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Danielwoods’s travel blog entry: “3/05/07 64.74kms A cup of tea on the patio with Howard before he went off to work and I joined Nancy in the dinning room where breakfast was laid. Grapefruit, muesli, tea and toast set me up for the day before I packed up the bike and peddled into town. Leaving the bike locked to a railing on the pavement a local told me it’d be nicked if I didn’t move it. So taking it to the shop entrance and asking the guard to keep and eye on it, I went in searching for chocolate. Cadburys milk was available for a painful 23,000Z$; or so it said on the shelf — but by the time I’d taken it to the checkout it was upto 60,000Z$ (I’d paid 80,000 for a nights camping 2 nights ago) So choosing a cheaper local variety that wasn’t partial to the same inflation, I again approached the till. The lady there is praying for me as I type — and she also offered practical help by giving me her sisters number in Blantyre. Out of town I turned onto the quiet road to ‘Great Zimbabwe’. After 30kms of hills, wind and increasing heat I reached the ruins. The office wouldn’t accept Z$ unless I had an official exchange receipt, so I paid 21US$ for admission and a guide. Chris was a totally professional guide, who’d learnt his script, manner and colonial English vocabulary perfectly. He showed me around the ‘Old pile of rocks’ as Howard had called them, giving different possibilities for their existence. Due to plundering, looting and terrible archaeology no one really knows what the place was for; who built it, under who’s instructions or why. He thought it was built by the local Shona people, for their Kings between C13 and C17. 8 Kings are thought to have lived there, accumulating roughly 200 wives each that lived in the lesser structure down below. The main place is on a 100m hill, overlooking the lake and stunning forest. Its a castle like enclosure, with giant granite brick walls held together without mortar. Various chambers are thought to have been used for things such as gold smelting and music and used by a median and advisors. Giant natural rocks are incorporated into the design, making it thoroughly imposing. It overlooks the wives domain, which although built in the valley is similarly grand. The walls there are 10-13m high and 4-7m thick! I’ve been told that Africans don’t like snakes, but this is the first time I saw it. We were plodding down the mountain on a narrow footpath; me in front when a snake slithered across the path into the grass. Chris screamed a shrill ‘****’ and turned running back up the mountain, looking pale and petrified. Through my guided walk I couldn’t find any Zim flag stickers for sale, so I peddled up the dirt track to the ‘Great Zimbabwe Hotel’. They didn’t have any there either and even told me that they’ve stopped making them! So I looked into the possibility of lunch which would have been another 20US$ without a conversion receipt. So I settled for a coke, filled up my water and asked about the road to the damn. No one had taken it, even though it was ‘out the gate, turn right’. But they pandered to my assumed SA origins by sincerely warning me it’s ‘not safe’. Back along the track avoiding colobus monkeys and baboons, I turned right out the gate. The road wound up and up- with tired legs from yesterday I typed my diary under a tree before continuing in the afternoon cool. The road became more and more beautiful giving me plenty of excuses to stop for photos. The lake to my left was shimmering with the sun behind a collage of green trees and meadows. After passing a (built by the British for irrigating the local area) I climbed up the steep valley, pushing the bike until I gave up and ate an orange (from Nancy’s tree) overlooking the stunning scene.” Photos from this trip: See this TripWow and more at http://tripwow.tripadvisor.com/tripwow/ta-0160-c620-0285?ytv4=1 Duration : 0:2:2
Michdan’s travel blog entry: “After 9 hours of an overnight bus ride from Medellín, I arrived in Bogotá. Bogotá´s weather was much colder than Medellín´s. It almost felt like winter weather in California and I was thankful I had brought a fleece jacket and a beanie. My Favorite Hostel in South America Fellow Travelers Bike Tour of the City Political Graffiti on the National University Campus Public Transportation Good Bye, Bogotá Photos from this trip: See this TripWow and more at http://tripwow.tripadvisor.com/tripwow/ta-0149-841a-4096?ytv4=1 Duration : 0:2:30
