We saw you and we left you (Argentina Dec 2010)

Although I thought that our flight to the USA last year was to be the last of my very long flights, we decided to do another one this year. This may be the last very long flight, but who knows ?

Prior to leaving for Argentina, we learned that it was the largest country in the world by area (2.7m sq.kms – Oz is 7.6m. sq.kms). This amount of land produces a GDP of USD350m., about one third of what Oz does. Spread over 40 million people, this suggested that the country might not be a high quality one in material terms, and this was the case. GDP per capita is slightly higher than that of Malaysia. The country had of course ranked higher in world economies in earlier times, but a long period of poor government, corruption, unequal distribution of resources has seen it steadily decline.

The initial flight via Sydney, Auckland and Santiago (Chile) to Mendoza (Argentina) necessitated 23 hours of flying, though we did stopover in Sydney for a couple of days. From Sydney we flew Lan Chile. This airline uses A340s on the Sydney/Santiago leg, and this long flight was reasonably comfortable. Not in the class of SIA, the ‘plane nevertheless had lie flat beds and average quality food (good beer though). The ‘plane was full on both outward and return legs. Between Auckland and Santiago, the route tracks very close to the Antarctic continent, though this cannot be seen.

After a four hour stopover in Santiago, we took a further LAN flight to Mendoza, our first stop in Argentina.. This was a spectacular flight. Although only 35 minutes in duration, the ‘plane had to climb rapidly to get over the Andes, and at the peak altitude of 22,000 feet we reached, the ‘plane scraped over the top. Had there been any people standing in the snow on the peaks, they would have been higher than we were ! At Mendoza airport, it was good to see our luggage arrive with us – we had last seen it in Sydney.

Mendoza (pop. 130,000) is in an important wine growing area of Argentina. Situated on arid country, it is remarkable in that the main streets are all shaded by huge sycamore trees, which makes walking along them quite pleasant,even in high summer. Although wine growing has taken place for 500 years in this area, the quality of the wine produced (particularly Malbec) has reached export quality only recently. Prior to this, the locals drank everything. The locals in Mendoza still boisterously drink large quantities of wine every night in open air cafes, whilst eating enormous pieces of steak grilled on an asado, the grill used in a parrilla (steak restaurant). These restaurants are everywhere. Parrilla is not be confused with Parilla, a town on the Mallee Highway in South Australia ! We went to a parrilla for the first dinner we ate in Mendoza. Argentinians claim that their steak is the best in the world, this being dueto the natural grasses on which the animals feed. A more natural flavour is said to be produced because of this, whereas Western cattle are treated with growth hormones, antibiotics etc., thus producing a less natural flavour. Argentinians also eat every part of the beast “except the moo”, and I had to look away when I saw some of the bits and pieces locals ate.

Our stay in Mendoza was mostly to rest after the long flight, but on one day we took a tour back to the Andes range. The road climbs steadily past vineyards, and through treeless country, until we reached the highest point of the tour, at 4000 metres (Lhasa, Tibet is at about 3500 metres). This is the highest I can ever recall reaching on earth. We stopped a while at a viewpoint – at that height, it wasn’t a place to do a quick dash of 100 metres !

Needless to say the views towards Santiago, and back towards Mendoza were stunning, but the most stunning aspect was the fact that the Andes towered over the pass we were at, by around a further 2500 metres or so. We did see nearby Mt. Aconcagua (pron. Akon-kah-wah), which, at around 6900 metres, is the highest mountain outside Asia.

