Traveling Solo

Final Update

noreply@blogger.com (Kimberly) — Tue, 11 Sep 2012 23:30:00 -0700

Greetings from Seattle! I've spent the last two days poring over my travel notebooks so that I can finally answer the big questions that everyone likes to ask. For instance, people always ask if I have a favorite place but in truth, I can't pinpoint any place that deserves the title of "my favorite place in the whole world." Can you? I think about the places that took my breathe away... the places where I felt happy and just incredibly lucky to be alive:

- Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia

- Zanzibar, Tanzania

- Whitsunday Islands, Australia

- Sipadan, Malaysia

- With Family (Indonesia, Netherlands)

I've really come to value places less for how objectively beautiful they are and more for the feelings they evoke.... At least for the first four I listed, go there! They are worth it!

Of course not all moments were good.... I had my fair share of complaints, most of which I shared with you all. In no particular order, these are the top five worst things to happen to me:

- Losing consciousness near Bowen, Australia*

- Bed bugs from a hostel in Chile

- Getting grabbed in Zimbabwe

- Being lost in Salvador (Brazil) during Carnaval

- Eating sushi in Nairobi (and the 13 subsequent trips to the bathroom that night)

*I didn't actually tell my mom about this one.... I was on an overnight bus from Cairns to Bowen and when I got up to use the bathroom, I fainted. I think it was because of dehydration, but I suddenly felt nauseous and then just collapsed on top of the person sitting next to me. I woke up to concerned voices and later, as I was recovering in the bathroom, I could hear the guy talking about me saying, "Yeah, she was heavy too!"

Am I a better person for having traveled the world? Definitely. For one thing, my sister says I'm very self-entertaining now. However, I admit that I am more picky and opinionated than I ever was. I think I made a lot of concessions while traveling and I'm not in the mood to do that anymore. I don't want to eat food I don't like and I don't want to be around people I don't care about! That said, I love being home and I don't have any immediate desires to leave. For the first time in years, I don't have my next trip abroad planned - it's a bit unsettling!

Should you travel the world for 18 months? Maybe. Particularly when you are on a budget and alone, traveling the world is a lot of work. Everything has to be planned and organized and it's not so much a vacation as a different type of job. Your job is keeping yourself safe, fed, and entertained and it's exhausting in its own way. I loved having the freedom to explore places for as long as I liked, but I was sad that I got so jaded and essentially stopped caring about new places. I feel incredibly lucky though to have had this experience, to have had the chance to "live the dream." I would never discourage anyone from having an adventure like mine and if you're thinking about doing it, I say go for it!

So how much did it all cost? I had been telling people that I spent roughly $25,000-$30,000 but I was a bit off. I calculated that the number is actually closer to $40,000. (I came up with $38,826.25 but this does not include the incredible generosity of family and friends with, for example, trips throughout Indonesia, trips to Singapore, a cruise vacation, delicious meals, comfortable beds to sleep in, and good company.) Thank you so much to everyone who donated to the cause, met me on my travels, shared a beer with me, and made this an incredible 18 months abroad! I also got a lot of my flights free with United miles and didn't really have to pay for my flights from LAX-Buenos Aires, Dubai-LAX, LAX-Singapore, Singapore-Japan, Japan-Korea, and Amsterdam-LAX. Thanks, United!

The Breakdown:

Food: 13.96%

Alcohol: 1.80%

Transportation: 24%

Accommodation: 9.41%

Gifts (for myself and others): 2.45%

Postcards/Stamps: 0.76%

Miscellaneous (Supplies, Necessities): 6.75%

Tours/Activities (including Antarctica and Africa): 36.57%

Visa/Entry-Exit Fees: 2.73%

SIM Cards/Phone Cards/Internet: 0.59%

I'm a bit stunned by how much I ended up spending, but I wouldn't change a thing! I could have put the money towards a down payment on a house or bought myself a brand new Audi A5 or something but there aren't any cities I'd like to put roots down in yet and I love my 1994 Honda Accord. I essentially spent the equivalent of an entire Berkeley undergraduate education but probably learned just as much, if not more, while traveling than I did at Cal :)

A few random statistics in case anyone is interested:

Takeoffs/Landings (Flights): 63

Books Read: 40+

Scuba Dives: 35

Drinks (Beer/Wine/Cocktails) Consumed: 530+

New Friends: 90+

Hostel Stays: 80+

Anything else you'd like to know? Ask!

What now? I have been actively job hunting. I've had many rejections, several interviews, and an offer or two, but I'm waiting for the right job to come around. Time is ticking, however, with my current net worth in the three figures range :) Life is definitely good though, with Theo and I almost fully settled into our apartment in Seattle.

I've really loved blogging and being in touch with people I wouldn't ordinarily hear from, so even though I wont be sending updates anymore, I hope you all keep in touch. Thank you so much for reading and for following me on my journey around the world!

America the Beautiful

noreply@blogger.com (Kimberly) — Fri, 17 Aug 2012 01:12:00 -0700

Celebrating the 4th of July in 'style': Barry Manilow @ the Hollywood Bowl :)

People have been telling me to write about my adventures in America thus far and although they might not be as exciting as my adventures abroad, they have been wonderful! I love America! I love the massive portions at every meal and constant flow of free refills. I love feeling safe when I walk around by myself at night. I love that there’s everything to see, eat, and explore with a fresh, new perspective. Above all, I love being

home.

Family!

A lot of eating out! Grazianos, Oceanstar, Whole Enchilada, El Tepeyac

Diamond Bar: For the first few weeks home, Theo was studying for his boards and I was mostly relaxing and enjoying life. I made pastry and muffins for the first time and to my delight, they both turned out great! The pastry took me six hours and was extremely stressful, but I suppose it was worth it in the end.

Pasteis de Nata, Blueberry Muffins

I started work on my photo albums and otherwise spent my time catching up on television shows and eating an endless supply of food from Mom. Having traveled the world, I still say Mom’s Dungeness crab is one of the best things I’ve ever eaten:

I had her crab twice while home in addition to her amazing pea soup, porridge, and shrimp. Thanks, Mom! I also got to see my best friend from grade school get married and it is official: I have reached the age where, every weekend, I’m almost guaranteed to discover that someone is newly engaged or married.

After boards, Theo and I took a weeklong road trip through Arizona, Utah, and Nevada and I loved every minute of it! The only drawback was rather extreme weather when, for example, we stopped for gas just outside of Phoenix and the heat was unbearable. It was so hot standing outside that the wind made it worse: It felt like standing in front of an oven with hot air blowing in your face. We also had massive downpours of rain, thunder and lightning, and hail! But, America is beautiful.

Sedona

One of our first stops was in Sedona and the red rocks there are stunning! You see nothing for miles and miles and then stumble upon these beautiful rock formations that take your breath away. Unfortunately, we were rushing through Sedona in order to get to the Grand Canyon by sunset. We made it, but just barely:

Sunset was set for 7:48pm and we got to the shuttle stop at 7:30pm. A sign indicated that the last shuttle out is at 7:25pm! Luckily, a couple had been caught in a similarly unfortunate situation and had already sweet-talked someone in operations to have one last shuttle run so that we could catch sunset. I have to say that sunset was just okay and not quite spectacular enough to make us want to get up at 4am the next morning to catch sunrise. (We were also staying an hour away in Williams because everything affordable near the canyon had been booked way in advance.) We visited the Grand Canyon again the next day though and what they say in the literature is exactly right: It may not be the biggest, widest, or deepest canyon, but it sure is grand. It’s massive and beautiful and the colors are incredible. Most people enter through the southern entrance and I’d advise people to not miss the eastern entrance and in particular, the Desert Rim View; it was probably our favorite view of the Grand Canyon!

Antelope Canyon

Things just kept getting better and better, more beautiful at each turn. The next day, we did a tour of Antelope Canyon, a slot canyon situated on native land. We had to go by guided tour but I’m glad we did because our tour guide helped us adjust our camera settings to get amazing shots of the canyon. So incredibly beautiful!

If you pay a little extra, you can do a tour in the daytime when light shafts beam through the canyon. We did it, it’s worth it! Later that day we also saw Horseshoe Bend and though we weren’t expecting any hiking, it was worth the trek, and in the heat!

Theo had just read a lot about deaths in the Grand Canyon.... He was mad at me for jumping :)

We took the scenic route from Arizona into Utah passing the Glen Canyon Dam, Lake Powell, Vermillion Cliffs, the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, Mammoth Cave, Coral Pink Sand Dunes, Cedar Breaks National Monument, and some of the best BBQ I’ve ever had en route to Bryce Canyon National Park. If anyone is passing through Panguitch, Utah, stop at the Cowboy’s Smokehouse for fall-off-the-bone ribs!

And for anyone who hasn’t been to Bryce Canyon, go there! The canyon is decorated with hoodoos (thin rock spires) that make for really stunning scenery:

The last of our sightseeing was a trip to Zion National Park to admire the massive rock formations towering over our car. By that point, we had seen and appreciated so many beautiful place that we were ready to be on our way and spend the weekend “recuperating” in Vegas :)

Zion National Park

I had missed Vegas! I’d never been to Vegas with a significant other and it might have been one of my best trips there. Theo’s friend got us into Pure nightclub Friday night and a crazy pool party at Wet Republic the next day. We were pampered and made sure to spend a lot of time relaxing by the pool and eating buffets during the weekend.

Pure Nightclub @ Caesar's Palace

Wet Republic @ MGM Grand

Saturday night, we decided to take it easy and spent a few hours at Circus Circus. I hadn’t been since I was a child but it’s still as fun as ever! They have the same carnival games that they do at the fair, but at a fraction of the price. Theo won me a giant bear too! We didn’t gamble too much and I ended up a winner for the first time ever – up $2! We had casino credit at the Westin and lucky us because the dealers and casino staff were unfriendly. Had they been nice, we would have wanted to stay and gamble more, but they were mean so we took our winnings and left :)

Me and Bubba

After a last week seeing friends and packing in Southern California, we spent some time in the Bay Area. In truth, visiting made me really miss my old life. It was amazing to catch up with everyone though and I certainly ate very well :)

An amazing steak and BBQ at the Sotteros.... Some of the best steak I've ever had!

The week flew by and then Theo and I set out for our 13 hour drive from the Bay Area to Seattle. It’s hard to move to a city where I don’t have a job, friends, or an apartment, but I’m making progress on all three fronts. Life is good :)

Seafair

Up Next: Recap, Lessons Learned, New Beginnings, and Endings

Holland Here I Come!

noreply@blogger.com (Kimberly) — Mon, 6 Aug 2012 15:50:00 -0700

Scenes from Holland

Pictures galore! (To make up for my long absence! Things have been ridiculously busy these last two weeks and I feel like I haven’t had a moment to myself – let alone to blog….) Here goes Holland!

The Camphuynder Line

Then and Now: Tante Noes used to take care of me when I was a kid :)

From start to finish, I was with my amazing family. Yes, I have family in Holland! I moved all around the country visiting as many people as I could and I feel so lucky to have done so. The only other time I was in Holland was in the summer of 1999 when we visited the country after a whirlwind tour of Western Europe. Even after watching home videos of that visit, I honestly don’t remember all that much. This last visit though is very vivid in my mind and I can’t wait to go back. I was finally getting to know this far-away family as an adult and it was wonderful discovering so many people I love being around.

The Lorenz and Zinauer Line (Parents above, their kids [and their kids] below)

Baby Zara

I ended up in a lot of random cities to visit family (Hoevelaken, Heusen, Zevenaar, Alblasserdam, Papendrecht, Windsum, etc…) but I managed to get in some touristing as well. Zutphen, for instance, is a very old, charming town with a lot of historic architecture:

They do an amazing farmer’s market each week that has an incredibly cheap selection of fruits and cheese. Yum! Scheveningen is a really popular beach on the west coast that strikes me as the Santa Monica Pier of Holland. A lot of restaurants line the beach and there’s even fun and games at the end of the pier – a casino though instead of roller coasters. It wasn’t the best beach weather (cold and drizzly) but it was fun watching a toddler throw sand and cuddle up to a sculpture or two at a really cool boardwalk exhibit.

Scheveningen

Kinderdijk

I made it, of course, to the famous windmills in Kinderdijk (kin-der-dayk). In the end, they are just windmills, but they are highly photogenic and I ended up with hundreds of pictures of them. I went to see them at sunset (close to 10pm!) and again in the daytime sun. So much fun! My niece lives pretty much next door to the windmills and I got to see the non-touristy part where it’s only locals wandering around :)

Baby Haiko!

Boomer made me miss Rocky...

And then there’s Amsterdam – famous for its museums and canals (and highly liberal attitudes towards prostitution and marijuana). I only had a half day to spend in the city and I enjoyed it very much. I didn’t visit any of the coffee shops or tea shops because I had no real interest and because I was with some older family; I also heard that only Dutch citizens are legally allowed to partake in “the green” these days. On the way to Chinatown, I passed through several alleys in the Red Light District. Even though I’d seen women in windows as a kid, it was quite unsettling to see it as an adult. There is a woman to fulfill every fantasy from the busty and curvaceous to the hairy and not and there are also women of every color who look like they are in junior high. You see women flirting and enticing customers into their rooms and complacent looking men leaving. It’s interesting to say the least…

Amsterdam!

I wandered some of the highlights of Amsterdam like high-end Kalverstraat and Nieuwmarkt, but my favorite thing to see was the Van Gogh Museum. I think it’s the best art museum I’ve visited on my travels! It was exciting to see in person artwork I’ve studied since I was a kid. The museum is in a nice area of the city too! From an architecture standpoint, most of Holland looks the same so no one city was particularly striking for me. I don’t really come here for the touristing though, more to spend time with family :)

The Wiesbrock Line

From top left: Berenklauw, Erwtensoep, Stroopwafel, and Indonesian Food

In terms of food, I had lots! I had a checklist of foods to try as always and a lot of it was good. Snacking is a big part of the culture with things like kaassouffle (fried cheese), kroket/bitterbal (fried ragout), and stroopwafel (caramel-filled waffle). They have these vending machines where one or two Euro will get you a nice warm snack. People also really like raw herring that I didn’t bother with because I’ve had it before and it’s gross! There are lots of Indonesian and Chinese food influences on cuisine and it’s made the Chinese food really delicious. One teppan-style Chinese buffet in particular in Ede was phenomenal. Mostly I had a lot of home cooking – an amazing stoofvlees (stewed beef), erwtensoup (pea soup), asperges flamandes (seasonal asparagus cooked served with a buttery sauce, eggs, and ham), and chicken satay with nasi goreng (fried rice). The one thing I remember most from visiting in 1999 was the kibbeling (fried fish) and it was just as amazing as I remembered it being! They fry it without heavy batter and its perfectly crispy and pretty much the best fried fish ever!

From top left: Kibbeling, Stoofvlees, Asperges Flamandes, and Satay/Nasi Goreng

I had an amazing week and a half in Holland :) Unfortunately, I had to say a lot of goodbyes and not knowing when I’d see most of the family again made me really sad. I am hoping though that many of them will come back to the US to visit so that I can be as good to them as they were to me! I got dropped off early at Schiphol International Airport (thanks Myra and Henri!) and then I was on my way home!

My lovely nieces!

Up Next: America the Beautiful :)

This was my Rocky... When we went off to Europe last time, someone left the gate open. Rocky was either stolen or eaten by a coyote :(

Blasé about Brussels

noreply@blogger.com (Kimberly) — Tue, 17 Jul 2012 01:57:00 -0700

I hate to not be super upbeat in one of my last blog posts, but I wasn’t the biggest fan of Belgium. It’s fine…. I have no serious complaints, but I think all things “Belgian” from a food standpoint are a bit overrated: The waffles are nothing special, they export all the “must-try” beers, the fries are grease central, and the chocolate is unbelievably overpriced! 9.5 Euros for 80 grams of chocolate at Pierre Marcolini! Outrageous! The moules (mussels) I had at a touristy restaurant on Rue des Bouchers-Beenhouwerstraat were fairly tasty and though probably the best meal I had in Belgium, nothing you couldn’t get in the US.

I was staying at the only reasonably priced hostel in Brussels that was so far away from the city center it was off the map I was given! I was lost on my way to the center (an hour walk) and when I’d stop to ask people for directions, they’d think I was nuts for knowing it was an hour walk and still refusing public transport. I made it okay (eventually). Without feeling any major obligation to see the sights, I actually had a lot of leisure time in Brussels; it was nice to have lukewarm feelings about a city with no pressure to see and do everything and feel free to wander around instead.

Atomium

I checked out the most famous places, of course, like the Grote Markt, the Atomium, and (the outside of) European Union buildings. The Grote Markt is probably one of the nicest squares I’ve visited on my trip and the Atomium, though weird, is quite striking. I also ended up at two museums – the Magritte Museum and the Royal Museum of the Armed Forces and of Military History. I got to the first one and as I was wandering around, I got really confused about why I was there. Basically, I had no idea who this Magritte character was and I didn’t care much for his art or life history. I realized later that he’s the artist responsible for “The Son of Man,” the painting with a man in a suit and a green apple covering his face. (If I’m being honest, I still don’t really care for a museum dedicated to the guy and “The Son of Man” is in someone’s private collection!)

