Redirected in Kyrgyzstan

Sometimes life takes us down unforseen paths.

Early morning reflections in Song Kol Lake, 3016m above sea level at the physical and spiritual heart of Kyrgyzstan.

One of my favourite things about travel is that it teaches you to take advantage of exploring these new routes and opportunities whenever possible.

Snow surrounds a traditional kyrgyz yurt on the final weekend of summer pasture season up at Song Kol.

Case in point: I originally meant to come to Kyrgyzstan, stay for a year, explore the region, then move on to the next place, much as I had with Korea and South America.

Heading up the 3180m Too Ashuu Pass.

Instead, here I am, three years later, planning to stay for a fourth! I guess we just can't help the places we fall in love with!

A traditional Kyrgyz horseman in Toktogul.

Fourtunately, in addition to getting to explore this phenomenally stunning, frequently breathtaking (altitude will do that to you), wonderously generous and uniquely welcoming country, I have also had the opportunity to continue travelling for approximately three to four months of every year.

The Walnut groves of Arslanbob/Arstanbap. The largest walnut groves on earth, this ethnically Uzbek region in the south of Kyrgyzstan was once visited by Alexander the Great.

Updates, however, are a thing I have not had an opportunity to continue with. Unfortunately, working only eight to nine months a year (and trying to explore the country around that) has meant that my schedule when based in one place tends to be insanely intensive - and writing intensive at that.

Traditional Islamic plasterwork near the 11th century Karakhanid mausoleum-complex at Uzgen. 

This means that, as much as I'd love to have it drop by, the desire to write is a very rare visitor during my already limitted spare time.

The breathtaking turquise of Kel Suu, 3500m asl. Arguably Kyrzgyzstan's most incredible lake.

That having been said, the desire to share my travels is still very much alive! Since posting photos takes significantly less time, I've decided to compromise and continue my updates via instagram. I am currently trying to work through my backlog of five years worth of travel photos, but posts are going up!

Eolian rock formations in the fantastically eroded Boom Gorge.

So, moral of the story? 

Ally is still travelling (would she even continue to exist if she stopped?). 

Check out her instagram at AllyAtWorld to follow her travels there. 

The beautiful blue of lake Sary Chelek in Kyrgyzstan's Sary Chelek nature reserve.

See you all around the globe!

A Toronto Gem: The Scarborough Bluffs

It always shocks me how tourists often seem to know so much more about what there is to see and do in a city they're visiting than the locals do. Maybe it's that locals miss out on reading the guidebooks, or maybe it's just that we get so caught up in our day-to-day lives and the mystique of travel that we forget to stop every once in a while and appreciate what's around us. In Toronto especially, I think we also get tripped up by the fact that the rest of our great country has such stunning landscape on offer (particularly in the west) and assume that anything we could have must pale in comparison. While we don't have any Rocky Mountains here, that doesn't mean our landscape isn't just as stunning (we are, after all, home to the Niagara Falls).

One of the estuarine inlets at the base of the bluffs. They'll full of fish, frogs and other life forms.

Proof that some good things do, indeed, come from Scarborough, perhaps one of my favourite oft-missed spots in the city are the Scarborough Bluffs - a 15km long escarpment running along the northern coast of Lake Ontario that reaches up 90m (or 25 stories) at it's highest point. Wonderful to visit in any season (though the beach can get quite crowded in the summer), I recently had the chance to explore them again with a friend who was visiting from Scotland in early September.  

A view of the bluffs from the beach.

The views of the bluffs are just stunning - but no more so than is suggested by its history. The bluffs are what remain of the eroded shoreline of Glacial Lake Iroquois, which covered an enlarged area of Lake Ontario and sat at the base of a large northern ice sheet during the last ice age (approximately 13,000 years ago). Surprisingly, the bluffs actually represent the last remaining geological record of this period in North America, making them incredibly important geologically. Unfortunately, due to their sandy nature, the bluffs are eroding fast - at a rate of about one meter per year. This isn't all bad though, one of Toronto's major attractions, the Toronto Islands, were actually formed by erosional deposits from the bluffs that were swept westward into the lake during a large storm in 1858! 

