Touching the Cosmos in Antarctica

See article in Huffington Post.

As you can see from the photos below, I now have a better camera.

Recommendations and other info can be found after the photos

photo by Jeff Wang

photo by Jeff Wang

photo by Stacy Sadler

photo by Stacy Sadler

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To get to Ushuaia, the starting point for the cruise, you can fly to Buenos Aries on America, Delta, LAN, United or any of several other major airlines. From Buenos Aires to Ushuaia its either Aerolineas Argentinas or LAN. 

I recommend stopping over in Buenos Aries on your way to or back from Ushuaia. If you're traveling all that distance and spending all that money, why not take the opportunity and explore one of South America's, and possibly the world's, most attractive and cosmopolitan cities? I had planned to spend two nights in BA on the way and one night coming back, but the airlines -- United and Aerolineas Argentinas -- thwarted my plans and cut those three days down to a day. But I enjoyed every minute of my day, walking around and exploring the Palermo district, one of the hippest neighborhoods in the city.

I stayed at the Polo Suites by Hollywood and would enthusiastically recommend it (full disclosure -- I was not comped by the hotel). I found and booked it through hotels.com and got an excellent price, significantly less than $100/night. I had a very quiet one bedroom suite and the hotel staff was very helpful, especially when I arrived at 5 am (rather than at 7 pm the night before). The staff at the front desk spoke excellent English, which was very much appreciated since I know little Spanish beyond the words for "hello," "thank you," "bathroom" and "beer."

The town of Ushuaia, arguably the southernmost city in the world, is also worth spending at least two days, and possibly more, to rest, walk around and visit nearby Tierra del Fuego National Park. I didn't plan to spend more than one night, but a surprise one day strike shut down almost the entire country and gave me an extra day to explore the town. 

The town itself is more interesting and picturesque than I expected. Houses march halfway up the slopes of steep snow-covered mountain ridges behind the town and look out over the Beagle Channel, made famous by Charles Darwin. The air is as clear as crystal and as fresh as the winds that sweep down the channel.

The hotels in town are pretty expensive, but I found a comfortable place for about $75 on hotels.com, the Del Bosque Apartment/Hotel. The Del Bosque is a few blocks up from the waterfront -- and I do mean up -- so expect a vigorous walk if you stay here. But its quiet and roomy, essentially a bedroom cottage. 

I had dinner one night at Kaipua, one of the best restaurants in the city. Kaipua would compare well with some of the better restaurants in LA, NY and Miami. With a spectacular view over the channel and the best snow crab I have ever had plus an excellent sea bass in black butter, both fresh from the nearby waters, and a bottle of white wine as crisp as the air, the total cost, including tip, came out to about $60 per person. It wasn't cheap, but it would have cost a lot more on Abbot Kinney Blvd. ("the coolest block in America" according to GQ magazine) in Venice Beach where I live.

One comment about our ship, the Ocean Nova. The company that leases the ship is planning to use a larger ship next year, one with stabilizers so that the crossings are not as rough. I have to admit that I didn't mind the roughness of the journey through the Drake Passage. Of course I didn’t get sick. The tossing and rolling made the crossing seem more like an adventure, evoking in my hyperbolic imagination the age of discovery and the great polar explorations.

I also liked the intimacy of the smaller ship. I was able to talk to almost everyone on board, even if it was just to exchange pleasantries like “would you please help me off the floor” or “do you have an extra puke bag?”

Kayaking With Orcas in the Johnstone Strait, Vancouver Island

 See article in Active Over 50.

All photos (see below) except the first were taken by our guide, Sophie Ballagh. Sophie had a much better camera than I did. Plus, as the guide she was the boss and was able to put herself in the best position to catch photos of the orcas swimming by (just kidding...). This trip inspired me to spend the money for a better camera. You should see the results of my investment in later posts. You can tell me whether the investment paid off.

As for info about how to get there and where to stay I suggest that you rely on the info provided by the operator, Out for Adventure. To get there I took the ferry from Horseshoe Bay in West Vancouver to Nanaimo on Vancouver Island and took the shuttle to Campbell River. I flew back from Campbell River. The flight was surprisingly inexpensive, but it cost me $40 taxi fare to get to the airport. Either way it will cost you time or money, which is par for the course when traveling to off-the-beaten-track adventure destinations.

I don't have a hotel to recommend in Campbell River. The place I stayed in was OK I guess, but I wouldn't recommend it. I thought I had booked a room on the web at the Discovery Inn, far and away the best place to stay in town, only to discover that the hotel I had actually booked for the evening was the Discovery Inn on San Juan Island in Washington State, several hundred miles away! I caught my mistake in time to cancel the reservation, but too late to get a decent rate at the Discovery Inn in Campbell River. That's what I get for being in a hurry.

