Good Morning All,
This weekday feature is for Juicers who are are on the road, traveling, or just want to share a little bit of their world via stories and pictures. So many of us rise each morning, eager for something beautiful, inspiring, amazing, subtle, of note, and our community delivers – a view into their world, whether they’re far away or close to home – pictures with a story, with context, with meaning, sometimes just beauty. By concentrating travel updates and tips here, it’s easier for all of us to keep up or find them later.
So please, speak up and share some of your adventures and travel news here, and submit your pictures using our speedy, secure form. You can submit up to 7 pictures at a time, with an overall description and one for each picture.
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For each picture, it’s best to provide your commenter screenname, description, where it was taken, and date. It’s tough to keep everyone’s email address and screenname straight, so don’t assume that I remember it “from last time”. More and more, the first photo before the fold will be from a commenter, so making it easy to locate the screenname when I’ve found a compelling photo is crucial.
Have a wonderful day, and enjoy the pictures!
Looks like mom’s chemo starts Monday. As you get older, life sucks progressively from loss of loved ones and icons, but then again, the alternative sucks eternally – I’ll take that deal, every day!
“Hug before they’re dead”, I always say, as of now: one day, you’re celebrating female empowerment and seeing Wonder Woman, the next comforting your mother because of some bad results on annual tests. And days and weeks later, things get darker. Don’t just hug your parents, everyone around us is precious and temporary. Love them.
And in case you’ve not heard, Freddie deBoer has hit some hard times mental-health-wise. There but some luck go many of us, as we should know. Keep him in your thoughts, and if you’re going to slag him, please find another thread – we lift up, don’t push down!
Have a great weekend everyone!
First up, pictures from valued commenter Gravie.
Some heavenly blue from the delphiniums in my garden. I could get lost in it.
Heavenly blue
Bend, Oregon
Delphiniums from my garden, up close and personal.
Today, pictures from valued commenter Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes.
Been digging around in the archives for nice shots from our various travels. I found some gems!
Hungry Bear
Taken on 2010-10-20
Churchill, Manitoba, of n the tundra
As winter sets in, the bears are starving – the only way they can get proper nutrition is when the ice forms so they can hunt seals. Until then, they prowl the land, scavenging. We took this Natural Habitat trip together – I wish it was my shot, but I don’t have the same gifts at photography that the Countess does.
On the Camino
Taken on 2011-06-02
Templar Castle, Ponferrada, Spain
The Countess walked the Camino de Santiago de Postela across northern Spain with her sister. The sister started in the Pyrenees, the Countess joined her beginning in Somewhere between the Pyrenees and Leon.
Peregrino Greeting
Taken on 2011-05-30
Leon, Spain
The youth of Leon greet pilgrims along the Camino
The Countess at the Taj Mahal
Taken on 2016-09-13
Taj Mahal, India
This was from the Countess’ trip to India last year. I found this one and loved it – it isn’t your standard Taj Mahal shot.
Tiger’s Nest, Bhutan
Taken on 2015-10-30
Tiger’s Nest, Bhutan
A couple of years ago, the Countess enjoyed exploring Bhutan – a country with strict tourism limits. This was apparently a VERY long climb.
A leisurely paddle..
Taken on 2015-10-27
Inle Lake, Myanmar
The Countess’ Southeast Asian adventures are generally extensive. Once you get out of Yangon, the countryside is serene.
Monks await a meal
Taken on 2015-10-24
Amarapura Monastery, Mandalay, Myanmar
When the Countess goes to Southeast Asia, she gains a sense of calm when going to centers of Buddhist spirituality.
I loved the facial expressions on these.
Thank you so much Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes, do send us more when you can.
Travel safely everybody, and do share some stories in the comments, even if you’re joining the conversation late. Many folks confide that they go back and read old threads, one reason these are available on the Quick Links menu.
One again, to submit pictures: Use the Form or Send an Email
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
The bears in Churchill were super cool, as were the Northern Lights. The town was kind of a dump, but it sits on a permafrost bog for the most part so there would not be a lot you could do. Saw some amazing wildlife, including a fox that came within 5 feet of me.
I’m doing a Southeast Asia thing with the Countess in January – my first time. Three weeks, Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia. Checking my passport to see if I have enough room for the visas this morning…
raven
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: You used to have to cross the Mekong like this.
