The Ruined Mayans City of Chichen Itza continue… September 22, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Accommodation, Central America, Destination, Hotels, Mexico, Museum, New York, Sightseeing, Tour, Trails, Trip , 3commentsThe Caracol (the name means ’snail’ because of the structure’s appearance and interior winding staircase) exemplifies this involvement with Venus in particular and the heavens in general. The structure consists of a cylindrical tower on a two-tiered rectangular platform, and it was probably Mayan originally with later Toltec- influenced additions. The upper part of the tower has crumbled, giving an appearance coincidentally reminiscent of modern domed observatories. This probably helped speculation over a long period about possible astronomical aspects to the building. Some of this speculation has been shown by fairly recent research to be wrong, but Anthony Aveni can now claim that Chichen Itza is one of ‘the most secure examples of the incorporation of a horizon-based astronomy in architecture’: (more…)
Norway Røros Mysterious Light Phenomena September 19, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Europe, France, Hotels, Museum, New York, Norway, Rail Pass, Sweden, Tickets, Tour, Trails, Trip , 2commentsThe town of Røros is inscribed on the World Heritage List because of its mining heritage. It owes this, of course, to the mineral resources of the surrounding landscape, and because it is that landscape, the natural aspect of the area, that concerns us here, this choice from the List is a little different in kind from the other entries selected for this book.
The valley of Hessdalen is situated about 19 miles (30km) northwest of Røros, reasonably close to the border with Sweden. It is sparsely populated, with fewer than two hundred inhabitants scattered in farms amid the isolated wildness of the place. Despite its remoteness, the Hessdalen area put itself ‘on the map’ because of an outbreak of extraordinary light phenomena, which commenced in the closing months of 1981 and which were witnessed on and off for a few years thereafter. (more…)
New York City Sightseeing Tour August 21, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Museum, New York, Rail Pass, Sightseeing, Tickets, Tour, Trip , 5commentsBack to 16 years ago, I knew the train would take half hours to cover half way to Manhattan. The journey was meant to city tour, but the train seems to drive slowly to let views outside the windows to attract our attentions.
Although it was one of the train’s first stops and there were never many passengers on board, the people waiting at Manhattan always crammed around the doors, clambering up and forcing themselves in. Why didn’t they wait for the passengers to get off first, instead of squeezing themselves, their sacks of wheat on at the same time that others were dragging their possessions off? (more…)
Not on the Itinerary August 8, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Accommodation, Air Tickets, Cars, Destination, Hotels, Moscow, New York, Round The World, Russia, Sightseeing, Tickets, Tour, Travel Clinic , 5commentsAlthough my churchgoing is confined usually to weddings and funerals, there are times when I am certain that one guardian angel at least has been detailed to watch over my welfare.
Such an occasion occurred halfway through my holiday in Russia. I had taken a package tour to Moscow and Leningrad primarily for the White Nights Festival of the Arts in June — an annual event of Soviet cultural life when the sun hardly sets for a fortnight and old men sit in the public gardens for half the night playing speed-chess. (more…)
A Slice of Big Apple August 2, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Accommodation, Cars, Destination, Hotels, Italy, Motel, New York, Restaurant, Travel Clinic, Travelling Bag , 6commentsSix gritty months of fumbling with biros and over-read text books in a level tedium were wiped out. Wiped out by a five-hour flight to a city where riding the subway is an act of hedonism, and where the pollution on the streets works on the brain like speed, driving people scrambling to the summits of New York City’s towers of granite and power. (more…)
Villages, Boats, Boulevards, Bars, Break in France and Italy, Aegean Tour continue… July 4, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Accommodation, Africa, Aquarium, Art Gallery, Beach Resorts, Cars, Coliseum, Destination, Dolphinarium, Europe, France, Hotels, Library, Motel, Museum, New York, Oceanarium, Planetarium, Restaurant , 3commentsFabienne wakes us. She is pretty in a New York Jewish sort of way — cracked nose, olive skin, beautiful drooping eyes with lot’s of kohl, smoker’s teeth and bitten nails. Wrapped in a peasant blanket she talks of “le business” in Soho and Piccadilly — prostitution to pay for her drug addiction. Her arms are scars, dead veins with hanging skin which will take no more abuse, and so her ankles have become the focal point of her masochism. Corsica is vacation after hospitalisation in Amsterdam and, more importantly from her point of view, stamping ground of many Moroccans who come from the hash crops of North Africa to supply France from this paradise isle. (more…)
Climbing, Riding, Sightseeing Midnight on Mont Blanc continue… July 2, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Accommodation, Air Tickets, Cars, Europe, Germany, Greece, Hostels, London, Memorial, Mexico, Motel, New York, Travel Insurance, Travelling Bag, USA , 3commentsBernie pulled on the rope and cursed me for stopping; I plodded on. My feet hurt.
