Back in the Good Ole USA

After 30 something hours of traveling we made it safe and sound to Georgia, where we will spend the next few days before traveling around for the holidays.

Favorites

Here is the list of the favorites and best things we did.

Beer - Pilsner Urquell
Hot Springs - Unnamed, but the one where we got naked.
Place to Stay - Maria's (of course!) in Warsaw
Hotel - Hotel Madhuban (Jaipur India)
Hostel - Funky Green Voyager (Roturura New Zealand)
Meal - First dinner at Auntie in Jaipur
Restaurant Meal - Union Coffee House (New Delhi)
Beach - Ko Phayam Thailand
Wildlife Viewing - Yellow Eyed Penguin
Big City- Budapest
Michael Saying-"I don't know if they're gay or just German."
Ashley Saying- "Buddha says, Spicy in-Spicy out."
Day Hike- Slovensky Raj (Slovakia)
Paid Attraction- Whale Watching
Book read- Mountains Beyond Mountains (Michael), Lonesome Dove (Ash)
Country most likely to return to - India
Favorite Country - New Zealand

This is the end......

Its hard to believe but tomorrow we leave to go home. Its been a long and crazy trip, and we have had a ton of fun. I guess its time to go home and return to the real world of jobs. Oh well, we will do this again.

Since our last update on caves and waterfalls, we have been busy. Two days ago after posting, we went back to our hostel and saw a sea lion on a nearby sand bar. We went out and were blown away to see an adult sea lion playing with a younger one. It was awesome watching them frolic. Too bad the battery on our camera was dead! We saw them again later, and got some good snaps.

Yesterday, we drove up to Oamaru and saw the blue penguins. We watched them arrive in their urban nest with several tour groups and loads of other people. It wasn't as cool as the yellow penguin sighting, but still very entertaining. Those buggers are just plain silly looking. We stayed at a nice hostel with alpacas, which we fed earlier in the day.

Today, we drove up to Christchurch and did a Maori, the semi-indigenous people, show. It was quite good......then we had several drinks at a nearby bar along with dinner.

We are both sad that we are leaving.

Caves and waterfalls

Over the last 2 days, we have seen a myriad of waterfalls along with two caves. They have all been very scenic. Yesterday, we checked out Matai and Papakanui falls, near Otawa (where we are staying). Each one is about a 20 minute walk from the road, which isn't too bad. Both were stunning but Papakanui was better of the two as it was multi-levels of waterfall.

Today we went and checked out McLean Waterfalls, near Papatauni. It was quite a hike straight uphill but was the best of the three waterfalls. From there, we went and checked out the Cathedral Caves. Its these caves on the beach which is only accessible during low tide. They were seriously cool, and Ashley got a little wet walking to them, as it wasn't quite low tide yet.

Tomorrow we are heading up the east coast to Oamaru to see some more penguins, along with doing a brewery tour in Dunedin.

PS - Ashley is obsessed with the sub compact car sitting outside the internet cafe with a 4 puppies and a baby cow in the hatchback.

Seals, Sea Lions and Penguins

We have had a wildlife viewing extravaganza over the last two day. Yesterday we arrived in Surat Bay, on the Catlin Coast in the SE part of New Zealand. We are staying in this isolated little hostel right next to a wildlife refuge. Yesterday we walked from our place to a beach where we saw 3 Hooker Sea Lions (endangered). They were just napping - Ashley was worried they were dead, but was most happy to discover that they were just taking an afternoon snooze, as that is what they do. Today, we headed over to Nugget Bay where we saw some more Sea Lions along with some Seals.

The highlight of the afternoon was seeing the Yellow Eyed Penguin. It is endangered (about 4000 left), and are one of the most ancient penguins out there. They are also unique in that they don't breed in colonies. They are very scared of people and we had to hike to a hut to view them. We ended up seeing 2, maybe 3, penguins. One came out of the water, walked up the beach and stood around. Another went into the water. The third (not sure if its the second or not), came out of the water. They were adorable!!!! Looking totally goofy walking around.

Oh, yeah, I bungee jumped yesterday. It was pretty cool and very scary. I would do it again.......

Every View is a Postcard

So what is so great about new Zealand has all the great landscape elements of America (except desert) but within a 3 hour drive. Yesterday we went from a glacier, to a stunning coast to a mountain town. Today, we tried a hike but it rained on us.....so we read. We decided to skip jet boating, and instead high tail it to this secluded coast with lots of wildlife (penguins, sea lions, dolphins, etc), we hope to see some unique creatures. This may be our last update for a while b.c the area is secluded.

Glacier Love

Yesterday, we hiked up onto the Fox Glacier on the west coast of the Southern Island. It was seriously cool. Its one of the few glaciers in the world that is growing, not shrinking. We did about a four hour hike (with a group) up to the glacier and then onto it. We have some cool pics of the glacier that we hope to get up shortly. We normally shy away from guided tours, as they cost a lot and many times aren't worth it. But this one was quite good. Our guide was knowledgeable and the hike was semi strenuous, plus it was through a temperate rain forest. What a contrast....a glacier surrounded by ferns! Strenuous enough to really wind some other participants (not us though ha, we were winded too).

The day before yesterday, we just hung out in Hokitaka on the west coast. It was a smallish seaside village. We did a nice hike and visited a stunning waterfall, along with getting caught in a road rally on a very small gravel road. It was nerve wracking with all these antique cars driving towards us at high speeds. Anyway, today we head to Wanaka, which is near Queenstown. We hope to do some jet boating there and maybe a bungy jump.

The Crazy Birds of NZ

NZ has some crazy-arse birds! NZ used to be part of the super continent Gondwanaland, but split off early and developed its own crazy ecosystem in which there was only one mammal- a now extinct bat- so birds didn't have predators to worry about, resulting in many of them becoming flightless.

NZ has the only flightless songbird, a wren. Also, the only flightless parrot. And of course the flightless Kiwi. Kiwi's are nocturnal so hard to see, but we have seen some cool birds nonetheless.

While we were whale watching we saw two giant Albatross (largest wing span of any bird in the world). While driving through Arthur's Pass National Park (in NZ's southern Alps) we saw a Kea- the only alpine parrot in the world. He just came walking up to us while we stopped to eat a picnic lunch. NZ also has Black Swans that we have seen in parks and on the coast. I keep hoping to come across a Kiwi with insomnia...

Jay and Carla

So our friends from Denver, Jay and Carla, came to visit us in New Zealand. They just left this morning and we had a grand time with them. They stopped over in Australia and then popped over to New Zealand for an adventuresome 3 days.

We picked them up last Thursday.......and headed straight to our hostel. Luckily Jay and Carla are of the hosteling type, easy to please with the accommodation. Even luckier is that we had a nice hostel not too far from the center of Christchurch. After a quick trip to the market, Jay cooked us an awesome dinner.....veggies and cream sauce over pasta. We then proceeded to get intoxicated and did some bar hopping.

On Friday in the daytime, we headed over to the Canterbury museum in Christchurch and got the low down on Maoris, Antarctica, Colonization and native animals. We then had a nasty drive up to Kaikoura. It was rainy, cold and windy. Our car battery also died along the way. But we made it. We then had a dinner at a local pub, and headed back to the hostel were we caught up with some fellow travelers. Quite a nice time.

On Saturday, we went Whale Watching. See Ashley's post for details. I will say that it was awesome. Saturday night Jay made another fab meal of coconut curry vegetables. Very yummy. We dropped them off this morning.

I have to say that it was a real treat seeing them. They are good friends, who are now much better friends. We made lots of future trip plans together......lol.

Whale Watching

This is something that I have always wanted to do (same with Carla) so given the opportunity to whale watch off the coast of NZ how could we not!

The weather the day before on our drive up to Kaiboura was terrible, windy and overcast...but we all tried to keep a positive attitude that the morning of our whale watch would be okay. It was better than okay, it was totally clear and beautiful! The day before (when we went to see a seal colony) I didn't even know there were snow capped mountains right beside the ocean!

The whale watching was better than I had even hoped. The weather was beautiful, the scenery breathtaking and the whales were amazing! They were giant sperm whales (moby dick). They are deep water feeders and luckily right off the coast of Kaikoura is this really deep underwater canyon that male sperm whales hang out in while they are growing. We saw 3 different whales do 5 dives. Hands down one of the most memorable and amazing experiences of my life!

Good People Along the Way

For the past two days (well we left 2 nights ago, but have been busy) we have been in Wellington staying in the lovely home of our new friends - Margaret and Dave and the real head of the household - Tigger!

Tigger and company were introduced to us through another new friend of ours from our travels, Caroline, who we met in Poland. Caroline is the neighbor of our hostess in Poland, Maria. And remember Maria is our friend Carissa's cousin - Phew!! It was so nice of them to host us and we enjoyed our time there.

But Margaret summed it up really well on our last night, when I was thanking her for their wonderful hospitality (and good cooking - Michael especially liking the homemade lamb sausage). Margaret is exceptionally well traveled and had in her travels also experience very generous hospitality and being that it is difficult to return that hospitality to the same person - you instead pass it on to someone new....as we hope to do down the road in our life.

