我的世界地图: October 2009

Monday, October 19, 2009

Travel ideas for Italy

I have not been to Italy, but i planned the 6 days 5 nights Italy trip, covering 6 cities for my sister and her husband. I feel so proud of myself and below is my achievement :)

Route : London - Rome - Vatican City - Pisa - Florence - Venice - Milan - London

Accomodation :
2 nights in Rome (Vittoria B&B)
1 night in Florence ( International Student House Florence)
1 night in Venice (Hotel Alloggi Agli Artisti)
1 night in Milan (Hotel Demo)

International / National Transport :

London Stansted Airport - Rome Ciampino Airport (Ryanair) , 96.54gbp for 2pax
Rome Termini Railway Station - PISA C
PISA C / PISA AE station - Florence Santa Maria Novella (FI SMN)
Florence Santa Maria Novella (FI SMN) - Venice Santa Lucia Train Station
Venice Santa Lucia Train Station - Milan Central Staion (Trenitalia)
Milan Bergamo ( a.k.a Orio al Serio) Airport - London Stansted Airport (Ryanair)

Airport Transfer :

Return train London Liverpool Street to London Stansted Airport, 53.6gbp for 2 pax
Bus from Rome Ciampino Airport to Roma Termini Railway Staion (walking distance to Vittoria B&B)
Bus from Milan Central Station to Milan Bergamo ( a.k.a Orio al Serio) Airport

Local Transport :

1 day Rome Day Pass
Pisa bus, taxi, train
Florence bus, taxi, train
Venice Vaporetti Pass
1 day Milan Day Pass

Activities :

Day 1
530am arrive London Liverpool Street Station ( zone 1)
555am train depart from London Liverpool Street Station to London Stansted Airport (reservation xxx)
642am train arrive at London Stansted Airport at 642am, ready to check in
840am flight depart from London Stansted Airport to Rome Ciampino Airport (reservation xxx)
1205pm flight arrive at Rome Ciampino Airport
flexible time bus from Rome Ciampino Airport to Roma Termini Railway Station, 40 minutes journey
approximate 2pm arrive at Roma Termini Railway Station
5 mins walk from Roma Termini Railway Station to Vittoria B&B
Check in Vitorria B&B (reservation xxx)
3pm start to self explore around Rome on foot

Day 2
Breakfast included
Buy Rome Day Pass from Roma Termini Railway Station
Self explore around Vatican City (early morning) on foot, tram, metro, bus, self explore
self explore around Rome on foot, tram, metro, bus, self explore

Day 3
Breakfast included
Check out and keep luggage with hotel
Self explore around Rome on foot, tram, metro, bus, self explore
Back to hotel, collect luggage, walk to Roma Termini Railway Station
1209pm depart from Roma Termini Railway Station to Pisa C. (no reservation. Buy when you are there)
415pm arrive Pisa C
travel around Pisa
1030pm depart from PISA C / PISA AE station (no reservation. Buy when you are there)
1150pm arrive Florence Santa Maria Novella (FI SMN) Station
2 mins walk from Florence Santa Maria Novella (FI SMN) Station to International Student House Florence
Check in International Student House Florence (no reservation. Buy when you are there)

Day 4
Breakfast NOT included
check out from International Student House Florence
travel around Florence
1237pm depart from Florence Santa Maria Novella (FI SMN) Station (reservation xxx)
317 pm arrive Venezia Santan Lucia Station
5 mins walk from Venezia Santa Lucia Station to Hotel Alloggi Agli Artisti
Check in (reservation xxx)
4pm start to self explore around Venice on foot, boat, water taxi, canal, condola etc

Day 5
Breakfast included
Tour around Venice on foot
12noon check out from hotel, 5 mins walk to Venezia Santa Lucia Station
1250pm train depart from Venezia Santa Lucia Station to Milan (reservation xxx)
325pm arrive at Milano Centrale Station
5 mins walk from Milano Centrale Station to Hotel Demo
Check in Hotel Demo ( reservation xxx)
4pm start to self explore around Milan on foot

Day 6
Breakfast included
Check out and keep luggage with hotel
Buy Milan Day Pass from Milano Centrale Station
Self explore around Milan on foot, tram, metro, bus, self explore
Back to hotel, collect luggage, walk to Milano Centrale Station
1 hour bus journey from Milano CentraleTrain Station to Milan Bergamo (a.k.a Oria al Serio) Airport
320pm arrive at Milan Bergamo (a.k.a Oria al Serio) Airport and ready to check in
520pm flight depart from Milan Bergamo (a.k.a Orio al Serio) Airport to London (reservation xxx)
620pm arrive at London Stansted Airport
Train ( available every 15mins) from London Stansted Airport back to London Liverpool Street Station
approximate 8pm arrive London Liverpool Street Station

What should i bring for my next trip?

