rickmoore
David Moore Joined: April 18th 2006
Logged in: August 19th 2011
Logged in: August 19th 2011
Travel Blog Posts
Bull Run
Graciosa is indeed an enchanting and graceful island, where the pace of life is slow. It is only 10 x 7 km with a population of around 4000, but it is full of ex residents returning for a holiday. It is known for the well constructed dry walls, its beautiful biosphere and for having free Wifi and 2 ponds in the main square. No mosquitos no polution, and no vermin. The entertainment is provided by crazy birds called shearwaters which screach and fly after dark. The locals copied this irritating sound and created an irritating ringtone for cell phones. Driving the twisting roads between the walls and houses dodging the cars parking in the middle of the street is disconcerting at first. Donkey carts, cows and mini tractors share those roads with huge backhoe transports. The ... read more
A Volcano
Rabaul was reduced in size after the last major eruption - most of the town and the airport were moved out of the old caldera. This place may be one of the last frontiers (as advertised) but the people are friendly, the weather is great, and the place is like a huge garden. Roads get washed out, and 'snowbanks' of ash get put to the side - in some places the grass is just growing back. Brisbane Bronco Sunday Football, adverts for portable saw mills, and Queensland news on the TV. ... read more
On the Road to NY
We Left home early on a winter's morning and followed a quiet road through Adirondack park down to New York City. The sunrise reflecting off of the ice on the trees was a huge contrast to what was to come. I felt a bit like Pa Kettle going to the big city when it took me a minute to figure out how to open the coffee lid, or to work the motion detector controlled paper dispensers - At Grand Central Station I almost put cheese in the coffee instead of creamer! The first night out we stayed in Kingston, a historical town with covered sidewalks and an old senate building so that we could drive through New York early Sunday morning before anyone woke up. Since we were to stay in Brooklyn we drove over the ... read more
Real Shashlik, false beer
I arrived at the shiny new Imam Khomeini airport at the uncivilized hour of 2 am, and zipped through immigration and customs in a few minutes. The drive to Tehran was just as fast - a good highway and empty streets - I wished it was like that during the day. We went on a side trip to Mashhad (literally the place of martyrdom) and visited the shrine of Imam Reza. But no pictures - attendants with dusters will not let them into the mosque. The wiki says that the rich go to Mecca but the poor journey to Mashhad: I guess I will never go to Mecca! The shrine has a museum with old tomb housings and doors. Inside the shrine itself you can see the new tomb housing under the golden dome. The chandlers ... read more
Suva - older building
Fiji is a faster pace than Tonga, and they have better curry! Tonga, well they have kava and go through lots of piglets ... read more
Beijing - tourists like me.
Welcome to Beijing and then stand in those lineups looking for swine flu! After that, things changed for the better - Beijing is a surprisingly clean city - you could eat off of the floor of the airport parking garage. Visited Ri Tan park where they fly kites (with LEDs in the evenings) where sacrifices to the sun gods used to be - unverified rumour. I went for a walk down to the Forbidden City via shady tree lined streats. The Forbidden City is impressive - quiet courtyards, huge squares, scrolls, and it seems like each museum attendant was talking on a cell phone. Some other cool things in Beijing, instead of sugar they have Golden coffee sugar crystals, and at lunch one day the restaurant used a wireless touch screen with pictures instead of a ... read more
Bayon - Many faces
At 4 am we were racing above a sleeping Bangkok on the elevated highways to catch the early bus to Aran from the Mawchit 11 bus station. We got a visa at the border, walked across into Poipet with the gamblers, the carts, and others on the way to Siem Reap. Wiki travel describes Poipet thus 'Other than gambling, whoring and lowering one's opinion of humanity, there are no sights or activities in Poipet. It is a miserable huddle of touts, beggars, thieves and dodgy casinos for daytripping Thais.' With a billing like that, I just had to check it out. We got a taxi to Siem Reap, and we were 30 minutes out of Poipet when the taxi broke down. As luck would have it, an empty taxi came by a few minutes later and ... read more
Bus - Bathroom Break
We don't look much like backpackers or locals with our little roll behind suitcases, but they let us on to the International Bus which goes from Ubon bus station to Pakse via Chong Mek. The trip was a lot simpler than what my 10 year old guide book had said it would be. This trip was for my 50 th birthday, and I was thinking about what to do for my mid life crisis - I considered a pony tail and earing, but then realized my mid life crisis should have been 10 years ago. Maybe a motorcycle when I get back home. Pakse is a charming little city, with excellent accomodations and relaxing dinners by the river. The next day we took a van complete with ferry rides to Champasak. The old temple was interesting, ... read more
Ashgabat at Night
Underused but stately buildings, older soviet era apartment blocks, Ladas with shiny 'racing' tire rims, cafes that don't serve beer - Ashgabat is different!... read more
Latest in Beer Bottle Technology
Joseph Conrad said "I take it that what all men are really after is some form or perhaps only some formula of peace" This is obtained by simply holding the latest in beer bottle technology - finger grips on the bottle! And then turn it over and there is another feature - indented in the bottom is a beer bottle opener! Ussuriysk may be Russia, but there are not many Ladas, mostly Japanese cars with the steering wheel on the wrong side. Out in the bush, the GAZ 66 and the UAZ 469 still rule. Another surprise - the food is great, the accomodations in the refurbished Soviet era hotel are comfortable (they still have watchful ladies on each floor), and I had my first $10.00 beer here (in Ussuriysk) Yes, they still have the official ... read more
