Articles from this Category
9 May 2005
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 […]
8 May 2005
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 […]
7 May 2005
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 […]
6 May 2005
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 […]
5 May 2005
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 […]
4 May 2005
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 […]
8 November 2004
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 […]
6 November 2004
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 […]
5 November 2004
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 […]
3 November 2004
Egyptian Museum We took breakfast at the hotel’s Ibis Café courtesy of Pat and Fiona. We had a fantastic early-bird room rate which excluded breakfast and didn’t see the need to pay for a breakfast buffet. The selection was excellent but not quite as good as that at the Concorde in Sharm. We walked to […]