The military museum was actually very interesting, providing the Belgian perspective on the great wars and a cool collection of war planes. You can also access a view over Brussels from the top of the Arc de Triomphe-Triomfboog from the museum:

I liked a lot of the architecture I saw though I can’t even pretend to classify it:

I can, however, classify the plethora of peeing statues all around the city: In a word, they were odd. The most famous one is Manneken Pis, a naked boy who urinates into a fountain. He is often dressed in different outfits and is said to “own” hundreds of them. I sought out the famous peeing statues in the city center but that’s only because I didn't have anything better to do at the time.

Mannekin Pis: Top Right

It was a really short couple of days in Belgium’s capital and I feel like I spent them wandering, chasing the must-try foods, and avoiding the rain wherever possible. It could have been better, it could have been worse. On the whole, I guess I’m just feeling pretty indifferent towards Brussels and Belgium and I I’m not really feeling inspired to go back. The Netherlands on the other hand (Up next!), is a place I hope to get back to time and time again :)

Random Belgian graffiti art:

London Calling!

noreply@blogger.com (Kimberly) — Fri, 6 Jul 2012 01:34:00 -0700

What can I say about London? It’s pretty much exactly how you’d picture it to be. British people… Union Jacks… double decker buses… red telephone booths…they’re everywhere. I found it all very charming and I have to say I really enjoyed my time in London.

Buckingham Palace

I spent one day there when it was bloody hot! There was some sort of heat wave going on and that was the day I foolishly chose to watch the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace. I only had about 10 hours to see London that first day and I thought I would make the most of them. (I had arrived in London in the morning off an overnight bus/ferry from Amsterdam and was waiting for my bus/ferry to Dublin that evening). Buckingham Palace is okay as far as palaces go but I think the State Rooms are only available for touring in August and September. (Not that I would have gone on the tour anyway…) As for the changing of the guard, I will never subject myself to that sort of thing again if I can help it. It is beyond dull! There was a little kid up on his dad’s shoulders and the dad asked the kid what he thought. The kid said, “it’s kinda boring” and I feel like everyone who heard him was nodding in agreement. It was particularly bad not only because of the heat, but also because I’m short and so I can’t really see. (And if I tried, all the pushy tourists would be in my way trying to get pictures). I felt bad for the marching men in uniform, especially the ones with the funny hats. Things did liven up a bit when the band came out, especially because they randomly played “New York, New York” and the theme from Mission Impossible.

Big Ben, Admiralty Arch, Harrods, Greenwich

Those few hours I had in London, I wandered around all the major sights… Big Ben.. the London Eye… Westminster Abbey… Trafalgar Square… Picadilly Circus… etc. I ended up wandering them again and again when I got back a week later, the only differences were that I was with friends and the heat wave had passed. Although I started seeing the drearier side of London, it felt really good to catch up with Heather’s sister (Jeanne), friends from my Africa trip, coworkers from our Croydon office, and my old roommate (Mark) and his brother (Bryan). I found myself surprisingly busy with lunch and dinner plans every day. It was like being back in my old life with friends… and plans! :)

Jeanne and I discovered Blackfriars Wine Bar and Pub with a fantastic two-course, £10 lunch menu. Her steak and kidney pie was amazing (!) and my bacon-chorizo burger was massive! Stuffed, we wandered to the Tate Modern which, although perhaps not that impressive, is free admission :)

The Nursery @ Zoe and Andy's

Andy and Zoe were so kind as to let me stay in their apartment, even while they were away for the Jubilee holiday weekend. I stayed in their nursery which is now occupied by a beautiful baby girl. (Congratulations!!!) Before they left on holiday, we caught up with Matt, Jen, and Dan from the Africa trip in Greenwich, a really cute part of London with great pubs, good food, and beer-a-plenty.

Mini Truck Reunion

On Friday afternoon, I ventured to Croydon and got to see Nick and Carl who I hadn’t seen in years! I also got to meet Jenny, Tina, and Briony. It was so nice to have lunch with everyone and get to know a little bit more about how things are on that side of the Atlantic. Thanks, All for a lovely afternoon :)

Me and the Scott Brothers

I spent most of my time with Mark and Bryan, seeing the sights, eating pub food, avoiding the rain, and dodging the Jubilee crowds!

Jubilee...

The Jubilee: Queen Elizabeth II was celebrating her Diamond Jubilee – 60 years on the throne – the weekend I happened to be in London. People kept telling me it was an exciting time to be there but I didn’t really get the all the hype. I still don’t know anything about royalty or care for that matter… I actually had to Google which Queen is on the throne just now because I’d forgotten already. Basically, the Jubilee meant that London was very crowded and I would have preferred to be there a different weekend. It’s nice to see all the patriotism with the Union Jacks and (crazy) people camping out in the cold the night before the flotilla (the thousand-wide fleet accompanying the Queen down the Thames River). But it was definitely not nice to push through the ridiculously crowded streets or get packed on the Tube at all hours of the day.

Queen's Theater

Between spending time with friends and the Jubilee, the only time I was really “alone” was my one night out on the town: I treated myself to a Chinese buffet and Les Miserables! I’ve been wanting to see this musical for forever, and especially after Susan Boyle sang “I Dreamed a Dream” on America’s Got Talent. Having seen it, I think Wicked is still my favorite, but it was nice to finally hear the live versions of the songs I’ve heard since I was a kid.

Thai green curry, cajun fish and shrimp, scallops, and fish 'n chips! So good!

On food: I remember visiting London 12 year ago and thinking the food was bad. I think London also generally gets a bad reputation for its food, but I experienced almost exclusively good. The Chinese buffets I tried (2) were good! They were much more expensive than their southern California counterparts, but surprisingly rich in flavor and plentiful in selection. The pub food I had (mostly fish ‘n chips) was also good, although expensive. You pay £10-14 for a beer and a meal and then you think about the fact that that’s actually costing you $16-22 before tip. Not cheap! The best foods I had in London were a Thai green curry, cajun fish and shrimp wrap, and scallop “boat.” The worst food I had was from Café Bangla on Brick Lane. Indian food is supposed to be good here but it was So bad! I felt really bad for Bryan because it was his first time having Indian food and honestly, it was the worst Indian food I’ve ever tried. Stupidly, we ate at that restaurant instead of at one of the amazing looking food stands at Spitalfields/Brick Lane markets. I guess there’s always next time :)

Bad Indian food, but I thrilled that I can still read Bangla :)

London was a good time but I don’t feel sad about leaving because I feel like it has become familiar and natural – a place that I will hopefully return to again and again. It will be nice to come back with an income so that it doesn’t hurt so much when paying for things in pounds :)

@ the British Museum

These were very helpful...

Up Next: Brussels! Btw, Happy Belated 4th of July everyone! Hope you had as great a day (and BBQ) as I did!

My Luck and the Irish!

noreply@blogger.com (Kimberly) — Wed, 27 Jun 2012 10:59:00 -0700

Lolly

View from the backyard :)

I had the best time in Ireland! I spent six wonderful days seeing the sun shine over Dublin and falling in love with this incredibly charming Irish family. Laura, a friend from my Africa trip, was traveling in Panama at the time, but she put me in touch with her family and I ended up staying with them, and on a farm! Though not farmers themselves, the family happens to live on a farm with the most amazing view over Dublin; the green rolling hills were so beautiful (!) and I even liked the sheep bleating at us every now and then. I only planned to stay with them a couple days but they made me feel so welcome that I couldn’t resist the invitation to stay a while longer.

Ian, Elaine, Rachel, Timothy, Matthew, and Nathaniel <3

I didn’t grow up in a big family and have never really spent a lot of time around big families so seeing a family of six go through their days was a fantastic experience! I found it all utterly charming… “Kids, get in the car!”….”Nathaniel, put down your bow!”….”Matthew, no more computer!” I felt like I was one of the kids, except I got to drink with Mom and Dad at the end of the day :) It was very nice to be fussed over and cared for in a way I haven’t been since I was really young. They fed me very well and picked me up and dropped me off just like they did with their own kids. Elaine (Mom) even set up a “play date” for me with another American girl visiting Ireland and before I left for the pub, she asked me if I needed money for drinks. SO nice!

Apparently, I wasn’t seeing the real Ireland, especially with the mostly sunny, warm, and beautiful days I got. Everyone was out and about enjoying the weather and people just seemed so cheerful and happy. People were very kind when I had questions or needed directions though I think that’s generally “Irish” instead of just a weather-related phenomenon. When I was wandering Dublin, for instance, I was staring at a sign that read “Department of the Taoiseach….” It was the English translation of the Gaelic (Roinn an Taosigh) and made no sense to me. A nice man saw I was confused, stopped to explain that the sign was referring to the Prime Minister, and walked on after wishing me a good day :) With all the good weather though, people flock to the same places – St. Stephen’s Green in Dublin was absolutely packed when I visited and Glendalough was sheer madness getting in and out of the parking lot.

Glendalough

Glendalough, pronounced “Glendalock” instead of “Glendaloo,” is a glacial valley famous for its 6^th century monastery and round tower. In Gaelic, the place is called Gleann da Locha which translates as “valley of the two lakes.” We went for a walk around the ruins and to the lake, then settled down for a lovely picnic. Elaine also took me to Marlay Park, Powerscourt, and the Pearse Museum in St. Enda’s Park. I got to see a lot of the Greater Dublin area and it was all so beautiful!

I spent a couple days in Dublin exploring by myself and this was wonderful too! One of the days, I saw everything I could – Trinity College (and the line for the Book of Kells), the General Post Office (GPO), Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin Castle, the Chester Beatty Library, Grafton St., Temple Bar Square, Meetinghouse Square, Merrion Square, the National Gallery of Ireland, the Natural History Museum, and more.

Dublin

@ Trinity College

I didn’t bother seeing the Book of Kells because it costs 9 Euros and it seemed a lot to pay for a book I know nothing about. The line was long too and I heard that you only get to see the page on display for the day – I think I’d rather just use Google Images :) I loved wandering around the city though and seeing how very Irish everything seemed. All those Irish pubs you see in every country are actually pretty authentic! There were a lot of beautiful buildings and churches in town too, but what I enjoyed the most was the Saturday market at Meetinghouse Square. A bunch of food vendors set up every weekend and sell everything from soda bread to horse skewers. (Incidentally, I got some of both – Amazing!)

Dinner/Dessert at home :) - Skewers on the BBQ, Chicken noodle stir fry, Chorizo mozarella penne, and Pavlova

On Food: The snacks from the market and Elaine’s dinners were amazing but Irish food generally is not my favorite. I didn’t get to try an Irish coddle (stew), but the other things I had like a fry up (traditional Irish breakfast) and fish ‘n chips were super greasy. The breakfast was particularly dissatisfying and made me really miss “regular” American bacon, eggs, and hash browns. Who actually likes baked beans or black pudding for breakfast?! Yuck! On the upside, the Irish do fantastic beer. I don’t like Guinness in the US, but it was really nice to have in Ireland. Murphy’s Stout is also delicious, probably the best dark beer I’ve had in years!

Traditional Fare: Fish 'n Chips, Guinness, Beef and Guinness Pie, Fry Up

Basically, my six days in Ireland were magical. I was so lucky with the weather and getting to spend time with such an amazing family. For me, Ireland epitomizes the joys of traveling – discovering a beautiful place and making connections with really wonderful people. I hope I can get back there soon :)

Up Next: England!

Bom Dia do Lisboa!

noreply@blogger.com (Kimberly) — Wed, 20 Jun 2012 17:24:00 -0700

Castle in Cascais

I liked Portugal! It reminded me a lot of the month I spent in Brazil and the amazing people I met there. :) It was nice to recall some of the Portuguese Lolo taught me and then get to try it on some of the locals. The ones we talked to, incidentally, were really nice people! They were very helpful and friendly and seemed to really appreciate our attempts at Portuguese. The thing that struck me most was finally seeing some heterogeneity. I hadn’t really thought about the fact that a lot of places I’d been in the last few months were pretty much uniformly white. The diversity was actually refreshing!

Campo Pequeno Bullring - Right next to our hostel!

Unfortunately, getting to Lisbon was a bit rough, especially for Mom…. She got the full travel-by-Kim experience when we took a really tiring overnight bus from Seville to Lisbon. Our bus was scheduled to leave around midnight and not only arrived late but was also delayed leaving the station because of an altercation between the driver and a passenger refused entry. The man was possibly drunk and the driver wouldn’t let him on. The man tried to push past the heavy-set driver though this didn’t work. Then, something (a shove or some mean words perhaps?) set the driver off and the driver started chasing and beating the man. Someone called the police and the coach left before we really saw any resolution. Crazy! Of course it happened when I was with Mom too! We ended up getting to Lisbon okay but I don’t think Mom was able to get any sleep on the bus and she later took a fall getting off the train :(

Mom and the Ponte 25 de Abril

Eletrico 28

We were able to drop our bags off at the hostel around 7am, but were basically ushered out until check-in at 2pm. Without a map and any real idea of where we were going, we doggedly found our way to a market for some breakfast pastries and fruit – the Mercado da Ribeira. We later took the old tram car (that looks like the F line in San Francisco) all around town getting a feel for different neighborhoods like Rossio (the main square area), Baixa (downtown), Chiado, Bairro Alto, Graça, and more. There are odd little reminders of San Francisco all around Lisbon like, for example, the Ponte 25 de Abril. (Random: Both the Ponte 25 de Abril and the Bay Bridge were built by the same company, yet the Ponte 25 de Abril looks like the Golden Gate Bridge...) Mom and I were able to explore Belem the next day, a nice part of town with a ton of museums, the San Jeronimo Monastery, and the Belem tower. I think I liked the Belem area of Lisbon best – apart from the tourists, it was just really peaceful and pretty.

Belem

We were on a quest for good seafood in Lisbon, but never really found it. We had a seafood lunch, but what we thought was going to be similar to fish ‘n chips for mom, ending up more as pancakes with cod pieces/flavoring. I had a shrimp, fish, and rice stew that was nice, but not quite as satisfying as a fish filet or shrimp skewer would have been:

No seafood luck at dinnertime either: One night at dinner, Mom went for Burger King and I went for a rather plain chicken breast. At another dinner, we went to a rodizio (churrascaria), but taste-and-quality wise, it was the worst one I’d ever been too.

Portuguese Snacks: Bolas de Bacalao, Chamuças,Croquettes, etc...

Portugal isn’t my favorite place for food, but the pasteis de nata are a must! They are famous custard pastries that originate from the Antiga Confeitaria de Belem. Their version is called Pasteis de Belem and you get them fresh, warm, and utterly perfect. I don’t even like dessert that much but just one flaky, custardy tart wasn’t enough; we got back in the long line to buy more! They were even better than the dan tat (egg custard tart) at Golden Gate Bakery!

Cascais

I think our last day in Portugal was one of my favorites together because we started off with those amazing tarts and then had a really nice time visiting Cascais and its beaches. Cascais is about 45 minutes away from Lisbon and rumored to have some of the best beaches around. We walked along the beautiful coast seeing a random sculpture exhibition and castle. Later, Mom hung out at the water’s edge and I got a tan.... Great day :)

Mom is always funny when she's at the beach :)

Our visit to Portugal was super short, but I think we got a good sense of things here. I'd definitely like to come back!

Some Updates:

- :: I am home! Yesterday I flew Amsterdam-Chicago-Orange County, got picked up by Mom and Theo with a dozen roses in hand, and had an awesome seafood dinner! :)

- :: The countdown begins: There will be five more posts and then I probably have to put this blog into retirement. I hope you’ll enjoy the conclusion of my adventure abroad as much as I did!

- :: In the next few weeks I will work on a proper answer for the question everyone likes to ask me (“What’s your favorite place?”) and also gather lots of fun facts about the trip.

Up Next: Ireland!

Aventuras en Espana, Parte Dos

noreply@blogger.com (Kimberly) — Thu, 14 Jun 2012 14:19:00 -0700

Free tapas in Granada when you buy a drink! Awesome!

Granada: It had a different vibe from Madrid. Whereas Madrid felt young and down-to-earth, Granada felt sophisticated and cultured. People looked like they were dressed up and more worldly perhaps? It was just Mom and me in Granada because Stacy and Kamal had left for Barcelona. We had dinner out in the city and went to bed fairly early because we had to be in line for Alhambra at 730am. If you don’t have tickets, you have to line up before they open (8am) and hope you get one of the few remaining day-of tickets. We got in! (For future reference, everyone stands in the cash-only line but ticket machines accepting credit cards are there for use as well. Be smarter than us and go for those!)

