tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75482024990177597582024-03-14T03:45:27.951-07:00So I Married an Indian & Other Cultural AdventuresAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06766313452317869093noreply@blogger.comBlogger59125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7548202499017759758.post-48439838826459852462015-06-28T11:31:00.000-07:002015-06-28T11:31:28.459-07:00Mustafa<div class="MsoNormal">
Day 3</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We awoke on Thursday and headed across the bridge to Asia
for our flight to Cappadocia. We arrived
with not much fanfare to Nevishar airport and headed out to our Avis rental
car. There at the counter was a European
gentleman trying to convince the car company to give him a car for free because
of his airline miles even though he had no credit card. The car company was willing to give him a car
for a handwritten note and 100 euros (seemed like a good deal to me but they
were still arguing when we left). As we
headed to the car park the Avis attendant reminded me that the Ford fiesta was
a manual shift and a diesel vehicle (I though he said his name was Manuel, but
I figured it out). We loaded up and took
off without much fanfare to Uchisar where our cave hotel was. The landscape was insane, it looked like
massive droplets of lava from the sky were there with gnomes living
everywhere. It was like Utah on
acid. We drove our car to the Uchisar castle, there
we continued to go up and down the windy cobblestone streets looking for our
accommodations but no luck. An otopark
guy (parking lot attendant) told us our hotel was up around the corner but it
was just a similar name not our hotel.
We gave up and abandoned our hotel next to a spice peddler at the foot
of the cave castle. There were sat down
to a panoramic view and a doner kebob hoping things would become easier after
we ate. The proprietor of the lunch spot
was a cowboy hat man wearing a t shirt with a picture of himself in the outfit
he was currently wearing upon it. We
fueled up and the cowboy took us around back of the castle and showed us our
hotel which was just down the cliff. Not
sure how we were going to get the car there we decided to drive back down and
around the cliff to the other side. A half hour later we were on the other side
of the castle where we saw a sign for our hotel on a cobblestone street
pointing basically straight up. I put
the car into first gear and gunned it up and around that curve and we slide
into our beautiful mountain top cave resort!
There we watched the sun set off of the sandstone with a lovely bottle
of white wine served by Mustafa. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Day 4</div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJ-V5qmeSTz2cCy20vZhT-CWqu4zAdVV30Iy7MINqlS0RGiit7FP5Jw7hIEv1KxDXSbbTCNKnbymCqcvw6EYxOER2O-ZgxHlFxf5xvzPPwUuiWk_a4nsJk0oU-J3f6yeOJ9hnpiS0G_X4/s1600/Chessa+and+I.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJ-V5qmeSTz2cCy20vZhT-CWqu4zAdVV30Iy7MINqlS0RGiit7FP5Jw7hIEv1KxDXSbbTCNKnbymCqcvw6EYxOER2O-ZgxHlFxf5xvzPPwUuiWk_a4nsJk0oU-J3f6yeOJ9hnpiS0G_X4/s320/Chessa+and+I.jpg" width="276" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Reunited!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We woke up and was served an amazing breakfast on the lawn
overlooking the lava pillars! Food just
kept coming out; yogurt, honey, soft cooked eggs in bread, bread filled with
feta, coffee and fresh squeezed juice.
After an indulgent breakfast we headed out to the Goreme Open Air
Museum. These lava pillars were inhabited
by people in 3000 BC in 1200 AD priests fled to the Capadokia region and made
churches complete with frescos in these caves.
There were churches upon churches in these hills. After touring the underground churches we headed
to a nearby town where they were having a Friday market. We walked around the market looking at the
goods and then grabbed a Turkish ice cream by the river. We booked our balloon for the next morning,
we were concerned about safety since there had been a crash that morning of a
balloon. Our balloon company assured us
that the crash was just a, “technical problem” and not their company. The “technical problem” involved the pilot
catching on fire, but we were assured that it would not happen to us. After securing our balloon ride we headed off
to explore the Rose Valley and the Fairy Chimneys. After getting out of the car and hiking
around into various alcoves I heard my name being called. I turned and look and saw a girlfriend of
mine that I knew when I was a nanny in 2001, who currently lives in Lithuania
with her husband and three children.
What a small world I haven’t seen her since 2003!!! After hiking up to a fantastic view point we
headed back to our hotel for another great dinner. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Day 5</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDvreqgYqL_sVUt1E_e8_1nR_LZ1e5vz1oSuJBFfSSfoc09NLsWZtd6Qmd_9GLZZzOxHD3KEVaZRQyEaZdwuZPYT7hWO64InKGvhvVYpwoge8cuBvF-QgjOvFEJMZoo724bdj4kY24pQM/s1600/Balloons+cappadoocia.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDvreqgYqL_sVUt1E_e8_1nR_LZ1e5vz1oSuJBFfSSfoc09NLsWZtd6Qmd_9GLZZzOxHD3KEVaZRQyEaZdwuZPYT7hWO64InKGvhvVYpwoge8cuBvF-QgjOvFEJMZoo724bdj4kY24pQM/s320/Balloons+cappadoocia.jpg" width="240" /></a>At 3:30 AM with the call of the Mosque we awoke and headed
out for our balloon ride. We hopped in the basket with our 10 closest friends
and took off into the sky. Our pilot
Mustafa (I know everyone right?) sent us soaring over the beautiful
landscape. There were 100s of other
balloons floating about. We watched the
sun rise as we grazed across the world.
It was epically beautiful. One
and half hours later we landed and deflated the balloon and drank sparkling
wine. After our amazing trip above we went back to
our hotel for another amazing breakfast.
We then headed into Goreme to do last minute souvenir shopping. Laden
down by Turkish towels and lamps we headed back up the hill to eat another
dinner. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Day 6</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Another breakfast and we headed out to the airport. We drove to the airport and continued to
drive and look for the airport and circle around it through the Turkish
countryside. We tried to return the
rental car 40 min before the flight, which basically resulted in me ditching
the car in the parking lot and running in.
The check in attendant was not worried and we handed them our
luggage. After a super bumpy flight we
returned to Istanbul. We grabbed a cab and
headed to the Hilton by the airport, our cabby was extremely lost, chain
smoking and Goggling as he careened across the highway. We made it a little wind blown to our hotel
and are settling in for dinner and our flight at 3 pm. </div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06766313452317869093noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7548202499017759758.post-11061801591837814162015-06-23T11:10:00.000-07:002015-06-28T11:16:04.191-07:00Istanbul or Constantinople?<div class="MsoNormal">
Michelle and I left terminal five O’hare after devouring a
lovely plate of nachos at Bin 51. On our
plane was about 50 teenagers heading to Paris to study art, but it didn’t
matter because we were in Economy Comfort on Air France which was a lovely
little pod of luxury. We were given
wine, bread and movies as we flew over the ocean. We had a layover in Paris were we enjoyed the
accommodations of the Air France lounge where there was no shortage of
chocolate croissants and cappuccinos. A
short three hour flight later we were in Istanbul! We took a taxi over to the Beyoglu neighborhood
where we found our apartment for the next few days and Liza! We enjoyed a
bottle of wine and some Kefta in a crazy alleyway cafe. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Istanbul is crawling with cats. Everywhere you look are street cats. When we headed out the next morning at the
end of our steep street was a Julius Meinel sign and a small coffee shop. The owner ousted the cats from the chairs and
we were served up cappuccinos and delightful yogurt, honey and granola. We were fueled for the day and we headed to
Old Town to catch the sights. When we
arrived we were greeted by men who informed us that the Topkapi Palace was
closed but they could take us to their carpet shops, we politely declined and
made our way to the tombs of the Aya Sofya.
Aya Sofya is an old (like super old built in 537) church that was
converted into a mosque, and later converted into a museum. The tombs were buildings were all sorts of
sultans, his wives and his children.
Each tomb was decorated in mosaics and the tombs were felt covered
caskets that were arranged according to size, the largest the sultan, then his
wives then his children in pecking order.
The boys’ tombs had turbans on them!
After hanging out in the beautiful tombs we went into the Aya Sofya, ay
ya ay! Beautiful large ceiling and domes, incredible that it had been built so
long ago!!! It was awesome to see the
frescos of Christians past with the art of 18<sup>th</sup> century Muslims side
by side. </div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFfv6hndxVa3SCNiN0MPO9cU5Gf6_olEIT-JAncU9kPiIy1bou0EwIHzhg716mdlXZpF8WL3w7Dbs0Q_kkFJHSZtvjPYNvvHd1uHAJQVROD1GcE4lvHrbDp9H2crGpKzoBkxIuvvsFsAI/s1600/blue+mosque.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFfv6hndxVa3SCNiN0MPO9cU5Gf6_olEIT-JAncU9kPiIy1bou0EwIHzhg716mdlXZpF8WL3w7Dbs0Q_kkFJHSZtvjPYNvvHd1uHAJQVROD1GcE4lvHrbDp9H2crGpKzoBkxIuvvsFsAI/s320/blue+mosque.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Blue Mosque view from Aya Sofia</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After the church it was onto the Grand Bazar! Upon entering
there were shops for as far as the eye could see. We spent time wandering the winding rows
haggling for lamps and Turkish bath towels. We were famished from our
adventures so we hit up a Doner Kebob shop and had fresh lamb with pita
bread. Across the street we spied the
famous Hafiz Mustafa bakery across the street, we strolled across to sample the
Turkish Delight and coffee. It was an
experience, but the sticky, gelatinous, nutty “delight” was less than
delightful and the coffee thick as tar; we came, we did, need not repeat! The other items we sampled at Mustafa’s was
AWESOME, such as the pudding and cakes. Doner
Kebob’s though, the JAM!!! </div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiC_LOFeI7Y1baxG-jp8XE8y2aHoDj5yOOtouReysxWaic9m-ev_ZIMG_wEX1sI2ABT-AQ99G4-z0a4_k-Rfp9gSg7nAuI-aGfBNZ9McvIChyphenhyphenNsCl1Yg0d0-Eaebpsj-oH-7YrGu9PAIGQ/s1600/Turkish+coffee.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiC_LOFeI7Y1baxG-jp8XE8y2aHoDj5yOOtouReysxWaic9m-ev_ZIMG_wEX1sI2ABT-AQ99G4-z0a4_k-Rfp9gSg7nAuI-aGfBNZ9McvIChyphenhyphenNsCl1Yg0d0-Eaebpsj-oH-7YrGu9PAIGQ/s320/Turkish+coffee.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Turkish Coffee? Delight?</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After stuffing our faces we headed to the spice market to
grab some spices. We sampled pomegranate
tea and purchased loads of spices! We
then made our way on foot back to our apartment across the Ataturk bridge. On the bridge were tons of fisherpeople
spending their after work time casting giant deep sea fishing poles off of the
bridge. These fisherpeople were not just
your aging old men with graying beards, oh no this was an after work happy hour
with fashion similar to Logan Square hipsters, I expect after they catch their
fish they’ll grab their fixies and ride home to fry it up with some PBR. Pretty crazy scene. We made it back to our hotel and headed to a
wine bar to gossip about the day and drink some Turkish wine!!</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Day Two</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
Our late evening at the wine bar made an early start on
Wednesday not practical so we journeyed out we went back to the Topkapi Palace
and it was open, we strolled through the grounds and pictured what it was like
to live here in 15<sup>th</sup> century 4,000 people deep. It was rumored that the harem housed at least
one woman for each day of the year and at one time a emperor had 112
children. The palace people rarely left
the grounds and were feasting on amazing food that ‘Merica would not see till
at least the 1800s. </div>
<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDLqPuYU1s-UqjeZWMadJ7i7i_vZ5bQlPQVEsWvHqPMaGE4FXBPPfQs0hGiQRBOkKMx7D0PfBwGuXNVaLVY4qaE9Z2j25e2u6dJca0UFBfe4YnpMmEYEyKwN_WroV4n5rxK3_4JXpxDf0/s1600/mosque.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDLqPuYU1s-UqjeZWMadJ7i7i_vZ5bQlPQVEsWvHqPMaGE4FXBPPfQs0hGiQRBOkKMx7D0PfBwGuXNVaLVY4qaE9Z2j25e2u6dJca0UFBfe4YnpMmEYEyKwN_WroV4n5rxK3_4JXpxDf0/s320/mosque.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Blue Mosque Selfie</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
After our palace aunt we ran into of course another carpet dealer. He was a man in his mid 50s who lived in
Sarasota Fl who of course would give us a good deal because you know we are
from his country. We headed to his
warehouse which was a 200 year old skinny house that was seven stories high,
with a crazy windy staircase with massive amounts of carpets and crazy old
antiques. There we learned about
carpets, did you know you can light real wool on fire and it won’t burn? One rug later we needed to check out the
water source for the Aya which is the Basilica Cistrern which was a cistern
that was into repurposing before it was cool.
There the Emperor Justinian in 532 went around and had his people grab
columns from all over the Roman empire to hold up the cistern, he even hauled
in two medusa heads that he installed upside down and sideways. This creepy underground place now houses
water and is home to tons of carp. After
our subterranean visit we finally made our way to the Blue Mosque, this
beautiful holy place was pretty epic.
The Muezzin was chanting the whole time because of Ramadan, which
created an amazing feel to this mosque.
Outside of the mosque 100s of people were gathering around with picnics
awaiting the fast to end. We headed back
for our dinner of lamb shank and more delightful Turkish wine.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06766313452317869093noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7548202499017759758.post-39656852230048973582014-08-08T08:10:00.000-07:002015-06-27T08:10:30.313-07:00Life's a Beach<div class="MsoNormal">
After making to Akumel, that evening we enjoyed beverages on
the ocean at a funky little bar decorated with crazy skeletons that has tree
houses and swings for seats. On
Wednesday we enjoyed some beach time, Laura swam with sea turtles and we got
some reading in. Today we are off to
enjoy a lagoon and find some more cenotes.