Four days later, the train heaved its way out of the valley towards the end of the Bionnassay Glacier. Through the glass I stared at the pine trees and the brilliant meadow flowers. The carriage filled with the perfume of tourists, up for the day, and the sweat of climbers, rucksacks balanced on their knees, all heading for the Blanc. When the track wound alongside a cliff the small girl sitting opposite looked out in disbelief as the trees gave way to nothing. She pulled her eyes away in fear and looked around the train — the view there was worse, rucksacks, hairy knees, ice-axes, unshaven climbers lost in contemplation of the weather.
We arrived at the top station and the train disgorged. Tourists wandered slowly across to the cafe or to the viewing platform from which they could look up at the great bleak sweep of the mountain opposite. Down the valley the world became more sane, as the stone desert below the glacier gave way to meadows and woodland. (more…)
“In the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia on the trail of the Lonesome Pine . . .” continue… June 28, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Accommodation, Beach Resorts, Cars, China, Destination, Europe, Georgia, Motel, New York, Turkey , add a commentI walk in the forest all day without seeing or hearing a soul. Now the going is flat; now I am scrambling over large rocks, across streams, up steep slopes. The forest is wide awake and I hear the continual muted plop of falling acorns, the piping squeaks of the chipmunks, the whistling of jays, the raucous bark of the slope-soaring ravens. Sound carries in the mountains. Now and again a heavier thud denotes the falling of dead wood, perhaps close by, perhaps way over on the opposite slope — the forest sheds twenty-five tons an acre every year. When I sit quite still, for several minutes, the wood mice emerge to explore me. The chipmunks, jaw pouches grotesquely distended with freshly garnered acorns, scamper stiff-legged and tail erect to where I watch; but they never look me in the eye. Water-thrush sit in the ninebark by my head. Bear, deer, bobcat and the emblematic wild turkey, are lurking in these forests unseen. (more…)
“In the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia on the trail of the Lonesome Pine . . .” June 28, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Air Tickets, Airlines, Beach Resorts, Cars, Europe, Georgia, Hotels, Motel, New York, Round The World, Turkey , add a commentThe Blue Ridge Mountains are the first ridge of the Appalachians as you cross the coastal plains from the Atlantic and step up off the Piedmont plateau. Famed in the Laurel and Hardy theme song, they rise fold on rounded fold of thick hardwood forest, to some 6,000 feet.
Three hours’ drive from the steaming sauna which is Washington in the summer, and 3,800feet up in the clear air of the Blue Ridge Mountains, lies the Wintergreen Mountain Resort. Perched a few miles west of Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello and the University of Virginia which he founded, the resort is stamped by a distinctive feature. The facilities are owned and controlled by the property owners, who have bought sites and built second homes within the Wintergreen area. The owners underwrite a management company for the resort, securing it against insensitive over-development and downmarket pressures with a degree of success which has made them keenly studied and imitated by leisure resorts elsewhere. (more…)
My Dairy of Korea Travel continue… June 13, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Accommodation, Air Tickets, Cars, Destination, Hotels, New York, Round The World, Seoul , add a commentWe climb a steep hill that affords a stunning panorama of the harbor and, except for an absurdly heroic statue of General MacArthur, an attractive esplanade. Concrete fortifications and artillery and radar installations are only half hidden by thick shrubbery and blankets of flowers. On the edge of the lookout is an eleven-story wooden dovecote built more than a century ago. The entrance to each apartment is a different shade of red, blue, green, and yellow, only slightly faded, and the center panel displays the Buddhist vortex, a pinwheel of colors.
