TravelStream™ news feed for member jonboy on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/jonboy en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Fri, 31 Oct 2003 10:16:14 -0500 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jonboy/jennycreek/1056336720/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jonboy/jennycreek/1056336720/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jonboy/jennycreek/1056336720/tpod.html Fri, 31 Oct 2003 10:16:14 -0500 Jeep Trip to Jenny Creek

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Rollinsville, Colorado, United States

Pics from the trip
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jonboy/ute_creek_6-9/1023668520/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jonboy/ute_creek_6-9/1023668520/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jonboy/ute_creek_6-9/1023668520/tpod.html Wed, 01 Oct 2003 15:25:41 -0400 Trail Ride in Ute Creek on June 9, 2002

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Ute Creek Pictures, Colorado, United States

Here are some pictures from the Ute Creek Trailride on 6-8-2002.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jonboy/jennycreek/1056594000/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jonboy/jennycreek/1056594000/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jonboy/jennycreek/1056594000/tpod.html Tue, 01 Jul 2003 01:39:26 -0400 Jeep Trip to Jenny Creek

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None, Bhutan

ddd
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jonboy/jennycreek/1056853980/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jonboy/jennycreek/1056853980/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jonboy/jennycreek/1056853980/tpod.html Mon, 30 Jun 2003 00:58:14 -0400 Jeep Trip to Jenny Creek

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Alma, Colorado, United States

Pics from Wheeler
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jonboy/blizzard_2003/1048111020/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jonboy/blizzard_2003/1048111020/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jonboy/blizzard_2003/1048111020/tpod.html Wed, 19 Mar 2003 18:22:44 -0500 Pictures from the 2003 Blizzard in Denver

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Denver, Colorado, United States

Pictures from the blizzard.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jonboy/asia-00/970536840/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jonboy/asia-00/970536840/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jonboy/asia-00/970536840/tpod.html Tue, 06 Feb 2001 21:07:45 -0500 Trekking around the U.A.E. and Pakistan

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Gilgit, Pakistan

Sorry for the last entry -- I had all but 5 minutes to post something and when you are using a computer with a 28.8K modem you can't do much in those 5 minutes...

After leaving the UAE, I flew into Karachi, Pakistan to meet a friend from work (Shayan)who is from there and who's family still resides there. Fortunately he was waiting for me outside of customs. I thought that the UAE would prepare me somewhat for what I was about to see.....not even close...

Traffic

Pakistan is an interesting country, to say the least. I haven't been to too many places yet, but in all of the countries I have been to, I have never seen traffic like here. I think that traffic may not be the best term to use, since most people think of cars when they think of traffic. Well, traffic here includes camels, donkeys, little moped/golf-cart looking things called ricshaw's, bicycles and even pedestrians. And these aren't minor neighborhood roads...this was on the main road leaving the AIRPORT. Families of 5 (yes, 5) on one little motorcycle. Donkeys pulling carts full of various items. Buses so packed that people are sitting on the roof and hanging on the laddars on the back. Blatant disregard for lane markers. No one stays in their lane. The road may have 3 marked lanes but there are 5 makeshift lanes, with mopeds and motorcycles squeezing in between cars wherever they can. I think Karachi just gave up on enforcing traffic laws because it would mean changing the driving habits of all 13 million residents.

Anti-American Militant Groups

Yup, they are everywhere, and they are MAD. Brandishing old AK-47's from the former USSR and burning American Flags....just kidding...

Food

This was one thing I was a bit concerned about -- the last thing I wanted was to eat some meat that has been hanging in an open-air market for 72 hours. Surprisingly, the food is not bad. The only drawback is that it is spicy. Sure, we all think we can handle spicy foods...guys think they can "suck it up" and get through one or two meals with food they wouldn't eat otherwise....so even after I was warned about the spicy food, I said it shouldn't be a problem.....well, it was. The food is so spicy that you can't even tell what the meat is...after two bites I couldn't eat anymore. Fortunately Shayan's parents anticipated that and had some "american" food prepared for me....unseasoned chicken legs and mashed potatoes...thank God someone had some sense...

To make sure I didn't have a repeat of the "Prague Incident" (which, for the uninformed, was a pretty nasty case of food poisoning I had in 1997 in Prague) I primarily am sticking to breads, fried foods, and powerbars. Bottled water is a given, wherever I go. There have been a couple of dubious meals so far, but (knock on wood) so far no problems.

