Monday, December 31, 2007
Flying Bob
This is Flying Bob, the smallest remote control helicopter, one of the Christmas present from Kay.
Here is a video clip of Flying Bob’s first flight:
Sunday, December 30, 2007
Ancient Athens
As I walked out of the Athens Metro station, I looked up into the sky. The sky is blue and there were no clouds. The sun shined upon me and I realised that’s why it’s so bloody hot even in September! I was sweating profusely as I walked along the main square of Syntagma with my luggage, looking for our hotel. With this kind of hot weather, a cold shower would be excellent.
Leaving the hot weather aside, Athens is best described as part city, part archaeological site. Amongst the tall and modern buildings stands what was left of ancient Athens. The most majestic among the archaeological site is the Acropolis, where it stands on a hilltop and is visible to almost every part of the city.
There are many entrances to Acropolis and given the sheer size of it, I think it would take at least the entire day to go through the marble white monuments and temples. Part of the structures are still under restoration work. Since it is a tourist attraction site, we have to mingle along with other tourist. In fact there were so many tourists, the whole site was overcrowded and I was wondering if any of them would fall off the hill! And because there is just flow of people swarming to the hill top, there is little opportunity for me to stand and look at the structures.
Acropolis overflowed with tourist.
Once we reached to the top of the hill, there it stood, the magnificent Parthenon, a temple build to house statue of Athena.
Parthenon
Not too far away from Parthenon is the Erechtheion.
Erechtheion
Once we are done fighting with other tourist, trying to get the best photo shot of Acropolis, we went down hill towards the Ancient Agora. The Agora is Athen’s meeting place in ancient times with all the commercial, administrative, orgies and social activities taking place.
Agora... an open 'place of assembly' in ancient Athens
This is the Agora Museum where it housed all the artifacts and a toilet facility for those in need to take a pee.
The other end of the Agora stands the Temple of Hephaestus.
We move south of the Acropolis and cut across scores of tourist shops until we reach the other end of the road. There lie 16 remaining columns (out of total 104) of the Temple of Zeus.
Since we have not had enough of monuments and temples, we made our way out of Athens to the Temple of Poseidon. The view is great but the wind was really strong on the day of our visit. Sands were ride along the strong wind hitting our face.
Temple of Poseidon. Yes, I know. More buildings! What more do you expect of Athens?
What is a vacation if there is no shopping for tourist? The Athens flea market is located around Monastiraki Square with shops selling souvenirs to flock of tourists. Unlike some nasty opportunistic traders we encountered in other countries, traders in Athens are often gentlemen. We could browse through the goods in their shop and query about certain goods. If at the end of the day we have decided not to make the purchase, the shopkeeper would just smile. They will then take out their business card and leave it with us, just in case we change our mind.
Before we flew to Greece, Kay booked a concert which is to be held at Odeon of Herodes Atticus:-
Kay: Dear, I am going to book two tickets for a concert in Athens.
Bob: But I don’t speak or sing Greek.
Kay: It says here Mikis Theodorakis' orchestra
Bob: Hmmm… I don’t mind orchestra. As long as it is just instruments that’s ok. Least I don’t have to struggle to learn Greek language.
So, Kay booked two tickets for the price of €35+ per person.
The stage
When we arrive at the Odeon of Herodes Atticus, I realized that there were score of singers (most likely famous people which we don’t know or appreciate) and orchestra seems to mean there will be people singing in Greek and not just instrumental.
We were the only Asian looking visitor to the concert. Everyone looked at us and gave us the disbelief-look. It was as if they were questioning whether we understand Greek.
Since we have already paid for the tickets, might as well just sit in. I think the concert was held in honour of Mikis Theodorakis the composer for all the songs. (Click here to know more of Mikis Theodorakis). Though I don’t understand Greek, some of the songs do sound nice. But then along came this old chap who sounded no different to an old man attempting to sing Shanghai Bund on a karaoke set during a Chinese wedding!
An advertisement poster we saw at the Metro Station
Sea view from Temple of Poseidon
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
'Sunset' island
Here is an entry of our visit to Santorini, Greece in September 2007.
Amongst all the Greek islands, most people consider Santorini (Thira) as the most beautiful island. Being the best place in the world to view the sunset, I have known a friend who had proposed to his girlfriend (now wife) while enjoying the sunsets on a rooftop of a café.
