Author: Derek

Wednesday, 14 September 2011

Day 3 Krakow, Poland. I was not sure what to expect from this city. The station was renovated next huge modern shopping centre. It was just like any other modern city. However, the style of the buildings dramatically changed as we wandered into the old town. 

This was not quite Jesse’s heritage but technically/physically, he was in Poland.  He was almost Polish. This might explain his preparation for this leg of the trip was selectively detailed. He only knew how to order meat but he was a ‘vegetarian who eats fish’. Fish had no feelings. Other useful Polish phrases included an ability to ask for postcards and stamps in any Polish conversation. He made more effort than me thus he lead the expedition in this city.    

The city square was very classical like it should be viewed in black and white film. Hence I had to put my sunglasses on. It hardly changed over the years. The character was old and medieval like. The old city square and castle were the main city attractions. The castle was beautifully maintained and stood proudly overlooking the river. Slightly away from the city centre was Schindler’s factory which was fascinating as the movie stemmed from this location. Further away was Auschwitz, the termination camp. A day trip was required but we did not have enough time. There was also a salt mine which was another popular tourist destination.  

Krakow had the culture without not the premium price of a capital city like Budapest. I would definitely recommend this place. The city was smaller and more compact. A couple of days would be sufficient to explore this place.   

At night the mood in the market place transformed further back in time. A time when there were no Gucci or Prada but tourist junk was still widely available. There were some beautiful jewellery on display. However, since  my budget was strictly to survive and beer, I bought nothing that was not edible or drinkable. 

Harris Piano Jazz Bar was definitely one of the highlight in Krakow. It was a basement bar situated in the main city square. The music was good and chilled out. Other highlights was a trombone player with tremendous skills, it being a jam, various individuals brought their own character to the music. The standard of the music and english were eye opening. 

Tuesday, 13 September 2011

There is a huge spa in the National Park and it was something that Dennis the LowCostel owner recommended a must visit. Culturally, the Hungarian Bath is really popular among the locals. It did seem a bit awkward but with Jesse, who is a guy by the way. So we discussed this issue at length and decided strictly bromantically speaking it was “ok” as long as there was no touching. Perhaps, one might argue I should not have been this comfortable, but we were in Continental Europe. 

The spa was really relaxing. Personally, I am not a bath person but for that one day I made an exception. There was also saunas available throughout the spa multiplex. Like a cinema with lots of screens and different movies it had baths with different elements dissolved instead, apparently copper ions were good for you.. There were also saunas in different temperature scale. My limit was 50-70 degrees Celsius. I tried the 70-90 one, it was not fun. However my skin was feeling pretty tender afterwards. 

The House of Terror was another place of significant historic values. It was a sobering experience. It used to house the secret police during the dictatorial times from Pre Nazis, to the Nazis under German Occupation, and then the Soviets. The house was situated ironically in the picture perfect, pleasant embassy district. However, the behind those shell of this wonderful piece of architecture lied a sinister past. The basement was sound proofed and converted into prison cells. The atmosphere was very hollowing indeed. There were some really horrific images there. It showed the responsibility we have to remember history, to remember those who died under and lived through tyranny for freedom. It was the same evil but different faces.  

The castle district was great with beautiful architectural style. We kept walking and walking. The city was a lot bigger than it looked on the map. I guess that was why map are produced. The good thing about walking in a city as suppose to a desert or mountain was that dehydration was not really in my mind. There was always a Starbucks to pop into no matter which city. Other cool feature was the metro system. Old school, it was like only 2 metres underground. It was like, why bother keep digging. 

Over all Budapest was great, definitely worth a few days. Leg 1 of the trip complete.  

This was my second night train. I think it was pretty safe. The last one I took was in China, the same type of train which had a disaster in the summer. Similar to the Buddha Air Everest mountain flight I took last year, one of those plane crashed recently. Not to mention the night bus in the Himalayas but sometimes calculated risks had to be taken because I cannot be wrapped in cotton wool all the time.  Off to Krakow, Poland. 