From Mendoza, we flew to Beunos Aires (BA). This is a huge city, with the Greater BA area having a population of around 13 million. It has become rather a mecca for overseas visitors, and many of these tend to use serviced apartments, as we did. Ours was in Palermo, a suburb a few stations from the city on an underground. Our apartment, located in a very modern building, was managed by an Ozzie of German descent, and we were told that the majority of tourists he sees are from Oz. It was here that we first used supermarkets, and saw that the range and qualityof goods sold was not impressive (lots of good beer though,and in 1 litre bottles !). Our suburb abounded in restaurants. A negative is the fact that locals don’t like to dine until 11 p.m or so, and at 7.30 p.m. when we went out looking for dinner, locals could be seen enjoying afternoon coffee and cakes. However, in tourist areas such as ours, restaurants were willing to provide dinners from about 8 p.m. (at that time, they quickly filled with hungry tourists).

The older buildings in the centre of BA show signs of age and lack of care, but an exception is Puerto Madero. This must be somewhat like Docklands in Melbourne (which I haven’t seen) – an old part of the city near the water, now rejuvenated as an ultramodern shopping and eating area, overlooked by a forest of high rise office buildings. Two other sights in BA come to mind – the cemetery in the suburb of Recoleta where Eva Peron’s body lies (easily found because of the number of people standing reverently outside the crypt).

The second is the riverine suburb of Tigre, about 30 kms. from BA. This is a labyrinth of muddy channels of the delta, each channel fringed with reeds, but on the raised shore, there are many holiday homes, ranging from impressive mansions to small wooden weekenders. Travel is by boat throughout this area, and interesting sights constantly appear.

We were in BA over Christmas, and (being used to what we see in Singapore) were surprised at the lack of decorations in the retail areas. This was unexpected in a Christian country, but may reflect the economic situation of the country.

Ever since I saw the movie “The Mission”, and the penitential climb up the face of a waterfall by Robert de Niro, weighed down with heavy pots and pans, I have wanted to see Iguazu Falls, which I think was the waterfall in question. So, we flew from BA to Port Iguazu, the town at the Falls, and about 1000 kms. north of BA. The mist from the Falls can be seen as the ‘plane approaches the airport, aportent of things to come. I had learned beforehand that , in waterfall league tables,Iguaza is not particularly notable. In volume terms, Niagara is well ahead (85,000 cfs, cubic feet a second,versus 61000 cfs)., and this compares with some of the falls in Africa which can do more than a million cfs). The Falls are twice as wide as Niagara (2700 metres versus 1203), and their drop is 269 feet versus 167 feet at Niagara (and the waterfall with the largest drop of all – the Angel Falls in Venezuela, does 2640 feet). Despite this, the Falls (actually about 270 of them, 350 in the wet season) are impressive. Unfortunately, from the Argentinian side it is difficult to grasp their overall size. There is an upper circuit, with the “Devil’s Throat”, a deafening cascade of water, being the feature. A boardwalk leads to this feature, but by the time the lookout is reached, we were soaked to the skin (Umbrellas or ponchos necessary). There is an overwhelming display of sight and sound from the lookout. There is also a lower circuit enabling a much clearer appreciation of the size of the Falls, but this was too difficult for me. The view of the Falls from the Brazilian side is the best of all. As at Niagara, there is a vessel which approaches the bottom of the Falls. The Falls are located in a National Park, and small trains are used to go from one feature to the next.

From Iguazu we flew to Bariloche, in the Lake District of the country, and 1600 kms south west of BA. It took a day for this flight., there being a change of ‘plane in BA. This town is the image of Queenstown in New Zealand, being on the shores of a tranquil lake and being surrounded by ranges of snow covered mountains. Like Queenstown. It is a popular ski resort. It further claims to be the chocolate capital of Argentina (and I brought some back), but it is not clear if the chocolates are actually made locally. In our two days in Barriloche, we took bus tours around the lake, a gondola ride to an elevated point from which stunning views were seen (intermittently, because of racing clouds). We were now in coldish country, and a heavy meal at a parrilla each evening was always welcome.

