Noodles for Breakfast

This is what I had for breakfast once I'd made my way to the ANA Business Class lounge. Delicious Soba noodles.

This is the view I had whilst I slurped down my food.

Early Morning/Late Night

I left my hotel before 6am this morning. It was a bit disconcerting to see people on the streets who were just winding down their 'fun and games' from the previous night (though not really surprising given the hotel's location – in a Kabukicho, the red light district!).

I'd given myself plenty of time to lug my stuff to the Narita Express train at Shinjuku station. Too much time really as I could've got the train before the one I actually had a reservation for. I almost came a cropper on the escalator up to the platform as I momentarily lost my balance and the weight of my bag threatened to send me tumbling. Thankfully no one saw me (apart from anyone watching on CCTV).

Whilst I waited I bought a can of coffee from a vending machine. It was warm and tasted like chocolate milk.

Sign Language

I'm guessing this is supposed to say 'no dog walking' or perhaps 'dogs to be kept on the lead', but, hey, who knows! Maybe dogs in Japan are fond of their 'pasture'.

Work it....

I've absolutely no idea who this chap was or why he was having his picture taken.

It was by a place called Zepp which according to wikipedia is a live music venue. Maybe the person being photographed is famous or something!

Sunshine

Another sunny day on my trip to north-east Asia. I'm still cursing myself for not packing shorts -- hey my fault for believing decades of climate statistics!

I did a lot of walking today -- first of all from my hotel to Ginza (which took a bit longer than I expected) and then over on Odaiba.

My big achievement for the day was exchanging a couple of t-shirts I'd bought at UT for bigger sizes. This entailed trying to find what the Japanese word for 'exchange' is (it wasn't in my guidebook). Anyway I was understood and it all worked out OK.

Noodle Goodness

So this was my dinner.

Much less then the cost of my lunch, but equally as satisfying (but in a completely different way).

According to my ramen 'crib sheet' this is a 'tonkatsu gyoukai' broth which means that it's a standard tonkatsu broth (i.e. pork) with fish stock added. Also in the bowel are the noodles (obviously), slices of pork, a boiled egg, some unidentified vegetable and seaweed.

It didn't take me long to slurp it all down. However I couldn't compete with the guy sat next to me who vacuumed his up in the blink of an eye -- since this place is in Tokyo Station maybe he had a train to catch?

Battery Life

I walked from my hotel in Shinjuku to the Imperial Palace this morning -- a reasonable trek. I tried to do this when I was in Tokyo last time but failed because the map I had was rubbish.

This time I had a much better map (and actually used it).

I looped round the Palace and found myself by the entrance of the Eastern Imperial Palace gardens. I thought I'd have a quick look.

The gardens were immaculate and worthy of a few photographs. Unfortunately this is when the battery on my camera gave up the ghost. Time to beat a hasty retreat back to my hotel to charge the the thing up.

£75

That was the price I paid for lunch today!

I went to Ten Ichi for Tempura and in a moment of financial laxity I went for the most expensive of the set meals. And a beer.

The food was really rather excellent and the service was top notch. But it was only when I 'did the math' properly that I fully dawned on me how extravagant I had been. Damn the rubbish exchange rate!

Just as well I'm planning to get some ramen noodles for dinner then -- a bowl should cost significantly less than £10 and will tasty and filling.

Umbrella

I bought one today. It cost me 500 Yen. It's the super cheap type that all the Tokyoites carry around with them.

The weather forecast predicted rain and they were sort of right. However, in my mind it wasn't the sort of rain which justifies using an umbrella. Nevermind. I got to look like a 'local' carrying it around (well obviously not a looking in terms of looking Japanese).

Seoul to Tokyo

I haven't really done a great deal today.

The flight across from Seoul was fine. There were only 4 passengers in Business Class so the service was very attentive. The food on the two hour flight was pretty good -- I had a seafood and rice combination. No kimchi though!

I was in two minds over what to drink, but in the end plumped for some champagne when I saw the man on the other side of the plane having a glass of wine poured for him (the flight left Seoul at 10am).

The attentive service meant I was forever getting my champagne glass topped up and I was feeling the effects when we arrived at Tokyo!

From the airport I got the Narita Express to Shinjuku and then walked the short distance to my hotel.

I was feeling the affects of my early start and the inflight champagne so didn't really feel like doing a great deal. I walked round the shops but was pretty immune to the energetic atmosphere as Saturday afternoon became Saturday evening.

I got some sushi from the Takashimaya Food Hall and retreated to my hotel room where I was able to watch some Japanese baseball (a post-season game).

Seoul Thoughts

So as I while away the time until the I get on the short flight to Tokyo here are a few thoughts on my time in Seoul.....

- You don't need much Korean to survive. This was a bit of a worry as I thought Korea would be very daunting with just a handful of Korean vocab. In the end I was pleasantly surprised as to the amount of English that was spoken and the rest of the time relied on pointing and other gestures. Sort of multilingual charades!

