Archive
| Travelogue from
Contiki Tour -
Thursday, July 01, 2004 at 03:26 |
| It's taking me longer than
I thought to write up my travelogue but here it is. It's pretty
much proofread and I've captioned all the photos.
Link is
www.neilcheng.com/contiki
If
you were part of this tour, you can access the message board and upload
pictures at
www.neilcheng.com/forum This is a private message board for approved
users only.
|
| Some Updates
-
Tuesday, December 23, 2003 at 22:19
|
My next trip will be
Contiki's 23 day London to Athens tour. Here's the itinerary.
Contiki runs bus tours for 18-35 year olds and I need to do this before I
turn 35. Contiki has their own properties where you'll stay at for
most cities. The alternative is backpacking and hostels but wasting
my vacation time looking for hostels with a heavy pack doesn't appeal to
me.
If you have some tips, please email me. I've
been told not to spend too much time in Athens (it's dirty, noisy and
polluted) but alternatively, London is very expensive.
I picked this tour since I've already been to
Munich and Denmark on business. It will be a much different trip
from staying at $500 a night Hilton's in Munich. But I never did
make it to the Hofbrauhaus beer hall. The downside for this tour is
that I don't have any days in Amsterdam.
Here's the map.
|
| Comments by Jeff
from Canada on Tuesday, May 18, 2004 at 10:14
- IP Logged |
In london:
In covent gardens go see the maple leaf bar, only Canadian Bar in
London.
The natural history museum in free for the last hour of the day.
Check out www.london.com or www.londontown.com for maps and tips to free
sights in London. |
| Comments by Chris B
from Canada on Monday, May 03, 2004 at 10:36
- IP Logged |
Morning Trafalgar square,
it has to be done. Covent garden, 2 hours , around 11, lunchtime,
as it will be bustling. Take in one of the museums, Knightbridge or
Kensington I always forget, Natural History or the Science.
Evening get yourself on to the London Eye for a flight around dusk. So
around 8:30 I guess.so you see some daylight London and and lit up. The
Punch and Judy Pub at Covent Garden is nice for a beer. Picaddilly
Circus is not bad, lots of lights and stuff , couple of good bars and
restaurants. A nice thing is: Go to the Tower of London, mooch
around, hop on a boat up to Westminster Bridge (I think) 20 mins, then
take a stroll up St James Mall ,1 mile,in the park which ends at
Buckingham Palace, serious amounts of history + you get to see the
household guards. Ps St.Pauls is always a winner as well.
In Paris, Notre Dame is nice, however my choice would be the Sacre
Coeurs (said: sackrae cur ) I usually get some picnic bits and sit on
the church steps and watch the world go by for an hour and after that a
little stroll to the place de tetes ( artists square ) and Monmatre. Its
a bit seedier and really quaint.
Paris is easier than London as it is all a lot more condensed.
|
| Comments by Lisa
from Canada on Thursday, December 05, 2002 at 08:41
- IP Logged |
Hey Neil: Awesome pics,
except for the car ones, what was with that?
I see you managed to find some lovely ladies all over the world to hang
and take pics with. Good job!
|
| Ireland and China
-
Saturday, October 05, 2002 at 00:52
|
As a prequel to my
Asia/Australia trip, I just recently did two business trips. Check out
some accompanying pictures in the photo gallery. The first stop was to
Belfast, Ireland and a week later I went to China.
I knew only seven hours before getting on that plane that I was going to
Belfast to try to resolve a problem with one of our customers. I
thought I needed to pack a bulletproof vest.
Arriving in Belfast, the city looked like the typical European city.
Talking to one of the girls that worked for our customer, the city has
been pretty calm since the peace agreement partly brokered by Bill
Clinton in 1998. There weren't police at every block though there was
an occasional bombing. The customer site was in a poorer area of the
city and they were a charity redeveloping property, incubating new
businesses and providing training to local residents. With unemployment
at a high rate, they believed that improving the economy and creating
jobs was the way to refocus activities from joining paramilitary groups
to being employed. Part of this plan was to provide internet access to
spurn interest in technology and create jobs in related industries which
is where our products fit in. Their office was an old cotton mill on the
border but on the Catholic side. The area was public row housing for
miles surrounded by 20 ft brick fences and barbed wire. You could
usually tell if you were in a Catholic or Protestant neighbourhood by
looking at the flags that were everywhere. We had a wireless link to a
Catholic church a block away but on the Protestant side. I was a bit
nervous working on our terminals on the roof thinking I was an easy
target for a sniper. The residents thought our terminals were
surveillance cameras but the local installers lived in the neighbourhood
and reassured them that they were lasers providing them TV service.
They told me they heard gunshots one time when they were working in the
Church bell tower but they ducked in case the bullets were meant for
them. I wanted to walk back to the office one time but they told me I
should wait for the truck since I could get stoned.
