The fantastic tales of the two otters

Monday 2nd April, 2012

It's a glorious morning. The air is crispy, the sky is blue and the two cabin dogs that live and guard the premises of the cabins have come out for a play. It's about 9am and I feel only ok. I woke up afew times during the night. I'm certain that jetlag will hit me again around 3pm.

This morning we got to have a real good look around the property we are staying at. The owner, Juan Carlos, came and greeted us in the morning and offered to take us for a ride around the premises in his 4 wheel drive. The property is so big and spacious and he tells us about the future plans he has for his 4 hectares of land. The cabins are only the beginning. He plans on building a resort, with more cabins and a swimming pool. He also wants to offer horse riding and fishing, as there is a river just behind our cabin. I think it will be unreal once it's completed.

Our Cabin!!!

another of the cabins on the property

The river behind our cabins

The Stables

I also got to officially meet the two dogs that live here. They are both males, one is a German Sheperd, called Barco, and the other like a lab/ rottweiler mix, called Black. They are both friendly, although the rotty mix is alot more playful. Juan Carlos also mentioned how he'd like to start breeding the German Shepherd with the neighbours Sheperds to create super guard puppies!!!

Braco

Me and Black

The area is just lovely and the scenery is so relaxing to be around. By the time we got back from the drive, Tio was already waiting for us. He was going to take us on a drive around the area, so we can do the touristy thing and take photos and get a feel for the town. We started off in Loncoche, then drove to neighbouring towns, such as Villarrica, Lican Ray, Conaripe and Pucon, a major tourist town.

Loncoche is a small, quiet residential town and just has the necessary shops, such as a grocer, banks, post office and the such. It also has a bus and train terminal, which allows many of the locals to travel longer distances. But to get around town, many either drive or use a bike. Most of my Tio and Tia's family live close by, which I think is great as they are a big family and are able to see eachother more frequently.

Villarricca is about a 30 minute drive from Loncoche. The new highway allows you to arrive quicker and the landscape that you see during the drive is so beautiful. It is all green pastures with cows, pigs and horses on them. There are old houses and new ones being built. Although it's a relatively quiet road, it has alot of bends and cars like to overtake alot.

You'll know when you've arrived in Villarrica. Volcan Villarrica stands high and mighty as you enter the very busy town. Villarrica is the main commercial area for the district and here you will find everything you need. Restaurants, internet cafes, money exchange, several banks, post office, mechanics, corner shops, both grocery and clothing stores, the car registration office, pharmacies... anything really. I really like it here because of the convenience of having everything available in the one place. I do notice though that there's alot of one way streets and you have to pay for parking. The system here is that when you park, a parking patrol guy or girl, will note your number plate. When you are ready to leave, they will come up to you and you have to pay a fee, depending on the length of time you've stayed. But in some cases when you're in a hurry and you can't see them, then you are the one that has to go looking for them!!! Which is abit silly. Once you've paid, you are free to go. I asked my Tio, what happens if you speed off... He said, you can, but then in a few months, you'll get a fine in the mail because this job works alongside the city council, so they know everything!!! dammit haha

I also noticed when we went into the Oriente, which is a grocery store (we went last night for the first time after my relo's picked us up form the Airport)) that you have to weigh the fruit/ vegetables and the bread as it's all self serve. Other countries I've been to that do this is China and Korea. In Australia, the cashier or 'check out chick' does the weighing for you. I didn't realise this, so while dad was in the queue, I had to run back, weigh the apples and bread and then take it over to the cashier to then charge. Come to think of it, Tahiti was like that too when I travelled there with my family about 7 years ago.

After our stop in Villarrica, we continued towards Lican Ray. Again, Lican Ray, or Lican as the locals call it, is a smaller, beachy, touristy town. It has a small shopping district, like Loncoche, with just the necessary shops. It has a beach or lake rather, called Lake Calafquen. The sandy beaches are made up of black volcanic sand. Even when the South of Chile starts to get colder, the Lake tends to stay warm. Surrounding Lake Calafquen are snow capped Volcanoes; the most spectacular one being the Villarrica Volcano. This magnificient volcano can be seen right along the coast and is one of the main reasons why the South of Chile receives so many visitors, both national and foreign, every year.

