Jazz and Lee

Country Driving in Northern Thailand

2013-07-13T22:33:00.001-05:00

From Laos we headed to North Thailand for a week of motor biking. We flew into Chiang Mai and caught the "VIP Green Bus" for a comfy three hour night drive to Chiang Rai. We arrived to heavy rain and found a guesthouse / simple motel for $10/night. Soaked to the bone, we changed, found a yummy Chinese restaurant down the street and collapsed to sleep.

The next morning we bought a map and stored our bags at a local bookstore. We rented a scooter for $8/day and Lee took the wheel while Jazz held on behind. Our first stop was the White Temple, only to be described as nuts. It included "hellish" Buddhist renderings, a plaster statue of Alien, and a massive fresco of Neo from the Matrix, George W. Bush riding a space shuttle with Osama Bin Laden, random people having sex, the NYC Twin Towers imploding, Avatar characters, Kung-fu Panda, the International Space Station, cell phones, Converse shoes, and other crazy shit. All of which was being eaten by a orange demon with tentacles. Maybe there was something in our Chinese food the night before and we just imagined it all? Either way it was an interesting / psychedelic experience.

We made our way along the A1 Super Highway towards Mae Sai, stopping at a site where hill tribes demonstrated traditional ways of life. Created for tourists, we had mixed feelings, but later discussions with our Thai guide indicated the program supports traditional arts and self-sufficiency by providing annual wages paid by the King. Tribes receive a consistent income regardless of sales and therefore sales are not driven by profit, allowing tribes to continue traditional, labor intensive techniques. Tribes included the Akha, Yao, Palong and Karen (known world-wide as the brass neck ring women). Crafts were beautiful and everyone was friendly. A few silk scarves and blankets later our single backpack was stuffed full and we continued north.

We turned off the A1 onto the 1089 towards Mae Salong to travel the countryside. Rain, rice paddies, lush vegetation and big hills greeted us around every bend. When our little bike couldn't make it up the steep hill, Jazz jumped off (or was she pushed off?) and walked with the backpack while Lee zipped past. Towards evening a road-side cafe directed us to a guesthouse. We followed the proprietor and negotiated a room at the husband-wife run B&B. That evening we soaked in a nearby hot springs (layed out in a spiral pattern) under a blanket of stars. It was one of the more peaceful moments of our trip, and reminded us that the road less travelled often offers the best surprises. We rounded out the evening with a home cooked meal and cold beer. Not bad for an unplanned drive down a country road.

The next few days we drove north to Mae Salong through country roads and returned to Chiang Rai via the A1. We sputtered up to fantastic views on our little bike, visited tea plantations, browsed local markets and enjoyed amazingly fresh food (skipping the fried and live grasshoppers). We filled our motorbike with gas from coke bottles for $2 and were entertained by the Mae Fah Luang Thai Police (great place if you need WiFi, a printer or a quick 3-in-1 Super Coffee mix!). On the return trip we visited the Royal Villa and gardens (where our new Mae Fah Luang police buddies were at work) and explored Tham Phum tham Pla ("Fish Cave"), a Buddhist cave-turned-temple where the main attraction was crazy tourist-harassing monkeys. But these monkeys were merely a side-show to the beautiful caves where local monks placed Buddhist statues in the pitch dark amongst cold pools of water and melted candles. We explored the caves using our phone’s light, completely alone aside from these remarkable statues and the occasional flutter of bats, only turning back when going further into the pitch-black caves required scuba gear.

Our last day on the road and an hour away from Chiang Rai we collided with an overachieving pothole. This pothole would make Chicago streets proud! Our front wheel jack knifed and we skidded a good ten meters. Luckily we didn’t land on the muffler and no one was driving behind us. Lee ripped up his clothes and got some deep scrapes, while Jazz had a massive bruise on her thigh from being catapulted up and landing back on the seat's metal frame. A bus and two women in a car stopped to help, and after a short rest we drove back to the guesthouse with Lee barely able to shift and bleeding from his knee and hands. Fun stuff! That night Jazz played nurse, sterilizing scraps and picking out gravel with tweezers. Although a bit shaken up, we were lucky. If you’re on a motorbike in Asia, be smart and wear jeans, a helmet and good shoes. On the plus side, at least we got to use our first aid kit!

Our last day was spent with Jermsak, a local tour guide we found here. Mending our wounds, he drove us around and we had a great chance to ask questions about culture, etc. He even stuck a native plant to Lee’s wounds, which didn’t seem to help much but definitely looked fun! At the bottom of the blog post are a few insights we had from the people we met and the places we experienced.

The next two weeks we rested in Bangkok and returned to Hong Kong for a second round of this unique metropolis.

Below are a few observations based on personal experience and discussions with people, they are not based on research! Enjoy or skip at your leisure!

Thailand is the only SE Asian country that never got colonized, apparently due to their super smart and savvy monarchy. The Thai revere their current 84 year old king because he cared for the country, but they’re concerned about his only son’s lack of philanthropy and what his rule means for their future. Sadly, only one of the king’s four daughters has taken up the king’s projects to help the Thai people. And similar to the UK, the government is not associated with the monarchy.

On a lighter note, rice fields are planted in July and harvested in October. The rice needs a lot of work the first month and is left to grow for 3 months before harvesting. Unfortunately not enough young people return home to help with harvest, so there’s an expectation that family-operated fields will be sold to corporations and workers will be contracted.

Historically becoming a monk was well respected in Thailand, similar to Laos, and families wanted sons to be monks because it would provide the family a “short cut” to heaven as the parents would be “carried up on the monks shirt.” Wealthy families would send sons to monk “boot camp” (three months of being taught to be a better person and husband with a “certificate tattoo” at the end) since that was the best way to get their sons educated when schools were inadequate. This provided temples income, but meant poorer families were unable to send their sons. Since schools are now better, wealthy families prefer to send sons to school and gain religious favor by donating money to the temples. This means temples have direct income and can offer free education to sons of poorer families.

Girls are not seen as very valuable in Thai society (at least historically and in the rural areas) since they could not be monks, so they are often “sold” and sent to Bangkok to earn money for the family. Many end up as prostitutes or sold to wealthy widowers. If you’re interested in learning more about child prostitution in Thailand, we recommend checking out Somaly Mam Foundation and the Grey Man. Corruption is an issue and given our recent discussions with friends in Australia, the Thai police are not always on the right side of child prostitution.

School is free and mandatory for boys and girls from 1st to 6th grade. It used to cost money after 6th grade, and as a result girls were often not sent because families didn’t have the money nor found girls worth the expense since they would ultimately marry and leave. However, the recent government made 7th to 12th grade free and mandatory, so education levels are rising. College still costs money but Jermsack thought it may be made free in the future as the government could use it as a political platform for winning future elections. Interestingly, the education system is paid for by lottery ticket taxes.

Families typically have two to four kids, but there have been programs to educate folks about having fewer kids in order to increase living standards. Girls used to marry between 13 to 16 years old, since they worked in rice fields and apparently would “look old by 20.” Boys would marry between 16 to 18 years old. Marriage ages have been increasing though, with 20-25 and 24-28 typical for women and men, respectively.

Akha, one of the poorest hill tribes, has some interesting spiritual beliefs. These require animal sacrifices and can make it hard to live. Apparently a few have been converting to Christianity to make life easier; however, ironically this makes it more difficult to maintain their custom of having multiple wives and quick marriages / divorces. They also they have a belief that twins or multiple child births are “bad luck” for the family and village. This means that the children would either be killed or the family exiled. Today, when faced with this option, the family sometimes converts to Christianity rather than be exiled. Jermsack thought the belief probably stemmed from the difficulty of raising multiple babies at once in very poor, rural communities and the impact on the community.

Opium used to be grown by the Akha, and as many as 60% of the older generation were addicted (note that the hill tribes constitute the majority of native population in the Golden Triangle, the historic centre of opium production in South East Asia). Recently, many have beating their addiction and only about 20% of elderly still smoke. The bad news though, is that the newer generation prefers meth and ecstasy as their drugs. Apparently it gives them energy and doesn’t make them lethargic like opium…

The Karen have three legends that explain the purpose of their neck ring: 1) protecting women from tiger bites, 2) the Karen queen put plants around her neck when the Karen didn’t win independence in their war against Burma’s people, so the people followed with brass rings and 3) Karen are decedents of swans and must prepare their necks to show that decent. Of course these are silly stories and really the rings are about showing wealth and beauty (historically they were gold rings) and to achieve a separate identity from other hill tribes. Interestingly, girls these days are beginning to ask to not have rings since they are integrated into schools with non-Karen children. Where their rings used to be signs of cultural identity and beauty, they now make them feel different than their classmates and are not generally seen as pretty.

We saw a lot more cars in Thailand than in Laos or Cambodia. Many are trucks including a fair number of Toyota Hilux trucks. These are mostly silver and metallic beige “gold” cars since apparently Thai people are superstitious and believe that these colors are an indication of good luck and prosperity.

The average monthly pay is 6,000 to 10,000 baht ($190 to $320 USD, so yearly salary is around $4,200) and a small rental room/apartment is 1,500 baht, leaving only a little to live from. Many people send 1,000 baht back to their home families (hill tribes) to support them since they are no longer in the village to help. Retirement and pensions for police are 15,000 baht a month, which is not much either but at least will give them a decent living where they can afford medical care.

Drug trafficking goes on a lot and police checkpoints turn up drugs often (meth and ecstasy, also opium and cocaine). If the local police are corrupt they may take bribes from the drivers. Most traffickers/mules are sent to jail, while the big “higher up” guys who are corrupt in the villages remain free.

Tourism is 60-70% of government income, with rice and rubber as the main exports (more rice than rubber, sort of like Laos). Rubber does not create much stress environmentally since it is exported to China in its raw form mostly (as sap, mixed with some chemicals). So it is relatively eco-friendly, although rubber plantations have replaced a lot of native forests.

Historically around the Vietnam War the KMT from China had streamed into northern Thailand and were convincing commoners and hill tribes about the wonders of Communism. The king was able to refute these promises by showing folks how to be self-sufficient and improve their economic situation through hard work. He and the queen mother set up programs for the hill tribes to contribute their weaving and other handicrafts and help in re-forestation for a wage (rather than just direct profits from handicraft sales). This has provided them a consistent annual income that is not dependent on making a sale.

Betting is something Thai people do a lot. Technically it is illegal except for the government’s lottery and event-betting a few days a month (you’ll see people walking around with official ledgers). But apparently a lot of betting happens “under the table.”

We visited an elephant camp that had about 15 elephants. Compared to India they were well taken care of. These animals get to be 60 years old in general, and are usually trained to carry people and wood out of the forest by age 6. At first we weren’t going to get a ride but then we had time and decided to experience the countryside from the top of a HUNGRY elephant - no bamboo plants were safe! It was peaceful and cool to see the fields from the higher vantage point. Their hair is quite bristly and hard to the touch, which Lee found amusing. From there we saw two Akha villages, with their houses built up on stilts. This keeps the air in the house clean and allows for easy animal husbandry below the home. Interestingly we saw a lot of random trash lying around the villages and Jermsack explained that villagers are not generally educated in keeping things clean, etc. so that much of it washed in to the river and is carried downstream affecting many other peoples. Sorta typical for a lot of developing countries. Finally we walked to a smaller waterfall and saw a horned beetle (which apparently are used to bet and fight, as well as chickens, water buffalo - but not dogs! since it’s considered too cruel – nice to hear).

Bolaven Plateau and Luang Prabang

2013-06-02T03:43:00.000-05:00

Our next adventure took us to the Laos countryside, zipping around on a moped in search of waterfalls on the Bolaven Plateau and wandering the iconic city of Luang Prabang, a buddhist community nestled in Northern Laos.

The Bolaven Plateau is a gorgeous tropical zone with waterfalls and coffee plantations perched in the clouds. On our motorbike, we passed village after village, kids waving and chasing after us. Brooms, baskets, axes, machetes, matts, etc. lined the streets for sale beside thatched two room houses. The area felt like one big jungle, with cloudy mist and drizzle contributing to the feeling. A half-day round trip from Pakse and just off the main road were Tad Champee, Tad Yuang / Gniang, and Tad E Tu waterfalls, with few people and lots of nature. At Tad Yuang we followed a steep path on a rickety platform to return soaked to the bone, happy as could be after seeing such an awesome sight, full after the long wet season. Regardless of size, setting or intensity there is always something primal about waterfalls. Perhaps it's the journey and sense of destination.

We stopped for lunch at a coffee shop with the most delicious coffee, banana shakes, and fire roasted bananas. We toured the ten hectare coffee plantation with the owner, a Laotian who lived in France after his parents fled the war and returned in retirement to start a plantation. We learned a lot about coffee and saw examples of Arabica, Robusta and French coffee plants. It's always a goal of ours to learn while traveling, and usually it's learning about food or drink. =) The trees need a mix of shade to bear fruit, such that larger trees are planted in between the rows. Arabica grows fast and are cut every six to seven years, while a single coffee season is nine months. The seeds are collected in October / November, field dried for about a week and then shipped to a roasting plant.

That night we made it back to Pakse around 6:30 and enjoyed a traditional Lao dinner at our guesthouse, including egg omelet filled with ground pork, veggies, and spicy sauce, and a glass noodle soup with dill, cilantro, chilies and chicken that was quite spicy. Our host invited us to join her neighbours’ lottery party (they had bought tickets and were hoping to win), where they were sitting in front of the house on the sidewalk drinking beer and eating. Some fun attempts at translation and we were a hit, particularly when they found out we were married (a great surprise apparently). After the food ran out we headed to a bar on the banks of the Mekong to listen to acoustic guitarists play Lao classics about land, love and loss. It was an interesting evening with good company. We even got to eat super deep fried cow skin, oh yeah.

