So yesterday we took a 2 hour train ride northeast of Budapest to the town of Eger. It is known as their wine region. Their regional specialty is a wine called "bulls blood" mainly because of the color.
When we arrived our first challenge was to find the guest house that we had booked. We had no map to speak of, just a rough sketch from the internet. We found the town center and the tourist information office, where they gave us a map that helped us find our accomodation. We had to go up hill, but behind, no less, a castle. It was a tiring and sweaty (at least for me) walk up hill, but we made it. I think this will be the nicest place we'll be staying in all of Europe. It's an equivalent of a bed and breakfast at home. Just a room in someone's house with our own bathroom!!! Much better than the dorms we have and will continue to stay in.
After a brief rest we were able to walk around the town and enjoy the sites. Once again, everything is very, very old and ornate, though the buildings here are a bit more quaint. Our first stop along the cobblestoned streets was lunch. There we had a yummy leek soup and paparika chicken on an olive salad. It was so nice to get some veggies in us, not just bread, cheese and meat.
From there we walked just a tad bit further and stopped at a wine shop/ bar. There we got a sampler of 6 different wines and some cheese. None of the wines were all that thrilling but it was nice to just sit out on the street and watch the world go by while sipping on wine. They even had blankets if you were a bit chilly...which I was.
We continued through the rest of the day like that...strolling along and taking a break, strolling along and taking a break. It's my favorite part about Europe so far. We found a little place to have a decent pasta dinner and headed home.
Today was our big wine tasting day. The valley is just a short 15 minute walk from the city center. Once you go up and over a hill and decend into the valley, you start to notice vent pipes coming out of the ground on the hills. Then you realize that you are actually standing on top of wine cellars that were built into the hill sides in the 1700's. Such a trip. It is here they make, store and sell the wines. Once you get into the more developed area this is where the cellars are open to the public for tastings. Their system is a bit different then ours. You can ask for tasting, for free or order glasses by the decaliter. They also have varieties that are straight from the barrel...or more of thier table wines...or bottled wine which costs more. Then if you want to purchase straight from the barrel you can buy it in amounts of 2, 2.2 or 5 litters. You can bring your own bottle or purchase a bottle there...and they are plastic bottles. Not much different than a soda 2 liter bottle. Needless to say we will now be carrying around 4 liters of wine. I think we can finish that in the next 25 days. 2 liters cost us just over $6 and it tastes better than the equivalent wine at home. It was just incredible sipping wine in these hundreds of year old caves and watching the locals come in, on their lunch break, and get 15 liters of wine at a time. They bring in their empty plastic containers and lug out brimming to the top containers. It is a holiday tomorrow. How fun would it be if we could buy wine that way at home? Gotta love it. It might go against everything the California wine community (or wine snobs) stand for. Wine in plastic jugs..hmphf. Like I said, if you have to, you can buy the nicer wine in bottles. And like I said, it's much better wine then the kind you buy in the box or jug at home.
We eventually had to call it quits. They don't really have spit buckets here. I think they might be offended if you spit our their wine here...now that I think about it. We still needed to be able to make it back to town with out falling down the hill. Fun times.
So tomorrow we head back to Budapest for one night...the only place we could find afordable accomodations because of the holiday. So much for trying to wing it. And we get to share a bed in a bunkbed. I feel sorry for our bunkmate. It's just for one night. After that we head for a short jaunt into Romania....I think. Stay posted to find out.
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Sunday, April 27, 2008
We've landed in Europe
We left Cairo the day before yesterday and speaking for both of us...I think we were really ready for a change. After a quick 4 hour flight on Egypt Air, we landed in Budapest, Hungary. It really made us realize, once again, how small the world is. Budapest and Cairo are both big cities but they seem like completely different worlds. Chris and I have been traveling in developing countries for the past 3 months and I think we were really happy to be somewhere different. Some of the things I1ve been appreciative of:
-toilet paper
-being able to flush toilet paper down the toilet, not throw it in a can
-being able to cross the street without having your life flash in front of your eyes each time
-cars stop at a red light
-sidewalks
-not avoiding stepping in "puddles" on the sidewalk....ie.."puddles" were usually something gross
-much cooler weather without all the humidity...or dryness of the desert
-paying the actual price on an item...not bargaining
-parks
We're not complaining at all...just appreciative of what we have at home and what we're experiencing now.
So with in the first couple of hours of us being in Budapest I decided I love it!!!! You can basically walk everywhere and if you get tired there1s decent public transportation, including an underground. The buildings here are amazing...hundreds of years old and so ornate. Just incredible. Walking around and going nowhere in particular is nice enough on it's own. It's like being in San Francisco but older, cleaner and not very hilly. Like I said...I love it!!!
Costs are now going up for us, so we'll be sleeping in quite a few dorms from here on out. This first one we're at is a small one and we're in a 6 person room, but it's not completely filled. Finding it was interesting. We had found it on the map but just couldn't seem to find it in reality. We walked up and down the street several times. Then we decided to sit on a bench and figure out what to do next. As we were sitting on the bench we stared at the number on the door. This should be the place...right in front of our faces...but there is no sign. We walked up to the door and saw the name of the hostel on the list of businesses in the building. We pushed the correct buttons and got buzzed in. It's at the top floor of a who knows how old building. At least we found it.
