Northern Thailand: Chiang Mai to Pai

November 18, 2010

Ad and I enjoyed our time on the islands, yet decided to leave the “dodgy” weather behind (cyclones, tropical depressions, etc) and booked a flight to Chiang Mai rather than endure a 2-3 day bus-train-bus trip.

As we were landing, we took notice to the many lights scattered below and realized that Chiang Mai is a bigger city than we expected. In the taxi from the airport, Ad shared his vision of Chiang Mai --men standing around in samurai uniforms and large swords dangling from their hip similar to Tom Cruise’s The Last Samurai, yet realized that we were heading into a vibrant city surrounded by mountains and filled with restaurants, bars, street markets, motor-scooting Thais, tuk tuks and friendly smiles.

Chiang Mai is considered one of Thailand’s “cultural darlings”. The walled city is surrounded by a moat and filled with plenty of places to stay and eat; they are hip, laid-back, and funky and filled with the north’s distinctive Thai architecture made of teak wood, intricate carvings, mosaics and sometimes colorful dragons and lions that guard the entrances.

Our first day in the city, we walked around and checked out the weekly Sunday market conveniently located across the street from our guesthouse. As we strolled around smelling the delicious aromas, we immediately took notice of the 60 baht foot massages (roughly $2 American dollars) and decided to indulge. Next, we ate one of our favorite Thai dishes, a spicy Papaya salad made with papaya, hot red and green peppers, rice wine vinegar, tomatoes, shrimp and peanuts—yum!

After a night or two in the city, Lucia and I decided to enjoy a girl’s night out and headed to a yoga class on the north-side of town. A friend of Lucia’s who is studying Thai massage in Chiang Mai is also a yoga teacher was hosting a class. After an hour of stretching and sweating, we enjoyed a delicious fresh Thai dinner of, curry, chutney, salad and brown rice at a restaurant called Cat House.

While we enjoyed our night, Eddie and Adam headed to their first Muay Thai Boxing match. [Adam here]- Eddie and I were stoked to check out the fight, but first we had to ‘prep’, so we went and had some tasty Pad Thai and a couple/few/a couple more than a few big Leo beers; we wanted to be in the right frame of mind, and we were.

The fight(s) were fun to watch; there were about 5 fights, beginning with boys, girls, lightweight men, middle weight men, and then the premier fight between Canada and Thailand. Before the main fight they had 5 Thai boxers in the ring (at the same time) blind folded and let them go at it, hilarious!

Eddie and I both bet on the Thai boxer in the main event (thinking that he would dominate the Canadian) but towards the end of the 3rd round our guy took a shot to the chops and was down for the count, despite my yelling “NO NO NO!! Get up!” We should have known better than to bet against North America, I lost 200 baht and Eddie lost 100.

After the fight we nursed our losses (and soaked up some of the beer we drank) by eating french fries from a street vendor out in front of the venue. While we were eating our tasty fries an elephant came walking down the road, a weird thing to see at 12:30am, but pretty cool too. We didn’t win our bets, but had a great ‘Man Night’ out (with no tartlets, cake and ice cream, lemon bars, or fish tacos), beers and Muay Thai boxing, that’s a “Man Night!”

Next, we decided to check out the mountains and booked an all-day guided mountain bike tour. Ad, Eddie, Lucia and I ventured out into cooler temperatures and the lush forest to enjoy some challenging single track, uphill climbs and amazing views of Chiang Mai. As we made our way through the 18-mile ride, we enjoyed getting to know our Thai guides, Nu and Daniel, as they laughed with us (and at us) while we enjoyed the dirt trails while both riding and falling off our bikes.

One of the great joys of Chiang Mai is the street markets – the Night Bazaar happening every evening, the Sunday Market and the “special occasion” markets. There is never a shortage of “hawkers” (small food stalls) serving delicious Thai food such as noodle bowls, curries, or mango sticky rice, pad thai, and if you are really courageous, you can enjoy the “insect cart” filled with fried silk worms, crickets, grasshoppers, cockroaches and many other interesting critters. When we stumbled upon the cart, we noticed that there was not much left in each tray to enjoy…..ugh.

One of the things I wanted to do while in Chiang Mai was to attend a meditation class. So, Lucia and I decided to attend a two-hour Ratu Bagus Shaking Meditation class. When we arrived, the instructor explained the Balinese shaking technique as “a way for the body to feel its energy from the high vibration of the body’s movement” and gave us a brief demonstration (it looked like a women convulsing in front of us) and instructions on how to draw out the body’s energy.

While shaking your head, hands and feet, you focus on a poster-size portrait of Ratu Bagus (who is pointing at you) and repeat the mantra “Om Swastiastu Ratu Bagus”. Ratu Bagus is considered an energy master whose method teaches you how to connect with your internal energy not just with your mind yet with your body through the shaking method. After 45 minutes of butts and boobs bouncing everywhere to loud trance/techno music while staring at a poster and repeating the mantra, Lucia and I decided that it was enough and headed for a tasty Thai dinner and a few cocktails.

During our stay in Chiang Mai, we stayed at the Boonmee Mansion, a centrally located and inexpensive teak wood guesthouse run by Florence and her brother Sam. Each morning we woke up to Sam giving tours to new Chiang Mai arrivals that included him flushing toilets and turning the faucet on in the shared bathroom while forgetting to turn off the faucet during the tour. Additionally, for 90 baht (or roughly $3) you could enjoy a dip in the pool filled with green water so dark you couldn’t see the bottom of the pool. And each night we experienced a new adventure at the guesthouse, like the one from our neighbor Dan and another from two Russians.

Chiang Mai to Pai

After almost a week in Chiang Mai, we decided to head to the small mountain town of Pai. After 762 windy turns, we arrived in the small, hippie town filled with cool and inviting restaurants and bars featuring live music, a night market for inexpensive local eats and just outside of town, scenic vistas, hot springs and waterfalls. There is not much to the town yet the Thais have made it an urban playground for those hoping to escape the heat and enjoy cooler temperatures in the mountains.

Since we have arrived, we have enjoyed the live music scene, delicious food at the lively night market, entertained by refurbished VW vans selling everything from tourist gifts to coffee and chai, motor scooter trips to the hot springs and waterfalls and simply, enjoying the peaceful surroundings of the mountains.

More to come….

Miss and love you tons,

Cathy and Adam

Railay to Ko Phi Phi

November 8, 2010
Adam and I woke up on the morning of Halloween, packed our bags, said good bye to Railay, and headed to the beautiful island of Koh Phi Phi, a two-hour boat ride northwest. Koh Phi Phi is the infamous island where the movie The Beach was filmed and also one of the island’s that was hardest hit by a tsunami in 2004.

It was drizzling rain when we arrived in Phi Phi so we decided to head to a bar near the pier until it passed. While we were there we met a nice Aussie couple, Luke and Vivian, who had arrived from Phuket. Luke had been out searching for inexpensive places to stay and found a few up in the quiet part of the island, so through the pouring rain we all headed up the hill and booked a room at the Golden Hill Bungalows (a decent room with a fan and the added bonus of splattered mosquitoes all over the walls).

With the rain coming down we headed to ‘Garlic Restaurant’ for a cold beer and some good Thai food (what else were we going to do, it was raining), oh how we LOVE Thai food! For those of you who have not yet had the privilege to enjoy a Thai papaya salad, I suggest you do so at your earliest convenience (fortunately we got the recipe from the owner of this place and I will be making it when we get home) it’s AMAZING!

Our first two days on Phi Phi it rained without stopping, which was a bummer, as there’s not much to do when this is happening. We found ourselves at the bookstore both days where we enjoyed reading our books and drinking tasty coffee shakes and hoping for the sun to make an appearance.

One of the highlights of our time on Phi Phi was an all-day boat/snorkeling tour around the island. The tour began in the morning with a stop at Shark Bay to snorkel. We snorkeled around the reefs, looking at unique and colorful fish and hoping to catch a glimpse of a shark, yet we had no luck. As I was getting back into the boat, I had my first experience with getting stung by a jelly fish…ouch!

After Shark Bay, we made our way to beautiful Bamboo Island. As the boat anchored off-shore, we jumped in and swam to the sandy beach and walked around the island that is also a nature preserve; pretty cool place, but very small; following Bamboo Island we headed to Monkey Island. In the bay, we snorkeled around the reef looking at sea urchins, little “Elmo” fishes [sidenote: I (Adam) was looking at little ‘Nemo’ fish, not sure what little ‘Elmo fishes’ are, but I love you still the same Cath], clam shells, octopus and other fun sea creatures; and from the boat, we watched the langur monkeys run all over the beach.

