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There are many wonderful destinations for cruises, but there are three that should be high on everyone’s list:

1. Bermuda is a beautiful island in the Atlantic Ocean, due east of North Carolina. The scenery is incredible, people are friendly and there is a lot to do and see. A Bermuda cruise is unique as cruise ships go there and dock. Passengers then have three or four days to do whatever they desire. The best transportation deal in Bermuda is to purchase a two or three day bus pass. It entitles you to ride buses and ferries anywhere and as often as you wish, all for one low cost. The Dockyards, Horseshoe Beach, capital city of Hamilton, Tobacco Bay and the World Heritage town of St. George are among the many things to enjoy.

2. The Pacific Northwest cruise, out of San Francisco, is also a great destination. The ports visited in Oregon, Washington and British Columbia are all a lot of fun, and each is unique. Victoria, on Vancouver Island, is especially beautiful and enjoyable to visit. The Butchart Gardens, a harbor tour, the Royal British Columbia Museum and other attractions make it a wonderful place to visit. The other stops in Astoria, Seattle, Nanaimo and Vancouver are all outstanding. Not a lot of people have taken this cruise, but it is delightful.

3. A third “should not be missed” cruise is from Florida to California (or vice versa) through the Panama Canal. This is a longer cruise with more days at sea, more ports and more countries. There are many highlights to a canal cruise, but the greatest attraction is a daylight passage through the Panama Canal. There is always a naturalist/historian on board who, over the loud speaker system, explains what you are seeing and the history behind it. A word of caution: be careful not to get sunburned on that day. Other highlights of a canal cruise include stops in Columbia, Costa Rica, Panama, Mexico and possibly other countries. There are many excursions available, or you can shop for souvenirs and sightsee on your own in the ports.

All of the major cruise lines provide beautiful ships with comfortable cabins, an abundance of good food and lots of things to do on the days you are at sea. Going on a cruise is an opportunity that should not be missed. Get the latest information and reviews from a cruise forum such as cruiselinefans.com.

Midway between the Bhotia, or Bhote, Tibetan ethnic groups starting with the Baragaunle Bhote villages north of Marpha and ending with the former kingdom of Lo, the Mustang Kingdom of upper Kali Gandaki south of the Tibetan border, and the Chetri, Magar and Gurung villages downstream south of Tatopani, the last pure Hindu village, there are villages of the Thakali people.

Located just about where the Kali Gandaki breaches the chain of the High Himalaya, with the Annapurna towering high above directly to the east and the Dhaulagiri to the west, located only at some 6000 feet above sea level, the Thakali villages constitute a clear transition it the cultural continuity along the watershed of this major Himalayan river valley.

Today the Thakali villages exude mixed traditions, a clear mixture of Hindu and Buddhist elements. When it comes to looking at the house type build by the Thakalis and the man-man physical characteristics of their villages as such one feels being already among the Buddhist populations groups further north. But close look at the dress of the Thakalis and the story told is of other aspirations.

To the Thakalis themselves any connection to the Bhote and Buddhists is unwelcomed association that they have managed, in their mind, to shed beyond doubt.

Fact is most Thakalis today live in Kathmandu Valley and the origin of the Thakali ethnic group in terms of when exactly they had settled in the Kali Gandaki region is obscured by lack of historical documents. The only lead as to their probable and likely years of approximate settlement in the Kali Gandaki region may be the few old Buddhist gompas built along the Thak Khola, the Thakali term applied to the high valley of the Kali Gandaki, some of which date as far back as three hundred years.

The Thakalis have all the characteristic Mongoloid features, and their language is a special Tibetan dialect, hence relation to the Buddhists further north is undisputable. Regardless of their exact settlement in the Thak Khola, the Thakalis prospered since the mid-nineteenth century when they were awarded a monopoly over the salt trade with Tibet.

Tukuche, the largest Thakali village, in translation meaning something like the “Grain Market Place” (tuk-grain; che-flat place), has until late 1940s figured as the principal market town where salt from Tibet was bartered for grain from the Midlands and Terai. Unfortunately, due to the Chinese invasion of Tibet in 1959, the salt trade had completely ceased, constituting that today Tukuche is essentially only a relic to its once prominent past.

Although the Thakalis have since late 19th century conscientiously tried to establish a link between themselves and the Malla kings of Jumla in western Nepal, proclaiming themselves thus as Hindus, in order to raise their social status because Nepal as monarchy was essentially a Hindu kingdom, and today most with the exception of the very old have adopted Nepali style of dress, women wear sari and man topi (Nepali cap), one brief glimpse of the region of their settlement attests to nothing but an undoubtedly once great Buddhist past.