- You really don't need to visit all the Palaces. I went to two and that was plenty (unless off course you are a Palace geek).

- It is very rare to see anyone eating or drinking alone. This just isn't the way Koreans do things.

- The street food is excellent and varied. This is handy when you consider the point above.

- Kimchi really is a national obsession. It's served with pretty much every meal. What I didn't appreciate is the various different types -- my lunch yesterday was accompanied with 3 differnt types (as well as a few other side dishes).

- Korean men are very enthusiastic smokers. I googled it and 67% of men smoke! (The percentage for women is 6.7%). There are smoking areas on the street where you can see the office workers congregating to get their fix. Maybe if they didn't smoke and took so many cigarette breaks they wouldn't have to work the long hours they do.

- Koreans like a good drink! Whether it's Soju with barbecued beef or rice wine or beer they knock it back with vigour. You often see groups of office workers a bit the worse for wear late in the evening as the fall out of a restaurant and move on the a 'hof' for more boozing!

- I think Korea is an interesting mix of Japanese and Chinese characteristics -- with a much greater similarity with Japan. It would be interesting to see whether Seoul is a proper reflection of the whole of Korea.

Incheon

I'm in the Asiana Business Class lounge at Incheon International Airport (인천국제공항)waiting for my flight to Tokyo.

Incheon is another Asian mega airport that vies with Hong Kong and Singapore for the "best airport in the world" title. It's impressive and some bits of it are architecturally weird/interesting (sort of spacecraftesque).

It was an early start (up at 5am) to get here for my flight and it was frustrating as the airport bus weaved round Seoul on its route picking up passengers. Once we made it to the highway it was pedal to the metal as we raced along with the Kias, Hyundais and various other brands that I haven't seen on cars before (e.g. the ones made by Samsung).

Any way time to start remembering my survival level of Japanese!

Dessert

So after my mega-sized lunch I was pretty much full for the rest of the day (I'd also a pretty substantial breakfast at my hotel).

Anyway after browsing through a few shops in Myeongdong I couldn't resist the subtle cinnamon aroma that was wafting from this stall.

What they were serving was a sort of flour based dumpling which had a sugar and cinnamon filling. When the dumpling is fried the filling caramelises and what you are left with is sweet, sticky and tasting (and smelling) cinnamon. Just what I needed for dessert, even though it was several hours after my meal!

Bibimbap

Bibimbap essentially means 'mixed meal' and what you get is a bowl of rice topped with a variety of vegetables and often a raw egg. You then mix it all together (the heat of the rice cooks the egg). This being Korea you also get a whole load of side dishes.

For lunch I went to a place called Gogung and had a Bibimbap and a Seafood and Spring Onion Pancake. When it turned up it was obvious that this was not a combination designed to be eaten by one person (and that's before we contemplate the 6 or so side dishes).

However I was up for the challenge!

I paced my self and did a pretty good job. All the side dishes went (including the three different types of kimchi) and most of the Bibimbap and Pancake.

Gluttony aside the food was really good (although I reckon I've had my fill of kimchi).

Final Palace Dosage

Last full day in Seoul today. I didn't have much planned really, so I ended up at Changdeokgung sort of by accident.

Well it was another Korean palace -- plenty of photo opportunities and also plenty of camera toting tourists (me included).

It was quite noticeable today that the number of Japanese tourists has increased markedly since earlier in week. I guess this is the equivalent of people in the UK popping over to somewhere in Europe for a long weekend.

When I had lunch I was sat next to a couple of girls who I think were from Hong Kong (they were definitely speaking Cantonese). Anyway when they asked for the bill they used English (they also asked me to take a photo of them in pretty good English). I was quite amused by this as you sort of assume that there is a degree of commonality amongst the Chinese, Korean and Japanese. Obviously not! But then English, French and German are all different.

Mandu

We had lunch on the DMZ tour. I had bulgogi, which is essentially marinated beef along with rice and a load of side dishes (including the ubiquitous kim-chi).

For dinner I once again relied on 'street food'. This time I stopped off at a place selling mandu, or dumplings. I had 3 -- 1 stuffed with kim-chi and 2 stuffed with a pork and vegie mixture.

It's a bit predictable to say they were really good, but they were.

The other picture is a load of fried octopus legs which a bought to go with a couple of beers. Yum.

DMZ

I went on a tour to the Joint Security Area (JSA) of the De-militarized Zone (DMZ) between North and South Korea today.

It was a good tour which also included a trip inside one of the 'infiltration tunnels' that North Korea had built in to South Korean territory.

The DMZ part of the tour is run by the US Army (even though it's a UN operated mission) and one of their soldiers was our guide. On some bits of the tour you could claim to be in North Korea. You also got quite close to North Korean soldiers (who looked quite ramshackle really). The South Korean soldiers (pictured) were very intense and when they are on guard they assume a modified taekwondo readiness position!

