120507 Rome

Today commences with a dull overcast sky with rain.  Not a good look but not as bad as yesterday.

After breakfast, we board our bus, which is to be our mobile home for the next 2 weeks.  It is well done out both inside and out.  The title on the side of the bus is ‘Pleasure on Wheels’.  There is a caricature of a shapely woman on the back door, which even our Tour Director had not noticed.  Inside, the roof is bright pink and the chairs have dashes of the same pink.  Rather classy indeed – especially when it is full of retired, or close to retired, folks from down under.

We make our way to St Peters Square.  While getting off the bus, my video camera drops on the sidewalk – sh……ucks is heard!  Just a broken ring that holds the wide-angle lens on is slightly damaged but can still do its job.  Man, I was so thankful.  And then when fitting the lens at one point, a passer by knocks my arm and the wide-angle lens drops to the ground.  Thankfully, no further damage.

The line of people into St Peters museum is probably over 1km.  We take the fast lane as we have a set booking time.  We go through security and purchase tickets at 15 Euros (a group discount) normal entrance fee is 17 Euros.  There are an average of 22,000 visitors per day.  That’s over $120 mil per year.  A tidy sum indeed – and no taxes either.  We head towards a scale model of the entire Vatican representing 44ha or 108 acres.  The area we are visiting is only a small portion of this immense display of wealth and hypocrisy when you think that the money collected could be spent on so many poorer groups of people in the world.  Magnificent sculptors, intricate tapestries and the many works of Michelangelo line the, what feels like, 1 km of display in the one hallway.

We enter the Sistine Chapel, said to be a Holy Place.  It is a private chapel of popes and the site of the secret conclaves at which cardinals elect new popes.  From 1508 to 1512, Michelangelo painted the ceiling with the saga of humanity from the Creation to the Flood, the largest work ever accomplished by a single artist.  Twenty-three years later, he painted the Last Judgment on the Sistine’s alter wall.

From here we enter the magnificent St Peter’s Basilica, consecrated in 1626.  It is the largest church of any kind or religion, in the world.  The church spreads over more than 1.5 ha.  Amid the basilica’s breath-taking array of gold, mosaic, marble and guilded stucco, the supreme masterpiece is Michelangelo’s Pieta, a superb marble statue of the Virgin cradling the body of Christ.

After a counter-lunch, we bus to the Colloseo.  This is the fourth time I have visited the site and it is true that the best time to be here is 5:30am, when no one else is around.  However, large crowds visit this site each day, although not as many as St Peters.  We enter the stadium where history tells that the gladiators had a wonderful time filling in the day by killing people and exotic beasts from around the world.  70,000 people would attend these ceremonies.  It took 8 years of manual labor to build this intricate arena, 3 giant walls thick and many entrances.  The people would be there all day to witness this gladiator sport.

We bus back to our Hotel, and after a short rest, we are taken to Piazza Navona where we have our welcome dinner in a sidewalk restaurant.  The sidewalks are lined with artists selling or painting their works.

120505 Rome

I wake early, 4:00am, and decide to get the blog for yesterday ready for uploading.  At 5:30 I quickly dress and catch a cab to the Colosseo to get early morning light effects on this great building of history.  The cab driver is asleep as I tap on his window.  However, it doesn’t take long for him to wake.  He straight away gets into ‘Roman Chariot speed’ as we make way towards the Colosseo down cobble stoned laneways touching 80kph at times.  The best early morning ride one could ever wish for.

The sun is still not taking effect on the Colosseo, and with no one around, I get some great video; the spotlights make for an even better picture experience.  I slowly walk back towards the Hotel Westin, hoping for a McDonalds to be open for an early morning tea – they don’t open until 10:00 am.

Breakfast is another great meal similar to yesterday.  Today’s program is free time until 3:00pm where we meet our Tour Director for Italy, Rosemary.  Rosemary is English but has lived in Italy for many years.  She helps us with important information like, “Don’t order a coffee without asking for American Coffee”.  Italian coffee is full on heavy stuff.  To eat or drink at the counter is much cheaper than taking a seat for the event.  Our hearing pieces, which will be the source of all history and information during our walking tours, is checked and ready to go.

