A to Z from me to U of Worldwide Thrill Rides, Heights and Observation Decks

This post is in progress. Enjoy now but come back in a day or two for more.

Problems
Where is my nearest thrill ride? I don't actually want to ride one. I just want to see it, photograph it, read about it.
Buildings have fire escapes.  Parachutes are designed to help you jump from heights and arrive uninjured. You could design a water vehicle so that if it rolled over or turned upside down, people could be protected in air pockets. Or pull themselves out of an escape hatch or a battlement design edge.

Water Thrills
Check out
Waterslides
Duck boats. WWII amphibious vehicles. I did these twice, on a press trip in New York, and again in Philadelphia. I loved it.  It's a bit like launching a lifeboat. Your boat goes down a slide from land into water, a steep slide!

Fatal accident in the USA in 2018 (Chicago?) - but it was going in bad weather and passengers apparently were not wearing life jackets. I would want to go in good weather and wear a life jacket.)
You get duck boats worldwide. Usually, you can buy a combined ticket for an open top hop on hop off bus with a recorded commentary and a map, either free or extra, and a Duck boat river ride with commentary.

Bucharest, Romania. Hop on hop off bus to this museum with not be missed staircases. Photo by Angela Lansbury, copyright.

ROMANIA, Bucharest - hop on hop off bus
I thought this would be an easy option. Not for me. When they say hopping they mean hopping people. Not just sitting. Hopping. Hoping and hopping. If you are the nervous type, the open top bus tours with sides you can see over - plus overhanging branches to dodge is quite exciting. Children and adults love it.

What's not to like - plenty of exercise, steps to ascend and descend at up to fifteen stops, in a static or moving bus, leaping on and off. Signs tell you not to use stairs when a bus is moving. "Hey - this is our stop!"

You walk to the entrance of the museum, which is next to bus stop on the map - but the entrance is down the road or around the corner. hard Rock Cafe was by a lake. You must walk down to the Lake. Hard Rock Cafe is huge. Long walk to toilets at the end and back. Then run back to catch the next bus which goes only every fifteen minutes or half an hour. You find you are at the regular city bus stop or a rival company's stop and see your bus stop yards away and run to it waving - that is also over-exciting.

Static Thrills

USA
The ultimate thrill ride is the man on the moon and the highest observation deck is a space station. You could go to a Space camp. Those suits look awfully bulky and uncomfortable. On the other hand, you will be free-floating in space. Without an anchor, you and your food and other items I won't mention would be floating about. Gravity does have its advantages.

Yes, America is the place for thrills, especially theme parks. The USA is not a small country but a large part of the continent of North America. It's big and you have lots of choice, but distances between one and the next are great.

What's the hurry? Sit back and relax as a passenger in a family car (take turns driving), or take a flight and enjoy the view.

What about the cost?

Buy a house or rent for a year near a theme park and you can get an annual pass. Plus a constant stream of visitors, family and friends and ex-colleagues and others to visit you. No problem entertaining them, whether you want to be with them - or get rid of them! Be with them on day one and get rid of them on day three.

Australia
Tower of Terror, and The Wipeout, in Dreamworld, Australia.
Dreamworld, Dreamworld Parkway, Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia QLD 4209.

Austria
Mieders

Canada
I've tried this rope bridge with family visiting from England and family living in Canada. Allow twice as long as you thought, because you can only go as fast as the slowest and most nervous of your groups - and you are held up by others who take fright!
Note that the time to cross is doubled if you have to go across and come back to exit the same way. Allow time for parking, buying tickets, photos and souvenir shopping.
https://www.capbridge.com

China
The Great Wall.
It is high. In fact, just climbing up the giant steps is a challenge. The steps are the height of a chair. The elderly need and helping hand. From the top, you get the views down and for miles.

The glass bridge - is static. The people looking down as they walk are swaying around!

On the other hand, lots of pedestrian suspension bridges are moving. They bounce as you cross. You stop, but people behind you are running after friends and family so the part beneath your feet bounces. So does the handrail.

Keep both hands on the rail and you will be fine. But you need one hand to operate your camera. If you are nervous, don't look down, look ahead.

