120 days without an address

Old videos from our 120 day trip

2008-11-27T11:45:00.000-08:00

Kick off video

In transit in the Bangkok Airport.

more to come...

Trip statistics

2007-06-19T21:50:00.000-07:00

Our trip came to an end on June 6, 2007 and now we're back in California, back to the reality of taking what we're given, cause we're working for a living. The trip was amazing and memorable and here are some of the highlights, lowlights, and statistics from our 120 days without an address.

Countries visited = 20
Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, India, Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania, Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia Herzegovina, Croatia, Italy, Vatican City, Spain, Slovenia, Austria, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, England.

Budget
$65.26 per day for the entire trip
$112.00 per day for the entire trip including pre-purchased flight package (LA-Hanoi; Siem Reap-Bangkok; Bangkok-New Dehli; Mumbai-Istanbul; London-LA)
$44.56 per day in Asia
$80.93 per day in Europe

Actual Travel Duration (not including missed connections or waiting) - car, bus, plane, train, boat, ferry = 329.75 hours

Gelato's eaten during 10 days in Italy = 25 (some had more than 1 scoop and more than 1 flavor!)

Flavors included: Cioccolato, tiramisu, caramello, pistachio, straciatella, frutta di bosco, fragola, banana, pompelmo, limone, panna cotta, cocco, cacao amsterdam, zuppa inglese, cioccolato rica, vaniglia, melone, ananas, mandarina, mirtelli, menta, cookies, kiwi and asparagus...yes...asparagus!

Beer list by country (name, alcohol %, color (Light, Pale, Amber, Brown, Dark) and rating 1-5 stars):

Vietnam

Hanoa Bia - 3.8%, Light, ***

Halida Bia - 3.8%, Light, ***

Huda Bia - 4.7%, Light, ***

Larue Biere - 3.6%, Light, ***

Saigon Lager Beer - 4.3%, Pale, ***

Bach Dang Draft - ?%, Pale, ****

Cambodia

Angkor Beer - 5%, Pale, ****

Jade Beer (from Singapore) - 5.2%, Pale, ***

Lao Beer (from Laos) - 5%, Pale, ***

Thailand

Beer Chang - 6.4%, Pale, *** (cheaper and better than Singha)

Singha - 5%, Pale, ***

India

Castle - 5%, Pale, *** (says its South African beer brewed in India)

Kingfisher - ?%, Pale, ** (too warm)

Romania

Ursus - 5%, Pale, ***** (King of Beers...in Romania. Best beer of the trip, smooth and full flavored, damn good beer!)

Serbia

Niksicko - 5%, Pale, ***

Croatia

Karlovacko - 5.4%, Pale, ***

Italy

Forst - ?%, Pale, *** (had a red Beck's in Italy that was good, but not Italian!)

Spain

Mahou - ?%, Pale, ***

Slovenia

Union 1854 - ?%, Pale, ****

Zlatorog - 4.9%, Pale, ****

Austria

Puntigamer - 5.1%, Pale, ****

Reininghaus - ?%, Pale, ****

Gosser Zwickel - ?%, Pale, ****

Speigl - ?%, Pale, ***

Germany

Flotzinger's Cool Pils - 4.8%, Pale, ****

Schneider Weissen - 5.4%, Amber-Hefeweizen, ***

Hofbrau Original - ?%, Pale, ****

Hasseroder - 4.9%, Pale, ***

Veltins Pilsener - 4.8%, Pale, ***

Binding Romer Pils - 4.9%, Pale, ***

Alt - ?%, Amber, ***

That beer at Ben's house? - ?%, Pale, ***

Kolsch - ?%, Pale, ** (bitter aftertaste and a bit flat)

The Netherlands

Heineken - 5%, Pale, ****

Pacifico at Mexican Restaurant - 4.5%, Pale, *** (not a great batch)

Groningen - ?%, Dark, ***

Belgium

Brugse Zot - 6%, Pale, ****

De Koninck - 5%, Amber, ****

Premium Kriek St. Louis - 3.2%, Red, * (Bad cherry beer out of a small can)

Jupiler - 5.2%, Pale, ****

Leffe - ?%, Dark, ***

Maes Pils - 4.9%, Pale, ****

Duvel - ?%, Pale, ****

Ramee - ?%, Pale, ***

Kronenburg - ?%, Pale, *** (French beer)

Carlsberg - ?%, Pale, *** (Danish beer)

Orval - 6.2%, Dark, ***

Laundry days

2/12 - Camellia Hotel, Hanoi, Vietnam

2/21 - Nha Trang, Vietnam

2/27 - Saigon, Vietnam (Only cost 16,000 VND!)

3/7 - Bangkok, Thailand (Lots of laundry to do after our Cambodian adventures!)

3/15 - Bangkok, Thailand (Day before flying to India)

4/13 - Belgrade, Serbia (After a month of washing clothes in the sink in India, we finally had proper laundry facilities and we washed everything!)

5/2 - Ibiza, Spain (Maids at the timeshare did our laundry for us!)

5/12 - Arnfels, Austria (Nice washer & dryer at Helga & Sepperl's place)

5/20 - Dusseldorf, Germany (Nice washer & dryer at Ben's place)

5/31 - Brussels, Belgium (Last laundry stop at Marc's place)

Food Favorites
Vietnam

Com ga - Chicken rice with cilantro & lime - add chilli sauce or nuoc mam
Dong Ba Market sweets
Cheese omelet baguettes
Spring rolls
Fruit - pineapple, dragon fruit, chum chum
Veggie Pho
Pineapple and mango shakes
Yellow noodles
Bia hoi or ly (draught beer) with watermelon

Cambodia

Fish amok - coconut and lemongrass
Lab (with chicken or veggies) - mint leaves, lemon juices, chillies & roasted rice

Thailand

Mango and sticky rice with coconut sauce
Thai iced tea with boba
Various curries...no peanuts!
Roti
Prawn fried rice

India

Chicken biriyani
Veg thali
Dal
Roti and naan bread
Veggie kofta
Besan ke Gatte
Super veg burger at Om
Aloo mehti
Panchmal dal
Raita
Veg or chicken kathi balls
Puri: Bhatura (puffed fried bread)
Tikka masala
Paneer tikka kathi rolls

Turkey

Pizza at that pizzeria our 1st night in Istanbul
Doner
Veggie wrap

Romania

Papanasi (papanash) - donut with jam & cream
Tiramisu at Pizza Roma!

Serbia

Burek - cheese pastry
Chris' veggie casserole...I'm getting the recipe!

Croatia

Grancereale croccante - amazing cookies!
Risotto with seafood in Dubrovnik

Italy

Gelato (see above!)
Arancini - rice and tomato fried balls with cheese
Pizza - naturally
Blood oranges and juice

Spain

Sangria
Paella

Slovenia

Pizza burek
Cherries
Vegetable soup in Bled
Chicken burrito...in Slovenia!??!

Austria

Bean salad with pumpkin seed oil
Schnapps
Raspberry, blackberry and elderberry juice
Topfenstrudel - raspberry
Various Austrian cheeses, but not Edam
Helga's veggie goulash...I'm getting the recipe!
Helga's risotto with asparagus...I'm getting this recipe too!

Germany

Pretzel's
Doner
Asparagus
Falafel
Durum
CJ wanted kirschenstrudel - cherry strudle - but we couldn't find it

The Netherlands

Poffertjes with fruit and whipped cream

Belgium

Frites with mayo or tartar sauce
Gaufres (waffles) de Bruxelles - better than de Liege
Noord-Holland Gouda cheese

Good Decisions/Good Luck
No battery flashlight
Anti-itch cream
Going to Bodhgaya, India
Upgraded on Ko Phi Phi
Upgraded to 1st class train from New Dehli to Varanasi - although that's where RJ got sick
Getting India visa in CA
Electric bikes at Angkor Wat
Seeing the family in Bien Hoa, Vietnam
Cutting CJ's hair - but not necessarily this particular hair cut!
Compass
Staying with Ivan in Dubrovnik
Going to Assisi
IBIZA!
Slovenia
Fireworks in Ljubljana for EU Day

Bad Decision/Bad Luck
No sleeping pills for CJ
Traveling in Vietnam during Tet - Hoi An-Nha Trang bus ride from hell!
No toilet paper in India
Rusgalla (sweet soaked bread that tastes rubbery and squeeks when chewed) - only dessert CJ doesn't like
Bag clasp breaking on flight from Udaipur to Mumbai
BBQ corn in Istanbul
Balkan Flexipass
SDCCU credit card & ATM
Eurrail passes - not worth it if you're over 26
Just missing Brasov festival
Chocolate Museum in Koln instead of Neanderthal Museum in Dusseldorf

It was a fantastic trip! The bad decisions/bad luck episodes were very minor. We were happy to come home, but I highly recommend a trip like this for anyone out there. It doesn't cost as much as you'd think, and the memories are worth every penny.

Happy traveling!
RJ & CJ

Has it been 4 months?!?

2007-06-04T15:14:00.001-07:00

London is our last stop! We flew from Charleroi to Stansted on my airline ....Ryanair.... verrrrrrrrrry niiiiiiiiiiiiiice! It was a short flight and then we made our way to South Kensington where we stayed with my old friend Makoto and his family who were also in Brussels for the reunion. We wandered the streets of Kensington with our huge packs and looking very grubby after 4 months of travel...the flashy cars glared at us as we walked by...and we walked by some nice ones. Every other car was a Ferrari, Porsche, Bentley, even Aston Martin...London is a wealthy city and we were in a high class neighborhood.

