Peru 2015: Sacred Valley/Cusco City Tour (09 December 2016)

The residential part of Ollantaytambo

   I got up at about 7 in the morning, dressed up, had some toast and coca tea for my breakfast. I walked around the wall-town too before decided to get my bread for the breakfast. Peruvians tend to get up very early so people are already starting to work in Ollantaytambo. Ollantaytambo is a wall city next to the ruin. It is very small but has its own charm I liked the wall part, as well as its sewage system, and it is right along a river too so irrigation was easy.

     I agreed to meet the taxi driver at 8 in the morning. Kat, the owner of hostel Chaska Wasi, gave me a lecture of how to store money properly in Peru.

   When I met the taxi driver, it was a different driver and the he was a younger man from the taxi driver I met on the previous night. I do not like this kind of dishonesty, and I should have rejected his offer on the spot. One thing I should have done was that I should have taken pictures and showed him that he had to keep his words. The taxi driver could have benefited and continue to be dishonest if he is allowed to and it is not good for the tourism of Peru. We only ended up on to Moray, Salinas, Chinchero, and a demonstration of dye near Chinchero. I was fairly disappointed that the taxi driver was not passionate (probably he was bored of seeing the same things all over) and did not enter chinchero (he just wanted to get things through) and go back to Cusco.

   Anyway, I was carpooled with two American tourists (whose name I have long forgotten). We drove through the back route to Maras. It was a curvy and hilly drive up to the to of the mountain range. Maras is a small village which is about an hour of drive from Ollaytatambo and is fairly remote. I saw a few Quechua people walking along the highway and was certainly a long walk.

   Moray was an experimental farm site built by the Incan Empire and it was built in circles. It was explained that different crops were planted on different levels of the terraces and there, because there was a significant differences in terms of the climate in between those terraces. There was also an irrigation system when water can be drawn to the terraces.

Moray, the experimental terraces built by the Incans

   After that, we visited Salinas. Salinas is a community-owned salt mine in the Sacred Valley. It was still a working salt mine, and it was breathtaking in terms of its scale. I liked the way that it has a good balance between a working mine and limited tourism. It educates people of how Andean people got their salt, as well a scenic site.

Salinas, salt terraces that has been used for centuries

   The taxi driver drove us to Chinchero, which is a small town known for its dye and its half Incan and Spanish architectures. We first arrived to the dye demostration/market. We saw some amazing demonstrations of natural dyes, and of course we were led to the market, which the lady started to sell us things. They expect you to buy some souvenirs and I understand they need money, so I bought a few of the arts (later I found them very generic, so they maybe factory-made), at least they were made in Peru.

   We saw Chinchero ruins from a far, which is a huge disappointment, because I did not have a and I didn't like the taxi driver for not driving into Chinchero. He drove the most direct route back to Cusco. Once I was dropped off at Plaza del Armas in Cusco, I was approached by a lady. She persuaded me to join the last minute city tour by offering me a discount. I took it and the following places were included: Qorincancha, Q'enco, Sacsayhuaman, Tambomachay, and Puca Pucara.

The Spanish built their own churches over the Incan again in Chinchero

These Incans are master stone masons

    Qorincancha is about 400 southeast of Plaza de Aramas. It was the religious center of the Incan Empire. After the Incan were conquered by Spain. The Spanish superimposed their own Catholic church onto the foundation of the Incan temple, probably used it as a gesture by the Spanish dominate the Incans. Interesting, the part that was built by the Spanish collapsed during an earthquake in 1950, while the the Incan foundation stood well.

    We visited Q'enko, Sacsayhuaman, Tambomachay, and Puca Pucara within 2 hours. It was such as little time for all those sites. The tour guide was very good and very enthusiastic, knowledgeable, and willing to learn new things. I was lucky to have such a tour guide.

Sacsayhuaman, a very large ruin which was just above the city center of Cusco

   

Peru 2015 - Cusco (06 & 07 Dec 2015)

   Cusco was the first city that I visited in Peru and was the city which I spent the longest time in Peru. For those of you who don't know, Cusco is located on a valley in the Andes, and is the most visited city by tourists in Peru. It was the capital of the Incan Empire, which dominated the Andes for about 150 years before the civil war and the arrival of the conquistadors from Spain. What is special about it is it does not have a visible river that flows through the old historic town so water must be irrigated from elsewhere. The old city is listed as UNESCO heritage site (the other two are the Old Town of Lima and Arequipa) because of its cobble stone roads and beautiful architecture.

