Plan Back on Track

The boys were feeling much better and Anita had managed to get their projects under control. This meant that the Kelantan trip would be on this weekend.

There was however a slight change in the plan. Instead of leaving on the Monday, we planned to set off in the early hours of Sunday morning instead. We would also be coming back a day earlier, on the Wednesday.

We were expecting a long journey this Sunday. Traffic would be bad. So, we will be setting off by 6 am. At least that was the plan ..... Good luck to us!

Links on the trip here.

Updating a Pain

I went through my blog entries during my travel and felt that I'd better put everything in a proper link pages. And when doing that, there were gaps and some entries which had yet to be uploaded onto the server.

So, for the last couple of days, I have been frantically uploading those entries as well as uploading the slideshows from my SmugMug site. Those took some doing, and I still got a few which needed sorting up. And then, work got in the way and after getting the calls out of the way, I should have some free time this weekend.

I would need to get all the entries for the Kyoto and Lugano trips in sequence and put them into a neat link page. Hmmmmm ..... Hive me anoyher couple of days.

Up Monte San Salvatore

Another slow afternoon on the lecture front, but yet again the latter talks were interesting. Thereforenwe had a gap of a couple of hours to spare. And what did we do? We ventured up a hill.

Enough about taking boats, we took the train this time. And it was a funicular train up Monte San Salvatore.

The terminal was a bus ride away - although if you get your bearings sorted, walking would have been mote fun - at a place called Paradiso. A regular schedule - with a dicoubt given when I showed my congress badge - it took 15 minutes to get from the bottom to the tip of San Salvatore, with a quick change of train midway up.

The funicular station at the bottom of the hillThis will first take you to a middle station when you'd have to change coach. The second one was more steep.Time for a changeIt became more interesting from then onOnce you teach the top, there was a small museum and restaurant. You could stop there and then catch the ride back to the bottom, but that would be no fun.

A further ten minute walk along an asphalt path would take you further up the hill onto a small chapel. You then take three flights of stairs onto the roof of the chapel for the main show. And what a show it was.

You can stop here for a meal or coffeeOr you could go further upOn the way to the chapel, you could see these cute little posters from the 40sShame that it was cloudy that afternoonYou would be presented with the vista of the whole Lugano, lake and all. On a good day, you could even see as far as Milan - bit unfortunately not on the day that we went to visit. It started to drizzle as soon as we arrived and we rushed across to get our photographs taken. Luckily we were soaked.

Back to the bottom of the hill, we decided to take the lakeside walk towards the Congress Center. Around 30 minutes to get back, but the weather started to clear up and it was not too warm. Well worth the trip as well.

Photos from the outing can be seen here.

Boating around Lake Lugano

It was a warm afternoon and staying indoors listening to lectures just sounded like disrespecting the great weather we had in Lugano. It didn't take much persuasion when a few of my colleagues asked if I would like to join them for a boat trip around lake Lugano. After all. The ferry terminal was only a 10 minute walk from the Congress Hall.

Straight after lunch, we ventured out. We decided to take a quick trip as another lecture later in the afternoon was not to be missed. Off we went.

The trip was on an open top boat, but with an air-conditioned cabin at the bottom if the weather upstairs was too hot, or should it be raining. The round trip around the lake would last for an hour, and you could freely disembark and catch the subsequent boat if you fancy a quiet walk at the little towns and villages that the boat passed along the route.

The main stop was a quaint little village called Gandria. A few of our colleagues stopped, but we decided against it as the next boat would be around 90 minutes after. Too long a wait even in such a gorgeous setting. And it was too early in the afternoon for the restaurants and cafe to be opened just yet.

So, we stayed in the boat through out the trip. The weather was warm enough for me to catch some sun burn. After 20 minutes all of us went to the lower deck enjoying the scenery from there.

The place was really gorgeous. The best time to venture would've been earlier in the day, maybe around 10 am or so, when the weather was bright but not too sunny. Late afternoon was just too warm, at least for me. I prefer a quick walk then stop by a cafe in that sort of weather.

Should you end up in Lugano, it was definitely worth the time taking the boat trio, but as I mentioned, best to take the ride in the mornings or just before lunch and catch a meal at one of the boat stops. And make sure that you bring your camera along. There were plenty of gorgeous snaps to be had.

The rest of the photos from the outing can be seen here.

Kyoto Station Slideshow

More on the Kyoto trip here.