off. Of course if you could go asleep then and there it would be OK, but they do insist on serving food and I never pass up a free meal. Anyway as I later found out, it wasn't going to be too easy to sleep with the rather large German gentleman sitting beside me. About 4 hours into the flight, and 2 hours into my sleep, he managed to elbow me in the head (he was asleep also so I guess it was an accident) and that was the end of my sleep.
The arrival in Sydney was fairly OK. As the first plane in that morning the queues at immigration and customs were fairly short, so I was out and in a taxi fairly quickly. Mind you I had to give the taxi driver directions to get to my cousin's place as he didn't see to know where it was, nor how to work his GPS. My minimal knowledge of Sydney was still better than his. (Apparently it is not uncommon in Sydney, or Dublin come to think of it, to have a taxi driver with no local knowledge.)
One other thing, having left the rain of Singapore behind, I was disappointed to see the rain of Sydney on my arrival, but it did clear up very quickly.
Anyway I got there, and got in eventually (a small bit of oversleeping on Janet's part) and we went down to Coogee Bay for breakfast with my other cousin, John, and his family. However we couldn't really stay long because I had to get to the SCG (Sydney Cricket Ground) to watch Australia take on India in the final of a one-day cricket tournament. It was my Christmas present from my sister, but in fairness she thought I was arriving in Sydney the day before. Luckily it was a day night match so didn't start until 2.45pm.
I'm not a cricket journalist, so I won't give a match report. If you really want to see what happened I suggest go to CricInfo.Com. Anyway in the end India won with a bit to spare. The result was known from about 8pm, so a lot of the Aussies, who aren't the best losers in the world, started leaving. Although in fairness a lot of them stayed on until Tendulkar got his century, his first in Oz, and he did get a standing ovation for it.
One thing about the SCG confused me for a while, I knew they had the Paddington end and the Randwick end, and I knew Paddington was North of Randwick. So when the opening bowler was bowling from the Randwick end I looked to me left thinking thats where it was. Of course he was off to my right. I'd used the Sun to work out the directions, forgetting I was now in the Southern hemisphere, so it was in the North not the South. I never even celebrated crossing the equator for the first time.
Not all the Aussies left early by their own accord, some left early by the hand of security. There was a fair amount of drinking going on, although it was only lite beer. They now can only sell low alcohol beer in the stadium because there has been so much trouble in the past. It was a bit disappointing that my first beers in Oz had to be LA, but what can you do. Anyway a lot of the lads would have been tanked up before the start so it didn't take too much more to put them over the top.
With all the empty premium seats (they were great seats, thanks Clare) in my area vacacted by Aussies, the Indians started coming down from the cheap seats, so by the time the Indians won there was a really good atmosphere again. It also seemed to get warmer as the night went on, which is a good thing because when the sun went down the temperature really dropped.
While it was a good thing that the cricket started late, it was also a bad thing because it was 10 when it was over, and 11 when I got back. With only 2 hours sleep the night before it made for a very long day, I was yawning a lot the whole way through the cricket, and unlike most others, it wasn't because I found it boring.
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Rain Day
Saturday March 1st
Woke up to the sound of very heavy rain. My original plan today had been to check out early, find a left luggage place to drop my bags, and then head off to the beach resort of Sentosa for the day. Sentosa has a few touristy things including a cable car and a sky tower that give great views of the city. (Although I was at Singapore's highest point yesterday, the view was hidden by all the trees.)
After hearing the rain, and combined with the slight hangover from last night, my decision was to turn over, have more sleep and check out at the last possible minute. Even then it was still raining, so I gave up on my alternate plan, going to a museum, as I'd get soaked on the way there, so I just headed to an internet cafe, as it is a cheap way to park yourself and your bags for
a couple of hours.
In the end I decided to go out to the airport early. My one sightseeing excursion for the day was to go to Terminal 3 instead of Terminal 1 first, so that I could see the A380. It is massive. Although not as big compared to the 747 as I thought. Still I saw two side by side and it would be cool if the EU got one for itself and parked it beside Air Force One at G7 meetings. Show the US we are now the big world power.
Getting to the airport early was prompted by fears that security would be heavy with the terrorist on the loose (he did want to hijack a plane from there and fly it into the downtown) , and it was, but the airport is so big it wasn't a problem. Queues still moved fast. So I was on the plane and away to Sydney without too many problems.
Woke up to the sound of very heavy rain. My original plan today had been to check out early, find a left luggage place to drop my bags, and then head off to the beach resort of Sentosa for the day. Sentosa has a few touristy things including a cable car and a sky tower that give great views of the city. (Although I was at Singapore's highest point yesterday, the view was hidden by all the trees.)
After hearing the rain, and combined with the slight hangover from last night, my decision was to turn over, have more sleep and check out at the last possible minute. Even then it was still raining, so I gave up on my alternate plan, going to a museum, as I'd get soaked on the way there, so I just headed to an internet cafe, as it is a cheap way to park yourself and your bags for
a couple of hours.
