The car is nice this morning. Our calves relax while we leave the distorted land of the middle of the southern island. Towards the beach and the Kaikoura peninsula. Talk about it to the whales lovers, they'll know what it is about.
A few kilometers away from the coast, a great fault dips the sounder waves more than 1000m deep. A depth where the abyssal creatures swim in a black and silent world. A dark and unknown world which keeps the greatest legends going.
A boat agency has the monopoly on the cetacean watching and on the price too. Through a sonar, they pinpoint the sea mammals and then, head towards the echo. A spray of water pops out the vast blue expanse and like kids, we dash towards the balustrades to watch the beast. A smooth and shining hump goes beyond the ocean surface. The giant of the sea stores cubic meters of air for half an hour. Then, its powerful tail rises and the animal dives for several hours. We'll see three sperm whales with the same emotion.
On the way back, dolphins swim close to us and play with stem of the boat. Some of them jump off into the air before returning to the pack. Everybody is on the deck and hounds the fleeting appearance of the bottle-snouted animals.
The dolphins swim away and we get in the pier. After this fascinating interlude, we walk again on the terra firma.
Keyword - too many tourists -
Wednesday 21 November 2007
Visual hunt of the sperm whales in Kaikoura
By dorian on Wednesday 21 November 2007, 21:23 - RTW-New Zealand
Friday 26 October 2007
On the Phang Nga bay by long-tail boat
By dorian on Friday 26 October 2007, 21:33 - RTW-Thailand
Krabi is a small laid-back pier by the andaman sea which turns into a frenetic night market at dusk. We can spend a couple of days here to relax and move about to the different islands and beaches in the vicinity. We book an all-included trip to the Phang Nga bay within one of the travel agencies that stretch out along the main street. The Phang Nga bay is the Thai answer in miniature to the superb Vietnamese Ha long bay.
The next morning, the minivan drives from guesthouses to guesthouses to pick up a motley blend of tourists. We briefly stop at a temple carved in a grottoe. Hordes of monkeys leap from a branch to another one and come to swiftly snatch bananas and peanuts tourists offer. With a full stomach, the four-handed animals grab the veines and dash uphill.
A few kilometers further, we swap the minivan fo a long-tail boat. The low tide unveils the knotty roots of the mangroves. Intertwined roots that change the banks into an impenetrable mangrove. We stop at the floating village of Pianyee where we have lunch.
In the beginning of the afternoon, the digestion starts on a small inflatable kayak. We go through caves the low tide made accessible to come out into a kind of well. Open-air cavities at the center of a stone peak. In the middle of these long rocky chimneys carved by the time, we don't hear the loud engines and the shouts any more. We live some unique moments of serenity in a secret place with the weird sensation these secluded spots give. The feeling to be a pioneer, the first one who discovered this mysterious and restful place. Forgotten the throng of tourists that come here to visit around ; the openings are so many everyone can enjoy his "own" lake with a private access.
We hop on the boat to sail to the island called the James Bond Island since a scene of the movie Goldfinger was shot there. A giant and unique nail punches the bay. An impressive picture but the island is overloaded with tourists who damage the calmness of this bit of isolated land.
A day full of attractions and gorgeous landscapes even if the heavy touristy concentration ruin the pleasure a little bit.
We go back to Bangkok by bus to spend a last night in the capital. 15 days passed among tuks-tuks, paradisiac beaches and tropical fish. The time went by too fast. It's always what we say when we liked what we've just lived.
Sunday 5 August 2007
The 5 sacred peaks of the Huashan mountain
By dorian on Sunday 5 August 2007, 22:43 - RTW-China
Without being as popular as the Buddhism, the Taoism keeps a strong influence in the Chinese traditions. Some people credit it to be the only "made in China" religion, the other ones were imported. The Tao concept is the epicenter of the religion and describes how each person must set up his life to keep in harmony with the order of the universe.
The Taoism has its sacred mountains as well and Huashan is one of them. 2 hours by bus from Xi'an, the Huashan small village is the starting point to explore the mountain. Shuttles continuously commute from the village to the access area of the north peak. A cable car prevents us from walking the strenuous ascension.
Easily recognizable with their caps, Chinese tourists outnumber the pilgrims. The group of red caps follows the one of yellow caps. The cable car drops us off by the north peak and we start the unending ups and downs from a peak to the next one, west peak, south peak, east peak and center peak. Without experiencing it as a pilgrimage, the different ascensions need some moral qualities to end the loop and not eluding a peak. An about 5-hour exhausting lap in the middle of white and smooth rock, breathtaking cliffs, lumps of forests nested in the stony chinks, floating temples above an ocean of clouds. Hours of emotions running alonside the summits of the sacred mountain.
The crowd massed at the entrance of the cable car drives us to put in a last effort going down on foot. Inside the gorges, the scenery is marvellous while le last steps are really painful for our legs.
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