Blue Mountains Australia

After our eight day excursion in Sydney, Albert and Alan (see Sydney blog about these fellows) drove Gene and me to the Blue Mountains two hours away in their Bentley.  They took us to many vistas in Leura and Katoomba which were easily available by car and we walked out to the points.  The Blue Mountains are indeed blue.  A very serene sight although there are a lot of tourists, primarily Chinese in tour buses, but being winter it wasn’t quite so busy (see photos below text).

We particularly enjoyed a long hike along the Prince Henry Cliff Walk and then hiked back to town. Half way along the trail we were surprised to come upon an emergency rescue crew who were retrieving the body of a man who fell off the cliff a few hours earlier. Few of the natural environments we visited in Asia Pacific or South East Asia had the restraints or restrictions that are prominent at US sites; you have to be extra careful.

We stayed two nights in Leura, a quaint town with great coffee shops, restaurants, and unusually good shopping! I mean inspiring art galleries, handmade furniture, woven clothing and creative jewelry.  Yeah, no tourist stuff, no t-shirts, fridge magnets, nothing but some postcards at the post office. The attractions with the vistas, cable cars, trams etc. actually have lots of nice souvenir stuff, but it seems to be limited to those businesses.

We went to dinner at the Alexander Hotel and the food was so good we ate there both nights; the food reminded me of Fyfe’s and it was quite cold so we didn’t want to go far. After dinner we went to the hotel’s nearly empty bar and had scotch and warmed up at the fireplace. Two young blokes were watching Rugby and Gene asked them if they could explain the major points of the game and they were happy to oblige. Then they asked us, as in Gene, about some of the rules of American football and she was able to educate them in return. Now, I have a better understanding of both of these sports!

The last day we caught the train back to Sydney sitting on the top level and took it back to the Sydney Harbour.

Sydney Australia

We really saw Sydney over eight days. Lovely, fun, so much to do. Instead of seeing a lot of Australia by taking several flights and staying a couple of days at each place (each city or major attraction can be 12 or more hours apart by car) we chose to spend eight days in Sydney and two in the Blue Mountains a couple hours away. We know, we know, there are so many things we didn’t see. But, we wanted a real vacation, relaxing, not hanging out at airports, or having tightly planned itineraries. We wanted to understand this harbour city and what it has to offer. We stayed at the 5 star Intercontinental Hotel two blocks from the Harbor. This was one of the nicest hotels I’ve stayed in with the best buffet breakfast to start our days of site seeing. Even though it was late winter in Australia in late August, it was about 55-65 degrees, a welcome relief to our daily temperatures of 90 degrees in Singapore (see photos below the text.  Yeah, I wrote a lot).

Australians seem to live up to their reputation as being very friendly. They call themselves Aussies, but I think also ‘Ozzies’ as in Wizard of Oz. Our Sydney friend, Dani, who now lives in Singapore, goes ‘back to Oz to visit family’, and hoped we enjoyed our trip to Oz. People passing us on the streets would engage us in short conversations, not just hello. One woman passing by said, ‘Good morning! Isn’t it beautiful out? I hope you enjoy your day,’ and then strolled away.

Case in point. I visited my mom in Texas last fall and she reminisced about her world cruise eight years earlier. My mom, the social butterfly, met two lovely men, Alan and Albert, from Sydney on this cruise and the three really bonded. Since Gene and I were visiting their city in nine months I thought I’d try an internet search and give them a ring. I left a message and they kindly called back. I explained who I was and that Gene and I were going to visit. They generously offered to show us around Sydney and the Blue Mountains for two days, in their Bentley no less! This personal tour helped us to see many more beautiful sights and landmarks than we could on our own, and understand the many neighborhoods all around Sydney. We couldn’t have imagined anything better.

The artistic and comfortable feel of this city is everywhere, through architecture, urban design with its beautiful parks, outdoor dining and markets, art galleries, performance spaces, and inviting neighborhoods. And, the water. Sydney Harbour is stunning and the beautiful Sydney Harbour bridge is truly a gateway. It frames the iconic Sydney Opera House that juts into the harbour, and connects to destinations like Manly which is a lovely community with several gorgeous beaches and home to many people who work in Sydney and ferry back and forth.

Mass transportation here is brilliant. The water taxis, ferries large and small, whale watching boats, and on land the trains, subways, light rail, and bikes are abundant. Riding in a car or taxi, on the other hand, is rather frustrating because of the congestion. The octopus like land features due to the many waterways certainly help this problem. And, this is a very hilly city. Walking from one neighborhood to another is fun to do but will require taking a couple of steep outdoor stairways that have been cut into the rock. These stairways are not marked, but seem to appear when you need them.

