Hiking across Mordor in Tongariro National Park

by Kyle Ellison on

There aren’t many places where you feel the urge to wear your wedding ring around your neck and begin dodging fictional forces of evil.

New Zealand’s Tongariro National Park, however, is exactly one of those places.

As anyone who has been to a movie theater in the last ten years probably knows, New Zealand was the setting for the epically popular Lord of the Rings trilogy which introduced us to the adventures of Middle Earth.

Arguably one of the best known movie series of an entire generation, the movie saga has simultaneously done wonders for the New Zealand tourism economy by displaying the country’s enchanting and other worldly scenery to a global audience of millions. While Middle Earth tourism has sculpted out its own niche for diehard fans (my 2012 New Zealand road atlas, for example, points out where each scene was filmed), as a casual viewer there are only a few place names I actually recognize.

One of these, of course, is Mt. Doom, and as I set out from the campervan into the volcanic cinder of the Tongariro Crossing-one of New Zealand’s most heavily trafficked walks-I found myself standing directly beneath it.

So what exactly is Mt. Doom?

Well, to begin, its real name is Mt. Ngauruhoe, it is 7,516 ft. high, and from the best I could tell there aren’t any quivering, flaming black eyes located anywhere near it. While Mt. Ngauruhoe doubled as Mt. Doom, the surrounding bits of Tongariro National Park provided the scenery for Mordor, the fiery and terrifying volcanic wasteland that serves as the home of evil.

As it happens, Tongariro is actually pretty cold, even during the summer months. Lacing up my hiking boots at 6am with about 100 other trekkers, the morning dew had frozen and blanketed the campervan beneath a thin layer of frost.

“Weird”, I thought. “There’s not supposed to be snow in Mordor.”Actually, back here in reality, Tongariro is home to Whakapapa ski field, one of only two areas on the whole North Island of New Zealand which receives enough snowfall to warrant ski lifts and groomed runs. Though Mordor is colder in reality than in the movies, the threat of volcanic eruption is still very real.

Nearby Mt. Ruapehu is an active enough volcano that warning signs scattered around the park advise skiers what actions to take should the mountain decide to go all volcanic and bubbly during their mid-winter ski session. A legitimate concern, the mountain last experienced a major eruption in 1996, and volcanic lahars–essentially boiling rivers of mud–have been known to push their way down to within a few feet of chairlifts which regularly carry resort guests.

And, since Tongariro is still comprised of active volcanoes, it would make sense that there are hot springs, sulfuric lakes, and places where steam rises straight from the Earth.

As I enjoyed a lunch of sweet chili tuna (why don’t we have flavored tuna in the US?) above the turquoise (and toxic) Emerald Lakes, it wasn’t hard at all to see why the Lord of the Rings scouts chose this place. A sea of multicolored cinder, the entire landscape is bathed in that oxymoronic volcanic quality where new earth appears to be old; just because it isn’t covered in grass doesn’t make it old, but, in fact, too young for organisms such as grass to have taken root.

Though Tongariro gets pigeonholed nowadays into Mordor tourism there’s still much more to the park than volcanoes and moonscapes. Many places in the park are actually fairly green and lush, and on the trail out to Tama Lakes it’s possible to be surrounded by volcanic, sub-alpine shrub land and still sunbathe at the base of a cascading waterfall.

Or, if trekking across barren cinder flats isn’t quite classy enough, you can always retire to the historic and ultra-elegant Chateau Tongariro and listen to the tunes of the grand piano played next to a roaring fire. Constructed in 1929, the Chateau was originally a luxury outpost for outdoorsmen and adventure seekers aiming to explore the beauty of the island’s volcanic highlands. Today it’s still possible to book a room at the Chateau or simply call in for a glass of wine, an entrée of lamb, or, of course, a panoramic view of Mordor.

Though the silver screen has made this place famous as of late, Hollywood was far from the first organization to recognize the beauty of Tongariro. Wanting the land beneath these mountains to be preserved and maintained for eternity, it was the Maori chief Horonuku Te Heuheu Tukino who in 1887 first gifted this land to the New Zealand government to preserve and protect the sacred alpine ground for generations to come.

From Maori chiefs to mythical hobbits to active volcanoes to a wayward vagabond touring the country in a campervan, Tongariro National Park is a magical place to find yourself when given the freedom to roam.

For 2 months Gadling blogger Kyle Ellison will be embedded in a campervan touring the country of New Zealand. Follow the rest of the adventure by reading his series, Freedom to Roam: Touring New Zealand by Campervan.

Vagabond Tales: Swimming with elephants in Thailand

by Kyle Ellison on

Anyone who has visited Thailand will recognize the word Chang.

The national beer of Thailand, the over sized green bottles are found everywhere from the markets of Chiang Mai to the bars of Bangkok’s Khao San Road. In the Thai language, however, Chang does not mean beer. It means elephant. Hence the ornately drawn white elephant placed prominently on the bottle.

