thetourist
Didier

First visit in Seoul
Seoul, South Korea
The next day we started to visit Seoul a bit and visited in the afternoon the Gyeongbok palace.
Gyeongbokgung Palace entrance
The guards luckily let us in,
so we could see how beautifull the place is...
On the way back to the hotel, this petrol station caught my eyes.
Korean Petrol Station
written by  thetourist on August 26, 2010 from Seoul, South Korea
from the travel blog: No news, Good news! in South Korea & Hong Kong

Arrived in Auckland
Auckland, New Zealand
In case you all wonder, we arrived safely in New Zealand after a small stop in Seoul. The trip was fine. Everything is fine except the internet access here in New Zealand. I will probably update this blog only when I will be back home.
So, do not forget, no news = good news.
written by  thetourist on September 15, 2011 from Auckland, New Zealand
from the travel blog: No news, Good news! in New Zealand (RWC 2011) & Fiji

I Resigned
Frankfurt am Main, Germany
Number 6 famous sentence
In exactly 1 month, I will take a long and really needed break. As a big fan of "The prisoner" TV serie, I feel quite like number 6 although his motivations are still unclear to me.
My goal is just to stop working and stop thinking about work more than 20 hours a day, leave the big cities, noise, pollution, cellphone and computer.
Well, there is a point here! Starting a blog will not quite fulfill the last issue. It seems I will have to meet quite some computers, so my email detox may not be so successful as I'm expecting it to be. I still have 30 days to think about it. Maybe this blog will just die before getting born
Be seeing you!
PS: Some links about "The Prisoner" serie
http://www.sixofone.co.uk/
written by  thetourist on September 13, 2007 from Frankfurt am Main, Germany
from the travel blog: No news, Good news! in Peru & Argentina

First thing first....
Seoul, South Korea
After a loooong travel, the first thing was to get some strength by going to a local restaurant. It was a succession of small dishes one better than the other. This is just a small example.
First Korean dinner
written by  thetourist on August 25, 2010 from Seoul, South Korea
from the travel blog: No news, Good news! in South Korea & Hong Kong

Electronics
Seoul, South Korea
12 floors of electronics......
Visiting South Korea without checking the last products available in electronics seems to me to be a nonsense. Here is one of those "markets" full of it. 2 floors only for cellphones, 2 for computers, 2 for cameras, ..., total = 12 floors of paradise for electronic fashion victims and/or for geeks.
To recover from so much emotions, I tried some Bi Bim Bap. Simple traditional Korean food and ... excellent!
Bi Bim Bap
Then back to some animated streets in Seoul, after the rain, where , again, excellent food was served at every corner of the streets.
written by  thetourist on August 27, 2010 from Seoul, South Korea
from the travel blog: No news, Good news! in South Korea & Hong Kong

Error! Try again....
Small problem....
As you can see, I encountered a "small" problem in the hotel. I could not resist taking a picture of it. The young generation of koreans is not small as one could think they are. In fact they told me the japanese are smaller than them. In the Seoul underground I could see one or two young korean almost as tall as me. The rest still look at me like if I was E.T.

Market...
Before leaving Seoul for Daegu in the south east, a small visit to one market. You'll find anything you might think about and what you will not think about also. According to the locals, everything is always good for your health.... from Ginseng ...
Ginseng....
to any kind of fish
Any swimming thing you like
After that, I tried some shabu shabu. It is basically some thin slices of beef that you will cook in some steaming broth (soup). Everything you see on the right plate are herbs (there are some noodles, mushrooms, soja, ... below)
It looks like the name of the dish comes from the noise it makes when the meat cooks in the broth. This way of eating is very fun (and I'm not talking about the difficulties you might experience catching the food with the sticks)
Shabu shabu

Information!
London, United Kingdom
Today I found by lucky some old pictures of the prisoner TV serie I was talking about in my previous post. You'll then discover another thing I have in common with Number 6.
Number 6 in his caterham
My precioussss!
The bad news is that I will have to leave it alone for some months while I will be traveling.
Now about this blog, the real beginning will be on the 17th of October 2007. I'm not good at giving news to my family, friends, (title of the blog!) ... so the idea will be just to put some - hopefully - nice pictures.
There will be also, for personal reasons, un peu de texte en francais y tambien en castellano (mal escrito seguramente :-)
written by  thetourist on September 23, 2007 from London, United Kingdom
from the travel blog: No news, Good news! in Peru & Argentina

Out of the city
Andong, South Korea
After having taken the fast train at 300 km/h from Seoul to Daegu, I'm ready to enjoy another 2,5 days more in the south. That will allow me to see more traditional side of Korea.
The visit of the Byeongsan seowon (seowon means private school) was a first stept to understand Korean traditions. This confucian school is the leading one for the memorial of masters and education (respect of the older, respect of the parents, ...). Students were coming here since 1572.
Alcohol was not allowed in (not good for concentration). Women were not allowed for the same reason.
written by  thetourist on August 29, 2010 from Andong, South Korea

