The local team here had an afternoon outing to the coastal town of Yilan planned today. This was a place that I was always kinda curious about, given not just the presence of a whiskey distillery (in Taiwan?), but also a focus on growing spring onions. Before getting there though, we stopped for lunch at some famous seafood place called Du Hsiaw Uyea (58 Fuxing Road Section 3), where they served a lot of seafood like those fresh headfat-filled prawns above. One pleasant surprise was a white-ish chicken broth that they gelatinized into cubes and deep fried; it was deliciously savory.



After that, we went to the Kavalan whiskey distillery, where we of course stopped for some tasting. I'm not a huge whiskey person though, so I was more excited about our next destination, a spring onion farm in Sanxing where we learned how to plant, pluck, and clean scallions, while also turning them into griddle-fried pancakes. Yilan is supposed to be famous for its spring onions; I wonder if that's kinda like Maui onions where the soil's composition is one of the things that make them taste better.

The Hill of Slane in County Meath is a place steeped in Irish myth, legend and history. The site is positioned on the top of a hill that rises nearly 160 metres above the surrounding landscape, and offers beautiful and commanding views of the surrounding lands. This elevated position made it a strategic and desirable place for thousands of years.
According to Irish mythology, this was the burial place of Sláine mac Dela. He was the King of the legendary Fir Bolg, and was buried here at Dumha Sláine, from where we get the modern name, Slane.

The Hill of Slane is also part of the legends that grew around St. Patrick. According to legend, Patrick was the son of a wealthy Romano-British nobleman, he was captured by a band of Irish marauders who were raiding Wales for slaves. They brought him back to Ireland and reportedly sold the young Patrick to a druid. This druid made Patrick keep watch over his sheep, and kept him for six years before Patrick managed to escape and return home to his family. At home Patrick decided he wished to become a Christian, and entered the church, eventually reaching the rank of bishop. He returned to Ireland seeking to convert the country from Paganism to Christianity.

As part of this mission, the legend states that Patrick chose to attack and subvert one of the most important Pagan traditions. The main pagan festivals of the time were Imbolg marking the beginning of Spring, Bealtine marking the beginning of summer, Lughnasa was a harvest festival usually set in late August and Samhain marking the beginning of winter.

Of these festivals one of the most important was the rituals surrounding Bealtine. All the fires across the country would be extinguished to mark the end of the winter, and a great fire that could be seen for miles around would then be lit at dawn on the Hill of Tara, this symbolized the dawn of a new year. Patrick sought to hijack this pagan practice. He lit a huge fire here on the Hill of Slane. This burned throughout the night before the Kings warriors managed to capture Patrick and haul him back to Tara to answer to the King. Legend has it that Patrick then managed to perform many feats and miracles to prove to the King that the Christian God was far more powerful than the old Gods, and in the famous story he used a three leaved Shamrock to explain the mysteries of Christianity to the King. While the King had no wish to convert to Christianity himself, he was convinced enough to allow Patrick to continue on his mission to spread Christianity across Ireland.

Again historians question and dispute the legend. This history of Christianity in Ireland was written just two centuries after the events being described. This meant it was still important to the Christian scribes to show that the Old Gods had been defeated in their own heartland by the Godly Patrick, allowing a clear path for the new religion to become the dominant faith in the country.  In the few writings actually ascribed to Patrick himself, he never mentions Slane or Tara, and it is possible that he never even ventured there. However as the Christian monks and scribes were generally the only literate people at the time, we only have one version of the story. However we do know that the site was important to the early Irish Church, as a monastery was founded on the hill by St. Erc who died in 514 AD. This monastery is mentioned a number of times in the Annals of Ireland as being an important centre of early Irish law. It is also mentioned for a number of Viking raids that struck the site. Most notably in 948 AD when it is recorded that the 'abbot of Slane was taken prisoner and died in pagan hands', and two years later in 950 AD the; 'bell-tower of Slane was burned, together with a particularly fine bell and the crozier of the patron saint, and the lector and many people were burned after they took refuge with the monastery's valuables in the tower'. 

