Planes Trains & Fast Cars

Planes Trains & Fast Cars is Getting a Face Lift

2011-09-15T20:25:00.000+01:00

Planes Trains & Fast Cars is moving to a new domain with a new blogging host, which means a sleeker and nicer looking blog site. I've also decided to separate the supercar reviews from the travel blog, and give both blogs shorter and easier to remember names.

The supercar review blog is now called "iheartfastcars" and has been moved to: www.iheartfastcars.com Check it out!

As for the travel blog, that's a work in progress. I'll keep you posted.

WIBlog - Travel News from Where I've Been: The A-Z of Traveling Across China

2011-09-07T09:24:00.000+01:00

I was a guest blogger for the Where I've Been Blog, click on the below link to see what I wrote:

WIBlog - Travel News from Where I've Been: The A-Z of Traveling Across China

The Three Gorges is Anything But Gorgeous

2011-08-23T10:01:00.000+01:00

Who ever said that the Three Gorges on the Yangze River have been an inspiration to artists and poets must have either been on crack or these said artists must have been painting very dark and depressing images.

From the moment we left Xi'an, it all started going wrong. First, we boarded a 15 hour overnight sleeper train to Chongqing, which really isn't so bad, the beds are actually comfortable and I managed to get about 7 hours of sleep. Nevertheless, it is a long time to travel. Then after our 15 hour train journey, we had a 5 hour coach transfer, followed by a half hour taxi transfer to the dock, where there was no boat. Great! We were told that the boat is a bit delayed due to bad weather, and that it would arrive in 4 hours. That's more than 24 hours in transit, no shower, stranded in the middle of nowhere Chongqing region --how lovely.

Our arrival in Chongqing got quite a reaction from the locals. Did we really look that bad?

Our boat was supposed to be docked there, but wasn't. The body of water in the distance is the Yangze River.

One of the ways we killed time was having an early group dinner. Our local guide told us that the town we were in was famous for its "hot pot" style food, so that's what we ended up having for dinner. We went to the restaurant on the opposite side of the dock, and the restaurant itself was surprisingly nice and modern yet the prices were in-line with other local places (approx £4 per head without drinks). It looked promising. The table I was sat at ordered a "non-spicy" chicken hot pot that we all shared. For those of you who are unfamiliar with Chinese "hot pot", it's a large pot of spicy (even if it's listed as non-spicy) broth and bits of chicken, beef or fish, vegetables, noodles, and/or tofu mixed in. I like to call it "the pot of surprises", as I was surprised to find an entire chicken head in my soup ladle, and another person found a chicken foot. In China, no part of the chicken goes to waste.

This was the surprise I found in my soup ladle, a chicken head. It's a more exciting surprise than the one you find in a Cracker Jacks box, that's for sure!

Hot Pot with it's "surprises" -deeericious!

I'm quite adventurous when it comes to food, but I do draw the line at chicken heads, feet, and chewing on cartilage. At that dinner, I ended up sticking to the steamed rice and tofu. The traditional hot pot (AKA "pot of surprises") was by far my least favourite dish I've sampled in China.

After a fail dinner, we ended up walking around town and drinking beers until our boat finally arrived at 9:30pm. We were all so ecstatic at the thought of finally being able to shower and sleep on a normal bed. Sadly, the boat did not welcome us with open arms as we were hoping. We found cockroaches in our room and no running water in any of the rooms. Could this part of the trip get any worse? We were told that the boat had to switch off the running water whilst it was docked overnight, so that meant no use of water until 6am the following morning. After being in transit for more than 24 hours in 33C humid weather, this is the last bit of information you want to hear. But somehow we all managed not to lose our cool and we just got on with it. It's all part of the adventure, right?

After a full night's sleep and a lukewarm but very much missed shower, we went to the upper deck to see these famed gorges. As we passed by the first one, my reaction was: "Really? That's it? And what's so beautiful about it again?". Perhaps I'm a bad judge of natural beauty, but I honestly didn't see what the big deal was.

Chinese flag and the gorges

Really? That's what all the fuss is about with these Gorges?

We spent a few hours on the upper deck reading and playing cards --there really wasn't anything else to do on that boat. We waited until the boat docked at a small town called Wushan, where we had a few hours to stretch our legs and beat our boredom. Wushan was built only 10 years ago, as a result of the destructive 1998 Yangze floods which left millions homeless. For a "town" that's only 10 years old, it surprisingly has 600,000 inhabitants and feels like a massive thriving centre on par with a capital city in Europe. But then again the scale of things in China is about 100 times larger than us Westerners can relate to in our home countries.

The Chinese love their stairs! Look where this set of stairs end.

The small town of Wushan

A view of our boat docked near the Wushan port

This is certainly not the entrance to the Love Boat!

There wasn't really much to see in Wushan, like any other busy town it had a selection of shops, a market, no landmarks as it was a new town-- that's it really.

The following morning our boat trip finally had come to an end -hallejlujah! We packed our bags and left the boat at 7am, I couldn't be happier. However, the discomforts were not over yet. It was going to be another long journey until our final stop in mainland China, and that train departed in the late evening from a town 6 hours away. So what were we going to do with an entire day of time to kill? We had no choice but to visit the Three Gorges Dam. Personally, I wasn't interested to pay the rip off entrance fee of £23 to spend 2 hours at a dam. Yes, £23! You can feed the entire Chinese army at the night market with that money. Well, it was either cough up the money and see the dam or sit on the bus, when we had a good 6 hours drive on that very bus to the train station. I chose the former.

