We saw these signs near the Everglades National Park. This is a sign to watch for Florida Panthers crossing the road!
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Gold Car
Check out this gold car!! Wow! Every eye is on this car as it drives around Key West, Florida!
Mating Crickets
We caught these two in a moment at the Everglades National Park. Too cute!
Cruisin’ in the Carribean
Carnival Glory
I’ve wanted to go a massive cruise for a long time. I’ve loved the idea of it for a few years now and finally, we get to try it. This post is based on a week long cruise of the Carribean with Carnival Glory out of the port of Miami stopping at Cozumel, Belize City, Isla Roatan and Grand Cayman. The Carnival Glory has a guest capacity of nearly 3000 people and about 1100 crew and staff to keep all those people in the holiday spirit!
Pool Deck and Waterslide
Firstly, every form of travel has it’s pro’s and con’s. No method will ever be 100% enjoyable (unless I get so obscenely rich that I have my own personal staff, private yacht and private jet!) Overall, I love cruising. Yes, there are things which are a little irritating but to be honest, as this is my first time cruising, I even enjoy the irritating things because they are an interesting insight to American cruise culture. I am not American and this cruise is vastly dominated by Americans and many of those from Miami. The way this cruise has been designed is obviously a formula which is known to be enjoyed by Americans. I know that if this cruise were filled mainly with Japanese people or Australians, this formula would not work at all.
I loved the spacious room. We splurged and got a balcony room but I’m honestly surprised at the size of it. Usually rooms on ships are tiny. This one has a king size bed and a large sofa in a sitting area and lots of storage space. The balcony is wonderful because you can always pop out and enjoy the breeze and check out the weather. It’s nice to lay back on the sun lounger and read. I also love the twice a day servicing of the rooms. The room is cleaned and fresh towels provided in the morning and then in the evening, there is turn-down service where another quick clean is done, the bed is turned down and a towel animal is left to greet you when you return to your room.
Towel Animals
I love food and the range and quality of the food has been pretty good on this boat. Breakfast and lunch are buffet style and dinner has been 3 course a-la-carte at the dining room. There are also casual eateries where you can get a Guy Fieri burger, pizza or taco’s. This combined with 24/7 soft serve machines, lemonade, iced tea and ice machines scattered througout the ship, you can never be hungry or thirsty! The price for the cruise includes the food, so sometimes, we ordered multiple starters, mains or desserts if we are tempted by items on the menu.
Bread Basket – Seaday Brunch
Fried Chicken Caesar Salad – Seaday Brunch Starter
Pork Chop with Beans and Gorgonzola Cream – Seaday Brunch Main
Parpadelle Pasta – Seaday Brunch Main
Fruit Platter – Seaday Brunch Dessert
Salted Caramel Cheesecake – Seaday Brunch Dessert
The food however is very American. American food is very flavourful. Almost too flavourful! I find the salads too heavily dressed, the food sometimes too salty and the desserts too sweet. They are not shy with big, bold flavours. These burgers you get look like a greasy, fatty mess but it cannot be denied they are deliciously tasty.
Guy Fieri Burger
I’ve been particularly impressed by the focus on safety on this cruise. On the first day, there was a mandatory safety drill. The captain spoke on the public announcement system into each and every room and told us that it was mandatory to make our way to our allocated muster area and participate in the mandatory safety briefing. As we made our way to the muster station, I could hear other people complaining. I know it is an inconvenience to be interupted from swimming, eating or drinking but I really was very pleased to see that every single person was made to be physically at their muster point and to be forced to use the stairs instead of the lifts to simulate a true muster situation.
In addition to the mandatory safety drill, I found that during quiet periods when most of the passengers were onshore at a port, the crew participated in additional drills and lifeboat testing. In Isla Roatan, the safety exercise even included lowering each and every life boat into the water and testing them in the bay. As a passenger, I have a true feeling of confidence that the emergency hardware is being maintained and in good working order and that the crew are very familiar with their role in the event of an emergency.
During this cruise, there are two nights out of seven which are deemed “Elegant” nights. On these nights, there is a strict dress code to dine in the main dining room. No jeans, no shorts and no beachware is allowed. Elegant night is taken very seriously by the guests on this ship with many ladies appearing in glamourous evening gowns and men in tuxedoes.