We spent 3 days in London and saw most of it on foot. Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, the Tower Bridge, Hyde Park, the London Eye, St. Paul's Cathedral, Kensington Palace...Big Ben, Parliament. We took a tour of the House of Lords. We were hoping to see Tony Blair in action at the House of Commons, but he wasn't in that day and there was over an hour wait. We did it all in those three days...Makoto's wife Junko and I even brushed our teeth while sitting on the floor with baby Nao!

All the museums in London are free so we popped in to the National Gallery at Trafalgar Square and also checked out the Tate Modern along the Thames. We walked down Oxford St. and Regent St. to see the latest high fashion We checked out Kate Moss' new line at TopShop. We rode the tube here and there and on our last night in London...the last night of our 4 month trip...we paid to see Harry Potter naked. It was actually a fabulous play in London's West End stores...CJ was much more interested than I was. called Equus starring Daniel Radcliffe and it was the last week of the show. A fabulous play and a great way to end the journey. But is it really over!?? Do we really have to get jobs now and engrain ourselves in society again?? Or can we go home for a couple weeks, regroup, and head to South America for a couple more months on the road??? Either way...packing for the last time was bittersweet. We thoroughly enjoyed our 4 months on the road, but we are eager to get back to CA and stay in one place for a bit.

Class of '92!!

2007-06-01T02:51:00.001-07:00

Unbelievable that its been 15 years since I graduated from high school, but there's no better way to celebrate that then to get together with old friends and talk about the good ole days like they just happened...it seems like they just did!

We had a couple days before the reunion events so we explored the city, my old stomping grounds. The Grand Place still looks the same and the Mannequin Pis is still pissing!

We took in the sights around the Grand Place and had some drinks at the King of Spain where, as is typical for Belgium, it started dumping rain for a good 30 minutes. When the rain
stopped we continued on.

Rogier drove down the next day, which was Friday, and we went to check out the International School of Brussels where we met some 22 years ago! The school day was just ending when we got there so we managed to see some old teachers that still work at the school which was fun. Later that night the entire reunion group...which was only about 15 people, got together for dinner. It was a pretty small reunion, but was fun nevertheless. After dinner the group meandered to a nearby club and the drinks continued to flow.

The next day we had a mellow afternoon BBQ where there may have been more kids than actual reunion participants! I guess we've reached that age!

All in all it was great seeing everybody as usual and hopefully we'll see each other before another 5 years passes.

Our wild night in Den Haag

2007-05-30T02:32:00.001-07:00

Our wild night in The Hague with Sascha and Tonia, who have the most interesting jobs ever, working for the UN´s International War Crimes Tribunal.

We spent two nights in The Hague visiting my old grad school roommate Sasha. It was a bit rainy in The Hague so we didn't do a whole lot of sight seeing. We went to Delft for an hour or so and the rain came down in buckets so we popped into a restaurant and had some delicious poffertjes...small pancakes with fruit and whipped cream. Later we had a fun dinner with Sasha and Tonia and the next day we were off to Bruges, Belgium for a night.

First thing we did in Belgium was try some frites and waffles!! Breakfast of champions!! Bruges is a quaint little town with canals and walking streets and a nice square that had a great market going on the day we were there. We did a lot of walking around Bruges and enjoyed 2 full days there before heading to Brussels to meet up with old friends at my 15-year reunion!

our favorite dutchman

2007-05-25T03:59:00.000-07:00

Aaaaahhh Amsterdam.....what a fabulous city! The weather was perfect for our 4 days in the city. Of course...after travelling through southeast Asia, India and all across Europe without getting sick, we both got sick in Amsterdam! Luckily it was just a 24-hour bug, but it severely cut into our sight seeing and ability to enjoy Amsterdam. We spent all day Thursday and Friday morning sick in bed and didn't truly get out to see the city until Friday afternoon when our good friend Rogier and some of his friends picked us up in a speed boat to see the city from the canals. It was a beautiful Friday afternoon and people were out enjoying the day.

After a few hours on the canals we went back to Rogier's place where we played the epic game Guitar Hero for a couple hours before cabbing back to our hotel.

The next day we explored the city on our own and met up with Rogier for dinner. On Sunday we met up with my uncle Keith and aunt Chris, from Belgrade, who were in town for the long weekend. We went to the Van Gogh museum with them then went off on our own to the botanical gardens. We met up with them later for dinner and that night we took the train to The Hague to check out the international criminal courts.

Rogier picked us up in a speed boat on the canals of Amsterdam. CJ knew that when he picked us up there would be booze and euro techno music involved...she was not disappointed!

deutschland and on to amsterdam

2007-05-23T02:55:00.001-07:00

We spent one night in Salzburg, Austria before heading into Germany. Mozart was born in Salzburg and through the drizzle we saw the house he was born in and the town he grew up in...for a little while anyway. By the time he was about 6 years old he was touring Europe and impressing royalty with his piano prowess. After our rainy day tour of Salzburg we met up with Helga, Sepperl, and Helga's sister Gerta for a nice dinner just outside of town. They were all extremely hospitable and overly generous to us during our time in Austria...we can't thank them enough for all they did. We were sad to leave Austria, but that's exactly what we did the next day when Sepp dropped us off at the Freilassing train station. We were on our way towards Munich and the infamous beer gardens!

We were actually staying with a friend in Rosenheim, about 45 minutes southeast of Munich by train. We arrived in the early afternoon and did a quick tour of the quaint town of Rosenheim...quite nice. After lunch we went for a nice hike into the hills nearby with Kirsten and Tom...our gracious hosts.

The next day we went to Munich to explore the city. It was Father's Day in Germany and instead of father's spending quality family time as is tradition in the US...most fathers in Germany head for the beer gardens with their buddies! And that's where we went too! I think I enjoyed it more than CJ did, but visiting the beer gardens of Munich is a must.

After Munich and Rosenheim we continued north toward Mainz and Frankfurt where we met up with our German dentist friends that we met a couple years ago in American Samoa. I lived just outside of Frankfurt from 1983-85 and had not been back to my old neighborhood since then so I was quite excited to revisit my German past. The dentists were wonderful hosts as well and picked us up at the train station and showed us around Mainz and fed us wonderful german food and good beers.

The next day we explored a local market in Mainz before heading to my old town of Oberursel and Frankfurt. The Frankfurt International School where I attended 4th and 5th grades has gone through quite a renovation since I was last there. Just down the road from the school I saw the old apartment building I used to live in and we drove through the town of Oberursel which also brought back memories. It was a nice trip down memory lane. We then headed to Frankfurt and walked around the city, which also brought back fond memories. That night we had a grand feast with all the german dentists, it was great to see all of them again. The next day, we took the train to Dusseldorf to see my step-brother Ben and his family.

It had been several years since I had seen Ben and I had never met his wife and 2 kids...I couldn't believe he has 2 kids!! Two beautiful boys! We spent a few days with Ben and his family and visited Dusseldorf and Cologne which isn't far away. It was a nice relaxing visit before we headed to Amsterdam!

Here we are in Frankfurt with Frieda and Astrid (2 of the German dentists now living in Mainz) and Frieda's boyfriend Alex.

Grand feast with German dentists...Katie, Astrid and Nina!

In Dusseldorf with my step-brother Ben.

Sachertorte and Mozart

2007-05-19T10:56:00.001-07:00

Vienna is a spectacular city! We drove up from Arnfels with Helga and Sepperl and stayed at their apartment for a couple days. They live across the street from the metro line that can take you anywhere in Vienna. After dropping off our things and having some lunch, CJ and I hit the town to do some exploring.

It was a beautiful day and the sights of the city were sparkling. It was a Sunday though so most of the shops were closed. We took the tram to the main part of town and headed towards the Stephansplatz and the Stephansdom. We strolled down Kaertnerstrasse in search of the Hotel Sacher and the world famous Sacher Torte. By now CJ has become a dessert connoisseur...granted her specialty is tiramisu, but she'll give an opinion on just about any dessert. The portion we got did not pass the harsh criteria of this judge...it was Sunday and we think we got a stale slice.

Nevertheless we carried on with our day and enjoyed the blustery yet sunny day in Vienna. We walked by the Opera House, the Hofburg, Parliament, and City Hall. We made our way back towards Stephansplatz walking down the Graben, a lovely walking street with several street musicians and other performers. And we're not talking about your run of the mill accordian player, we're talking high quality classical piano on the streets of Vienna. Mozart was born in Austria and did live in Vienna for a short time. We saw a house that Mozart lived in at some point during his life. All the shops were closed as it was Sunday, but there were lots of people out and about. After a nice Sunday strolling through the streets of Vienna, we hopped on the metro and headed home. The public transport in Vienna is fantastic, an essential for any great city.

The next day we slept in some before heading to the Schloss (castle) Shoenbrunn. As our trip winds down we find ourselves sleeping in more and getting later starts on our days...perhaps we're wearing down a bit or perhaps we're just enjoying the nicer accommodations staying with friends and family!

The sprawling castle in the southwestern part of Vienna has impressive gardens surrounding the castle. We wandered around the grounds for a bit, but didn't go inside. As we were leaving the grounds we, or I should say CJ, spotted a bakery that had an apple strudel show that was about to start...we had to check it out. We paid for tickets and got our strudel sample before sitting down in the front row eagerly anticipating the start of the show. As exciting as the strudel show sounded, it was actually more dissappointing than the Sacher torte from the day before. The show was rushed and the samples were cold, they should have given a sample from the actual strudel we watched them make...a hot strudel at the end of the show is much better than a cold one at the beginning. We left dissappointed and headed for the Sigmund Freud museum to sort out our feelings.

The Freud museum is set up in his old home and other people still live in the building. We just checked out the building and the book store, but didn't spend the money to tour the entire museum.