   I have learned previously that the taxi drivers will overcharge tourists with the taxi to the city so I decided to walk to the city itself. It was 5:30 on 06 Dec in the morning so I figured it would be a good time to walk around and get myself familiarise with the city.

   I took me a while to figure out the location of Namaste House (the place owned by a Hare Krishna practitioner and I would like to experience different types of accommodations  and it would fun to interact with travellers and locals). I was exhausted by the lack of sleep in my two legged flight from Seattle to Lima so I went to a two hour massage session (later I regretted about it and I should have asked Dhruva instead.

   I walked around the Old Town aimlessly and bought some fake hoodies & There are tourist operators all over in Cusco. I went to a pastry shop called Pantastico in Barrio San Blas and the storekeeper (Naysha) showed me different sites (Qorinkancha and Saqsaywaman) and I decided to buy a tourist ticket (Boleto Turistico) to see the various sites. Later two Asian tourists (Calvin and Sofia) came over and we had a good chat for about an hour. I was tired enough and I walked back to Nameste House. Ana, a Romanian Fulbright Scholar that works in Quito, invited me to come to a concert with Incan rock band. It was an awesome performance, but I was too tired to enjoy it. Ana was also tired because of excess rock climbing. We went back to Nameste House by 12:30 at night.

San Blas Plaza in Cusco

Peruvian and Incan flag in Plaza de Armas

Easy tourist money for the local Peruvians

   I got up at about 6:30 in the morning on 07 Dec. I walked to Avenida el Sol to get some Peruvian currency - sol. After that, I walked to the museum and the garden of Qorinkancha to check out some history and artifacts of the Incan time and bought boleto turistico (the ticket where many of the Incan sites would require). At about 11:00, I walked south to Monumneto Inca Pachacutec and learned about the famous Inca Pachacutec and saw the skyline of Cusco from the observation deck. The view was okay. After that, I walked to Pavitos to catch the Coletivo to Ollantaytambo.

   I had some conversations with Sebastien about various topics and experiences in travelling and I admire his willingness to trek despite on . The colectivo went up to the hill to the much less desirable areas of Cusco and it was interesting to see that part of daily lives of poorer Peruvians. The colectivo drove by Chinchero, Urubamba, and finally to Ollantaytambo. Sebastien and I parted way, and I walked up to the ruin using my boleto turistica. It was the first ruin I walked and the scenery was stunning. I stayed there long enough, and made it to the train station to catch the IncaRail to Aguas Calientes six minutes before the train would take off.

   

   

Peru 2015 - Aguas Calientes & Machu Picchu & Ollantaytambo (08 Dec 2015)

   The trains from Ollantaytambo to Aguas Calientes are operated by IncaRail and PeruRail. Both are considered some of the most expensive railway per mile in the world. Nevertheless, I have to admit that the scenery along the train ride was amazing.

   The train went along Urumbamba River and was parallel to some parts of the Inca Trail. The nice thing about travelling to South America is that South Americans are generally more extroverted and for those who can afford to travel, they are usually very educated and are interested in the outside world. I was lucky to sit by a woman who worked as a travel agency in Puno. She was travelling to Machu Picchu with her daughter and we had some nice conversations on various topics, and I thought that was a good cultural exchange with local people.

The statue in Aguas Calientes

   Aguas Calientes is a small town that existed only because of Machu Picchu. The town was fairly pretty, because it was at the valley on Urubamba River, and one could constantly hear the water. It was easy to walk around and has a population of about 1800. I was told that everything was overpriced in Aguas Calientes because its location is very remote, and everything has to be shipped by rail. My guess is that there are different prices on merchandise that are being sold to the tourists and Peruvians.

   I stayed in a place called Pirwa Hostel, which was almost the farthest hostel away from Machu Picchu. The hostel was very empty and I ventured out on Avenida Pachucutec for some dinner. I ended up at a place called Dolce Gourmet and they offered a variety of vegetarian tourist/typical menus for S/.15 including soup, salad, and segundo. It was good and I walked around the residential part of Aguas Calientes before I headed back to the hostel.

   There were two boring tourists (Gringos!) in my room after 10PM, and they wanted to drink more before they were heading up to Machu Picchu and I thought it was the foolish idea ever but it's their trip, not mine. I headed to sleep and I expected myself to get up at 4:30'ish AM.

