http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Erik-2006/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Erik 2006 en-us Sun, 29 Nov 2009 19:05:33 +0000 Sun, 29 Nov 2009 19:05:33 +0000 After my trip to the volcanoes of East New Britain in August I was ready to see more of this beautiful country that I now call home. It didn't take long for me to get lucky. First I was asked to travel to Kiunga and Daru in Western Province for work and then I visited Madang over the Independence Day weekend with friends.I visited Western Province for 3 days in the first week of September. The http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Papua-New-Guinea/blog-202971.html Rabaul on New Britain Island used to be one of the pearls of the Pacific. Despite frequent volcanic activity the German colonisers and later the Japanese invaders had turned the town into one of the largest and one of the most attractive towns in Papua New Guinea. This reality changed rather abruptly in 1994 when the volcano Tuvurvur exploded with little warning completely destroying Rabaul http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Papua-New-Guinea/East-New-Britain/Rabaul/blog-189038.html After months of waiting for my contract and visa I finally moved to Papua New Guinea in January 2007. So far it has been a thoroughly enjoyable experience and I'll hopefully publish an entry on life here soon.... Nonetheless after spending 4 months in Port Moresby I was quite ready for a little break. The opportunity came when I met up with my parents and brother for a scubadiving reunion i http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Indonesia/Sulawesi/Bunaken-National-Park/blog-167945.html Moroccans gather around storytellers and comedians while tourists sit down for dinner at food stalls serving anything from couscous to sheep's head. Henna artists and fortune tellers wait for customers as orange juice and dried fruit sellers try to get the attention of passersby. Unknown scents and the snake charmers' unbearable music are in the air. Welcome to the Djemaa ElFna the central pl http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Morocco/Marrakech-Tensift-El-Haouz/Marrakech/blog-112059.html Every year for the past 14 years the United Nations General Assembly has voted overwhelmingly in favour of a resolution calling on the United States to end its trade embargo against Cuba originally introduced in 1961 several months after the failed Bay of Pigs invasion. Every year for the past 14 years the United States has ignored this call by up to 182 nations. While I don't want to go into http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Cuba/blog-74153.html We arrived in California just over a week ago on Wednesday... it all started with Culture shock California developed quite a reputation internationally while being at the forefront of the social revolution of the 1960s and never shook off its image of being laidback liberal and in all a great state to visit or to live in. I was expecting to feel right at home in San Francisco enjoying wha http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/California/blog-71021.html Kyoto Japan's former imperial city and arguably the country's cultural heart is supposedly home to over 2000 temples and shrines. I wonder who counted them and whether anyone has managed to visit them all... We certainly didn't On our way from Beijing to San Francisco we spent a couple of days enjoying Kyoto's sights and its laidback atmosphere. After several weeks in China's big cities th http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Kyoto/blog-68351.html Beijing... the fastchanging capital of the most populous country in the world and the only Chinese city I had visited before I came to China this time. My parents took me and my brother to Beijing for a family holiday ten years ago when I was 13. It was my first visit to Asia and has since inspired me to come back to Asia several times to see more. Returning to Beijing I was wondering whether http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Beijing/blog-67547.html Harbin normally best known for its Ice Snow Sculpture Festival which takes place in January appeared on television sets around the world last November as the water supply of the city's 3.8 million inhabitants was cut off for several days. An accident at a chemical plant in a city upstream from Harbin had polluted the city's main water source the Songhua river with a 80km long benzene slick. http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Dongbei/Harbin/blog-65489.html Since Xi'an was founded 3100 years ago it has served as China's capital during 13 dynasties in total for over 1000 years. It used to be the Eastern terminus of the ancient Silk Road trading route which connected China to Central Asia and beyond. The result of the city's important role in the Orient's history is a staggering 35000 historical sites which can be found in Xi'an and the surround http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Shaanxi/Xi--an/blog-65332.html Whore of the Orient Paris of the East city of quick riches illgotten gains and fortunes lost on the tumble of dice the domain of adventurers swindlers gamblers drug runners tycoons missionaries gangsters and backstreet pimps the city that plots revolution and dances as the revolution shoots its way into town is how the Lonely Planet on China describes Shanghai prior to the Communist http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Shanghai/blog-63422.html When the British packed their bags and handed Hong Kong over to the Chinese in 1997 after being in control of the territory for more than a century Hong Kong was granted Special Administrative Region SAR status. It was to retain its legal system and freemarket economy for 50 years before Beijing could directly interfere. Also the special status enabled Hong Kong to keep separate immigration http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Hong-Kong/blog-62438.html In Northern China people famously joke that Southern China's Cantonese people will eat anything that flies except a plane anything that swims except a submarine and anything that has legs except the table. The same joke could be applied to the Vietnamese. We could have feasted on dog meat in Hanoi but decided not to. Feeling like we had missed an opportunity to taste some truly exotic food http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Southeast/Ho-Chi-Minh-City/blog-62430.html We arrived in Hue on Saturday on a Vietnamese Airlines flight from Hanoi. Considering that we had booked a flight for Wednesday afternoon to get us from Da Nang to Ho Chi Minh City time was always going to be in short supply in central Vietnam we were hoping to visit Hue's Citadel as well as the tombs of the Emperors of the Nguyen Dynasty located along the Perfume River south of the city the http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/South-Central-Coast/Hoi-An/blog-60624.html What would have come to my mind if someone had mentioned Vietnam before my arrival in Hanoi The war conical hats Communism and maybe Robin Williams shouting Good Morning Vietnam in the rather bad film of the same name. Perhaps this provided me with the right frame of mind to truly come to appreciate this place few expectations...We arrived in Vietnam on Wednesday after flying from Kuala Lu http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Red-River-Delta/Hanoi/blog-60618.html Question Which city would you rather visit KL or Melaka The modern capital city which didn't even exist 150 years ago or the old colonial town drenched in history formerly occupied by the Portuguese Dutch and British Before visiting both places I would have answered confidently Melaka What a mistake that would have been... We arrived in KL on Saturday evening on a Berjaya Air flight fr http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Malaysia/Wilayah-Persekutuan/Kuala-Lumpur/blog-59683.html According to a Malaysian legend a dragon princess was once on her way from China to Singapore. She stopped to admire the charm of Malaysia's east coast and promptly decided to cancel the rest of her journey take the form of an island and remain there as a place of shelter and comfort to passing travellers. Pulau Tioman was created Legends aside Pulau Tioman is a pretty relaxing place. For th http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Malaysia/Pahang/Pulau-Tioman/blog-59042.html Singapore is the sort of place that I wouldn't mind living in for a couple of years. Ok it's perhaps a bit hot and humid and some might argue that democracy and personal freedoms are in short supply. But on the other hand the country functions in a smooth and efficient way that should cause politicians in many countries in Asia as well as Europe to be ashamed of themselves. Per capita income i http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Singapore/blog-57911.html Istanbul the only major city in the world to be situated on two different continents Europe and Asia and in the eyes of many Europeans the gateway to the East. And what a city it is Prior to arrival I was not quite sure what to expect but after positive surprise after positive surprise I would now recommend it to everyonePhil and I arrived here on Tuesday from London Heathrow via Frankfu http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Turkey/Marmara/Istanbul/blog-51371.html Dubai... Home to the world's only 7 hotel an everincreasing number of skyscrapers and what must surely be the only skislope in the desert These attractions will soon be joined by the world's tallest building the world's largest mall and the world's first underwater hotel. From start to finish it is clear that Dubai is a city of extremes. The discovery of oil in the 1960s has caused a tran http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/United-Arab-Emirates/Dubai/blog-51947.html