At 4:30pm, we venture out on our first city walking tour, with umbrellas up as it is raining and continues to do so throughout the tour, which lasts to 7:00pm.  Our first stop is the Piazza Di Spagna or, Spanish Steps.  At the top of the stairs is a major French church in Rome.  Many tourists hang out at the fountain at the foot of the steps – oh, I forgot to count the many steps.  We wander through the maze of little streets and find the Trevi Fountain, occupying almost the entire square in which it stands.  This is where Neptune takes center stage.  If you want to be sure of returning to Rome, turn your back and toss a coin over your shoulder into the basin of water.

Still venturing through the narrow streets, we make our way to the Pantheon.  This was reconstructed 2,000 years ago after a disastrous fire.  Its majestic dome, with a diameter of 43 meters, identical to its height, is a triumph of architectural harmony.  There is a 9m opening in the dome for light to come into the church below.

The streets are busy even though it is Sunday afternoon and it is raining; tourists, we can tell, are a plenty.  We make our way to Piazza Navona where there is a large square with yes, another fountain taking centerstage. Of course, there is a story to this fountain like there is to all others.  This fountain is Bernini’s Fountain of the Four Rivers; Nile Ganges, Ia Plata, and the Danube.  These rivers are in the four major continents of the world.  From here, we make our way to our bus, which takes us back to Hotel Westin.

It is suggested by Rosemary, to take a meal in the not so up market restaurant region, so we take a 10 minute stroll and find a nice little café in some back street which turns out quite acceptable food.

Sorry for the quality of pictures in today’s post, but due to the constant rain, we decided to just use the iPhone cameras.  I have reduced them in size and so if you copy and paste them, you will not experience good quality.  If any of you wish to see pictures of your relatives ‘on site’, please leave a comment at the foot of this post and we will include something in the next post.  Normally, Lyn takes the pictures on her Sony DSLR a55 with a Tamron 18-270mm zoom lens.  We had nearly 400 hits to the site on Sunday – very good!

120506 Rome

I wake early, 4:00am, and decide to get the blog for yesterday ready for uploading.  At 5:30 I quickly dress and catch a cab to the Colosseo to get early morning light effects on this great building of history.  The cab driver is asleep as I tap on his window.  However, it doesn’t take long for him to wake.  He straight away gets into ‘Roman Chariot speed’ as we make way towards the Colosseo down cobble stoned laneways touching 80kph at times.  The best early morning ride one could ever wish for.

The sun is still not taking effect on the Colosseo, and with no one around, I get some great video; the spotlights make for an even better picture experience.  I slowly walk back towards the Hotel Westin, hoping for a McDonalds to be open for an early morning tea – they don’t open until 10:00 am.

Breakfast is another great meal similar to yesterday.  Today’s program is free time until 3:00pm where we meet our Tour Director for Italy, Rosemary.  Rosemary is English but has lived in Italy for many years.  She helps us with important information like, “Don’t order a coffee without asking for American Coffee”.  Italian coffee is full on heavy stuff.  To eat or drink at the counter is much cheaper than taking a seat for the event.  Our hearing pieces, which will be the source of all history and information during our walking tours, is checked and ready to go.

At 4:30pm, we venture out on our first city walking tour, with umbrellas up as it is raining and continues to do so throughout the tour, which lasts to 7:00pm.  Our first stop is the Piazza Di Spagna or, Spanish Steps.  At the top of the stairs is a major French church in Rome.  Many tourists hang out at the fountain at the foot of the steps – oh, I forgot to count the many steps.  We wander through the maze of little streets and find the Trevi Fountain, occupying almost the entire square in which it stands.  This is where Neptune takes center stage.  If you want to be sure of returning to Rome, turn your back and toss a coin over your shoulder into the basin of water.

Still venturing through the narrow streets, we make our way to the Pantheon.  This was reconstructed 2,000 years ago after a disastrous fire.  Its majestic dome, with a diameter of 43 meters, identical to its height, is a triumph of architectural harmony.  There is a 9m opening in the dome for light to come into the church below.