Unfortunately, I was not able to participate in the ceremonial "goat killing". Sorry guys, maybe next time. (for those of you who don't know about the goat killing, you probably don't want to know...)

Kashmir

As I think I mentioned earlier, we decided to fly up to Kashmir for a few days and tool around in the Himalayas. I think it was this plan that drew the most criticism from people I talked to...something about a war with India or something...We actually flew into a region north of Kashmir called the Northern Areas. This is the province that borders China and India, but there is no fighting going on here (at least, not that I have seen). The region is in dispute between the two countries, but they are just killing each other in Kachmir at this point in time...I'll spare you all the details because I write too much as it is...but we landed in a town called Skurdu and arranged to have a jeep drive us through some "jeep only" roads to the town I am in tonight, Gilgit.

The drive from Skurdu to Gilgit was incredible. The trail is all dirt, and winds all throughout the Himalaya mountains. Some of the turns were so tight that I couldn't even see the road when I looked out the window. The entire trip was about 14 hours...and for those of you that have ridden in a jeep before, you know that it's not exactly a smooth ride on pavement....try it on a dirt road for a full day.

The trip took us through the Deosai National Park and to heights of 4000 meters, where it was below freezing during the day and snow was on the ground. There were several river crossings on the road...some we made without bridges...the larger ones were usually made on wooden bridges that I would normally be afraid to ride a bike across. The scenery was amazing...well worth the $100 we paid. I found out once we were en-route that the route we were taking actually got within about 50 kilometers (30 miles or so) from the "Line of Control" -- this is the boundry that was agreed upon by both nations in the 70's (but which they are currently fighting over). Fortunately we didn't see any Indian artillery shells.....Pictures will come as soon as I get back.

Tomorrow will be our last day in the Northern Areas -- we will likely go visit some 900 year old fort and drive back to Skurdu so we can catch our flight back to Karachi....

My next entry may be from the airport in Dubai on my way back home...hopefully I won't have to contend with delayed flights and will fly back to the US as planned.









]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jonboy/asia-00/970088820/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jonboy/asia-00/970088820/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jonboy/asia-00/970088820/tpod.html Mon, 09 Oct 2000 18:46:56 -0400 Trekking around the U.A.E. and Pakistan

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Dubai, United Arab Emirates

I finally found an Internet Cafe in Dubai -- it is quite a ways from my hotel but fortunately cabs are extremely cheap here. It looks like I won't be able to keep up with this travelogue as much as I did on my Peru trip since tomorrow is my last full day in Dubai and I am having serious doubts about finding an internet place in Pakistan.....

Flight Over

I have taken long flights before -- 6 1/2 hours to Lima, 9 hours to Paris...I've taken long train trips, like the 14 hour trip from Switzerland to Hungary...but nothing, NOTHING, is worse than a 22 hour trip from Houston to Dubai. Imagine having nothing but airline food to eat for a full day....

Dubai

Dubai (and the entire UAE) is very interesting to say the least. All of the modern buildings were not constructed until the oil revenues began flowing into the coffers of the shieks, and that did not happen until the early 1970's. As a result, all of the modern buildings are less than 30 years old since no industry prior to oil would have been able to sustain such a building boom. It seems like everyone here drives a Mercedez-Benz or a Land Cruiser. The oil boom has certainly been kind to the UAE and Dubai.

Economics

I am having trouble figuring out the economics of this town -- it's simple to figure out that the people that drive the Mercedez' around town probably work in the oil or import/export businesses. Certainly the discovery of oil has benefitted many people, but not everyone. Dubai is not a cheap city, and there is a large number of people that own small shops throughout the city that are no larger than the shops found in the markets in Mexico that sell very specialized items, such as kitchen pots, or pens and paper. And from what I saw, there were very few people actually buying items from these shops. What I cannot understand is HOW these people live in this expensive city. Their shops are in the heart of the city, where I imagine their rent is not cheap, yet some have been here for quite some time, as evidenced by their aging signs hanging over their shops. How can someone that sells only kitchen pots afford to live in such an expensive city? Even if everyone within a few miles radius bought their pots from him, could he really make enough money to live on? Confusing. Frustrating.

