Lake Titicaca, Bolivia/Perú

The shore/pier of Copacabana, the main entry to Lake Titicaca from Bolivia.

The welcoming Inca ruins on the Sun Island.

Around the port city itself, the biggest attraction is climbing up a summit.

On the Sun Island, one can spend around 2 days there, but if you go for a day tour, you’d only really have time to go up to observe the lake.

The boats go to the Sun Island twice a day, and they take 1.5 hours each way. Nevertheless, it’s not really that far, the boats just go incredibly slowly.

The only site you can get to (apart from the welcoming ruins) if you have only an hour on the Sun Island.

But way before getting to the port, you already see the lake and actually have to cross a narrow channel. Everyone’s supposed to get off the bus to get a boat (with an extra charge), but I fell asleep and no-one woke me up.

When the boats go back from the Sun Island to the port city, they stop by this palace for 15 minutes.

The main church in the port city.

The water was amazingly clear.

I foolishly thought it was something that should be done on a day trip, when really it could have been 3-4 days. The Sun Island could be 2 days, then you go to the Moon Island for another day.

And near the port city, there are several other sites as well, so that itself can be a day.

The boats’ charges do not include the entrance to the Sun Island.

La Paz, Bolivia

La Paz is the de facto capital of Bolivia, or the administrative capital, as the executive and legislature are in this city.

It’s one of the New7Wonders cities, presumably for its colonial touches. Personally, I didn’t find its buildings anything special.

The presidential guards. They do change and march from time to time.

The cathedral, next to it is the remains of Santa Cruz.

The famed Bolivian traffic zebras walking to work. They started chanted after a child said “hola” to them.

Despite the seemingly bad reputation of Bolivia, La Paz felt very safe to me. Outside the city centre, it’s actually very quiet even. In downtown, many stands and shops would just leave everything there and just leave for lunch, seemingly not worried about theft.

The very busy St Francisco Square. It’s where you can find most of the tour operators.

It’s very hilly and while it’s not that big, it’s not easy to walk everywhere because of the altitude.

As you can see, La Paz is basically like a bowl. It’s like Bath in England.

Like Santiago de Chile, one can see the snowy mountain from the Andes from the capital.

The teleferico is a good way to go around the city, as you can have an extraordinary view of the metropolis, and they are not expensive. But if you miss your stop, you will be asked to purchase another ticket.

Near La Paz/El Alto from the plane. You can hike some of these mountains.

The controversial Coca Museum. They seemed to be equating cocaine to alcohol, and the persecution of dealers to the middle ages persecution of homosexuals, but it’s very informative – it even tells you how cocaine is made from the coca leaves (sounds very easy). It’s very close to St Francisco.

San Pedro, a major prison there. There was a short queue of visitors.

Iguazu Fall, Argentina/Brazil/Paraguay

Ciudad del Este in Paraguay, the biggest border town of the three.

Puerto Iguazu in Argentina, the smallest one of the three.

A border crossing between Brazil and Argentina on the Iguazu River.

The Iguazu River between Brazil and Paraguay.

Border crossing between Paraguay and Brazil.

At the point of the “triborder”, each of the three countries has enacted one of these. This the Argentine one.

The three flags from the Argentine side. There’s no direct border crossing between Argentina and Paraguay, perhaps partly due to the fact that this used to be Paraguayan territory.

The Iguazu Falls are one of the largest falls in the world, and they are separated into hundreds of waterfalls.

The falls are located on the border between Brazil and Argentina – Brazil has most of the river, but the Argentines have the majority of the falls. Paraguay is not too far away from the falls.

The river immediately after the major falls is more like a rapid. And this is literally an international border.

The main falls from afar. The island in the middle is called San Martin yet somehow I couldn’t find the way to get there.

I chose to stay in Argentina. It’s a small and quiet town that is more expensive than the other two, but safe and peaceful. Pictured here had something to do with the Virgin of London or something.

On both sides, one has to go into the national park. The Argentinian park is much, much bigger and you can spend the entire day there.

There are even two trains for you to get to places!

To get to Paraguay, one needs to take a bus from the Brazilian park to the bus terminal, then change to another bus to the border. There, one can walk the friendship bridge to get to Paraguay. It’s all quite relaxed. It’s also possible to get a bus straight from the Argentine bus terminal to the border.

In both parks, there are many bridges over and near the waterfalls.

A popular activity is to pay extra for two-hour boat tour on the river. You’d take a truck from the entrance to the riverbank, then the boat would take you close to the falls.

And eventually go under two different falls! Everyone would get completely wet as under the falls, the water isn’t just falling down, but it’s basically like a washing machine with water going towards every direction.