The next afternoon we headed to the airport for our flight to Luang Prabang, only to find the airport closed. We walked around and finally found the Lao Airline ticket window, where we were informed that our flight was indeed canceled (why hadn't we responded to the badly written one-line email informing us that the flight was canceled??? Yup we thought it was a hoax too). Our new option was to fly the next day through Vientienne (with 3.5 hour lay over) to get to Luang Prabang. This put a wrench in our plans, but nicely enough the airline offered to pay for our hotel in Pakse and have a driver pick us up the next morning. So with nothing left to do, we drove back to Hotel Pakse, got a room and made the best of free internet access. Jazz took the opportunity to get a wonderful Lao massage (one hour for $4.50) and a two hour manicure and pedicure for $5. Not bad!

We made it to Luang Prabang no worries, and found our guesthouse next to the Palace Museum. We explored a few streets before heading to Toui Café for dinner, with a tasty fish laap (traditional Lao dish with minced fish and garlic and spice). Prices were a bit steep versus Pakse but it's more touristy so there you go. We browsed the night market, lit by dangling bulbs and friendly people. A different experience than Beijing, where you ended up feeling like the merchandise. A good bit of the typical southeast asian variety, and plenty of opportunities to buy a few presents for folks (wood boxes, plates, bed covers, purses galore, carvings, baskets, statues, jewellery of all sorts, spirits, sling shots, shirts, pants, skirts/dresses, hand made, stuffed animals, magnets, lanterns, wall hangings, paintings, books, whiskey with and without critters inside, etc.).

The next two days we walked Luang Prabang and visited a handful of Buddhist temples and the monks' quarters. We always tried to catch the eye of a monk to gain permission to enter and to take photos. A lot of the monks are young boys just having left home. They are shy but friendly and we felt honoured to be there. The temples are amazing, even if you're not familiar with Buddhism. They are works of art and its a privilege to see them. We'll let the photos speak for themselves. Make sure to click on the photo to link to our Flickr page, where we have ton more photos of the temples and monks.

We also visited the Big Brother Mouse house where foreigners can chat with young Laotians for two hours (9-11am) in English to help them learn the language. We got to chatting with four guys about their lives compared to ours. They were happy but face challenges that mean they grow up early, like expectations on marriage and familial duty. Interestingly they didn't mind tourists, and one boy wanted to be a tour guide to show tourists the best spots. Kind of reminded us of our guide in Mongolia - proud of his country and wanting to share it.

Lastly, we made sure to experience one of the unique treasures of Luang Prabang, the monks' daily pre-dawn ritual of walking the city for alms. Every morning at 6 am they walk the streets with a container for rice, filled by Buddhist practitioners as they kneel on the street. Any extras that the monks can not hold they give to others who might need it. The monks and the people who support them are the real treasures of Luang Prabang. As a tourist, they deserve your respect and consideration. When we watched and photographed them that morning, we made sure to kneel and face them. During the day we took photos from a distance or from behind. If someone looked like they didn't want their photo taken, we didn't take it.

Luang Prabang is a wonderful town, even if it is developing a main stream tourist feel (at least in the histrocial part, leave that behind and you are back in south-east asia). It is still unique, relaxing, affordable and filled with wonderful people. By far Laos was one of our favourite countries. We loved it and would be happy to return, for the people, the landscapes and the food.

Next up, North Thailand. And if you've made it this far, below are a few things we learned about Laos culture.

People like to play the lottery (2 times a week) and almost everyone participates.
Laotians drink their beer with ice cubes.
Laotians are very conservative and running around as a woman with a tank top does attract attention. Wearing a T-shirt that covers the shoulders is better, and shorts should be closer to the knees rather than above.
Laotians do not approve of public displays of affection and it takes a lot of beer to loosen them up.
Don’t ever show someone your feet (it’s disrespectful) and don’t touch their heads (this is the highest center of spirituality for them).
It is also respectful to crouch down a bit if you are walking by someone who is seated and has their head at a lower level than yours.
Saying “sabadii” for hello should be accompanied with folded hands and a slight head nod/bow. People do this, why wouldn't you? You're in their country... Don't make a show of it, but a slight nod is appreciated.
People take pride in their personal appearance, and are always clean looking (with relatively nice clothes and clean shaven).
People like to pass the time by watching TV (soap opera style shows are on all day), playing cards after dark (sunset around 6:00PM), singing karaoke at night at bars, and playing volleyball and/or hackie sack during the day.
They use ovaltine for chocolate (milk, on bananas, etc.).
Toilet paper is used as tissues.
Most Lao boys become monks at one time or another, but can decide if they want to stay. Poorer families do send their sons regularly since it guarantees that they have food and get some education while they are in the Buddhist monasteries.
Kids go to school starting at 7 years, and end at 18. But in the country-side this may not happen because of lack of funds for uniforms/books or the kids are needed in the fields. In the city though all kids go.
Marriage used to be at age 18 for guys, and 13-14 for girls although that is changing (in the cities for sure, where now 18-20 for both is common). Also the hill tribes have different customs, it used to be that 18-20 year olds would kidnap a girl to be their wife and the girl had no say (if she didn’t like the guy she could cry or try suicide which apparently happened). This is changing as hill tribes become less isolated and more integrated with main stream Laos.
Generally families have 4-5 kids, but it is not uncommon to have as many as 10 (one of the guys we talked with at Big Brother was the youngest of 10…)
The Lao people we met tend to think their government is good. It is not too corrupt and does build bridges/roads for people. Also they have been trying to help with the education problems of the poor.
You should eat “Orlam” great traditional Lao soup dish.
They bargain but not as crazy as in China (2-3x not 10x).

Welcome to Laos

2013-02-10T04:21:00.000-06:00

From Siem Reap we headed to Pakse, Laos. We flew the national airline, Laos Airlines. Once known for its horrible accident record, it was one of our better flights with their new planes, decent food and good service. They even had an entertaining (and informative) country guide explaining some of the does and don'ts. It would be cool to see other countries do something similar!

On arrival we had planned to stay at a home stay, but we hadn't contacted them in advance and the house was closed. We ended up at the main hotel in town, the Pakse Hotel for $30 per night (mighty expensive for this part of the world and beyond our local budget, but it was nice to have a comfy bed, free WiFi and AC). Our favourite restaurant in town was across the street, the Xuan Mai. Fresh salads and fruit milk shakes rounded out our afternoon. At this point we had (pretty much) given up caring about food safety, but no worries here in Laos because we consistently found that food is prepared fresh! Ultimately Laos food would turn out to be one of our favourite cuisines of the trip. Yummy!

After dinner we made our way over the Se Don bridge, visited a budhist temple, and followed the river to its confluence with the Mekong River, where river side grills dotted the banks and cooked up whole fish on the grill (yum). We wrapped up the evening with a return to the hotel, sunset on the roof, and take-away dinner from Xuan Mai (Lee even bought some Orchids for Jazz while waiting for dinner!).

The next morning we headed to Don Khon, a southern river island near the Cambodian border; but luckily visited a Pakse ATM to get some Kip for us to make it through the next two days (there are no ATMs on the islands). We hopped on the local minibus, for the drive through Laos countryside to the islands. The Mekong was high as it was the end of the rainy season and due to recent rains (which were reeking havoc in Thailand). Ourr little canoe style motor boat just barely peaked above the water.

Along with two other backpackers, we arrived on quiet, laid back Don Khon island. The Mekong was so full that the only road was flooded, so we navigated barefoot along with the local school kids (how they kept their clothes so clean is a mystery to us, who got dirty within 2 minutes of arriving). We grabbed dinner on a floating restaurant, with the river literally lapping at our feet below the deck with such high velocity that it seemed the restaurant could easily be ripped off its pillings (more on this later....). We rented a riverside bungalow (more on this later) and took a bike ride through lush rice fields. We saw the local area waterfall, which was more a massive rapids due to the huge flows, and hired a boat to watch for the famous Mekong river Irrawaddy dolphins along the border with Cambodia. Luckily our boat was able to navigate against the current to get us back, though it was touch and go for a while... The dolphins really were gorgeous, and the Mekong there was an awesome force.

While getting ready to leave the next morning, around 7:30AM, we heard a massive crash. One of the bungalows (which was perched over the river - and for that reason why Lee wouldn't let us stay in it) had been ripped off its pillings and was carried, along with the restaurant we first ate at, into the old French concrete rail bridge downstream of us. Crazily enough two tourists were inside the bungalow and climbed out unscathed (although quite shook up). If not for the old bridge, they would've been carried downstream through the waterway.

We watched the rescue efforts for a bit and saw how they systematically pulled the restaurant to the side and dismantled it bit by bit, before ripping into the roof (all made from straw) of the bungalow and getting belongings out. Crazy, but not all together uncommon for them when the river floods.

We then headed to breakfast at a fantastic restaurant called Chanthoumma and had delicious food (spring rolls, banana pancakes, chocolate and banana rice pudding, and fried rice with chicken) while helping round up the lady's baby chickens (sooo cute). We waded through the Mekong and got into the boat at 10:30AM, taking nearly an hour to navigate upstream against the current (video to make it online eventually...).

We unloaded in Pakse and found our way to Imoun’s Guesthouse for nice showers and a tasty but dang spicy chicken and pork dish (again the food ohhh the food). A bit of blog writing, computer work and a visit to the local wifi cafe rounded out the evening.

Next up: Motorbiking and waterfalls on the Bolaven Plateau, and a visit to historic Luang Prabang

Siem Reap - Ancient Temples

2012-11-11T04:45:00.001-06:00

Heading out of Hong Kong we caught the morning bus to Shenzhen, China for our flight to Kunming and on to Siem Reap, Cambodia. Once in Kunming, we hoofed it through the airport to find our flight delayed four hours (first major delay of the trip!). Hungrily, we headed to a restaurant where the “Chili Chicken” was all chillies and no chicken. Lee made a valiant effort, but three bowls of rice and several astonished stares from people later, he gave up.

We arrived in the Kingdom of Cambodia that evening, met our TukTuk driver, Mr. Lin Hon, and navigated puddles on our way to the Parklane Hotel in Siem Reap.

Serpents. Water Buffaloes. Elephants. Buddhas. Birds. Snakes. Men. Temples. Incense. Monks. Heat. Moss. Stones. Trees. Motorbikes. Kids. Swamps. Art. Carvings. Monkeys. Tourists. Lizards. Fields. Geckos. Scorpions. Workers. Humidity. Rain. Green. Women. Rice. Land Mines. Families. Fires.

These are just a few of the sites and senses we experienced during the days we wandered the beautiful, ancient and awesome temples in Angkor Wat and surrounding Siem Reap. Our faithful driver leading the way, we wandered through many a ruin and toured the countryside. A gorgeous place with smiling people, where the tragically recent past could easily be missed if one didn't look too close (Khmer Rouge).

Here's a quick summary of the temples we visited in the Angkor Wat area:

Bayon - includes an impressive south gate with serpent handlers
Angkor Thom - various temples with a mix of features
Ta Keo - small temple but quiet atmosphere
Ta Prohm - still in a fairly ruined state; impressive if you can't make it to the temples outside Angkor Wat
Banteay Kdei - interesting etchings and an older style
Angkor Wat - main temple, fully restored and the most visited. Massive structure with upper temple tower and art galleries, but to us it lacked the mystique of the smaller temples. Also you had to be covered (shoulders to knees), so Jazz wasn't allowed up.

And beyond the Angkor Wat area, our favorites:

Banteay Srey – female temple with unique sandstone carvings, lizards, and a big farting gecko (apparently if you antagonize them, they hiss and fart at you, as Jazz found out), also read about history of different architecture and construction styles throughout the ages, and the plundering that went/goes on.
Kbal Spean – a river temple 1.5km up a mountain, with carvings in the river bed and a waterfall to cool off under. On the way back we even ran into a huge huge huge black scorpion on the mountain side - just a foot from Lee's head!
Beng Mealea – of all temples, this was our favorite. A huge complex totally overrun by jungle trees and not reconstructed at all. We climbed all over it, through the rubble and inside the galleries and libraries. Really demonstrates the task those crazy British explorers went through to restore these temples using only ropes, pulleys and manual labour.

We wrapped up our last day with sunrise over Angkor Wat and visit to six of its nearby temples. Although mobbed by tourists, it was nice to be there. And since we started with sunrise at the complex, we headed up to Bakeng Mountain to join our fellow tourists for sunset.

The little we saw of Cambodia left us impressed. The region has such an ancient history, yet the majority of it remains densely hidden and unknown to many in the western world. Although Angkor Wat is crowded with tourists, a short trip outside the city and you'll encounter a friendly countryside with what seem (to an outsider) ancient, unexplored and ruined temples. Not a bad place and definitely worth a more thorough look, but we had other lands to explorer ;)

Next up: Coffee, waterfalls and motor biking in Laos

Lee Strikes Out in Hong Kong

2012-07-28T21:37:00.000-05:00

9:30 AM and we were off to Beijing’s airport through a muggy soup of yellow smog. On board Dragon Air, we were served ice cream and mooncakes to celebrate the upcoming Mid-Autumn Festival, aka Moon Festival. These deserts have a violent past – in the 1368 uprising they were supposedly used to relay messages to Chinese rebels against the Mongol dynasty. Lee probably wouldn’t have gotten the message because he ate the whole thing in a two bites.

Once in Hong Kong we used the A11 bus to deliver us to the heart of Hong Kong (Sheung Wan Metro Station). A very cool way to enter the city - find a seat on the bus’ upper deck and enjoy some of the best bay panoramas in the world. We trudged through the muggy heat with our gear in tow until finding our new home for the week, an AirBnB apartment smack in the middle of the antique district. That evening we cooled down with AC, a nice shower, and pizza delivery while we caught up with emails, Facebook and calls home.

It’s these moments that remind us how relaxing traveling can be – a flight from Beijing to Hong Kong, a bus into the city, and a short walk and instead of feeling stressed, we’re lounging in a cozy apartment chatting with friends online and reading up on adventures-to-be in a new city. Unfortunately, Jazz woke up with a severe cold that stuck with her throughout our time in Hong Kong; thus, she stayed at home and Lee struck out on his own (after much prodding by Jazz). Note: We'll be back with another blog post on Hong Kong when we return in a month or so with Jazz's mom. Look forward to markets, cable car rides and the botanical gardens.

