Taiwan - Taroko Gorge

60mins of climbing, and the suspension bridge at the trailhead looks like a miniature Lego model

Can you see the crumbling trail?

Walking in the steps of history at Taroko Gorge (Hualien, Taiwan) is not for the faint hearted. There was no mention of the narrow trail, crumbling slopes and tough terrain when our host merrily waved us off that morning. Or was that communicated by the fleeting moment of his furrowed brow?

After 5 exciting hours, I am intimately acquainted with the steep inclines and enthusiastic mosquitoes of the Wenshan-Lushui trail (綠水文山步道), and give it my whole-hearted recommendation. Who knew that such beauty and adventure existed just steps away from the tourist hoards?

The trail is part of the Old Cross-Hehuan Mountain Road, first carved by the Truku tribes living in the area, then used by the Japanese police to monitor the tribesmen. The most famous section is the Zhuilu trail, for which we were unable to get a permit. Hence we found ourselves on the Wenshan-Lushui section, for which registration at the Wenshan police post will suffice.

Directions: Head north of the Wenshan hotsprings, up the road and through the tunnel. Look for an opening on the right that accesses a large suspension bridge across the gorge. Follow the sign-posted trail towards Lushui /Lyushui. The trail winds up and down the forested cliffs, past abandoned villages, suspension bridges and impressive views of the gorge and valleys. The trail is best done as a one-way jaunt from Wenshan to Lushui. Turn right at the fork where red flags block the trail at Lushui to emerge at the mountaineering center. There is a good toilet at the end, and a cafe across the road where you will find bus loads of Korean tourists enjoying mango ice cream. Ignore their curious stares at your disheveled state, and treat yourself to a well-deserved ice cream or ice tea.

Accommodation: We were well taken care of at Taroko by our hosts Jin and Rihang at the Taroko Lodge. They provide basic accommodation, transport to and from Xincheng railway station, and many exciting activities. Email rihangsu AT gmail.com

Success at the top of the ridge!

Laos #2: O.M.G. Ice. Coffee.

Nong Kiew
Nong Kiew is a charming little town/village on the Nam Ou river, flanked on both banks by steep limestone cliffs. We wanted to go on a Night Safari after Xam Neua, but the dates didn't work out, so we traded tiger spotting (had to be satisfied with a papier mache tiger) for a trekking-boat-kayaking tour at Nong Kiew.

The trek was a steep 500m ascent up to a lookout point. The trailhead is marked by a large poster at the main village road, and the trail is easy to follow. Didn't need a guide for this... but of course, our guide was helpfully encouraging ["(Last night) you drinking? Why no power??"], and provided us with Victory Bananas when we reached the top. The view was definitely worth the 1hr hike. Spent about 15-30min happily feeling on Top of the World, and enjoying our Victory Bananas.

Lao lottery! Match the animal you saw in your dream to the lucky numbers they represent.

The rest of the day was pretty chill. Boat ride up river, lunch on banana leaf 'plates', visiting a village, kayaking and finally... massage! The village is only accessible by river, and had just been outfitted with satellite TV-- a few of the wooden houses had bright orange satellites on the roof. The guide mentioned that villages along the 'highway/ main road' were more prosperous than their less accessible brethren. Kayaking down river was fun, even though there wasn't really any of the advertised whitewater. Our guide shared a kayak with JH, and kept egging her on to paddle furiously, while he laughed merrily from the back. The massage at the Sabai Sabai was ok, but the White Orchid in Vientiane was better.

In the village

A-maizing machine that removes corn kernels

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Luang Prabang

Travel from NK to LP was first road, then boat from Pak Ou cave down to LP. (Paid for in Thai Baht because we were running out of Kip and USD. Baht is a good currency to have in Laos.)

4000+ sculptures of Buddha have been placed in the Pak Ou caves. An informative sign there explains that the different poses depict important moments in the life of Buddha. Apparently there are over 100 poses/asanas illustrating this, and more detailed info may be found here. I like the 'Stop Arguing' pose (Buddha standing, both palms facing outward).

The Royal Palace at LP had a charming Lao traditional-European colonial style. In fact, the entire town center is a Unesco World Heritage Site, for its well-preserved blend of Lao and French architecture. Despite being the most well-known tourist destination in Laos, LP has a laid back, time travel vibe. Enough foreigners around to inject vibrancy, yet not too crowded-- you still have a sense of privacy as you gaze appreciatively at the glass mosaic frescos in the Royal Palace (fighting elephants! decapitated men!) and Wat Xieng Thong (such amazingness! tree of life, village scenes, war, kings, queens, monkeys, bananas... clearly... all you can ever imagine or hope to see as a glass mosaic.)

