Category Archives: Travel

My China Southern Airlines trip from Sydney to Nepal

Posted on February 28, 2014 | 15 comments

This time for our trip to Nepal, against everyone’s advice, we booked China Southern Airlines to Guangzhou and then to Kathmandu, Nepal.

Few months ago, before our decision, I had put the question in my Facebook if anyone had any experience with the airlines before. The response appalled me because everyone was complaining about how awful it was. Everyone suggested not going ahead with them. Their exactly words were, “Nightmare”, “Flight from hell.”, “Do not fly with them.”

Me and AS has never flown the airline and I was shocked to read a few of the reviews and I definitely don’t want to be in their shoes. I was not too keen to book the flight.

But while doing my research, we found out that even though many people were not happy about the airlines some time ago, since October 2013, they introduced A380’s from Sydney to Guangzhou and the reviews were saying it is better now.  The fare for the airlines came to be cheaper than others by $150 per person return with only 2 hours for transit compared to above 6 hours in other airlines. The other thing was on certain routes the airlines allowed 2 pieces 20 kg luggage which was a big bonus.

As you can imagine it was a tough decision for us but finally we decided to give China Southern airlines a try. I was not expecting much but I was pleasantly surprised from the start. The check in was smooth and the flight was not too full. Apart from 45 minutes delay before take-off which was announced, things seemed to be going fine. At that time I was a bit worried what would happen with our connecting flight.

As we boarded and took our seats, the passenger in the seat in front of me called the flight attendant as something was leaking from above. It seemed like water from the air conditioning. The matter was dealt smoothly and he was allocated another window seat.

Thus our 9 hours flight started.

I am very happy with the plane as there was enough leg room but I am not very tall :). We settled down well and I spent the next 2 hours watching a movie, The Job. Great movie btw and very intriguing, made me want to go ahead and do what I believe in instead of living an ordinary life to just die one day.

Anyway, the first meal was served and we had a choice of seafood or beef. As we don’t eat beef (why not can be another post for later), we had seafood. This reminded me of getting the meal order beforehand next time.

Anyway it was an ordinary meal like in any other plane, so no complaints. I was hungry so I ate some. No matter how many times I travel; sometimes it is so hard to kill the time in flight.

I was glad that I was not travelling alone. I talked to AS from time to time and then watched more movies followed by another meal and I was delighted when the pilot announced we were going to land in Guangzhou soon.

Once we landed in Guangzhou airport, we ran to find our connecting flight to Kathmandu as it was only an hour before boarding. We ran pass the security check and were breathing with relief when we located the sign that said flight to Kathmandu Nepal. We stood in the queue and were happy that in next 6 hours we would be in Kathmandu. This would be the first time that I will be landing in Kathmandu in less than 24 hours so I was feeling very happy. So far our experience with China Southern was great and I prayed that we didn’t miss the connecting flight as there were many people in the queue.

As we were waiting, an airport staff came and asked all the people who were travelling to Kathmandu to come to the side. It was a great relief for us as it meant we would be in an express line to the gate. As we stared to gather at the designated area, the staff gave all of us a sticker with our flight number and explained the following.

“As the weather in Kathmandu is really bad right now, planes cannot land there which means there will be no flight tonight. The next fight will be tomorrow morning at 9 am (14 hours later) so please follow me so I can sort things out for you. I am really sorry but you have to spend the night in Guangzhou. We will be providing you with accommodation for tonight”

There were around 15 of us and all of us were not pleased with the announcement. We had all booked the flight because it was the quickest but now it turned into be the longest. I looked at AS and just laughed and said, “Let the adventure begin.” with my luck it should be a great one too 🙂 .

It’s time for me to go upstairs and help my MIL with breakfast so I will continue my adventure in the next post.

Till then take care everyone. Nepal holiday is going great, more updates soon 🙂

M from nepaliaustralian

XOXO

15 Comments

Posted in Nepal 2014, Travel

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Good morning from Kathmandu!!!

Posted on February 27, 2014 | 21 comments

I know I am home when I am woken up by dogs barking and cars honking instead of an alarm clock, Good morning Kathmandu! — Nepaliaustralian 🙂

Hello and Namsate from Kathmandu, Nepal, my birth country, the place that I call home and a city that has changed so much in last decade. It is 4:30 am local time and I have been awake for more than an hour. It has been like this for the last few days and it is making me restless and tired but I hope to be back to normal in a couple of days. Just a few minutes ago, I was Googling about how to trick my body into sleeping :). Please share any tips that you have.