Our final stop on the tour was Maya Bay on Phi Phi Lay, a stunning little cove sheltered by surrounding cliffs (this is where they filmed the movie ‘The Beach’, a story about a group of young travelers who drop out of society to live on a remote island in Southern Thailand). The bay is beautiful and quiet and the water is exceptionally clear. After Maya Bay, we headed back to Phi Phi Don to enjoy a wonderful Thai dinner at our favorite restaurant, yep, Garlic (the Massaman Curry was INCREDIBLE!).

Another highlight for me, were the adorable spider monkeys. There were a handful of them that local Thais had taken as pets, like the one I am with in a picture. The owners of the monkeys also have both the mother and the father of the babies, so the families stay together. They were so sweet, cute and cuddly; whenever I saw these little cuties I couldn’t keep my hands off of them.

We spent 5 days on Ko Phi Phi and it was a great place to visit, but we were happy to be heading up to Chiang Mai in northern Thailand via PLANE (yes, no long bus ride!!) the following day. A short stop over on Phuket (which has some beautiful beaches, but other than that a little expensive and overrated) and a few hours in the airport and we were on our way, cheers!

Ko Phangan to Andaman Coast

Ad and I really enjoyed the 12 days we spent on Koh Phangan; it was great to give ourselves some time to rest and relax while enjoying delicious fresh food, fruit shakes and of course the island’s beautiful sandy beaches, endless ocean and amazing sunsets.

As our time on Koh Phangan was coming to an end, the last couple of days were fantastic. We (Adam, myself, Lucia and Eddie) rented scooters and headed out for a day of snorkeling. We ventured around the point and over to the beach next to ours called Haad Salad; this was a small and more beautiful bay than ours (even though ours was amazing!) in ‘Reggae Village’ that had a good vibe, fun snorkeling, and the best beach rope swing ever! Adam and I sat on the swing together swinging over the water while spinning round and round, it was great! We would lean back and the dizzying effect made us laugh out loud, it was so much fun!

We rented our snorkeling gear from a shop up the street and headed out to find a spot to chill for the day. We came upon the property Green Papaya which is probably the most beautiful resort we have seen on our travels thus far. Even though we couldn’t afford to stay there, we were still able to walk around and check the place out. Teak wood bungalows, huge endless pool, beautiful foliage and flowers, fresh water showers, and only steps from the beach, it was amazing. We ended the day in the water enjoying the beautiful sunset and then capped it off with a wonderful dinner on the beach at the resort; it was a very memorable and wonderful day, one of the highlights of our trip.

Our final night in Koh Phangan, we all decided to take in some of the local music and headed to Zion Bar. The bamboo bar was filled with people chillin out, enjoying a drink, and listening to live reggae/ska music. It was nice to see both locals and foreigners hanging out and enjoying the music together. After a few hours, we decided to head home. On our way, Ad and I laughed at the frogs hopping around in the dark, the fun winding roads, and how we almost ran over a HUGE, goldish-green snake with black markings as it was slithering across the road. Eeeewwwwhhhh!!

Krabi to Railay

We left Ko Phangan at 7am and arrived at the pier on the mainland at 10am, we hopped on a bus for the 1+ hour ride to Surat Thani, and then into a shuttle van for a 2 hour jaunt over to the town of Krabi (this was all done in the POURING DOWN RAIN, which was a little sketchy). Once we arrived in Krabi (a town used mainly for shuttling people by boat to its nearby islands) we had to hire a long-tail to take us over to Railay beach (you cannot access Railay by auto, in fact, there are no cars on the island at all). Railay is a climbing mecca and very famous for its beautiful limestone cliffs and turquoise water; we were excited to go!

We waited about an hour because the drivers of the boats won’t go until there is a minimum of 6 people (unless you are willing to pay more). There were four of us, but it didn’t look like anyone else was coming, so we all decided to throw in a little extra cash in order to get over to Railay sooner than later.

We left the dock in our long tail for the 25 minute trip, but shortly into the ride the sea started to get pretty rough and our tiny ship was tossed, if it wasn’t for the fearless crew, our long tail might’ve been lost, our long tail might’ve been lost. Ok, couldn’t resist the Gilligan’s Island reference, but really though the sea was getting pretty gnarly and a bit scary. In fact, when we were about 10 minutes from Railay the driver of the long tail said, “Um, I think we need a big boat, I think this dangerous for you and me.” We thought that if the driver was nervous enough to say something then conditions must be pretty bad, so he turned the boat around and we went all the way back to the dock (where we started). The boat driver got a taxi to take us to a different pier where we would have a short 10 minute boat trip to Railay without the rough water; another 60 baht later we were on our way and made it safely to our destination- Railay East.

It’s October 29th and we have been here for two days enjoying the small island and all its beauty. We will continue to explore for the next couple of days before we make our way to Ko Phi Phi (where they filmed the movie ‘The Beach’) and possibly Ko Jum. High season is just around the corner and prices are going to sore; when this happens we will head up to northern Thailand to the towns of Chiang Mai and Pai where the prices will be more reasonable. We are looking forward to indulging in Thai cooking classes, zip line adventures, trekking, and a family home stay in a hillside village.

More to come, hope you are all well!!

Love,

Ad and Cath

P.s. Everything is cool and we are safe. We didn’t get caught in any of the floods, typhoons, earthquakes, or volcano eruptions. KAW!!

Siem Reap - Then headed to the islands!

Siem Reap to Thailand......
Once we got to Bangkok (via another long and sketchy bus ride from Siem Reap) we checked out a little bit of the town (Ko San Road and the backpacker area) before finding our place for the next couple of nights.  I like Bangkok, I think I had an image in my head that this place was going to be really sketchy and super crazy, but I didn't find this to be true (although we were only there for a couple of days).  It's a great place to get things taken care of, such as puchasing tickets to where ever one wants to go next; for us it was Ko Tao, a little island directly south of Bangkok.

We booked a bus/boat combo that would take us from Bangkok to the town of Chumpron, then a 2.5 hour catamaran ride over to Ko Tao; another long travel day was ahead of us.  We had a few beers before departing, ok, I had a few beers before departing, Cathy only had one, so my sleep was better, but her morning was nicer then mine.  The catamaran ride was fine and we reached Ko Tao mid-morning.  Before we left on our trip, our great friends (Mike and Kate) gave us some recommendations on where to stay on the island, as they were there a couple of years ago; we were fired up!

We hired a taxi (a four wheel drive truck with a bench in the back) to take us to 'New Heaven', ahh, New Heaven!!  As it turned out, New Heaven was out of our budget so we had to look elsewhere, the place down the road had rooms for rent, and although on the water, they were pretty nasty, so we continued our search...for the next 3.5 hours!!!  We were walking all over the streets, through the 'jungle', sweating our arses off and finding nothing. 

Even though we are in Thailand where prices are, for the most part reasonable, we thought it was a little expensive (like happy hour prices in the USA). 

Being on a budget and traveling for as long as we are we needed to find cheaper accomodations.  We ended up back where we were dropped off and found a place just off the main street above a massage studio.  We were happy with our location.

Our plans were to get our diving certification, as this is one of the most popular (and cheapest) places in the world to get it, but the weather did not cooperate.  It rained a lot and the water was unclear and choppy, so we decided to not get certified (yet).  If you are not diving and the weather is crappy, then there is really not much to do on Ko Tao.....see ya, we're headed to Ko Phangan!

Ko Phangan, Thailand
We took a one hour ferry over to Ko Phangan and immediately loved our new destination.  Upon our arrival we were bombarded by people trying to sell us their resort.  We settled on Haad Yao Bay View Resort, and it is awesome!  We are on the Northwest part of the island where it is quiet and peaceful, and exactly what we wanted.

Ko Phangan is known for their 'Full Moon Party' each month, it's said to be one of the top 3 places in the world to see the full moon.  Along with this comes a raging party where 8,000-30,000 people gather to get crazy!  We will check it out on October, 23, but are glad to be staying on the opposite part of the island so we can get away when we want.

We have been spending our time relaxing on the beach, renting mopeds to explore the island, and eating seafood.  It's been 4 days now and we will be here another week before we continue our journey to other islands.  It is nice staying in one place, something we realized is that it takes a little while to decompress and relax.  We often find ourselves restless and feeling like we should be doing something, but the great thing about being here is that that feeling is slowly disipating, which is a good thing.

