Tourism – Traveling Epic!

Top 10 Activities in San Diego California

January 16, 2015January 16, 2015Posted in Adventure, Family, National Park, North America, Photography, Tourism, Travel TipsTagged Baby gorilla, Baby Panda, Balboa Park Centenial, Oceanside beaches, San Diego Zoo, Wild Animal Park2 Comments

I recently moved to Oceanside California, a suburb of San Diego, and this holiday season we had an opportunity to look at San Diego like tourists. Southern California is a tourists paradise. In Orange County you have Disneyland and Knottsberry farm. Go to the coast and you have world famous beaches Newport and Long beach. In this post, I want to focus on San Diego. San Diego is packed with some of the most popular activities.

Foreigners who think they want to visit Los Angeles when they come to the US would do well to come south a few hours to San Diego area. After seeing a little bit of Hollywood or Disney, you’ll have a lot better time

1. San Diego Zoo and Wild Animal Park – The world famous San Diego Zoo

Most of my life this was THE zoo. San Diego, California housing over 3,700 animals of more than 650 species and subspecies. Some of the highlights from my most recent visit were the baby panda who has been really growing, the baby gorilla. The lion was awesome.

Baby Panda eating Bamboo

Baby Gorilla right up against the glass…. so cute!

The Male Lion vocalizing… Serious Yawn! Amazing King of the Jungle.

After spending time at the San Diego, it made me wonder what are the best zoos. My favorite are the real animal parks in South Africa and Botswana, but when you can’t have that the Wild Animal Park in San Diego and the San Diego Zoo are really tops.

World’s Top 10 Zoos according to TripAdvisor

1. Henry Doorly Zoo (Omaha, Nebraska)

2. San Diego Zoo (San Diego)

3. Loro Parque (Puerto de la Cruz, Spain)

4. St. Louis Zoo (St. Louis)

5. Singapore Zoo (Singapore)

2. La Jolla – The Cove

My favorite place to relax in San Diego is in La Jolla. The beaches, the calm seas, the birds, the seals… I’ve done some snorkeling at the underwater park. What a wonderful place.

The Cove, Seals, Kayaks

This water arch is accessible by Kayak rental

Sunset at La Jolla Shores, bon fires along the beach

Flickr: 57108987@N00

Don’t miss the seals!

3. Legoland California + water park in Carlsbad and Aquarium

Kids love legoland. Rides, and entire cities and cityscapes including life sized Star Wars figures

Really… This Chewbacca is totally out of legos!

4. San Diego Harbor Cruise, Speed boat or Whale Watching

The San Diego skyline with a cruise ship. The harbor cruise, whale cruises, and even jet boats and duck boats are available for a ride out in the bay.

Battleships and navy battalions, the USS Midway is on the dock available for a self guided tour

5. Balboa Park – Science Museum

Balboa Park is a San Diego must-see, just minutes from downtown, and ranked as one of the Best Parks in the World. The Park is home to 15 major museums, several performing arts venues, lovely gardens and many other cultural and recreational attractions, including the San Diego Zoo. With a variety of cultural institutions laid out among its 1,200 beautiful and lushly planted acres, Balboa Park is the nation’s largest urban cultural park. Yes it is huge… and bigger than even central park in NYC.

The tower and the Museum of Man were designed by Bertram Goodhue, who was inspired by the churches of Mexico and Spain. Even though the tower and museum resemble a church, they’ve never been used as one. They’ve always housed exhibits, except when used as a Navy hospital during World War II.

Flickr: jimnix

Balboa park is definitely something to see. A huge collection of museums right off from the zoo which house great collections of science, natural history, and culture.

As a public service, Balboa Park organizations offer free admission on a rotating basis on the first four Tuesdays of the month to San Diego City & County residents (with ID), active military & their dependents.

Please note: Some museums may offer complimentary admission to their permanent collections only and charge admission to special exhibitions or films.

Also note: Some museums may require ID for minors

First Tuesday

Reuben H. Fleet Science Center
Centro Cultural de la Raza
San Diego Model Railroad Museum
San Diego Natural History Museum (Not valid for 3-D films)

Second Tuesday

Museum of Photographic Arts
San Diego History Center
Veterans’ Museum and Memorial Center

Third Tuesday

San Diego Art Institute
Mingei International Museum
San Diego Museum of Art
San Diego Museum of Man
Japanese Friendship Garden

Fourth Tuesday

San Diego Air & Space Museum (Not valid for special exhibitions)
San Diego Automotive Museum (Last admission 3:45 PM)
San Diego Hall of Champions
Select House of Pacific Relations International Cottages

Museum Month: Half-Off Admission 2/1/15 – 2/28/15

The Timken Museum of Art is always free.

Due to large crowds and for visitor safety some museums may restrict entrance to strollers.

For more information visit http://www.balboapark.org/visit/tuesdays

6. Oh yeah, there’s Sea World… or Tons of Beaches to explore (be a whale?)

Sure go see Shamu or whoever, or why not go to some of the best beaches on the planet. You could even catch a whale cruise. (The 3 day Go San Diego pass offers discounts to Sea World) See bottom.

Coronado (more below)
Ocean Beach
La Jolla
Mission Beach
Torrey Pines
Oceanside
Del Mar
Solana Beach
Moonlight Beach
…. So many choices!

Check out the list of Top 10 Beaches in San Diego

7. Old Town San Diego

Credits: SanDiego.org

San Diego Historical Society: Old Town State Historic Park

Old town San Diego is a favorite. Very easy walking to historic churches, homes, great authentic Mexican food, and markets, shops and fascinating history. I recommend the Mormon Batallion. I have an ancestor that made that longest march in US history from Missouri to San Diego for the Mexican American War. The visitors center has an 3D style interactive movie that puts you back in those times.

8. Day Trip to TJ

As a global traveler I can’t resist going to Tijuana for a day trip. My favorite excursion is the drive to Ensenada and the Blow hole south of the city by another 15 minutes to El Bufadorra, but most would want to spend the weekend in Ensanada and a little more planning. The day trip to walk along Revolution street complete with street tacos and a visit to one of the many markets and lots of cheap souvenirs. This last trip we caught a cab after walking across the border and took us to the cultural museum and walked back to the border. We got some street tacos, churros, and I got a very cheap TJ Harley Davidson pullover Mexican style hoodie. The border crossings can be a pain, but really you only have to wait coming back. The way to Mexico is just a turn style. Make sure you have your passports to get back!

Cultural Museum of the Americas in Tijuana

Fresh and Cheap Pomegrantes… just across the border!

And who doesn’t love all of your favorite characters made up into Piñatas! Yes that is Anna, Elsa and Olaf and a couple minions.. for the right price

The Famous Jai Alai stadium at one end of the Avenue Revolution

The Arch at the other end of the Avenue

I could do a whole post on TJ, and probably should. There are so many people who visit Tijuana the wrong way, and as well there are so many people who are afraid of the border for the wrong reasons.

9. Hotel and Beach Coronado – Mystery surrounds the Hotel Coronado

Coronado’s famous beaches are known for their fine white sand that sparkles in the sun thanks to the mineral mica

Parents Magazine named Coronado Beach one of the Best Beach in the U.S. for Families
A stroll through the historic Hotel del Coronado, a truly enchanting experience.

Flickr: 29541450@N07

“Coronado is home to the famous Hotel del Coronado, built in 1888 and long considered one of the world’s top resorts. It is listed as a National Historic Landmark and appeared in films such as Some Like It Hot and The Stunt Man.” Read more about the Historic Hotel Coronado and Beach… http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coronado,_California

If you decide to go for a drive swing by the Mission in San Diego or follow the beaches north to Oceanside to the mission there. Best time to stop by is during the Day of the Dead where over 5000 people come to celebrate the dead!

I’m loving it here. I have to wonder if it has the best weather in the world…? Incredible number of days that are simply just right, but I don’t want to convince everyone to move here…. just that it’s a great destination, but apparently you probably already know that.

Even though I’m not getting a dime for this, let me see if I can save you some money. There is a Go San Diego Card that allows you to get into multiple places at once for a fixed price. I used the groupon San Diego deal to save even more. We did the two day and just bought the adult one ($97 for All Inclusive 2 day pass) and used the Legoland kids get in free coupon with full fared paid adult… We had to find someone who was paying full price to let our kid in with them from a $ perspective… It worked. Worked out wonderfully. We saved $50-60 on each day. Combining the activities into a string of events in a day is exhausting, but we had a great time!

Biking the World’s Most Dangerous Road in Bolivia

December 11, 2014November 20, 2016Posted in Adventure, Bucket List, Extreme, Favorite, Nature, Road Trip, South America, Tourism, Travel, Travel Tips, Unique, VideoTagged Bolivian Adventure Travel, Death Road, featured, Ruta De La Muerta, Travel Bolivia, World's Deadliest RoadLeave a comment

It started out as an idea. What would be the coolest thing to see in Bolivia? I’d heard and seen the dangerous road featured on SciFi and National Geographic programs, so getting a glimpse of the road was my objective. I’d also heard about some other things featured on Sci Fi, like Puma Punku and Tiuanaku, but I’ll save that for another post. In my search for information on seeing the world’s most dangerous road, I came across Gravity Bolivia, a high adventure extreme sports adventure travel site for the adventure traveler. If you’re going to go… you have to go with them. Best in safety equipment and support. On this one, I believe it does matter. I usually don’t endorse, but on this adventure, you have to be extremely careful.

In their own words…

“Quite deservedly, this mountain bike ride is our most popular and World famous. Gravity has been featured guiding and riding this road in more than 60 magazine and newspaper articles, (as well as six television shows and on the lips and Blogs of almost every backpacker and adventure traveler in South America), this downhill mountain bike ride is not only famous, but so is GRAVITY!”

