Looking up at some hoodoos in the Bryce Canyon Amphitheater

If you’re wondering why I’m bringing this up, it’s because you’ll hear this word a lot if you visit Bryce Canyon National Park in the U.S. state of Utah. A mere 2 hours from Zion’s East Entrance, it was a natural progression for me to continue my road trip here. But something was off…

Here I’d been driving through hills and trees with only so-so scenery out the window. I arrived in “Bryce Canyon City” (which isn’t a city at all, but a series of overpriced hotels and terrible food), located 1 mile (1.6 km) from the park entrance to see…nothing! Here I was spoiled by Zion, which invites you in with its soaring peaks. But even driving into Bryce Canyon, the landscape looks totally normal.

It’s not until you park at a viewpoint and walk to the edge that an entire “amphitheater” full of hoodoos comes into view. These bizarre geological formations fill the space like buildings along city streets.

The late afternoon view from Inspiration Point

See, Bryce Canyon isn’t actually a canyon, but a collection of mini canyons. The park’s 34-mile (54.7 km) scenic drive runs along a high ridge on the Colorado Plateau, the top of the Grand Staircase, which runs all the way down to the Grand Canyon. At an altitude that ranges between 7,000 and over 9,000 feet, (2,134-2,743 m) it’s not hard to see how this is the case!

Mini canyons separate the hoodoos, though you’ll find no rivers here. The entire amphitheater is formed and reformed every winter when snow piles on the hoodoos. As the snow melts, it erodes away at the rock, changing the hoodoo shapes forever. It happens with some regularity and you can see bits of rock all over the hoodoos that are cracking away.

See the cracks on those hoodoos? Erosion is visibly at work at Bryce Canyon National Park!

In another change from Zion National Park, you’re looking down at the “canyon” here, where hikes take you down amongst the hoodoos, which provides a fascinating close-up look. Though there are trails here, I’d wager to say that Zion is better for hiking than Bryce Canyon is (especially with hikes like Angels Landing). But maybe I’m just saying that because I was not blessed with good weather there.

Hiking into the Bryce Canyon Amphitheater on the Queens Garden trail

I did the hike that everyone does, the Queens Garden-Navajo Loop Combination Trail, which takes you by many of the hoodoo highlights. Natural windows formed through rock. Organ pipes appeared down the path. Thor’s Hammer lay precariously on the top of a hoodoo. Seems rocks, like clouds, are open to people’s imagination.

Some naturally formed “windows” in the hoodoos

I always thought this series of hoodoos looked like organ pipes!

They call this hoodoo “Thor’s Hammer”

If you visit, I would highly encourage you to drive the length of the scenic drive. All the lookouts are left turns, so I drove to Rainbow Point at the very end, where I walked along the Bristlecone Loop Trail, with its 1,500-year-old cedar trees, and hit up the view points on my way back.

Rainbow Point, the highest at Bryce Canyon National Park

An impressive stop on return trip was Natural Bridge, an amazing view of an arch worn into the hoodoos.

The arch that they call “Natural Bridge”

Bryce Point provides perhaps the best lookout over the amphitheater and is supposedly a fantastic place to watch the sunrise. I tried, though clouds made the sunrise real lackluster. If it’s any reconciliation though, I did see about a dozen deer standing in the middle of the road at 5:30am!

My view from Bryce Point shortly after sunrise

The nearby Paria Point is a good sunset spot, as the hoodoos at here face west, rather than the others, which face east. Don’t be fooled by Sunset Point, as it looks towards the sunrise!

“Magic Hour” light on some west-facing hoodoos, as seen from Paria Point

And make sure you don’t miss the aptly named Fairyland Point, located before the entrance gate. The hoodoos here are not as weathered as the ones in Bryce Amphitheater are and I actually liked it better. You can also partake in the 8-mile Fairyland Loop Trail here, a strenuous hike that I would have done had the weather been better, though it was threatening thunderstorms most of the time I was there.

The view from Fairyland Point

All I know is I left Bryce Canyon beaming at the wonders of the hoodoos, for not only is it a funny word but a truly fascinating and unusual natural formation. And, fair warning, you’ll definitely be pinching yourself because you’ll be swearing up and down that you’re standing right in the middle of the whimsical world of Dr. Seuss!

Original Content: Exploring the Hoodoos at Bryce Canyon from Aaron's Worldwide Adventures - Unlikely Places. Ultimate Experiences.. All rights reserved.