We met up with Jay and Carla yesterday and plan to go whale watching tomorrow.

Sheep Dodging

Yesterday I drove the rental car for the first time. I have never driven on the opposite side of the road (not "wrong" side, just different- I keep trying to say). It was pretty strange, we keep turning on the windshield wipers instead of the turn indicator because everything in the car is the complete opposite as they are in the states, but after doing it for awhile I got used to it and stopped being nervous- that is until I had to drive through the sheep stampede!

The entire county of NZ has 4 1/2 million people (probably the population of Denver metro from Ft. Collins to CO Springs) but there are 40 million sheep. And yesterday as I was driving this totally curvy road this farmer was herding his sheep right down the highway! At the time I didn't think it was very funny, because sometimes the babies would just stop right in front of my car and baaaa and I was terrified of hitting them because I did as the other drivers did around me and just kept driving through the herd.

This and That

So.....we decided to sleep last night (Sunday) in Waganui before heading to stay with a friend of a friend of a friend of a friend. We didn't do much there, except visit a black sands beach (see flickr) and see Borat. It feels like a sleepy little town, and a nice break from the touristy places we have been going. Today, we will work our way down the west coast of the north island to Wellington.

Thermal Pools

Saturday, we went and checked out the Wai-O-Tapui thermal area. First off we saw the lady knox geyser. We were somewhat disappointed in it as they trigger it to go off as opposed to it going off naturally. From there, we walked around the thermal pools. They were quite impressive being multi-colored and very vibrant.

After the thermal pools, we took a soak in the hot springs we went to the day before. We opted to visit the spring that had the hot and cool streams. We soaked in there until we were as wrinkly as a shairpei. The combination of the hot and cold enable you to stay a long time in the water. We had a nice chat with other visitors as they stopped by and got some suggestions for traveling.

Today our plan was to drive to Tonganero National Park and do the Tonganero Crossing. Well, the weather had different ideas. It was gloomy and overcast....so we skipped the hike and are heading to the shore. We were disappointed about missing the hike as they shot the Mordor scenes there from LOTR there. We could see it from a distance though.

Other musings....
- The hostel we stayed in was the best we have stayed in so far. Clean and very friendly. We were quite pleased with it.
- We have met many Americans in New Zealand. There were about 8 staying at our hostel. It was nice to chat with them.

Buck naked in New Zealand

So far, and we have only been here like 4 days, we LOVE New Zealand!

We are in Rotorua, which is on the North Island, it has the most thermal activity in all of NZ and is full of bubbling mud pools, gurgling hot springs and gushing geysers (we haven't seen any geysers yet, but plan to see some tomorrow).

Today we went on a nice hike around a beautiful, crystal clear lake and then went to 3 all natural, totally free hot springs! Michael and I love to go to hot springs in CO, but these were by far the most beautiful to date! Had to walk a little ways into the bush to get to them. (see pictures on flcker)

The first one was listed in our guidebook. There we meet another tourist who had a hand drawn map to another one. We get there and there is one buck-naked Kiwi! He informs us that this particular hot spring, very tiny with a great waterfall, is nude only. When in NZ...so we stripped down and got in with him. Super hot, but felt great. He also told us about how good the lava ash mud (not the official name but I don't remember what he called it) was for the skin, so we covered ourselves in it, then rinsed off in the waterfall!

Then he told us about another hot spring that actually was a junction of 2 springs- one hot water and one cold water so we went over there to check it out. He came with and told us a lot about NZ.

First thoughts on New Zealand

So, we just arrived in New Zealand last night. It took all day to get from the blue mountains to Auckland (9am-10pm), but so far its worth it. The people are quite lovely, and it appears to much cheaper here than Australia. We are renting a car tomorrow to tour around it. After checking into our hotel, we found out that renting a car was going to be just a little more than taking the bus. We figure the extra freedom will be worth it. Ok, that's all for now. We haven't done much in Auckland today. Ash is getting her hair cut right now, and we spent the morning doing planning on new Zealand.

The Blue Sorta Mountains

So, we decided to escape the craziness of the Australian cities and head to the nearby Blue Mountains for a couple of nights. It was nice to be out in nature and hiking, something we really haven't done since Slovakia. Well, after taking the train from Sydney, we arrived in Kotoomba. The first thing we noticed was that it wasn't really the mountains. More like foothills, or cliffs. There was no visible peaks to us. This isn't to say it wasn't nice, as it was quite relaxing but its a
misnomer to call them mountains.

Yesterday, we did a really nice hike through the park. We walked along a cliff edge and saw some local sights (some waterfalls, three sisters, cockatoos, echo point) check flickr for pics. We enjoyed our time here, but it pales in comparison to the American West.

It was a lovely national park and very well organized. You can walk to the park from the town, or take a shuttle bus. There was also a lot of attractions nearby.....caves, skyways, scenic railroads, etc. We opted to hike instead of ride.

Other musings....
- We head to New Zealand today. I write this from an airport lounge. We are excited about New Zealand, but recognize that it signifies the end of our trip. :-( Only 23 days left until we head home.
- We are quite excited to meet our friends Jay and Carla in New Zealand. We are going to have a blast.
- Australia was nice, but its pretty much just like America with funny accents and driving on the wrong side of the road.
- I would like to put a museum in my basement when we return to America. For some reasons, museums make me sleepy and it would nice to have a way to fall asleep when I have insomnia.
- Coopers Pale Ale is a very good beer. Not sure if its available outside of Australia, but we really enjoyed drinking it.
- Both Ash and I have that lingering cold. We would like to get well!

Real life stuffed animals

Despite the fact that we are both feeling a bit under the weather we went to a wildlife park about an hour outside of Sydney today and are SO glad we went- we saw some totally crazy animals!

Both of our hands down favorite were the Koalas! They were so freakin' cute I could hardly stand to look at them- way cuter in real life than even in stuffed animal life!!! There were tons of them and all they do is eat and sleep and the positions they sleep in are totally hysterical.

My second favorite animals were the Tasmanian Devils, I don't think Michael liked them because he thought they looked like big rats, which they kind of did but I liked them anyway. We were really looking forward to seeing them at feeding time because about 15 minutes before feeding time they started getting really cranky with each other- hissing and growling and showing their BIG teeth- but we wandered off to see if the big Kangaroo (nearly 6 ft tall) had gotten out of his shady spot he had been lounging in all day! Because I really wanted to see him hop around...he was still napping, but we saw another smaller Kangaroo eating very near us and we could tell something was in her pouch....and a little baby Joey popped his head out!!! (see picture on flcker) I was so excited I started crying!

But because we stopped to watch the Joey, we missed the Devils at feeding time, but we still got to see a little after feeding feistiness!

Other Australian animals we saw included- Wallabies, Emus, Bilbies, Quolls, Crocodile, Fruit Bats (we really liked those too!) and lots of really crazy looking birds.

G'day Mates

So after a long travel day (is there any other kind?), we made it to Sydney yesterday. The travel day shouldn't have been too long but the mini-bus from the Sydney airport to our hostel took longer than the plane ride. Strange. Anyway, they actually say G'day mate in Australia. I somewhat thought it was just a catch phrase, but I have heard it said to me numerous times.

Today in Sydney we had a relatively full day of sightseeing (didn't spend a penny either until Dinner). We walked over to the Royal Botanical Gardens and looked at the harbor. Sydney is quite lovely and the weather while not perfect is much better than Melbourne. The Botanical Gardens were nice with lots of birds and plants. The birds were all quite strange looking. We thought we would see more strange birds on our trip, but outside the kingfisher we saw in Thailand, nothing too exotic. Until today that is. We saw some odd ducks (check flickr) along with a wild parrot and very large ravens.

From the botanical gardens, we headed around the bay to see the Sydney Opera House. It was just as cool as the pictures show. We wandered around the Circular Quay and watched some street performers. There were several aborigines playing the Dierado, which was pretty cool. After that, we checked out the Museum of Contemporary Art. It was a decent museum, with one excellent exhibit on some aussie modern artist. I can't remember his name, but we both liked his stuff especially the Manta Ray and the neon rhinoceros.

Other tidbits....
- Ashley was slightly sick in Melbourne, and I have seem to have caught it. Nothing to serious, just a cold.
- We have figured out that Germany actually is deserted. They are all out traveling. Sydney is loaded with them.
- We are back to hostels for our accommodation, as my mom commented, its a steep drop from where we stayed in Thailand. But hostels are nice cause you can cook (we got sick of eating out in Thailand). Plus, the showers are relatively normal and the bathroom sinks actually have hot water.
- Australia is definitely expensive, mostly cause the dollar is weak. We are managing to stay on budget by cooking.

Wet and Cold

So, our plan before the trip was to have basically an endless summer. Start out in Europe during the summer, have India during the fall (when its not summer just feels like it), a little splash during Thailand dry season (warm again) and then finish it up with later spring early summer down under. Well that got shot down as soon as we got to Melbourne. Its downright chilly here.....and rainy. Quite annoying, hopefully Sydney (where we go tomorrow) is warmer.

