Sand, Wind & Stars

A Tale of Two Macaques

2011-12-26T07:43:00.028-06:00

Cottage at the Sanctuary Garden

JR &David

JR looking pensive

David playing with my toe

David feeling bored

Life story of David & JR

At the Sanctuary Garden Resort on Sibuyan Island, Philippines, a pair of Philippine macaques tend to command the visitor's attention. A wire cage next to the restaurant can elicit delight or horror at first meeting with the resident primates.

When I first came to the resort, I was a little perturbed and so were a few European tourists who had visited the place. It seemed macaques in a cage did not quite convey the feeling of the word "sanctuary" in the name of the resort. However, there is a touching story to David and JR (yes, they have names too) which the owners, Edgar and Marivic will share with anyone who wants to know.

David and JR are not house pets but the owner's little babies. The wired cage is their daytime playpen when not gallivanting in the humongous garden with Marivic, whose passion is her 32 varieties of hibiscus. David, the older of the two, was newly born when the park office in Mt. Guiting-Guiting brought it to the couple to look after. Poachers killed the mother and left the baby orphaned in the rainforest.

A year and a half later, the park rangers came again to ask them to look after another baby macaque. Yes, poachers had killed the mother, and the month old macaque fell from the mother's arm, permanently damaging his right eye. This is JR.

Like all devoted parents, Edgar and Marivic, doted on the two, nursed them on infant formula, taking them regularly to the vet, fed them with healthy stuff like cereals, fruits, berries. Every night, David and JR go through same ritual that kids can relate to. They are bathed, their teeth brushed, and they are diapered before going home. They watch Animal Planet before bedtime, sleeping with their adoptive parents.

David and JR have only been around humans all their life. The macaques would no longer survive in the rainforest of Mt. Guiting-Guiting nor could reclaim their place in the world of macaques in the wild. Raising David & JR has become a lifetime commitment for Edgar and Marivic, who have the certificate of custody for them.

After a few days at the resort, David and JR became part of my daily routine. Every morning on my way down to the restaurant, I would see David and JR. frolicking in the play pen. They are very friendly, engaging, and in many ways very much like us, people. They displayed a lot of the characteristics, feelings, mannerisms, affection and disaffection of their more sophisticated cousins up the the ladder of evolution.

They made me feel that getting to know them for that brief period made my being there totally worth it.

Sad Week in Munich

2011-10-10T21:37:00.014-05:00

Outdoor Market

Residence Complex of the Wittelsbach

Deutsche Museum

English Garden

Impromptu Shrine

Munich Town Hall

9/11 Memorial Service

In 1972, from late August to early September, Munich was the host of the 10th Summer Olympics. Unfortunately, the "Happy Games" as the organizers wanted it to be known, did not turn out to be happy.

On September 5th, the Black September, a Palestinian group took Israeli athletes and coaches in the Olympic village as hostages. Eleven athletes and coaches eventually died in that incident.

Nineteen years later, a week in September 2001, Munich was in a sombre mood once again. The terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in New York City on 9/11 must have brought painful memories to the city.

The day I got into Munich, there was a noon time memorial service at the Munich town hall (Rathaus) on Marienplatz for the victims of the New York attack . On stage in front of the town hall, a few prayers were said and a band played a different tune from beer fest favourites.

Children relighting candles on church steps and arranging flowers strewn around makeshift memorials are usually not on any tourist's must see. For that time though, there was something that gave Munich a little something. Maybe not the "happy" it wanted in the games two decades ago but something a little uplifting.

Butterflies are Free

2011-08-22T21:15:00.018-05:00

The Butterflies Aren't Free

Restaurant with a View

Accommodation at the Mariposario Resort

Orchid Displays

Swimming Pools

Pyramid at the Park Entrance

"I only ask to be free. The butterflies are free. Mankind will surely not deny to Harold Skimpole what it concedes to the butterflies."

from Bleak House by Charles Dickens

The butterflies at Biocentro Güembe Mariposario Resort in Santa Cruz, Bolivia aren't free, literally. They are either pinned to the display board in the museum or fluttering about in a butterfly dome.

The Mariposario, as the locals call the place, is a nature park located 25 minutes out of Santa Cruz. The road to the park starts on paved road, turning off to a dirt and gravel (like a rural concession) road. The park is comprised of the butterfly museum and sanctuary, bird observatory, orchid exhibition, swimming pools, nature trails, bungalows and cottages, restaurants - a gentrified nature paradise.

According to the staff at the Camino Real Hotel, the park is the best attraction in Santa Cruz. I have to agree, and may I add, probably one of the best nature parks I've come across anywhere in my travels.

At the park entrance, I was greeted by a collection of small concrete and wood buildings housing the butterfly museum. Walking on the nature trails with my tour to the butterfly dome and the bird observatory, I started to feel a little "jungle" in the air. From the 60 m observation deck of the butterfly dome and aviary, one can see thick jungle stretching to the wide Rio Pirai and beyond.

Santa Cruz is in the Amazon savannah, not quite but a few hundred kilometres from the Amazon jungle. However, the hot, humid air, the jungle, the wide river gave me a foretaste of what could be out there.

Further on the trail, our little group came to the orchidarium, the monkey island, and thick forest growth of exotic trees and plants. It was like the garden of Eden tended by expert horticulturists, botanists, naturalists and gardeners.

The most awesome sight was the series of nature inspired swimming pools. They were not your ordinary backyard or olympic style swimming pools. I think they were carved out of sandstone with smooth rocks, boulders, and a waterfall feeding the pools - a chlorinated version of a jungle watering hole.

Biocentro Güembe is one place I wish I had more time. Perhaps, a few nights in one of the bungalows at the Mariposario Resort could complete an amazing experience, next time.

A link to the nature paradise: Biocentro Güembe Mariposario Resort

Little Norway

2011-07-24T17:36:00.025-05:00

There's a patch of Norway in Toronto. Tucked away on the western edge of the water front is a square block of park now called Little Norway. Very few people in Toronto would know about it, but I'm sure many have stumbled through jogging or cycling, or passed by on the way to the Island airport. This is where I happen to live now.

Little Norway once housed the barracks of the Royal Norwegian Air Force between 1941-45. In 1987, King Olav donated a piece of very old glacial rock to serve as a simple memorial. It is so Norwegian for its starkness.

On Monday, July 25th, I heard on the news that a small group of people had gathered on Sunday evening in Little Norway for a vigil in honor of the victims of the Norwegian Massacre on Friday, July 22nd. Later that day, I came by to visit this unpretentious shrine and laid a bunch of flowers.

Sunflowers I thought might be fitting for the young people, as young as 14, whose time to bloom hasn't even began in a summer nipped in the bud by a lunatic obsessed with hate. The devastating Oslo car bombing turned out to be merely a prelude to his cowardly mission - shoot helpless civilians like sitting ducks on Utoya Island.

I had been to Sunvolden on the shore of Tyrifjorden, where Utoya Island sits. It was a Sunday in January 1997 with a friend, out to meet a friend whose family live a few hundred metres from Sunvolden. It is classic, Norwegian postcard scenery - deep blue glacial lake, snow on the mountains around, tall evergreens, the clean smell and oh, the tranquility.

I remember having a late lunch at the Sunvolden Hotel, apparently one of the oldest hotels in Norway. Then we went on a leisurely drive across the bridge to the other side of Tyrifjorden to Honefoss.

Almost 15 years later, that memory of tranquility and peace would be shattered by the very sad news. The genteel Sunvolden Hotel would be on the news, not for its fine traditional service but as the refuge for the survivors from Utoya island huddled and gathered with their families.

I find the thought eery that where I live now and where I had once visited would converge in a flash of tragic news. Add to that, the memory of those kids whose only guilt was plain innocence - for believing in getting involved and trying to make a difference.

From Toronto Star, a tribute by Rosie di Mano: Weep for the Flower of Norway's Youth.

The Theatre of Machu Picchu

2011-06-19T21:17:00.021-05:00

Machu Picchu

The Backdrop of Machu Picchu

Huayna Picchu

Inside a compound

Rio Urubamba

Aguas Calientes

On board entertainment on Vistadome

A German tourist sitting across from me on the train remarked in his best English, "Machu Pichu is small. I think of it as a theatre, the ruins as the stage, and the mountains around it is the audience." His remark summed up everything about Machu Picchu. Concise and poetic.

Last April before Easter, I caught a taxi to Wanchaq station at 6:45 am to be at the peak at a reasonable time and have enough hours in the day to admire and absorb the place. The trip went from Cuzco to Ollantaytambo by bus, then a transfer on Peru Rail to Aguas Calientes, and from there a 20 minute bus ride to the peak.

The trip in itself was well worth the 3 hours each way. The spectacular scenery in the valley of Urubamba, deep in the Andes contributed to a rather full memory card.

The UNESCO world heritage is just like the picture - very picturesque, impressive, preserved ruins with a spectacular backdrop of steep mountain sides. If it had been on a plain, the effect would not have been as dramatic.

In terms of age, Machu Pichu is fairly "modern" and short lived. The Inca Empire flourished only between 1450 to 1572, and Machu Picchu abandoned right after the Spanish conquest. The site was unknown to the Spaniards and the world, until Hiram Bingham brought international attention to the place in 1911.

On the return, a nurse from Winnipeg and I compared notes. Other than the usual, did you see this and that, we noticed the number of senior tourists that day. We wondered how some managed at 2,600 metres with no water, hat, sunscreen, sunglasses; no toilet nor store to buy water at the peak; and a few displaying physical limitations, even one suffering from vertigo.

All in all though, from the time I got to Wanchaq station to Aguas Calientes to the peak, it was pure excitement. Machu Picchu was indeed the stage, the Andes the audience.

On top of that Peru Rai l rocked. At a chug chugging pace of 30 km per hour, the organization, the ticket agents, the service on Vistadome and the ever pleasant train attendants were simply superb.

A Unique Blend: Qosqo

2011-06-02T18:50:00.019-05:00

Qoricancha & St. Dominic's Convent

Archaelogical site near Qoricancha

Merchants' parade at Plaza Mayor

Plaza de Armas (Plaza Mayor)

History of the Incas mural by Juan Bravo

Plaza Sto. Domingo/Merchants Parade

Cuzco side street

Plaza San Francisco food stall

On Tuesday morning during Semana Santa, the week before Easter, Cuzco came alive with a parade of the merchants. Merchant associations from the altiplano to the pacific coast, from Peru to Argentina, brought their finest costumes, music and dance steps, trooped from Plaza Sto. Domingo to Plaza Mayor (de Armas) and onto Avenida El Sol.

For about 3 hours, onlookers were treated to a show by clam diggers to shoe makers, vegetable growers to fishermen, and so on. In the holiest of weeks, an Inca tradition prevailed.

The city of Cuzco (or Qosqo) is a UNESCO World Heritage. It is a blend of two equally dramatic cultures of empire builders, the Inca and the Spanish. Although the Inca Empire (1400 to early 1500) is fairly recent and short lived, it left an impression on Cuzco, literally. Many of the Spanish colonial structures are simply built on the foundations of Inca structures. One can't escape the other walking through the streets, the churches, numerous museums of the city.

The people, predominantly Quechuas or Ingas, and the city live up to the stature and billing as a heritage site. They contribute to the feeling that one has actually traveled far distance, in time and to a unique destination.

Please click the link for the Mural of Juan Bravo, Cuzco

Birds of Santa Cruz

2011-05-23T19:39:00.043-05:00

Around 4 pm everyday, birds flocked to my hotel Camino Real in Santa Cruz, Bolivia. The result was avian cacophony. The birds fly in from the jungle across Rio Pirai, congregate under the huge wooden canopy over the driveway or on tall, leafy trees in front of the hotel, and create their afternoon symphony.

