Komodo National Park - A visit to see the Komodo Dragon the largest Liza...

Oh Canada! Heading to Toronto and a Maple Leafs Game

It’s been about five years since I originally planned to head to Canada, and after a few short days staying in Toronto, the wait was worth it.

Leaving the tropical climate of Singapore it took nearly a day and a half of transiting which included a three hour layover in London. Unusually for some, I enjoyed my layover at terminal 5. It was great to see all home food comforts on sale (and of course Galaxy chocolate!).

Leaving London I eventually arrived at Toronto Pearson International Airport. Named Pearson after Lester B. Pearson, Canada’s former prime minister (and Nobel peace prize winner - thanks to his work in helping resolve the Suez Crisis).

Passing through immigration and collecting my luggage was a breeze and there were ample Taxi’s around to take me to my hostel. It’s worth noting that Canada, like many countries these days, operates an eTA immigration process, where you need to pre-apply online for your visa for a small fee. More details about this process can be found here http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/visit/ (Government of Canada Immigration Site) .

As I exited the taxi i got to feel the cold air of Toronto. It was brilliantly refreshing. Living in (and enjoying being in) a tropical climate, I forgot how nice cold crisp air is. I was unsuitably dressed for it, so couldn’t hold out for too long in the outdoors without properly kitting up.

Planet Traveller Hostel, my home for the next few days, was located on College Street in the heat of Toronto, and was very close to major bus and tram stops that can take you anywhere in the city. The hostel was between the suburbs of Kensington Market, Discovery District, and Harbord Village. Also a few doors down was an Avis hire car office - which proved handy later. The hostel was brilliantly laid out, offered free breakfasts, lockers, and had both a dining and seated lounge area. You know I’ve found many hostels don’t have a good lounge area, and for me these are key for us backpackers - as it’s the centre-point where you get to meet and interact with the most amazing people.

Looking out from the hostel.

Technically this is the first time in a good few years that I felt like a backpacker again. And it’s not that I was travelling alone, but more the environment I was in and the people I was surrounded with. Even at work when I tell people I stayed in a hostel and not a fancy hotel, they look at me as if I’m crazy. But they’ve yet to appreciate the incredible value it can bring to you. And then economically, for many, a hostel brings the opportunity of low cost accommodation within expensive countries. So a week at the hostel in Toronto was the same price as my one night hotel in Orlando. And I would chose the hostel every time.

Once I was shown my room and had packed my things away I headed out to my first Ice Hockey Game. Ice Hockey was said to have been developed in Montreal in 1875 and like football (soccer) in the UK it’s beautifully ingrained in the culture of the country; you could say it’s religion.

Toronto Maple Leafs vs Buffalo Sabres

I purchased my tickets a week before through Ticketmaster Canada (www.ticketmaster.ca/section/sports). When selecting my seats I was (foolishly) surprised that there were hardly any seats left. Also, I was surprised how expensive it is - but like any football game for the big teams, it’s to be expected.

I chose the lowest value ticket that put me right up in the stands - which, when you look at the view, was actually really good value. You can have the tickets delivered to your home (in Canada) or simply have them as an email ticket - which I chose.

So walking down towards the stadium my iPhone started acting up. It kept shutting off - even when the battery was over 70% full. I thought that it can’t be possible that my battery drained so much so quickly from using Google Maps or from texting.

I tried turning the phone again, and phew it came back on. Only to die again after a minute. How am I going to access my tickets? I don’t even remember my Ticketmaster account details to retrieve them. Walking down the main street my eyes searching for any electrical store or cell phone retailer. There was none. I kept powering up my phone, closing apps down thinking that there is a bug that’s crashing the phone.

By the time I arrived at the stadium my phone gave up. But I was distracted by the awesome and friendly atmosphere outside the entrance gates. All enclosed within the building, prior to going in, people are waiting around for the friends to go through the gates together, and there’s such a friendly atmosphere among everyone. It reminded me of when I would head to a Barnsley game and you can feel the excitement and atmosphere from everyone (though in those days there wasn’t much to be excited about!).

As I started queuing up through security and then to the ticket checking person (I can’t think of what the correct term is), my phone burst into life and when the lady went to scan it, it died again. Aaagghh. Thankfully, like all Canadians, she was extremely helpful and spent a good ten mins with me trying to get me my ticket - even offering her phone to log into the Ticketmaster website. Constantly retrying my device it came back on just in time for my ticket to be scanned and I was through the doors!

