As it was my last day in Luang Prabang (Laos), I biked around town looking to capture some more images of this colorful and charming town. Before returning my to my hotel, I came across this very pleasant cafe located not so far from the Tourist Information office.

Overlooking a beautiful lotus pond, the setting was so very idyllic and peaceful. Too bad that the coffee (and the toast) were quite ordinary. Oh, how I really detest instant coffee! Believe it or not, I ran into another tourist at the cafe from my hometown of San Francisco who I had met earlier in the week in Luang Prabang. She was entranced by the extraordinary view too!

This picture is actually a digitally rendered watercolor. It definitely creates a better mood than the original photograph. Picture was taken in December 2006.

Banilah

Located in Chiang Mai, Banilah is a small hostel which caters to the budget traveler. From the images on the website, it appears to be a very stylish but simple boutique hotel. With room rates of only $9.00 including daily breakfast, it sounds too good be true. The hotel is located about 15 minute taxi ride from the center of Chiang Mai in an area very popular with the student crowd.

Nan Boutique Hotel

Heretofore, the city of NAN – an off the beaten track destination in Northern Thailand that few tourists have heard of – was lacking a legitimate first class hotel. That has all changed with the opening up of the Nan Boutique Hotel. From the look of their website, this hotel appears to be very stylish and upscale with rates starting at very reasonable $40USD.

Bo Klua View

About a 90 minute drive from the city of Nan is Bo Klua resort, a small nature lodge of about 12 rooms. Overlooking an ancient salt well village and situated not far from the Doi Phu Kha National Park, this hotel is for nature lovers. Priced at $50USD night including breakfast, the rates seem to be a little on the steep side for accommodations of this type in Thailand.

I will be splitting my stay in Nan at Nan Boutique Hotel and Bo Klua View.

Four Seasons Tented Camp

Further afield in Chiang Rai Province is the Four Seasons Tented Camp, the first of its kind in Thailand – sort of Africa meets Thailand. According to the publicity, this resort is popular with people who’d like to see the elephants. It is rated as a luxury establishment’ with rates that start at $1370 per night/per tent including daily breakfast, the price is a little steep for most people but apparently they have found a market with “the so called jet set and celebrity types”.

At the beginning of the show, most of the celebrities were complete strangers to each other – as time went on, they developed into a somewhat cohesive clan/tribe forming friendships and relationships. Lou Diamond Philips and John Salley showed their alpha male qualities by asserting themselves as the leaders.

The young celebrity couple of Heidi and Spencer proved themselves to be total primadonnas, wearing out their welcome only 2-3 days into the show before they dropped out altogether. I guess someone had to step up and play the role as the villain initially to draw in the viewers. The different competitions and games that the producers put them through were kind of fun (and ridiculous) and the show had its moments of drama especially with the feistiness of former model, Janice Dickerson. I was really impressed with the production values – the visuals of the wildlife, in particular the close-up shots of various insects, frogs, lizards and monkeys were outstanding.

After watching this show, many people are probably thinking how wonderful it would be to experience the rainforests of Costa Rica (or anywhere for that matter). While the rainforests are teeming with exotic colorful birds and wildlife, most of the creatures remain hidden or camouflaged in the dense green vegetation and towering rainforest canopy.

Walking along nature trails, you’ll probably be pestered by a variety of bugs – namely flies, mosquitoes and the occasional wasp and if you look carefully on the ground, you’ll most likely encounter several giant centipedes as well as colonies of leafcutter ants crossing the trail. Just be careful where you sit, as the ants can be very nasty! Snakes, you may ask? I have never stumbled across a snake in the rainforest, but there is always a first time, just be sure to watch your step and don’t stray off the marked trail.

As someone who has spent some time in the rainforests of Costa Rica and the Amazon basin, I know how difficult it is go birding unless you’re with a trained naturalist. Many tourists who have stayed at a nature lodge in the rainforest have remarked that the only birds they saw during their entire trip were at the propped up birdfeeders set up by the management.

Can you imagine, even though the series ended last night, I haven’t watched the final show. I am wondering who the winner is!

