TravelStream™ news feed for member chezcody on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/chezcody en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Fri, 24 Oct 2008 19:15:26 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/chezcody/6/1222488000/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/chezcody/6/1222488000/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/chezcody/6/1222488000/tpod.html Fri, 24 Oct 2008 19:15:26 -0400 Life in 'Vangroovy' and the Cascadia region--great to be home!

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Bowron Lakes Provincial Park, British Columbia, Canada

I had been desperate to paddle the Bowron Lakes canoe circuit ever since I first learned of it years ago.  Having moved back to BC in May, here was my chance.  It's said to be one of the top ten canoeing destinations on Earth.  My boyfriend Jim accepted my invitation to join me and soon we were canoeing deep in the British Columbian Interior.  We were actually on the circuit September 29 through October 6 and we hit the lakes with perfect timing: Indian summer!  The autumn foliage was beautiful and, we were told, we had some of the best weather the region had seen in awhile.  (Ah, but there was one huge storm...woke up one night to thunder and lightening and torrents of rain.  Luckily, it calmed way down by dawn and we remained dry and warm in the tent.)  This is a true wilderness park--in the eight days on the lakes and rivers, we saw just as many moose as we did other canoeists (six of each), some eagles, a few black bears...awesome!   On the way back to Vancouver, we stopped by Pemberton/Mount Currie to see my pal Penelope.  A really great trip!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/chezcody/6/1224278160/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/chezcody/6/1224278160/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/chezcody/6/1224278160/tpod.html Fri, 17 Oct 2008 17:20:23 -0400 Life in 'Vangroovy' and the Cascadia region--great to be home!

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Vancouver-Seattle-and more!, British Columbia, Canada

What is Cascadia?  WHERE is Cascadia?  Here's a good start--
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/chezcody/japan/1099208040/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/chezcody/japan/1099208040/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/chezcody/japan/1099208040/tpod.html Sat, 13 Oct 2007 04:43:09 -0400 JAPAN: my thoughts and impressions after more than 12 (13?) years here, off and on.

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Kyoto, Japan

It's not all temples and shinto shrines. Kyoto has great style. You can see the mounatins from the city centre (which is not any prettier than most Japanese cities, unfortunately, the best bits being on the city's fringe) and the traditional shops are terrific. I probably know it better than any other city in Japan, go there about twice a month (I work nearby every other Friday) and consider it something of a home in Japan (although I've never officially lived there).
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/chezcody/cody_in_india/1144212720/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/chezcody/cody_in_india/1144212720/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/chezcody/cody_in_india/1144212720/tpod.html Sat, 12 May 2007 01:11:04 -0400 After YEARS of thinking about it, I'm finally on my way to the country--no, the dimension--that is said to be the supreme culture shock to even the most widely travelled, India.

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Mumbai, India

Mumbai, AKA Bombay, is India's brashest, busiest, most cosmopolitan city. I really liked it a lot. It's got great Victorian architecture, hip cafes, good restaurants (although I enjoyed the food *everywhere* in India), beachy vibe in certain neighbourhoods, in short--HEAPS of energy! I only spent a couple of days here, want to go back, and recommend it as a fun urban Indian experience...VERY different from Kolkata (Calcutta) and Delhi.

And as I pointed out in my last entry (Tiger Safari), I lost all my pics of Bombai except for what I had previously sent to friends, so there are just a few shots to share.

And this entry wraps up my first trip to India! Hope tou enjoyed it!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/chezcody/cody_in_india/1144029240/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/chezcody/cody_in_india/1144029240/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/chezcody/cody_in_india/1144029240/tpod.html Wed, 09 May 2007 22:37:00 -0400 After YEARS of thinking about it, I'm finally on my way to the country--no, the dimension--that is said to be the supreme culture shock to even the most widely travelled, India.

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Ranthambhore National Park, India

I had a ticket from Udaipur to Mumbai, where I planned to spend about 5 days before leaving India. But I realized that I wasn't ready to leave Rajasthan for Big City India just yet. While I had seen MOST of what I wanted to in this spectacular region, there were a couple of places I had to miss due to time constraints. At the top of that list was Ranthambhore, where the possiblility exists to see tigers in the wild. Being a friend of animals, that's not the sort of thing I can pass on. So I found myself at the Udiapur office of Jet Airways (note: private Indian airlines are actually pretty darned good!), changed my ticket, and left for Ranthambhore.