The second evening in HK was spent at the Tai Hang Fire Dragon Dance, an emotive, authentic and sweat-inducing event. Locals dance a 67 foot long ‘dragon of fire’ through three square blocks of Hong Kong for two hours, amongst hundreds of pressing, pushing and camera wielding fanatics (Lee included). The dragon, created by a string of burning incense, is danced to drum beats while incense hangs in the air. This was an inspiring and one of the most authentic experiences of our whole trip (and yes Lee needed a shower afterwards).

After the Dragon Dance and a few blocks over, a completely different setting offered a relaxing, peaceful atmosphere. Part of the Lantern Festival, hundreds of paper lanterns illuminated a cozy park in the heart of the city. It offered a welcome respite after the intensity of the Dragon Dance.

After spending the hot and humid day inside for further trip planning, Lee headed to the horse races at the famous Happy Valley tracks for some night-time adventures, and promptly lost $50 on two bets. His take away was that the horses have different names, and while that’s pretty cool, it’s not the best way to bet.

On our last afternoon, Lee headed to the Man Mo temple on Hollywood Road. Lots of incense, a moody atmosphere, a few practitioners, and overall a really neat place. Again though - a shower and fresh clothes were needed afterwards.

Next Up: Travels to Cambodia – The Temples of Siem Reap

Beijing - Part II

2012-07-07T20:30:00.001-05:00

It's ~~Labor Day~~ July in Australia and we are a bit behind. Never mind that though, let's reminisce... After several exhausting days in Beijing, we relaxed in our host's courtyard with tea and good company before venturing to the Sanlitun Yashow Clothing Market. Seven levels of stalls selling clothes, shoes, purses, watches, paintings, stamps, baby clothes, electronics, pearls and jewels, and more.

Just remember to bargain. Start at 10%, and go no more than 40% of the "listed" price. Even 25% is "over paying". Unfortunately this insane bargaining has led to inflated pricing even for local Chinese. And you get what you pay for - knock offs are not the real thing. Lots of souvenirs and our bargaining skills honed, we made it home and laid our loot for our host's judgement. Not bad Cindy declared, while promptly directing us to Tao Bao, Chinese eBay, where we subsequently increased our loot with a few extra things. Why not?

Next up was Tantan (Temple of Heaven) Park. Lots of curious activity by folks of the older variety. Open-air dancing, including ballroom, line and choreography with ribbon twirly things. Pure, unadulterated group dancing, not something you would see in Chicago's Millennium Park. Gotta say though, they were fearless, unabashed and enjoying it, which was nice to see. Other entertainment included Chinese guitar (Erhu), group singing, bird walking (yes, birds in cages), Tai’Chi, exercising, weight lifting, badminton, cards, and Go (Chinese board game). We also picked up a cute crocheted dragon. Although the atmosphere of the park was a bit odd, i.e. lots of elderly out and about doing wacky and lively things, we agree it'd be nice to find ourselves twirling ribbons and playing cards in the park at that age. So good on them.

We headed further south in the park to the Temple of Heaven complex, including the main temple, Echo Wall, and Round Hill Mound. At the Echo Wall our voice circumnavigated the stone wall 360 degrees to return to us, and at the Round Hill Mound we watched locals speak to the heavens while surrounded by the nine Heaven Stones. Serious stuff.

From the park we headed to the Forbidden City, historical home of the emperor and now a sad, barren shell of its former beauty. Grass was removed and paved during Mao's Pest Campaign. Facades hundreds of years old crumble due to lack of care and groping by Chinese tourists. The majority of furniture and artifacts are (rumored to be) fake - the real ones actively stolen, and sold on the black market by officials. While the government shows a complete lack of interest in the site, thousands of Chinese (and international) tourists visit it daily. It is pure Beijing - dusty, gray, hot, cramped, and a glimpse of the city's past beauty.

Heading back on the Metro we hit rush-hour! A full body rubbing might be 2¥ well spent for some folks, but while it is cheaper than a good massage in developed countries, you don't have the luxury of choosing the age, gender or attractiveness of whom one is rubbing with. But hey, it is only 30 cents after all.

The next day we learned that our (real) home - Texas - was burning. We spent the day worrying, checking reports online, and trying to arrange our SE Asia and North Korea (yes, North Korea!!) trips. By the following day we learned that Jazz's parents had to evacuate as the fires got to within a mile of the house, but luckily everyone was okay. Worries alleviated, we finalized our plans for SE Asia (with minimal gear as motor biking around Thailand doesn't lend well to a wheeled duffel bag)... To accomplish this we left our stuff at Cindy & Nikos'. Thanks guys, and hats off to AirBnB for helping create this sort of opportunity. On our return trip, after SE Asian and North Korea, Cindy again pushed us out the door with a visit to the Summer Palace and the 798 Zone art district. Cool stuff and definitely worth a visit.

Overall we found it to be the most exhausting and oppressive city we've visited. Ordinary people, including 80 year old women, were often rude and deliberately in your face, while the city itself is unforgivably massive, hot and dusty. However, surprises abound, including hidden gardens, alleys, courtyards and palaces filled with plenty of friendly people responsible for a culture and history that, while sometimes hard to find, is well worth it when encountered. Before heading to Hong Kong, we'll leave you with a few impressions from our week in Beijing.

- Men like to rub their large bellies in public. With there shirt rolled up.
- Women (those we talked to) find Chinese men ugly and fat. This opinion was supported by said men rubbing their sweaty bellies in public. *shudder*
- There's a lot of corruption in China. No surprises there considering the train ticket fiasco. Honestly though, would trade a bit more corruption for a bit less rubbing.
- Many apartments in Beijing don't have toilets, so people are expected to use common public restrooms built on the street without doors (for showers or the "whole in the ground" toilets). Joy!
- There is an underground cooking oil black market. The oil is skimmed from the sewer and re-used in restaurants. Many restaurants. All over Beijing. Police apparently shut down two of these "oil recycle rings" after we left. Yay. Enjoy your meal.
- Beijing men (especially the plump variety) are big talkers, while foreigners are apparently not to be touched. This might explain why, when Lee elbowed a Chinese man in his belly for cutting in line, the man simply barked something at him instead of punching him in the face like might have occurred in Texas.
- eBay is nothing compared to Tao Bao. You can buy $10,000 kittens on Tao Bao. What the heck!?

Next Up: Hong Kong

Settled in Australia

2012-03-29T05:52:00.000-05:00

Guess what?!? We're surrounded by koalas and lorikeets... and no we're not in a zoo! We're back in Australia and here to stay for a few years. Visitors welcome!

We had a great time back at home with the family in Texas before flying back across the Pacific on January 30, 2011. Since then we've found a house to rent, Lee has settled into his job with AECOM (same company as in Chicago), bought a car (Hyundai i30) and Jazz is playing house wife while looking for employment. So far she has an offer as a grocery check-out, deli counter girl or Tupperware saleswoman!

Supposedly our US goods have arrived in port and will be delivered April 5, pending customs inspection. Until then we've got two outdoor chairs with table and two outdoor sofas to lounge on. We also picked up a bed for the guest bedroom. Below are a few quick videos of our abode, located in wonderful, relaxing Wynnum, Queensland (on the bay, east of Brisbane about 10 km).

We promise to get back to the job of posting about our travels asap (for those of you who are checking nightly to find out the latest)!

Cheers,

~JazzandLee

We Interrupt Your Regularly Scheduled Program

2011-12-21T21:53:00.000-06:00

... with an update from Patagonia in Punta Arenas, Chile. Contrary to what you may be thinking, we have not been teleported from Beijing to South America. That's sad news for those of you who were delighted to suddenly learn about the invention of teleporters. Instead we’ve been having too much fun to spend time in front of our laptop updating our blog. Since Beijing we have experienced the people and places of Southeast Asia, the hard-line Communism of North Korea, the wildlife (koalas!) of Australia, the emerald lagoons and snorkeling of Fiji, the tango and wine of Argentina and the epic landscapes of Chile.

Tonight we are spending the last night of our trip in one of the most beautiful settings in the world. It is crazy to think that tomorrow we will be flying home to spend Christmas with the family and our trip will come to a close. As for our blog, we'll be catching up on posts while spending January in Texas before moving to Brisbane, Australia in February (a whole new adventure!). We have lots to share and hope you'll keep on reading.

Cheers and Happy Holidays,

~JazzandLee

Bouncing Around Beijing - Part 1

2011-11-19T20:42:00.000-06:00

The Gobi Desert stretched out past our train window on the way south to China, a few camels and power poles dotting the landscape. We shared our cabin with a Belgium couple who were taking a year to travel before returning to Luxembourg. We crowded into the cabin, our large bag taking up the floor, and shared stories as the Gobi passed by. At around 9 PM we arrived at the Chinese-Mongolian border and customs officers quickly snapped up our passports and checked our storage areas. A few hours later our passports were returned and we watched as our train was lifted a meter or two in the air, its wheel base swapped to fit Chinese gauge tracks. This process took several hours as we drifted in and out of sleep, our cabin stuffy without AC.

By 4 PM the next day we found ourselves outside the Beijing train station looking for a six foot Greek man with glasses. He wasn’t hard to find among the Chinese crowd J. Nikos and his wife Cindy (a local Beijing resident) were our hosts for our week in Beijing. Our original plan was to spend a three days in Beijing and then travel by night-train to Datong and Xi’An. Our friend from Ekaterinburg, Jun, and Cindy had even worked together to purchase tickets; however, due to Chinese bureaucracy and corruption, our tickets fell through and we opted to just explore the vast city. Cindy and Nikos had fixed up her grandparents’ traditional court-yard style house to share with her mother and guests (again a wonderful airbnb place). The house plus the company made for a wonderful and relaxing time in an otherwise grey, cramped and inhospitable city.

Shortly after settling in, Cindy and Nikos walked us across the street for traditional cold noodles. Made in a variety of shapes and substances, our favorite were the flat, sponge-like buckwheat noodles mixed with diced cucumber and chili sauce (craving them now as we type this). The old cook handed us our noodles presented like a masterpiece, for just 2 USD. We wanted to say something in appreciation, but our attempt at saying “chi-chi” was probably incomprehensible.

Our first day in Beijing was spent walking a circuit from Cindy’s to Hou Hai and Qian Hai lakes, taking in the Drum Tower, boutique shops and the home of Soong Ching Ling, wife of the Chinese Communist founder Sun Yat-Tsen. Soong Ching Ling’s exhibit was our first taste of Chinese propaganda and historical fact tweaking. According to the exhibit, Soong Ching Ling was hard working, modest and always cared for the country’s children. In all ways, she was also humble, hard working and modest. Lastly, she tirelessly cared for the country’s children and was, in every day life, modest and hard working. We got the point.

The next day Cindy kicked us out of the house for being lazy. Although it sounds like we did a lot the first day, we got up late and made it back early. Day two was anything but lazy. Beijing is a big city, and trying to walk it is a bold decision. An eight hour circuit took us to the Palace Garden of Prince Gong - a well maintained old mansion, Beihai Park with its White Pagoda - where we watched the elderly dancing, Tiananmen Square - with its large propaganda screen, and back through Wangfujing Dajie, Beijing’s Time Square. Along the way we were met with dense grey smog, tourist-hawking rickshaws, plush black government sedans, bullying army trucks, ancient palace rooms with dirty windows, closed doors and knock-off antiques, paved over palace courtyards and Chinese propaganda broadcasted on massive LCD screens in Tiananmen Square. At Wangfujing Dajie, a crowded, Disney-esk street for tourists, offered barbequed scorpions, star fish, seahorses, snakes, silk-worm cocoons, and other rarities were on sale.

And of course we had to see the “Great Wall.” For years the Chinese tried to convince foreigners that the wall wasn’t actually “great.” It was a hodge-podge of pieces constructed over several dynasties, with different materials and differing levels of quality. The first Chinese astronaut even confirmed it wasn’t viewable from space. But you know how foreigners are. Eventually, under Mao’s leadership, the Chinese decided what the heck, why not call it the “Great Wall” and use it as a marketing and propaganda tool (for more info on the wall and China’s break-neck growth check out Country Driving by Peter Hessler). Bright and early (well not really bright due to the smog) we caught the local 876 bus in the Dongzhimennei Dajie area and headed to Mutianyu, a portion of the great wall a little less traveled. Although a cable car can take you to the top, we chose to walk the grueling 100,000+ steps to Tower 10. From there we hoofed our way to Tower 1 and the east end of the wall, which included a walk along the ridge downhill and then nearly straight up to the tower - truly an awesome engineering work. Fog and smog surrounded us the entire time, which provided an eerie silence and sense of isolation. A few other travelers huffed and puffed by and a lone overweight Chinese singer gyrated his hips for a CCTV crew surrounded by Chinese flags.

We hopped on the toboggan for what we hoped would be a quick ride down the mountain, but about half way got stuck behind a stuffy Chinese woman who took full liberties of her breaks (yes there is video). As we arrived at the base of the mountain, storm clouds approached and we rushed to for cover with our fellow bus mates, half locals half tourists. We then proceeded to wait for one hour under torrential rain and street flooding (our shoes were soaked) while being hawked by two persistent taxi drivers. According to them, our bus was going to be delayed several hours or more probably couldn’t make it up the hill in the rain. They gave up after the bus arrived. We felt a little sorry for them considering the effort they had made. That evening over spicy homemade buffalo wings at Nikos and Cindy’, we learned about Cindy’s boss Wim Delvoye, a Belgium artist whose approach could be summed up as “crazy shit.”
Next Up: Beijing Part 2 – Beijing shopping, the locals’ park, news from home and our impression of Beijing.

Galloping Camels!!! It's Mongolia Part 2

2011-11-03T08:43:00.000-05:00

Unknown to us, our first stop on Day 4 was the “Penis Rock”. Apparently formed naturally into the shape of a penis (very life-like), local legend declares that if a woman prays to the rock or gives an offering to it, or even sits on it, she’ll get pregnant. Jazz made sure to steer clear. From there we drove through construction sites, one massive 20m-by-10m mud pit (needing expert drag-racing driving to transverse), and ragged dirt paths with 1-2 foot high jagged rocks jutting above the surface like some crazy moonscape that passed for roads. Man, were we glad for our driver! We also stopped to repair another Khongor van (our driver had the experience to repair it, the other driver didn’t) and had lunch in the prairie. In the 3 hours it took them, we explored the area and discovered what were likely ancient circular stone tombs, very probably that of Genghis Khan himself J, although our guide was unconvinced.