Hmm, seabass or red snapper for dinner?

 Siem Reap - Temples of Angkor

Siem Reap is a small town outside of the infamous temples of Angkor, the eighth wonder of the world.  Adam and I stayed there for a few nights and enjoyed the charming town, as well as visiting the Temples of Angkor located 5-10 minutes outside of town.

The temples of Angkor were built as a source of creative ambition and spiritual devotion by the Khmer empire to their god-king.  The most famous of the temples are both Angkor Wat (the largest religious structure in the world) and Ta Prohm, well-known for being in the movie Tomb Raider.

We (Adam, myself and our non-english speaking tuk tuk driver) spent over 5-hours touring the unique monument built in the 1100's.  It was fascinating trying to understand how they were built, all with a unique design and decoration.  Some include unique carvings while others are covered in centuries-old trees, green moss, creeping plants and delicately carved rocks.  One of the unfortunate curses of past wars in Cambodia is the risk of landmines around the temples.  As you tour the monument, you are reminded to stay on the trails and paved roads so as to avoid the risk of stumbling upon one. Yikes!

Cambodia - Thailand

October 14, 2010

Sihanoukville, Cambodia

Hello Friends and Family,

After a few overnight buses, ferries, border crossings, etc., Adam and I have made our way to the small island of Koh Tao, Thailand.  Koh Tao, known as Turtle Island, is located on the east coast of Thailand in the Gulf of Thailand.  We are not sure ho long we are planning to stay since this part of Thailand is still experiencing the rainy season (sunny or overcast for half the day, rainy the other half) yet thinking the west coast (Andaman Coast) may be calling our name.

Our travels.....

During the last few days in Phnom Penh, we visited the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum and the Choeung Ek Genocidal Center (or the Killing Fields).  Both places reflect the unique and horrific 3-4 year rule of the Khmer Rouge (or Democratic Kampuchea).  During their rule (1975-1979), the regime implemented one of the most radical and brutal restructurings of society to try transform Cambodia. 

The Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum is a former high school that was transformed into a detention center and place of persecution. Also referred to as S-21, it was predicted that over 10,000 Cambodians passed through facility and were brutally tortured by the Khmer Rouge.  The goal was to obliterate the former Khmer culture which consisted of differing beliefs, political interests and/or backgrounds.

After Tuol Sleng, we visited the Choeung Ek, also known as the Killing Fields. This facility detained over 17,000 Cambodians, some brought from Tuol Sleng (S-21) to be executed in the most horrific ways, bludgeoned and beaten (bullets were precious and not to be wasted on prisoners).  The Killing Fields is now an orchard with a memorial stupa (or Temple) in the middle that is dedicated to those killed; it displays more than 8,000 skulls of victims along with their ragged clothes.

After visitng both places, we felt drained and extreme sadness for what Cambodians had to endure during this time period; it's hard to believe that something so horrific happened only a little more than 30 years ago.  Furthermore, both places provide a memorial and reminders to the atrocities committed, and play a role in hopefully preventing something like this from ever happening anywhere in the world again.

After Phnom Penh, we headed south to some beaches in Sihanoukville, Cambodia.  We enjoyed a few days of the beach and then sadly said to goodbye to our fellow travelers (Lucia and Eddie) as they headed to some small bungalows on Bamboo Island and we headed to Siem Reap to enjoy Angkor Wat, a series temples surrounded by a moat, and the largest religious structure in the world.

More to come on Angkor Wat.....

Love and miss you all,

Cathy and Adam



Vietnam to Cambodia

Mekong River - Vietnam to Cambodia Slowboat Tour

Hue - Hoi An - Nha Trang - Saigon, Vietnam
September 22-October 1, 2010

Mopeds with families of five (seriously), beers for .20 cents, $13 hotel w/pool, sandy beaches close by, cheap food, and friendly requests (many) of “you buy something from me- it happy hour” --this was Hoi An. A truly charming and artsy little town located a mile from the infamous China Beach where we enjoyed a quiet retreat from the hustle and bustle of some of the larger cities in Vietnam.

Hoi An is located on the east coast of Vietnam between the northern city of Hanoi and the southern city of Ho Chi Min or Saigon. Known as a former international trading port, Hoi An features unique architecture, local art and plenty of affordable custom-made clothing shops. We enjoyed relaxing mornings frequenting our favorite cafes for coffee shakes and banana pancakes while heading to the beach in the afternoon to enjoy a noodle bowl, a few beers and our favorite books.

One afternoon Adam and I decided to check out the custom-made clothing and visited a few local tailors. We picked out the clothing style, fabric and color and then got measured; 24-hours later we had our new clothes! Adam got a nice blue button-down shirt, a pair of khaki shorts and a pair of unique Thai-style linen shorts while I had a colorful skirt, orange top, green cotton skirt, and a more formal gray-silver dress all custom-made and all very affordable. For instance, the skirt I had made cost $10 while Ad’s blue button-down was $8.

After three days in Hoi An, we (Adam, myself, Eddie and Lucia) headed to the beach capital of Vietnam called Nha Trang. Located further south on the east coast, Nha Trang offers an endless beach with views of mountains looming in background. We enjoyed our first sushi visit since traveling (which was amazing and a 1/3 of the cost), some Indian food, $5 one hour massages on the beach and then decided to head to Ho Chi Min City-Saigon.

To travel the length of Vietnam from Hanoi to Saigon we purchased ‘open-ended bus tickets’. The best price ($40 each) does not necessarily mean the most comfortable ride. We endured four, 10-hour overnight bus rides that were bumpy, loud, and crowded, with Vietnamese videos and music playing most of the bus TV. To save our sanity we relied on I-Pods, ear plugs and valium--our saviors. Buses were double-decker style, but with beds (made for little people) instead of seats. Once on the road for a few hours the driver would pull into a bus stop and give everyone a chance to eat; food usually consisted of fried noodles, fried rice or Pho (noodle soups).

Our last 10-hour bus ride brought us to Ho Chi Min City (or Saigon) at 5:30 am. As we departed the bus in “central park”, we were surrounded by people walking, running and a large group of women (100-150) doing a rhythmic-jazzercise type of class to the sound of music over a loud speaker. Women (and some men) were shuffling their feet, pumping their arms up and down and back and forth, twisting and thrusting their hips…it was a lot to take in on at 5:30 am in the Saigon.

Instead of sightseeing in Saigon, we decided to leave on the 8:30 am local bus headed to Chau Doc to start our Mekong River trip, a slow-boat floating us from Vietnam up to Cambodia. Our local bus was filled with all Vietnamese with the exception of us four. As we headed out for our 7-hour non-AC bus that stopped often, too often. Every time it stopped, a small group of locals would climb on the bus selling cold jasmine tea, salted fish rolled in a banana leaves, herbs, boiled quail eggs, etc. It was crazy! And we can’t forget the occasional cigarette a local would enjoy as the ashes made our way back to our faces sitting in the back of the bus. I felt like The Dude on the Big Lebowski when Danny passed away and Donny decided to throw his ashes out of a Folger’s can out on a windy day – and there was no hope of dodging the ashes either.

As we rolled on down the bumpy, degraded highway, we had the opportunity to mingle with the locals. They seemed interested in us: our IPods, what we ate, what we were reading, our sunglasses…. while neither understood one another’s language it was fun trying to communicate. They shared their salted fish, we played with their kids, explained where they lived – all by pointing, smiling and laughing at one another. While the travel day was long, it was truly a unique, humbling and an unforgettable experience.

October 2, 2010 – Arrival in Cambodia via the Mekong River

After our local bus ride, we arrived in the small town of Chau Doc located by the border of Cambodia on the Mekong River, one of the world’s longest rivers reaching areas such as China, Laos, Burma (Myanmar) Cambodia and Vietnam. After a night of enjoying “hawker-style” food, open-air stalls serving inexpensive local food, we got up the next morning for a 8-hour slow-boat along the river taking us from Vietnam up to Cambodian.

As we slowly made our way up the river, we observed locals working on their boats or in rice paddies, cruising down the river, kids laughing and playing in the water, water buffaloes enjoying a break from the heat… it was relaxing yet a bit too long when your butt and feet fall asleep from sitting in the same position for more than an hour.

