http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Nomad Old Farts/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Nomad Old Farts en-us Fri, 16 May 2008 11:04:33 BST Fri, 16 May 2008 11:04:33 BST I returned from Luang Prabang to Chiang Rai north of Chiang Mai and close to the Golden Triangle Thai Laos and Burma borders for my second week of the summer schools. As it turns out this was a whole lot more difficult than the first week so Irsquom glad that at least I had that prior weekrsquos teaching experience behind me. We had a total of 24 children for this session names being http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/North/Chiang-Rai/blog-261774.html So school was out let early on Friday since Irsquom the headmaster and by midafternoon I was winging it over to Luang Prabang courtesy of Lao Airways an hourrsquos flight from Chiang Mai. Not as scary as it might sound as the aircraft was quite new and the reservations clerk did me a big favour by putting me in seat 1A not first class I can assure you but which let me be first in http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/West/Luang-Prabang/blog-259919.html Well here I am back up in the far north of Thailand back on duty for a couple of weeks for the Dr Sem Foundation my first visit here since August last year see blog1 below. For those who subscribed to our travel blogs late last year and expected to see something more exciting please hit the exit button straight away. But I had a number of requests to document my travels and experiences u http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/North/Chiang-Mai/blog-257612.html One of the great disadvantages of the various TV travel documentaries on channels such as Discovery and National Geographic is that there aren't too many surprise venues left in the world these days. As an example while we loved our visit to Machu Picchu it wasn't a total surprise as I guess we had viewed that location many times previously on telly. But I'm pleased to report a pleasant surpris http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Misiones/Iguazu-National-Park/blog-218553.html The only reason I have included this as a seperate blog is that it is another country Before travelling to Buenos Aires we had a number of people telling us we must go over to Colonia in Uruguay for a day trip from BA because it would take you back several centuries in time. Given that it was only a 1 hour cruise on a hydrofoil across the Rio de la Plata and we were advised that Uruguay cu http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Uruguay/West/Colonia-del-Sacramento/blog-218551.html Well after the hustle and bustle of La Paz we were looking forward to a more laid back time in Buenos Aires. We certainly were happy to be able to hop into a clean taxi pay on the meter instead of haggling over prices and have a relatively honkfree trip and while we enjoyed the change of pace there were a couple of elements of life here we struggled slightly with.Initially we toured the ma http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Buenos-Aires/Buenos-Aires/blog-218172.html So at long last we finally start to move downhill again that is if you call a reduction of 200m to 3600m going downhill. La Paz is quite different from those places we have visited over the last few weeks. It is a big bustling city all wrapped up in its own needs and with barely a thought for the tourist apart from one very small area. It reminds me in some ways of the Indian subcontinent http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Bolivia/La-Paz-Department/La-Paz/blog-216142.html Hard to believe but our trip out of Cusco to Puno which is situated on the shores of Lake Titicaca was to actually take us to a higher altitude with the lake at around 3800m the highest navigatible lake in the world any dispute this time you statisticians.Our trip down was on a very comfortable bus called the Inca Express and while the total journey took around 9 hours it did include 4 http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Puno/Lake-Titicaca-/blog-216137.html Further to the note below I have managed to get around the loss of my notebook computer and have today published two blogs one covering Cusco and the Sacred Valley and the other the famed Machu Picchu. Because the dates of these visits were last week they are behind these last two advisory blogs so you will need to scroll back a couple of entries to read them.Unfortunately I have run into http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Puno/Lake-Titicaca-/blog-215932.html And so to Machu Picchu arguably the jewel in the crown for our total visit. How sad to be going up there armed with only a box brownie equivalent disposable camera but I guess at times life sucksAnyway our trip really started at the end of the Sacred Valley visit see Cusco blog as we opted out of this trip at Ollantaytambo and stayed there the night when I lost my camera in order to r http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Cusco/Machu-Picchu/blog-215915.html Sorry folks we seem to have lost a bit of momentum on the blogs. A combination of a new camera and no computer has meant that Ive had to rely on external resources downloading of photos in retail shops and use of internet cafes to get them rolling again so there will be a bit of a delay but well get there. Regretfully this will likely mean a reduction in the length of my narratives and the http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Cusco/blog-215830.html Hi folks I regret to advise it has not been a good week for the old farts on the technical front. Firstly we lost our camera a few days ago and today our notepad computer has died on us.Wrt the camera we had just finished a tour of the Inca ruins of the Sacred Valley near Cuscowhen we took a motobike taxi over a heavily cobbled road to our hotel. Given we had the camera with a hundred or so http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Bolivia/La-Paz-Department/La-Paz/blog-215091.html OK guys a quick quiz to start the day What is the deepest canyon in the world No it's not the famous Grand Canyon in Arizona USA nor the Copper Canyon of northern Mexico. It is indeed the Colca Canyon situated high in the Andes in southern Peru which for 100 km averages 3400 metres deep. The only practical way for us to get to this fairly desolate location some 300kms round trip along wi http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Arequipa/Colca-Canyon/blog-212624.html Well the first surprise of the day occurred before our plane from Lima had even landed in Arequipa. Much to my surprise we were greeted by what I can only describe as a lsquobrownscapersquo. Its exactly 20 years since I was last in Arizona but that was what it reminded me of just barren brown desert bordering a city that appeared from the plane to have brown roads brown fields and brown http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Arequipa/blog-212614.html As anticipated our move across the border from Ecuador to Peru did not result in any major observable change in surroundings or the environment. We had not heard hugely flattering reports of Lima certainly vis a vis Arequipa and Cusco mainly in terms of its standard of living and crime rate. Now just as we may have been unfair on Ecuador at times due the relatively small sample we saw maybe http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Lima/Lima/Miraflores/blog-211005.html Our flight from Guayaquil to Baltra on the Galapagos took around 1.5hrs and was pretty uneventful. On arrival we met our 13 fellow travellers for the next 8 days aboard MV Letty. Quite an interesting mix of 15 pax 9 female 6 male 8 of our generation Irsquom probably the oldest and 7 kids around their 20rsquos 6 Brits 6 Americans and 3 Aussies. And most importantly everyone mixed re http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Ecuador/Galapagos-Islands/blog-209491.html We have finally reached Guayaquil the takeoff point for our flight to the Galapagos this Sunday and the largest city 2 million pax in Ecuador you ignorant sods thought Quito was didnrsquot you. Along with being the largest city it has the largest crime rate and those that warned us there was little attractive to the tourist about Guayaquil werenrsquot wrong. It is a big bustling city http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Ecuador/Guayaquil/blog-209205.html Irsquom really using some licence here quoting yet again from that famed authority Lonely Planet but they certainly got it right this time. We basically have some time to kill prior to our Galapagos cruise and Cuenca was a great place to just chill out for 5 days. It is a big enough city 400000 pax 3 in Ecuador that you are not running into the same people all the time as you stroll arou http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Ecuador/Cuenca/blog-206145.html Actually folks I just wanted to get your attention as the last couple of blogs might have been somewhat lacking in adrenalin The quote above was from Lonely Planet and who would question such an authority and while this train ride certainly had its moments I think the bus ride later more fitted that description. But more on that later.As expected Riobamba a city of some 120000 people ha http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Ecuador/Riobamba/blog-204700.html Today we signed up in Banos for an organised 1 day tour of the Amazonian jungle basin as this was clearly the only practical way to effectively view this area. We were very much aware that we were only on the fringe of this enormous jungle area and that unless we were prepared to take a minimum 8 hour local bus ride further inland which we werenrsquot we were going to be limited on the wil http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Ecuador/Puyo/blog-202848.html