Laine’s travel blog entry: “17/12/08 – 24/12/08 We were now heading for Peru. It was sad to leave Ecuador, it had been a really cool country and the people had been really nice. We had about a 5 hr bus ride from Cuenca to the Peru- Ecuador boarder. This has to be the craziest boarder I have ever been to, for starters the distance between where you had to stamp out of Ecuador and stamp into Peru was kilometres. In-between you basically had a whole town. The actual boarder was a road where the only reason you knew you had reached the boarder was that the taxis wouldn’t cross. The amount of people was amazing, but not as amazing or crazy as the way people were crossing. Most people were pushing or pulling carts, made out of absolutely anything, laden with goods from fruit to TV’s. It certainly made a change from the European boards, even the Albanian boarder was orderly and tidy compared to this! We were spending the next 4 days in Punta Sal, a small beach town near Mancora. This was one of the high lights of out trip so far. We did nothing except sun bake, swim, drink and eat. There were a few games of volley ball ( I even played a game or two!) and a few walks along the beach, but that was it. Our room was lovely, with a hammock out the front and ocean views, and we ate affordable sea food. Leaving Punta Sal was sad and the fact we had the first of three over night bus rides that night made it even harder to say good bye. After killing time in Mancora (the bus didn’t leave until 11pm) the night bus was actually quiet good. We had semi cama seats and I slept quiet well. We were now in Huanchaco, another beach side surfer town. I was quiet keen to go for a surf, but the weather on day one was cold and day two we checked out the Moon temple and Chan Chan ruins. The moon temple was quiet interesting, with some very well intact wall carvings and paintings. The moon temple was built by the Moche people around AD 700 and is a pyramid like structure completely made out of mud bricks. Every time there was flooding or very heavy rains the temple would be partly destroyed and the people would fill in the old temple and start to build the new one on top. This is the reason that some of the walls are in such good condition. Chan Chan was built around AD 1400 and in its hey day was the largest city in the Americas and the largest adobe city in the world. Chan Chan more or less looks like a huge pile of crumbling mud brick walls, but they have partly reconstructed one of the 10 palaces to give you an idea of how it must have looked. It was cool walking around the labyrinth like palace looking at the intricate carvings and stumbling upon the oasis like pool in the middle that they once used for drinking water. Another overnight bus (this one much worse then the first) took us to Huaraz a big city back up in the Andes. The main reason to come here is to hike in the amazing mountains that surround the town. We booked with a company to do a hike the next morning, they promised us that we would be picked up at 5:30am and would be provided with an English speaking guide. Our last overnight bus was cancelled as no buses were running on Christmas Eve night, so we had to bring the bus forward to an afternoon one. After the biggest breakfast I have ever had a few of us looked about the shops bartering in Spanish with the locals, it was quiet a fun morning. We all got up nice and early the next morning looking forward to a high altitude hike. By 6 am we were all starting to get **** off, as neither the guide nor the transport had turned up. The guide finally turned up hung around long enough for us to work out that he was completely drunk and didn’t speak English, before dropping his bag and disappearing. The transport turned up at about 6:10 and the guide was no where to be seen. Robo looked in the guides backpack and found the only thing he had bought with him was a small map. We told them to bugger off, and went back to bed determined to get our money back when the shop opened. Well to make a long story short, the guy wasn’t at his shop, we were told to go to the police who would take us to his house. When the police found out who it was they informed us he was an illegal operator and was meant to have closed his shop …” Photos from this trip: See this TripWow and more at http://tripwow.tripadvisor.com/tripwow/ta-0149-8a8c-4e00?ytv4=1 Duration : 0:2:20