My local tour guide, Mercedes, remarked that the birds (mainly parrots) finally returned "home." According to her, the return of the birds to their original roost tells the story of Santa Cruz.

Thirty years ago, Santa Cruz was an agricultural city in an oil rich department, overshadowed in wealth and importance by the capital, La Paz. With agriculture, oil and government economic restructuring in the mid '80s, Santa Cruz boomed. What was once jungle along the ring roads became urban sprawl. The jungle birds were displaced. Their presence meant they finally reclaimed their home.

Santa Cruz is now Bolivia's richest and biggest city. The airport, Viru-viru is the gateway to Bolivia. The small downtown has a colonial, tropical frontier town look, but outside the centre, a much bigger modern city thrives, more business-like than touristy.

By far, Biocentro Güembé & Mariposario Resort is the best attraction in the city. The park has a butterfly sanctuary, an aviary, a gentrified rainforest, and a fantastic aquatic area. The collection of swimming pools are beautifully designed in sandstone and rock blending in with the park's theme.

Rio Pirai on the outskirt of the city feeds into the Amazon. On the bank of the river is a place called, Las Cabañas del Rio Pirai. The area is a gathering of typical Cruceña restaurants in small huts with humongous clay ovens. During the day on weekends, the place is packed with locals out for a meal. And after 6 pm, the drunks takeover, according to a Santa Cruz lady.

Fuerte de Samaipata, a UNESCO World Heritage, is 2 1/2 to 3 hours from Santa Cruz over mostly gravel roads, about 1000 m up the mountains. The archaeological site belonged to a pre-Inca, Amazonian people called the Chané, providing proof of the existence of a jungle based civilization. The main feature of the Fuerte is the ceremonial rock platform, shaped out of red sandstone, about 200 m long, 50 m wide, maybe 20 m high, and carved with religious symbols. Inca and Spanish conquerors later constructed additional structures around and even on the rock itself.

Coming back from Samaipata, we were greeted by the raucous birds at the hotel. I will always associate them with Santa Cruz.

Driving on the Altiplano

2011-05-13T18:32:00.036-05:00

Tortora Boat in Lake Titicaca

Llamas on the Shore of Lake Titicaca

Museum of the Limachi family

Statue in Tiwanaku

Puerta del Sol

The Altiplano (literally high plain in Spanish) is the vast plateau of the western Andes that occupies parts of Peru, Bolivia, Chile and Argentina. It is second only to Tibet in altitude and size.

Lake Titicaca is the best known geographical feature of the altiplano, as well as the world's highest lake. Climbing out of a big hole in the plateau is the city of La Paz, the Bolivian capital, the largest city in the altiplano and the highest capital in the world.

Last March, we drove from La Paz to Lake Titicaca, starting from the bottom in Zona Sur up to the altiplano. Gonzalo, the hotel taxi driver, first had to negotiate his way out of La Paz's El Alto district. The district was preparing for a street party that Saturday evening, and traffic was moving slow as molasses.

Once out of La Paz, the view turned into a treeless, dusty plain dotted with potato, quinoa and onion fields. On the eastern side, the hills gradually rose toward the snow covered peaks of the Andes about 20 km away. Among these are Huayna Potosi (the mountain not the city) and Ilimani (closest to La Paz).

Lake Titicaca is 80 km away from La Paz, roughly 2 hours by car. The village of Huatajata sits on the eastern shore of the lake. Across is the island of Suriqui where Thor Heyerdahl's Kon Tiki expedition boat was constructed patterned after ancient tortora (reed) boats. In 1970, Heyerdahl brought local Aymara boat builders, Paulino Esteban and 3 Limachi brothers to Morocco. They served as advisers in the construction of the papyrus boat for the Ra expedition.

Today, Huatajata has a number of small museums featuring its main attraction, the tortora boats and memorabilia from the Heyerdahl expeditions. One other attraction for Huatajata is also very much lake related - trout. Trout prepared in as many ways possible is the only item offered in restaurants in the village. At Inti Rayma, I skipped having a café con leche with my pan fried trout, on the server's advise that trout and and café con leche don't mix well in the stomach. Interesting.

Two-thirds of the way back to La Paz, we turned west on a dusty road toward Laja. Laja has the distinction of being the original site of La Paz before it was moved to the valley. It was also Gonzalo's point of reference, as it was the town closest to Tiwanaku.

Dark clouds rolled and opened up as we drove into Tiwanaku. There are 2 museums at the site but the real points of interest by far were outdoors. Although largely unknown, the site is a UNESCO World Heritage, a precursor to the great Inca Empire, 1000 years before Machu Pichu. The archaelogical excavations centre around the large platform (or pyramid?), the monoliths, Puerta del Sol which bears astronomical significance and statues, which look like something out of Easter Island.

While at the museum entrance in Tiwanaku, I met 3 young tourists (Brad, Gila and Tobias) who came on the chicken bus, all wearing flip flops. One (Brad from Vancouver) had shorts and t-shirt, while Gila from Israel had a summer halter top on. They were appropriately dressed for the beach but not for the cold rain and thick mud at Tiwanaku.

We gave the unsuitably attired youngsters a lift back to La Paz. As we started our descent from El Alto to downtown, the sun came out. We stopped at the mirador, a look out point on the way to downtown. We were just in time to see a spectacular view of the city basking in the late afternoon sun.

All in all, it was a very pleasant day driving on the altiplano and picking up fine company along the way.

Breathless in La Paz

2011-04-26T19:58:00.029-05:00

View of La Paz

Palacio de Gobierno

Calle Jaen

Cathedral in Plaza Murillo

Cholitas in Bowler Hats

Street off Calle Commercio

Masks at the Ethnographic Museum

Cliff in Colocoto

A River in Zona Sur

Valle de la Luna

Calle Montenegro, San Miguel

The capital of Bolivia can leave one breathless. A few minutes after landing at El Alto airport I began to feel the effects of the altitude: headache and breathlessness as I walked past immigration.

I spent the first 15 minutes in Bolivia in oxygen therapy at Praxair Clinic a few steps from the baggage carousel. It took 3 days, a couple of sorojchi pills, and a diet of soup and salad to get me going albeit in slow motion.

The altitude of La Paz ranges from 4060 metres (13,320 feet) at El Alto down to 3,000 metres (9,842 feet) at its lowest. Downtown is halfway down (or up) while the south end, Zona Sur, is the lowest. The highest part, El Alto is on a very flat plain, the rest of the city sits in an oval bowl shaped valley, like a huge geological rift in the vast Andean plateau, the Altiplano.

The scenery in La Paz is dominated by hills, cliffs, pinnacles, canyons in dusty brown or rust red hue. Flowing through the city are over 100 rivers, but the city does not sport a lush and verdant look. On the contrary, water can be in short supply. The result is something out of science fiction, a city of 2 million people in a lunar landscape.

La Paz is actually quite modern with pockets of the colonial city in centro historico in downtown. Plaza Murillo is the main plaza (plaza mayor) where the Cathedral, the Presidential and Legislative palaces are located. Quaint streets with quaint buildings from the colonial days, radiate from Plaza Murillo. Between Calle Comercio and Calle Jaen, I found a few old villas with unpretentious but interesting museums: Etnografia, Costumbres, Casa Murillo, Musical Instruments and Art Gallery.

Further down from plaza mayor, are Calle de las Brujas, (an indigenous Aymara market of "alternative" healing), Obelisk, Church of San Francisco, and the modern downtown.

The districts in Zona Sur are modern, affluent and less hilly. About 10 minutes from San Miguel district is a park called Valle de la Luna or valley of the moon. Not too difficult to understand why it is so named.

El Alto is the district on top of the city, leading to the altiplano. It is as flat, treeless and dusty as the North American prairie minus the wheat fields. The district seems to be undergoing a construction and population boom. Unfortunately, visitors are not exactly encouraged to be walking about in this neighborhood.

La Paz is not a walking city. Winding roadways connect one zone to the next bypassing hills, skirting rock formations and crossing rivers. Some districts even have "alto" (high) in part of the name to indicate its vertical direction.

The natural topography makes La Paz a fascinating city. Instead of skycrapers, one can be mesmerized by cliffs, canyons, rivers, steep hills, and rock formations while catching one's breath.

My Trip Advisor of La Paz: In the Valley of the Moon

Treasures of Beijing

2011-03-20T10:04:00.028-05:00

Great Wall at Badaling

Wall to Wall People at the Great Wall

Imperial Palace Courtyard

A Throne Room

Another Throne Room

Causeway at Tiantan

Temple of Heaven

Arched Bridge at the Summer Palace

Summer Palace

Beijing is a treasure trove to the foreign visitor. Some tourists find them at the Pearl Market (Honggiao) in Chaoyang, the Silk Market (Xiu Shui) on Jiangomenwai, in the warrens off Qianamen, the old imperial shopping district, Xidan Mall or even at Wangfujing night market. However, these treasures are of the retail kind.

For the real tourist, the Great Wall, Imperial Palace Museum, Temple of Heaven and the Summer Palace provide therapy from the frenzied haggling with more historical than material value.

The Great Wall is China's main attraction, visited by hordes of local and foreign visitors. The restored section at Badaling is the most tourist friendly, equipped with modern amenities such as a museum, shops, hotels, and a festive atmosphere. For the physically challenged, there's even a gondola to one of the towers.

The crumbling sections at Mutianyu and Simitai are for strong legs with no fear of heights. They provide a break from the wall to wall people at Badaling and a profound sense of history. As one of my colleagues commented, the 'Long Wall of Ten Thousand Li' is, after all, the world's largest graveyard. Two million people died erecting the UNESCO World Heritage and great wonder of antiquity over its 2,000 year history.

Imperial Palace Museum is another Beijing tourist hotspot and UNESCO World Heritage site. The palace is actually a series of palaces within rectangular walls within rectangular walls. From the reconstructed Tianamen Gate at the far end of the famous square, one is supposed to see through the 5 gates of the Imperial Palace, not counting on Chairman Mao's gate right in front.

Past the overwhelming courtyard with its intricately carved alabaster railings, one gets to see the different palaces with celestial names and throne rooms. At the northwest corner of the complex is the Nine Dragon Screen which I stumbled on following the labyrinth of passageways.

Across Honggiao is Tiantan (Temple of Heaven). Lesser in most everything to the Great Wall or the Imperial Palace, it is no less impressive. From the main gate, a causeway walk, a couple of hundred metres long and several metres above ground leads to the Taoist temple . The temple which was site of the annual worship for good harvest by the Ming and Qing emperors, somehow brings on a religious feeling in a country now known as a godless society.

An hour and a half or so by subway and bus out of Beijing downtown is the Summer Palace or the Garden of Nurtured Delights. Not to be outdone by the Imperial Palace in opulence, the Summer Palace, another UNESCO World Heritage, features the humongous man-made Kunming Lake, the Long Corridor, richly decorated with 14,000 paintings, the seventeen arch bridge and the Marble Boat. The boat doesn't actually do anything in the water other than look imperial in the water.

From the Summer Palace, we gave ourselves a treat in the hot summer of 2002 by getting on a canal boat for a sleepy return ending not too far from the Millenium Centre.

Should one find themselves on a break from retail therapy, there are other treasures to be found in Beijing.