In the end I decided to go out to the airport early. My one sightseeing excursion for the day was to go to Terminal 3 instead of Terminal 1 first, so that I could see the A380. It is massive. Although not as big compared to the 747 as I thought. Still I saw two side by side and it would be cool if the EU got one for itself and parked it beside Air Force One at G7 meetings. Show the US we are now the big world power.
Getting to the airport early was prompted by fears that security would be heavy with the terrorist on the loose (he did want to hijack a plane from there and fly it into the downtown) , and it was, but the airport is so big it wasn't a problem. Queues still moved fast. So I was on the plane and away to Sydney without too many problems.
Leap Day
Friday February 29th
Today is leap day. Having had a number of close encounters with dodgy propositions in South East Asia the fact that this was the day in which women are 'allowed' to propose to men left me a bit nervous. However while watching TV before leaving the hotel I learned that this is not a well known tradition in Singapore. In fact they blame the Irish for this tradition. I know all this because some major new Singaporean film called Leap Days was being released. Some sort of Romantic Comedy type thing Looks rubbish. But the entertainment TV program was explaining the whole thing to their viewers.
Armed with the knowledge that it was safe to venture out I headed off to Bukit Timah, the only remaining patch of jungle on the island, to do some trekking. Mind you it was a bit of a trek to get the bus. The guide said the bus to get was a 861 bus, and so I walked into the centre of town to get it. It was a 25 minute walk, and if I'd thought about it I would have just got a bus to catch that one instead. The bus out was a bit slow, and of course I did what I've seen all these visitors do at Malahide Castle and saw where I was to get off a bit too late, so I missed my stop and had to walk back 10 minutes from the next stop.
Once I was at Bukit Timah thought it was pretty cool. I scaled Singapore's highest peak. OK it is only 163 metres high, and it did only take me 15 minutes. Overall in the park there are probably about 8 km of trails in total so I did them all in 2 hours. As usual there was lots of flora and very little fauna. Some squirrels, insects and the usual semi tame monkeys in the car park (none in the jungle).
After that I got the bus back and did a little more walking in Fort Canning Park. Then as I arrived back at the hotel I saw a 170 bus. That looked familiar. I'd seen them at the reserve while waiting for my 861 back into town. A quick check of the timetable tells me that not only does it go right to the reserve from my hotel, but its a lot quicker as well. I guess if I'd asked the hotel staff they might have known, but instead I relied on the brochure.
The strangest thing is that once back at the hotel I noticed on the news that one of the worlds most wanted terrorists had escaped from prison in Singapore and was suspected to be running around the forested areas of Singapore. I had seen the wanted poster in the ticket office in the park, but hadn't paid any attention to it. I'm glad I didn't run into him.
After the relatively empty bars last night, the after work crowd on the Friday certainly made things busier. The places I wanted to go for food tonight (again from before) were packed with lost of reserved for company X signs, so I had to slum it and go to Hooters instead. Its a sign of how relaxed Singapore seems to be now, compared to even 7 years ago, that this is the first one in Asia (you'd have put money on it being in Bangkok or Hong Kong). I've also noticed more jaywalking and even some litter.
After that I went to a Scottish bar where a Proclaimers tribute band were playing and I stayed there all night. In a case of be careful what you wish for, I didn't get hassled all night by any girls. Which is a pity because Singapore definitely beats all the others in the best looking locals, and has a fairly good influx of good looking expats as well.
Today is leap day. Having had a number of close encounters with dodgy propositions in South East Asia the fact that this was the day in which women are 'allowed' to propose to men left me a bit nervous. However while watching TV before leaving the hotel I learned that this is not a well known tradition in Singapore. In fact they blame the Irish for this tradition. I know all this because some major new Singaporean film called Leap Days was being released. Some sort of Romantic Comedy type thing Looks rubbish. But the entertainment TV program was explaining the whole thing to their viewers.
Armed with the knowledge that it was safe to venture out I headed off to Bukit Timah, the only remaining patch of jungle on the island, to do some trekking. Mind you it was a bit of a trek to get the bus. The guide said the bus to get was a 861 bus, and so I walked into the centre of town to get it. It was a 25 minute walk, and if I'd thought about it I would have just got a bus to catch that one instead. The bus out was a bit slow, and of course I did what I've seen all these visitors do at Malahide Castle and saw where I was to get off a bit too late, so I missed my stop and had to walk back 10 minutes from the next stop.
Once I was at Bukit Timah thought it was pretty cool. I scaled Singapore's highest peak. OK it is only 163 metres high, and it did only take me 15 minutes. Overall in the park there are probably about 8 km of trails in total so I did them all in 2 hours. As usual there was lots of flora and very little fauna. Some squirrels, insects and the usual semi tame monkeys in the car park (none in the jungle).
