Thanks to a little app on facebook that tracks the countries and cities I've been to, I can confidently say I will reach the grand total of 45 countries at the end of the year by adding Nepal and India to the list! Not a bad effort. My goal will be to hit 50 next year and rest assured, the plan is in motion. After all, there is an entire continent I have yet to visit and an entire year for which to make it happen.
But first! Nepal. Oh Nepal. The country has been on my hit list ever since I visited Tibet 6 years ago. On the itinerary is a 16 day trek around the Annapurna Circuit which as I keep reading is one of the top 10 treks in the world. Followed by a jungle safari, some villages, a national park and a brief foray via the Ganges into India to see the Taj Mahal and what not. Yes a little vague on India to tamp down the expectations. Crowds are not my forte but the Taj is next door and would be a waste not to hop over for a visit.
So in anticipation of busting out my hiking backpack, am counting down the many days left until this next adventure.
Friday, July 16, 2010
Tuesday, December 08, 2009
2009 - the year of bumming around
I've spent the better part of this year traveling around Europe in order to make the most of my remaining time living in London. It's been oftentimes exhilarating, sometimes frustrating but definitely up there as the year I did the most traveling (or bumming) around.
Here's a short rundown since my Eastern European trip in April:
- My last trip to Paris for a long while...bittersweet but lovely at the same time. The picture in flickr of the boy and his father sitting in the park was taken during a quiet moment walking around Paris and counts among my favourite photos of all time.
- Prague, Cesky Krumlov and Vienna - to be honest apart from Cesky Krumlov, this short trip was a bust, more so due to circumstances I found myself rather than destination
- 9 day road trip around Iceland - absolutely awesome. I drove around the country in my awesome 4wd encountering amazing natural phenomena such as smoking lava fields, beautiful lagoons, waterfalls, volcanoes...and cows with huge udders. Despite driving for an average of 8 hours a day for 9 days, the scenery was worth it.
- 2 weeks in Greece with Fiona and Kate, we ferried ourselves around the Greek islands gaining awesome tans.
- 1 week in Turkey, the highlight definitely Cappadocia, the lowlight definitely the icky men who wouldn't stop harrassing me
- 10 days around Morocco including Marrakech, Fes and Essaouira - ho hum, wish this place lived up to expectations but I just couldn't get over the constant hassling and unfortunate food poisoning.
I think my backpack will be taking a hiatus for some time, I hope for not too long however responsibilities call and I need to answer.
Trying to work out when I can pop over to South America for a spell, will update when that happens.
Here's a short rundown since my Eastern European trip in April:
- My last trip to Paris for a long while...bittersweet but lovely at the same time. The picture in flickr of the boy and his father sitting in the park was taken during a quiet moment walking around Paris and counts among my favourite photos of all time.
- Prague, Cesky Krumlov and Vienna - to be honest apart from Cesky Krumlov, this short trip was a bust, more so due to circumstances I found myself rather than destination
- 9 day road trip around Iceland - absolutely awesome. I drove around the country in my awesome 4wd encountering amazing natural phenomena such as smoking lava fields, beautiful lagoons, waterfalls, volcanoes...and cows with huge udders. Despite driving for an average of 8 hours a day for 9 days, the scenery was worth it.
- 2 weeks in Greece with Fiona and Kate, we ferried ourselves around the Greek islands gaining awesome tans.
- 1 week in Turkey, the highlight definitely Cappadocia, the lowlight definitely the icky men who wouldn't stop harrassing me
- 10 days around Morocco including Marrakech, Fes and Essaouira - ho hum, wish this place lived up to expectations but I just couldn't get over the constant hassling and unfortunate food poisoning.
I think my backpack will be taking a hiatus for some time, I hope for not too long however responsibilities call and I need to answer.
Trying to work out when I can pop over to South America for a spell, will update when that happens.
Friday, April 24, 2009
Travel binge
Got back earlier this week from a month long adventure to the arctic circle and around Eastern Europe. I'm happy to be back in London and doing absolutely nothing!
I've been traveling a lot since Jan including quick weekend pitstops to Majorca, Madrid, Marseille and Lisbon with Lisa, and longer trips to Tromso in Norway to see the Northern Lights and 3 weeks around Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria with Fel.
The highlight of these trips has got to be seeing the Northern Lights in Norway with Fel, Anna and Jamie. Two nights out of 3 we saw amazing dancing displays of green lights across the dark sky. It took my breath away. For one of the days we took off to the border of Finland to embark on a wild bumpy ride on a sled pulled by the cutest huskies on earth. It was quite an experience flying along the pristine snow, trying not to laugh and breath in the smelly flatulence from these little guys. It's a marvel how the huskies can poop, pee, fart and run all at the same time! Unfortunately we were very much downwind from this... Suffocation aside, it was the best fun!
Eastern Europe was cool to do though to be honest, all the eastern european cities have blurred in my mind. We tried to fit in seeing natural scenery and that worked out really well. The scenic highlights were seeing picture perfect Lake Bled and Bohinj in Slovenia and the numerous waterfalls at Plitvice Lake in Croatia. The people of Romania were incredibly friendly and helpful and Peles Castle in Sinaia was gorgeous. I was also pleasantly surprised by Sarajevo, the people there were so friendly and upbeat and the old town had a wealth of beautiful architecture despite most buildings being riddled with bullet holes.
