Istanbul Day 2

Today we made the most of NOT being on tour and slept in, although the 5am call to prayer from the local mosques woke us up! We well and truly missed breakfast (which wasn’t a surprise). We finally got ready and walked up the road, picking up some unknown Turkish food things on the way. We found a camera shop which sold us a power cable for Andrew’s camera charger (which he forgot to bring). We walked up the Sultanahmet area where the Blue Mosque etc are located.



There were lots of decorations and stalls being set up to celebrate the start of Ramadan. Everywhere you looked you could see a Turkish flag. It could create a challenge when all of the people start fasting during the day. Maybe we’ll have to join them?? And Starve??

After a lot of walking down streets and past markets and shops, we sat down in a square for a break. Just as we were about to leave, an English teacher approached us and asked if we could talk with some of his students. There were about 5 of them but more turned up. Some of them spoke English quite confidently but others were very hesitant and shy. After a while they took us to a café to try a local drink called Ayran, basically yoghurt or buttermilk and water. We also had a shish kebab which they payed for since we were their guests. We walked with some of them to the Grand Bazaar but it was closed on Sunday.



Back at the hotel, after freshening up, we met our tour group. The group is only 14 people, mostly Australians, 2 Irish, one Kiwi and one American. We had dinner with the group at the hotel restaurant. Since it was organised by the tour the food was pre-selected and not as nice as last night’s meal, but still ok.

Just as a final note, the weather here is great, although a little windy today, it was sunny, and it's only going to get hotter as we travel down the Mediterrenean coast.

Istanbul!

We had an early start from Chelmsford this morning to get to Heathrow. As we didn’t want to pay the exorbitant amount for the Heathrow Express (no more staff discount), we decided to just catch the tube instead which took us just over 2 hours door to door. Once there (Terminal 5!) it was very quick through security to airside, where we spent all our time in WHSmith looking at books till it was time to be at the gate. We boarded quickly but then got delayed for some unknown reason.



4 hours on the plane and an very protracted descent finally got us into Istanbul. Only after landing did the First Officer make an announcement and apologise for the circling over the ocean. Apparently it was busy and we were diverted about 70miles for a 40 mile approach. We needed a Visa for Turkey. Well, Andrew needed a Visa on his Irish passport, NZ doesn’t need one. We managed to figure out the metro to get to our hotel. A quick shower and we were back out to try and find our way to meet Chris & Sandy at their hotel. We figured out that Grace had printed off the wrong information for their hotel but thankfully the Lonely Planet had a map which had the name of their street on it as well as the nearest tram stop. So onto the tram we got. Several stops later and some wandering down side streets we found their hotel as they were walking out the front door. What great timing!

We wandered down the road and found a restaurant for dinner. We had a salad mezze and a mixed kebab platter which was good though way too much food. It’s typical around here to have people trying to tempt you to eat at their place. I’ve also noticed that the men like to look or should I say stare at the women, which is disconcerting when it first happens but I think it’s just something that you learn to ignore - hopefully. After dinner we went for a walk along the waterfront where people were setting up stalls to sell their wares. Lots of different types of items being sold from clothes to shoes, bags etc etc, including food, though none of it interested us.

We walked across the bridge where there were lots of men fishing over the side with huge fishing rods, catching tiny fish (some of them nothing).



Another thing we have noticed is the number of mosques around the city. As we landed it was easy to see them as each has a tall spire which stands out from the rest of the building.

We headed back towards our tram stop and picked up some water (can‘t drink the tap water). It was time to say goodbye to Chris and Sandy.

Moving out of London!

Well, Andrew has accepted a new job in Harwich and we are moving to Chelmsford.
After a couple of weeks of looking i.e. going up to Chelmsford on 2 no. Saturday's and viewing loads of places..., we have finally accepted a 2.5 bedroom house, yes it's a house, double storey and all with a back patio. We are due to move in later this month, but for now there is lots to sort out including buying some new furniture, as the new place is unfurnished. The priority is a bed and the rest can wait.
Anyhow, we are still way behind on our blog and have a lot of catch up to do. Hopefully we'll be able to do something before our Turkey trip in September.

Bristol

We decided to go to Bristol this weekend to visit Serena & Jon who are now all settled into their new flat.

We caught the National Express coach for the first time since we've been in the UK, we've always previously chosen to travel by train or car. Even with the poor traffic leaving London,we made it to Bristol bang on time!

S&J had hired a car for the weekend so S picked us up from Marlborough St coach station in Bristol. We spent the evening catching up

After a good sleep in and breakfast, we decided to hop in the car and head to Wales to Chepstow.

There we checked out Chepstow Castle. There was people dressed up in the time period of the castle and demonstrating things, we saw part of the weapons demonstration which was interesting. From the castle we headed to Tintern to the Halfmoon and Sixpence pub which had been recommended to Jon by a work colleague. The boys liked their fish and chips but Serena didn't like her mains much and my shepherds pie was average. But it was all made up for by the delicious deserts of jam rollypolly, sticky toffee pudding and bread and butter pudding.

