Home again, home again . . .

I’ve been home just over a week, and thought I should finish out my blog with a post on what I’ve been up to for the last month or so now that I have the time.

First off, I’ll backtrack to Bologna, where Cindy and I went on a really long hike to a beautiful cathedral that overlooks the city. We accidentally took the long way around, and turned what was supposed to be an hour-long walk through the longest portico in the world (I think) into about a 2 ½ hour walk through the beautiful countryside. We looped around to the cathedral, then walked back through the portico, which was nice since that means we saw more and burned off some of the gelato and cheese we’d been eating.

From Bologna, we hopped a train to Modena, which is really close, and Cindy met up with a family for an interview to be their nanny. Since she never left Italy and is living with them now, I’d say the interview went well. ☺ She’s now living in Correggio, which is just north of Modena. We wandered Modena and had a good time catching as much sun as possible before leaving for Verona, the city where Romeo and Juliet is set. There, we checked into a hostel and went in search of a restaurant. We ended up at a great place, where we made friends with all the wait-staff and the cook, even the regulars. We barely made it back to our hostel before curfew (11:00 – so early!).

The following day, we put on our tourist hats, and spent hours walking around in an attempt to see as much as possible. We saw Juliet’s house, her tomb, her balcony, countless churches, amphitheaters . . . the list goes on. That night, we were once again on a mission to find a restaurant, when an Italian guy recognized our accents as Seattle accents, and he took us out to dinner. It’s so nice being a tourist sometimes! ☺

Cindy and I scrambled the next day to make it to Milan in time to burn our photos to DVDs before I took off for Cape Town to meet up with Amy. That accomplished, I caught a train to the airport and was off on my first adventure without Cindy in 5 months.

I arrived in Cape Town on October 2, after nearly 24 hours of traveling. Amy and her friend Fiona had already checked into the hostel we were staying at, so I met up with them and we took off for dinner. The most amazing thing I noticed about the food in Cape Town was the portion sizes! We always hear that there are starving children in Africa, but you’d never know it based on what we were served in the restaurants. Everything we ordered there was as big as something you’d get at Cheesecake Factory, which could easily feed you for 2-3 days.

We got an early start on Oct. 3, and took off to climb Table Mountain. It started off being a beautiful day, but by the time we made it up the mountain (after taking one LONG detour that added about 2 hours to our climb), a cloud had taken over the top of the mountain and we couldn’t see a thing from the top. Rather than risk going back down the steep climb in the misty/rainy mess, we took the gondola back down to the bottom of the mountain, where it was once again sunny. Then we walked down to the Cape Town waterfront and took in the rest of the sun before heading out to explore the night life that night. Although we had fun that night, we definitely struck out in finding the good night life. Our taxi drivers definitely did NOT give the best advice!

The following morning, we woke up just in time to catch an 8am bus for a wine tasting tour. Our tour leader, Devin, was very entertaining, and the approach they took to wine tasting was great. It was more organized than most tastings I’ve been to, which was nice. We tasted as a group, and learned a lot while we were tasting, which was an added benefit since most times you’re on your own and don’t really learn much. Also included was a brandy tasting, which I was very impressed with.

After a day of indulging, we crashed early, as Fiona had to catch an early flight out of Cape Town and Amy and I planned to go up Table Mountain again in an attempt to take in the views we’d seen on all the postcards. It turns out, the views are spectacular. We made it up Table Mountain in an hour and 15 minutes, since we missed the detour this time, and although it was freezing at the top we spent a few hours wandering around the top of the mountain, taking in the view from all sides. This time we also hiked back down the mountain, which was harder than going up.

On October 6, Amy and I woke up early for our cage diving adventure. We were joined by our dorm roommates Ed, Simon, and Giuliano, who had all just finished a safari through East Africa, and were in Cape Town for a few days before leaving to go back home. And although I didn’t find the cage dives particularly scary as I had hoped, we did see 9 or so great white sharks, some southern right whales, and tons of seagulls (we were lucky to be wearing rain coats and wet suits because EVERYONE got pooped on multiple times). That night, we went out for a seafood diner (yuck! I had a salad) and then out to an Irish pub and had a great time.

The following day, Amy and I were picked up by her friend Darryn, who is a South Africa native and whose parents live just outside Cape Town. Darryn drove us out to Cape Point, where we saw the point where the Atlantic and Indian oceans meet, and saw a white southern right whale, which is apparently a rarity. Afterwards, we drove back to Darryn’s parents’ house, where we experienced a braai, or South African BBQ. His mom is an amazing cook, and since it was the first home-cooked meal I’d eaten in what seemed like a million years, I definitely went overboard, but it was worth it! ☺

Amy, Ed, and Simon left the following day, but at least I had one friend left. Giuliano and I walked around Cape Town some more while I ran errands before taking off on my safari. Who would believe you’d need a sleeping bag to go camping in Africa?! ☺

On Oct. 8, I left Cape Town for Windhoek, Namibia, where I joined my safari. The group I joined up with had already been traveling together for nearly 3 weeks, and was already pretty close, but I fit in great and was paired up with who else, but another Suzanne. The other Suzanne is from Holland, and luckily we got along just great. The other people on the safari were from Holland, Germany, Switzerland, Russia, Korea, Australia, and Brazil. Our cook and tour leader were both from Zimbabwe. Four of the Brazilians were part of a film crew that was shooting a documentary/news piece, so we were followed around by cameras for part of the trip.

The first two days of my safari were spent driving, which I was very disappointed about. I saw barely any wildlife (maybe that was partly because I have a tendency to sleep whenever I’m in a moving vehicle lately), and I was surprised to know that we really weren’t going to see anything until we crossed into Botswana.

We arrived in Botswana on Oct. 11, and headed straight for the Okavango Delta. When we arrived, we were taken to a camp in dug-out canoes, called mykoras. The mykoras are driven by polers, who use really long poles to steer the boats through the shallow delta, which is croc-and hippo-infested in areas. From where we were seated, two to a mykora, we couldn’t see much since the reeds were taller than we were sitting.

After arriving at our camp, where we stayed for 2 nights, Suzanne and I set up our tent for the only 2 nights of the entire trip that we would use it. The rest of the time, we slept on top of our truck which was great since it’s always better to sleep out under the stars. After a quick snack, we went on our first nature walk, and saw elephants, a hyena, a wild boar, several antelope, and probably a few other animals I can’t remember. A lot of them were pretty far away, so the most memorable thing I saw was elephants since we were up close and personal with them. They were all males, since the females only stay in herds and these were mostly loners or groups of up to 5 elephants. And although by the end of my safari I would say, “Oh – it’s just another elephant,” it was pretty amazing to see them right there, in your face.

The following morning, we woke up and did another walk through the delta. We saw more animals this time, including impalas, ground birds, more elephants, baboons, buffalo, and other animals. We were in search of the Big 5 – lions, elephants, rhinos, leopards, and cape buffalo, most of which remained elusive the entire time I was on my safari. The others had seen lions and rhinos, both black and white, in Namibia, but I joined too late to see them. After swimming that afternoon (kind of scary since you never know when a hippo, snake, or croc will show up), we rode in the mykoras out to a hippo pool and watched the hippos (which was mostly uneventful) while the sun set.

The following morning, we once again went on a walk. We saw more wildlife, but nothing too terribly exciting until we were nearly chased by a rogue elephant. We were all prepared to run for cover at one point when our guides were convinced he was going to turn on us and charge. Luckily, it didn’t happen although I was kind of hoping it would because I wanted to have a good story to tell. ☺

We left the delta that afternoon, and a number of us paid for the optional activity of a 45-minute flight over the delta, out of Maun. On the flight, we predictably saw more than we had on foot. There were huge herds of buffalo, elephants, and antelope, and I saw lots of giraffes, ostrich, and other animals I’d have to look at my pictures to remember. The flight didn’t last long, but it was definitely worth the money for the experience of seeing how expansive the Okavango Delta really is. And this was in low season. The delta will creep very, very slowly (I think I remember only about 10 ft. /week or something crazy like that) farther south for the next few months while it rains, creating more habitat for the animals until the rains stop, then will recede just as slowly as it gets hotter and hotter.

After leaving Maun, we drove quite a ways to our next campsite which was just outside of Chobe National Park, still in Botswana. On arrival, we set up our tents, then hopped back on the truck to leave for a sunset river cruise. The river cruise was absolutely spectacular. We saw loads of buffalo, elephants, crocs, hippos, antelope and impalas, pumbas, and other animals. Other than the flight, this was the best animal viewing, and we were closer than on the flight, so it was maybe even better.

The following morning, I woke up early and went with 9 others on a game drive. We drove in a jeep around Chobe National Park, once again mostly seeing buffalo, impalas, and elephants. The best part of the game drive was seeing all the baby elephants, which I’d been hoping to see up close for the entire trip. Then, that afternoon we crossed into Zimbabwe to end our safari at Victoria Falls.

