Tag Archives: google

Welcome Back Me!

February 7, 2013 ~j Leave a comment

Wow…nothing like a 6 month hiatus from writing. Welcome back to the interwebs to me! Slowly but surely I will fill in all of the New Zealand entries. I promise! For now, here’s an update…

We’ve been planning our next trip for a very long time, and have finally been discussing it publicly, at work etc. For the next adventure we’re off to Jordan, Israel, and the West Bank. This has received a lot of mixed reactions when we tell people. Most wonder, “Why would you want to go there?!?!” Why WOULDN’T I want to go there?!? To be fortunate enough to be able to travel to countries rich with that much history and global/religious significance–I’d be crazy to say no!

Sure, at first I was a little hesitant. Nothing good is ever said on the news about Gaza and Israeli conflict. And, yes, traveling to the “Middle East” might not be a first time travel destination, or for someone who is wary, or who has only experienced all-inclusive, or cruise ship travel, but I don’t think it will be any different than any other travel for us. We will be meeting people, seeing sights, experiencing culture and foods that are new and different, taking photos and enjoying life. Yes, we’ll be in a more potentially volatile area than we’ve been in before, but that doesn’t mean there will be issues. Just because there were riots in Vancouver, BC–would that prevent you from going there?

That said, I will note, we hadn’t planned on the Arab Spring for our vacation in the Arab spring. If you’ve been watching the news (Not local, but international. We like RT.) you’ll see that there has been some conflict going on recently. FYI: This has not increased travel warnings from our government, nor have these warnings surpassed the levels for countries we have already visited without issue (ie: Cambodia.)

For the amazing sites and history alone, I’d do this trip in a heartbeat. I’ll be able to add several more UNESCO sites to the tally. Petra (where one of the Indiana Jones movies was filmed), Haifa’s Baha’i Gardens, the Old City of Acre, the White City of Tel Aviv and the fortress at Masada are all on the itinerary. Besides the markets and souks, I’m especially interested in the religious sites and places of worship. Though neither of us is religious or church-going, we’ve been raised with Christian holiday traditions in a predominantly Christian country–celebrating Christmas, Easter etc, so it will be interesting to see fervent worship on a large scale that is Jewish, Muslim, Baha’i and Christian. Even if one was visiting Jerusalem as an atheist, one couldn’t deny that the religious prophets existed as men. To be in places where people so significant to such a large portion of the global population has been is kind of awe inspiring. For example, being able to walk the Via Dolorosa is pretty profound.

I should be writing more. The photos have been inspiring, and I’ve read a ton of travel books. Of course, Google, Trip Advisor and youtube had all been awesome too. Everything is planned and mostly paid for; now we just have to wait for take off.

You know all those things you wanted to do? You should go do them.

Asia, Vietnam

To Hoi An and Beyond!

January 16, 2012 ~j Leave a comment

Day 5 in Vietnam we left Hue, and drove to Hoi An for a day of sight seeing before heading onto Da Nang airport to fly to Ho Chi Minh City. As we had a deadline for the day, we arranged for a car as transport. Our driver, Van, didn’t speak much English, and I have very very basic garbled aka horrendous Vietnamese at best. Luckily, the trip wasn’t an unusual request; so, despite the language barrier, we were able to stop at a lot of sights along the way.

The drive from Hue to Hoi An took us over Hi Van Pass, or Ocean Cloud Pass if you prefer the translation. The lengthiest stops were at Lang Co Beach and Marble Mountains. (FYI: At Lang Co Beach while we were taking photos, a guy appeared out of no where and tried to sell me old/out of circulation Vietnamese coins. I declined. Then he tried to sell me a loonie. Random!)

Marble Mountain Buddha

Lang Co Beach

Marble Mountains caught my interest a while ago. The Departures team ended up visiting the caves on one of the Vietnam episodes. The photos below are of some of the Buddhist shrines sculpted/carved into the mountains. Word is that the cave was used by the Viet Cong as a field hospital during the war. The photo doesn’t do the temple justice. It was as large as any fantastical cathedral, only this is a natural marble cave that has been a Buddhist shrine for centuries.

Marble Mountain Buddha - field hospital — Marble Mountain Buddha – field hospital

From Marble Mountains, we continued on to Hoi An, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is a gorgeous little place! If you have time, and want to have clothing custom made for yourself, this would be the destination. There are so many amazing design shops it is indescribable. The core of Hoi An is really small, maybe three or four streets, so it is easy to visit with just a few hours time. The Japanese covered bridge is at the far side of the historic area.

