TravelStream™ news feed for member jamesburford on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/jamesburford en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Thu, 03 Dec 2009 14:35:06 -0500 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jamesburford/1/1240407420/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jamesburford/1/1240407420/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jamesburford/1/1240407420/tpod.html Thu, 03 Dec 2009 14:35:06 -0500 The Big One

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Auckland, North Island, New Zealand

Auckland, the largest city in New Zealand is a humble city. It has a similar feel to the Australian cities and is clean and modern but is just so much smaller. Meeting friends outside Auckland's most famous site - the skytower, we stopped for a coffee to discuss a plan for the day. The skytower is really the only semi remarkable part of Auckland architecture wise and if you are comparing it to the great cities of the world and the amazing heights of the skyscrapers of Shanghai or Dubai it really looks a little bit pathetic. Still in the inimitable character of the Kiwi people they have given it that little bit of extra excitement. How many other skyscrapers in the world can you actually bungee jump off of? We spent a short time wandering around the streets of Auckland and a visit to the docks to see the boats which really doesn't take that long, Auckland just feels so small even when compared to Melbourne. Being somewhat short on sights in the city centre itself we decided on one of the attractions a short trip outside the city centre and choosing between the Aquarium, Zoo or National Museum that had been recommended to me by a friend, we decided on a visit to the National Museum. This was a wonderful experience and here in the largest museum in New Zealand can be seen a wealth of Artefacts and information on the culture that makes New Zealand that unique and mystical place - The Maori people. The Maori culture has a similar feel to the Polynesian seafarers from which it is descended and the display of beautifully carved wooden boats and tribal ornaments was huge. The spiritual nature of Maori beliefs were also touched upon along with a sample of their way of life and the history of the impact of the European discoverers. With only a little time left we ventured back into town for a farewell meal with my friends before being due at the airport for my flight to Chile. We celebrated our antipodean liaison with a fine New Zealand steak and a fond farewell.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jamesburford/1/1242411060/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jamesburford/1/1242411060/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jamesburford/1/1242411060/tpod.html Fri, 15 May 2009 14:52:34 -0400 The Big One

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London, England, United Kingdom

And so the last few days of the trip were spent in Rio, strolling along Copacabana and Ipanema beaches and basking in the beautiful sunshine or dipping into the ocean when it got too hot. I spent some time wandering the districts of Rio and took a tram ride to the old district of Santa Theresa with its period architecture, steep narrow streets and plethora of graffiti artwork that line the walls of the district. Finally it was time to go home and the long wait at the airport brought excited thoughts of seeing friends and family again. Six months is a long time to be away from loved ones and to be returning home to a familiar place is a wonderful feeling. Landing in Heathrow after a long 11 hour flight however was a strange experience and passing through the dull grey districts of London suburbia highlights the stark difference betwen normal life and the neon majesty of the asian cities or the sun drenched beauty of South America. I find myself viewing the sights of London with tourists eyes, except with such a familiarity with the British culture the differences, the very Britishness of the place struck me with a fierceness I was unprepared for, it is a wierd feeling. Now I am back in the UK I feel that just like all the new places that I had seen, it is going to take me a little time to become accustomed to being here again. The one observation that is clear is the warmth and welcoming of again seeing my family and friends, while the places I have been all have their beauty and their ugliness, the feeling of again being with loved ones is instantly comfortable. Home it seems, is most definately where the heart is.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jamesburford/1/1242349680/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jamesburford/1/1242349680/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jamesburford/1/1242349680/tpod.html Thu, 14 May 2009 09:27:04 -0400 The Big One