Korean barbecue
Andong, South Korea
Time to eat... again. This time trying the local version of barbecue. Like the shabu shabu, it is a fun way to do it. The fire is in the middle of the LOW table (the copper tube you are seeing is a heat extractor) and you cook everything yourself. You may wonder how you cut the meat? No, not with the sticks. A very friendly and helpful woman is taking care of that for you with ... scissors.
Then you put a leave (can be sesame or lettuce) in your left hand, catch the meat using the sticks with your right hand, dip it in a salt crystals, put it on the leave, add a slice of garlic, spicy korean red sauce, roll the leave and eat it. Doing this without spilling anything on your clothes get you 10 extra points...
written by  thetourist on August 29, 2010 from Andong, South Korea

Ahoe village
Andong, South Korea
The visit to Hahoe Village (translating to “Village Enveloped by Water”) was promising. The fact that it was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List under the category of “Historic Villages in Korea” recently (July 31, 2010) is maybe a sign. In fact you have there the opportunity to see a traditional village and also the Hahoe Byeolsingut Tallori (Korean traditional masked-dance Drama)
Unfortunately, someone opened the water and it started raining non-stop like in the Forrest Gump movie, so the masked dance was cancelled. That's a good reason to come back!
written by  thetourist on August 29, 2010 from Andong, South Korea

Fish
On the way south east of Daegu, before visiting Gyeongju, the former capital of Korea, a stop in Gampo on the seaside for some raw fish restaurant.
It' s very easy, ..., just choose from the menu here
The procedure is the same I explained before for other dishes. You will put the fish in a leave, adding some spicy korean red sauce. No need to explain that everything is fresh (you can chose the fish you want from a tank outside) and excellent

Finally the first "no news"
Lima, Peru
Catedral
Today was the "real" first day of holiday! After a short stop of 3 days in Buenos Aires, now I´m in Peru in Lima and leaving tomorrow morning for Cusco. As expected, it seems not easy to upload pictures so as soon as I find a good place, pictures will come.
Today was anyway only for typical touristic pictures with monuments.
Mercado Central
One thing is sure: I will not starve (mourir de faim!) in Peru. There are a lot of interesting things to try.
Convento san Francisco
Things I saw today: Plaza de armas, palacio del gobierno, catedral, palacio episcopal, plaza san Martin, Convento san francisco (visit highly recommended!) and ...
Dulce de leche in bucket, mmmmh
the not touristic at all (therefore very good for me) mercado central where you find basically everything (including a 20 kilos bucket of dulce de leche!)
written by  thetourist on October 22, 2007 from Lima, Peru
from the travel blog: No news, Good news! in Peru & Argentina

Bulguksa temple & Royal Tomb (Chunmacheong)
The Bulguksa temple is said to be the nicest temple of Korea. It really is. Specially when you think that it has been built in 751 and destroyed 2 times during japanese invasions.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bulguksa_Temple
Some prayers are attached to those red globes on the ceiling of the temples.
Here, some "details" I liked during my visit.
Then a small visit to the royal tombs (Chunmacheong). The small hill you see here is where the tomb is. One has been opened to show to the public. This is the one of an unknown king from the Silla Kingdom. You can see replicas of golden jewels, weapons found there with the king.
I was told that servants and the whole family were buried alive with the king to assist him during his journey. That has changed afterwards.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheonmachong
Chunmacheong (Royal tombs)
Before going back to Daegu and before the next storm, I enjoyed the view of this beautiful Field of lotus flowers.

Last lunch in Korea
Close to the Incheon airport (the airport is on a island) and on the seaside, it was time to try another barbecue. This time with sea shells, clams. To be honest, I don't know almost any of them. As always, you can choose what you want from the tank.
And the lady is preparing everything for you. She gives you a glove to hold the "burning" shell with your left hand. The right hand concentrates on fighting with the sticks as usual.
Very tasty and fun again.
That concludes the trip to South Korea. It was an interesting experience. One thing I'd like to mention. Everybody we met there was very friendly and there was always someone to help (without asking for it) in case.

Hong Kong
Hong Kong, Hong Kong
The first thing that strikes you when you arrive in Hong Kong is the humidity. I compare this climat to the one of Rio de Janeiro with the difference that, here, you have a very heavy city smog. Saying this explains already why this city is not for me. The fact that 7 millions people are living on 1100 km2 does not help. This is one of the most densely populated area in the world. That will be difficult to take some pictures without humans on it :-)
Hong Kong island view from the top (The peak)
This city is full of lights and it looks like it never sleeps
The island viewed from the mainland
written by  thetourist on September 1, 2010 from Hong Kong, Hong Kong

Aberdeen fish market
Hong Kong, Hong Kong
South of the island, in aberdeen, there is a fish market where probably all the fishes sold in any restaurant in Hong Kong are coming from. Clearly not a place for tourists but that's not the kind of things that stops me. If you decide to go, be prepared. Best thing is to have plastic boots. They didn't like me to take pictures but here are some
This area looks really poor/real compared to the expensive/fake Hong Kong picture I had on the island. This alignment of boats attached one to the other reminds me some James Bond pursuits in a floating fish market
written by  thetourist on September 2, 2010 from Hong Kong, Hong Kong