So here's a quick run down on the sights we saw yesterday...parliment, Buda Castle Royal Palace...well, all of the Castle Hill area in Buda (it's just that, a castle on a hill overlooking the Danube and the Pest area, the Chain Bridge, and the Opera House.
On our trip home we found their version of a wine bar. It's just that, a bar that serves wine. More of where a blue colar crowd would go, not our version of fancy wine bars in the states. It was in the basement of this...yes, old building. Looked almost like a wine cellar. There was no English spoken so we just had to grunt and point at what we wanted. It worked out just fine and we got 4 glasses (very, very small glasses) for about $3. It may have been their version of a dive bar but it was just great.
Today we went to a place called statue park...and it's just that, a park filled with several of the old communist statues that used to be around the town. Some of the pieces had been damaged during various times in history. There are Stalin's boots and his platform he used to speak from. There's definately a cold and impersonal style to many of the statues. What's interesting is it feels like the many of the Hungarian people don't think of the park as a negative thing but more of a kitche type of place. They can view these things with a smile on their face.
The park is just out of town, so once we headed into town it was time for our lunch. The sun is shining and we packed a picnic. We layed out a sarong and set up our baguette, brie, salami and wine lunch. Perfect. We weren't alone on that style of lunch. Several people were enjoying themselves and the sun. So much so that shirts we're coming off of people, both men and women. Very different than at home and very, very different from where we've been the last few month. I just had to smile. No one here bats an eye.
Then we headed to the Holocaust Museum. Not really the happy thing to do after that wonderful lunch. The museum is well designed and thought out but it didn't really move either of us. It's mostly photos, videos and ALOT of reading. The one in L.A. is much better. It takes you through an experience more than being told about it. I'm not saying this was a bad one. It's good to have any at all. The museum ends in a synagogue. It was the first one that Chris had ever been inside of, so that was a new experience.
We have one more day here in Budapest and then we move onto the wine area of Eger in Hungary for 2 nights. Obviouly we'll let you know how that goes.
-toilet paper
-being able to flush toilet paper down the toilet, not throw it in a can
-being able to cross the street without having your life flash in front of your eyes each time
-cars stop at a red light
-sidewalks
-not avoiding stepping in "puddles" on the sidewalk....ie.."puddles" were usually something gross
-much cooler weather without all the humidity...or dryness of the desert
-paying the actual price on an item...not bargaining
-parks
We're not complaining at all...just appreciative of what we have at home and what we're experiencing now.
So with in the first couple of hours of us being in Budapest I decided I love it!!!! You can basically walk everywhere and if you get tired there1s decent public transportation, including an underground. The buildings here are amazing...hundreds of years old and so ornate. Just incredible. Walking around and going nowhere in particular is nice enough on it's own. It's like being in San Francisco but older, cleaner and not very hilly. Like I said...I love it!!!
Costs are now going up for us, so we'll be sleeping in quite a few dorms from here on out. This first one we're at is a small one and we're in a 6 person room, but it's not completely filled. Finding it was interesting. We had found it on the map but just couldn't seem to find it in reality. We walked up and down the street several times. Then we decided to sit on a bench and figure out what to do next. As we were sitting on the bench we stared at the number on the door. This should be the place...right in front of our faces...but there is no sign. We walked up to the door and saw the name of the hostel on the list of businesses in the building. We pushed the correct buttons and got buzzed in. It's at the top floor of a who knows how old building. At least we found it.
So here's a quick run down on the sights we saw yesterday...parliment, Buda Castle Royal Palace...well, all of the Castle Hill area in Buda (it's just that, a castle on a hill overlooking the Danube and the Pest area, the Chain Bridge, and the Opera House.
On our trip home we found their version of a wine bar. It's just that, a bar that serves wine. More of where a blue colar crowd would go, not our version of fancy wine bars in the states. It was in the basement of this...yes, old building. Looked almost like a wine cellar. There was no English spoken so we just had to grunt and point at what we wanted. It worked out just fine and we got 4 glasses (very, very small glasses) for about $3. It may have been their version of a dive bar but it was just great.
Today we went to a place called statue park...and it's just that, a park filled with several of the old communist statues that used to be around the town. Some of the pieces had been damaged during various times in history. There are Stalin's boots and his platform he used to speak from. There's definately a cold and impersonal style to many of the statues. What's interesting is it feels like the many of the Hungarian people don't think of the park as a negative thing but more of a kitche type of place. They can view these things with a smile on their face.
The park is just out of town, so once we headed into town it was time for our lunch. The sun is shining and we packed a picnic. We layed out a sarong and set up our baguette, brie, salami and wine lunch. Perfect. We weren't alone on that style of lunch. Several people were enjoying themselves and the sun. So much so that shirts we're coming off of people, both men and women. Very different than at home and very, very different from where we've been the last few month. I just had to smile. No one here bats an eye.
