A short announcement

I’m taking a vacation. Yes, I know I’m already on vacation so let’s call this a vacation from my vacation. In the last 75 or so days I’ve been through Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia, Jordan, Egypt, India and Nepal. They were challenging destinations. On March 7th I’m booked to start a 20 day tour of China. That will be challenging too. So in the intervening days I’ve decided to take a break. A break from packing and unpacking. A break from the endless string of “must see” sights. A break from early morning buses and overnight flights. A break from squat toilets, and toilets where you have to bring your own paper, and toilets that are bushes, and toilets that aren’t even bushes (banks of the river Ganges, I’m talking to you). A break from cold water showers and crazy food and strange languages. And – brace yourselves - a break from blogging.

I’m going somewhere to relax and sit. Somewhere I can hang up all my clothes, sleep in the same bed every night and linger there every morning, lay about drinking coffee or beer or wine and do crossword puzzles or nap or watch Olympic hockey on tv or play with the new iPhone or simply stare at the wall.

Where am I going, you might ask? That’s none of your damned business, I say. For now, the “Last known location” area of the blog will remain Kathmandu. The little red line on the Google map will end at Kathmandu and pick up again, miraculously, in Beijing. In the mean time, you can speculate as much as you like.

I’ve still got a few blog posts about Nepal to write, so there will be one or two more published in the coming days. And if I really feel strongly about writing something while I’m on the break I will, but don’t count on it. Probably you’ll just have to go cold turkey until I get into China. I’ll still be online when I feel like checking email, but I’m not going to worry about anything else.

And that’s all there is to say about that. Have fun, and I’ll see you in Beijing.

Your faithful, weary blogger,

- Pam

This time next year - January 1

Happy New Year!

The farther into the future these TTNY posts project, the more theoretical it all becomes. And as I become more committed to this trip, I'm actually getting less concerned about having a set schedule, so don't be surprised if the "This Time Next Year" schedule starts getting kind of... loose. Having said all that, let's forge ahead with today's TTNY destination: KENYA!


Lions... elephants... giraffes... now we're really getting into Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom territory. Kenya has some of the world's best game reserves, and I certainly plan to seek out some kind of safari experience, probably as part of one of those package tours I've mentioned before. I can't imagine going to East Africa without getting out there with a pith helmet and multi-pocketed vest to see the Big Five (lion, elephant, water buffalo, leopard and rhinoceros) and whatever else there is to see. And what a cool way to ring in the New Year - toasting the first sunrise of 2010 over the Rift Valley, where some scientists believe the human species originated.

Throughout 2008 Kenya was in the news due to political turmoil about the disputed presidential election held in December of 2007, but Wikitravel reports "Things have now quieted down and the country is considered safe for travelers, but the situation remains somewhat on edge, so follow local news carefully". In addition, like many African nations, the HIV/AIDS infection rate in Kenya is high - about 6% of adults are infected. And of course there's the ever-present danger of malaria, yellow fever and dengue fever from infected mosquitoes. Not surprisingly, Wikitravel also notes that "It is advisable to have traveler's and accident insurance." No kidding.

However, rather than focusing on that, let's talk about Kenya's history of producing magnificent world-class runners, including (among many many others) the four-time women's Boston Marathon winner and two-time world champion Catherine Ndereba, four-time men's Boston Marathon winner Robert Cheruiyot, former marathon world record-holder Paul Tergat, and most recently the first ever winner of the Olympic marathon for Kenya, 21-year-old Sammy Wanjiru, who set a new Olympic record in Beijing this summer. In fact, Kenyans have dominated long-distance running so much that it's a bit of a cliche.

Kenya is also enticingly close to Zanzibar (the Spice Islands!) which looks like a great place for a relaxing getaway from dusty safari life, tents, and shaking out your boots in the morning to get out the scorpions.

Home for Christmas

Tomorrow I'm heading home for Christmas, on a quick 4-day break from work. I always go home for Christmas. ALWAYS. In fact when I first conceived of this trip I thought I'd do it in two legs - Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, then home for a break and some downtime at Christmas, then back out for India, China, SEA (that's how we savvy RTW types refer to South East Asia), and South America. It seemed like a good idea to build in a break from traveling - an escape hatch of sorts. Also, it would be nice to have an extended break at home during the holidays since I haven't had more than 4 days off at Christmas since I was in school in about 1990. Then I examined the costs of this plan and quickly decided maybe 2009 would be the first time I wouldn't be home for Christmas.

