Category Archives: Travel Guide

Travel Guide: Hong Kong

Thursday, 19 March 2015 Rebecca Michelle 8 Comments

Recently, Mitch and I met up with our friend Lucas in Hong Kong. Lucas has been a best friend for years; we met as freshmen in high school, went to college together, and have kept in very close touch since he moved away to California not too long before I moved to Malaysia. Lucas has a very cool job that lets him do things like travel the world. About six months ago, Lucas told us that he was going to be travelling to Hong Kong sometime in November or December. Along the way, that turned into March. The knowledge that one of my best friends was going to be a four-hour plane ride from me acted like a tonic; whenever I considered throwing in the towel and heading home after returning to Malaysia from Spain after Christmas, I remembered that Lucas was coming. And then March showed up and the three of us spent a fantastic weekend together exploring Hong Kong.

Our first destination was the Po Lin Monastery, located on the island of Lantau. It’s a bit of a trek to get there from where we were staying on Kowloon. Taking public transit took just under 2 hours. It would have been quicker had we been able to take the cable car upon arriving on the island, but it was under repair so we took a bus up windy, twisty roads. That is always a potential recipe for disaster, but we pulled through. Monasteries seem to always be built in beautiful places, and it’s no surprise why. Look around and there’s some sort of breathtaking moment or view or setting that causes one to think of higher powers that could have created such an image.

I’ve really enjoyed visiting Buddhist sites around Southeast Asia because they are so different from the types of religious sites to which I am accustomed. I particularly like seeing worshippers, also because their religious practices are unfamiliar to me. As a social studies teacher, I can list Buddhist principles and the history of Buddhism in my sleep, but seeing devotees practice is always eye-opening.

One of the main attractions at the monastery is the Tian Tan Buddha, also referred to as Big Buddha on the signs. We climbed a whole lot of steps and were enthralled with what we saw. This monastery is home to a bone relic from Siddhartha Gautama, The Buddha with a capital T. (And a capital B, I guess.) Big Buddha sits on top of the temple containing this relic. It’s so small that the only way to see it is on a video screen that has a photo of the bone under a microscope.

It was from Big Buddha that we were able to see the valley that Po Lin Monastery calls home.

There also walking and hiking trails around the monastery, which we decided to visit. We found ourselves in clearing of unexplained trees carved with Chinese characters. Mitch said he expected druids to come out any minute, which is probably the best way to describe it.

That evening, we went to Temple Street Night Market to show Lucas what night markets are and also to eat cheap local food. In my mind, the market was notable for its vegetable satay and the prevalence of stands selling very naughty lingerie next to stands selling key chains. Something for everyone. We also ventured to the Goldfish Market the next day, which is not an experience I plan to repeat. We’d been warned and now that I’ve seen it with my own eyes, I can assure that it is no place for anyone even remotely concerned with animal welfare. The entire street was lined with pet shops and all of the animals were in tiny cages and being poked and prodded by buyers and people who simply seemed to enjoy the novelty. We looked around, walked up and down half the street, and called it quits. There are some cultural barriers that are too high to breach.

The next day, we wandered through Hong Kong Central, basically following the crowds. We made our way down windy streets where antique stores sold porn along with very old coins. (My personal favorites were the holographic cards that show a voluptuous clothed woman and a voluptuous naked woman, depending on which way they’re twisted. Fascinating stuff.) We went through streets of grocers’ markets and found multiple stands full of fish that had probably been caught that morning. Personally, I preferred the smells coming from the spice shops.

Spices — The only items in the market I could stand in front of long enough to get a picture

More spices — How old are oranges before the peel is considered old? What color is the peel if it’s considered oranger?

One of the things I love about Southeast Asia are temples located in the middle of big, bustling cities. Hong Kong’s oldest temple, Man Mo Temple, dates to 1847. It sits next door to massive high-rises and crowded with Buddhists lighting incense and praying. The smoke was so thick inside that it was hard to breathe, even more difficult than in the rest of Hong Kong. (The fire alarm in our hostel went off early one morning because of the smog.)

We went to A Symphony of Lights at Tsim Sha Tsui Waterfront on Kowloon, which is the island where we were staying. The symphony wasn’t much to speak of, but it was neat to see the skyline lit up. I also really loved the ferry we took from Kowloon to Central in the dark.

Probably my favorite aspect of travelling is experiencing life as locals do. I love unique signs and shops and neighborhoods that would never be found in guide books because of their normalcy in everyday life. From the outside looking in, however, these are what make people and places real and liveable.

Like building techniques . . .

Scaffolding — Bamboo scaffolding – They’ve probably been using it for thousands of years and see no need to stop. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

nightlife culture . . .

One of the many trendy and expensive bar streets in Central

Had we known Operation Leprechaun was on, we would have come prepared

home decor . . .

We found these mugs in a store window selling Taiwanese products. The whole area was full of high-end desginerly home goods - made me want to buy lots of things when I grow up! — We found these mugs in a store window selling Taiwanese products. The whole area was full of high-end desginerly home goods – made me want to buy lots of things when I grow up!

and a very important aspect of Hong Kong life . . . subway etiquette!