My Tio and dad with Lake Calafquen

Dad, with a farmer working his cows

My Tio, also took us to an area, that when Volcan Villarrica erupted in the 70's, it's lava destroyed everything in it's path and ended up trailing into Lake Calafquen. It truly makes you realise the intense force of nature and how one day, it can all happen again.

Volcan Villarrica

Where the lava trailed down in the 70's

We found lunch at a local restaurant, which is family owned. I ordered a casuela, which is a soup, with meat, corn, potato, rice, pumpkin and coriander to top it off. Mum makes something similar back home and dad said I would like it. My dad and Tio also ordered a casuela. The day was a little cool, so this would warm us right up. With our food, we also had ayuyas (bread) and sopaipillas, which is like a fried bread made with pumpkin. extremely delicious

We were so full after lunch, I could do with a siesta!!! But we continued on to Pucon. The town of Pucon is very famous in the South. This area is home to thermal spas and the ski resort which is located at the foot of Volcan Villarrica. This afternoon however, we thought we'd just have a walk around the town. There is a fery ride, which takes you on an hour journey around lake Calafquen, which I think would be great to do earlier in the day as it's alot warmer than 3pm, which is around the time we'd arrived.

Me with Volcan Villarrica in the background. This was taken in Pucon, just before the ferry terminal.

We'd been out all day and it was time to drive back home to Loncoche. We'd be going back to my Tio's house for once (dinner) and then he'd take us back to our cabins. Today has been quite amazing. I'm really loving El Sur de Chile x

Sunday 1st April, 2012

Today is the day, my dad and I set out for a 2 month trip of Chile. He is taking me to see all sides of the country. We will be landing in Santiago, then getting a connecting flight to the town of Temuco, which is located in the South. Here my uncle Lucho, will pick us up and take us to his home in Loncoche. We won't be staying with them, but instead, we'll be staying at the Punta Del Sol Cabañas, which are also located in Loncoche and only about a 3 minute drive from my Tio's house.

We had an early flight at 9.20am, which was then delayed until 11.30am. At the counter, while checking-in, the LAN staff told me that my dad and I were seating separately. I told her, no that wasn't right, as I chose my seats last night and had everything confirmed. Plus the flights were booked under the same booking reference, so there'd be no reason to why we wouldn't be seated together. She had to discuss this with her supervisor, so we had to wait a few minutes until her Sup was able to come over. After going through everything again, they confirmed that dad and I would be sitting together... I don't really know why that happened. I'm assuming the LAN lady was new and didn't really know what she was doing... After confirming everything, we settled at our cafe for some breakfast. Dad was super excited, but I was feeling abit nervous. Chile, although I've been twice before, is relatively new to me. I was younger when I came here last, and back then, I didn't really appreciate travelling like I do now. I also haven't really gone outside of Santiago. And this time round, I'll be travelling without my travel companion- Daniel; which made me sad, because this is going to be our first trips without each other. While I'm in Chile, he will be holidaying in Cambodia for his R&R, with his friend Mick.

It soon came time to say goodbye to our family and make our way to the customs lines. I should be getting VIP service due to the number of times I've done this haha!

We had about an hour before boarding time, so I said to dad, let's go to the Qantas Lounge. It'll be an experience for you- free food and drinks. He won't argue with that. While dad went to get some food, I logged on to send Daniel a message and to let him know we were doing well and that I'd try to give him a call from New Zealand, which is where we would need to do a stop over for 45 minutes.

It was time to walk over to our gate and I noticed it wasn't very busy with passengers, so we checked the TV screen again and as I suspected, they changed our boarding gate. Don't ask me when that happened because it wasn't announce at the lounge. As we lined up, I told dad that we didn't have to line up in economy, as we could line up in the Business Line. He was majorly impressed.