3400
Cusco, Peru
Sleeping on a bank in Cusco`s plaza de armas
After a short flight, finally arrived in Cusco. You may wonder the title but Cusco is 3400 meter high. Still didn`t try the coca leaves tea but that may happen quite soon.
Typical peruvian costume
Night in Cusco
The day was just for resting and visiting the main city and in the evening trying some typical peruvian food. Don`t ask me why, but one of the speciality is Guinea pig called cuy here (to be pronounced couilles pour les francais!!!)
Onthe touristic side, Cusco has a very nice Plaza de armas
written by  thetourist on October 23, 2007 from Cusco, Peru

Signs everywhere....
Hong Kong, Hong Kong
Another thing that strikes me, probably because I was just coming back from South Korea where everything is spotless clean and people are naturally respecting everything without beeing forced to, is the quantity of prohibition signs.
They are everywhere and for everything. Sometimes I found up to 6 or 7 signs on a rubbish bin saying:
do not throw outside bin
do not smoke (fine 5000 HK$)
please put the cigarettes ends in ashtray
do not throw lit cigarettes ends in bin (fine 1500 HK$)
do not sit on bin
please put waste newspaper in litter bin
and the best one
for complaints or suggestions please phone xxxx or hotline xxxx
Some examples of signs I found
I was not really expecting finding a sign here, but, here it is.
Please don't climb up
Last one in the bus. At the end, it is difficult to make the difference between what is forbidden and what is recomended to do. The "mind your head" sign should placed in a different place or be more explicit... maybe I'll phone the hotline for my suggestion. Why am I saying this? because I hit my head while taking the picture :-)
I suggest a sign saying "mind your head while taking pictures" or "Do not take picture (we decline any responsabilty in case you hit your head doing this!)"
To recover from this, I tried some Dim Sum. These are kinds of dumplings filled with different things. They are cooked on a steaming basket.
Dim Sum
written by  thetourist on September 4, 2010 from Hong Kong, Hong Kong

Still in Cusco
Cusco, Peru
Plaza de armas, Cusco
Second day in Cusco before the big day tomorrow.
There will be no news the next 4 to 5 days because i will be on the inca trail (camino del inca) with the highlight: Machu Pichu.
You can follow my theoretical progression in this trek using the following link
Saqsayhuaman
Today was a day for preparation of the long 4 days trek, shopping and visiting a monument called saqsayhuaman (to be pronounced sexy woman!) located on the top of Cusco
Oh, last word, food. Yes just finished a steak of alpaca.... One of those...
Smile for the stupid tourist (me!)
written by  thetourist on October 24, 2007 from Cusco, Peru

Inca trail - Day 1
Ollantaitambo, Peru
After a bus ride from Cusco to Ollantaytambo, we are ready to start our 40 km trek in 4 days (better said 3 as the last one will be in Machu Pichu)
Inca trail altitudes
Today is a gentle 10 km trek up from 2682m to reach 3100 for our first camp night at Wayllabamba
Luxury toilets in Camp 1
On the way, the first inca archaelogical site: Salapunku
Salapunku
written by  thetourist on October 25, 2007 from Ollantaitambo, Peru

Inca trail - Day 2
Ollantaitambo, Peru
The most difficult day of the program and I was happy to know they could repair my shoes if needed :-) I still wonder if they ever repaired one size 47.
We sell everything like Carefour
We start at 3100m to reach the highest point of the trek at 4200m (the Warmiwanusca pass), the down to the valley to reach the Pacamayo camp at 3640m. All this in 12 km.
View from Warmiwanuska - at 4200 meters !!!
written by  thetourist on October 26, 2007 from Ollantaitambo, Peru

Pisaq Market
Pisaquil, Peru
Today just a short trip with local buses to Pisaq. The "theoretical" market is really for tourists but just aside of it you can still see a smaller one with unknown (at least by me) vegetables. A lot of colors indeed.
Almost art!
On the top of the moutain surrrounding the village, some ruins. The fact is: after having seen the machu pichu, it is like a non spicy indian dish :-)
Pisaq ruins
written by  thetourist on October 30, 2007 from Pisaquil, Peru

Inca trail - Day 3
Ollantaitambo, Peru
Longuest day with 18km and 2 passes.
We start from 3640m up to 4000m (Kununakay) then down to 3300m and up again to 3700m to the 2nd pass of the day (Sayaqmarka) where we have lunch
Suddenly the rain arrived making the downhill of 1000m more difficult on those very high steps
Sayaqmarka
Winawayna (forever young in quechua)
The we arrived at the camp at 2700m called Winawayna (forever young). There is a very nice inca site just 5 mins from there. I was told by the guides that most of the trekkers don´t go to see this site because they are too tired after the 18km trek of the day. Unbelievable!!!
written by  thetourist on October 27, 2007 from Ollantaitambo, Peru