City of the Silk Road

2011-02-06T21:22:00.025-06:00

Bell Tower in the center of Xian

Downtown Boulevard off the Bell Tower

Drum Tower

Downtown Promenade

Muslim Quarter

Dried fruits stand - Muslim Quarter

Artisan shops inside the city walls

Moat and tower of the city walls

Passage to the city wall

Gracious welcome sign in the City Wall park

In Xian, one can boast of being on the Silk Road (Silk Route). Chang'an, the ancient name for Xian, was the eastern terminus of this ancient and famous trading route.

Caravans departed from the city going west with their most precious cargo of silk (thus the name) and returned to Chang'an with goods from as far as Europe. The route stretched 6,500 km from Chang'an to Byzantium (now Istanbul) going through central Asia, India, Persia, Arabia then by ship on the Mediterranean.

The Silk Road flourished for over 2,000 years starting with the Han dynasty around 200 BC. until the decline in importance of Xian in the Tang dynasty (600-900 AD). The Mings (1368-1644) restored the glory of Xian, rebuilt the ancient walls, and erected the Bell Tower in the heart of the city and the Drum Tower slightly to the west.

On a visit to Xian in 2003, I got a different view of China. Xian is as old as China itself, where China became China, the capital of the first dynasty in 2200 BC. During its history as the terminus of the Silk Road, trading went beyond the interchange of silk and dried fruits. Culture, architecture, ideas, religion and people became part of the exchange too.

Xian made me truly feel I had been to China, the ancient kingdom before the knock offs. The signboard in the Around the City Wall Park carried a message that everyone is welcome in the ancient city of the Silk Road.

An Army of Clay

2011-01-30T14:40:00.017-06:00

Ready for Inspection

In Formation

The Main Pit

Horses Ready for Formation

Civil Servants

The Mausoleum of Emperor Qin

There are 8,000 plus terracotta warriors, chariots, horses, civil servants and officers buried with Emperor Qin in Xian. Since 1974, archaelogists, historians, clay artisans, administrators, pit diggers have only managed to piece together approximately 700+ of these life sized clay figurines. Tediously piecing together the gazillion bits of artifacts has its benefits in the form of lifetime job security.

The site of the mausoleum of the first Qin Emperor is a Unesco World Heritage comprised of 3 main pits, and museums. The two football sized main museum houses the Mausoleum of Emperor Qin and his army and chariots. The other museums contain the civil servants and the command centre of the armed forces. There are other pits that were still closed to the public when I visited in November 2003.

Emperor Qin lived and reigned between 257-209 BC. In his lifetime, he unified the different kingdoms in China, and among other things, erected the first version of the Great Wall. To modern day visitors, 2200 years later, he will always be known only for his life sized army and the surrounding complex of clay.

One good feeling can take away from visiting this humongous cemetery of antiquity, Emperor Qin provided jobs for 700,000 workers and artisans. Instead of taking real people (slaves, virgin maidens, concubines etc) as companions into his after life, he opted to go with an army of clay soldiers. It's a marvel that they didn't turn to dust.

Snow Falling on the Imperial Courtyard

2010-12-14T10:55:00.030-06:00

Imperial Palace Courtyard

Tianamen Square

At the archeaological site off Dong Hua Gate

1919 Tinamen Protest Memorial outside the Palace

Entrance to a Hutong

Antique shopping before the Chinese New Year

Winter in Beijing can be just as cold inside as it is on the outside. Many of the older buildings in Beijing, even those built in the last 20 years, could be fairly drafty. Staying warm indoors, means bundling up in layers to prevent body heat loss.

The light snow covering the Imperial Palace complex, a Unesco World Heritage, in January 2004 was a rare visual treat but a cold experience. Magnificent as the buildings of the museum complex are, they date back to the Ming emperors from 1400's. That translates to very high ceilings, no double glazing, sealing nor central heating, full winter gear and a drippy nose.

A comforting discovery was a stand up Starbuck's at the entrance of a gallery shop in one of the side buildings. While my colleague and I shared a table with a couple of German engineers warming up with cafe grandes, a group of American high school kids were busy with their steaming hot noodle soups in another section of the shop.

Across the avenue from the Imperial Palace complex is Tianamen Square. The reward for walking down the humongous square in the winter, the largest in China (possibly the world), was Qianamen street, once the imperial shopping centre.

Vendors sold practically every knock off on the entire planet from Burberry scarves to North Face jackets to cheap version of Chinese silk finery. Near the pagoda like gate, was a short street with shops that may have catered to the imperial family in the old days. There, I found a little treasure, a silk duvet, that keeps me warm and toasty to this day.

2004 was the year of the wood monkey, the Chinese zodiac sign in the Chinese calendar. In the run up to the Chinese New Year, January 22 in 2004, the streets and shops were decked out like the Chinese version of Christmas - lanterns, buntings, coloured lights. Shops were stocked to the rafters, sometimes spilling out on to the sidewalk. However, nothing could beat the antiques for sale I saw displayed outside a McDonald's in Beijing.

The days before the Chinese New Year, the city empties out of residents, packing train and bus stations, and airports. Most return to their ancestral homes and do the rounds of relatives. The more affluent take family holidays instead outside the country. The season is one of the busiest travel periods in these parts of Asia.

With the Lunar New Year comes the Spring Festival. The two events actually occur on the same date, one and the same holiday. This makes winter in Beijing a rather short lived season. The snow that falls on the Imperial Palace and Tianamen Square generally does not last more than a couple of days.

Codfish & Grieg

2010-11-23T20:49:00.026-06:00

Bergen Harbour

Old Downtown

Bryggen

Fish Market

Old Bergen Museum

Rosenkrantz Tower

Grieg's Statue, Troldhaugen

Grieg's Summer House, Troldhaugen

Fall in Troldhaugen

Dried codfish gave Bergen wealth and Edvard Grieg gave it music. There's actually no cod in the waters off Bergen. The fish come from further up north in the Lofoten Islands, hang dried in the sun, with the resulting constitution of manila hemp.

The samples at the Hanseatic Museum in historic Bryggen, a UNESCO World Heritage, were meant only for show not to taste as I found out. To eat, one has to soak the dried cod in water for days to bring back the spring in the meat. Or, in true Norwegian style, soak the dried code in lye for days, then boil or bake it, then serve as "lutfisk", the traditional delight with the consistency and taste of jello.

Edvard Grieg is Norway's ultimate and greatest composer. He is to Norwegian music as Henrik Ibsen is to Norwegian literature. His summer home in Troldhaugen with his beloved piano is worthy of a visit by those who have heard his piano Concerto in A Minor. The concerto is dramatic, a little wild, whimsical at times, which basically describes the landscape, the city, and the weather in Bergen.

Bergen's history dates back to 1070, founded by King Olav at the end of the Viking age. It was Norway's second capital, after Trondheim further up north on the west coast, before Christiania (Oslo) took over. During the medieval times, the city was an important partner in the Hanseatic League, the alliance of merchant cities of the Baltic, Germany and Northern Europe on par with notable trading cities like Bruges in Belgium, and Hamburg in Germany. Trading dried cod gave Bergen its bragging rights in the league.

The city landscape, the mountains, the water and inlets (or arms) bear a striking similarity to Vancouver on the west coast of Canada.The foliage and evergreens gave the place a certain mellowness in early November of 2004 when I visited. The overnight train trip from Oslo was supposed to end with a dramatic approach to Bergen, a sunrise spectacle as the train came down the mountain toward the sea. However, it was 4:00 am in mid-autumn, pitch dark and foggy when the train rolled into Bergen. The view, unfortunately, could only be possible on a clear morning during Norwegian summers.

Coming out of the train station in darkness, save for the eerie glow of street lamps, I walked across to the old downtown with its narrow cobble stone streets. At the end of the rows of wooden and concrete low rise buildings with quaint shops, I emerged at the Bryggen. The colourful wooden trading houses of the medieval ages on one side of the street fronting the harbour, was Bergen in a postcard.

One of my favourite cities in Europe, Bergen is very picturesque, like Vancouver, Rio, de Janeiro or Hongkong on a much smaller scale, laid back with salty sea air charm. Although it can be damp cold, it isn't lacking in vibrancy as an urban and cultural center with the blending of the medieval old, 19th century old and Scandinavian modern.

The most memorable place, undoubtedly for me, is Troldhaugen, Grieg's summer home. This has more to do with the piano Concerto in A minor that is firmly lodged in one of my brain cells. It happens to be one of my father's vinyl record collection of classical music, which he played most Sundays on the old hi-fi.

For more information on this charming city, Visit Bergen.
To listen to Edvard Grieg, Piano Concerto in A Minor.

Inside the Kremlin

2010-10-31T15:12:00.023-05:00

Red Square

St. Basil's Cathedral

Lenin Mausoleum & Kremlin Palaces

Kazan Cathedral

Gum Department Store

Shoppers in Gum

The Kremlin, citadel in Russian, is as imposing and daunting as the name itself. It has a striking similarity in aspiration to its counterpart, the Imperial Palace (Forbidden City) in Beijing. The wooden fortress dates back to 1156, burnt and destroyed by the Mongol-Tatars in the early 13th century.

After 250 years of domination by the Golden Khanate of the Mongol horde, the fortress city rose up again to become the Kremlin that we see now. The growth of the citadel paralleled the transformation from the lowly Rus to the imperial Russia, and the rise of Moscow as the grand city of the tsars.

The most recognizable site in the Kremlin is the Red Square flanked by the Kremlin Palaces and Gum, with St. Basil's at the far end. The addition of the Lenin Mausoleum came in 1924. Cathedrals seem to be more prominent nowadays than the government buildings of this once communist, atheist haven.

The once wooden fortress remains as formidable as the tsars would have wanted. And for the ordinary visitor, it is well worth the grand hike inside the citadel, its museums, cathedrals save for the palaces which are off limits.

A Spring Day in Moscow

2010-10-17T19:19:00.033-05:00

A Nice Spring Day for Moscovites

Moscow Underground

Resurrection Gate, Kremlin

Trinity Tower, Kremlin

Park outside the Arsenal, Kremlin

Arbat Shopping Mall

Moscow is a grand place but it can be forbidding unless one visits in friendlier season, like summer. Arriving at Sheremetyevo Airport in March 2006, I was welcomed by a late winter blast rather than spring as I had hoped for. It was dull and grey. Snow and ice piled up on the side of the road and along the Moskva River.

It was wishful thinking considering Russia and southern Canada where I live share similar weather condition called, a continental climate. I don't know how the climate got described as "continental" when "tundra" would have been far more appropriate.

In mid-April, after my return from central Russia, the sun finally got through and the snow was gone. Alexander, our representative in Moscow, took the opportunity to invite me for a walk about in the Kremlin, a UNESCO World Heritage.

We got as far as the Red Square which if I remember right was off limits to pedestrians that day. I refrained from taking photos of the square just in case. However, we did get to see various cathedrals with onion bulbs, watch towers, and very official looking buildings in the citadel. Kremlin bathed in sunshine was pretty grand.

In late afternoon, we took the subway where the escalators go down as much as 50 metres like a mine shaft, ending on a platform that looked and felt like a museum. The trains, not to be outdone in antiquity, were Orient Express vintage with wooden panels and trims inside the car.

We got off at one end of the Arbat and walked down the pedestrian shopping mall. We stopped for coffee in an Armenian coffee shop where a demitasse of expresso can result in serious heart palpitations. After two of these ultra caffeinated drinks and a lot of stories, it was time to head back to the Hotel Arbat, two blocks away.

Moscow in mid-spring seems a vibrant and exciting place. I presume that in the summer, it can give the visitor a kick as strong as that expresso.