HK subway sign — Thank you, helpful sign. The best part is that “do do do” is exactly how one would describe that specific sound

HK subway sign 2 — I also like that these helpful signs are color-coded

Safe travels and remember to keep your ears pricked for “ding-dong!”

Travel Guide

Travel Guide: Surabaya

Sunday, 1 February 2015 Rebecca Michelle 6 Comments

I turned 25 at the beginning of January and Mitch took me to Surabaya, on the Indonesian island Java, this weekend for my present! This was a very short trip for me. I landed at 8:45pm Friday night and flew out at 12:10pm Sunday afternoon. My flight was originally scheduled to leave at 5pm so I was supposed to have all of Sunday in Surabaya, but AirAsia cancelled my flight and moved me to the earlier one. Ah well, such is life and such is travelling on discount airlines. Nevertheless, we had a wonderful day on Saturday!

Indonesia is laughably cheap, which should also tell you how poor of a country it is. As a result, though, we stayed in a gorgeous hotel with a stunning pool, ate decadent food, and hired a driver to take us up to Mount Bromo, an extinct volcano. Seeing the volcano was the reason Mitch chose Surabaya as the place to visit.

Shots of our beautiful hotel in which we had a king-size bed, delicious cocktails, and ordered room service as a snack:

Unfortunately, I saw basically nothing of Surabaya itself. From sitting in traffic, I can tell you that it’s very dense and not walkable, at least not where we were. The driver on Saturday told us that West Surabaya is the expat area with the international school, so maybe it would have been different over there. We did see lots of cool graffiti, though! This is the only example of which I managed to snap a decent picture from the car:

Saturday was a dreary day, as all of the photos suggest, but the rain didn’t start until about 3 hours into the 3.5-hour journey up to see Mount Bromo, located on the Tengger Caldera. We had been warned that it was not a good day to try to see Bromo, but that’s what we get for traveling during the rainy season. The best time of day is supposed to be sunrise and even there there’s a 50% chance of clouds and rain. We figured we’d make do with what we had to work with and I’m really glad we did! Even though the drive was very long, we got to see a lot of Java that we wouldn’t have seen otherwise. The diver was very knowledgable and friendly, making for a pleasant and educational journey. He drove past the zoo so we could see the iconic statue of an intertwined shark (sura) and crocodile (baya). Who knew?! All of these photos were taken from a moving car, so they’re not the best. Sorry!

Mosque — One of the MANY mosques we passed on the way

Motorcycles — Surabaya has even more motorcycles than anywhere we’ve been in Malaysia, which is saying a lot. Except for the guy in the front of this photo, all other adults we saw were actually wearing helmets! We even saw a couple kids in helmets, which was rather surprising.

Along the way, the driver pointed out a community that had been utterly destroyed by mudslides. No one has been able to figure out how to stop the mud, so now it goes through pipes into a river that leads to the ocean. We saw flattened stone houses, a ruined mosque, and a new road as a result.

We drove through little villages and towns that became increasingly sparse and increasingly agricultural as we got further from Surabaya. The terrain reminded me a lot of our trip to Cameron Highlands. Different trees, though.

The kids walking home from school in their uniforms made me smile. Kids in uniforms are just so adorable.

Painted building that we passed:

Mount Bromo is easily recognizable because it has no top. We were able to see it from one of the two lookout points on the caldera. Had the weather cooperated, we would have taken a Jeep closer to the mountain and gone exploring around and up it, but we had to be contact with gazing through the clouds and rain. Despite those conditions, it was an impressive sight:

Nature is really amazing and rather terrifying if you think about it. My favorite photo from the whole adventure was this one because I think it really captures the awesomeness (and I mean that in the literal sense of the word) of Mother Nature and whoever helps her:

In addition to our volcanic expedition on Saturday, Mitch found an incredible Japanese restaurant inside the Shangri-La Hotel, which is probably the fanciest hotel I’ve ever been in. Our sushi, vegetable, and fish selections were excellent. There were French and Italian restaurants inside, too, and our dessert at the Italian place consisted of red wine and crème brûlée over which the server poured flaming rum. Wow!

Every so often I re-realize how wonderful it is that Mitch and I are traveling and going to new places and trying new things. We really are lucky. Thanks for such a unique birthday gift, Mitch!

Update: Mitch read this post after I published it and made a couple embarrassing corrections. Firstly, Mount Bromo is an active volcano. Secondly, the volcano in the foreground of my photos is not actually Mount Bromo; Mount Bromo is the one to the left with the white cloud-like smoke floating above it. I think I honestly cut it out of most of my photos while I was taking them, but I swear I saw it! I just didn’t know what I was seeing, apparently. Oops . . .

Travel Guide

Travel Guide: Madrid, Cordoba, Sevilla, Barcelona

Wednesday, 7 January 2015 Rebecca Michelle 3 Comments

Warning: This posts is very long and contains lots of photos.

