204 days...

Washington, DC, USA

2008-02-07T22:05:00.000-05:00

Home Sweet Home. It's hard to believe that it's been seven months since we last touched American soil. Some things have changed (what are these new fangled I-Pod touches?) and some things never change (Us Weekly still sucks me in). Within an hour of touching down in LA, we had a bagel and coffee and roamed the aisles of Target. Ahh, the little things. We were fortunate to ease back into American culture with our friend Reina in LA (she made amazing Chili and corn bread) and Mike and Brandon in San Diego (we were immediately sucked into Ugly Betty). Both filled us in on all the gossip we missed and blessed us with good California weather before we finally returned to winter. Things have yet to slow down--if anything, our pace has quickened. Within our first week in DC, we leased an apt., moved our stuff in, started a job and filled our social calendars for the next few weeks.

So it's finally time to wrap up the blog and say goodbye to our trip around the world. This is our last post so you'll have to find another site to read on Monday mornings (may I recommend www.usmagazine.com). It goes without saying, this was a trip of a lifetime, but we'll spare you the sentimental babble. Instead we'll finish with a cumulative best-of list. Thanks so much for following along with us!

erin and geoff

Countries Visited: 12 (including California)

Number of Flights: 24

Missed Flights: 1

Miles Flown: approx. 37,000

Number of trains: 20

Beds Slept in: 66

Nights sleeping in a Van: 10
...Bus: 1
...Train: 10
...Airport: 1
...Under the Stars: 5
...Plane: 3
...Boat: 2
...Jail: 0

Passports Lost: 0

Baggage Lost: 0

Books Read: 52

Things we Missed Most: Bagels, Bluejeans (ek) Football Season (gsp)

Things we Missed Least: cell phones, election coverage

Favorite Food: Tibetan Momos (ek), Vietnamese Lemongrass and Chili Chicken (gsp)

Favorite Beer: Indian Budweiser

Worst Beer: Anything Australian. Fosters is NOT Australian for beer!

Cheapest Beer: Bia Hoi- 12 cents

Favorite Place: Leh, India

Best Beach: Ao Phranang, Railay, Thailand

Best Hostel:Dragon Town Youth Hostel, Chengdu, China

Best Airport: Singapore

Worst Airport: Delhi, India

Wonders of World visited: 2

World Heritage Sites visited: 25

Nicest travelers: Italians

Funniest travelers: Japanese

Musicians we heard in all 12 countries: Fergie, Phil Collins

Person we know with the most look-a-likes (doppelgangers): Dave Rees

Scariest Moment: Arriving in Mumbai at 3 a.m., taking a 30 mph taxi, windows open, no seatbelts, no locks, through Dharavi, the biggest slum in the world.

Top Five Best Moments:
5: Singing Karaoke with Mark in Tokyo
4: Seeing the Dalai Lama speak to 10,000 Tibetans in Northern India
3: Taking a camel safari through the desert of Western India
2: Bungee jumping in New Zealand with Kerrie
1: Hugging a Panda!

Place we'll most likely return to: Leh, India

Nadi, Fiji

2008-01-21T17:33:00.001-05:00

Bula! Greetings from Fiji on Day 204!

After spending one quick night in Nadi on the mainland, we boarded our ferry to the outer Yasawa Islands. Our first stop was the island of Nacula near the famous Blue Lagoon. We stayed in thatch bures right on the beach and spent our days doing pretty much nothing. Our location was fun because the main bure at the "resort" would welcome local villagers each night for kava drinking sessions. Kava is a root that locals soak in water and drink ceremonially instead of six-packs or rum. It tastes like dirt and doesn't get you drunk so the tourists stay away. You can even see the locals wince when it's their turn to drink.

We spent our nights hanging out with other travelers and the locals learning a lot about traditional Fijian culture. Here, more than anywhere else we've been, we've been able to sit down with locals and learn about their culture without having to hear it from a guide or a bus driver. After dinner one night, we broke out our deck of UNO cards and were delighted to learn that the villagers knew all the rules and an energized game soon broke out.

After attending two church services in the village on Nacula, we traveled south by ferry to the island of Naviti. We got to Naviti just in time for the rain and a rumor began to spread that a cyclone was heading our way. News in Fiji works like the "telephone game" in elementary school and there are 333 islands so its gets kinda distorted some times. The one newspaper we saw was a week old and addressed nothing except 9 pages of rugby scores and 1 page of a somewhat inaccurate breakdown of the Iowa caucuses (according to Fiji's main source of news, Obama has already won the presidency). The cyclone apparently struck one of the larger islands and bounced back to sea so we ended up with rain and quite a bit of wind. Our room in Naviti had a tin roof so we stayed mostly dry.

From Naviti, we took a small motor boat out into the Perfect Storm to meet our ferry. We were in about 10-15 foot swells and as Erin stepped off our boat onto the ferry, we dropped about ten feet below her. She's glad she didn't look back. Eventually we both made it onto the ferry with our wet stuff to see about 40 other tourists puking their guts out. Luckily, we only had to travel for about 20 minutes before disembarking at our last island stop, Drawaqa Island.

Drawaqa was a great location because although there was not any power anywhere on the island, it was privately owned. This meant sleeping with the windows and doors open which made it nice to enjoy the sea breeze. The sun finally came out and we had the place pretty much to ourselves and spent our days hiking, lying on the beach, snorkeling and fishing. It should be noted that on our last fishing trip, ERIN CAUGHT A FISH, which is a first for her (she actually caught 2, and I caught zero).

We arrived back in Nadi last night on the ferry and head out for LAX later tonight. Somehow we arrive in Los Angeles later this afternoon - I think it has something to do with the International Dateline but I'm hoping Air Pacific operates a time machine. We'll be in LA for a night and San Diego for 3 before flying back to the east coast. We'll post one more time, a final tally of sorts, before putting this blog out to pasture. Can't wait to see everyone soon!

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Auckland, New Zealand

2008-01-08T04:04:00.000-05:00

Guest Bloggers:
The Koreys

Here we are again, 3 months later, traveling with Geoff and Erin through Kiwi-land. We've learned more about Maori culture, volcanoes, and Kiwis than we ever thought possible.

We spent several days in Rotorua, a geothermal area, where sulphur steam jets and bubbling mud were dotted all over the landscape. We spent an evening eating Maori BBQ (Geoff's favorite) and learning about their culture through song and dance. Dad really got into the aerobic chanting. We finished off the stay with our one and only viewing of the Kiwi bird in a Kiwi breeding center. New Zealanders have adopted the Kiwi as their national symbol, but will soon have to find a new one when they become extinct in the next 10 years. The sheep are lining up as replacements since there are ten sheep for every one person. We have a new appreciation and understanding for merino wool and New Zealand lamb shanks.

The one thing Erin can't get over is the abundance of avocados for 20 cents a piece. Sadly there are no Tostitos to be found or we would be eating guacamole every night.

We had hoped to finish up our road trip with some "tramping" on the famed Tongariro Crossing, but we were unfortunately stopped by our first cloudy/rainy day. We were able to get a nice hike in, but unlike Frodo, we were unable to climb Mt. Doom (Mr. Ngauruhoe). Fortunately we got a great view driving in of the Tongariro Range and the beautiful Lord of the Rings scenery.

It's hard to say goodbye to Geoff and Erin after such a fun road trip, but they're excited for their vacation from their vacation in Fiji. Had it not been for them we may not have taken the opportunity to travel to the other side of the world. We're just happy they're coming home soon.

**Erin's Editors Note**
We're off to Fiji for 12 days and most likely won't have electricity, let alone internet. Look for our next post when we hit the U.S. on the 22nd.

Rotorua, New Zealand

2008-01-04T19:31:00.001-05:00

The party keeps on rolling with the Koreys arriving before we can even say goodbye to Kerrie. I don't know if she's cursed or blessed, but she spent another full day in Fiji on Air Pacific's dime before arriving in Greensboro as the clock struck New Years. It was sad to see her go after our adventures, but always exciting to see my parents across the globe.

Our pace has slowed a bit (although not that slow for pensioners), as we've taken to walking the volcanic city of Auckland before heading out for an island getaway. The Koreys excel at one thing, and that's kicking back with a cocktail and taking it easy. We spent a few days on the island of Waiheke enjoying the vineyards and olive groves. We got my mom out on her first kayaking trip around the island, and while she can't raise her arms high enough to brush her teeth now, she is hooked on paddling. She picked a gorgeous area to start her kayaking career. All of us agreed, that Waiheke would be our vacation spot of choice if we were Kiwis. (That means native New Zealanders--not birds)

We're now in the city of Rotorua, also known as Rotovegas. Whoever came up with this nickname has never been to Vegas, because there are no casinos here, but it's still a fun and adventure-filled city. It's most well known as the birthplace of Zorbing. Of course Geoff and I gave it a whirl (literally). We couldn't convince my parents to get in, but they had a laugh watching from the bottom. The basic concept is you jump in a giant plastic ball (a la hamster ball), fill it with water and roll down a hill. I actually got nervous at the top (not sure why), but Geoff and i jumped in the ball, took a few steps off the edge, and were launched down the hill getting sloshed all around in the ball. I'm not doing the Zorb justice, but it was fun and I laughed the whole way down, up to the point where we got spit out the ball at the bottom.

Don't discount my parents as non-adventurous--my mom was super excited about luging down the mountain like we did in Queenstown. The four of us helmeted up, and jumped on the luges for a spin down the mountain. I, of course, sped down with reckless abandon. My dad was going at a pretty good clip until I passed him. Geoff, being the good future son-in-law, kept behind my dad. And my mom sped down the course in the back, almost running a girl off the track. That's my mom! Everyone agreed we could go on a family Amazing Race.

Our trip is moving too fast, and after a Maori cultural night tonight, we'll be heading off to Lord of the Rings land to hike the hobbit path. I'd make a LotR joke here but I'm one of 5 people who never saw it. I think i just had my visa revoked.

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Christchurch, New Zealand

2007-12-28T04:25:00.001-05:00

Guest Blogger: Kerrie

As a professional counselor, it is my ethical duty to stay abreast of important therapeutic breakthroughs...so I am pleased to announce that I've found my new calling: thrill therapy, as they call it in Queenstown, the adventure capital of the world. (Maybe I can write off my trip as "continuing education?!"). At any rate, we tried our best to take advantage of the seemingly endless "therapeutic activities"...and it was just what the doctor ordered! I know Geoff has already shared about our bungy jumping adventure off Kawarau Bridge (which I think we would all agree was the highlight of our trip)....but the fun didn't end there. We started our Christmas Eve day with a white-knuckle ride on a high speed jet boat through Shotover Canyon. Better than any roller coaster - we literally came within a foot of the canyon wall and our driver was fond of 360 degree turns. What a rush!

We followed the Shotover Jet with a gondola ride up a mountain with spectacular views of the city and frequent sightings of para gliders and skydivers. At the top of the mountain was a luge course, which was basically a curvy, downhill track on which we raced little seated scooter-things (see above picture). Though maybe not as dangerous as some other activities, I did manage to find my inner child as I gleefully passed other joyriders around hairpin curves. This was by far the cheapest of our Queenstown escapades, so we treated ourselves to 3 rides each.

The Kiwis are not nearly as hyped about Christmastime as Americans...but we did bring some holiday cheer to our car park (where we parked the campervan for 2 nights). Erin thought ahead (of course) and was prepared with Santa caps, homemade stockings, and a paper tree-in-a-box. Geoff helped out a neighbor by writing a letter to her children from "Father Christmas," and we sang a few Christmas carols before cooking our Polish Christmas Eve feast (sausages, sauerkraut, mushroom soup, mashed potatoes, focaccia bread and wine...Mmmm).

After being adrenaline junkies for a few days, we slowed down a little in Wanaka (about an hour north of Queenstown). We thought Puzzle World would be a nice change of pace. This place was filled with puzzles, illusion rooms, mind tricks, and a life size outdoor maze. Despite our combined 11 years of graduate school, I think our minds were puzzled a little more than we bargained for. Thank goodness Geoff finally finished his puzzle, or we might still be there (I'm not sure if he was competing with himself or all the 10 year olds surrounding him!)

We finished up our South Island Tour with some good exercise: a small hike up Mt. Iron near Wanaka...and then a half-day hike in the Mt. Cook area. It was a bit cloudy, so our views weren't ideal, but Mt. Cook is the highest point in the Southern Alps. We hiked along the Hooker Valley and saw our first glacier...it was a pretty cold walk!

On our way back to Christchurch, we stumbled across our last big thrill: the annual fair in Timaru, cited as the "highlight of the Timaru calendar year". And by "thrill," I'm not referring to the Ferris wheel, the sketchy Gravitron with the drop-out bottom, or the arcade games. I'm referring to the unbelievable number of mullet haircuts we saw. Girls... boys... young... old... apparently it doesn't matter what side of the globe you're on, a country fair is a country fair.

I'm sad that my visit with Erin and Geoff is coming to an end...but I think the thrill therapy will help us enter 2008 with a new lust for life and respect for gravity. Happy New Year!

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Queenstown, New Zealand

2007-12-22T21:49:00.000-05:00

Merry Christmas everyone and seasons greetings from Middle Earth! We are happily in New Zealand and turning the volume on our NZ roadtrip up to eleven. We spent a fun, final day in Australia with our local friend Chris who we had met a few weeks back on the cross-country train. We then uneventfully flew over to NZ to meet Kerrie but she was unfortunately not so lucky. Well, she was unlucky enough to be delayed in Fiji, so things could have been worse. Anyhow, after 5 flights (which is, I believe, the most flights it takes to get from any one point on Earth to any other - Greensboro, NC to Christchurch, NZ in this case) and only a few hours behind schedule, Kerrie arrived in town. Of course, her luggage is spending the holidays in Los Angeles. No worries - nothing could have made Erin happier than Kerrie's arrival AND a good excuse to go shopping!

After a quick bit of planning, we decided to share our time together on the southern end of the South Island. It's really funny because "Southern Pride" is a big deal here in the "Deep South" and I even saw a tractor trailer painted like the General Lee. Small world. We picked up our own mode of transportation, our campervan, in Christchurch and headed out with our fingers crossed. Luckily the campervan has an automatic transmission, lots of room and a working sink and stove.