Victoria Falls was absolutely stunning, even at the time of year where half the falls were dry. Standing, looking at how far the falls stretch, I imagined how deafening it would be when the water is really flowing and it made me think it probably could be compared to what Dry Falls in Washington was once like. Maybe Victoria Falls isn’t quite that big, but it’s certainly VERY expansive! And there were rainbows EVERYWHERE!!!

I left the safari the following day, after trading my tank tops, dresses, and other summer clothes I’d bought in SE Asia and knew I’d never wear again for souvenirs. Inflation is so high in Zimbabwe that they won’t take the local currency, and everything is purchased with either American dollars or by trading.

I flew into Johannesburg, where I caught a ride to my hostel, which I didn’t leave until I took off for the airport again the following morning. From there, I flew into Rome, where I arrived at 5am. I caught a train into the city, checked into a hostel, and began sight-seeing. By noon I’d already been to the Coliseum, where I did the audio tour, and was at The Roman Forum when I spotted a guy wearing a Coug hat. Of course I busted out the, “Go Cougs!” and talked with him and his girlfriend for a bit before we parted ways. And although I thought the guy in the hat looked familiar, I didn’t realize I actually KNEW him until yesterday when I got a message from him because he’d figured out who I was. The guy in the hat was Brad Zito, who I played football with for 2 or 3 years on a Seattle flag football league. Talk about a small world!

I walked around Rome and the Vatican for the next 2 days, and probably saw every piazza, fountain, and church in the city before taking off for Venice for 2 days. And although I didn’t have fantastic weather in Venice, the sun did come out the afternoon of the second day, and I fell in love with the city. Once again, I just walked, walked, walked to see as much as I could, and left Venice for Milan on Oct. 23 so I could get in a tiny bit of shopping before flying back home on the 24th.

Once in Milan, I checked into a hotel and hit up the shopping near the Duomo. Although most everything was out of my price-range, I did manage to find some good bargains in the fashion capital of the world, which was a good feeling.

I returned to Seattle on Oct. 24, after traveling for about 15 hours from Milan to London, and London to Seattle. Mom and Dad were there at the airport to greet me when I came through customs, which was so great. They were definitely a sight for sore eyes since I hadn’t seen them in over 6 months at that point. We headed to Andy and Janie’s house straight from the airport, where I was greeted by crazy Turk, then Andy and Janie, and finally Katie, who showed up a few hours later. We spent the weekend watching football and catching up, which was so great. The weather was absolutely amazing, and I was very thankful to make it back to Seattle before the weather turned bad and all the leaves fell off the trees, which is what they’ve been doing all week this week.

Since I’ve been home, I’ve spent time trying to organize myself, and seeing friends. My birthday/Halloween party was a hit, as was my Cher costume. My pictures still aren’t all together, but they will be soon. Then I’ll have to upload them. After I vote tomorrow, I’ll leave for Davenport, where I’ll pick up all the stuff I bought while I was away (all but 1 package has arrived home. Woo hoo!), and will visit my parents, grandparents, and more family and friends. Then it will be back to Seattle where I’ll be full-time job searching.

So my trip has come to an end, but I’ll definitely be out traveling again as soon as I save up enough money and time to go, although on less extensive adventures, just using up my vacation time and not all of my life savings! ☺

Cape Town!

I've spent the last 6 days exploring Cape Town with Amy. She left this morning, but we had an absolutely amazing time and I can't believe she's already at the airport, catching a flight back to Tanzania. We climbed Table Mountain twice, went to Cape Point, went cage diving, and wine tasting.

Tomorrow I leave for Namibia, where I'll begin my safari that will take me into Botswana and Zimbabwe. Then it's back to Italy for a week before coming home. I can't believe it's almost over!!!!!

Happy very belated birthday to Matthew Parsons (Sept. 29) and Alan Hille (Oct. 4)!

Gelato, Gelato, Capuccino

I'm about 15 pounds heavier since having arrived in Italy, but am leaving for South Africa in a few hours and hope to lose those extra 15 there! :)

Happy birthday to Matthew Parsons yesterday and to Alan Hille on Oct. 4.

If you don't hear from me by Oct. 6, that means a shark ate me!!!

Pompeii and Firenze!

Cindy and our Australian friends Daisy and Lotus spent a day in Pompeii before we parted ways and Cindy and I came to Florence. The city of Pompeii was absolutely fascinating, and I'm really glad we made it there, even if it was only for a few hours. The Roman history we learned only scratched the surface, but it was fun to learn about ancient streets and crosswalks, the water and sewer system, and brothels way back in the day. It's so amazing that the Roman civilization was so advanced so long ago and some of the countries we've visited on this trip still don't even have sanitation systems that come close to competing with the systems that had been invented thousands of years ago.

We made it back to Naples just in time to catch a train to Rome in the hopes of leaving Rome for Florence the same day. Unfortunately, we read our train tickets incorrectly and had booked our ticket from Rome to Florence from a different station and we ended up spending the night on Platform 1 of the Rome train station before catching a 6am train to Florence the next morning. Luckily, our tickets were still valid and we didn't have to pay for the train twice.

The last four days we've spent hanging out in Florence. My friend Corinne (Carina) has spent the last three weeks here in a flat overlooking la Piazza Santa Croce, so we spent quite a bit of time visiting "her people" and eating at some amazing restaurants while we caught up on what's been going on in Seattle and celebrating Carina's 30th birthday. Of course, four days isn't enough to see all that we wanted to see, but I got a good taste for the city (piazzas, paninis, pizzas, gelato, chianti . . .) and know that I want to come back.


We're leaving for Bologna in an hour or so. I've heard amazing things about the city - and about Parma, our next destination. I'm really looking forward to taking a train through more of the Tuscan countryside before we go north to Verona, the city Romeo and Juliet is set in.

That's all for now!

The weather is not cooperating . . .

Cindy and I road tripped from Split to Dubrovnik in our 2007 Ford Focus on August 12. We drove along the Dalmatian Coast for about 9 hours, stopping in several small towns and taking pictures (of course) everywhere we went and could find a place to snap a shot. We had an excellent lunch - I had a chicken salad and Cindy had black risotto, a Croatian delicacy - and arrived in Dubrovnik with abotu 10 minutes to spare before we were late turning in our rental car.

On the walk from the rental car place to the bus station, where we were assured we'd find a woman who was trying to rent out a room, we ran into a woman who was trying to do just that, and managed to score a nice place to stay in a home that had a covered seating area and a kitchen we could make use of. The kitchen came complete with Tony, our new Australian-Croatian friend who had been staying in Dubrovnik for 10 days and let us in on the ins and outs of the city before inviting us to join him for a night out at a wine bar.

We woke up early the next day and went to the "local beach" on the north side of Dubrovnik's old city to get a tan. Unfortunately, the wind was pretty cold and I spent most of the day curled up in my sarong trying to stay warm, and didn't get much of a tan. By the time both of us were frozen out, Cindy and I were on our way to find some gelato, and met two more Australians, Steve and Dan, who had also just arrived in Dubrovnik. While we were talking to them, Tony happened to walk by, and the ironic thing is that he didn't even notice Cindy or me. He recognized Steve from back home, and they proceeded to talk for about 5 minutes before Tony even realized we were there! : )

We made plans to go out that night, and Cindy, Steve, Dan, and I walked up to a watch tower that overlooks the Old City to take pictures and get orientated with the city before Steve and Dan did a tour of the Old City and Cindy and I checked out more of the town and bought food so we could take advantage of our kitchen. We met all three Aussies out that night and ended up eating pizza, then going to Fuego, the one club in all of Dubrovnik that was open since it's officially fall here and all the other bars were dead since it was freezing cold at night.

The next day, Cindy and I slept in, then went to the tourist beach, which was really busy since it was nice and sunny out. It's too bad we wasted what ended up being our only nice day in Dubrovnik by sleeping in, but . . . we got some more photos of the old city and took advantage of what sun we could.

On September 19, we woke up to an overcast day, and spent most of the day doing tourist stuff - walking the city walls, checking out churches, etc. Although we were disappointed in the weather, we took as much advantage as we could of the sites.

