From Giraffes to Kangaroos

And our trip comes to an end

2008-05-26T11:42:00.000-07:00

Dear friends,
205 days ago we left San Francisco on our journey around the world, From Giraffes to Kangaroos. We now sit again in our favorite neighborhood of “The City,” reflecting on what was an incredible whirlwind 29.3 weeks.

Many of you have asked what our favorite part of the trip was. Of course it is hard to choose favorites, but here are some of our top picks.

Favorite country to visit: Turkey. With its combination of fantastic culture, jaw-dropping Greek and Roman ruins, delicious food, and gorgeous beaches, Turkey has a little something for everyone. To top it off, it is incredibly easy to travel around—it is safe, the roads are good, and the bus system is very reliable. (Click here for our best pictures)

Most incredible sight: Serengeti National Park, Tanzania. Experiencing driving through the savannah with its endless sky, spotting lions and other gorgeous creatures in their native habitat was life-changing.

Best place to get a tan: Paje Beach, Zanzibar, Tanzania. The water was a perfect turquoise, the sand was white and finer than corn starch, there was not a cloud in the sky, and it was (almost) all ours! Need we say more?

Places we would live in a heartbeat: Melbourne and Sydney, Australia. Despite the fact that they are in the middle of nowhere, Melbourne and Sydney are unbeatable cosmopolitan environments. They are very environmentaly-conscious, their produce is fresh and delicious, they have a great café-culture, and their residents are healthy and active. In other words , they have all the perks of San Francisco without the grime. We didn’t want to leave!

We have assembled a photo album of our top 100-or-so pictures from our entire trip for your viewing pleasure. Click here to see them.

And now we’re back. We will be spending the summer living in the Mission District and working at our former employers. Our next move is to graduate school at the end of August; David will be moving to Chicago and Tanya to Boston, so please be in touch if you are ever in those fine cities! Thank you all for supporting us through our adventure—we couldn’t have done it without your help and encouragement and it would not have been nearly as much fun!!

Tanya and David

Cappadocia and the Mediterranean

2008-05-14T11:39:00.000-07:00

Hello!

We hope this post finds you happy and well wherever it is you are. We are in Olympos at the moment, on the Mediterranean Sea in the south of Turkey. It has been a whirlwind week since we wrote last. We've had a wonderful time sun and dramatic landscapes in Central Anatolia and the Mediterranean coast. By far the highlights of our travels have been two very special places: Cappadocia and Patara.

Cappadocia's scenery is surreal. Timeless erosion has left behind thousands of cone- and phallus-shaped pinnacles that, for the past 1500 years, the locals have hollowed into homes, graves, churches and monasteries. The result is unlike anything we have ever seen. Yellow, red and pink stone valleys are pock-marked with caves. Villages are built into mountains like Swiss cheese. Frescoes lie undisturbed in the carved church vaults - some only slightly damaged by the ravages of the iconoclasts some hundreds of years ago. Although clearly etched onto the tourist circuit, Cappadocia still remains relatively undisturbed (at least in May). Goreme, our hub for the region, was our first introduction to Turkish village life which moves at a pace of its own. A world where everyone knows everyone else. Every shop is run by a different family member. There is never no time for a glass of tea. People remember what it was their great-great-grandparents did, said and owned. It is a wonderful place.

Patara, however, is a jewel. Only an hour by bus from the tourist-trap circuit of the southern Mediterranean, Patara remains amazingly undisturbed. Not only is there an 18km white sand beach that can bring tears to your eyes, but there are also just a couple hundred meters away Roman ruins 2500 years old that lie under the careful watch of the local goat and cows that wander them. And we're not talking a little Greek arch. There is an amphitheater that could be used for performances here and now, a Parliament building that has yet to tell all its stories and innumerable Greek columns and cornices. As if all this weren't enough to make you pack your bags, our hotel, the Flower Pansiyon, has the best food in Turkey. Enough said.

One final word. Something not often mentioned about Turkey is that it is full of cats. Beautiful, household variety (and quality) cats. Cats are everywhere. It is not uncommon to be surrounded by six cats at dinner or five cats while sitting in a park bench. Anytime you feel like petting a lovely little ball of fluff, just look around and make your best "come-hear-kitty" sounds and gestures. Locals love them and treat them nicely. So far on our travels, Turkey takes the prize for the best place for cat lovers. Cat haters, beware.

We will write more soon. In the meantime, where are you?

PS: Click here for just a couple of pictures.
PPS: Everyone here seems to think David looks Turkish.

Istanbul

2008-05-06T07:04:00.000-07:00

Merhaba!

When we last left you we were in Fiji, unsure of where we should finish the last three weeks of our trip after our quick stint in the new world. We decided on Turkey, where we've spent the last few days sipping çay, visiting ancient sights (some of which were built over a thousand years before Australia was even a twinkle in anyone's eye), discovering that somehow Tanya speaks Turkish (past life?), and eating kebabs, turkish delights, baklavas, and, well, pretty much anything they'll sell us-- it's all so good.

Istanbul is something else. We arrived without expectations and have been astounded by how cool this city is. Our cultural experiences have been amazing, from the "traditional" activities of exploring one of the world's most beautiful mosques (which was once one of the world's most beautiful churches) and then turning around and making our way through a spice bazaar through piles of vibrant colors and smells, sampling rosewater sweets and watching men play backgammon, to the modern experiences of drinking at hip rooftop bars and listening to fabulous modern electronic Turkish tunes. This is a city of contrasts: new and ancient, east and west. Side by side are the religious ladies in their conservative headscarves and the punk, orange-haired (also Muslim) teens. It's so exciting to be here.

Tonight we leave the excitement of Istanbul for the gorgeous landscapes of Cappadocia. We are taking an overnight bus-- wish us luck! We will write more soon from there, but for now, here is a quick selection of some of our Turkey pictures to date. Miss you all!

New Zealand Part 2

2008-03-17T16:39:00.000-07:00

Bula dear friends!

Please don't hate us. We write you from Fiji (we said please don't hate us), where we recently arrived after a fabulous few weeks in New Zealand. It is hard to write words that do justice to our time in New Zealand because the country is so gosh darn gorgeous, so we'll give you a brief description and we will post the pictures as soon as we can.

Since we last posted, we traveled up the South Island of New Zealand to Abel Tasman National Park, across the Cook Strait that connects the two islands, into the highly caffeinated city of Wellington, and up the North Island. Every inch of the journey was magnificent. From the rolling green, sheep-filled hills where the hobbits were filmed for Lord of the Rings to the jagged, snow- covered volcano Mount Tongariro and Ruapehu (aka Mount Doom), the landscapes in New Zealand are the most beautiful from our five-month travels.

It is hard to pick favorites, but we fell in love with the coastal playground of the Bay of Islands in the north of the North Island. Taking a sailboat around the turquoise bay, we swam with penguins, hiked on deserted islands, and pulled mussels off of rocks for our lunch (Tanya has the scars to prove it!). Clearly we were not the first to be enchanted by this area-- according to local folklore, such Hollywood legends as Tom Cruise and Demi Moore (accompanied by her boy Ashton) have shelled out $38,000 per night to stay in one of the fantastic hotels in the area (and according to the same source, Demi-Ashton conceived in this very spot).

Very different from the Bay of Islands, Rotorua was another highlight of our trip. Set in the middle of dozens of volcanoes, and reeking with the stench of sulphur, the Rotorua region boasts fabulous natural thermal streams and pools, bubbling mud lakes, and powerful geysers. We bathed in the natural pools warmed to 39, 40, 41 and 42 degrees Celsius. We will post many pictures in a week so you can see the spectacle for yourselves!

