As I have mentioned in several posts previously I have spent quite a bit of time in the USA.  Lived there for two years during the early 1980s, and I have been back there four times since on various holidays. 

One of the things that really gets my backup is when people automatically dismiss America as a travel destination because of its foreign policy or the fool who is currently in power over there.  Although it could be argued that American foreign policy and politics are a manifestation of the national will, most Americans I’ve met don’t support Bush’s deranged and rapacious ways.  Sure, Bush stole the election fair and square, but the majority of Americans did not vote for him. 

As a matter of fact, a majority of Americans don’t vote at all because they have no interest in the candidates. The two party political system has left a great deal of the population feeling they aren’t being represented by either the Republicans or the Democrats, so they just don’t participate in the election process. 

Americans that my wife and I met were very concerned about foreigner’s opinions of America.  So often, the people that we spoke to (without us instigating any conversation about politics) actually apologised for Bush and made a point of telling us that they did not vote for him. 

The average American that I’ve ever encountered is a very polite and friendly person who is happy to meet people from overseas.  I was treated with nothing but courtesy and decency (with a few notable exceptions), in all the times that I have visited the States.

Some other people seem to think that because America has the largest economy in the world that it must be some big industrial wasteland and there are a quite few places like New Jersey (the “Garden State”, what a joke!), that do fit the bill, but on the whole it is an incredibly beautiful country.  I particularly like the south-western states, but there is beauty to be found across the whole country.  I have been to about 45 of the states and I feel that I can say this with some authority.

My favourite place in the US is the Grand Canyon (I’ve been there three times), but my second favourite place is Yosemite.  

Because of its beauty, Yosemite is usually very crowded for most warmer months of the year.  My wife and I visited Yosemite in the late summer, early autumn of 2006 and the park was almost empty. 

Apparently, most people go to Yosemite in the late spring or early summer, because the melting snow creates numerous waterfalls, off the steep rock faces of the valley.  There were no waterfalls when we visited Yosemite but it was still amazingly spectacular.  When I was younger and I used to rock climb, I used to fantasize about climbing at Yosemite and after visiting there, I found it easy to understand why the place was such a rock climbing mecca. The whole place is just stunning.

Over the Easter long weekend my wife and I with our friend Peter went down to my in-law’s holiday home at Tallong (it’s about a two and a half hour drive south of Sydney).

It’s a beautiful house on a hundred acres of mostly wild bushland over looking the cliffs that run along the Shoalhaven river. It’s quite the view in the morning. My in-laws even have a spotting scope set up at the window for watching the kangaroos and wallabies that often come by to graze.

On Saturday we went to Canberra to the folk festival and had a good time checking out the various acts and the people that they attract. 

Although the folk festival has many traditional activities such as morris dancing and fiddling workshops there quite a few acts that are taking folk music into new territory.  

The best acts I saw were the very entertaining Wheeze and Suck Band (check out the amazing song “The Flash Lad” on their website), Skirl and the very talented Spooky Men’s Chorale (good crazy fun). 

On Sunday we intended to fly our kite but there wasn’t enough wind so we tried out our new water propelled rocket.

The pump that came with the rocket was a little too small and fragile to give what we thought was enough pressure so we hooked it up to an air compressor. 

Much faster. Much better!

The pavement was too narrow and I couldn’t get far enough away from the building without having cars in the foreground so I stitched four images together.

About 50kms northeast of Mexico City are the amazing pyramids of Teotihuacán.

I didn’t visit Teotihuacán back in 1983 when I first went to Mexico because in my mind I thought they’d just be some kind of lame tourist trap. I used to have an elitist head space back then about travelling. I used to make a distinction between “tourism’ and “travelling”. In short I thought that tourism was for weak-minded lightweights and that travelling was somehow purer. Ah… the arrogance of youth. Now that I’m older, I see all travelling that’s not done for business, visiting family or to get to safety, as essentially tourism. Just going to places to have a look see.

I now wince when I hear someone declare with emphasis that are travellers.

Au contraire!

I “travelled” for 11 years straight which included probably over a 100, 000 kilometres hitch hiking and sleeping rough and when I look back I don’t feel that it could be described as anything more than tourism. I just didn’t have enough money most of the time to make it comfortable and that fact doesn’t turn it into “travelling”.

