Shanghai

We arrived in Shanghai tired and emotionally drained.  We had a 5am wake up call in Athens, 5.30am left for airport, 8.30am left Athens for Heathrow. The flight was 4 hours but with time differences we arrived at Heathrow at 10.30am to be met by Michelle and Nathan B who had come to see us and help us get through a 5 hour stopover before our flight to Shanghai. It was great to see the kids again but hard having to part knowing it would be some time before we would see them again.  However they are all well and happy and having such a great time seeing as much as they can.  Their experiences will last them a lifetime and I am very envious.

We left Heathrow at 3.30pm and after a 11.50  hour flight arrived in Shanghai at 10.00am the next day.  We flew Virgin Atlantic for this section of our travel and they were an excellent air line.  Got the full pack of give aways containing socks, eye mask, toothbrush and paste and a pen whereas Air NZ gave us nothing even on our 24 hour flight from NZ to London.  I did get a toothbrush and some paste when I asked for one but I noticed there was only a couple of brushes to give out.  Food on Virgin was also very tasty, I thought better than our big Air NZ flight but then on our flight from Shanghai to Auckland with Air NZ the food would have been the best we had.

We were met by our guide Maria (a Chinese lady of indeterminate age) who was to be our guide for the next four days and Mr (sounded like shit) who was our driver. First impressions of Shanghai driving in from the airport were that it was a very vast yet clean city. 23 million people live in Shanghai so once again like Istanbul lots of multi story apartment buildings for housing.  Our hotel, The Bund Riverside, was not as the name suggests by the Bund River but certainly not far from it and we could see it from our room on the 16th floor.

Window seat in our Hotel Room

Views from our room.  This is not The Bund River but a subsidary

After being dropped at our hotel around mid day the rest of that day was free time. We were not far from a main shopping street where there were lots of "Western" shops ie Zara, Espirit, Lacoste etc in big shopping malls.  We made our way here through side streets which is where we saw the seedier side of Shanghai. We lunched and had a look around, headed back to the hotel for a rest and then out again for our dinner. We got a couple of Chinese dishes from a restaurant in one of the malls as weren't game to try some of the more "authentic" take aways.  

Our guide arranged to pick us up in the hotel lobby at 9.30am the next morning.  As this was late for us we didn't bother setting an alarm as we were sure we would awaken hours earlier.  However we slept in until 8.45am, unheard of for Pete, so it was a quick scramble for showers and breakfast.  The day started with a tour of Yu Gardens in the Old China part of Shanghai. It is a traditional Chinese garden with many Pavilions linked by corridors and bridges over ponds.

A Pavilion in Yu Gardens

Yu Gardens

Bridge of 9 turns -evil spirits have problems with corners and therefore cannot follow you

After the gardens we were taken to a shop for a traditional tea ceremony.  We tried several teas but of course the real reason we were there was to BUY the tea and cups etc.  We did get some green tea and paid 100 yuan for it, the same amount in the shop in our hotel lobby was 30 yuan! Difference of NZ$20 as opposed to NZ$6.  Next stop was for lunch which was in a very nice restaurant and as lunches for our guided days were all included in the cost of our tour, we were bought out the food and had a choice of drinks. BUT there is always a catch.  This restaurant was right next door to (and obviously part of the business) a Pearl and Jade factory.  We were shown how freshwater and sea water pearls are grown with a couple of oysters being opened in front of us, this was interesting, but then it was onto the selling. Not only do they try to sell you something but also something for the daughters.  I said to Pete once we got out for goodness sake from now on we have no children if we're asked.  Sorry Mich and Al nothing for you. Next we were taken to the Shanghai Museum which is in a modern well set out building.  We were given a couple of hours to wander through this ourselves which was great as we could spend time at things we were interested in.  There special display  for a couple of months was "Maori" with everything on display from the Otago Museum.  By now it was raining and our next stop was a walk beside the Bund River which would have been great in fine weather but was not very pleasant in the pouring rain.  Our guide was not to be deterred though and still prattled on about this building and that building in great depth.  Pete was on the verge of telling her we had had enough when eventually she called for the driver to pick us up.

