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I set out last night with a tripod to gather material for a look at Rue Prince-Arthur, a pedestrian-only stretch for bon vivants and casual strollers alike. Instead, I found myself wandering into byways looking for better light. The Prince-Arthur story will have to wait.
In the meantime here's a few unconnected by anything other than time and geography.
At the following link, two more, not from last night, but prepared as part of a related project.
Just a few experiments in colour from a recent evening's walk down Blvd. St.-Laurent as darkness fell.
Update, Thursday morning: swapped out a picture.
The deep, cool waters of Danau Toba.
March, 2003.
In order to travel from Bukit Lawang to Lake Toba, we had to return by mini-van to Sumatra's dusty, chaotic capital, Medan and find transport south. Still jumpy from our first driver's laissez-faire approach to road manners, we climbed aboard an even dodgier vehicle for the journey's second leg into the interior highlands. It was a top-heavy schoolbus-like affair with rusted floorboards and a yowling diesel engine. Fortunately, the operator practiced a sedate and incremental philosophy where twisty mountain roads were concerned - thus the relatively short drive required the rest of the day, but our knuckles weren't so white when it was over. He even stopped along the way to let us stretch our legs and drink in the spectacular vista below (note active volcano in the far distance).
Lake Toba (English for Danau Toba) "is the largest volcanic lake in the world. In addition, it is the site of a supervolcanic eruption that occurred 74,000 years ago, a massive climate-changing event." (Wikipedia).
Landsat Imagery
It was a calmer place when we got there. In fact, the recent Bali bombing, the burgeoning SARS crisis and the build-up to the Iraq invasion conspired to rob Indonesia of its tourist trade in early 2003. The result was an almost deserted feel in the resort zone on Samosir Island's Tuktuk peninsula.
We chose The Carolina for lodging. The general situation was making all hotels very affordable, so we didn't have to shell out much for a cottage at this semi-luxurious lakeside property. We enjoyed a balcony on the water, animist iconography, a lovingly tended floral landscape and a jetty on a little bay for swimming in the lake's deep waters.
The weather was cool during our few days here, which seemed odd being so close to the equator, but is rather common, we were told, at this elevation on the eastern slope of Sumatra's central ridge. After the climbing, swimming and rafting of Bukit Lawang, we were happy to just chill out and catch up on some reading.
Not forgetting Nasi Goreng and Mi Goreng, traditional rice and noodle dishes, a most popular menu item in Indonesia is a plate of French Fries with ketchup, made with fresh-cut potatoes. This is no doubt a culinary holdover from Dutch colonial times. We shared this plate one morning before renting a scooter and hitting the paved trails of Samosir Island.
In Indonesia, as in other east Asian countries, you drive on the left. This can be disconcerting for westerners, especially the first time you make a right turn at a busy intersection, but it soon becomes second nature. The narrow road we travelled here was lonely - mostly other motorbikes and a few Toyota jeeps.
These gnarly long-horned cattle are ubiquitous on the island, seemingly at large, but actually tethered to a stake in the ground.
The traditional societies around Danau Toba are of the Batak ethnic group. At left is one of their distinctively styled dwellings. These were to be seen all along the Samosir road. Also prevalent were Christian shrines, as a large number of Bataks were converted years ago to a version of Dutch Calvinism.
The Batak still perform pre-European rituals as a tourist draw with dancing and a beast of burden. The band played from the balcony with dancers and a trussed-up cow in the compound below. (Sorry, no good pictures of the dancing.)
Schoolboys without backpacks.
Not as friendly as they look.
Finally, a few more pictures to round out the article. As you can see, this is a rough, impoverished part of the world.
Avenue Duluth is a narrow, picturesque street running SW to NE from Parc Mont-Royal to Parc Lafontaine. There is much material along here for further photographic exploration.
Idy Oulo from Cameroon.
The Festival International Nuits d'Afrique de Montréal runs from July 14-26 and most of the performances are indoors at various clubs around town. Yesterday was the one outdoor dust-up at Place Émilie-Gamelin (Google Map) near UQAM, free to the public.
Once again, the weather was dodgy, and the Just for Laughs festival was competing for visitors only a block away, so attendance was a little light. Those who did come were treated to an African bazaar as well as hypnotic, lilting music.
I suppose some would see an advantage having two events side-by-side, but this Montreal newbie humbly suggests a different location next year, up the hill in a greener place.
Juan Sebastian Larobina from Mexico, now of Québec, and his band, playing a blend of Latin rhythm and Gaspésie folk.
Apartment fire, Ave. des Pins, April, 2008.
Attention, shoppers! I'm changing computers, with all that entails, so posting has been sparse. Part of the process is digging through the files, re-sorting and re-burning, flushing away work that wasn't very interesting but was kept anyway. This is all in the interest of more portability and being able to process and edit on a single computer. Slow and tedious, but necessary.
I discovered these pictures whilst culling. They're from a visit I made to Montreal before I moved here, before I knew my way around. This is a building just a few blocks away from mine. It has now been repaired, refurbished and renovated, renting slick but tiny studio apartments. One-and-a-halfs, as they're called here.
Editor's Note: New sharper versions now posted.
Update: Still looking soft. I'm using slightly different software and a different display. I hope to improve things in future posts
Also known as Boulevard Saint-Laurent.
Between Rue Prince-Arthur and Avenue Du Mont-Royal*, you'll find these plaques embedded in the sidewalk marking the ages of the adjoining buildings. It is part of Heritage Canada's project designating the busy thoroughfare a National Historic District.
Even if you keep your eyes level, this is always a fascinating street.
Société de développement du boulevard Saint-Laurent (SDBSL)
*Update: With closer inspection, I see that these plaques extend further north to Mont-Royal.
Music and dance, that is. In fraternal, if not identical, measures. (I promise not to strain this analogy any further.)
Not the traditional floats and military bands at yesterday's Twins Parade - instead the exuberance was raised by high-energy dance troupes, drum collectives, marching salsateers, funksters blowing brass and even martial-artists swooping forward with kicks and rolls.
As part of Montreal's Just For Laughs Festival yesterday, the Twins Parade marched from Place des Festivals on Ste.-Catherine Street to the Quartier Latin on lower St.-Denis for the 12th consecutive year.
This post features some of the nearly 2000 twins (and triplets!) of all ages who joined the event. The next will display the many musicians and dancers who provided musical and visual accompaniment.
More photos after the link:
A five-hour drive across Quebec's Eastern Townships and the mountainous terrain of northern New England brings one from Montreal to the historic city of Boston, Massachusetts. It was my new proximity to the USA's eastern seaboard that led me to pay a brief visit in the late summer of 2007. Although two to three days doesn't give much time for delving into Boston's past, just to arrive there and walk the town's center lets history soak in by osmosis. A passing understanding of this city's significance in redefining the new world over 200 years ago helps enrich even a cursory urban ramble through the crooked, cobbled streets.
Google map of downtown Boston.
Of course, Boston is also a modern American city, so expect incongruities like that 18th-century graveyard being surrounded by glass skyscrapers or the marvelous towering cathedral sharing a street with a corporate coffee chain. This is history with context and you can count yourself a part of it.
If I return, I intend to hop a ferry and explore the dunes and beaches of Cape Cod and Martha's Vineyard, but this report shows only a land-based account of Boston's center. Pictures posted include Beacon Hill, the Boston Common, the Back Bay district and a sojourn across the Charles River to the Cambridge side, where I witnessed a Caribbean parade.
Click the link for more photos of Boston life.