Japanese Covered Bridge – Hoi An

Boats on the Thu Bon River

Here’s a little googled tidbit of history for you:

According to local folklore, the bridge was erected after Japan suffered a series of violent earthquakes which geomancers attributed to a restless monster lying with its head in India, tail in Japan and heart in Hoi An. The only remedy was to build a bridge whose stone piles would drive a metaphorical sword through the beast’s heart and fortuitously provide a handy passage across the muddy creek.

Inside the bridge’s narrow span are a collection of stelae and four statues, two dogs and two monkeys, which suggest that work began in the year of the monkey and ended in that of the dog. The small temple suspended above the water is a later addition dedicated to the Taoist god Tran Vo Bac De (“Emperor of the North”), a favourite of sailors as he controls wind, rain and other “evil influences”.

from: http://www.hoiantravelshow.com/japanese-covered-bridge.html

After a really long day we made it to Ho Chi Minh City.

Happy Travels,

Asia, Vietnam

Ha Long Bay

February 27, 2011 ~j Leave a comment

I have wanted to visit Ha Long Bay since I first saw a picture of it. One of the first things we have planned when we arrive in Vietnam is a 2 day trip through Ha Long Bay. (Yay, one more for the UNESCO list!) We decided to go with Huong Hai Junks. The boats are beautiful. Now, do a quick google of Ha Long Bay images, and you’ll see just how amazing it is. I’m super excited for the photo opportunities.

Only 25 more days to go!

Update

UNESCO Update and Next Destination…

January 2, 2011 ~j Leave a comment

So, the UNESCO World Heritage Site tally is up to 16. If everything hadn’t gone wrong with air fare to Chan Chan in Peru, we’d have seen that too. Yellowstone National Park was the last UNESCO site visited. If all goes according to plan we’ll add at least 5 more on our next trip.

Next intended destination–Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand. Fingers crossed for affordable air fare. Hopefully we’ll be able to visit three sites in Vietnam–Complex of Hue, Ha Long Bay and Hoi An Ancient Town , one site in Cambodia–Angkor Archaeological Park and one site in Thailand–Historic City of Ayutthaya.

I’m uber excited for Vietnam, mostly for the over night stay in Ha Long Bay, and for the trip through the floating markets on the Mekong River. Ooo, and the architecture and history in Ho Chi Minh City. And for all the photo potential! Gotta love being a nerdy traveler.

North America, USA

Devil’s Tower

November 7, 2010 ~j Leave a comment

In 1906, Devil’s Tower was proclaimed the first national monument by President Roosevelt. The tower is a crazy rock formation. From the pictures it doesn’t really look that big, but the top of the tower is about the size of a football field. Though it looks like an old volcano it isn’t.

The tower is actually an igneous intrusion (Science lesson: Magma pooled under sedimentary rock, it eventually hardened and then the sedimentary rock–being softer, eroded over time and exposed the igneous rock formation of the tower. Munson would be so proud of me remembering all of that from Geography!) Now this I had to use google for: “Devil’s Tower is made of Phonolite porphyry, it is similar in composition to granite but lacks quartz. Phonolite refers to the ringing of the rock when a small slab is struck, and its ability to reflect sound. Porphyry refers to its texture, large crystals of feldspar embedded in a mass of smaller crystals.”

Sad to say that the tower was pretty amazing, but this was probably one of the worst parts of the trip. We drove half way across the country so that Jon could climb at the tower and I could tour the park. But this was the only day of the whole trip that it wasn’t scorching hot. It RAINED so hard that there was no climbing to be had by anyone for the day we paid for, or the day after that. SO HORRIBLE! So, now Jon has a credit in Wyoming for the next time we happen to feel like driving over 2000km and back just for the weekend.

North America, USA, Yellowstone

Where the deer and the antelope play?

October 5, 2010 ~j Leave a comment

When I set out on vacation, I don’t normally have a list of animals I want to see. I’ve seen several Yellowstone animals–deer, mountain sheep, bears, elk, coyotes, eagles etc, just from traveling and living in BC, so it wasn’t as if we’re coming from somewhere where these animals don’t exist. The one thing I was most excited to see in Yellowstone was definitely Buffalo, perhaps even more than Old Faithful! Second on the list – Antelope. And, of course, we’d take a Grizzly or two just for good measure! Who wouldn’t?

Approximately 200 visitors a year are gored by buffalo. That’s one every two days. There are ample warnings to “Stay Safe! Stay Away!” And, Elk will charge people, and damage vehicles. Google it up, you’ll find video for sure.