We spent our first day on the east coast in a town called Oamaru. We spent the evening watching blue penguins return to shore, fight and mate - they're like little midshipmen, blue uniforms and all. We parked our campervan along the beach that night and awoke the next morning for coffee and dolphins. NZ has a very liberal camping policy so it's pretty much kosher to just camp anywhere you can park your car. From Oamaru, we headed south to Dunedin, stopping to visit the Moeraki Boulders (naturally created, large, perfectly rounded boulders on a beach) along the way. In Dunedin, we toured the Speights Brewery before tasting the goods and spending another night along the beach. Still in Dunedin, we toured the Cadbury Chocolate Factory the next morning and then tried (mostly unsuccessfully) to walk up the World's Steepest Road.

From Dunedin we drove west along the Presidential Highway (connecting the towns of Clinton and Gore - really). We arrived in Te Anau on the west coast and again found a great campsite along Lake Te Anau. We couldn't figure out how it wasn't already taken by someone else until the next morning when our campervan got stuck. With the help of some friendly Aussies, we built a make-shift cobblestone road and were able to get out. After spending another day in Te Anau, we headed north toward Milford Sound and spent the evening cooking steaks on a fire pit in a meadow filled with purple flowers and surrounded by mountains.

We awoke early the next day to make the drive to Milford Sound. We got off to a slow start when our spare tire fell off the bottom of the campervan after about 10 feet but we made it up the scary, winding roads to Milford Sound in time for our kayaking tour. We then spent about 4 hours kayaking among cruise ships through the Milford Sound. There were only eight people on our tour (5 kayaks) and when the wind increased, we grouped up, raised a sail and quietly skipped across the sound. Not a bad way to spend a day.

From Milford Sound, we worked our way back down the scary, winding roads and headed east for Queenstown. Once again, we found ourselves camping right on a giant lake at the footsteps of a mountain range with hardly anyone else around. Of course, Erin and Kerrie have been eagerly awaiting our arrival here because this is the home of bungee jumping, as well as many other psychotic pastimes.

We got up this morning and drove straight to the AJ Hackett jump center at Kawarau Bridge. After watching a few Japanese tourists take the leap (including one 12 year old who I think fainted off the ledge), Erin and Kerrie quickly signed up. In deciding who should go first, Erin pointed out that she jumped out of the plane first so it was Kerrie's turn. It's good to know she keeps track of these things. Kerrie then suited up and got ready to go. When the staff asked her if she wanted to dip into the Kawarau River 43 meters below, she said "surprise me!" Good call. Kerrie then stepped on the ledge, the staff counted down and - nothing. Kerrie then took a deep breath and after a second countdown she was off, head-first, coming up short of the water and swinging around. Erin was up on the bridge jumping up and down yelling "You go girl!" (Who let the Americans in?).

Erin was next up and without any hesitation she walked out to the ledge smiled for the camera, blew me a kiss (I checked, there was nobody behind me) and jumped. I don't think they even had time to do the countdown. As Erin was falling, the lady next to me said, "Damn, that girl has no fear." Because she didn't jump out too far, Erin took a more direct route down and actually dipped into the river, head-first, up to her waist. It looked pretty, freaking radical.

After listening to Erin and Kerrie replay their jumps and watching a few more wackos take the leap, I decided, screw it, I'm not going to be at the birthplace of bungee any time again soon so I might as well give it a whirl. The scariest part was actually when I charged the jump to my credit card because that's when I realized, "Oh shit, now I have to walk outside and jump off that bridge!" Within 5 minutes, I was strapped in around my ankles and shuffling out to the edge. Erin had given me great advice by telling me not to look down so I just stared straight out at the mountains. The countdown was from 5 and I told myself I was jumping on one, and surprisingly, I actually did. Falling head-first and watching the river approach was totally surreal. I didn't quite reach the water but did get an excellent bounce. I think I also let out a primal scream, though it's all kind of a blur. The best part is, the people at the bungee center comped us DVDs of our jumps so we'll always have video proof. All in all, I feel I've sufficiently answered the question "If Erin jumped off a bridge, would you?"

So now we're chillin' out in Queenstown and trying to decide what to do next. We hope to get in some white water rafting and perhaps a visit to Mt. Cook, which is our best bet for a white Christmas. Although we're all sad not to be at home for the holidays, this will definitely be a Christmas that none of us will forget. Happy holidays to all!!!

Whitsunday Islands, Australia

2007-12-15T17:34:00.000-05:00

Now is the time in the blog when you may want to stop reading. If you are buried in snow or getting drenched by rain, you're not going to want to hear about our three day sailing trip through the Great Barrier Reef. Or about us swimming with sea turtles. Or the whitest sand and bluest beach we've ever seen. Or our race with another sail boat on the open water. Yes, this is probably a good time to hit the ESC key.

Before we could start our sailing trip though, we had to drive South from Cairns to Airlie Beach. A simple task it seemed, but not only have neither of us driven in 6 months, neither of us has ever driven on the left side of the road. But like every other travel experience, Alamo just handed us the keys and the map and wished us a safe trip. Eek. It was actually a simple straight shot through some pretty desolate but beautiful areas of the Australian coast. While Geoff was white knuckled most of the way, he successfully got us there only turning on the windshield wipers every other time he wanted to use his turning signal, and almost running out of gas once. A success considering.

Airlie Beach is a small beach town meant mostly for the jumping off point of sailing trips to the Whitsunday Islands. Because of this jellyfish nuisance, we still couldn't go in the ocean and instead spent our days at another Lagoon we affectionately call Backpackers Club Med. Maybe I missed this detail, but I definitely did not know that most of the Australian coast is unswimmable in the summer months due to killer jellyfish. The term beach really means pretty area to look at, but not to swim in. It's a total taunt since the water is as blue as the Caribbean, but too dangerous to swim in. Hmph.

After a two days of hanging out, we embarked on our long awaited sailing trip. When picking which boat we wanted to book, we went for the biggest and fastest boat, resulting in us being on a trimaran called the Avatar--a catamaran with a middle hull for sleeping. With 26 other people, we set sail on a sunny morning, destined for more beaches and snorkeling (and lots of jellyfish). About an hour in, Geoff and I realized that the 1/2 litre of suntan lotion may not be enough for 3 days. It was hot and we were cooking in the sun while sailing (i know, life is tough). Someone even commented on Geoff's regular application, of course it was the same guy who was tomato red by the afternoon.

After lunch we anchored at our first beach to swim and sun on. Here's the catch--because of the jellyfish, everyone has to wear stinger suits while in the water. They are full body wetsuits, some even with gloves and hoods. When we hit land and all piled into the water, it was like a Fantastic Four convention at the beach. In word, we all looked ridiculous (but no one got stung).

Both nights were spent on the boat, meeting new friends and drinking bad Australian beer. And when it was time for bed, we retired to a little cubby on the side hull, with a hatch that opened to the starry night sky. It was pretty damn cool falling asleep under the stars to the rocking lull of the boat (luckily the waters were calm).

Day two had me peeping out of our cubby to watch the sun rise over the ocean (Geoff was out cold) and pulling my pillow out to continue sleeping on deck. Once the troops rose, we docked at Whitehaven Beach and swam off one of the whitest beaches in the world. We walked through the small tide pools that developed between sandbars and found a school of baby reef tip sharks looking for food. Our stinger suits never mentioned anything about being shark proof.... They were friendly and we were able to walk right next to them while they fished for breakfast. It was a lot less daunting them seeing them underwater while snorkeling.

Our first snorkeling adventure finally made us understand what the stinger suits were for. As we entered the water, it felt like we were swimming through clouds, which were really billions of pin head sized jellyfish floating through the water. At first it was distracting and a little scary, but after a while you forgot about it. That is until Geoff grabbed my arm and pulled me away from a 4 foot jellyfish floating through the water. I don't think my suit would have saved me from that.

One of our best snorkeling moments so far on our trip was swimming with sea turtles. We were dropped in the water near a turtle heavy area and within a few minutes Geoff spotted a 3 foot sea turtle swimming on the ocean floor. We commenced being the Turtle Paparazzi. We stayed 5 feet behind him (or her) and swam for 20 minutes with it, rising with it to the surface and following it back down. We called people over to see it and just like any turtle celebrity, he had 7 people following his every move with underwater cameras. It became more exciting when our turtle joined some friends and began eating a huge jelly fish. I thought it was originally being attacked, but then watched as the turtles ripped its tentacles off. It was cool.

Sadly our trip went too fast and we put the sails up for a trip back to the mainland. Because our boat was a former race boat, our crew's ego fueled them to chump the other sail boats heading back to land and when we arrived earlier than expected, they turned her around and we set back out to find some more competition to beat. I'm now convinced that sailing is quite difficult, but even more convinced that i want a sailboat! (with a crew of course)

We're back in Sydney for a last day in Australia before we head to New Zealand to meet up with Kerrie for the adrenalin rush part of our trip! We've been blessed with travellers karma (resulting from tipping, being extra polite, etc) and because our hostel messed up our reservation for a 8 person dorm room, we have been upgraded to a top floor double room with bathroom overlooking the city. Moral of the story: it always pays to tip well.

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Cairns, Australia

2007-12-09T20:42:00.000-05:00

Guest Bloggers: Mom And Bob

G'day Mates. Dinky Di as we're in Banana Bender Country, Cairns to be specific, and it's Becky and Bob's turn on the blog. First, a little about Cairns (pronounced Cannes). It's north of Sydney and in the tropics. The temperature is high, almost as high as the humidity. We flew in from Sydney with Geoff and Erin into 85 degrees and 90% humidity. Sydney is flip flops and Cairns is bare feet. Sydney is high speed and Cairns is island time. Our first day out was a bit of a downer because we were hoping for some beaches and swimming. Our apartment was a few k's from town at the north edge of the Esplanade. As we walked into town a sign caught our eye which advised "Danger! Crocodiles. No Swimming!" Luckily in town was a saltwater lagoon -- a man made 'safe place'-- which satisfied our sun worshipping needs. We spent most of our time in our salt water pool at our hotel which had a 'hot tub' that was colder than the actual pool. Even though it's the start of summer here, it's a slow time which is perfect for us.

Our first full day was about relaxing about town and capped off by a home cooked BBQ by Geoff and Erin outside on the hotel grill. Geoff was thrilled to finally work the grill after a 5 month drought. Here is where we planned our reason for coming up here: The Great Barrier Reef.

Day 3 had us on board the Ocean Spirit sailing off to Michaelmas Cay with four full hours on the Reef. The weather was the best we had seen in a week and we were accompanied by about 130 other adventurous souls, all bent on surviving sunstroke and drowning. Becky and Bob conquered sun protection by renting Lycra "stinger" suits, while Geoff and Erin religiously slathered on 30 SPF. Bob was sure that Geoff had applied enough sun block to change the pH factor of the Coral Sea. But it worked and there were few casualties from the sun. In the contest to see who could swallow the most salt water, it was pretty much conceded to Bob. There were some amazing sights to see as we snorkeled and scuba dived our lungs out. About four hours of water time pretty much wore us all out, so the almost two hour ride back to land was a great time to wind down, drink a beer, and share our stories. Someone ask Geoff about the giant turtle! It was a most memorable day.

Our highlight of Day 4 was exploring Kuranda Village in the tropical rain forest. After a scenic taxi ride through sugar cane fields, we boarded a 4 person gondola for a 90 minute ride towering over the rain forest to the village. What fun to see a tropical rain forest from a swinging cable car as we crossed the tree canopies 50 meters above, Barron Falls Gorge and several waterfalls. Kuranda Village was a quaint town where we enjoyed the local markets, "Authentic Australian Outback" stores (kangaroo shirts and boomerangs), and small cafes. Our post lunch homemade tropical ice cream was even provided by a former Army guy who treated us with a military discount. Changing modes of transport to return home, we boarded the Kuranda Scenic Railway, an old, squeaky train that took us back around the mountains and through tunnels with beautiful views of the ocean in the distance.

We finished our Australia trip with a final relaxing day in Cairns enjoying the Saturday markets and some local music. Hanging out in town and enjoying the lagoon was a great way to spend the warm summer day together-- and to say goodbye to this tropical paradise before we return to the East Coast snow. Sunday saw Bob and Becky off to New Zealand for a few days, and Erin and Geoff began their trip down south to Airlie Beach. A memorable and happy holiday was had by all!

Sydney, Australia

2007-12-03T06:49:00.000-05:00

Well, we've all made it to Sydney and have been covering LOTS of ground. We were really excited to greet Mom and Bob and still can't believe that they traveled this far to see us. Mom and Bob quickly learned that this ain't no elder-hostel trip after we spent the first afternoon in town walking about 10km. On day 2, Erin and I let Mom and Bob sleep in as we went on an adventure of our own.

Erin has been trying for some time now to convince me to skydive or bungee-jump and neither of those are likely to occur. However, as a consolation, I did agree to do the Sydney "Bridge Climb" which is a walk across the top beams of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Upon seeing the bridge in person, I immediately began to worry that my fear of heights would get the best of me. I even started humming "Hard Knock Life" in the shower, perhaps subconciously hoping that a large Indian man would rescue me in a helicopter if things got out of control. Nevertheless, we arrived at the Bridge Climb HQ, dressed in the company jumpsuits (questionable choice of outfits), and prepared for the "walk". Luckily, there was a wall of fame of previous climbers that included Frankie Muniz which provided an extra bit of inspiration (if that punk can do it, I have to).

Off we went through the underbelly of the bridge framing, up the stairs of the concrete pilon and onto the ladders to begin our ascent. On the first ladder, I considered pulling a Zabka and faking a calf injury ("Back to School" anyone?) but the images of Muniz and Punjab in my head forced me to soldier on. We popped out at traffic level (8 lanes of morning commute) and kept climbing ladders until we had nothing in front of us but a staircase walk up the arch of the bridge to the top. The climb provided awesome views of Sydney Harbour and the Opera House and our guide would occasionally pause from making fun of me to offer historical points of interest. We reached the summit (it was a climb after all), crossed over a steel mesh catwalk with the lanes of traffic about 40 stories below, and descended the other side of the bridge. The whole thing actually ended up being a lot less scary than expected and I'm sure the harness and safety wires had something to do with that. Still, don't expect any upcoming bungee-jumping stories from me.

So back to Sydney and Mom and Bob, we spent the remainder of the weekend walking through the Royal Botanic Gardens watching flying foxes (aka fruit bats) swarm overhead, touring the Sydney Opera House facilities and backstage, attending a performance by a Sudanese folk musician at one of the Opera House venues, exploring historic Sydney and its weekend markets, taking the ferry to Manly Beach (too many budgie smugglers for my taste - look it up) and occasionally eating.