As I’ve mentioned, my sister lives in Madrid and my parents and brother live in Rochester, NY. We met up in Madrid on Christmas Day and traveled around Spain until January 3, at which point we departed for our various homes. Some of us (okay, me) cried more than others. I love my family more than anything else in the world and it was very hard to leave them. Times like that make me wonder what I’m doing trying to make a life for myself halfway (all the way?) around the world. In the back of my mind, I know I want to live back in Rochester. I honestly didn’t think I’d miss home as much as I do.

But, the point of this post is photos! I’ve divided each section by where we went and what we did, but the first bit for each is simply pictures I took as we walked up and down winding, twisting streets. Enjoy! Also, go to Spain.

Madrid

Our time in Madrid was spent wandering around (with purpose, guided by Rick Steves) and going to museums. We visited the Prado, Museo Municipal (not recommended), and Reina Sofia. It was very cool seeing Durer’s Self Portrait and Vazquez’s Las Meninas in person at the Prado because I taught about those in my Global 9 class. Reina Sofia’s main attraction is Picasso’s Guernica, another painting that I’ve always wanted to see. Wow. Obviously, I don’t have any photos from the museums but I do have loads from walking around Madrid.

Madrid’s cathedral is a stunning building. Until we visited a few other churches later on, it was the most unique church I’d ever seen.

Córdoba

After 3 nights in Madrid, we took the train to Córdoba, which gave us absolutely stunning views of the Spanish countryside. It actually looks the way it’s described in books. That is both rare and almost too good to be true. As Mitch said, “In every Napoleonic era book I’ve read, there’s always a convenient stone wall and a house nearby.” Apparently that’s true. The city of Córdoba fit quite well into that framework.

We were only in Córdoba for one night and made two major stops. The first was to a museum called Casa Sefard, a Jewish history museum. The museum was a bit of a sad story because the Inquisition got rid of Córdoba’s Jews, so all the artifacts were from other parts of the world.

We spent a great deal of time at La Mezquita, which, I am ashamed to admit, I didn’t know existed. For those kindred spirits who are out of the loop, La Mezquita is a cathedral built inside a mosque, which was built on top of a church. Equally interesting, it’s over 1,000 years old!

One of my favorite parts of Córdoba was standing on the bridge connecting the two sides of town and watching the sunset. It was so beautiful and serene. This was our only night in Córdoba, so I’m glad it was particularly lovely.

Sevilla

Sevilla is a very old city and traces its history directly back to the Romans. Much of Europe can claim the same, but it never ceases to amaze this “New World” born-and-raised girl.

Naturally, we had to visit Sevilla’s cathedral. Poor Mitch isn’t a fan of touring religious buildings, but he was a good sport and followed along. Interestingly, the Sevilla Cathedral is the largest Gothic cathedral in the world. (I wonder if any other churches claim the same . . .) I don’t have a good picture of Christopher Columbus’s tomb, but that was very cool. I didn’t know he was buried there! Actually, as I realized throughout our travels, I didn’t know much about Spain at all.

I absolutely loved walking up the ramp inside the bell tower, which used to be the muezzin’s tower from back when this cathedral was a mosque. (Are you sensing a theme in Spanish history?)

We also went to the city’s archives and examined some really neat early exploration maps. Unfortunately, nothing was translated into English so that was a quick stop. Mitch and I also visited the bullfighting museum and learned a lot. I had no idea that bullfighting started as a way of training horses to keep calm amidst battle chaos! Clearly, that is no longer the goal. There’s a chapel inside the bullring where most matadors pray before entering the ring.

Sevilla is known for its deep flamenco tradition, so we went to a wonderful flamenco show. The whole show consisted of a singer, a guitarist, and two dancers. Fantastic. One of the most compelling shows I’ve seen. Flamenco dance reminds me of a combination of Irish dance and tap but that’s not even a good description. There’s so much passion and emotion in the music, in the singing, and in the movement. Really wonderful experience.

Barcelona

After two nights in Sevilla, we flew to Barcelona as our final stop. This was definitely my favorite of the four cities. Barcelona feels smaller than Madrid and the people seemed more welcoming. It was also really fun to see and hear Catalan everywhere we went. There was more than one sign written in Catalan and English rather than Catalan and Spanish, which was quite interesting. On a walking tour that we took, I learned that the Catalan independence flag has a blue star on a white field, like on the Cuban flag. The independence movement adopted that star in 1898 when Cuba gained independence from Spain.

Our first day, we went to the market for lunch. I found an organic vegetarian Mexican stand, so of course I had to try it.

It was in Barcelona that I saw the most stunning church I’ve ever seen. La Sagrada Família Basilica is truly a marvel. One of my students last year asked me about “the church in Spain that they’ve been building for over 100 years” and I didn’t know what it was until I looked it up. Seeing it was nothing like anything I’ve ever visited. I didn’t know that churches could feel almost modern and ethereal and heavenly, but this one did. Mitch put it well: “If Alice in Wonderland had a church, this would be it.” Bri had told us about the importance of light inside the church, and that was truly incredible.