Tag Archives: dinner

Day 27 – Have a Guinness when you’re Tired

Given the unreliability we experienced with the public busses yesterday, we decided to go into town once again with the hop-on option. We had a two day pass anyway, so why not. Number 3’s pick from yesterday got elevated to TOP 1 for the day.

Yup, dead zoo it is. Giant Irish deer in fact

Turned out, we got pretty lucky – with all the bussing and transferring we made to the National Museum – Natural History branch at about 10:40am. We were greeted by a staff member asking, with a mildly concerned look, about a reservation on our part. Reservation? This was a free museum; we did not expect that. Turned out that they were renovating to modernise the exhibition and had only about half the space to use – it was still free, but attendants had to be limited to avoid dangerous pushing and shoving. As said though, we arrived just in time to be allowed in without a booking.

The exhibition, also dubbed the “dead zoo” was packed with taxidermies of local animals. We have a similar wing in the Senkenbergsches Naturkunde Museum in Frankfurt, so Number 3 felt right at home. With only one floor open, 45 minutes were plenty to the get through the exhibition. All of a sudded, we had some extra time on our hands.

We decided to give Nina and myself a small treat and have a really quick browse next door at the National Gallery. We only had enough time to check a few of the Irish artists up to the expressionists and switch to the Europeans for a few minutes with the resident Caravaggio.

The kids were excited to be on the hop on hop off bus again

Our lunch appointment was at 12:30, the hop-on-hop-off bus leaves every 20 minutes. That means we should have plenty of time to get to the Guinness storehouse. Or so we thought. First, the bus was late, then we had to switch to a different one entirely due to a defect on the first one. All in all, it took over an hour – we maybe could have walked.

It did lead to a bit of a sour start of the Guinness Storehouse experience, unfortunately. When we finally arrived at the 1837 bar our lunch reservation had been released and the wait time was up to an hour. We settled with the bistro style Brewer’s Dining Hall – a rather disappointing choice.

The storehouse itself was anything but, fortunately. A tasteful beer-themed Disneyland experience, including sights, sounds and smells. All very well done, not too overcrowded and not feeling like being charged for getting a commercial. To be honest, it still is just that in the end, but the smartly converted storehouse and the laid back confidence in the quality of the product made it second only to a port lodge tour in Porto. Especially since you get to top it off with a beautifully pulled pint of Guinness in the spectacular Gravity Bar with views all over the city. Nina volunteered her free drink (plus Phoebe was dutifully asleep). That meant I got to get a side-by-side of on tap Guinness to Guinness 0.0. The alcohol-free version is shockingly good, in my opinion.

Oh look! I am trying Guinness again! It’s…

It had been a long day; I am still under the weather and on mild cough meds. The decision what to do for dinner was not easy. Ultimately, we stuck to our guns and went with the booked table at yesterday’s choice: The winding stairs. We arrived a bit before our reservation time, not feeling temple bar on our last stroll through the quarter. What a great decision it was. The views and the atmosphere in the place were great. We got a table on the second floor upstairs (poor waiters) with the river Liffey as a backdrop. But all that paled in comparison with the quality of the food. The kids shared a vegetarian “scotch egg” while Nina and I went for mains – cauliflower and pork belly respectively. Everything was just perfect – well cooked, smooth, exciting flavour combinations. And not even that accordantly expensive. I kind of doubly regretted the Lunch now – how can two dishes of such diverting quality be charged at the same price?

Regardless, we were glowing now all the way back to the campground. Even the bus was not that much too late this time (it was, but conveniently so for us). A good end to a packed day!

Day 6 – On to Eire

And with that, our time in Scotland had come to an end. If we hadn’t pre-booked our ferry, I’m sure we would’ve stayed for another night. It was just such a lovely campground. The owner was nice, the landscape super pretty and our neighbours easy to chat to, plus they liked having Number 3 around.

