Entries Tagged 'travel' ↓

Everybody loves Flying. Ok, maybe not, but everybody does it. Here’s a few tips on getting the most bang for your buck:

• kayak.com - AWESOME. Use this first when figuring out flights (better than expedia, travelocity, etc). Kayak knows all the flights and airfares and lets you sort them based on what time you want to depart, what airports you like, leave a day before/after for cheaper, show only nonstop, show all ones that match this departure flight (for roundtrip), etc. In fall of 2007 they merged with sidestep, the only site that was as good as them.
  NOTE: as of 2008 July, Kayak does NOT show flights from Southwest, Skybus, Allegiant, USA3000 (src). Kayak also not great at international - just great at USA domestic.
• International: Mobissimo (favorite after kayak, international, includes vayama), Lessno (europe, some asia), wegolo (europe, some asia), AirNinja (covers smaller airlines, usa and international, best at europe), Attitude Travel (international, latest lo-cost)
• Big Trip? airinfo.travel and flyertalk - read these if you do lots of traveling, or international flights. Helps you find a good travel agent, explains things behind the scenes, etc. OAG also shows you which airlines fly between specific airports. boots-n-all has good round-the-world info. Travel Agents: STA (USA, Europe, International), also consult local travel agencies - World Travelers Club in SF
• cheapest flights, don’t care when? try priceline and airfarewatchdog
• Other tips
  • Get a airline credit card, so you can earn frequent flyer miles when you buy stuff
  • If you have one, american express sometimes has great deals.

But with rising gas prices, airlines are changing the rules, and adding fees like $15 to check your bag. See latest airline fees on kayak.

src1, src2,

Just got back from 10 days in Jamaica. It was a real vacation, time spent away from my life with old and new friends, warm weather, fun, and a slightly different culture. We spent most of our time in a resort in Negril, on the west side, a bit secluded from the real Jamaica, but still met a few locals and ate a ton of Jerk Chicken.

The trip was 12th in a series of Midsummer gatherings by a large group of friends. It was my first, Shayna’s second, and going into it I knew about a third of the 40 or so people that were part of the group. They rented out Xtabi for an entire week, which included lodging and 2 meals a day. We had to buy our own drinks, usually a dirty banana from the bar, but mostly red stripes (second day we bought 12 cases from the store).

The coolest part about the trip (besides the amazing people who attend) are the Midsummer Rituals throughout the week. The first is the night of fire - each person writes down a fear or something they want to get rid of, optionally reads it to the group, then burns it in the fire. The second event is the Masquerade, which involves lots of costumes and fun. Then comes the Feast, which includes a giant delicious meal where each person holds a super-sized goblet and toasts a success or trait they admire in themselves or others. Then there’s kickball with beer - this year the teams were jamaica inspired - Rum vs. Weed (which would you pick?). Lastly, there’s Baccanal which is the grand party at the end.  Oh, and this year midsummer started off with a wedding - Big Up to Saleem and Lorraine!

Besides the rituals, we also did alot of swimming in the ocean, chilling at the beach, jumping off cliffs, and an amazing trip up Mayfield Falls. Sadly I got no pics of the falls, but it could be my favorite adventure. It involved swimming in refreshingly cool water, adventuring over rocks, and waterfall massages. And the food was much better than expected - best chicken, breads, and french fries ever. Seriously - I think they fry their potatos and pig fat - nothing else could make them taste so good. And the bread - plantain fritters were my fav - mostly batter, lightly fried, a tiny bit sweet .. soo good. And what can i say about the jerk chicken? Duh-lish-us. Kyle actually got a local dude to deliver chickens - $80 for 4 half chickens plus a sensi bonus. If you’re ever in Negril, make sure you check out Best of the West (super small, but tastee).

Every Ting Irie, Mon.

