Singapore

aporeYou notice you arrived in "Switzerland of Asia" the minute you land at the Changi Airport. Clean, modern and for Christ's sake there is even a swimming pool in the terminal. The similarities do not end here though, Singapore also has 4 official languages, and four nationalities with completely different cultures coexist in peace. Furthermore, Singapore is also as expensive in Asia as Switzerland is in Europe. However, in certain aspects Singapore goes even further, like the prohibition of chewing gum, or the national sport: standing in line for something, for a taxi (which you may not just wave from the side of the road, there is a taxi stand for that), for an atm, or nicely one after the other for 50m for a public bus:


We started the day by visiting the Colonial Core with its nice colonial style buildings and walking down to Raffle's landing place by the Singapore river, where the city-state was founded.


We then walked by the Esplanade heading towards the Singapore flyer, the biggest observation wheel in the world:


From here we enjoyed wonderful view of the Marina Bay with the financial district in the background:


After the ride, we started to explore the different cultural districts of Singapore one-by one

- Arab street with its nice almost Istanbul-like atmosphere:


- Little India, full of arcades, silk shops and authentic Hindu temples:


- Chinatown, dominated by the scent of burning sticks and flowers from Buddhist temples:


Later in the evening we took a river cruise and along the way we got a closer look at the Merlion, the symbol of Singapore:


We then finished the night with an incredible Night Safari, where we had the chance to see the night life of a tropical jungle from close proximity.

The next day we took a frozen train ride to the Jurong bird park to let us surrounded by these wonderful birds:

Ancient City

Unfortunately our holiday in Thailand was not long enough to allow us to travel all over the country, so we decided to explore Bangkok's Ancient City, the world's biggest open-air theme park, which is like an open book of Thai history and architecture. Even the park itself is shaped to the outline of Thailand and hosts numerous reproductions of temples, stupas, monuments, statues and palaces from all over the country.

From ASIA - THAILAND - Ancient City

Inside the park we could also visit several traditional wooden houses and sample villages from all regions of Thailand, some of them even on water, recalling Thailand's past when daily life took place mainly along the canals:

From ASIA - THAILAND - Ancient City

This park, dedicated to preserve the cultural heritage of the country with its collection of famous ruins and sites, did a great job in giving us a glimpse of what Thailand used to look like. It seemed as if we did a journey throughout the entire Thai Kingdom in only a few hours.

Our album on the Ancient City.

Damnoen Saduak - Floating market

We got up early in the morning as we didn't want to miss the real trading without tourists flooding the market and turning it into Floating Tourists! At about 8 AM, when we arrived to Damnoen Saduak (the largest and most popular market of its kind, located at about 110 kms west of Bangkok), the floating market was quiet and peaceful and we seemed to be the only foreigners around.

From ASIA - THAILAND - Damnoen Saduak - Floating market

The market was just opening up, with local merchants loading up their wares onto their boats and gently paddling up and down the canals while offering a huge variety of fresh fruits, cooked meals, desserts and all sort of souvenirs.

Our driver maneuvered his boat along the different canals of the floating market, whereas we picked up some fresh coconut pancakes for breakfast.

By 9 AM the market started to be packed by tourists boats causing a real traffic jam. The entire place had become a chaotic mass of boats, color and traditions. It was a place to recall the timeless lifestyle of the native Thai people, wearing traditional straw hats and bargaining from their small wooden boats all they long.

From ASIA - THAILAND - Damnoen Saduak - Floating market

A little further away from the crowd of the marketplace, we could take a glimpse into the real lifestyle of the local people, living in wooden houses on stakes and doing their laundry by hand on their front porch…with local children going to school in the tidiest shirts and waving their hands to the tourists passing nearby:

From ASIA - THAILAND - Damnoen Saduak - Floating market

Thailand is called the 'Land of Smiles' and this visit to Damnoen Saduak really proved it. Our entire album on the floating market.

Ayutthaya - the ancient capital of Siam

The third-class train ride to Ayutthaya is an experience which has to be lived in Thailand. Besides the fact that its not quite the ICE of ICN from here, there is a lot that one can experience. A mix of people from the small children going to/ from school to the vendors selling their refreshments to the travelelrs, etc.

Once we have arrived, we hired a tuk-tuk driver to travel us around the main attractions.

Ayutthaya indeed is a place rich in Thai history as evidenced by its temples, Buddha statues and ruins of palaces standing as living proof of a great past, as you can see in our album below:

ASIA - THAILAND - Ayutthaya

Bangkok

First of all, arriving to Bangkok was already quite a special experience since just a few hours before we were still walking in snow. The 30+ degree heat came quite drastically. However the warm climate was definitely welcome.

What we expected: Bangkok is definitely a huge metropolis with everything that goes with that like noise, smell and questionable cleanliness. But what we experience was a whole lot more: a lot of friendly nice people, who manage to have the most beautiful smile on their face regardless of the poor conditions they live in. (we are not going to say as opposed to... so that we do not offend anyone). Bangkok has probably the two noisiest means of transportation ever invented: the longtail boat and the Tuk-Tuk. However, the city itself can change you instantly: when at home it might bother me that the guy next to me listens to his iPod to loud, in Bangkok the loudest noises, the strongest smells, the seemingly chaotic but extremely efficient means of transport, the suspiciously brown water, none of these could bother me, instead all form an avalanche of sensations which amaze you at every step. Its a wonderful city, its truly a place to enjoy.

