Travel 01 (May 08 - Jun 11)

[winston]

Qingdao

Places of interest:-

1) Ba Da Guan is quite nice. A lot of nice houses here. Granite House ( Huashi Lou ), a former German governor's retreat is also located here. Chiang Kai Shek stayed at this place before he fled to Taiwan. The place is not that well maintained though but the beach is quite nice. Ate a lot of BBQ Cuttle-Fish on the way to the beach. Yummy.

2) There is a revolving observatory on Xinhao Shan. Takes 20 mins to go a full circle. Nice view. Qingdao Ying Binguan - the former German Governor's residence is at the foot-hill.

3) Catholic Church on Zhejiang Lu - not open all the time.

4) Tsingtao Brewery

5) There are 6 beaches. Number 1 is the cleanest and the largest. Number 2 & 3 is inside Ba Da Guan. Number 6 has the Huilan 8-Sided Pavilion along that beach.

6) The beach at Shilaoren is quite nice and not so crowded.

Hotels:-

1) Oceanwide Elite Hotel has some nice rooms overlooking Beach # 6 . Price is around RMB1000. ( Tel: 532-8299-6699; http://www.oweh.com )

2) Haiquan Dynasty Hotel seems quite nice and is opposite Beach #1.

3) Surf Plaza Hotel at Shilaoren has service apartment typed rooms and quite close to the beach. You need to cross one street. The rooms are not direct sea view.
Tel: 532-8889-0394; http://www.spr.cc

Outside Qingdao

1) Lao Shan. 40km east of Qingdao. Birthplace of Taoism

2) Chenshan Cape - the most eastern point in China. Very beautiful. The first emperor, Qin Shi Huang, supposedly came here twice because of it's beauty. The only temple in China dedicated to Qin Shi Huang can be found here.

3) On the way to Chenshan, they will also likely bring you to see the "Mirage at Penglai" and pass by Yantai and Weihai

For the places outside Qingdao, try to book a cab for the day. Make sure there is a common understanding on the price and length of journey.

[helios]

for those who missed home, here's our iconic SingaporeFlyer:

i spent my lunch-time looking thro' his collection (he was sharing on e Flyer pixs was taken last Sat, using nikon D3, ISO3200, and no tripod; what abt e eye fish lens?). His name is hwaSeng, a photography friend i met & worked with in a press event:

[extracted from his blog http://hwasengphotography.blogspot.com/ ... part2.html, thumbview pix].

[helios]

(gave him e contacts to e flyer marketing team, adval group)

[winston]

I went up on the "Eye on KL or something like that". Was very disappointed..

[helios]

after our return from Margaret River, a place filled w serious wine and food sampling in e cellar doors, i actually kept e contacts w their communications & PR person, juz recently, they have added us on their emails. see below.

i do not mind spending e rest of my days, growing grapes, pruning e vineyards there ...

Whales are Arriving! June-December 2008
The official 2008 whale season is almost upon on us and what better way to celebrate than to spot a whale in Augusta – and win a Whale Watching Weekend.From May through September, Augusta is blessed by the migration of one of nature’s most magnificent creatures - whales. The arrival, which marks the beginning of the Western Australia whale tourism season, is unique in that two species of whales, the Humpback and Southern Right, interact socially in the bay at the same time. The whales come to the warmer waters to calve and breed.

For more information, visit http://www.margaretriver.com

[pepper]

was wondering if any one of you have been to south africa/kenya/botswana for a vacation. If u have, pls share yr personal experience as i m thinking of visiting. I've known a few ppl who have visited South Africa. None has visited kenya/botswana and i'm not sure if it is safe to visit esp these 2 places. My main interest is visiting game reserves.

[blid2def]

was wondering if any one of you have been to south africa/kenya/botswana for a vacation. If u have, pls share yr personal experience as i m thinking of visiting. I've known a few ppl who have visited South Africa. None has visited kenya/botswana and i'm not sure if it is safe to visit esp these 2 places. My main interest is visiting game reserves.

pepper, another good place to ask about traveling is here: http://sgtravelcafe.com - that is a local (i.e. Singapore) web site for travelers, and you might be able to get some info there as well.

[wanderer]

Yeah, Margaret River / Western Australia is really nice for a driving holiday. My last trip there in 2006, I saw a number of constructions going on in Margaret River; they look like retirement homes :p
So I guess many people wanna spend rest of their days there eh?

Augusta, at the south-westernmost tip of Australia is interesting that here, you will see 2 oceans meet.
The Southern Ocean and Indian Ocean.

after our return from Margaret River, a place filled w serious wine and food sampling in e cellar doors, i actually kept e contacts w their communications & PR person, juz recently, they have added us on their emails. see below.

i do not mind spending e rest of my days, growing grapes, pruning e vineyards there ...

Whales are Arriving! June-December 2008
The official 2008 whale season is almost upon on us and what better way to celebrate than to spot a whale in Augusta – and win a Whale Watching Weekend.From May through September, Augusta is blessed by the migration of one of nature’s most magnificent creatures - whales. The arrival, which marks the beginning of the Western Australia whale tourism season, is unique in that two species of whales, the Humpback and Southern Right, interact socially in the bay at the same time. The whales come to the warmer waters to calve and breed.

For more information, visit http://www.margaretriver.com

[helios]

yo wanderer,

nice to see u wander'g here (do give us your postings, comments in e moneytree section); if u really like travell'g, Grandrake is e best person to talk too

we didn't travel to augusta, ... mmm, yes maybe next time?

PM u e contacts to e margaret river, so that u can subscribe for their quarterly newsletter.

[blid2def]

yo wanderer,

nice to see u wander'g here (do give us your postings, comments in e moneytree section); if u really like travell'g, Grandrake is e best person to talk too

we didn't travel to augusta, ... mmm, yes maybe next time?

PM u e contacts to e margaret river, so that u can subscribe for their quarterly newsletter.

HA HA HA HA HA HA HA

San San - you couldn't be more wrong and mistaken. Read the Photo Thread and see who "wanderer" is. You're mixing up the roles of 黄飞鸿 and 猪肉荣 here.