Up to 40 people – mostly friends and family – attend the meditation retreat, which is held at least once a year. There is a dedicated area on her compound – separate from the main house – where people camp out in tents underneath simple palm thatched lean-toos. Tents are provided to campers as a courtesy of Khun Lek. Clustered together in the camping area are a number of gazebos and platforms which are used by the campers for their group meditation sessions. Scheduled twice a day (at 4:00PM and 8:00PM), these meditation sessions are supervised by her younger brother, an ordained Buddhist monk.

Lek’s Meditation Retreat is not a social affair – the focus is on meditation and spiritual purification. Typically people will eat, sleep and talk less. Breakfast and lunch are ordered from a nearby food shop for about $2.00USD per person, although many of the campers will bring some food and cook together. Most of them will skip dinner and just have some hot cocoa and fruit. Although, Khun Lek does not charge participants any monies, they are welcome to make donations to help subsidize the electricity and water bill.

After about a week or so at Khun Lek’s, the meditation retreat goes mobile – the group will travel around Northern Thailand and Issan by car(s) for about 1-2 months, visiting many places and setting up camp at any number of National Parks. Sounds like fun if you’re seriously into Meditation, Buddhism and Nature! Since Khun Lek and her people speak minimal English, outsiders (hence the tourist crowd) do not attend her meditation retreat as they would feel a little awkward.

For tourists who’d like to escape from the rigors of the daily grind and chant their way to nirvana, you might want to check out the Middle Way Meditation Retreat in Thailand, one of the top international retreats in the world. Located near Phu Ruea National Park in the Northeastern (Issan) province of Loei, this retreat is farang friendly and has more in the way of creature comforts and amenities then Lek’s place in Chiang Dao. For a one-week all-inclusive package, the rate is $156 per person. While I have never been there myself, there was a very good article about this retreat in the June Edition of Conde Nast Traveler. Sounds good to me!

What is the story behind this picture? While strolling through the crafts market in Mae Salong, a quaint Yunnanese village in the mountains of Northern Thailand (circa 2004), a young Akha lady at the crafts market happened to catch my eye while selling her vibrantly colored handbags. At my behest, the young lady graciously posed for this picture, which is typical in Thailand as most people enjoy having their pictures taken. As she was accustomed to dealing with tourists in her line of business, she spoke more than a couple of words of English – more than most Thai people.

Normally I will buy some merchandise before taking pictures but in this instance no monies changed hands. May I introduce to you Thailand’s New Cover Girl!

The song is accompanied by a wonderful video which depicts some of the remarkable natural beauty and wildlife that Costa Rica has to offer as well as some of the popular activities and tours for the adventurous tourist – Zipline Canopy tours, mountain biking, hiking, sea kayaking and whitewater rafting and the like. In my opinion, the video (accompanied by the Jacob Dylan song) is a very powerful marketing vehicle for tourism to Costa Rica, which in recent years has become one of the most popular playgrounds and vacation hot spots of many Hollywood celebrities and stars.
PURA VIDA!

Coming up on NBC in early June is the new reality show “I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here”. The show will be filmed in the lowland rainforests of Costa Rica’s Sarapiqui region. Contestants confirmed to participate include actor Stephen Baldwin, former NBA Star John Salley, American Idol contestant Sanjaya and Speidi. There has been some controversy already with this production as the former Governor of Illinois, Rod Blagojevich was rejected as a participant due to some legal issues, although his wife is antsy to be on the show and take his place. Costa Rica’s Tourism Industry will surely benefit from this TV show as more foreigners will be encouraged to visit and experience Costa Rica.

http://www.hotelchatter.com/story/2009/4/24/13157/9357/hotels/Costa_Rica_Braces_For_The_Speidi_Moon

“So ballsy former Illinois governor, Rod Blagojevich won’t be living the pura vida in Costa Rica after all. That pesky indictment has quashed Blago’s plans to continue his fifteen minutes with a stint on the NBC reality show “I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here!” (He won’t be getting the rumored $80K a week that some news outlets reported he’d earn from NBC either.) Instead, reality leeches and newlyweds Heidi Montag and Spencer Pratt will get to unleash their egos and suck any camera time dry all while calling Costa Rica home. (Can they move there for good, please?!)

The temporary home appears to be set on location in the Sarapiquí region and potentially at Selva Verde Rainforest Lodge. NBC is in negotiations with the hotel to house most of the cast and crew while the nearby Hotel Sueño Azul Resort may serve as the headquarters for production.

