T+C Travel Blog

Commuter

2009-09-02T07:23:00.002-04:00

The move is complete! The house, not yet, but we are settling into West Medford nicely. We hear crickets at night, and the girls at the coffee shop gossip about the local church clergy and people say “Hi” when you pass them on the street. Evidently we moved to a small town....12 minutes by train outside of Boston.

That being said I am now a commuter. I have a train pass. I wave the train pass like it is a membership at an exclusive club, albeit one with pleather seats, grime covered windows and the ever-present smell of French fries.

Commuting on public transport is showing me a whole new side of the city. You meet all kinds of people. Most are in suits, going to office jobs. There are heaps of students, it is Boston after all. Then you have the people who come to busk, panhandle or just otherwise be part of the chaos.

My favorite today is a singer at Downtown Crossing:

"Jesus is on the red line, baby. Tell him what you need."

And in fact getting on the orange line, I did not meet Jesus. Hope you guys on the red had the promised luck.

Smile big. :)

Headed Back to the USA

2008-11-25T19:41:00.002-05:00

Today we get on a flight to New York, the last stop on our trip. Asia has been fantastic. 6 weeks was not nearly enough time to even scratch the surface. We learned a great deal, relaxed, and met some great people along the way. We have seen places that we would love to return to and some that have been checked off the list. Maybe we will come back some day?

We have several blog posts that have not made it online. Look for a few back dated posts over the next few days.

Thanksgiving dinner never sounded so good. The food of China, Thailand, and Vietnam has been delicious, but now we are ready for some good old American home cookin. Bring on the Turkey, stuffing, and gravy!!

Same Same. But Different.

2008-11-24T07:31:00.006-05:00

There is a saying in this part of the world “same same”... or more often “same same, but different” For example: Is that a real Versace handbag for $6? “same same”. What is the best way to the airport? “my taxi, same same”.

Chris bought a new shirt one day when we were low on clean clothing. The woman selling it tried to justify her price by telling us it was a Lacoste shirt. We laughed. Everyone knows that it isn't really Lacoste. “Same same”, she says. We settled on $3. The logo on my shirt is on the left. The real logo (from the Lacoste) website is in the right. As you can see, same same, but different.

In a land of knock offs and copy cats, the saying fits. Is that sausage really made of beef? “same same”. I'll pass.

To the tailors!

2008-11-21T07:10:00.000-05:00

Hoi An is the best place in Asia to get custom made colthing. There are 100's of tailors who will take your measurements and produce suits, dresses, coats, and just about anything else in about 24 hours. It was a lot of fun, and a great activity considering the rainy weather.

We only planned to get a few things made, but the prices are very reasonable and it is nice to have clothing that fits so perfectly. Now we have a extra duffe bag full of clothing to bring home with us!

The rain continued the entire time we were in Hoi An. The Vietnamese don't seem to be at all disturbed by the rain. It is just part of life. Even as the river rose and broke its banks, they took it all in stride. The boat ladies can now tke you anywhere in town, just about river to door. We had to wade to the tailors and dinner on the last 2 days. Hopefully we will get some sun as we head farther north.

Nha Trang (not to be)

2008-11-17T05:44:00.000-05:00

Remember the scene in Forest Gump where Tom Hanks is talking about his time in Vietnam? I think he says something like “and then it started to rain, and in continued to rain for 3 months”. We had a similar experience. It is the rainy season in south and central Vietnam. After a few days of nice weather, the skies opened and it began to pour. It has never really stopped.

We made an attempt to fly from Ho Chi Minh City to Nha Trang, but were denied by the weather. The pilot started to approach for landing in Nha Trang, dropped the landing gear and then out of nowhere pulled up on that plane so hard I thought we were in a lot of trouble. He explained that the weather had deteriorated. We circled for 15 minutes and then gave it another try with the same result We flew back to Ho Chi Minh where we were able to and then hopped a flight to Danang where they weather was a bit better.

