Posts Tagged ‘travel’

Posted on January 25, 2010

Mahalo Maui

It was our first time in Hawaii and more significantly our first reintroduction to North American culture. When we landed at the airport it felt so surreal that we were actually here. I quickly had to get used to driving again as well as not worrying about power outages, water shortages, an abundance of rich, American-sized food portions and lots of “options” to choose from…(more about that offline).

Anyhow, here are some highlights,

The best beach that we found to have the best of everything (a nice sandy beach, deep clear blue waters, reefs for snorkelling, and no crowds) was Po’olenalena Beach in Makena. It was such an amazing beach to swim in and it was also the same beach where I met Bob the sea turtle and “Big Momma” (more photos and videos coming soon). Also, we hear that end of Jan and all of February are the best times to see humpback whales but we did see a lot breaching from our condo (suite 126 at Menehune Shores was a great find) and we definitely heard them singing while snorkelling (we can even hear their songs on our captured underwater videos).

Pa’ai is one of those small hippy towns with funky shops, boutiques, and great local restaurants. There is also beach with guaranteed waves and surf.

The historic Lahaina town is where we spent the evening at the Old Lahaina Luau for some traditional hula dances and pa’ina ahi ahi (evening meal feast). Lauaina is well known as the quant little town on Maui’s leeward coast, full of sites, shops, and restaurants – quite spectacular sight.

Finally, the local cab drivers have been a great source of information for finding the best places to see and visit (including when, where, “why”, and “HOW”, etc.). However, the book Maui Revealed – The Ultimate Guidebook by Andrew Doughty that seems to be the unanimous choice for in-depth info about Maui.

Swimming with Bob

Aloha!

Posted on January 15, 2010

Let the Long Journey Home Begin…

As our life here in Nepal is slowly coming to an end, our new adventure – our long journey home – awaits.

Saying good bye to dear friends and colleagues is always hard but thanks to communication technologies (Facebook, email, etc.), we’ll always keep tabs on each other … however, I do have a strong feeling that we’ll meet up with each other again in the near future.

I’ll definitely miss Nepal…

Until then, thank you all for everything, I wish you all the very best, it was an amazing ride and I hope to see you all soon.

Namaste,

Rakhesh Lama, Limba, Tamang, Gurung, Rai, Poudel, Yonzon, Shrestha, Gandharba, Doma, Bhattarai, Pandey, Sunar, Timilsina, Gatraj, Subba, Chhetri, Singh, Parajuli.

(and my friends, when I come to Kenya and Uganda I still expect to see a red carpet and Masai dancers at the airport)

Posted on December 5, 2009

Holy Cow!

By Monika Terfloth – Part 8 of 10 of the Mother in-law in Nepal and India series.

Hello All!

Seriously, I don’t know where to begin. So much of what I have seen defies description! We landed in New Delhi a day later than expected, so we will have a brief stay in Delhi before we return to Kathmandu. We were met at the airport by our driver Savran (from Savion Travel), a tall, very thin, middle-aged man. A man so very quiet and of few words, but so very capable. We quickly came to trust him implicitly! He chauffeured us through the Delhi rush-hour in the late afternoon traffic, thick with vehicles of every description… small three-wheeled tuk-tuks in bright yellow and green all packed with people, busses jammed with extra people hanging off the side and loaded on top, motor scooters with entire families aboard (six is the record so far), and into the mix add cows, donkeys, camels, ambulances, bicycles, pushcarts, and any other thing you can think of and that is still not enough…all this packed together on the roadway. Those of you who have been here will truly know how it is. Motor cycle helmets seem to be optional for passengers, though most drivers do wear them. Not an unusual sight at 90km/hr to see a gorgeous young woman wearing a pink sari, perched side-saddle on the back of a motorcycle, legs crossed, wearing heels while relaxing, laughing and chatting in the driver’s ear.

“Drivers talk with their horns” Savron says. Yes indeed they do, in fact the trucks have painted notices on the rear ‘Blow Horn’, ‘Horn Please’. A special kind of honk to pass, another to say ‘move along’, another to say thank you, get out of the way, you’re going too fast/slow, I need to turn, where is your mother, follow me I am going right by there…. The racket is incredible! We drove through the evening and until after dark to reach the city of Agra, a drive which took about 6 hours. Not a break in the action while all the while alongside the roadway people still cooked, sold their wares, took baths, nursed children, slept, herded their animals etc. etc.  Positively dizzying.