One of the intriguing aspects about a large cruise is how they manage to serve so many guests at one time. How is the potable water produced? Where does the waste go? How do they produce so many high quality meals and get them out in timely manner. Disappointingly the only way to see what goes on behind the scenes is to join the “Behind the Fun” excursion which costs $95USD per person. I think this is crazy to be charging so much for a tour which should be free.
One of the surprising things about this cruise is the wide range of age groups on this cruise. There were babies all the way to the elderly. There were people in wheelchairs, toddlers in prams, groups of partying teens that had just graduated, small bands of 14 year old boys having a grand old time running around the boat and large family groups holidaying together.
It’s all about the upsell on this cruise. It was a little annoying but it’s also interesting because this is how they keep the base cost of the cruise quite astoundingly low. Most people buy a lot of this extra stuff. The cost we paid covered the food and the room and the transportation on this ship. If you want spa treatments, professional photographs, alcohol, excursions and to eat at the extra fancy restaurant you have to pay more. The ship even had a shopping area where they constantly had raffles and discounts and all kinds of gimmicks to get people to buy, buy, buy! We attended an art auction, drawn by the promise of free champagne! This was a really interesting study of pressure selling techniques. The auctioneers and his cronies were skilled operators in making us feel like these paintings were a great deal.
Actually, speaking of the internet, the cost for the internet on the ship was exorbitant. We went the whole week without the internet. I think they are letting a magnificent marketing and publicity opportunity slip through their fingers. If they gave out free wifi or cheap wifi, people would be posting their happy, holiday snaps on the internet all through the day which would be a massive, free, word of mouth advertising campaign for them.
OK, back to spending and shopping. All the cruise stops were very similar at the point where the passengers disembarked. It was all kitschey shops and restaurants, souvenirs and jewellery. It was quite formulaic and totally removed from the true character of the countries were were visiting. In fact, certain shops, like Diamonds International, must have some kind of arrangement with the cruise companies because they were at every stop in a very prominent location. They must make a fortune from the thousands of cruisers pouring off the ship.
In Belize City, we got out of the tourist shopping area and found the city to be impoverished, ramshackled and struggling.
One of the things I found most interesting about the cruise was the people watching. This cruise was highly dominated by Americans. I found Americans to be a confident and self assured people. They are quite happy to be the centre of attention, in fact often they compete to be the centre of attention. They love audience participation in shows whereas being picked on during a show is my worst nightmare.
One of the bizarre things about the cruise were the pools on the boat. It was hot and often the pool was packed with people. We were joking that it was like a human soup! Someone mentioned that by the end of a particularly busy day, the water was so murky that you couldn’t tell what colour swimming costume people were wearing under the water. Yuk!
Human Soup – the main pool
The thing is, whilst the ship has a lot of people and often there are areas which are ridiculously busy, if you do the opposite of what the crowd is likely to do, it can be quite serene and peaceful. On the first day, I got up at dawn and watched the sunrise. It was magic and peaceful. Then we went for a swim first thing in the morning. It was warm enough and we had the entire pool to ourselves. Sometimes, we came back from cruise stops early and found the ship quite deserted so we could have the pool and waterslides to ourselves. Once or twice it rained and that cleared out the pool area. Again, that was a great time to have the pool to ourselves and it was magic to feel the warm rain.
One of the things I enjoyed was being seated with other cruisers during dinner and sea day brunch. It’s nice to meet and chat to new people.
I was concerned before cruising by the reports of gastro spreading throughout the ship.To minimise the risk of this, the ship had Purell sanitiser stations everywhere there was food being served. They also had tiny paper dispensers at every single public toilet doors to allow you to open the doors to get out without touching the handle. Interestingly to significantly minimise waste on the ship, the cabins did not have plastic liners on the rubbish receptacles and the restaurants used washable cloth napkins.
Overall, I really enjoyed my cruise experience. I found it very relaxing and enjoyable. It won’t be the only way I will travel but it’s still a fun way to have a holiday.
Free Roaming Chickens in Key West, Florida
In Key West which is the southernmost point of the USA, there are chickens just roaming free around the city. We saw some small ones pecking around underneath some alfresco restaurant tables and others on the median street of the highway. We also had a couple of roosters roaming around the parking lot of the motel we stayed at. How weird! Or course, I awoke the next morning to some raucous crowing by those same roosters!
Food in China
A post about some of the food I’ve seen and eaten whilst in China in May/June 2015.