Angels Landing

I was torn. Many people seem to agree that Angels Landing is NOT the best viewpoint at Zion, saying instead that Observation Point holds that distinction. Which strenuous hike to take? Better view or better challenge (which is both physical and mental)? Would I be able to make it up the last half mile, which is famous for its chain-assisted sections (“those with a fear of heights” should not attempt the hike, all the literature states)? I used to be scared of heights but I mostly got over it.

After trying the Hidden Canyon Trail to test my comfort level on chain-assisted hiking sections, I decided to go for Angels Landing! Check out the video below for an overview of what the hike was like!

Hidden Canyon

The Hike to Scouts Lookout

From The Grotto, you cross a bridge over the calm Virgin River, which carved Zion Canyon, and begin the walk towards Angels Landing, which looms ahead of you. It was on this easy section of the trail that I had a very rare sighting… A California King Snake slinking its way around a tree right along the trail! I may have just taken off running (you can see my reaction in my video of the hike below)…

View of Zion Canyon from the switchbacks up to Refrigerator Canyon

Finally, you start to climb, the first of many switchbacks you encounter on this hike as you slowly gain elevation. I have good news though. After your first exhausting set of switchbacks you get a nice break to cool off in the aptly named Refrigerator Canyon, which is thankfully flat!

Rocks along the sides of Refrigerator Canyon

Looking off into Refrigerator Canyon as the trail moves into Wally’s Wiggles

As the canyon comes to an end, the trail sets upon one of the true engineering marvels at Zion. Wally’s Wiggles is a surprisingly easy series of 21 steep yet short switchbacks that get you up to the impressive Scouts Lookout!

Looking down on Wally’s Wiggles

Scouts Lookout

The mere notion that a trail could even lead to this place is impressive by itself, as a steep trail leads its way up to Scouts Lookout, 2 miles (3.2 km) away from the start of the hike. This is where many who attempt this hike stop and it has a nice viewpoint and some fascinating rock formations. You can also join the West Rim Trail from here.

The scenery at Scouts Lookout

Hiking to Angels Landing

The trail heading up to Angels Landing

From Scouts Lookout, a seemingly short half-mile (0.8 km) trail leads to Angels Landing, but this is where the mental challenge comes in. For nearly all of that half mile, chains accompany the steep and rocky path so you can hold on for dear life. I’m not kidding here. There are sections where the path is about 3 feet (0.91 m) wide with a 1,500-foot (457 m) drop on either side of you.

A particularly thing section of the chain-assisted trail up to Angels Landing

A sign at the base of the chains warns you of the imminent danger. “Since 2004, six people have died falling from the cliffs on this route.” After completing the hike, it’s not hard to see why. I’m a bit of an experienced hiker (See my hiking guide to Petra) and it was the hardest hike I’ve ever done. Parts of the chains are really terrifying as very frequently you are on a short ledge with a massive drop right next to you! I kept thinking to myself, “this is some cruel joke and these chains never end,” as it was the longest half-mile of my life!

Chain-assisted section of the hike up to Angels Landing

This section had a 1,500-foot drop on either side!

But finally, the chains did end at the summit and the view will make your jaw drop as it is simply unbelievable and totally worth the extreme effort you put in to get here! The advantage of being in the middle of the canyon is that you have a full 360-degree view of the outstanding scenery around you. The shuttles that ferry visitors up and down the scenic drive looked like a miniscule toy car!

The summit of Angels Landing

Looking down canyon from the top of Angels Landing

Posing for a photo from the top of Angels Landing facing up canyon

Going down the chains was also rather terrifying. I spent a lot of time scooting down on my butt and was relieved to make it back on stable ground, my knees killing me from those rocks. But I could not believe what I had just accomplished. Still sore the next day, I bought an addition to my pin collection with bragging rights: “I Hiked Angels Landing!”

Video

A Few Words on Safety

I do want to emphasize though, this hike is really NOT for everyone. Know your skills and your limits! And be aware that even in dry weather, sand can still make the rocks slippery so make sure you make use of the chains!

Finally, a note about time of day. Most people suggest that you attempt the hike as early as possible in order to avoid the crowds and while this is a legitimate concern, do be aware that the side of the canyon opposite Angels Landing is in shadow early in the morning, which may make for some less than stellar photos…

What About You?