Most people have negative things to say about Auckland, New Zealand's largest city (over 25% of Kiwis live here), so we braced ourselves for the worst when we arrived. However, we didn't see anything negative to speak of. Not only was the city beautiful and organized, but its diversity amazed us. In one day alone, we spoke with people from Iran, Mexico, Brazil, China, Japan, Portugal, Holland, England, Germany, the Channel Islands, Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Israel, Russia, and Mauritius! It was really exciting to be surrounded by such internationalism and we would return in a heartbeat.

We are now in Fiji, where we are spending a lot of time lounging, running and walking on the beach, swimming in the pools, and exploring the local towns and villages. We will write you more from home when we arrive there in just a few days! We will be in the States and in Mexico until the end of April when we will hit the road, yet again, for another couple of weeks. Turkey, Libya, Tunisia, England, France, biking through the Netherlands... we still haven't decided what to do! Let us know if you have a recommendation!

We will post a ton of pictures as soon as we get back to California where the internet is fast and free. With love from the Bula Internet Cafe in Fiji,
Tanya and David

New Zealand, Part 1

2008-02-28T00:45:00.000-08:00

We write to you from Kaikoura, a beautiful coastal town on New Zealand's South Island, capital of dolphin-watching. The past week has been spectacular, full of outdoor adventures, incredible scenery, and fresh air.

Unlike the rest of our trip, where we took buses and boats and stayed in hostels and hotels, our time in New Zealand involves our very own (rented) old Nissan and our sleek new vinyl tent. We have also acquired some bowls, silverware, a pot, chairs, and a 99cent set of pop cassette tapes. We have not regretted our decision to travel this way-- having the flexibility to go wherever we want and pitch a tent at any pretty place has been great. Traveling this way has also allowed us to "bond" with Mother Nature; it is hard not to here.

New Zealand is a really small country (two islands with a total of 4 million people in a land mass the size of England), however it has a truly broad variation of landscapes, making it a traveling paradise. Just yesterday, for example, we drove from the Fiordland of Milford Sound to the touristy mountain chalet of Queenstown, by the pristine snow-capped Mt. Cook, to rest, finally, at the perfectly turquoise and quiet Lake Tekapo. We went across half of the South Island in only six hours! Our adventures so far have been quite athletic, involving some breathtaking hikes and runs through the fiords and coastal areas, seeing dolphins, penguins, albatross, and sea lions.

One interesting thing about traveling here has been the change in demographic of our fellow travellers. While the rest of our trip we have seen primarily twenty and thirty somethings, in New Zealand, we are surrounded by mostly retiree tourists. Many older couples and groups come here, and consequently the traveller scene is much more mellow and clean/pleasant. Just tonight, we shared a dinner table at a crayfish stand with a lovely English couple in their mid-sixties (age doesn't stop the man from running- he has run 380 marathons to date and is still going!).

The next couple of weeks (the final leg of our trip), we will drive to the famous Abel Tasman National Park for more hiking and kayaking, and then we will head to the North Island of New Zealand. We will write more to you from there soon. For now, here are some pictures. We miss you all!

Cairns and Melbourne

2008-02-18T01:51:00.000-08:00

G'day mates!

We've been bad. Really bad. Every morning over the last couple of weeks, we woke up planning to post, but the excitement of the days carried us away from the computers. We promise we tried! Our new love for Australia has grown deeper after our fantastic visits to Cairns and Melbourne. These two cities, very different from one another, have given us a glimpse into two faces of Australia: the red-neckish outdoorsy face and the cosmopolitan chic-as-can-be face.

Cairns, reminiscent of a rural Wisconsin town circa 1985 because of its size, restaurant selection, and fashion sense (the mullets here are not "ironic"), was the outpost of our adventures on the Great Barrier Reef. Now, you may be thinking, "Surely, such an expensive destination as the Great Barrier Reef would have a fancy resort town as its tourist hub." You are right. That town is called Port Douglas, and it is roughly a one hour drive from Cairns, luring such celebrities as Bill Clinton to its elegant hotels. Cairns, on the other hand, caters more to the budget backpacker community, providing free dinners to backpackers and cheap beers on draft.

Snorkeling on the Great Barrier Reef was an absolute delight. We saw reef sharks, stingrays, sea turtles, and brilliantly colorful corals. One particularly impressive sight was when we were sailing out to the reef, and we saw a giant stingray jump out of the water several meters into the air, looking as though it was trying to fly away. It was beautiful.

When were weren't taking in the natural wonders of Cairns, we were taking part in the traditional Aussie pastime of the barbie. (Fact: 97% of Australians own a barbecue). If you are wondering what it was like to eat crocodile, kangaroo, and emu, imagine eating rubbery chicken, extra-juicy beef, and ostrich, and you've got the idea.

While Cairns gave us a chance to be stereotypical Australian tourists, Melbourne gave us the urge to never leave this country. Melbourne is incredible. It is Portland meets San Francisco meets Los Angeles meets London. The streets are lined with more cafes, art galleries, and restaurants than we could ever visit in our lives, thanks partially to the huge population of Italians and Greeks who live there (we have heard that Melbourne hosts the second largest population of Greeks of any city, second only to Athens). Like any good city, Melbourne has heaps of parks, including those lining the splendid Yarra River (site for a lot of rowing) and the beach (site for a lot of kite surfing). At any point of the day, there are hundreds of joggers, bikers, rowers, and swimmers working out in this glorious city. We have always been astonished that Australia, a country of only 20 million people, could produce so many Olympic medalists. Melbourne seems to be the reason why. Not only do the good weather and the scenery urge you to work out, but if you don't work out, you might see the after-effects of the pastries and souvlakis!

If eating and exercising aren't enough to make you pack your bags, Melbourne is the cultural center of Australia (Sydney might take issue with this, there is a more-than-friendly rivalry between these two major cities). There are always free art and music festivals, including TropFest, a free short film festival we watched last night under the stars in the park. Thousands of people were there, and the ambiance was fantastic.

We even had our share of animal-viewing in Melbourne. While Tanya normally opposes zoos for moral reasons, the Melbourne Zoo is praised for its humane treatment of animals, so we decided to give it a go. It was wonderful-- we got to see kangaroos (and after seeing how cute they are when they hop and lay, we will never eat them again!), koalas, emus (not that cute), and - our new favorite- the wombat. The wombat is probably the cutest animal ever. Like the rock hyrax in Africa, the wombat is fluffy, fat, and guinea pig-esque. Click here for a picture. Outside of the zoo, we saw the famed Australian black swan (nobody believed they existed before Australia was colonized) in the botanical gardens, a wonderful sight.

Before we go, we feel it necessary to comment on a major historic event in Australia that we had a chance to witness. A few days ago, for the first time - EVER- the Australian parliament issued an apology for the horrific treatment of the Aborigine (indigenous) people. It was a momentous event in Australia, and Melbourne was decorated with banners saying "Sorry." As it stands, the only homeless and drunk people we have seen-- all in Cairns-- are Aborigine. It is extremely sad.

Please click here to see our latest pictures. We will write more in a few days from New Zealand, our next stop in our adventure. We miss you all!

Sydney

2008-02-07T01:39:00.000-08:00

What a city. What a country.

First a word on the flight here: in Singapore we unexpectedly boarded the biggest flying passenger jet in the world, the A380. This plane was so exciting we chose not to sleep and instead watched movies and marveled at the spectacular two-story "steel bird" that carried us. This was not a wise decision. But it was fun.

