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!

Ice!

As many of you may know, on the weekend before Christmas, Toronto (and much of Eastern Canada) was hit by an Ice Storm. Not as outrightly violent as it sounds, an ice storm doesn't actually involve large chunks of ice being flung around by high velocity winds. Instead, it's the result of several days of rain falling in subzero temperatures, solidifying on contact. When this happens over several days, as it did in Toronto, the results are absolutely stunning. A world encased in a thick layer of shimmering ice. Unfortunately, the results are just as devastating as they are incredible.

Ice forming on the trees and signposts of downtown Toronto on the evening of Sunday Dec 22nd, 24hours in.

As all of our power lines are underground and the heat generated by the buildings prevented too much of the ice from freezing, the the downtown core was hit much less hard by the storm than were the suburbs, where the lines are exposed. Down here, our primary concern became, not surviving subzero temperatures without power or heat, but avoiding the massive sheets of ice falling off skyscraper windows as they got too heavy to stay - utterly terrifying, but not lethal if you stayed out of the financial district. With roads becoming progressively more passable, though slowgoing with many of the lights still out and some trees still down on the streets, I decided to head out Scarborough-way on the Tuesday for some Christmas Eve cookie deliveries to friends and family in some of the regions hardest hit. I also took the opportunity to head into the Rouge Valley for a short, but stunning - and spectacularly cold - hike. Below are some of the pictures I managed to snap in between staring around me in awe and trying to keep my hands from freezing off.

Icicles on a tree in Toronto's Rouge Valley, 3 days after the storm.

Flash frozen field buds.

Not even the conifers were immune.

Perhaps one of my favourite pictures from my hike, flash frozen wild berries 3 days in.

By the time I made my way out that way, over 48 hours after the storm had ended, approximately 200,000 households were still without power, down from a peak of 300,000 on the Sunday, and the devastation wrought by the storm was still clearly visible - tree limbs littering lawns and lying on houses and cars, whole neighbourhoods frozen in without heat or power and everything encrusted. Night was probably eeriest, with everything entirely blacked out and no way to determine what was ahead of you.

Tree limbs litter the street outside my old house. This was nowhere near the worst I saw. Many of the limbs landed on houses, cars and power lines - the latter causing fires. Nothing brings home the subtle power of nature like a massive tree split directly in half by rain.

As temperatures fell to lower than -16 C, many people were left scrambling to find ways to stay warm and cook their food. Those with old fashioned fireplaces certainly lucked out in this regard. Unfortunately, with approximately 45,000 households still without power on Boxing Day (day 5 without), the absence of these in many newer homes resulted in a smattering of deaths across the city from fires and carbon monoxide poisoning as people brought their barbecues inside in an attempt to keep warm.

To give some perspective, the population of Toronto is estimated to lie around 2.7 million, and each household is estimated to hold an average of 2.5 people. This means that, at the peak, more than 1/4 of the city's population was without power.

Bent, but not broken, young trees bowing under the weight of all of the ice.

While the effects of the ice storm could easily have 'ruined Christmas', and they were certainly devastating, ruining many peoples' Christmas plans, one of the nicest things to see was how so many neighbours, friends, families, and even strangers, came together to help each other weather the storm. A big thank you! to all of the hydro workers from Toronto and the surrounding districts who worked tirelessly throughout their holidays to restore service. As of today, 10 days after the storm, almost everyone is back in their homes and only 100 people are still without power (many because of tree limbs and power lines falling after the ice had melted). Overall, I think the city weathered the storm pretty well. It's always good to remember, however, just how powerful Mother Nature can be. So, with 2013 at an end and 2014 just beginning, I want to encourage you all to be prepared and wish you all a Very Happy New Year! 

An icy sunset outside my grandparents' house. 

Here's to putting to rest what was an awesome 2013 and welcoming a (hopefully even more amazing) 2014! Love to you all!
Ally

More of Toronto: Wandering the Rouge

Okay, so maybe I'm just partial to the area that I grew up in, but to my mind, Scarborough really just is one of the prettiest parts of Toronto. In addition to taking my friend out to visit the Bluffs, we also went for a bit of a wander in the Rouge Valley, my favourite place to soak in some much needed nature as a kid.

A hiker on one of the meadow trails in the Rouge Valley.

