photography – Page 14 – Destination NOW

Night in Bangkok

Many years ago, Mike and I saw the musical “Chess”, which was memorable for two reasons:
1. it is the only musical that Mike and I disliked enough to leave at intermission, BUT
2. it had a really catchy theme song by Tim Rice, whose lyrics I remember to this day.

One night in Bangkok makes a hard man humble,
Not much between despair and ecstasy,
One night in Bangkok and the tough guys tumble,
Can’t be too careful with your company,
I can feel the devil walking next to me.

Well, now…MY man has been here for THREE nights and he hasn’t tumbled yet. Let’s see what night number four has in store for him.

First decision–what to wear? While at Wat Arun, I saw some possibilities.

Had one of my female traveling buddies (you know who you are…) been by my side, this next photo might have been us in our evening attire. (These sweet young girls were also touring Wat Arun, decided to purchase the full outfit, fingernails and all, and allowed me to photograph them).

But I digress. Back to last night. Our first stop was Distil Bar on the 64th floor at the Lebua Hotel, where for the equivalent of about $40, I had a rose apple martini and Mike had a beer.

That might sound a bit pricy, but the olives and pistachio nuts were free, and we were able to relocate to the SkyBar when it opened. I’ve been told that this place was prominently featured in the movie Hangover Two. Since we saw neither that nor Hangover One, that wasn’t our reason for going there–it was, what else, the amazing view.

It would have been wonderful to have dinner at the restaurant, but it is booked months in advance, so we needed to go elsewhere.

That gold blur in the center of the next photo is indeed McDonald’s Golden Arches; Kentucky Fried Chicken is a few yards further down.

As tempting as those options were, we decided to walk on by, and headed for “Flow”, a restaurant on the river.

Last stop, the 360 bar atop the Millennium Hilton, from which you can see the Dome at the Lebua Hotel. A great way to end our time “on our own”. We join the Road Scholar tour on Thursday evening, moving from the Loft Hotel to the Majestic Grande.

And now, as promised, the answer to yesterday’s question. There may actually be SEVERAL correct answers, but here’s the one I had in mind when I posed the question.

Thais, like the Brits, Aussies, Kiwis, Japanese, Indians and South Africans, drive on the left side of the road. If you think that wouldn’t make a difference to non-drivers, you would be wrong. We kept heading for the escalators, doors, and turnstiles on the right, not the left. So, wouldn’t you think walkers should bear left? Sometimes…but most of the time it didn’t matter what side of the sidewalk you chose, it was guaranteed to be wrong. And if you think motor scooters should only be ridden on the road, you’d be wrong again! We have been wrong a lot.

Recycling in the old days

Question: What do you do with your defective porcelain?

Answer: If you are Chinese, and it is the 1800’s, you use it as ballast in your cargo ships; however if you are Siamese, you realize it makes ideal building materials for your next temple.

Although Wat Arun is called the Temple of the Dawn, supposedly it is best viewed at sunset, when the light makes all of the porcelain glow, and the temple slowly turns into a silhouette against the crimson sky. Mike and I had another location in mind for our sunset hours, so we visited in the morning. The view from across the river was spectacular enough for us, even without a dramatic sky.

If you are game enough to climb the steep steps (check out the relationship between that guy’s leg and the step behind him to get a feel for it), you are rewarded with a spectacular view.

Oh wait–those weren’t the steep steps, these are the steep steps, and someone thoughtfully left a bottle on one of them to provide scale. They are SHALLOW, steep steps, not designed for big western feet!

Going up was like climbing a ladder; coming down was a bit harder, but the view was so worth it.

On the top left, you can see the rooftops of the Grand Palace.

The view looking up was pretty great too. Erawan, the elephant that the Hindu god Indra rides, is standing on the ledge above us. (Don’t see Indra, though).

The grounds surrounding the temple, normally lovely, are even more so, because they are being decorated for Chinese New Year with red lanterns everywhere. Can you see the two Yakshas guarding the entrance? These spirit “monsters” were at the grand palace and also had green and white faces.

I’ll end this post with a question:
What do Thais have in common with the Brits, Aussies, Kiwis (New Zealanders), Indians, Japanese and South Africans? This is a hard one. The answer will be in the next post.

