Eric and Beth - El Mundo

Blush Magazine

2010-06-03T10:00:00.006-04:00

Just when you guys thought you were done hearing from us...

A friend of my dad's wrote an article about Eric and I in Blush Magazine (a magazine published in Chattanooga, TN). The writer interviewed Eric and wrote an article based on their discussion. I did an online questionnaire and she included some of that as well.

The magazine is also online so you can check it out!!

www.blushmag.net
We are on pages 32 – 33...

Travel Checklist for World Travel

2010-03-31T15:02:00.017-04:00

This checklist will enable you to take everything you need (in most countries) around the world with ease. Many low cost airlines cover the cost of checked luggage up to 15 Kgs (33Lbs). If over this limit, many airlines will charge for extra weight. Beth and I had our packs right up to that number most of the time.

CLOTHING:

1 (maybe 2) pair of Jeans.
1 - zip off nylon pants/shorts.
1 - swimming suit.
1-2 dry fit t-shirts.
1- light, compact-able Rain jacket.
1 - hooded sweatshirt.
1-2 dressier items (for guys a polo, girls can probably get 2 dresses).
3-4 pair of Dry fit Undies. (I recommend Exoficio Travel underwear, washes well in the sink).
1 fleece.
2 pair of Smart Wool socks.
2 pair of regular socks.
1 pair of flip flops (non leather).
1 pair of shoes that you can wear hiking, casually, and into restaurants.
1 travel Towel. They dry quickly and fit nicely in your pack. Many hostels in Europe include towels in your stay, the rest of the world does not.

ESSENTIALS:

4-6 Passport sized photos - many countries require that you purchase Visas on arrival. If you don't have "passport sized" photos, they can cha rge a hefty fee.
Duct tape is a must.
1 Headlight - use when reading at night, or rummaging around your hostel room in the dark.
1 medical kit including: advil, travel meds, mosquito repellant (at least 20% DEET), water purification tablets, tums, and all other medications.
1 Masterlock combination lock.
2 smaller locks (used for zippers on your pack and day pack).
1 unlocked cell phone (iphone is the best).
1 bandanna.
3-5 Tide Laundry travel packages (depends on length of your trip).
1 cap/hat.
3-4 small 99 cent travel tubes of SPF 30 Sun Lotion. The last thing you want is to lug around a large tube.
1 memory stick(8 or 16MB). Even if you are not taking pictures, you might meet someone who documents everything. You can swap photos easily this way.
1-3 rolls of Charmin travel size rolls of toilet paper. This is a MUST have.
small scissors and/or knife.
student ID.
Salt and pepper packets are great for bland food (you can always snag these somewhere).
1-2 small carabiners.

BRING PHOTO COPIES OF YOUR:

Visas

Credit Cards

Passport

Travel Insurance (if you have it)

TIPS:

If you are planning a large trip (4+ months) I think that a small laptop (otherwise referred to as a Netbook) is a MUST. This is great for backing up photos, taking notes, and most importantly, trip planning. Computer usage fees can be pretty expensive at Internet cafes.

When at the airport and the immigration lines are really long, stick to the outside lanes if you can. Chances are they will open up another one (if you keep your eye out, you can time it perfectly).

Bringing a roll of duct tape can take up way too much space. What I do is wrap around 10-15 feet of it onto my nalgene water bottle.

Bringing a student ID can save you heeps of cash. Every museum, park, event, or public transportation hub we went to, I asked politely if th ey gave a student discount. Often times they did! If you don't have one, ask anyways.

I like to roll my duct up on my water bottle. That way, it's pretty much always with you during the day.

If you don't carry a water bottle, just take a quarter or half roll with you and flatten it.

I recommend having a buddy with a decent camera shoot some head shots of you and stick them on a 4X6 print out so that you have several with you at all times. This is also very cheap. 6 passport sized photos will run you at least 10 bucks in a CVS. This way is is about 1 buck per copy of 6.

Here is a list of travel resources that I used while planning my trip:

www.skyscanner.com (amazing for flights)
www.wikitravel.com (best free guidebooks in the world)
http://travel.state.gov/travel/travel_1744.html (all info on Entry/Exit requirements)

www.cdc.gov (the only way to find out exactly what immunizations you need)

www.youtube.com
www.tripadvisor.com
www.hostelworld.com

Back to the "real" world

2010-03-30T19:44:00.007-04:00

To catch everyone up to speed...

I am now working for a new company in Atlanta and Beth is currently doing freelance graphic design work at a firm in North Atlanta. We are both getting back into the groove of our normal, busy lives. We think about our trip daily and often wonder what else is out there. What else is there to see? What did we forget to bake into our round the world trip? Many say, "man, I bet all that travel only made you more liable to be get "bug" bitten again." Well, as much as we love getting lost around the globe, we are ready to move forward with our careers and goals. Don't worry though, we have talked about the next destination for vacation, and it is going to be REAL good, but its going to be a while before that happens.

Some notes I wrote on the last flight of the trip...

Beth and I tried new foods, drinks, and experiences, pushing the limits of our comfort zones. We used public transportation everywhere possible, attempted to communicated in the native tongue, and always had a pocket full of coins and bills from different countries. We took 38 flights, 7 ferries, 10 buses, and 7 vans to fully circumnavigate the globe. In India alone we used at least 14 different methods of streets transportation (mototaxi, elephant, horse rickshaw, etc). 25,000+ miles around the earth and here I sit.

I am here in the Austin airport about to board the last and ONLY delayed flight of my entire trip. I feel as if nothing ever happened. No trip, no experience, nothing. I really have to focus to remember just how I felt in the abscence of warm showers, potable water, air conditioning/heating, and how life seemed so hard and frustrating on one hand, but completely pure and comfortable on the other. I try to tell myself that I am a completely changed person, but after a shave and a few days of R&R in Austin, I am suddenly back to my old routines. I guess what I am trying to get at is that it is hard to step outside of our fantastic US of A and see what the world has to offer, even after you have seen it. Thoughts of the children in Laos, the street hustlers in India, the surreal landscapes of New Zealand, and all the fellow travelers along the way, made the whole experience worth it.

My only advice to anyone considering a trip that you have been dreaming about: stop dreaming and do it. That is was a buddy of mine told me. "Tietz, do it"

Thanks for reading, Beth and I have appreciated your comments and questions.

...Soon I will be posting a round the world checklist for y'all out there who don't know what to pack.

Last But Not Least, Sydney.

2010-02-11T19:02:00.018-05:00

Eric and I arrived back in Australia on February 5th. We were both ready to get back to one more large city before heading back to the USA. Sydney welcomed us with rain, not surprising.

The hostel we booked, Wake Up Hostel, proved to be a key factor in enjoying Sydney. Our roomates were very welcoming and we bonded over goon immediately.

Room 306.

The five days we spent in Sydney went by really quickly. The entire weekend was full of rain but that didn't stop us from enjoying our last weekend abroad. We spent lots of time around our hostel watching movies and catching up on some much needed sleep. We visited Bondi beach, which is the main surfers beach of Sydney. Luckily the rain didn't stop us from watching people catch the large waves. We also made it out to the very popular World Bar in Kings Cross. All in all it was a very wet yet productive and fun weekend.

Beaches are just not as cool in the rain.

Enjoying a night out with our roomates.

World Bar served drinks in tea pots. Eric of course found a new use for the cups.

Monday morning we woke up early to catch the Superbowl (which by the way is not nearly as cool on a Monday without the American commercials). After teaching our English friends the rules of American football we all decided it was about time we actually saw some of what Sydney had to offer. The sun finally decided to make an appearance so we took the rest of the day to walk around Sydney. Darling Harbor, Sydney Harbor Bridge, and the Opera House were just as spectacular as everyone had said.

Enjoying views from the Sydney Tower.

Fountains in the city.

Finding the entrance to the bridge is trickier than one may think. It took us about 30 minutes of wondering around to figure out how to get up there.

Hello Opera House.

Our last day abroad could not have gotten much better. The sun was finally out with no clouds in the sky. We took advantage of the day and hopped on a ferry to head over to Manly Beach, a beach located about 7 miles northeast of Sydney city. We shopped and spent the majority of our day laying on the beach and watching surfers attempt to ride the waves. We steered clear of the water after hearing so many horror stories of shark attacks in southern Australian. After finishing our picnic dinner we made the journey back across the harbor just in time to see the Sydney Opera House and Sydney Bridge silhouetted in the Australian sunset. Manly beach was definitely my favorite spot in Sydney.

Leaving the harbor.

Cruising to Manly Beach (yes I know the pole needs to be photoshopped off of my head).

As our travels quickly came to an end on February 10th, Eric and I both felt that we had completed a huge accomplishment. We had successfully traveled around the globe with no enormous mishaps or illnesses. Everything that we had planned (mostly that Eric had planned) proved to be fantastic and full of great memories. The 15 (or more) countries that we got to experience left us with so much insight into other cultures, religions, and cuisines of the world. There are many places on the list that will for sure be revisited. We will definitely be talking about memories from the trip until we are both too old and gray to remember them.

For now, it's home to America to get back to our family, friends and careers. Hopefully this trip will cure the travel bug for at least a year, no promises though.

Heaps of fun in New Zealand

2010-02-03T18:25:00.021-05:00

On Thursday, January 21st we took an afternoon flight from Melbourne to Christchurch. With the 2 hour time difference, our arrival time was 11 pm, 18 hours ahead of Atlanta. We had a reservation with a car rental company for the following morning and the pick up was at the airport so another night in the airport terminal was in store. After several failed attempts to sleep on the floor, our New Zealand trip finally began. Leaving the airport we were greeted with NZ's finest weather, full on rain with cold winds. Fantastic.

A few days prior we had planned out a rough 14 day itinerary for the south island. The first part was heading into Marlborough wine country where we would explore vineyards, valleys and excellent beaches.

We spent the first day heading up the coast with a stop in Kaikoura to see the fur seals then on to Picton for the evening. Picton is known for is Queens Elizabeth hikes and also for its port which serves as the gateway to the north island. The next day we decided to skip the hiking there since the weather was less then ideal and push forward to Nelson, a town right outside of the famous Abel Tasman national park. Cruising through the mountains and lush valleys with vineyards on either side was a real treat. In this region there are over 150 vineyards. The climate provides a perfect environment for Savaugnon Blanc. We decided to post up on Nelson for the night and check out some of the local eateries and bars. In an attempt to save money, the whole eatery idea turned into Beth and I eating ramen for dinner and having some beers with the locals.

Enjoying a roadside stop with our vehicle "Twitch." The name came to mind as I was struggling in first gear when leaving the rental agency. The clutch was a little different than our vans from Australia.

A cool shot of hundreds of shoes along a roadside fence in Marlborough.

In the morning we set out for Abel Tasman, a huge national park on the north western coast that spans for miles along some of New Zealand's best beaches. Beth and I decided to take a boat tour of the entire park. On our return we ask the captain if we could hike back and he said it was an easy 3 hour, 12 kilometer walk through the rainforest. In! This was certainly one of the best decisions I had made in a while as this hike turned out to be our favorite experience in nz. The hike did infact take around 3 hours but the scenery was much more beautiful than we expected. Ferns about 20 feet in diameter and waterfalls every quartermile made me feel as if I was in a different world. One much like the planet from the blockbuster AVATAR, except without crazy dinaosaur wolves and sAgornie weaver. We finished the trail around 8 pm, grabbed dinner at a local pizza joint, the drove into a neighborhood, parked the car, and carcamped for the evening. Money was VERY tight so sleeping in the car would have to do every few nights or so.

Hiking the Abel Tasman park was outstanding. From lagoon, to beach, to rainforest and back to beach in a matter of minutes was truly amazing.

Capturing waterfalls is my new favorite thing to shoot.

The following day we made our way down to Hamner Springs, a quaint mountain town outside of Christchurch known for it's sulfur hot spring pools. This was our last stop in the north before heading west to glacier country.

1. I hate Swans. 2. My uncle Rudy said that if you can act bigger than any bird, even ostriches, they will submit. 3. I win.

