A very merry Christmas to everyone from us over here in cold old London - I hope that you have a wonderful day wherever you are and hopefully have enjoyed reading about our travels in 2010. Here's to lots more in 2011!
Here are a couple of links to things which have either made me smile, or laugh so much I cried (I know I shouldn't but it's so funny), in the last couple of days:
Merry Christmas!
Friday, 24 December 2010
Marvellous Munich
A whole big group of us descended on Munich early in December to check out the Christmas markets, beer halls and other delights Germany has to offer. It was heaps of fun going with a big group, and remarkably easy to corral everyone over the city.
Adrian and I went earlier than the others and spent a day out at Daschau which was absolutely heartbreaking. Not something you want to see but something you feel you should. The others turned up later on Friday night and then the next day was spent sightseeing, marketing, drinking lots of mulled wine and beer and generally having a blast! Sunday was a bit more low-key, but still involved lots of food and beer (an inescapable past-time it seems in Munich...).
Check out the photos here!
Adrian and I went earlier than the others and spent a day out at Daschau which was absolutely heartbreaking. Not something you want to see but something you feel you should. The others turned up later on Friday night and then the next day was spent sightseeing, marketing, drinking lots of mulled wine and beer and generally having a blast! Sunday was a bit more low-key, but still involved lots of food and beer (an inescapable past-time it seems in Munich...).
Check out the photos here!
Wednesday, 1 December 2010
Saying hi to my mate Borat
So as some of you know, I’ve now got a new job (yay!), but what not all of you may know is that it was the craziest start to a job EVER. I turn up, have a day at work on the Friday, then on Saturday morning get on a plane and fly to Kazakhstan for nine days. No, that’s not a typo. I literally went to Kazakhstan on day two of my job!
It was to look at a reservoir/hydropower complex in a small town called Shardara in the very south-western corner of Kazakhstan, right by the Uzbekistan border. There were a whole group of us from different organisations and it was fascinating to hear some of the stories from Soviet times from those who’d been working in Central Asia for a long time. Shardara itself was very dry (but lovely and hot, nearly 30 degrees) and had been pretty much desert before they’d constructed the reservoir in the 1960s. We stayed in a pretty basic guest house, but it had the most amazing views right out over the reservoir and was a bit of a stunning vista to look out at in the mornings.
It was so interesting going right inside the hydropower plant and seeing the massive turbines and all the water gushing out through the turbines and back into the river(technical term: tail water – I’m going to be such a pro soon). We had all sorts of interesting food too – it was heavily based around bread and meat, but sadly despite horse being a local delicacy we never seemed to see it on the menu (actually, only sadly for Adrian who wanted me to try it, not for me...). Every meal always included a version of a delicious, but very basic tomato and cucumber salad – the tomatoes were just amazing, so flavourful and not at all like the perfect yet tasteless ones you get in the supermarkets in the UK. I’m determined to go to the farmers’ markets now and replicate it!
Shishlek was another popular dish (basically, skewers of different meats covered in raw sliced onions) and we tried lamb, beef and catfish versions. I actually preferred the catfish version the most – it was pretty tasty! Other things included various salads (all with lots of mayonnaise), a specially prepared pasta and meat dish, and the ubiquitous ‘piva’ (beer).
After staying in Shardara for three days it was time for a three hour drive back to Shymkent – the major town of the province. Sadly, I’ve got little to nothing to report on from Shymkent as I was struck down by an evil bout of food poisoning which confined me to my hotel room for two days. All I can say is that thank goodness I had my own (and western-style) toilet as if it had been back at Shardara with a hole-in-the-floor toilet shared between a dozen people life would have been very, very miserable indeed...
But once I recovered I managed to eat a bit more of the local food – and got to try ‘plov’ which was the one thing I’d read about before the trip. Apparently there are heaps of different kinds of plov (it's a dish based around rice), but the one I had was beef with roast garlic...mmm... Totally too rich for the delicate state of my stomach, and I definitely paid for it the next day, but worth trying nonetheless!!