Then we headed to the Holocaust Museum. Not really the happy thing to do after that wonderful lunch. The museum is well designed and thought out but it didn't really move either of us. It's mostly photos, videos and ALOT of reading. The one in L.A. is much better. It takes you through an experience more than being told about it. I'm not saying this was a bad one. It's good to have any at all. The museum ends in a synagogue. It was the first one that Chris had ever been inside of, so that was a new experience.
We have one more day here in Budapest and then we move onto the wine area of Eger in Hungary for 2 nights. Obviouly we'll let you know how that goes.
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Cairo
Since the last time we checked in we have moved on to Cairo. Our flight out of Amman was interesting in that Jordan is the right next to Iraq so quite a few soldiers and other folks related to the war either travel through Jordan or spend their leave time in Jordan. So the airport was full of soldiers from various countries heading off back to Bagdahd. We felt very out of place amoungst the sea of soldiers, goverment subcontractors, reporters, diplomats, spooks, mercenaries, missionaries, and all the other misc. type of folks that gravitate towards a war zone. There was every type of person involved in the war business heading off to Iraq and it appears that business right now for them is good.
Cairo is another huge city full of energy that never seems to sleep or cool down. We are staying in a Hostel that is fairly centered in town. The Nile river and the Egyptian museum are just right down the street. We spent our first day just walking around getting a feeling for the city and taking it all in. The seccond day we spent at the Egyptian museum. All items of signifigance have been removed from the pyramids and are on display at the museum. It must have been quite a feat to bring all the large sarcofoguses ( or is it sarcofogi) and statues, carvings etc. into the building. Some items were excavated so long ago and placed into displays that the display cases are antiques themselves complete with turn of the century wavy glass. All I can say is it is very surreal to stare at 5,000 year old carvings, papyrus, jewelry etc. One of the hightlights of the museum for me was the room full of King Tuts jewelry. He was found in his tomb with his complete ensamble of headress clothing, gold and jewls.
Today we hired a driver to take us to 3 of the pyramid sights. Of course up until today the weather in Egypt has been OK. Today it was 107.....That is not a miss-print it was 107 today. I did OK, and Heather was quite a trooper even though she really hates the heat. The first location we went to was Giza with the 3 most famous and largets pyramids as well as the sphynx. It is such a large area to walk around we decided to hire a local guide and go horseback. It was really cool. Riding horseback in the Egyptian desert with our headwraps on around the pyramids. Needless to say we have quite a few awesome pictures. While on the plateau with the pyramids we heard the prayer calls from the numerous Mosques in Cairo (they are very loud and seem to go off every hour in every city of the middle east) They were all sounding in unison and added this hauntingly creepy element to the pyramid experience.
We spent around 3 hours at Giza and then headed off to Saquara. It is also known as the stepped pyramid. The pyramid is currently being stabalized so you cant get as close to it as the Giza pyramids, but the tombs around the pyramid is accessable and you can climb in and see what it was like to be laid to rest for a few thousand years under the desert.
The last sight of the day was Memphis. Not much remains of the buildings in this area it is more like a small museum with more various antiquaties. By this point in the day we were worn out. 8 Eight hours in over 100 degree weather is pretty draining. We drank bottle after bottle of water today and I dont think either of us had to use the toilet once.
Tomorrow we plan to explore the old parts of Cairo. The anchient Christian and Muslum sections of town. So much history exists in this city you could spend weeks here and not see everything.
Cairo is another huge city full of energy that never seems to sleep or cool down. We are staying in a Hostel that is fairly centered in town. The Nile river and the Egyptian museum are just right down the street. We spent our first day just walking around getting a feeling for the city and taking it all in. The seccond day we spent at the Egyptian museum. All items of signifigance have been removed from the pyramids and are on display at the museum. It must have been quite a feat to bring all the large sarcofoguses ( or is it sarcofogi) and statues, carvings etc. into the building. Some items were excavated so long ago and placed into displays that the display cases are antiques themselves complete with turn of the century wavy glass. All I can say is it is very surreal to stare at 5,000 year old carvings, papyrus, jewelry etc. One of the hightlights of the museum for me was the room full of King Tuts jewelry. He was found in his tomb with his complete ensamble of headress clothing, gold and jewls.
Today we hired a driver to take us to 3 of the pyramid sights. Of course up until today the weather in Egypt has been OK. Today it was 107.....That is not a miss-print it was 107 today. I did OK, and Heather was quite a trooper even though she really hates the heat. The first location we went to was Giza with the 3 most famous and largets pyramids as well as the sphynx. It is such a large area to walk around we decided to hire a local guide and go horseback. It was really cool. Riding horseback in the Egyptian desert with our headwraps on around the pyramids. Needless to say we have quite a few awesome pictures. While on the plateau with the pyramids we heard the prayer calls from the numerous Mosques in Cairo (they are very loud and seem to go off every hour in every city of the middle east) They were all sounding in unison and added this hauntingly creepy element to the pyramid experience.