At 40km square, encompassing the Rouge River Watershed that runs the length of the Scarborough-Pickering border and stretching from Oak Ridges Moraine in the north to Lake Ontario in the south, Rouge Park was Canada's first National Park, and now has the honour of becoming our first Urban National Park. It's also home to Canada's largest wetland at Rouge Beach Park (known to locals as The Estuary) and a number of national historic sites.

A view of the valley from one of the hill tops. Taken in mid-September when the colours were only just beginning to hint at a change.

While I love the Rouge year round, my favourite time to visit is in the fall when it truly becomes apparent just how the area got it's name. With this year's extended summer, the colours were only beginning to hint at a change when we were there. Fortunately for everyone else, that means the fall colours are still in bloom - and I'd definitely suggest that everyone take advantage of the lovely weather we've been having to enjoy them! 

Rouge Beach Park, where the Rouge River meets Lake Ontario. Favourite local fishing spot and summertime hangout.

One of the best things about the Rouge is that there is something for everybody, meandering valley-walks, relaxing beaches and more strenuous uphill climbs. There's even tobogganing for the kids in the winter. For more info on Rouge Park, conservation, how to get there and the view points and hiking trails within it, check out the official Rouge Park and Toronto City websites.

My favourite part. The Rouge Beach Estuary, part of Canada's largest wetland. This place is beautiful in the summer, but even more fun in the winter when it freezes over and local kids clear the ice for some neighbourhood games of hockey.

For those who don't live in the east end of the city, never fear, the whole Greater Toronto Area is dotted with (admittedly smaller) parks like the Rouge. Some of my favourites are out near Burlington and Hamilton. I find the aptly named Rattlesnake Point to be especially lovely.

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!

Toronto Treats: Exploring the City with Tasty Tours

Mmm, truffles. How can you resist them?

One of the things I`ve been up to since getting back to Toronto has been joining Tasty Tours Toronto as one of the guide staff. Tasty Tours is an nifty little company offering walking tours of Toronto that focus mostly on the deliciousness available at Toronto's bakeries and chocolatiers.

Some of the wonderfully delicious treats on offer on our chocolate tour.
This is quite possibly my favourite stop, with chocolates ranging in flavour from lavender and rose to chipotle, tequila and lime. 

Tours are kept small to maximize your enjoyment and run every, or every other, weekend depending on the season. Regular tours include the Kensington Sweets Tour and the Trinity-Bellwoods Chocolate Tour. People keep asking which is my favourite or which they should try first and, honestly, I can't decide. My answer? Do both!

One of the customer favourites on the sweets tour. Know what they are? Good. Then you probably want one :).

Taste testing is offered at all of the stops along the route and, even if, like me, you're a dessert-o-phile, you will find something new and awesome that you've never tried before or an excellently made well-loved favourite at every stop.

One of the chocolate truffles from our sweets tour.
This one was pumpkin spice, but you'll get to choose your flavour.

While the focus of the tour is mostly on the desserts, we don't skimp on the historical info either. Little tidbits about the neighbourhood, sweet making techniques and how to properly eat desserts abound. The guides are all knowledgeable (yeah, yeah, I know, tooting my own horn - but I did do my undergrad thesis on why we evolved to love sweetness and how cultures use and perceive it differently around the world!) and the neighbourhoods themselves are wonderfully unique. Plus, you don't have to be a tourist to enjoy them. Most of the tours are actually made up of locals who just want to better get to know the city and treats available in it!

I bet those who have been to Asia can identify some of these!
Just to keep up some of the suspense, I'll avoid telling which tour this stop is from.

Interested? Check us out at TastyToursToronto.com. Private tours are available for those who can't make the regular ones or, those who just want to spend some quality sweet time with their friends. Special thematic tours are also offered during dessert-heavy seasons such as Christmas and Valentine's, and tours are half-price for those going with a friend during their birth month.

Don't trust me to be impartial? Check out some of our excellent reviews on TripAdvisor.

Happy Eating!

Toronto!

I can't lie, part of the reason I have been so slow in updating now that I am back home in Toronto is that the prospect of trying to summarize 6 months and 7000+ photos worth of travel, flavours and experiences into a coherent body of blog posts is a singularly daunting one.  I'd also be lying, however, if I said that was the only reason. It's likely that an equal measure of my reluctance to post comes from the fact that being home after so long away always reminds me of just how much I love Toronto - it's crazy pace; quirky neighbourhoods; incredible mix of cultures; access to great art, drama and dance; the food; and, of course, my friends and family. While I love travelling and experiencing new cultures, sometimes it's nice just to soak up a little of home. It helps, of course, that I have a stunning view of the city from just outside my bedroom and loads to get done while I'm here. 

