old quarters, hanoi

Currently at my friend's hotel in hanoi.. This is the room's floor tile.Damn retro :)

Polyclinic Visit

Did you know that the polyclinic is damn cheap? I just went to see a doctor. The consultation fees were $8.80, ($4.50 for kids/elderly!) and some ointment + lots of panadol cost me $2.80. I only had to pay $11.60 in all. I'm sure this could have cost me $40 easily at a GP, and probably $80 at an A&E.

I waited about10 minutes to register, 0.5 hours til consultation, and then I stupidly waited at some place wrongly for 15 minutes for payment. Realizing the number was not jumping and the cashier was permanently on the phone, I asked her and she told me I was supposed to go the pharmacy at the 1st floor. Well, I wasn't really paying attention cos I was armed with my PSP, ready for the long waits.

I then went down to the pharmacy for another 0.5 hours wait. I had a good time limping around and buying crap like ankle guard, orange wood cuticle sticks and Katjes Berry Delicious gummies (to console poor sick me). My miscellaneous purchases cost me way more than the whole medical fee.

I suppose the waiting time was O-K, but it's a weekday morning. Overall quite a good experience. After which I cabbed home (2 streets away) and that only cost me $3.40.

[edit] On hindsight. The polyclinic visit was really quite bohua, considering the guy REFUSED to write a 'unfit for travel' doc for me for insurance purposes, and just merely gave a 'Refrain from strenuous activity and prolonged walks'. Sai lor. Maybe it's cos I happily limped in myself. I should have made pb carry me in or something. From opinions I gathered, polyclinics are the most giam about giving MCs and such letters. GPs on the other hand, are in a competitive business and would be more likely to give such letters. So come to think of it, I did not gain from the doctor's visit at all, other than receiving a 1 day MC for the day I went to visit.. Had to limp to work painfully the next day.

Europe Day 11 - Pisa

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Because the Tower of Pisa is about 1.5 hours away from Florence and that's about the only attraction there, many say that it's overrated and not really worth it to go. Considered our options, and when Samsung used Tower of Pisa as the landmark for Italy, we knew we couldn't miss it.

I still think I'm a genius for choosing to sleep in Prato. It's way cheaper than Florence/Pisa, yet way easier to drive than in Florence (More on that later). And it is of course faster for us to reach Pisa since it's between the two cities.

Today is gonna be a super rushed day cos we only have the morning for Pisa and afternoon/night for Florence. I think I'm becoming an expert at planning these touch-and-go vacations. Most people frown upon this kind of itinerary and say it's 'too rushed.. it's a vacation and i want to enjoy my time at each place'... etc etc. But time is so precious. Anyone working will know how much annual leave we can afford to take.. and of course, $$ as well. It's unlikely we'll get a 2nd chance to come back here, so I would want to see with my own eyes, as many places as I can, even if it means rushing. Yea, I'm the kiasu type who just wants to be able to say, I've been there. And take that compulsory proof-of-travel photo.

Somewhere near Pisa.. there were these fields of sunflowers. If only we had the luxury of stopping to photograph them.. (I sound like I'm contradicting myself. But it's more because we were travelling with others that we didn't stop, not cos of the lack of time)

When you reach the area, you go through this little gate, and voila!


Magnificence!


There are people who go, 'huh? like that only ah?' when they see this.. But I really felt privileged to right here, to be able to witness this.

On close inspection, you can see that on the left side of the base, it is very shallow, however the right side has sunk so much from ground level. In order to go up, you have to book well in advance, and even then, there may be a 1 to 2 hour wait.

We waited around and asked quite a few photographers before one took this good one for us. It's really hard to find a good photographer who can take everything in for you. Have to find someone who is willing to squat and contort themselves, and preferably someone holding a big camera so he knows how to handle yours (doesn't always work). For this, it was a lady who helped us, and even then we had to judge and shift ourselves such that we were framed nicely. Luckily I am quite good at self-camwhoring.