We then flew further south into cold country, another 1600 kms. to Ushuaia, in Tierra del Fuego. A note on this flight, on the Argentinian national airline. A ‘plane change was necessary at an intermediate point. On check-in at Barriloche, the clerk noted that there was only 33 minutes to do this, and said that we shouldn’t have bought the ticket, knowing that this was the case (Kim had bought the ticket online, and couldn’t do any better). “Anyway, there is no delay at this end”, he said. I turned around to confirm this on the departure board, which the clerk could also see. It was showing “Delay 25 minutes“ for our flight ! I then assumed we would miss the ‘plane change, have to wait 7 hours for the next flight, and never see our luggage again. When we arrived at the intermediate stop about 10 minutes late, we rushed to the onward check-in counter , to be told that the onward ‘plane was late and it was not known when it would arrive (the delay turned out to be 2 hours). So, things ended well, even though we left the intermediate stop two hours late, but our luggage came with us.

See next part which described Ushuaia and the Cape Horn cruise we took from there to Punta Arenas.

The flight from Punta Arenas on Lan Chile is worth mentioning. The ‘plane, which came in empty from another place, was more than an hour late. As soon as it arrived, we were boarded. As the last 10 or so people entered the ‘plane, the door was shut behind them, the ‘plane was pulled away from the gate and taxied to the runway. The aforesaid people boarding last had to seat themselves during this process, with a number losing their balance and falling over in the aisle, dropping things, and struggling to put huge bags in the overhead lockers. The safety film came on as the ‘plane was lifting from the ground, with the hostesses running to their seats just before lift off. The journey to Santiago, scheduled to take 3 ¼ hours, took a little over 2 (with no tail wind !). At Santiago, the ‘plane descended so quickly I thought we were in a high speed elevator, with again the hostesses running to their seats at the last minute. On arrival, I expected the engines to be smoking ! As we filed out, the pilot stood at the entrance door smiling benignly at passengers, some had quite pale faces. Maybe the pilot was trying for the for the fastest flight ever between Punta Arenas and Santiago !

We were in Santiago (population 5 million), for a couple of days. We stayed at a hotel in Providencia, a good quality suburb a few stops from the centre on an underground. Restaurants abounded in this suburb, with the food being very good, as was the beer and wine. Santiago is an unremarkable city, on a dry plateau. Its buildings are in general, not memorable.However, the largest shopping mall in South America (Parque Arauco) is located in one of its suburbs. It was immense, with numbers of good quality shops There is also a lookout on amountain rising near the centre of the city, and this was worth visiting.

On one day we took a ‘bus to Valparaiso, a fading port city with a population of about 300,000 about 2 hours from Santiago. This city is an image of Naples, except that it is not the cultural centre that Naples once was. It is spread over 44 hills which rise steeply these are served by creaking funiculars dating from the late 19 century). On the hills, buildings range from magnificent mansions to jerry built shacks. Better than Naples,household rubbish here is strewn tastefully in colourful cascades down the hillsides (the household rubbish in Naples is slowly encroaching footpaths, roads, parked cars, and maybe even sleeping homeless people !). Transport is principally by trolley ‘buses, most of which are quite quaint, having been built in the 1950s. The downtown area has many buildings which are poorly maintained, crumbling, or shuttered.From Santiago, we returned along the same route as we came, with a one day stopover in Sydney.

A good holiday worth doing, with the Cape Horn cruise being the highlight. But a long way !

Pictures of Mendoza and the Andes

Pictures of Buenos Aires, Argentina

Pictures of Iguazu Falls

Pictures of Bariloche

Rounding the Horn: South America (Argentina/Chile Dec 2010)

This is the first of two parts of the story about the holiday Kim and I recently had in South America, and deals only with the Cape Horn cruise.

The southernmost part of the mainland of South America ends at the Magellan Strait, one of three sea routes between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. South of the strait is Tierra del Fuego, consisting of a principal island (Isla Grande) and many smaller islands and channels between them.