Landing in Australia early in the morning, we checked into our hotel in the allegedly sketchy, in reality chic, King's Cross neighborhood, took a nap and walked straight to Circular Quay, home of the Harbor Bridge and the Opera House, the international landmarks of Australia. Surrounded by water and divided in two halves, Sydney has an an extraordinary number of scenic viewpoints. Walking from King's Cross to Circular Quay we could not help but marvel at how beautiful the city was - in every direction we stood speechless. On our walk we passed the Domain (a large park where we later saw a wonderful open-air opera), and the Botanical Gardens that were our first glimpse of the weird flora and fauna of this continent - alongside the pigeons and the seagulls are these semi-scary long-beaked, big-bodied and skinny-legged birds; in the trees hang fruit bats in the hundreds, resting before flying over the city at sunset; cockatoos fly around willy-nilly. Sydney is wonderful.

Alongside the astonishing natural beauty is the culture and hip neighborhoods that exist in the dozens. We walked through the Saturday markets of Paddington and Surry Hills, full of twenty- and thirty-something hipsters and artists reminiscent of New York, London and San Francisco. The museums are plentiful and many are free. The aquarium and zoo are fantastic. Coffee shops abound. The food is excellent. People are friendly, ecologically-conscious (taking plastic bags from the grocery store draws ugly looks from fellow shoppers), outdoorsy and international. If it weren't for the weakness of the dollar, and the fact that you, dear readers, are all on another continent, we would stay here in a heartbeat (and doing so wouldn't be a problem considering that the government gives work permits quite readily, as can be seen from the hundreds of German high-school students tending the organic strawberry-fields in the South).

As if the heart of Sydney weren't enough, the periphery holds more treasures. We ventured to the Blue Mountains a couple of hours east of Sydney for a quick jaunt amongst the green hills and sandstone cliffs that offer weeks of hiking and climbing. We lazed about on Bondi Beach, about fifteen minutes from the city center that is Sydney's version of Southern California with tan, buff blokes and sheilas (men and women in Australia speak - side-note: the soccer team in Australia are called the Socceroos - no joke). Bondi Beach is so much like LA that there is even a show called "Bondi Rescue" that is a copy of "Bay Watch."

Also, the city is walkable!
The city is beautiful!
What a city! (Yes, we are delirious with excitement!!!)

Tomorrow we are off to Cairns, a diving hub on the Great Barrier Reef. We will write you more from there.
We miss you all and if you all decide to move to Sydney, be sure to get a room for visitors.

PS - We will try to upload pictures from Oz as soon as possible. Here are the links for a few pictures from Laos and Thailand.

Luang Prabang and the Mekong: http://www.flickr.com/gp/19264950@N00/938c5T
Chiang Rai: http://www.flickr.com/gp/19264950@N00/7JR1NV
Cooking course, Chiang Mai: http://www.flickr.com/gp/19264950@N00/39E5di

Back in Singapore

2008-01-31T03:00:00.000-08:00

Hello!

We write you from the ultra-modern Terminal 3 at Changi Airport in Singapore, where internet is free, hot chocolate abounds, and the government reads our every word. We are in the last hours of our roughly two-month stint in Southeast Asia, heading for Sydney on the overnight plane.

The past week we have travelled from Northern Thailand down to Singapore. In Chiang Mai, in the North of Thailand, we had the amazing experience of learning how to cook six Thai dishes including Pad Thai, curry, and spring rolls. It's easier than you think, and we look forward to cooking you all a dish when we next see you! Other than the cooking class, we wandered the streets of Chiang Mai, opting not to go on another trek after the one in Chiang Rai. Unfortunately, after enjoying the intimate feel of Chiang Rai, we found the large, highly-trafficked Chiang Mai a bit disappointing.

We took the eight hour train from Chiang Mai to Bangkok during the day in order to appreciate the scenery and were thrilled by the shifting jungles, rice fields and small towns we encountered. Arriving in Bangkok exhausted from our last couple of months, we decided to treat ourselves to a couple of fancy nights at the local Sheraton (again thanks to Tanya's sweat-tears-and-blood-earned Starwood points). With a down-right jaw-dropping view of the river and city, our room was spectacular and our recovery began.

We spent the last couple of days in Singapore with Tanya's family continuing to spoil us in their beautiful home. Rested, excited, and ready for our next continent, we await our plane.

We will write you all from Sydney!

Chiang Rai and the hill tribes

2008-01-21T06:02:00.001-08:00

We arrived in Northern Thailand expecting a similar country to that which we witnessed in Southern Thailand. We expected everyone to speak English and to be jaded by the farang (i.e., the white man). Instead we found easy smiles, a laid-back attitude, no touts to speak of and a genuinely helpful manner in all of the locals. From the Laos border we took a small, local bus to Chiang Rai and, surprisingly, drew lots of inquisitive glances and giggles from other passengers. Our experience here has helped us understand why some people stay in Thailand forever.

Chiang Rai is a big town that plays second fiddle to the more popular tourist hub of Chiang Mai. We decided to stay here based on a midnight conversation with some recently expatriated Australians, and it was one of the best decisions we've made - this town is great. We ate dinner last night at the night market which resembles a county fair thanks to the cheesy folk dances and acoustic guitar displays by the local teens. Not only is Chiang Rai a great place to relax, but it also houses some of the best temples we have seen on our trip. Small Wat Phra Kaeo, the original temple of the Emerald Buddha that now sits in the heart of the Imperial Palace in Bangkok, is immaculately landscaped and very well-maintained by smiling monks. Outside of town is the even more amazing White Temple, a modern construction by one of the leading artists in Thailand. Resembling a piece by Gaudi, the artist has pushed the bounds of Buddhist art as seen by his murals that include a rendering of Keanu Reeves from the Matrix and the Twin Towers engulfed by demons.

As most tourists do in this part of Thailand, today we visited the local hill tribes. We were lucky to have a highly experienced guide, Fido, take us personally into some of the least-visited villages to appreciate the communities without the trappings of most large tours and treks. Originally from Tibet, China and Myanmar, the tribes now live peacefully in Northern Thailand having been given refuge by the King. Each tribe has completely different way of living, from the stilted bamboo bungalows of the mellow Lahu that only work enough to eat, to the wooded grounded houses of the enterprising Karen that have melded with the Thai. We shared a meal with a Lahu village, and while Tanya exchanged new words in Lahu for new words in English with the smartest kid we have met in a while, a small naughty girl pelted cows, roosters and pigs with dried dung (pictures to be posted soon). Although a world apart from our own it was nice to realize that in every community there is still the town drunk/opium addict, the hard working people trying to make a living and that one chubby kid that eats everybody else's food. We were really moved by this experience.

Tomorrow we are going to the much larger Chiang Mai. We are working our way to Singapore in the last ten days of our leg in Southeast Asia. We will write more soon from Chiang Mai.

Luang Prabang and up the Mekong

2008-01-21T05:00:00.000-08:00

From the moment we landed in its airport, we could feel that Luang Prabang was special. Part of this might have been because of the sheer glee we felt from taking a comfortable plane instead of a bumpy bus, but we digress. Situated between two rivers, the Mekong and the Nam Khan, and nestled in a valley between formidable foggy foothills, Luang Prabang radiates with spiritual energy. Having been one of the Buddhist capitals of Southeast Asia, it has innumerable wats (temples) and a daily alms procession where over 300 monks line up the main road to collect food offerings from the local residents (and a few tourists!). As we walked down the little alleyways admiring the Buddhist constructions and French colonial architecture (Laos was a French colony), peeking into the local restaurants and cafes, we realized that Luang Prabang is by far the city with the most sophisticated aesthetics we have seen in Asia-- not a single fluorescent light washes out one of these establishments.

