The mournful lion - Luzern

Before leaving Luzern today we swung past a particularly poignant monument - the "mournful lion" as titled by Mark Twain. The lion really was a beautiful sculpture and in the drizzly rain, truly mournful.  He was commissioned to commemorate the massacre of Swiss Guards in 1792, sculpted in 1820.

What is particularly interesting is that if you look closely you will see the outline of a pig in the outer cave around the lion.  This was the sculptor's "hit back" at the establishment in protest of the wages he was paid for the work.  From what we have been hearing in virtually all the towns on this trip is this - do not mess with the artists as they will get you back in some form or other and they did - many times over, no matter how old the art!  For more information about the lion story click here .

The Swiss Alps! Oh my goodness!

Today was a dream come true!  I was lucky enough to go to the top of Mount Regi (6500 ft/1800 m) just outside of Luzern.  The day was spectacular with temps of only 8 C and absolutely glowing sunshine.  We travelled by coach to the base of the tram and boarded with eagerness befitting of children only 10 years old.  We couldn't wait and had cameras ready.  We were in the car of the tram that looked "where it was going" so had an excellent vantage point for pictures down the mountain as the tram went up.  We had seen this tram a couple of days before but hadn't appreciated that it was the only form of transport for the hill people living in chalets along the route.

Can you imagine living in one of these beautiful chalets and taking in all your supplies on the tram?  It is Heidi all over again!

As we approached the top there were more chalets for tourists to rent and some hotels.  At the midpoint there were mountain spas as well.  But the goal for me was to get to the top and see the Alps of the 4 neighbouring countries - Germany, Austria, Italy and Switzerland.  The sun was shining and someone was on our side!  The sight was spectacular!

The wind was blowing and some felt that it was cold and unreasonable but for this Canadian who loves winter and cold, it was seventh heaven!  Yes, we were bundled up and had our hats and mitts on, but WOW, how can anyone object to views over the Alps on a sunny day!  It's just incredible and I surely urge everyone to try it at least once!

We left the mountain by a gondola, that had only 3 towers and some very steep drops!  How exciting!  My best day yet!  I doubt it can be topped!

The Rhine Falls

The Rhine Falls are one of Switzerland's most visited sights and rightly so - they were absolutely beautiful with the sun shining on the water and catching the light, just right!  The falls are the largest falls in Europe measuring 150 m wide and 23 m high. The water rushes over the edge at a great speed creating a fine spray and great white caps.  The rock formation in the middle of the river used to actually be the side of the river but over time erosion has cut away a second path for the river to flow.  The glacial flow is clear and cold at this point and is on its way to where the main Rhine River is deemed to start.

Following our stop at the falls, we headed to Schaffhausen, a medieval village with amazing artwork on all the buildings dating back to the 12Century.  It was also special because it was Christmas Eve and the last of the shoppers were out enjoying the main street, the village tree, some gluwein.  This was very much a fairy village.

The Rhine starts here at lake Constance and we just had to try the temperature!  Yes, it was cold!

And the gluwein HOT!  What a treat in these European countries at this time of the year!

Christmas is really celebrated on Christmas Eve, so back to the hotel for a special meal!
More tomorrow!

Christmas Eve day in Zurich

What a splendid day it was - temperatures around 8C!!! and clear blue skies and no wind.  How can anyone ask for any better type of day for sightseeing in the winter?  In the morning we had a quick coach tour of the town and then set out on foot to see the sights "up close".  We were rewarded with a fabulous swan joining us to see what was going on!  Swarovski was everywhere in Zurich and their icon is a swan, how could we not indulge in a little photography - and the swan obliged most willingly!  Even puffed up to look like the icon for us!

Another spot that tickled my fancy were the really neat cafes - and the warm blankets ready and waiting to be used, should the day turn cooler!

Would love to have stopped and enjoyed a hot chocolate with Swiss Kirsch in it and get wrapped up in the robes!

As we walked along the river we saw another semi-familiar site for Canadians!  It was a rowing boat race - not unlike our polar bear dip in a way..... Crazy folks out enjoying the water in the winter!!

No fundraising that we could see - just good fun!

And further on we heard all about the Grosmunster church - the largest in Zurich.  Construction started in around 1100 and was completed around 1220.  It was situated on the hill overlooking the river and the two towers are famous landmarks in the city.  We decided later to go back to the church for the late Christmas Eve service - in German, but hey - how different is the Christmas story in any church?  The real tree was decked with candles and as they burned low and eventually burned out, another switch was thrown and the whole tree lit up with fairy lights - a lovely transformation!  Here is the church during the day.

