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Peru (July 2005)Cusco - a beautiful town tucked in the heart of the Andes mountains - provided a high-altitude base for our weeklong excursion in Peru. From there we headed up to Machu Picchu - a destination that has loomed large on our personal travel list for years.
No matter how many pictures you have seen of Machu Picchu, your first views of the site are still awe-inspring and surprising. It does not disappoint.
From there we worked our back to Cusco via the Sacred Valley. We spent a night in each of the major towns in the valley - Ollantayambo, Urubamba and Pisac - before arriving back in Cusco. Ollantaytambo - with its cobbled streets and stone architecture - was probably our favorite town. But the sites outside of Urubamba (Moray and Salinas) are not to be missed and the market in Pisac is one of the largest and most colorful that we have seen.
This section of Peru is a stunningly beautiful region that is difficult to capture in photos. We can only hope that these photos bring some of that beauty to life. |
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Angkor Wat, Cambodia (August 2000)Simply one of the wonders of the ancient world.
We sandwiched this visit into our trip to Thailand and Laos. Three days and three nights. Too many ruins; not enough time. More ruins than we could ever have imagined.
Siem Reap - the nearest town to Angkor - was experiencing a building boom. Foundations for future mega-hotels littered the road from the town to Angkor. By now, this strip must be utterly transformed - Las Vegas, Cambodian-style? |
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Thailand (July/August 2000)Our trip to Thailand consisted of visiting Bangkok and Chiang Mai - and the areas surrounding them.
Temples, elephant rides and searingly hot (read spicy) food were the highlights. Traffic, pollution and oppressive heat were the downside. The physical landscape (remember, we visited no beaches) underwhelmed us; the man-made landscape, though, stunned us.
But next time, we head south for the beaches. Tuk-tuks, farewell. |
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pintados (every 29th of June)| Pintados Festival, Tacloban City, Leyte, Philippines |
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Luang Prabang, Laos (August 2000)A week before we were to fly to Thailand, we saw an episode of "Lonely Planet" on PBS that featured the Laotian town of Luang Prabang. There was something about this town that cried out, "It's now or never." We knew we had to get there.
We somehow squeezed in a three day visit to this - then - sleepy town. Yes, the heat was oppressive. Yes, clouds - not sun - prevailed. Nevertheless, the charms of this town clearly shone through: French colonial buildings (in various states of renovation and disrepair), Buddhist temples trimmed to the hilt in dazzling gold gilt and the gloriously muddy Mekong River silently slipping by - almost unnoticed - along the western fringe of town.
Recent articles have trumpeted the new development in this town: big hotels, a new airport and a fresh influx of foreign tourists. Thankfully we missed all that. To us, it remains a lazy riverfront village where the evening banana pancake vendor ("Banana pancake, banana pancake!") still pushes his cart along the dirt main street at the close of another typical simmering southeast Asian day. |
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Panama (August 2001)Yes, Panama is more than the Panama Canal. But as one of the wonders of the modern world, the Canal should compel all travelers to journey to this tourist-friendly country.
Snorkling lovers will find it hard to leave the waters of Bocas del Toro. Nature lovers will savor the tropical richness of the mountainous Boquete area.
We just sampled some of what this country has to offer - inviting island hangouts, coffee-treed mountains and a surprisingly large indigenous population that are still living and working in traditional ways. |
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STIRLING CASTLE (our second visit here)This was our second time visiting Stirling Castle. We also visited the castle last year. However, since our daughter was with us this year we revisited areas of the castle we had seen last year.
This year the castle had a new exhibition. This exhibition was dedicated to the Stewart monarchy. The Stewart King James the V, Mary Queen of Scots' father, built Stirling Castle for his new wife. Below you will find photos of this exhibition and several new photos of the castle that we had not taken last year. This castle is among our favorites. Yes, we like it MUCH better than Edinburgh Castle too.
>>> Do visit our 2003 Castle Stirling Castle photos.
We have 70 photos there on display of the castle.
CLICK HERE to learn more about Stirling Castle.
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Scotland 2001 (August/September 2001)| My fourth visit to Scotland, this time for a month. Stayed with friends in Fife, Inverness and travelled to Applecross and Ullapool on the West Coast, the Orkney Islands, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Falkland, and up and down the Eastern Coast. |
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