#646 Big Sur, California, USA

Number one on roads to see before you die, I can agree that it is a spectacular drive! This "most adored" of California's highways, took 18 years to build (as part of the Depression Era's New Deal), and most of its residents didn't get electricity until the 1950s. The Spanish bypassed it for being too rugged (they called it "el pais grande del sur" or the big country of the south, and until the road was built in the 1930s, it was one of the most remote parts of California. Aside for the famed 85km stretch of winding Highway 1 - which is NOT a freeway so take time -- there's a castle, sea lions, birds, redwood forests and many beautiful beaches and trails to see and walk.

From the Monterey Peninsula and Carmel in the north to San Simeon in San Luis Obispo County in the south, the road follows the Santa Lucia Mountains as they rise sharply from the sea (Big Sur's Cone Peak is the largest coastal mountain in the contiguous United States at 1571m).

Hearst Castle

The history of the area starts with the Native American Ohlone, Esselen and Salinan tribes, who left few artifacts aside from obsidian and flint arrowheads. The Spaniards sailed past in 1542, but chose to settle further inland where several Catholic Missions can be found. It was part of Mexico after their independence from Spain in 1821, but was ceded to the United States after the Mexican-American War in 1848. The 1862 Homestead Act brought hardy settlers who were granted plots of 160 acres, and many of the region's names date from this era and these families. The Gold Rush era saw the cutting down of many redwoods and the establishment of various landings and camps (as there were no reliable roads), but most of these have disappeared today. In 1894 the SS Los Angeles ran aground near Point Sur light station, but its inaccessibility encouraged politicians to propose a road.

The road was approved in 1919 and construction began with convict labor from San Quentin Prison. The route included 33 bridges (Bixby Bridge is the largest) which became part of the National Register of Historic Places in 1986. Originally Route 56 when it was finished in 1937, it was re-designated Highway 1 in 1939.It was the first State Scenic Highway (in 1965) and also holds the title of All American Road. 

Relative isolation in the mid 20th Century brought artists and hippies, from Jack Kerouac to Henry Miller and Hunter S Thompson. Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton also filmed The Sandpiper in the area, and bands from the Beach Boys to the Red Hot Chilli Peppers have eulogized the area in songs.

Los Padres National Forest is a unique ecosystem in the middle of the otherwise quite barren area.

The road is sometimes closed due to landslides and the seasonal California fog is a frequent visitor.

The most famous view of Big Sur is this view of Bixby Bridge, built in 1932.

Source: http://www.bigsurcalifornia.org/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Sur
http://www.tripadvisor.com/Tourism-g240329-Big_Sur_California-Vacations.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/David-Landsel/california-big-sur-driving-the-coast_b_5095299.html
http://twistedsifter.com/2013/03/roads-to-drive-before-you-die/

#683 Working Elephant/Elephant Worker's Camp, Taungoo, Myanmar (Burma)

What I'm writing about is not really a place, but an experience, and I certainly couldn't tell you how to get here, but it is one of the most magical things that I have ever done.

In the Bago Yoma hills to the west of Taungoo, Myanmar there are many Karen tribes and villages, and off the dirt road to one of these isolated places is wild teak-filled jungle. It is in a small camp by a creaky wooden bridge crossing one of the narrow brown mountain rivers that a worker's camp exists, and the inhabitants are all mahouts, who train various elephants to log teak trees to be loaded onto trucks and later floated down the Ayerwaddy (Irrawaddy) River to mills and markets. 

I had the privilege to visit this Elephant Worker's camp with a Taungoo doctor who goes to the camp sporadically and to the villages with medicines as part of a mobile clinic. His connection to them allowed us a special glimpse of how the elephants work. 

The first thing the mahouts have to do is fetch the elephants from the forest where they have been foraging for the night and morning. They issue a call and most of the elephants come. Occasionally a clever one does not want to come so he hides and his mahout has to go and find him. The elephants wear bells around their necks so that their whereabouts is easily determined. I loved the story about when one elephant decided to stuff his bell with mud and leaves to try and make it quiet so he would not be found!

Once they come in from the jungle, the elephants are dirty because they have spent all night throwing dirt and leaves on their backs (to scratch an itch and to keep the flies away), so the first thing to do is have a bath in the river. The mahouts on their shoulders often get a bath, too! They splash in the water and lie on their sides and generally look like they're having a wonderful time. Watching the trunks peeking out from below the water was fabulous, as was the scrubbing behind the ears, all to get the dirt off and prevent chafing and rashes.

After the wash, we followed the elephants into the jungle where the workers felled a large teak log then cut holes in the end to loop the elephant's chain through it. One of the working elephants was a mother, and her baby followed her everywhere she went. The different sizes of the elephants determined who would lead and who would follow, and what size of log they would pull. In order to prepare the log for pulling, the elephants would first have to push the logs around the jungle with their trunks until they were in an appropriate place.

The last event was preparing a rough saddle and taking us for a ride on the elephants. The elephants were afraid of us because the only trouser wearing people are those that give them injections. One elephant was also too afraid to cross the bridge so decided to turn around half way across and then cross the river through the water. They are amazing creatures and this was a truly out of the ordinary experience!

Source: You can read my diary of the trip here.