For those who don't know who Smeagol is:
Explore the volcano
Right after the so-called hot spring excursion, we were drop-off at the port of Oia, Santorini. Like Fira, many of the shops are built along the caldera and has the uniformed blue roof top and white-washed buildings. More importantly, Oia is located at the west side of Santorini and is the best spot to enjoy the view of sunset.
A scenic view of Oia
However, to get up to Oia, I think we might have to go through more than 100 steps and I was not in the mood to give myself a marathon challenge. So I decided to pay 4 Euro to get myself a donkey ride all the way to the top. The donkey is an interesting creature. As soon as it started moving along the winding road up the cliff, it decided to speed up heading straight towards the edge of the cliff, only to manuevor at the last minute away from the edge. And this went on until I reached to the top of the cliff. Along the way, I was contemplating whether to give my donkey a good kick just to stop it from giving me a 'thrill' ride. But then, I decided not to, in case, the donkey got irritated by my kicking and decides to jump off the cliff with me on it.
There is always a donkey to give you a 'thrill' ride up to Oia
On the first day of our sunset:
Kay: That is so beautiful! I have not seen anything like that before!
Bob: Oh yes. Such a beautiful moment for both of us! A moment that we have been waiting for a long time.
On the second day of our sunset experience:
Kay: There is it again. The sunset is lovely, isn’t it?
Bob: Yes indeed.
Some of the other places to go in Santorini:
Black-sand beach and red cliffs
Explore the white-washed buildings
Amongst all the Greek islands, most people consider Santorini (Thira) as the most beautiful island. Being the best place in the world to view the sunset, I have known a friend who had proposed to his girlfriend (now wife) while enjoying the sunsets on a rooftop of a café.
Like most of our adventures, Kay will always do the planning while I sit on my fat-ass and watch the television. When comes to the actual day of the travel, it’s her turn to sit back while ‘implement’ her ever ‘flawless’ plans. To get around the island, we have rented a car since at the time of our travel, public buses are less frequent.
Driving around Santorini is no easy task. The roads are narrow, small and it doesn’t help further since Greeks drive on the left instead of the right. When it comes to night, the roads are dark since certain part of the island has no street lights.
Fira is the main town of Santorini, where most of the cruise will stop for its guest to get-off for a day trip before it disembark again in the evening. From here, we could enjoy the views from the edge of the caldera over the cliffs. Commercial activities are always bustling along the pedestrian alleyways as you can find scores of jewelery, restaurants, arts and souvenir shops. When you go into a shop, rest assure that you will not be bothered by the sales people, unless you need their assistance. Whilst price are pretty standard, you could still drive a bargain to get a good deal. There are scores of gift shops in Fira, so you can take your time to hop from one shop to another to compare prices. If you are tired, you can always go to one of the roof top cafe to have a drink and enjoy the view.
Driving around Santorini is no easy task. The roads are narrow, small and it doesn’t help further since Greeks drive on the left instead of the right. When it comes to night, the roads are dark since certain part of the island has no street lights.
Fira is the main town of Santorini, where most of the cruise will stop for its guest to get-off for a day trip before it disembark again in the evening. From here, we could enjoy the views from the edge of the caldera over the cliffs. Commercial activities are always bustling along the pedestrian alleyways as you can find scores of jewelery, restaurants, arts and souvenir shops. When you go into a shop, rest assure that you will not be bothered by the sales people, unless you need their assistance. Whilst price are pretty standard, you could still drive a bargain to get a good deal. There are scores of gift shops in Fira, so you can take your time to hop from one shop to another to compare prices. If you are tired, you can always go to one of the roof top cafe to have a drink and enjoy the view.
For those who don't know who Smeagol is:
Come master. 'Cum' to Smeagol.
Explore the volcano
The volcano is made of black-stones formed as a result of the lava million of years ago. Every year, holidaymakers tend to bring some of the volcano-stones back as a souvenir. According to the tour guide, if this goes on for another five years, there might not be a volcano left and she might be out of job by then. I have no intention of bringing any of the stones back. But somehow or rather, a piece of the stone manage to pierce through my sandals and followed me back to Santorini.
Leaving my new-found imaginary friend Smeagol back at the volcano, we head off to the hot springs at Palia Kameni, located just at the back of the volcano. Unfortunately, the boat could only stop about, I think, less than 100 meters away from the hot spring due to the rocky shores. We are required to jump into the waters to swim over if we want to check out the hot springs. Since Kay can’t swim and although I could attempt to float my way to the hot spring, I think I should be a dutiful husband and remained on the boat with her to enjoy the view and sea breeze.
