canyon

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The romance is still alive and well- a private lunch in Banteay Srei

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The previous post in this series is here..

Our hotel had said that we were allowed a packed breakfast if we left very early to sightsee and were also allowed one packed complimentary lunch if we gave them enough notice. Given we were going to be spending 7AM to 7PM on our first day, we had asked for lunch.

Our driver had asked us to hold on for another 45 miinutes after we came back from the 1000 linga waterfall. My clothes were still drying on the way. We made it to a cliff site in Banteay Srei area. Apparently most folks came here in the morning on the way to see the falls in the other direction. They make it one way till Noon. Hence his request. When we made it to the place it was amazing. San called it the grand canyon of Cambodia.

we spent some time taking pictures with our photographer driver giving us creative ideas. He did forbid me from doing any more dangerous yoga stunts after what happened at the falls. I promised to be a good boy and not go near any cliff edge.

After this he told us that if we walk 5 minutes along a path we could get to a private ledge to have our lunch with no one around. We said okay and walked to the spot. No one in sight. Had lunch.. well, San had lunch and I had her smile as my lunch. Somehow did not feel hungry watching her be so happy.

A video highlight reel..

We took some more photos and started towards our next stop.. we were coming down the hill to a big temple.. will pick it up tomorrow..

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Revisiting Bryce canyon after 20+ years

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The previous post in this series is here..

The first plan was to start driving from Zion at 4 AM to see sunrise at Bryce. By majority vote (everyone except me that is), this plan was vetoed, torpedoed and buried faster than I could explain. So we left at 6:30 AM and drove to Bryce. It was a beautiful drive with the windows down for the most part.

We parked our car at the store and started hiking from there. The trail to sunrise point is close by. We went through sunrise point, the Navajo trail to Queen Victoria, then came back through the Two Bridges, a little steep but shorter. We ended up at sunset point. From there we walked to the Bryce lodge and had a nice lunch. We were the second group waiting in line to be seated. We had to wait for 15 minutes and they opened promptly at 11:30. We had finished lunch and were out of the gift store by 12:30. There was still time to add one more stop to our trip and still make it to Las Vegas airport in time. So we walked fast from the lodge to the store and I made a dash for the next stop.

This is is pretty much everything we got from the morning at Bryce.. the memories of the smiling faces.. priceless!

The nature galleries..

Portait format photos.. I clicked a lot more but these are the highlights.. as for why I am smiling so much, Angels landing. has been on the bucket list for a long long long time. So I was just feeling so happy!

A video highlight of the Bryce experience..

The pictures here do not do justice to the scenic beauty of Bryce canyon. If you go to Zion, don’t miss Bryce.

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Emerald Pools - a little extra to wrap up Zion

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The previous post in this series is here..

I was craving hot cocoa, but the Zion lodge cafe did not have any. Ate some Parle G, lemon rice and chips to more than make up for it. Then we decided to go to Emerald pools. Our knees were shaky to start with but all of us decided to go.

We made it to the waterfall area, but there was not much water. We walked behind the falls in red slushy mud and the ladies decided to call it a day. They wanted to go make tik tok reels in the lawns of the lodge. A brave man decided to be their reels photographer while two of us decided to go all the way to the Upper Emerald pool. Our local trail guides aka ladies said “it is only another 0.3 miles.. you two should be back in another 30 minutes”. Turned out it was much more than that and the last part was pretty steep. We slowed down and kept talking about random things and made it to the lower, middle and upper pools and took photos.

An unruly crowd greeted us again. So we stayed for maybe 5 mins tops at the upper pool and made our way back. The pools may not have a lot of water now but the reflections are still beautiful!

After making our way back we took the shuttle to the visitor center, and then drove back to our cabin. We were going to have some chai and biscuits in the porch. Then we changed and found dinner. There was a place called Thai Sapa which the ladies had an eye on… what with the big Ganesha greeting them… so we went there. Given my allergies I usually don’t go anywhere near Thai places and ended up eating a Pizza there.

Was still craving a hot cocoa and we finally found it in the Zion General store. Spent some time walking around with the group and made it back to the cabin. It was time to pack and get ready for an early morning drive to our next stop..

A short highlight video…

If you have a good two to two and a half hours to spare after doing Angels landing, definitely recommend the hike to the Upper Emerland pool. Take it nice and slow and enjoy the breathtaking scenery on the way.

Copyright © 2012, Sundar Narayanan. All rights reserved.