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blog.buchalterconsulting.com Search Primary Menu Info on the Situ La Mesa Chicago Oslo Reykjavik Munich Danube Cruise Istanbul Abu Dhabi Sydney Tasmania Adelaide/Barossa Valley Kuala Lumpur Food Search for: Info on the Situ Avoid confusion, use the index Info on the Situ Northern Lights and Southern Sights in 38 Nights Kuala Lumpur Kuala Lumpur January 27, 2015 Andy and Marcia Leave a comment Petronas tower The name of the capital city of Malaysia certainly is exotic, but it is a city of 1.6 million in an urban area of almost 7 million. We stayed in what might be called the historic downtown area,” but there has been so much renovation and construction, only a small slice of history” remains. The city wants to be, and is on the way to become, the Islamic banking capital of the world. Tourism also is important and it is the sixth most visited city in the world. The net result is that there are a lot of banks and bank buildings, and even more shopping malls. The Central Market,” like those in many 3rd World cities, features mostly low-priced food, dry goods, and tourist trinkets. High priced items are in familiar-named stores along the main boulevards. As we found in most of our travels, there is no middle–just rich and poor. The photos in this post are of the city, but not really representative. We only had one full day in town and saw the biggest tourist attractions. Most of Kuala Lumpur looks similar to Hong Kong, New York, and Chicago. But, here and there, rainforest green catches your eye and the outskirts of the city is dense and overgrown jungle. Lobby of the Shangri La Hotel in KL Storks in the bird sancutary In the Kuala Lumpur butterfly garden Tasmania Clear as a Tasmanian Night January 22, 2015 Andy and Marcia Leave a comment Moon and Jupiter over Maclean Bay, Bicheno, Tasmania How clear is the southern sky in Tasmania? The moon was full and bright as a heavenly lighthouse. Even partially cloud-covered it obscured most of the stars. All I had at hand was my iPhone (my camera was with our lost baggage at the time) and I hand-held the above shot. That pinpoint of light at the moon’s 5 o’clock is Jupiter. I captured a star” with my iPhone in Tasmania! Tasmania Cradle Mountain January 22, 2015 Andy and Marcia 4 Comments Cradle Mountain viewed from Dove lake. Upper crags are igneous dolomite, middle is metamorphic rock, and the lower portions obscured by foliage are sedimentary rocks. The lake was formed by glaciers. What makes Tasmania magical? I’d argue geology. In the slow ripping apart of the once supercontinent of Pangea, what is now Tasmania was caught between Australia and Antartica like a little child in a rough divorce. The resulting trauma has created a confused and erratic landscape, a prime example of which is the stunning Cradle Mountain National Park. Early morning at the foot of Dove Lake when the water is like a mirror and all you hear is quiet. In the U.S., you want sedimentary you go to the Grand Canyon. You want metamorphic, try Great Smoky. And for igneous, the Sierra Nevada. In Tassie, you get them all in Cradle Mountain, staked like a badly baked, but wonderfully dramatic, layer cake of rock. And then you have the primeval forests, glacial lakes, and the wildlife. Usually the weather closes in and the mountain is visible perhaps once a week. We got lucky and the days were sunny and warm. We only spent three days at the park, but we could easily have spent a week. Dusk come to Cradle Mountain. Our first view of Cradle Mountain when we arrived, as the clouds began to lift like curtains. The Currawong is a Tasmanian version of a crow. They are very smart and aggressive. The hiking trail around the lake is about four miles round trip. some of it is hiking through dense forest. Info on the Situ Invaluables January 18, 2015 Andy and Marcia 2 Comments Travel Tech It would have been impossible to manage such a complex itinerary, all the currency converions and time zone changes, all the unexpected plan changes, and even driving route selection without our smart phones, iPads, a half dozen cables, chargers, converters, adapters, and a few amazing apps. TripIt” stored our entire itinerary (flights, hotels, confirmations and record locator numbers, contact numbers, payment information, inclusions/exclusions, layover details, connections, etc.) in chronological order. It sent us reminders when it was time to check in, and informed us of flight delays and gate changes even before they hit the airline service desks. By buying a chip for the iPad in Australia, we were able to engage Google Maps, which provided real time traffic information and re-routed us around construction and traffic delays, cutting hours off of our travel time. And, at the airport in Bangkok, Andy discovered yet another Google app that can translate signs from non-Arabic languages such as Chinese or Thai into English. (Note: Although tech was an invaluable travel aid for us, it was also invaluable to have paper copies of e-ticketed itineraries as well, since many airlines and hotels weren’t as sophisticated as we were and seemed to only trust actual pieces of paper. The night before we left, I decided to print screen shots of all our reservations. Boy, am I glad I listened to that little just in case” voice in my head… We also found the new e-passports invaluable. They are barcoded and allow one to s, Budapest looks like a good eating city Tasmania Dawn in Tasmania January 7, 2015 Andy and Marcia Leave a comment In Bicheno on the east coast of Tasmania. Went to the bathroom at 5:30 am, looked out the window, and a wallaby hopped by. So, I went outside . . . . https://blog.buchalterconsulting.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/IMG_2396.m4v Danube Cruise Vienna January 7, 2015 Andy and Marcia Leave a comment Both before and during our trip, people who have been to Vienna and Budapest raved about the former and were less enthusiastic about the latter. My expectations were based upon those reports, and so I was surprised by how I felt. The Vienna portrayed in Amadeus” and other such movies no longer exists, if it ever did. Allied bombing in WWII accounted for some of the renovation,” and years straddling the fence between Eastern Communisim and Western Democracy discouraged capital investment. As we sailed into town, this history, the 21-degree temperatures, snow, and sleet, made the city look as drab as Stalin’s tunic. There are gorgeous exceptions in the city center. Atrium of the Vienna Opera. The opera house is as grand a building as you would hope to see. It was bombed by mistake during WWII, destroying half the building. The remaining original 19th century architecture is as ornate as a Viennese pastry, while the post-war restortoration is United Nations” style and quietly elegant. The two styles don’t so much work together as live-and-let-live. The symphony hall is non-descript on the outside and breathtakingly ornate inside. Musikverein Golden Hall is the home of the Vienna Philharmonic. Picture sitting inside a golden jewelry box with the jewels on the ceiling and walls. Then there is the Alberina Museum which is situated within one of the Happsburgs’ palaces. (Brief history here: the Happsburgs were the 19th and early 20th century version of the Kardashians–but with immense power. The Austro-Hungarian Empire encompassed half of Europe.) I guess by definition a palace is a place where royalty live. All of the palaces in Vienna are neither moated nor turreted. They look more like Fifth Avenue mansions. This was another surprise for me. You might call this the foyer” to the Happsburgs’ living quarters, still preserved in the art museum. Walls are bright yellow, but I can’t color correct due to a bug in IOS 8. Emil Nolde painting from the Albertina. Style is expressionism and garish” was in at the time (1930s). The museum has a nice collection of Impressionism, Expressionism, Surrealism, and Cubism, and is small enough so you can appreciate it in a couple of hours....