Sunday, August 22, 2010

#108 - My Cousin Vinny


If you can only visit one Caribbean island, I think it should be Turks & Caicos. Turks is one of the few islands that actually has gorgeous, white beaches, clear aquamarine water. In other words, it's the real deal.

The 40 island nation is located just east of Hispaniola in the Atlantic Ocean.

Thanks to my cutie patootie cousin Vinny ♥ for sending this when she could have been on the beach or eating cotton candy, snorkeling, playing Xbox...


#107 - The Annapurna Circuit


Imagine trekking through the Himalayas, visiting remote villages, as you ascend to a peak of 18,000 feet. That is the highlight of the Annapurna Circuit in Nepal. It's a 20 day trek taken by the adventurous, including a climb on Mt. Annapurna, the 10th highest mountain in the world.

The trek is rigourous; hiking at high altitudes, shortage of oxygen, its' cold...simple and modest accomodations in Nepali guesthouses...but there's no question, the view is worth it. Am I right Binaya?

Monday, August 9, 2010

#106 - Jaw Jaw Sula


Cheryll from Suriname found this project and sent me this pretty view of the Jaw Jaw Sula (rapids) in the Suriname River. It's a a small country in South America, north of Brazil in case you're curious...

Cheryl tells me that 80% of the country is covered in rainforest; move over Costa Rica!

Here's another surprising fact; even though we associate Suriname as being in Latino land, it's official language is Dutch. Nuts!

#105 - I'll raise you an island!


I have the greatest friends. Christina was heading to the Faroe Islands and immediately sent me a card for the project. Thanks darling! Happy to say, there goes another $5 from my wallet!

The Faroe Islands used to belong to the Norweigans but centuries ago, the King lost the territory in a drunken game of poker to the King of Denmark. (If only all territorial disputes could be resolved that way, eh?)

You can also find one of the worlds smallest capitals here, the city of Torshavn. It's beautiful really, with all the multi-colored buildings, all of different shapes and sizes. Apparently people here really take ownership to heart and they display that through personalized colours on their homes.

I'd paint mine turquoise, dark black roof. You?

#104 - Where in the world is Tinian?

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Tinian is part of a 15 island group that makes up the Northern Mariana Islands in the Pacific Ocean. The name might be familiar; just east of the islands you can find the Mariana Trench, the deepest part of the worlds oceans.

Tinian also played a huge role during World War II. The US took over the island, and used it as a base to attack the Japanese mainland. In fact, the planes that dropped the bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki? They were flown from Tinian.

Interesting eh?