We spent around 3 hours at Giza and then headed off to Saquara. It is also known as the stepped pyramid. The pyramid is currently being stabalized so you cant get as close to it as the Giza pyramids, but the tombs around the pyramid is accessable and you can climb in and see what it was like to be laid to rest for a few thousand years under the desert.
The last sight of the day was Memphis. Not much remains of the buildings in this area it is more like a small museum with more various antiquaties. By this point in the day we were worn out. 8 Eight hours in over 100 degree weather is pretty draining. We drank bottle after bottle of water today and I dont think either of us had to use the toilet once.
Tomorrow we plan to explore the old parts of Cairo. The anchient Christian and Muslum sections of town. So much history exists in this city you could spend weeks here and not see everything.
Sunday, April 20, 2008
Desert Safari
We left Wadi Musa (Petra) and bumbed a ride with a couple that had a rental car down to Wadi Rum. Wadi Rum is a huge desolate but beautiful desert that has been the home to Bedouins for thousands of years. It is also the area where Lawrence of Arabia fought and lived. They also filed the movie Lawrence of Arabia there as well. We hooked up with our Bedouin guide and we headed out into the desert in his vintage Toyota Land Cruiser. The local town is filled with Vintage Toyotas. It seems to be the only vehicle that can take the constant abuse in the desert. Ours was set up with a hardcab in the front and a pickup type bed in the back with troop seats and canvas roof to keep the harsh sun off our heads.
Our trip in the desert was once again undescribeable. So many amazing colors and beautiful rock formations. This isnt the type of desert that you see in Nevada with large stretches of white sand. The desert here is red sand with gigantic red rock formations up to 30 stories tall that are decomposing and look like melting plastic. The life in the desert for the bedouins is harsh to say the least. Its a very spartan existance.
At night we camped out in the desert with the Bedoiuns in a tent. The sunset was amazing, casting a bright glow over the rocks and sand. Just unbelievable. I was looking forward to seeing the stars at night, but we had a full moon. There were hardly and stars out, but the moon did glow so bright that you could clearly see everything almost as clear as day. We didnt need a flashlight, we could even see the hills way accross the valley. The desert at night has to be the quitest place on earth so peaceful and serene. I would highly recomend a desert trek to anyone going to the middle east. It may have been better then Petra.
yesterday we made the trek down to Aqaba. The southern most city in Jordan. It is only 3 KM from Saudi Arabia and right across the red sea from Egypt. We caught a ride with a man from Lebanon and his wife. While driving south we came upon one of the many military checkpoints in Jordan. We had to show our passports to the guards and ended up having us pull over and go to an office for additional questioning. I think it is because we were with the man from Lebanon. After a few questions we were on our way again. At some point in this checkpoint ordeal a very friendly soilder was questioning me with his machine gun pointed at my stomach. It wasnt in a mean or menacing way, but I didnt really feel too good about it. He had it just thrown over his shoulder haphazardly. I guess when you live here you get used to things like that. For instance on the beach at the red sea in Aqaba instead of 19 year old lifeguards patrolling the beaches on quads, you have 19 year soilders patrolling the beaches in Toyota trucks with 50 calaber machine guns. We should feel very fortunate at home to not live under the same fears that they do here.
Tomorrow we are off to Egypt the land of Pyaramids. We will post again soon.
Our trip in the desert was once again undescribeable. So many amazing colors and beautiful rock formations. This isnt the type of desert that you see in Nevada with large stretches of white sand. The desert here is red sand with gigantic red rock formations up to 30 stories tall that are decomposing and look like melting plastic. The life in the desert for the bedouins is harsh to say the least. Its a very spartan existance.
At night we camped out in the desert with the Bedoiuns in a tent. The sunset was amazing, casting a bright glow over the rocks and sand. Just unbelievable. I was looking forward to seeing the stars at night, but we had a full moon. There were hardly and stars out, but the moon did glow so bright that you could clearly see everything almost as clear as day. We didnt need a flashlight, we could even see the hills way accross the valley. The desert at night has to be the quitest place on earth so peaceful and serene. I would highly recomend a desert trek to anyone going to the middle east. It may have been better then Petra.
yesterday we made the trek down to Aqaba. The southern most city in Jordan. It is only 3 KM from Saudi Arabia and right across the red sea from Egypt. We caught a ride with a man from Lebanon and his wife. While driving south we came upon one of the many military checkpoints in Jordan. We had to show our passports to the guards and ended up having us pull over and go to an office for additional questioning. I think it is because we were with the man from Lebanon. After a few questions we were on our way again. At some point in this checkpoint ordeal a very friendly soilder was questioning me with his machine gun pointed at my stomach. It wasnt in a mean or menacing way, but I didnt really feel too good about it. He had it just thrown over his shoulder haphazardly. I guess when you live here you get used to things like that. For instance on the beach at the red sea in Aqaba instead of 19 year old lifeguards patrolling the beaches on quads, you have 19 year soilders patrolling the beaches in Toyota trucks with 50 calaber machine guns. We should feel very fortunate at home to not live under the same fears that they do here.