Things got even more farcical as we arrived at Shymkent airport to fly to Almaty – the biggest city and previous capital of Kazakhstan. I totally didn’t see the tiniest, 10cm tall step and completely bailed as we entered the airport. Searing pain = twisted ankle = not good. Luckily one of our translators had sprained her wrist the previous week and had a bandage on her which I wrapped around my ankle and which actually made the world of difference. It was basically healed within a week which was great. I had also taken some ibuprofen immediately, but in the confusion and subsequent rush to get to the ticket office and check in, I forgot to re-zip my suitcase up after getting it out and when a colleague picked it up to take it to the check-in desk for me every single person in Shymkent airport got a close-up view of the innards of my bag... Thank goodness I’d put all my dirty washing in an interior bag! It was honestly like a scene out of a slapstick comedy...you’ve just got to laugh about these things though!
It had been getting steadily colder as we got further and further away from Shardara, but the air hostess telling us that the local temperature was zero degrees as we landed in Almaty at midday was a bit of a shock, as was the fact that the entire city was covered in a thick blanket of snow! Luckily I’m used to layering being a good NZer, so I put on everything I owned and went for a small (hobbling) explore. The city is surrounded by mountains which means that the clouds stick around for a long time and winter is basically one long grey cloud. But, in its defence the snow was very pretty!
And then that was that, back in the air to Heathrow and home. It was a really interesting, eventful trip and I learned so much about my new job by jumping in at the deep end which was great. I can tell you that Kazakh vodka is pretty full on, that it’s a country of huge extremes (hot/cold, dry/wet, rich/poor) and that you can still order cigarettes from a restaurant menu! The influence of the USSR era is still enormous and it will be interesting to see how it continues to develop. There’s pretty much no tourism infrastructure (as we are used to it) that I could see, and it probably wouldn’t be somewhere I’d recommend for holidays, but an excellent experience nonetheless.
And I didn’t say one word about Borat the whole time I was there...
Here are the photos - enjoy!
Wednesday, 17 November 2010
Tuesday, 2 November 2010
Beautiful Berlin
As part of my friend Alice’s fabulous round-the-world trip, she and I decided to spend a weekend in Berlin. I’d never been to Germany before and everyone has always said that Berlin is wonderful, so it seemed like a perfect place to visit!
The day we left (Friday) was completely harried, but we managed to get to the airport on time (just!) and sneak our two pieces of carry-on luggage past the amazingly officious EasyJet check-in guy. The whole evening felt like an absolute mish but we managed to get to the hostel eventually, where we collapsed into an over-tired stupor...
The next day the awesomeness of our hostel revealed itself – the EastSeven hostel in Berlin is pretty much the cleanest, biggest roomed, most comfortable, fanciest kitchen, nicest people hostel I’ve ever come across. Highly recommended! But, as much as I loved the hostel, that’s not where I intended us to spend the entire weekend! Our first trip was pretty important – out for breakfast! We had the traditional breakfast of bread, cheese and cold meats – the first meat I’d had in a month and it was funny, I hadn’t really missed it at all! It was so lovely and sunny (albeit cold) that it felt so luxurious and relaxing to just sit outside and have breakfast. After that we did a bit of exploring towards the town centre – finding a Birkenstock shop on the way (how fabulous, and how German!) – before heading back to our hostel for our walking tour. There were about half a dozen of us who were picked up by Theo, our Australian guide, and then we picked up another dozen and a half at the next few hostels we passed.
The tour started on Museum Island (home to a lot of museums so quite aptly named), before heading around the main sites of the city – Berlin Wall, Checkpoint Charlie, the Reischtag and Brandenburg Gate, Holocaust Memorial, and Bebelplatz among others. The most moving thing for me was the memorial to the victims of war and tyranny – a sculpture of a woman cradling her adult son in the middle of this empty room. It’s open to the sky so when it rains, snows etc. it falls on her as well. I just thought it was so haunting.
Theo was a great guide – giving us all sorts of stories and tips as we went along. After the tour, Alice and I went back to the hostel and got flashed up before heading out to dinner and drinks and employing nearly every tip Theo passed on! First we had a traditional German dinner (Alice with Berlin meatballs and me with butter spatzle and veal – talk about an intense way to break a month of vegetarianism!) and a couple of glasses of the local beer. After that it was off to a couple of other places for some sweet German riesling at a place called Alta Europe and then a cocktail in a bar called Pony. It was quite funny that while we were there and Alice was drinking a White Russian, she was also getting chatted up by a white Russian guy...ironic.