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTveqh6szFbR9DOljiudCeoAPFOjZCWhIvHuCrCoc2C9zTQMZ-ODJ09Z81sUmWZ5BgzNTCU5b-fXKTj-MwJau_z5wyBUBhDE_xnDR35Rs3R0iggU95YXISq8-aE8K6cevFNjgUYh9mqNU/s1600/Mexico+at+the+Beach.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTveqh6szFbR9DOljiudCeoAPFOjZCWhIvHuCrCoc2C9zTQMZ-ODJ09Z81sUmWZ5BgzNTCU5b-fXKTj-MwJau_z5wyBUBhDE_xnDR35Rs3R0iggU95YXISq8-aE8K6cevFNjgUYh9mqNU/s320/Mexico+at+the+Beach.jpg" width="320" /></a>The lagoon was a beautiful preserved area where the water
was crystal clear. There were steps
built in around the lagoon so you could enter at different points. The water was so clear and there were so many
fish that you didn’t even need to snorkel.
Marley and I rotated between the different sets of steps to get various
views of the lagoon. Marley really
enjoyed kicking her feet in the cool water.
That afternoon we returned to the hotel and bummed around on the beach
for the rest of the day. Friday our
final day of our trip we headed out to do some final souvenir shopping, we went
back to Tolum because we had seen some items there we wanted to purchase. We had lunch there and then set out to find
another cenote. The cenote we arrived at
was built up like a pool with deck chairs around it and a zip line into
it! There were several families there
and it was a fun and vibrate place to be.
After cooling off in the cenote we headed further down the road to bargain
for some folding wooden chairs. After going to two places we acquired two
giant wooden chairs that were wrapped up in some twine and garbage bags. We now were rolling with a car seat, two
backpacks, two adults two wooden chairs in a tiny car that makes a VW bug look
spacious. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We then headed to the Tulum beaches to enjoy one last
afternoon on the beach. Marley loved
putting her feet in the sand but wasn’t as excited with the waves as
before. We finished out the day with a
wood burned pizza on the beach. </div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">Saturday was a epic travel day we woke up super
early squished all of our possessions into our tiny car and headed to the
airport. Because we rented from such a
super small car rental place we circle several times looking for it. We finally got rid of the car and entered the
airport which was wall to wall people. Trying
to navigate through the people with our stroller and our rolly cart with these
giant chairs was insane. We got our
chairs saran wrapped and checked them and were off with our upgrade to the
US. Of course our crazy chairs got lost
in ATL and were delivered the day after we returned. </span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06766313452317869093noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7548202499017759758.post-82424310695215332132014-08-05T08:00:00.000-07:002015-06-27T08:06:56.511-07:00Temple and Shhhhhenote<div class="MsoNormal">
The next morning we woke up and headed out immediately for
the ruins of Tulum. The Mayan’s had
built these ruins on the edge of a cliff right next to the ocean, talk about a
view. We were the first people in the
parking lot and we headed into the ruins.
We climbed through the walled city and walked around the ancient
ruins. It was pretty crazy to picture
the Mayan’s here building this and living here and it is still standing!!! Exploring was pretty hot so we jumped into
the ocean and it was Marley’s first dip in the Atlantic. All the other tourists really liked her
swimming hat! After our ruins
exploration it was getting really warm so we headed to eat lunch on the beach
at a hotel in Tulum. The hotels in Tulum
on the beach are situated between rock cliffs so you feel nestled in between
giant rocks and white sand beach. People
had built small cairins along the rocky cliffs and they were really beautiful
to look at with be background of the crashing ocean behind it. After lunch Marley and I took another dip in
the ocean, this time with much less people.
She LOVED the waves and watching the birds. After two dips, a ruin and lunch we headed
back to the hotel for naps. That
afternoon we hung by the pool and ended the day with a meal of AMAZING mole
sauce. </div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCqPdIXZ0hT37gTNQRWcOyzGV5NnA8ZgjYBKJe_Qc7Wkkf8W1WNFoAJtaHF1cf5fnSpLNFBnWGV_33pxwamRVp8jxho8jX0ON6nUUOIYSe8vljVD07HlhCjuykER6PPUJRI1ynR1Dh_BU/s1600/Tulum.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCqPdIXZ0hT37gTNQRWcOyzGV5NnA8ZgjYBKJe_Qc7Wkkf8W1WNFoAJtaHF1cf5fnSpLNFBnWGV_33pxwamRVp8jxho8jX0ON6nUUOIYSe8vljVD07HlhCjuykER6PPUJRI1ynR1Dh_BU/s320/Tulum.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tulum</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The next morning we packed up the car and headed out to
Chizen Itza. To break up the car ride we
decided to stop at a cenote on the way.
We saw several signs for “Mayan Cenote” and followed the signs
there. When we got there we found out
that this cenote was $50 and included rappelling in. Since no children under six were allowed we
decided to continue our quest to find another cenote. We saw signs for “Dolce Cenote” it wasn’t in
the LP but we decided what the hell and continued down the road on our quest
for cool and refreshing water. When we
pulled into the parking lot we were the only people there, we paid our $7
admission and headed into our private cenote.
It was EPIC, there were stalactites that were almost three stories
long. We headed into a massive pool of
fresh water in a cave that was at least five stories tall. We swam in the cool water and enjoyed the
beauty of this natural wonder. After our
cooling dip we got back on the road to Chizen Itza. We needed some lunch after all that swimming
so we stopped at a roadside rest stop and ordered two of the chicken
dishes. When they arrived they were
MASSIVE. One was grilled chicken
seasoned with adobo sauce and the other was like a country fried steak, both
were served with beans and fresh tortillas.
Even after eating till we were full there was so much food left. We then got back on the road and finally
arrived at our destination. When we
pulled in a golf cart greeted us that wisked us away to the front desk. The grounds were enormous with little
bungalows that the windows were made of stained glass. From the lobby you can see a view of the
ruins. We took a dip in the pool and ate
a small dinner and headed to bed. </div>
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitQdOdpOymgF5D_y7mN9quD2Dk0TDj6q14Vx99X6YYChqszH3l3ajn4cWUS12rF_-mdBC37vb2injhPVGBsx9Jaaakco9B-DQxoqU2I3nUC0d6j3JBmR9UoR3lxxU3VoTBUWxjJdXosjA/s1600/Private+Cenote.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitQdOdpOymgF5D_y7mN9quD2Dk0TDj6q14Vx99X6YYChqszH3l3ajn4cWUS12rF_-mdBC37vb2injhPVGBsx9Jaaakco9B-DQxoqU2I3nUC0d6j3JBmR9UoR3lxxU3VoTBUWxjJdXosjA/s320/Private+Cenote.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Secret Cenote</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We set an alarm and headed early into the ruins to beat the
heat and the crowds. These ruins were
amazing built so high in pyramid
shapes. The acoustics of the place were
unreal, you can hear a whisper from one end of this large field to the
other. It is crazy to think that these
ancient architects could design such an amazing structures when we have
concerts halls that you can’t hear with speakers. After exploring the ruins we headed to the
Mayan cenote which was insanely crowded but still beautiful. This cenote was completely open at the top
and had vines and waterfalls coming down.
It was too deep for Marley to enjoy so we took turns and then headed
back out. After ordering too much for
lunch the other day we learned our lesson and at this little road stop we
ordered one dish of the signature Poc Phoc.
It was pork pounded thin and marinated in orange juice soooooo yummy and
served with freshly ground corn tortillas.
After a near scare of running out of gas we made it back to the coast
and settled in a new town of Akumel. </div>
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06766313452317869093noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7548202499017759758.post-78623659785102506762014-08-02T07:41:00.000-07:002015-06-27T07:54:25.550-07:00Mexico or Bust<div class="MsoNormal">
Since I last went on a out of country journey we have added
a new family member to our pair of two.
So now I have married an Indian and had his baby! Six months after Marley entered the world it
was time for our baby girl to get a stamp in that blank passport of hers. My traveling friend from before I had a baby
Laura Mullkoff agreed to go on an international adventure with the Peanut and
I. After two hours of planning we headed
to Mexico, the trip started out on a high note with an upgrade to first class! We landed in Mexico and cleared immigration
in record time. The adventure really
began in the car park of the car rental facility. In order to rent a car we needed to have a
credit card hold for the value of the card, neither of our credit card companies
were willing to authorize a $7000 bill from Mexico. As we were trying to figure out cellular
service (yea we were renting a car from a place that didn’t have a phone)
Marley blew out her diaper with an Epic brown movement. Here was the moment I was waiting for having
to change a diaper in a country that doesn’t have those fancy tables that come
out of the wall in restrooms. I quickly
set up a changing area for Marley on the ground and used a pack of wipes to get
fecal matter out of all of her rolls and every inch of her car seat. We finally got a car (the size of a match
box) and we loaded up and were off to Tulum.
Our lovely rental place also didn’t have a map so we were working off a
Lonely Planet and a print off of google maps (half the ink because laura’s
printer was out). Once we set off down
the road we realized that our car had no gas.
We pulled over to a gas station with an attendant, opps we have no
Mexican Currency!!! They don’t have pay at the pump and only take cash. The attendant said he would take US dollars
(of course) but in our two hour planning session we didn’t look up the exchange
rate. We are extremely out of traveling
shape and underestimated Mexico! All
gassed up ($30 USD with 15 M in change) we drove 150 km down the coast hoping
to find our hotel. Once we entered Tulum
which is a happening little backpacking strip with lots of taco stands we
looked for our hotel. Well driving
around randomly didn’t pan out too well and asking store owners didn’t work
either. The people who spoke Spanish we
couldn’t understand and the people who spoke English didn’t know where they
were. One internet store, one taxi
driver, two stops at hotels and one acquired bad map we made it to Villa H2O
where we arrived in a lovely room. We
then headed out to a late night taco joint drank our Mexican sodas and enjoyed
freshly made tortillas (all for the small amount of change from our gas station
experience. </div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbgrFbg19_EMcWfCiH2xVhWt2XGyrMnfRtSHtvOZuDzPw2Rjm8AHnXYffTCLkUOFuJsriXwTotfq1KPvQ9rtKrv434GndvIdzzol1uQ9MTy5v8In8FIqs2xBzgFVAqtojdkQHpWmvrZSM/s1600/Grand+Centote+two.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbgrFbg19_EMcWfCiH2xVhWt2XGyrMnfRtSHtvOZuDzPw2Rjm8AHnXYffTCLkUOFuJsriXwTotfq1KPvQ9rtKrv434GndvIdzzol1uQ9MTy5v8In8FIqs2xBzgFVAqtojdkQHpWmvrZSM/s320/Grand+Centote+two.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The next morning we ate breakfast pool side and swam. We walked into town and found an ATM and
espresso. We had a great lunch and
headed off to Gran Cenote. Cenotes are prevalent
in this area and are basically large caves filled with fresh water. It was an amazing escape from the warm
weather where we could swim from cave to cave and look up and see the bats
hanging over head and the fish swimming below in crystal clear water. Marley was reluctant to get in the cold water
but once in she was loving the cool water and all the amazing things to look
at. That evening we headed to the beach
to dine on the rocks as the sun set. We
finally got our first margaritas of the trip and had a superb evening!</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQ4NeiRvzoUNrkqOr7Y3phwSoRMbXH-JeejxvXx_2-rWYNZuZzfrbLjMDaJmrPOy1IEULSvuFEjtwzxpruptlNBexOkRB18p-ReNH1xlx5TIUUVa9NGKBaw8dxqlf8f4u52zMDTl4QqRQ/s1600/Grand+cenote.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQ4NeiRvzoUNrkqOr7Y3phwSoRMbXH-JeejxvXx_2-rWYNZuZzfrbLjMDaJmrPOy1IEULSvuFEjtwzxpruptlNBexOkRB18p-ReNH1xlx5TIUUVa9NGKBaw8dxqlf8f4u52zMDTl4QqRQ/s320/Grand+cenote.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06766313452317869093noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7548202499017759758.post-9768604647036266102013-06-12T01:49:00.002-07:002013-06-12T01:49:28.453-07:00The Partels Do Barca<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">After a
uneventful evening train at the border changeover we meet a family of five on
their European vacation, we thought they were pretty hardcore traveling across
Europe on trains and such with three kids!!! We arrived in Barcelona to a
bright and sunshiny day were we made our way through the narrow streets,
shopping, eating tapas, drinking sangria, and buying espadrilles. Today after spending the morning at the
laundry mat (clearly our Spanish/Catalan/Gujarati is not the best, and yes
Sankat’s language is the default after trying Spanish and almost everyone in
stores speaks it, crazy huh?) we headed to the Picasso museum which is in an
old castle where each small room reveals another stage in his life through text
and art. Pretty impressive place. Who knows what Barcelona will have in store
for us over the next few days!!! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcmGS8YVePTTc-UtWb-HfH7tTlgM0cjT3VhcY0hGnOToybqQ1EQhmkOaI1uIOWFdmCWRjwYNkA5qKlcahJs8xjY38htGF5T2b4-_UYN1V0HVJ9uNnUL62Iu6VVFKzjvSu1rfx4rqCDLTU/s1600/IMG_0262%5B1%5D.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcmGS8YVePTTc-UtWb-HfH7tTlgM0cjT3VhcY0hGnOToybqQ1EQhmkOaI1uIOWFdmCWRjwYNkA5qKlcahJs8xjY38htGF5T2b4-_UYN1V0HVJ9uNnUL62Iu6VVFKzjvSu1rfx4rqCDLTU/s200/IMG_0262%5B1%5D.JPG" width="150" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sagrada Famalia</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Saturday
morning we woke up to a downpour and decided that with the crummy weather we
would hit Barcelona’s most popular tourist destination, La Sagrada Familia,
Gaudi’s incomplete life work. This
amazing cathedral has been under construction for over 80 years. Gaudi took his inspiration from nature and
created modern art. The church was super
impressive and worth the 45 minute wait, while we were waiting the sun came out
and the stained glass was unreal as the rays shown through into the
chapel. We decided to make it a Gaudi
day and took the Metro across town to his park, which was a piece of land
purchased by a count for Gaudi to make a miniature village. The project was cut short and left unfinished
but still impressive (I guess unfinished was his theme). </span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFLNfVFOjg1e7jFkKV-ojiDj1xmdhImc3keY_uwxJau1bRsV5TM0mJGdW66R8OSc04r0MsbG5-43GTktIll7woHO3rk3ki8MLYWpYdVMLtkM0qm0pBB-vuXdaYhzew_qsXCJLAeojRYuo/s1600/IMG_0280%5B1%5D.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFLNfVFOjg1e7jFkKV-ojiDj1xmdhImc3keY_uwxJau1bRsV5TM0mJGdW66R8OSc04r0MsbG5-43GTktIll7woHO3rk3ki8MLYWpYdVMLtkM0qm0pBB-vuXdaYhzew_qsXCJLAeojRYuo/s200/IMG_0280%5B1%5D.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Reggae Band in Gaudi's Park</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">From a hill in the park we could see the
sparkling ocean we realized we had not set foot in it yet and we headed for the
beach. The beach seen was a complete
shit show that makes North Ave beach look like amateur hour. There were tons of bachelorette and bachelor
parties going on, in the States girls usually are the ones dressed up and doing
ridiculous challenges here in Barcelona the men are all about the theme
party. The big deal is for the bachelor
to dress in some ridiculous outfit (usually like a woman) and the attendees
would wear matching outfits of some sort.