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Rio de Janeiro, State of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Rio de Janeiro is a city of charm and natural beauty, from the scintillating beaches of Copacabana and Ipanema to the great statue of Christ the redeemer that stands atop Corcovado mountain overlooking the whole city, it exudes an air of passion and style. To me it feels like a cross between Sydney, with its multitude of coves and waterfronts, and the romantic sensuality of Buenos Aires with that inimitable Latin American feel. It's just a wonderful place, yes it has a reputation for being dangerous but I've been here for a few days and I haven't seen or felt any sign of trouble and I've been content to wander along the beautiful wide beaches with their soft sand and take in the atmosphere. Rio does have a darker side though, in a city where most of the inhabitants live in areas known as Favelas that are governed by drug lords there are understandably issues, for a start drug abuse and prostitution are rife along with the gang warfare between rival drug lords and the police which claims innocent lives every year. These issues don't seem to affect the great atmosphere in the city though and the locals in Rio certainly know how to have a good time. On my first night here I got invited to a house party by some local Brazilian people I met in the pub and spent the evening drinking under the stars on the roof of a hotel chatting to local people, a wonderful start to an incredible week here. I took a trip to Corcovada mountain at sunset to see the huge statue of Christ which stands atop the peak and affords an glorious view over the whole city and under the pink sky of the fading sun I marveled at the sight of Rio in all its splendour. Like the Argentineans the Brazilians love their football and people playing football can be seen wherever you go. On the long wide beaches that span the coast at Copacabana and Ipanema there are actually permanent football goals and volleyball nets set in the sand and the beaches are groomed every morning like a ski slope by a tractor. Even the volleyball "courts" show the Brazilian love for football as the locals will play volleyball not with their hands but with their feet and head like a game of football. With this in mind I went to catch a game at the Marancana, South America's largest football stadium seating over 110,000 spectators. Brazilian football defines the sport as "the beautiful game" with a fast pace and stunning skill and flair we were riveted for the whole 90 minutes and left with an understanding of why the South Americans love this game so much.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jamesburford/1/1242256440/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jamesburford/1/1242256440/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jamesburford/1/1242256440/tpod.html Thu, 14 May 2009 09:07:32 -0400 The Big One

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Rio de Janeiro, State of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

With all this controversy surrounding the favelas I decided to take a tour of the largest favela in Rio, Rocinha, home to an estimated 200,000 people. The favela's are discreet areas of very densely packed housing that are growing at an incredible rate, some of them doubling in size every year. The housing is built without permission of the government, without ownership of the land and without any sort of regulation and are built on the sides of the rocky Brazilian mountains that surround Rio city so collapses are common. It isn't however, easy for the government to regulate either the growth, or the building standards of these favelas as each are "protected" by the local drug lord and any police entering the area are shot. The locals don't oppose this as they don't pay any building taxes or local government taxes and the drug lords are fiercely intolerant of violent crime within the favelas themselves as this attracts police attention. The result of this is discreet areas of housing that are out of government control, over 900 of them in total surrounding Rio city, some of them right next to the wealthier areas and the police will sometimes raid these areas in an attempt to control the drug lords. When this happens it is brutal, the police raid, often up to 200 fully armed police officers strong, storm the favela and the shooting begins. The gangs run by the drug lords have an arsenal of weapons from fully automatic machine guns to hand grenades and are often better equipped than the police themselves and so the scale of devastation can be extreme and with their poorly built houses the people that suffer are the locals as they are caught in the crossfire. None of this however was evident as we entered Rocinha and jumped on the back of a motorcycle for the long winding journey to the top of the hill for a total of 2 Reals. The tour then took us down through the narrow alleys visiting the sights of Rocinha while the guide explained the detail of the situation. The favelas contain everything that you could possibly need to live including internet cafés although while there is sporadic running water and electricity in some of the favelas, the sanitation isn't great especially when you get toward the bottom of the hill where the rubbish and effluent tend to collect leaving a terrible stench. Saying that however, the conditions are better than what I have seen in India or China and so it's hard to argue that the drug gangs aren't at least looking after the basic needs of the people where the government has failed to.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jamesburford/1/1241484180/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jamesburford/1/1241484180/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jamesburford/1/1241484180/tpod.html Mon, 11 May 2009 19:43:51 -0400 The Big One

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Paraty, State of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Paraty is a quaint little town on the Brazillian coast which forms a convenient stop on our travels toward Rio de Janeiro. In Paraty it is much easier to get a feel of what Brazil feels like in the smaller places - Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro have such a unique feel to them that Paraty is refereshingly different in its own right. For it's size Paraty is a happening place but is considerably more chilled than any small town you would have been to and with this in mind we took some time to relax from the travels and blew out on the local spirit in a Cashasa house. A short bus trip from Paraty are a number of really beautiful beaches and so for one of our days in Paraty we took a bus across to the Trinidade beach and relaxed in the sun, experiencing a proper Brazillian beach for the first time. The beaches in Brazil are gorgeous, with the endless expanse of the Atalntic ocean split by the numerous leafy islands that rise out of the sea. The sand at Trinidade was a little coarse with a sprinkling of the red earthen grains from the rocky hills that mark the country, giving the sand on the beach an orange tint to it. I had a fantastic time in Paraty, drinking and laughing with the local people, taking in the sights of the cobbled streets and the still waters of the harbour and taking life at the slow leisurely pace of Brazilian culture. While there's plenty of atmosphere in Paraty, we had spent two days relaxing from the long journey from Iguassu and we were all ready for the next leg of our trip.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jamesburford/1/1241829960/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jamesburford/1/1241829960/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jamesburford/1/1241829960/tpod.html Sat, 09 May 2009 21:03:58 -0400 The Big One

