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One Last Day in Jerusalem

We actually spent a total of five days in Jerusalem, but I will describe it in three.   There are an amazing number of things to see in Jerusalem, and I advise at least five days to see a decent amount of things.  Even given what we saw, I would like to return some day to see sites we didn’t get a chance to see.  However, Nelya’s relatives were kind enough to (and actually insisted on) watching our children for two days so we could see some of the sites ourselves.  This was incredibly helpful for some places like Yad Vashem, which is no place for children (and where children under a certain age are not allowed).  Our first site was the Israel Museum – the most famous museum in Israel.

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Ground zero in the Arab/Israeli debate – the Western Wall and Temple Mount

Continuing on our trip through Israel and Jordan, I will discuss today the most important piece of architecture in Israel – the Western Wall.  For Jews, this wall, the only remnant of the Second Temple from the time of Herod the Great, is the holiest site in the world.  For jews, it is a must when coming here to come and pray at the Western Wall.

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Let’s take a vacation – Israel and Jordan

Sitting here writing this while I am home from work sick, with a fever, I really would like to take a vacation.  Alas I’m not sure what we have in vacation plans this year and we are certainly unable to take one right now so I will reminisce about the most recent vacation we went on – Israel and Jordan.  This was perhaps the most interesting vacation we ever took.  No vacation ever had as many highs and lows as this one.  While in general I am very glad we did it, there were definitely lowlights (such as Nelya breaking her toe in the Dead Sea) and extreme highlights (being the guests of honor at a hip night club in Tel Aviv).  I won’t cover all the trip in one posting, but similar to what I did with the Manu Rain Forest I will go through the trip in the order we took it.

So let’s get started with the first destination in the trip – the holy city of Jerusalem.

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Let’s take a vacation – Israel and Jordan

Sitting here writing this while I am home from work sick, with a fever, I really would like to take a vacation.  Alas I’m not sure what we have in vacation plans this year and we are certainly unable to take one right now so I will reminisce about the most recent vacation we went on – Israel and Jordan.  This was perhaps the most interesting vacation we ever took.  No vacation ever had as many highs and lows as this one.  While in general I am very glad we did it, there were definitely lowlights (such as Nelya breaking her toe in the Dead Sea) and extreme highlights (being the guests of honor at a hip night club in Tel Aviv).  I won’t cover all the trip in one posting, but similar to what I did with the Manu Rain Forest I will go through the trip in the order we took it.

So let’s get started with the first destination in the trip – the holy city of Jerusalem.

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The solitude of the Musandam Peninsula

While staying in Dubai, we decided to head out of the city and go somewhere a bit more remote.  Therefore we decided to take a side trip to the Musandam Peninsula, in Oman.  We left on an organized tour early in the morning and the journey took around three hours.  On the way we had the chance to see other parts of the United Arab Emirates.  While Dubai is all about luxury and glamour, and Sharjah has become almost a suburb of Dubai, other emirates such as Ras al Khaimah and Ajman are a bit more remote.  Until recently, Dubai looked like these places – and for the first time we really felt like we were in the Middle East.

There, we boarded a traditional dhow boat and took a sail in the fjords of Musandam.

This really is a remote place.  The entire population of the area is around 20,000 and villages were small and far between.  This is a shot of the largest settlement we saw.

The following is a shot of a traditional dhow boat.  Ours was similar to this one, though a bit nicer.

The wildlife in this area was superb.  Several dolphins began following our boat and I tried to get a good shot of one.  The boat drivers, of course, drove the boat in a way to encourage the dolphins to follow and another tourist boat near us helped out.  I’m sure back in the states there are environmental laws against doing this, but out there it is whatever brings tourist dollars (or euros these days).

We also went snorkeling there and had an opportunity to see myriad types of fish.  Unfortunately the mask I had didn’t fit me very well and I wound up spending the time in the boat.  Although the snorkeling was nice, I think Thailand and Hawaii were a bit better.

