Posts tagged WTI
“It’s all about ADVENTURE!!”
Tasmania is about the size of Ireland, yet has a population of 500,000, which gives you an idea of the amount of space around you on this island.
The island is considered so out-of-the-way, that you can only get there via an internal flight from somewhere in Australia, which are quite thin on the ground anyway. This is what constitutes the tiny domestic airport you enter after getting off the plane. The distance between the plane and the car waiting for you outside (be it taxi, bus or otherwise) is about 50 metres, and there is only one tiny baggage reclaim belt, which gives you an idea as to how small and ‘out-of-the-way’ this place is.
Hobart, the capital sits in the shadow of Mount Wellington. A mountain that on most days you can jump on a tour called ‘All downhill from here’ which will drive you up to the top the mountain with bikes on the back, so that once at the top you can bike it all the way down. If you get the chance, do it. While at the top of the mountain, at this time of year, you will find icicles on your nose and you hands may go numb, it is still an incredible view from the top, looking North, East, South and West all over Tasmania. I can imagine that in the summer this tour is even better (especially as it started getting dark as we got to the bottom, which is where you go off road. Adventure tour indeed).
On Saturdays, by the marina, there is a massive market that is set up from 4:30 in the morning and carries on until 6:00 in the afternoon, all with the backdrop of Mt. Wellington. All the way along the street there are restaurants and cafes, one of which is Retro, a great place to go and chill for breakfast, watching the bustle of the market only get more intense.
Here in Hobart we met up with the STA US interns, Casey and Natalie, and have spent the past few days travelling Tasmania with them both and our tour guide, Greg, who is doing for the Tasmanian Tiger what Steve Irwin did for ‘crocs’.
Greg’s middle name is apparently ‘Adventure’. At any opportunity he will convince anyone that the road less taken is the right one to take, that it would be an ‘Adventure’ and just a bit of fun. More often than not, it is the road less taken for a reason. Yesterday we ended up in the middle of nowhere having to dig the bus out of a mixture of manure and mud. What an adventure.
Along the East Coast, there is small town called Bicheno. Now when I say ‘small town’, what I really mean is a couple of houses, a pub and a supermarket. The entire time we were there I think I saw 3 locals, but even they were some of the nicest people I have ever met (something that HAS to be said about Tasmania is that everyone here is amazingly friendly. all they want to do is make sure that everyone around them is happy and in tern, ooze happiness themselves. It makes the entire island and big bundle of happy helpful people. If you ever get lost, get lost in Tasmania!).In the morning, at some point during you stay, set your alarm a little (or a lot depending on who you are) earlier and head down the the beach to watch the sunrise. Tasmania is one of the ‘Greenest’ places in one of the ‘Greenest’ countries on the Earth, which means that there is no pollution in the air, making the sunrises spectacular, rivalling those on the beaches of Tulum in Mexico. At this time of year though, it is around -2ºC at the time of the sunrise, and make sure you get the right time (not an hour earlier like I thought. It is not fun the wait around in the freezing cold for the sun to finally come up), but it’s worth it at any time of year.
Off up another mountain today, this place is full of them.
Matt M
STA UK WTI 2010
Bungee Jumping
There are four things that you need to remember when you are doing a bungee jump:
1) Despite everything your body is telling you this IS going to be fun
2) It’s safe, I promise
3) Make as much noise as you can, all the way down, it will help, and
4) the moment you finish, you WILL be wanting to do it again.
I did my first bungee jump in a water park in Venice. I had always wanted to do it, and when the opportunity came along for a pretty low price I was all over it. At the time I was in a pretty dark place, and the moment I was taken off the rope all my problems seemed to have been blasted away by the amount of adrenaline pumping through my body. I was hooked.
For my following birthday, my sister got me a bungee jump voucher for anywhere in the UK. I spent no time waiting around, and booked into the earliest slot I could. I spent the next weeks shaking with excitement and once again threw myself off the platform and screamed all the way down. Knowing what to expect, I was so much more ready for what was to follow, and I was officially addicted to adrenaline.
The strangest thing that you will experience is the moment before you jump, as you step to the edge of the platform and look out into nothing. Everything in your head is telling you that this is wrong, that this should not be happening, and that this is NOT a good idea. Even that feeling makes me smile now.