Disappointingly, the following morning we woke up to a beautiful blue, sunny sky that turned overcast as soon as we got to the beach. Luckily, we had booked a 4:00ferry from Dubrovnik to Bari, Italy, that afternoon, so we spent the day once again walking around the old town, scoring free wine for lunch and free gelato from our favorite gelateria. All in all, it was a better day than we anticipated after being cold at the beach for an hour. : )

On the ferry to Bari we met two Australian girls (what is it with meeting Aussies in Croatia? :) who we decided to travel with for the next several days, and walked around with them for about an hour looking for a place to stay before meeting an Italian mother and daughter (Thank God Cindy knows Italian!) who called several hostels and pensiones for us and soon learned that there was an expo going on in town and there was not a room available ANYWHERE. Luckily, the daughter, Lilly, hooked us up with a place to stay - the floor of her boyfriend's apartment!!! We slept on hard, cold, marble floor before Lilly woke us up this morning and she and her mom drove us to the train station. Luckily, Lilly's mom showed up with not just her car, but a giant thermos full of coffee and biscotti. I think we all could've kissed her! : )

We arrived at the train station this morning just 5 minutes before the train to Naples departed, so we bought tickets and hopped aboard and were off to Naples. We arrived here a few hours ago, and are going to check out Pompeii tomorrow. If all works out, we will catch a train for Florence tomorrow evening, where we'll meet up with my friend Corinne, who rented a flat and is staying there for a few weeks. From there we'll go to Bologna or Venice, then to Verona and Milan. Hopefully all will work out and we'll be able to see as much of the country as possible before I leave on Oct. 1. We'll see, though. There's so much to see and so little time! Good thing I have a few days at the end of my trip to spend time in Rome and anywhere else I'll miss this time around!

Ciao!

The Dalmatian Coast!

We arrived in Croatia on September 9, and spent an afternoon in Zagreb, the capital city, before moving on to Split, where we are now. Split is on the Dalmatian Coast, and we were hoping to get a tan here before leaving for Italy, but the weather so far hasn't cooperated. Yesterday we spent all our time in coffee shops escaping torrential downpours and debating whether to rent a car and go to Dubrovnik today or tomorrow. It looks like we'll be leaving tomorrow.

That's all for now. Happy birthday to Lindsey tomorrow!!!

Still alive!

Update:  We're alive and well in Delhi, with only a few hours to go before we leave for Istanbul for 3 days.  Unless we come down with something in the next few days, we may have escaped India with only a few minor stomach irritations, mostly from eating too many dried apricots.  My doctor will be happy to know that I didn't have to take any Cipro - yet.  I'll update my blog with a post on all 5 weeks in India ASAP - who knows when that will be!

Hopefully everyone back home is well and all the teachers are surviving the start of school!  Happy birthday to all those August and September birthday people I missed!  I thought of you on your birthday even if I didn't mention it here!!!

Gobble, Gobble, Gobble!

Cindy and I got back from our 13-day trek a few weeks ago, and we're still tired. Of course, it doesn't help that the day we got back I think I got a touch of food poisoning and laid in bed for about 36 hours trying to recuperate from both blisters on my heels, tendonitis in my right ankle, and an upset stomach, but . . . I'm back from my trek and the absolutely amazing, gorgeous adventure that was India!

As you will recall, we took off on August 12th for a 13-day trek through the Himalayas. We began the trek with a 6-hour drive to Lamayuru, a city west of Leh. We drove through some beautiful mountains, stopped at a river crossing to unload all our stuff and carry it across a foot-bridge since the river had washed out the normal bridge, switched jeeps, then continued on our way to do photo shoots at two monasteries. We then drove through the "moonscape" that is a section of mountains, where we got a ton of great pictures since our jeep got a flat tire about 2 km from our campsite. We walked the rest of the way, and settled down for the night to play cards with our trekking companions, a French brother and sister, Remy and Gabi. We were also joined by an Italian couple, Elena and Jonluca, so the card-game was pretty interesting with a mix of French, Italian, Spanish, and English being spoken at the table. All in all, the language barriers were crossed and we had a good time playing Remy's version of "spoons."

On the way to Lamayuru, we attempted to learn how to pronounce our cook's name, but it just became too difficult for us since we can't make some of the sounds used in the Ladakhi language, so Cindy nick-named him T-Dawg. From there, things snowballed and pretty soon we'd named our own guide G-Unit, and other various guides, ponymen, and cooks who had different clients but were on the same trek other "gangsta" or ridiculous names like Q-Diddy, LL, Diggity, Flava Flav, Ice Cube, Snoop . . . the list goes on.

The next morning, we were awoken bright and early with a tea delivery from G-Unit. The tea deliveries became a regular thing, and we were very happy to be woken up slowly every morning, first with tea, then with hot water to wash our faces and hands, then with a hot breakfast and time to pack and break down our tent. It was all very efficient and overall a great way to start our mornings.

I won't get into the day-to-day details of our treks, because that would be way too boring, but I'll suffice it to say that I saw some of the most breathtaking scenery I probably will ever encounter during those 13 days. On our second (maybe third) night camping, everyone had been hanging out in the cooking tent because it was pouring down rain when one of the guides for another group (not sure which gangsta) stepped out to see how the weather was and told us all to come outside to see the rainbow. We were all skeptical because everyone knows you can't have a rainbow without sunlight, but . . . I was the first one to step outside and see what is probably the most incredible thing I've ever seen in my life -- a double-rainbow created by the light of a full moon on a misty, but almost pitch-black night. If any electronic device had been able to capture the image, it wouldn't have done it justice. Believe me, we tried. : )

Our trekking continued over passes, through valleys, across rivers, and I developed some pretty nasty blisters on my heels on about our 5th day of trekking. They, and the tendonitis in my right ankle, were the bane of my existence for the next 8 days of my life, and I actually hiked for quite a few days in my flip-flops (Thank God I bought new Reef sandals at REI before I left for this trip! Nothing else would've survived, and these are about ready to fall apart now!). My heels are on the mend now, but today when we were contemplating hiking up Stok Kangri, the highest peak around here at over 6K meters, the tendonitis won out and I decided I had to be a wimp and not do the climb. : (

On the 6th day of our trek, we got our first "hot," meaning non-glacier-fed-river shower of our trip. Prior to having a real bathroom, which included a Western toilet and a standing shower, we had been "showering" and doing our laundry in the rivers. Unfortunately, we were not to find another bathroom or Western toilet for the rest of our trip, and took several more showers in the freezing cold rivers we crossed along the way. Luckily the weather was nice, and by the time we got out of the river it only took us about 15 or 20 minutes to warm up enough to stop shivering!!!

Remy and Gabi left us after breakfast on the 6th day, and we continued on alone with G-Unit and T-Dawg across the Indus River, just below where it meets the Zanskar. The river was too high and strong for our donkeys to cross, so we said goodbye to Q-Diddy, LL, the donkeys, and most of the other gangsta crew who were taking a rest day, and continued across the river on what could've been a cool zip line, but was instead a little wooden box that was heavily loaded down with supplies (and us), then pulled across by hand.

While I was waiting for my turn to cross, I met Freddy from Germany and Ingo from Austria, who are both ex-pats living in Bangalore, and who were traveling together. Those two told me that they planned to follow the same route as us for a few days, as did Matt from England and Andreas from Germany, who had been on our original trek, but who we had never met but who we met having tea on the other side of the river. The nice thing about meeting them early was that we all stayed at the same campsite, and we ended up playing Texas Hold 'Em with all of the guys and two Norwegian girls, Ingrid and Camilla, who were also on the same trek as everyone else and were staying at the same campsite. So even though we left Remy and Gabi behind, there were other travelers for us to get to know.

After 3 days of trekking with the new European community (in flip-flops), Cindy and I left the most popular trail in Ladakh, and continued south through Hangar to Dat. Here, the scenery changed a bit and we went over fewer passes, and through more valleys, which meant more river crossings. We were told before we left on the trek that this was the area where we'd see the most wildlife of anywhere, and that was absolutely true. We saw a few herds of 30-head of Ibex, which basically look like with mountain goat horns, but cooler. We also saw wild horses and marmots. The only thing we missed was the blue sheep, which I'll probably never get a glimpse of. The only ones I saw that could've qualified as blue were some that looked like they'd been spraypainted purple. We're still not sure what the reasoning is behind that - maybe branding?

We finished off our trek with a night of playing the real version of spoons with our cook, guide, horseman, and 2 monks from the local monastery. Let me tell you, the monks weren't too keen on fighting over spoons. They need to get more aggressive! Buddhists just don't understand competition. They let us win every time! : )

After resting for a few days, and recoving from what I thought was food poisoning, Cindy and I rented bikes and rode outside of Leh, towards Hemis. We stayed one night at a town with a giant monastery and woke up just after sunrise to watch their morning chants, which was an amazing experience. One little kid, probably about 7 or 8, was totally into the chanting and was really fun to watch. All the other little monks were more into goofing off than anything, so the whole thing was quite the show!

Ironically, on the way we were flagged down by Diggity and Flava Flav, who were returning from another trek and saw us walking. It's too bad we didn't ask them for a ride back to Leh from where we saw them because the following day it started to rain on us and we hitched a ride back to town, cutting our ride short. I can't say I was too terribly disappointed about that, since my bike's gears weren't working very well and the seat wasn't adjusted right. Let me just comment that renting bikes in a developing nation (I think that's what India is) is VERY different than renting them back home!