Monday, 12 September 2011

Day 1 of Europe InterRail trip. 1400 arrived in Budapest. On arrival, it dawned on me, why Budapest? Oh, because I thought it was a good idea 5 months ago. I did not have much time to plan, and as I looked around everything was really foreign to me, the language was really different to any other European languages. It was like being in a foreign country. This is going to take another level of ‘winging’. Like the time I was in a remote village in Nepal. It was great to be away, whatever happens happens. 

Budapest is a beautiful city, full of history and culture. Even though I am more of a natural scenery person, this city have definitely won me over. The walk over the city was really long, in one day, we reached the castle district, the island between Buda and Pest, Octagon, Opera House and the Citadel, basically all the touristy spots. However, it was a monday and everything thing was closed.

One of the problem of sticking rigidly to the budget was the lack of a budget. We did not have enough budget for any guides. The solution was tourist group jumping. However, there was just about every other language of tourist group except for English. (American english doesn’t count). Another way of extending our budget was to actually eat chinese food. In continental Europe, Chinese food for some reason was really cheap and cheerful. I ended up speaking more Mandarin than any other languages. 

The cost of the hostel was 6 euro pppn. It was appropriately named LowCostel and I would recommend that to anyone. The owner Dennis was really friendly and was conveniently located near to a train station. He showed us on the map all the places of interest and the next day we explored the whole place. 

Since Budapest was actually my idea, and the fact that there was no preparation, we played by the ear. I don’t know if that is purely a saying to reassure those who do not plan but our ears guided us to a music event, it was a multi-stage venue under a pond. As the band played their tunes, I kicked back with a cold hungarian beer. The weather, location and surroundings were epic. It was great to be away from work. 

Saturday, 2 July 2011

Here is a selection of beautiful local sceneries. From the Durdle Door above, to a beach next to it, Burton Bradstock, Field nearby (Not windows wallpaper), Lyme Regis, Eastbourne and Brighton. There were more pictures in the albums page but due to some technical annoyances, the pictures are not available. I will sort out when I get to it. 

Monday, 16 May 2011

I always wondered whether I liked trains. Trains are one of the most efficient way of getting from A to B, providing it was not just me onboard. I am still thinking of the Trans-Siberia, but that is a really long way. I think I will need a warm up session. Hence this trip is going to decide what I will do on my next trip.  

Why Budapest? Not sure really, my only knowledge of it is that it is a race track which has low speed, high downforce characteristics track. I think as an European capital I think it would be cheaper than others. Cheaper means I can tour for longer! It is suitably faraway but not too far from home. 

Once that was decided, it was a matter deciding the stops on the way back from Budapest.

Night train was a feature that I was keen to include, because sleeping stationary in a hostel or a hotel is not using time travelling which is wasting valuable travelling time. Hence, Night trains will enable us to wake up in new destinations, or even unscheduled destinations should we miss the stop. 

The destinations were defined by roughly 7cm away from each cities on the map, although that will depend on the scale of the map that you are using. (about 8-10 hrs of train time)  

Guess the city… In a way, the route home was defined by places next to the UK. Some people would say a return flight back to the UK is easier. They are probably right. But the easy way is never my preferred way. Unknown is a lot more interesting that the known. 

Wednesday, 16 March 2011

My grandma looks really healthy and active which is cool. Even though I have no idea what she is saying to me, because she speaks Fukingnese (Yes, that is a real chinese dialect spoken in the Fuking region, yes that is a real region as well). I understand the “Uh” sound in Fukingnese which is a bit like “Um” in English.  I guess that is part of my heritage along with Canton from my father’s side. It is hard to imagine how I ended up in 6000+miles away. Anyway, it was great to see her. Highlight of my holiday!! 