Both of these jumps were at a mere 70 metres. Macau Sky Tower is the biggest bungee in the world, the main platform standing at an amazing 235 metres above the ground. As if I was not going to do this.
I do have to admit, that for the first time, I felt pretty ill on the way up to the top, which you take via a lift that accents at 6 metres per second. Mostly I was scared that I was going to bring the massive buffet I had just gorged on back up on the way back down. after standing at the top for a long while however, that feeling I am so used to washed over me like a blanket, and all I could do was smile.
There is no way that I can describe hurtling towards the ground held only by an elastic rope. That, you will have to experience for yourself, but suffice it to say, that that feeling and the incredible amount of adrenaline I got from it sent me through the next 24 hours. If there is anything I would tell you do in Macau, it would be the Sky Tower. If anything, for the views you get of the entire city as you fall to the floor.
Matt M
STA UK WTI 2010
Things can only get colder
With yet another England misery, came another amazing day in Hong Kong. Some how we had landed ourselves among the rich and famous of the Ex-Pats, and were chilling out next to a pool and being waited on hand and foot all day. The friends you make while travelling can land you in the strangest of places!
Quickly we had to come back to reality and leave the luxury of Hong Kong for Oz. We gave a fond farewell to our new friends (who offered to put us up for a few weeks next year for the ‘Sevens Tournaments’ which are apparently the best thing since sliced bread, and after experiencing the Hong Kong nightlife, I will be booking my flights back very soon), and set off for Melbourne. Stepping off the plane was a bracing experience. The last time I landed here, I was leaving winter and arriving in summer. Now, I was leaving 42ºC and landing in 9. I should not have been wearing shorts.
I will never under appreciate the joys of living in an English-speaking country again. The fact that we were able to go into a corner shop and ask for what we wanted without being confronted with a blank, dazed expression was heavenly.
It was all about catching up on lost time over the following days. We were back in hostels, back in dorms, and back to the real travelling life, and so there were no luxuries to distract from the job at hand. After hours of editing and uploading, we hit the streets of Melbourne, calling into STA Australia, who handed us free tickets to the 280 metre Eureka tower. Although higher, it was nothing compared to the thrill of the Macau Sky Tower!
If you ever find yourself in Melbourne, I urge you to go to Shanghai Dumplings, located on Tattersalls Lane, just off the main road. I was handed 15 dumplings of fried pork for a mere AU$5.60 (about £3.50), and they were fantastic, but beware that these will come out hotter than the sun. I am still recovering.
Off to Tasmania now, were I’m told it’s even colder than here…. god help me.
Matt M
Life in the fast lane
As the plane begins its final approach to one of the ‘hardest places to land’ and you release your white knuckled hands from the arm rest for a few seconds to lift the window cover and look outside, you are greeted with something fascinating. There is a line that runs along just below the horizon over Hong Kong, on one side of this line there are high rise buildings, fluorescent signs that advertise numerous digital companies and a spaghetti of roads full of flashing lights and flashy cars. on the other side of this line is a huge expanse of green. The entire city is surrounded by fields, jungle and waterfalls. the difference between these two environments is huge, and fact that they are resting next door to each other is an amazing thing to see from the air.
But I’m getting ahead of myself. The last few days in Vietnam were fantastic. Hanoi was much faster than any other town we have been to, but there was ten times the amount of scooters on the roads, making crossing them an adrenaline sport. Every street looks very much the same, which meant that when we got lost, it took a long time to make our way back to home. But along the way we found a local market, one that not many westerners seemed to have found as we were the only ones in sight. After a little battering (3 DVDs and the complete 24 box-set for around £12) we did make it home.
Over the two days that we were there we managed to get to the War Museum, where I found out that the country has been ripped apart more times than thought, what with the French sticking there head in there as well at some point over the past 100 years. Some of the jeeps and planes that were left over were fairly haunting, some of them having plaques drilled into them expelling how many people were killed with them. Chilling stuff.
In the evenings it was all about the celebration. We found a bar on top of a block of flats, cleverly named ‘Top Pub’ which turned out to be a little dodgy, as when police came round, the music was turned off and we were told to keep our voices down and to pretend that we were infect friends with the bar man who had just come over for a casual drink. The bar man had a LOT of friends. Once they left the music instantly started again when I am fairly certain they were still in earshot. After far too many cocktails (which you got for free if you stood on one leg for 4 minutes, which gets harder after your 5th) we all stumbled into a taxi that drove around a few times before going to the hotel, watch out for this, it happens a lot, especially to drunk tourists!
