posted by Charles H. Russo on Jul 28
Well this had to be certainly the most interesting temple I visited in Malaysia. The Snake Temple in Bayan Lepas is a temple full of Crotalinae snakes aka Pit Vipers. These snakes have long hollow fangs which will inject you with a proteotoxic venom, this type of venom wont paralyse you but will eat away at you from the inside out. The venom is basically a highly-evolved digestive fluid which will start destroying your cells, blood and muscle tissues… so I tried hard not to scare them too much with the flash.
The only other thing you will notice in Snake Temple is the stink of all the burning incense. It is the sacred smoke from the incense which is supposed to render the snakes harmless, considering I saw an old man milking one of the snakes I consider this very doubtful.
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posted by Charles H. Russo on Jul 26
WorldMate Live – Put your smart phone to work.
WorldMate Live is a portable app that works on your Blackberry and other smart phones. The portable app is much like portable travel assistant. The WorldMate Live application will help keep your holiday and business travel stress free by alerting you of flight delays, keeping travle of reservations, important phone numbers and more.
Unlike other such services, WorldMate Live is updated in real time. Find out exactly when you flight gets delayed so that you can make arrangements fast. No more waiting till your at the ticket counter to find out about your delayed flight.
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posted by Charles H. Russo on Jul 16
If you travel with children, check out this online resource for tips, hints and ideas for enjoying the US with your family Parent Magazines of America
This national network of ezines is geared to specific geographic areas. I find our local edition, which covers the Roaring Fork Valley of Colorado, gives interesting, accurate, up-to-date information about things to do with children in our area.
If you ‘re visiting Aspen, Glenwood Springs or any place in between, be sure to take advantage of the “local knowledge” they offer at Mountain Parent
posted by Charles H. Russo on Jul 12
By Adam Winters
Are you planning a holiday? Consider New Orleans. The city provides a fun-filled holiday for the entire family or even for a couple. Situated between the Mississippi River and Lake Pontchartrain, New Orleans is a frequented tourist destination because of all that it offers. From museums to gardens, aquariums to night clubs, from exciting bars to exotic restaurants, and of course Mardi Gras, the place has it all!
You can begin the exploration of New Orleans with a boat ride in the Mississippi. Make sure you choose a good tourist guide for the cruise so that as you take a tour, you can also get a lot of information about the venerable city. Many tourists will enjoy a break at the Chalmette Battlefield, a historic site.
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posted by Charles H. Russo on Jul 11
Koh Phi Phi is one of the nicest places I came across traveling, I arrived a few weeks after the tsunami and to be honest the people of Koh Phi Phi had done a fantastic job of clearing up the debris. It was quite heart breaking as people were still diving around the shores looking for bodies and cleaning up the debris which was scattered out to sea.
Even though the island was now clean and safe there was very few tourists here, I would have said that there was about 50 of us. Which for an island which has around 2000 rooms was of great concerns for the locals. It was heartbreaking to be watching CNN and BBC news on the island which was reasonably immaculate considering what had recently happened, yet rather than the news channels broadcast how well the locals and tourists had cleaned up and got pretty much all of the coastal towns, villages and islands up and running again. The news channels were still telling people to stay away and were showing video clips from weeks previous. No wonder people didn’t want to go! I suppose do you show bad footage to get people to donate and help get relief work undertaken quicker or do you say that Koh Phi Phi etc is back up and running fine and people then don’t donate? Well personally I would have done the second and at least allow the locals to get their pride back and line their pockets themselves.
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posted by Charles H. Russo on Jul 1
London offers a dazzling range of hotels for every taste and temperament. There are shiny mega hotels, mini boutique hotels, and swanky business hotels, all catering to the fussiest of travelers. Hundreds of hotels promise something special — perhaps the best location, acclaimed restaurants, a superb spa, or maybe some whiz-bang technology in the rooms. But when you???re jetlagged, lost, and dragging luggage through the rain at 7:30AM after a red-eye, there???s nothing more important than prompt and intuitive service in a peacful place designed to be as much like a home as like a hotel.
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posted by Charles H. Russo on Jun 21
Lincoln City
I was born on the Oregon Coast, and as a family we try to visit at least every two years. I don’t have any family left there, but I still get a thrill when we drive the last few miles into Lincoln City and catch our first glimpse of the Pacific Ocean. Although my family moved away when I was just 6 months old, every return feels like a homecoming of sorts. Of course, there are a few things we must do every visit - I would be heartbroken if we skipped them, and oh yeah, the kids would too!
Mo’s Restaurant is a MUST. I hate fish, never have liked it - but when we’re on vacation in Oregon, I eat it like crazy. Mo’s has the BEST clam chowder - and I don’t like clam chowder - at all! Yes there are a lot of tourists, and you usually have to wait in line, but I’ve never said “Ugh, I’m sick of this” and we eat there almost daily the 2 weeks we’re on the coast. Mo’s has locations in Florence, Otter Rock, Newport (2 locations), Lincoln City and Cannon Beach. You can also order their chowder base online, which we do every New Years. They ship it in dry ice via FedEx Overnight and it’s TOTALLY worth it!
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posted by Charles H. Russo on Jun 17
I have been waiting for the day when one of the U.S. Transportation Security Administration employees goes postal. How the deal with so many idiotic travelers is beyond me. Granted some of them have transformed there minuscule amount of power into some God like reign, but still, how can one handle the mess of holiday travel?
Until recently my thoughts of disgruntle TSA staff were nothing more than a Nostradamus like prediction, but upon reading the Vagabondish Blog I became a little concerned. Am I the only one that thinks this much contraband around TSA staff is scary?
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posted by Charles H. Russo on Jun 15
If you passed by WRI’s stand at the last ITB in Berlin, you certainly saw it! The Dublin firm Web Reservations International (WRI) is about to launch a new online travel website that claims to “revolutionise the travel industry and pit it against internet giants such as Google.”
WebReservations International is a well know actor of the online travel industry. They bought the famous Worldres in 2005 and is now at the head of the following major online brands: hostelworld.com, worldres.com, hostels.com and trav.com. Hostelworld provides the hostels product of RyanAir’s website (whereas Expedia provides the hotel product).
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posted by Charles H. Russo on Jun 8
Anyone who reads this blog knows that here at iTravel iShop, we are big fans of cupcakes. Why? Just like dumplings, cupcakes are small packages of goodness and warmth. Our latest delicious cupcake find was the Hummingbird Bakery inSouth Kensington, but if you???re looking for some DIY cupcakes with anAlicein Wonderland theme, check out this giant cupcake pan from Sur La Table. The pan allows you to make one monster cupcake and pile on as much frosting as you???d like. Its also a mere $27.95 and would make an idealChristmas present.