There were so many other beautiful buildings spanning a number of centuries.  Zurich is a place to visit and spend more time!

Christmas in Zurich!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!  Here we are on another adventure!  We are travelling in Europe, down the Rhine River for the Christmas holidays!  Today, Christmas Eve, we are in Zurich!  Looking out the window from our Continental Hotel - who should we see?  Santa himself!

What fun to look out at 4 AM and see Santa!  Yes, 4 AM - we arrived early yesterday, walked the town and then fell into bed for welcome sleep, after a long, but uneventful night on Air Canada across the pond!  We were tired!

Zurich is a beautiful city and we headed straight out to see the largest indoor Christmas market and the spectacular Swaroski Christmas tree!  It is over 15 m high and covered in over 500 individual crystals and, we are told, 500 pounds of fake snow (well...it IS indoors!)

What also caught my eye was this lovely giant windmill - reminiscent of the beautifully carved wooden ones you have at Christmas with small candles to make them turn.

We are doing a walking tour of Zurich later this morning and then a tour of Rhine Falls this afternoon.  More later!

Oddities - Cambodian Markets

There were two major sights we saw regularly in Cambodia, among the many super, interesting, other things.  One were the fabulous and wondrous UNESCO temples and the other, various markets-floating or otherwise.

I think we all appreciate that everyone needs a place to shop and that local cultures dictate different types of both needs and provisions.  However, the abject poverty we saw in Cambodia coupled with the amazing markets filled with every type of produce, agri-product, animal, fish or craft you can think of was astounding.

Our first experience of this was in Siem Reap, before we even got to the Mekong River.  The Siem Reap market was very "close" and vendors were eager to show, share and sell their "wares".  In addition to the numerous food stalls selling raw meats and fishes, vegetables and fruits, there were many more selling fabrics (AKA silk and cotton), dolls, ceramics, tourist trinkets, gold and silver jewellery, fans, shirts, blouses, purses, shoes and more.

This particular stall was actually quite spacious, airy and well lit.  Many were half the size and in the interior of the market place - much stuffier, close quarters and very hard to clearly see what was for sale.

Just outside the market, you can see the myriad of choices for local transportation - motorized tuk tuks and the like.  At night, this became quite a thoroughfare and not many had lights!

I have already shared with you the road side market we encountered as we drove to the Mekong River the next day - that's the one with the bamboo rice sticks and the fried spiders and crickets.  (check another post!)  But what I want to show you today was the amazing variety of flowers, rice, fish and other edibles that we came across at the Sa Dec market.  There must have been over 100 sellers and truly - absolutely anything for sale!  You can see the many stalls here, along the riverside. 

But truly, what was so fascinating were all the items for sale.  I'll try to show a few, of the more unique, things in these next pictures.

 Catfish

 Many kinds of fish

 Chickens - they would kill and clean while you wait or come back

 Long bowls of choices

 Crabs

 

"Clean" rats (not garbage rats... we were told!)

 Snails - lots of different sizes - but not escargots!

And just a few more for variety!

 Some lovely flowers

 Noodles and rice

 Chilis, ginger and onions - the chilis were HOT!

 Fresh duck....

And fruit - cut/peeled the way you like it

All for now - more next time!

Spiders for Breakfast? Cambodia

Need to fast forward to Cambodia!  It's been absolutely amazing!  We spent 3 days in Siem Reap and visited the world renown Angkor Wat temples, among others.  Pictures will follow.  It has been incredibly hot and I am truly wilting!  I'm just not used to 36C + weather.  Nonetheless, we are totally in awe of the ancient technology used in building these massive temple complexes.  It is not unlike the feeling you get at the pyramids or Stonehenge.  The amazing detail of all the stone work, the huge design of buildings and the layout on the properties is hard to take in.  They are beautiful in their own way, even with the various bits that have worn in the past 1000 years.

Fast forward - we drove down from Siem Reap beyond the Ton le Sap Lake to meet up with the riverboat on the river.  The lake is too low to accommodate the boat right now.  The rainy season is around the corner. The farms here are dry and brown versus the very green fields we saw in Vietnam.  The Cambodians just don't have the irrigation systems the others have.

Enroute we had the dubious pleasure of checking out what the Cambodians call KFC (Kambodia Fried Crickets!) and OTHER delicacies!  This is "too much information" for me but I enjoyed seeing the fruits and vegetables the locals had for sale at this little coach stop.  However, members of our group thought trying the spider legs and crickets would be a fun challenge - good for them.  Pictures are enough for me!

