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Travel Photo Roulette 58: As the Sun Goes Down

Daniël Cronk — Tue, 14 May 2013 03:54:01 +0000

Hannah and Adam over at "Getting Stamped" are hosting the 58th round of the Travel Photo Roulette. Their chosen category: As the Sun Goes Down

This competition category was a little hard for me to choose, because I have a couple of really good sundown shots that would be great. In the end the Moai of Easter Island during sunset is one of my favorite shots..

2013b – Flights to Yangon, Myanmar (Burma) Purchased

Daniël Cronk — Fri, 19 Apr 2013 01:14:30 +0000

05.november.2013

(D) Don Mueang International Airport, Bangkok, Thailand

Duration:

01 hour 15 minutes

Equipment:

Airbus A320-200

Class:

Economy

Miles:

(A) Yangon International Airport, Yangon, Myanmar (Burma)

28.november.2013

(D) Mandalay International Airport, Mandalay, Myanmar (Burma)

Duration:

1 hours 50 minutes

Equipment:

Airbus A320-200

Class:

Economy

Miles:

(A) Don Mueang International Airport, Bangkok, Thailand

	Total Miles Flown:	979
	Total Miles Earned (SkyTeam):	0
	Total Miles Earned (Star Alliance):	0
	Total Miles Earned (OneWorld Alliance):	0

Header image created from photo, copyrighted by John Richard Thomson @ airliners.net

Dresden, Germany

Daniël Cronk — Sun, 31 Mar 2013 19:07:36 +0000

Dresden is the capital city of the Free State of Saxony in Germany. It is situated in a valley on the River Elbe, near the Czech border. The Dresden conurbation is part of the Saxon Triangle metropolitan area with 2.4 million inhabitants.

Dresden has a long history as the capital and royal residence for the Electors and Kings of Saxony, who for centuries furnished the city with cultural and artistic splendour. The city was known as the Jewel Box, because of its baroque and rococo city centre. A controversial Allied aerial bombing towards the end of World War II killed 25,000 civilians and destroyed the entire city centre. The impact of the bombing and 40 years of urban development during the East German communist era have considerably changed the face of the city. Some restoration work has helped to reconstruct parts of the historic inner city, including the Katholische Hofkirche, the Semper Oper and the Dresdner Frauenkirche. Since the German reunification in 1990, Dresden has regained importance as one of the cultural, educational, political and economic centres of Germany and Europe.

Frauenkirche

The Semperoper Opera House

The Zwinger

King Augustus

Frauenkirche Church

Semperoper Opera House

Moritzburg Castle

Görlitz, Germany – a journey through fotos

Daniël Cronk — Sat, 16 Mar 2013 21:00:53 +0000

The city of Görlitz is one of those quintissential German cities filled with lots of history. It lies along the Neisse River, stradling the border with Poland. Just across the river from Görlitz lies the Polish city of Zgorzelec. The city has a very rich architectural heritage, with buildings in the Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque, Historicist and Art Nouveau styles and remained relatively untouched during World War II, with the exception of the explosion of bridges and a few minor clashes.

Görlitz hosts a model of the Holy Sepulchre (Jerusalem), which was constructed in the late 15th Century. It is said that this version of the Holy Sepulchre is the oldest version as the one in Jerusalem had been destroyed and rebuilt after this one was built.

Photo Roulette #55: The Natural World

Daniël Cronk — Fri, 15 Feb 2013 23:30:09 +0000

My submission for the 55th round of Travel Photo Roulette, hosted by: wanderlusters.

The climax to any journey through the magnificent and gorgeous, Torres del Paine in the Chilean Patagonia.

2013b – Flights to Bangkok, Thailand purchased

Daniël Cronk — Thu, 07 Feb 2013 18:10:09 +0000

This morning my tax refund arrived and I put it right to good use with the purchase of my tickets to Southeast Asia. I bought only the portion from Minneapolis to Bangkok and have yet to purchase the final part from Bangkok on to Yangon, Myanmar, which will happen maybe next month..