It turned out that my phone had real trouble adapting to the cold. Even though it was only one degree above freezing, it clearly got used to the Singaporean climate of +30c every day. So in order to ensure I could get some good shots of the game, I kept the phone in my pocket to keep warm. Crazy really.

I grabbed a hot dog and Canadian beer (of course), found my seat and began to watch the impressive opening sequence of the game. Stadium full, video was projected on to the ice to create a 3D illusion. It was awesome, and you can see it here...

Then it was time for the national anthem. Since Canada was playing a team from the US, both anthems were sung. What I really enjoyed was that after the US anthem, everyone clapped - a real respect thing between the two fans. From what I remember at football, people tend to boo the opposition side.

As the Canadian anthem was sung, a large flag of Canada was unveiled and passed through the crowd. It was a great image, and well choreographed!

The game began and I was lucky that the two Canadian men sat beside me, knowing this is my first game, happily explained the rules and what was going on. I honestly thought that I wouldn’t really find the game that interesting or entertaining. But I really did. It was tense, pacey, and the entertainment between pauses was brilliant - a lesson for FIFA there.

When the game finished I followed the crowd out of the main arena, and passed the live TV show set of the games sports channel. It was really noisy all around me, so I was very surprised how well they managed to hold a conversation and hear each other. And during the commercial break to the presenters posed for pictures.

My phone was now officially out of battery. And without a map i walked the streets of Toronto trying to remember my way back. Fortunately the grid like road system makes it a breeze and I managed to get back safe and sound.

The walk gave me time to reflect more on how much I enjoy backpacking, trying new things for the first time, and meeting new people - whom unknowingly to them, became great ambassadors to their own country.

It was going to be a great week. Welcome to Canada!

The Galapagos Islands - Natures Experiment

Dörte, Sarah, and I spent the previous night at a nice restaurant in Quito and it certainly felt like, when waking up at 4am, that I had not slept at all.  We were lucky however, a couple of members of our group landed at 2am, only to pass themselves leaving as they arrived at the hotel.


Our flight departed Quito’s shiny new airport at around 6am and headed to Guayaquil for a quick stopover to pick up a few more passengers before flying across the sea to the mystical islands of Galapagos.

The Galapagos Islands were discovered on March 10th 1535 by the 4th Bishop of Panama, Fray Tomás de Berlanga.  He, like most explorers, arrived by accident.  Aiming to sail to Peru to resolve a dispute on how the territories of Inca Empire should be divided up, his ship stalled in the sea and the currents took him to the magical islands.
But like many claims of discovery, there are disputes to this.  It is believed that Topa Inca Yupanqui, the 10th Sapa Inca of the Inca Empire visited the islands sixty years previously as it is recounted in Incan Oral history of visiting two islands of fire.
It wasn’t until 1935 that Charles Darwin visited the islands, who’s population stood at around 300 people.  Forty years later Sir David Attenborough visited, adding to the fame of the islands and really bringing their marvel to the rest of the world.  He has only visited those islands a further two times.

We landed at the former US Air Force strip, now called Seymour Airport, on Baltra island on a very beautiful day.  Departing the plane we walked across the tarmac to the terminal, a shiny new and very environmentally friendly building.
Picking up our bags and getting our passport stamped we met our G-Adventures guide, Pedro.






Pedro was a delight throughout the trip; his humour, passion for the place he grew up in, and knowledge that would make Attenborough proud - all ensured the trip would be memorable.
Gathering the group together he announced “Welcome to the Galapagos my friends!  Now get your walking shoes on, a bottle of water, the adventure begins now!”.  We all expected to be heading to our boat, settling in, relaxing and catching the breeze…but no; there was no time to lose - we’ve got islands to explore!
Our bags were heading direct to the boat, and we headed in the opposite direction to discover a colony of giant tortoises.  This was just brilliant.  Arriving at the sanctuary our group gathered again to get a brief from Pedro on the place we were visiting, how we should conduct ourselves (to preserve and protect the islands and it’s wildlife).