Sydney has about 4.5 million people and 40% of them were born in another country. One of the consequences of this is that in Sydney you don't hear too many Australian accents and the food is mostly Asian (Japanese, Korean and Vietnamese for us so far with Indian/Malaysian on tap for tomorrow). Bob was content though to get an emu pizza at a pub.

Today, we had another busy day traveling out to the Blue Mountains and Sydney Olympic venues for some basic tourist sightseeing. The highlight, however, was our stop at a wildlife park. Within minutes of our arrival, we were petting koalas and hand-feeding kangaroos and wallabies. The koalas were very sweet but feel less fuzzy than they look. The kangaroos and wallabies were very tame although one roo did bite my finger, nearly sparking a boxing match. We also all got our first glimpse of a tasmanian devil of the non-looney tunes variety and the elusive wombat, which to our collective delight, poops in cubes rather than pellets. Yet another example of how weird Australian animals can be.

Completely exhausted, we're off to the tropical city of Cairns up north for the next 5 nights to see the Great Barrier Reef and (hopefully) get some rest!

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Kangaroo Island, Australia

2007-11-28T04:53:00.000-05:00

Adelaide is the gift that keeps on giving. Without consciously planning it, Adelaide will be the city we've stayed in the longest other than our Thailand beach laze. As Geoff said, it got a bad rap, but we could stay another couple days and not get bored.

We took our first wine tasting trip ever to the Barossa Valley outside of Adelaide. It produces 45 percent of Australia's wine, which means you've probably drank wine from here. Basically any bottle with a cute little Koala or boomerang on it comes from here. I can't say that after this we will start drinking really nice wines, but we will be educated drunks and can spew nonsense like "2002 was a premiere year for the Barossa Valley".

Our big adventure was a 3 day trip to Kangaroo Island, a large island off the South Coast of Australia. As you may have guessed, it has a lot of Kangaroos, but also a ton of awesome wildlife and adventure sports. Our first interesting fact is that the word Kangaroo is actually a bit of gibberish. When the Brits started walking through the outback, they came upon some Aborigines and asked them in English what the hopping animal was. Being polite, the Aborigine replied "Kangaroo". After some more back and forth, the Brit was satisfied and went back to his blokes and told them the large hopping animal was a Kangaroo. The truth is that Kangaroo in this certain Aborigine dialect means "I don't understand what you are saying". I have now taken to saying this to Geoff and many Australians when they too are speaking gibberish.

Factoids aside (there are many) we started our trip with surfing. A first for both of us, Geoff has watched enough Point Break montages to channel Bodi in the water. He was able to stand up (if only momentarily) almost from the start, where I had to be satisfied with riding the waves either on my knees or with a face full of salt water. We are both hooked and will be attempting surfing again.

I now understand why Steve Irwin and Jeff Corwin get so excited about wildlife. I think I will be a zoologist in my next life. It is so exciting to see crazy new animals. Of course I want to stick my hand out and see if they'll bite. We took a 6 mile nature walk and it was like Where's Waldo looking for Koalas and Kangaroos. And when we finally saw them, I didn't want to leave. I think we watched one Koala for 20 minutes. And it didn't disappoint. It crawled up and down trees, yawned, cooed--it's like watching a new born baby. It's our new favorite animal (if you've hugged one Panda, you've hugged them all). We're hoping to be able to hold a Koala in Sydney...and then take it home in our suitcase. And I can't forget Kangaroos. To Australians, they are the equivalent of deer. But for us, they are alien life forms that hop so fast. I am sad to say that just like deer, Kangaroos get the "roo in the headlights" thing and we saw a lot of road kill. Sad!

Some other highlights: Sandboarding on dunes (I made it down!), Hunting Penguins at night, Geoff learning to play Cricket (he's not so bad) and the unexpected coup of the trip...watching the Eagles game--twice! It was a dream come true for Geoff and while it stinks that they lost, we did get to see the second half of the game live (at noon on Tuesday) and it was replayed again Tuesday night. We were surprised by how much our German friends new about football. This is the first time all season we've seen any part of a game. Which is probably just as well because we were really sad to see it end (twice). At least we'll be home for the Superbowl.

We finished off the trip with both of us getting to drive a charter fishing boat back to the mainland. Like every other tour we've taken, there was absolutely no lessons, just throwing us at the wheel on a windy day. And when I spotted dolphins while driving, I was pretty sure I ran them over (I didn't).

So we're rapping up our Southern Australia tour and flying to Sydney tomorrow where we'll be meeting up with Geoff's mom and Bob for our next adventure. We're hoping to hold Koalas, see a wombat or two and maybe even spot a Tasmanian Devil.

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Adelaide, Australia

2007-11-23T05:50:00.000-05:00

Since arriving in Australia last week, we've covered a couple thousand kilometers. Here's how:

Our first few days in Perth (West Australia) were very relaxing. We hung out at the beach, attended an Aboriginal Festival and ate some kangaroo and emu (actually both are quite good). On Tuesday, we took a ferry to Rottnest Island ("Rotto") off the coast of Perth in the Indian Ocean. Rotto is like Nantucket without the people, homes and SUV's. There's also a local island creature called a Quokka which, in addition to being a great Scrabble word, is a small rat-like marsupial that hops around like a mini kangaroo. There's a rumor that the college kids visiting the island ("schoolies") engage in the local sport of "Quokka Soccer" - this is appalling. Clearly, with their natural, oblong shape, the Quokkas are much better suited for rugby.

We rented bikes on Rotto and peddled around the island to various deserted beaches and even got in some snorkeling. We rode past big lizards, snakes and the ubiquitous quokkas. We stopped to approach one group of quokkas to get a closer look and an Aussie on the road at the time explained to us that you could go right up to them. He walked forward and stuck out his hand and the nearest quokka bit right into his finger and wouldn't let go. Needless to say, I think the average Aussie is more like Steve Irwin than he'd probably like to admit.

On Wednesday, we got up early and headed to the train station for our 50-plus hour trip across the outback. We reserved the "backpacker" seats which had about as much leg-room as coach class on an airplane. Fortunately, there was a lounge in the next car and we spent quite a bit of time hanging out with other travelers on hard couches and showing off our UNO and Trivial Pursuit skills. Most of the other travelers were Aussies traveling to see family so it was good to talk to some locals and get some advice on things to do.

The Indian Pacific train departed from Perth and made two stops before dropping us off in Adelaide. Our first stop was Kalgoorlie ("Kal"). Kal is famous as Australia's largest mining town and the only place in the country where all the bartenders are young women in their underwear ("skimpies"). I can't imagine this is a coincidence. While having a few pints of beer in a strange wild west pub that was playing hip hop videos from 5 years ago on its televisions, we met a fellow passenger on our train named Zack. Zack, it turns out, was only taking the train to our second stop, which was Cook. This is remarkable because Cook is reported to only have a population of 4. I asked Zack if he was number 5 and he said, "No mate, I'm number 6. Me dad's number 5 - he runs the souvenir shop." Sure enough when we arrived in the ghost-town of Cook on Thursday afternoon, Zack went right behind the counter at the souvenir shop and started selling random crap to the other passengers. From what we could tell, Zack's mom (either number 3 or 7) was the only girl in Cook, and therefore within 1,000 kilometers. Now I understand why he was having such a good time in Kal.

We eventually arrived in Adelaide (South Australia) after traveling the longest stretch of straight track in the world, spotting some wild kangaroos and meeting some new friends. Although all of these new friends consistently had nothing good to say about Adelaide, we've been here a day and it's awesome. There are tons of good restaurants, food markets and shops, there's a guitar festival in town with free outdoor concerts, there's a classic car rally taking place and even a casino. Tomorrow we go on a tour on the Barossa Valley to sample Australian wines and Sunday we leave on a camping/surfing/snorkeling trip to Kangaroo Island off the coast. There's even a beach outside of town that you get to on a San Francisco-style trolley. So, basically, I don't think we'll get bored here.

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Perth, Australia

2007-11-17T09:17:00.000-05:00

G'day Mate! We've made it downunder and wow does it feel good to eat a real sandwich, drink tap water, take a run without being stared at and find toilet paper in every bathroom. The little things in life that you don't realize you've missed. It's summertime here!! and Perth is a beautiful city right on the water. Don't be surprised if we move here someday. It's that good.

To get here we had to take two flights from Bangkok, sleep in the airport and then try to navigate the public bus system on three hours of sleep. I was sure it was going to be hell going in, but I couldn't predict that Geoff wearing a green shirt would change our fate (well, this is speculation). Nonetheless, now that we are out of Thailand, I can talk about how crazy they are over their King. It's like a religion--one that you cannot speak ill of until you leave the country. They love their king so much that every Monday is yellow shirt day in honor of the King being born on Monday. Friday is blue shirt day in honor of the Queen being born on Friday and any day is Pink shirt day in honor of the King turning 80 in 25 days. All the shirts are polo shirts with the Kings crest on it, but any shirt will do as long as it's the right color day. Well, it just so happened that the day before we left, the King was wearing a green jacket in public. Well, hold the phone, because it's green shirt time. The King loves green!! (In a side note: politicians don't wear red ties, they were yellow ties). Mostly because we haven't done laundry in a while, Geoff wore a green polo shirt to the airport. Which means he obviously has great respect for the Thai monarchy. Which means we get upgraded to first class!! Oh sweet mercy, it was awesome! (Can you tell we've never flown first class?) We were giddy with excitement. We flew a 747 so we got to sit on the 2nd floor. And there were reclining seats. And 3 course meals. And we were addressed as Mr. and Mrs. And it goes without saying lots of champagne. I actually forgot I hate to fly. Now I see why people pay the big bucks for first class. It's so fun.

The excitement didn't end there. We connected through the Singapore airport which is years ahead of its time. There was free internet everywhere. Free movies. Free X-box stations. Lots of duty free where I could put on $100 lotions. Lots of great food (although I was too full from our flight to eat). You can tell we've been living the frugal life when we're so excited about our layover. Alas, we were demoted back down to economy for our flight to Perth. But it was still pretty good. And even sleeping in the airport wasn't half as bad as it could have been.

So now we are in an English speaking country and it feels pretty good. We're very excited for this part of our trip. It will go so fast and in less than two weeks, Geoff's mom and Bob will be here. We can't wait. Happy Thankgiving to everyone! We'll be on a two day train through the outback, so no turkey and stuffing for us. Although I've heard Kangaroo and cranberry is great. I'll let you know.

Railay, Thailand

2007-11-11T23:53:00.000-05:00

To put it simply, the last week or so since Ryan left has been really chill. Our first three days and nights at Relax Beach on Koh Phi Phi Don were about all we could ask for (weather excluded) so we decided to stay for another eleven. After moving around at a break-neck pace for the last 4 months, staying for two weeks in the same bed made us feel like we had moved there. That's a good thing. Although the weather didn't improve too much during our time there, we were able to hike through the island jungle, visit the main town, snorkel and kayak. We also learned that while I'm slightly better than Erin at Othello and Jenga, she absolutely dominates me at Connect Four. I think I also read more books in two weeks than in my 3 years of law school.

Our time at Relax Beach was of course concluded with Erin's big birthday which was celebrated by the entire staff who became our friends during our time there. I say "friends" even though we never learned half their names and addressed them as "Smiley" or "Timbaland" (striking resemblance). The staff even brought Erin flowers on her birthday and decided to surprise her with a birthday cake. Erin and I realized that surprises must not be part of Thai culture because the staff was terrible at keeping a secret and kept waving to me and asking me questions about the cake in Erin's presence - maybe they were just excited. When it was time, Timbaland led the whole restaurant in "Happy Birthday" and Erin blew out the candles on her birthday cake (i.e. cashew pancake) to conclude a memorable birthday (and decade).

After finally leaving Relax Beach, we headed east to Railay. To get there, we had to switch from a ferry to a longtail boat at sea then walk the last 100 yards through shallow surf. It was at this point that I realized that although we've been on about 20 boats over the last 3 weeks, we haven't been in, or even seen, a car in that time. Nice.

Railay is a peninsula in Krabi that is littered with surrounding islands and various karsts jutting out of the ocean floor. It resembles the lanscape we encountered in Yangshuo but with blue water instead of rice fields (we're told that Halong Bay in Vietnam is much the same). Like Koh Phi Phi, this area was affected by the Tsunami as well but much of the rebuilding here gives one the sense that it happened last week. Fortunately, the beaches are great and we're staying at a resort on top of a hill (and on the second floor). As a bonus, our room has air conditioning, tv and a flushing toilet, so we feel like we've hit the lottery (As a side note, when we turned on the tv for the first time in 2 weeks, the first image we saw was Larry King and Dr. Phil talking about Dog Chapman so it's good to know the world hasn't gone completely insane in our absence).

Yesterday we headed out on a sunset snorkelling tour that was incredible. We boarded a longtail boat with 10 others and hopped around to seven different islands. At most locations, we swam around the small islands with our guide who continually pointed out awesome sea creatures. We saw a giant clam, a poisonous sea snake, a glowing squid and some barracuda. There were two sharks that swam within 5 meters of us but neither Erin nor I saw them (I still can't decide whether this is a good thing or not - seeing them, that is). Erin was ecstatic to get her celebrity fix by spotting the real Nemo and the lion fish that Leslie Nielsen stabs with a pen in Vincent Ludwig's office in the first Naked Gun. We then rested at a deserted stretch of sand to watch the sunset and enjoy a seafood curry (vegetarian for Erin). Afterwards, on our way back to Railay, we went for a night swim with millions of phosporescent plankton. This was just about the coolest thing ever. As you tread water in the pitch black water, your hands and feet light up with thousands of tiny, glowing crystals, like the ones in your toothpaste. As the Aussie with us pointed out, it felt like you were at your own personal rave.

We have one more day of sunning and kayaking here in Railay before heading back to Bangkok. Unbelievably, we leave Asia on Thursday bound for Australia, after being here since July. We're really looking forward to being able to brush our teeth with tap water and the English language. We're really going to miss $3 dinners at nice restaurants - and a lot more. We'll touch base again soon - this time from the Outback (steakhouse or barren landscape - either is possible).

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Phuket, Thailand

2007-11-03T09:25:00.000-05:00

Guest Blogger: Ryan

It's guest blog time, with Erin and Geoff being so kind as to let me step in as I ready myself to head back to the States. They have done this only with the caveat that they retain full editorial control -- not sure why but, in Geoff's words one night in Bangkok "May Pan Rai". (Think "Que sera, sera").