I’ve been wanting to do a Backpacking trip by myself for some time. And after Otto’s Passing, I really needed it. I wanted to do 3-5 days, enough time to get out there, let the dust settle in my brain so i had time to think, reflect, or just relax. I also needed some good exercise, different than my constant running. So off I went …

On Tuesday, June 3, I packed up, voted, then left San Francisco for the Sierra Nevada Mountains. At first I wasn’t sure where to go .. I considered Yosemite, Tahoe, .. but went for Kings Canyon. I did a day hike there in 2006, as well as a Backpacking trip near there at Jennie Wilderness with Juan and Damian in 200x, so i knew what to expect. I got there a few hours before sunset, enough time to eat, setup camp, and walk around a bit before bed.

Wednesday I got early and went to the Lodge to find trail info from some backpacking books. I took a few pics of some good hikes, then went to Roads End to get my wilderness permit. The rangers warned that there was still lots of snow .. mostly above 9,000 feet. I considered doing Paradise Valley (start of Rae Lakes Loop), but ended up picking Bubbs Creek to Junction Meadow, with a day hike option to East Lake or Charlotte Lake.

I started hiking around 10:30am Wednesday at Roads End (Elevation 5085 ft). It was 2 miles through the valley floor to my first Junction, then I crossed Bailey Bridge up Bubbs Creek, hitting switchbacks out of the valley to Sphinx Creek Campsite (6280 ft), my first rest, about 4 miles in. As soon as I took my backpack off, I brilliantly twisted my ankle. I hurt like hell at first, but turned out mostly OK .. wasn’t able to use it fully for over a week. After water refill and a snack, i continued on to Charlotte Creek. It was 4pm when I stopped, and my GPS watch said i hiked over 7 miles. I wasn’t sure if i had 3 or 5 miles more till Junction meadow (depending on if you trust books, maps, or trail signs), so I decided to camp, since 5 miles more would be too much. I setup tent, got water, cooked dinner - delicious spicy chicken with rice and vegies, and appreciated clean air and sunset. I was wiped out, and was in bed asleep around 9pm.

Thursday I woke up 6ish, got out of the tent at 7am, packed and hit the trail by 8. Charlotte Creek (7280 ft) was overflowing, and I had to crawl over wet slippery logs to cross .. my first semi-dangerous adventure. I made it to Junction meadow (8190 ft) around 10am .. so it wasn’t that far after all (about 3 miles according to GPS watch). I decided to setup camp, have brunch, and do a day hike. After some tasty oatmeal, orange and banana, I hit the trail by noon. The rangers warned that bubbs creek would be too high to cross to east lake, but i ran into another hiker (first person I met on the trail) who just came from there - he spent the night on top of snow at Lake Reflection, a few miles past east lake. On his suggestion, i went to east lake instead of Charlotte Lake - mainly cuz it was closer and I’d like to spend some time swimming and exploring the lake. Bubbs creek was super high and I ended up crossing water 4 times, mostly over fallen trees, but the last crossing involved some jumping and getting my feet wet. I ringed out my socks, put my boots back on and kept on. I climbed out of the junction valley up east creek to the most beautiful views (video). I made it to East lake (9475 ft) around 2:30, swam, ate, and sunbathed till 4pm. Happy and fully rested, I hiked back down, getting back to camp by 5:30 (crossing the rivers again without falling in this time). I could feel the elevation but felt great after the afternoon at the lake. My stove wasn’t working, so i got a fire going and boiled water for my beef stronganoff (not as good as the spicy chicken). After eating I basically played with fire till after dark, and was asleep by 10pm. There were 3 other groups at junction meadow, from 2-4 peeps each.

Friday i didn’t get out of the tent till 8ish, had a leisure breakfast and wrote in my journal till 11. I then busted out of there, thinking i had to return my bear cannister before the ranger station closed at 3pm. It took me about 3.5 hours to hike out, arrived at 3:10pm - rangers were gone but they had a drop-off for the bear cannister. I was beat. I took off my boots and it was awesome - they were still pretty new and rubbing me raw in weird places. I grabbed a beer at the lodge and hit the road back to SF around 4pm. I stopped at In-N-Out and had the most delicious burger and fries ever. I made it home by 9, and went out to Amnesia for some brasstax action. Yay.