Have you hiked Angels Landing? What was your experience?

Original Content: Hiking Angels Landing (VIDEO) from Aaron's Worldwide Adventures - Unlikely Places. Ultimate Experiences.. All rights reserved.

After saying my goodbyes to my childhood home in Las Vegas last week, I set out on a road trip to visit Zion National Park for the first time. Going in with absolutely no expectations, I really had no idea what to expect. But as I pulled into the charming town of Springdale, that butts up against the park’s South Entrance, a sea of steep peaks rose in front of me, including The Watchman, a mere hint of things to come.

The pedestrian entrance to Zion

Zion Canyon

Like the much more famous Grand Canyon National Park, Zion is a canyon, carved away by the Virgin River. Don’t worry, I’d never heard of the river either, and from seeing it run through the canyon, you’d never believe that this calm, small river ever had the power to rip this canyon apart!

The Virgin River runs through Zion Canyon

But unlike the Grand Canyon, you see Zion from the bottom looking up! A lovely scenic drive (which, during the high season is blissfully closed to private vehicles) runs through the canyon giving you great opportunities to look up at the ever-changing scenery. But that also means if you want any grand, sweeping views, you’re going to have to hit the trails to get them! And trust me, there are no shortage of trails to keep you busy!

Looking up at the various layers of Zion Canyon

The park is known for two of its viewpoints, both of which are rather strenuous hikes. Observation Point, said to be the best viewpoint in the entire park, and, the more famous (or perhaps infamous) Angels Landing, dramatically located in the middle of the canyon, with a sheer drop of 1,500 feet (457 meters). It was so named because its location is so dramatic that it was thought that only Angels could land there.

Angels Landing

While Observation Point looks down on Angels Landing from across the canyon, it’s a hike that is considerably safer (and longer, it’s an 8-mile (13 km) round trip while Angels Landing is 5 miles, or 8km). Angels Landing, meanwhile, is both a mental and physical challenge, one I was keen to take up, just to prove to myself that I could do it! More on that later this week, so make sure you subscribe to read about my journey to the top!

See the “Z” in the peak across the way? Those are the switchbacks up to Observation Point

Easier Hikes

While these epic hikes are quite strenuous, Zion offers a myriad of easier hikes to keep everyone happy! I started off with a visit to Hidden Canyon. While there aren’t any epic views, I was rewarded with a nice arch!

Hidden Canyon

A freestanding arch in Hidden Canyon

I also experienced pretty sunset views from The Watchman Trail, saw pretty pools on the Emerald Pools trail and walked along the Virgin River along the easy River Walk, which leads to another of the park’s famous trails, The Narrows, which involves wading through the river itself.

The Watchman at “Magic Hour”

Hikers begin their trek into The Narrows

East Zion

When entering or exiting the park through the East Entrance, you pass through the Zion-Mt Carmel Tunnel, blasted in 1930 through the solid rock cliffs. I left this way en route to Bryce Canyon National Park (more on that next week), only to discover that the other side of the tunnel is a totally different world. It was almost whimsical in the sense that it looked like it came straight out of a Dr. Seuss book!

An arch along the Zion-Mt. Carmel Highway

The whimsical scenery in East Zion

Rock formation had smooth curves and waves. You could see all the different layers that made up the formations, as they were uneven. It was very cool, something I was able to experience up close on the easy Canyon Overlook Trail (the trailhead is next to the ranger station on the east end of the tunnel!

Checkerboard Mesa, in East Zion

A tree at the end of the Canyon Overlook Trail

Kolob Canyons

On my way back to Las Vegas, I stopped by the northern, and often overlooked part of Zion, Kolob Canyons, a totally different system of finger canyons. It’s also home to a 5-mile (8km) scenic drive (which, again, made my jaw drop with the breathtaking, ever-changing scenery). Conveniently accessible immediately off Interstate 15, Kolob Canyon makes for a great detour. There are two easy-moderate hikes here, with multiple cross-park trails also available for those interested in multi-day hikes.

Rock “veins” set in along the dirt on the Kolob Canyons Scenic Drive

The view of the Kolob Canyons from the Timber Creek Trail

Personally, I took the opportunity to stretch my legs on the Timber Creek Trail at the end of the scenic drive, which offered expansive views of the scenery. I did have the fun experience of seeing a Google employee with a Trekker pack, filming the trail for Street View. He looked as if he was about to fall over from all the weight!

