Tag: sights

Seoul: Quick 4 day summary

Here’s what I’ve seen so far (more details to follow):

Day 4 (sunny but c-c-c-cold!):

  • 63 City (tower): good views of Seoul from the south bank of the Han River
  • Leeum Samsung Museum: a few interesting pieces in a cool trio of buildings
  • N Seoul Tower: better views of Seoul (around sunset)
  • Namdaemun Night Market: only a quick walk-through the main street as not much was open on Sunday
  • Silloam Fomentation Sauna: hot tubs too, so even better than the Turkish Bath (plus much cheaper and lots of facilities!

Day 3:

  • Changdeokgung (palace) and Secret Garden: the latter was even more impressive than the World Heritage listed palace, especially with fall foliage!
  • Yongsan Electronics Market: overwhelming!
  • Itaewon: the foreigner district (saw 4 Turkish döner shops!)

Day 2:

  • DMZ tour: very interesting! (long day from 7:30 to 15:30)
  • Cheong-gye-chon (stream) stroll: lantern festival

Day 1:

  • Bukchon Hanok Village: scenic traditional houses in neighbourhood near little art galleries
  • Traditional Korean meal in a resto on main Insa-dong road
  • War Memorial Museum: overkill! But the turtle boat replica was cool
  • Dinner at Gwangjang Market: small market with small food section
  • Went to JUMP show: fun comedic martial arts show

Also updated the map.

Istanbul: Day 6: Çemberlitaş hamam (Turkish Bath)

Executive summary:

I went to the Çemberlitaş Hamamı (Turkish bath), one of the 2 main tourist hamams that is conveniently located next to the eponymous tram stop between the Grand Bazaar tram stop and Sultanahmet tram stop (or a 5 minute walk from the latter). It’s also open from 6am to midnight (slightly shorter hours for women).

It had 3 options at different price points: 45 TL/$26 basic (you clean yourself), 69 TL/$40 inc. being scrubbed by an attendant, or 119 TL/$68 inc. a 30-minute oil massage as well. Tips included.

Tip: go for the middle option – the massage isn’t worth it in my opinion.

Details:

So what actually happens? I did the full monty so that I could give you, my loyal (?) readers, a complete report.

First off, the hamam is fully segregated by sex (unlike German spas). The attendants in each section are of the same sex.

After paying, you get soap and a new glove-like scrubber, and tokens for the extra service(s) like attendant scrub and massage.

In the change area, you get a booth to strip down and wear a peştemal, essentially a wrap-around-your-waist towel. You lock the booth door and take the key on a bracelet, so your clothes and wallet are safe.

Men must keep the peştemal on; apparently women have the option of removing it.

Then you go into the big domed hot steam room (well, it wasn’t actually steamy) and lie down on the big ~10m in diameter) heated circular marble slab in the middle of the room and sweat. It was neither comfortable (lying on hard marble) nor relaxing as the noise from conversations and the attendants’ stainless steel bowls clanging on the marble would echo.

After 20 minutes or so an attendant came to wash me (I don’t know if you can ask him to wait longer; certainly if you wash yourself, you have more control over how long you lie there and sweat). Moving to lie along the edge of the circular slab, he goes through various phases of rinsing, scrubbing with soap (using that new scrubber), rinsing. You lie down alternately face up and face down – face down is particularly uncomfortable, esp. on the knees. That clanging stainless steel bowl I mentioned? That’s used to pour rinsing water over you (the water comes from taps and basins that are situated along the perimeter of the round room.

The attendant also does a little head/neck wrenching that I found rather uncomfortable.

Then he leads you into the side room (neither round nor domed) where you possibly, wait for your turn at the massage (go to next step if you followed my tip to not buy the massage). The massage room had 4 massage tables crammed in it, with 4 masseurs who chattered too much, so again, not exactly relaxing. You do get a new peştemal to wear for the massage (since your first one is wet and sweaty). The oil massage was ok, but I wouldn’t call it a serious massage. And you are left all oily, the kind of oily that doesn’t come off easily in the next step:

Showering in one of a set of private shower stalls (with a new towel to dry yourself off).

