Outside's Best Adventures For 2009

We're a few months into 2009, but that doesn't mean it's too late to select the best travel destinations for the year ahead. That is exactly what Outside Magazine did with their Best Adventures for 2009 list. The list is broken down by region, with the United States, Canada, Central America, South America, New Zealand and Australia, Asia, and Africa all represented. Sorry Europe, there aren't any adventures left on your boring continent. ;)

As you would expect, the list is filled with some really great trips, provided you have the time and money. Staying close to home, here in the States, Outside suggests paddling the Upper Owyhee in Idaho, Oregon, and Nevada, or heading to Alaska for a couple of unique adventures. Canadians can stay in country, and go paddling on Hudson Bay or biking in the Rockies, for plenty of outdoor, active adventure.

And if staying in North America isn't exciting enough, there are some great suggestions on the other continents as well. For instance, head to Guyana for unspoiled wilderness like no where else on Earth, or trek the Larapinta Trail in Australia. Want something a bit more demanding? How about climbing volcanoes in Indonesia? Or taking any number of amazing safaris across Africa.

2009 is going to be the best year for travel deals that we've seen in some time. With the economy still in the doldrums, and many people watching their pennies, the opportunities to save on adventure travel are about is good as they'll ever get. If you have the money and the urge to travel, then I suggest taking advantage of it while you can.

Today Show Interviews World Record Kayak Drop Guy!

Remember Pedro Olivia? He's the guy I blogged about a few weeks back who set a new world's record for a kayak drop by going over a 127 foot waterfall in Brazil. He set the record back on March 4th by going over the Belo Salto waterfall, and besting the previous record by nearly 20 feet in the process. The fall took nearly 3 seconds to complete, and it is estimated that he was traveling in excess of 70 mph when he hit the water.

This morning the Today show interviewed Pedro and showed video of the falls, and his epic drop, while also doing a good job of discussing extreme kayaking in general. The piece is more than 7 minutes in length, and is a solid piece from the mainstream media. Check it out below. The falls look crazy!

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Long Chu Festival in VietNam

Visiting Vietnam is dependably a well known decision, and right timing can make for a significantly more essential experience: in July, explorers can witness arrangements for the Long Chu Festival in

the town of Hoi A through Buffalo Tours.

The 11-day excursion takes visitors from Hanoi to Hoi An and on to the Mekong Delta to watch the aged festivals in which wickedness spirits are avoided from towns.

Beginning in Hanoi, voyagers investigate the city's social hotspots, going to The Temple of Literature, Ethnology Museum, Hoan Kiem Lake before setting out on an overnight journey.

Related post: Vietnam travel deals

Hoi An is the place the vast majority of the move makes place, with villagers racing to complete lights and adornments. Upon the arrival of the celebration, explorers watch neighborhood clerics and shamans banishing fiendishness spirits into the stream before brilliant parades pass through the town. When a mythical beast formed vessel is thrown into the ocean at the end of the day, the festivals are over for an alternate year.

Explorers likewise tune in a cooking class at the Culinary Art Center emulated by a voyage through Cu Chi Tunnels.

Amazing Climbing Videos From Patagonia

This site was sent my way be regular reader Carl Hancock, who always has great things to share when he sends me a note. The page is titled Vertical Carnival Dispatches and it's full of videos, 14 of them to be exact, from a recent climbing expedition to Patagonia.

This first video has the team preparing for their climb in South America by warming up in Eldorado Canyon State Park in Colorado. The story is also revealed that one of the climbers tragically lost his wife, and it was her wishes to have her ashes spread out across her home in Brazil. She was a climber and adventurer herself who dreamed of going to Patagonia too, so to honor her, that is exactly what the team did. The results are these stunning videos that have a ton of great climbing footage. Really great stuff and a great story.


Vertical Carnival Video #1 from renan ozturk on Vimeo.

POV: Size (And Content) Matters

It's been quite a while since I've posted about photojournalism-related matters. I'm not a photojournalist but I haven't come across really seminal photographic work for at least a year; work that could have encouraged me to shake off the blahs.

But the recent feature Life In The Valley of Death published by The New York Times did just that. It's about the aftermath of the Bosnian war, and the ongoing efforts to find the mass graves containing thousands who disappeared during that conflict, and how the remains of those killed in the genocide keep turning up, unsettling the reconciliation between Muslims and Serbs.

The photographs are by Paolo Pellegrin, and the well written article is by Scott Anderson.

While both the photographs and the story are certainly powerful, I was initially drawn to the feature by its 'packaging'. The large sized photographs, the article's layout and the haunting title all pulled me in, and pushed me into delving more deeply into the feature.