I'm looking forward to seeking out Clooney next weekend at Lake Como, until then I shall endeavour to get a tan with the unexpected beautiful sunshine here in London!
I've been traveling a lot since Jan including quick weekend pitstops to Majorca, Madrid, Marseille and Lisbon with Lisa, and longer trips to Tromso in Norway to see the Northern Lights and 3 weeks around Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria with Fel.
The highlight of these trips has got to be seeing the Northern Lights in Norway with Fel, Anna and Jamie. Two nights out of 3 we saw amazing dancing displays of green lights across the dark sky. It took my breath away. For one of the days we took off to the border of Finland to embark on a wild bumpy ride on a sled pulled by the cutest huskies on earth. It was quite an experience flying along the pristine snow, trying not to laugh and breath in the smelly flatulence from these little guys. It's a marvel how the huskies can poop, pee, fart and run all at the same time! Unfortunately we were very much downwind from this... Suffocation aside, it was the best fun!
Eastern Europe was cool to do though to be honest, all the eastern european cities have blurred in my mind. We tried to fit in seeing natural scenery and that worked out really well. The scenic highlights were seeing picture perfect Lake Bled and Bohinj in Slovenia and the numerous waterfalls at Plitvice Lake in Croatia. The people of Romania were incredibly friendly and helpful and Peles Castle in Sinaia was gorgeous. I was also pleasantly surprised by Sarajevo, the people there were so friendly and upbeat and the old town had a wealth of beautiful architecture despite most buildings being riddled with bullet holes.
I'm looking forward to seeking out Clooney next weekend at Lake Como, until then I shall endeavour to get a tan with the unexpected beautiful sunshine here in London!
Monday, January 19, 2009
Trekking Kilimanjaro
What better way to start off the new year than to come back from holiday? Just spent 2.5 weeks in Tanzania hiking Kilimanjaro for 6 days and cruising around the northern game parks for the remainder. What an amazing trip! Definitely up there amongst the best trips I've been on.
Fiona and I landed in Arusha at night (luckily with all our luggage in tow) and headed off for Kilimanjaro the next morning with a crew of 9. Unbelievably, it takes 9 people to get 2 girls up a mountain! We chose the Rongai route bc it was the least populated and also had the most diverse landscape.
So our entourage consisted of James our guide, assistant guide Raymond who doubled as a porter, our chef Nemis, Honda our waiter who doubled as a porter, and the remaining 5 were porters carrying the gas, water, tents, bags, etc. It was a big crew though we never saw any of them until we settled for camp. All the porters would rush on ahead of us during the day in order to set up camp and have some popcorn, tea or snacks waiting for us at the end. This was really the most civilised trek I've ever done. We spent most of the day walking with James, well Fiona did. I spent most of the day trying to tune James out and walking ahead because his evangelical talk and slightly skewed perception of himself got on my nerves.
The first couple of days were fairly easy; the weather was sunny and our gain in altitude was low. We spent our time enjoying the sunshine and drinking as much as we could to counteract altitude sickness...as a by-product of the 3-4liters of water we were drinking, we also had to take copious pee breaks. It's no coincidence that the only words of swahili I remember from my trip was, 'Hello' and 'I need to pee'.
The 3rd day gave us a true taste of the pain in store for us. We hiked from 2400m to 3800m, followed by an acclimatising trek to 4000m. I got a mild altitude headache that felt like my brain was pressing against my eyeballs. That and walking at a snail's pace because any increase in speed made me feel like my heart would jump out of my mouth from beating so hard. That was the 3rd day. Fiona was also suffering from a headache and also a loss in appetite. By the 4th day we were practically force feeding ourselves.
Day 4 was the most hellish day I have ever experienced in my life. We woke up to a freezing morning. As we set off from 3800m, the day turned ugly and it began to rain...and then snow. Onwards we trekked through a bleak landscape littered with stone boulders. The incline stretched horrendously on as we trudged our way up to 4700m. By the time we reached Kibo Hut my brain had turned to mush and my body had gone numb from the cold. As we lined up to sign in at the camp site, I could barely prop myself up. After signing in, I crawled into our tent and promptly fell asleep from exhaustion. I woke up at 3pm for lunch, roamed about the camp site and then went back for another nap. Dinner was at 6pm, Fiona and I could have won zombie impersonations at this point. The altitude caused both a loss in appetite and energy, any quick movement would cause my head to throb or my heart to hammer away. After pushing our food around and making appropriate civilised noises, we retired back to the tent again in order to rest up for our 11.30pm climb at night up to the summit. After a restless few hours in the tent, both Fiona and I woke up early and started assembling all our gear for the long climb to the summit. This day seemed endless.