In Summary, I hiked about 30 miles over 3 days with about 4,400 feet elevation gain. You can check out my hike info from GPS Watch (it shows just the going up part, batteries ran out at east lake). Also view the
Google map of the hike. At some point I want to do Rae Lakes Loop Hike, a 4-7 day trip. It is supposed to be so Amazing, one of the best in the Sierras. Here’s a sample itinerary.

Last of my big trips for the year - Burningman. My ninth time going, always glad i went. This year’s favs include the dust storm thursday, my boy pete hudson’s monkey-snake thing (read wired, mercury news, grist.org), the big rig, and the oil rig tower (hello? coolest fire EVER). Oh, and the glowing ping pong balls - best visuals ever. And how could i forget our very own monkey island art car. Good times, good times. Check out my flickr pics and the youtube videos.

I’m finally getting in gear for this year’s Burningman. This will be my 9th year going. Yeah, i’m old, and nine times may seem like alot, but each year is different at burningman and for me (where i am in my life). Why do i keep going? why don’t i get burned out? Well, i see burningman as life - you get out of it what you put into it. You don’t have to party or drink or build large things that take all your time. You just have to participate. You do have to abandon some comforts of home, but you get more creativity and freedom in a larger context. I like that alot.

This year i’m going small again, minimal planning, small camp of friends tied together by the Monkey Island Art Car - brainchild of Sir Checkoway (and chef ben as the workhorse). The island is a ford taurus station wagon with the back chopped off, wood platform for the island, rocks, green plants, a generator, dj setup, and tastee beats. Right up my alley, and i’m lucky to have close friends that let me join in at the last minute. Sadly, i’m not staying with the brasstax bunnies - they’re way over at 3 o’clock and we’ll be at 9 o’clock area.

I’ve only been back in SF for about 2 weeks, so i’m still getting my feet wet in this year’s theme - the Green Man - but its right up my alley. Mainly cuz i’m looking into doing a Green MBA - environmentally and socially aware business - but i admit i’m still just looking.  But if you know me at all, you know i love nature - especially hiking in mountains.  I read that the man will be on a green mountain peak this year.  Can’t wait to climb that mtn !!

I also put together a list of DJ lineups at Burningman 2007. This will be updated till i leave on Monday. Enjoy.

I made it back home to San Francisco, California, U, S, and A. Hurray. My Round-The-World trip for 2007 is over. I’m glad to be home, the last few weeks i was ready - i missed my friends and miss shayna. But i loved my trip. I saw things i’ve never seen before, i had experiences that will last a lifetime, and learned a few things about myself as well. What more could you want?

First, lemme recount my adventures a bit. I’ll be brief - feel free to check out my itinerary for details of everywhere i went. Last entries were for India - i spent over 3 weeks there, mostly in the mountains doing my trek. After the trek, i headed to Srinagar, Kashmir despite warnings by lonely planet. Up till this year, the was much fighting, but now its cool - i saw a ton of army dudes hanging around. I ended up on a houseboat instead of a hotel/hostel/guesthouse, which was cool in concept, but lame in reality - family turned out to be very dodgy on details like how far it was to town, how much things cost, and always trying to make me buy something. Pissed me off - at this point of my trip i had enough of people pretending to be friendly or honest, and then end up being dishonest and only out to get you to buy something. But i did see some beautiful lakes, mountains, and gardens, and i loved that. Then i flew to Delhi, hung out there and did a day trip to Agra - home of the Taj Mahal. Wow. I decided that was the thing i liked the most from my trip. The architecture was amazing - the white marble stone, the simplicity, the grandeur, the way it impressed me from all angles, the gardens around it. And altho crowded, the people didn’t bother me like they did at Angkor Wat, Cambodia. The heat really got to me at Angkor Wat.