It was fascinating learning about all the times North Korea has launched attacks on the South -- even since the armistice in 1953. The tunnels being a prime example (the last one discovered was found in the 1990's, and they reckon there are undiscovered ones).

It was a long day with a very early start to get to the tour departure point for 7am. Lots of people were taking advantage of the 1 hour bus ride to the DMZ to catch up on sleep. I wanted to snooze, but I was trying to watch some Korean film that was shown on the coach (it did have subtitles).

More Kim-chi

My dinner tonight was a sort of kim-chi stew/broth served with a big bowl of rice and the normal array of side dishes. The stew/broth is served in an individual pots which are heated on an impressive gas fired range.

I made it to the restaurant just before it closed and had to order without the benefit of an English menu.

Today's Street Food

I had one of these as I was heading back to my hotel after another day of intensive sightseeing.

Be the Reds!

So after yesterday's trip to the 1988 Olympic Stadium, today I ventured out to the 2002 Seoul World Cup Stadium.

It's quite an impressive venue which is now home to FC Seoul (as well as a supermarket and sports centre). You can pay to have a look around and there is a small museum attached. It was crazy seeing all the coverage of how the whole of Korea went mental as their football team made it to the semi-finals.

More Street Food

I got back to my hotel a bit later than I planned. I had earmarked a restaurant to go to, but it would mean a 20 minute walk and I really was pretty wacked (and desperately needed a shower).

So it didn't take much tempting to grab a few bits and pieces from some of the food stalls that I passed on my way back to my hotel. I had some Korean yakitori, steamed corn on the cob and a plate of random fried things (sweet potato, gimbab and a kind of spring roll) all covered in the sauce from a bubbling vat of tteukbokki.

All good stuff. I'm now veging out in my room sampling a few cans of some of the local beer (pretty tasteless fizzy lager).

A Little Local Difficulty

I went to the Korea war memorial museum today. It was a bit weird really as it didn't feel much like a memorial but more of a pseudo-propaganda vehicle.

There were plaques with the names of all the Korean and UN forces who were killed in action during the Korean war, but there were also displays of 'military hardware' and lots of posters with very positive images of what Koreans get up to in the army, navy and airforce (two years military service is mandatory for all men).

Sunblock

Not something that crossed my mind at all when I was packing. The weather has been glorious since I've been here -- very sunny and temperatures topping out at about 21 degrees C.

I also wish I'd stuffed some shorts and Birkenstocks in to my luggage. It's been warm work treking around the city over the last couple of days. It's funny seeing the local Seoulites wrapped up as though it pretty chilly. It's bizarre because in the depths of winter it does get properly cold here, down to about -5 degrees.

Stanozolol

So this is the view that Ben Johnson had just before he cheated his way to winning the 100m final at the Olympics in 1988.

There is a monument just outside the main Olympic stadium which has the names of all the gold medal winners in all the sports at the Seoul games. There are plenty of athletes from the USSR and GDR -- I wonder how many of them were also 'juiced-up' on performance enhancing drugs?

Barbecue Action

All I have to say is yum-yum.

This was the first place we visited this evening. Thankfully I skipped lunch knowing that I'd be tucking away quite a bit of food tonight (I did have massive breakfast though). Only 3 more places to go after this one!

Food and Booze

I had my own private foodie tour this evening.

I'd booked to go on a 'Night time food tour' which normally only runs with 2 or more people. Well there was supposed to be me an a group of 4 others tonight. However, the group of 4 cancelled. Their loss. Instead of cancelling the whole thing they decided to go ahead with the tour with just me and a guide.

It was superb. We visited 4 different restaurants serving different types of food (with a common theme of kim-chi). Also I tried 4 (I think) different types of 'alcoholic beverage'. Very interesting!

The white stuff pictured is called Makgeoli. It actually tasted pretty good, and was only about 6 or 7% abv. I'd hate to think what kind of hangover it would give you if you had a proper 'session' on it!

Palaces

Well actually just one Royal Palace today -- the other ones were shut (it being a Monday). To be honest I'm not sure I'll bother with the other places. To the untrained eye once you've seen one Palace I think you'd struggle to differentiate it from the others!

Sundae

Well I made it to my hotel in Seoul without any problems.

The airport at Incheon was super efficient and it didn't take much time at all from getting off the plane to waiting for the bus to take me to my hotel in Seoul.

The bus journey took about an hour and it was about 5.30pm by the time I checked-in. I unpacked and then set off with a bit of trepidation to try and get some dinner.

I headed for Gwangjang Market to sample some Seoul 'street food'. The place was a bit daunting but in the end I sat down at a place and with a bit of pointing ordered some Sundae (pictured) and Tteokbokki. Sundae is a sausage made from pig’s intestines stuffed with cellophane noodles, pork blood, garlic and onions. It was served with some slices of mystery meat (heart, liver, kidney?) which I wasn't too keen on.