02.november.2013

(D) Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, Minnesota, USA

Duration:

12 hour 00 minutes

Equipment:

Boeing 777-200LR

Class:

Economy

Miles:

5,932

03.november.2013

(A) Narita Airport, Tokyo, Japan

03.november.2013

(D) Narita Airport, Tokyo, Japan

Duration:

7 hours 25 minutes

Equipment:

Boeing 747-400

Class:

Economy

Miles:

2,884

(A) Sunvarnabhumi International Airport, Bangkok, Thailand

01.december.2013

(D) Sunvarnabhumi International Airport, Bangkok, Thailand

Duration:

6 hours 00 minutes

Equipment:

Boeing 747-400

Class:

Economy

Miles:

2,884

(A) Narita Airport, Tokyo, Japan

(D) Narita Airport, Tokyo, Japan

Duration:

11 hours 00 minutes

Equipment:

Boeing 777-200LR

Class:

Economy

Miles:

5,932

(D) Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, Minnesota, USA

	Total Miles Flown:	17,632
	Total Miles Earned (SkyTeam):	17,632
	Total Miles Earned (Star Alliance):	0
	Total Miles Earned (OneWorld Alliance):	0

Header image created from photo, copyrighted by Noam @ airliners.net

Photo Roulette 54: Lost in Thought

Daniël Cronk — Sun, 03 Feb 2013 17:04:40 +0000

My entry for the 54th edition of Travel Roulette hosted by Travel Transmissions.

Destination 2013: Myanmar ± Sri Lanka

Daniël Cronk — Sat, 19 Jan 2013 18:56:05 +0000

After much debating and finally resiging to the fact that the previously planned trip to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro was going to be too expensive, I have begun to think about where exactly too go. In all of my research, Myanmar seems to be the "it" place right now, so I have made the decision that this will likely be the next big trip. I have already applied for and been approved for vacation time for the month of November, now all that I have to do is start looking at flights.

At the moment, flights from MSP to Bangkok are running right around $1250 RT. Not bad at all, considering I spent $1140 for my flight back to the Netherlands.Getting from Bangkok to Yangon should be relatively painless, with daily flights operated by Air Asia (running around $35 ...).

I'm also contemplating adding on a few days in Sri Lanka, but that part is still just a thought.

Traveling Game: 26 Cities A to Z Challenge

Daniël Cronk — Tue, 18 Dec 2012 00:58:13 +0000

Are you a BootsnAll member? For those who haven’t heard of it, it’s a traveling community with members from all over the world. There’s lots on the site, but the forums are the part that I frequently visit. Today, I encountered an interesting traveling game in the forum. It looked simple, but ended up being much more challenging that I thought it would be. Still not able to get the full score, I want to share the game with you guys!

J is for Jerusalem, Israel

Game: Destination Sudoku by elAdi

Game objective: Make a list of the name of towns/cities/regions you’ve been to, from A to Z (one each). To make the game more interesting, you can only list 1 town/city/region from each country. The list should not include the places that you’ve been just for a short transit. There must be a sense of exploration/experience to those cities. This game depends on your honesty.

Try it out! It’s not as easy as you might think!

E is for El Calafate, Argentina - Jumping off point to the Perito Moreno Glacier

Post your answer here or in the forum itself, so everybody can enjoy your effort! For those who manage to complete the list without cheating, I’ll upload your answer in this post with a link back to your travel blog

Akureyri, Iceland

Bethlehem, Palestine

Caracas, Venezuela

Darwin, Australia

El Calafate, Argentina

Füssen, Germany

Guatemala City, Guatemala

Hanoi, Vietnam

Istanbul, Turkey

Jerusalem, Israel

Kasane, Botswana

Luxor, Egypt

Managua, Nicaragua

New York City, USA

Ollantaytambo, Peru

Prague, Czech Republic

Queenstown, New Zealand

Rome, Italy

Saint Petersburg, Russia

Tegucigalpa, Honduras

Uyuni, Bolivia

Vatican City

Windhoek, Namibia

X ...

Yaxchilan, Mexico

Zwölle, Netherlands

X is a very hard one, unless you have been to China. There are very few cities/towns/regions that I can think of that begin with the letter "X".

So, what about yours? Post it up right here as a comment!

L is for Luxor, Egypt

Photo Roulette 52: Faces

Daniël Cronk — Sat, 15 Dec 2012 21:58:09 +0000

Jaime over at breakaway backpacker recently won the Photo Roulette 51: Friendships and thus is the next host of the travel roulette series, which began back in 2010... My submission for the next round, Faces is as follows.

While visiting the town of Siem Reap in Cambodia I ducked into a backyard museum, where you will find a number of temples redesigned in miniature. While wandering around, the wife of the owner came out to greet us. When I asked her if I could take her foto, she immediately sat down and put on this nice smile.