Since that time I've been trying to get used to the idea, and I'm starting to make peace with it. My sister and brother-in-law missed Christmas at home a few years ago; their excuse was the birth of their first child, my niece, on Christmas Eve. They survived fine (all three of them), and I imagine the new baby thing was distracting enough that Christmas was a mere footnote that week. Similarly, I suspect that when next December rolls around I'll be so far removed from my "normal" life that the whole Christmas season won't have nearly the all-pervasive impact that it has here in snowy, urban western Canada. Or at least I hope so.

I sort of plan to be in Africa around the holidays next year, and I can't imagine anywhere less Christmas-y. I also sort of plan to connect with an old friend who is now living in Uganda, but it seems awkward to basically invite myself over for Christmas. Perhaps I'll get lucky and he'll see this post and pick up on my not-so-subtle hint. If that doesn't work out, I may go on safari over the holidays. It might also be kind of neat to see how people in a place so very different celebrate something so very familiar.

I suppose being away for Christmas is just another aspect of being away in general - part of committing myself wholly to this adventure. I'm sure there will be some bouts of homesickness in my future, and not just around the holidays. I have no idea how I'll react to that. For now I'll just enjoy seeing family, unwrapping exciting travel-related packages, eating my weight in Christmas baking, turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, and wondering what next Christmas will bring.

I guess if I really want to, there's nothing stopping me from booking a flight from Kampala to Calgary next December. It's only money.*



*Note to family: DO NOT count on this!

This time next year - December 9

POP QUIZ: Can you guess today's "This Time Next Year" location from this audio clue?:

If you guessed the Lost City of Petra, you're correct! (And you know me well.) To quote Wikipedia:

Petra is an extraordinary archaeological site in southwestern Jordan, lying on the slope of Mount Hor in a basin among the mountains which form the eastern flank of Arabah (Wadi Araba), the large valley running from the Dead Sea to the Gulf of Aqaba. The site was designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1985 when it was described as "one of the most precious cultural properties of man's cultural heritage".

To quote me: "Petra is dead cool!"


The best known site at Petra is the iconic Al Khazneh, or Treasury Building, but the whole site has a lot more to see. I'll admit that when I thought of Petra, I really just thought of that one building, but it turns out that Petra is not just the Treasury, a souvenir stand, and a guy selling falafel from a cart... its a whole CITY, and they think most of it hasn't even been uncovered yet. There's the remains of the fantastic Ad-Deir monastery, along with "rock-cut tombs, obelisks, temples, sacrificial altars and colonnaded streets". One website claims you need 4 or 5 days to really explore the whole city so I'm a little worried that my proposed itinerary will rush me through Petra too quickly. (Of course if I wanted to do it really quickly, I should run the first ever Petra Marathon on September 26th, 2009.)



I'm actually planning on seeing Petra as part of a package tour (more on the whole idea of package tours is probably coming in a later post). The particular tour I've got my eye on is called the "Jordan and Egypt Adventure", and just reading the itinerary makes me positively buzz with excitement:

This tour combines our ‘Petra to the Pyramids’ and ‘Nubian Sailtrek’ tours to give you the highlights of both Jordan and Egypt. We’ll see the hidden city of Petra, take a camel ride amidst the weird rock formations of Wadi Rum, sail along the Nile on a felucca and explore the Pharaonic treasures left by the Ancient Egyptians.

• Camel ride in Wadi Rum
• Overnight in Bedouin camp
• Full day guided exploration of Petra
• Sunrise on Mt Sinai
• Pyramids & Sphinx at Giza
• 1 day felucca cruise
• Horse-drawn carriage ride to Karnak Temple
• Donkey ride to the Valley of the Kings

Seriously? A camel ride? A bedouin camp? A felucca cruise? Pyramids? It's like the Greatest Hits of the Ancient World. How is it that YOU have not already signed on to come with me on this? I mean look at this map:

The Jordan and Egypt Adventure, December 7-22, 2009. You know you want to.

Wonder of Wonders

Here's an exciting discovery: during my trip, I will actually be visiting six out of seven of The New Seven Wonders of the World:

1. Chichen Itza (Mayan archeological site) - Yucatan, Mexico
2. The statue of Christ the Redeemer - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
3. The Colosseum - Rome
4. The Great Wall of China
5. Machu Picchu (Incan archeological site) - Peru
6. The Lost City of Petra - Jordan
7. The Taj Mahal - Agra, India

The only one I'll miss on my present itinerary is that Mexico thingy. As compensation though, I will be seeing the Great Pyramid of Giza, the last remaining Wonder of the Ancient World.