We packed everything up with time to spare and headed off to the small town right next to the ferry port. Flo’s plan was to charge the car, spent a little time and then head on to the check-in. The first charger, however, was out of service. By the time we’d gotten to the next one about 3 minutes later, me (and with me Number 3) had gotten nervous about missing the ferry. By unforeseeable happenstance, Flo listened to me and we drove on to the ferry port…where we logically stood in line for a while. 😀 We were by no means the first ones at the port but I got A LOT of shit for our waiting time. Not even a coffee and two muffins made a real difference.

Leaving the campground, we had told the kids about leaving Scotland and continuing to Ireland. The Agent of Entropy said “nochmal Schottland bitte” (Scotland again please) which she always says if she enjoyed something and would like to repeat the experience.

slightly worried, AoE might get blown off her feet

Alas, time continues to go by even when you’re just waiting around and we were allowed to board eventually. The kids were raving with excitement. Everything was big and loud, it was windy outside and there were toys to play with. I think, the Agent of Entropy has found her calling as a being of the wind. She probably feels kinship to it as it also brings a lot of entropy into the world.

For us adults, it seemed like another ferry ride, mostly like the one to cross Cook Strait: Waiting time, overpriced bad food in the restaurant, people battling for the comfiest spots. Since this ferry ride though, both kids really want to go back onto a boat, but please for longer next time, okaaaaay?

At 1.30pm we arrived in Belfast. The Agent hadn’t slept on the ferry instead she’d been all over the place and was thus exhausted. It didn’t take long for her to fall asleep in the car although we just drove from the port to a charger in the inner city. Flo managed to gently put her in the kids carrier so we could go and explore Belfast a bit. Number 3 still is a city exploring champion. He walked everywhere with us, through the rain, from coffee time until dinner.

We started with a bit of a tour around the quarter that we ended up in. There were murals to look at and little lanes to take. We came across many a pub that looked lovely but it was neither the time nor the circumstances to go into one. Instead, we found our way into “Established coffee” for a coffee time break. By that time, the Agent of Entropy had woken up again and graciously agreed to a chocolate cookie and a babyccino.

Around the corner there was a cathedrale which had a spike coming out of the middle of it. It piqued Flo’s curiosity so we went in. Unfortunately, it was about to close. They let us in for five minutes but we couldn’t figure out why the spike was there and what it meant. Number 3 was happy though as he got to light a candle in the church, something he really wanted to do in Aachen already. I loved it too, as a kid.

From here, we took the “scenic” route to our car, still debating how to proceed with the day. We were toying with a couple of options i.e. having an early dinner in town or setting up camp and then taking the bus back to Belfast for dinner. We decided to go for the first option as both kids seemed to be over a certain threshold already. Unfortunately, Number 3 had listened in to our conversation and demanded a bus ride in the 100% electric, pink double-decker buses which we simply couldn’t work into our plans today. Proving our suspicion that the kids really just needed to go to bed, he had a full-on tantrum. Many words of comfort and a promise of a bus ride in Dublin later, we went to dinner in Yügo. Asian fusion at its best, the plates to share were right up our (and the kids’) alley. I had miso-grilled corn and fried rice, Flo had duck truffle rice, Number 3 opted for blackened salmon and the Agent chose and ate the chicken spring rolls all by herself. As all food was just so good, we decided to order another round with dumpling, kimchi buns and last but not least, milk chocolate ganache as a dessert which my kids ate more of than me.

Round bellies and sleepy eyes shuffled back to the car and we headed for our communal campground, only 15 minutes Belfast city centre. It turned out to be just what we needed with a patch of grass, facilities and a code-operated gate which kept everyone outside who was not camping.

Just when everything was set up and the kids in bed, we realised that there were a washing machine and a dryer set up here to comfortable use. It was just too good to pass on so Flo took it upon himself to manage our laundry while I just went to bed.