Our summit climb started in pitch black. We were accompanied by James and Raymond and the slow pace was set. Above us, we could already see torchlights snaking up the trail from people who had started before us. It was freezing that night despite me wearing 4 layers of thermals on top + down jacket + rain jacket. The bottom consisted of 4 layers as well. I was rugged up like the michelin man but my fingers and toes were slowly becoming numb from the cold and our slow pace. The night was long and consisted of tiny shuffling steps and constant assessment of any symptoms of altitude sickness. After a few hours, Fiona started to feel sick so James stayed back with her. Raymond and I had to shuffle on ahead as we couldn't stop too long in the cold. The worse was still in front of us. The entire path up to Gilman's Point was absolutely hellish and endless. There were sections of loose scree where one step forward meant sliding half a step back. I felt like stopping every few steps to get my breath back. Everytime I asked Raymond how far we still needed to go, he would point at some light and say we were nearly there. I stopped asking after a while because we never seemed to get any closer. This was possibly the darkest point of the trek, my fingers were icicles at this point, I was so tired I felt like curling up into a ball and going to sleep on the ground. I had to keep forcing myself to take one step after another and distract myself from the cold and exhaustion. I remember repeating the mantra 'Of course you can', these 4 words over and over again, in time with my steps. I thought of how disappointed I would be coming all this way and not making it to the top. These random thoughts distracted me enough until I made it to Gilman's Point. I thought the worse was over. By all accounts, all we had to do was make it to Stella Point, walk around the crater and get to Uhura Peak. Sounds so simple and in hindsight it really wasn't so bad. Being witness to a beautiful sunrise at 5700m and seeing the glaciers and crater, with Mawenzi peak in the distance...there was no question I would use my last bit of energy to make it to the peak.
It really was a special feeling to finally see the sign at the top of Kilimanjaro. By this time I was delirious with exhaustion and relief. I spent some time taking photos and a video of cringe-worthy commentary that consisted of the words 'I made it, I made it!'. As I was heading back down, I saw Fiona and James coming up, she was only a short while to the summit. It was a relief to know she was ok despite dry heaving and vomiting all the way up.
We scree-skied all the way back down, with me wiping out on my butt once. It made going down so much faster but it was hell on my knees and toes. Still I couldn't wait to get back to the bottom - any pain was worth it at this point. I got down at around 11am, received a round of congratulations from the porters and crawled into my tent to finally get some rest.
The day wasn't over yet. After being up since 7am the previous morning hiking to Kibo Hut and then another 12 hours through the night up and down Kilimanjaro...we had to trek another 9km to our next camp before finally resting for the night.
So, all up, definitely the most painful experience of my life but it was an incredible feeling to make it to the top that made it all worthwhile. Would I do it all over again? Hell no. Once is enough.
Fiona and I landed in Arusha at night (luckily with all our luggage in tow) and headed off for Kilimanjaro the next morning with a crew of 9. Unbelievably, it takes 9 people to get 2 girls up a mountain! We chose the Rongai route bc it was the least populated and also had the most diverse landscape.
So our entourage consisted of James our guide, assistant guide Raymond who doubled as a porter, our chef Nemis, Honda our waiter who doubled as a porter, and the remaining 5 were porters carrying the gas, water, tents, bags, etc. It was a big crew though we never saw any of them until we settled for camp. All the porters would rush on ahead of us during the day in order to set up camp and have some popcorn, tea or snacks waiting for us at the end. This was really the most civilised trek I've ever done. We spent most of the day walking with James, well Fiona did. I spent most of the day trying to tune James out and walking ahead because his evangelical talk and slightly skewed perception of himself got on my nerves.
The first couple of days were fairly easy; the weather was sunny and our gain in altitude was low. We spent our time enjoying the sunshine and drinking as much as we could to counteract altitude sickness...as a by-product of the 3-4liters of water we were drinking, we also had to take copious pee breaks. It's no coincidence that the only words of swahili I remember from my trip was, 'Hello' and 'I need to pee'.
The 3rd day gave us a true taste of the pain in store for us. We hiked from 2400m to 3800m, followed by an acclimatising trek to 4000m. I got a mild altitude headache that felt like my brain was pressing against my eyeballs. That and walking at a snail's pace because any increase in speed made me feel like my heart would jump out of my mouth from beating so hard. That was the 3rd day. Fiona was also suffering from a headache and also a loss in appetite. By the 4th day we were practically force feeding ourselves.
Day 4 was the most hellish day I have ever experienced in my life. We woke up to a freezing morning. As we set off from 3800m, the day turned ugly and it began to rain...and then snow. Onwards we trekked through a bleak landscape littered with stone boulders. The incline stretched horrendously on as we trudged our way up to 4700m. By the time we reached Kibo Hut my brain had turned to mush and my body had gone numb from the cold. As we lined up to sign in at the camp site, I could barely prop myself up. After signing in, I crawled into our tent and promptly fell asleep from exhaustion. I woke up at 3pm for lunch, roamed about the camp site and then went back for another nap. Dinner was at 6pm, Fiona and I could have won zombie impersonations at this point. The altitude caused both a loss in appetite and energy, any quick movement would cause my head to throb or my heart to hammer away. After pushing our food around and making appropriate civilised noises, we retired back to the tent again in order to rest up for our 11.30pm climb at night up to the summit. After a restless few hours in the tent, both Fiona and I woke up early and started assembling all our gear for the long climb to the summit. This day seemed endless.