The decor is not the only thing that makes Luang Prabang outstanding. The local cuisine blew us away. From the street stalls, we were able to buy delicious stews with fresh dill and mint, fantastic baguette sandwiches, spring rolls, fruit, coconut desserts for almost nothing. We ate dinner at one of these stalls where we had an all-you-can eat vegetarian buffet for fifty cents. It was amazing. We decided to splurge and spend $12 for a seven course meal at the nicest restaurant in town, and we don't think we have ever been in such gastronomic heaven in our lives.

The people of Laos are some of the most mellow and shy people we have encountered. They are Buddhist. Really Buddhist. This manifests itself in a completely un-commercial and un-entrepreneurial way of approaching tourists. Many times we found ourselves outside of stores literally having to beg for them to pay attention and agree to sell us something. Contrast this with street children in Cambodia who speak nine languages to sell their wares to tourists and Thai vendors who will chase you for blocks, and you can't help but notice that Laos is a little different.

After spending a relaxing five days in Luang Prabang, we took a slow boat up the Mekong River to the Thai border town of Chiang Khong. This was one of the best experiences of our trip. Accompanied by seventy fellow travelers on two eight-hour boat rides, we were surrounded by pristine, gorgeous scenery: fantastic crisp green mountain views, tiny villages with local naked children splashing in the water, and many water buffalo and happy cows. We highly recommend the slow boat to anyone who has the time (from Laos to Thailand, NOT the other way around, which is what every single other tourist does, resulting in 200 people on a seventy person boat).

While we only spent around a week in total in Laos, we are really happy that we made the journey out there. We left peaceful, well-fed, and wanting to go back for more.

We will write our next post in the very near future, as we summarize the last few days that we have spent in Northern Thailand. Stay tuned! (more pictures will be posted in the next couple of days)

Angkor, Siem Reap

2008-01-13T02:47:00.000-08:00

Hello from Siem Reap,

We have had marvelous time in Cambodia over the past couple of days, so it is surprising to remember that it all started quite terribly. The bus from Bangkok was horrible. We were lied to and cheated repeatedly during our seventeen hour trip aboard the infamous "scam bus," despite promises from our "travel agent" that our bus was not the infamous tourist-trap-mobile. The trip could have taken eight hours (and tens of dollars less) had it not been for the multiple two to three hour long rest stops at associated cafes and alleged government-enforced rest stops. In themselves these rest stops would have only been nuisances, but upon reaching the Cambodian border-town of Poipet, the paved Thai road degraded into an unpaved dirt path with meter-long potholes, nude, running children and dust tornadoes that required us to cover our faces for the entire six-hour trip, while private taxis zoomed by in air-conditioned heaven. It should therefore come as no surprise how shocked we were when when we hit the city of Siem Reap where the dirt path suddenly became a lit, four-lane paved road with new five-star hotels. We had arrived at last and had we not had sore legs, we would have knelt to kiss the earth. We treated ourselves to a ten-dollar-a-night double and slept our sorrows away - every moment thereafter has been wonderful.

Siem Reap is the gateway town to Angkor, home of the gorgeous temple of Angkor Wat. The temples of Angkor are independent complexes built by the kings of the Khmer Empire from the 9th to 15th centuries to commemorate themselves, their family members , a deity or their own achievements (or so we've been told - the objectives of many temples are still hotly debated and explanations are often vague and multiple-choice, for example, "This temple is either for Vishnu, Shiva, Avalokiteshvara or the King's mother"). The complexes are spread over a couple hundred square kilometers and are covered in mostly Hindu, and often Buddhist, motifs making many temples very similar to those we have seen in India. We wondered through the temples by tuk-tuk (motorbike-led carts) and by van for over twenty-five hours, visiting the jungle river-carvings of Kbal Spear, the sixty-four, four-faced towers of Bayon, multiple temples covered in canopy with trees growing from the ancient towers, and of course, the famous temple complex of Angkor Wat which made for an amazing sunrise (click here for a couple of our pictures).

Being in Cambodia has been a wonderful and unexpected treat for us. The people we have met here are by far the nicest and most kind-hearted we have found on our trip and arguably that we have ever met. From the poor, begging street children to the business owners and people we have met on the streets, every smile is met with a smile, easy laughter, and very positive energy. It is an absolute tragedy that this country lived through hell for the last twenty-five years of the twentieth century. From 1975 until the Vietnamese invasion of 1978, the Maoist government of the Khmer Rouge killed somewhere between two and three million people out of the total population of eight million and, needless to say, destroyed the country's economy by emptying the cities (ordering mass evacuations), and abolishing monetary transactions. The guerrilla warfare and extortion that followed their fall led to the laying of millions of land-mines throughout the countryside and to a debilitated country. It is only in this century that the country has started to rebound and change is happening at breakneck speed. Land prices in Siem Reap are doubling every couple of years, droves of Japanese and Chinese tourists flood the country, and there is a palpable feeling of development in the air. We can't help but feel that after being held down for fifty years, Cambodia is rushing to recapture lost time and bring back happier days and its people are, without a doubt, the key to likely success.

Tomorrow we are flying to Luang Prabang in Laos, and we will write more from there in a couple of days.We miss you all and hope to hear from you soon

From Bangkok

2008-01-09T04:48:00.000-08:00

After spending two weeks on an island so small that we could walk its length in just over an hour, we were shocked to arrive in the sprawling metropolis of Bangkok. Huge neon advertisements and streets lined with vendors surrounded us as we stepped off our bus onto Khaosan Road (the "Diagon Alley for backpackers," as David likes to describe it, or for you non-Harry Potter fans, a place where backpackers find everything they want within arm's reach).

Bangkok is a city that is truly alive. There is so much action, from the Thai lady-boys selling tropical fruits on the side of the road to the visitors and worshippers swarming the gorgeous temples to the very sketchy old Western men roaming the streets in search of a girlfriend-for-hire (which, incidentally, grosses us both out a lot). Amidst all of this excitement and craziness, there is also a sobering and tremendous respect for the King. It is impossible to make a 360 degree revolution on a street in Bangkok without seeing an image of the King or one of the millions of yellow flags flown in his honor. What's more, the people in Thailand change their dress according to what the King decides (how this process works is still a mystery to us). For example, since the King was born on a Monday, last year people wore yellow on Mondays to celebrate him. Since the King's sister died a week or so ago, many people have been wearing all black. The country's appreciation for its leader has really impressed us.

If you are ever in Bangkok, there are a couple of sights you must not miss. Very touristy but still well-worth braving, the Grand Palace and the Temple of the Emerald Buddha are truly impressive pieces of art. Words cannot do them justice, and unfortunately neither can our pictures! Suffice it to say that your jaw will drop at the sight of the sparkling mirrors, intricate murals, and beautiful gold buddhas. Jim Thompson's (an American architect ex-pat who made the Thai silk industry) house is also worth a trip. He built one of the most gorgeous homes we have ever seen using traditional Thai techniques and furnishing the space with fantastic Asian antiques. Finally, the modern consumer in you is craving a visit to Siam Paragon mall, literally the fanciest retail space that either of us has ever seen. The mall is absolutely ridiculous, with high-end shops, sleek decor, and gourmet eateries that can compete with those in any first-world country.

We leave tomorrow on a twelve hour bus ride to Siem Reap, Cambodia, where we will spend the next few days exploring the temples of Angkor Wat. We are very excited to go, but a bit nervous about the process since we have heard horror stories of terrible roads and scam buses that drive you around for hours so that you have to stay the night in a hostel of their choosing. But don't worry too much - all the buses make it safe and sound to Siem Reap.