The were some swift goodbyes in the morning, with the rest of the group heading into Lous and us jumping on our plane to Hong Kong, it was amazing to go up Vietnam with them all, and was a shame that we had to say goodbye so soon as they all rumbled off to the party capital of South-East Asia.
Hong Kong is a city full of rich businessmen and high rise 5* hotels. It’s no more expensive than it is back in the UK, but after going through a country that asked you for no more that 70p for a beer in the nations capital, it was a bit of a shock when the bill for our first meal come through. It would have been alright though if the food and service had been anything like what I had experienced in Vietnam, but alas it was not. On a recommendation from a guide book, we went to a restaurant in the City Hall. The place must have been a school hall at some point in its life, which had been closed down and then filled with tables, chairs and chandeliers. Avoid it if you can!
Here, they have something that works very similarly to the Oyster card back at home. Although here it’s imaginatively called the Octopus card. The public transport system is pretty sound all the time, and not only does the Octopus card work for all modes of transport, you can also use it in the 7-Elevens all aver town (like co-op, only smaller and there’s one every other shop). Even though this is great, you can’t eat food on the trains, at all. Annoying when my stomach was crying out for some food and I’m sitting there holding a bad full of biscuits, bread and cream cheese (the ONLY cheese you can actually buy out here).
The night life here is fantastic, and not as expensive as you think it might be after spending a day watching the back account suffer. I have a friend out here who moved out with her parents a few years ago, and she is well versed in the night time scene. Katie took me to a bar, ‘Carnegies’ in the centre on town. Here, the booze is stacked on the shelves behind the bar like a library and the way the bar staff get them down is using a ladder very much like the ones you would see in a library to slide back and fourth and drop them down to the colleague waiting at the bottom. You dance on the bar all night, and on wednesdays and thursdays it’s ‘ladies night’ so all girls drink free. Have a female friend with you helps and most of the time there are so many people there and you are ordering through someones legs so the bar staff have no idea that every girl is taking two drinks and handing one straight over to a male friend behind them. Twas a cheep night for all!!
The Hong Kong island is only one part of the entire city, and to be honest not the most exciting one. Whilst it has all the bars and night life, as far as things to do during the day it falls a little short. there is a place called the peeks, where you can get a tram up to the highest point on the island for another amazing view of the different environments in the city, but thats about it. There is also the ‘Big Buddah’ that you can find on the next island, the same island with Disneyland Hong Kong and the airport on it (diverse I know), which is definitely worth the very long cable car ride to it, but pray for good weather. being so high up in the mountains the whole place is prone to disappearing into the clouds.
If you ever do manage to make it Hong Kong, something that is a must is truly experiencing the sudden change between built up city to dense jungle. Right now, I just got back from an epic 4 hour trek up a (almost) mountain, where on one side of me there was a concrete jungle and on the other an actual jungle. We dropped down the other side and started hunting around for something special. We found it. Three hidden waterfalls are cut off by signs saying that there have been landslides and it’s too difficult to get there, saying that we have to turn back now for our own safety. But after bumping into an expat in a sandwich shop who turned out to be an experienced hiker, we were told to go for it, to climb around the sign, and climb down the old land slide (it had been a few years ago, and as long as it hadn’t been raining was still [relatively] safe). We did, and thank god we did. We fell upon one of the most beautiful water falls I have ever seen. If you are anywhere near here at any point, even if you are only there for a few days, get your trainers on (flip flops are a no go!!) and get out there, it’s well worth it, and the best hang over cure in the world!
Tomorrow, through various contacts made over the various nights out and friends of friends, I will be getting on a yacht, heading over to an exclusive yacht club, and dinning with the other half. Its a tough life!
Till then
Matt M
Hello there Hong Kong
Pull back the enormous floor length curtains in my twenty-fifth floor hotel room in Hong Kong, and you are greeted with some sight. Below me lies a sprawling metropolis with high rise blocks of flats and skyscrapers on one side and the highly prized breathtaking vista of the racecourse and Hong Kong’s Happy Valley, home of the rich, on the other. In the distance the leafy green mountains are, for the time being, shrouded in thick fog. This is a sharp contrast to Vietnam. The intricate road network, although bustling and busy, seems to work. At least here they’ve decided on one side of the road to drive on- and stuck to it!