If you are trying to ward off a panic attack, think of something else and talk about something else, such as, "What time will we have lunch? Where do you want to have lunch?"

Germany
Silver Star rollercoaster at Rust.

Italy
Gardaland (train ride from Verona, after Romeo and Juliet's balcony, a little excitement).
Aquafan Waterpark, Riccione. Contains Kamikaze, Twist, Extreme Rivers.
Mirabilandia.

Japan
Nagashima Spaland, Nagashima Resort, near Nagoya.

Russian Rollercoaster
Waikiki Waver Super Flip.

Marina Bay Sands, Singapore.

Singapore Thrills
Soft static options:
1 Marina Bay Sands observation deck. Hotel with infinity pool.
The place has two levels. The observation deck is big.
On New Year's Day, we chose to pay the extra for a ride up to the bar and cocktails eating area with the open deck. (The restaurants we also tried, and that's serious money. , but you tend to be busy eating and chatting and miss half of it.)

2 Gardens By The Bay
This is a whole Day activity. Must book. Two giant glassed-in areas. One has a giant waterfall with multi-level walkways. You can take the lift to the top and walk down. Get a combined ticket or a one year pass or sign up on their website and wait to check out seasonal, peak season and off-season offers. If you don't like heights, are budget conscious, or want to be in the open air, plenty of riverside walking past labelled trees in the public area outside.
3 Take the train around the Night Safari.
4 Cable car from the big island of Singapore to the small almost traffic-free entertainment island of Sentosa.
5 Big wheel (Singapore Flyer. Look for combined tickets and reductions booking online.)

Spain
On the camino del rey there is a cliffside rope walkway. You are half way up. Don't look down, except at your feet.

UK
Central London:
Pedestrian bridge from the Tate Gallery across the River Thames. From the cafeteria, in the Tate, you get a view over the bridge and river.
(Soft, static option, The Shard observation deck.)
The Shard.
You can get various options, just the Shard observation deck, Shard observation deck and sparkling wine, Shard observation deck plus a meal in their restaurant.
Outside London:
Alton Towers
Gulliver's Travels
Thorpe Park

USA
Free Thrills
I'll always remember our first trip to a hotel with an atrium and a glass lift. It was Atlanta, Georgia. The daily excitement is in the glass lift, for free.

In some hotels and shopping centres you get a free ride up to the restaurant or high floors. It can be quite nerve-wracking if you get in unsuspectingly at the lower level such as the basement or ground floor. Then the lift zooms up and the glass at your feet reveals the city street getting further and further below.

Check out options in the air and space museums in Washington DC and in Florida and elsewhere.

Useful Websites
CANADA
Niagara Falls
niagarafallstourism.com
Pedestrian suspension bridge.
https://www.capbridge.com

CHINA
cnto.org

GERMANY
German.travel/en

ITALY
http://www.italymagazine.com/featured-story/thrill-seekers-guide-italy-five-best-italian-theme-parks
visititaly.com

JAPAN
seejapan.co.uk

RUSSIA
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2141189/The-worlds-scariest-rollercoaster-Russian-theme-park-ride-designed-make-thrillseekers-vomit-themselves.html
http://geekologie.com/2012/05/the-puke-inducer-terrifying-russian-them.php

SPAIN
www.spain.info
http://www.caminitodelrey.info/en/#5 - cliffside path (of the king?)

USA
https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowUserReviews-g34515-d258685-r137598390-Universal_s_Islands_of_Adventure-Orlando_Florida.html
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/one-kind-biplane-embodies-thrill-airshow-flight-180969864/
https://www.tripsavvy.com/top-aviation-aerospace-museums-united-states-3301104
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roller_coaster
Duck boat sinking 2018:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xz1U27zbWXw

Worldwide
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_roller_coaster_rankings
all you need is lists

Insurance
Remember to take out insurance. Do some compfaison shopping. Check they cover the sorts you want. Some policies exclude skiing, snow sports, scuba diving, parachuting, bungee jumping or off-road activities. If in doubt ask. You might be able to add the excluded activity, especially if it's a one off and you are not doing it for a living. It could be just a few pounds or dollars more, or even free, just a matter of writing it in.