On reflection, I would've added audio clips of the main protagonists such as Amor Masovic, Fazila Efendic, and Robert Zomer. These would've added an aural texture to the feature, making it more tactile and palpable, bringing home the nuances of their voices, accents and expressions. Alternatively, short video clips of interviews with these people would've worked very well.

I believe that this format is one of the future directions for photojournalism, travel, documentary, human interest stories, weddings....any and all photo narratives. It's one of the formats that photographers would be foolish not to use...either via some of the already existing platforms (see below), or via their own blogs and websites structured to look like these photo narratives.

I have used a number of platforms that provide a similar format such as my own travel-documentary essays in Exposure, Storehouse, Maptia and to some extent Cowbird. I have enjoyed creating these photo narratives, it's easy, effective and well worth your time.

North Pole 2009: Cold Temps Return and Positive Drift?!?

Clear skies are both a welcome sight and a scary one in the Arctic, where the Catlin Arctic Team are reporting that the have nothing but blue skies overhead, but that means the temperatures have plummeted back to the -40º range. Those cold temps were especially troublesome for Martin Hartley, who had to have a needle removed from his bum. Apparently the needle was left behind following some mending done to clothing, and it became embedded in his backside, requiring a pliers to remove it. (Ouch!) The team continues to be happy with their progress otherwise, and their mission to gauge the health of the Arctic ice seems to be going quite well. Team members Pen Hadow, Ann Daniels, and Martin are using a special ground penetrating radar to examine the age and thickness of the ice to determine the effects of global warming on the region. These readings take time, so they are not expecting to reach the North Pole for more than two months yet.

The Victorinox North Pole Team are reporting that they got some "free mileage" thanks to positive drift while they slept. When they checked their position this morning using their GPS, they found that over night they had drifted both north and west, although mostly north. The boys picked up half a nautical mile while resting, which is certainly good for the moral. They also report clear conditions and very low winds, making for great skiing conditions and an over all great day out on the ice. Progress is slow, but solid. The team members, John Huston and Tyler Fish, are hoping to become the first American team to go unsupported to the Pole.

Finally, the Peary Centennial Expedition continues their journey to the Pole as well, and also had a bit of positive drift, gaining 3/4 of mile while they slept a few days back. They're also happy to see the clear skies and low winds, but say the temperatures have dropped for them as well. In the latest audio update, released a few days back, Lonnie Dupre calls in to give an update and discuss the Arctic Treaty situation, discussing the challenges of establishing and maintaining a treaty that really only covers a patch of water that just so happens to have a large platform of ice over it. Quite an interesting discussion.

Stay warm up there everyone, and keep your eyes peeled for the polar bears. :)

Vacation for Mango Tree - A Short Story

Yagyesh lazed his hands to the photo frame that glazed off the bright 'Indian Summer' afternoon.

The glass, the frame, the room was part of his abode, where he breathes and lives everyday, yet today the Sun was avenging its challenge, he rued thoughtfully.

Some 10 years back, his friend Maruti had visited and then how mischievously they had planted the seed of the mango 'fruit' that they had eaten or rather didn't eat and gleefully pasted the king's kingdom all over their faces.

Yagyesh thought whether many miles away, would Maruti still remember the fruit and its offspring, and imagine the shade and the silhouette of the tree that is created of its mammoth, today challenges the mighty and allows the odd ray in, suggestively to let the Sun be or not be.

The mango seed that they both had savoured and quenched privately, was now abode to several birds and men alike on their routine migratory vacations, every year, year after year, after the year they both spent their only vacations together.

Image Courtsey: http://media-cache-ec0.pinimg.com/736x/7c/fd/43/7cfd43dbe2c1c402cf316b62bbdbd8a3.jpg

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This post has been written and shared for the series 'Five Sentence Fiction'.

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Looking forward to your comments and feedback.

The Last Anchorite | Egypt

An anchorite is someone who, for religious reasons, withdraws from secular society so as to be able to lead an intensely ascetic and prayer-oriented life. In other words, a religious hermit with a "fixed address'.

This 19 minutes-long documentary features the story of Father Anthony El Lazarus, a Coptic monk who lives in seclusion in the Red Sea mountains, in a 4th-century monastery about 200 miles southeast of Cairo, Egypt. He's former university lecturer in literature and philosophy, and spent 40 years as an atheist.

This is an ancient tradition since early Christians flocked to the Egyptian deserts where Copts had already embraced the idea of a solitary, devout Christian life. It's accepted that he early Christians were inspired by the eremitic (reclusive) traditions of the Hebrews.

The Coptic Church is based on the teachings of Saint Mark who brought Christianity to Egypt during the reign of the Roman emperor Nero in the first century. He was one of the four evangelists and wrote the oldest canonical gospel. Christianity was the religion of the vast majority of Egyptians from 400–800 A.D. and of the majority after the Muslim conquest until the mid-10th century and remains the faith of a significant minority population. 

