July 27, 2012

Schonbrunn Palace and Zoo

During my stay in Vienna, I knew I wanted to take a day (or two) to visit Schloss Schonbrunn, one of the most important cultural monuments of Austria. The palace and it’s gardens were constructed to the be the summer home (and recreational hunting grounds) for successive Hapsburg monarchs. The Hapsburg monarchs are best known for providing all the elected Holy Roman Emperors for over 3 centuries and for a time they could claim true, “world power”, due to their vast territories along with fairly undisputed political and religious control. Of course all this stuff about arranged marriages, family trees and church hierarchy would be well and interesting for you to learn about, but what I feel was the true fruit of their 600 year dominion over Austria is what now has become the Schonbrunn Tiergarten (Zoo). The majority of my venture into Schloss Schonbrunn turned out to be a meandering circuit around this zoo, which, founded in 1752, claims to be the oldest zoo in the world. So just like a good children’s book, this post will now be more about the pictures than the words:

The fist challenge is finding the Zoo. Once you enter the walls of Schonbrunn gardens there are miles of gravel paths through rows of trees and mazes of shrubbery. It’s a truly beautify walk, but can be frustrating when you are looking for something specific. Being my typical wandering self, I accepted the fate of getting a bit lost and enjoyed a warm summer day exploring the massive gardens until I came upon the surprisingly non-ostentatious entrance to the Zoo. The Zoo was originally opened to the public in 1779 and initially entrance was free, but of course there is no opulent monarchy keeping the animals fed these days a pass for the day was only 12 Euros, a bargain compared to some zoos and aquariums I’ve visited in the states. If I’m not mistaken, it costs at least $15 to get into the Charleston aquarium.

The zoo was constructed in 1752 to be the Imperial Menagerie for the Habsburgs and upon entering you are confronted with the baroque architecture of the central pavilion, known now as the Kaiser Pavilion, which served as the center of the menagerie and the location for imperial breakfasts. Even with some of the newly added modern elements, there is still a great sense of the 18th architecture all around the zoo.

Inside one such menagerie-style building is probably the most famous inhabitant of the Zoo, the Giant Pandas. Schonbrunn Tiergarten is one of the few places in the world to house and successfully breed Giant Pandas. Get on with your bad self Panda, you are black, white and asian.

Many of the animals in the zoo were obtained through expeditions to Africa by the Habsburg royalty. Giraffes were brought in in 1828 and consequently inspired a whole line of Viennese fashion.

The most recent modern addition to the zoo is the Orangerie, which doesn’t make OJ, it houses a family of orangutans

Radiating from the Kaiser Pavilion like slices of a Viennese cake are the many sections of the old zoo. One such section houses the big cats. Lions, Tigers, Cheetah and Jaguar/Leopard. Unfortunately in 2002 a young caretaker was attacked by a jaguar during feeding, killing her in front of zoo visitors. The zoo has been plagued by several such unfortunate incidents, but I saw nothing of the sort during my visit.

Much more docile than the big cats were these lazy-ass koalas.

The Hip-hopopotamus, his lyrics are bottomless.

Prairie doggin it.

Rockhopper penguinos, hoppin rocks during feeding time.

Sea lions posing for my shot.

Monkeys of various shapes and sizes going about their monkey business. No poo was thrown in the making of this blog post.

Baby wolf and big-arse white Wolf (aka Ghost). Jon Snow represent!

Rhinoceros with a bad case of mudd-butt. Are rhinos just fat lazy unicorns?

Tortoise.

My self-proclaimed spirit animal, the ring tailed lemur.

Inside the simulated jungle habitat. Just like in a jungle, you can’t see anything.

Piranhas in 3D.

Awesome bioluminescent jelly fish. Neither jelly, nor fish.

Striped horses.

Lawn ornamentation.