Machupicchu, Peru
Wake up at 4:00 this morning to start the last 2 hours of the trek to Machu Pichu.
Some very hard steps leads us to where we should have the first view on Machu Pichu. Damned! it is full of clouds!
On the (hard) way to ... amarello... machu pichu
Later on, fully sunny day and Machu Pichu is full of tourists. I don´t know what I prefer ;-)
Machu pichu in the morning
As we didn´t have enough climbing, a last 1 hour climb to Wayna Pichu to enjoy a splendid view on Machu Pichu (tourists are smaller from there :-)
Machu pichu viewed from Wayna pichu
Then down to Aguas Calientes for the first hotel night since 4 days. Looks like someone suddenly opened the roof and it started to rain non stop the whole night (including inside the hotel room)
written by  thetourist on October 28, 2007 from Machupicchu, Peru

Lucky me! A village anniversary celebration
After taking the train to leave Aguas Calientes, arrived in Ollantaytambo that is, by lucky for me, celebrating its 133rd anniversary. There, I did one of the best picture till now (check the 2nd picture).
A lot of costumes, dances, food and no tourists. Great! I don´t want to leave!
Ollantaytambo 133th birthday
Looks like she saw me
Eat a very good trout but then saw a full Guinea pig (cuy). I regret to have eaten that trout already. At least I have tried the Guinea pig earlier in the week (Sorry mum!)
Cuy (guinea pig)

Going north of Argentina
Buenos Aires, Argentina, Argentina
After coming back from Peru last week, I had a break in Buenos Aires, Argentina to prepare the second part of the trip. The goal is to travel first north to reach La Quiaca at the Bolivian border and then follow the road 40 to the south. This road follows basically the Andes. I will use it as main road but will also try to see what is around it. I will also meet some friends in two weeks and do part of the travel with them so that we will deviate (quite a lot) from the road 40 to see majors attraction (more to follow).
So today I left Buenos aires with the idea to reach as fast as possible some nice northern cities. The first 200 km out of Buenos Aires are just terrible to drive, but it is a good training to remember the basic rules of driving here. After having been in India earlier this year, at least argentine respect some rules.
It is all about who gets the priority.
Rule 1: Priority depends on the size of the vehicule. Trucks go first, then buses, 4x4, cars, motorbike. In the city, buses and cabs share 95% of the priorities.
It looks like that outside Buenos Aires, the portenos (habitants of Buenos Aires) feel they always have the priority. This creates some crashes!
Rule 2: Pedestrians have no priority: they are not a vehicule
Rule 3: Animals have priority only (and therefore better considered as humans) if they can damage your vehicule. A cat against a car has no priority. A sheep has! The same sheep may not have it against a truck.
Rule 4: lines on the road are purely informative.
Rule 5: If a truck wants to signalize that you can pass him, he puts the left turning indicator on. Not the right one like in Europe!
Rule 6: If someone flash lights, it is not to say hello or to warn for the police. It is to check that you are awake. So you need to answer!
written by  thetourist on November 9, 2007 from Buenos Aires, Argentina, Argentina

Going north
San Miguel de Tucuman, Argentina
San Miguel de Tucuman is a very nice and dynamic city. It is also the city where the independance of Argentina was declared on the 9th of July 1816. Around the place of independance, a lot of very nice monuments. Here the San Francisco church.
San Francisco church
On the other side, I discover another culinary speciality. It is called panchuque and is, in fact, the sausage of the hot dog inside a kind of waffle. In every street, in S.M.d.Tucuman, they have those machines like we have to do waffle but they are not. Then they add mustard, ketchup or mayo on it. One thing that americans did not invent till now!
Panchuque
written by  thetourist on November 10, 2007 from San Miguel de Tucuman, Argentina

Small hell ...
Cafayate, Argentina
Cardones
Today, I left Tucuman a bit south to go to Cafayate (2nd capital of wine after Mendoza). I took a small interesting road that climbs till 3054 meter to reach the "paso infernillo" literally "small hell" ou "petit enfer". On the Tucuman side it was all green (and rainy) and on the other side like a desert wher I could see some giant candelabre cactus (cardones).
I have other things to tell but I´m not able to upload pictures today so I will update the comments when the pictures will be there.
written by  thetourist on November 11, 2007 from Cafayate, Argentina

I see red :-)
Purmamarca, Argentina
Today leaving Cafayate to Salta, Jujuy and then the very touristic place Purmamarca. The highlight today was the quebrada de las conchas (also called quebrada de Cafayate).
Red, red and more red
Everything is red and every corner is full of surprise.
Even the bridge is red
written by  thetourist on November 12, 2007 from Purmamarca, Argentina