Another Thai word you may be familiar with is the word koh (also spelled ko). Ask anyone who just returned from Thailand about their trip, and they’ll rattle the word off as if they’re trying to remove a hairball.

“Oh the trip was great. We visited Koh Pha Ngan, Koh Lanta, Koh Mak, Koh Phi Phi, Koh Samui” etc.

Koh, as it turns out, is not the Thai word for hairball, but rather, it is the Thai word for island.
Put the two together, Koh and Chang, and what you are left with is Elephant Island, a nod to the fact that when viewed from the sea, the island appears to have the same profile as an elephant lying down. Therefore, it should come as little surprise that the lush and mountainous island of Koh Chang is one of Thailand’s premier locations for riding elephants.

Though there are many places around the world where you can rest on top of a moving pachyderm, what’s unique about Koh Chang is that it’s the first place I’ve seen where you don’t just get to ride on top of an elephant, but you go swimming with it as well.

Wait. Swimming with an elephant? This sounds dangerous. They’re the largest living land mammal on planet Earth, and you want to go jump into a watering hole with them?Though the idea of a four ton animal treading water in the first place is tough to wrap your head around, there are few experiences more surreal than straddling the neck of a leathery, hairy beast, your hands firmly clinging to a rope which is tenuously wrapped around the elephant’s underbelly, and to have the four-legged monstrosity completely disappear into a puddle of deep brown water.

Of course, these elephants are exceptionally well trained, but nevertheless, it all happens so fast. In one moment you are firmly on dry land bouncing along through the dripping green foliage of the jungle, and in the next you find yourself waist deep in a brown lake straddling one of the largest creatures on Earth which has, suddenly, completely disappeared.

This experience is of course coupled with the fact that an elephant is equipped with a fire hose on its face. Capable of drawing up to four gallons of water into its long, serpentine snout, the elephant will then deposit the massive reservoir of elephant boogers where ever he happens to see fit. The most typical place for it to unleash its hose is its own back in an effort to cool itself down. If you happen to be sitting on the elephants back, however…

Luckily I avoided the experience of being drenched with elephant snot, but this was perhaps my biggest fear going into the expedition. Not falling into the water and getting kicked in the face like any normal person might be wary of, but of being briskly trumpeted by a dual-nostrilled cannon at a speed of about 95 knots.

“She must like you” claimed the mahout, an Indian word for a man in charge of driving the domesticated elephants.

“She usually brings most people back with their hair dripping wet.”

Still seated bareback on top of the gray animal, I trembled with excitement at what had just taken place. Potentially unaware that I was even still sitting on top of her, for her part she had moved on to flapping her small ears and chewing on a soaking wet piece of sugar cane.

This may sound crazy, but if you ever travel to Thailand, do yourself a favor and go swimming with an elephant. A package deal of a mechanical bull, a zoo, and a waterpark, it’s an experience you assuredly will never forget.

Read more of the Vagabond Tales here.

Video: Disneyland 1957

by Elizabeth Seward on

This footage of Disneyland 1957 was previously unreleased until recently. The film was cleaned up, edited, and paired with music, but all of the images are original. In 1957, the Disneyland park in Anaheim, California wasn’t even yet two years old. The park opened in July of 1955. The best part about this footage is that it is actually good! The editing and overall cleanup job helps, of course, but the original filmmaker did a respectable job at capturing various aspects of the park and the young Disneyland experience.

10 things to do in every city you visit

by Jessica Festa on

While every city has its own unique landmarks, culture, and sights to see, there are certain general things you can do in any city you visit to make your experience more memorable. To enhance your next trip, take this checklist with you and try to do each of these things in every city you visit.

Sample the local cuisine

One way to really get to know a culture is through the food. It’s seriously incredible how much cuisine can differentiate from culture to culture, and how much the way food is prepared and eaten, as well as what the food is, can tell you about a community. When visiting Ghana, Africa, I was amazed at how most of the staple foods seemed to come from root vegetables and were eaten without swallowing and without using utensils. While I wouldn’t say fu-fu and banku are my favorite foods, I definitely am glad I tried them and got to see the intense preparation that went into making these dishes. Even if you travel to a western country or a place that isn’t too different from your own, try a local favorite or something that the area is known for (it will almost definitely taste better than what you’re used to anyway). If you’re in Maine make sure to have a lobster. Visiting Naples, Italy? Eat a slice of pizza from its birthplace. Traveling to Australia? Vegemite, Tim Tams, and barbequed meats are definite musts.Sip the country’s signature drink

While all regions have local dishes, there is usually a signature drink as well, whether it be a cocktail or locally produced wine or beer. Many times the local libation will not only give you a good buzz, but will also give you insight into the culture and region. Drink a Guinness in Ireland and you’ll also be tasting a bit of the local Wicklow Mountains. Sip on a Caipirnha in Brazil and you’ll not only be ingesting the locally produced cachaça; you’ll also be learning that the now sophisticated drink was originally a country bumpkin favorite, which is what the name literally translates to.