Altogether it was a very nice day trip, though a bit long after we drove the three hours back to our hotel.  I would definitely like to see other parts of Oman some day, such as the old forts and the city of Muscat.  On a funny side note, the Omani passport stamp is huge and contains a lot of Arabic.  Upon returning to the US and coming back from our subsequent trip we had a lot of questions to answer when entering the country…

Hanging with Roger Federer at the Burj al Arab

Although I have not stayed at the majority of hotels on this planet, I don’t believe there is a single one that can compete with the Burj al Arab – billed as the only seven star hotel in the world.  The idea of “seven stars” is a marketing ploy.  Hotels are only rated up to five stars, so it is impossible to receive seven.  However, we have stayed at five star hotels before – such as the Hyatt Regency in Kauai that is considered one of the top ten in the world.  Compared to hotels like the Hyatt, the Burj al Arab is in a complete class of its own.

First, the logistics.  This is the tallest building in the world used solely as a hotel.  While there are hotels located in taller buildings, those buildings also have office spaces and other uses.  The other detail is every room in this hotel is a suite.  Unlike the huge Las Vegas hotels with thousands of rooms, this hotel has only a bit over three hundred.  Even getting a close look at this hotel can be a challenge.  Every entrance to the hotel is blocked from several hundred meters by security personnel.  A select few visitors are allowed to see the inside of the hotel each day for fifty dollars a person.  Photography, though, is strictly forbidden.  Luckily, photography is not forbidden for guests.

The inside of the hotel features the tallest hotel lobby in the world.

Each floor has its own lobby and private butler.  When we first arrived in our room, we were given a “tour” for over half an hour.  Our room had a two story view and was 250 square meters in size.  When we first entered the room, we thought this must be the lobby!

The desk in the front had a laptop and printer available for use whenever we wanted.  Going passed and around the stairs we came to a bar and our living room.

The TV has multiple uses – from getting the standard (amazing variety of) channels, to getting free on demand movies, to seeing who is at the door when someone rings the bell.  The boxes on the tables contained a variety of sweets and dates.   The fruit bowl was filled each day and we received complementary copies of not only newspapers, but a variety of magazines.  The following is the view from the upstairs.

I love the touch of the projected clock on the wall.  Turning around there is the bedroom.

Although the bed looks small, it is huge.  If the pillows on the bed aren’t suitable, a “pillow menu” was available from which you can choose your ideal pillow.  We tried ordering a number of different pillows to test them out, but wound up kicking most of them off the bed.  The bed faces another full featured television and, in our room, a view of the Jumeirah Beach Hotel – which before the Burj al Arab was considered the best hotel in Dubai.

The bathroom was even more impressive.

By the sink was a complementary set of a complete line of Hermes products for him and her.  These weren’t tiny bottles – but were instead the full sized products.  Just the Hermes products would normally cost over $300 in a store!  The stand up shower had jets that hit you from the sides (very nice) and in the back was a huge Jacuzzi.

As nice as the room was, the service completely blew it away.  Our butler constantly brought us interesting snacks to try – such as some of the most delicious cookies I have ever had, to wonderful fruit drinks, to foie gras (“duck paste”).  All of this, as with everything else, was complementary.  While the hotel is expensive, they don’t nickel and dime you to death as they do in other hotels. 

Every time we left our room, the room was completely remade.  I heard that the entire staff of the hotel meets every morning and discusses their guests.  It seems like everyone knows you there and they are all beyond friendly.  One time we mentioned that we were going to take a walk by the beach.  Our butler quickly dropped off some complementary beach sandals and a beach bag in case we wanted to buy something.  We took a rather quick walk and came back up to find our room completely made.  On our bed was foot balm – in case our feet were hurting from the walk.

For breakfast, the food was exquisite and included pastries and fruits flown in from Europe and elsewhere in the world.  Perhaps the best breakfast I ever had was there.  I was glad that I booked the room with breakfast included – as the normal price was $100 per person.  The silverware, by the way, was Christofle ($20,000 for a set) and the plates were made exclusively for the hotel by a well known company that I have since forgotten.

Not only did the hotel have its own private beach and pool (with a life guard literally every 3 meters – there were so many life guards it was comical), but we had free access to the Wild Wadi amusement park.  This is a rather small park, but it makes up for its size in quality.  The tube ride is an interesting concept – where you sit in tubes and are jetted to the top of the hill where you then slide down.  That’s right – no walking up wooden stairs like in most other water parks.  Obviously I did not have my camera there, but I did get this shot of the super slide from a distance.

