Corsica

This year has whizzed past in a blur of chocolate nuts and bolts, hundreds of chocolate trios for holiday lets, wedding cakes and I don't know what else, but it seems I have been busy 24/7 which is why the blog has got forgotten.  Thought I should attempt to resurrect it for our summer holiday which this year is Corsica.

We were receommended to come here by Carine as an interesting place to visit and a place where English isn't widely spoken.  It hadn't crossed our minds, but the more we looked into it, the more it looked appealing and before we knew it we had booked ourselves in, even if it did mean having to take a 6.10am flight from Gatwick to get here!

So, we got the train down, spent a couple of hours in Gatwick plane spotting for Tom, had tea and then checked in our one suitcase (EasyJet are robbers - cost so much to put luggage in the hold so we went for 1 suitcase only!), then to the hotel, for a couple of hours sleep before heading back to the airport to get through security - must say it was easy and Gatwick airport was much nicer than I remember!

We got to the tiny Figari airport ahead of time, walked out into the sunshine - it was hot hot hot and only 10am!  We had a drink and then headed to get our hire car (only after having to contact security as we had lost one of our bags - which we had left behind in the cafe by accident - ooops!  Never done that before, but think it was because we didn't have a suitcase each meaning everyone thought someone else had it!  We got it back ok, good first use of our French!

We got our hire car and then headed to a village I had read about in the guide book on the way over. The roads were in good order and not too busy which was good.  We found the village and from there we found a footpath up a mountain to an ancient site with an amazing view.  It was a little hot though!  Luckily we had the forethought of buying a big bottle of water so were able to stay hydrated.  We got back thinking we would go to a little cafe we saw at the base of the walk for lunch - but it was closed...for lunch?!!!!!  We carried on our way and stopped off at a Spar where we grabbed some lunch items which we ate in the car.

We then carried on to Ghisonaccia (our most local big town) and E.Leclerc for a shop.  By the time we got there we were very very tired - we had been up at 2.40 this morning and we had climbed a mountain in heat we aren't used to.  It was all a little overwhelming, so we didn't do the best shop but got most things we thought were needed.  We got to the campsite at 4pm on the dot - the earliest we could check in, got to reception to find that our cabin wasn't ready yet - so we went to the bar area and waited and waited - it felt like forever before they finally called and we could get ourselves in and showered - we were all feeling quite horrible.  We headed back to the bar area for tea in the restaurant - which was delicious - then we staggered back to our cabin and were in bed by 9pm, it had been a long, long day!

Friday - we decided to stay at the campsite - so had a nice lie in, leisurely breakfast (pain au raisin for Matt and Cheese and Ham Croissants for me and Tom).  Tom and I then went to the camp shop to get a baguette for lunch and then we chilled by learning SkyJo a new card game introduced to us by Chananaja and Raimo.

In the afternoon we headed to the beach - the campsite is directly on the beach.  The Med was lovely and warm and shallow so we bobbed around for a while, played some beach tennis and watched lots of very bronzed teenagers playing volleyball.

Saturday we decided to head out for the day, we had found a scenic drive recommended in our guide book - taking us to Ghsoni and onwards to Corte/Corti - everything has two names here and Corte/Corti is the nationalistic centre of Corsica, where they have a Corsican language university so we are thinking it is pronounced Corti.   The road up to Ghsoni was magnificent - twisty, narrow with sheer drop on one side and unforgiving rock face on the other side. 

Proper hair raising roads, but Matt did a good job and we got to Ghsoni in one piece.  We had a drink at a cafe and an amble around - so beautiful - very old houses clinging to the rocks - you wonder how on earth they managed to build them - but lovely to look at.  

Once refreshed we headed on our way up to the top of the mountain pass - and then down through some more lovely villages clinging to the valleys and past a herd of goats who were not for moving off the road, before joining a main road and heading into Corti.  We managed to get ourselves a space in a very narrow car park and then found a pizzeria for lunch (every other restaurant here is a pizzeria).  

We then had a quick look around the citadel (which is attached to a rock in the centre of the city), found ourselves a glace in a square where there were still musket balls in the buildings - dating back to when Corsica lost its independence to France, got nicely lost trying to find our way back to the main street through back cobbled streets - buildings all higgledy piggledy - everyone different, no gardens,  every available space used up.  

