United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland

How does one follow 6 months traveling around Asia? Spend some time in the lovely UK and ROI.

Here I am in the County Carlow countryside near to County Wexford.

Southeast Ireland is full of rolling hills and fantastic coastline.

This is Huntington Castle in Clonegal where I attended a Samhain festival.

The grounds and the gardens around the castle were gorgeous and still quite green even in November.

I stayed in the lovely towns of Enniscorthy and Wexford.

Check out the videos of the coastline and the gorgeous beach Curracloe near Wexford.

Back to London after my 8 day romp and have been visiting all my old haunts as well doing a bit of museum viewing. I also had the good fortune to spend a bit of time in the lovely English countryside in Sussex.

Walking in the South Downs and seeing loads of pheasant, some deer, and tons of mushrooms.

My next journey was to the highlands of Scotland on the sleeper train from London. 12 hours to Fort William from London Euston. This is some of the most gorgeous scenery in the world, in my opinion. So much water everywhere.

This is my view from my little townhouse cottage in Isleornsay on the Isle of Skye. After taking the overnight train to Fort William, I took the local train to Mallaig, the end of the line. This is the train route used in the Harry Potter movies. Then I took the ferry over to the Isle of Skye.

What a trip. I saw a huge heard of red deer, thought they were elk, and more waterfalls than you could ever count.

A couple more days left in London and I'm off to Baltimore. This stage of my big adventure is coming to a close.

"To awaken quite alone in a strange town is one of the pleasantest sensations in the world.” –Freya Stark

How to spend your last week in Asia...

Pictures tell the story...

Live as you will have wished to have lived when you are dying.
- Charles F. Gellert

I saw a leopard in Yala!!!

As I sit watching the sun rise over the Irish Sea in Wexford, it is hard to believe I was in Sri Lanka a month ago. My plans to go to India were thwarted by the fact that one cannot get an Indian Visa in Singapore unless you live and work (i.e., valid work permit) in Singapore or are Singaporean. Such is life and I figured it was just meant to be. Go with the flow and be pleasantly surprised.

Sri Lanka offers free Visa on arrival for 30 days for many nationalities so off I went.

I spent the first 9 days at the Barberyn Beach Ayurvedic Resort in Weligama. This is the real thing, no lavender in site, it is all stinky and I was rubbed with, washed, drank, and swallowed all kinds of things.

I had planned to do the pancha karma but on the third day developed a high fever which resulted in the lovely ayurvedic doctors changing my whole treatment plan as well as having many new things to drink and swallow. The importance of food is quite fascinating and I was carefully monitored while I had the fever. Oddly, to me at least, you are not allowed to have anything "cooling" while fighting a fever.

In the ayurvedic way, the fever and its associated illness are encouraged to work their way out. Easier said than done in some ways. I NEVER get fevers but am quite accustomed to my occasional bouts of boiling hot flushes. On the second day I felt as if I burning from the inside out and then was told to drink hot water and I couldn't have any fruit except bananas as my favourite tropical fruit, papaya, is too cooling. The daily massages and herbal baths were lovely and the setting of the resort is quite spectacular overlooking the Indian Ocean.

I left on the 9th day feeling clean inside and out. Needless to say, my fever and illness resolved.

We also had very nice daily yoga and meditation sessions.

The food was mostly vegetarian and was delicious. When I was encouraged not to have the spicy condiment as it adds to my dominant pitta dosha, I ignored it and ate it anyway. This was my typical breakfast:

Oat porridge, sauteed shallots (big red ones as are typical in Asia), lentils, and Sri Lankan chili paste...YUM!!!

The Sri Lankans are quite adept at making vegetarian food delicious although fish figures heavily in most areas.

Like India, cows are sacred in Sri Lanka and wander all over at will. Some sources quote Sri Lanka as the original seat of Buddhism.

I never ceased to be amazed at the different types of Buddhism all over Asia. The heavy influence of Hindu gods and practises is evident in Sri Lanka. I even had the luck to see animist ritual which wandered down the street at 4 a.m. one night. See the video.

The most important event for me while in Sri Lanka is reflected in the title of this post and here he is:

What an experience. I made the right decision to go to the park VERY early and was the first gov't jeep entering that day. Seeing the leopard was the highlight even if he was just acting like a cat...lying around sleeping. At first I couldn't see him as the spots are such good camouflage. The sun shines through the trees and creates spots on the ground and this guy just looked to be part of it until I saw him flapping his tail and occasionally shaking his head.

Yala National Park is a huge park on the SE of the island of which 2/3 are pure reserve and not open to the public. I was quite lucky to see the leopard. It has always been a goal of mine to see a big cat in the wild and now I've seen one of the most elusive. The landscape is desert savanna and so different from the lush tropical south coastal areas.