Monday, 14 March 2011

Earthquake, tsunami and nuclear meltdown are horrible events. It all happened since the start of my holiday which was 5 days ago. Hundreds of thousands or perhaps millions of lives were living happily five days ago. Now the pictures tell a different story, perhaps just a tiny fraction of the misery. I had the option of switching the channel. They don’t. 

The way the cars and ships were swept away as if they were toys. The destructive power of nature was colossal. It shows that Humans, as every other living things are perhaps under control of nature. That is pretty scary that we are actually not the masters of our own destinies. 

A series of terrible events occurred. I wish Japan a swift recovery. 

Tuesday, 15 February 2011

Formula 1 is one of my favourite sport. When I was younger, I was never a fan. Although I remember pushing a Senna’s McLaren Honda toy car fondly in Hong Kong when I was really small. However, my views changed when I applied and did my time at Honda Racing F1 Team. The team side of the racing and the taking part were surreal. I love the way that everything is pushed to the limit. How everything works together in harmony to provide the perfect lap, or race. Qualifying is my favourite part of the race even though we rarely made it out of Q1. The amount of effort spent to put 2 cars on the grid was and is astonishing. The way that the competition was always moving rapidly. In my opinion F1 is an unique industry.

My favourite team is Toro Rosso now. F1 is an industry which people switch teams many times during the course of their career. So mine was BAR, Honda, Brawn and now Toro Rosso. 

My favourite track is Spa because of the sheer length and the micro climate in different sector. Although it might be a bad Grand Prix to watch due to the low number of laps. Need to go and find out. 

This entry is to kick off my sporting side and I am keen to be part of the 2012 games. The 2012 Games sounds like the kind of event that that Delboy 1.2 should definitely get involved. I think it will be a better games to Beijing 2008. Granted it was impressive and extravagant but can it be perfect. Can anything be perfect? Hopefully, I can play my part and give a games that should have been. 

Wednesday, 2 February 2011

Recently, I dug through my old photos of where I have been. I am not sure how long ago they were from because I do not have a well structured filing system or system but they are part of my travels from the past. Clearly I do prefer nature than cosmopolitan cities. 

Some notable places which are missing because I didn’t have a decent camera then but the pictures are in my mind!

Hokkaido – Japan

Rocky Mountains – Canada

Taipei – Taiwan

I really need to add more to the list!

On the way to Xinjiang, chilling out with a camel. That is my favourite place because I love lamb. Sure, they are cute and fluffy but unfortunately for them, I love them dead and cooked. Harsh, but tasty. There is some sort of lamb in everything they eat. I felt they got carried away when I ate a ‘sweet’ pastry with lamb lard. I think I still got that aftertaste. Despite being in China, they are actually Muslims but I had no problems there. I do enjoy interacting people from different faiths because I believe there is always something you can learn from them.   

Above is the Terracotta situated in Xian. Basically the emperor annoyed a lot of people so he built an exact replica of his army in clay to protect him in the afterlife. Every face was unique and height varied. It would be interesting to find out how that worked out for him. He was a bit of a weirdo. However he was also responsible for the Great Wall (or a part of it). Although it is a combination of different dynasties and slave labour in different dynasties. I met the “Uncle” who discovered it. Now he has a desk job signing autographs there. So many lives were used to provide these “wonders” which was unfortunate, hence I think natural beauty always trumps artificial creation. 

The Heavenly Lake. It was not the highest lake in the world, that would be Tilicho Lake in Nepal, unless Wiki correct me otherwise. Nonetheless it was high up in the mountains.  I love places away from pollution in terms of the noise, air and to a certain extent people. 

I think having people around is nice, I mean I don’t want all of them to disappear because that would be antisocial. It is just the non-responsible tourists are really annoying. Hence I carried a lot of my rubbish back from Nepal. (excl, used toilet paper etc but loads of water bottles, plastics etc). Plastics are killing the Earth, albeit rather slowly.