At 6am, the alms giving ceremony transforms the streets into a colorful array of camera-laden tourists. There are so many websites denouncing the rude behavior of tourists, that I was slightly hesitant and embarrassed to take part. But the street we were at was very peaceful. We kept a distance from the long line of saffron-clad novices and monks, and the (mostly women) locals respectfully offering alms. Alms giving is a form of merit, not an act of charity or pity. Only the best food should be given. The ceremony is a silent one, reduced to the purest form of giving and receiving.

Photo credit: Seok

Breakfast that day was in a suburb of LP. Xi led us unerringly to delicious rice noodle rolls (like 'chee cheong fun' in Singapore). Smooth, slurpy goodness with fried pork and fried shallots. Complemented perfectly with the.best.ice.coffee.ever. Incredibly thick coffee with loads of condensed milk. Just wanted to drench my tastebuds in coffee heaven. The tastebuds still rank breakfast that day as a Top 10 Epic Meal.

Ba-ba-ba, Ba-Ba-nana!

Seok and I regretfully left the others in LP and headed back to Vientiane. (Tastebuds made gentle enquires to brain about staying for another 100 breakfasts, but brain was quite steadfast about the matters of Work and Air Tickets.) Detoured to a waterfall on the way back, fed bananas to ravenous elephants, survived the extremely foggy New Road to Vang Vieng. Xi stopped at a few villages in hope of purchasing a pig for his family, but apparently most of the decision makers were out in the fields, and anyways the villagers were very content with that they had and weren't swayed by Xi's money.

Dinner was really delicious grilled chicken and black sticky rice from the Vientiane riverside market, eaten under a tent, next to a sleeping lady and a demanding cat. (It had started to rain heavily, and we took shelter under the nearest thing to a roof we could find.)

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Markets and Food

Triumphant haul of fried dough and eggs (photo credit: Seok)

Phonsavan market: Apart from the usual colorful abundance of vegetables, there were also bee larvae! maggots! civet cat! squirrel! I bought a small fish stuffed with lemongrass and chilli, hot off the grill. Lemongrass, chilli and grilled fish make a fantastic combination! The fish was full of small bones that made eating quite tedious, but the flavour explosion made it worth the work. =)

Xam Neua market: More vegetables and larvae, but also tiny frogs! dried bat! expertly skinned pig! Disturbingly grinning pig head on display on a butcher's table. We bought sticky rice, bamboo salad, boiled (custard?) eggs, veg, chicken, pork, and delicious fried dough for lunch and breakfast. Felt very local, eating with our hands, out of plastic bags.

Mysterious 'Animal' in a random village market.
Update: It is a bamboo rat, found in S.China - N.Indochina

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Conclusion:
We had a very ambitious itinerary, with way too much driving. If I could do over, will just do Luang Prabang and Nong Kiew, and maaybe Phonsavan (for the market experience).

But it was fun to hang out with Sich, Clar, JH, Seok and Xi. Xi has his own webpage, so you can contact him for your Lao transportation needs. He's a very safe driver.

Recommended Laos travel companions

We didn't get to see Southern Laos, and missed out on the coffee plantations and river dolphins. Something to think about for the next trip!

One last 'beautiful Lao countryside' picture

Laos #1: Finally Laos!

I absolutely had to visit Laos, which feels like a well-kept secret on the brink of being exposed. Finally managed to organize a trip with Clar, Sich, JH and Seok in Oct 2013.

Rejoiced at the direct flight from SIN to Vientiane via Lao Airline: the plane was new, with nice green leather seats. Economy class was almost empty, and business class was full of men in suits.

We stayed at the Heuang Chaleun Hotel. It's a bit out of the way. Perhaps not a good choice if you're going to be in Vientiane for a few days, but the room was the best we had in Laos, and breakfast is provided.

First order of business: Lao Massage! JH had done some research, so we found a tuktuk, haggled the price to $30k Kip, and made a beeline for the White Orchid Yoga & Massage. Traditional Lao Massage was $55k for 1hr. Our masseuses were joking with each other while they worked, and you're left wondering whether they're laughing at some deficiency in your physique.... but it really doesn't matter because you feel so goooood. It's like Thai massage (stretching and cracking) but with more acupressure.