Jasmine Tea

Beautiful Ming Plate

We had a couple of hours to have our dinner and then we were being picked up at 7.30pm to be taken on a night cruise of the Bund River to see all the buildings lit up.  This is obviously "the thing to do" when in Shanghai as there were several boats doing about three trips a night.  We certainly enjoyed the evening. However it was somewhat interrupted as we ourselves experienced a little of what being famous must feel like.  We were the only Europeans on our boat and as our guide later explained a lot of the Chinese on board would be from areas that aren't freely accessible to Europeans and they would not have seen any before.  Hence we kept getting asked to be photographed with them or with their children.  If they didn't actually ask to be photographed with us they would take our photos when we were just standing looking at the sights and you could feel them watching us and talking about us.  Really weird.  

Even the boats are lit up

Shanghai by night

Our last full day in Shanghai started with an hour trip out of town to Zhujiajiao which is an ancient water town with a history of more than 1700 years. It is known as the Venice of Asia.  This was the only place where we had to use squat toilets! To start with we were shown another traditional Chinese garden but on a much smaller scale than Yu Gardens and nowhere near as impressive.  Quite ho hum. We were then taken on a walk around the town and taken to lunch.  I was a bit worried as this area was fairly "uncivilised". The restaurant was one of the better eating establishments and once again we were given a couple of dishes with no choosing by us.  The traditional pork one which was on a lot of stalls we passed was more fat than meat.  We were then let loose to wander around and meet our guide 45 minutes later.  I didn't like this area, felt uncomfortable, with shop holders trying to intice us to buy.  We made our way to the boats and got a ride back to our meeting place.  This was the best  part of the day.

Canal boat

Views of the canals

My only regret of the day was that I did not buy some of these little turtles and let them go

Our boatmen kept insisting he take our photo, he had amazing sign language skills.

The last stop of the day was at a Silk Factory where we were shown the process of harvesting and spinning silk (we had seen this at the carpet factory in Turkey). Then of course, yes you guessed it, the hard sell. The sales lady in this shop was particularly obnoxious so there was no way I was going to buy anything.  I must admit the silk duvet inners were exceptional value at NZ $120.  For our last night we decided to shout ourselves a meal at the hotel to use up the yuan we had left.  We chose the Western restaurant over the Asian one.

Shanghai was certainly somewhere different to visit, although I was more than ready to leave.  Our guide was lovely but she has obviously never been anywhere else and is so proud of Shanghai.  She needs to get out and see the rest of the world.

e.g Behind this netting is what our guide proudly told us was a golf course! More like a very small driving range.

Stunning Santorini

We travelled from Mykonos to Santorini on Friday after waiting for 1 hour in the blazing sun on the wharf.  The ferry was running late due to rough seas.  The trip over was a bit bumpy and rocky which didn't worry Pete and I but a few people were sick or complaining of feeling unwell.  All added to the fun really. 

Santorini is just as you see it in the photos (obviously!).  From our hotel you can see the sea on both sides of the Island.  Coming in on the ferry you see the steep side of the island and the towns are dotted along the top ridge.  Quite an amazing sight.  Our hotel is a five minute walk to the main town of Thira where we caught a bus from yesterday to the sea side town of Kamari.  Written up as having coarse black sand, yeah right, really it was a stoney beach.  This could be a new description for Napier, and the waves were even dumping in like Napier.

Kamari Beach

The swimming beaches at Mykonos were just like Lake Taupo, hardly a ripple on them, and really sandy.   Anyway Kamari still covered in deck chairs and sun umbrellas that of course you could hire for the day.  Even at 10 in morning some people had staked their claim.  Kamari is on the side of the Island that you don't see when coming in by ferry which doesn't have the steep inclines up from the beach. Back in Thira we decided to walk the Caldera a 3 km walk from town centre to the highest point of Thira.  Absolutely amazing views but by this time it was early afternoon so very hot.  Also of course had to walk 3kms back didn't we.  I'm sure normal people would have got a bus.  Then because that wasn't enough hard work, in the evening we walked down to the old port, hundreds and hundreds of steps and then got a donkey ride back up.  Lot of fun but a bit scary when the donkey just starts walking and you have no reins or anything to control it with (and they don't understand English!)  