Chang Mai, in a word: chill. And that is precisely what we needed
after the erratically stimulating/disturbing concrete jungle of
Bangkok. Geoff booked us into a solid little guest house, fronted by
The Nicest Man in the Universe. We have to call him that, because for
some reason, none of us ever got his name. Our first night was spent looking over local wares (silks, carvings, jewelry, clothing, other crafts, etc.) at the big Night Market, where Erin fueled her motherly thirst for ornaments with a nice elephant coaster purchase. She was bathed in a "happy purchase afterglow"f or hours. We had a bite at the Chang Mai Saloon then, which featured an absurd amount of freebies: popcorn, peanuts, air hockey, pool, and internet. The
saloon saw no imbibing, however, due to the previous night, which saw me alternately crying about Vietnam and space (yeah, that kind of night), and the room spinning at 3 am. So it was a good pace-setting night.

Three big Chang Mai highlights thereafter:

The first of these is what I will refer to as "Adventure Day". We started early in the morning with ELEPHANT RIDING. The three of us piled up on top of "Stampey", with Erin and Geoff in the seat on the animal's back, myself lodged, bare-back-like on this incredible creature's massive neck. What an experience...we particularly loved when Stampey would reach his trunk back for some food and blow Asian elephant snot all over us. In all seriousness, though, I couldn't help but wonder, while perched up there, what a parallel experience might be for the handlers that were so effortlessly slipping up and down on the animals. I had this elephant ride...what could they have? Motorcycle riding? I swear that Thailand is a motorcycle-based economy, everyone owns one. A Balloon ride? Eh. Maybe the Internet? Who knows. But my inability to seize on something here, more than the experience myself, makes someone like me wonder about his life in New York.

Oh. but adventure day wasn't over. We followed the ride with a trek
through the jungle, past massive fields of rice, to a hillside
village. Geoff and Erin may have had a flashback to India, what with
the children running up to hawk bracelets to the Westerners. For me,
being that close to that kind of life was a first, and I couldn't help
but ponder the inherent beauty in that simplicity, as cliched as that
sounds. From the village, we took a bamboo raft back down the river,
where we were met by our driver and carted home.

The day then gave way to Mexican food night, something Geoff was mildly excited for. If by "mildly" you mean "insanely". And "Miguel's from California" delivered , with a remarkably authentic take (given its production by three Thai women) grounded in very fresh ingredients. A great way to satiate the appetite that the day brought.

Highlight #2 was the Bann Thai Cooking School, at which Erin carefully selected a perfect 4-hour evening course for us. We shared the class with a couple from Paris, and agreed to make spring rolls, pad thai, a cashew nut chicken, and a panaeng curry. The class was incredibly hands-on, down to bashing chilies into paste for the curry. Overall, I have to say, the food was damn good. So, families of Erin and Geoff, coming soon to a kitchen near you: some tasty, tasty Thai food.

The final Chiang Mai highlight (yes, I really liked Chiang Mai) came
during our final night, were we headed to "La Brasserie", a very cool
riverside live music venue that would, later in the evening, feature a
man reputed to be Thailand's greatest guitar player. First, though,
we caught a remarkably quality set of Marley classics (Thailand loves
their Bob)...sweet, sweet dreads on the lead singer. Finally, that
aforementioned guitarist took the stage, going only, as any rock star
should, by a single pejoritive -- "Took". The man did not
disappoint, noticeably raising the bar with his performance. After 45
minutes or so, and your Thai local, no more than maybe 15 years,
jumped on stage, his request to join in granted by Took. And this kid
could PLAY. After getting over his shyness and receiving some very
literal hands-on instruction from Took, the kid really hit stride and
closed things down. For us, at least...the strains of Took's licks
were soon subsumed by the diesel-driven howl of our chartered Tuk Tuk home.

Tuk Tuk sidebar: these things are SICK. Effectively three-wheeled go
carts, the drivers fearlessly careen around corners, between cars, and
down hills to the extent that, when you stop, you get the exact same
sensation as you do as the end of an amusement park ride. That
unsettled "aw, it's over" kind of feeling. I would have paid the 60
Baht ($2) just for the ride itself -- the fact that it also actually
provided transport home? Bonus. Fun+Practicality = Tuk Tuk. Oh, and
Erin tried to negotiate the guy down to 50 Baht before we got in. When the driver refused, she looked at Geoff and asked "So what do you want to do?" Deadpan, Geoff looked back at her and replied "It's $0.30 split three ways. Let's go." One of the most unintentionally funny moments of my time with these guys. So that marks Chiang Mai -- the Northern jewel in Thailand's crown, its second largest city, and my personal favorite part of the trip.

From there, our visit yet to be pockmarked by rain during this "end of the rainy season" period, we were beach-bound to Phuket. We had two nights there, and predictably, the rains came on day 1. And come did they ever. After exploring a few markets and the main shopping center, we retreated to our hotel with some bootlegged DVDs and score a DVD player at the front desk. Movie Night! A welcome break. However, our second day would also prove to be a washout, but we managed to explore the main restaurant/bar row (replete with their savory sets of characters), and were solicited to buy cheap souvenirs 8,965 times. Memo to Thailand: please adopt Geoff's "Golden Sticker" idea (where one could pay for a sticker that would bar one from being solicited) immediately. I would pay 500 Baht for this.

Overall, Patong Beach (our beach on Phuket Island) was a wash in more ways that one: the ridiculously strong expat presence, coupled with the pervasive reminders of the sex trade, lent nary a speck of identity to the place, It felt like Times Square by the beach, and I'm glad that it was little more than our weigh station as we eyed Ko Phi Phi.

My last leg of the journey, and I was ready to enter into as vegetative a state as possible. A ferry and a longtail boat ride from Phuket, and we float up into the PP Relax beach resort on the Eastern coast. We were greeted by the massive smile and outstretched arms of our Burmese host Andrew, and shown to our beach front bungalow. For a minimum of the next three days and nights, this 350 square foot wooden hut (including bathroom and porch) would be home for us -- the ocean on our ears and at our door (the latter quite literally at high tide). Weather would again have its way for a few days, so we caught up on reading, ravaged the large portions of meals dished out at the resort pavilion, and played some cards. There were windows where we could run out into the water to snorkel a bit, but just as quickly as we saw clearing, the clouds would roll back in. Except for on my last full day there...

Day 3, we were finally treated to some rather consistent sun, and it
was all I could do not to wake Erin and Geoff with a "Pssst -- they
are filming a Corona commerical outside." It reall was that idyllic,
everything one could ask for. White sand: check. Aqua-blue water:
check. Great company: check (I'll close by expanding on this one).
All I wanted was a single day like that, and I feel very lucky to have
gotten it.

The next day has me boun for Bangkok, and therefore marks the "goodbye" point for me to Erin and Geoff. Here's where and how I will (finally) close... coming into the trip, it had been quite a while since I had seen Erin and Geoff. And somewhat naturally, i think, I wondered how the three of us would "fall back in" after all that time. The answer, as equally natural, was: just as we always had (at least for Erin and I, we got back a bit longer).

it wasn't so much that had doubts -- it was just surprise how easy it was from second 1. But I suppose that's one of the things about great friends...each of you reading this knows just how special Erin and Geoff are, and I feel blessed to count them among mine. In a way, the "goodbye" was in more significant in it's complete lacking of the standard trappings -- we're not sure exactly when our paths will next cross, but that's really inconsequential. It was a just a "see you later", just the way I prefer it.

Erin and Geoff: my best wishes for the rest of your trip, and thanks
for inviting me to be a part of it. Two unforgettable weeks in
Thailand -- see you later!

Ryan

Bangkok Photos

2007-10-31T09:51:00.000-05:00

HAPPY HALLOWEEN! Alas, no costumes this year, unless we go for the Gilligan's Island theme. Geoof and I have found a very secluded beach resort on Koh Phi Phi Island in Thailand so we're staying put until after my birthday. Our apologies for not returning emails since our resort only has power for 6 hours a night.

While Ryan, our guest blogger, sleeps off his jet lag, we're posting some photos from Bangkok to keep everyone interested. Look for his post in the next few days.

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Bangkok, Thailand

2007-10-17T21:59:00.000-05:00

Geoff and I love traveling together. We have found the right groove that makes this less of a trip and more of a life excursion. But every now and then we need to be shaken out of our routine, and that is where our friend Ryan comes in. He arrived in Thailand on Thursday, and chaos has prevailed. It's been great having him here because when Geoff and I are ready to take a nap, Ryan arranges a trip out of town. When the night is about to slow down, a pitcher of Margaritas is ordered. And somehow, even when we're just walking down the street, a baby elephant is sitting at the bus stop. I'm not sure if it's Ryan's good karma or the craziness of Bangkok, but the pace of our trip just got notched up.

Bangkok started out benign enough with drinks at a local German draught house down the street, but it's impossible not to notice or mention the amount of 50 year old men and 20 year old Thai hookers walking arm in arm in the streets. And while the ladies are not as young as I thought (thank goodness), the whole thing is definitely creepier than I imagined. If only because the men are shameless for the attention. They come to Bangkok for a week and hire the women all week, a la Pretty Women, to escort them around town. They take them to museums and restaurants and spill their life stories to these young girls. I guess it's just sad. But here's where it becomes funny: I'm standing outside the Westin Hotel wearing cargo pants and running shoes, waiting for Ryan and Geoff who are using the bathroom. And a seemingly nice, older Turkish man stops and asks me if I'm a tourist. I say yes thinking maybe he needs directions. But he asks me several times if I'm a tourist and then if I live in Bangkok. Finally, he just comes out with it and asks if I'm a lady. Which I almost answer yes to until it dawns on me, I'm being propositioned! Seriously?! Should I be flattered or appalled? Should I call him a dirty old man? Well in the end I just laughed and said, No,tourist! I'm bearing down on 30 and like my friend Cary says, Still Got It!

Bangkok has really surprised us with how metropolitan it is. I was expecting something like India or China, but the city has a great subway and monorail system, beautifully restored temples and great shopping. Not to mention the best English in Asia. Also, topping our must-do list (well Geoff and Ryan's) was a Muay Thai fight. Thailand is the heart of Mixed Martial Art fighting and while Geoff wanted to take classes we settled on going to watch them fight instead(although things could change in 3 weeks) .The sport definitely caters to the Farang (foreigner) populations' love for Ultimate Fighting, so we were ushered into the stadium to front-row ring-side seats (we sat next to a Canadian and his obviously appalled Thai escort). I won't lie, I love MMA and it was really fun to watch 100 lb kids go berserk on one another. Anything goes--punches, kicks, elbows to the side, take-downs. It was entertaining, but very little blood. Maybe this is why Geoff and I are meant for each other. Unfortunately our night ended at 2 am with Ryan doing a running elbow drop on Geoff. Don't worry, he'll be fine.

From Bangkok we're heading to Chang Mai where we'll be riding elephants and chilling in the jungle, all of which Ryan will be guest blogging about.

Ahh, but I should back up a moment to Saigon and the end of our Vietnam trip. While it was raining and flooding the whole time, we still finished off Vietnam in style and I still contend it is the sleeper hit of our trip. If only because the local magazine did a taste test of the best Mojitos in Saigon. What's not to love? We decided for our half way point we would treat ourselves to a real night on the town. Geoff wearing his snazzy new suit with French cuffs and me in my brand new dress. We went to the best restaurant in town, tried several of the top Mojitos in Saigon and still spent less than a mediocre night in any American city. It was a nice change of pace and something we probably won't do again until we get a job, but a night out in Saigon was quite a treat.

And a final note on Vietnam street crossing (this is it, I promise). The above picture is of me and an official Saigon crossing guard. It looks like I'm not the only Westerner with crossing issues. Geoff tried to explain to him that he was captain of the crossing guards in fifth grade, but it didn't quite translate. This young gentleman is part of a 200 person crew who stands on all the major streets corners and will literally hold your hand while blowing a whistle to get you across the street safely. Traffic never stops in Saigon, it's more like a school of fish that instinctively knows to split around you. Whatever the method, it was appreciated and free, and we got out of Vietnam with no more scooter incidents.

Oh, and we did ride on the back of a scooter, but don't tell my mom and dad.

GO RED SOX!!

Finally, here are our photos from all of Vietnam.

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Mui Ne Beach, Vietnam

2007-10-15T23:07:00.000-05:00

[GEOFF]

I think if Erin could move to Hoi An, she would. Of course, I wouldn't let her because her skill-set would likely keep her in a sweatshop 20 hours per day. As far as a vacation spot, though, it's fantastic.

Hoi An is a small town - miniature by Asian standards (about 100,000 people) with pedestrian streets and a riverfront lined with shops and restaurants on both sides. There is even a Latin-influenced restaurant run by a Vietnamese guy about our age who had opened the place after traveling around the world. When I told him I was from Philly, he responded "No way! My homegirl went to Temple!" We were then introduced to said "homegirl" who gave us some great advice on where to get our clothes made. This was all Erin needed to hear.

There are probably about 50 clothes stores in Hoi An and chances are they all outsource to the same sweatshop. The place we chose had a sweatshop of its own upstairs (they even let us see it) so we took this as a good sign. After flipping through an endless supply of fashion magazines and inspecting shelves of fabric, Erin picked out a dress and I found myself a suit and shirt - all to be custom-made. Our measurements and digital photos were taken and we were told that our clothes would be ready in about a day. Erin was ecstatic to be on the other side of things, for once.

We got up the next morning and headed down to the river for our cooking class. First, we walked through the local market to learn about local ingredients and kitchen tools and then we boarded a small boat and headed upstream to the cooking school. During the class, we learned how to make local dishes including fresh spring rolls (we even made the rice paper) and then we got to sit back and enjoy our creations. The school even made special accomodations for Erin's allergies, which was a nice touch.

Returning to town, we darted over to our tailor to pick up our clothes and were surprised to find that they were actually of pretty good quality and fit. After some final adjustments, we were good to go. The best part is that they saved my measurements so if I want to order more custom suits or shirts when I get home, they'll just charge my credit card and mail them to the USA. For less than $100, that's not too bad.

From Hoi An, we took a cab up the coast to Danang (aka China Beach) to catch a train to the Phan Thiet/Mui Ne Beach area. Mui Ne is a 20km stretch of beach that bills itself as "the kite surfing capital of asia" but apparently hasn't spread the word too well because there's basically nobody here. The beach is lined with empty resorts - brand new ones. We stayed in a nice room with a balcony overlooking the South China Sea and a palm-tree lined garden for $25 per night. Again, not too bad. We've been here four days already and done pretty much nothing but lay on the beach. Although this makes for a boring blog entry, it also makes for a great life.