After our bike ride, we used 2 days for mad Christmas shopping before heading back to Delhi, which we left after about 3 hours for a tour of the "Golden Triangle." We rode to Jaipur, or the Pink City, which is where the James Bond film Octopussy was filmed, on the first night . Since we arrived late, we had dinner and crashed, then woke up early and saw what there was to see of the city. I think the highlight was a park that was dedicated to sundials. People have come up with the most interesting ways to tell time! It's too bad I haven't learned any of them yet because when Cindy and I split up in a few weeks I won't have anyone to tell me what time it is! : )

After the day of sight-seeing in Jaipur, we had our first Bollywood experience. Jaipur has one of the largest theatres in India, and we enjoyed the escape from the heat and humidity while watching Sinnh is King. Our driver, Arun, and his friend Baloo, explained the plot to us since most of the film was in Hindi, and although we could pick up most of what was going on I definitely wouldn't watch more Bollywood without subtitles!

We left Jaipur for Agra on September 4, but not before visiting the "Monkey Temple," which is a Hindu temple outside of Jaipur where we met a bunch of pilgrims and did a photo shoot with them. The photos turned out great since all the women were wearing the most brightly colored sarees. I can't wait to upload them so you can see how beatufiul they were!

About an hour out of Jaipur, our air conditioning went out, and we spent the next 4 hours sweating in the HOT sun and being absolutely miserable in the back of the car, but it was well worth it to arrive at the Taj Mahal in time to see it in all its glory as the sun was setting. I don't really need to explain the glory of the Taj, since everyone has seen pictures of it, but I do need to explain that it is THAT MUCH BETTER in person. If you're going to India, you MUST see the Taj Mahal!

We boarded a train from Agra to Varanasi the evening of the 4th, and slept the whole way to the famous city on the Ganges River. Since we arrived in the morning, we checked into a hotel and headed straight out to see what we could see. And what we saw was impressive. Hindus believe that if a person is cremated in the Ganges they experience Nirvana, so there are several crematoriums along the river. We witnessed the end of numerous funerals, and the rituals that take place just prior to cremation while we overlooked what is one of the oldest cities in the world. They have the cremation process down to a science, and the owner of the crematorium gave us a rundown on how cremation works and the rituals involved in a Hindu cremation as we watched. It was fascinating.

After viewing the cremation, Cindy and I were whisked around the city by two guys we met who get commission for taking people into carpet shops. Although we didn't buy carpets, we saw some really interesting stuff and were happy to have a guided tour of the city. They even showed us a free rooftop where we went to see a Hindu ceremony. I'm not sure what the purpose of the ceremony was, but it involved a lot of dancing with fire, so it was cool to watch.

We left Varanasi on September 6, and arrived back in Delhi the morning of the 7th. In Delhi, we did last-minute souvenir shopping, and saw as much of the city was was possible before boarding a plane in the wee hours of September 9th to come to Istanbul, where we've been for the last 3 days. Although I think we've only seen the tip of the iceberg that is Istanbul, we've seen as much as possible - cathedrals that were converted to mosques during the Ottoman Empire, mosques, mosques, mosques, the palace . . . We got a free boat tour yesterday before checking out the city's shopping center, and went to the grand bazaar, which has more knock-off purses and shoes than Delhi and Bangkok combined!

Unfortunately, our sight-seeing time was cut short when my wallet was stolen the very first day, probably on the tram from the airport, and I spent hours at the police station filing a report. I luckily only had the equivalent of $165 US and my debit card in my wallet, and have straightened everything out, so that's a relief.

As for Istanbul itself, the city reminds me of a mix of Seattle and San Francisco, and I've fallen in love with it. I told Cindy I could marry this city. Ironically, I've received several marriage proposals since we arrived. : )

We're off to the bazaar to see if we can find some cheap art (and me, a wallet) before going to the airport in a few hours. We're off to Zagreb, Croatia, before we leave for the Dalmation Coast to get some beach time in.

I hope everyone is well back home. I've missed countless birthdays, anniversaries, etc. and I apologize. Congratulations to Nik and Anne! I can't wait to meet your new baby!

Happy Birthday Janie!

Happy Birthday Andy!

Happy Birthday Megan!

Trekking

Today we're just hanging out since the whole town of Leh - and probably most of Ladakh - is on strike due to the situation in Jammu and Kashmir. Apparently Ladakhi students studying in Jammu have been locked in their houses without food for over 5 days, so the residents of Ladakh have closed down everything (except hotels, tour operators who have treks scheduled for today, and this one Internet cafe) to support their students and to try to draw attention to the students' plight. We met one student who escaped from there yesterday and is very thankful to be here. The road between Srinagar (in Kashmir) and Leh is closed right now, so even if the students are released from their houses I'm not sure how they'd ever get home. Hopefully the situation is alleviated soon.

Lucky for us, Cindy and I were able to book a 2-day tour of the Nubra Valley and a 13-day trek through the Zangskar Mountains, the Stok, and Kharnak Ranges, (all considered the Himalayas) this morning. Our tour operator, Tsering, even told us that if we couldn't find food we could call him and he'd cook for us. That's what you call 5-star service! : )

Tomorrow, to get to the Nubra Valley, we have to go over Khardung la Pass, which is the world's highest motorable pass at 5359 meters (18,380 feet.). It's a good thing we've spent so much time here in Leh acclimatizing since the first few days we were completely out of breath walking up a slight incline and probably would've had problems with altitude sickness going over the pass any earlier than we are. Once in the valley, I'm hoping to ride a camel (long-haired, 2 humps) through some sand dunes since who knows when I'll get a chance to do that again. Afterwards, we'll visit some monasteries and will spend the night. Most of the trip will be a slow jeep ride so we can take photos and enjoy the scenery. The second day we'll visit a few more monasteries on the way back to Leh.

On August 12, we'll take off for Lamayuru, the start of our 13-day trek that will take us from Lamayuru to Chilling in 6 days. On that portion of the hike, we'll cross over 4 passes, at 3750 m, 4950 m, 4800 m, and 4700 m. The landscape is dry and rugged, and we'll pass through an area that's called the "moonscape." When we arrive at Chilling, we'll travel southward into the Markha Valley, where the scenery will change, and we should have a good chance to see some wildlife. I think we go over 2 more passes between Chilling and Markha, where we're planning to pay the village to use their generator so we can charge our camera batteries. : )

From Markha we'll travel even farther south to Lungmoche. I can't remember how many more passes we're supposed to go over, but I know there are at least 2 on the way, at 5050 m and 4950 m. We'll have to cross a few rivers, so we're hoping that if it rains any more than it has been lately it won't be too much, and we'll be able to wade across instead of being hip-or waist-high in the freezing cold water. We'll see, though!

This will be my first big trek where we have to use horses to pack our food and bags, and I'm really looking forward to it. I was originally told I'd be able to fly fish while I was here, but it doesn't look like that's a possibility. I haven't found any tour operators who even have the equipment to rent, let alone any who will tie my flies on for me. : )

After our long trek, Cindy and I are planning to come back to Leh for a few days to rest, and then will head south by bus to Manali. From there, we'll work our way south to Delhi, where we plan to arrive about 5 days before our (newly changed) flight out. We'll head to Agra for 2 days to see the Taj Mahal at sunrise and sunset, then will go back to Delhi for a day or two before we leave for Zagreb, Croatia, on September 9. We changed our flight so we could stay in India for longer, and are cutting out Greece, which is really sad but we're trying to make the most of our time and money and decided after talking to other travelers that Croatia's islands are just as beautiful as Greece's. I hope they're right! : )

That's all for now. I'll post a long post when we get back into Leh after all of our adventures. I'm hoping the shops will open up soon so I can buy some more warm clothes! Coming from the heat and humidity in SE Asia to the desert of Ladakh, with warm days and cold nights is really taking its toll on me!

Oh - and if any of you want to really know where we are, here's the link from Wikipedia. Ladakh: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ladakh

Go Cougs!!!!!

I was walking through Leh, the capital of the Ladakh region of India, which is up in the Himalayas (walking, not hiking since we're acclimatizing and we can barely breathe if we're walking up a slight incline), and I noticed a local Ladakhi guy wearing none other than a WSU Cougars T-shirt! I had to beg, but I got a photo of him and tomorrow I'm planning to track him down so I can pass on my Cougar visor to him.

Go Cougs!

Namaste from Delhi!

Cindy and I arrived in Delhi last night around 9:30pm, and were lucky enough to share a taxi into town with an Israeli girl (Elinore) who was here just a few weeks back and had a hostel recommendation, which we were very thankful for. We checked in and crashed hard since we'd been doing crazy shopping in Bangkok and hadn't gotten much sleep in the last few weeks.

