Monthly Archives: September 2014

More observations from our travels

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Malaysia:
I have seen some Arabs eat more than half their body weight for breakfast

Indians, Arabs and Italians do not have a word for queue in their languages

In Malaysia and Singapore you will put on a jumper/ jacket to enter a store/mall and take it off when you leave.

Arab women do not like getting in a lift alone with me…

Singapore:
Singaporeans live in refrigerated underground tunnels called malls

Children’s willingness to study is inversely proportional to the size of the pool or sea nearby

How recently something has been bought or it’s value is inversely proportional to how quickly children will forget it somewhere

Japan:
Do not expect to find any fresh fruit in Japan, or at least any that you do not have to sell a kidney to buy

Japanese toilets have built in bidets and blockage removers due to no one eating fresh fruit or vegetables

Japanese men have no problem with playing ten year olds games on their phones in public

Old people appear to be grumpy throughout the world Bolivian women and Japanese men have a particularly low tolerance for children.

Japanese taxi drivers wear white gloves

Japanese toilets are a slice of heaven and you will miss them when you leave, no matter how weird you find them when you first use them

Japanese wear masks when they are unwell so as not to contaminate anyone else.

Onsen is weird, you will feel more self conscious than you have ever felt as sitting on a bucket scrubbing yourself raw, then bathing in a scalding hit bath with a load of naked men is never going to put you completely at ease.

Japanese men (especially men) are guilty of “all the gear, no idea” especially when it comes to trekking

Japanese train ticket inspectors will bow as they leave a carriage.

There’s nothing that the Japanese like more than a good queue, and will do so at every opportunity

A Japanese persons willingness to help you is inversely proportional to the likelihood of you actually making it there based on their advice

The manga museum, a place full of men staring intently at cartoons of semi naked women, just remember to wash your hands afterwards

In any moving vehicle 30% of the Japanese will be asleep within 2 minutes of the doors closing and 50% within 4 minutes.

Crocs with socks, Nintendo of any sort and a t shirt that says baby doll is not a look for anyone, let alone a grown man on the underground

Wifi in japan is like the abominable monster or women’s g spots, everyone’s heard of it but never found it. Boom boom… I thank you!

A taste of Chile

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We landed in Santiago late at night and straight away we appreciated the modernity of the place: the motorway was immaculate, the road side clean, tidy and decorated with beautiful flower beds. The signage was modern, the road was light up! What a radical change between two neighbouring countries!!!

We settled at the Directors hotel in an area of Santiago called Vitacura. The first day we took a taxi to the centre, in the middle of the old city. The town is full of historical buildings, beautiful architecture. I loved the art museum which is a building copied from the Halles of Paris. The Plaza de Armas is full of beautiful old buildings, nearby is the Catedral Metropolitana, full of stunning paintings and sculptures and the magnificent Palacio de la Moneda. We walked in the little back streets of city, full of merchants selling cheap clothes and accessories. We walk through a little city park which was full of families with children as it was bank holiday that day where we found a beautiful and very expensive little French Cafe. We strolled through the art market as night fell and headed back to the hotel.

The second day we took the city bus, that took us all over the city, we find that these buses give you a good overview of the city as well as interesting commentaries. On our way to the bus stop we discovered the area of Vitacura, a gorgeous, very well off area full of trendy coffee shops, interior design and furniture shops, Designer fashion, etc. we felt like in Los Angeles as the roads were wide, the houses large and the front loan perfectly manicured. It was so confusing having moved front such extremes in less than 24h! How could 2 neighbouring countries can be so utterly different?

That day was very hot (we had gorgeous weather throughout although it is winter here), as the bus stopped in Bellavista, we decided to walk up Cerro San Cristóbal and trekked for 2h. Our lungs, still under the effect of living in high altitude for 10 days, were strong and we pretty much ran up the mountain. At the top we found ourselves in the city’s sports hubb where everyone is running, cycling just like in Hyde Park or Center Park! We took the famous vintage cable car down to , which was fun and saving a bit of the few precious hours left in Santiago. Here again, our stay felt far too short, once here we discovered that there is a million things to be done in the area and that the Chilian landscape is stunning. Again we promise ourselves to return to Chile to explore, one day, this gorgeous country.