We started exploring this great city right from its heart, that being the Chao Phraya river where everything once started.

From ASIA - THAILAND - Bangkok

We took an express boat down to Wat Arun, the temple of Dawn, visiting it however just before and during sunset.

It was nevertheless nice.



We than went to Chinatown, enjoying the best banana-pancake we had in SE Asia. A dinner in the famous (rather infamous) Khao San Road, the backpacker's headquarters of the universe, as LP calls it, completed the day.
The next day we started by visiting the Temple of the Reclining Buddha where we were amazed by the beauty of the Buddhist temples and by this 50m long golden Buddha statue.

From ASIA - THAILAND - Bangkok

Our plans of visiting the Grand Palace the same day were disrupted by the King (by merely being there) so we decided to go to Ayutthaya instead but not before taking some time to stop by the Wat Traimit housing the biggest massive Golden Buddha statue in Thailand.

*for Ayutthaya click 89km to the North.
After returning in the evening, we took a wonderful river cruise on the Chao Phraya river, enjoying the great views of Bangkok by night accompanied by the voice of Thai singers singing songs ranging from Yellow-submarine to Genghis Khan (for the sake of the Russian majority on the ship).

From ASIA - THAILAND - Bangkok

The third day we finally managed to visit the Royal Palace with the famous Wat Phra Kaew, the temple of Emerald Buddha. The sighs were all amazing and we enjoyed the visit a lot.

From ASIA - THAILAND - Bangkok

From here we took again a death defying Tuk-Tuk ride (The driver will surely go to heaven, see this joke) to Wat Szuthat and the Giant Swing. We also visited Loha Prasat and wat Ratchnatda from where we climbed up to the Golden Mount, the highest ground in Bangkok until the mid. 20th century.





After a new "bargain session" with a Tuk-Tuk driver, we headed for Siam square, which was probably the highest contrast one can experience without time-travel. From the deepest poverty that one could see when looking down one of the canals to probably the fanciest shopping mall we've seen (and we've been to King of Prussia as well). Also in Siam square we found the ultimate Bangkok sandwich: take a slice of 6-lane city road, place one slice of skytrain, on slice of elevated highway on it, top this with one more slice of skytrain tracks, take all this and squeeze it between two 10 story shopping malls, add some Christmas decorations and some fountains as dressing and there you have it.

Via Ferrata Brunnistöckli - our trial run

There are several fixed rope routes in Engelberg, the so called climber's paradise in Switzerland. We chose the via ferrata over the Brunnistöckli as a trial run, which is recommended mainly for beginners and families ;-)

The route starts from the top station of the Brunni chairlift at 1860m and offers a 200-metre rise in height, which we didn't find very difficult to handle. As you can see, it was a truly spectacular climb -



with two hanging bridges which offered a special experience:


It was certainly just an introduction to this sport for us ... fortunately there are many exciting fixed rope routes waiting for climbing fans all over Switzerland!
Here you can see our entire album on Via Ferrata Brunnistöckli.

Honeymoon in Switzerland

Let's switch back to English for a while as we wouldn't like to keep our English-speaking friends out of the loop for a very long time ... No-no-no, THIS insert is not about OUR honeymoon - as you can see from the previous pictures on the blog, we have been invited to two weddings this summer: first to my brothers wedding in Cluj, then to our very good friends' wedding to Budapest - and we had a great time at both!

After the wedding, my brother and Molly spent their honeymoon on a trip around Germany, Switzerland and Austria ... and we were very happy to welcome them at our place and enjoy some time together.
For the weekend we packed everything into the car and left to Ticino to enjoy the last nice, sunny summer days of the year. After a short stop on the Gotthard Pass -


we headed towards Lugano, where we enjoyed the sun, the boat trip on Lake Lugano and the view of San Salvatore from Monte Bre:

(Almost like Rio...? Well, let's hope one day we can compare them ;-)

K****a izgulok, avagy Lilla es HZS eskuvoje

Nagyon boldogak voltunk mikor megtudtuk hogy HZs elveszi Lillat, mivel mindkettojuket nagyon szeretjuk es emellett meg talalnak is nagyon egymashoz.
Eloszor is a hazassagkotes: hat az izgalmas volt... mindenki tudja, hogy mi is volt kimondottan kulonleges, itt mar inkabb nem is ismetlem, mert HZS szerint mar biztos uncsi (aki nem tudja, jarjon utana). Szoval nagyon edesek voltak es orulunk hogy ott lehettunk amikor elindultak a "nagy utra".