Looking out toward Lake Ontario. We were lucky enough to be there when it was warm.

There are a number of places from which you can enjoy the Bluffs, but two of my favourite (and two of the most easily accessible) are Bluffers Park at the base of Brimley Road and the Scarborough Bluffs Park above it east of Midland Avenue. Parking at Bluffers is free Monday-Friday before 5pm. To get there using public transit, take the number 12 or 12B Kingston Road bus to Brimley and then walk the 2km (10mins) south to the park. Just remember that the route in heads down, so you'll have quite the uphill on the walk back - it's definitely worth it though!

Volcanoes in the Snow - Hiking Hallasan

Truth be told, while I was eager to enjoy the other delights the Island has to offer, my primarily reason for visiting Jeju (and that of my companions as well) was to hike Hallasan (한라산) and complete the Korean hiking triumvirate of Jiri, Sorak & Halla.

Looking toward the peak from the Sara Crater detour.

Although Hallasan, at 1950m, is the tallest of Korea's three major mountains - and, indeed, of all of Korea's mountains - I would say that it offers the easiest hike for it's size.

My companions en route - these two are off to Nepal next - sooo jealous!

Quite possibly the best sign ever. We found this one on our route down.

Hallasan is home to a number of trails, only two of which reach all the way to the top. The 9.6km Seongpanak (성판악) route on the eastern side of the mountain, winds it's way mostly through the trees, providing a nice, gentle ascent. The 8.7km Gwaneumsa (관음사) route on the northern side by contrast, is a stunning but narrow trail with a great many stairs and a number of ups and downs. Knowing this, we chose to take the gentler route up and the harder route down. This proved to be a wise decision as most of the Koreans who went all the way to the top, also chose this route. 

Walking through trees on the Seongpanak ascent.

Our route choice proved to be a good one for another reason as well. About halfway up the Seongpanak route there is a 45minute detour to Sara Crater Lake (사라 오름-Sara Oreum) and a lookout point. Although the clouds mostly obscured the view from the lookout point, the crater and it's frozen lake made quite a pretty sight. 

the boardwalk lining Sara Oreum

Overall, the hike was absolutely gorgeous - possibly made even more so by the snow. We were also lucky in that we had a gorgeous clear day (above the cloud line that was) and not too much of the blustery wind that Jeju is so famous for. It should be noted that if you are planning to hike it in winter, cramp-ons are an absolute necessity (particularly on the way down). We picked ours up at the Seongpanak park entrance for about 10,000won ($10US). Nicer, more expensive ones were also available.

Windswept snow at the top.

More proof of Jeju's strong winds. This is on the northern side.

A further note for any planning to hike to the top - there are checkpoints on the mountain that you must pass by a certain time in order to be allowed to continue. A time sheet (along with route info) can be found here. We started off from the base at around 8:30 and had no trouble reaching the upward checkpoint by noon, even with our detour. The full round trip (with some rest time at the top and one of the shelters further down) took us until about 5pm at a moderate pace.

Up at the top.

Not what you expect from the peak of a volcano!

Having a Blast in Beijing

As Beijing provides one of the only ports of entry into North Korea, the city was initially labeled in my mind as a 'necessary stop-over' on my North Korean holiday (bet that was a sentence no one ever expected to read!). As I had a few extra days on either end of my trip and other friends who would also be passing through Beijing around the same time (and, who were actually planning to visit it) as well as a friend from highschool who was living there, I decided that maybe I should take five days to look around and explore.