Found the main street and the car and headed home.  This time on the main road which was wide and flat - easier to drive, but not as interesting.

Sunday - another easy day - table tennis and pool in the morning, home to the cabin for lunch and a rest before heading back to the beach in the late afternoon.

Monday we drove the easy road to Corte and parked up at the station.  We had planned a day trip to the coastal resort of Calvi.  

Corsica has this cute little mountain railway that links the towns of Calvi, Bastia, Corte and Ajaccio via a narrow gauge railway that twists and turns through impossible looking scenery.  How on earth they built it is beyond us, but it was magnificent and very picturesque, taking us pass little mountain villages perched on hills.  

The train had huge observation windows - with good reason and was pretty full.  Heard our first native English on the train, although they were Aussies not English.

Everything ran on time and we arrived in Calvi at lunchtime.  First stop then was lunch  - we found a cafe with reasonable prices and a terrace overlooking the sea and in the shade.  Great.  A crepe for Tom and Matt and a sandwich Corse for me (local cheese, cured meats and fig jam).  Then we went for a walk through the old town - cobbled streets, narrow walk ways, plenty of interesting shops, and at the end a citadel - with beautiful views of the marina (there is plenty of money here going with the size of yachts in the marina).  

We ambled around up and down passageways, did a bit of shopping and then headed back to the main town in search of ice cream.  Found a good place which was a little pricey but the size and quality of the ice cream made up for it and they had sitting space in the shade - yay - win win.  We slowly made our way back to the station and onto the train.  We were able to get a table on the scenic side so we enjoyed watching the sea and then the mountains pass us by as we wound our way back to Corte.

Tuesday we had another rest day - so we were in camp.  We didn't have any breakfast in so I went early to the shop for pastries: croissant, pain au chocolat, pain au raisin and an apple pastry.  All very naughty but very nice.  Then as it was sort of half way through the holiday I took all our stinking washing up to the laundry for a wash.  Only took 30 mins, by the time I had got back to the cabin, it was only 20 minutes before I had to set out again to retrieve it!  We hung it off various hooks and nails on the veranda of the cabin and it was all dry in no time.  

We then decided to head to the big Spar just a couple of mins drive away to stock up with essentials.  It was big, but very very empty!  Got the feeling they built it and then forgot to stock it, so we only got bread, crisps etc, but not much else.  Anyway it was a lovely brown seeded baguette which we had for lunch so well worth it.  Then an easy afternoon before heading to the beach in the afternoon for a swim and snorkel. As we were in the cabin after tea we were playing cards (SkyJo is the game of the holiday) we heard some strange noise from the roof – drip drop, drip drop, it was rain.  Not just a little but A LOT, in fact it was torrential, and it was accompanied by thunder and lightening - was quite a show.  We had to run out and place things like trainers etc undercover, but it was fun, always like a storm.

Wednesday we headed out back to Corte to get the train southbound this time to Vizzavona up in the mountains.  First stop was the boulongerie in Corte to get a picnic - we noted that they had sandwiches on Monday - got a huge one filled with herby chicken and mayonnaise.  We enjoyed another spectacular mountain ride to the village- how they built it is beyond me!  At Vizzavona we found the footpath to Les Cascades d'Anglais which we had read about in my book.  Was a gentle hike uphill - big wide open path in the forest - so out of the sun which was wonderful.  We really enjoyed being in the countryside.  It took about an hour when we came across a cafe and the cascades.  Not doing too much at the moment as it is so dry, but there were plenty of pools to discover and claim.  The water was refreshing cool.  We ate our baguettes and then I got into my cossie and got in.  It was so good to feel cold after being so hot for so long.  

Matt and Tom initially weren't going to get in, but I think they saw me enjoying it and were inspired to try themselves, they were happy they did and it was so lovely to just mess around in the water for a while.  However, black clouds rolled in and we could hear thunder in the distance, so we decided we should get back on the track down to the train station before we got wet in the inevitable rain.  We walked back down the path super quick, and although it rained, it didn't rain that much.  It meant we could have a drink sat outside at a cafe whilst we waited for the train to take us back to Corte.  A good, fun day.