We saw an entire Baywatch crew complete with rescue devices with the groom
in a one piece and enormous fake boobs!!
After some people watching at the beach we headed back to the hotel for
some tapas, sangria and bed. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYGSC8PVU8VqYabIjRbd3wYeI3SUWI86CAHxc9G-XhT1SCvrKb1X_Ayl1RDlfuwozmVZnucKWw1AIHEqos78Zk94gzet4zIftiyJ-U-TnDFAwDGRTRQRJnk5qMDJ1V76O6qzClUfgtN1Q/s1600/IMG_0316%5B1%5D.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYGSC8PVU8VqYabIjRbd3wYeI3SUWI86CAHxc9G-XhT1SCvrKb1X_Ayl1RDlfuwozmVZnucKWw1AIHEqos78Zk94gzet4zIftiyJ-U-TnDFAwDGRTRQRJnk5qMDJ1V76O6qzClUfgtN1Q/s200/IMG_0316%5B1%5D.JPG" width="150" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hanging out on the Field</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">On Sunday we
headed to Camp Nou where the Barcelona football (soccer) club plays. The season is over so Sankat head to settle
for a stadium tour instead of a live match.
We started in the museum where we saw the history of football then we
saw the locker room, field, press box and the stands. On our way back to the metro we stopped by a
high school football match to watch for a bit. That evening we walked back to
the beach to explore the boardwalk further.
It was Sunday so there was a little less of the drunken frat boy scene
and more of the families enjoying their day at the beach. We walked the full length of the beach and
enjoyed time sitting out by the ocean. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimHkvuFqGJnV1sxjSJGvNGNmK8Tw_Vd2wuKwcWkq9QirKZQNM09PF6y2jrNbnpKOGvwHixrKe2oNmlqSpprUQggeOWq_RVcnyI0KlXX4VaKHxlwxEatnZGAsGI7A9pxr1AHbu1MyelaD8/s1600/IMG_0335%5B1%5D.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimHkvuFqGJnV1sxjSJGvNGNmK8Tw_Vd2wuKwcWkq9QirKZQNM09PF6y2jrNbnpKOGvwHixrKe2oNmlqSpprUQggeOWq_RVcnyI0KlXX4VaKHxlwxEatnZGAsGI7A9pxr1AHbu1MyelaD8/s200/IMG_0335%5B1%5D.JPG" width="150" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cooking Nerds</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">On Monday,
our last full day in the city, we enjoyed a lazy morning of hanging out
grabbing coffee and last minute souvenirs.
That evening we took a Spanish cooking class. We joined four other couples from the US in a
intimate kitchen lead by our Chef Kim (a guy).
We learned to chop vegetables make sauce, soup, a dessert and of course
paella. Hopefully you guys can come over
to our house and have a Spanish meal prepared by us!!!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">On Tuesday
morning we tried to navigate the Barcelona metro system to the airport, we got
lost transferring from the metro to the suburban line but ended up in front of
the Gaudi apartment that we had missed!!!
Of course our flight was delayed to Ireland due to a strike in
France. Once our flight finally took off
it was an hour longer than usual due to the airspace restrictions over France
and for only 8Euro <o:p></o:p></span><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">we could buy Pringles, Sprite and a water!!!</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Now onto
Ireland!!!!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06766313452317869093noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7548202499017759758.post-70517450998681983442013-06-07T09:38:00.000-07:002013-06-07T09:38:06.903-07:00From Champagne to Paris to Barcelona in 24 hours!<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhO6KyJJtlqhl4YSSitC3_u-C8iwZUynO9z6vfINp6gCIXRLQwOjY3n4H2pEJMWQd3hcZr-ATxf6a-hyucVZuPKpkxnrtik3G81-DAgPOXmn5_7UtyPAyh83mOyiZt8dqkNFnwYcIXhX0E/s1600/IMG_0177%5B1%5D.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhO6KyJJtlqhl4YSSitC3_u-C8iwZUynO9z6vfINp6gCIXRLQwOjY3n4H2pEJMWQd3hcZr-ATxf6a-hyucVZuPKpkxnrtik3G81-DAgPOXmn5_7UtyPAyh83mOyiZt8dqkNFnwYcIXhX0E/s200/IMG_0177%5B1%5D.JPG" width="150" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dunkers for my Champange</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">After our
visit to the French open we hopped on the high speed train to Reims, in less
than an hour later we jumped off the train and headed to our hotel. Reims is a super cute little town with a
great square and of course the token Notre Dame cathedral. An extraordinary amount of WWII went down in
Reims including the surrender of Nazi Germany in a small school across from our
hotel. There we visited the map room
where Eisenhower planned many battles (the original maps are still on the wall)
we saw the actual place where WWII came to a close. As we wandered through the town in and out of
amazingly restored buildings with great Art Deco architecture. We also spent a few hours at the Mum champagne
tour learning how champagne is made, and of course the difference between champagne
and sparkling wine. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">On Wednesday
we headed back to Paris and waded through the crowds of the Louve so that we
could see with our very own eyes the La Joconde aka the Mona Lisa. The Virgin and Child hall was pretty
overwhelming with 100s of pictures of the Virgin Mary and naked chubby babies,
the Mona Lisa was pretty creepy with her eyes never coming off of us as we moved around the room </span></div>
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHlfkPt2rv2Q7ZcLHHdf_PNOdZxtG08z7sCd2Z4AQ_dNdRpVB-PrFBeL5HxbCidJKQSa4LxFpjV0nLWJ50StdHWq3sjRhyphenhyphendGceiFxVct0ZfvEt1vWttoyEJpndnrYphod1PkFf9Mf5sSY/s1600/IMG_0198%5B1%5D.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHlfkPt2rv2Q7ZcLHHdf_PNOdZxtG08z7sCd2Z4AQ_dNdRpVB-PrFBeL5HxbCidJKQSa4LxFpjV0nLWJ50StdHWq3sjRhyphenhyphendGceiFxVct0ZfvEt1vWttoyEJpndnrYphod1PkFf9Mf5sSY/s200/IMG_0198%5B1%5D.JPG" width="150" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mona Photo Bombing Us</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
even
though there were 1000s of tourist paparazzi snapping her picture, and the
Winged Victory was gorgeous!!! That evening we met some of Sankat’s classmates
for a quick supper before we grabbed our night train to Barcelona. <o:p></o:p><br />
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQ_cwzeFIPviF-yx_xgSlZXdmzW-nF4aoBNt7_fb6frQNajZrsBR_j5GTq4SXb0Kq__nw7sU1lb5be5BmgwOAEWQzghc4pCSkc23KhTproQEvR0x-O2QmI-BuvCWxL-q3-bMcg_L8-FqY/s1600/IMG_0229%5B1%5D.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQ_cwzeFIPviF-yx_xgSlZXdmzW-nF4aoBNt7_fb6frQNajZrsBR_j5GTq4SXb0Kq__nw7sU1lb5be5BmgwOAEWQzghc4pCSkc23KhTproQEvR0x-O2QmI-BuvCWxL-q3-bMcg_L8-FqY/s200/IMG_0229%5B1%5D.JPG" width="150" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Front Yard our Barcelona Hotel!!!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">After a uneventful evening train at the border
changeover we meet a family of five on their European vacation, we thought they
were pretty hardcore traveling across Europe on trains and such with three
kids!!! We arrived in Barcelona to a bright and sunshiny day were we made our
way through the narrow streets, shopping, eating tapas, drinking sangria, and
buying espadrilles. Today after spending
the morning at the laundry mat (clearly our Spanish/Catalan/Gujarati is not the
best, and yes Sankat’s language is the default after trying Spanish and almost
everyone in stores speaks it, crazy huh?) we headed to the Picasso museum which
is in an old castle where each small room reveals another stage in his life
through text and art. Pretty impressive
place. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Who knows what Barcelona will
have in store for us over the next few days!!!</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06766313452317869093noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7548202499017759758.post-25527501467679907662013-06-04T10:05:00.002-07:002013-06-04T10:05:54.619-07:00Oh Oui!!!!!<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBod_fKuQhvxYaWRmFlsnStYXZFHe7_P53XKPZ_Eofo8pgg3H9t5d-Y4jm-HaN8twJOJghidhb82gBRFRSmqyV9G0sM6awyy-tmLjNS88Yuco7HJyRJ1M7_MFxiEnKMBHBC5HE6EFZJ3k/s1600/IMG_1140%5B1%5D.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBod_fKuQhvxYaWRmFlsnStYXZFHe7_P53XKPZ_Eofo8pgg3H9t5d-Y4jm-HaN8twJOJghidhb82gBRFRSmqyV9G0sM6awyy-tmLjNS88Yuco7HJyRJ1M7_MFxiEnKMBHBC5HE6EFZJ3k/s200/IMG_1140%5B1%5D.JPG" width="150" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Tower!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
What a beautiful city, I hopped on the metro and met up with
Sankat and my professors. We quickly headed
out to see Notre Dame and of course the most iconic sight the Eiffel
Tower. AMAZING, the Eiffel tower is even
larger than I imagined it and the details of Notre Dame are incredible. Notre Dame’s downspouts were gargoyles! That evening we headed to the restaurant in
our hotel that even Anthony Bourdane had trouble getting into. It was an epic meal of foire gras, white
asparagus and a cheese platter the size of the table. </div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvr9-erF_soU9wf-4g4wLxYCfR2W_2zPvmgioNLn5yQsNXhXCqRu83Zz_8fJvGAV1U10zNcePbYulS_84w3lHHBK33TkgBsP3qvdJSl-kzG2iay-G4VakLPkXCiqQAGXw-EpoAtrdXCyM/s1600/IMG_0112%5B1%5D.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvr9-erF_soU9wf-4g4wLxYCfR2W_2zPvmgioNLn5yQsNXhXCqRu83Zz_8fJvGAV1U10zNcePbYulS_84w3lHHBK33TkgBsP3qvdJSl-kzG2iay-G4VakLPkXCiqQAGXw-EpoAtrdXCyM/s200/IMG_0112%5B1%5D.JPG" width="150" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Before Dessert Cheese Tray!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The next few days were filled with magical sights all over
Paris. We roamed through small boutiques,
ate at sidewalk cafes, and drank champagne at midnight. I had a small run in with the metro
security. They thought I jumped the
turnstyle,which of course I would do with my husband, my professors and her
sister and husband around<span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">L</span> After much arguing and my complete and utter
lack of French I was 30 euro poorer. The
evenings were filled with amazing dinners, gorgeous bottles of wine and good
company. </div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpnPMXf5VNJzDiFfXxdOCprzlrGhF0WJ0U23vKoITk_pJdNQPni1EWMpAsuwlDCrCRKDn_RkIMq_I7_3zVqOJUECHyZdbSkTnpaVD0SCQirhMAERguoE61ZZspPZ84jPwoo4TybvlkmBk/s1600/IMG_0150%5B1%5D.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpnPMXf5VNJzDiFfXxdOCprzlrGhF0WJ0U23vKoITk_pJdNQPni1EWMpAsuwlDCrCRKDn_RkIMq_I7_3zVqOJUECHyZdbSkTnpaVD0SCQirhMAERguoE61ZZspPZ84jPwoo4TybvlkmBk/s200/IMG_0150%5B1%5D.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">French Open </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Sankat found out that his cousin Reshma, her husband and
kids were in Paris too for the French Open.
We were able to grab a quick breakfast with them one morning and Reshma
generously got us tickets to the French Open where we were able to sit in the
Players Box and hang out in the Players’ Lounge. Sankat was in utter heaven. On Monday afternoon we grabbed the train to
the neighboring region of Champange to check out how the bubbly is made!!!!</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06766313452317869093noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7548202499017759758.post-87328430596709535222013-06-04T09:52:00.001-07:002013-06-04T09:52:22.489-07:00Pub crawls and Curries<div class="MsoNormal">
The next morning I woke up super early to grab a bus back to
the airport of course the bus never came so I got in a cab and got to the
airport in plenty of time. Headed
through security and located the lounge, I was the only person there so I
settled myself in with some cheese, brown bread and cappuccino to facetime
Sankat. I boarded my plane outside in the pouring rain and had a bumpy flight
to London. Steve sent a car to collect
me and I headed to his house. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It was a beautiful and sunny day in London perfect for
sightseeing. I dumped my stuff off and
headed out to see Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, Parliament and much more. We then grabbed some food and cocktails at a
great French place. Afterwards headed
back to Steve’s place to grab a sweatshirt and surf the web for old friends. After some goggle stalking we headed out on
our two man pub crawl. Steve showed me
the full smear of pubs and bars by his house.
We began with a proper pint, then to another English pub called the
Library, then onto a cocktail bar and finally ending the evening at an American
whiskey bar (complete with bras on the ceiling). And like every good English evening of
drinking we grabbed kebabs for our walk home.