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Angra Dos Reis, State of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

We boarded the morning bus from Paraty which would take us to Angra where we would board the boat to Ilha Grande. The bus ride was 3 hours of the most beautiful Brazilian scenery you could have wished for as the bus wound it's way along the coast of Brazil over the rocky hills of the mainland giving a superb view of some of the hundreds of islands that dot the coast of South America on its way to our next destination - Ilha Grande. We arrived at Angra at around 1 and boarded a boat straight away that would take us to the island. As soon as the boat left the pier I began to relax as the boat glided along past the green tropical islands on the way and I knew that we were all in for 3 days of holiday bliss. Ilha Grande is a little slice of heaven fallen to earth, one of the largest islands off the Brazilian coast it still retains a quaint friendly character and the clean and pretty wooden buildings that make up the restaurants and hotels in the town only accentuate the chilled out atmosphere. For a start there are no cars on the island and its incredible how this seeming small change has a radical difference on the pace of life, secondly the unique Brazilian lifestyle is infused into everything here and the locals and their tanned flawless figures embody the healthy active lifestyle on the island. One day on the island I took the Caipirinha boat to the blue lagoon and a selection of secluded bays and met some really fun people. We drank Caipirinha, ate beautifully barbecued food and tropical salads and dived off the boat to swim and snorkel in the cool clear waters amongst the islands of the Atlantic for the entire day before returning to Ilha Grande for dusk, the end of a most magnificent day. Another day we hiked along the coast of the island to the various beaches on the way to Lopes Mendes, one of Brazil's most renowned beaches, the fine white sand was extremely soft and would rival any of the Australian beaches that are familiar to me and with the background of the emerald island mountains of the coast it was truly a stunning scene to while away the rest of the day in the gorgeous sunshine. Lopes Mendes is on the east coast of the island and so the continuous sets of 4 to 6 feet waves are perfect for surfing so after taking the plunge and exhausting myself catching waves, I lay on the beach and read my book until it was time to go. Tomorrow we leave for Rio de Janeiro and although the prospect of seeing this much vaunted city is exciting, having to leave the island is saddening. It is just so relaxing here, so calming, so beautiful and so refreshing that I could stay indefinitely, although my new found desire to explore the world pulls me toward places undiscovered, there will always be a little tug on my heart strings to try and return to this place. The definition of the word paradise comes no closer than the Brazilian island of Ilha Grande.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jamesburford/1/1241303220/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jamesburford/1/1241303220/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jamesburford/1/1241303220/tpod.html Sat, 09 May 2009 18:45:02 -0400 The Big One

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Sao Paulo, State of Sao Paulo, Brazil

After a final day in Foz de Iguassu and a hearty eat as much as you like buffet we boarded the overnight bus for the long journey to Sao Paulo, as we passed through the Brazillian countryside the most striking thing I noticed is how impossibly fertile this land is, lush vivid green covers every inch of the land except where it is brutally suppressed by humanity. Even the trees have green plants and shrubs growing on or out of them and the growth of tropical plants is so thick you couldn't walk a meter into it without having to hack a path of your own making. Life cannot be contained in this magnificent country, in places where it is obvious that the trees have been cut down for wood, life bursts forth once more and rich grasses and shrubs cover every inch of the land where the great trees once stood, even the cattle that are dotted about the mountain sides don't seem to make a dent in the vegetation. The second thing that is striking about Brazil is the mountainous landscape, not like the huge great peaks of the Alps or the Himalayas but significant enough in size that most of them would take the best part of a day and a great deal of breath to climb, all covered in rich green vegetation beneath through which pokes the occasional glimpse of the rust red earth and rock of this country. The effect of these green rocky mountainous hills are that everything in Brazil is set to a backdrop of forested mountains giving a scenic beauty to the whole country. After a long journey on the bus we arrived in Sao Paulo mid morning and collected our luggage and gathered together to coordinate our movements. Sao Paulo is just an unimaginably vast city, with around 25 million inhabitants it is one of the largest urban metropolises in the world, a number that while staggering, I have no problem at all believing. Great four lane motorways snake through the city like arteries delivering the life blood of traffic to the heart and where ever you look houses and apartments are stacked on top of each other in the throng of buildings. Sao Paulo is beyond any recognizable building or skyline, in every direction skyscrapers and tower blocks form the wall of the horizon and driving into the city takes an hour on a good run without traffic. With only a short stop in Sao Paulo, and all of us reeling from the sheer size of the place we boarded a mini van that would take us to our next stop, the Coastal town of Paraty.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jamesburford/1/1240956480/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jamesburford/1/1240956480/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jamesburford/1/1240956480/tpod.html Sun, 03 May 2009 14:56:03 -0400 The Big One

