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Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Travel & Leisure - Oxymoron

For me, travel and leisure, like sweet and sour, is an oxymoron. I don't find travel relaxing. On the contrary, I find it stressful, frustrating, and too much like work. My worst nightmare is the thought of packing a suitcase. It's on par with The Exorcist and the Night of the Living Dead, in terms of sheer terror. I feel as if I have been assigned the task of pounding round pegs into square holes or playing tennis with an unstrung racquet. It just can't be done (by me anyway)!Then, there is the planning and worse yet, re-planning, because this date isn't available, that hotel is booked up, and this flight is full! It's enough to challenge your patience, if not your sanity.When all these obstacles have been conquered, you must then attend the post 911security theatre playing now at an airport near you!Honestly, if some entrepreneurial genius would just launch a new airline (they could call it "Air Naked") for nudists or anyone, for that matter, willing to fly sans apparel, the security lines would move faster than Roadrunner dodging Wile E. Coyote's falling anvil because even nuns would shed their habit to get past TSA (Totalitarian State of Airport) with some alacrity.

Are we over-reacting, or what! I really don't understand the mentality. One nutcase tries to set his shoe on fire and now we all have to shuffle barefoot through airport security. I'm half expecting to be forced to fly "commando" after the underwear bomber incident. What next? Some nerd uses his laptop battery to convert his Dasani to hydrogen and oxygen (ala the Hindenberg) and we all have to give up water on the plane! Where does it end? Who among us will draw a line in the sand and say, 'I'm mad as hell, and I'm not going to take it anymore!' It has reached the point that being protected from terrorism is more terrifying than terrorism! What happened to the United States of America, whose president defiantly quipped, 'We have nothing to fear but fear itself.' Did that United States of America crumble into same dismal pile of rubble as the twin towers? If so, then the terrorists have chalked up a victory and we are a defeated nation that simply has not acknowledged it.If I've offended anyone with this expression of my views on current travel issues, I do not apologize. I am entitled to my opinion. If you find yourself in disagreement, write your own article. Yes, we still have the right of free speech, although anti-terrorist legislation allows it to be "bugged" sans warrant.Until these aforementioned problems are resolved, I am determined to become the quintessential "staycationer". A leisure pursuit designed just for people like me. No stressful preparation, planning or packing. Just come home from work one evening, settle into the recliner with a six-pack and turn on ESPN. A week or two later, shower, shave and head back to the office. Perfection!

Monday, July 30, 2012

Travel Literature From China

Time for a change. Time to be more all encompassing, more directed in my witterings, ramblings, musings, rants and raves about all things that belong to that thing we call culture, that thing that grows and multiplies, that thing that we cultivate through expression, through life. I work in the arts, on festivals, run gigs, produce events, run a free online arts resource, this ezine, listen to the radio, watch tv, sport, read alot, drink too much, have a constant hankering for sausages and ice cream, give out, complain and don't see enough of what I claim to love. However, if I didn't live in a petri dish I would be nothing. Ever since I was about 15 I've wanted to jump in and have a go, first as a cartoonist, then as a carnival puppet maker, designer and performer, later as a stage designer, theatre writer and producer, then as festival director and finally as one half of an events company.

Along the way I have been introduced to so much. I have been influenced and shaped by everything I have had the pleasure and misfortune to be involved in. Like a ship at sea I have changed direction according to the winds in the constant hope that I'd reach the end of the world, the final frontier, the point, the light, salvation. But on those travels I have come to discover that there is no edge, no singularity, no point of arrival, only departure.So, to this end I am once again changing tack and am going to have a poke around my petri dish and like all bacteria I shall virally multiply, form, divide and someday may be of use to someone, somewhere over a rainbow.Start here.What I've just read:A great travel book by Chinese author Ma Jian.I read it years ago and had forgotten all about it until I was looking for something to read. After spending too much time poking around my bookshelves looking vainly for an unread book I stopped, gave up and went for second best; a novel I hadn't read more than twice.In 1983, Ma Jian turned 30 and was overwhelmed by the desire to escape the confines of his life in Beijing. All around him, China was changing. Deng Xiaoping was introducing economic reform but clamping down on "spiritual pollution"; young people were rebelling. With his long hair, denim jeans and artistic friends, Ma Jian was under surveillance from his work unit and the police.