My “Top 50″ List of Places to Visit

Daniël Cronk — Sun, 18 Nov 2012 13:40:28 +0000

Here is my list for the "Top 50 Places to Visit".....

	Destination:	Country:	Date Visited:

1	Patagonia	Argentina / Chile	12/2011 - 01/2012
2	Uluru	Australia	09/2012
3	Kingdom of Bhutan	Bhutan
4	Okavango Delta	Botswana	04/2009
5	Iguaçu Falls	Brazil / Argentina	01/2012
6	Angkor Wat	Cambodia	02/2006
7	Niagara Falls	Canada / United States	00/1994
8	Rapa Nui / Easter Island	Chile	12/2011
9	Torres del Paine National Park	Chile	12/2011
10	Great Wall of China	China
11	Cartagena	Colobmia
12	The Galapagos Islands	Ecuador
13	Abu Simbel	Egypt	11/2007
14	Giza Plateau	Egypt	11/2007
15	Parthenon	Greece	11/2010
16	Lake Atitlan	Guatemala
17	Tikal National Park	Guatemala	04/2003
18	Kaieteur Falls	Guyana
19	Copan National Park	Honduras	04/2003
20	Kerala	India
21	Taj Mahal	India
22	Borobodur	Indonesia
23	Persepolis	Iran
24	Dome of the Rock / Temple Mount	Israel	11/2010
25	Pompeii	Italy	04/2004
26	Petra	Jordan	11/2007
27	Masai Mara	Kenya
28	Mount Kilimanjaro	Kenya / Tanzania
29	Timbuktu	Mali
30	Palenque National Park	Mexico	08/2006
31	Gobi Desert	Mongolia / China
32	Bagan	Myanmar
33	Sousessvlei	Namibia	04/2009
34	Himalaya Mountains	Nepal / Bhutan / India
35	Milford Sound	New Zealand
36	Machu Picchu	Peru	04/2002
37	Banaue Rice Terraces	Philippines
38	St. Basils Cathedral	Russia	09/2009
39	Roman City of Palmyra	Syria
40	Ngorogoro Crater	Tanzania
41	Potala Palace	Tibet / China
42	Cappadocia	Turkey	04/2010
43	Ephesus	Turkey	04/2010
44	Mountain Gorillas	Uganda / Rwanda
45	Grand Canyon	United States
46	Monument Valley	United States
47	Samarkand	Uzbekistan
48	Angel Falls	Venezuela
49	Victoria Falls	Zambia / Zimbabwe	04/2009
50	Great Zimbabwe	Zimbabwe

Originally posted 11-Apr-2011
Update on: 18-Nov-2012

New Zealand: Photo Essay

Daniël Cronk — Sat, 17 Nov 2012 16:55:19 +0000

A few photos from a recent trip to New Zealand. Although it seems I spent most of my 2 weeks on a bus, I at least got to see a lot of the country... such natural beauty.

Hamilton Zoo:
Ever since I had read back in March of this year that the zoo celebrated the birth of a baby rhino, I knew that while I was there I would need to take the chance and stop in for a visit.... What I didn't know was that the zoo is actually home to about 8 White African rhinos... including, of course, the wee baby...

A rhino at the Hamilton Zoo

"I loves you mamma!"

Red Panda at the Hamilton Zoo

Piha Beach

A bird runs around Piha Beach

The beauty around Queenstown

Flying high above Queenstown

Franz Josef Glacier

Cherry blossom buds covered in frozen water

The symmetry of Nature

Wai-o-Tapu

Boiling Mud Pot

Lady Knox Geyser at Wai-o-Tapu

At Waimangu Volcanic Valley

2013a – Flights Purchased

Daniël Cronk — Tue, 13 Nov 2012 05:15:09 +0000

A quick trip back to the Netherlands...

01.march.2013

(D) Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, Minnesota, USA

Duration:

8 hour 15 minutes

Equipment:

Airbus A330-200

Class:

Economy

Miles:

4,166

02.march.2013

(A) Schiphol Airport, Amsterdam, NL

11.march.2013

(D) Schiphol Airport, Amsterdam, NL

Duration:

9 hours 20 minutes

Equipment:

Airbus A330-200

Class:

Economy

Miles:

4,166

(A) Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, Minnesota, USA

	Total Miles Flown:	8,332
	Total Miles Earned (SkyTeam):	8,332
	Total Miles Earned (Star Alliance):	0
	Total Miles Earned (OneWorld Alliance):	0

