Travel
weekend walks: 3 museums of sydney
We went for a completely different type of walk this weekend – we visited three museums in Sydney that we hadn’t been to in a while.
Stop 1 – Sydney Jewish Museum
On the first Sunday of every month, entrance is free! So we were lucky to be there on June 1 🙂 There was an Anne Frank exhibit on, which reminded us of our time in Amsterdam visiting Anne Frank’s House. Walking through the museum is simply so moving, such a harsh reminder of the atrocities of the Holocaust and how war is good for no one.
Stop 2 – Art Gallery NSW
Entrance is always free except if you want to see the special exhibits and it is quite easy to lose a few hours wondering around in there. Our favourite rooms are the European art rooms on the main entrance level, makes us excited to be returning to Europe in July to explore the art galleries there once more 🙂
Stop 3 – Government House via Royal Botanical Gardens
It is one of the living museums of Sydney and a guided tour of the inside is available on Fridays through Sundays. The entrance is free and the tour guides are volunteers who share so much interesting information. We learnt about Government House and facts of the history of Sydney that we hadn’t (or don’t recall) learning at school!
It was a side of Sydney that we figured is listed in “Travel Guides” that we ourselves haven’t truly seen. So we played “tourists” in our own city. We were not disappointed!
To add to the distance we walked, we stumbled across the Wishing Tree in the Botanical Gardens. We made our wish and being superstitious we completed the ritual, getting ourselves dizzy circling the tree 🙂
Hope our wish comes true.
Have a fabulous week, folks!
It’s our last full week of work for a while …
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cultural shows of china
As a tourist in China, there is the opportunity to see a “cultural show” of some sort!
In Beijing, it is usually the Peking Opera. In Xi’an, it is probably a Tang Dynasty Show. In Shanghai, it is likely to be the acrobatic show. We saw all three and our favourite was none of these but instead an outdoor zen music performance by the Shaolin monks in Dengfeng.
Whether the shows are worth watching or not is really up to each individual. And for us, it was a case of “now we’ve done it – we know which one NOT to see again!”
So, what did we really think?
Beijing – Peking Opera
To watch a Peking Opera, one needs to keep an open mind (a really open mind)! The costumes are fascinating however that is probably where the fascination for us ended. The story lines (as there are about 3-4 mini plays in the overall show) are difficult to follow as the subtitles are on the wall alongside the stage (our eyeballs are not skilled enough to look at two different things in opposite directions). We mean no disrespect for this traditional cultural performance but the singing is high-pitched and whining and can be quite unbearable after a while.
Xi’an – Tang Dynasty Show
We were a little wary of seeing this show following the Peking Opera, however we were pleasantly surprised. Firstly, this show came with a buffet dinner. The buffet dinner had quite a fair bit of variety and the food was rather tasty. The show was colourful with beautiful costumes and stage settings. It was definitely engaging and entertaining. The instrumental performances were most enjoyable.
Shanghai – Acrobatic Show
This particular show didn’t allow photography, which was different to all the other shows we saw in China, but we could understand why. The acrobatics in this show were unbelievably fast and camera flash could have dire consequences if performers were distracted. Picture Cirque du Soleil but without the comedy and clowns – the performers somersault through hoops and balance plates on poles. There was even a magic show with audience participation which was amusing! The show was rather upbeat.
Dengfeng – Shaolin Zen Music
We have never seen a show that has blown us away as much as this performance did. It was set in a beautiful outdoor theatre with the billion-year-old mountain ranges behind it. There was music, there was kung fu, there were monks on zip lines re-enacting fight scenes across the mountains (imagine Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) and there was a light show. The entire performance was mesmerising yet so calming.
Earlier in the day, we had witnessed a Shaolin Monk performance at the temple which was a true display of training and what the body is capable of doing. The discipline demonstrated by those trained here is just mind-boggling.
Our verdict:
We appreciated being introduced to the different cultural shows of China. But we won’t be rushing back to get tickets next time we are in China, especially not for the Peking Opera. Our favourite is, without question, the Shaolin Zen Music performance and is worth experiencing if you are ever in Dengfeng. Just be warned that in April – the night temperatures drop below zero degrees (Celsius) 🙂
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weekly photo challenge: twist
Krista got our attention with the ‘twist’ on our favourite three wise monkeys!
This is our entry for the challenge this week.
It can be found at the United Nations Building in New York – a gun barrel twisted into a knot.
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countdown to the fifa world cup
The atmosphere is going to be electric! It is going to be a mind-blowing, a real once-in-a-lifetime experience to watch football in the home of football!
Getting ready for the World Cup? Here’s what we did it…
✓ VISAS
So our Brazil visas are done and doing them was pretty straight forward.
Complete the online application form at: http://sydney.itamaraty.gov.br/en-us/ (this is using the Consulate General of Brazil in Sydney website)- Print and attach a passport photograph on the form, sign and date.
- Submit to the Brazilian Consulate in person (on Clarence St, Sydney) with the travel invitation letter from the local Brazilian travel agency.
- Best thing is that visas for entering Brazil for the World Cup are FREE of charge.
- Two weeks later, the visas are ready to be picked up.
TIP: Don’t apply for visas last minute.
✓ VACCINATIONS
Luckily we were all up to date with our vaccines from our previous trips. We had Yellow Fever vaccines for Peru back in 2011 so just need to remember to pack that little yellow fever certificate. The only jabs we needed this time was to “top up” typhoid and the usual seasonal flu-vaccine.
We always make sure we visit the doctor well in advance of any of our trips to make sure we have enough lead in time for any vaccinations that require repeat doses or a set timing regimen.
TIP: Visit the doctor or travel nurse for advice on what you need several months in advance to give yourself enough time to be inoculated.
A great article to read is What Vaccinations Do You Need? by Michael at Bemused Backpacker
✓ TRAVEL INSURANCE
This is one thing that we don’t EVER go without. We actually always buy travel insurance the moment we book our trip to make sure we are covered from that moment where we hand over the thousands of dollars for airfares.
We do have a credit card that gives us free travel insurance if we paid our flights with it. Too good to be true, we thought. Upon further inspection, we don’t get our own policy and actually we sat under an umbrella policy. If we needed to claim anything, we need to prove to the credit card insurers that we actually paid for the flights with the credit card. That just seemed to complicated for us especially if there was an emergency.
We have usually chosen to go for Cover-More Travel Insurance when we travel because for our first ever trip, it was recommended by the travel agent who booked that trip for us. Thereafter, we have done our research and looked at other companies but so far so good with Cover-More as they do give us the peace of mind we need. We figured that if they are “the most popular travel insurance provider in Australia” as per their website, we couldn’t really be going wrong, right? But also , we have had to call them up about things and their customer service representatives are extremely informative and helpful.
TIP: Always get travel insurance. Make sure you read the product disclosure statement of any insurance policy and understand what you are buying.
✓ FLIGHTS
We are flying with Emirates – the LONG way around. As it turns out, it was getting too complicated with QANTAS so our organiser chose the alternative option to fly around the other way to Brazil. Guess we would rather sit on a plane than wait at airports! It’s taking us about 28 hours to get from Australia to Brazil but at least we have flights!
X FAN MERCHANDISE
✓ ACCOMMODATION
We are going to be following the Australian Socceroos so we will be in Cuiaba, Curitiba and Porto Alegre – luckily the search for accommodation was the responsible of the organiser and not ours. We are in three hotels and one of which is a 5-star apparently! SCORE!!!!
wise monkeys abroad 