Wonderfully languorous, we ambled towards the river in search of dinner. Had our first introduction to 'Mekong Weed' (salted and spiced riverweed, not the other kind of weed), and a Lao carnival/amusement park. It was an extensive carnival, with darts and airgun shooting games, food stalls hawking crepes, grilled meats and fetal duck eggs, and ferris wheel and bumper car rides.

Seok, JH and I convinced ourselves that we should take a ride on the bumper cars, which led to a hilarious and adrenalin-filled evening, made more enjoyable by a pair of girls who giggled and screamed in horror whenever they were bumped. I felt like we were hanging out with all the cool kids in Vientiane, with the flashing lights and pumping disco music at the bumper car arenas.

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Tubing in Vang Vieng (photo credit: Seok)

The next day, we were met by Xi, our driver. He brought us to some temples (Wat Si Satek), before we picked up Clar and Sich from the airport. Then it was off to Vang Vieng, backpacker and tubing capital of Laos. We took a boat ride upriver, passing many angmohs on their tubes, and riverside guesthouses advertising beer and happy hour. Vang Vieng is described in the guidebooks as a place to chill out, and it does have a cheap backpacker vibe. But Laos has so much more to offer than that!

Fishing village with fermented fish paste (photo credit: Seok)

After dinner of Korean hotpot, we spent the evening with Xi, drinking Beer Lao and snacking on fermented fish paste and pork skin. The fermented fish paste is slightly rubbery, sour and salty. Went well with beer and pork skin, and strangely I'm starting to salivate while writing this. But it was definitely right up against my comfort zone for foreign food, and required some willpower to silence the corner of my brain that was ringing alarm bells and blaring public service announcements.


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Days 3 - 6: Phonsavan - Xam Neua - Nong Kiew. Much drive. Such cows. Very potholes.

photo credit: Seok

Plain of Jars (Phonsavan)
6 hour drive to Phonsavan, and its Plain of Jars. The Plain consists of fields littered with hundreds of huge stone jars. Apparently some jars were also discovered in the surrounding forests. No one knows how they got there. No one knows what they were used for. It's a mystery as great as Stonehenge and the Nazca Lines.

Xi's story is that they were used to brew large vats of whisky after a victorious battle, but I think the burial jar theory is probably most likely.

Xi has a favorite restaurant in Phonsavan. He brought us there for lunch, dinner, then breakfast on day 4. We just took his word for it that there are no other acceptable eating establishments in Phonsavan.

photo credit: Seok

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Many caves are hidden in the cliffs

American Secret War: Of Caves and Craters

Laos is the most heavily bombed country (per capita) in the world. 260 million bombs were dropped on Laos, and an estimated 80 million failed to explode, posing an immense threat today.

Conflict between the French and independence-seeking Lao Issara (Free Lao) party after World War II, morphed into a war between the USA/Royal Lao Army and the Indochina Communist Party/Parthet Lao. The US Airforce were bombing trucks and troops along the Ho Chi Minh trail at the Vietnam-Lao border, pretty much from 1964 till the end of the Vietnam war in 1973.

Toilet

The Plain of Jars was decorated with multiple bomb craters, and we could see large white furrows on the surrounding hills, which Xi said were excavations for unexploded ordnances (UXOs).

We visited the Tham Piu Cave where 374 villagers were killed, and the Viengxay Caves, a vast network of limestone caves, 480+ of which were occupied by the Parthet Lao and supporting villagers. The audio tour is quite informative, and painted a vivid picture of life under constant threat of bombing raids: farming by night, cooking becoming a dangerous activity, planning a war.

Wall in Xam Neua (photo credit: Seok)

I'm glad that Laos is more peaceful now. The villages we drove through have sufficient chickens and cows to constantly cross the roads and impede traffic, so that must be a good sign, right?

Beautiful Lao countryside

Myanmar 2011

It's been 3 years since my trip to Myanmar in 2011! My sudden jolt of motivation to blog stems from cleaning out my room and discovering my Myanmar notes, buried in a quiet corner.

Went to Myanmar with Lena and Zach, to visit their friends Todd, Alessa and David. David & co. are making low-cost treadle pumps for irrigation -- starting from a project in the D-school extreme affordability class, then funded by IDEO, and now making a real difference to farmers in Myanmar. 

As we got the grand tour of the factory, Todd shared the challenges of manufacturing in Myanmar. 