The streets are busy even though it is Sunday afternoon and it is raining; tourists, we can tell, are a plenty.  We make our way to Piazza Navona where there is a large square with yes, another fountain taking centerstage. Of course, there is a story to this fountain like there is to all others.  This fountain is Bernini’s Fountain of the Four Rivers; Nile Ganges, Ia Plata, and the Danube.  These rivers are in the four major continents of the world.  From here, we make our way to our bus, which takes us back to Hotel Westin.

It is suggested by Rosemary, to take a meal in the not so up market restaurant region, so we take a 10 minute stroll and find a nice little café in some back street which turns out quite acceptable food.

Sorry for the quality of pictures in today’s post, but due to the constant rain, we decided to just use the iPhone cameras.  I have reduced them in size and so if you copy and paste them, you will not experience good quality.  If any of you wish to see pictures of your relatives ‘on site’, please leave a comment at the foot of this post and we will include something in the next post.  Normally, Lyn takes the pictures on her Sony DSLR a55 with a Tamron 18-270mm zoom lens.  We had nearly 400 hits to the site on Sunday – very good!

120504 Rome

Our Grand Tour of Italy and Mediterranean Cruise has begun.  We have 12 fellow travellers with us.  All but one has been on one or many of our previous group tours.

It is a drain on one’s body in an aircraft for 8 hours and 13 hours at a time.  And so we were all looking forward to a good bed to give us the best of sleeps.  Italian time is 8 hours behind Australia.

The trip over was uneventful with meals at weird times and just a little turbulence at various times during the flight.  We all managed a little sleep but not enough of course.

We arrived at Rome airport about 30 minutes late but our departure from the airport was held up due to the major major modifications going on.  At least our bags were through by the time we were ready to collect them.  The flight over was reasonably smooth with only a few sharp aircraft movements during the trip.

Our transfer from the airport was in 2 Mercedes vans.  The airport is about 40 minutes from the city but it didn’t take long at all. We were sitting on 110kph and many others were overtaking us at speed.  A fast but safe trip!   Our driver did his best to speak English – it was far better than our Italian, of course.  We drove by many of Rome’s landmarks including the magnificent Colosseo (Italian).  There were so many people (tourists) there.  The Vatican is the biggest attraction here and we will see it a little later on.

When we registered at the Hotel Westin, it was around 10:30am.  We could not get into our rooms until after 12 midday and so we just ‘sat around’ waiting.  I think we may have a bit of that in the next couple of days until the ‘real’ tour starts.

Lyn and the others, had a lunch in a street-side café, but I was more interested in getting into the room and having a sleep.  Yesterday, it was a beautiful sunny blue-sky day and the video of the Porta Pinciana, came out rather striking.  I had trouble with the video camera at first (it had not deleted all the video from Vietnam) so I had to do a complete wipe of the disc and start a second time.  At least it is functioning OK now and should give us some good shots.

After a very heavy sleep, I was able to drag myself out to an evening meal of pizza and Caesars salad with a very chocolaty hot chocolate.  We made it back to bed by 9:15pm

I got up at 5:30 this morning to do some early morning video of the Porta Pinciana, which is a part of the ‘city wall’.  The early morning light made for some more interesting video than during the day.

What we have seen of Rome so far is more interesting than Paris.  The streets near us are lined with eateries with great looking pasta for sale – not!  I hate pasta.  No, the pizza was Ok last night.  The clothing shops are very up-market and probably very expensive, although one dress that Lyn ‘browsed’ at was 713 euro.

Lyn Wins another award

Thursday night, 27th October 2011, at the Park Hyatt, Lyn won another award from Scenic Tours.  It is the 2010-2011 “Spirit Award” for Victoria.  There is some stiff opposition from other agents, as those who sell Scenic Tours Holidays, enjoy doing it and want to win their awards.