No Worries Mate

Daniël Cronk — Sun, 16 Sep 2012 15:46:58 +0000

I am alive and well.... I have been way too busy to do any writing, just occasional status updates here and there. Here's a brief update on what's been happening. I arrived in Sydney on September 3rd after 30 hours and 35 minutes of travel time. . . leaving on saturday and arriving on monday morning, I only assume my body dematerialized for the entirety of sunday. . . I made my way to my friend Tony's house, in one of the suburbs of Sydney and within a couple of hours of arrival had walked to the CBD (Central Business District) of Sydney, about 40 minutes one way. I choose to walk instead of taking the train into the city to help curb the impending jet lag (which, ironically never came). That first day was a big day as I made my way down to the Circular Quay (that's pronounced, key for those keeping track), or if you're asian you might pronounce it "Sucky Rocky". Tony was telling me of a time when an asian girl had walked up to him and some of his friends and asked them where she could find "sucky rocky," perplexed they finally determined it to be Circular Quay & the Rocks (an area not too far from the Quay).... so of course the rest of my time in Sydney I had to call it the Sucky Rocky.

Panoramic of Sydney Harbour

Sydney is a beautiful city (very livable, in my opinion) and the people very friendly. The harbour, with its iconic Opera House and Bridge are of course the highlights. That first day I walked over 10,5 miles (16,9 km)!!!!!

Sydney Harbour

Sydney Opera House as seen from the Taronga Zoo

Sydney Opera House in Zoom Burst

My second day in Sydney found me at the Taronga Zoo, where I was able to catch up with various Australian creatures as the wombat, echidna, koala and of course, kangaroo.. i steered clear of all of the dangerous creepy crawly creatures, though!!! This evening, Tony had an evening planned with some friends of his and I can neither confirm nor deny that I had a little bit too much to drink that night.... then comes the next day, where I was scheduled to do the Harbour Bridge climb. I managed to drag my sorry self out of bed and took the train down to the city and managed to squeek past the beathalyzer, just barely, and up the bridge for some of the most beautiful views of Sydney one could hope to see. It was a gorgeous 3,5 hour climb; too bad you're not allowed to take your camera with you ;-(

Making New Friends at Taronga Zoo

Sleepy Time

A smile is all it takes - Taronga Zoo

Giltz & Glamour - Taronga Zoo

I'm a pretty girl - Taronga Zoo

As a final act in Sydney, I took in the Featherdale Wildlife Park, located about 45 minutes northwest of the city, which allowed me with close up encounters with several of Australia's creatures. I got to pet a koala and feed the kangaroos.. I was also offered the chance to hold some kind of snake, which I quickly declined and ran away from. What a wonderful experience!!!

Feeding the Roos at Featherdale Wildlife Park

From Sydney, I was soon flying on to Alice Springs, which sits almost in the center of the country; known famously as "the Red Center". Though somewhat of a misnomer these days as there are actually a lot of trees & grasses that have been put into place to help with the sandstorms; though, with the heat and lightning storms that occur, also there are lots of fires that occur.

Red Center - In Flight Entertainment

From Alice Springs it was a very LONG day to see Uluru, also known as Ayers Rock. Of of, if not THE largest monolith in the world. It is a sacred site to the Aboriginal people and was quite beautiful to see. There was a sunset dinner planned, the the sunset itself proved to be a tad bit disappointing over Uluru - however, was gorgeous over Kata Tjuta (the Olga's), which I could see off in the distance bathed in a golden glow.

Uluru (Ayers Rock)