We settled into our LAN Chile Aircraft seats and were greeted by the friendly staff. The flight was good, but alittle disruptive due to some turbulence 15 minutes into the trip. It soon settled back down and breakfast was served. Before we knew it, we had entered NZ airspace and would dock there for just under an hour.

With the flight delay in Sydney, I was abit concerned about our connecting flight in Santiago. I was crossing my fingers we'd be alright and still have time to clear immigration, collect our bags, meet Jose (my cousin) to give him one of our luggage bags and then make it to the boarding gates... all that in 1 hour? We were pushing it, so I was already planning what to do in my head.

We soon had to board our flight, which would see us through to Santiago at 2.30pm the same day.

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We arrived well into Santiago. The picturesque view from the plane over The Andes is amazing. It is so breathtaking, although this time, they didn't have alot snow coverage. It's obvious it's been quite dry here this season.

As we came out of the terminal, we had to go through Immigration to pay for our entry Visa fee, which was $90.00 per person. That line took forever, as they only had two cashiers working it. We then opted to go to the money exchange to get us some Chilean Pesos. Dad had some money saved from his last trip to Chile, but that was only going to last us a few days. Dad knew, from experience, that in the Airport and in the city centre of Santiago, always pay a better exchange rate, so we changed over enough to see us through to the next 2 weeks, which is roughly about the time we plan to stay in the South.

We then went to collect our luggage and passed customs before going up to level 3 to the Domestic flights or Vuelos Nacionales to check-in for our 4.30pm Temuco flight. So far our timing was good. I didn't quite know what to do about our tickets, as I only had our Itinerary and I wasn't too sure where we had to line up. I couldn't see the LAN Chile checkouts anywhere, and the TV screen only showed which gate number you had to go in, so not much help. In all that commotion, dad managed to get through to Jose on his mobile and he soon met with us just outside the ticket booths. I haven't seen Jose in so long. He's looking really good- happy and healthy. He said the kids and Pilar (his wife) couldn't come, but we'll be seeing them in a few weeks anyway, so it was OK. I left dad talking with Jose and I went to the LAN counter and asked them about the tickets. They told me it's all self serve, so with my ticket ID number, which was on the Itinerary, I had to go punch in the details at the self serve computers and my tickets would be printed off. I then had to go to the check-out counters (he pointed to where that was) line up and just check- in as normal. Easy. Atleast now I know for next time.

Jose waited for us while we checked-in and then hang around for 15 minutes until we had to head on inside to board. The flight to Temuco was packed, which is alittle unusual for the cooler months, but with the Easter holidays next weekend, alot of people are travelling to be with their families for those days of rest.

Like our LAN flight from Sydney to Santiago, dad and I were seated in different sections. I still don;t understand why because again, these domestic flights were booked under the same reference. I didn't bother changes seats on this flight as it was only an hour long and at this stage we both just wanted to relax. Dad's seats were called in first as he was in the back. My seats were then called in and I soon settled into my window seat. I don't usually like the window seats because I like being able to just get up without disturbing anyone, but I was so tired by this stage I just plonked my head next to the window and with my cushy pillow, fell asleep....

The flight only took an hour and we soon made a safe arrival to the Airport of Temuco. It's so tiny lol. We walked over to the luggage collection carousel and we could see our family waving at us. There was no customs or checking points. We collected our bags and for the first time, I met my Tio Lucho, Tia Mona, Milena (their daughter) who is about my age and Agustine (her baby son, who's a real cutie) We huddled into the car and prepared ourselves for the hour car ride to Loncoche.

The landscape is very green and full of trees. Like a forest really. It very beautiful and not at all what I imagine. You must understand that I've only seen Santiago and well, to me, Santiago is just like and looks like any other major city. The South of Chile is so different and a real contrast to the Chile I knew. They tell me the South of Chile or 'El Sur' is what the real Chile is. I love it already.