We decided to check out Tintern Abbey, a Cisternian monastery, though much of which is in ruins particularly the accommodation surrounding the Abbey.

We drove further up the Wye Valley to Monmouth where the rest of the gang did a quick scope out of the cathedral there while I stayed in the car - too full from lunch to move! Then after a bit of a tiki tour as we got a little lost around Monmouth we headed back to Bristol.

I really wanted to go watch Sex and the City and we managed to convince the boys to join us, so we headed out to the cinemas and grabbed a bite to eat at the American style Italian restaurant before the movie. After about 35 minutes of ads and trailers the movie finally started. It was fantastic, a great girly flick as the series had been.

WIth the late night, we had even more of a sleep in, and when we eventually got up, Jon made us bacon and eggs. The dragon boat racing was on by the river so we went for a walk, we wanted to check out the SS Great Britain but at £10.95 pp, we decided to pass for now, maybe next time. More walking around the river, and on the way home, picked up some scones and cream for afternoon tea, we were wanting to go to a cafe but didn't find one which did cream teas. After tea, it was time to head home on the bus. This time it got delayed by the bad traffic coming back into London and it took half an hour later than it should have, but we made it home, bags and all.

Kew gardens

It's the first Bank holiday in May and as it was such a lovely sunny day we decided to head to Kew Gardens with Kirsty and Dan. We caught the train to North Sheen and walked to the gardens from there. Kirsty and Dan were runing a bit late so we went in and I decided to lie on the grass in the sun, ahh bliss...

When Kirsty and Dan got there we got a bite to eat and had a big catchup on their plans as they are leaving London at the end of May to do a 2 month tour around Europe before heading to Canada.

We walked through the climate houses and one of them was so humid that it was almost unbearable, but interesting looking at the plants and there was a small underground aquarium in one which had some strange marine life.

As it was so hot we got ice creams, yum. There was a bunch of activities on for the bank holiday which included tree sculptures, unfortunately we got there too late and there wasn't much left to see as they must have pack it away.

Overall a lovely day and would be nice to go back for a picnic sometime.

Cotswolds

Hired a car which Andrew picked up from Heathrow.

Drove to Burford where we were staying on Friday night staying in a typical B&B, where the windows and doors were wonky. Dinner at a local restaurant where the people were so friendly it felt like we were in a different country!

Next day we had breakfast in our room, yummy muesli and cooked breakfast. Then we set off for a drive, I had found a scenic drive named the Romantic Rd which takes you on a loop through the Cotswolds.

My favourite place for the day I think was the Slaughters but the whole area is just very quintessientially English and quiant.

On Sunday we were driving home but took the long way by driving through some more of the Cotswolds. Stopped in Cirencester for lunch but being a Sunday the town was very quiet. We decided to drive to see the Uffington White Horse on the way, and stopped and walked up to it. The Uffington White Horse is a stylised chalk drawing of a horse on the side of a hill.

We eventually made it home after a long day of driving by Andrew.

Hong Kong & Macau!

14 Feb.

Arrived in HK very early (before 6am) from NZ. Caught a shuttle bus to the hotel in Kowloon - very posh bus. Got an upgrade on the room as the one we booked was not ready. Although the room we got still looked quite old and I wondered if not getting an upgrade might have been better. Never mind, its just a room for sleeping. We crashed and eventually got up later that morning. Headed across to Hong Kong island on the MTR, after purchasing our Octopus cards, for some reason the underground systems seem to like naming their cards after seafood e.g. Oyster Card in London. Got some lunch at a cafe selling traditional Cantonese food, yay I got my wanton noodles! Walked towards the mid level escalators - which are the longest series of escalators in the world, and made our way up the 20 odd escalators and a few travelators. At the top we walked to the lower peak tram station via the botanical and zoological gardens, to catch the tram up to Victoria Peak. It was quite a steep ride in parts. At the top, we went up the Peak tower which looks like a semicircle. Unfortunately the day was misty - probably partly contributed by the pollution - so the views were not great, and it was rather cold too. After that we decided to walk down the Peak to HK park and check out the Flagstaff Museum of Teaware. We got lost a few times in the maze of roads going under and over each other because it is very hilly. The museum had displays of the recent teaware competition with very varied and interesting designs. There were also interesting displays on tea making and different ways of making tea ware. We then headed down to the pier to catch the Star Ferry back across to Kowloon. At the terminal in Kowloon, I spotted a little shop selling eggs cooked in a herbal concoction, so we had to have one - brought back reminders of childhood in Malaysia. As we were feeling rather tired by this point we caught a bus up Nathan Rd to have dinner at a famous (according to LP) Cantonese restaurant in Kimberley Rd. Restaurant felt upmarket and standard of service was high (which was a surprise to me) e.g. serving our fried rice for us off the dish, and forcing us to use the lift to go up/down only one floor. After a good meal we headed back to the hotel and crashed for the night.






