North Pole 2009: Barneo Camp Opens For Business

A few days back the airstrip at the Barneo Ice Station was completed, opening the seasonal base for business in 2009. The station is located on the Russian side of the North Pole, roughly 100km from that spot, and sitting at 89ºN. Barneo will now begin hosting teams of adventure travelers and arctic explorers, many of whom will be making "last degree" journey's to the Pole in the days ahead.

Barneo is a unique story when it comes to arctic exploration. Each year Russian helicopters search the ice along the 89th degree looking for a smooth spot to set up camp. They then drop some initial supplies, and a team of men, onto the ice, who go to work building the runway, which eventually allows larger supply planes to land, bringing in more supplies, including temporary ice huts, as well as quite a few people, who will use Barneo as their base of operations for these short, but still demanding, trips to the top of the world.

The life of the Ice Station is a short one however, as it typically opens around the first of April and closes around the first of May. At that time, everything is packed up, and shipped back off the ice for another season, and next year a new Barneo will be built in a similar place. If you'd like to know more about the the base, and can speak Russian, then check out its official website.

Anyone else think a last degree journey to the North Pole would be a great adventure?

Night Markets in Saigon in tour VietNam Travel

While they may not be as splendid and sparkling as shopping centers or grocery stores, night markets have their character and are mainstream ends for neighborhood individuals and explorers much the same. For some explorers the day is simply excessively hot to use shopping, and the cooler night air offers a perfect chance to snatch a few trinkets, while for local people the nighttime is a perfect time to meet and accumulate outside and offer a feast or a beverage under the stars.

There is a colossal assortment of merchandise on offer including garments, footwear, caps. hairpins, gems, watches..etc The costs are regularly less expensive than day markets or stores as the dealers pay less for the lease, so there are some extraordinary deals to be had. And also the decision in trinkets there's likewise an incredible scope of sustenance, with numerous road merchants setting up shop to exploit the passing exchange.

Some night markets spend significant time in shabby products for understudies and specialists, and are found away close colleges and material plants, for example, the immense Ky Hoa night advertise on Cao Thang in District 10, where numerous understudy live. In these businesses the costs are regularly less expensive than around the local area and less haggling is fundamental; numerous individuals additionally gone to these business sectors and purchase wholesale to stock their shops nearby.

The nourishment in Ky Hoa is tasty and shockingly shoddy, simply $1 for a dish of noodles or a plate of broken-rice with flame broiled pork and browned egg, in addition to a glass of sugar stick squeeze as an afterthought.

These business sectors are all inside a 20-30 moment drive by taxi from the core, and offer a real flash into true, living night markets, however for the individuals who are short of time or vitality Ben Thanh is in a perfect world arranged in the focal point of Saigon and offers a taster of the bigger night markets away. Despite the fact that the shopping may be restricted to gifts and visitor tat, there is still a wide decision of sustenance and an incredible climate.

There are no less than 20 road side eateries around the business building, with several burger joints social occasion to devour an extensive variety of the best dishes from all over Vietnam. You may spot 'Bún chả' or 'Phở', delectable noodle dishes from Hanoi, 'Banh Nam', minimal steamed cakes in banana leaf from Hue, or Bánh xèo, firm rice flapjacks from the Mekong Delta, and additionally a lot of different treats. You can request delectable crisp flame broiled fish, or delicious grilled pork - with such extraordinary decisions, you can't happen!

A best aspect concerning consuming at Ben Thanh is that you can watch the culinary specialist cooking before you, and take in every delightful scent and sound, permitting you to appreciate the sustenance with all your faculties. The restaurants are additionally not only visitor traps however offer legitimate sustenance and environment - on any night the clientel may be 60-70% Vietnamese families and companions instead of solely travelers.

Related post: travel Vietnam

Consuming and drinking in the city is extremely prominent in Vietnam, and night markets offer an incredible window into the life of the city. In the event that you have a chance we profoundly propose joining the swarms to consume in the city for an air and encounter that can't be matched by an inn rest

The Travel Photographer's Street Photography Contest | Extension

I announced The Travel Photographer's Street Photography Contest mid June, and I'm extending the deadline for submissions from August 31 to the week following September 30, 2014.