Hermamma’s travel blog entry: “We are staying at the old Ottawa Jail! They have converted it to a hostel and it is AMAZING. The building has these great old THICK brick walls and deep window which means it stays pretty cool in here. It is only about 22 degrees outside (or it was yesterday), but the humidity makes it feel much worse (ok, ok, I know nothing like the 33 I heard it was in Edm yesterday, but the humidity is bad too, ok?) We got off the train from Toronto one stop early (in Fallowfield, a suburb) so that Kirsten could go straight to the mall that houses the BRAND NEW build-a-bear… because when you are 12 that is MUCH more important than seeing the sites or anything, lol. We got to the mall about 5pm, and shopped and had dinner until almost 9. Then it was ONE bus from there to the hostel, even though we were at the opposite side of town – not only that it was an express that had us here in about 20 minutes! They use a “Transit Way” system here… roads that only busses are allowed on (Think: what Mayor Mandel wants to do out to WEM). Some of the roads were built for that specific purpose! Anyway, to day we are off to the Museum of Civilization, and then in the evening we will probably wind up at the BIG mall that is right across the street from the hostel…because at 12 there is nothing as important as shopping in as many malls as you can *roll eyes* LOL.” Photos from this trip: See this TripWow and more at http://tripwow.tripadvisor.com/tripwow/ta-013a-51c0-953f?ytv4=1 Duration : 0:1:2
Skintsaint’s travel blog entry: “We arrived in Moscow airport teary eyed after leaving London and also very tired. The three weeks in the UK were very rushed and stressful no thanks to the Russian and Chinese Visa offices. As soon as we touched down we already saw how much snow was still on the ground and immediately decided to get our hats and gloves out of our bags!! Also at the airport while going through immigration we had our first taste of Russian hospitality when we were greeted with service with no smile and not even eye contact — just a grunt to say go through the gates. We were swamped with dodgy taxi drivers as soon as we got through customs but after reading a few websites about Moscow it is safer to use the official taxi stand, although it costs a bit more! It took us about an hour to reach our hostel and the taxi left us down a side street with this ominous black metal door as our entrance to our hostel, we thought we were in the wrong place but the taxi driver insisted it was the right address — there was no signage outside and anyway the taxi driver didn’t hang about and just drove away. Luckily for us we rang the bell and it was indeed our hostel, we weren’t impressed about the appearance from the outside as we walked into this dodgy looking building with broken stairs leading up with a faint smell of damp. Actually once inside the hostel it was very nice, all new with all mod cons so couldn’t really complain, would never have guessed it looked like that from the outside so we were releaved with that!! As it was late we basically crashed for the night ready to wake up ready to go in the morning. Photos from this trip: See this TripWow and more at http://tripwow.tripadvisor.com/tripwow/ta-0134-a9fa-6d0b?ytv4=1 Duration : 0:0:53
Schnitz’s travel blog entry: “So here begins the trip! August 6th: I boarded my flight that connected through Copenhagen. On the second plane I sat next to a british couple, and while i was pretty much passed out for most of the flight, we got chatting: they were Tristan & Claire from Suffolk. The best bit came when i asked what they were doing in Russia, cos they said “Trans-siberian, leaving tmw”!! So before i even arrived in Russia i already had ppl to travel with! Once we landed in moscow we felt like we’re in a diff world already, for one thing the first thing u smell when u walk into the terminal is cigarettes! We had no idea how to get to our hostels from the airport, and so resorted to talking to the multitude of taxi drivers that loiter around and (as it turns out) rip off tourists, since they were asking for $70 per person! Instead we took a bus, that landed us in a completely unrecognisable part of moscow. When we got off we were really bewildered as to what to do next. We met this dude called Arnou from Switzerland, who was in same situation as us. But to our rescue came our guardian angel! A Dr Ruslan Shishkin, a moscow local who just came back from a 2month backpacking trip, who told us where we were, bought us street and tube maps and, since he was going the same kinda way, accompanied us on the metro and told us where to get off! Tristan & Claire were staying in a plush hotel in a different part of moscow, so they got off a lot earlier. On the other hand Arnou had no place to stay, so i told him to tag along to my hostel. We could not find my hostel for neither love nor money! It was tucked behind one of the main streets, down two alleys, and the front door was so well camouflaged we nearly asked for a bed in the post office next door! The hostel ended up pawning us to another hostel around the corner (on the main street), that was a total slum! There was an elevator with 12 buttons for only 8 floors (the dude told us top floor, and when the “12″ button didn’t work we thought **** climbing 12 stories with