I have so many stories to share with you regarding our journey from Sydney to Kathmandu. As you can imagine it was not normal at all but finally we landed in Kathmandu and are enjoying family, friends, love and lots and lots of food :).

Someone once said that my life is never normal. Even if I went to buy milk at the store, I will come back with a story and I believe it now after our flight to Kathmandu and I promise I will write all the details about it as soon as possible.

As you know I am in a house readying for a wedding and expect at this ungodly hour in the early morning I am super busy and never alone.

In the last 24 hours I have done so much with so little rest that I have surprised even myself. I have given my outfits to be stitched and great news that they are all going to be ready in time for the wedding. I went shopping with my husband and MIL for wedding stuffs for the new bride. I have met my new SIL and was happy to find her so nice and friendly :). I have helped with lots of house work and still managed to visit my parents and my grand ma for a few hours.

Even with this busy schedule I have managed to go and have a plate of momo and momo never disappoints anyone :).

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As you can imagine, we all have never ending to do lists at home and everyone is super busy all the time. It feels nice to be a part of a family and help organise the wedding. As you know, I love Nepali culture and this is one of the finest examples how culture brings everyone together to celebrate and appreciate family.

I am going to be “thulo buhari” (elder daughter in law) in a weeks’ time and it is a happy feeling. Our family is going to expand with a new member and it is always a delight as they say, the more the merrier. In terms of wedding there will be a few days celebration until my SIL finally comes to our house. I still haven’t met lots of relatives from both the side of our family and so am looking forward to all the occasions to meet them.

I have millions of things buzzing around in my head that I want to share but I guess it all has to wait until things settle down after the wedding. I might be off from blogging for a few days but don’t worry I will update with photo posts whenever I can.

Take care ,

M from nepaliaustralian

XOXO

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Posted in Nepal 2014

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Isle of Pines and Oro Bay : New Caledonia

Posted on February 20, 2014 | 16 comments

After having a wonderful time in Noumea and Lifou, our last port was Isle of Pines. Everyone told me that it is the best place in New Caledonia and when we docked there, we could easily see why. It lived up to my expectations with beautiful white sand, stunningly clear blue water and impressive pine trees.

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Isle of Pines was dramatically formed by a series of volcanic upheavals and is truly beautiful. After we docked, the tender boat took us to shore, Kuto Bay, and we were greeted by a French Polynesian song and dance by the locals. There is an fort like fence near this port, possibly built by the French to keep out the locals.

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They also gave each of us a headband with flowers. I realised that they did their best to match the headband with our clothes, mine was pink as I was wearing pink top and AS had yellow as he had a yellow t-shirt on. After that we spotted the stand where you could get your passport stamped for $2 AUD or $200 French Pacific Franc. Unfortunately, we forget to carry our passport with us.

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That day we had booked a 2.5 hours day tour to snorkel at the Natural Aquarium. It is a traditional fish reserve and popular snorkeling site which can be found on the secluded lagoon edge of Oro Bay We waited for the bus and traveled to our destination.  As we traveled, we got to see the surprisingly diverse landscape of the small island. Most of the land was green and there was hardly any traffic on the road. Along the way we passed cows, local villages, lots of mango trees laden with fruit and plenty of jungle.  After about 20 minutes, we arrived at our destination, got out and walked to our destination.

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After a short walk through knee high water we arrived at the natural aquarium. The place is just beautiful with blue water, green trees and lucky for us blue sky as well. We set eyes on this incredible pool of blue water surrounded by the pine trees; we knew it was well worth the journey. It is a protected area which many fish have decided to call home. Like other parts of New Caledonia, we saw lots of dead corals and I was glad that both of had reef shoe on.

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Oro Bay (Baie d’ Oro) is an absolute ‘must-see’ destination . It would have to be one of the most beautiful and stunning natural sites I have ever seen in my life.  It is surrounded by dense vegetation with much of it being the Island’s incredible pine trees; the sand is the whitest I have ever seen and the water the most serene shade of turquoise.

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We dumped our stuffs at the end of the beach and just jumped into the water. There were already some tours there already but it was a good thing because one Japanese group had bread with them, which meant there were so many fishes closer to the shore.