Tommy, one of the installers took me and a co-worker for dinner and
beers one evening. We bar hopped from one restaurant to two Irish pubs
and then to his local Gaelic Athletic Association pub in a fenced
compound close to the office. In the Irish pubs, I could've been in
Vancouver for all I knew. The only telltale sign I was somewhere else
was the smoking in the bar (you really appreciate the non-smoking policy
in Vancouver) and the fact I was the only Asian in a 10 mile radius.
There's probably not a lot of immigration to Belfast so it's a pretty
white city. Bars were pretty normal but Tommy bought our drinks all
night since we bought him dinner. I tried to buy a round at his home
bar but that was nearly impossible. Walking back to the complex after
12 drinks, in a strange area and at 1 am could've been a scary
experience if we took a wrong turn and crossed a border but we made it
back ok. Streets were pretty quiet.
Prices in London (Heathrow) and Belfast seem pretty normal at first
until you convert at 2.5x to Canadian. My 13 sterling breakfast at the
Holiday Inn converted to $35 CAD, my 100 sterling room to $250 CAD and
gas was 0.70 sterling a litre. A McDonald's meal was around 4 sterling
or $10 CAD.
I always thought before that the conflict in Northern Ireland was all
religion - Catholics vs Protestants but it's Irish independence vs
British Loyalists. Britian had settled Scots in Ireland hundreds of
years ago as well as killing and persecuting Catholics. When England
gave Ireland it's independence, it maintained control and rule over the
Northern part where most British Loyalists/Protestants were living.
Years of violence have calmed lately with the peace agreement.
There was a news story last year about a Catholic girls school where the
children had to cross a Protestant area on the way. To walk to school,
the girls needed a police escort and the locals would taunt and yell at
the girls making them cry. The residents stopped this eventually but
this school is where our terminals will be provided high speed internet
access.
China
My next trip six days later took me and our Asia Pacific salesman,
Bryan, to four cities in 10 days. Our first stop was GhuangZhou,
capital of GhuanDong (Canton) province. I'm pretty comfortable with my
restaurant Cantonese but Mandarin is the official language even in this
area. Most people in GuangZhou speak both languages however. Guangzhou
is a sprawling city with 6 million people.
Traffic in China is pretty wild. When busy, cars drive everywhere with
no regard for lines and squeezing between lanes and on the shoulders and
cutting off each other constantly. Mix pedestrians, buses, trucks,
motorcycles and bicycles with this traffic and you have constant near
misses, honking and always a wild taxi ride. Cars pass and miss within
inches and I never witnessed an accident. If you're not aggresive
driving in Chinese traffic, you won't get anywhere and you'll hold
traffic up behind you.
After one night in Guanzhou, we taxied to Sanshui, a smaller city (by
Chinese standards) about 60 km North of Guangzho. We ended up staying
in a resort just on the edge of the city in a forest park. The
Cantonese are known to eat anything that crawls, swims or walks. This
includes turtles, frogs, snakes, snails, dogs, cats and insects. The
back of the restaurant at the hotel was like a zoo and aquarium with a
large variety of live fish, chickens, geese and reptiles. At least you
knew your food was fresh. The second night, we went out to dinner with
our local contact. Bryan had given me the choice of beef or insects so
I chose beef. The restaurant we went to was a bit grungy (by Western
standards) but dinner was Mongolian hot pot style (cook your own raw
meat in soup with a burner at the table). The place was a beef
specialty so all the meat provided was cow parts. We ordered kidneys,
vagina, stomach, and intestine and some cow penis soup. I didn't eat
that much that night but tried most of the cow parts. The night before,
Bryan had some frog vagina desert and we had some frog for lunch as
well.
Sanshui was full of motorcycles and most riders wore these flimsy
looking helmets. I'm not sure how much protection the helmets gave but
they looked like they were from a Tonka playset. I guess you don't want
to be wearing a full size helmet mainly because it was too hot.
Our next stop was Shenzhen, a border city to Hong Kong and it was set up
originally as a Special Economic Zone. The city was large, modern and
the major streets were uncluttered and beautifully landscaped. There
were lots of residential high rises under construction. My Cantonese
didn't do much good here since most of the population were from other
parts of China drawn here for the jobs.
Our customer in Shenzhen was a large telecommunications hardware
company, Huawei. They had a large 10 building campus outside the city
and had another 6 large buildings under construction. The provided
modern residences to their employees (reminded me of a Club Med) with
gardeners and security guards. A shuttle bus provided service between
buildings. They had a fleet of luxury sedans and drivers to shuttle
guests and visitors and we were picked up and dropped off at our hotel.
I didn't realize any companies were making money in the telecom
industry.
