Marcfests Blog on RealTravel

Toronto journal: Final Thoughts

Wed, 28 Nov 2007 07:35:22 GMT

6 months.

183 days from start to finish. January 20 to July 24.

This trip changed me. I learned a lot about the world, and more about myself. I am very different today than I was 6 months ago. Things I took for granted, I no longer. Things that were not priorities enough in my life, are now more clearly priorities. This is all very vague to most of you, but suffice to say that I have new clarity, greater purpose and new objectives going forward in life. No, I am not talking about work.

I was reminded often that we live embarrassingly well in Canada. That our problems are the ...

Canada journal: Final Thoughts

Wed, 28 Nov 2007 07:35:22 GMT

Some final words and thanks for Marcfest 2006.

Addis Ababa journal: Ethiopian Escape

Thu, 22 Nov 2007 07:33:47 GMT

As Ethiopians will readily tell you, Ethiopia is more than just famine and coffee. They don’t presume anyone outside their borders knows more than the former and that most people would likely be surprised to learn about the latter. But there is more to Ethiopia than an infamous famine in the 1980’s and the origin of coffee. There are terrible roads, a bursting and overly youthful population many of which seem gripped by farenj frenzy at the sight of a Caucasian person, deforestation, infrastructure being built by the Chinese (give it 15 years before it crumbles), its neighbours could not get ...

Ethiopia journal: Ethiopian Escape

Wed, 21 Nov 2007 05:40:38 GMT

Sri Lanka journal: Return to the Subcontinent

Sun, 15 Apr 2007 02:19:13 GMT

4 weeks off with time to explore...

Lhasa journal: Rooftop of the World

Tue, 31 Oct 2006 14:37:32 GMT

I knew something was different when 20 minutes into my flight from Chengdu to Lhasa, the carpet of thick cloud and smog covering Sichuan province was pierced by snow-capped mountain tops which appeared surprisingly close to my plane cruising at 32,000ft. In fact, these mountains acted as a dam to the carpet of low-lying clouds. Beyond to the west lay soaring peaks bathing in the sunshine as far as the eye could see. To the west lay Tibet, the mysterious buddhist kingdom on the rooftop of the world. Although it is part of China, I felt for the moment, that I had left behind all of the aspects ...

Sichuan journal: Sichuan Pandas and Mountain Monastaries

Tue, 31 Oct 2006 14:33:33 GMT

The western province of Sichuan is one the most famous and populous provinces in China (85 million). Chengdu is one of two main cities in Sichuan and I used it as a base for the week I spent there. Sichuan was my return to the west of China, after a 2.5 hour flight due west from Shanghai. Chengdu is located on the vast Sichuan plain, just east of the soaring ridges of the Himalayas which climb to the Tibetan plateau.

At the same population size as Toronto, Chengdu was quite compact, clean and civilized compared to so much of the rest of China. No touts, less honking, cleaner (though not ...

Shanghai journal: "You want DVD?!"

Tue, 31 Oct 2006 14:27:14 GMT

Shanghai is alive and shaking off its slumbering past. No, Shanghai is exploding. It is said there are 1000s of cranes in Pudong alone, a new city being built across the river in a matter of a few years from older Shanghai. China has designated this as the business capital of China - an effort to usurp Hong Kong's importance and create a made in China international city. As a result, the business elite are here, the pretty people are here, and so are all the international signs of wealth (Burberry, Coach, Armani, haute cuisine, capitalist consumption shopping strips).

With only 4 full ...

Beijing journal: The Capital

Tue, 31 Oct 2006 14:26:05 GMT

Beijing ("North Capital") is the administrative and historical heart of modern China. I gambled on it capturing my interest by planning more time there than in Shanghai. In addition, after the grind that China has been, I was also hoping for some comfort.

Sevag joined me in Beijing and his company was most welcome. Sevag had already visited Xi'an for the Terracotta Warriors and gone downstream on the Yangtze on what he described as the most disgusting boat (and accommodations) he had ever seen in his life. Apparently, along the way he also bowled over a cable car operator that tried ...

Lijiang journal: Yunnan province

Tue, 31 Oct 2006 14:21:24 GMT

The cities of Dali and Lijiang serve as the tourist centers of Yunnan. This means that if you are a Chinese tourist, this is your first and final destination, save a few well-orchestrated bus trips to local sights. You tramp around town in a group of 20 other Chinese tourists, all wearing the same ridiculous hats, following the tour leader carrying the flag. Watch out for 30 other similar tour groups. Generally you block sidewalks, take pictures of everything and nothing, talk really loud and spit frequently and, if you are a man, smoke ceaselessly and without concern for anyone else. The ...