Today, we woke up at 1:30 after our much-needed sleep, and walked about a kilometer to the train station. On our way there, we talked to about a million people who either wanted to give us "free advice," sell us something, or were begging for money. It's a good thing I didn't have a rupee on me or I would've gone crazy with guilt! The people here are soooo poor!

We arrived at the train station and were looking to book tickets to Agra, but because it's Sunday we were encouraged to go to the official Indian tourism office (also recommended by Lonely Planet), and it's a good thing we did. There we met with Iffi and Jana, cousins who work in the tourism office, and who have both traveled extensively in the north. After talking with them, we re-booked our plane ticket to Leh, which is in Ladakh, for tomorrow (2 days earlier than planned) and signed up for a 3-day homestay so that we will be able to experience all Ladakh has to offer, and eat authentic Indian food. The biggest draw for booking this homestay experience was that there's FREE FLY FISHING included in the package!!!!! Both Iffi and Jana fly fish, and they showed me some pictures of the fish they've caught in that area - mostly rainbow and brown trout. I can't even express how excited I am about this since every time I've seen a river on this trip (just ask Cindy) I've said, "I wish I could go fly fishing." Now it's finally going to happen! Thanks, Tanner, for encouraging me to go to Ladakh! I'll get good pics and tell you all about it when I get back!

After visiting Ladakh, we'll travel south toward Agra, home of the Taj Mahal, on buses and trains, stopping here and there to do more homestays and a yoga retreat. Then we'll stop to see the Taj Mahal in Agra, come back north to Delhi for a few days of actually seeing the city, and fly back out. 3 weeks is definitely not going to be enough time in India, but since we're going to scratch the surface there will be a lot of incentive to come back and do more exploring on other trips.

After visiting the tourism office, which took a few hours since we had so many questions and the guys were so good at giving advice, Cindy and I went to dinner with Iffi and Jana. This wasn't just any dinner at a restaurant. They took us to their house, and we ate with their extended family, including 4-year-old cousin, adult cousins, aunts, and uncles. The 4-year-old entertained us for most of the evening, and all in all we had a great time. The food was fantastic, and the only bad things I can say about the whole evening are that we won't be able to order the same foods at restaurants, because apparently it's not served anywhere we would eat, and we weren't even hungry when we got there, but we had to clean our plates because we didn't want to offend anyone. Now I feel like I'm going to burst!

I hope everyone had a great time at Cory and Kristin's wedding this weekend. I'd love to see photos if anyone can email a few to me! Oh - and all of you who were out for Seafair, I hope you had great weather and didn't get too sunburned. : )

2 Nights in Bangkok

We survived SE Asia!  

We leave in a few hours for India, and I can't believe how the time has flown.  I'm off to pack my bag and make sure it still weighs less than 15 kilograms after all the shopping we've done here . . . wish me luck! :)  I'll be updating my blog as soon as I find an Internet connection so I can report on how crazy India is.  Stay tuned.

Happy birthday to Nik Bergman (yesterday)!!!!

Luang Prabang - cooking, waterfalls, elephants, massage, and shopping!

The afternoon of July 24, after the rain stopped, Cindy, Joe, and I walked around Luang Prabang, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The cool thing about the World Heritage Site designation is that traffic is very limited and the town is really laid back, unlike a lot of the cities we've been to. We visited several temples, and arrived at one just in time to hear the monks doing their evening chants. Although we'd already been to many temples, this was the first time we'd been present for the evening ceremony, and it was quite the experience. We sat in the doorway and just listened for about 30 minutes. It was like meditation.

After the monks finished their chants, we took off to climb "the mountain." Phou Si is a hill in the middle of the city that, when climbed, gives a good view of the surrounding area. We were on top of the mountain (all 100 stairs tall) for sunset, and got some good photos of Luang Prabang, the Mekong River, and the hills of the countryside. Then it was off to the night market, where we browsed the local handicrafts.

On July 25, Cindy, Joe, and I took our Lao cooking class. The class was run by the chef from Tamarind, a gourmet Lao restaurant, which is where we met to begin the day. Shortly thereafter, we were driven to the local market in a tuk-tuk. There, our instructor, Joy (spelled wrong, I'm sure), who is one of the owners of the restaurant, gave us a tour of the market, where we learned about the different ingredients we'd be using in our class. The market trip was very educational, and Joy was sure to tell us about the health benefits of various ingredients, like the ones that help your teeth, help keep you young, etc. While there, we sampled some Lao "candy" that was some kind of dried pastry, and a rare delicacy - steamed bee larvae, which were really quite tasty compared to the fried maggots we ate in Bangkok.

From the market, we were taken to Joy's house, where the class was held. We were outdoors, under bright red tents (that made all of our pictures look rosy) that were set up over the tables we used to prepare the food and next to the fires we used for cooking/steaming. At first, I was a little apprehensive about how the class would be run - whether we'd be the ones doing the dirty work or whether they'd have things cut up for us and we'd just be responsible for dumping them in a bowl - but was pleasantly surprised when we began preparing the sticky rice and Jeow (a dish that's a lot like salsa) and learned that we'd be doing EVERYTHING ourselves.

We used a mortar and pestle for nearly every dish, and Cindy, Joe, and I all bought mortars and pestles last night before leaving Luang Prabang so that we can remember how much fun we have every time we use them. I won't get into the details of everything we cooked but I'm very pleased to say that all of the dishes we cooked were excellent, and our meal was very gourmet. I think the highlight for all of us was chicken-stuffed lemongrass, which we deep-fried but can be BBQ'd. When I get back, that's probably the first thing I'll be cooking.

That night, our friend David, who we've been seeing on a pretty consistent basis since meeting him in Dalat, Cindy, Joe, and Nillefer, a British girl we met during our cooking class, went out to dinner without me since I was still sleep-deprived and wanted a good night's sleep. The next day we laid low, and this time it was Cindy's turn to stay home and sleep while I went out for dinner with David, Joe, Nillefer, and our Dutch friends Marty and Ike. We ate traditional Lao BBQ, which is really hard to explain, but is some of the best food I've eaten on this trip. I'm going to try to re-create it when I get home, but could have a hard time finding the equipment I need, so don't hold your breath on me ever being able to fix it for you. : )

On the 27th we got up at 5:30 am to participate in the alms ceremony - a daily ritual where the Lao people line up along the street to distribute sticky rice to the monks as they walk by. We had heard that monks won't accept (or eat) rice given them by Westerners, so we bought bananas to hand out to them. Not quite sure how the whole process worked, Cindy and I each gave one monk about 5 bananas, which we regretted since later on it became apparent that each monk (they walk in groups of ten) should have received his own banana. Hopefully the two we gave them to shared. : ) We planned to get up even earlier another day to correct our mistakes, but we never got around to it.

After going back to bed for a few hours, we woke up, met up with Joe for breakfast, and hired a tuk-tuk to take us to see Kuang Si waterfall, a famous waterfall just outside Luang Prabang. Just before leaving, we met Yev (from New York) and Isaac (from San Diego), who joined us on our trip to Kuang Si. When there, we hiked the trail to the mid-falls area. Here I experienced my fist "Lao massage." We stood in the middle of the trail, under the falls, and let them pound down on us. The water was falling so hard that my quads started to fatigue because it took a constant effort to stay upright and it felt like I had been doing a wall-sit for 30 minutes. The pressure was AWESOME. From the mid-falls viewpoint, we then climbed the rest of the way to the top of the waterfall, where from our vantage point we could see straight down the falls. We of course stopped again on our way back down for our second Lao massage, before getting back in our tuk-tuk and returning to Luang Prabang, where Cindy, Joe, and I got a real Lao massage (much like Thai massage, but better in my opinion) before heading to the Lao BBQ place for another dinner since Cindy hadn't experienced it the first night and we all loved it so much that we wanted to eat it again. Yev and Isaac joined us.

On July 28, Cindy, and I woke up just in time to catch our bus to the All Lao Elephant Camp, where Cindy, Joe, and I rode elephants - Cindy and I for the second time on our trip. We were bummed not to be riding together (I got stuck between a French couple), but got some good pictures of each other this time, which was a benefit. I was on the biggest elephant, which I loved (except for the having to duck under spider webs and tree branches part), and I was really happy because the elephants were treated so much better than the ones we had ridden north of Bangkok. We trekked on elephants for about 1 1/2 hours - through jungle and down a river - before being dropped off at a lodge for lunch. Then, at about 2:30 we each boarded our own elephant, not sitting on a seat, but on the elephant's neck with a guide sitting behind us, and we got to bathe the elephants! My elephant (once again the biggest) was the first in the water, and the last out so I was really happy to have the extra time to be in the river with him. He sprayed me with his trunk a bunch of times, which I don't think we got on film, but it was one of the coolest experiences I've ever had. I'm hoping to ride some elephants in Africa because they're so much bigger, but I'm not sure that experience could top this one!

