Category: Travel

My friend Marlien and I visited the Lanzerac Hotel on Sunday afternoon.   It is another example of Cape Dutch architecture that endures on a 300-year old country estate.  Back in the day when I was a student at the University of Stellenbosch nearby, we could come here and sit on the patio and get a little rowdy.  It seems to me that those days are over !

While spending money here I have to divide by 7, since there are 7 South African Rand in one US Dollar.   I remember on my first trip to the USA in 1990 that I had to multiply by 2.5 – that’s how dramatically the exchange rate has changed.  (But the rand is actually too ‘strong’, it is hampering exports and job growth in South Africa).   The Rand takes its name from the Witwatersrand (Eng. White-waters-ridge), the ridge upon which Johannesburg  is built and where most of South Africa’s gold deposits were found.  The rand has the symbol “R” and is subdivided into 100 cents, symbol “c”.   The Rand notes denotes the so-called Big Five, a reference to five of Africa’s greatest wild animals – some people say the five most difficult animals in Africa to hunt on foot.  (Of course they are protected today but poaching is a stubborn problem).   Which are they?  The rhino, the African elephant, the lion, the African buffalo and the leopard.

 

These pictures were all taken around Die Braak (Eng ‘Fallow Land’), the Stellenbosch village town square dating back to the late 1700s.  The buildings are good examples of Cape Dutch architecture.   In the first picture there are slave bells on visible on the right (yes, the Dutch had slaves in The Cape.  It was finally abolished in 1834 after revolts from the slave-owners).    I stand in front of  Die Kruithuis (Eng. The Ammunition House), and the church is St Mary’s Cathedral.

Here is the British Airways jet that took us to Cape Town today. (This is at OR Tambo Airport  in Johannesburg).   The ‘Go fans’ is left over  from the 2010 World Cup.   Our trip was a little bumpy at first but later at sunset we were rewarded with spectacular close-up views of pink cumulus clouds up in the air.  Right now  I’m in Stellenbosch and I will post some pictures of the beautiful surroundings here the next few days.  No more airplanes and airports!

Since it’s my last night in Johannesburg we went to Nelson Mandela Square, a shopping mall in Sandton.  Formerly known as Sandton Square, it was renamed on 31 March 2004 after a 6m (18ft) statue of Nelson Mandela was installed on the Square to honor the famous South African statesman.

I love the Boabab Christmas tree.   Get this : the Boabab tree lives for thousands of years and inspired many African legends.  The tree is not indestructable, though, and not resistant to long periods of drought.   When it dies it collapses into a fibrous mass until a high wind blows away the remains of a tree that may have been a landmark for centuries.

 

 

 

Many South Africans work in Johannesburg in the week and travel back to Cape Town for the weekend, and this weekend I am one of them. 

Pictures :  Bilboard at JNB airport for the Gauteng province’s commuter train dubbed Gautrain to connect Johannesburg to its surroundings has started up its first section (see www.gautrain.co.za) ;  got a fire-arm or weapon to check in? this way  : ) and I liked the big Marmite kitchen clock in one of the souvenir stores (but a little too overwhelming, as much as I love my Marmite).

(This is very early Thu morning in my hotel in Johannesburg!).   I arrived Wed at 11.30am at Cape Town airport, got picked up by my mom and dad for a quick trip to Stellenbosch to go have lunch and repack my bags, and then back to the airport at 4pm.  The shortest visit they have ever had from someone from as far away as the USA, quipped my dad.  (I will come back to Stellenbosch Friday night).   It was 2 hr flight up to Johannesburg to go and do some work – for a possible project where Pricewaterhouse* will be the system integrator.

*PwC as we now call ourselves

I arrived this morning at 9.30am here in Frankfurt on the Airbus A330-300.    Due to my lengthy layover,  I left the airport to check into the Airport Holiday Inn to get some sleep.    It was totally worth it;  at first I thought I could take the train to the city for a few hours of sightseeing, but this way I dodged the rain, and hey, the hotel was free of the bedbugs shown on the Yahoo Deutschland homepage).    It’s now 8.30pm and my flight leaves in a few hours.

I’m at Seattle airport.  The hardest thing to do when I travel is to get out of the house.   This morning I had to consult the internet on how to pack a suit in a suitcase*.  (Turn the one arm and half inside out, fold in half, stuff the shoulders with a sock or two, put some t-shirts in the middle and roll it up in a tight bundle).