My brother in law Jeff, who had never even been to South America joined us on this adventure. He said it was absolutely the craziest, scariest, best adventure, day of his life. He rode on the middle bar of one of our instructors this wasn’t the original plan. They didn’t have a small enough bike, but they accommodated in a serious way.

The ride is one of a kind with the most spectacular descent of 3,600m/11,800 feet from snow-covered high-altitude mountain ranges down to the Amazonian Jungle with most of the 64kms (40 miles) of downhill riding on the road locally known as “The Death Road” or “Camino de la muerte!” The true stories you’ll hear are real. This road is not a joke. It’s serious with sheer cliffs with 3000 ft (1000 meter) drops. The long ropes they carry aren’t long enough for the longest drops and there isn’t a survival rate on those drops either.

Why would someone ride on a road called the death road? For me, I wanted to do the investigation, read the stories and determine if it was something I wanted to do. Initially I simply wanted to see what the fuss was about, but when I heard I could take it at my own speed and with instructors who would tell you about the turns along the way, and give you professional equipment I was slowly convinced I could do it.

On the site they say the ride is for “Confident beginners to experts, average fitness and above, and in particular, those looking for a long, world-class, downhill mountain bike ride.” The Trip Advisor ratings for Braving the World’s Most Dangerous Road and scores for this ride were off the charts at the level of Chernobyl. Here’s what I said in my review “I just got back from a whirlwind tour of 3 capitals in South America and the thing that stands out above all was my ride down the Worlds Most Deadly road. I was a little scared, but I did my homework and read all the reviews and looked into the various companies that do this ride.
First off Gravity is quality. The whole time my needs were met. Andy our guide watched out for us. He told us at each stop what to expect and how to handle it. He wasn’t pushy and allowed us to take things at our own pace.”

I don’t want to tell anyone they have to do this. I don’t want any responsibility at all for convincing anyone to put their life in their own hands. It’s liberating, and will scare you, but it’s also likely one of the most dangerous things I’ve done. That being said, I know I was riding a good 40 miles an hour down the hill at times and feeling an incredible rush. My front brakes needed to be adjusted part way down the mountain, and a guy in our party hurt his arm and shoulder scraping them on the road.

La Paz is an amazing place. When we landed at the airport I was pleased to find they had reduced their visa fees. I got a Bolivian visa for only $60. Only 3 years ago I was looking at $160 x 3 since I was with my wife and baby and at the time none of us had the yellow fever shot. This time we were all ready and got our visa on arrival and yes at the new reduced fare. As of Nov 16, 2014.

When we got off the plane an older lady fell on her face, and after a quick jog, we were all dangerously out of breath. Don’t push it here. When you first get off the plane, the Swahili mountain words of wisdom come to mind… “pole, pole” comes to mind. “Slowly, slowly.” Chewing the cocoa leaves and sucking out the juice (a local remedy) do the trick for helping alleviate the high elevation headache, or bring your high elevation pills. We decided to ride on day 2 of our stay in Bolivia. That was intentional and smart. It allowed us to acclimate at the world’s highest capital.

These cliffs are no joke!

The ride is beautiful. The jungle really sucks you in, and the views are out of this world. We stopped 15 times along the route to take pictures, drink liquids, and take in the amazing view.

Michael Noel, Jeff Beaulieu, and Joel Oleson geared up and ready to ride. Bike, gloves, jacket, pants, helmet and goggles all provided by Gravity Bolivia. We all made it. Incredible experience.

GoPro3 Youtube Highlight Video of our Crazy Experience

World’s Deadliest Road Highlights from Helmet and Chest Cam

“Mountain Biking for 64km down the World’s Most Dangerous Road (WMDR, aka Yungas Road, aka Camino de las Muertas, aka Camino de las Yungas) in Bolivia. The trip starts at an altitude of 4650m and ends at 1200m. I tried to edit this down to the highlights of the journey. Taken from my GoPro3 with myself, Joel Oleson, and Jeff Beaulieu sharing camera duty throughout the ride” uploaded and edited by Michael Noel http://sharingtheglobe.com

I facebooked a video of the narrowest part of the road as we drove back on the road. In a lot of ways it was more scary riding the bus back on that crazy road than on a bike.

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10152932118078783

I’ll be uploading more video to my youtube channel in the coming weeks. You can subscribe to my traveling epic youtube videos. I’ve gotten over 1.4 million views across the channel.

Top 10 Must See in Baku Azerbaijan: Fire Temple, Mud Volcano, and Early Man sites

November 3, 2014November 3, 2014Posted in Asia, Eastern Europe, Tourism, Travel, Travel Tips, UNESCO, VideoTagged ateshgah, azerbaijan, baku, fire temple, volcano, zoroastrian3 Comments

In my quest to visit every country I wasn’t sure what to expect with Azerbaijan. What looked like a small country with a checkered past sprinkled with war and conflict with Armenia. I was definitely interested in learning about the people, the culture and learning what Azerbaijan had to offer the world and for fellow travelers. I wasn’t disappointed, in fact I was blown away with the treasures of this land.

What I found was fantastic. Azerbaijan is a very culturally rich country with a deep past. A former soviet block country with it’s own history and it’s own identity, Azerbaijan is rich. Rich culturally and figuratively with oil and very culturally rich.

Baku is in and of itself a stand out city that should be held up against the greatest in the region in comparison with Dubai and Doha .

1. Baku Zoroastrian Fire Temple – Ateshgah of Baku.

The Temple of Fire “Ateshgah” on the List of World Heritage Sites, UNESCO. It’s been a museum since 1975. The fires use to come out of the top of the 4 corners. This fascinating fire temple was a place of worship long ago and most of the history before 1700 has been lost.

In front of the fire temple

This recreated piece shows what it would have been like, complete with Zoroastrian pilgrims and Persians

Modern Baku – Baku is a fascinating city with many modern buildings that would boggle the mind. I thought I was in Dubai or Qatar when I started seeing the array of modern, brilliant and fantastic architectures.

2. Heydar Aliyev Cultural Center

– amazing example of modern architecture. The white building is a major landmark in the heart of Baku City. The immaculately white building comes in the shape of waves. It is no doubt an impressive structure and an great achievement in field of modern architecture and engineering. I can’t imagine trying to make the bricks for this. No lines are straight!

3. Baku Flame Towers

is a striking new addition to the skyline of Baku. Located atop a hill on the Caspian Sea overlooking Baku Bay and the old city center, the three towers were inspired by Azerbaijan’s ancient history of fire worshipping, and will illuminate the city and act as an eternal flame for modern Baku. 190 Meters… towering above old town.

4. World’s 2nd Largest Flag Pole – National Flag Square –

The flag square is one end of the boardwalk, so really you’re just on one end of the Caspian sea and 5K walk through the park across the street from the Old Town.

The flag you see was the largest in the world until Dushanbe Tajikistan took it over by just 3 meters. Big flag.

I suggest you either take the

5. Steps for City View Funicular and night time viewing of the Flame Towers

up to the top to get a close up view, or ask your taxi or driver to take you to the steps shown to get a close up view of the Flame Towers. This is a must see spectacle lighting up the night sky with fires.

6. Must See Sunrise and Caspian Sea and seaside boardwalk

Baku is a beautiful city, and walking along the seaside boardwalk and heading for a jog at sunrise is incredible. Beautiful sunrise creeping up over the Caspian sea. You can see the oil residue in the water. It’s not appealing, but the jog or walk along the the sea side can’t be beat. I recommend Milli Park, which is right near the Maiden tower, which is in Old Town. So very easy to combine visits to a bunch of this stuff.

Seaside Boulevard was opened in May 2012 and extends from the ‘Baku Sports Palace’ (Bakı İdman Sarayı) to the ‘National Flag Square’.

7. Mud Volcanoes

– The worlds mud volcanoes are in large part in Azerbaijan. They say that more than 50% of the worlds mud volcanoes are in this country. I don’t doubt it. It hasn’t become the tourist attraction it deserves. We had the whole place to ourselves. Our driver really didn’t want to take us in his nice car, but we twisted his arm and the offroad dirt roads he took to get there, I now understand his hesitation. It was probably my favorite thing we did there. The mud was bubbling up creating cinder cones of mud, we played around. It’s not hot to the touch, in fact it was cool. Very strange and fascinating world.

8. Gobustan Early man site and Petroglyphs – UNESCO world heritage site.

Early man carved out these holes to capture water for drinking.

Gobustan Rock Art – outstanding collection of more than 6,000 rock engravings bearing testimony to 40,000 years of rock art. The site also features the remains of inhabited caves, settlements and burials, all reflecting an intensive human use by the inhabitants of the area during the wet period that followed the last Ice Age, from the Upper Paleolithic to the Middle Ages. The invading armies of Alexander the Great and Trajan also left some interesting grafitti. We didn’t find this on our journey… may have been inside the gated area, but we really enjoyed what we saw. So much there, but you’d likely need a guide to get off the route and see more.

There were a lot of petrogliphys. We did the self guided tour, and later stopped in the museum that’s near the entrance of the park. It was fascinating to see. We combined seeing the mud volcanoes and the petrogylphys and early man stuff in Gobustan.

Walking through the center of town you’ll find a fascinating walking street through the town. Be sure to take the underground walk ways when you encounter busy streets and obey the traffic signs. The cars won’t stop for you. There are lots of fountains and fascinating things to view walking through the city.

9. Old City and Maiden’s Tower – Old City (a UNESCO World Heritage site)

First thing to see in the city and likely where you should stay near… this mysterious and eccentric tower was built somewhere between the 7th and 12th centuries and may have served as a fire beacon, defensive fortification, astronomical observatory, or Zoroastrian temple

Old City Baku

If you like Sports… check out the 2015 European Games planning on Baku Azerbaijan as the host. They are getting state of the art stadiums to host the games.

