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It was December 24, the 11th day of the cruise, as we arrived early in the morning at Salisbury Plain. As soon as I woke up I went up to the lounge and the bridge to examine the beach with my binoculars. Earlier in the morning I had been startled awake by strong winds roaring past my porthole so I was doubtful of our ability to make a landing. Sure enough, when… Read More
After two days at sea we finally arrived in the early morning at South Georgia. The next four days were targeted at visiting the incredibly dense wildlife that calls the island home. According to some of my fellow passengers South Georgia is the “Serengetti of the Antarctic” and it is one of the main reasons that this particular cruise is so popular; many other Antarctic cruises go straight to the peninsula completely… Read More
I got to bed a bit later than usual last night because I was waiting for us to finish sailing by an iceberg so I could look around the far edge to the other side. It was no ordinary iceberg being large enough to have an official designation on the charts. Measuring 11 miles by 5 miles and with approximately 100 feet showing above the water, some quick calculations by some of… Read More
Despite going to bed early I had a restless night. The swaying of the ship as we crossed Bransfield Strait on our way to the Gerlache Strait demanded enough attention of my sub-conscious to wake me. The movement was noticeable, occurring in all directions, as we bounced along on the waves. Thankfully it was not violent enough to throw me out of my bunk and eventually, adjusting to the situation, I was… Read More
If you have ever thought of going to Singapore, I would encourage you to move it up on your list. If the thought has never crossed your mind, you should really consider visiting. I had only two days to spend in Singapore but in that short time I totally became enamored with the city. Singapore has tagged itself as the Garden City for good reason. I was amazed and delighted to discover… Read More
The past few days I have been meandering around the old city of Chiangmai, popping in and out of the many Buddhist temples scattered everywhere. Chiangmai is the temple capital of Thailand, hosting in the 2 km square old city and surrounding area more than 300. There is an expression common across southeast Asia that I became familiar with in Nepal: “Same, same, but different”. This is a perfect description of visiting… Read More
Even before stepping foot in Thailand all I heard about was the food and recall that in my blog about Bangkok, the quantity and variety of street food caught my eye immediately. Well, after being here for more than two weeks, that impression has only been strengthened. I spent the day in a Thai cooking class, therefore food is a natural topic for a blog (or maybe two!). No matter where I… Read More
I said good-bye to the elephants today, a week early. I had originally planned on volunteering for three weeks, but after two weeks my body told me to stop. As I have previously mentioned there is a lot of physical labor involved in taking care of such large animals- heavy lifting which includes a lot of bending, carrying banana trees – in all forms – everywhere, being on your feet constantly, either… Read More
The most important thing to keep in mind regarding elephant care is: it’s all about input and output. And such a prodigious amount of both! I am sure there are statistics somewhere that state how much an average elephant eats, but from first hand experience I can testify that it’s beyond amazing. The WFF is either fortunately, or by design- and I am not sure which- located in a major banana growing… Read More
The taxi arrived at my hotel in Bangkok promptly at 9 am on Sunday morning to pick me up for the three hour drive to the Wildlife Friends Foundation (WFF) in southwestern Thailand, my home for the next three weeks. The WFF, founded 17 years ago by a Dutch ex-pat living in Bangkok, rescues animals, focusing on but not limited to, elephants, and reintroduces as many as possible back into the wild…. Read More
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