Monday, October 25, 2010

Busy busy busy!

I've been crazy busy in Japan this last week so hence no updates to the blog. Atm i'm in Kyoto (and loving it!) but moving on tomorrow to Tsumago (preserved/old village). Here's some random pictures from the last 3 days.

Whaleshark + more@Osaka Aquarium.


Giant spidercrabs@Osaka aquarium.


Pretty jellyfish@Osaka aquarium.


Temple of 1000 Buddhas in Kyoto. (Cameras were not allowed inside)


Kiyomizudera Temple in Kyoto.


Amazing zen-garden@Ginkakuji temple.


That's all for now. Hopefully there will be one final post from Tokyo in a few days. Laterz!

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Auckland.

Today is our last day in Auckland before heading off to Japan. It's been 4 very relaxing days with no stress and no schedules since we're facing just the opposite in Japan (well, we have so much to see and do but i really hope it won't be to stressful).

I really wished we would have some more time in this wonderful country but, as always, i'll be back eventually and i will make up for it then i suppose.

So.....here's the pictures!

The skytower in Auckland.


View from the skytower (Auckland cityhall).


Auckland seen from the Waiheke-ferry.


Onetangi beach@Waiheke.


Well. We got some exciting days ahead of us. However i can't say that i'm looking forward to spending another 15 hours aboard an airplane...oh the things i do to be able to see the world. Or something.

Thursday, October 14, 2010

Final blogentry from Nuie.

It's been really busy since the last blogentry. Today is the last, whole, day we spend on Nuie as we're heading back to Auckland 2.30pm tomorrow. Spent most of today diving and what an incredible diving it was. Got to see humpback whales up and personal (they were about 10m away) and lots more. Visibility at Nuie is incredible with around 40-50m being "normal" and about 80 at "optimal" conditions. Unfortunately my travellingbuddy managed to catch a light case of foodpoisoning last night and was thus unable to share this amazing last day with me.

Some pictures taken the last 2-3 days.

Motepa Chasm. The old kings of Nuie used to bathe here.


Limu pools. Part 1. Awesome snorkeling!


Limu pools. Part 2.


On my way to Togo chasm.


Plenty of sharp rocks available at this island...


The final obstacle between me and the chasm. A huge ladder!


The chasm seen from some distance. Pretty!


Next entry will, hopefully, be from Auckland/New Zealand. Toodles!

Monday, October 11, 2010

More Nuie.

Ok. I know. I haven't updated this blog as often as i had originally planned. Sh*t happens. Esp when you're busy enjoying all marvels the south pacific has to offer.

I did my some diving yesterday. The very first diving i've done in over 3 years. After a, very embarassing, first dive (being slightly nervous and consuming insane amounts of air) i did a second dive shortly after and enjoyed that one immensely.  Doing a deep cavedive tomorrow which should be very exciting. I'm not sure i'll be doing any more dives after that one as i have to save some money for our upcoming trip to japan too.

The last 3 days we've actually stayed at Nuie's only(!) resort and esp the food has made it worth the extra money. We got about 4 days left now and they sure are passing by quickly. There is still so much left to see that i think i'll have to come back here eventually.

Alright. I kind of like these short blogentries so i'll end this one by providing some new pictures (you're all here for the pictures anyway....admit it!).


These tiny crabs are _everywhere_


Splash!


The resort we're staying at. (Boring picture, i know!)


Tropical sunset as seen from the resort!


Hopefully i can provide some more interesting photos next time. We've got more snorkelling and diving coming up aswell as a cavevisit or two. Cheerio!

Monday, October 4, 2010

Nuie. Pictures.

Nuie. It's tropical. It's hot. It's relaxing. It's a bit too hot for writing any serious blogentries so i'll keep it very short, once again, and let the pictures do the talking. There will be more to follow soon! (Yes, _really_)


The Motel.



The Beer.




The view.



The closest diving-lagoon. 


Saturday, October 2, 2010

Sydney in 3 pictures.

Since i doesn't seem to be able to find any inspiration to write a proper blogentry i just
present you with these 3 pictures i think summarize the coolest things we saw in sydney. We've arrived in Nuie now and hence i hope to be able to update this blog with pictures from this, very, beautiful island soon!




Sunday, September 26, 2010

A short weekend in Singapore.