10. Bibi-Heybat Mosque –

The Bibi-Heybat Mosque is a historical mosque in Baku, Azerbaijan. The existing structure, built in the 1990s, is a recreation of the mosque with the same name built in the 13th century by Shirvanshah Farrukhzad II Ibn Ahsitan II, which was completely destroyed by the Bolsheviks in 1936. The Bibi-Heybat Mosque includes the tomb of Ukeyma Khanum (a descendant of the Prophet Muhammad), and today is the spiritual center for the Muslims of the region and one of the major monuments of Islamic architecture in Azerbaijan.

What I missed, that I wanted to see.

Go and enjoy the oil baths of Naftalan. Seriously baths of crude oil… petrol!

The Baku Airport is one of the few in the world offering flights to Nakhchivan and travelers heading that way should book a flight from here. My friend Michael who traveled with me was able to fit it in and spent a good day there.

Chernobyl Tour: Nuclear Disaster Day Trip

October 11, 2014October 11, 2014Posted in Eastern Europe, Extreme, Favorite, Tourism, TravelTagged Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, Chernobyl tour, disaster tourism, Nuclear Disaster, чернобыль, Pripyat2 Comments

My first experience with Chernobyl was a fly over. I was flying out of Belarus to Ukraine and my friend Michael mentioned we were flying over the area where Chernobyl happened. My curiosity and thoughts went wild. Then it was a couple of b movies, TV show, and Hollywood Horror Flick that really got me interested. An article from national geographic about the people that lived in the exclusion zone really got me curious. чернобыль to locals in Ukraine isn’t a place people would want to visit? Why go to a contaminated place? Have you ever been curious to visit a place after a volcano? Mt St Helens… A hurricane? New Orleans… or curious about Berlin? Why not Hiroshima or Chernobyl? There is actually a name for this now. Disaster Tourism – the act of traveling to a disaster area as a matter of curiosity.

Was it possible to visit such a place?

Yes! After looking into it, I found a visit to Chernobyl is not only 5 stars and ranked number 1 nearly every review on Trip Advisor for day trips from Kiev, there were multiple tour companies doing nearly daily tours. As well Chernobyl Tour has 106 Five star ratings and not even one one, two, or three star rating. There is only one way for normal people to visit Chernobyl… on a tour. Let me pick a few select titles from the reviews that pushed me over the edge on this…

The infamous and creepy carnival in Pripyat

These rides were never enjoyed by children. The city was evacuated before the park’s launch at the May day celebration.

“Best tour of my life!”

“Ammmmazing!”

“Best Journey of my life!”

“A metaphysical experience”

Chernobyl Tours with UkrainianWeb.com

So I tried to track down a tour that would be able to pick me up on the day the only day I was going to be available. Thursday Sep 25. Here’s the confirmation mail from my reservation that shares a lot of the details. We reserved the private tour. This gave us more flexibility. We stopped at a market on the way and I got a jacket and locally made yoghurt (it had been pretty cold.

In front of the Chernobyl Nuclear Disaster monument. Behind us is Nuclear reactor #4.

“Today the fiercely radioactive remnants of reactor four continue to smolder beneath the so-called sarcophagus, a decaying concrete-and-steel crypt, hastily built after the accident, that now threatens to collapse. Work is about to get under way on a replacement: an arched structure, the size of a stadium, that will slide over the sarcophagus and seal it off. With its completion the destroyed reactor will be out of sight. But for the region’s people it will never be out of mind, as a slow-motion catastrophe continues to unfold.” – Ny Times Chernobyl Capping a Catastrophe

It’s been covered by what they call a sarcophagus and they are in the process of building the new one which is the biggest engineering project of this kind. This New York Times article describes the new construction.

The Chernobyl Arch will end up costing about $1.5 billion

“If all goes as planned, by 2017 the 32,000-ton arch will be delicately pushed on Teflon pads to cover the ramshackle shelter that was built to entomb the radioactive remains of the reactor that exploded and burned here in April 1986. When its ends are closed, it will be able to contain any radioactive dust should the aging shelter collapse.”

NY times: Chernobyl Capping a Catastrophe

IMPORTANT:

Make sure to carry your passport with you on the day of your tour.

Dear Mr Oleson:
Below is your Chernobyl tour pick-up contact information:
1. On Thu, Sep 25th, at 8:15 a.m., a car from the Chernobyl agency will be waiting for you at the address (in front of the hotel):

Dnipro Hotel, 1/2 Kreschatik Str

The Dnipro Hotel is situated in the Сentre of the city, on the European Square.

Make: Mercedes Sprinter (Color: white)

The driver’s name is Vladimir. His cell # is (He doesn’t speak English.)

AS SOON AS you check-in at your hotel in Kiev, call a taxi service and arrange for a cab pick-up in the morning, for example, at 8:00 a.m. or so -the taxi people will be able to give you a more accurate estimate. Normally, there is a HEAVY TRAFFIC in this part of the city at this time of the day.

2. Your English speaking pick-up manager’s cell phone # is: His name is Anton

3. Your total for 2 persons is: $398.0, already paid: $90.0 (reservation fee). So your balance with us is $308.0

You will have to pay it in UA Hr though.

Unfortunately, the UA Hr exchange rate fluctuates these days pretty vigorously.

If it was today, it would be an equivalent of 4405 (four thousands four hundred five) Ukrainian Hryvna.

However for now this is just a reference point for you, while the exact amount will be confirmed by the tour manager on the day of your tour, as you come to board your tour vehicle.

The Zone authorities just introduced a mandatory accidental insurance for each day/person of the trip. The insurance is 80 UA Hryvna (it is an equivalent of $7 usd and has to be paid inside the Zone directly to the Zone authorities who are the exclusive operator of this tour.)

You will have to pay this amount in Ukrainian currency. Please mind, the tour manager will not accept currencies other than Ukrainian Hryvna.

IMPORTANT:

Make sure to carry your passport with you on the day of your tour.

IMPORTANT:

It’s not uncommon to experience problems with obtaining cash from Mastercard, Visa and other credit/debit cards at ATMs in Kiev, Ukraine. We strongly recommend that you bring some Euro and/or US$ cash with you to avoid possible unpleasant last-minute surprises.

IMPORTANT (in summer):

Please make sure to wear a close type of clothing: long sleeves, no shorts, close sports or casual type footwear (no flip-plops, no sandals).

“The one piece of advice I would say is bring sturdy shoes as there is lots of walking on broken glass in Pripiyat.”

(Picture not included in email… but yes there’s lots of glass!)

Don’t forget the mosquito spray. (We didn’t need any)

Radiation dosimeters are available for rent. The daily rental rate is 200UAHr/day (equivalent of 13Euro). Please indicate explicitly the number of dosimeters you wish us to reserve for your.

Radiation dosimeters are also available for purchase at $175 each. Your will have to pre-order the quantity you need. (The docimeter was actually a Geiger counter and we rented 1 between us)

Please confirm receiving this email.

Thank you for your business.

Sincerely,
Customer Service

www.UkrainianWeb.com

————————————————-

So how did I get to Ukraine? I was invited to speak in Kiev at a SharePoint conference http://spcua.com/ (my day job, see my technical blog for more details). I booked an amazing flight from Amsterdam down to Kiev, and on to Azerbaijan and back to Stockholm for about $500 on Ukraine air. Less than 24 hours later Malaysian airlines went down and I got cold feet and cancelled the flight. A couple weeks later I was convinced that the real conflict was 500 Km away and the people could use the morale from a visit. After some convincing for my wife and making sure my insurance policy was still in place, I rebooked the flight on condition that I’d be able to visit one of my new bucketlist items. Chernobyl, the worlds worst disaster and one of the most fascinating places. It’s amazing how this 1000 square miles now known as the exclusion zone has become a wild animal park. With humans having been evacuated the bears, wolves, moose, wild horses, fish have really made

Life in Pripyat came to a shuddering end on April 26, 1986, less than two miles (less than three kilometers) south of what was then a city of 50,000, as the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant’s number four reactor exploded. Thirty people died in the blast and fire or exposed to lethal doses of radiation. The destroyed hulk burned for ten days, contaminating tens of thousands of square miles in northern Ukraine, southern Belarus, and Russia’s Bryansk region. It still is the worst nuclear accident the world has ever seen!

Read more about the history of Chernobyl and the blast : Great Article on Chernobyl from National Geographic

Exclusion Zone 1st Check Point

An exclusion zone of about 1,000 square miles still exists around the plant, with access controlled through checkpoints. Although radiation levels have declined somewhat through the natural process of radioactive decay, the zone remains virtually empty. Some of the villages were bulldozed to contain the radiation (it didn’t help); forest has overtaken others. In Pripyat, where 45,000 people once lived, paint peels off the murals in the community center and a tree grows in the middle of a gym floor. In one apartment, all that remains is a smashed piano.

The fallout, 400 times more radioactivity than was released at Hiroshima, drove a third of a million people from their homes and triggered an epidemic of thyroid cancer in children. Over the years, the economic losses—health and cleanup costs, compensation, lost productivity—have mounted into the hundreds of billions of dollars.

Here’s the Chernobyl tour itinerary interspersed with my photos:

Unscheduled stop. Saw some places in the woods and asked top stop. This was a community center complete with stage.

Arrival at the town of Chernobyl

These are the robots that were used to clean up the nuclear disaster. The best ones were the ones without electrical components. The best ones apparently were the old soviet ones.

Transfer to the village of Leliyov. Passing the 10-km zone border.
Transfer to the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Station and sightseeing of Reactor 4.

Reactor 4

I captured video of our Geiger counter going crazy right in front of Reactor #4

The Fish of the cooling water. These are nuclear hot. Reminds me of the Simpsons fish what you can’t see in the picture is the scale. The catfish is so big it is the size of a shark. They often will feed it a loaf of bread!

Visit to Pripyat (Prypiat), the highlight of your trip. Sightseeing of “The Dead (Ghost) Town” – swimming pool area, ferris wheel, amusement park, river boats, abandoned buildings, school, etc..