From Tanks to John Deere

2010-09-25T20:10:00.022-05:00

Statue of Lenin

War Memorial

Opera House

Arbat - Outdoor Shopping Mall

Hotel Victoria

Afternoon Rush Hour

Subotnik, Spring Clean Up

At the end of World War II, Russia established closed, secret cities identified only by number. These cities which occasionally changed numerical designation to ensure secrecy, were factory towns of the Russian military industrial complex. One needed a permit to visit. The cities were in remote, interior regions such as the Ural region and Siberia, out of reach of enemy bombers.

The city of Chelyabinsk was once a closed city. It is deep in the southern Ural, approximately 200 km south of Ekaterinburg (where the last Czar and his family were executed), and about the same distance north of the border of Kazahkstan. It was a military fortress in the 1700's during the Russian expansion. On the eve of World War II, Stalin decided to set up military factories in this small village. Katyusha rockets and T-34 tanks were synonymous with Chelyabinsk. "Tankograd"was its unofficial name. Today, Chelyabinsk is a city of about a million people.

In 1992, Chelyabinsk was decommissioned and its factories converted to peaceful industrial use. According to a knowledgeable lady, Chelyabinsk switched from producing tanks to "ahhhh...John Deere," (tractors!), trying to describe the guns to plowshare transformation. However, the successful transformation is overshadowed by a tragic past. Chelyabinsk oblast (region) experienced 3 major nuclear disasters between late 1940 to late 1960, during its heyday as a military industrial hub.

The 1957 nuclear disaster at Mayak, the largest nuclear facility in Russia, 72 km out of the city, irradiated half a million people, leaving some villages, part of the river and a highway still radioactive. A film about Chelyabinsk labels it as the most contaminated place on earth. According to locals I worked with, up to 30% of its residents suffer from the effects of these disasters.

In spring of 2006, while working in Chelyabinsk, the city didn't seem to have transformed gracefully. The heavy industrial look and the Soviet era architecture remained. Coming into downtown, huge hot water pipes stuck out of the road side like a scene from Mel Gibson's movie, the post apocalyptic Mad Max (Road Warrior). The cloudy skies, snowy and cold weather unusual for the time of the year, and factory emissions added to the eery scenery.

However, I was in the Urals, the natural divide between Europe and Asia, almost halfway round the world from where I live. From the airport, seeing the treeless steppes with minimal trace of habitation other than an occasional stray dog, the absence of high peaks (the mountain range is very old, and not very high), the remoteness and the grayness of the place was overwhelming.

It was in this very far away and sort of mysterious place that I had one of the most interesting conversations in all my travels. After helping me at the post office, as we were about to have lunch at a cafe, Sasha, an employee at Hotel Victoria, came out of nowhere and started the conversation about a book, and an author that made me take notice. It was a wild opening line from someone I didn't personally know who seemed to know what I actually read. I mention this conversation in my first post, Where Do I Start?

I'm not sure how to describe my time in Chelyabinsk. Tatiana, a hotel executive, described it best. On a slow night at the hotel, she said over dinner quoting a Russian writer, "don't try to understand Russia, just feel Russia."

A Room With A View

2010-09-07T20:04:00.021-05:00

Pension Sacher, Vienna

Hotel Am Markt, Baden-Baden

E.M Forster wrote A Room With A View about vacationing Brits and romance at the turn of the last century. The story is set in Florence and starts with a complaint about the room not having the right exposure. It overlooked the courtyard instead of the beautiful city as had been promised.

Pension Sacher in Vienna does not have to promise a view. Located in the heart of Vienna on Rotenturmstrasse, all the windows expose a glorious sight of the cathedral, Stefansdom, day or night, and the happenings in the square below. A business colleague discovered the pension for me in 1994 on my first visit to the city. I have since stayed at another pension only one time, and regretted it.

The pension occupies the 7th floor of a '60s building dedicated to John F. Kennedy. All the rooms (actually suites or apartments) come with a kitchenette, spotlessly clean and decked out in antiques. The pension has been a "home" in Vienna in the 3 times I had been there (1994, 1996, 2010). It hasn't changed a wee bit over the years. Across on the side street is the Bristol if one cares to go 5 star.

Hotel Am Markt in Baden-Baden, Germany is another one of those little gems that offer every room with a view. Set on a hilltop in the old town across the Catholic Stiftskirche, the rooms of this 250 year old and immaculately kept pension look out onto the old square and the church, the quaint downhill side street with equally quaint buildings (e.g. the town hall), or a view of Baden-Baden.

My first time, in 2002, I checked into a single room, with wash basin and shared bathroom, facing the side street. (Who needs a bathroom when one can get clinically clean next door at Friedrichsbad or down the street at Caracalla?) Another time in 2006, it was a larger room with windows exposing the city, and in 2007, a large suite looking out to the town hall. A sumptuous German breakfast buffet taken in a leisurely pace completes the picture.

Pension Sacher and Hotel Am Markt are most likely found in every guide books and online travel websites. They're probably rated 5 stars, as in highly recommended.

A Travel Companion

2010-07-26T18:25:00.027-05:00

"Travel is a state of mind. It has nothing to do with distance or the exotic. It is almost entirely an inner experience. My particular way of getting to Nantucket - alone, almost blindly over water - seemed to transform the destination. The Nantucket I had arrived at was a different place from the Nantucket of the ferry passenger, and I was different, too - happier, for one thing. The trip had done what all trips ought to do. It had given me heart."- Paul Theroux, Fresh Air Fiend

Finding the right book or reading material to take on a trip can be a bit of a dilemma. The length of a trip, destination, purpose or modern airline vagary such as baggage allowance can determine the choice of reading material – be it a book, magazine, trade journal, laptop or all of the above.

Lonely Planet or Go Trekking seem to be popular among travelers seeking that inner experience Paul Theroux described in his kayaking trip to Nantucket. Airport bookstores do brisk business in paperback fiction and popular magazines for light reading in-transit or on long range flights where one is vertical much of the time.

Wifi adds a new dimension to one’s choice of a carry-on: laptop, iPod, or any other hand held device. As long as one can find a signal, a whole new world opens in soft copy from emails to a street guide to the next destination.

Paul Theroux’s Fresh-Air Fiend has traveled a few times with me since 2002. It makes a perfect companion in between stops or down times while on the road. The short insightful chapters make the book easy to read, one can put aside and pick up another time.

Some publications may be so engrossing they are asking to be devoured cover to cover on a single night in a hotel or plane ride. Michael Palin’s Sahara was thoroughly entertaining as one can expect from a Monty Python alumnus. His funny observations on the world and the visuals were truly the comedian himself. Fast Food Nation wasn’t meant to entertain but it kept me well-informed. The Book Seller of Kabul was an unassuming piece of non-fiction by a Norwegian journalist that started on the plane and ended in my hotel room the following night.

Miguel Cervantes’ Don Quixote is also ready-to-go at a moment’s notice. Each chapter is a story in itself but it’s over a thousand pages in fine print. I guess it will have to travel with me a few more years. Back copies of National Geographic don’t lose their luster, and more entertaining than trade journals, English language foreign newspapers and airline magazines I pick up along the way.

Paul Theroux wrote, "so much of travel is self-delusion." For that reason, travelers take a favourite travel companion to keep their delusion in check.

"Toronto the Good" Gone Bad

2010-06-30T08:24:00.035-05:00

The Berlin Wall of Fortress Toronto

Riot Police photo taken by a Riot Tourist

Many Torontonians think the city is boring. City fathers perpetually dream of elevating the city to "world class" status.

Well, Toronto has a famous landmark called CN Tower, that tall pointed thing that has become a recognizable symbol of the city. The city hosts the 2nd largest international film festival in the world (TIFF), next only to Cannes in importance. We have crowd drawing events like Caribana and Toronto Gay Pride, that bring a million visitors into the city. We have a parks system that is the envy of many cities including a downtown island park with an airport. We have a transit system that people actually use. The locals tend to say "please", "excuse me", "ooops I'm sorry "a lot.

At any given time, there are more than 20,000 international students, most in English language schools who think Toronto is one cool city. We have Much Music, hockey, football, baseball, basketball, alas no World Cup calibre soccer teams. Downtown, there's a theatre district that's 2nd only to Broadway; the financial center, a telephone extension of New York. Torontonians eat an assortment of culinary delights: samosas, kolbassa, blt, pita, multi grain, organic, transfats, bibimbap, Alberta beef etc. Name it you'll find it in the city. With such diverse communities, many citizens carry multinational genes in their veins.

In Mercer's Quality of Living report, Toronto (together with few other Canadian cities) has always been on the top of the world. It must be the weather then - long winters, short summers

Last weekend (June 25-27), changed all that. The PM in Ottawa gave the city a push to world class status, by donating the G20 summit right in the heart of downtown. With 6 months notice and nary an input from its citizens, $1.2 b budget, $900 m in "security" alone and approx 15,000 security force, Toronto had to show the world what a truly world class city it is.

However, things didn't go according to plans. As with any G# or world summits, the city expected demonstrations, protests and marches and that dreaded group called the "black bloc." In a city with 1001 causes, from cure a disease with unpronounceable name to free a country with multiple consonants, what can one expect - Oxfam marching next to anarchists in black.

Photo ops turned into bad optics over the weekend. One day, vandals performed their ritual, smashing windows and burning unattended (or abandoned) police cruisers while the integrated security unit stood down. This mini, micro mob was allowed to disgrace the city. How bizarre.

Next day, the ISU (integrated security unit) decided to do some "kettling" (new word of the day, meaning to box people in) on Queen St. W and Spadina for 5 hours, half of that in a record downpour. A small group of peaceful marchers, including a group that calls itself the "bike bloc" (advocating for more bike lanes), Chinatown shoppers, bystanders, teenagers gawking at the happening or people simply crossing the street were in "breach of peace". What? Queen St. West in breach of peace? The funky street lives to break the peace with its clubs, pubs, artsy fartsy shops, entertainment and Much Music.

That weekend, other than the usual suspects - the young and university age - anyone wearing black, carrying weapons of opportunity (Visine or dollar store pocket knife!?!), speaking with a Quebec accent or a riot tourist with a digital could be deemed an anarchist or sympathizer. A free weekend in a cage at the detention center sans vegetarian menu awaited them.

No one high up would like to acknowledge that this was a mess: bad for small businesses in the core, bad for tourism (80% of tourists to Toronto are from the US which issued an advisory before G20 - thanks!?!), bad for Toronto's finest (yes, we actually like our cops), and bad tv. Of the 900 arrested, so far only 1 has been charged. That was even before the G20 came to town. Authorities have not even identified the 2 people who popped out of a manhole they arrested in the wee hours of Sunday morning. That could be new material for a wicked movie - The Anarchist Ninja Turtles in Toronto.

The showcase for Toronto and tourism turned into a surreal reality show. G20 leaders did not even have a photo op at a tourist attraction. Toronto the good just turned bad.

Now for the real boring stuff, check out Tourism Toronto.

Stairways to Heaven

2010-06-21T21:49:00.019-05:00

Terraces in Banaue

Our Local Guide, Moises in Batad

Batad Terraces

Whose minding the terrace?

Tappia Falls

The Cordillera Rice Terraces in Northern Philippines are often referred to as stairways to heaven. They are as impressive to see for real as they look in pictures.

Terraces are found all over Southeast Asia (even in southern Europe). However, the Cordillera terraces seem to be over the top. In size, laid end to end they could cover half the globe. In construction, these terraces are like giant steps on steep slopes, with as much as 500 metres in vertical drop. In age, these have been in continuous use for 2,000 years with the oldest complex over 3,000 years.