Afterwards, you get another peştemal and a large dry towel to wear back up to your change booth, which you open with the key that should still be dangling from your wrist.

Voila!

So did I enjoy it? Yeah, it was an experience that should be done once for sure (minus the massage), but it’s not the best spa experience on the planet.

Istanbul: Day 5 Summary – Bosphorus Cruise, Basilica Cistern

Highlights:

  • Visited the Basilica Cistern (Yerebatan Sernıcı) – highly recommended!
  • Did a 6 hour Bosphorus cruise, almost all the way to the Black Sea – highly recommended!
  • Enjoyed a cheese börek and çay (tea) for a whopping TL4/$2.30 at lunch today
  • Enjoyed a large vegetarian dinner at a lokanta just off of Istiklal Caddessi for TL8/$4.60 – and they actually had whole wheat bread, a rarity here

Details:
Basilica Cistern (Yerebatan Sernıcı):

  • TL10/$6, plus an optional audio tour for TL5/$3 (I was in a rush so I skipped that)
  • Cool! (literally and figuratively)
  • Huge 200x70m underground water “tank” with a few hundred Greek temple sized columns holding up the roof
  • Two carved Medusa heads used to prop up two pillars. One head is sideways, and one is upside down
  • Carp swimming in the water
  • History: fell into disuse and was discovered in 16th century by a French archaelogist who noticed locals fishing by lowering a bucket through holes in their floors!

Bosphorus cruise:

  • TL15/$9 or TL25/$14 round-trip, plus an optional audio tour for TL5/$3 (remember ID or TL100 deposit)
  • The basic (public) ferry run starts at 10:30am and takes 90 minutes to reach the furthest of 6 stops: Anadolu Kavağı on the Asian side.
  • 3 hours later, the ferry does the 90 minute multi-stop run back to Eminönü
  • You can get off at any port and catch the return ferry, or take a bus back to town
  • The audio tour added extra info, as well as showing images of the insides of buildings you cruise by, so it’s worth getting.
    Tip: if you have good or noise cancelling headphones, you might want to bring them as the headsets I received flopped a little on my ears (rectified when I put my toque on, as it was cold on the outside deck) and there is a lot of background noise from all the passengers.
  • Tip: show up early to get a good seat on the outside edge of the ferry for easier photo taking.
  • So what do you see? A few palaces and lots of palatial waterfront homes. Wow. In various architectural styles. And of course mosques, neighbourhoods on the waterfront and on the hills behind them, the boats, the fishing villages, tower ruins, go under 2 bridges connecting continents, etc.
  • At the far end you see the Black Sea where the Bosphorus river begins (apparently the Sea of Marmara by Istanbul old town is 30cm lower than the Black Sea, so you always get a current heading south. And the water does look pretty clean, despite seeing cargo ships and cruise liners.
  • I ended up taking a bus from small Anadolu Kavağı (lots of fish restaurants, and not much else) to Kanlıca (which is the 2nd ferry stop, about half way time-wise up Bosphorus), though there wasn’t much more to see there, before re-boarding the ferry as it headed back, 3 hours later. The bus ride followed the Bosphorus a fair bit through other neighbourhoods, so it was interesting enough and different view than the ferry.
  • There is a “famous” yoghurt made in Kanlıca though I didn’t find it to be anything special (sweet and 3.75% fat). You can buy it on shore or on the ferry.

Photos:

Istanbul: Day 4 Summary – Topkapi Palace

Strange day – sights very crowded, e.g. Topkapi and Blue Mosque, but Grand Bazaar and Spice Bazaar closed (due to muslim holiday). But Eminönü still very crowded, with traffic jam going northwards over Galata Bridge.