The Yellowstone Association near the North Entrance to the park has an electronic map that tracks where animals have been recently sited. While there, we asked the staff for some tips, best viewing locations etc, and luckily we did see a lot of animals. However, not one single bear, and not one single antelope. At least the buffalo were everywhere. I like them as much as I like Llamas.

On the drive from Yellowstone through to Cody we saw thousands of Pronghorn Antelope. They were just roaming around farmer’s fields. The irony is that the second time we visited the Yellowstone Association we asked if there were recent Pronghorn sitings, and if they were mapped. Apparently the Pronghorn are spotted so frequently through out the park that they aren’t even tracked. There is even a one way dirt road that is basically where your guaranteed to see them–nope, not even one. And, we were out at all times of day, all over the park.

ps: I love my new camera. The zoom is awesome, but the digital zoom makes for some fuzzy photos. Most turned out ok, and I had been forewarned that I wouldn’t like the digital zoom results.

North America, USA

Montana: The Heathen State

September 20, 2010 ~j 1 Comment

Montana has some weird stuff going on. If you drive through Montana on the I-90 you’ll notice that there are a bunch of liquor stores, gun stores, pawn shops, porn shops, and casinos. The road-side billboards are all advertising those same things. Apparently the license plate slogan should be “The Heathen State” not “The Treasure State.” Who knew?

In Butte, the billboards aren’t any better than the establishments because they’re all about Meth. I suppose this is all fairly typical of a mining community, or any other small town that is highly independent on one industry (oil, lumber, coal, etc). Apparently the anti-meth campaign has been extremely successful though. The billboards definitely have an impact; I’m a few thousand km away and still thinking about them. My favourite one we saw: “Before Meth I had a daughter, now I have a prostitute.” Billboards and Montanan pass times aside, there were some great finds…

Like Evel Knievel Days! Who knew that Evel Knievel was from Butte, Montana?!? I’m only sad we weren’t there in July when all the stunts were going down. That would have been classic. There were helium stars and stripes balloons lining the street along with placards hanging from lamp posts to honour this home town hero. At some point in his career Evel Knievel wanted to jump his motorbike across the Grand Canyon, but never did. He did jump 13 Pepsi Trucks though. FYI: His bike is on display at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History in Washington, DC. Don’t think I’ll be making a special trip there to see it, but if I happen to be in the neighbourhood you never know.

The other find, not much of a symbol of Americana, but also in Butte–Our Lady of the Rockies. (ps: I don’t know how we manage to find so much Catholic iconography on our travels, but we do.) The statue caught our eye from when we were checking out the historic district. Now, thanks to google, I know what it is all about. Here’s a little recap: Our Lady of the Rockies is almost as tall as the Statue of Liberty. Bill O’Bob built the statue for his wife after he promised the Virgin Mary he would build a statue if his wife recovered from her battle with cancer. When she recovered, and the statue was built to honour women everywhere. Another interesting fact–Our Lady of the Rockies sits atop the Continental Divide which we crossed several times during the trip. Stay tuned for the next entry of our exciting I-90 adventure.

Happy Travels,
~j

Mexico, North America

Shrine of Guadalupe

Gallery September 19, 2010 ~j Leave a comment

On the way home from Peru, we had a 2 day stay in Mexico City. There were a few sites I wanted to see, but for some reason I was a little nervous about being there. The Metropolis that is Mexico is home to over 21 million people. It is the largest city in North America, so you can see why it would be a little intimidating! That said, we managed the metro, and navigating the bus system to everything we wanted to see.

Obviously the city is very old which brings along a lot of interesting, dingy, smelly places. The um, how to explain…aroma? of the City was olfactory assault in its highest art form. On certain streets, just walking around brought on an onslaught of odour. Seriously, I can’t even explain it. Surprisingly, the metro system was actually fairly clean. (At least we didn’t see the same amount of human feces on train cars in Mexico as we did in Paris!) There were sanitation people sweeping platforms and stairways 24/7.

The touts were inescapable, but at least humourous on the metro. People would hop on trying to sell literally everything and anything. We were offered crossword puzzle books, ancient computer repair manuals, rulers, CD’s, and my personal favourite–back scratchers.

While in Mexico, we visited the pyramids at Teotihuacan and Templo Mayor as mentioned previously. We climbed the Pyramid of the Sun. (FYI: It is the 3rd largest pyramid in the world.) I didn’t include photos earlier; here they are now.

Teotihuacan UNESCO designation

Teotihuacan

Teotihuacan Staircase

When we arrived at Teotihuacan there was an insane performance going on. Thanks to Google, I now know that it is called the Danza de los Voladores de Papantla. The geek in me loves that the ceremony is recognized by UNESCO as Intangible Cultural Heritage.