I manage to stay awake for the entire car ride!!! That's a first haha. We made a short stop in Villarrica for some grocery shopping at the 'Oriente' Grocery store. Here we bought some supplies, such as milk, bread, juice, some snacks and the ever important, toilet paper. My family welcomed us into their home, where we had some dinner or 'once' as it's called here, which is more of a supper, consisting of tea with ayuya or marraquatas, a Chilean bread with ham, cheese or jam.

After Once, they all drove us to our cabins (cabañas) which is where we will call home for the next two weeks. It was now late at night, around 9.30pm. We haven't slept properly for two days, so it'll be so good to have a long hot shower and then fall asleep. Tomorrow is another day- we'll be doing alot of exploring
x

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It's 3am and jetlag has hit. I can't sleep. As I force myself to dooze off, I can hear these duck type birds singing, the horses neighing and the neighbourhood dogs all howling in tune. It all feels very surreal.

Saturday 21st January, 2012

Today is the beginning of the Chinese New Year. I have heard that is it just such a crazy time of the year, what with all the Fireworks that go off at night and during the day. They tell me it is to ward off any bad spirits and it welcomes in the positive energy for a great New Year to come.

Some fireworks started early and we could see them from right outside our apartment window. It was unbelievable. What you would pay to get this back home in Sydney and here we were with an a Million Dollar view. The days leading up to New Years, street corners are packed with Firework vendors. They will sell you boxes full of explosives for cheap!!! I was watching a documentary on TV in the apartment, that some Chinese families, save up all year, just to be able to buy a box of Fireworks so they can all celebrate together as a family. Apart from the chilled out attitude of selling Fireworks, there are no real restrictions as to where you can set them off, so many families do it in the apartment complex courtyard or street corners. That's why we got such a great view because our window backs onto an apartment complex

Fireworks

Fireworks outside our Apartment

2nd Ave

Days leading up to Chinese New Year- selling merchandise and door ornaments

Selling Fireworks on the Streets corners in Tanggu

There was not a car in sight. Catching a cab tonight was going to be near impossible, so we knew already that we'd be walking home. We made it to Jacky's and surprisingly it was very quiet. Alot of expats have gone home for this festive season and many of the Chinese clientele have gone to their home towns. Bus, train and plane tickets sell out extremely fast during this time. I've heard stories of people travelling up to 10 hours standing on the train (because all seat tickets have been sold out), just to make it home for a couple of days before making the journey back to the towns where they work.

Our neighbours going off!!!

Along 2nd Avenue, TEDA

Dr Evil Headquarters Fireworks

More Fireworks

The night was great- getting drunk on a Saturday night, talking to friends and making new ones. Before we knew it, it was the start of the count down. The girls, started handing out shots for us to down once it hit New Year... and with that the Year of the Dragon had begun.

Two New Years in a month. How about that

I'll be going home soon to Sydney for just over a month, before I take a trip to Chile with my dad. Last time I was in Chile was about 7 years ago. I was younger and only got to see Santiago. This time, dad and I are going for 2 months. We will be travelling all over Chile to visit Family and Friends. Our trip will begin in the South as we then make our way North, passing through Santiago.

Till then
Stay safe everyone
x

Friday 20th January, 2012

Daniel and Uwe had to go to Beijing on a day trip for a meeting. So the day before, we organised with Jacky, from Jacky's Pub to drives us to Beijing early the next morning. Besides running the Pub, he also offers a drivers service. It was really chilly that morning and Jacky was waiting for us inside the lobby at 8am.

Although the month is not ideal to visit Beijing, I was still excited to be seeing a new city. I've been in China afew months now, but haven't had the chance to go to Beijing. I plan to do some day trips with Laney later in the year. Jacky explained to us that he had to get the car with the correct licence plate for the day, as vehicles with a certain number ( for example, those that start with a 9) can't travel on certain days. This is to eliminate the congestion in the city. It all sounds abit silly to me, but it makes sense to keep calm in a huge Capital City.

Before proceeding into Beijing, drivers need to register their vehicles to the highway patrol to ensure their vehicle is cleared or accepted for that particular day of travel. To think that in Australia, you just jump in your car and travel to where ever you desire. Things are very different here.