We really didn't do that much today except check out two museums. The first was on Australian art. The facilities were quite nice, however outside the aboriginal art, the art was lackluster. The second was the international art museum. It had both nice facilities and art, but we lacked the time to explore it fully.

Other musings.....
- Our total travel time from our hotel in Thailand to our Hotel in Sydney was 31 1/2 hrs. It didn't feel that bad due to a combination of nice airport lounges and Xanax.
- Our budget will feel the pinch in Australia. Our accommodation willl take up over 50% of our budget, which won't leave that much money for food or sights. We handled it well in europe, and I think we can do it here. Plus, we banked up a solid reserve in Thailand.
- Its nice to hear people speak English.
- Ashley and I were looking forward to western food, but all we have had in Australia so far is Indian fare. HA!

Lady Boys

Last night, we went to a show at Simon Cabaret. The whole production is staged by Lady Boys, or Katheoy in Thai. These are Thai men/boys who have chosen to live their lives as women as opposed to men. It seems to be accepted throughout Thailand, as we have seen many women who we suspected to be men in actuality. To learn more, check out the wiki page. But its not like we are going to ask them. So anyway, we went to check out the show....essentially a drag show. It was top notch, as the performance were well rehearsed and choreographed. They danced, and lipsynched to a variety of tunes. Many of them looked exactly like women, but the shoulders on some gave them away. Overall, it was quite a hoot and a good ending to a visit to Thailand. We just wish we had brought our camera. I don't know why we always forget it!!!!

Musings.....
- We have really enjoyed Thailand. We set out to spend about 8 days here, and are actually spending 27 days. What a change. Its quite easy to travel and the locals are friendly, plus its very reasonable on the wallet.
- We spent the last two nights in Patong, which more of a touristy area. I am so glad we spent the bulk of our beach time (16 days) in less touristy areas. Not only is it cheaper, but it was cleaner, safer and way more relaxing. We liked both Ko Phayam and Ko Jum light years more than this area (or the Marriott and all of its luxury).
- I read a ton of books in Thailand. English books were widely available, if not slightly pricey. Some of my reads include - long way down by hornsby (quite good), the lincoln lawyer by michael connelley (another good one), Indigo Slam by Robert Crais, Backpacker by some unknown author, Jane Eyre by Bronte (very good!), Kim by Rudyard Kipling (god awful), Trace by Cornwell (almost terrible), a clancy novel along with a couple of others that I cannot recall. I am simultanously reading an Elizabeth George and Lonesome dove. I read Lonesome Dove about 18 years ago, and am re-reading it. Ash has first dibs on it, but I pick it up when she is snoozing.
- I listened to my ipod quite a bit.....favs included Jackie Brown soundtrack, Tool (10,000 days is a great album), and American Analog Set. For some reason, I can't remember what else I listened to.....must be something else we did a lot of in Thailand.
- I write this in the internet area at the Royal Silk Lounge in Bangkok Airport.....another perk about traveling so much for work was getting status and free access to the VIP lounges!

Ko Jum

We just got back from another deserted island. Its also on the Indian Ocean side of Thailand, but further south from Ko Phayam. It was truly delightful. The island was somewhat similar to the first one, but there were no crabs and the surf was lackluster. However, the accommodation was a little nicer (still no hot water) and the water definitely clearer. We really didn't do all that much during our visit there, except read, drink, swim and walk. But we did take another sea kayak adventure (hopefully pics to be posted later) to a nearby island and snorkeled. Before the Tsunami, the snorkeling at Ko Jum was supposedly pretty nice. However, the Tsunami destroyed much of the coral nearby and the related marine life. We still saw some cool fish but not as many as we would have a few years ago.

The bungalow we stayed at was owned by a British ex-pat, so everyone hanging around was British or Scottish. It was so nice having people to chat with in both our native tongues! Plus, they had a wide stock of English reading material. The food at the bungalow was not as good as it was at Ko Phayam, but still pretty tasty and cheap. An added bonus was satellite TV in the bar (not in our room), where we could get caught up on the elections. So glad to see that the democrats won, its time for a change in America.

We leave for Australia on Monday afternoon. So probably not many updates until Weds. It take over a day to get there from here.

Out of Shape

As Michael said we are on this beach filled with totally in shape hippy rock climbers and it has helped motivate us to get some exercise. Before leaving on this trip Michael and I both thought we would be so tanned and in shape backpacking around, however the oppisite has happened- we drink a lot of beer and take tuk tuks (little motorized three wheel taxi things)

But yesterday we got motivated and did this short but pretty strenous hike to the other side of our island (passing monkeys along the way) to the nice beach, then shed our clothes (we did have our suits on underneath) and took a really nice swim.

Then today even though we didn't go to bed until around 2am, we went sea kayaking. We loved it! We went all around the island we are staying on and then to a far away island. We are sure we will be feeling it tomorrow as it was a mega workout compared to what our arms have been getting ie: lifting beers to our mouths!

Loi Krathong

On Nov 5, we did a bit of cultural voyeurism. Loi Krathong is a festival on the night of full moon in November. I have no idea what the festival celebrates. Our guidebook covers it, but only what happens not why. Nor did I see any information on it last night, but a Thai guy told me it was like Thai New Year and you make wishes. Basically, you float banana leaf boats/baskets filled with flowers, incense, a candle and a coin for good luck. People also light these paper balloons. So, last night at Ton Sai, we went out got really drunk and floated a basket along with watching others floating baskets/balloons. It was pretty cool.

There was a full on party atmosphere happening.....bands, raves, fire twirlers, etc. Very hippiesh but also a nice time. They celebrate every full moon with a party at many places in Thailand, but only once a year is Loi Krathong. We really enjoyed the little bit of Thainess that we saw last night.

The beach (Ton Sai) we are staying at (you can hardly call it a beach) is a backpacker hangout, specifically of the rock climbing kind. There are loads of Americans here which is a nice change as we have seen so few in recent months. The beach is basically rocks, so not much swimming going on but there are tons of other activities. At low tide, we can wade around a set of rocks to get to a real beach. From here, we head to Ko Jam, which from what I gather is even more isolated so not much updates from there. There is internet here, but its 4 Baht a minute, which is about 6-8x what we have been paying.

Ko Phayam

Spent the past 4 nights at the most picturesque beach I have ever seen in my life. I didn't think beaches so noncommercial and empty still existed in the world! But we found one in Southern Thailand. We took a 2 hour ferry ride to the island, then to get to our bungalows you have to take a 10 minute motorbike ride because the island doesn't have any cars on it. The beach has about 5 different bungalow resorts (for lack of a better word because I won't call a place with no hotwater and no AC a resort!) But our bungalow was really cute, and we had tons of "friends" living there with us- everyday without fail we had a new frog inside our room or outside in our bathroom (oh yeah, also don't call places with open air bathrooms a resort) On our front porch we saw a snake, a huge hermit crab and a big lizard! The beach was great, so quiet, many times Michael and I were the only ones on the whole beach!

And the beach had tons of crabs- hermit crabs were everywhere as well as tiny and medium size regular crabs (see flickr for pics). We pretty much chilled out big time- reading/napping in the hammocks, drinking fruit shakes, walking the beach and drinking beers and watching the sunset.

Tonight we are in Ao Nang, pretty touristy little beach in way Southern Thailand (south of Phuket), tomorrow we take 2 boats to another island called Railey to go to a Full Moon Festival party. Internet access will be limited once we are on the island. Loving life in Thailand!!!

Best Body Surfing Ever

So for the last few days, we have been at Ko Phayam (Ash will write more about it later). It was absolutely amazing place - totally tranquil and isolated.....but no internet. We just chilled out for a few days and read - which was an absolute relaxing time. The beach was pretty nice, about 3 km long with white sand. The water was relatively clear but did have some debris and silt.

One of the best things about the beach was that it was awesome for body surfing. The first day there was no surf, but it picked up every day. Since the beach is very wide and with a gradual incline, waves break slowly. You can easily catch a wave and ride it for a long time (assuming that it was big enough). It was great fun standing out there and catching waves. I do wish there were more waves to catch, but the seas were relatively calm while we were there. Hopefully we will get pictures up soon, but no promises. Although we really didn't do anything worthy of taking photos.

Thai Kickboxing

I love kickboxing (at the gym) so I was all about going to see some real live kickboxers while we were in Thailand to get some good pointers, we went last night. It was 5 matches of 5 rounds each and we really enjoyed it.
I didn't like the punching part that much b/c I really didn't like the blood (and I am not a fan of regular boxing) but I loved the kicking part- I mean there were some really awesome roundhouse kicks!
It also had some nice touches compared to American boxing- little Buddhist dance and prayers before each round, happy smiling boxers- they smile at each other pretty much during the whole match, awesome Thai music played during the whole match and again some awesome kicks.
We were really bummed b/c we forgot to bring the camera, b/c after each match was over, the winner would pose in a really cute boxing stance for pictures!
We can't believe we leave the Marriott tomorrow, our 5 nights here flew by! We are worried a bit that our perspective of vacation length of time has gotten really skewed since this trip. We head to some islands down south near the coast where the tsunami hit tomorrow, looking forward to getting to a quieter beach. The island we are going to only has 500 inhabitants, so internet access is unlikely.