Animals. Australian animals. Like no other. It is very true what they say. On our first day out with Alan and Albert, we saw Kookaburras sitting in trees in a park, Ibis, large birds with curved beaks, and Sulphur-Crested cockatoos, giant white birds like our domestic birds, and Rainbow Lorikeets, which look even brighter than out parrots. The cockatoos and Lorikeets are considered pests who love to land on your restaurant table and eat sugar packets and anything else available.

Leaving from the Sydney Harbour, we went whale watching and were thrilled to see several juvenile whales playing in the Pacific Ocean. They breached a couple of times where we could see them somewhat airborne and landing with a dramatic splash. They seemed happy to hang around. Getting photos of these whales were unsuccessful which is not surprising. Our boat really rocked and rolled, it was hard enough to stand still.

The Sydney Fish Market was very fun to see. Many locals didn’t think it was of great interest, but to Midwestern Americans it was marvelous. As an avid cook, it was fun to see so much fresh and exotic fish and seafood. We had a great lunch outside the market, along with the seagulls and pelicans.

We saw some great live music at a basement bar, and “Matilda the Musical” at the Sydney Lyric Theatre in the Darling Harbour area.  The singer was really good, but the musical was fantastic! It was performed by the Royal Shakespearean Company and the lead child actress playing Matilda was incredible. We didn’t know this Roald Dahl story, but boy did the audience know it. When walking out of the theatre, I asked Gene about not understanding a point in the story when the woman next to us who grew up with the book enthusiastically explained the scene. She was so happy to bring her daughter to see this story she grew up with.

On one of our eight days, we spent it in Manly, the lovely enclave across the bay from Sydney. It is a suburb of sorts where many people live who work in Sydney. They take the 20 minute ferry everyday and you couldn’t have more lovely views.  There are at least three beaches in Manly. On the ocean beach we watched surfers, and many walkers with and without dogs on the paved path on a Tuesday during Australia’s winter.  We took a beautiful walk into the park that led to a high rocky point that held a naturally occurring pond.

We were delighted to get to know Sydney and Manly. Next stop is to the Blue Mountains with Albert and Alan two hours away.

Ha Long Bay Vietnam

Vietnam is a fascinating place, many contrasts and different environments and Ha Long Bay is one of its jewels. And, Vietnam one of the few places where we arranged a tour so we wouldn’t get lost. I planned a rather detailed itinerary that included quite a few travel arrangements. Very little English is spoken here outside of tourist services.

From Hanoi in the northwest, Gene and I took a 3.5 hour van ride to Ha Long Bay Marina in the northeast where we boarded a nice, smaller boat with 30 people. At our table we sat with two sisters from South Korea who didn’t speak English but we communicated pretty well, and we hung out together, and a man from the Philadelphia area who has been living in Asia, and now Hanoi, for 10 years, and his girlfriend from the Philippines. We enjoyed a lovely traditional Vietnamese lunch and beer.

Ha Long Bay has over 2000 limestone islands that rise out of the Gulf of Tonkin off the east coast of North Vietnam. Their name “‘Halong’ translates to ‘where the dragon descends into the sea’. The legend claims the islands of Halong Bay were created by a great dragon from the mountains. As it charged towards the coast, its flailing tail gouged out valleys and crevasses. When it finally plunged into the sea, the area filled with water, leaving only the pinnacles visible.”

Designated a World Heritage site in 1994, these beautiful waters and their islands have amazing caves, beaches, and other fascinating geologic features, and floating villages that hug these islands. On our relatively short boat trip of a half day (some trips are 2-3 days long) we cruised through the passages and by floating boat villages to an enormous and impressive cave.  There are many bays around Ha Long Bay with hundreds of floating villages made up of individual boats, often several attached together, where families live, kids go to floating schools, and they engage in other typical activities.  Families primarily fish, but they are also employed by the small cruise boat operators, and some have B&B’s where tourists can stay on village boats.  Tourism is the main revenue generator in Vietnam.

After we disembarked, we took a taxi an hour away to Yen Duc Village to get a feel for rural life on dry land.

 

Urban Ubud Bali Indonesia

I love that nearly every place we want to explore in Asia is within a 2-3 hour flight from our home in Singapore. Gene and I had a great get-away to Ubud (pronounced Ah-bood), on the island of Bali, Indonesia in late April. It is one of eight major islands of the 13,000-17,000+ islands of Indonesia (see photos below the text).

