Orangutans in Borneo
Neurotraveler
by Tom Yin
4M ago
In November, 2023 I went to Borneo for a short but spirited trip to see orangutans in the wild. The trip was the first part of a longer one to Indonesia which I will write up separately, as the orangutans deserve their own blog. I took an early morning 5:30 AM flight from Jakarta to Pangkalan Bun on the southern end of island of Kalimantan, or Borneo. The standard way to see the orangutans is to cruise the Sekonyer River by houseboat, called klotok for the sound of the engines (“klok tok tok tok”). This blog only covers the trip to Pangkalan Bun in Borneo. The lower leg is the Overseas Advent ..read more
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Africa
Neurotraveler
by Tom Yin
6M ago
In July 2023 I went to Rwanda and Tanzania. The impetus for this first trip to Africa was to go gorilla trekking in Rwanda. Last summer I discovered that one of my friends in Madison is the sister of a noted primatologist, Amy Vedder. She and her husband Bill Weber have written a book, In the Kingdom of Gorillas: The Quest to Save Rwanda's Mountain Gorillas, on their experiences in Rwanda, initially working with Dian Fossey. They were instrumental in developing the concept of using ecotourism rather than military combat, which Fossey favored, to fight the poachers who were decimating the mount ..read more
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Louisiana Cypress swamp
Neurotraveler
by Tom Yin
1y ago
From Nov. 14-19, 2022 I joined a photography workshop organized by Chuck Haney to explore the cypress swamps in the bayous of Louisiana. I had thought that the primary aim of the workshop was the shore birds, but it turned out the main target was the cypress trees in the swamps. I heard about the workshop through my academic colleague David Sparks, who is an avid bird photographer that I met when I was in Denver over the summer. The workshop started in an unconventional manner. We spent the first night at the Oak Alley Plantation, an old Southern plantation that has been preserved and maintain ..read more
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Chitwan National Park in Nepal
Neurotraveler
by Tom Yin
1y ago
After returning to Kathmandhu following our trek to Annapurna, I joined a short 2 day extension to visit Chitwan National Park, which is about a 5 hour drive from KTM. It lies on the border with India and most of the tourists seemed to be large groups of Indian families . The chief target on visits to Chitwan are wild rhinocerous, which seem to be plentiful or at least easily visible. Other rare sightings include Bengal tigers and wild elephants. I did not see any of the latter. Chitwan is an unusual national park that has jungle wildlife because it allows walking tours. However, most tourists ..read more
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Kathmandu
Neurotraveler
by Tom Yin
1y ago
On either end of my trek in Nepal, I spent a couple days visiting Kathmandu and it’s environs. This turned out to be an especially pleasant and surprising aspect of the trip as I had not prepared myself for the rich cultural attractions of Nepali society. I was particularly lucky in that my visit bracketed two important Hindi festivals, Dawain and Diwali. Patan After arriving at the Kathmandu Airport after a long flight from Chicago via New Delhi at 9 PM local time, I had to find my way to Patan and the Airbnb I had rented. Fortunately my Airbnb host was super accommodating and helpful. He had ..read more
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BIF: butterflies in flight
Neurotraveler
by Tom Yin
1y ago
A favorite genre of wildlife photographers is BIF, birds in flight. I decided that I wanted to attempt a different BIF, namely, butterflies in flight. During the fall migration of the monarch butterflies in August, 2020 it was the peak of the Covid pandemic so we were stuck at home. I decided this would be a good time to tackle this BIF. In the USA monarch butterflies are probably the favorite subject because of their outstanding color. But the majority of photos of monarchs are taken when it is perched on a flower. In that pose it normally has its wings folded so it is relatively rare to get ..read more
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World Rowing Regatta: Italy and Switzerland
Neurotraveler
by Tom Yin
1y ago
For a number of years now my grandson Josh has been an avid rower with the St. Louis Rowing Club. When the family would come up for Christmas vacation, he would bring his ERG machine with him so he didn’t miss a day of workout. This summer, 2022, his hard work began to pay off: he was invited to attend the US Rowing under 19 National Team Selection Camp in Chula Vista, CA. In early July he texted me that he had qualified for the national team in the U19 four man boat!! This meant that he would be flying to Varese, Italy with the team to represent the USA in the World Rowing Regatta from July 2 ..read more
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Bernese Oberland 2022
Neurotraveler
by Tom Yin
1y ago
In early August, 2022 I found myself with Eric, Jodi and Michael in northern Italy where my grandson Josh was representing the USA in the World Rowing regatta in Varese (see other blog). After the end of the regatta, the family went home to St. Louis but I stayed a few additional days to hike in the Swiss Alps. In particular, I had always wanted to visit Gimmelwald in the Bernese Oberland area. The Lauterbrunnen valley with the striking Lauterbrunnen wall cliff face at the far end of which is found Gimmelwald. Gimmelwald is a RIDICULOUSLY scenic and photogenic village in the Bernese Oberland ..read more
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Island adventures 2020-2021
Neurotraveler
by Tom Yin
2y ago
2020-2021 These two years have not been kind to us, over and above what our world has experienced due to Covid-19. Early in the pandemic in April 2020, we lost my mother. She was 101 so it was certainly not unexpected but her last month was very sad because the nursing home she was in locked down, as they should have, and we were not able to go visit in person nor to take her out for dinner as we had been doing every week for as long as she was there. I think she lost the will to live when she could no longer see us. Then in the late summer of 2020 our beloved Maple was diagnosed with a very a ..read more
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Maple
Neurotraveler
by Tom Yin
2y ago
This blog is dedicated to our beloved dog Maple, who passed away from cancer on July 4, 2021 at a few months over 8 years old. Though she had a shorter than normal life for a golden retriever, she lived a full life with many adventures and experiences. Most of all she was loved by many and she returned the love in full. My hope is to convey that in this blog. As a puppy We picked up Maple on May 31, 2013 when she was about 6 weeks old. She had a pretty easy transition to our home. She was the 5th dog we have had so we’ve had a lot of experience but she was the first one that we used a crate. H ..read more
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