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Backpacker lifestyle

So.....we are loving the Marriott. It seems so plush to what we have become accustomed too. They have such nice things as washclothes! Anyway, I feel slightly out of place here. It seems to extreme of a jump to go from dread locked smelly backpackers to fat germans (the resort is loaded with them). We also have carried some backpacker lifesytle options over to the Marriott which makes it tough. No way are we eating the $15 breakfasts, so its yogurt and museli for us. $9 burgers - No Way! Its PB&J for us. We have a Tesco (british wal-mart) across the street so its easy to shop, and we have a fridge so we can store beer, jelly and yogurt in our room. But it does feel a little silly sitting on a plush bed eating a PB&J....oh well 3 more nights till we go back to our normal lifestyle.

At long last....The Marriott!

After fantazing for 3+ months, we have finally made it to the Marriott Resort in Thailand (We are using Michael's Marriott points from all his travels to San Fran for 5 nights on the beach).

The train ride to Hua Hin from Bangkok was rough- 4 1/2 hours, non air-conditioned and packed! But Michael made friends with a cute Thai boy and helped him with a puzzle. We were HOT, tired and cranky after the train ride...Upon arriving at the Marriott we were greeted with a lai of orchids, ice cold lemon grass water and a cold compress for our heads- YEAH- The Seymour's had arrived!!! The resort is totally plush! (but still doesn't make up for Michael being gone so much from me- who am I kidding- it totally does ;)

Changing Rupees

As we were leaving India, the Thomas Cook guy said to change our Rupees in Bangkok as we would get a better rate. So today, we decided to trade them in. Well after 5 stops at banks were they wouldn't accept Rupees.....we were cursing him. It took the better part of the morning to trade them in. We did get a better rate but only marginally so.

Other than that we checked out the royal palace in Bangkok (check flickr) which was pretty cool. They have this emerald buddha, actually made of jade They dress it up for the seasons....ha! Tomorrow we head for Hua Hin and the much awaited Marriott resort.

Other tidbits on Bangkok
- The touts have nothing on the Indian touts.
- We have been traveling by ferry in Bangkok which is a nice change of pace
Send instant messages to your online friends http://uk.messenger.yahoo.com

New Pics on flickr!

Chaing Dao

So yesterday, we decided to head out of Chiang Mei and into the hills for a respite from the city. Well, we decided on Chaing Dao, which is a town about 75 kms from Chiang Mei. We took a bus, which was actually nicer than many of the buses we rode on in Europe up here. We are so glad we came up. For starters, our accommodation is very quaint. Its 6 bungalows nestled at the base of a mountain, the largest limestone mountain in Thailand. They have thatched roofs and are in a lush environment.....we are surrounded by banana trees and other flowering plants. The food at our restaurant is also some of the best we have had in Thailand.

In addition to the delightful accommodation, we also saw some nice sights. This area is famous for its caves and we got a tour of them. For the most part, the caves are completely dark, so a guide leads you through them. You have to crawl around to get to some areas, but its well worth it. The formations (all of which are named) are awe inspiring. They just look freaky (Hopefully we can upload some pics soon). After the caves, we checked out this famous monastery. It was at the top of a hill and required 500 steps to climb up to it. It was definitely worth it, but we were covered in sweat by the time we reached the top. The views from up there were beautiful and the temple itself was quite impressive. Its somewhat strange to see monks everywhere, but they seem to be just part of life here. Today, we check out a local hill tribe and some more monasteries/wats. To be honest, they are similar to churches in Europe or temples in India....and I can see them starting to blur in my mind after a while.

Thailand so far

Ok, Thailand so far has been relatively boring. Not because Thailand is boring, but because I have been sick. We arrived on Tuesday and didn't do much besides walk around due to exhaustion from travel.

On Weds, our primary goal was to arrange for a trek which we did. That took a longer part of the day, and we filled the rest in with massages along with shopping at the night bazaar. The night bazaar is a shoppers dream. It pretty much has everything you could want there, plus it is loaded with designer knockoffs. Ashley picked up a two cute Izods, I picked up a Von Dutch t-shirt. We purchased a few gifts for our fashion conscious friends and relatives.

Late Weds night, after several Changs (Thai Beer), I broke out with a fever and some stomach problems. So all day Thursday, I laid in bed hoping to get better. We ended up having to cancel our trek as I was too sick to go. Luckily we got our money back, but I was definitely disappointed. Today, we have kept it low key also, as I still feel a little shaky. We did check out another Wat (see picture) with this spectactular buddha statue. Tomorrow we head to some caves nearby.

India vs. Thailand

So, we are in Thailand and we can't stop thinking about India. We are constantly comparing and contrasting India and Thailand.....here is a summary.

Price - this is the first thing that pops into my cheap mind. The price of things in Thailand are signficantly higher. Its still cheap, but no more $2 meals.

Aroma - Thailand smells much better than India. We have yet to smell raw sewage which is nice. We miss the street cooking smells of India food.

Food - Total mixed bag here. The food so far in restuarants is inferior, no questions about that. Its good but not Indian good. However, we are not paranoid about what to eat. We got freshly made fruitsmoothies on the street today....which was a nice change. We saw them all over India but were too scared to try them.

Conditions of Streets - Thailand is much cleaner than India. Not much trash. Ashley is happy about the fewer street dogs, but they have been replaced by prostitutes (which makes me happy too).

People - The people are friendly in Thailand and always smiling, but not near as friendly or as interested in us. We are no longer celebrities. Plus there are tons of westerners.

So far we like Thailand and look forward to spending more time here. We are in North Thailand now (Chaing Mei). On Friday we head out for a trek for two nights, so today to prepare we got two massages. 1/2 hour on the feet and 1/2 hour on the back.....total cost per person - $10.

India.....Assault on the Senses

We will miss India. We truly enjoyed the experience of it all. From the lovely temples to the home stays to the incredible food, the imprint of India is burned within our psyche and will forever change us (ok, that was a little over the top but it was definitely memorable). Anyway, as we were leaving India, Ashley thought we should talk about how India is totally overwhelming on all of your senses. The most noticeable is visual, you see both crushing poverty and overwhelming beauty. The Taj Mahal was probably the single most impressive man made structure I have ever seen. It just blew me away. At the same time, seeing families sleeping on the streets in hovels, or sometimes not even hovels just a tarp, imprinted visuals I will never forget. For the audio, the most noticeable was the honking although dog barking is a close second. It was incessant and quite annoying but we got used to it. But at the same time, the Hindi music and the kids giggling, just have to make you smile. Smells were the most overwhelming of all the senses. As you walk down the street, smells intermingle. One moment you will be smelling the most wonderful street food (which we never sampled but smelled awesome) and the next you are reeling from the smell of raw sewage. It was quite intense and I will never forget the two inter-twinning.

For taste, we only have good memories. The memories of some of the best food we have ever had in our life. For Ashley, it was a vegetarian paradise. I ate vegetarian the whole time in India and I have to say it was incredible. You know you are going to have good veggie options when things are labeled - as Veg or Non-Veg. Ok, we don't really have anything for the sense of touch but we liked this theme for a post (Ashley's idea!).

We really enjoyed our time in India, but we have moved along to Thailand. While we will miss the intensity of India, we welcome a slightly easier travel experience.

Finally, the gruesome travel day(s) was not as bad as we thought. Besides getting upgraded on the train to first class, we got an earlier flight to Chaing Mei (northern Thailand) which reduced our layover. I am not keen to travel for 40+ hrs anytime soon, but it was not as bad as I imagined.

Snakes on a Plane!

What does one do when they have an 18 hour layover in Calcutta, India? Whatelse than go see "Snakes on a Plane" (yes, Rebecca, I actually saw it and it was as awesome as we hoped!!! loved every minute of it, wished you and Ward were with us!)

It was really great to have a total Westernized few hours. The movie was at a proper western mall, we got coke and popcorn and loved the movie- we were the only ones laughing in the theatre, maybe the movie was a little too American in its humor b/c the locals didn't seem to find it as funny as we did. Then we did some shopping at the mall, i got some totally cute pink capris for the next stage of our trip- Thailand, Australia and NZ. And Michael got an Indian Cricket Jersery...Cricket is HUGE over here and Michael and I can't follow the game to save our lives, but we love asking the Indians who their favorite cricket team is because they get so excited and say- INDIA!

We leave India tonight or tomorrow morning actually (2am flight to Bangkok) and we are a little sad b/c we will miss being the celebrities that we are in India...we took to calling ourselves Ashael or Michley ( ala Brangelina)--whoever was doing the calling of course put their name first!) We got stared at constantly, always called out to- "Hello", waved at, asked where we were from and when we said America, they would always say, "good country!" We are not thinking our celebrity status will last in Thailand...so we are enjoying our farewell tour of India today!

p.s. took our first night train last night and some how got upgraded to first class! Was a total treat!