About 150 kms from the southern tip of Tierra del Fuego is the Beagle Channel. This is the second sea route between the two oceans, but is narrow and not easily navigable. The southern most point of Tierra del Fuego is Cape Horn, which fronts Drake Passage. This is the third sea route between the two oceans, and at Cape Horn, stretches 600 kms or so to the Antarctic continent. From the time of its discovery in the 16^th Century, the Magellan
Strait was the main route used by commercial shipping, particularly in the transport of goods across North America before railways were established. As a consequence, the port of Punta Arenas (Chile), halfway along the Magellan Strait, became important for provisioning, coaling etc. However, the opening of the Panama Canal and the establishment of railways in North America lessened the usefulness of Punta Arenas, and it has now faded.

Located on the Beagle channel is Ushuaia (pron. oos-why-a), in Argentina. This city promotes itself as the southern most city in the world (at 55 degrees south latitude). It probably is, although there are some small settlements nearby slightly further south (eg Puerto Williams, Chile), but these are not cities.

Ushuaia was settled in the late 19^th century, originally as a penal settlement. At that time, and for some thousands of years before that. the area was inhabited by the Yamana tribe (see below).

Our cruise around the Horn commenced in Ushuaia and ended in Punta Arenas, three nights later. In all, around 450 nautical miles were travelled.

We arrived in Ushuaia from Barriloche, further north in Argentina’s Lake district, using an ancient MD-11 operated by the national airline. Ushuaia now has a population of around 60,000. It is highly dependent on tourism, but in order to keep the population stable or increasing, the Government has arranged for electronic assembly companies to be established there , all paying higher than normal wages. There are minor agricultural activities near the city, in the form of large haciendas estates running sheep. Given the quality of the grass, these haciendas do not have a large carrying capacity. Tierra del Fuego was inhabited by aboriginal tribes. Around Ushuaia, the Yamana tribe lived. This was a highly primitive tribe, wearing few or no clothes (keeping warm by rubbing fats from penguins and sea lions on their bodies). They had no permanent settlements, moving constantly in their search for food – they ate penguins, mussels and sea lions, as well as edible berries. They moved around in canoes, and reportedly adult males and females could not stand erect, as their legs and knees became dysfunctional because of the constant kneeling in their canoes. The settlers brought diseases with them, and the Yamana had no resistance to these. Hence, within 2 years of the arrival of settlers, the Yamana had virtually died out, leaving little or no trace of their culture.

Ushuaia is reasonably modern, with a downtown stretching along the Beagle Channel, and suburbs marching up a mountain range in rows of streets with small colourful houses in assorted and odd architectural styles. The mountain range ends in jagged snow covered peaks about 2500 metres high.




Our hotel was three streets up from the Channel. This meant we had magnificent views, but also meant that it was easier to get downtown than back again ! Walking uphill after dinner was a great struggle. There is little to do in Ushuaia. The old penitentiary can be visited, and there is a modest glacier about 10 kms. from the city. Ushuaia is also the southern end of the Pan American highway, which stretches to Alaska. There are many restaurants in the city, and good food, with king crab being the highlight. There are of course parilla (see Part 2) restaurants, providing high quality Argentinian beef in huge servings (small 350 grams, medium 700 grams, large 1 kilo).

Our cruise ship was the “Stella Australis”, one of several owned by the Mendoza family of Punta Arenas. It was completed earlier in 2010, and we took its third voyage (thus everything was brand new). It is a 5 deck vessel of 4500 tons gross, and length of around 90 metres. It carries around 130 passengers.

Cape Horn, 146 kms south of Ushuaia, was the first stop. The Cape was named by a Dutch expedition in the early 17^th. century, after one of the vessels in that expedition called “Hoorn”. The vessel itself was named after the town of Hoorn, in the Netherlands, and this town still exists.

Cape Horn is a forbidding cape, 400 metres high, at the southernmost tip of Horn Island, the last landfall of South America. It is not possible to land on the Cape itself, as it is too difficult to do so. Instead, all landings are at a “false” Cape Horn, about a mile away. From this “false” cape, the real Cape can easily be seen.