So all I managed today was:

  • Topkapi Palace (overly crowded today – took 3.5 hours, and I skipped some things like the thrones room). The harem was interesting – contrary to popular western belief, it’s where the sultan and his family lived, not just the girls. And the sultan’s mother cracked the whip, so to speak, even telling the sultan which girl he would sleep with when.
    Great building and vistas, but tough place to photograph.Tiring crowds.
    Tip: remember to bring ID for the self-guided audio tour, or an extra 100 TL (I had no ID and only 85 TL extra and had to beg the guy into treating that as enough of a deposit)
  • Took a closer look at the obelisk in the hippodrome
  • Ate (deep)-fried hamsi (anchovies; better than expected with arugula, raw onions and bread) and çerekop, a small blue fish that’s currently in season.
    Hamsi was TL6/$3.50 for a big plate (normally 8 TL) next to Galata Bridge in Karaköy;
    Çerekop was TL10/$5.75, though really, the hamsi was enough of a meal (well, not enough veggies of course).
  • Visited the Blue Mosque (small line this evening) but really need to go back in the daytime
  • I tried to go to the Grand Bazaar but it was closed
  • I tried to go to a hamam but decided on the full monty (inc. massage) and didn’t have quite enough cash with me for that (TL117/$67)

Coming up tomorrow: A cruise up the Bosphorous!

Istanbul: Day 3 Summary – Asian side

(I thought I’d get more blogging done tonight, but I got side-tracked reading up on Turkey tips, shopping and scams, as I believe 2 guys were setting me up for the “let’s have a drink scam” tonight, which I politely declined as I sipped a çay (tea) this evening on a bench between the Aya Sofya and the Blue Mosque, both of which are lit up at night)

Today was Sunday and a muslim holiday, so the city was quieter than usual.

Partly due to another late start, the only things I managed to see were:

  • Walked through Gülhane Park next to Topkapi Palace
  • Peeked inside the Istanbul train station, where the Oriental Express used to terminate
  • Took a ferry to Kadiköy on the Asian side, and after a bus ride, back from Üsküdar
    Admittedly I didn’t explore much, but the Asian side was a little disappointing, i.e. it didn’t feel like Asia or particularly different, besides the lack of historical sights; though it did have a fine view back at European side of Istanbul
    Side note: there are in fact two bridges across the Bosphorous linking the continents (one visible from old town), and they are currently building a tunnel as well.
  • Süleymaniye mosque
  • Aqueduct of Valens (large ruins of an aqueduct)
  • Tried some roasted chestnuts (better than I expected)
  • Caved and had a Starbucks latte for TL5/US$3
  • Walked at least 7km today (and no blisters!)

I wanted to take a ferry up the Golden Horn (Haliç), but when I arrived at the terminal it was almost an hour until the next ferry.

I’ve noticed that you can get a döner for as little as TL1.5/$0.86, or as little as TL2/$1.15 with an ayran (yoghurt drink).

There was a kerfuffle at (included) breakfast this morning, which goes from 8:30 to 10:30am. I showed up at 9:45am and the mini buffet was put away! The surly woman simply said “breakfast over!” There were several of us who complained to the front desk guy who argued with her, then put the breakfast stuff back out for the 8 of us (by that time) who would have missed out.

And of course I updated my Istanbul map

Istanbul: Day 1 Summary – Istiklal Caddesi

Side note on Turkish pronunciation: ş is like sh, ç is like ch, and ğ is silent (lengthens the preceding vowel). And a c is like a j. More on pronunciation later.
Thus Chicago is spelled Şikago (as I saw it on the baggage carousel at the airport, when my luggage didn’t arrive at first).

After a late start, I took a tram across the Golden Horn (river) to Beyoğlu, where I met Ahmet, a friend of a friend of a friend, for coffee in the middle of Istiklal Caddesi (Ave), the heart of the modern city. Thank you for the pointers, insights and pronunciation tips! (e.g. the name of a good leather jacket shop in the bazaar, local blue fish is in season, and a multi-day muslim holiday starts on Sunday – oops).

Istiklal is a busy, quasi pedestrian-only cobblestone avenue with shops and restaurants, with an old tiny streetcar (reminiscent of a cable car in San Francisco) running down the middle of it, with no safety zone around it of course (that would be so North American!)