It’s also very westernised. On the high rise opposite from me there stands an gigantic poster of a serene looking Nicole Kidman, advertising Omega watches. All around me there are signs in English, double decker buses, fast food joints like McDonalds, Burger King and KFC, and all the designer clothes brands you could ask for. In Hong Kong they drive on the left, eat western (as well as Cantonese) cuisine, and pay in Dollars (admittedly HK Dollars). The prices are also closer to what we are accustomed to at home, although having flown in from dirt cheap Hanoi everything seems astronomically expensive by comparison. (My advice, don’t compare. Don’t convert back. It only makes you angry, as Matt found out yesterday when he paid triple the price for his food compared to the night before). Aside from the ridiculously tall- and I’m talking really silly proportions here- and at times bizarrely constructed, skyscrapers -this could be London. If you squinted hard enough and ignored the normally warm temperatures that is. Hell, even the weather’s putting up a good pretence; at the moment it’s overcast and drizzling slightly, and later it’s forecasted to bucket it down.
None of this should really surprise, however, considering that HK was only handed back to the Chinese by the British in 1997 and the place still maintains a lively expat community. Just yesterday we met up with 19-year-old Brit Katie, whose parents emigrated here a few years back. There are also a great deal of well to do, suited and booted young Brits working for companies like HSBC and JP Morgan so going out here can sometimes be mistaken for one of the trendier areas in central London.
So this isn’t really China as you imagine it, but there is still enough to make it different, and the blend of East meets West makes HK quite unique. And I have to say, at the moment, I kinda like it, although this might have something to do with the ultra swish 4* Cosmopolitan hotel we’ve been put into. Since the moment we walked in the door, we’ve been treated like royalty. We were first greeted by Guest services Manager Agnes Yau, and escorted up to our beautiful hotel rooms by Assistant Front Office Manager, the very smiley Ronald Cheung. When we opened the door I could not believe my eyes. For five days I have this absolutely amazing room all to myself. It comes complete with a wide flatscreen TV, computer, a luxurious double bed, complementary tea and coffee, a selection of fruit, an array of free toiletries, the free use of dressing gowns and slippers, stunning views, and a power shower which could cure any hangover. They’ve literally thought of everything you might need.
We’ve just come back from a guided tour of the hotel, and her sister hotel, Cosmo, by the Public Relations Manager, a charming young man called Stewart Chen. During his detailed account on the range of the hotel’s facilities he was keen to stress the importance of comfort and connectivity as his two buzz words. Comfort in everything from the silky soft 300 thread count bed linen right down to the bouncy carpets, and connectivity in the form of phone and high speed internet access.
The Cosmopolitan Hotel, built on the site of the former Xin Hua New Agency, is first and foremost a very business orientated hotel, though it’s in the process of changing that image to a more feminine and family orientated image, or at least something which combines both business and leisure. Allegedly this had something to do with the new carpets. Apparently plush and soft carpets means more feminine and therefore more appealing for female guests and families. It’s an interesting idea, but just goes to show just into how much detail the hotel’s managers are going, to try to cater for all needs and widen the hotel’s appeal. The deluxe room I’m in is furnished in a modern, neutral tone, and is above all designed to be functional but none of this really puts me off as a woman, and I have to say, before it was mentioned to us, oh the odd half a dozen times or so, I hadn’t paid much attention to the carpets. Still, it’s nice to know, that as a woman, they are thinking of my needs too. Attention to detail was also emphasised in the staggeringly wide selection of pillows available. There are a whopping eleven different types in the range. Just deciding upon which one to choose would make me drowsy! Still, were I so inclined- and you know I just might try it now I have the chance- I can chose between pillows which offer extra head and neck support, those that are designed to be soft and light, non- allergic pillows, pillows to improve circulation and reduce stress and those that are scented. Hell, even the paper this information is written on is scented, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it was providing some kind of health benefit to boot!