After that I got the bus back and did a little more walking in Fort Canning Park. Then as I arrived back at the hotel I saw a 170 bus. That looked familiar. I'd seen them at the reserve while waiting for my 861 back into town. A quick check of the timetable tells me that not only does it go right to the reserve from my hotel, but its a lot quicker as well. I guess if I'd asked the hotel staff they might have known, but instead I relied on the brochure.
The strangest thing is that once back at the hotel I noticed on the news that one of the worlds most wanted terrorists had escaped from prison in Singapore and was suspected to be running around the forested areas of Singapore. I had seen the wanted poster in the ticket office in the park, but hadn't paid any attention to it. I'm glad I didn't run into him.
After the relatively empty bars last night, the after work crowd on the Friday certainly made things busier. The places I wanted to go for food tonight (again from before) were packed with lost of reserved for company X signs, so I had to slum it and go to Hooters instead. Its a sign of how relaxed Singapore seems to be now, compared to even 7 years ago, that this is the first one in Asia (you'd have put money on it being in Bangkok or Hong Kong). I've also noticed more jaywalking and even some litter.
After that I went to a Scottish bar where a Proclaimers tribute band were playing and I stayed there all night. In a case of be careful what you wish for, I didn't get hassled all night by any girls. Which is a pity because Singapore definitely beats all the others in the best looking locals, and has a fairly good influx of good looking expats as well.
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
This place looks vaguely familiar
Thursday February 28th.
Got up quite early to check out and get the bus to Singapore. I'd booked the ticket the previous night, from what I saw that meant I paid about a euro more, to all of 6 euros. It is still very good value for a 6 hour bus trip into another country. It is all very efficient, even at the border crossing. However when I got to Singapore we were dropped in a different place to where I was expecting, which did mean a bit more of a walk to the accomodation locations.
It actually took a while to get a room in Singapore (due to the now sorted cedit card problems I had been unable to book ahead), there aren't as many cheap places, and therefore they get booked out quickly. I ended up after an hour and a half settling for a relatively expensive place. It was too hot to wander around anymore (and also once again the Rough Guide had proved itself to be quite useless). Although I later found that I could have saved myself a fair bit if I'd just wandered around the corner. Doh.
Singapore is the only place on my trip that I've been to before. So that evening I decided to do a quick tour of all the places I'd seen before. Some things were the same (Raffles hotel for example), some things were new (the new theatres on the bay, trying to be a rival for Sydney), and some things were moved. The Merlion statue is a major symbol of the city, and I'm standing taking pictures of it, when suddenly I'm thinking it wasn't here before. Now its an old statue, so I'm thinking they couldn't have moved it, I must be wrong, but it turns out I wasn't going mad, it had been moved. In fact when you look at it, there are loads of subtle changes to the city, they aren't afraid of moving things round to make things easier for both locals and tourists.
Another place I struggled with my memory to locate was the old IFS office that we worked out of when in Singapore. I was sure I had the right building, based on its proximity to the Raffles Place metro station, but it all looked different.
After seeing the changes to the sights, I decided to see the changes to the pubs I'd been to. I went up Boat Quay to see if I could find the dodgy joint that us Irish used to be taken to when we were over in Singapore working, but I couldn't. It seems to have closed. So instead I went to a british pub that the rest of the staff used to be taken to. I had a couple of drinks and then headed to the CHIJMES complex to see if I could find a restaurant where I had had one of the best steaks in my life. I'm not sure if I found it but I did have another really good steak. I did discover that an Irish bar that had been there was no longer there.
The CHIJMES complex, which is an old convent, was a lot quieter than I would have thought, so I actually was able to talk to the waitresses a bit. They said the Irish bar had only just gone, and a big chain was in its place. I was a bit disappointed even though I wouldn't have had to go there, as the rule is never pass an Irish pub you've not been in before, and I'd previously been in all Singapore's Irish bars.
So I left CHIJMES and was deciding whether or not to head back to the quays when two lads stopped me and asked in the biggest Mayo accents did I know where Clarke Quay was. I'd only been in the city 6 hours, and hadn't been to Clarke Quay for 7 years, but luckily for them I did know. I showed them and we had a few drinks. James and John were over for some Engineering conference, and it was nice to have a few Irish lads of my own age, as oppose dto all those young backpackers, to talk to. The night didn't go on too late as being a work night most places seemed to close up early enough (midnight).
Got up quite early to check out and get the bus to Singapore. I'd booked the ticket the previous night, from what I saw that meant I paid about a euro more, to all of 6 euros. It is still very good value for a 6 hour bus trip into another country. It is all very efficient, even at the border crossing. However when I got to Singapore we were dropped in a different place to where I was expecting, which did mean a bit more of a walk to the accomodation locations.