The Schonbrunn Tiergarten has experienced an interesting (if not trying) history in the past century. The two world wars took a tremendous toll on the animal life. World War one resulted in major food shortages causing a decline from 3,500 specimens to only 900. World War two was much more devastating since Vienna was the site of multiple bombing raids. When the bombs fell over Schonbrunn many buildings and animals were destroyed, bringing the number of specimens to a lowly 400. More recently there was the aforementioned jaguar accident and another trainer being crushed by an elephant, this placed a lot of strain on the directors of the zoo and initiated a carousel of new leadership that left the zoo on shaky financial ground. Things are looking up for the zoo now, after seeing an increased interest in sponsorship from companies and steady leadership at the helm. After seeing almost every animal in the zoo and fulfilling my daily requirement of childish wonderment, I finally made my way back into the gardens of Schloss Schonbrunn to peruse the rest of the royal grounds and palace.

My next visual encounter was the picturesque Palm Pavilion, in full bloom.

I then made my way through the rows of greenery until emerged in the grand french garden of the palace itself. To my left was the gigantic 1,441 room yellow palace and to my right was massive hill and Gloriette. Despite the heat, I decided to hike the 60 meter high hill to the Gloriette.

The Gloriette is kind of a random structure built by the Habsburgs to commemorate their greatness and have a neat spot to chill out-max and have tea parties. The structure was built using all recycled stone and has many Roman motifs scattered about it.

The view from the Gloriette was really stunning, with the palace and it’s gardens below and the cityscape of Vienna in the background.

After descending the hill and walking through the gardens, I came around to the front entrance of the palace and got the full frontal money shot of the imperial greatness. Easily realizing how this site made it onto the UNESCO World Heritage list as a stunning example of baroque splendor.

In summary, If you find yourself in Vienna, be sure to hit up the Schloss Schonbrunn, it’s worth the U-Bahn trip.

Posted in Animals, Sightseeing, Vienna, Western Europe
Tagged Austria, French Gardens, Giant Pandas, Gloriette, Habsburg, Habsburg summer home, Holy Roman Emperor, Kaiser Pavilion, Oldest Zoo, Orangerie, Schloss Schonbrunn, Schonbrunn Palace, Schonbrunn Tiergarten, Schonbrunn Zoo, Vienna, Vienna Zoo, Wein
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May 31, 2012

Trekking in Northern Thailand, Day 2

Day 2

I awoke with a hangover (blame the German waterfalls) and stumbled out into the daylight for breakfast, but not before carefully shaking each of my shoes to check for scorpions, as I had been instructed to do the day before. Mexican showered then breakfast; Instant coffee (lots of it), a boiled egg, pineapple, and toast with butter and jam. Hangover fading, heat and humidity rising, we set off on our Trek for the day down the mountain to seek waterfalls. Early on in the trekking, Johnny Walker kept stopping and walking off into the bamboo thickets with his machete mumbling something about sticks. Many of us guessed chopsticks for lunch? No, he wanted to prepare each of us a walking stick. Myself, and some others included, thought this just a frivolous exercise by our guide as just a helpful gesture. “I don’t need a walking stick”, I thought to myself, I hike all the time. I soon realized why the walking stick was necessary; the trail proceeded straight down at more than a 45% decline on slick red mud. Have Thai trailblazers not heard of switchbacks?

Down and down we went, the foliage getting thicker and the heat/humidity rising as we descended into bamboo thickets and leafy underbrush. As we walked, we chatted amongst ourselves and found that many of us shared common interests in music, online entertainment and sports. At last, I began to hear the all too familiar faint sound of rushing water in the distance. Before we knew it we were crossing a small stream and the roar of a massive waterfall was rattling our eardrums. The waterfall was multi-tiered and ending in a waist deep pool perfect for cooling off after the hour-long steep hike we just finished. Several of my fellow trekkers shied away at the chilly water, but not me, as my upbringing in western North Carolina would suggest, my inner “hillbilly” came out and I jumped right in, being at home in ice cold mountain streams such as Sliding Rock or Deep Creek back in NC.

After everyone had sufficiently cooled off and rested, we were called over to a small bamboo hut for a lunch that Johnny had prepared. Noodles with egg and vegetables, but served in a unique fashion; Johnny had made each of us a trough from a large bamboo stalk he chopped down minutes before.