With wonderful cinematic skills, filmmaker Remigiusz Sowa captures the essence of the reclusive monastic life led by Father Anthony and those like him in the isolated monastery in the Red Sea Mountains.

Trip to Italy

There was a lot of restlessness in the choice of the destination for our perfect holiday. After some research and decisiveness of weather coming into play, we decided to head Italy. The Northern European countries, like France, Germany, Austria were expected to be quite cold in January.here. The chronicle of the Italian trip is what follows:

We aren't skiing or snow enthusiasts in particular, so Italy being already high on our list (right from the beginning) , the idea just got substantiated. Its Mediterranean climate, large coastline that annulled the cold continental wind , divine food, and shopping opportunities, all were simply too good to be missed out. Next on the task, distributing our time in magnificent country. And should say, we were spoiled for the choice. While our Trip map lays here, the chronicle of the trip, that made the contours of the map is as follows.

The delight (read trip) began from Rome. As we went south to unearth the treasure of Naples and Sorrento. we then headed to Florence and Pisa, followed by Venice and finally ended at Milan. Depending on the availability of the air-tickets you can also have a trip beginning from Milan and ending in Rome as well.

Or for that matter to nearby cheaper European countries, if so.

If not a leisure traveler, and not travelling through car, the following distribution of time, may be helpful for you to design your trip itinerary.

Rome -        1.5 days
Naples -      1 day
Excursion from Naples -  Sorrento -       1 day
                   Amafli Coast - 1 day
Florence -   1 Day
Pisa -          0.5 day
Venice -      1.5 Days
Excursion - Burano/ Morano - 0.5 day
Milan -        1 Day
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Total - 9 Days excluding days you are flying
-----------------------------------------------------------------

(Additionally, yes, there are some wonderful quaint cities in Tuscany region, worth visiting for learning the Italian cuisine, visiting vineyards etc. So you can add another day for either of them. Capri Islands would also be a great option for spending a day.)

Rome:

A brilliant tourist location, Rome can well be  the first city on your trip. It's tailor-made for tourists. A lot can be covered through feet, and others through 'Hop-On and Hop-Off' buses. The city albeit a bit expensive, one can easily save if you have your meals around the Vatican and staying around the Roma Centrali station.

Colosseum, Rome

St.Peter's Square, Vatican City

You can read my earlier post on Rome and Vatican City for more information.

Naples:

The most under-rated cities of Italy, Naples is a definite must on the tour. The Historical center is a world of its own, quite different from what could be anticipated from the impressions drawn from the market or Napoli Centrali station. A definite must for tasting the divine pizzas and shopping around.

Castle Nuovo

European Souk

Experience Divine Pizzas at Naples

You can read my earlier post on Naples for more information.

Sorrento/Amalfi Coast:

Not often does it happen that the icing gets better than the cake. But it does happen, and happens for sure in Naples. The excursion from Naples sometimes are arguably better than the city itself. Sorrento, bit nearer is a compact scenic own. Amalfi Coast, that is bit farther can also be covered as a day trip from Naples. Capri Islands, is expensive to stay, but quite beautiful in itself.

Hydrofoil for Sorrento

You can read my earlier post on Sorrento for more information.

Florence:
They are two different cities, Florence in day and Florence in night. Florence is a small city but there is a lot to see. Be it the creations of  Michelangelo, its famed Duomo or the famed ponte across river Arno. It can hold you by its charm. If you start early for Pisa, you can come back to Florence easily by the noon. Or even better, head straight to Venice from Pisa. That can save you some precious time which you can use in Venice. You can also visit Siena if having an additional day.

Arno through the ponte

Leaning tower of Pisa

You can read my earlier post on Florence and Pisa for more information.

Venice:
The more you'd stay in Venice, the more you'd soak in its charm. If you avoid the tourist and summer seasons, you'd soon come to know why Venice is metamorphosis of romanticism. Nearby Austrian region of Tyrol and Vorarlberg can also be covered, provided you have another 2 days by your side. But then, they are worth the skiing and the peaks they offer.

Venice through Vaporetti

One of the several canals, donned by Gondolas

You can read my earlier posts on Venice, Venice through the day and Venice, through the night for more information.

Milan:
The most European of all the Italian cities, Milan is the most cosmopolitan as well. A fashion paradise, Milan also has a lot on offer through its historical center as well. You can go to Geneva, or Nice in France also, but then you need to have another day each.

Snow Capped Mountains silhouetting the Blue sky - http://www.i-enry-aviation.it/guidamxp.htm

You can read my earlier post on Milan for more information.