Thursday - another rest day.  We had a lazy morning and then headed into Ghsonanicca for lunch.  Thought we should give our local town a better look around.  We parked at the E.Leclerc and walked the main street looking for a likely place for lunch.  We decided on one place that did pasta and pizza (nearly every restaurant here is a pizza restaurant - haven't seen much pasta, even less traditional French food!).  Put our order in - Tom of course went for pizza - there wasn't any pizza so we all had pasta.  It was very good - the pasta looked and tasted homemade which was good - but we were all stuffed afterwards, so we had a little look around the town and then into E.Leclerc to buy provisions for the rest of the holiday.  The first time we had visited when we weren't super tired, which meant we were able to look around at leisure which was good.   We found ourselves some good food and then headed back to camp to unload, restock the fridge and then hide from the sun until the late afternoon when it was a bit less fierce when we went to the beach for some more snorkelling.  As we had eaten so much at lunch we decided to have a sandwich for tea, we made them up and then went for a stroll along the beach, sat down had our tea and then found a lovely restaurant on the shore where we reserved a table for Sunday evening - our last tea and early anniversary present.

Friday - we asked Tom if he would like a town day or a hiking day today and he had requested more hiking.  The island is criss crossed in hikes, but trying to find info about them is quite hard work.  We went all over the place trying to find a suitable one to do - ie not too long and in a forest so we are out of the sun.  Eventually we found one close to Corte, from which there was a shuttle bus to get you to the start.  We had to download an app to order tickets for the bus - a right faff, it wasn't user friendly, you had to buy each ticket individually and you could only order tickets to and fro the same place and it had to be a return not one way - but it was taking you on hiking routes which were linear and ended back in Corte?!  Anyway, we drove to Corte, this time remembering to stop at a very lovely bridge for some photos.  On arrival, we got our picnic from our favourite bakery,  ordered the tickets, found the bus stop and got on.  

We got the bus to Tuani and hiked from there to Bridge of Chjarasgiolu.  It was only a 2.4km walk, but it took us 2 hours - it went up, then down, then up then down etc etc on stoney ground.  However, it was the most beautiful walk - up in the mountains surrounded by trees and huge boulders and a river below.  Every turn was breath taking. 

It was hot, but we knew that we would meet the river, so we took our time.  There was a photo opportunity at pretty much every step!  We had half our picnic up in the mountains and then when we eventually got to the river we dipped our feet in the water and had the other half of our picnic.  The pools here were bigger than at Les Cascades d'Anglais.  Unfortunately the info we had on the walk hadn't mentioned the opportunity for swimming, so we hadn't brought our cossies, however we were able to immerse our legs and Tom didn't care and fully immersed himself fully clothed!

The plan was for us to then walk back to Corte on another path, we started it, it wound up and up and up.  It was very hot, we didn't have much water, I was feeling it a lot and in the end said that I didn't think I was up for it.  I felt awful to start with, spoiling the walk for the other two, but I think they were quite pleased in the end and also we managed to get back to Bridge of Chjarasgiolu in time for the bus I had booked - so in the end it all worked out.  In half an hour we were  back in Corte - we went to the supermarket and bought a huge bottle of water which we downed and then to a pub for a ice cold soft drink before heading back to the car and camp.  When we got back to camp we had showers, collapsed, had tea, a game of SkyJo and stumbled into bed - we were exhausted -great walk though (the first one anyway!)

Saturday we got up at 6.25 as the plan (Tom's idea) was to get up in time to see the sunrise.  We headed over to the beach - there were a few others who had had the same idea.  It was a pleasant way to spend the morning sat watching the sun come up, in the coolness of morning.  We came back, had breakfast, then Tom and I went to play table tennis for an hour (Matt was suffering from sore feet today - from the hike yesterday so stayed in the cabin), we came home and then headed out at 10am to the camp aqua park with all the slides - we were the first ones there, we spent an hour on the slides which was fun and refreshing.  I kept going for an hour but then ran out of puff, so we dried off, headed back to the cabin, had a bit of down time and then lunch before some more downtime and then to the beach.

Sunday we had a bit of a lie in and then headed in the car to Aleria - which has lots of Roman rubble and a rebuilt fort and museum to look around.  It was searingly hot, so we took it slow.  The site was just to the south of the town in a little hill top settlement which was achingly beautiful - so totally French and Mediterranean.  We would have been happy just wandering around the village.  However, there were some Roman things to find out about so we did.  