1) a lot of snacks such as chocolate, candy, raisin, cookies...

2) memory card for my camera if i do not have the chance to transfer photos to laptop. 3G is just not enough for two weeks.

3) more sanitary pads so that i can use freely and no need to use it on budget

4) body shampoo, shampoo, hair conditioner and body lotion. To be specific, body lotion is a must, as well as sunblock. Never assume that i have the sunblock and can use it as body lotion.

5) will be really good to have a hat or cap

6) at least two universal power plug adapters. One is simply not enough for the night to charge the laptop, handphone, blackberry, camera etc

7) contact lenses

8) sunglasses

9) raincoat or water proof jacket with hood

10) laundry powder or detergent

11) reading material

12) head lamp ( if it's a outdoor adventurous trip)

13) alcohol swaps or sterilizer

14) dairy and pen to write

15) additional bagpack besides trolley bag

16) first aid kit with medicine

Hiking to Tam Dao Peak at Vietnam

No, i didn't make it. The hike took 8 hours from 815 early in the morning and back to our hotel at 415PM.

Reasons i'm not joining :

1) I'm not fit for mountain hiking. Thank God i didn't go! All my friends came back and told me the hike was crazy!

2) I need more rest after days of on site Earthwatch Butterflies of Vietnam Project

3) I would like to save my energy fo the next day and day after, my Halong Bay trip

4) I need to recover from giant leech bite!!!

5) I rather not to push myself too hard. I'm not good at self motivation when come to hiking and i don't have a strong determination to conquest Tam Dao Peak

I stayed at the hotel room doing my laundry, reading, writing dairy, book my flight, nap, chatting with locals and called home.

It was so leisure, relax, with a lot of free time and taking photo of my wound dressing in toilet paper!!!

No personal laptop with me, and the internet cafe with six computers and very slow connection located quite a distance away from my hotel.

I spent time on day dreaming, thinking, eating the local fruit snacks... it was a different experience and i enjoyed it very much.

I was trying to play with plater but it jut simply didn't work well.

Conclusion, plaster with tobacco still the best solution :)

Business Class vs. Economy Class

1) seat of cause

2) hot tower, warm and refreshing vs. cold tissue paper with weird pfeeling

3) variaty of juices, wine, champagne, anything you can think of as welcome drink vs. orange juice and coke

4) drinks in a glass vs. serve up in plastic cup or paper cup

5) travel kit vs. nothing or very basic

6) pillow and blanket vs. nothing or totally different quality pillow and blanket

7) newspaper, magazine for everyone, just ask for it vs. only a few copies of newspaper at the entrance, if you are late, it will be taken by others

8) wonderful in flight entertainment from choices of multilingual music, news, drama, tv show, games, movie, information... with high quality sound system vs. everyone watching the big screen with lousy headphone

9) flight attendants who address you by name and smile to you vs. not friendly flight attendants with high ego

10) great lounge before you start your journey vs. loitering around

11) priority check-in, luggage allowance, immigration fast lane vs. queuing, queuing, and more queuing

12) premium fine dining food vs. packed meal

13) PRICE!!!

Language

I find it very difficult to travel in Germany because all the train announcements are in German, without any English translation. I can’t understand the message and start to check for written announcement, notice board etc. Too bad, all are in German only.

When my train is delayed, I’m so worried and lost. I will never know if my train is being rescheduled, canceled or just changed of platform? I will never know. I asked the officer or public but they speak very limited English.

Same feeling when I was at Tokyo. The younger generation speaks better English yet less friendly, at the other hand, the seniors are very passionate to help out using both Japanese language and body language.

This happen again when I was at Americas. In Brazil, the Portuguese while Spanish in Chile and Mexico. I’m a dumb!!! Now I know how much I love English even though I speak broken English and wish to travel to Mandarin speaking countries.

I have a dream. I wish to use my language talent - Mandarin in my career. I can read, write and speak one of the upcoming most important language in the world! I should make full use of it in my business!