We're headed out today for Saigon (aka Ho Chi Minh City) to try to find a nice part of town to rock our new gear. We're also due to celebrate the halfway point of this trip, which passed about 2 days ago. It's insane to think that we still have 100 days left!

We're off to Thailand by the end of the week and we'll post pictures when we can.

Hanoi and Hue, Vietnam

2007-10-09T11:17:00.000-05:00

I wonder if in 30 years our son or daughter will be
sitting in a corner cafe, drinking cheap beers and
making friends with the locals in Baghdad. I'm sure 30
years ago my parents never thought we'd end up in
Hanoi at a corner cafe. For that matter, I never
thought we'd end up here. But after 5 days, Vietnam is
becoming the sleeper hit of this trip--and we haven't
even hit the beaches yet. This place is great!

Where to start? Well I'll start with the cheap beers
because they are cheap and plentiful. It's called Bia
Hoi here which translates to Happy Hour all the time.
The "bars" are just street corners with child sized
chairs and a lady called Old Mama who serves up 12 oz
beers from a keg for 12 cents. Yes, that's right.
We're buying rounds of beers for anyone in sight
because we can. And it's good beer. Fresh, light, kind
of citrusy. The view is priceless as we could sit for
hours and watch the scooter traffic weave around us.
Our favorite part: someone yells police and we all
have to drag our chairs out of the street and squeeze
onto the curb for 30 seconds while the police roll by.
Then back to business as usual, spilling out into the
streets. For a second Geoff and I thought we were at a
high school party--but the beer tastes slightly
better.

My next favorite thing is the national dress of most
Vietnamese women. It seems to have evolved into
pajamas all day, every day. I could get used to this.
They are lovely pajamas. Cotton, matching tops and
bottoms, slippers. But it's hard not to laugh when
they are riding on a scooter or eating dinner in their
jammies. This is my kind of town.

And of course I can't write a blog without mentioning
the Vietnamese national currency is the Dong. I can
hardly type it without laughing. I'm immature, I know,
but paying for hotels, dinner, water, always elicits a
tiny snicker from me. It's funny. I'm sorry. It just
is.

For those of you at home betting on the Matrix of
Danger, if you had the square for
Erin--Vietnam--Causing a scooter accident, then you'd
be a winner! Let me begin by saying no one got hurt
unless count the banged up scooter. Also, I should
preface with the fact that I am a very skiddish street
crosser. In the metropolis of Chapel Hill I look
several times before crossing. Traveling through
Vietnam, I knew I would be challenged. 90% of the
traffic is scooters and there are no stoplights. It's
an amazing feat at intersections when it seems every
bike knows the right dance moves to waltz right on
through. People rarely slow down they just all know to
anticipate everyone else, and although there were some
almost misses, we never saw a bump. And these are
people on cell phones, families with infants, men
carrying bushels of fruit--and they all seem to move
effortlessly. Now insert foreigners who only have
crossed streets like these when playing Atari. Books
tell you to walk slowly and traffic will move around
you which sounds easy in theory but we've stood on
curbs for minutes trying to find the right break. And
if you take the time to pause and look while crossing,
you'll instinctively freeze in fear, which is worse
than moving. Fast forward to me making a go at it on
a random Thursday afternoon. I was sure I had found my
break and sans Geoff I went for it, at a good pace,
across 3 lanes of traffic. It seems I underestimated
the speed of one scooter and as I reached the opposite
curb I turned back to the loud noise of two people
sliding across the pavement under a scooter. I froze,
on the verge of tears. Was that my fault? It seemed to
be as several locals pointed at me. Geoff was stranded
on the other curb watching as the two boys
miraculously stood up, brushed off, checked for broken
bones (none, thank god), picked up their taillight and
rode off, never looking back at me. Meanwhile I've
started crying out of guilt and fear and mostly
because I'm now stuck on the same block , only taking
right turns, until 2 am when the traffic slows down
enough for me to try to cross back over. In hindsight,
Geoff says that it probably wasn't my fault (well,
mostly) and it's better I didn't look or I would have
froze and surely that wouldn't be good. I'd like to
believe they were purse nabbers and I was only helping
some old lady stop the burglars. So now I'm relegated
to holding Geoff's hand with the Vulcan death grip
while crossing. We have a break while we're in the
countryside, but Saigon will be a whole new monster
with 8 million people and 4 million scooters.

We've now moved down the coast to continue our 3 part
series of depressing war torn areas. This time we took
a tour of the Demilitarized Zone of central Vietnam,
seeing the Vinh Moc tunnels, the Ben Hai River and the
Khe Sanh American Combat base. It's almost hard to
believe that 40 years ago this country was bombed and
burned to pieces. The Vietnam countryside is some of
the most beautiful we've seen with rolling hills and
re-emerging jungles. Along the highways, bomb craters
litter the rice paddies, now turned into watering
holes for water buffalo. Vietnam has been another good
testament of a country moving on and forgiving.

We're off to Hoi An, the sewing capital of the world
(your Gap shirt is probably from here) where I'll be
buying a custom-made dress and some fabric and Geoff a
brand new custom suit, shirt and tie. They're probably
pretty good at tailoring for the smaller framed man.
Look for our next post at our half way point next week!

Hanoi, Vietnam

2007-10-03T08:50:00.000-05:00

Well, we've made it out of China to a more user-friendly communist country and can finally post on our own. Many thanks to those who posted for us while we were being suppressed. We'll try to get back to our previous posting schedule of at least once a week.

So after the Korey's left Beijing, we managed to get the last two seats on a 26-hour train ride to Chengdu. Like most cities in China, Chengdu is about twice the size of New York and nobody's ever heard of it. However, this city in southwestern China was in our sights for one simple reason: The Chengdu Panda Research and Breeding Center (aka Panda World). In fact, during the initial planning of this trip, we intended only to go through Australia and New Zealand. However, after becoming panda fanatics, we added China to the list and the journey in this incarnation began to take form. Needless to say, Panda World was a VERY big deal for us.

We got to Panda World early in the morning to see the pandas feeding - there must have been at least 40 in the park. Although there were some fences, we were able to get about 10 yards from some of the adults. There was also a panda nursery that housed about 5 newborns that were all less than a month old. Pictures weren't allowed, but we got to watch the staff members feed the little furballs out of a bottle. Pretty cute.

As we exited the nursery, we saw a group of tourists crowded around an employee entrance and quickly realized that we had found our mecca - the panda holding area. For a stack of what looked like monopoly money (some of which suspiciuosly went to our cab driver as a kickback), we were escorted into the caged area and draped with surgeon's outfits. Before we could realize what was happening, a one-year-old, 60 pound panda was placed on my lap and after a few minutes, it was Erin's turn. Although we read that it "was like touching a unicorn," I would compare it more to meeting a real-life Jim Henson character. As it was eating bamboo and I was rubbing its belly, it was hard to believe it wasn't fake. Truly unreal. Erin and I were both in a daze for hours.

Thus, with our trip to China - and pretty much all of Asia - seemingly complete, we were at a total loss as to what to do next. We decided to fly east across the country to Guilin and take a taxi down to Yangshuo. Yangshuo is actually a small town and somewhat of a backpacker haven. It is notable for its strange landscape of limestone karsts jutting out of flat rice fields. There are also many outdoor activities. For example, you can kayak down the rivers, mountain bike through rice fields and return to town on a bamboo raft. You can even finish the day with a Budweiser and a Philly cheesesteak. Of course, we did all of this and really enjoyed our time in Yangshuo in the process. We were there for about 5 days and it was a good break from the business (and pollution) that is appraently the rest of China.

Our visas for Vietnam now ripe, we arranged a bus journey from Yangshuo to Nanning (near the border), a night in Nanning and another bus journey from Nanning to Hanoi that included our first border crossing on land. Although no English was spoken by anyone other than us in this process, we managed to get to Hanoi completely without issue and are, frankly, a bit impressed with ourselves. I think we're finally starting to get a hang of this - not too bad after missing our first flight months back in an English-speaking country (Ireland).

Although we've managed to dodge miserable weather events in about 5 different countries already, we finally seem to have hit one head-on as a tropical storm of some sort is heading our direction. This may mean we won't be able to make it east to Halong Bay and that we may need to head south sooner than planned. Serendipity, however, seems to be on our side. Although the rain may also keep us in our hotel room for a few days, our $16 room includes ESPN - on which the revolution will be televised - that is, the Phillies' playoff games! GO PHILS!

Here's a big block of photos from our time in China. Thanks again for hangin' with us during our radio silence.

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Beijing, China

2007-09-29T09:08:00.000-05:00

Guest Bloggers: the Koreys

Yes folks, Beijing has a pollution problem! How they're going to fix their air quality by next year for the Olympics is the 64 thousand dollar question. When we arrived in Beijing by train on Tuesday morning it was raining. And of course, rain cleans the air so our first impression was that the air seemed pretty good. What's the big deal! The next day was sunny and breezy, so no traces of pollution. By the end of the week, though, the dirty air came back with a vengeance. Just imagine living in a London fog made up of chemical and dust emissions. We may see the first Olympic marathon run with gas masks and oxygen bottles strapped to the runners' backs.

If Shanghai is like NYC and Xi'an, Cleveland, Beijing is a cross between Wash DC and Toronto. It's a beautiful world capital with tall buildings just about everywhere, either completed or under construction. Obviously, there is alot of money pouring into Beijing either from Chinese or foreign sources. And, it spreads out in all directions. It has traffic that rivals or surpasses any city in the world, with taxi drivers all trained at a demolition derby school. Riding in a Beijng taxi is like going down Disney's Magic Moutain ride. It's playing chicken on wheels. The good news is that we survived to tell the story!

On day 2, we went to the Forbidden City where the emperors and their lady friends(concubines) numbering at about 1,000, spent their time living and doing the obvious. The amazing thing is that some of these emperors lived well into their 70's. Talk about stamina! Our impression from the guide is that emperors did a little bit of affairs of state and alot of experiments with population enhancement. Now you know how China got to a billion people.

Next to Tianamenn Square (yes, the infamous stare down the tank place) which is bounded by the Great Hall of the Peoples (China's Parliament), the China History Museum and the final resting place of Chairman Mao. Huge place, can hold a million people. Speaking of Mao, did you know that most Chinese women wear an article of clothing in his honor....yes, the somewhat hidden and trendy Mao Tse Thong! Did you also know that Mao's theme song was the ever popular (have to be at least 50 to remember this one) Papa U Mao, Mao. And finally, the name of Mao's final resting place is the, you guessed it, Maoseleum. We did the Mao walkby. Either he's had a great pickling job or a good coat of wax.

Day 3 had us at the Great Wall of China. And great it is! An engineering marvel probably financed by a bunch of cardiologists. The faint of aerobic fitness need not apply. Hauling up and down the stone walkways is more than enough to get your heart pumping and your hamstrings soar. Quite impressive though! Also, visited the Emperor Mings Tomb which wasn't all that interesting, kind of a dead spot in the day in more than one way.The closer for the day was a real hoot; we went to a massage school of sorts to get our feet massaged and our palms read. The foot soaking and massages were quite welcomed at the end of a long day. However, the topper was the palm reading. Palm reading is the ability to evaluate your health by inspecting various parts of your hand. We were joined by a group of so called "Tibetan doctors" who were straight from central casting. Charlatan and scam come to mind. All four of us had our palms examined and here's the results without exageration. Dad Korey had thick blood and a hot liver, Mom Korey had a weak kidney, Erin had digestive system problems (which by the way we've always known) and get this, Geoff had sexual function problems. However, both Geoff and Erin assured us that that wasn't the case. For all of our maladies, the Tibetan doctors were more than happy to write a presription and sell us the remedy. No sales that day!

Our final day was Mom Korey's 60th b'day which we duly celebrated by going to a Chinese restaurant for Peking Duck and to a presentation of Chinese acrobatics which was amazing, and, something that you definitely should not do at home. Never thought the human body could be gotten into such varied and imaginative positions.

One last Chinese to English translation puzzle......if you walked into a Chinese bathroom and saw a sign on the wall that said: Caution..Landslide.... what do you think that means? If you thought that meant that the floor was slippery, you're a better man or woman than me Charlie Brown.

A very enjoyable, ineteresting and educational 2 weeks! However, it's great to be sleeping in our own bed and living in a community of non existent traffic!

Shanghai and Xi'an, China

2007-09-17T07:57:00.000-05:00

As we suspected but didn't really think would
happen, we have been blocked from our blog in China.
And our picture site. The irony is as I write this,
the girl to the right of me is playing Halo 3 and the
boy on my left is watching porn (no joke), but Geoff
can't even check Wikipedia for stats on Jackie Chan. I
can't figure out the logic. Lucky for us, my friend
and fellow blogger Sarah [hi!] has agreed to post for us so
you'll know we're o.k. and hear the hi-jinx of the
Korey family trip to China.

We arrived in downtown Shanghai via the Maglev Train
from the airport. That stands for extraordinarily fast
train on sketchy elevated track. In 8 minutes you
travel 50 k.m. on a Disney like monorail. It was scary
the first time, terrifying the second time (to pick up
my parents), and deliriously fun the third time.
Except when we were banking on a track at 250 mph over
Shanghai rush hour. That made me yearn for the
rickshaw accidents in Mumbai traffic. We made it, and
that's all that counts.

On day 3 my mom and I were walking to dinner and she
said, "I wasn't sure how traveling with you would
be... but I'm having so much fun!" I agree. 10 days in
a foreign country with your parents could go in many
directions. Lucky for us, our direction is up. We're
having a blast. We've figured out that we all have the
same "poop-out" factor in the middle of the day and
just wandering with no agenda has some of the best
results.

My parents love a good bargain, and China is the place
to be. It is knock-off heaven. Nibu is Nike, Wanandu
is Adidas, Eake is Nibu which is Nike, Amani, Prado,
Lous Vitton. There are no rules. And my dad can not
pass up a bargain. He will be returning to the US with
a new pair of Wanadus which he proudly got for $15 and
a new pair of socks thrown in. They love the haggle
just as much as we do and they bargain hard. It's
impressive.

We've been staying in really nice hotels, which is a
first on our trip for Geoff and I. Maid service!
Buffet Breakfast! Bellhops! It's heaven. My dad even
booked a hotel in the Chinatown of China. You can't
get much more integrated than that. The driving around
here is insane. And it's each man for himself. Drivers
and Bikers will stare each other down and play chicken
in intersections. The Boston left has now become known
as the Shanghai left to us. Sadly after our experience
in India, Geoff and I don't even flinch at near
accidents and broken seat belts.