Hello

Whenever we walk around, we often get stares. Its a little odd. The kids seem to do it the most and most often after staring at us they say "Hello" really loud. When we respond with "hello" they start giggling uncontrollably. We are not sure why they do this, but we find it very cute. Usually its the younger kids who do it and for the most part its the boys, not girls that do it. The older kids will walk with us and ask us where we are from and chat with us......not just stopping at hello.

Right now, we are in Kalimplong. We don't find it quite as endearing as Darjeeling. Its got better views (it might be the weather), but the town is slightly dingier and our lodging is sub par. We got here by taking a share jeep from Darjeeling. This was a total trip and a half. They crammed 12 people (11 passengers and the driver) in a mid-sized SUV. No seatbelts and not much of a roof combined with a ride with no guard rails through the mountains made for a slightly scary ride. Yeah, it was crazy scenic, but nerve wracking. After the ride, we checked out a Buddhist monastery. They were beating drums and chanting, pretty cool. We also spun some Tibetan prayer wheels. Today, we are heading to check out another monastery and the top of a mountain.

Other musings....
- We are slightly worried about our package of goodies shipped home. It was supposed to arrive Thursday, and has yet to arrive.
- I forgot to mention two other food favorites. Fresh lime sodas and Vegetable Jalfrezi. Both are new to us and both are yummy. Fresh lime soda will be easy to replicate in the states, not so sure about Vegetable Jalfrezi.
- We are thinking of adding another week in Thailand. We want more time on tropical beaches than the currently allocated one week. We are also toying with flying from Australia to Bali, but will probably just stay in Thailand for another week.
- I got to watch Mets-Cards game yesterday. A nice treat. I got up early to watch yesterday's game, but our cable was out.
- Kingfisher beer is pretty good. Its a Indian brew and quite tasty. I would strongly recommend it if you get a chance to try it.

Indian Food

As you probably can tell, we have been eating well on our trip. With the exception of two meals, every meal we have had has been at least pretty good, with most being outstanding. The home cooked meals we got at Auntie and Uncles (both of them) where by far the best we had. We also got to sample fare that we would have never tried without being in someone's home. For instance, at Auntie and Uncle in Bombay we got to try the Bombay specialties such as bhelpuri. Its was a puffed rice mixture and Ashley and I loved it. We would have never known to try it without Auntie preparing it for us.

We have got to sample some old favorites (from our frequent Indian dining in America) such as Chana Masala (Chick peas in a sauce), Palak Paneer (Cheese and spinach), Navarratan Korma (vegetables in a cream sauce), Pakoras, Samosas, Naan, Dal Makahani (lentils), Lassi's and Dosas (pancake with potato filling). But we also found some new ones to love such as Chapati (another type of bread), Paneer Tiki (Cheese cooked in a tandori oven with spices), mixed vegetables, Vegetable Kebabs (ok, we make these at home, but they are better here), masala tea, and Momos (Tibetan steamed thingies).

Also.....I would love to get some pictures posted but there is no way from Darjeeling. I would suspect you will get few posts and pictures after Saturday. On Sunday we leave for the worst travel stretch so far.....we leave Sunday afternoon from Kalimpong (our next stop) and arrive in Chang Mei Thailand on Tuesday afternoon. Ouch!!!!

Darjeeling

Yesterday after a long travel day (4am to 8pm), we arrived in Darjeeling. Its much different from the other Indian towns we have visited, as the touts and beggars bother you much less. Plus, its in the mountains, so great views abound (although its often marred with trash). This morning, we went to Happy Valley Tea Plantation for a tour. It was quite interesting to see how tea was grown and processed. We didn't see much of the processing but did see the growing. Also, we saw the picking of the tea leaves. Only women pick tea leaves and do it for 8 hours a day, the compensation is only 40rs (about $.90). Not much if you ask me.

The tea that is grown there is sold to twinnings......so we have drunk that before and will do so again. The main tea that they sell is "super fine tippy golden flowery orange piko." What a crazy name but it was quite tasty to drink. We purchased some for a true tea lover in the family (although I am pretty sure the tea lover doesn't read this blog).

Aunties, Uncles & Bollywood rule!

If you ever have a chance to do a home stay in India I highly recommend it!
Thanks to our cousin Rebecca we had the opportunity to stay in the home of
her boyfriend's parents. What a treat! Auntie and Uncle were so welcoming
to us, made us feel right at home. They also made sure that we had a taste
of all the yummy food that Bombay is famous for- we very much enjoyed that
part :) Tonight we had awesome all natural fruit ice cream- some of the
best ice cream I have ever had in my life and trust me I have had a lot of
ice cream in my time!

Today we saw a Bollywood movie at the theatre, Bollywood movies rule because
they do these huge over-the-top song and dance numbers throughout the movie! At the beginning of the movie they played the Indian national anthem and everyone in the theatre stood up during it which we thought was cool. Indians have a lot of national pride and we can see why, it is an amazing country. What I love about India is that when the world is getting more homogenized, you can go to India and it still has such a unique culture and is still such an exotic and exciting location!

Hanging with Uncle

We had a really nice day today. Uncle, Ashley and I went to Elephanta Island. Its this Island about 1 hr boat ride from central Bombay. It has these rock temples to various gods (mainly Shiva). Anyway, it was pretty cool to check out the caves and the statues. The exact history of the caves are unknown, but they date from around 500 AD. There were 5 caves with one being the main cave and a temple to Shiva, the god of destruction. The statues and carvings are very intricate and for the most part in pretty good shape. The pictures (check flickr) came out only so so due to the lack of light, but they were very impressive.

Other notables:
- Uncle got us some fresh squeezed cane juice. We have seen it all over the place but were scared to try any fresh squeezed juice (guidebook warned us). Uncle took us to a reputable place. It was quite tasty.
- We also tried these "Bombay Burgers" which are veggie burgers (fried potatoes). They were quite tasty but slightly spicy.
- We also checked out a Jain temple. We almost went to see one in Delhi, but you have to take your shoes off and the area in Delhi did not look hygienic (standing water, rats). It was good to check out the temple and Jainism is a very interesting religion.
- Uncle was a terrific guide. He is knowledgeable about a wide variety of subjects, and doesn't mind Ashley and I constant questions. Plus the local touch keeps beggars and touts away.
- So you know, Uncle and Auntie are generic terms you use to describe relationships. They aren't my uncle or aunt as you think of it, but its what you call someone to show respect. I like the tradition and it came very natural.

Shopping with Auntie

Last night, we experienced true Indian shopping with Auntie in Bombay. We have been planning on buying the bulk of our souvenirs in India and then shipping them back. It will be expensive to ship it back, but how often do you get to go to India? Anyway, we knew that we were meeting with Auntie and Rebecca let us know that she was a master shopper. Rebecca was right. First stop, Auntie took us to a fixed price shop where we bought quite a few things for ourselves and a few things for other people. Fixed price shops are nice as you don't have to haggle, although I have to admit I like haggling. After that stop, we hit the mall. Ashley and I each bought a nice "ethnic" (the stores term not ours) shirt. Something that is colorful and durable to have as a lasting memory. From the mall, we did a stop at a handicraft bazaar (non fixed price). We picked up some more stuff - shirt for me, a wall hanging, and a present or two. I have noticed three things that make shopping better with Auntie over shopping alone.
1. Where to go. Auntie knows where to go to get a bargain. She knows which shops are reputable and which are not. Also, she knows where things are nicely priced.
2. Quality and Price. Its nice to have an outside opinion to comment on whether something is a good deal or not, plus the insight into the quality of the product really makes us feel better about purchases.
3. Instant Respect. We have noticed that in India there are two prices. The first is for Indians, and is much lower. The second is for foreigners and its higher. With Auntie, we get the Indian price!!!!! What a nice change. The haggling is much easier!

Other thoughts about India....
- We went on a bus tour of Bombay today. The bus was a local one, and filled with natives. It was good to interact with them. We met some really nice kids on it (hi Sam!) and saw a lot of Bombay. A very nice time.
- Bombay is hot.
- Uncle has given us some good tips on travel and insight into Hinduism. We are fascinated by Hinduism and its nice to have a guide to help us understand what is what.
- Our culinary extravaganza continues. India home cooking is the BEST. We love it.

Something yummy in my tummy in Jaipur....cooking with Auntie

Something yummy in my tummy in Jaipur....cooking with Auntie
Originally uploaded by Flightplan.

Cooking with Auntie

This evening we had a memorable experience.....we cooked with Auntie (who we met yesterday). Auntie offers cooking classes to young girls and women around town, so that they can learn to cook. She agreed to do the same for us. She taught us how to cook 4 dishes - Dal, Chana, mixed vegetables and paneer masala. All of them turned out awesome, and I look forward to cooking them when I get back home (if I can remember!). It truly was a delight to meet with them and get to hear about them. I learned so much from Uncle about India, its culture and its future.