Many tourists and locals died in Yala during the 2004 tsunami (Sri Lanka lost 40K+ people in all) but none of the big animals are known to have been lost. Apparently, the animals felt the vibration well before the first and more damaging second wave and had made their way to higher ground.

Going to the park early allowed me to see many other animals as well:

Sri Lanka grey langurs

Asian elephant, in this case a young female on her own

estuary crocodile

small spotted deer

rarely seen jackals

We also saw tons of birds, including some eagles, and a full family of wild boar with 11 piglets.

Sri Lanka is exceptional in its variety of fruit and spices. If it is a fruit or spice, it probably grows in Sri Lanka. The wood apples were in season and very interesting. Seeing sandalwood, cinnamon, and licorice trees was a special treat.

Most of the rest of my time was spent close to the sea in various guesthouses along the SE coast. Next time I will do a bit more exploring as this island is so diverse that I imagine it would take many visits to take in all it has to offer.

China AUG-SEP09

Where to begin and where to end for this one? A tough question indeed. China is a country that both elates and saddens, stimulates and frustrates, and surges emotion of many kinds. In 23 days, I saw so much and yet so little. You cannot help but feel the palpable energy of change throughout the country and many places seem to be in a state of continuous round the clock construction.

Some of the videos are really fun so do check them out on http://www.youtube.com/user/HSGWorld. They are not edited as much as I would have liked but you'll get the idea of the places. There is a playlist for all the China videos.

The Giant Buddha of Leshan was one of my favourite sights and I walked down the super steep steps to his feet and back up the other side. He is in a beautiful park on the confluence of three rivers not far from the lovely mountain town of Emei.

Back to the beginning for a moment. Started out in Beijing where I celebrated my birthday by joining up with my tour group and going out for dinner where I was treated with an adorable birthday cake with a rat on it. I am a rat in Chinese zodiac.

I found Beijing very interesting but lacking in soul. The Forbidden City, the Temple of Heaven, and the Summer Palace were all impressive sights and yet diminished somehow by the immense crowds and constant din of talking...and amplified tour guides. The Peking Opera was a special treat and I was fortunate enough to catch it on a night when they were doing the "Monkey King", one of the more famous Peking Operas. The Simatai section of the Great Wall was perfect as it is a seldom visited part of the wall. It was very foggy day when we went which added to the mystique of the whole experience.

3 overnight trains and 3 nights on the Yangtze River were part of our group's travel modes during the trip. The first overnight train took us to Xi'an where we saw the Terracotta Warriors.

The 1st class trains are quite nice with 4 of us sharing a berth with bunk style beds, air con, and a nice window to watch the countryside.

Xi'an is a big college town as well as a big town in general. In fact, it never occurred to me but a town in China is frequently up to 3 million. The word city tends to be reserved for 3 million plus people. The town itself is quite attractive and the Grand Mosque is particularly lovely. This was one of the few religious sites we visited that was quiet. There were also lots of cats wandering around who seemed to enjoy the space as much as I did.

The Warriors are quite impressive and it is fascinating to see how these huge buildings have been built up around them to protect the sites. Lots of excavation is still going and, of course, they have never found the burial site of the First Emperor. All very interesting stuff.

Mt Emei and the Giant Buddha of Leshan were some of my favourite parts of the trip. We were able to see the top Mt Emei on a clear day which our tour guide said he had never seen even thought he had climbed Mt Emei many times. The spectacular blue skies were certainly a welcome sight. The altitude (3000m +) was quite noticeable while hiking.

This multi faced bodhisattva is a more recent addition to some of the very old temples and statues. I just loved the bright blue sky and all of the different roof angles.

The picture on the right is the original pagoda built by the monks in the 1st century. To be able to see it peaking in and out of the clouds was really gorgeous.

While walking back down we were treated to a sighting of the wooly monkeys, also known as Tibetan macaques.

Of course no trip to China would be complete without seeing the pandas, and see them we did at the Chengdu Research Centre where we saw 6 week old twin pandas, a four day old panda, and lots of playful adolescents. They are some of the most surreal animals I have ever seen, especially when they are just frolicking and playing. I had the pure luck to see the red pandas and their keeper right at feeding time when almost no one else was around. The baby pandas were the cutest baby animals I've ever seen. No pictures of any kind allowed but we were able to watch them playing with each other in their playpen. According to the centre, in the wild, there would never be twins as the mother would consume the weaker twin. I suppose that is one of the benefits of the captive breeding.

Chendu is also the captial of Sichuan province. I had the most delicious street food there including fantastic dumplings and spicy chicken and pork BBQd and served on a stick. YUM!!!

After Chengdu, it was off to Chongqing to board our Yangtze River cruise boat, the Victoria Queen.

