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Sent: 24 November 2006 00:46
Dear Friends and Colleagues!
Long time no news…how are you all doing?
As for me, after some hectic months, I took one month off from the middle of October and traveled in Chile, South America. This was my first time going to that direction – and it was really a great continent to travel. The reason why I chose Chile was simply because of Patagonia (South of Chile / Argentina). As you may know, I am a mountain lover, and Patagonia had been one of my dream places. Surprisingly during my trip, I was most impressed in North of Chile – vast landscape, expanse of the space, variety in colors, winding lines and complex structures of the land made by nature, rich numbers of wild animals, night sky with millions of stars, etc, etc… And Chilean people, they are such hearty and friendly nation!!! They are not just “nice and kind”, but more spontaneous and natural. I hardly had bad experience, but full of good impressions of them and their country.
As I traveled for a month, I have a lot of stories and episodes – but first of all, I would like you to take a look of pictures as usual on my website:
http://public.fotki.com/YukoNL/
This time, you will find 8 photo albums in the folder of “Chile & Argentina”. Please select “slideshow” function on the right side which will save you from clicking a mouse nearly 300 times…J.
Usually I try and select the best out of hundreds (plus some of myself to show to my family J), but this time I uploaded almost 300 pictures – I simply couldn’t skip any of the beauty of this country and of the moment…
To give a bit of ideas to busy friends (who don’t have time to see the website) how each place (region) looks like, I pasted some pictures as below. I made them very small to past on this e-mail, so the resolution is very low and the images are not sharp at all. Please therefore try and visit my website when you have time, so that you can appreciate the beauty of Chile and Argentina!!
I look forward to hearing from you soon!
Cheers,
Yuko
ALTIPLANO (El Norte Grande- North of Chile)
Main place of visit: Arica, Parque Nacional Lauca, Salar de Surire, Parque Nacional Volcan Isluga
ATACAMA DESERT (El Norte Grande – North of Chile)
Main place of visit: San Pedro de Atacama, Salar de Atacama, Valle de la Luna, Laguna Miscanti and Miniques, Geyser del Tatio
EASTER ISLAND (Isla de Pascua / Rapa Nui)(middle of Pacific Ocean)
Main place of visit: Orongo and Rano Kau, Ahu Tongariki, Rano Raraku, Anakena beach
SKY-WALK (from Santiago to Punta Arenas, Chile)
Santiago – Puerto Montt – Balmaceda – Punta Arenas
CHILEAN PATAGONIA
Main place of visit: Puerto Natales, Parque Nacional Torres del Paine
ARGENTINE PATAGONIA
Main place of visit: El Carafate, Parque Nacional Los Glaciares (Perito Moreno Glacier, Upsala Glacier), El Chalten, Fitz Roy, Cerro Torre
LONG WAY BACK TO SAN PEDRO DE ATACAMA
El Chalten – El Carafate – Rio Gallegos – Los Antiguos (Argentine border) – Chile Chico (Chilean border) – Coyhaique – Balmaceda – Santiago – Calama – San Pedro de Atacama
SAN PEDRO DE ATACAMA AGAIN
Main place of visit: Pukara de Quitor
I saw Michelle Bachelet, Chilean President in real!!
Sent: Tuesday, October 11, 2005 12:23 AM
Dear Friends and (ex-) colleagues!!
How are you doing? How is the autumn in your country?
As for Holland, we had a really cold summer, and we all gave up expecting any nice days. But suddenly at the end of August, sun started shining again, and even now in October, the temperature is quite high (today there was more than 20 degrees during the day – miracle). Of course, who complains about it...
And myself, I took two weeks off and traveled in Canadian Rockies. According to local Canadians, there was no summer this year in Rocky area, and snow came earlier than usual. I sometimes had to hike in snow (!), and the weather was not always nice, but it was still gorgeous and I really enjoyed hiking & biking in Rocky area.
And as usual, here are some pictures of the trip:
http://public.fotki.com/YukoNL/
“Some pictures” turned into 92 pics (sorry), I just couldn’t make decision what not to upload…
For the people who are not really aware of the geography of this area, Canadian Rockies lie on the west side of Canada, between British Columbia and Alberta. The most popular town is Banff, and Lake Louise is also well known. Jasper is located on the northern side of Rockies, about 300km from Banff. Icefield Parkway lies between Lake Louise and Jasper, about 230km.