Tomorrow we are off to Egypt the land of Pyaramids. We will post again soon.
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Petra
We'll see how this blog goes because we're both extremely tired from hiking around Petra for 2 days now.
We came to Wadi Musa, which is the name of the town at Petra, via the Kings Highway. We ended up sharing a taxi ride with a mother and daughter from England. They had visited Syria first and then came to Jordan. They were great fun to have in the car for the day. The mother loved to carry on conversations about just about anything.
One of the stops we had was at the castle of Karak. This is a castle built on the top of the hill and had great view of all around. A great defensive sight. The history of it was so hard to keep track of because it's switched hands from so many different groups of people over the last bazillion years. Very interesting to look at.
We arrived at Petra around 5 p.m. and were dropped off at our hotel the Cleopetra. Moseleh is the extremely friendly personality of the place. We got a welcome pot of tea, sat, relaxed and eventually got the keys to our room. Now he said we did not really get the nicest room but hey, whatever. It's a very interesting place to say the least, not the worst place we've stay..i.e. no rats. but I'm not sure when the last time the carpet was cleaned...if ever. The bathroom is funny too. You have to sit sideways on the toilet because the wall is right there at the front of the bowl. Another oh well. But the hospitality and free pick up and delivery each day has more then made up for it.
Now Petra is another amazing place. Yesterday we mainly focused on the main path with one side excursion. The place looks like what I imagine parts of Moab, Utah or Idaho look like. Extremely beautiful rock formations and canyons, but then the ancient people carved into the sides of the hill and mountains and created a whole town. There is a treasury building, a shopping area, several homes, tombs and the biggest of all, the monastary. To get to the monastary you must hike a few hours, uphill...I think they said it's 800 stairs to get there. But these are nice neat stairs, they are carved into the rocks and you have to scramble over a few and make sure you carefully place your feet. Back in the day it was considered a place people made a pilgramage to. I am throughly impressed with all the tourists who make it each day. It is work but well worth it. If you do grow tired you can pay to ride a donkey up and back, but it's not cheap and looks really uncomfortable. And the lucky walkers get to avoid donkey poo the whole way up and down.
I really think you should Google Petra to see what it looks like because words don't do it justice. Apparently it was used in the first Indiana Jones movie, so you can see it there. The colors and formations are just amazing. And how they carved into the mountains is another mind boggling feat. There are still a few Bedouins that live in the caves of Petra. They are in better shape than I. I highly recommend coming here. It's there version of Ankor Wat and just as impressive if not more. Instead of pretending you are Laura Croft from Tomb Raider you can be Indiana Jones and run all over the place. If you have the energy!! We love it.
So tomorrow we head to Wadi Rum and will sleep in the desert with a Bedouin guide. Lawrence of Arabia was filmed there. Apparenly we're in the Hollywood of the middle east and we didn't even know it until we got here. You learn something new every day.
So we keep on truckin'!
We came to Wadi Musa, which is the name of the town at Petra, via the Kings Highway. We ended up sharing a taxi ride with a mother and daughter from England. They had visited Syria first and then came to Jordan. They were great fun to have in the car for the day. The mother loved to carry on conversations about just about anything.
One of the stops we had was at the castle of Karak. This is a castle built on the top of the hill and had great view of all around. A great defensive sight. The history of it was so hard to keep track of because it's switched hands from so many different groups of people over the last bazillion years. Very interesting to look at.
We arrived at Petra around 5 p.m. and were dropped off at our hotel the Cleopetra. Moseleh is the extremely friendly personality of the place. We got a welcome pot of tea, sat, relaxed and eventually got the keys to our room. Now he said we did not really get the nicest room but hey, whatever. It's a very interesting place to say the least, not the worst place we've stay..i.e. no rats. but I'm not sure when the last time the carpet was cleaned...if ever. The bathroom is funny too. You have to sit sideways on the toilet because the wall is right there at the front of the bowl. Another oh well. But the hospitality and free pick up and delivery each day has more then made up for it.
Now Petra is another amazing place. Yesterday we mainly focused on the main path with one side excursion. The place looks like what I imagine parts of Moab, Utah or Idaho look like. Extremely beautiful rock formations and canyons, but then the ancient people carved into the sides of the hill and mountains and created a whole town. There is a treasury building, a shopping area, several homes, tombs and the biggest of all, the monastary. To get to the monastary you must hike a few hours, uphill...I think they said it's 800 stairs to get there. But these are nice neat stairs, they are carved into the rocks and you have to scramble over a few and make sure you carefully place your feet. Back in the day it was considered a place people made a pilgramage to. I am throughly impressed with all the tourists who make it each day. It is work but well worth it. If you do grow tired you can pay to ride a donkey up and back, but it's not cheap and looks really uncomfortable. And the lucky walkers get to avoid donkey poo the whole way up and down.