Below, I refer to the “false” cape as Cape Horn.

We left Ushuaia at 8 p.m., passing into Chile during the night, and arriving off the protected side of Cape Horn at dawn. Fortunately, the seas were smooth enough for us to land. This was done via Zodiac boats, with a capacity of 14 people or so. The sky was overcast, the wind blowing strongly, and the temperature around freezing (this is in high summer !). Long johns, several shirts, and wellington boots (provided from the vessel), were in order.

Disembarkation takes place at a small stony beach at the base of a cliff, with a wooden staircase of 160 steps clinging to the cliffside then being climbed. At the top is a plateau, covered in moss, lichen and spindly grass. A wooden walkway without hand rails leads to a lighthouse, its living quarters, and a small chapel.

The lighthouse keeper controls all vessel movements in the area, and he lives in the quarters with his family

(at present, a lighthouse keeper, his wife, and two small children live there. The appointment of lighthouse keeper is for twelve months, and volunteers are involved). There is a small shop attached to the quarters, this selling T-shirts and other souvenirs. A second walkway leads to the highest point on the Cape, where there is a monument meant to represent an albatross. By having my photo taken under this monument, a long held ambition of mine was achieved. The walkway to the monument crosses an unprotected part of the plateau, and here the wind was so violent that some elderly folk had to be assisted (me included), otherwise they would have been blown off the walkway, which again, had no handrails. The outlook south from the Cape over the Drake Passage is grim, to say the least. Clutching a pole and standing in cold screaming winds which freeze any unprotected skin, I could see nothing but a violent grey sea, with immense swells to the horizon (and presumably beyond this all the way to Antarctica). No vessels anywhere.

Although the landing on Cape Horn was the undoubted highlight of the holiday, we were glad to return to the ship, to join fellow passengers for a hearty breakfast. A few of the passengers regretted their hearty breakfasts later. The ship moved out into the Drake Passage, where it was for more than 2 hours, before moving again to calmer waters. We had been warned that “there can be some movement” in the Drake Passage. As an inexperienced traveller on the high seas, I thought this was an understatement ! The ship’s log showed that swells were 12 metres high, and the wind force (into which the ship was driving) was 100 knots. Some of the swells were enough to stop the vessel in its tracks. The movement of the ship was sufficient for cups and saucers to slide off tables, and in rooms (including ours), everything on shelves also fell off . Walking was very difficult although there were handrails in all passageways. In the lounge room, where many people were enjoying morning tea, there was chaos, and even the ship’s Xmas tree was swinging like a church bell and had to be secured to a wall. The crowd of morning tea drinkers quickly thinned as people rushed off to their rooms, and sea sick bags were distributed. I had no problems, but Kim retired to his bed to sleep, since there was nothing else to do and in the hope that this might alleviate nausea - surprisingly this worked.

The next landfall was that afternoon, at Wulaia Bay, where what

sparse flora as exist in southern Tierra Del Fuego can be seen. Amongst the berries is the barberry (El Calafate), which if eaten ensures that the person eating it will return to Patagonia. I ate some, but probably won’t last long enough to make the return journey !

From Wulaia Bay, the second night passed cruising along relatively calm channels, and the next day, we arrived at Alacalufe Fjord, where there are 2 glaciers, one of which, the Piloto Glacier,

was a stunning sight. The glacier is approached by Zodiac boat, and close to it, there is unfortunately the overpowering smell of bird waste, from myriad birds which nest on the sheer cliffs of the fjord. The Piloto glacier is blue, this being caused by minerals in its the water, and we were told that the blue colour is the only colour that the human eye can discern, there being other colours the human eye cannot see. This glacier is now noticeably smaller than it once was, and our stay at it was punctuated by violent cracking sounds, as chunks fell off it. A stunning sight (which of course could only be viewed from the Zodiac).