To be frank, the Three Gorges Dam is quite impressive when you see it in person. And when you see the stats, it really is a feat of engineering marvel. It has the largest power stations in the world, with a maximum power generation capacity of 100 billion kilowatts/hour. The dam is 2,3 km long, 185m above sea level, 124m thick at the bottom and 15m thick at the top. It took China 15 years to build the dam, from 1994 to 2009. It is has been in operation for the past couple years, but work is still progressing on a ship lift, which will move ships from one side of the dam to the other in under 30 minutes. When the ship lift will be complete in 2014, it will hold the world record for the largest and fastest ship lift. The Chinese never cease to impress with their innovations.

An aerial view of the dam

My view of the dam on a typical hot muggy summer's day

After our visit to the Three Gorges Dam, we had an oh-so-pleasant 6 hours coach journey. Again, we entertained ourselves with card games and gambling for beers playing "Liar's Poker". We arrived in Wuhan (not to be confused with Wushan), and we embarked on our 15 hour over-night sleeper train to a modern town called "Guilin". From there, we had a 1.5 hour coach journey to our final mainland China destination, which was one of the most picturesque stops on this trip, Yangshuo. Finally, the nightmare of the Three Gorges started to fade away in the distant past.

Xi'an: It's Not All About the Terracotta Warriors

2011-08-20T16:15:00.000+01:00

Before embarking on my trip to China, I didn't do much detailed research on Xi'an. All I knew was that it was home to the Terracotta Army and home to one of the best dumpling restaurants in China (according to a few friends who've been there). For some reason I assumed Xi'an would be calm quaint village. It was anything but that. The "village" of Xi'an is inhabited by over 8 million people, which is the same population as London. It's also a very modern city with it's own international airport which makes LAX look like a dump, many brand new shopping centres, plenty of globalised retail outlets and food/coffee chains (5 Starbucks shops!), and a metro system being built. Xi'an was certainly a far cry from being considered a small sleepy village that I originally assumed it would be.

The Starbucks near my hotel where I had my morning caffeine fix. The Chinese aren't really coffee drinkers, they prefer tea, so finding a good cup of joe was a mission. If I saw a Starbucks, I had to stop! It was like a godsend.

Another thing about Xi'an that took me by surprise, is the big Muslim community. I didn't think any city on our route across China would have a Muslim population, I thought it would be purely Buddhist. Islam was first introduced to China in the mid-7th century to Northwest China by Arab merchants and travellers from Persia and Afghanistan. Those travellers settled and married the local women, so that's how it started in the northwest, Shaanxi region where Xian is the capital.

The Muslim Quarter is a must see in Xian, it has an expansive market where you can find all kinds of Chinese souvenirs (silks, chopsticks, and cheesey bric-a-brack) as well as fresh fruits, sweets, pastries, and handmade art. It's a bargainer's paradise! Rule of thumb, start the bargaining at 10%-25% of the price they quote you. Yes, they inflate their prices so much in the markets as they expect you to bargain with them! It's a game they love in mainland China.

Entrance to the market in the Muslim Quarter in Xi'an

Regional folk art

A series of birdcages. Each cage would have 1 male bird, the next a female; that way they sing to each other

Me in Xi'an's Muslim Quarter

A massive stack of steamed bun pans

Vegetarains & Vegans, cover your eyes! We made a wrong turn in the market and went down butcher's alley, There was a lot of raw meat and animal carcasses piled everywhere in not the most hygienic conditions. In the 36C heat & humidity the smell was not the most pleasant.

Apart from the market, the Muslim Quarter is also home to the oldest and best preserved mosque in China. The Great Mosque of Xi'an was built in 742 under the Tang Dynasty, it features a unique combination of Muslim and traditional Chinese architectural elements.

Me at the Xi'an Mosque

Right next to the Muslim Quarter is the famous Xi'an Drum Tower, overlooking the city. It was built more than 600 years ago during the Ming Dynasty. The Drum Tower, as you would guess, contained a number of drums! Back in the 1300s the drums were beaten at dawn and dust to mark the beginning and end of each day. Nowadays, it houses a drum museum and there's a drum performance put on every so often for tourists.

Xi'an Drum Tower. This photo was taken from Starbucks -that's globalisation for ya!

The Drum Tower had a sister building called the Xi'an Bell Tower. It was built during the same time as the Drum Tower during the Ming Dynasty. There are a few outlandish legends (all pertaining to dragons) as to why the Bell Tower was built. In these days, it serves the exact same purpose as it's sister building.

The Bell Tower performance

"What about the food?" you ask. Ah, that my friends, was something that my tummy happily reminisces at the thought of local delicacies in Xi'an. Firstly, my travel mates and I tried the famous dumpling house, which is not only claimed to be one of the best in China, but they're famous for making dumplings in the shape of what's inside them. So we had to try it out! And the verdict: win!

Me & the ginormous gold dumpling

Chicken shaped dumpling, guess what kind of meat was inside?