A trailhead at Kolob Canyons

And what can I say? I am so glad I took a long weekend to visit Zion! It certainly won’t be my last visit!

What About You?

Have you visited Zion? What are some of your favorite hikes?

Original Content: Zion National Park: A Hiker’s Paradise from Aaron's Worldwide Adventures - Unlikely Places. Ultimate Experiences.. All rights reserved.

Well, I have a confession to make. I realized that I was wrong.

See, up until last week, my parents lived in the same house they’d lived in since my freshman year of high school (9^th grade), always being in a familiar place to come back to. I may have lived in 3 apartments during my 5 years in New York City, but still they were there. Even as I found myself bouncing all over the world over the past couple of years, that room I once lived in that I knew so well was still there for me.

I didn’t make it back much, but when I did, there was always comfort in that familiar environment. Comfort, and memories…

I grew up in that house, spending nearly the entirety of my high school years there.  Pets lived and died there. My grandmother, who I so adored, also passed away there. Memories of my adolescence stood within its four walls. The great view from the back yard. Counting the planes lining up to land while chilling in the hot tub. The stunning sunrises on the way to school.

And you know what the sad part was? I didn’t realize just how much I loved this house until it was too late.

My parents sold the house several months ago and the closing date always loomed up ahead as some far off day in the future. Even with the packing frenzy going on, it never really seemed real. That is, until the morning before the closing, when my parents and I would all go our separate ways, never to set foot in that house again.

Walking out that front door, I found myself totally overcome with emotion, fighting back tears as I said my goodbyes. It wasn’t that I was leaving my parents…I’m very used to that process. It was that I was leaving this house with the knowledge that I would never see it again…

Right then I got it. I had a “home” all along and this was it. The familiarity and the comfort were gone. And isn’t that really what home is? Sure, there’s that saying, “Home is where the heart is,” and that may be true. But nothing will ever really replace the significance that this particular house had for me.

I may very well find another “home,” but what if I don’t realize it until it’s too late again?

What about you?

Have you left your childhood home for good? What was your experience?

Original Content: Reflections on Leaving Home from Aaron's Worldwide Adventures - Unlikely Places. Ultimate Experiences.. All rights reserved.

A sign at the Israel-Egypt border

The van that had shuttled us from the border town of Taba dropped us into this strange environment. We had no idea where we were in this megalopolis but a nice man helped guide us to get to our hostel. “This metro stop is called Al-Shohadaa (“Martyrs”) but before the revolution it was called something else,” he told us (the former station name was Mubarak, which still appeared on many metro maps).

The Cairo Metro station at Tahrir Square, seen amidst protests

The walk down the busy 26^th of July Street to our hostel was filled with new sights, smells and sounds. It was hard to walk far at all without hearing the jarring zap of the tasers that so many, many vendors were hawking. That’s right, you can openly buy a taser walking down the streets of Cairo…

A street lined with decyaing colonial architecture, a common sight in Cairo

Finding a Cheeseburger

After checking in, we were all hankering for a cheeseburger, something that isn’t so easy to find in Israel, where I’d just spent nearly a month. “You could go to Gad, but it isn’t as good as McDonald’s,” we were advised. Well, if McDonald’s is the gold standard for a cheeseburger, then we were in trouble!

The roof of the building my hostel was in, which leaked into the stairway (go figure)

Still, we ventured out, giving Gad a try. And you know what? It wasn’t as good as McDonald’s!

The Gunshots

After dinner, we sat around the table chatting about how unbelievable it was that we were in Cairo and just as someone mentioned how safe it felt, gunshots rang out.  As people pressed their faces against the window, nobody panicked. Heck, nobody was even injured. “It was just two shop owners having an argument,” explained the man at our hostel, as if it were an incredibly routine event.

Actually what supposedly happened was that two shop owners down the street got into a fight and the police fired shots into the air to break it up. You know, just another routine day in Cairo… I still can’t say that I felt particularly unsafe, even if it did give me a bit of a jolt!

Two men chat outside a Cairo shop

Exploring the Mayhem

What became clear over the next few days in that Cairo is downright crazy! Crazy in a good way though, like Bangkok, which is one of my favorite cities in the world. The traffic is nuts (like, it doesn’t move…at all…), something we learned very quickly when we visited the Pyramids of Giza (and ended up meeting a scammer along the way). And crossing the street is a lot like it is in Hanoi…a real life game of Frogger!