The next day we had a fantastic long sleep in and then mustered the energy to head north to explore a bit more of our neighbourhood (Prenzlauer Berg). First we had croissants and coffee sitting outside in the sun – a much warmer day thank goodness! – and then went and explored the Mauer market. That’s a big flea market north of town and was absolutely amazing! So many people selling so much stuff – I got a scarf and a pair of shoes for 3 euro each, and we had the most delicious spinach and cheese filled pancake thing filled with hummus and lettuce...mmm... There were heaps of people just milling about, either sitting in the sun and eating and drinking, or getting on with the serious business of shopping! Once we’d had our fill it was down to the Kaiserallee (our local main street) to have a plate of Lebanese food, then back to the hostel and back on the plane! Alice stayed on for a few more days – actually going inside places and visiting West Berlin as well – and I definitely think I only gave Berlin a very cursory glance and absolutely need to go back.
It was so laid back and chilled out – it seemed to be all about sitting and eating and drinking – and the city itself was quite beautiful. We caught it at a really good time too, with all the beautiful Autumn leaves set against the pretty apartment buildings with their balconies chock full of hanging baskets and other plants. Once I see other bits of Germany I will be definitely booking my next trip back to Berlin!
The day we left (Friday) was completely harried, but we managed to get to the airport on time (just!) and sneak our two pieces of carry-on luggage past the amazingly officious EasyJet check-in guy. The whole evening felt like an absolute mish but we managed to get to the hostel eventually, where we collapsed into an over-tired stupor...
The next day the awesomeness of our hostel revealed itself – the EastSeven hostel in Berlin is pretty much the cleanest, biggest roomed, most comfortable, fanciest kitchen, nicest people hostel I’ve ever come across. Highly recommended! But, as much as I loved the hostel, that’s not where I intended us to spend the entire weekend! Our first trip was pretty important – out for breakfast! We had the traditional breakfast of bread, cheese and cold meats – the first meat I’d had in a month and it was funny, I hadn’t really missed it at all! It was so lovely and sunny (albeit cold) that it felt so luxurious and relaxing to just sit outside and have breakfast. After that we did a bit of exploring towards the town centre – finding a Birkenstock shop on the way (how fabulous, and how German!) – before heading back to our hostel for our walking tour. There were about half a dozen of us who were picked up by Theo, our Australian guide, and then we picked up another dozen and a half at the next few hostels we passed.
The tour started on Museum Island (home to a lot of museums so quite aptly named), before heading around the main sites of the city – Berlin Wall, Checkpoint Charlie, the Reischtag and Brandenburg Gate, Holocaust Memorial, and Bebelplatz among others. The most moving thing for me was the memorial to the victims of war and tyranny – a sculpture of a woman cradling her adult son in the middle of this empty room. It’s open to the sky so when it rains, snows etc. it falls on her as well. I just thought it was so haunting.
Theo was a great guide – giving us all sorts of stories and tips as we went along. After the tour, Alice and I went back to the hostel and got flashed up before heading out to dinner and drinks and employing nearly every tip Theo passed on! First we had a traditional German dinner (Alice with Berlin meatballs and me with butter spatzle and veal – talk about an intense way to break a month of vegetarianism!) and a couple of glasses of the local beer. After that it was off to a couple of other places for some sweet German riesling at a place called Alta Europe and then a cocktail in a bar called Pony. It was quite funny that while we were there and Alice was drinking a White Russian, she was also getting chatted up by a white Russian guy...ironic.
The next day we had a fantastic long sleep in and then mustered the energy to head north to explore a bit more of our neighbourhood (Prenzlauer Berg). First we had croissants and coffee sitting outside in the sun – a much warmer day thank goodness! – and then went and explored the Mauer market. That’s a big flea market north of town and was absolutely amazing! So many people selling so much stuff – I got a scarf and a pair of shoes for 3 euro each, and we had the most delicious spinach and cheese filled pancake thing filled with hummus and lettuce...mmm... There were heaps of people just milling about, either sitting in the sun and eating and drinking, or getting on with the serious business of shopping! Once we’d had our fill it was down to the Kaiserallee (our local main street) to have a plate of Lebanese food, then back to the hostel and back on the plane! Alice stayed on for a few more days – actually going inside places and visiting West Berlin as well – and I definitely think I only gave Berlin a very cursory glance and absolutely need to go back.
It was so laid back and chilled out – it seemed to be all about sitting and eating and drinking – and the city itself was quite beautiful. We caught it at a really good time too, with all the beautiful Autumn leaves set against the pretty apartment buildings with their balconies chock full of hanging baskets and other plants. Once I see other bits of Germany I will be definitely booking my next trip back to Berlin!
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