After Freud, we headed back towards the Graben walking street to meet Helga and Sepperl and their niece Monica for dinner. We had a nice italian meal near Mozart's house and then headed home. We were tired after a full down in the city and the next morning we were heading to Salzburg to see Helga's sister and the town where Mozart was born.

The most amazing firework show ever...on a Tuesday in Ljubljana!???

2007-05-12T12:37:00.001-07:00

We really didn't know what to expect for Slovenia as our train rumbled toward Ljubljana. We arrived on a Tuesday and found a great hostel that was converted from an old Slovenian prison. Our room even had bars on it like a jail cell.

After we checked in we headed for the city to see what it was like. We grabbed a bite to eat and walked down to the main part of Ljubljana. There was live music in a square that we watched for a bit, then continued walking around. We were very impressed with the city in a short amount of time. As we continued our walk we startled by massive explosions behind us. We swung around to see the sky lit up by fireworks. The fireworks were up on the castle on the hill behind us and we sat for a good 15 minutes and watched the most impressive fireworks display either one of us has seen. Who knew there were such good pyrotechnicians in Slovenia and all this on a Tuesday night with us just arriving in town! At first we thought the fireworks were for us and I tried to convince CJ that I had planned the whole thing. For some reason she didn't buy that and as it turns out the display was for EU Day.

The next day we took a bus to Bled up in the Julian Alps. We spent a great day there walking around the lake and admiring the scenic beauty of the Slovenian mountains.

After a great 2 days in Slovenia we headed for the Staiermark region of Austria where we met up with our family friends Helga and Sepperl. They picked us up at the train station in Leibniz and we drove through the rolling hills of Austria towards Arnfels. We stopped at a winery on the way home and had a great bean salad with pumpkin seed oil and some asparagus wine. It is certainly asparagus season in this part of the world. We've seen it everywhere we go! As we quickly found out though, the wine itself wasn't made from asparagus, it just went well with asparagus.

We spent a great 3 days in Arnfels learning about how the locals heat their houses and the different wines of the region. There are great places to hike around the area too. We went to a wine festival at a castle nearby and enjoyed many of the local white wines. CJ especially like the trockenbeerenauslese, which is a sweet dessert wine. It was a great visit to southern Austria and our hosts were spectacular. They truly made us feel welcomed...and they just so happened to be heading to Vienna so we all hopped in the car and made our way to the big capital of Austria! After 3 days in the country, we were ready for some more city action!

Asparagus Gelato?!?

2007-05-09T02:10:00.000-07:00

After our week in Ibiza we flew back to Milan where we went out to dinner and got the ultimate Italian meal...pizza with pasta on top of it! It was awfully good...then we followed it up with some Tiramisu. It was a nice welcome back to Italy.

The next day we were on our way to the watery streets of Venice. We stayed in Venice for two nights and luckily found a good deal on a hotel. Actually the deal found us as we deboarded our train. It was a small room with 1 single bed and 1 cot that I thoroughly enjoyed. It was the cheapest thing out there though and was centrally located so we could explore the canals of Venice.

We checked out St. Marks Square and wandered over the Ponte Rialto. We enjoyed several markets and had lots of pizza. On our second day we popped into a small local wine shop where they were selling wine straight from the barrel. We noticed the prices were quite cheap, less than 2 Euros per glass, so we ordered a glass of pinot grigio. The owner turned his back to us and started to fill our request. When he turned back around he was holding a 1.5 Liter bottle of wine!!! Apparently the prices were per Liter and not per glass!! So we walked off with a 1.5 Liter bottle of pinot grigio that cost us only 3 Euros! Not a bad deal, but too much wine for us to handle! We got some pizza to go with it and sat down in a piazza to enjoy both.

To finish off our gelato tasting in Italy we found a great gelateria where the owner made all the gelato from scratch. He had some odd flavors too including asparagus...yes asparagus ice cream! I had to try it so I got a scoop of asparagus and a scoop of chocolate as my late gelato in Italy. CJ got kiwi and grapefruit. The aparagus tasted just like...well, asparagus! It was refreshing, and certainly enhanced by the delectable chocolate. It was a nice way to end our Italian visit, and we really liked Venice.

Next stop...Ljubljana?!?!??!

Timeshare relaxation!

2007-05-03T07:01:00.001-07:00

The longest we have been in any single location has been 3 days...so we were quite excited to have an entire week on the island of Ibiza. On top of that we were staying at a great timeshare...thanks Mom!!

We flew from Milan to Ibiza and took the bus out to the town of Santa Eularia where the timeshare was. I actually unpacked my bag completely for the first time since I can´t remember when or where. Looking back now the week flew by, but we did keep ourselves busy. We drank Sangria, ate Paella´s, compared spanish helado to italian gelato, toured the old town of Ibiza, walked along the coast to Es Canar and the hippy market among other things. It actually rained 3 of the days we were there and even hailed once!! We had only had one day of rain before our island paradise!

We also both won a calorie burning competition and CJ got a free hour with a personal trainer who looked like David Beckham while I got a 30 minute massage for our efforts, not bad, although CJ was sore for days after her training session.

We enjoyed cooking for ourselves again despite the small kitchen we had. Santa Eularia was a bit sleepy early in the week, but picked up as the week went on. Our last 2 days we had perfect weather and got some good beach time in. Unfortunately we didn´t feel up for shelling out the 50 Euro cover charge for the huge disco, and I don´t think it was quite disco season yet. Ibiza is a beautiful island with sparkling clear water that was still a bit cold while we there, but I did brave it once and jumped in.

We flew back to Milan after our week of relaxation and then went on to the flooded streets of Venice. More from there next time!

New photos are up!

2007-05-03T05:55:00.000-07:00

We have some new photos up! You'll have to spend some time perusing old posts to see them, but that's fun and you can relive some of our adventures with photos this time around!

how many gelato's can you eat in a week?

2007-04-30T03:44:00.000-07:00

Between the 2 of us we managed 16 in 8 days. Not a bad average. I think CJ topped the list with 4 tiramisu. I was right behind with 3 cioccolate´s...those are goood! Other flavors we tried included straciatella, melone, vaniglia, pistachio, fruta di bosca, fragola, pompelmo, limone, caramello and a few more...i don´t have my list in front of me. Some were better than others, but none were bad!

Milano wasn´t bad, the cathedral in the main square is massive! Certainly not as much art or history as Florence and Roma, but every is dressed to impress. Would be fun to be there tonight as AC Milan plays Manchester United for the chance to move on to the Champions League Final. It's in Milan so I'm sure the city is buzzing!

We're in Ibiza now for a week at a timeshare and enjoying the stability of one week in the same place! Internet time running out so more later!

American Samoans in Roma??

2007-04-26T02:27:00.000-07:00

Well not exactly, but we did meet up with some friends from American Samoa in Roma! Paul & Barbara are on holiday at the moment and we all arrived in Roma at the same time. After they're long, looooooooong flight from Pago Pago, they still managed to pick us up at the metro and show us around Roma on their first day in the country. Barbara is from Italy and has family in Roma so it was great to have a local tour guide...and a free place to stay!

Roma is full of sights from the Colliseum to the Vatican City and St. Peter's Basilica. We saw them all in between stops for pizza and gelato. We had a great 3 days in Roma seeing the sights, eating the food, and catching up on all the happenings in American Samoa.

After Roma we took the train to Siena to explore the medieval town. Siena is very quaint, but also very expensive...our one night stay probably didn't do it justice, but its still a nice place to visit.

Next was Firenze aka Florence where we delved into Renaissance Art and of course more pizza and gelato! Michelangelo was truly amazing. From his sistene chapel, which we saw in Roma, to his David in Florence, and everything in between, he was a true master of painting, sculpting, and architecture. I also went to the Galleria degli Uffizi, which CJ wasn´t too interested in so she went shopping. Boticelli was the highlight of that gallery...his Birth of Venus is pretty damn good.

After a few nights of Renaissance and free happy hour buffets in Florence we headed to Milan for a night mainly just to catch our flight to Ibiza!

Buon giorno!

2007-04-24T00:57:00.001-07:00

Our first stop in beautiful Italia was Assisi...famous for San Francesco di Assisi. It's a beautiful, quaint town in Umbria. We got off the morning train from Ancona without knowing where we were going to stay or what to expect. We started walking through agriculture fields with red poppies popping up all over. After walking for a bit we saw the town of Assisi up on a hill. It was a warm day and our walk was about to get a lot steeper. We persisted though and eventually made it through the steep streets and numerous stairs to a nice pensione. The lady that owned to place greeted us with the most enthusiastic "Buon giorno!" I've ever heard. She showed us the room and through open the curtains with an even more enthusiastic "Sole!" I'm not sure if my italian spelling is correct, but it indeed was a beautifully sunny day and the room was perfect.

After unloading our packs we ate lunch and headed straight for the magnificent Basilica di San Francesco, which is quite impressive. After that we were ready for our first Italian gelato. I got a cioccolato and CJ got tiramisu, 2 great flavors that we happily devoured while strolling the narrow streets of Assisi. We truly enjoyed the small town of Assisi, which was a last minute addition to our itinerary on our way to Roma.

The next day we headed for ancient Rome where we were to meet up with our friends Paul and Barbara who were on holiday from American Samoa. Barbara is from Roma so we were looking forward to an insider's guide to the city...and she didn't disappoint. More about Roma in our next post.

Viva Serbia, Montenegro, Croatia and Italia!

