"Welcome to my travelogs" mskwan's Profile

Crusing Antarctica

Antarctica - millions of penguins with no human in sight except us - 49 tourists. It was a good decision to travel to Antarctica on a small boat dispite the rock'n'rolling crossing the Drake Passage. Even with the few of us, our presence have created obvious disruptions in wildlife behavior.

Trekking the Argentine Patagonia

Lago de los Tres

I went to Patagonia because of the infamous Torres del Paine in Chile but ended up falling in love with Mt. Fitz Roy in the Argentine Patagonia. The hike up to Lago de los Tres was excellent. Mind you that this pasted up panorama picture doesn't do justice to the real thing. The last 2.5 km on this 13 km one way trek was badly eroded which make hiking without trekking pole rather slow and exhausting. However, the sights waiting at the other end was well worth the effort.

Running along the Silk Road

Silk Road bandits

At the Singing Sand Dune near DunHuang in China, you can hire a guide and camels to do a variety of cutomized trip across the desert, even all the way to Kashgar. One of the best option is an early morning ride from Singing Sand Dune to Mogao Caves, hang around the caves, then return in late afternoon to avoid the heat.

Circle of Bliss

Making of a sand madala by Tibetian monks

A Tibetan sand mandala takes days to weeks to complete. At its closing ceremony, the mandala will be destoryed by sweeping the sand away symbolizing impermanence. I was very fortunate to have witnessed such event in 2003 in Los Angeles. Click here to see my road trip from Kathmando to Lhasa.

Himalayan Charm

Snake charmer

Just got out of the plane in Kathmandu, Nepal, took a crazy taxi ride into Thamel, there he was - a snake charmer surrounded by tourists and locals. Wow!!! What a way to start a great journey. Click here to see and read about our Everest trek.

Above the Clouds

Everest from the air

The flight over the Himalayas from Lhasa to Kathmandu is surreal. The mountains stood right on top of the clouds like some mythical landscape described in a great legend. We were so close to the peaks that we can see the glaciers and rivers or ?climbers?

Canadian Rockies Revisited

Elizabeth Parker Hut

One of my favourite mountain places is Lake O'Hara of the Yoho National Park in the Canadian Rockies. Using Elizabeth Parker Hut as my base, I can do a number of beautiful day hikes/skies into the surrounding area with a warm bed and a well equipped kitchen to return to every evening. Since the park limit the number of visitors in this region, you can enjoy the whole place without the crowd. If you really missed the creature comfort of the modern world, there's always the very expensive Lake O'Hara Lodge nearby with an excellent afternoon tea and almost every luxury you want.

Basking in the Sun

Taking pictures in Joshua Tree National Park

And, of course, I must include a picture of the place I called home - the California desert.

Intro Updated Oct 8, 2006
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Comments (9)

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SLLiew Jun 25, 2008 at 3:56 PM

Happy Birthday. Cheers from Penang, SL :)
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jadedmuse Oct 24, 2007 at 8:07 PM

We went to Nepal and Tibet in 2002...what a journey and what an experience. That's how I found VT...looking for some info on Tibet. Nice job here, btw. M
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Geisha_Girl Oct 10, 2007 at 12:30 PM

Gathering info on Patagonia and came across your travelogue. Excellent commentary and photos of your experience! Did you do an organized trek or were you on your own? Would love to hear more about it. Thanks for sharing!
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jelw Jan 22, 2006 at 6:09 PM

Magnificent Antartic Album. Thank you so much for sharing.
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mtncorg Jan 19, 2006 at 8:23 PM

Your dog is bigger than mine ;-] Lots of great pics and travels contained here! Look forward to wandering through it all in the near future.
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kymbanm Dec 16, 2005 at 12:45 PM

I wandered over here and am amazed at your HP, you have obviously spent quite a bit of time building it ... between travels of course! Greetings from New Mexcio ;)
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strollingfish Dec 7, 2005 at 7:09 PM

Thanks for your comment! It reminded me of the nice trip in Guizhou. You've travelled a lot in China!
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kiwi Jul 24, 2004 at 12:56 AM

AMAZING homepage! Would love to see the information in the travelogues put onto the location pages, for more viewing. You've done so much!! Tell us more please :-)
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Bonobo2005 Jun 20, 2004 at 10:45 PM

Fantastic pictures of fantastic places!