Tteokbokki is a Korean rice cake stew, cooked with red hot peppers and onion and was pretty good.

Hurricane Irene

So today was to have started with a trip to Doughnut Plant for an artery clogging breakfast. I had then planned to spend the rest of the day exploring different areas of the city before going out to CitiField to watch some baseball.

That plan was well and truly ransacked by Hurricane Irene.

The subway and other mass transit closed down at midday. The knock on affect of this was that very few shops and restaurants were open.

Because of the wonders of the internet I knew that the Whole Foods Markets in Manhattan were going to be open through the night. So I got up crazily early a did a very random shop a the Whole Foods Market in Chelsea. I will not be going hungry!

The rest of my day was spent aimlessly wandering around parts of the city. I had lunch at Shake Shack and got a takeout pastrami sandwich from Katz's Deli for dinner.

I had some solace at The Ginger Man bar which was open in the early evening. It gradually filled up when I was there mainly because it was the only bar open in the neighbouring blocks.

To JFK

OK flight to New York on Virgin Atlantic.

It has to be said that Virgin seems to a attract a 'chavier' clientele than, say, BA or Singapore Airlines. There was certainly plenty of 'estuary English' accents and fake tan in the queue to check-in.

The Virgin CLubhouse lounge was pretty busy as a consequence of delayed flights to the US. The service was slow, but I did manage a 'Red Head' cocktail followed by a glass of champagne.

The flight itself was very mundane. On arrival to JFK we'd been beaten to the immigration queue by a flight from Iberia and KLM -- therefore a frustrating wait.

I eventually got to my hotel at about 10pm.

Cubs

Well the Cubs suck. They lost yesterday and today they were well and truly stuffed by the Pittsburgh Pirates 10-0.

The fans appreciate that their team is not much good. In fact all the talk is about getting rid of overpaid players whose contracts are finishing in the next year and unleashing the 'young prospects'. Apparently the Cub's 'farm system' is chock full of 'young prospects'!

Anyway I enjoyed today's game. The big difference from yesterday was the temperature -- I didn't spend the game shivering. Instead I could sit back and absorb the sights and sounds and enjoy a few beers (Old Style).

C-c-c-c-cold

I spent my afternoon being nicely frozen at Wrigley Field watching a baseball game.

The sun made it's first appearance since I've been here, but in the shade it was not particularly warm. In fact in combination with a persistent breeze blowing off Lake Michigan it was pretty damn cold.

Those with local knowledge arrived at the game with blankets, gloves and other cold weather gear. The rest of us just shivered.

The game itself was not particularly notable. There were no home runs (as a consequence of the breeze) or any impressive 'double' or 'triple' plays by the fielding team. The Pittsburgh Pirates ended up winning 4-2. I didn't stay until the end as the cold got the better of me (I don't think I missed anything).

Gourmet Hot Dogs

For lunch yesterday I had a 'hand crafted gourmet' hot dog -- or more precisely I went to Frank N Dawgs and had a 'Tur-Doggin' (turkey & date sausage topped with duck confit, herb garlic aioli, house pickled onion relish & pickled carrots). It was a damn good sausage in a bun!

Today I ventured to Hot Doug's for my middle of the day sausage satisfaction! I arrived at just before it opened at 10.30am and already there was a significant queue at the front door (which I joined). As I waited yet more people joined the ever lengthening line.

Eventually I made it in to the restaurant at about 11.15am. I ordered a 'Three-Chili Wild Boar Sausage with Chili-Garlic Mayonnaise, Raw Milk-Cheddar Cheese Spread and Crispy Fried Onions' hot dog (from the today's specials board) and a side of duck fat fried fries. I found a place to sit and it wasn't long before my food was brought out. I liked the hot dog, but I thought the fries weren't anything special.

Out of the two places I liked Frank N Dawgs the best. Their hot dogs were more expensive but seemed more genuinely 'hand crafted' (and the bun was really good). Also there was no queuing involved!

Windy City

The last time I was in Chicago at the end of May the weather was making its transition from Winter/Spring to Summer. Well the same phenomenon greeted me this time. My first days weather saw me experience drizzle and a frigid wind. I wished I packed my gloves.

I think it's supposed to dry out and warm up tomorrow. It better as I have tickets for the baseball!

Immigration

Well unfortunately the Korean Airlines and EVA Air flights that I'd heard on Channel 9 beat us to immigration. That meant there was a monster queue to negotiate.

In fact it took a whole 60 minutes. Very frustrating.

Channel 9

Well I might not have had my own seat back TV screen, but United is pretty cool when it comes to its Channel 9 feature. That's cool as in extremely geeky.

Channel 9 lets you listen to all the air traffic control communications. I started listening once we'd finished our Atlantic crossing. It was fascinating as we were handed off from one control centre to another. Our pilot was very disappointed when Cleveland centre told us to slow down to 'maintain separation'.