2007-04-22T03:42:00.000-07:00

Entering Serbia was a blur, we had a cabin of six bunks to ourselves, luckily, and were hoping for a good nights sleep. We were awakened at least 4 times to show ourselves, our passports, run literally through border crossings to get our passports stamped, and then try to sleep again. Finally, as the sun was coming up, we crossed the border into Serbia. I dont remember the blur of handing the passport control officer our passports, but all of a sudden these hands. These massive hands took the passports. I looked up and the officer was well into six feet tall with electric blue eye shadow blazed across her lids. Yup, the huge officer was a woman, I think. She was very nice though, and pronounced my name "tshuooorteees" for Curtis. Wide awake after being transfixed by such bright color in the morning, I noticed some other people on the train were well above average height. Men close to seven feet tall!! Women towering over me, which is rare!! Ryan reminded me this is the home of many a NBA star, Vlade Divac, Peja Novacasomething, and basketball is a big deal in Serbia! That passport control officer could block any shot I put up!!
Having not seen a familiar face in over two months, (but a billion unfamiliar ones in Asia and India) seeing Ryans aunt Chris at the train station in Belgrade, Serbia was like finding gelato on a hot Italian day (more on the gelato later). It was so great!! We showered without shoes on, used free toilet paper, and ate triscuits. Spending time with Keith (Ryans uncle) and Chris was fantastic, they are such great hosts, showed us around, we visited forts and monasteries and listened to Keiths history lessons of Eastern Europe. We reluctantly left after two nights, and I still miss their beautiful house and welcoming spirit. We took another overnight train to Podgorica, Montenegro, and were again in a six person couchette cabin, this time it was filled. The cabins are only about 6x8 feet and hot and stuffy. Ryan fell asleep before we left Serbia, but I was kept awake by a heavy breathing Serbian man in the bunk above us. When we arrived, we met up with Vladan, a worker with USAID and he introduced us to burek, a salty, greasy cheese pie that was great at 6 in the morning. He introduced us to his work in Montenegro, a country that just was recognized by the UN as its own country last year. His environmental work there is considerable, and we were very impressed. Montenegro is growing, and they are trying to keep up with the environmental demands on their beautiful country. A few hours later, we took an absolutely breathtaking bus ride to Kotor Bay on the eastern Adriatic coast. We zipped along the coastline that is jagged mountain that cuts directly down to the sea. We stopped in Kotor and wandered around the old city before hopping another bus to Dubrovnik, Croatia. This is when we slowed down a bit and had ear to ear grins. We were bombarded with pensione offers by people who had private rooms. A tall, very tall, persistent Croatian man with a huge yellow crooked tooth smile offered us a room on the top of the city. We took a chance, and we had the best location in all of town for half the price of a hostel. We watched the most incredible sunset ever and couldnt wipe the smiles from our faces. We drank blood orange juice and ate local cheese on crackers while toasting the red sunset. Just awesome.
Ryan removed me from the grips of the patio railing as we boarded a 4 hour bus to Split. We took an equally big leap when we arrived at the bus station there. Lots of old ladies with bad breath and abundant facial hair. I decided to opt with a lady that was calm, collected, and had excellent use of lipgloss. I dont remember her name but she was very very nice with a house just steps from the old city. We had a great time wandering around Split, and stayed just one night before heading on the overnight ferry ride from Split, Croatia to Ancona, ITALIA!!!

View from our balcony in Dubrovnik, Croatia...the magnificent Dalmatian Coast

CJ posing on our brief stop in Bosnia...hence the 'b' symbol

RJ posing with Gandolph in Split, Croaia...well maybe its not really the white wizard, but it sure looks like him!

Business meeting in Podgorica?

2007-04-15T10:38:00.000-07:00

Aaaaahhhhhh what a difference a nice bed, clean sheets, clean towels and clean clothes makes! Not to mention the comforting voices of family! Serbia was fantastic too. Our first day there we spent relaxing...didn't do a whole lot of anything. We had a lovely home cooked meal on the balcony overlooking a Serbian forest. It was great to catch up.

The next day I actually got some exercise in the form of doubles tennis on clay courts. That was fantastic...besides walking around every city we've been too, I haven't had much exercise on the trip. Was nice to work up a sweat and I hadn't played on clay in years. Good fun.

After that we got cleaned up and went for lunch in Belgrade and strolled through the walking streets and an old fort along the mighty Danube. There are still bombed out remnants of old government buildings around Belgrade, which is a bit dreary, but overall the city is nice. The weather was beautiful and people were out in full force at the cafe's and walking streets. It does help to know a bit of the local language, which we found out the hard way after our afternoon walk. After some drinks at a local cafe overlooking the Danube and the zoo, Keith and I walked back to the car...except the car was no longer where we had parked it. It had been towed, and it was only then that Keith noticed the "No Parking - Tow Away Zone" parking sign. I had noticed it before, but had no idea what it said....whoops! Not to worry, a short walk and a lighter wallet later we were on our way back to the house.

That night we were heading back downtown for dinner, the four of us and one of Keith's colleague's from Washington D.C., Mohammad Latif. Mohammad is from California via Pakistan and is the Regional Environmental Officer for Eastern Europe and Eurasia with USAID. I had spoken to Mohammad on the phone years before, but never met in person. He just happened to be in Belgrade as we were passing through so it was a perfect chance for us to meet. Mohammad is a whirlwind of a guy! Extremely nice and always on the go. Within 30 minutes of meeting him he was setting up a meeting between CJ and I and one of his colleagues in Montenegro. We were heading that way by train the next night anyway so it only seemed proper for us to meet him. Perhaps we'll be able to get some environmental contract work sometime in the future.

Dinner was good and we got a look at the superb Belgrade nightlife on the walk from the restaurant back to the car. The next day we spent in the back of the car driving through the Serbian country side. We visited a few monasteries and a couple different castle ruins. Serbia is truly a beautiful country. I've already forgotten the names of the villages and sites we saw there though. It's different when you're not planning the route yourself. Pretty nice too, after a couple months of reviewing maps and planning our days, we got to simply sit back and relax and enjoy the sites as they came. I'm sure once I review a Serbian map I'll be able to recall the towns and sites we saw.

Reluctanly we hopped on the train that night and headed towards Montenegro where we would meet up with our new contact Vladan in Podgorica. For the first time in the couchettes we had company...no more cabins to ourselves, this one was packed full with 6 people. On the bright side though, I think it was our last overnight train! Vladan picked us up at the train station in Podgorica, capital of newly independent Montenegro, and took us out for a Burek breakfast. We chatted about the history and environmental issues of Montenegro for a couple hours before we had to get on a bus to Kotor and head towards the Dalmatian Coast. The meeting went well and we hope to see Vladan again in the near future.

Next stop the Dalmatian Coast...which I think CJ already posted about...so perhaps the next stop will be Italia!

and by the way...we didn't get a chance to post any new photos or videos from Serbia...it'll have to wait a bit longer....apologies.

Rj with Uncle Keith and Aunt Chris on the streets of Belgrade

CJ on the banks of the mighty Danube

Burek business breakfast in Podgorica, Montenegro

Snowy transylvania

2007-04-10T08:13:00.000-07:00

We didn't really know what to expect from Romania, but we were happy to get off the train after 20 hours! The train ride wasn't so bad though actually, we had our own cabin which was nice and the scenery through Bulgaria and Romania was quite nice. We were woken up about 6 times in the middle of the night for passport control and customs though, that wasn't too pleasant. But we had plenty of time to catch up on sleep. We left Istanbul around 10pm and didn't arrive in Bucharest until 6pm then next day.

Once in Bucharest we searched for a hotel that took credit cards. Our ATM card hadn't worked since India so we were low on cash. We found one and settled in for the night. By the time we settled into the hotel it was dark and we didn't feel comfortable exploring Bucharest at night. So we flipped on the tube and watched some reality TV that has made its way all the way to Romania.

We probably didn't give Bucharest a fair shake because the next morning we headed back to the train station for a short journey north to Brasov in southern Transylvania. The ride north was spectacular and we were shocked to see snow capped mountains...who knew Romania had snow and even ski resorts! Certainly not us and it was a pleasant surprise. I even thought about going skiing!

Brasov turned out to be a great town. Several gothic sites to see including the Black Church, which got its name when it was torched by fire in the 1600s. We went to the nearby town of Bran to check out the Bran Castle. Legend has it that Vlad Tepes, aka Vlad the Impaler and the basis for Bram Stoker's Dracula, was once at the Bran Castle protecting the Bran Pass from the invading Turks. The Bran Pass was an important pass for the residents of southern Transylvania. The story goes that ss a youngster, Vlad's father had offered up his son as a hostage to the Turks where young Vlad learned some disturbing methods of torture. When the Turks tried to invade southern Transylvania Vlad was ready and ironically used some of the techniques he learned while in Turkey against them. Legend has it that he impaled around 20,000 of the invaders finally forcing them back south! Hence the nickname.

After 2 days in Southern Transylvania we headed back to Bucharest and caught another overnight train to Belgrade, Serbia where we would see familiar faces in my unlce Keith and aunt Chris who live there. We were looking forward to some home cooking, clean sheets, free laundry, and family hospitality! After over 2 months on the road, we certainly needed it! See you in Serbia!

The Bran Castle in Southern Transylvania

CJ overlooking the town of Brasov also in Southern Transylvania

Am I really from Spain??

2007-04-08T08:17:00.000-07:00

Every where we go in Istanbul I get people trying to talk to me in Spanish...they're sure I'm from Spain. CJ too. Some are shocked and in disbelief when we say we're from the US. From now on we're just going with it. Maybe we can improve our Spanish that way.

We have a great few days in Istanbul, its a marvelous city right on the water. The weather has been about 40 degrees cooler than India, but its been a welcome change. We finally get to bust out some of our cold weather clothes that we've been lugging around SE Asia and India for the past 2 months...makes the packs a bit lighter, but the new wardrobe that CJ has bought makes up for the difference!

