Here are some random videos from my stay in Paris last fall.
Enjoy !
*** Sj ***
And lastly, Bellevilloise became a favorite hang out for listening to music.
Sights & Sounds of Paris
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Tag Archives: boat
Scotland Inspired Videos
I love Scotland. I love the raw wild coastline and the kind people everywhere.
I love the trains; I love the boats.
Here are a few videos from a visit to Scotland this past fall.
Enjoy!
*** Sj ***
p.s. there are more videos on my YouTube channel if you want to continue traveling virtually.
If you’re ever able to board one of the vessels operated by St. Hilda Sea Adventures, do !!! There were only 8 people on this particular ship: the captain, chef, and 6 passengers. OMG am I ever glad I splurged and took this trip !!!
Hoi An . . . in the top three
Hi Everyone,
This lovely town on the coast of Vietnam (and about a 45-minute drive south of Da Nang) is a shopper’s paradise. Yes, a shopper’s paradise. “Isn’t practically all of SE Asia a shopper’s paradise?” you ask.
Well, yes it is! For most travelers. Though there is so much more to do than just shop.
But this particular town is known for its vast collection of tailors. Yes, tailors. People from all over the world were having custom clothing made: suits, dresses, skirts, shoes, etc. (Yes, even shoes!)
But for moi, I just didn’t feel like having anything custom-made. I’m nearly at the end of my 5-month journey in SE Asia, and I have plenty of souvenirs already. And I have plenty of clothing.
Also, I think that’s an activity that would be more fun to do with a friend (yes, Mom, I agree with you on this one : ).
So what did I do?
I walked around the quaint town in the evening. (It became much more interesting when the sun began to set.)
It was pouring and pouring on my first full-day there; so I hung out in my comfy room and got caught up on things. AND I swam in that fabulous pool. Fortunately, it wasn’t thundering and lightning (like it is now in Bangkok where I’m currently sitting and typing).
When I got hungry, I walked a short distance and found a cozy restaurant with a nice mix of decor (honestly, it felt more European than Asian) where I broke my no-chicken eating and had Pho with da kine (noodle soup). It was the perfect dish for a cool, wet day.
And the second day? The sun was shinning, so I rented a bike and found the beach (and even got a little sun burned on my shoulders : ).
For enjoying Hoi An as much as I did, I took very few pictures (another sign that this leg of my journey is winding down).
So, without further ado . . .
Enjoy!
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| These are some of the most unusual boats I’ve ever seen! They reminded me of big rice cups. And yes, I helped carry the second one up the beach. |
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| What’s that for ??? |
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| Right in town was a rice paddy. |
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| A sample of the clothing that one can have made in Hoi An. |
And oh, I forgot to mention, I just happened to be in Hoi An on the one day of the month when they hang lanterns everywhere (and coincidentally, the last night of my solo journey before joining my friend in Bangkok) in honor of the full moon which appears the following night. I left my room a little before sunset to walk around town. Along the way, I saw vendor after vendor setting up a personal altar in front of their shop. Soon, women were selling small lanterns to the tourists, as well as cooking potato, banana, coconut things. (I tried part of one; it was okay, a bit bland.)
When the activity seemed to be at its peak, I parked myself at a table for one, ordered fried noodles and veggies and a glass of the local merlotish red wine, and enjoyed the show! “Perfect!” I thought as I sat and sipped . . . “Perfect. Thank you Hoi An. Thank you . . .”
-sj
Ha Long Bay . . . for you *Larry! : )
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:
“Ha Long Bay (Vietnamese: About this sound Vịnh Hạ Long (help·info), literally: “descending dragon bay”; 下龍灣) is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and a popular travel destination, located in Quang Ninh province, Vietnam. Administratively, the bay belongs to Hạ Long City, Cẩm Phả town, and part of Van Don district. The bay features thousands of limestone karsts and isles in various sizes and shapes. Hạ Long Bay is a center of a larger zone which includes Bái Tử Long bay to the northeast, and Cát Bà islands to the southwest. These larger zones share similar geological, geographical, geomorphological, climate, and cultural characters.”
Okay, nuff with the words, here are Sj’s pictures . . .
Enjoy!
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| She was working! And not just at rowing. |
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| Floating village. |
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| It often felt like they were driving these things for the first time! |
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| They passed that baby along like a sack of potatoes! lol And the kid seems just fine with it. Nice. ; ) |
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| We didn’t have a lot of sun . . . but for this instance we did! |
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| Another working gal. Only saw women drivers. |
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| Had 30-minutes at this man-made beach, made a running dash up the hill. That’s the boat I stayed on. |
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| Nice Danish family hanging out while it rained. |
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| Going on a tour of the “floating village.” |
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| Driver in training. |
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| Ma chambre. See my bat/angel? |
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| Pretty sunset one of the 2-nights that I was on the boat. |
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| The moon! |
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| The ubiquitous flag in Vietnam. |
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| These kids from New Zealand were having fun; he’s teaching her how to fold the napkin. How’d he learn? A Vietnamese worker on the ship showed him one rainy afternoon. |
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| In front: my new gal pals from London, Emma and Jane. Had dinner with them one night in Hoi An. In back: Nat and Gerry. Was supposed to have dinner with them one night in Hanoi, but I went to the wrong restaurant! But, I just happened to run into them the next day while passing the church shown above . . . yep, keep loving those “coincidences”! |
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| Ze “floating village.” |
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| Ditto. |
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| Pretty cool. |
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| Well protected. |
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| He’s taking a shot of the school. |
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| See? |
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| They seemed happy as they looked my way. |
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| Back at the industrial harbor. |
Aloha Ha Long Bay!