They were selling these replicas everywhere. Very cheap way of owning some Italian art.

There is nothing much to do here at Pisa so the only entertainment is to take stupid photos with the tower of Pisa. Pb was really reluctant to but I managed to make him. Muahaha.

'please stop posting unflattering photos of me on your blog!'



Even Bart Simpson had a go at it.

Europe Day 9/10 - Dolomiti (Italian Alps)

Sunday, August 17, 2008

Armed with our cheap Billa roast chicken and Coke, we set off from the Venice airport in our Ford C-Max (manual). This car is probably the equivalent of Mazda 5. Somewhere in between a MPV and hatchback. Also, it runs on diesel. In Italy, petrol is benzina, unleaded petrol is benzina senza piombo and diesel is gasolio. The gas stations were mostly unmanned (Self service) so we had to be quite cautious not to pump the wrong stuff. Anyways this Ford C-Max had really good fuel efficiency and each tank of diesel lasted us a long time.

Google maps says it's a 2 hour drive to get from Venice Marco Polo airport to Alleghe, which is a small town in the Dolomiti (Italian alps) region. I faced quite a lot of problems trying to get a hotel in the Dolomiti area, because

1. They are mostly small, family run hotels with no Internet websites which means
   
• You have to call them and talk to them in Italian
• There are no reviews for you to consider


2. Those listed on the internet were either damn expensive, or sold out
   

Also, because these cities are in the mountains, their addresses may not be listed in google or your gps systems. The windy mountain roads could also potentially lengthen the stipulated driving time dramatically. Aware of that, we gave ourselves a whole afternoon to reach our hotel.

We soon found ourselves in the clouds!

And here is our hotel, Alle Alpi. It is not this which is 4* and looks damn luxurious. It's this.. 3*, but still really very cozy. It sure looks very welcoming, doesn't it? The funny thing about all 3* hotels in the Dolomiti region is that, they all look the same. They probably found the same architect to do the job. Right down to the same font for the hotel name, and the very honest '***' spelled in front of the name.

I loved this place, it was so cute, had free parking AND BREAKFAST!! woohoo.

We were told to move our car to the back of the hotel to the owners' garage because there was gonna be a party tonight! What a great time to be here.


There was a church right next to the hotel.

We checked in, and it was dinner time.. We tried the cheaper looking cafe in a building next to the hotel.


Hotel alle Alpi at night


that's the DJ for the party..

Our dinner.. had some fun trying to order the food. Since it was only our 2nd night in Italy, we still had not figured out the Italian menu (major cities like venice/rome/florence have english menus but not these little towns). So there was some effort involved in ordering pizza with some Meat in it. I mostly remembered ham = prosciutto and went around italy ordering that.

I didn't like that wine jug though. I don't know why but it looks like it's a pee container.

al fresco..



The DJ/singer really reminded me of WestSide Steve from Put-In-Bay, Ohio. Just the Italian version I suppose.

And this was, one of our most memorable nights in Italy. The italians (or whoever) were all happily enjoying themselves, dancing away. And I was delighted when pb was game enough to join in. =)

when you dance down the street with a cloud at your feet



even the teenagers had some fun with the macarena

After one of the dances, this beautiful lady in white ran up to me and kissed me on the cheek! I was so surprised I didn't know how to react. Either she is lesbian, or I am a very good dancer. Ha.ha.

italian westside steve posing for us


I danced with this guy too. He smelled funny.

The lady in the white specs is one of the staff.. dont know if she was the owner. Didn't speak much english, but she did ask us to publicize her hotel. I don't think many asians come here.

having some father and son fun




They were so friendly and invited us to go dance with them in their circle. The lady in white is caught glancing at me in this pict. Maybe she really has a crush on me.