Looking around the group we had a fantastic mix of nationalities, ages and backgrounds.  We had…

Rudy, a retired sales manager from Canada.  Another Dave from the UK who used to be a sports teacher.  Linked with sport was Louisa a retired Physio from Canada (and who worked with the Olympic team!).  Backing up team Canada was Christine a retired medical social worker who was originally from the UK but made the right decision to emigrate.  We had husband and wife team Bryan and Eleanor from the beautiful Ireland; Bryan worked on the Viagra drug as pharmaceutical engineer and Eleanor works in education.  Supporting team Ireland was Peter who worked in the government (I think he collected taxes but won’t admit it).  The dynamic duo from Denmark Hannah and Hannah, a retired hairdresser and the other a chief accountant.  Their story is great as at 70, they met at their local bridge club and decided to go travelling together.  From Australia was the very smart Sandra, a university lecturer in biological sciences - the Galapagos must have been heaven for her.  Back to Europe, there was Louise from England, an animator who’s done some really cool work for Nickelodeon.  Sarah, a medical person in Switzerland and Dörte a funky plastics engineer from Germany.
And of course there was team Laos, and myself from Barnsley!
With the sun piercing down at you the day was stunning, and as we walked through the designated pathway you could spot our first tortoise - in fact I think there were four or five of them.  They resting in the mud, attempting to stay cool.  I for one was wishing I was in there - forgetting to bring my hat, but bringing my rain coat, I donned my superman outfit (placing the hood over my head and wearing it like a cape), i managed to stay safe.

















For the next hour or two it was pretty much the same; turning corners and seeing this remarkably giant and ancient creatures, undeterred by our presence.  After resting for a drink at the local restaurant / cafe at the reserve, we headed onto the bus and towards the dock to meet with our boat.



Our boat was called the San Jose, a permanent chartered boat for G-Adventures.  Lead by Captain Francisco, the boat is cared for by a friendly and helpful crew.  Helmsmen Johnny, Sailor Elliot, Food made by Eddy and his assistant chef Aramando.  Another Pedro made sure the engines were kept running.  Shirley was the only female crew member and was in charge of housekeeping; whilst Jeffery tended to the passengers needs as a barman, waiter and commander of big smiles!
We arrived on our boat, settled in, and met for a formal briefing (e.g. what to do in emergencies and what the plan is for the next few days).

The plan was to sail to Mosquera, Genovesa, South Plaza, Santa Fe, and San Cristobal.   At each point there will be land excursions to view the different grades of the land (volcanic, grassland, etc).  How the various types of cactus and other plants survive and protect (or not protect themselves).  The different species of birds.  And best of all the opportunity to go snorkelling.  A lot of snorkelling.


Once we had something to eat, we were back on our little speed boats heading towards a small islands colony of seals.  This would be a real opportunity to get up and close with the animals, one I didn’t expect how close you can actually get up to them.
After an exciting disembarkation we landed on the beach.  There were seals everywhere.  It was incredible.  We were rightly briefed to keep our distance from them so that they don’t get the scent of a human on them, and thus become abandoned by their mothers of families.



















A good hour or two passed simply in awe at these creatures and we were back on board heading to the ship to get refreshed and prepped for snorkelling.
Snorkelling in the Galapagos is like no other no snorkelling I’ve experienced; and I’ve been lucky to have been to some of the most magnificent ocean wildernesses.  With the Galapagos, the wildlife isn’t too afraid to approach you.  They feel safe around you.  Something that they’ve come to terms with over the past hundred or so years.  That’s not to say that they will let you pat them, that’s still a no no.

The days at the Galapagos Islands went very quickly, but were truly mind blowing.  Many of the trips have you in awe at the spectacle of nature, and rather using words describing it - simply check out the pics.
The first two below are two 'same' types of cactus on different islands.  One of them has the usual prickly thorns, whereas the other (due to no predators) evolved to have soft furry hairs instead.

Below you can see the crater of the volcano that formed this amazing island.

Two birds sharing lunch...

And then a hug...

This bird, after diving in the sea, dries off its wings.

The opportunity to get up and close to these animals is incredible.

It's having a baby!  The egg is so coloured to aid in camouflage.

A fight broke out between these two different species of lizard over a piece of cactus.

Machu Picchu - Getting There and Being Amazed!

A UNESCO report I read that awarded the historic sanctuary of Machu Picchu describes this place as 'among the greatest artistic, architectural and land use achievements anywhere'. And delving into the history of the mysterious Incas you can understand why.

The area is the most significant tangible legacy of the Inca civilization though it is unclear why the people built this beautiful place on top of an eroded granite mountain. Theories are abound and include a temple or retreat for the King of the Incas, to a site that interacts with the sun, stars and the landscape.  The latter in fact is the most recent theory, and it is based on an event in the summer solstice where a beam of light from the sun shines through a window on to a specificly laid and carved granite rock.