I flew from Amsterdam to Calgary, and moved to Banff (1.5 hours by shuttle bus from Calgary Airport). It was quite difficult to move without having a car (public transport is not really organized to small places), but at the same time there were quite a lot of travelers who followed the same road, so that helped a lot.
Dinosaur Provincial Park is located on the east of Calgary, about 200km away. It was totally flat and there was no mountain, even no hill!!
So, please share the mountain air with me from these pictures!!
I wish you a lovely week, and hope to hear/talk to you soon!
Best regards,
Yuko
Sent: Friday, May 13, 2005 12:13 AM
Dear Friends, (ex-) colleagues and...!!
How are you doing? As usual, sorry that I didn’t reply you in person before this e-mail...(forgive me!).
In Holland, it’s still chilly with the temperature of around 15 degrees, and you can hardly believe that it’s already middle of May!
But complain doesn’t help. I went to Ireland for 6 days and traveled by car with 2 funny fellows.
And here is the web address to have a look of some pictures.
http://public.fotki.com/YukoNL/
I also uploaded some pictures of The Netherlands in April. Some of you may know, the 30th of April is the birthday of Dutch Queen
(actually it’s the birthday of the previous Queen – mother of current Queen Beatrix), and there was a parade in The Hague and
Amsterdam. April is also the season of tulips, and the field was covered with flowers and really colourful – beautiful!!
In Dublin, I encountered two prestigious persons – can you guess who they were? Japanese Emperor and Empress!!!
What a coincidence, I had chance to see them twice from a close distance, and was so fascinated! (even I’m not a fan of Royal family :-)
But later on, one of the funny fellows told me one thing which made me really scared...
During the trip, I learned them some Japanese phrases, and good/bad of them, they memorized those phrases very well.
He said, “Yuko, when I saw Japanese Emperor, I was about to say one phrase which you had taught us – and barely kept my mouth shut.”
So I asked him, “Which phrase was it?”
He said, “Heika, kocchi mitento, hayo kane dase!” (Majesty, don’t look at me but give me money right away!)
You know, I’m from Osaka in Japan, and Osaka dialect has a stronger sound of “threat” than standard Japanese (could be used by
Japanese Mafia!).
If he had said it...!!!
Anyway, it was a nice trip and I really enjoyed it. So please share the travel feeling with me when you have time!
Have a good day and weekend, and hope to see/talk to you soon!
Best regards,
Yuko
Sent: Thursday, April 14, 2005 10:35 PM
Dear Friends and ex-colleagues!
How are you doing? Has spring already come in your country??
In Holland? No, it doesn’t exist!!
Not long e-mail this time, sorry.
I went to Croatia and Switzerland for Easter holidays, took some pictures and just uploaded.
http://public.fotki.com/YukoNL/
Most of the time I have luck with weather, but this time seemed to be an exception.
So the quality/colour of the pictures are not really good, but I think you can still feel the atmosphere.
I will try to write you in person (promise as usual...), and hope to see/talk to you soon!
Cheers,
Yuko
Sent: Monday, January 10, 2005 12:09 AM
Dear Friends and ex-colleagues!
First of all, HAPPY NEW YEAR 2005! I wish you all the best for this year!
How were your Christmas and New Year? As for me as usual, I was not quiet home, but went to Turkey. It was 7 days trip around New Year, so I didn't do a big trip but went to Istanbul and Cappadocia.
Usually Japanese people don't have any negative image of Turkey and Turkish people, as Turkey and Japan have a good relation. But being in Holland so long (almost 5 years), I had unconsciously accumulated negative images of Turkish people (as immigrants in Holland) by the problems which Dutch society has with them (and which is not directly related to me as a Japanese).
I was surprised by the fact that I had got those negative images, so I was very happy to have visited there and had direct contact with local Turkish people - they gave me only good impression, so kind and have lots of hospitalities to foreigners.