A walk up a big hill
View from big hill of Chile
Views of the Atacama Desert
Views of the Atacama Desert
Views of the Atacama Desert
Views of the Atacama Desert
Catedral Metropolitana
Catedral Metropolitana
Catedral Metropolitana
Catedral Metropolitana
Santiago
Santiago
Santiago
Santiago
Sunday in Santiago’s city park
Art in Santiago
Views of Santiago
Palacio de la Moneda

A little taste of Bolivia

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Bolivian Border
Bolivia Border
Lunch with the locals at La Paz’s food market
La Paz
Traffic in La Paz
Boys on board on the night bus
Gi at the train cemetery
Salt Lake: Want some salt?
Gi at Uyuni Salt Lake
Cactus Island or Isla de Pescado
Uyuni Salt Lake – Honeycombe salt pattern
Cactus Island in Uyuni Salt Lake
Uyuni Salt lake and Cactus Island
Uyuni Salt lake and Cactus Island
Uyuni Salt Lake
Meditation with a view
Bolivian desert
La Paz street sellers
La Paz street sellers
La Paz
La Paz, piazza near the Coca Museum
La Paz Witches Market
La Paz
Train Cemetery Uyuni
Train Cemetery Uyuni
Train Cemetery Uyuni
Train Cemetery Uyuni
Train Cemetery Uyuni
Train Cemetery Uyuni
Train Cemetery Uyuni
Piles of salt Uyuni Lake
Uyuni Salt Lake
Uyuni Salt Lake & Cactus Island
Us at Uyuni Salt Lake
Salt Tables
boy’s magic
Us at Uyuni Salt Lake
Us at Uyuni Salt Lake
Uyuni Salt Lake
Salt Hotel
Salt Hotel
Salt Hotel
Salt Hotel
Salt Hotel
Bolivian Landscape
Bolivian landscape
La Paz
Art in La Paz
Art in La Paz
Cheers!

On August 12th, we arrived in La Paz bus station at 2pm. The express bus that did the trip from Puno only stopped for the Bolivian border. The Bolivian border crossing has a very bad reputation and we had dreaded that stop . We had heard and read lots of comments on blogs and website on how the bolivian custom agents can find ways to extort your money, hold you back a number of hours or find something wrong with your paperwork; we were on our guards. We had to get down the bus and go into the Peruvian side to get our exit stamp, walk across the bridge/border together with hundreds of locals carrying stacks of mobile phone boxes, toilet paper packs, soft drinks, and all sort of black market products loaded on hand karts. On the other sides we queued for 1h to enter a very sad building, with an overwhelming stench of pee, and where old ladies, were squatting down begging. Thus were the corridors of the Bolivian border offices: a reflection of what was about to come? Getting the stamp was straight forward, no questions asked, no luggage search, we were through, safe and sound for now…

We got to La Paz around 2pm that day, we had 3 hours before our next bus: a nightbus to Uyuni and the salt lake. We had decided to go at the last minute. We had given up on the idea and thought it would be too much of a rush, but after meeting Marina in Brazil and then Benjamin in Aguas Calientes who had been raving about the place, we decided to go for it. We only had 24h but we would visit the salt lakes of Uyuni. With the help of Lipiko Tours, a travel agency based in La Paz, we booked an overnight bus trip to the little town, we will be there at 6am, have time for breakfast, take a day tour to the lake, the train cemetery, the Cacti Island, be back for 5pm and take the return night bus to La Paz the same evening. I was wondering if the boys would cope.

So here we were in La Paz at 2pm, met with the travel agent, got the vouchers, and just had time for a lovely lunch at La Casona’s Cafe, a gorgeous little café on the ground of a gorgeous hotel. Perfect refreshment stop.

At 5pm we were back at the bus station. We expected a luxury bus to spend the night in. Instead we settled in a not so clean, tall bus deprive of all luxury but offering reclining seats. To our avail, a thick blanket. We were about to spend the next 10 hours in the bus.

We hit the road Bolivian style, the bus forcing his way through the thick traffic, turning 3 lanes into 4 leaving merely a couple of inches between vehicles.

We reach rough roads soon after leaving the city, which hardly slows down the bus. Soon the rough road turns into mud roads and for so it will be for the rest of the trip. As night fell, we fell asleep with the rocking and roaring of the bus. As at night went by, the temperature dropped and the path used as road was full of holes and bumps, sharp turns, with no lighting or signage! It felt like a roller coaster ride in the dark!

As dawn rose, we woke up from our shaky sleeps to find frost all over the windows, the temperature over night reaches -10 at this altitude. The sky filled with beautiful colours and as the first rays appeared the air slowly warmed up. The land is arid, a moon like surface, a yellow desert with mud houses. Rock, sand, earth surrounds us as we reach the little town.

