http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Lauren---Shane/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Lauren Shane en-us Wed, 09 Dec 2009 14:01:26 +0000 Wed, 09 Dec 2009 14:01:26 +0000 Rao Lucy and I woke up at 400 am and took a taxi up to Konark in order to be at the Sun Temple at sunrise and because our flight from Bhubaneswar was scheduled for noon. The drive only took 1.5 hours or so and first our driver took us to the beach where all the Indian tourists watch the sunrise. We joined the crowd of hundreds and appeared to be the only Westerners there Lucy was a popular http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Orissa/blog-359645.html After 2 days of flights DC to London to Munich to Delhi to Bhubaneswar we made it to the east coast of India to Chilika Lake. I was there for 10 nights and stayed at the guesthouse of the Chilika Lake Reserve along with John USGS guru Tracy UN FAO veterinarian Scott FAO Biologist Lucy Postdoc in Wales Subbarao FAO India Bala ornithologist Selvam ornithologist Acty veterin http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Orissa/blog-359008.html Since our flight wasn't until early evening I was lucky to get to do some sightseeing in Beijing at Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. Kong Ning and Liu Jin were kind enough to show me around and took good care of me all day. The ParaOlympics were just concluding in Beijing so there were still a ton of tourists around and the air quality was still good. The Forbidden City was massive http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Beijing/Forbidden-City/blog-345594.html Shane flew to Beijing in September as part of his new job with USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center working on a satellite telemetry project of waterfowl migration in Eurasia and Africa. By placing transmitters on the backs of ducks and geese using little harnesses we can track the migration of individuals around the globe. A specific focus of the project is determining how wild birds may http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Qinghai/blog-345393.html We spent our last week in Nepal in Chitwan National Park near the Indian border. We stayed at a nice hotel with air conditioning a real luxury and a great relief in the hot humid jungle. They arranged daily activities for us including a cultural tour of the town jungle walk jeep safari elephantback safari native dancing and a bath with an elephant in the river. The jungle walk was i http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Nepal/Chitwan/blog-289254.html The last leg of our trek We walked to Ghorepani which was over 5000 feet of uphill. The landscape had changed yet again into dense rhodedendron forests. Bright pink flowers carpeted the floor and hillsides. We had another early wakeup to hike up to the top of Poon Hill which is a beautiful spot to watch the sun rise. We could see Dhaulaghiri one of the ten highest mountains in the world an http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Nepal/Annapurna/blog-289253.html We spent an afternoon exploring Muktinath which has a big Buddhist and Hindu temple complex a popular pilgrimage site for both religions. There are several areas with spouts or fountains you can bathe in to wash away all your sins and get into heaven. In this village along with western style toilets also had the first motorized vehicles we'd seen since leaving on the trek. The next day we wen http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Nepal/Annapurna/blog-291681.html We passed some sketchy avalanche prone areas where there had clearly been some recent rockslides but made it to Thorung Phedi for lunch with little problem. The teahouse we stopped at was full of other trekkers many of which we had met during the past week all waiting to go over the pass the following day. From there it was less than two hours although just 450 m in altitude to the high cam http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Nepal/Annapurna/blog-291679.html In Manang we stayed 2 nights at the Yak Hotel Lodge which featured an interesting Mexican section to the menu. Hmmm. On our ldquooffrdquo day we hiked up a few hundred meters to some amazing overlooks of the valley a big green lake and Gangapurna glacier. We got fleeting glimpses of Gangapurna peak 7454 m as well. There were a lot of prayer flags flapping all over the place and some http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Nepal/Annapurna/blog-291673.html We got picked up at our hotel after meeting up with our guide Dilman and our porter Shiva and then learned what a joy it was to drive in Kathmandu....got caught up in a massive traffic jam apparently a daily occurrence in the city. Our capable driver cut through some side streets and then drove through an area clearly designed for pedestrians or carts and finally got us out of the city. Th http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Nepal/Annapurna/blog-291661.html On my birthday Shane surprised me by taking me to a nearby elephant sanctuary where we got to meet Kasper and Kitso. Both were rescued from people who thought having an elephant for a pet was a good idea until they realized it wasn't so easy to have a massive potentially dangerous eatingmachine for a pet... Now Kasper and Kitso allow people to touch them walk with them and ride them around http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/South-Africa/Mpumalanga-/blog-255384.html Here are a few more of our favorite photos from Kruger. We had a fantastic time living in the park and loved being able to see such incredible wildlife every day. Over New Years we had a great visit with our friends Jess and Brian who are living in Ethiopia and swung down to Kruger for a week on their way back after Christmas in the US. Soon we'll post the pictures from the rest of our South http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/blog-239590.html We arrived into Kathmandu after a crazy flight through Abu Dhabi where Garfield was always trying to mail Nermal which was a bit of a crazy airport with a mosque inside the restrooms but it did have free internet terminals available The last leg of the journey was problem free except for the slightly offputting guy sitting next to Shane holding a mask up to his face the entire flight http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Nepal/Bhaktapur/blog-289252.html On our drive across the country the highlights included driving right by a Wyoming wildfire stopping in Chicago for a Cubs game Shanersquos an obsessed fan for those who donrsquot know visiting our friends Jess in Columbus and Brie in Cleveland. We also were able to stay with my Aunt Nida and Uncle Dom in Buffalo who hosted a dinner where we got to see my great uncles aunts and cousins http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/blog-215936.html November was a really hectic month and we got a taste of what a week of 105 degree heat feels like. We worked for a couple weeks in the central part of the park near Satara restcamp raising 24 rainout shelters within a big fenced area. The fence is to keep out the animals but even though the outer fence is 10 feet high giraffes and zebra can still leap over it to get insidehellip.park st http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/South-Africa/Mpumalanga-/Kruger-National-Park/blog-225660.html For the last hurrah before heading back east we did a final backpacking loop through the Grand Tetons. What a way to finish one of our favorite hikes of the entire trip The scenery was mindblowing and the senescing plants added a great autumnal feel to the trip. We saw two black bears including one that was walking right towards me as Shane told me to get the camera aimed you can see wher http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Wyoming/blog-215697.html We had the great luck to be able to meet up with my brother and his girlfriendrsquos family for a couple days in beautiful Teton Village nestled below the Grand Tetons. They took us in dirty from backpacking they were too and welcomed us into their giant rental house as part of the family. We had a fantastic time eating great food drinking great beer and wine and enjoying the Jackson are http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Wyoming/blog-215447.html We made it to Whitefish Montana by late afternoon and found the August weather we had been looking forhellipit was wicked hot Wildfire hot it turned out as there were several fires ablaze all around Glacier National Park. It made for some haze and a little bit of a burned smell but nothing to dampen the spirits. After enjoying some delicious food and hotel in the quaint little tourist to http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Montana/blog-215437.html After recharging our spirits during two nights in Banff we headed to Yoho National Park for the sweetest kind of backcountry camping....the kind you take a bus to. Lake OrsquoHara can only be reached on foot or via the Park shuttle bus. There is a 30 site campground there and a posh lodge 600 a room. We opted for the 30 campsite and it was worth it. After getting off the bus we nabb http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Canada/Alberta/blog-215426.html Got on the road to Jasper early and found a delicious bakery and the information center where we got surprisingly little information. Altered our plans a bit based on some recent trailhead breakins. Took a shuttle up to the Skyline trailhead and headed up the trail. The first 45 miles were up through spruce forest and then we got up on the ldquoskylinerdquo and the rest of the way was p http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Canada/Alberta/blog-191399.html