Get Out the Map

Jongmyo ancestral shrine

Fri, 18 May 2012 05:03:06 -0400

Jongmyo ancestral shrine

Gyeongbokgung palace

Fri, 18 May 2012 05:02:24 -0400

Gyeongbokgung palace

Seoul, first thoughts

Wed, 16 May 2012 03:32:30 -0400

first impressions as told through the 3 good, 3 not so good list, but this time with only two things.

Good
1. The subway system is awesome. Cheap, clean, easy to navigate & gets you pretty much wherever you want to be.

2. Gorgeous palaces. So far we’ve seen two of them & they are pretty spectacular.

The less good
1. Difficult to figure out how to get anywhere outside of Seoul to the point of almost comical absurdity.

2. Trying to find housing for the world expo was a comedy of errors but we have persevered & finally managed to get something booked.

Changdoukgung Palace on Day 1 in Seoul.

Wed, 16 May 2012 03:18:00 -0400

Changdoukgung Palace on Day 1 in Seoul.

While I was in Jordan I did a two day trek in the Wadi Rum...

Tue, 28 Dec 2010 13:31:08 -0500

Me standing on a sand dune

Preparing for afternoon tea

Exploring the dessert caverns

singing songs by the campfire

View of the dessert

Naomi and her husband

While I was in Jordan I did a two day trek in the Wadi Rum dessert. I was on the trek with a couple from Japan and yesterday they were nice enough to email me these photos from our trip. I can hardly believe this was almost a year ago.

Beer Consumption Increases Human Attractiveness to Malaria Mosquitoes

Fri, 23 Apr 2010 12:41:40 -0400

Beer Consumption Increases Human Attractiveness to Malaria Mosquitoes:

It’s probably a good thing I didn’t read this BEFORE I went to Africa.

http://picasaweb.google.com/nriedt/TravelExtravaganza?feat=directlink

Fri, 16 Apr 2010 14:26:26 -0400

http://picasaweb.google.com/nriedt/TravelExtravaganza?feat=directlink:

This will take you to a photo album with 180 of the very best photos from my trip all in one place.

The trip by the numbers

Sun, 14 Mar 2010 16:29:15 -0400

Days gone: 179

Number of miles traveled: 41,000+

miles walked and stairs climbed: far too many to count

Countries visited: 12

Cities visited (only counting cities where I spent at least 1 night): 34

Cities visited including day trips: 41

Books read: 44+

National Parks visited: 4

Number of the big 5 animals seen: 5

Museums visited: 16

Number of religious paintings looked at: thousands, I’m sure

meters dropped in free fall over the Zambezi river: 80

Number of rapids on the Zambezi river: 23

Number of those that are class 5 or higher: 13

City I wish we could have spent more time in: Tarifa, Spain

Favorite Country visited: Jordan

Favorite City visited: Barcelona

Country I wished I could have visited, but didn’t: Syria

Best beach: Zanzibar, Tanzania

Most disappointing attraction: cloistered nun cookies, which were not sold to us in a lazy Susan by cloistered nuns like we were promised.

Best cathedral: La Sagrada Familia, Barcelona Spain

Worst meal: couscous in Morocco

Worst weather: Turkey

Favorite museum: Musee d’Orsay

Strangest thing done: trying to catch Cape spring hares while working on the game reserve

scariest experience: white water rafting

Favorite ruins: Petra in Jordan, but Ephesus in Turkey is a close second.

Paris

Sun, 14 Mar 2010 14:59:41 -0400

The last four days of the trip. The weather was relatively nice, it was my birthday, and it was, well, Paris. Not a lot not to like.

Best

Musee d’Orsay: housed in the former railway station,it holds mainly French art dating from 1848 to 1915, and is probably best known for its extensive collection of impressionist and post-impressionist masterpieces (the largest in the world) by such painters such as Monet, Manet, Degas, Renoir, Cezanne, Seurat, Gauguin and Van Gogh. This is probably my favorite musuem I visited on this trip.