Food

Authentic and delicious Italian cuisine can turn out to be a feast for the taste buds. Vegetarian food is not at all difficult to find by and there are a lot of choices too. If you begin with some cues from your Hotel about their favorites about the city than g light on the wallet, then you'll end up treating yourself for a meal of a lifetime. Food isn't expensive, but do put in some research form locals and you'll be duly rewarded for that. It's suggested to carry a lot of snacks. Tipping is generally not followed.

Bottom Line

• Don't buy city cards, they'll turn out to be almost always, more expensive than individual tickets.
• Different cities have their unique identities. That's the best part about Italy. Things won't get repetitive.
• No point in going for Eurorail passes.Anyways as one needs to compulsorily pay reservation charges in Italian trains, so better to buy sector tickets that turn out to be far cheaper.
• Stay close to stations and travel early morning after having breakfast in the Hotel.
• Save costs on your meals by eating out in the old part of cities.
• Make use of the cheaper airports (even in neighboring countries), and plan in advance.
• Carry snacks and adequate medicines.

North Pole 2009: Christina Off The Ice!

Disappointing news from the ice this morning, as Christina Franco's website has been updated with the news that she has been retrieved from the ice following what is being described as equipment failure just two days into her attempt at a solo journey to the North Pole. Apparently, Christina's stove suffered a "double failure" and the time and parts needed to repair it would require her to fall far behind the schedule she needed. Unable to heat the tent or cook food, she has made the choice to return home. For now.

But, Christina does say she isn't quite done with the North Pole just yet. She will regroup and head to the Russian station at Borneo where, she'll ski from 88º to the Pole. She sees this as good practice for next year, when she fully intends to go after that solo expedition once again.

The Catlin Arctic Survey Team, has already fallen into a routine out on the ice, with long days of pulling their heavy sleds, just to set up camp in time to drill for core samples. The team is also finding newly formed ice as they go, and Ann Daniels reports in yesterday's blog post that she gets the unenviable task of having to "go first" out on this ice to test it's stability. A nerve racking task to be sure. The team's twitter feed this morning reports that they are navigating an ice field with 2-3 meter blocks of ice, and temperatures hovering around -40ºC. Sounds like a lovely day!

The Peary Centennial Expedition got underway on Wednesday, but departed from Cape Discovery, rather than Ward Hunt Island, due to the better weather conditions. The starting location is actually a bit further south, but with improved conditions they hoped to make up the difference in no time. The plan seems to be working, as they managed 3.5 nautical miles yesterday, which is a solid pace for this early into the expedition. Weather and spirits are reportedly good, although the temps are about -45ºF as well.

Finally, The Baffin Babes are off! The team left Norway on the 1st of March, and there has been no update from them since, so we can only assume that they are on Baffin Island at this point, and preparing to set out on their journey. In typical Babe fashion, they arrived at the airport with too much luggage and had to pare down a few things before they could board their plane. Hopefully we'll be getting updates from the team soon.

That's all for now!

Tour VietNam travel - Hue's Royal Tombs and Pagodas

The royal capital of the Nguyen Dynasty from 1802 to 1945, Hue is loaded with lovely landmarks, great structural engineering, and is particularly well-known for its regal tombs. Tragically, the city endured a considerable measure of harm amid the Vietnam War, because of its area near the fringe of North Vietnam. American bombs harmed a significant number of the noteworthy locales at Hue, and once the war was over, the Vietnamese Communist Party deliberately dismissed the staying notable destinations on the grounds that they were seen as remainders of a "medieval administration".

Cheerfully for Vietnam and guests to Vietnam, late years have accumulated a change arrangement, and the historical backdrop of Hue is step by step being restored. In spite of the harm done, Hue remains a delightful, interesting spot to visit.

The Citadel 

The Nguyen heads made their home the Citadel, a huge stone fortification that rouses a greater number of scenes of fight than of extravagance – the Beijing Forbidden City this is definitely not. In spite of the fact that its alluded to as 'antiquated', the Citadel was inherent the early 1800s, and spreads a zone of 6 km. Dividers ten meters thick encompass the external edge, yet inside are open yards loaded with lovely arrangements and private lofts.

Vietnam's rendition of the Forbidden City was just about completely crushed by French in the late 1940s. The Citadel turned into a fight site again in 1968 amid the Tet Offensive of the Vietnam War. Today, short of what a third of the inward castles and flats remain. Remodels are beginning to restore a percentage of the Citadel's previous magnificence.

Regal Tombs of Hue 

Landmarks to the leaders of the Nguyen administration, including Minh Mang, Khai Dinh, and Tu Doc, the tombs are all certainly worth a visit. Every one is inherent the customary Vietnamese style of geomancy, actually altering the encompassing scene to guarantee straight lines, certain directional introduction, and different components intended to follow otherworldly constrains.

