Hiking and Travel Photos: 2019

Pictures and narratives from my trip to the Philippines with a quick stop in South Korea

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In 2017 I posted a picture of a large cube on Facebook as a clue as to where I was located on my birthday. I did not end up posting this picture on Facebook as I had trouble maintaining a VPN connection while in the Philippines - but my intent was to post a picture of another cube on my birthday. So - here is the cube. :-)

View of the countryside in Cebu

There are coconut trees everywhere.

They are so abundant that I cannot imagine a person paying for a coconut if they live outside of the city.

The Chocolate Hills in Bohol

There are 214 steps that take you up to a viewing platform at the Chocolate Hills near Carmen, Bohol.

Bats in Bohol. These are one of the world's largest species of bats.

They are known as giant golden-crowned flying fox or golden-capped fruit bat.

I have only seen one other bat in my life that came anywhere near the size of these bats.

This is on the road near Clarin, Bohol.

There is a bit of history surrounding this checkpoint.

Tumalog Falls near Oslob, Cebu.

This lady was cleaning the pool of water at the bottom of Tumalog Falls.

She started laughing when I told her I wanted to take her picture.

People where extraordinarily friendly and had a great sense of humor.

Magellan's Cross.

The original cross planted by Ferdinand Magellan on April 21, 1521 is encased in this cross.

Cannon at Fort San Pedro

Snacks are referred to as "delicacies". Really.

This is at Taboan Public Market.

I went on a self-guided foot tour of Cebu City and came across this market. There were no other foreigners at this market and definitely no westerners. I got a lot of looks here - but people were friendly and had big smiles for the camera.

Taboan Public Market

Dried fish is a big deal in the Philippines.

I was impressed by the symmetry of how this lady arranged the dried fish.

Taboan Public Market

One of the meat counters at Taboan Public Market.

Taboan Public Market.

The influence of Spain and the Catholic Church is very apparent in the Philippines.

Many towns celebrate "Fiesta" to honor their patron saint.

There were road closures and people and vendors in the streets of some of the towns I passed through - all celebrating their Fiesta.

Simala Church

Prayer candles in Simala Church.

Each color represents a different symbol/meaning.

(Red is love, Green is prosperity, White is purity, Gold is healing....)

Sunrise on the Bohol Sea near Oslob.

Whale shark feeding at the surface.

One of the giant hands at Sirao Garden

Temple of Leah near Cebu City.

This was built by a private citizen as a tribute to his wife of 53 years.

There are several American retail stores and franchises in the Philippines.

This is truly the one and only sign that I saw in the Philippines that was not in English.

In case you are wondering.... This sign is at a pay toilet (aka comfort room). Three (3) pesos if you need to go pee and five (5) pesos if you need to .... defecate. The literal translation if the sign is urine and "poop". I did not have to ask. It was strangely self explanatory.

South Korea

This is inside the airport at Incheon

This is an extremely modern airport. Well organized and clean with cultural exhibits and demonstrations. If you are on a long layover, there is a FREE tour that you can take from the airport to a number of attractions in the Seoul / Incheon area. It was raining while I was there, so I took a tour that included a cave. :-)

Housing

Inside Gwangmyeong Cave.

This is a former mining cave that was been turned into an underground theme park.

It was Korea's Independence Day (August 15) on the day that I visited, so many people were off work and the cave was busy.

Lots of umbrella's. The tour guide was a bit surprised that I declined to use an umbrella.

I explained to him that I live in a desert climate and it rarely rains. The rain felt good.

Pictures and narratives from my trip to Cambodia and Thailand.

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CAMBODIA

Angkor Wat

In the pictures below, it appears that I have the entire east side of Angkor Wat to myself. However, thanks to a zoom lens, you can see that I am not alone as there is someone sitting at the base of the furthest column.

The bridge to the south gate of Angkor Thom is lined with

faces of gods on one side and demons on the other.

One of the stone faces at Bayon temple.