Now you could be in Charleston.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@raven:
We’re going to Hanoi, Ha Long Bay, Hoi An, Saigon and Cu Chi in Vietnam. I figure circumstances there will be super modern, good connections. Cambodia (she’s been there several times) slightly less so. Figure Laos to be a trip back in time.
OzarkHillbilly
The Countess does indeed have an eye. Love the Taj Mahal pic, it is indeed different.
raven
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: Nowhere in Central Vietnam? Nha Trang and Dalat are (were) beautiful. Going to do the tunnel tour huh? There is a snake farm in what used to be Dong Tam down near My Tho in the Delta.
On a sliver of island in the wash of the Mekong, just outside of My Tho, sits the obscure remains of one of the more bizarre chapters in Vietnamese history. The island is Con Phung, Phoenix Island, and the man at the center of our story is one Nguyen Thanh Nam, otherwise known as “Ong Dao Dua” (Coconut Monk).
raven
@OzarkHillbilly: Ah Taj
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@raven:
I think we get to Hoi An via Danang, but that is about the only time in the center. It’s a package trip (so the destinations are set), but we will depart the scheduled itinerary ourselves on multiple occasions.
raven
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: I have a buddy who lives in Hoi An but he’s a RWNJ so I’ll spare you!
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@raven:
Oh damn – that story about the Coconut Monk – VERY entertaining.
I’d say he was off his rocker, but in this world, who’s to say anymore…
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@raven:
I tend to find that a lot of expats trend that way, LOL.
raven
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: A piece on the Monk and John Steinbeck Jr
Gin & Tonic
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: Ha Long Bay is spectacular, but also completely overrun with tourists. If you go on a boat tour, make sure you arrange it well in advance and with a reputable operator who caters to the round-eye crowd. My son and I spent four days on one such, doing basically liveaboard sea kayaking, for which you absolutely, positively need a knowledgeable local guide with a tide table, as you can get yourself in a serious jam otherwise.
Hanoi is very interesting, too. If you like coffee, it’s great. I still remember a glass I had there as if it was yesterday.
bystander
Great pics, all. This thread is always a fun way to start the morning.
debbie
Great photos from the Countess! She definitely has a photographer’s eye.
And that flower shot up top is awesome.
rikyrah
Thanks for all the pictures ?
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@Gin & Tonic:
Ha Long boat is already part of the deal – it’s a nice liveaboard, with plenty of westerners. Really looking forward to that!
bemused
A son and daughter-in-law just returned from hiking with friends in the Cascades, Washington. It sounded like quite a trek up on a challenging boulder field and going down wasn’t easy either. They pitched their tents on edge of a lake, hiked to a peak to view the eclipse and enjoyed watching the mountain goats scampering easily on precarious slopes. An amazing experience. We saw a few pics which were incredible. As our dil said, the photos can’t capture actually being there.
Gin & Tonic
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: Doing any diving?
satby
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: Great pictures, the Countess does have a talent for composition. Tell her thank you from us!
I’m heading to northern Thailand and Cambodia myself at the end of January, rescheduled from December 1 of this year. I’m staying in my job long enough to see them through the almost 18 month delayed rollout of an electronic records system, then I intend to quit. I’ve rescheduled this trip twice now (booked it way before I got the job). I’d rather quit than deal with the dysfunctional office manager over the two weeks I will be gone, every request for time off is a personal affront to her.
satby
@debbie: you know, I had forgotten that Gravie, not the Countess, had taken the flower shot; and it’s very beautiful. I never have luck with blue flowers, and those are such a vivid blue. Thanks to Gravie too!
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@Gin & Tonic:
Not this round. We’ve spotted a dive resort in Indonesia that we want to try sometime in the next couple of years, but it looks like it will take two days to get there.
Mnemosyne
I’m sorry to hear about your mother’s bad news, Alain. I hope that her chemo goes well and gives her many more years to come.
We’re seeing my BFF and her husband this weekend. My mom and his mom — both lifelong smokers with early-stage COPD — had similar heart surgeries earlier this year. My mom pulled through, but his did not. ?
eclare
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: Pic of the Countess with upside down Taj Mahal is awesome! And wow, polar bears?