A “tuk tuk” in Giza, just outside the Pyramids

But the Metro was super handy, gliding under the traffic with ease (and complete female-only cars!). We took it to Coptic Cairo, to explore the unique Christian heritage in this devoutly Muslim city. And we took it to Tahrir Square, where people were still protesting (this was just short of a year after the revolution).

Protest tents set up in Tahrir Square in December 2011

There, aside from the protests and the burned out shell of what had been Mubarak’s party headquarters, we visited the Egyptian Museum. Though full of priceless relics of Ancient Egypt’s past (including the contents of King Tut’s tomb), a walk through the museum was like walking through a someone’s dusty attic; disorganized, disorienting and overwhelming, but full of interesting gems.

A street in historic Islamic Cairo

A stark contrast was Al-Azhar Mosque, one of the oldest continually operating universities in the world, a peaceful oasis amidst the craze outside its walls. A chance to sit and take it all in, paired with the local market next door (not the tourist market), really put things in perspective.

Al-Azhar Mosque

The Mayhem, Understood

As we prepared to head our separate ways, we spent one night out, exploring Cairo’s nightlife. There, upscale Egyptian’s sipped on drinks and danced the night away. It was the perfect release from the crazy and one of those moments that emphasized, as so many in travel do, that we aren’t all that different from each other, regardless of what you see on TV.

A collection of stuff on a side street in Cairo

In making my way to the gorgeous train station for my overnight train to Luxor, I had a moment to reflect on the insanity that had been the past few days in Cairo. And I realized something. Crazy, like most things in life, is totally relative. Look beyond the obvious and you’ll see that just about anything can be normal.

Cairo’s Ramses Train Station
Image courtesy of Faris Knight on Wikipedia

Oh, and I never did find a good a cheeseburger the entire time I was in Egypt…

Original Content: The Craziness That is Cairo from Aaron's Worldwide Adventures - Unlikely Places. Ultimate Experiences.. All rights reserved.

The scenery around was new to me. After all, I’d just left the urban hubbub of Istanbul for small town Turkey. My goal was to basically cross the entire country by bus, but that’s a long trip so I needed to break it up somewhere and Amasya, the town I was now walking through, was the perfect candidate thanks to its convenient location smack dab in the middle of the Anatolia (Turkey).

But it wasn’t like I randomly pointed to a place on a map. Amasya was suggested to me by fellow blogger Katie Aune, who had passed through a week or so before me. And my reasons for stopping in here soon came into view. Striking cliffs across the river with dozens of classic Ottoman-style houses below. It was incredibly picturesque and charming. But those cliffs held something else…

Tombs. Not just any though. Tombs that belonged to the Pontus kings of yesteryear… Wait a second… Pontus kings? Suddenly I was having visions of the story of a certain Pontus king named Mitridate (which Mozart turned into a rather obscure opera).

Almost Petra-like in their nature, these tombs date all the way back to the 3^rd Century BCE. Now empty, they sit high above, overlooking the atmospheric town and the surrounding mountains, jutting dramatically towards the sky.

Tomb Hunting

After settling on a cheapish Ottoman-style Pension (no, not something you get upon retirement, a Turkish guest house of sorts housed in a traditional building) and stocking up on some food, I set out for a little exploration. First order of business? The tombs, of course!

It was a relatively easy hike up to their cliff-side perch, where you could get up close and personal with these squares cut into the rock. Not that there’s much detail to see or anything, but they’re interesting and the views of the town are quite nice. There are also the ruins of a 15^th Century Ottoman Hammam (Turkish bath) on the site.

But tombs aren’t the only secret the mountains around Amasya hold… Perched high above the tombs sits a pretty spectacular castle!

Amasya Castle

Wait… A castle? This isn’t England…what’s a castle doing here? Castles are, in fact, quite common in historic Turkish towns, always situation on a strategic spot on a hill overlooking a city. Their use wasn’t so much to house royals, but to defend the cities around them. Think more of a medieval fort, though Amasya’s actually dates back as far as 3200 BCE.

Whatever it is, my hike up there on my second day was a great little adventure, as I followed the bright yellow “KALE” signs up and up the mountain. I should note that the Turkish term for these places (Kale), is pronounced Kah-ley, not like the leafy green vegetable!