The area by our hotel was in a tourist area but buildings were fairly
spread out. There was a Walmart across the street where I had to get
supplies. I could've picked up some live frogs and turtles for dinner.
Our last stop was Shanghai with an urban population of about 12 million
people and the largest city in China. Shanghai is sprawling and modern
with distinctive architecture. A few landmarks include the spherical
Orient TV tower, the tallest hotel in the world, and a long cable-stayed
bridge with a spiraling expressway approach.
I had a day off and used the opportunity to explore a little bit and go
on my quest for cheap DVD's and North Face jackets. With help from the
yellow pages, I had picked up some sites to go. The subway was close to
the hotel, very similar to the MTR in Hong Kong, had signs and
announcements in English so it was very easy to navigate. I subwayed to
a pedestrian mall on Nanjing Rd (lots of stores and people but no
market) and then over to the TV tower. It was a bit expensive to go up
$12 CAD but I didn't know if it was worth the money so I just checked
out the riverfront by the base. I eventually made my way back to an
outdoor market I had found previously. It was a lot more crowded than
on the previous day and you could barely move through the market so I
wanted to get out of there pretty quick. I didn't think I would get a
chance to make a return visit so I was going to walk out of there with a
jacket. I finally found a stall with pretty authentic looking jackets
and with a posted price. I quickly offer $100 CAD for two jackets and
got out of there. We actually had a chance to return to the market
(were done early during the week) and found a shop selling the same
jacket for a posted price of $30 CAD. "Jacketman" showed us the
difference in quality and how the real fakes had a PVC backing to be
waterproof. The trick in spotting real Goretex and North Face gear was
the taped seams inside the jacket. He also demonstrated the Goretex
breathing by putting steam on the material and catching the moisture
with his glasses. At least I bought something fairly authentic (though
I paid too much) but I picket up some Goretex pants and a fleece for
another $30 CAD.
I also found some pirate DVD's of recently playing movies the day before
for $2 CAD each. I had a player in one of the two laptops I was
carrying and found out they were DVD burns of the
camcorder-in-the-movie-theater movies you can download off the
internet. Pretty good quality considering... but kind of annoying when
someone gets up in the middle of the movie and when the audience leaves
at the end.
 |
 |
 |
| View
from hotel room Guanzhou, China |
Back of
Sanshui restaurant (The food is fresh) |
Workers
residences in Shenzhen |
 |
 |
 |
| Hazy
Shanghai skyline with Opera House |
Gardens
beside Opera House |
TV
tower in the background |
Some travel notes
Though the weather is typically hot, you don't see a lot of people
wearing shorts in the city. I believe it's considered too casual. Not
wanting to look like a tourist, I wanted to stay in pants as well.
Most bathrooms don't have soap or toilet paper so you should always
carry your own. When asking for napkins in a restaurant (typically not
provided), they usually hand you a pack of tissues (probably for the
washrooms as well). Also there's no tipping. Toilets were a mix of
squat and regular ones.
Crossing a busy street is always an adventure. Locals ignore lights and
traffic to some degree and never run across. You'll see people in the
middle of the road with buses screeching to a halt or whizzing by.
Depending where you go, things can be pretty inexpensive.
More Western areas tend to have Western prices. A meal in a local
restaurant with lots of big dishes would be around $20 CAD for two
people. Our beef dinner that night was pretty cheap. A 700ml bottle
of beer at Walmart was $0.60 and a bottle of water around $0.50. My
standard cost of living index - the McChicken Meal at McDonalds - was
around $3.
Stayed tuned for my adventures (on vacation - this time). It'll
probably be pretty hectic as well but I'll try to post some updates as
well.
|
| Comments by Neil
from Canada on Monday, December 22, 2003 at 15:47
- IP Logged |
| I've had some questions
regarding where to find Jacketman. The market is XiangYang Market on
XiangYang Lu. There is a subway stop close by. Jacketman's stall is C-33
(I had his business card). |
| Comments by Sue
from United States on Monday, November 24, 2003 at 21:19
- IP Logged |
| Hi, when I read your visits
to China, it reminded me of my visit in May of 2002. I had a chance to
visit my mom's homeland Beijing, Xian and Shanghai. Had a wonderful
visit. We brought several North Face jackets from the "Jacketman". Will
be back to visit again hopefully oct of 2004. I only wished that I had
more time and that we had our kids with us. They would have enjoyed the
visit. Take care. Sue |
| Comments by Derek
from United Kingdom on Monday, October 07, 2002 at 04:53
- IP Logged |
Neil, Expensive in the UK,
eh!?!?!
That's what I have to put up with everyday.
Later bud,
Wilson
|
| Travelling Tips
-
Friday, August 30, 2002 at 03:10
|
| I know tons of you have
been to Thailand, Sydney or Japan. Share with me some of your tips. I
may be backpacking the week I'm in Thailand. Anyone been to Ko Samet??