Supplies: most materials are recycled again and again, with variable quality. "Do you want the recycled plastic, or the recycled recycled plastic??"

Suppliers: some don't have basic tools, like calipers. "Oh... that was why his parts never fit well..."

Staff: their finance manager was helping himself to the till in various ways, and this is accepted practice. "Well.... if the family needs it..."

Multiple insects available for your dining pleasure

But they were generally happy with what they've managed to accomplish, with multiple product iterations already in the market, and a visible impact on the lives of their customers.

I'm really envious. These guys are living the dream. True, the internet speed there will make most teenagers sob in despair, but hey, tea leaf salad everyday! and er... delicious fried insects. 

Went to the Schwedagong Pagoda. It's hard to miss. Big golden pagoda, lighted by night even if the rest of Yangon has electricity rationing. But when one has the oldest and most sacred Buddhist pagoda in Myanmar, with relics from not just one but FOUR Buddhas (8 strands of hair from Gautama!), it's probably worth a little extra expense. The pagoda has a crown with 5000+ diamonds, 2000+ rubies, topped by a 76 carat diamond. Visitors can look at the 76 carat diamond on the top through a telescope provided for that purpose.

It's definitely impressive, particularly because of the number of Buddhas one can pray to simultaneously. With that many benevolent ears in attendance, surely one will grant your request...

We also took a short trip to Bagan. From Wikipedia:

From the 9th to 13th centuries, the city was the capital of the Kingdom of Pagan, the first kingdom to unify the regions that would later constitute modern Myanmar. During the kingdom's height between the 11th and 13th centuries, over 10,000 Buddhist temples, pagodas and monasteries were constructed in the Bagan plains alone, of which the remains of over 2200 temples and pagodas still survive to the present day.

Bagan is awesome. More fun than Angkor Wat, because you can explore many different temples without being accompanied by everyone and their grandmother. Each one has interesting murals, or carvings, or resident bat colonies... If the temple is locked, just look around for the attendant who will cheerfully unlock it, and even direct you up to the roof for the best view.

Will let the pictures speak for themselves. Only two other things to mention about the trip:

1) Go for the puppet show. We went to one at Bagan. Incredible! Acrobatic handling of puppets, with great skill. Some very funny skits, including a lecherous puppet with expressive eyebrows =)

2) Get a massage. Lena and I went for one at Seri Heath and Beauty in Yangon. 1hr of being kneaded and pressed and pulled costs 10,000 khat. Can't remember the exchange rate in 2011, but it was something ridiculous, like $15 sgd.

I need to go again! The trip was too short, and I haven't had enough tea leaf salad.....

Playing this on loop.

Found lyrics and translation online.


不能说的秘密 | Bu Neng Shuo De Mi Mi | Secrets I Can’t Tell 词: 方文山
Ci: Fang Wen Shan
Lyrics: Vincent Fang

曲: 周杰伦
Qu: Zhou Jie Lun
Music: Jay Chou

冷咖啡离开了杯垫
leng ka fei li kai le bei dian
As the cold coffee leaves the coaster

我忍住的情绪在很后面
wo ren zhu de qing xu zai hen hou mian
I desperately tried to hold my emotions far behind

拼命想挽回的从前
pin ming xiang wan hui de cong qian
Fighting hard to restore the past

在我脸上依旧清晰可见
zai wo lian shang yi jiu qing xi ke jian
On my face you can still see ever so clearly

最美的不是下雨天
zui mei de bu shi xia yu tian
that rainy day wasn’t the most beautiful

是曾与你躲过雨的屋檐 oh~~
shi ceng yu ni duo guo yu de wu yan
It’s the shelters that I once shared with you in the rain

回忆的画面
hui yi de hua mian
The pictures in my memory

在荡着秋千 梦开始不甜
zai dang zhe qiu qian meng kai shi bu tian
While on the swings dreams become less sweet

你说把爱渐渐 放下会走更远
ni shuo ba ai jian jian fang xia hui zou geng yuan
You told me that by gradually letting go I’d be able to go further

又何必去改变已错过的时间
you he bi qu gai bian ni cuo guo de shi jian
and why bother changing the times that you’ve missed

你用你的指尖 阻止我说再见
ni yong ni de zhi jian zu zhi wo shuo zai jian
you used your fingertip to stop me from saying goodbye

想像你在身边在完全失去之前
xiang xiang ni zai shen bian zai wan quan shi qu zhi qian
imaging you being by my side before you completely disappear