Standing at 2,430m above sea level, the construction is believed to have been undertaken between two Inca periods; Pachacutec Inca Yupanqui (1438-71) and Tupac Inca Yupanqui (1472-93). What is clear from the construction is that  it is split into four quarters, they are:

- a farmers quarter
- an industrial quarter
- a royal quarter
- and, a religious quarter

The incas even ensured proper irrigation throughout the area; enabled ease of access for works and living by constructing ramps and staircases; and they ensured that the entire construction can withstand the forces of nature (or as UNESCO describes, '[they] sculpted the mountain whose cyclopean constructions appear to be a prolongation of nature'.

Getting to Machu Picchu

Now getting there is actually a little easier than I thought. I had read some fantastic blogs and articles on how others got their tickets - the struggle and the strain - these were a great help to me, but what I'll do is try and keep it simple. So these are the steps:

1. Book a flight to Cusco
2. Book train tickets on Peru Rail website (Cusco to Aguas Calientes)
3. Book your accommodation (for Cusco)
4. Purchase your pass for Machu Picchu (Aguas Calientes or in Cusco)
5. Book a taxi from hotel to the bus & train station (called Wanchaq Station)

That's it. 

For me, what I didn't do at the time was actually book my pass to get onto the site.  Reading those blogs told of the horrors of a limit on the number of tickets being released (only 2,500 per day) - but it turns out there has only been three occurrences when this has happened and they tend to be on the anniversary / major event days. 

So like me, if it's on the day then just go to Aguas Calientes to pick them up - there's an official office there. You can book ahead of time and give yourself some light relief, though at time of writing you can't book via iPad or iPhone - the curse of Apple not liking sites with Flash!

The office for your pass is next to this statue in Aguas Calientes:

Other blogs talk of how you can barter for a guide, but to be honest you don't need one. Do your research on the plane - read those guide books and free articles on the web (Wikipedia,Wikitravel, UNESCO, etc.) and you'll do fine. In fact as we went round we listened to the commentry from other guides - not attempting to be rude, but it's hard not too as there are so many around (you sometimes can't move for all the guide groups!). 

This leads to another issue, this place is very popular. Which is both a good and bad thing. From the positive perspective it allows much needed funding into a heavily underinvested world heritage site. But this investment comes at a cost of a dilapidated area, over resourcing on tourism (buses, guides, construction), which is why it also got another award from UNESCO.  It's on their critical watch list. That's not good. It really is a chicken and egg situation.

I think the area needs considered investment form the peruvian government that would allow sustainability measures and construction be implemented around the site. Whilst not trying to destroy the aesthetics of the area, I believe items such as raised walkways, glass protection screens for some parts (rather than a little rope), and sustainable transport to get you there (rather than the diesel fuelled busses and coaches).
I think with these improvements, those that have not visited before won't 'miss' anything (if you know what I mean). 

Some Final Advice

Being Ginger, (if you haven't guessed already), the sun can creep up on us without warning and cook us quite easily. This happened to me on my trip.  We were really lucky the weather was magnificent. But we also failed to lack sunscreen. So whilst I sit here now, with sunburnt arms, make sure you take sunblock with you.

You can try and sneak some food in too, like we did, though you just have to sneakily eat it (and be sure to take any rubbish with you - even dropped crumbs!). 

Machu Picchu really is an amazing wonder to visit, and it should be on everyone's bucket list!

The Amazon Rainforest - Nature Rocks

The amazing trip through the Amazon rainforest was one exciting adventure after another. Whilst the wildlife doesn't jump out at you or is presented to you like you get at a zoo, it's the adventure in searching from them through the bushes, trees, and in the water.


I want to just summarise some of the things I saw.





Monkeys


On two occasions we witnessed families of monkeys jumping about from tree to tree and having some fun.  The monkeys of course aren't the size of the gorillas, these are much smaller - about the size of a cat, and are apparently the loudest monkeys on the planet - howler monkeys.


Unlike some I certainly did not have the Attenborough skill; some can spot these animals from so far away. Where as I, usually the one with the camera, struggled to spot them and have the time to take a picture.


Birds



The bird below actually has a frog in its mouth. Yummy.















The rainforest is awash with the most magnificent birds. Observing them swooping in to catch prey, or simply chatting to each other is quite majestic. A highlight for us (and the time where we had to sit and wait for two hours) was observing the behaviour of the Parrat Clay lick.





A vast array of these beautiful parrots patrol the skies heading down towards the ground. Their target, a very tiny cave, to pick up food left by monkeys as it's too acidic.  But how do the parrots cope with the acidity. They lick the clay on the surrounding hillside first to coat their mouths. They do this everyday and normally around the same time each morning.