P&O goes to Larne, we are heading for the Stena Line Terminal

Day 16 – Calm before the storm

We took a rest day at Agriturismo Alba. After two cities in a row, we needed a bit of a breather for the next two cities ahead of us. With this in mind, we relaxed for a day.

She’s going to be a professional climber someday

Number 3 really wanted to spend some time at the playground and the Agent tagged joyfully along. We were the only ones on the playground this morning. Bringing our sand toys with us was enough to keep both of them busy for quite a while. The Agent loved the slide though and in no time started climbing up the ladder all by herself.

Doing laundry was overdue so we put on the washing. Unfortunately, the machine was broken somehow and all our clothes were dripping wet when we took them out. The sky was overcast for most of the day, so it would take forever for them to dry.

We had a slow morning with some blogging and then a nap. Well, the kids had a nap as they alternated their time asleep: The Agent started and sleep through 1 ½ episodes of Benjamin Blümchen (audio play for kids about the adventures of an elephant who can talk) which is when Number 3 fell asleep and the Agent was wide awake again. Oh well. No sleep for tired mamas. 🙂

Like this, the madness even looks pretty

When nap time was over, Flo urged us to jump into the lovely pool. I hadn’t even seen it by this point. The sun had come out though so I was persuaded.

The pool was immaculate, blue and surrounded by a lovely manicured green lawn. I got into the water fist, which was up to about my waist right next to the ladder. That was as deep as I would go in today, I decided, as the water was really quite cold. The Agent in her pushy manner nearly threw herself in before she realized how cold the water was and refused to be put into it at all. Her screaming quickly convinced me not to try again. So we got out, changed into something dry (or baby-naked in the Agent’s case) and watched Flo and Number 3 splash around until Number 3’s lips turned blue about 10 minutes in.

The pool excursion ended, a little earlier than expected, with a lovely hot shower. Flo even improvised delicious dinner with the asparagus tips we’d bought two days ago and the potatoes we’d carried since we left home. XD

The Agent of Entropy was in A LOT of pain because her molars and a few bonus incisors are breaking through at the same time. We prepped her a little with pain relief before bringing her to bed in the hope that we might get a quiet night as another gaming session was scheduled. Indeed, we had a quiet, kids-free evening and when we went into the tent later on both kids had crawled towards the middle of the tent and were cuddling. Sometimes, the little ones just melt your heart.

Early morning – these two are just two handful!

Day 286 – Over the hills and far away

Another bright and sunny day!

The night had been slightly eerie as we could hear the wolves howl. I was happy when the sun was back up and we could pack and leave. I know that there were enough sheep around that no wolf would be interested in us but still…

All of today was dedicated to exploring the Alamut valley. We started with a stint to Evan Lake which was the back-up camping option yesterday. Arriving at the tiny lake with lots of rubbish at the shore and almost no privacy, we were glad that we’d camped in the fields. However, on the way out we met a retired French couple doing an overland trip in a 4WD. They were lovely even though the conversation was in French (go Flo!) and gave us the coordinates of a possible campsite further on.

almost back on the main road now

The next “attraction” in the Lonely Planet is a road that leads through or alongside canyons. Flo found a loop that we could ride to not double up and so we went in on river-level. First, we follow the road along the ride with the cliff side to your right. It was hard to photograph as the sun was right behind the cliffs. After a while, the road starts to wind up into the mountains. From here, you can look into the valley with the canyons below. Again, we saw the tents of nomads up here.

Full service overland adventure …

On route to Alamut Castle, the next of the famed Assassins’ castles, we saw a group of overlanders parked in a little side alley. They rode down from Switzerland in a tour, complete with support vehicle full of spare parts and tires, and will continue for a month. Thus, they were in a bit of a hurry…once a flat tire was fixed. We talked to them until we were near melting, standing in full gear in the sun.