Palacio de Generalife - Alhambra

As for Alhambra, kingdom complete with a royal palace and fortress, it is something else… beautiful buildings, gardens, and views with a photo opportunity at the turn of every corner. I took several hundred pictures while Mom and I explored the complex. The Palacios Nazaries are the best part, well worth paying for. I’m glad we went to see it though it left us both hot and exhausted – it was more than 100 degrees that day!

Palacios Nazaries - Alhambra

Seville: From Granada, Mom and I took a bus to Seville, stored our stuff at the bus station, and set off wandering. We saw the highlights of Seville fairly quickly: Cathedral of Seville, La Giralda, Real Alcazar, Plaza de Espana, etc. We were pretty sick of food in Spain at this point and so took a moment to rest and recuperate with-(un)fortunately-McDonald’s. Mom wanted it too after having had nothing but Spanish food the last few days. I don’t have much of an opinion on Seville itself – I guess it’s a nice city that is easily seen in a day and skip-able when short on time. I remember there being very strong wind and lots of my loud sneezing :)

Scenes from Seville

Painted at many of Barcelona's crosswalks.... Message received: Don't jaywalk!

Barcelona: I think Barcelona might be my favorite of the Spanish cities we visited on our trip. It’s probably mostly due to eating very well there and really enjoying the beach after not having been in quite a while. The weather wasn’t great though and the beach vendors were really rather annoying. I really didn’t feel like a massage, henna, or a slice of coconut, but I kept getting asked. Really, I just wanted to be left alone and so when one of the guys sat down to talk to me, I was in no mood for it. I felt bad for being a jerk, but the second there was a lull in the conversation, I started reading my book with avid interest until he left. Mostly I spent the last days in Spain getting used to being alone again… sleeping in, walking every which way for hours and hours, and budget eating – ham and cheese sandwiches :)

Las Ramblas y La Boqueria

Mom was with me for the first two days in Barcelona as we explored the entirety of Las Ramblas, Barri Gotic (Ciutat Vella), Gaudi’s legacy (Park Guell, Sagrada Familia, Casa Batllo, and La Pedrera/Casa Milo), and Montjuic. Just off Las Ramblas is La Boqueria, a great public market where Mom and I had fresh fruit juice and then bought cherries, blood oranges, and clementines. If we had had our own kitchen, we might have been tempted by all the fresh seafood for sale too!

Gaudi: Sagrada Familia, La Pedrera, & Park Guell

Gaudi I have to say was not a high priority for us and certainly not worth the 18.15 Euro price tag to enter, for example, Casa Batllo. Ridiculous! Mom and I enjoyed his works from the outside or at Park Guell, like good budget tourists.

Montjuic

We splurged on the cable car for Montjuic for the nice views of course, but mostly to save Mom’s feet. I made her walk a lot with me the last two weeks so her feet were starting to swell and her little toe was turning blue (or so she thought…). Poor Mom :) One of my favorite things we saw was the musical fountain in the Placa de Espanya:

The water doesn’t quite dance like it does at the Bellagio in Las Vegas, but the fountain lights up with really pretty colors! The two of us had our last meal together in the Placa Reial – a fancy marisqueria where when you ask for agua del grifo (tap water) they just say “No.” The food was just average – better to eat on Passeig de Joan de Borbo near the beach in Barceloneta for good, cheap seafood.

Being tourists in Barcelona :)

I put Mom on the Aerobus so she could catch her flight back to LAX. I stood waving at the bus even though I couldn’t see her, hoping she could see me. I got back a little while later to our empty room and felt super sad all of a sudden; I even started to cry a little. I always feel this deep sadness when people leave and it was no different with Mom. (When Stacy and Kamal left I still had Mom with me… We were also rushing when we said our goodbyes so there was no time for tears.) So even though she snores like an angry bear and is a lot more of a princess traveler than I am, I miss Mom a lot.

Up Next: Portugal! (Backtracking a bit to cover the quick trip Mom and I took to Lisbon from Seville!)

Aventuras en Espana, Parte Uno

noreply@blogger.com (Kimberly) — Wed, 13 Jun 2012 13:27:00 -0700

Best Meal in Spain - Siempreviva Restaurant in Barcelona: Sangria, Gambas a la plancha, Paella de Mariscos, and Crema Catalana

Cuisine: Madrid is known for its Tapas and apart from paying for our four-bed dorm at the Hostal Marlasco, the first Euros we spent in Spain were on Sangria and tapas. Perfect! I have to say I can do tapas maybe once a year and that that is more than enough. So much of it is unhealthy (and for me, unsavory) that it would probably never be something I crave. We started with a pitcher of sangria (fantastic!), manchego cheese, batatas bravas (potato wedges), croquettas, and paella. Apart from the sangria, none of it was bad, but none of it was very nice either. We later tried the Iberian ham that is great if you like prosciutto but is otherwise a salty, fatty meat. I don’t think much of gazpacho either – it tastes like blended pico de gallo served with ice. No thanks! In my opinion, the best part about Spanish cuisine was the daily menus. For between 8-15 euros, you got a starter, an entrée, a drink, bread, and dessert. All of the daily menus were incredibly filling and some were just amazing!

Clockwise starting top left: Lacon a la Gallega, BEST FLAN EVER, Lentejas, and nuestros segundos platos! So much food!

Bullfighting: Someone asked me if it was a choreographed slaughter of a bull…. It is. My sister summed up the experience perfectly when she said, “I thought the whole thing was awful.” There is a lot of ritual and precision that go into what the matadors do in the ring, but in the end, it’s a lot of men taking turns stabbing a bull until it lays down to die. I don’t pretend to understand and I’m not sure I want to. I had no idea that this is what bullfighting is. I thought it was some big, entertaining show where the matador waves his bright cloth, dances about, and makes the crowd laugh…. It was actually incredibly sad and gory especially when one of the bulls was stabbed in such a way that he started stumbling around vomiting purple blood. You are not allowed to leave until horses drag the bull out of the arena – leaving a trail of blood in its wake. Some people left in tears. We didn’t stay until the end because watching six bulls slaughtered in one night would have been too much. Bullfighting is apparently wildly popular though – the stadium was packed and we almost didn’t get tickets. Lucky us…

Flamenco: On a brighter note, the Spanish tradition of Flamenco is awesome! We went to the famous Michelin-rated Corral de la Moreria for a fantastic dinner and show. I’ve never been to a Michelin restaurant before and honestly, I’m not sure I can tell the difference. The food was good and all, but the shrimp, sangria, and paella I had for roughly 55 Euros was no better than that exact same meal I had for 11.5 Euros in Barcelona. The show was very exciting though with footwork so intricate it reminded me of Riverdance. You can see the performers working so hard that by the end of a dance, they are dripping sweat!

Corral de la Moreria

Madrid: We were staying in the center of the city close to the Plaza Puerta del Sol. At the time, major austerity protests were going on there but Mom was afraid of being tear-gassed so we avoided the crowds at night. During the day, we saw the famous bear-climbing-the-madroño-tree statue, but not the famous Tio Pepe sign thanks to Apple; the plaza will soon be getting a new Apple store in place of poor Tio Pepe. Elsewhere in Madrid, we spent our time wandering from plaza to plaza and seeing the highlights of the city (Palacio de Cibeles, Palacio Real, Catedral de la Almudena, Parque del Retiro, etc…). I think my favorite place was the Mercado de San Miguel, basically a giant food hall with pretty much everything you could want. What’s not to love?! Stacy, Kamal, and I started with very strong sangrias and then I got 100g of the biggest corn nuts I’d ever seen! (I let them get stale and finished them off recently – so good!!!) We ended up with five miniature open-sandwiches, a plate of gambas al ajillo (garlic shrimp), a combo plate of fried fish, calamari, and shrimp, and enough beer and wine to make merry. :)

We managed to get to three of Madrid’s famous art museums: Museo del Prado, Reina Sofia, and the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum of Art. You can get in free to the Museo del Prado and the Reina Sofia with a student ID and if you’re under 26. I got the discount even though I’m old now because in Europe, they read my birthday as June 5^th instead of May 6^th! Win! I didn’t particularly like the Prado or Reina Sofia, but the Thyssen-Bornemisza had a nice collection of impressionist art, my favorite. Speaking of art, in Madrid, we also noticed a plethora or street performers who would paint themselves head-to-toe and either stand motionless or move suddenly to startle you. Stacy and I still don’t know if this one guy was just that good or, in fact, a statue. He sat motionless and unblinking for the half hour we stood watching him. How is that possible?! He could also have been a statue while a guy painted similarly (as if he were a replacement) stood nearby, effectively tricking us in a truly elaborate rouse. Hmm…. The painted street performers were less novel in other Spanish cities, but just as prevalent. In Granada they were fun!: There were three guys painted as clowns with just their heads sticking up above a table… they would suddenly come alive and say “hello” or shout. I think they managed to startle each and every passerby. :)

Up Next: Aventuras en Espana, Parte Dos

*Note: I'll add pictures of the statue man, bullfighting, and Madrid soon - Mom's got all the good ones on her camera! (I had left my camera battery and charger on the cruise ship and couldn't take any pictures until I found a new one!)

"I love it when we're cruisin' together..." ♫

noreply@blogger.com (Kimberly) — Sat, 9 Jun 2012 02:39:00 -0700

The Stardust Theater

Our Titanic Picture :)

My journey aboard the Norwegian Jade marks my second time freestyle cruising and my sixth cruise overall! I’ve always loved cruises and I always will, but after traveling the world, the experience was (ironically) somewhat less luxurious. It was wonderful sleeping seven nights in a row in the same comfortable bed and eating to my heart’s content, but there were far too many lazy travelers aboard, the likes of which I just haven’t really interacted with on my trip. You have a lot of overweight people who bump you in the buffet line and get angry if you accidentally cut them. You have a lot of tourists content to observe a place from the comfort of their tour bus, with no sense of adventure or desire to really know a place. You also have a lot of old, slow-moving people and though it’s not their fault, it’s super frustrating to get stuck behind them. So cruise passengers (except Mom, Stacy, and Kamal of course) are probably not my favorite people, but it was still a great trip!

Sailing away from Venice/Sunset in the Adriatic

Cruisin'

The Food: Yes!!! It was pretty much available 24/7 and depending on the time and what you felt like, you had your choice of buffets, dining rooms, and room service. I ate a lot! I don’t think I ever felt hungry on our weeklong cruise either! Our first dinner on board was probably my favorite:

Seafood Delight!

I loved it even after the four appetizers I had to start! (Cruise buddies, I missed you on this one!) To celebrate my birthday, we had teppanyaki in one of their fancy restaurants and to celebrate Stacy’s birthday, we went to the steakhouse. Hers was definitely the better pick with amazing appetizers (jumbo shrimp cocktail, crab cakes, oysters, and lobster bisque) and a giant 10oz filet mignon that no one finished but me. I admit, I sometimes ate so much it hurt to move, but I did make it to the gym a couple times :)

SO much food!!!

Entertainment: When not eating, the four of us gamblers probably spent most of our time depositing in the casino and I’ve discovered a new game: Three card poker! It’s so fun! Stacy got three Jacks in one of the hands – a 30:1 payout!!! We took part in a super fun blackjack tournament too where Stacy made it to the final table. Another Californian ended up winning, but the nice man bought drinks for the final table + me. Everybody wins :) Apart from relaxing on deck and the occasional bingo game or line-dancing class, we really enjoyed the shipboard entertainment. Norwegian’s lineup of magicians, contortionists, violinists, and impressionists were great!

Blackjack tournament winner David and our Pina Coladas :)

Ports of Call: 4

Dubrovnik!

Dubrovnik, Croatia: Our first port of call and where I turned 26 :) We spent the day wandering the old town and the old walls (an actual attraction you pay 70 kronor for for the privilege). You walk approximately 2 kilometers on the old walls of the city seeing some pretty stunning views over Dubrovnik. We ended the day having a drink and watching sunset at Café Buza, a bar cut into a cliff face. Dubrovnik really reminded me a lot of Kotor in Montenegro and is worth a daytrip if you happen to be in the area. I think it was a great place to spend my birthday :)

The Acropolis

Piraeus (Athens), Greece: Piraeus is not the most exciting port and the “thing to do” is take a trip into Athens. We ended up on a tour of Athens and the Acropolis and not one of us paid attention to the guide. I actually fell asleep en route to the ruins. Oops. I think we were all very hot and tired and in that state, it’s hard to listen with any real interest to boring historical names and dates. The highlight of our day in Greece was getting to try some of the famous Greek foods: Kebabs, Gyros, and Spanakopita! I’m pretty sure Athens/Pireaus isn’t the best of Greece but I hope to one day get back to see the Greek Isles – they are supposed to be amazing!

Greek food, yum!

Izmir, Turkey: The “thing to do” from the port of Izmir is to visit the ancient city of Ephesus. We ended up on a tour for people with walking difficulties so it was great because the bus drove us exactly where we needed to be to take a photo….Unfortunately, I didn’t realize we wouldn’t actually be seeing the most spectacular sight of Ephesus – the Library of Celsus! It kinda sucks that we missed this highlight in our tour, but we did get to see ruins. They also took us to Kusadasi, a nearby port city, and a fancy carpet store in town. In exchange for letting them try to sell us carpets, we received free wine, sodas, and the Turkish version of a cheese quesadilla. Good deal :) Before getting back on the bus, we got dondurma (Turkish ice cream) from a traditional vendor. He kept messing with Mom and pulling the cone out of her hand or pretending to drop the ice cream. Mom would scream and we would laugh :) Stacy didn’t react as hysterically as Mom did so he soon gave up on her and just gave her the ice cream :) Our last stop on the tour was one for us tourists to buy overpriced souvenirs; luckily, we had gotten ours earlier in an alley in Kusadasi.

Scenes from Ephesus, Izmir, and Kusadasi

Split, Dubrovnik: The ship dropped anchor in the ocean so we had to take tender boats in to the port. Once we got in, we wandered through a souvenir market before arriving at Diocletian’s Palace, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. We made Mom climb the steps of St. Duje’s Cathedral’s belltower and had a really nice view over the town. I was on the hunt for a post office to send off postcards and Stacy and Kamal were hunting for a beer recommended to them by a friend. I found my post office, we found lunch of pizza, soparnik (dough filled with veggies), and moussaka, and then after checking about a dozen bars, we found the elusive Lasko beer. Turns out, it is neither Croatian nor particularly good. :)

Our cruise seemed to fly by and before I knew it, we were docking in Venice again, catching a ride to the airport, and off to Madrid!

Split: Old Town

Up Next: Aventuras en España!

Vienna and Venezia!

noreply@blogger.com (Kimberly) — Sun, 3 Jun 2012 02:30:00 -0700

Wiener Schnitzel and Aperolspritzer

The German name for Vienna is Wien! Ha! I also think it’s funny that wiener schnitzel actually exists, and not just as a hot dog fast-food chain! Apparently the real wiener schnitzel is made out of beef however tourists often eat the cheaper pork version. I did but that’s mostly because no deep-fried breaded steak will ever be worth 16-22 Euros…. Stuff in Vienna was expensive! Because of the costs, for instance, I avoided the Hotel Sacher and their original sacher torte (chocolate tort with apricot jam) and went to Demel instead. (I think they may claim to have an “original” version of sacher torte also.) Unfortunately, the sacher torte was rather dry and the apfelstrudel tasted like it had been sitting out for a while. It was also about $25 for two drinks and two desserts – crazy!

Demel

It was a nice experience at the very least, getting to sit in a posh café on a Thursday afternoon :) I noticed that they seem to like apricot in their desserts – the eismarillenknödel from the famous Tichy ice cream shop was a vanilla ball with apricot jam in the middle. This was quite nice:

Eismarillenknödel

I have to admit that food wasn’t that exciting, but the drinks were: Alrndudler (sparkling apple soda), hollundersaft (elderberry juice), and aperolspritzer (wine mixed with an orange aperitif) were a lot of fun! And, speaking of drinks, I discovered that my favorite word in German is leitungswasser (LAI-tung-shwah-sser) – it just has a nice ring to it :)

Dinner at Einstein with friends :)

Despite the high costs of schnitzel and sacher torte, I thoroughly enjoyed Vienna. I ended up staying with Andrea, the wonderful girl I met en route to Budapest from Romania. Her friend Magdalena let me into their massive all-girl apartment at around 630am and after a nap, we went off to enjoy May Day. The international labor day is May 1^st (so I’m not sure why we celebrate it in September) and in Vienna, that means that the socialists and the communists rally. Red everywhere!

Town Hall

In front of the town hall, the very popular Social Democratic Party in Austria was rallying and in front of Parliament, the communist party was rallying simultaneously. There was also a parade of different communist groups with some so small that they had just enough people to carry their banners. It was a fun and festive atmosphere all day actually – who doesn’t love a day off and beautiful sunny weather?!