I do have a good place to recommend for dinner in Campbell River, but I can't find the card from the restaurant. I also can't remember the name, but from researching the web, I think it may be Quay West. I do remember that it was on the water just south of the park near the Discovery Inn (the right one). You really can't miss it. I also can't remember what I ate. I do remember that it was sea food and I also remember drinking a good draft IPA. It was decent place with a nice view so I figure that you can't go wrong as long as you stick to the sea food and draft beer (from the on line reviews, it sounds like the burger is also pretty good). Besides, you're there for the kayak trip and the orca, so all of this is ultimately beside the point.

 

 

Contemplating Mortality on the Big Island of Hawaii

See article in Huffington Post. Yes, the title is different than the one I use here. This is the original title, the one I much prefer. For some inexplicable reason, the editors at the Post changed it. Alas, they made other changes as well, none for the better, including a weird link to my web page from the phrase "The destination at the top of the road" at the beginning of the fifth paragraph. I have tried to get them to change it but so far to no avail....

view of Waipio Valley from overlook

view from lanai at Aloha Guesthouse

house gecko eating honey at The Coffee Shack (great food and even better views!)

waterfall at end of Waipio Valley

view from rim near end of Kilauea Iki (note corrected spelling) hike

floor of Kilauea Iki crater

floor of Kilauea Iki crater

Kilauea Caldera

A Mekong Meditation

see article in http://www.activeover50.com/articles/fall-12/AO50_Fall_2012-mankin-meditation.pdf or http://www.huffingtonpost.com/don-mankin/a-mekong-meditation_b_1992304.html.

Photos (all of the photos were taken by me, except the one of me. Unfortunately I don't remember who took it. I was too blissed out):

top deck

view from top deck

early morning on the river

Wat Phou

temple at Wat Phou

I got a little too close

exotic river mammals

a small section of the Khone Falls

in the midst of the 4000 islands

Recommendation:

Lernidee Trains and Cruises handles pretty much everything from Pakse, Lao at the start of the trip back to Pakse at the end. All you have to do is get to Pakse. The easiest way, flying from Bangkok via the capital city of Vientiane, can be pretty expensive -- almost $500.

An alternative, flying from Bangkok to Ubon Ratchathani in NE Thailand, is much less expensive, even adding in the cost of the transfers between the airport and Pakse (the transfers can be arranged by Lernidee). This does add another 2-3 hours to your travel time, but its a pretty interesting drive through the hinterlands of Thailand and Laos, not to mention the border crossing which is an adventure in itself.

If you decide to do the transfer, I recommend that you tip the driver in Thailand when he drops you off at the border crossing. I gave him 100 Baht (about $3) and he made what looked to me like a special effort to meet me on the other side and hand me over to the driver for the Lao portion of the transfer.

Searching for Tigers in the Heart of India

Supplement to articles at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/don-mankin/searching-for-tigers-in-india_b_1654136.html and http://www.vibrantlivingmagazine.com/2012/07/01/tiger-tiger-burning-bright/. 

Bandhavgarh NP

Kanha NP

Kanha NP

Kanha NP

Kanha NP

India is not an easy place to visit. Aside from the almost impossibly long flight to get there, the crowds, noise, and chaos are the very antithesis of a relaxing vacation in a beach resort. Add in the almost constant vigilance over what you eat and drink to avoid getting sick, and you might wonder “why bother?” Because it’s also the most interesting, complex, and diverse place I have ever visited. If you judge a trip by how long the memory lingers and how profound its impact – the mark of true adventure travel – then a trip to India is likely to be at or near the top of your list.

Our trip was organized by Encounters Asia (http://www.encountersasia.com/), a sister company to the tour operator that hosted our visit to the jungle lodges near Kanha and Bandhavgarh National Parks (see the links at the beginning of this post for the story of our trip to the National Parks). I only had time for a two week trip so for the rest of our visit we focused on cities and regions reasonably close to the parks. Fortunately that included the must-see cities of Delhi, Jaipur, Agra (the site of the Taj Mahal) and Varanasi. All but Varanasi are within a day’s drive of each other. Except for two internal flights and an overnight train ride, we had a car, driver, and guide throughout our trip.