We'll write more in a couple of days. For now, click here for a small set of our pictures!

From Koh Tao (2)

2008-01-04T06:30:00.000-08:00

Hello friends! Happy new year!

We write you from Koh Tao, Thailand, where we have spent the last two weeks being scuba / beach bums and gathering our energies for our upcoming adventures. We have had an incredible time here and feel that we are leaving just as we are becoming locals-- we know how to dodge the speeding mopeds, how to ask for no MSG in our food in Thai ("mai aow ponk churog"), the names of our favorite waiters, and which part of the beach is optimal for laying out to maximize sun exposure and minimize tourist noise. We have reached Thai beach bum nirvana.

Definitely, the highlight of our time in Koh Tao was learning how to scuba dive and doing our certification through the Advanced Open Water PADI level. Part of this incredible adventure included doing a night dive, which was thoroughly frightening initially. Jumping off the boat into a black abyss, not being able to see predators? 'No, thank you,' we thought. Night diving turned out to be "absolutely brilliant," as our British classmates liked to say. With our flashlights turned off at the bottom of the sea, we were able to see neon blue phytoplankton, hunting barracudas, sleeping sea turtles (Koh Tao means "Turtle Island"), crabs, and moray eels. It was so silent under the sea, and we felt completely peaceful as we weightlessly floated in the dark.

Koh Tao is an international scuba certification hub. According to several people we met, our school (Ban's Diving) is the number one scuba school in the world in terms of yearly new- diver certifications. Other than scuba diving and snorkeling, which are the main focus of Koh Tao, visitors are able to relax in one of the many low-key, charming restaurants and cafes on the island. We spent Christmas and New Year celebrating in these restaurants and bars on the beach. The scene was low-key but festive, with candles placed in holes in the sand, floating lanterns being released into the sky, terrific lounge music in the background, and intense alcoholic concoctions being imbibed (including "buckets", which are mixtures of a concentrated Red Bull, soda, and spirits literally drunk out of a bucket and designed to keep you up all night). Most of the really intense parties happen in Koh Tao's crazy neighbor, Koh Phagnan, so the scene in Koh Tao tends to be a bit more relaxed than one might expect. Click here for pictures of our adventures.

Tomorrow we leave for Bangkok via a combination of boat and bus. Because of a storm in Indonesia, apparently the waves are expected to be huge, so we will be drugged with Dramamine for the journey. After a few days in Bangkok, we will head north for Chiang Mai. We miss you all and will write you more soon!

From Kuala Lumpur to Koh Tao

2007-12-23T03:43:00.000-08:00

Ten percent of people can't do it, we were told. With that in mind, we buckled the last buckle, popped in our regulators, and jumped into the pool to find out if we were one of those unlucky few. Forty percent of our scuba classmates, it turns out, could not do it. We, fortunately, could (in the pool, anyway...). Tomorrow, we'll find out if we can do it in the ocean as well!

We are now in Koh Tao, Thailand, where we plan on spending the next two weeks (plus or minus) learning to scuba dive and relaxing under the palms. We arrived here last night after traveling by boat and bus from Kuala Lumpur (whence we last wrote you). Our ten-day journey took us through several beautiful parts of Malaysia and Thailand and below are a few highlights.

The Cameron Highlands in Malaysia are a cool get-away destination from the oppressive heat in most of the lowlands. Developed by an Englishman seeking fertile tea plantation territory, The Highlands are the site of fantastic rolling hills of tea bushes. We tasted lovely BOH (local) teas, ate scones, and walked through the mossy forests. Unfortunately, despite the of the surrounding scenery, the dilapidated buildings (as many locals have told us, Malaysians are building like crazy but not maintaining the existing infrastructure) and the endless lines of tourist vehicles detracted a bit from our experience.

After a brief stop in Penang (where we mistakenly stayed in a hotel frequented by women of ill-repute), we moved to the paradise island of Langkawi, where with the help of Tanya's Starwood points, we stayed in an amazing resort (pictures to be posted soon). Suffice it to say our accommodation at the Sheraton was very different from our typical $10 per night, fluorescent light-bearing, moldy, and unsanitary lodgings. As if the beach and pool weren't enough, the island is teeming with wildlife, including a flying lemur that we barely dodged as it flew across the pool deck and the family of monkeys we observed from our dinner table, peacefully eating only a few feet from us.

After leaving the friendly people of Malaysia, we traveled roughly 20 hours through port towns and the tourist-infested island of Koh Samui (encountering hundreds of European and American twenty-somethings on their way to the famous Full Moon party in Koh Phagnan) to reach the tiny divers' island paradise that is Koh Tao.

We end this post by wishing you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! We will write in the next week or so with tales of our scuba adventures and pictures. Take care and we miss you all!

Singapore, Melaka & Kuala Lumpur

2007-12-12T04:54:00.000-08:00

Selamat Pagi!

We write you from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, one stop on our northward journey from Singapore to Thailand.

Arriving in the clean-freak utopia (to Tanya's delight) of Singapore, we saw the city through the magnificent tour of Tanya's cousins. From the iconic Singaporean Merlion (half-mermaid, half-lion) statue and the Raffles Hotel and bar (the home of the Singapore Sling, a touristy and addictive syrupy concoction), to the many ethnic enclaves of Little India, Malaysia and China, to the sanitary yet dynamic nightlife of Clarke Quay (including a bar called The Clinic which serves drinks out of IVs and sits people in wheel-chairs), we enjoyed Singapore tremendously.

Singapore is a small island on the southern tip of Peninsular Malaysia with four million people concentrated in an area of twenty by forty kilometers. A benevolent dictatorship, the island functions like a well-oiled capitalist machine. For those of you who don't know, Singapore surpassed "developing country" status many years ago - this is one rich island with spotless streets (there is a ~$350 dollar fine for littering), crazy-modern technology (the parking lots tell you exactly where to drive to find that one empty spot), tons and tons of shopping (a near-infinity of stores at all price levels), and amazing food drawing from its multicultural heritage. People say that Singaporeans have two hobbies-- eating and shopping-- and it's no joke. After only two days in the city, we could already feel ourselves getting chubbier!

After Singapore we worked our way up Peninsular Malaysia (a whole 20 minutes away) taking two successive buses to Melaka and then Kuala Lumpur. The first destination (also known as Malacca) was a small historic port town with a couple of small attractions that were unfortunately, not too exciting. Nonetheless as our first introduction to Malaysia, the town made us happy. It was here that we started to recognize the country's multiculturalism and just how nice its people are - we have been welcomed with smiles everywhere we've been.

One of the defining features of Singapore and Malaysia is the diversity of their populations. Over the past couple hundred years, the region has been influenced/dominated/bred-into by the Indians, the Chinese, the Portuguese, the Dutch, the English, and the Americans. So far, every town we have been to has a Chinatown, a Little India, a bunch of Malaysian cuisine, and the usual assortment of Western outfits ( e.g., Starbuck's, McDonald's, GAP). Additionally, the current wave of development has brought Bengalis, Sri Lankans and Filipinos in droves. For example, in Singapore on Sunday nights you can see thousands of single, male migrant-workers enjoying their one day off by walking the streets of Little India, going to the local temple and calling their families for hours on their cellphones.