Once arriving to our destination in Cambodia, we took a bus for another 1.5 hours to the town of Phnom Penh (or “Hill of Penh”). Phnom Penh is Cambodia’s capital and largest city and is filled with temples, pagodas, surrounded by small villages and is rich in culture and history. As we venture out to learn more, we will share our pictures, what we learn and experiences.

Thanks for following our journey.

Miss you and much love,

Cathy and Adam



Nepal, Singapore, Vietnam

Last few days in Nepal, Singapore, Hanoi & Halong Bay-Vietnam

September 13-21, 2010

Hello from the other side of the world! Adam and I are currently in Hue (pronounced “whey”), Vietnam and enjoying a restful and relaxing day to catch up on both sleep and update our blog in this quiet town located south of Hanoi and off the east coast of Vietnam.

Nepal – Our last few days

On one of our last days in Nepal we headed to the Swayambhunath Temple located atop a hill in the Kathmandu Valley. The temple is filled with painted images of deities, prayer wheels, shrines, prayer flags and many other religious objects. It is also known as the ‘Monkey Temple’ and filled with monkeys who roam freely and are considered holy according to ancient traditions. As you can see from our pictures, we were able to feed a few of them with a cucumber--Ad was much more comfortable than I was.

Our next stop was Durbar Square, a plaza opposite of the old royal palace in a bustling section of Kathmandu. Considered a Unesco World Heritage site, Durbar is filled with temples and surrounded by spectacular historic architecture designed by artists and craftsmen over the centuries. Due to an earthquake in the 1930’s, the buildings reflect only those that are still standing and some are severely damaged.

If there is one thing that I have learned about traveling is that you never travel alone. You are constantly meeting amazing and interesting people along the way that enrich your travel experience. During our last few days in Nepal, we enjoyed a some beers with a local Nepalese guide, Ang Tseching, (a friend of Krammy’s) his two friends, a woman from Malaysia, a man from Bhutan, and a couple from Minnesota staying at the hotel. It is fun to share stories, travel experiences, see other cultures, and most importantly, make new friends.

Regarding our new friends from Minnesota (Eddie and Lucia), we are lucky to have had a chance to meet them. Less than a few weeks before our arrival into Kathmandu, a plane went down by the Lukla Airport (airport servicing Mt. Everest treks) sadly killing all 14 passengers aboard; ironically, the pilot's name was 'Lucky'. Eddie and Lucia were scheduled to be on that flight to trek Everest Base Camp yet due to inclement weather they decided to postpone it a few days instead; angels must have been watching over them that day.

Singapore – September 15

After Nepal, we flew through Mumbai and onto Singapore. Singapore, officially called the Republic of Singapore, is an island country located on the tip of Malaysia in the very southeast part of Asia. The city is cultured, clean, outdoor-oriented, cosmopolitan and one of the wealthiest countries in the world. We learned that Singapore is the world's fourth leading financial center and its port is amongst the top five busiest in the world. One of the reasons it is unique is that you cannot chew gum, graffiti or litter in this country or you get a big fine and possibly jail time, as signs are posted everywhere; if you bring drugs into the country, the penalty is death – which was clearly written on the visa paperwork we filled out upon arrival at the airport.

Hanoi, Vietnam – September 16-19

We arrived in Hanoi on September 16 and had a car pick us up at the airport. We heard that you get mobbed by taxi drivers, as well as potentially scammed by some that purposely take you to a hotel in which they receive a commission. Yet, we were grateful to arrive to a surprisingly peaceful airport and didn't have any problems.

Hanoi, translation, "Ascending Dragon," is the capital of Vietnam and located along the bank of the Red River. We stayed in the Old Quarter which is described as where the old meets the new. The streets are swarming with motorbikes, “hawkers” (vendors cooking meals on the side of the road for locals as well as tourists) fill the streets, and the sound of horns honking are in the air. If you plan to get anywhere, you must maneuver both motorbikes and cars in the street. It is pedestrian survival--you must cross the streets slowly to give the motorbikes sufficient time to judge their position and pass you on either side. It’s crazy and unlike anything we have experienced.

We spent a few days walking around the Old Quarter enjoying the lake (Hoan Kiem) in the middle of the city, delicious local food specialties like Pho, fried rice with seafood, things you didn’t know but tried anyway, looking at temples and enjoying the outdoor market at night. After a few days in the city, we decided to head to Halong Bay, one of Vietnam’s unique treasures.

Halong Bay – September 19-21

Halong Bay is best described as both majestic and mysterious and comprised of over 3000+ islands among emerald green waters. Also a Unesco World Heritage site, the unique bay is filled with vegetation-covered limestone cliffs that create breathing taking views; it's one of the best sites of Vietnam!

Ad and I decided to book 2-night, 3-day tour of Halong Bay through a travel agent recommended by Lonely Planet (Ocean Tours-and for the record they suck! Don't use them). The package included one-night on a boat, or a “junk” as they refer to it (and it's name deinitely represented the boat, it was a piece of junk), and one night in a bungalow located on Monkey Island. After we arrived in Halong City, jumped on a small boat to take us to our “junk”, we were bummed to arrive to a less than glamorous boat (it was really a junk boat) compared to most others out in the bay. Regardless, we made the best of it and enjoyed the company of the other 11 people on the boat.

We cruised out on our “junk” heading to tour a cave, then kayaked and ending with a slow ride toward Cat Ba Island (a national park where we would spend the night in our bungalow) while enjoying a beautiful sunset and conversation with new friends. We woke up on the boat the next morning and disembarked to Cat Ba Island. At this point we had the choice of either a hike or biking around the park; due to the 90+ degree weather (and 85% humidity) Ad and I opted for the bike.  Sidenote: we called our bike a 'geared single speed, as it had gears, but only one worked.  I (Adam) felt like Chris Farley in the movie Tommy Boy, but instead of 'Big man in a little suit', it was 'Big man on a little bike' VERY LITTLE BIKE. (Still crushed our 2 pack a day smoking guide-KAW)

After the bike, we were taken by another small boat to Monkey Island where we enjoyed a private bungalow (which was great!) on a sandy beach in a small cove. As the sun was starting to go down, we all enjoyed a few cocktails out in the water and slowly watch the beautiful sunset.

The next day, we took the boat back to Halong City and then the 4 hour bus ride back to Hanoi.  Once in Hanoi we caught an overnight bus to Hue (15 hours south) which would be our next stop on our travels down the coast of Vietnam.  

We hope you are all healthy, happy and enjoying your life.

We miss and love you dearly,

Cathy and Adam

Traveling

We are a little more than 2 months into our trip and are really enjoying our time.  Thank you to everyone who sends us notes and comments, we truly appreciate them.  We really miss all of our friends and look forward to seeing you all again soon (sooner if you come and meet us somewhere!); we also miss Elke tremendously!!!  Amy, you are so great and thank you so much for taking care of our girl, we really owe you. 
The different cultures and people are amazing!  Adjusting to the many languages takes time, but we try to pick up the key words, such as, 'thank you', 'please', 'hello', etc... wherever we go. 
Spending 24/7 with someone can be stressful at times, but it also creates a bond like no other and we love that.  What we really really like though is that everytime we see something on our travels it makes us think of specific friends, we just laugh. 
As we sit here in Hanoi, Vietnam (at time of writing) it is HOT and HUMID and we can't help but think of how the leaves must be turning and the weather becoming cooler in Colorado...we miss that (our favorite time of year). 
We are going to go on the Halong Bay tour in a day or two and it's said to be incredibly beautiful; 3 days and 2 nights, a night on the boat (Junk) and a night in a bungalow, and more monkeys on 'Monkey Island', can't wait!  After Halong Bay we are going to buy a open-ended bus ticket to travel down the whole coast of Vietnam from Hanoi to Ho Chi Min City which will take us about 3 weeks or so.  We will stop along the way in a few places and stay, then get back on the bus to continue.  We are really looking forward to chillin at the beach on quite a few different islands in Thailand, getting certified to dive in Ko Tao, and taking Thai cooking classes.
Anyway, hope all of you are doing well and we miss you.  Until the next post...