Otherwise spent the day walking and snacking :-)

Most common street sights I’ve noticed:

  • Döner restaurants
  • Sweets stores
  • Fresh fruit juice, esp. oranges and pomegranates (they must be local and in season)
  • Roasted chestnut carts

More details than you probably care about:

I walked up and down Istiklal, had a nice veggie lunch, was finally able to buy an electronic transit card, the Istanbulkart, from the booth at the top of the Tünel funicular (no sign indicated that was possible, and the token machines don’t sell them either, though you can add value to cards via machines; thanks again Ahmet), walked a bit along the water in Karaköy where I ate a tasty fresh grilled fish sandwich (TL5/$3) from a streetside bbq-cart vendor and had the best baklava ever at a nearby recommended sweets shop.

I then took the funicular back up to Istiklal and meandered it at night. Tried to stop for a beer but was told “couples only” or “family only” (no single men) at two bars one block, where there was some live music (one guy on a guitar and singing) in no less than 4 bars. Sigh.

After taking the tram back to my hostel’s neighbourhood, Sultanahmet, I checked out the details at a nearby famous hamam (Turkish bath) for future reference, and I meandered through some side streets.

 

Bicycling routes in Taipei

There are almost 100km of bicycle trails along 5 river banks in the city, including out to the coast just past Danshui/Tamshui.
Unfortunately I didn’t get to do any bicycling in my limited time; the one day I tried, I found out I couldn’t rent a bicycle at one location and return it at another (as I had been misinformed at the tourist office).

For a detailed bicyling map see www.taipeitravel.net/download.do?fileName=/d_upload_ttn/att/files/10002736.pdf. (5 MB).

There is also a free short-term bicycle hire system called U-bike. Currently it’s only in Xinyi district (i.e. between Taipei City Hall/Sun Ya-sen Memorial Hall and Taipei 101). However, you have to have a smart chip credit card.

See www.taipeitravel.net/en/ for general Taipei visitor info.

Taipei metro (MRT)

I can definitely see how Taipei would have been a nightmare to travel around in before the MRT was built. The first line opened in 1996, with most of the current system open by 2000 (though they keep expanding it – see their expansion plans). About 4 years ago the metro was flooded after a tsunami; the Taipei Main Station was under 2m of water and it took 3 months to restore the system to normal.

The MRT is very user- (and tourist-) friendly:

  • It’s fast, clean, safe and orderly
  • Virtually all signs have English below the Mandarin
  • Station names are listed in Mandarin and Pinyin (i.e. western letters) everywhere
  • Announcements are made in Mandarin (and Taiwanese and Hakka) and English
  • Fares are distance-based, ranging from NT$20/US$0.70 to NT$65/US$2.25
  • The EasyCard is a smart-chip credit-card sized (but thin) pass you buy at vending machines, for either NT$300/US$10 or NT$500/$17, of which NT$100/US$3.50 is a deposit on the card.
  • You can use machines to check the balance and add cash value to the card
  • At the end of your trip, you return the card to a kiosk or attendant and get back your NT$100 deposit plus any remaining unused value
  • Using an EasyCard gives a discount (20% I think) on the normal fares – so a short NT$20/US$0.70 ride is only NT$16/US$0.55!
  • To pay for a ride, you tap the card on a reader when entering the station, and again on exit; both times it shows you your balance, and on exit it shows the fare that was calculated. No need to figure out yourself how much to pay
  • The EasyCard is much easier than the token, where you figure out your fare, put your money in a machine, and get a token that you then use on entry/exit (and it keeps the token on exit)
  • They even have break-a-bill machines (e.g. for an NT$1000/US$35 bill from the ATM, you get 3 choices, of which the most convenient for me was 1xNT$500, 4xNT$100 and 2xNT$50 coins
  • The washrooms are very clean, and are often both inside and outside the paid zone
  • There is no eating or drinking in the paid zone (though water bottles seem ok)
  • The subway car door locations are painted on the platform, sometimes with form-a-line here indicators at busier stations
  • Transfers between subway lines have easy to follow signs (again, in Mandarin and English)
  • They are still expanding the system, eventually all the way to Taoyuan (airport TPE, which was almost an hour away by bus)
  • Exits are lettered/numbered for convenience (some larger multi-line stations can have 20 exits!)
  • Nice big area maps by the exits (only thing missing was a scale!)
  • You can also use your EasyCard at some retailers, like 7-11