Related post: Vietnam travel packages

At the tombs, you'll see patios loaded with stone elephants, stallions, and mandarins. You'll discover structures, sanctuaries for worshiping the ruler's spirit, and tributes. The vast majority of the tombs were arranged by the ruler himself, so every regal tomb reflects the identity of the expired ruler.

Tu Doc, then again, was known as the 'artist Emperor', so it is not amazing that his tomb rests in an exquisite arrangement close to a noteworthy unpredictable of structures and lake. As Tu Doc's rule spoken to the top of Nguyen extravagance, its fitting that his rich, fascinating tomb matches this plushness.

In immediate differentiation to Tu Doc's tomb is the tomb of Khai Dinh. Khai Dinh, the twelfth Nguyen Emperor, ruled from 1916 to 1925. By now, Europe was pushing its impact over Southeast Asia, and subsequently Khai Dinh's tomb speaks to a bizarre, early combination of East and West. The yard is serious to the point of being discouraging in its solid dreariness, yet inside is a brilliant representation of the ruler, under a noteworthy bond covering beautified with ceramics and glass.

A seven-story sanctuary, the Thien Mu Pagoda is the informal image of Hue. Assembled at the start of the seventeenth century when the representative Hoang had a dream of a pixie lady ('Thien Mu'), the first form of the sanctuary was very straightforward. In 1665, the sanctuary was stretched by the early Nguyen ruler, Nguyen Phuc Tan. After thirty years, a Chinese Zen expert was welcome to Hue to begin a Buddhist group at the sanctuary. Ensuing sovereigns kept on extending the sanctuary, until in 1844 the octagonal Tu Nhan Tower was raised by Emperor Thieu Tri. This is the tower that today is synonymous with the Thien Mu Pagoda, and the tower that graces the scene of Hue, climbing over the Perfume River.

A few different pagodas speck the scene of Hue, for example, the Tu Dam Pagoda, the Tu Hieu Pagoda, and the Dieu Du Pagoda, each with its own particular special history and engineering gimmicks.

In short, Hue is a city apparently intended for understudies of Vietnamese history. Actually for those more intrigued by shorelines than the history or society of Vietnam, these pagodas, tombs, and the Citadel are in any case intriguing destinations for their engineering excellence and unique place in Hue's advancemen

MAPTIA Goes 2.0

I'm very pleased to have had MAPTIA feature three of my photo stories for a while now, and also pleased that it has now updated itself to a 2.0 iteration.

What is MAPTIA, you ask?

Well, it's best said in the words of its founders: "...we decided to build a map with everything a traveller could possibly need. Photographs, blogs, stories, flights, hostels, a way to talk to other travellers, volunteering opportunities, hiking paths, surf spots… you name it, we wanted to put it on the map."

Roughly 3 years ago, the founders of MAPTIA; none of who had written a line of code, applied for a grant from an experimental new business incubator run by the Chilean government, and received $40,000 to create this start-up. This incredible story can be read on Medium.

MAPTIA has managed to gather a number of incredibly talented photographers-storytellers, featuring their amazing photography and weaving interesting narrative into these photo essays. From David Lazar to James Morgan...from Cristina Mittermeier's photography to Pico Iyer's travel prose....it's all there.

Photo stories (large photographs!) from North Korea, India, Mozambique, Mongolia, Spain, Brazil, Myanmar, New York, Ethiopia and more. I could go on and on...but I'll let you explore.

One of my favorite continents on MAPTIA is Asia, with 310 photo stories which include 3 of mine; City of Ancient Temples (Varanasi), The Birth of Color (an Editor's Pick) and Incarnate Deities (Theyyam).

Seeing The Birth of Color on MAPTIA's website is a reminder that getting covered with colored gulal from head to toe on a daily basis during Holi was worth it.

Top Ten Toughest Races

The National Geographic Adventure blog has put out their list of the Top 10 Toughest Races in the world, with some really interesting, and grueling, events making the list. These races cross a number of disciplines, and are pretty much guaranteed to punish the competitors.

Some of the races that managed to make the cut include the just completed Iditarod, which has garnered the moniker of "The Last Great Race". The iconic dog sled race covers more than 1100 miles across Alaskan wilderness in the dead of winter. The Furnace Creek 508 earns a place of honor as well. This cycling event covers 500+ miles through the heat of Death Valley, throwing in more than 36,000 feet of vertical gain in the process. For foot races, the legendary Marathon des Sables, which starts in just two days, makes the list for its grueling six day, suffer-fest through the Sahara Desert.