Right after the so-called hot spring excursion, we were drop-off at the port of Oia, Santorini. Like Fira, many of the shops are built along the caldera and has the uniformed blue roof top and white-washed buildings. More importantly, Oia is located at the west side of Santorini and is the best spot to enjoy the view of sunset.
However, to get up to Oia, I think we might have to go through more than 100 steps and I was not in the mood to give myself a marathon challenge. So I decided to pay 4 Euro to get myself a donkey ride all the way to the top. The donkey is an interesting creature. As soon as it started moving along the winding road up the cliff, it decided to speed up heading straight towards the edge of the cliff, only to manuevor at the last minute away from the edge. And this went on until I reached to the top of the cliff. Along the way, I was contemplating whether to give my donkey a good kick just to stop it from giving me a 'thrill' ride. But then, I decided not to, in case, the donkey got irritated by my kicking and decides to jump off the cliff with me on it.
There is always a donkey to give you a 'thrill' ride up to Oia
Interesting thing about sunsets. Like an economic theory of utility preference, too much of the same thing can have adverse effect. We had viewed the sunset everyday during our stay in Santorini and our excitement towards the sunset diminishes as time goes by.
On the first day of our sunset:
Kay: That is so beautiful! I have not seen anything like that before!
Bob: Oh yes. Such a beautiful moment for both of us! A moment that we have been waiting for a long time.
On the second day of our sunset experience:
Kay: There is it again. The sunset is lovely, isn’t it?
Bob: Yes indeed.
On the third day of our sunset experience:
Kay: Look at the sun.
Bob: Yes…I have seen it since this morning.
Kay: Look at the sun.
Bob: Yes…I have seen it since this morning.
Some of the other places to go in Santorini:
Black-sand beach and red cliffs
Explore the white-washed buildings
Hmmm….Swedish food
I take food very seriously. Embarking on a culinary adventure is another way of exploring various cultures. Here is some of the finest Swedish cuisine which Kay and I had stumbled along.
We start a day with Swedish typical breakfast, which consists of fruit-flavored yoghurt, several types of bread (which I find they are often ‘hard’), sliced cheese, slice meat (like ham and smoked reindeer), pickled herring, liver pate and cured salmon. Needless to say, there’s always good food in Stockholm to start the day.
The Lonely Planet had ranked Nystekt Strömming as one of the top five best places in town for fried herring. It is located just outside the Slussen metro station. Since it’s only a stall without any indoor facilities, we have to run back into metro station with the food to keep ourselves warm.
Fried herring on toast. Price starts from SKR27
Hot Dogs are available almost everywhere we go and are cheap as well. Pretty convenient especially if you are on the go and you are dying for hot food instead of cold sandwiches.
There are a variety of restaurants we stumbled upon as we walked along the main cobblestone street of Gamla Stan (old town). As the price was fairly expensive, we got off the main street and tried some other smaller less visited streets. This is where we were lucky enough to find a small bar restaurant which serve good food and the price are reasonable (main meal is from SKR149 compare to the main street price which is above SKR200).
The restaurant is called Magnus Ladulas, located somewhere along Osterlånggatan at Gamla Stan which serve Swedish cuisine. It was so good that we've been there twice!
I've tried the elk rib-eye, something you don't get in Malaysia. Unless you prefer otherwise, the meat are always prepared medium. Compared to beef, the meat is much sweeter and juicier. The elk is served with mashed-roasted potatoes and lingonberries (a distinctive fruit which adds sweet taste to the food).
Elk served medium with potatoes and lingonberries
Kay had the fried duck which is served with pickled red cabbage and potatoes. It tastes excellent as it was succulent and juicy.
Another recommended dish is the roast lamb. Those guys in the kitchen know their stuff because the lamb came out really good. It’s juicy and tender. The sour-ish sauce that goes with it makes it a perfect partner as it complements the lamb's strong flavor.
I you feel like having seafood, try the seafood casserole. It consists of 3 different fishes with mussels and squids served on thick tomato puree and cheese.
Although the portions of these dishes are fairly big, we still managed to get hold of some desserts to end the tasty meal.
Tiramisu
Crème Brule
Kay arranged for a Christmas buffet at Stockholm at Verandan at Grand Hotel since it was recommended by Lonrly Planet for it’s year round dinner buffet. It has a range of pickled herring, sliced ham, venison, gravadlax (cured salmon), smoked salmon, caviar and many more. Nut if we were to compare with any Malaysian hotel buffet, the spread is nothing to shout about.