Rock Painting At Uluru

Kata Tjuta bathed in Golden Light of Sunset

From Alice Springs, I took in a 3 day overland journey to the northern territory capital of Darwin. Not so much a tour, but rather a road trip. It was myself and 7 other individuals, who set off on a camping trip through one of the most boring places on earth. Not a lot to see other than trees, sand, grass & termite mounds. We stopped at a number of roadhouses along the way and a place called Devils Marbles, which are these gigantic stones that look like marbles. The story of how they got their names comes about when two explorers came upon the valley of the stones, as they came up over the valley the first explorer said "Hey, what the devil" and the second explorer, exasperated, said "Shit, they look like marbles" and thus came forth the name "Devils Marbles". The second night, I attempted some night photography of the stars. It didn't work out as I would have liked, as my lens focal length is not wide enough to capture enough of the sky. But I did get a couple of relatively nice images, none of the Southern Cross (sorry, Greg, by the time it''s dark enough to do anything the bottom part of it has already set). The final day was the best, though. We came to Katherine Gorge, which is a very beautiful gorge system (13 gorges in total) which were carved out by the Katherine River. Most of the group decided upon a kayak adventure up through the first gorge, where we hopped to spot the freshies (fresh water crocodiles) -- sadly we saw none ;-( They're the docile members of the crocodile family, and very timid & shy. On the opposite end of the spectrum are the salties (salt water crocodiles), which will seek & kill... there are all sorts of sordid tales told about the salties in the northern territory. For my final act in the northern territory, myself and 2 others took to the skies in a helicopter ride over the gorge. The pilot was very nice to us, as you have 3 options to choose from -- you can fly 3 gorges, 8 gorges, or all 13 gorges. We only paid for the 8 gorges, but he took us to all 13.

A Southern Sky

Sadly, the Australian adventure was about to come to an end. My assessment after visiting was that I would go again. I would not recommend doing the 3 day overland adventure, but rather next time I would fly from Alice Springs to Darwin and visit Kakadu National Park - which is what I had originally planned to do, but then didn't want to fly -- already having 15 flight segments planned for this trip.. as they say, "ah, what's one more, right mate?"

Now I currently sit in Queenstown, New Zealand and ready to enjoy the next leg of the adventure. Am supposed to go to Milford Sound tomorrow, if the road is opened again. Apparently (in preparation for my arrival) Mother Nature has dumped about 60 cm of snow in the past 2 days and thus the road became closed. So, with fingers crossed they will open it again today and I'll be good to go tomorrow. From Queenstown, who knows where I'll head too... other than north.

To see other photos of Australia, you can visit: Facebook: Australia 2012 you don't need Facebook account to view these photos

UNESCO Sites Visited

Daniël Cronk — Wed, 04 Jul 2012 20:23:08 +0000

Argentina:
Los Glaciares
Jesuit Missions of the Guaranis: San Ignacio Mini
Iguazu National Park

Australia:
Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park
Sydney Opera House

Austria:
Historic Center of the City of Salzburg

Bolivia:
City of Potosi

Brazil:
Iguacu National Park

Cambodia:
Angkor

Chile:
Rapa Nui National Park
Torres del Paine (World Biosphere)

Czech Republic:
Historic Center of Prague

Egypt:
Ancient Thebes with its Necropolis
Historic Cairo
Memphis and its Necropolis - the Pyramid fields from Giza to Dahshur
Nubian Monuments from Abu Simbel to Philae

Germany:
Dresden Elbe Valley (delisted 2009)

Greece:
Acropolis, Athens
Medieval City of Rhodes

Guatemala:
Antigua
Maya Biosphere Reserve in the Petén region
Tikal National Park

Holy See:
Vatican City

Honduras:
Maya Site of Copan

Hungary:
Budapest, including the Banks of the Danube, the Buda Castle Quarter

Iceland:
Þingvellir National Park

Israel:
Masada
White City of Tel-Aviv the Modern Movement
Old City of Jerusalem and its Walls

Italy:
Historic City of Rome
Archaeological Areas of Pompeii, Herculaneum and Torre Annunziata

Jordan:
Petra
Quseir Amra

Mexico:
Pre-Hispanic City and National Park of Palenque

Netherlands:
Defense Line of Amsterdam
Mill Network at Kinderdijk-Elshout
Seventeenth-century canal ring area of Amsterdam inside the Singelgracht

Palestine:
Birthplace of Jesus: Church of the Nativity and the Pilgrimage Route, Bethlehem

Peru:
City of Cuzco
Historic Sanctuary of Machu Picchu
Chan Chan Archaeological Zone
Lines and Geoglyphs of Nasca and Pampas de Jumana
Historical Center of the City of Arequipa

Romania:
Churches of Moldavia
Villages and Fortified Churches in Transylvania

Russian Federation:
Historic Center of Saint Petersburg and Related Groups of Monuments
Kremlin and Red Square, Moscow

Turkey:
Göreme National Park and the Rock Sites of Cappadocia
Historic Areas of Istanbul
Hierapolis-Pamukkale

United States:
Statue of Liberty

Vietnam:
Complex of Hue Monuments
Ha Long Bay
Hoi An Ancient Town

Zambia:
Mosi-oa-Tunya / Victoria Falls

Zimbabwe:
Mosi-oa-Tunya / Victoria Falls