Vicunas and lamas
La Quiaca, Argentina
First a picture of Purmamarca because the light was not great when I arrived yesterday,
Purmamarca
Colorfull cemetary
then one from the Tumbaya cemetary that simply a beautifull place on the top of a hill behind the village.
Going then north to the laguna Pozuelos where I plan to camp. On the way could see a lot of lamas and vicunas on the side of the road.
Vicuna
Lamas
Then when I arrived at the park laguna Pozuelos the guardaparque was not there. I asked in the nearby city and i guy told me that it should be ok if I wanted to camp there. My goal was to stay the night so that in teh morning, with good light, I could see some floyds and other birds. The laguna is at 3750m and the night was ... cold. -2 celsius when the Sunrise at 6:45. During the night I had some visit too. Some vicunas. it was funny to see them running when I point the torch in their direction. It was really worth a picture
written by  thetourist on November 13, 2007 from La Quiaca, Argentina

Higher than the Mont Blanc!
Cachi, Argentina
The reward of the cold night was there. After a 30 min walk I could be very close to the laguna and observe the pink and red floyds.
On my way some vicunas surprised to see someone walking there at that time.
Having reached the northern point of my travel, it was now time to finally follow the road 40 as I wanted to. There is no macadam there so less cars, everything very quiet. (not a good place to break your engine though!) but well, this is all what I wanted. In around 150 kms, I crossed only one car and they were asking me the way because some signs were missing. Well here you are, no signs, then strait ahead. That´s the way!
I reached Salinas Grande where you can literally drive on salt. Everything is white and after that you feel very thirsty.
Salinas Grandes
Then I reached San Antonio de los Cobres famous for the viaduc where the "very" touristic train to the clouds stops at 4300 m. I didn´t like the city so I decided to go on till Cachi. On the way the roads didn´t finish to climb to finally reach 4895m. Even if the Mont blanc grew from 3m since I learned it at school (4810 instead of 4807m), this is much higher and every corner was again worth a picture.
Almost the top
twisty road at 4895m
Update Sunday 18/11:
I encounter extreme difficulties to find a connection where I can upload pictures, so be patient :-)
written by  thetourist on November 14, 2007 from Cachi, Argentina

From the hospital to the church
Hualfin, Argentina
Another day of surprises! Following the not very large road (sometimes I didn´t want to think if the local bus will appear in front of me in the next curve!), one could clearly see 2 different types of landscape on the right and left. Desertic red on the right and green, rich (because of the river) left side.
The rich and the poor
The story of the day is that I was stopped by a oncoming car asking if I was going to Cafayate. These people met 2 sick german tourists on the side of the road trying to go to the next town with a doctor (hospital). I found them some 20 km after I met this people. They were still there waiting (4 hours waiting they said without having seen anybody going my way. That gives you the amount of stupid people like me travelling here.). Stupid I felt too because now I had to speak german the next 75 km on the way to Cafayate to bring the food poisoned (they say ?!?) tourists back to civilisation. More stupid, they were from Frankfurt (the city I was trying to forget about because of the last 2 years project I was working in). Grrrrr. Hate that.
After that (und tschuss!), I decided to not stay in Cafayate (where I was already on my way north) and stopped before the night arrived in Hualfin.
(IMG62 3)There I found the best house to stay with an old lady (Nona) that was taking care of me like her son. I was the first french here she said. The other reason why I stopped there is because this village, in the middle of nowhere have a very interesting church that was built in 1770. Have a look.
Hualfin`s church
Hualfin `s church inside
written by  thetourist on November 15, 2007 from Hualfin, Argentina

Nothing wrong can happen!
Villa Union, Argentina
After the yesterday´s story, today I will explain what is the Difunta correa one. It appears that from time to time you can see some small vault (hope I translated it correctly!)(capillas ou chapelle in french) on the side of the road. Difunta correa is the story that happened 150 years ago. A woman with her baby the was lost in the middle of nowhere. She died but the baby survived by drinking her milk. So, on the side of the road, when you see one of those place (that clearly say Difunta correa), you should leave a bottle of water to thank her (or somebody above :-) I don´t know for what you get. People do that also to ask for something. Check here http://www.visitedifuntacorrea.com.ar
Difunta correa
Another one that is protecting your way. At first I read the last line too fast (validad instead of vialidad) which made me translate by "national validity" instead of "on the national territory". I was feeling safe by knowing that an authority was certifying it would not happen anything to me :-) Now I feel sad to know she will protect me only if I´m travelling in Argentina. Spanish readers! Did I get everything right?
According to this, nothing wrong can happen
Today I also learned that bridges have also a nationality
Argentine bridge
and that London can be a nice city
London
written by  thetourist on November 16, 2007 from Villa Union, Argentina

Flying objects
San Carlos, Argentina
The road has always someting to offer. When the landscape is not at his best (2 big cities today, San Luis and Mendoza), the fauna is there to make you open your eyes like a kid (or father) with his new electric train.
I don´t have picture of everything I saw, but I´m quite successfull with condors. This one took me 30 minutes to be so close that they finally decided to say good bye.
checking both sides
It looks like the bigger the bird is the smaller distance I can approach.
Those little aguilas (eagle) are very easy to see but difficult to have in a decent picture... when flying,
Aguila flying
but by eating...
Aguila´s breakfast time
Those ones are more peacefull. On this road I saw thousands of those little butterflies. They just didn´t want to stay for the picture.
Butterflies on my way
My favourites, the condors
2 brothers
... flying
and attacking me
... just a joke!!
And to finish a chimango (don´t know the translation till now..)
Chimango (still quiet)
written by  thetourist on November 17, 2007 from San Carlos, Argentina