Our summit climb started in pitch black. We were accompanied by James and Raymond and the slow pace was set. Above us, we could already see torchlights snaking up the trail from people who had started before us. It was freezing that night despite me wearing 4 layers of thermals on top + down jacket + rain jacket. The bottom consisted of 4 layers as well. I was rugged up like the michelin man but my fingers and toes were slowly becoming numb from the cold and our slow pace. The night was long and consisted of tiny shuffling steps and constant assessment of any symptoms of altitude sickness. After a few hours, Fiona started to feel sick so James stayed back with her. Raymond and I had to shuffle on ahead as we couldn't stop too long in the cold. The worse was still in front of us. The entire path up to Gilman's Point was absolutely hellish and endless. There were sections of loose scree where one step forward meant sliding half a step back. I felt like stopping every few steps to get my breath back. Everytime I asked Raymond how far we still needed to go, he would point at some light and say we were nearly there. I stopped asking after a while because we never seemed to get any closer. This was possibly the darkest point of the trek, my fingers were icicles at this point, I was so tired I felt like curling up into a ball and going to sleep on the ground. I had to keep forcing myself to take one step after another and distract myself from the cold and exhaustion. I remember repeating the mantra 'Of course you can', these 4 words over and over again, in time with my steps. I thought of how disappointed I would be coming all this way and not making it to the top. These random thoughts distracted me enough until I made it to Gilman's Point. I thought the worse was over. By all accounts, all we had to do was make it to Stella Point, walk around the crater and get to Uhura Peak. Sounds so simple and in hindsight it really wasn't so bad. Being witness to a beautiful sunrise at 5700m and seeing the glaciers and crater, with Mawenzi peak in the distance...there was no question I would use my last bit of energy to make it to the peak.
It really was a special feeling to finally see the sign at the top of Kilimanjaro. By this time I was delirious with exhaustion and relief. I spent some time taking photos and a video of cringe-worthy commentary that consisted of the words 'I made it, I made it!'. As I was heading back down, I saw Fiona and James coming up, she was only a short while to the summit. It was a relief to know she was ok despite dry heaving and vomiting all the way up.
We scree-skied all the way back down, with me wiping out on my butt once. It made going down so much faster but it was hell on my knees and toes. Still I couldn't wait to get back to the bottom - any pain was worth it at this point. I got down at around 11am, received a round of congratulations from the porters and crawled into my tent to finally get some rest.
The day wasn't over yet. After being up since 7am the previous morning hiking to Kibo Hut and then another 12 hours through the night up and down Kilimanjaro...we had to trek another 9km to our next camp before finally resting for the night.
So, all up, definitely the most painful experience of my life but it was an incredible feeling to make it to the top that made it all worthwhile. Would I do it all over again? Hell no. Once is enough.
Wednesday, December 03, 2008
Another one to tick off the bucket list
December last year, I was lounging around in the middle of an Egyptian oasis with Pommy as we wrote out our to-do list for this year. My list was ludicrously long and consisted mainly of travel destinations...one of which was to hike Mt Kilimanjaro.
In 3 weeks time, as I trek up to the roof of Africa...I can tick this off the list. Hopefully I make it to the top of this 5890m mountain, haphazard training notwithstanding.
Had it not been for my 2 week eating and drinking binge through HK and Sydney...and another week lost to the Linda Blair diet (minus the head spinning) - I would be quietly confident I was in semi-fit condition. Alas, good intentions and all that. Some hard-core gym cramming methinks for the next 2.5 weeks and then some heavy praying on the way up the mountain is in order.
In 3 weeks time, as I trek up to the roof of Africa...I can tick this off the list. Hopefully I make it to the top of this 5890m mountain, haphazard training notwithstanding.
Had it not been for my 2 week eating and drinking binge through HK and Sydney...and another week lost to the Linda Blair diet (minus the head spinning) - I would be quietly confident I was in semi-fit condition. Alas, good intentions and all that. Some hard-core gym cramming methinks for the next 2.5 weeks and then some heavy praying on the way up the mountain is in order.
Saturday, May 10, 2008
Q2 08 Update
Been quite tardy about updating this blog for a while, non-stop travels over the weekends and glorious daylight over the weekdays are to blame.
Since Egypt in early Jan, I've been hopping about (in no particular order):
- Barcelona - ostensibly a cultural trip to check out Picasso and Gaudi but in reality more of a shopping trip for hip spanish clothes
- Andalusia (Seville, Cordoba, Granada) - Spain again, can't get enough of their paella and very cool sites like the Mezquita and Alhambra, loved the local flamenco performance we caught. Did I mention the paella?
- Shannon, Ireland - driving trip over a weekend and when I say driving, I mean full on driving - we drove non-stop over 2 days and covered the very picturesque Dingle peninsula, up to the awesome cliffs of Moher, the Burren, up to the Sky Road near the Coonamara forest. Ireland is gorgeous and hooning about the narrow roads at 100km/hr was a good laugh
- Brussels and Bruges - very cool comic paintings around Brussels which was fun trying to find. Bruges was just gorgeous
- Paris and Versaille - I unequivocably love Paris and can return again and again
- Weekend hiking trip in Wales - walking nonstop for 6.5 hours from Chepstow to Redbrook (nearly 30km) left me hobbling about town for 2 weeks due to a sprained foot. Very foolhardy to say the least, but at least we saw a slice of Wales and the very strangely named 'Offa's Dyke trail'!
- Oh yeah I checked out Stonehenge and Bath as well during a random weekend, had the best scones there!
So I've been quite focused this year, traveling a lot and making more travel plans. Am heading to Scotland in a couple weeks to hike Ben Nevis and check out the mysterious lochs. July will be an extended trip up to Norway for the glorious fjords and the midnight sun all the way in a little town called Bodo - I can't wait to pass the arctic circle!