We arrived back into town around 5pm and headed straight to the massage place to test out traditional Khmu massage, which is like Lao massage, but with oil. I didn't like it quite as much as the Lao massage, but it was still good. Then, we headed out to the night market to buy yet more souvenirs and gifts. We once again ate an amazing dinner of street food, and went to bed pretty early since all of us were wiped out. Riding elephants is really tough work. : )

On July 29, we woke up early and were picked up and taken by boat to Pak Ou Caves, the famous "Buddha caves" outside Luang Prabang. One of the caves has over 4,000 Buddhas displayed, and the other was too dark for us to see much (we forgot flashlights and headlamps), but I believe it had far fewer Buddhas inside. From there, we went to "whiskey village" and sampled Lao Lao, which is rice whiskey that can be shot straight, or mixed with various fruit juices (pomelo, honey and lemon, etc.) before coming back to Luang Prabang and hitting up the night market one last time.

We got nearly all the souvenirs and presents we wanted to pick up before grabbing take-out from street vendors to eat on our bus ride to Vientiane, which is where Cindy and I are now. We arrived this morning at 6:45, drank "all you can drink" coffee for a few hours, wrote postcards, and have spent most of the day walking around Vientiane and catching up online. We board a bus for Bangkok in about 45 minutes, then will spend 2 1/2 days tying up loose ends - buying warm clothes, shipping our souvenirs, and uploading photos - before leaving for Delhi on August 2.

In India: We plan to spend 3 days in Delhi and Agra (home of the Taj Mahal) before escaping north to Leh, which is the hub of the Ladakh area of India, in the Himalayas. As sad as I am to leave SE Asia, I'm looking forward to leaving the heat and humidity behind and getting to Ladakh, which gets about the same amount of rainfall as the Sahara Desert. There, we hope to do some really good trekking and do a yoga/meditation retreat. If we have time, we'll travel south to Dar es Salaam, home of the exiled Dalai Lama, and possibly to Varanasi, of which Wiki Travel has to say, "The scene of pilgrims doing their devotions in the River Ganges at sunrise set against the back drop of the centuries old temples is probably one of the most impressive sights in the world - definitely a must see destination on any trip to northern India. " But it also says that it's excruciatingly hot there, so you should time your trip in October. Maybe we won't be going there after all . . . time will tell.

That's all for now. Happy belated birthday to Travis Greenwood on July 29 and to Nik Bergman on August 1. And in case I don't get online for a few more days, happy birthday to Gunn and Matt on August 6th!

Sapa and Halong Bay

At the time I began this post, we were back in Hanoi, which is decidedly one of the most unfriendly places we've visited in the last 2 1/2 months. It's not the people in general, but those in the service industry (strange, since they make their money off tourists, and who are the people we see most often), who don't seem to get it that the customer is always right - or at least that the customer should be treated with the teensiest bit of respect - or however the saying goes. :) And I don't think we've been treated less kindly just because we're American, either. Other travelers we've met from different parts of the world have seemed to have much of the same experience, which is pretty disappointing.

On a more positive note, we had a great time in Sapa, which is about a 9 hour train ride north of Hanoi. The train ride itself was wonderful because Cindy and I had a cabin to ourselves and we had to upgrade to the "deluxe" car since the cheaper ones were sold out. For $28 each (the most we've spent for a night's accommodation) we slept in pure luxury - on feather beds, with down comforters, which is a far cry from the 12 hour sitting bus we took from Hoi An to Hanoi - and didn't even wake up when the train stopped until someone started banging on our door and told us we had arrived at our destination and needed to get off the train at Lao Cai. From Lao Cai, we were picked up by a bus that took us to Sapa, where we had pre-booked a room at the Queen Hotel. For $7 US, the room was clean and had an absolutely breathtaking view of Sapa and the surrounding mountains. We've been sending everyone to stay at the Queen Hotel since we got back.

After checking in at our hotel, we had coffee and talked with a few tour operators about homestays in the area. We only had 3 days in Sapa, and wanted to make the most out of seeing the local people. Ultimately, Cindy and I decided to do a trek/homestay the second and third days, and spend the first day walking to Cat Cat village on our own. When we got off the bus we had been surrounded by girls spanning from 7 years to about 35 years of age, all wanting to sell us bracelets, earrings, purses . . . so we "hired" an 11-year-old (Mu) and a 14-year-old (Chau) to walk to the village with us. They talked to us about life in and around Sapa and Lao Chai, their village, and we bought them lunch before bartering with them for some trinkets.

The next day, July 11, we set out for Lao Chai during a heavy rainstorm (thank goodness I'd bought a poncho on the Mekong River Delta since my Coug one bit the dust a while ago when I got bug spray on it). Luckily, the rain stopped within an hour, and we continued our trek through the beautiful countryside. We hiked through rice paddies, indigo fields, and watched the farmers work with their water buffalo and do field work by hand. All in all, it was a very nice experience and I was happy to be out of the city and into the "wilderness." The mountains once again reminded me of the great state of Washington, and I felt more or less at home. We arrived in Lao Chi mid-afternoon, and met up with other travelers who were staying at the same "home" as us. The home was more like a barn with a loft, but we were served local food and rice wine, so at least we had a pretty authentic experience.

The following day, we hiked from Lao Chai to Ban Ho, which was about a 5 hour trek. We saw more of the scenery and a few women from a different Sapa-area tribe. I wish I could upload pictures - the traditional dress of all the women in Sapa was really something. Everything is dyed in Indigo, and the hand embroidery they do on all their clothing is very intricate and colorful. The tribe we saw the first few days wore indigo hats that are more like head-bands, and the tribe we ran into the last day wore bright red hats that look kind of like mushrooms when they're worn. There are more tribes in the area, but we missed the big market on Sunday since we took an overnight train back to Hanoi on Saturday and didn't get to see most of them. The pictures we did get were great, and hopefully we'll be able to upload them soon. Seeing as how I haven't even gotten all of my Malaysia pics up yet, I think that will be a stretch. :)

We left Sapa after 3 amazing days and came back to Hanoi, which neither of us was particularly looking forward to. Like I said, the city is not particularly friendly and it's a city. When we arrived at the train station, though, we met some Spanish guys who we shared a taxi with and who we became friends with (Paco and Donthalo). They were traveling with a group of 5 other guys, and had had to come back to Hanoi early so Paco could get stitches in his knee after being in a motorbike accident. They were headed to Halong Bay, but promised to meet up with us when they came back to the city.

Cindy and I spent a good part of the day touring around the city and taking in the sites we hadn't seen the first time we were here before getting ready for a traditional Vietnamese puppet show that is famous in Hanoi. The puppet show was nice, and showed different aspects of Vietnamese culture, which was interesting, but I was glad it was over in 1 1/2 hours. :)

After the puppet show, we met up with Cindy's friend Sarah, who had come into town from with her family. Cindy and Sarah had studied together in Australia, and luckily the three of us got on great and we went out that night only to run into our Canadian friends, John, Victoria, and David.

Sarah, Cindy, and I were all hung over the next morning, and decided to catch a movie to escape the heat and give our bodies a day off, so (I know that some of my friends back home are breathing a huge sign of relief right now) we finally saw the new Sex and the City movie before meeting up with Paco, Donthalo, and the rest of their crew for another night out on the town.

On July 15, Cindy, Sarah, and I took off for a three-day tour of Halong Bay, which is a world heritage site and is known for the giant limestone islands jutting out of the water. Many of the islands have caves, and we were able to explore two of them the first day before cruising around the bay and taking in the scenery, which was absolutely gorgeous. We also passed by a number of floating houses, which are similar to but not quite the same as the floating houses we saw in Cambodia or on the Mekong River Delta. Again - you'll have to see my pictures to see what I mean. We spent night 1 on the boat, which was very nice, but hot since the AC didn't work in our rooms, and there weren't any fans.

On day 2 of our trip, we stopped at Cat Ba Island and rode bikes for a few hours, which was lucky for us since the people who chose to go trekking (we didn't have good shoes with us) showed up really muddy since it had been raining, and cruised around on the boat for a while before making another stop at a beach where we kayaked. That night we stayed on Cat Ba, and met a French couple and an Israeli guy who we had dinner with and were a nice reprieve from the older people and families we were stuck with on the boat.