Seafood dumplings meant to look like sea sponges and corals

hot pot

Xi'an is also famous for their lamb soup, called "pao mo", I had to try it! The best pao mo was served in small cafs in the Muslim Quarter. My Mandarin speaking friend brought me and another Westerner to one of these hole in the wall places which according to the locals, had the best pao mo in town. The moment we walked in, everyone stopped eating and stared. Obviously, that cafe didn't get many Westerners, and not a single thing was written in English, forget trying to communicate in English. I asked my friend if she could teach me how to say, "I would like one of those please" in Mandarin, which I said awkwardly to the girl behind the counter. She giggled and smiled. I gave her my 20 Yuan ($3), and she gave me a token with the number 77. She said out loud "shee shu chi", and I repeated it. When I went back to my table, I listened intently for my number to be called. I thought I heard it, and jumped and screamed as if I got called to be the next contestant on the Price is Right. "Oooh that's me!". And yep, I got it right. The staff high fived me and the locals smiled at me. Once when I sat down to try the soup, my taste buds were dancing and singing! It was an awesome day.

Pao Mo in all its glory

Since this is blog entry is about Xi'an I probably should mention the Terracotta Warriors, the main attraction of the region of Shaanxi. For those of you who aren't familiar, the Terracotta Warriors are a collection of 8,000 life-sized warrior statues made of terracotta clay. They were built in 200BC as burial art for the first Chinese Emperor's tomb and were meant to protect him and his wife in their afterlives. The amazing thing about the Terracotta Warriors is that they were only first excavated 37 years ago. So they have been underground untouched, no one knew about them for over 2,000 years! Now they're a World Heritage sight and the main reason why Xi'an is on the China tourist map.

Look at the intricate details on the soldier's face. Can you imagine how much work that must have been to create 8,000 of these?

This is a colour photo of the Terracotta Warriors when they were first excavated in 1974. Notice that the colours are still in tact after 2,000 years.

When in China, do as the Chinese do! That means take photos when there's a sign that says "no photo"

Lastly, my travel mates and I had the wonderful experience of going to a local karaoke place when we were in Xi'an. Our local guide was a big fan of karaoke, and it is a big trend in China, so might as well try it out. He knew exactly where to take us, and it was a place that resembled a five star hotel with granite and chandeliers. We had our own room which came equipped with several microphones and instruments (tambourines, maracas, etc). It was a very posh affair, that's for sure! My memory of karaoke bars back home were always in grotty cheap bars. We ended up having fun straining our vocal chords and giving each other headaches, of course, much alcohol was needed to get everyone's participation.

That's pretty much everything from Xi'an. From here our next stop would be on a boat in the Yangze River to see the famous Three Gorges. As usual, this would require 14 hours on a sleeper train to Chongqing. Followed by a 4 hour coach transfer, then a 30 mins bumpy taxi ride to the dock, and about a 4 hour wait for our boat to arrive. This is when things started to get a bit uncomfortable and not so fun....

"Engrish" and Other Cultural Differences in China

2011-08-11T11:46:00.000+01:00

In my recent trip to Asia, I encountered "Engrish" just about everywhere. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the term "Engrish", it refers to the incorrect translation of the English language found in many East Asian countries. Typically, this is found in the form of incorrect grammar or phrases that are completely lost in translation. In either case, it's quite funny and endearing at the same time. Here is my collection of "Engrish" photos to lighten up your mood and divert your attention away from BBC breaking news for a bit.

I bought this one for myself, it's too good!

Here's an example of "lost in translation"

..This one too!

Old yogurt? Erm, I'd rather have it fresh

This one's a bit hard to read, it says; "The Pure Ecological Beer is suitability majority of people and all the seasons"..Huh?

"Are you enemy?"..Should I be?

I love the potato references, so random!

The thought of climbing a dinner table in a restaurant never crossed my mind

This one you can at least understand the gist of what they're trying to say.

How to use a Western toilet, enjoy!

This was in my hotel in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Engrish is present there!

As you can see, I was quite amused by all the quirky Engrish I stumbled upon during my trip. The English language is certainly not easy to learn, so I don't blame them for making mistakes, but it's the way they do it that I find so endearing. I can't help but smile when I see it.

Apart from English writing errors, there were quite a bit of cultural differences that stood out to me in China, some a bit shocking and others just plain quirky. Here they are for your reading pleasure:

1. Funny Hats

They really love their funny hats in China. I'm guessing this is mainly to protect their face from the sun, but not all the hats have this function. Maybe it's just their colourful way of expressing themselves? In any case, I'm a big fan of silly, so bring on the silly hats!

I saw loads of these hats being worn. I'm not quite sure of the purpose of them, they don't really protect your face from the sun

Umbrella hat lady chatting with spider head massage hat lady

2. Men Wearing their Shirts Rolled up
This is a very common sighting in mainland China, men (of all ages) walking around with their shirts rolled up exposing their bellies. I'm guessing they do this to cope with the heat; it was approximately 36C and 80% humid everyday, so perhaps that's why. Or it might have something to do with just finishing a big meal and showing off a full satisfied belly? Either way, it was something that I noticed to be different from Western customs.