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuhJL8PbelUXcsfDDHi6mpv2AAXQlp4LzDuoIqu5AkhVTX_t1NCv-g5QxOuhjswlncAyy3k-QTiJTCN6sQt1T18758u3sybEYLmXQbZ2qOBo7uqA-fwakURcqHjDKry40n8FAlVxF9ts8/s1600/IMG_1120%5B1%5D.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuhJL8PbelUXcsfDDHi6mpv2AAXQlp4LzDuoIqu5AkhVTX_t1NCv-g5QxOuhjswlncAyy3k-QTiJTCN6sQt1T18758u3sybEYLmXQbZ2qOBo7uqA-fwakURcqHjDKry40n8FAlVxF9ts8/s200/IMG_1120%5B1%5D.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Steve Training Ninjas</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The next day Steve headed to work while I set out to find a
coffee shop to get some work done. My
first stop was the Monmoth Coffee shop in the Covenant Garden area, what a great
cappuccino (here they are served with a dusting of cocoa, ohhhhh yea). I did have to move to another shop though
because there was no wifi there. I spent
the day working and catching up on all the emails I had missed in bumming
around Ireland. That evening I meet
Steve at a Buddhist cultural center to watch him train ninjas (yea you read
right). I was super impressed by Steve’s
teaching skills and thoroughly enjoyed watching them leap over chairs with no
noise and fighting with swords. After
training we hit the pubs till then closed, after many failed attempts at
finding an open pub after 11 we ended up at a Indian restaurant that was
complete with massive murals of the royal family and union jacks. My personal favorite was the one of the boys
with no shirts no. The Indian place
serves beer so we ordered a bunch of dishes and continued to have some
pints. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The next day Steve decided work was overrated and played
hooky so we set out to see the other sites in London (Sherlock Holmes’ house, Kings
Cross and the Rosetta Stone). Next we
hit up the hip new eatery called “Burger and Lobster” and it serves what the
title is. So of course we had one of
each, it was delightful. Steve has a
membership to a private club in SoHo so we headed there next and had many
drinks in the posh leather booths with crystal chandeliers. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLZr1zxNZ8PtpykrQOcDjfQj8zGBzBy6htPpVwIGptFilkG0NUBcS9Fxf2SdmTaNKvsgC2dyuk0jrf6In04NxmWcx9o7_G37MIVtm2YUvs_5YWFN-RTzefHD6bDWVxM3BE8wLaiI4naxw/s1600/IMG_1127%5B1%5D.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLZr1zxNZ8PtpykrQOcDjfQj8zGBzBy6htPpVwIGptFilkG0NUBcS9Fxf2SdmTaNKvsgC2dyuk0jrf6In04NxmWcx9o7_G37MIVtm2YUvs_5YWFN-RTzefHD6bDWVxM3BE8wLaiI4naxw/s200/IMG_1127%5B1%5D.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Baker Street Tube Stop</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXVnTHNU26lrrrskfu1O3hMEervyn8OAS-AeYlTxdxtl4oIPmZ4xPqMO6jAFKGRrRhIdVR2SD-Wr-dIZ5iApEfNolXgUoS61oIfSEa_a6c_t9Q7ydwkQ0f3IavOHRj0o75jVf2ZjprN2g/s1600/IMG_1130%5B1%5D.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXVnTHNU26lrrrskfu1O3hMEervyn8OAS-AeYlTxdxtl4oIPmZ4xPqMO6jAFKGRrRhIdVR2SD-Wr-dIZ5iApEfNolXgUoS61oIfSEa_a6c_t9Q7ydwkQ0f3IavOHRj0o75jVf2ZjprN2g/s200/IMG_1130%5B1%5D.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Couple of P'ville Kids in London</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The next morning we headed out to Harrods, from the outside
it looks like a medieval castle but the inside your average department, except the
food area. WOW!!!! There are food counters everywhere all
centered around themes (caviar, steak, sushi, burgers on and on), each counter
has about 20 stools at it, and there were two massive rooms catering only to
dining. You can also do all of your
grocery shopping at Harrods, they have everything up scale that your
traditional supermarket does, of course you would need to take out a second
mortgage on your home for one trip. We
then headed over to the financial district so I could see where Steve works and
go on a walking tour entitled Crime and Punishment. We met the tourguide at the tube stop and
headed out to learn about how criminals were treated in the early days. London proper is actually only one square
mile, that used to be a walled city. We
saw where William Wallace was executed, the walk to the gallows from the jail
and a church from 1130. Pretty amazing
and super nerdy. That night we had
another epic meal at Zuma, pretty freaking fantastic. </div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
The next day I headed back to Kings Cross to get on the high
speed train to Paris. Even though it was
6 am the place was packed. It was pretty
chaotic getting through customs and headed to the platform. Ninety minutes later I was in Paris.</div>
<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06766313452317869093noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7548202499017759758.post-59730784300210281582013-05-28T08:56:00.001-07:002013-05-28T08:56:03.473-07:00Castles and Cowpies<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgy5yHCgWoTx4DlRc9sutS7eAURjpsSGVbcpCeKI3-5ChRay5wen2kdJiUSWw2YQOQh7pWWIkKs5bHwMbo8VOlL8m1PQZkuSrWqHqaUXlUusoDg9r0iQFO5SJVMyE_XCaXX9OMdq34Wufc/s1600/IMG_1094%5B1%5D.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgy5yHCgWoTx4DlRc9sutS7eAURjpsSGVbcpCeKI3-5ChRay5wen2kdJiUSWw2YQOQh7pWWIkKs5bHwMbo8VOlL8m1PQZkuSrWqHqaUXlUusoDg9r0iQFO5SJVMyE_XCaXX9OMdq34Wufc/s200/IMG_1094%5B1%5D.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Exploring an abandoned castle</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The next morning we woke up super early to hit the Ring of
Kerry. The guests last night convinced
us that this sight was not to be missed and they were right. The road was narrow and windy. We stopped at a local fishery and bought some
fish (couldn’t get any fresher), we explored a vacant castle from the 1300s,
had lunch in a pub, and did some off road hiking to the top of a hill to get
the whole view. The burger I had at the
pub was AMAZING local Irish beef stuffed with bri topped with a tomato and
arugula, oohhhhhhhh yea.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
That evening we arrived at Laura and Cory’s next job which
was with a family where the mother was Irish and the father French. They had two tweenage girls and they had made
a cake to welcome us. They gave us a
tour of their amazing property complete with a hoop house and goats. We talked over cake and tea about the
problems that face youth in Ireland, US and France (alcohol was their largest
concern). </div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbaIz43iP_ec2b1ynH7chnCMIuF6pD3R0tLVLWX9Sb8FdsjmAcZhiC_zPvVfEGqX98n93fXXDx7uvTk_dQCxVMyriM0K9Dld4Z08zzbZBhy_2_bjpevszdRX_eDUBE3pOCDVOXYaT_K9E/s1600/IMG_1097%5B1%5D.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbaIz43iP_ec2b1ynH7chnCMIuF6pD3R0tLVLWX9Sb8FdsjmAcZhiC_zPvVfEGqX98n93fXXDx7uvTk_dQCxVMyriM0K9Dld4Z08zzbZBhy_2_bjpevszdRX_eDUBE3pOCDVOXYaT_K9E/s200/IMG_1097%5B1%5D.JPG" width="150" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A cowpie surrounded castle</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The next morning Maureen and I got up early to hit the road
for Dublin (at this point our car smelled like mildew and we couldn’t figure
out why). As we drove north we stopped
in Cashel to explore yet another ruined castle (this one from the 1100s). In my excitement to explore the ruins I
stepped in a MASSIVE cow patty (I should’ve been looking out because there were
over a 30 cows in the field). Maureen
reacted with great laughter as I tried to remove the shit from my foot and flip
flops (now the car would smell even worse)!!!!!
We carried on the road to Dublin and found our hostel dropped off our
luggage and went to the rental car agency.
Of course being Sunday it was closed and we continued our adventure to the
airport. Several roundabouts later we
arrived there and finally got rid of the car.
We arrived back at our hostel and the smell had followed us to our room
(I promptly tossed my sneakers). </div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfZ47MPzRNyO-jVqbDXdF4gP4exvmTFHHANhRqM3ULcGaIQUbZo3qY7we-oVA4sVFn03Xz8qC1j-kOX8JL5nw30F2OM7Gnve0K0rsiNsCv7YIXcNYoEinobW00dfHyyu6AruyhSHZkuSc/s1600/IMG_1105%5B1%5D.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfZ47MPzRNyO-jVqbDXdF4gP4exvmTFHHANhRqM3ULcGaIQUbZo3qY7we-oVA4sVFn03Xz8qC1j-kOX8JL5nw30F2OM7Gnve0K0rsiNsCv7YIXcNYoEinobW00dfHyyu6AruyhSHZkuSc/s200/IMG_1105%5B1%5D.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Look who we ran into in Dublin</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">We then headed out to find dinner in Dublin. Aside from the bombdiggity burger the food in
Ireland had been very disappointing and we were craving a really good
meal. We walked to Grafton street,
stopping in an amazing sprits store that sold mini bottles of whiskey from each
of Ireland’s counties. We then made a
loop of the area restaurants wanting to make the best choice for dinner. Boy did we choose well! We shared a caprese salad with massive
stacked tomatoes with generous portions of mozzarella, cured meat with arugula and </span><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 17px;">Parmesan</span></span><br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"> and an entree of lamb and hummus.
Amazing, plus they had wine and after endless pints of beer it was
pretty awesome. </span></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06766313452317869093noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7548202499017759758.post-47449226658036595312013-05-28T08:49:00.001-07:002013-05-28T08:49:15.719-07:00Irish pubs and Cliffs<div class="MsoNormal">
So after a night of sleeping in the mansion’s back yard on
Achill Island, we got back in the car and continued to drive south. We first stopped in the town of Keel out on
the island to see the beach of course there were 100s of sheep, about 55 F and
sand blowing like bullets. I have now
been on a beach with cows and a beach with sheep, who would’ve thunk. We jumped
back in the car and headed south to Galway.
Once we got to Galway we parked the car and tried to find a place to
stay. We ended up at a small youth
hostel were the manager agreed to do our laundry!!!! So with our clothes taken
car of we headed out for the evening in pursuit of some live Irish music. With a steak and Guinness</div>
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdvmENVf-JdhJ7vl9gJYr0LoI8u9XkTmqh3rR3811JJwGcDjbXDBmjBRTcvBRJlPJrYeMKwAOAR47435v8FzySjCd9OzgrwjntQ9gDhtgQhfaoQv2PZFmO75xZuEIRKk634OU4YOBQ3rI/s1600/IMG_1076%5B1%5D.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdvmENVf-JdhJ7vl9gJYr0LoI8u9XkTmqh3rR3811JJwGcDjbXDBmjBRTcvBRJlPJrYeMKwAOAR47435v8FzySjCd9OzgrwjntQ9gDhtgQhfaoQv2PZFmO75xZuEIRKk634OU4YOBQ3rI/s200/IMG_1076%5B1%5D.JPG" width="150" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Music and a Beer</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
pie in our belly we
headed to the oldest live music pub.