Saturday, October 10, 2009

枫叶之国

２００９年的冬末初春，我在加拿大的蒙特利尔 (Montreal).

蒙特利尔位于魁北克 (Quebec) 省南部, 是加拿大第二大城市。多伦多（Toronto) 是加拿大第一大城市，而温哥华（Vancouver) 则是加拿大第三大城市。第四大城市- 渥太華(Ottawa) 也是加拿大的首都。

我从温暖的南美洲－巴西, 乘上10 小时的加拿大航空（Air Canada) 到北美洲．我在多伦多的转机2.5个小时，清晨时分抵达蒙特利尔，温度介于－１０＇C 至　5'C　之间．少少的阳光, 常有风, 天气还是冷冷的, 四周围可见还未溶化的冰雪.

由于不是秋天，我没有机会赏枫，却遇上了采集枫糖浆（Maple Syrup）的季节. 加拿大的枫树种类繁多,只有好几种的枫树可以产出枫糖浆. 而在魁北克省处处可见枫树林, 其枫糖浆产量更为全球之冠.

采集枫树树液的过程与我国割胶有点相像　：

"农夫在树龄超过40年的糖枫树上钻一个深入树干约5公分的洞，并插上导管，挂上收集糖枫树树液的桶子，让树液慢慢地滴进桶里。只有在夜间0摄氏度以下，白天5摄氏度以上，才能采出枫树液. 当地的“枫糖小屋”由原木搭建，小屋里有专门熬制枫糖浆的大锅, 温度一般保持在水沸点以上4摄氏度。大约30公升到45公升的树液才能提炼出1公升的枫糖浆. "　

各种各样的包装来自不同的枫糖浆食品公司, 1976 的老字号 Turkey Hill 算是当中的佼佼者.

枫糖浆一般上就直接加在 waffle, pancake 或 toast 上. 也可以当热饮如茶，咖啡，巧克力的糖源和调味剂. 烹饪, 烘烤甜品糕点糖果等等枫糖浆都会被派上场. 感觉上枫糖浆有点像蜜糖, 但是枫糖浆的营养价值却比蜜糖高.

在当地很受欢迎的一种枫糖浆吃法，我自取了一个名字－冰雪上的枫浆棒棒糖！

首先，煮一锅的枫糖浆．乘着等待的当儿，在木板上铺上厚厚雪做预备．

把煮的沸腾的枫糖浆直接淋在雪上．要注意淋成一条美丽的直线，大约３－５公分的宽度．

枫糖浆会慢慢的凝固．把吃冰淇淋的小木棒放在枫糖浆的其中一端，待用．

大约三分钟后，利用小木棒把刚刚凝结，还是微软的枫糖浆卷起来

好啦! 加拿大式的 "麦芽糖" 新鲜出炉!!!　

除了枫糖浆，我还带回国不少的枫叶纪念品，其中右下角的 Canadian Jade 枫叶型项链是我的最爱. 穿着它, 我会想起冰天雪地的加拿大.

Butterflies of Vietnam Earthwatch Expedition

I'm lucky enough to be one of 24 employees worldwide being awarded a British American Tobacco Earthwatch Employee Fellowship in 2008. I participated as a field assistant in the Butterflies of Vietnam Earthwatch Expedition and together with me during the escapade was Nafisa Usmanova from BAT Uzbekistan . Butterflies of Vietnam is an international scientific field research expedition to study butterflies in the protected Tam Dao National Park , leads by Dr. Vu Van Lien.

I received a lot of blessings, as well as interesting questions from GSD colleagues before I left for the expedition. Most common questions were: why butterflies? Are you going to catch them? What you do with the butterflies? Therefore, I think it’s necessary to share with everyone the research aims :

To detect temporal changes in butterfly populations
Using the results to inform butterfly conservation management practices
Continue effort in monitoring local butterflies over the long-term to reveal stabilization
Conservation of butterflies as well as forests and other ecosystems viability of Tam Dao’s luxuriant hillside forest.

Dr. Vu is a local ecologist who serves as the Principle Investigate for Butterflies of Vietnam since 2002. He is assisted by Mr. Anh and Mr. Viet, both local researchers. Besides Nafisa and I from BAT, four Singaporean volunteers sponsored by HSBC and four independent volunteers from United States were in the team. A German photographer was with us throughout the expedition. We were from different walks of life yet being linked for the same mission: biodiversity and environment.

The expedition started with classroom training and briefing by Dr. Vu.