Near and in practically every Thakali village can be found long mani walls and chortens as well as Buddhist monasteries.

The Narshang gompa above Khanti, its skylight window adorned with fine frescoes of the traditional Buddhist imagery, including the image of Padma Sambhava, otherwise also called Guru Rimpoche or the Precious Master, the apostole of Buddhism in the Himalaya and Tibet, with the Kyupar gompa in the vicinity of Tukuche, have always belonged to the more renown of the Thakali Buddhist gompas. Two of the other more prominent Buddhist gompas of the region are the monastery of Ku-tsap-ter-nga, with a large covered corridor used for the ritual perambulation, surrounding its courtyard, and the gompa of Tsherok. And the Rani gompa in Tukuche is probably the oldest Buddhist gompa of the Thak Khola, believed to be built around the beginning of the seventeenth century. Though Bon-po influences at one time were equally as strong in the area, today most of the Bom-po gompas are in a tragic state of collapse, including the Bon-po gompa of Nabrikot.

In all, the Buddhist heritage of the Thakalis has been sustained by only a handful of old monks and nuns that try to maintain the upkeep of the gompas as well as the Buddhist ritual. Were it not for the Panchgaunle people whose villages are found immediately north of the Thakali area of villages, who try to maintain the gompas and hold some of the traditional Buddhist festivals and ceremonies, the Buddhism in the Thak Khola would have died by now completely.

Although the Panchgaunle people consider themselves to be Thakalis, they are not Thakalis. The biggest village of their region is the village of Marpha, a compact village of narrow, cobbled lanes from which the courtyards of the houses are entered, in architectural style essentially identical to those of the Thakalis including the flat roofs, edges of which in Marpha are lined with neatly stacked supplies of firewood.

The Tibetan house types of stone with flat roofs have inspired the architecture of the Thakalis likely from the very beginning when they settled along the Thak Khola, however, the Thakalis have perfected this house type to a higher standard of design than have their Baragaunle neighbors to the north. The flat roof, suitable for drying of grains, upper level reached via the characteristic notched tree trunk ladders, is repeated in the design of each and every house in Thak Khola.

Another design feature, always present in the Thakali house, is the enclosed courtyard with usually a fodder barn and an animal shelter on the ground level. Undoubtedly the best designed Thakali houses are found in Tukuche, the former marketplace center of the extinguished salt trade and seat of once the richest traders.

The most effluent families constracted themselves large houses with spacious interior courtyards entered through tunnel-like gates located below often elaborately carved wooden balconies. The bottom floors of these houses included the necessary animal barns, grain storage rooms and servant quarters.

Kitchen, too, would be usually located on the ground floor, abounding in a variety of shiny brass pots displayed on shelves around the room. On the upper floor would typically be found the sleeping rooms, family chapel room, additional storage rooms as well as the main living quarters including another kitchen area, typically containing a ceremonial fire pit. The ceremonial, ornamental fireplace, is put up by the Thakalis only symbolically, and no fire is ever lit in it.

In the finest of Thakali houses of Tukuche the second floor rooms were entered off a fine wooden gallery, typically built around the entire interior perimeter of the house. Structurally, timber would always be used extensively, and a uniquely cut and colored T-post, serving the function of a ceiling supporting structural member, is found in every Thakali house.

Whether you are a trekker or have a deeper interest in the cultural diversity of Nepal, Thakali villages of Thak Khola offer a fascinating slice of the remote part of the Himalayas.

Camping in Egypt's White Desert

Tour of Western Desert of Egypt is a fascinating journey through remote oasis, namely Siwa, Bahariya, Farafra, Dakhla and Kharga Oasis, the Great Sand Sea or Ramla El Kebir, and Gilf Kebir, a moonscape-like plateau of striking mountain ridges, crater-like formations and rock sculptures. Beyond Bahariya Oasis begins vast Black Desert that turns into surreal environment of the White Desert and makes for a memorable camping site.

The Great Sand Sea, as the name implies, is an endless expanse of sand dunes, in size covering some 70,000 square kilometers, a phenomenal grandeur of Sahara that continues well into Libya. It is a living desert as the dunes move, some of them tens of kilometers long, propelled by the wind, advancing as much as several dozen meters per year.

