Categoria / Category Asia

In Asia, Thailand 2004 On  30/11/2004  No comments

We did two tours to the north of Thailand. The first one was a day trekking. We went on a minibus for one or two hours. Then, we walked for about an hour to a hill village. There lives the Hmong tribe, originally form the region of Tibet and Mongolia. Later they went on refuge in China and during the 50s and 60s many came to Thailand, while others went to Laos and Vietnam. It was a quick visit, and it caught my attention a sign saying “2 photos 5 baht” and also to see they were selling Coca-cola.

From there we went to ride elephants. It was 45 minutes riding the animal around the forest. It stopped to eat all the time. And in the end of the tour, the guides sold bananas so we could feed them. The elephants were like a vacuum cleaner strongly sucking the banana. We also visited a hill tribe called Karen. A great part of the Karen people lives in Myanmar (Burma). In this tripe the majority of the women were dedicated to sewing and the men to produce musical instrument...

In Asia, Thailand 2004 On  30/11/2004  No comments

We arrived in Chiang Mai during the Yi Peng Festival (also called Loy Kratong Festival). Before the trip I had read about the festival in the country, so we tried to schedule that in our itinerary. The festival is based on the lunar calendar; it is commemorated on the 12th full moon of the year.

The first day there we met a Thai family (Pracha, Jam e Gik) in the hotel. They took us for dinner and told us about their culture and the festival Together with them we bough “Krathong” (floating offerings made of flowers where in that top we put a candle and an incense). These are offerings to the mother water as an apology for polluting the waters. We put our offerings on the Ping River in front of the hotel and did same wishes. Another symbol of the festival are the hot air lanterns. Some say that when the lanterns go up they take with them our problems, bad luck, sins… Others say that they are an offering to the Buddha and the light represents illumination...

In Asia, Thailand 2004 On  25/11/2004  One comment

Since we had seen some photos from Ayutthaya in a magazine, we decided to spend a day there. Declared as Unesco’s World Heritage, the city has many temples spread by the river margins. It was also the capital of Siam for about 4 centuries. Nowadays it has a peaceful atmosphere, far from the rush and stress of Bangkok. We felt that on restaurants and hotels. Here life goes slower and more contemplative.

We visited some ruins. Not all of them because it would be so tiresome and we assimilate what we were seeing. It was interesting to learn a bit about the Buddhist rituals. We spent some time in a temple observing it. There were the symbolic objects: the candle, representing the wisdom, the flowers, the compassion, the incense, and the purification. There was also a pot full of sticks that they shake it until one of the sticks pop out. On it there was a number that correspond to a message...

In Asia, Thailand 2004 On  24/11/2004  One comment

Bangkok was the arrival and departure place in Thailand. An impressing city, full of paradoxes and surprises. Usually when I travel I don’t like big cities, but Bangkok seduced me. Many things in Thailand reminded me Brazil. The mixture of rich and poor, modern and antic, high technology and obsolete, nice people, heat, informality, chaotic transit… Bangkok is like São Paulo, although more beautiful, for its temples and palaces.

We spent almost two days visiting temples. They are impressive: golden Buddha, palaces, gold, ornaments. The city is a mixture of Buddhist temples and modern architecture. The high buildings catch the eye as much as the temples.

The transport here it is already an adventure. The tuk-tuk taxi are everywhere, they are like a 3 wheel motorcycle with cabin for passengers, a cheap way to move around town. Another interesting taxi is the river taxi, a ferryboat that connects the two margins of Chao Phraya. There are about 20 stops of this boat taxi...

In Asia, Europe, Turquia 2002 On  24/09/2002  No comments

Recommended by a German friend I decided to see Ephesus. The city near by is Selçuk. I only slept a night there and could notice that they are prepared to tourism. Every time I asked for information they answered with kindness. Many of them spoke English, a sign that they are used to foreign tourists.

I woke up early to visit the ruins. The day was cloudy, ugly… It would be a difficult day, how could I photograph rocks without shadow and volume? Gray days always make me sad.

I walk around the ruins without a guide. Once in a while I would stop and hear a guide from a tour group. Sometime I would have the explanations in Englih, then in French or Spanish, even a Portuguese group I met. Brazilians unfortunately not. Germans, there were many, since I don’t understand the language I would wait for the next group. For me this is the perfect way to visit the ruins, I can go by myself at my own pace...

In Asia, Europe, Turquia 2002 On  23/09/2002  No comments

Pamukkale is a visually interesting place, from far away it looks like a white tip mountain. There are white terraces that were formed by the thermal waters rich in calcium bicarbonate. The water as they go down they deposit carbon dioxide in the soil. This creates some incredible white shapes. Scientist say the terraces started to be formed about 14 thousands years ago. The name Pamukkale means “cotton castle” in Turkish. For them the mountains looks like a castle made with cotton, for mi looks like made of ice.

In the same area there are ruins from an ancient city. I visited the amphitheater that it is behind the thermal baths. The place looked abandoned, unpreserved. I seams a piece of history was being left behind, being forgotten. Unfortunately I didn’t find much information on the place.

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In Asia, Europe, Turquia 2002 On  20/09/2002  One comment

Once again I arrived in a new country with sore throat. Since I was really tired I decided to sleep the whole morning. In the afternoon I left the hostel to see the city. My lunch costed 7 millions, I realized it would be difficult to get used with the amount of zeros on the Turkish lira bills. The waiter told me to be careful in order to not be cheated. He said it is common to trick tourists that aren’t used with the money. I asked if I should be careful with him. He answered: “NO, not me. I’m talking about the others. I’m honest”.

I visited the Aya Sofia, a church constructed in 532 and during years it was the biggest in the world. There were times that its mosaics were covered because the Islamism prohibited the images. Today it works as a museum. The place is impressive…

After I went to see the Blue Mosque, a mosque constructed in the beginning of the seventeenth century. Its towers and domes made it the most famous one in Istanbul. The tourists enter through the side door...

In Asia, Europe, Turquia 2002 On  19/09/2002  One comment

I was invited by a travel agency to do a tour in Gallipoli (Gelibolu in Turkish), I would go with two more Australian girls. We left early in the morning since the place is far away. After two hours driving we stopped to have breakfast and continued to Gallipoli. We did a quick stop in the small city, we saw the port and continued to the war museum.

This area is known to be a good defense place in Turkey. It is a peninsula easy to regulate the ships going in and out. The most important historical event was during the World War I when many Australians and New Zealanders (Anzac – Australian and New Zealand Army Corps) died. They landed on the wrong place and were vanished by the Turkish army who was waiting on the top of the hill. For me what it is interesting here it is the amount of monuments, cemeteries and museum commemorative to the world war I. Every few kilometers there is a monument explaining the war. They even have trenches on exhibition...