Watch my video “Stroll through Pripyat” where you can see the natural surroundings.

A customized (private) trip; 2 day trip is available too.

There is some pretty strange graffiti, maybe this is from one of those scary movies?

Large strange poster inside the hotel.

How long does it take to grow stalactites? Well as the large hotel turns into a cave, maybe 30 years?

Stop nearby the “Red Forest”

Near the Red Forest we stopped by this sign.

Return to Chernobyl. Lunch* (Food is clean, it is delivered from outside of the Exclusion zone)

I didn’t really take any pictures of our basic lunch. We all laughed about the apples. The soup was fine.

Visit to Chernobyl Scientific Center: physical and radiochemical laboratories (optional).
Visiting the Opachychi village, meeting with “re-settlers”, people who have moved back to their villages after evacuation (optional).

Passage through the Dytyatky check-point. Checking the radiation, deactivation.

After 2 checks like the above at each of the checkpoints.

Return to Kiev at around 6 p.m.

We still got rid of our clothes and shoes and took a detox shower.

Incredible amazing tour. All those comments make sense now. Chernobyl was amazing as a ghost town, a wasteland, and unlike anywhere in the world due to its size and culture.

One of the most interesting thing was listening to the real survivors.

More on travel in Kiev, the revolution conflict in a follow up post…

It was an interesting time to be in Kiev…

From Mary to the Ancient City of Merv Turkmenistan

July 12, 2014July 13, 2014Posted in Central Asia, Culture, Extreme, Food, History, Religion, Road Trip, Tourism, Travel, Travel Tips, UNESCOTagged Dome, Mary, Merv, Mosque, Mounds, Sanjar Mosleum, travel, Tribes, Turkmen, Turkmenistan, Unesco1 Comment

If you haven’t traveled to Turkmenistan, you’re not alone. I bet they really don’t see many visitors due to the challenges of getting approval to visit. You can read about it on the Lonely Planet guide to Turkmenistan or trust me, there is no such thing as independent travel. You’re required to have a guide and simply taking your guide to places you decide you want to go is also off the list. You strictly have to check in as scheduled and not deviate off course. In our travel along the silk road, Turkmenistan was initially planned to be a quick stop, but they wouldn’t have it. They required us to spend at least one night and even that came across as extremely suspicious to them. I do think we had some extra scrutiny, but after all the attention, we did make it through the border fairly quickly (about an hour). It was good to know that we could essentially got to the front of the line as “tourists.” We didn’t see any other tourists the entire time we were in the country, but I did meet a lot of friendly people and the nicest camel I’ve ever met in my life… and in my travels that is a lot! The opposite end of the spectrum is the camel at Petra that spit and bit at me.

While I’m on the topic of camels which is one of my favorite things about Turkmenistan, we saw a lot of camels simply roaming through the desert. In some countries you see sheep on the hills. In Turkmenistan, you see groups of camels by themselves just walking along the desert. It’s amazing how long they can go without water. There were often 2 or 3 adults among a group which may have a handful of young ones eating near by. For these more wild camels we never knew how crazy they might be, but we took our chances for some good shots being cautious and then snuggling up with this lovable camel.

The deserts of Turkmenistan do have a lot of green in them. Our guide was pointing that from space it looks pretty green. Much of what Turkmenistan looked like on the drive across looked like the picture above. I hear there are even more great adventures out through the sand, but we didn’t get to spend that kind of time. Our trip to Turkmen was a part of a bigger trip across the silk road.

Some maybe most wouldn’t be able to point out where Turkmenistan is on the map. It’s north of Iran, West of Afghanistan, and shares a large border with Uzbekistan and finally the Caspian sea to it’s West. We would start our journey in Bukhara and spend the night in Mary after seeing Merv. I want you to see a few pictures of life today in Turkmenistan based on what I saw as we drove across this fascinating land.

First you do see lots of flags and statues including the famous Turkmen symbols from the special star to the Turkmen rug symbols for the tribes on the national flag. I think every tour in Turkmenistan starts out by explaining the nomadic tribes and their tribal symbols on the flag. Great story or unifying tribes.

These ladies were selling their wares on the side of the road out in the desert. Most of it looked hand made from camel fur. Pretty amazing what they could make with a little wool and camel yarn. These ladies covered up their faces pretty quickly when they saw us take our camera’s out.

Kyrgystan has yurts in the mountains, and Turkmen has yurts in the desert.

Many muslims in Turkmenistan (93%). They are a very religious people it seemed to me for the most part, despite being a former soviet country.

Women wear very long dresses and young girls wear their long hair down. Once married the hair goes up.

Statue and Soviet looking bus. You do really see a variety of old and new in the cities.

Traditional dinner in Mary. Yep more Shishka, but these were very fresh and tender.

Now for the old. In Merv I had two favorites both part of the ancient city of Merv which is part of the Unesco heritage site. Merv is the oldest and best-preserved of the oasis-cities along the Silk Route in Central Asia. The remains in this vast oasis span 4,000 years of human history. A number of monuments are still visible, particularly from the last two millennia.

Clay Walls of Kyzkala Palace Unesco Turkmenistan

The oasis formed part of the empire of Alexander the Great. Fluted Clay Wall of Kyzkala Palace

Read more about the UNESCO site on their website http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/886

Palace, Dome and Ruins… (even a little came in the photo… can you see it?)

I appreciate this quote on Merv. While I saw there, I tried to imagine the city in it’s 12th century times as potentially the largest city in the world!! “Merv (Turkmen: Merw, Persian: مرو‎ Marw), formerly Achaemenid Satrapy of Margiana, and later Alexandria (Ἀλεξάνδρεια) and Antiochia in Margiana (Greek: Ἀντιόχεια τῆς Μαργιανῆς), was a major oasis-city in Central Asia, on the historical Silk Road, located near today’s Mary in Turkmenistan. Several cities have existed on this site, which is significant for the interchange of culture and politics at a site of major strategic value. It is claimed that Merv was briefly the largest city in the world in the 12th century. The site of ancient Merv has been listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site.”

Merv was home to practitioners of various religions beside the official Sassanid Zoroastrianism, including Buddhists, Manichaeans, and Christians of the Church of the East. While in much of it now you see mounds these were once great walls. The idea that Zoroastrians were in the same town as Buddhists and Christians is amazing to me.

“It is during this period that Merv expanded to its greatest size—Arab and Persian geographers termed it “the mother of the world”, the “rendezvous of great and small”, the “chief city of Khurasan” and the capital of the eastern Islamic world. Written sources also attest to a large library and madrasa founded by Nizam al-Mulk, as well as many other major cultural institutions. Perhaps most importantly, Merv was said to have a market that is “the best of the major cities of Iran and Khurasan” (Herrmann 1999). It is believed that Merv was the largest city in the world from 1145 to 1153, with a population of 200,000”

As we walked around trying to soak in the history and imagine the vast cities within cities, we were in awe.

Now in much of what was the largest city, you see mounds. In 1221 Merv opened it’s gates to the son of Genghis Khan, named Tolui.

Not much to see now. Looking from the walls of the city toward the dome at sunset.

Artists rendition of the “before”

It is during this period that Merv expanded to its greatest size—Arab and Persian geographers termed it “the mother of the world”, the “rendezvous of great and small”, the “chief city of Khurasan” and the capital of the eastern Islamic world. Written sources also attest to a large library and madrasa founded by Nizam al-Mulk, as well as many other major cultural institutions. Perhaps most importantly, Merv was said to have a market that is “the best of the major cities of Iran and Khurasan” (Herrmann 1999). It is believed that Merv was the largest city in the world from 1145 to 1153, with a population of 200,000” – Merv Wikipedia Article

Fascinating to read the largest cities of the world over time. Surprised not to see any Incan or Mayan cities or even Angkor Wat. I think it’s a fun list but not complete.

From the top of the tower. Dome in the distance.

Sultan Sanjar mausoleum, the old dome. It really is the best preserved of everything we saw in Merv. This 12th-century mausoleum of Sultan Sanjar, also in Sultan Gala is the largest of Seljuk mausoleums and is also the first dated mosque-mausoleum complex.

The stacked rocks reveal that buddhists have visited the place and leave prayer rocks.

The ruins of Merv were fascinating to explore. With civilization after civilization for millinum it is overwhelming to think of this area as some of the oldest continuous civilization.

In conclusion… Turkmenistan was a fascinating visit. I do recommend Turkmenistan on any silk road tour. I wish I could have made it to the door to hell or derweze. Make sure you look that up to see if it fits you’re schedule. Otherwise if you want some history and friendly camels, Soviet city of Mary/ and Ancient city of Merv is a great destination.

Discovering Kyrgyzstan Land of Mountains

June 28, 2014March 9, 2016Posted in Asia, Central Asia, Culture, Favorite, Food, History, National Park, Nature, Photography, Road Trip, Tourism, Travel, UNESCOTagged Ala Archa, Bishkek, burana, issuk kul, Kyrgystan, kyrgz republic, lake, mountains, petrogliph5 Comments

Oh Kyrgyzstan, how I love thee. What an incredible culture. I really really enjoyed the people and mountains of this vast rugged territory. The loyalty and incredible friendliness of the people still strikes me. I really enjoyed visiting these amazing places that were important sites of the silk road and played an important part of the world’s history that has since been lost in much of the history books and easily overlooked. These former soviet republics have a history of their own and are very worth visiting as they each have their own cultures and traditions.

I didn’t really know what to expect when I discovered I’d have 4 days in Bishkek before we’d continue on to Almaty. At first I was a little worried by what I’d seen on simple image searches of Bishkek. As a city you can see it in a day or based on my drivers thoughts… an hour, but get outside the city and day trips and you’re in one of those lifetimes that you need to have to find the depth. I need to share some stories to help you really understand why Kyrgyzstan really captured my heart and became one of my favorites.