Lyn has taken groups on Scenic Tours destinations to Canada Alaska in 2008 and on a European River Cruise in 2010.  She also enjoyed an educational to Egypt and Jordon in May 2011.  Plans for a Grand Italy Tour and Mediterranean Cruise, leaving May 2012, are happening as we speak and we have just 4 seats available on that great venture.  See the flyer at this link http://yarratraveljunction.com/group-tours/italy-and-mediterranean/

We look forward to your phone call to get the ‘low-down’.

2010-2011 Scenic Tours Spirit Award

111021 Luan Prabang

 

We decided we would like to finish our holiday with something different so went to The Elephant Village some 20 kms north from Luan Prabang in the jungle. We arrived at this meticulously prepared resort where the mission statement is ‘saving elephants is our mission’. Laos was known as the Land of the Million Elephants but the elephant in Laos is now an endangered species.  Some 1,600 remain of which an estimated 560 still work in the forest harvesting timber.  These elephants face a bleak future of hard work and abandonment.  The aim of The Elephant Village is not only to rescue working elephants from the harsh abusive environment in which they must make a living, but give them a brighter future, allowing them to roam freely in the jungle, group together in herds, mate and start families. The activities with the animals plus the accommodation at the resort, provide funds to support the elephants.

When we arrived, we were taken by boat to the other side of the river.  There we took part in the morning wash.  The elephant lifts one leg which acts as a step, then you hold onto the ears and haul yourself up to sit right under the ears.  We can tell you that it made us quite nervous being so high up just hanging onto the ears.  The Mahout (trainer/handler) sits behind.  The elephant lumbers into the river and is instructed to sit down. Then you are given a scrubbing brush and you have to wash and scrub the elephant clean whilst sitting on top.  The younger, more lithe backpackers stood up, slid down to the tail and also, sat on the trunk.  We were quite happy to stay in one place! Michael lost his scrubbing brush and his Mahout went diving in the river to find it which left Michael alone on his elephant holding onto his Mahout’s mobile phone. A nervous experience. Afterwards a seat was tied on the Val’s cleaned elephant, and we went for a ride through the jungle.

We spent the rest of the morning exploring the resort and pool, finding out about the vet hospital and relaxing under a hut which had a wonderful view of the river, mountains, jungle and the village gardens.  A delightful lunch capped off the morning.

It was then back to Hanoi, Singapore and home, sweet home.

We had a wonderful time. Thanks to Yarra Travel Junction for the marvellous organisation. We had lots of fun and made new friends.

111020 Luan Prabang

We think it’s Thursday but without the carpet in the lift at Hanoi we’re kind of not sure!  This hotel is in the French Colonial style and has some very beautiful gardens, lily ponds and our room overlooks the Mekong River.  It is very peaceful with a special ambience.  Strange also to see the Mekong River in another country after having boated on it on the Delta in Vietnam.  According to the guide, the Mekong is about 4,500 kms long and starts high up in the Tibetan Plateau.  We haven’t actually checked this out but everywhere we go there is the Mekong.

We were up at 5:00 this morning to see the parade of monks in the main street of Luan Prabang.  We had organised a bus from the hotel to take us there but soon found out we had paid for more than expected. We had just arrived in the bus when a man on a motor bike pulled up beside us, laid out a prayer mat, placed a carpet runner over the top of the mat then put a basket of sticky rice on the mat.  Over the top of the basket was a long shawl.  The driver indicated that it was for us.  We had only wanted to go to photograph the parade but now we were expected to be part of the giving of rice.  The driver placed the shawl over one shoulder and told us to kneel on the carpet runner. We later learned that the scarves represent the asking of the monks to intercede for a better future life. No way could we kneel on our wonky arthritic  knees.  I sat side saddle and Michael sat cross legged. We think this must have been a disrespectful position as at this, the bus driver was most upset and indicated that if we couldn’t kneel we should stand. All this happened by gestures, as the driver couldn’t speak English.