3. Bizarre Foods
This can be said for anywhere you travel outside your own country. Any foreign destination is bound to have "bizarre foods", and it's very subjective. There were definitely some "different" culinary delights --some of which I tried, others which I simply couldn't! Apart from the delicacies I found at the night markets,, here are some foods I personally found a bit bizarre:

I found that chicken head and foot in the chicken hot pot we ordered. The foot isn't all that uncommon, but the chicken head surprised me.

The name of this popular drink in Hong Kong sounds appalling, but the taste is very similar to Gatorade or a Lucozade minus the extra sugary flavouring and food colouring.

Dried crunchy squid, not quite the calamari we typically get at home.

Dodgy looking dried sea cucumber

Beijing night market delights

Fried insects from the Beijing night market. I didn't see this in any of my other stops in China, so I'm guessing they have this just to freak out and entertain all the tourists, Western and Chinese.

Local snail dish in Yangshuo. Snails are not that unusual, "escargot "is a common luxurious dish in France. But for some people this would seem "bizarre". I found it tasty, the snail meat reminded me of Middle Eastern lamb kofta.

I saw this Borneo, roasted crunchy anchovy snacks --yum

4. Spitting
Nobody forewarned me of the common occurrence of public spitting in mainland China. I noticed it on my first day in Beijing when a man walked right next to me, cleared his throat and spit on the ground. Of course my initial reaction was disgust, but I thought perhaps he's just recovering from a really bad flu and had no patience to be discreet. I'll just ignore it. But then it was every third person passing me by doing the same, men and women, young and old, on the street, and even in restaurants. It took me a few days to train my ears to block out the noise. I certainly won't let it damper my enthusiasm for everything I've seen and loved in China. But it is a strange custom that still baffles me.

Now in Hong Kong and Macau, it's completely the opposite, spitting is completely frowned upon and punishable by fine. I saw this mural in Macau which I found a bit amusing:

In Macau, a 600 HK$ (approx £60) fine can be issued for spitting

Shanghai - A Scene from Blade Runner

2011-08-08T12:14:00.000+01:00

Bright multi-coloured lights, computerised voices coming from every direction, millions of people coming and going like blurred photography, skyscrapers towering over from every corner; this is how Ridley Scott envisioned the future. The uncanny resemblance can be found in the city of Shanghai.

I fell in love with Shanghai within the first 24 hours. Firstly, I was taken away by the beautiful contrasting architecture. On one side of the Hangpu River, is the modern skyline of the Pudong (Financial District of Shangai), and on the other is the art deco European inspired architecture. It's a feast for any architecture lover's eyes!

The skyline of the Financial District overlooking the Hangpu River

a close up of the Oriental Pearl Radio & TV tower

The art deco European style building on the other side of the Hangpu River along "The Bund" promenade

This is the futuristic looking river boat we took to see all the skyscrapers lit up at night. Each building a different animated light display.

Here is part of the lightshow in action. The photo doesn't capture an iota of how magnificent and large scale this is in real life.

...And another photo of the amazing lit up skyline from the river front.

The art deco buildings on the other side of the river were also lit up showing off their old style grandeur.

I was not only taken away by the architecture, but the multitude of colourful lights everywhere was so magical and yet so predictable of China. The main shopping promenade, Nanjing Road, is a prime example of that. It was overloaded with colourful neon signs, millions of people, and electronic voices coming from every shop you passed by. I felt like I had been transported to the future, a future where China is the leading super power and everything is electronic, just as it's depicted in the film, Blade Runner.

Nanjing Road

Nanjing Road and the crowds of people

lit up neon signs on Nanjing Road

trying not to get lost on Nanjing Road!

Transformer themed clothing in a shop window

"Kung Fu", a local fast food chain, serving noodle dishes, rice dishes, dumplings, etc.

Sticking to the futuristic theme that Shanghai seems to don so well, I was impressed with a very kitschy tourist trap called the "Sight Seeing Tunnel". It's a tunnel undernearth the Hangpu River where you sit in a small slow moving pod, witness an impressive colourful light show whilst futuristic electronic music is played in the background, and you ride into the future! So it's not really a sight seeing tunnel per se, it's more of a trippy lightshow tunnel for tourists.

Modern futuristic characteristics of Shanghai aside, the city boasts of old Chinese tradition as well. One such example of this is the Yuyuan Gardens. The gardens were built back in 1559 during the Ming dynasty; they have survived several centuries of natural and war disasters as well as enemy occupations. To this day Yuyuan Gardens is a national landmark and a prime example of Chinese gardening and landscaping that is immitated in private gardens throughout the world. This sight was my absolute favourite throughout my entire journey in China! My collection of photos hardly capture the breathtaking beauty of the Yuyuan Gardens, it must be witnessed in person.

koi fish

a view of the Yuyuan Garden rooftops and a skyscraper in the background

The dragon details on the rooftops were exquisite. Chinese tradition states that the dragon symbolises power, strenght, and good luck. It has been typically used as a symbol for the Emperor.

Just outside Yuyuan Gardens is the famous Huxinting tea house and Yuyuan Market. The tea house was built in 1784, and it is the oldest in Shanghai. I had the most amazing cup of oolong ever here!

