kbard
KBard Joined: April 12th 2007
Logged in: October 7th 2011
Logged in: October 7th 2011
Travel Blog Posts
Merlion Fountain
Singapore is the perfect city for people such as myself interested in urban geography and city planning. It has been argued by many urbanists that a nation's success or failure depends heavily on the viability of their cities. Yet many countries, including my own, often ignore the needs of cities to their own peril. Well Singapore doesn't have that option. As a city-nation, if it fails as a city it fails also as a country, so they seem to have invested heavily in making sure their city works. That means transit is not underfunded. In fact, Singapore's is the most ridiculously clean and efficient transit system I have ever experienced (Hong Kong's ranks number 2.) It also means streets have been built to prevent traffic congestion. The main thoroughfares are many lanes wide and often one-direction. ... read more
Melaka River, night
Melaka is a UNESCO Heritage City and was historically a very important trading post, initially colonized by the Portuguese, then controlled by the Dutch, and finally the British before gaining independence. The Portuguese and Dutch influence is reflected in Melaka's architecture, and it's a pretty interesting place. The shopping and food is pretty fantastic too, as are the beaches which aren't too far outside the city core. We took a city bus to Pantai Putri, about a 15-20 minute ride from the central bus station. It was a Thursday, and the beach was empty except for a local who chatted us up for a bit before asking how much all our stuff cost and if he could have it. First he wanted my ring, then my wet t-shirt. After the beach we got back on the ... read more
Petronas Towers
KL is a great place to go to appreciate architecture, both modern and historic. Though many historic buildings have been destroyed to make way for modern developments, there are some left and plenty of temples and mosques. Hindu temples are probably the most impressive to look at; most can be entered for free, just make sure you leave your shoes outside. I also came to love the Muslim call to prayer (aka azan/adhan). The sound emanates from every Mosque fives times a day, but I am sorry to say I didn't hear it that often. Although I am an atheist, I must admit the adhan is probably the most beautiful thing I've ever heard, along with the reading of the Koran at a Muslim wedding I went to once. Something else KL is great for is ... read more
Andy Warhol Museum
Pittsburgh is a pretty nice city. Love all the bridges and the geography of the place. Also loved the Andy Warhol museum, particularly the room devoted to Candy Darling. However, like so many American cities, people don't actually seem to LIVE downtown, so come the weekend it's like a ghost town. There's nothing sadder than a beautiful, pedestrian friendly, compact downtown core devoid of people. Luckily on the Sunday there was a Steelers' game, so the masses were out heading to the stadium that day. I was lucky that my visit coincided with the Pittsburgh Festival of Lights, which consists of a bunch of outdoor light projections on downtown buildings. It was very cool. The Duquesne Incline was another highlight, as was a free exhibit in an Art Gallery called SPACE on Liberty Ave - Paper ... read more
Yosemite National Park 2
This trip was supposed to be a Mediterranean rail tour, starting in Madrid and traveling through Barcelona, Marseilles, Nice, Milan and finishing in Rome. But the volcanic eruption in Iceland and the ensuing ash cloud canceled our connecting flight to Madrid through Brussels. So, we decided to do a California road trip instead. We flew into LA, rented a car, and stayed at the Beverley Hills Crown Plaza for 3 nights. I was a bit trepidatious about driving in LA, as I hadn't driven in a while and had heard awful things about LA traffic. But actually, the streets are so wide and there is so much parking everywhere that it really was a breeze. Even the expressways during rush hour weren't too bad thanks to the carpool lanes (not something I would want to do ... read more
Santos skyline, dusk
We didn't spend nearly enough time in Sao Paulo city, but did go up in a tall building with a lookout to fully appreciate it's massive size. The buildings seemed to go on forever. We also visited a huge urban park called Ibirapuera. It was beautiful and busy with people enjoying a beautiful Saturday afternoon. We also drove around Sao Paulo a few times at night. Very nice city with a happening club district. I'll have to return. We didn't even get a chance to explore the Japanese, Lebanese, and other ethnic neighbourhoods which I'm sure are fascinating and full of some amazing restaurants. We stayed with a friend in Ribeirao Pires during most of our stay in Sao Paulo state. We took a road trip to Santos for a day, which was great. The drive ... read more
Morro da Urca helicopter
Beautiful beaches and crazy Carnival street parties defined our visit to Rio de Janeiro. The beaches were the best - yes, VERY busy, but I love how you can go to a Rio beach completely unprepared. Just find one of the tent stalls renting umbrellas and chairs - hell, these guys will even sell you a cooler full of ice cold beers! How perfect is that? You can get anything else you need from salespeople roaming the beach - sunglasses, sunscreen, souvenirs, you name it. We stayed in an apartment in Botafogo with a spectacular view of Sugar Loaf Mountain. Many people who live in Rio rent out their apartments during Carnival while they skip town. Since we were lucky enough to be traveling through Brazil with our Brazilian friend, we stayed very cheaply at her ... read more
Fortaleza canon
There have been a few changes since the last time we visited Havana in 2005. The biggest is the amount of building restorations. There is still much work to be done of course, as many beautiful pieces of architecture appear to be on the verge of collapse - but the restorations that have taken place are magnificent, and the city looks so much better for it. To me, this is very pleasing, because the architecture is the biggest charm of Havana, and it's very important for it to be preserved. Other changes: a lot more people walking around in what appear to be designer clothing, but what are more likely knock-offs from China. Also, Chinese tourists and brand new Chinese made tour buses. Back in 2005, all the tour buses were old Europeans. The Chinese buses ... read more
Vinales valley 3
The resort we stayed at, Atlantico, was located in Playas Estes, Santa Maria, just 20 minutes east of Havana on the way to Guanabo. We chose it because it had three free daily shuttles going into Havana every day, allowing us the enjoy the best of both Cuban worlds: city life and the beach. From our resort, we took a one day excursion to Vinales, Pinar del Rio and saw the magote mountains and the Cuevo del Indio. The caves were very cool, especially the boat ride in the river inside them. Somewhere around the Pinar del Rio/Vinales area, there is this huge mural on the side of a magote cliff done by a student of Diego Rivera many years ago. I expected better from a Rivera student, but it's still pretty neat just because it's ... read more
Boston Skyline, best
We decided to take the Greyhound bus from Toronto to Boston - not sure if it's worth the saved money. Perhaps if we would have went with a bus company that went to Boston directly, instead of stopping at a bunch of towns along the way, it would have been a nicer experience. But our bus was late leaving Toronto, so we missed our connection in Buffalo, causing us to wait in the Buffalo bus station for roughly 2 hours from 12:30-2:30am. But once again, immediately upon crossing the border, I was struck by the intense friendliness of Americans. I was filling my water bottle in the women's washroom around 2:00am, when this woman asks if I'm okay, and makes some comment about being a weary traveler. I must admit that I probably wasn't very polite ... read more