Upon leaving their house, we felt a sense of welcome previously unexperienced on our trip. Here are these people who are pratical strangers who open up their home to us, feed us, teach us to cook, show us around. They treated us as members of the family - not as guests. This truly was a delight and an inspiration. It reminds me of what is truly important in life.....friends and family. You are a collection of many things, one of the most important is the people you know and the relationships you form. These interactions make up your life and shape you into who you are. Sometimes we forget this, but the hanging with Auntie and Uncle reminded me of this. Not only from their hospitality, but they way they talked, acted and showed respect. Ok, enough gushing.

We also did some shopping today along with seeing the Amber (pronounced Amer) Fort. It was the best fort we have seen but pailed in comparison to our evening.

No pictures can be uploaded today, sorry. But we will head to Bombay tomorrow to meet Ritesh's folks.

Jaipur

Last night we arrived in Jaipur, and its a much nicer city than Agra. Its a lot cleaner, and there is way more to do. Also, its not quite as hot. So this morning the first thing we did was straighten out our train ticket from Darjeeling to Calcutta. Its always a chore going to the rail station, as there are tons of hassles. But from there, we did a bit of shopping. We bought ourself a nice throw for our bed, along with two silk pillowcases and a shirt for me. We also had some lunch. Ashley has grown terribly fond of fresh lime sodays (thanks Rebecca).

From shopping, we headed over to Rebecca's host family during her stay in Jaipur. Auntie and Uncle Singh along with their charming daughter Rose. Wow, what a treat. I consider it the highlight to our trip to India so far. We visited with them and had some tea (I love Indian Tea, very flavorful if not slightly sweet). Then Uncle drove us around and showed us Jaipur. He took us up into the hills near town and showed us this area with tons of monkeys. We must have seen 500 monkey (see flickr)!!!!! It was absolutely crazy. It gets even better as Uncle invited us over for dinner. What a fabulous meal! It was our best meal in India, not only for the food but also for the company.

Cows, Monkeys, Camels Oh My!

Cow update- there are TONS of cows in Agra, all over the place! But I was talking to this nice guy on the train to Agra about the cows in Delhi and I said I thought they looked pretty healthy and he told me they are not. That when one cow in Delhi died they cut open his stomach and he had 59 undigested plastic bags in his stomach! So now I am not as totally excited when I see cows, but it is still pretty cool to see them just sitting in the middle of the road!
Monkeys- we saw this large (in number) monkey family at the Red Fort in Agra yesterday...so stinkin' cute! The babies were being bad! Then this Indian family with a kid throw down a cracker to them and about 3 of them scaled the walk in NO TIME FLAT and were coming towards us to get more food!!!- Michael and I high-tailed it out of there, as our drs. scared us both with talk about rabies before we left America.
Saw our first camels in Agra...should see lots more in Jaipur, we head there tonight via train.

India is amazing! Some things I of course don't like...like all the sickly looking street dogs they are EVERYWHERE, but I am loving so much other stuff about it! life in America seems like a B&W tv show compared to India which is in techno-color with surround sound!!!

Taj Mahal

Yesterday, we visited the Taj Mahal. It was absolutely amazing....one of the most memorable sights I have ever seen. We got up early to beat the crowds....around 6:30 am. We wanted to get up early enough to watch the sunrise, but that just was not going to happen. But we arrived at the Taj around 7:30, well before it was crowded. We walked out to see the Taj, and both Ashley and I were taken aback by the beauty of it. It really is an imposing figure, and what a testament to love. For more details on the story behind the Taj, check out the wiki page. But basically the Taj was built by an ruler of India as a testament to his wife that died giving birth to their 14th child.

Some other thoughts....
- Its intriguing that the national symbol of India (or at least what we perceive it as) was built by Islamic leader and has a mosque. Since India is majority Hindu, this just seems odd.
- Because its built on this marble base, it appears to float in the sky. It is just there.
- Agra is really hot, like absurdly hot. Plus, there are intermittent power outages. We wish we had day tripped it here, as opposed to staying two nights. Plus its really grungy.
- We had a great train ride to Agra, we sat with two lovely young people. One worked for a NGO and gave some insight into Indian life and what their challenges are in development. We also discussed American Politics, and its good to get outside perspective....but are not surprised at their comments - they dislike Bush and think he is an idiot.
- Both Ashley and I are having sinus troubles. Congested with sore throats.....Ugh!
- Our hotel in Agra had English speaking channels, so we watched a lot of TV since Agra sucks and we are sick. Even "Home Alone" is good in a pinch.
- Two sets of people have asked to take photos with us. The first time it was a little boy who dad asked us. Then it was a group of male teenagers. Strange, I guess we are a freak show.
- Finally.....photos are posted!!!! Not a lot due to our limited connection time in India, but we got some up. We had to upload them from an internet cafe.

Holy Cow

I was so happy yesterday to see 4-5 (i can't remember exactly b/c i was so excited i lost count) cows walking down a busy Delhi street yesterday, they looked really fat and fine! Also yesterday while we were in Old Delhi (crazy, crazy, crazy place!!!!) we saw a whole bunch of monkeys playing on the overhead electrical wire and one of them was holding a baby monkey- too cute!
The food has been wonderful. Very spicy- wondering how I will be able to handle Thailand. The weather has been hot, really hot and really humid. BR cannot hold a candle to Delhi for the humidity- i am sweaty the minute we walk outside. We cannot seem to drink enough water. Really enjoying our time here so far...

India is Crazy, but we love it

So, we spent our second full day in India today and I have to admit that we are starting to get enchanted by it. It surprises us at every turn, and while not all surprises are good ones we are falling in love. Today, we had a great day. We started out by buying the train tickets we didn't get yesterday.....it was easier this time. During the process, we met this wonderful Brit named Jody who hung out with us all day. It was great to meet such a nice person, and have an English speaker to do things with. She had just arrived in New Delhi also....so we were on the same level when it comes to understanding India.

First off, we went to the Red Fort. On the way, we stopped and had a smart lunch at a local joint. It was more in line with the prices I expected for food compared to yesterday. Our meals ran about $.75 a piece and they were better than average. From their we trekked over to the red fort and saw the sights. Its a beautiful set of buildings, built by the same emperor who built the Taj Mahal. We spent most of the afternoon there and then headed over to see a Mosque. We think we got ripped off by some con artists, but it was only for $2 so no worries. It was a beautiful mosque, but we only had 10 minutes to see it due to afternoon prayers. From there, we headed back to the metro station through Old Delhi. Old Delhi was intense. The streets are more narrower, there are more touts (hagglers) and beggars. It was intense, but we made it to the metro station after a long walk and several wrong turns. We took the metro to near our hotel and had dinner. Nice meal...now we are home to clean socks and underwear.

Some other thoughts (there are so many going through my head!)
- Its hot. Really hot, like full body sweat hot. Its almost unbearable, but supposedly you adjust.
- At times, I can't believe I am in India.
- We are totally paranoid about cleaning our hands with hand cleaner and are extra cautious about what we eat. (totally inserted for Pickle). For some reason (I think the humidity), I feel very grimy all the time. It might take some time to get used to it, but my days at LSU should prepare me.

Frogger New Delhi Style

The scariest part of India so far is without a doubt- crossing the street! It is like that video game Frogger. Cars, bikes, motor scooters, etc.- they all have the right of way and are going a million miles per hour all over the place (there are lanes, but nobody seems to use them!) Many times today I didn't think Michael and I were going to live to do another blog post, thank heavens they are honking at you the whole time!!!
Haven't seen any cows on the roads yet, but tons and tons of stray dogs in the roads, they seem to be much better at navigating crossing the roads than Michael and I are.
Happy to be back in our peaceful hotel for the evening.

First Day in New Delhi

So, we did quite a bit today.....first off, we went to Connaugt Place for some shopping. Ashley bought two shirts and I bought one, all from Fab India. Rebecca, my cousin who frequents and studies India, recommended the store. They had nice stuff, but we thought the prices would be lower. We had an awesome lunch at a place near by....I had the grilled Veggie Kebobs and Ashley had Navartma Korma (sorry for the bad spellings). It was one of the best meals I have had on our trip, yeah it was spicy, but very tasty. From there, we walked around a little bit and window shopped. We also checked out Jantar Mantar, which is a observatory built by Maharaja Jai Singh II. It was very peaceful and interesting to look at. Although it had English descriptions of what each building was, we couldn't exactly figure out why it was built in 1725, other than to study astronomy. It seemed like a lot to do to study the sky. The scenic salmon colored structure had a variety of city wildlife running around - lots of strange looking birds (and the obligatory pigeon) and tons of chipmunks.

