Tag Archives: nature

BOOK REVIEW: Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer

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Into the WildInto the Wild by Jon Krakauer

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Nature is a harsh teacher. That was the last lesson Chris McCandless ever learned. A recent college graduate, McCandless struck out for the Alaskan wilderness with minimal resources, his body was found by a party of moose-hunters several months after he’d begun his Alaskan adventure.

Into the Wild gives us a well-researched explanation for how McCandless died, but it also tells us a great deal about how he lived– and that story is fascinating in its own right. Many thought McCandless must have been crazy, but refusing to acquiesce to the work-a-day world is often incorrectly diagnosed as insanity.

McCandless had an obsessive desire to find out whether he could make it on his own, not just separate from his parent’s wealth but from all the trappings of modern society. McCandless’s most iconic indicator of insanity-by-way-of-thwarting-convention was when he gave away the entirety of his $25,000 savings account and burnt all the money in his wallet. He wanted to know whether he could survive if he was returned to the state of nature from whence mankind came. Sadly, the answer was no.

It would be easy to dismiss McCandless as a dumb kid who got in over his head. Though he certainly was that. On his deathbed, in a bus carcass in the remote Alaskan wilderness, McCandless likely had a revelation that most teenagers pass into adulthood without ever realizing, that he was mortal.

However, McCandless was more than a kid with an underdeveloped sense of his own mortality. He was a kid with the courage to confront a question that most of us just let nag in the back of our minds. That question being,do we have what it takes to live not as a cog in a machine but as a human in the natural world.

I know many are intrigued by this question in part because there are entire TV channels that are practically devoted to survival shows. Yet most people don’t take it beyond sitting on a couch contemplating whether they could survive. Will thinking man (Homo sapiens) be replaced by doing man (Homo effectus)?

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There was a movie based on this book. I didn’t see it, but here is its trailer.

DAILY PHOTO: Gulf of Finland Inlet

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Taken from the Hilton Helsinki Kalastajatorppa

Taken from the Hilton Helsinki Kalastajatorppa

In 2011, we made a mid-summer trip to Helsinki. We stayed at the Hilton Helsinki Kalastajatorppa. It’s located northwest of Helsinki proper up the inlet to the city’s west side (not far from Seurasaari Island.)

This photo was taken at probably 1:30am. Vampires beware: I don’t think it ever got fully dark. There was always light on the horizon. Those little black specks on the water are birds whose circadian rhythms were as confused as was mine.

BTW, that hotel has an awesome breakfast buffet that’s included in the room price.  It’ s a little out-of-the-way though.

DAILY PHOTO: Sacsayhuamán in the Peruvian Andes

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This Incan site overlooks Cusco, Peru.

This Incan site overlooks Cusco, Peru.

Sacsayhuamán may well be the first Incan site you see, if you fly into Cusco. It sits on a hill overlooking Cusco. If you’re in the mood to stretch your legs and aren’t too queasy from the elevation (Cusco, 11,200ft), it’s  not too difficult a walk from the city center.  You can use the Cristo Blanco (huge white Jesus), which shares the same hill, as a navigational reference.

The Incans were the master masons. These stone walls were made without mortar. Yes, those irregularly shaped blocks sit perfectly on each other and have for hundreds of years.  The one thing that Sacsayhuamán has that other sites don’t is a naturally occurring fun park of slides. One can also traverse a pitch black cave, and get spectacular overview shots of the city.

Naturally occurring slides

Naturally occurring slides

DAILY PHOTO: Reflections in Rangsit, Thailand

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Rangsit, Thailand

Rangsit, Thailand

I thought I’d take a break from posting pictures of either monuments to wealth and power or pristine nature scenes. I took this in Rangsit, Thailand, which is a northern suburb of Bangkok out past the Don Muang Airport. I was there studying at the Muay Thai Institute for one week. (Muay Thai is a martial art and the national sport of Thailand.) If you’re curious about what my experience with that was like, I have posts about it here and here.)

It was fascinating to see what a love/hate relationship water has with these people. It nourishes them. It bathes them. But every once in a while it tries to kill them. A kindly restaurateur showed me pictures of his landlocked restaurant underwater during the floods of 2011. At that time the tree tops you see were probably just jutting out of the water– if they weren’t entirely submerged. (I base this on the height of the elevated express way to the left that I think was at water level, based on pictures I’ve seen.)

DAILY PHOTO: Isla Contoy, Mexico

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"The beach is that way," says crab to lizard.

“The beach is that way,” says crab to lizard.

Isla Contoy is a bird sanctuary off the northeast corner of the Yucatan peninsula. There are no hotels or permanent residents there, but one can easily make half day trips by boat from either Isla Mujeres or Cancun. The only buildings on the island are a ranger station, an observation tower, a small educational display, and some picnic shelters. Because people don’t live here (besides maybe a few park rangers and scientists) and the number of visitors is limited, the wildlife density (particularly birds, but also lizards, crabs, rays, etc.) is tremendous.

Because they try to limit where people go to avoid interference with the wildlife, a few hours here is sufficient. However, there is a pristine white sand beach that, as I indicated, is visited by rays and fish.

DAILY PHOTO: Church at Tims Ford, Tennessee

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On a cloudy night, this place would be CREEPY!

On a cloudy night, this place would be CREEPY!

Have you ever seen an idyllic, pristine setting, and thought, Under different circumstances this would be the perfect location for a horror film?

That was my feeling as I walked out of the woods and saw this solitary, white church and its graveyard on a hill in central nowhere (No offense, Tennessee.) Picture what this place would be like under a low, roiling, gray clouds. It’s spitting cold rain, the graveyard is leaf-strewn. From which grave will a clawing hand protrude? You don’t know. You don’t know.

Book Review: WATERSHIP DOWN by Richard Adams

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Watership DownWatership Down by Richard Adams

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This novel follows the trials and tribulations of a group of rabbits who leave a warren upon a warning from a prescient little rabbit named Fiver. Their exodus is fraught with peril from nature, man, other animals, and even other rabbits. The challenges they face threaten their unity as well as their survival.

Adams builds an intriguing cast of characters. Hazel is thrust into a leadership role. Bigwig is the physically powerful security chief. Fiver is the intelligent runt gifted with ESP. General Woundwort is the cunning and terror-inspiring enemy they must defeat to live in peace.

The book contains life lessons interspersed:
– One learns that the quintessential lover may also be a fighter.

– It shows how building alliances outside one’s comfort zone (sometimes outside one’s species) may allow one to win out over those rigidly uncompromising

– One discovers that sometimes one can only win by risking everything.

I found it to be a unique concept and very readable.

You’ll have to learn a little rabbit vocabulary and mythology, but there’s a glossary.

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Winter in Budapest

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I took these five years ago… how time flies. But, tis the season.

City Ice Rink next to the Vajdahunyad Castle

City Ice Rink next to the Vajdahunyad Castle

This has been one of the most popular pics on my photoblog as of late.

The Neo-Gothic Parliament building from Normafa.

The Neo-Gothic Parliament building as seen from Normafa.

Normafa overlooks Budapest from atop of the hill. On this day the hilltop was dusted while there was not a trace of snow in Budapest.

Normafa near the tower

Normafa near the tower

The aforementioned dusting of snow written over by long shadows of winter.

A cross in the woods

A cross in the woods

A solitary cross and headstone next to the trail.

Winter markets

Winter markets

It wouldn’t be Budapest in winter without a shot of one of the markets. When it’s blustery and gray outside, the warm scent of roasting nuts or baked goods  bring a smile to the face.

The big winter market at Vörösmarty Square.

The big winter market at
Vörösmarty Square.