On Tuesday we came back through Christchurch for lunch and then pushed forward to the west coast. Along the way were many excellent scenic stops for tourists. My favorite was Arthur's Pass, a narrrow pass through high peaks with super windy roads and small, one-lane bridges. We also checked out the pancake rocks and blowholes in Punakaiki. Thousands of years of compression of flattened rocks stacked on top of each other created these huge coastal crags. We went at high tide to catch a possible blow-holing. This only happens when the wind is strong during high tide. Well, I thought conditions were perfect but evidentliy they were not. The " blowhole" did nothing but disappoint. We left and caught the sunset on the coast (by the way, this was at 9:40 pm. what time is the sun setting in Atlanta?)

Scenic stop at Arthur's Pass.

A random stop on the way to Franz Josef. Not sure how the water could actually look like this.

The next stops on the list were the two glacier towns; Franz Josef, and Fox. There are more tour companies around these towns then you would ever imagine so choosing a tour became quite tedious. With little input from Beth I decided that we would do a skydivve tour of Fox glacier and then a half day glacier hike on Franz Josef. I figured the "go ahead and book it" technique would prevent Beth from backing out of skydiving. Truth be told, it worked and little nervous Beth found her self at 12000 feet wondering what she was doing and why she was still with me. In the end, the thrill overcame the anxiety and she loved the experience, as did I... of course.

I think Beth looks pretty excited in this picture don't you? You should see the one before it.

If you look closely you can see Beth cruising around in the background.

A perfect landing.

The following morning we made breakfast, grabbed some crampons (spike attachments for hiking boots) and joined a tour for Franz Josef Glacier. I must say, glaciers are way more impressive than I thought. Everyday the snow/ice/rock mass moves and changes, making the tours exciting for guides and tourists. We saw small ice caves and drank glacier water. Climbing was tricky at times but very manageable. Another great one.

On Franz Josef Glacier.

That's a lot of ice.

Making our way further south we headed into queenstown, the extreme sports capital of the world. If any of you out there know me well, you would understand why I was excited. On our way in (early Friday morning Jan 29th) we stopped outside of Qtown to do some sledging, which is basically white water rafting on a boogie board. We had a quick instructional session then jumped in the freezing water and began to sledge. Beth hated the first half of the trip and I loved every second of it. I coached her through it and somehow she managed to enjoy getting tossed around in rapids for the following 45 minutes. Afterwards we high tailed it to queenstown, but wait...not yet. Beth spotted Aj Hackett's bridge bungee jump, the first one of it's kind in the world. She said "E, let's just go and have a look." I knew this was in trouble. Within 20 minutes I found myself on a platform deciding if I wanted a dry jump or a dunk-in-the-river jump. Surprising I know, but I went with the dunk. Broke and starving we arrived in queenstown with a full day to explore.

Sledging down the Roaring Meg.

I always have trouble getting these things off.

Free as a bird.

Sorry mom, I had to.

Queenstown is nestled right in the mountains and sits right next to Wakatipu Lake. Everyone other store in town is either a cafe or an extreme tour outfit. Since we had already done most of the activites we wanted in the previous days, we used our time there to relax and listen to the live concert in the city center.

Enjoying an afternoon on the lake.

Giant Sequoias.

Our last major stop on the south island was Milford Sound. Even though it's not actually a true sound, Milford is one of the most beautiful in the world. Some argue that tours and overnight expeditions are not worth the hundreds of dollars that the tour companies charge, we drove up there to check it out nonetheless. The 2 hour drive through fjordland national park was spectacular on it's own, but nothing beat the 25 dollar, 1.5 hour boat cruise that we took in the sound. We spent the rest of the afternoon exploring the park and then spent the night in Te Anau, where we had already scoped out a restraurant to watch the australian open finals match on TV.

Milford Sound.

The rest of our time was spent making our way back up to Christchurch before heading to Sydney, the last stop on our fantastic voyage.

Game. Set. Match.

2010-01-20T07:38:00.017-05:00

Eric and I arrived in Melbourne on Friday, January 15th. My friend Andrew (that I knew from Auburn) lives over here so him and his fiance, Elizabeth, picked us up from the airport. We would be staying with them in the city the next six nights. Their apartment was amazing. It over looked the water and is located right in the Docklands (an area of downtown Melbourne). The night we arrived we chatted for a bit and then went to bed to rest up for our Saturday tour of Melbourne.

Everyone who comes to Australia must try Vegemite.

We tried it... and will never eat it again.

Saturday morning we lounged around and then decided that the best way to tour Melbourne would be a pub crawl. Andrew and Elizabeth showed us around the city while we sampled great drinks from their favorite bars. Our pub crawl ended in the late afternoon, just in time to have an aussie bbq at their apartment.

Eric and I enjoying the sun at a bar in the city.

Sunday we walked around the Docklands visiting the market and a few other stores in the area. Afterwards Eric and I introduced our aussie friends to Cosco. We immediately felt at home because this is one of our favorite Sunday afternoon activities back in the states. After stocking up on food and of course having a slice of pizza we made our way back to relax for a bit and enjoy some couch time (something Eric and I haven't done in months). That night we ate at a popular Japanese restaurant in the city and also checked out the massive Crown Casino (luckily we didn't play any games because we don't have much money left to lose).

Who doesn't love Cosco?

Enjoying our Japanese dinner.

Monday morning Eric and I rented a cute little Nissan and made our way to the Great Ocean Road. It takes about an hour and half to get to the coastal road and the drive itself is about four hours. The drive consists of lots of steep inclines, quaint towns, surfers, koala parks, and lots and lots of beautiful turquoise water. The end of the drive is the most magnificent with the twelve apostles breaking through the sea.

What a view!

Visiting the Twelve Apostles (although there are no longer twelve because the waves cause the rock formations to crumble).

The rest of our time in Melbourne was focused on the Australian Open. The four of us bought ground passes for Tuesday night. We found that these passes were great because you can get right next to the outside courts. Watching the players that close is a really unique and exciting experience.

Enjoying a match on the outside courts.

These girls behind me were intense.

Wednesday Eric, Elizabeth, and I bought tickets to go watch the Roddick vs Bellucci match at the Hisense Arena. These tickets also included two other women's matches and the Blake vs Del Potro match. Eric and I were in the arena for nearly 12 hours because the Blake vs Del Potro match went into the fifth set. It was a great game, even though Blake was defeated.

Roddick showing off his amazing serve. He got quite feisty at the end of his match which was very entertaining.

Enjoying a few cold ones while cheering for Blake. We really lucked out on our seats. We had a perfect view of the game and the seats were shaded most of the day.

Our stay in Melbourne was fantastic. Andrew and Elizabeth made us feel at home and were great tour guides. Melbourne's great mix of arts, music, and sports makes it really appealing to young professionals. It's definitely a city that I hope to come back and visit someday in the near future.

I guess it's time for us to act like backpackers again... we are setting off for a two week trip to the southern island of New Zealand before returning to Australia one last time to visit Sydney. Our around the world tour is quickly coming to an end but the next two weeks should be a great mix of adrenaline pumping sports and beautiful sites.

1700 Kilometers in 7 Days

2010-01-17T01:55:00.014-05:00

First of all, happy new year!

Eric and I arrived in Brisbane Australia on December 31st. We both had extremely high hopes for our new year's eve. Our hostel, The Bunk, had a connecting bar and all sorts of festivities planned. As it turns out was the lamest new year's celebration I have taken part in in 26 years. Around ten I began to run a fever and promptly went to bed. Eric stayed out about another hour before also giving up and returning to our room. We were woken up to a happy new year by our roomate peeing on the floor. Yay. Luckily the rest of the aussie experience got better.

New year's day I woke up feeling pretty crappy but was determined to see Brisbane. Eric and I climbed aboard a bus to the Lone Pine Nature Reserve where we were able to see all sorts of Australian wild life. We got to pet kangaroos, view bats, wallabies, tasmanian devils, and the highlight, hold a koala (sorry kangaroos you've been replaced).

Eric's new friend.

These were the laziest kangaroos I've ever seen. People feed them all day long and they just lounge around waiting for the next meal.

My new best friend. Koala's are actually pretty stinky animals. The eucalyptus leaves that they eat causes them to smell similar to molding mulch.

The rest of our days in Brisbane were spent exploring the quiet little city and celebrating our new year (just a few days late). Our hostel was located right in the night life district which made going out a little too convenient.

Now for the real adventure... our Wicked Camper. Eric and I rented a camper van and took off up the east coast of Australia. We spent seven nights driving, eating and living out of our stylish camper van.

Meet Wiki.

Of course no one informed us that the east coast's summer is very wet and full of cyclones. The journey was filled with lots of rain but it did not stop us from seeing the coast and the beautiful country. We made our way up the coast stopping each night in a new town. We camped in Hervey Bay, Rockhampton, Arlie Beach (for three days), Mission Beach, Port Douglas, and finally arrived in Cairns on the 11th of January.

The journey was sprinkled with day trips to the Great Barrier Reef, visits to gorges and caves, wildlife sightings, coffee fields, lots of rain, lots of pasta, and lots of great people. We both highly recommend the camper - it was great for making detours to small towns and snapping pictures of the beautiful scenery. It definitely wasn't the best sleep I've had in my life but it was worth every second.

Every night in Hervey Bay the bats come out to hunt. Almost the entire sky was filled with these creepy creatures.

Our visit to the Capricorn Caves, right outside of Rockhampton.

There is a huge chapel located inside the cave.

Just another night spent with Wiki. We became very good at cooking pasta in the dark.

We took a day trip from Arlie Beach out to the Great Barrier Reef. We spent the day on a pontoon boat snorkeling, viewing the sea from the glass bottom boat, and taking full advantage of the water slide.

We had to wear wet suits every time we entered the water because the marine stingers that are located in Queensland cause a few deaths a year. Luckily we escaped unharmed.

Best snorkeling ever!

Our second day in Arlie beach we took a sailboat out to the islands. Unfortunately it poured the entire day and was freezing. This family failed to notice the lack of sun for the day.

The rain paused long enough to allow Eric to take his first shot at Cricket.

Trying to make the best out of the rain while on a sailboat.

Enjoying my cappuccino at Jaques Coffee plantation outside of Mareeba.

Jaques had a map with push-pins of where everyone was from who visited the fields. I of course was not the first to place a pin from Atlanta.

Eric enjoying the sunshine. It probably rained about ten minutes later.

Apparently we were pretty lucky to see the endangered cassowary. I'm really glad we didn't hit him as he crossed the street.

Lesson learned. Don't take a hike without a raincoat.

Cairns was proven to be just like everyone said, nothing special but a good place to stop. Our hostel, Gilligan's, was more of a resort than a hostel and was a great way to catch up on some much needed sleep and sun. Eric got to enjoy some more of the Great Barrier Reef while I spent my day shopping and getting to know the city.

Eric learning to play the didgeridoo.

Diving the Great Barrier Reef off of Port Douglas.

From Cairns we had to take a six hour bus ride back down the coast to catch our flight from Townsville to Melbourne. Instead of staying in Townsville we took a ferry over to Magnetic Island for the night. Our hostel, Base, was located right on the coast with a fantastic view. Each room was a small hut that had eight beds. It had a great view and a great deck bar. We took part in some fun trivia and retired to our room fairly early for the night. The next morning we went on a two hour hike through a forest that had old war forts and koalas hiding in the trees. Of course, this was the highlight of Magnetic Island for me.

This baby koala was the cutest thing I have ever seen. He was making squacking noises and trying to climb out on the branches of the tree.

A quick stop while hiking to enjoy the view.

Another koala siting. This one had no problem posing for pictures.

The view from Base hostel. Not bad.

Later that afternoon we took the ferry back over to Townsville and set off for our next destination, Melbourne.

BALI BALI BALI

2009-12-28T19:33:00.027-05:00

In case you thought you'd had enough of the Asian countries, I have one more for you, Indonesia. We arrived in Bali on Wednesday (12/23) just in time for the rush of holiday travelers. Most of the the tourists that come to Bali are from Australia, so many people were surprised to hear that we came all the way from America to Bali for Christmas. hehe. Since Beth and I had been coming off a long travel day/night in Malaysia, we checked into our hotel, napped, then went to dinner. We had a reservation for the next 2 days at a very nice Resort for Christmas and wanted to rest up for the occasion.

For Christmas Eve and Day we spent most of our time enjoying the amenities of our resort (Rama Beach and Villas). We ate like kings and loved the holiday Balinese performances at the Christmas Eve Gala dinner. Relaxation and comfort is exactly what we needed before continuing on the rest of our trip.