We got to Uyuni at 7am and walked through the deserted town in search of a cafe. Once refreshed, and our stomach lined with food, we walked in the fresh air and the warm sunrays towards the travel agency. The place was already buzzing with tourists -Europeans mostly- getting ready to go. With the chaos, we seemed to have been forgotten and our departure was delayed nearly 30 mn. An old man was allocated as our driver/guide, which wasn’t an issue until we realise that he couldn’t see well and instead of following the path of the other cars, he would take a wider, safer route. Our first stop was at the train cemetery, an area where old relics of trains were left to rust. Not of must historical interest but certainly an interesting landscape to photograph. Our driver, who was also due to be our guide, left us half a mile away from the spot, pointed at the site and told us we had 10mn, we expected a little more from our driver / guide and decided to return to the agency to get a proper guide. We had called the agent in la paz to tell him so by the time we got to the local agent, the lady in charge was clearly unhappy. As we asked for a younger driver/guide we were straight away accused of discrimination. Our queries turned very quickly in accusations and before we knew it, she was threatening to call the police, the one thing I would avoid in Bolivia. As we challenged her with this, we called the agent in La Paz who could hear the screams and hysteria in the background, the woman now accusing her to hit her (an entire desk was separating us), and as we smiled at her hysteria and exaggerations, she carrying on saying we were abusing her! After a light night sleep, this is not exactly what we had in mind. She called on to her 2 colleagues as witnesses and as I could see the situation was getting dangerously twisted, we decided to leave straight away.

We had to wait a couple of hours before another guide was sent to us, but it was worth it. Our new Guide was very gentle and kind and was a proper guide. She managed to squeeze the program of the day in half one, although still a little shaky about the whole experience.

We reached the lake, dry at this time of year, very quickly. It is dry season here so the ground is dry and has a honeycombed pattern to it, which is due to the expansion of the salt as it dries. Absolutely amazing. hundreds of square kilometres of the beautiful landscape, and this 6m deep! We visited La Isla Pescado, or Cactus Island, an island covered in cacti, an impressive sight in the middle of the lake; The Salt Hotel, a beautiful piece of architecture exclusively made with salt bricks and wood; a salt family factory, and it was time to head back!

The return trip felt even more epic that the way in as we were sat right at the front of the bus, thus witnessing the madness of the driving. Rj felt sick to his stomach at the site of the road and hardly managed to sleep as if every bent and down hill was an eminent danger, but we got ‘home’ save and sound once more and pleased to have got out of this incredible experience. A beautiful day that will not be forgotten!

We spent the following 3 days in La Paz. A mass of concrete, sat in a pollution cloud, jammed inside a valley and crawling up the hillsides all around it. The traffic is mad, the city is busy and from above must look like an ants nest. The side streets are narrow, often steep, and twirly. But La Paz has a lot of charms and Rj falls in love instantly.

We stayed in a hostel in a central popular area in town. Nearby is the beautiful San Francisco church, lots of tourists shops where you can buy extremely cheap Bolivian textiles, alpaca items and antiques and relics. A couple of streets from us is the famous witch market: narrow cobbled streets lined with little shops where straw baskets and wooden tables display the oddest items: dried alpaca foetus, dried alpaca legs, herbs, shells, claws, bottles with strange mixtures, sweet looking foods in fluorescent colour…The little shops wall are covered with shelves full of mixes and potions, boxes with unknown contents and on the tables outside are displayed some ‘packages’ on offer: a gift wrap containing a selection of fake food, fake money, a bottle (of alcohol?), an alpaca leg…These gifts seem to be made to measure to make the perfect charm, depending on what you want to wish the receiver, good or bad! There are queues in some of the shops, people coming to have their potions made: for health, for love, money, success…

A couple of streets down the road, to satisfy our taste for non touristy spots, we venture in the popular food market, recommended by a local guide for the best local food available. It is a big building with 4 floors, completely open, like a car park. Inside 2 little alleys follow the sloppy road up the building, alongside which hundreds of little stalls serving local dishes (soups, fried meats, eggs, rice) and all sort of simple but delicious food. Others offer cut fruits, some fresh juices, we are spoilt for choice. We finally settle (we have 4 opinions to take into account which make decision making tricky sometimes!) for a little place offering a noodle soup. As we sit down on the benches amongst the locals already eating, the lady brings us a massive soup bowl, as well as a plate full of rice, fried egg and panned beef. We are so full! All that for £1.2 each.

 

As we stroll through the streets, we come across an old lady squatting and relieving herself on the edge of the pavement, her long traditional black skirt hiding her privacy. What a sight! The boys found that hilarious!

We didn’t venture much further in La Paz or Bolivia, by lack of time, sadly. As we left La Paz we flew above the Atacama desert, the sights were amazing and we would love to go back and take time to visit the country, maybe one day….