I had the opportunity to walk around the hotel and get some shots.

In the front of the hotel are fireballs that they have every so often.  The Burj al Arab was clearly the best hotel that we have ever stayed in, and we are planning to return there in 2011, when we will get to compare it with the new Burj Dubai – already the tallest building in the world and still growing.

One detail I forgot to mention before, while we were staying there Roger Federer was also a guest – in the same type of room that we had.  Of course, we did not get a chance to meet him.  Shortly before we checked in, Will Smith checked out.  A few weeks before we arrived, Madona stayed there.

Hanging with the sheikhs in Dubai

Having covered my own favorite vacation in Manu, Peru, I thought I would cover the vacation that my wife has loved the most.  Without a doubt, this would be a trip we made about two years ago to the sheikhdom of Dubai.  I’m sure to most of you Dubai is a very familiar name.  The name pops up more and more these days.  However, it must be seen to be believed.

Imagine that someone woke up someday and thought.

“I live here in some desolate area of Wyoming, but I kind of like Chicago.  So, I’ll build Chicago right here.”

The scale of building in Dubai is matched by nowhere on Earth.  When we were there, every patch of ground in sight was the future location of some skyscraper.  The following shot gives you an idea.  This is part of the Marina complex, which is now complete.

Admittedly, the original reason we went to Dubai was for the shopping.  Dubai is well known as the shopping destination both of the Russian rich and famous as well as the bargain seekers.  Normally when we are bargaining for a price, Nelya and I will use Russian with each other to discuss what price we should offer.  This approach did not work at all there.  Neither did using Tajik, as the large persian population there understood it very well.

Although Dubai is known for its shopping, we weren’t really impressed by it there.  While every high end brand you can imagine is available there, the prices were not bargains by any means.  The silk souq did not really compare to the silk markets of Singapore and electronics and camera equipment were more expensive there than in the US.  We did however get decent bargains on gold and a beautiful silk Persian rug.  The quantities of gold in the gold souq itself was impressive.

Nelya and I both had fun at the spice souq, where you could buy vials of saffron for a quarter.  It was quite mind boggling seeing saffron for sale by the kilo.  The vials made great gifts for friends and coworkers upon returning. 

Malls in Dubai made the largest of our malls look tame.  They are currently constructing the largest mall in the world – far larger than the current largest mall located in Edmonton.  We went to a relatively new mall called Ibn Batuta, where each section of the mall resembled a different part of the world.  The following shot is of a ceiling in a mall, not a mosque or any historic structure.

The primary mistake we made with Dubai was not bringing our kids.  Like a lot of people, we were worried that the Middle East could be a dangerous place and was no place for children.  We could not have been more wrong.  Children are welcome everywhere there and there are many playgrounds and activities just for them.  Almost every hotel has baby sitting services.  Now I realize that the truth is the opposite.  The Middle East is one of the easiest places to take children, with children being far more welcome than they are in most places in the United States.

We started our trip in the Oasis Beach Hotel.  This was a very nice hotel and would easily qualify for at least 4 stars in the US.  Next to our subsequent destination it was a drop in the bucket, but for the price it was a very nice place.  The picture below was from our window.

Dubai is a very international place.  Tourist flock there from almost every corner of the world, with the exception of the United States.  We saw Germans, French, Russians, Indians, Pakistanis, Venezuelans, Chinese, Australians, and Kenyans there – but hardly a single American.  Although many signs are in Arabic, English is widely used there and most people understand it.  In fact I suspect more people understand English there than Arabic!

I will keep the highlight of the trip for the next day’s post though, where we had the chance to stay in the best hotel in the world.

A Trip to the Manu Biosphere Part IV

I think it has become quite obvious how much I enjoyed my trip to Manu based on the length of this series of posts. Today, I will try to wrap up this series. I will start today with the biggest mystery of the trip – some form of creature that today I still have no idea what it is.

A video probably would have been more helpful here, but these weren’t simple hairs on the bottom of a leaf. They were little organisms that were moving and were not permanently attached to the leaf. They could crawl sort of like a caterpillar. Our guide mentioned that they were extremely rare and he had only seen them once before. However, he did not know the name for them. If anyone has any idea what these things are I would be appreciative.

The following shot is one of my favorites from the trip.