Amsterdam (Final day), Istanbul, Abu Dhabi, Nepal

"Fishtale", The Himalayas, Nepal

Amsterdam (final day), Istanbul, Abu Dhabi, Nepal

Amsterdam – 8/30-31 (Cathy)

For our final day in Amsterdam we headed to a small village called Zaanse Schans located roughly 15-20 minutes outside of the city on the banks of the Zaan River. The village once called the Zaan District had once grown rich through trade and fishing, and built their first windmills around 1600s. Known as the windmill society, Zaanse Schans was founded to preserve the windmills for future generations and has developed into a small industrial area manufacturing dye for fabrics, paper, rice, barley, etc. with the windmills as well as making wooden clogs and manufacturing cheese in other areas.

The area is incredibly charming with small houses located on the banks of the river surrounded by patches of flowers, waterways, walking paths, small bridges and fishing boats. Sheep and goats roam freely through the tall green grass as the windmills churn in the background – it truly is adorable and a must see if you visit Amsterdam.

Abu Dhabi- 9/01/10 (Adam)

So, I made ‘Abu boo,’ Abu Dhabi is NOT Dubai, it’s about 2 hours away. I don’t know if I thought ‘Abu’ was a prefix for city names or what, but I made our plane reservations to fly from Istanbul to Abu Dhabi, not Dubai, however, I made our hotel reservations to stay in Dubai; we realized this during our flight to Abu Dhabi. So what does this mean? We had no place to stay when we arrived in Abu Dhabi. Rather than pay 300 dermas (about $70) to take a cab (one way) to Dubai for only 18 hours, we found a hotel in Abu Dhabi and ate the loss of the $60 hotel we had booked in Dubai, make sense? Not a huge loss, but still kind of a bummer.

Did I mention it’s HOT in Abu Dhabi? Try 100 degrees at midnight, how do you like them apples? The short time we were there we found it to be enough. Here is what we know: Abu Dhabi is LOADED with money (this city is the one that bailed out Dubai when they over spent by about 30-40 BILLION when doing their recent building), it’s a huge desert with man-made everything, the Zayed Grand Mosque is the most beautiful thing in the city and is truly spectacular, the oil reserves in Abu Dhabi is speculated to last for the next 150 years, whereas the oil reserves in Dubai are only said to last for the next 15 years. Ramadan is wild, not party wild, but very different wild. Everyone fasts during the daytime hours, no food or water at all, no smoking at all, no booze, no public displays of affection. If a person is caught doing any of these things they get taken to jail immediately; once night time arrives everyone indulges. Glad we got to visit, but happy to be heading to Nepal the next day.

Nepal 9/2-9/14

Arriving into Kathmandu was exciting! We were finally going to the Himalayas, a place I have wanted to visit for many years. Before our arrival we set up a 7 day trek starting in Pokhara heading towards the small village of Ghorepani in the Annapurna Range (west of Mt. Everest). I was recommended this trek by our friend Ang Teshing Lama who has been guiding in Nepal for nearly 20 years -thank you for all your help Ang!

Kathmandu is the capital on Nepal; it’s a busy town with many small streets (mostly dirt) and filled with shops and bicycle taxis; it’s also a dirty town, but there is a charm about it that we really like. When we arrived it was raining (as it would for most of the time we were there) so most of the streets turned to mud and made commuting a bit hectic.

Upon our arrival and after we got our visas, we were happy to see Arun (the representative from Trail Finders-the trekking company we used) holding a sign that said ‘Adam Rongey’. He was there to pick us up and take us to our hotel. Arun is extremely nice and very helpful; he made sure we got to our hotel and answered any questions we had. Being our first time to Nepal, it was a good idea to have someone pick us up at the airport as it is pretty crazy with many people who wanted our business (and everyone wanted to give us a ‘good deal’).

We stayed at the Ambassador Garden Hotel for our first night and were given masala tea (which is incredibly tasty-similar to Chai) as we were checking in for the night. Our place was pretty nice and located right in the middle of town, but as we would find out later, a little more expensive then we probably needed to pay. Cath and I went out for dinner and had great pad thai, spring rolls and green chicken curry, it was delicious!

The next morning we had a nice breakfast before Arun came to take us to Trail Finders to finalize the details of our trip that would be starting the next day. Two English girls (Esme and Ellie) were going to be joining us on the trek along with our guide and porter (Alok and Netra) and were already in Pokhara waiting our arrival. The trip from Kathmandu to Pokhara is about 7-8 hours by bus (which is probably a great trip), but we decided we have had enough long bus rides for the time being and bought plane tickets, which was only a 30 minute flight.

Our trek would be a 7 day loop starting in Nayapul (an hour drive NW of Pokhara) and staying in tea houses along the way, and ending in the same place we started. Each day our we would trek from 4.5-6.5 hours, and the total distance would be about 37km, with a total elevation gain of 2500 meters (about 8000 ft.), so not very long, but a good amount of climbing.

Pokhara is much more chill then Kathmandu which we really liked. Our $17 hotel was decent and the home base for our trek. We met Esme, Ellie, Alok and Netra and talked about what to expect for the next 7 days. The highlight of the trek was to reach Ghorepani, then hike 45 minutes up to Poon Hill at 5am the next morning to view the sunrise overlooking the Dhaulagiri in the Annapurna Himalayan Range (said to be the greatest view in the whole area).

Our drive from Pokhara to Nayapul (the start of our trek) was very interesting; we passed many families homes (little shanties built from recycled tin and cinder blocks), people working in their yards, children being washed by their mothers outside with a garden hose and soap, and cows walking around wherever they pleased (they are considered sacred and therefore get to do what they want); seeing these things made us realize how lucky we are to have what we do in America. It was amazing to see how little these people have (or need) to get by.

Our first day trekking began in the rain and took us to the small village of Tikhedhungga, about 5 hours away UP through the beautiful mountains; it was a fairly easy day, just long…and wet. We stayed in our first ‘tea house,’ which was really a plywood box with a bed and the bathroom out the door and around the corner; I should mention that bathrooms or ‘toilets’ are not the sit down type, but a hole in the ground with a bucket of water in the corner for cleaning. For dinner we had Dal Baht (which we would choose to have every night), which consists of rice, curry, vegetables and a spicy sauce; it was good! We hung out for awhile, read our books and went to bed.

Day two was our toughest of the trek (but it wasn’t raining so that was great), as we had to climb roughly 4000 steps or something like that up to Ghorepani where we would spend the night. This day’s trek was only about 3 miles or so, but we climbed 4000+ feet, so it was very steep the whole way (imagine hiking the beginning part of Mt. Sanitas, for 5.5 hours, seriously; I was a sweaty mess within 20 minutes. We made it to Ghorepani where we would have had an amazing view of the Himalayas if the fog and clouds weren’t covering everything; at this point we were at an elevation of 3100 meters (10,000+ ft). Because it is still considered off season there weren’t too many people in this small village and we had the ‘Poon Hill Guest House’ to ourselves. The highlight of the trek would be to wake up at 5am the next day and hike 45 minutes up to Poon Hill to see the sunrise over the Annapurna Range; it is said to be THE BEST view in the whole region. Unfortunately for us it dumped rain the entire night and continued through the morning (and most of the day), the result being all fog/clouds and no view, such a drag. Disappointed, our guide gave us the option of staying another night to see if the following morning would be clear and provide us with the view we had been waiting for; we took him up on the offer, but to our dismay we woke up to more rain and still no view; we would still have another chance when we got to Tadapani, the next village about 6 hours away.

We trekked up the ridgeline out of Ghorepani towards Tadapani. The rain was coming down hard and the wind was blowing like crazy. Our trek was all single track that consisted of dirt, rocks, steep narrow slopes, washed away trail, exposed roots, and a ton of mud; oh yeah, and leeches! Not the big fat ‘Stand by Me’ leeches, but the little bastards that would get into your shoes and then through your socks. We were given small bags of salt to rub on the leeches if they attached themselves; Cath and I had a few between us, but it wasn’t that big of a deal.

Once we made it to Tadapani the rain stopped, but the clouds and fog were still blocking any type of view of the 6-8000 meter peaks (18-24,000 feet), which were just across the way. We ate dinner and played cards before going to bed. The following morning at about 6:30 some of the clouds lifted and we got our first look at the INCREDIBLE Himalayas! Oh my, the most stunning mountains we have ever seen, even if it wasn’t the whole range. I was in awe and snapped a bunch of pictures, but really, no picture can compare to seeing these beauties in person; absolutely incredible! As we ate breakfast of oatmeal with fruit and masala tea, we watched the mountains fade back into the fog and clouds; next stop Jhinudanda, another 5.5 hours away.

