Journeys on our Blue Planet -- waynecdotus@gmail.com

Why travel?

 To notice different aspects of culture and wonder what other ways to live are out there
(all links open new windows)

For those not from the USA - everything is bigger in America. A stretched Ford Excursion in Long Beach, CA USA (Los Angeles area)

 Check out those gas station attendants!
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Huangshan (Yellow Mountains) -China
Those are heavy loads! Dozens of porters take supplies up to the
tourist areas the hard way when they could just as easily send it up via the tram.

The gray object on the right side of the bike path in between the bicycles is a men's urinal right out in the open. Yeah!  Amsterdam, Netherlands. And you thought Amsterdam was only about smoking pot and the Red Light District.

 

 ...to check out some of man's handiwork

Titan Missle Museum (Near Tucson, AZ, USA)
9 megaton nuclear warhead (600x power of bomb drop on Japan!)

Very Large Array - National Radio Astronomy Observatory
West of Socorro, New Mexico, USA

New Summer Palace artwork - (Near Beijing, China)

Public Waterworks building (Buenos Aires, Argentina)

 

...to admire nature's gifts.

Iguacu Falls - Brazilian side
Perhaps the most dramatic set of waterfalls in the world

Perito Moreno Glacier - Southern Chile
(Yes, those are people on a sidewalk)

Big Sur coast - California,USA

Kata-Tjuta - Near Ayers Rock, Australia. Looks like a painting. Just a photo.


...to meet new people

Kids in Nepal
Annapurna Trail

Morning Buddhist monk begging ritual
Luang Prabang, Laos

 

 and discover your own spirituality. Learn about other religions, and natural history.

 

Meet fellow seekers on the road of life, like this group of men from India in Nepal on the Annapurna trail.

Ponder many of the world's religions -Major and Minor.
Ayutthaya, Thailand

Walk amongst the oldest living trees / plants. Bristlecone pines.
Some are 4500+ years old. White Mountains of California.

Ponder the oldest (3.5 billion years!) known living organisms in world - Stromatolites.  Rocks that BREATHE! NW Australia

 

...try new food and drink

Trying familiar foods in new packaging is fun. A screw top aluminum Coke can.
On the Shinkansen bullet train in Japan.

Or something new, like Swedish pancakes with new friends in
Cairns, Australia 

An exquisite meal at the Grand Hotel in Colombo, Sri Lanka

I have my limits though. American Hot Dogs in a can? I'll pass. Nepal

    

Learn new skills

Thai cooking school in Chiang Mai, Thailand.



Trapeze school in the Olympic Park of Sydney, Australia

 

 Study Human History - Past & Future & Present

 

Past

Thousand+ year old Aboriginal rock art in Arnhem Land, Australia

Visit monuments such as massive Borobudur
on the Island of Java in Indonesia.

or the famous Taj Mahal in Agra, India
(More beautiful than my lofty expectations)

 

Future

Dream about the future. (2003 Osaka Motorshow)

or this one from Suzuki

 

Present
 

Petronas Towers
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Not long ago, it was farmland. Pudong area. Manufacturing powerhouse.
Shanghai, China

High natural resource prices are pumping enormous sums of
money into certain regions. With money comes luxury - like the
Burj al Arab Hotel in Dubai, UAE

Service outsourcing powerhouse - changing the business landscape
Bangalore, India
 

 

and those are just a few of the reasons to travel.