After the taste of the sea of sand and crossing remote uninhabited desert so much more impressive is sight of a major green oasis with groves of palms, date and olive trees and a clean spring. Such is the sight of Bahariya Oasis, one of the most amazing oases in Egypt.

Bahariya Oasis is not actually a single settlement but rather a collection of several villages, now well connected with the rest of Egypt by good roads. Other than marveling at the oasis architecture and cultivation practices, the discovery of a Greco-Roman necropolis, known as the Valley of the Golden Mummies over a decade ago, a large burial site of several dozen tombs with many more said to be contained within, the Bahariya Oasis has become a prominent archeological excavation site.

The Bahariya Oasis constitutes a great base for exploration of the omnipresent Black Mountains that lie south of the oasis. Among the most memorable is the Valley of Agabat, where the ever encroaching sand dunes meet with impressive yellow rock formations. Not to miss is also the hot spring in the Valley of El Haize. Further on glistens the Crystal Mountain, a rock formation covered with calcite crystals, professed to be once a sub-volcanic vault. The geology of Egypt’s Western Desert mountain formations, in fact of the entire Gilf Kebir plateau is quite remarkable, and the White Desert is its ultimate marvel. The most dazzling part of the White Desert is a snow-white limestone environment of stunning rock shapes created by erosion and weathering, a hydrothermal structures of chalk deposits and limestone carvings, indeed a stunning place to camp for the night.

Graffiti or “street art” is usually considered to be vandalism, act of defacing property. As any large city, Prague too has been confronted with graffiti art, though essentially unknown prior to Velvet Revolution of 1989. While “tagging,” writing of simple signatures, is especially looked down upon as senseless scribble, creative graffiti art is definitely present around Prague. In some areas of gray-prefab tenement neighborhoods, commonly constructed during forty years of communist era, creative graffiti projects have indeed been on occasion encouraged to mitigate the depressing architectural style. Other “legal-walls“ and surfaces maybe at times set aside by city governments and graffiti artists get invited to enhance the otherwise unsightly vertical space, including certain pedestrian underpasses and walkways, though the designated legal areas do not abound. That to allow creative juices free expression may produce fascinating graffiti art is no doubt. It not only provides for self-realization of the artist, but also is a wise move that curbs illegal graffiti. Following are graffiti under Barandow bridge, a well-know multi-lane freeway and pedestrian structure below the famous Barrandov Film Studios, and one of the legal graffiti walls, or zones, of Prague.

You have itchy feet and crave adventure travel. How long has it been since you were on your last adventure? Ah, yes, that trip you took nearly two years ago with one of those tour companies. They keep mailing you their catalogues. They profess intimate experience with the locals, unspoiled trails, few or no other tourists. Indeed, the only way this can be had, the say, is in “small group” travel, the kind they proclaim they have perfected – with “no more than 16 members,” their literature emphasizes! Their glossy catalogue is so inviting - should you book another trip with them again? You do need to get away after all the struggle that has hit your business the last many months.

So where should you go?

How about Western Australia at its summer best. Blue seas and non polluted skies, swimming and diving the western and northwestern coast of Australia. Camping on warm wilderness beaches of Kalbarri, Shark Bay, Coral Bay, and many other, lesser know or hidden ones, only few know about. You could go hiking Kalbarri National Park and rock hole swimming in Karijini National Park, the Hamersley Range in the mountainous region of Pilbara in Western Australia, with nights under the desert stars.

Or should you go to India in the early spring to sample the Kumba Mela, where only once every twelve years some 50 million people gather and bath in the Ganges at Hardiwar where this mighty river gushes out of Shiva’s Himalaya, broad, clean and cool, a photographer’s dream of flower garlanded faces extolling their gods.

Should you wait until the summer and go trekking in the Indian Himalayas, from Kulu-Manali over the Parvati Pass to Spiti, and press on from there to Ladakh and Zankar, the high altitude desert beyond the High Himalaya?

Or in the fall, you could go to Everest, the best time for Khumbu and the villages of the Sherpas.

The catalogue your are consulting speaks of the comforts of organized travel in small groups of no more than 16! Is it once again what you want? There is only one way to penetrate the shield of seeing things from afar, from being on the outside – it’s through having your own guide that can guide you to true adventure.

For once in your life put down the supermarket of travel catalogue you are reading and set out on a real adventure, one on one, you and your guide. Forget the economic meltdown of past year, drop your worldly headaches, and get away from alcohol! As a bonus, you might even shed a few pounds if weight has been one of your problems.