By the time I reached the top of the mountain, I was wiped. Nothing like a hike to remind you how out of shape you are! Exhausted as I may have been, the rewards were fantastic! Here I meandered the ruins of the fortress, as it traversed its way up to the peak, where a large Turkish flag flew.

Thankfully, the weather, which had been threatening rain all day, held out to give me even better vistas of the town below than I got from the tombs the previous day. That said, it was a struggle to even remain standing with the high winds coming in! But I didn’t care. This is what I’d hiked up all this way for!

A Mere Stop

By nightfall, I was off again, continuing my cross-country trek (next stop, Erzurum), glad that I’d stopped in Amasya. Not only was it a convenient way to break up my journey, it also turned out to be a pretty nifty town!

Original Content: Tombs & Castles in Amasya, Turkey from Aaron's Worldwide Adventures - Unlikely Places. Ultimate Experiences.. All rights reserved.

Glacier Trekking? Like walking across ice? Yep! And let me tell you, it was a pretty incredible experience!

And don’t worry, you’re not going to slip and slide thanks to this wonderful invention called crampons; essentially spikes that attach to your boots which keep your feet firmly planted in the ice.

A boot and crampon fitting is exactly the way our day began on that bright and sunny summer morning. Settling in at Mica Guides, which, along with the Hilton Garden Inn, was kind enough to host us for the day, we could see a white wave rolling across the mountains in the distance. That, we were told, was our destination, the Matanuska Glacier.

We piled into their vans for the short drive to Glacier Park, which, strangely enough, is located on private property that doesn’t include the glacier itself but includes the means of accessing the glacier. Upon arrival, we set out on the rather muddy path to the glacier itself.

Water was everywhere. “Glacier runoff,” we were told. It was summer and the glacier, which is constantly changing, was melting, though there was still plenty of it to go around.

The trail turned into boards, crossing over what appeared to be a muddy surface. But the boards weren’t there to keep your feet clean. No, these boards were here to save your life! See, tap this mud with your foot and it takes on the appearance of Gak, a slimy children’s toy, and effectively behaved like quicksand!

Finally, we cramponed-up and hit the ice, being led through the glacier. Our guide noted the dramatic changes that had occurred since his last visit a few days prior, including things that were tiny cracks that were now huge crevices. It was a stark reminder that this really isn’t an environment you should explore without a guide.

Our guide pointed out that glacier ice is always blue rather than white like snow (look carefully and you’ll see that in a few different photos). That and the runoff that seemed to be happening all over the place was perfectly potable, despite not having passed through a water treatment plant. We all took the opportunity to refill our water bottles with crisp, cool glacier water straight from the source!

Meandering through the icy environment was fascinating and exhausting! Despite the crampons, walking through the ice was hard work! But on we went, passing through surreal features that mimicked solid land, like canyons, valleys and hills.

Stopping at a small lake, our guide indicated the stunning formation in front of us. He called it “The Waterfall” and it wasn’t hard to see why!

Making our way out (and onto our next stop, a truly awesome outdoor zip line experience run by the same company), we took a last look around the sea of ice that surrounded us and I couldn’t help but think about how thrilling the experience had been. Just to witness the pure power that the ice had over the surrounding land was, in itself, mind-boggling!

Though it was just a little taste, it reinforced all of those thoughts about just what Alaska is. And though there is so very much more (including an unexpected food and craft beer scene), to me, Alaska is adventure. And I just can’t wait to be back to experience more of it!

Though my time in Alaska was hosted by Hilton Garden Inn, all opinions expressed here are my own. 

Original Content: Glacier Trekking: What It’s Like to Walk on Ice! from Aaron's Worldwide Adventures - Unlikely Places. Ultimate Experiences.. All rights reserved.

Nestled on a hill, symbolically topped by a natural lingam (a symbol of the Hindu deity Shiva), this temple dates back to somewhere within the 11th to 13th centuries CE. And approaching from the road, you’d almost never know anything was here, especially considering how tough it is to get here! I’d already taken a miserable overnight bus from Vientiane to Pakse, then a songthaew and a boat across the Mekong to Champasak and then a bicycle to get here!

Upon entering, the site looks rather lackluster, which left me thinking…did I come all this way for this? I had a feeling though that UNESCO, who declared this to be a World Heritage Site in 2001, wouldn’t let me down. On either side of the path lay a couple of reflecting pools, only one of which still contained water. Beyond them some ruins of what were once palaces.