Hope it brought back good memories Larry!
So long from the Hanoi airport enroute to Bangkok.
Sending love to all of you wherever you may be.
-sj
* and Kay!
In Honor and Memory of our little Fido . . . born September 26, 1995
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| Along the Mekong River in Luang Prabang, Laos. |
Part 3 . . . now to Railay Bay & then Koh Phi Phi
This was last month, July 2011 . . .
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| Took a 15-minute boat ride from Ao Nang towards the east to Railay. |
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| Cutest darn puppy! |
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| The tide goes really far out! This poor guy hurt his foot, I think. |
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| Loved the pink slicker. : ) |
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| Fascinating to look at. |
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| Sacred phallic rock. |
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| Moi. Went for a dip. Felt good, but it was chocolatey water. |
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| This was the nicest beach I experienced in Thailand. Could actually hang out here in peace in quiet . . . it was lovely. |
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| Good thing I took the dip when I did. Yep, stubbed my toe on my way back to the hotel. |
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| Had the most lovely next day just hanging out. How often do you just sit and think? It was such a perfect day. So thankful for the private lanai looking out at teak trees. |
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| When I ventured out that late afternoon I found the coolest crab art. |
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| There were literally hundreds of them! |
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| From my perspective, beaches in Thailand are mostly nice for looking at . . . the swimming? It ain’t Hawaii. |
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| A small sample of the pollution. |
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| Took a ferry to Koh (island) Phi Phi. |
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| That’s my green backpack on the hotel worker’s back. He met me at the dock. It was about a 10-minute walk inland to the hotel. |
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| This was a common site during this portion of my journey. See the “no water”? Later in the evening the tide rose up to where I was sitting (in a restaurant on simple boards raised over the water). |
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| This is where I hung my hat for a few nights. I had my own bungalow. Would be perfect for couples. Had a TV, which was fun at times . . . some English programs to watch when I was getting dressed to go out. |
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| I’d heard about this and enjoyed watching it. The little fish nibble and clean their feet (or so I hear : ). |
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| One of the nicest things to do (in my humble opinion) while on Koh Phi Phi, hike up the hill to the vista. |
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| I found many ways to get up here . . . let’s just say I found places where I don’t think a tourist is “supposed” to go. Needless to say, I was very happy when I found LOTS of people at this lookout rather than NO one at the obscure lookouts I first found! And then to see that the way down was so easy . . . yep, that’s me, always finding alternate routes rather than the “main” one . . . |
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| It rained and rained one morning. I had the most relaxing time sitting in a guesthouse restaurant drinking coffee and eating muesli with yogurt. |
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| Luckily the weather and seas calmed so that I could take a boat excursion. That’s the viking cave. Vikings in Thailand? Reckon so. Or was it Pirate Cave . . . ? |
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| Our tour guide/boat captain . . . that’s pineapple for a snack on the platter. |
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| Moi at the famous “beach” from the eponymous movie. Thanks Michele for the use of your little “dry” bag. |
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| This critter was hanging out on the beach. ! ! ! |
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| I think this is the well known location shown in the movie. Why think? Haven’t seen the movie yet, but I saw lots of people posing here and taking their picture. |
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| Hi Mom! |
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| This is where I heard a German yell out “Ganz allein in Paradis!” All alone in paradise! |
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| We’d swum from our boat to this ladder to then walk to “the beach.” |
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| The surge wasn’t too bad . . . fortunately! |
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| Jelly fish in the water as we snorkeled! Luckily they didn’t sting. But there were LOTS of them. |
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| Last stop before heading back to Koh Phi Phi: monkey beach. |
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| These are “professional” monkeys. |
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| Swam/snorkeled wearing my turquoise and citrine bracelet. Even had it on when I swam to “the beach.” And then it broke right on the boat over a black backpack (so I could easily find it). One citrine decided to stay on the boat. Or maybe it jumped ship and is swimming around in Thailand. Who knows? Just know it was time for one citrine to take a walk about. |
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| A ubiquitous mannequin in SE Asia. |
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| Left Koh Phi Phi for Ao Nang beach. |
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| The Aloha Inn was absolutely perfect for one night! |
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| It dumped rain outside and I watched two movies in. And my clothes which were soaked were dry by morning. : ) |
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| Aloha Ao Nang and the “Krabi” area of Thailand. |
There’s no time like the present . . .
Here are shots I took on Friday during a several hour bike tour around Bangkok (and across the river). Our guide was absolutely adorable! She bubbled over with laughter, stories, and a general joie de vivre.
You can read all about this tour company here: www.realasia.net; we took the afternoon tour.