backpacks!). After settling in, we went walkies in search of a local restaurant. We found one that looked like the entrance to a cellar, but with a menu on the wall outside! We get in and the place is seriously plush, orange sofas, brick walls, a real gritty feel. The menus were in russian and no one spoke english! In the end we managed to communicate by French (thank god Arnou was there). Afters we just went walking in what we thought was the direction of Red Square, but turned out to be the complete opposite, but it was cool to see. August 7th: I was on my own, since Arnou went to sort out some train tickets fairly early. I just decided to go walkies all round town, see what Moscow had to offer. It was very hot and sunny, walking round the Kremlin (wasn’t standing 2+ hrs to get in tho), Red Square, St Basil etc. But tbh i wasn’t all that impressed with Moscow! It was packed with tourists and little else. The russians seemed to be completely bi-polar, either being really nice or complete bastards! Half way through my walk the sky suddenly clouds over and a full blown thunderstorm began! I’m talking about serious rain and lightening action, roads turning into rivers and every conceivable bit of shelter occupied, and there i was in shorts and t-shirt! I got completely soaked, tho met a random cross section of russians while taking shelter including a homeless guy, a police officer with an uzi and a babushka! I finally managed to escape the rain by getting into an underground road crossing, and while i was waiting i suddenly discovered that there was an underground shopping center there! And this thing was massive, filled with western looking shops covered in cyrillic writing, i walked around till i found a metro station in there and went back to the hostel. Once back, i went to get something to eat, at which point i randomly met up with Arnou again who …” Photos from this trip: See this TripWow and more at http://tripwow.tripadvisor.com/tripwow/ta-0134-b30a-77fb?ytv4=1 Duration : 0:2:30
Monning’s travel blog entry: “So we drove from Mossel Bay to Wilderness and called into a shopping mall en-route for some proper shampoo and deodourant! We arrived at Wilderness ‘The Beach House’ and found ourselves booked into an 8 bed dormitory with a beautiful deck balcony overlooking the ocean. Once showered and refreshed,we booked ouselves in for dinner which was fire oven pizza cooked to your liking,, it was yummy! Whilst at the Beach House we took ourselves on a canoe trip in the national park and watched dolphins and wales in the bay. The weather was overcast for the first two days but turned nice on day three.We drove to our next stop for one night at Buffalo Bay…and spent the day on this rugged beach of rockpools and beautiful white sand.. I managed to cut the end of my big toe on something sharp which was pleasant, so we had to go back to the accomodation whilst I patched myself up.. no more swimming for me this week then! Our accomodation is two double bunks in a tiny room with whitewashed brick walls.. Just imagine a cell from the series Porridge and you’ll get the idea! Clean and basically comfy and it had a power point so I couldn’t complain… Photos from this trip: See this TripWow and more at http://tripwow.tripadvisor.com/tripwow/ta-0134-eaf0-2e01?ytv4=1 Duration : 0:1:23
Ditdotnonny’s travel blog entry: “Being in Panama is becoming a little old hat now, being that this is my third visit. I decided to mix it up a little and not stay in Casco Viejo to see if there was any life elsewhere in Panama city. I choose my hostel because it is connected to the sailing trip from Panama to Cartagena which I wanted to do to get back to Cartagena for my 3 Jan flight home. Anyway, using the entertainment-free (as in ‘none’) 5 hours flight to Panama from NYC to work out my itinerary roughly day by day I realised that I really don’t have time to waste getting to Cartagena 6 days before I need to (and frankly the less time spent there the better). So I didn’t book the sailing and all in all it was a waste of time staying in Mamallena (aircon broke, blind fell down, not able to book taxis, and NO-ONE smiled back) The neighbourhood the hostel was in was ok, I didn’t find any guns this time, but my God short of McDonalds and fried chicken chains there was nowhere to eat. My new Central America guidebook (who I have named Wilson junior) stated that there was an INDIAN RESTAURANT (!!) about a 10 minute walk away so off I tritty-tratty-trotted walking the length and breadth of said street only to find nothing but the usual central/south American lack of pavement and wasteland between buildings. Deducing that my destined Chicken Tikka Masalla and Naan bread had once thrived in one of the voids I