M40間諜米格魯的秘密日誌

Every country which has (or used to have) a monarchy will find that that venerable institution usually comes attached with a string of specialist shops and merchants offering goods and services of all kinds to members of the monarchy. For instance,  in Vienna, the capital of the former Austro-Hungarian Empire, you will see countless tourists from Asia and the US waiting patiently at the counter of Demel's Confectionary shop to spend their hard-earned money on some pieces of ridiculously expensive chocolates and cakes, simply because Demel's were the appointed Imperial Confectionary. Same crowded phenomenon applies to shops and merchants all over the UK who have the honour to provide members of the British Monarchy with clothing, tea, candies, footwear... etc. As a matter of fact, these shops and merchants have attained such degree of global prominence and popularity that you can find their goods and services virtually everywhere you go.
Which is why it is a bit unusual to see neither long queues nor anxious tourists crowding inside the very same shop where Haci Bekir, the inventor of Turkish Delights and Imperial Confectioner to the Ottoman Courts, first concocted the sweet meat some 232 years ago.

This is not to say their Turkish delights are not tasty or anything; as a matter of fact, I find Haci Bekir's products much better in terms of consistency and quality than most of those no-name brands sold in the Spice Market. Their prices are also very reasonable. Perhaps
it is because unlike Demel of Vienna or Twinings of London, which are
now basically shops that cater to foreign tourists instead of locals,
Haci Bekir of Istanbul still retain the down-to-earth character and is
still very frequently patronized by local Istanbul residents. They have two
shops in Eminonu, one in Taksim on the Istikal Caddesi (which, for whatsoever reason, has
attracted a far greater number of foreign visitors than the original
shops near the Spice Bazaar), and several others all over Istanbul.

On day 3, it was time to visit different villages on Gozo by bus. The funny thing about going around by bus on Gozo is, you never know if it is worthwhile spending 40 minutes at Victoria's bus station waiting for the 5 minute ride to your destination. Since distance between each settlements on the island is short, you can probably walk to the village you want to go during the time you spent waiting at the bus station.
As I had some time to spare on my hands, instead of walking up the 3km country lane towards the seaside hamlet of Xlendi, I sat down at a small cafe right across the road from the bus station and spent the next 40 minutes drinking Lavazza latte macchiato.
As expected, the bus ride to Xlendi took less than 10 minutes....

Since there is nothing much to do in Mgarr after dark, I decided to stay at the hotel and watch live football match on TV instead. The next day, I set off from the hotel after a hearty, delicious English-Maltese breakfast to catch the bus to Victoria, the main town of Gozo.
Buses on Malta and Gozo are a tourist attraction in its own right, as they still use traditional Leyland buses from the 1950s and 60s. The interior is austere, but it was still a very fun way to travel even though there is no air-conditioning inside the vehicle.

For those interested in Greek mythology, it was said that Gozo was the island on which Odysseus was kept captive for seven years by the beautiful nymph, Calypso. Given the smallness of the island (it tookebarely 24 hours to explore major sights on the island), it is hardly surprising that Odysseus longed to return home, even though he was promised immortality by his demi-God lover.

The famous Azure Window on the island of Gozo - a nice place to get fresh sea breeze and views.
While it was surely interesting to visit Gozo and spend a few days on the island, but it was so small and somewhat boring that, unless you have friends on the island or you enjoy staring out of your windows to the sea days on end, you probably would want to spend more time on Malta instead.

前幾天無意中發現,自己辛苦寫的部落格文章被山塞版的旅遊網站剽竊了...
考慮到請個律師做我的法律顧問,可能只能嚇嚇君子,擋不了隔壁的小人;有朋友叫我試試這個方法:

在所有的文章後,加上'西藏獨立!Free Tibet!達賴喇嘛萬歲!'等等字眼,這麼一來應該可以讓山塞地區的用戶上不了我的部落格.看不見文章內容的話,就無法抄襲了.

There are several hundred bus companies in the whole of Turkey, serving both major cities and small villages throughout the country. Many foreign visitors who speak little or no Turkish, however, find it intimidating to venture around this beautiful country by bus due to language barriers, despite the presence of a highly comprehensive and efficient long-distance bus systems.
Unlike in Greece, where several private travel agencies compile comprehensive database that provide up-to-date sailing schedules and ticket price of most domestic ferry routes, there are no such thing yet for inter-city bus routes in Turkey. Which means: the only way independent travellers who speak no Turkish can obtain up-to-date bus time-tables and prices is to check with the bus ticket office in person upon arrival at the bus station (known as Otogar, Terminali, or Garaj in Turkish) in Turkey, and hope to find a bus connection that meets their schedule,
At the moment, only some of the bigger bus companies in Turkey have their own website with inter-active bus time-tables and ticket prices. However, most of the interface are in Turkish language only. Also, not all destinations or stops served by the bus company are included in the drop-down menu. For instance, some buses that serves the route Goreme – Izmir also stop en route at Denizli (for the popular tourist destination of Pamukkale about 15km away), but if you click on their drop-down menu for time and prices, you would not find the name 'Goreme' or 'Denizli'.

I first came across Elli Kokkinou's Greek ballade 'Tha Perimeno' whilst on the Greek Ionian island of Corfu. For a few days in a row, the song was played over and over again on various Greek radio stations; as I travelled quite frequently with Corfu's local bus networks during my stay on the island, I became familiar with the melody. For some reason, the tune fits so right into the landscape: bright sun, blue sea and countryside with lots of sentimental nostalgia. 
Kokkinou is a very well-known singer in Greece. Some of her ablums also sold well in neighbouring countries such as Cyprus and Turkey.

Prior to my first visit to Greece in the early 2000s, I (out of ignorance) thought Greek music was mostly about traditional village folk music performed by bald, middle-age musicians dressed up in colourful local costumes. After all, that was the kind of image most of us get to see on foreign TV shows or travel programmes about Greece. But Greek pop music is certainly more lively and more fun than that. Some of the big stars in Greek music scene are no less attractive or sexy than their British or US counterparts. As a matter of fact, music videos of many Greek female singers are  definitely not traditional at all, but full of skimpy bikinis, tiny little black dress and provocative shots.
One of the more famous Greek pop stars is Despina Vandi. She was born in Germany to a Greek immigrant family from Kavala. While she has a huge fan base in Greece, some of her critics thought her style was too artificial and her figure 'too thin'. But some of her songs have become sort of Greek pop classics, such as the song 'Odigoun se sena':       

I am not sure if she is well-known in Asia, but Patricia Kaas has a deep, expressive voice that captures the spirits of French chansons and made her one of the most successful female singers in Europe. One of her trademark songs is Une Fille de l'Est, a song about Kaas' home region of Alsace-Lorraine in eastern France.

 

Little illy, our Shiba Inu puppy, has already quite a few nicknames given her tender age of 5 months: depending on the occasion, she is called H.R.H Little Princess illy, illy Dog, illy 狗狗 (illy the Doggy), 夜店小公主 (in English= Party Girl illy), and 打屁狗狗 (Doggy that loves to hang around doing nothing in particular).
我們的小柴犬寶寶 illy 雖然只是五個月大, 已經有好幾個綽號,分別是: illy小公主殿下, illy Dog, illy 狗狗, 夜店小公主,以及打屁狗狗.