Saturday, July 08, 2006
My 12-hour layover
My my, was I in for a surprise when I got on my flight in Paris!
Firstly, my little experience at the airport was quite invigorating. A French lady tried to use her children as an excuse to avoid the long queue for check-in... I was *infuriated*!! I refused to let her in.. The French family in front of me sided with me and told her off in French with me nodding in agreement (as though I understood!). She ended up behind me because the woman behind me gave in and didn't have the guts to say anything.
Then I get on the plane and I got bumped to business! :D Needless to say, I was so excited!! Despite trying to look professional and nonchalant, I was overcome with exuberance, clapped my hands and squealed at the poor French guy I ended up sitting next to. Obviously, in my excitement, my English chatter was too quick for him, so he pretty much missed everything I said and just kind of grinned at me. Poor thing. He probably thought he had a lunatic sitting next to him!
Now, you would think that being in business class (i.e. being able to lower the seat until it's pretty much like a bed), having full-on rugs and a wonderful entertainment system would help me to catch a fair bit of shut-eye, but no. 30 mins is about all I got - while the good-looking French guy next to me managed to doze off. Over brekkie we managed to have a bit of a chat - it turns out Laurent was going to HK on business and used to live there when he was in his early 20s. He was *horrified* when he found out I wasn't planning on doing anything with my 12-hour in Hong Kong. Frankly, I just couldn't be bothered doing the research on how to get to/from the airport and getting 'round, so I had decided not to venture. But...who can refuse when you're offered a guided tour? :D
Laurent and I then spent the day together in Hong Kong (with my mother in the back of my mind telling me off for being in a foreign country, with a *French*man and touring 'round all the countryside letting him pay for everything). Yep, he paid for everything - except my train ticket to/from the airport. And it was fun!! :D Very muggy, though - I couldn't believe how suffocating it was!!
We went to the jade markets (I bought a handmade chinese checkers set; Laurent bought some necklaces for his girls), we went to Kow Loon Island, we went on a ferry (it drizzled) and... we cruised 'round in a couple of taxis and played chinese checkers and drank coffee in the lobby of a hotel where Laurent had stayed before. :D Fun, fun, fun - and so random!! Actually, maybe it was so much fun *because* it was so random?
So that was my 12-hour boring layover in Hong Kong airport that turned out to be 12 hours of stimulating and fun conversation with a handsome young married Frenchman who showed me the highlights of beautiful, humid Hong Kong and Kow Loon Islands. Thanks, Laurent! For someone who had never had any desire to visit any part of Asia, I'm pretty keen now to tour the Asian countryside!
Firstly, my little experience at the airport was quite invigorating. A French lady tried to use her children as an excuse to avoid the long queue for check-in... I was *infuriated*!! I refused to let her in.. The French family in front of me sided with me and told her off in French with me nodding in agreement (as though I understood!). She ended up behind me because the woman behind me gave in and didn't have the guts to say anything.
Then I get on the plane and I got bumped to business! :D Needless to say, I was so excited!! Despite trying to look professional and nonchalant, I was overcome with exuberance, clapped my hands and squealed at the poor French guy I ended up sitting next to. Obviously, in my excitement, my English chatter was too quick for him, so he pretty much missed everything I said and just kind of grinned at me. Poor thing. He probably thought he had a lunatic sitting next to him!
Now, you would think that being in business class (i.e. being able to lower the seat until it's pretty much like a bed), having full-on rugs and a wonderful entertainment system would help me to catch a fair bit of shut-eye, but no. 30 mins is about all I got - while the good-looking French guy next to me managed to doze off. Over brekkie we managed to have a bit of a chat - it turns out Laurent was going to HK on business and used to live there when he was in his early 20s. He was *horrified* when he found out I wasn't planning on doing anything with my 12-hour in Hong Kong. Frankly, I just couldn't be bothered doing the research on how to get to/from the airport and getting 'round, so I had decided not to venture. But...who can refuse when you're offered a guided tour? :D
Laurent and I then spent the day together in Hong Kong (with my mother in the back of my mind telling me off for being in a foreign country, with a *French*man and touring 'round all the countryside letting him pay for everything). Yep, he paid for everything - except my train ticket to/from the airport. And it was fun!! :D Very muggy, though - I couldn't believe how suffocating it was!!
We went to the jade markets (I bought a handmade chinese checkers set; Laurent bought some necklaces for his girls), we went to Kow Loon Island, we went on a ferry (it drizzled) and... we cruised 'round in a couple of taxis and played chinese checkers and drank coffee in the lobby of a hotel where Laurent had stayed before. :D Fun, fun, fun - and so random!! Actually, maybe it was so much fun *because* it was so random?
So that was my 12-hour boring layover in Hong Kong airport that turned out to be 12 hours of stimulating and fun conversation with a handsome young married Frenchman who showed me the highlights of beautiful, humid Hong Kong and Kow Loon Islands. Thanks, Laurent! For someone who had never had any desire to visit any part of Asia, I'm pretty keen now to tour the Asian countryside!
Thursday, July 06, 2006
Can-can go to Paris...
Yesterday I hung out with my good friend Holly again - she got in from Munich the night before, so we went to the Notre Dame. Then I went back to the hotel just to cruise until dinner when Holly and I met up with some more mates to go to the Moulin Rouge. Oh my! Interesting...! I have *never* seen so much boob in my life!! :D But the costumes were amazing, we drank champagne, and the night life was still going when we left - at about 1am!!