Nevertheless, we were fairly disappointed with the service as it took them ages to refill our water nor we were offered to put our coat and jackets into the cloak room.
Grand Hotel
Range of delicacies for you to indulge in a Verdana dinner buffet.
We went to Hötorgshallen which host several fine specialist food shops selling meat, seafood cheese and the like. There, we head for Kajsas Fiskrestaurang, a shop which serve fisksoppa (also known as fish stew). It’s not a big place so the queue can, at times, be really long during lunch time.
Fish stew with fishes and mussels.
What else can I say? Burp..!
Facing the winter in Stockholm
At times, people would do crazy things all for no apparent reason. Kay decides that we should try white Christmas and booked a flight to Stockholm.
A matter of fact:
London average temperature at the time of travel: 2ºc to 6ºc
Stockholm average temperature at the time of travel: -3ºc to -6ºc
Forget the tour agencies. Just get yourselves a copy of Lonely Planet as a guide instead.
Unfortunately, Kay’s hope was as if flushed down the toilet bowl when we realized there was no snow when we arrive in Stockholm. To make matter worse, we have to embrace a bitter cold below 0ºc without the delightful snow that Kay hoped so much for.
As for me, the truth is, despite the crazy things that Kay does, I actually enjoyed the trip very much.
The capital of Sweden, Stockholm has a host of friendly people. You see people, they smile at you. You are lost in the middle of Stockholm? Don’t worry, A friendly bloke will help you find your way. Almost everyone speaks English so, language is not a problem.
The good thing about traveling with Kay is that she arranged and plan everything. My role? I just look at the ‘key performance index’ (the cost ££!) before agreeing to go on with the plan. Kay managed to pick up a good deal on the internet for our accommodation, despite it’s a under high-end category. We stayed at Clarion Hotel, which the room is fairly small, nevertheless, comfortable.
Comfy, comfy bed
But what we really love about this hotel is the breakfast served. It has a fine range of buffet selection.
Range of pickled herring
One of the main highlight when one is visiting Stockholm is to hop on a boat sight-seeing trip. Stockholm is made-up of approximately 24,000 small islands (also known as archipelago). So, for those who is interested in photography, it has one of the few scenic view you might want to consider capturing and bring it home. However, you are going to need to brave the cold because it is freezing out there. During summer people will go out for a swim and relax amongst the islands.
Unfortunately, traveling to Stockholm in December only offer 6 hours of sunlight as the sun sets at 3 pm.
I had once traveled to Frankfurt and some of the smaller towns in Germany during my student days and enjoyed Christmas Market celebration. Kay told me Skansen in Stockholm has the biggest Christmas Market in Sweden which build-up my expectation. Christmas market is a set-up of little stalls within a square and offer range of Christmas goodies from decorations to Swedish staples (cheese, smoked meat etc) and hot food.
Get yourselves into the crowd
People preparing food at Christmas Market
My half-bitten Hot Dog.
Sadly, it was not as colorful or as lively as what I would have expected. Maybe it was the expectations built up from my previous experience in Germany. Because it gets dark early in Stockholm, the Christmas market activities slowed down by 5 pm and by 6 pm most of the stalls would have been closed. In my previous experience in Germany, Christmas market was much livelier and activities went on beyond 6 pm. I guess its different culture.
If you want to experience the life of a sailor in the 17th century, you can visit the Vasamuseet. It depicts the voyage of Vasa (a large war ship) which was overturned and sunk within minutes after being launch.
The model of Vasa at the entrance
A replica of life on board of Vasa
Welcome to Skansen. The best way to understand the life of a Swedish in their early days is to visit Skansen, the open-air museum. It has around 150 traditional houses making it a miniature Sweden.
You can visit some of these houses which are occupied by staffs dressed in their traditional costumes, recreating the lives of early days in Sweden. There is even a Nordic Zoo which house moose, brown bear, elk, lynx and reindeer. However, it got dark early and we didn’t see anything save for an elk with the help of our camera flash light.
We stopped by at a bakery shop to indulge in some of the local pastries. The one on the right is a custard pastry. Don’t know what’s the one on the left called but it's 'hard' and taste funny. Not my kind of pastry.
SO... it's pastry!