Such a sweet lady. I think we were really fortunate to be able to experience this. We didn't expect anything much to happen here, we just wanted a base for sleeping overnight before exploring the Dolomiti the next day. The best part of this night was, there were no other asians at all to be spotted in this little town, and it really felt like a vacation.

I realize that music and dance, is universal. We did get a lot of stares, the silly asian couple with the big camera, but it was good fun.

The room itself was big, yet cozy. Don't know why they use such weird unabsorbent towels though.


A sneak preview of what's to come tomorrow.

Monday, August 18, 2008

the same mountain range, seen in the morning..


view from our hotel


quite a sumptious breakfast


complete with freshly made cappucino which you could order


they even 'reserved' a table for us for breakfast even though they happily ignored the X in my name. Maybe they thought it stood for 'sign here'



right outside the hotel

We walked around the area to gather some information about where to head to for the day. Stocked up at a supermarket, and they were selling these disgusting looking ham/sausage thing with what looks like huge chunks of fat in it.

And then it was time to check out.

This is Mr Rudatis's (the owner) son, showing us his yearbook. He plays for the hockey team!


hotel owner.. lucky fella

We planned to drive towards the highest peak, the Marmolada. On the way, among the very blue skies and very green grass, we saw these sweet little things.

Lots of them!!!

One of them crossed the road, and the rest of them followed blindly. So that's where the phrase herd mentality comes from. We were really worried about their safety as it was a road bend and thus a blind spot.

I was really amused by the little darlings


Complete with shepherd and sheepdogs


whatcha lookin at



Time to continue on our way..


there were some of these tunnels which really felt like we were playing daytona


and we reached the base of the Marmolada.

Malga Ciapela Marmolada. Since we were here, might as well reach for the highest peak right? Before we went up, a man pointed at my slippers and laughed, 'you're going up in those?'. Hmm. I hope I survive!

Took the cable car up to somewhere in the middle

Some free souvenirs. "The name "Dolomites" is derived from the famous French mineralogist Déodat Gratet de Dolomieu who was the first to describe the rock, dolomite, a type of carbonate rock which is responsible for the characteristic shapes and colour of these mountains" (Source: Wikipedia). So if you wanna see some dolomite, you can visit me.

Yes, I have no idea how they managed to get up there.



Went up up and away..


a pity it was way too foggy at the top for any decent shots


and very cold. my toes were freezing away. That man was right. I couldn't feel my toes after a while.






back on the ground enjoying an ice cream cone




And it was 2pm, the start of our search for lunch. At the first cafe we saw..

it was closed already. They recommended Pizzeria Edy and gave us some instructions to get there.

We found it! quite easily. However it was closed too.. After a few stops along the way.. we realized that these cafes were all closed at the time.. until dinner. And they refused to cook for us. So we continued to a larger town in search for food. We finally found Canazei which is a much larger and touristy civilization.

YES! fresh hot cheap pizza!


It was so good we dapaoed 2 more in case we were hungry later.

After a while it was just all mountain, mountain. Luckily we only arranged 1 day for this tour. (Everyone says you need many days to explore these). Actually there are other tours, such as history tours which bring you to mountain passes used in WWI, and other hikes/cycling tours.

But for us, this was enough, as we headed to our next hotel in Prato. This is a very ulu town in between Florence and Pisa. When towns are not touristy and ulu, they can actually be very daunting as they look dark deserted and dangerous. There's no one to look out for you and there is a high chance that people do not know English.

After being extremely frustrated with 1 way roads and the gps around this Hotel Flora, we finally reached it by driving backwards on a 1 way road. Whatever lah! This front desk, and the balding receptionist looks like something right out of a horror movie. Hotel Flora was one of the cheapest hotels we had.. 3* for 60 euros.

After checking in, we walked out for dinner at some place recommended by the freaky balding receptionist.

A little overpriced, plus they charged us a few euros for the naan they served. But otherwise ok. I wasn't feeling too well and so I missed out on another Italian meal. Boo.