We finally made it to Tsutgalan waterfall from the Orkhon river, and luckily no tourists were around to spoil the view, although a few yaks roamed the area and hawks played just outside, making for a relaxing evening. Returning from our walk, we joined Sanja in the kitchen ger and shared recipes since lunch was so tasty; we even explained stuffed bell peppers, but he couldn’t believe why anyone would put the meat inside instead of just cutting up the bell pepper! That evening, inspired by our discussion, he made spaghetti with meat sauce for the first time (he had to call his wife to ask how make the spaghetti).

Later we all crawled into bed (shared our ger with Sanja) kept nice and toasty by our fire, when at 2 AM someone was banging on our door. Sanja was out cold, so Lee opened it to find two Mongolians yelling something. Lee, with his shirt off and white skin gleaming, gave them a confused “I don’t speak your language” look, and they muttered something and walked off. The next morning we learned from Sanja that those guys were park “police” who had driven into the camp drunk and then started to harass and extort money from the guides and drivers. One officer took a swing at a driver, who then fought back. The “real” police showed up and hauled them both to the jail, where the police decided the driver was at fault and should either pay $1,000 (an astronomical sum for a driver) or face 7 nights in jail. After 7 nights though, he was told they would “see” about his release (aka pay us or rot in jail). How crazy is that??? But goes to show how corrupt the government is.

On the way to our last destination, we picked up the best bottle of vodka - Chinggis Khan, for our last hosts who were good friends of Sanja and our driver. They live next to a crazy geological anomaly – a 10km long by 2km wide Mongol Sand Dune area in an otherwise grassland valley. Once we settled in, we took a two hour walk into the dunes, with lots of running up/down the dunes, funny pictures and a few videos (yes, Lee crashed into Jazz on “accident”). When we got back to the ger and we enjoyed an hour long camel ride on double hump camels (different than the single hump camels in India). These guys were cool because their humps are soft, fuzzy and warm, versus single humpers who are a bit hard on the bum. On the way home, he let us take the reigns and we raced back at a full camel gallop with Lee emerging as the champ (video exists to prove it – he claims)!

That night after helping Sanja with our bell-pepper dinner (it was a success, although our hosts would only eat the stuffing and not the peppers!), we pulled out the vodka and our Russian chocolates to share with our hosts. Eventually everyone went to sleep / passed out (out host drank about half the bottle), and it was just Sanja and us up talking about all sorts of things. Again we learned a few interesting things, including:

Making Mongolia green and clean should be easy with the resources available; however, politicians have no interest and neither does the average person. Even in the most beautiful parts of the country the ground is often littered with trash due to the people’s attitude that “the wind take care of it.” That said, some people see the value of wind and solar energy, so perhaps in the future they can use these resources to their advantage.
Traditional marriages are simple. After the wedding, the bride’s family visits the groom’s family ger for a huge party. An “eternal” fire gets lit to symbolize a new hearth, while blue (for the Mongolian sky) and white (for purity) ribbons are used for decoration.
Marriage is a fairly modern affair, with rings exchanged in front of a judge and a Shaman or Buddhist priest in attendance. Women get a gold ring with two interlocking diamond symbols and small dots on the corners, while men get a gold ring with two interlocking circles, also with dots on the “four corners”.
Tourism accounts for ~35-40% of Mongolia’s economy, while Mining equals ~60-65%. The government supports mining more than tourism because officials are able to siphon off more funds from mining, while tourism income goes towards individuals, and would require the government to undertake infrastructure improvements.
Khongor Tours is known for being the cheapest and one of the largest companies in Mongolia. They have ~100 guides with 5 to 15 tours at any given day. Roughly 60% of tour dollars went to gas, jeep, food and host families; 20% to the driver and guide ($12/day each) and the remainder to Khongor. With other companies, 50% of the cost goes to the company. These tours are more expensive, so while the guides earn more they have to deal with a more exclusive sort of tourist and their associated attitudes (read below). So a lot of drivers/guides start with other companies for the money but end up leaving for Khongor, where they deal with more reasonable tourists but get paid less. As a result, Khongor generally ends up with the more experienced drivers and guides.
Apparently a lot of tourists feel entitled and request absurd things (like a LCD TV in their ger) or complain about amenities (like old jeeps). Our thoughts were basically “Come on! It’s Mongolia, what do you expect!!” Sanja also shared a few horror stories, including (1) an annoying professional travel photographer who turned him into his assistant and then complained/yelled at him, (2) a US army guy who was so unhappy and angry (with life and his trip in general) he took it out on him, and (3) a group that wanted more vodka at night so badly that they blackmailed him (with false accusations) into driving to a night market when the roads are full of drunks. Apparently we restored his faith in tourists J

The final day we headed back to UB, only to find out that Khongor had booked up our guesthouse bed (probably to some higher paying people). Apparently this is the de-facto deal in UB, based on other traveler reports. We laughingly told Sanja that we could stay with him and quickly found ourselves invited to share the evening with his wife and son. Thinking he should check with his wife, we finally convinced him to call and get the confirmation from her J. All went well and as thanks we made them JP’s carbonara pasta (introducing yet another dish to Mongolia!). Bright and early the next morning, Sanja walked us to the train station on the way to his next tour group. Not a bad way to wrap up a fantastic trip! Next Up: China – Disappearing Train Tickets and a Home Away from Home in Beijing.

Mongolian Gers, Yaks and More - Part 1

2011-10-30T23:56:00.002-05:00

Crossing from Russia to Mongolia on a two day train ride, we experienced one of the longer border crossings in the world (seven hour stop while officials checked paperwork and doggies walked the train). We hung out at the bathroom-less train station K, and visited a nearby park, where the occasional beer bottle littered the dust-caked ground. Upon arriving in Ulaanbattoor (UB) at 6:15 AM, we expected to meet our tour company’s driver, and instead found our Chinese friend from Ekaterinburg waiting for her train and waving us down. She helped our driver find us, who through mistaken signals arrived a half hour early! Seriously, what a small world!

Starting our week long Mongolian tour with Khongor Tours, we were first joined by a French family and drove east to Grohki-Terelj National Park, where at the entrance we stopped at an Ovoo (a stick in a stone mound bedecked in sacred blue ribbons to signify the sky) and circled it clockwise to invoke the protection and good luck of the ancestors. Local Mongolians toss shots of vodka on the mound and stick small bills under the stones as sacrifices as well. Continuing into the park we made it to our overnight home, a family ger (aka yurt in Russian) in a mountainous valley. These gers are made from vertical two by fours placed around a plastic ground covering, with angled two by fours forming the roof. These boards are then wrapped in sheep/camel wool pads to form the “interior wall” and plasticy / water proof outer shell. An old wooden stove sits in the middle, its stack sticking out through a circular opening in the top of the roof. Quick suggestion on ger living – make sure to close the door when leaving. After returning from a short walk, we found two calves in our ger enjoying our afternoon snack of carrots and bell peppers! They seemed rather disappointed when we herded them out, Jazz lecturing them on their manners.

That afternoon we hiked a huge sacred rock formation in the valley and had a short horse ride guided by our 10-year old neighbor, then returned to a dinner of tortilla-like strips mixed with mutton and veggies (quite filling). To work off our food, we helped the son-in-law chop fire wood. An interior decorator living in UB, his wife and 4 year old daughter stay with her family for the fresh air and to support of the in-laws. Chatting with him, we learned that kids go to school between 5-18 years old and university costs around $1,000 per year. Jobs are only available in UB and mostly exist in the service industries; therefore, huge wealth disparity exists between UB and the rest of Mongolia where little money needed with this self-sustaining life style. Gender bias also exists throughout society. In the country, women are relegated to the home while men tend sheep, goats, horses and cattle; although with the rise of tourism more money is flowing into rural regions, but not all locals are happy with the “tourist camp” approach.

The following morning we met Sanja, our tour guide, who greeted us decked out in a traditional Mongolian “deel” (i.e., blanket with sleeves). We quickly pilled into our off-road, all-terrain vehicle, a 1990’s Hyundai Sonata with a 4 inch lift! Luckily the driver turned out to be one of the best in Mongolia. That little car took us over unimaginable dirt/grass/mud roads, all while flying past shiny new 4x4 Land Rovers at 80-100 kph. At one point we stopped simply to let the “tires cool down.”

After getting supplies back in UB, an unimaginably dirty, dusty, polluted and congested city (comparable to Delhi or Agra, India), we visited the Hustai National Park, an open reserve covering 500,000 acres and used to re-establish wild Tahki horses. The Tahki are the only remaining ancestors of the modern horse and are similar to the zebra in appearance. We got lucky and in short time came across a small herd, before heading out to our overnight stay with a nomad family. Crazily, we ran across a 4x4 SUV stopped with his fourth flat tire in two days, who just happened to be driven by our driver’s brother. What bad luck!

The nomad family (sibling families with 4 children) we stayed with had three gers and herded sheep, goats, horses and cattle (meaning the entire area was covered in small dry pellets of sheep and goat poo, so shoes were key!). A small corral was used for counting/separating the animal herd (yes we helped with this), and we even had the opportunity to "experience" young goat testicles (poor guys). No anesthetic here boys and girls, just a quick grab, tug and snip! Apparently they’re a delicacy and especially good for men's stamina, so they boiled and served them up for a quick snack. Let’s just say they could do with some sauce or heck even salt! The goat testicles were then washed down with 12 hour fermented sour horse milk. Mildly alcoholic (3% maybe) it sort of grows on you (not literally) and is incredibly sour. All wonderful gastronomical experiences…

After a walk up the valley and dinner in our ger, we found ourselves totally content and joined Sanja, our driver and Teku (our host) for Mongolian vodka (it's good to have a present for your host, and vodka and chocolates are the preferred gifts - we gave both). We drank and chatted while outside the Milky Way was on full display, a solid ribbon of stars from horizon to horizon. This brilliant band of light, spread across the valley, was one of the most amazing sights we've experienced. We tried to capture it in a photo, but it simply doesn’t do it justice.

The night sky plus the vodka made for a genuine experience, and our guide quickly started to loosen up. We talked about Mongolian people, government, jobs and aspirations. Here are just a few things we learned that evening, warm inside our ger with a bottle of vodka being passed around:

The Mongolian government, like many developing countries, is generally corrupt and incompetent. For example, roads that would take a week to improve from 4x4 to sedan drivable are ignored. Most roads are simply dirt tracks crisscrossing the grassland. And government officials are made up of the rich, friends of the rich and national sports or media celebrities.
Alcoholism is rampant due to unemployment and lack of opportunities. Vodka can be bought at $1 per bottle, so it’s readily available to even the poorest. This is a huge issue with no real end in site or resources made available to resolve it.
There are few jobs for young people, even with a university education. Given that the average salary is $200 per month in UB, there’s no incentive to remain in Mongolia. For example, Sanja wants to migrate to the USA or South Korea so he can earn more, but for the US at least, he’s required by the US embassy to have $6,000 in a bank account ($2,000 for a flight and $4,000 savings). He was shocked to hear of the cost of living in the US and that as a dishwasher he wouldn’t be sending much money home. This coming from a guy with a college education in tourism who could probably run his own tour company.
It’s normal to marry young and have 3 or 4 kids. Sanja, 22 years old, and his wife Dulguun have been married 1 year and already have a 10 month old son named “precious” (in Mongolian). Here we were, 29 years old, no kids and hopping around the world – you could say we got some odd looks.
Buddhism ranks as the main religion, with Shamanism (Mongolian traditional religion) making a slow comeback post-Communism.
The Mongolians hate the Chinese and appreciate the Russians, both sentiments of which can be traced back to ancient and modern history.
Pick-pockets in UB are actually kids from upper class families who run out of allowance money. They pick-pocket so they can afford the latest release of Counter Strike or purchase goods in online video games.
When serving someone a drink, always use your right hand with the sleeve down and your left hand under your right elbow. Never serve yourself, and make sure to receive your drink from someone with your right hand. Variations on this trend continued through Asia.

Day three we headed to the oldest Buddhist monastery, Erdene Zuu, in Mongolia (15th century) in Karakorum the original capital of the Mongol Empire. The monastery has 108 stupas on its walls and holds Tibetan scrolls under the central courtyard stupa. Currently 20 practicing Tibetan monks live there, supported by the community and tourism.

From the monastery we headed to our accommodations, a “ger village”. Different than the two previous families, this family’s sole goal with their 8-ger camp was to profit, not to interact or share their way of life with tourists (heck we had to pay for a measly “shower”). We also went and checked out the black market, where Sanja picked up horse meat from the butcher, which although a relatively clean place, still had the horse’s head laid out under the table (yummy K). The meat was decent, but pretty tough (as expected from a steppe horse)! Next Up: Last days in Mongolia – Penis Rock, More Vodka-Induced Discussions, Eagles and Camels.

Naked Russians and Bad Roads - Lake Baikal

2011-10-22T21:27:00.001-05:00

Once again we boarded an early train headed to Irkutsk and then via minibus where to Olkhon Island on Lake Baikal. We ended up with an older train car (although the others were newer), even though we were on the much talked about “Baikal Express.” Our two and a half day trip ahead of us, we settled in and quickly made friends with a Russian family two doors down (we had the berth to ourselves this time). Natasha, her 15 year old daughter Veronika and nine year old son Sergie (also their Chihuahua “Boomi”) were a ton of fun. Using a computer translator we talked on and off the entire trip, played UNO, shared food (consisting of oats and powdered chocolate, sausage, cucumber, fruit, nuts, cookies, bread and ramen), showed them photos of our trip and Chicago, and traded music.

The next morning we got a slow start and “tried” to catch up on all the pictures and blog posts, but at times it seems an insurmountable task (hence we’re still way behind). That afternoon we again hung out with our friends a few berths down and reset our time again since Irkutsk is 3 hours earlier than Ekaterinburg (our fourth time change in Russia) and 14 hours before Texas. We were in the middle of no-where headed to the middle of no-place.

