Travelling

I always thought that travelling is one of my greatest interest.

Recently, I just realize that it was as much as researching it as doing it. The planning of destination, the search for the best fare, the discovery of all the fun activities you can do, etc., all contribute to the thrill of the ride.

One of my source of ground info is Wikitravel. It really helps to find out most details about the destination. You can get info on accommodation, places to eat, activities, bla bla bla… Basically, a pack of information goodness.

Unfortunately for Indonesians, overseas travel has always been bogged down with visa requirement. I feel that this is one of the indicator which shows a country’s standing in the world.

What I like about travelling is the opportunity to see new sights, learn interesting new culture, experience new exotic food, catch new intestinal disease….

But this is no reason at all to be discouraged. Other benefit of travel is that heart pounding anticipation that you will be broke at the end of the trip.

Mind games

Got this from here. Just something to get you thinking….

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Three men decided to split the cost of a hotel room. The hotel manager gave them a price of $30. The men split the bill evenly, each paying $10, and retired to their room.

However, the manager realized that it was a Wednesday night, which meant the hotel had a special: rooms were only $25. He had overcharged them $5!

He promptly called the bellboy, gave him five one-dollar bills and told him to return it to the men. When the bellboy explained the situation to the men, they were so pleased at the honesty of the establishment that they promptly tipped the bellboy $2 of the $5 he had returned and each kept $1 for himself.

The Problem: Each of the three men ended up paying $9 (their original $10, minus $1 back) totalling $27, plus $2 for the bellboy makes $29. Where did the extra dollar go?

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Think hard. If you want, you can get the solution here.

Another story from my flickr collection (Hangzhou)

Floating Pagoda at HangZhou

Pheew… I’t been a while since I got myself off my lazy bum and actually visit this site.

Anyway, since it is close to the Chinese New Year, I thought I share one of a story from China. This one takes me back to one of my first trip to China, back in 20xx…

I have heard much about this city by the lake called Hangzhou prior to my visit. I heard about the most beautiful city that personified all the chinese romance and culture.  As the saying goes, if  there is heaven above, then in earth there is Hangzhou and Suzhou. One of the four anciet capitals of China, this city got some tremendous reputation to begin with. My target visit is the world famous West Lake.

My trip started with a queue at Shanghai Railway station to get the ticket. Anybody who has actually queue for train tickets in China will know that it is no picnic! Thankfully, the train we chose was one of those new and fast CRH train. I think it took us about 2 hours to get there.

After getting there, the first thing to do is to… Queue again.

The thing about the Chinese train system is that you can only buy the ticket departing from a certain place there. So no way you can buy return tiket on the first place. I am not sure if it has changed now though.

So there I was, in huge train station, with at least 20 lines with an estimate queueing of 50 people per lines. Yes. It is not a typo. 50 People!

Ha ha… Talking about image of beauty…

After getting the return ticket, we finally can get a move on to enjoy the city. The hotel was a nice local chain that offers good bed, glasswalled shower and in room foot massage. Not bad for about 200 RMB.

Anyway, finally the lake. They say it is not so big but 5 hours of walking is huge on my book. Like the aerage tourist we start off walking but after seeing other whizzing passed us with the bright yellow bikes, we decided to get our hand on them as well.

We went around the lake faster this time. Taking pictures along the way. One of the sample is the picture here. I just feel that I want a classic feel to match Hangzhou’s image. So I set the sephia mode on and frame the pagoda with more space for the sky. I kinda like the result. What do you think?

Kiss Kiss

Here is one of a sample of a shot taken with just a table light from the right side to this curious object.

I really like the combination of the shapes, form and light on this one.

I’d probably want to do a tighter crop but for now I just wanted to show the original shot.

 

 

Word of the day : “Mamihlapinatapai”

Mamihlapinatapai is a word from the Yaghan language of Tierra del Fuego, listed in The Guinness Book of World Records as the “most succinct word”, and is considered one of the hardest words to translate. It describes “a look shared by two people with each wishing that the other will initiate something that both desire but which neither one wants to start.”

Funny sticker of the day!

I really like this.
It is so naughty….

Sentosa Island

Entering Sentosa

This is a memento picture from my trip to Sentosa with my girl buddy, Xia “The Kambing”. Ha ha….

I think this was in 2005 when I had the opportunity to visit the Lion City of Singapore. Xia, was kind enough, or maybe have nothing better to do, so she took me for a visit to Sentosa Island. Singapore’s own resort island.

The trip on the cable car is about 10 minutes and during the time, you can see the wide highway to Bedok reservoir, the busy container harbor and if you are lucky, as I did, you’ll get to glide over a cruise ship which normally lays anchor in the strait.

Inside the island, you’ll get to ride monorails, visit the sea world, see an abandoned fort, get on a rotating tower as well as the mandatory stop at the 37-meters tall, Giant Merlion statue for some picture taking.

I remember she was actually still studying at that time. She was always doing that, I wonder when she will ever get a job! Ha ha…

Actually, she is doing very well these days. Got a good job, a marriage just around the corner, a flat some where in  Choa Chu Kang…. Life is good to our kambing

Anyway, we had a great time there and hope that I can visit Singapore again in the future.