Day 3 brought cruising around Halong Bay in the rain, and a bus ride back to Hanoi. I got a good nap in on the boat, and a lot of reading done, so the rain wasn't too big of a disappointment, even though the boat's rooftop was really nice and we could've worked on our tans a bit. :)

On July 18, Cindy and I said goodbye to Sarah over coffee before boarding a bus for Laos. Our Vietnam visa was scheduled to end on July 19, so we thought we'd give ourselves a little leeway and leave the country with plenty of cushion so that if the bus took longer than expected we'd be covered and wouldn't overstay our visa. I should've known how the bus ride was going to go when we went to the travel agency we'd booked our tickets at at 4:45, and were told the bus wouldn't be there to pick us up until 5:45. We were suspicious, but trusted the tour operator and showed back up at 5:45 only to find them in a panic because they didn't know where we were and the bus had come to pick us up at 5:30 and had now taken off and we were going to have to take a taxi to catch up to it. When the taxi arrived, we discovered that 2 Dutch guys we'd met in the Chu Chi Tunnels and again in Hoi An (Marty and Ike) were on their way to catch the same bus as us, and the tour company was going to pay for our taxi, so we were thankful for what little good news we could get.

Arriving at the bus station, we boarded the bus and I quickly realized that the my seat wouldn't lean back at all. Marty and Ike, who took turns sitting behind me, were happy since they could stretch their legs a little bit, but I was miserable because the girl in front of me could lay her seat nearly ALL THE WAY back, and basically had her head in my lap for the whole trip. It wouldn't have been THAT BAD, except for the fact that our bus ride ended up taking a full 24 hours!!!!! Needless to say, we were all exhausted by the time we arrived in Vientiane, Laos, and we had dinner and went to sleep early so we could get a full day in in the city the next day.

Unfortunately, quite a bit of our time in Vientiane was spent working our our travel schedule when we get to India. We spent a few hours researching flights and making travel arrangements (which was necessary, but annoying since we missed out on seeing some of the city) before being picked up by Sarah's sister, Gemma, who lives in Vientiane and works for the United Nations. Gemma and her boyfriend, Ryan (Tommo), live in a giant house in a largely ex-pat community just on the outskirts of the city. We stayed with them for 2 nights, and for the first time on this trip Cindy and I didn't have to share a room! :) As a thank-you to Gemma and Tommo for letting us stay with them, Cindy and I cooked up a big Italian dinner of bruscheta for an appetizer and a main course of angel hair pasta with tomatoes, eggplant, sausage, and pesto, which we served with fried pumpkin and green beans. It might not sound like much, but just having the opportunity to go to a market and buy fresh produce and use a real kitchen was such a fun experience since I haven't cooked in nearly 3 months!

We left Vientiane on July 22, on a bus for Viang Vienne, a town north of Vientiane that is known as a place to go tubing on the river. Unfortunately, when we arrived in Viang Vienne we learned that since it's been raining so much here the tubing had already been shut down for 4 days, the bars along the riverfront had been washed away, and they weren't expecting to begin any river tours of any sort for an undeterminable amount of time. So . . . we woke up at 9:30 yesterday morning, and hopped on a bus bound for Luang Prabang at 10am.

And that is where our adventure began. Since this was a scheduled 7 hour bus ride, I was catching up on US and world events by reading copies of "The Economist," which Tommo had given me before we left Vientiane. We were going over some pretty narrow roads, around some pretty tight bends, but I was trying to ignore the fact that we could be in danger and somehow dozed off (which isn't surprising since I'm pretty much narcoleptic on buses). Fortuitously, I woke up just in time to see that the corner we were coming up on was pretty muddy and I pointed out the window to show Cindy just in time for our front tires to start spinning out and feel the bus fishtailing. The best I can say about this moment is I knew we'd have to slide a LONG WAY to be in too much danger, but that knowledge didn't help much when I felt the left-back tire of the bus slide into the (small) drainage-ditch on the side of the road. The bus stopped, people piled out, and we waited for over an hour for a tractor to come and pull the bus out from where it stopped. All the while we were waiting, buses and trucks made the attempt to pass by our bus and all slipped and slided up (or down) the mud slide without incident. I guess we were just on the "lucky" bus.

An hour behind schedule, we were 5 kilometers out of Luang Prabang when our bus broke down. Apparently some kind of belt broke, and we were stranded with our bags until a second bus emptied its passengers in the town and could come back to get us. We arrived in Luang Prabang about 45 minutes after the bus broke down, safe and sound. Our new friend, Joe, who we met on the bus to Viang Vienne, Cindy, and I found accommodation, grabbed a bite to eat, and set out to explore what was left of the night market since everything closes here around 11pm - before the 11:30 curfew.

Today we woke up early to try to squeeze our way into a 9:00 cooking class that was unfortunately already full, but we signed up for tomorrow, which will take most of our day. It started to rain right after breakfast, so I've had time to catch up on my blog (finally) and will hopefully be able to explore some of the temples around the city if it clears up this afternoon.

I hope everyone back home is doing well and that you're all enjoying some sunny weather!!!!!!!

Going North

Wow - the time is just flying by. I think I could spend a few months in Vietnam, and am sad we have to be out of the country on the 19th. We haven't seen nearly what we wanted to, mostly because we spent so many days souvenir shopping in Saigon and then getting tailored clothes made in Hoi An. Now that we absolutely don't need anything else (other than what we'll buy when we return to Bangkok) :), we've come north to Hanoi and will be doing a few excursions to see the main sites in northern Vietnam before leaving for Laos.

When we left Saigon, we went to Mui Ne, a beautiful beach town that was absolutely empty since it's low season. Mui Ne is known as the place to go for kite surfing and wind surfing, but Cindy and I just laid on the beach for a few days and soaked up a teeny bit of sun. We woke up early one morning to take pictures of the sunrise, but it was overcast all day that day, so we spent time getting more pictures uploaded -- FINALLY! -- here's the link to what I've got so far (http://picasaweb.google.com/suzschreck), which isn't much because it's only what's left of Thailand and part of Malaysia, but at least it's something! All in all, Mui Ne was exactly what we needed - R&R - until the last night, when we met some crazy British guys (Mo and Ted) who kept us up all night talking because, believe it or not, they talk more than we do!

Our next stop was Dalat, which we reached by sketchy local bus since we somehow managed to miss our chartered bus. Good thing the ride was only about 3 hours because it was hot and sticky on our bus and the guy sitting behind me (who is a med student at San Jose State) kept kicking the back of my seat. Now I know why Mom and Dad used to get frustrated with us when we'd have our feet up on the back of their seats on long car rides. It was soooo uncomfortable!

Dalat was an amazing town, and I'm really sad we didn't get to spend more time there. The city has been compared to something nestled in the French Alps, which I've never been to, but can believe. Vietnam was ruled by the French for a long time, and you can definitely see the French influence everywhere. The architecture and food especially were influenced by the French, and we've run into a lot of tourists from France while we've been here.

The climate in Dalat is different from anywhere we've been so far. It reminded me of Eastern Washington in the spring/summertime - relatively cool at night (I had to sleep under a heavy blanket) and warm but dry during the day. Cindy and I took advantage of the weather for the one day we were there and climbed the two tallest peaks in Dalat (about 2600 meters and 2300 meters, I think) and didn't die from dehydration like we would've anywhere else. We were chauffeured around by the "Easy Riders," which is a group of motorbike tour guides who will take you for trips all around central Vietnam, who also took us to a pretty waterfall, a minority village, a flower farm (gerbera daisies and roses everywhere, which reminded me of the Skagit Valley in April/May), through a hillsides full of coffee plantations, and to a few other sites around Dalat. All in all, we saw quite a bit, but we both wished we'd had a few more days to explore the area since it looks like there's so much going on.

While in Dalat, we met a group of guys who are studying in Perth, Australia (Michael, Michael, Nick, Will, and Jack), which is where Cindy studied abroad, as well as some Canadians from Calgary (David, Victoria, and John), who we've run into a few times since leaving Dalat. Maybe they'll catch up to us in Hanoi or again in Laos. We'll have to see . . .

From Dalat, Cindy and I went to Hoi An, the tailor capital of Vietnam, with a 5-hour stop in Na Trang, a beach town that looks like Waikiki in the busy season, but is pretty laid-back but with a bit more nightlife than Mui Ne in the off season. That's where we celebrated the 4th of July with our first draught beer of the trip, a German stout that wasn't the best beer I've ever had, but was at least a dark, full-bodied beer, so I didn't complain.

Arriving in Hoi An the morning of the 5th, we checked into our hostel and took off to immediately do some price checking and place orders with tailors. What a maddening experience! I think what made it fun was the challenge of showing a tailor a picture of something you wanted and seeing how it would come out. All in all, we're both happy with everything we bought (which is way too much and has kicked my guilt complex into over-drive since we've seen some really poor Vietnamese people on this trip). There's only one thing I really don't like, so I might give it to a poor person here or in Laos before I leave for Bangkok again. All my stuff is on its way to Davenport, so when I get back in October I'll have some new things to wear, which will be fun.