Those of you who have been to South America or are interested in reptiles will recognize this as a caiman. Caiman are very numerous in this area of the world and we saw a good number of them as we motored by. There are two types of caiman – the common white caiman and the larger, but far rarer, black caiman. From the wildlife books I read, white caiman are very unlikely to attack swimmers and it is not dangerous to swim in the vicinity of them. The same can not be said of the black caiman. Though attacks are rare, they have been known to attack. Manu is one of the few areas in the world where you can still see black caiman, which we did. Needless to say, we didn’t go swimming.

The following shot is of a very common phenomenon in tropical jungles, but is something which looks rather strange to us who come from temperate areas.

A misconception many people have about rainforests, which unfortunately is shared by those who burn them down for crops, is that rainforests have very rich soils. This is actually very far from the truth. The fact is that leaf and branch litter that reaches the ground decays quite fast and therefore the soil never has the chance to build up the rich top soil so common in temperate forests, where the change in seasons aids the buildup of good soil. Therefore, in tropical forests, the rich part of the soil is isolated to a very thin portion at the top. To combat this, trees like this one send out a wide range of roots like these ones.

The following shot was taken shortly before I took my more well known shot.

This was taken early in the morning on an oxbow lake. Oxbow lakes are formed when a river changes course and are one of the best places to see wildlife. This particular oxbow lake was amazing. Usually in rainforests you really have to work to see wildlife, but this wasn’t the case here. Everywhere we turned we saw something interesting, including several species of monkey and the very rare giant otter. Speaking of monkeys, one of the most amazing experiences I had there was waking up early morning to hear what sounded like a large monster next to my tent. The sound was incredibly loud and it sounded like there was the most evil, vile, thing outside. I knew that it wasn’t a jaguar and must be something relatively harmless so I started to get dressed and searched for my flashlight to get a look at what it was. Then the noise stopped. During breakfast we asked the guide what that thing was. It was a howler monkey, the loudest land animal on earth. According to the guide this one was relatively close, where close was about 500 meters!

The following bird is called a hoatzin, and is one of the most unique birds on earth. They cannot fly well and are easily approachable, which is how I managed to get this shot. Superficially at least, they bear the closest resemblance to prehistoric birds.

By far the most luxurious housing we had was at Manu Wildlife Center, with its monogrammed towels, wildlife library, and nice dining facilities. It also had several wild macaws that simply wouldn’t leave. They were found as eggs by the local staff and raised there, then set free. While they are completely free to go, they like the center and it is even possible to rub their bellies! They love attention and one of them kept flying into me, then it would try to get me to rub its belly.

The following was our living quarters at Manu Wildlife Center.

Finally, after nine wonderful days travelling through the Andes and the Manu river, it was time to leave.

Before I headed back to the States, I managed to find time to visit Machu Picchu for a day. I’ll end with a few shots from this amazing place.

A Trip to the Manu Biosphere Part III

I find it somewhat amusing that I meant to write a single post on my trip to Manu, but I am currently on my third one and I’m not sure if I’ll finish up in this post. From yesterday’s post, we were just departing from the Cock-of-the-Rock lodge and descending from the cloud forests to the jungle basin. Someday, if I come back with a private guide, I would like to spend more time at that lodge. It was very nicely equipped – with only the Manu Wildlife Center being better, and the wildlife in that area is quite different from that in the lowlands. Early that day we stopped at the last metropolis we would see for some time – this being the biggest town for miles there.

Finally, we ditched the bus and got onto our motorized canoe, which we used for the rest of the trip.

Some people have asked me what we did for food on the trip. Actually, the food was quite good and we did not go out and grab the ‘critter of the day’. In addition to our guide, we took along a cook, pots and pans, and the food for the trip. At each lodge the cook would prepare the meal while we were out and about. We also took a driver for the boat as the river could get quite low and you really need to have someone who knows the river. The boat doesn’t look that big, but it stored quite a lot. Once while we stopped at a patch of grass for a restroom we found one of the local spiders.

This one was actually holding an egg sac underneath it and despite its appearance was not aggressive nor dangerous. Our drive pointed this out to us.

