herzog63's VirtualTourist Home Page

Kodiak Island has been graced with a visit from Matcrazy and his wife Urszula. They arrived to the 3 sunniest days of the summer. It's been very cold and rainy all summer but somehow they managed to make a deal with Mother Nature. I don't know the final photo count for Matt but for sure it was in the thousands!!! You'll have to be on the lookout in the next couple of months for Matts new Kodiak pages.

I took this shot on the Morning of Sunday December 12. Not all of the bears go into hibernation. Some of them wander the hills all winter long. We didn't get to see the bear but we will keep looking for it!!

Kodiak can have some wonderous sunrises!!! Get up early you don't want to miss them!! The morning that I got this one was weird as I usually look for the possibility of the sunrise as I get up in the morning. I check for cloud formations as that is what makes or breaks a sunrise/set in my opinion...I'm not a professional that's just my opinion... On the morning of this sunrise I was just going through my morning rituals...the 3 S's. And went down stairs to make a little breakfast as I was sitting down to eat I looked out through the curtains an the sky was on fire!! Dang!! Where's the camera? Gotta get this shot!! No time to drive to any of the scenic views that I normally like to watch sunrise from so I just ran to the end of my drive way and took this! I was quite dissapointed with myself for not paying better attention!! But I'm sure glad that I got the shot. I've had several people email me about sunrises...generally you only have about 7-9 minutes to see the spectacular changes then it's over and there is a certain point where the sun is coming up to cast it's firey reds and pretty pinks to the underside of the clouds.

My son and I did a 3 week trip to Myanmar and Thailandin March 2003. It was a really fantastic trip! This picture was taken in INDEIN on INLE LAKE in Myanmar. You can read about it on my Indein page. There are several new pages built under Burma. When you have some spare time take a look at them. We hit the road pretty hard so we could see more sights and experience more of the country. We did not make it to Kyaiktiyo and the Big Golden Rock, But we did manage to see YANGON, MANDALAY, SAGAING,INWA, MINGUN, AMARAPURA, BAGAN, MT POPA, NAUNGSHWE, INLE LAKE, YANGON was our route that we did. The only way we managed to get this in was utilizing Night buses where it was possible and then checking into a guest house and still walk around for 12 hours even though we had just gotten off an 18 hour bus ride! But it was all worth it! Myanmar is a Fantastic country. The People are some of the friendliest in the world! so if you're interested in checking out my pages but some of them will be in the works for some time. Especially the Burma Main Page. I've finished my NAMPAN page which is basically a big page about a big market. But I really enjoyed my visit there as it seemed so special to me. My son and I had the whole huge market to ourselves for about 2 hours before any other foreigners showed up. There were lot's of Hill tribe people selling and bartering their vegetables and animals and just so much going on.

For those of you checking out my pages you will find information from a backpackers point of view. I haven't stayed in expensive hotels. Mostly in the $3-$7 range(in Asia). And I travel light. With camera equipment and film weighing more than anything else! I also use local transportation. I started traveling in 1982 and then got married in 1987 so from 1987-1999 I didn't do much traveling. In the last 4 years we have been to PHILIPPINES twice, THAILAND 3 times, CAMBODIA and now MYANMAR is my newest discovery. We have also been to New York up to MAINE where I am originally from. You can't beat that Maine Lobster!
I hope you enjoy what I've put up and if you want drop me a line ask questions about any of the countries I've been to. I'll try to answer your questions. I love when people leave comments on the pages so if you have the time please leave a message. Bad or Good I'm always interested in what you think about my pages

Yesterday evening I went to the grocery store to buy a red bell pepper for my wife and I saw a man and his son about 13 with two shopping carts with two big back packs and two small back packs so I said "are you walking or driving"? I knew the answer already....hahahha I asked them were they were going and they said Fort Abercrombie State Park. Well, it's only about 2 miles from my house so I offered to take them. Then I took them on a tour for the evening. They seemed quite happy so I offered to take them on one of the famous Herzog63 hikes. They seemed quite happy for that. So I told them that I would return at 8 am to pick them up. It rained during the night so I thought the hike would be canceled.....but we woke to a FANTASTIC Day!!!!!!! So I drove to the state park. They were still in their tent but prepared their things and off we went. They were excited to see where I would bring them. I told them about the mountain and they were willing to try. We made it up and down in about 4 hours. Taking our time to eat salmonberries and chit chat along the way. We had fantastic views on all sides!! They are from Tel Aviv, Israel.

Me and my traveling buddy. This picture was taken at the Bayon in Angkor Thom near ANGKOR WAT on our March 2002 CAMBODIA trip. This trip was a great trip as I finally fulfilled my dream of seeing Angkor Wat and I discovered the Bayon which I had never really heard of until I got there!

On the evening of November 7 Kodiak was treated to a wonderful display of Northern Lights!!

If you make it to Cambodia and you're in the SIEM REAParea take the time to go to Banteay Srei! It is a beautiful ride through the country side and the carvings are beautiful! Try to start early in the morning at sunrise from Siem Reap. If you do you'll understand why.