Tourist or Traveler?

One of the blogs I follow, Where’s WiWi, recently posed the question “Tourist or Traveller: which are you?” I loved her conclusion–that our chosen style of travel is not what is important. She asks “isn’t what really matters is that we’re actually there: seeing, doing, interacting, contributing to local economies? Even the most sheltered of tours will teach you something of where you are.”

She got me thinking about my travel style and after pondering deeply, or drinking wine (I forget which, but then, whenever I drink wine, I always think that I am pondering deeply) I came to the profound realization that I am indeed both. In addition to places noble and noteworthy, I have been known to seek out the tackiest, cheesiest tourist traps (as proven during Greg’s and my cross-country odyssey this past summer) with unbounded enthusiasm, loving every minute of it.

Whenever I contemplate leaving any of the lower 48 however, I go into “traveler” mode. That is the essence of my Phase One: learning as much as I can about the country’s people, history, culture before I leave home. Not only does it make the experience more enjoyable, but it also makes my trips feel like they last longer.

One of the many reasons I love traveling with Road Scholar is that in addition to the trip lectures, the pre trip materials always include a suggested reading list. Additionally, their website now offers “social networking” features, such as trip blogs from prior participants. As I type this, my new virtual buddy, Nancy from Canada, is on the “Journey Into the Heart of Asia”, so traveling along with her, gives me a sneak preview!

So, in the spirit of doing likewise for those future Road Scholar Asian Adventurers, I will attempt to be as helpful in my posts.

For starters, here is my opinion of some of the books on the reading list. I didn’t buy any of them–fortunately I have access to an amazing library system here in New Jersey. (Okay, so we do have high taxes, but we also have access to fantastic services).

Mike and I will have some time in Thailand before the Road Scholar tour begins so although it was not on the list, I’m reading “The Bridge Over the River Kwai” just in case we decide to visit Kanchanaburi.

The Insight Guides (already back in the library) are a wonderful starting point, and provide a very useful overview of the countries we will be visiting.

I have finished “Culture Smart Thailand”, “The Gods Drink Whiskey”, and “A Traveller’s History of Southeast Asia”. If I only had time to read one, I’d pick The “Gods Drink Whiskey”. I won’t even attempt to do a review of the book–why bother, because I could never improve on what Mindy McAdams wrote.

While meandering through the library stacks, I discovered four books about Vietnam that were not on the Road Scholar list and are worth mentioning.

Graham Greene’s novel “The Quiet American”, set in Vietnam, in the early ’50s, during the war with the French, before American involvement. I also rented the movie, and as usual, found I much preferred the book.
“The Sorrow of War” a novel by Bao Nihn, a north Vietnamese who was one of the 10 survivors out of 500 boys that fought in the Glorious 27th Youth Brigade during the “American” war, as it is known in Vietnam. I skimmed through sections of this book, which was quite sufficient to get a feel for what it was like for the typical young Vietnamese during and after the war.

Two non-fiction books: “Seeing Vietnam” by Susan Brownmiller and “Vietnam Now” by David Lamb. Susan was on assignment for a travel magazine in 1992, which was when travel restrictions for Americans were lifted. David Lamb was first in South Vietnam as a journalist in 1968 then returned in 1997, to live for four years in Hanoi as a correspondent for the Los Angeles Times.

I’ll be spending two weeks in Hanoi, working as a Global Volunteer in a Vietnamese school, so I figured it would be very helpful to gain additional insight into the country by reading a few post war narratives.

So, three books and sixteen days to go. It feels like the best part of the college experience–the thrill of learning, with none of the pressures of exams! Sorry to disappoint you, if you thought I might be revealing some other college thrills. Hey, that was a long, long time ago!