Every morning, over 200 orange-clad, barefooted monks come from every monastery in the city and join together to make one long queue. They carry containers and receive alms in the form of sticky rice from the people kneeling on prayer mats laid out on the pavement of the main street. The rice is taken back to the monasteries and offered as food and intercession to the ancestors of the alms givers.  Some of the rice is eaten by the monks.  We have trouble with this as the sticky rice, by this time, is handled by hundreds of people.  Our guide later told us that people have to have clean hands because if dirty rice is given, bad things will happen to the alms-giver.  This made us worry about how well we had cleaned our hands that morning!! After a few minutes, Michael decided that his ancestors had been appeased and that he was now allowed to take the promised photos, so I ended with 2 baskets of sticky rice.  One is supposed to roll only a small amount into a small ball but this was beyond me, so a few monks got a lot of rice, and the rest had to rely on the others who had more aptitude with the rolling thing.

We then returned to the hotel for breakfast and appreciated the chance to relax outside in the colourful gardens overlooking the river.

We then spent the morning in the Historical Old Town. We started at the fresh food market checking out the exotic fruits and vegetables, visited the National Museum which was once the Royal Palace of the King and visited more temples with lots of gold.  In the afternoon we took a leisurely 2 hour ride up the Mekong river to some caves containing thousands of gold lacquered Buddha statues. The caves are a destination for local pilgrimages, especially during the Lao New Year.

Over the past 4 weeks we have been on many different styles of boats but this was the most plush and comfortable.  It is called a “long tail boat”, 24 metres long, only 1.5 metres wide and finished in highly polished teak with intricate carvings.  Very comfortable for a nap after the early morning start!

Val forgot to mention the village we were taken to on the way to the caves, perhaps because it wasn’t imprinted on her mind like it was imprinted on mine. This village produces Meekong Whiskey, and it was pretty good stuff.  I had to taste all three varieties and the walk back to the boat, through lanes lined with ladies weaving and wood carvers, was a delight.

She also forgot to mention the sunset over the mighty Meekong on the way back.

111019 Luan Prabang

Glad to be reminded that it was Wednesday by the carpet on the lift floor as we rode down to breakfast this morning.  Not sure how we’ll cope when we change hotels.  We also had our usual army escort.  The generals are having a long “conference”.  They are not very friendly and never smile or say hello.

Whilst waiting at the airport for our flight to, the Ancient Capital of Laos and a UNESCO preserved city, we did consider that it might have been quicker and more interesting to drive but after learning that it is a 10 hour ride up and down mountains we decided that flying is certainly an easier option even if less adventurous.

Luan Prabang is nestled in the valley of the Mekong River in norther Laos.  It is surrounded by beautiful country and many high mountains. Our new guide kept us busy the whole afternoon.  We visited Wat Mai, a temple renown for its golden statues and Wat Sensoukarahm which feathures a dazzling golden facade.  We finished the afternoon tour by climbing 400 steps to the top of Mount Phousi and enjoyed the panoramic if rather hazy views.  The night market had some handicrafts sold be Lao hill tribes and we found the quality and colours superior to Vietnam.  We wished we had saved our buying until Laos.

We found out that both our Vientiene and Luan Prabang guides are hoping to get married in two years.  They are busy saving as it is very expensive, what with paying dowries to the bride’s family and the huge guest list as everyone from past and present acquaintances must be invited and transport paid for if they are coming from a long distance.  As you can see we are quite nosy about our guides personal lives!

Dinner was at the Roots and Leaves restaurant and we were quite overwhelmed. Picture a deck floating on a lily pond, with a floodlit island covered by a big umbrella reflecting in the pool.  Add dancers plus musicians and you get the idea.  It was simply perfection. Food was good too.  A wonderful end to the day.

111018 Vientiane

Last night Val and I had a great meal in the hotel restaurant and were entertained by Lao music and traditional dancing, very, very graceful and extremely skillful. An art that has to be learnt from a very young age when fingers and joints can be trained to bend to unbelievable extremes.

It was Tuesday, we knew this because the lift told us (they change the carpet every day). Reminded us of that wonderful English TV show The Teachers- where you are told the day in various funny ways.

Again we were escorted to the lift by our guard of Generals, captains or whatever they were, the hotel is surrounded by armed guards, and we feel completely safe.