Although I do not fear spiders, I did not volunteer to do this. Neither did anyone else in our group. Our guide later mentioned to us that, though the spider was not aggressive, this wasn’t really a smart move. Spiders are quite common in Manu and you can find all types there. However, none are considered dangerous to man. We found quite a few of these spiders around our cabins wherever we went.

One night my roommate and I found a rather large spider in our shower. It crawled up towards the ceiling and we decided that it shouldn’t stop us from each taking a shower. However, that night we made sure to lock the door to the bathroom in case it decided to go exploring at night.

More annoying were the tiny spiders that would build webs across the trails. Our guide was quite short and I am rather tall (6’5″) so I kept running into the webs. It was really quite annoying – especially when I got webs in my mouth. None of the spiders were dangerous though and I was not bitten.

Many people who have never been to the rain forest think that spiders and snakes are the things to fear. This is very far from the truth. During the entire trip I only saw two snakes – a dead false coral snake that I discussed in yesterday’s post and a rather large brown snake that I was told was nonpoisonous. There are two snakes in Manu that are feared – the Bushmaster and the Fer-de-lance. Of the two, the fer-de-lance is the more aggressive but the Bushmaster is the more poisonous. Both are quite rare to come across. As for spiders, as I already mentioned they are not dangerous – even the large ones.

What are to be feared though are the ants. For those who live in the south, think fire ants but much nastier. Army ants are common there and can be quite painful if they bite – which luckily did not happen to me or anyone in our group. For this reason it is highly advisable to wear long pants in the jungle and tuck them in to your boots. When we saw army ants we would walk quickly through them, making sure to not step on any, and then shake ourselves off when we stopped seeing them.

Far more feared than the army ants is the bullet ant – considered by some to have the most painful sting of any insect in the world. These ants are about an inch long and are more solitary – you generally see one at a time. However where you see one there are often more. These ants were quite common there and we ran across them often. We did not mess with them and they did not bother us.

In terms of photography in Manu, there are three types of places where you can get photos.

1. From the canoe when going through the river and on rafts on the oxbow lakes. Here you really need a good telephoto, which I didn’t have. On a full frame camera, I plan to return some day with a 600mm telephoto and extenders. A number of animals, particularly birds and monkeys, can be found high in the trees and require a good range. Still, this is the best way to get pictures as it is relatively light out and you can get a lot of interesting animals. For a number of animals, such as capybara and giant otters, this is the only way to get photos.
2. In the jungle canopy. To be honest, the only types of shots I would bother to try for here are macro shots. While I did see a number of mammals and lizards in the jungle – such as agoutis, peccaries, and even a jaguar, they tend not to stick around for very long and you are very unlikely to have time to get a shot off. Some birds can only be found under the canopy – such as a number of manakin species, but again it is quite tough. Insects, on the other hand, are in ample supply and are much more rewarding for the time.
3. From blinds waiting for particular animals. We visited three blinds in Manu.
   1. The Cock-of-the-Rock lodge, which I mentioned yesterday
   2. The macaw clay lick – impressive for watching hundreds of macaws and thousands of green parrots congregate
   3. A tapir blind – it is actually quite rare to see a tapir, but we managed to get lucky and see one

Here’s another other poor shot I managed to get of a critter in Manu.

For those a bit challenged with their out of focus mammals, this is a capybara. Image stabilization would have been my friend there.

A Trip to the Manu Biosphere Part II

In my previous post, I discussed planning my trip to Manu and arriving and exploring Cuzco. I didn’t spend very much time in Cuzco – taking the first day to acclimate to the altitude and the second to explore some of the Inca sites around the city. On the second day, I also attended a talk from my guide at Manu Expeditions, discussing what we will see on the trip and a detailed itinerary of where we were going. In general I liked Manu Expeditions. Their prices were very reasonable, their staff was friendly, and our guide was knowledgeable and knew a lot of the history and details of the area. My only complaint was the group was rather large at ten people. When traipsing through the jungle you really want the fewest people possible. Tour groups we saw from Inkanatura were smaller, but they did not offer the longer trip that I wanted. If I go there again someday, and I hope I do, I will likely hire a private guide.

Our first task was to get over the Andes mountains and stay the night at the Cock-of-the-Rock lodge in the cloud forests of the mountains. Below you can see the bus we took.

