Some more photos of Maiori, which is 3 coastal towns east of Amalfi Town.
Our impression of the town was a lower-rent Italian vacation destination, which seemed accurate: the architecture is boring, no obvious foreign tourists, and prices are much lower here. It does have a large beach, no less unappealing than other ones on the coast (in other words, pebbly, and sorry, this ain’t the Caribbean
We stopped for a coffee here before returning to Atrani.
In fact we had 2 caffe macchiatos and 2 little pastries for a total of 4.10 euros, where a macchiato or cappuccino had been costing us 2.5-3 euro each in other towns!
Here in Maiori the river is partially covered and partially uncovered, a good 1.5 half stories under the main road/pedestrian mall. We had noticed that there was a river under the main road in Amalfi and Atrani, which also had fountains with natural spring water (but seemingly neither of these features are in Positano).
Tip: you can drink (and fill your water bottle) from these spring-fed fountains in Amalfi Town and Atrani.
Summary: I wouldn’t spend my vacation here, but worth a quick stop if you are driving a car or scooter on the coast.
A river runs through it – river in town becomes covered in the main area
Boring architecture in Maiori, which has a wider flat area than the other coastal towns
Bird of Paradise across the street from the beach – now I see why the plant is named like that!
Don’t ask me why it isn’t called Pulau Sentosa. Oh wait, it actually is. Never mind…
Sentosa Island is an entertainment island complete with beaches, hotels, amusement parks (inc. Univers@l Studios), a casino, restos, golf, the “southernmost point of continental Asia”, etc.
It’s almost free to go to the island (S$1/US$0.80 if you walk the bridge, or S$3/US$2.40 to take the monorail from HarbourFront to the island)
Tip: the monorail is free coming back even if you walked.
I enjoyed watching the vertical wind tunnel, brought back memories of skydiving…
Palawan Beach on Sentosa Island (the little island in on the left has the “southernmost point”)
View from lookout tower onto the “southernmost point of continental Asia”
Siloso Beach on Sentosa Island (one of several beaches – and the water is warm!)
Redneck Fish logo for a show – reminds me of “mater” with its buckteeth
Vertical wind tunnel – instructor standing below a “freefalling” student
View from Monorail: Sentosa Island on left, HarbourFront on right, and gondola ride in background
Pulau Ubin is an island (why yes, “pulau” is Malaysian for island) located in the northeast corner of Singapore, sandwiched between Changi Village (after which the SIN airport is named) and not far from Malaysia. The island used to be home to granite quarries
Getting there takes about 90 minutes, so plan more than half a day for this excursion:
MRT to Tanah Merah (EW4) station
Bus #2 to Changi Village (30 min)
Bumboat to the island (10 min; S$2.50/US$2 each way, no schedule, only leaves once 12 people have queued up – unless you want to pay the full S$30/US$24 amount by yourself or with the others waiting)
The bumboat lands at a little kampong (village; the last one in Singapore), where there is an informative display by the clean wahsrooms, and there are literally hundreds of bicycles for rent; also a few seafood restaurants
Rent a mountain bicycle (S$10/US$8 per day) and head for the eastern tip of the island to Chek Jawa Wetlands Nature Reserve (3.5km), where there is a coastal boardwalk and a mangrove boardwalk (the latter with lookout tower)
In the mangrove, look for mudskippers which can “breathe” air
Near the park entrance, look for wild pigs – I saw a lot of piglets too!
On the north side of the island, you can see a long metal fence in the water just offshore, presumably to keep Malaysians from meandering over (Malaysian mainland is quite close, just under 1km!)
Enjoy a seafood lunch in the village (near the dock) before queuing for a bumboat back
On your return to Changi Village, you get to go through a metal detector at the ferry terminal!?
Tip: time your visit for low tide as both the mangrove and coastal walks are more interesting (the water level changes 2.5m/7ft between low and high tide!)
Tip: try out the bicycle including seat height, gear shifting, and make sure it has a lock as you can’t take it into the nature reserve!
Tip: there are a few hills – both up and down
Tip: the rest of the island wasn’t that exciting, though biking along the mostly shaded road through jungle is relaxing.