On the Caldera walk

View of the cruise ships at Thira from the Caldera walk

Another view on Caldera walk which shows how high up we were

So many photo opportunities

The donkey ride

Today we have caught another bus to Oia (pronounced e a) which is right on the end of the island and was devasted by an earthquake in 1956.  With the rebuilding power supply went underground so amazing photos with no power lines.   There as lots of artists shops (and souvenirs) as well as lots of photo opportunities.  Also had to have what they called a cup of coffee in a cafe just so we could admire the amazing views.

At the Cafe

Views from Oia

Thira has lots of narrow winding streets with all sorts of shops and many hours could be wasted just wandering among them.  Some places one got to browse freely but in a lot of places as soon as you walked in the door someone was tailing you giving you the sales talk.  Nowhere near as bad as Turkey though.  


A great week of sun, relaxation and stunning views.  We were very sorry to leave these magical islands and head back to Athens to start our homeward journey.  Once again the ferry was running an hour late and lost another hour on the four hour journey to Athens so by the time we got to our hotel it was 6.30pm. Unfortunately no chance for sight seeing as we had a 5.00am wake up call next morning for our flight to Heathrow.

Interestingly, our thoughts had been that maybe we should have seen more of the Greek Islands as we had enjoyed the two we did stay on.  However on the ferry to Athens we met an Australian family, Mother and her adult children, and they had done 4 islands in 10 days but were saying that they felt they would have been better to have done less islands and stayed longer on the ones they did. They said after a while they all seemed the same.

Gorgeous Greece

It is great to be in Mykonos and to be here for 3 nights.  A chance to recharge the batteries. We've been getting up earlier than if we were going to work!!!  6.00am Monday to get to Istanbul airport to fly to Athens, 5.45am today (Tuesday) for our pick up to get us to the ferry to here.  And are we lucky to be here,  CRAZY Turkish and Greek drivers.  Have suffered 2 Greek drivers today on both the port runs.  Mykonos has narrow streets and lots of traffic with young ones on scooters (no helmets) and seemingly  no road rules.  Pete and I have mastered yet another Metro, In Athens yesterday we got ourselves from our hotel to the Acropolis and back on the underground Metro - you would have been proud of us Michelle.  Acropolis was awesome (and damn hot- went through bottles of water) it's one of those landmarks that makes you think "yes I'm here"- like the Eiffel Tower in France, the Leaning Tower of Pisa etc. Unfortunately yesterday was Santa Maria something or rather day so holiday and everything was closed (read SHOPS) but the Acropolis was free for the day - Bonus.  We didn't get to our hotel until around 1.30pm so only got to see Acropolis. Had drinks and tea at rooftop bar of hotel which had a view of Acropolis. Surreal when it was lit up later on.

The Acropolis

Mykonos is beautiful, we are just a little way from town and a short walk to a swimming beach.  We caught the bus to town today which took about 10 minutes.  We're getting very good at this public transport.

Still have to buy water as not drinkable from taps in Greece either.  It would have been an interesting exercise to keep track of the costs of water in and water out!!  Although in this heat not a lot is getting completely through the system if you get my drift!

Above entries were taken from emails sent at the time. We spent our three days wandering the narrow streets through the town centre in search of famous landmarks and walking the coastline to different bays.  It had been our intention to get a boat to Paradise and Super Paradise Beach but when we realised that on our walk the previous morning we had only been one bay away from Paradise Beach we decided to walk to it the next day.  Every night there would be super yachts anchored out in the Bays.

Windmills on Mykonos

This part of Mykonos is known as Little Venice

Looking back at Swimming Beach close to our Hotel

These little churches dotted all over Mykonos

Turkey

Blue Mosque

We had an early start to our Turkey trip by having to be at Heathrow by 5.00am. We got picked up by a big coloured man dressed in a suit driving a flash Mercedes. All he needed was a wıre from an ear pıece and I would have felt as if we had our own personal body guard. Dıd wonder ıf we were goıng to arrıve when he stopped in the middle of an off ramp to decide which way to go and then took the one that wasn't signposted for airport.   So arriving ın Istanbul early afternoon tired and hot, wondered what we had struck.  Shower and quick rest before hittıng the streets for food. After meeting the rest of our tour group at 7pm we hit the cıty again in search of yet more food.  20 million people live in Istanbul - it's crazy. Saturday 1st day of tour we did the usual sights of Istanbul - Blue Mosque, Topkapi Sarayi Palace Museum, Ayasofya Mosque and the Grand Bazaar.  5.30am call up Monday as we had to leave at 7.00am for long drive through to Cappadocia.  Got here at 7pm wıth a few stops on the way.  The 2nd largest Salt Lake ın the world was great to see and we also went to Ataturks Mausoleum and Museum in Ankara.