Upon arrival in Irkutsk we were in a time crunch to get to our minibus to Olkhon so we had no choice but to take a “rip off” taxi (never trust a Russian taxi) L; still he got us to the minibus, for our six hour ride at high speeds on bumpy paved roads followed by bumpier unpaved roads. We made good time, got an early ferry and arrived at Nikkita’s Place (a tourist/hiker compound) by 6PM. Little did we know one of our most memorable experiences awaited us that evening!

Once we dropped of our bags we decided to relax in the compound’s free Russian Banya (i.e., a steam/sauna room with an attached wash room and dry room). Unfortunately for us the free room was either not working or a sad example because it the temperature was luke warm without no steam. So while we were standing around trying to understand what to do, we saw a Russian guy in a towel going in and out of the paid banya. We asked his opinion and he said that we’d get sick if we took a bath in there! Five minutes later he invited us to share a real banya experience with him and his girlfriend. So here’s how you do the Russian banya experience, in case you’re ever in for such an awesome situation:

Get invited by a friendly Russian who knows what they are doing (important because even though you’re reading these instructions, you need someone with experience)
Get naked and wrap with towel
Get in Banya room (without steam just 130-140°C) with said naked Russian friend(s)
Sweat
And sweat some more (no more than 5 minutes total)
Get out of Banya room and cool face with cold water in the wash room
Sit outside in the dry room or outside the building and re-hydrate by drinking water and chatting with new friends
Go back into hot Banya room and throw water on stones to create steam (let the experienced person do this so you don’t literally kill yourself)
Lie down on towel with back in the air (yes this means you will be showing your new Russian friend your bare bum)
Allow fellow naked Russian friend (they’ve also lost the towel because it’s too damn hot) beat you with a hot-water soaked Birch Switch (young birch branches with leaves still attached) for five minutes. Ok, so you might be getting scared at this point. Here’s a breakdown of what you will experience:

First they will waft the birch over you creating hot air. This seems nice but it’s a trick before the pain.
Then they will stroke you all over softly spreading the hot water. Again, this seems nice at first but you’ll soon learn your fate.
They will beat you (swatting the skin is supposed to help open the skin pores) on your legs and up to your shoulders repeatedly (even asking you to lift your legs so that the feet can be better accessed). At this point you may cry, it’s ok. If at any point you feel dizzy, there’s a cold water bucket for you to splash on your face.
Finally they will also hold the Birch on your back, or in the back of your knee (leaving it there is supposed to help your skin take on the cleansing oils from the Birch). This is exceptionally painful. Word of Caution: Screaming “Nyet, Nyet” (“No, No”) will result in your Russian “friend” pressing harder and responding with “Da, Da” (“Yes, Yes”).
Then you turn around and cover your “sensitive” areas before getting the same treatment in the front. Try not to stare at your naked Russian friend, it’s impolite.
Lastly, the switch is pressed to your face while you inhale deeply.

Get down from the bench slowly but head to the wash room quickly. Dump at least two buckets of cold water over your head and then rest and re-hydrate in the dry room.
Step 10 is repeated one or two more times but for 10 minutes each and usually with the beating getting a stronger
To wrap it up, go wash with cold or warm water and soap in the wash room.
Tada you are now a Russian Banya survivor. Depending on your pain tolerance, you may or may not recall all of it.

As for us, we both emerged with a love for the Russian banya. It’s an incredible way to make friends, given that being naked and drenched in sweat really breaks the ice! It’s also very effective at relaxing the muscles, letting go of any tension, and opening the pores. After our trial by fire, we felt limp and relaxed like a couple of wet noodles. To thank our new friends we invited them for a beer and shared our nuts and cucumber (ok that sounds like a bad joke but that’s really what we had). It turns out Pablo is big into bike racing and hiking and will be traveling to Argentina and Chile around the same time as us! With any luck we hope to meet him along the way.

The next morning we struck out on an off-road Russian jeep tour with eight other tourists (new respect for these vehicles). It was amazing to see some of the “trenches” that were considered roads (unfortunately the bumpy ride negated our relaxing Banya experience and we were all tense afterwards just happy to have survived – yup there is video of this adventure for those who want to see it). Our jeep tour included lots of awesome views, wild mushrooms, former Stalin gulag and fish factory and legendary / mythical rock formations. The formations all had their own legends associated with them including where three sons were turned into three rocks, where you can wish for a boy or girl child and where children are lured away by a babushka for weeks at a time. We also saw a bit of wildlife, including the Sousils (prairie dog), a rabbit, cows, wild horses and woodpeckers (wolves ate the majority of small animals a few years back). The next day we explored the town, some nearby cliffs and beaches, but headed back since the north wind was quite cold and the water was icy (no we ended up not swimming in the frigid waters, yes it’s lame). And sadly that was the end of our stay as the following day we caught our six hour bus ride back to Irkutsk, did some quick grocery shopping, crowded onto the local tram / bus and pushed our way off at the train station heading towards Ulaanbaatoor, Mongolia.

Although Lake Baikal was definitely a beautiful place, its vastness is difficult to convey or comprehend. In addition, the number of tourists and jeep excursions (at least where we were) diminishes what should be a feeling of near isolation. If we were to visit again, we would opt to see the edges of the lake rather than the island, and thus keeping out of the tourist / backpacker circuit. Next Up: Six days touring central Mongolia.

Serious Talks and Wacky Dancing in Ekaterinburg

2011-10-17T11:09:00.000-05:00

From Moscow we headed to Ekaterinburg, a large industrial town situated East of the Ural mountains. We shared our four person berth with a Russian engineer in charge of a vodka distillery in Sarapul (who by the way doesn’t drink). He spoke good English considering he learned it 15 years prior and had never spoken to a native English speaker! After lecturing us on the poor food we had brought and making sure we shared his (by the way it is very common and considered good etiquette to accept), we discussed the level of life in Russia vs. the US.
Breaking down the cost of living in Russia and the US was eye opening for both us and Andrey and resulted in the following table:
Keep in mind Russia was only recently removed from the UN list of developing countries.

Median Monthly Income $1,200 $3,500
Rent $100 $1200
Food $500 $600
Water, Gas and Electricity $50 $150
TV $6 $150
Internet and Phone $25 $100
Car $100 $250
Health Care Free $400
End of Month Savings $419 $650

We could tell he was genuinely surprised at the cost of living in the US, especially health care and education. For example, we had talked about the war in Iraq with him and Andrey's opinion (and most Russians') is that the American people supported the war because it would bring money and jobs to the US. We explained that it brought few jobs and actually cost people money, but he was hard pressed to believe it. After seeing the table above, we brought this point up again and he simply nodded his head in agreement. What's really telling is that the cost of college and major health care are not included in this table. On a monthly savings of $650, it's nearly impossible for the average American family to send their children to a major university without aid. Faced with a health care crises, the family would have to choose between educating their children or sending them to college.

After that break-down, the American quality of life seems a bit less rosy when you look at other factors as well. For instance, Andrey enjoys fresh organic produce from his family garden, meat from his local butcher and rich dark bread from his baker. He wouldn't touch our processed and "unnatural" food bought at the Moscow supermarket. Unless you double your food budget in the US, you could expect week-old bell peppers and bread that lacks nutrition and taste. And while Andrey does his own plumbing and electrical work around the house (his wife would not consider him a "man" if he didn't), in the US most people pay a plumber or electrician $100+ an hour (same for an car mechanic). Overall meeting Andrey was great, and it allowed us to have an interesting "deep dive" into the Russian life.

Some people take the Trans Siberian non-stop from Moscow to Beijing, but by doing so you miss out on quirky places like Ekaterinburg (which only opened to tourism in 1991). Home to Russia's heavy and military industry (including biological warfare), it also served as the site of the Romanov murders, birth place of Boris Yeltsen and crash site of the U2 spy plane. It struck us as a modern city (lots of sky scrappers) with a bit of old soviet era buildings scattered throughout. On arrival, we lugged our bags across town to the smallest hostel we've ever been in - a small one bedroom apartment (with living room) with ten beds. Although it was comfy and relatively cozy for the price, cleanliness was not a top priority (you can imagine that Jazz had some issues here). Since it was cold and rainy, we spent one full day with a Chinese girl, Jun, planning our China trip and purchasing train tickets. She even bought the tickets on her account with her own money which our host in Beijing was going to repay her! We then planned to repay our host in Beijing! How crazy and nice was that? Yup we're meeting awesome people along the way :)!

Otherwise, our two days in the city were slower placed. One evening we attended the wonderful Ekaterinburg Ballet performance of Giselle, a tragic love story where the girl liked the handsome prince over the country boy (big surprise there!). It was really quite impressive, we couldn't have picked a better show for our first ballet. We even got to do some fun people watching during the break (think English horse-racing-day dressed folks). We also caught the annual "City Day" festival, one of the strangest public events we've seen yet. It was a cross between a farmers market and wacky small town festival. For instance, there was an exhibit of a several meter long sub-sandwich, middle age women dressed as space queens, teenagers sporting techno-alien costumes dancing to house music, a military band marching around the park and a stage with tween girls performing Brittany Spears. Other places we hit included the Blood Cathedral (constructed to commemorate the Tzar's imprisonment and murder) and a Russian photography exhibit showcasing 360 images of Russian life. Next Up: Towards Siberia and the largest lake on Earth.

Fallen Heroes - Part 3

2011-10-05T08:20:00.001-05:00

Our last day in Moscow we visited the interesting Fallen Hero’s Monument Park and the "goose-bump raising" Gulag Museum, both offering a glimpse of Russia’s communist past. The monument park includes statues, monuments and relics of revolutionary leaders that had either been placed in storage or left to decay (with over 15 statues of Lenin and Stalin, including one where the head was visibly defaced). There are also statues reflecting daily life and themes such as everyday men, women, the army and navy, flowers, animals, music, fairy tales and dancing.

Running out of time, we rushed on to the Gulag Museum. A small museum located in the high-end district of Moscow (hopefully they’re able to remain) has great English write-ups explaining Lenin’s inception of the gulag system and Stalin’s subsequent Reign of Terror. It was a chilling setting to be surrounded by the letters, stories, photos and artifacts of everyday Russians (doctors, lawyers, writers, etc.) who were forced into “work” camps, i.e. gulags, throughout all of Russia. Interestingly, the gulag’s originally served as prisons, but under Stalin’s rule he quickly began relocating those with petty crimes, such as petty theft, unexcused absences from work, anti-government jokes, and eventually anyone that he or his government deemed untrustworthy (e.g., most intellectuals in St. Petersburg and Moscow, or even family members of these intellectuals). Nearly 1.6 million Russians were murdered / died in the gulags between the 1920's to 1953. Those that survived spent 10 to 20 years in the system without even a trial, only to be “pardoned/rehabilitated” of their crimes in the 1950’s to 1990’s. The museum also included artwork by former victims, a photography exhibit of a former Siberian Uranium mining camp and a series of diary entries from Eufrosinia Kersnovskaya, a woman who managed to escape. Combined, it offered a remarkably honest and horrifyingly blunt depiction of Stalin’s brutal treatment of his own people.

With much to digest from our museum visit we ran back to the apartment for our bags and headed to the train station to depart for our next leg. Two nights and three days later we would arrive in Ekaterinburg, approximately 1,780 km east of Moscow.
Next Up: Travels by train and a stop in central Russia.

Russian Religion, Quirky Parks and Metro Art – Part 2

2011-10-02T09:15:00.000-05:00

After touring central Moscow, we decided to take a day trip to Sergiev Posad to visit the Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius Monastery and church complex that serves as the center of Russian Orthodoxy and a place of pilgrimage. The local commuter train with 3-seater hard-wood benches was full of Russians going to / from work. We observed them just as intensely as they did us for the hour and a half trip. Without benefit of an A/C everyone propped open the windows with beer cans but with the sun shining in… let’s just say it got a bit warm.

Upon arriving we had a quick lunch of grilled shish kabob and an ice cold bottle of Grolsch (a good, light Dutch beer), before heading to Sergiev Posad. We explored the grounds and watched the black-robed priests with awesome (1-2 feet long) beards walking the grounds, often chatting with a devotee or leading a small group of people to a church. Practitioners and pilgrims also surrounded the holy well, splashing their faces, drinking the water or filling bottles to take home. In the single-chamber churches incense filled the air and depictions of Christ, saints and the apostles were painted or embossed on the walls, while gold lanterns hung from the ceiling. It appeared to us to be a deeply personal religion, as the church lacked the pews and “group” lecture approach of western Christianity. Instead, devotees prayed individually at icons, i.e. portraits, of saints that were placed around the chamber, kissing them and lighting candles in supplication. In one church, a group of practitioners stood in the corner singing, but other than that we witnessed very little group activity so common in the west. A beautiful complex, both because of the architecture and the devotion of the people, it is sad to know that during Stalin’s reign in the 1920's, the complex was nearly destroyed. Having murdered or relocated the majority of priests to “work” camps, Stalin kept the complex intact but allowed the army to occupy it and converted the buildings for us of public institutions (including a swimming pool in one hall), and in general wreaked havoc on the once sacred site. It is a testimony to the priests and average Russians to see Sergiev Posad thriving today.

The next day we picked up the Trans-Siberian tickets at our travel agent’s office. Their office also happened to be near one of Moscow's large parks, which doubled as the site of the much delayed (will you believe 4 years because the builders were so behind) All Union Agricultural Fair in the ВДНХ. While picking up our tickets, we chatted with a British bicyclist, who is riding across Eastern Europe, taking the train through Russia to Beijing and then bicycling to Hanoi. Originally one of two, his friend lost his passport on the way (they went back for it and someone had picked it up and ran off) so he is continuing on his own – pretty brave! Meeting fellow travels like that make our day and we’ve managed to stay in touch with quite a few new friends. After a quick lunch of pickled foods (yummy), we arrived at the park, it epitomized the Russian quirkiness that we had been experiencing. Former Soviet statues and monumental buildings dotted the park, while kids played in fountains and costumed park staff sold balloons. Within an hour we had spotted a roller coaster, a Ferris wheel, golf carts, a space shuttle, an air plane (the tail outfitted with a soviet design), arcades, kites, balloons, Soviet-Era statues and a train on wheels. Teenagers lounged around with iPods and kids begged their parents for cotton candy or ice cream to cool off from the heat. It was surreal but very genuine J.