A lot of the other 'chatter' was about turbulence -- what other aircraft had experienced and planes requesting different altitudes different altitudes to avoid any 'chop'.

As we approached Chicago I was listening out to any other international airlines that might be landing at the same time as us and therefore potentially slowing down the passage trough immigration -- I heard a Korean Airlines flight and an EVA Air plane.

It was a bit worrying when we were on the final approach and O'Hare tower warned us about the wind gusts and cross winds. Their last comment was for us to keep our speed up!

Anyway the landing was one of the smoothest I've had in a long time!

Old School

Well it was a bit of a blast from the past on my flight over to Chicago.

I arrived eye-wincingly early at Heathrow (which obviously meant I'd got up even earlier)! I did a bit of 'lounge hopping' -- well all that meant was that I popped in to the BMI 'Great British Lounge' and the Star Alliance Lounge. I think the BMI Lounge is nicer, but the Star Alliance Lounge had a better selection of breakfast food.

When I was in the Star Alliance Lounge I thought I'd check out what kind of inflight entertainment I could expect. Well I was surprised to found out that the 747-400 that would be carrying me across the Atlantic wouldn't have 'Personal' seat-back TVs. So it was going to be 'old school' communal film watching!

Another trip to Singapore

Well another one of my crazy weekends in Singapore is practically over (all in the name of getting my KrisFlyer miles balance higher). I'm sat in the airport lounge deciding when is an appropriate time to have a beer (it's just gone 10.30am).

Rather than go through some of the things I got up to I thought I'd make a couple of lists -- things I enjoyed and things I didn't.

Things that were good:
Food -- so much choice of the things I like to eat.
Weather -- it's been glorious all the time I've been here. No threat of a tropical downpour at all.
Brewerkz -- if you get there before 6pm it's a really good place to relax with a nice cold beer. After 6pm it's an expensive place to enjoy a beer.
Swimming -- it cost me a total of $3.30 to go swimming 3 times. That's about £1.65 for the use of a decent 50m pool.
Chijmes -- I hadn't been here for ages, but on this trip I went to Insomnia a couple of times for some tasty Filipino San Miguel. The complex is a haven of calm in the part of the city it's in.

Things that were not so good:
Exchange Rate -- pitiful at £1=$2.
Heat -- the weather was great, but it was also mightily warm! I was a perspiring mess come the afternoon.
Taxi Surcharges -- these make a taxi from the airport on a Saturday evening not such a bargain.
Football -- watching Spurs mess up in their quest for the Champions League whilst being surrounded by glory hunting Liverpool fans.
Luxury -- more specifically the general move 'upmarket'. I guess Marina Bay Sands is an obvious example, but things like the redevelopment of Clifford Pier in to a luxury hotel also comes to mind. They better not mess with places like Lau Pa Sat!
CNN -- there Royal wedding coverage was just too much for me to take any longer.


Still not quite time for a beer..........

WIne Smuggling

I got stopped by the customs people when I arrived in Singapore. They x-rayed my luggage and obviously 'noticed' the bottles of wine I was transporting!

They kindly pointed out that I seemed to have more wine than the duty free allowance of 2 litres. I tried to use the excuse that I was in transit -- they just said that I could store my wine in left luggage.

In the end it wasn't so bad. The total duty due was about SGD18, which I paid up (and if I wanted to store my wine that wouldn't have been free). I just felt a bit naughty!

At CHC Airport

I had to get up stupidly early to drive up from Timaru to the airport. The roads were reasonable empty apart from loads of milk tankers.

On the back of a camper van I passed there was a good quote, "During the week my body is a temple; at the weekend it's an amusement park!"

Anyway I'm now all checked in and I'm contemplating spending the last of my New Zealand dollars on a bottle of duty free wine (that'll be in addition to the 4 bottles in my checked luggage!).

Lamb -v- Beef

I think I've had 4 meals of each, so it's a tie!

The surprise to me has been how fantastic the beef has been here. I guess everyone immediately associates New Zealand with lamb, but as I've been driving around there have been a lot of fields full of cows!

Although it might be a tie in terms of number of meals, when I come to think of the meals I've enjoyed the most, then beef nudges ahead.

And then of course there are great seafood meals I've had..........

Timaru

This is the second of my unscheduled stops caused by the Christchurch earthquake.

There really isn't much to see in the town. Caroline Bay looks like it's the sort of place that would look good when the sun is shining. Unfortunately its been grey and overcast.

The stand out was the restaurant I had dinner at. It was called 'Steak @ The Customs House', and yes it is a steak restaurant. The three courses I had comprised the best meal I've had in New Zealand – salt & pepper squid, rib eye steak with vegetables and roasted garlic mashed potato and lemon tart with raspberry sorbet.

Sensationally executed.

I had a Central Otago pinot noir with the starter and main course and then a late harvest Riesling with my dessert. Very good matches.