Huxinting Tea House and the zig zag bridge

As for Yuyuan Market, it is also worth perusing. The market itself is all contained within the picturesque Chinese architecture from the Ming dynasty. You can find market stalls as well as retail shops selling a massive range of souvenirs all at very negotiable prices. When in China, you must bargain!

green bean, custard, and jelly sweets in a sweets shop

A fashionable young couple posing for the camera

During my short stay in Shanghai, I felt like a trip to the zoo was a must. I had to see some pandas in China! If I had more time I would've stopped in Chengdu, where the Panda Conservation Centre is based. Since there was no time such a detour, Shanghai Zoo will just have to do. I'm an animal lover, and I'm usually quite skeptical about taking animals out of their natural habitat and being placed in small confined spaces. But I was actually pleasantly surprised how well Shanghai Zoo treated the animals, they all had a lot of space and were very well fed. It's only the zoo visitors that should have been carefully monitored!

a googly-eyed gold fish

a kid goat

This sign was complete unacknowledged by the visitors! So, what did they do to the bears?..

...they fed the bears! This wild grizzly wasn't too happy as he was being fed sweets and chocolate by the idiotic visitors.

A Red Panda up in the trees

A Giant Panda behind thick plexiglass to protect him from the harmful visitors.There are only about 3,000 giant pandas left in the world. They are very much protected and well taken care of in China.

Bambi

Baboon

So that was my little sampling of Shanghai; it certainly wasn't enough and it had me thirsting for more. What I saw of the city, I absolutely loved!.. The modern aesthetics, the right amount of global influence mixed with Eastern culture, the fast paced exciting city vibe, and the ease to move around the city so effortlessly. Shanghai sets the pace for the rest of China in terms of business, modern culture, entertainment, modern cuisine, and fashion. For any sci-fi fan, it is like Blade Runner come to life!

Next stop, Xian, home of the Terracotta Warriors and the best dumplings in China!

The new bullet trains @ Shanghai train station. The one on the left is what I took from Beijing to Shanghai. We got to our destination in 5 hours rather than 15, at an average speed of 320 km/hour

Beijing: Sights & Sounds Overload

2011-07-22T14:24:00.000+01:00

"And now for something completely different"...(insert Monty Python theme song)...a travel blog entry!

I'm now sat on the fastest train in the world, the newly launched China Highspeed Rail, having just departed Beijing on my way to Shanghai. The past 3 days in Beijing passed like a whirlwind.
The sights, the sounds, the smells, the traditions, busy buzzy Beijing felt like information overload to me as I was soaking it all in and savouring every moment.

When I first arrived in Beijing, I was greeted by intense 36C humid heat and smog so thick you would have to use a samurai sword to slice your way through to get from point A to point B. I always thought the air quality in LA was exceptionally bad, but nothing quite compared to what I experienced in Beijing.

Luckily, the smog factor was completely overshadowed by all the other interesting sights and cultural elements of Beijing. To start with, the Great Wall. Seeing it in real life rather than on the Discovery Channel, was a moment I'll never forget. I spent a total of 3 hours scaling the wall to the highest point in sweltering humid heat and completely jet lagged, yet that did not seem to slow me down nor dampen my enthusiasm. I was fulfilling a childhood dream walking across one of the Wonders of the World!

On my descent, I had no idea that there was an option to take a tobogan down to the bottom. How fun! And that's exactly what we did. I highly recommend it.

Following the Great Wall we packed in so much sight seeing, I can't begin to go into detail. But I will highlight my favourite stops, in order of preference:

1) The Summer Palace
This was the emperors' summer home during the Ming and Qing dynasties. The palace grounds seem never ending, situated on the cliffs overlooking the Kunming Lake. The Summer Palace, in my opinion, is by far the most picturesque sight to see in all of Beijing. The gardens, the pagodas, the views of the lake, the waterside walkways, and bridges decorated with weeping willows all look like something out of a Chinese fairy tale book or a kung fu film.

2) Laoshe Tea House
This is one of the most distinguished tea houses in all of Beijing, foreign dignitaries and aristocrats typically go there. It's the equivalent of having afternoon tea at the Ritz in London. Again, this was such a picturesque setting like something out of a Chinese film. It was such a treat to go there, my friends and I got our own private tea room. We were served intricately brewed superior dragon green tea accompanied with red bean cake sweets. The bill came to 150 Yuan ($22/person), which is quite expensive for Chinese standards, but it was well worth the experience. When in China, visiting a tea house is a must.

A bronze sculpture of Mr Lao She shaking hands with George W Bush

musicians playing traditional Chinese music

3) Tiananmen Square & Forbidden City
I was surprised by how immense the square was and how many people were there! Tiananmen Square is the largest city square in the world, yet it almost felt claustrophobic as it was packed with what seemed like millions of Chinese tourists. A bird's eye view would've shown little ants moving in clusters around each building and monument. I was amazed by the blatant CPC (Communist Party China) propaganda, like a blast from the past. There was a lot of that all throughout my trip across China.

The Beijing National Museum

The Main Entrance to the Forbidden City

The Forbidden City is the emperor's palace and scale-wise was a city in itself. It seemed that the emperor had a separate mini castle for each daily function, from meeting foreign dignitaries, to where he slept, to where he read, to where he kept his 3,000 concubines. Each little decorative detail had some kind of meaning. For example, the number 9 pertains to the emperor, so there would be 9 pillars in one room, 39 steps, etc. Each animal statue had a special significance.The dragon represents the emperor, the turtle is for longevity, and the crane is meant to protect the emperor.