The last night saw the ship enter the Magellan Strait, and the next morning, it anchored off Magdalena Island, close to Punta Arenas, where about 70,000 pairs of penguins live. This island is bare of any vegetation, and roped walkways enable close views of the penguins. Hopefully, the seas off the island have enough fish for such a large penguin population.

We disembarked at Punta Arenas, a fading port with a population of around 130,000.We had been told that Punta Arenas does not promote itself to tourists, as does Ushuaia. This was certainly true. As well as our vessel, there was another large cruise ship in town. However, the day we were there was a Saturday, and all the shops were closed. The result was a clutch of tourists wandering around town in a dejected way. At least, we found a restaurant with king crab on the menu and this also enabled us to get away from the constant strong wind blowing, which was be quite annoying after a while.

From Punta Arenas, we flew to Santiago (see Part 2), on the same day the cruise ended.

In all, I regarded this cruise highly. The ship was new and well appointed. The crew were well trained

and friendly. The food was first class, and all alcoholic drinks (beer and wine) free. We noticed one passenger, always at the same table day and night, always with a beer in front of him (not sure if he joined any disembarkations). Lectures about each disembarkation were very informative. The desolate and forbidding scenery (much of this part of Tierra del Fuego has not been explored) was spectacular, even though we saw no other humans apart from the four on Cape Horn, no other vessels, and no habitation. In all, this cruise can be recommended. The Cruise Line is actually called “Cruceros Australis”

The rest of the trip pictures of the Horn and Ushuaia can be found here

Leaves and Lobsters (New England USA) - Oct 2009

The aim of this holiday was to look at the changing autumn leaves in North East USA, and to look at the coast of Maine. Finally, there would be a few days in New York.

We used the direct flight of Singapore Airlines from Singapore to New York. This is promoted as the longest non-stop commercial flight in the world - flight time 17 3/4 hours, distance 15700 km (Polar route) or 16700 kms (Europe route). Specially fitted A340 - 500 Airbus 'planes are used, with 30 or so rows of cocoons in a 1-2-1 configuration (around 120 passengers in all). From internet chatter about this flight before we left Singapore, I also learned that the 'planes are fitted with a corpse cupboard, in case a passenger succumbs during the flight, and there is no place to land (this would certainly be the case on the Polar route). Our flight had no need of this facility ! The flight can be recommended for people less than 5'8" in height, wearing shoes with a maximum size of 8, and with a predilection for Asian food. The reasons are (1) the cocoon converts to a completely flat bed, meaning that an inlet is needed in the back of the cocoon in front for feet (rather than placing feet underneath the cocoon in front, which would then mean a sloping bed). This inlet is not deep enough to accommodate stretched out people with long legs and big feet. A case of numb toes soon develops in these people and (2) the food is predominantly Asian, with most mains in each of the two meals both ways being Asian. In all, small Asian people would revel in the facilities provided, for them these facilities would be world class.

Our tour commenced in Boston (we had taken a commuter flight on arrival in New York). Incidentally this SIA flight uses Newark airport in New York, and it has to be said that this airport is barely above third world status (old, not particularly clean, few shops and restaurants). Boston (latitude 42 degrees N) is one of the oldest cities in the USA, having been settled in the early 17th. century. Boston Common, dating from 1634, is the oldest park in the USA. Boston has great meaning for Americans, as the War of Independence started here. This saw the eventual defeat of the British, and the then 13 colonies becoming independent. Many of the sights in the city relate to this period, and the city has developed a "Freedom Trail" (marked with arrows on pavements) which can be followed and various buildings important to the time of the War of Independence viewed. The city has been a centre of learning since 1639 when Harvard University was established, and a cultural centre as well (Henry Wordsworth Longfellow - Hiawatha, The Village Blacksmith - lived for a time near where Harvard University now is). We explored the city extensively - it is very easy to walk around. Boston does have an underground train system with trains clanking and screeching along old, poorly lit tunnels - this is older than the London Tube, and shows it !