In the wine-growing region near Chilbo, the roofs of most houses are blue and pagoda-shaped, and the vines are garlanded, woven together to screen the wind. The turnoff to the temple is a dirt track with a 90° slope. (more…)
My Dairy of Korea Travel June 13, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Aquarium, France, Hotels, Japan, New York, Restaurant, Seoul, USA , add a commentNo sooner does midnight flight 007 take off for Seoul than the stewardesses change from military uniforms and New York-style indifference to flower-patterned kimonos and oriental manners: quick, short bows at every contact. A “heavy snack” is served: hors d’oeuvres (ginseng root), a “starch” course (”France fried potatoes”), bulgogi (marinated beef), and kimchi (fermented pickle of cabbage). The menu reproduces a Yi-dynasty (1392) embroidery of the mythical bird Bong Hwang, which “luckily foresaw coming catastrophe of the country.” The pilot’s English and Korean are indistinguishable, but the all-night TV advertising of duty-free products is mercifully silent. (more…)
My Thailand Travel Diary part 3 June 12, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Bangkok, Hotels, India, Japan, Museum, New York, Singapore, Thailand , add a commentSome attractive old wooden buildings survive in Chinatown (Yaowaraj), most of them owned by gem-cutting and money-changing establishments. I go next to the zoo to see the white elephants. The mother of Buddha having dreamed of one during her pregnancy, these off-pink albinos are regarded as holy and are the property of the king. Mr. Niloubel assures me that most of the reptiles in the zoo can also be encountered in the city’s parks and canals. Near the entrance is a pet shop advertising “Newly- Whelped Tigers.”
For me the main attractions of the Emerald Buddha and the Dusit Palace are the electric fans. The emerald-and-jade idol is small and at a squinting elevation, while the decor of the palace’s royal audience room will make little impression on anyone who has seen the Oriental Hotel first. But this is niggling: the gold statues of mythical man-animals, of warriors with roosters’ tails, and the music of golden bells windblown under temple eaves are dazzling. (more…)
My Thailand Travel Diary part 2 June 12, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Bangkok, London, New York, Thailand, USA , add a commentToday’s Bangkok Post features a photo of the float on which a Buddha relic was taken yesterday to Sanam Luang for veneration. Other photos are of barefoot and ragged children from the north who have been subsisting on dried lizards. The front-page story is about monkeys pickpocketing tourists and snapping television antennae in the vicinity of the summer palace of King Rama IV (Yul Brynner). It seems that an attempt was made to entice the marauders into banana-baited cages, but the ruse failed when a long-tailed macaque successfully ejected a clump of bananas before the trap had sprung. A parliament of monkeys was then convened on the palace roof, after which none of them approached the cages again.
Mr. Niloubel, who comes for me at 8 A.M., spends most of my temple- visiting time praying. The solid five-and-a-half-ton Golden Buddha sits in stifling heat, humidity, and incense at the top of steep staircases, the saffron scarf of peace draped over the left shoulder. (more…)
The Escorial: Nobility without arrogance, majesty without ostentation May 9, 2008
Posted by dodo in : England, Italy, New York, Spain, USA , add a commentThe first sight of the Escorial is breath-taking, whether seen from the mountains against the rocky outcrops and stunted willows of the plain, or from a rise in the Madrid road, reddish- brown against the bleak Guadarramas. A distant view-point is needed to appreciate its merits of mass and proportion, as well as the subtle variety of the roof-line: the dome and two bell- towers of the church at the centre, the slender spires of the towers at each corner and the pedimented elevation above two rows of engaged columns over the principal door. Approaching closer, these qualities tend to be forgotten in face of the oppressive monotony of the walls, on which the plain windows scarcely project, renouncing even the ornament of light and shade. (more…)
Queluz: A rose pink palace in the French eighteenth-century style continue… May 8, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Accommodation, Air Tickets, Airlines, Beach Resorts, Brazil, Europe, Flight Schedule, France, Las Vegas, Library, Lisbon, Memorial, Museum, New York, North America, South America, USA, VISA , add a commentThe Sala dos Embaixadores is the throne room, but an intimate one, for the room is not very large and the windows on either side let in the sun, and the gardens and black and white marble floor are reflected in tall mirrors above the narrow semicircular console tables. This is the only room where the restoration after a great fire in 1934 appears obvious. The other rooms which were damaged have been admirably restored.
Beyond, at right angles, are the apartments of Dona Maria’s son, Dom Joao VI and his sinister Spanish Queen, Carlotta Joaquina, whom Beckford described with such vividness. Sitting oriental fashion on a red velvet carpet laid on the grass, she made him run races with her ladies in the gardens and dance the bolero to a ‘ low, soft-flowing choir of female voices . . . smooth, well-tuned, and perfectly ‘melodious’. The orchestra, which then existed at Queluz was, according to Beckford, the finest in Europe and at that time the wooden theatre in the park still existed, though nothing now remains of it. (more…)