Peking Duck in Beijing is supposed to be the best in the world. They are roasted with branches of fruit trees for added flavour. I thought it was tender and well cooked but I did not think it was more flavoursome or better than Peking Duck I’ve had in other countries. Still, it was absolutely delicious!
Anyone feel like munching on scorpions on a skewer? What about a star fish or a sea horse? I didn’t see any Chinese people eat these. I suspect they are there for the novelty value and for foreigners on dare. The normal beef and chicken on a skewer were selling much better. What you can’t see in the photo is that the scorpions are still alive and moving on the skewer whilst awaiting their turn on the grill!
One of the specialties of Shanghai and around the Yuyuen gardens are these large dumplings filled with soup. I didn’t realise but actually, these are only filled with soup, there is no other filling. I chose one at random and it was filled with quite a lot of very strong meaty juices inside. There was no other filling. The dough was really thick and tough I guess to withstand being in the steamer all day and to ensure there would be no soup leakage before it got to the customer. It’s bizarre sucking out the insides of a dumpling with a straw!
There is a street food market area in Xian which is called the Muslim Quarter. Lots of interesting foods being sold here. There is a yellow sticky rice cake which is huge and cut into smaller portions and skewered for easy eating. Soft shell crab, cuttlefish and soft shell crabs on skewers. Meat being grilled over charcoal. The meat is threaded on branches and the branches are then placed in a bucket once the meat has been eaten. I think perhaps for some stalls the size of the bucket of used skewer branches is an indication to new patrons of how delicious their spicy meat skewers are. There are also Chinese Muslim men pulling sugar candy. They wear white hats on their heads and the Chinese Muslim ladies wear headscarfs. The sugar is turned into many different kinds of confectionary with the additional of other ingredients like nuts and seeds after it is pulled.
I saw a stall making the most incredible looking fairy floss ever. There are also piles of braised pigs trotters and the largest red dates I have ever seen for sale. It’s too bad I’m so cautious about eating street food or else this would be an amazing eating opportunity.
When we arrived in Chengdu, we headed to a local restarant. This was probably my favourite dining experience in China. We had these spicy Sichuan style noodles. They were dry noodles and had pork mince. Once you stir it, the noodles are coated with a spicy oily, porky sauce. As you eat these noodles, the Sichuan peppers causes a numbing and strong tingling sensation on your tongue. The pastry is crispy, greasy, laminated and crusty from being deep fried. There is salted cured pork within. They are really so tasty and I can’t wait to have an opportunity to try to recreate a “slightly healthier” version of this pastry using puff pastry and an oven. Writing this post is making me crave this pastry!
It’s hard to make out from the photo but these are spicy braised rabbit heads. We saw them on a touristy street in Chengdu.
Chengdu is famous for their spicy hot pot. You can see from the picture that the spicy soup is on the outside with a small amount of non-spicy soup in the centre. The picture was taken before any additional ingredients were added. The spicy one had a tonne of peppercorns inside as well as sichuan peppers. It was covered with a thick layer of red, spicy oil. Unlike hot pots I’m familiar with, you couldn’t really drink that spicy soup because it’s too spicy. It was really only for cooking the ingredients. As the meal progressed, the meat and ingredients just got more and more unbearably spicy as the watery soup part evaporated leaving more of the spicy oil. The dessert was delicious though. It was these rectangular shapes of sticky rice which were fried on the outside, so they were soft inside and crispy on the outside and laid on a dark black sauce of fragrant brown sugar and sesame seeds. Unfortunately, there is no picture of dessert because I was so focused on eating it.
That’s all from now from this greedy eater. I’m hungry again and off to find something to eat!
Impressions of China (May/June 2015)
China is developing quickly, hence the timeframe in the title. I suspect in only a few years, some of the things I have observed will no longer be the case. Here are some of my observations of China from a 3 week visit there!
Children in China are treasured. I’ve seen kids in many other parts of the world look neglected and dirty and left to fend for themselves. Not in China! In China, every child is well dressed, well fed and well supervised. They are all very well behaved because they are very well looked after and constantly supervised. It is not surprising considering the one child policy.
The streets are always clean. There is never any rubbish on the side of the road. You often see people sweeping up any small bits of rubbish and leaves. The roads are always very clean and tidy.