We arrived about 2 hours early than the proposed meeting time, so we decided to catch the subway to the Silk Markets. The subway system is really easy to use and gets you to your destination very quickly. We arrived at the Silk Markets and I couldn't believe how big it was. I'm talking about 7 levels of shopping and another 3 basement levels. Here you will find EVERYTHING- clothes, handbags, shoes, jewellery, electronics, food, makeup, toys, souvenirs- ANYTHING.

Our Welcome home Hotel Panda. It was MASSIVE

Beijing City

Beijing City

In the Cab

After we went through all the levels, I found a stall which had a furry vest, which is something I've been looking for all over TEDA. It was grey and furry and ohhh so warm. Daniel did job at bargaining.He also bought himself some long sleeved shirts as he hasn't been able to find them in TEDA either. As we were leaving, I saw an optometrist selling Hello Kitty glasses. These were a pair of geeky looking glasses and typical Asian fashion. I love HK so much, that now I would be a step closer to looking like her hahaha.

Helloooooo there Kitty!!!

We then stopped at a pizza shop for lunch before making our way back to the hotel for the meeting. Once the meeting was over, I joined the guys and their boss for some dinner in the Hotels Restaurant. Their boss is quite familiar with Beijing, as he has spent quite some time here and recommended we catch a cab to the city centre and have a look around.. and we did just that. One of the local workmen came with us and took us to the Bar district where we walked around a fair bit. After a while, we wanted to find a warmer place with beer. We ended up at the German Beer Gardens- Paulaner Brauhaus.

The next day, we had the morning free, so we went to see Tiananmen Square. Temperature in Beijing in this time of year is absolutely freezing, so we caught the subway and once we stepped outside, the cold air just hit us. We didn't stay long at all... just long enough to capture a Kodak Moment of us being there together. We plan to come back and properly explore Beijing in the warmer months to come.

Us at Tiananmen Square

By midday, our car was ready to pick us up and take us back to TEDA. It was a great little trip. Can't wait to see more of it next time.

Saturday 31st December, 2011

After my last entry, I went back to Sydney to spend time with my friends, family and most importantly my dogs.

Daniel came home and spent Christmas in Sydney, where we were also able to catch up on a few things. We both flew out together on the 30th in order to arrive back in TEDA on the 31st. We would be celebrating the New Year in China. This was the first time for the both of us to be bringing in the New Year overseas. Usually we spend it up the coast at a place called Nelsons Bay, which is a few hours from Sydney.

Sydney Airport was packed. We checked-in as usual and sat to have our coffees with my parents and sister. I was sad leaving them, but knowing I would be back in a month, I knew the time would fly by quickly. It was soon time to board. We said our goodbyes and continued on through to customs...

We arrived safe back in Beijing. The temperature has dropped alot more than when I left in November. Good thing I packed my beaning, scarf and gloves. Our driver was waiting for us, so we settle in for the 2 hour drive back home. As soon as I got home, I checked on my turtles. They were still alive, but still in hibernation. It was now New Years Eve and since we haven't really slept, we drew close the curtains and snuggled up in bed. We had booked a table at SoHo, along with Uwe, Peter and his girlfriend. We had to get there before 9pm in order to secure our table. As we both love our sleep, we slept in. We rushed to get ready and made it just before 9pm. The owner knows us and assured us our table was still confirmed for us.

SoHo!!!

us making our arrival

The Xie Xie's. They are a group of homeless women who always want money from us. They come up to us everytime we exit SoHo lol

Uwe relaxing on the couches outside SoHo

Uwe and friends arrived soon after and we got the drinks and peanuts going. The atmosphere was incredible and everyone was in good spirits. We laughed, danced, sang along and partied with the Chinese. They really went all out on the Western New Year Party.

WooHoooo

Daniel doing his thing

Uwe and Peter's Gf

Us and the Dj

The Band

The Dancers

Bringing in the New Year... Judging by this photos, it's still pretty early in the night lol

Happy New Year Everyone!!!
x