4) Night Markets in Beijing
The moment you enter the close proximity of any night market, you have aggressive vendors shouting at you to buy their noodle soup, fried scorpions, fruits on a squewer, boba tea. How they have the energy to chase after customers whilst working near the hot stoves in the Beijing humidity is beyond me. The variety of flavours, smells, and exotic foods was non-stop entertainment for me, and I could happily sample every dish every night for dinner. Yep, I was brave enough to sample out the fried scorpions, which tasted and felt just like buttered popcorn in the cinema -yum!

trying out the fried scorpions

So that's Beijing in a nutshell. Next stop, Shanghai.

American Muscle: Chevrolet Camaro, the Supercharged Version

2011-06-29T13:00:00.000+01:00

So I'm back at my old stompin' grounds of California for a long visit. I figured whilst I'm here, I should get my greedy little paws on an "American Muscle Car". Topping the list of muscle cars, is the coveted, Chevy Camaro.

I had the opportunity to get a hold of "Delta Project: Bold Spirit" which is a supercharged (in other words, "pimped up") 2011 Chevy Camaro. The following are the upgrades that have been added to create Delta's Bold Spirit:

630 horsepower (compared to 400 hp standard) provided by Lysholm twin screw supercharger by Vortech
3D Carbon body kit
Borla dual side exhaust
TSW 22" alloy wheels
Pirelli high performance tires
Eibach springs
BASF paint
Katzkin leather seats
Kenwood touch screen control audio/video system
Rockford Fosgate sound system installed by Beach Auto Sound
Delta HID fog lights
Delta Wing™ DRL grill insert (patent pending)
Delta 4-way camera system
Delta LED Accent Lights
Delta Sequential Arrows™ Mirror turn signals
Delta Door Safety Lights
Delta Xenon Back-Up lights

When you see the Camaro close up, you can immediately see that you're dealing with a car that's got a lot of muscle. It doesn't have the sleek curves that a Ferrari has, but it has an angular masculine shape similar to the Lamborghini Gallardo Spyder. The Delta Bold Spirit version with upgraded horsepower, new wheels & rims, and 3D body kit looks a lot meaner than the Camaro you see at the Chevy dealership. And believe me, it sounds the part to, from the point you switch on the ignition!

As for the interior, the dashboard felt a bit overwhelming with the amount of bells and whistles placed around the dashboard, but many of the switches controlled the add-ons such as the 4-way camera system and the additional lighting throughout the car. I was particularly impressed with the blue LED lighting on the floor and in the doorway (Delta Door Safety Lights). Not only did it give it a practical purpose when stepping out of your car in a poor lit area, but it was also a very slick, unique, and adds a bling bling touch.

I got a chance to properly test this car much like I do in the English countryside. This time, I went for spin to Mount Baldy in the San Bernardino Mountains, Southern California. I fired up the engine and startled a few passers by --now that tiger gives a loud growl! On my way to Mount Baldy, I hit a bit of traffic on the 60 freeway, so I didn't get much of a taste just yet. It wasn't until I reached the base of the mountain that I was lucky enough to have an empty twisty road that I can convert into my own race track. On top of that, I had some incredible picturesque mountain views as a backdrop! Bonus!

The Camaro handled itself incredibly well and steady upon uphill acceleration.The anti-roll mechanism was certainly doing it's job as I was turning at fast speeds, and it was a very smooth and stable ride. The wheel was also incredibly steady, no vibrations, complete smoothness and stability; it didn't feel like I was going a bit *ahem* over the speed limit. At some points of acceleration I could hear a crackling sound from the exhaust pipes, which is not quite back firing but it still gave the impression of being in a Formula 1 car.

All in all, I was quite impressed with the performance and appearance of the supercharged Chevrolet Camaro. It certainly has a lot of muscle for an automatic, and was equally as fun to drive as the European Supercars. I wouldn’t mind taking it for another spin on the other side of the pond! Camaros aren't distributed in Europe, so it definitely would turn some heads!

Car hire courtesy of Delta Tech Industries. For more information on supercharging or accessorising your vehicle, be it a muscle car, sports car, off-road, or restoration vehicle, please visit: http://deltatechindustries.com/

For more information on pimping up your Camaro like the "Delta Project: Bold Spirit", please visit: http://deltatechindustries.com/camaro_project.html

Me & Delta Bold Spirt (Supercharged Chevrolet Camaro)

The Mother Ship Has Landed: The Mercedes SLS AMG

2011-06-20T16:01:00.000+01:00

The Mercedes SLS AMG is nothing short of a space ship on wheels. It's long aerodynamic body and gull wing doors, is pretty much how one would imagine flying cars from the 22nd century to look. Believe me, when you're driving one, then it's even more so.

My partner and I took the car for a spin in the quiet twisty country roads where there were no speed cameras, and we properly test out that 560 horsepower engine. We noticed the car handled extremely when excellerated and on sharp turns, unlike the Aston Martin DBS. It felt very much stable and in control much like the Ferrari F430 (my car crush). That's thanks to excellent electronics that kicks in to stabilise the car when need be, to make your drive safer without ruining the fun. I also liked that the engine made a "back firing" noise after it excellerated, resembling the sound of a formula 1 car. Driving this car you really feel like a proper race car drive on the track. Not bad for an automatic!