Where a bango player, a fiddler and a accordion player had just sat down
to play. Several people brought their
instruments to the pub in hopes to join in on a jam session with them. We bellied up to the bar for some pints of Guinness
(or Murphy’s pick your poison) and enjoyed a listen. An older gentleman grabbed our hands and we
danced a jig or two. The place began to
fill up with listeners, another band member came late to join and the leader of
the band urged him to make his way through the “foreigners” to get to the
band. Laura asked me how he knew that we
were foreigners, I really didn’t know but I guess we don’t look Irish.<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The next morning we went on a quest to find Cory and Maureen
Irish sweaters, we combed the shops for the perfect hand knit Irish sweater. After many shops and fashion shows we found
the ideal fit and style and headed off down the coast to the Cliffs of
Morh. Wow want a magnificent sight, it
wasn’t as deep as the Grand Canyon but with the blue ocean swirling below it
was amazing. After a long walk along the
coast and a token ice cream cone we continued even further south. </div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZz-3h64rsPlzR366WR32xT5fxMsXJNMMfR7afox3pvnrscqh4q78QdH5MxT67fKlypcXPFHoXciGdGniJoOM41rS1uNMor0liwudFPVeyuvtFJdIfvcS0R-GP1PBi73BsZWvAUubslvE/s1600/IMG_1087%5B1%5D.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="69" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZz-3h64rsPlzR366WR32xT5fxMsXJNMMfR7afox3pvnrscqh4q78QdH5MxT67fKlypcXPFHoXciGdGniJoOM41rS1uNMor0liwudFPVeyuvtFJdIfvcS0R-GP1PBi73BsZWvAUubslvE/s320/IMG_1087%5B1%5D.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The View of the Cliffs<br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">We
had read about a Glamp ground (glamour camp ground, yea it’s real look it up)
on the world wide web and wanted to check it out. When we arrived about five dogs and cats greeted us (there
were not people) they followed us around
like the pide piper as we gave ourselves a self guided tour. There was a peaceful wood heated yoga studio,
pre erected tents with wood burning stoves and fancy beds, a wood heated sauna
and an outdoor kitchen. It was pretty
cold outside and we were pretty far away from the “Ring of Kerry” we decided to
continue further south. An hour later we
arrived at the car ferry and were alerted that the last sailing had occurred. We drove back to the Glampground, stopping
along the way to try and find closer accommodations to no avail. When we
arrived back at the Glampground, Kevin the owner gave us a tour and even showed
us where the fairies lived!!! We made dinner outside and visited with the other
guests (who were super excited about Glamping arriving in Ireland).</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06766313452317869093noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7548202499017759758.post-13627035799409470472013-05-23T10:31:00.001-07:002013-05-23T10:31:25.214-07:00Yeats, Giants, and Bloody SundyAfter spending a great weekend in Chicago celebrating my friend Dr. Bartos' graduation at the Lederman's house. I set out on Euro trip 2013. Recieving an email the day of my departure that I should pick up our rental car at the airport in Dublin and meet my friends at the hostel they were staying in, in downtown Dublin. I quickly looked their hostel on the world wide web and took at screen shot of how to get there. <br />
After a flight to Paris and a prop plane trip to Dublin, on the bumpy trip I scribbled the directions on the plane's barf bag and scoured the map from the LP. After the plane landed I lined up for immigration. After several questions I headed for the rental car line. An hour and a half later I was in my VW right hand drive left hand shift headed to Dublin. Of course right out of the car park there was a freaking roundabout, as if it isn't bad enough to be on the wrong side of the road driving stick!!!!! I survived and didn't even stall. As I exited the freeway I scoured for street signs (chanting in my head STAY LEFT) that several minutes later I found were tiny small signs located up on the buildings. After a hour search I abandoned the car in an area that I knew was close to the hostel and headed out on foot. I quickly found the hostel and meet my friends Laura and Cory who had been traveling the world for the past 10 months. I had missed her soooooo much so it was great to see her.<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhc_azf_74iCiak15lzs5ttYic7PIj-B8UAq1iCoRdqYsXie4uy3FvVSAoyoEB-WyAB4jCQ_EU58rkvr-SYgTI2vwmwH9Rl0GThDvkAKdIoS98BSA2J3PDw4b6SNC_n7L0WwgzzRQj10yQ/s1600/IMG_1037%5B1%5D.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhc_azf_74iCiak15lzs5ttYic7PIj-B8UAq1iCoRdqYsXie4uy3FvVSAoyoEB-WyAB4jCQ_EU58rkvr-SYgTI2vwmwH9Rl0GThDvkAKdIoS98BSA2J3PDw4b6SNC_n7L0WwgzzRQj10yQ/s200/IMG_1037%5B1%5D.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Car Feery</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
After we reunited we packed up the car and headed up north to a former priest's bachelor pad. Four hours later after a grocery store stop to grab a chocolate bar to bribe the neighbor to give us the keys. We headed into a cute cottage with a view of the ocean and the sound of the cows mooing. First on the order was a visit to the local pub where of course our barkeep<br />
<br />
knew our host. We talked about life in Ireland and then retired back to the cottage.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinfrnTNjBBL5KGKcDZ46OgVh_dglBMAAFu2Bg58B4EiaLEJk_fGA4rvWy7OvlBB86URlcP1pJfXi9j-x7jb7kRaaRTnqJpBX3gp4nt2Q1X1SJ8Ne03dShqS4Xfb9iL2H7O-aCOOW32JI8/s200/IMG_1054%5B1%5D.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="200" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Signage near Bloody Sunday Memorial</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
Murder of young adults standing up for their counties rights. We then walked around the walled city and retired to a pub to listen to some Irish tunes. We headed back to our cottage (STAY LEFT) and went to sleep. </div>
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbwap9wEXrTGM9jHJxuaMjt4Atq2lzi07fnwb36Iig5nZ6N_kjHm6X_b3KUp72o1k1F89KpLLhcV6-4KkWH2cNTiLegyGGQsn7Ea6ZKjWrCZBvIza0drFDPy8vrJuuDoDV2XiSQgJBJEc/s1600/IMG_1057%5B1%5D.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbwap9wEXrTGM9jHJxuaMjt4Atq2lzi07fnwb36Iig5nZ6N_kjHm6X_b3KUp72o1k1F89KpLLhcV6-4KkWH2cNTiLegyGGQsn7Ea6ZKjWrCZBvIza0drFDPy8vrJuuDoDV2XiSQgJBJEc/s200/IMG_1057%5B1%5D.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Beverage of Bushmills</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The next morning we headed to the west coast where the road ended on the beach we drove across the beach to the connecting road and drove along the cliffs in the shadows of abandoned castles and churches while sheep scampered across the road. We had lunch at Yeats Memorial Building and then headed out to the largest rock grave (which is really a 1.5 km uphill that is an inspiration for some Yeats poem).<br />
We are now at an old mansion on the island of Acell that has a full pub and tons of working wood fire places. Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06766313452317869093noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7548202499017759758.post-58124683373498747122012-08-14T11:49:00.000-07:002012-09-21T11:50:02.668-07:00Toasting in Tiawan <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjp5zCNcsn-3If1tomZJiyEGZdRAOMk0W6nofNiq5X4igwA5pf_VTOC7B_jDRdRDZh2qTFakltSYFVw_qbKFNm5Roc9M-TSGOeKzrCTByTUtAL90Z0_9Moe8f6J-TFAelqymYJw4DRoe1w/s1600/IMG_0583%5B1%5D.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjp5zCNcsn-3If1tomZJiyEGZdRAOMk0W6nofNiq5X4igwA5pf_VTOC7B_jDRdRDZh2qTFakltSYFVw_qbKFNm5Roc9M-TSGOeKzrCTByTUtAL90Z0_9Moe8f6J-TFAelqymYJw4DRoe1w/s200/IMG_0583%5B1%5D.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The small version of the Lazy Susan</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
After a short two days back in the US I headed back to a different part of Asia Taiwan with my work colleagues to teach a short two day seminar in incorporating technology in the classroom. So after another day plane trip half way around the world I was back in Asia. But what a different world Taiwan is from it's sister Southeast Asia. They might as well be distant cousins twice removed who don't even recognize each other at reunions, because Taiwan is significantly different from southeast Asia. Taiwan is not nearly as westernized as Singapore, which is really just like visiting the Epcot version of Asia. Taiwan has all the charms of southeast Asia and all the comforts of the westernized world. This is really highlighted in the public restrooms where you can choose from the squat toilet, the western toilet or the western toilet with a remote that has a heated seat and a bidet. <br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4KLMENEcWt13lAjP1wclfoLPNPjrt9i4uSSrRDAqCZAtJj6kqvm5b0jMglJDipp3T2otJdyqLhxSQPXi0EqfgvYwxHhkIAuXumZGTQ6oYXmdDc6BknRN6grxYHiC4kYTzn5KhpyW-1KA/s1600/IMG_0591%5B1%5D.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4KLMENEcWt13lAjP1wclfoLPNPjrt9i4uSSrRDAqCZAtJj6kqvm5b0jMglJDipp3T2otJdyqLhxSQPXi0EqfgvYwxHhkIAuXumZGTQ6oYXmdDc6BknRN6grxYHiC4kYTzn5KhpyW-1KA/s200/IMG_0591%5B1%5D.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Kaoliang</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
My professors Norm and Judy a super celebrities in the Taiwan education world and everywhere we go they are greeted like royalty. This results in about three hour lunches with a lazy Susan the size of a VW bug filled to the brim with every type of Taiwanese food imaginable. If you just hint at the fact that you particularly enjoy a certain type of food you bet a NT that two more would appear on the table for the next meal. During the meal you are served micro sized glasses of beer which you raise up with both hands and look another diner in the eye and say a personalized toast, it goes something like this . . .<br />
Selina- Judy thank you so much for taking me to Taiwan and for showing me the best shopping<br />
Judy - you are most welcome<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyTX-7kxpKU7E2I1Uubf1dHhbPbp9LA_jx_Kz_l6ZHG65n-g_R3OubKMDaTgMpCipr-tlt7kmKgzYqfmf04Qoeg6LWE_GIxqb5TWSMIZcw2Qf2EPBF9DW1FMXzLNCLTfFX5_oIJ3rn5eM/s1600/IMG_0586%5B1%5D.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyTX-7kxpKU7E2I1Uubf1dHhbPbp9LA_jx_Kz_l6ZHG65n-g_R3OubKMDaTgMpCipr-tlt7kmKgzYqfmf04Qoeg6LWE_GIxqb5TWSMIZcw2Qf2EPBF9DW1FMXzLNCLTfFX5_oIJ3rn5eM/s200/IMG_0586%5B1%5D.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Taiwan Beer</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Then we both raise our glasses, drink, look each other in the eyes again and toast again. Then someone would promptly fill up your glass with beer, so you have no idea how much you have consumed. To add a twist at dinner a bottle of Kaoliang (which is basically like rubbing alcohol) would be produced and you would drink that along side your small glass of beer. I spent most of the meals trying not to make eye contact!!!!! To even further complicate the toasting traditions. After someone toasts you and you are getting ready to drink someone can shout out GAMBEE which means chug. Then you must drink your whole glass (which of course will be refilled immediately)!!!<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
After two hours of Gambeeing and being completely stuffed to the brim you have about an hour before dinner and the festivities begin again. Stay thirsty my friendsAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06766313452317869093noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7548202499017759758.post-29759223775452010052012-08-14T01:47:00.000-07:002012-08-14T02:00:31.921-07:00Angkor What!!! Had talked up the border crossing so much I think Inhad built it up so much in Sankat's maybe scaring him out of him out of his mind. We packed up and started running errands before the border crossing grabbing Tylenol and changing money to US dollars. It was about 11:30 before we got on the bus headed to the border. Once we got to the border we got out and there was an "office" where some guys were trying to get us to go into. We avoided the office and walked straight for the border and bought our visas after we got our exit stamp from Thailand. On the Cambodian side we walked into the visa office and handed over $20 and $100 bhat (we weren't sure what the $100 baht was for but when I saw it disappear into the pocket of the officer). Then we continued over the border. As we were walking a man was soliciting us to take a ride with him. We nogociated a ride price and then were corralled onto a bus, where a "greeting" officer wanted to school us in Cambodia way of life. After we grabbed another car to Siem Reap the greeting officer asked for tip, because he "rescued" us from the scam artist and the other guys would justb"sell" us to the tuk tuk drivers at the edge of Siem Reap, I replied that he didn't save us but took us to another cab. No tip for him!!!<br />
<br />
We split a cab with a couple from the UK who did get caught by the fake visa "office" who charged them twice the amount of the visa. Two hours later we ended up just outside of Siem Reap<br />
here we handed off to some tuk tuk drivers (of course exactly what our little friend who "rescued" us said wouldn't happen). But we were able to strike up a deal with our tuk tuk driver to take us on an all day tour of the temples for $15! Then we headed out to dinner, the food in Cambodia is divine because of the French influence and all of the downtown is set up much like New Orleans with the resturantnts as two floors with balcony dining everywhere where you can sit and look down on the sites and people below! <br />
<br />
The next morning we headed off to the temples and saw five in one day. The temples were all built in different time periods so the architecture is unique with each one. We would pull up outside a temple get out of our tuk tuk and weave through the vast amount of children selling everything from magnets to pieces of art. Once inside the temple you can walk around, climb up and make believe you are an in Tomb Raider! The temples are massive in size and number you could be there for a week and still not see all the temples! We met a young lady selling paintings and cold drinks outside one of the temples while we were sitting sipping our iced cafes we watched her work her magic, each group of tourists that would exit the temple she would look at and when they got within hearing distance she would greet them in their language and shout out the items she had for sale. She was brillant, "Bonjour," "Hola" and many more. We asked her and she knows over eight languages and several sayings in each of them, I think Sankat wanted her to be on his sales team for the bank.<br />
<br />
That night we went to the night market and shopped away, Sankat bartered away his best deal was getting a sale at 80% off the asking price while of course he's telling me all about how he learned these strategies at Booth, glad the moneys going towards something! We also got some great foot massages in the market and looked at all the items you can make out of a rice bag (I got a great yoga bag). The next day we lounged by the pool, drank on the balcony and pursued the night market again, gearing up for the reverse border crossing.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06766313452317869093noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7548202499017759758.post-13374829732169840362012-08-05T00:13:00.003-07:002012-08-05T00:36:47.011-07:00Passing through Bangkok<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAM0XnGf7i-BEwzlIi7U3Q9phqDa50g6ylyky3hOAGZLnwyluBV7c1tasVyNFG-HUMq_XHTmL2sHoreJA0XhPaW6MIKA0j1MSEnccA3e5cAfMjsG8sQoRX_ik4URSKDb3Vja3OSJ9tWIw/s1600/IMG_0504%5B1%5D.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAM0XnGf7i-BEwzlIi7U3Q9phqDa50g6ylyky3hOAGZLnwyluBV7c1tasVyNFG-HUMq_XHTmL2sHoreJA0XhPaW6MIKA0j1MSEnccA3e5cAfMjsG8sQoRX_ik4URSKDb3Vja3OSJ9tWIw/s320/IMG_0504%5B1%5D.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Airport Train<br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVCgUfECalK3mpZrOoM4masHrfRckJA2LXGOMRpyTx0zVq8s0U6Cr1L6mFv24Ji5U7JJD7Uy0z9YTR5cQY-M_0n3cg0HaL2k7IKg01p7L_ToZuseD1ZdLpmspc4ZHxq95Etb539t4i9RQ/s1600/IMG_0506%5B1%5D.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVCgUfECalK3mpZrOoM4masHrfRckJA2LXGOMRpyTx0zVq8s0U6Cr1L6mFv24Ji5U7JJD7Uy0z9YTR5cQY-M_0n3cg0HaL2k7IKg01p7L_ToZuseD1ZdLpmspc4ZHxq95Etb539t4i9RQ/s320/IMG_0506%5B1%5D.JPG" width="320" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjssOHnnDs3k0Z4qsxyX5baAV4M2ezRhR6HrlYzIKneQuiGLx4PlGwJTILEY5Vba3HI_cANDsbuT12T__t0ewOetfcghSQVjZxhOb0bczAETZ2ElaQh7l93wPTqEdtDGaBlpIFXC5iiIww/s1600/IMG_0507%5B1%5D.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjssOHnnDs3k0Z4qsxyX5baAV4M2ezRhR6HrlYzIKneQuiGLx4PlGwJTILEY5Vba3HI_cANDsbuT12T__t0ewOetfcghSQVjZxhOb0bczAETZ2ElaQh7l93wPTqEdtDGaBlpIFXC5iiIww/s320/IMG_0507%5B1%5D.JPG" width="320" /></a><span style="font-size: 12pt;">After saying goodbye to the Beaches of Bali we
hopped a flight to </span><st1:city><st1:place><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Bangkok</span></st1:place></st1:city><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span><st1:country -region="-region"><st1:place><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Thailand</span></st1:place></st1:country><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> We landed 4
hours later and were in the city of 12 million.