   I got up at 5:00 and I thought I should had gotten up earlier. I had the brief breakfast and I dashed out to Machu Picchu after I checked out. The sun was already out and I was too stingy to spend S/.50 on a short bus trip so I decided to hike 500 meters up to Machu Picchu.

   The hike was really nice and I was stopped by two friendly and young security guards to check my tickets when I arrived the station in front of the bridge. They asked for my ticket and I told them I had a reservation. They went through all the trouble to check the tickets with the tourist office for me and there was none. I had to go back to Plaza de Armas to buy the ticket and the ticket for Machu Picchu and the mountain. The security guards actually saved me a lot of trouble for climbing up 500m to the entrance of Machu Picchu only to get rejected right at the entrance.

   The hike from Aguas Calientes to the entrance of Machu Picchu was pretty exhausting, but I was hiking around the very green and lush forest so it was not too bad. It was about 8:20 by the time I hiked up to the top. Luckily I hung out with a couple from Chile so time went by easier. I personally liked to chat with the South American travellers. They don't tend to be as stuck up as some American tourists and they are friendly and nice.

   There are many tourist guides around Machu Picchu should anyone needed more explanation on different parts of sites. They will solicit for business and  It turned out that it was a mistake to climb to the mountain. The mountain was 500 meters above the ruin of Machu Picchu and the climb was quite steep. I met many European travellers on the hike to Machu Picchu mountain. The weather was very foggy in the morning and the only thing I can see from the top of the mountain was the sign itself.

The sign entitles you the bragging right

   I walked down with slightly disappointment. I met two Brazilian couple from São Paulo, Thiago and Meg. We walked around the ruin for about two hours and chatted in many different topics. They were very intelligent people and invited me to visit them in São Paulo if I have a chance. We parted away when they decided it to take a rest in Aguas Calientes, while I was busy taking pictures of Machu Picchu, after the majority of tourists were gone. It was very fun. I hung out until 5, then I took the hike down, went to the butterfly house, and took the train back to Ollantaytambo.
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I took the classical shot of Machu Picchu

 

More shots of Machu Picchu

  

The residential llamas are so used to people

   In the train I met a group of recently graduated college students from Piura. They were very talkative and we talked about different topics again. We exchanged contact information and I went to take a rest at the hostel.

 

Peru Trip 2015 - Foreword

   Peru (or any South American countries) is never at the top of my list of country to go, due to my lack of ability to speak Spanish, and my worries about the safety in South America in general (which turned out that I was rather ignorant and bigoted).
 
   My main motivation was very simple and rash (you could say it is immature). A dear friend of mine whom I felt I have a strong connection with made a half-joke to me on meeting her in Peru in December 2015. I have not seen her in more than a year and I really wanted to see her. Also, Peru has a rich history with Incas Empire and Andean culture that would be fascinating to see, and I bought a book (A Sacred Landscape: the Search of Ancient Peru, written by Hugh Thompson) in March 2015 during the Seattle Vegfest. I also picked up another used book (Journey to Machu Picchu: Spirtual Wisdom from the Andes by Carol Cumes and Romulo Lizarraga Valencia) and those two had became my read during my stay in Cusco. I left the first book to another traveller Nora (whom I really enjoyed spending two days roaming around Cusco with) and someone else took the second book. I hope both books would be utilized and gives some interesting info to those who are interested in the Andean culture.

 

Taiwan Trip 2010 (Day 8/Summary)

Day 8

Taichung -> Hong Kong

   Day 8 was very short, since we had to catch a flight in the morning. We got up early in the morning, packed our bags, and walked around to look for a veggie breakfast. Then, we bought several packages of suncake (太陽餅) near the Taichung Central Station as souvenir. We chatted with one of the shopkeepers and she noticed there were an increase of tourists from Mainland China and we chatted what ECFA (a joint agreement of free trade between China and Taiwan) would affect the economy of Taiwan in the future.We walked through some alleys including a street market and had a quick breakfast before heading to the bus station for the bus en route to Taichung Airport.

Morning street market

Waiting in the bus station

Finally, a nice morning after 3 days of rain in Taichung, @ Taichung Central Station

Humid morning

Flying home over Tsing Yi, Hong Kong

   The flight took 90 minutes. We went our separate ways after getting off the plane at Hong Kong International Airport. I was glad that I did not fight with Ben and Kevin during the trip, although I was accused of exploring areas on my own without notifying them and they were a little bit upset about it.