Though nothing remains above ground of the early 6th century monastery, today visitors to the Hill of Slane can find a superbly preserved 16th Century Franciscan Church and College.

These remains are a wonderful place to explore. Both the church and college are thought to date to 1512 when Sir Christopher Fleming, Baron of Slane, founded the site for the Franciscan order. The church has a particularly fine bell tower with a large gothic window. See if you can spot the strange stone head leering from above the windows of the tower on one side of the church.

The college was established to serve the church. It housed four priests, four choristers and four lay-brothers. It was constructed around an open quadrangle, with the priests quarters on the northern side. You can still explore some of the great original features like the staircases (please do take extreme care in wet-weather), and see the fireplaces, window mouldings and even a double garderobe (a good old classy medieval toilet). 


As you explore the ruins keep an eye open for some of the superb stone sculpture and carvings you can discover on the Hill of Slane. Like this dragon or wyvern (left). If you go inside the large vaulted room on your right as you enter the college, you can also see a large collection of decorated stone fragments.



The Hill of Slane is a great place to visit. The site is free to enter and has a large carpark. However please make sure that you take care (especially with small children) inside the ruins of the college, as the staircases may become dangerous in wet weather. There are a number of other great sites to see nearby such as the Hill of Tara. If you'd like to hear about the wonderful Hill of Tara and discover why it is one of Ireland's most important historical sites try our audioguide available for just €1.99 from www.abartaaudioguides.com – full of original music and sound effects it's a wonderfully immersive and fun experience. Follow the link for a free preview.

The Hill of Slane is well signposted from Slane, just head north up the hill on the N2 through Slane and take a left turn at Chapel Street/N2.

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A four-man team of rowers is gearing up for an ocean going adventure in the summer of 2014 when they hope to make a crossing of a portion of the Pacific Ocean, traveling from California to Hawaii over a five-week period and covering more than 2100 nautical miles (3889 km).

The team, which consists of Fraser Hart, Sam Collins, Colin Parker and James Wight, will be taking part in the first ever New Ocean Wave Great Pacific Race in which they hope to be the fastest team to row from Monterey, CA to Honolulu, HI. Calling themselves Team Pacific Rowers, they'll hit the water next June along with all the other entrants into the event, most of whom will row in shifts for 24-hours per day as they attempt to complete the ocean crossing.

The boys are currently looking for corporate sponsorship and are even holding a contest to name their boat as they gear up for the event next summer. With eight months to go until the race, I'm sure they're also busy training, getting their gear together and prepping for five weeks at sea.

I've written about the Great Pacific Race a time or two when it was first announced. Obviously it is still some time off, but I will certainly be covering it more fully next summer once the teams all gather in California and hit the water. There is a similar race held in the Atlantic each year (in fact, it begins in a little over a month) so it'll be interesting to see how this new event goes over.

An eagle, that appears to be suffering from kleptomania, recently swiped a motion-sensing camera from a crocodile trap in Australia and carried it some 68 miles before deciding it wasn't something the bird could eat. The camera was later found by Aboriginal hunters, who returned it to the proper owners. Naturally, they were a bit surprised to find their camera so far away from its original location but when they looked at the footage, they understood how it got there. The thieving bird is even caught on film at the end of the clip in what could quite possibly be the first avian selfie.

 Located near to the village of Ahenny in County Tipperary you can find two of the most important high crosses in Ireland. The crosses are inside a small graveyard with a church dedicated to St. Crispin, this churchyard presumably sits on the site of an important early medieval monastery. No traces above ground can be seen of this early monastery, apart from the two high crosses.

The North Cross

The crosses are part of the Ossory group of high crosses and are thought to be two of the earliest examples in Ireland, and likely to date as early as the 8th Century AD. They are different to most other high crosses in that instead of depicting biblical scenes, they have elaborate decoration consisting of panels of interlacing spirals and geometrical shapes.