Our second stop in Malaysia was Kuala Lumpur, the cosmopolitan home to the Petronas Towers - our favorite attraction in Malaysia so far. Thanks to our previous employer, we were able to go to the 57th floor (way beyond the tourist Sky Bridge on the 41st) and appreciate the view of the city and its surrounding lush hills (see pictures). Designed in an Islamic motif by an Argentine and constructed (separately) by a Japanese and a Korean team (in something like a competition), the towers are some of the tallest in the world and dazzling in their beauty. Beneath the towers lies one of the most amazing malls we have ever seen as well as a series of gardens, a public pool, and an aquarium. The towers are the landmark of modern Malaysia.

Here are the photo albums: Click here for Singapore, click here for Melaka and Kuala Lumpur.

Tomorrow we are taking off for the tea plantations of the Cameron Highlands and then the island of Penang. We will write more from there.

We miss you all and look forward to hearing from you.

Johannesburg

2007-12-09T02:49:00.000-08:00

“Watch out when you go to Johannesburg. I know of these people who got shot in the back of the neck after taking the wrong turn off the M1. No Rolexes in the park at midnight and you should be fine though. Don’t worry too much. You know it is only worse if you worry.” – Every single non-South African who gave us advice on Joburg

Frightened beyond belief, that is what we thought of Johannesburg when we first landed in South Africa. We were also told that Johannesburg had nothing to offer; we were suggested to land and leave as soon as possible. No offense to everyone that gave us advice, but we disagree. We had a great time in Johannesburg and, thank God, left the city unscathed and unfrightened. Our amazing local friends probably had a lot to do with this. Thanks to them we got to see the hippest, prettiest parts of the city.

Although we spent a couple of days in Johannesburg before going to Tanzania, our first visit was more transitory. Our increased context of Africa definitely made the city more attractive on our second visit.

Only after traveling around Africa for a month did we realize how rich Johannesburg is –and it’s only getting richer. The city’s growth is explosive, as you can tell by non-stop construction, the fancy cars in the Northern Suburbs (Lamborghinis are not uncommon), and by the amazing malls (enormous enclosed private complexes with fabulous homes, five-star hotels, high-end retail and chic restaurants). Additionally, wealth seems to transcend racial lines to some degree, with a large number of black, Indian and Malay residents also enjoying the good life.

One factor that contributed to our enjoying the city was our visit to the Apartheid Museum in Johannesburg – a museum we highly recommend to anyone visiting South Africa. It provided us some much needed context of just how far the country has come in the past thirteen years. In the previous post we mentioned the racial tensions we experienced on our trip. After visiting the museum, we realized that these tensions are actually a vast improvement over the violence and conflict lived during the Apartheid era – particularly in the 1970s and 1980s, when armed convoys roamed the townships and Molotov cocktails were routinely used against the police. To provide a quick description of Apartheid for those of you who don’t know, it was a system of racial segregation imposed by the South African Afrikaner (i.e., Dutch settler descendents) government in 1948 that ended with the release of Nelson Mandela in 1990 and with his election as President and a new constitution in 1994. Now, to share a few interesting tidbits we learned at the museum:

During Apartheid people were classified by the government into white, coloured (with subcategories such as Chinese, Indian, etc.) and native (i.e., black) racial categories which determined where they could work, how much they’d get paid and with whom they could associate. Interestingly, one could appeal to change one’s category and thousands of people did so – some even changing their categorization to their economic disadvantage to be with their families.
The Apartheid government passed the Immorality Act prohibiting inter-racial dating, sex and marriage. This act was enforced. For example, a couple of pictures in the museum highlighted a high-profile case from the ‘60s where a stellar-looking white professor and a gorgeous Indian doctor were spied on by a group of police officers sneaking a peek through their bedroom window trying to catch them in the act. The couple was charged and fled to the United Kingdom.
The level of police and secret-armed forces brutality during the Apartheid regime was mind-blowing. Even expecting horrendous photographs and stories, we were shocked by the raw reality that the museum presented. The Apartheid violence wasn’t limited to black activists but also included many white activists (including women) who were tortured and killed by the police. And the violence wasn’t just domestic - the South African Defense Force (a special ops force) launched numerous secret wars against opposition-supporting neighbor-nations such as Angola, Namibia and Mozambique.

After visiting the museum we were numb. It is truly a testament to South Africa that civil war did not ultimately engulf the country. Even though there was violence during the change of regime in the early ‘90s and even though some of the violence remains, the country is still one of the most, if not the most stable in Africa, and its people appear ready to embrace the future.

We really enjoyed our time in Africa. We now write to you from Singapore in the warm comfort of Tanya’s cousins’ home - the departure point for our next seven weeks through peninsular Southeast Asia. We will update you on our adventures in the next couple of days from somewhere in Malaysia.

We miss you all and look forward to your emails.

The Western Cape

2007-12-03T08:02:00.000-08:00

It hasn't ceased to amaze us how beautiful South Africa is.

For the past five days, putting over 1200 kilometers on the odometer and a lot of biltong (South African meat jerky) in our (read: David's) system, we have explored a small portion of South Africa's Western Cape. The two major highlights for us, striking in their beauty, were the wine town of Franschhoek and Cape Point.

Surrounded by dramatic craggy mountains, the small valley village of Franschhoek and its vineyards comprise the culinary capital of South Africa. Founded by French Huguenots, the town is a little piece of Provence. We ate well and stayed in a quaint room attached to a farm house. Our morning views included frolicking cows, horses and chickens all against the jaw-dropping backdrop that were the mountains. We'll take this moment to mention one major fact about South Africa that we have not yet addressed: the inequality between rich and poor (i.e., between white and black) is astounding. For example, in Franschhoek, while the white people drive Mercedes, drink Champagne every night, and lead lives that would make Europeans envious, the black people in the overwhelming majority don't have cars, live in massive shanty-towns resembling favelas, and often suffer from lack of electricity, education and running water. We have heard and read that the new (13 year old) black leadership is trying to address this disparity through policies such as Black Economic Empowerment (affirmative action on steroids), but many people are not feeling the benefits (hence one of the highest crime rates in the world -- one stolen car every 9 minutes!) and, in certain places, the racial tension is so thick you can cut it with a knife. We've suggested to people that perhaps the 2010 World Cup will bring the country together, but we have yet to find someone who agrees with our idealism.

The second major highlight of our trip, the drive to Cape Point, was yet another magnificent piece of nature. Not only are you rewarded by the views of waves crashing on sandstone cliffs, lighthouses and wildflowers, but you get to drive along beaches filled with African penguins who let you go within 2 inches of their beaks with your camera lens. Our new favorite street sign reads: "Please check under your vehicle for penguins." We will post this image for your delight as soon as we can.

Finally, pictures describe our experiences better than words - click here for the photo album. Also, we just found out that our email newsletter is not working so email us if you want us to add you manually (if you've previously signed up then we will add you to the list automatically).
We will write again from Johannesburg or Singapore! We miss you all.

Cape Town (I)

2007-11-28T05:18:00.000-08:00

Hello!

We’ve spent the past four days wandering Cape Town and it is just wonderful.

Cape Town is for all practical purposes a European city. The streets are well paved, the architecture is imported from the old continent, and it lies on one of the most gorgeous stretches of real estate in the world. Nestled under a number of sandstone peaks, the small city proper opens onto the waters of the Atlantic Ocean. Its location allows for breathtaking views from almost anywhere you stand. Combine this with friendly people, a multi-cultural population and a great food scene and you have some happy travelers.

We spent the first day enjoying the Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens in the south. Hugging the sandstone cliffs, this World Heritage Sight provides for dozens of hours of hiking, walking, tea-drinking and leisurely wandering through its excellent exhibits and micro-climates. The next couple of days we have spent enjoying the ocean-front, walking along the Victoria & Alfred Waterfront (a large up-scale shopping complex with jaw-dropping views and an aquarium), and riding in the double-decker tourist bus (our legs in this car-dependent culture).