Not much else has been happening in my life apart from the unending packing and repacking I've been doing. I've been quite remiss with London life apart from what I can squeeze in during the weekdays which is surprisingly a lot given the wealth of shows here! Came back tonite from Lord of the Rings, unfortunately I slept through 3/4 of this 'musical', it was abysmal.
All else has been great and getting better now that spring is here.
Since Egypt in early Jan, I've been hopping about (in no particular order):
- Barcelona - ostensibly a cultural trip to check out Picasso and Gaudi but in reality more of a shopping trip for hip spanish clothes
- Andalusia (Seville, Cordoba, Granada) - Spain again, can't get enough of their paella and very cool sites like the Mezquita and Alhambra, loved the local flamenco performance we caught. Did I mention the paella?
- Shannon, Ireland - driving trip over a weekend and when I say driving, I mean full on driving - we drove non-stop over 2 days and covered the very picturesque Dingle peninsula, up to the awesome cliffs of Moher, the Burren, up to the Sky Road near the Coonamara forest. Ireland is gorgeous and hooning about the narrow roads at 100km/hr was a good laugh
- Brussels and Bruges - very cool comic paintings around Brussels which was fun trying to find. Bruges was just gorgeous
- Paris and Versaille - I unequivocably love Paris and can return again and again
- Weekend hiking trip in Wales - walking nonstop for 6.5 hours from Chepstow to Redbrook (nearly 30km) left me hobbling about town for 2 weeks due to a sprained foot. Very foolhardy to say the least, but at least we saw a slice of Wales and the very strangely named 'Offa's Dyke trail'!
- Oh yeah I checked out Stonehenge and Bath as well during a random weekend, had the best scones there!
So I've been quite focused this year, traveling a lot and making more travel plans. Am heading to Scotland in a couple weeks to hike Ben Nevis and check out the mysterious lochs. July will be an extended trip up to Norway for the glorious fjords and the midnight sun all the way in a little town called Bodo - I can't wait to pass the arctic circle!
Not much else has been happening in my life apart from the unending packing and repacking I've been doing. I've been quite remiss with London life apart from what I can squeeze in during the weekdays which is surprisingly a lot given the wealth of shows here! Came back tonite from Lord of the Rings, unfortunately I slept through 3/4 of this 'musical', it was abysmal.
All else has been great and getting better now that spring is here.
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
A taste of the middle east
Came back recently from a 3 week jaunt around Egypt and Jordan with Pommy - fascinating sites and really glad we did it, though neither of us will be heading back to Egypt any time soon. I guess one reason is that we covered a lot of ground in our 2 weeks there, we saw all the main sites and probably all the not-so main sites. Cruised through Cairo and the obligatory tourist attractions like the sphinx, pyramids, Egyptian museum (very cool!) Citadel, bazaars, Coptic Cairo - basically all the usual destinations you see when you head to Cairo. It was nice but we could never shake the feeling of being stared at (and not in a nice way!) plus the hassling just drained us out.
Next stop was Luxor, pretty little city. The definite highlight here was our 4.30am wake up call for a hot air balloon ride to see the sunset. The setting for some gorgeous sunrise photos. Now for those of you who have seen my photos, you know I have a thing for sunrise and sunset. This particular sunrise left me gobsmacked.
In Luxor we saw the usual temple sites which have all blurred in my mind. I remember the Karnak and Luxor temple, though can't tell them apart in photos now... From there we made trips to Abu Simbel (this one I remember, gorgeous setting by the sea), Edfu, Isna, Kom Ombo - these ones blur too...
We then headed to Aswan, my favourite Egyptian city bc it was low-key and easygoing. We saw some cool things like the Philae Temple (which was moved piece by piece from it's underwater resting place to a nearby island), and some other stuff...how vague do I sound? it's only been 2 weeks since I've been back and I've forgotten lots of the little details already!
One thing I do remember was our trip out to the desert - what an awesome experience! We camped overnight on xmas eve literally under the moon and stars, cocooned under 5 layes of blankets. I couldn't bear to poke my head out during the night bc the temperature dropped so dramatically, but the night sky was just so gloriously lit by the full moon and myriad twinkling stars that it was worth the cold I got the next morning.
From the White Desert we headed to the Sinai region to climb Mt. Sinai. We definitely did not take the easy relaxing route! So yet another 2.30am wake up call for a summit to Mt. Sinai for the sunrise! I can't say it was a worthwhile sunrise given how cold we were but it was pretty cool to say we were on the same mountain that Moses (apparently) received the 10 commandments...
We then took a well-deserved break at a resort in Sharm El Sheik, it was nice to relax but come the afternoon I was bored silly and just couldn't wait to leave. Our next destination was to Jordan via the ferry. It took us the entire day to take the 1hour fast ferry from Egypt to Jordan - typical Egyptian efficiency! But we finally got to Aqaba port and from there to Wadi Rum desert.
Now that was another incredible desert experience! From the early morning sunrise over our tents (we actually had a roof over our heads, what a surprise!) to the amazing desert scenery, Pommy and I were absolutely hooked!
We got to experience a Bedouin style make-over with some red scrapings from the mountain, we had tea in the middle of the desert with desert mint picked from the nearby mountain. We got to bump along on makeshift seats on the back of a ute, it was so much fun!