Hot and sweaty, we descended into the Moscow Metro. It is like no other metro in the world with 182 stops. Daily traffic equals over 7 million passengers per day making it the second busiest metro system in the world (following Tokyo, and yes it beat out NYC and London - almost combined even). Built during Communist rule, leaders constructed it as the “peoples’ palace,” with each station’s architecture and artwork unique and impressive. The Metro was also functional, serving as a potential military supply line and nuclear bunker during the Cold War. Top government meetings were often held in stations due to the safety and privacy offered. Each station boasts two “security” staff (usually women) assigned to ensure people on the down escalator stand on the right side and walk / run down on the left side (how cool is that!). Tourists gawk while locals make their way between stops. In general it’s not overly crowded, except at peak times on the main lines (compared to Beijing it was relatively tame).

We noticed that it is common for youth to give their seat to the elderly or infirm and for men to offer to help women carry their oversize bags up the stairs (even happened to Jazz when we were lugging our rolly around). Although watch out if you’re a foreign male – our host was told by one women that she “has a boyfriend already” when he tried to be gentlemanly, so he told her his help was not reliant on her being his girlfriend J. Compared to Hong Kong and even Chicago, there is a decided lack of electronics on the trains, though the younger Russians often had an MP3 player plugged in. This is a very small sample of the Metro artwork; if you’re interested, you can see more photos of the most impressive stations on Flickr or search “Moscow Metro Artwork” in Google.

From the metro we took a boat along the Volga for a different view of the city. A few pictures and a sun tan later, we had a short dinner break at the apartment, our third shower of the day (it was steamy hot outside at nearly 35°C) and set out for night pictures of the Kremlin and St. Basil’s Cathedral. Unfortunately it started raining, so we explored more of the Metro before continuing our night escapades above ground. Next up: Fallen heroes and the sad past of the Russian gulags.

A Stroll Through Moscow - Part 1

2011-09-25T21:54:00.000-05:00

At midnight, August 12 we made our way to St. Petersburg’s train station and boarded the Red Arrow (Krasnaya Strela). One of the more iconic trains in Russia, it seemed we stepped back to when travel was timeless and charming. Attendants were dressed the part, the train was painted a deep red with gold lettering and our berth was complete with matching curtains, table cloth and embossed tin tea mugs. As we left the station, the “Hymn to the Great City” (St. Petersburg) played on the speakers, ushering us onward to Moscow.

We arrived as scheduled, at exactly 7:55 am the next day, to be met by our AirBnB host Leighton (just another example of why we are thrilled with AirBnB). Leighton’s apartment is a 10 minute walk from the Kremlin (you can see it from the entrance) and we paid a whopping $100/night, quite reasonable compared to the Ritz-Carlton, half a block down the street, with a minimum rate of $550/night. After a nap, grocery shopping and chatting with Leighton, we visited Red Square (sadly under construction for a show), St. Basil’s Cathedral and the huge, premier upscale shopping center ГУМ (pronounced Goom). Interestingly very few people actually shopped in the brand name stores; instead, people strolled through the building with ice cream or sat in the cafés to socialize.

The next day we played tourists with a stroll in the Kremlin and visits to the Kremlin Armory and former Romanov family estate. The Kremlin is where the president resides, similar to the US White House. It also includes several churches and administrative buildings within its walls. The fact that we were inside felt strange to Lee, given how Russia has always been portrayed in the US (i.e. communist propaganda, state secrets, spies, etc.), but for Jazz it was just interesting since she grew up with different associations with Russia. All the tourists had to walk a “path” and even straying one foot from it got you a shrill whistled reprimand from the ever-present guards (there are plenty of rumored “secret” parts - up to 65 meters below ground - that of course we didn't get close to seeing).

Before leaving the Kremlin we toured the Armory, which includes the majority of Russia's state and church treasures, such as seven Fauberge Eggs, a huge collection of church ornaments (e.g., gold jeweled bedecked bible covers, chalises, crosses, etc. - those historic churches really liked their gold J) and the Tzars’ coronation / wedding dresses and suits (Catherine the Great was a tiny lady compared to the power she wielded – her 47 cm waist was even squeezed by corset down to 22 cm for her wedding dress!). Other treasures included huge thrones and fuzzy crowns dripping with jewels and diamonds. Sadly no pictures were allowed so we have nothing to show from this excursion, so feel free to use your imagination.

Another interesting place was the Romanov family estate. This is actually one of the first museums in Moscow set up by Peter the Great in 1856, and was mostly tourist free. It shows how the Romanov family lived as merchants before being elected (by the elite) as the ruling family of Russia. It showed how the merchant / upper class homes were arranged and how “normal” people, although still well-to-do, lived. Their house include the men’s quarters on the first story (set up for business transactions), separated from the women’s rooms (set up for child raising and handicrafts) above. The friendly babushkas (i.e., older women employed by the state to keep museum visitors in line, they are ever present in all state museums) sat in each room and explained things with “hands and feet” that weren’t on the English write-ups. We also strolled through the park just next to the Kremlin, where families and couples were enjoying the sun and kids (young and old) played in the fountains.

That evening we joined Leighton to a traditional meal of Beef Stroganof, Borscht (traditional red beet soup) and vodka. He considers Russia to be a new frontier or simply put - the “wild wild east." Having lived in such a unique environment for six years, he feels it would be hard to adjust back to Western Europe, the US or Canada. In essence, Russia is a lot like the rest of the non-western world, where daily tasks aren’t “organized and cookie-cutter.” Simple things like signing a business agreement could take several weeks to navigate government bureaucracy. Due to the adversity experienced in everyday life, people are less concerned about “big picture” issues and more concerned about the issues affecting them daily. Hence, while in the US Putin is perceived as a tough-line leader with an aim to consolidate industry and media, average Russians accept it since he’s brought new jobs (e.g. museum babushkas, street cleaners, Metro escalator watchers, etc.) and solidified/stabilized the country (and either way they can't do much about it). Also interesting to note – the Russian government does not have a traditional budget, since their income is primarily from oil exports, so any time the price of crude shoots above $75 per barrel it is a direct bottom line profit for the state. Furthermore, taxes may or may not be paid by individuals and corporations, with many of the rich not paying anything (similar to India and China).

Another interesting difference between Russia and Europe/North America is that women are very much on exhibit here; most wearing killer high heels and small mini-dresses or see-through blouses. The attitude of what is feminine and beautiful is just more extreme. Also, the negative-stereotype of an older man (35-40) dating a 25 year old woman does not exist. Men are apparently on short supply in Moscow, so much so that the average man is rather plain looking and not at all dressed up. It’s common to see a beautiful woman walking arm in arm with the sorriest looking guy, simply because the women have no other options (a lot of country men are jobless and subsequently drunk most of the time, while successful men in the city are rarer). Clubs will even pay the most beautiful women to show up and drink at the club. Everything revolves around money in Moscow, and sadly most of the money is “earned” through relationships with the government (which is why many talent Russian youth choose to work for the government rather than trying to embrace the entrepreneurial spirit).
Next Up: The center of the Russian Orthodox Church, the Moscow Metro and a day at the park.

St. Petersburg - Russian History 101

2011-09-22T09:33:00.001-05:00

From Helsinki we started on one of the most interesting, exciting and unique legs of our journey – Russia, Mongolia and

China

. Our plan centered around the Trans-Mongolian (a.k.a. Trans-Siberian) railroad from St. Petersburg, Russia to Beijing (Peking), China with stops in Moscow, Yekaterinburg, Irkutsk (Lake Baikal) and Ulan Bator (Mongolia). We would be traveling by train for 28 days while covering roughly 8,600 kilometers and five time zones. Passing across the Urals, Siberia and the Gobi Desert, the train followed one of the classic historical routes from Europe to Asia.

After answering some fun questions on the immigration forms, including: Have you ever worked for a nuclear weapons facility? Have you ever been charged with espionage? Are you trained in explosive materials? (seriously who would answer yes to any of these?), we arrived in St. Petersburg. We stayed at a small hostel run by an Australian guy, Richard, who moved to Russia five years ago. He does not speak Russian but teaches English, races his motorcycle with local Russians at night, and had no idea how to start his kitchen oven (after sticking his head in, priming it and using his lighter for the flame, he figured it out though!) All around a fun guy and a great host. He even tried to help us register our stay with the Russian government, although that ended up being trickier than we expected (it took 4 days to eventually get it). Russian laws can change monthly, and the requirement that all visitors register not only changes often but is one of those laws that everyone seems to bend to their situation. This didn’t stop us from exploring St. Petersburg though.

The next day we headed off to Peterhof, the palace of Peter the Great, founder of St. Petersburg and generally ruthless leader. Relying on public transportation, we took the metro and jumped into a minibus for just 60 Rupels per person ($2) for a 45 minute drive. Private minibuses (or minibi?) are the locals’ transport, run just about anywhere and are fun to take since you get to interact with locals (or rather they get to laugh at the silly tourist who doesn’t really know where/when to get off, not that that happened to us)… At Peterhof the main attractions are its fountains and parks (huge, grounds taking 4-5 hours to walk) and luckily we had fantastic weather for seeing it at its best. Strangely enough we also saw oodles of Russia women posing for pictures with over-the-top dramatics and sexiness (even with their kids) unlike the friendly smile you would expect from American/European pictures. Our host in Moscow later explained it’s largely because Russian women look to models and magazines as the image of beauty, and so want to emulate them.

On Thursday we were off with public transport to Katarine’s Palace in Pushkin (the palace of Katherine the Great). After waiting in line for an hour we entered the palace and were bombarded with the opulence of the late Tzars. Opulence is the key word; because, while the rooms were stuffed with gold brocade furniture and gold paneling, door frames, light fixtures, etc., it struck us as severely monotone without much thought for creating a comfortable and real residence that was reflective of Russian culture (compared to say the Scottish castles, the Alhambra or the palaces of Rajasthan India). Although the Amber Room that had just recently been reconstructed, was amazing. However, such ridiculous and pointless extravagance must have helped bring about the Tzars’ fall, just like Versailles helped propel that fate in France.

That night we went out with our host, two other guests from Lithuania and two of Richard’s Russian friends. We learned a few things about Russia that evening, including when and how to bribe Russian police, the go-to Russian holiday spots (e.g., Egypt, Greece and Turkey) and further mind-boggling confirmation that Russian women love high heels (think face-plant high heels) and miniskirt fashion, even in the dead of winter (Jazz = popsicle, if she had to wear a miniskirt during a Russian winter).

Our last day was spent enjoying the city with a grand walking tour of St. Petersburg. We started off along Nevsky Prospekt, the main shopping and walking street, and made our way to The Russian Museum (of Art). We purposefully did not go to the Hermitage (one of the world’s greatest museums) because we are familiar with European art, while the majority of artists and artwork inside the Russian Museum are unknown and / or has hardly ever been exhibited outside of Russia. The visit turned out to be amazing, with artwork that gave us a unique perspective of Russian culture. Each of us had a favorite; Lee liked “The Wave”, a foreboding painting depicting a ship wreck, while Jazz enjoyed “The Bath House” and “A Warrior on the Crossroads” (these topped the list for Lee as well). From there we walked by the Blood Cathedral, stopped to join two weddings (including watching doves set free and a groom carrying his bride across a bridge for good luck), continued on to the Eternal Flame and then across the river to the St. Peter and Paul Fortress.

After a quick coffee break, we continued on our sore feet back across the river and through the city parks running north from the Hermitage along the river. After our epic seven hour walk we had a quick dinner, followed by packing before catching our midnight train from St. Petersburg to Moscow. This would be the first leg of our Trans-Siberian journey and we were definitely excited. Next up: Moscow – Red Square, Kremlin and more.

Tip: Check out the rest of our photos on Flickr, as there are a lot of good ones from Russia that we have not included in the post.

Helsinki, Finland - It's Next to Sweden!

2011-09-13T03:06:00.000-05:00

Helsinki bound, we used our last 10 euros on a baguette and we hoped on the plane for an uneventful flight to

Finland

. As usual, we caught a bus (No. 165) to the city center and walked ten minutes to our AirBnB studio rental. Jazz had a mega-headache and laid down as soon as we got to the apartment, which gave Lee time to research what to do in and around Helsinki. Turns out there is not that much! That said, what there is to do is quite relaxing and laid back, which mixed with overcast skies and drizzle rain, made for a lazy few days in Finland J. To wrap up our first day, we grabbed some groceries, had some expensive (but tasty) Japanese food (Helsinki has a ton of ethnic restaurants) and watched Sucker Punch on the laptop.

Bright and early the following morning (ok ok, probably 9 am or so) we set out to walk around the city, meandering our way down to the water front – the perfect setting for a cup of coffee while huddling in comfy Finish wool blankets (take a look at the pics – they have the blankets out for people to use! In Chicago there would be no blankets and the chairs / tables would be bolted down!). We then made our way along the water to Kaivopuisto Park where they had set up crane bungee jumping (amusing to watch).

Eventually we arrived at the Eteläranta‎ docks and strolled the outdoor food and crafts market with all sorts of offerings (e.g., herring, garlic marinated in all kinds of good things, breads, salmon, other fish, meats, fruits and even pralines and chocolates). For lunch we visited the well known Sundman’s Krog for their Fish Buffet (€19 per person) which was quite good, with all sorts of herring (some marinated with dill and others with cardamom and sugar). The buffet seemed small; but trust us, we still managed to stuff ourselves! Afterwards we walked straight up the main road towards Hakaniemi‎ Kauppahalli. Lee had read that this was a great place with boutique shops, but it was sort of a disappointment after the docks. Our tired feet directed us to home, even making us skip out on a blues show at a famous bar and restaurant.