The only thing I couldn't get my head around was the fact that it was so quiet for a Friday night. I turned up at 7.45pm and only about a third of the tables were occupied and nobody came in after me. Maybe everyone wanted to have their food early before the Crusaders v. Brumbies 'Super Rugby' match?

Penguins

So I was unexpectedly in Oamaru the other day (I was due to be in earthquake stricken Christchurch).

Oamaru is known for two, possibly three, things: Penguins, it's Victorian town centre and possibly the Whitestone Cheese factory.

The Victorian town centre is immediately obvious, and very impressive it is too, and the cheese at the cheese factory was quite tasty. The penguins require you to be at the Blue Penguin Colony at a certain, changeable time each evening. On the night I was in town it was 8.15pm.

After a bit of a route march from my motel I was at the Colony just before 8.15pm. I didn't have to wait long before the first 'raft' of penguins came ashore.

The penguins are the same as the ones that can be seen at Philip Island in Victoria, Australia. However, the set up in Oamaru seems better (maybe because it's on a bit of a smaller scale). Also we had the added interest of a fur seal being disturbed from its slumber as the penguins came ashore (it wasn't happy), and the fact that some of the penguins are about to start malting. Whilst they are malting they can't go out to sea because they are not 'waterproof', so they need to eat enough food until they are 'waterproof' again. This means that some of them are so full of fish that they struggle to walk and stumble all over the place. Very amusing!

Sandflies

One souvenir I've got from my day in Milford Sound is the fact I've been feasted upon by sandflies. My legs, from my knees to my ankles, are dotted with bites. It's a real trial of willpower not to give them a good old scratch!

Otago Sunshine

A gloriously sunny day in Dunedin today (not roasting hot though -- max temp of about 19 degrees).

I started off with a swim, then walked up the steepest residential street in the world (Baldwin St.) and then finished off by spending the afternoon on the Otago Peninsula.

The Peninsula has some lovely beaches. I dipped my toes into the Pacific ocean on one of them -- the water was bracingly cold!

Tomorrow I should've been travelling up to Christchurch. Instead I'm going to Oamaru. Apparently it's famous for penguins and there is a cheese factory (Whitestone Cheese).

I was talking to an American yesterday and she was describing the earthquake and how her backpack is still in a hotel in the Christchurch CBD. The CBD is still 'locked down' -- there is a security cordon around it and there is no clear idea as to when it will be safe to re-open it. The hotel I was due to stay in is inside the cordon.

So instead of Christchurch I might get to see some penguins!

On the way to Dunedin

I saw this sign as a passed through a small town on the approach to Dunedin today:

No Doctor
No Hospital
One Cemetery

Fiordland

I left Queenstown yesterday and drove to Milford Sound, which is in fact a fiord. I went on a cruise around the sound/fiord which served up spectacular scenery by the bucket load.

I was feeling a bit sore and beaten up after my white water rafting trip, so a leisurely drive and then a couple of hours on a boat were ideal. The weather was glorious, which apparently is not that common. The fiordland area gets the most rain in New Zealand I think.

After the cruise I stayed in a place called Te Anau. I had an fantastic meal -- local wild fiordland venison. Yum yum. I'm overdosing on red meat, but am trying quite hard to mix in a bit of delicious seafood in to my holiday diet!

After a good nights sleep I had a wild venison pie from Miles Better Pies. A winners breakfast to set me up for the 300km drive east to Dunedin! As I chomped through my pie and drank my long black it was quite amusing watching American tourists trying to negotiate the menu of pies and the non-Starbucks coffee choices.

Dunedin

I'm in Dunedin now on the east coast. It's a bustling metropolis by NZ standards -- a population over 120,000.

It was settled by Scots, evident by the fact that a few of the suburbs are called Musselburgh, Mornington and Corstorphine and there is small river called the Water of Leith.

I'm just about to go for dinner at the Speight's Brewery Ale House, which is about 5 minutes walk from where I'm staying. They do a brewery tour, but I think I'll pass on that -- there aren't that many different ways to brew beer and I can conduct a tasting myself!

NZ TV

Some things that I've watched:

NZ Masterchef -- a bit of a cross between Masterchef in the UK and Big Brother. Very watchable.

Offspring -- A sort of NZ version of The Secret Life of Us, but set in a hospital. This is really good and I'm pissed that I'll miss next weeks episode (I've seen two episodes as it's on at 10pm on a Sunday).

Rugby -- Lots of it. Oh and I did see a bit of a netball match on the SkySports1 when there there wasn't any rugby on.

Tangle -- Set in Melbourne. Very much like The Secret Life of Us but more grown up. I've seen 20 minutes and it looks very good.

Sweet, As!

Sweet, As! It's all you hear from the Kiwis. And to be honest today has been 'Sweet, As!'.

It started with a bit of a false start. My white water rafting trip had been cancelled (not enough people), so I switched to an afternoon trip (lots of people).

So I had a free morning. I mooched around the shops in Queenstown -- lots of very expensive outdoorsy stuff to buy as well as tourist tat!