His ex-wife was seeking custody of their daughter; his girlfriend was sleeping with another man; and he could no longer find the inspiration to write or paint.One day he bought a train ticket to the westernmost border of China and set of in search of himself. Ma Jian's journey would last three years and take him to deserts and overpopulated cities, from scenes of barbarity to havens of tranquility and beauty. The result is an insight into the teeming contradictions of China that only a man who was both an insider and an outsider in his own country could have written.Well worth a read and if you have any interest in the rising dragon that is China this is for you - a good counter point to everything we read in the press todayMore notes from a petri dish to follow...

Sunday, July 29, 2012

Wednesday, July 18, 2012

VIAJES A ÁFRICA: RUTA DEL OKAVANGO

El Okavango es un río africano que nace en Angola. El Delta del Okavango es una rareza de la naturaleza, ya que es un delta interior, el río Okavango no desemboca en el mar, si no que lo hace en una extensa llanura que cubre de agua las planicies del desierto del Kalahari, donde se crea un santuario de bosques de mopane, praderas abiertas y llanuras que se inundan durante la estación de lluvias.

¿Cómo llegar a la ruta del Okavango? Para hacer la ruta del Okavango, lo habitual es llegar vía aérea por Johanesburgo, pero también se puede llegar a través de Windhoek, saliendo, en este caso, hacia el desierto de Namibia.




Si se llega vía Johanesburgo, podemos ir directamente en avión al Parque Natural de Chobe, donde se pueden realizar safaris tanto en barco (si lo permite la estación) o por carretera.

¿Cuál es la mejor hora para hacer un safari? es aconsejable realizar los safaris a primeras y últimas horas de día, pues es cuando más probabilidades hay de descubrir la fauna autóctona, esta reserva es la que posee una de las faunas más variadas del país (jirafas, impalas, hienas, cebras, elefantes, chacales, guepardos...)

Otro punto de interés en esta ruta es Moremi, una reserva de vida salvaje que se extiende por cerca de 3000 kilómetros cuadrados, donde encontrar leones, búfalos o hipopótamos.

Ya en el Delta del Okavango, podemos hacer safaris fotográficos, pasear en mokoro (piragua tradicional) y disfrutar en un minicrucero de sus maravillosas puestas de sol en el río Zambezi.

Esta ruta no puede acabar de otro modo si no visitando las Cataratas Victoria, conocidas como la mayor "cortina del agua" del mundo.

Si en lugar de comenzar por Johanesburgo lo hacemos por Windhoek, nos espera la aventura en el desierto de Namibia, conocido como el desierto más antiguo del planeta, pudiendo subir a pie la famosa duna 45, y disfrutar de las excepcionales vistas que ofrece. 

Al día siguiente podremos salir por carretera hacia Swakopmund y al atardecer realizar una ruta en quads por el desierto, de allí nos dirigiremos hacia la "Costa de los Esqueletos", azotada por fuertes oleajes, llegando a Cape Cross, donde ver una colonia de focas marinas.

El siguiente punto del recorrido es el Parque Nacional de Etosha, donde realizaremos un safari fotográfico, continuando al día siguiente hasta la Franja de Caprivi, alojámdonos en un lodge a las orillas del río Okavango, desde esta base se puede visitar Tsodillo Hills, allí se encuentran las pinturas bosquimanas, reconocidas como Patrimonio de la Humanidad.

Ya en el Delta del Okavango, se pueden salir en lanchas rápidas y divisar cocodrilos, hipopótamos o garzas blancas y más tarde en las típicas mokoros se puede llegar a una isla privada en la mitad del delta.



Para llegar al Parque Nacional de Chobe nos desplazaremos primero en lanchas hasta las pistas del Delta y allí nos espera uno de los vuelos escénicos más increíbles del mundo, el vuelo atraviesa el Delta hasta llegar a Chobe, donde realizar safaris en barco o en 4x4 .

Después del merecido descanso, saldremos hacia la frontera con Zimbabwe para llegar hasta las Cataratas Victoria, una de las más grandes del mundo, ocupando un frente de 1800 metros partidos por una enorme grieta de hasta 120 metros de altura. Ya en las Cataratas, puedes realizar actividades opcionales: excursiones visitando las cataratas desde las dos perspectivas, realizar rafting, puenting, sobrevolar las cataratas en helicóptero o pasear con leones....

¿Aún te quedan ganas de más? desde Johanesburgo puedes hacer una escapada al paraíso: Isla Mauricio, para relajar y descansar de tu aventura africana.


Información y reservas:
Oceania Travel Consulting
C/ Strachan, 1
Málaga
952.060.500

Thursday, July 12, 2012

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