We stayed in the historic part of town with great views of the Hagia Sofia and Blue Mosque. We've been dining on simit, sort of a turkish pretzel that is sold everywhere, and other tasty goodies from numerous street vendors. We strolled through the Grand Bazaar that has been in action since the 1400s making it the oldest bazaar in the world. Today we took a ferry across to the Asian side of Istanbul and walked around some markets over there.

Tonight we get to take a 20-hour overnight train to Bucharest, Romania! How exciting!! We'll stay in Bucharest for one night, then head up to the Transylvanian town of Brasov and search for remnants of Dracula or the unlucky souls who crossed his path! After 2 nights in Brasov we'll head to Belgrade where we'll get some home cooking and family hospitality from my Unlce Keith and his wife Chris...very much looking forward to that!! At that point we also hope to be able to upload more photos so be on the lookout for new photos on some old posts. Next stop Transylvania!!

Flight from Bahrain to Istanbul...who knows what I'm drinking?!?

One of the Spaniards checking out the belly dancing attire at the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul

International News from the Subcontinent

2007-03-28T07:47:00.000-07:00

Read an article in the paper the other day about a flight from Bangkok to New Dehli (which we took as well). A drunk Mexican on the plane punched a fellow passenger and then threatened to blow up the plane. The plane then made an emergency landing in Kolkata and the Mexican was quickly arrested upon landing. He didn't have any bomb equipment on him. I'm sure he spent a lovely time in an Indian prison, and we thought our accommodations were bad! Tequila!

In other news, the Cricket World Cup is on right now. Cricket is THE sport here in India. Unfortunately, India lost to both Sri Lanka and Bangladesh in the group phase and their one victory against Bermuda was not enough to move them through to the next round. Pakistan also lost in the group phase and are out as well. Cricket is also extremely popular in Pakistan. The coach of the Pakistani team was found dead in his hotel room shortly after the team was ousted from contention. He died of strangulation and foul play is definitely at hand. They haven't identified a suspect yet (as far as I know, I may be a bit behind on the story), but do have some leads. The Cricket World Cup is being played in Jamaica.

That's all for the international news from the subcontinent! We're in Jaipur right now, heading to Udaipur on Friday.

Attaining nirvana with Roger Moore

2007-03-26T04:05:00.000-07:00

This may be a bit late, but India was nuts! The filth on the streets really started to get to us after a while. We did enjoy it though. We searched for nirvana in Bodhgaya which was quite peaceful. The bus from Agra to Jaipur hurled us into the princely state of Rajasthan where the weather heated up and dried out. Rajasthan is the only Indian state that can claim it was never conquered. Jaipur is the bustling capital of Rajasthan and our stay there turned into a bit of a shopping spree! CJ now has a new wardrobe and I got to enjoy some free tea and air-conditioned respite from the draining dry heat.

After Jaipur we lugged our now larger bags on the train to Udaipur...the nicest train ride we had in India, a short overnighter that was comfortable and on time. Udaipur is known for the 1982 Bond film Octopussy starring Roger Moore and the rickshaw driver that we caught from the train station to our hotel didn't let the city down and let us know right away. Nearly every hotel shows the movie just about every night so of course on our 2nd night we enjoyed a rooftop dinner with Roger Moore seducing Bond girls left and right...not much plot in those films and Austin Powers sure nailed the spoof on the Bond series.

We really enjoyed Udaipur as well, its a quieter town with some nice scenery. There's a nice lake that splits the city and the Lake Palace, while out of our budget for accommodation, is still nice to look at during the day and when its lit up at night. We saw some great traditional Rajasthani dancing on our first night including a lady dancing with about 9 or 10 bowls on her head, which is how the women carry there water in the drought ridden state.

The next day we got a cooking lesson so hopefully we can re-create some Indian dishes in our kitchen in the future. The spices alone are spectacular...bright red chili powder, orange turmeric, and golden coriander mixed with sizzling cumin seeds are the basic spices ingredients along a healthy dose of salt. We learned how to make Palak Paneer, Aloo Mehti, Channa Masala and naan bread, but we'll see how much we retained when we return and don't have a true Indian in the kitchen to help out.

We avoided a 24-hour train ride from Udaipur to Mumbai and instead took a 1-hour flight...much nicer. Mumbai feels like a true international city. No cows blocking traffic, no cowpies to avoid on the streets, actual sidewalks, and taxis instead of rickshaws in the city center. We spent 4 days in Mumbai exploring the sights and doing some more shopping. We saw the house that Gandhi called home while in Mumbai, Chowpatty Beach, the Colaba district and the historic Leopold's Cafe, made famous by the book Shantaram that I started to read before I left, but decided not to lug around with me. I'll finish it when I return with a better sense of the Mumbai geography. We saw a free classical dance show in which the Governor of Maharashtra attended as did a Bollywood star and the Indian paparazzi were out in full force and making sure everyone knew they were there with their shutters popping every few seconds. It was good.

We caught an eeeeearly flight from Mumbai to Istanbul with a 3 hour layover in Bahrain. Unfortunately, we didn't get to leave the airport, but the city was abuzz with the anticipation of the Gulf Air Bahrain Formula One Grand Prix which is on the weekend of April 13-15.

thats all for now....see you in Europa!

CJ at the Vietnamese Buddhist temple in Bodhgaya

CJ negotiating with a rickshaw driver

Sun setting in Udaipur
Dancing with water pots on your head is fun!

Catch UP!

2007-03-26T04:03:00.000-07:00

Hello Friends from Agra, India... city of the Taj Mahal. Sorry we haven't posted in a while. I had my best post yet go down a Thai gutter one night. We attempted several posts but lost every draft in some freak computer bird flu virus. Looks like we're a few countries behind! After Cambodia, we were in Thailand for 10 days. Once we were in Bangkok we decided to put our knowledge of remote tropical islands to use in having a look at Ko Phi Phi, the island where the movie "The Beach"was filmed. Yes, it was beautiful and seeing pictures of the island after the tsunami blew us away. We really wanted to go scuba diving, but unfortunately I was still sick (the second time in a month) and my ears couldn't take it. They have a feisty army of "sea lice" that attacked us when we went snorkeling too, so I took that as a sign we weren't meant to scuba. We did see the biggest parrot fish ever though, about 4 feet long! And that's no fish tale!
We stayed in a budget hostel in Phuket Town, which was the crappiest accomodation yet, although it only cost like $2.50 a night... it was also where the dorm scenes were filmed for "The Beach" so we just told ourselves that they purposely made the hostel dingy in the name of art and theater. And if it was good enough for Leo Dicaprio.... well who are we to complain!
We headed to Bangkok and had just a few more days on Khao San Road. They sell mango with sticky rice every 10 yards and Pad thai for about 30 cents. As long as you look through the flies and not at the cleanliness of the cook's hands, it's awesome. We thought about going to northern Thailand but the train would be long and there were health hazards due to brush fires lingering in the air. I read in the paper that the govt was going to fly planes over Chiang Mai and Rai with water and some rain-inducing chemical to clear the air out. So, we decided to stick with the dangers and grit of Khao San Road instead.
We flew from Bangkok to Delhi and were really glad to have an airport pick up because it was late at night, there were hundreds of male indians staring at us as we walked out from the airport, and we were ready for bed. India has been the toughest travel for us so far. I think partially because we are staying in budget places, so we're not in the safest, cleanest, or friendliest of places. Actually, we have yet to find places that are safe, clean or friendly just yet. But we are looking!
We took the train to Varanasi, per recommendation from my step bro Nic who was there just a few days before us filming his next documentary. (I'll try to post the link to his site) and he warned us about crazy monkeys. He wasn't kidding, we stayed far away, I think they must have Rabies and we didn't get that vaccination! We also saw more that we (shall I say that I) was prepared for. It's a holy city on the Ganges and many people want to be cremated on the banks in funeral pyres. They purchase various types of wood, sandalwood (the most expensive) banyan, etc. and there are multiple fires alight all times of the day and night. We could see the flames and huge plume of smoke from the hostel and accidently saw the inner workings of the cremation site while walking. We then went to Bodhgaya, the one place I told myself "if I ever went to india"that's where I'd go. It's the site where Siddartha Gautama sat under the Bodhi tree and attained enlightenment. It was awesome! Tibetan monks in exhile encircling the tree, pilgrims from all over the world come here to see this holiest of Buddhist sites. THe Dalai Lama comes down from Dharamsala December and January every year. IT's been the highlight of India so far for me. Also, we stayed in a guest house away from the main part of town and overlooking a cow field, which was nice. and quiet!
We took a 16 hour train ride from Gaya to Agra, which is where we are now. It's the home of a sight you might have heard of.... the Taj Mahal. It's nice, looks just like it does in pictures. For Indians to get in, it's 20 rupees, or less than 50 cents. For foreigners, it was 1500 rupees for the both of us! Quite expensive when you factor in that we are paying 250 rupees per night for our hostel. We are showering out of a bucket though...

We haven't yet found a computer in India that has USB for us to upload pictures yet. We've got plenty though! Luckily neither of us have contracted Delhi Belly which is a miracle considering the hygiene here!!!!!! (that's a six exclamation point phrase!) We are headed by bus to Jaipur tomorrow, part of the golden triangle. Hope you are all well!

slow boat ride on the Mother Ganges River in Varanasi

Beard Envy

2007-03-17T08:59:00.000-07:00

I knew India was going to be a wild place when the pilot on our flight from Bangkok to New Dehli stated that the time change was 1 hour and 30 minutes...huh!!?? How does that work?? Don't ask me, even crazier is that I think Nepal is another 15 minutes off!! I think they're all just trying to mess with each other. Beats me.

We hadn't seen much facial hair throughout Southeast Asia...asians simply don't grow it well. So I knew we were in a completely different part of the world when we disembarked in New Dehli. I instantly had beard envy. They certainly know how to grow them here! They start at such a young age that by the time they get to be my age or older the beards are so long than many can twist them and wrap them up into their turbans. Mighty impressive!