你说把爱渐渐 放下会走更远
ni shuo ba ai jian jian fang xia hui zou geng yuan
You told me that by gradually letting go I’d be able to go further

或许命运的签 只让我们遇见
huo xu ming yun de qian zhi rang wo men yu jian
Perhaps life’s destiny only allowed us to meet

只让我们相恋 这一季的秋天
zhi rang wo men xiang lian zhe yi ji de qiu tian
(and) Only allowed us to love this one season of fall

飘落後才发现 这幸福的碎片
piao luo hou cai fa xian zhe xing fu de sui pian
only after the pieces drifted down that I realized these are the pieces of happiness

要我怎麼捡
yao wo zen me jian
How do i pick them up


*Credits to FSUTan for the translation*

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Trying to abide by my philosophy of 拿得起，放得下。If I can pick it up, I can also let go. Right? Very useful philosophy for Work, and Life in General. 不是我的，是永远得不到。No use obsessing over it. Now that it's recorded here, I will read it multiple times and finally convince myself to believe.

How to be Zen

Apparently the trick to achieving inner peace despite being buffeted by storms is to acknowledge the offending storm, then ignore it. Because it is impermanent and hence will eventually go away.

So I've been practising acknowledging then ignoring things which disturb my inner peace.

Thus far, I've had mixed results.

Some things can be ignored. They pop up every now and again, and I acknowledge them then put them aside. And it's ok.

But for other things the longer you ignore it the more it grows. Like work. Specifically, my lab meeting presentation due tomorrow. Which is why I'm on blogger procrastinating.

Of canaries and canneries

A boisterous canary dug elephants from giant holes. Indeed, just keeping loose monsters neatly organized, provoked quiet remonstrances. Still, they unconditionally vested with xenophilic yellow zooids.

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Once upon a time, there was a canary who sung terribly lewd songs, because it believed it was a pirate. Having been raised by pirates, you see, it didn't know any better. It dreamed of a day when it could sail the high seas, liberate the rich from their riches, and 'AAARRRR' with impunity.

However, life is often cruel, and this dream was not to be. Instead, the Capt'n was from this world untimely ripped, and the grieving canary passed into the hands of the youngest deckhand, Mozart, whose unfortunate name had imbued his young heart with the desire to compose classical music.

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Iceland 6: debrief

Back in Singapore, I initially struggled to explain why I had so much fun in Iceland.

- We didn't see the Northern Lights
- The weather was mostly bad
- Only 4-6hrs of light per day (if not totally cloudy/rainy/snowy)
- We spent many hours driving

However,
- we ate really well, thanks to our icelandic home cooking expert
- it was very pleasant to spend many hours in the car with YH, Julia and Seok. Yes, there was some singing involved. And after awhile it was ok that the entire car smelt of antifreeze whenever we cleaned the windscreen. (Also nice chatting with YR and SW when we switched cars.)
- even when we were stormed in, somehow managed to entertain ourselves. if they ever need second careers, SQ and YH can start a talkshow...
- Iceland has a rugged beauty, and snow can transform a simple field of grass or scrub into a landscape worthy of Lord of the Rings/ vampire horror movie.
- awesome sunrises and sunsets. And believe me, the sun was ALWAYS either rising or setting.
- puffins.

Worth the trip. Might be even better in March (better weather?), and/or summer.

Iceland 5: Reyjkavik and Amsterdam

Jan 6th: Morning soak in the Blue Lagoon! It looks mystically blue in all the pictures, and is Iceland's most famous geothermal spa. The water in the lagoon is from the neighboring power station, having travelled from the ground, through the turbines, past a municipal water heater, and finally into the lava field that makes up the lagoon. At this point, its temperature is 37-39 Celsius.

Would have preferred it slightly warmer, but t'was a relaxing soak nonetheless. Moving from one part of the lagoon to another was a semi-awkward duck walk/crouch/swim, because the water was only chest deep-- yet the cold air made it absolutely necessary to submerge to neck level. We enjoyed the waterfall section: powerful shoulder massage. However, inevitably ended up tasting the water, which was blearghring-ly salty. High mineral (silica and sulphur) concentration. Supposedly good for skin, but bad for hair. Applied silica mud to our faces. Gloopy (like yam paste), and fun to play with, but not sure how beneficial it is. Hmm.. Thinking of yam paste is making me hungry.