Speaking of “exams”, here are the answers to the last blog’s Quiz:

Istanbul is split between the continents of Asia and Europe. Unlike the Four Corners in the USA west, however, you can’t put a body part in each continent, because the Bosphorus River divides the city.
Thailand is the only Southeast Asian country that was never ruled by a European power.
True, all males in Thailand are encouraged to become monks for at least several months so that they can gain merit for their families. King Mongkut, also known as Rama lV was a monk from the age of 20 until he became king at age 47. By the time he died at age 64, he had accumulated 32 wives and 82 kids. Talk about making up for lost time!
I’d rather have $50 US dollars. 1,000,000 dong currently equals $48, and 1,000 Bhat is worth $33
Thailand is the country formerly known as Siam, as in “The King and I ” fame, which by the way, was an unflattering and historically inaccurate portrayal of that very same King Mongkut mentioned earlier.

Memories…

Today’s snowfall looks like it could actually amount to something. The trees toppled by hurricane Sandy, lying every which way on the ground, might create some interesting sculptures.

Mr. and Mrs Cardinal are wisely loading up at the bird feeder. If the flakes keep falling, it might be a while before the feeder filler (otherwise known as Mike) gets back out there.

So, what’s a girl to do as she hunkers down for some serious indoor time? Why, start looking through photos of days filled with sun and fun. And, having just seen several of my Villa Buddies over Christmas –Diane, Karen, Denise, Emily, Wayne and Sandy– (We missed you, Greg and Sally!), I decided to take a trip down Memory Lane, all the way back to July, by reliving one of our day trips.

We had heard so much about Cinque Terra, we decided to venture forth from our villa to explore a couple of the five seaside villages.

The Lucca tourist office offers a series of regularly scheduled day trips, however the Cinque Terra trip wasn’t scheduled for the day we wanted. Instead, the tourist office helped us find a far better alternative: a private tour. Our driver, Wolfgang, picked us up at our villa, drove us to the ferry in Portovenere, got us our ferry tickets and an itinerary, then met us at the end of the day in Monterrosso, to return us to the villa.

Of course, we COULD have managed this on our own, but that would have meant driving in two separate cars, figuring out parking, the ferry schedule, taking a round trip ferry ride–nothing tremendously difficult, but the driving had fallen to the one person willing to brave the Italian roads, and it was time to give Diane a break.

We drove through La Spezia, the cruise ship port for those cruisers bound for Cinque Terra, on our way to Porto Venere, a cute little seaside town. We had just enough time for a cappuccino and pastry before boarding the ferry.

It was the perfect ferry ride: warm, with a cool breeze, clear skies, with spectacular views along the way. We could see the cultivated fields stretching up the side of the mountains.

I wouldn’t want to have to plant and weed THOSE gardens!

As you can see, stone was quite plentiful, and incorporated into the seaside buildings.

Why is it that even laundry looks picturesque in Italy?

P1040087_2 — Manarola’s bathing beauties

There was only time for a quick stroll up into the town, (and I do mean UP), then it was time to board the next ferry for our last stop, Monterrosso. We were told there is a hiking trail between the villages, but given that we were now in our lazy phase of the trip, decided to take the easy method of transportation. The trip UP into town may have helped us make that decision.

This village had an actual beach, with umbrellas and chairs for rent.

I, however, was more interested in this lovely alcoholic version of iced coffee. I got all of the benefits of the beach, without sand in my seat, or sunburned shoulders.

And since today is a day for looking through photos, I decided to include a couple from a trip Mike and I had taken in 2004 to Portofino, another seaside village further up the coast. Like Cinque Terra, the houses were sherbet colored, built tightly together.

It too was lovely, and for THAT trip, we actually DID stroll along the hillside trail. Take a look.

Come a little closer…

Although it lacked a beach, there was plenty to see on that day trip.

Ah, Italy– something tells me I’ll be back!

I Love a Parade

We were fortunate enough to be in Lucca during a festival. Several nights worth of parades with costumes, music, flags, scary weaponry…who could ask for anything more?

One question: What do you think would be more difficult–tossing and catching flags, or marching with a flag covering your face? These guys were masters at both.

True confession time: i just learned that WordPress will arrange photos into a collage, so I had to give it a try. Pretty cool, huh? And very easy–at least from my home computer.

Lucca Churches

I’m still thinking about Lucca’s amazing city wall. With a perimeter of approximately 2.5 miles, the interior space isn’t very big. I’ll leave it to the mathematicians to calculate the square footage within those walls. At times, though, it felt huge, particularly during the afternoon heat, when lost and walking in circles, for example. Not that I would have ever experienced anything like that..