We did some butterfly specimens as well.

Let me start with Vietnam, followed by Tam Dao and lastly the butterflies transects. Socialist Republic of Vietnam is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia, with a population of over 86 million. Tam Dao is a protected area zone in North Vietnam. The park is about 85 km northwest of Hanoi (capitol of Vietnam) and has more than 20 peaks with an altitude of over 1000m.

Transect is a path along which we record and count occurrences of the phenomenon of butterflies. This is a way of sampling populations and measuring the changes between at least two areas. We walked and hiked over a distance of 3 - 12 kilometres on transects for approximately 3 - 8 hours daily, carrying 3 – 5 kilograms load. Our butterfly transects include:

1,200 uneven steps covered in moss and mud
950 meters up to 1,450 meters through forest and over slippery stones. The ground is mostly wet due to plant cover blocking the sun
700 meters along a narrow and uneven path in the forest.
2 km/1.2 mi around the Tam Dao tourist area on the forest edge.
2 km/1.2 mi of new road currently being constructed with small rocks in some places.

Field Activities
The first field activity was to identify butterflies by sight e.g. distinguishing between butterflies and moths, identifying families and common species . The presence/absence and abundance of butt erfly specie s, esp ecially fo r e st indicator an d rare species, were recorded on different butterfly transects.

Butterflies were collected using butterfly net. Ideally, the butterfl y should be caught in a sweeping motion that drives it into the end of the net, so that the net can be twisted over to prevent it from escaping. If th e butterfly settles on the ground, drop the framework over it and hold the net up. When the butterfly flies upwards, sweep the net below to imprison it (see the picture).

Once we caught the butterfly in the net, next step is to take the butterfly out without harming it. In order to do this I’m extremely careful not to grab the wings. In fact, Dr. Vu demonstrated how to gently trap the head in between two fingers (one finger on top, one on the bottom) and hold on softly.

We observed and recorded butterflies informatio n (species and count) into datasheets. Vegetation and forest types of all transect have been documented as well as any changes and disturbances of vegetation along transects.

During the field work, we were looking for eggs, caterpillars, pupas and food p lants for butterfly caterpillars.

Eggs and caterpillars were collected and raised to adults in transparent plastic boxes and breeding cages with dimensions of 30cm to 50cm.

Caterpillars are supplied with fresh food plants daily. Breeding boxes and cages are cleaned regularly. Information on the life cycles of butterflies and biota such as temperature and humidity were recorded. We observed the ecology and behavior of butterflies and each species.

Monday, October 5, 2009

On my own way to Hamburg Lubeck Airport, Germany

After a few trips to UK and experiences in France and Holland, again, I stepped into Europe and this time, my destination was Germany. I flied in from London Stansted Airport to Hamburg Lubeck Airport that approximately took 1.5 hours.

I was quite relax because my wonderful friend, WT did all the enquiries with tourist information counter, reading the train map, finding out the bus route and time table, planning for the places to visit etc. But I felt the real stress when we said goodbye at Berlin bus station and I had to get myself to Hamburg Lubeck Airport by train. I made three stops for interchange at Messe Nord (1630) – Sudkreuz (1730) – Buchen (1930) – Lubeck (2000).

I dare not sleep. I was alert all the time so that I won’t miss the stops. I analyzed the train map to make sure I’m taking the right train. I memorized the train number, platform number and departure time in order to be on time at the right place. I was so stressful, worried, tension and not fun at all. That wasn’t what I want for a holiday and my white hair was growing because of that. Furthermore, I can’t speak nor read German. If something bad happen, I might miss my flight to pay off the expensive lesson learnt. At that moment, I strongly felt how important WT is and so nice to have a travel partner like WT with me.

Well, the train arrived at Lubeck Airport Station and a few passengers went down the train. I couldn’t see the station signboard and I was in my nap mode. Inside the train, there were still a lot of passengers with big bags and luggages. I assumed that the station was not Lubeck Airport Station. The train stared to move again… a girl sitting in front of me told me that the station was Lubeck Airport Station!!! And we were now heading to the next station - Lubeck City Center!!!

I planned to take a taxi from Lubeck City Center Station to Lubeck Airport Station. Thank God the girl suggested a better idea. She asked me to take the next train from Lubeck City Center Station back to Lubeck Airport Station that take around 15 minutes only. Waited for the next train and finally I made it to Lubeck Aiport and flied back to London via Ryan Air.