It actually took a while to get a room in Singapore (due to the now sorted cedit card problems I had been unable to book ahead), there aren't as many cheap places, and therefore they get booked out quickly. I ended up after an hour and a half settling for a relatively expensive place. It was too hot to wander around anymore (and also once again the Rough Guide had proved itself to be quite useless). Although I later found that I could have saved myself a fair bit if I'd just wandered around the corner. Doh.
Singapore is the only place on my trip that I've been to before. So that evening I decided to do a quick tour of all the places I'd seen before. Some things were the same (Raffles hotel for example), some things were new (the new theatres on the bay, trying to be a rival for Sydney), and some things were moved. The Merlion statue is a major symbol of the city, and I'm standing taking pictures of it, when suddenly I'm thinking it wasn't here before. Now its an old statue, so I'm thinking they couldn't have moved it, I must be wrong, but it turns out I wasn't going mad, it had been moved. In fact when you look at it, there are loads of subtle changes to the city, they aren't afraid of moving things round to make things easier for both locals and tourists.
Another place I struggled with my memory to locate was the old IFS office that we worked out of when in Singapore. I was sure I had the right building, based on its proximity to the Raffles Place metro station, but it all looked different.
After seeing the changes to the sights, I decided to see the changes to the pubs I'd been to. I went up Boat Quay to see if I could find the dodgy joint that us Irish used to be taken to when we were over in Singapore working, but I couldn't. It seems to have closed. So instead I went to a british pub that the rest of the staff used to be taken to. I had a couple of drinks and then headed to the CHIJMES complex to see if I could find a restaurant where I had had one of the best steaks in my life. I'm not sure if I found it but I did have another really good steak. I did discover that an Irish bar that had been there was no longer there.
The CHIJMES complex, which is an old convent, was a lot quieter than I would have thought, so I actually was able to talk to the waitresses a bit. They said the Irish bar had only just gone, and a big chain was in its place. I was a bit disappointed even though I wouldn't have had to go there, as the rule is never pass an Irish pub you've not been in before, and I'd previously been in all Singapore's Irish bars.
So I left CHIJMES and was deciding whether or not to head back to the quays when two lads stopped me and asked in the biggest Mayo accents did I know where Clarke Quay was. I'd only been in the city 6 hours, and hadn't been to Clarke Quay for 7 years, but luckily for them I did know. I showed them and we had a few drinks. James and John were over for some Engineering conference, and it was nice to have a few Irish lads of my own age, as oppose dto all those young backpackers, to talk to. The night didn't go on too late as being a work night most places seemed to close up early enough (midnight).
Saturday, March 1, 2008
Musuem Day
Wednesday February 27th
The weather was a lot warmer today, and anyway I'd planned to go to 3 museums (nice cool places). But the plan suffered a blow when I went to the first, the National History Museum. A truck was blocking the entrance, I couldn't see a way in, and there were building materials all over the place. I figured some sort of renovations were going on. So I went onto the second museum, the Islamic Arts Museum.
This turned out to be quite interesting in some ways. The best bit is right at the beginning where they have scale models of all the main mosques in the world, Mecca, Medina, Cairo, Istanbul etc. And the Taj Mahal. The models were interesting, although the ones they had to represent Malay mosque design weren't actually that great. There was no model of the national mosque for example, although you only had to look out the window to see it so why bother.
The rest of the museum turned out to be pretty standard, coins, metalwork, woodwork, fabrics and of course a couple of dozens of copies of the Qur'an. Not many Danish cartoons or pictures of Allah or Muhammad though. Actually it was quite strange, there was an explanation of why they believe that no art work should depict any human, and then you turn the corner to see a picture of some ancient Indian Muslim leader. A bit inconsistent.
The other strange thing is that although they were at pains to note the differences between how Islam evolved in say India and China, and the effect on the artwork, there was no mention of differences say between Sunni and Shi'a artwork. Maybe there is none, but the impression you get leaving is of a single unified religion not what it is. Mind you they have an overblown sense of their own importance in a few places. For example one exhibit said the most important thing about the Monsoon winds was that it allowed the spread of Islam to the Malay Peninsula. And I'm thinking, no, it allowed rain so people could live there. Without people living there, who would you have spread it to.
After about an hour and a half of that it was onto the National Museum. I'm not sure how it differed from the first one. Anyway this was a bit disappointing. About 40% of it was undergoing renovations and all the ancient stuff was not available. So history only started in 1641. There was some interesting stuff, and it did take a while to go around. There was some terrible pro government propaganda about how the national plans going forward were so great etc. This with an upcoming election.
I do get this overall impression from Malaysia that they are still suffering a bit from some sort of need to remind everyone that lives there that they are a first world country, for example the Malaysia astronaut is pictured everywhere to show how advanced they are. I don't think they really need to be so blatant about it. There is still poverty, but its not much worse than in some parts of the US. This is definitely a first world country.