This it is all yellow and white
Chos Malal, Argentina
Colors, altitude, climate, animals, all is changing here! Now look how yellow looks like with some white in the background
Flower power
This one has no yellow, but now you have an idea how look like a siesta in the shadow.
Siesta time
written by  thetourist on November 18, 2007 from Chos Malal, Argentina

Leaving temporary the road 40
Esquel, Argentina
First, my apologies for the lack of news lately. It is quite difficult to find a place to upload pictures, so you may get all the missing posts when I will be back in Buenos Aires or Europe.
Today a big part of the ruta 40 was just ripio (stones) without anybody during 450 (talking about humans). At some point I crossed the way of a small train for tourists called Trochita. It is not the season so they were testing it and checking the track.
Trochita crossing my way on the old Ruta 40
The guy was quite surprised to see someone here I think...
Ché! Que tal?
Then I crossed the way of somebody else.... very surprised too... me , this time
Hehe, after seeing me, this guy will not do camping anymore!!
Tomorrow I will leave the road 40 to go to Puerto Madryn to meet some friends and show them some places I know and then continue my journey back on the ruta 40.
written by  thetourist on November 21, 2007 from Esquel, Argentina

Life of the pinguins
Puerto Madryn, Argentina
Not on the ruta 40 anymore but on the east coast to see 2 highlights on the Valdes peninsula (try to find a map, the shape of it is quite specific).
The weather has also changed (now I´m in the "real" Patagonia where wind make you feel like someone is playing with a huge ventilator turning it on and off so that you don´t get use to the speed of it)
The main city is Puerto Madryn and around 160 km south, there is punta tombo, one of the biggest natural reserve of magellan pinguins. They are around 70-80 cm tall and have this caracteristical white stripe around the neck. The breading season just started. You can just watch them and take a lesson of life. I choose a nice couple (Nestor and his wife Nestorita) to show you around. In case you go there, just ask for them in case you can not recognize them from the other couples.
Hi, my name is Nestor the pinguin...
this is my wife Nestorita and take care, YOU! I´m very jealous!!
Pinguins are very friendly but don´t put your finger, that may hurt...
... and I have nice teeth
I observed 1 or 2 eggs per couple with some births already and obviously Nestor Junior is very hungry
Foooooooood!!!!!
While Nestorita is feeding the children, Nestor is doing some exercise with a guanaco in the background that just don´t care.
Daily pinguin gymnastic in the morning
Not so funny but life´s reality. Those seabirds just steal everything they can. The little eagle is just queeing to get the rest of it, just in case...
Sorry for the comment below, I could not resist!
We definitely need to change our deo...
written by  thetourist on November 23, 2007 from Puerto Madryn, Argentina

Speachless in Puerto piramides....
Puerto Piramides, Argentina
What was not possible to do yesterday (the harbour was closed due to strong winds) is possible today. Inside the valdes peninsula, there is a little place called Puerto Piramides where you can see a lot of animals depending of the season you come. The whales (ballena Franca austral (baleines a bosses in french)) season is just finishing now so got lucky to see one mother with her child. They stay in the peninsula around 5 months per year and are resting there. The young get borned this year. He( or she) will stay one year with his "little" mummy. During the year it is possible to see in the same place seals, sea elephants, orcas, dolphins. This place is very famous to see orcas while they attack young seals directly on the beach. There was a famous one called Mel known to be a good hunter.
I have to say that whales are very curious and basically they are coming to see us closer. Therefore one can understand why it is just so easy to kill them. How do I say in japanese: "Please do not kill whales for "research" anymore" ?
Whales don´t throw water, it is just the result of when they breath if some water is staying above them. It makes a very powerfull and metallic sound. The marks they have on their head are unique so that is is possible to identify them.
Mother with her child coming to us
mother and child
In the background, the cliffs look like some pyramids. The name of the village comes from this.
Punta norte in the north of the peninsula where you can see some seals and sea elephants but they come later in the season
Punta norte in the Peninsula Valdes
What could I do today ???
written by  thetourist on November 24, 2007 from Puerto Piramides, Argentina

Back to the Andes
Esquel, Argentina
After the break on the Atlantic side, a long way back to the Andes and the road 40.
The road is not busy, landscape is changing, weather is good (the wind is pushing the clouds away from us) and wildlife is there. A lot of small lakes where Flamengos can be seen too.
Today a piche (armadillo or tatou in franch) could not escape from my camera. This animal has a bony armor shell that protects him in case of attacks (normally he would look like a bowl in that case).
Piche... smaller but smarter and faster than us
Then, close to Esquel, finally the Andes again.
And, as I like unusual(insolite) pictures on the road, ...
written by  thetourist on November 25, 2007 from Esquel, Argentina