Desert

Walking around the streets of Dubai is interesting, but it does get old. This whole nation is nothing but a big sand-pile, and I had to figure out a way to see more than just Dubai and other cities. I found a tour agency that offered "Desert Safaris" and I heard that it's great if you can take an overnight safari, so I booked myself on the next available tour. I'm not sure safari means the same thing here as it does in the US -- when I hear safari I think of wild animals...and unless you consider a camel a wild animal, it wasn't really a safari. But what was fun was riding shotgun in a brand-new Land Cruiser as we drove all through the sand dunes for hours....several times the other passengers thought the car would roll over (OK, I was afraid once or twice), but naturally the driver was more skilled than we were and we had no problems. At the end of the dune-bashing, we stopped at a camp where we had the opportunity to sand-board down the dunes (same concept as snowboarding, but not near as exciting). They also had a BBQ dinner and a bellydancing show. At the end of the evening, everyone began making their way back to the cars and I asked my driver where everyone was going. He told me that everyone was going home, and that I was the only one that would be spending the night. Alone. In the middle of the desert. Great. I have to try and remember who it was that told me to do the overnight trip instead of just the evening trip...it was nice sleeping out under the stars but it sure would have been more comfortable sleeping in my air conditioned hotel room instead of sleeping in 85 degree heat all night. All the stories I heard of the desert getting cold at night were a farce...It may have gotton down to 65, but only for a brief minute. It's always nice to wake up in the morning, sweating, and having to wait for 3 hours before you can shower....

Markets

I was excited to come to the Middle East and look through the shops they had, especially the rug shops. I found myself in a rug shop the other day looking at a beautiful 3'x6' rug made in Iran out of silk. The shopkeeper told me it took the woman in Iran 8 months to make it. It was truly a work of art, but, as with other pieces of art, it had a hefty pricetag. The shopkeeper told me "Special price, just for you". Too much. Then he told me the "special special price". Still too much. I didn't feel like sitting around waiting for the iteration of this "Special price" game that would make it affordable, so I left. Besides, what was I doing looking at a 3x6 rug that had a "special special price" of $1200. So for those of you that were hoping for a Persian Rug, don't hold your breath. Even the cheap ones were over $150. Maybe I'll grab some from Wal-Mart when I get back and just tear the "Made in China" tags from them before I give them to you....

Next Up

Tomorrow is my last full day in the UAE. I am planning to rent a car for the day and drive to the Buraimi Oasis (which is in Oman) and to a few towns on the East Coast. Hopefully they will give me the car even though I only brought an expired Texas drivers license.....we'll see...



]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jonboy/asia-00/970720260/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jonboy/asia-00/970720260/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jonboy/asia-00/970720260/tpod.html Wed, 04 Oct 2000 16:52:54 -0400 Trekking around the U.A.E. and Pakistan

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Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Alive and Well

Well I did it -- for all of you who doubted my safe return from Pakistan....I'm out. I'm in the airport in Dubai waiting to board the next leg of my 25 hour journey home....a flight to London.

Last Days in Pakistan

As with all of my trips, there is always something that doesn't go as planned. After the last entry, we were planning to spend the night in Gilgit and drive up the Karakoran Highway (I may have misspelled that) to an area called the Hunza Valley, which is supposed to have stunning scenery. We were then going to catch a flight in the afternoon out of Gilget to Islamabad, then on to Karachi. Unfortunately, we learned that since Pakistan International Airlines, the government owned airline, only has Manual Flights (you have to confirm in person at the airport you are flying from 24 hrs in advance or you lose your spot), that we could not fly back to KArachi in time for me to catch my return flight home. SO, lucky us, we had to ride on a BUS all the way back to Islamabad...doesn't sound too bad since the flight was only 45 minutes......but since the road is barely 2 lanes and it is all in the mountains, it took 17...yes 17 hours in a bus just to reach Islamabad. 17 hours. That has to be some sort of record. We left at 9am and arrived at 2am. We boarded a flight to KArachi at 3am and finally returned back to Shayan's house at 6am. That was painful. But the worst part was that this was the same day I had to fly 25 hours back to the US. That is a lot of travelling.

The only exciting thing that happened was that I had the chance to see how a chicken is supposed to be killed. They slit the throat, but don't sever the head. The heart keeps beating which allows the maximum amount of blood to escape the body. The butcher just held the chicken down as it was kicking and jerking wildly. After it is dead, the butcher skins it and cuts the meat into 6 pieces or so. The skinning process was the most impressive...he did it in about 2 minutes...

That's it for this trip. Hopefully nothing too exciting will happen between here and Houston.