The trek to Jhinudanda was more of the same BEAUTIFUL scenery that started off by taking us down 700 meters through the forest to the rushing river on the valley floor. On the way we passed many waterfalls, and got to see monkeys (called Langurs) playing in the trees which were really cool. Once we crossed the river, via the narrow swaying bridge, we had the pleasure of climbing back up (like very steep up) 700 meters and made our way through several little villages where we got to see locals going about their daily lives; it was a great experience. We reached the summit of this day’s trek and saw our tea house in the distance, another 700-800 meters down very steep steps. Once we arrived we all walked down to the river to enjoy the natural hot springs; it was a nice way to end our long day of trekking.

Our final day of the trek took us 6.5 hours, not difficult and mostly flat, but very long. I think by this point we were all a little tired and ready to be finished. We came upon a group of local men butchering a water buffalo and let me tell you, it was a sight. We couldn’t stay too long as Esme’s stomach couldn’t really handle it, in her defense it was pretty gnarly. As we were finishing our trek, we enjoyed watching many children walking back up the valley from school with their families. Sitting on the bus for the hour ride back to Pokhara was welcomed; it was a great week!

Troy-Gallipoli-Amsterdam

August 26-31, 2010

TROY TOUR

Adam and I decided to book a few tours as we made our way towards Istanbul. Our first was a tour of the archeological site of Troy. Also known as Ilium, Troy was built as early as 5000 BC and located in northwest Turkey and best known for being the focus of the Trojan War. The believed history is described in two of the famous Greek poems, Iliad and Odyssey written by Homer.

As we walked around Troy, we learned the stories of Helen of Sparta (the Troy), Achilles, former wars yet was we found to be fascinating were the different empires such as the Roman and Byzantine that ruled the city Troy that both demolished and reconstructed the city nine times beginning as far back as 3000 BC until 500 AD. Sometimes the city was demolished by war and other times by natural causes such as earthquakes and floods. Today, some of the ancient city’s walls and artifacts (pottery, arrows, etc) have been preserved and surprisingly are in good condition, a tribute to the craftsmanship during that time.

Another well-known legend of Troy is the “Wooden Horse”. While many people came to the aid of Troy during different wars, it was during the Trojan War that the Greeks used a “Wooden Horse” to gain access to Troy. The Greeks presented the “Wooden Horse” to the Trojans as a thank you to Athena yet well-armed men hid inside it that ultimately destroyed the city.

GALLIPOLI – ANZAC WAR TOUR

Our next tour was the Anzac War, or Gallipoli Campaign. The war, the first major military action fought by Australian and New Zealand forces during the First World War. The war took place at Gallipoli peninsula in Turkey from April 25, 1915 to January 9, 1916. A joint British and French operation was mounted to capture the Ottoman capital of Istanbul and secure a sea route to Russia. The attempt failed, with heavy casualties on both sides.

The war was a defining moment in history for Turkey as it liberated them from the crumbling Ottoman Empire allowing them to become an independent country. The war is often referred to as the Turkish War of Independence led by the infamous commander and Turkey’s first president, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. In almost every home and business in Turkey, you will find a picture of him as Turkey attributes their independence to him.

BACK TO A-DAM!

Yes, we decided to take a vacation from our vacation so, we spontaneously booked two tickets back to Amsterdam! After traveling through Turkey, we were craving cooler temps and non-Turkish food and decided to head to Holland.

After a few hours of researching flights and few beers, we had our tickets for the next morning. We arrived around 6:30 pm (we missed our 20-minute connection from Munich) and were excited to back to the Dutch city we had only spend two days in roughly a month ago. We headed to our hotel (which was near the airport for the first night), dropped our bags, showered and headed to find a place for dinner.

Lucky for us, Amsterdam was celebrating “Restaurant Week”, similar to “First Bite” in Boulder, highlighting Amsterdam’s dining scene by offering 3-course meals at a discounted rate. We stopped in a small, hip local restaurant in downtown called Bistrot Neuf, which offered a French menu. The food was amazing along with the selected wines that accompanied each course. We both enjoyed a filet of beef served with béarnaise and served over sweet potato mash, with fresh asparagus and onion compote. The tiramisu dessert with vanilla bean ice cream was incredible! More to come as we still have our final day to enjoy…..

Turkey is Hot!

Pamukkale, Turkey

BODRUM, TURKEY (August 19-23)

We left Santorini by ferry last Friday at 12:20 am and headed to the town of Bodrum via Kos, another Greek Island, where we arrived at 5:30 am. Bleary eyed and tired, we enjoyed a beautiful sunrise and exchanged travel stories and tips with a group of Australians who were also headed to Bodrum. Next, we boarded the 9:00 am ferry from Kos and were off to our 8th country, Turkey.

In more ways than one, Turkey is hot. Hot because of the 100 degree temps and hot because everyone is traveling here; as well they should! Turkey is friendly, inexpensive (sometimes), beautiful and rich in culture and history. Bodrum, our first stop, is a quaint and somewhat modernized port town located in the south western part of the country where the Aegean and Mediterranean Seas meet.

Once through customs (which took us a little while- Ad had to run to the nearest ATM to get some ‘Lira’ to pay for our visas), we headed to look for food and a place to lay our heads for the night. During our lunch, we heard a man chanting over a loud speaker and asked our waiter what it was. He explained that it was the religious tradition of “Amom”, when the priest or pastor calls his people to prayer five times a day from the minaret, or bell tower. At first, it felt too much like an religious extremist group, yet after a few conversations with locals and acquiring a better understanding, we have more respect for the very rich and misunderstood tradition and began to use it as a reminder to be thankful to God for all that we have.

A side note, Greece and Turkey are very similar yet their main cultural differences are their language and religion. In Greece they speak Greek, Turkey they speak Turkish yet their religions are different: Greek Orthodox Christianity versus Islam, one of the fastest growing religions. The other strong cultural similarities (food, how they look, architecture, etc) relate to their history as one country ruled by Greece before the rise of the Ottoman Empire in which they were split in two.

Our first evening in Bodrum, we headed to a restaurant for Turkish food. We feasted on eggplant mixed with fresh tomatoes and herbs, sardines with chili sauce, yogurt mixed with onions and garlic salt, and fresh sea bass; it was delicious! We headed home early to catch up on sleep and just as we were getting ready for bed, we noticed another little creature joining us in our room – an unwelcomed cockroach, eewwwhhh!

While in Bodrum, we enjoyed a traditional Turkish bath. A Turkish bath consists of a sauna, scrub, soap and then an oil massage (in your ‘swimming costume’). You begin with a sauna designed to help open your pores and eliminate toxins. Next, you lay face down on a circular marble table for a full-body rub- down, then a full-body scrub to get rid of the dead skin, finally, the pouring of refreshing cool water over your shoulders and legs. Next, they gently pour handmade olive oil soap over your body, it feels amazing! Once finished with the bath you end with a 20-minute relaxing oil massage. Ad and I very much enjoyed this Turkish experience.

On Monday, we headed out for a boat tour that took us around to 5 different bays in Bodrum. It was here that we met a really nice Dutch couple, Anna and Kim. Anna and Kim are from a small town (around 6,000) in Holland called Olst located close to the German border. They were enjoying day #4 of a two-week vacation in Bodrum.

We had a lot of fun drinking some beers, jumping off the boat (and off 35 foot rocks) into the beautiful blue water and dancing on the top deck, and we loved the conversation with our new friends. Anna is a nurse who met Kim while working together at the same hospital, a rehabilitation hospital that helps young kids with mental illness. Kim is a nurse and also specializes in training professionals on how to deal with individuals with aggression and who have mental imbalances.

As we were leaving the boat for the day, we met another nice couple, Ece (Turkish) and Vedran (Bosnian), recently engaged and living in Australia. We struck up a conversation regarding our trip and their possibility of relocating to the US, then decided that we should all head out for dinner together. Thanks to Ece (pronounced “A-jay”), she took the reins and ordered up an amazing Turkish feast for all of us to enjoy. After a wonderful dinner and evening, we exchanged hugs and contact information then said our goodbyes.

PAMUKKALE (August 23)

On Tuesday morning, we woke up at 5:45 am to catch our 6:30 am bus to Pamukkale. As we waited for over 30 minutes for our bus (the bus that was to take us to the tour bus), we called the travel agent who booked our trip and told her that no one had arrived. Less than 10 minutes later, a gentleman picked us up and we were on our way. For the next hour and a half, we cruised in a small-passenger van at roughly 80 miles an hour up hills, around corners, and passing cars and trucks to make our way to the tour bus that was originally supposed to take us to Pamukkale. As it turns out, our van picking us up in the morning mistakenly picked up the wrong passengers and our driver had to chase the tour bus down so we could make the transfer. Once we arrived, our driver explained to us that his driving was like a “rocket” in order to catch up with the others.