I finished my lunch rather quickly and began to wander around the waterfall area once again. Upon gazing upward to the trees I noticed that many were bearing small red clusters of red fruit, lychee! Along the entire journey so far I had noticed the remnants of crushed lychee underfoot and the common smell of rotting fruit from time to time, but I had yet to actually see the fruit sprouting fresh from the tree. My curiosity got the best of me and I tried to climb a tree to grab one of these little red balls. I managed to snag one and carried it over to show Johnny and ask if it was indeed OK to eat. He said yes and apparently I had started something, because at that point Johnny asked me to come along with him as we proceeded to harvest a butt-load of these delectable fruits. My method of leaping and grabbing the low hanging branches amused Johnny, so he showed me the more efficient way of crafting a bamboo pole with a fork at the end, which he used to then hook the thin branch at the end of the fruit and twist so that the entire cluster of fruits came down with ease. I tried on my own with great success and brought back many to share with my still lunching trek-mates. At that point, “it was on like Donkey Kong”, and everyone wanted a piece of the action. So much so that Johnny ended up climbing the lychee tree like a Gibbon to snap off full branches (but not before murmuring a quick prayer and uttering his favorite phrase – “Oh my Buddha”). Sweet lychee, fresh from the tree. I’d never had anything so delectably tasty In recent memory that I believe I ate myself sick from our bounty.

Bellies full once again and fingers sticky from lychee juice, we set off down the riverbed in search of waterfall number 2 of the day. At this point in the trek I tended to lag behind on purpose in order to separate myself from the group and enjoy a little personal time while hiking and enjoying my surroundings. This, solo hiking, was a little trick I learned on my first 50 mile hike on the Appalachian Trail as a boy scout and it has stuck with me as one of the best ways to enjoy nature and free your mind to wander. It was during this solo time that I realized once again that I was home. This creek-side trail, these waterfalls, the overhanging greenery and chirping of birds was all too familiar. Instead of pine, birch and rhododendron, it was banana, mango and lychee trees surrounding me but the feeling of being in nature and doing what I’ve always loved to do was the same. Indescribable joy, I felt like a kid again, hiking the ever familiar Graveyard Fields upper waterfall trail. I was skipping along from rock to rock, twirling my bamboo walking stick and singing my favorite songs aloud before I knew I had caught back up with my fellow Trekkers, all looking a bit concerned about me and asking me if I was OK, since I was lagging so far behind. I just said “yeah I’m fine”, with a smile (not bothering to tell them that this was just a normal weekend activity for me, at risk of sounding like the boastful American stereotype). My second realization was that we had all stopped to view and swim at the second waterfall. An even more stunning cascade of water stood before us and an enterprising local had set up a little bamboo hut selling beers, water and snacks. Swimming, relaxing and photo-shoots ensued.

Cooled and refreshed once again, our trek-weary group had only a short hike before we reached our camping spot for the night. After leaving the waterfall we arrived at a series of huts about 30 minutes downstream. We were shown around our accommodations for the night by the two Thai women who lived there and acted as our hosts. This was no hill-tribe village, this was much more basic and much less comfortable. “No worries”, I thought, normally I would be lugging around a 60 pound pack, setting up my own tent and building my own fire had I been home, so this was almost luxury for the wilderness. I can’t say that all my trek-mates shared the same sentiment.

After taking some time to wash up with the stream water shower and relax our tired feet, it was time for dinner. Another two tasty dishes were severed family style over rice; spicy chopped greens with minced chicken and a slow cooked cucumber and veggie curry, followed by some leftover lychee for desert.

After dinner, as it grew dark, we were all fairly pooped from the previous two days exercise, so we took it easy on the Chang beer and mainly sat around chatting about cultural differences in beer and similar tastes in music festivals. At one point, another Thai male entered the camp, carrying an impressive looking, but rather ancient muzzle-loader rifle. Johnny tried to explain that he was going out to hunt some sort of squirrel or rat, and the gentleman fired off a round from his rifle with a deafening blast, for demonstration. As we were all headed off to bed, we weren’t without our own animal encounters that night. First, was the typical cat that preferred to sleep inside our hut and nuzzle up to the French-Canadian couple. Second, and more surprising, was the 5 foot long snake that almost crawled across the feet of Leo (one of the German boys) as he was brushing his teeth just outside of our hut. Johnny heard our commotion and quickly jumped into action to bash the snake to death with a bamboo stick. He later told us that this was a very poisonous variety of snake.