As they start to descend, from tree top to tree top, they gather more and more confidence to go down further. You see there are a lot of predators around that I'm sure knows their schedule too. On about two or three occasions the parrots were spooked by a prod of pray, or a jaguar on the ground. So they all flew off, and started the sequence of descent once again.


A little frustrating, but once their confidence came back and they eventually landed on the ground. The site was remarkable. And the sound; deafining.









Caymen


Is it a bird, is it a plane?  No! It's actually like a crocodile. When our guide Freddie said tonight we are getting on a boat to look for some monkeys and some caymans, I had the binoculars firmly up at the trees. As night fell we brought out our torches, and whilst slowly moving a long in this beautiful lagoon, we were told to point to the banks of the water.





Freddie lit up with excitement as the eyes of the Caymen were reflected back to us from the torch light. We thought, wow that must be a pretty big bird. Though it turned out to be even more cool.


This green crocodile type animal, was resting by the water waiting for it's next prey. They can be quite large animals, though the few that we saw were juveniles. Lucky really, as we got pretty close to them.





Spiders, flies and Mosquitos


I have a very childish fear of spiders. Strange, that whilst living in Australia I should be used to them (the country, in fact my back garden, has some of the most dangerous spiders in the world living there). But for me in the Amazon rainforest I began not to worry about them so much. Perhaps it's mainly because the amount of times I saw spiders running across my arm or running down my trousers I just stopped caring. I simply picked them up and threw them away.














It's interesting too that on the Anakonda! the crew have a good relationship with the spiders.  They'll allow them, only at night to build their webs outside, so long as the crew can brush them away in the morning before the guests get up. This deal works so well as, I kid you not, the moment the sun disappears from the horizon, a whole army of them just appear on the deck, hurryingly building their webs to capture those deadly Mosquitos and flies. Genius really.






For the flies and Mosquitos, during our trip looking for Caymen, our torches attracted every single fly within about 10km radius. There was actually a wall of flies. I think I ate about a kilogram of them. It was crazy, and I've never experienced anything like it. At the sometime however it's quite remarkable too. And again you quickly get used to it.




Pink Dolphins


We were really lucky to have been able to spot some pink dolphins whilst slowly canoeing down a river in the Peruvian part of the Amazon (our Amazon trip started in Ecuador). These solitary animals glide through the river searching for food. They don't appear to behave like you'd expect from a dolphin, in that they're not playful, jumping in and out of the water.


The term pink dolphins actually is misdescription. They aren't normally pink. The turn pink when they are stressed or frightened. I have the same effect in the sun (but perhaps that's more red than pink).


To capture these dolphins was pretty difficult as it was occasionally appearing and disappearing for air, thus making it tricky to capture its face. The picture I took is pretty poor, but surprisingly this is actually best of a number of shots i took (looking at it, it could be anything, but we did actually see it's face).






The Weird and Wonderful


There were a huge number of other animals, insects and plants that I want to share in some photos. Many of which I don't know the name of (I welcome suggestions).  What I hope the pictures show is that there is such a diverse amount of species in the Amazon that you should go and explore it yourself. For me a week is not long enough, I merely scratched the surface. I left the Amazon with a greater respect for our planet, about its fragility and how the Amazon is nature at its finest. Nature rocks!


















Hunting for more plants:




The plant below is called a Giant Ginger!

The Amazon Rainforest - Night Time Walk

I suited up in trousers, boots and a long sleeved shirt; drowned myself in deet and headed off with my torch into the rainforest at night time.


The rainforest is a different world at night. It's when most of the insects and small creatures come out to hunt. For us, we saw a few interesting sights, and much to my fears we saw a lot of spiders - some were very big.





Though the awe of these creatures outweighed my fears. Their intricate webs and lightning fast reflexes make them a fascinating watch. That night they were the ones at the top of the food chain.


Turning our torches off, we just stood there for a few minutes. Listening to the rainforest talk. The constant noises of crickets, some birds, and the breaking of branches by monkeys as the move from tree to tree, created excitement and fear. For me any moment a giant 30cm spider could be webbing its way down to my face.








It was magnificent though, and genuinely i felt vary safe. The creatures are more in fear of you than you are of it. They will respect you and keep away from you, as you should do of them (a secret handshake between you and nature). But, annoy not them, and they have every right to lump some deadly toxins into your bloodstream so you collapse and become ant food. Fair enough I say.