10 latest experiences http://www.hereorthere.com/members/camillaskye en-us Canada, even southern Canada, is often believed to be an eternal land of snow and ice. Even relatively northern parts of the United States think of their northern neighbour as a kind of Arctic wasteland inhabited by huskies, polar bears, and pack ice. In the midst of a bitter January in Ontario, the idea seems plausible. The Bruce Peninsula juts out between Lake Huron and Georgian Bay, catching winter weather with the limestone ridge of the Niagara Escarpment and dropping heavy snowfalls on fields and cedar woods, farm houses and drystone walls. Mountain Lake, where Singing Dogs – one of a handful of Ontario operators – bases their dog sledding adventures, is, in January, as close to the Arctic as I’m generally willing to go. Wiarton, Ontario, Canada camillaskye Fri, 15 Feb 2008 11:33:11 +0000 http://www.hereorthere.com/members/camillaskye/experience/1297 http://www.hereorthere.com/experiences/1297 The old roads that run like rivers between mountain towns are dotted with gods. Known as dosojin, they are deities of roads and borders. Good gods for a traveller. As we drive further north the stone markers disappear under the deep strata of half a winter’s snow. Nozawa Onsen clings to the base of volcanic mountains on the very edge of Japan’s true snow country. When we arrive in the little hot spring town it is still light. By day, it is a town like any other Nagano town. We walk along snowy streets between squat concrete buildings and elegant wooden bath houses and temples, waiting for dusk. When night falls it comes suddenly. Just as suddenly, the town fills with people. Tonight is festival night. Nagano, Japan camillaskye Sun, 10 Feb 2008 23:02:15 +0000 http://www.hereorthere.com/members/camillaskye/experience/1292 http://www.hereorthere.com/experiences/1292 “The train came out of the long tunnel into the snow country. The earth lay white under the night sky.” -Yasunari Kawabata, Snow Country Tōkamachi, Japan camillaskye Sun, 10 Feb 2008 12:17:12 +0000 http://www.hereorthere.com/members/camillaskye/experience/1290 http://www.hereorthere.com/experiences/1290 Tsuki isn’t built for early morning risers, though it seems like it when you’re struggling from sleep well before sunrise. The seafood branch of the central wholesale markets supplies all of Tokyo with fresh fish, and the five a.m. tuna auctions are really taking place in the middle of the night shift's working day. Tsukiji is a working world, built for auctioneers and wholesalers. It’s not meant for tourists, and, knowing this, tourists are all the more eager to go. The air is chill that early in the morning any time of year, and in November I was thankful for a hot can of vending machine coffee to warm my hands and open my eyes. We’d missed the first train, and, consequently the tuna auction. Relief mixed with disappointment: the auctions are famously exciting, but just as famously tourists aren’t really welcome. I was secretly glad to be running late. Tokyo, Japan camillaskye Sun, 20 Jan 2008 17:57:28 +0000 http://www.hereorthere.com/members/camillaskye/experience/1255 http://www.hereorthere.com/experiences/1255 I have no overview. I know the city the same way you read a language you’re learning: patchily. At best I see isolated fragments. In other cities I walk, learning geography through the soles of my shoes, but in Tokyo I take the metro, and come out at each station, blinking in the sunlight or the neon, with no idea what lies between there and Shinjuku Station, the hub of Tokyo where I arrive in the metropolis once every couple of months on the express train from the mountains. This time I am meeting friends from home, burly Canadian guys who are carrying overnight bags and their own excitement with them. They’re ready for anything. We come out at Asakusa station, in the midst of squat concrete edifices dating from the years immediately post-war. It is after dark, and the day tourists have all gone back to the classier hotel districts, leaving us nearly empty streets lit by cheap basement level izakaya bar lights. The air smells like incense from the famous temple nearby, of soy... Tokyo, Japan camillaskye Sun, 13 Jan 2008 21:30:35 +0000 http://www.hereorthere.com/members/camillaskye/experience/1244 http://www.hereorthere.com/experiences/1244 Matsumoto is as far as you can get from the coast in Japan. Historically dirt-poor, and generally considered somewhat backwards, Matsumotoites are as famous for eating weird things as they are for breathtaking scenery. Living land-locked in a country with a fish-based diet means you have to be inventive about protein sources. Horse meat has been eaten for generations. Raw. To get your ba-sashi, walk out of Matsumoto Station into the neon-flickering dusk, and turn left along the wide street running perpendicular. Behind Sushi Ten’s orange noren curtain Mrs Fusjisawa presides over some of the freshest horse sashimi in the prefecture. Though you won’t find them on restaurant menus, Matsumotoites get