The rafting trip, when I finally got to go on it was cool. The bus ride along Skipper's Canyon road was almost as exhillarating as the rafting. The road is one of only two in New Zealand where you're not covered by any kind of insurance! A very narrow, twisty road with sheer drops in to the valley floor. Pretty scary at times!

The rafting was good, but not as wild as I thought it would be. I think that might be because there were lots of calm parts between the severe rapids. Still there were enough hair raising bits (and plenty of reinforcement of the safety briefing from our guides).

The one thing that was different to my previous rafting trips was the water temperature. It was cold! The full wetsuit and booties might have been a hint to what I could expect. My feet were pretty numb by the end.

A good day had its finale with an excellent meal at a really good seafood restaurant. "Sweet, As!" indeed!

Queenstown

In a word -- visit.

Totally amazing place. Spectacular scenery, top class wine, superb food and an abundance of things to do.

If only it wasn't 24 hours on a plane to get here from the UK!

Nothing-Ville

Like in Australia there are lots of places you either pass through or stop in which you wonder why/how they exist. I suppose a lot of the places are service towns for agriculture or other industry/activity which goes on out of sight of the casual tourist.

Greymouth where I stopped en route to Fox Glacier is a good example.

Nonetheless the Countdown supermarket was good, and I was able to stock up on a few bits and bobs to eat after my trip to Monteith's Brewery (I couldn't be bothered with the pubs/restaurants in town).

Gap Year

On my tour of Fox Glacier there was a group of 5 young British blokes who were obviously 'travelling' around Australia and New Zealand (they didn't seem the type to incorporate SE Asia in to their itinerary). They were just a bit too loud and 'wacky' for my liking (I'm not even sure you can say my opinion is a reflection of my age).

When our tour party split in to two groups I made sure I was in the opposite group to them!

I'm probably just jealous that they're about 14 or 15 years younger than me......

Ice Ice Baby

From Greymouth I drove 3 hours south to Fox Glacier.

I'd booked myself on to a half-day guided glacier walk up on to Fox Glacier. The guided walk was really interesting – bits of my A-level geography brought to life.

We walked up by the terminal face of the glacier and then had about an hours 'ice time'. I was able to take lots of pictures, but just as we had the opportunity to go in a magnificently blue ice cave the battery in my camera gave up the ghost!

We were quite lucky with the weather. It was generally sunny when we were on the ice and we were back waiting for the bus to return us to Fox Glacier town when the clouds start to roll in and there were a few spots of rain.

Before I got to Queenstown -- Greymouth

About the only touristy thing I did in Greymouth was to go on the Monteith's Brewery tour.

Monteith makes a big deal about how small it is, but it turns out it's actually owned by the much bigger Dominion Breweries. Nevermind. The site in Greymouth, although not the original, is pretty old. However, unlike Boag's in Tasmania there are none of the old buildings.

The brewery is very small scale – there are only 4 full time staff. Also it turns out that they actually make more cider in Greymouth than beer (that's made in other DB locations).

The tour I was on started at 6pm, so there was no chance of seeing anything actually working. It was a bit dull really, and it certainly lacked the impressive, almost hypnotic, spectacle of the Boag's bottling line.

To be honest the tour was really just a prelude to the tasting! All 6 or 7 Monteith beers were tasted as well as the cider. The only ones I wasn't too keen on were the darker ones (they're all lagers) and the cider was nondescript.

My fellow tour goers/tasters were a mixed bag. A fair few were backpacker types, thankfully not overloaded with Brits on gap years.

Wow!

Well first of all I survived the Bungy jump. Well actually my first comment should've been "wow -- what a rush!".

I wasn't as apprehensive as I thought pre-jump, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a bit nervous! Standing on the jump stop with nothing but fresh air between you and a river bed over 134m below you is quite mind blowing.

I was the second out of my group to jump (it's done on descending order of weight and I was in a group of skinnies). Once you have your leg harness on you kind of waddle to the jump 'ledge'. There is then a countdown and you jump (or not as one person in my group did -- they did in the end). I leapt of off with a bit of a swan dive, as advised, and I let out a fairly involuntary roar.

It was just immense. I've no idea of how much 'free fall' I had, bit it just seemed to go on and on. The only sound is the rush of the air as you fly/plunge through it. Then you jolt and then sort of bounce to a halt.

It then takes quite a bit of time to be winched back up to the jump station -- it's all very calm and peaceful swinging on a bungy cord above a river valley!

Total adrenaline overload.

Off the Grid

Well I've been without internet for the last few days.

I'm now in Queenstown, and in 20 minutes time I'll be heading off to do a Bungy jump. And this is no ordinary jump -- it's the 134m Nevis jump (the original one of the bridge is 'only' 43m)! I'm starting to feel slightly apprehensive.

In the last few days I've driven from Nelson in the north of the South Island via Greymouth (on the west coast), Fox Glacier (a bit inland) to Queenstown (even further inland).