Tomorrow we start our next leg of travel through the Western Cape Province. We are finally renting a car and driving into the wine regions and along the southern coast. We will have more to report upon our return. For now, here is the link to our pictures from the last couple of days (click here).

We miss you all and can’t wait to hear from you!

Zanzibar

2007-11-24T04:55:00.000-08:00

Sorry for taking so long to post about Zanzibar. Between slow and over-priced internet access and a bout with food poisoning and sunstroke, it was tough to be connected:).

We write you all from Stone Town, Zanzibar, where we arrived nearly a week ago after another nine-hour bus ride between Arusha and Dar es Salaam. From Dar es Salaam, we took a two- hour ferry to reach the island of Zanzibar, a political part of Tanzania but culturally very distinct. We began to perceive the differences between the main land and Zanzibar immediately at the port. A predominantly Muslim region, Zanzibar is much more conservative than the main land. The women around us were dressed in full hijabs or conservative headscarves (except for the tourist females, many of whom were scantily clad (e.g., the girls sitting next to us as we write, wearing see-through tanktops)), and the men dressed in ankle-length cotton shirts and skull caps. Tanya noted that the dress was more conservative than in Tehran, despite the fact that women here are not required to wear the veil. Many people at the port read books in Arabic, and many more people had traces of Arab and Indian descent.

The ferry ride was long and uneventful except for the television programming of the World Wrestling Federation which induced cheers from everyone-- including the most conservative-- in the audience.

A quick overview of the geography and history of Zanzibar. The island is located 70km off the coast of Dar es Salaam, on the Indian Ocean. The island has one major city, Stone Town (Zanzibar Town), on the West Coast, and the rest of the island is surrounded by fantastic tropical beaches. The center of the Zanzibar is abundant with spice plantations, for which the island is famed. Because of its strategic location as a trading post between the East and West, Zanzibar has been fought over for centuries. From Portugal to Oman to England to Tanganyika (the main land), everybody has wanted a piece of Zanzibar.

Our first night, we ate dinner on the seafront of Stone Town, where dozens of vendors set up their stalls selling fish kebabs, Zanzibari pizzas, and piles of fresh fruit. We sat on the grass alongside the locals and enjoyed our meal-- until we were swarmed by touts who would not leave us alone.

At sunrise, we were awoken by the calls to prayer from the neighborhood mosque, a beautiful way to wake up. A couple of hours later, we piled into a minibus to go to Paje, where we stayed for the next five days.

Paje, on the East coast of Zanzibar, is a little beach paradise complete with clear turquoise waters, fine-grain white sand, and row of palm trees and coastal pines. Paje is also a major destination for Italian and Swedish tourists, who together made up 95% of all tourists we saw. Although at first we thought everything in Paje was perfect, a couple of events opened our eyes:

Our section of Paje beach was very clean, free of the plastic bottles and bags littered elsewhere. We thought that this was thanks to the young man who swept the beach every morning. We were right... in a way. One morning, we watched the full clean-up process which entailed: sweeping up the trash, digging a large hole in the sand on the beach front, dumping all of the plastic debris into the hole, and simply covering it all up! We don't even want to know what how the rest of the island deals with garbage collection...
We decided to venture off the tourist path and walk three minutes inland from the beach to Paje village. The contrast was heart-wrenching. There, only steps away from semi-topless Swedish sunbathers sipping cocktails, were dozens of young children in rags, drinking dirty well water from old, used paint cans. We are in Africa, though it can be easy to forget in beach paradise.

Today is our last full day in Tanzania. Tomorrow, we go back to the first world. We will write again from Cape Town in the next few days and add more pictures as soon as we can. We miss you all!

Just a few pictures

2007-11-23T08:04:00.000-08:00

Happy belated Thanksgiving to those of you in the States! We are having some "technical problems" posting our pictures in their full glory, so as we resolve those issues over the next couple of days, we thought we would send you a limited set the old-fashioned way (please click on the links below). We will write more soon! Miss you all!

Johannesburg:
http://www.flickr.com/gp/21167439@N02/8266DM

Safari:
http://www.flickr.com/gp/21167439@N02/23CKTq

Zanzibar:
http://www.flickr.com/gp/21167439@N02/Z776D9

Serengeti

2007-11-20T00:17:00.000-08:00

We embarked on our first safari Tuesday morning. Together with Jana, Peter (the German couple we mentioned earlier), and our fearless, Swahili-gospel-loving driver and guide, Emanuel, we spent the next five days driving in our brand-new Landcruiser through the Serengeti and Ngorongoro parks of Northern Tanzania. It was a wonderful group.

The first leg of our trip led us through the heart of Masai territory. In their signature red and purple wool wraps, carrying long wooden sticks, the Masai are semi-nomadic cattle and goat herders whose diets consist primarily of cow blood, meat, and milk. You might recognize them by their elongated earlobes and plentiful jewelry. Most Masai spend every day of their lives wandering alongside their cows and goats as they graze. They start them young-- we saw more than a few six year olds herding goats with their sticks, alone, by the side of the freeway (and we actually mean THE freeway. Good roads in Tanzania are as scarce as black-horned rhinos).

Ngorongoro Crater, where we spent our first day, is not actually a crater but a caldera (the fourth largest in the world) resulting from a collapsed volcano. The bowl-like regions is a mini-paradise for its feathery and furry inhabitants, thanks to its rich soil and abundant grasses. We were shocked and awed by the astounding variety of animals-- too numerous to list, but they included rhinos, hippos, buffaloes, zebras, lions, flamingos, wildebeests, and a wide range of antelopes ("lion-snacks").

Serengeti National Park is the mecca of animal-watching, and the inspiration of everyone's favorite movie, The Lion King. Serengeti means "endless plains", and they really are. Over rolling glasses that stretch into the horizon and under skies that never seem to end, we had front-row seats observing the circle of life. To give you an example of the kind of spectacle we witnessed, picture this: sun is rising. You drive by an umbrella acacia tree to find, under it, a large male lion, two female lions, and three cubs taking turns ripping into a fresh zebra torso. Most of the zebra's skin is still on its body. You look 60 feet away and see a herd of zebras, watching the lions devour their cousin, angry and fearful that they might be next. On the sidelines, the vultures and jackals are waiting, eager to have their turn at scavenging the carcass.

The Serengeti is well-conserved, thanks to the efforts of the Frankfurt Zoological Society (who'd have thought?! Jana and Peter told us that this was widely-known in Germany). Despite this, and despite our visiting during low season, the human impact on animals felt unquestionably visible. We witnessed five female lions on the prowl fail because a group of no less than ten tourist vehicles blocked their access to the zebras (causing Tanya much sadness. She loves those lions!).

One final note: Tanzania has a much cuter alternative to the squirrel. The rock hyrax resembles a cross between a guinea pig and a bunny rabbit. It climbs trees and sunbathes on boulders and generally acts cute. We are looking into the possibility of importing them to the States.

As for the safari pictures we promised, most will have to wait until later. We are currently on the East coast of Zanzibar, living in a beach paradise, relegated to using the internet in the local bar. We miss you all and will write about Zanzibar this weekend.

Bado sisi hai! ( We are still alive!)

2007-11-17T06:52:00.000-08:00

We are back in Arusha after an incredible five days in the Serengeti and Ngorongoro Crater. There is much to tell, but it will have to wait until we arrive in Zanzibar in the next couple of days as the internet cafe is about to close. For now, here is one picture to whet your appetite...