* Never had to pack a suit for my trips to China, but I will need one in South Africa. 

At the check-in counter Lufthanza swiped my carry-on bag (limit is only 8 kg!) which I was not happy with.   Airport security spared us having to walk through the full body scanner even though there were ones installed.  Maybe they’re still gearing up to full use.    ‘It’s for your Safety’ it says.  Yes, but the latest research shows the cumulative effect of exposure to X-rays is bad.   There’s really no safe dosage.  By the way – it’s the 115th anniversay of the discovery of X-rays per Google’s homepage (an odd anniversary for Google to feature on their homepage, is it not?) 

I’m leaving in the morning for South Africa.  I’m traveling on a Lufthanza flight to Frankfurt, then due south to Cape Town.  (I changed my flight from KLM to Lufthanza).  There is a long layover in Frankfurt – 10 hours.   There are ‘day hotels’ for travelers at the airport that open for check-in at 9am, with a 6pm check-out.  I may try that out !

I bought my ticket to go to South Africa in November today.   I will go from Seattle to Amsterdam and then to Cape Town.   The picture is of a KLM luggage label circa 1938.  There is a store in Hong Kong that sell these old labels from all over the world – for airlines, hotels, cruise lines.   I wanted to buy them all and ended up getting none! : (.

I’m home!   The flights to San Francisco and to Seattle went fine.  It’s a perfect fall day with blue skies and golden sunlight in Seattle.  (72 °F is 22 °C; 52 °F is 11 °C).

The other picture is of Hong Kong International airport’s Terminal 1 entrance this morning.

The driver arrived early yesterday, so I had to keep him waiting while I said good-bye to everyone.  ‘You cannot leave us now!’ said some, but I need the break from travel badly – as glamorous as the pictures make it look.    The first one is my traditional mainland China – Hong Kong border crossing picture.  The next one is a shopping mall close to the hotel.  I wanted some coffee after a scrumptious dinner of ginger carrot soup and eel with soy sauce on rice in the hotel restaurant.   The Find The Willem picture is from the same mall, below one of the escalators looking up.

My flight out to San Francisco is in a few hours.

I was a little stunned to learn that Travel+Leisure magazine’s readers – 16,000 of them voted –  awarded the No. 1 ranking to Bangkok as the world’s best city (to travel to).    I do think their hospitality is top-notch.   And the temples are gorgeous, the airport is great and modern.   But for the rest – a somewhat run-down metropolis with high-rise buildings dotting it.    What about Paris in the spring?  Or Cape Town in April?    

The readers cast votes from December to March and the polling stopped a few days before civil disorder erupted in Bangkok that lasted 10 weeks and ended May 19 with nearly 90 dead and 1,400 hurt.   Picture – Bangkok Gov. Sukhumbhand Paribatra poses with World’s Best city award during a press conference in Bangkok earlier this year.

The hotel’s swimming pool is where we spent most of Friday.    I will spare my readers the sight of my lily white body getting a little sun!  .. and then it was time to check out and make for the airport.    The blue placard is from the Democrat Party.   Remember the red shirt protests in May?  Things have settled down but there was another peaceful march in the streets on Thursday and the country’s political state is very much unsettled, still.

The rest of the pictures are of billboards on the way to the airport.  The Shingha beer bottle lion is my favorite.   We flew on an Air-Asia plane like the one sitting on the tarmac across from ours.   The flight went smoothly without delays – a welcome difference from the flight in on Tuesday night.   On that flight one passenger held the plane’s departure up for almost two hours.    There was a mix-up with his baggage, he claimed.    The end result was that he stepped off of a plane full of very irate passengers.   Sir!  We do not know your problem.  But SIT down! yelled some passengers. Others came forward and complained to the captain and the flight attendants.   All while the flight attendant call button dinged repeatedly – another way passengers showed their discontent.

Since we saw lots of temples and buddhas on Wednesday, we spent some time at the hotel’s swimming pool.    The first picture shows some of the Marriott hotel property on the left with the water taxi on the Chao Phraya river (Thai: แม่น้ำเจ้าพระยา).   The Chao Praya is a major river in Thailand and it ends in the Gulf of Siam.

On the other side of the river we tuk (took) a tuk-tuk to downtown.  The picture is taken from the one we are on, and our tuk-tuk is similar to the green one with the poor mascot dangling from the rear bumper – see it?  (A roughish ride it is with limited side vision out from under the canopy!)