Good Morning Vietnam!

2008-11-17T00:01:00.000-05:00

We made it to Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam's largest city. We were warned about the chaotic streets, but this is something that is difficult to fully appreciate without visiting. There are more mopeds and motorbikes here than you could possible imagine. As far as we can tell, there are no traffic rules. There are certainly no crosswalks. Hundreds of motorbikes move slowly as one mass. It is a bit like river. Faster vehicles slide past slower ones – on what ever side or surface is easiest. Smaller vehicles tend to yield to larger ones – regardless of what side of the road or direction they are going in. Pedestrians find places to flow through as they cross. walks. We found it best to just hop into to traffic and move with it as you also move across the street. We have no photos of this (too much other stuff to worry about) so you'll just have to trust us.

We came to Ho Chi Minh City for the war history. We went to to the war museum and the Chu Chi Tunnels which were both fascinating and horrifying. Learning about such a controversial, historical war gave us pause when thinking about the world situation today.

Pum Restaurant, Patong Beach

2008-11-16T08:04:00.016-05:00

Our last day in Thailand, what better to do than a cooking class? We met the group at Pum Cooking School and Restaurant on Ko Phi Phi. We learned a handful of dishes on Ko Phi Phi, but wanted to dive deeper into Thai cooking and go to the market. For this we came to Phuket. We never saw the beach in Phuket, just the inside of our hotel, the restaurant and the market. We learned to make 8 different dishes and 3 different curry pastes.

Dancing Fish in Green Lipstick Sauce, Penang Curry, Chicken and Cashew Nuts

Pad Thai, Fish Cakes in Kale Cups, Fresh Shrimp Spring Rolls

Mango sticky Rice

Coconut Dream...heaven in a bowl!

Green Curry and Red Curry sauces (or lipsticks as Pum calls them)

We learned how to identify and use all oft he Thai spices. We ate everything we made, so by the end of the day we were stuffed. There is no better food! We promised to share our knowledge and pass it on, who's up for Thai night?!

Kathrong Festival, Ko Phi Phi, Thailand

2008-11-16T07:02:00.011-05:00

We celebrated the full moon on our last night on Ko Phi Phi. The annual Loy Krathong festival is a time of renewal, forgiveness and hope.

One part of the festival is the act of setting afloat “kathrongs” to honor Buddha. A kathrong is a small float. The base of ours was a slice of banana treee wrapped in banana leaves and decorated with mums, and orchids.Our kathrong was a gift from the Phi Phi Hotel. All the kathrongs were hand made and each one was a little different.

The Hotel, like many businesses on the island, made a larger more elaborate float. It was nearly 5 feet tall. The staff spent the entire day working on it. In addition to an incredible amount of flowers, there were carved melons and papayas in the shape of birds, fish, and flowers.

Everyone gathered on the beach after nightfall and started the ritual of placing all of the kathrongs in the water.

It goes something like this: You place coins on the kathrong to insure future wealth. You also put pieces of finger nail and strands of hair in the kathrong to send away mistakes of the past year. Then you pray for the coming year, light a candle & incense, and place the kathrong out into the water. We watched as ours slowly floated away from shore with 100's of others.

It was a happy and deeply peaceful ceremony that we appreciated more than expected. We feared it would just be a group of tourists marching down the the water, but the entire island seemed to be participating. Couples were clutching their kathrongs like they were an actual representation of their future success. Families posed for pictures along the shore. Shop keepers were sprawled out on the floor assembling their own kathrongs. I am glad we were part of it.

Another part of the evening's festivities was the launching of paper lanterns or khom fai. Made of paper that never caught fire, they operated like an unmanned hot air balloon. There was a fuel source that was lit, it heated the air, hot air caused the balloon to rise. They looked delicate but somehow managed fly out of site in about 20 minutes. The lanterns were absolutely beautiful and were another way the locals set cast away their troubles.