Included in this startling array of choices, are options about the type of complementary water you can have. There are four types. To me, as long as it’s cold and doesn’t carry typhoid, water is water and will refresh me whatever brand it may be. To the guests of this hotel, however, it’s something a whole lot more. Still, sparkling, mineral, non-mineral, distilled, non-distilled, it’s confusing just trying to read the labels. I’m seriously considering popping down to reception later to ask for some Kabbalah water with my tears of leprechaun, rose hip and just feed baby smell scented pillow, though something tells me that no matter how mad hat your requests may be, the hotel staff will always try to accommodate you.
Wifi is complementary in the lobby and restaurant areas but annoying not so in the rooms. Consequently, it’s invariably packed by reception, with those checking out, those checking in and those struggling to find a plug socket for their laptop. Incidentally the plugs here are the same as in Britain, so there’s no need to bring an adapter. Hurrah! Another British hangover for you. I’m full of them today!
Aside from your average deluxe room – I say average… at 280 square feet it’s anything but! – which would already set you back a whopping $763 per 7 night stay, you can enjoy the luxury of an executive suite, which, at 520 square feet, would cost you around $1,167. The suites have four themes, including the massage suite, complete with a variety of massage equipment (all relatively painful in our experience, though whatever floats your boat!) and the toy suite which comes complete with a number of games and puzzles aimed at small children, fluffy animals and a built in Wii and DVD player. Though both of these options of course might mean that you never actually end up leaving your hotel room, which of course defeats the object of actually travelling there in the first place.
The Cosmopolitan also offers free use of its gym for all guests and a complimentary shuttle service to 16 different points on the Island. ‘Location is everything in Hong Kong’, Mr Chen informs us as we walk round the hotel. I can see the shuttle bus coming in handy for us, but some of the other amenities seem a tad unnecessary. Then again, that’s exactly their point. They are unnecessary frivolities, capricious desires that don’t really need fulfilling, but if you have the money and do feel so inclined then I guess that these subtle nuances are what makes a good hotel experience a great one. And at the moment, with monetary considerations set aside for the while, I have to say, as hotel experiences go, aside from the dull ache in my neck from sampling the torturous neck massager, I’m loving my one.
Right, we’re off to check out what this city has to offer.
More from HK next time!
Monsoon season is still freakin hot
And so it all begins!!
Its been a few days now since we left the UK and already an amazing amount of stuff has happened. The first thing wasn’t as fun as I would have expected it to be however…
I got to the airport and began to prepare for the journey ahead only the realise that I had managed to leave the one thing that I never go anywhere without at home. My camera. Nightmare. After lots of swearing (I apologise to Becky’s parents for this as this was the first time that we met and I wasnt acting at my best) I calmed down, and figured that I was going to buy a new one anyway, and it would be cheapest abroad anyway, so not a total loss. Never the less, I was going to feel naked without it until i got the new one!
After the fury subsided, Alex (the big boss) gave us our ever fashionable STA T-shirts, which we had to immediately don to walk through the airport representing the company. Hmmm….
And so the time came to say goodbye to the family, my sister took a million photos as I headed through security and managed to hold back the tears as I wandered off. What a trooper! Got the security and for the first time in a long time managed to get all the way through without an alarm going off. Becky wasn’t so lucky. After they searched her bag (which revealed even more liquids in her bag after showing me the 500 bottles she had already removed before heading through) we were pulled aside and put through the new full body scans I had been reading about in the papers. Which was actually quite a lot of fun to be a part of! Not sure how we look like terrorists in our nice STA shirts.
The plane itself was amazingly empty and we ended up getting our own rows to ourselves. So a good nights sleep was in store.
After a long sleep (where I missed the dinner and the headphone I had from the airline were taken off my head by someone) we landed in Ho Chi Minh. At our transfer in Doha we had had 40 minutes to get to our next flight, and I never thought that our bags were going to be following us through. But against all odds, they appeared without problem!
Once in a taxi we got our first feel of the Vietnamese lifestyle. And it appears that the word is SCOOTERS, lots and lots of them!
All the way to the hotel we were surrounded by them, they outnumbered cars at least 10 to 1, and there seemed to be no rules to them whatsoever. Driving in Vietnam is suicide!
That night, I was thinking that we would have a nice quite one to recover from the jet lag and settle in, but it was not to be. After meeting our guide (cutely named Apple, who screams, loud, whenever she was drunk) and the rest of the group, we had dinner and then headed into town. The night was very much a blur after that and two hours sleep later, we were up for our first trip.