The declaration of the "New Seven Wonders" was spear-headed by a Swiss company, starting in 2001. They claim more than 100 million votes were cast on the internet and by phone, though duplicate votes were allowed so they admit the results are "decidedly unscientific". Of particular note on the subject of unscientific voting is a story about the voting in Brazil, where cell phone companies not only stopped charging people for voting, they actually solicited votes:

One morning in June, Rio de Janeiro residents awoke to a beeping text message on their cell phones: “Press 4916 and vote for Christ. It’s free!” The same pitch had been popping up all over the city since late January—flashing across an electronic screen every time city-dwellers swiped their transit cards on city buses and echoing on TV infomercials that featured a reality-show celebrity posing next to the city’s trademark Christ the Redeemer statute.

So like they say... the voting was not exactly United Nations sanctioned as "free and fair". Perhaps these Swiss were also the ones behind the voting system in Florida for the 2000 U.S. election.

And as an aside, I will also see several of the other 13 finalists in the voting, including the Acropolis, Angkor Wat, the Hagia Sophia, and the Eiffel Tour (seen it already, though).

And to gild the lily, I may also check out several of the Seven Wonders of the Modern World, as decided by the American Society of Civil Engineers. Stuff like the Channel Tunnel, the Golden Gate Bridge and the Delta Works in the Netherlands (dams, sluices, locks, dikes, and storm surge barriers).

It's all going to be pretty wonderful.

This time next year - November 21

Today's exciting "This Time Next Year" destination is Istanbul, Turkey. In fact it's the whole country of Turkey, though I suspect I'll spend most of my time in Istanbul, which I was surprised to learn is actually the third largest city in the world (population 11,372,613 at the time of writing). It's situated on both the European and Asia sides of the Bosphorus Strait, so it's the only city in the world that spans two continents, and it's commonly thought of as an East-meets-West melting pot.

Istanbul is an ancient city - archeological discoveries in the area go back as early as 6500 BC, and the city of Byzantium (the first known name for the city) was established in 667 BC. When the Roman Emperor Constantine the Great made it the capital of the Roman Empire in 330 AD, he changed the name of the city to Walterople (literally "City of Walter"), after his late uncle. Ok, actually he changed it to Constantinople, I suppose because he was the freakin' emperor of Rome and figured he was kind of a big deal. The name Istanbul was apparently in common use in the city from before 1450 or so, but didn't become popular in the west until someone wrote a catchy song about it.


One of the big things to see in Istanbul is the Hagia Sophia a 6th century basilica/mosque/museum that was, until 1520, the largest cathedral ever built. Though it didn't make the grade as one of the New Seven Wonders of the World, it did manage to rank in the top 20, so since I'll be in the city anyways I'll probably wander over there.

Istanbul has a gajillion brilliant historical sites and markets and museums and things, but right now I think the coolest thing going on there is the construction of the Marmaray - the world's deepest undersea immersed tube tunnel - being built underneath the Bosphorus Strait. Once completed it will mean that a passenger could travel by rail all the way from the northern tip of Scotland to Beijing, China. (Said passenger would be well-advised to pack a few sandwiches for such a journey.) It's a fantastic engineering project, though it's been delayed by more than two years because workers unearthed an incredible Byzantine archeological site and have had to trade in their backhoes for those weeny little dental picks and paint brushes. The site they uncovered is the fourth-century-Constantinople port, Portus Theodosiacus, and includes what may be the only Byzantine naval vessel ever discovered.

Also of note is the fact that the placement of the tunnel runs distressingly close (a mere 18 kms) to a big geological fault which scientists calculate has a 77% chance of unleashing a earthquake of 7.7 magnitude or greater in the next thirty years. Perhaps our weary passenger should pack a inflatable dinghy along with his PB&J.

The one thing I won't be rushing out for while in Turkey is Turkish Delight, which has always seemed to me like a waste of calories that could better be expended on chocolate. Also, I suspect I won't be eating much turkey.

If the idea of a trip to Turkey floats your Byzantine naval vessel, I plan to be there between November 18 and December 2, 2009.

This time next year - November 7

This week Winnipeg set a new record for the warmest temperature reached on November 3rd, breaking the old record set in 1905. On Monday the temperature went up to 19° Celsius; when I got up this morning the view from my back door looked like this:


So since winter has arrived as decisively as Barack Obama, I think today is a good day to introduce a little (hopefully) recurring feature I've been thinking about called "This time next year..." (posts like this will be labeled TTNY in the tag cloud). It's something I've been using to keep myself a bit more motivated. I've got a widget on my iGoogle homepage that shows me the weather in Winnipeg and whatever other location(s) I choose, so I've been viewing the place where I think I'll be in one year's time. Of course the schedule is all just theory at this point, but I still think this is pretty good motivation:


Today's "This time next year" location is Athens, Greece. Exciting! I imagine Greece will feature boatloads of history, crystal blue Aegean seas, and enough olives, feta cheese, lamb and ouzo to sink the Argo. (How appropriate that I'm currently working on a production of "Medea".) Greece would also be an excellent place for friends to meet up with me for a little R&R on the beaches of a Greek Island. I'm serious - think about it! I plan to be in Greece around November 3 - 17, 2009.