Hofburg Palace and the Upper Belvedere

Mozart Kugeln: Magdalena was with me when I first set on my quest for Mozart Kugeln, these amazing chocolate-pistachio-marzipan chocolates that my former boss first introduced me too. He used to bring them back from Germany. :) When I got to Europe, I found out that Mozart Kugeln is actually Austrian so though I saw them in a lot of countries, I waited to do my shopping until I got to Vienna. There were indeed tons of Mozart shops, but I couldn’t find the one I wanted. My kugel wasn’t perfectly round like the “original” Mirabell Mozart Kugeln I kept seeing in the shops. So frustrating! Then I realized there are several brands of Mozart Kugeln and a dozen shops later, I found the one I wanted. As it turns out, I like the German-made, Reber brand Mozart Kugeln chocolates. I got myself to a Mueller and had a chocolate shopping spree. Win!

"die echten Reber Mozartkugeln..."

Vienna is a wonderful city… tons of beautiful buildings and charming palaces…delightful parks and art galleries galore!

Inside St. Stephens Cathedral

Klimt is a very big deal in Vienna and I made the effort to see “The Kiss,” one of his most famous “masterpieces” at Upper Belvedere. Years ago, someone gave me a journal with “The Kiss” on the cover so I felt like I should see the real thing. I can’t say I’m a fan of Klimt and I might actually like his pre-masterpiece sketches better than the real things :) I did catch a really nice impressionist exhibit at the Albertina with Andrea; I enjoyed Vienna so much because of her. I couldn’t believe how incredibly kind she was to me… letting me stay in her apartment, fixing breakfast for us, and even coming with me to the train station to say goodbye! Thanks, Andrea!!

Breakfast w/ Andrea

A farewell at Wien Westbanhof

Venice: She saw me off on my overnight train bound for Venice. Italy here I come! I planned it exactly so that I’d arrive the morning of May 4^th and Mom, Stacy, and Kamal would arrive that evening. (Venice is quite hard for backpackers to afford especially when it comes to accommodation and I didn’t want to stay any longer than necessary...) When I arrived, I spent the morning wandering the city and getting lost in a bunch of alleys on my way to the Rialto shopping area and St. Mark’s Square. I’d been to Venice once before when I was 13 – I think I remember it being more magical…. This time, there were quite a lot of dilapidated buildings but on the upside, the Grand Canal seems to have been cleaned up a bit. (It’s still not as clean as the Venetian’s in Las Vegas :)) I picked up Mom at the airport and then Stacy and Kamal arrived a half hour later. It was a bit too late to go into Venice from where we were staying in Quarto d’Altino, but we had an amazing (!) dinner at the hotel.

Pasta: Cuttlefish ink with shrimp!

Pizza: Prosciutto e Fungo

@ dinner

The only thing that wasn't nice was the bread...

After more exploration of the city the next morning, we were off to cruise the Adriatic, Greece, and Turkey!!!

Scenes from Venice:

Cruising the Grand Canal

St. Mark's Square

The Waterfront

Up Next: The Norwegian Jade!!!

Dzien Dobry!

noreply@blogger.com (Kimberly) — Fri, 25 May 2012 02:38:00 -0700

Warsaw Graffiti

Although I was so congested that I could barely breathe, the bus ride to Warsaw was better than expected! I ended up next to this jovial suspender-sporting Latvian man who got me speaking Russian again. When I was sneezing, he offered me hot coffee from his thermos to help and he later pressed an apple into my hands saying it would also help. I dropped my contact lens on the floor at one point and he got down on all fours to help me look. Did I mention he was probably in his 60s? Really nice guy :)

Warsaw: Old and New

Warsaw: I liked it here! It wasn’t so much the city and its sights, but more loving being in Poland. If I’m being completely honest, I don’t remember too much about Warsaw. There wasn’t anything too exciting in the old town and I couldn’t get to the fragment of the Warsaw Ghetto wall because of massive construction in the Jewish Quarter. I really enjoyed the Lazienki Park though with its famous statue of Chopin and piano keyboard-benches playing his music. The best part of Warsaw (and perhaps all of Poland) were the milk bars (mleczny bars). These super-simple cafeteria-like places have a long list of traditional Polish foods to choose from. You pay at the cash register, hand your receipt to the ladies at the counter, and see if you can’t force a smile from one of their stern faces while you wait for your food. The crowds at the milk bar vary from high-powered business execs wanting a quick lunch to homeless people looking to turn their zlotys (Polish currency) into a good meal.

Polish Cuisine: Hit and miss. In terms of street food, you could find kielbasa, zapiekanka (baguette with cheese and other toppings), and gelato everywhere! These were great! But I have to say I was pretty disappointed by the soups in Poland: The barszcz czerwony (borsht) was a watery beet soup that was about as tasty as the juice that comes from canned beets and the popular zurek, a fermented rye soup with sausage, was just sour and rather unpleasant. Main dishes were also hit and miss. Bigos, a meat and cabbage "Hunter's stew" is hearty, and considered the national dish of Poland..every time I had it though it was too salty:

Their famous pierogi, savory dumplings, are like the Russian version and best eaten with sour cream and butter – delicious!

Kurczak is a stuffed chicken steak that was sold to me as the best thing ever… it’s pretty tasty, but I much preferred zrazy – stuffed sirloin. The zrazy I tried was a pork sirloin stuffed with a pickle and draped in gravy! So good!!

I ate the zrazy too quickly so here's a picture of kurczak instead :)

Krakow: The Polish have an amazing company – Polskibus – that has leather seats, individual outlets, free wifi, and a steward to serve you a free tea or coffee. Polskibus also happened to offer the cheapest tickets available for my five hour journey from Warsaw to Krakow. It's awesome! Most tourists would say they prefer Krakow to Warsaw, but I think I actually prefer the latter. It felt more real in Warsaw I guess? Krakow reminded me a bit of Prague with its old town and heavily concentrated tourist areas. I was happiest avoiding the crowds, trying delicious Polish foods at Bar Grodsky 6, and catching The Hunger Games at a nearby movie theater. :)

Scenes from Krakow (and the only picture I have of me in Poland...)

Auschwitz: I think a visit to Auschwitz is basically a must for any visitor to Southern Poland – something like 1.3 million people visit the site each year. Having seen Israel’s memorial to the holocaust, I didn’t have as strong an emotional response as I thought I’d have at Auschwitz. I think it’s because the way you learn about Auschwitz on the tour is very fact-based. They give you numbers that are, for me at least, beyond comprehension. Roughly 1 million people died at Auschwitz…. (the official number is debated) and I can’t seem to wrap my head around that figure. In that way, for me, the horrors of Auschwitz are literally unimaginable.

"Work sets you free..."

Inside Auschwitz I

Inside one of the bunkers was an exhibit that really humanized the victims of Auschwitz. There were massive collections of things like kitchenware, shoes, prosthetics, glasses, and even 1,950 kilos (~4300 pounds) of human hair. Women's heads were shaved before going into the gas chambers - the hair was later sold as raw material for the textile industry.

Prostheses and eyeglasses collected from the victims

Once muddy and grimy areas are now green, grassy, and spurting flowers...

Auschwitz II (Birkenau)

Leaving Poland: I had to skip the High Tatras (mountain range on the border of Poland and Slovakia) in the interest of time and I’m a bit bummed about it. The national park looks absolutely amazing in pictures and the Morskie Oko Lake especially is on my future travels list. I skipped Zakopane (gateway to the lake) and ended up leaving Krakow on a bus bound for Vienna. I meant to stay a day, but ended up spending the rest of my time there before meeting up with the family in Venice. Staying in Vienna also meant skipping Slovenia unfortunately… I had gotten a strong recommendation for Bled and the Triglav National Park - someone told me it was their favorite place in the whole world!. So I'm passing the recommendation on in case any of you are headed to Slovenia! I hope I'll get there one day too :)

Up Next: Vienna & Venezia!

Czech-n-Slovakia

noreply@blogger.com (Kimberly) — Mon, 21 May 2012 12:12:00 -0700

Bratislava Castle

Slovakia: Sucks. To be fair, my experience in Bratislava was sucky; I hear Slovakia is actually supposed to be very beautiful and maybe worth a return visit someday. Bratislava is the capital, but its most famous site is the rather unimpressive Bratislava Castle. I walked around the old town and saw the sights, but it was really cold, windy, and rainy; I admit I was much happier watching House in my hostel :) The best part of my experience in Slovakia was getting to try Bryndzove halusky, the national dish of dumplings, bryndza (sheep cheese), and bacon:

Bryndzove Halusky & Kofola @ the 1st Slovak Pub

The dish was topped with tiny pieces of juicy bacon that would explode incredible flavor. Finally, a national dish that’s tasty! Slovakia’s version of Coca Cola though, Kofola, is very, very bad: Flat, overly sweet, and like a bad mix of rootbeer and coke. Slovakians love it though making Slovakia one of the few countries where Coca Cola is not the #1 coke product. I don’t pretend to understand.

Prague's Old Market Square w/ Tyn Cathedral in the background

View of Prague Castle and the city

Czech Republic: Prague, Praga, Praha! People love this city. I can see the ways in which the city woes tourists with its charming little streets and random oddities – David Cerny statues… locks of love…peaceful parks, etc. I can’t say I particularly liked Prague, however. It was way too touristy! The touristy sights are all concentrated together so the streets are jammed with people. You can’t power walk your way away from smokers or smelly people, you’re just stuck in the crowd breathing funk until there’s an open space to maneuver around in. Yuck! Because the city was so touristy, everything was also expensive – overpriced food, museums, and even bathrooms! Beer was fairly cheap, but they don’t even have the good Budweiser!

Mango Hostel: In the last post, I mentioned being affected by my hostel and restaurant experiences – these were some of my main issues with Prague and why I didn’t fall in love with the city. My hostel put me in an empty dorm room without letting me choose my bed. They assigned one to me, a top bunk, and I’d asked for a bottom because my foot had been hurting me. The cost of changing beds, even if you haven’t set foot in the room, is a night’s accommodation. Bullshit! So I had one night to myself stupidly climbing up and down a tall bunk bed, and then two nights with the smelliest people I’ve encountered on my whole trip! One guy hung his stinky clothes in the bathroom so it reeked in there, and another girl smelled like she hadn’t showered in months so the room reeked too. There must have been poor ventilation in the room as well because I got the worst cold of my trip from the smelly (and continually coughing) guy.

The Food: Disappointing!!! Knedliky is the famous Czech dumpling and though I realize dumplings come in all kinds of shapes and sizes, I have never seen it in the form of sliced bread. What the hell kind of dumplings are those?! This is the famous vepro-knedlo-zelo (pečené vepřové s knedlíky a se zelím) dish – roast pork, dumplings, and sauerkraut:

Individually, each thing was bad. When it was possible to get it all on my fork, it was just okay at best. Everything put together might have been passable as a sandwich but I’d never order this must-try Czech dish again. My accompanying Gambrinus (beer) was also bad and they charged a 25% cover charge for the privilege of eating at their crappy restaurant! Hmpfh! I gave another famous dish a try – svickovana smetane (beef in cream sauce) and though I swear the menu said rice, I got my favorite dumplings again. This wasn’t so tasty either, but the service was better at least:

The best local food I had was probably the smazeny syr – a fried cheese sandwich (but overall my best meals were at a Chinese buffet and McDonalds).

Smazeny Syr

Artbanka Museum of Young Art, Entryway

The Silver Lining: I didn’t particularly enjoy most of the touristy stuff like the changing-of-the-guard at the Prague Castle or the gargoyle “dance” at the Astronomical Clock, but I loved hunting for random oddities around the city.

Astronomical Clock

David Cerny statues and Frank Gehry's Dancing House were fun to seek out and really random…the Lennon Wall was awesome (!) and I’d never seen anything quite like the locks of love in town.

David Cerny - Pissing Men (in front of the Kafka Museum)

David Cerny - Tower Babies

Frank Gehry - Dancing House

Locks of Love

The Lennon Wall

They also had a Sex Machine Museum and of course I went! In the lobby, they had a chair that lit up describing how sexually charged you are - I am apparently "lukewarm." :)

(Different chair from the one described above...this is an antiquated sex machine of sorts lol...)

Quite unexpectedly, while I was wandering the Old Town, a shopkeeper said to me, “Are you from California?” (One of my favorite questions I’ve gotten so far!) I said yes and asked the guy why. He was perfectly logical and said he deduced I was a Californian based on my “Chinese face, suntan, and sandals.” In Prague, I also saw a pug! I'd love to be this old lady hanging out with my pug someday:

Four days after arrival, I left Prague on a bus bound for Poland. I’ve been waiting ages to get to this country where one of my favorite people is from! Up Next: Warsaw, Krakow, and Auschwitz!

Happy in Hungary!

noreply@blogger.com (Kimberly) — Tue, 15 May 2012 14:57:00 -0700

Parliament Building

Budapest is a city rising in the ranks of top tourist destinations and for me, Budapest has been one of my favorite cities I’ve visited on this trip! I had a fantastic time here and would happily come back. :) I can’t pinpoint exactly what made me so happy, but it was a combination of beautiful architecture, tons of things to do, good food, company, and weather, and a huge city expanse to navigate. Maps of Budapest were deceptive and tricked users like me into thinking the city was small. Rather, it’s perfectly large! I could (and did) walk for days through the city, continually discovering new delights. I’ve also come to realize that my opinion of a place is significantly impacted by the hostel I stay at and the food I eat. The people at Bebop Hostel were fantastic, and the food, when not delicious, was at least interesting :)

I arrived around 5am on a bus from Romania. I met a girl, Andrea, on the bus ride and together we tried to get in to the hostel (unsuccessfully – no answer), then sat outside McDonald’s for an hour until it opened. I’ve never heard of a Mcdonald’s opening at 7am! So late! The workers were there around 6am but felt no sympathy for us sitting outside in the cold. So it goes. I was able to check in to the hostel later, take a nap, and then meet Andrea for lunch in the Jewish quarter. She is awesome, and lucky me, I get to visit her in Vienna!

Me + St. Stephens Basilica Panorama

St. Matthias Church

Fisherman's Bastion

That first day in Budapest, I got to see a view of the city from St. Stephens Basilica and cross the famous Key Bridge to the Buda section of the city. I saw the Royal Palace, the magnificent St. Stephens Basilica, and the castle-like Fisherman’s Bastion before having an awesome Mozart gelato. I had seen Mozart Kugeln chocolates in some European cities already, but not only did Hungary have a Mozart gelato (chocolate with marzipan), they had a Mozart-dedicated store!

I made sure to see the highlights of Pest (House of Terror, Heroes Square, Andrassy Avenue, Parliament, Opera House, etc…) but I devoted most of the next day to the Great Market Hall and the Szechenyi Baths. The baths were fancy! They had three outdoor pools and more sauna rooms and indoor baths than I could count. I spent three hours experimenting with hot baths, icy baths, stinky baths (sulfur) and saunas at different temperatures (they were all very hot). Good times :)

The Great Market Hall was a lot of fun too! … brightly colored produce sold everywhere, souvenirs (of course), and restaurants selling traditional Hungarian dishes. I bought the most amazing strawberries and blood oranges (?) from the fruit stands:

Then, I got to try the famous Hungarian goulash (but goulash as we know it is called pörkölt in Hungary):

It was exciting to try, but so-so from a taste standpoint and in terms of a beef stew, I might prefer Dinty Moore :) I had dinner of halaszle (paprika fish soup) from the market also and found a not-so-nice lump of fish sperm in my soup! They are not discriminating with their use of fish parts! (In case anyone is interested, fish sperm tastes like cow brains, which tastes like a cholesterol-filled version of medium-hard tofu... Not so good….) I didn’t get around to trying langos (deep fried funnel-cake-like bread with savory or sweet toppings) or taking any shots of absinthe… next time!

Two days was much too short for such a fantastic city, but I’ll be back :)

Next Up: "Czechoslovakia" (Currently the Czech Republic and Slovakia)!

Rain In Romania

noreply@blogger.com (Kimberly) — Sun, 13 May 2012 15:01:00 -0700

Lipscani (Bucharest's Old Town)

After a pretty horrible overnight train from Belgrade, I was in Bucharest, Romania! The train was very old, unreasonably loud, and either sweltering hot or freezing cold. At the Romanian border, the customs officials performed the most rigorous search I’ve ever seen; it included pulling apart the seats and even using drills to peer inside the wood paneling! Crazy! Despite not sleeping very much at all, I think I lucked out – I heard that a girl who’d taken the train by herself the night before was disturbed most of the night – made to feel uncomfortable by two Serbian men...

Bucharest: I liked this city. There were a lot of charming old buildings in an architectural style I can’t quite identify. I spent the first day walking around in the rain, the second day seeing the sun shine over Bucharest, and the third day relaxing in the park until it started raining :) It was Easter (again) that first day in Romania – the Christian Orthodox version that occurs a week after the Catholic holiday. The day wasn’t so great because it rained heavily all day, everything was closed, and the only places open for dinner were KFC, McDonald’s, and Burger King. On the upside, I went to all three! (Light snacks from each because they were next door to each other... Happy Easter to me!)