After the second museum I was a bit museumed out. I'm not sure if I could have managed a third like I planned so I headed back to the hotel, and this time went to the Central Market. This was less like a market and more like a shopping centre than some of the shopping centres. I couldn't figure out why its supposed to be such a big deal, but the food court was good value, and at least I could see my meal was cooked to order.
The weather was a lot warmer today, and anyway I'd planned to go to 3 museums (nice cool places). But the plan suffered a blow when I went to the first, the National History Museum. A truck was blocking the entrance, I couldn't see a way in, and there were building materials all over the place. I figured some sort of renovations were going on. So I went onto the second museum, the Islamic Arts Museum.
This turned out to be quite interesting in some ways. The best bit is right at the beginning where they have scale models of all the main mosques in the world, Mecca, Medina, Cairo, Istanbul etc. And the Taj Mahal. The models were interesting, although the ones they had to represent Malay mosque design weren't actually that great. There was no model of the national mosque for example, although you only had to look out the window to see it so why bother.
The rest of the museum turned out to be pretty standard, coins, metalwork, woodwork, fabrics and of course a couple of dozens of copies of the Qur'an. Not many Danish cartoons or pictures of Allah or Muhammad though. Actually it was quite strange, there was an explanation of why they believe that no art work should depict any human, and then you turn the corner to see a picture of some ancient Indian Muslim leader. A bit inconsistent.
The other strange thing is that although they were at pains to note the differences between how Islam evolved in say India and China, and the effect on the artwork, there was no mention of differences say between Sunni and Shi'a artwork. Maybe there is none, but the impression you get leaving is of a single unified religion not what it is. Mind you they have an overblown sense of their own importance in a few places. For example one exhibit said the most important thing about the Monsoon winds was that it allowed the spread of Islam to the Malay Peninsula. And I'm thinking, no, it allowed rain so people could live there. Without people living there, who would you have spread it to.
After about an hour and a half of that it was onto the National Museum. I'm not sure how it differed from the first one. Anyway this was a bit disappointing. About 40% of it was undergoing renovations and all the ancient stuff was not available. So history only started in 1641. There was some interesting stuff, and it did take a while to go around. There was some terrible pro government propaganda about how the national plans going forward were so great etc. This with an upcoming election.
I do get this overall impression from Malaysia that they are still suffering a bit from some sort of need to remind everyone that lives there that they are a first world country, for example the Malaysia astronaut is pictured everywhere to show how advanced they are. I don't think they really need to be so blatant about it. There is still poverty, but its not much worse than in some parts of the US. This is definitely a first world country.
After the second museum I was a bit museumed out. I'm not sure if I could have managed a third like I planned so I headed back to the hotel, and this time went to the Central Market. This was less like a market and more like a shopping centre than some of the shopping centres. I couldn't figure out why its supposed to be such a big deal, but the food court was good value, and at least I could see my meal was cooked to order.
Peculiar People in Petronas Plaza
Tuesday February 26th
It was even more overcast today, and nowhere near as warm or humid. Judging by the wetness on the ground it had even rained. Today I was going to go to Petronas Towers and go up them. But I had second thoughts due to the poor visibility so instead went down to Merkala (Independence) Sqaure. Had a look around, and while taking a photo of the flagpole, a local guy came over to tell me that it was the largest flagpole in the world. As we were chatting he asked where I was from, and I said Ireland. Immediately he was on about his sister who was training in a hospital over there. I definitely have noticed that there is much more awareness of Ireland here than there was in Thailand. Anyway I had a brief chat with the man before he wandered off.
At this point I decided that if the weather had gotten worse from yesterday, it could well be worse again tomorrow, and also that it got better yesterday afternoon, so maybe it would again. So maybe I would head up to Petronas after all. So onto the MRT (Metro) this time (which is the noisy skytrain, although the portion of the line I was on was actually underground).
To get to the towers from the train you have to go through the KLCC Shopping Centre which is at the base of the towers. Its another big shopping centre, but it did have one or two western names I hadn't seen before, including M&S and O'Briens. I was tempted to go for a Sandwich in O'Briens, for a taste of home, until I saw the prices, which were a real taste of home.
When you get to the Petronas Towers, you get a ticket which allocates you a time at which you will go up to the skybridge (which is a bridge connecting the two towers at the 41st floor) but you cannot get to the top. I got allocated a 4pm ticket. It was 11am. They do say get there early (and I had hesitated - he who hesitates is lost) but I also think its a scam to keep you hanging around the shops and restaurants. Well I went outside to take some photos and decide what to do next and this is where the really strange stuff started.