How do I get to Ko Samui? Do I need shots? |
| Comments by Chris
The Dish from Canada on Saturday, October 12, 2002 at 18:36
- IP Logged |
I didn't get to see a lot
of Thailand: just really Bangkok & Koh Samui. I highly recommend
Vietnam, particularly Hanoi and Halong Bay. But that doesn't help you at
all does it?
I took the evening train to the jump off point for Koh Samui. I forget,
but I think it's somethink like a 10+hr trip, so you definitely want to
overnight it. If you had to pick between this and Phuket, I'd probably
choose Phuket. Koh Samui is of course excellent, but other than the
beaches and being on an island, I'm not sure what it has over Phuket.
It's pretty touristy on the main strip. I think if you want to go to the
other islands, or in the more remote areas, it's calmer than Phuket, but
for limited time, Phuket has the limestone formations. Only trick is,
you have to either fly there or take the bus. Avoid the bus!!!!! Unless
you're traveling for 6 months and need stories, that is.
Buy some Power Bars to take with you--it's always good to eat, and
sometimes it's not as easy or as safe as you'd like
 .
Don't bother packing lots of clothes--you can buy cheap T-shirts there.
Bring a lock, flashlight and ear plugs (all things I didn't have).
|
| Comments by
Mackenzie Biggar from Canada on Monday, October 07, 2002 at 23:44
- IP Logged |
Hi Neil! You asked for
travel tips so here's the first installment/chapter of my Australian
travels:
(I have tons more but I couldn't fit it all)
In SYDNEY:
Bondi Beach Walk: it takes a couple of hours to do but takes you all
along the coastline to all of the smaller beaches and is really
beautiful
· Bondi Markets: really cool stuff on Sunday mornings
· The Pylon Lookout: lets you climb up one of the Harbour Bridge’s
pylons so you can look out over the entire harbour…way cheaper than the
Bridgeclimb which costs about $120.
· Taronga Zoo: I don’t normally like zoos but this one is really cool.
· Manly Beach: a nice ferry ride across the harbour…take the ferries
they because the ride is awesome.
· S. Thada: the best Thai restaurant you’ll ever go to
MELBOURNE
· St. Kilda…very nice area (eat a cake on Acland Street)
· Aussie Rules Football game at the MCG (Melbourne Cricket Grounds)
· Pug Mahoney’s Irish pub, La La Land, the Kitchen (a club)
· Do not stay at Flinders Station Backpackers…it’s a hole
· Try and make the comedy festival if you’re there in march
· Queen Victoria Markets
· Lygon Street is famous for yummy Italian food
· GREAT OCEAN ROAD!!!! MUST SEE!
DOWN SOUTH NOT AS FAR AS MELBOURNE
· Jervis Bay…very pretty, good snorkeling
· Tiny town called Berry
· Chinamen’s Beach..sort of attached to Jervis Bay
· Kiama
|
| Comments by Craig
from United Kingdom on Friday, October 04, 2002 at 23:55
- IP Logged |
| Bangkok has a nice palace
of two and of course the seedy attraction of Pat Pong. But it's also
very polluted and hot. Koh Samui has become very touristy but still a
very nice place. There are smaller islands near it like Ko Pi Pi which
are a bit more laid back. They can be reached by ferry from Samui.
Generally, though, it's a good choice for a week. If you wanted
something a bit more off the beaten track you can take an overnight
train from Bangkok to Laos. That's rather cool. |
| Comments by Lisa
from Canada on Monday, September 16, 2002 at 09:34
- IP Logged |
| A week?!!!! that's all you
have in Thailand? you're nuts. You need at least a month to see at least
1% of the great things in Thailand. I spent about 2 1\2 months there and
it wasn't nearly enough. Ko Samet is about a 4-5 hour tripfrom Bangkok
and we went there twice. It's okay but not what I would recommend if you
want to really expirience Thailand. Ko Samet is a weekend getaway for
ex-pats living in Bangkok. Yes you need shots but no you won't need
malaria tablets. Ko Samui is a 12 hour bus or train ride south and then
a boat ride accross the water. Apparently you can also fly. I recommend
the trip south to Krabi and then anywhere east or west from there. James
Bond Island, Raleigh Beach etc. Ko Phi Phi will be like Hawaii and built
up and parts of Samui are too. call or email me if you want to know some
secret and fun places. |
| Comments by
D.Haywood Wilson from United Kingdom on Friday, August 30, 2002 at 06:51
- IP Logged |
Neil,
Derek here.
Craig B. has lived and travelled in S.E.Asia so contacting him may be a
good idea. You can get him via gradfinder. Have a great time!
Swing by Newcastle on your way back, ha.
Cheers!
D
|
|