See you in a few weeks!
What a difference some sun makes!
Here are an assortment of shots taken this past week when we were treated to blue skies.
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| The Rama VIII Bridge crosses the Chao Phraya River. |
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| I was told that they weren’t racing but that it had to do with something spiritual. |
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| I hoped off the boat for a little lunch. |
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| The after shot. Not much of a difference was it? |
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| Nice looking place |
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| Interesting looking place |
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| Respectful place. They love their king; he’s a good man. |
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| Laundry day! |
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| Waiting for the boat. They sounded American. |
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| That’s Wat Arun on the other side of the river. |
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| It’s hard to take only one shot. |
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| It’s the wat with the porcelain pieces. Remember? |
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| Boats are all over the place on this river! |
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| Flowers for my friend |
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| Such a great variety of orchids! |
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| Didn’t make it to this museum. |
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| But I liked the building. |
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| Got my bracelet back! It’s fixed with ultra strong wire (I hope!). |
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| See the BTS Skytrain? |
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| Such a contrast from the river shots |
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| Thought this was pretty cool looking (plus the blue sky is so wonderful!) |
That’s all for now . . . next will be the shots from the bike tour I took yesterday. Was that ever exciting! I’m not bringing my computer with me though during the next two week adventure; I don’t want to have to “worry” about it going for a walkabout of its own. These things can walk on their own. Haven’t you seen those little retractable feet they have?
Okay den, until we meet again . . .
The elephants arrived each morning.
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| First, they got a bath. |
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| Then came breakfast. |
I never saw the dogs get anything in the morning (they did later), but that didn’t stop them from hoping that they might!
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| It appeared that everything on the rafts came by way of that bridge. |
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| We would go up stream to the last raft, hop in and float to the end. The current was VERY swift! |
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| Which is why I almost lost this! |
But I didn’t! I ran down the floating hotel from one raft to another until I was able to grab it. Yep, I was the afternoon entertainment that day. I think I’ll be in a lot of scrapbooks in Holland under the heading: crazy lady running after a little green plastic tub.
And what was in that green little tub? This wonderful smelling something that the Mon people put on their skin to protect them from the sun and mosquitoes.
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| We all gave it a try. |
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| Here I am with my new friend from Holland. |
Then we went to Hellfire’s Pass . . .
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| The story |
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| The memorial |
Japanese soldiers burned fires on the top of the walls as the POWs and Asian “slaves” worked chipping away the hard rock.
The hellfires were meant to keep the mosquitoes away.
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| There were many of these little plastic flowers placed throughout the memorial. |
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| And then it was time to leave our floating hotel. |
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| I found the motors fascinating. |
No, I don’t know how they work, but I just like the way they look.
Our trip concluded with an hour-long ride on the very tracks which cost so many lives.
And with that, the sky began to fall. Fitting, don’t you think?
It’s Saturday and I’m going to head south tomorrow . . .
Hi Friends,
A week (or so) has passed since my last posting. Oh, what fun I’ve had! My girlfriend (whose wonderful apartment I’ve been enjoying) and I took a 3-day, 2-night jungle river rafting trip on the River Kwai. It felt so good to get out of the city and onto the water.
We were picked up in a luxurious mini-van promptly(!) at 6 a.m. at a hotel close-by. Soon after, we, and fellow passengers, were taken to the heart of the city by the Grand Palace where we met other tourists who also sprouted from mini-vans. We were then collected into a large tour bus for our journey to the west.
The pictures which follow will tell the tale . . .
Also, I haven’t forgotten that I owe you shots from Wat Arun. They will hopefully follow shortly. I ended up going into town this past Wednesday (to go to the German Botschaft and ask about a visa which will allow me to stay in Germany longer than 3-months next year . . . more on that to come later) and taking a public transportation boat again. It was as much fun as the previous times, but this time, there was BLUE sky! So you’ll notice some boat/river/Wat Arun shots with blue sky and some without; now you’ll understand why.
From the title you can see that I’m leaving Bangkok tomorrow. I’m heading south to the area called Krabi; it’s a little east of Phuket. I decided to go there because it sounds interested and a little less developed or touristy than Phuket; I’ll let you know how I like it. When you google the area and look at a map, you’ll see that there are lots of beaches. I’m literally going to stay in 4 different hotels over 7-nights: 1 for 2 nights in Ao Nang, 1 for 2 nights on Railay beach (supposed to be a rock climbers’ beach), 1 for 2-nights on Koh (island) Phi Phi, and then lastly, I’m spending a night at a hotel called the Aloha Inn—seemed like a good idea. It’s in the little town area and should be a fun place to be before I then head out for Chiang Mai . . . but I’m getting ahead of myself . . . For now, it’s time to post some shots.
Aloha Everyone! Hope you’re having a good summer and enjoying the company of friends and family.
-sj
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| The River Kwai |
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| Picking up where we left off long ago |
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| Time to board the long boat |
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| The pink Barbie bag cracked me up. |
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| It felt so good to be on the water! |
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| It looked a lot like Kaua‘i. |
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| Then we began to see the critters |
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| of all shapes |
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| and sizes! |