Many centuries ago, the settlers of the Cordilleras were in dire need of farm land to plant rice. There were no flat lands in the mountains so instead, they constructed strips of rice paddies on top of each other. Today, these terraces serve as a living testament to the ingenuity and adaptability of man. They accomplished the task without John Deere or Caterpillar, high tech gadgets and slaves.

Banaue Terraces is the grandest, most well known and photographed among the terrace complexes of the Cordilleras which has been declared a UNESCO World Heritage. My visit to Banaue in the 2nd week of May this year, was accidental but in hindsight, it worked out for the best. After I completed my work assignment in northern Philippines, I had planned to go straight to Sagada bypassing Banaue. However, there was no easy route direct to Sagada and the best way to go is through Banaue.

With 2 local colleagues for company and the boss' car for transport, we drove to Banaue and got into the mountain town at night. We checked in at Banaue View Inn where the lady of the house happened to be Lily Beyer Luglug, the granddaughter of noted anthropologist, historian, and Cordillera expert, Prof. Otley Beyer. Prof Beyer's collection is now at the Banaue Museum, next door to the inn.

The town itself is built on terraces slowly being overtaken by "town sprawl". Some of the retaining walls have been reinforced with concrete, but most still show the original stones of the terraces.

Next day as Lily recommended, we headed off for Batad to visit the amphitheatre shaped terraces and Tappia water fall. Batad is about 45 minutes away, via a gravel road 15 minutes off the highway. From Batad saddle (a ridge overlooking the tiny mountain village, and part of the terraces), we followed a trail down the side of the mountain until we reached the edge of the village. From here, the 3 of us decided to traverse the terraces, then hike further to the falls. Ignorance is bliss. We were to find out 4 hours later, that the trek down and back up is not for amateurs with weak hearts, loose limbs or wonky knees. Someone forgot to mention that.

Coming into the middle of this humongous amphitheatre, one feels more than views the terraces: huge, complex engineering, hemmed in by steep mountainsides, but oh so peaceful. How ancient farmers managed to match and fit the stones to form 6-9 feet of solid walls holding rice paddies in a complex this size and a few others was beyond me. That's like putting together a million piece jigsaw puzzle tight and snug, without slack, a few times over. The rocks that form the steps were just as solid, without the slightest wiggle or jiggle as we came down. Simply awesome and inspiring.

At the far end of the terraces is a rest stop on a ridge just before the trail down to Tappia Falls. Sitting on bamboo benches, we could hear the heavy breathing and labored steps of hikers coming up the trail from the falls. It was almost amusing to see people pop out of the trail, in such a state.

From here, we hiked or awkwardly clambered down broken concrete steps about 500 metres and at last, the falls. A young French tourist in one of the rest stops assured us that it is very nice down here, worth it. The 50 metre waterfall and the pool were definitely worth it, a reward for that knee busting downhill trek.

Going back up to the ridge, traversing the terraces one more time, then hiking up the mountain trail to the saddle took 2 1/2 hours. It also required numerous stops to deal with leg cramps, shot knees and catch one's breath. However, it was simply exhilirating, a once in a lifetime experience.

Test of the Heart and Legs, Trip Advisor review.

Dancing with the Waves

2010-05-19T09:30:00.031-05:00

Ivatan Fishing Boat

Batanes Stone House

Mahatao 17th Century Church

Ruins of Songsong

Coastal Highway, Batan Island

In Search of Goose Liver

2010-05-08T22:45:00.019-05:00

Foie gras with mustard seed, spring onions in duck juice

Appenweier

Strasbourg Train Station

Strasbourg Cathedral

Grande Ile, old town

University park

General Leclerc Memorial

In the culinary world, Strasbourg connotes pâté de foie gras. This French delicacy is made from the liver of a specially fattened and force-fed goose or duck. Strasbourg is the birthplace of this French invention and the best foie gras happens to be produced in, where else, Strasbourg.

On a day trip in summer 2007, I checked out Galerie Lafayette in Strasbourg for their selection of this fine comestible. It was pricey but the intended recipients across the Rhine deserved the real thing.

To get to Strasbourg from Baden-Baden, 1 1/2 hours away, first I had to take a train that dropped me off at Appenweier. The station was quite "special". It didn't look and feel like a train station, only a platform with a sign. A friend in Stuttgart remembered stopping once in Appenweier to catch a connection, and wondered if she had gotten off the wrong stop or just lost.

The connecting train was a city tram which took its passengers across the Rhine into the Gare de Strasbourg where they came out of a cigar shaped dome. With typical French creativity and artistry, the train station was being expanded with an enclosure of elongated glass dome. Thus the cigar shape. It made a contrasting statement to the historic old town.

The old town, Grande Ile, a UNESCO World Heritage, seemed to be going through major public works. Nevertheless, it maintained it gallic charm and joie de vivre. Strasbourg Cathedral reminded me of the big one in Cologne, looking very gothic. The cafes were in full bloom.

Outside the old town was a huge park leading to a French government institution (university I believe). On the way, I came across a memorial to General Leclerc who commanded a division that liberated Paris in 1944. I have since learned there's a Leclerc memorial or a Leclerc street in just about every town and city in France.

I had to cut short my visit to catch the tram back. Fortunately, the tram was headed for Freiburg instead, to connect with German rail. One would rather be stuck in Freiburg than in Appenweier.

You Have to Say the Name Twice

2010-04-17T08:24:00.031-05:00

Fountain in Lichtentaler Allee

Steps leading up to the old town

Stiftskirche in the old town

Street leading down from the old town

Cafes & hotels in one of the main squares

Hotel Am Markt on top of Baden-Baden

"Baden-Baden is so nice that you have to name it twice." The comment is attributed to Bill Clinton, former US president, found in the city's tourism website, Stadt Baden-Baden. True enough it is so nice that you may not only have to say the name twice, but visit it more than twice.

On my 3rd time in Baden-Baden in summer of 2007, I found the city just as nice and relaxing as the previous visits. It is about 3.5 hours on the ever efficient D-bahn (ICE, EC, IC) from Frankfurt, on the way to Zurich, 15 km from Karlsruhe, about an hour to Strasbourg. Unlike many other places in Germany or western Europe, it is reasonably priced, not a total tourist trap unless one plays the casino.

The city has been known for its hot springs and mineral baths since the days of the Roman Empire. In the lower level of the Friederichsbad is the Roman Baths Museum that shows, well, the ancient bath system of the Romans. Nestled in the Black Forest with its therapeutic waters and clean fresh air, the city maintains the tradition as a center for recuperation and rehabilitation.

Baden-Baden bills itself as Europe's summer capital. It can give any other claimant in Europe a run for its money. It has wellness centers, sports facilities, casino, summer art and cultural festival, parks and gardens, and historical sights.

The city center is about 10 km from the train station, between Lichtentaler Allee and the old town. The old town on a hilltop is like an open air medieval museum with historical buildings going back to the times of the Margraves of Baden. The 12th centur Stiftskirche is the town's oldest parish church, and the Hotel Am Markt next door dates to the 1700's.

Below the old town is the newer city center with shops, cafes along the cobblestoned streets. On the other side is Lichtentaler Allee, with buildings featuring belle epoque architecture, the ritzy casino, the kurhaus (nursing center), rose garden, parks (and more parks).

In recent times, Baden-Baden got a boost during World Cup 2006 in Germany when the British team was based in Baden-Baden. With Britain's power couple David and Victoria (Posh Spice) Beckham billeted at one of the most chi chi hotels in Baden-Baden, the city consolidated its image as a summer destination for the rich and not so rich. (Unfortunately for Britain, they didn't quite live up to their image in the World Cup.)

Baden-Baden is the quintessential European town, laid back, genteel, unstressed and not without its delights. Not the least would be the baths (for which the town is aptly named, more than once). I suppose Bill Clinton was telling the truth when he said, they had to name it twice because it is so nice.

Sunday is for Mozart

2010-03-07T19:54:00.024-06:00

Enroute to Toronto from Ukraine, I stopped in Vienna to re-group. It has been awhile since I stayed at Pension Sacher am Stephansplatz, one of my favourite little hotels. The pension and I go back to 1994 on my first visit to Vienna. I couldn't be more appreciative of the welcome one gets, and the very comfortable and well appointed suites.

Since it was Lent, I thought it was fitting to attend mass at St. Stephen's Cathedral (Stefansdom) and enjoy a kick back weekend. The Pension happens to be kitty corner from the cathedral, in the centre of Vienna. One need not go far to get to anywhere.

Many thanks to Ingo, for waiting and I wish his mom, Dr. Sacher, well. Now for a little Mozart, just click on the video.

My Apple Strudel

2010-03-02T19:35:00.014-06:00

At the Hotel Aurora in Krivoy Rog, where was I working for 2 weeks in Feb this year, the food was surprisingly well prepared. To my surprise, an order of apple strudel with vanilla ice cream came out beyond my expectation.

The pastry is baked at the hotel, served with creme anglaise, strawberry sauce and the vanilla ice cream. It was warm, moist and flaky. The apple filling with a bit of raisins had the right combination of tartness and sweetness. The creme anglaise and the strawberry sauce added something extra to the pastry.

It was as yummy as it looked.

"Longest City in Europe"

2010-02-25T15:37:00.011-06:00

Interesting Ad in the New Downtown

World War II Memorial

Orthodox Church

Market Entrance in Old Centre

Men's Day at the Hotel

My interpreter, Olla, said that Krivoy Rog is Europe's longest city. Shaped like a horseshoe, it runs 120 km long, parallel to the iron ore deposits that gave birth to the city's main industry, mining. She added that the city is industrial, contributes 15% to Europe's pollution, has many parks and trees to counter the foul and dirty air.

What to do? Not much really especially if one happens to be in Krivoy Rog during a very snowy, cold winter. Crimea and the Black Sea are further south where the weather can be just as wintry cold. Dnepropetrovsk, the capital of the oblast (district) is about 2 to 3 hours on a bumpy potholed highway. It is another mega industrial center of the old soviet era, a closed city until the 1990's.

One experience I will remember is Men's Day on February 22. It is father's day and heroes day rolled into one. On this day, men, age 18 and over, are honoured by families and colleagues. At the hotel where I had stayed, the staff of the Hotel Aurora gave a mid-day reception in honour of their male colleagues. As a token of appreciation, a lady in the management handed out envelopes to the male staff including the big boss.

Summer, winter, fall or spring, Krivoy Rog in a nutshell is where tourists don't visit, and the locals know it.

Berlin's Other Notable Sights

2010-02-15T09:36:00.026-06:00

Martin-Gropius-Bau

Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial on Ku'dam

Konzerthaus on Gendarmenmarkt

Holocaust Memorial

Golden Statue of Victory

An everyday tourist might find odd that I missed a number of Berlin's notable sights in summer of 2007. With only 5 days to spend in a European heatwave, Berlin is a mighty grand city to cover. Grand could be the size of the city, the cornucopia of attractions, museums, palaces, memorials or the combination of both, plus anything else thrown in to amuse just about anybody.

I missed the Unesco World Heritage sites, Museum Island comprised of 4 or 5 museums on the east side, Sanssouci Palace in Potsdam both of which could have taken a full day to appreciate. Or, the more esoteric Bauhaus Archive (museum for architecture and design) in Tiergarten, and the 1936 Olympic Stadium immortalized in Leni Riefenstahl's film, Olympia.

However, what I didn't miss were just as interesting and notable. Martin-Gropius-Bau in the first photo, is a museum of modern art. I found the museum accidentally just a short walk from Checkpoint Charlie. Gropius is the founder of Bauhaus design group but the museum's past intrigued me more than what's in it. The Italian renaissance building was once the headquarter of the Gestapo.

The Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial is the bombed out church on Kurfurstendam, a landmark on Berlin's famous shopping boulevard. A modern circular church next door serves as the home and concert hall of Berlin's Bach Choir. I missed a free concert by 10 minutes as I had to change from summer shorts to decent wear, coming all the way down from the east side. (Worth noting if ever in Berlin. Usually Saturdays at 6:00 pm.)

The square with the iconic church reminds me of Times Square in NYC but a lot safer, a tad more genteel. It is a meeting point of tourists, strollers, hawkers and bystanders watching the world go by. After staying a couple of days in the staid and lackluster east side, I moved to a hotel on Ku'dam next door to a Moevenpick restaurant. Nothing like a Marché for comestibles.

At an Italian cafe on Ku'dam, I happened to sit next to an artist illustrator from Milan. A former West Berliner long before the fall of the wall, he had reservations about seeing the new Berlin. He finally made the pilgrimage only after nearly 20 years. The West Berlin he knew as a poor art student were the days as a punk rocker into East Berlin diva, Nina Hagen. Berlin seemed to have passed him by and he was happy to have made Milan his home. (Among his anecdotes was meeting Salvador Dali himself through his art professor.)

The Konzerthaus on Gendarmenmarkt is flanked by the Deutscher Dom (German Cathedral) and the French Cathedral forming a humongous square. Judging from the cafes and the shops in its periphery, I gathered it was a chi chi place to be. Sitting under umbrella in a lounging chair in a cafe next to the museum was as upscale as I could get.

Not too far from the Brandenburg Gate is the Holocaust Memorial, 19,000 square metres of "stelae", rectangular blocks of black stone of various sizes. The memorial has been controversial since it opened in 2005, but I found it moving and awesome. You be the judge.

Finally, the golden statue of Victory sits on a large rotunda, facing the Brandenburg Gate on Unter den Linden. The 2 memorials are Prussia's major contributions to Berlin. On top of the tower, one can see the Tiergarten surrounding the tower. Tiergarten just like Central Park in NYC is a massive greenery in the summer. But beware of naked bodies in the woods, since Berliners believe in clothing optional parks.

Not too bad. Except for that free Bach Choir concert I missed.

A Word from the Wise

2010-01-30T09:37:00.029-06:00

From Antoine Saint-Exupery's, The Little Prince

From Miguel de Cervantes', Don Quixote

While walking to the Jewish Museum of Berlin, off the Oranienburg Strasse metro stop, I came across a unique attraction leading to the museum. Looking down, I noticed little plaques with flags of EU nations on the pavement. I don't recall the name of this pedestrian mall, but 2 of these plaques stood out.

Antoine Saint-Exupery is best known for the Little Prince from where came, "It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye." Saint-Exupery happens to be a favourite author from my teen years. The title of this blog is from one of his books which I wrote about in my first post Where do I start.

Don Quixote is probably better known than its author, Miguel de Cervantes. From that book came this passage, "Traveling and sojourning among various people makes men wise." which I borrowed to put in my profile.

The walkway featured the most memorable and profound saying of an author, hero or statesmen of each country. At each step, one picks up a bit of wisdom along the way.

Berlin Extreme Makeover

2010-01-20T23:12:00.037-06:00

Checkpoint Charlie

Mural along the Wall

Potsdamer Platz Bahnhof

Brandenberg Tor

Government Complex

Reichstag

Reichstag Dome

It has been 20 years since the Berlin Wall came down. With the euphoria of reunification came massive redevelopment along the wall and the eastern part of the city.

My West German friends from southern Germany weren't pleased with the money spent on reconstructing the city. However, as a tourist, I begged to disagree. At least, the money went into something more productive, resurrecting a grand European city and attracting hordes of tourists than on silly stuff, like a war.

In the 1990's, Berlin was the world's largest construction site. The government centre next to the Reichstag is the most prominent of the new sites. On Potsdamer Platz, a whole city quarter was built from scratch. East Berlin streets were gentrified, historical sites, museums, palaces were spruced up. However, on the east side I discovered there were still pockets of the old, dull, regimented East Berlin.

My visit in June 2007 started at the humongous steel and glass Berlin Banhof. The train terminal is a delightful attraction on its own, like a giant mall on 5 levels, expanded with additional lines and tunnels right after reunification. From the bus bay across the station, I took a bus to take me to an apartment hotel somewhere in the Mitte (central district) according to Berlin Tourism.

The building was indeed in the Mitte, but step onto the street, it was in another quarter. I got off the wrong stop, and took an hour walking up and down Chausseestrasse looking for the place.

A few decaying, utilitarian housing blocks, '50s vintage subway station and trains were tell tale signs I was on the East side. There was no restaurant within several square blocks. The closest, convenience store was 150 metres from the apartment, tucked away on a side street, opened for a few hours only (almost by appointment I thought). A proper grocery was 2 metro stops away.

The lady manager was stern and totally unfriendly. She had a knack for pointing a curled finger at guests to get their attention. Attitudes seemed slow to change on the East side.

The main attraction of the Berlin Wall era is, of course, Checkpoint Charlie at the end of Friederichstrasse. The former border crossing is now a slightly tacky shrine crawling with tourists and souvenir hawkers. Cafe Adler, a museum, a mural on one corner, little memorials on a street corner, bits and pieces of the grafitti laden wall tell a poignant story of a divided past.

Going back on Friedrichstrasse along gentrified shops and buildings, I came to Unter den Linden and Brandenberg Tor, the remaining city gate from the 18th century. The gate symbolized the division of Berlin during the cold war with the wall cutting right in front of the gate. A short walk from Brandenberg Tor is the Reichstag, often featured in war movies with Russian soldiers storming the building in the last days of Nazi Germany.

On top of the new home of the German parliament sits a striking, egg shaped glass dome. Inside, a spiral walkway winds its way to the top like a cloud. The dome is in quite contrast with the massive granite structure it sits on which makes it more interesting.

Beside the Reichstag is the massive futuristic government complex stretching along the river Spree. The glass and steel complex symbolically sits on either (west and east) side of the river. It is the least non-government looking and most people friendly government centres I've ever seen. Promenades, cafes, numerous pedestrian bridges, parks, outdoor galleries on sections of the old wall, are mixed in with the office structures. One wonders how government business gets done in such a kick back environment.

My West German friends had every right to feel miffed about the cost of the reconstruction. Berlin's extreme makeover looks like the government didn't spare a penny.

A link to Berlin Tourism: Visit Berlin

On the Mighty Elbe

2010-01-12T18:35:00.026-06:00

Hamburg Harbour

St. Pauli Fischmarkt from the boat

Downtown view from the Alster

Rathaus off Jungfernstieg

Downtown Canal

A Square off Reeperbahn

Germany's largest and busiest port is actually inland. Hamburg sits on the banks of the river Elbe, at least 50 km from the coast. However, along the tributaries and channels of the Elbe are the containers, cranes and ships of one of the world's busiest port. What made Hamburg is primarily due to this mighty river harbour sans salty sea air.

Hamburg was a founding city of the Hanseatic League, the trade alliance in northern Europe from the 12th to the 17th century. It was fitting that the first place I should see in summer 2007 was this great harbour. From Landungsbrucken, I took a boat cruise that gave me a wide angle view of Europe's 2nd largest container port, the harbour front in downtown Hamburg to the villas of Altona. On the return, the cruise took a sweep of the future called Hafencity, Europe's largest urban redevelopment on the site once part of the free port.

Twenty minutes walk from Landungsbrucken is the Jungfernstieg where one takes a boat cruise on the Alster. This inner city lake is not really a lake but another tributary of the river Elbe. The cruise reveals the charming and genteel side of Hamburg with villas, elegant buildings, and lush greenery (it was June after all) on the banks of the "lake." The downtown core around the Rathaus (City Hall) and Jungfernstieg, features side streets with canals, cafes and high end boutique shops.

(I found hand knitten woolen naval sweaters at very affordable price, at Ernst Brendle on Grosse Johannistrasse, and had the best penne parmigiana at a cafe on the Esplanade.)

What is a port city and metropolis without the seedy and the quaint? St. Pauli has been known for decades as the adult entertainment district where the Beatles started on their road to fame. Reeperbahn is the notorious street in St. Pauli, with wall to wall sex shops, bars, clubs and strip joints. I gathered from a friend who once worked in Hamburg, the area can be quite rough once the night gets going. From the Reeperbahn, a little square leads to the harbour, with more bars (catering to merchant seamen primarily) and even a Museum of Sex!

St. George further away from the harbour is the quaint district. The HB (Hamburg Main Train Station) features two entrances, one leading out to the shops on Monckeberg St., toward the Rathaus and the harbour. The other entrance leads out to St. George catering to the less upmarket. The neighbourhood is an eclectic collection of people, shops, hotels, restaurants and what nots and includes the gay district. Colourful is the word.

Inspite of its pedestrian name and the notoriety associated with being a port city, Hamburg is a very charming, genteel and picturesque city. However, even in summer, grey overcast skies can be the normal weather.

Alhambra - Missed Opportunity

2009-12-11T22:21:00.021-06:00

A very common fountain found around the Alhambra

One of the 13 towers of the Alhambra

Ruins inside the Alhambra

Albaycin

The Alhambra, a Unesco Heritage site, is Spain's most visited attraction. One has to book 3 months in advance for a ticket to the palaces or be at the gate by 8 am to line up for a last minute ticket.

The pictures I took over a Christmas holiday trip in 2006 did not amount to much. I didn't have advance booking and only got into Granada by bus from Malaga after 10:00 am. I was limited to walking around looking at the palaces from the outside.

The Alhambra is actually a fortress with 13 towers, not just one palace. Within the fortress, are the 3 Nasrid palaces (the Nasrid was the last Moorish dynasty in Granada). In one of these palaces is the famous Court of the Lions (Patio de Leones). The other palaces are the Palacio de Generalife (also Moorish) and the Palacio de Carlos V, built after the Spanish conquest of 1492. The gardens inside the fortress feature a lot of fountains like the first photo.

Seeing the famous Islamic architecture and design work of the Nasrid palaces up close and personal would have been just brilliant. Next time for sure.

A walking tour of the Albayzin however saved the day. On the other side of the River Darro from the Alhambra is Albayzin, another UNESCO Heritage site. The Albayzin is a well preserved Moorish town with steep and winding, narrow streets, mosques, baths and medieval houses (some even showing dates on the wall). The Albayzin remains the Moorish/Jewish quarter of the city today. It definitely felt special.

Alcazaba of Malaga

2009-11-18T20:30:00.013-06:00

View of the Alcazaba from Hotel Maestranza

Section of the Castle Wall

Courtyard Interior

Ramparts overlooking amphitheatre and downtown

2nd century Roman amphitheatre

After 600 years since the Spanish Reconquest, Moorish heritage is still very evident in Malaga. The most visible and imposing is Alcazaba (or sometimes called Alcazar), the fortress of the governors of Granada, started in the 8th century.

The castle overlooks the Ayuntamiento (City Hall) and the Cathedral, with a great view of the old town below on one side, and the castle of Gibralfaro and Malagueta on the other. The Alcazaba may not be as grand as the Alhambra but it is one of the best preserved Arabic citadels, with the interior pretty much intact.

Below one of the ramparts is a 2nd century Roman amphitheatre. It's smallish as amphitheatres go, but says a lot about the age of the city.

Only the remnants of the walls remain at Gibralfaro on the next hill. Gibralfaro (in Arabic, rock of the lighthouse) was the scene of the surrender of the citizens of Malaga, after a 3 month siege by Ferdinand and Isabella in the remaining days of the Moorish empire in Spain.