Wednesday, July 05, 2006
Parisian encore
Here I am using a dogdy keyboard. Again. So we'll see how this turns out! :D
Well the past couple of nights I've been staying in a hostel (although getting accomm last night was a bit interesting - everything was booked and I hadn't booked ahead! I basically spent the entire day walking 'round with my pack trying to find somewhere to stay...) I ended up sharing with a chick who had been forced to book a private room (even though she didn't want it), just because they had nothing else. So, she was more than happy to share with me. Amusing. So I moved to a hotel this afternoon - the same one I stayed in when I first arrived. It's wonderful to have my own room, a big bed, and a nice clean bathroom!! Exciting stuff. :D Oh, and a TV! I've been watching the BBC - it's not much fun watching McLeod's daughters that's been dubbed in French... :D
Well the past couple of nights I've been staying in a hostel (although getting accomm last night was a bit interesting - everything was booked and I hadn't booked ahead! I basically spent the entire day walking 'round with my pack trying to find somewhere to stay...) I ended up sharing with a chick who had been forced to book a private room (even though she didn't want it), just because they had nothing else. So, she was more than happy to share with me. Amusing. So I moved to a hotel this afternoon - the same one I stayed in when I first arrived. It's wonderful to have my own room, a big bed, and a nice clean bathroom!! Exciting stuff. :D Oh, and a TV! I've been watching the BBC - it's not much fun watching McLeod's daughters that's been dubbed in French... :D
Tuesday, July 04, 2006
...newsflash...
I have just realised I have a 12 hour lay-over in Hong Kong on the way home . . . :-(
Sunday, July 02, 2006
Bern, i.e. Bear!
Here I am in Bern - which is "bear" in ... some language. Hmmm... maybe I should research that before I post this entry? :D Nah...
Today is Sunday. And the shops are closed. And I'm only here for two days. So essentially, I haven't seen much... I was checking out the signs on a couple of the shops yesterday and found out that most of them are closed on Sundays and don't open until 2pm on Monday!! So, since I'm leaving early tomorrow morning, I'm not fancying my chances of doing any shopping here...To tell the truth, I didn't really believe that all the shops would be closed (I'm not sure why...?) - until I hit the town today. Not a soul on the streets! No traffic whatsoever, and I didn't get to see any people for ages. Pretty funny. I could count on one hand the number of cafes/restaurants that were open, too.
Since nothing is open I had a bit of an exciting time trying to find the entrance to the train station this arvo - normally you can kind of get away with following the crowds, but not today. Actually found out that if I'd walked another 10 metres at one point, I would've been right where I wanted, but I turned around, got a little lost and 20 mins later finally found it from the other side. :D I bought my train ticket for paris tomorrow - scary stuff - $117!! ridiculous!! and that was second-class!! can you believe it would´ve been $20 more expensive with stops? Anyway, it´s direct to paris for about 4.5 hours. Bad thing: it leaves at about 8.30am, so I have to be at the train station at about 7.45 (just to make sure) which means I need to leave the hotel at about 7am... hmm... needless to say, I'll be doing my packing and having a shower tonight so that I can kind of fall out of bed...
Now. About Bern. Bern is lovely. For a capital city I'm surprised how small it is - like seriously, you can pretty much walk from one side of the main part to the other in about 20 mins... and not miss anything! It's kind of funny though, 'cos depending where you go, they might speak German, French, Swiss-German or something else that i just have no idea... so pretty much I've been sticking with the German. I've got the whole "Sorry, I can't speak German" down pat, and the "Can you speak English?" works pretty well. I've actually had a few people look at me oddly and then tell me my German is pretty good. Obviously they don´t believe i can´t speak it. :D
Oh! And I stumbled on a market yesterday - funny stuff! I just walked around a corner and *whammo*! There it was! Love that kind of thing. Lots of hippy stuff though, funnily enough, 'cos you don´t see anyone wearing it? Odd.
Today is Sunday. And the shops are closed. And I'm only here for two days. So essentially, I haven't seen much... I was checking out the signs on a couple of the shops yesterday and found out that most of them are closed on Sundays and don't open until 2pm on Monday!! So, since I'm leaving early tomorrow morning, I'm not fancying my chances of doing any shopping here...To tell the truth, I didn't really believe that all the shops would be closed (I'm not sure why...?) - until I hit the town today. Not a soul on the streets! No traffic whatsoever, and I didn't get to see any people for ages. Pretty funny. I could count on one hand the number of cafes/restaurants that were open, too.
Since nothing is open I had a bit of an exciting time trying to find the entrance to the train station this arvo - normally you can kind of get away with following the crowds, but not today. Actually found out that if I'd walked another 10 metres at one point, I would've been right where I wanted, but I turned around, got a little lost and 20 mins later finally found it from the other side. :D I bought my train ticket for paris tomorrow - scary stuff - $117!! ridiculous!! and that was second-class!! can you believe it would´ve been $20 more expensive with stops? Anyway, it´s direct to paris for about 4.5 hours. Bad thing: it leaves at about 8.30am, so I have to be at the train station at about 7.45 (just to make sure) which means I need to leave the hotel at about 7am... hmm... needless to say, I'll be doing my packing and having a shower tonight so that I can kind of fall out of bed...
Now. About Bern. Bern is lovely. For a capital city I'm surprised how small it is - like seriously, you can pretty much walk from one side of the main part to the other in about 20 mins... and not miss anything! It's kind of funny though, 'cos depending where you go, they might speak German, French, Swiss-German or something else that i just have no idea... so pretty much I've been sticking with the German. I've got the whole "Sorry, I can't speak German" down pat, and the "Can you speak English?" works pretty well. I've actually had a few people look at me oddly and then tell me my German is pretty good. Obviously they don´t believe i can´t speak it. :D
Oh! And I stumbled on a market yesterday - funny stuff! I just walked around a corner and *whammo*! There it was! Love that kind of thing. Lots of hippy stuff though, funnily enough, 'cos you don´t see anyone wearing it? Odd.
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