Visit a museum

What better way to get background information and get to know the roots of a place than through its artifacts, history, art, architecture, and old photographs. Maybe you’ll find something of particular interest to you and you’ll want to go out into the city and explore it further. Museums are great starting points for igniting a traveler’s curiosity about a culture and place, whether it be to go visit a historical site, visit a local art gallery, or read a book on an ancient civilization.

See a local craftsman at work

I try to do this as much as possible when traveling, as you’ll often meet people who are happy to share personal stories on their work and how it relates to their culture. In Ghana, I loved going to the shops of local painters and watching them work, asking them a million questions about what the symbols on their pieces meant and where they got their inspiration from. From this, I learned a lot about drum culture in Ghana as well as the importance of God and even some old legends. Moreover, in Morocco, I got to sit and watch a local tile maker create authentic Moorish tiles, something I didn’t know was even relevant to the culture. He even gave me a tile as a souvenir, and when the Moroccan Courtyard exhibited at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in my home state of New York, it felt really good to have a firsthand account of the craft and the culture.

Ride the local public transport system

Not only will opting for public transportation over taxis and car rentals save you money, it will also help you become a better navigator of the city. Moreover, you’ll get to experience how a normal person in the city lives and potentially even get to interact with a local. In Ghana, Africa, their form of public transportation was the tro-tro (shown right), which was basically a packed-out van, usually with the seats barely attached to the floor. Working up the nerve to actually figure out how to take the tro-tro was scary, but once I did it I definitely felt more culturally immersed. Plus, a lot of interesting impromptu events happen on the tro-tro, like sermons, choir singing, and unique product demonstrations.

Learn some basic phrases in the local language

I don’t think there’s any greater accomplishment when traveling then actually being able to have a conversation with a local in their language. It can be as simple as exchanging greetings, asking someone for their name, and telling them it was nice to meet them. People will appreciate that you’ve taken the time to try to get to know their language, and if you can barter in the local tongue, you’re also less likely to get ripped off in the markets and when taking a taxi.

Have an experience in nature

While it’s important to get to know the people and culture of a city, it’s also worthwhile to get to deeper understanding of the place itself. Explore the landscape; the wildlife, mountains, rivers, beaches, valleys, forests, rock, and plants. Go hiking, rafting, swimming, or climbing and just really get to know a place in its raw form. It’s also great if you can go with a local guide, as you’ll be able to learn more about legends and meanings of certain places, medicinal plants, and how to safely interact with wildlife. Not only is it a budget-friendly way to enjoy a region; it’s also healthy to spend time outdoors and you’ll get some great photo opportunities.

Befriend a local

I don’t mean ask a local for directions or where a great restaurant is, but instead ask them to go to a restaurant with you. It may seem odd at first, but hanging out with a local is a great way to find out the “personal” side of a cultural and can also give you access to experiences you may not have otherwise had. From befriending locals in Thailand I got the chance to eat meals at peoples’ homes, attend community events in remote villages, and learn to cook in local kitchens. I also got onto a few free-entry, free-drink guestlists at clubs that I never would have had access to by myself.

Browse a local market

Skip the high-end chain shops and the restaurants with signs that read “English menu available” and instead opt for the outdoor markets. These colorful, aesthetically-pleasing places are usually bursting with energy, delicious food, and quality merchandise. In terms of cuisine, markets offer fresh healthy, foods that are usually cheaper and more flavorful than anything you’ll get at a supermarket. And the handicrafts, housewares, and clothing that are offered are usually authentic and locally-made.

Watch a cultural tradition or ceremony

The traditions and ceremonies a culture partakes in tell a lot about their values and beliefs, and because they vary so much from region to region, make for a really memorable experience. I remember in Laos taking part in the Alms Giving tradition where the locals wake up at dawn to feed the monks as they line up in a procession down the street with their food baskets. It really sparked my interest to learn more about Buddhism and monk culture in South East Asia, and my inquisition led me to go with a local to attend a prayer service at one of the temples. The tradition and what I learned really left an impression on me even after I returned home.

Sparta: Greece’s ancient warrior city

by Sean McLachlan on

After having seen Athens and Corinth, I couldn’t resist visiting one of the other great city-states of ancient Greece: Sparta.

Sparta needs no introduction. It’s a star player on the History and Discovery channels and that schlocky pseudo-historical film 300. While I wanted to see the ancient ruins where brave warriors once strode, my main reason for going was to explore nearby Mistra, a Byzantine ghost town with a castle that rivals Acrocorinth. I’ll get to that in my next post.