The following day we explored the neighborhood of Kanavakatu, situated on a small peninsula on the east side of the city (Warning: Bit of a history and cultural lesson to follow – feel free to skip the next two paragraphs if you’re impatient!). The neighborhood is graced with enormous and beautiful art noveau style buildings built in the 1900-1910’s. Massive doors and fanciful balconies reminded us of Sevilla but with a Nordic twist.

We also checked out Seurasaari for the open air Finnish History Museum. The park included old buildings that had been transplanted from all over

Finland

. Most of the buildings were constructed in the 1700’s – 1800’s and range from mills, storage houses, barns, granaries, family homes, etc. We had a short tour in English as well so had a chance to ask a few things from our guide. We learned that Finnish identity is tied up with Russia (controlled Finland from 1809- 1917) and Sweden (controlled

Finland

from 1200-1809). If you take a look at a map you’ll see why Finland served as a natural front between Sweden and

Russia

. While they tend to identify more with the Swedes (they were generally treated better by the Swedes than the Russians), they have a strong Finnish identity. For a primer on Finnish identity, check out the Kalevala, their national epic poem compiled by a doctor named Lönnrot in the 19th century.

Most Finnish houses were made from wooden logs, since forest land is abundant. In western Finland people lived in farmsteads (with courtyards in between buildings) and had a different yard for the people and stables for the horses, while keeping their other buildings and barns for the oxen, cows, chickens, pigs, sheep, and goats to the side (horses were cherished, hence why they shared the courtyard with them). The western Finnish made bread only twice a year so it had to last. Their “bread” is a hard, round, flat and thin disk that was stored with the grains. In general, western families were wealthier with larger houses, where the left side of their home (guest room, heater, and big meeting room) was solely for visitors (teachers, priests, etc.) and town meetings. School was held there and the priest or teacher would arrive and stay for three to four weeks to teach before moving on to the next village. A funny custom was that while servants and family members generally lived and slept together in the main living room, in wealthier families the oldest marriageable daughter had her own room so that she would be “kept pure.” In contrast, families from eastern

Finland

generally lived in one building with their animals on the ground floor and their living area on the upper floor. The sauna (according to the Finnish – a Finnish invention hotly debated by the Russians!) was used at least once a week for bathing (you sweat a lot then pour cold water over yourself). They even birthed their children in the saunas since it was the most hygienic place in the home. Okay, history lesson over J.

On Sunday we took an hour bus ride to Porvoo, a small town with a historic center along the river. We walked the town and stopped by a second hand store to find Jazz a scarf and a sweater for a few dollars. We even got to enjoy some tasty Finnish pizza (thanks for the recommendation Lauren!). Lee’s slab of pizza included salami, smoked reindeer and olives, while Jazz’s included kebab meat, greek cheese, bell peppers, red onion, garlic and oregano (with bread sticks as “crust”). The town itself was so-so; lots of interesting buildings but also a fair number of tourists and kitsch shops.

Other notes on Helsinki – food is expensive (1.5 to 2 times US prices), bathroom floors are heated and for some reason there are a lot of old Chevy, Ford and US branded cars. Our impression of Helsinki (and therefore

Finland

) was a laid back place with a comfortable style of fashion (lots of cozy sweaters and nautical colors). People are friendly and while there are plenty of bars, the city is not exactly an entertainment mecca. Although people are reserved during the day, apparently after hours it’s common for men to spill into the streets in drunken brawls (happens around 2AM). And if we were to return to

Finland

, we would head out of the city and find ourselves a warm cabin tucked away in the forest, with a cold dip in the lake in between sauna sittings. Next Up: From

Russia

with Love.

Gaining Weight and Relaxing - German Style

2011-09-12T10:31:00.000-05:00

Germany and family - what a great combination! We gained ten pounds each from four meals a day and Lee managed to learn a bit of German. Getting to Germany from Prague was a breeze on the regional Deutsch Bahn (DB) train. Tickets were even purchased in advanced and mailed to us in Chicago! Pulling up to the train station in Wermsdorf, we were greeting by Jazz’s grandmother (a.k.a. Omi Marianne), her dad’s mom, and her uncle (mother’s brother). We were immediately whisked off to Omi Karin’s house (also home to her aunt Antja and uncle Gernot) for a warm bowl of bean soup with coffee and cake (getting hungry just recalling it!).

Overall we had nine days in Germany, and all but one were spent with family in Wermsdorf (Omi Karin and company) or Oschatz (where Omi Marianne lives). Oschatz is the larger of the two towns and is a twenty minute drive or an hour by bus, so we found ourselves traveling back and forth a bit to visit both grandmothers. Our days were mostly spent either in the house cooking, eating and / or cleaning, or in the garden picking beans, strawberries, apples, zucchinis, cucumbers and tomatoes. We also spent time most days going for an hour or so walk with Jazz’s grandmother and grandfather, writing a few blog posts, visiting with family and friends, and wrapping up some other project-type work for Engineers Without Borders. While it rained quite a bit, we still got by (actually it was a nice break from the sun in Spain and Portugal) and ended up with several nice days as well.

As to the food… We’ll just say we are still working off the weight two weeks later in Russia! At one point we were surrounded by six cakes (apple pie, rubarb pie, sour cherry pound cake, chocolate crumble mouse cake, chocolate gingerbread and poppy seed cake)!!

Breakfast and dinner was generally bread, cheese, cold meats and pickled veggies with tea, while lunch was the larger meal with cooked meat (duck, veil, cow tongue, beef, etc.) and veggie sides (potatoes, sour cauliflower, mushrooms, pickled cucumber and beans, etc.). Evenings were spent chatting, playing cards or looking at old pictures with a cup of tea or maybe a black beer.

Half-way through our visit Antje and Gernot pulled us away from the house for a day drive to Meiβen. We walked through the old castle (Albrechtsburg) and its exhibits, including examples of how the past kings lived, narratives about the queens’ lives (for example bearing ten children and marrying at age six), how the castle was constructed and the Meiβen porcelain making process and history.

After the Albrechtsburg we walked back down to the town center while taking a close look at the decrepit buildings still scattered throughout Meiβen due to legal and financial constraints. During the process we started up a conversation with several workers tasked with rebuilding the terraced garden walls of the castle. They brought over a sandstone brick that they found which had been laying on top of the walls since the 1870’s (when the gardens were originally constructed) with the royal emblem of the king embedded on it. The emblem was still intact (i.e. not covered in moss, etc.) because it had been laid face down. It was pretty neat to see this guy pull out a stone from 1870 they just happened to dig up and luckily notice while repairing the wall! We rounded off the day with a bockwurst, ice cream and whirlwind shoe shopping for Lee (apparently Europeans don’t generally have feet larger than size 45 - size 10 ½ in the US, because there were only a handful of the ugliest shoes available in a 47!). We made our way back that evening, with Jazz getting a haircut and Lee finishing off the night drinking Irish whiskey with Antje, Gernot and their friend.

Sadly we had to leave, but we managed to find our way back to Prague (even after getting off at the wrong station in Dresden for a transfer, talk about heart-stopping minutes and running pell-mell through the Dresden Main Train Station!) and felt right at home again at Karen’s apartment. We even stopped by the same restaurant for some yummy garlic soup, before heading out the next day to Finland.
Next Up: Relaxing in Helsinki.

Prague, Beer and Trdelnik - Check

2011-08-26T07:25:00.000-05:00

With Spain and Portugal behind us we headed east to Prague in the Czech Republic. A central hub for Eastern Europe, Prague is a bustling and modern town with a distinct medieval feel. Church steeples and castle towers dot the skyline while tourists clog the main streets 24 hours a day. After arriving at the airport we tried to catch a bus to the metro station, which was a bit of a challenge considering the complex ticket meters (24 ticket options at least, depending on zone, time and discount, and no English)! Talk about a brain teaser. On the metro we were stopped by a “controller” who just flashed a small keychain to get your attention, so at first we thought he was selling something. So of course our response was “no thanks” and to keep walking which then got him asking for “tickets, tickets”! A few laughs and metro ride later to central Prague, Karen (our Airbnb host) welcomed us to our home away from home. Lee had a bad headache and cold from our Portugal river swim so we laid down for a nap at 4 pm and woke up 16 hours later! Guess our bodies needed the rest.

Finally making it out of the apartment, we explored the city and had a nice, upscale (about $50 total) lunch at Artisans, just at the south end Prague’s main park. We each had freshly made soups and delicious entrées (Lee’s jerked chicken was fantastic) and drank aromatic tea and water with our meal. FYI - beer is cheaper than bottled water in Prague and quite tasty so we should probably have tried some then! Another food attraction that is just about reason enough to come to Prague are the Trdelnik pastries. A local creation, the Trdelnik is made from fresh pretzel-like dough rolled into a quarter inch thick bracelet, roasted over an open fire until brown and then coated with almond slivers and sugar. Well worth the $3 and quite addictive.

After lunch we explored the hill-side park in search of good views and people watched. We eventually made our way to the supermarket where Jazz got yelled at for the second time in our trip, something about filling our bag up while in the store instead of using their baskets, but it was actually kind of fun to since we didn’t understand a thing they said :P! That evening we crossed the Vltava River to see the old town and were taken aback by the millions of tourists (including English, Spanish, German, East European and Asians). Apparently Prague has always been a tourist destination and is packed year around. It shouldn’t be a surprise though - the town has an abundance of stereotypical medieval architecture; churches, bridges and castles, all packed into a relatively clean and compact town surrounded by parks and forest.

While staying away from most tourist attractions, we just had to check out the Sex Machine Museum, which was a fun/enlightening experience although still a bit pricey. For our last day in Prague we explored Prague Castle and the Lobkowicz Family Palace. The Lobkowicz Palace was the best part of our visit. The palace included family portraits from the 1400’s to present day, the original musical scores and rewrites (like the Messiah) by Beethoven, Handle, Mozart and other famous composers, many of whom were under the patronage of the 7th Lobkowicz Prince (definitely the highlight of the visit for Lee). Also on display were various instruments played by the family, famous artworks by contemporary artists (1800’s and on), hunting and war weaponry, dinning and dishware from all ages (some as old as 500+ years) and treasury items like jewelry, relics, crosses, snuff boxes, beauty-mark containers, etc. To top it off, they provide a free English audio-guide narrated by the current heir and Prince. He describes the family history in fascinating detail and combined with the classical music as a backdrop to his narrative, it is actually quite moving.

To finish of our last evening we walked to a slightly more remote park (Letenské Sady) on the north side of the river for a view of the city and a park bench among the locals. We had a Pilsner Urquell and enjoyed the sunset, after which we walked back through the eastern side of the city and stumbled on a quaint “hole in the wall” bar / restaurant for dinner, Pivnice U Pivrnce. While somewhat of a tourist draw with dirty cartoons on the walls as their shtick, locals still visit the cellar rooms to watch the “football” games and enjoy the hearty food. Before heading out of Prague we also tried a few of the local brew, including our favorite dark beer Kozel (Cerny) and several light beers (ordered by preference): Staropramen, Pilsner Urquell, Budejovicky (Budvar a.k.a. Budweiser) and Branik Svetly. Next Up: Family Time in Germany.

Cold Rivers and Wine, Amarante, Portugal

2011-08-15T13:42:00.000-05:00

After Lisbon we drove to Amarante, an area in the port wine region of Portugal known for its river valleys and vineyards. We made a stop in Porto which is Portugal's second largest city and port wine capital at the mouth of the Douro River, and is one of Europe's oldest cities and a UNESCO World Heritage Site, in order to do some proper port wine tasting. As luck would have it Jazz once again stalled in the middle of heavy traffic (on a hill), so Lee took over driving while Jazz navigated, which saved us since all hell broke loose with traffic, road construction, and street closures. We eventually made it to the port wine neighborhood of Vila Nova de Gaia. A few hours later we had enjoyed a few tastings at Quinta Do Noval's shop and toured the Taylor cellars while getting a few sips of some of their best known ports.

So how does port wine differ from scotch, sherry, brandy or traditional wine? Firstly, the casks used to make port wine are huge in comparison, and generally the wines are bottled after only two years (rather than 12+), so that they retain their full flavor. Secondly, the fermentation process is stopped by adding brandy or a strong spirit made from grape juice, hence the higher alcohol content of port. Frankly there's a bit more to it than that, but as we had our fair share of tastings on an empty stomachs no less, we don't seem to recall the details :) If you're curious and want more details, read up on Wikipedia.

From Porto we headed to the Amarante area for two nights of peace and quite in a cottage set along the river valley. Navigating small streets (Lee is definitely the pro driver now even though he did ding the car a bit while parallel parking on a hill) we made it and were welcomed by our hosts, a Scottish and Portuguese couple with a young daughter. We settled for a relaxing evening and enjoyed our host Harry's tasty home-produced white wine, direct from the grapes growing around and above the property.

On Wednesday we took it easy and set out on foot through Harry's fields and followed the river. Ultimately we got a bit wet (and seriously cold - Lee had to be persuaded to join in the adventure for 15 minutes before agreeing to our water excursion) as we made our way to a great little waterfall which (of course) could only be reached by wading and swimming upstream.

That afternoon we joined our hosts on their patio. Lots of discussion, a haircut, and a few hours later, we found ourselves grilling dinner with our hosts, including home grown veggies (courgettes a.k.a. zuchinni, tomatoes, bell peppers, corn, onions), fresh eggs (regular hens and guinea fowl - yup the funny spotted ones), sardines (a very traditional Portuguese fish) and couscous. To top off a great meal we had several bottles of their red and white wines (apparently it's common for families in the area to produce their own wine, enough to easily last an entire season) before calling it a day in the wee hours of the morning. What more could you want from a vacation?

While we wish we could have stayed an entire week, the next day we were off for a 6.5 hour drive back to Madrid to catch our flight the following day to Prague, Czech Republic. We returned our car at the Hertz airport location without a problem (no mention of Lee's ding!). Overall we drove exactly 3,000 km and supported the Spanish and Portuguese economies by fueling up with $550 worth of gas (approx. $8 per gallon), plus another $130 in parking and toll road fees! Not sure if that was the best use of our money, but it gave us the flexibility we wanted and also got us to learn a manual, which is a huge relief now for future traveling.