As a matter of fact, I’ve stopped staying at backpackers hostels when I do go abroad because I know it’s socially unacceptable to maim people bragging about what legends they are because have been “travelling” for a whole six months. I also feel it’s better for everyone that I remove myself from the temptation of perpetrating a little ultra violence when I hear some wanker ask a fellow backpacker, “how long have you been travelling for?”, so they can establish some kind of “I’ve been travelling longer than you” hierarchy. It’s a good thing that I didn’t meet myself when I was younger or I might not be writing this post.

Now with my little rant over, I will tell you a little about Teotihuacán. My wife and I took one of the cheap local buses from the Terminal Norte in Mexico City which turned out to be a good thing because it stopped at various little towns along the way and musicians would get on a play for tips. It was very atmospheric and muy sympatico.

If you ever go to Teotihuacán make sure you take a hat, some sun screen and water. There is very little shade and it can get very hot.

As you walk along the main avenue of the ruins, the charmingly named Calzada de los Muertos (road of the dead) you will see one small pyramid type platform after the other on either side in a row leading to the big pyramids at the end.

It wasn’t until I had visited Teotihuacán that I found out that the largest pyramid in the world (Cheops) might be in Egypt but the next two largest ones were in Mexico. Even though I’ve been to Mexico twice now, it still amazes me how many big pyramids there are in that country. I almost think that fact is being kept from the world, but then I realize it’s just my own ignorance.

 At the end of the Calzada de los Muertos the second largest pyramid at Teotihuacán known as the “Pyramid of the Moon”

and to it’s left is the larger (third largest in the world) pyramid, the Pyramid of the Sun. My wife and walked up the stairs to the top of the Pyramid of the Sun.

 It was pretty steep (not as steep as Tikal but much longer) and long but the view at the top is wonderful.

On the Pyramid of the Moon’s right is the Placio de los Jaguares which is quite different to the rest of the complex. It’s a nice place to sit a while in the shade and get some respite from the hawkers.

The Placio de los Jaguares is one of the few places in the whole complex where you can still see some of the old painted decoration.

 It must’ve been an amazingly colourful place. Almost psychedelic.

Not much is known about the people who built Teotihuacán as it is thought that it was started in the first century AD and abandoned by the eigth century.

Remember if you go there, that the hawkers are probably the descendents of the people who built the place and they have a right to be there and to eek out a living somehow. Don’t get annoyed at their constant attentions, just say no, thanking them politely (no gracias) and walk away if you don’t want to buy anything from them.

Before I went to Vietnam last year, everyone I know who had been there said that Ha Long Bay with it’s fantastically shaped limestone islands is a must see destination. Usually such recommendations leave me with visions of some tourist trap crawling with tourists and the predators that prey on them.

My preconceptions of what Ha Long Bay would be like were basically correct but for the fact that it wasn’t a hell.  Yes there are a lot of tourists but there wasn’t a hassle with local touts.

Most people going to Ha Long bay have bought tickets on package tours on the junks that tour the bay, from one of the many hole-in-the-wall travel agents one sees all over Vietnam.

 I don’t usually like to go on tours and I tend to avoid them but I’d been warned by the lady (Meng Kee) we were staying with in Hanoi that it’s better to buy the boat tickets in Hanoi because it takes the hassle out of finding transportation to the coast and it works out cheaper to buy it as a package.

We were picked up from where we were staying in Hanoi by a minibus and driven to the coast with about 12 other people. Interestingly there were a group of five Spanish people (of whom four didn’t speak English), who my wife and I struck up friendships with. I was quite amazed at how much Spanish I’d retained from my trips to Spain and Mexico over the years and we were to make ourselves understood to them. The Spanish were really lovely people who were full of life and we spent two wonderful days having a great time laughing and joking around in one of the most amazing landscapes I’ve ever seen. It was quite surreal speaking broken Spanish whilst floating through a landscape that looked like a Chinese painting.

We spent two very comfortable days on the junk which was more like a floating lounge room come restaurant. The staff were very friendly and relaxed as can been seen from the photo below of our captain.

The food was pretty good and plentiful but it was the company that really made the trip for us. My only regret was that I didn’t take any photos of the Spanish people with my camera (I took a few for them with their camera though).