Even more exciting is that this time next year I hope to be running the Athens Marathon (I think it will be on Sunday, November 8th, 2009). This is THE marathon... the one that actually starts in the city of Marathon and runs to Athens, theoretically following the route that Pheidippides took to announce the Greek victory over Persia in the Battle of Marathon in 490 BC. (The fact that the legend says he dropped dead after making his announcement is something marathoners like to gloss over).

The modern Athens Marathon actually finishes in the Panathinaiko Stadium, which was built in 566 BC and has been renovated many times since then, most recently for the 2004 Olympic Games when it hosted the finish of the Olympic Marathon. How cool is that? Participants in the Athens Marathon run the last 170 metres of the course in a stadium built out of white marble that's 2,574 years old.


And that thought, my friends, is enough to get me through a snowy Friday afternoon in November, in Winnipeg.

My Maps

Here's a Google Map I've created to show where I plan to go. To get back to this post easily you can click on "Maps" in the menu bar. Eventually there will also be map of where I've actually been, which will probably a lot different than the plan. I may even add other close-up maps of my travels around a particular area, so you may want to check back here every once in a while.

You can also see this map in the side bar, but here it's much bigger. You can pan around on either map, change the view, and zoom in and out. Click any of the little blue markers or lines to read its label. You can also click on "View larger map" at the bottom of this one and be taken to the Google page where you can muck around even more.



View Larger Map

June 5, 2009:

Ok, rather that editing the original blue line from a hundred years ago, I've started a new RED line that shows what I've actually done! I thought it might be fun to see what really happens, compared to what I thought would happen. Also, I really didn't have the inclination or energy to muck around with that original line... Let's just say that these days, I've got bigger fish to fry.

Itinerary

Here's my current best idea of where I plan to go, and when. Sometime I'll post about my reasoning behind where I've chosen to go and where I've decided to skip. And I'll try to update this as things become firmer.

Fly in to London, England from Calgary - June 15, 2009 (2 weeks in England)
Train to Edinburgh, Scotland (2 weeks)
Train/Ferry or cheap local flight to Dublin, Ireland (2 weeks)
Fly to Copenhagen, Denmark (it's about the beginning of August by now) (5 days)
Fly to Riga, Latvia (3 days)
Fly to St. Petersburg, Russia (1 week)
(This hop to Russia is out-of-the-way, but I want to get there in the summer - St. Petersburg in November would be grim...)
Fly to Amsterdam, Netherlands (3 days)
Train to Belgium (1 day, just passin' through)
Train to Paris, France (10 days in France)
Train to Barcelona, Spain (September) (1 week in Spain)
Train to Lisbon, Portugal (1 week)
Train/Ferry to Morocco (1 week)
Fly to Rome, Italy (October - 3 weeks)
Train to Ljublujana, Slovenia (1 week)
Train to Vienna, Austria (4 days)
Train to Prague, Czech Republic (4 days)
Fly to Athens (2 weeks, with Athens Marathon on November 9th)
Fly or Train or Ferry or ?? To Istanbul, Turkey (2 weeks)
Fly or other to Jerusalem (December) (3 days) Though I may skip Israel - I'd love to see the city but it makes me nervous.
Fly or other to Amman, Jordan for an Adventure Travel tour something like this one: Jordan & Egypt Adventure (2 weeks)
Fly from Cairo (end point of tour) to Kampala, Uganda (for Christmas?) (1 week) I'd also like to do some kind of safari tour thing, maybe like this one: Kenya Highlights (1-2 weeks)
Fly to Capetown, SA (January) (1 week)
Fly to Mumbai, India (24 days)
Fly out of somewhere else in India (Calcutta?) to Beijing, China. (February) I may want to do an organized tour of China too, like this one: The Road to Shanghai (24 days)
Fly or other to Vietnam (March) (1 week)
Overland to Laos (1 week)
Overland to Cambodia (1 week)
Overland to Thailand (April) (1 week)
Overland to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (3 days)
Overland to Singapore (3 days)
Fly to Tokyo, Japan (2 weeks in Japan)
Fly to San Francisco (beginning of May, hopefully staying with friends, for a rest - 5 days)
Fly to South America - probably Quito, Ecuador. I'll probably do an organized tour here, too. Something including the Inca Trail hike: Inca Adventure
General South America destinations: Ecuador, Peru, Brazil, Argentina (or Chile). I've allotted 2 months for all of South America.

Home by about July 1, 2010.

Phew.