   The trip was slightly different from what I had originally planned. I was very ambitious by planning to go to Alishan and Guanziling, in addition to Taichung, Fengyuan but Ben said there would be too little time to do so. I also avoided Taipei and Kaohsiung (the two largest cities in Taiwan) because we wanted to see the more 'local' side of Taiwan. 

   I had a very good impression of Taiwan. First, Taiwan is a beautiful country with amazing scenery from the Pacific coast to snow-covered mountains that stand over 3500 meters above the sea level. Most people I came across during the Taiwan trip (albeit it took me a while to understand how car traffic works) were very friendly and helpful. Taiwanese food is to die for (a combination of Minnan, Hakka, Eastern Chinese, and Japanese cuisine) and we were lucky to find many good eateries during the trip. It is also one of the most vegetarian friendly countries in the world (among with India), due to the number of Buddhists. The pace is certainly much slower than Hong Kong and they are much more cheerful and laid-back (or at least they show) than Hong Kongers. I would like to visit there again (Kelvin already cycled around Taiwan in 2013!), as there are many places that I have not been to yet, and I have made some Taiwanese friends as well.

   In the future, I would love to experience more on the little island which is known as the true successor of the Chinese culture (sorry PRC, but Cultural Revolution destroyed many things irreversibly, including the soul and root of Chinese culture). I would also recommend people who wants to experience the Chinese culture to pay a visit to Taiwan. It might not have the stunning scenery that can be found in Mainland China, but it is easier to travel and get around, and infrastructures in Taiwan are tend to be better than China.

   Thanks for those who are willing to read my blog. I hope you enjoy the read and get to learn and understand more about this sub-tropical little island on the West Pacific. Also, many thanks to Ben and Kelvin for putting up with my during the trip, as well as their permission for using their photographs on the blog.

Taiwan Trip 2010 (Day 7)

Day 7

Tainan → Taichung

So we got up and prepared our last full day in Taiwan. After we had some breakfast in the hostel, we decided to go visit the sights in Central-western District (the heart of the city government and some sights) of Tainan, along with a little bit of the Eastern District (the two districts are separately by the main railway).

We first went to a place called Chekam Tower. It is one of the most famous attractions in Tainan and many restaurants were built around it to accommodate the tourists. Chekam Tower had a long history and was the second fort built by the Dutch colonists after Fort Zeelandia in Anping District. The Japanese later conquered Taiwan from the Qing Dynasty in 1895 and demolished the fort, and rebuilt the fort in the Japanese architecture style.

Chekam Tower

We encountered a large group of kindergarten students walking around the site. Most of them seemed to enjoy themselves and it was fun to see the different personalities between different kids. Most of the kids were well behaved, and yet, I felt the teachers had a lot of responsibilities, as it was not easy to oversee more than twenty 5 year old kids.

After we saw the Chekam Tower, we walked about three hundred meters to the Confucius Temple. There are many Confucius temples in Taiwan. The one in Central-western District of Taiwan was probably the most famous of them all, thanks to the architecture styles and the number of exhibits. The Confucius had a traditional Chinese style building layout. There was not much to see inside the temple, besides that fact that were some alters who were dedicated to Confucius and his disciples. There were also some interesting ancient Chinese musical instruments that I have never seen before.

One of the buildings in the Confucius Temple

Some of the displayed musical instruments

We were hungry and decided to grab some snacks, after we spent the morning visiting Chekam Tower and Confucius Temple. We went to a grocery store, where steam buns were their specialties. I ordered a matsutake flavoured bun with bamboo sticks and it was absolutely delicious. The aroma lasted in my mouth for many minutes.

We tried to catch a bus to the Tainan Main Train Station so we could headed to the East District. Unfortunately, the public transportation in Taiwan was very poor and nothing came for half and hour. We gave up and flagged down a taxi instead. The ride took about five minutes and we headed to the East side.

We still had about three hours to burn before we have to catch the train to Taichung. We went to see the campus of National Chengkung University (NCKU). NCKU is the most prestigious university in southern Taiwan and has a campus that is pretty enough to be considered a sightseeing attraction. After touring the campus, we felt hungry again and walked to a pedestrian-only shopping street for a quick fix.

Part of the campus of NCKU

We ordered some very good fried rice for a very cheap price in a fast food style restaurant around the shopping street. The restaurant probably served cafetaria style so everything is quick. I chatted to one of the restaurant staff who was also a student at NCKU. She seemed pretty excited when she knew that that we were from Hong Kong. However, she enjoyed the shopping parts of Hong Kong, because Hong Kong has very little restriction on exports and imports. After we finished with our lunch, we headed to Tainan Park and saw three male ducks (presumably bachelors or brothers) hanging out together. They walked and swam together and I thought that was cute. Kelvin, Ben, and I hung out in park until 3 in the afternoon, when we decided to get on the northbound bus to Taichung.