I'll post more a bit later (assuming I survive my experience).....

Centre of NZ

I got a bit more exercise today by climbing up through the Botanical Reserve to the geographic 'centre' of New Zealand. It was pretty steep walk in places on gravelly paths. This would've been fine except I had my Birkenstocks on -- definitely not ideal 'hiking' footwear!

The 'centre' is marked by a plaque and a spike type thing (it probably has a proper geographical description).

After my climb I took another trail through the reserve which lead to the Founder's Brewery and Cafe -- my destination for lunch, and the opportunity to slake my thirst with a tasty beer brewed on the premises!

Aromatics

I went to a couple of wineries today for some 'tasting'.

I've learnt something new since I've been in New Zealand -- there is a lot of talk about 'aromatics'. It's a group of wines that include Riesling, Pinot Gris/Grigio and Gewurztraminer. I've tasted a few since I've been here and they've been very interesting and certainly a change from the wall-to-wall Sauvignon Blanc.

Minutes Silence

There was a minutes silence across New Zealand today in memory of those who were killed in the Christchurch earthquake last week. It was at 12.51pm -- the time the quake struck last Tuesday.

I had just finished my lunch, so it was pretty easy for me to be quiet. The table of Kiwi women behind me were oblivious to what was going on and were far too busy planning some kind of evening social event for a conference in November!

30 metres

I went for a swim this morning at the pool here in Nelson.

The pool was a bit odd in that it was 30 metres long. Apart from that it was fine.

I went reasonably early and it wasn't particularly busy compared to what I'm used to back home. There were a few triathlon types -- you could tell by the sharp tan lines from wearing cycling shorts. I held my own pretty well I thought!

Time Difference

A fully packed day today.

I was up at some ridiculously early time thanks to the mad 13 hour time difference -- 6am equals 5pm in the UK the previous day. So my morning TV selection was updates on the Christchurch earthquake or Man City v. Fulham.

I got a nutritious breakfast from downtown Kaikoura -- a Flat White and a Steak & Mushroom pie! I then did a section of the Kaikoura peninsula walk to walk it off.

It was time to head further north -- Blenheim is 120kms away and it's got the Marlborough wine region as a neighbour!

Blenheim itself was nothing to shout about. I did get to 3 wineries though.

Brancott Estate (aka Montana) -- had lunch here, no tasting.
Villa Maria -- Full tasting, lovely wines.
Spy Valley -- Tasted the whites only. Excellent Gewurztraminer and interesting desert wines (noble sauvignon blanc and noble chardonnay).

After Spy valley it was about 100kms to Nelson, where I was staying.

By the time I got to Nelson my bladder was on the verge of rupture. Consequently my first impression of the place is one of sheer relief as I found a public toilet. My second impression was equally as good.

A few interesting looking bars and restaurants.

Where I'm staying is very impressive. All in all it's the sort of place you wish your were staying longer at.

For dinner I passed up the various upmarket options, and instead I went to 'The Vic' -- a Mac's Brewery pub. I had a couple of beers and a mighty lamb burger.

It'll be an early night tonight as I'm totally whacked.

Speight's

Whilst waiting in the Air New Zealand Koru lounge I had a very refreshing bottle of Speight's ('Pride of the South') beer. Shame I'm driving when I get to Christchurch as I could quite easily of supped more than one bottle!

Upgrade!

The Upgrade Gods have been good to me again.

I had my boarding pass scanned the gate in Singapore. The machine beeped, the light flashed red and before I knew it my Economy Class boarding card was being ripped up and I was being presented with a nice blue Business Class one. Was I happy? Well obviously!

Over 9 hours over night in Singapore Business Class. Over 9 hours of lie-flat bed bliss.

Once on board I got comfortable and had a couple of pre-flight glasses of Champagne (Bollinger I think)!

The flight was great. Good food, nice wine and a few hours of decent sleep. It's just the amount of personal space you have that makes such a difference.

We landed at Auckland on time and I whizzed through immigration and customs. I walked to the Domestic Terminal and managed to change my flight to Christchurch to an earlier on.

At the Domestic Terminal there were a few desks manned by consular staff from various countries dealing with people affected by the earthquake in Christchurch. I also saw a Korean rescue team -- bright orange uniforms and immaculately shiny black boots.

I dropped off my bag and, once through security, I went to the Air New Zealand lounge (Koru Lounge). My first stop was to grab a shower.

Now suitably refreshed I had some food and waited for my flight to board

Changi (again)

Another trip gets off to start with a flight on Singapore Airlines and a couple of hours transit at Changi.

The flight was fine - although the food was below par (not helped by them running out of the meal I wanted). I watched The Town, a pretty decent film set in Boston with Ben Affleck and Rachel Adams, and dozed for a reasonable amount of time.

I've had a quick shower, a small bite to eat and now it's almost time for get on the flight to Auckland.......