All of us a bit more nervous, we headed into the hut, tucked the mosquito nets tightly around us and drifted off to sleep.

To be continued….

Posted in Animals, Camping, Chiang Mai, Food, Hiking/Trekking, Nature, Thailand
Tagged Bamboo, Cat, Chiang Mai, Curry, Hiking, Lychee, Noodles, Rice, River, Snake, Stream, Thai, Thailand, Trekking, Waterfalls
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May 28, 2012

Same Same, but Different (Trekking in Northern Thailand Day 1)

Do you ever have those moments when on a faraway vacation you suddenly realize that you are doing the exact same thing for fun that you would have been doing were you still at home? This feeling was almost my constant companion during my 3 day 2 night Trek through the mountains of Northern Thailand.
One of my primary concerns when leaving the USA for Thailand was that I would miss out on the backpacking trips that I typically take every summer in the Blue Ridge Mountains, surrounding my hometown of Asheville, NC. When the aforementioned realization hit me while on my Thailand mountain trek, I was overcome with indescribable joy. So as the popular saying goes in Thailand, “Same Same, but Different”.

I suppose there is really no better way to tell you about the trek and all it’s details than a day to day account, so this post is simply the first days events. I will follow up with 2 additional posts to cover the full 3 day affair:

Day 1: I woke up early to pack the small pack I obtained at the Chiang Mai night market ($14 for a Lowe-Alpine knockoff). I was going minimalist, 2 shirts, 2 underwear, 2 pair of socks, 1 pair of pants that zip into shorts, swim trunks, raincoat, NB Minimus trail running shoes and my MSR quickdry towel. The rest of my bag was filled with cameras and toiletries.

My guesthouse (Sri-Pat) agreed to hold the rest of my belongings in storage as long as I stayed with them when I returned. I was picked up promptly (surprise) at 10am by the guide, who introduced himself only as, “Johnny Walker”, and spoke hardly any English. He directed me to the truck and judging from the lack of space it appeared I was the last to be picked up that morning. I grabbed a tight seat next to the tailgate and off we went. There were 11 of us: 2 French Canadians, 2 German lads, 2 young Cambridge girls, a couple from Liverpool ,1 UK-Indian, 1 Northern Irishman and me, the lone American.

As our hour long truck ride commenced I was seated next to 4 of my fellow companions that hailed from the UK. We chatted for quite a while and found that thankfully we were a group that at the very least wouldn’t strangle each other by the first night. Little did i know that i would become very good friends with these “chaps”. Our first stop was at a local market in Mae-Rim to gather food for the trip.

After the supplies were obtained, Johnny herded us back into the truck and shortly thereafter we turned onto dirt roads, before I knew it we had arrived at an elephant camp. Where elephants are cared for and trained to ferry around riders on their backs. There was seating for two aboard each elephants back, so we paired off and climbed atop a wooden platform to mount our elephants. I was paired with the Northen Irishman, whose name happened to be James, my middle name and also the first name of my father and grandfather. As we rode the elephants saunter made seatbelts seem a necessity. Since seatbelts were lacking we held on for dear life and tried out best to shoot some photos. The elephants trekked down to the river where they stopped to cool off by sucking the muddy water into their trunks and then spraying themselves (and us consequently). Soon after it started it was over and we dismounted on a bamboo platform and our elephant got a much needed rest.

Lunch was served, fried rice with tofu, bland but palatable with the accompanying hot chili sauce. After eating, trekking was to begin and Johnny led us on a fairly blistering pace up a steep incline. At first passing small huts and homes and then up into the mountain trails. We passed a few other elephants on the trail and were also followed from the elephant camp by 2 canine companions.
The trail continued to incline and combined with the humidity a few of my trek-mates were beginning to wonder what they had gotten themselves into. As for me, I beginning to realize just how familiar I was with this sort of activity, except back home we don’t call it trekking, this was simply a weekend hike in Pisgah National Forest in the summer (plus some elephants of course).

Up and up we went, the views getting more scenic along each rest we took. Finally we made it to our destination, a small cluster of bamboo huts atop the mountain where a local hill tribe hosts Trekkers almost nightly. The owners of the hut greeted us with cool water, Chang beer and snacks. There was a group hut for eating and socilizing and another group hut for sleeping. There were crude showers but they were refreshingly cold, as well as the typical “squatter” toilets.