Today we were picked up at nine, by our guide, Mr Varasan (call me San), and taken on a tour of local temples, starting with Wat Sisaket. This temple, San explained, was the only one left intact after the Thai invasion in 1828. We finished the temple tour at a very special place for San. It was at That Luang, one of the holiest sites in Laos, that 12 year old San entered the monastery to later become a monk. He spent eight years there, leaving when he was twenty. This, he explained, is normal in Lao society. Laos is a very Buddhist country and it is usual for the boys to be sent to monasteries to become monks and gain a very good education, as well as achieving goodness. Some stay, others like San, leave and resume an ordinary life. Girls achieve goodness and are looked after by marriage.  I like Buddhist countries.  The people are so nice, probably because there are so many Generals!

We finished off the tour at the victory arch. We weren’t going to tell him that we had been there yesterday, but we couldn’t climb all those steps again, so we broke it to him gently and we headed to our restaurant, possibly the best in Laos, The Kaolao, for an unbelievable lunch.

Next was the Morning Market, you have to see this place to believe, it was almost unbelievable. You can buy anything here and the quality was, yes you guessed. San even checked out a nice gold necklace, he is saving up to get married- a very expensive business- makes you wonder why they bother!

On the way home we got him to drop us on the banks of the Mekong, well our driver did, I havn’t mentioned him because I can’t remember his name. Val and I checked out the un-big statue of the first King and then back home James! We aim to check out the dancing again, but a light meal this time because we’re busting!   See you later.

111017 Ha Noi to Vientiane.

Lyn and I have split company with Val and Michael to return to Melbourne – yes, we arrived safely home this morning Tuesday.  For the next couple of days, Michael is providing the posts of the rest of their trip of 5 nights in Laos.  Thanks Michael.

….and then there were two…..

We left our beloved “leaders” at Ha Noi airport at eight in the morning, leaving them to their marathon wait for their flight to Singapore.  I sincerely hope that they did not drink any of that indescribable liquid sold as ‘coffee’ or ate any of those salad rolls, last seen ‘walking’ along the shelf.

Arriving in Vientiane, we were met by our guide, Sen, and driven to our run-down, flea-pit of a hotel-only to be greeted by the entire Lao armed forces! They were having a little get together and most of the generals seem to be on our floor. We had been ‘upgraded’ and were installed on the six floor-where all the rooms, have their occupant’s names on the doors (ours didn’t), but we didn’t mind because our room is just sensational (Unbelievable).  Pictures are included.  We have our own ‘ming vase’ in the ‘vestibule’, a bar, sitting room, separate bedroom with chaise lounge, two TVs plus two toilets and basins! The only drawback is there so many places to put things that when we tried to leave the suite for our exploration of Vientiane there were cries of “have you seen my glasses, watch, camera?”

There were dramas to be had at the ATM whilst trying to get out the millions of Kipp needed for a few dollars but we were a little concerned when the millions didn’t eventuate.  Had our bottomless credit card emptied and left us destitute?  We tried again in the next ATM, this time a seedy little box on the street.  It gave us some cash but decided it liked our card so much it would keep it!  Val asked the lovely person in the shop and she phoned the bank and insisted that they come out to us and rescue the card.  Meanwhile Michael realized that we didn’t have any identification on us-back in the hotel safe, so went back to get the passport.   However, when the guy arrived, Michael had not returned so he handed over the card anyway.

We discovered the Patuxay Monument, Laos’ version of the Arc de Triomphe.  Of course we had to climb to the top to photograph the views.  The whole area is very beautiful with lakes, gardens and fountains.

Even on the drive from the airport we noticed that there were more cars than motorbikes compared to Vietnam.  There are heaps of 4 wheel drives all in excellent condition and surprisingly well behaved on the road.  We have been so used to traffic lights that are not obeyed in Vietnam, that when once we tried to cross the road on a red light because we had waited so long, we were looked at crossly by the locals.

Whilst having our dinner we were entertained by some dancers and musicians. Unfortunately we didn’t have our camera with us.  Next time!