We traveled to Xi'an from Shanghai via an overnight
train. Once again, how would 20 hours in an 8 x10 room
fare for the Koreys. Great! I couldn't even hear my
mom snore at night. And my dad made friends with every
English speaking passenger on the train which got us
some free coffee. They're making this easy for us.

Xi'an is the home of the Army of the Terracotta
Warriors, a massive excavation in the middle of China
of over 6,000 life size terracotta human figures. It's
really quite astounding, and they've covered three
huge sites in airplane hangers, so you can see the
archaeological sites still being unearthed. I wish
they did more of that around the world. I would love
to watch people unearth Woolly Mammoths in Iowa. My
favorite part is the gift shop which could be the main
attraction. The site was unearthed accidentally in
1974 by a farmer digging a well. And wouldn't you
know, he sits in the shop and signs books. A bit
suspicious if you ask me. I'm pretty sure there is a
staff of Pat Morita look-alikes who take turns signing
books. I just wasn't buying it. Plus we weren't
allowed to take a picture.

Other than the warriors, Xi'an is just another big
city in China. We've had to find our own fun. This
includes renting tandem bikes and riding along the top
of the city walls. Spotting badly spelled signs. Our
favorite: Antique Ture Furni. Counting the number of
KFCs per street block. And of course watching Geoff
roll the dice when ordering dinners. So far he's 0-3.
Dinner #1: Raw beef. I tried to convince him it was
marinated in a pink sauce. Dinner #2: Fried Chicken.
Complete with feet and claws. Dinner #3: Twice cooked
pork fat. Enough said.

We're off next to Beijing where we will no doubt
endlessly discuss the topics of pollution and the
Olympics. And watch Geoff try to order more dinners. I
mean, us Koreys are wacky.

Fukuoka, Japan

2007-09-08T03:38:00.000-05:00

After sobering up in Tokyo, we embarked on our whirlwind tour across southern Japan. We realized upon boarding the Shinkasen (bullet train) that the equivalent of our 9-day itinerary would be hitting Boston, New York, Philly and DC with a night in the Poconos. Needless to say, I similarly have a lot of ground to cover here so let's get started.

The first stop, Kyoto, held great promise for both of us: the Kyoto Costume Institute for Erin and the Nintendo World Headquarters for yours truly. Unfortunately, the KCI had no exhibitions and the Nintendo HQ was heavily fortified. Not ones to be easily turned back, we made it through Nintendo's front gate before being encountered by a stern security guard with a polite piece of paper that read, in English, "I am sorry. You cannot go in this building." At that, we decided to leave before the guard alerted Bowser to our presence or put a shell on his back and started throwing hammers at us.

The remainder of Kyoto involved a bit of historical sightseeing, mostly temples and shrines. Luckily, we were able to find a Hollywood Cinema Costume exhibit in a department store of all places that was actually quite good and interesting - even for me (the Matrix and Fight Club exhibits helped).

From Kyoto we headed to Koya-san in the mountains for some Buddhist-style relaxation. The town of Koya-san is a bit secluded and we had to take a cable-car up a mountain just to reach it. It felt like the start of a roller-coaster without the pay-off. Once in town, we headed to the Buddhist temple where we were staying. Our bed consisted of tatami mats laid down on the floor and we were given yukata robes and slippers to wear around the premises. After being served a traditional vegetarian dinner beside the rock garden and goldfish pond, we retired for a peaceful night of sleep as the rain fell outside. Although Erin fell quickly to sleep, I tossed and turned with images in my head of ninjas crashing through our bamboo and paper walls at any moment.

We awoke early (real early) the next morning to witness a Buddhist ceremony and visit Okuno-in where more than 500,000 Buddhist remains have been put to rest. We then climbed back into the cable-car and headed down the mountain on our way to Osaka.

Our initial intent on spending a night in Osaka was to catch a Hanshin Tigers baseball game but it looked to be a rain-out when we got to town so instead we visited the area of Amerika-Mura which means "America Village". Basically, it's just like the rest of Osaka (and other Japanese cities) except that all the Japanese guys have fantastic Bon Jovi-style haircuts and the Japanese girls have Barbarella hair helmets of such remarkable size that they nearly tip over. Inspired by Japan's homage to America, we returned to our hostel to drink cans of beer and watch Airheads.

From Osaka our "America in Japan" theme continued on to Hiroshima for hot dogs, baseball and, regrettably, the A-Bomb.

As for the good, the Hiroshima Carp baseball team and its fans deserve their own blog, or at least their own post, but I'll try to touch on some highlights. For starters, their mascot is a complete rip-off of the Phillie Phanatic with a total misinterpretation of the original Phanatic's pelvic thrusts. The Carp Phanatic was only a sign of more good things to come. We sat in the bleachers which were packed full an hour before game-time, even though nobody seemed to sit in any other area of the stands. I guess Hiroshima is a blue-collar town. A half-hour before the first pitch, the crowd was already in a frenzy, led by the Carp band (props to the Yokohama Bay Stars who traveled with their own band). There were also Carp cheerleaders who did not hesitate to blow horns or whistles while the Carp players were trying to hit 140km/h fastballs. The whole set-up was very NASCAR-esque with the fans bringing all of their food and beer into the stadium with them. A father in front of us brought his 3 kids to the game, all under age 6, and they watched and cheered the whole time - for 4 hours - even when he went to the men's room and left them in the stands alone. The game was longer than normal because there was a "stretch" every other inning - probably because the entire infield was dirt and needed to be swept frequently. The cheering never died down (Erin and I were exhausted by the 3rd inning) and when Soyagi cranked a grand slam, the locals were more than happy to slam high-fives with a "gaijin" (me). The Carp won the game and the entire crowd respectfully stayed to hear Soyagi interviewed afterwards at home plate. Apparently he's really funny. The crowd then - get this - picked up all of their trash and carried it to the recycling bins outside, very un-NASCAR-esque. Japanese baseball, like most things Japanese, is awesome.

For the bad and ugly, one only has to go back 5 years before the Carp played their first game to when we dropped the A-Bomb (literally, right across the street from where the Carp now play their games). Obviously, there's a context to war but being in Hiroshima seems to erase any context for using atomic weapons. We took an informative, guided tour of the Peace Memorial Park and the A-Bomb Dome, below where the explosion took place. The overwhelming message here is peace, not Anti-America, which was certainly welcomed. Of course, we felt somewhat obliged to make a donation.

One last bullet train and we're finally in Fukuoka on the west coast and looking forward to more ramen, some beach time and a local soccer match. Assuming there are no typhoons or Godzilla-related interruptions, we're here until Monday when we fly out to Shanghai and will be met by Erin's parents. We don't know what to expect with China's Internet censors and whether we'll be able to keep this blog current while we're there but we'll find a way to get the word out and hopefully you'll hear from us again sooner rather than later.
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Tokyo, Japan

2007-09-01T21:34:00.001-05:00

We have made it to Japan which is truly a breathe of fresh air, literally and figuratively. We were in India for so long we kind of forgot that we had a full trip ahead of us, and not just India. By the end we had figured out the culture and kind of felt like we lived there. As Geoff mentioned, the flight was like a time warp. Going from toilets that consisted of holes in the ground, to toilets with heated seats. Ahh, paradise.

Tokyo is wonderful. So wonderful it is painful because all I want to do is shop, talk to people, ride in taxis with automated doors, live in a big city. We are sooooo lucky to have Geoff`s friend Mark as host and tour guide. Honestly, we didn`t do much historical stuff. We are saving that for Kyoto. Tokyo was about seeing the city, eating tons of good food and drinking lots of beer. Oh, did I mention karaoke!! Mark was great showing us around and putting up with my need to look in every store and touch every piece of fabric, paper, cell phone. Little does he know we may just cancel the rest of the trip and live on his couch for the next 5 months. We love Tokyo that much. Did I mention how awesome the toilets are. The little things.

When we arrived in customs, the officer asked us where we were staying and we said, `Roppongi Hills`. He said, `Ohhhhhhh, your friend must be very rich.` Well, maybe not rich, but Roppongi was a great starting point with modern buildings lots of great restaurants and a Jamie Fox/Jennifer Garner press junket in the hotel we got dropped off at. Alas, no celebrity sightings (I tried), but still a great section of Tokyo to begin. We spent all three days exploring different sections of Tokyo, checking out the Harajuku girls and being wowed by the expanse of neon. I think if my young nephews came here they would spin in circles until the went up in smoke like a cartoon. Geoff thinks his little brother would be in heaven with video game arcades on every block, crazy looking food and Japanese school girls. The Japanese culture was made for 12 year old kids. I now understand why kids have seizures. The sensory overload is overwhelming.

After 5 weeks moving through India, it was finally nice to just exist in a city as a participant and not a tourist. The Japanese are unbelievably nice and patient and so helpful. We needed a break from traveling and a good dose of hanging out. Next up: the bullet train and Kyoto.

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Leh Photos

2007-08-30T05:02:00.000-05:00

We've made it to Tokyo and apparently Air India operates a time machine because it feels like we've jumped 400 years into the future. Here are some photos from Leh - Erin will provide full commentary on Tokyo in the coming days...
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Delhi, India

2007-08-28T05:37:00.000-05:00

Last time we left off, we were heading out on our 4 day trek through the Himalayas. Happily, we survived. During our trek we covered 60 km (so we are told) and ranged from 12,000 to about 16,000 feet above sea level. The landscape was incredible and there were far less hi-jinx than the camel safari.

Our group consisted of Erin, me, our Tibetan guide/cook Tashi, our poneyman (who shall remain, and possibly was, nameless) and six ponies. Tashi led us on about 4-5 hours of hiking each day and then would set up our camp, make us tea and cook us dinner. It was a pretty sweet deal. We met a number of new friends along the way, including Luigi and Elena from Milan, Italy. Luigi is proof that lawyers everywhere are good and decent and genuinely nice people - and hate their jobs.

The big accomplishment on our trek was making it to the top of Stok La, nearly 16,000 feet up, without quitting (or falling). Other memorable moments included a wild herd of blue sheep skipping past our camp site and our introduction to altitude sickness (fortunately, it was minor). Of course, we appreciated that because we were on the "eco" tour our trash was set on fire rather than just left on the ground. The Tibetans must have learned this approach from the Chinese.

We had a few more days in Leh before flying back here to Delhi, and we were sad to go. Although India can be exhausting and overwhelming at times, Leh is definitely a place we can see ourselves returning to - if only it wasn't so far away.

We're back in Delhi now and we fly out to Japan tomorrow. We can feel our time in India coming to a close and have begun to adjust accordingly - I paid 75 cents to have my beard shaved off and we've eaten at Subway, McDonald's and Pizza Hut in the last 24 hours (and saw Transformers, which was awesome). We've had some amazing times in India and have some great memories. We have some lingering questions as well, such as why doesn't anyone wear shorts? or why have metal detectors everywhere when nobody cares when they go off? or what is the deal with the various-sized buckets in the bathrooms? (three seashells would make more sense).

Anyhow, we can't believe that we're not even 1/4 done with this trip yet.

Delhi, Taj Mahal and Leh, India

2007-08-18T08:15:00.000-05:00

We've been getting a little homesick after seeing pictures of our families and the beginning of a football season we'll mostly miss (GO EAGLES!). But there is nothing a McDonalds Chicken Maharaja Mac combo deal can't cure, is there? I'm happy to report McDonalds fries are awesome all over the world and the Maharaja Mac is an interesting twist with Chicken and an Indian sauce . I'm hooked! Our rickshaw driver thought McD's is all we wanted for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. We're not totally pathetic Americans!

We got to Delhi and were surprised at how normal it was. Well, other than an actual monkey begging for change at the train station. Many travellers had told us it was awful, but then they'd never been to Mumbai. It was such a treat to have 3 lane highways and big grassy parks. We found a cool rickshaw driver to give us a full day tour of the city for $15 and a McChicken Burger. What a deal! The first place he pointed out was a "wrestling gym" on the side of the road. It consisted of a giant dirt patch 30 feet from the street with a dozen Indian guys in briefs Greco-Roman wrestling for fun. Our guide was a keeper if he was going to continue to show us absurd spots like that.

We had a full day of Delhi sites including an amazing government district with the president's palace and defense building. You could tell the British had planned on staying a little longer. Delhi has some gorgeous open areas with 500 year old tombs and more recently the Bahai Lotus temple that make you forget you're even in a massive city. Surprisingly the Gandhi museum was mediocre at best considering he is their savior. We walked down a narrow vacant hall to come upon the dhoti he was wearing the day he was assassinated, blood stains and all, with no designation other than the brochure I was carrying. The museum represents much of how I feel about India in that they seem to have their priorities misaligned. Our day finished with the long awaited Bollywood film Cash. As we walked in a polite girl asked us why we were seeing a film in Hindi. Good question. We figured we could follow the plot line easily enough. And we did. Unfortunately the plot line was incredibly lame and could not live up to it's "Biggest Action Film Ever" slogan. Sadly, we crept out halfway through with our heads held low. What a disappointment.

A side bit: For those who have read The Kite Runner, I have witnessed kite running in India. Because of Independence Day (August 15) kids take the day off to fly kites all over the country. It was cool. Dozens of kites crowding the skies over the city and kids dangerously playing frogger in the streets running after them. I even read an article in the paper asking kids not to coat their strings with glass because it slices and kills innocent birds.

As seen by our previous pictures, we headed down to the Taj Mahal to see our first Wonder of the World. We woke up at 5:30 to beat the crowds (it didn't work) but at least were able to get the all-important Taj Mahal couple shot. We were so early, people hadn't made it into the back of our picture. India has this tourism deal that Indians pay 10 or 20 rupees to see any sight (25 cents) and tourists pay 200-500 rupees to go to the same places ($5-$12) which I'm pretty cool with because essentially we have the money to and Indians shouldn't have to pay higher prices to see their national heritage. What I do have a problem with is forking over $20 per person to see the Taj Mahal when Indians still pay 50 cents. I think I had hit my breaking point on that one. But of course we paid it, and it was worth it, and we held hands in public, because if we pay American prices, we hold hands like Americans.