The lovely morning view of the Toronto skyline from the balcony off my parents' den (the floor of which I am currently camping on).

Though the classic reaction of all Torontonians to visitors stating how much they've enjoyed the city always seems to run along the lines of "Really?! Why???". I'm here to report that there are just so many reasons. Don't believe me? Head out to check it out yourself. In the spring, summer, and early fall, we have cultural and art festivals nearly every weekend. In the winter, we have theatre, Broadway shows, comedy, ballets and operas to keep us warm. We have access to nearly every food imaginable, decent museums, a plethora of unique neighbourhoods, wonderful parks, thousands of activities, a great lake, 4 distinct seasons, access to incredible nature not too far away and stunning foliage in the autumn. Really, what's not to love? While I'll unfortunately likely not have enough time to do too many Toronto-themed posts with the travel backlog I'm under. I definitely recommend a visit. And for all those of you who live here but claim not to like it, I encourage you to try something new, explore a new area or test out a new type of food. Who knows, you may just fall in love with it too!

A streetcar, possibly one of my favourite features of Toronto's transportation system, on Queen West. 

For awesome ideas on where to go when you visit, what to eat, current events or new fun things to try in and around Toronto, check out the super handy and awesome BlogTO.

Dragons in the Mist: Hạ Long Bay & Cát Bà Island

Probably one of the biggest tourists attractions in Southeast Asia (and certainly one of my reasons for wanting to visit Vietnam), is Halong Bay.

The karst islets of Halong Bay. I was here in March, in the summer, the gulf shows off it's incredible turquoise hue.

Located along the Northeastern coastline of Vietnam in the Gulf of Tonkin, Halong, or Descending Dragon Bay, is made stunning by the 1,600 karst islands and islets that dot it. 500 million years old and formed by 20 million years of erosion in a wet tropical climate, Halong truly is a marvel. It gets it's name from legends which claim that the islands were formed by dragons sent by the gods to protect the Vietnamese against invaders.

Looking outward from Cat Ba, the largest of the islands.

The most common way to explore Halong bay is by two or three day cruise on a (hopefully modernised) traditional junk boat. These cruises often include a stop at one or more of the incredible karst caves which riddle the islets, the opportunity for 2 or so hours of kayaking (at your own speed) around, under and through some of the islets at one of the floating villages, the chance to jump in for a swim (in the admittedly now polluted waters), excellent eagle watching opportunities and fairly decent food. Given the plethora of tours available and the range of prices and reputations, it's best to do a touch of research before you book. For the younger crowd looking for more adventure and a good party, Central Backpackers in Hanoi offers the perfect tour.

Fishing boats moored in a place we nick-named 'Pirate Cove' on Cat Ba. 

For the budget traveller, the cheapest way to get there is to organise a combined bus and boat ride out to Cat Ba Island from Luong Yen Bus Station in Hanoi (should be 10USD each way), or to get there by boat from Haiphong on the main land and to use Cat Ba as your jumping off point. Just be warned that there are several ports on the island and that if you arrive on the opposite side late in the afternoon, it might be difficult to find a ride across the 30km island into Cat Ba Town. The Island itself is stunning, the food there delicious (check out Hoang Y in Cat Ba town for the best there is), and the boat tours out onto Cat Ba or Lan Ha Bay, which boast the same landscape as Halong, much cheaper and less crowded. There is also plenty of cheap accommodation on offer on the island, beautiful beaches, excellent hiking, rock climbing and biking and, for those who want to get out on the water, the awesome Asia Outdoors offers kayak and deep water soloing trips. 

One of the beaches near Cat Ba city. Beautiful during the day, but arguably cooler by night when the algae in the water shoots off sparks of electric green bioluminescence in your wake.

Cat Ba is the largest of the 366 karst islands in the Halong area and, in addition to all of the activities above, boasts incredible scenery and biodiversity, with a national park comprising more than half the island. The park offers some great hiking trails, awesome rainforest insects, 1,561 recorded species of flora and fauna, and is home to the extremely endangered Cat Ba golden headed langur (of which there are only 68 left in the wild). It's easy enough - and well worth it - to just rent a motorbike or bicycle (be warned, there are lots of big hills) for day or two and explore on your own.

The view from the base of one of the trails in Cat Ba National Park.