Overall Portugal beat our Spain experience for pure relaxation and variety. The country is beautiful, people are friendly, and you have three (actually five) distinct regions all within a few hours drive. Want to spend three weeks in one country and enjoy the beach, city and countryside? Portugal may be your place! Next up: Tredlnik, Tourists and Beer in Prague.

The Sardine is Mine! Lisboa

2011-08-10T16:55:00.000-05:00

We left Salema with a bit of regret, thinking it would have been nice to spend a few more days. After one last morning walk along the beach though, we were excited about our next stop in Lisbon. Anxious to see how the city compared to Madrid and Sevilla, we drove 3 hours on the A2 tollway and a €20/$30 toll later (yup folks the tolls are quite a bit steeper than what we are used to in the US!!) we arrived and began the search for parking. Apparently Lisbon’s homeless have a monopoly on blackmail parking. What does this mean? The way the system works is that the homeless stand in empty spots and wave you down towards the spot, if you pull in, expect to hand over a 50 cents to €1 as a “thanks.” Interestingly even the locals pay these guys since it's better to give a bit of change rather than have your car messed up… We have a similar scam in Chicago where the guy will flag down a cab or open the door when you stop, but it’s easy to blow off the guy when he’s not camped out next to your car!

Eventually we found a parking lot that didn’t charge €40/$60 a day and made our way to our host’s beautiful central apartment on Rua Augusta in central Lisbon, where we were greeted by Sandra, our host and Lisbon's resident "plastics" artist, and two co-travelers - a Russian mom and her daughter who currently live in Seattle. They quickly suggested we walk over to a historic cafe for a taste of Lisbon’s famous tarts (crème brule like tarte with cinnamon - yummy, yes Lee got a tad addicted) and a cup of coffee, followed by a short walk up the street and an outdoor Elevator for a stop at Santini’s gelato (gelati) house, touted to be the world's best. It was definitely amazing but the best in the world? We'll be better able to compare after the trip is done :), so stay tuned. To make room in our stomachs a bit, we followed up with a shot of Ginjinha, a traditional Lisbon drink made from sour cherries (including a sour cherry at the bottom which just about knocked Lee over, but just about made Jazz's day). For dinner Sandra took us to a small local place where with your meal (mostly fish) you get a rousing performance of Fado (the local singing and dancing of Lisbon - played with two acoustic guitars - a pear shaped one and regular one). Quite a nice experience for us, and on the way home we even got to see the "glowing" sidewalks of Lisbon (reflections off the tile from the street lamps).

Sunday we took it a bit slow on the "Yellow" city tour bus (one of those double-decker tourist sardine cans - honestly not worth it, we should have just taken the Tram 28) with a drive around town and visit to the Jeronimos Monastary and National Carriage Museum west of Lisbon in Belém. That evening we shopped for groceries and made JP's Famous Pasta dish (yup, JP your meal has once again crossed country lines) for dinner for Sandra and ourselves. We completed our evening by seeing the final Harry Potter movie (wohoo!!) with Portuguese subtitles (lucky us, otherwise we'd have had questions). It was a nice way to feel "back at home" while traveling, and we even dragged along Sandra (who hadn't seen any of the movies before).

On Monday, we got up early to move the car into a sketchy “construction area” monitored by the local homeless community so we wouldn't have to pay the weekday rates of €40. We figured there was a pretty small chance of the car getting towed, keyed, broken into, slept in and / or stolen (which of these things our insurance would have covered was also up for grabs). From there we walked criss-cross through the Barrio Alto and Chiado neighborhoods in the central area of town for most of the hot day. We even found a nice local neighborhood cafe with a great view where we cooled our heels a bit.

That evening we made our way to the Castle of São Jorge at the very top of a huge hill (45° angle streets leading up, winding streets and countless, countless stair steps). Along the way we joined a few other lost tourists until we had walked what must have been around the entire castle before finding the entrance. The castle used to be home to the counts of Santiago and its towers and fortified walls still remain. You can literally climb all over them in search for the best view of the city. We also saw an archaeological dig within the castle area, which shows remains of houses not only from the 12th century, but also the Muslim Moors, and even a few foundations of buildings from the iron age (Jazz found it very impressive, Lee thought the modern structures housing the ruins were more interesting - typical engineer).

After sunset, the castle shutdown and we walked for roughly 45 minutes along the semi-abandoned waterfront to an awesome pizza place next to Club Lux (owned by John Malcovich and supposedly world famous, so we were told - shows you how much we party - sorry Levi!). The place is cool because it serves great pizza (we had delicious "Funghi and Rustica" pizza), the kitchen is in a glass “box,” when you want your waiter you simply turn on a red light-bulb hanging above your table, and above all, the price was right too for a full meal (€35 for two people).

So a few impressions of Lisbon: It is a modern, world-class European city with rough but interesting edges. In many ways we found it more elegant and charming than other European cities because of the tiled sidewalks, cafes, chic but relaxed fashion, mix of modern and traditional restaurants and the San Francisco-like waterfront and sea breeze (heck, they even have their own Golden Gate Bridge). That said, there are a ton of unoccupied and dilapidated buildings covered in graffiti. Lots of this is due to the cost and bureaucracy of restoration, which frankly is a common problem that we've also seen in former East German areas, so while it's not picture perfect it didn't seem indicative of a city in decline. We were also blown away by the amount and variety of high-end shopping (i.e. $1,000 shoes, $2,000 cotton jacket, etc.). It pretty much made Chicago's Michigan Avenue look like a joke. Sadly there are a lot of homeless, but for the most part they aren't pushy (again, roughly similar to San Francisco). One of the strangest things we noticed were the "gypsy" men selling weed, cocaine, etc. While it is illegal to sell in Lisbon, they do so quite openly and the police look the other way. Once we took stock of the good and bad of the city, we felt like it is actually one of the more livable cities we've seen, at least for a young couple that likes cafes, restaurants and a relaxed lifestyle. Next Up: Port Wine, Cold Streams and Sardines in northern Portugal.

Footprints in the Sand - On the Beach in Portugal

2011-07-31T03:57:00.001-05:00

From Italica (see out last post for a heads up on these Roman ruins) we drove west into Portugal along the Algarve (southern Portuguese coast) and encountered one of the worst invasive species known to the region – Tourists. This common specimen of Homo sapien is known for invading an area, constructing nests of concrete and flocking to beaches in large quantities. Luckily we were staying in Salema, a small fishing village (well, a fishing village slowly heading to retirement) just out of range of the tourist trail (thanks mainly to its location in a protected national park). Even Salema had its share of hotels and restaurants, but it was manageable and reasonable compared to the rest of the coast.

For us the slow pace of Salema didn’t disappoint – we had a cozy room in a British-owned but German-run bed and breakfast (hmmmm yummy breakfast). Beach views and fresh coffee helped make for a relaxing few days. Honestly Salema makes us consider settling down in a foreign country and serving up bread, marmalade and a bed at a reasonable price to interested tourists.

And beaches? They got plenty of stinkin’ beaches! The beach at Salema was great - a long stretch of fine sand with shells and rocks in very cold (aka fridgid) water. Tops were optional (Lee went topless), lots of families, and the kids ran around naked (pretty common in Europe compared to America); makes for a very liberating and carefree environment compared to American beaches. A few cabanas were laid out in front of the main hotel, but other than that it was a non-touristy beach and a relaxing place to spend a lazy day. As a bonus - for such a small town, the restaurants were all top notch. We had the best seafood we’ve ever had (or at least comparable to the best), which is impressive given some of the places we’ve had seafood (San Francisco, Gulf of Mexico, New Zealand, Scotland and Ireland to name a few). Enjoying freshly caught and grilled fish with fried up potatoes, garden grown veggies and a crisp glass of wine after a day at the beach ranks up there as one of the best ways to chill; especially when the beach isn’t set in the Gulf of Mexico where the salt builds crust on your skin!

Our second day here was spent with a short drive east to Benagil where we caught a fishing boat and toured the sandstone coves and caves for an hour on the water with a quick look at several dozen coves, most with stunning and isolated beaches (some even inside the sandstone caves).

Sadly, our captain (a local and former fisherman Cap. Fernando Cabrita; Tel: 961 966 302) explained that unsustainable tourism is quickly encroaching on the area of Praia da Marinha. Just east a few kilometers we noticed high-rise buildings and jet boats zipping by. He pointed out that most of the coastline was being bought by the ultra-rich and out-of-touch, for example the President of Angola, to develop resorts along what remains of the natural coast (so in essence the beautiful beaches there are in danger of extinction within the next 5-10 years). This type of development is unfortunately common around the world and serves only to convert the natural beauty of a place into a Disney-esk money machine for a limited few. So here's our shtick: If you’re ever faced with the option of package resort style tourism versus low-impact (i.e. bed and breakfast, apartment, off the beaten track, etc.) tourism please consider choosing the later. You’ll do yourself, the locals and nature a favor.

To cap off the day and catch the sunset, we drove west to the awe-inspiring Praia do Castelejo on the Atlantic side of the Algarve (very similar to California's Big Sur). The complete opposite of Salema, the beach was typical Atlantic style with a river outleting to the beach – fine sand, wide beach, windy, misty and chilly. At first we took in the view from the top of the huge sand dunes, before heading down the windy road to the actual beach. A few people paced the beach while a small restaurant and several campervans sat in the background. As we wandered and stood in the shallows waiting for the sunset, two surfers headed out into the waves. Not sure if they just were not experienced or had a tough break, but neither had any success and one found himself washed down shore past a series of seriously large and dangerous rocks. We stood around with his buddy for at least twenty minutes growing concerned that he may have hit the rocks, but eventually we spotted him in the mist several hundred meters down the beach.

So how do we feel about the far western Algarve? As long as this small gem is not ruined by further development, we could definitely see ourselves returning (if we’re in the mood for pure relaxation!). Next up: A return to city living in Lisboa (Lisbon).

Visiting Rome in Spain

2011-07-30T13:35:00.000-05:00

From Sevilla we headed to Portugal, but first made time for a short stop at the Roman ruins of Italica just north-west of Sevilla. Although the site is small, it boasts high quality mosaics used as floor tiling in homes as well as a relatively intact amphitheater from around the time of its founding in 206 BC. As you can see from the mosaic above, the Roman artists had a sense of humor, since the bird is eating a lizard, and another in that mosaic is poking a farmer in the gluteus maximus (yup Latin, feel free to look for that in the flickr pictures). In ancient times Italica was an important city-state for the Romans, but after changes in the river flow around 1000 AD the city was set high and dry and people abandoned the site (there are even paintings from the middle ages showing the farmers in the foreground with the dilapidated Roman city in the background). Apparently the main reason the mosaics and city remains survived is thanks to the Catholic church, which until shortly owned the land, and volunteers who continuously clean grit and dust from the mosaic tiles while continuing further excavations. Next up: Beaches, Coves and Relaxation in Portugal's Algarve

A Drive Through the Province of Cádiz

2011-07-30T07:04:00.000-05:00

Since we finally mastered the manual transmission (Lee has proven himself the superior driver of the two of us), we decided to take a day and drive through the Province of Cádiz. Our number one destination was Jerez de la Frontera for a sherry wine tour and tasting, and then to Cadiz (old Spanish port, now a summer beach destination for residents of Sevilla) and finally to Zahara de la Sierra (small town in the "hills", i.e. mountains, of Andalusia). According to our host in Sevilla, a "day" trip for this route is quite extraordinary, saying something about driving a lot (but "eh" it was only about 3-4 hours in the car for the total round trip so not too bad). Nevertheless, although we left early and made it back late after sunset (which normally happens around 9:30'ish) it was well worth it. (Note: if you wanted to skip Zahara, opt for a train ride to Cadiz with a stop in Jerez though, that would be less costly and more relaxing.)

We found our way to sherry producer Pedro Dominecq in Jerez and just barely made the tour by walking/running across town at around 1 PM (aka hottest sweltering weather ever). The tour included a visit to four bodegas (warehouses) where they store their different styles/brands of wine for aging. Similar to scotch, all of their barrels originate from American oak but they use the barrels for as long as they can, restoring and repairing when possible. They paint them black in order to better see leaks and such since the wine is sticky and reflective, so shows up well versus the matte black wood. Unlike traditional wine, they use the Solera system to maintain a (generally) consistent taste regardless of age. The barrels are stacked in three to five layers, with the youngest on top and the oldest on bottom. They use the bottom barrel to fill their bottles and then replace the amount of bottled wine with wine from the middle barrel, which is then replaced with wine from the top barrel. Thus the bottled wine is a mixture of wines from different ages, from a few years old to several decades old. A bodega will produce similar wines from each cask, but each bodega will have a slightly different taste than another bodega (even though they all use the same grapes) due to the air and heat and conditions in the bodega itself.

After the tour it was siesta time and the town was pretty much shut down, so we were off to Cadiz the historic port that along with Sevilla had the monopoly on trade with South America (think historic opulence and riches). Driving into Cadiz we felt like we were visiting Miami with lots of high-rise apartments and hotels on either side of a single main peninsula boulevard road, with flocks of vacationers headed to the beach. That said, there's still an old section of town right at the end of the peninsula. We settled down at a small cafe and had a great tapas dish of fried octopus and a vino tinto (glass of heavy red wine with ice and fresh lime juice). Similar to the rest of Andalusia, you could spot the Moorish influence and past grandeur in lots of the buildings, walls and doors (yup, lots of big doors seems to be a common theme in this area).

From Cadiz we drove onward to Zahara de la Sierra, north-east of Cadiz and south-east of Sevilla. We expected some hills, maybe a few steep areas, but boy were we in for a surprise. A few hours later with Jazz driving at 30 kph and navigating some very very steep and hair-pin turns (fun videos to be shared on that one with whom ever is interested), we arrived. Sadly our car had the pickup of a lawn mower so we did most of the mountain driving in 2nd and 3rd gear while getting passed by faster vehicles (yes those crazy drivers would still pass you on S curve turns). We got there just in time for the sunset though and had a beautiful drive into and out of Zahara. Lee took the wheel for the drive home and Jazz snapped some drive-by sunset images. Next up: Roman Ruins and Sandy Portugese Beaches