So, what’s the point? Well, there is an incredible number of churches packed into that rather small patch of earth! The other walled cities I visited seemed to only have one or two churches within their enclosure, but Lucca had a whole overflowing collection basket load of them!

Fortunately, I didn’t feel compelled to photograph them all–just a few that caught my eye because to me, at least, they were rather unique.

I had never heard of San Frediano, and I still have no clue who he is, but he clearly was important enough to get a church named in his honor. The exterior wasn’t all that fancy, except for the beautiful mosaic balancing on that rather nondescript body.

It was particularly beautiful when the sun was directly shining on the gold, which it wasn’t when I took this photo, so you’ll just have to take my word for it.

This next church has been re-purposed as an art museum. We never got around to going inside to see the Chagall exhibit, but I sure did like those green stripes decorating the arches, and posters fit so nicely under an arch, don’t you think?

This last one, built on the site of the old Roman Forum was my very favorite–the church of St. Michael, named after my husband, I believe.

You’ve got to love a church that looks like a wedding cake is balancing on its top. Instead of a bride and groom, however, this one has angels, spreading their wings and blowing their horns.

That brown fist on the right was not a church decoration. It was part of a citywide art exhibit. If it hadn’t taken me three months to write this blog, I probably would remember the name of the art festival, how MANY sculptures there were–but all I can recall is that they were all totally made from paper. AND that tourists and the locals were invited to vote for their favorite. (There is another sculpture in the photo of the church of San Frediano. It looks like a bunch of space vehicles suspended from strings).

Anyway, back to the church. St. Michael is definitely deserving of a closer look. The sculptor must have had that century’s equivalent of ADD, because each of the wedding cake’s columns is decorated differently. (I know–my future as an art expert has just been vaporized by my clumsy description of these edifices.)

P1030801 — The fake front of St Michael church, with all the cool, different columns

Check out the detail on the Archangel’s robe. (Click on the photo to enlarge for a better view).

P1030891 — Close up of the Archangel. I’m loving my camera’s zoom lens

That was definitely a labor of love, because you’d have to have super vision to see those “jewels” from the ground level. A tour guide told us that Michael is wearing a gold ring. We couldn’t tell one way or the other until my camera’s zoom lens disproved THAT claim.

I was thinking that Lucca’s churches were old Italy’s version of Starbucks …there was one on every corner. Then I happened to take a look at one of the arches.

Look closer…recognize anything?

P1030893 — Do they serve Starbuck’s here?

Looks like the command to “go forth and multiply” was also heeded by a certain Seattle company!

The City Walls of Lucca, Italy

It’s a rainy day in New Jersey–the perfect time to indulge in Part Three of this summer’s trip to Italy. To me, travel is composed of three equally enjoyable segments. Part One is the planning stage. Part Two is the actual travel, and Part Three occurs when your mind leaves your body as you relive those travel highs.

Our villa was a few miles from Lucca, a short (but harrowing) drive to the city gates. It was close enough so that we could see Lucca’s towers from the patio outside my room. The photo at the top of this post (if the”featured image” application works, that is) was taken from that very patio. But just in case it doesn’t, here’s the photo again.

There are city walls, and then there are CITY WALLS. Lucca’s are the latter. We are talking big, serious structures.

One day, we rented a “bicycle built for four” and tooled around the entire periphery.

And yes, those ARE trees growing on top of the wall.

That photo doesn’t give you an idea of how big the walls are, or how high up that bike path is–so here are a couple more shots to put it into perspective.

P1030859 — Restaurant and bar on Lucca’s wall

In fact, the wall is big enough for a restaurant and bar (the site of my birthday prosecco celebration), and a sculpture garden.

P1030972 — The July birthday girls, after several glasses of that bubbly stuff

Lucca also has an old Roman amphitheater within its walls.

No, I didn’t hang from a helicopter to take that aerial view. That is a photo of a poster in the Lucca Tourist office.