As I'm standing outside a local woman comes up to me and says 'You are staying in Chinatown'. I'm thinking I look like a backpacker (rather than a 4* hotel guest) so its a good guess, but then she says the weird thing 'I've seen you there'. I'm thinking is she following me (your danger sense kicks in at this point, but also you do want to see how it plays out), so she asks the standard where are you from question, and I say Ireland. Well surprise, surprise she has a sister who is going to Killarney next month. (At this point I'm thinking does everyone have a sister in Ireland, and where would she be going if I'd said France). After a bit more chat (how cold it is in Ireland now - the first bloke wanted to know that as well) she wants me to come meet her sister to give her information about Ireland.
Once you see which way the scam is going (11am is the earliest the girl scam has been tried) you get out, so I excused myself and headed off. To play it safe I headed back into the shops out the other side. And on this side a couple were taking photos of themselves with the fountains in the background. They asked me to take a shot of the two of them together so I figured that I'm safer with tourists (although they were Asian) and it all starts over. The bloke says he is from the Philipines, I say Ireland, he has a cousin working in Dublin, and suddenly the girl with him is his single cousin (she might have been before) who was thinking of going to Europe.
Extracting myself from that one I went into a coffee shop to recover (and watch the doors). Having had my Diet Coke I emerged, only to immediately be confronted by a man who also had some connection to Dublin (at this point I no longer listened). In fairness his scam was a bit easier to work out. He had tickets for earlier skybridge visits and would swap my 4 O'Clock one with his (for a fee I'd guess). At this point I discovered I'd lost my ticket (I think in the escape from the first woman), and I was so weary from all this attention that I decided to give up on the Petronas Towers.
So I headed off to the KL tower. Unlike the Petronas, which are office blocks, like say the Empire State, they KL tower is a communications tower, like the CN Tower in Toronto. It cost to go up it, which I guess is why queues are smaller (actually there was no queue at all). But the observation deck is at a higher elevation than the skybridge (and the tower is on a hill in the first place) and it has a 360 degree view, where I guess some of the view from the skybridge has to be blocked by the towers. In fact even before going up I was trying to figure why people cared about going up to the 41 floor of these buildings. Its not that impressive. In fact I really only wanted to the top (where it would have been higher than the World Trade Centre the highest building I've been in). And once I got up I thought there is no way the view from the skybridge could be better, so wasn't too upset about losing the ticket.
But one of the best parts of the KL Tower is getting to it. To get there from the train station requires a 800m walk through some rainforest. Well you can drive up to it from the other side, but where is the fun in that.
At that point it would have been just about time to get back to the Petronas, but instead I headed back to the hotel. I tried to book accomodation for Singapore, and discovered that my credit card was still getting rejected, so another round of phone calls to Ireland, where the bank insisted there was nothing wrong, and emails to the websites, ensued.
These delays meant that instead of going back to the shopping centre areas for a few drinks I stayed local. I also discovered that my hotel is a rip off when it comes to beer prices.
It was even more overcast today, and nowhere near as warm or humid. Judging by the wetness on the ground it had even rained. Today I was going to go to Petronas Towers and go up them. But I had second thoughts due to the poor visibility so instead went down to Merkala (Independence) Sqaure. Had a look around, and while taking a photo of the flagpole, a local guy came over to tell me that it was the largest flagpole in the world. As we were chatting he asked where I was from, and I said Ireland. Immediately he was on about his sister who was training in a hospital over there. I definitely have noticed that there is much more awareness of Ireland here than there was in Thailand. Anyway I had a brief chat with the man before he wandered off.
At this point I decided that if the weather had gotten worse from yesterday, it could well be worse again tomorrow, and also that it got better yesterday afternoon, so maybe it would again. So maybe I would head up to Petronas after all. So onto the MRT (Metro) this time (which is the noisy skytrain, although the portion of the line I was on was actually underground).
To get to the towers from the train you have to go through the KLCC Shopping Centre which is at the base of the towers. Its another big shopping centre, but it did have one or two western names I hadn't seen before, including M&S and O'Briens. I was tempted to go for a Sandwich in O'Briens, for a taste of home, until I saw the prices, which were a real taste of home.
When you get to the Petronas Towers, you get a ticket which allocates you a time at which you will go up to the skybridge (which is a bridge connecting the two towers at the 41st floor) but you cannot get to the top. I got allocated a 4pm ticket. It was 11am. They do say get there early (and I had hesitated - he who hesitates is lost) but I also think its a scam to keep you hanging around the shops and restaurants. Well I went outside to take some photos and decide what to do next and this is where the really strange stuff started.
As I'm standing outside a local woman comes up to me and says 'You are staying in Chinatown'. I'm thinking I look like a backpacker (rather than a 4* hotel guest) so its a good guess, but then she says the weird thing 'I've seen you there'. I'm thinking is she following me (your danger sense kicks in at this point, but also you do want to see how it plays out), so she asks the standard where are you from question, and I say Ireland. Well surprise, surprise she has a sister who is going to Killarney next month. (At this point I'm thinking does everyone have a sister in Ireland, and where would she be going if I'd said France). After a bit more chat (how cold it is in Ireland now - the first bloke wanted to know that as well) she wants me to come meet her sister to give her information about Ireland.