Salt Lake

Tuesday was another 5.00am start (although our wake up call came through at 4.52am!)  as Pete and I had decided to do the hot air balloon trıp.  AMAZING!!!   Fantastıc sights over the unique "lunar" scenery as well as the excitment of our first ever balloon trip, well worth the money. The rest of the day  was spent exploring the Oztanik Underground city and all the other amazing sights around Cappadocia as well as goıng to a pottery and a precious stone shop where they wanted to rob you blind.  No purchases by us.  The weather was hot but not unbearable, in the mıd 30's but a dry heat so not as bad as 30 degree days at home.

Hot Air Ballooning over Capaddocia

Landscape from Hot Air Balloon

Underground City

Would die for a decent coffee, to be able to turn on the tap to get a drink of water, to go to a clean toilet without having to pay (really hate paying for a dirty loo) but at the same time don't want this holiday to end although well over half gone now.

The long drive through to Pumakkale after another 5.30am wake up call, whilst shorter than the Sunday leg seemed longer. On the way we visited the Sultanhan Caravanserai from the 13th century and Konya, the home of the Whirling Dervishes. We arrıved around 6pm in time to have a much needed swim.  At our hotel they had the garra rufa fish pedicure and I talked several of the tour group into having it done.   The next morning we looked around Pumakkale Necropolis ruins and the amazing limestone terraces which I imagıne is how the pink and whıte terraces of Tararewa would have looked.

Limestone Terraces  Pumakkale

Ampitheatre- Necropolis Pumakkale

We drove from Pumakkale through to Kusadasi in the afternoon where our hotel had a great view of the Aegean sea and the habour with all the cruise ships in.   The next morning we opted to leave early for Ephesus, Roman capital of Asia Minor, before the cruise ship crowds got there but with a few hold ups we soon got caught up in the crowds.  We spent a couple of hours exploring the marble streets, amphitheatre, library and Temple of Hadrian. After visiting a carpet factory we went to a Nomadic village for a traditional lunch, followed by a visit to Virgin Mary's house high in the hills. The latter part of the afternoon was free tıme so we had the bus drop us in town so we could paddle ın the Aegean sea and then got a taxı home (thank goodness ıt wasn't too far -taxi driver dropped wheelies, burnt rubber!!!)

Library of Celsius at Ephesus

Weather ıs hot, hot, hot, had some 38,s but we have found it no problem.

Our last nıght was spent ın Canakkale after driving through from Kusadasi. Both of these places would have been lovely to have an extra free day at.  Both beside the Aegean.  On the drive through we stopped at Bergama to visit the Acropolis. This entailed a cable car ride up to the ruins which was probably better than the ruins. Here a young boy chased me to the bus as he wanted a lira from me for taking a photo of his donkey. I didn't give it to him. Next was legendary Troy which was uninteresting, but we were a bıt sick of ruins by then, and of them all they are the most unremarkable.  The next day, Saturday, we boarded a ferry across to the Dardenelles where we bussed to Gallipoli to visit Anzac Cove, Chunuk Bair, Lone Pine.  This was very moving with us all taking photos of memorials with names of family or possible family and there were a few wet eyes when one realised the hopelessness of the situation for our soldiers.  We then drove through to Instanbul to finish the tour.

Anzac Cove

Pete in Trenches

We have been sorry to say good bye to some neat friends that we toured with. 

Pete and I were pretty tired.  The tour was full on with no free days the advantage beıng no chance to spend money!  We covered over 2300 kms wıth a lot of early starts.  We were sick of Turkısh meals which were lunch and dınner, all tastes the same after a whıle.  The last night 15 of the group went out for a last meal and we chose an Indian restaurant - a welcome change.  Turkey was a great place to tour, so different from anywhere else we had been.