I won't spoil the rankings or the top selection as the toughest race in the world, suffice as to say that several of the races making the list are ones that i write about regularly. Of course, a certain race that I have a bit of a soft spot for continues to be snubbed by these recent lists of "best" and "toughest" races. I think I need to talk to Don Mann, my boss at Primal Quest, and discuss making the race a bit more challenging. Obviously ten days of non-stop racing over a 600 mile course just isn't enough to cut it any more.

Taste of North Vietnam travel

The visit incorporates the old capital – Hanoi and the Unesco World Heritage - Ha Long Bay will make an extraordinary separated taste to the vacationers. Picking this, voyagers even have opportunity to encounter the neighborhood way of life during a time obliging in Homestay in Mai Chau. This would be an encounter that couldn't be missed.

The trip from the airplane terminal to your lodging will take more or less one hour and is an enlivening knowledge loaded with clamorous activity, different construction modeling and over-burden motorbikes. Weighing in your inn and appreciate your time as recreation around Hanoi capital.

8.00 – 8.30: Halong Phoenix Cruiser's transport and aide will get you at your inn. Your baggage ought to be prepared for advantageous exchange. On the best approach to Halong city, revel in the adventure through the rich farmlands of the Red River Delta and the view of rice fields, water wild ox and regular Vietnamese town life.

Welcome beverages would be served before accepting lodge and cruising course instructions. Delight in a delectable fish lunch while our watercraft gradually voyage through stunning limestone seascape.

15.15: Visiting Sung Sot give in, a standout amongst the most astonishing collapses Halong Bay. The two chambers that structure this astonishing cavern are adorned with a great many astounding stalactite and stalagmite structures.

16.25 Enjoy simple kayaking around the angling town, then come back to the vessel for your relaxation.

19.00: Seafood set-supper ready for

Another day has accompanied wonderful first light view from your lodge

8.00: Be exchanged to adjacent Ti Top Island for swimming or scale to the top to see the remarkable landscape of the straight.

Withdrawing Hanoi, you will set out on a picturesque 3.5 hour trip to Mai Chau, going over the Cun Pass with its great scene of lavish valleys and mountains. On landing in the town, you will be allowed to investigate Mai Chau and its encompasses. At night you can revel in the warm neighborliness of local people with a far reaching home cooked feast went before by the conventional welcome tasting of a nearby rice wine.

After an unwinding outing lunch and a chance to shop for neighborhood ethnic handiworks then again to Hanoi.

Leave at 9:00am from your inn. We will start our day by going to Uncle Ho, looking into his extraordinary life at the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum, Presidential Palace, and his private spot (N.b. The site of Vietnam's first University, implicit twelfth century, to instruct the royals the Confucius hypothesis. Here we will likewise have an opportunity to see a conventional music execution, if accessible.

Related post: Vietnam travel packages

Toward the evening visit Museum of Ethnology, broadly recognized as the best in the nation which houses a showcase devoted to Vietnam's 54 ethnic minority people groups.

A late evening cyclo voyage through Hanoi's captivating Old Quarter took after by extra time for shopping. We complete our unwinding however educational day by going to a Water Puppet Show, a most loved experience for all guests to Vietnam.

You will be gotten from your lodging for the one hour voyage to the airplane terminal. Make sure not to pack any assets in your handled in baggage and uproot all sharp questions and fluids from your lugg

Trip to Somnath, Gir, Nageshwar and Dwarka

The moment the idea of the trip to the three Kathiawari cities cropped up into conversation, everybody in the family got excited. Undoubtedly, the places Somnath, Nageshwar and Dwarka are as scenic, as they are religious.

The famed coastal road, connecting Somnath and Dwarka with its undulating curves and clear blue Arabian sea water can simply take the breath away. The ferry ride across to Bet Dwarka in a high tide creek, can be equally amazing, and so can a temple run in Somnath.

** Planning for the Trip **

If traveling through road, the ideal mode to travel would be making Rajkot as your base. As then, you'd be traversing a triangle during your travel. From Rajkot hire a taxi, beginning from Dwarka, moving on a day trip to Bet Dwarka, reaching Somnath through the coastal highway (While dropping in to Porbandar en-route). Leaving for Gir early morning and reaching back Rajkot by noon. The trip map would look something like this.

If you have an extra day by your side, you can very well cover Diu. 90 Kms away from Somnath, Diu can be a great outing, with its relatively less crowded beach.

If traveling in a group of 3 or more, this would invariably be the best way, both on time and wallet. But then as I began you need to be on an 'ideal' scenario for that. We didn't have that luxury.

Mom wasn't too enthused about our covering this 700 odd Kms trip without a stretch of rail. So we decided to make Ahmedabad, Gujarat as our base and then beginning from Somnath, cover the places relaxed and comforted. At the end, this indeed turned out to be a laid-back easy trip.