Once you see which way the scam is going (11am is the earliest the girl scam has been tried) you get out, so I excused myself and headed off. To play it safe I headed back into the shops out the other side. And on this side a couple were taking photos of themselves with the fountains in the background. They asked me to take a shot of the two of them together so I figured that I'm safer with tourists (although they were Asian) and it all starts over. The bloke says he is from the Philipines, I say Ireland, he has a cousin working in Dublin, and suddenly the girl with him is his single cousin (she might have been before) who was thinking of going to Europe.
Extracting myself from that one I went into a coffee shop to recover (and watch the doors). Having had my Diet Coke I emerged, only to immediately be confronted by a man who also had some connection to Dublin (at this point I no longer listened). In fairness his scam was a bit easier to work out. He had tickets for earlier skybridge visits and would swap my 4 O'Clock one with his (for a fee I'd guess). At this point I discovered I'd lost my ticket (I think in the escape from the first woman), and I was so weary from all this attention that I decided to give up on the Petronas Towers.
So I headed off to the KL tower. Unlike the Petronas, which are office blocks, like say the Empire State, they KL tower is a communications tower, like the CN Tower in Toronto. It cost to go up it, which I guess is why queues are smaller (actually there was no queue at all). But the observation deck is at a higher elevation than the skybridge (and the tower is on a hill in the first place) and it has a 360 degree view, where I guess some of the view from the skybridge has to be blocked by the towers. In fact even before going up I was trying to figure why people cared about going up to the 41 floor of these buildings. Its not that impressive. In fact I really only wanted to the top (where it would have been higher than the World Trade Centre the highest building I've been in). And once I got up I thought there is no way the view from the skybridge could be better, so wasn't too upset about losing the ticket.
But one of the best parts of the KL Tower is getting to it. To get there from the train station requires a 800m walk through some rainforest. Well you can drive up to it from the other side, but where is the fun in that.
At that point it would have been just about time to get back to the Petronas, but instead I headed back to the hotel. I tried to book accomodation for Singapore, and discovered that my credit card was still getting rejected, so another round of phone calls to Ireland, where the bank insisted there was nothing wrong, and emails to the websites, ensued.
These delays meant that instead of going back to the shopping centre areas for a few drinks I stayed local. I also discovered that my hotel is a rip off when it comes to beer prices.
The birds and the butterflies
Monday Febraury 25th
It ws slightly overcast this morning when I got up, so I decided it was better to do some outside stuff today as it wouldn't be as hot. So it was off to Lake Gardens, which I guess is KLs version of the Phoenix Park. It took me a while to get there, walking, as a lot of places are closed on Mondays, inclusing the way the girl at the tourist office pointed me. Yet another case of official directions not being that good. However in fairness to KL, there are a lot of signs showing directions to all the main sights, and they do seem to have the expectation that people will be walking to them. Its a much smaller city than Bangkok, and it is easier to get around on foot.
Lake Gardens has a number of attractions in it including the Orchid Gardens, Bird Park, Hibiscus Gardens, Butterfly Park, Sculpture Park and National Monument, all of which I went to see, and some others I didn't bother with. None of them were brilliant, but together they do provide a decent day out. I guess I was about 4 or 5 hours going around them all. The Orchid and Hibiscus (the national flower of Malaysia) gardens were free, so probably were best value, the Bird Park was a bit pricey (at M$35 - 7 Euro - which I mention only because the official city guide for Feb 2008 said it was M$28 - so thats a fair bit of inflation in bird food prices). And if you thought it was hard taking pictures of the birds, you could just forget about it in the Butterfly farm. Little (and some quite big) buggers won't stay still for photos. Very inconsiderate.
By now the cloud had cleared and it was beginning to get very hot, so I decided some indoor (or to be more accurate air conditioned) sights might be in order. So it was onto the monorail and off to the shopping centres.
Yes you heard right, this was via monorail. Unlike the skytrain in Bangkok, which was just a conventional train, one of the lines in KL is an actual monorail. Now some people say those things are awfully loud, but this glides silently as a cloud (compared to the other Skytrain here which is 2 railed and very noisy). And as for a chance that the track will bend, its reinforced concrete, so I'd say not a chance my (insert religion here) friend. And anyone who doesn't know what I'm on about needs to watch more Simpsons.
Anyway back to the shopping centres. Like Bangkok, there is a much pricier set of tourist hotels than the ones that I was staying in, and these are all in whats called the Golden Triangle, alongside all the main shopping centres. Again these are your usual SE Asian type shopping centres, unbelivably large. Some are like sort of markets with many small units, all selling similar stuff, others are filled with the western leading chains and labels.