Merry Christmas!

A pool view on Christmas Eve.

On Saturday (12/26) we made our way to the Bukit peninsula. Particularly known for its big waves, this place attracts surfers from all over the world. We came to see two things: wave riding and Uluwatu, a temple on the side of the cliffs that line coast. Beth had reserved a room at a place called Chocky's. This was one of the only places left to stay in the area due to the massive influx of holiday travelers. We took a long cab ride towards Uluwatu and had a very difficult time finding Chocky's. After many failed attempts with asking the locals where this beach side "hotel" was, we finally got ahold of the owner by phone and he gave us directions. The hotel is literally sitting on the beach and the access to the main road is about 1/2 a mile straight up a cliff. Oh well, nice leg work out. We were apparently the only ones staying at the place and when we arrived the owner gave us the loft that sits right over the beach. The room itself was not one to admire as it was very much open for critters, guess the mosquito net would have to do.

After settling in, we asked the owner to take us to the Uluwatu temple. Every night at 7 pm there is a show called the Kecak dance, which is a spiritual Balinese dance with many men formed in a circle, making all sorts of silly noises. Half the time they look like they are goofing off making these noises, and the other half looks they the are dance fighting.

A view from our room at Chockys.

At the Uluwatu Temple. Sarongs and sashes were required to enter. Notice Beth HAS her sunglasses in this picture.

HAHA. This monkey stole Beth's sunglasses (as you can see). If Beth had only listened to the guard at the front gate who said, "don't wear sunglasses, the monkey will steal them from you."

I love this picture. I snapped this while walking to the Kecak dance. I didn't realize how chill this guy looked until review my pics later. So cool.

The Kecak dance. The noises the make sounds like someone saying "kechack"

over and over again really fast.

Another mischevious monkey at sunset. This time he got some girls scrunchie.

Upon return to our hotel we were informed the power would be out half the night. Beth was NOT happy. After a couple cocktails using our headlights to watch out for critters the power came back on and enabled our fan to work - thank goodness.

The next morning we were very happy to be alive and were excited about our trip to Ubud, the culture capital of Bali. We hit the road around 9am and arrived just before noon. We were staying at a place called "T houses" which were basically a bunch of Balinese style houses that were rented out. Everything about this place was amazing. We had our own house, kitchen, outdoor shower, and swimming pool for 45 Us Dollars a night. Also included in the price was a few pets consisting of frogs in the kitchen and foot long geckos in the bedrooms, and breakfast (a maid came into to cook banana pancakes and eggs, right in front of us, at our place).

Our outdoor seating area at our house in Ubud.

Beth doing some sort of Yoga pose, I think.

A sunset view from our back yard.

We had three full days in Ubud and spent most of them relaxing and exploring the nearby towns by motorbike. One day we went to the acclaimed monkey forest where there are literally thousands of monkeys. They are all well trained and will do just about anything for a piece of food, or your water bottle. The following day we took the motorbike about an hour north to Mt. Batur to see the crater of the volcano. You can certainly see all of the solidified lava flows. Three days was definitely plenty of time on the bike. We were looking forward to tomorrow, our departure to Australia. We capped of the evening with a visit to a spa, a fish spa. What were we thinking. Our friend Adam said this was something we HAD to do. Hmm, not so much.

At Monkey Forrest in Ubud. I loved this little fella's hawk.

Beth found a huge Komodo Dragon.

At the Rice Terraces.

Another one. I found these baskets of grass quite heavy for this little man. Well, that could be because I am withering away and have zero muscle.

A night at the Fish Spa. Hundreds of tiny fish snack on the skin of your feet. The first 15 minutes were complete hell. This is not for people with really sensitive, tickelish feet, like me.

The Philippines

2009-12-23T22:04:00.027-05:00

As I sat on our dock at our hotel's restaurant overlooking the ocean with 80's music in the background, I realized that the Philippines is the best kept secret from most of the world. Most people cross the Philippines off of their travel list because of the constant turmoil of the southern-most islands. Our only motivation for stopping in the area were the cheap flights offered out of Osaka. We both knew very little about travel there but bought our lonely planet guide and got to work.

The landscape of the Philippines consists of giant rock karsts breaking through the clear blue water in all directions, bright white sandy beaches, and thousands of secluded islands. This is definitely a paradise suited for patient travelers that don't mind spending days in transit to see a new island or city. The country has remained off the beaten track for most backpackers, which has allowed the country to feel more cultural and less touristy.

Typical sunset in Boracay. We could definitely watch these daily.

Upon our long awaited arrival in Boracay on December 11 (we slept in the Manila airport the night before) we knew the next few weeks would be fantastic. Boracay is not much to look at when you first arrive. There is lots of pollution and no beach in site. Our tricycle driver let us off on a dirt road that lead us to our hotel, Frendz. We had a little cottage that was fairly simple, no air conditioning or hot water, but would do just fine for the next three nights. Boracay was beautiful. All restaurants and bars are built directly on the white sandy beach. It was a regular occurrence to eat meals with your toes in the sand. Our time in Boracay consisted of visiting Puka beach, eating fantastic (and very cheap) food, chatting with our hotel owner, watching a cock fight, listening to acoustic music on the beach, meeting other travelers, watching sunsets and drinking lots of free rum and cokes (compliments of the owner Steve).

We thought we would spare you guys the gory details of the actual cock fight. The precious little boy makes for a much better photo.

Chilling with some people we met in Boracay. We were enjoying drinks at a restaurant called The Hobbit House, and yes it's run by "little people".

On December 14th we packed our things to head for another island, Palawan. This island is a little bit more rustic with less tourists and not very many forms of transportation throughout the island. We arrive in Peurto Princessa, the capital, and settle into Peurto Pension. There is not much to this city. It's fairly quiet at night so we took full advantage of the aircon and tv in our room.

The following day we took a 2 hr van ride to Sabang to see the subterranean river (the largest underground river system in the world). It was a great day trip and we finished it up with the best dinner (and cheapest) we have had on our trip.

Preparing to explore the subterranean river.
We were told numerous times to keep our mouths shut while in the cave. Apparently many guests have accidentally swallowed bat poop.

The following day we began our hellish journey from Peurto Princessa to El Nido, the northern tip of Palawan. Twelve of us piled into an eight person van and began our unforgettable journey. Only about 1/4 of the journey is paved. The rest is all gravel. Our driver was apparently in a race that we hadn't been informed of. Our "8 hour" journey was over in 5 hours and arrived with a van full of people scared for their lives.

At least the the trip was worth it. I think the following pictures will do our next three days justice at the Greenview Resort.

Enjoying the amazing sunset from our hotel.

Snorkeling in one of the many reefs nearby El Nido.

Me making the climb into a hidden cave in the small lagoon.

Our tour on day two of some secret beaches and hidden caves.
This beach's only access is by a swim-through hole in the side of a karst. We swam through as the tide was coming in causing a wave to crash against the rocks nearly drowning Eric while he video documented the entire experience.

Relaxing on the steps into the ocean on Shrine Beach.

Eric and I enjoying Hidden Beach. A few minutes after this photo was taken a baby shark swam past us. Apparently the beach isn't as hidden as we had thought.

After a few days in paradise we climbed aboard "the fast boat" that is supposed to get you from El Nido to Busuanga in 4 hours but guarantees the trip in 8 hrs. So, as expected, we arrived on Busuanga island exactly 8 hours later.

This is also a small island with nothing much to it. We came here so that Eric could dive because they have the best wreck diving in the world. A bunch of WWII ships sunk in the nearby waters. While Eric dove I joined another tour group to island hop. Our first stop was a pretty lake on Coron island that is ranked the cleanest in the world. After the lake we convinced our captain to be a little more adventuresome and take us to the island's tribe. This was a great experience, although we understood why he was hesitant with our request, the waters were very rough and the tribe hadn't seen visitors in nearly 6 months. They welcomed us into their town and showed us around. We climbed a huge wooded mountain to view their homes and had great views. We concluded our days journey with a trip to another lake and lagoon.

Our first night in Busuanga enjoying the salt water hot springs. We were the only white people here out of about 50 Philippinos.

Eric enjoying his deep dive at the wreck site that was located two hours away from Busuanga. Many battleships were sunk here during WWII.

Visiting the Tagbanua Calamian tribe on Coron Island.
There was a little hut that the village people lived in at the top of this mountain.
The long hike up was definatly rewarding.

A scenic stop on the way to Kayangan lake.

Our final stop in the Philippines was to explore Manila. Between the traffic, trashy streets, crowds of people, and our sub-par hostel Eric and I couldn't get out of the city fast enough. We still aren't sure if we were just in the wrong parts of the city or it was just way too different from our past week of calmness. Leaving the next morning before sunrise was not a sad event, in fact my highlight of Manila was the empty, spacious and quiet bus ride to the airport.

Eric finally getting a clean shave after much convincing. This straight razor shave cost him $1.75.

Eric enjoying the souvenir shop in Manila.

We left the Philippines and arrived in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. We only had the evening to explore the city before heading back to the airport for our flight to Bali on December 23rd.

The city lived up to the high standards we had heard and read about. The city is very clean and easy to navigate. We went to china town for some shopping and then made a pit stop at the KL Tower for an aerial view of the Petronas Towers and the surrounding city. After that we went to the mall and happily settled into a table at Chili's for some yummy American cuisine. After dinner we went to the midnight showing of Avatar (which was quite entertaining) and then headed back to the airport around 3am for a quick nap. Short but sweet trip through Kuala Lumpur complete.

Enjoying the Petronas Towers under the stars.

Now on to Bali for our Christmas vacation from our vacation. We hope that everyone has a very Merry Christmas and happy holidays. We miss everyone from back home!

Turning Japanese, I really think so

2009-12-09T19:06:00.029-05:00

Let me just kick this one off by saying Japan is a fabulous country. Japan is tied with Vietnam for first place in my opinion... so far.

We arrived on Tuesday Dec. 1st around 1:30 pm. My friend Miki, a former player on the UGA Women`s Lacrosse Team as a foreign exchange student, lives in Japan and met us at the airport. Miki certainly helped out because arriving in Tokyo can be a bit overwhelming, especially with the spider webs of train routes everywhere. After about an hour and a half of train rides into downtown Tokyo we arrived at the Sakura Hostel. We went out for some Japanese Ramen, a beer, and then strolled through the nearby market.

The next day Beth and I met up with Miki and her boyfriend Junpei to do some sightseeing around the Shinjuku area of town. We went into some massive shopping malls and electronics stores, then went to the top of some government building for an excellent 360 view of Tokyo. Afterwards we jetted back to the hostel to get there before our friend Jason arrived from Atlanta. Jason was going to be with us through out the rest of Japan. He got in around 7 pm and we immediately went out for some Sushi.

Jason and I at the Sushi restaurant. As you can see, the sushi is rotating on a belt behind our table. All the plates are color coded. The lighter the colored plates, the cheaper it is. After you are done they count the number of plates you had and hand you your bill. The servers don`t count themselves, each plate has and RFID chip in it and all the server does is scan the stack of plates with a hand-held device, and out comes you bill. We felt like we were in the future.

Thursday was spent in the rain doing more sightseeing, and train riding. Friday was absolutely gorgeous out so we took full advantage. We visited the Meiji-Jingu Shrine in the middle of Yoyogi park. This is similar to central park in New York, from what I hear (since I have never been). After a great day we started planning for an even greater night. The agenda consisted of: Okonomiyaki for dinner (this is where you cook your dinner at your table on a hot iron skillet), meeting up with Miki, Junpei, and a bunch of cool folks from the hostel, heading to Roppongi (Tokyo`s party district), then staying out till 4:30 am and heading to the Sukiji fish market to sample the freshest fish in town, right off the boats. Well... everything went according to plan, except when we finally arrived at Sukiji around 5:30 am, it was cold, a little rainy, and we were not in the mood for fish. We road the long train back to our hostel and got a nap before checking out and heading to Kyoto via the BULLET train!!!

Pretty sure we were evenly matched.

Okonomiyaki for dinner in the Asakusa district.

Riding on one of hundreds of trains. It was Friday night and we were on our way to meet up with Miki and Junpei. From left to right we have Jimmy from LA, Beth and Jason from the wonderful Atlanta, Kim from Soule, and Tim from Australia. We had a great time with everyone on this long night out.

