Brandon O'Brien

Monday, December 8, 2014 @ 6:56 AM in 2014 Asia

The redeye flight from Singapore to Beijing was about 6 hours long but like I said in the previous post we were able to sleep through pretty much all of it thanks to a sleeping pill. We weren't in any rush since it was still only about 7am so we had a quick bite to eat and a coffee at the airport then got on the Airport express into the city.

We weren't quite sure how the metro system worked so we got a taxi from the station the airport express dumped out at to the hotel. We paid a little more than we probably should have but we weren't quite sure how far we actually were. Later we found out that we could have gotten to the hotel for about 30 cents if we had hopped on the metro. Oh well, things you learn while traveling.

We didn't really think the hotel would let us check in so early but they had a room ready for us so we were able to check in and get situated. One thing we noticed right away being in China was that all Google services are blocked (which is why there are no photos yet for yesterday or today or probably for the rest of the trip). We couldn't use Google Maps for directions, Google for searching, or Gmail for email (it still seems to come through on my phone though since I'm using my T-Mobile international roaming plan). It's crazy how hard things get when you can't use services you're used to.

We were originally going to visit the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square but the one day a week they're closed is today, Monday, so we had to bypass that. We said we were going to celebrate our Thanksgiving when we got to China by having some Peking Duck so we did some searching to find a good place to visit. It was hard trying to pin down exactly where it was since maps didn't work and all the other map services weren't in English but instead in Mandarin. We decided on a place called Hua's Restaurant that had gotten some really good reviews and after negotiating the metro we got there and got seated. No one at the restaurant spoke english so it was a lot of pointing at the menu but we got some peking duck, sesame sticky buns filled with pork and some kind of "meat pie" which was more like an elongated wonton cut into strips. Everything was great and made for a good substitute Thanksgiving.

From there we took the metro to the 2008 Beijing Olympics grounds, notably the Bird's Nest and the Cube Aquatics facility. The first stop we got off had actually closed the exit we needed and there wasn't another way to get to the grounds from there so we had to go back onto the metro to the next stop and walk back to the grounds. This is when we really started to notice all the smog. It was about 2:30 in the afternoon but it felt like it was dusk because of all the brown haze. You'll be able to see a lot of this in the photos we took.

We walked around and took pictures of the giant observation tower, bird's nest and the cube before heading back near the hotel. Instead of calling it a night we aimlessly walked around some more and found some big open air malls and markets but everything was pretty touristy and surprisingly for us, a lot less crowded than we were expecting. We were hoping to find some good street food but everything looked extremely sketchy which is saying a lot having just come from Kuala Lumpur where we had some great street food. None of the stuff here was on ice and we ran into some guy who was telling us that no one ever eats at the stalls. He was right... there was an entire block of stalls filled with skewers of meat that were just sitting there with no one buying.

One thing we weren't ready for was the time it gets dark here. Being down in Malaysia and Singapore it got dark around 7-7:15pm because we were so close to the equator but up here it was basically dark by 5:30. Having such a long day to start with made us pretty tired so after deciding to play it safe and getting some pizza we came back to the hotel to take it easy and go to bed early.

Depending on the weather and smog we'll either do the Great Wall tomorrow or go visit the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square.

Teaser photos:

Peking Duck and snacks in Beijing

Me at the Bird's Nest at Beijing Olympics park

Observation tower at Olympics park in Beijing

No one buying street meat

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Tags: travels2014, china, beijing, smog, olympics

Posted from: China

Monday, December 8, 2014 @ 6:34 AM in 2014 Asia

Today was our last day in Singapore and we had done pretty much everything we wanted to. Our flight to Beijing was at 12:15am so we had a full day to spend. We were able to push the check out time at our hotel to 2pm so we could sleep in a little in the morning. We had some Kaya toast (toast with soft boiled eggs and extremely dark coffee) for breakfast. It's the traditional workers breakfast and was actually pretty good.

We did some research on Beijing and packed up then checked out and dropped our bags off at the front desk of the hotel. One thing that we hadn't done was to check out the Singapore Botanic Gardens. They were highly rated and it was a really nice day out (although probably the hottest and most humid of the trip). The gardens themselves were really nice. It was like a tropical version of Central Park in the middle of the city. Most of the park was free but we paid S$5 to go into the Orchid gardens. We were walking around for a while before some dark clouds started rolling in and a sudden extreme downpour opened up.