The local kids couldn't get enough of the fire balloons and ran group to group immediately assuming control of the lighting process. They were much better at getting the fuel lit than the rest of us. Also, they let off such a yell of joy when the balloons took off they made it all the more fun!

The celebration went late into the night. We have no idea when the locals knocked off to bed. We closed the town the night before with the group from Island Divers so by 12:30 we were heading in to sleep it off.

Relaxing on Ko Phi Phi

2008-11-12T05:32:00.009-05:00

We have been on Ko Phi Phi in Thailand for about 5 days now. The diving course is over. We passed!

Angus taught us everything we know about Scuba and local Phi Phi nightlife.

We are loving beach life and Bangkok is a distant memory, which not such a bad thing. Bangkok is huge, steamy, hot city stuffed with knock-off shopping, red light districts and incredibly pushy tuk-tuk drivers. Our time was spent at the markets, reclining Buddha temple and taking boats up and down the river.

The Thais are devout Buddhists. Every shop in Bangkok had a shrine placed in the main room. Each morning we watched the tailor across the lane from our hotel light incense to place in his shrine. The staff at the hotel would bow to the shrine on their way in and way out of work everyday. Here on Ko Phi Phi there is a town shrine and every morning there is a fresh offering of rice, tea, juice and chicken.

Tonight the entire town is heading to the beach for Loy Krathong, a ceremony to honor the original Buddha. Everyone has been given lanterns to light and send into the sea. We've been told that if our raft floats our marriage will be successful. I have checked it's seaworthiness, and I think we are good to go!

More Wedding Pictures!

2008-11-11T09:17:00.008-05:00

Our photographer, Ashley Smith, has posted all of her photos. We wanted to share them with all of you. Enjoy! We are loving Thailand. We just finished our open water Scuba certification today. Look out fish, here we come!

Ko Phi Phi

2008-11-09T10:00:00.003-05:00

5 days without a post.... Now you know that only means one thing. We are just having too much fun. We are on Ko Phi Phi, a smallish island in the south of Thailand. It is magical. The center of island is a tiny village with a beautiful bay to each side. This is a picture from the highest point on the island. You can almost see our hotel, Phi Phi Island Cabana, in the distance. (Light green roof, the second to farthest structure). We decided to do a scuba diving certification course with Island Divers. Today we did our classroom sessions and our skills test. It all went very well and we are excited for our first 2 open water dives tomorrow. The diving is supposed to be phenomenal here on Phi Phi Island. We have no idea what we will see, but you will hear all about it!

Detour

2008-11-04T14:14:00.004-05:00

We have changed our itinerary due to the severe flooding in northern Vietnam. The travel agent who sold us our train tickets says that the Hanoi train station is open... But the local Hanoi hotels we spoke to said it was closed. Either way, it sounds like a bad situation, so we have booked flights directly to Bangkok, Thailand. Hopefully the rain lets up soon.

It is only 7pm here. The polls have not yet opened on the east coast. We are going to find an ex-pat bar/cafe when we land in Bangkok to see some of the election coverage.

Exploring the Yangshou Countryside

2008-11-03T14:08:00.016-05:00

The rain continued today, but we decided to head out anyway. After spending yesterday cooped up inside, we figured we should just get out there and get wet. We rented mountain bikes and bought a map of the area.