Best decision I could have made. I ended up loving Beijing, when at best I'd assumed I'd just like it immensely. Perhaps I should explain, I had nothing against going to Beijing, in fact, I knew for certain that I wanted to go at some point. I also knew, however, that I would likely end up spending quite a bit of time there on later travels and did not wish to over-see it. Looks like that one's not an issue! 5 days was no where near enough! Oh, don't get me wrong, there are bad sides, the massive crowds, the pollution (which fortunately was not too bad while we were there), the summer humidity (also no where near as bad as usual) and the fact that most people just push and shove their way around you. But I just ended up loving the grittiness of it. The multi-layered history, shiny modernity and grimy-underbellied-ness of it. I also loved the contrasts between it and Seoul. People have often told me that Seoul is just a dirtier version of the major Japanese cities (not having been to Japan, I wouldn't know). If that's the case, then Beijing is their much much dirtier (I'm thinking just rolled around in the mud and then jumped in a sand pit-dirty) cousin. But it's also so much more than that. And it's not that it's 'dirtier' per se, it's more that you can feel the accumulated weight of centuries living side by side with you in an enclosed space. Or maybe it's just that, as the older narrower parts of the city act as both tourist attractions and residential areas, it's impossible to have that wide-boulevard shiny-clean feeling everywhere - well, except for where they've torn the old traditional residential hutongs down and put in glossy new purely retail ones. Thankfully they've stopped doing that due to public outcries. And it's definitely better that way, it's that closed in sense of breathing in life the way it's lived that makes Beijing so special - and I wouldn't have liked it nearly so much with out it. Then again, after living in conservative Korean society, it could also just have been the nonchalance of all the old men sitting out in the summer heat with their shirts rolled up to their armpits and their beer bellies exposed that attracted me to the city - but somehow I don't think that was the case :P.

A walk - Qianmen to Donghuamen

 I just loved this guy. The old hutong area near my hostel (located to the west of the
touristified Qianmen hutong area)

Your pick of communist paraphernalia

Bordering Tienanmen Square on the south side, this is Qianmen (literally 'front gate') or, more properly, Zhengyangmen. It was built in 1419 during the Ming dynasty and from then onward formed the southern entrance to the inner city (and therefore acted as the guardian of the entrance to the imperial city). It was, and still is, the tallest of the gatehouses and was the gate through which major processions passed. While the walls no longer stand, passing through security at the subway Qianmen station in order to cross the road and enter Tiananmen makes it feel as though they still do!

Monument to the People's Heroes, Tiananmen Square

The Beijing National Museum (a must do when I return)

Awaiting the changing of the guard (sadly not as impressive as one might expect)  while looking toward Tiananmen (that's the name of the main gate into the imperial city, built in 1415) and a portrait of Mao

Tiananmen

The delicacies on offer on Donghuamen Market Street (yes, those are incredibly tiny sharks you can see there!)

And moving a little further down the line, we come to...

We weren't entirely sure what gave these particular centipedes their 'diet' designation 

Snake! I wanted to try, but was sadly too full from dinner. Ah well, next time! 

These I did not want to try. We later came across a vendor skewering them alive 

My friends, it would seem, had no such reservations... I blame this on the fact that they're South African *insert sage nodding here* 

Mmm, delicious!
No, really. They assured me that they were not at all bad, much tastier than silk worn larvae (hard not to be) apparently. 

Maybe it's just me... but don't you think they look a little too crunchy to be appetizing?

Tiananmen by night.

A stream of kites - you see these sold everywhere in the evenings.

The Great Wall!
Made from a series of walls, ditches and other types of defensive fortifications, the Great Wall was built in various stages and phases, always with an eye toward protecting China's northern flank from invaders. While it fell into occasional disuse when invaders occasionally over whelmed the wall and took power, it's construction spanned millennia, beginning in the 7th century BC and continuing (sporadically) up to the early 17th century AD.

(A brief note here: It was amazing! I want to go back! Heck, I wanted to stay and just keep trekking it forever! We got lucky and our hostel was offering tours to a not-quite-yet-open portion of the wall near the Shixia Pass. It was both stunning and thankfully void of the massive amounts of tourists that we could see en route swarming the battlements at Badaling. Even nicer, however, was the fact that after some trekking, we made it passed the soon-to-be-open reconstructed portion of the wall and onto the unreconstructed portion. It was both great to see and loads of fun to hike!)

Climbing the Great Wall. 

Yup, climbing.

Looking out the guard tower at the view of the ancient Mongol side.

Sorry, there are going to be a lot of these - it was just so breathtaking!

Those are trees, not grass, brushing the walls.

