http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Chinita/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Chinita en-us Fri, 29 Aug 2008 08:25:40 BST Fri, 29 Aug 2008 08:25:40 BST We decided take a road trip to the Peloponnese. This was the area where the forest fires during the summer of 2007 a lot of the mountains were incinerated instead of the lush green olive trees what remains of the trunks. I realiszed that driving in the country side of Greece is pretty scary. The roads wind around the mountains with no barriers stopping cars or people from going over the cliffs http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Greece/Pelopennese/Xiropigado/blog-260990.html I took a day trip to Sounio where the temple of Poseidon stood. There was a metro strike so I had to walk all the way to Mavromateon Terminal to catch the bus to Sounio. I have to say I've traveled extensively and I am not that bad with directions but I had a hard time finding the bus stop for the Sounio bus. Asking for direction can be quite daunting as most people don't know what they are ta http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Greece/Attica/Cape-Sounion/blog-260986.html The size of Chios is comparable to the island of Montreal. Though we can probably cross the widest area of Montreal in about 3 hours on Chios it is a totally different story. The island is mountainous and most of the sites on Chios are on different altitude thus it is harder to estimate the time from one site to another. We spend an entire day driving around and only covered a small portion of http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Greece/North-Aegean/Chios/blog-259808.html After five relaxing days on Chios we are back in Athens. Christina is back at work and I am visiting the Athens by myself.Since it was a bit chilly and rainy I decided to do the museum thing. I didn't know it but I really lucked out. I went to the Islamic Art museum and on Wednesday entrance is free. This museum was quite interesting as it displays different pieces of art from ceramic to jew http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Greece/Attica/Athens/blog-256150.html There are many Cretans living in Chios and they have a radio program each week playing Cretan music. Rena's friend works at the station and organized a party to celebrate their 300th programming. Lucky for me we got invited to the party. I got a little taste of Cretan dancing. Funny is really looks like River Dance. The dance is all leg work and no upper body movement. My friends made fun of me http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Greece/North-Aegean/Chios/blog-256146.html After buying groceries for the next three days as Sunday all stores are closed everywhere in Greece and Monday being a holiday we spent the day at Mirmingi village home village to Christina. It is a small village with about fifty inhabitants all of whom are over 30 years of age. Most young people have moved out into the cities and only return during holidays. Though there are bigger villages a http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Greece/North-Aegean/Chios/blog-256133.html With the flight cancellation and delays I was 2 days off schedule. Fortunately the ferry to Chios was at 4pm so I could sleep in and recover from the crazy two days of travel. I didn't do much in Athens we took it slow on Friday morning. Christina's car needed repair so we took her car to the Suzuki garage and left it there. Funny thing is the day I arrived in Greece is the day the electric http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Greece/North-Aegean/Chios/blog-255670.html Well here I am finally in Athens. I got in at 1AM this morning 2 days after my scheduled arrival. Since my last entry I've had a series of unfortunate events. First I got to the PierreElliot Trudeau Airport 630AM only to find out that my flight was at 830PM the CSR I spoke to gave me the wrong information. Second my flight was delayed by an hour and a half so I missed my connection fligh http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Greece/Attica/Athens/blog-253677.html Exactly a year after my trip to Asia and here I go again. Same departure date but different part of the world. I am off to the land of the ancient gods. The weather is still cool but I am looking forward to weather above zero. According to the weather report Athens's temperature at this time ranges between 15 and 25 degrees. http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Greece/Attica/Athens/blog-252543.html Apologies currently unable to restore. If you have a backup please edit this entry and savepublish.There is a small possibility that this entry will be restored only small. http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/Central/Bangkok/blog-144084.html Apologies currently unable to restore. If you have a backup please edit this entry and savepublish.There is a small possibility that this entry will be restored only small. http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Malaysia/Kedah/Langkawi-Island/blog-144083.html Apologies currently unable to restore. If you have a backup please edit this entry and savepublish.There is a small possibility that this entry will be restored only small. http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Malaysia/blog-144082.html We took the over night train from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur. In my opinion it was a very good idea. Although I don't think Mai agreed with me. I slept very well and the travel was done while we were sleeping so it did not cut into our visiting during daytime. Funny how the only thing in Singapore that is not consistent with the rest of the city is the Malaysian train station. Actually the trai http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Malaysia/Selangor/Kuala-Lumpur/blog-142048.html After 2 weeks in Cambodia and Vietnam I am glad to be in Singapore. It a huge change between the previous countries and this capital state. This modern Asian city is a mixture of Tokyo Taiwan Manhattan and Paris all rolled into one. It is so modern that I felt like a peasant fresh off the boat. When I tried to use the MRT Sky train for the first time. There were glass doors separating the p http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Singapore/blog-142047.html I decided to take a cooking class on my last day. If anyone is thinking of doing the same it is well worth it. It is a change from the crazy shopping and site seeing. The cooking school is a bit out of the way from District 1 and most taxi drivers would have trouble getting there. The first time I went there to register and pay the driver was circling for about 30 minutes around the area. He s http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Southeast/Ho-Chi-Minh-City/blog-142045.html Here I am alone in Saigon for the first time. PY has returned to Canada and I have 2 days before I set out to Singapore. Seeing that I have been around district 1 for over 5 days I decided to have a change of scenery and go to Cholon the Chinatown of Saigon. The experience became my most bittersweet experience. Bitter because I got cheated and intimidated by the motorbike driver going there. S http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Southeast/Ho-Chi-Minh-City/blog-142044.html 2 days in Halong BaynbspAsia raquonbspVietnam raquonbspHa Long Bay By ChinitaMarch 13th 2007No visit to Hanoi is complete without a visit to Halong Bay. We booked a tour which is the only way we know of to visit the UNESCO World Heritage site. For 35USD you get a night and two days on a boat and meals are included so this is a pretty good deal. No matter where you book the price sho http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Red-River-Delta/Halong-Bay/blog-142041.html Around HanoinbspAsia raquonbspVietnam raquonbspHanoi By ChinitaMarch 12th 2007 We took an evening flight from Saigon to Hanoi and only arrived at midnight. It was the last flight out so taxis were scarce. It was annoying how our taxi driver tried to get us to pay 15USD each when we knew far well that it was 10 for the entire taxi. we haggled it to 10USD but had to share a taxi with http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Red-River-Delta/Hanoi/blog-142039.html We spent Saturday in Saigon walking around the Benh Thanh Market area. It can be quite overwhelming with the traffic and the people trying to sell you their wares. The traffic because we were in Cambodia first it didn't really affect us much just get on the road and walk making sure that the drivers have enough time and space to drive around you. As for the haggling even the most seasoned sh http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Southeast/Ho-Chi-Minh-City/blog-142035.html We were lucky enough to be invited to the home of our friends who just got married. Their aunt cooks quite some great Vietnamese dish. The prawns were huge the spring rolls were great Banh Biao really tasty and the fruits fresh and fragrant. Something about Asia makes fruits taste really different. http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Southeast/Ho-Chi-Minh-City/blog-140475.html