Most of our trip was spent on the roof of the junk so we could see the scenery more clearly. It doesn’t get much better than kicking back with a cold drink in the tropics and watching amazing scenery go by while hanging out with good people. I’ve always found that while the landscape can be beautiful, it’s always the people that make a place.

Part of our package included kayaking so we had a chance to explore a little on our own which was fun. The water was so warm that when we were offered an opportunity to go swimming we didn’t bother as it wouldn’t have given any relief to the muggy heat at all. Whereas the beer was very good and cold.

On the last day it was very hazy and were taken to the place in the photo below

to see the caves.

One other thing that was good about the Ha Long Bay trip was that the staff on the junk didn’t constantly try to sell us things. We later took a boat trip in Hue the see the emporer’s tombs and during whole trip of about seven hours we were constantly being pressured to buy things and it was a real drag.

After such enjoyable experience Ha Long Bay, I know I will be another one of those people suggesting to anyone who is going to visit Vietnam that they would do well to go on a boat trip there.

The concourse to the departure gates at Bangkok International Airport looks a lttle like a futuristic version of Monstro’s (the whale in Disney’s film of Pinocchio) insides.

I’ve travelled extensively in the USA (46 states) and the south western states are my favourite. I just love the huge open spaces with the big skies. Utah is just so beautiful.

Back in 2005, my wife and I went to Canada (I used to live there) to visit family and friends. We flew into Calgary after seeing my parents in Hamilton Ontario and hired a car to drive to Vancouver to see a couple of old friends (John and Ed). I wanted drive from Calgary to Vancouver to show my wife what I think is some of the most beautiful scenery in the world.

The Icefields Parkway heads north 240 kms (about 140 miles) from Lake Louise to Jasper in Alberta Canada. Without a doubt the parkway is one of the most spectacularly beautiful drives I’ve ever be on. The beauty is almost a hazard to safe driving as it’s hard to concentrate on the road when the scenery is so stunning.

 I found myself constantly craning my neck at odd angles just to see higher up on the mountains. We decided we had to stop fairly often (which wasn’t a problem as we weren’t in a hurry) and get out of the car to enjoy the view.

About 40kms north of Lake Louise is the surreal turquoise Peyto lake that looks so fake in photographs that hardly anyone will believe that a natural lake could so be such a vivid colour.

The only other lake that I’ve seen that is even more colourful is Moraine Lake (also in Alberta).

As my wife and I travelled further north we saw a bunch of cars parked by the side of the road and people were getting out of their cars to take photos, so we stopped to see what was so interesting.  About 20 meters (about 60 feet) from the roadside was an elk lying down in the scrub.

I was amazed at how close it let people get to it. Only my concern for my safety stopped me from getting closer than I did. Elks are big and I knew there would be no contest between me and it, if it freaked out and I was in the way.

We only travelled a total of about 135kms north on the Icefields Parkway because we only wanted to go as far as the Columbia Icefields. We were heading to Vancouver later, which is in the opposite direction. The icefields are over 200sq kms of ice cap that has glaciers all around it’s perimeter.

 What’s really amazing is how far, in the last 120 years, the glaciers have receded. The foot of the glacier used to be at the point where the photo above was taken.

Thanks to some advice that a friend gave us, my wife and I took our bicycles down to Melbourne last week. We stayed at the Victoria Hotel which is right in the middle of downtown Melbourne next to the town hall. Melbourne (as I’ve mentioned before) is a very cycle friendly place. One morning we cycled down to St.Kilda, which was only about a 15 to 20 minute cycle away, to have breakfast.

St.Kilda has a bit of a mixed reputation amongst the locals. It’s seen as a bit of a tourist destination that is full of poseurs.  Sure enough, St. Kilda has it’s quota of guys making a big display of riding their bikes with arms folded but it’s nowhere near as painful as Venice Beach in Los Angeles which has to be the wanker capitol of the world.

In St. Kilda we enjoyed Acland Street with is lovely old world cake shops; St. Kilda Pier and the ride back to downtown via Kerferd Street which has some very lovely old houses from the Victorian era

 through the Federation style

and then onto the late Art Nouveau period.

When I was in New Orleans many years ago I thought that too much fuss was made over the few old buildings they had there with “iron lace”. If you like that sort of thing, Australia has much, much more of it in Sydney and Melbourne.