We hired a Hertz car in Boston, intending to drive further north in a wide circle clockwise to look at the leaves - the Berkshires (stopover Williamstown), the Green Mountains (stopover Stowe), and the White Mountains (stopover North Conway).

From North Conway we would drive to the Maine Coast (stopover Portland), and then return south to Boston. At no point would we be more than 250 miles from Boston. Although we had not ordered one, a Toyota Prius ,a hybrid car, was offered to us "to help save the environment", said the Hertz lady. In response to my request for a discount if I accepted, I was refused (later I found out that Kim, unbeknown to me, had already arranged a 20% discount from another source, hence nothing more was available). We accepted the car anyway. We found it reasonably comfortable with reasonable power, but it was extremely economical. We drove 1058 miles on 22 gallons of petrol (petrol USD2.50 a gallon), thus giving 48 mpg, at a total cost for petrol of USD55. I had some trepidation about driving out of the middle of Boston CBD in peak hour in a strange car with left hand drive (Kim navigates, I drive)However, in Boston and throughout our journey I found American drivers to be courteous and disciplined, and soon we were rolling along like everyone else. Speed limits are not high - maximum 65mph on the Interstate highways - and are strictly observed by drivers, though police cars are rarely seen.

The drive as far as North Conway would be stunning in full autumn. We were there in early autumn, and the miles of hills, densely forested, were still only mottled with red, orange and yellow, with green predominating. Within two weeks of our departure, the hills would be a blaze of red, yellow, orange and purple, with little green. Even so, there were occasional patches of stunning foliage, particularly the blazing red.

Aside from the foliage, the natural features of the drive to North Conway were disappointing. Americans tend to promote weeds as if they are flowers, and the Quechee Gorge, promoted as "the Grand Canyon of the North East", was only 162 feet deep. The Franconia Flume, an 800 foot long limestone walled chasm less than 50 feet high with a stream flowing through it, was ordinary, and didn't, in my view, merit a huge Visitors' Centre. Nonetheless it was crowded with mostly American tourists, gasping in wonder as they struggled along boardwalks in the chasm. Mount Washington is the highest peak in North Eastern USA at 6288 feet. We ascended it by a Cog Railway, which ground its way noisily up a steep track for an hour to reach the summit. Our sense of adventure was dimmed on arrival at the summit, finding that it was crowded with people who had driven up a well graded road on the opposite side of the mountain from the Cog Railway. The summit of Mount Washington claims one world record - on 12th. April, 1934 the highest wind speed observed by man was recorded here (231 miles per hour). We experienced a strong, chilly wind on the day we were there, with heavy clouds affecting the view. A world beating claim of a different kind came in North Conway, where I bought a pair of "The Softest Socks in the World". Kim did some damage to his credit card, disappearing every afternoon and coming back to the hotel with bags of clothes and ski stuff. North Conway has rows and rows (stretch over three miles) of retail outlet shops. North Conway and Freeport (another town in Maine) are famous for its outlet shops whereby the main attraction is shopping.

Aside from the natural features, there were places to stop at along the way - e.g. sites of famous battles, Norman Rockwell's studio etc.

In the three stopovers ending in North Conway, we stayed at Inns (motels). Cost was about USD150 per night, room only. All the Inns were very good. All three stopovers had restaurants providing good food in generally immense servings. One waitress said that the restaurant owner was not comfortable about what he had provided unless people asked for a doggy bag. The stopovers were real country USA. Quaint wooden houses abound, and hardly a fence in sight. These are essentially towns serving the ski industry (on the mountains surrounding them), and were very quiet when we were there. By December, they will all be swinging along.