A quick roadside lunch at the Alamut Castle parking lot prepared us for the hike up to the castle. The “Assassins” were prosecuted and thus quite paranoid when they built their castles here: There is no easy entrance and no easy siege. The mountainside is steep so the narrow staircase is the only way up (the second entrance has been destroyed).

one wing of the castle. Must have been decently manned

Alamut Castle is the one with a bit more structure remaining but it is also the one where you have to pay a fee and most of it is covered in scaffolding. We were a bit disappointed, yesterday’s castle had much more to offer.

Technically, the “attractions” end here. There is a pass leading out of the valley all the way to the Caspian Sea but the Lonely Planet only describes it for hiking. The French overlander couple from his morning came in that way and while the views are gorgeous, they said the road was in bad condition and muddy. They were happy to have 4WD. Thus, I was not keen to go that way. However, coming from Alamut valley, most of the road up is sealed. Flo wanted to go as high up as possible…fair enough. First, the road continued on in the valley in a rather unimpressive way. When the incline finally started, the road became interesting again. Up and up and up and up. When we seemed to be level with the snow-capped mountains on the other side of the valley, the tarmac ended and Flo stopped as promised. We took a couple of pictures of the valley, Rocinante and us before heading back down.

The ‘final’ view – pretty cool

It was late enough to look for a camping spot but we were lacking in the important departments of food, water and fuel. So we hopped from village to village hoping to remedy these lacks without having to go too far. The first shop, with a lovely owner, had water, eggs and veggies for us. Good start but not all we needed. Again, he gave us the things for half the price and a toffee on top. The next village supplied cheese and bread but fuel was only available in the third village. By now it felt late. The first possible spot next to a field of wheat was ours.

Flo cooked the tomato-egg dish for me that Azemeh had made for breakfast all those days ago. It worked well and was delicious with bread and the seed mixture that Azemeh had given us as well. Well fed, we had a short visit by a shepherd asking for water before settling in for the night.

: Another bright and sunny day!

: Heading east, towards the rising sun

: Alamut valley is famous for it’s rice terraces. Did not expect to see those again so soon.

: Nice and circular in a way. Sheep are equally stupid all around the world

: Turn off number 1

: Lovely couple. Unfortunately, we forgot to ask for their names.

: Most impressive from afar

: back on the main road

: they were pretty impressive

: but the light was not right

: the other side was right, but less impressive

: random turtle on the road – pretty high up actually

: The ridge road on the other side gave us better views

: looking good from up here

: the road we took in seen from above

: And always the snow capped mountains once you are a bit up

: almost back on the main road now

: Hard to focus on the road – but we were going slow

: Pickups are the new camels / donkeys

: one last look at the canyons from above

: Full service overland adventure …

: It was steeper than it looks

: The final steps up the castle

: Not much to see – protective scaffolding from anno 1984

: the wind blew nicely through this dugout towards a lookout point

: the view to be defended

: there are a lot of them around, and pretty big

: one wing of the castle. Must have been decently manned

: fooling around at the edge

: it will be sad once the underpuff is gone

: first time we got a good photo

: almost at the end, after this, the road goes up over the pass

: white peaks peeking

: that motorcycle magazine shot at the end of today’s route

: The ‘final’ view – pretty cool

: looks like gravel, but is very dirty tarmac

: no matter how high you go, someone will always have brought up some lifestock

: It even had a neat waterfall

: checking where to put the then, I promise

: The creation was actually pretty good

: chasing the signal at dusk

Day 182 – Into Cambodia

We started later today than we would have liked to. Our hostel offered breakfast with the room but my request for vegetarian food broke the system. After taking away Flo’s food as well, we were left waiting for over 30min with nothing happening because the staff person spoke very little English and seems to have thought that we simply didn’t want breakfast. Without dinner last night and a delayed breakfast, I was getting hangry real fast. Luckily, I only had to complain once for things to move in our favour…

On their way to Cambodia

Getting to the border was only a matter of about 50km now. So we prepared as best as we could with a full gas tank, a passport photo of each of us and US$20 for the visa on arrival. Trucks started to queue but the border for “normal” people was moving very quickly on a Monday morning. And then it turned out that Cambodia should be my least liked border crossing so far. For some reason, there is a rule that only one person can accompany one vehicle. Thus, Flo was going through the “vehicle” lane and had to deal with his visa and the bike stuff while I was left to my own devices going through the “passenger” lane. Of course, there are not a lot of cross-over opportunities between the two which made me nervous.