So still drunk and slowly moving into the realm of hang over we set off on the 1 and a half hour bus ride to the Cue Cho tunnels. I have to be honest, I did not think that crawling through tunnels the size of a coffin was going to be a very good hang over cure, especially when I was claustrophobic…
The bus ride was a good laugh and we got to know our group a little better, and pretty soon we were standing on the site of all those battles you see in the movies between the Viet Khong and the Americans. The sun was well and truly out and I was sweating as soon as I stepped off the bus, I could see what they meant when they said that the reason the americans did so badly was because they couldn’t handle this blistering heat!
We were shown one of the original entrances, which I couldn’t fit into, but Becky could, which I was pretty glad about as what lay underneath did not look like my idea of fun. Later on though, there was a much bigger entrance and I was told I would be able to fit into it. Not being one to back out of anything I gave the tunnels a try. I got about 30 metres and had to bail. Hats off to the Viet Khong, there is no way I would have been able to stay in those tunnels for any longer than 45 seconds!
On the journey back, I thought about maybe getting a little shut-eye, but then got distracted by the scenery that I had missed on the way there. It was beautiful. there were miles of green fields all around, framed by an array of mountains, and in the distance you could see massive rolls of mist floating around the bases of the looming shadows cast across the sky. It was breathtaking.
Once back, many of the group retired for a little shut-eye, but I had spent too long without my camera, so ventured out with a couple of others from the group in search of one! It took a couple of hours, but eventually I found success, and once again I can been that geek in the back you can hear constantly snapping away!
It was on this little trip that I found out was it was like trying to cross the road. Just like driving, it is suicide. No one stops for you, but if you walk slow enough, the hoards of scooters can drive around you. Cars on the other hand you really have to look out for. Nether the less, it is still terrifying to see 1000 scooters driving towards you at speeds that would kill you. You just have to believe that those driving them know what they are doing and that the years of experience they have on them is enough to save your life.
A quick shower later and we were packed and on the 9 and half sleeper train to Nha Trang. And I welcomed it with open arms. After the two hours sleep that I had had in 48 hours it was beautiful.
We were woken at 5.30 as the train pulled into the station and heading straight to the next digs. We dumped all our stuff into one room (as only one was ready) and headed straight to the beach, at 5.30, and yet most of the town seemed to be up already. it seems that everyone in Vietnam follows the rule of waking and sleeping with the sun.
We worked on the first video for most of the morning and spent the rest of the day chilling on the beach, where the water was beautifully cold, and so refreshing, seeing as sitting down for five minutes in the sun made you start to sweat. Everyone got burnt.
Painfully we all heading to dinner and most people couldn’t eat as they all had sun stroke… it was an early night for all involved. Unfortunately the hotel had had all the power cut off due to the building works next door so we couldn’t get into our rooms until later. And were we did the air con hadn’t been working all day. Nice sweaty nights sleep.
Later on today we’re heading to the hot springs around the corner and hopefully getting into a mud fight with the locals, at least that’s what we’ve been told!
Till Next time!!
Matt M
Deadline extended!
We have extended the deadline to get your applications in to 23:59 on the 25th March. Please make sure you have done the following by then:
1. Log in to your account.
2. Make sure all of the fields of your application are complete, including the video.
3. Post your video as a Video Response to our video on YouTube (if you’re not sure if you have done this read on).
“How can I be sure I’ve posted my video correctly?”
1. Your video will be included in the Video Response drop down below our video.
2. Your video will have a message telling you that it is a video response
3. You submitted the URL from your video response to your application
Welcome to the 2010 World Traveller Internship
Want to spend your summer travelling the world?
Then become an STA Travel World Traveller Intern. And do it for free!
For the first time in the UK we’re launching the World Traveller Intern programme that will see two lucky people spend their summer travelling the world. The selected interns will traverse the globe experiencing a number of adventures and showcasing their experiences daily via a blog, video & photo and podcasts. Enroute they’ll also need to collect the best travel tips from the locals they meet to share with the world.
The first stop will see the interns take a visit to South East Asia, from there they’ll hop across to Australia and then on to New Zealand. The penumtimate leg is a visit to Latin America before a final stop to Miami for a well earned rest
Sound good? Well what are you waiting for, get yourself registered and you could be a World Traveller Intern!