The bus was nice, but the roads were certainly very interesting. Not only could they get bumpy, but they were very narrow and I often wondered what would happen if we came across a vehicle coming the other way. Luckily, vehicles were very far between in the mountains. Few people there had them, and the handful we saw during the hours of driving were crammed full of people going from town to town – which themselves were quite distant from each other. It was an amazing experience – humbling for seeing the conditions in which the people lived. Children would follow the bus and wave as it came and old women stood by, hoping we would buy knitted alpaca goods they worked on.

On the way we stopped to see some burial chambers – calculated at approximately 2,000 years old.

The following is a shot of some of the locals. I stopped to buy some bracelets from the girls and was swarmed.

We stopped at one of the few towns along the way – actually the largest one for miles and one of the few with occasional health care (for most people though, care requires a long trip to Cuzco). One of the things I find most interesting when visiting other parts of the world are the strange fruits. We purchased a few to try them out for a few cents.

In the second picture, the fruits at the bottom were particularly interesting. You open up the hard outer shell and take out the “seeds”. You then suck on the seed and eat the pulp around it – an awful lot of work for a little bit of fruit.

One thing that many people are not familiar with this area is that jungles are not always warm. In particular, in Manu cold air sometimes can come down from the mountains and put the whole area into a big chill. The first two days we spent there were freezing. All of us know the effect humidity has when it’s hot, but when it’s cold humidity makes it even colder. Add in the rain and the speed of moving on the motorized canoes and we were quite cold. This parrot we found in the village says it all.

Eventually we made it over the mountains and began our descent into the jungle.

This is quite a poor picture, but at this point there were times when we could look straight down several thousand feet from the bus. It was a bit scary at times as it rained often and the narrow roads were muddy. Luckily the drivers were familiar with the area and knew how to drive these roads. This isn’t the area for rental cars – you need to know how to drive here.

Just before dark we arrived in the Cock-of-the-Rock lodge. The Cock-of-the-Rock lodge is named for the Cock-of-the-rock bird, which is the national bird of Peru. It is quite pretty and hangs out by leks for long periods of time, moving from perch to perch in the hopes of getting a mate. The males are the bright colored ones and move from perch to perch, trying to attract the females. Unfortunately I had a difficult time getting a good picture of one. You can find better ones on the Internet, but this was the best of my attempts.

We also had the chance to see a coral snake. Our guide believed this to be a false coral snake – meaning it was not poisonous. Unfortunately someone stepped on it before we got there, so this was the best view we got.

That night it rained like I had never heard before. Here in the Pacific Northwest we are known for our rain but the truth is when it rains it usually drizzles. Big downpours are rare here. Back in the East, where I grew up, storms could be heavy and strong. However, nothing prepared me for the deluge that can occur in the cloud forests along the Andes mountains. It literally felt like someone was dumping huge buckets of water on us. This leads me to digress to a useful principle of water I have noticed, particularly when spending summer days in the Adirondack Mountains of New York. I like to call it, the “Law of Wet”.

    At some point, you can reach a point after which it is not possible to get any wetter. Once this stage has been reached, any additional water will not make you any wetter than you already are.

I made great use of the law of wet while in the jungles of Peru. While many of the other group members (particularly the Americans) dressed up in their rain coats and protective hats (which they had to fight from blowing away), there really wasn’t anything you could do to fight such a large degree of water. I wore no rain coat nor any water protective clothing while I was there. Instead, I wore quick drying shirts and pants. When the rain stopped, due to the climate there my clothes quickly dried while the others, with their jeans and heavy pants, were still soaked until they changed. I also wore a jungle hat to keep the water from my glasses as much as possible.

That morning we woke up to a nice open air breakfast full of the most hummingbirds I have ever seen in my life. Some of the hummingbirds were simply incredible. The following is my poor shot of one with my point and shoot.

A naturalist was there with a much better camera and explained that he specializes in hummingbirds and was there because this lodge was the best place in the world to see them. He had spent the last several weeks trying to get photographs of each one. He would focus at a flower and wait for the hummingbird to reach there. Only one hummingbird alluded him when we saw him – an amazing blue hummingbird with a long tail that seemed like a sparkling blue rainbow following it wherever it went. The beauty of the hummingbird stunned us and frustrated him – as he had spent the last several days trying to get a single shot of it.