After washing up the majority of us went to watch the sun set over the mountains. When I stepped to the ledge I was in floored in amazement; the green rolling mountains, the cool mist, the bluish hue…this was home. I tried exasperatingly to tell my fellow Trekkers how this georgeous scene in front of us was what I grew up with, but I really could not find the words. Most likely I just sounded like a rambling idiot, but I didn’t care, this de-ja-vu in front of me wasn’t taken for granted, it was appreciated in a whole new light to know that Thai hill tribe children were experiencing the same scene I was experiencing as a child, only on the opposite side of the planet.

After sunset we marched back to our hut in twilight, bellies rumbling for dinner. We were not disappointed; green beans with minced chicken in a spicy chili sauce and a curried pumpkin with veggies that tasted similar to butternut squash. All served over white rice and washed down with Chang lager. After dinner we were entertained by the village children who came wearing traditional hill tribe clothing and sang a wonderfully long traditional song. We were asked to return a song, and since we were so culturally diverse ourselves we chose the only tune we universally knew (except the Germans) “twinkle twinkle little star”.

After the children had left, we were to entertain ourselves. We played drinking card games and suprisingly almost everyone favored my rules for “circle of death”, a card game I played with my college buddies (I learned quickly that sitting next to a German who draws the Ace waterfall card is a dangerous thing).

Many of us got properly hammered and we each realized in turn that it was well past time for some much needed sleep. I climbed into a cot, enclosed by a pink mosquito net, inside a bamboo structure alongside my other Trekkers. Out of the slats in the wall next to me I could see the dark shapes of mountains and the faint lights of small villages in the valleys below. Although my Irish neighbor was snoring, I had my ear buds and the musical comfort of Active Child and Bon Iver to lull me to sleep. Lights out.

To be continued…

Posted in Animals, Camping, Chiang Mai, Food, Hiking/Trekking, Nature, Thailand
Tagged Bamboo, Chang, Chiang Mai, Curry, Elephants, French-Canadian, German, Hiking, Hill Tribe, Johnny Walker, Mae Rim, Mountains, Northern Ireland, Rice, Thailand, Trek, Trekking, UK, Waterfall
9 Comments

May 26, 2012

Tiger Kingdom and Saoseng Redemption

There are some moments in life when everything seems to come together at just the right time. I had one of those moments the other day when cruising the back roads of Northern Thailand by motorbike and realizing that my Family, nature and a peace provided by a higher power are all I will ever need.
I had planned to rise early at 8am that morning to then join the masses of westerners in a full day of organized tours to the famed temple of Doi Sutep and the irresistible Tiger Kingdom. What is that quote regarding the “best laid plans of mice and men”? Regardless, I overslept and then awoke to be delivered with some rather unpleasant and unexpected news from back home. A potential day-ruiner and I had missed the guided tour bus to my planned destinations. As The Dude would lament, “that’s a bummer man”.
So I headed out of my guesthouse in the hopes of at least a finding decent breakfast and much needed coffee. On my way to a suitable eating establishment I happened to pop into what i thought was one of the many street side (or should I say Soi side) travel booking agencies. As I inquired with the Thai ladies within about tours to my desired destination leaving late in the day, dealing with the usual price haggling and language barriers, a western looking young lady entered the building. The westerner, a lovely Brit by the name of Nikki, proceeded to wave off her Thai coworkers and give me the advice that would completely turn my day around.
“Instead of an organized tour, why not rent a motorbike and do it all yourself? The trust that many fellow expats share was established and my solution was now crystal clear. I thanked her profusely and then headed off to follow her expert advice. Come to find out, the place I randomly walked into was actually the headquarters for S.E.A Backpacker Magazine, an outfit dedicated to backpacker and flash packer travel in south east Asia. Forget travelfish.org, http://www.southeastasiabackpacker.com/ is a great website for getting any information you need about the travel and countries in SEA. I was handed an issue of their latest magazine and read it cover to cover the following evening and I scoured their website, very nicely done.