From Arusha

2007-11-12T09:18:00.001-08:00

Yesterday we began our journey towards a Serengeti safari.

It all started with a nine-hour bus ride through the countryside of Northern Tanzania. From an allegedly deluxe bus stop in Dar es Salaam we rode in a bus full of Ugandans, the only white people in the entire bus. The ride was absolute sensory overload. The singing of our Ugandan neighbors (who also described Uganda as paradise on earth and we agreed we would deliver the message to our friends), the aromas of delicious yet potentially westerner-unfriendly cooked meats sold at every stop, big packages of cashews and sacks of oranges, and the intense colors of the vibrant sari-like dresses and veils.

When we finally arrived in Arusha, it was a ghost town. Sundays in Tanzania are dead. Not only could we not arrange a tour, but we couldn't find a restaurant either and were reduced to eating at an English pub (which we now think more fondly of as a consequence).

Arusha is the gateway for the Serengeti and for the Ngorogoro Crater (a former volcano with tens of thousands of animals). As such, we expected a plethora of tourists and development. We were astonished to find that this was not the case. Arusha is empty of tourists at this time of year. It seems that most westerners do not even set foot in Arusha when arranging their safaris. Paying a premium of a couple thousand dollars per person, most people arrange their tours from Europe or the US and are carefully transported around and away from this town. After wandering the dusty streets for eights hours, we understand that this is probably appropriate for most people.

The principle difficulty of Arusha are the touts. As you walk down the streets you are swarmed consistently by really friendly vendors trying to sell you their safaris. What makes them even more difficult than touts in India is that they start their conversations with good rapport. They always get to know you and where you are coming from in a not sleazy way and you have to talk to them because they are just so darn nice. Then, they swoop in for the sell and do not leave you alone for blocks and blocks. The worse we've found is someone following us for twenty minutes and then stalking us at the hotel when we left this morning!

Notwithstanding the touts, we finally found a safari with a wonderful pair of Germans (or so they seem; give us five days non-stop... hehe). We are also staying at a wonderful hostel run in the back of the only Chinese restaurant in Arusha, owned by a lovely Chinese man (never did we think that our Mandarin would be useful in Africa! ). We learned that there is a significant ex-pat population of the Chinese in Africa many of whom came for work in construction and petrol industries. The accommodations and the restaurant are great - check out the Everest Chinese Inn if you are ever in town.

Finally, one note on the people of Tanzania as we've found them so far. They have some of the most gorgeous smiles we have ever seen. We are often awarded these smiles when we make tentative attempts at Swahili as we walk down the street. To say hello we say 'Jambo' and they respond "Mambo". Say it ten times to random strangers and you can't help but smile. Swahili is our new favorite language.

We leave tomorrow and will be gone for five days on our safari. We will try to post from one of the lodges, but will likely not have a chance. Please keep checking in and let us know how you are doing!

Miss you!

From Dar Es Salaam

2007-11-10T10:05:00.001-08:00

Hello from Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

We arrived safely this morning after a fun-filled and exhausting two days in Johannesburg.

We stayed with our friend Jon in Joburg and together with Machaba, Agesan and other friends, we saw a part of the city that was quite pleasant and off the tourist path. Highlights included going to a little part of Joburg called Melville which has some nice bookshops, coffee shops and art galleries and a peculiar passion for the movie Amelie; an afternoon on a grassy knoll at a test match of cricket trying to decipher how South Africa battled New Zealand; a night in the posh Sandton suburb (think Santa Fe, Mexico City or a smaller, walled-in Beverly Hills) drinking and conviving at a worldwide whiskey festival; and finally a night with our ex-pat pal Bill enjoying pan-African cuisine in insular, upscale but enjoyable Melrose Arch (this area was built so that businesses could retreat from the Central Business District after the increase in violent crime).

One side note, and a much-needed and non-existent section of our guidebook, is the fact that having a car in Johannesburg is as necessary as it is in Los Angeles. We arrived and tried to use public transportation until we realized that overpriced taxis were our only option. If you visit, rent a car.

It is surprising how similar South Africa is to Brazil and Mexico. The similarities are eerie: the gini coefficient, the architecture, the stage of infrastructure development, the colors and the warmth of the people.

Also, it is a curious fact that Woolworth's is THE supermarket/department store of South Africa. You can drive into a gas station and buy a sandwich from Woolworth's Express. How this came to happen is a mystery we have yet to decipher.

We will write more of our impressions of South Africa later on when we spend more time here after returning from Tanzania.

And now we are in Dar es Salaam. The city and this country feels like another world. The city is not the nicest of places but our perspective is limited by the fact that we are in a semi-dilapidated, concrete jungle near the old bus station. The call for prayer lent an air of peace to the hot day and as night fell suddenly the stale city came alive.

Tomorrow we are going to Arusha where we plan on hiring a safari operator for our visit to the Ngorogoro Crater and the Serengeti.

We will post pictures as soon as we have the opportunity.

We miss you all and hope to hear from you soon

Oxford

2007-11-07T06:06:00.000-08:00

As soon as we heard that Harry Potter was filmed in a real place, our curiosity was piqued. We were also attracted to the home of Tom Yorke from Radiohead and, oh yeah, one of the intellectual capitals of the world.

We spent the day walking around Oxford with Tatiana acting as an incredible tour guide showing us a number of amazing local haunts and Colleges, from the gorgeous halls where Harry Potter was filmed (Christ Church college - one of the dozens of gorgeous Gothic Revivalist residence masterpieces) to the Oxford Natural History museum where we saw a skeleton of the Dodo bird that inspired Lewis Carroll in Alice in Wonderland, the Pitt Rivers Museum, the covered market and Blackwells bookstore. We ended our walk in the Old Parsonage Hotel with afternoon cream tea, scones and jam. The air was clean, the fall foliage was everywhere, the sky was clear -- it was wonderful.

Visiting Oxford naturally led us to make comparisons between the British and American university systems, a few of which we thought we would share. Although we had heard about Oxford before visiting, and although we thought we understood their system, it became clear to us that there were many things we did not understand. Oxford is run on the tutorial system, which essentially means that you don't take classes. Instead of following a set of courses that lead you to a major, you have tutors with whom you individualize your studies. You literally go to your tutor's office, sit on his/her couch, drink tea, have a conversation and leave the office with a pile of books that you must read for your next session. Additionally, the University isn't the main governing body - undergraduates take their tutorials, make friends and eat in Colleges (read: dorm rooms in small castles) and graduate students are ruled by departments. Needless to say, this system is much more traditional than in the US. Whereas in an American system you would see people wearing "Oxford" sweatshirts and jeans, slumping from class to class, instead we saw students in blazers and pashminas strolling from tutorial to tutorial. People wear robes and caps to special "formal" dinners which are three to five course meals served in College dining halls, exactly like in Harry Potter. These meals happen a few times a week! Once the teachers arrive in the halls, the students must get up and leave, and then, the teachers eat on an elevated platform and follow their dinners with madeira, brandy, and another three course set of desserts.

And one final mention must be made to the Pitt Rivers Museum. In dim lights, this three level museum houses the artifacts from centuries of English foraging across the world. Each display has a hundred small trinkets from charms against the evil eye, to small statuettes from India and Nepal, Egyptian sarcophagi, West African art, shrunken heads, arrows, guns, clothes, Chinese ceramics, and amulets to protect against warts and other diseases. If you visit Oxford, be sure to stop by (David's opinion). Tanya would like to note that while the collection is impressive, the display is cluttered and confusing.

We left Oxford with a little bit more knowledge of what our English friends had suffered through at college. This is the breeding ground for the elite. The experience was eye-opening.