Print this out and add your own favourite and discoveries and suggestions from your friends and family.

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and phtographer, author and speaker. I have other posts on Madeira, Singapore, the USA, London, The Shard, thrills, observation points, etc. Please share links to your favourite posts.

Grapevine In Texas, near Dallas - Hop on and Off

Grapevine - with the symbol of bunches of grapes. I had to stop and ask about it. That's what Americans do so well, marketing. The symbol of the town says what it is. The man stands up to greet you and tells you the main feature of the town. Ask a question and you get an answer.

First, where is it? Half way between Dallas and Fort Worth, five minutes from the airport, around the airport. Why is it called Grapevine? Because in the good old days the area was covered in grape vines. Then what happened? The airport was built and you could get more money selling your land to the airport.

So what is left of the old days? An historic town like in the old cowboy films, where you ride or drive into the main street and see the buildings down one main street, including the old style hotel with a bar below, rooms upstairs and a balcony.

What is left to remind us of the old grapevine days? You can hold a conference meal Delaney Vineyard which has a ballroom for events with big wine barrels. What if you are not on a big conference, just a couple of tourists on holiday? You can go wine tasting in several places.

Can you eat there, like in South Africa, where vineyards have restaurants? One wine tasting place has a restaurant alongside, but most of the tasting rooms are just tasting rooms, but the place has family-owned restaurants, not chains, all around you.

So, if you were visiting Dallas and Fort Worth and wanted to do a tour or three day trip, which way round would you go? Grapevine is by the airport. So you could get off your place and have a rest in Grapevine before going off to see the big attractions of Dallas and Fort Worth. Alternatively, do Dallas and Fort Worth, then spend your last day or half day in Grapevine, right near the airport.

In Grapevine you don't have to worry about transport. Your hotel will collect you from the airport. There's also a hop on hop off bus going around constantly, costing about 5 dollars a day,
so you can go from the airport to your hotel and any other main attraction, or reverse from your hotel to a attraction and then to the airport.

I counted nine wineries on Tripadvisor, including a museum, plus a brewery. Every year there's a festival featuring Texas wine plus one other state's wines and one other country's wines. Last time they had Texas wine plus California and South Australia. What is there to do besides tasting wines. Join in or watch activities such as grape treading.

Last time the event lasted three days and was free on the first day.

I lived in the USA as well as visiting Texas on press trips. I have been to Dallas, Fort Worth and Houston. Still on my list of places to visit are Amarillo, and I've just added Grapevine.

More Information on Grapevine
www.grapevinetexasusa.com
https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Attractions-g55930-Activities-Grapevine_Texas.html#ATTRACTION_LIST
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grapevine,_Texas
https://twitter.com/GrapevineTXCity?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor

Angela Lansbury, travel writer, photographer, author and speaker.

Hong Kong: A Return Visit, sites, Bus, Museums, Food, Hotel, Cantonese Translation

I am researching a return visit to Hong Kong. The name means fragrant harbour. Its nicknamed Hong Kongcrete. The skyscrapers are built to make use of land in this overcrowded area, and to attempt to prevent more landslides, which in the past have killed people, notably in 1972, according to an article on landslides and landslide prevention in Wikipedia.
A government site has a succinct summary with pictures and headlines in English and Chinese.
http://www.edb.gov.hk/attachment/tc/curriculum-development/kla/pshe/references-and-resources/geography/history%20of%20landslides.pdf

The websites you can find offer you:

Top ten attractions.
Top Twenty Attractions.
Discovery tour (for first time visits).
Hop on hop off bus, with commentary, choice of one or two days plus an optional add on evening tour and three routes.