The hotel was fine, but they shined by securing me on a safari by jeep that afternoon. (There are two safari times a day: one at daybreak, and the other at dusk--prime animals spotting times. The National Park Service regulates the number of people/vehicles in the park, and what section of the park you go to is prescribed by the Service as well. The first people are sent to areas near the last spots where togers were sighted; the stragglers [your jeep or open-back truck called a canter picks everyone up from the hotels, so invariably someone slows the group down] are sent to areas further away where perhaps no tiger has recently been seen.) I had wanted a jeep tour, for the more intimate feeling of the safari, although the open-back trucks carrying 20+ have just as much chance of spotting a tiger as anyone.

It was worth the extra price for the jeep, in my opinion, and it was a great late afternoon/dusk. We saw an owl; many deer; other, deer called 'samva'; several of an Indian sort of antelope, huge and even vaguely blue, called 'nilgai'; monkeys; other lovely birds...but alas, no "panthera tigris". A tiger had made a kill near the path the day before and was staying near it, but it had dragged the carcass off the road the night before. We parked there for a good long time, knowing that it was very, very close, certainly watching us from the tall grass and jungle, but we had to leave without seeing him/her.

The next morning, before daybreak, I got on another jeep with a nice group: a father and son from London, and a very friendly Parisian couple on their hoenymoon. At the gates to the park, the Park Service directed us to Area 1. No tigers had been seen there for a few days, but that didn't mean anything, we were told my our guide. (Every jeep has a driver and a guide.) What a VERY cool area to explore! It really was very Jungle Book: the jungle was pretty thick, but from everywhere, the landscape was dominated by a huge--I mean monstrous!--ancient, crumbling fort high on an Acroplis-like rock. And it being the fourth day of the new moon, barefoot pilgrims were walking along the dirt paths around the fort in the jungle. (I bet THEY were hoping *not* to see a tiger!) We drove around, into the thick of the jungle, out onto plateaus, across open, grassy areas... At seven o'clock AM sharp: TIGER!

It was far off at first--one of two male cubs born to the area's female about 18 months before...so it was no longer a cub, but a pretty big boy! Good news for the population of local Royal Bengal Tigers: they need more males. (One female's range is about 15-square miles; a male about three times that.) He didn't stick around long. We only saw him a few moments, and at a distance, but it had been worth it.

Then, just a few minutes later, quite startlingly, the female adult mother, about six years old, appeared right beside our jeep, crossed the road in front of us, even waked down it for awhile just less than 15 feet/3 meters away! It was THRILLING! She was beautiful, and terribly majestic...sleek, controlled, and totally unconcerned by the humans and their vehicles. It was like we weren't even there! At one point, she suddenly went into stalking mode, like my own cat does when he spots a moth at the window--she frooze, hunkered down low in the short grass, and edged her way towards something we couldn't perceive at all. Probably a deer. She gave a short dash, but didn't give the impression she was trying very hard, and missed whatever it was. She finally just walked off into the higer grass and that was it, we never saw her again. It was SOOOOO worth all the backtracking and reticketing I went throught to get there!

The rest of the safari was good--we saw a jackle, that walked a circle right around our jeep--but of course, everything else felt subdued after sharing a few minutes with Mama Cat.

I left that afternoon to return to Jaipur (where I would stay a couple of nights again and then catch a plane to Mumbai).

Now, as a side note on the photography:
I took many pictures on the safari, but it was towards the end of my trip, so I didn't get to burn them to disc in India. And when I got home to Japan, I dowloaded them to my mac--which a few days later CRASHED, a Mac hard drive problem, and I lost everything before I backed up my last week in India's photos. Luckily, I had emailed a few to some friends, who could send them back to me. So I am afraid that I only have a single shot of the mother tiger, but I am thankful to at least have that. (Ditto for the upcoming pics of Mumbai--the next and FINAL part of my India blog.)
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/chezcody/cody_in_india/1143608160/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/chezcody/cody_in_india/1143608160/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/chezcody/cody_in_india/1143608160/tpod.html Mon, 07 May 2007 00:24:22 -0400 After YEARS of thinking about it, I'm finally on my way to the country--no, the dimension--that is said to be the supreme culture shock to even the most widely travelled, India.