Chinese food is not what we usually get outside of China. So far, in my meals that I’ve had in Beijing, Shanghai, Xian, Chengdu, Yangshuo etc. They are not like most of the Chinese meals I’ve had outside of China. In general, they are much more vegetable heavy, much less rice is eaten, the flavours are stronger, saltier and much more chilli and spice is used. China is a big country and Chinese food overseas is more cantonese style and somewhat westernised.
There are a lot of people in China but it seems generally quite affluent. Cities are just filled with large apartment blocks. Even small towns, have a heck of a lot of apartment blocks. There are lots of expensive looking cars on the roads especially in Beijing and Shanghai. Not to mention electric bikes and scooters which will run you down silently from behind!
It’s noisy in China. Life is noisy in China. Buses, cars and motorbikes are constantly tooting their horns, people talk at the top of the voices on the mobile phone and speak at maximum volume to each other when conversing at restaurants.
Women in China love to wear all their favourite things at once. Chinese ladies love to wear stockings and glittery shoes and sparkly tops and cute girlish dresses. They often look like they are wearing an odd combination of all their favourite things at the same time and WHY NOT! Why not wear those glittery shoes you love with that crazy patterned top. Why be understated! If you love it! Wear it and be happy!The other things I’ve noticed is the matching tops for couples and families. Super cute! Especially if they come in pants and top sets for the whole family!
A slice of life at Temple of Heaven park. I love seeing people who are enjoying themselves. As we walk through the Temple of Heaven Park in Beijing, we can see lots of people enjoying their hobbies. There is a group of men huddled around two players playing a strategic game similar to chequers. The pressure must be intense with so many onlookers! There are ladies doing very fine and detailed crochet work while listening to old songs. Another group of ladies are choreographing a dance to some music while others are doing a dance/fitness class on the lawn to music. A lady has her own microphone and back-up music and is singing a sweet mournful song. She is not busking as there is no vessel for donations. She’s just singing because she loves to sing. Old friends are in deep good natured and noisy debate over some issue and there is a discordant cacophony coming from a shaded area nearby.In amongst the trees are a group of people practicing traditional Chinese string instruments. They are making a discordant racket but I think it’s great that they come to a communal area like this big park to practice, learn and chat amongst others with the same passion. I’m sure their apartment neighbours are most grateful they have chosen to practice away from home!
There was also a small band playing old songs. Two things struck me, first was the look on their faces. The lady on the big drum was hitting it with such finesse, enthusiasm and pride while the keyboard man was putting in lots of expression to his playing. It’s nice to see them enjoy playing together and for the people in the park. Secondly, they were playing a song that everyone seem to know. People leaving the area were singing the words to the song as they walked past while others had put down their handbags and other possessions to dance and sing to this song. It looked like everyone knew the simple arm movements and dance steps. When the song ends, there is some applause and those who stopped to dance, pick up their possessions from the pile and move onwards with their day. Isn’t it amazing that there are songs which can make people pause?Most of the people in the park are retirees and it’s lovely to see them socialising and engaged in their hobbies.
Wedding photos are big business in China.
Often, when we were in a scenic spot there will be couples taking wedding photos. We saw about a dozen couples having their wedding photos done at the Temple of Heaven Park in Beijing and another dozen couples on the Bund in Shanghai. The women are always very glamourous in their elaborate gowns.
The smog and pollution in China is bad. The horizon is often much closer in China because of the smog and pollution. You can see through the haze to a distance and then you can’t see anymore because it’s too hazy and there is no visibility. They have fantastically tall and interesting buildings in Shanghai but due to the pollution, the tops cannot be seen.
In general, everywhere is hazy with some areas much worse than others. I awoke one morning at 7am on an overnight train and was shocked looking out the window. The visibility was only at about 4m. The strange thing is that you can’t smell it or perhaps my nose quickly normalised the smell.
Whilst on the topic of polllution, smoking is commonplace in China and even indoors. Often, the toilets will reek of smoke and people will smoke even close to food preparation areas and inside restaurants. We were on a cruise ship in non smoking rooms but it was obvious this was not respected because there were ashtrays provided in the room and the corridor to the rooms stunk of cigarette smoke.
Miscellaneous Highlights from China
Great Wall of China
Part of a Mutianyu section of the Great Wall of China. Get there early to beat the heat and the crowds.
Tiananmen Square
This is a massive square and there are SO MANY people on it at any given time. There are thousands of domestic tourists and the queue to see Chairman Mao’s body is the longest queue I have ever seen. It is reasonably fast moving. For security reasons, people are not allowed to take backpacks or handbags into the building when seeing the body so there are small piles of bags and possessions scattered on the outskirts of the square “guarded” by the tour guide.