I want to help you understand how I saw this place which really reveals my formula. If you look at the pictures of what I saw vs. a quick image search of Bishkek or even a virtualtourist.com search of Bishkek and you see a big difference. On this trip, I took a traveler’s perspective. I did very little research before going. I made a reservation because I had heard from a friend who was there a few months prior that I might have a challenge in the airport. I personally have never allowed language to stop me from visiting a place, but I did once have to visit more than half a dozen taxis on an island in China to find one driver who could take me where I wanted to go. In this case, I like to build a home base. I like to make a connection with a local and a hotel to start my travel from.

On facebook I started with a search, “My friends who live in Kyrgyzstan” – 0 results. “My friends of friends who have friends who live in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan” – a handful of results. I reach out to Monica, and ask her if she could introduce me to her friend Azat. After being introduced, I discovered that not only did Azat live in Bishkek, but he spoke pretty good English and had even visited the United States. Monica had visited him while in Bishkek and with that introduction, I had a true friend. In the world of Kyrgyzstan that friendship I would find would be so profound. The people have a rich heritage and rich loyalty.

I was traveling to speak at a conference in Barcelona and planning a trip across Central Asia, but my friend Michael had already visited Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. He’s the one who had mentioned language may be a challenge. With Barcelona as my starting point I found a flight on Pegasus airlines a very discounted airlines that has some really fascinating destinations. For approximately $250 I could fly from Barcelona and connect in Istanbul to Bishkek on a flight that would take about 10 hours or so to arrive. For the price, I was crazy not to take it. In all my travels across Central Asia, this flight would save me about $1000 vs other routes. I did some searching and made a reservation with Booking.com at RIch Hotel.

Four stars and an 8.4 user rating for $70. I was pretty excited. I was pretty happy with Rich Hotel. The facility met my needs. Good bed, clean sheets, ok (free) hot personally made breakfast (eggs and toast) and juice, but it was the driver that I really connected with. He didn’t speak a lot of English, but over the course of the few days, we both got really comfortable with each other.

My driver would me on private tours of the city, take us to some fantastic places. Here’s the quick list of where we went and amazing must see places. I’ve been surprised how some of these fantastic places haven’t really been discovered.

Bishkek

Ala-Too Square

This square is the central square for the city and in the past has been a place of gathering for political protest it still is a great place to see the people gathering and children playing around the fountains. Across central asia, fountains are found in the centers of cities and the people go there to relax and socialize with their friends.

Ала-тоо аянты Площадь Ала-Тоо is the central square in Bishkek,Kyrgyzstan. The square was built in 1984 to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Kyrgyz SSR. At one point it had a statue of Lenin that was later moved to a smaller square. Erkindik(Freedom) was installed in its place it has a statue of Chinghiz Aitmatov. You can read about it’s significance in the Tulip revolution for gathering and protest in 2005.

Interesting Soviet style buildings from 1984 surround the fountains.

It was at the square that I saw this wise man, I wanted to talk with him and ask him if I could take his picture. He didn’t speak any english, but my driver from the hotel helped us find out that he was from deep on the other side of Kyrgyzstan and he was visiting. He was anxious to talk with me and share. As my first real interaction with a local that wasn’t associated with airport or hotel, I was very impressed with how nice he was and how he was happy to let me take his photo and share his wisdom.

This little Kyrgyz girl was gathering dandelions and flowers. I couldn’t resist taking a photo to capture the memory. So innocent.

Old Russian Orthodox church in Bishkek was a quick pass by. I asked the driver to stop so I could take a picture. Going inside was even more fascinating. During the Soviet times, religion was repressed, and few of these buildings remain. The church on the right above is bombed out, but the domes remain.

It so happened while I was in Kyrgyzstan there were celebrations to honor the world war II veterans and remember… Never forget. With as much opposition as there has been it’s very interesting to think that the US and Russia were allies during both world wars.

Ala Archa

Less than an hour outside the city and for about $30, I full day trip to explore the mountains. Think Switzerland, but even more remote and unseen and unknown by western ways. Ala Archa is a national park that has a small fee, but has trails to falls and along glacial rivers with incredible views of the valleys.

Swiss Chalet? Looks like it, but here you can get fresh water or some soup or local horse or sheep milk yoghurt drink.

This is life in rural Kyrgyzstan. Simple, traditional, and living life the way the ancestors did. Huge respect for this type of natural living. Is there more green ways than the idea that no one should own the land and that we are simply transient and all of us will move on in our journey in life?

It wasn’t unusual to find shepherds tending their flocks of sheep, goats, and cattle. What was unique about this was my driver offering to talk to the shepherd to allow me to ride his horse. Sure enough he obliged and I had a great ride around the little hills.

I referred to my facebook friend Azat. He arranged to meet me after my excursion in the hills. He was getting off work and invited me to have a traditional meal with his family. I was very very excited to have such an authentic experience to really meet locals that I could talk to and better get to know what life was like in Kyrgyz. He was a technology guy like myself, so we already had that in common. He picked us up at our hotel and brought us to his apartment in the city of Bishkek. Azat has two little boys and an amazing wife who spent probably all day working on our meal. The food was amazing. What’s better than traditional Kyrgyz Home cooking? They made this traveler feel like I was a dignitary. Very special treatment. They were so nice and kind, and so willing to do whatever was needed. I wasn’t hungry for days afterward. I still get a big smile when I think about how incredible it was to make a local connection and meet a real family to experience the traditions and values. Even though I was only in Kyrgyzstan for a few days, this connection will last a lifetime. I hope I can return the hospitality some day Azat!

Azat and family were so cute. I had an amazing time getting to know them and sharing some of my life experiences with them. We shared stories and really connected. His wife played on her traditional instrument the komuz the national instrument.

At the top of the Yurt is the iconic symbol of Kyrgyzstan. At Ala Acha there was a family that was setting up their yurt and was happy to let us see it come together. There is much pride and honor in these portable homes. The history and family traditions run very deep.

The locals are very humble and extremely nice.

This is what the finished product will look like.

As we were hiking, I saw this group of Kyrgyz teens. They were making soup. Cutting up carrots and potatoes. Really.

Kyrgyz picnic spread

Cooking the soup!

Traditional meal after our hike. Carbonated yoghurt sheep milk and soup.

Kyrgyz Money – som, com, pronounced some or soums

All of this talk of nature and simplicity should also include some caveats. While the cities have plumbing, the more remote villages have out houses. This make shift outhouse has a hole and boards in a very traditional rest room out back behind the restaurant.

In life and in death there are many of the same symbols. Religious symbols and the national symbols that are incorporated from the Yurts are very common. Lots of symbols in the impressively ornate graves that celebrate the next chapter of our journey.

Burana Tower

80 KM from Bishkek on great roads. The tower, along with fascinating stone grave markers, some earthworks, is all that remains of the ancient city of Balasagun, but now there’s a yurt with souvenirs, and a little museum of odd things from the area. (Not much in English. Mostly Russian.) This area was at one point a large city established by the Karakhanids at the end of the 9th century.

The Tower is fantastic. It’s been restored, but it really is very unique and if you’re claustrophobic you’ll find a real challenge. It’s quite dark and daunting, but as you can see in my pictures, if these kids could make it up, I could. There is an external staircase and then a steep, winding stairway inside the tower allowing you to climb to the top.

The grave markers and stone carvings contain a fascinating mix of Buddhist, Islamic, and early man. It’s a fascinating area that gives you the impression that this place has been inhabited since the dawn of man and is a very important place.

All that’s left of the city is earthen mounds and rooms. It’s still amazing to feel like an archeologist to walk around and put together stories of the castle and mausoleums that once were here.

These mounts were once a great city in the 9th century. The ancient city of Balasagun also known as Gobalik (pretty city) by the Mongols who captured the city in 1218.

Balasagun was founded by Soghdians, a people of Iranian origin and the Soghdian language was still in use in this town till the 11th century. It was the capital of the Kara-Khanid Khanate from the 10th Century until it was taken by the Kara-Khitan Khanate in the twelfth century. The Khitans used this as their capital, but were a mix of buddhist nomads, and muslim people as well as traditional khitan.

Old Arabic in grave markers

The food in Kyrgystan is not to miss. The freshest meats you’ll ever find. Sheep, Chicken, Beef skewers called Shishka. The dinning is nice. Traditionally we’ll sit on the floor with cushions around a short table. It’s very family and socially oriented. It’s not about eating fast, it’s about enjoying the company you are with. The drapery helps you get some level of privacy if you want it. There are similarities in the food across central asia, but each country does their traditional rice dishes very different. Each tribe of people has their own way, so you’ll often find different cities have their own flavor. In Bishkek it’s traditional to have a little bit of horse meat with the Osh (regional rice dish).

Fresh food!

Lake Issuk Kul

One of the largest lakes in Central Asia and really what the locals consider going to the beach. There are even changing rooms and sand. Highly recommended to see what a Kyrgyz retreat is like. With the help of our driver we found a variety of small cheap hotels for around $20 even with wifi. I did end up jumping in the lake and swimming around with some Russians on vacation. They didn’t speak any english and my handful of words in Russian didn’t keep us from having a good time splashing around in the fresh, but freezing water as the sun set.

Beautiful and serene Lake Issyk Kul (Иссык-Куль) in the northern Tian Shan mountains in eastern Kyrgyzstan. It is the tenth largest lake in the world by volume and the second largest saline lake after the Caspian Sea. (Wikipedia)

The lake is a very important region supporting life of all types and is recognized as a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve of Izzyk kul. The snow leapord is in the mountains surrounding this lake. Ladies sell dried fish and honey on the road near the banks of the lake. Also near the lake is a prehistoric tribal outdoor museum that contains many mounds, mausoleums, rock carvings, and petroglyphs.

Glacial Mountains in the background of the sandy beaches of lake Izzyk kul.