I'm so blessed not to have lived in Cambodia in the Khmer Rouge days when it was absolutely crucial for people to eat this type of "protein", just to survive.  As I said, fruits were better for me!

Not long after this stop we got to our embarkation point at Prek Kdam.  We enjoyed the cooling rest and lunch break on the AMA Lotus River boat (our home for the next 7 days) and then were off to a very poor, floating fishing village near Kampong Chhnang.  This was our first true sight of Cambodians living on their boats and will be the subject of another post.

All for now...

Killing Fields Cambodia

The day we went to the Killing Fields in Cambodia was truly reflective and sad.  One cannot imagine the horror of living in this country, just a few short years ago (late 1970's).  Our guide shared his personal story en route to see the Killing Fields, which certainly put the experience into perspective for all of us.

I don't know what I thought I was going to see, but it wasn't quite what I imagined.  The area was actually a very peaceful and quiet place, with a grassy, treed park like atmosphere.  We learned that this had previously been a cemetery for Chinese merchants and so it drew less attention at the time.

You can see from the map that the area was actually rather small.  Once the guides had shared their thoughts, you could walk freely along the paths viewing the graves, trees, and other exhibits.  You can see how peaceful it all was.  There was definitely not a lot of chatter - each person alone with their own thoughts.

What was particularly interesting was the central monument - a tall tower with glass walls and many shelves inside.  This building was very special and to enter required great fortitude and respect.  The shelves were filled with skulls of the many people killed - a definite statement to remind, teach and ensure, this never happens again.  

It was important to see this piece of history, but I was glad to come away.  I "get it" and hope that others do too.

I can tell you more, but that is for a personal conversation if you wish, not a blog....

On to happier things in another post...

Elephants-Chiang Mai

I'm back now but there are many neat stories yet to tell - and to be honest thousands more pictures to share!  So, I shall carry on with this trip blog and hope you will enjoy.  Today, I want to share about the elephants in Chiang Mai, Thailand.  This is the place to be for elephants!

Although there are elephants all over Thailand there is a higher prevalence of them in the Chiang Mai area.  The particular training centre I visited, Chiang Dao, specializes in helping orphaned, young or otherwise damaged elephants learn necessary forest working skills with an eye to them returning to work. Our guide grew up in the area and confirmed that the use of elephants to work is still very high and the bond to Thai people extremely close.

The entrance into the centre was across a small river over a very wobbly but safe bamboo bridge - certainly no elephant would get out across here!  I hurried to the show centre where elephants were demonstrating their knowledge and skills.  This picture show how the mahout (trainer) is able to mount the elephant stepping up from their feet.

These next two shots show the inside of an elephant's mouth (while eating bananas!) and how they sleep.  Speaking of mouth, elephants eat about 1/3 of their body weight a day, in grass, leaves, bamboo shoots, twigs and of course fruit!  This could be up to 250-300 kgs of food and they drink 240 litres of water a day! Talk about diet!

A couple of other little jobs these fellas had been trained for were picking up litter and for fun...a little painting class on the side!  And yes, I do have this painting - I couldn't miss the opportunity to have another "Monet" in my collection!

The next stage of the visit was the most fun!  We got to ride the elephants in the jungle and river for quite a while experiencing their unique sense of humour, sense of direction, and insatiable appetite along the way!  My elephant's name was Son Boon (good luck) and we found that his naughty sense of fun as the leader of our group truly did need good luck!

Asian elephants are so much smaller than African ones you didn't feel unsafe at all.  Our Mahout was a riot and every time Son Boon decided to make a sharp turn, up or down a path in the jungle or to the river he would yell out "Oh My god..." surely mimicking many previous tourists!  What a hoot!  We just laughed as we knew we were totally safe!  The ride went through the jungle, along a very tiny creek bed, up some steep hills all while Son Boon was munching on the vegetation.  We found a red ants nest at one point but stayed clear!  Then the group went towards the bigger river and yes....into it we went!  We truly thought this was going to be a wet experience, but were pleasantly surprised with just a walk in the water!

A drink along the way was fine for the elephants - could have used one myself at this point!

After our ride we went along past some of the baby pens and had the opportunity to feed bananas to the mums and babies.  All proceeds from any purchases (including bananas) went to the upkeep of the animals.  

As we left the area we saw containers that are used to collect, dry and press the dung into paper materials.  The Centre's flyer, art paper and mailing tubes were all made of this type of paper. Right now it was too dry; the rainy season is coming.

This was a great segment of the day and well worth the stop.  I continue to marvel that at each turn there is something new, fun and exciting to see!  

More tales another day!