Rental cars over the years

The freedom of the open road. Cool wind in your hair, warm sunshine on your face… ahhh…. ptui ptui! More likely than not you might get lots of sand, dirt and bugs in your face. And if you’re not careful, in the eye too!

That said, driving is fun. We are sure the many folks who do road trips will agree with us. And that’s why we thought it fun to share a little slide show of the many rentals we picked up over the years.

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Wow. From luxury models to basic sedans, we’ve had the privilege of ‘test driving’ these vehicles over several days or weeks. Most recently we rented while on a week’s drive around the western side of Sicily. Oh such freedom to get around without constraint… oh well the only being finding parking.

Don’t you love road trips?

Luxurious bus journeys

We’ve written almost always about air travel. But despite it being such a high profile way of traveling, flying isn’t the most utilized mode of transport for travel. The road remains the principal mode of moving people from one point to another, and we know – that you know.

So when it came to this article, we are reminded that there are so many journeys one can embark on with the bus to the little red dot’s backyard. For example, it is just 5 hours to Kuala Lumpur and many of the coaches run overnight too! And if are looking for tips on long distance bus travel read all about it here at Meneroka.

But the all time crown of a bus journey must go to Megan at ESL adventures (here). She embarked on a 3-month African Safari, 73 days to be exact. Although she said it was a large “jeep”, we think it is more akin to a souped up bus which can carry 28 passengers plus helluva lot of equipment. Because it was a lot of DIY too…. not quite luxury in the sense we may all have a vision of. But out in the bush of Africa, it gets as luxurious as that… well there were stops here and there in real liveable locations. We’ll leave you to read her adventures.

While we had our fair share of bus journeys too via coach tours, it was never for that period of time. The longest was 14 days and that was already quite exhausting. Getting your personal stuff on and off the bus each and every day presents quite a challenge.

Do you enjoy bus journeys? Have you any interesting stories to tell?

Traveling by Drone

We take it back.

We might even have to eat our words.

For what we hear you ask. Some might have read that we asserted that drone photography have its limitations (read our ‘critique’ here). We asserted that while drones may take wonderful photos and videos from up high, one cannot take a selfie like Suan did flashing the V sign. LOL…

Well we might just be proven wrong. At least when the concept shared by this article comes to fruition some time down the pike (no pun intended). If you did read the link, one is said to be able to ‘hail’ a pickup from almost any open area by a drone the size of a car. You will then be deposited on the chassis (with the wheels) and it will drive to your intended destination. Imagine having no traffic to contend with! This would solve one of the biggest bug bear of commuters on the roads… best of all they claim that this can be done with zero emissions (yeah right). Yes – talk about a fly drive!

And because if one can use an app to call up a drone car, then one can as easily take selfies from them too.

Think this may be ‘something down the road’ into the future? Our little red dot is said to be considering the use of such flying taxis (read here). And Dubai will steal a march on that by summer this year (here), which is like – now! At least the drones will be delivered in July. But with the ever increasing pace of advancement being churned out by labs around the world, it could surprise everyone with a debut very soon. Just like how SpaceX wants to sling two astronaut passengers to the moon and back by 2018.

When the time comes for this technology to become commercially viable, will you jump on it?

Final stop for Hong Kong’s ding ding?

With a title like that we expect a little more response from Hong Kongers or residents of the SAR. The article in question (here) seeks to elaborate how competition from other modes of transport may erode the lure of taking an iconic ride on the world famous trams of Hong Kong island.

Really?

Our first ride on the Ding ding was in the early 1990s fresh out of college. It was already a tourist attraction, though there was a considerable number of locals taking the tram. More about that in our Hong Kong handprint story (which will come soon enough). True the SAR has numerous other attractions and a plethora of things to do. But we are sure that many who visit the island even today would consider a ride on the tramway to be a must do activity.

Constructed in 1903, the tramway is now well over 100 years old. Like a venerable old dame, the tramway has seen booms, busts and wars. The familiar “ding” that one hears as the tram comes through is iconic as the dim sum that one seeks in Hong Kong in our opinion. We actually compared that with the one in San Francisco. Although different (the Hong Kong one is double decked), they were both constructed and put in service around the same decades of the 19th century.

Real estate is precious on tiny Hong Kong island. Would this little piece of gem be removed? How do the locals feel about this iconic symbol of Hong Kong? Will Hong Kongers nd residents tell us your views?

In search of Cathay, part II

Hopefully you would have read all about the start of our Silk Road journey a week back. If not, here’s a playback (click link). You know the thing that is happening now in some very very large country. Hint: we’re talking about trade here. There is said to be a wave of rising protectionist policies being considered.

And by no means this modern empire (you know who you are!) is the only one that practices such shifts in policy. The ancient silk road was not just left to its own devices but rather constantly fought over and ‘managed’ by differing powers as strengths ebbed and flowed over the centuries. This is a paradise not just for budding archaelogists but historians too, as new finds are unearthed ever so often of past civilizations smothered by the sands of time.

You might also be interested to know that here we come to the limits of one of the longest fortifications in the world. Yep you’ve got it, the Great Wall.

So one can expect fortresses and desertscapes in the background as mounted warriors lead the charge against their opponents. Horses ramming into each other, men falling over the clash of metal sounding and a sand storm kicked up in all of that conflict. Only to be buried into the ground and preserved perhaps for posterity in this dry and arid land.

And for us to check them out.

Curious to know more? Part II of our journey to Cathay can be read here. Will this inspire you to do the Silk road? We know of some people who blazed it on a jeep!

In search of Cathay, Part I

Cathay.

Does anyone know the origin of this word? And did you know this was what China was referred to by the west Asians and Europeans for millennia until the last few centuries? As far as we had done the research, it might had been something to do with the visitors who journeyed through central Asia on their way back to the west. One of them is supposedly Marco Polo. It is said the word or pronounciation came about from the way the folks in central Asia referred to the land inhabited by the Chinese. We’ll leave you to verify that.

Cathay was home for a full four years when Mel was based there for an assignment. And during those years we made quite some journeys around this continental sized country. As you might have read in our other posts, this could have been our YOLO moment! Being based in Shanghai was indeed a blessing for it was so well connected both by air, rail or road. So begins our series of handprint stories on China.

Where did we start our journeys you ask?

The famed Silk road! This trade route of thousands of years spans from Xi’an (西安) supposedly to Rome. Of course not just Silk travelled along this route, other products and religions too! And you have to know that conditions for tourism in that part of China back in the day was not exactly the most luxurious. So how did we fare and what did we see and do?

Come on and join us as we reminisce this fantastic adventure. Part I begins here.