This time I decided to visit Macau and Hong Kong. The option is obvious, I'm Portuguese and Macau has a strong Portuguese heritage as the last Portuguese colony, and Hong Kong as one of the most important cities in Asia and in the world.
To go to Macau and return the best way to do it is by ferry which takes less than an hour (each way).
The Portuguese is one of the official languages in Macau and it can be seen in the road signs like the one shown in the picture below (Caminho dos Artilheiros). The English heritage can be seen in the flag raising ceremony with the traditional outfit of men playing bagpipes (as can be seen in the picture above).
Hong Kong (HK) is also a very nice place to visit, but because is very big is better to travel by MTR, the efficient HK metro system. In Hong Kong I enjoyed most to visit the Victoria Peak with astonishing views over Hong Kong island and Kowloon; Tian Tan Buddha, also known as the Big Buddha - I advice everyone to take the Ngong Ping cable car near Tung Chung MTR station; and the flag-raising ceremony at The Golden Bauhinia Square situated outside the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre.
Hong Kong skyline at night viewed from Kowloon at Avenue of Stars is 'a must see' also!!!
At the end these were probably the best holidays and to this happen I have to thanks to who made this possible...
This year, my hometown Maia, has the biggest Christmas star of Europe. The star is in a 95 meters building - highest building of Maia - named as torre do lidador (lidador tower) wich belongs to Maia city hall. The Christmas star, with 45 meters high and 36 meters wide is made of 580.000 LEDs.
If you want to look how the building "torre do lidador" and square is during day click here.
...all of this to...wish you a Merry Christmas and a great and successful 2009!!!
There are two variants of paintball. Speedball and woodsball. Speedball is a very fast variant of paintball which has little strategy and the field is composed of bunkers. Woodsball is played as the name says in the woods. It´s more strategic and tactical and you can hide behind trees, bushes... Woodsball is my favorite and depending on the scenario, it can be breathtaking and a "shot of adrenaline". Playing woodsball it will remind you first-person shooter pc video games as medal of honor or call of duty (if you ever have played these kind of video games).
The Póvoa de Varzim Rally - Super Special is an amazing event. Thousand of fans and car enthusiasts can see and specially hear in action different cars and pilots.
To fully enjoy the video you have to turn on the sound and listen the Subaru Impreza boxer engine working...
Volta a Portugal (Tour of Portugal) is the longest road bicycle competition held in Portugal. One of the most important and difficult stage is the historical climb to Monte Farinha (direct translation as Flour Hill). The stage finish on the top of the hill and the length of the climb is 8.3Km, the average road inclination is 8% and the maximum is 12%. Above in the picture you can see the first two riders in overall classification at the end of Volta a Portugal. David Blanco (runner up in Volta a Portugal) is the first in the picture and Hector Guerra is the second in the picture and winner of this year competition.
This was my fifth climb to Monte Farinha (in the center of the picture) on a BTT bicycle. On the way up to Monte Farinha I went by a secondary road (10km) and a gravel and more spectacular road(10km). On the top of Monte Farinha there is a Sanctuary called Nossa Senhora da Graça. On the way down, I went by the main road and my speed on the bike was up to 60km/h!
If you go to Mondim de Basto (Portuguese town) and you like to ride a bicycle, I strongly recommend to go to Monte Farinha through Campo do Seixo.
The "Dia de Portugal" is celebrated on 10 of june. Officially known as "Dia de Portugal, de Camões e das Comunidades Portuguesas" (Day of Portugal, Camões and the Portuguese Communities), commemorates the death of the revered Portuguese poet, Luís Vaz de Camões on 10 of june in 1580. Camões is best known for his epic poem, "Os Lusíadas", which is a tribute to the golden age of Portugal’s maritime exploration and discoveries. The celebrations took place in Viana do Castelo, a city on northwest of Portugal. I got there by bike and rode about 150Km (round trip). You can see my route in the center of the picture above. On the bottom left picture, you can see the Portuguese navy school ship NRP Sagres and on the bottom right the Portuguese navy ship NRP Álvares Cabral (Vasco da Gama class frigate). Both ships were anchored in Viana do Castelo port.
On the way back to Porto from Surabaya I took advantage of making a stop in Singapore Changi Airport and so I stayed in the smallest country of Southeast Asia for three days. The all city is well planned, clean and safe.
After the visit, I tell to people that Singapore is a European (western) city in the middle of the Southeast Asia. The MRT (Singapore subway) works pretty fine but some of the lines are crowded all day long...To go to Changi airport with luggage by MRT in the rush hour is almost an impossible mission. The above picture is from the Central Business District. There you can go to the Merlion (Singapore symbol) Park, Boat Quay (nice place to eat and relax) and see the tallest Skyscraper of Singapore. Together with the Central Business District the best places in Singapore to me are the Esplanade Park (place from where I took the picture) and Arab Street.
Bottom of line, if you have a chance, Singapore is a "Must Go" place!!!
This was my fourth time in Surabaya, second biggest city of Indonesia and capital city of East Java province. During my 2 weeks stay in Surabaya, almost everyday I did the travel from Surabaya to Sidoarjo (nearby city of Surabaya) and the way back to Surabaya.
It was built by the time of UEFA Euro 2004 European Football Championship. Despite being a F.C.Porto fan it's unanimous to consider this stadium as one of the best European football stadiums.
This was the first time I did Rafting. It was in Rio Paiva (Paiva River), one of the least polluted rivers in Europe (classified few years ago as the least polluted river in Europe).
The river is near Castelo de Paiva (45km from the city of Porto), the biggest city around.
It was a great day and the experience was totally fun!
The soundtrack of the video is from Noddy. The first music in the video is performed by Moonspell (Portuguese Gothic metal band) and the second is the original theme. The reason for this music is because the owner of the car has the nickname of Noddy.
The car used for the Off-Road was a Daihatsu F50. An excellent 4WD vehicle.
To better enjoy the video turn on the sound.
This video was recorded with a Canon Powershot S5 IS and edited with Nero Vision.
This is the first post from what I believe will be my first of many. As a fan of the Portuguese Football Club F.C.Porto (has a dragon as symbol) I chose the dragon to be my symbol here in Opera Community. I was born in Porto, second biggest and best city of Portugal.
WIDGETIZE