Last shot – we tend to not take pictures to avoid hassle at the border

Getting out of Thailand was no big deal at all (well, I can only speak for myself). They looked at the passport, took out the departure card, stamped it and off you go. Then you leave through a special exit, get herded through a pedestrian lane with a wall at one side and a fence at the other and arrive at a tent on the Cambodian side. While walking around confused, I was called over to a desk inside the tent that said “Quarantine”, was sat down to fill out the “Visa on Arrival” form and had my passport photo stapled to it. Armed with this form, I moved into the building on the other side of the road to pay my fees. Costs for the visa have gone up to US$30 now which was all well and official but then a “stamp fee” of 100 Thai baht was collected, too. While the US$30 have even been stamped onto my visa as the cost, I am pretty sure that the 100 baht are a form of systemic bribe. Or a way to get a better wage. However, there was no way around it so I paid it; it’s the equivalent of NZ$4.

When I met up with Flo again, he was still fuming about the “stamp fee”, even if it isn’t a lot of money. I guess that’s what you get for crossing at Poipet which is the main throughfare from Bangkok to Angkor Wat. Many tourist buses cross the border here as well so it might be more tempting.

Anyhow, we made it to Cambodia! Wohoooo! With a visa for “30 days”, from February 1st to March 1st. *lol*

Most of Cambodia is made up of pancake flat silt from the Mekong and Tonlé Sap

From the border, it is a mere 150km to Siem Reap, the city which is sustained by the tourism at Angkor Wat. Many differences to Thailand became apparent straight behind the border. For example, traffic is slower, overloaded trucks and bikes are common and the landscape is very dry and savannah-like. All in all, it reminded me a lot of the Indonesian islands in the East that we have been through. Also, very noticeably, Cambodians are interested in our travels which wasn’t the case in Thailand. So people ask us where we come from, if we have ridden the bike all the way and are just generally excited that we are visiting. This makes them genuinely NICE. 🙂

With roads being worse again and traffic generally slower, we stopped at a tourist diner along the road for lunch. Two tourist buses were having their lunch break here, too, so we overheard some of their itineraries. Seems like the loop Bangkok-Angkor Wat-Laos-Bangkok is very popular. It is also weird to suddenly be travelling in the high season of a country.

Such a nice spot – stupid high season …

Arriving in Siem Reap, every accommodation (in our price range) that the Lonely Planet suggests, was fully booked for the next couple of days. Booking through agoda, we still found a range of free rooms and decided to go with the cheapest one for US$13 including breakfast. Of course, it was not as cozy or stylish as the recommended ones but it was solid with everything we need: bed without bugs, big fan to keep us cool, enough space to store our luggage and even our own private bathroom. Being cheap on the sleeping front, we went out for dinner at the Ivy guesthouse. This guesthouse is where we would have liked to stay, not least because it offers a range of vegetarian foods on the menu. On the way home, we sorted out the Cambodian SIM card so that we will have mobile internet in this country as well.

: On their way to Cambodia

: Last shot – we tend to not take pictures to avoid hassle at the border

: Oh dear lifestock, we missed you!

: We passed many of these loaded bikes. Not sure what they use the bottles for …

: Most of Cambodia is made up of pancake flat silt from the Mekong and Tonlé Sap

: Such a nice spot – stupid high season …

Day 120 – Crashes

This could have been an uneventful day. Our only goal for today: Eat miles! With over 350 km to go till Solo, our next “want to see” item on the list, it was clear that we had to stop somewhere along the way, but no place was coming forward as a logical stopping point. All we did was set a route as far south as possible and got going. To force us south and avoid going through the busy and populated middle I set a waypoint on what I thought to be the last proper road somewhere half way between Malang and Pacitan.

This looks promising, and less traffic as well.

After a light breakfast we got on the road early and were in for the first section of pain. The urban traffic of Malang was exhaustingly slow going. I would not mind if there were a ring road or motorway around, but everyone has to go right through the heart of the city. Two hours later we had covered maybe 20 km.

From here on out it got better, but in no way enjoyable. It seems that every possible stretch of flat land on Java is one endless settled mess. Rubbish, vehicle, people all moving about each other. The roads are good but full. It was one long exercise in overtaking. Everything was made even harder by a bunch of the worst drivers in Indonesia to this point. In ascending order: slow cars – Mostly new ones, so I expect inexperienced drivers plus tiny 800cc engines. Black Mitsubishi pickups – The primary means of short range haulage, most drivers think they are the main character in Gone in 60 seconds. Plus, they constantly try to squeeze in with the bikes and block everything. But the crown of jerks must go to bus drivers – The number of times we have seen these 10t death wielders force others off the road in just three short days is shocking. They stop where they want, they go where they want and I am sure if they were allowed to mount crash bars they would start pushing the people in front out of their way.

3 more seconds. See the deep rut on the right?

It was on a more densely settled stretch that we witnessed our first accident. We heard it mostly. With the sound of a giant water bottle being crumpled, someone came off their scooter just behind us. We stopped to check a couple of meters down and saw the rider crumpled on the ground, but there were already a bunch of others on the case. Plus, people started looking at us. We were not directly involved, but maybe someone was distracted by us or something. We felt it prudent to leave to avoid getting into a pickle here.

Then suddenly 50 km on, the same road took a turn and everything became bliss. There were steep mountains on the horizon, and when we hit them, the traffic turned to a trickle. The road got windy and settlements ended. We had a short rest in this stunning scenery, at a spot where we could even see the sea. Further down, the road became this beautiful brand new strip of tarmac, leading along the beach and sweeping on a new bridge over the river. And then, it stopped. The brand new road ended in a gravel track. On the GPS I saw another road maybe 500m down, and the gavel was not looking too bad. Even after a small river crossing … see, there was the other road, 50m ahead, just up the … very steep washed out track. Hmm. Nina got off and thus catastrophe commenced. Ten meters short of the seal, I hit a rut and dropped the bike. Nina was there in no time and we got the bike up again. A check revealed only minor damage. Good. When I got back up, Nina let go of the bike due to a miscommunication on my part and I fell hard into the exact same rut. Sandstone! This time, one of the paniers got a dent and a bunch of nasty scrapes and our mood was down to arctic levels.

The dent can be bashed back out, miffed about the sticker though …

After a long breather and an assortment of curse words, we were now on the right road. Only to learn that it too would end just around the corner. So would every other, leaving only gravel tracks to go further. It turns out that I marked a gravel track as our waypoint and have led us into a 35km dead end 🙁 – Ah well, at least these were the nice 35 km. That, unfortunately also removed all hope to get to Pacitan in time tonight. Back where we took the wrong turn, I checked for hotels along the road and found two about 45 km further along. It would be a bit of a push but that seemed doable.

What followed was one of the nicest stretches of road in Indonesia, yet. A winding road led over the mountains towards the sea again. There was barely any traffic. The views were gorgeous and our spirits rose while our butts started to cave. We made it to Panggul on the coast by 5pm and the hotel was within our price range. We even found a warung with a lovely owner staying open for us so that we could get a dinner.

: This looks promising, and less traffic as well.

: At our Coffee stop. Very sweet lady there.

: 3 more seconds. See the deep rut on the right?

: The dent can be bashed back out, miffed about the sticker though …

: and out again. Nice, but a bit costly …

: A last look back

Chaos roaming the world

random pieces of life of Nina and Florian