Kyrgyz Kids playing on the beaches on the coastline of the worlds 2nd largest high lake of Izzyk-Kul.

I dove into Kyrgyzstan and made some great friends and a new favorite place in this world. I highly encourage it you to visit Bishkek and surrounding. Don’t stay in the city, go into the mountains, and valleys, visit the lake. You must roam! Don’t let Kyrgystan be one of those places you’ve never been. It’s an incredible experience.

A Day as a Tourist in Afghanistan

June 9, 2014March 9, 2016Posted in Asia, Bucket List, Culture, Extreme, Religion, Tourism, Travel, Travel Tips, Unique, WarTagged adventure, Afghanistan, Blue Mosque Afghanistan, border, burka, excursion, islam, Mazar-e sharif, muslim, Shrine of Ali, Termez, tour10 Comments

When I started planning my trip across Central Asia, I always had the idea that it would be fascinating to visit one of the most talked about places on the planet. A place where tourists really don’t get. In 12th century Spice Route Afghanistan was an important stop to visit the shrine of Ali, even Genghis Khan felt it was worth a visit or a razing. If you think about it, Afghanistan hasn’t been as safe as it is now, for the past decade, and even before that it may have been since the 50’s that it was a place that outsiders could visit. After getting all my visas for the variety of places I was going I got in a good conversation with my traveling partner about the possibility of visiting the city of Mazar-e Sharif. I had a friend on Facebook who I connected with over the past couple of years and have been asking him all about life in Afghanistan. Zaki, my good facebook friend said he’d be willing to show me around his town. It really came together and Zaki fulfilled his promises. Not only that, he ended up spending a couple of extra hours waiting at the border for us to get through. After getting through security and walking across the bridge at Termez going through Uzbekistan and Afghanistan security we finally made it and what an adventure it was.

Is there really anything to see in Afghanistan? Oh Yes!!

Shrine of Hazrat Ali, also known as the Blue Mosque – The Shrine of Hazrat Ali, also known as the Blue Mosque, is a mosque located in the heart of Mazar-i-Sharif, Afghanistan. It is one of the reputed burial places of Ali ibn Abi Talib, cousin and son-in law of Prophet Muhammad. The site includes a series of five separate buildings, with the Shrine of Hazrat Ali being in the center and the mosque at the western end. The site is surrounded by gardens and paths including an area with white pigeons. You can see more of them in my pics in this post. Read more about the Ali shrine on Wikipedia

Our driver, the head of security in Mazar-e Sharif, and the uncle of our friend Zaki.

We all piled into Zaki’s uncles taxi and headed out from the border for the city. We decided we didn’t have enough time to make it to Balkh, but we were anxious to see the Blue Mosque and Shrine of Ali.

On the drive to Mazar-e Sharif, about an hour from the border, we drove by a number of homes build by mud bricks and natural elements.

The sands of the desert working their way to the road. It won’t be long before the sands need to be handled.

Peace to Afghanistan!

This little guy was persistent. He didn’t speak a word of English and I don’t know what he was saying, but he was carying a can of hot ashes and mumbling something in a persistent manner. He wouldn’t let go of my clothes. I’m sure he was very poor and hoping for assistance, but not sure what I could do to help.

These young boys were a joy to talk to. While language wasn’t our forte, I had some real moments where we exchanged smiles and introduced ourselves.

My friend and I with our Afghan Friends Zaki and Hamid in front of the Shrine and Blue Mosque of Mazar-e Sharif, Afghanistan.

IT University. Talking with Ahmad professor at the technical college in Mazar-e Sharif.

Mother in Burka with her sons…

Burka with Arm holes and lady with Hijab

Burkas

One of the differences between Afghanistan and all of neighbors to the north is the Burka. In terms of cultural differences I found it to be the most start contrast. I’ve been around a lot of Hijabs (head scarves) in a variety of places, and even ran into a lot of Saudis in black full burkas in Kuala Lumpur, and Dubai. I haven’t gotten use to it. It’s really a fascinating thing. The women cover up when they go out. It not only keeps the sun off their faces, but keeps them from being attractive to men outside the home. The thing that really surprised me was seeing women that would pull up the burka to interact with their kids at the park. I wasn’t expecting that. Based on what I’d heard and gathered on TV I was really worried they were going to get in trouble. In this far north town in Afghanistan, there were plenty of women in the city that both wore and didn’t wear the burkas. It did seem like most that didn’t wear the full burka would wear the hijab.

I grew out my beard for months in planning on my visit across Central Asia and “the Stans” coming to Afghanistan hoping to blend in, but ended up not noticing too many beards. I did see some good beards, but for the most part the young men in their twenties would shave, and the older men involved in business seemed to shave into mustaches.

I wore an Uzbekistan hat and a shirt I also got in Uzbekistan a couple days earlier. I’m sure it confused the locals, but at the time I wasn’t going for American, even though I’m sure I came across as traveler or tourist which may not necessarily be a be a best practice.

The locals were a mix of stand offish, and quite a bit curious. I only had a couple of stares that came across as mean ones. I ended up in a line at the mosque and park to visit the toilet, or what was really just a line of Turkish style toilets or better said, hole in the ground. First time I’ve waited nearly 5 minutes in a toilet line for a squat style toilet. The conditions weren’t great. A few more public toilets would be a good thing when they decide to open up the town as a tourist attraction.

Why did I decide to come to Afghanistan?

I have been told that I’m crazy for wanting to visit a country at war. In reality, I found a people very in need of outside love. They are ready for outside investments, education, access to more. I’m sure there are many challenges to getting the right kinds of services in. The youth are very anxious to better understand the world, and connect. I’ve had a number of facebook messages since my visit. There’s so much hope. I pray for my friends Zaki and Hamid, and the Admad at the technical school. Be anxiously engaged in a good cause. Hamid wants to be involved in security, and Zaki wants to be successul in consulting and IT. Personally, I’m very anxious for this area to blossom.

This far north the risk wasn’t as great. It really is tightly controlled. We saw the drone balloon, and there were reminders that we were being watched. Even crossing the border we went though a couple of check points, and got some strange looks, but overall, it wasn’t as challenging as I thought it would be getting in and out.

Getting the visa for Afghanistan took less than a week, the easiest of the visas on our Central Asia tour.

I felt like we timed this right. We spent an afternoon, I wish we could have seen Balkh which was another hour and has so much more history, but based on our plan of get in and out while seeing what we could in daylight, we did pretty well. I have no regrets really. I have been blessed in my life to live where I do and I hope the time I spent in this part of the world has helped me and my perspectives and outlooks on life, and I hope that the time I spent with my new Afghani friends helps spread peace and inspires them in their righteous pursuits.

These pigeons look like doves. They bring peace and happiness to the people. They make people smile and laugh.

So do I recommend Afghanistan?

I think for those who are real travelers, yes. Mazar-e Sharif has a lot to offer as does Balkh based on my research. At this point, our strategy of in and out, worked quite well. We weren’t there long enough to cause a stir, which I find has been a great strategy for us. Whenever we feel like we might be going to an area involving any kind of risk, we play it safe and not spend too much time in any one area, and we don’t back track. We’re always moving. That’s been a great strategy for us. We try to be unpredictable, so no one could plan anything. I don’t have a death wish, it really was a fairly safe and calculated risk. On my pursuits to see and connect with folks in every country in the world, this was an important one for me. I still have strong feelings for the people I met. It really makes this place very real to me now. I think that’s really important. When there’s a war on the other side of the world in an unknown place that’s being fought in a way that’s unimaginable, it’s easy for ignorant people to say, just bomb the place. I have friends there, and it means something to me. The only way to find peace is to find empathy and understanding. Travel has helped provide a mechanism for that. I’ve never met a military person who would want to go back to Afghanistan to visit, but I would. I have friends there that are great people who are making a difference for life in there town.

I admit I am a bit of a travel junkie, and I believe that there are good people everywhere as do many of those that visit every country in the world… a pursuit of mine.

You can read about some of my extreme travels to Iraq (Kurdistan), Tunisia, Venezuela, Egypt

Traveling the Silk Road from across the “STANS” Introducing Central Asia

June 2, 2014March 9, 2016Posted in Animals, Asia, Bucket List, Culture, Favorite, Food, History, Middle East, Nature, Photography, Religion, Tourism, Travel, Travel Tips, UNESCO, Unique, WarTagged 12th century, Afghanistan, Bukhara, desert, Kazakstan, Kyrgystan, precolumbian, Samarkand, silk road, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Unesco, Uzbekistan, Yurt4 Comments

I recently got back from traveling across Central Asia. Some things have changed and some things haven’t. The road is now mostly paved roads, but you will still find sheep herders, and wandering camels in some places. When I shared with my friends I was going to Central Asia and even mentioned some of the countries by name… Most don’t know what I’m even talking about even when I added Silk Road or Central Asia. I needed to fill in the detail between China, Russia and Turkey. In this post, I want to give you some of the highlights and background.

My friend Michael and I have been planning to travel the silk road and visit “the stans.”

Our plan involved spending time in each of the following countries:

Kyrgyzstan – Serene Kyrgyzstan Land of Mountains
Kazakhstan
Uzbekistan
Turkmenistan
Afghanistan – A day as a tourist in Afghanistan
Tajikistan

I plan to share some of my experiences from each of these amazing and diverse countries. Each of them is different in their own way and I saw amazing and fascinating things in each of these places. There are incredible people in every country. I continually get asked if I ever felt threatened or at risk. No, I didn’t. I did have some moments where I was feeling eyes watching me and moments where I felt like I was out of place, but I really enjoy that feeling of being the minority and feeling odd. If I’m traveling and I’m not feeling that then I’m not challenging myself enough. This trip was the most logistically challenging. It took over 3 months just to get visas and I still didn’t get all the visas I wanted. I missed out on Pakistan due to my Jamaica and trip to Quebec and Montreal earlier this year. The only country that didn’t require a visa for US Citizen was Kyrgyzstan, and the hardest to get into ended up being Turkmenistan who assigned us a monitor and required traveling company which ended up being our most expensive of the trip. In addition Pakistan was a challenge for time. The visa would have been an additional 4-6 weeks and I couldn’t surrender my passport long enough make it with my Jamaica plans.