Our first stop was a tourist spot, Moon Hill. They call it Moon hill for the rock formation at the top. It creates a moon-shaped crecent when viewed from a distance. We climbed up the tiny mountain for a better view. The journey took us 500+ steep, winding steps. To our surprise, we were followed up by a pair of Chinese women. They were carrying coolers of water and juice drinks. The Chinese are nothing if not enterprising. After repeatedly trying to discourage their commitment to quenching our thirst, we finally lost them at a split in the trail. We took the path named Vanity. They stuck with Moon Palace where most of the other hikers went. At the top we could see over farm plots and a handful of tiny villages. Back on the bikes, our map was just detailed enough to get us really lost. It had a handful of roads and bike paths on it. After several wrong turns we eliminated all other options and finally ended up on our intended bike path. We rode through stunning Karst landscapes. We biked past oxen, fields of fruit trees, rice paddies, and family homes nestled along the river. Most people in the villages were very excited to see us. We got a lot of mileage out of “Ni-how!”, Hello! in Chinese. The farther we got from the main roads, the bigger the smiles.
The villages had a completely different feel to that of the city. The living conditions were basic. There was a water pump in front of most residences. Homes were compact. Most appeared to have electric. Laundry hung in the windows. One woman was putting her oxen away for the night in a tiny barn filled with hay. Life seemed simple and full of hard work. Over the last few days we have seen villagers bringing food to the resturants in town. We were facinating to see all the local produce show up throughout the day. Now we know where it all comes from.

Happy Birthday Tina!!!

2008-11-02T02:49:00.009-05:00

It's my birthday in China!! We will celebrate in style tonight over the local specialty: beer fish. This morning Chris bought me a flower headdress made by the local women. He also got me beautiful wooden box with a picture of the phoenix and the dragon painted on the top.

The story of the dragon and the phoenix is my favorite piece of Chinese folklore we have learned. The box is lovely and I was told he got an excellent deal. We might get the hang of this bargaining thing.

Today it is pouring rain. Our plan is in limbo at the moment... Vietnam is currently experiencing thee worst rains it has seen in 20 years. Hanoi is under water. It sounds bad. If the situation does not change we might have to go straight to Thailand. We will see what tomorrow brings. Pray for sun.

Yangshou, China (9020 miles)

2008-11-01T21:14:00.004-04:00

The draw to Yangshou in the south China is the karst mountains.

Yangshou is surrounded by these tiny mountains. It is beautiful. The weather is working against us a bit. It is drizzling, but we were able to get out and about on a tandem bike.

Yangshou is a small shopping town and is easy to master. We have met and are now being harassed by several local merchants. You can buy just about anything here. A man followed us with a turtle for several minutes today because we mistakenly admired it. What he thought we would do with a turtle I have no idea!

Yangshou puts on a spectacular light show. The cast is made up of 600 people, mostly local fisherman. The production was directed by Zhang Yimou. He directed the Olympic opening ceremonies as well as several movies. The production was breathtaking if for just its size. We're guessing the cast is larger than the audience. The landscape is so beautiful and the production so dramatic it is easy to forget you are really in this beautiful place.

Train to Guilin, South China (train journey 1,327 miles; total: 8980 miles)

2008-10-30T18:22:00.009-04:00

China's transportation solution for it's 1.3 Billion people: Trains. It is said that at any given time, China's train system is carrying 10 million people. Fortunately, they weren't all on our train. In fact, we had exactly 4 people in our cabin.
China has 4 types of service on it's trains: hard seat, soft seat, hard sleeper, and soft sleeper. Most Chinese locals buy the cheap seats. We opted for the highest level (soft sleeper) for our 28 hour journey from Beijing to Guilin. Two Chinese men shared the 4 bunks in our private room in carriage number 9. The accommodations in the soft sleeper class are simple and comfortable. The rooms are about 8'x6' and air conditioned. The beds are upholstered in crushed blue velvet. It is just as soft (and stylish) as it looks.
The rocking of the train made it surprisingly easy to sleep. Our rest was only occasionally interrupted by violent rattles and shakes as the train changed speed – taking up slack space between the carriages, perhaps something to do with the age or style of these trains.

Outside the window, we saw a huge variety of Chinese farms, towns, and factories. We crossed the Yangtze river. Flew by rice paddies, geese and there herder (who knew?) and some oxen. The windows were dirty, so we didn't get any good pictures from the train.