resigned myself to the only safe and guaranteed place for dinner. The Mall. I would pray to the God of traveling to forgive me if I felt that I had a choice. Dinner was fast, safe, fried and air conditioned. As an aside I noticed a shop selling ‘security equipment’ in the mall like bullet proof vests and army fatigues. A comfort to know one can buy these things if necessary ‘Just popping to Bluewater for a Tazer, love’. I also noticed that in most shops even the mannequins have had boob jobs. Enormous plastic tits! Wanting to purchase a new drawing pen I also noted, horror upon horror, that in this Mall the size of an airstrip there was a grand total of 0 book or craft shops. One of my favourite phrases of Douglas Coupland popped into my head ‘Shopping is not creating’. During the day I had gone to visit the old ruins of Panama Viejo, the site of the original city. The most peculiar thing about the area is that once it was the heart of Panama City but the people of old Panama moved to another area which was easier to defend. Its peculiar because normally communities of old settled in the most perfect spots to begin with ie. areas with fresh water, fertile land, near water for commerce and defendable; and then these city centres grew outwards. The ruins cover a very pleasant mile or so walk through the ruins either side of a sleepy two lane road and have been the victim of all sorts of natural and unnatural catastrophes including fire, looting and Spanish invasion. On first glance it could be an Kentish A road winding its way through an old Kentish village…complete with small white posts along the road, slow traffic, speed bumps and the old grey brick walls of the ruins. But on closer inspection you see purple orchids falling from the trees with large orange flowers in them next to the swaying palms and you realise that this ain’t Penshurst.” Photos from this trip: See this TripWow and more at http://tripwow.tripadvisor.com/tripwow/ta-0131-55c0-9134?ytv4=1 Duration : 0:2:6
1414kath’s travel blog entry: “Driving into town, my first impression was that it felt like a college town and if it weren’t for the cold weather, I could live there. On my way in, a patrol car got the car in front of me and my conscious felt like I should pull over too. Instead I breathed a silent Thank You and slowed down. Syracuse marks a change of course. I was no longer going North, my trip to the West had now begun. It’s interesting in my network of friends how different we all are at an economic level. In Syracuse, I stayed with my friend Elaine in her penthouse overlooking the city. I loved the panoramic views from the roof. Interior brick walls and high ceilings gave the feeling of something out of a magazine. Elaine had a basket of goodies waiting in my room for me. Elaine arranged for me to speak on a conference call to a group of parents. That was fun to reconnect with some folks I’d met at different seminars and to meet some new ones. We spent time running around looking at the local sites, drinking Starbucks and we took a day trip to a town pronounced SkinnyAtlas where we dined in luxury at the Spa and took gorgeous photo’s in the garden. The rest of the day was spent shopping. Hands down Syracuse wins the best food award. The home made bread from the bakery; I dropped Elaine off at the airport and spent the last night alone in the penthouse. For someone who was couch surfing and staying with friends all along the way, I was getting the best of both worlds to have connecting time and down time.” Photos from this trip: See this TripWow and more at http://tripwow.tripadvisor.com/tripwow/ta-012e-f7f8-3313?ytv4=1 Duration : 0:1:42
Lisabraz’s travel blog entry: “Hue, Day 1: We had a short 1-hour flight via Vietnam Airlines from Hanoi to Hue. Before boarding the plane we ran into one of the couples from the Halong Bay trip and chatted with them for a few minutes. I really think we’re on the standard tourist circuit–everyone is either going north to south or vice versa and the itineraries are pretty much “same-same but different,” as the saying goes. Upon touchdown, the plane deposited us on the tarmac in heavy warm rain and 90-degree temperatures. Our drive from the airport to the hotel revealed streets that seemed deserted compared to Hanoi and residences/buildings with less ornamentation or color. Gray seemed to be the hue of the day, in fact, although one might attribute that to clouds and precipitation. We had selected a rather high-end resort for our stay in Hue although probably wouldn’t have splurged so much if they hadn’t had a promotion of stay 3 nights/pay 2. As it was, we were treated like royalty and given a complimentary room upgrade to a bungalow complete with its own private pool (which we ended up mainly admiring due to the incessant rain, although Bill did stick his toes in at one point). The room was beautiful, huge, gorgeous, modern, very Zen-like, and completely decadent. So much so that it was extremely difficult to ignore the disparity between our luxury living and what existed outside the high brick walls surrounding the hotel complex, which was a whole lot of nonstop poverty. Once checked in we caught a hotel shuttle to downtown Hue, a distance of about 4 km. We were dropped off in front of a restaurant and then proceeded to wander around trying to figure out where we were and what we wanted to do. Of course we’d forgotten to bring a map. Touts followed us everywhere; most persistent were the cyclo guys wanting to give us rides. We ended up walking about 45 minutes down busy streets adjacent to the Perfume River, crossing a huge bridge at one point, before ducking into a mall/grocery store to see if we could pick up some snacks. Had to dodge an enormous rat while crossing the parking lot. We then continued our sojourn, hoping to stumble on something historic or noteworthy. It didn’t take long as we soon saw the ramparts of the Citadel in the distance. The Citadel is actually a 22 km square wall. Most of the original temple structures inside are in ruins, left over from past devastation by the French in the 1940s and later by the Northern Vietnamese and Americans in 1968.. We paid our admission, which was about $7 for both of us, and entered a gateway into the complex itself. We didn’t have a guide (or guidebook for that matter) so mainly just wandered around for an hour. It was very interesting to imagine how this place must have once looked, not to mention its various functions. Upon the end of our informal “tour,” we noticed it was really starting to rain so took up the offer of a friendly cyclo driver and climbed into his vehicle/converted tricycle. It was a very tight squeeze, and I had to crouch in between Bill’s legs. We were then basically wrapped in a tarp which was fastened to the contraption. We were able to peer out through a small slit between the tarp and the awning of the cyclo, which could be construed as a good thing as we were kept dry and able to see ahead of us. However, we had no peripheral vision and once the driver pedaled out into traffic, all bets were off as far as my stress level, at least. Suddenly life became a cacophony of honks and motors and blurry shapes zooming past. It was with a sincere feeling of relief when we were able to get out of that thing. The guidebook has it right in describing passengers being “low to the ground and something like a bumper.” Still, it’s something to experience and check off the “to-do” list. On the way back to the hotel shuttle pick-up location, we thought we’d walk along the river promenade to get away from traffic, noise, and above all the touts. We had no sooner started our stroll but were approached by a young man, trailed by an equally young lady. The guy said something like, “Excuse me, are you busy?” to me. I immediately replied, “Yes I AM.” I all but rolled my eyes and stamped my foot with impatience, thinking this person was out to sell us something. However, just when you think you have things figured …” Photos from this trip: See this TripWow and more at http://tripwow.tripadvisor.com/tripwow/ta-0130-fb0c-3ff9?ytv4=1 Duration : 0:1:2 |
A TripAdvisor™ TripWow slideshow of a travel blog to Nyamapanda, Zimbabwe by TravelPod blogger Danielwoods titled “Amazing times – Zimbabwe”. TravelPod is a company of TripAdvisor™.
A TripAdvisor™ TripWow slideshow of a travel blog to Bogota, Colombia by TravelPod blogger Michdan titled “The Colombian Capital”
A TripAdvisor™ TripWow slideshow of a travel blog to Mancora, Peru by TravelPod blogger Laine titled “Peru”
A TripAdvisor™ TripWow slideshow of a travel blog to Ottawa, Canada by TravelPod blogger Hermamma titled “Well it happened, they finally locked me up!”
A TripAdvisor™ TripWow slideshow of a travel blog to Moscow, Russia by TravelPod blogger Skintsaint titled “Red Heat”
A TripAdvisor™ TripWow slideshow of a travel blog to Moscow, Russia by TravelPod blogger Schnitz titled “The Trip Begins!”
A TripAdvisor™ TripWow slideshow of a travel blog to Wilderness, South Africa by TravelPod blogger Monning titled “Praying for a comfy bed!!!”
A TripAdvisor™ TripWow slideshow of a travel blog to Panama City, Panama by TravelPod blogger Ditdotnonny titled “The Old and the Old”
A TripAdvisor™ TripWow slideshow of a travel blog to Syracuse, United States by TravelPod blogger 1414kath titled “May 19 – 23 Syracuse”
A TripAdvisor™ TripWow slideshow of a travel blog to Hue, Vietnam by TravelPod blogger Lisabraz titled “No Way, We’re in Hue!”