The evening show with traditional folk dancing and costume was put up right at the hotel later that night.   Another trip out on the water showed what the river and some city skylines look like at night.  Bangkok does not have a city center with clustered skyscrapers.  The tall buildings stand apart.

I am in Bangkok !  (Long Thai names and lots of pictures of buddhas and temples ahead.   I will post pictures of street scenes and more mundane items tomorrow).

The greater Bangkok has some 12 million of the 64 million people living in Thailand.   95% of Thais are Buddhists of the Theravada  tradition.   Buddhist temples in Thailand are characterized by tall golden stupas, and the Buddhist architecture of Thailand is similar to that in other Southeast Asian countries, particularly Cambodia  and Laos.

My co-worker Will and I hired a private tour guide to take us around to the temples.   The first series of pictures are from the former Wat Pho Buddhist temple – the Temple of the Reclining Buddha.  The full name is Wat Phra Chettuphon Wimon Mangkhalaram Ratchaworamahawihan  (Thai: วัดพระเชตุพนวิมลมังคลารามราชวรมหาวิหาร) and it is located in Phra Nakhon district directly adjacent to the Grand Palace.     The mother-of-pearl elephant is one of dozens of inlays in the Reclining Buddha’s feet.   All the other pictures up to the water bottle with the red and white lion on was taken in and around this temple.   It is hot and humid – we are only 14 degrees north of the equator, after all.

Next up was The Grand Palace (Thai: พระบรมมหาราชวัง, Phra Borom Maha Ratcha Wang).  It is a complex of buildings and has served as the official residence of the Kings of Thailand from the 18th century onwards.  Construction of the Palace began in 1782, during the reign of King Rama I, when he moved the capital across the river from Thonburi  to Bangkok.  The Palace has been constantly expanded and many additional structures were added over time.

The pictures painted on the walls in this hallway have intricate detail of battle scenes with mythical creatures and gods.

Our final stop for the day was at Wat Trai Mit –  one of the most popular tourist destinations for Bangkok visitors because of the Golden Buddha statue.  It is 3 meters (9 ft) high and made out of 5500 kg pure, solid gold – it’s the biggest Buddha statue made out of gold in the whole world, and it is estimated that is more than 700 years old, created during the Sukothai period.

There is a PricewaterhouseCoopers communication in my inbox this morning that the PwC office in Ulaanbataar, Mongolia is now officially open.    The opening coincides with the start of the Discover Mongolia 2010 Mining Conference.

Let me borrow the start of Wikipedia’s entry for Ulaanbataar – look up the rest, it is very interesting!

Ulan Bator (pronounced /ˈuːlɑːn ˈbɑːtər/) or Ulaanbaatar  (/ˈuːlɑːn ˈbɑːtɑr/; Mongolian: Улаанбаатар, English: The Red Hero), is the capital and largest city of Mongolia. The city is an independent municipality, not part of any province, and its population as of 2008 was just over one million.

Located in the north central part of the country, the city lies at an elevation of about 1,310 metres (4,300 ft) in a valley on the Tuul River. It is the cultural, industrial, and financial heart of the country. It is also the center of Mongolia’s road network, and connected by rail to the Trans-Siberian Railway and the Chinese railway network.

‘My boss is getting married on 10-10-10 at 10 am’, said the guy in front of me to someone as we were boarding for the Hong Kong flight.   The ‘Relax’ sign is posted at Hong Kong airport at the top of two giant escalators that run down to the shuttle train that takes one to the main terminal.   In other words :  don’t rush down the escalator two steps at a time to the train waiting below and then fall down and break a leg!

I did get some sleep on the plane, but I am ready for more – so off to bed with me.

I’m at Seattle airport.    The security process was pretty normal, and with the summer travel season over, the airport is not too crowded.  Of course it could be due to it being Sept 11 as well.

I thought I would post a picture of an intrepid traveler other than ME this morning .. found his picture at one of the pubs here in the airport.  Frank Dorbandi, Teller Alaska.   So Teller is a location in Alaska? Yes, see the spot marked A on the Google map!     Intrepid* indeed!  with the year being 1929 and with a flying machine that could hardly be called an aircraft.

*Intrepid -characterized by resolute fearlessness, fortitude and endurance : )