Hotel de Tourville: As a birthday and end of the trip treat to myself, I decided to stay in a really nice hotel in Paris. A hotel where I didn’t need to question when the sheets were last washed, a hotel that had working heat, and maybe most importantly a hotel that had hot water and decent water pressure. i’m sure they weren’t sure what to think of me when i showed up with my falling apart shoes, backpack and dirty clothes, they were nice to me anyway. And on my birthday even gave me a free glass of wine.

Pompidou Center: This is one of the world’s best contemporary and modern art museums. They had a fascinating Women in Contemporary art exhibit which was really nice to see. And after seeing countless numbers of sanitized female nudes, it was nice to see some actual real female bodies.

Worst

Pompidou Center: While there was a really interesting exhibit at the museum, the entire modern art wing was closed for renovations. So, no cubism or dadaism; no Picasso’s or Warhol’s. This was the collection I most wanted to see, so it was disappointing to learn it was closed while I was there.

The Mona Lisa: Worst isn’t really the right word here, but most over-rated would fit. I just don’t get the fascination with this painting. And I’m not sure why everyone wants to take their picture with it. It’s not like you can stand close to the painting.

Tunisia Roundup

Sun, 14 Mar 2010 13:36:00 -0400

Tunisia is a strange place. Probably the most liberal of the arab countries, it’s also the place where I experienced the most amount of hassle. Here’s the quick roundup.

Best

Carthage: The ruins at Carthage are spread across this small town and are quite stunning. The mosaics are beautiful, the scenery stunning, and a lot of the ruins are still intact enough to tell what they were.

The beaches: The weather was warm and I spent at least half of my time in Tunisia hanging out at various beaches. It was too cold to go swimming, but perfect weather for working on the tan.

El-Jem: The Roman amphitheater that is outside of Sousse. It’s incredibly well preserved and just sort of appears out of nowhere in this small town. Pretty cool.

Worst

The hassle: The hassle here was unrelenting. Not that plenty of people weren’t simply friendly and helpful, but it was impossible to just sit on a bench and enjoy the weather without being interrupted by someone wanting to just talk. Since it was the end of the trip, it was especially exhausting to need to deal with this all of the time.

The distance to the sites: or maybe this would better be described as my laziness getting the better of me. Some of the best sites were simply not that easy to get to. I didn’t go visit the best preserved punic era ruins, for example, because it would have required 3 bus transfers and a taxi each. And each morning I’d wake up and think about going, decide it was too much hassle (see above) and go to the beach instead. Not that spending time at the beach was a rough way to spend the time, but it does mean there were things on my list to see that I didn’t.

Video

Thu, 04 Mar 2010 02:05:52 -0500

At Jerash, they put on a show of gladiators fighting, a short...

Wed, 03 Mar 2010 10:44:07 -0500

At Jerash, they put on a show of gladiators fighting, a short example of fighting techniques and a chariot race. It’s all quite cheesy and I absolutely enjoyed every minute of it. Here’s a sample of the show.

Photos of Paris (taken with the newly acquired disposal camera).

Wed, 03 Mar 2010 09:23:23 -0500

Eiffel Tower

Notre Dame

View of Paris

Pyramid entrance at the Lourve

The Seine river

Photos of Paris (taken with the newly acquired disposal camera).

Pictures from Tunisia. High-and Low-lights to come.

Wed, 03 Mar 2010 09:10:06 -0500

El-Jem

Hammamet Beach

Monastir

Sample Mosaic at Carthage

Antonie Baths at Carthage

Sousse Medina

Pictures from Tunisia. High-and Low-lights to come.

A sampling of the photos from the rest of Turkey.

Wed, 03 Mar 2010 08:42:02 -0500

Cappodocia Cave Dwellings

"Fairy Towers" in Cappodocia

the Library at Ephesus

Mineral Pools at Pamukkale

Roman Ruins at Pergammon

A sampling of the photos from the rest of Turkey.