The museum was air conditioned so we stayed there a while, trying to read some of the information - the French was too technical though for our collective school gained French!  We had a drink in a cafe - a funny moment from the holiday...I asked for a Coca Cola sans sucre (zero and light don't seem to exist here!).  You would think that anyone would understand Coca Cola (even with a British accent!).  I got a startled look from the owner.  So I tried 'Coke', 'Coca Cola', 'Coke Light', 'Coke Zero' nothing - just complete incomprehension.  So Matt steps in 'Coca Cola' he says in his usual English accent - ah ha says the owner 'Coca Cola!'  Oui, oui!!!!!  Tom and Matt dissolved into laughter - it is always me that doesn't get understood and I try so hard.  Problem is I can't change my very hard British accent, but surely Coca Cola is the most well known brand in the world?????!!!!!!  It was an incident that got mentioned many times afterwards!!!! After our drink break, we went for a look around the Roman site - usual bits of walls, columns etc.  There is an ampitheatre there - but they are still digging around it so it was off limits.  We returned to the car, headed into Ghisonanicca for lunch - nowhere was open, so we grabbed some sandwiches from the Spar and had them back at the cabin.  Then a bit of downtime and then the task of packing everything back into our suitcase - we had bought 3 x masks (2 of them big ones) for messing about in the sea as well as other bits and pieces.  I got it all in though and was very happy.  Tom and I then went down to the beach for the last time - we managed to see a starfish and a big fish as well as the little ones so we were happy.  Then, back to the cabin, a shower and then we walked along the beach to the restaurant we booked for tea.  I was a little disappointed as the menu board had mentioned moules and fish, but when we opened the menu they weren't there. So I ordered a brochette de gambas and received very over cooked prawns which weren't even hot - not at all happy and not your typical French cuisine.  Tom went for a calzone which was magnificent.  Although we are in France, the cuisine is Italian - the pizzas Tom has had (he's had quite a few) have all been really good - I decided I would have a pizza tomorrow for lunch before heading to the airport.  I did, however, have a taste au citron for pud, it was what we would call a lemon meringue pie and it was very nice, plus we got a free digestiv of limoncello so all was not lost.  We then walked back to the campsite the easy way on the road.

Monday - we got up, had breakfast, finished packing and then cleaned the cabin.  We had to clean everything and wash the floor and have everything ready and dry ready for them to inspect at 9.45.  They didn't turn up to inspect it so we dropped off the key and headed out.  The plan for the day was to head to Porto de Vecchio for a look around and lunch.  However, the traffic was awful - we got stuck in a traffic jam for ages and ages, then Matt needed the loo, so we stopped at a supermarket (no toilet) and then another huge one which had one, but parking and finding the loo took ages!  We finally got to Porto de Vecchio an hour later than intended which was a shame as then it was a mad rush to find and eat lunch before heading to the airport.  As I said, we decided to go for pizza today.  Every restaurant where we have been has been a pizza restaurant, we get to Porto de Vecchio and suddenly every restaurant is a French restaurant!  Took us ages to find a pizzeria, but we did and we were happy with our choices (although I saw someone have a bucket of moules in the same restaurant and was a bit jealous - must have been my first time to France and not eaten any moules!).  We then had a quick look around the old town which was lovely, before heading back to the car as we were worried we would get stuck in the same traffic as this morning and get delayed.  The traffic had completely disappeared, so we were in good time.  On the way to the airport we saw a souvineer shop so stopped for those last minute bits and pieces, Tom, having to date barely bought anything, ended up buying a wild boar soft toy! (Of course!) Thunder clouds moved in as we were there - plenty of lightening and thunder echoed around...and then rain, torrential rainforest type rain, but with hail - huge hailstones rained down.  We were worried our hire car was going to get dented!  It lasted ages - there were literally rivers of water forming all over the place and the carpark we were in was below the main road, so the water was rushing down to us.  We waited until it looked like it was easing and then ran to the car and headed towards the airport.  The temperature had reduced from 30 something to 17!!!!! Within 5 minutes of being on the road, we were on dry roads and the temperature had raised to 24!  Got to the airport, dropped off the car (no problems), fight was on time, bought some French sandwiches to eat in our Gatwick hotel and had an uneventful flight back.