Samarqand, Bukhara, and so many of these places stir up the magical and mystical old world of East meets west. Where Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism and a variety of old faiths like Zoroastrianism met through caravans and trade routes. I had the incredible opportunity to visit some of these places and soak up the influence of this melting pot of culture, religion, food, and history. I plan to share the highlights and some favorite stories, but wanted to get this post out as a placeholder. I’ll link to the subsequent posts from this one to be as a landing page of the best of Central Asia.

Turkmeni ladies of the desert selling camel hair trinkets on the side of the road

Desert Yurt in Turkmenistan

One of the friendliest camels I’ve ever met. This friendly hairy camel enjoyed posing with us.

Old Dome in Merv

Merv, Turkmenistan

Bukhara, Uzbekistan

Blue Mosque and Shrine in Mazar-e Sharif Afghanistan

Countryside in Uzbekistan

Wandering Sheep in Uzbekistan

Old Shakrazabh, Uzbekistan

Ark of Shakrazabh, Uzbekistan

Georgetown Guyana Picture Guide On the Road Less Traveled

April 21, 2014April 21, 2014Posted in Caribbean, Culture, History, Road Trip, South America, Tourism, Travel, UniqueTagged amerindian, black water, british, capital, dutch, georgetown, guyana, hindustandi, independence, queen victoria, temple3 Comments

In my travels across South America, I had the opportunity to visit some rarely visited parts of South America. The former colonies of the Dutch, France, Portuguese, Spanish and the British. Guyana was both Dutch and then most recently a British colony but became independent from the UK in 1966 and in 1970 became a republic. The official language is English, the only country in South America where that’s the case. While I’ve been to Belize a central american former british colony that speaks English, it wasn’t the best trip. It is one of my least favorite. It was a mainland drive and I had a run in with the police. On my trip across Belize I found more depressing moments than not. I do plan to give it another chance sometime in the future. Guyana had a few sad moments, but I don’t let poverty keep me from visiting a place. I feel I both gain a greater appreciation for what I have, and I find what really matters in life. Our families, relationships, faith and shared experiences. I met the family of a couple of my local friends I met first on facebook through SharePoint the technology that I work with.

This post on Guyana will be part of a series on that part of the world. When I was looking to visit I found very little written on it. I’ll add the links as the stories go live.

Road less traveled series…

Traveling Georgetown Guyana Land of Waters

Paramaribo Suriname

Saint Laurent du Maroni French Guiana

“Guyana was originally colonized by the Netherlands. Later, it became a British colony, known as British Guiana, and remained so for over 200 years until it achieved independence on 26 May 1966 from the United Kingdom. On 23 February 1970, Guyana officially became a republic. In 2008, the country joined the Union of South American Nations as a founding member.” – More on Wikipedia article on Guyana

Georgetown is pretty raw. It’s a fascinating colonial town, but much of it looks like it hasn’t had much care since 1966. This isn’t going to be a history lesson more than sharing what I saw and experienced.

Welcome to city hall… GeorgeTown

One of the most fantastic experiences was wandering the city. I’ve collected 5 things to see in Georgetown and surrounding.

Guyana Light house and Beach

Back side of Georgetown City Hall

1. StarBroek Market… Fresh Meat and Food Market, Ferry Terminal and the heartbeat of the town. The name of the market is the old name of the city during dutch times. The beautiful architecture is an important part and key attraction of the city. It is organized chaos. This country really doesn’t get much tourists and you can tell that by the reactions you’ll get at the market. They aren’t pushy, they are simply surprised to see you. The homeless people sleeping near the docs are really sad, but it gives you a temperature on the city.

The market is raw, and it’s a great way to see life in Georgetown.

Ferry system in Georgetown to cross the great river

2. Capital and Grounds

In the national library we met a guy who wanted to show us something really cool… The real signed documents for independence!

The actual signatures of Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip on the Independence documents

Judicial Court including statue of Queen Elizabeth herself

3. Promenade Gardens – a nice walk through the city will lead you to the gardens. Everything is all pretty close and an easy walk.

Gardens… While we didn’t end up spending so much time here. I hear there are places where you can see manatees. Virtualtourist Georgetown page has some more info on that.

There are some nice walking areas of town where you can get a feel for the bustling of the city while enjoying the people watching and soaking up the atmosphere.

A common site in Georgetown and a dose of reality is the sleepers. Homelessness is a global phenomenon, and I don’t mean to be unfair, but this is the reality of Georgetown. Lots of them.

You can tell by the look of this horse that they’ve had some tough times.

You need to be ok with seeing a lot of poverty to visit this city, but believe me… there is hope. There is a generation of powerful youth with a bright hope for the future.

I had lunch with five bright young people that represent hope. They are the future of Guyana.

There is a hindu influence that is also felt. There are really 3 major groups of people that I came across while in Guyana. The Blacks (former slaves), the Indians (former british labor), and the natives or AmerIndians. All groups have been exploited and feel marginalized, but it was both my lunch with the technical group shown above that gives me hope and my visit to the Amerindians that also made me excited about the potential. The teens were dancing to native songs that were designed to carry a positive message of pride in being an Amerindian. Any travel to a country should and must involve really getting into the culture and trying to understand the people.

4. Local Small Temples and Churches

Small temples and mosques from the Hindustani locals as seen on a short drive through the city.

4. Amerindian Village – Ask Elvis…

In the city there are a few reminders about the original inhabitants of Guyana. They call the native people Amerindians. They are comfortable with that name as well.

On a drive outside of Georgetown we saw a coconut stand and fresh coconut juice sounded refreshing. In our conversation with “Elvis” we found an Amerindian village just down a small unmarked dirt road. Our local friends had no idea the village even existed. Elvis is the little guy between the two big white guys. My friend Michael Noel, Sharing the Globe is the one with the massive camera.

The kids danced and sang songs of Amerindian bride and culture. I really enjoyed seeing this. Loved it.

Pickup game of stick ball or crickett. I did try a whack at it, but all I got was laughs. You gotta love an impromptu gave of cricket with a stick.

How can anyone have racial prejudice? This cute little amerindian little girl melts my heart.

5. Black Water Creek Park – an excursion about an hour outside the city is this beautiful palm tree surrounded creek with calm waters is setup as a swimming area with nice little huts. It’s a beautiful escape, and the water is really funky. Our local friends took us out here and we had an amazing time wading through the black water.

My hopes and dreams for Guyana are in the youth. Thanks Kevon for showing us your amazing country!

Inland Jamaican Island Adventures and Excursions

April 14, 2014April 21, 2014Posted in Caribbean, Culture, Falls, Favorite, Food, Island, National Park, Nature, Photography, Road Trip, Tourism, Travel, Travel Tips, UniqueTagged cruise stop, Curry Goat, Curry Lobster, featured, food, Island living, jamaica, Jamaican, Jerk Chicken, Jerk Pork, kingston, Mas Camp, Montego Bay, Night life, Ocho Rios, Scotchies4 Comments

I flew into Montego Bay (a fairly cheap flight from the east coast of the US), and while I had some commitments for work, I arrived early so I could see one of the most amazing islands in the world. World Famous Jamaica!!! Known for Bob Marley, Music, the Reggae movement (read more in my other Jamaica post on Reggae Jamaica), the amazing people and rich culture of friendly people. What an incredible island with so much to see. If Jamaica is a quick stop, you have to focus on what you can fit in. I understand that. I was luck to spend time in both sides of the island and see the best of Montego Bay, Ocho Rios, and Kingston. I hope this post gives you some great ideas of what to see and what to do!

First off let me tell you all of the bad things I heard that were so wrong!

– I heard they had horrible roads

– I heard I had to expect horrible drivers

– I heard it would take me forever to get from place to place

– I heard it would be dangerous for me and I should be really careful cause people would try to cheat me.

So wrong… Don’t believe everything you hear!

There were a few things that I learned for travel tips that I’ll cover at the end of this post. A few words of caution, but for the most part, I was so glad to embrace Jamaica and not be afraid. The people were amazing!

Driving

First stop was to pick up the car. Yes, despite everything I was told, I figured I would want a car. I’m that kind of traveller that driving on the other side of the road and even with crazy roads and drivers, I still feel great, so I took on the challenge of Jamaican driving. Reality is, the roads were great! I’ve driven in Barbados and Puerto Rico and these roads were better than what I saw on both of those islands. I kept saying, where are those bad roads? Where are those crazy drivers? I guess I fit right in. I admit I did get pulled over by the police twice. Now there is some advice and story to that. I drove across the island. In all I drove both ways across the island and logged at least 12 hours on the road and I admit I was looking for the best and worst of the island. I drove to Nine mile, and I drove into trench town and some of the shady area of Kingston and suburbs. More on driving at the end of the post

Rose Hall Great House

If you love history, you’ll love Rose Hall. If you love romance, architecture, tours… you’ll love Rose Hall. There is so much of the story of the island and it’s history that is locked up in the history of Rose Hall. As the first real attraction just 15 min outside of Montego Bay, I was happy to have made Rose Hall my main investment of time the first night I arrived. Rose Hall is one place during the day, and another during the night. In the night you can tour the great house by candle light. Constructed in 1770 the owners had over 2000 slaves and was one of the many great houses that existed. It is one of the few on the island that remain. During slave revolt most of the great homes on the island were destroyed. The history here is one of VooDoo and murder and the story of Annie the white witch as seen on World’s Scariest Places, and Ghost Hunters International. It was $20 USD to visit the hall. I found most of the attractions to land at about $20.