Ahead lay what appeared to have once been a staircase, though now it lay in such a state of disrepair that a ramp may have been a better way of describing it. Like the Temples of Angkor, this place had multiple levels, though here they were built into a hill.

Along the way, it was hard to miss the offerings people had left, a reminder that, for many, these ruins are still an active religious site.

Wat Phu in Photos

The top level held what I came here to see. This was the sanctuary, in all its glory. Sheltered by trees and obstructed from below, it is in a strikingly well-kept state.

The main courtyard held several Buddha images, all swathed in robes and surrounded by many offerings.

Perhaps most impressive were the array of carvings that had survived many centuries of neglect to remain fully intact.

I was also really taken by the areas of the structure that had fallen apart, which made for some very interesting photo oppprtunities!

I’ll leave you with strange carving I encountered on my way down. Can you figure out what it may be? Some sort of reptile perhaps?

What About You?

Have you visited Wat Phu? What did you think?

Original Content: Photo Essay: Wat Phu, Laos’ Khmer History from Aaron's Worldwide Adventures - Unlikely Places. Ultimate Experiences.. All rights reserved.

The Taktsang Monastery, also known as the “Tiger’s Nest”

Ever since my family and I traveled to Bhutan in 2010, people have said to me, “But I heard getting a visa for Bhutan is really difficult!” It’s not that it’s difficult to get a visa for Bhutan, it’s that it’s quite expensive, sort of…

How to Travel to Bhutan

Contrary to popular belief, the Kingdom of Bhutan does not place any caps on the number of tourists who are allowed to travel there. But you can’t just up and go. Unless you find yourself in the great fortune to receive an invitation from a Bhutanese national, or you are a citizen of India, Bangladesh or the Maldives, you must travel to Bhutan on an organized tour.

Organized tour? If you’re like me, you might despise organized tours. Sorry, but there isn’t a way around this aside from the two ways listed above. Here’s the thing though. The tour doesn’t have to be a big group tour. The tour could be just you. In my case, it was just the 5 members of my family, along with a guide and driver, which was actually quite a pleasant experience.

The ubiquitous “Blow Horn,” painted on the back of nearly every truck in Bhutan

There’s another catch though…

The Daily Tariff

Not only must you go on an organized tour, the tour operator must charge you US$250 per person for every night you are in the country (during the High Season; go during the summer or winter, when the weather is not-so favorable, and you’ll save $50 a night). This fee is all-inclusive once you are on the ground, with the exception of beverages. Do note that groups of 1 or 2 people pay an additional daily fee.

So for a family of 3 to spend 10 nights in Bhutan, it would cost a total of US$7,500. Transportation to Bhutan is not included (the only airline serving Bhutan is Druk Air and, with no competition, their flights are not cheap).

Druk Air at Paro Airport

Now, compare that with the costs of traveling independently in any of the surrounding countries and the price is fairly mind-boggling, at least at first glance. Our guide did share with us that a substantial portion of the tariff (35% when we visited) goes to the government as a tax, to provide services to its citizens and increase that Gross National Happiness that Bhutan is so famous for.

A woman carries prayer beads at the Jampa Lhakhang in Bumthang

Not to mention that the Daily Tariff actually serves a bit of a purpose. Our guide told us rather bluntly that the tariff was designed “to keep Backpackers and Hippies out” (the irony being that I’m a backpacker and my parents are hippies!).

Think about it though. For all the good travel can do, it can also have a negative effect on places, particularly those that turn into party central, losing their identity in the process. Not to mention those spots drowning in people shamelessly peddling services to tourists (Luxor, Egypt anyone?)

What Bhutan has succeeded in doing is to preserve their culture unlike anywhere else I have been (Iraqi Kurdistan is a close second, though decades of conflict have worn away at that). The result is all the wonder and mystique that Bhutan is famous for, and having been there, I have to tell you… I wouldn’t want it any other way!

A novice monk in deep thought at Punakha Dzong

There are ways of getting discounts, including children and students, or those who stay for quite a while. The Tourism Council of Bhutan maintains a useful list of these, as well as additional surcharges.