Junpei, Miki and I.

A stunning view of Tokyo and the Statue of Liberty... Wait, what!? Yep, its there alright.

Kyoto, is a city about 300 Km south west of Tokyo and is known as the most traditional city in Japan. We were excited to get a good taste of the real Japanese culture. To make things even more special, we booked a room at a traditional Ryokan style guest house. This is a place where the doors are all paper thin, you sleep on a small mattress on the floor, and there are no shoes allowed anywhere inside the house. We all loved this place the most.

In our bedroom at the Ryokan style guest house. They give you robes and slippers to wear around the house.

Entrance to our room.

The sightseeing in Kyoto was amazing. Temples and Shrines every quarter mile or so, geisha dressed in kimonos, and food that will blow your mind. On Saturday we toured the city by bus, and covered as much ground as we could. Sunday, we headed for Nara, a town about 30 minutes from Kyoto know for its temples and parks that are filled with VERY VERY tame deer. On our way back from Nara we stopped at the Fushimi Inari-Tiasha Shrine. We showed up just before dusk and thought we had missed everything to see. We were certainly wrong. There is a walk way leading up into the hills that is 4 km long with red shrine gates all the way up. Following each gate up the hillside in the dark was an experience not to be forgotten. This was truly something special. The next day we hung around Kyoto again and went to the Bamboo forest and attempted to go feed monkeys but the park closed before we could get there. Kyoto is a great hub for travel in central Japan.

A typical Geisha in the streets of Kyoto.

A view of one of the hundreds of temples and shrines in the Kyoto area.

Moments after Beth bought some Deer Cookies.

Beth and Jason at the Fushimi Inari-Tiasha Shrine.

There were thousands of these gates lining the mountain in a maze of trails.

Jason snapping shots in the bamboo forest.

Beth, cold as usual in Japan.

The last two days were spent in and around Osaka. Before we actually checked out the city, we had priorities to take care of, Kobe beef in Kobe. I had been looking forward to this for the last 25 years. After many different recommendations and run arounds for the best, well priced steak houses, we finally found the place. I had never experienced Kobe Beef before, and Jason had only eaten it once. The chef had a very specific process and many procedures for preparing the beef. We loved watching him cook the steak right in front of us, but it almost seemed like he was teasing us as our mouths watered. Moments later, I placed the first bite into my mouth and savored it for about 5 minutes. The steak was so tender, so juicy, and fatty, without seeming fatty. AMAZING. Although, VERY expensive, it was worth every penny.

OOOOH...AHHHH. KOBE

Just drooled again.

Most people don't have many good things to say about Osaka, but the downtown area is actually quite cool. There are more street lights and billboard sized ads on each building than anywhere I have seen. Somewhat like Las Vegas and Times Square put together. We enjoyed our last night out in Japan by toasting a few more glasses of sake and filling our bellies with sushi.

Today is Thursday and we head to the airport at 4pm to hop on a 4 hour journey to Manila, Philippines. I'm very excited to return to the warm weather but VERY sad to say goodbye to Japan (although I plan on coming back in the future).

Stay tuned...

Beijing... a unique experience

2009-12-01T08:13:00.018-05:00

This is the only part of Beth and I's Journey when we were not flying together. I used my round the world ticket leg to get from Bankok to Beijing by way of Soule, and Beth booked a flight on Malaysian airways that had a layover in Kuala Lumpur. The reasoning for this is that my flight was essentially free and for Beth to book the same flight (outside of a RTW ticket) it would cost her about 650 US. Luckily her flight and mine arrived in Beijing with in a few hours of each other.

Beth and I met at the baggage claim, and bundled up to prepare ourselves for the 3 degree wintry chill (about 35 F). We made our way to our hostel (Sitting on the City Walls Hostel) before scurrying around town for a Thanksgiving meal. Thanks to a friend of Beth's, we were able to scout out probably the only "Texas" BBQ joint outside of the United states. After walking in the blustery winter winds for a kilometer or so we found the gift from god, Tim's BBQ. Greeted with a Chinese staff all sporting Texas flag button downs, and a house full of BBQ lovers from all over the world, we settled right in for Thanksgiving feast. There was a special menu that featured turkey, sweet potatoes, and all the other normal American Thanksgiving sides. And then there was the BBQ menu with brisket, ribs and everything else I love. Beth and I decided to go big and get everything.

Brisket and Mexican Martinis, okay.

We completely stuffed ourselves. I felt like I was back home.

The first 2 full days in Beijing were spent at the local sights. We went to the Forbidden City and walked and walked until all the different sections started to run together. I will say, the city is one of the most impressive places we have been. We took advantage of an audio guide to learn about all the different buildings and courtyards that were used during each emperors reign. Although very cold, this experience was certainly worth every second. We checked out Tienanmen Square afterwards, then made it back to our hostel for some tea and a movie.

Sporting the Panda in the Forbidden City.

Not sure the guard liked this very much.

The next day we spent at the Summer Palace and the 2008 Olympic stadium. After many bus and subway stops in the cold weather we realized the ideal time of year for sight seeing was not in December.

The Summer Palace in the winter time (notice the frozen lake in the background).

Lastly, I have to mention the great wall of China. We finally made it there on our last full day in Beijing and it was a good one, clear skies and the warmest day we'd had since arrival. We decided to avoid the over priced tours and take the public bus to the wall. The section of the wall we headed for was called Mutianyu. This a little less touristy than others and you can toboggan down from the top. The bus ride worked out well and we were at the entrance in about an hour (much less than we expected). We took a Gondola up to the top and toured around for about an hour or so. Let me just say... the Great Wall is much greater than I thought. Snaking through the hills, the wall is easily 10 times larger than anticipated, and this was just a small section. Tobogganing down was super fun. There are no real restrictions on speed. The workers just tell you that if you want to go fast, push the control bar forward, and if you want to slow down, pull it back (safe, right?). I decided to go long as I could without braking, but this sled ride was certainly more than just dangerous. I nearly flew off the track and into the woods within the first 2 minutes of the 10 minute ride. I liked it though.

At the top of Mutianyu.
You can see the Great Wall snaking through the hills in the background.

In one of the towers.

Taking a little jog on the wall.
Evidently, there are Marathons held on the Great Wall
every year in May.

The last part of our China experience I would like to share is the Hustle. We got seriously hustled there.

1. I bought a sweet panda hat on the street for about 3 US dollars. I handed the guy 100 Yuan (15 bucks) and he gave me what I thought were the correct denominations back (but in a DIFFERENT currency.... Belareus) which totaled around 2 cents.

2. We ordered Chinese pancakes just outside of the great wall. These are very common and usually have banana, chocolate and other sweets in them. The only problem was that we forgot to ask about price before we sunk our teeth in. When I finally asked "how much?" the lady said that I owed around 16 US dollars. I was in a rage and somehow talked here down to around $8.

3. When leaving the great wall, we hired a taxi to take us down to the bus stop. We paid the driver with a One Hundred Yuan note and after a few minutes he came back to Beth and I and said that we need to give him a different bill because the one we gave him was counterfeit. Being intuitive, I realized that this cabi may have switched our bill out for one of his (fakes ones) and tried to get rid of it by exchanging it with us. I called this guy out on it and argued for about and hour. After about 20 Chinese locals huddled around us and we argued and argued, Beth and I decided to just take the fake money and pay for the taxi with our smaller money, but not for the full price of course. I talked him down another few dollars before leaving. My original plan was that Beth and I would go back to the street where I bought the panda hat, and I would purchase another one with THE fake note, trying to get back at the hobo who gave me Belareus currency a few days earlier. What ended up happening is that Beth and I went out for a nice expensive Peking Duck dinner that night and we may or may not have slipped in our 100 note there.

In the end, I think that China won. If you ever go, be careful.

On to Japan.

I can't believe people eat these.
The Scorpions were still squirming.

A night shot in the courtyard of one of our hostels.
This was in an area of the city referred to as a "hutong," which is basically a typical
Chinese neighborhood that reflects the traditional culture.

We met up with Cindy Xu.
She is a friend of one of Beth and I's friends.
She showed us around town for a night.

Outside the Duck Restaurant on a rickshaw.

Quacky always wanted to be served extra Quispy.

So delicious!

Bangkok- Third Time's A Charm

2009-11-29T00:00:00.015-05:00

The four of us: Eric, Adam and Alex, and I piled onto yet another airplane bound for Bangkok. Upon arrival we said farewell to our travel companions as Eric and I headed into the city for a third time. Sadly our cab driver didn't understand my request for Elvis. The hostel (Udee's) I booked was amazing. It was brand new, cost ten dollars a night, was spotless, had large bunk beds and a great staff. This was probably our nicest accomodation (besides the Mariott Adam treated us to), thusfar.

We spent the day getting aquainted with the sprawling city. It felt like a spring day outside so walking around the city was great. We planned for our Saturday night in Bangkok to be spent bar hopping, but all was changed when we found Thang Le Street. Eric found a bar that served Hoeegarden and Chimay so we sipped on our two favorite (yet very expensive) exports and continued our way down the street. The next find caused all former party plans to be shattered... Tom's grocery store. I don't know who this Tom fellow is but he made my day. We hadn't seen any form of a grocery store since Greece so we both became really excited. We stocked up on the good stuff, doritos, cheezits, Oreos (double-stuffed of course) and gum then happily got a cab home to our delightful hostel with our Saturday night complete.

The following day we toured the city, visiting wats and other important sites before stumbling upon best thing since doritos... A movie theater with New Moon playing in English. After lots of convincing and bribing Eric and I settled into the most amazing movie theater seats I've seen. As we were watching the previews somethig strange happened. The entire movie theater stood up. We were beyong confused and then realized there was a commercial praising the king being played. By far the weirdest event we'd seen. Giggling, we joined in the strange event hoping no one had noticed our extreme confusion and lack of respect.

Reclining Buddah at Wat Pho.

Donation buckets at Wat Pho.

Tuesday Eric and I decided to test out our navigation skills and began our journey to the floating market (a few hour trip usually scheduled through a travel agency). We arrived at the market and hopped into our long tail boat eager to explore the market. The driver cruised around the tiny water ways occasionally stopping to let us shop and buy fresh fruit. After the market we set off on adventure #2, Kanchanaburi town. This was a bit more tricky. The town is located east of Bangkok near Burma. After lots of hand signals and trying to interpret Thai we found our way to an open air public bus, regular bus and finally the bus stop to Kanchanaburi. The town was quaint and is nestled in the mountains near waterfalls and other national parks. We explored the bridge over the River Kwai, the start of the infamous World War II Death Railway to Burma (Myanmar), and then dined at the best pizza place we've found in two months.

Hide and seek at the floating market.

Hey fruity!

Checking out the bridge.

A view from the terrace at our hotel.

Wednesday morning was spend lazily reading by the river on our hotel's porch and strolling around town. For the afternoon we headed to the Tiger Temple. This is a tiger reserve and temple that houses dozens of tigers, leopards, peacocks, and deer.
The real treat is being able to get up close and personal with these enormous cats.

Thats a big kitty.

When they said we would see the feeding of a baby tiger...we were not expecting this 400LB cat.

After our rendezvous with the tigers we got on another bus back to Bangkok. The last day and a half in Bangkok was spent primarily at Siem Square ( Phipps mall on steroids ) where we took part in another "praying to the king" experience while watching 2012(my punishment for making Eric see New Moon). We also went bowling there to pass our time before heading to the airport.

From Bangkok we are heading to Beijing for Thansgiving and then meeting my friend Jason in Tokyo on December 1. We are excited for a change of pace, culture and weather (for a few weeks) before returning to our endless summer in the Philippines, Bali, and Australia.

Laos

2009-11-28T23:27:00.018-05:00

(Side note: I realize this post is very late. It was nearly impossible to do anything blog related in china since everything cool on the internet is blocked. Our apologies)

On November 17 Eric, Adam, Alex and I caught a rather pricey flight to Luang Probang, Laos. It seemed our best option considering our amount of travel time left in southeast Asia. Upon arrival into Laos we were greeted with news of our $35 visa that needed to be purchased. Not cool.