The bedroom of Annie Palmer. Who murdered all of her husbands and lovers.

The Tomb of Annie Palmer… Listening to a story from our adorable guide in period dress.

You can read more about the tours at Rose Hall on their website RoseHall.com.

As far as spending money, we really didn’t even need to exchange our money. Every place we went took both Jamaican dollars and US Dollars. In fact, we were getting a better rate by using US Dollars as the money I exchanged at the airport was a worse rate than I was getting on the street. Paying with US dollars worked great.

That first night we drove to Ocho Rios… A stop at the night market

Market in Ocho Rios (Great during the Day or Night!)

Jamaican Jerk Chicken cooked right on the street. Some are spicier than others. None of them were as spicy as I was expecting, but you could add your own Scotch peppers to kick it up!

The fruit of the night market. For the most part the night market was one for the locals. We really didn’t see any tourists as we visited the stalls and walked around Ocho Rios. I think many were surprised to see us as so many of the travelers simply stay on their resorts, especially at night. We had plenty of folks who wanted to show us around. While I was fine doing my own tour, we stayed out pretty late… 1am and didn’t mind spending some time really getting to know some of the locals and hearing their stories.

Dunn’s River Falls

One of the most beautiful on the island, but one of many amazing waterfalls on the island. Dunn’s River falls is famous across the island. You can either bring your own water shoes or rent some for fairly cheap. I learned on another trip that climbing with socks gives you pretty good grip. So I hiked the falls in my socks and it worked just fine. I really enjoyed the hike up the falls. It was only as extreme as you made it. It costs $20 for adult foreigners enter the falls park. There were easy paths to climb. I would have been fine with my boys climbing it and may just have to bring them back soon.

The falls lands right into the beach. Beautiful beach. Since we weren’t on an organized tour we arrived early and had the entire beach to ourselves. Amazing turquois waters including a life guard and a roped off area to help you know the area that’s safe and protected. Of course, I tested the boundaries and even stood up on an old pier and jumped out into the beautiful waters.

Beautiful sandy beaches. So much warmer water than I’m use to on the West Coast of the US.

You can see the hand holds here on the left. I climbed the falls trying to take a medium difficulty route that I made up on my own. You could hire a guide to follow. I found that to be unnecessary. It wasn’t challenging, it was fun. I did try to put myself into some challenging positions.

Having arrived early, I had the falls to myself. One of my friends took pictures from a viewing area on the side. Lot of great pools, and amazing waters. This is a wonder of the island and one that should be appreciated. I understand there are different falls in the interior of the island and this one while it does have a local price for the islanders, they end up going to different falls.

Mystic Mountain Rain Forest Adventures

While we were on our way back to Ocho Rios, we saw the signs for Mystic Mountain. I’m a fan of ziplines and canopy tours, and still had fresh memories of my time in Costa Rica. It was a beautiful day and I felt like we had a little time to go. So we decided to do the Sky Explorer which would take us through the rain forest on a chair lift (like a ski lift). We also took the bobsled ride. We were limited on time or we likely would have done the full package. Honestly it was a bit pricey, but I’m sure it took a lot to put this together and while it was my intention to avoid the touristy areas, I felt like this allowed me to see and enjoy a lot in a short period of time. The Bobsled theme was pretty cool as well. We did find a moment to relax and enjoy the beautiful humming birds. Fantastic colors. If you end up doing this, I highly recommend slowing it down and enjoying nature and soaking up the rainforest and all it has to offer. The adrenaline rush of the bobsled ride and zipline is awesome, but be sure to slow down and relax. That’s really an important thing to realize that Jamaica is about. Enjoying life and appreciating what you have.

Sky Explorer – chair lift
Rainforest Bobsled – bob sled ride through the rain forest (additional cost)
Canopy Zipline – multiple ziplines through the rain forest (additional cost)
Butterflies and Hummingbirds – little areas setup with humming bird food (included once you’re up there)
Waterslide and Infinity pool (included with your purchase)

More info from Mystic Mountain (be sure to read the reviews on Trip Advisor as well)

Beautiful views from the chairlift of the amazing waters, beaches, and Ocho Rios off in the distance. Floating slowly over the tops of the trees on the chair lift.

Food – Eat Jamaican!

Up the road from Ocho Rios is a truly mystical place. Talking of taking a moment and enjoying nature… As the water would come in and go back it would swell and shoot up like a blow hole spraying a fine mist. We stopped here for lunch at Oracabessa. Momma took care of us. Incredible seafood, fish, and more. I included a few photos.

This is what you see from the road. A fun Jamaican reggae guy was working on the roof of the place, but we went further over next to the cliffs.

Conch salad

Curry Lobster!

Dishes you have to have while on the island after you eat the Jerk Pork and Jerk Chicken is… Curry Lobster, and bonus points for Ox Tail, and Curry Goat.

My Favorite Jerk Chicken on the Island is Scotchies… I ended up eating there in Montego Bay (the original) and in Kingston (in the bar area). There’s another near Ocho Rios, maybe others!?

Thursday is ribs! But you can get the chicken and pork every day. Go for the pork! It’s the best, but the Jerk Chicken is famous. You can tell it’s real by the corrugated tin.

We also ate at M10 in Kingston, a local place with great music and great food, and especially great seafood! Great ginger beer as well.

Bonus: More Nightlife and Carnival

Now for something that most travelers and tourists would miss. Though a friend we tracked down a party that was going on in one of the neighborhoods in Kingston. It seemed like it was going to go on all night, we ended up leaving at 4AM and the DJs were just changing to start a new set.

One other night we happened to be in Kingston for Mas Camp. It’s basically practice leading up to Carnival.

Carnival dancer at Mas Camp with a couple of my friends. High energy dancing… Kingston is where the best music and entertainment is on the island. I didn’t see any tourists at this event.

While I did end up staying on the island for 4 days, the first 24 hours of just soaking up the island was so incredible. I had an amazing time. I did mention that I drove across the island and spent more time than is spent in this post. Refer to my post on Bob Marley’s Jamaica and Reggae tour to see what else I saw with my time on the island. I do want to give you some balance to what else you’ll find on the island.

Some Warning and Caution

We did find a few hustlers and people begging, but for the most part when we asked them to leave they did. It wasn’t as aggressive as other islands or even close to what I’ve seen in much of Africa. This was less than what you’d see in big cities in the US. Don’t be so afraid to venture out of your all inclusive resort. Don’t believe the stories. Experience it for yourself.

There is still some corruption. I was pulled over by the police twice. The first time, I got a warning to slow down. There are basically two speeds on the ring road. 50 KM and 80 KM. The police were usually hanging out where it would transition to the slow speed and they’d be on the side of the road with their speed guns waving people over. By the time you see them or recognize, you’re likely going too fast. The second time I got pulled over, I got a different answer. The policeman asked me if I wanted to find a way to settle this. He asked me to be subtle, but to take the papers back to the car and put some money in it. Didn’t tell me how much. I think we ultimately put in about $10 and he didn’t even look, he just put it in his pocket and told me to slow down. I also got booted once. The guy was wearing a blue shirt. Everybody knew it was the guy in the blue shirt who was the one that booted the cars that weren’t suppose to leave their cars there. We were stopping to get our tickets before taking the car back and it looked like others had left their cars parked for a few minutes, but ours was the one that got the boot. $20 later, I was on my way. No other real problems. I grew up in Idaho and so I’m use to passing cars on two lane roads. What was different was the need to slow down a bit when people didn’t allow enough time when passing. It was much better driving than I experienced in Italy or especially than Naples, so I really can’t complain about the driving practices. Seemed pretty normal to me. There are some pretty narrow roads which go across the island, where you really need to be on watch. In Kingston itself there are the early numbered streets like first street and fifth street and streets around Trench town that certain streets aren’t designed to be through streets that don’t have the road blocks on the GPS or on the maps. For the most part you don’t need to be in there. Make sure the GPS is sending you to the actual street you’re looking for, some times it would fail to find it, but default to somewhere else and that’s where we’d be driving in strange roads, but for the most part, I enjoyed the challenge and the people were great. I would not compare Jamaica to most of the African villages. It’s one of the best islands in the Caribbean (easily one of my favorite) and the industry is really up and coming. The businesses and people really deserve your support. I see Jamaica as a great place to do outsourcing and a great place to work with hard working happy people.

Fresh coconut for $2 USD… Yes, Jamaica is paradise. While this photo catches me right after I survived climbing the Dunn’s River waterfall and isn’t flattering it shows off a bit of the natural beauty of the island. What an amazing place. Can’t wait to get back so I can go to the other parts of the island…. Negril and Blue Mountains and so much more to see!

Don’t miss my post on my Reggae Jamaica

Baby Panda eating Bamboo

Baby Gorilla right up against the glass…. so cute!

The Male Lion vocalizing… Serious Yawn! Amazing King of the Jungle.

Sunset at La Jolla Shores, bon fires along the beach

Kids love legoland. Rides, and entire cities and cityscapes including life sized Star Wars figures

Really… This Chewbacca is totally out of legos!

The San Diego skyline with a cruise ship. The harbor cruise, whale cruises, and even jet boats and duck boats are available for a ride out in the bay.

Battleships and navy battalions, the USS Midway is on the dock available for a self guided tour

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1. Baku Zoroastrian Fire Temple – Ateshgah of Baku.

2. Heydar Aliyev Cultural Center

3. Baku Flame Towers

4. World’s 2nd Largest Flag Pole – National Flag Square –

5. Steps for City View Funicular and night time viewing of the Flame Towers

6. Must See Sunrise and Caspian Sea and seaside boardwalk

7. Mud Volcanoes

8. Gobustan Early man site and Petroglyphs – UNESCO world heritage site.

9. Old City and Maiden’s Tower – Old City (a UNESCO World Heritage site)

10. Bibi-Heybat Mosque –

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