The city of Agra is the site of the Taj Mahal. A love-story is behind it’s construction and it is a truly beautiful monument to a woman much-loved. I will spare you the details as the description would be endless. I didn’t think it mattered whether I saw the Taj or not, but now that I have, it has become a very special memory. Our guide for the day, Islam, has a great sense of humor and is a very kind man. After I diagnosed his plantar fasciitis (sp)  he also became my loyal friend and has decided to buy himself some decent shoes. One of my fondest memories of the day is when he stopped at a vegetable vendor’s wagon to buy fresh water chestnuts for us. After also purchasing a bottle of water, he carefully rinsed them to be sure that they would be tolerated by our ’sensitive stomachs’. Bright green and heart shaped, the outer casing is cracked open to reveal a creamy, white, crunchy heart in the centre. They were delicious and thirst quenching. It was 40 degrees, everyone dripping with sweat and no one bothers about it. Mop your brow, air your armpits, lay down against a wall, whatever it takes.

We drove through the side streets of Agra and again each moment filled the senses. Stunning images of poverty, contentment, ritual, history and startling contrasts at every turn… but more on that later.

Good night.

Posted on November 1, 2009

Costa Rica, a carbon-neutral destination and Loco Natural

Costa Rica, a carbon-neutral destination – The Globe and Mail.

The nation throws down a green gauntlet

Seeing this article reminded me of our time in Costa Rica and I thought, why not send an email to our friends Pamela and Carter at Loco Natural see what they have been up to….

…and they have been busy.

When we were there 2 Decembers ago they only had two lovely custom built accommodations that people could rent out. We stayed at the La Casita, which was a perfect one bedroom/bath place. Now they have two more: the Casa Mambo and the Bird House.

Our new two story Bird House is perfect for families or groups of friends. There is a Queen size bed and a single bed upstairs, and a Queen size bed with two single beds downstairs. It has a full kitchen downstairs, a wet bar with refrigerator upstairs and a bathroom on each floor.

Casa Mambo is a three bedroom house with many unique features that express the true beauty of your natural surroundings. The house has a large living room and dining room/kitchen attached to the deck. There two bedrooms with queen size beds and one with two singles which can sleep up to 6 persons total.

We had such an amazing time and it was the best way to stay and explore Puerto Viejo de Talamanca, Limon. It was conveniently location (10 minute walk to the beach and out of the busy town area, we recommend that you rent a bike), very, very affordable (we also saved money making our own meals) and Pamela and Carter were excellent hosts which made our time in Costa Rica memorable.

Posted on October 31, 2009

Trekking with 3 “little” Sisters

It was an amazing, awe-inspiring trek at times and one of the most labourous workouts I have ever experienced. The 5-day Ghorepani – Ghandruk Loop Teahouse Trek had just the right number of days for us novice trekkers but it also was enough to make me salivate for more.

Along with the spectacular scenery and the immerse cultural experience, I was also impressed by our 3 little companions, who in the end made the difference in our trek.

Renuka Kaki, our mother hen along with Maina Thapa and Indra Rai our steady porters were our Nepali guides from 3 Sisters Adventure Trekking. Renuka has been working with the company for a few years, Maina for 1 and Indra was just starting out as it was her first trek after training.

To have a guide, to not have a guide?

Our trek route is also part of the Annapurna circuit. After talking to a view other trekkers (ease-dropping on another one) and thinking back on seeing how the route is pretty much commercialized, it is safe to say that pesronally I think you “can” do the Annapurna circuit trek “without” a guide.

The trails and paths are “well traveled”, every 2 to 3 hours you are bound to either stumble upon a village, tea house/accomodation, or small market of some sort, and without a doubt you will definitely run into our trekkers or guides to ask for directions. The trekking maps are very accurate as well.

However, having porters and guides is quite convenient as they can: provide local information about the area, quickly find and reserve for you decent accomodations (ie, during the very busy tourist season, you cannot make reservations so they often can run up ahead, sometimes a day a head, to grab you a room at the best places – you’ll definitely need this perk at Annapurna Basecamp), take care of all your trekking paperwork/permits, take the load off your backs so you can enjoy the trek, and of course English/Nepali translation.

In my mind, you are employing someone and in our case helping out young women, and contributing to an admirable, charity organization (who is in my opinion doing very, very well for themselves).

Photos of our trip can be seen on my FB Photo Album.