Overall our impressions of India have been overshadowed by the strong stench of urine in every street we walk through. We haven't gotten over that yet. A lot of the cities we've been to remind of how I picture the middle ages were. Small stores lining the narrow streets with all sorts of people walking through and various farm animals lurking around every corner. It has been interesting to say the least.

That's all for now, we'll try to keep you posted more often.

One night in Bangkok

2007-03-13T20:40:00.000-07:00

Ok so we had 10 days in Thailand, but that song was in my head for most of the trip! So we've tried to post this blog a couple times now. The computers we've had to deal with on this trip have been frustrating. Between power outages, computer crashes and smiple lost information, itz amazing we've posted as much as we have! Anyway, I see CJ is filling in some blanks so I'll move on to another topic...in another post.

CJ on Koh Phi Phi in Thailand

Magnificent Cambodia

2007-03-07T18:36:00.000-08:00

We were still glowing the next morning from our family visit, at least emotionally. Physically I didn't feel so hot as I didn't get much sleep and I had probably drank 5 or 6 beers the day before. Nevertheless, we ate breakfast and walked across the street to catch our bus for the Mekong Delta. We had booked a two day tour of the Mekong Delta, then boat ride to Phnom Penh. The bus took us to a boat which took us around a floating market and into some villages along the Mekong Delta. We watched folks make coconut candies, rice paper, rice crispy treats, sweet popped corn, and other tasty delights. We then stopped for lunch and watched a music concert given by locals. The banks of the delta are lined with houses on stilts and there are numerous houseboats that reside on the waters of the delta. After lunch we took the bus north to Chau Doc near the Cambodian border and slept.

We woke up early the next morning and took a boat from Chau Doc up the Mekong River towards Phnom Penh, Cambodia. The border crossing took some time as we had to go through both

Vietnamese passport control, then go up river 10 minutes to the Cambodian passport control. We eventually made it though. After a grand total of about 8 hours on various boats and a bus, we finally made it to our final destination...Phnom Penh. It was late so we found a hotel, ate dinner and went to bed.

The next morning we set out to see the sights of Phnom Penh. We only had one full day so we wanted to see as much as possible. We started with a tour of the Killing Fields and the Tuol Sleng genocide museum. Traumatic and sickening are the best words to describe the Pol Pot era in Cambodia. Pol Pot wanted to return the country to its glory days of rice production by forcing everyone out of the cities and into the rice fields to work. Anyone who slacked or disobeyed was killed. His attempt at a utopian agrarian society wound up with nearly 2 millions people dead by either murder, starvation, or disease. Many of the country's educated were specifically targeted. It was a rough morning for sure.

After touring these atrocious sites, we went to the Royal Palace, which is all glitz and gold, quite a difference from the rest of the city. We checked out some markets around town and got some food. It was a long day and we slept well. I was particularly excited about our next destination...Siem Reap and the Temples of Angkor. We arrived in Siem Reap by bus and had a hotel tuk tuk driver waiting to pick us up at the bus station. We unloaded our things at the hotel and walked into town for dinner.

The next morning we rented 2 bicycles for our first day exploring the temples. Only cost $1/day and we had the freedom to go where we wanted. We bought a 3-day Temple pass and were determined to get our money's worth. We started off big and went straight to Angkor Wat, the largest religious structure in the world. It is amazingly impressive. Huge moat followed by another long walkway across grass until finally reaching the structure. Angkor Wat was built after the mythical Mt. Meru of the Hindu religion. It is stunning. Next we rode on to Angkor Thom which has numerous interesting structures including the outer wall, which impresses as you enter, and the Bayon, with its over 200 faces peacefully staring at you. We stopped several times for cold drinks and CJ bought a t-shirt and I bought a traditional Cambodian khrama scarf. We spent the afternoon touring several more temples on our bicycles. The bicycles worked out great as we were able to ride around several of the temples. By the afternoon though, our asses were paying the price! Those $1/day bikes had no cushion on the seat! From our last temple at Ta Som back to Siem Reap was about 16km of sore bum bike riding! We were beat when we arrived and went straight to dinner. After a nice big Khmer meal, we rode back to the hotel and crashed.

The second day we had a nice big breakfast (as we had the first day) then proceeded to rent cushier $4/day electric bicycles! These were even better than the regular bikes. The only drawback was ensuring the charge didn't get too low. There were many electric bike stations around the temples to swap out batteries, you just needed to make sure you got a good battery! We toured many of the same temples again on

Day 2 and several that we missed the day before. A couple of times we nearly ran out of juice, but made it to a station, until the end of the day. At the end of the day CJ had to pull me along to make the last station where we got fresh batteries and made it the rest of the way to town. We had visited Ta Prohm where scenes from Tomb Raider were filmed.

The last day we hired a Tuk Tuk to take us to Banteay Srei Temple because it was too far to ride a bike to. Banteay Srei is a pretty small temple, but the detail in the carvings is spectacular. We also saw some tiny, tiny frogs jumping around, pretty cool. Our driver then took us back to town where we bought a couple t-shirts, got cleaned up, and made our way to the airport for our flight to Bangkok. Thoroughly enjoyed Cambodia and hope it rises from its dark recent history. Next stop Thailand!

Meet the family

2007-03-06T07:12:00.001-08:00

We arrived in Saigon in the evening and quickly found a hotel room, got cleaned up, and had some dinner. We strolled around a bit before heading to bed. The next morning we toured the city by foot. We checked out the huge market near our hotel and then kept on going until we found ourselves at the reunification palace. We toured the reunification palace, the basement was the most interesting with maps and phones and other relics from the Vietnam-American war. When done, we strolled back towards our hotel and had some food. We had a big day the next day so we tried to get some rest.

After breakfast the next morning, CJ's Uncle Vang and Cousin Cuc picked us up at the hotel and drove us out to Bien Hoa where the family lives. CJs mother is Vietnamese so she has all kinds of relatives in Bien Hoa. None of them speak English well at all so we were in for an interesting day of communication. We drove down a dirt alley as we neared our destination. Several turns down the alley later and we arrived. A number of people awaited our arrival at the house...again, none spoke english. The house was quite nice with a small outdoor patio and nice living room. We sat down and more people cam into the room to greet us. One introduced himself in English and said that the family had asked him to come by to interpret for us. We were relieved because our nods and hand gestures weren't getting us very far! Drinks and fruit were then presented and we started introducing ourselves. Many remembered CJ from her visit 10 years earlier and tears began to flow. We caught up and met everyone over fruit and beers. Of course I was meeting all these people for the first time, and it was fantastic. We sat down for a nice lunch of rice, veggies and fish. Everyone was very friendly and welcoming.

After a while at Uncle Vang's we all hopped on motorbikes and went to Uncle Ut's house to meet more family. After the 6 or 7 bike caravan we arrived and went straight upstairs to say a prayer and light some incense for CJs grandmother and grandfather who have both passed away. We sat in the living room and shared more stories and took heaps of photos. Next we piled back onto the motorbikes and drove through town to a cafe. After more beers and snacks at the cafe we headed back to Uncle Vang's house before taking a cab back to Saigon. It was a fantastic visit. I was really taken back by the welcome and the emotion felt by us and the family. Really an amazing feeling to meet up with new family in a foreign country at 32 years old! Even if a translator was needed to communicate, you could feel the love in the air. Photos to come soon I hope!

Most of the family...not all of them though!

CJ with some of the female cousins

RJ with some of the male cousins

Riding the scooters...

...and the motorcycles!

Nha Trang, Dalat, Mui Ne, SAIGON!

2007-03-05T04:48:00.000-08:00

Nha Trang was just so-so...we did a tour of 4 of the outer islands and we barely got off the boat. The snorkeling was decent despite the worthless gear provided. We did some walking around the sitting and saw the largest sitting Buddha in the world, that was pretty cool.

After Nha Trang we bussed it to Dalat. Dalat is up in the hills of Central Vietnam, a pretty nice bus ride with some good views. As has become typical, we did a lot of walking around Dalat. We saw the summer palace of Bao Dai, who was one of the last feudal kings of the Nguyen Dynasty in the early 20th Century...somewhat interesting. The highlight of Dalat was drinking 2500 Dong beers (that's about 15 cents) with some locals...priceless.

Then we sped back to the coast and spent a night in Mui Ne. Quite a nice little beach town spread along about 10km of coastline. Lots of kitesurfing and windsurfing going on this area as the winds really pick up in the afternoon. Again we walked a lot. Some pretty swanky hotels and resorts along the southern part of the beach.

After a night in Mui Ne it was time for us to head to Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City)!! Photos to come...

Bus ride from hell!

2007-02-26T09:08:00.000-08:00

We tried to take the train...we really did! But because of the Tet holiday, the train was fully booked. So we had to take the bus, there was no choice unless we wanted to stay in Hoi An for a week, which we didn't. So we bought our bus tickets. The ride was from 6pm to 6am!! Dreadful!

We boarded the bus and drove around Hoi An picking up other folks at various hotels. A sreaming baby got on behind us, luckily the baby was escorted onto a different bus shortly thereafter, our luck would end there.

Driving in Vietnam is tough. There are so many mopeds and motorbikes that they take up both sides of the road, which forces any vehicles to drive in the middle, which makes it interesting when on-coming traffic arrives. Horns are constanly blaring and busses like ours are constantly dodging tiny motorbikes that weave in and out of traffic. Shortly after our journey began we tried to settle in, get comfortable, and sleep a bit. However, our bus driver and general traffic had other plans for us. Our driver was constanly blaring the horn and dodging motorbikes. At one point a bike veered right in front of our bus forcing us to swerve violently off the road onto the dirt shoulder narrowly missing the motorbike and continuing on our way. About an hour later we witnessed a bus that probably had a similar incident, but a tragically different result. The bus we slowly drove past was on its side in the ditch and the motorbike it tried to avoid was crushed, the motorbike driver laying in the road probably did not survive. I didn't sleep a wink after that.