Anybody can do that!
El Bolson, Argentina
On the way to El bolson, the road is full of those lupine flowers (lupino in spanish, lupin in french).
With such a landscape, I believe that it is difficult to do a bad picture.
written by  thetourist on November 26, 2007 from El Bolson, Argentina

Guess the today´s color...
Villa La Angostura, Argentina
On the way from El bolson to Villa La Angostura, the road is surrounded by yellow flowers. There are quite a lot of nice places to stop on the side of the big lakes to enjoy an empanadas picnic...
If only the car would have been yellow too ...
too much yellow can affect your view
written by  thetourist on November 27, 2007 from Villa La Angostura, Argentina

Road of the 7 seas, ..., 7 sins, ..., no! ... of the 7 lakes
San Martin de los Andes, Argentina
One possibility to go to San Martin de los Andes is to take the road of the 7 lakes. Everythings looks like some European country wher you have forests, lakes, trouts... Well, everything is just 10 times bigger (not the trout tough)
One of the 7 lakes
written by  thetourist on November 28, 2007 from San Martin de los Andes, Argentina

One of my favourite place
Junin de los Andes, Argentina
From San Martin de los Andes, a one day excursion to the huechulafquen lake. This is now a natural reserve where the natives (mapuche community) try to get back part of what was once them. On the way there is a small "research" center where the reproduce trouts. I also had an interesting hypnotization experience with a lama.
Lama hypnotization!
On the way to the Huechulafquen lake and the Piamun chapel, the view on the Lanin volcan is just great.
View on the Lanin volcano
Huechulafquen lake with black sand beach
The place at the end of the road is just a little paradise to me although it is not "exclusive" as it used to be. The road is now wider and better so that more tourists reach the place. It is still quiet somehow. The lake, this little chapel, that tree with such a strange shape, the wind and also the fact that you would not expect such things at the end of a road going to nowhere. That is just nice
Paimun chapel on the huechulafquen lake
Inside the chapel, the mapuche version is quite something.
Inside the Paimun chapel, a mapuche culture treasure
written by  thetourist on November 29, 2007 from Junin de los Andes, Argentina

Huemul means Andean deer
San Martin de los Andes, Argentina
It is known in every country: When the sun goes down (or up) it is the best time to see some animals. Today the local huemul came to say hello. They were 3 in fact and were so big (looks like my eyes are more trained to search for bugs, birds and so on) that I didn´t see them.
For one second I felt like beeing in Scotland where I could see all those deers around the house.
ok, this is your last chance for you to take a picture. After that I´m gone
Ok, ok, one more.
written by  thetourist on November 29, 2007 from San Martin de los Andes, Argentina

Real ... windy... Patagonia!
El Calafate, Argentina
The last 2 days travelling in the Patagonian steppe were quite interesting with changing landscape. The heat hit the stony road but the wind makes you come back to the reality. Yes, here we are in Patagonia, not in the Seychelles. The wind is so strong that I can not take a picture with a horizontal horizon :-) The tripod I brought for landscape pictures is of no use and is learning to fly together with my camera... not funny.
I don´t want to know how the same wind would be in the winter in such a desertic place. No need to mention that cellphones are not getting any signal here, In case of emergency, you can just try to burn it to make a smoke signal (if you manage to make a fire with that wind)
Heat on the road
Talking about wind, look a that sandstorm
6.0 in style, 6.0 in technical and 6.0 in synchronization
That guanaco came so close that I I didn´t know if he "guana" spit on me or if he was just curious as I was.
This piche looks like a medieval age war machine
Just to be seen on some 2 or 3 kilometers, those red bushes were quite interesting-
Red is an unusual color to be found in the estepa patagonica
written by  thetourist on December 2, 2007 from El Calafate, Argentina

What a landscape!
Puerto Natales, Chile
Still in Patagonia, but on the chilean side, the National Park Torres del Paine is a magical place that simply has everything in terms of landscape and wildlife. The mountains are not part of the Andes and the 3 towers in the middle gave the name to this park (torres=towers).
There are so many things to see that I will divide this topic in different sections. Landscape comes first.
I´ll probably put one of those as background for my computer...
written by  thetourist on December 4, 2007 from Puerto Natales, Chile

Don diego de la vega
Puerto Natales, Chile
Do you know your classics?
Well, a special post for don Diego de La Vega who was also... zorro. Zorro means fox in spanish and in torres del Paine you can see grey foxes (Red foxes can also be seen in other parts of Patagonia). Like other animals in the area, they don´t really fear humans and it is a pleasure for the camera to work with such models.
How close do you think I was for this one?
The female was not easy to approach but well, I´m not a fox.
written by  thetourist on December 5, 2007 from Puerto Natales, Chile

Un guanaco ...
Puerto Natales, Chile
Something amazing happened today. I was trying to get some close pictures of nandus and then, on the other side of the road, a guanaco was giving birth. In 20 minutes the young was on his feet getting some needed milk.
She changed several times the position on the left and on the right..
and the everything went quite fast
The first try was not successfull. Front legs are quite weak. All in all it did not take him more then 10 minutes to stay on his feet...
Error.... Try again.
et voila!
and less than one to find the food
written by  thetourist on December 6, 2007 from Puerto Natales, Chile