After India, i flew to London for one night, then to Zurich, Switzerland - home of Stephanie Hannon. I mainly wanted to just visit Steph and chill for a few days, but i ended up really loving Switzerland. Expensive, yes, but soo beautiful - I was there 4 days, one day we went to Luzern, another day i went hiking by myself to Speer - and it was amazing. Steph took me to some fancy bars and restaurants, as well as introduced me to some of her friends and coworkers. What a good host. Switzerland - It really is a land out of a fairy tale.

From Switzerland i did one more night in London before heading to New York. Lindsey Bauer was kind enough to let me crash at her place in London, and i even joined them for an impressive cirque-de-solei type show done bye nofitstate circus. Once i got to NYC, i stayed with another friend, Suzi Palmer. The western world is too expensive for me to NOT stay with friends, ya know? Greenhouse was, of course, a great host as well. She has cool friends, a happy dog, sadie, and ever rusty cat. What a great family. I also made it to Hoboken to visit Mike, Zuad, and their 2-month old boy. I’ve never seen a house so clean.  And then monday i had John’s pizza.  SOooooo Gooood.  As Jack Black says, “You can’t even order a slice.  They make you order a whole pie.  But that’s fine with me.  I wouldn’t want to eat just one slice.” NY was nice - good to do some serious chilling out before heading home.

Thats it for now - expect a RTW summary some time soon - best and worst and weirdest . . something like that. Now i’m just happy to be home - to have to go through 12,000 pieces of mail, fix my broken laptop, get new ipod, and try to figure out my life ..

cheers - chad

Updated 7/2008 with my pics. orig pic

I already mentioned getting my trek on in India - well, I survived the 10 days. But my laptop didn’t, and my iPod ran away. More importantly, I saw amazing mountain peaks and valleys, powerful rivers, crystal clear streams, horses, sheep, yaks, and donkeys, locals, other trekkers, villages and gompas (monastaries). But mostly i stared at rocks at my feet as i hiked 4 to 8 hours a day for 10 days. The exercise, fresh air, and beautiful scenery made this one of my favorite parts of my Round the world trip.

I hiked with 7 others - 4 others who payed, and 3 who got paid. The 4 other trekkers were all from Switzerland - 2 Swiss German, Amir and Patrick, and two Swiss French, Sam and Jo (the only girl). They met each other on the bus to Leh and organized this trip. I just happen to find a sign that said they were looking for more peeps and joined just 2 days before we left. The 3 who got paid were 2 guides and a ponyman. The ponyman is a local dude who carries the stuff - ours had 2 horses and 4 ponies. His english was practically non-existant, but his spirit was great. The 2 guides, Rigzen and Thinles, were from Leh and were quite entertaining. Rigzen was the main guide, young and smart, a bit more reserved than Thinles, and hiked with us every day. Thinles (pronounced tin-less) was his friend and assistant, mostly hiking with the ponyman. Both could speak Ladakhi (local language), Hindi (india national language) and English. Thinles’s english was barely passable, but always entertaining. “Today is much problem, you know?” or just “today is .. you know, by god”. At night they cooked us amazing dishes like .. rice, soup, and vegies (’amazing’ said in my sarcastic voice). Actually, except for the lack of protein, food was OK - just kinda boring and flavorless. But when you hike and burn so much calories, food cannot taste bad, and i was always thankful to have plenty to eat for dinner.

The route was from Lamayuru to Padum - from north to south, starting in Ladakh region and ending in Zanskar. It is commonly called the Zanskar trek, although there are other routes going thru Zanskar. Total distance was 136km (85 miles), with much elevation gain and loss - 8 passes total. It takes 5 to 10 days (well, locals do it in 5, most tourists do it in 8-10). We technically hiked it in 9 days, since the first day was a wash waiting for the ponyman to show up. Stupid late ponyman. We left Leh on July 4 and arrived in Padum on July 13. The route we took is the same as the one discussed in the previously mentioned book, “Trekking in Ladakh“, pages 197, 269-245. I got most of details from there. I even plotted the places we stayed on google earth. View my hike on google maps. (not as cool as this guy’s google earth video from nepal).