Sparta is a three-and-a-half hour bus ride from Athens. The route passes along the Aegean shore, through the Isthmus of Corinth, and into the Peloponnese, the peninsula that makes up southwestern Greece. Passing Corinth, the road ascends into rough hills that were being buffeted by a snowstorm.

Luckily the roads were in good condition and I made it on time. The clouds were breaking over the Vale of Sparta although it remained bitterly cold. My first stop was at the Fifth Ephorate of Byzantine Antiquities to learn more about how the economic crisis was affecting archaeologists’ ability to explore and preserve Greece’s past. The Ephorates are divided by region, in this case Lakonia, roughly the central and southern Peloponnese, and also by period. There’s a Fifth Ephorate of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities too.

Archaeologists Lygeri Nikolakaki and Ageliki Mexia greeted me in their cramped office overflowing with books, reports, and maps. They spread out several maps in front of me to demonstrate just how rich their area was in medieval remains. Castles, churches, monasteries, and medieval towns dotted the landscape. This area was called the Morea in late Byzantine times and was one of the few centers of wealth, art, and learning during the waning days of the empire in the 14th and 15th centuries.

One region caught my eye–the Mani peninsula. The Ephorate has recorded some 2,000 Byzantine and post-Byzantine monuments on the peninsula, and the map showed hiking trails crisscrossing the area. The Maniots were always semi-independent, fierce fighters and pirates who never fully submitted to the Greeks, Romans, Crusaders, or Byzantines. Their culture remains distinct even today. As I was researching this trip I was already planning another one.

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Don’t miss the rest of my series: Our Past in Peril, Greek tourism faces the economic crisis.

Coming up next: Mistra: a Byzantine ghost town in Greece!Nikolakaki and Mexia explained that Mistra, the Byzantine city outside Sparta, is their department’s star attraction and one of the top ten most visited historical sites in Greece. Numbers are generally down, however. There was a surge in visitors in 2005 and 2006 after the Olympics, and then a steady decline. They blame the economy and competition from more famous attractions in Greece.

Despite this, funding from the Greek Ministry of Culture and the European Union in recent years has led to improvement at many sites. At Mistra, the Ephorate had installed new signs in Greek and English to explain the remains, and the museum there has been reorganized and improved. The palace of the Despots (local rulers) is being restored. They hope to open a gift shop this summer.

Another Byzantine fortress city, Geraki, is being prepared for visitors and will open in two years, funding permitting. The Ephorate hadn’t received approval for their 2012 budget when I visited, and they’ve been told to “reduce expectations”. At the same time, they’ve been asked to increase the number of visitors.

The Fifth Ephorate of Byzantine Antiquities may lose its independence under a new scheme by the Ministry of Culture. It’s proposing to merge the Ephorates of each region into one, so that prehistoric, Classical, and Byzantine antiquities will all be handled by one office. Nikolakaki and Mexia are cautiously optimistic about this move, saying that it may help cut waste and improve the ability of the Ephorates to manage Greek’s heritage. After all, many sites, Sparta included, have remains from several different periods.

I hope they’re correct. Mergers generally mean layoffs, and I wouldn’t want to see these dedicated researchers join Greece’s large ranks of the unemployed.

The Archaeological Museum of Sparta is worth seeing to get some background on the city and its history. Despite the cold, only the front room where the ticket seller sat was heated. The rest of the heating had been turned off to save money.

I kept my coat on as I browsed the few rooms in this small but well-stocked museum. Funerary stelae, statues of the gods, and a remarkable bust of an ancient warrior showed that while Sparta was famous for its martial skill, it produced good art as well. Some of the best artifacts are a series of mosaics discovered in Roman-period houses in the area. Check out the photo gallery for some of the best displays from this interesting museum.

Chats with archaeologists and visits to museums, however informative, can’t compete with seeing the ruins themselves. That evening, with the sun peeking through the clouds, I took the short stroll to the edge of town to see ancient Sparta.

While not nearly as impressive as the ruins of Corinth or Athens, the remains of ancient Sparta are alluring. Soon the town of modern Sparta is left behind and you enter olive groves. There were almost no other visitors when I went and the place as quiet except for birdsong. From the old acropolis you can look out over the theater and the remains of a temple to Athena. Nearby lie the foundations of a Byzantine church. The ancient stones were taking on a golden hue from the evening light.

As I stood in an olive grove looking out over Sparta’s ancient theater, a shepherd grazed his flock nearby. A ray of sunlight broke through the clouds to shine on the medieval town of Mistra in the distance. Beyond that rose the snowy peaks and gorges of Taygetus mountains. Perfect.

A friend who has traveled extensively in Greece says that the country’s scenery “does tend to sneak up on you like that.”

Greece sneaked up on me several times during my trip.

Don’t miss the rest of my series: Our Past in Peril, Greek tourism faces the economic crisis.

Coming up next: Mistra!