Tag Archives: hiking

Alley Spring Mill Trail

I am very thankful my parents took me hiking as a kid. I enjoyed it when I was young (for example, this photo of a young me hiking at Fraser’s Hill in Malaysia) and I enjoy it now (my Mom and I visited Fraser’s Hill again a few years ago).

Recently I enjoyed visiting Alley Spring Mill and hiking the overlook trail (a 2 km loop trail) near Eminence, Missouri.

Alley Spring Mill and pond

The Alley Spring Mill is in the Ozark National Scenic Riverway (part of the National Park system). The mill itself looks wonderful next to the pond and also has some interesting details inside.

bark on tree trunk

Corn and wheat was loaded at the ground level of the building and moved up to the top via the tiny buckets driven by the water wheel. Then the grain was filtered and ground using the water wheel as the source of power (moving up via the mini bucket elevators and down shoots to the machines on the ground level in sequence).

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Wonderful Jungle Hike at Mount Santubong, Borneo, Malaysia

Trail in the forest

My hike on Mount Santubong was an amazing experience. The hike was quite challenging; very step climbing for a long time.

rope handhold for steep jungle trail, Mount Santubong, Sarawak, Malaysia

The trail climbed like this for a long time. The ropes could help you climb (especially necessary if there had been rain recently as it is not only steep but slippery when went).

Jungle trail, rope ladder, Mount Santubong

Quite frequently rope ladders were necessary to aid the climb.

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Photos of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Photos from a day I spent in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. All these photos are taken on a walk from the railway station.

Train for Ladies Only in railway station

Notice the train coaches reserved for Ladies Only.

Earlier in the day I visited Batu Caves and took the train back to downtown KL.

Kasturi Walk street market, Kuala Lumpur

Kasturi Walk street market in Kuala Lumpur.

Roasting Chestnuts at street market, Kuala Lumpur

Roasting Chestnuts on Petaling Street.

statues and burning incense at Chinese Temple

Other sites I visited on the walk: National Mosque of Malaysia, Sri Mahamariamman Hindu Temple, Kuala Lumpur and Masjid Jamek, Kuala Lumpur.

Railway Administration Building in Kuala Lumpur

The Railway Administration Building is on the left of the photo and the Railway station is the white building on the right.

Related: Jianshui Wet Market in Yunnan, ChinaSunday Market, Chiang Mai ThailandCurious Cat as a Celebrity in Yogyakarta, Indonesia

Apostle Islands National Lakeshore, Wisconsin

Photos from my visit to the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore in northern Wisconsin.

Purple Fungus growing through brown leaves

An interesting purple fungus on the point trail. The main island is Stockton Island which has several interesting trails (all are easy). The photos on this post are from there and our boat ride.

photo from sailboat with view of Lake Superior and clouded blue sky

We took a sailboat ride on Lake Superior.

Yellow Flowers

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Bayon Temple, Angkor, Cambodia

many carved faces with trees in the background

Bayon Temple is well know for the many (216 actually) smiling faces adorning the temple.

wide shot of Bayon Temple with tourists dwarfed by the size of the temple

I was living in Siem Reap for a few months and took these photos during a bike trip from the city to visit the temples. It is a nice bike ride (very flat the entire time). You can also rent tuk-tuks or taxis to tour the sites (I have done that also). I most enjoyed biking myself around. If I remember right it is between 12 and 20 km journey depending on what you decide to see and where start from in Siem Reap.

Tourists taking photos in front of many carvings of faces

Bayon temple was built in the late 12th or early 13th century as the official state temple of the Mahayana Buddhist King Jayavarman VII.

bas-relief art carved on the stone walls of Bayon Temple

Bayon stands at the centre of Jayavarman’s capital, Angkor Thom. Following Jayavarman’s death, it was modified and augmented by later Hindu and Theravada Buddhist kings in accordance with their own religious preferences.

a wide view of the temple

This photo I took on a separate visit.

Bayon was the last state temple to be built at Angkor, and the only Angkorian state temple to be built primarily as a Mahayana Buddhist shrine dedicated to the Buddha, though a great number of minor and local deities were also encompassed as representatives of the various districts and cities of the realm.

Covered stone walkway with art relief on the walls at Bayon

Related: Bayon on WikipediaTa Prohm temple, AngkorAngkor WatNeak Poan Temple, Siem Reap, CambodiaBorobudur in Java, Indonesia (Buddhist temple built in the 9th century)

Guadalupe Peak Trail, Guadalupe Mountains National Park

Guadalupe Peak Trail with mountains in the background

The Guadalupe Peak Trail in Guadalupe Mountains National Park is a 8.4 mile round trip hike with an elevation gain of 2,930 feet (they estimate 6 to 8 hours).

Brown beetle with a green head

If you can identify this beetle (or the other insects in this post) please add a comment. See more of my photos that I need help identifying.

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Kuang Si Waterfalls, Laos

Tat Kuang Si park is a wonderful spot for a hike.

amazing light blue colored pool of water

The water has an amazing blue color that seems almost fake in photos but is really the color of these photos. The blue is due to dissolved copper.

pedestrian bridge with blue water pool and waterfalls in the background

The Kuang Si waterfalls are about 30 km outside of Luang Prabang. You can rent a open back pickup for about $30 (really I forget I think it was about that amount though) for the trip or you can join a tour group (easy to arrange at many guest houses and travel agents all over Luang Prabang).

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Chomphet Hike, Luang Prabang, Laos

The Chomphet Hike is nice hike across the river from Luang Prabang, Laos. I used this wonderful map for the hike. My hike probably was about 8 km and I went in a circle around the whole hike on the map. The hike would be very difficult (next to impossible) to follow in several places if you didn’t have the map.

Vat Nong Sakeo, on pond (covered in plants - so it is green)

Vat Nong Sakeo on a pond.

Ladder over the fence

Much of the hike is through rice fields. I like this ladder over the fence (to keep out goats and other animals I imagine. This part of the trail was a bit difficult for me to follow on the map, I wasn’t at all sure I took the right path but I got where I need to eventually.

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