Now to the Taj. Our friend Rahul told us only one thing about India and that is the Taj smells like feet. Fair enough. We were looking forward to testing this theory. Walking towards the main mausoleum, we started doubting Rahul's experience. But as we entered through the threshold of the Taj, we were hit with a strong smell of old socks and moldy feet. Indeed, we will never doubt Rahul again! And to answer Spragoo's question, we do talk about Rahul all the time. Such as, Does Rahul pay foreigner prices or Indian prices when he comes here? Will Rahul ride an elephant into his wedding? Does Rahul realize he could take Bollywood by storm with his exceptionally good looks? Of course we think about him at all times. He's everywhere!

We write now from the amazing town of Leh in Ladakh, India, a village nestled into the Himalayas. It was just what we needed. It feels like a different country, and it does have a very large Tibetan community which changes the culture. We took a flight up here instead of a 20 hour jeep ride through Mudslide Valley in the mountains. The flight was a bit of a white-knuckler as we corkscrewed through the mountains and miraculously ended on the ground without clipping a mountain peak. We were greeted by 60 degree fresh air, blue skies, and mountains as far as you could see. Ahhhh, peace.

Since being here we have done a lot of sleeping and acclimating (we're at 12,000 feet) and more sleeping. But yesterday we were really lucky to see the Dalai Lama "teach" in the next town over. We took a taxi over to the town and were greeted by a scene out of Bonaroo (except with no drunk teenagers and more mountains). 50,000 people had camped out for a day with the DL to hear him speak about Nirvana and compassion. We were lucky to get close to the front in the "foreigner" section with an English translation piped in through the speakers. While sometimes he was hard to follow, his entrance into the tents and just his overall presence was really powerful. Oh, and the free yak butter tea was quite a treat. One sip and I had my fill.

We are now preparing for a 4 day trek into the mountains. We tested our lungs today with a short hike up to a gompa (Buddhist monastery) and were treated to burning lungs and aching legs. At least we know what we're in for. We won't be posting for at least a week while we're gone and then back to Delhi before we close the book on India for good. I can definitely promise more awesome pictures (if we can find a fast computer).

Udaipur, Jaisalmer, Camel Safari & Taj Mahal Photos

2007-08-16T02:44:00.000-05:00

Hallelujah!!! We finally found a fast computer in India. I think it's because I've been praying to Ganesh but Erin thinks it's because the Dell offices are closed for India's Independence Day. No matter, the important thing is that we can finally catch up on some photos. Here are some from the last few weeks:
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Thar Desert, India

2007-08-14T10:27:00.000-05:00

We survived the camel safari in the Thar desert! Actually, it was one of the coolest things we've ever done. Here's how it went down:

On Day 1 we boarded a jeep early in the morning to head out into the Thar Desert to meet our camels and guides. The Thar Desert extends through both India and Pakistan, and from what we were told, we were about 50 km from the Pakistan border. There were 6 people in our group: me, Erin, a Dutch couple and two German girls who were curiously staying at the Swastika Hotel (although it is a Hindu symbol as well, come on). We got lucky because everyone in our group was young and a lot of fun.

After about an hour, we arrived in the desert and within minutes I was handed the reins to my camel, Victor. The guide, Sokot, showed me one rope for left, one for right, and both for stop. It should also be pointed out here that Sokot is 10 years old (we were later told he was 15 but there ain't no way...). We had two other guides also, Khan (the leader, age 25) and Chotu (the cook, age 17). Meanwhile, Erin was introduced to her camel, Sanjay, who was quickly renamed Sanjaya.

It was time to get it going and I threw a leg over Victor. Having never ridden a horse or any other saddled animal, I expected to be strapped in somehow. Before I even settled in the saddle, Victor stood up and I had an immediate flash in my head of Aubrey falling off the sea kayak at the Jersey Shore. I held on best I could and off we went. I was hoping Erin had managed her ascent ok as well because I was too scared to turn and look back.

It only took about 5 minutes to realize that (a) there's no coincidence that our friend Adam who suggested this excursion is the most bow-legged person either of us have ever met; and (b) I was 9 feet off the ground, on a camel, following a 10 year old through the desert toward Pakistan. I was starting to realize why the tour only cost $14 per day.

As we got the hang of it, though, and began to relax, it was awesome. Victor took the lead often and I could see nothing but the vast desert in front of me and various local inhabitants (lizards, antelopes, deer, peacocks, mice, etc.). Erin was delighted that Sanjaya was a noncomformist and never seemed able to follow the rest of the camels in line. Each of the tourists rode their own camel and the three guides all road the same camel that they were training. We were also occasionally joined by a desert dog - there seem to be stray dogs everywhere in India - who hung around for scraps.

Our days consisted of morning rides and visits to various villages. The villages in the desert are right out of a Peace Corps or Heifer International brochure. There were many children at each one that all knew the familiar greeting of Indian children everywhere - "Hello! - Rupee?". It was good to see that the nicest building in each village was a school but upsetting to learn that the caste system, even in the middle of the desert, was still in effect and some villages were "lower" than others.

We would break for lunch and siesta during the hottest part of the day under some trees. Our guides would cook pretty tasty veggies, rice and chopati. We were also treated to some fine chai tea at each meal as well. The afternoon would have us on the move again until we found some dunes to camp for the night.

The nights were the best. After dinner (that was exactly the same as lunch), we would camp out on the top of a dune, under the stars, using the saddle pads as mattresses. Before settling down the first night, the guides sang us a Hindi song and, strangely, a John Denver song. They were happy to know that the country roads of West Virginia are not too unlike those in India. Also, the first night was a little cloudy so the stars were obscured and the following morning I awoke to a desert dog licking my face and a lizard running out of my sheets.

The second night, though, was well worth the price of admission. The sky was perfectly clear and we watched the sunset on the horizon near a lightning storm that never came our way. We could see the sky in every direction and could watch satellites orbit the Earth and could even see the Milky Way. We happily caught a few choice shooting stars as well. Incredibly, 10 hours after watching the sunset, we watched the sunrise from the same place having only turned our heads.

There were many other great moments, including a nomad showing Erin how to make rope from goat hair, another nomad selling beer in the middle of the desert (brilliant) and some bonding with our lead guide Khan, who told us about his arranged marriage at age 12 and other interesting aspects of his life that couldn't be more different than ours. In truth, all our guides were great and the life of a camelman seems pretty peaceful compared to city-life in India. Erin thinks the guides are the equivalent of the hippies in the U.S. that work at Yellowstone.

After 3 days, there were no mishaps and no falls. Although quite sore, we learned to handle our camels quite well and we even did a little trotting/racing on the last day. The bug bites were minimal and my surnburnt hands, which look like boxing gloves, have already begun to heal. The camel safari was great, plain and simple.

Jaissalmer, India

2007-08-08T03:16:00.000-05:00

A quick note on the weather: We've recieved several emails wondering if we were floating down the Ganges River in India. Indeed we have seen some rain, mostly in Bombay, but fortunately we have been blessed with some pretty awesome rain-free days. We're out in the desert now so all we are experiencing is the hottest weather we've ever known. And of course, this is the first time we decided not to get AC. Good work.

Last we left off we were chilling in the town of Udaipur. Good decision on our part. It's a bit out of the way since it's not on a continuous train line, but it was worth the hassle because we needed some moments of quiet. Also, we got HBO for the first time so we could for once watch something other than Cricket. If Udaipur weren't so out of the way, India wasn't so far to get to and there was less ox crap in the road, I think I would come back more often. Because the city looks over a lake with a palace in it, every hotel and eatery has a rooftop deck facing the water. With fantastic weather and a water breeze, we spent a lot of time eating and relaxing over meals. We had finally reached the moment on our trip where we stopped and thought "we're in India". The one time we didn't eat on a rooftop, we had coffee in a little sidewalk bakery. As I sat sipping my chai I watched a man climb an elephant's trunk to get on his back and then walk 3 feet within our table. Wow, elephants are big especially when you're not expecting them to stumble by at 10 am. Like I said, we're in India.

As promised, we did catch a viewing of Octopussy one night. Surprisingly, more than 1/2 of the movie takes place in Udaipur so if you're interested you should rent it. It does a good job of showing almost all the palaces we went to. Also on tap was a very awesome cooking class. Believe it or not, Geoff has not had red meat in almost 2 weeks (does lamb count?) Dare I say he is almost a vegetarian. I'm not too worried, but this is a whole new side of him. The non-red meat eating, dealing with germs-Geoff. We ate at a place yesterday where the cook only wore a pair of shorts. No shoes, no shirt, lots of sweating. Geoff barely winced. He's a whole new person.

We left Udaipur with several books read, our nerves rejuvinated and a gut. (I was not expecting to put on weight at this point in trip). We then headed off to Jaissalmer with our only overnight bus ride between us and Aladin's fort. How bad could it be?

It could be bad. Imagine sitting in a Brookstone vibrating chair for 7 hours straight, with the vornado fan blowing in your face. A bumpy road, a horn that sounded like a circus clown horn blaring every 5 minutes, very loud indian music, the smell of a petting zoo, and throw in a squawking chicken for good measure. I was sure that time had stood still when i could not sleep a wink all night. But there was more. We switched buses at 5 am in a dodgy part of Jodphur. We had some very disagreeable Aussie travellers who wanted to call the police because they had paid for a sleeper but were being forced into seat. And another 4 hours through the desert to Jaissalmer. To my surprise, the second half went quite smoothly. And for all that i've heard about transportation being erratic and unreliable, sure enought we got into Jaissalmer early.

So here we are. In the coolest little town I've seen yet. A special thanks to our friend WarT who told us about Jaissalmer. It's a fort built up on a hill that has all kinds of winding alleys and very small streets. People live in side the fort as well as lots of guest houses, restaraunts and shops. It really does feel a bit like Aladdin. Our room is $14 a night with a view of a hindu temple not 10 feet away. And last night we watched the most amazing lightning storm from our roof. The sky was so lit up for hours, I swear we could see Pakistan. It was truly awesome.

We leave tomorrow on a camel safari in the desert. Geoff's afraid of horses, so we'll see how the camel is for him. But I definitely promise some awesome pictures of him trying to get on it. Video if I can.

Udaipur, India

2007-08-03T04:34:00.000-05:00

First, I'd like to register my disagreement with Erin's assessment of Mumbai as "fantastic." To be fair, try to picture New York City with twice as many people. Now, imagine somewhere between 25% and 50% are "homeless" (around 5-10 million). Add another million stray dogs and some pretty disgraceful littering practices and you're on your way. Although seemingly post-apocalyptic, Mumbai somehow works and isn't quite as chaotic or threatening as it should be. Our cabbie to the train station, while driving on the wrong side of the median and speeding into oncoming traffic, looked at me and smiled "Bombay, very good." Fair enough. Bombay, very good - but not fantastic.

On our way out of Mumbai, we were offered work as extras in an Indian film. Unfortunately, our train tickets were already booked so Bollywood will have to wait. Although we had heard horror stories about rail travel in India, it has actually been quite pleasant. There are monitors in every station telling you exactly where to go and your name is actually posted on the car you're supposed to board. Buying tickets, on the other hand, is a little more confusing. It's like a cross between the DMV and a betting window at Suffolk Downs.

From Mumbai, we traveled up to Jaipur in Rajasthan. For reference purposes, Rajasthan is the area in Northwestern India where everyone used to grow big, awesome mustaches. Only bellhops seem to grow them now. Anyhow, the local people have been very impressed by my own facial hair - one guy, in a UNC hat no less, said I looked like Omar Sharif and another, after telling me "You grow beard like Indian" invited Erin and I back to his house for dinner with his family. We declined. Erin has been getting good feedback as well, especially when our 16 year old rickshaw driver "Lucky" told her she was more beautiful than the Taj Mahal. We'll have to see about that (just kidding).

Jaipur was busy, crazy and dirty, but also dusty, as we are beginning to get closer to the desert. There are many great forts that surround the city with great views. At one, they have sacrificed a goat everyday since the 1600's ("unofficially" since 1980). There were also some great markets and we were able to work on our bartering skills. Erin managed to haggle two pairs of shoes for $10 (down from $13). I got a T-shirt for $2 (sticker price = $2.50). Take that, Indian economy.

We're in Udaipur now after arriving on another overnight train. This town is famous (infamous?) for being a shooting location of the James Bond movie "Octopussy." Although neither Erin nor I have seen this one, fortunately for us, every restaurant in town airs it every night. It's a real chill town (no persistent car honks) and we're looking for a little relaxation for a couple days...

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Mumbai, India

2007-07-29T10:57:00.000-05:00

In the words of Charlie from Lost, "Where are we?"

We've made it to Mumbai and while it is enormous and taxis honk their horn at everything and anything all hours of the day, we're really getting into it. But it didn't start that way. We rolled into Mumbai at 2 a.m. on Thursday to a nice air conditioned airport. Jet lagged and feeling sick, we whizzed through customs, hoping to get to our hotel as fast as possible. It seems that we hired the slowest taxi in Mumbai and as an added bonus, he gave us the scenic tour through Asia's biggest slum called Dharavi. By the time we made it to our hotel, I was sure India was a mistake and since I was the one who wanted to come here, I couldn't admit that I wanted to turn around. But of course, there is nothing a little daylight can't cure.

Mumbai is fantastic. Everyone is friendly, and it seems that everyone wants to say hi to me. People yell, Madam! just to get me to look. It's like their inside joke. Geoff has alerted me that when i walk, i seem to point my finger like a six-shooter and i may actually be initiating the hellos. Yesterday, we were at a museum and I had just put Purell on my hands (yes mom, i'm listening) and was shaking them dry when a whole family started saying, "Hello, how are you? good day!", and i couldn't figure out why everyone was so damn friendly. Geoff pointed out my six-shooter purell wave was most likely it.

We checked out a movie at the Mumbai cineplex to get a feel for the grandiose Bollywood movie scene. O.k. we actually saw "The Curse of the Golden Flower" but we did see a preview for what looks to be the most amazing Bollywood action film ever. Cash! It's got action, it's got chicks, it's got singing and dancing. I can't wait to see it in Delhi. And of course, to our surprise we had to stand for the India national anthem before the movie and take an intermission for drinks in the middle of the movie. But when tickets are $3.50, we're sitting front row of the balcony every time.

Our final day in Mumbai was spent at an ancient island off the end of Mumbai. Elephanta Island dates back to 300-600 a.d. and it's a massive temple carved into caves in the rock. It was awesome and had its fair share of pesky monkeys, one of which grabbed a coke bottle out of a man's hand. i tried to get close for pictures but geoff was convinced I would be mauled so I was forced to use the zoom instead. I could take those monkeys.