Next stop was a few days in Petra, of the rose-city fame. The famous rose building was actually part of an entire city, so much more extensive than I expected! Pommy and I spent the day exploring all the amazing sandstone buildings and rock formations, it was the best way to spend new years eve.
Now on to New Years Day - we spent that floating on the Dead Sea...what a great way to start 2008 :)
So that was our trip in a nutshell, oh I forgot we had to head back to Egypt after Jordan (was quite heartbroken by that) and we spent another day in Alexandria...which was a nice enough port city but after Jordan, it just couldn't compare.
Next stop was Luxor, pretty little city. The definite highlight here was our 4.30am wake up call for a hot air balloon ride to see the sunset. The setting for some gorgeous sunrise photos. Now for those of you who have seen my photos, you know I have a thing for sunrise and sunset. This particular sunrise left me gobsmacked.
In Luxor we saw the usual temple sites which have all blurred in my mind. I remember the Karnak and Luxor temple, though can't tell them apart in photos now... From there we made trips to Abu Simbel (this one I remember, gorgeous setting by the sea), Edfu, Isna, Kom Ombo - these ones blur too...
We then headed to Aswan, my favourite Egyptian city bc it was low-key and easygoing. We saw some cool things like the Philae Temple (which was moved piece by piece from it's underwater resting place to a nearby island), and some other stuff...how vague do I sound? it's only been 2 weeks since I've been back and I've forgotten lots of the little details already!
One thing I do remember was our trip out to the desert - what an awesome experience! We camped overnight on xmas eve literally under the moon and stars, cocooned under 5 layes of blankets. I couldn't bear to poke my head out during the night bc the temperature dropped so dramatically, but the night sky was just so gloriously lit by the full moon and myriad twinkling stars that it was worth the cold I got the next morning.
From the White Desert we headed to the Sinai region to climb Mt. Sinai. We definitely did not take the easy relaxing route! So yet another 2.30am wake up call for a summit to Mt. Sinai for the sunrise! I can't say it was a worthwhile sunrise given how cold we were but it was pretty cool to say we were on the same mountain that Moses (apparently) received the 10 commandments...
We then took a well-deserved break at a resort in Sharm El Sheik, it was nice to relax but come the afternoon I was bored silly and just couldn't wait to leave. Our next destination was to Jordan via the ferry. It took us the entire day to take the 1hour fast ferry from Egypt to Jordan - typical Egyptian efficiency! But we finally got to Aqaba port and from there to Wadi Rum desert.
Now that was another incredible desert experience! From the early morning sunrise over our tents (we actually had a roof over our heads, what a surprise!) to the amazing desert scenery, Pommy and I were absolutely hooked!
We got to experience a Bedouin style make-over with some red scrapings from the mountain, we had tea in the middle of the desert with desert mint picked from the nearby mountain. We got to bump along on makeshift seats on the back of a ute, it was so much fun!
Next stop was a few days in Petra, of the rose-city fame. The famous rose building was actually part of an entire city, so much more extensive than I expected! Pommy and I spent the day exploring all the amazing sandstone buildings and rock formations, it was the best way to spend new years eve.
Now on to New Years Day - we spent that floating on the Dead Sea...what a great way to start 2008 :)
So that was our trip in a nutshell, oh I forgot we had to head back to Egypt after Jordan (was quite heartbroken by that) and we spent another day in Alexandria...which was a nice enough port city but after Jordan, it just couldn't compare.
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
Gimmelwald - living in a milka ad
I lived through a milka ad over the long weekend in a timeless little village called Gimmelwald in the Swiss Alps. It was the perfect hiking trip with fresh air, snow-capped mountains, alpine meadows, waterfalls and stunning scenery at every turn. I loved it so much I could have stayed there forever and become a cowherd.
I first read about Gimmelwald on the net, the more I read, the higher it jumped on my must-do list. The reality of it did not disappoint. It's a tiny village of about 130 people, without any cars or streets, you could walk through the main street in 5 minutes, slowly. I fell in love as soon as I stepped off the cable car (the only way to access this village, unless you like to walk for long distances).
As soon as I dropped off my backpack at the local b&b, I set off on a hiking trail. I walked along a path that seemed nestled between mountains. Looking right I could see the alpine meadow, on my left a flowing stream. The trail took longer than expected because I kept stopping to pick my jaw off the ground. The scenery was vivid and beautiful.
It was the same throughout this long weekend, I walked the flower trail, the mountain trail, I ventured up to Shiltorn where they shot a Bond movie in the 60's. The summit of Shiltorn is a revolving restaurant, though why revolve when you could walk the perimeter and experience the crisp cold air? I took one of the steep descent trails and was amused by the 2 signs I passed along the way warning people not to hike in heels.
My last hike of the trip was to Sprutz, a large waterfall. It was very cool, especially being able to go through the waterfall. On my way back to Gimmelwald, I sat on a little bench to 'savour the moment'. Out of nowhere a cat appeared and sat herself next to me and kept me company. As I was ready to get up and leave, she put a paw on my foot as though to stop me and then rested her head on my foot and promptly dozed off. Why fight it? I decided to join her and took a nap myself. When I woke up, she led me down the trail back into town. What a perfect send-off.