After Jantar Mantar and a drop in at the Tourist bureau, we headed to the train station to buy our tickets to Agra. What an experience! We actually never got our tickets (we can't decide how early we want to get in), but we were hassled by 5 people trying to steer us towards their travel agency instead of the train station. Friendly people try to become your "friend" and "help" you out. They are not what they appear, and luckily our guidebook told us what to look for. But one of the con men was very good. Their travel agency was named the same thing as the official booking area, along with being on "the first floor" as our guidebook says. However, after checking it out, we quickly realized that it was not what he claimed. We went back to the train station, and went to buy a ticket but realized that we didn't have enough cash on had. So we elected to weight until tomorrow to pick it up.

After that exhausting experience, we had a nice dinner. Again Indian food, much cheaper than lunch but not as tasty (still pretty damn good though). I have a feeling Ashley and I will gain weight if we don't get sick.

Other musings:
- Poverty. We knew it would be poor, but were never sure what to expect. We have seen the odd beggar and low quality housing, but its actually a little better than I imagined.
- The smell. Besides the smog, the smells are not quite as overpowering as I was under impression they would be. Yeah, there are some stinky spots (just as their were in Rome), but not too bad.
- Wireless. We have a wireless connection in our room (crazy) but its not working right now. I get connected but it doesn't get any data. If and when I can get it work, you will get some pictures.
- Stares. Everywhere we go people stare at us. They glare at you. Rebecca said to just to think you are a super model, but its somewhat creepy.
- Friendliness. Besides the friends mentioned above, everyone is very interested in talking to you....asking where you are from, why you are here, what you will see while you are here, etc. Its quite refreshing as that didn't really happen that much the last two months.

Ok, that is a long post and I am sure boring to most. But so far, so good on India, but it has exhausted me. Thank god they speak English....yeah its hard to understand sometimes, but they speak it!

Passage to India

Yesterday morning I awoke at 5am filled with thoughts of all the things that could possibly go wrong.....such as a missed connection, lost luggage, hotel problems and the like. I couldn't get back to sleep despite knowing that I had a very long day in front of me. However, as the day wore on, the dread turned to excitement and as we left the Delhi airport customs at 1:20am, both Ashley and I were positively giddy.

To avoid delay and frustration, we arranged for a driver to pick us up from the airport and take us to the hotel. The ride into Delhi, which is quite polluted, was insane. The driver zigged, zagged, honked, flashed his lights, and drove where I didn't think there was actually a road. Ashley likened it to Mr. Toad's Wild Ride at Disney. I can only imagine what it would have been like if there had been serious traffic, and cows present.

Anyway, after a nice ambian sleep in, we enjoyed a breakfast in our courtyard. Today we are going to buy some clothing, and the like.

To India

After 64 nights, 7 countries, 6 currencies, 26 rooms, 4 airplane, 27 trains, 19 buses and a whole lot of fun, we head to India tomorrow. We are both nervous and excited about India. It will be nice to see a different culture, namely one not based on Judeo-Christian thought patterns. At the same time, India is till developing and I have heard that the poverty can be crushing to visitors.

I would expect our updates to the blog will be slightly sparser and fewer pictures, but we will try to record our thoughts as we go along.

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American Football

We have been in Prague for the last few days with a low key attitude. We are not forcing in a lot of sights, instead focusing on preparing for India. We have been doing a lot of shopping for India - we bought me some new shoes and some medical supplies along with a travel guide to Thailand.

One thing we did do was try to catch some American Football. On Saturday, we headed to a sports bar and watched Arkansas-Bama. It was nice to see some football (I am jonesing for LSU football)....and there were even three SEC fans in attendance. We had a lively debate on why we were rooting for the pigs over Bama and some beers. Overall a good time. Last night, we went and watched the last half of the Steelers-Bengals matchup at a different bar. The ambiance at this one was much nicer, as the were the prices for Pivo. But NFL does not draw me in like college football.....but still a nice change of pace.

This afternoon, we wandered around Prague catching Hrad Castle, Wasinlinsky Palace, and Charles Bridge. All of them were nice sights, but seriously touristy. Nonetheless Prague has a certain old world enchantment to it.

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Some Good Europe Memories

There are some stories of things that have happened to us that I would like to codify for myself, so I don't forget. Here they are:
- Ashley the navigator. Normally, I do the navigation in cities but one night Ashley used her crafty ability to guide us home. It was in Eger and we had visited Valley of the Beautiful Woman (cheap wine), and we were a little tipsy. Anyway, we get near our apartment but we can't find the building I was walking around in circles trying every door, Ashley insisted we try a path, I just knew was the wrong way. Turned out to be the right way....
- In Prague, we needed to buy some mosquito repellant (additional supplies, we have plenty but just to be safe for India). Anyway, we went to a few sporting good stores and looked. We couldn't find any, so we asked the sale clerk where we could get some. He said "In Czech Republic, we have very special mosquito repellant. Its called Off."
- Ashley and I have some code names for different types of people. For instance, when anyone packs a lunch we say they must be Dutch as the Dutch are notorious for not buying anything when they visit. Whenever we see people making out, we call them Hungarians. All over Hungary, we saw people making out.....but not really anywhere else. If we see really drunk people, we call them Slovakians. As one day we saw a passed out man when we arrived in Levoca and he was still there when we left.
- We don't cram in a lot of sights when we travel, but we do wander around a look. I call this wandering aimlessly. We took this to a new level in Rome, as we were on a tight budget and the metro system sucked.
- Trying to recreate American foods. Sometimes we both wanted something familiar....so we tried to find it or recreate it. It almost always came out terrible. We have given up on some things.

I am sure there are other stories that I would like to remember.....but I can't.

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Italia

As you may have gathered from our blog entries, both Ashley and I really like Italy. We are so glad we added it. Of particular note is the historical aspect. Everywhere you turn there is something major related to western history. Its truly astonishing that this small country could have so much to do with the way we live, act and think today. But it does. In addition, we loved the people. They have a zest for life that is infectious - and its a joy to interact with them. Finally, we also really liked the food and wine.

On the negative side, the transportation system is not the greatest. Every train we rode on was at least 10 minutes late, many over an hour late. The Rome mass transit system also seems to be in a sorry state of repair and doesn't connect the pieces efficiently (at least for a tourist). Also, the Euro wreaks havoc on budget minded travelers.

Things that only interest me
- Books I read. I polished off a Dick Francis novel along with Donna Leon's Death in a Strange Country (thanks mom).
- Music I listened to. The inefficient Italian rail system gave me plenty of time to listen to music including Camera Obscura, Clap Your Hands and Say Yeah, Decemberists, Busdriver, DJ Shadow, Jackie Brown Soundtrack, Built to Spill, Radiohead, Rage Against the Machine, and probably a few others I can't remember.

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Updated Itinerary

I wanted to provide an updated itinerary so the family will have some travel details.
- Tomorrow (Sept 22) we head back to Prague for 5 nights.
- On Sept 27th our destination is New Delhi via Frankfurt. On Oct 1, we jet to Agra to see the Taj. On Oct 3, we take off for Jaipur and then Mumbai on Oct 6. From their our schedule can take two different paths depending on what happens with us being able to change our flights on Indian Air.
- On Oct 17th, Bangkok is where our flight lands, but we will probably head to north Thailand. On the 25th, we have 5 nights at a resort in Hua Hin. We are keeping an eye on the situation in Thailand to determine whether its safe to head there. From what we have seen, we think it is; however, if violence breaks out we will change our destination.
- From there, its off to Australia on Nov 1 (arriving on the 2nd), then to New Zealand on Nov 21st.

Just wanted to provide an update as we have no idea what the internet situation in India will be like. We suspect internet access will be readily available, but are not 100% sure.

Finally, I want to say thanks to Maria....yet again. She was the one who said we HAD to go to Rome. We followed her advice and are glad to see all of this great old stuff (Ashley uses a different word, but this blog is meant for family reading).

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Roman Holiday

So far, we have enjoyed Rome quite a bit but we are on a tight budget as my mom, Ervin, Pic and Diane can attest. Since our room eats up over 70% of our budget (ouch!), we don't have a lot of walking around money. But this has not stopped us from seeing things - today we spent only 13 euros but managed to see Santa Maria della Vitterio, St Peters including the Pieta, the Pantheon, and St Ignacio - all famous (well sort of famous) things. Plus we learned a lot by snooping in on tour groups.....when in Rome.

In fact, we walked into Santa Maria unintentionally. We couldn't find the national museum of Rome (free), but we saw this and said let's walk in. Turned out to be one of the highlights of the day. The church was Michaelangelo's last architectural work which was built on the Roman Dioclesians baths (our loyal readers know how much we love baths).

You gotta love Rome.

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All roads lead to Rome (including ours)

So after talking to many people during our travels about going to Italy, but not to Rome, and them all thinking that was totally crazy to do Italy but not do Rome, we decided to add Rome to our travels.
We arrived in Rome today (after bidding my Mom and Dad farewell in the Rome train station. Really had a fun visit with them in Italy and proud of them for making their first trans-Atlantic voyage. Also proud of Michael and I as we just finished up 15 days straight traveling with 2 sets of our parents and are still talking! :)
We secured a nice little hostel in Rome and have already seen some amazing sites- Michalangelo's "Moses" and the Colosseum. Pretty amazing to actually see the Colosseum in person.
Tomorrow we plan to do the Pantheon and St. Peter's Basilica.
P.S. We saw the news on Thailand and will be keeping a watch on it.
P.P.S We finally found some peanut butter in Rome!
P.P.P.S Thanks again for all the comments, we really love getting them! And it makes me feel "in touch" with my girls and my fam!