We also went to the Shrine of Guadalupe. The history of the shrine is similar to that of the Orvieto Duomo. To shorten up the lesson for you–in 1531 a catholic peasant had a vision of the Virgin Mary. She told him to build a church where she was standing so that she could offer love, compassion and protection to the people. The peasant, Juan Diego, spoke to the Bishop. The Bishop didn’t believe him and wanted some miraculous proof.

The Virgin appeared to Juan Diego again, and told him to pick flowers and gather them in his apron. Though it was winter, the flowers grew at his feet, he gathered them and went to the Bishop. An image of the Virgin Mary was imprinted on the apron. Thus, providing the miracle the Bishop wanted and the rest is history.

Shrine of Guadalupe Mexico City

Interior Shrine of Guadalupe Mexico City

The Shrine of Guadalupe is the most visited Catholic Shrine in the world. The original basilica that was completed in 1536 is beautiful. There is a new basilica on the site as well. It is kind of gaudy, round shaped, and looks like it should for a building of the late 1970’s. We didn’t enter the new basilica to see the actual apron, or tilma on display above the alter. Church service was going on, and out of respect we stayed out. I was surprised how few people were at the site as I was expecting more visible pilgrimage that I’ve seen elsewhere (e.g.: people crawling or on their knees in hopes that their prayers would be answered.) Still, a site of such importance for so many people is humbling.

Now for science: The cloth has been examined with infrared photography, ultraviolet imaging, and stereo-microscopy. The earliest analysis shows that no under-drawing to rough out the image and no over-varnish on the image. The latter 2 show several layers beneath the current painting with all sorts of different pigments consistent with artist’s materials used in the 1500’s. There are also cracks, flaking of paint and sketch lines that would make it seem that the image was sketched before being painted.

Even with all the scientific analysis to create doubts of the miracle, the tilma still has some pretty impressive attributes. Thanks Wikipedia for the info.

The tilma has maintained its structural integrity over nearly 500 years, while replicas normally last only about 15 years before suffering degradation; it repaired itself with no external help after a 1791 ammonia spill that did considerable damage, and in 1926 an anarchist bomb destroyed the altar, but left the icon unharmed.

In 1929 and 1951 photographers found a figure reflected in the Virgin’s eyes; upon inspection they said that the reflection was tripled in what is called the Purkinje effect, commonly found in human eyes. An ophthalmologist, Dr. Jose Aste Tonsmann, later enlarged an image of the Virgin’s eyes by 2500x and found not only the aforementioned single figure, but images of all the witnesses present when the tilma was first revealed before Zumaragga in 1531, plus a small family group of mother, father, and a group of children, in the center of the Virgin’s eyes, fourteen persons in all.

Numerous Catholic websites repeat an unsourced claim that in 1936 biochemist Richard Kuhn analyzed a sample of the fabric and announced that the pigments used were from no known source, whether animal, mineral or vegetable. Dr. Philip Serna Callahan, who photographed the icon under infrared light, discovered from his photographs that portions of the face, hands, robe, and mantle had been painted in one step, with no sketches or corrections and no visible brush strokes.

I have no doubt that there is paint on the image–whether the miraculous image itself has been painted upon over the years, or painted completely is debatable, but you have to admit that the eyeball thing is a little bizarre.

ps: Our Lady of Guadalupe is the patron saint of Mexico. Juan Diego was also made a saint in 2002. He’s the first Mexican to achieve sainthood.

Peru, South America

Islas Ballestas: The Poor Man’s Galapagos

Gallery September 2, 2010 ~j Leave a comment

Islas Ballestas is a nature reserve about a 3.5 hour bus ride from Lima. We had to be at the bus terminal in Lima for 3:30am for a 4:15am departure, which meant we left our hotel at 3am to get there on time. Ugh, getting up early sucks, but it was worth it. (I did an earlier post about part of the bus trip.) One thing I forgot was that before boarding bags are searched, and video footage is taken of each passenger’s face. We initially thought the video was for security reasons. When we got home someone told us it was to identify remains of passengers if the bus is smashed beyond recognition in an accident. That’s always reassuring!

We arrived safely at a bus station in Paracas. The bus station was more like a glorified grass hut, but with plumbing. Check out the security device on the toilet tank.

Bus Station Paracas Peru

Our guide Luis met us on a tiny dock, we loaded up the boat and were out on the Ocean. We saw (and smelled) a bazillion birds. There were cormorants, gulls, pelicans, blue-footed boobies, and Humboldt Penguins! I heart PENGUINS! We also saw sea lions eating sardines right out of fishermen’s nets. The fishermen were none too happy, but the sea lions were living it up. Luis had never seen a sea lion “con pesca en bocca” in all the years he’s been a marine biologist, so he was super stoked about that.