--JCG
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jonboy/asia-00/623178600/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jonboy/asia-00/623178600/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jonboy/asia-00/623178600/tpod.html Sat, 30 Sep 2000 04:12:29 -0400 Trekking around the U.A.E. and Pakistan

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Karachi, Pakistan

Not much time to write, but today I leave for Skurdu, which is up in the himilaya mountain range. I will be there for three days, and will reutrn to Karachi on the 3rd unless the rains prevent the planes from landing since it is rainy season there (sounds like bolivia and the amazon all over again...)

Since i don't have time, I will update this entry once I return.


]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jonboy/peru_1999/951780780/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jonboy/peru_1999/951780780/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jonboy/peru_1999/951780780/tpod.html Tue, 22 Aug 2000 20:16:12 -0400 This is my first jaunt into South America, visiting both Peru and Bolivia.

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Houston, Texas, United States

It's a little late for the last entry, but it's here nonetheless. The only major thing that is worth mentioning for the remainder of the trip was the hike to Machu Picchu.

The Inca Trail

This was the whole point of our trip -- to hike the 26km Inca Trail -- the trail that the Incas followed when making a trip to Machu Picchu. The hike normally takes 4 days, Kevin and I decided to make it in 3. The hike itself consists of 3 passes, the highest reaching an elevation of 4200 meters.

Day 1

We started out about 10:30am. It was pouring down rain, so we put on every ounce of raingear we had. Even though it was raining, and we were sloshing through the mud, we were still amazed by the astounding scenery. Since I am not a writer, it is difficult for me to express in words the scenery we experienced. Hopefully the pictures I took will provide you with an idea of how beautiful the area was.

The majority of this day was spent hiking a flat trail. The hard part was the last 3 hours -- all uphill. I don't know if any of you have ever hiked with a 40 pound backpack on, but it is not easy. So going uphill for 3 hours was a killer. It started getting cold as the sun went down, but we finally made camp around 6:30pm. In one hours time, the temperature had dropped to a bone-chilling 50 degrees. We didn't expect it to be that cold, especially that early. We were so exhausted from the hike that we were asleep at 8:30pm.

Day 2

The sun rose around 6:00, and we were up and packing the tent by 7:00. The sunrise was absolutely fantastic -- fortunately I was able to get some great pictures. We camped at 3800 meters, so we only had 400 meters to go to get over the first pass. We thought this would be no big deal, especially after having slept for 10 hours. We couldn't have been more wrong. The air at that altitude is very thin, and we were only able to take about 15 steps before our hearts were pounding and our lungs burned from the thin air. We finally reached the top and took a 15 minute break before heading down 1000 meters of stone steps. This was much easier, but, as I discovered later in the day, going downhill on stone for an extended period of time is absolutely brutal on your knees. Needless to say, the last 2 hours of the hike were absolutely painful. I was moving extremely slow. My knee ached so bad that I wrapped it in an ace bandage, and further wrapped it with duct tape. I had to borrow Kevin's hiking pole and use both as crutches. Fortunately, we had made very good time earlier in the day so we were still on track to finishing the hike in 3 days. We finally made it to the last camp around 5:30pm, and we were more exhausted than the day before. We setup camp, cooked our dinner, and were asleep by 7:30pm.

Day 3

This is the hardcore part of the trip. We woke up at 4am, (first light is at 6am), packed up our tent, and began hiking at 5am. Now both of my knees were in bad shape. Today's hike was only 2 1/2 hrs long, but it was on a very narrow path with a sharp drop to the right. It was going to be dark for the first hour. The path was very wet, and, in some parts, very slippery. All we had for light was a small AA-powered maglight. Typically, you arrive at the Sun Gate after 1 1/2 hours, where you sit and watch the sunrise over Machu Picchu. Unfortunately, the weather was horrible and we were unable to see anything from the Sungate. We knew it may have happened this way since we were travelling in the rainy season. We continued on, and after one more hour of painful hiking, we were rewarded with a spectacular view of Machu Picchu. The clouds had blown away for a brief minute to allow us to really appreciate the size of Machu Picchu. After resting for an hour, we went down the mountain and took a tour of the grounds. It was absolutely amazing how the entire city was built. We toured around the city for a few hours, hoping that the rain would stop. Unfortunately, it never let up.

Coming Home

After the hike, the remainder of the trip was uneventful. We spent two full days trying to get back to Lima. We only spent one day in Lima. Parts of the city are nice, but a nice gray smog is everywhere, and the beaches are deemed unsuitable for swimming. One day was enough for me.


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