Tainan Park

Very pretty blooming lotus flower in Tainan Park. Photo credit to Calvin

One of the better ways to spend the hot afternoon in Tainan Park

The bus arrived Taichung at approximately 18:00 in the evening. We headed for a dinner in a local night market and went to Eslite Bookstore souvenir shopping around Taichung First High School district. Then we headed back to nap for the last morning.

Back to Taichung and the night market crowd again!

Taiwan Trip 2010 (Day 6)

Tainan

     We spent the entire 6th day in Tainan. Tainan was the old capital of Taiwan before the it was moved to Taipei. It is known for its slow pace of life, traditions rituals, large amount of people who speaks Taiwanese instead of Mandarin, sweet by delicious food, salt mines and old architectures. It is also the home of National Cheng Kung University (NCKU), one of the top four universities in Taiwan. Tainan has a very flat terrain, and is very hot in the summer. During colonial days, parts of the beach in Tainan were used to harvest salt. Enough of the background trivia.

      We decided to borrow the bicycles from the hotel for the rest of the day. We

Hotel bikes, not very fast but does its job

had done so because we thought it was fun to ride a bicycle in a small city. Also, the public transportation system in Tainan is very poor and most people get around by mopeds. Most roads in Taiwan have a lane that is dedicated to mopeds, and it is perfectly fine for bicycles to use the moped lanes. Since this is Tainan and we did not know what to do, we decided to do what most tourists do - eating and sightseeing. Fortunately, we had a book of coupons for the eateries and attractions, and therefore we can afford to buy more.

     After we had a brief breakfast in the hotel, the first place we decided to stop
by was the breakfast place that specializes in fish soup and decided to have a second breakfast. Ben and Calvin bought a bowl, and I biked to other store to buy a vegetarian soup. The owner was nice enough to give me a bowl for me to eat with my friends. The soup was very good, according to my friends, but we were all sweating with the combination of heat and the hot soup.

The ever cool Anping Tree House. I felt like I was in another dimension

The main tower of Ford Zeelandia

     We biked to Anping district and first dropped by the Anping Tree House and the Tait Hong, a Anglo trading company. Anping Tree House was not an actual tree, but an old abandoned house surrounded by the long roots, and the city decided to turn let it be and turned it into a city attraction. The Tree House provided nice shades under the blazing sun and it was a cool maze. On the other hand, the Tai Hong was converted into a museum which explains the history of Taiwan, from the Dutch colonial period to the current. Republic of China regime.

     The next place we decided to stop by was Fort Anping/Fort Zeelandia. It was
the first fort built in Taiwan by the Dutch colonist in 1624, in order for the colonists to defend themselves against the aboriginals. The fort that is standing today was actually built by the Japanese, as the original fort was demolished by the Japanese when Taiwan was Japan's colony. We also found a ruin but it was still 'work in progress'. From the tower of the fort, one can enjoy the view of the mangrove, Taiwan Strait, and Tainan city.

One of the digged ruins near Ford Zeelandia

View of Tainan from the tower of Ford Zeelandia

The mangrove with egerts

      We biked along the canal toward the west until we found some small snacks. I had a raisin rum flavoured ice cream at Rabbits Ice Cream.

Ice Cream from Rabbit's

Then we went to Anping tofu shop to enjoy some tofu dessert.

The soft tofu dessert with adzuki means. Good for cooling ourselves down during hot days but the tofu is not silky enough for my taste

We finally reached the beach and saw the Taiwan Strait. The other side of the land would be Fujian province of People's Republic of China. We biked south and walked around another site of interest called Eternal Golden Castle.

One of the entrance/exit of Eternal Golden Castle

It was built in the Qing Dynasty and was served as a cannon firing site. Now it is simply a park composed with fortified areas. My tire was blew up and I had to push the bicycle back to the hotel. Fortunately, the hotel manager said it was okay and he let me ride another bicycle.

Taiwan Strait facing west

       We walked to the Huayuen Night Market, which is considered the largest night market in Tainan. It has a very festive atmosphere but we were too exhausted to enjoy it after riding bicycle all day under the blazing sun. We grabbed some food, and walked back to sleep in the hotel.

Huayuen Night Market