I really think you should Google Petra to see what it looks like because words don't do it justice. Apparently it was used in the first Indiana Jones movie, so you can see it there. The colors and formations are just amazing. And how they carved into the mountains is another mind boggling feat. There are still a few Bedouins that live in the caves of Petra. They are in better shape than I. I highly recommend coming here. It's there version of Ankor Wat and just as impressive if not more. Instead of pretending you are Laura Croft from Tomb Raider you can be Indiana Jones and run all over the place. If you have the energy!! We love it.
So tomorrow we head to Wadi Rum and will sleep in the desert with a Bedouin guide. Lawrence of Arabia was filmed there. Apparenly we're in the Hollywood of the middle east and we didn't even know it until we got here. You learn something new every day.
So we keep on truckin'!
Monday, April 14, 2008
The middle east
We are now safely in Madaba Jordan. We flew from Bangkok yesterday. We savored our last days in Thailand enjoying every Thai meal and beer Chang. We left Thailand on the first day of the Thai new year. It is celebrated over a 4 day period and is known as the water festival. It basically is a large countrywide water fight with water balloons, water guns,buckets of water, hoses, etc. I definately got wet a couple times but in the 92 degree Bangkok heat it felt great. There is also the street side karaoke that sprouts up all over the place. Some of the Thai singers were quite good and others were very very bad. But look whos talking, I cant hold a tune in English or Thai.
Our flight to Jordan was uneventful. We had a layover in a small place called Oman, in the country of Qatar. Qatar is this little finger of land that sticks out into the persian gulf. From the air it is quite beautiful looking. The closer to land we realized that there is nothing but sand in the entire country. They seemed like they are doing pretty well financially thought. Aparently they are the #1 exporter in the world of Natural Gas. On our takeoff from the airport we flew through a sandstorm. It sounded like people were throwing BB's against the plane. Probably not very good on the old jet engines.
Today we took a trip to Mt. Nebo. It is the final resting place for Moses. Apparently he lived on the top of Mt. Nebo because it has a view accross the Jordan plains over the dead sea and onto Jarusalem. He was able to see the entire Israelite promised land from the top of the mountain. It was very interesting seeing the remains of the various temples/ churches that were erected in Moses' honor and thinking of all the history that took place on the lands we were gazing on.
We also went down to the dead sea and floated in the incredibaly salty water. Some people rub the black mud from the bottom of the sea on their bodies. There were a few people completely covered with black tarlike mud. We decided this was a novelty we could skip.
Tomorrow we travle down the "kings highway" stopping at the various remains of centuries old churches, temples, and castles. We will then spend the next 3 days hiking around Petra.
Our flight to Jordan was uneventful. We had a layover in a small place called Oman, in the country of Qatar. Qatar is this little finger of land that sticks out into the persian gulf. From the air it is quite beautiful looking. The closer to land we realized that there is nothing but sand in the entire country. They seemed like they are doing pretty well financially thought. Aparently they are the #1 exporter in the world of Natural Gas. On our takeoff from the airport we flew through a sandstorm. It sounded like people were throwing BB's against the plane. Probably not very good on the old jet engines.
Today we took a trip to Mt. Nebo. It is the final resting place for Moses. Apparently he lived on the top of Mt. Nebo because it has a view accross the Jordan plains over the dead sea and onto Jarusalem. He was able to see the entire Israelite promised land from the top of the mountain. It was very interesting seeing the remains of the various temples/ churches that were erected in Moses' honor and thinking of all the history that took place on the lands we were gazing on.
We also went down to the dead sea and floated in the incredibaly salty water. Some people rub the black mud from the bottom of the sea on their bodies. There were a few people completely covered with black tarlike mud. We decided this was a novelty we could skip.
Tomorrow we travle down the "kings highway" stopping at the various remains of centuries old churches, temples, and castles. We will then spend the next 3 days hiking around Petra.
Friday, April 11, 2008
Good Bye South East Asia...sniff, sniff
Tomorrow we leave Bangkok for Jordan. Though we are happy to experience somthing totally new, we are a bit sad to be leaving the place we've spent so much time at. Also, we're missing the biggest part of their New Years...or Sakgrom. We got to experience a little of it last night.
We had to go to Kho San Road (the major backpacker area of Bangkok) to exchange books. We read them all in the islands. There was just the beginning of the celebration. It's a water festival combined with the New Years so you walk down the street and get assaulted by people with water guns and cups and buckets of water...whether you like it or not. Most businesses are closed for the next three days, which sucks because we've got stinky laundry that needs to be done and with no way to do it by the time we leave tomorrow morning. Oh well, so is life on the road.
One thing I must say, we are leaving during the best time weather wise. It has started to get unbelievably hot and uncomfortable here. It even rained today, which we thought it was the dry season.
We had to go to Kho San Road (the major backpacker area of Bangkok) to exchange books. We read them all in the islands. There was just the beginning of the celebration. It's a water festival combined with the New Years so you walk down the street and get assaulted by people with water guns and cups and buckets of water...whether you like it or not. Most businesses are closed for the next three days, which sucks because we've got stinky laundry that needs to be done and with no way to do it by the time we leave tomorrow morning. Oh well, so is life on the road.