Based on four lines of written directions from Nikki, I embarked on one of the most incredible day-trips of my life. The first stop was a noon breakfast at Euro Cafe (one of the many expat eateries/bars owned by some Australians) where I did in fact get my decent breakfast and coffee, I had an excellent Spanish omlette. I then headed directly next door to Nikki’s reccomdation of Mr. Beers motorcycles for a motorbike rental for the day, only 150 bht ($5). Despite the name, Mr. Beer was very reputable and helpful.

Getting users to the bike took a few minutes, but then it all clicked. The recess of my brain where motorcycle operation had been stored was fully activated, thanks be to my Dad for giving me dirtbikes and motorcycles as an adolescent. I headed to Chiang Mai’s north gate and continued on the highway to Mae-Rim and the Tiger Kingdom.

Now, Tiger Kingdom, what can I say? A chance to literally pet and play with tigers of all sizes for a price of less than $50, and in an environment wherein they are treated humanely? Yes please. Many folks have mixed feelings about the several Tiger refuges that are located in Thailand, and for good reason. There are reports of abuse, drugging, chaining and general mistreatment of the animals simply for the tourist dollar. I made sure to check out Tiger Kingdom beforehand and they appeared to be a legitimate enterprise. Not run by Monks, like many of the tiger refuges and orphanages, but the Tigers are treated well and part of your Money goes back into conservation efforts.
I walked up to the counter and was directed to purchase a ticket for the type of tigers I wanted to encounter. Big, Medium, Small and Smallest were the choices and based on price ($1250 bht) I chose Big, Small and Smallest for my ticket. I was then led into the gated area and guided around to the different compounds where each set of tigers relaxed during the day.

I was randomly paired with Rober (Robert), a Spaniard also traveling alone, so we got to experience the Big cats together. Some were sleeping some were playing, some were just gnawing on bamboo or coconut husks, but we got to see and pet them all. An especially funny photo-op came when a tiger was getting ready to take a poo, and Rober, thinking that this was a trained pose by the tiger, came up behind it for a photo only to have a pile of steamy Tiger soft-serve dropped between his feet.

Next came the small tigers,which were about the size of my families golden retriever back home but with paws the size of saucepans. Most of these youngsters were quite sleepy at this time of day, so the handler took my camera from me and snapped photos for me while I laid around with these big kitties.

Finally, the smallest tigers and by far the cutest and most playful. These little ones were bigger than your average house cat but acted very much the same way when it came to being lazy and chasing around things on a string. Which brings to mind the question: is there catnip for tigers?

As you can see from one of the pics above, the tigers all still have their claws and teeth and as far as I could tell, none of these tigers were drugged in any way, but as you may notice they appear to be knocked out in many of the pictures. Tigers sleep up to 18 hours a day, this is how they can afford to survive as a big cat with little prey in the wild and make them capable of amazing feats of leaping, climbing and running. You may also notice the spots behind their ears, I was told this was a defense mechanism to mimic eyes on the back of their heads.
After the exhilarating Tiger Kingdom experience I still felt I had more biking to do to clear my head, so I headed off on the Saoseng Road around the mountains to explore and blow off some steam. Little did I realize then that this Saoseng Road would be the equivalent of the “Blue Ridge Parkway” (of Asheville fame) in Chiang Mai. I took a 2 hour long ride up and down steep mountain roads and hairpin turns. There were gorgeous vistas, small towns and lots of farmland. I won’t bore you with more words and I certainly won’t go into my visit to Doi Suthep in this post because you all probably cant stop scrolling though the tiger photos anyway but I did make a short video of my motorbike adventure to can get an idea of what I was experiencing. Music by Knife Party, Internet Friends, the song is a bit explicit, so just turn down the sound if it’s not your bag.

Posted in Animals, Chiang Mai, Sightseeing, Thailand, Travel
Tagged Cats, Chiang Mai, Cubs, Doi Suthep, Knife Party, Mae Rim, Monks, Motorbikes, Mr. Beer, S.E.A. Backpacker, Saoseng, Scooters, Tiger Kingdom, Travelfish
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ZachCoddington

Every day is Saturday

Category Archives: Animals

Schonbrunn Palace and Zoo

Trekking in Northern Thailand, Day 2

Same Same, but Different (Trekking in Northern Thailand Day 1)

Tiger Kingdom and Saoseng Redemption

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