Yangshuo journal: Into rural China

Tue, 31 Oct 2006 14:16:37 GMT

After Hong Kong I headed to rural SE China, via Shenzen. Shenzen is across the river from the Hong Kong territory. In 1980, with a population of 70,000 engaged largely in fishing and rice growing, it was designated by the Chinese government as the first Special Economic Zone in China (there are now a number of such zones) to leverage off the influence of Hong Kong and build some industrial base. Twenty-five years later Shenzen has 7,000,000+ inhabitants, an international airport, a state-of-the-art subway system (which technology puts ours to shame) and gleaming condos and office towers as ...

Hong Kong journal: Hong Kong

Tue, 31 Oct 2006 14:14:57 GMT

On April 13, I exchanged the drenched streets of Kyoto for the drenched streets of Hong Kong. Although it stopped raining shortly after I arrived, it remained cloudy all 5 days I was there - the start of the monsoon season. That made 9 days in a row without any sun.

Hong Kong is one of those few cities in the world that truly earns the moniker "World City." It is a center of international business, finance and tourism. A meeting place for people from all corners of the globe. Apparently, this is most true when it hosts the twice yearly Asian Electronics Exhibition. People and ...

Tokyo journal: Tokyo and Kyoto

Wed, 26 Jul 2006 14:40:15 GMT

Japan. I was there for a good time, not a long time. Stage two of Marcfest led me to the Land of the Rising Sun for a brief stay in Tokyo (including a short 2 day trip to Nikko, home to many temples and shrines) and Kyoto (which has more to its name than a Protocol Canada now appears to be abondoning).

Lots of pictures for this one. Not only because Japan is a feast for the eyes on so many levels, but because this computer is super fast and in the length it takes me to write this, I can upload dozens....

Even in 14 days Japan defies any short summary that could encapsulate its ...

Windhoek journal: Endless sun in Africa

Tue, 25 Jul 2006 16:41:56 GMT

I am back and, at long last, Marcfest 2006 has drawn to a close and I am back in Toronto.

The last leg of my trip was Southern Africa - Cape Town, Namibia and Botswana.

My brother joined me on this trip, fresh from the inward-looking Midwest and the skeptical glances of his corn-bred colleagues. The plan was 6 days in Cape Town followed by a flight up to Windhoek, Namibia, where we would rent a car for 2 + weeks and drive around Namibia and western Botswana. Among other things, we were determined to see the famous dunes of Namibia, Etosha National Park and the Okavango Delta in ...

New Delhi journal: A stopover too short on the Subcontinent

Tue, 20 Jun 2006 06:26:45 GMT

After long last, I finally left China on June 10. As described in the Tibet entry to the blog, the drive off the Tibetan plateau through the Himalayas was a precipitous drop of stunning proportions through the clouds and dramatic changes in vegetation.

The border town on the Chinese side was a ramshackle and dirty town populated by Chinese, Tibetans, Nepali and Indias with anything and everthing for sale. It was a fitting good bye to China. I entered into Nepal and caught a 5 hour bus to the capital Kathmandu. The ride continued down the river valley from 2600m at the border to 1300m ...

Asia journal: Indian Subcontinent

Mon, 19 Jun 2006 13:02:52 GMT

From Tibet to Delhi and around

China journal: China Rising

Wed, 19 Apr 2006 20:27:01 GMT

China

Japan journal: Land of the Rising Sun

Wed, 12 Apr 2006 03:31:09 GMT

Japan

Mendoza journal: The Heart of Argentina

Tue, 04 Apr 2006 22:49:44 GMT

Where does one go to escape the sweltering, two T-shirt a day humidity of Buenos Aires? Head west to cooler and drier altitudes. My next two weeks would see me bear west 1500 plus kms to Mendoza at the foot of the tallest mountains in the Americas, with a halfway stop in Cordoba and the surrounding low Sierras.

For anyone reading the Lonely Planet, or who otherwise hears that Cordoba city is a great destination, calm down. Cordoba city is overrated. Sure, it is a city with a concentration of colonial architecture, but that ´concentration´ is limited to a few churches, covenants, the ...

San Pedro de Atacama journal: Journey to the driest place on Earth

Wed, 22 Mar 2006 12:56:53 GMT

This being day 60, this is the last of the blog updates for South America. A number of you have pointed out that this update is now 2 days late. I dont mean to keep my public waiting. Real Travel has changed their website format and I am having trouble uploading photos... stay tuned on that front.

As an added bonus this time `round, in many of my photos you will note the presence of a dot. Sanyo makes a fantastic camera, however, they failed to make the lens AIRTIGHT!!! I have a tiny particle of something between 2 of the lenses, so there is a dot, big or small, in all of my recent ...

Chile journal: Santiago and the Atacama Desert

Wed, 22 Mar 2006 12:31:13 GMT

journey to the driest place on Earth