Asia

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Forbidden City again

Above:  Tiananmen Square as viewed from the Tiananmen Gate Tower of the Forbidden City. Getting going Rather unusual of us, we had 11 hours in bed and woke around 0800.  Breakfast wasn’t included in the hotel rate so we had a light feed of muesli before heading out.  For today, we didn’t feel like the […]

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To the Imperial Capital

Leaving Osaka Today we are Beijing-bound.  We woke around 0600 but that was fine.  The sun rises very early in Osaka this time of year.  We hurriedly left the hotel at 0635 by taxi rather than by foot, for the railway station.  We made good progress by making the 0700 train and arrived at the […]

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Daytrip to Kyoto

Kyoto sightseeing We are adjusting to local time and woke later, making it to breakfast at 0800 today.  The weather was still spitting a little but we decided it was good enough for a daytrip to Kyoto. We got to Kyoto by metro connecting to a train.  We had trouble working out buying the correct […]

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Rain, rain, go away

Above:  Jellyfish at Osaka Aquarium. Osaka Aquarium We woke slightly later today and was down at breakfast later too around 0730.  After the hot weather yesterday, it rained on us today.  With the wet weather, we decided to do indoor activities. Osaka Aquarium was highly rated and seemed like a good choice.  We got there […]

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Daytrip to Nara

Getting going We woke around 0500 but lay till 0600 before slowly getting ready for breakfast downstairs at 0700.  At 0700 the concertina doors folded back to reveal the coffee and drinks machines, sushi, bakery items, ovens, salad, fruit and cereal.  There was also a fridge with milk and what I thought was the world’s […]

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Japan stopover

Above:  Osaka’s Dotonbori area. Arriving in Osaka We arrived at Osaka for our four night stopover.  Osaka’s Kansai airport was impressive in terms of the technology to build it on an artificial island, and to keep it above water as it gradually subsides.  But it is very drab inside, with unimpressive materials such as lino […]

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With family

With family in Singapore Yesterday was spent with family, including my aunt.  And I didn’t hear from Pat and Fiona, meaning that they must have got on their standby flight to Auckland. As for me, I fly out tonight.  I had the day to kill.  Mum and step-dad took me to East Coast beach for […]

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Chilling

Pat and Fiona were meant to try to get back to Auckland on standby tonight but they changed their mind.  They decided they would try to get on tomorrow night, whereas I’d try get on the night after that.  So, we had time to just chill today. I went to Hougang Mall for shopping with […]

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Getting bumped

Kim and I managed to wake up at 0900 despite the unfavourable time change.  We spent the day shopping at a couple of IT malls in Singapore and managed to get ourselves a Palm Pilot each.  Normally, tech products in Singapore are cheaper than in New Zealand but with the exchange rate at present, it […]

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Nothing day in Aqaba

Above: Our camp at Jabal Rum in the morning. We had breakfast at our Jabal Rum camp around 0700.  It was the usual Middle Eastern breakfast which I love, consisting of tomato, cucumber and cheeses.  The hot pita bread was a bonus!   After breakfast, we made our way to Aqaba, adopting two hitchhikers, one […]

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