1001 Places/Experiences to See or Savour #319 - Eva Peron Monument & Cemetery, Buenos Aires

1001 Places/Experiences to See or Savour After Remission #319

- Eva Peron Monument & Cemetery, Buenos Aires

 

(Is Eva Peron, made famous in the musical Evita, the most recognisable symbol of Argentina? Most Argentinians would agree. We were whisked off for our first looks of Buenos Aires and sure enough, the Eva Peron monument and her cemetery right in the heart of the city were the highlights of the city tour. Her colourful history of fighting for women's rights, the poor and the workers made her the beloved 'queen', seen proudly on the 100 pesos note too. Strangely, the visit to her cemetery at Recoleta, voted by the BBC as one of the world's best cemeteries - was not weird at all but a fitting tribute to her - she died of cancer so young at 33)

 

1001 Places/Experiences to See or Savour #318 - Message-in-a-Bottle, Amalfi, Italy

1001 Places/Experiences to See or Savour After Remission #318

- Message-in-a-Bottle, Amalfi, Italy

 

(I almost forgot - we decided to put together a message-in-a-bottle experiment to see how far and how long it will take before it gets found, if at all. The experiment venue? Amalfi itself - and why not, being such a beautiful seaside place to drop it? So, with a message printed, US$2 inside a ziplock bag for postage and a clear bottle, we threw it into the furthest point into the Amalfi sea. And guess what? It was found when we were in Naples by Paolo Mennella - a captain of a charter yacht from Amalfi itself. It gave us a barrel of laugh that the bottle was found so soon - just 1 day after we set it off in the sea! Perhaps it will be different the next time around ..in cold glaciers of Argentina..and hot Galapagos?)

 

 

 

 

1001 Places/Experiences to See or Savour #317 - Gu Lang Yu Island, Xiamen, China

1001 Places/Experiences to See or Savour After Remission #317

- Gu Lang Yu Island, Xiamen, China

 

(It's a peculiar place, with colonial buildings of British, French and Dutch influence dating back to the First Opium War in 1842, dotted all over this island, Gu Lang Yu. We hopped onto a packed ferry to reach it. Its rich history aside, what took our attention more was the food available there from the narrow streets, which are devoid of any cars or buses; only carts pulled by locals to carry goods are allowed. Our highlight was a bowl of fishballs with meat stuffings, made fresh only on the day itself, and boiled to perfection on this cool winter's day. It was far better than the famous Xiamen oh-chien oysters that was peddled by another street seller)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1001 Places/Experiences to See or Savour #316 - Dadi Tulou, Hua'an, Fujian, China

1001 Places/Experiences to See or Savour After Remission #316

- Dadi Tulou, Hua'an, Fujian, China

 

(The highlight of our Fujian tour is the Tulou - or the doughnut earthen building - in Hua'an, an hour's drive from Zhangzhou city. This Unesco site, built in 1770, shows off very well the form of communal living in this part of Fujian mainly by the Hakka people. It is also built as a 4-storey high fortress, at a diameter of 71metres, housing up to 800 people. Our visit here was made all the merrier with several 5000-piece firecrackers being lit as part of the Chinese New Year celebrations. Inside it, we were shown how the peanut candy was made - hammering away at the suger-peanut mix. It is quite a breath-taking site, seeing it for the first time, and well worth the wait)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1001 Places/Experiences to See or Savour #315 - Chaozhou trishaws, China

1001 Places/Experiences to See or Savour After Remission #315

- Chaozhou trishaws, China

 

(In the heart of Chaozhou - Teochew - we were taken on a trishaw ride through the old backstreets. However, these trishaws are not peddled but they are electric trishaws. Seeing these back alleys really remind us of the small provision shops or corner meat-markets back in the old days in Singapore or Malaysia. At the end of the ride, we put our yuans to good use by buying the various preserved fruits and peanut candy that this place is known for)