One thing I must say, we are leaving during the best time weather wise. It has started to get unbelievably hot and uncomfortable here. It even rained today, which we thought it was the dry season.
Saturday, April 5, 2008
Gin Rummy
Hey all...it's me Heather!! Haven't heard from me for a while and I guess it's been kinda nice. Blogging is hard work, or something. You know while Chris is blogging I just get to play about on the computer and do nothing important. But on to what we're doing now.
We are currently at a fairly remote beach on the east side of Koh Tao...so no beautiful sunsets, but that's o.k. We've been doing alot of reading and teaching ourselves new card games...hence the Gin Rummy title. We've kinda gotten addicted to it and we're not even sure we're playing correctly. We picked up an abandoned card game book from the previous bungalows and have learned from there. Now I like it because it's a game I can actually win. So I usually win the rounds, meaning I score higher points, but Chris wins more hands. So what does that mean? I don't know. Does anybody. I mean by the rules I still win. Yes, I'm the winner. Whoo hooo! I"m sorry. That's not very nice. Chris is a great opponant. Now if I could just spell that word. Too bad the spell check doesn't work on this thing.
We had to get a "taxi" (a toyota 4x4 with benches in the back along the sides, so you need to watch your head on low hanging power lines and trees) to get more money, supplies and internet. Where we're staying has a very swimmable beach and a coral reef. We spent yesterday snorkeling and just being in awe of all the underwater formations. The fish were pretty cool too. Chris thinks he saw a reef shark and got a bit spooked. I'm glad I didn't see it. I'd be high tailing to the shore...which I was doing any ways. Unfortunately the rental equipment isn't all that great and we spent a good deal of our time treading water and fixed various problems with our masks and snorkels, but it's still good.
We've seen quite a bit of wild life in and around our bungalow. We have a big gecko that sings to us through the night, remindind us his name, "gecko, gecko, gecko" and a snake that lives in the water tank under our bungalow....oh and the cockroaches that somehow find it into the bathroom. We've got one currently trapped right now and haven't figured out how to dispose of it.
o.k. i've got to go now. the "taxi" is leaving. we'll write more in bangkok.
We are currently at a fairly remote beach on the east side of Koh Tao...so no beautiful sunsets, but that's o.k. We've been doing alot of reading and teaching ourselves new card games...hence the Gin Rummy title. We've kinda gotten addicted to it and we're not even sure we're playing correctly. We picked up an abandoned card game book from the previous bungalows and have learned from there. Now I like it because it's a game I can actually win. So I usually win the rounds, meaning I score higher points, but Chris wins more hands. So what does that mean? I don't know. Does anybody. I mean by the rules I still win. Yes, I'm the winner. Whoo hooo! I"m sorry. That's not very nice. Chris is a great opponant. Now if I could just spell that word. Too bad the spell check doesn't work on this thing.
We had to get a "taxi" (a toyota 4x4 with benches in the back along the sides, so you need to watch your head on low hanging power lines and trees) to get more money, supplies and internet. Where we're staying has a very swimmable beach and a coral reef. We spent yesterday snorkeling and just being in awe of all the underwater formations. The fish were pretty cool too. Chris thinks he saw a reef shark and got a bit spooked. I'm glad I didn't see it. I'd be high tailing to the shore...which I was doing any ways. Unfortunately the rental equipment isn't all that great and we spent a good deal of our time treading water and fixed various problems with our masks and snorkels, but it's still good.
We've seen quite a bit of wild life in and around our bungalow. We have a big gecko that sings to us through the night, remindind us his name, "gecko, gecko, gecko" and a snake that lives in the water tank under our bungalow....oh and the cockroaches that somehow find it into the bathroom. We've got one currently trapped right now and haven't figured out how to dispose of it.
o.k. i've got to go now. the "taxi" is leaving. we'll write more in bangkok.
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
Lazy Days
Warning if you are the type of person to easily get jealous do not read the following blog. Also my keyboard that I am using really sucks and some of keys are broken.
We have been spending the last........I dont know really how many days we have been here. Time has taken on no meaning at all really. Anyway a bunch of days ago we left Bangkok and took an overnight sleeper train to the southern part of Thailand. We then took a ferry to the island of Ko Phangan. Once in Ko Phangan we took a taxi to the north of Ko Phangan and took small fishing boat to an isolated beach known as bottle beach. Only way to get there is by boat.
We stayed at bottle beach for maybe 5 days. The accommodation was very rugged but the setting was amazing. Simple bamboo bungalow right on the beach under palm trees. Each bungalow had a small front porch where you could hang your hammocks in the shade. Electricity was sporadic since it was provided by a generator. Our first night was less then pleasant since our bungalow had rats. At night they were scurrying around on the headboard and ate some of our soap. We didnt sleep so well. The next night we changed to a different bungalow and had no problems with rats after that.