I think it's good, and necessary, to be in different circumstances sometimes to realize what you receive as a fixed idea from daily life.
And here are the pictures of Turkey.
http://public.fotki.com/YukoNL/
By the way, I wrote a book about travel of last 5 years (about funny people I met - you are maybe in my book...?!, impressive places I've been, or happenings I was involved etc.) and it's published by Japanese publisher in Japan (actually will be in book shops in Japan from February). For most of them it's not possible to read - written in Japanese - but just have a look of a book at least :-) (see attachment)
For the one who can read, I'll let you know more detail later in Japanese.
I'll try to write you in person (I promise all the time and do seldom...sorry).
At the same time please drop me a line when you have time!
Cheers,
Yuko
Sent: Tuesday, November 09, 2004 1:11 AM
Dear Friends and ex-colleagues!!
How are you doing? Having fun in your life?
As some of you may know, I had one month holiday in Indonesia and in Japan last month, and had a great time there (with some happenings though).
As usual, I uploaded some pictures of my trip, so please share a travel feeling with me!
http://public.fotki.com/YukoNL/
Second half of my trip was in Japan. It was rather "visit" than "holiday", as I met friends and ex-colleagues everyday except 2nd day - yes, we had a huge typhoon in October which made me stay whole day home...and which made my parents very happy :-).
Coming back to Holland, I found a job at the ICC - International Criminal Court in The Hague. As I start working from next week, I'm still in a kind of "holiday" mood and enjoying last moment of free time...:-).
Thank you very much for who have spared time for me this time. I hope to see you agan soon, and please drop me a line when you have some time! (oh and of course I'll try to write you an e-mail in person...please be patient...)
Cheers,
Yuko
Sent: Monday, May 10, 2004 6:33 AM
Hi dear friends!
How are you doing? Still cold in your country or enjoying fresh spring air?
Here in Holland, once spring seemed to have come, but we still have unstable weather. But the tulip fields are colourful, that's for sure!
Last month I travelled in France for 10 days and in UK for 3 days.
This a bit strange combination was made as the flights via London were cheaper than the direct flights from Amsterdam to the local airports in France.
But I don't know if it was really cheaper...there was no shuttle bus from the airports to the city center (I flew to St.Etienne, near Lyon, and flew back from Limoges), so I had to take taxi!
But anyway, I had a very nice time there in France, enjoyed nature walk as well as village visiting.
Where I visited mainly this time is called "Auvergne", old volcano area in the middle South of France (called "Massif Central"). Even the highest mountain has only 1885m, they were still covered with snow and some routes to the mountains were closed because of snow (by the way this area is not "Alps"). So the first part of my trip was in the nature, and secont part was to visit medieval villages.
If you have a plan to visit villages there, I strongly recommend you to hire a car...no train, no bus (or one bus per day), and taxies are used mainly for urgent case (transfer sick person to the hospital from villages), or just one taxi company (= one person) in one village!
Once I arrived the station "very close" to the village (= 7km), nobody was there, and I found a paper on the wall which mentionned the phone number of taxi. Call box accepted only normal telephone card, and no coins could be used. There was a hotel in front of the station, but was closed because of reconstruction. It was raining, and nobody was on the street...well, there were 3 persons on the street, but they didn't want to help me, so I had to knock the door of a private house, and asked for a phone...!
But ok, I like happening, that makes your trip at least "unforgettable"...:-).
And here is, as usual, some pictures of the trip. So please take a look when you have spare time!
http://public.fotki.com/YukoNL/
Have a nice evening/day, and hope to see/talk to you soon!
Cheers,
Yuko
PS: Dear London Stansted users,
I had this time more than 5 hours at Stansted, so took a local bus and went to the nearest town called "Bishop's Stortford". It took about 20 minutes (bus No. 510, every half an hour, 2.4 pounds return), there was a small church, river, parc, and a shopping street. If the weather is fine, it can be an option to spend some time there and have a cup of tea (I met a business man who had a same idea, and he came to that town not for a first time!). Could be for you, Sune? :-)
PS: Is your PC not affected by Sasser? Mine well! But only this evening this virus seems to be sleeping :-), so I could have uploaded pics...but still should be checked...
Please wait...