I first read about Gimmelwald on the net, the more I read, the higher it jumped on my must-do list. The reality of it did not disappoint. It's a tiny village of about 130 people, without any cars or streets, you could walk through the main street in 5 minutes, slowly. I fell in love as soon as I stepped off the cable car (the only way to access this village, unless you like to walk for long distances).
As soon as I dropped off my backpack at the local b&b, I set off on a hiking trail. I walked along a path that seemed nestled between mountains. Looking right I could see the alpine meadow, on my left a flowing stream. The trail took longer than expected because I kept stopping to pick my jaw off the ground. The scenery was vivid and beautiful.
It was the same throughout this long weekend, I walked the flower trail, the mountain trail, I ventured up to Shiltorn where they shot a Bond movie in the 60's. The summit of Shiltorn is a revolving restaurant, though why revolve when you could walk the perimeter and experience the crisp cold air? I took one of the steep descent trails and was amused by the 2 signs I passed along the way warning people not to hike in heels.
My last hike of the trip was to Sprutz, a large waterfall. It was very cool, especially being able to go through the waterfall. On my way back to Gimmelwald, I sat on a little bench to 'savour the moment'. Out of nowhere a cat appeared and sat herself next to me and kept me company. As I was ready to get up and leave, she put a paw on my foot as though to stop me and then rested her head on my foot and promptly dozed off. Why fight it? I decided to join her and took a nap myself. When I woke up, she led me down the trail back into town. What a perfect send-off.
Monday, August 06, 2007
J'aime Paris!
I love Paris.
City of light and dog poo. Well since the fines came into force, not so much dog poo anymore. Dwayne and I went on a weekend where we experienced all four seasons, but it was glorious all the same. I really do love Paris and a little pidegen French went a long way in making contact with the cheeky french locals.
We walked all weekend and feasted on pate and all things french. We toured the Eiffel from all angles; in the rain, in the sunshine, during sunset. My favourite was when the lights were turned on a night and the entire structure twinkled like a giant xmas tree.
I think what remains with me most about Paris was the incredible architecture, walking along the Seine was like passing a conveyor belt of beautiful buidings, churches and museums. I won't bore you all with all the landmarks as I'm sure you've all been there and done that. Suffice to say, 2 days was definitely not enough and I am itching to go back already! Ah so many destinations, so little time...
City of light and dog poo. Well since the fines came into force, not so much dog poo anymore. Dwayne and I went on a weekend where we experienced all four seasons, but it was glorious all the same. I really do love Paris and a little pidegen French went a long way in making contact with the cheeky french locals.
We walked all weekend and feasted on pate and all things french. We toured the Eiffel from all angles; in the rain, in the sunshine, during sunset. My favourite was when the lights were turned on a night and the entire structure twinkled like a giant xmas tree.
I think what remains with me most about Paris was the incredible architecture, walking along the Seine was like passing a conveyor belt of beautiful buidings, churches and museums. I won't bore you all with all the landmarks as I'm sure you've all been there and done that. Suffice to say, 2 days was definitely not enough and I am itching to go back already! Ah so many destinations, so little time...
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
Soaking up the sunshine at the Amalfi Coast
Spent a fabulous sunshine-filled 5 days at the Amalfi coast with Ivan and Fumiko. Escaping the wet, cold English summer was very high on my list of priorities and southern Italy certainly did not disappoint. I have come back gloriously (by my standards!) tanned and itching to go back for the best Italian food of my life. Ok, a little backtracking is in order here...
We stayed at the Sorrento Palace, taken over by the Hilton, with a lovely view across the water to Mt. Vesuvius. Unfortunately that was not the view from our hotel room but it was the view from the buffet breakfast area, and oh what a buffet spread it was!
For the first day there, we managed to walk up the trail to Mt Vesuvius after a rather hair-raising van ride up the mountain. I believe the only way we avoided any accidents was by the timely tooting of the driver around hairpin curves to let cars driving in the opposite direction know we were taking no prisoners and they better stop for us or they would be pushed off the side! Serious game of chicken there.
Vesuvius was cool, nice walk up. We peered into the crater, lots of dirt around. Took obligatory photos. Luckily Ivan is an avid photographer so got lots of photos of myself walking up the path....how vain am I?
After Vesuvius, we took the train to Pompeii. That was one of the highlights for me. I didn't realise the scale of the town and how much tragedy the blow-up caused. I kept walking the empty ruins imagining what it must have been like teeming with people, carts, market stalls. There were so many buildings intact, we even went into the brothel and there were still fairly fresh looking frescos of erotic acts....
That night we went to a fantastic Italian restaurant and had the best Italian meal of my life. Seriously it was the best pasta I have ever had, and the dessert...my mouth is watering just remembering it right now. So after an unforgettable meal, we walked back to the hotel and passed a group of senior citizens dancing the night away in a makeshift outdoor dance hall. They invited us along and we thought, why not? I had an absolute ball dancing with these octogenarians (well they looked it....) they sure knew some cool moves! I did the tango and some fun Italian numbers. I couldn't stop laughing as I got twirled around the floor. More fun than the clubs in London I reckon!