Soon we stopped for a pitstop to get some dinner and change drivers. We grabbed a hot sandwich and were back on the road in 30 minutes. While at the pitstop, the drivers had set up a hammock for Driver #1 to sleep in while Driver #2 took over the wheel. The hammock stretched from the front seat to the bus door, right in front of the windshield. Driver #1 apparently has sleep apnea and snores like a champion! The entire bus was giggling at first, then realized that it wasn't going to stop. Every 30 seconds or so he would gasp for air and snort out a few short breaths. At least he was getting some rest...unlike CJ and me!

The horn blaring and motorbike dodging continued into the wee hours of the night and I watched all of it from my aisle seat. We stopped a couple more times for the restroom and then continued on. The drivers swapped spots a couple times and the snoring continued. Finally around 5am we could see the light of Nha Trang. We apparently were going to be early, which was fine by me! Before we crossed the bridge into Nha Trang, the driver pulled the bus over and parked in a lot overlooking the water. He got up and both drivers went to sleep. Apparently we were too early!! We sat in the parking lot for 45 minutes looking across the water at Nha Trang, our final destination, and watching the sunrise, which was pretty nice I must admit. Around 6am, the drivers woke up and we drover our last 30 minutes into town.

CJ and I jumped off the bus, grabbed our packs and went off to find a hotel to finally get some sleep!!

Motorbike excursion

2007-02-25T18:46:00.000-08:00

After our Tet disappointment, we set out the next day to see more sights around Hue. We went to the old part of town and the Citadel. There are several pagodas, temples, and old royal homes in the Citadel area. After walking around there for a while we strolled over to the Dong Ba Market again to see if we could get some more delicious sweets. Unfortunately, it being the first day of the New Year, it was closed.

After lunch we decided to rent a motorbike and check out some sites outside the city. I drove and CJ climbed on the back as we scurried out of town. Actually, we first had to put some gas in the tank. Being our first time on a motorbike in Asia, we first had to find the gas tank and figure out how to open it. Once that was done, then we scurried out of town on our new wheels. We checked out the Thien Mu Pagoda, which is supposedly the most recognized structure in Vietnam. Then we continued along through rice fields and small villages to the Tomb of Minh Mang who ruled from 1820-1840 during the Nguyen Dynasty in Vietnam. The only reason we found the place was because a kid shouted at us "Minh Mang!" as we scooted past it.

After the tomb we were heading back to town when we spotted a large statue of the female buddha on a hill nearby. We rode over and up the hill to check it out. Lots of beggars with the worst teeth I've ever seen lined the steps up to the buddha. Incense was burning all over the place as well. We had a short visit and got back on the motorbike and back to the hotel before dark. It was a good initiation to the motorbike scene in Vietnam. The roads were not very crowded when we started and by the time we made it back to town and into rush hour traffic we were pros. We were honking at everything, we fit in expertly. Only had one near miss where we nearly rear-ended another motorbike because I didn't see the red light. We returned unscathed though and thoroughly enjoyed it! Next stop....Hoi An!

Chuc Mung Nam Moi!!

2007-02-20T17:43:00.001-08:00

We arrived in Hue by train and had a ride waiting to pick us up at the station which was nice. Having a place already booked saves the hassle of lugging our packs around looking for a place to stay. After resting and fueling up on some good veggie food near our hotel, we hit the town. We walked across the river and made our way to the Dong Ba Market. A really cool place, the best market we've been to so far. Quite large with everything available from touristy junk to clothes, fruit, veggies, fish, meat, flowers and sweets. The smells of the market were quite pungent. Some stalls smelled of rotting meat and decaying fruit, while others smelled of dead fish. Some perked up your senses with sweet fruits. The sights, smells, and sounds made it quite an event.

After walking around for a bit we came across a unique vendor serving Vietnamese sweets. We quickly pulled up some plastic chairs and surveyed our options. She was serving glasses with your choice of about 6 or 7 different options. They ranged from sliced bananas with coconut, some sort of purple taro paste, Vietnamese green beans, brown beans, bits of coconut meat inside rice flour balls that were then boiled, and larger rice flour balls stuffed with jack fruit. All of these were warmed by a small fire underneath them. You could pick and choose which ones you wanted in your glass, a bit of ice was added along with a splash of coconut milk and nuts if wanted. For a mere 3000 Vietnamese Dong (about 20cents) you had yourself a delicious treat. We had three glasses!

After wandering the market we headed back across the river and strolled the streets towards our hotel. It was the night of Tet so were interested in seeing what excitement would take place around town. We were a bit wiped out from walking around all day in the heat though. After dinner we laid down for a bit and were rudely awoken around midnight by popping fireworks over the river. We couldn't see them from our balcony so after a bit of rustling we hustled down the street towards the river to catch some fireworks. They lasted a good 20 minutes, but the last one popped just before we got within viewing distance. So our first Tet in Asia ended with us on the banks of the river in Hue smelling the fumes and seeing the smoke from the fireworks. Chuc mung nam moi! Year of the Golden Pig!

Halong Bay...you get what you pay for

2007-02-20T06:17:00.000-08:00

After a fabulous trip to Sapa, we went a bit cheap on our Halong Bay trip and it showed. I guess you get what you pay for here in Vietnam. It started with a long minibus ride from Hanoi to Halong City. Its only 160km, but took us over 4 hours to make the trip. It can be difficult to get around here in Vietnam due to the mind-boggling number of motorbikes, mopeds, and scooters that line the streets. Add to that the fact that we're in the middle of the Tet holiday and it'll take over 4 hours to go 160km. More on the traffic in a later blog.

CJ and I didn't even have real seats for the journey, just the fold down type in the middle of the aisle. We arrived in Halong City and about 50 of us piled onto the boat that was supposed to hold 16 max. We weren't sure how everyone was going to get a cabin to sleep in, but we weren't worrying about it just yet. We had to make a french couple move over so we could fit at the table for lunch as we set out to check out Halong Bay.

Halong Bay is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Not only is it aesthetically spectacular with over 3000 islands, but its also culturally interesting as there are hundreds and perhaps thousands of Vietnamese living on the waters of Halong Bay. They make a living by fishing and selling things to tourists. Most have aquaculture pens surrounding their homes, which are literally on the water. Pretty crazy place to live, and just about each home came with a guard dog.

Our first stop in the Bay was a huge cave on one of the islands. I don't know much more about the cave as our tour guide wasn't much help. CJ and I felt that the cave may have been used as human habitation hundreds or maybe even thousands of years ago, but our tour guide said it had only been discovered in 1989. Don't think we believe that, but we stopped asking questions after that response. Maybe that's what he was hoping for.

After the cave we headed further into the islands towards Cat Ba Island. We were meant to sleep on the boat the first night, but as there were too many of us, we slept on Cat Ba Island the first night. Cat Ba Island is surprisingly large for being so far out in Halong Bay. There are many hotels, restaurants and karaoke bars lining the streets. We had dinner at the hotel and took a stroll down the main street. The local delicacy appeared to be some sort of gecko wine. Literally dead nearly footlong gecko's crammed into bottles of "wine". As tempting as that sounds, we didn't try any.

After breakfast the next morning, we went hiking in the Cat Ba Island National Park. At the top of the mountain there were great views of the surrounding islands. It was a cool day and a bit foggy, which gave the islands a mystic aura. After hiking we had lunch and took a nap before heading back to the boat for a kayaking expedition. For being a World Heritage Site, the waters in Halong Bay are not pristine. Probably due to the large number of inhabitants on the water and tour boats in the area. We kayaked around for about 45 minutes, checking out the islands up close and making the dogs bark at us. As we headed back toward Cat Ba Island we made a quick stop at Monkey Island for some folks to have a look at a monkey or two. We refrained. We then went back to Cat Ba Island to settle in for the night.

As I mentioned there were more people than the boat could handle so during the previous day our tour guide and other tour guides were making up stories to try to get people to stay at the hotel instead of on the boat. Stories ranged from a large storm brewing, to rats on the boat, possibly sinking boats, and horrible food. Some of the stories must have worked because come bedtime, there were 16 people on the boat and everyone had a pillow.

The next morning we headed back to Halong City, waited around for an hour before eating lunch and hopping back on the minibus for Hanoi. On the way back we were one seat short so I ended up sitting up front between the driver and passenger seat on a cushion. Quite comfy, but I would've done a mighty superman impression had the brakes been needed in a hurry. Saw a cockfight on the side of the road during our pitstop.

Once back in Hanoi we had 2 hours to collect our things, get cleaned up, get our train tix and get to the train station in time for our 7pm train from Hanoi to Hue. And the journey continues...photos finally up!

Maybe you buy from me??

2007-02-17T06:44:00.000-08:00

Finally able to post again! A lot of the computers we've come across are either too slow or don't support this page so it has been difficult to post. A lot has happened since our last post.