Delhi, Jaipur and Agra form the “Golden Triangle” where the most famous historical sites of India are located. The Taj Mahal lives up to its hype, especially if you arrive shortly before dawn to beat the crowds and to watch the Taj change colors, from rosy pink to blazing white, as the sun rises.  Almost as impressive were the Amber Fort in Jaipur, a vast fort and palace built in the late 16^th Century; the  Jantar Mantar, also in Jaipur, an 18^th Century astronomical observatory comprised of “instruments” the size of buildings; the Fatehpur Sikri, a red sandstone city just outside of Agra built in the late 16^th Century; and the Agra Fort which provides an opportunity to see the Taj from a distance and different perspective . The strangeness of the architecture, the unique history, and in the case of the Amber Fort, the majestic setting add to the allure and the beauty of these sites.

From Agra, we took an overnight train to Jabalpur where we were met by a driver for the 4.5 hour drive to Kanha. I was expecting the Orient Express, what we got was Amtrak on a bad day. No luxurious wood paneling, elegant dining car, and mysterious strangers (well, maybe that). Just a bouncing, narrow seat to sleep on, two communal bathrooms (one, western style; the other, the ubiquitous squat toilet found throughout Asia); and a takeout meal we had the foresight to bring on board with us. We survived without incident, but didn’t get a lot of sleep. Good thing we were heading to the tranquility of the tiger reserves.

There is an alternative – return to Delhi and fly to Jabalpur. If you’re a bit adventurous and the kind of person who can sleep anywhere, or can at least tolerate the occasional sleepless night, I recommend the train. Just don’t forget to bring your meal on board with you. I also recommend a light meal that won’t gurgle all night in your intestines as you bounce in time with the train.

As much as I enjoyed the Golden Triangle, our destinations after the National Parks were our second favorite segments of the trip, surpassed only by our experiences in the parks. From Bandhavgarh, it was a day’s drive to Khajuraho, the site of the famous Hindu temples with the erotic carvings. The temples are beautiful and well preserved and the carvings are indeed amazing – they are everywhere and depict the entire range of human experience, not just the erotic – but what impressed me most is how leafy green and peaceful  the city is. It’s a small town and has little of the congestion and chaos of India’s major cities, unless you count the many young backpackers from all over the world.

And that wasn’t the best part. Our one night visit came during the middle of the annual Khajuraho Festival of Dance, held every year during the first week of February. This year it was free – it hasn’t been in the past – but I would have been happy to pay for some of the best classical Indian music and dancing I have ever seen or heard, which was nothing like the pelvic thrusts and tacky dance routines seen in most Bollywood movies. The shows are presented after sunset and feature the best dancers from around the world on a stage in front of the brightly lit Hindu temples. The sights and sounds made for one of the most ecstatic one and half hours of our trip.

I would have been happy to stay for another night in Khajuraho just to see more dancing, but our trip was coming to an end and our last stop, Varanasi, promised to be a highlight of our visit. The only way to describe Varanasi – one of the holiest cities in Hinduism and one of the oldest cities in the world – is surreal, even hallucinogenic. Hindus make pilgrimages to Varanasi to bath in the Ganges to absolve themselves of their sins. They also come to die. Hindus believe that if they die in Varanasi they will be liberated from the cycle of reincarnation and go directly to Nirvana.

The streets of Varanasi make downtown Manhattan at rush hour look like Mayberry. We walked several blocks from our parked van to the river in the early evening (we couldn’t drive any closer), took a boat ride to see the flaming funeral pyres lining the river, then observed the colorful Hindu services for the deceased on the banks of the river, marked by swirling incense and other worldly chanting. Afterwards, back at our hotel  Katherine needed two vodkas and remarked (harkening back to her younger days), “I feel like I should take acid just to get to the same level.”

Early the next morning we were back on the river to watch people bathe away their sins, then took a walk through the narrow alleyways of the funeral district where most of the pyres are located. The morning was just slightly less psychedelic than the evening before.

I have visited some of the most exotic sites and cities in the world, but none compare with Varanasi. That one night left me breathless, unsettled and excited. It may not have been the same as being hissed at by a tiger just a few feet away or glared at by an angry cobra, but it was a close second.

India is a must see destination for adventurous travelers. Expect to be stimulated and at times, overwhelmed.  I do recommend that you make sure to include a few days in at least one tiger reserve, not just for the unforgettable experience of seeing a tiger up close, but also to recharge your batteries before venturing out again into the maelstrom of India’s cities.

I also recommend that you book your trip through a tour operator, like Encounters Asia, rather than doing it on your own, at least for your first visit. Let them take care of hotels, internal flights and other arrangements so that you have plenty of time and focus to deal with the sensory and cognitive challenges and attractions of this amazing country.