Starting to get rougher.

The white bit in the top left shows you how far we've come.
So gorgeous. One day, I'm going to hike the whole route... or try to anyhow.

Not tired enough from our activities, we decided to walk to and climb the hill in Jingshan Park for a view of the sunset over the Forbidden City

A view of the top. Jingshan park lies directly north of the Forbidden City and used to be an imperial garden. It's is now a public park most notable for it wonderful views, dinosaur collection (seriously) and as the location of the suicide of Emperor Chongzhen (the last of the Ming Dynasty emperors) upon hearing that the wall had been breached in 1644. Rather impressively, the hill was constructed during the Ming dynasty for Feng Shui purposes and as a repository for all of the soil excavated during the building of the moat around the imperial palace. 

Looking westward.

Looking northward

Looking eastward toward the shiny new business district of Beijing 

And, finally, southward, over the Forbidden City

A gatehouse and the moat. Beautiful.

The Forbidden City & North

A lion guards one of the main pavilions at the Hall of Supreme Harmony 

In the outer court

Peace within the throngs

The Hall of Central Harmony (left) and the Hall of Preserving Harmony (right) 

and to capture the colours...

There's something charming about a decaying ruin. Not so charming that I'd want the Forbidden City to rot though! 

The Imperial Garden

North (and out)ward toward Jingshan

The Lama Temple

The entryway

Originally built in 1694 as a residence for the Qing  Dynasty Court eunuchs, it did not become a temple until 1722. Now a lamasery (a monastery for Tibetan Buddhist monks) the Lama (or Yonghe) Temple is one of the most important Tibetan Buddhist Temples outside of Tibet. It is considered the national centre for Lama administration by the Chinese government.

The Hall of Harmony and Peace

It's centrepiece, a 26m tall Maitreya Buddha built from a single white sandalwood tree. 

Incense for prayers

a view of the roof

Durian with friends. Yes, that is a normal reaction... 

The Northward to the Lakes

The Shichahai nightlife. The area is absolutely lovely, lively any time of day and composed of three joint lakes: Qianhai, Xihai and Houhai bordered by hutong areas and historic sights.

lucky crickets anyone?

The Tea Master in his shop. Well worth a visit. Will post the address as soon as I find it again. 

The Temple of Heaven

Used by many successive dynasties to perform ancestor worship and prayers for good harvest, the Temple of Heaven was originally built under the directive of the Ming Yongle Emperor (who is also responsible for the construction of the Forbidden City) from 1406 to 1420 and later renovated in the 16th and 18th centuries.

A peak at the Hall for Prayer of Good Harvests. The grounds surrounding the Temple are absolutely massive and are used by locals for all many of sports, activities and gatherings.

The Hall for Prayer of Good Harvests

Peaking over the wall

Looking back through the gates whilst crossing the 360m Vermilion Steps Bridge. 

and south to the Imperial Vault of Heaven.

The Imperial Vault

Looking up.

The Summer Palace

A Ching Dynasty (17th-early 20th centuries AD) retreat consisting of gardens, temples & pavilions built on and alongside Longevity Hill (Wanshou Shan) and Kunming Lake, it's difficult - if not impossible - not to love this place.

A view to the East after entering the northern gate.

The matching west-ward view.

Hiking Longevity Hill.

A view from the top. Overlooking the Temple of Buddhist Tenets. 

Sea of Wisdom Temple at the top

The Temple of Buddhist Virtue with Kunming Lake behind.

Boats!

Looking up toward the Temple of Buddhist Virtue from the Cloud Dispelling Hall. 

The Cloud Dispelling Hall

Kuming lake and Empress Dowanger Cixi's Marble Boat (actually built during the 18th century reign of the Qianlong Emperor and restored by Cixi in the late 19th century)

The view from our pedal boat

Looking out toward South Lake Isle and the Dragon King's Temple 

Forward toward the Wenchang (Flourishing Culture) Pavilion

At the Zhichun (Perceiving the Spring) Pavilion.

The perfect way to end a day.

and, last, but never least:

The Birds Nest Stadium by night.