Tomorrow we begin to travel again. Our first overnight train ride up to Jaipur. We're looking forward to less rain, more palaces and way more Indian food!

And a quick thanks to my best friend Laurie and her husband for being awesome. They hooked us up in London with our last load of laundry for a month, our last hamburger for a month, and our last hug. We wish they could come along (peer pressure).

London, England

2007-07-25T11:34:00.000-05:00

GUEST BLOGGERS:
LAURIE & NEIL

There are certain advantages and disadvantages to being the first guest bloggers but certainly the best part of it is being amongst the first to send Erin and Geoff off on their big adventure. So Crack Cow it was...

We're not sure when our 7:35 am flight seemed a good idea but neverthelesss, crossing London Bridge at 5:30 am as the sun was coming up was certainly a thrill and started us off just right...or thereabouts. Unfortunately, British Airways didn't seem as keen as us to get to Cracow's Balice Airport so we were unfortunately late in landing. Normally, this wouldn't necessarily be a problem but seeing as a) we'd rented an apartment from a local Polish company (problem being our Polish is unfortunately nonexistent) and b) we were meeting Erin and Geoff at the apartment with no way to contact them, this proved a bit tough. With the language barrier in full swing, we phoned the apartment company to let them know we would be late but to still allow Geoff and Erin to check in without us.

Managing to navigate the taxi from the airport ok, we were dropped off outside our apartment building on a tiny side road with no one in sight. As we stood in front of the austere, near crumbling apartment building with no reception or name on a buzzer to identify, we started to wonder where we had come to for a 'holiday'. Fortunately though, Erin and Geoff appeared from around the corner to brighten our moods and save us from a travel breakdown. And thus the weekend getaway started - from relaxing in the amazing town square to visiting the awesome salt mines and, oh yes, lest we not forget the litres of beer, delicious vodkas and pierogis of course! The Poles certainly know how to do it!

Highlights of the trip:

LODY- the ice cream was fantastic! We ended up staying right near a Lody shop (one of many, mind you) and were continually surprised by the line coming out of the place. The queue on Sunday was consistently about 30 people long. We spent a while trying to figure out reasons why... a 30 person queue over a period of 6 hours would be an astonishing 10,800 people all buying ice cream from the same place. Surely not? After seeing though that the line just wasn't dying down, Erin couldn't resist anymore and dragged Geoff with her to verify that it was indeed great ice cream - time to buy shares in it I think!

SCHINDLER'S FACTORY- the best part of visiting this site was that the factory itself doesn't look to have changed at all. They have converted a small building to turn in into a bit of an exhibit explaining the history behind the factory but everything else remained the same, which really helped to drive home the experience - altogether a humbling but uplifting one.

PIZZA- we were shocked at how many pizza places there were in the city of Crakow and even more surprised that we managed to go the entire trip without eating any.

BEARDY'S- Geoff was rather pleased with himself that he seemed to be the only one in Crakow with a full-on beard and managed to keep a running tally on this through the weekend. Much to his chagrin, on our last night, we came face to face with another fellow bearded man to which Geoff's response was,"Hey Beardy"

And last but certainly not least, THE SALT MINES- from the beautiful chapels (a'hem, more like cathedrals) to amazing statues and paintings carved some 300 feet underground, we're just not convinced these miners actually did any actual mining...

All in all, Crack Cow was a fabulous time- good food and drink and great company. Sadly, it whizzed by and now were finding ourselves back at work while Erin and Geoff jetset off to Mumbai... where did we go wrong?!

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Krakow, Poland

2007-07-20T15:27:00.000-05:00

Gdansk (aka Danzig) turned out to be a pretty cool town. We headed up the coast a bit to swim in the Baltic Sea at the beach town of Sopot. Sopot boasts the longest wooden pier in Europe but I think we'll always remember it as the highest Speedo per capita rate in Europe. Oh yeah, the Baltic Sea is cold, though strangely not as cold as the Jersey shore about two weeks back.

Our time in Gdansk was a little tough because I got sick for what will be the first of many times on this trip. Whoever purchased the block of me getting bird flu before we even got to Asia in the betting pool should consider themselves lucky. Me, not so much. My sickness prevented our one-way boat trip to Hel (and, perhaps, Hell) thus Hel (and, again, perhaps Hell) will have to wait for now. Although we quickly headed south for Warsaw, the bird flu also prevented me from entering the pierogi eating contest. I am sure this upsets many of you and I promise to make it up later.

Yesterday, we arrived in Krakow. This seems to be the hippest of the Polish towns so far. Our friends Laurie and Neil will be here tomorrow so the weekend should be fun. It will be a nice change of pace from the last few days which have been, almost entirely, depressing.

We visited the Warsaw Uprising Museum yesterday morning which chronicles Poland's last-ditch, no-holds-barred attempt to reclaim its country at the end of WWII (this included enlisting women and children on the front lines and manufacturing their own weaponry in various underground hideouts). Unfortunately, it resulted in the death of hundreds of thousands of Poles in Warsaw and was punished by the Nazis with the destruction of more than 85% of the buildings and homes in the city. It really is amazing that Warsaw has been rebuilt in such a metropolitan manner.

Today, we visited Auschwitz. Obviously, much greater minds in much more appropriate contexts have addressed the horrors of Auschwitz but needless to say, it was horrendously sad 67 years ago and it is still horrendously sad today. One particularly upsetting note, we read in the local English paper this morning that UNESCO had to recently change the official name of Auschwitz to highlight the fact that it was a German Nazi operation after many international news outlets (mostly German) have been reporting that it was actually a Polish concentration camp.

Without forgetting what we've seen, we look forward to the lighter side of Krakow.

Dublin and Poland Photos

2007-07-17T14:31:00.000-05:00

It took awhile for us to figure out how to get these posted but here they are:

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Gdansk, Poland

2007-07-16T04:00:00.000-05:00

I was really nervous to start blogging because I thought I wouldn't have anything to say. Lucky for me we missed our first flight to Poland by 12 hours. The adventure begins!!

First Lesson: Learn how to read European time in 24 hour increments. Second Lesson: Read the fine print when the airline sends you a time change. It seems our flight was changed from 17:55 to 06:10 which was read by a certain person as a 15 minute change. In hindsight, that seems to be a 12 hour change. So on Thursday morning after a leisurely breakfast and email checking, we realized we had missed our flight. And it seems that airline call centers all over the world employ unhelpful people. So we went to the airport, feeling like idiots and expecting to pay for 2 new flights (which we entertained going to Budapest or Vienna for fun). But miraculously the RyanAir gals at the airport didn't blink without putting us on the next flight to Warsaw for free. What?! is this possible? We miss our flight and they put us on a sooner flight with no charges. We didn't even have to pull out the "honeymoon" sob story. Crisis Averted!

So we made it to Poland with time to still find Pierogis before bedtime. We called ahead and checked into an awesome hostel in Warsaw. Unfortunately we have been spoiled by an awesome hostel with a cool artsy vibe and every hostel after has been hard beds, dirty pillows and communal showers. I guess that's budget travel for you.

Before we left Warsaw for our original destination, Poznan, we had a Pierogi lunch at a restaurant that boasts an eating contest of 59 pierogis in 25 minutes. Never to ignore a challenge, Geoff is prepping his stomach as we speak to get ready for the challenge when we return to Warsaw. I'm pretty sure he can't do it since he can only eat 5 1/2 hotdogs in 30 minutes, but a challenge is a challenge and as long as he doesn't throw up on the table Kobiyashi- style, I'll cheer him on and take pictures. The other great thing about this restaurant is my Doppelganger works there. (see pictures) If you didn't think I was a true Polska, then meet my long lost twin sister. I couldn't ask her if she was a Korsczoloski (my real name for those who didn't know) because she didn't speak any English and I couldn't act out "long lost twin sister". But people have stopped us many times for directions or to speak to me in Polish thinking I'm from here. It feels great. Nie Rozumiem! (i don't understand).

This country is a tough country. You can tell they've been through some hard times. Every where you go, there are reminders of WWII and the mass devestation of the city. All the guys look like they are from Anarchy 99 and all the women, well, look like me more or less (a little wider face).

We took the train to Poznan where Geoff's sister-in-law used to live. She is from a small village near the German border, but she went to university in Poznan and her sister lives there now. The one thing about Poland is I thought it would be easier to communicate- it is a European country after all. But Geoff and I have had a hell of a time getting around on public transport. The drivers yell at us, the passengers try to give us directions and all the time we just stare blankly. But luckily, there are some amazingly nice people here, like our new best friend from Poznan. We were outside the train station trying to hail a cab, and the drivers were yelling at us and driving away. This really nice guy behind us said he could help. He was Polish, but spends his winters in Marco Island, FL as a bell hop then travels for 2 months with his earnings before going back. Not only did he let us share his cab to the main square, but he paid for it. And on top of that after we left our book in the cab, he came running after us. He's our new best friend!

Anna's sister Maria met us in the town square accompanied by her friend who spoke English so we could communicate. More charades! We had a great dinner with the two of them and then were left with just for Maria for the night. We didn't have much to say, but she was unbelievably hospitable. She drove us to Neigoslaw in the morning where Anna's mom and family live. It was quite the day. Only Anna's mom spoke English so we did a lot of smiling and pointing. At one point we went to Anna's aunt's house and did shots of Bailey's irish cream with her. At another point we watched Mr. Bean with her brother and his wife. All in all, it was a lot of fun and a bit surreal at times. It was great to see where Anna was raised and get to know all of her family. Our family now!

So that puts us in Gdansk, Poland. This was a last minute decision but the weather turned for the better so we thought we'd hit the Baltic Sea beaches. The town is beautiful and when Geoff posts next, he can talk about it.

One last thing: I need to backtrack to the end of Ireland, which we never saw the sun again. Our trip to Athlone to find Geoff's great grandpa was a bit of a bust, but the librarians at the local library gave us full access to old town documents and church ledgers to look for him (i mean his name). we did find other family members we think and got the email of the town historian, so hopefully something will come about.

Dublin was crazy! So much bigger and metropolitan than i thought it would be. We spent our nights in a dorm hostel which hopefully will be the last of that. Sharing a room with 4 other people is not our style. The city is packed tight with all kinds of history and mostly what i took out of it is that the Irish hate the British. And vice versa. Oh, we also took the sweet Guiness brewery tour. It's very touristy, but pretty awesome. It's a 7 floor museum that ends at the top with a 360 degree glassed in bar where you get a free Guiness. Very fun!

O.k. So that's it for now. phew! Lesson learned: blog more often or be forced to write alot. Off to the beach!

Galway, Ireland

2007-07-09T07:40:00.000-05:00

First things first, we're going to try a new approach to this and take turns making entries - a picture of the typist will appear at the top.

Xander and Courtney's wedding was sweet. The 12-hour reception culminated in traditional Irish dancing to House of Pain. Nice. We actually got two days of nice weather on Saturday and Sunday. We took a nice hike along the Cliffs of Moher through cow pastures and under electric fences. I don't think the farmers here have shotguns, at least we hope they don't.

Galway is a pretty cool city, but like most of Ireland, there's not much to do here but drink pints. We sat outside for about 2 hours yesterday and I got a nasty sunburn - that gets you mad street cred in these parts. The weather couldn't be worse today.

We're off to Athlone tomorrow to, as Erin keeps saying, "dig up some graves." I'm pretty sure there's a better term for tracking down one's ancestors, but who knows.

And yes, Spragoo, we will be hitting 2 of the 7 new wonders (Taj Mahal and Great Wall). If you're looking for polls, talk to Ben and Lars, they're feverishly working on one.

Take care.

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Doolin, Ireland

2007-07-05T10:33:00.000-05:00

Here we are moments before leaving for the airport. Our bags are packed precisely, our clothes are all clean, and the butterflies in our stomachs are on speed. Let's go!

We've made it to Ireland, and Erin's already realized she forgot a belt. At least its not her passport, but she should have remembered something that easy. After a flight full of crying babies and a bad Billy Bob Thorton movie, we arrived in Shannon early yesterday morning. The airport lacked basic security, evidenced by the mother of the bride smuggling pounds of meat in her golf bag for a 4th of July bbq. Before we left the US, we thought that part of our trip might involve a goodwill tour to reestablish some dignity to the good ol' US of A. We quickly learned, on the bus ride from the airport to Doolin, that our job would be tougher than we realized when we sat behind a crazy New York cabbie who was explaining to the entire bus his 9/11 theories which included missile strikes and barns full of people. Needless to say, we have more work cut out for us than we initially thought.

Doolin is a tiny town, with about as many cows and sheep as people. The cows, sheep and people here all agree that the weather sucks. It has been cold and rainy (and really windy) since we arrived. This is how we pictured Ireland weather - in January. Although it's too windy right now to visit the Cliffs of Moher or to take a ferry to the Aran Islands, we were able to get in a round of pitch-and-putt golf. The wind was so strong, we would lose balance on the back swing, or at least that's our excuse for some poorly played shots. It was the most beautiful course I've ever played on and also the fastest. We played 18 holes in less than an hour and a half. The nice thing about Ireland that every event is capped off with a Guinness. So we celebrated our first Irish round of golf with Guinness and beef stew.

The 4th of July bbq was fun. There was lots of Irish singing and dancing. The band knew a lot of patriotic US songs but sadly nobody knew the words so we all just sang "Take me out to the ballgame." It was odd. There's more dancing tonight and hopefully the weather improves so we take in the cliffs and the islands in a few days. Assuming we get on the right buses, we'll be in Galway on Sunday and Dublin on Tuesday.

Our Itinerary

2007-05-30T22:18:00.001-05:00

Ok, here's the plan:

We fly out of Newark at the beginning of July for Xander's wedding. We'll spend July traveling through Ireland, Poland and London. In August, we'll be in (a very warm) India. We'll travel through Japan and China in September, Vietnam and Thailand through mid-November and Australia and New Zealand through mid-January. We'll end our trip with a vacation from our vacation in Fiji and arrive in Los Angeles at the end of January. We hope to be in DC (and sleeping) by the start of February.

It's taken us about a year to figure out those last six sentences but we think (and hope) we're ready to go.

We'll try to keep this blog updated as best as possible while we travel. Obviously, some places will make this more difficult than others but we'll try to catch up when we need to. By all means, if you've been to any of these places or have suggestions for us, please send emails.

Wish us luck (and reassure Dalley that we'll be ok).

Geoff & Erin

P.S. We'll be packing and moving over the next few weeks so it is possible, and quite likely, that this blog won't be updated until we hit the road the first week of July. Please check back in then.