So..Rail it was - (http://www.building-your-model-railroad.com)

The rail tickets are difficult to get by, especially as we were traveling during November around the season for Hindu festival, Diwali. Fortunately with some luck running by our side, the tickets were available.

** Veraval **

The overnight Somnath express made us reach Veraval, the nearest train station to Somnath, quite early in the morning. The air had a nip which despite the coastal winds flowing around, felt cold. We hired a taxi that costed us around 80 bucks and 30 minutes.

Veraval Station -  http://static.panoramio.com

Somnath Rail Station

We later discovered that Somnath also happen to have a decent rail station, but with only few, very few trains actually using it. For all practical reasons, if traveling through train, Veraval is the most suitable option.

** Somnath - Stay **

Staying comfortably in Somnath can be a big concern if there is a planning lacunae. The best place to stay are Somnath Temple Trust accommodations. Various options including high-end rooms are available.  Lilavati among them is the best value of money. However, the rooms have to be booked in advance to avoid reservation hassles. The trust books the tickets through bank draft. Expect rush across all seasons. Further, the trust has offices in Ahmedabad and Mumbai too. Other 'Hotels' (if you can call them so) are poorly managed and the tariffs are irrational.

Lilavati - Value for money

** Somnath - Jyotirling 'Darshan' **

Somnath temple is amongst the 12 Jyotirlings, or the prominent Shiva temples, supposed to be 'Swayam-bhoo' or self-created. The history however bleeds through the series of plunders that were carried in greed and jealousy of the temple's riches. Material and aesthetic riches. The larger glory  is in the manner the temple has been restored. Somnath temple indeed is a manifestation of phenomenal efforts and vision. It is a marvel of modern architecture( remarkably functional and efficient) with its serene background . The place is heavily guarded, quite understandably by virtue of its symbolism of proclamation (sic) of (never lost) glory.

After settling in for some time, we stepped to have our breakfast in the common dining hall for Somnath temple trust accommodations. The food was good and the place was tidy. Food is yet another reason to stay in the temple trust. There aren't many options around in Somnath that can match the quality available, if not the choice.

For the darshan, or a glimpse of the divine, the queue was fairly long. The cloak room was insufficient to handle the rush. So keep all your phones, cameras tucked back in the room you stay.

Sea revering Somnath Temple - http://whenintrovertspeaks.files.wordpress.com

The passage leading to the temple is adorned with stories of restoration through paintings etc. Better upkeep of the gallery including provision of more space would definitely attract a lot of tourist attention. The piousness in the environment can definitely be felt. At times, it seems even the Arabian sea kiss the temple feet in reverence. The sanctum sanctorum is magnificent, to say the least, with ubiquitous silver work. Upon the exit from the sanctorum, one can soak in the beauty of the temple by relaxing across the carefully planned stone benches by the side of the sea. As we came out from the temple, it was still just 11 in the morning.

Somnath Temple

** Visiting Gir - The open Den **

The best way to reach Gir, is to hire a taxi locally from Somnath. We reached at the sanctuary gate in no time and hopped on the open gypsy from the gate (mandatory to hire these special vehicles). The view was surreal, and with some luck by our side, we could spot the famed lion. It was a special moment, and the years of yearning came to life. After staying in Gir for a couple of hours, we reached back Somnath in the evening, enriched and fulfilled.

Lion at Sasan, Gir

Beauty or the Beast

Dear Deer

Images Courtesy : www.google.com

** Temple Run **

After an early dinner, it was good time to relax in the beach facing garden. The breeze was ideal to rejuvenate the tired souls. There isn't much to do in Somnath apart from the temple, so the bustling garden adjacent to the temple is good thought (so we had wrongly thought). However, some people left their fastidious cows and some bulls to feed on the snacks, people were having in the garden. From nowhere, the temple run started. The aggressive bovines tried to run havoc by harming people caught by unawares. There was a virtual screen play of the famed 'Temple run'. The bulgy overfitting monster of the game replaced by the bovines, and for a change the frame wasn't unreal! Within no time 100 odd people that had occupied the place, left their snacks for the feed, and ran to save their lives, hiding in the temple compound. (Have a feeling, such incidents can be avoided by some sense of administration.)

 Many like us didn't dare to enter the compound thus for the evening, and  surely could have uninstalled the game from their smart phones.