Athenaeum

Palace of Parliament

Bucharest is famous for such sights as the Athenaeum, its national theater, the Old Town, and Parliament. The Palace of Parliament is the largest government building in the world second only to the Pentagon! You also see a lot of old juxtaposed with the new:

The parks were probably my favorite part of Bucharest.... I remember being utterly charmed by a group of young people in the Cişmigiu Park: One of them had downloaded song lyrics to their handphone and the group of them sat singing songs like Adele’s “Someone Like You” to each other. It was so sweet! I wish my friends did that! I spent a lot of time in that park, engrossed in The Hunger Games :)

Cişmigiu Park

Romania was fairly interesting from a food standpoint with a lot of things to try. Sarmale, cabbage rolls, are very popular. The store-bought version I tried was pretty terrible, but the very kind woman at my hostel gave me some of her homemade sarmale. (She was rushing out to bring lunch to her son and then sort of gave me some of his lunch….)

Sarmale

I got to try grocery store versions of mamaliga (polenta), mici (spicy and oily sausages), and moussaka – they were okay. One of the most famous restaurants in Bucharest is Caru cu Bere; there, I tried tochitura – a meat stew with polenta and eggs:

It looked and sounded a lot better than it ended up tasting unfortunately… sour cheese... sour stew. Eh. I have mixed feelings about Romanian food because although tochitura wasn't so good, the lunch special at another famous restaurant - Hanv Berarilor was great! I enjoyed their rooster soup, baked chicken legs, and mashed potatoes. I felt a little guilty about the rooster soup (because a good friend of mine probably wouldn’t approve), but the chicken was so tender it came right off the bone with a spoon!

Brasov: Bucharest was a nice break from the former republics of Yugoslavia; it was also the only part of Romania I really enjoyed. Brasov – gateway to Bran (Dracula’s) Castle – on the other hand, ranks close to one of my least favorite cities. Although Brasov has an old town with a charming little BRASOV sign that looks like the HOLLYWOOD sign in LA, I didn’t enjoy the city much because of the annoying combination of wind, rain, and cobblestone streets. I was also really mad at myself for going to see the Bran Castle:

Basically, I knew nothing about Dracula and didn't particularly care much about him at all…I’d never read the novel or seen any movie’s based on the novel but I thought I should see Bran Castle anyway. The castle ended up being pretty lame and, as it turns out, has almost nothing whatsoever to do with Dracula (or the guy Dracula is allegedly based on)! I guess I’m still figuring out how to enjoy myself and learning to let go of the things that don’t interest me…

Transylvania

All in all, I enjoyed Romania. I think I would have enjoyed it a bit more if it hadn't rained so much, but the people were lovely, the cities were beautiful, and the food was at least interesting when it wasn't delicious :)

Up Next: Hungary!

The Yugosphere Part II

noreply@blogger.com (Kimberly) — Sat, 28 Apr 2012 06:52:00 -0700

Montenegro: Kotor is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and I don’t think anyone can help but be impressed once they arrive in town. I certainly was! When you take a moment to look around, these massive mountains are sort of in your face. It’s quite dramatic and truly breathtaking. I was a bit bummed out at first because it was raining heavily (again!) and the one thing I wanted to do was hike up the 1300+ steps along the fortress wall. Luckily, the rain stopped and as I hiked up, the view over Kotor and the bay just kept getting better and better.

I think I took about 200 photos just on the hike up! The rest of Kotor is charming, but is nowhere near as spectacular as the fortress/view; the old town had the usual cobblestone streets, old churches, and former palaces :) In terms of food, Montenegro doesn’t really stand out, but there was an amazing little pizzeria near the hostel that sold giant slices of pizza for 1.5 Euro :)

I ended up meeting two guys, Matt and Andriy on my fortress hike: Matt is a New Yorker working at the American embassy in Sarajevo and Andriy is a Ukrainian working at the German embassy in Sarajevo. When they told me they lived in Sarajevo, I was being conversational and mentioned going there the next day. Matt’s response was a cheery, “Do you want a ride?!” and I ended up driving with them on one of the most beautiful drives I’ve ever been on! We crossed the Bay of Kotor on a ferry and then after crossing the border into Bosnia and Herzegovina, the scenery never stopped being incredible. We passed mountains, lakes, and national parks and weren’t even trying for the scenic route. Apparently, every route in Bosnia is the scenic route!

Bosnia & Herzegovina: The country is divided between the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (majority Croat/Muslim) and the Republika Srpska (majority Serbian). You see different flags as you enter the different territories and the Republika Srpska is reputed to be safer for tourists. Schools are still segregated and the two entities even print their own money. (The notes look similar, but the money printed in Herzegovina uses Cyrillic first, then Latin, whereas the money printed in Bosnia prints Latin first, and then Cyrillic. Even though the faces on the bills are different as well, all Serbian Dinars are accepted throughout the country.) Matt an Andriy taught me a lot and if I hadn’t met them, I wouldn’t have learned so much about the country. Thanks, guys!

I spent time in both Sarajevo and Mostar and after having had a few days in Bosnia & Herzegovina, I realized that I had seen more graveyards in those days than I have seen in my entire life. The graveyards are a very prominent part of both cities, as are buildings scarred from an unimaginable amount of shell firing.

In Sarajevo, they’ve turned parks and even soccer stadiums into graveyards too. The Bosnian Historical Museum gives a brief recap of the siege of Sarajevo (that some people in the Federation deny ever happened!) with pretty graphic images of deaths and people suffering. My visit to the museum was a very sobering experience… here was more history I just really had no grasp of whatsoever…

In terms of sightseeing, Mostar boasts an old town with an old bridge (UNESCO Heritage Site):

Mostar was significantly bombed during the war and you can watch footage of the destruction and the collapse of the bridge (that has since been restored). Sarajevo also has an old town, a fairly lively downtown area, the bridge where Franz Ferdinand was assassinated, and a lot of memorials to the deceased…

Food was relatively exciting in Bosnia & Herzegovina especially since I didn’t really have anything except pizza in Montenegro. Bosanski Kafe is good – just like Turkish coffee! If you are in the Federation, however, it’s just the “house coffee.” One of the most popular foods is cevapi (chuh-vah-pee) or cavapcici (chuh-vahp-chi-chi), small sausages that remind me of breakfast sausages with different spices. You eat it with somun, a local bread, with raw onions. It’s okay:

Cevapi

But the Bosanski lonac (Bosnian stew), klepe (mini ravioli with oil and sour cream), and Sarajevski Sahan (mixed stuffed dolmas) were fantastic! I also got to try the pastrmka (trout) – also delicious! Good eating in Sarajevo… good tap water too!

Bosanski Lonac

Klepe

Sarajevski Sahan

The people, however, were perhaps my least favorite of the countries I’ve visited so far in the region… In Macedonia, they were very friendly and chatty. The woman sitting next to me on my bus to Ohrid, for example, gave me a lot of tips on what to see and do in the city as well as her phone number in case I needed any help. In Kosovo, they love Americans and loved hearing that I was from there. In Bosnia, however, they weren’t mean, but they weren’t very… sympathetic. I very much got the vibe that they don’t care about you and your problems; I guess they’ve had harder stuff to deal with…

Downtown Belgrade

Belgrade: I left Bosnia & Herzegovina from Mostar on a bus bound for Belgrade. I had heard that the Serbs might try and cancel out my Kosovar stamps but they either didn’t see them or didn’t care :) Belgrade was fun!

Political artwork on one of the main pedestrian streets in Belgrade

Karadordeva Snicla: A uniquely Serbian food consisting of a pork-and-cheese schnitzel. My usual dinner, however, was pizza! The default in the US is cheese or pepperoni, but here it's ham and mushroom! My favorite!!

I spent the first day in Serbia enjoying the sunshine and checking off my list of sights to see (Kalemegdan Fortress, Saint Sava Church, Danube River, National Assembly, etc.) and the second day treating myself to a three-course lunch and Titanic 3D. After my fit of unhappiness in Kosovo, I’ve really started to make an effort to have more fun … forego the “sights to see” I don’t care about in favor of relaxing and enjoying the good life. I’m also realizing that I’ve got less than two more months (!) before I get back to the real world (and have to find a job and be responsible….).

Enjoying the sunshine at Kalemegdan Park :)

Slovenia and Croatia are the last two countries in the Yugosphere I haven't covered (because I haven't been yet*) but before I do, a recap of Romania, Hungary, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia! Just posted this blog while on a Polskibus going from Warsaw to Krakow... Poland is awesome!

The Yugosphere Part I

noreply@blogger.com (Kimberly) — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 02:40:00 -0700

I left winter in Bulgaria to find Spring and sunshine in Macedonia (pronounced mah-keh-dough-nee-uh)! It was my first entry into former Yugoslavian territory and I definitely enjoyed the days I spent there. Skopje (pronounced scope-yeh), the capital, was a nice city, but perhaps not the most exciting in terms of sightseeing. What sticks out to me most is that I happened upon a free concert promoting diversity in the main square. Volunteers wore “Free Hugs” t-shirts and passed out balloons. (But from what I could see, I was one of the most “diverse” members of the audience*)

Macedonia Square

Mother Teresa was born in Skopje; this is a chapel built at the site of her former home

Mt. Vodno and the Millenium Cross – one of the biggest crosses in the world. It only cost about $2 to take the cable car up to the cross… pretty awesome especially when I compare it to the ~$30 I paid to see the Christo in Rio!

Ohrid is a small city about three hours away from Skopje; it is said to be the jewel in Macedonia’s crown and is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The city sits on the famous Lake Ohrid; the lake is very deep and I think I read that at the deepest point of the lake, the Eiffel Tower would dip just below the surface! There were a lot of centuries old churches and monasteries, and some of them were quite beautiful.

Church of St. John at Kaneo

Tsar Samuil’s Fortress was perhaps my favorite part of the old town – it had a really amazing view over the city and the lake.

The picture doesn't really show it, but it was almost as if you could see Spring blooming around you with these cherry blossom-like trees sprouting pretty pink flowers everywhere. The weather was pretty bad - rainy and cloudy when I was in town - but on the upside, it was low season and I had a hostel to myself!

A lot of the food in Macedonia was similar to Bulgarian food, the exception being tavche gravche – the national dish:

It’s basically a bean stew and I thought it was terrible! The one I had at least was very bland and just kind of made my stomach feel uncomfortable after eating it. I guess “national dish” doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll find something that tastes good :) They Do like to do bacon-wrapped chicken skewers that were amazing (!) and I also rediscovered stuffed peppers!

Stuffed Peppers - Polneti Piperki (or Peretz Farshirovani in Russian)

My favorite thing to eat in Russia were the stuffed peppers and I was thrilled to see it on menus here. Unexpectedly, fast food consists largely of burgers and hot dogs, and the burgers I had were fantastic: Massive, delicious, and oddly stuffed with french fries and cabbage.

This chicken burger was as big as my face!

I was also able to try homemade ajvar, a mix of spices and crushed bell peppers and eggplant that you can eat by itself or with bread/cheese; the hostel owner gave me some that her mother had made – it was really, really good!

Shkembe Chorba - Tripe Soup typical of Bulgaria and Macedonia

Albania: From Ohrid, I took a “private taxi” to Struga and a bus from Struga to Tirana, the capital of Albania. (While the hostel owner and I were waiting at the bus stop, a man pulled over and said “Struga?” He offered to take me for 50 MKD, but I only had 40 MKD because that is what the bus costs. The hostel owner gave me 10 MKD and I was on my way. Random. The man picked up other passengers, smoked the whole way, and drove terrifyingly fast, but I made it okay!) Albania is not part of the Yugosphere and barely worth a mention actually…. It’s not that it sucks, but the part I visited was very uninteresting and basically a waste of time. The weather was crappy, the city was gritty and unimpressive, and there weren’t even uniquely “Albanian” foods to try! Perhaps the most interesting thing about Tirana is the fact that they have a street named after George Bush because he visited in 2007 :)

Kosovo: I spent about 15 hours in Tirana before I was on a bus to Pristina, the capital of Kosovo. I fought hard for a fair cab fare and ended up with a nice guy who told me America and Kosovo are buddy buddy. (He showed me his fingers locked together to signify the relationship). This was a nice start to Kosovo, but soon after, I hit one of my lowest points in my travels so far. I ended up with the WORST map ever and got very lost. I hate being lost. Not only did I have no idea where I was, but it was cold, rainy, and I didn’t care at all about the “sights to see” in Pristina (not that there were many anyway!). I was tired of the crappy weather and cities without much to see or do…. It felt stupid to be unhappy and wasting money in Eastern Europe when I could be home relaxing or otherwise enjoying life. I was so miserable that day that I even started googling flights home. Clearly my “crisis of (travel) faith” passed, and I am plunging forward as usual, but it was the first time I’ve ever truly considered going home.

One of the most interesting buildings in Kosovo: University of Kosovo Library

There really isn’t too much to see in Pristina, and in fact, the “thing to do,” is to have a macchiato and people watch. As one of the poorest countries in Europe, people don’t have a lot of money to spend so they spend their time being seen instead. This was fun to watch and a nice way to spend a Saturday morning – I don’t think I’ve ever had a macchiato before :) My favorite thing in Pristina was a goofy statue of Bill Clinton that sits on a boulevard named after the former president:

There are odd little homages to America with an “American Corner” in the university library and even a store called “American Beauty” selling (awful-looking) clothes.

The one Kosovar food that I wanted to try that seemed unique was flia – an unhealthy layered pastry. It tasted like layers of pasta with oil and butter… it was interesting to say the least :)

People were very nice to me in Kosovo, even offering to help me if I stood puzzling over my incomprehensible map. Usually, I’d blame myself, and not the map, but locals were even confused as they stared at it and tried to rotate it into making sense. One security guard directed me to the center and told me it was a very long walk. I didn’t mind, but he ended up passing me by on his way home from work and he offered me a ride. I refused initially, but then got in the car. Ironically, he told me not to get into cars with strangers, and then he drove in traffic (out of his way) just to drop me off in the city center. Nice guy :)

Generally, people seem proud of the Republic of Kosovo and there’s a lot of graffiti that says simply “Kosova Republikë.” There aren’t many signs of the recent conflict apart from numerous postings throughout the city of people who were killed and the continued UN presence. I felt safe there.

@ the UNMIK building; Definitely eerie to see all the UN vehicles around town...

I know I’ve only covered two of the seven countries in former Yugoslavian territory (and only one really if you side with Serbia in not recognizing Kosovo), but there’s more to come! Next stop, Montenegro!

Blusterous Bulgaria

noreply@blogger.com (Kimberly) — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 10:40:00 -0700

Bulgaria was COLD and I was pretty miserable there actually. I allotted exactly one day for Sofia, the capital, and the city didn't do much for its reputation of being the worst of Bulgaria. With the weather being as miserable as it was, however, I may not have enjoyed any other Bulgarian cities either. It was awfully snowy and windy, the sights to see were unspectacular, and it was a Sunday so most shops were closed.

During a snowstorm, I saw a lot of churches:

The famous Alexander Nevsky Cathedral:

Sofia’s version of the Hagia Sophia:

St. George Rotunda:

You can see the snow falling!

and St. Joseph's (Catholic Church):

I Did luck out that it was Sunday because I got to hear the choirs performing in their churches and get a taste of the amazing acoustics in these buildings.

Unfortunately, Sunday also meant that every place I passed with Bulgarian food – with the exception of fast food (kebabs/doners/burgers/pizzas) – was closed. I had McDonald’s and KFC before I could find the moussaka I’d been longing to try. I’m not sure how authentic it was because I got it from a (chain) restaurant called Soupteria, but it was delicious!

I think I thought moussaka was either a soup or bread-with-filling, but it turns out it’s more lasagna-esque than anything. It is a mix of minced meat, eggplant, tomatoes, and potatoes with cheese on top. For dinner I had one of the “must-try’s” of Bulgarian food: Shopska Salad.

Yuck!

Shopska salad consists of tomatoes, onions, bell peppers, cucumbers, and sirene (feta-like) cheese. I didn’t think it was possible, but it was way too cheesy and I felt pretty sick afterwards. I’ve seen it on almost every menu I’ve seen since leaving Bulgaria, but I will pretty much never order it again. I'm living and learning :) One other famous Bulgarian food is the banitsa, a flaky, burek-like pastry with a variety of fillings.

This is but one small piece of banitsa; they usually bake it in great big round tray in a spiral. (See also http://www.dobrinite.com/nay-vkusnata-banitsa-mesyat-v-sofiya.html)

The meat one I had was just okay, but the homemade one with egg and cheese from my hostel was delicious!