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Montevideo, Uruguay

An early breakfast and a final walk down the cobbled avenues of Colonia to capture some last photos in the morning sun before boarding the bus that would take us across Uruguay to the capital city of Montevideo. The beautiful streets of Colonia soon gave way to the highway and a stretch of green fields extending off into the horizon; not the vivid lush green of Vietnam, but rather a more muted green of hardy grasses and shrubs, and grazing cattle or fields of crops slipped past our window for the 3 hour journey. It appears that if little else, Uruguay has a very healthy farming industry.
Montevideo itself has a similar quaint beauty to Colonia with a raft of beautiful ancient architecture, wide open streets littered with green squares and statues. Being the capital city of Uruguay it is much bigger than Colonia but as far as cities go it is still tiny and you can walk the breadth of the city in an hour or so. Like many cities there is much construction taking place which marrs the otherwise quaint ancient feel of the place but there is enough in the way of grand period architecture that it is still a pleasant experience to wander around it. Montevideo is located further along the coast than Colonia and the muddy brown waters of the Platte Riviera have been dispersed into the great Atlantic Ocean so the sea which surrounds the promontory on which the old town is located is a pleasant blue with only a hint of the brown that was so prevalent before. Unfortunately the lack of a beach, which is replaced by a concrete dock, means that the city proper is the part of town with the most character.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jamesburford/1/1241349960/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jamesburford/1/1241349960/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jamesburford/1/1241349960/tpod.html Sun, 03 May 2009 14:52:04 -0400 The Big One

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Foz de Iguacu, State of Parana, Brazil

Iguassu Falls, undeniably one of the greatest sights of the natural world, stands on the border of Argentina and Brazil just south of Paraguay. The falls can be seen from both the Argentine and Brazilian sides and offer a different view from each. From the Brazilian side the great panorama of the falls can be seen from a distance as the majority of the water falls from the Argentine side and from the Brazilian side you can see many of the 270 discreet waterfalls that give the region its incredible feel. Even from a distance the falls are impressive, but it is when you cross into Argentina to get close to the great curtains of water that the place comes alive. Wandering along the mazes of cliffs and elevated platforms a glorious day can be spent in viewing the falls up close in awe of the power and majesty of these incredible flows of water. The various waterfalls that cover the region vary from quaint streams down green leafed rock faces, to huge surges of water, culminating in the almighty "devils throat" a U-shaped, 82-meter-high, 150-meter-wide and 700-meter-long cataract where the water surges down to a foam of white that sprays water up to 150 meters into the gorge. The roar of the falls can be heard from a long distance away and gives an eerie feeling while walking along the platforms above the calm but steady Iguassu River that spans like a marshland as it feeds water eternally toward the devils throat. As it had been a period of little rain it meant the falls weren't at their peak but it also meant that we were able to go in boat trips right up to and even under some of the waterfalls which was an amazing experience so I didn't mind at all, even with the water levels low the devils throat is an incredible sight.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jamesburford/1/1241371860/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jamesburford/1/1241371860/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jamesburford/1/1241371860/tpod.html Sun, 03 May 2009 14:49:11 -0400 The Big One

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Ciudad Del Este, Paraguay

Crossing the friendship bridge from Brazil is a very simple task involving no customs or even passports, although a certain number of cars crossing the border are pulled over and checked, for us it was a simple task and the first difference about Paraguay that strikes you is the poverty, not the same kind of poverty as India and China, not as destitute, for instance there are lots of cars about, but the main city which we passed through was a rag tag collection of wooden and corrugated iron sales outlets all clustered around the huge and glitzy government department stall.
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