How to Get a Visa for Bhutan

Once you’re ready to start the process, you need to get in touch with a tour operator. They will handle all the arrangements for you, including organizing your stay in Bhutan, your flights on Druk Air and your visa, which will be stamped into your passport upon arrival. The flights arrangements cannot even be made until you’ve paid for your trip and visa clearance has been authorized.

Bhutan Visa and Entrance/Exit stamps

There are a myriad of tour operators out there, both within Bhutan and abroad. I’m always a fan of helping out local businesses, so my family went with a Bhutanese operator (Bhutan Eco-Expedition, if you’re curious), recommended to us by a friend of my grandmother’s who was her tour leader when she visited Bhutan and fell in love with it. It was a wonderful experience, though working with a domestic operator will require you to spend some time wiring money.

The Tourism Council of Bhutan also maintains a list of all registered tour operators.

Paro Dzong

So there you have it! Getting a visa for Bhutan is as easy as contacting a tour operator, working out the details of what you want, paying for your tour and letting the operator handle the rest!

What about you?

Have you traveled to Bhutan? What was your experience working with a tour operator?

Original Content: The Bhutan Visa Myth from Aaron's Worldwide Adventures - Unlikely Places. Ultimate Experiences.. All rights reserved.

Let’s flash to Erbil (pronounced Air-beel. Also spelled Arbil or Irbil, or, in Kurdish, Hawler or Hewler and pronounced How-LAIR), the bustling capital of the Kurdish Autonomous Region in northern Iraq (also known as Iraqi Kurdistan). The massive Erbil Citadel dominates the skyline, with every street in the city radiating from its center. The citadel sits atop a tell, or a mound comprised of layers of many generations of human settlement. We’re talking so many generations here that the citadel is said to be the oldest continually inhabited place in the world, a fact that UNESCO backs!

Image Credit: Wikipedia

The sediments in this mound are thought to date way back to the 5^th Millennium BCE. That’s 7,000 years yo! And on top? The center of historic Erbil. A mini city unto itself, though the streets along the crumbling mud-brick houses are quiet these days. The citadel is now a ghost town. Closed for renovations in 2007, all but one family were evicted as to maintain its record for being continuously inhabited.

A visit to Erbil Citadel starts at the large bazaar at its base. An elaborate fountain leads the way to the entrance, as modern-looking structures form a wall around the citadel’s perimeter (my friend told me that these structures were built by Saddam Hussein’s administration).

Many of the side streets are currently roped off, their structures being gussied up in hopes of one day becoming a World Heritage Site. In the meantime, visitors can currently traverse the main street leading to the historic Mula Afandi Mosque, where the friendly Imam showed my friend and I around, even taking us up on the roof for some panoramic views of the closed-off streets.

As we got to talking to the Imam, he told us he was a Sufi, a mystical branch of Islam, and that his family had resided in the citadel for many generations, pointing out the house his father had once lived in. In exchanging names, he, like many people in the Middle East, had trouble pronouncing my name (Aaron, pronounced Air-en). I mentioned that it was the name of the brother of Moses and, excitedly, he said, “Ooooh, you mean Harun (Ha-roon)!” Sure, Harun!

As we said goodbye to the friendly Imam, we decided to take a peek at those now-abandoned houses. And sure, we found some squatters in ruin…

But we also found that many of the families that had once lived in the citadel were actually fairly well off. For many of the houses featured impressive courtyards!

And beyond those impressive courtyards lay some grand-looking buildings.

Some without four walls…

And many with impressive detail work, including built-in alcoves and nice tile and brickwork…

As we left, I couldn’t help but notice the houses that were on a level above the street. You could actually see the layers of sediments upon which they were built.

Stepping out of 7,000+ years of human history and back into the bustling market was, at this point, something fairly routine to me. After a month in the Middle East, the juxtaposition between old and new was nothing special. Though, in retrospect, the fact that you can step back thousands of years in just a few footsteps is pretty damn cool!

From there, it was off to watch the sunset over another nearby Erbil landmark…Minaret Park, featuring the broken 36-meter (118 foot) high Mudhafaria Minaret, which dates back to the 12^th Century CE. It made for the perfect evening to a historic Erbil afternoon!

What About You?

Have you visited historic places that were otherwise abandoned? What were your experiences like?

Original Content: Photo Essay: Inside 7,000 Years of History at Erbil Citadel in Iraq from Aaron's Worldwide Adventures - Unlikely Places. Ultimate Experiences.. All rights reserved.