Pamukkale, or Cotton Castle, is a little town and host to an amazing natural site that is unique to the world. Underground thermal springs loaded with calcium carbonate salts creates stalactites and white water basins filled with warm pools of water rich with minerals. The terraced mineral spas have been used since Roman times for their therapeutic powers to help with such ailments as arthritis and other circulatory issues.

SELCUK (August 23-25)

We enjoyed our time at the very unique and natural site of Pumakkale, and then caught an afternoon bus to Selcuk (pronounced “Sel-chuk”), a small town nearby the ancient ruins of Ephesus. Selcuk is close to the coast and less than 20 kilometers from Kusadsi. We checked into our hotel which we found to be…comfortable and pleasing with a very kind owner. Directly across the street was the town square where we had another great Turkish dinner. What we liked most about this town were the extremely friendly people always saying, ‘hello’ and ‘have a good evening’ as we walked by.

The next morning (Tuesday) we ventured out on foot (despite the 90+ degrees) to see the ancient ruins of Ephesus, roughly 3K from the town of Selcuk. Ephesus was once a port town and commercial center of the ancient world created in the third century BC, and a site dedicated to the goddess Artemis. Included in the ruins is an enormous ancient temple that included a theater, gymnasium, baths and Library of Celsus.

Located up on the hill above Ephesus is the home of the Virgin Mary. Tradition has it that after the death of Christ, the Virgin Mary was brought to Ephesus where she is said to have spent her last days in a small house built for her high up on the hill.

After our tour, we headed back to Selcuk for rest of the afternoon where we had a nice dinner, then sat with our new friends (Marco, Ali, and Aydan) and talked about life in both America and Turkey. It was very nice relaxing and enjoying great conversation and learning more about the Turkish culture. We hope our new friends will come to Colorado for a visit.

We are missing our friends, family and our lil’ Duker girl, Elke!

Love to you all,

C and A

Santorini, ahh, Santorini!

August 18, 2010 (Adam here)

We are in Santorini!! Finally, a place where we have been able to chill for a few days (not to mention, a place that we are LOVING!). We were in Athens for two days checking out the sights before we made our way to the island of Santorini. After the hot 7 hour train ride from Meteora to Athens, we found a very decent hotel ($55 Euro per night) that we were happy to rent (even if everything outside the hotel was a little sketchy) which included air conditioning as well as a private bathroom. Excellent!

We decided to go to a travel agency to try and put together a schedule before we did anything else. Ultimately we need to work our way over to Turkey as we have a flight out of there on Sept. 1. Our thought was to check out a Greek Island or two, then hop on over to Turkey and “jam with the Stones!” –Fast Times at Ridgemont High. Ok probably won’t ‘jam with the Stones’ but regardless, we do need to work our way over to Turkey at some point.

We knew we were traveling in high season and that Europe would be our greatest expense, but we didn’t know that this week was the ‘busiest week of the year’ in Greece. A girl named Efi at the travel agency was extremely helpful and very friendly in trying to put together a package (yes Gurst, I said package) for us, however, the package was way out of our price range. Cathy and I decided to take a chance and book a ‘Super Fast Ferry’ over to Santorini for the next morning, hoping we might find some place to stay when we got there.

After we booked our ‘super fast ferry,’ we looked online to see if any place might be available for us to stay (in hindsight, it would have probably been smarter to find a place to stay, THEN book the ferry, but that’s kind of how we roll). As it turned out, we did find a place in the beach town of Kamari, which is on the east side of Santorini. We had no idea what our place would be like, but the price was right and the reviews were good, so we booked 3 nights; after the many ‘not so clean places’ we have stayed, “What could possibly go wrong?”

Well, we are here now and it’s AWESOME!! We are truly on the beach (ok, 3 meters away), our room is SAWEET w/ air con, private bath, clean, and a real double bed (not two twins pushed together (although two twins pushed together….ok I won’t go there). There’s a beautiful pool, and a bar (basically swim-up bar). There are TONS of GREAT places to eat, an open air cinema, ATV/moped rentals, many different tours, and sunsets that are said to be the best in the world! How’s $75 per night sound? KAW!

Once we got to ‘The Boathouse’ (our place), we grabbed a bite to eat (on the beach) then jumped into the very refreshing ocean. Oh, life is good! There is one piece of sad news; my wedding ring fell off somewhere in the ocean and is gone; I was/am very bummed about this. I have NEVER had any issues with it falling off before; I was getting out of the water, looked at my hand and it was not there 8(

We have been chillin out for the past four (we booked an extra night when we arrived) nights and have been enjoying some down time; it was needed as we have been in constant motion for the past month.

Cathy and I decided to see the island by way of 'Quad Runner'.  We rented a fairly new 150cc (not very fast, but that was ok with Cath) machine and took off on our tour. Driving around Santorini can be very confusing and we got lost on more than one occasion. We thought we were headed towards a few proclaimed 'amazing beaches' (which I am sure they were) but ended up on top of the highest peak on the island (which wasn't necessarily a bad thing).  We drove to the oposite side of the island, weaving in and out of traffic in hopes of reaching Oia (pronounced 'eea'). This is said to be the premier spot for viewing the sunsets on Santorini.  However, we were there during the middle of the extremely hot day and were in desperate search of water.  Dripping with sweat, we made it to Oia; we successfully made our way down the 283 (or so) steep stairs to the small port and we were greeted by an amazing bluish/green ocean. Just around the bend of the port was an incredible spot where quite a few people were enjoying a cool swim and jumping off 10-15 foot cliffs into the ocean, it was so refreshing! 

After we enjoyed the ocean for about an hour we decided to head back [I should say that we were about 45 minutes from our hotel on a LONG desolate road].  On our way back on the quad, we were enjoying the breeze (because we were sweating again from ascending the 283 or so stairs we came down earlier) when we ran out of gas.  What! Yes, we were out of gas.  I stayed with the quad while Cathy headed out to find a gas station; she ran into a couple of super friendly Greek guys who took her to the gas station and then drove her back to where I was with the quad.  Extremely grateful, we thanked them and we were again on our way.  As we were headed down the hill, we saw many cars coming towards us with a few flashing their lights; this is when we realized we were going the wrong way on a one-way road-oops.  We turned around and from that point on everything went smoothly as we made our way back home. 

Once back at the hotel we jumped in the pool, relaxed, then went to eat amazing Chinese food (the BEST green curry we have ever had in our lives!) Can't wait to eat in Thailand!

We leave by ferry for the island of Kos (which is just off the coast of Turkey) at 12:30am on Friday; we will hang there for a couple of days before making our way over to Turkey. We are excited to see another new country; we here great things about Turkey.

More later, Peace!

Meteora, Greece

Kalambaka, Greece (National monument, Meteora)

August 12-13

We arrived around 1:00 pm to the small town of Kalambaka, located directly east of Igoumenitsa in the northern center of Greece. Sleepy and slightly disoriented, we got off the bus and looked around and noticed a sign, Hotel Astoria. Located less than a block away, we walked up and were greeted by a very nice Greek gentleman and his wife who provided us with an air conditioned room for a couple of nights as well as a wealth of great information about the area. They had been living in Kalambaka their whole life and running the hotel for the past 40 years. The hotel felt like a monastery-it was clean, quiet, peaceful and serene and we were subtly surrounded by pictures of the Virgin Mary and Jesus.

That evening, we headed to the town square to enjoy a dinner of Greek salads, beef and chicken syrtaki and some Greek white wine. After dinner, we went walked around town, talked to a few friendly locals, enjoyed some traditional baklava and picked up our laundry from a local dry cleaner who cleaned and neatly folded them (and they smelled amazing).

The next morning we woke and walked downtown to catch our bus to Meteora. While waiting, we enjoyed seeing the local farmers market of vendors selling fresh tomatoes, watermelons and cucumbers, grilling corn on a BBQ, handmade quilts and paintings being sold – you could feel the small community of Kalambaka.