Back in Reykjavik, we find a hotdog stand to stave off the hunger pangs. Delicious hotdog! Dressed in mayo, mustard, sauerkraut, and crunchy onions. very sexy. Dinner that evening was equally good. Icelandic Fish and Chips. I had the fried tusk: the batter was crispy but not too oily, and the fish.... Ah, the fish... firm meat, with bursts of juicy flavor. It was definitely a ratatouille moment for me.

I liked what I saw of Reykjavik =). Pity that the others left the next morning (Jan 7). SW and I felt somewhat bereft without the bustle of the group.

The shops had interesting and thoughtful window displays. Normal to see troll figurines in the window of a jewelry store, or any other store. And there is all this random sculpture in the streets. Quirky. =).

The cathedral (hallgrímskirkja) is a useful landmark. The exterior was designed to mimic basalt columns (like those at Reynisdrangar), but the interior looked newer, and had a stark, spartan feel (Lutheran church). It was commissioned and designed in 1937, but work only began in 1945 and it took 38 years to build! There's an interesting back story about how Iceland converted from Norse paganism to Christianity in ~1000AD. The King of Norway kept sending people over to convert them, and of course, the way to convince people in those days was to kill anyone who disagreed with you. In a final arbitration, everyone agreed to listen to Thorgeir Thorkelsson, a pagan priest. And he decided that Iceland should convert to Christianity, but the people could continue their pagan customs in private (i.e. eat horseflesh and kill unwanted babies by exposing them to the cold). Eventually, even private customs were banned, but not till Christianity and churches had gained a foothold. [This is a fantastic strategy, and totally transferrable to getting medical devices approved by the FDA. First, get it approved for a very safe indication. Then just make a series of minor modifications which will pass very easily, until you get to the one you really want.] Wikipedia also has an article on religion in Iceland.

The pond was voted 'Best Attraction' in a free tourist rag we picked up. It was stunning during sunset, and even after dark, one can spend many absorbing hours watching the swans, geese and ducks. They are extremely busy and vocal creatures. The pond would freeze over in winter, but the city keeps it hospitable for the birds by pumping in heated water.

The waterfront, where the viking ship sculpture resides, has a great view of the mountains. One can see  all the way to Snaefellsnes. Reminds me of Seattle, but even better, because there are more mountains. Went to an art gallery nearby, which had an exhibit of photographs from the 1920s. Divided roughly into studio portraits (grim looking, well dressed people), and fishing village pics (grim looking, wizened fishermen). There was also some modern art. One large piece had a bunch of green, brown and red, which I am convinced (after all the vampire movie discussions), depicts a zombie attack. I think modern art is like Harry Potter's Room of Requirement. It should be whatever you need it to be at that time. That being said, I'm not sure how to interpret my zombie attack imagery...

Lunch on Jan 7th was at Mamma Stein's, which claimed to serve traditional icelandic home cooking. We had fishcake (tasted like sotong ball, with texture of croquette), and lamb soup (lamb and celery, potato, carrot, leek). The lamb soup tasted like something Seok would make, but saltier. SW and I had an epiphany: throughout the trip, we'd been enjoying icelandic home cooking by Seok! We are convinced that she could've set up her own restaurant, and put Mamma Stein out of business...
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Jan 8th: Amsterdam! We spent our 8hr layover taking a canal tour, and going to the flower market. The city started from the 13th century as a small settlement on the banks of the river Amstel. As it expanded, concentric rings of canals were planned and built.

Canal tour was interesting. Learnt stuff like
1) Houses are taxed based on their widths. Hence, they became narrow and deep.

2) Because of the narrow frontage, furniture don't fit through the doors, staircases and lifts. Instead, stuff is moved in through the windows. A hook is provided near the roof for this purpose. Houses also tilt forward to provide more clearance.

Smell of pot everywhere. Walked into a mushroom and pot store at the flower market, which sold supplies for the home grower, and cannibis lollipops for 1 euro each =).

I like the buildings in Amsterdam. Old. Got character. Huge contrast between Hallgrímskirkja and Amsterdam's Oude Kerk. I like to go into churches to test if I can feel God. Even though Oude Kerk is Calvinist (that's quite close to Lutheran, yeah?), it feels more hallowed (??) somehow?? I think it's the old stones, the darkened interior, the expanse of width and height.

Iceland 4: Ice Paradise, Skaftafell

Vatnajökull is the big white patch which lies slightly off center in every map of iceland. This 'Glacier of Rivers' is Europe's largest ice cap by volume. There are 2 major volcanic centers under the surface of Vatnajökull. When the volcanoes erupt, they cause massive ice melt, and the subsequent flood is called a jokulhlaup. Frequent eruptions made it really hard to farm the land around Skaftafell, and the 2 farms in existence today are mostly for tourism. Interestingly, since sheep stopped grazing at Skaftafell, vegetation is starting to colonize the glacial deposits. (refs: iceland on the web, wikipedia)

Jan 2: We drive on the Ring road from Kirk to Skaftafell, and the first sight of the 3 outlet glaciers is, quite simply, stunning. The glacier tongues unfurl from jagged mountains, marching inexorably down towards the coast.

Soundtrack: anything from Lord of the Rings, or Italian tenors.

Our ice caving expedition was somewhat underwhelming. The 'cave' wasn't very deep, more like a hole, really. Still, fun to walk a little on the glacier, admire the blueness of the ice. (Water preferentially absorbs all the wavelengths of visible light, except blue. But bubbles or cracks in the ice make it appear white due to the internal reflections.) Ice caves are unstable structures: the roof is liable to collapse, and the entire cave moves as the glacier advances. Some nice pics here. Basically, the bluer the ice, the thicker and stronger the structure.
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Jan 3: Next morning, we set off at 6am to the Jökulsárlón (glacial lagoon), in hope of seeing the Aurora Borealis. The sky was clear, but solar activity low (1). Managed to see shooting stars! And another beautiful sunrise. But no luck with the Lights. FYI: Jökulsárlón visitor center only opens at 10am... We spent about 1.5 hours in near complete darkness at the parking lot, staring at the Christmas lights adorning the roof of the center...

The glacial lagoon is at the end of Breiðamerkurjökull glacier, which breaks off as a series of icebergs as it caves into the lagoon. The icebergs supposedly float in the lagoon for 5 years, before melting, or exiting in a stately procession out to the ocean. A bunch of movies have been filmed there, notably Tomb Raider and Die Another Day. The black sand beach at the outlet of the lagoon is festooned with stranded icebergs of all shapes and sizes. We spent many happy moments trying to capture these photogenic crystals. SQ declared at one point that he never wanted to leave =).

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Jan 4: stormy, so we had another lazy at-home day. Managed to work the DVD player. Watched 'Milk'. Did not watch the other available DVD, by the makers of 'The Urethral Diaries'. Attempted to dine in kirk, but NOTHING was open except the gas station. Dinner was a comforting though somewhat... awkward... combination of herbal chicken, herbal corn and herbal spinach.

Entertaining post-dinner session of scattergories. Note to self: 'bottle' is a very useful word.
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Jan 5: drive back to Reykjavik. Stopped at Vik for souvenirs, nice church, and sunrise at the beach. The sunrise looked especially good when framed by the long grass growing at the beach. Actually, everything looked better when framed by the grass. It's like ketchup... everything tastes better with ketchup. (Seok suggests Worcestershire sauce as a superior alternative. I will withhold judgement till faced with sufficient evidence.)

Skógafoss: yet another (pretty/nice/insert suitably pleasant adjective here) waterfall. Why so many waterfalls??? As we drive along the south coast, we saw multiple falls descending from steep cliffs just a couple hundred meters inland. Finally found a clue in the skogafoss wikipedia entry, which mentioned that those cliffs used to be the former coastline in S. Iceland, but the sea had receded. Turns out, the floods of glacial melt generated by volcanic eruptions also delivered large quantities of sand and gravel, extending the beaches seaward. Coolz... Felt like I learnt some geology while writing this blog post.

Also saw many traditional turf houses, which looked like they were buried in the hillside. Turf is composed of plant roots and sand. Strips are cut and dried, then used like bricks to construct the house. Apparently the final consistency is similar to cork. This website is a little too comprehensive, but has interesting pictures.

Photo credit: Julia

Dinner at the Grill Market in Reykjavik. The food was very tasty, we tried minke whale steak (gamey! I enjoyed it with the accompanying sauce, but the rest didn't really care for it.), and puffin burger (like beef). The star was undoubtably the duck breast, with sweet potato croquete. Mmm.

Northern Lights tour: wild goose chase around Keflavik. Felt like a lemming. Or a domesticated grazer. Herded together with a bunch of tourists. It was a bit of a shock to see so many tourists, because we had seen so few throughout our vacation.