Alcazaba (and Gibralfaro) are well worth the climb and the hike. They make Malaga far more interesting destination than just for soaking up warmth in the winter.

P.S.

I was scheduled to leave on New Year's Day (Jan 1st), at 8:00 am for Frankfurt. When I got to the airport, the lights at the Spanair counter were dimmed. The agent said the flight was delayed. When pressed for more information, the agent simply said the pilot did not show up, nowhere to be found.

A replacement pilot had to be flown in from Mallorca. Spanair rebooked me on Iberia instead. I should've known. New Year's Eve and too much tinto make pilot disappear. What a way to start the year, 2007!

On the Malagueta

2009-11-17T19:17:00.018-06:00

View of Malaga Harbour, from Gibralfaro

Malaga Cathedral, Plaza del Obispo

Ayuntamiento de Malaga, from the Alcazaba

Corrida next to Hotel Maestranza

Picasso's Birthplace, Plaza de la Merced

Moorish Night Market

Picasso and Antonio Banderas share the same hometown. They are the more recognizable citizens of Malaga in the Costa del Sol of Spain in romantic Andalusia.

A city of about half a million, it is a vacation destination and a major commercial port. Founded in the 8th century BC by Phoenicians, it was an important center of Moorish Spain, a couple of hours from the grand capitals of Cordoba and Granada.

With lots of spare time over Christmas holidays in 2006, I decided to fly to Malaga after the obligatory family Christmas festivities. I stayed at Hotel Maestranza, a few blocks from the Malagueta. Malagueta is the district to the east of the harbour and the city center.

The beach is nothing to rave about, but it has ambience and leisurely air. What is a beach without ambience? And one can always boast that it is on Costa del Sol.

Sunny weather with temperature averaging 17c in January, makes Malaga a very desirable winter destination for me. In addition, it has a rich cultural and historical heritage, a combination of the Moorish and the Catholic, so there's lots to do and see. Malaga is relatively inexpensive compared to other European destinations.

For sure, a return visit is on my to do list even just to practice my Spanish.

3 Posadas and a Finca

2009-10-25T22:20:00.015-05:00

Courtyard, Casona de Salitre, Paipa

Thermal Pool, Casona de Salitre, Paipa

Bedroom, Posada San Antonio, Villa de Leyva

Lounge, Posada de San Antonio, Villa de Leyva

Bedroom, Spa Hotel Getsemane, Villa de Leyva

Lobby, Spa Hotel Getsemane, Villa de Leyva

Hallway, San Luis de Acuenga, Punta Larga

Suite, San Luis de Acuenga, Punta Larga

Traveling on business has its hazards.

For me, traveling within Boyaca (Colombia) this summer 2009, meant sleeping in a different hotel room and bed every other day, almost. However, visiting 15 hotels, checking in and out of 12 of them was the job. There were times of dislocation, not knowing whether I was supposed to pack or unpack, and confusion as to which day or town it was.

In Colombia, hotels came under a variety of names: hosteria, hospederia basically mean the same, hotel; posada, meson and casona could be inn, villa or guesthouse; and finca is a farm (with a large house.) The pleasure of doing the work I do is finding out some neat and interesting places to stay.

As for what to do or see in Boyaca, please check Trip Advisor, A Privileged Place in Colombia.

The Other Side of Papua New Guinea

2009-10-08T16:17:00.003-05:00

Most people think of Papua New Guinea in terms of National Geographic photo layouts of the highland provinces. Until I had the privilege of visiting friends in Alotau, Milne Bay in February 2008, I thought the same. Milne Bay province is on the south eastern tip of Papua New Guinea, with some of the remotest island communities in the world. In contrast to the interior of the island, Milne Bay serves as a reminder that the second biggest island in the world, is in the South Pacific - beaches, fishing and diving, coconuts and palm trees, tropical heat and flip flops.

Alotau, the capital of the province, is a quiet, frontier town spreading out from Alotau Bay, up to the hills. The first photo (of the hauswin) was taken from my friends' house, which sits nicely on a hill overlooking the bay. I spent many hours just enjoying the breeze and contemplating nothing. Life as it was meant to be. In town, there's a church street, where on a Sunday, choirs from the different churches can be heard from all directions. At the Catholic church, one can attend mass al fresco. How civilized.

Samarai is the name of a group of islands and the island itself which was the capital of Milne Bay until 1969. We spent the night in Oba, a hamlet of maybe 6 houses, a dozen residents, on Sidea, an island in Samarai. No tv, radio, no cellphone, no internet, a deserted beach, very lush hillsides. For dinner, freshly caught red emperor fish and smoked tuna. It was a perfect place to unwind, listening to the waves and staring at the starriest night I've seen.

The abandoned buildings in the photo are the remnants of the once bustling town of Samarai. Currently being restored, they are a time capsule of early 20th century Samarai, like a Somerset Maugham or Jack London novel of the South Pacific The church on Kwato island is as impressive from out on sea, like a bird in flight. Charles Abel founded the congregation, Kwato Church, over a hundred years ago and contributed greatly to the education and training of the islanders.

Follow the link to my review of Milne Bay in Trip Advisor: That South Pacific Feeling

Recorriendo Boyaca

2009-09-30T22:16:00.000-05:00

After spending 2 months in Colombia this summer 2009, I came to appreciate what Colombia is all about. Mind you, I was only in one department, Boyaca, 2+ hours away from Bogota, in the Andina region. First, I felt very safe, on the road, on the streets, and in the country side. Secondly, the people were genuinely gracious, hospitable and welcoming. One has to be there to believe it.

As a way of thanking the good people of Boyaca I worked with, I put this short video together to the music of Pedro Nel Martinez, a native Boyacense (I was told). The string instrument is called a "tiple". There's more to write about Boyaca, Colombia but for now enjoy my little video.

The Huli of Tari Valley

2009-09-06T21:49:00.001-05:00

The Huli have lived in Tari valley in the Southern Highlands province of Papua New Guinea for a at least a couple of thousand years. They remained isolated and "undiscovered" until the 1930's when an Australian patrol stumbled into the valley. Life had not changed much until the 1980's.

An airstrip now links Tari to Port Moresby, and a gravel highway connects the valley to Mt. Hagen and the north coast. In addition, coke, ramen noodles, tinned corned beef and sardines, lotto have been incorporated into the local life.

The Huli wigmen are iconic representatives of the people of the valley. They are a congregation of men, who remain celibate until they give up their vocation to marry. Sounds familiar, if you happen to be Catholic priest.

Most local folks have given up their traditional life, and tend to be out and about in the village, much like we would in a mall. The photos were taken in a school for wigmen and a typical Huli family compound that are preserved for posterity and tourists, like me.

Visit my review of Tari in Trip Advisor, National Geographic Moments.

Valley of the Clouds

2009-08-11T17:44:00.001-05:00

Tari is in the Southern Highlands province of Papua New Guinea. So far, it has been the most fascinating place I have visited. It will be one of my most memorable. Last year (2008), I decided to take a trip to Papua New Guinea and visit my long time friends, Zen and Morris. A trip to their corner of the world was something I had thought about for several years. Seeing there's not much to see or do in Port Moresby, Zen suggested a trip to the Southern Highlands.

In the mid '70s, Barbet Schroeder, a French film maker, came out with a hippy-dippy, art house film, La Vallee (Obscured by the Clouds), with sound track by Pink Floyd. After I saw the film, the imagery embedded itself in my mind. As I got off the Air Niugini flight at Tari airstrip, I was awestruck by the scenery - the valley of the clouds. Maybe not the exact location but Tari was perpetually shrouded in thick, heavy clouds, ringed by a lush, bluish mountain range.

Tari Valley is on the gravel highway between Mendi, the provincial capital and Mt. Hagen in the Northern Highlands province. At the airport, a guide and representative of Trans Niugini Tours picked me up in an Australian Oka for a 40 minute drive to Ambua Lodge. At 2100 metres, Ambua Lodge commands a fantastic view of the valley and the mountain range, often "obscured by the clouds." It was the most peaceful hotel I've ever stayed. Only the plop plop of the night rain on the thatched roofing, the rustling of trees, the gentle murmur of the mountain stream and occasional bird calling amounted to "noise."

From Ambua Lodge, Tari Gap was about 1.5 hour trip. On the way, peeking through the thick foliage, was Ambua Mountain, (yellow mountain) sacred to the Huli people. The Gap is literally a wide opening in the mountain range with sub-alpine vegetation and Mt. Gilawe (2nd highest in Papua New Guinea) in the distance. The quietness of the place gives it an almost reverent feel. In the late 1930's, the first white men came through the Gap, stumbled into the valley, and "discovered" the Huli, the people of the valley. Today, Tari Gap serves as a pass through the mountain range connecting the southern highlands to the north coast of the island.

I had more to discover. More on Tari next post. A link to my review in Trip Advisor, National Geographic Moments.

A Child's Heart Sings

2009-07-30T21:49:00.000-05:00

Traveling always has its surprises. One day in February 2008, I made a pleasand discovery in the quiet, rural town of Loboc, on Bohol island. The small town of musically inclined (and gifted) residents prides itself on the Loboc Children's Choir, comprised of 9-13 year olds at the principal elementary school. Founded in 1980 to perform in school and community events, the LCC has become more than just a school choir.

In 2003, LCC received the gold medal in the youth category at the "Europe and It's Song" Festival in Barcelona, Spain. At that same festival, they also received the Festival Cup (Grand Prize) besting 12 other (adult )choirs. The town's 300 year old church is the choir's "concert hall." However, they have performed in venues and events in Europe, Asia, and the Philippines. as well as prisons, hospitals, and senior's homes.

I didn't see the choir perform (it was a school day), but picked up their CD, "And A Child Heart Sings" before getting on one of the floating restaurants. Their repertoire consists primarily of classical and religious music, with international folk and children songs thrown in. The angelic sound of the Loboc Children's Choir makes Bohol a bit more special.

Alona Beach

2009-07-13T19:29:00.000-05:00

The photos above were taken on Panglao Island.The island is connected by 2 bridges to the main island of Bohol Province in the Visayas, south central Philippines. Alona (Kew White) Beach is the most popular. The island is a National Integrated Protected Areas Systems of the Philippines, and listed in the UNESCO World Heritage site. Panglao is very rural (mostly fisher folks and farmers), and home to some urbanites from Manila (artists I heard), ex-pats and their family, or retired beach lovers. What is there to do? Sun, surf, diving, and more diving.

First photo on top is the shopping center on the main highway circling the island. Directly across is the entrance to Kew White Beach. The next photo is one of the many "side streets" off the highway leading down to the beach. Table and chairs belong to the beach restaurant/bar of the Isis Bungalows, where I stayed, with a very mediterranean building. The restaurant specializes in Thai cuisine, with a Thai chef.

Finally, the photo of the two guys was from another island they call, "Virgin" island (not the real name), because it's off limits for habitation or overnight stay. So, it's still virgin in that respect . A few interesting things I found out about these two. Larry in the red shorts lives on another island, and is a welder by trade. He comes to visit his parents a few months out of the year, and works as a diving/boating guide. His cousin, wearing a sarong (lava lava, lap lap or wrap around skirt) with long braided hair, sells gold jewellery, sea pearls on the island or wherever he finds tourists. I learned from Larry, that he is Christian-Muslim, a mixture of Visayan and Badjao, while his cousin, is pure Badjao.

Badjaos? They're known as sea gypsies, sea nomads or "man of the seas". Their communities are built on stilts in the water. They're found in the southern tip of the Philippines, in Sulu Province, Borneo and Celebes. Larry's father as a matter of fact is a Malaysian Badjao, a Muslim, who married a Visayan (Filipino) Christian.