We grabbed an ice coffee and some noodles at the airport to gear us up
for the trip into town. We road the
brand new sky train into the city and headed into the city for the neighborhood
of Sukumvit which is the banking district and most poshy place in </span><st1:city><st1:place><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Bangkok</span></st1:place></st1:city><span style="font-size: 12pt;">. After
checking into our hotel which looked like a Asian Cartoon on Steroids but had a
tremendous city view. We then headed out
to a non profit restaurant called Condoms and Cabbages (Jen and I went here
when we were in </span><st1:city><st1:place><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Bangkok</span></st1:place></st1:city><span style="font-size: 12pt;">). This
restaurants’ proceeds go towards sex education in </span><st1:country -region="-region"><st1:place><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Thailand</span></st1:place></st1:country><span style="font-size: 12pt;">, which is a worthy cause in a country where the
population is growing 3% every year. The
whole place is decked out in prophylactics everything from the entrance way to
the light fixtures!!!! Greeting you when
you walk in the door is a sculpture of Tiger Woods made completely out of
condoms and birth control pills (with a sign stating I hope you used
these)! After dining and drinking for
the cause we strolled past 100s of street stalls selling everything from pants
to CDs and bottle openers to J Lo T’shirts.
Every few feet a street bar was set one of them set up in a converted VW
van with an entire bar set up inside.
Sankat then wanted to pay a visit to Soi Cowboy (Soi means streets,
Cowboy American) this street was featured in Hangover II where he gets a tattoo
and they visit a strip club. This street
was started by an American solider who frequented </span><st1:city><st1:place><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Bangkok</span></st1:place></st1:city><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> on leave and wanted to set up some entertainment for
him and his compadres. This street is
all that you imagine, strip club after another, each with a theme from cheetah
print bathrobes to southern plaid theme.
In between the clubs are woman firing up woks to make fresh pad
thai. After seeing it all we grabbed a
Tuk Tuk and headed back home. </span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06766313452317869093noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7548202499017759758.post-82500464499717890512012-08-02T03:42:00.000-07:002012-08-05T00:32:34.675-07:00Getting to the Balimoon is Half the Battle<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7MxKqqXdu__GpEb-aYDLd9jbv7Aj3YVVksEmVJfmeac3ccfL1YNomkTPas-rLQbWJYLT8VJFbar-F1dYh-99TkvQ9CpPJjMEvCeW8a9C3Ik6lPTY1vWl_czFVDSpzoR1hsfl3KrNCW2A/s1600/IMG_0498%5B1%5D.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7MxKqqXdu__GpEb-aYDLd9jbv7Aj3YVVksEmVJfmeac3ccfL1YNomkTPas-rLQbWJYLT8VJFbar-F1dYh-99TkvQ9CpPJjMEvCeW8a9C3Ik6lPTY1vWl_czFVDSpzoR1hsfl3KrNCW2A/s320/IMG_0498%5B1%5D.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sankat enjoying a Sail<br /></td></tr>
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After a tear-full goodbye I sent Lindsey off in a cab
towards the airport and I headed to Sanur to meet up with Sankat. We had booked a sweet little boutique hotel
close to the beach and I was hoping it would turn out better than my latest
lodging debacles. I grabbed a cab and
headed off after much discussion about price (he wanted $15, I wanted him to
run the meter) we settled on the meter and off we went. 20 minutes later he dropped off on the side
of the highway in front of a highrise with a similar name as my hotel. I knew from the internet pictures (which at
times can be deceiving but not this deceiving) that we were not at the right
place. I walked in and the door guy
looked at me like I was crazy, it was basically as if a dirty backpacker walked
into a highrise in <st1:city>Chicago</st1:city> and asked
the door guy for a room <span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">J</span>. We bantered
back and forth me in English and him in Balinese and it was clear that I was
not in the right place and we couldn’t communicate with each other. Luckily there was a coffee shop next door
that I wandered into where business people were having lunch, getting the same
dirty backpacker look I asked for WiFi and a menu. The server informed me that I would have to
pay for WiFi and food to stay there I convinced her that I would and $7 later I
had a latte, chocolate cake and internet.
I realized that the cab had taken me to a place about a half a mile from
my hotel (easy I can totally walk there).
I finished up my goods and waited out almost all my internet time,
didn’t want to waste any money, and headed off down the road. About four minutes into walking down the side
of the highway listening to cars honking and praying that no one would come
onto the side of the road and hit me I flagged down a cab. I had the usual banter of meter vs $10
settled on meter and off we went. I was
able to maintain internet signal and quickly realized this guy didn’t know
where he was going, but through the miracle of
google maps and my demands we pulled up outside of the hotel resembling
the one I booked on the internet. Hooray
they had my booking the room was amazing and I settled in next to the pool to
wait for Sankat. The hostess even
brought me fresh sorbet while I lounged HEAVEN!!!!</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg08w7n_L46dVNTKtz5YK625h5IGLaJIUqHYJRayRaThsJWXf49q_KWCrmlcGnSYCDYehoxfirnAmP8Q5Ei_v7W9DrJPvnGVU-YKzcrKvg9TO6NxeOwVOXJ52w12Bq03ZVuTEZCugZTVl0/s1600/IMG_0501%5B1%5D.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg08w7n_L46dVNTKtz5YK625h5IGLaJIUqHYJRayRaThsJWXf49q_KWCrmlcGnSYCDYehoxfirnAmP8Q5Ei_v7W9DrJPvnGVU-YKzcrKvg9TO6NxeOwVOXJ52w12Bq03ZVuTEZCugZTVl0/s320/IMG_0501%5B1%5D.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Watching the Sunset<br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I had a glass of wine waited for Sankat and he arrived So awesome to see him after 5 weeks of us
traveling, we stayed up late exchanging stories about <st1:country -region="-region">Singapore</st1:country>,
<st1:place><st1:city>London</st1:city>, <st1:country -region="-region">Malaysia</st1:country></st1:place>
and <st1:country -region="-region">Indonesia</st1:country>. We spent the next four days living it up in
Bali, snorkeling, catamaran cruises to other islands, lounging on the beach and
eating brick oven pizza at the Italian ex pat;s place. </div>
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<br />
Now we are headed off for one night in <st1:city>Bangkok</st1:city>. </div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06766313452317869093noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7548202499017759758.post-49163416744536587292012-08-02T03:41:00.001-07:002012-08-02T03:41:10.540-07:00Beachin Part Duex<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
After reluctantly leaving Ubud Lindsey and I ventured to
spend our last two days on the south coast beaches. We wanted to find the
perfect place to eat, drink, and relax on the beach. We spent hours scouring the internet to find
the perfect guest house. The only
affordable hotel we could find on the beach was in a shopping mall which we
quickly discarded So we booked this sweet little guest house just north of the
beach and grabbed a cab and headed there.
The cab just kept driving up and down the road and could not find the
small guest house. He ended up dumping
us at a small restaurant where we consumed another plate of fried noodles in
exchange for internet. Not wanting to
back down and book the mall hotel we settled on another hotel across from the
mall and the beach. We hailed a cab and
off we went again. When the cab pulled up outside the hotel it was on a busy
highway with the nearest restaurant a pizza hut. When we went to the check in we asked where
the beach was and she looked at us very confused, as it turns out we were
nowhere near the beach and basically staying at a hotel on a highway that
looked like <st1:city>Orlando</st1:city> minus
Disney. On the positive side it was
super clean place with movie channels and an awesome shower. So we settled in and spent the evening
watching reality dog grooming show on Animal Planet and getting caught up on
BBC news. We ordered some crummy room
service Indonesian pizza and when we were able to tear ourselves away from the
final sheering and poodle fashion show we went to turn off the lights where of
course we couldn’t figure out. We had to
call the front desk at <st1:time hour="0" minute="0">midnight</st1:time> with
three men who came up (hotel worker, repair man, and security) after removing
the light plate and determining it broken we were moved to another room. Which was great because I split hot sauce all
over my pillow <span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">J</span>
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The morning we decided to try to find the beach one last
time we surrendered our pride and booked the mall hotel and off we went. We spent the rest of the day lounging by the
ocean and watching the sun set with cocktails.
It was a nice way to end the trip even if there was a Starbucks, Burger
King, Pizza Hut and a <st1:place><st1:placename>Nike</st1:placename> <st1:placetype>Town</st1:placetype></st1:place>
in our hotel. </div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06766313452317869093noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7548202499017759758.post-71864196762565667082012-07-28T03:32:00.001-07:002012-07-28T03:32:19.787-07:00Eat Shop YogaI guess Julia (Roberts that is) did know something when she took up residence for her last place in Ubud, Bali This is the setting for the Love portion of Eat Pray Love. Although we didn't find love here in Ubud we did fall in love with Ubud. Upon arrival I though I had died and went to yuppie girl heaven. After an hour ride through the country side on windy roads through rice fields we ended up in the city of Ubud, to take a break from our beach vaca. <br />
Before searching for a place to stay we stopped at a cafe to grab a latte and discuss our game plan. Finding a cafe in Ubud is not hard there is one about every 50 meters with many of them overlooking rice paddies. After re caffeinating we put our backpacks back on and headed down the streets. Walking the Bali sidewalks is a risky endeavor where several of the panels could shatter sending you into the sewer systems below, so walking around is much like an Indiana Jones obstacle trying to stay on the firm panels and only hop out on the street when a scooter won't come bolting out. <br />
We found a small homestay in a clean guest house where our host had her four month old gorgeous little baby on her hip. The hotels and guesthouses in Ubud are though little temple entrances where various gods welcome you with the scent of incense fills your nose as you wander up the stairs where every little nook could reveal children playing, a small temple, laundry, a dog sleeping or some grandpas engaged in an intense game of chess.<br />
We then set out to visit the shopping. The shopping there was yoga stores, handicrafts, clothing, markets, music stores and on and on. We learned to play the Tibetan singing bowls and many other instruments where the proprietors took the time out to play with us and for us.<br />
We went to this incredible coffee shop where each drink is prepared individually for you served on a paddle with a glass of water and a small pastry. The array of contraptions to brew coffee was mind boggling. Each cup was meticulously brewed that even my dad would've been shocked. <br />
We visited the Monkey Sanctuary, now when I read about the Monkey Sanctuary I guess I thought there would be a few monkeys living in a nice preserved area but OMG it was a Monkey Commune. This place had over 600 monkeys roaming around freely interacting with the human visitors. These monkeys are of the species where they look like they have a faux hawk soooooooo cute. And they are everywhere behind tombstones in the graveyard, gallivanting through the temples, running through the crematorium, and swinging from vines. If someone sat down to drink water or tie their shoe a monkey would sneak up behind them an try to climb into their lap, it was unreal and Lindsey and I seemed to be the only ones who thought this super close interaction with wildlife was ill advised. Although we did try to get our pictures with a monkey which resulted in me snapping a photo of Lindsey running away as a monkey hissed at her:)<br />
After we had bought, ate, drank and yogaed all we could we had to head to the beach again for our final R and R. Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06766313452317869093noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7548202499017759758.post-73208907382327819982012-07-22T05:26:00.000-07:002012-07-22T22:41:28.022-07:00Life's a Beach<br />
<br />
So after leaving the island of Java we traveled overnight by train to the edge of the island to the ferry for Bali. We arrived just before dawn and as the ferry traveled towards Bali we watched the sun rise over Bali. We pre booked a last minute deal on Hotels.com for a resort in Candidassa where we spent a few blissed out days laying by the pool and reading. <br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbnKkAbzzusE9j6mXGRUnd64EugWDjMnko3fuKHRrqKcy4E9xyqtCTZiQTD7YAfQ-8DlP4RonW7ECkHNbgpkYduVWn6dKVzJ0K4YCnXqiC-WMP4Rr8I1W2PHgYekZlwyWDkvj4vm6d_AQ/s1600/P1050449.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbnKkAbzzusE9j6mXGRUnd64EugWDjMnko3fuKHRrqKcy4E9xyqtCTZiQTD7YAfQ-8DlP4RonW7ECkHNbgpkYduVWn6dKVzJ0K4YCnXqiC-WMP4Rr8I1W2PHgYekZlwyWDkvj4vm6d_AQ/s320/P1050449.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Hotdog Stand</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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When our two nights at the resort ended we weren't ready to leave this sweet little town so we found a sweet homestay where a Java woman was married to an Aussie man (who shall remain annonomous for tax purposes). They had opened a clean place across from the beach complete with a hot dog stand. Where they served AMAZING burgers with proper buns and chips (french fries) These suckers were $2.60 a steal we ate lunch and dinner there!!! As the day passed other ex pats gathered in the garage and bull shitted the day away over cold Bin Tangs and burgers. The next day we headed off after a proper Aussie breakfast and a sad goodbye to our hosts. <br />
We headed out on the local ferry (which was supposed to take 4 hours but really took 6 when all was said and done). We then meet a German family whose dad was oringally from Lombock (the island we were on) and shared a cab with them the remainder of our two hour travel. We were then in the beach town of Sengigi which must've had its hey day in the 60s. The next morning we got out of dodge and headed to the Gili Islands. We selected Gili Air because the vibe was supposed to be half way between the party island and the deserted island. <br />