I chose this route cuz it was supposed to be more challenging - a bit longer than most, with alot more elevation gain and loss. Over half the people who come to region do the markha valley, a 5-8 day trek right by Leh. I had the time so i wanted to do something a bit longer and more remote. There are only a handful of options, and this one was sold to me as having more dramatic moutains, amazing river valleys, ancient gompas, and varied geological terrain. I found it to be true, for the most part. The beginning and end were less physically demanding than the middle days. After a blister popped and got infected on the 8th day, i was glad to only have to limp 4 hours a day instead of 8. And yes, it really sux to have an infected toe while traveling.

One thing that surprised me was how brown the mountains were. Hardly any dirt, just rocks - various rock colors - purple, red, yellow, aqua/green, white, black, etc, but mostly brown. I was also surprised to find so many “tea houses” along the trail. A tea house is often a tiny stone house where people stop to have … tea. (never would have guessed, that, would ya?) mostly chai, a tea with milk, sugar, and a few spices. In fact, every night except once we had a tea house. They also had ramen noodles, potato chips, and a few other snacks. A few times they even had beer - a delishous treat after a long day’s hike, even when it was warm. Other interesting things included waking up next to donkeys, horses, yaks, and goats, and seeing a local festival in Karsha on the last day. That was quite cool - hundreds of people came dressed in their best, very colorful, regional clothing to the biggest Gompa in Zanskar.

The worst time on the trek was on the fifth day - the day it snowed. It was the only time in my 6 months where i was seriously asking myself, “what the hell am i doing here?”. It started with an overcast morning, warm as always, but with chance of rain i put on my “waterproof” pants and packed a jacket. As we head out, light rain started, and within a couple hours, as we were close to going over Sengi La (the highest pass on the trek, around 5,000 meters, 16,400 ft) the rain had turned to snow. At this point i my legs were soaked (don’t buy “waterproof” pants in India) as was the rest of my body. But my blood was pumping and I did not feel too cold. The snow got worse, and everybody ducked into a tea house just north of the pass. Weather was too bad to cross the pass, the locals said, so we had to wait for our ponyman to show up with the stuff so we could setup camp. We were there for about 3-4 hours, and i was uncontrollably shivering the whole time - except for a short period where an extra stove was placed near us to warm us up. That was heaven. Besides the 6 of us, there was a team from poland, about 14 peeps, another team from america, about 8, and a few guides or locals. It was cold, but it was worse being soaking wet, not moving, and nothing to do in a small tea house tent. At least i was not alone, and i knew it would end. Eventually it did, i put on my warm fleece and setup tents. Luckily, the snow stopped, and before night the sun came out again. The next day we made it over Sengi La and I celebrated by riding a donkey. Hurray.

My favorite part was just being in the mountains. I’ve always liked hiking and camping, but this last 6 months i could not get enough nature and mountains. And this trek had some of the coolest mountains i’ve ever seen. We would climb 3,000 feet in elevation, from a small valley up to a pass with stunning views of green grass river valleys and snow capped peaks in the distance - almost daily. I love seeing a huge mountain, slowly going up, looking around and noticing how perspective changes. I see things more accurately from above, often seeing things i didn’t even know existed. Very inspirational - i feel like i can do anything when i’m in this environment.

Even though i loved my hike and would recommend trekking in Ladakh to all backpackers, i’m not sure i’d go back. If i do, it will be after i do nepal and tibet. I’ve got my eye on the popular Annupurna circuit in Nepal. I also have to check out Turkey, Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia .. Cuba and Mexico.

This one is just a quick update - I made it out of India, thru London to Stephanie’s couch here in Zurich. Hurray. Sadly my laptop died in India, lost my iPod, and my bags got stuck in London.

Switzerland is the land of clean and pure, where everything is so well designed it makes me smile. Who cares if i’ve spent more money on food, drink, and transportation in the last 2 days than i have the last month in India. I got 4 days here to rest and catch up on email and blogs.

Next weekend I’m in NYC then home in SF July 31 !!!! Yeah!!!