My Trip Advisor Review: Isis Bungalows

Early Morning on the Beach

2009-07-01T10:28:00.000-05:00

An Island So Round

2009-06-22T21:46:00.000-05:00

(Photo courtesy of Isis Bungalows, Panglao, Bohol)

"How can an island be so round?" asked Maui, a friend in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea on seeing the photo I sent around. Balicasag island looks pretty impressive and awe inspiring from the air. Unfortunately, most people do not get too appreciate the beauty of this island (including myself) except for the photographer who snapped this photo. I didn't realize this was the same island I had visited in February until after I got back home. While reviewing the website for Isis Bungalows, the place I stayed at in Panglao, (Bohol, Philippines), I noticed this photo.

On Balicasag island, a big section off the beach is a marine sanctuary, a popular destination for divers and snorkellers who come to Panglao, Bohol. The tour starts at 6:00 am when the guide/boatman takes off from Alona Beach in Panglao. The first stop is an area where the flotilla of bancas of different sizes (paraus with double outriggers) slow down for dolphin watching. After that, on to Balicasag. The bancas stop their motor just outside of the reef, roped off with bouys. The reef is just under 3 feet of water but beyond, the water drops dramatically to a few hundred feet.

Too bad Larry the guide didn't let me go on the island when I asked. His response was, with a strange look, "What do you want to do there? There's nothing to see on the island!"

On Vienna's Ring Road

2009-06-20T21:12:00.000-05:00

Vienna's Ring Road, as the name suggests, goes around the inner city (Innerstadt). It is a semircular road which begins and ends on the Danube Canal (Donaucanal), divided into sections with different names. It can get awfully confusing. After a few times in the city, I finally figured out that all these names, e.g. Openring, Burgring, Schottenring etc., are one and the same road.

In April 2009, I stayed at a small hotel off Lerchenfelderstrasse, near the Vokstheatre on Museumstrasse. Next block over is the Burgring. The first photo shows the shortcut I took to get to Vokstheatre metro station. It is a former monastery with huge wooden gates, that close at 9:00 pm (I discovered late one evening.) It houses a Kandinsky museum, and a couple of chi chi cafes. Unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to check out the museum nor the cafes.

My point of reference was the Museum Quartier (second photo), a complex of 4 museums of modern and contemporary art, including one for Gustave Klimt. The courtyard of the MQ is becoming to be Vienna's meeting place, with cafes and a fountain. At night, it's the place to chill out for young people..

From the MQ, one can just walk across the Volksgarten to the Museum of Natural History and the Hofsburg Palace. In the palace, one can visit the Spanish Riding School. One side of the MQ, leads out to Mariahilferstrasse, a popular shopping street in Vienna, with many of the same chain stores one finds in a mall.

Further on the Ring road, on Openring, is Naschmarkt (third photo), where vendors sell fresh produce and exotic foods complemented by cafes and ethnic restaurants. A few blocks away is the Opera and Karlplatz. Coming out of the Karlplatz metro station, one is greeted with a view of a church with minaret-like towers, Karlkirche. If you keep going along the ring road, you'll get to the Stadt Park. At the Vienna Konzerthaus in the Stadt Park, I had the opportunity of listening to a Strauss concert for 30 Euros.

On the opposite direction, on the Ring road are the government buildings: City Hall, the Palace of Justice and the Austrian Parliament. If I have one more time to visit Vienna, my to do list consists of two things: the Spanish Riding School to check out the Lipizzaner horses, and Mozart's Requiem concert at Karlskirche (only on Saturdays I believe.)

A map of Vienna in Trip Advisor.

A Memorable Bench

2009-05-28T23:19:00.000-05:00

The park bench in the photo is a memorable one. Behind the bench is the Danube canal. In front across the road, Schuttelstrasse, was the apartment building of a family friend I visited a few years ago.

From the living room window, one can see the street that leads to Hundertvasserhaus. The unique apartment building was designed by Friedensriech Hundertvasser to counter anything ugly going up on its site. The building features undulating floors, roof with grass on top, trees inside the apartments, branches sticking out windows that do not match. It is a cultural landmark, one of the most visited buildings in Vienna.

From the kitchen windown of the apartment, on the other side of the apartment, is the city park that leads to the Prater. The year round amusement park features the world's largest wooden ferris wheel. The view in the photo is from inside a carriage of the ferris wheel.

On September 11, 2001, at 3:00 pm I was sitting on this bench by the Danube canal. I was to meet Ruby, the family friend, at her apartment. Fifteen minutes later, I heard someone calling me from the bus stop on the other side of the road. It was Ruby and her assistant, saying something about an airplane that crashed into the World Trade Center.

In the apartment, she turned on the tv. My first reaction was, "Ah, this is a tv movie!" As we listened to the reporters, another airplane came into view, like a mosquito coming closer to the other tower. I said, "It must be one of those news helicopters." Of course it wasn't.

As we watched, we saw people jumping out of the windows. We wondered how people on the top floors were going to escape the raging inferno. Suddenly, the first building started to buckle and collapsed straight down. By then, Ruby was already in hysterics. I could only say, "This is so neat, so clean. How can that happen?" I was thinking a skyscraper like that wouldn't topple on account of fire. Then the next one came down the same way.

That was how I learned about the tragedy of September 11, European time. I didn't read about the "conspiracy theory" until 2 years ago. I guess I had the same questions back then.

It was nice to go down memory lane, one day during Easter week of this year. Ruby had moved since. Schuttelstrasse remains the same, a quiet street with the Danube canal in front and the city park to the Prater behind.

"Most Livable City"

2009-05-28T14:18:00.001-05:00

In the 2009 Mercer Report on Quality of Living of cities, Vienna takes the #1 spot. Why it took so long for them to recognize that is beyond me. I reached the same conclusion on my first visit to Vienna almost 15 years ago. At least, they agree with me now.

Enroute to Toronto from Kiev, I stopped in Vienna for a week in April this year. It was my 5th time there, my 2nd time during Easter week, not by design but due to scheduling. This time I had a whole week to explore and chill out. My past trips were weekend getaways or brief stopovers while in that part of the world. (The cozy airport, VIE, happens to be a hub from/to eastern Europe and beyond.)

The city remains the same as in previous times: charming, civil, cultural, cosmopolitan, efficient, uncomplicated, upbeat combining quaint, grand, clean and safe in one adjective. Although there seems to be a lot more tourists, I don't think it has grown in size. It is as civilized as it can get especially when it comes to your wallet. You get more bang for your euro than in other European capitals.

I stayed off downtown at a no name pension near Volkstheatre, about 25 minutes from Stefansplatz, the city center. Except for one time when visiting a family friend, I generally book at Penzion Sacher, a favourite apartment hotel on Rotenturmstrasse, with a great view of Stefansdom, day or night. Yes, operated by a branch of the famous family name as in Hotel Sacher and Sacher torte. (The Sacher family no longer owns Hotel Sacher nor have proprietary rights over the name of the famous cake.)

Staying away from Stefansplatz had its blessings. The downtown core seems to be undergoing a major facelift. The cobblestones on the streets radiating from the Cathedral were getting ripped up, replaced with rectangular concrete blocks. On the Graben, a popular pedestrian mall, construction crew, material and equipment share the landscape with cafes, bistros, espressos, gelatos and hot dog stands. The pictures explain the scene.

I wondered if this is Vienna's version of the stimulus package or Boston's "big dig". But in a place where bitte is the most commonly uttered word, it wasn't so bad going around construction barriers. Just a few bitte this and bitte that.

p.s. I discovered "bitte" in Austria is more than just "please". It can have 1001 uses, all polite.

Kiev's Interesting Beginning

2009-05-20T19:04:00.005-05:00

Kiev sits on the banks of the wide Dnieper River, which originates in northern Russia and flows out to the Black Sea. The downtown core and the old city is on the hilly right bank where Kiev started.

The Golden Gate (Zoloti Vorota) is one of three gateways built by King Jaroslav in the 11th century. The wall was destroyed by the Mongol invasion, and excavated in 1932. The Golden Gate is a UNESCO heritage site, about a kilometre from St. Sophia's Cathedral, another UNESCO site.

Jaroslav, the national hero, is the Kievan Grand Prince, who united the principalities of Novgorod and Kievan Rus in the 10th century. He married the daughter of a Swedish king which was not unusual since the Scandinavians were very much part of Kiev's early history.

Vikings arrived in Kiev in the early 9th century, established a trading post, settled and married into the local Slavic gentry. The place was called Kievan Rus, which covered Ukraine, Northern Russia and Belarus. Rus means red in the Norse language and Kievan Rus was the predecessor to Russia.

For a more detailed post on my three weeks in Kiev, please check the link to, Trip Advisor Kiev.

Gold Onion Bulbs

2009-05-11T16:12:00.000-05:00

I was in Kiev for 3 weeks at the end of March to the first week of April. What caught my eye even in gloomy late winter weather were the golden cupolas of the Russian Orthodox churches. And Kiev has a quite a few of these churches. From up close, they look like gold onion bulbs plastered with individual gold candy foil. Rain or shine, they just keep looking mighty golden.

I asked around in the little office I worked out of how they kept them so shiny. Antonina, said with a laugh: rain and wind. The rain washes, the wind polishes.

The first set of cupolas belong to a nunnery whose name escapes me but it was next to the office building. The office is in the university hostel of the pedagogical institute off Artema St., across fhe lane from the US consulate. The nunnery I believe is a few hundred years old and it looks its age.

The next set belongs to St. Michael's Church, on Michailivs'ka in downtown. The church is vintage 1990's reconstructed on the old site. The communists tore down the original church (or cathedral, I'm not sure) in the 1930's to make way for government buildings of the old Soviet Union. Luckily, the communists never had the chance to build their utilitarian offices. After the disintegration of the Soviet Union, St. Michael's, like the phoenix, rose from the ashes.

Finally, the mother of all churches in Kiev, St. Sophia's Cathedral, which dates back to the 10th century. and represents the historical foundation of Kiev. In the cathedral grounds are museums, a nice park and a bell tower. There's entrance fee to get inside the grounds, another fee to get to the church museums, and another to go up the bell tower. St. Michael's, however, was free to the public. The nunnery, I wasn't sure if it was open to the public but I enjoyed seeing its gold onion bulbs every working day.

Where do I start?

2009-03-15T08:27:00.024-05:00

I borrowed the title of my blog from Wind, Sand and Stars (originally in French, Terre des hommes) by Antoine de Sainte-Exupery. When I was a very young person and bored in school, I came across Sainte-Exupery's aviation related stories from his days as a flying mail courier in north Africa. His books became the Lonely Planet Guide of my time.

Fast forward to spring 2006, somewhere in the southern Urals in Central Russia. I found myself sitting in a cafe with an employee of the hotel where I was staying. As soon as we had sat down, he asked if I had read, Sainte-Exupery? In such a far away place, exactly halfway around the world (for me), someone would ask me about a favourite, little known author from the past. The employee's name happens to be, Alexander. (In Russia, I discovered, every other man has a variation of my name, all nicknamed Sasha). Strange coincidence.

Sainte-Exupery is better known for his classic, The Little Prince, a children's fairy tale, an allegorical travelogue, more popular with adults than with children. This blog does not aspire to have any of that. The posts are just records of events in and about travel from fluff to odd with photos of course. For those wanting to know more about where I've been and what I've been up to, this will give you some idea.

JAB

P.S. I discovered that my title for this blog isn't as original as I thought. I didn't think many people had read this book at all!