However the big daddy of them all has to be Berjaya Time Square. This place is just enormous, with hundreds of shops, dozens of restaurants, a muti screen and IMAX cinema, an amusement park with roller coaster (all indoor) and good knows what else. My plan had been to go to dinner in the food court at the top though, but when I got there it was quite empty (a problem with being big is that it needs a lot of people to make you look busy). Being empty was an issue because instead of having the food cooked to order, the food was all out, and would be reheated on order. I wasn't having any of that, it could have been there since the day before.
So I went back down to one of the restaurants by the cinema. As you can guess there were McDonalds and Starbucks there, and the place I went to was basically a Malay food version of McDs. Or as I had chicken I guess KFC. But it did the job and was cheap.
After that I wandered around this area, popping into another big huge shopping centre, and of course walking past an Irish pub, so with the rule 'Never pass an Irish Bar' I had to pop in for a drink. (If anyone is keeping count it is number 12). This area seemed to be livelier in terms of nightlife than where I was staying but my feet were beginning to tire by now so I headed back to my hotel.
Which is where they informed me that my credit card had been rejected for my web booking. I couldn't figure out why, and we tried again on the local PIN code activated machine and luckily it still worked fine. So the hotel had no problem with me, but the websites are all against me. But it took me the rest of the night (and eventually the rest of the week) to get it sorted.
It ws slightly overcast this morning when I got up, so I decided it was better to do some outside stuff today as it wouldn't be as hot. So it was off to Lake Gardens, which I guess is KLs version of the Phoenix Park. It took me a while to get there, walking, as a lot of places are closed on Mondays, inclusing the way the girl at the tourist office pointed me. Yet another case of official directions not being that good. However in fairness to KL, there are a lot of signs showing directions to all the main sights, and they do seem to have the expectation that people will be walking to them. Its a much smaller city than Bangkok, and it is easier to get around on foot.
Lake Gardens has a number of attractions in it including the Orchid Gardens, Bird Park, Hibiscus Gardens, Butterfly Park, Sculpture Park and National Monument, all of which I went to see, and some others I didn't bother with. None of them were brilliant, but together they do provide a decent day out. I guess I was about 4 or 5 hours going around them all. The Orchid and Hibiscus (the national flower of Malaysia) gardens were free, so probably were best value, the Bird Park was a bit pricey (at M$35 - 7 Euro - which I mention only because the official city guide for Feb 2008 said it was M$28 - so thats a fair bit of inflation in bird food prices). And if you thought it was hard taking pictures of the birds, you could just forget about it in the Butterfly farm. Little (and some quite big) buggers won't stay still for photos. Very inconsiderate.
By now the cloud had cleared and it was beginning to get very hot, so I decided some indoor (or to be more accurate air conditioned) sights might be in order. So it was onto the monorail and off to the shopping centres.
Yes you heard right, this was via monorail. Unlike the skytrain in Bangkok, which was just a conventional train, one of the lines in KL is an actual monorail. Now some people say those things are awfully loud, but this glides silently as a cloud (compared to the other Skytrain here which is 2 railed and very noisy). And as for a chance that the track will bend, its reinforced concrete, so I'd say not a chance my (insert religion here) friend. And anyone who doesn't know what I'm on about needs to watch more Simpsons.
Anyway back to the shopping centres. Like Bangkok, there is a much pricier set of tourist hotels than the ones that I was staying in, and these are all in whats called the Golden Triangle, alongside all the main shopping centres. Again these are your usual SE Asian type shopping centres, unbelivably large. Some are like sort of markets with many small units, all selling similar stuff, others are filled with the western leading chains and labels.
However the big daddy of them all has to be Berjaya Time Square. This place is just enormous, with hundreds of shops, dozens of restaurants, a muti screen and IMAX cinema, an amusement park with roller coaster (all indoor) and good knows what else. My plan had been to go to dinner in the food court at the top though, but when I got there it was quite empty (a problem with being big is that it needs a lot of people to make you look busy). Being empty was an issue because instead of having the food cooked to order, the food was all out, and would be reheated on order. I wasn't having any of that, it could have been there since the day before.
So I went back down to one of the restaurants by the cinema. As you can guess there were McDonalds and Starbucks there, and the place I went to was basically a Malay food version of McDs. Or as I had chicken I guess KFC. But it did the job and was cheap.
After that I wandered around this area, popping into another big huge shopping centre, and of course walking past an Irish pub, so with the rule 'Never pass an Irish Bar' I had to pop in for a drink. (If anyone is keeping count it is number 12). This area seemed to be livelier in terms of nightlife than where I was staying but my feet were beginning to tire by now so I headed back to my hotel.
Which is where they informed me that my credit card had been rejected for my web booking. I couldn't figure out why, and we tried again on the local PIN code activated machine and luckily it still worked fine. So the hotel had no problem with me, but the websites are all against me. But it took me the rest of the night (and eventually the rest of the week) to get it sorted.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)