positively misty-eyed about locusts, and have fond memories of going out in the woods in the fall to catch inago. Simultaneously crunchy and chewy, sweet and salty, inago isn’t bad if you can get past the eyes and legs. Putting bees into your mouth, however, is simply counterintu... Matsumoto, Japan camillaskye Mon, 26 Nov 2007 12:17:49 +0000 http://www.hereorthere.com/members/camillaskye/experience/1158 http://www.hereorthere.com/experiences/1158 It’s hard to like Agra: the air is so polluted that some days you can’t see the Taj Mahal from just across the river, the children – unlike the shy, smiling kids you see elsewhere in India – have seen enough backpackers for foreigner-pinching to be game, and the tourists at the Taj, having paid their 750 rupees, seem to feel immune to the usual rules of etiquette. In parts, however, it’s magical – in a tragic fairytale sort of way. Take the Taj itself. There is very little to say about it that hasn’t been said, and the very nature of the place lends itself to hyperbole and cliché, but from across the sandbars and slow channels of the Yamuna the white marble spires and domes are indeed breathtaking. And then there’s the Itmad-ud-Daulah, the red sandstone and white marble tomb built by Nur Jahan for her parents, and completed over a decade before the Taj was dreamt of. Perhaps because it lacks the crowds, the Itmad-ud-Daulah is the most peaceful of the sights o... Āgra, India camillaskye Mon, 26 Nov 2007 12:17:02 +0000 http://www.hereorthere.com/members/camillaskye/experience/1163 http://www.hereorthere.com/experiences/1163 It’s no secret that Oxford can be a phenomenally expensive place. Even if you’re not paying student fees, converting any other currency to sterling can magically diminish your travel funds. What is less well known is that some of the best things in Oxford are free. Take the Pitt Rivers Museum. Tucked in behind the Oxford Museum of Natural History, this collection of ethnographic and archaeological artefacts is one of the most entertaining places in the city. Inside the darkened galleries you are greeted by an ordered jumble of wonderfully obscure objects. In the attic-like collection hides something for all tastes, from shrunken heads to drug paraphernalia and from amulets to firearms. The displays are arranged by type rather than place of origin, and they’ll lend you a wind-up torch to peek into the crowded cases and drawers. There are few richer places to spend a rainy afternoon, and there are plenty of those in Oxford. And then there’s the Ashmolean, which dates back t... Oxford, United Kingdom camillaskye Mon, 26 Nov 2007 12:16:21 +0000 http://www.hereorthere.com/members/camillaskye/experience/1164 http://www.hereorthere.com/experiences/1164 Jodhpur is not on the standard Rajasthan itinerary. Adventurers favour the Golden City of Jaisalmer for its camel treks, and shoppers prefer the terracotta pink of Jaipur’s bustling markets over the impressive fort and winding streets of the Blue City. It was the colour that drew me there. I went to photographs the blue buildings, and found a snaking maze of winding streets and crowded bazaars full of spices and strange fruit. Above it all is the Mehrangarh Fort, apparently and aptly called by Kipling “the work of angels and giants”. The fort itself is striking enough, with high sandstone walls extending upwards from the cliffs over the old city. Inside the defences are airy palaces and marble courtyards, banquet halls and splendid rooms, but what makes the fort itself worth visiting is the audio tour. In a country of poorly explained museum exhibitions and badly organised attractions, touts and pushy guides, the well-planned audio tour at the Jodhpur fort is a calm respite... Jodhpur, India camillaskye Mon, 26 Nov 2007 12:15:41 +0000 http://www.hereorthere.com/members/camillaskye/experience/1166 http://www.hereorthere.com/experiences/1166 It is possible to stay in India without eating Indian food. On a rooftop in New Delhi’s Paharganj I met a woman who travelled for months across the subcontinent, subsiding solely on soup and toast. She dipped her spoon into a bowl of canned broth and raved about India’s architecture, history and culture, but refused to eat the food. “I’ve never been sick,” she boasted. I smiled politely. I felt she was missing the point. Food is one of the great pleasures of travel in India. From backpacker’s rooftop cafes where you can drink pineapple lassis overlooking the city at sunset to tiny stands selling piping hot street food, and from restaurants in converted palaces to the ubiquitous dhaba, eating spans the breadth of a wonderfully diverse culture. Across from New Delhi Railway Station, just beside the entrance to Paharaganj Main Bazaar, is a tight-packed block of dhabas to rival any in the country. There’s an exuberant friendly rivalry between the various places, and you... New Delhi, India camillaskye Mon, 26 Nov 2007 12:14:18 +0000 http://www.hereorthere.com/members/camillaskye/experience/1162 http://www.hereorthere.com/experiences/1162