Since we are not beach bunnies (not that into sun burning, or scads of kids and surfer dudes), we headed north to Ubud, 1.5 hours inland. It has a reputation for impressive art and artists, spas and retreats (apparently the Julia Roberts movie, Eat, Pray, Love took place there), ancient temples, traditional dancing, and affordable shopping.  Surrounding Ubud are swaying rice fields, lush forests, deep ravines, thatched houses and huts, numerous temples, and the Mount Batur Volcano which is supposed to have spectacular sunrises.

Although we were warned about motorbikes, we were still surprised by their sheer numbers and how they were used.  A common sight is an entire family, up to 5 people, riding together. And large quantities of goods are transported this way, too, an entire vendor stall of products are tied and balanced on these bikes.

Ubud is an interesting random mix of urban and rural sites everywhere you go.  As we walked down the busy shopping street of Jl Raya with it many ancient temples along the way, some of which are now homes and art studios, there is an expanse of forest which plunges deep with homes and shops in the canopies and shacks below.

Indonesians have a reputation of being friendly and they really are.  We had many warm conversations with a variety of people: artists, shop owners, and the hotel manager who were happy to share information about life in Bali and answer our questions.  This was the first place we traveled where we didn’t see any Muslims although we knew that Islam was the predominant religion of Indonesia. The Hotel Manager, who is from Jakarta, explained that Bali is the only island in all of Indonesia with a high Hindu population, and the multitude of other inhabited Indonesian islands have high Muslim populations.

I have to say that Indonesian currency tested my math skills. We felt pretty rich temporarily when we took out 1 million Rupiah on our first day, but it only amounted to $80 USD. We were having trouble knowing whether we were giving rupiah worth $1, $10 or $100 and often gave too little because of the enormous bills. It took a lot of effort to spend $30 a day. The food was wonderful, fresh, and creative. We had a fantastic barramundi, a thick white fish with aromatic herbs that I love to cook with.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rural Ubud Bali Indonesia

We went on a beautiful 4 hour walk in the hills of Ubud (Ah-bood) just off the main street where rice fields and artists’ shacks dotted the landscape. We loved the swaying fields, huts where the farmers lived, numerous scarecrows that resembled farmers working, and palm trees set against the mountains. We met a number of fascinating people: several talented artists working in their small studios, a generous organic farmer, and a shy spice grower. We saw lovely holistic spas and retreats along the path and situated deeper in the fields and forests. I’m afraid we’re not good at actually getting any spa treatments. We even had one free massage from our hotel spa which we didn’t take the time to do! (see photos below the text).

The hike started up a large hill that opened to rice fields and became a very skinny, meandering path with some locals on motorbikes who were coming to and from town. And, as usual, it was hot, very hot.  There was a variety of structures along the way. Simple tents and shacks, one room art studios, and lovely two story retreats.

We had a lovely but also slightly disconcerting interaction with the organic farmer. He came over to chat with us in limited English and showed us the farm’s many fruits and vegetables that they grow for their restaurant downtown. He pulled a turmeric and ginger plant out of the ground to show me since I told him I enjoy cooking. He also gave us fresh peapods out of the ground to eat.  I ate mine while he showed me around. Afterward, Gene and I continued our walk and she said “I’m glad I remembered we’re not supposed to eat anything grown in water here so I tossed mine.”  “Crap, I ate mine,” says I.  Ok, if I’m going to get ill eating a tainted peapod at least this walk was worth it; fortunately I was fine. We’ve had several friends get ill in their travels in Asia and in Bali specifically.  So far, only Singapore seems to have safe drinking water that I am aware of, for travelers anyway.

The walking paths were so minimal that we took a wrong turn and ended up on a path by some small houses on the way back to town. we came to a lovely stream and small waterfall a few feet off the path where a handsome young man about 17 was standing bathing nude. He watched us pass and didn’t seem to mind the old white ladies walking by.

You may notice in some photos, and the feature photo above, small offerings to Hindu deities.  Twice each day, Hindus in Bali (mostly women I believe) create baskets of flowers, fruits and other significant symbols and place them at entrances wherever they are, work or home. Bali is one of the thousands of islands in Indonesia; I’ve read anywhere from 13,000 to 17,000 plus islands, but 8 of the islands have large populations. It’s one of the few inhabited islands that is predominantly Hindu (85%), the other islands have became predominantly Muslim, and Indonesia has the largest Muslim population in the world.