The dining car had limited options. We dove into the packaged food we brought from the states for the first time. Mmmmm Quaker Instant Oatmeal never tasted so good. =) For lunch we had noodle thing with rice. Noodle thing consisted of brown spongy food, a duck egg (it had a green shell), steamed veggies, and unidentifiable fatty meat scraps. It was delicious. Our chopstick skills are really coming along and we impressed our Chinese cabin mates....until we dropped and sticky pile of rice in our Lonley Planet book. Now the Hunan Province is all stuck together.

We enjoy seeing the country fly by outside our train window. Also, on a budget conscious trip the train is a great option. This trip cost about 1/4 of what we would have spent flying (and we were in 1st class on the train!!). It cost us even less if you consider we didn't have to pay for a hotel room the night we slept on the train. Booking the China train tickets was tricky. There is very little English in the train station. We have a list of our destination cities written out in Chinese. There is a lot of grunting and pointing to get our point across. Also, The Man in Seat Sixty-One (expert on train travel) made our planning much easier.

From Guilin, we head to Yangshou. There is a beautiful river there where we will take a tour by bamboo raft and go mountain biking. It should make for a good weekend. Then we get back on a train southbound to Vietnam. That trip should only be about 10 hours. A walk in the park after this journey.

Wedding Pictures!!

2008-10-29T00:45:00.008-04:00

Wedding update: Our photographer, Ashley Smith, has posted some of the wedding photos on her blog. They are great! Thanks for the photos, Ashley. Also, thanks to everyone for sharing the day with us! We will be posting more pictures soon! Stay tuned.

Hutong Tour

2008-10-28T22:34:00.004-04:00

Today we biked in Beijing. At first the traffic looked a bit insane, but once you get on the bike it all began to make sense. Lesson one, there are no rules. You can pull out to pass anytime -- even into oncoming traffic. Cars/bikes/people just move out of the way. You can ride/drive up the wrong side of the street. You can ride/drive on the sidewalk. Bikes and mopeds can also use the crosswalks. Once you get to the intersections everything moves very slow. This is the only way this chaos doesn't end in squished bikers, pedestrians and dented cars. It takes a bit of getting used to.

We rode with a guide through the old alleys, or hutongs, of Beijing. You could spend hours wandering around this area. At one time, each hutong was its own community. Many were purpose built -- manufacturing specific goods or housing workers, like the emperors secret service. Today, many of the hutongs are being replaced by modern buildings. The ones that remain today are residential and business districts. There are a few that still look like traditional living quarters. The houses are small. Seemingly, most are still without plumbing. Bathrooms are communal and centrally located. The streets are narrow and winding. This is what we expected Beijing to look like.

Beijing Pearl and Silk Markets (7,653 miles)

2008-10-27T01:24:00.004-04:00

Today we hit the Silk and Pearl markets with Aji and Katie. The pearl market is just what it says it is, floors and floors of pearls. The silk market is a touch misleading. It is shop after shop of knock-offs: purses, shoes, jackets, jeans. You name it and its in there, or at least a cheap imitation. I hear Dolge Gabbana is all the rage this year! Both places are an experience of culture shock. Vendors call out as you walk by, some grab at your wrist and pull you into their nook if they manage to keep hold long enough. Pick something up and it is almost impossible to put it down again. People will continue to put it back in your hand. They would hold onto your arm and drag you from item to item until they found something you liked. The only thing that seemed to stop them was the statement: “You don't have what I want.” Anything thing less than that would encourage the aggressive sales pitch. Make the mistake of trying something on and then not buying and you really feel the lash of their tongue. Those ladies looked sweet, but could rip you apart in seconds. To make matters worse, everything was priced at 50-90% more than you needed to pay. Haggling was required. You had to start with an opening bid at 10% their asking price. We ended up paying about 20% of “retail” on most items. It was tiring.... But we found some bargins and brought home some hard fought souvenirs.