Highlights from Turkey

Sun, 21 Feb 2010 10:53:03 -0500

Turkey is the only country I’ve ever visited twice. Well, it’s possible that I’ve been to London twice, but if so I don’t remember the first time around so it doesn’t count. The first time was five years ago and it was just a few days in Istanbul as an after thought to visiting Greece. This time was a 10 day whirlwind tour to hit all of the highlights. I actually decided to join a tour since I didn’t think i could get to everything I wanted to see in the time I had on my own (Turkey’s a pretty big place; we drove 2800 kilometers in 10 days — that’s about 1700 miles for you Americans) and I knew in the winter a lot of hotels, etc. shut down so I’d have a tough time finding places to stay. And back of the envelope calculations but the cost of the tour at only slightly more expensive than what I could have done it for on my own. So tour booked and away I went. Here are the high and low lights.

Highlights

1. Ephesus: If i could have picked only one thing to see in Turkey, this would have been it. Now, Ephesus itself is not one of the ancient 7 wonders, that is actually the Temple of Artemis, which is just outside of Ephesus and where only one column remains of the original temple. However, the ruins at Ephesus are incredible. One advantage of traveling when the weather is crap is that no one else is out and about. So we were able to see most of the sights on our own and even get pictures of the library without other people in the shot. Awesome.

2. Pamukkale: these are the other worldly looking hot springs. From a distance you think you’re looking at snow covered hills, but it’s really calcuim deposits covering the rocks. The springs were beautiful, we were the only people there, and swimming in the hot springs was amazing given how cold and rainy it was out of the water.

3. Cappadocia: You’ve all seen Star Wars so you’ve all seen parts of Cappadocia. It really looks like you are on an alien planet. We visited underground cities, where early Christians would hide from the Romans, the cave churches at Goreme, and saw the “fairy chimney” rock formations. Even one that looked like a camel. Pretty cool.

Low lights

1. The weather: the problem with traveling during the off season when the weather is bad is that, well, the weather is bad. It was bitter cold and rainy the first few days. Then it tapered off and was pleasant for a few days.

2. Gallipoli: While it wouldn’t be accurate to say I didn’t like visiting the war memorial at Gallipoli, I have to admit it was not my most favorite part of the trip. Now a large part of that was due to the weather. Bitter cold, wind and rain is not conducive to paying proper respect to the hundreds of thousands of Turkish, and Australian, New Zealand, and other allied troops who died here during WW I. It is a very nice memorial and I can see why thousands of Australians and New Zealanders come here each year to pay their respects.

3. Have I already mentioned losing my credit card and ATM card? Is it cheating to mention that again? Whatever. My blog my rules and it really sucked. While this technically happened in Jordan, I was on my way to Turkey and had to deal with the aftermath in Turkey. However, I was saved from needing to quickly develop some talent I could use to earn money begging on the streets by Elena wiring me money from home. Thanks, sister of my heart for making the rest of the trip possible!

More photos to come later.

A little bit of cheating - photos of Istanbul

Fri, 19 Feb 2010 12:24:00 -0500

A little bit of cheating - photos of Istanbul:

In 2005, Rick and I spent a couple of days in Istanbul, making Turkey the only country I have ever visited twice. On this trip, since the weather was crap and my camera was not feeling like taking decent pictures without the flash, I gave up. This is a link to the photos I took 5 years ago. Remarkedly, nothing much has changed all that much in the intervening 5 years so I don’t feel bad for letting these pictures substitute for any I might have taken this time around. (Click on the title to get to the page with the pictures.) I’ll post more pictures from the rest of Turkey later.

And in case you were wondering how many more photos I could possible take, the answer is not many. The day after I arrived in Tunisia my camera broke. Or rather, I broke the camera by falling and smashing it into the ground. Without a credit card I can’t afford to get a new digital camera (see Jordan highlights for the absurd story on how i lost my wallet), I bought a one-time use camera with 37 exposures. So, after taking about 500 picutres in each country i’ve been in, I now have 37 to get me through Tunisia and Paris. I will have to be very stingy.