We arrived there after another mini bus ride and a very jam packed ferry ride where we were sitting between about a month's worth of produce and chickens wedged inbetween back packers and breast feeding mothers. After wading ashore we finally made it!!!! And boy was it worth the journey this island was a slice of paradise. It looked out over the volcanic range of Lombock and was surrounded by the bluest water I've seen since the Maldives. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRLd5KIOfv4-SBXCU4Kv02bQnivUvn56W5F7MAT0llugy_MzQjMESUMKKj1keqJWyuM5qh8LSDOCGRX_5pCgcgNV1L0OPu0KQgpblWUpzfc_FwVqiCwP_05ASvF1IPzWjzrC-Vz5gKdqI/s1600/P1050524.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRLd5KIOfv4-SBXCU4Kv02bQnivUvn56W5F7MAT0llugy_MzQjMESUMKKj1keqJWyuM5qh8LSDOCGRX_5pCgcgNV1L0OPu0KQgpblWUpzfc_FwVqiCwP_05ASvF1IPzWjzrC-Vz5gKdqI/s320/P1050524.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The View at Low Tide</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
We circumnavigated the island seeing all the guest houses and looking for good eats. Every resturant looks out over the ocean with lounge tables. Where every bar seves popcorn popped on the stove and happy hours run till 8 pm. We found some Italian ex pats who made us fresh gnoochi and wood fired pizzas. IN the center of Gili Air is an open air Yoga studio where we practiced each morning a whole new experience to hear roosters crowing while doing our sun salutations. We booked one night at a scuba hotel which gave us free snorkeling. And the snorkeling was AMAZING we swam with at least 4 sea turtles. And our scuba joint rocked, each bungulow looked like a Dutch barn that was spotless inside and had UNREAL outdoor bathrooms where when the light was just right in the morning rainbows shown through the water. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGU0s5soo19hVNV6vk_SctIBuSYVpkVGP3nfMLmU2qhi_V8OnyBdpsdarenX9kdurpBPBG-NxAdBvXNbcWcxt1rDk7QMKMgo6f9ONKm6xeg7l3jU72E7pxSHM5yzOS4ovyJQhSa23dktQ/s1600/P1050627.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGU0s5soo19hVNV6vk_SctIBuSYVpkVGP3nfMLmU2qhi_V8OnyBdpsdarenX9kdurpBPBG-NxAdBvXNbcWcxt1rDk7QMKMgo6f9ONKm6xeg7l3jU72E7pxSHM5yzOS4ovyJQhSa23dktQ/s320/P1050627.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bungalow at the Dive Hotel</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
On the way back to Bali we took the fast boat which only took us 1.5 hours to get back as opposed to the 6 of the public boat (although it was 10x the price). Now we are in the cute town of Ubud in the center of Bali.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06766313452317869093noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7548202499017759758.post-28092326461585337972012-07-14T05:36:00.000-07:002012-07-22T23:01:14.820-07:00Ballet, Temples and Volcaneos<br />
<br />
On our last night in Yogyarta we traveled out to the ancient Hindu temple of Prambanan we watched the Ramayana Ballet with the temple lite up at night as the background. The ballet tells the story of the carved panels of the temple. The ballet told the story of Rama and his epic ballet to get his princess, there was even fire dancing and battling monkeys.<br />
<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjatOmYtQdKE6NeTPX07SUSsj3CPOuqjRmCS-idp7fp6Qe7A7Fj34bbTLNGO6XBC0akEADUUU0JoTNFYohoJG870yd02kRqIcd-lHLC_L1b27-1__YKdgLYEuYbm_pGKnY_ucWhQ3TGt3o/s1600/P1050247.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjatOmYtQdKE6NeTPX07SUSsj3CPOuqjRmCS-idp7fp6Qe7A7Fj34bbTLNGO6XBC0akEADUUU0JoTNFYohoJG870yd02kRqIcd-lHLC_L1b27-1__YKdgLYEuYbm_pGKnY_ucWhQ3TGt3o/s320/P1050247.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Backdrop for the Ballet</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihmRh1SZLr0Xh_Ft3d-HSpolNGVcWNW17RvNM1fUsduM-ap8qHZiU7DcJJCyWERu3cx4VhS2ApUU29T8MLKEfQKPS4lNIVEJFmwJLY9ZJkjaMpgAxhVooIiV-ANpXMoMtq7JboKBoaMkQ/s1600/P1050320.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihmRh1SZLr0Xh_Ft3d-HSpolNGVcWNW17RvNM1fUsduM-ap8qHZiU7DcJJCyWERu3cx4VhS2ApUU29T8MLKEfQKPS4lNIVEJFmwJLY9ZJkjaMpgAxhVooIiV-ANpXMoMtq7JboKBoaMkQ/s320/P1050320.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our Ride to Bromo</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlPiQj32gg1RTos0G-f1anc-dKs-3m1IccZPzlpzkjS-b8jxUylUt8xYn_1rwG906U0Ip9dbgYpa1oPe0lWgDNF3BR5HxDQJ19zAGa29Dh9MASyGV5RSe1nQ0UOLFEXYWlJdrGdwfzE70/s1600/P1050340.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlPiQj32gg1RTos0G-f1anc-dKs-3m1IccZPzlpzkjS-b8jxUylUt8xYn_1rwG906U0Ip9dbgYpa1oPe0lWgDNF3BR5HxDQJ19zAGa29Dh9MASyGV5RSe1nQ0UOLFEXYWlJdrGdwfzE70/s320/P1050340.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">That's Bromo behind us on the right</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
After the ballet we took the night train to Probolingo and then grabbed a minibus heading up into the volcanic mountians to vist Bromo. The next day instead of making the epic pilgrimage up to see Bromo at sunrise with a 1000 other tourists we waited till the crowds died down and grabbed two horses and headed through the volcanic ash to Bromo. We climbed the 250 stairs to stare down into the gaping sulfuric mist of Bromo. Thinking that potentially it could erupt and then what??? (Just kidding we knew it wouldn't erupt). After we peered in the volcano we climbed down the stairs and across the ash to look at the small Hindu temple.<br />
<br />
We climbed back up to the village and grabbed a mini bus and headed back to Probolingo. Once we got to the Probolingo we found out that the evening bus to Bali was sold out so we grabbed a local oplet (remember the truck with benches) in the bus jumped about 10 hijab wearing school girls with their super cute school uniforms (which looked like scouting uniforms with skirts) they were in about the 4th-7th grade and could not stop laughing at us and trying out their English.<br />
<br />
After saying goodbye to our new friends we arrived at the train station where we got night train tickets for Bali tonight, so off we will go again.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06766313452317869093noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7548202499017759758.post-8915329824533002752012-07-12T03:37:00.003-07:002012-07-12T03:37:34.762-07:00A City and a Bunch of Buddhas<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgObswPMP1TaT6AlHXUDbmiET1GgRh-wMYu2x-dP7msnP6lr71l43jQ-rOmDe-ix4-cCPHW_AdOzDvvqpxSfOD19cNiGef4d5FwWHiB5ueP3FOIYPdt9mtIjB3kuMo_aMGwToVlSeyEWNI/s1600/P1050077.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgObswPMP1TaT6AlHXUDbmiET1GgRh-wMYu2x-dP7msnP6lr71l43jQ-rOmDe-ix4-cCPHW_AdOzDvvqpxSfOD19cNiGef4d5FwWHiB5ueP3FOIYPdt9mtIjB3kuMo_aMGwToVlSeyEWNI/s320/P1050077.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Borobudur</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
After our travel experience we finally arrived at Borobudur looking only a little worse for wear. We grabbed a hotel on the actual grounds of the temple so that we could go up and see the sun set that day. We made the pilgrimage to the temple and is was amazing. Standing at the top of the temple looking at the lush rain forest around us watching the sun set thinking about the people who designed, built, worshiped in this holy place in 800 AD is a humbling experience. There are over 400 Buddhas in the temple facing east, west, north and south with five different hand expressions. There are people from all over the world sitting at the top of the temple as the sun is disappearing over the horizon it is fascinating to be in a place that brings so many cultures of people together I think it is truly what Buddha was trying to achieve. Many of the people were Indonesians on holiday who all wanted to take pictures with the Westerners. After the sun rose on the way back to the hotel an grandmotherly hijab wearing woman grabbed my hand and danced with me. <br />
<br />
That evening we were entertained by a traditional puppet show, music and dancing. The instruments were spectacular looking, like beautiful cooking devices of various sizes, but the sounds that came out were beautiful. The next morning I visited the temple again there were much less people and it was peaceful to look at the images that told a story carved into each layer of the temple. <br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7ZqlQAAF9BYTmL2jKJ7TrikRhiuayruOdCXDPscJJZsJ8zAMk-8r0WuSbR9hHQUzkucKALl9_y9Vl8wDs7A_KQdBgYAPGnJNSIfM_cgYelnhDN5q8SAaRgz3qch0pqab2CvIUAMh21Y8/s1600/P1050184.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7ZqlQAAF9BYTmL2jKJ7TrikRhiuayruOdCXDPscJJZsJ8zAMk-8r0WuSbR9hHQUzkucKALl9_y9Vl8wDs7A_KQdBgYAPGnJNSIfM_cgYelnhDN5q8SAaRgz3qch0pqab2CvIUAMh21Y8/s320/P1050184.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lindsey Cutting a Rug</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRGG0OuJcJusoEdTq4knbT4OPcy28A4bQlKng3g_u2W3GWN1-UWYCwDuxF-NXOeqjhw6lvMIT8qmrnCOTHXJa-1gXvBPTKb2iQdnEBR7yF8OK9KmTDcCSMa8b39yiOANZjfy6XL0-jibs/s1600/P1050186.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRGG0OuJcJusoEdTq4knbT4OPcy28A4bQlKng3g_u2W3GWN1-UWYCwDuxF-NXOeqjhw6lvMIT8qmrnCOTHXJa-1gXvBPTKb2iQdnEBR7yF8OK9KmTDcCSMa8b39yiOANZjfy6XL0-jibs/s320/P1050186.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Her Admirers</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhz-6_DAidQFHEybeNSQRYVFqdO7kYkecxBDkNYypeg7uvIjNfxS86pFoZX_rXq42iHz6UtD-0WC-v4C1YU-q2UtdllswSG7dJ3u2In9qYWqXsMXKUEgIwX68abodF8lebeSksvFlraKPo/s1600/P1050152.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhz-6_DAidQFHEybeNSQRYVFqdO7kYkecxBDkNYypeg7uvIjNfxS86pFoZX_rXq42iHz6UtD-0WC-v4C1YU-q2UtdllswSG7dJ3u2In9qYWqXsMXKUEgIwX68abodF8lebeSksvFlraKPo/s320/P1050152.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Relaxation</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
We then traveled by bus back to Yogyakarta and grabbed a guest house in a cute little section of town that is lined with great coffee shops and restaurants. We lounged by the pool, read, got dinner and began to feel like we were on a proper vacation!!!! The next day we set out to explore Yogyakarta we roamed through the Batak stores and bought items from the street vendors. Lindsey rocked out with the street band as a group of giggling students video taped her. Last night we enjoyed some wine, western dinner and some local cover band. All in all a pleasant stay in this neck of Sumatra.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06766313452317869093noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7548202499017759758.post-8622537186113287822012-07-12T03:19:00.004-07:002012-07-12T03:19:59.185-07:00Take that Planes, Trains and Automobiles!<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXyT9uYDHer00vgY_k9t666n9hm8MMSKGAUVUqlRSEuiuqfddvmEzowBsrCuTJDewE3Yapg1NeKe5drBELIawaUpKUAH0cLpXp02mwkthUYKvXNJ71SC-WD9UMec66YfYPzblO6Y5F1DI/s1600/P1040995.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXyT9uYDHer00vgY_k9t666n9hm8MMSKGAUVUqlRSEuiuqfddvmEzowBsrCuTJDewE3Yapg1NeKe5drBELIawaUpKUAH0cLpXp02mwkthUYKvXNJ71SC-WD9UMec66YfYPzblO6Y5F1DI/s320/P1040995.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ferry</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
So after leaving beautiful Lake Toba on the island of Sumatra we grabbed a ferry back to the mainland. The ferry dropped us off in a different place than we took off from so we had to grab a local oplet (basically a truck with benches) to take us to the transport office. So us four girls flagged one down dove in with our giant backpacks scarring the bejesus out of a woman on her way to work, I'm sure when she got to work she said "OMG four white girls dove into my oplet spilling my F'ing coffee." <br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCrXAl7ClJiJk6hp-q21pSzQm8tBWtiPGPLDD2CLwVkj-B4Gj3XMmBfUNC7CaVqWoYcYQbliJg-pdoxqrQ0abH8uA_HoJI2rfvm8pE2IHlnCHNw2ABoyuNi-y_OwYlL_TeAWw1-WxIWjo/s1600/P1050020.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCrXAl7ClJiJk6hp-q21pSzQm8tBWtiPGPLDD2CLwVkj-B4Gj3XMmBfUNC7CaVqWoYcYQbliJg-pdoxqrQ0abH8uA_HoJI2rfvm8pE2IHlnCHNw2ABoyuNi-y_OwYlL_TeAWw1-WxIWjo/s320/P1050020.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Oplet</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjb4XKnSl-RoyV2RlY741Eof9LM7VgDSsjPeRFEOhnPsCQzCiN2gtrSpBVPpfN7gUK_z3uZtpHqrO7ymUhHqrWVa1ivJT8lu0IM8FcnNZQ0CIPimfkH0d9OAt2io0efJQt0fCr7xaZ2xgw/s1600/P1050023.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjb4XKnSl-RoyV2RlY741Eof9LM7VgDSsjPeRFEOhnPsCQzCiN2gtrSpBVPpfN7gUK_z3uZtpHqrO7ymUhHqrWVa1ivJT8lu0IM8FcnNZQ0CIPimfkH0d9OAt2io0efJQt0fCr7xaZ2xgw/s320/P1050023.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Plane</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Any who from the oplet we got into a SUV to go to the Medan airport. where we waited around for our plane to leave while pursuing the beer vending machines. Our flight crossed the equator to the city of Jakarta. Where we took a taxi to the train city. Driving through the city of 10 million at night was beautiful so many high rises with super colorful neon lights. We said a sad goodbye to our new friend Sara #2 who was a teacher from Ireland that had been traveling with us since Bukit Lawang. From there we grabbed a night train to Yogyakarta where we arrived in the morning around 5:20 just in time for sunrise. Then we hopped on a rickshaw to grab a bus. Things were going far too smoothly for us in our just under 24 hour travel that of course something had to go wrong. I read the Lonely Planet wrong and led us on a wild goose chase looking for a bus station that wasn't there. Then in our udder exhaustion we went to a luxury hotel for a breakfast buffet. Feeling rejuvenated we grabbed a local city bus (after tucking my tail between my legs we visited the tourist information center) to the real bus terminal. From there we tried to grab a bus to Borobudur, the bus manager kicked off like ten locals so we could get a seat and then we refused to get on the bus because of principal and the half empty bus rambled off. We then grabbed the next bus and an hour later we were in the town of Borobudur, we then took a horse drawn carriage to our hotel. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg87vEFp63qbr09Dq-bzCpXPUfQvC2DjpF9bCAcKZFOwE_pde65XdIHQtaAtmR7QqAJPQTKak8n4LsH8qeZu4jpfNrc5ycRblJLkCgt02AZbhKIKlqAh9rF-xvidCRfVegIBUGl5mj9tnw/s1600/P1050026.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg87vEFp63qbr09Dq-bzCpXPUfQvC2DjpF9bCAcKZFOwE_pde65XdIHQtaAtmR7QqAJPQTKak8n4LsH8qeZu4jpfNrc5ycRblJLkCgt02AZbhKIKlqAh9rF-xvidCRfVegIBUGl5mj9tnw/s320/P1050026.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rickshaw</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
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<br />
So let's recap the transportation situation.<br />
1. Ferry<br />
2. Oplet<br />
3. SUV<br />
4. Plane<br />
5. Taxi<br />
6. Train<br />
7. Rickshaw<br />
8. Public Bus<br />
9. Bus<br />
10.Carriage<br />
<br />
$178 dollars the experience and a sore behind PricelessAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06766313452317869093noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7548202499017759758.post-70787240808723916712012-07-07T03:13:00.003-07:002012-07-12T03:08:47.107-07:00Organge Haired Cousins and a Big LakeAfter we bought our visa on arrival for $25 which you will have to do
once you get to Medan we grabbed a taxi to a "bus station" which was a
bunch of super old mini buses on the side of the road. After a squished
two hours with no AC and 20 of our closest friends we arrived in a village on the side of a river.