Two reasons for the extension: the number of submissions hasn't reached my expectations to make the contest really competitive, and I'll be traveling to Viet Nam by September 2 and I won't have the time to properly curate the submissions.

The street photography contest is open to any professional, student, or amateur photographer at least eighteen (18) years of age. The contest is restricted to residents of the contiguous United States.*

The contest's main theme is daily life in any city, town or village (anywhere in the world), captured through street photography: real, instant images, that grab moments, people, faces, streets, buildings and other elements capable of telling stories.

The sole prize is the handcrafted WotanCraft Ryker Urban Classic 001 which I reviewed earlier here. It's an ideal camera bag for street photography, it's low-profile and is made of very high quality leather.

The requirements and rules are simple:

1. Entrants can submit up to three (3) photographs, color or monochrome.

2. Each photograph must be a jpg 1000x667 pixels at 72 dpi.

3. Each photograph must include your name and a sequential number if submitting more than one (ie JohnDoe_001.jpg, etc.)

4. Each photograph must indicate where it was made (New York City, San Francisco, London, Delhi, Tokyo, etc). 4. Entrants warrant that their submissions are all their original work.

5. The contest is closed for submissions on September 30, 2014.

6. Entrants are to send their submissions to: tes(at)telsawy.com. The email must also include entrants' full name.

7. There are no fees, or any costs to the entrants. This contest is essentially a competitive giveaway, and has received the blessing of WotanCraft Atelier.

Judging: I shall be judging the submissions, and will announce the three top best photographs. These three photographs will be posted on this blog, and public voting will be opened to choose the prize winner. This will now occur during the week following September 30, 2014 deadline.

* Regrettably, shipping to destinations other than in the contiguous United States is not only costly, but also involves an amount of paperwork, as well as potential hefty custom duties to be paid by the eventual recipient, especially with such an expensive camera bag. That is the reason for restricting the contest as I did. My apologies to the multitude of very talented non US-based photographers who may have been interested in entering the contest.

WotanCraft Atelier's website has full information and details on the WotanCraft Ryker Urban Classic 001.

7 day in MaiChau on tour VietNam travel

Get away from the clamor of the huge city and set out on an undertaking through Northwest Vietnam's staggering farmland. This 7-day schedule takes you out of the way on a visit through captivating, expanding valleys and towering mountains to remote slope tribe towns, falling waterfalls and curious pioneer towns...

Your driver and aide will reach you at the hall of your inn and take you along roadway No.6 to Mai Chau: a residential community settled amidst a lavish valley and encompassed by emerald-green rice fields. Delight in pleasant perspectives of the beautiful scene, sown with pagodas and provincial towns. Stop along the best approach to visit the Muong tribe and after that at Thung Khe Pass for a staggering perspective of Mai Chau Valley. Eat in Mai Chau then use the evening trekking off the regular traveler track, along the Song Ma River. Trek through terraced rice paddies and little towns, finding the common magnificence of the valley and experiencing the society of the White Thai individuals, living in the locale. Stop at a Thai town for the night, eating with a nearby family and appreciating a live move and music execution at night.

Begin the day with a straightforward breakfast with your host crew. Goodbye to your host of homestay drive to Son La. We should stop in transit to visit towns of different tribes including the H'mong, Thai, Muong and Dzao and plantation, tea cultivate in Moc Chau level – Vietnam's chief tea-developing area, before achieve Son La (200km from Mai Chau) for a late lunch. Toward the evening, proceed with slowing down streets through North Vietnam's shocking farmland. The most beautiful view here is Pha Din Pass, well-known as an authentic site amid the first Indochina War finished in 1954, and an enchanting and hazardous pass at rise 1,300m with amazing perspective. As indicated by nearby legend, "Pha Din" implies the association in the middle of Heaven and Earth. On entry, weigh in your inn and use rest of day at relaxation

Settled in a heart molded bowl close to the fringe with Laos, lies Dien Bien Phu, the renowned authentic battleground, where the Vietnamese effectively vanquished the French, denoting the end of French frontier occupation.