The water at Oro Bay is the clearest I have ever snorkeled in.  It is like looking through the cleanest fish tank.  You can definitely see from the surface all the way to the white sandy bottom . However, if you have been snorkeling in the Great Barrier Reef, you will not find the coral to be as vibrant or as interesting. We saw plenty of ‘Nemo’ fish and zebra fish and other fish of many different kinds and in terms of coral we saw clams in a range of colours and many other beautiful types of coral.

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We both snorkeled and had so much fun chasing the fishes. The fish there were so confident that as I swam over them they didn’t flinch, just went about their business.

It was so much fun that I couldn’t believe that the tour was over so quick. We packed and headed to the bus to go back to Kuto bay. Before we boarded the bus we were served fresh fruits, watermelon and papaya and fresh coconut as well. They were very yummy.

Once back at Kuto Bay, we decided to walk around and find a good spot. Snorkeling was next on the plan in Kanumera Bay which is just opposite Kuto bay. There is a large rock in this area called La Rocher just off shore, which is completely off limits as it is sacred to the locals.. We took a few photos and went straight into the ocean to find more fishes. The photos taken in Isle of Pines are one of the best photos of the trip.

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The water took us by surprise being a little colder than we thought and was extremely salty. There is coral in the bay but pretty old and mostly dead. The fish life is lovely and it’s easy to snorkel and watch them, the water being quite refreshing. It was not as good as Oro bay but still really beautiful.

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We snorkeled around the “island rock” got some great photos while in the water and some beautiful underwater shots too. I really didn’t want to come out of the water but we had to.

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After snorkeling, we walked around a very small market area to get some last minute souvenirs.  I ended up buying a nice turtle made out of wood and shell.

Overall, we had a wonderful experience and loved Isle of Pines. We returned to the ship on a tender around 4pm and retreated to our cabin for some much needed rest.

Take care ,

M from nepaliaustralian

XOXO

16 Comments

Posted in New Caledonia, Travel

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Warm melting chocolate cake from Carnival cruise

Posted on February 15, 2014 | 6 comments

Anyone who has been to one of the Carnival cruise will vouch that the warm chocolate melting cake is the best melting cake ever.

The chocolate melting cake used to be either a special order or only served on certain nights on the cruise before. The dessert became so popular because of its richness and delicious taste that Carnival has now put it on the menu for dinner every night. Being chocoholic, of course it was AS’s favourite dessert throughout the cruise as well.

Imagine our delight when we got the recipe for the cake when we were doing the behind the fun tour.

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Sharing the yummy recipe with all of you

Serving: 4

Ingredients

  • 175g Dark chocolate
  • 175g Butter
  • 4 eggs
  • 175g sugar
  • 60g flour

Method

  • Melt the chocolate and butter.
  • Mix the eggs and sugar and whisk for few minutes and add the flour.
  • Add the egg mix to the melted chocolate and mix.
  • Pour the mix in a greased mold.
  • Bake directly in the oven 200 C0 for 14 minutes.
  • Serve with ice-cream and fruit garnish

Note: Make sure that the eggs are at room temperature and chocolate is warm enough while making the mixture.

 

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Posted in Carnival Spirit, Recipe

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Lifou – New Caledonia

Posted on February 4, 2014 | 10 comments

Our next port of call was Lifou.  Both I and AS were very excited about this place as we had done some research beforehand and knew the things to do. We didn’t have a tour booked for Lifou as we wanted to tour the island ourselves.

Lifou is the largest atoll in the world – over 1,200 sq km – but it is still delightfully ‘remote’ and we had to drop anchor offshore and tender in.

It is so different visiting an island from a cruise ship as opposed to with another form of travel. Normally I would have done extensive research before going on a holiday but this time I didn’t do much as we were going on a cruise. But going on the tour in Noumea previous day we had the experience how tours normally were organised from inside the ship.  If you go on a tour, you use Australian money and pay about 2 – 5 times as much as you would if going it by yourself.  Because we’ve traveled quite a bit before, it sounded like a great idea to ditch the tour and make your own tracks. I was a bit worried but AS convinced me that it will all be good.

We had breakfast on the ship and waited for our tender boat to take us ashore. It was a beautiful sunny day and I couldn’t wait to go and swim in the water. As it looked like it might be a while before our number was called, we went to the top deck to take some photos.