Crazy Engrish Signs....just as fantastic as promised:

2008-10-26T01:23:00.004-04:00

(click on the images for a larger view)

The Great Wall (7,583 miles)

2008-10-26T01:21:00.007-04:00

Today we walked the wall, ate a state supervised lunch, and toured the Summer Palace. The Great Wall is breathtaking. It winds effortlessly up and down the mountainside. Leslie, our guide, pointed us in the direction of a short hike and we were off. The steps are unpredictable. The idea that anyone would run a marathon on this thing is shocking. We sang the Rocky theme and ran about 100 feet before we stopped...for photos of course. Again, we were the only westerners and we were popular. Aji and I were ok, but the Chinese, they looooooove Chris. Maybe it is his blond hair, rugged good looks, or they think he is Russell Crowe. Whatever it is we spent a great deal of time posing for photos and shaking hands with all our new Chinese friends. If this is fame, sign us up. We got to hear some pretty cool drumming. Aji is hoping to be their next protege.

Later in the day, we went to the Summer Palace. It was a huge lake surrounded by temples and ornate buildings. Along one side of the lake is a very long walkway. It was an incredibly peaceful place. Within the arch of the walkway there were over 7000 individual paintings. Some of them told famous stories like this one: The Story of the Straw Warriors: There was a small army on a boat approaching its enemy. Low on ammunitions they felt out gunned by their enemy. On the boat, the leader ordered his army to make many straw men. The army set the straw men on the deck of the ship and then moved into attack position that night. Onland soldiers saw a boat filled with soliders approaching. They quickly moved into attack mode and began showering the ship with arrows. By morning the ship escaped taking all of its enemies arrrows with them. The were able to collect the arrows from the straw dummies and use them to stage an attack the next night.

Beijing, China (7,462 miles)

2008-10-24T23:45:00.006-04:00

Chinese customs was a breeze. All that work at the Chinese Embassy in London paid off. We hopped a cab to the Hilton to drop our stuff. It was early, so we decided to head to Tiananmen Square. The subway system in Beijing is very easy to use. Although it early on a Saturday, the subway was already crowded. At Tiananmen Square we discover why -- every Chinese national is there. Apparently this is a big travel season.
They are were in groups and identified by their matching hats. (usually baseball hats -- but some got more creative. We especially liked this group with their stylish plaid.) Each group is led by a flag waving tour guide. They were proudly grouping for photos. The atmosphere was party like. We were taking it all in when we are approached by a Chinese gentleman giving the international sign for “Please take my picture in front of this historic landmark” We move to let him pose for his shot and he gets all flustered waving us back into the photo. Confused we step closer to him and he organizes us around him and his friend snapped the shot. Suddenly, we are part of their tour. We didn't think to get our picture with him.

China Air... not as bad as it sounds.

2008-10-24T12:39:00.004-04:00

It was simple. We ate chicken and rice for both meals. No fancy personal entertainment systems. -- There was one large screen with a kung fu movie playing for what seemed like the entire 12 hour flight. The seats were slightly bigger than a coach seat on a BA or Virgin flight. We were able to sleep a lot overnight when they turned the lights out. We flew over the international dateline. We left LA Friday at 1:40 am We arrived 12 hours later in Beijing on Saturday at 5:30 am. That will take some adjustment.

Encinitas, CA (1,001 miles)

2008-10-23T20:17:00.006-04:00

We met up with our good friend, Bill Ivers, in at D Street Grill and Pub. Ate some fantastic food and had wonderful conversation. It was great hanging out with a friend while we are on the road. We understand why Bill picked Encinitas to live. The town is beautiful and we have not met a nicer group of people in a long time.

One last shot at all of our paperwork, our final travel shots and we headed to LAX for our 1:40am flight. Everyone in the world seems to know what we just learned. LAX is a junk airport. Avoid it if given the chance. The guard at the security check said he felt sorry for people that flew out of LAX.

We agree with him.

U.S leg over (1,182 miles)

California is a bit of a blur.

2008-10-22T21:39:00.000-04:00

It is a sprint to the finish of the U.S. leg. We have a first aid kit to build, mosquito net to buy and assorted other knick knacks to find. It will be a rush to the airport Friday morning.