Blue Footed Booby Islas Ballestas Peru

Humboldt Penguins Islas Ballestas Peru

Seals Islas Ballestas Peru

Cormorants Islas Ballestas Peru

Humboldt Penguins Islas Ballestas Peru

Seals Islas Ballestas Peru

Seals Islas Ballestas

On the way to the island, we passed the Paracas Candelabra. The huge geoglyph is hundreds and hundreds of years old. No one knows why it is there, or who put it there. (Pirates, Aliens, Sailors, are all theories.) Word is that the candelabra points to the Nazca Lines, but that doesn’t hold out if you google it. The geoglyph is several feet deep of dust. It hasn’t disappeared due to erosion because it is sheltered from the wind, and it never rains in the area. People are not permitted near the candelabra as the foot prints/tracks would remain imprinted on the crust.

The weather of the Paracas area creates also an anomaly for the Ballestas island. Due to the lack of wind/rain, and the island birds’ ability to produce so much guano an industry has been created. The guano is collected every 3 years to be used for fertilizer. It is illegal to set foot on the islands without special guano collecting permits. Not that that’s something I was interested in! Let’s just say you’re lucky there isn’t smell-o-vision to go along with the photos!

ps: I included a few of Jon’s photos. His zoom was better able to capture the birds.

Peru, South America

Machu Picchu

July 30, 2010 ~j Leave a comment

Machu Picchu was easily the best place we visited on the entire trip. We spent 10 hours just walking around the site and taking photos and chatting with other people there. Photos just don’t do it justice. I could fill your brain with history of the site, but you could google it yourself. We poached some info from the guided tours, and learned quite a bit of stuff. Here’s your few facts:

Hiram Bingham III discovered the site in 1911. The switchback highway that you have to take to get to the site (if you don’t do the Inca Trail) is called the Hiram Bingham highway. You can only wonder what state Machu Picchu was like when he arrived almost 100 years ago.

I bet Llamas weren’t at the entrance to greet his expedition team!

There is a carved rock sundial in Machu Picchu–the Intihuatana. The Quechua name translates as “hitching post of the sun.” If you measure the angles of the Intihuatana they are 13 degrees. FYI: Machu Picchu is 13 degrees from the equator.

The sundial measures solstices and equinoxes accurately. Not that atypical of a sundial, but it proves that the Incans had intricate knowledge of the solar system. The dial is also aligned perfectly north, and a magnetic compass when held to the stone will go all wacky as the rock is magnetized. Intihuatana is one of the only sun dials still existing from Incan times. Spanish conquistadors destroyed all symbols of Incan religion. Luckily they didn’t find Machu Picchu.

The site is extremely organized; it would have been an efficient little city. The people would have been completely self-contained with agricultural terraces growing enough food to feed the population of Machu Picchu. Buildings are believed to be homes, storage sites, prison cells, baths, and communal areas. All of them are built without mortar, and the stones are made to fit together perfectly. ps: Jon tells me that people were imprisoned for laziness.

The Temple of the Condor (left photo) is supposed to look like a condor in flight. The natural rock in the background looks like wings, and the rock in the foreground is carved to look like the head of a condor. Word is that the Incans used this site for sacrifices. Another interesting rock formation (right photo) was pointed out by some dude we ran into a few times. The rock was carved to look like the mountain range behind it.

Obviously we saw plenty of Llamas as we wandered, but that wasn’t all. There were little song birds flying everywhere, and so so so many little lizards! (Really, Spiny Whorltail Iguanas if you’d like to get technical and nerdy. Gotta love google!) One of the people we were talking to showed us a photo of a tarantula she’d just taken. We didn’t see any. She was super relieved that it was a tarantula she’d seen and not a lizard. Bizarre!

Everyone at the site seemed to really appreciate the experience. Usually there is at least one jackass story from every site we visit, but here, everyone was just well, normal if you will. People were really nice too, even suggesting to take photos for each other. Seriously, we must have taken 50 photos of other people and been offered just as many times.

We ran into Becky and Ryan, a couple we’d me at the hostel. We also ran into everyone we’d met on the train. Craig, Michael and Michael were still going–that’s them in the photo walking on the stairs. We ran into Andy and Angela for lunch. The three, Andy, Angela and Chad, had hiked to the site in the morning to watch the sunrise. All in all, one of the best days of the trip–an absolutely gorgeous setting, great weather, awesome people.

What more could you ask for?
~j

this bird flies