Here she is at one of our stopping spots along the river.

I ended up catching a bug while on the Yangtze and was lucky we were on the boat as I was able to spend one whole day in bed which is always the most helpful thing to do for me. I coughed and sneezed for the most of the rest of the trip but getting that nice day of rest of really helped.

The dam...that goddamn dam....well ok, from an engineering standpoint it is unbelievable but the environmental impact has only begun and it not good. There are 3 or 4 locks to pass depending on where your ship is positioned and it takes 4-5 hours to make it all the way through.

Approaching the dam on a boat is quite a site and pictures certainly do little to display the gigantic size of it. There are currently 4 slips for ships to enter the locks and they are building one more for smaller boats which will be moved with something like an elevator.

The views along the way were very mountainous with the three gorges being the last bit before the dam. The Yangtze is very dirty and I am still struck by the comment of one of our UK guys in the group..."there are no birds and very little life that isn't human." Unfortunately, he was absolutely accurate and it does make one ponder the progression of such a state. After all, dinosaurs were of the bird family. Nuff said.

Our ship was lovely and comfortable with all rooms having a private balcony. I had a lovely massage, practised tai chi, and got LOTS of sleep.

Everyone who cruises the Yangtze must take the dam tour at the end so you hear all about how "wonderful" the dam is and how it will help people have electricity for many years to come. There is a scary array of high power wires coming out of the back of the dam...a bizarre site for sure.

Yangshuo and the Li River. We took a lovely bamboo raft up the river here and the following day took a long bike ride through loads of farms and villagers finally ending up in a cave and taking a mud bath. This was another highlight of the trip for me.

Check out the water buffalo swimming with her baby.

Along the Li River.

We spent three days in Yangshuo and it was lovely.

The lovely little canal town of Tongli about 2 hours from Shanghai was our last excursion before the group went on their separate ways.

I loved this town!

This sleepy little village doesn't make a peep after about 9 p.m. and lots of people are up and around at 5 a.m. My kind of place for sure.

Some of the canals were built 1000 years ago.

The market was quite a site with loads of gorgeous food on offer.

I spent the last three days in Shanghai on my own and had a

great time at the Shanghai Museum, Art Museum, Xuhui, and Xintiandi. I spent my last evening in Shanghai at the New Heights restaurant looking at the lovely skyline of Shanghai.

Pearl Tower in Shanghai and lovely lotus flower in a garden in Xi'an. The old and the new blending together...a bit like most of what I saw. It was an incredibly memorable trip.

I'm now in Singapore with my darling friends Carolyn and Cher Wee. I must say it was nice to arrive in Singapore and know my way around, feel really cool air con, and hear lots of English...even if it is Singlish.

"A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step." ___Lao Tzu

Kyushu

I flew from Tokyo to Miyazaki in Kyushu prefecture which was an experience itself. The Haneda airport in Tokyo is the domestic airport and is packed with people. I think part of it was because a big holiday week was just ending and people were headed off to other parts of the country. I flew to Miyazaki and rented a car. It was a bit of whirlwind as I didn't reserve a car in advance and so had a difficult time, not to mention, out of Tokyo, hardly anything in English. It was still fun and I drove all over the eastern coastline.

There are miles and miles of protected beaches here where there is really no development at all. Little villages are inland from the beach and there are big forest preserves, like the one at left, in between the village and the beach. No doubt this comes in handy during a big storm or tsunami as well.

Check out the videos of Takanabe beach and fireflies. I now understand why so many Japanese paintings have fireflies in them. There are millions of them everywhere. They fly in huge groups like birds. I'm not sure you can really see it that well on the video but they are thick.

Takanabe beach and Dragonflies:

http://www.youtube.com/user/HSGWorld

Pretty sure this sign is warning you about the storms.

I just love the way the little house protected by the trees is smiling.

I really didn't plan too well for this part of the trip (this was before Yufuin) but enjoyed it just the same. The day I had the car turned out to be quite overcast and rainy so I found a bit of retail therapy in Miyazaki. My first UniGlo in Japan and they were having a big sale. I also stumbled upon a discount store with TONS of fun stuff to look at. I was completely absorbed with the "lost in translation" tshirts.

The whole t-shirt thing is pretty fascinating in Japan. Everyone wearing shirts that say things in English. Frequently they say things that make little or no sense.

Yesterday in Tokyo, in the Shibuya district, I saw the fancy fashionable t-shirt stores where the designs make more sense but they are not nearly as fun as the others.

I imagine I will see tons of this in China as well.

After all of my searching, here is the shirt I ended up with from the store in Miyazaki. Joann, as a native Missourian, can you explain this?: LOL!!!

Life is good...pass it on! And when you figure out where that store is that has the delicious shells and fish of the fresh sea from Missouri is, please let me know.