We caught a bus up to Meteora, or “suspended rocks”; it's one of the world’s most unique national monuments. Monasteries (6 monasteries today) were built to serve as a peaceful place for monks and nuns to follow the teachings of Greek Orthodox. While perched up on rocks pillars to deliberately make it difficult to access, monks built their monasteries by using long ladders to access and hoisting building materials and people up by ropes, nets and later, by a unique pulley system, see our pictures.

Today, there are roughly 4-6 monks that are still practicing in this area. Most of the monasteries serve as a museum for tourists to better understand the history, teachings, paintings and life as a monks as early as the 14th century in this area. At times, you can hear a bell ringing from a distant monastery. It is a place of great beauty and both mentally and spiritually refreshing and I definitely recommend a visit.

If you are looking for a place to travel, I definitely think you should consider Greece!

Rome, Italy; A little Pisa; Arrival in Greece

Colosseum, Rome

August 7-10

On Saturday morning, we packed our backpacks and headed to the train station in Monterosso destined for Florence, Italy. Florence is known for its famous galleries and churches yet after a few moments of standing in front of the train departure schedule, we contemplated our decision and the idea of crowded museums, sweating in long lines with other tourists hoping to do the exact same thing and decided to take the fast train to Rome. This is the luxury of having a Euro Rail Pass, no itinerary and no hotel reservations.

Before getting to Rome we had to change trains in Pisa; we thought, ‘great opportunity to see the leaning tower! Let’s jump off and check out it out then we’ll continue to Rome.’ Seemed like a good idea at the time, but in hindsight, we should have skipped it. We walked for about 1 ½ miles (and it was FREAKIN HOT!) until we finally found it. Yes, it was pretty cool to see, but after 5 minutes of checking it out and watching all the tourists take pictures of their family members pretending to push the tower over, or hold it up with their hands…we were over it and ready to get back on the train. We stopped for refreshing lemonade and a crappy pizza before making the trek back to the train. We got a little lost heading back and I (Adam) led us in a big circle; but we finally made it. To sum it up, the Leaning Tower of Pisa, ain’t worth Pisa! Skip it.

After our brief stop in Pisa, we were back on the train and headed to Rome, the capital of Italy. We arrived around 1:00 pm and headed to the desk called “Hotel Reservations – Last Minute”. A friendly Italian woman helped us find a decent hotel centrally located around Rome’s well-known monuments and museums.

Rome is a treasure chest of history. While we saw many amazing historic sites, I will highlight some of our favorites. Our first historic site, the Trevi Fountain, or Fontana di Trevi, tucked in between buildings and at the junction of three roads is one of Rome’s largest and most beautiful fountains. Otherwise known as Aqua Virgo, this fountain is one of the aqueducts to supply water to ancient Rome.

Next, the Colosseum, originally called the Flavian Amphitheatre, is located in the center of Rome and considered one of the most famous pieces of architecture built in Rome. Constructed by the Flavian dynasty under the rule of Nero in 70 AD and completed in 72 AD, this giant iconic piece of history hosted 50,000 spectators to gladiator fights (yes, like the movie Gladiator), battle reenactments and later, housing, a fortress and a Christian Shrine.

Today it stands as a historic piece of the Imperial Rome. Its partial ruins are due to past earthquakes and stone-robbers. With its strong ties to the Catholic Church, religious processions are hosted at certain times of the year such as Good Friday.

Last, but not least, our visit is Vatican City, a sovereign state within the city of Rome along the Tiber River and established in 1929 with only 800 residents. Vatican City is ruled by the bishop of Rome, the Pope, and Catholic clergyman from various nationalities and the home of the Pope. Adjacent to the city is both Saint Peter’s Basilica and the infamous Sistine Chapel, two places Adam and I visited.

The St. Peter’s Basilica is a late Renaissance Church and has the largest interior of any Christian Church in the world holding over 60,000 people. It has been regarded as one of the holiest Christian sites and believed to be the place of death for St. Peter himself. Decorated in marble, surrounded by famous paintings (Michelangelo) and contains a large number of tombs of popes.

The final historic site, the Sistine Chapel, the best known chapel in the Apostolic Palace, the official residence of the Pope in Vatican City. The chapel is famous for both its architecture and decoration of frescos developed by Renaissance artists such as Michelangelo, who painted over 12,000 square feet beginning in 1508. His most famous, The Last Judgement, is believed to be his best achievement, includes a series of frescoes depicting the life of both Moses and Christ and began in 1533 while finishing in 1541.

Bari, Italy -August 10-11

We left Rome for the long journey to the port town of Bari; this is where we would catch the ferry to Greece. This 9.5 hour series of train rides took us through the southern part of Italy, stopping regularly in small towns. At one stop, a few of the locals seemed surprised to see Americans and welcomed us asking where we were from, helping us find our way to Bari and provided us with snacks. Once arriving in Bari, we frustratingly realized we missed the boat out of Italy by 40 minutes and ended up having to stay in a dumpy hotel before we could leave for Greece the next day.

We woke up to a new day and new attitudes; we were ready for Greece and put Italy behind us. We enjoyed the many wonderful and beautiful cities Italy offered, yet in Rome, we felt that the people we continued to meet were hard to get to know and we were tired of consistently having miscalculations with our bill every time we ate. In many parts of Europe, there is a charge for what feels like everything! They charge you for bread service as well as if you sit down at their outdoor seating spots. To give you an example, we went to a restaurant in Rome that offered a unique Italian ice-cream dessert called Tartufo. If you took the ice-cream to go, it would cost you $5 Euros, if you sat down at a table outside, it would cost you $10 Euros for the dessert plus a service charge (around $2-3 Euros) for the waiter or waitress to serve it to you – basically move it 10 feet from the restaurant’s ice-cream bar to the table. Hmm, it wasn’t a hard decision to simply order it to-go and then enjoy it on a park bench in front of the Navanno Fountain.

We checked out of our hotel in Bari and headed to the port to secure two seats on an overnight ferry to Igoumenitsa, Greece. Standing in line, we met a nice, young 20-year old traveler from Fort Collins named Alex. After exchanging a few travel stories, we headed to enjoy lunch at the ‘Titti Twister Pizzeria’ (which was actually the best pizza we had while in Italy) and then a dip in the Adriatic Sea to cool off from the sweltering hot day. We arrived at the local beach just down from the port, and in less than five minutes of being there, a few locals began to warn us while pointing to their eye that we needed to keep close watch of our backpacks. As a few shady locals circled us and our packs, we decided to quickly enjoy the water and then get the heck out of there and head back to port.

As we waited to board the ferry, we flipped through pages of their brochure describing the trip to Greece -- “enjoy a goodnight’s rest and then wake up in Greece” - this sounded perfect. We boarded the ferry and headed to our “airline” seats as described on our ticket. The options for passengers were: deck, airline seat or cabin (depending on your ticket). Because of our first-class Euro rail pass, we were delighted to not be sleeping out on the deck for the eve and headed for the airline seats.

The room with the airline seats, which they truly were, was set up like a small movie theater with two sections of roughly 60 seats per section and a wall with a flat screen TV separated each section. For the rest of the eve, Ad, myself and over 100 other people did not enjoy a “goodnight’s rest.” Our evening included but was not limited to: endless snoring, people talking, cell phones ringing, text message alerts and three old Italian men having a conversation as if no one else was around.

Igoumenitsa, Greece – Thursday, August 12

We arrive at 6:00 am to the sun rising in Igoumenitsa. With less than 3 hours of sleep, we immediately head to a café in the boat terminal to enjoy a morning cappuccino and Greek pastry (I had no idea what it was) and then head to the local bus station. We left the terminal and immediately felt completely lost and confused by all the Greek signage – a series of confusing symbols that make no sense, it’s like setting your computer font to ‘Wingdings’ and typing a message. A few friendly locals directed us to the bus station for our next journey, a 3.5 hour bus ride to Kalambaka, our final destination for the evening and the home to the unique monument of Meteora.

As the only Americans on our bus, we joined locals on our first ride through the winding roads and mountainous terrain. Up hills, around curves (some littered with shrines dedicated to the unfortunate who overshot the guardrail), over hilltops with Thievery Corporation playing in the background (yes, we had good tunes on the bus ride in Greece), the bus driver drove until he suddenly pulled over to the side of the road, grabbed a few blue plastic bags and handed them to a local passenger who thought she might “toss her cookies”. After a few moments, the local regained herself and requested that the driver proceed more slowly through the turns.

Tomorrow, I will share stories and pics of Meteora!