If you want to enjoy yourselves in some shopping, just head to Gamla Stan, the old town of Stockholm. Filled with historic buildings which host lots of shops for the tourists. Like a maze, the key word is for you to enjoy yourself in Gamla Stan is to ‘get lost’.
'Get lost' among the crowds
Explore the alleys.
Christmas cheer – greetings from a reindeer
A ‘penis-nose’ troll or gnome
We even got a little souvenir…
Next, Kay and I explore the fantastic delicacies of Stockholm.
A matter of fact:
London average temperature at the time of travel: 2ºc to 6ºc
Stockholm average temperature at the time of travel: -3ºc to -6ºc
Forget the tour agencies. Just get yourselves a copy of Lonely Planet as a guide instead.
Unfortunately, Kay’s hope was as if flushed down the toilet bowl when we realized there was no snow when we arrive in Stockholm. To make matter worse, we have to embrace a bitter cold below 0ºc without the delightful snow that Kay hoped so much for.
As for me, the truth is, despite the crazy things that Kay does, I actually enjoyed the trip very much.
The capital of Sweden, Stockholm has a host of friendly people. You see people, they smile at you. You are lost in the middle of Stockholm? Don’t worry, A friendly bloke will help you find your way. Almost everyone speaks English so, language is not a problem.
The good thing about traveling with Kay is that she arranged and plan everything. My role? I just look at the ‘key performance index’ (the cost ££!) before agreeing to go on with the plan. Kay managed to pick up a good deal on the internet for our accommodation, despite it’s a under high-end category. We stayed at Clarion Hotel, which the room is fairly small, nevertheless, comfortable.
Comfy, comfy bed
But what we really love about this hotel is the breakfast served. It has a fine range of buffet selection.
Range of pickled herring
One of the main highlight when one is visiting Stockholm is to hop on a boat sight-seeing trip. Stockholm is made-up of approximately 24,000 small islands (also known as archipelago). So, for those who is interested in photography, it has one of the few scenic view you might want to consider capturing and bring it home. However, you are going to need to brave the cold because it is freezing out there. During summer people will go out for a swim and relax amongst the islands.
Unfortunately, traveling to Stockholm in December only offer 6 hours of sunlight as the sun sets at 3 pm.
I had once traveled to Frankfurt and some of the smaller towns in Germany during my student days and enjoyed Christmas Market celebration. Kay told me Skansen in Stockholm has the biggest Christmas Market in Sweden which build-up my expectation. Christmas market is a set-up of little stalls within a square and offer range of Christmas goodies from decorations to Swedish staples (cheese, smoked meat etc) and hot food.
Get yourselves into the crowd
People preparing food at Christmas Market
My half-bitten Hot Dog.
Sadly, it was not as colorful or as lively as what I would have expected. Maybe it was the expectations built up from my previous experience in Germany. Because it gets dark early in Stockholm, the Christmas market activities slowed down by 5 pm and by 6 pm most of the stalls would have been closed. In my previous experience in Germany, Christmas market was much livelier and activities went on beyond 6 pm. I guess its different culture.
If you want to experience the life of a sailor in the 17th century, you can visit the Vasamuseet. It depicts the voyage of Vasa (a large war ship) which was overturned and sunk within minutes after being launch.
The model of Vasa at the entrance
A replica of life on board of Vasa
Welcome to Skansen. The best way to understand the life of a Swedish in their early days is to visit Skansen, the open-air museum. It has around 150 traditional houses making it a miniature Sweden.
You can visit some of these houses which are occupied by staffs dressed in their traditional costumes, recreating the lives of early days in Sweden. There is even a Nordic Zoo which house moose, brown bear, elk, lynx and reindeer. However, it got dark early and we didn’t see anything save for an elk with the help of our camera flash light.
We stopped by at a bakery shop to indulge in some of the local pastries. The one on the right is a custard pastry. Don’t know what’s the one on the left called but it's 'hard' and taste funny. Not my kind of pastry.
SO... it's pastry!
If you want to enjoy yourselves in some shopping, just head to Gamla Stan, the old town of Stockholm. Filled with historic buildings which host lots of shops for the tourists. Like a maze, the key word is for you to enjoy yourself in Gamla Stan is to ‘get lost’.
'Get lost' among the crowds
Explore the alleys.
Christmas cheer – greetings from a reindeer
A ‘penis-nose’ troll or gnome
We even got a little souvenir…
Next, Kay and I explore the fantastic delicacies of Stockholm.
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