They appear to be replicating decoration found on earlier metalwork crosses, possibly suggesting that these crosses are important in tracing the development of Irish high crosses from small decorative metal crosses to the large stone examples depicting biblical scenes such as the fine examples at Monasterboice Co. Louth or Castledermot in Co. Kildare. That the crosses at Ahenny are replicating in stone what was in metalwork is most clear when you see the five rounded bosses on the cross heads which clearly imitates the enamel or glass studs on the metal examples.

The South Cross

The base of each cross has been heavily weathered and is extremely difficult to make out today, but it is believed that the North Cross base depicts a chariot procession, a funeral procession, Adam naming the animals and the mission of the apostles. The South Cross base is thought to depict hunting scenes, Daniel in the Lions Den and The Fall of Man.

Both crosses also have removable stone caps, possibly representing Bishop's mitres, these caps seem to be a feature of the Ossory group of High Crosses. 

To get to Ahenny, travel from Carrick-on-Suir on the R697 heading north for approximately six kilometres. Turn left at Scrogh Bridge then take the next right. Travel about two kilometres down this road to just past the church. The crosses can be seen in the middle of a small graveyard, located in a field just outside the small village of Ahenny.

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All photographs © Neil Jackman / abartaaudioguides.com

MountEverest.net is reporting that Pemba Dorje will attempt a new speed climb with the intention of summitting Everest, and Lhotse in the same day.

Dorje set the current Everest speed record back in 2004 with a mind bending 8 hour 10 min ascent from the South Side, with the use of oxygen. It that wasn't enough, he also intends to spend more than 24 hours on the summit of Everest to beat the record currently held by the late Babu Chirri Sherpa. Dorje will attempt that record without the use of supplemental oxygen however.

Meanwhile the Saturday Morning Namche market was crowded with locals, as usual, as well as plenty of climbers making their way up the Khumbu Valley. More and more teams are nearing Everest, and thus traffic in the area has picked up dramatically. New teams to the area include a former Malaysian Deputy Minister who will be leading a team of 11 and Alex Abramov's 7-Summit's Club.

Seems like things are going according to plan. We should start to see more dispatches from Base Camp soon, and teams will be making their advanced camps over the next few weeks. You just have to love the Spring climbing season.

As a big fan of video podcast The Rest of Everest I mentioned several weeks ago, before I left for Africa, that Jon was heading back to Tibet as well. Had I not gone on hiatus for two weeks myself, I would have reported regularly on the Tibet 2007 updates, blog posts, and podcasts.

But, it's better late than not at all, right? To follow all of Jon, and his good friend Scott's, adventures head on over to the Tibet 2007 Webpage to find out what they were doing while they were there. The podcasts, as always, are fun and interesting, and the blog posts are a good read as well. It looks like Jon is going to have plenty of material to keep feeding our Everest addiction for some time to come.

Welcome home Jon. I hope your case of jet lag isn't as bad as mine! ;)

The great weather that teams have experienced on Everest for the past week or so seems like it's nearing an end. Alan Arnette is reporting that winds have already begun to pick up on the North Side, and that teams have already aborted their summit bids and are turning back due to high winds. In the South, things remain good for now, but conditions can change quickly, so teams that are still on the mountain are making their final push as quickly as possible.

Summits continue however as the LUNGevity Team topped out yesterday and everyone is reported to be back in C2 safe and sound. The boys did report high winds at the summit though. Members of the DCXP Team also successfully summited, but reported quite a bit a snow as they approached the top too. Meanwhile, The Mountain Madness Team is at C3 and still going up, and if everything is going to plan The London Business School Team should be making their final run as well.

Both MountEverest.net and The Adventurist have posted more information on the female climber who was left behind by her team at The Balcony a few days back. It seems she was part of the Democratic Nepal Everest Expedition, and we know her name is Usha. It is clear that had the IMG Team not stopped to help, and Dave Hahn administered dexamethazone, Usha wold have died alone at 27,000 feet. After the "dex" injection, the team assisted her down to C3 where she was turned over to the doctors of the Extreme Everest Team.