The Italians, being masters of recycling, built houses out of amphitheater walls. Originally, poorer people lived in those structures, but now it is a very trendy locale, with great little cafes and shops.

That’s all for today–but that’s not all there is to Lucca!

A tale of two cities –Maglione and Capalbio

If you are thinking that I’d be tired of Italian hilltop towns by now, you’d be dead wrong. I love them! I love the walls, the winding streets, the little outdoor cafes, the cobblestones.

The prior post contains photos of the walls of Magliano, way in the distance, as seen from our Fattoria. Some of the more intrepid bikers actually rode into town during the heat of day, when all wise Italians were eating or snoozin’ and this American was cooling her easy–not moderate–biker body in the pool. They discovered there was not much to do in medieval Italian towns between 2 PM and 4 PM, other than sweat profusely and drink copious amounts of water.

My Best Biking Buddy Beth, and the rest of us wimps didn’t miss out though, because one night, we rode the van into Magliano for dinner.

P1030612 — A spectacular view of the countryside from one of the city gates

If a city has a wall, and said wall can be climbed, you’d best be believin’ I’m on it! My timing was perfect. I hustled to the top of the wall in time to capture the gorgeous sunset.

While peering through the slit, I found it easy to conjure up a brave knight of yesteryear. Can’t you just envision him on the wall, looking out into the countryside, ready to defend God, king and castle, while he rosined up his bow (or was that what the fiddler did)? Or maybe the Maglianese warriors dumped boiling oil on any invaders that attempted to storm the castle. If so, I sure hope it wasn’t the extra virgin stuff. Especially not after it had been cold pressed. (Hey, we learned all about that stuff on our tour of the olive farm).

Also while on the wall, girl scout songs kept running through my head, “the golden sun sinks in the west—something, something– calling girl scouts to rest… Day is done, gone the sun, from the east, from the west, from the sky. All is well…”. And it WAS.

Between the songs and my visions of manly knighthood, it’s a wonder I had the time or the energy to take photos, but I dug deep and managed to fire off a few shots for the folks back home.

I couldn’t decide which sunset photo I liked better, so I’m posting both. You get to be the judge.

For those of you that have had enough of the sunsets, amber waves of hay, old castle walls, here’s a change of pace. They DO hang colorful laundry out their windows, now don’t they?

On to the next subject. Talk about luck… We managed to be in town for the Soccer semi-finals, a very festive and exciting occasion. Big Screen TVs were strategically located in outdoor bars throughout the town, and it sure felt like the entire population gathered to root for the home team.

P1030624 — watching the soccer semifinals

Despite being the underdog, Italy trounced Germany. Unfortunately, a few days later they lost to Spain, but at least for that one glorious night, victory was oh, so sweet. Especially for sweet Angelo, our guide. Viva Italia!!

On our last biking day, we rode to Capalbio, another beautiful hilltop town with the requisite wall, castle and church. But this town had something that the others didn’t…a statue of Beth.

P1030670 — Beth, demonstrating how she modeled for the statue.

I can’t resist posting one last walled Italian city shot, so here it is. I’ll spare you the ones of the countryside taken from the wall. They look a lot like the other countryside photos. Beloved by me, but most likely boring to others.

And now it is time to end the bike trip saga. What better way, than to show the lengths to which I will go to get just the right shot. Here’s what I was photographing:

P1030579 — The grounds of Fattoria di Magliano

P1030581 — If I were good at panoramic shots, this would be on the right side of the photo above

And here’s what I had to do to make sure those wires didn’t appear in the photos. Thanks, Diane, for capturing my “good” side. See, Mike–I DO have one…

Although the bike trip has ended–Sally, Diane, Karen and I headed off for two more glorious weeks, sharing a villa in Italy, with yet another cast of characters.

Day Trippin’

If you are following this blog, you have probably guessed that this is not a day by day chronicle of the VBT bike trip. Our visit to Giglio Island occurred smack dab in the middle, and given how hot it had been, the timing was perfect. After all that pedaling along sunny roads, I was more than ready for some ocean breezes.

First stop, Porto Santo Stefano, where we had free time to wander thru the markets before boarding the ferry.