The only affordable accomodation we could find (Laos is not as cheap as it's neighbors) was a three person room at the Rama hotel. we arrived to our hotel and put on our puppy dog faces to try and convince the staff to let all share a room. Our pleading worked so we piled into our room containing three queen sized beds all pushed together, forming one massive mattress. It was great for a photoshoot and slumber party.

That is one huge bed.

Our second day in Laos was spent mostly in our private van. Our driver took us to see the spectacular water falls southwest of the city. After our waterfall visit, the trip got much more interesting. We headed to Vang Vieng, a city located about six hours south of Luang Prabang. The entire ride consisted of switch-backs through the mountains. This could have been enjoyed a little more if our driver was not pretending to be in a racecar accelerating around every turn. Despite his driving skills the scenery was beautiful. Each turn brought us to a new town of children playing, people working and pigs darting across the road. The ride became even more interesting once it got dark and foggy. Luckily we safely made it to Vang Vieng (only a few hours later than planned) and checked into the only vacant hotel we could find.

Who knows?

Too bad it was too cold for a swim.

1, 2, 5... say cheese.

A nice pic of the main waterfall.

The Laotian kids were adorable.

Hey Hey big fella.

We found this city to be quite simple. It consists of three main streets, a few bars and restaurants and a bus station. Most menus offered the same food, which consisted of pretty much anything imaginable (this makes choosing a meal quite difficult). Well we obviously didn't travel hours upon hours for the city or the food. We traveled hours to this city for the tubing.

Once a small town, only used for a stop-over point, Vang Vieng has become famous for it's tubing an activity that dominates the town and it's visitors. Thursday morning we rented our tubes and set off for the river. Quickly we found that there is not much tubing involved in tubing except to get from bar to bar. The people of Laos have turned the river into one big party by building bars all down the river banks. It's the dare devil's dream. Each bar is equipped with their own crazy slide, swing, or zip line to launch you into the river. Oh and by the way, locals call this time in November "leg-breaking season." This is becasue the water is so low, and many drunken twenty somethings try each and every zipline, some into very shallow water. Alex and Eric had to try it. We took part in the crazyness for a few hours before heading down river in our tubes. We quickly found out why we were the only tubers...it was freezing! Upon returning to the city, feeling like an iceburg, we relaxed at dinner while watching friends reruns (Laotions favorite past time). We finished up the night with some dancing to some old school tunes that had apparently taken 10 yrs to make their way to Laos.

Get that bucket. The start of our day on the Vang Vieng.

Eric and Alex getting ready to zip-line.

Centipede wine anyone?

The things you will do for a bucket.

His prize for completing the challenge.

Classic!

Our time was short in Laos but definitly enjoyed. We finished Laos with a trip to the border town Vientiane before crossing back into Thailand.

We spent our last night with Adam and Alex in Udon Thani, a small town with an airport, and not much else.

Alex manning his post.

The typical bed side painting.

Vietnam, from Saigon to Hanoi in 8 days

2009-11-21T03:32:00.002-05:00

Crossing into Vietnam from Cambodia was easier then we thought. The charter bus was air conditioned, had free water, a toilet, and an abundance of Asian men on their cellphones (great for sleeping). We thought we were in great shape when we scratched the outskirts of Ho Chi Minh City on hour 6. That was foolish thinking because we spent another hour and a half in traffic dodging motorbikes. The amount of two seaters in this city is astonishing. Two, sometimes three or four people to a bike, no more than a few inches from the next, owned the streets of the city. After the long trek and a steamy bowl of Pho, we made our way to the Marriott Riverside Renaissance Hotel (Adam kindly cashed in some Marriott points for the rooms). 5 star hotel, free internet, free drinks, free food, and a roof top view of the city, thank you Adam. We settled in, then charged head first into the HCMC nightlife. The dancing started early on at the acclaimed Apocalypse Now bar, then ended much later at a Karaoke Bar, which turned out to be a really crappy casino. I would say it was a darn good start to our Vietnam segment.

At the Riverside Renaissance on the Club Level.

1 Dollar = 17, 780 Dong. We felt cooler than we were.

A group toast at Apocalypse Now.

Alex and I riding this lounge/elevator to the "Karaoke Bar."

After a slow start to the day, we finally decided to venture out of town to the Cu Chi Tunnels. About 60Km out of town, the tunnel system began. The tunnels were a very important part to Vietnam's strategy during the war. Miles and Miles of these tunnels criss-crossed this area much like an ant farm. Bunkers, halfway houses, hospitals, and dining halls were all connected by these 2.5 foot tall passage ways. The tunnels we went into were expanded for the sake of the tours so that big westerns could fit in. Beth still got claustrophobic and exited as quickly as possible. The Vietnamese sneaky war tactics leveraged the use of many different types of booby traps, which made me slightly nauseous to imagine. However, this part of Vietnam is must.

In an entrance to the Chu Chi Tunnels. I barely fit even after they widened the opening.

Picture of the group in a US Tank. A Vietnamese landmine could take one of these out in a single explosion. Can you find me?

Adam and I inside one of the larger tunnels

100 percent humidity + crawling around underground for a half hour = the need for a rinse.

Shooting an M-30 at the shooting range. Right in the middle of the tour, they ask you if you want to shoot automatic guns. Um... yes please.

Beth, alert and ready.

That evening we caught a short flight on Jet Star to Danang, Vietnam's "most popular city." Well, we thought this city looked a lot better in the rear view mirror of our taxi. We headed south for a small town called Hoi An. Hoi An seemed like a bad idea once we quickly discovered there was no vacancy at any of our chosen accommodations and every street corner looked like El Paso. We chatted with a few backpackers who assured us it was a day and night type city, literally. The next morning we awoke to a completely different place. Tailoring shops as far as the eye could see, quaint cafes and bakeries, and some of the best art boutiques in South East Asia. What did we do? Went to a cafe for lunch, got fitted for suits, and bought paintings. Hoi An was a favorite of all of ours.

Just a little treat on the riverbank of Hoi An.

Thi and I fitting my suit for the 3rd time. There was a staff of around 20 women helping us at all times. We spent around 6- 8 hours getting our new threads tailored.

After a couple days of suit fittings and haggling over a few thousand Dong for art work, we took a minibus a short way up the Ho Chi Minh Highway to Hue, a city that was almost entirely demolished during the Vietnam War, when conquered by the Vietcong. Although Hue was not our favorite place, we still managed to have a darn good time. Lonely Planet's "Eating" section certainly gets kudos in this town. We ate two steak meals at an excellent French bistro in the heart of town. Also we rented motor bikes and explored the city from inside the citadel (much like Jason Borne in Marrakesh) to the outer parts, where we visited tombs of Vietnamese Emperors. We hopped on an over night train bound for Hanoi, a city I had been looking forward to for months.

A snapshot at of the the Tombs outside of Hue.

On the Overnight train from Hue to Hanoi. The Air conditioning turned off every time the train stopped at a stain. There were at least ten stops. Not cool.

We rolled into Hanoi on Saturday October 14th around 6 am and headed to a free wifi cafe to regroup and plan our next four days. We decided to hold off on the city and head straight to the Halong Bay. Our tour was 2 days and 1 night on a boat with 14 other people. Our activities included exploring the caves, kayaking, swimming and cruising around the bay. We took a van 3 hours to the bay then embarked on a vessel that looked nothing like the advertisement, duped! The rooms were adequate so we did not complain. This is my favorite part, Kayaking.

After seeing the caves, we all paired off for Kayaking, Beth with me, Adam with Alex. I knew something interesting was going to happen when I saw Alex charging towards our Kayak just as soon as I settled into the stern. Some how Beth and I dodged them and decided to stay far away from those two, especially since our tour guide said "be careful, very easy to sunk." After about twenty minutes or so, I spotted Alex and Adam horsing around in the Kayak in the middle of the bay, where giant boats constantly pass through with little regard for smaller boats. Suddenly I became interested in this fun. Basically, giant boats frequently passed through a channel in the bay, some towing much smaller boats, barely larger than a row boat. Alex and Adam (mainly Alex) were trying to catch up with the smaller boat and "hitch a ride" through the channel (like Marty McFly skate boarding behind pick ups in Back to the Future). After several failed attempts from the boys, I decided that Beth and I would give it a try, go figure. We stalked the next boat coming through the channel, Alex and Adam one side, Beth and I on the other. We all started paddling in the direction of the fast approaching boat. As it split in between our kayaks, I knew that were positioned for success. The boat quickly passed by, then came the smaller one in tow. Beth grabbed hold and we were off. As soon as she reached down to grab here camera, we detached, and were now left in the dust. This is the BEST part! Alex and Adam grabbed hold of the other side of the boat shortly after we let go. I was cheering, everyone in the bay was watching, Beth was attempting to video, then we realized something was wrong. The bow of their kayak was caught in the wake of the tiny boat and they began to nose dive. Within 60 seconds, 75 percent of the kayak was submerged and the boys were forced to jump ship. The Kayak continued to take on water and inevitably sank. Beth and I were crying laughing, Alex was holding for dear life to the rope that was attached to the bow, and Adam was trying to climb on board with us. Soon the entire bay was fully involved and hovering around every dock to get a glimpse of the knuckleheads that capsized. After hours of arguing with the shop owners about damage charges, they settled on a price and we were on our way. This is one of the funniest things I have seen in my lifetime.

Inside the Caverns in Halong Bay

This was about 30 minutes before Alex and Adam sunk their kayak. Priceless.

A view of the Halong Bay. You can see the opening in the rocks on the right. This is the channel of sunken kayaks.

Beth relaxing on the boat

Our last and final stop in Veitnam was Hanoi. Here is the recap from Alex:

"So we made it to Hanoi and can safely say this has been our favorite city experience. As the capital of the French Indochina Empire it is steeped in history and influences from the whole region. Unlike most other big cities here, which separate tourists from local life, one is immersed with the locales at every turn.We have successfully ticked every cultural box Hanoi has to offer. We saw a traditional Vietnamese puppet show. We ate in the streets with the locales, cooking our food on skillets. Then we went to a shady nightclub and quickly ingratiated ourselves with the Hanoi mafia, who had us toasting with Blue Label till closing. Last, but by no means
least, we drank the blood of a snake. We crossed the river, were directed down a dark and dingy ally to find a small shop where we each killed and cut out the heart of a snake before drinking it"

-Alex Goldsmith

Cooking beef on a skillet on a street in the old quarter. The chairs must have been made for toddlers.

A Vietnam vet/snake charmer. This snake was going to be our dinner.

Not sure why I thought I would get to know him first.

Moments before ingesting the snake heart, snake bile, and snake blood.

Here is a video of us driving rickshaw/bikes in Hue. As the video demonstrates, they were not equipped with brakes.

One Night in Bangkok and a few in Cambodia

2009-11-16T04:02:00.018-05:00

We arrived in Bangkok on November 6th. We met the crew, Adam, Alex, Tara and Perry at the airport and began our journey to our hotel. This was probably the most memorable cab ride yet. Of course there were no cabs big enough for all 6 of us so I was placed on Eric's lap in the front seat while everyone else was crammed in the back with the luggage. Bangkok traffic on Friday night, we soon found out, was like Atlanta rush hour times 10. Our cab driver found it quite amusing to play Elvis on full blast while showing us multiple magic tricks while sitting in stand still traffic. He found his magic tricks and jokes very humorous and laughed hysterically every few minutes which was great entertainment for us. Finally 2 hours later we arrive at Sam's Lodge hotel.

Perry burried in the taxi with our luggage

We had previously decided to make our one night in Bangkok a very memorable one. We all set out to dinner at a hotel down the street followed by an amazing view from the bar Vertigo in the city. We were unaware that there was a dress code until they presented us all with these "stylish" slippers that had to be worn instead of our flip flops. Tara and I of course found this very exciting.

Tara and I showing off our stylish white slippers

Enjoying the view of Bangkok from one of the tallest bars in the city

Admiring the view

The night sadly ended well before sunrise because nothing stays open past 2 am in this normally bustling city. This was probably a good thing considering we had a van picking us up at 6 am to drive us to Cambodia. Sadly it was time to tell Tara goodbye because she was flying back to Aspen for work.