From there we had to hike along a path from guest house to guest house
looking for accommodation. We did find something that was pretty pimp
but no AC or hot water to be found. <br />
The next morning we woke up to monkeys jumping on our roof. We headed out on our jungle trek walking up hill in the rain forest till we spotted some orange haired orangutans we stopped and watched for a while and then moved on and found a mother hanging out with her baby which we stayed and watched for a while as the baby tucked and rolled down the hill and the mother built her nest. After the veiwing we made a long trek back stopping for a lunch along the river where we ate banana leaf wrapped (that was the tupperware of Sumatra) rice, beans and veggies with a delightful coconut sauce.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg04s8uRyFlM0ceCOR4kVwcNgZSQkRPPyHLKZMougXDDMefdbOMhvRHNgIwiui6zY3dtWSz94wLx1A7PUs7SRsasbVQ8PFvflIgioqZhZI5wdhapYFeWWrNAxsiuaPFpLRU7-EcrlZ4ze8/s1600/P1040878.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg04s8uRyFlM0ceCOR4kVwcNgZSQkRPPyHLKZMougXDDMefdbOMhvRHNgIwiui6zY3dtWSz94wLx1A7PUs7SRsasbVQ8PFvflIgioqZhZI5wdhapYFeWWrNAxsiuaPFpLRU7-EcrlZ4ze8/s320/P1040878.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lake Toba</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGqFtpTq_6_epEoAGxoAhdjc7Bl81TS1tyt-OLLqdYSkybl4iH20uhPBjnOkmi8KkjBQa9TP0KFqqkFwLS4yJkSfgZ6BA5BifBj68IQranRFGunCsd3VOcDK1y8qXByzl-kMXSYFIhBhw/s1600/P1040921.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGqFtpTq_6_epEoAGxoAhdjc7Bl81TS1tyt-OLLqdYSkybl4iH20uhPBjnOkmi8KkjBQa9TP0KFqqkFwLS4yJkSfgZ6BA5BifBj68IQranRFGunCsd3VOcDK1y8qXByzl-kMXSYFIhBhw/s320/P1040921.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Grind Lindsey Grind</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The next day we took a "toursit" bus from Bukit Lawang through Medan to the town of Parapat where we got the ferry to an island in the middle of Lake Toba where we stayed in the town of Tuk Tuk. Lake Toba is a volcanic lake with an island the size of Singapore in it we stayed on the island in the town of Tuk Tuk. The next day we walked all through Tuk Tuk looking at the sights of chickens crossing the road, little children calling out "hello", dodging motor bikes and the unbelieveable lake views. Today (saturday) we took at three hour Indonesian cooking class in Hedi's kitchen. She was a 50 something woman who showed us the art of cooking over kerosne stoves. We made a vegetable, chicken and fish dish (the fish was whole with the head on!!!). It was pretty amazing to cut up the vegetables from her garden (that a ton of chickens were roaming in) and wrap up the fish in banana leaves to steam. Tonight we are staying here in Tuk Tuk and tomorrow we head out to the Jakarta by plane to explore the island of Java.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06766313452317869093noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7548202499017759758.post-56413354907425558572012-07-02T03:29:00.001-07:002012-07-02T03:29:58.250-07:00Two Maylaysian CitiesAfter a five hour bus ride we rolled into the city of Melaka around 11 pm. We grabbed a ubber clean guest house about two blocks from the weekend night market which sold everything you could imagine on folding tables for as far as the eye can see. We grabbed a table at a bar and got some cold beers, satay and fresh spring rolls. The bar atmosphere was complete with a guitar player singing Eric Clapton with the drunk patrons singing along. After the bar closed we took a very bedazzled trishaw home. Each trishaw is brightly colored cart with fake flowers shaped like a hear with lights and a boom box blasting American music. A bike and a rider sits alongside the crazy contraption. <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhDBs5awzKiexsUAZlXo2LCO7ObSiskqH04F1dgCNlLy5DjCtLOnWTcHYujMjKLpOs8g96NJM3oEdzLX4HbMiFGXQ-fnn5HJv0RqUvF7YUdLgTYN0WY6Y1aZjTq5FY0EG1cJvo4RbAWks/s1600/P1040492.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhDBs5awzKiexsUAZlXo2LCO7ObSiskqH04F1dgCNlLy5DjCtLOnWTcHYujMjKLpOs8g96NJM3oEdzLX4HbMiFGXQ-fnn5HJv0RqUvF7YUdLgTYN0WY6Y1aZjTq5FY0EG1cJvo4RbAWks/s320/P1040492.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">At the Buddhist Temple</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
We had picked up a traveling friend in Tioman named Sara who is an English girl teaching English in Indonesia. The next morning we woke up and had breakfast with her before she departed back to Indo. We then began exploring the city we visited the oldest Buddhist temple in Malaysia built in the 1700s and continued on to the Dutch and Portuguese square to see the still functioning Anglican church built in 1800 and marched up a hill to see the ruins of a Jesuit church from the 1500s. After all that traipsing about we stopped by a massage parlor to experience foot reflexology. We then joined the enormous line to eat the Maylay version of fondue, mystery food on a stick cooked in large vats of peanut sauce. After trying some standbys of broccoli and chicken we delved into the mystery items which were all variations on a seafood theme. After dinner we returned to the night market where I got a spiraled cut potato that was fried and salted. <br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh97zZIC2QurCd2iR4jXQWBrzlVBOigooiQfLvWOJLy1h2Pt90-e5AHoJrelQCgtMdvXmCIAAE-6RLrFHamndhyphenhyphenJi441ad7yEd2umwUxWo73I4HnZ4qIeAYaYKgCrQewIxu_dFG_YaNiJE/s1600/P1040531.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh97zZIC2QurCd2iR4jXQWBrzlVBOigooiQfLvWOJLy1h2Pt90-e5AHoJrelQCgtMdvXmCIAAE-6RLrFHamndhyphenhyphenJi441ad7yEd2umwUxWo73I4HnZ4qIeAYaYKgCrQewIxu_dFG_YaNiJE/s320/P1040531.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cookin up some Satay</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The next morning we grabbed a super luxury bus to head up to the island of Penang on the northwest side of Malaysia. 7 hours later we hopped on a ferry and arrived in the town of Georgetown. That night we ate some street food of noodles, with wantons that are served with soup or without. We tried both. The operators of the food cart were really ancient and cooked up a storm the man boiled the noodles while the wife sliced the meat and added the spices. There were tables on the sidewalks to eat at and watch as scooters rolled up to get takeaway and others came to eat. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_d7IFSIUyxa9vMcIsz8vyBmuunN67Xyw1xcgglY5iXoexzHbXNnwuLIsXtJU31XbCjpr_rVagVIhJnfEekWP-upk6O7alPOo7CCzn8veXBZktL4JLgHt9JCIAHooRa10KYhkEOLq5hJQ/s1600/P1040580.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_d7IFSIUyxa9vMcIsz8vyBmuunN67Xyw1xcgglY5iXoexzHbXNnwuLIsXtJU31XbCjpr_rVagVIhJnfEekWP-upk6O7alPOo7CCzn8veXBZktL4JLgHt9JCIAHooRa10KYhkEOLq5hJQ/s320/P1040580.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Grandma and Grandpa cooking it up (check out the dishwash set up in the lower right)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
In the middle of the night Lindsey and Kate got up to watch the Euro cup and cheer on Spain's domination. The next day we tried to grab tickets for a ferry to Medan Indonesia only to find out that the ferry had stopped running due to low cost airlines so we booked a plane ticket to Medan for July 3rd. We continued to explore the city where Little India puts Devon street to shame. We ducked inside a Veg Gujarat restaurant right as the rain began to pour. Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06766313452317869093noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7548202499017759758.post-10859598511318635262012-06-29T01:20:00.000-07:002012-06-29T01:20:14.886-07:00Three Temples and a BeachLanded in Singapore after a 24 hour delay in Chicago (did make Silver status though Hooray!!!!) Headed to an extremely clean hostel just outside of Chinatown. After a semi cold beer hit the hay and awoke the next morning to explore. Singapore is a very clean city with no street people. We ate lunch at the "hawker stands" which are endless rows of outdoor eateries each of them specializing in various genres of Asian cuisine. We then went to the Buddha's tooth temple to view not only his tooth but 10,000 other Buddha's fashioned after his likeness right after enlightenment. It also houses the only underground parking lot of any temple in Asia :) We then headed to see the Sri Mariamman Temple with 100s of life size cows and Krishnas not only inside but sitting on the fences surrounding the temple for all to enjoy. <br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzdpK2x7JUHmXaGdyFVJvfYH7fVkQjxCxrdjQAYK2r3Aflk8RnmsNRkbHUUkJlMlUTpDpyEPI2_tkKY9yIKQnYu-ByEBTKtyI9utwISjSjwPV1CJpoNlqy4OsqVweeyFQxMqMWAyysQ-Q/s1600/P1040129.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzdpK2x7JUHmXaGdyFVJvfYH7fVkQjxCxrdjQAYK2r3Aflk8RnmsNRkbHUUkJlMlUTpDpyEPI2_tkKY9yIKQnYu-ByEBTKtyI9utwISjSjwPV1CJpoNlqy4OsqVweeyFQxMqMWAyysQ-Q/s320/P1040129.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Enjoying some Thai food at the hawker stall</td></tr>
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That evening we met up with Lindsey's college friend who is living in Singapore where we indulged in some local cuisine of chili crab. Then because the tax on alcohol is so high we grabbed a six pack of beer to drink on the bridge where it is legal to drink but not chew gum. <br />
The next day we woke up early to grab a long distance bus to Malaysia when we arrived at the terminal they had all left for the day so we decided to grab a local bus to the border. On our trek to the other bus stand we meandered through the Arab Quarter and visited a Mosque. It was a beautiful structure we got to go inside and wander around. Then finally began our journey to Malaysia. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7-vIy_BCHRrespsnzeDCfWLyeYq4VTmgkdbK8Zs9_29UDC8vkQJF593aYxiJ-PD6b7yKw4BMyVdcO5mMRu_tT3S3dj49EcagpRSLWPsx6yEKJPtVMKnCD89qgvYHcDP648wEBUGBUo9Y/s1600/P1040294.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7-vIy_BCHRrespsnzeDCfWLyeYq4VTmgkdbK8Zs9_29UDC8vkQJF593aYxiJ-PD6b7yKw4BMyVdcO5mMRu_tT3S3dj49EcagpRSLWPsx6yEKJPtVMKnCD89qgvYHcDP648wEBUGBUo9Y/s320/P1040294.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Inside the Mosque</td></tr>
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After we crossed the border we had a few hours to kill in a bus station in Johor Bahru (JB) the entire top of the station was a shopping market filled with many faux sneakers and all the different types of burkas you could buy. We had an AWESOME lunch roti filled with onions, egg and meat that was rolled, filled and cooked before our very eyes. <br />
That evening we ended up in the fishing port of Mersing where we were serenaded by a woman with very few teeth (and even less marbles) as we looked for accommodation. Her tunes ranged from variations on a theme of Righteous Brothers, Ace of Base and Whitney. We woke up the next morning for a ferry to a village (loose word two beach shacks) Nipah on the island of Tioman. It was a peaceful place where we spent our days lounging in the sun and snorkeling with barracudas and our nights drinking beer and eating delightful Maylay food. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLYTfvHw8AGBiC-KgUMtvGMamVHdC9Y6T9LhhOqPLTQh8ImZMJjMeLYr8W20S76Pi2ndPmOXF3CI71WTkhCBXC2DyERnnaig6H3sitFd0eFF3lSWs058s9GaWm3M76l4We61rC6kAyOJU/s1600/P1040375.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLYTfvHw8AGBiC-KgUMtvGMamVHdC9Y6T9LhhOqPLTQh8ImZMJjMeLYr8W20S76Pi2ndPmOXF3CI71WTkhCBXC2DyERnnaig6H3sitFd0eFF3lSWs058s9GaWm3M76l4We61rC6kAyOJU/s320/P1040375.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Soaking up some rays outside our digs</td></tr>
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We are now awaiting a bus to take us to Melaka on the western side of Malaysia. Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06766313452317869093noreply@blogger.com0