We had an extra day in Istanbul so Pete and I walked to Taxsım Square not far from our hotel and got the Fernicular followed by a tram to the Underground Cisterns and then walked to the Spice Bazaar.  In the tram I was talkıng to Pete about what to look out for so we would know where to get off and a young man behind me lent over and started speaking to us about what we wanted to do.  Turns out he was going to the stop we needed so said he would show us etc.  Anyway he not only got off wıth us but also walked us to the Cısterns then as he was leaving pointed out hıs Uncle's shop about 3 doors away and said when you come out come to shop I wıll show you nice jewellery.  Bloody hell, they don't mıss an opportunity.  Thank goodness exit from cisterns was on a different street and we didn't take him up on his offer. I enjoyed the Spice Bazaar where the shop keepers were no where near as pushy as the ones in the Grand Bazaar. .  As we got back to Taxsım Sq in the afternoon we were greeted by Polıce EVERYWHERE ın riot gear, wıth shıelds, guns, semi automatics, gas masks - not a pleasant feelıng although everyone oblivious to them. Asked back at our hotel and they said just normal, probably a soccer match on and they there just ın case.  We dıd see a couple of the polıce run after three boys ın soccer shırts so we had already guessed something to that effect.

Housing Istanbul

Reporting from DDC

Dorset, Devon and Cornwall.  After getting ourselves to Heathrow and picking up a rental car we headed out on the M25 for Weymouth in Dorset.  The kids were right, much easier to use Heathrow as the rental car base although it was 1 1/2 hours on the tube to get there.  We arrived in Weymouth mid aternoon to a lovely hot sunny day and the town and beach was packed.  After leaving our car at the B & B we set off on foot to explore this lovely seaside town where Alice had lived. Talk about typical English seaside town, Punch and Judy and donkey rides. Weymouth has an interesting harbour where every two hours during the day traffic and pedestrians are stopped from using the bridge so it can be raised to let boats through. Two friendly local bobbies gave us this bit of information when we were down by the harbour at around 5pm and said the next raising would be at 6pm.  Needless to say we made sure we were back in that area for 6pm. We had dinner at a pub down by the harbour (The Kings Arms I think Alice) where we were given a window table on the second floor overlooking all the goings on.  It was fun people watching.  Weymouth is where all the sailing events for the 2012 Olympics will be held - not sure how it is going to cope with the big influx of visitors.




Weymouth Beach on a hot Summers Day



St Albans Street where Alice's flat was



The bridge in action



One of the Condor fleet whom Alice worked for


Next morning we headed through Devon on our way to Cornwall seeing lots of thatched cottages on the way which had me oohing and aahing.  We spent the afternoon exploring Bodmin, Padstow and Newquay.  Padstow is where Rick Stein has set up a restaurant, deli, fish and chip shop, cafe and apparently also owns a lot of accommodation in the town.  So much so in fact that the locals refer to the town as Padstein.  Pete and I decided that we had to have a feed of his famous fish and chips so joined the queue. For £8, twice the amount of cod and chips anywhere else I was expecting something spectacular but no they were very ordinary and full of grease.  The ones in Portree had been far nicer.  Newquay is UK's equivalent to Mt Maunganui I would say, it has the surf beaches so full of young ones.  We found it dirty and unpleasant in the town area although the beach area was quite nice.  Our accommodation for the next 2 nights was in a little town called Lostwithiel where we had one of three rooms above one of the local pubs The Earl of Chatham.  After our greasy lunch (at about 2.30pm) we weren't that hungry so shared a chinese takeaway eating it by the river late in the evening. The next day we were up early and headed down Cornwall towards Lands End visiting Truro,  St Michael's Mount (where fortunately it was low tide so we were able to walk out to the Mount, but unfortunately it was Saturday so were unable to visit the castle, only day it is closed!), Penzance, Mousehole and then Lands End.  The day was so beautiful we were able to see the Isles of Scilly 28 miles out to sea.  After a full day we headed back to Lostwithiel arriving around 6pm where we spent the evening with the locals and I enjoyed a Cornish crab salad for tea (yeah some greens). Our trip back to London was uneventful other than trying to work out how much petrol would get us there without running out or leaving too much in the tank.  One rents the car with a full tank that you pay for and then return it empty - very hard to do.  My first calculation misfired as I forgot that your car does everything in miles, the sign posts are miles but when you fill up its in litres.  At around £1.39 per litre imagine what a gallon would cost.