Imperial Palace
This is a huge complex and draws a massive number of international and domestic tourists.
There are these big pots in the Imperial Palace complex and it must be good luck to touch these lions on the pots!
Bund in Shanghai
Topiary on steroids near the Bund in Shanghai.
The skyline of Shanghai from the Bund area with the tops of buildings obscured by smog.
Pet Market in Shanghai
Some photos from a pet market in Shanghai. I have no idea how the little frogs are those lurid colours! The predominant constant background noise in the pet market is the sound of crickets. These are sold in little baskets or in specially designed plastic containers. They increase in price depending on size and quality and are for cricket fighting.
Fighting crickets in little baskets graded for size
Terracotta Warrior in Xian
The terracotta warriors are an amazing achievement by Emperor Qin. So far many hundreds have been found but there are lots more which have not yet been excavated. Of the ones we saw, it’s amazing to note that they have different details on their armour and even different expressions on their faces. The pictures are of a kneeling archer. It’s interesting to note that all the warriors are originally coloured but oxidation on exposure with air causes the colour to come off the sculptures. A little bit of remnant colour can be seen on the back of the armour of the kneeling archer. Look also at the back of his head. See the detail of his hair and the tiny braids.
Visiting Pandas in Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding
This was much more interesting than I had expected. We got really quite close to the panda’s and they really are like big fat cute teddy bears, just lolling around all day and eating bamboo in a bit of a frenzy of gorging. Seems like an ideal life. They just grab the bamboo and rip off the fibrous exterior before munching on the interior.
We learnt that panda’s are not cut out for survival on their own. The odds seem entirely against them. They only eat bamboo. The females are only on heat 3 days in a year. 30% of the males are impotent. The babies are born incredibly helpless and often the mother panda is clueless about how to care for them. The adult panda’s often don’t know how to mate naturally. So as a result, this and other panda bases practice artificial insemination to keep these large mammals going. It’s quite artificial the way they have to support the panda population. Anyways, the one thing panda’s have going for them is their extreme cuteness.
This photo is of a 9 month old baby panda which is hanging precariously upside down on these thing branches. The little thing is still trying to munch on that small branch while it’s clutching with arms and legs to the tree branches. It’s quite comical but it’s good to know that it didn’t fall. Someone miraculously, every time the baby panda looked like it would fall, it would someone grab onto another part of the tree to stabilise itself.
At the Panda Base, they also keep red fox pandas. These are not as endangered as the giant pandas as they have a wider diet. An interesting fact is that they sometimes fight one another. The strong ones have long fluffy tails because they bite each others tails when they fight. We saw some with just stubs insteads of tails and we saw one panda which still had a long tail but a section had no hair and looked like it had been chewed on.
Leshan Giant Buddha
In Leshan, we boarded a tour boat for a boat ride past the Leshan Giant Buddha. This was a highlight seeing this massive Buddha carved in a hillside. You can get an idea of the scale of the sculpture from the little tiny heads of the people below. Actually, another highlight of the boat ride was a Chinese man releasing a couple of live tortoises into the river water. I guess releasing animals back into the wild is a way to get some good karma but I wonder how those tortoises will survive in the seemingly deep and fast flowing water at the confluence of three rivers.
Shennong Stream Excursions
We cruised down the Yangtze river for 3 nights on the Oriental Emperor. This was a lovely chance to eat and sleep and relax. On the second day, we went on a boat ride up Shennong Stream. This was stunning because we could go through a couple of gorges. The water level is up much higher due to damming but the scenery was still spectacular with the stillness of the water in parts allowing mirror-like reflections of the the gorge in the water.
Landscape of Karsts in the Yangshuo countryside
The landscape in Yangshuo is jaw dropping. The majestic karsts rise up from the ground and there are so many of them surrounding the city of Yangshuo. They are spectacular. The city itself is not that special because it’s overpriced and touristy and most annoying of all, rainy and humid. It has rained everyday we have been here and even when it is not raining, it would have just recently rained so everything is wet and there are puddles everywhere. You spend more time looking down to avoid stepping into a giant puddle than looking up to admire the incredible landscape.
Overall, visiting China has been full of highlights and does make an interesting and worthwhile trip.