I'm still amazed that her team simply abandoned her at The Balcony. I'm suret hat once this story hits the mainstream, you'll hear new outcries about the ethics of climbing. Lets just hope that they don't lose site of the fact that some very brave men and women preformed heroic rescues on both sides of Everest this season, and clearly the climate has been one of cooperation and safety first. We'll have to wait to see how a story like this is handled in the press though. Hopefully they'll get it right.

In 1987, adventurers Richard Bangs and Christian Kallen led an expedition to paddle the Upper Yangtze River, a place that was about as remote and unexplored as anywhere on the planet at that time. Their journey was a challenging one to say the least, as several previous expeditions to the region had failed, sometimes resulting in the death of a member of the team. But the two men managed to complete their excursion and would later go on to write a book entitled Riding the Dragon's Back that recounted their tale as well as that of others who had tried before them.

A few days ago, Richard posted an excerpt from that book on the Huffington Post. The article has the ominous title of "A Death on the Yangtze," and it offers details of a previous expedition that set out to raft the river. This brief portion of the book offers insights into a major river expedition and gives us a glimpse of the challenges that teams faced when paddling the wild and untamed Yangtze at that time.

The members of the team faced any number of obstacles including difficult water conditions, weather that changed on a moments notice, logistical and supply problems and illness. It is the last of those that brings about the death of one of the members of the team who contracted pulmonary edema hundreds of miles away from a hospital and with no means of being evacuated.

The excerpt is an excellent read and offers some lessons for anyone planning a major expedition. But most of all, it'll probably inspire you to want to read the full book and get the entire story of the race to explore a wild river that wouldn't be conquered easily.

Situated very close to the Cathedral of St. Peter and Paul in Newtown, Trim, Co. Meath are the remarkable ruins of The Priory and Hospital of St. John the Baptist. This site sits directly alongside the beautiful River Boyne and it is a superb site to explore. 

The Priory was founded in the early thirteenth century by Simon de Rochfort for the Order of the Crutched Friars (Fratres Cruciferi). As well as being a monastery and guesthouse for pilgrims, the site also served as a hospital. The Order of the Crutched friars were just one of a number of religious orders that were brought to Ireland by the Normans following their invasion. They also brought the Knights Templar, the Hospitalliers and Trinitarians, as well as strongly supporting the expansion of religious orders like the Augustinians, Benedictines and Cistercians who already had a foothold in Ireland prior to the Norman invasion.

The site was excavated by David Sweetman in 1984, he discovered the remains of a fifteenth century rood-screen that separated the nave from the choir, and a doorway in the gable end of the nave. He also found the remains of a tower leading to a room over the sacristy and part of the original domestic range to the north-east of the choir. Today you can still find the nave and chancel and a striking three-light window in the eastern wall. The large rectangular three-storey tower is 15th century, and was likely to have been domestic quarters.

You can still make out sections of the later 16th century enclosing walls that surround the site, and one small corner turret is still standing today in the western side of the field.

The priory was dissolved during the Reformation in 1541, and was converted to being a private residence.

This site is a wonderful place to explore, especially on a bright sunny day as it stands right on the banks of the River Boyne. The site is free to enter with a number of interpretation panels to help to explain the history of this remarkable site. The site is just a five minute walk from another spectacular site - St. Peter and Paul's Cathedral, Newtown, Trim (we have a blog post here about that site) and forms part of a wonderful River Walk that starts below Trim Castle in Co. Meath, a wonderful blend of natural beauty and history.