Here are the highlights of the Jordan pictures. These photos...

Tue, 16 Feb 2010 15:08:10 -0500

Jerash, Roman city north of Amman

oldest known map of Palestine

Wadi Rum desert

Canyons of Petra

Petra Treasury

Tombs in Petra

Here are the highlights of the Jordan pictures. These photos don’t do Petra justice; you just have to go there and see it for yourself.

Finally the rest of the Spain photos.

Tue, 16 Feb 2010 14:24:04 -0500

Alhambra in Granda

passion facade of La Sagrada Familia

view of Barcelona

Finally the rest of the Spain photos.

The Jordan Highlights

Sat, 13 Feb 2010 11:18:01 -0500

I’m working on getting more pictures posted, but for now here are the three best ^ worst things about Jordan == though worst is a relative term.

Best

Petra: Really, this list could just be a list of the top things about Petra and I’d be done. It is breathtakingly beautiful there. The Treasury is even more spectacular in person that it was in the Indian Jones movie, and the Monastery is well worth the hour hike to get up there. The pictures won’t come close to doing this place justice, you’ll just need to go see it for yourself.

Jerash: These are a set of roman era ruins about an hour north of Amman. They are probably some of the most intact Roman ruins anywhere in the world and some of the nicest I’ve personally seen. Getting there and back on the public bus was an adventure all on its own, where I mostly had to trust the non-English speaking bus driver that he wasn’t just dropping me off on the outskirts of Amman without a plan, but he wasn’t and i made it back safe and sound.

Wadi Rum this is the desert area outside of Aqaba, which is in southern Jordan near the Red Sea and border with Israel. The desert was beautiful and I spent a night camping in a Bedouin tent after drinking tea and listening to Jordanian and Palestinian folk songs. About midnight we went for a hike to watch the moon rise, where i also got an impromptu Arabic lesson that involved writing in the sand.

Honorary mention: Youssef the cab driver. If there is one constant around the world it’s that cab drivers are the people most likely to try and rip you off. Or convince you to take a cab when you don’t need to, Or take the long way around. It’s really the same all over. Youssef was a cab driver that I used on the way from the bus station to my hotel in Amman. The next day, his happened to be the cab I flagged down when I need a ride home. A few days later, he was at the bus station again when I needed a ride and I just happened to run into him. In all of this, he never once asked me my marital status (everyone in Jordan enquires about your marital status), he never offered to take me anywhere or talk me out of the bus when I already had a plan. All he did was give me his card “in case I ever needed anything.” I ended up calling him to take me to the dead sea and some other sights, and he charged me about half of what the other cab drivers were quoting.

The Worst (note that several of these are more the result of my stupidity than anything to do with Jordan)

The weather in Aqaba: Aqaba is supposed to have sunny weather all year around, which is why i planned to spend almost a week down there relaxing by the pool and beach. However, while it was certainly warm there (much warmer than Amman), the sunny weather only appeared for a day or two.

Losing my credit card and ATM in the Amman airport : the day i left Amman, i lost my wallet in the airport when i stupidly set it down on a counter and didn’t pick it back up. Thankfully I didn’t lose any cash because that was in a different wallet, but i did lose my ATM card which had the potential to spell disaster for the rest of the trip. Thankfully I had left some signed checks with a friend of mine and she was able to wire me enough cash to finish out the next three weeks. Knowing that I would be able to get cash didn’t prevent my panicking in the airport, and almost losing my temper with airport security when they could not find the wallet after we learned the shopkeeper had found the wallet and supposedly turned it over to airport security. Not fun.

Taking 5 antibiotic tablets instead of the parasite killing pills and spending a morning vomiting. Lake Malawi has parasites and if you’ve been anywhere near the water you have to take these 7 parasite killing pills 6 weeks after you’re last contact with the water. I grabbed the wrong pack of pills and swallowed 5 of the wrong pills before i realized it. That was an unpleasant morning, but everything was fine after I threw up and i’ve had no signs of being infested with parasites so that’s good too.