15 Feb

We woke up early and eventually got up. We were still tossing up whether to go to Macau and eventually decided that we would. Went to our local MTR (Jordan) and picked up some breakfast at a bakery and headed to Tsim Tsa Shui and walked to the China Ferry Terminal where as the name suggests ferries depart for China. After walking past it the first time, we eventually found the place. Unfortunately we couldn't get onto a sailing until 11am (it was just after 9.30 at this point and the ferries run every half an hour). We decided that we would go tomorrow instead, so we got some tickets and headed towards Lantau island to check out the Tian Tan Buddha which is the large outdoor Buddha well known in HK. We walked to Kowloon MTR from the ferry terminal (a rather long way away) and hopped on the line out to Tung Chung. At Tung Chung we queued to get tickets to catch the cable car up to Ngong Ping where the Buddha is. Nearly an hour later we got on the cable car. We were lucky we got to the terminal when we did, as not long after we joined the queue, it became rather busy and the queue rapidly extended. Weather was cold and once again we were not very well dressed. On the ride we had good views over the island and airport though still slightly misty. Had lunch at Ngong Ping village and then headed towards Po Lin monastery where the Buddha is located up some 200 odd steps. This is one of the largest outdoor Buddha's in the world. At the top we had a good view all around and the statue was certainly impressive. We headed back to the village where we decided to check out the Walking with Buddha audio visual show which was about how he became the Buddha - it was ok. After that we decided it was time to head back down to Tung Chung. Once again we queued to get on the cable car back down. It was fairly orderly and the queue moved reasonably quickly. Off the cable car and back on the MTR to Prince Edward station where we were going to do a walk described in the LP. We went in the wrong direction out of the MTR station but found our way. Along the way we saw the flower market which is a street filled with flower vendors selling all varieties of flowers - roses, orchids, carnations, lilies etc. Some of the flowers, mainly roses, had been painted/dyed into some odd colours - blue, bright green, some even had sparkles! We walked through the bird market and around back towards where the flower market started. We then walked down a street filled with markets followed by the fish market - a street filled with shops selling fish in plastic bags. Fun to see to begin with until we realised that it was cruel for the fish. After that we walked through the ladies market basically markets selling everything with people selling "copy watches" which they yelled out every time they saw a white person (Andrew). This went on for several blocks. Along the way we found a bakery selling egg tarts (which Grace was craving for) so we picked up a couple. After all that walking we had had enough, so headed back to the hotel for a rest. For dinner we headed to Temple St night markets which was across Nathan Rd from the hotel. We walked through the markets and eventually found a couple of restaurants with guys standing around harrasing you to eat at their place. We had prawns, claypot rice and it was so cheap! We picked up some things at a few shops and then headed back to the hotel as we had a fairly early start the next day for our trip to Macau.








16 Feb

Early start today to catch our ferry to Macau at 9.15am. Breakfast once again was picked up along the way at a bakery. This one didn't have any English, so I had to guess by looking at what others had picked up. Checked in at the ferry terminal, went through immigration and proceeded to the boarding gate. At this stage it felt like we weren't in HK anymore, people were less orderly and more pushy, much like what I would normally expect in an Asian country. People were crowding around the entrance to the walkway to the ferry, we waited until the crowd died a little before boarding. There were allocated seats anyway so we weren't exactly going to miss out on a seat if we weren't on the ferry first. The ferry ride lasted just over an hour, for which I mostly slept as I'm not great on boats. Off at the other end and through immigration. Outside we decided that we would walk to the centre of the town where the LP had a walk lined out. Along the way we walked past the casinos and on the grand prix route. This part of the city felt like a miniature Las Vegas with lots of buildings in different forms e.g. one which looked like a volcano. We also saw the long bridge which connected to Taipa. The most impressive (or ridiculous depending on your point of view) was the Grand Lisboa hotel, this building towered over all the other buildings and was gold in colour. We eventually got to the start of our walk which was in an area with old colonial style buildings. As Macau was colonised by Portugese for a significant period of time, all signs still has Portugese as well as Chinese written on them. We walked past a couple of churches and then up a really steep street to the fort which contains the Museum of Macau. We were going to check out the Museum but wanted some lunch first, so we proceded to the ruins of St Paul's (check) church which only has the facade remaining. At this point, there is a place nearby which the LP recommended for lunch but trying to find it unsuccessfully we gave up, and ended up having food from a local side stall. We then headed back to the museum to check it out. I was fairly tired at this point and didn't really absorb too much of the museum. After the museum we continued a bit further on the walk, but decided that we were too tired to finish it. So we went shopping instead! After a significant purchase at Esprit, it was time to get some dinner before catching our ferry back. We went to a restaurant featuring Portugese and Macanese food (once again recommended by LP) where we had a baked duck rice and a stew both apparently Portugese style, and delicious. We managed to get on an earlier sailing back to Kowloon and back to the hotel, where we spent some time packing everything up, and hoping that we weren't significantly over the weight limit.

17 Feb

Our flight was at 8.15am, so it was an early start back on the shuttle bus to the airport. After the long 12 hour flight we were finally back in cold, but surprisingly sunny & clear, London.

A lot of food places have plastic models of their food on show to entice you in to eat. We saw this very impressive one at the Airport (see below)! Also, here's our plane and the (very cold) landscape of China or Russia (or somewhere like that).