Two People 361 Days Six Continents

One Year Ago Today...

2011-04-29T09:07:00.000-06:00

Happy Birthday Henry!

Souvenirs

2011-01-23T19:31:00.002-07:00

While traveling we saved one bill from each country we visited and we just had them framed. It starts with Colombia because Ecuador uses the U.S. dollar.

One year in 283 seconds

2010-08-25T20:57:00.000-06:00

One Year, Six Continents from Jim Kendrick on Vimeo.

The Route

2010-08-22T20:42:00.000-06:00

RTWfree travel blog

London

2010-08-21T07:34:00.001-06:00

The final stop! We must say we had eyes on home at this point and as a result didn’t do too much research on London before arriving. Thankfully our friends Jed & Becky and Meri provided us with some great advice. Additionally, we met up with our friends Christian and Lorna for drinks our first night and got some good advice from them too.

Again, perhaps we were distracted by the impending end of the trip, but for the first time we forgot to bring our camera to someplace we wished we had it and therefore have no pictures from our first day. We met up with Christian and Lorna outside the Embankment tube station and headed to one of the riverboat bars on the Thames.

As we’ve mentioned previously, we met Christian while traveling in Panama several years ago and some of his travel stories were the earliest inspiration for this trip. So it was great to share our experiences with them and compare notes on places we’ve all been. For example, Christian and Lorna met on the Routeburn Trail, a trail in New Zealand that Leslie and I hiked (or tramped) on this trip.

It was great to catch up with Christian and to meet Lorna. They were off to Norway for a short holiday themselves, so this was our only chance to see them unfortunately.

On day two, we hit the big tourist attractions. We took the train from our tiny hotel to the Westminster stop. We had seen Parliament and Big Ben from a distance the day before, but on this day we had some time to walk around see the area properly. Despite the fact that this area is an obvious tourist attraction, it was great to see these iconic landmarks that have such a deep history.

We wandered up and down the street on Westminster for a couple of hours before crossing the Jubilee Bridges and walking along the Thames to the Tate Museum of Modern Art. The museum was very cool, especially in that it was teeming with young artists honing their skills.

From there we headed to the Globe Theatre right next door. We toyed with the idea of catching matinee of Merry Wives of Windsor, but we would have missed the first half of the play and so we decided against it. But I had to promise Leslie I would go to the Shakespeare Festival in Boulder next summer.

From there we kept walking along the Thames to the London Bridge area. This is where things get really touristy with attractions like the “London Bridge Experience” and various “dungeon experiences” on every block. That is really not our sort of thing, so we quickly moved on to check out the Tower Bridge and to the Borough Market.

If there is one thing you should have learned form our blog, it is that Leslie loves markets. And the Borough Market was no exception, so I’ll let her describe it.

The Borough market is obviously different than most markets we had been to around the world. It has really fancy foods in a super clean environment (not like almost getting fish entails splattered on you in the markets in Cambodia if you’re too close and not careful!). But it had just delicious looking foods, seafood and produce straight from the producers or growers. It is pretty pricey though so it is good we don’t live near here as we would be broke shopping there all the time!

As we were now well into afternoon, we started to punctuate our various tourist sights with a stop for a half pint a local pubs. Much of the world loves lagers and I love ales, so it was nice to finally get a good cask-conditioned ale. One of the pubs we visited was The Rake, recommended by Jed. It was funny to see so many Colorado beers available, but I had to try some of England’s harder to find offerings such as the Whisky cask aged Harviestoun Ola Dubh.

We eventually started to wander home for the night having covered a lot of ground on foot that day.

The following day we went to explore some of the neighborhoods. We started by heading to Hampstead Village and then into Hampstead Heath, a great park where we could get a bit of nature.

After that we jumped back on the train and headed to Camden. This area is known for being a hip neighborhood … I think this was probably at one point a really cool area, but now feels more like a giant Urban Outfitters store.

Once again back on the train, we made our way to Soho. This is a beautiful neighborhood and, once again, we stopped a few pubs along the way.

We walked down towards Leicester Square and on to Piccadilly Circus, which is very Times Square-like in that it is dominated by chain stores and attractions such as Ripley’s Believe It Or Not. Again, this type of thing isn’t really our style, so we hopped on the train and headed back towards our hotel in Earl’s Court.

Back in Earl’s Court we found one more pub and grabbed a few pies. Our favorite is probably the sweet potato, goat cheese and spinach.

Now we are sitting at Heathrow awaiting our final flight of the trip. It’s hard to believe it is coming to an end, but we have had an amazing year and are happy to be seeing our friends and family again soon... and also maybe to get a new pair of shoes.