The interior was really nice and well finished, no fiberglass like in the Aston Martin DBS, but solid German steel. Obviously, the engineers didn't have weight and aerodynamic properties as a high priority when designing this car. The car definitely feels very slick and classy, when you're sitting inside you feel you should be in a tux or a ball gown.

So far my review has been all positive, now down to the negatives. I found the Mercedes SLS AMG to be very unpractical size wise for Europe; it is massive and very difficult to fit into any parking spot. Obviously, it's not a car for everyday. But even as a car for the weekend, it's difficult manoeuvring it around the narrow archaic English streets. I think this car would better suit the large German or North American roads.

My second complaint is that the Mercedes SLS AMG is too much of an attention grabber! It's such a rare car and looks so alien from the usual Ferraris and Lamborghinis one sees in the big city, so you're bound to get people staring, taking photos, asking if they can touch your car...etc. I suppose that's flattering in the beginning, but after a while it does get annoying, and it does put you under the traffic police's spotlight. So I say that is a massive draw back.

Personally, if I had £160,000 to spend on a car, I would not choose a Mercedes SLS AMG. There are other super cars which perform and handle just as well, but draw a lot less attention, and are a bit easier to maintain. All in all it is a very impressive and unique car.

The Adventures of Driving a Lamborghini Gallardo Spyder in London

2011-06-16T18:31:00.007+01:00

Ahh, the much desired, Lamborghini Gallardo Spyder. She's the Megan Fox of all super cars, everyone wants her! You can only imagine how excited we were when we were able to book the beauty for a day.

My partner picked up the car and then picked me up from my office. I was waiting outside on busy Great Marlborough Street in central London. I didn't have to even look down the road, I could hear the tiger purr a mile away. As he drove up, I could feel my jaw drop to the ground with my tounge hanging out much like a Tom & Jerry cartoon or how men react when they see Megan Fox up close ;-)

I was as gitty as a teenage girl the entire time I was in and around the Lambo Spyder; it really was that impressive. The outside appearance speaks for itself; it's a land shark with sexy sharp angles in the front, yet a sleek aerodynamic curvature in the back and a mean looking grille to boot. Rawr!

The interior looks just as impressive. The dashboard is layed out very well with all practicalities in mind. The sports car orange and black leather combined with metal accents matches the tough sporty external appearance, whilst adding a touch of class. I have to say, I love the steel ball shaped gear shift, it's exactly the kind of detail a ballsy sports car should have. I have no complaints on how the dashboard is arranged, it's all very user friendly to sort out the sat nav, music, temperature, etc.

After plenty of gawking at the car, we finally took this baby for a "proper" spin. And that's when we realised this car isn't all its cracked up to be. Firstly, it's a VERY difficult car to drive. It has a manual gear box which requires quite a bit of elbow grease to change the gears. I'm not sure why so much physical force is necessary, but that was the issue. I suppose that takes getting used to. Also if you're not familiar with the car, it doesn't feel stable on acceleration and on fast turns. To me, it seemed like the automatic over-drive wasn't correcting our untimely gear changes at accelerated speeds as it should have. But perhaps, this was all due to both of us being new to driving these cars (it was our 2nd supercar we test drove).

To put us even more at ease, we were followed by the police, who eventually pulled us over! Lambos aren't too popular in London, so the Spyder was a bit of an attention grabber. This time, it was in the wrong way. We got pulled over in the Docklands area, 3 policemen stepped out of the car. Really? 3 policemen to give us a traffic violation? Doubtful. They were all oogling the car of course. I'm sure it came to surprise for them to see that the driver didn't quite fit the appearance profile of a Lambo owner. So they asked my boyfriend to step out and the interrogation began. After 10 minutes of nerves and time wasted we realised there essentially wasn't a reason we got pulled over. The truth is the cops were bored, they saw a rare car with a suspiciously young driver driving it, so they stopped us to nose around. Hmmm, if this is just a small taste of what it's like to own a Lambo in London, then I think I'll pass.

I think after this experience, I wouldn't call the Lamborghini Gallardo Spyder my fav, but it's certainly an impressive car. I would like to give it another go at some point now that we know where to take it (outside the city!) and we know what to expect. But the next time, we should opt for a black one; one that's a bit more incognito... if that's at all possible with a Lamborghini!

Me in the Lamborghini Gallardo

Don't Fly American Airlines

2011-06-16T18:23:00.001+01:00

My usual London -> Palm Springs journey to see the fam is a long enough journey with either a transfer in LAX or in Dallas depending who I'm flying with. I typically go with British Airways so that I can fly out of T5, enjoy the actually tastey "low fat/low cholesterol" meals, make the most of the vast selection of on-demand in-flight entertainment, and collect my BA mileage. This time I thought I was flying BA to Dallas, then switching to American Airlines for the Palm Springs leg. At least, that's what my itenarary stated. Sadly, I was wrong, and it was American Airlines the whole way through. Now, it's been some years since I was last I last flew with them, and I nearly forgot how bad it is. In fact, I don't remember it being this bad.