Begin the day right on time with a visit to the neighborhood market where you will meet beguiling Thai tribes in their conventional ensemble acquiring their homestead items.

Next, you will visit Dien Bien Phu Museum and A1 slope then proceed to Dien Bien Phu Cemetery to watch a minute's quiet in memory of the saints who gave their lives for the triumph of the chronicled Dien Bien Phu Campaign.

After the lunch, continue to Lai Chau along a rough street, passing an arrangement of ethnic towns of Kho Mu (Xa), Huoi Chan, and Bung Giat. Proceed to Phong Tho on grand streets, crossing the intersections of Da and Na waterways by the method for the Chinese-fabricated Hang Tom suspension span. From here, the street weaves its path northwards through the beautiful and consistently more awesome Na River valley, past more ethnic towns of White Thai, Kho Mu and later Red and White H'mong minorities. Touch base in Phong Tho and use rest of the day to cycle around the town.

At the beginning of today, leave Phong Tho for Sapa. The street is a bit rough now and again, however the unpleasant course is immediately repaid by the brilliant landscape: yawning valleys, slowing down, and standard mountains – a photographic artist's fantasy. The drive to Sapa takes you up Tram Son – the most astounding pass in Vietnam – and perspectives of the Fansipan Peak, known as "the top of Indochina". Stop on the way to visit Heaven's Gate and the Silver Waterfall. You land in Sapa toward the evening. Settled in a clearing valley close to the Chinese outskirt, Sapa is Northwest Vietnam's chief travel terminus. Inherent 1922 as a French pioneer slope station, this interesting town is presently a trekker's heaven, offering trekking courses through terraced rice fields and captivating slope tribe towns. Delight in a free evening to investigate the beautiful town all alone. Eat and stay overnight in Sapa.

See more: travel Vietnam

Appreciate a whole day trekking through Sapa's stunning field. After breakfast at the lodging, start your undertaking, trekking down to the Muong Hoa Valley, proceed one of Vietnam's most wonderful trekking courses. Stroll through pine timberlands, terraced rice paddies and customary Hmong towns. Along the way you will visit a town school and have a cookout lunch along the waterway's edge. After lunch, trek through the Zay town. You close your excursion at Ta Van Bridge, where your driver will take you once more to Sapa. Appreciate the nighttime free at your rec

Absa Cape Epic: Stage 3 Done!

The Absa Cape Epic Mountain Bike race is through three stages, and seems to be living up to its reputation as one of the most challenging events of its kind any where in the world. In this case, the race is held in South Africa, with competitors racing through some of the most beautiful, but technically demanding terrain in that country.

After three stages, the two man team of Songo.info, consisting of Swiss rider Christoph Sauser and local boy Burry Stander of South Africa. They hold a nearly seven minute lead over second place team, Bulls, made up of Karl Platt and Stefan Sahm, both of Germany. Bart Brentjens from the Netherlands and Chris Jongewaard from Australia, who together make up Team Trek-Brentjens, are in third place, another 4+ minutes back. In the Ladies division, Sharon Laws of the U.K. and South Africa's Hanlie Booyens hold the overall lead, while team Absa Masters, consisting of Doug Brown of South Africa and Bärti Bucher from Switzerland are in charge in the Master's division. Finally, Adidas Big Tree, with Nico Pfitzenmaier from South Africa and Alison Sydor of Canada, are leading the coed Mixed division.

Stage Four consists of a long 111km (69 mile) route through some very rocky terrain that will test the nerves of the riders and shake their confidence early on. The stage is marked with demanding climbs, followed by crazy drops, that will eventually put them into a dense forest, as the trail narrows to twisty single track that will surely be a challenge for the wary teams.

The "Queen of Pain", Rebecca Rusch is on hand for the race and competing in the Mixed category, along with Matthew Weatherley-White, as part of Team Specialized / Red Bull. She's also blogging the whole experience, which you can read here. She has several posts up talking about her arrival in South Africa, riding the Prologue, and the first few stages. It's an excellent read with some good insights on what's going on in the race.