Fortunately we were pretty close to some shelters so we ducked under one with a bunch of other people and waited out the rain. The thunder and lightning started hitting really close by and it hit a so close a few times that we could feel the shockwave. It took about an hour and a half for the rain to die down enough that we wouldn't kill our electronics by venturing out into it.

We caught a bus back to the city and stopped at the Raffles hotel which is the hotel that invented the Singapore Sling which is a gin drink with a bunch of other flavorings and juices. Mike and I each got one but were pretty underwhelmed with it for being hyped up so much and being so expensive. All the sugar also got to our stomaches and made us a little queasy for a while afterwards.

We went into a foodcourt and I got some lunch to help settle my stomach. By now we had a couple hours to kill before we needed to be at the airport so we hung out at the hotel lobby for a while until we needed to catch the MRT to the airport.

The check-in process at the airport was easy enough and we had some time to wait around there before we could board. Rather than having one security checkpoint at the terminal each gate has its own security which made things take a little longer. Since our flight was going to be from 12:15am to 6:30am we both popped a sleeping pill and slept through pretty much the whole flight. I did wake up when they brought by dinner which ended up being some kind of chicken and rice noodles with a little salad and fruit.

Teaser photos:

Botanic Gardens in Singapore

Waterfall in Botanic Gardens

Caught in a downpour

Singapore Sling

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Tags: travels2014, rain, singapore, gardens

Posted from: Singapore

Sunday, December 8, 2013 @ 6:09 PM in 2013 Europe

Day 165

The hostel has a bucket of oranges and a juicer sitting out every morning so today I made myself some fresh squeezed orange juice with my breakfast. I mostly worked until around 11:15 when I headed out to do some exploring.

First up was the Pepe Espaliu art center. He was a modern artist from Cordoba who worked with paintings as well as sculptures. The museum was free so I figured I'd check it out. It wasn't too big but there were some interesting works there.

Next, I followed one of the suggested walking routes through the Jewish Quarter. There's an old synagogue there where you can go in for free and see some of the remaining 14th century synagogue. It was a pretty small building but fortunately there weren't too many people in there. Some of the designs were very intricate and looked really nice.

There's also a really cool artist plaza with all kinds of local arts and crafts for sale. I'm going to head back later in the week and possibly get some souvenirs to bring back home. The walls of the plaza are all lined with flowers sitting in blue buckets. It's a pretty cool sight to see.

The walking route went around some of the old walls of the city then I cut back toward the Mezquita since I was getting hungry. I read about this place called Santo's Bar that makes some giant tortillas (the spanish potato omelette). It was way too packed inside to try and take a photo of one of the full tortillas but imagine a slightly smashed basketball and you'll get an idea of the size of them. The slices you order for 2 euros come like slices of cake. I ordered a slice and some vino rioja and ate on the wall of the Mezquita like all the locals do.

After that I went and sought out the smallest street in the city. At it's narrowest point it's as wide as a handkerchief at 74cm (which is why it's known as Handkerchief Alley). It leads back to a very tiny plaza with a small fountain and an orange tree.

I aimlessly walked around some more before heading back to the hostel for a mid day break and to have a small lunch (since the tortilla was pretty filling). I answered some emails and then went back out to check out a few more sights. One was supposed to be a really nice view of the belltower through a small flower lined street but the timing wasn't right and the sun was in the way. I'll have to go back later since it looks like it really will be a good view.

After that I went down to the Puente Romano and walked across it for some great views of the bridge with the Mezquita in the background. The bridge was a little busy but nothing like the Charles bridge in Prague.

I'm planning on getting up early to get to the Mezquita by 8:30am since it's supposedly free entry between 8:30-9:30. Getting up early will save me 8 euros so that's good! Since I'll have to get up earlier than normal I probably won't do much tonight, which is easy since most places are closed on Sundays and people generally don't go out as much.

Teaser photos:

Synagogue in Cordoba

Blue flower buckets everywhere

Everyone eating their giant tortillas (potato omelette) from Santo's Bar

Mezquita from across the Puente Romano

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Tags: daily journal, spain, cordoba

Posted from: Spain