Somnath Temple - Glorious at night too

** Dwarka **

An overnight train runs between the two pilgrimages. It was not long back before our trip, that the rail connectivity between Somnath station and Dwarka had started. Albeit quite slow, and less scenic as the coastal road between Somnath and Dwarka, it still is very comfortable. It departs late night and you can reach Dwarka early, but not uncomfortably early. The Somnath rail station is not far from the town and it took us less than 10 minutes to reach station from the temple trust accommodation. Fresh and excited, we reached Dwarka in the morning to head to 'Kokila Dheeraj Dham', our place of stay (by far, the best place to stay in Dwarka).

Dwarka Station

Jagatmandir

It's conveniently close to the main temple, the rooms are pretty much functional, inexpensive and the service is excellent.The ideal value for the price you pay! Prior booking, though, would be great, considering the rush. There is a sizable traffic coming for day trips from Jamnagar, Gujarat. Reliance employees hold quota in the reservation at the guesthouse.  Around 11 am in the morning, we left for the temple. En-route do remember to book your 2pm tickets from the municipal office for ''chaar dhaam yatra''(visit to four religious places around Dwarka), namely, ''Bet Dwarka, Gopi Talab, Nageshwar jyotirlinga and Rukmini temple''. There are private operators too, but not to the match of the bus run by municipal administration. 

Do book the overnight bus tickets from Dwarka to Ahmedabad around this time. You may like to save precious time, as the train leaves only the next morning.

** Dwarikadheesh ki Jai **

Dwarka, one of the 'Chaar Dhams' (Four major Hindu pilgrimages), holds a very special place in hearts of Indians. Dwarikadheesh, referred for Lord Krishna, was the king of historical (and now submerged) (old) Dwarka city, along his eternal kingdom of consciousness. The Jagatmandir architecture is wonderful and the idol 'darshan', benign. The divine atmosphere is made more special as people chant 'Dwarikadheesh ki Jai' all the way. As with other vaishnavite temples, at Dwarka too, the timings of darshan need to be accounted for. The guest house reception can be of great help, before you set your travel for soul. There was ample time for the darshan, and it was far better managed then its contemporary Nathdwara temple of Shrinathji in Udaipur, Rajasthan.

After the darshan and lunch in a restaurant near to our accommodation, we set ourselves for the bus pick point for the 2 PM bus.

Jagatmandir, Dwarka

Reception - Kokila Dheeraj Dham

** Nageshwar Temple **

Nageshwar temple is also among the 12 Jyotirlings. A sizable queue can be expected in the temple. There is a really grand Shiva statue in the compound. The temple management is however totally commercialized. 'Pay and worship' mismanagement. Unfortunately, it is a sham to the sentiments and faith of the devotees.

Grand Shiva Statue - Nageshwar Jyotirling

Nageshwar Temple

Rukmini Temple

Gopi Talab(Pond) - Entrance

** Bet Dwarka **

You can mistake yourself to be in an industrial town, as you reach Bet Dwarka through Okha. However, that experience would not hold long, as the commercial activity would vignette quite fast. There were a lot many tourists that day heading for Bet Dwarka. Perhaps because of the 'Ram katha' by Morari Bapu in Bet Dwarka. Bet Dwarka (abridged version of Bhent (meeting) Dwarka, the place where Sudama met Krishna in  his friend) is situated on an island and the place has to be reached in a ferry.As we reached the bridge, we could notice swarms of people waiting for their turn in the ferry. It was very crowded, but we persisted, and so did our boat in the water. There was some monitoring by the coastal guards.

Bet Dwarka - Entrance

Oversized Ferry - Indian Flag flying high

Rough Sea

The creation and the canvas

Some walk to tread across the hill, and you reach the main temple. Passing by a lively small market on both the sides of the street, you would find people selling religious items and snacks. The main temple is surrounded by adjacent small temples.

By the time we'd walked down the street back for our ferry, it was 7:00 in the evening. 

**  The Ferry ride - recalling the Life of Pi **

The ferry ride back to the mainland was more of a forced adventure trip. The rough sea we had encountered in the day, got rougher on account of high tide and full moon night. The ferry was full to brim and the waves literally ferocious. The experience made me recall watching 'Life of Pi' in 3D. Adventure, nonetheless !  We thankfully reached mainland safely. After reaching Dwarka by 8 PM, we hurried with our dinner to get back in time for our 9:30 bus to Ahmedabad.

Dwarkadheesh, Two Jyotirlings, One Lion Sanctuary, the heart still goes out for that trip. 

Traveled for Soul, by Soul.

***

Stay Duration :        2 days at Somnath, Dwarka

Stay Place:              As referred in the post

Travel Companion : Mother, Better Half

Travel Phases :        Dwarka, Somnath and Gir in phases

Arrived through:      Train from Ahmedabad
During:                    Oct, 2013

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Any feedback on my post? Similar stories to share ? Any suggestions I can provide for the places. I'd love to help in your trip.

                                            

Looking forward to your comments/queries.

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