After 4 intensive days of shopping - and not even seeing the city of Hoi An or the historical sites in Hue, which we both are disappointed about, Cindy and I boarded a bus for Hanoi. We barely slept a wink on the bus, but I did get to watch Dazed and Confused, thanks to Jason and Ellaine, and the guy behind me didn't kick the back of my seat for the whole 12 hour ride, so it wasn't completely horrific. :)

We've been in Hanoi for about 5 hours, and did some grocery shopping for coffee (they sell these coffee packets here that already have the cream and sugar added, so we've been saving money by filling up our thermoses with hot water and making our own coffee) and snacks for the train. Cindy is mailing her clothes right now, and I'm trying to catch up on emails since I've been MIA for a while. At about 8:00, we'll board a train north to Sapa, which I think will be one of the highlights of our trip. Sapa is known for the tribal people who live in the surrounding villages, and is supposed to be very picturesque. We're hoping to do some hiking while we're there and get to see more of the countryside. I hope the climate is a lot like Dalat because the escape from the humidity for just a day was wonderful!

When we return from Sapa, we'll have 2 full days of sight-seeing in Hanoi, which will probably be a contrast to what we saw in Saigon since the north of Vietnam is definitely not pro-USA and will probably present a different side of history as far as the Vietnam War is concerned. Then we'll take a 3-day tour of Halong Bay, which is just ouside of Hanoi, before boarding a 36-hour bus to Laos, which I'm not looking forward to, but the bus rides sometimes make for the best stories, so we'll see what kind of stories I come home with. :)

I hope everyone back home is doing well. I hear the Weber family campout was a big success, so I guess you didn't miss me too much. :) Happy belated birthday to Kylene Miller (July 7).

Happy 4th of July!

To all of you out on the lakes, rivers, and campsites everywhere, I hope you're having a great time and are enjoying some great fireworks right now. Cindy and I celebrated the 4th (and Canada Day a few days late) with a few beers last night, and thought of all of you.

Cheers!

Good morning, Vietnam!

Cindy and I spent 3 amazing days in the Mekong River Delta. The first day we took a bus to Cai Be, where we went by a floating market, which is where local people sell fruit. Their market system is pretty interesting. If you're selling pineapples, you spear a pineapple and raise it on a stick over your boat, kind of like a flag. If you're selling both pineapples and dragonfruit, you spear both on the same stick and raise them both over your boat, etc. It was really pretty cool to watch their system. The one thing I didn't get though was this: If you're selling dragonfruit, why would you want to park your boat next to all the other dragonfruit sellers? :) There must be a method to their madness, but I just don't get it.

After the floating market, we continued on to a coconut candy factory. After getting sick off coconut curry in Thailand I've been shying away from coconut anything, but I was able to stomach the candy (did anyone doubt that I would?) and we bought some that we've been snacking on the last few days.

A honey farm was next on our agenda, but it was pouring rain so our visit was cut a little short. We did manage to make it from the honey farm to the fruit farm, however, and enjoyed some wonderful tropical fruit - jackfruit, lychee, etc. which was really fun. (Ellaine - you would've loved it!) We'd tried most of the different kinds served before, but this was a little different experience because we were "serenaded" by women singing traditional Vietnamese songs. VERY OFF KEY!

We ended up the first day in Can Tho, and left the following morning for the Cai Rang floating market. It was a market very similar to the one the day before, and since it was raining we probably missed out on a bunch of good pictures, but . . . I think we got enough so we weren't too disappointed. We spent more of the day at a local market, then were taken to a rice-husking mill. Although it was rice and not wheat, it was dusty enough in the mill that it reminded me of harvest and made me miss home a little bit. We learned all about the different types of rice and what they use rice by-products for -- fish food and other animal feed.

All in all, days 1 and 2 of the tour were mostly the same, but on day 2 we agreed to pay $5 extra to float down the river overnight instead of busing to Chau Doc, and it was worth every penny (and probably even the $10 they wanted to change us). We got on the boat the evening of day 2, where we met mostly French people. NOTE: Vietnam was ruled by the French for years, and many French people travel here, especially to Saigon. Everyone was very nice, even though we typically think the French hate us, and we had a great time. We had dinner on the boat, then sat on the rooftop deck and had a few beers before going to bed early so we could see the sunrise.

The morning of day 3, Cindy and I both woke up just as the sun was coming up. There were 13 other people on our boat, and only one other person was up early enough to enjoy the sunrise in all its glory, so we had the whole deck of the boat to monopolize and take millions of pictures. The sunrise was absolutely gorgeous, hence the title of this post. I even found some art that looks nearly exactly like one of my pictures, so I bought it and am going to frame it to preserve my memory. :)

After breakfast on the boat, we disembarked and did a short hike up Sam Mountain, which is home of the Cavern Pagoda. From there, we could see the Cambodian border and looked down over rice paddies. Then, we boarded a longboat rowed by an old woman who gave us bananas and let us try on her cone-shaped hat for photos, and visited a fish farm. It's a small farm that is contained under a person's house.

From the fish farm, we toured the floating village of Chau Doc, then went to Cham, a village that is inhabited by the Islamic minority people in Vietnam. The Cham weavers are famous for their work, and we (of course) bought some of their exquisite handicrafts. Then we boarded the big boat we arrived on, and came back to Saigon just to go to the night market and shop till we dropped. (Mom and Dad - look out. In about 3 months your mailbox will be full!)

We spent Friday and Saturday shopping and shipping all of our souvenirs, and today boarded a bus for the Cu Chi tunnels, which are tunnels that the Viet Minh built, lived, and fought in for about 20 years during the Vietnam War. The tunnels are quite extensive, and we climbed through a stretch about 100 meters long that has been enlarged so Western tourists can fit in it. Good thing, too. They were tiny and we were crawling on our hands and knees for a while. Some people had to stop early because they couldn't fit throught he tunnels!

After we came back from the tunnels, we spent 2 hours at the Vietnam War Museum. Not knowing much about the war, it was really interesting to see the Vietnamese viewpoint on how things went. I think I should educate myself a little bit more so I'm not brainwashed in the next few weeks that I'll be here. :)

The bus is here, so I have to go. We're headed to Mui Ne Beach for a few days in the sun before going to do some hiking in Dalat and (more) shopping in Hoi An.

I hope everyone is safe and sound back home and that you're getting good weather.

Vietnam - at last!

After a few depressing - yet great - days in Cambodia, we made it to Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City to the rest of the world) the evening of June 22nd. While Cindy was out scouting for good deals on hostels, I chatted with Albert, who has been living in Vietnam since May since medical care is cheap and good here. Through the course of the conversation, I learned that Albert had not only lived in Washington - he and his wife were both Cougs AND he had spent a summer harvesting in Lacrosse. When I mentioned that Gramps was from Lacrosse and reminded him of "the old Schreck place" he knew what I was talking about. It's such a small world.

After Cindy returned from her hostel-hunt and determined we were already at the best place, we promptly dropped our bags and headed out to - what else? - the circus! Our hostel is just off a great little park where a circus was being performed. For about $3 American we got to see a magic show, clowns, and elephants and monkeys doing tricks. The kids that were there absolutely loved it, but Cindy and I weren't super impressed. Good thing we pre-funked. :)

After the circus we were off to dinner, where we met a group of about 8 British guys who were out for their last night in Saigon before moving on to Cambodia. We were out dancing when we ran into Chris, Christopher, and Audun (the guys we met in Phnom Penh). We're all traveling in the same direction, so we may be seeing them again. We'll see . . .

The 22nd was pretty low-key, considering we were out really late the night before. Cindy and I wandered around in a park for a while, where I noticed that more men were hanging out with kids than women. Maybe that's because it was Sunday and it's the only day the dads have time to spend with their children, or maybe it's because all of the women were in packs, walking around the park to get exercise. In either case, I thought it was interesting. One of the kids, a girl who was probably 8 or 9, picked flowers and gave them to me, which was really cute. Later, I re-gifted them to another little girl on the street since I knew I couldn't keep them. We then continued on to the night market.

The Saigon night market is the best one we've been to so far. The others have been small in comparison (and we didn't even see everything since the indoor shops closed early). We bought a few things (jewelry mostly and a tiny bit of art), but are waiting to come back here in a few days before we do any mass shopping for clothing or any souvenirs. Then we'll probably be shipping stuff home, which means my backpack will be getting lighter soon. Yay!

Tomorrow we're leaving for a 3-day tour of the Mekong River delta. We'll see some floating villages, farmers working in the rice paddies, a few factories, and floating markets. I'm very excited to see what life is like in the countryside in comparison to what it's like in the city.

I hope everyone is doing well back home. Happy birthday to Patsy Chandler! I think I missed it but I'm still close, right? :)