In addition to open-air meat, fish, cheese and flower markets, there were some clothing shops, where Becky made a purchase. She still hadn’t received her luggage–but somehow managed to always look great. And clean!!

P1030416 — Becky, wearing her favorite (and only) outfit.

P1030421 — Porto Santo Stefano, as viewed from the ferry

On the boat, I was captivated by this charming Italian, who waved and said “ciao, ciao” to me. Finally, someone whose command of Italian equalled mine! (Yes, I DO have a thing for blue eyed males…)

Remember that Costa Cruise ship that sank off the coast of Italy? The captain abandoned his ship and passengers died? I hadn’t realized that it happened off the coast of Giglio Island.

P1030441 — Tourist attraction? The Costa Concordia

What was truly amazing was how close the ship was to shore when it sank.

P1030469 — Costa cruise ship in the background

The port was lovely, with all the usual shops, restaurants, gelato stands, pastel buildings and clean, clear water.

Fortunately we didn’t have to walk all the way up to Giglio Castello, which, like all good fortresses, was built at the highest point of island, to protect the citizenry from invaders.

P1030505 — The well, an important water source when the castle was under siege.

P1030516 — One of the many winding paths within the castle

The staircases were built on the outside of the houses to save space within. Can you imagine an exterior staircase in northern New England? Try climbing stairs like these during a blizzard!

Ipads and iPhones were everywhere. I caught sight of this castle resident using hers. Maybe reception is better near the window?

P1030511 — modern technology in ancient castle

After our tour of the castle, it was time for lunch on Campese Beach. Ordinarily, VBT offers an optional hike along the Faraglione cliffs, but with the temperature hovering over 100 degrees, all agreed hiking under the Tuscan sun would not be a pleasant alternative. Some of the group hit the beach. Others (that would be me) found yet another great gelato stand and indulged, while enjoying the scenery.

Finally, we headed to our next lodging, Fattoria di Magliano, another beautiful agritourismo location, with incredible food and wine, a million dollar view, and a wonderful pool. Such luxury!

P1030527 — Magliano, as seen from the Fattoria

This was the perfect opportunity to see what my Lumix zoom could do. I probably should have manually adjusted the focus. Oh well. You get the idea.

Next post–the grand finale–our visits to Magliano and Capalbio

Last look at Orvieto

There’s something about towers that I find irresistible. And Orvieto’s was no exception, so Diane and I decided late in the day was the perfect time to climb it. Seen from this angle, it didn’t look all that high.

Inside had a bit of a different feel to it.

The view was well worth every one of those 250 steps.

I would have had to hang off the side to get a better shot of the front of the Duomo, but this gives you an idea of the size of that building.

We knew Torre del Moro was a clock tower, but we were not prepared for how loud the bell sounded when it is only a few feet away. By the way, it doesn’t only BOINNNNG on the hour. That sucker was sounding off every 15 minutes. We didn’t linger more than a half an hour–two ear drum piercing tolls were enough for us!

And now for some random memories of Orvieto:
Sally and I found a little wine shop that gave us a private wine tasting. After trying three local reds and four whites, we decided that this label was our favorite. Although, after all that wine, she could have poured us rat pee and we would have thought it was quite refreshing. (we don’t taste and spit…we are far too ladylike for that. Besides, why waste good wine?)

We managed to catch a couple of weddings on Saturday, and my favorite shot was this one. Bad news, little girls. If you think the sandals are uncomfortable, wait till you graduate to big girl shoes–platform stilettos.

Sister, let’s get these shoes off. My doggies are KILLING me!

Wild boar is considered quite the delicacy here in Tuscany. And yes, I DID try cingale, twice. Even after I saw this guy’s head outside of the restaurant.

Saturday night a group from Michigan State performed a trumpet concerto in one of the squares, so we sat in a little cafe, drank wine and enjoyed the music. Sally figured that since she lives in Florida and they were from Michigan, these guys were practically neighbors she should introduce herself, so she did.

The courtyard of Hotel Duomo was our favorite gathering spot for our evening wine, cheese and fruit party.

Everywhere we looked we saw something beautiful.

The city expanded beyond its walls and at the base of the hill.

Next post–the actual bike trip.

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