One evening the staff decided to have a barbecue. It was great. Fresh seafood. Red snapper white snapper octopus prawns etc. etc. They also brought out some crazy fireworks to shoot off over the water. They started with mortar launched rockets. For anyone that was out our going away party in Sunnyvale and were witness to the great rocket display by Jason you know the type of fireworks we are talking about. But then things got strange. They brought out this 10' length of 3" PVC pipe. No joke TEN FOOT TALL MORTAR TUBE. It took 2 guys to hold it steady while another person carried out a 3' long projectile. It looked like it had a warhead on the top with a long thin tail with fins on it like a bazooka round. He lit it and dropped it into the PVC mortar and ran like hell while the 2 guys holding the tube just ducked their heads and probably prayed that the thing didnt blow up inside the pipe. Then it launched. It launched way into the sky and exploded like a surface to air missile. It was huge really really huge. They must have bought the thing at one of the markets in Cambodia. I can picture it now... on isle 3 next to the landmines and RPG's
Our days at bottle beach were very very relaxing. No Internet no markets not many tourist. Just lazy days on the beach. We eventually had to leave bottle beach. We went to Haad Yao on Ko Phangan and spend another couple days on that beach. Nothing to remarkable there just more lounging in the sun and water with more civilization.
Two days ago we took a high speed catamaran to Ko Tao. We have spent the last 2 days here once again lounging on the beach swimming eating sleeping playing cards chess reading books. Doing just about nothing really. I think our favorite thing of all is people watching on the beach.
Once again we seem to be the only American anywhere in sight. There seem to be many many Germans and British. I guess the Euro and Pound are so strong its really cheap for them to travel right now. While in bottle beach we became friendly with a German Couple and 2 girls from Switzerland. After a few days and feeling like we were comfortable enough I asked them did they like David Hasselhoff. The answer "oh yes he's great". "we love night rider and bay watch". So very very strange.
Anyway I have to go. There is going to be another picture perfect sunset in an hour or so and Heather and I need to grab a couple beers and sit on the beach and watch it go down. Just another day in paradise.
We have been spending the last........I dont know really how many days we have been here. Time has taken on no meaning at all really. Anyway a bunch of days ago we left Bangkok and took an overnight sleeper train to the southern part of Thailand. We then took a ferry to the island of Ko Phangan. Once in Ko Phangan we took a taxi to the north of Ko Phangan and took small fishing boat to an isolated beach known as bottle beach. Only way to get there is by boat.
We stayed at bottle beach for maybe 5 days. The accommodation was very rugged but the setting was amazing. Simple bamboo bungalow right on the beach under palm trees. Each bungalow had a small front porch where you could hang your hammocks in the shade. Electricity was sporadic since it was provided by a generator. Our first night was less then pleasant since our bungalow had rats. At night they were scurrying around on the headboard and ate some of our soap. We didnt sleep so well. The next night we changed to a different bungalow and had no problems with rats after that.
One evening the staff decided to have a barbecue. It was great. Fresh seafood. Red snapper white snapper octopus prawns etc. etc. They also brought out some crazy fireworks to shoot off over the water. They started with mortar launched rockets. For anyone that was out our going away party in Sunnyvale and were witness to the great rocket display by Jason you know the type of fireworks we are talking about. But then things got strange. They brought out this 10' length of 3" PVC pipe. No joke TEN FOOT TALL MORTAR TUBE. It took 2 guys to hold it steady while another person carried out a 3' long projectile. It looked like it had a warhead on the top with a long thin tail with fins on it like a bazooka round. He lit it and dropped it into the PVC mortar and ran like hell while the 2 guys holding the tube just ducked their heads and probably prayed that the thing didnt blow up inside the pipe. Then it launched. It launched way into the sky and exploded like a surface to air missile. It was huge really really huge. They must have bought the thing at one of the markets in Cambodia. I can picture it now... on isle 3 next to the landmines and RPG's
Our days at bottle beach were very very relaxing. No Internet no markets not many tourist. Just lazy days on the beach. We eventually had to leave bottle beach. We went to Haad Yao on Ko Phangan and spend another couple days on that beach. Nothing to remarkable there just more lounging in the sun and water with more civilization.
Two days ago we took a high speed catamaran to Ko Tao. We have spent the last 2 days here once again lounging on the beach swimming eating sleeping playing cards chess reading books. Doing just about nothing really. I think our favorite thing of all is people watching on the beach.
Once again we seem to be the only American anywhere in sight. There seem to be many many Germans and British. I guess the Euro and Pound are so strong its really cheap for them to travel right now. While in bottle beach we became friendly with a German Couple and 2 girls from Switzerland. After a few days and feeling like we were comfortable enough I asked them did they like David Hasselhoff. The answer "oh yes he's great". "we love night rider and bay watch". So very very strange.
Anyway I have to go. There is going to be another picture perfect sunset in an hour or so and Heather and I need to grab a couple beers and sit on the beach and watch it go down. Just another day in paradise.
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