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Florence

On Sunday, we day tripped it into Florence to catch the birthplace of the renaissance. It was quite a sight, we checked out the Douma and the Academia with the highlight being David. David truly was a sight to behold, I understand why many scholars call it the greatest sculpture ever. The Douma was just ok.

Ashley and I decided to check out some monks chanting, which Dianne's guidebook (Frommer's) indicated started at 4:30. Pic and Dianne opted for some window shopping due to the steep climb up to the church. Well, once we climbed up to the top (it was quite a climb), we discovered that it was actually at a different time. Naturally we were disappointed and it cemented the fact in our mind that Frommer's guidebooks suck. Anyway, we headed back to Lucca where we had a great dinner at a local trattoria.

Overall, all of us (including Pic and Dianne) have really loved Italy....mainly for the following reasons
- Wine. You can get quality wine at low prices (<$3.50), its better than many a $10 bottle I have drunk in Denver. Also, house wines at restaurants are very tasty.
- People. The people of Italy have quite a bit of character - we have really enjoyed interacting with them as they are friendly.
- Food. Its really good, especially the pizza and the salami.

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Drinking in Lucca

Drinking in Lucca
Originally uploaded by Flightplan.

Pic and Dianne in Treviso

Pic and Dianne in Treviso
Originally uploaded by Flightplan.

Tools of the Trade

It has come to my attention that some people are under the impression that we are just posting these blog entries from internet cafes. This is not the case.....every blog post was written on a PDA (HP Ipaq 1955) and posted to the blog via a wireless connection. We have a mini fold out keyboard that we type our blog posts on, then we walk around looking for wifi (wireless) signals in various towns. And thus this is how pictures and blog entries are loaded on the web.

We are not spending this much time in internet cafes, we normally write them on our PDA at night and then find a wifi hotspot the next day. So far we have been able to find a wife signal almost everywhere we have been.

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Treviso

On Weds after another long travel day, we arrived in Treviso and met up with the Rubes. Its a little town about 20 miles from Venice. A friend from my work is from Treviso and arranged some nice accommodation with a family friend. We day tripped it into Venice (see flickr for pics) yesterday and today we just enjoyed Treviso.....as its been raining a lot!

I have to say that its been very nice to be Italy. Its like we have been hanging out in another world in eastern Europe and to get to the west is a relief. Its nice to see a complete modern infrastructure plus western style conveniences. Yeah, Italy is old but its closer to the style of living we are accustomed to (or were???). 

Note - for some reason our uploading photos from Flickr to the blog is NOT working. Very annoying, so here it is without the picture of the rubes enjoying a glass of wine.

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Croatia......

Croatia......
Originally uploaded by Flightplan.

I have to admit that both Ashley and I loved Croatia. The scenery, the people, the food and most of all the company made our visit to Croatia one of our favorites stops so far. Of notable interest was the crystal clearness of the water. Every body of water we saw was crystal clear. You could see straight to the bottom every where you looked including the lakes at Plitvice. That brings up the scenery.....every time we turned our head we saw majestic and breathtaking scenery. From the vistas over the ocean to the countless waterfalls in Plitvice, every view was a good one.

The people we met were also of notable interest. We loved our landlords across the board, and most of the tourists we met were friendly also. The food was also yummy, mostly Italian but we also had tasty pork roast.

Things that only interest me....

- Music I listened to. Did a lot of jamming on the bus rides including Tad, Sugar, Wolf Parade, Guided by Voices, and the Microphones.

- Books I read. Not much reading this time around....but I did read a chunk of the India guide book, along with some short stories.



Finally, we met up with the Pic and Dianne today, good to see more family.

Sobes, Zimmers, Camera, and Rooms

We have been staying primarily in sobes, or rooms within a private home. Basically they are rooms to let by the owners of a house, and this is a budget travels (basically what Ashley and Michael demand) preferred lodging in Croatia. Our first sobe was in Zivogosce, and our landlord seemed gruff when negotiating the price. However once we agreed to stay there, Ervin and the landlord became fast friends.....drinking shots of homemade grape brandy and checking out the nude beach. He advised us on activities and travel along with sharing grapes from his arbor shading the front porch. We also had lovely Czech companions in our sobe who shared a delightful traditional Czech meal with us.

Our next sobe was near Plitvice in Bobin Potak. The walls were paper thin and over-sexed Germans stayed with us the first night. The second night we ran out of hot water and had no idea how to get more until early in the morning when some new Germans assisted us. But these new Germans also assisted themselves to our toothbrush covers. Once this occurred, we made a hasty exit.

Tonight we are staying in Northern Croatia at Milanska. The apartment is the nicest of all and and our landlady is wonderful, even doing our laundry Tomorrow we go our separate ways and Ervin and I head to Slovenia.......

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Sobe in Zivogosce

Sobe in Zivogosce
Originally uploaded by Flightplan.

Waterfall Park

Yesterday we went to the most wonderful park you can imagine... Plitvice Lakes Park. It should be called waterfall park. The park is immaculately maintained (i.e. clean toilets) with breathtaking views of waterfalls. The well marked paths and boardwalks led past hundreds of waterfalls pouring into Disney water blue lakes and ponds. The park was surprisingly crowded for the low season but was a wonderful Croatian sight. See flickr for pics.

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life on the road

We have been living on the road for 45 days now I thought I had finally gotten used to living out of a backpack...We bought this cool security mesh stuff to lock around one of our backpacks to keep all our important stuff and all these electrical gadgets in when we are in hostels, etc...Michael's huge backpack doesn't fit in it,so mine gets to be the one locked up all the time (the first time we backpacked through Europe, maybe 6 years ago, we didn't even have a lock for our packs! Now we have this whole complicated security system!) Anywho...It is kind of a pain in the arse b/c to get all the stuff in when need to lock up, I am constantly having to take stuff out of my pack, then lock it up, dig through it when I need stuff, etc...it just doesn't stay in the orderly fashion I would like.
Well...after 45 days one would think I would be used to it. And I thought I had, as just yesterday I was bragging to Lynn and Ervin about how I used to get so upset about having to take stuff out of my pack and it getting all disorganized b/c mine was the security pack and how now I was a seasoned traveler and that kind of stuff didn't even phase me anymore! Well, when we got home last night I couldn't find my washcloth in my pack! And I totally freaked out and went on a bender to Michael about how he doesn't understand how hard it is for YOUR pack to be the security pack and how all my stuff gets jumbled up in my pack, etc. Totally deflating my veteran backpacker cockiness!
P.S. I found my washcloth about 30 min. later 

Aches and Pains

Aches and Pains
Originally uploaded by Flightplan.

Throughout our journey we have gotten a few aches and pains here and there. For instance, I hurt my back in Hungary. Nothing serious as the pain went away pretty quickly, but it still hurt. We have both gotten our fair share of bruises, which is surprising since I hardly ever bruise.

Anyway, right now we are suffering from our two most serious injuries. Ashley slipped and fell on some algae by the coast and banged up her butt. It was quite amusing to watch it happen, but I can tell it really hurts. As you can see from the picture, I have been bitten by something on the arch of my right foot. We think it was a sea urchin, but we are not really sure. It hurts to walk but appears to be getting better.

We're off on the road to Dubrovnik...

Friday morning, we got up ready to trek to Dubrovnik for the day. The road runs alongside the coast and on the the mountainside, so we had a beautiful drive. As we were coming around a bend, Michael was flagged over over by a guy in uniform who gave him a ticket for 300 kuna (about $55) because he didn't have his lights on. We saw lots of other cars without lights, but none had an Avis sticker on them. We were excited to find that our route took us through a 20 mile stretch of Bosnia, but most disappointed when we were waved right through the checkpoints without even a stamp on our passports.

Dubronik is a walled sity, with no cars allowed in the Stari Grad (old city). it was crowded, touristy and hot. The cobblestones are polished by the millions of tourists who walk over them. We had a picnic lunch in the square and filled our water bottles from the big fountains before tackling the wall. You walk up many steps to get to it and then you see some of the most amazing scenes. It's hard to decide whether you should look into the city or up the mountains or out over the clear blue Adriatic. The walk is long (and hot) but not as crowded as the city. As you go, you can look down and see people swimming on the rocks. It was an enticing sight and we wished we had brought our swimsuits. The entire route seemed to be uphill, but we finished after about an hour. It was nice to go down (instead of up) some stairs, find the fountain to refill our water bottles and to eat some gelati.

The ride home was uneventful, but we did time it so we could see the sun setting in Bosnia. Dinner was pizza in Gradac and finally "home" to Zivogosce.