Before getting to Bulgaria, I had read that people were friendly...they were! I asked a woman for directions to the post office and she in turn asked two people how to get there on my behalf. She then went with me to buy stamps from a kiosk, waited while I filled out the envelopes (they made me put the postcards in envelopes), pointed me to the mailbox, and 10-15 minutes later, went on her way wishing me a good day. Such a nice lady :) Then again, the person whose help I didn’t want at the bus station followed/"helped” me and then requested a tip. That’s definitely one of the hardest parts of traveling for me… I just never know who is actually nice and who is trying to get money from me (by selling something/asking for tips/thieving...).

Anyway, I saw the sights, ate the foods, and sent some postcards; less than 24 hours after arrival, I was on a bus for Skopje, Macedonia. I know Sofia isn’t supposed to be the best of Bulgaria, but I can’t honestly see myself coming back.

Off to Skopje!

Up Next: The Yugosphere!

Turkiye

noreply@blogger.com (Kimberly) — Thu, 5 Apr 2012 13:12:00 -0700

View of Eminonu and the rocking balik ekmek boats

Skipping Russia: Originally, I planned to take a ferry from Sokcho (South Korea) to Vladivostok (Russia) and begin my Eurotrip adventure from there. Obtaining a visa for Russia became far too cumbersome that I decided to skip Russia, Mongolia, and the Transiberian railroad altogether. In Indonesia, they said I had to be a resident of the country for 90 days to obtain a visa in Indonesia as a U.S. citizen. In Korea, they said it could be done, but it would take a week. Because they require a passport when visiting the JSA, the earliest I would have been able to turn in my passport would have been March 26^th. The next ferry after visa processing time wasn’t until April 4^th! Basically, I wasn’t willing to hang out in Korea that long and then have to rush through Russia to be in Venice by May 4^th. (Mom, Stacy, and Kamal are coming to meet me!)

I ended up flying from Seoul to Istanbul because it was the cheapest flight out of South Korea that wasn’t to China (though I did have layovers in Beijing and Urumxi before arriving at midnight in Istanbul). I spent the night at the airport and have since hit the ground running without any foreseeable “break” in the near future. :)

Inside the Hagia Sophia

Istanbul Day 1: I liked the city immediately. It was beautiful, busy, and full of interesting sights even in the ride from the airport to the city. I loved the Blue Mosque, named after the thousands of tiles that decorate the interior walls of the mosque.

Blue Mosque Exterior

Blue Mosque Interior

I also did a compulsory visit to the Hagia Sophia. It has been a Byzantine church, a Roman church, and a mosque in its history and is now currently a museum. I could have given it a miss because I didn’t really get much out of my 20TL admission fee. I find icons boring, who knew, but here's a particularly famous (and old) one of Jesus:

I wandered through the Gulhane Park that borders the famous Topkapi Palace and was unfortunately just a week or two too early for tulip season. It was a lovely day and a great start to Turkey :)

The next day, I visited a hamam, went to Asia for five minutes, ferried to Eminonu, wandered around the Grand Bazaar and the Spice Bazaar, and then took a 10pm overnight bus to Pamukkale. Such a random day! A hamam is a traditional Turkish bath house. First, you lay on a hot marble slab and sweat (a lot). I had paid extra for the scrub down and massage so after a while, my attendant arrived and gave me a rather abrasive scrub down all over my body. I had so much dead skin on me! It looked like little blackish/gray worms all over my skin. (Gross!) She rinsed me off and then had me lay on the marble slab for the soap massage portion of our session. She had a soapy cloth, lathered me, and then gave me a quick (and again abrasive) massage. It was unique, to say the least. I lay on the marble slab for a bit longer, rinsed a bit more, and after an hour and a half total, I made peace with the hamam. People rave about the experience being really relaxing and feeling cleaner than ever… I can’t say I felt either of those things, but I’m glad I had the experience. :)

Istanbul is the only city to straddle two continents which is why I was able to go to Asia for five minutes. I took a ferry from Besiktas to Uskudar, and then left soon after on a ferry from Uskudar to Eminonu. The Grand Bazaar was fun, but the Spice Bazaar was even better! I had no intention of buying anything yet ended up buying tea for Mom and sampling really good pistachio Turkish delight :)

Pamukkale: 10 hours away from Istanbul is the city of Pamukkale. Pamukkale is famous for its spectacular Travertines.... I loved them!

Calcium and carbonate react to create calcium carbonate and limestone creating the “Cotton Castle” of Pamukkale. The Travertines were absolutely stunning and, in and of itself, worth the trip from Istanbul. Above the Travertines lies the ancient city of Hierapolis:

Since admission to Hierapolis was included in the 20TL admission to the Travertines, I visisted the amphitheater, the Martyrdom of St Phillip, the agora, and the necropolis. The ruins of Hierapolis were cool to see and parts of the walk were really beautiful with red poppies and flowers springing up over the ruins.

I, however, devoted most of my time and attention to the magnificent Travertines. Definitely go visit Pamukkale if you’re ever in Turkey!

I took an overnight bus from Pamukkale back to Istanbul and had one last day to visit Camlica (CHAHM-lee-zha) Hill, buy some souvenirs, and eat all the Turkish foods I hadn’t tried yet.

View from Camlica Hill

Depending on what you’re eating, food is CHEAP in Turkey! For my first meal, I started off with a 3TL chicken doner and ayran (signature sour yogurt drink of Turkey).

~$1.68 for a chicken sandwich and drink?! Awesome! The ayran wasn’t so good, but then again, I don’t really like yogurt. Manti is Turkish ravioli – bite sized ravioli covered in sour cream and butter/oil; it’s not the healthiest dish, but it’s very, very good:

Gozleme is a Turkish pancake – I had one with spinach and cheese that was reminiscent in taste of a Costco spanakopita. Pide is both a type of bread and a Turkish pizza; the one I had with meat, cheese, and egg was delicious:

Lastly, I tried balik ekmek, a fish sandwich consisting of grilled fish, onions, and cilantro. There are floating boats in Eminonu that only sell balik ekmek and on a Saturday afternoon, the area was packed with people enjoying their fish sandwiches. :) There were also (usually) men everywhere selling simit (basically a sesame bagel ring), roasted chestnuts, and roasted corn.

I had four full days in Turkey and they were wonderful! I’ll be back in May when our cruise docks in Izmir :) I left on my third overnight bus in a row bound for Bulgaria and as of this writing, my Eastern European adventure has officially begun!

Next Up: Bulgaria and the Former Republics of Yugoslavia

My Heart and Seoul

noreply@blogger.com (Kimberly) — Mon, 2 Apr 2012 10:37:00 -0700

For the fourth and final time, Theo came to join me on my travels! When we first looked at flights, we saw a too-good-to-be-true flight for around $900 SEA-ICN roundtrip. It was unavailable, of course. But, at 1am, I happened to look again, saw that it was available, woke Theo up, handed him his credit card and my laptop, and then Korea was a go! I got to South Korea a few days before he did and tried my best not to see any too-noteworthy sights so that I could save them for us to explore together. I did end up learning a ton about the Korean War (which for some reason I knew nothing about?!) at the War Memorial of Korea and visiting the Hwaseong Fortress in Suwon. I picked up Theo at the airport after a couple days and we were off straightaway to Busan.

Mosaic at the War Memorial

Busan: Busan is about 4-5 hours away from Seoul on the southeast coast of South Korea. Seafood is BIG here and I’m almost certain we had it with every meal. Our first and last meals were at the famous Jagalchi Fish Market:

If you have Korean language skills, you can select the fish you want from one of the many vendors downstairs, and then they’ll cook it and serve it to you upstairs. Having no such skills, we went with a standard sashimi, barbeque (PAH-peh-Q), and soup brunch. It was a ton of food for the two of us, but not particularly appetizing or exciting. The sashimi consisted of two kinds of generic white fish, the barbeque consisted of a fishy fish, and the soup was just shy of being salt water with fish bones in it. It was our most expensive meal at 50,000 KRW (~$44) and for me, one of the least appetizing. The second time we went to Jagalchi, we knew enough to refuse the sashimi and barbeque set. We were actually on a quest for live squid… success!

From left to right: Sea squirt, sea cucumber, abalone; Live squid in the center!

Jacky spoke English and worked out a deal for us to try sea squirt, abalone, sea cucumber, and live squid. Once you get over the fact that the squid is still moving as you pick it up with your chopsticks and put it in your mouth, it tastes quite good! The big pieces would suction against our tongues :)

Cable Car to Geumjeong Fortress

I like Busan. We spent our days eating well, sightseeing, and relaxing. We caught the Aquatique show at Lotte Mall (not particularly impressive), went for a cable car ride and hike around the Geumjeong Fortress (beautiful!), visited the beach and the world’s biggest sashimi center, enjoyed the food stalls in the Busan International Film Festival area, and started season 1 of The Wire. We didn’t end up eating at the sashimi center because we didn’t want the same generic white fish again and couldn’t communicate in Korean what we wanted (live squid) or the Four Seasons restaurant that supposedly offered it. Instead, we ended up eating all we could at a Korean barbeque chain called Barbie’s. We ate until we hated ourselves and then the meat burps began…

@ Gwangali Beach

Korean people have been very kind to us. At the food stalls for instance, a guy told us about a spicy gimbap (seaweed wrapped rice roll) that burns your mouth. He pointed, mimed eating it, and then exhaled while fanning his mouth. Probably just for sheer entertainment value, he bought us one. It doesn’t burn so much, but there is all this heat that suddenly enters your mouth after swallowing. You could feel the heat going down your body too :) Also, when we wanted to extend our reservation at the Elysee Motel but couldn’t because they were fully booked, the owner set us up at another place, drove us there a couple kilometers away, and checked out the room with us to make sure it was okay. So nice!

Seoul: We took the free tourist bus from Busan to Seoul that is awesome! (There’s a free service from Seoul to Busan and back for foreigners, the idea being that foreigners should explore cities beyond Seoul.) You’re not technically supposed to use it for one-way travel, and though I felt guilty the entire bus ride, I feel great about it now :) Our first order of business in Seoul was a DMZ/Panmunjeon tour. This was awesome! We went from Camp Kim to Camp Bonifas for a briefing, then had to take military transport to the JSA/Panmunjeon area. Panmunjeon is where talks and negotiations are still held.

North Korea - hoisting an "extremely large" flag to prove superiority

We got to enter the room with two very intense, “ROK-ready” soldiers on guard; they lock the North Koreans out when there are tourists inside the room. (They used to only have one soldier on guard but at some point, when a South Korean soldier was trying to lock the door, he got pulled in from the North Korean side so now they have two.) Rok-ready is, I think, a taekwondo fighting stance where the soldiers stand upright, feet hip-width apart, and place their hands in fists at their sides. You could take pictures with the ROK soldiers, but Theo wouldn’t get close enough to see them do their “warning-you-are-too-close” stomps.

While outside, you could see soldiers on guard on the North Korean side … it’s an eerie place knowing how precarious the situation is.

I didn’t find the DMZ part of the tour as interesting because it felt so commercialized and touristy. You can walk through the third tunnel and when they finish building it, you’ll be able to take the monorail down to the start of the tunnel…. We also didn’t get the best view from the Dora Observatory because the weather was quite bad. Our last stop was to Dorasan station which will eventually allow you to take the train from Dorasan to Pyeongyang in North Korea. Preemptive much? From what I understand, Korea is a long way away from unification so this fancy (and probably expensive to build) station seems like a bit of a waste.

I think I heard that Obama went on a tour of the JSA/Panmunjeon area as well. I’m not saying it’s his fault, but because tours weren’t open to the public from March 24^th-March 27^th, we had to rearrange our whole schedule and instead of seeing the cities of Gyeong-ju, Busan, Jeju Island, and Seoul, we had to settle for just Busan and Seoul. You saw a lot of signs for the Nuclear Security Summit while walking around in Seoul but the extensive police force on the street was apparently unrelated.

We happened upon a protest that we found out was a labor party demonstration. It was strange… at the start, they all started dancing and then the police assisted them with their dinner setup. It didn’t seem like a tense atmosphere at all, with the police being relaxed and happily letting us know that there was a demonstration going on.

In Seoul itself, we spent a lot of time exploring palaces and shrines. They’re okay. Increasingly, I realize that I’m not so impressed by things just because they are old. If they are otherwise captivating, then I’m pretty enthusiastic about a visit. Gyeongbokgung, Changdeokgung (+ Secret Garden), Deoksugung, Changgyeongung, and the Jongmyo Shrine were all just okay. I’m glad I got to see them, but I never really have to see them again and probably will forget them soon.

Outside of Gyeongbokgung Palace

...and inside the palace grounds

We wandered through the major shopping areas of Namdaemun, Dongdaemun, and Myeongdong. Namdaemun was good for souvenir and seaweed shopping, Dongdaemun had an amazing hole-in-the-wall restaurant serving a pot of spicy whole boiled chicken:

Myeongdong had a really great takalbi (chicken stir fry):

The markets in Seoul were always fun too!

On Saturday night, we went out in Dongdaemun, had a blast at a noraebang (private karaoke room), and then danced to K Pop at a club in Hongdae.

Dongdaemun

On food: I had been warned about the food in Korea being pretty repetitive and getting old fast. I think if I hadn’t had a friend in Suwon, I would have been pretty unhappy. It’s exciting to have all those side dishes, but I feel like one can only have so much pickledness and kimchi. In the US, I feel like there are three Korean foods that are pretty popular: Bibimbap (vegetables/meat on top of rice), Bulgogi (thin-sliced fatty beef), and Korean BBQ.

typical Korean BBQ

Bibimbap

One of my favorite Korean foods: Sundubu!

I think bibimbap and bulgogi are some of the least tasty things we ate on our trip. Standard Korean BBQ also becomes boring because the cuts of meat are so ridiculously fatty that, while you can stomach them in lettuce wraps, they make you feel horrible afterwards. I would never have heard of the takalbi, spicy boiled whole chicken, kimchi haemul pajeon (seafood kimchi pancake), and this soup with chunks of pork falling off the bone if it weren’t for Hanna. My best meals were with her :)

Who’s Hanna?: Hanna is a friend from Cal and an amazing host! Hanna and I were RAs (Resident Assistants) together in 2005 and though we pretty much haven’t spoken in six years, she was as great and fun as I remember her being. :) I stayed with her in Suwon (just outside of Seoul) both before and after Theo left. She introduced me to amazing foods and it was with her that Theo and I had a great night out in Dongdaemun and Hongdae. Thanks Hanna for an amazing time in Korea!

I put Theo on a bus bound for Incheon International Airport after a rushed takalbi lunch with Hanna. Although I will be home in about three months, I still surprised myself with some farewell tears. Theo got upgraded to first class flying South Korea to Vancouver while I set about researching Turkey!

Up Next: Skipping Russia, Istanbul, and Pamukkale!

Japan, What's Not To Love?

noreply@blogger.com (Kimberly) — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 23:28:00 -0700

Everyone-especially the man with samples-was super nice!

On account of matching flight dates with UW’s spring break, Japan, unfortunately, was a 48-hour whirlwind. On the upside, it was a fantastic two days eating amazing food and spending time with my aunt. :)

Before I arrived in Tokorozawa, just outside of Tokyo, I had big plans for my time in Japan. I wanted to see all the places I remember loving the only other time I have visited – in April 2007. I stopped in Japan for a week during my Spring 2007 Semester at Sea and I remember being utterly charmed by how delightful everything was. I loved that the train was packed with a bunch of men in black suits during rush hour and that my (tall and awesome) friend Leah, dressed in her bright pink sweatshirt, was caught in the middle of them. I loved that the man I asked for directions didn’t understand me when I said, “Excuse me, could you tell me where the baseball stadium is?” But when I said “base-uh-ball-ooh,” breaking up the word baseball and saying it slowly, he understood me perfectly and pointed me on my way. I loved that when I attended a Giants game in Tokyo, I got my beer filled while sitting in my seat by a girl carrying a keg on her back. I also loved that this devious sushi chef concealed a pea-sized amount of wasabi under the best nigiri I’d ever had in my life. After getting over this dying sensation from the wasabi, I had a chance to really appreciate this mindnumbingly delicious seared baby octopus. I didn’t see it this last time in Japan, and I haven’t found it anywhere else, so I will definitely be back for it someday, hopefully soon...

These were much more fun this time around!

This time, I arrived in Japan pretty exhausted because I lost a night and the better part of a day flying from Perth to Singapore on Tiger Airways and then switching to United for my flight from Singapore to Tokyo. I had to take three different trains to get from Narita to Tokorozawa and for half of my 2.5 hour journey, I had my 40lb pack weighing down on me while being squished in the rush hour crowd. Good times. I was picked up soon after arriving in Tokorozawa by Tante June and her friend Catherine. Thus, the eating began.