From the deck of a cruise ship Lifou’s golden beach glows against the brightest of green backdrops, made up of coconut trees and a variety of smaller palms. The vegetation is so dense it blocks out everything behind.

Once we stepped on Lifou Island we knew we needed to find a church and a marine park. As we made our way to the church, we met a staff from a ship who told us that we were going the wrong direction and pointed out to the right one. It looked really far and it was getting hot. As we walked towards the direction pointed out by the ship staff we saw heaps of people coming back. I stopped one of them just to make sure we were heading in the right direction and luckily we were.

The white building we had seen from the ship turned out to be the church of Our Lady of Lourdes, built by Catholic missionaries in 1898. It takes about 25 minutes at a slow pace to get there because the weather is hot and humid year-round, but the climb is gradual, with only one steep section. We are told about 200 locals gather once a year for a mass to celebrate the founding of the church. Sweeping ocean views made it worth the climb on the brilliant, cloudless day, and the sea breeze has visitors cooled down in no time.

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The church provides a 360 degree view of Lifou – a sight not to be missed. The descent takes half the time.

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As we were making our way back we saw two local boys selling fresh coconut juice, we grabbed one each and it was nice and refreshing. I wished it was cold too but it was still worth spending $6 for 2. They also had a mud crab tied to a rock so we took some photo with it.

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On the way back, we stopped at the beautiful Jinek Bay.

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This snorkeling beach is renowned for its vast expanse of corals and wide variety of tropical fish. Couple this with warm and crystal clear water and this provides the perfect platform for a stunning afternoon of snorkeling.  I really wanted to snorkel before but you need a permit and they were not selling any on site, we couldn’t get any permits on ship as they had run out of it. The place looked beautiful from the top itself and we learned that dozens of varieties of fish were found there, including angelfish, clownfish, lionfish, blue stripe snapper, grouper clownfish (Nemo) and butterfly fish.

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As we couldn’t swim, we took as many photos as we could and decide to go and snorkel elsewhere on the Island.

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As we were returning, we met a couple, table mates for dinner on the ship, who informed us that there was a beautiful cave on the other side of the Island. As we had plenty of time, we decided to go and check that out too.

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We started walking up a hill along a road and passed a lot of people coming the other way.  Everyone we met said that the place was really beautiful so we kept on walking.  It was really hot, and we were a bit tired by then. We finally saw a church, and around the side were a few men sitting in front of a sign pointing toward the caves.  As we walked toward the cave, the men came and asked if we were going inside. He wanted money and we managed to get a good price ($10) for the two of us to get in. He wanted more but we said that’s all we had and he lets us go on.

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As we walked inside, I could see that the path was small and steep. The path got rockier and the trees bigger as we continued towards the cave. I was a bit sacred when we had to climb through tight spaces and down wet rocks.

I was thinking it was a bad idea when all I had to hold was a thick ship rope that lined the path.

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Inside the cave, it was dark but there was a large pool of water below us.  There were a few people already jumping into the pool and they told us the water was cold and invigorating but the pool was very deep. The rocks around the pool were limestone and when we shone the torch down we could see tunnels that seemed to go forever.  Tree roots hung down from the rocks and the whole place was scary but beautiful.

I really wanted to jump into the pool as everyone seemed to be doing but we decided not to. We still stayed there for a while and took some photos before climbing up the same narrow path back to the top.

We headed back up the path back to the area so we could swim and snorkel. The beach area was very long so we picked one spot left and our belonging and went to snorkel. The water was warm but as the sand was too fine, you have to go a bit further out to see the beautiful corals and fishes.

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As we were swimming, someone told us there were many turtles a few meters away but we didn’t really see them. Still, we managed to see lots of corals and fish and it was so much fun.

We took some nice shots with the Carnival Spirit in the background.

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Afterwards we were tired so we went to the market where local crafts and colourful shirts and sarongs were on sale.

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It was almost 4 pm by then and we both were starving so we made our way back to the tender boats to get back on ship

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Our day on Lifou was amazing; even though we didn’t book the tours we were happy to discover so many things in one day.

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Take care everyone ,

M from nepaliaustralian

XOXO

10 Comments

Posted in Carnival Spirit, New Caledonia, Travel

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