French concern for good eating...

We are staying at a simple hotel near Gare du Nord.  But even here, the French are fussy about their food.  No pile of hard-boiled eggs in a basket here.  You do your own, and get them exactly as you want them, and freshly cooked too!

 The Conciergerie.  

During the opening ceremony for the 2024 Olympics, this was the building where Marie Antoinette watched the proceedings....

 

 The Conciergerie was originally a palace, and then a prison.  These days, it is dedicated to the Revolution.

Some pics inside...

View of Notre Dame

Finding your way...

In Paris

We finally arrived in Paris at 7am local time, about 3pm Sydney time, on Sunday.  it has been a long trip -28 hours - from leaving Sydney to arriving at CDG. 

A good trip though. One thing I noticed was flying along the Persian Gulf, with Iran well go the east, I  could see other aircraft, or at least their lights.  I had never seen this before. I assume the change in flight paths to avoid the latest Middle East conflict,has lead to more aircraft using the available corridors.  Tried to get a pic but it just wouldn't come out.  Fingers crossed - and let's hope everyone has their TCAS on!

We had several hours to kill before our rooms were ready, so got our Navigo cards and went to the nearby Sacre Coeur.  

A day of jet-lag-fog for me, but here are some pics...

From Beo Lan....

 

And had dinner at a random bistro last night. Kin Mun (and the rest of us) discovered "aligot" - mashed potato and a cheese to give a chewy texture. Beo Lan had bass, and didn't get a photo of my steak and "frites". 

 

 

 

 

Paris, Armenia, and Angers

We leave this weekend for a tour of Armenia, book-ended by time in France.

Armenia will be the "missing link", for us, in the Silk Road.  In any case, it is a historic, landlocked, mountain country, and the first country, after Rome to adopt Christianity as its national religion.  When our favourite travel company had a 9 day tour, we jumped at the chance to see Armenia without having to do heaps of preliminary research.  So watch this space.

But first we have four days in Paris, to recover from jet-lag and see some sights we have missed - the restored Notre Dame, Basilica de Saint Denis, the Police Museum and lunch at a Paris bistro.  What's not to like!

But so traumatised was I by the brazen pick-pocketing of Kin Mun's wallet on our last trip to Paris, I have been preparing.  This is one of my strategies - internal pockets in my jeans - inside-out view below.

Let's see if it works!
 

 

Ooops!

On Wednesday evening, I walked to Beecroft Woolies, and was on my way home when I fell.  I knew I stumbled, but thought I had recovered, and the next thing I was on the footpath - just past Vintage Cellars.  No, I hadn't been inside....

I will spare you the on-site image - suffice to say that my blood-thinners (Cartia) worked a treat.  Thought Medicare's urgent care clinic was the way to go - but they didn't have an X-ray - so they cleaned me up and Kin Mun took me to a local emergency medical centre.  They x-rayed everything (My bones are old, you see!) but all was well.

So lets hope the airline isn't afraid to board me, and that the face recognition works at Immigration!

Waiting for X-Ray - yes, that is blood on my top.

And the next day.  They "glued" the wound on the chin, which was the worst cut.  

Chinese digital payment system

We have heard that China is a cashless society, and that our credit cards would not work in China.  The magic words are WeChat and Alipay, but to use them in China, you needed a Chinese bank account.

Apparently, about 6 months ago, China allowed the linking of foreign (ie us) cards to WeChat and Alipay.  Kin Mun duly signed up, but wasn't able to test it in Australia - it only worked in China.  So he was anxious, but aware that we had a guide who would help us.

On our first day, we went for a walk in a park in Foshan, and saw a vendor selling sweets, equipped with his own QR codes.  This was KM's first test of the digital payments, and with the guide's help, it worked!  We walked away with two packets of sweets.

Later on, at a supermarket, we had the big business version.

I didn't sign up.  So whenever I wanted to buy something, I had to call Kin Mun.  He was only too pleased to try the system again!  He is reassured to know that he can now travel independently in China.

What to make of this? For us, all went well.  Just don't forget your phone. Transactions go from one person's digital wallet to the other fellow's wallet.  No fees involved - mostly  But the bigger picture is beyond me.  Who benefits?  I don't know the answer to that.  Certainly the banks/card companies don't get the card fees as they do in Aus. so I can imagine they would find all sorts of reasons not to implement this system. 

The Great Firewall is a paper tiger ......but it costs.

We had heard all sorts of things about the Great Firewall of China, so Kin Mun duly arranged VPNs before leaving Australia.. 

But they didn't work either.

We stumbled on the solution - use our Telstra Global Roaming and you can access anything on your mobile, just like back in Aus.  Use your phone data to set up a hotspot, and you can link your laptop and your internet is just like home.

Our friends had an Optus account, and could do the same thing - for fewer  $$ than Telstra.

No doubt a concession for foreign visitors with an Aus account. But there is a cost in using Global Roaming.  The free hotel wifi was behind the Firewall.  You aren't actually told a site is blocked - just that  nothing happens.

China Southern (CZ)

Flying to Guangzhou was our first experience of long-haul on a Chinese airline.  We had heard tales, in the past, of brusque service, but none of that eventuated.  Staff were very professional.  We also flew CZ from Guangzhou to Singapore.

One feature of China Southern, at least, is that they don't muck around with under-cover air marshalls.  Both flights had very visible security officers in police-like attire.  The second fellow looked like a martial arts practitioner.  So, noisy passengers beware, let alone anyone trying to get to the cockpit.  For obvious reasons, there are no pics!

We were on the 737 MAX.  We survived.

This was the view of the Johore River (had to look it up on Flight Radar the next day) with bridge and highway visible.

It was a 3-4 hour flight.  There was a spare seat next to me, but Kin Mun couldn't sit there because it was reserved as a cockpit crew rest seat. I wasn't sure if something was lost in translation.  But sure enough, a young pilot-looking fellow came to sit there, his phone went off and he promptly fell asleep.  No chance of a chat.  I figured that if he was still there when we began our descent, I would panic.  He wasn't, so I moved over to the window seat, assuming he wouldn't be back!

The other surprise was that in Singapore, my suitcase appeared placed in a bin.  Never had that before, and wondered why, but collected it and we began to pass Customs and head for the Exit.  But we were stopped and were asked to come over and get our bags X-Rayed.  The fellow was interested in my case and wanted it opened.  I  asked why, he said there was a sharp object.  Oh, thought I, my tweezers perhaps?  He put his hand straight on a package in the middle and opened it up.  It was a couple of "whirly-gig", spinners that I had bought in a park in Foshan.  He had a good look, and then gave them back and said I could go.  I asked what was on the XRay. "Ninja" he replied.  So he wanted to check that my spinny things weren't a banned ninja weapon, and they had waited to see who picked up the offending suitcase, which had been marked by placing it in a bin. A seventy plus old lady carrying Ninja weapons? Could be the gangster's grandmother perhaps!

So beware if they seem to be taking extra care with your suitcase!

 

 

 

Final dinner in Guangzhou

Wonton noodles for Kay at a hole-in-wall noodle bar outside Guangzhou railway station.

More on today's lunch

The other dishes in the set menu K mentioned: congee, chicken feet, choi sun, and sieu mai dumplings. If course we could eat them all