Corisca:

Beautiful, beautiful - villages on hills, huge sharp edged granite mountains lined with trees - looks like British Colombia

Rivers are gorgeous - low at this time of year - but still with some water in them - great for cooling down in the heat.

Huge birds of prey everywhere - kites & eagles are flying everywhere

We were the only Brits there.  In the 11 days we were there we met two Aussies, and overheard 3 families speaking British English.  It was lovely.  Main other nationality was German, followed by Italians and Austrians and Dutch.

People expect you to speak French - so we had plenty of practise.  Tom ordered everything from train tickets, to food in restaurants, to stamps to ice-creams and got understood every time (unlike me!).  However, he couldn't cope with spontaneous conversation - not surprising though as he hasn't had immersion in French like me.  However, he was able to correct us - I was trying to tell someone that we had walked to the Cascades d'Anglais yesterday but used 'demain' which is tomorrow, he was quick to correct me with 'hier' so he was on it and helped!

Roads - if you want to go into the mountains the roads are very very narrow and very very twisty.  Main road to Corte from Aleria was wide and easy and empty.  Roads down south seemed busy.  Roads by Ghisonnaica were empty.

Eating - pretty much all restaurants were pizzerias and if you tried to order something else it wasn't great, so stick to the pizzas!

Hiking - hikes in Corsica are really hard.  2.4 mile route took us 2 hours and was very difficult even though it was classed as easy.  Need to have very good footwear and be very fit and carry more water than you think necessary.

Next time: go in May, explore Adaccio, Bonifacio and Cap Corse.  Get some fitness up beforehand so we can hike around with more ease.

Beach holiday - need 3 x masks for bobbing about to see things.  Also need beach tennis to help dry off.  Big piece of textile for 'beach mat' and big thin sheet for communal beach towel.  Flip flops for Tom.

Holiday: Singapore to Ingleton

Not much to report.  Got up, had breakfast, packed our suitcases.  Went out for lunch.  The boys then headed to the airport so Tom could plane spot.  I stayed behind and did some shopping.  Then back to the hotel, a shower, then I got the transfer with all our bags to the airport met up with the boys and away we went.

Holiday: Singapore: Gardens by the Bay

We all had a good, deep sleep last night and didn't wake up until after 8am which almost unheard of.

This morning we did a bit of a shopping, I had found a chocolate mould place I wanted to visit, it happened to be just round the corner from Raffles Hotel, so we decided to do the two together.  Raffles was looking as lovely as ever.  We looked up how much it was these days for a Singapore Sling there, S$38, not worth it!  So we took a photo at the front and left it at that.

We then went to Sun Lik Trading which was my baking shop.  It was small, but had a bit of everything...I managed to pick up some Christmas chocolate moulds that I don't have for very little so was happy.  

Next stop was the Sony shop - Matt was after a new camera and had found a good deal.  Lunch was a pretzel at a Swiss bakery.  Then back to the hotel for a rest and swim.  The plan today is to do Gardens by the Bay - but we want to do it at night when you get all the illuminations.

So, at 4pm we headed out, got the bus down to Marina Bay Sands.  It was gone 5pm, we were all a little hungry so we thought we would go in the obligatory shopping centre first to grab a snack and keep hunger at bay until we had tea.  Oh my word, the shopping centre at the Bay is enormous, ENORMOUS.  We were completely overwhelmed by it.  All the shops were high end brands, so of course we didn't know many of them and we weren't dressed correctly to enter any of the shops anyway!  It even had a canal going down it on which you could rent gondalas (idea stolen from Las Vegas I think!) 

The food court, of course was right down the other end of the mall - it took about 10 minutes to get there.  

We were slightly concerned that the food might be high end too - but it was fine - it was a huge court full of an array of very reasonably priced food.  We found a snack place and got a variety of 'puffs' (deep fried pastry things some with fillings).  They were all very nice and very cheap.  It was enough to fuel us to walk all the way through the shopping centre again and back to the Marina Bay Sands and Gardens by the Bay.  