On previous visits I have
1 Done the escalators up the hillside,
2 rushed all over Hong Kong spending more on transport and taxis than I was saving on souvenirs, silk and clothes - no longer in the market for oriental clothes unless I spot a bargain
3 Theme parks - our Singapore based friends, a Chinese-Western couple with a five year old rated Disney in Hong Kong as less exciting than the two Disney theme parks in the USA.
4 The Police museum - half way up a hillside - the taxi was much more than the museum entrance - was a place I visited last time.
5 The Peninsula hotel. Having seen it previously when it seemed a bit faded, with nothing to see or do except have tea in the huge ground floor central lounge - would like to know if it strikes as exciting now. Probably better to stay in it than look in it. No point in visiting a hotel unless it has artworks, waterfalls, statues, or stunning architecture or a museum.
6 I have seen the hilltop view, Victoria Peak. Observation Deck. (Everything is designed to take money off you.) Views depend on weather, even more so if you are a keen photographer.
7 Big Buddha. Tian Po. Not to be confused with the Po Lin (Precious Lotus) monastery.

For my return visit:
1 A grand hotel: my family when working in Hong Kong used to like the Mandarin Oriental hotel, for breakfast, Caesar salad in the upstairs bar, but this was a long time ago.

2 Dim Sum - snacks. A huge choice. We'll be staying with friends so we'll go with our host's suggestions.

3 Peking/Beijing Duck. Either Western style with meat on it, my preference, or local style with only crispy skin served as a separate side dish.

Sorry, but however delicious the skin may be, I feel cheated if I'm deprived of meat. To me duck skin without meat is like being served crisps instead of potatoes. I want duck meat, soy-plum sauce, pancakes and Western cucumber which is much juicier than the local cucumber.

Looks like the only thing on my list is the Science Museum. Everybody else will be trekking from Causeway Bay or Central and expecting me to meet them at Stanley by taxi.

The challenge is that taxi drivers don't speak English and I don't speak Cantonese. The solution is to go to a hotel, have lunch or coffee and/or use their souvenir shop, then ask them to call me a taxi and write my address in both English and Cantonese on the hotel business card with the hotel's phone number so that if the taxi driver gets lost I can phone the hotel reception and ask them to reiterate the directions to the driver or explain to me the problem (such as one way street and he wants to drop me at the nearby corner).

Now would be a good time to start finding a Cantonese translation I can hook up to on a mobile phone. I went into Google translate and typed in Google translate into Chinese and of course up comes pinyin (English or Western alphabet phonetic spelling) Mandarin.

I re-try using the word Cantonese and get assorted sites including
google
bing
babylon - translation.babylon-software.com/english/Cantonese
lexilogos.com/english/cantonese_dictionary

English Cantonese Translation Free

Here's my final checklist:
1 Big Buddha
2 Science Museum
3 Disney
4 Peninsula / Mandarin Oriental Hotel
5 Dim Sum restaurant
6 Peking Duck restaurant
7 View from the Peak + Trick Eye Museum. (150 HK adult but !00 HK$ age over 65. 10% discount for online booking.) Shop 1, Level 3, Peak Galleria, 118 Peak Road, Hong Kong.Open 10 am to 10 pm. Website at end of this post.
8 Hop on hop off bus
9 Hong Kong Museum of History
10 Flagstaff House Museum of tea ware

If you are on your own the hop on hop of bus organises you so you don't sit around jet lagged too tired or scared to confused. Solves both the organising and translation problems, picks a place to visit, and maybe introduces you to other tourists if you make an effort to arrive early and chat to others on the bus.

Now I shall look at TripAdvisor. First the hop on hop off bus:
https://www.tripadvisor.com.sg/AttractionProductDetail?product=5817HK&d=2228870&aidSuffix=tvrm&partner=Viator

Costs
I see that the hop on hop off bus basic cost is about 81 Hong Kong dollars. According to the online calculator there are about 10 Hong Kong dollars to the British pound, which online is more usually called pound sterling. So the bus tour is about £8.

Hong Kong includes the main island, Kowloon on the mainland to the north, the New Territories beyond that, Lantau - the large island where air;ones land, plus some smaller islands popular for water sports. The airport has a shuttle bus costing about £10 (about 100 Hong Kong dollars single).

A visitor from Britain says: "Hong Kong is not cheap. You can spend a thousand pounds before you turn around. That's why we stay with friends."

https://www.google.com.sg/?client=safari#q=hong+kong+dollar+to+pound+sterling&gfe_rd=cr
trickeye.com/hongkong
http://wikitravel.org/en/Hong_Kong
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer.