Went to Boundary Bay on Sunday for a bit of a walk and a chance to take some photos. Encountered a number of bird photographers, which cued me to some smaller birds in trees I would not have noticed. There was a large group of snow geese hanging out in a field so I had am opportunity to test out my zoom feature on my camera. Spent about three hours walking and taking photos in the non rainy weather. Below are some photos of the walk.
Decided to check out a local hike with a hiking group. Met up with the group at the ferry to Bowen Island for our day trip to hike Mount Gardner. The weather was almost sunny in Surrey but was overcast at the ferry terminal. The ferry was a quick 20 minute trip to Snug Cove. After the ferry docked we had a couple of kilometer walk to the trail head. The weather was a bit wet but not really raining, just kind of misty. Not too bad of a hike but ended up stopping about 20 minutes from the top as the rocks were slippery and I was feeling out of shape after sitting around the last month since returning from India. Had my lunch and waited for the rest of the group and then headed back down. Here are some photos from the hike:
All booked for my next trip in April to China to walk along some more rural parts of the Great Wall. Details of the trip can be found here: Exodus Travel’s Walking the Great Wall.
I have now finally managed to upload all of my photos from my trip to India. The album can be found here. I have also included a photo browser below: 20160828_120836 Image 1 of 500
Woke up around 7:00 today and got ready for a day of touring around Jaipur. Had a bit of breakfast in the hotel and then met my guide and driver. We made a brief stop to take a photo of the Wind Palace, which is a nicely designed red colored building in the town area. We then proceeded on to the Amber Palace, which is at the top of a hill overlooking Jaipur. We toured around the Amber Palace. This guide was good and provided a good mix of information and time for me to take photos. After the Amber Palace we carried on to the observatory where there were a number of large instruments for telling the time and making astrological predictions. We then visited the City Palace for another detailed tour. Stopped for lunch and then visited a couple of workshops for textiles and gems. Didn’t buy any jewelry but did buy a couple of custom made tunics, which they will apparently deliver to my hotel by 9 tonight. Then headed back to the hotel to try and get the blogs up to date. Managed to get most of them posted! Then went for a pre-dinner drink on the rooftop bar. After the drink headed to my room for a brief stop before dinner and got a call that my order had arrived. Went down to collect the items and turn back up to the room to try them on – fit well and they turned out pretty good! Went for dinner and had a quick bite before heading back to the room to pack and get to bed early as I have to leave the hotel at 5:15 tomorrow for my train to Delhi.
Woke up and grabbed some breakfast (mostly donuts) before meeting my driver for the ride to Jaipur. On the way we stopped at Fatehpur Sikri, where a guide provided me with a tour of the remains of a Mughal capital, which was apparently abandoned after a few short years due to the lack of drinking water. The ruins were pretty impressive considering I had never heard of the site and that it was only used for a few years. It was pretty warm out and my attention span was not particularly long so I was getting a bit impatient by the end of the tour. We stopped for lunch and I had some rice, which was not particularly good. My driver and me headed on towards Jaipur. The driver suggested a stop at the Step Well, which I googled and decided was worth a stop for a photo. Didn’t have a guide but got out and took a few photos of the impressive geometric architecture, reminiscent of an Escher print. We then continued on towards Jaipur. I could definitely feel the cough coming on – not sure if it was a cold coming on our just the air quality. Got to Jaipur in midafternoon and decided to take it easy the rest of the day. Relaxed in my room for a bit and then had a pre-dinner beer on the hotel’s rooftop patio. Drank my beer, watched the sunset and listened to some peacocks squawk from a cell tower beside the hotel. Then headed to the restaurant for a quick dinner. Had some chili chicken and fries. After dinner went to bed to prepare for the day of sightseeing in Jaipur tomorrow.
Had to wake up early to check out and get my car to Agra. Met the the driver after a quick breakfast and headed to Agra. Definitely started to notice the air quality a bit more and started coughing on the way. Got to Agra before lunch and had a quick bite at the hotel and then relaxed for a bit until my guide arrived at 3. Fell asleep but woke up when they arrived – too late of a night in Delhi last night. Toured the Red Fort first and managed to get some okay photos bit it was pretty crowded and hot so I wasn’t lingering around too much. After the Red Fort we went to the Taj Mahal, which was also cro0ed. Toured around and managed to get some decent photos – was only a bit of scaffolding. Also got some cheesy photos of myself taken by some onsite photographer – not sure what I’ll do with those… After the sightseeing went back to the hotel and had some pasta for dinner – didn’t want to order a bunch of dishes so the pasta was easy. Then went to the room to attempt to upload some blogs and photos but the wifi wasn’t very fast. Off to bed so I can get ready for a day of traveling to Jaipur tomorrow. At least the car isn’t coming until 8 so I can sleep in a bit.
Woke up at 5 am and managed to get my stuff ready and get down for our early breakfast. Had some toast and fried eggs and we made our way to the airport. Still no Internet available. The Leh airport was quite confusing and chaotic but fortunately the local guide was there to get us through to our gate. I lucked out and got a window seat so I was able to take some photos as we flew over the mountains. When leaving Leh we flew quite close to the mountains. Arrived back to Delhi and took a while to get back to the hotel through the traffic. We were hungry so we grabbed some lunch in the hotel. I went for some pepperoni pizza, which was not too bad. Spent the afternoon relaxing and uploading some photos and blogs. Met a few of the others before the dinner in the hotel bar for happy hour. Had a couple of Kingfishers. We went to the same place as previous for dinner and I opted to try something other than the kebabs so I went for the Chinese fried noodles with chicken. Had some more Kingfishers. Everyone was having a good time so most of us went out to a bar for a few more drinks. The bar looked almost like a chain restaurant but had a live band and was a lot of fun. Got back to the hotel around midnight and said our goodbyes – sad to have to see everyone go :(. Then went to get my stuff organized and get to bed as my driver will be picking me up at 7:30 am tomorrow to head to Agra.
Got to sleep in for the last night in the tents and have a leisurely time getting ready before breakfast. After breakfast we presented our tips to the camp and pony crew and got in our jeeps to head to Hemis monastery. We toured around the monastery and museum. The monks were preparing for a large festival taking place soon. Our guide for the monastery was Chosphel, who was the tour leader on my previous trip to India. After Hemis, we headed back to Leh for a shower and a chance to clean up. Had a shower and then went for lunch with some of the others at the Penguin restaurant we had been to previously. I had some momos and a Kingfisher and we relaxed in the outdoor restaurant before heading back to the hotel. I did a bit of wash in the hotel and went through some photos. We then met for dinner to say goodbye to our trek guide who we would be leaving in Leh. We went to the restaurant overlooking the main shopping street that we had went to for a drink before. I had some chicken biriyani. We ended up hanging around drinking for quite a while. Got back to the hotel and packed stuff up as we had a 5 am wake up call for our flight back to Delhi.
An early start this morning as we had a long final day of trekking. We got our wake up tent tea at 6:00 am and had breakfast at 6:45. We set out around 7:30 and climbed up the hill to the Gongmaru La pass. The last bit was definitely a slow go but I made it to the top! The weather was nice and sunny but the top was a bit windy. We did not wait at the top got the remaining two as they were quite far behind. We started the steep descent down on the zig zagging trail. After a while the trail entered a canyon with amazing purple and turquoise colored rocks. Soon we had to descend to the river bed, walk along the rocks, cross small bits of river and had back up on the banks. Finally we stopped for lunch alongside the river after having to steeply climb the side and descend. For lunch we had soup, pasta, cauliflower and paneer, vegetables and tuna. Relaxed by the river for a bit before carrying on. The trail involved a lot more of the river bed, which I was beginning to despise, steep climbs up the side, walking along a 6 inch trail on the sandy sides and descending on steep, sandy and rocky trails. We finally came to a tea tent, which was about 2 hours from our camp. It appeared like the dreadful riverbed might be behind us. We stopped for a bit of tea and a rest and then carried on. Disappointingly, we had not seen the last of the river :(. We carried on with a bit more walking on the riverbed and a lot more narrow, crumbly trails above the river. Was definitely glad I wasn’t feeling dizzy! Finally, we came to the final camp! Had our cup of hot juice and set up my tent. Then a couple of us drank some “Godfather” beer and ate chips one guy bought at the tea tent above the camp. Was definitely a good celebration after completing the trek! The final two had a jeep meet them a bit before camp as it was now dark and us in the camp were getting hungry. They made it! For dinner we had fresh vegetable and mushroom soup, papadom, eggplant, curry mutton, potatoes, rice and dal. For dessert the chef made us a cake with chocolate icing! Since it was a bit later, most of us were pretty tired so there was no cards just a bit of post dinner chatter. Headed to bed around 9:30 so I could write up my blog and get some rest. Has been a great trek!