After piling in our van that was 45 minutes late due to "an accident" we all stretched out and took long naps. The border was about 4 hours away and we used our private ride for some much needed shut eye. Upon arriving at the border we found that the scary 4 hour wait for visas was a complete lie (or we just missed the crowd) because we got our visas and stamps and were out the door in under an hour. From there we needed another van for the next 4 hour journey. We piled in the not so comfortable van and head for Seam Reap. Our tour guide (creepy eyes) took a strong liking for Eric and stroked his leg hair every so often and told him that he would take him out that night for some drinks. Creepy eyes continued to appear throughout our stay in Seam Reap which always made for an awkward conversation and a quick exit.

The only documentation of any of us being awake on this van ride

Crossing through the Cambodian border

Old creepy eyes himself

We found a great little hotel called Hotel Popular that was in the middle of the hustle and bustle of Seam Reap. We hopped into our tuk tuks and headed for the sunset at Angkor Wat. Us and about another 2,000 people caught a great sunset overlooking the magnificant structure. After our sunset photoshoot we went back to eat dinner at our hotel. We all discovered the best dish they had to offer which was the luc lak (a Cambodian dish made of rice, beef, french fries, and gravy). After dinner our night became a lot more interesting.

Climbing on the statues at sunset

Making friends with the locals

A few guys at the hotel decided that they were taking us out for the night. They piled us into their tuk tuks and drove us towards the side of town most tourists wouldn't know to venture to. The restaurant set up a table for us plus about 15 locals. The restaurant/bar had live singing (Cambodian karoke) and lots of beer. We soon found out that the Cambodians like to toast about every five minutes while chanting "chul moy". This was supposed to be your promt to finish your beer. A few hours later we made our way back to the hotel to prepare for our 5 am drive to Angkor Wat.

A night out in Seam Reap.

We found it very entertaining to go to the bathroom because the local women would sneak up behind the boys and try to give them back massages while they were using the bathroom.

On November 8th we woke up early and headed to Angkor Wat. It is definatly a must see of Cambodia. The structure is enormous with lots of detail. We wondered around the site for a few hours and then headed back for one more meal of luc lac and then continued on our journey to Phnom Penh. This ride was not so pleasant considering our air conditioning decided not to work until 3 hours into the trip.

Sunrise!

Angkor Wat sunrise in the rain

We had heard many negative things about Phnom Penh so we were plesantly suprised when we arrived to our hotel on the river. There were restaurants and shops lining the entire river. We found a nice Italian restaurant for dinner that night and strolled down the streets admiring the river and the different carts selling various types of insects.

The next morning we awoke early and went to S21, a school converted into Cambodia's most important prison in 1975. More than 14,000 people were tortured here before being killed at the Killing Fields south of Phnom Penh; only 8 prisoners made it out alive. After viewing the museum we went to the Killing Fields to view where the bodies were disposed of after being confined to S21. After learning the depressing past of Cambodia we made our way back to our hotel to catch our bus to Vietnam.

The skulls displayed at the Killing Fields

Our tuk tuk driver for the day

Typical landscape of Cambodia

We all wished that we could have spent more time visiting Cambodia. The people are amazingly nice despite their horrific past and it's hard to find a local that isn't smiling. This is definatly a place that I would love to return to one day.

Same Same in Thailand

2009-11-05T05:33:00.015-05:00

Well, here I sit, in Ko Samui finally getting to this post. The trek throughout Thailand has been long and colorful (as the photos will show).

Leaving Phi Phi, Beth and I decided to check out the nearby rock climbing paradise called Railay. We showed up in the rain without any place to sleep and started to worry. To our benefit, we met 13 people all traveling together from different parts of the world. They had all met at different times and had so much fun together that they just stuck together, like a wolf pack, which is eactly what they called themselves. Well, the wolf pack was 13, then it became 15 with the addition of Beth and I. We spent a few days all hanging out in Railay, then Beth and I detached and made our way towards Krabi.

After a pit stop in Krabi we flew in to Ko Samui to meet up with my buddies that were coming in from Atlanta. We decided to start with a bang in Ko Phaghan, home of the original Full Moon Party. After we met up with them in the Ko Samui airport, it was a short ferry ride into Koh Phaghan. Upon arrival we heard thumping music, an energetic heard of backpackers, and a large moon on the cusp of maturity. Even though it was Halloween night, our expectations of a great costume party were relatively low. We all caught up, swapped stories, and headed to the local pool party at our "bungalow" accomadation.

The following day was one definitely one of my favorites thus far. Awaken, by the yelled words "rise and Shiiiiiine" by my friend Alex who has arguably the loudest voice on the planet, we got up, had breakfast and consulted the lonely planet guide for suggestions. Motorbiking was the plan. Each of us rented a bike for 150 B per day (5 bucks). We then got "acquainted" with our motorvehicles which evidently was not easy. After a rough start, we made our way to Koh Ma, a paradise located at the very north western tip of Koh Panghan. This beach was not only great for snorkeling, but also thai food, and thai massages. We lounged there all afternoon, and then rode back just after sunset (scooters by night, not that safe, but extremely cool!).

The following day was much the same as the previous. We checked out a new beach, played volleyball all day, then made our way back to Koh Ma for a sunset massage. A thai massage apparently played a key role in relaxing our bodies before the Full Moon Party, well according to the thai folks atleast.

Full Moon Party: In the late 80s and early 90s backpackers who once thought Ko Samui was the end all be all beach destination, started migrating to the nearby littlle brother, Koh Panghan. Established as a backpacker retreat, the island started becoming famous for its monthly all night parties held on the night of the full moon. Now, Full Moon, Half moon, and new or "black" moon parties are the main reason people flock to the island. Some 10,000 people were there this month, but crowds have grown as large as 30,000 during certain full moons.

We came, we saw, we were conquered. The FMP conquered us. Although we came very close, we never saw the sunrise. It turns out, this party is probably better to do when you are still in college, go figure. I think our crew was a little more suited for the relaxing atmosphere of Koh Ma on this island.

The last couple days were spent trying to get out of Koh Panghan because the violent winds and rain prevented any boat from leaving. Today we finally made it back to Ko Samui and tomorrow we catch a flight from the mainland back to Bangkok.

In our final days on Koh Phi Phi, Beth and I went snorkeling at a nearby reef. This is 100 percent the best snorkeling I have done. The visibility was about 100 feet and the fish were everywhere. In this picture Beth was feeding the fish a Banana, which they Love.

Taking a dive down to the reef.

In Railay, sporting my new dorsal fin haircut, complements of one Beth Coltan.

With the Wolf Pack in the wee hours of the morning.

During our short saty in Krabi we decided to check out a tiger temple located at the very top of some limestone cliffs. As you can see, there were 1274 steps to the very top. Let me tell ya, these were not your stardard 1X1 steps, these quad killers were like climbing a ladder at certain points. I dare anyone to try this. Oh and by the way, we met a 73 year old english Expat who did this climb every day. He look about 42.

Beth at the top of the tiger temple. Lets just say she was extremely happy to be sitting down after that ascent.

Many delicious bug treats were on display at the Krabi night market.

In Koh Panghan at our hotel's pool party on Halloween night. It was great to finally catch up with the fellas. In case you dont know these folks, these are my good guy friends from Atlanta. From left to right; Adam, Alex, Perry, yours truly.

Beth and I arrived in Koh Ma after an hour scooter ride along the coast.

An amazing sunset off the west coast of Koh Panghan.

Tara, Beth and Adam enjoy a foot massage, while Perry, Alex and I have a thai massage.

All the bikers in line. This was the second day with our bikes so we had a better handle on things, litterally.

Beth and Tara getting ready for the Full Moon Party. Glow paint was a necessity.

A nice pic of the whole group with our semi tribal glow paint on. You would think that it would be hard to lose each other whe dressed like this... guess again. 10,000 other people with just as much, if not more paint, made it difficult to stick together. All and all, a spectaular evening.

Beth holding a Jumbo Prawn. This bad boy was 14 inches head to tail.

Danapop.com

2009-11-05T00:14:00.001-05:00

Check out danapop.com. We are featured in her travel section. She will be updating this so check back frequently. Enjoy!

Thailand updates soon to come!

First week in Thailand

2009-10-24T23:10:00.024-04:00

I think pictures do a lot more for the country of Thailand that I can put into words. This place is beautiful. Eric and I began in Bangkok, October 20th, after enjoying, as mentioned before, being pampered in first class. Eric was a bit sick in Bangkok so we spent the majority of our day at the doctor trying to to get him some medicine. Luckily the "x-lay" showed nothing that a little zpack couldn't fix. Bangkok seems like a great city. It is very modern city and most people speak some English. Our hotel, Sam Sen Sam, was adorable and the people that worked there were great. We will have a lot more time to explore the city because we will be passing through two more times before leaving this area on Thanksgiving day.

First class pampering before I fell alseep

From Bangkok we took a short flight to Phuket. The town near Pucket, Patong, we had heard was much like Cancun so we decided to stay there for a night before hopping on the ferry to Koh Phi Phi Don. I think Eric and I were both a little disappointed with this town. There were so many hawkers trying to get you to buy every item imaginable including tuk tuk rides, suits, tours, clothing, massages, and even women. The she-males were definitely interesting to watch. They have no shame strutting their stuff around the town and participating in "she-man" shows. By this point in our trip I had come down with a stomach bug, so Eric and I both were feeling a bit under the weather. We attempted to get a good night's rest at our hotel, C & N, but the bed felt more like wood floor than a mattress. We packed up quickly the next morning and booked afternoon tickets on the ferry to Koh Phi Phi Don.

I had heard that Koh Phi Phi was paradise from many of our friends who have visited this island. They were right. The beaches are beautiful, with clear shallow water for about half a mile out. There are no motorized vehicles allowed on the island so it is all foot traffic or bike riding. Diving, snorkeling, and rock climbing are huge here and their shops, along with boutiques, restaurants, and bars, line the winding streets. Eric and I are staying in a private bungalow on stilts called Phi Phi Casita. It's amazing. In fact, we like it so much we keep adding on more days to our original 3 day stay.

A view of the beach

Our days have been spent relaxing on the beach, eating Thai and Italian food, going on adventures and watching HBO in our comfy room. Our first day on the island we took a half day trip that included snorkeling, kayaking, visiting the Koh Phi Phi Leh (where the Beach was filmed), monkey beach and watching the sunset (the best I have ever seen) on a boat while eating dinner.

Monkey Beach where lots of monkeys gather to eat bananas out of your hand
(or bite your hand if you are unlucky)

Kayaking into a cave while visiting Koh Phi Phi Leh

Sunset from our boat

Our nights have mostly been spent eating delicious meals followed by watching flame throwers on the beach or checking out muay thai boxing at the reggae bar. There is something for every type of person here. There are some relaxing bars (Banana Bar is my favorite so far) that play great music or clubs that rock late into the night.

Sharing a bucket while watching some muay thai boxing
(we saw a tooth knocked out, a bloody nose, and a dislocated shoulder
all just for a free bucket of liquor)

Eric watching people jump through the ring of fire

More fire

We have also done rock climbing, which I highly recommend through Cat's Climbing company. The instructor is great and the rock wall overlooks the water. It's beautiful. Eric is planning on doing as many dives as possible now that his cold is finally clearing up. I am going to take a day off from rock climbing and let my sore arms rest before trying again tomorrow. We are planning on spending a total of about 6 days in Koh Phi Phi, although I am sure we could stay LOTS longer, and then heading to Reilay for some more climbing and relaxing.

A great view from the rock climb that we did

Me taking a breather

India, a truly colorful experience

2009-10-17T14:11:00.027-04:00

The last few days have opened up my senses to this world more than any country thus far. Looking back, the only comparable experience was in Palestine. After arriving in Delhi on Tuesday night, beth and I were pleasantly surprised to discover that this city appeared to be in better condition than Mumbai. The following morning our friend Eric, from Dubai, was to meet us for an early morning tour of Delhi. Then we would head to Agra for the great Taj Mahal.. and eventually hit Jaipur to complete our tour of the "Golden Triangle."