We had bought tickets in advance just in case we got there and were told it was full.  I don't think we need have worried.  We weren't really sure what we had bought tickets for either - the information on the website wasn't the best.  We didn't know if you needed a ticket to enter the area and what a 'ticket' would give you entrance to.  Anyway, we found the way to the gardens - you had to walk through the Marina Bay Sands Hotel to get there (the hotel with the 3 towers with a surfboard on top of it) - it was very big and airy (and air conditioned which is always nice).

We got to the gardens and they were free to enter which was nice.  We had tickets to the flower bowl so we headed to one of the glasshouses.  This place is a bit like the Eden Project - it has two glass domes (one is the flower bowl, the other a cloud forest).  We were wondering how it works.  Obviously the Eden Project is a dome because it is trying to get as much heat as possible, here surely they would need less heat?  We were hoping that maybe they were air conditioned...we went in...they WERE air conditioned - yay.  There was an array of plants from South America, Europe, Australia etc.  The main display though was of orchids - the national flower of Singapore and they had put on a great display.  Even Tom thought they were great and took some photos!

We then headed to the Super Tree Grove and the observatory tower - ie to the tallest of the super trees.  These were inspired by Australian Eucalyptus trees and actually have a function: solar panels on top to generate power and they also release excess heat from the area - clever.  

We timed it for sunset - unfortunately there wasn't much of a sunset but it was nice enough.  We then headed down, had an ice cream each (lemon mint sorbet for me - was delicious!) and then waited for the light display.  Tonight's one was all about the moon - so some Chinese songs, some English songs all with sparkling lights.  It was lovely, romantic, even with 1000's of others all around watching it.  A lovely ending to our holiday.  

We then headed back to the food court, had tea: cheesy Japanese curry for Tom (?!), Malaysian chicken for me and chicken wings for Matt.  All very very lovely.  Then straight back to the hotel for bed - we were all shattered - again!!!!!

Holiday: Singapore: Little India and Night Safari

We had a wonderful sleep last night - all of us were flat out for the night!  Our alarm went off at 9am and we reluctantly got out of bed and down to breakfast.  Shock, horror, this hotel doesn't do a buffet breakfast - there was a menu to choose from...

Tom had bacon, sausages, eggs and pototo, I had avocado on toast with feta cheese and poached egg and Matt went for the omelette.  Hummm, mine was fine as was Tom's but Matt's arrived as a square block of jelly yellow bricks!  It didn't look nice and apparently didn't taste nice!  Oh dear.  There were pastries and toast so he filled up on those but he was disappointed.

So we booked ourselves tickets for the night safari for tonight, so decided not to go too far today.   I thought the boys would enjoy Little India - I remember going there last time.  It wasn't too long after my actual trip to India and I found the place too sterile, but if you haven't been to India, it's the next best thing.

We arrived and immediately our senses were awakened - we could smell spice in the air.  The area is 'old Singapore style' - old 2 level colonial style buildings and lots of shops - mainly selling gold jewellery but also sari shops, cafes, souvineer shops, mobile phone shops etc etc.  Pretty much every face was Indian - most are Tamil speakers here.  There were murals on walls all over the place.  It was an interesting area to wander through.

We came across a great Hindu temple: The Sri Veeramakaliamman Temple, I had forgotten how colourful and covered in sculptures Hindu temples can be.  The Buddhist temples in Thailand  were ornate with gold and colour, but these are on another level.  We had arrived at a busy time, there were people crowding everywhere inside, so we didn't stay too long - we weren't worshippers, just onlookers.

We carried on our walk through the area and ended up in a place called the Mustufa Centre - wowzers, it was a massive, massive place.  In contrast to all the shopping centres we have been in, this place was one store, and it was packed, PACKED with stuff.  It was 6 floors high: electronics and sports in B2, shoes and clothes in B1, perfume, toiletries, clothes in Level 1, Level 2 was food, 3 was homewares, 4 everything else.  Normally I get excited in a big food hall, but the amount of stuff in it was so overwhelming that I gave up looking!  I did look for chocolate moulds etc in the homewares section, but no joy there either.  I did get myself a rolling pin though, Matt got some tiny screwdrivers, a padlock for his case and another holiday T-shirt, Tom got a new wallet for his phone.  We could have bought so much more though!