Firstly, the food was comparable to what you get in US shopping mall food courts; it made the hot food on Easyjet flights seem luxurious! Dinner was a choice of spinach lasagne which had several layers of processed cheese caked on top, or chicken paella which resembled more of what it was suppposed to be. So that's what I went for. When I bit into the pieces of chicken, I'm pretty sure it wasn't actually chicken. I don't think I really want to come up with what it could've possibly been, especially after reading about the Taco Bell using beef substitute fiasco! With that I got a side salad with a tub of Thousand Island. For those of you who aren't familiar, its a popular American salad dressing which consists of ketchup and mayo. Plus, a number of bits and pieces you wouldn't place inside your child's school lunchbox. Oh and breakfast was a true winner, Domino's style thick cheese pizza (a mini version) and 5 grapes in a sealed box. AA certainly deserve the award for best in-flight junk food! I'm sure it's a fav amongst teens and families!

Secondly, the in-flight entertainment was far below standard. They didn't even have on-demand system, which has now become a standard on long-haul carriers. So I actually had to watch a film half way through or wait 30 minutes to catch the next showing. Not to mention the selection was meager. There were a few recent blockbusters such as "Tron: Legacy", "Little Fockers", and "The Tourist". The rest were films I haven't heard of and TV series that flopped years ago. Obviously, AA don't set aside a budget for in-flight content acquisitions and the same go for their systems!

Next thing I noticed is that the staff are so lax about health & safety, a bit too lax. Is this observation coming from me being used to the British obsession with "health & safety"? Or are the crew really that complacent that not everyone had their seat belts on during intense turbulence? Also one of the crew members was quite persistent on getting me drunk on the complimentary wine. I asked for ONE bottle of wine when my dinner was served, and that was enough for me, I didn't want another. Nevertheless, the guy was keen to ask "more wine, ma'am?" every single time he passed through with the drinks trolley the entire journey. Funny enough, he failed to notice the number of times I didn't have my seat belt on when I was asleep during the patches of turbulence....and here I always thought that Americans were big on health & safety rules.

Anyway that leads my to my final rant on AA. When I arrived in Dallas on time (albeit a very bumpy roller coaster like descent), I casually made my way to the next gate where I'd board my flight to Palm Springs and soon be at my Mum's. No, not quite. There was a whee bit of rain outside, nothing unusual to the rain we get in London, and American Airlines claimed it to be adverse weather conditions. As a result, they canceled at least 20 or so flights that afternoon. Their excuse was that Dallas is on "tornado watch" and a little spot of rain requires Dallas Fort Worth Airport to cancel flights. Great. I was placed on the next available flight, which was the following day at 9am. Before I could even react with a shock or anger, I was handed a list of phone numbers to 3 different chain hotels where AA can provide a "distressed passenger" discount. Hang on a minute, AA decided to cancel my flight, and they won't even cover my hotel? Let alone book the hotel for me? I was not a happy camper and neither were the rest of the stranded passengers queuing behind me. It's moments like this that it pays off to have travel insurance.

SLEEP

I ended up staying at the Hawthorne Suites just a 5 min courtesy shuttle bus away from the airport. Thankfully, the hotel was clean, no dodgy people about, and the bed was uber comfy. I got a full night of solid sleep, and a complimentary full breakfast buffet. For $89, it was excellent value for money and exactly what I needed after such a tiring journey. The staff was very friendly and helpful too. They answered all my questions, arranged for a wake up call, scheduled the courtesy van right when I needed it, and they reminded me about the van half an hour in advance -very efficient. So if you find yourself stranded at Dallas Fort Worth Airport and you want a clean, safe, comfortable, and good value for money mid-range hotel, choose Hawthorne Suites on Plaza Drive.

In the end, I managed to get to Palm Springs on the rescheduled flight. It only took me 38 hours to leave my flat in London and get to my Mum's doorstep in sunny Palm Springs!

VERDICT:

American Airlines: :-(

Hawthorne Suites (Dallas Fort Worth): :-)

Confessions of a Travel Junkie

2011-04-27T19:40:00.001+01:00

Welcome to my Planes Trains & Fast Cars Blog! This is my platform where I'll share my travel experiences spanning from UK-based to global travels as well as test driving "super cars". I have recently done quite a bit of travelling, some of it was with work, but the vast majority of it has been for leisure (hence my inability to own a flat or do other "grown up" things).

I've split up my blog by different world regions and a separate page for fast cars. In the various travel sections, I've provided accounts of my adventures plus recommendations on "travel essentials", which are: "eat", "sleep", and "to do". Hopefully, this will provide some helpful tips or open a forum for discussions.

As for the sports cars portion of this blog, my partner and I are fortunate enough to test drive these covetted sports cars. We take them for drives in or outside of London (typically, where there are no speed cameras about!). My reviews cover the handling (without going into details of the mechanics-I'm not a mechanic!), electronics, internal/external aesthetics and comparisons to similar style cars of the same class. Again, I hope this can either help provide tips to those interested in driving them, or provide an entertaining read for those who love sports cars. By no means am I trying to be a female version of Jeremy Clarkson. I'm simply a girl who enjoys fast cars with mean engines ;-) and I love to travel!