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Udaipur, India

Udaipur is a beautiful city set on a large lake in southern Rajasthan, with a famous "floating" palace--it's really an island; now a luxury hotel--in the middle of the lake. Octopussy was filmed here (the palace and all over the city/region), and it seems that every backpacker hotel and restaurant cashes in on this and shows the 007 flick nightly on their TVs. I remember when it came out--I was in high school! So I think it's about time Udaipur moved on and focused on the present, or at least the historical past. It's a really majestic city.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/chezcody/cody_in_india/1143303180/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/chezcody/cody_in_india/1143303180/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/chezcody/cody_in_india/1143303180/tpod.html Tue, 01 May 2007 11:54:56 -0400 After YEARS of thinking about it, I'm finally on my way to the country--no, the dimension--that is said to be the supreme culture shock to even the most widely travelled, India.

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Bundi, India

Bundi's got a terrific laid-back vibe. The Garh Palace is awesome, filled with sour-yogurt-smelling bats and aggressive monkeys, yes, but also gorgeous "Bundi-style" murals in characteristic rich maroons, deep blues, and off-greens. Not many tourists, which is soooo nice is über-popular Rajasthan, but I did meet some great people to hang out with.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/chezcody/cody_in_india/1142939160/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/chezcody/cody_in_india/1142939160/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/chezcody/cody_in_india/1142939160/tpod.html Fri, 20 Apr 2007 06:40:14 -0400 After YEARS of thinking about it, I'm finally on my way to the country--no, the dimension--that is said to be the supreme culture shock to even the most widely travelled, India.

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Jodhpur, India

I hadn't heard that Jodhpur was one of Rajasthan's highlights, but it was for me! The fort there and the modern portable audio tour (you are "shown around" by the Prince of Jodhpur himself) makes this UNESCO site very, very impressive. And the town itself feels way more authentic than many another that has become overly tourisy. It's true, I was nearly mugged (bluffing and fast thinking got me off!) wandering the hills just outside of town--but great, true market atmosphere, the brilliant fort, the blue wash of the old town, and the best damn lassis in India (saffron & green cardamom mix) made for a wonderful stay in Jodhpur. (And yes, this is where the pants come from by the same name.)
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/chezcody/north_vietnam/1176476580/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/chezcody/north_vietnam/1176476580/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/chezcody/north_vietnam/1176476580/tpod.html Fri, 20 Apr 2007 06:05:37 -0400 A sudden, quick trip for a look around Hanoi and Ha Long Bay, Vietnam.

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Hanoi, Vietnam

Hanoi is an interesting, pretty place. Built around several lakes, the colonial old center has some nice architecture, atmospheric cafes, and so many stalls selling food along the street you can't walk on the sidewalk and have to brave the road itself.

15 APRIL 2007 UPDATE: What a bummer!! I just got an email from my friends Esther & Daniel, the Swiss couple I was in the Pantanal (Brazil) with in 2005--you can see their pictures on that travel blog here on TravelPod too. Anyway, they got my Vietnam pictures and just wrote to tell me that THEY WERE IN HANOI THE VERY SAME TIME THAT I WAS!!! In fact, their hotel was just a few meters from the interestingly-named bakery I have a photo of here. How disappointing--I wish we had bumped into each other! Oh well, they are from Bern, Switzerland, very close to my idyllic Alpine village home (I won't publish the name here, but those who know me know it!), so I *will* see them again someday, after their round-the-world cycling tour! Happy peddling, Daniel & Esther!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/chezcody/cody_in_india/1142855040/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/chezcody/cody_in_india/1142855040/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/chezcody/cody_in_india/1142855040/tpod.html Thu, 19 Apr 2007 06:30:07 -0400 After YEARS of thinking about it, I'm finally on my way to the country--no, the dimension--that is said to be the supreme culture shock to even the most widely travelled, India.

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Jaisalmer, India

Jaisalmer is truly an exotic mirage in the desert. Camels, humungous turbans, staying within the mud-walled city...you start to doubt it was real once you leave. It's wonderful to sit in a tea shop in the ancient city, enjoying chai and saffron-and-dried-fruits "kheer", overlooking the rest of the city and far out into the Great Thar Desert.
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