I hope you enjoy this blog, we're trying to cover as many sites as we can across Ireland. If anyone has any suggestions about sites you'd like us to cover please do leave us a comment. If you enjoy information and images of Irish heritage sites then do follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Google+ If you'd like to support us then please consider downloading an audioguide to one of Ireland's wonderful heritage sites. They are packed with original music and sound effects and are a great way of experiencing the story of Ireland. They only cost €1.99 and are fun whether you are at the site, or listening from the comfort of your own home. If you enjoy stories of the turbulent medieval period in Ireland try our guide to Viking and Medieval Dublin, visit us at www.abartaaudioguides.com for free previews and to download your free audioguide to the Rock of Dunamase  or the free audioguide to the wonderful heritage town of Kells in County Meath
 

View from the bridge adjacent to the Priory looking back towards Newtown Cathedral

Photo © Guy Calaf-All Rights Reserved
Well, after a few days of intermittent internet service at our hotel in Kadikoy, Istanbul, it seems we're back to full time availability.

The Foundry Photojournalism Workshop has started in full blast, and it's amazing to see so many various nationalities amongst the students. Different languages different styles perhaps, but all connected by a common denominator: photography.

A splendid cast of instructors (some veterans of the workshop, others new), bringing their personal styles into the mix, and surely there'll be awesome projects and results. My class has met a couple of times already (n fact, I must rush to give my second class this morning), and projects range from documenting traditional religious rituals to the local hip-hop scene. So it's bound to be an exciting few days.

The above photograph was made while waiting for our ferry crossing from Eminonu (European side) to Kadikoy.

Mali feels very safe all the time

Conventional wisdom is that Bamako is uber-safe and Dakar is infested with pickpockets... but otherwise pretty safe. First Dakar: you can certainly feel confident about walking down a dark street in the middle of the night without being molested. The people are outgoing and friendly and respectful. The vibe is extremely amiable and for the week I was there I never ran into anyone who had experienced any pickpockets or who had heard of any-- other than in old guide books. That doesn't mean it doesn't exist, but I sure never saw anything to indicate that it does. I should mention, though, that unemployment is high-- like around 60%-- and that on the surface, aside from lottery ticket sellers, it looks like the main job in Dakar is private security guide.

Obviously you don't throw caution to the wind and run around with a fat wallet sticking out of your back pocket. In fact, I've been wearing a money belt under my arm in lieu of a wallet. I guess I would rate Dakar as very safe for tourists of all ages-- except for the mosquitos. You can't avoid them-- not in Senegal and not in Mali. Ex-pats I spoke to in both countries have told me that they can't take the poisons that western medicine prescribes and that most bites don't result in malaria-- or even Dengue Fever-- and that when you get it you rest and eat well for a week and then you're fine. Healthy people don't die from malaria any more than they die from the flu. Personally, I'm still taking the accursed Maladon.

I'm pretty cautious about what I eat and drink-- including in the U.S.-- and I found Dakar and Bamako safe foodwise as well. I pretty much don't eat in dodgy-looking places and stick to bottled water-- including for bushing my teeth. It's hot as hell here and it's important to keep well hydrated. I met a French woman who lives in Bamako 5 years and says she drinks the water here and has never had a problem.

As for the safety factor in Bamako, as "scary" and foreign as it looks, it would be far harder to imagine a crime against a person here than it would be in L.A. or NYC. On the other hand, you could step into an open trench or an uncovered manhole. And for those who define "safety" as breathing air instead of exhaust funes... well, there's a real problem. Someone e-mailed me and asked me if there is any danger from lions or other predators. I think the Malians ate them all. There are a lot of birds and I hear there's a huge herd of elephants between Dogon country and Timbuktu-- and some hippos (which the Malians are wisely quite afraid of)-- but the only wild animals in Bamako are in the zoo. I've walked all over the city, including to really remote areas without paved roads or the blessings of any kind of modernity, and the only vibe is friendly, friendly, friendly. People are unimaginably poor but this is a Moslem country and the level of personal ethics is very high.

I might also add, there are American flags everywhere and people walk around with Obama t-shirts! This has got to be one of the safest cities for tourists I've ever visited anywhere.

