Experiences for Megan Eaves

Personal Page for
Megan Eaves

Megan Eaves is an avid traveler, writer, musician, explorer, teacher and free spirit. She speaks Mandarin Chinese and Spanish and spends most of her time writing freelance travel articles, teaching and traveling. She has lived and worked in China on several occasions, and spent nearly two years in Ireland finishing her Master's degree. She is the author two guidebooks: "This is China: A Guidebook for Teachers, Backpackers and Other Lunatics" and "Insider's Guide to El Paso" from Globe Pequot Press. Among her list of favourite worldwide spots are the western Connemara region of Ireland, Mong Kok in Hong Kong, the south island of New Zealand, Dublin on a sunny day and the dry pastures of Northern New Mexico, where she grew up. Megan's website, http://www.meganeaveswriting.com, contains more information.

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Soak in Healing Waters at Budapest's Thermal Baths

Created on December 04, 2009 by Megan Eaves, Writer

Called the "City of Healing Waters," Budapest sits along the Danube River where a fault line has produced a series of ancient and beloved thermal springs. For a long time, the residents of Budapest have prized these hot mineral waters, collecting them and utilizing them in thermal baths. During the Turkish Occupation of the area in 1541, then known as the Ottoman Empire, Budapest's bath culture expanded and the number of spas throughout Budapest grew significantly. Today, there are some 28 spas sprinkled across Budapest, and many hotels have also installed mineral spas and thermal baths on their properties. There are many spas in Budapest to choose from, and although not as popular as the Gellért Bath and Széchenyi Bath, a visit to the Kiraly ...

Watch Baroque Horses Dance to Music at the Spanish Riding School in Vienna

Created on December 03, 2009 by Megan Eaves, Writer

The Spanish Riding School in Vienna is a traditional riding school and training centre for the equestrian art of dressage. This is an elegant sport where horses perform graceful ballet-like dance movements at the (barely visible) commands of their riders. Dressage is a popular sport around the world, and is even a competitive Olympic event. But it is at the Spanish Riding School that the charming white Lipizzan stallions and their riders have been trained in classical dressage since the 1500s. The Spanish Riding School is the oldest of its kind, and is located inside the Hofburg: Vienna's historic and grandiose imperial palace. The architecture of the training arena, known as the Winter Riding School, is well worth a look. Even if you aren't a ...

Climb the Great Wall's Last Outpost at the Jiayuguan Fort

Created on December 02, 2009 by Megan Eaves, Writer

Jiayuguan Fort in China's northwestern Gansu Province is one of the most exotic, faraway places you can visit in the world. Jiayuguan is a small town whose name means "excellent valley pass" and is home to the last outpost of the Great Wall of China. Gansu Province is a land of vast desert, jutting snow-capped mountains, flaming hills, secret caves filled with Buddhist grottoes, camels, sand dunes, and the last mud remnants of the western end of the Great Wall. This culminates at Jiayuguan Fort, a huge trapezoid-shaped fort that once marked the final boundary of the Chinese empire. As legend has it, when a citizen was banished, they were required to exit through the Jiayuguan gate into the west, never to return. Jiayuguan Fort ...

Walk in the Footsteps of American Revolutionaries on the Freedom Trail in Boston

Created on December 02, 2009 by Megan Eaves, Writer

Few events in the history of the United States have more prominence in the collective memory of Americans than the American Revolution. Paul Revere's midnight ride through rural Massachusetts on April 18, 1775 (sounding the bell that the “British are coming!”), and the infamous Boston Tea Party—fill the history books read by every American child. Boston is probably the best place in the U.S. to explore American revolutionary history, primarily because most of the events took place in and around Massachusetts. The first shots between British troops and American militia were fired at Lexington and Concord, two towns just outside the city, and many of the country's first subversive meetings of government occurred in sly buildings along Boston's cobbled streets. Today, you can actively participate ...

Stand at the Edge of the World on Ireland's Cliffs of Moher

Created on July 25, 2009 by Megan Eaves, Writer

Standing at a majestic 700 ft. tall, Ireland's Cliffs of Moher edge County Clare up to the Atlantic Ocean, creating the country's westernmost outpost. I first went there in 2003 when very little infrastructure surrounded the Cliffs of Moher and it was possible to creep belly-down across the limestone slats and peer over the edge. As one of Ireland's most well-known and heavily visited tourist attractions today, the Cliffs of Moher have been given a new lease on life with the building of a state-of-the-art visitor center that is cut into the side of one of the bluffs, and is totally environmentally friendly. The experience of standing on the bluffs overlooking the Cliffs of Moher is utterly astounding. The harsh Irish wind bats at your ...

Spray Paint a Junked-Out Car at the Cadillac Ranch

Created on July 21, 2009 by Megan Eaves, Writer

Out on the West Texas plains, at the outskirts of a dusty cowtown called Amarillo, sits one of the world's oddest and coolest roadside attractions: the Cadillac Ranch. This public art installation consists of ten antique cars, mostly early model Cadillacs, buried with their noses in the ground and their tail fins high in the air. The cars are splashed in colourful spray-painted messages and pictures, as graffiti is not only tolerated here, it is actively encouraged. The Cadillac Ranch was the brainchild of irreverent Texas millionaire Stanley Marsh III, who owns the land on which the Caddies were buried. The actual installation of the roadside attraction was done in the late 1970s by the avant-garde art firm Ant Farm, which were contracted to put ...

Uncover Ancient Cliff Dwellings at Bandelier National Monument

Created on July 20, 2009 by Megan Eaves, Writer

It was late in the day when we jumped in our car and headed out from Santa Fe, New Mexico for an afternoon hike at Bandelier National Monument. Steeped in history, this ancient Native American archaeological site is home to cave dwellings and the ruins of several prehistoric villages of the Pueblo People. With endless and interesting wildlife, and one of the state's most scenic canyons, Bandelier National Monument is a primitive paradise. Arriving at Bandelier National Monument, the desert sun cast long shadows along the adobe visitor centre as we made our way inside, collected a trail map and set out on our walk. The Main Loop Trail is just over one mile long and takes you on an hour-long walk through several ancient ...

Feel the Rich Spirituality of Taos Pueblo, New Mexico

Created on July 20, 2009 by Megan Eaves, Writer

The first thing you notice upon entering Taos Pueblo—the northernmost of 19 Pueblo Indian tribes in New Mexico—is a peaceful silence. Sitting along a strip of fertile land at the base of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, just north of the town of Taos, New Mexico the pueblo (Spanish for “village”) exists in almost the same way as it always has—with no piped running water or electricity. Residents (of which there are about 150 full-timers) live in an interconnected maze of adobe buildings, in rooms with adjoining walls. Around 1,900 other Taos Indians live elsewhere on the surrounding pueblo lands. Divided in two by the Red Willow Creek, the largest structure in the pueblo—a multi-story adobe building—sits on the northern side of Taos Pueblo. It ...

Walk the Lunar Landscape at White Sands, New Mexico

Created on July 20, 2009 by Megan Eaves, Writer

White Sands National Monument is a magnificent collection of snow-white sand dunes covering an area of some 275 square miles in Central New Mexico. This unique dune field is comprised of gypsum sand - the transparent mineral that creates the eerie colorless landscape of White Sands. This is considered the largest gypsum dune field on earth and the area consists of an unusual group of plant and animal life that have adapted to the gypsum's white environment, including the spiky soaptree yucca plants that are often the lone evidence of life along the stark landscape of White Sands. White Sands, New Mexico is about 40 miles east of the city of Las Cruces. It sits within the confines of the uber-secretive White Sands Missile Range ...