Another useful feature of the metro is the nearly-free sightseeing provided by the above ground portions (a trick I’ve used in other cities like Bangkok):

  • The entire brown line (except around the local Songshan airport station)
  • The red line north of Yuanshan (inc. the Shilin night market and all the way to Danshui/Tamshui)
  • Spur line Beitou – Xinbeitou (“new Beitou”) i.e. for the hot springs
  • Spur line Qizang – Xiaobitan (near the southern end of the green line, a few stops before Xindian)

In particular, you see different neighbourhoods, and various jungly hills right on the edge of town.
I did in fact pass through every single station on the network (though I may have forgotten some minor above ground portion).

Did I mention the blisters? and rash?

I managed to get a blister on each little two the first 2 days (first one foot, then the other). Oof, feel like I’ve been limping all week. Not fun.

I didn’t get to bike the riverside today as I had planned, mostly because it turns out you can’t rent from one location and return to another (plus it was getting late in the day, and being tropical here, it does get dark early). I did pick up a cycling trail map from the tourist office, and it is quite impressive! There are 3 rivers that come together in Taipei, and they all have trails (plus some street bike lanes too). You could easily bike for hours along the rivers, even up to Danshui/Tamsui which is practically on the coast.

And yes, I did do the needle & thread through the blister trick (thanks to dad for that one almost exactly 10 years ago when I was in Kyoto, Japan).

Oh, and the rash on the inner elbows and inner knees. It might be a heat rash, but I noticed it after the public hot springs… It took me a few days to find my anti-biotic ointment though!

So what I have I seen so far in Taipei?

A quick summary, more details to follow

Day 1 (Sat):

  • Area around Taipei Main Station
  • Ximen (hip youth hotspot, sort of like Tokyo)
  • Longshan Temple
  • Huaxi St Night Market

Day 2 (Sun):

  • Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hall (founder of Taiwan)
  • Taipei 101 (2nd tallest building in world)
  • Core Pacific City (quick peek – it’s a mall that looks a little like the Death Star from Star Wars, i.e. what was the architect smoking?)
  • Raohe St Night Market
  • Rainbow Bridge

Day 3 (Mon):

  • Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall (big statue of another Taiwan founder)
  • Da’an Park (likened to Central Park but smaller and somewhat disappointing)
  • Rode a gondola up into the mountains at the south end of town (also reachable by metro!)
  • Hiked a paved trail with a very long set of stairs straight up the hill to a nice lookout (unlike the crowds at the gondola top station, I only saw 6 people at the top of the mountain), and did a bit of a hike through unpaved narrow paths in the forest up there
  • Had a 40-minute foot/leg massage (NT$400=US$14) – note I didn’t say I “enjoyed” it because it was downright painful during it (I wanted to cry uncle a few times but didn’t!) though I did feel better afterwards (to be ruined by the next day’s walking of course)

Day 4 (Tue) – see attached photos

  • Danshui aka Tamsui (confusing name change on the train station!) – a fishing port located on the estuary (i.e. just about on the Taiwan Strait but still reachable by metro)
  • Beitou Public Hot Springs – natural hot springs for under US$2 (I spent 1.5 hours), within a 5 minute walk from a metro station!
  • Confucius Temple (what, he lived around 550 BC, are you kidding me?)
  • Baoan Temple (also got to see a ceremony to help protect the island from harsh water (typhoon, mudslides etc.))
  • Shilin Night Market – the king of them in Taipei (disappointing food though)