We took a fantastic trip to Sapa in the northern mountains of Vietnam. We took the sleeper train from Hanoi to Lau Cai, about 3km from the Chinese border. Then we hopped on a minibus and drove into the mountains to the town of Sapa. From there we hiked into the villages in the valley below Sapa. There are several mountain tribes living in the area. We came across three in particular: Zay, Red Zao, and Black Hmong. There were several Black Hmong girls waiting outside the hotel where we started our trek. All spoke english quite well and were a bit sassy. I quickly became known as monkey face due to my beard. Three of the girls followed us on our trek and were quite amusing. Our guide was a 20-year old girl from the Red Zao tribe and knew the area very well. It was a beautiful day. The hills in the region are all terraced with agriculture, mainly rice production. All the tribes sell handicrafts to tourists to supplement their incomes. At first we were hesitant to buy anything, but caved by the end of our journey through the hills and valleys around Sapa. We had decided to do a homestay during our trip so after a full day of hiking we stayed in the home of a Zay tribe in the village of Lau Chai. Pretty basic living. Wood fired stove in the kitchen that belted out plumes of smoke. Certainly not good for the lungs, but it cooked the food and kept you warm. The week before we arrived it had snowed in the area! It didn't while we were there, but it certainly got cold at night. That wood-fired stove can still cook up a good meal too and we ate well. Spring rolls, stir fried veggies and chicken, along with steamed rice. We were the only two staying in the home that night, besides the family, although they had room for several others. We took advantage and stocked up on extra blankets to keep warm.

In the morning, we had crepes with bananas and honey before setting off for more hiking. We hiked to the village of Ta Van and had lunch before heading back to Sapa by minibus. When entering both Lau Chai and Ta Van we were inundated by villagers, mainly Black Hmong women, trying to sell us goods. They didn't give up! They're tag line was "Maybe you buy from me??" No matter how many times we said no thanks, they persisted! In the end we bought several items from them, but all were worth it and will be memorable keepsakes. The girls that followed us on our trek were quite good business women even if they were only 10 years old!

We spent a brief 30 minutes at the Sapa market before heading back to Lau Cai to take the train back to Ha Noi. The market itself was very interesting to see. People, mainly women, from all tribes interacting and selling goods to each other. We really enjoyed our time in Sapa and recommend the region to anyone visiting Vietnam. Our next stop will be Halong Bay! Hope to post again soon!

CJ bartering with Black Hmong women

RJ sitting next to the wood-fired stove before eating dinner in the Zay home.

So and Ha, the two Black Hmong girls that hiked down the valley with us. The one on the right is not smiling because we didn't want any of her sugar cane. She was sassy that one!

The terraced hills around Sapa.

Cooking dinner with the Zay family in Lau Chai

Xin chao from Hanoi!

2007-02-09T03:29:00.000-08:00

After 36 hours of transit and about an hour and a half's worth of sleep, we were thrilled to finally see the sunshine in Hanoi. Except it was cloudy, but our smiles were just as big. Driving to the airport from San Diego to LAX is pretty much the epitome of the southern california experience...concrete, BMW's and road rage. Driving from the Hanoi airport to the Old Quarter is much different. We passed water buffalo, women riding bicycles on the side of the road with live chicken coops attached to their seats, but just a tinge of road rage. If you measure it in car horn beeps that is. Instead of large SUV's there are perhaps thousands of mopeds within eye's view, and everyone beeps for any reason, or no reason at all it seems...

The streets here are based on a french design, tiny alley ways every which direction that connect main streets. Our taxi driver dropped us off a few blocks away from our alley and pointed us in a direction. I wouldn't say it was the right one, but we wandered a bit, then finally found it. What a sweeet nap we had, then we hit the town when the smell of thit nuong hit our room.

Today we did a bit of sorting ourselves with some dong. We are millionaires today, dong millionaires!! Ahh it feels good. Except when we give out our money in the tens of thousands. Is this how it feels to be Paris Hilton?

Wandering the streets, the Tet decorations color the landscape. The lunar new year is the most exciting celebration in Vietnam. Businesses would rather shut down than work during Tet. (Hopefully that doesn't mean we'll be sleeping on a bench!) And Hanoi will be filled with fireworks and little red envelopes that say "chuc mung nam moi" (happy new year) next weekend.

Here are a couple pics from our wanderings today. Speaking of Hilton, we also went to the "Hanoi Hilton" where Senator John McCain spent a good amount of time. It's now a prison museum that shows how the pre-"American" war communist revolutionaries and American POW soldiers lived. It felt like a spooky energy lived in the prison, definitely haunted. When you read the narratives in the prison though, it seems like the POW's were on vacation there. I would say there's some quite evident bias, if i knew this computer weren't bugged.

Wandering through the markets on the street is a lot of fun, all sorts of spices, fresh produce, meats, fresh dau phu (tofu) and flowers. And who doesn't like ice cream fresh from the bike? Vietnamese ice cream men!

RJ and I are waiting for a pick up to the train station, we are taking an overnighter to the town of Sapa, a Black Hmong village about 50 miles from the Chinese border, up in the mountains. We are doing a trekking homestay, and on Saturday, villagers from all around come to Sapa. Should be a wonderful trip... Tam Biet (goodbye) for now.

Itinerary update

2007-02-05T16:00:00.000-08:00

We haven't even left yet and things have already changed! We tried to use our timeshare somewhere in Italy, but the entire country was booked. All you Italians out there, don't fret, we'll still be spending a lot of time in Italy, but will have to find other accommodations. As a last minute replacement we landed a sweet spot in Ibiza, Spain!! We're pretty excited about that, neither of us have been to Ibiza so we'll have fun there for a week...again thanks mom! Cynthia has stocked up on her Imitrex as we've heard things can get pretty crazy on Ibiza!!

Also, we may not be going to the Czech Republic anymore, but may make a day trip to Romania....we'll keep you updated on that as the trip progresses.

We're set to go though, we have our plane tickets and our rail passes, we got some immunizations and malaria pills, and are packing as lightly as possible. The first leg of our journey will be the longest as we're flying LA - Taipei, then to Bangkok, then to Hanoi all in one go. We'll be a bit exhausted when we arrive in Vietnam, but we get there in the morning and already have a place to stay so we'll be able to rest our weary bones for a bit before exploring the city.

We rented a car and will be driving from San Diego to Los Angeles in the morning to catch our 2pm plane.

see you in Vietnam!

Let the journey begin

2007-01-31T12:24:00.000-08:00

I feel that our journey began last Friday. CJ and I flew up to Sacramento on Thursday to see my friends and family. On Friday we decided to rent a car and drive to San Francisco to get our Indian and Vietnamese visas. We arrived at the Budget rent-a-car office shortly before 8am, filled out the paper work, inspected to compact car, and were on the road to SF by 8:30. It was a crisp morning and we hit some fairly thick fog on our way out of Sacramento.

The drive to SF was pretty quick and we were parking near the Indian Consulate around 10am. The plan was to drop off our passports and visa application at the Indian Consulate first as they process visas the same day. So you drop them off in the morning and pick them up in afternoon...same day service is great. After that we were going to run over the Vietnamese Consulate and drop off our applications and have them mailed back to us. We had it all worked out, we even planned lunch with some friends in SF and dinner with CJs step dad and step brother. It was going to be a great day in the city.

We parked the car about a block away from the Indian Consulate and stopped by the bank to get some cash on our way. We then crossed the street with passports, visa application, and cash in hand. We strolled up to the Indian Consulate only to see a large sign reading "CLOSED" in the window! Republic Day was not on our list of holidays and we had no idea the consulate would be closed. We had to change our plan. We stopped by the Chinese Consulate and thought about changing our itinerary to include China if they could process visas in the same day. They can't though and we're not going...at least not on this trip. The Vietnamese Consulate was still on our schedule so we made our way over there and dropped off our visa applications without hassle. There was still time for lunch with our good friend Erin and we were on the road back to Sacramento by 1:30.

Despite the photos, we got all our visas!

So here's the itinerary for our 120 days on the road.

February 6, 2007: Los Angeles - Hanoi, Vietnam. Once arriving in Hanoi we make our way south by train to Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) and up the Mekong River to Phnom Penh, Cambodia. While in Cambodia we'll visit the temples in Angkor Wat and Siem Reap.

March 6, 2007: Siem Reap, Cambodia - Bangkok, Thailand. Not sure where we'll go while in Thailand, but we have 10 days to explore. A few of those will be spent in Bangkok and a trip to Chiang Mai may be in our plans as well.

March 16, 2007: Bangkok, Thailand - New Dehli, India. India is an intriguing country. We don't really know what to expect while we're there. India is probably the place we are least prepared for and most excited about. We'll have 3 weeks to make our way from New Dehli down to Mumbai with stops in Jaipur and Agra to see the Taj Mahal.

April 6, 2007: Mumbai, India - Istanbul, Turkey. After 2 months in Asia we now make our way to Europe. After a few days exploring Istanbul we'll move north by train to Sofia, Bulgaria before landing in Belgrade, Serbia to see my uncle Keith. We'll stay in Belgrade for 4 or 5 days and then explore the rest of the Balkan states including at least Croatia and Montenegro. Around April 27 we'll take a ferry across the Adriatic Sea to Ancona, Italy then take a train to Rome where we'll stay in a timeshare (courtesy of my mom, thanks mom!) for a week. On May 5 we'll take the train north and spend a few days in Tuscany and Florence and a couple days in Venice before making our way to Austria. In Austria we hope to visit Salzburg, Arnfels and Vienna then continue north into the Czech Republic. Prague is supposedly beautiful so we'll spend a few days analyzing those rumors. After the Czech Republic comes Germany where Berlin, Frankfurt and Dusseldorf are on our list of cities to visit. From Dusseldorf we'll continue north to Amsterdam and Brussels where I'm hoping I'll be able to attend my 15-year high school reunion. Our last leg leads us to London where we'll fly back to LA on June 6, 2007.

We leave in a week and we're looking forward to an exciting journey. We'll try to keep this updated with photos when we can.

Dr. Phil says "Stay at the A to Z Queen Cafe Hostel in Hanoi, its a great place!" Thanks Doc, we'll be sure and stay there, they'll even pick us up at the airport!