Next day we did some island hopping to Capri. We hired a little boat and powered around the gorgeous island and saw an amazing coastline. The highlight here was sailing to the green grotto and being able to swim in the crystal clear, cool, green water. It felt so serene inside the cave, I was on my own for a priceless few minutes and found myself treading water and admiring the beautiful green walls of the cave. Then a bunch of brazillians swam by and we proceeded to conduct a conversation about how great Sao Paolo and Sydney beaches are! Ahhh my patriotism surprises me sometimes.
Unfortunately I got quite seasick halfway through our sailing trip, our little boat got bullied on the seas by all the ferries and big boats and I felt icky for the rest of the day. Might be the reason why I was in such a pissy mood when we visited the Blue Grotto, what a tourist trap! We had to cough up 9 euros to be rowed into the grotto, was in there for 2 minutes. Ok so the blue blue water was cool to see, but after being able to swim in the green grotto, this was just disappointing. Then the oarsmen had the decency to demand a tip! He wouldn't let us out the boat until we gave him something. Gah! I hate tourist traps!
Following day was more island hopping, over to Positano, my favourite town of the coast! I loved it! Every step I took I wanted to stop and take a photo. It was all so picturesque! We caught a ferry over to Amalfi town and then caught a bus up to Ravello, a little town perched high up the side of the mountain. We made it to Villa Cimbrone where they had a lovely garden with gorgeous marble statues lining the view to the sea. Lovely.
On the last day we went to Naples, the big dangerous city with the mafia! It was a city alright, a little dirty and rough around the edges but typical city to me. I'm not a city girl as you can probably tell. So we spent the entire day just walking the streets, watching our bags and trying to find a place to rest our weary feet and sample pizza in the city where pizza was born. The pizza was certainly divine, and so cheap too after the expensive coastal towns of Amalfi!
So my five days in glorious sunshine came to an end. But, the beauty of London is its close proximity to more sunshine! Going across the channel to Paris this weekend!
We stayed at the Sorrento Palace, taken over by the Hilton, with a lovely view across the water to Mt. Vesuvius. Unfortunately that was not the view from our hotel room but it was the view from the buffet breakfast area, and oh what a buffet spread it was!
For the first day there, we managed to walk up the trail to Mt Vesuvius after a rather hair-raising van ride up the mountain. I believe the only way we avoided any accidents was by the timely tooting of the driver around hairpin curves to let cars driving in the opposite direction know we were taking no prisoners and they better stop for us or they would be pushed off the side! Serious game of chicken there.
Vesuvius was cool, nice walk up. We peered into the crater, lots of dirt around. Took obligatory photos. Luckily Ivan is an avid photographer so got lots of photos of myself walking up the path....how vain am I?
After Vesuvius, we took the train to Pompeii. That was one of the highlights for me. I didn't realise the scale of the town and how much tragedy the blow-up caused. I kept walking the empty ruins imagining what it must have been like teeming with people, carts, market stalls. There were so many buildings intact, we even went into the brothel and there were still fairly fresh looking frescos of erotic acts....
That night we went to a fantastic Italian restaurant and had the best Italian meal of my life. Seriously it was the best pasta I have ever had, and the dessert...my mouth is watering just remembering it right now. So after an unforgettable meal, we walked back to the hotel and passed a group of senior citizens dancing the night away in a makeshift outdoor dance hall. They invited us along and we thought, why not? I had an absolute ball dancing with these octogenarians (well they looked it....) they sure knew some cool moves! I did the tango and some fun Italian numbers. I couldn't stop laughing as I got twirled around the floor. More fun than the clubs in London I reckon!
Next day we did some island hopping to Capri. We hired a little boat and powered around the gorgeous island and saw an amazing coastline. The highlight here was sailing to the green grotto and being able to swim in the crystal clear, cool, green water. It felt so serene inside the cave, I was on my own for a priceless few minutes and found myself treading water and admiring the beautiful green walls of the cave. Then a bunch of brazillians swam by and we proceeded to conduct a conversation about how great Sao Paolo and Sydney beaches are! Ahhh my patriotism surprises me sometimes.
Unfortunately I got quite seasick halfway through our sailing trip, our little boat got bullied on the seas by all the ferries and big boats and I felt icky for the rest of the day. Might be the reason why I was in such a pissy mood when we visited the Blue Grotto, what a tourist trap! We had to cough up 9 euros to be rowed into the grotto, was in there for 2 minutes. Ok so the blue blue water was cool to see, but after being able to swim in the green grotto, this was just disappointing. Then the oarsmen had the decency to demand a tip! He wouldn't let us out the boat until we gave him something. Gah! I hate tourist traps!
Following day was more island hopping, over to Positano, my favourite town of the coast! I loved it! Every step I took I wanted to stop and take a photo. It was all so picturesque! We caught a ferry over to Amalfi town and then caught a bus up to Ravello, a little town perched high up the side of the mountain. We made it to Villa Cimbrone where they had a lovely garden with gorgeous marble statues lining the view to the sea. Lovely.
On the last day we went to Naples, the big dangerous city with the mafia! It was a city alright, a little dirty and rough around the edges but typical city to me. I'm not a city girl as you can probably tell. So we spent the entire day just walking the streets, watching our bags and trying to find a place to rest our weary feet and sample pizza in the city where pizza was born. The pizza was certainly divine, and so cheap too after the expensive coastal towns of Amalfi!
So my five days in glorious sunshine came to an end. But, the beauty of London is its close proximity to more sunshine! Going across the channel to Paris this weekend!
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