Unfortunately it was exactly high tide when I went so I saw fewer sea critters than expected.
Definitely worth going though!
Looking back at Changi Village, bumboat terminal on right, and plane landing at SIN in background
Bumboat to Pulau Ubin (no schedule, goes when 12 pax are ready)
Kampong (village) on Pulau Ubin as seen from bumboat dock on arrival
Villager hanging out in the shade at the water’s edge (dog too)
Lots and lots of bicycles for rent
Bamboo leaning over the road, amidst the lush jungle
Coastal boardwalk at high tide, in Check Jawa Wetlands Nature Reserve
Mangrove trees in Check Jawa
Mudskipper half out of the water (in the mangrove)
Wild pig sniffing a coconut – he actually managed to open his mouth around the coconut and carry it off into the woods
Baby wild pig (active little guy caused a stylish blur in photo)
Those are some mighty large elephant ears behind my rental bicycle
Marine Fence on north side of Pulau Ubin (that’s Malaysia in the background, rather close really)
Granite cliff face in an old granite quarry
Villager’s hut with shrine in (remote?) part of Pulau Ubin
Villagers’ bicycles chained to fence on walkway to bumboat dock
I had heard mixed reviews from other backpackers, but I quite enjoyed it, as you get to see animals that are normally sleeping in the day and active at night. I give the Night Safari 2 thumbs up.
Unlike the zoo, these animals are in enclosures
Take the included tram for a good overview, and some ecological/environmental appeals (yeah), and then do the long loop walk to get up close and personal (includes some areas not covered by the tram)
Tip: go early, plan on enough time, and take the SAExp bus (at least back – much faster and it runs later; only S$4.50/US$3.60 each way; my trip back to Little India was only 25 minutes, as opposed to an hour and almost as much via MRT plus bus from Ang Mo Kio MRT station)
Tip: you can almost forget about photos, as no flash allowed (unless you have some serous camera equipment)
Besides the usual African animals there were also of interest:
An artificial cave with critters
Red & Brown Giant Flying Squirrel – it actually looked like a huge squirrel sitting on a tree branch (the size of a small-to-medium dog!). He didn’t fly while I was there, but still…
Asian Small Clawed Otter – 3 of them, all obviously looking at me, making quite the whining sounds
Mouse Deer – super tiny deer-like things (the size of a cat)
Malaysian Flying Fox (bats) – in a walk-in aviary where they hang 2m away from you and fly right by you, feasting on fruit (strung up by the staff) – do they really eat watermelon in the wild? (the bats are harmless but they warn people afraid of bats to maybe not enter)
Several species of civet (a type of wild cat) – their scent is used in perfumes (in diluted form)
Slow Loris – small mammal that produces venom! (because it’s so slow?)
Asian golden cat – sleeping on a tree branch, with legs hanging off either side (much like Susan’s cats do on her arm!)
Striped Hyena (spotted ones as well)
Lesser Mousedeer – the smallest hoofed animal
Barking Deer (sound like dogs) – though they didn’t bark while I was there
Pangolin – looks like an albino armadillo, but unrelated. They were sleeping though
Aside: I still think that the Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay building looks more like pangolins than durians
Various rhinos – unlike the ones I saw in Africa, these ones looked like they were wearing 4 pieces of plate mail armour
Fishing Cat – I saw them standing by the water staring intently, but unfortunately did not see them jump in to catch fish. Although one of them did walk belly-deep in water a few times!
fyi: Lions and tigers can interbreed but the offspring are sterile. The hybrid of a male tiger and female lion is called a tigon, and the reverse is known as a liger
Also, they have a cool lit bursting fountain in the courtyard off to the side
Remember you can click on photos to see the full-size version:
Fishing Cat waiting patiently at the river
Malaysian Flying Fox (fruit bat) – snacking
Malaysian Flying Fox (fruit bat) – hanging out (literally, wink wink)
Multi-colour lit gurgling fountain in the courtyard at Night Safari
Walked along Orchard Road (2.7km long!), the big fancy shopping street (inc. all the major international brands). Unless you’re high end shopping, meh
It’s called Orchard Road because there used to be orchards and plantations here, including nutmeg trees
Tip: Check out the views from (and funky artwork on) the rooftop garden/terrace of Orchard Central mall (near the Somerset MRT); take the outdoor escalators up and the elevator back down.