Heck yes. Thats my name up there

Starting in Delhi was a great way to get our feet under us for the next few days. We visited the Shah Jahan mosque, the largest in India, then took a bicycle rickshaw ride through one of the older markets. THIS is where you really get a taste of India. Blank faces of half naked men gazed at our rickshaws as we fought to squeeze through the narrow streets. The children were the ones begging for money while the adults just looked at us as if we were from another planet. Once we got back in our luxurious air conditioned van we reflcted for several moments about different tidbits each one of us had seen. Some include: a naked man walking comfortably down the street, a man getting a straight razor shave from another man in the middle of the street, and many people hawking produce such as roots of the lotus flower. We had a total of about 6 hours to tour Delhi before heading to Agra, which was plenty.

Beth and I at the Shah Jahan Mosque in Delhi. Shorts were a bad choice for the day.

Once again, I wasn't kidding

Around 3pm our driver picked us up from lunch and we set sail for Agra. My friend Adam Weinstein made this trek last year and told me to make sure I stayed awake for the 5 hour journey from Delhi to Agra; boy was he right. Sure, leaving the city you see less motorbikes and much less air pollution, but there are a whole set if different things to see that made horrific stories of poverty suddenly come real. Once we scratched the outskirts of Agra we were suddlenly let down to see some unusual gridlock traffic. We sat with the van in park and off for about an hour. We later came to find out that what was apparently a car accident turned out to be a riot. Many police officers lined the streets all weilding some sort of giant night stick, while riotors came by screaming Hindi chants. Welcome to Agra. No less than two hours later after a wonderful impromtu dinner at reataurant Maya, we saw around 200 people in the street outside our hotel. Evidently a kid dropped a gun and was shot in the head on accident. Not sure about this one. We went inside to decompress and get ready for the Taj Mahal the next day.

Is that Ketchup on my forehead?

Eric and I at a "beer bar"

Taj Mahal: a memorial for Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan's favorite wife, Mumtaz Mahal. It took 22 years to complete and the help of over 2000 people. Words cannot describe how magnificent this structure really is. One cool thing that we learned was that there were plans for another Taj Mahal, a black one, built for Shah Jahan himself. The foundation and garden were complete but Shah Jahan's son, the succeeding Emporer, had him arrested for spending too much of the peoples money on himself. Shah Jahan was said to be the richest ruler in the world by a landslide. Out of the many wonders of the world that I have now seen, this one rivals Petra and Machu Picchu closely.

Breathtaking view of the Taj.

This guy got a little too close to the monkeys that roam around the Taj Mahal.

A view from the Guest House.

Jaipur was a great city as well; with many forts and other important sites to see. The market square was particularly interesting with a small herd of people following us around. Indian kids that looked like miniature men, gawked at Beth and didn't even ask for anything. They just followed us on every street, through every alleyway. We spent two days here, visiting more historical sites, and more textile factories.

In Jaipur at a wood block stamp factory. Beth is using her art skills to finish this piece.

One more shot of the trio at the Amber Fort in Jaipur.

Beth and I on Shanti, the elephant that took us to the top of the Amber Fort.

Eric riding solo on Hema. Eric started behind us but the started yelling "chela" which means Lets Go! At this moment our elephant jockies decided it would be fun for us to compete in a full on race to the top. This is was one of the funnest momemts in my life. No Joke.

Gorgeous

Monkeys are everywhere in India. I find this particularly funny because Eric is absolutely terrified of them.

The last important part of our stay in India was Diwali, India's festival of lights. This is similar to the 4th of July celebration in the US where everything revolves around lights and fireworks, except Diwali celebrates a significant Hindu holiday. I had read somewhere that Diwali outdid any other firework celebration in the world. Beth and I certainly confirmed this. For a solid week everyone and I mean EVERYONE is lighting some sort of "cracker" all day and all night. What we first thought were gun shots in Mumbai, were actually just M80s. It was such a great coincedence to be in India for this gigantic festival and to spend it on the rooftop of our hotel, Cabana.

A view from the rooftop of our hotel in Delhi for Diwali

Leaving India was sad, but we had Thailand to look forward to. The stink of our last day in India was that I came down with a bad cold, which came with a fever. Luckily Beth and I somehow got upgraded to First Class on our flight to Bangkok which made everything much better.

Mumbai, short and sweet

2009-10-17T08:21:00.019-04:00

A beautiful mix of chaos, history, culture, and proverty is the only way I can think to explain India. Eric and I arrived early in the morning to Mumbai. We were both very skeptical about the next week we were going to be spending in a country that rarely sees Americans and that seems to have more starving and homeless people roaming the streets than either of us have ever seen.
Upon walking out of the airport doors we began being hussled and had cab drivers swarming us. After hopping into a taxi that was prepaid (so we knew they couldn't scam us) we arrive at our hotel, Chateau Windsor. The hotel was very nice for the price, although I became a little bit worried about the shower situation when I saw the dreaded bucket near the shower. Was this the infamous shower I had heard about that is freezing cold and only includes a bucket of water? To my relief the bucket was only for rinsing the floor.

A street view of Mumbai

After our long nap we arranged a driver through the hotel who was going to drive us around the city and show us all of the highlights of Mumbai. The first stop, the Gate of India and the Taj Hotel (the hotel that was bombed last year) were both impressive. We took a miserably hot boat ride around the bay. The temperature had to have been over 100 with 100% humidity. We found the people in India to be very curious about the out of place Americans that had hopped on their boat. We got lots of questions and lots of strange looks. One guy, who was overly friendly, followed us around for a good half hour asking us where we were going next and basically inviting himself along on our tour. We nicely had to wave him off and jump into our cab and zoom off.

A boat ride around the bay. This is at 2 pm and temoeratures neared 100 F.

From the boat ride we continued our tour (mostly site seeing from the car because the heat was unbearable). The Gahndi museum was one of our favorite stops along with a garden that had locals frolicing through the grass. We continued our day with a nice view of the sunset over the Indian Ocean.

Indian kids love two things: saying "hello" and having their pictures taken

Inside a ghandi Museum. He spent a significant amount of time in this guesthouse before his assassination.

After a long day of site seeing we went to eat at the "famous" restaurant Leopold which we still can't really figure out why is so popular. The food was nothing special and the crowd wasnt particularly exciting. A little dissapointed with our meal we wondered the streets for a bit before deciding to retire to our room.

Tuesday, October 13th we woke up to a knock at our door bringing us breakfast (a nice little suprise consisting of toast and eggs). We had knocked out most site seeing the day before so we wondered towards the gate of India while checking out a few cricket games on the way. We sat down at lunch and as we began eating we noticed "swastikas" painted on the coolers and cabinets. There was a strange group of people in the corner of the restaurant that offered us some brucetta which we found even more odd (later to find out that this guy is a model and has posters all over Delhi). We sped up our meal and bolted quickly from the restaurant. Later in the week we found out that this "swastika" is actully the Hindu symbol for peace (a nice contrast from the Nazi symbol). After reading further about this, there is a constant battle about the symbol and lots of countries in Europe want the symbol banned from the religion.

One of atleast 25 games of cricket going on in the oval park centered in Mumbai

Another cricket game. Eric wanted to take too many pictures here.

Our flight to Dehli was later that afternoon so we gathered our things and took off for our next adventure. Dehli, Agra, and Japiur, also known as the golden triangle of India, were our next three stops to see the famous Tajmahal and other historic sites. Our friend, Eric Rymraz (that we stayed with in Dubai), was meeting us the next morning to join us on our journey through India.

Dubai

2009-10-11T00:59:00.014-04:00

A four hour over night flight was all it took to cross out of Europe and into the United Arab Emirates. What we thought would be a quiet, peaceful alternative to sleeping in a hotel, was in fact a loud, party of a flight. Everyone was in the aisles, chattering on at a volume above what most American consider discrete. I guess 4 hours of micro sleep was gonna have to do.

We arrived in Sharjah (a smaller airport outside of Dubai) at 5 a.m. on Friday morning. It was great planning on my part to schedule our trip on Friday, because after my first trip to the middle east, I learned that the weekend begins on Thursday evening and ends on Saturday evening. Our friend Eric Rymarz, who moved out to Dubai 10 months ago as a project manager, was going to put us up for the weekend. He picked us up around 6 am and we headed into Dubai, a place I had been dreaming about visiting for years. Even after getting info from fellow travelers about how large and glamorous Dubai was, I was still very impressed. Eric took us back to his place so we could nap before we headed out to "brunch." We had no idea what we were in for; and let me tell you, it was unbelievable.

Dubai Brunch Defined: In Dubai, 5 star hotels have done an incredible marketing of their brunch. Every young to middle aged expat professional living in Dubai has been to a brunch at some point. Some go every Friday. Basically, a hotel, or even one or several restaurants in that hotel, feature an all you can eat & all you can drink brunch for at least 4 hours. The food is a 5 star set menu and the drinks include featured cocktails, select quality beer, and spirits.

We woke up around 10 a.m. from our nap and started getting ready for brunch. Eric informed us that we had reservations at Le Meridien for their Mojito brunch. Evidently some of the better brunches require a reservation and a name on the guest list, we had both. When we arrive to the hotel it was a journey just trying to find the right brunch. Expats dotted the hotel lobby in their finest cocktail attire. We knew we were getting close to our watering hole when we saw the sign, "get drunched at the mojito brunch." We sat down ordered 1 of 9 different flavors of mojitos and started our feast with unlimited sushi. Then came chicken spring rolls, lamb pops, chicken yakatori, salmon, and many many other delicious items. Although this brunch cost around 300 Durams (about 75 bucks) each, I feel that I consumed well over 3X that amount. After the brunch wrapped up, everyone moved to the nearby hotel club and danced to 80's music until the sun went down. From there, it was fair game, we decided to head to the beach for the chill environment of a beachside bar. If you ever come to Dubai, a Friday brunch is a must.

I wasn't kidding

At the Warehouse for brunch

Beth and Eric made up some danced called the Chinese Alligator dance inspired by an Asian

man wearing a Lacoste shirt that danced particularly strange.

The following day we had plans for a desert safari that took place in the dunes somewhere between Dubai and Oman. The tour began at 3pm and lasted until 10pm. The first part of the tour was dune bashing. This was very similar to the dune buggying that I did in Peru except the bashing used a toyota land cruiser, and a crazy sheik driver. For some stupid reason I decided to eat a ton of chocolate before the bashing. This was a TERRIBLE idea!! The first 15 minutes of sliding, hopping, and popping over the dunes was awesome. The following 20 minutes I could not tell if I was about to toss my cookies on beth or out the window. Finally we stopped and after several prolonged moments of nausea, I felt ok. Next, we pulled into a camp ground with about 40 other Toyota Land Cruisers for dinner. They served up bedouin food consisting of Pita, Chicken, Lamb, rice and other local dishes. There were other activities to participate in as well. We chose camel riding, and belly dancing. We were terrible at the ladder. A Desert Safari from Dubai is certainly worth the trip. Just don't eat too many sweets beforehand. We returned back to Eric's place, went for an evening swim in the persian gulf and called it a night.

Enjoying a beautiful sunset from the dunes. Even though I am smiling, I still was a little rattled from the ride.

Eric and Beth going for a ride

The cutest Arab girl i've ever seen

A good look?

Camels are nicer in the UAE than in Jordan

Our last day was spent sightseeing. Ski Dubai, Gold Souk, and the large Emirates Mall were some of the places we checked out before heading to the airport for our flight to Mumbai.

Beth and I taking a dip in the Persian Gulf

Pretending to drink underwater. These new waterproof digital cameras are heaps of fun.

Scrabble, Motor Bikes, and Beaches Oh My

2009-10-07T11:33:00.021-04:00

The ferry to Naxos was nice. We sat on the top deck and found a new and fabulous use for my iphone...Scrabble. Eric and I passed the 3 hour ferry ride quickly and arrived in Naxos before dinner time on Saturday, October 3rd. We stayed at a place called the Windmill. It reminded me a bit of the Clermont hotel but had a burner and fridge in the room(clearly making it a little more classy).

Naxos is a quaint little town with lots of restaurants and nice greek people. On our hunt for dinner we came across a mexican restaurant and decided that no matter how wrong it was to eat there we were going to do it. It was the best decision we had made all day. Delicious margiritas, tacos, and enchiladas. Such a good break from feta and cucumbers. After dinner Eric was dead set on finding the UGA football game on tv. We sat at a bar for a long time flicking through every ESPN station possible. The nice greek owner refused to believe it was not on her satilite tv. To Eric's dismay we finally had to call it a night after looking for the game for over an hour (which prob was for the best since UGA lost to LSU). By the way, Eric did follow the rest of the game by watching the scores tick by on my iPhone.