Ugyebar a "Nagy utazas" volt a tema. A meghivotol a buszozasig a vendeglohoz, az ulesrendtol a borond-tortaig minden reszlet erre utalt. A kilatas a vendeglotol szuper volt - allitolag innen lathani Budapestnek mindhet hidjat ... hat en eleg hamar 14-et lattam :-). HZS enekleset es a kettejuk gyerekkori vetiteset egyarant elveztuk. A beallo hideg ellen pedig "egy kis hazaival" kuzdottunk.
All-in all: HZS es LILLA: Sok-sok boldogsagot kivanunk Nektek.

Tovabbi kepek (© HZS es Lilla): http://picasaweb.google.com/emese.gyenge/2008HZSEsLillaEskuvoje#

The Godfather in Da House

A gangsta stilusu cimtol eltekintve: Keresztszuleim meglatogattak bennunket augusztusban es nalunk toltottek egy - remeljuk, szamukra is - kellemes hetet. Toluk meg varjuk a kepeket, de nehany kep a kozos Luzern-i kirandulasrol mar megtekintheto:

(Kilatas a Vierwaldstattersee-re Burgenstockrol)

M&ZS? Mo-Zsi. De ki a menyasszony???

Ugy dontottunk, ideje atterni es neha magyarul is irni - kulonosen akkor, amikor a bejegyzest leginkabb csaladjaink es magyar barataink olvassak (nem mintha ukran kolleganom nem figyelt volna mar fel a Picassan megjelent eskuvoi kepekre es kerdezte, ki ez a szep menyasszony...?)

Bar egy kicsit elobb tudtunk az eskuvoi tervekrol mint mindenki mas - na azert nem elobb mint maga a menyasszony es a volegeny... (vagy megis?) -, nagyon vartuk mar, hogy a ket "igen" elhangzodjek a templomban. Biztos, ami biztos, gondoltuk ;-)



Mikozben a Joisten is aldasat adta egy kis esovel (ami azert szerencsere nagyon sokat nem tartott) a botanikus kertbe vonultunk Sogorekkal fenykepezkedni, arra varva, hogy a nasznep felvonuljon idokozben az Aroma vendeglobe.


~ Eggyel tobben a csaladban... (Jo valasztas volt :-)

De leginkabb arra vartunk, hogy ket ev utan ismet egy igazan jot bulizzunk Kolozsvaron, egyutt a csaladdal es baratainkkal ... es ezuttal ne foszereplokkent, hanem foszervezokkent nezzuk vegig ahogy Zsolti es Molly megkuzd elrabolt parjukert -Molly, azert ideje megtanulni, hogy a ferjed nem a nok kebleit, hanem a feneket nezi meg eloszor es Zsolti, lehet hogy egy menedzser talan nem is tud dolgozni csak ki-osztogatni a munkat, de kivancsiak vagyunk, hogyan mukodik ez Nalatok otthon?
... es egyaltalan, kinek a keze van felul a tortan?


~ Oho, kemeny harc lesz meg itt! Talan johet egy Catan?

Az eskuvo veget egy tokeletes tuzijatek zarta, ami talan sehol sem lett volna szebb mint eppen ezen a teraszon.
Kedvenc kepeinket elcsentunk sajat albumunkba, ami itt megtekintheto (de a teljes valogatasert erdemes Molly Picassa Albumahoz kattintani
.

A smooth ride through Berlin

After relaxing at the tropical islands we took a day to ride through Berlin.

We had a great day riding our bikes:

• UNDER the Brandenburg gate

• BY the Reichstag

• THROUGH the new administrative neighborhood

• ALONG the Unter der Linden avenue

• AROUND the Siegesaule

• BELOW the Crown of the Sony Center on Potsdamer platz

• STOPPING for a silent moment at the Memorial to the murdered Jews of Europe

• ACROSS the old East-West border (a.k.a Checkpoint Charlie)

• and PARKING THEM to visit the Sandsation sand castle championship

All pics: http://picasaweb.google.com/zoli.gyenge/EUROPEGERMANYBerlin

Tropical Islands

This year's birthday present for Emese has been a trip to Tropical Islands.

What she did not know until we arrived there is that Tropical Islands is an indoor resort 60 Km south of Berlin, built in giant (108m high, could fit the Statue of Liberty STANDING) hangar.
From a distance she remarked "it's not even that big". Funny!
Well yes, if you call a building housing:
- a Bali lagoon with waterfalls

- a 350m beach

with Maldives style pontoon houses

- two campgrounds (where we also spent the night)

- a tropical rain forest with a more than a km long trail

- a hot air balloon (which we rode of course)

-an Angkor ruin city style spa

-an indoor aqua park

- and numerous thai-house restaurants and bars

"not that big" than I agree that it is indeed "not THAT big".
OK, I'll keep looking for a building to impress her. Even though I will have a difficult task, since (according to Wikipedia) this is the largest building by volume (without supporting columns) in the world (well illustrated by the size of the people on this picture)

All-in-all we have spent two wonderful days there, attending an evening show as well. In the meantime we enjoyed the pleasant constant 100% guaranteed warm weather and the beaches, pool, spas and numerous bars.
All pics:http://picasaweb.google.com/zoli.gyenge/EUROPEGERMANYTropicalIslands