You’d get a bag to store all your stuff but you should really either wear only a swimming suit, or wear nothing but your rain poncho, as it’s impossible for you to keep your clothes underneath dry!

Whilst it’s 1200 Argentine pesos (and will certainly go up further when this is finally posted), I certainly recommend everyone to go for it. I’d say going under the big waterfall three times was the definite highlight of my trip there.

The main attraction – the Devil’s throat – accessible only from Argentina. This picture doesn’t do it justice. You have to be there to see it in person.

The bridges’ space is limited and some areas are reserved for official photographs, so it’s better to go early and take the two trains up there directly before visiting anything else.

The sign between Brazil and Paraguay.

Seeing all three nations.

As you can see, the falls generate a lot of water vapour.

The border check between all three countries are very relaxed, and one can quite easily smuggle oneself into any of the three. They have freedom of movement for their citizens to begin with.

They bite! The warnings were everywhere.

One of the few historical buildings in the Argentine city.

The bridge between Brazil and Paraguay.

Paraguay wasn’t terribly interesting, but it’s not expensive to get there. Most people go there to shop, so there isn’t much for the average tourist to see.

From the Brazilian side, the falls are mostly observed from afar.

The Brazilian park costs basically the same but it’s considerably smaller – with all the transportation and walking time taken into account, you would not need more than 2-3 hours to see everything. That being said, you should still go.

The Argentine side, as pictured above, also has tonnes of bridges over the river itself.

The riverbank.

Once again, the Devil’s Throat. It’s not particularly tall, but the volume was impressive.

Argentines playing football despite crashing out of the World Cup.

There are several hotels in the national parks themselves – this is the one in Brazil.

The most impressive sight from the Brazilian side.

That’s the close as you can get from the Brazilian side to the main falls.

Correction: You can get as close as this, but the water vapour will be way too much for you to really see anything.

At the end of the Brazilian park (which is more like a short hiking trail – you take a bus to the starting point) is this bridge. This is the highlight of the park as you get to get close to a waterfall (you’d get wet), and if you look enough from there, you maybe able to see the Devil’s Throat.

My recommendation is that one should go to the Brazilian side first – it’s actually closer to get to even when you are staying in Argentina. It would sort of stimulate your appetite for it, then the next day you go to the Argentine park to see the “real thing”.

Corrupt Police in Mexico City/Naucalpan, México

http://www.instagram.com/p/BroIdsGhDJh/

Two so-called “officers” were stopping random cars and asking for money. Extortion.

Shame! Shame! Shame!

Guachimontones, México

Guachimontones is the name of an archaeological site in Jalisco, Mexico, most famous for its circular stepped pyramids. The word “pyramid” was originally used only to refer to the Egyptian pyramids located in today’s Egypt as well as Sudan, but unique in the world, these pyramids are circular.

It’s located next to a big beautiful lake and a town called Teuchitlan, which in itself is designated a “puebla magico”.

Whilst the big pyramid at the centre is the main attraction, there are several other smaller ones surrounding it.

These pyramids are considerable old – built at around 300BCE, and only rediscovered relatively recently. It’s both a part of the UNESCO heritage site of the Tequila region as well as on the endangered monuments list.

Surrounding the area are a mountain range, including the Volcano of Tequila (not pictured here).

There’s possibly another pyramid under this.

Gaya/Bodh Gaya, India

Gaya is a town near the Himalayas and India’s northern border towards the east in the mainland. It’s a sacred place for the Hindus.

Bodhgaya is a nearby town where Lord Buddha achieved His enlightenment. It’s the most sacred place in Buddhism.

Gaya is a busy town with some Hindu temples, although it’s nothing spectacular. The mountain pictured here was where Lord Buddha preached the fire sermon.

Bodhgaya would be the real tourist attraction here, even when you’re not a buddhist.

Other than the temple where the enlightenment tree is located, the statue of Lord Buddha pictured here is the main attraction.

In Gaya, this is the most important temple.

The town contains many temples built by Buddhist countries, with this being from I believe Bhutan.

 

The main part of the Hindu temple in Gaya. Not idea what this is.

A part of the Chinese temple.

Varanasi, India

Varanasi is the holiest city in Hinduism and it sits on the sacred river The Ganga. 

Hindus believe that it’s the best place to die, and many do bring the bodies to be burnt at one of these many ghats into the river.

The riverbank was largely peaceful, unlike the unclean and noisy streets behind them (Indians can’t seem to stop honking no matter what). The ghats all have their own unique designs.

Interestingly, despite the ghats looking so massive, there actually isn’t much inside (no space or anything), presumably because people burn the bodies on the bank for them to sink into the river.