Once we had finished there, we came out and looked for somewhere for a sit down and drink.  We found a restaurant: Cafe Syed.  They sold loads of juices - I went for sugar cane and lemon (they forgot the lemon - but to be honest we couldn't understand anything the guy said to us and obviously he didn't understand us either!), Tom stayed safe with a mango lassi and Matt had a Bandung Dinosaur (a pink milky concoction with chocolate powder on top?!)  

 then realised it was quite late - well after 1pm, so we ordered some snacks for lunch: Mutton Coin Parata and Cheese Boom Plaster.  We weren't really sure what they were, but knew they were small from the prices. 

So the coin paratas were thin Indian bread with sugar inside that were twisted and fried.  They were served with a mutton curry to dip in.  The curry was delicious, but sweet bread and curry together - a bit strange, but when in Little India do as little Indians do.  The Cheese Boom Plaster (we ordered it for its name alone!) was more of the same sweet fried bread but with cheese in the middle.  It was also served with a curry - a vegetable one this time.  Again delicious and a perfect snack - very glad we went authentic and ordered stuff we didn't know.

After lunch we went to see another temple - we dipped into a 'regular' shopping centre for the air con.  This was a great place if you are a kid.  They had strung up netting across the open space in the middle of the shopping centre - up all the levels and turned it into a huge soft play area for for children - think they had about 4 levels of soft play netting to explore.  What a great idea - shame Tom was too old for it.

 

We found the other temple, which was as ornate as the other one, but much quieter and then we got the MRT back to the hotel for an afternoon rest before the night safari.

We headed out of the hotel to a sushi go round for tea - Tom was very happy with that.  We then got the MRT up north to Katib from where we got a shuttle bus to the night safari.  It took a good hour to get there.  We arrived to a huge queue, it moved quickly enough but it did feel like half of Singapore were at the zoo.  I went back in 2000 when I last visited and remembered a tram ride and a little walk, but certainly didn't remember the crowds and queues.  It has developed big time.  

Think we had to queue at least half an hour for the tram ride - to be fair the queue was constantly moving, it was just very long.  It was good and informative and all the animals were awake and doing stuff: lions, elephants, rhinos, hyenas, deer, babirusa, hippos etc.  We then headed to the ice cream store to cool down, it might be night time but it was very hot and humid and we were very sticky!  Next was an animal show where we saw a couple of eagles, turkey vulture, racoons, red river hogs, binturong (why have we never heard of binturongs before - they look like teddy bears!)  a porcupine and owls.

Next we did a walking trail around the park and saw loads.  All those animals which are normally fast asleep in zoos were up and busy. We saw: fishing cats (very cute), leopard cat, clouded leopard, rhinos, tiger, porcupines, otters, civets, bats (massive, massive wings), owls, binturongs, Tasmanian Devils (although they were fast asleep), rhinos, ibex.  It was really well done, there was soft lighting all over - just enough so you could see where you were going, but not too much so your eyes could adjust well to the dark.  There was lots of info on everything.  But mainly it was very hot and our feet were beginning to ache.  

We decided to call it a day (night) and headed home it was 11pm. We had been there since 7.15 so it was a long visit.  Didn't get back to the hotel until after midnight.  We went straight to bed.  Tom was asleep in minutes, we were asleep not long after. 

Holiday: Khao Lak to Singapore

We had to get up at 4.30 in order to be ready with our cases for our pick up at 5am to Phuket Airport and our 9.25 flight to Singapore.  Ouch!

It all went like clockwork though. We phoned reception to collect our bags - it was a long way to reception  and although it was 4 in the morning, still very hot - too hot to drag bags around a hotel, plus we would have woken loads with the rumbling of the wheels!  We walked to the lobby, where there was who I thought was a security guard fast asleep under a blanket.  At 5am on the dot our car arrived and the girl under the blanket jumped to attention - she was our guide (although why you need a guide to sit in a car to an airport I don't know?!)  We watched the sun rise and the country slowly awake as we headed to Phuket.  The airport was our side of the town so we didn't see it.

We arrived before the checking in gates opened and before any interesting cafes opened (Matt had to go against his principles and get a coffee from Starbucks!)  We could easily have had an extra hour in bed.  Oh hum!