Sunset at the temple of Apollo in Naxos

The next day, October 4th, we rented a motor bike and cruised around the island. Our goal was to find Mt. Zeus and climb it but once we found it we quickly decided that was a little too ambitious. It was prob over a 2 hour hike and bees were swarming all around the trail. The beach made for a much better afternoon. The rest of the day was nice and relaxed. We cooked some pasta on our burner in the room and made a nice little candle-lit meal (the candle being my head lamp).

This bike was crucial for getting around Naxos.

This cost around 10 Euros a day and only 3 Euros to fill up.

Mt. Zeus

"candle" lit meal on our balcony in Naxos

Just a little monkey business

The following day, Monday, we hopped on a ferry to Paros, a small island about 30 minutes away from Naxos. It was a great way to spend our last day and night in the islands. This island was beautiful with lots of beaches and amazing people. Our hostel, Blue Paros, was great. The family that owned it is Jewish and of course loved to find another Jewish friend in Greece to chat with. We again rented a motor bike and discovered 2 of the best beaches I have seen. One was so secluded that only a few other people shared the beach with us. It was surrounded my mountains. The next beach was surrounded by these amazing rock forms that you could climb on and lay out on. It was really neat.

One of many frequent stops to look at the map. Unfortunately just being an eagle scout would not suffice for Eric this time.

Koumbithres beach in Paros

Once we got back to our side of the island the owner of our hostel showed us an amazing restaurant to eat at that was across from their hostel. We dug into some saganake (friend cheese recommended by Eric's dad) and a pork dish (kontosouvli). They both were fantastic. The remainder of the night was spent battling over scrabble again on my phone (which I have proven to be way better at than Eric).

Tuesday, October 6, we hopped aboard another boat and made the 4.5 hr journey to Athens. IT took us a few hours to find our hostel and settle in to our room. The first night was spent ordering Dominos and relaxing.

Our time spent in Athens was good (although we had heard quite the opposite from many other travelers). The acropolis was very neat although all of the construction kind of kills the mood. We spent the remainder of the day getting lost in the winding streets of Athens and cooking ramen in our hostel. Our french roomates taught us how to play a dice game called Yam's that is a chinese game a lot like poker.

The Parthenon.

This would have been much more enjoyable had scaffolding not been present in every view.

View of Athens from the Acropolis platform. The lady who took this photo was a complete moron by the way. For some reason she really wanted her friends in the photo.

At the top of the Acropolis

Our final day in Athens was a blur of wondering around the city, grocery shopping, strolling around the market and using the internet. We knocked out most of the site seeing our first day so the second was more relaxed. I had read that the Agora Athens market was a must see while in the city. We found this market and eagerly we began walking through it. I had no idea that this was a meat market and the dead lambs, rabbits, and chickens would we hanging in plain site with blood dripping from them and their eye balls bulging from their skull. After about 2 minutes we both felt extremely sick and pretty much ran the rest of the way through the market. On the other site we were happily greeted with the produce section. Of course we found it necessary to cross back through the meat section so we could snap a few pictures. Needless to say I don't want lamb or chicken for a long time.

Not happy

The rest of the day we spent in a little hidden gem of a cafe that was tucked into a side street near the market. It was a brewery/coffee/internet place that was cozy and had wifi. We headed back to our hostel a few hours later and made more ramen and headed to the Athens airport. Next stop Dubai and we can't wait for another taste of the middle east!

In Santorini. Oh what a wonderful place

2009-09-29T13:43:00.012-04:00

We arrived in Santorini (Thira) Greece after an exhausting evening at the London Gatwick airport. Touching down we came to the conclusion that Greece is as spectacular as all the photos make it out to be. We found the Greeks to be very direct, slightly rude, and very helpful all at the same time. We took a taxi and a bus to Oia (pronounced eeh-uh) and then made our way through the white washed walls to our hostel (oia youth hostel). We found the place to be quite a steal for 15 Euros a night in one of the most expensive places in the world. The owner, was again, very direct and very helpful. We wondered around town for a little while, snapping photos of the vivid blue and white cathedrals and buildings. Lured in by an amazing roof top terrace overlooking the Aegean Sea, Beth and I decide to splurge and have dinner and a place that had probably the best sunset view over the amazing archipelago thats is Santorini. Beth and I enjoyed some local wine, pasta, a large greek salad, and copias amounts of olive oil.

The following day beth and I felt like learning how Santorini and the rest of the Cyclades were formed. We book an excursion that visited, Nea Kameni, the nearby volcano that formed Santorini and its little brother Therasia after hundreds of years of eruptions. We hiked to the top and saw the crater that produced all the activity. Strong smells of sulfur, combined with very hot surface rocks, made this experiece a little more "real." Afterwards we took a swim in the hot springs, warmed by Nea Kameni. The water was not that hot. Slightly disappointing.

The last couple days here have involved frequent beach visits, and strolling through Thira, Santorini's main city. Many guide books have led us to believe that this city is one worth skipping over or passing through. Beth and I have discovered the opposite. Thira has great food, excellent trasportation options for beaches, excellent sunset views, and much cheaper prices. We stayed at Dino's Place, a small hostel/hotel, situated right in the middle of town, with a private room for around 50 bucks a night; not bad for Santorini. After 5 days here we are ready to push forward. We are now heading to Naxos, another island in the cyclades known for is lush landscapes, excellent produce, and minimal tourism.

A night shot of one of the 4 blue top Cathedrals in Oia.

One of several hundred photos I took during the sunsets over Oia. For some reason this annoyed Beth.

The pristine waters of the Aegean

Beth and I at the top of Therasia. Our tour guide kept pushing us to eat at a place on the water that was overpriced and very touristy. Our hostel advised us to make the 30 minute hike to the top for real greek food and excellent views. Good call.

Yep

Sunset in Thira

I have no idea how that fish snuck into this picture. I underestimated his sneakyness

Diving into the Aegean before heading to the "Hot" Springs

The start of our tour to the volcano

"Dancing" in Prague

2009-09-28T12:46:00.000-04:00

We left Oktoberfest at the perfect time. I don't think any of us could consume any more beer from the crazy beer gardens that we had lived in for the past two days. Blane, Ben, Eric, and I hopped on our train to Prague and settled down into our cozy train car for the next 6 hours. We arrived into Prague around 11 pm and made our way to our hostel (Clown and Bard). We were cheerily greeted with more beer and a room for four (finally Ben's snoring won't be keeping the entire hostel up). After finding a nice pizza joint that is open 24 hours we headed to some crazy Czech club that we had been recommeneded to go to. It was one of the strangest clubs I have been to with all kinds of bohemian dreadlocked boys bouncing around and "dancing". We called it a night soon after that.

Eric enjoying his Landjager on the train to Prague

Cheers to the first beer with Benji in Prague

Me and Blane Bear on the Charles Bridge

Saturday we woke up and moved hostels to a really nice place called the CzechInn. From there we took a tram to the Charles bridge in Prague and the castle. From there we walked and walked and walked. Our estimate is prob around 6 miles. We explored the beatiful city of Prague and pretty much checked off all important things to see in the city. The amazing weather made the hike pretty enjoyable except for the fact that our feet were all throbbing by the time we made it back to shower and get ready for a night on the town.

Taking in the views from the tower in the square

A guy who works at our hostel recommended a restaurant that we of course couldn't find (not to mention that Czech people don't eat past 8pm and everything had stopped serving food right when we got there). We settled down into a pub that had red bull and vodka on special (about $5 a drink) which automatically made my night fantastic. This pub also made our food selection impossible because it not only served Czech food, but also every other type of cuisine you could think of. We hung out there for a good bit and then starting walking to a secret club that we had heard of. As we were walking we stumbled about a hidden gem called The Harley Bar. We wondered into the basement and found an amazing mix of 80s and 90s music and everyone bouncing around the bar (I think this is the Czech style of dancing).

After many rounds of Jack daniels we headed out to continue the search for the secret club. The directions we received were this: find the #37 on the street, walk under the arch, walk up two flights of stairs, ring the doorbell, and hope the owner buzzes you in. Some how in our Jack daniels haze this all made complete sense and we found ourselves being buZzed into a quaint night club with couches made of recycling bins and a small group of Czech people "dancing "around the dance floor. It was a really cool find and a great place to make Ben and Blane try absynthe. We arrived back at the hostel around 4 so Blane and Ben got in a good two hours of sleep before heading to the airport.

Sunday Eric and I walked some more and explored the Jewish Quarter and enjoyed our new favorite restaurant Bohemian Bagel. Sunday night we strolled around the square trying sips of different wines, bites of cheese, and taking pictures. Today, Monday, we are going to go check out the zoo and then head to the airport to fly to London and then to Greece Tuesday morning (sleeping at the London airport should be an adventure). Prague is amazing and beautiful but we are both ready to hit the beaches, munch on some feta, and enjoy the coast!

BACON FLAVORED CHIPS?! really?

Our photoshoot Sunday night

Oktoberfest!!

2009-09-27T12:54:00.021-04:00

Despite having a monster 13.5 hour flight from BA to Paris, then another short flight into Munich, I was still in good shape. I arrived at the city center around 5pm and headed straight to the Hostel (A and O Hostel), checked in, and was on my way to Theresienwiese (Oktoberfest grounds). This place was like a state fair on steroids; games and rides as far as the eye can see, an abundance of sausage and wursts, and thousands of people dressed in lederhosens and drindls. Blended in to this mess of activity were several Beer tents, each representing the beer in which they serve. As a solo traveler, I decided to refrain from participation until the next day when Beth, and our friends, Blane and Ben, could join. I went back to the hostel to rest and gear up for a much anticipated day. Well, rest is exaclty what I did not get. Sound asleep around 11 pm, I awoke to 10 Aussie folks who: 1. were very intoxicated, 2. enjoyed babbling on and on about absolutely nothing, and 3. were extremely loud and had zero consideration for others. Well, these were my roommates, great. I guess 2 hours of sleep was gonna have to do.

The next day Beth arrived, finally. We got everybody checked in and made our way to the fairgrounds. After several attempts to find a place to sit in the overcrowded tents that were filled with jovial festival participants, we opted for a table outside. The time was 7pm, evidently much much too late for the beer gardens. We had a few steins and mingled with some locals and decided that our big day of singing and dancing in the beer halls would have to wait.

Beth and I sharing a delicious Bavarian treat

The following morning we had a plan. We decided to head to the BMW Museum till about 1pm, then make our make down to the festival by 2pm to ensure that we got seats at a table. The Museum was incredible and really made me ask myself how I could someday drive my very own BMW; the answer, don't start saving by taking trips around the world. We checked out all the hot new cars and motorcycles. I know that my good buddy Andy Millisor would be in heaven. I am sure that he likes his Bimmer more than he likes me. On to Oktoberfest! We arrived and started scouting out places to sit. We saw many unoccupied tables which was sweet, then we found out that they were all reserved, not so sweet. Evidently, companies and families reserve certain tables on certain days up to a year in advance. After about twenty minutes or so of slight panic, we found the 1 table left that did not have a reserved tag on it. We all ordered giant steins of Palauner. After the first one we knew it was going to be a long day. Well we later came to find out that a lot of locals drink something called a Radler. This concoction is beer mixed with lemon flavored soda (similar to Sprite). AH HA! I knew these folks could not pound stein after stein of high octane beer all day and all night. I continued to drink Beer. We participated in all the Prosts and all the songs with our table mates into the early evening when the beer tents began to reach maximum capacity. All of the Germans were very friendly and enjoyed our company as much as we enjoyed theirs. This was probably because of our constant mispronunciation of the simplest German words and phrases. It was an incredible experience that I recommend to everyone. We were in bed by 9 pm.

Beth and I outside the BMW Museum

I want one

Inside the Palauner Tent, can you find Beth?

Beth and Blane drinking Radlers

The next morning we picked up our well rested bodies and set off for Dachau, the longest operating concentration camp during the Holocaust. Dachau held around a total of 200,000 prisoners from 1933 until liberation in 1945. I personally recommend this to anyone staying in, or passing through Munich. We all took a lot away from this important historical site.

Next stop, Prague.

Dachau Prisoner Camp

In side the Paulaner Tent