It’s wonderful walking along the river doing nothing, listening to Alanis Morissette’s “Thank U”.

The water of the river is considered holy, despite the fact that it is in reality extremely polluted. Here you can see people drying their cloths.

Wi-Fi is prevalent in India, and everything is quite cheap.

In the suburb of Varanasi, is Sarnath, one of the holiest towns in Buddhism, as the place where Lord Buddha first preached, upon His enlightenment.

It’s a town packed with temples funded by foreign Buddhist countries.

The Chinese Temple.

A mosque.

One of the main activities is to go on a boat into the river,  whether it’s to go upstream/downstream, or just to the other side (which has nothing but horses).

Hindus doing their laundry.

I’m not entirely what these stations are for, but I’m guess it does have something to do with the preparations for the funerals.

An archaeological site in Sarnath. Don’t remember what this was.

The famed burning ghat. Very smoky.

People “swimming” or rather soaking themselves in the sacred river.

The famous sunset of Varanasi.

The ghats were built only on one side of the river.

Not too far from the city, is a magnificent fort called Chunar Fort. I paid an auto rickshaw driver 1000 rupees to take me there, wait a while, and back. It’s not a big place but still decent and is a good place to visit for a morning.

Jaipur, India

On the way from Agra to Jaipur, I stopped by this place with a temple.

As well as a step well.

Jaipur was the capital of a powerful who maintained quasi-independence even during the British colonial era as the King made friends with them.

It’s known as the “pink city”, as when His Royal Highness Albert, the Prince Consort visited, they painted the entire city pink, after the wind palace here. Nowadays, the city isn’t that pink any more, and the King actually repainted the wind palace mostly yellow.

The Amber Fort is outside the city proper of Jaipur, and was the royal residence.

The floating palace. Now a governmental building.

The royal palace was heavily fortified with many random alleys. This is the centre of it, the dining place as well as the bathing areas for the queens.

The Scottish delicacy chicken tikka masala.

The observatory.

Even though the King was Hindu, the palace was built mostly in an Islamic style.

The wind palace, its main attraction.

On this trip, practically the only magnificent structures not built by Muslims.

Agra, India

Agra, an ancient capital of Muslim Indian Empire, as well as modern-day India’s biggest tourist draw.

The Taj from the palace.

Entrance to Taj Mahal.

The Taj isn’t just one building but a big complex of structures.

Leaving Agra, I also visited this gem.

Entering the Taj, the door frame acts as a photo frame.

The palace complex I passed by on the way to Jaipur.

Even though India as a whole seemed very dirty, chaotic, and underdeveloped, the Taj Mahal was truly magnificent, and when you’re far enough, you don’t even see the people in your photo.

Opposite to the Taj.

Ruins leading to the palace.

Agra Fort is another attraction in this city.

The Taj is accompanied by two of this, one a hall, one a mosque, but look the same from the outside.

Agra Fort was the palace for the Emperor and he built it so he could always look at the Taj, where his beloved wife was buried.

I didn’t go into this stopping point, but there are several open areas as well.

Entrance to the Agra Fort.

Where the Emperor spent the rest of his days when his son overthrew him.

The pool gives a reflection of the Taj and that’s why this platform is a very popular photo spot.

Into the paid area of Fatehpur Sikri.

New Delhi, India

The largest mosque in New Delhi. A ticket is needed for photographs inside the complex.

The tomb of a Muslim emperor.

The main attraction in Delhi.

New Delhi, or just Delhi, is the capital of India, and has been since the last British colonial days. Before that, the Islamic Empire also once set it as its capital.

In Hinduism, cows are holy animals, and they walk around everywhere in India. But the holy ones are the female ones, not the buffalos.

Red Fort.

Unlike in Hinduism, where people cremate corpses, Muslims bury their bodies and thus monuments such as these were built.

The India Gate, built by the British for the Indian lives lost in WWI.

Evidence that the complex used to be a Hindu temple.

A step well. A very deep well that has the area next to it dug in order for the dropping water to be obtained easily.

The metropolis is the second biggest in the heavily populated country. Perhaps because I have lived most of my lives in heavily populated cities, it didn’t seem to be particularly populated to me.

But it’s quite dirty and messy, and the air was absolutely awful. I developed a pretty bad cough from the very first day, and don’t forget I already live in Mexico City, one of the cities that’s known for their poor air quality.

Indian spices from the big spice market. I bought some tea leaves and powder for fish tikka.

The base on an unfinished tower.

Most of the impressive structures built in India today seemed to have been built by Muslims.

Very dirty water.