When we checked in there was a problem.  Our flights were booked by our travel agent, they had booked a child's seat for Tom.  However, as we have discovered, in Thailand Tom is not a child.  They measure a child by their height - if you are under 1.2 meters you are a child, if over you are an adult - so we have had to pay for him as an adult everywhere.  For this airline (Scoot) a child was under 11.  They couldn't check him in, we ended up having to pay the difference in the ticket (we had loads of cash left over so it wasn't a problem) bit of a hairy moment though.

We went through passport control and security - no problem at all and into the airport where we tried to spent our left over small change.

Our flight was uneventful.  It was a budget carrier and under 2 hours, so easy.  There was food on board, but you had to pay for it and  we decided we would have lunch once we landed. However, they came to us and said that our lunch was paid for?!  We were each given Asian Treasure Rice which was actually quite nice.  However, it had mushrooms in it so a certain someone couldn't have it.  We were almost the only ones on the plane who were fed - we have no idea why?  Maybe as compensation for having to pay for an upgrade for Tom?

We arrived, found our transfer and headed in to the city.  Formula One are coming to town, lots of preparations are under way for it.  We also drove past the new bay area which looks stunning.  Our hotel is at the bottom of Orchard Road - the shopping road full of shopping centres.  We checked in - it is quite an old hotel (for Singapore) but comfortable enough.

First stop was the nearest shopping centre and lunch for Matt - we found a basement full of food and went for Indian - Tom and I shared a portion too - it was really good, very authentic.  We then walked up one side of Orchard Road dipping into lots of shopping centres and down the other side.  It really is a shoppers paradise.  Tom got a new Ghibli T-shirt (he is an adult large here!!!!!) we all had a 3 o'clock Japanese bread product from a bakery (yummy!) and found where we were going to have tea tonight (massive food court)

Our feet were beginning to ache so we headed back to the hotel, called Granma to wish her a happy birthday, had a dip in the pool and went out for tea - Vietnamse Pho for me (always been curious -tasted very like the noodle soup you got in Laos) and Japanese curry omu rice for the boys.

Then back to the hotel and bed - we were shattered!

Sorry none of us took a photo today!

Holiday: Quiet Time in Khao Lak

So we had 3 nights in Khao Lak.  We decided the first full day really should be a relaxing day - we had been fully employed with activities etc at Elephant Hills for our stay there, it was really very good, but we needed a rest. I also had to catch up on this blog and Tom his scrapbook, so we had a lie in each morning we took Tom shopping to find an inflatable and a ball to play with in the pool and we spent our days in the pool larking around, catching up on this, eating, playing cribbage, drinking mocktails and repeat!

   

We did think that we would do something more significant on the second day, such as hire scooters and go to see the monument to the victims of the Boxing Day tsunami (this is where it hit Thailand - 5,000 people died in Khao Lak alone!), but in the end we didn't.  

We got ourselves a Thai massage instead - Matt had a traditional Thai massage, I had a back and neck massage and Tom a foot massage.  Can't say it was relaxing - spent most of it in pain as she pressed very firmly in all directions.  However, I could move my neck much better by the end.  Matt also was in pain but was happy with the result.  They took it easy on Tom!

We also got our laundry done - we almost ran out at Elephant Hills.  Loads of laundry places in the area, they do it by the kilo, probably 5% of the price the hotels charge, and it comes back beautifully packaged.  We were all delighted to have some clean clothes! 

 

One night we decided to have a traditional Thai BBQ or Mookata for tea.  We ordered it for 3: chicken and pork for 2 and seafood for the other - with the idea we would share it round.  The food arrived - there was enough for an army!  Not only were there 3 platters of meat, but also 3 platters of vegetables!  We had over ordered.  Then the BBQ arrived - this was a cook yourself type of a dinner.  It was very hot, just what you need in the evening heat...more heat.  Then they brought out another BBQ - oh no.  We told them not to bother with a third.  We were going to melt!  The table next door to us were laughing at us at this point!  With good reason!  We did our best to put a dent in it - managed to almost eat all the meat - but we were all groaning with stomach ache on the way home!  

  

We didn't go in the sea at all - it was too rough the whole time we were there.  However, it wasn't a problem, the swimming pools kept us busy and happy.