Guanaco´s life
In torres del Paine, the first things you will see are guanacos. They are just everywhere.
You can see the leader of the group taking care of its group by staying on one High Point and sometimes running (very fast) after the young ones to teach them what "territory" and "ownership" means.
I simply like their style..
Guanaco flexibility
This "future" ? couple had this game biting the neck of the other. It was funny to watch them.
Is this love ?
In December, such young ones can be seen.
This one still needs some education...
Insolent baby guanaco like those kids on the back window of a car

Grey biiiiiig chickens
Other inhabitants of Patagonia are Nandus. They look like ostrich (autruche). They are quite difficult to see as they have the same color as the ground or bushes. If they sit, from far away, you can think it is a bush.
They are more afraid of humans than guanacos for example. They run fast too.
The nandus are also called choique in mapuche. The young ones are called charitos. Everytime I saw a mother with young ones, she had between 10 and 15 of those little ones running everywhere.
Come on kids
Nandus have style too...

closer and closer
Just to finish about Torres del Paine, some pictures about chimangos again.
There is so much easy food around with those young ones of any kind everywhere, that you can always find a group of chimango eating somewhere. The most difficult thing to approach them is to be against the wind with the sun in the back for the picture. Not easy, but this time I could get a bit closer.

Some panoramic views...
El Calafate, Argentina
For those of you that had the patience waiting for some new pictures, I have created, from the tons of pictures I did at the Perito Moreno Glacier, some panoramic pictures. This Glacier is so wide that I thought it would be the only way to show how it really is.
They look a bit the same (unless for the left side of the Glacier that is a mix of 11 pictures), and maybe not so nice to see through this web interface, so do not hesitate to download them and see if you like them better.
On the first one you can see some people on the left
That is the left side of the Glacier viewed from the boat.
Another view a bit later in the afternoon with a bit more sun.
written by  thetourist on December 8, 2007 from El Calafate, Argentina

Ice, Ice, Ice
El Calafate, Argentina
First, I apologize for the delay in uploading pictures. During the last days of the travel it was almost impossible to find a place to do that.
At around 70 km from El Calafate, there is this very impressive Perito Moreno Glacier (not to be mistaken with the Perito Moreno city). It is very difficult to describe how it is and even picture do not show as you would see it with your own eyes.
Here are some numbers to help you imagine it:
The terminus part is 5 km wide, with an average height of 70 meters above the surface of the water, with a total ice depth of 170 meters. It advances at a speed of up to 2 m per day!!!
It covers a surface of 250 km2 on a 30 km length.
But numbers do not say anything until you see it by yourself. So I just found a quiet place, sit and watch the ice cubes falling...
small ice cube
Imagine 30 km of ice like this
written by  thetourist on December 7, 2007 from El Calafate, Argentina

Camera ready?

Go!

Gone...

What have I done!

Can I go, Sir? Please!

Life is good ;-)

Learning to fly

Let's reach that little yellow boat safely...

Chunmacheong (Royal tombs)

Dim Sum

Please don't climb up

Any swimming thing you like

Small problem....

Shabu shabu

Ginseng....

12 floors of electronics......

Bi Bim Bap

First Korean dinner

Gyeongbokgung Palace entrance

Korean Petrol Station

Come on kids

Is this love ?

et voila!

Error.... Try again.

Insolent baby guanaco like those kids on the back window of a car

Guanaco flexibility

Lago grey with the glaciar in the back

Red is an unusual color to be found in the estepa patagonica

This piche looks like a medieval age war machine

6.0 in style, 6.0 in technical and 6.0 in synchronization

Heat on the road

ok, this is your last chance for you to take a picture. After that I´m gone

Ok, ok, one more.

Inside the Paimun chapel, a mapuche culture treasure

One of the 7 lakes

View on the Lanin volcano

Huechulafquen lake with black sand beach

Paimun chapel on the huechulafquen lake

Lama hypnotization!

Piche... smaller but smarter and faster than us

Punta norte in the Peninsula Valdes

What could I do today ???

mother and child

Daily pinguin gymnastic in the morning

this is my wife Nestorita and take care, YOU! I´m very jealous!!

Hi, my name is Nestor the pinguin...

Ché! Que tal?

Hehe, after seeing me, this guy will not do camping anymore!!

Trochita crossing my way on the old Ruta 40

Cardones

Hualfin `s church inside

Hualfin`s church

Colorfull cemetary

Purmamarca

Even the bridge is red

San Francisco church

Panchuque

Cuy (guinea pig)

Ollantaytambo 133th birthday

Machu pichu viewed from Wayna pichu

Saqsayhuaman

Almost the top

Plaza de armas, Cusco

Night in Cusco

Sleeping on a bank in Cusco`s plaza de armas

Dulce de leche in bucket, mmmmh

Convento san Francisco

Catedral

My precioussss!

Number 6 in his caterham