I haven't been to one of these places in a million years. To be clear, we're not talking about deep dish Chicago-style pizza (even though the crust was pretty darned thick), nor are we talking about thin New York-style pizza (indeed, this shop's thin crust option was downright inedible in my opinion). And despite being physically in California, this wasn't California-style pizza...nor was it any fancy artisan stuff, for that matter.

This was, instead, the kind of pizza that you'd find at suburbs across the US, where pitchers of Bud Light are plentiful and where soccer moms bring kids after a game. It wasn't a chain like Shakey's; this was a local family-owned shop catering to the neighborhood. In some ways, it was a bit like that stuff that I had delivered to my hotel room many years ago (or gasp - that stuff from the cruise ship!), but marginally better, perhaps just due to the aroma circulating while eating in the shop itself.

Yep - that meant having a salad bar available on site to go along with those breadsticks and buffalo wings while watching the game on the overhead TVs. Now, I know that this was all just a lot of nostalgia rather than anything that I would want to eat again (I'd much rather take proper Neapolitan pizza instead), but I haven't had this many ingredients on a pizza in a long time. Something about that sausage went well with those onions, bell peppers, mushrooms, and pepperoni, and it was interesting to get some "local" pizza after having been overseas for so long.

Photo © Jehad Nga -All Rights Reserved
The beautiful work of Jehad Nga, one of my favorite photographers, is on show at the Bonni Benrubi Gallery on the Upper East Side in New York. The exhibition runs from May 13 to June 16, 2010, and is timed to coincide with the New York Photo Festival. Limited edition prints are priced from $2,800-$10,000.

The UK's Daily Telegraph also featured Jehad's Turkana work. I scratch my head in puzzlement that a UK daily would feature news of a photographic event (and images), while our own newspapers have not. Perhaps I've missed it...?

For background on Jehad Nga and the Turkana images, check my earlier post here.

MountEverest.net has posted a report that Sir Edmund Hillary has been hospitalized in New Zealand after falling in a recent visit to Nepal.

The 87 year old climbing legend, the first man to summit Everest (along with Sherpa Tenzing Norgay) if you're tuning in for the first time, was meeting with the SuperSherpas and Miss Elizabeth Hawley while he was in Nepal last weekend. There have been a number of reports that this will be Hillary's last visit to the country, and although he has stopped climbing years ago, his humanitarian efforts, building schools and hospitals, have brought him back on a yearly basis.

Lets all send Sir Edmund our best wishes and hopes for a speedy recovery.

Churchill, Canada is a small town that has a big reputation for being the place to spot polar bears in the wild. Recently, adventure travel legend Richard Bangs made the journey to that remote village where he met Andy MacPherson, a local guide who has earned himself a reputation as the Polar Bear Whisperer. The video below introduces us to Andy and gives us an idea of how he interacts with the bears that remain the kinds of the Arctic even as we further encroach on their territory.

I haven't had the opportunity to visit Churchill just yet, but it is on my list of places to see. This vide makes me want to go there all the more.

Photo © Suhaib Salem/Reuters-All Rights Reserved
Readers and followers of this blog know that I am always interested in religious rituals of all sorts because it's during these rites, festivals and traditional events that devotees are devoid of day-to-day artificiality.

The WSJ Photo Journal recently posted the above photograph of devotees praying at the Sayyida Zeinab shrine in old Cairo commemorating her birthday. Zeinab was the daughter of Ali and the grand-daughter of the Prophet Muhammad. There's a disagreement as to whether she was interred in Damascus in a shrine bearing her name, or in Cairo.

Al Sayyida Zeinab is the patron saint of Cairo, and her shrine is located in mosque that bears her name. It was renovated and rebuilt many times since her death. The mosque is typical of the Mameluke style, and the cenotaph (seen in the photograph) is enclosed within a finely worked bronze grille.

This commemoration has now been added to my list of events to photograph. Hopefully next year in Cairo!