Day 1

After flying for 13 hours me and my friend, Wiztom, arrived in Singapore. I managed to sleep for a good 5-6 hours on the huuuuge Airbus 380 plane so i actually felt quite rested when we landed. Getting our luggage and getting through the passport control went without any problems. The cabfare to town was about 30SGD (which is really cheap) and we arrived at our hotel after about 25 minutes. The hotel was adequate and at a very good location but thanks to F1 being arranged here this weekend almost all hotels had doubled their prices...

After a change of clothes and a quick shower we met up with our common friend, Loke, and headed out to grab a beer and some food. I decided that i wanted to visit The Archipelago Brewery Company before i left home as i'd read some positive reviews of it. The beers was averageish and the food was alright for being a pub. A bit of a letdown to be honest. However, the company made it bearable (beerable?) esp since another common geekfriend of ours, MSG (and his lovely girlfriend), decided to come and join us for an drink or two.

2 pints later we decided that we should visit some other establishment and ended up around the corner at Molly Malones since MSG is a big friend of ciders and informed us that they have cider on draught there (strongbow). Unfortunately they also had several tv's running with the volume cranked way up so after we finished our drinks we decided to get the fudge out of there. I should have known better than to visit a pub that shows sport on tv....(yes, i am _not_ a fan of sports...neither on tv or any form of media.).



We decided that we needed one more drink for the road and ended up at the microbrewery pub Brewerkz Restaurant & Microbrewery. They were about to close when we got there so we only had time for one pint. (Which was probably a good thing as most of us were feeling slightly intoxicated at the time). After the beer we headed back to the hotel to get some well earned rest. (Actually, there was no sleep until about 4am because of a severe case of jetlag...). It was a good first day!

Day 2

My roomie kicked me up from bed at approx. 11am claiming he wanted to actually see a little of Singapore before we have to leave the next day. Such demands! I was in no mood to get up feeling tired as fudge but soon realized he was right and managed to get up from my, very comfy, bed. After a somewhat light breakfast we headed out into the heat (hello +32C and high++ humidity) to see some of the sights Singapore has to offer.

If you're into architecture, like i am, Singapore is a very interesting town. There is always something new to discover but this time i was completely blown away by the Mariny Bay Sands Hotel. It looks like something from the future. Awesomeness to the max! Hopefully the high-end restaurant there will have opened next time i'm in Singapore.



We wandered around for a bit to take in the sights and made some stops at the shoppingmalls, that can be found pretty much everywhere, whenever we needed to cool off since those are like giant fridges. The heat and esp the humidity are the main reasons i don't think i could ever live here. Some heat isn't a bad thing but the humidity is a true pain in the behind when exposed to it under longer periods of time. Also, they don't really have any change in seasons here. Oh well.

We made a pitstop at Brewerkz Restaurant & Microbrewery (yes again) to fuel up with a light snack (ok, we ordered a small size nacho-plate and got an overfull plate filled with nachos that were drenched in cheese, sour-cream, guacamole and salsa) and a beer. After this quick stop we headed off again to see more of this wonderful town. Quite close to our hotel we found a par and decided to take a small detour and pass through it. The park was quite pleasant with lots of flowers and butterflies feeding from them. However, after a while we found a couple of escalators in the middle of the park. We laughed ourselves silly over this and decided that it was very Singaporeish (this is a country that has air conditioned huts along the path at their, world famous, zoo).


After a quick stop at our hotel to change clothes and take a quick shower (yes, i was doing my very best at emulating an waterfall...a very smelly waterfall too) we were invited to check out our good friend, Loke and his wife's house. The house itself was very nice indeed and they had a huge backyard which is something very uncommon in the slightly crowded Singapore. We found out that his wife is an avid collector of Barbie-dolls and founds a huge stash of this in one of the backrooms. I also noticed they had an extensive collection of cookbooks, many focusing on chocolate and desserts :) (Who can blame them, chocolate is one the best things ever created :)).

We had decided that we should go out and eat at a proper restaurant once i came down to Singapore and Loke had been recommended the restaurant called The Song Of India and hence we decided to visit it. We had different kind of tasting-menus but i decided on the menu called "a journey through India" which is a 6-course meal representing different parts of India. The food was presented in an professional way and tasted wonderfully. Also the food itself did not cost more than 95SGD which, at least i, thought was extremely good value for the money. I wouldn't hesitate to back to this place in an instant given the possibility to do so. My thanks to Loke and his wonderful wife for their company and generosity. I hope we'll meet again soon!

As i am writing this the clock is almost 1.30am and i have to get up in about 4 1/2 hours to get to the airport and catch the plane to Sydney. So i guess i'll be back in a few days from "down under". Peace!