While in Siem Reap, Cambodia, I went on a guided bicycle tour away from the tourist areas.

The man in the picture is Arem, the guide. He is explaining that they feed cows rice straw. He did not quite understand me when I asked if the breed of the cows was Brahman.

Local farmer. He grows herbs. The patch he is watering is mint.

We visited a local school on the tour. Arem explained that this is a very modern school. There are schools in Cambodia that do not have buildings and use a large tree if available to be the place of teaching. Arem grew up outside of Siem Reap and was taught under a tree in grade school. His community later built a school building and his high school was not outdoors.

The school buildings in the pictures are simple structures with no lighting. They are lit from the natural daylight from the window and door openings.

The standard curriculum in Cambodia schools includes two semesters of English. If a student wishes to study more English, there is a private school that they can attend. The taxi driver that gave me a ride from the airport and to Angkor Wat used to be a farmer near the Vietnam border. He sold his land and water buffalo to move to Siem Reap so that his son could attend a better school and learn English. He told me that his semester payment for the private English instruction was due and that it was about $240 USD per semester.

Local market. This is not a tourist market.

This lady will cut your chicken if you don't prefer the whole chicken.

The lady seated is selling various cuts of meat. That net on a stick is like a small butterfly net and is to keep the flies off the meat.

Rice Straw

These are newly constructed homes.

The boy is in a lotus field. He pulled up a pod full of seeds that was shared with the tour. (edible)

Near the end of the tour we visited a monastery at Po Banteay Chey Pagoda.

THAILAND

Wat Arun (Bangkok)

View of a Bangkok Street.

There is an elevated train running down the middle.

I am convinced that Bangkok drivers are the best in the world. During peak times it is incredibly congested (understatement), yet you don't see accidents and you don't hear a bunch of horn honking.

Chao Phraya River, Bangkok

For 15 Baht (about 45 cents) you can travel several miles on the Chao Phraya River and get off at more than a dozen stops.

The 309 steps at Wat Phra That Doi Suthep (Chiang Mai)

At Wat Phra That Doi Suthep

There are a number of tributes to the King throughout Thailand.

Moat around the ancient city in Chiang Mai.

This is a street in Chiang Mai.

There are several things to notice in this picture.

Notice the number of signs in English. Everywhere I went, I commonly saw signs in English. Even the road signs were dual language, Thai and English. Also notice the electrical and communication cables above the street. This is a very common sight in Thailand. They have a large number of dedicated runs rather than a single run with transformers and junctions. And finally, notice the 7 Eleven sign. There are 7 Elevens everywhere.

Ping River in Chiang Mai

Yes, those beach blankets are hanging on electrical lines.

Patara Elephant Farm

If you are in any way concerned about the welfare of elephants in elephant camps in Thailand, please email me and share your concerns. I very deliberately visited this camp to see for myself. These elephants are in good health and in very good care.

This baby elephant is less than 24hrs old.

It takes a lot of trust to kneel down next to an elephant.

Getting on an elephant is easy. Getting down from an elephant is impossible.

You can only get down from geese and ducks.

Kanchanaburi

( pronounced gaan - ja - na - boo - ree )

Waiting at the Thonburi train station to take the train to Kanchanaburi

A/C on the train.

Open window train.

At one of the stops, local vendors selling food and drinks get on the train and then get off at the next stop. The food is very inexpensive. For about $2.50 USD I had a Coke and some incredibly delicious chicken with rice. The above picture is various chicken, tofu, and egg preparations with rice wrapped in a banana leaf along with some waffle snacks.

View from the train.

This is the bridge on the River Kwai -- or at least this is what it is known as. The bridge is part of the the Thai–Burma Railway which was depicted in the movie The Bridge On The River Kwai.

(Kwai is pronounced similar to "Quay." The river name is actually Khwae Yai (transliteration).

People stand on small platforms on the bridge while the train passes. I was on that train just moments before I took this picture. I was good with watching the train pass at a distance.