I had an experience of the American health industry in this part of the holiday. An infected ear developed and I had to visit a GP for irrigation and drops/pills. It is quite a complex procedure, in that at reception, three or four page "Terms and Conditions" sheets must be signed. These contain indemnities of every sort. An aide then takes details of past medical history, and conducts an interview about the problem at hand, and then briefs the doctor. Then, the doctor is seen. Total cost was USD130, exclusive of pills.

From North Conway we drove to Portland, Maine's largest city but with a population of only 64,000. I said to the lady at the reception desk of the Holiday Inn "nice little town you have here". She replied, stiffly, "Sir, it is a city, gazetted in 1912". So there !Portland is not particularly noteworthy, being a city with a working port. Henry Wordsworth Longfellow lived here as a boy. Its main claim to fame is the Maine lobster, available everywhere in many forms - chowder, rolls, steamed etc. We enjoyed steamed lobster, rather smaller than I thought they would be, but tasty and good value for money at USD15 for one person. Near Portland are various coastal resorts, many of which have huge mansions, used one time by rich families, but now often converted to inns. The coast around Portland doesn't have huge waves rolling in from the Atlantic, but rather calmer seas caused by the many islands off shore.

After returning the car in Boston, we went by train to New York. I had read that the standard of Amtrak was not high, and our experience confirmed this. We left Boston for the 3 hour run to New York. Half an hour after we left, the train came to a halt. It was announced that a catenary further down the track was giving trouble, and we must wait until it was repaired. It took an hour for the repairing team to reach the catenary, and three hours for them to fix it. Meanwhile, we sat and waited. All of the food on the train, except the least favoured items, was eaten. We arrived in New York four hours late.

Before we left Singapore, Kim had registered us as attending the "Auditory Engineering Symposium" being held at the Marriott Hotel (Times Square) when we were in New York. This got us a 40% discount on our room at the Marriott - necessary as they wanted USD450 per night room only ! I was concerned that we might be required to attend some of the sessions of the symposium, where we might have to discuss theatre ceilings or similar in a knowledgeable way. However, to my relief, neither the symposium organisers nor the hotel queried our registration. Our room, on the 26th. Floor, had a spectacular view of Times Square, facing the Times Square building, where the crystal ball was lowered at the midnight on the eve of each new year. At night the view was even more spectacular with all the lights turn on to their full glory.

N

New York appeared cleaner and safer than the last time I was there. 42nd. Street, which used to be quite sleazy, has been cleaned up. There were always police or security personnel much in evidence (around Times Square anyway). Broadway and parts of Times Square have been partly closed to traffic, which assists moving around. We ate mostly at Irish pubs around Times Square. During our holiday, I was very surprised at the number of boutique beers, including wheat beers, available everywhere (no need to ask for a "Bud"). Trying these boutique beers was great fun. We used the Hop On Hop Off buses (USD54 for a 48 hour ticket - three routes, one night route). These took us to Ground Zero, Harlem, past Macy's, Madison Garden, Empire State building, Fifth Avenue, Upper East Side etc. The night route was quite impressive especially when the bus took us over to Brooklyn to view the Manhattan office skyline. We also attended an exhibition of artefacts from the "Titanic". Very poignant. The exhibition had lumps of coal from the engine room for sale (USD44 per lump, with certificate of authenticity), and I was tempted to buy one of these, but didn't as Kim highlighted that the coal came from Titanic (which is probably jinxed when it was loaded onto Titanic) and may results on our return airplane journey to Singapore be doom as well (we were flying back via the Atlantic route in opposite direction of Titanic route).

One of the features of the holiday was the extent of tipping required. Tips were asked for by all tour guides. We were hinted by the hotel reception that the cleaning ladies in hotels/inns should be given a tip every day (either left some money on a bedside table or in a printed envelope provided for that purpose), and of course at restaurants tips were mandatory (mostly 15%). Quite different from Singapore and it is a challenge to work out the amount to tip after a few beers during dinner.

In all, an interesting holiday, but, beyond the leaves, not particularly noteworthy.

The rest of the trip pictures can be found here