Tante June and Me

Homemade sukiyaki for dinner along with sashimi, assorted salads, and fried oysters and tofu:

Great dinner! I cracked a raw egg into my bowl to start and spooned non-boiling soup on top. Good thing the egg was fresh :)

The next day, after a random breakfast of a surprisingly tasty fish-egg sandwich, an avocado, an orange, and a macha latte, we went to lunch!

Tabehodai or viking is what they call all-you-can-eat meals. This was the first buffet I’d been to that I just wasn’t quite sure what to do. I didn’t know which sauces went with which foods and which foods you could just place on your wooden plate, and which needed their own little bowls. Oh Japan…

Keeping good company in Tokorozawa :)

I thought I’d have this day to myself to explore downtown Tokyo and perhaps even pop into SBI’s Tokyo office. (SBI = Strategic Business Insights = my former employer) Unfortunately, I didn’t even get anywhere close to central Tokyo. Instead, my aunt and her friends took me to Odaiba to see, of all things, a Statue of Liberty. I had actually been to Odaiba before, but somehow either missed or had no recollection of seeing the statue. I remember crossing the very same bridge with my friends, however, and walking on the beach avoiding dead jellyfish. It’s a bit as if I’ve missed seeing Times Square in New York City not having had the chance to make it to Shinjuku in Tokyo. Then again, I’ve been to New York plenty of times where Times Square wasn’t even an afterthought...

Statue of Liberty & the Rainbow Bridge, Odaiba

In addition to the random Statue of Liberty in Odaiba, I got to see a beautiful sunset and cherry blossoms! I had heard it had been a cold winter and that I was too early for the sakuras. I think we may have found some of the first for the season, certainly the first that my aunt and her friends had seen, so they were just as excited as I was.

1st cherry blossoms of the season!

After a trip to Daiso, we had Dinner #1: Sashimi! (Note: Daiso is pretty much the best store ever! Everything is 100 Yen and compared to the products in our dollar stores at home, things here are high quality with a delightful Japanese influence!)

The roe (fish eggs) was so fresh that I really enjoyed it (I find it gross in the US…) and the scallop (hotate) was fantastic. I didn’t get to try anything new like fish sperm sashimi or crab sashimi, but that’ll be for next time :)

While we were grilling our post-sashimi squid, an earthquake struck. Apparently it was 6.1 in magnitude, but because it was off the coast, we only felt a 4 or 5. I remember feeling no fear, just slight amusement at how long the shaking went on! I had time to register that an earthquake was happening, marvel at the shaking, glance up at the lights swinging above me, and wonder when I’d be able to eat my squid. (Probably not the best response in an emergency situation...) People in the restaurant were quick to shut off all the gas burners and then once the shaking stopped, every other person was on their cell phone. (Eating soon resumed and the squid was awesome!)

Dinner #2: Ramen

I probably didn’t need a whole one to myself after Dinner #1, but it was really, really good ramen! Not bad for about 650 Yen (~$8). I can't say I'm enough of a ramen connoisseur that I can really appreciate the difference between authentic ramen and instant noodles, but it was good stuff nonetheless.

For breakfast the next morning, Tante June made me an amazing okonomiyaki – my first, in fact. Okonomiyaki is like a savory pancake with seafood and vegetables mixed into a batter; it is pan-fried. You drizzle special okonomiyaki sauce over the top and then sprinkle katsobushi (dried cuttlefish?) on top. Delicious!

Lunch, and my last meal in Japan: Tempura. Three months ago, when I asked Tante June about her favorite place to eat, she named this tempura place. I was skeptical because I pretty much only eat tempura when I can strip the ebi (shrimp) of its batter. But this tempura was incredible! I don’t know how they make it so good, but it was the best tempura I’ve ever had and probably ever will have…

After lunch, Tante June and Catherine put me on a limousine bus bound for the Narita International Airport. I was extremely sad to leave Japan.... I loved getting to spend time with Tante June and her friends and beyond that, I just love Japan! What’s not to love? My visit was way too short and getting back here is high on my future travel list.

Up Next: My Heart and Seoul

G'day Mates!

noreply@blogger.com (Kimberly) — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 15:07:00 -0700

View from the 37th floor of the Verve

My last week in Australia started in Melbourne and ended in Perth, but more importantly, my last week in Australia was a week among friends (mates!). :) Even planning my visit to Melbourne was very exciting because I was headed to a city where I knew quite a few people - I almost needed my Google Calendar! (I haven’t had a use for it in the last year and I’ll admit, I’ve dearly missed poring over my calendar and making plans with friends…) :)

Heather & Adam at the Moroccan Soup Bar

I arrived late (~1am) at Heather’s house in Melbourne and it wasn’t until I realized I couldn’t stop smiling that it had been more than six months since our farewell in Dahab. Heather was my favorite person on the Oasis Overland truck and I'm so happy I got to visit her at home! I spent four nights with Heather and (her boyfriend) Adam in their beautiful Northcote house.... They live the way I want to live when I move back to the US. Not only have I acquired a recipe for the best chicken ever, but we also enjoyed a few happy hours, surprisingly good vegetarian food at the Moroccan Soup Bar, delicious homemade spring rolls, and a fabulous meat extravaganza at Vlado’s. (Note: They don’t really do happy hours in Australia the way they do in America.... Happy hour in Australia generally appears to mean that drinks cost the same, it’s just that the bar is more crowded with people coming from work!)

Heather, Adam, Ewan & I @ Vlado's

Heather and Adam took me out for an early birthday celebration where in four courses at Vlado’s, three of them were meat!! The first course was a pretty stellar pork and beef sausage, the second course was a smorgasbord of four different meats, the third course was a massive filet mignon, and the final course was a dessert of ice cream and strawberries. Amazing! Heather and Adam are coming to the US next year – I can’t wait to see them again and get the chance to spoil them in Seattle :)

Federation Square

Cute school children @ Federation Square

While they were at work, I took the opportunity to explore quite a bit of Melbourne. I spent one day walking from hip and artsy St. Kilda to the colored boxes at Brighton Beach, and most other days wandering the many beautiful gardens and cool museums in Melbourne.

Brighton Beach - Colored Boxes

The Immigration Museum had a “Child Migrants” exhibit depicting the plight of thousands of children who were sent away from England to work in and populate Australia. Both England and Australia have issued formal apologies to these people who suffered harsh conditions, abuse, estrangement, and more. I had no idea! The Melbourne Museum has a lot of cool exhibits where you can learn about anything from dinosaurs to digestion. My favorite exhibit was the bug room and getting a close-up look at live huntsman spiders and red back spiders that couldn’t get to me!

Blender Lane

I saw a lot of nice artwork by local street artists on Blender Lane and paintings from bigger name artists like Monet and J.M.W. Turner at the NGV International and Ian Potter Museum. I discovered that I’m not too fussed about aboriginal art, though some of the colors are nice I guess.

Melbourne Arts Center - Super swanky inside!

I also happened to do a tour of parliament that was surprisingly awesome! Unlike the parliament tour I took in New Zealand, we got to sit in the members’ chairs and really learn about what goes on in Victoria. One definite must-see is the State Library of Victoria (SLV) - it's open to the public and just beautiful!

La Trobe Reading Room - State Library of Victoria

Wandering through Melbourne, I realized it’s true what they say about Melbourne being a city to live in, not be a tourist in. There’s an entire culture and attitude to immerse yourself in and it’s more about spending time at cafes/bars, relaxing in one of the city’s gardens, and spending an entire day enjoying a festival or museum than checking off a list of top spots. I’m very happy I had friends to experience Melbourne with :)

Heather, Seona, and I @ Trunk

Just before the meat extravaganza, I was able to meet up with Seona, a girl I met a year ago in Bolivia; she was at that soccer game with Oliver and me. It is amazing how different people look from when they are traveling and when they live in the real world… I would not have recognized this tall, pretty blonde girl if she hadn’t come up to me and given me a hug!

The Toomey's @ their Verve apartment

The day after the meat extravangaza, I got to spend some time with the Toomey’s! Megan and Kelly (from my Antarctica trip) had recently moved to Melbourne. The three of us, along with not Heather, but her brother (Ewan) and sister (Jeanne), went to the footy. The Sydney Swans just barely lost in an exciting pre-season NAB cup game. Ewan bought us all pies so that we could have the quintessential footy experience: Watching the footy with a beer in one hand and a (meat) pie in the other. Footy is exciting! The sport reminds me of a combination of football, rugby, and basketball and the guys look super hardcore tackling each other with no padding whatsoever! There is apparently a moment when everyone yells “ball!” but I never got that right… Ben and Sarah from Brisbane joined us after the footy to form this incredibly random group of people spending a fun Friday night together.

Ben, Sarah, and I

The last people I got to see in Melbourne were my cousin Siung Siung and his wife Shierly. If you can recall that first wedding I went to in Indonesia, they were the ones who got married (January 2011). Now, Shierly is very, very pregnant!

Siung Siung & Shierly at the Crown Casino

We had great “Thailand food” for dinner, a nice wander around the Crown Entertainment Complex, and then hung out at home watching The Fast and the Furious 5! They were super excited about the movie and I actually had a lot of fun watching it :)

I flew into Perth with exactly two days and one night to see as much of the city as possible. Success! Ryoka picked me up and took me for some sightseeing before her boyfriend Ben took us girls out for the best breakfast I had in Australia!

Ben & Ryoka

Breakfast at Pizzaca - Amazing!!!

I met Ryoka and Ben about six years ago in Lithuania; they were traveling the world (and actually inspired my travels!) while I was on vacation during my semester abroad in Moscow. We basically spent one night together celebrating Ben’s birthday in Lithuania so even though I am pretty much a stranger to them, they were incredibly kind to me. We were out all day Sunday burning our tongues at the Chili Festival, exploring Cottesloe Beach, swimming at Brighton Beach, and having dinner at their Scarborough home.

I found out Mandy and Lee from my Africa truck were back from their travels and also living in Perth! Really random, but when we finally got in touch, we figured out that they were also staying in Scarborough about a 10 minute walk from Ryoka’s house!! So I spent my last meal before flying to Japan with Ben, Ryoka, Mandy, and Lee eating burgers on the beach. Perth is absolutely beautiful and I wish I hadn’t rushed through; it is a city I could see myself living in and at the very least, visit again and again. I can still hear Mandy laughing about my hardcore style of traveling and how fast I move from one place to the next. It’s fitting though because as I write this, I’ve already “done” Japan and am waiting to catch my flight to Korea. :)

Mandy & Lee

Next up: My “Homeland” – Japan!

Kiwiland

noreply@blogger.com (Kimberly) — Sun, 4 Mar 2012 20:15:00 -0800

Note on Kiwis: New Zealanders refer to themselves as Kiwis, after the native, endangered, and flightless kiwi (bird.) Kiwis as we know them - the fruit - are always referred to here as kiwifruit. Kiwifruit is expensive - often $5.99/kg; I tried one and it was surprisingly different from kiwis back home. The flesh was lighter in color and the fruit was a different kind of sweet, almost honey-like - pretty delicious :)

Auckland: Auckland is the “city of sails” and the former capital of New Zealand. Because accommodation was cheaper here than in any other city I was visiting, I stayed four nights – the longest hostel stay of my traveling career I think. I stayed at the YHA Auckland International and it was pretty amazing although I admit my standards have fallen tremendously after some of the hostels I stayed in in Australia. This one had no cockroaches crawling the walls of the kitchen or dorm rooms (win!)…. It was actually the cleanest hostel I’ve stayed in with great facilities and a massive kitchen. As for Auckland itself, I was not impressed the first few days I was there. Basically, the weather was like the weather in Seattle and it felt wrong to be spending time in rainy, crappy weather by myself when I could have been doing the same thing with Theo...

So I was mad at Auckland for the rain, wind, and not-so-impressive sights. To do anything worthwhile, it seemed you had to pay $100+ for a tour. I was really missing Sydney at this point because it was so easy (and cheap enough) to be a tourist there. In Auckland for example, the Waitakere Ranges are supposed to be beautiful with 250km of hiking trails. However, the closest public transportation will get you is 6kms away from the start of any trail so by the time you start the hike, you are already exhausted; tours were starting from $150…. I spent a lot of my time wandering Queen St., the waterfront, and the city’s parks and gardens. The Auckland War Memorial Museum was one of the highlights because it has something for everyone including Maori history, earthquake simulations, ecosystems of New Zealand, and a “Weird and Wonderful” exhibit that lets you get an up-close view of different (dead) bugs. (I found the bug part super fascinating!) I had the chance to reunite with the first of my truckmates from Africa – Matt! Together, we enjoyed the first sunshine I’d seen in New Zealand and fish and chips beachside in Mission Bay :)

On Pronunciation: New Zealand has its own special way of pronouncing things. I remember when I first met Matt and his wife Jen, they said “Gin” for Jen so I thought her name was Gin for the longest time. According to Matt, we had our fish and chips with “tar-tier” sauce lol Spellings and emphases can be difficult too: “Waitakere,” is why-TAK-uh-ree as opposed to why-tuh-KEE-ree like I thought. With Maori words, the “wh” is pronounced with an f sound so the name Whakarewarewa is “FUCK-uh-ray-wuh-ray-wuh.” Very confusing, but fun :) Kiwis also like to use the word "as" like we use "hella": cheap-as, sweet-as, smart-as, etc...

Rugby: Thanks to Oliver, I got to see my first rugby match: Blues v. Crusaders! I met Oliver in Bolivia – he was there for my first soccer game and now my first rugby experience. It was so exciting! The city provides free buses and trains to and from select matches – really nice! Oliver got us great tickets (!) that would be similar to 40-yard-line seats at a football game; we were close to the field too! I researched rugby rules and though I can’t say I understand everything, I was able to identify a scrum, ruck, and maul. Sometimes it still looks to me like the guys are just continually crashing into each other, but I definitely appreciate the sport more. The atmosphere is amusingly civilized too because if you hear young guys shouting anything remotely obscene or booing even, some of the older people start lecturing them about there being “no need for such language.” This was the kickoff game to the rugby season after the New Zealand All Blacks had won the 2011 Rugby World Cup and although the team I was rooting for (Blues) just barely lost, it was a really, really great night! Thanks, Oliver!

Waitomo: Stopped in Waitomo for an hour (literally) en route to Rotorua. I was off to see the famous glow worm caves! In the light of day, you can see thin strands dangling from the ceiling and in the dark, you basically look up in this pitch-black cave and see thousands of tiny lights. It was like getting to see a beautiful starry sky in the middle of the day – no Southern Cross or Milky Way though :)

Rotorua: They say that “Rotorua Stinks.” It is, in fact, one of the few places in the world you can get away with passing gas with no one being the wiser. It is a very thermally active area with tons of geysers, hot springs, and bubbling mud pools.

Walking around the Kuirau Park, Lake Rotorua , and the Government Gardens, I felt really happy… it was just so beautiful and peaceful (despite the occasional whiff of sulfur…)

Government Gardens

Tamaki Village: At the Tamaki Village near Rotorua, you can experience a taste of Maori culture.

They shuttle 100+ people over to the village each night, perform a welcoming ceremony (wherein the chief of the village throws down a peace challenge to the visiting ‘chief’), show you traditional games, weaving, and carvings, perform songs and a haka, and prepare a hangi feast.

Hangi: First Plate (my second plate was even more full...)

Hangi is a traditional meal cooked under the ground and the entire reason I wanted to visit the Tamaki Village. It was an opportunity to try hangi, New Zealand lamb, and the famous pavlova dessert! The lamb was surprisingly delicious – I think because it had earthy hangi flavors instead of gamey flavors. Pavlova is a cake made almost exclusively of egg-whites and sugar – it’s like a meringue, but even more rich and sweet. Kiwis and Aussies like to debate about where the dessert originated.

On Food: Fish and chips are widely popular in both Australia and New Zealand… having tried them numerous times, I can’t say they are especially good, they’re just regular fish and chips as far as I'm concerned; you can probably find better at Red’s in San Francisco :) Sushi has been fun in New Zealand though because a lot of places do takeaway sushi where you select what you want starting at $1 per piece. The pieces are pretty huge and well packed with fresh fish. Generally, it is expensive to eat out in New Zealand and I’ve been cooking often for fear of paying a lot for food and being disappointed with it. In Wellington, for example, I had the worst Indian food ever – my $18 curry tasted like tomato soup. :( Though I’ve been craving a burrito, I haven’t been able to bring myself to pay $18 for one so I ended up buying all the ingredients and making my own (for 5 meals) :)

Sweets: The other day I discovered the ice cream flavors “hokey pokey,” “goody goody gumdrops,” and “candy floss”: Hokey pokey is vanilla ice cream with bits of caramel in it – pretty good; Candy floss is kind of cotton-candy flavored – weird; Goody goody gumdrops, though, is basically bubblegum ice cream without the annoying bubblegum – it’s amazing!!! Mrs. Higgins is their version of Mrs. Fields – Mrs. Fields is way better! L&P (Lemon and Paeroa) is their famous soda – it’s like a carbonated lemon soda that’s nice while drinking, but has a funky aftertaste that gives you bad breath after.