Oooh Aaah - I love them



Padstow




Cobbled path to St Michael's Mount that is underwater at high tide

 

Land's End

Since being back in London it has been full on, hence no blog. Monday we left the flat around 8.30 to get ourselves to Buckingham Palace for our 10.15 appointment to have morning tea with the Queen (yeah right!)  Even though our tickets had been booked and paid for over the net we were told to be there 40mins before our time slot. OMG the queues, we wondered if we would even get our tickets in time.  Fortunately Michelle left us queuing and went off the ask someone about the situation and was told they were just going to open another booth up futher down the road, so we had a few minutes head start and got our tickets relatively quickly after that. The Palace was AMAZING.  We got to go through a lot more rooms than we thought, saw some spectacular art work (in fact I overheard one gentleman remark that they could sell it all to pay off the National Debt) and the special exhibition set out this year was the Royal Faberge collection. As a bonus Kate Middleton's wedding dress was on display, along with her jewellery she wore, shoes and a replica of the bouquet.  We also got to see a short video on how the lace and dress was made and the 17 cake wedding cake was also on display with the bottom 14 still being the original.  We even got to go for a walk around the gardens. We spent about 2 1/2 hours at the palace and well worth the £17.50 each to see it although afterwards Pete was heard to say he thoroughly enjoyed it apart from all that "wedding shit". By now we were ready for a sit down and lunch and after recharging the batteries headed back to the Palace to go through the Royal Mews, another £8 but we were there so thought we may as well see it. Carriages, one car and a few horses were on display, again worth seeing. Mid afternoon by now and we decided to walk to Harrods (quite some distance away), me to get a Christmas decoration and Michelle to look at the pets for sale. A pedigree daschund puppy for £1700 and a kitten for £1000!  Needless to say we were only looking.  My Christmas decoration was far more reasonably priced and probably the only thing I could afford in the shop.  By now it was definately time for a drink and rest so headed for a pub to wait for Peter's brother David and his partner Andrew who had spent about 6 hours getting the short distance from Brighton to London, problems with line flooding due to a burst water mains or something.  Nathan and Chloe and Nathan A came into town also and we all got together for a family meal.  We went Italian this time and were entertained by an hilarious waiter. Great times but a long day, think it was about 14 hours from when we left home to when we got back. Tuesday was also spent with David and Andrew back in the city.  Andrew showed us St Pancras Railway station and London library on our way to the British Museum.  We spent a few hours seeing just a small part of this huge museum and then met up with Michelle (who had stayed at home for a few extra hours - couldn't keep up with the oldies) and headed towards St Pauls Cathedral.  Here we all balked at paying £14.50 for entry, even Father David couldn't get us a free visit.  Next on the list was a walk to South Bank to the Tate Modern which is an art  gallery show casing modern works of art. I'm ashamed to say we admired the building inside and out and then headed for the restaurant on the top floor. By now it was late afternoon and we needed to head our separate ways, Michelle Pete and I to get to Leicester Square to have a meal before going to Lion King and David and Andrew to head back to Brighton.  Lion King was great although not sure why it's a lot more expensive to get into than other shows. Another day covering a lot of ground and by the time we got home and into bed it was mid night.

Buckingham Palace from the Gardens

Today Pete and I had thought of going to Kew Gardens but it would be another full on day and then tonight we're to meet in town with Nath and Chloe and my niece Alicia and her boyfriend Rob for a Brick Lane experience.  This will be our last time seeing Nathan, unless he turns up at Heathrow airport where we have a 5 hour stopover after being to Turkey and Greece, bearing a bike for us to take back to NZ for him.  Instead we are hanging out at Michelle's flat, may go into City late afternoon but to be quite honest enjoying the down time.  Tomorrow we are going to the London Borough Markets and walking the South Bank but will be home for tea.  Yay, the first home cooked meal since before we went to Cornwall. We have a car picking us up at 4.30am Friday to get us to Heathrow for our early flight to Istanbul.

England has really turned on the weather for us, with temperatures in the last few days in the high 20's. Today is meant to get to 30.  Not much fun when playing Sardines in the tube!  Michelle is lucky enough to have a back yard with grass, so today we are feeling very much as if we're in NZ with the heat and lazing about on the grass spotting squirrels in the trees. We are looking forward to the next part of our journey but will be very sad to say goodbye to the kids.