While the judge on Blagojevich’s case overpowered the good/bad television gods by nixing any travel abroad, it is rumored that Mrs. Blagojevich may take to the jungle if she can stomach eating bugs and other unsavory challenges.

If she goes for the unsophisticated but legit dough, she’ll be battling it out with contestants besides Speidi that might include: talk show host Geraldo Rivera, former supermodel Janice Dickinson, former “American Idol” contestant Sanjaya Malakar and Duane “Dog the Bounty Hunter” Chapman for the title of “King of Queen of the Jungle.” How kind of NBC to give these people a chance at being a winner.

Personally, we’d much rather watch the howler and spider monkeys swing from the canopies. Hopefully the toxic cast doesn’t destroy the ecosystem.”

In Costa Rica (and in Panama) you will find many bird species that are found in either North America or South America, as Central America is a land bridge that connects North America to South America. In fact, over 200 species of birds from North American can be found in Costa Rica during North America’s cold winter months, only to return to their North American homes sometime during the Spring. These birds are called migrants. It is not surprising, that there only 4 bird species endemic to mainland Costa Rica.

While Costa Rica has the most species of bird per square mile, the countries which have the greatest number of bird species are primarily in South America – Colombia is the leader with 1821, followed closely by Peru with 1781 and by Brazil, the South American Giant, with 1712 species. After Brazil, the the rankings continue with Indonesia, Ecuador, Bolivia and Venezuela. Now if you take into consideration that Colombia’s total area is 440,000 square miles, that would make the bird species density .04 square mile (compared to Costa Rica’s .4 per square mile). That is a significant difference! Considering that Colombia is 22 times the size of Costa Rica, you will realize why – all things being equal - Costa Rica is considered the best (and most practical) destination for birders in the world!

Other factors which contribute to Costa Rica’s popularity among birders are:

1. It’s a very safe destination
2. Many of the popular birding spots are within 90 minutes – 2 hour radius of the capital, San Jose which is located in the Central Highlands
3. There are many dedicated ecoresorts in the most popular birding areas, many of which cater to birding enthusiasts
4. Ecotourism infrastructure is very advanced

PURA VIDA!

Curiously enough, of the 888 bird species recorded in the USA, more than 1/3 are in Hawaii

The bird in question was spotted amidst the undergrowth along the roadside in Turrialba Valley – not too far from Guayabo National Monument – about 3500 feet above sea level. Black and fairly small with no distinguishing characteristics to the naked eye, this bird had a relatively stout beak and was observed hopping up and down continuously while emitting a single plaintive note. By hopping up and down, I deduced that the bird was either trying to expose seeds on the ground or scare up some small insects for his next meal (part of the bird’s foraging behavior).

After referring to his bird book and after considerable hesitation, the young bird guide who had accompanied me from Guayabo National Moument claimed that the bird was a Variable Seedeater. I really wasn’t convinced as for such a common bird, an experienced bird guide should not have to refer to his bird book. After doing some investigation of my own – online and looking at my own Costa Rica Bird book – I think the mystery bird may have been either a Blue-Black Grassquit (most likely) or Blue Seedeater. What do you think?

I have produced a short video on the exotic wildlife of Costa Rica. To make this video, I mixed together a variety of short video clips and digital pictures from my most recent trip. Most of the footage is from Turrialba Valley, Ostional Beach and San Jose’s Culture Plaza. In Turrialba Valley, you’ll observe wasps pollinating a Heliconia at Guayabo Lodge, a sloth foraging in the tree and leafcutter ants on the march at Guayabo National Monument as well as a variety of flycatchers and an unusual hopping black bird by the roadside. In Ostional/Nosara Beach (Nicoya Peninsula), you’ll see a Black Iguana, a Marine Toad and a Great White Heron. The final segment of the video features scenes from San Jose’s popular Culture Plaza which are reminiscent of The Birds, Alfred Hitchcock’s famous thriller. PURA VIDA!

Note: The young bird guide from Guayabo National Monument identified the black hopping bird along the roadside as a Variable Seedeater (see video between 1:40.20 – 2:07). I’m not too sure about this! In any case, the bird’s hopping behavior is either uncovering seeds or exposing small insects for him to eat. The Black Iguana (who I affectionately named Jesus) and the toad were residents of Luna Azul, my hotel in Ostional.