Huka Falls, Taupo

Taupo: I took a bus from Rotorua into Taupo. Lake Taupo is massive and in total kilometers, is about the size of Singapore. The drive from Waitomo to Rotorua and Rotorua to Lake Taupo were incredible btw. New Zealand is blessed with so much beautiful scenery pretty much any direction you look. In Taupo, I walked to the famous Huka Falls and had a nice wander around town; I used the city as my base for doing the Tongariro Crossing.

Tongariro National Park: In the Tongariro National Park, you can do the famous 19.4km Tongariro Crossing, reputed to be one of the top ten day hikes in the world. It is a one way hike starting at one end of the park and finishing at the other. You see a ton of different landscapes as you hike up the devil’s staircase, stare in awe at Mt. Doom from Lord of the Rings, pass amazing lakes and mountains, and finish with a walk through a forest.

In the end, it was a good day and a good hike, though during parts of it, I was miserable... so miserable I almost would have rather been at work writing a viewpoints on RFID... almost. I discovered that my hydration pack doesn’t work – it leaks. When I picked it up off the floor of the bus, there was a puddle there. The water had soaked through the pack so when wearing it, I had a cold spot on my back. I didn’t have gloves or a hat, not knowing that it would be freezing(-2 to -5 degrees with windchill). At one point, my hands were like ice from dealing with the hydration pack, the wind was trying to knock me down blowing 50+km/hour, volcanic grit was flying in my face, and I was cursing my Buddy who had recommended the hike to me. I kept walking though and then suddenly it dawned on me how happy I felt: I had just had a brownie, the sun was getting warm, and everywhere I looked it was incredibly beautiful. Overall good hike, I’d do it again – just better prepared next time.

Wellington: To do the Tongariro Crossing, I got up around 5am… hiked fairly quickly (5 ½ hours)… and then caught a bus that night at 1am to Wellington. I slept horribly on the bus, arriving in town around 6:30am. I was exhausted all that day, but it was a good one spent with another friend from my Africa trip: Gary! I think we may have talked more this day than the entire time on the truck, but Gary was so kind as to show me the famous Te Papa museum and the view from Mt. Victoria, take me on an amazing drive down the coast to the red rocks, and introduce me to his very nice aunt. Thanks Gary! Despite being so cold and windy, I liked Wellington – there was a lot to see and do and it was a very walk-able city, rated #4 best city to visit according to Lonely Planet. :)

Driving along the Esplanade with Gary... (also got to see it from the other side on the ferry!)

Cook Strait: Rough. I don’t get seasick, I just fall asleep if the boat is rocking too much. So I got on the Interislander ferry with every intention of enjoying the scenery around me, but I woke up to discover that I’d been asleep for two hours. The seas were really rough getting out of Wellington with waves as high as nine meters. Coming in to Picton though, things calmed down and it was just beautiful entering the Marlborough Sounds. There was a pod of dolphins to escort us in too, awesome!

Picton: Nothing here except that it’s the gateway to the Marlborough Sounds and has a nice hostel (Sequoia Lodge) that does nightly free chocolate pudding and ice cream :)

Apparently it's too early for snow... (Kaikoura coast)

Kaikoura: The town is famous for whale watching/dolphin trips but the weather was pretty dire when I was here. Expensive boat trip in the cold? Not this time. I found out though that crayfish is famous here and thought I might try some. I thought that crayfish were those small little shrimp-like things… turns out, that’s crawfish. Crayfish is actually rock lobster, and therefore really expensive! Discouraged at the ridiculously high prices I saw in town, I thought I might have to give it a miss. But, I found out that there’s a seafood bbq place about 45 minutes away on foot that does half-crayfish. When I got there, the lady let me pick my crayfish (whole) and split it for me. It was amazing! By far, the nicest meal I’ve had in New Zealand: (and not too bad for rock lobster at $27.50)

Christchurch: I had heard that there’s nothing to do in Christchurch other than see the damage from the earthquakes in 2011. True.

Foreigners and locals alike stood watching demolitions and peering into fenced-off, deserted areas. Many of the stores have set themselves up in containers while the buildings are being evaluated for their safety/retrotfitted for earthquake safety - this might have been the coolest thing I saw in Christchurch:

I'm not sure I'd like the city even if all the main attractions weren't closed off.... It was cold and windy and I spent the majority of my time using the free internet at the library. (As a whole in New Zealand, I actually spent a lot of time visiting botanic gardens (free and beautiful) and city libraries ([usually] free internet)) :)

Basically I had two weeks in New Zealand and it was not nearly enough time (and a $32/day budget is not nearly enough money) to really enjoy yourself here. That said, I did what I could in the time I had and I think I made the most of it. :) Unlike Australia, where there were things I definitely wanted to do, I had no idea what was in store for me in New Zealand other than adventure activities (skydiving, bungy jumping, jetboating, etc…) that I had no interest in. (I’ve already been skydiving [once] and bungy jumping [three times].) When I did research on New Zealand, I made this list of places that all looked amazing. But, when I figured out how much it would cost to do them all, I had to cut out about half of the places in the interest of time and budget. I’ve seen several highlights of the North Island but pretty much none of the South Island which is said to be the best part. I’d like to come back to dedicate a lot of time to the South Island and all the places I missed. I also need a travel buddy willing to rent a car with me and drive on the wrong side of the road. :) The scenery I Did see was absolutely stunning and I’m very excited to get to see the rest someday. New Zealand, I’ll be back.

Waitomo River

(every body of water I saw had light colors that were especially stunning in the sunshine.... I like the deep blue of the Pacific Ocean, but this is so much prettier!)

*Sorry this was so long, but it was my entire two-week New Zealand experience.

Up next: A week in Australia with friends!!!

Sydney is Awesome!

noreply@blogger.com (Kimberly) — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 14:15:00 -0800

I had three days in this wonderful city and I certainly made the most of them! A friend said it was like London meets San Francisco – it is! It’s bustling and charming with tons of things to do and a lot to see that’s easy to access. Though I probably never will, I could definitely see myself living here if I had the Australian salary to afford it :)

Intermission at the Sydney Opera House

I arrived at 11am on an overnight bus from Byron Bay and within an hour, I was at the very iconic Sydney Opera House, buying a ticket for the afternoon show! It felt like it was kismet… Turandot was the one opera I had always wanted to see because of the song Nessun Dorma and it was here in Sydney! To me, Nessun Dorma is the quintessential aria and to get to see it in basically the quintessential opera house was incredible! I got to use my student ID and ended up with near-center orchestra seat for $55 instead of the usual $215 too! I spent the rest of the day blissfully wandering the streets of Sydney seeing Circular Quay and Chinatown and (literally) everything in between :)

In Sydney, for $21 you can buy a day pass valid for transport on all trains, buses, and ferries. I think I got about $50 worth out of the pass with a trip to the Blue Mountains, a ferry ride from Parramatta to the Sydney Harbor, a bus trip from Circular Quay to Bondi Beach and back, and a ferry to Manly Beach and back. The Blue Mountains – having no relation to Blue Mountain coffee – are a mountainous area about two hour outside of Sydney. The area is beautiful with tons of hiking trails and the famous Three Sisters view from Echo Point:

I was thrilled to be able to see the view and hike to the Wentworth Falls without paying for an overpriced tour to do so. Win! Still a bit beached out, I didn’t leave much time for Bondi or Manly, but the time I did spend on Bondi made me want more.

If i ever come back, I just might have to do a surfing lesson because the surfers looked like they were having a ton of fun. Incidentally, it’s pronounced “bon-die” as opposed to “bon-dee”… I never actually said it right while in Sydney :)

The night ferry ride to Manly was probably one of the highlights of my three days in Sydney.

last photo before my camera died...

I sat at the back of the ferry and as it pulled farther away from the Sydney Harbor, I got the picture perfect view of the Sydney Opera House against the Sydney Harbor Bridge. I got the mental picture at least… it was a bit cold out and my camera battery died before I could take an actual picture. It was just magical though and not something I’ll ever forget!

On my last day in Sydney, I was on a pretty spectacular all-day tour that checked off all the things I definitely wanted to do in Australia. First stop was at a wildlife sanctuary where I got to pet a kangaroo and swoon at two ridiculously adorable koala bears!

So cute! We weren’t able to touch the koalas because one had just had a baby; it was therefore very protective and testy apparently. The other one had been over-pet because of the other one’s pregnancy, so she was testy too. The kangaroos were soft though! I didn’t get to see them box, but that’s something to look forward to one day :)

After a chocolate tasting, we visited several wineries in the Hunter Valley region. I didn’t much like the wine from a boutique winery (even though their wines are supposed to be more pure and healthy than the big commercial wineries), but the view was great!

I really enjoyed the wine from McGuigan’s, "World's Best Winemaker," but couldn’t justify carrying a bottle for the next few months. They have apparently won the top rank at the International Wine and Spirits Competition in London several times. (I wouldn’t want it for myself but for someone back home…) They do exports to the US though, so I am determined find it! (Jojo, if you see a McGuigan’s Traminer Riesling, I think you’d love it!) I Did get two picolos from the last winery because they only sell their wines at the vineyard and nowhere else. (I’m not sure how, but with the wine and some other things, I’ve added five pound to my pack and am now at 19kgs!)

Leaving Sydney was slightly stressful only because my transport there was late. I had been traveling all the way from Cairns on a hop-on-hop-off Greyhound bus pass – traveling was easy and I had a ton of flexibility. I was using my very last ticket to get to the airport. The buses were not late once the entire time I traveled except the one time I needed it to be on time to get to the airport. My (international) flight was scheduled for 1:15pm and the bus was originally going to get me to the airport at 11:15am. The bus didn’t show up until 11:15am (!) and then I sat stressing out while the driver took his break and stood there chatting with people and having a cigarette. Gah! I made it on time and even had a minute to enjoy a pie from the famous Harry’s Café de Wheels. Actually, I had to eat the pie before security because though I had asked if my mashed potatoes and peas would be allowed through (yes), they had gravy on them…. I had the signature Tiger pie from Harry’s – a beef pie with mashed potatoes, peas, and gravy on to. Good stuff, if you like pies… (Pictured here: http://www.google.com/imgres?um=1&hl=en&sa=N&rlz=1C1_____enUS411US411&biw=1024&bih=475&tbm=isch&tbnid=afsnTOYOHYy0NM:&imgrefurl=http://www.thefoodpornographer.com/2010/03/24/curry-tiger-pie-harrys-cafe-de-wheels-haymarket-sydney/&docid=90uX2JTRceCEoM&imgurl=http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4016/4446993176_76a8bcceda.jpg&w=500&h=375&ei=Iq5OT6yZG6ejiAfRnIVQ&zoom=1&iact=rc&dur=341&sig=105326899021656049553&page=1&tbnh=131&tbnw=170&start=0&ndsp=10&ved=1t:429,r:1,s:0&tx=86&ty=85 I didn't chance a photo at airport security) :)

Next stop: Aotearoa – New Zealand!

Beach Bummin' and Brisbane!

noreply@blogger.com (Kimberly) — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 18:31:00 -0800

Before I got to Australia, the two things I definitely wanted to do were dive the great barrier reef and sail the Whitsundays. Done!

The Mandrake

The Whitsundays are a group of 74 islands that form the Whitsunday National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Region. The islands are amazing! I set sail from Airlie beach aboard the Mandrake and spent the next two days sailing this magical place. I had heard from several people that Whitehaven beach on Whitsunday Island is a must-see. It is!

view from Hill Inlet Lookout

I hiked up to the Hill Inlet lookout to see stunning views of the swirling sands and then a little while later, I was on what might possibly be the most beautiful beach in the world (Whitehaven Beach). Beautiful blue water and sparkling white (99% silica) sand make this place its own little paradise.

I would definitely love to get back here one day. Another highlight was hiking on Hayman Island, a privately owned island with hotel stays starting at around $4000/night! (They have their own seaplane to fly guests in and out of the resort!) A small part of the island has a public-access beach and from there, I did a hike to see a really beautiful sunset.

One minute later and we would have missed it! We snorkeled off the island the next morning – Blue Pearl Bay – and with tons of coral and the biggest napoleon wrasse I’ve ever seen, it was the best snorkeling I’ve done in Australia!

It was a truly amazing experience that I think everyone can appreciate. Our skipper aboard the Mandrake was a bit of an ass, but apparently that goes with the territory. :)

Lately, I’ve had A LOT of sun and as a result, am the darkest I’ve ever been in my life. I’ve been incredibly lucky with the weather because apparently it is cyclone season (and jellyfish season) and those days sailing were just perfect with no rain or stingers :) But if I’m being honest, I’m a little sick of the sunshine and have had less appreciation for some of the beach towns I’ve been visiting than I should have. In Agnes Water for instance, I arrived in town on an overnight bus, bummed around the town (that didn’t really have anything to see), and then spent an hour or two on the beach until a sand fly started bothering me. I spent most of my time and energy in the grocery store trying to figure out what I could eat that would cost the least while feeding me the most meals. I bought some stuff to make sandwiches and a kilo of carrots because it was on sale for $0.80! (The sandwiches were a good idea, but I ended up carrying those damn carrots all the way to Sydney!) I made five sandwiches in total but only got to eat four of them – someone in my Rainbow Beach hostel stole one :(

Rainbow Beach

Rainbow Beach: Another beach town. I went to the beach and sat in the shade. I was pretty bored after an hour and went exploring to the nearby Carlo Sand Blow. The Carlo Sand Blow is a massive sand dune that sits at the top of a hill, surrounded by trees. This, too, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and, though not so impressive, was a nice change of pace from the beach.

Carlo Sand Blow

Mooloolaba: Pronounced mah-LOU-luh-buh, I was told this place was awesome. It was okay – another beach town. I walked to the beach and didn’t even stay for five minutes. It was Valentine’s Day and so instead of bumming around the beach for the third day in a row, I treated myself to $6 worth of Internet, a coke slurpee, and a large dominoes pizza. I wasn’t particularly sad to be spending the day by myself or anything, but I somehow ended up eating that entire pizza :)

Brisbane: Being in Brisbane was like a breathe of fresh air. A city! I love cities! Or rather, I like places where there’s more to do than just go to the beach. :) I realize I’m not a relaxed enough person to want to spend more than a day or so just hanging out on the beach so this was definitely a nice change of pace. I started the morning off with a free tour of the botanical gardens. The lady was very nice and had some really cool photos of what the park looked like when it was flooded last year. But, when she kept going on about the ficus, I left to explore on my own. (Who cares about ficus'?) I was able to explore a lot of the city on foot, walking everywhere from the Kangaroo Cliffs, through South Bank, and to the Central Business District.

A lot of cities in Australia that don't have their own beach (or have beaches full of stingers) have these cool lagoons were people can just hang out and swim for free! This is Brisbane's version at South Bank Park.

I actually liked Brisbane a lot – it was one of the first cities I could actually see myself happily living in. Highlight: Having a few beers with friends from my Antarctica trip and learning that “pitcher” is called “jug” here :)

Surfers Paradise: Unfortunately, I didn’t even have a whole day here. As I got on the bus heading from Brisbane to Surfers Paradise, I realized I’d left my passport back at the hostel. Damn! Had to run back to get it, missed my bus, and arrived in the evening in Surfers Paradise. I spent an hour on the beach in the morning and then had to leave soon after to catch a bus to Byron Bay. The beach in Surfers Paradise was beautiful though – cool, refreshing water with really soft white sand. I also happen to really like the skyscrapers along the beach:

Byron Bay: 7 hours in this town – planned. Accommodation was too expensive here ($30+ for a dorm bed) so I spent time on a beautiful beach and did the gorgeous lighthouse walk with amazing views of the area. I was storing my stuff at a place that closed at 6:30 so for two and a half hours, I sat waiting for my bus. Although I did everything I wanted to in Byron Bay, it wasn't nearly enough time - I definitely have to get back here someday.

...one of the views from the lighthouse walk

On Food: In Brisbane, I stumbled upon this amazing farmer’s market on Queen’s St. that seemed to be a true test of willpower. I guess I both passed and failed. Mangoes went on sale – 10 for $5!!! I wanted them so so bad but I was still lugging around bread and carrots, I couldn’t possibly carry 10 mangoes too. But, one mango was $2 and you can’t pay $2 for one mango when you know you can pay $5 for 10! Bah! I had to say no and here I sit, unfortunately mango-less. They were selling ½ kilo/1 kilo bags of produce though – 1 bag for $2 or five bags for $5. This time I couldn’t resist. I got a kilo of potatoes, onions, apples, string beans, and garlic. Then I had to go to the store to buy more food to cook with: Milk, butter, and chicken. I ended up making (and having to carry) enough food for five meals. I looked ridiculous shuttling my stuff from one place to another giving a whole new definition to “the bag lady.” Oh the joys of budget travel :)

Mashed potatoes, green beans, and chicken :)