It’s settled - Tomorrow i leave for a 10 day trek from Lamayuru to Padum - the Zanskar Trek. It’s supposed to be one of the most scenic treks in the region, views of mountains, river gorges, gompas (monasteries) and remote villages. I’m going with a group organized by Nature Explore, headed by S. Rabsang(Rabzang). We got guides, cooks, 6 or 7 ponymen, and 4 other paying trekkers like me, all from Switzerland. I’m siked. It turned out to be the cheapest around - $25/day per person. Other places were like $35, $50, and some up to $80/day. It took several days to sort this out - I did my homework and read Lonely Planet’s “Trekking in the Indian Himalaya” and Charlie Loram’s “Trekking in Ladakh” books. I talked to many travel agencies (Ladakh Ecological Footprint, Little Tibet, Wild East Adventure, Yak Tours ..) and had several options, but in the end it came down to this route and these dates worked best for me. Its amazing how much work it took to sort this out. There has to be over a hundred travel agencies in Leh, maybe 20-30 do shared group tours, but they don’t appear to coordinate with each other. You just have to go to each one, or goto popular spots in town where people post signs say “looking for peeps to join this trek on these dates”. I guess i’m just spoiled by things like craigslist and tribe.

Lemme tell you a bit more about the area. I flew from Delhi to Leh, the main town in Ladakh. Ladakh is the region in northernmost India, between China and Pakistan, and separated from the rest of India by the Great Himalayan range. Now part of the Jammu/Kashmir State in Northwest India, Ladakh used to be an autonomous kingdom for 9 centuries. It’s unlike the rest of India, Culturally and geographically it is very similar to Tibet. Ladakhi buddhist monastaries are similar to Tibet, the people are similar, and since the 1950s it has been the home of many tibetans fleeing Chinese rule. I really love the buddhists - they are very compassionate, truly wanting to help and not harm others, and have simple but reasonable ways of viewing life. I could go on, but that’s for another post. Ladakh gets little precipitation throughout the year, making it dry but good for trekking - don’t have to worry about rains messing up your hiking plans.

So wish me luck. Not sure if i’ll be back online before I leave India on the 20th.

Hooray!! I made it to the India Subcontinent, and it already feels different. I was in SE Asia for over 3 months, and altho countries vary alot, the jump to India is my biggest jump since i left Australia.

I love India. My love is driven by the food - the tons of spices, curries, vegetables, naan, regional differences - all good quality. Its like a billion people live here, and all they think about is food. Heaven. But i also like (and dislike) the people. Communication is easier, I appreciate their businesslike manner - except when it becomes impolite. I love the colorful clothes, jewelry, and henna. Oh, did i mention the food?

Leh is great. Totally different than SE Asia. It’s basically a cool, dry, desert-like town in the Himalayas. Hardly anything green, brown rocks and dirt everywhere, snow-capped mountain peaks in the distance, and a small but bustling town center. I’ve only been here a day, but i’ve walked thru most of the town. Like many small towns, the people in Leh are more friendly than delhi and other places i’ve been in India, and hardly any beggars (big problem in some parts of India). But this is also a tourist town - a jump off point for treks in the region. The most amazing thing about Leh is … the air. I’ve been walking around with a buzz (good) and a headache (not good). There’s zero polution and little oxygen up here - It’s 11,500 feet, over 2 miles high. This makes the sky super blue, and the mountains miles away seem like they are right in front of you.

My plan is to take it easy, get used to the air - I wrote most of this blog yesterday when i first arrived and i felt almost sick - i barely slept in 2 days. Today i feel better, so perhaps try to find info on some treks. There are dozens of places leading treks, signs posted in restaurants describing where, when, and how many peeps they are looking for. There are several internet places, but connections are slow, so don’t expect many pictures for a while.

One last note - At the bangkok airport i bought this book “The Story of Tibet” by Thomas Laird. Its a history of Tibet thru the Dalai Lama’s eyes, based on 18 conversations Laird had with him. So far its excellent - good intro to Buddhism, Dalai Lama, TIbetan people and history. Might have to write more on this when i finish.