Walked through the Singapore Botanic Gardens – excellent and highly recommended!
It’s quite large – 1.8km long, stretching between the far end of Orchard Road and the aptly named Botanic Gardens MRT.
I didn’t realize bananas were in the same family as ginger!
Took the monorail to Sentosa Island (from HarbourFront) and went to the “southernmost point of continental Asia” – which ironically is on a little island reached by a hanging foot-bridge. How is that part of the continent exactly? And it’s not quite off the southern tip of Sentosa Island either. But hey, that’s where the self-proclaiming signboard is…
Was invited into Sue’s home (from dinner previous night) to see what a local government subsidized apartment/condo looks like. Surprisingly large and quite nice
Neighbourhood was great too, and Sue explained about how these things work.
Met Ellen for dinner at Newton Circus – the hawker stall near Newton MRT – where amongst other things I had the chilli crab
Hopped in a taxi to Little India to buy an alarm clock at Mustafa, since I have a very early flight on Wed morning
Tip: check out gothere.sg for directions between any 2 places in Singapore: it gives you options including time and cost for bus, train+bus and taxi (and car driving directions too).
The taxi fare option was quite handy, though it doesn’t take the many surcharges into account (like certain time-of-day). Fancy website with map or smart phone version too.
Tree-lined Orchard Road high-end shopping street
Giant nutmeg sculpture on Orchard Road (nutmegs were one of the orchards/plantations that used to be here and gave the road its name)
Funky artwork on the rooftop terrace/garden of Orchard Central mall
Flowering ginger plant in the Botanical Gardens (bananas are related!)
Nice sculpture in Botanical Gardens
Another flowering ginger
Map sign showing southernmost point of continental Asia
Southernmost Point fo continental Asia, on Sentosa Island
Sue hamming it up during our walk along a canal-side park connector (trail)
Tip: this website has a useful text description, plus google maps, of all the bus routes on the island. I wish I had seen that before someone sent me to wait on the wrong street for a bus!
Misc notes:
Penang is both an island and a chunk on the mainland (most people don’t know about the latter)
The core of Georgetown is a World Heritage Site
Penang is multi-cultural, with a noticeable South Indian and Chinese population, and you see churches, Buddhist temples, Chinese temples and of course mosques.
At Penang airport, there is no separation of arriving and departing passengers in the gate area, presumably because it’s a smaller airport (undergoing some renovation and/or expansion)
Staff at the inn/hostel were all local and smiling and friendly/polite (yes, noticeably so, compared to my previous hotels/hostels on this trip)
Taxis have meters but never use them (the one I took even had an ironic sign on the door that says “insist on using the meter”). Besides the fixed fares at airport, you bargain the fare when you get in. Still, they’re pretty cheap compared to big cities.
There are lots of scooters and motorcycles, and they all wear helmets (and jackets on backwards, so that their arms are still covered). They also drive on sidewalks (when there are some)
I saw a number of cards with “McDon@ld’s drive thru VIP” stickers in the windshield. Now that’s scary.
7-11 seems to be staffed exclusively by Muslim women wearing western clothes with a head scarf (and the store may or may not sell alcohol)
A number of bus drivers were small Muslim women
Some buses have free wi-fi, and they are testing smart transit cards on a few lines
Passed a “World Red Swastika Society – Penang Branch” building on way to airport from Penang Hill, a Taoist religious charity organization, similar to Red Cross and Red Crescent, founded in China in 1922
Saw buildings (factories) for AMD, Western Digital, Bosch and Blaupunkt near the airport
Don’t put loose vitamins in your pocket (like vitamin C) in a humid country and then forget about them. Unless you want mushy vitamins and an orange stain on your pocket.
So I’m sitting in a Pacific Coffee Company cafe on The Peak, enjoying a latte at 9:00 with an incredible view of the city. But let’s back up a few hours…
I guess I’m still not adjusted to the timezone change, though I thought I was doing moderately ok.
