What's Up Al ? 遊記隨筆 生活點滴

Three weeks just flew by when we were having fun in Jomtien, south of Pattaya ! We thought that it was going to be a long pre-Christmas warm-up, but in actual fact, there were so many sights worth visiting in this old horse of a Thailand tourist city, time just wasn't enough ! Besides, we rented an out-of-the-way apartment in Phra Tam Nak where we just merged and disappeared into local life, hopping on and off the local transport, songthaw, where-ever we went. The rampant tourism-related development had given Pattaya a bad reputation in the past, but we found the present-day Pattaya to be a pleasant, welcoming, friendly, at-ease-with-itself, convenient, calm and all in all, a comfortable city to hang out; during daytime at least. We spent our days lounging in and around the spacious terrace, visiting the Big Buddha, hiking mini-tracks all around the city and beaches, taking time over our lunch (Pad Thai, my favourite !) in pleasant air-con mega-malls, shopping at the many local outlets (many were run by expat Russians !) and just for our memory, each evening was spent, over a scotch and soda, catching up on AGT, BGT and X-Factor on the SmartTV. Wonderful ! In our quiet, low-key compound, we also took time off swimming in the residential pool and enjoyed the mild sunshine in this cooler climate of the year. Truly feeling alive and well, we reluctantly dragged ourselves away and vowed to return soon; a short goodbye we were sure, to this lovely city and we'll meet again !

One could not but marvel at the speed at which Chinese cities progressed in the past ten or so years. When we visited Chongqing (重慶) in 2008, a grand city of over 20 million residents, we were struck by the so-very-few tourists any which way we went. Not so any longer, with the advent of the omni-present High Speed Rail and the construction of eye-catching solidly-designed super bridges and highways, this city located at the strategic confluence of two of the great Chinese rivers (長江) and (嘉陵江), exuded vibrancy and character and the city had since become a magnet of tourists of all persuasion ! Without doubts, the number one talked about "new" must-see spot in Chongqing would be the incomparable Hong Ya Dong (洪崖洞) - basically a massive cave turned into a ten storeys high complex of open-air eateries, entertainment venues and bars, tucked right by the edge of a hill overlooking the river 嘉陵江. Hong Ya Dong seemed plain during daytime but came sun down, the whole place would light up like shining gold bullion and throngs of locals and tourists would rub shoulders and enjoyed getting lost in the myriads of stair cases, tunnels and passageways while mesmerised by the delicious, spicy and pungent whiff of the famous Chongqing hotpots (重慶 麻辣火鍋) ! 
Also, the lack of an underground metro system ten years ago, meant it took us forever in the Chongqing traffic to get from one scenic spot to another; not so anymore, there were close to one hundred metro stations now to ship us around efficiently ! So we visited interesting villages on the outskirt of Chongqing and be back to the city centre with plenty of time left to perform our swimming laps at the end of each wonderful and fulfilling day. For instance, we visited 彈子石, 磁器口古鎮, 長江索道, 塗鴉一條街, 南山一棵樹, 鵝嶺公園, 朝天門, 李子壩 輕軌站, 鴻恩寺森林公園 and Chongqing being a hilly city, many of these scenic spots offered a spectacular view of the famed Chongqing skyline. We greatly appreciated seeing such gigantic progress made in the development of this city and we vowed that we would be back soon for more of the delicious Chongqing noodles and to visit the many places which we left out this time round.

Having a lucky weather break in the Autumn melancholy atmosphere, we spent an entire sunny day at the huge (2 million square meters - that would be about 200 football pitches !) Chongqing (重慶) Garden Expo Park (園博園) where blue sky greeted us every which way we turned. Energised by a steaming bowl of the mouth-watering spicy Chongqing noodles as breakfast, we started our day bright and early for this enormous park where different sections of the park were built with architecture, both in various Chinese provincial themes as well as international designs. For instance, there were pagoda and arch bridges built around the area showcasing the southern China gardens and there were Islamic dome structures constructed in the Near-Eastern-themed gardens as well as many western-styled architecture could be seen at the north American corners of the Expo Park.
Feeling hungry, no worries (!) as we found a local restaurant atop one of these traditional buildings and had a grandstand view over the entire Park as we pigged ourselves silly over dishes of tomato egg foo yung, stirred fried local vegetables and fresh tofu, a well-known dish around Chongqing. The lunch kept us going for another four hours well into the afternoon as finally we dragged ourselves away from this beautiful park and made our way to the Chongqing metro back home for some more swimming as well as a chance to watch a film in the many high-tech cinemas near the walking streets of The Liberation Monument (解放碑 步行街). Worth mentioning, we went home via the intriguing Liziba Metro Station (李子壩 輕軌站), the now-famous station which became a viral Internet hit as the metro trains could be seen going INTO the metro building and being swallowed up ! (See photo below, enjoy !).

Travelling independently by car allowed us to adjust our schedule and we picked a sunny clear period to visit one of the major draw cards for French tourism - Chamonix ! We were absolutely spot on in doing so, because going up the famed Aiguille du Midi (Needles At Midday) could be a dicey business, as high winds could force the closure of the famous cable car at the very last minute and of course a clear blue sunny day up Mont Blanc added 10 times the colors and spectacle of this famous European mountain range. 
Having encountered some of the well known atrocious rainy/sunny/snowy 4-seasons-in-1-day pattern in Switzerland, the weather gradually stablised as we said goodbye to the charming and friendly city of Martigny after spending a sunny morning climbing up the city castle of Chateau de la Batiaz; where the strategic location of Martigny all became apparent because we could see miles of gentle valley all around us, leading in all four directions, thus making this city an important transport hub. We came through the Mont Blanc Tunnel from Aosta to the charming village town of Chamonix. Chamonix surprisingly retained much of the village vibe and leisure pace, considering it had been a magnet of a year-round tourist spot for Summer hikes and Winter sports. We stayed at a modern log cabin look-a-like (multi-levels) just 5 minutes' walk from the cable car entrance of Auguille du Midi but the nice lady at the ticket stall told us we could not buy tickets in advance for tomorrow as the cable cars might not run because of the high winds ! Yikes !

Luckily a bright almost wind-less blue morning greeted us the following day and we bought our tickets to go on the 16th cable car of the day (about 30 minutes after buying the tickets) and were stuck with a large group of muscular Asian Mama who elbowed their way in all directions to get to advantageous view points inside the cable car ... ha hum ... The first sensation which awaited us at the top was in fact, a drop of more than 30 degrees, from a mild 25 C at the starting point to a wind-chilled -10 C up at the peaks ! We were prepared with woollys alright but we saw backpackers wearing flimsy T-shirts trying to pull up their ankle socks up to their shins to cover their bare thighs ! (They ended up in the warm coffee shop for most of their sight-seeing ...). All around us was stunning snowy peaks framed against a cobalt blue sky, with dramatic glacier gorging deep into the mountains of Mont Blanc - truly one of the most photogenic places we had ever come across. There were also adrenaline-filled sports addicts with their skis and ice climbing gears who braved the descent back down to Chamonix, zig-zag-ing across the steep fields of blanketing snow ! We spent a good 6 hours up at the peak and took a picnic lunch at the midway point (Plan Du Auguille) and that was one of the most interesting and spectacular days in all our journeys. The fun did not stop there as the following day, we hiked up to the view point of Glacier Des Bossons and managed to witness and videoed a mini-avalanche (see video above !). We said our fond farewell to this lovely spot in the world and drove on to the Black Forest of Germany and had the famous Gateau as a mid-morning coffee break one day before flying back home from Munich. The Black Forest Gateau was a fitting reward for such an adventurous journey !