Last night I fell asleep at 22:00 but woke up at 4:45 and couldn’t get back to sleep. After reading a bit, I left my hotel around 6:00 and walked to the Golden Bauhinia statue commemorating reunification (return of HK to China). This statue is on the waterfront in front of the HK Convention & Exhibition Centre. The water front is being further revitalized (in a good way – parks and open spaces and performance places) from Wan Chai to North Point.
Then I had a little dim sum on a side street in Wan Chai. Small place, full of locals, and no English on he menu. I sat at a communal table with 5 older men who didn’t speak any English. I asked for a Set A while pointing at the wall menu, though I’m not sure he understood, as what I received had a different price. Oh well, it’s not like I knew what I’d be getting in the set anyways – I just picked the more expensive one (though still under US$5) in the hopes of it being higher quality contents.
I ended up with shu mai (pork dumplings) and chicken on a rice bowl, plus tea of course. The damage: HK$31/US$4.
Then I took a tram to Central and walked through the length of Hong Kong Park (bigger, hillier and greener than I though, as I had only seen a little bit of it a few days earlier) on my way to The Peak tram station. It’s not really a tram per se, more of a cable car, and was built in 1888!
Tip: use your Octopus card for the ticket instead of buying one from the counter (hmm, I wonder if I could have bypassed the hour-long line last Sunday?), as then you don’t need to decide if you want a round-trip ticket or not (you can take a bus back, or even walk if you’re feeling particularly active and in hiking mode). Once up on The Peak, I see there is a 1 hour walk around the peak, or a 2.5 hour walk to the University in the western Mid-Levels, which happens to be where I’m heading for lunch to meet David. Not sure I want to walk that far in flip flops (though I have done that before), though it would stop some backtracking.
Anyways, The Peak is very commercial (albeit quiet and nearly empty at this early hour, in fact most shops and restos are closed). Though the cafes, including this one and St@rbucks and McC@fe, are all open. There are an upscale shopping mall and expensive restos. And nearby on the peak are expensive houses (including one that sold for US$67MM in 1997, according to the tourist info board).
You have killer views over the harbour (towards Kowloon and the mountains behind it), as well as to the west towards the islands – I can see Cheung Chau Island (where I went on Sunday) and Lantau Island (with its peaks) behind it.
Unfortunately it’s hazy so hard to get a clear picture further into the distance.
Golden Bauhinia statue commemorating return of HK to China
I bought a local SIM card from PCCW the first morning. Surprisingly I didn’t need to show ID.
Cost was only HK$48/US$6 which included the full HK$48 worth of credit, i.e. the SIM card is effectively free (in comparison, I’ve paid up to US$30 in other countries for a SIM card with almost no credit).
This was for the “no IDD” (international direct dial) version, which means I’d have to call through a special number in order to make international calls, which I’m not planning on doing. The IDD version was maybe 50% more expensive.
Aside: the SIM can snap down to a micro-SIM size if needed, though the package made it sound like it was only micro-SIM, which I had to ask about, since I need a regular SIM)
This gives me a local Hong Kong phone number (good for 180 days or as long as I keep recharging the account), as well as data on my phone at a not-cheap rate of HK$3/U$0.39 per MB. The data was easy to set up on my phone – pretty much just two entries for the APN.
For another HK$48/US$6 I bought a wi-fi plan online from PCCW – that’s the one month one device unlimited plan.
Why one month? It was cheaper than 7 one-day plans.
Why one device? I have two (smart phone, netbook). One device actually means one device at a time (no multiple simultaneous logins).
Note that you have to have a local HK phone number (not necessarily from PCCW) in order to buy the wi-fi plan.
And how useful is the wi-fi service? They have wi-fi locations all over the city, including at some phone booths and in MTR stations (and in the Airport Express train, which is partly why I picked PCCW, so hey, good advertising move for them there).
So while I’m walking about, if I see the PCCW wi-fi logo, I can briefly turn on wi-fi on my smart phone and do a quick email download or google search…
Note: of course there are several competing companies offering pay-as-you-go SIM cards; I’m ntot saying this is the best one, but it works for me.