Barcelona

2010-08-18T08:30:00.017-06:00

We are feeling the wind down of the trip happening. Only a few more days left and short trips to Barcelona and London before heading home. Trying to get on our flight from Johannesburg to Madrid was a little trying as there were tons of Spanish football fans still streaming back home from the World Cup a month later still blowing vuvuzelas IN the airport check-in line. However, we made it to Barcelona with our eardrums still intact and feel in love with the bohemian feel of the city.

Barcelona is a city to get lost in. There is the main drag, La Rambla, which is packed with people, restaurants, shops, bird and hamster stands(!) and street performers. It is a little crazy with the amount of people on La Rambla.

We even tried to duck into the La Rambla market (as I love markets) but could not stay for long as it was stuffed shoulder to shoulder with tourists and locals.

Off La Rambla and into the Gothic Quarter is where we loved to stroll in no particular direction. There are small quirky alleyways where locals shops and beautiful architecture hide around every corner. It is in these small streets that we really fell in love with the feel of Barcelona. It has a hip feel where it seemed that artists and poets reside.

While wondering around we actually stumbled into our friend's sister store Papabubble. My childhood friend Chris runs the New York City Papabubble store and made us amazing customized candies for our wedding.

Of course no trip to Barcelona would be complete without seeing some of Antoni Gaudí's work. Sagrada Família is a huge Roman Catholic cathedral that has been under construction since 1882 and expected to be completed in 2026. Allegedly when Gaudí was asked about why the construction was going to take so long he simply said, "My client is not in a hurry." It is so intricate and you can take the view in for a long time seeing new details emerge.

Also we visited Casa Batlló at nighttime.

We had amazing tapas in Barcelona. In Barcelona it seems that it is traditional to "tapa hop" getting a couple of small plates at a couple different restaurants. Our favorite was the simplest; anchovies and rosemary olives with toasted bread.

Also, we had to try what Mark Bittman (food columnist for the New York Times) called the "best sandwich [he] ever had." It is the flauta d’ibéric d.o. jabugo which consists of a bread roll with jabugo ham (allegedly the best in the world from pigs that probably have a better diet than half of the people in the world!).

It was a really good sandwich. The best we have ever had? Well, Jim and I still agree that that award still goes to the Lomito from Fuente Alemana in Santiago, Chile.

We headed to the La Barceloneta beach to get a taste of the Mediterranean. We sat and watched as the beautiful yachts went in and out of the dock while catching some sun. It was a perfect day for the beach and great for finishing up our short time in Barcelona. We head to London next and then the long flight back home!

Kruger National Park

2010-08-14T03:45:00.009-06:00

Our final destination (more or less) in Africa was Kruger National Park. Kruger is the jewel of the South Africa National Parks with all of the “Big 5” (lion, leopard, elephant, rhino, buffalo) living within its borders. It is also big enough that the range of the animals doesn’t feel limited and therefore make you feel like they are trapped there for you to see, which we felt in some smaller parks.

We opted to do the self-drive safari instead of hiring a guide and riding in safari vehicles. This was partly because it was far cheaper, partly because we were fairly confident we would see most animals and partly because we are just naturally more do-it-yourself types. Though we had talked to many others that had done guided safaris and had seen animals – leopards in particular – that they say they never would have seen without the guide.

We reserved three nights in three different “rest camps” along our chosen route moving from the south of the park to the far north. The rest camp accommodations were very nice and all reasonably priced. The first night we stayed in the Pretoriouscop Camp and had the basic accommodation, which was a simple thatched roof mud hut. But it was still very comfortable.

That first day we were a little worried as we drove for some time and saw very few animals… not even many antelope. It was nice to be on some dirt roads though far from any crowds. We eventually made our way to the Lower Sabie Camp which is where a good chunk of the safaris go out of. The place was pretty crowded, but we hoped the camp’s reputation for having frequent lion sightings would hold true. As we drove just north of the camp, we saw a small traffic jam ahead with cars angled in every which way. We knew there must be lions nearby. Sure enough we were able to catch the faintest sight of a pride moving through the trees down by the river.

This is as good a place as any to discuss the strange experience of game drives. It is definitely necessary for park visitors to be confined to their vehicles for safety reasons, but it was strange for us to spend three days in such a beautiful place just driving around. Also, the phenomenon of “big 5” animals being followed as a gallery follows the leaders on Sunday of a Major is more than a little strange, though the animals seem used to it.

We ended up seeing lions three more times. The next time we saw a pride lounging under a tree taking turns feeding from a recent kill, but that too was from a pretty great distance.

The third time was the charm as we were among the first to spot a pride sleeping under a tree and grabbed a good spot to view them before most of the gallery amassed. We had some time so we just hung around for about two hours. Every now and then they would roll over or sit up for a while or get up to stretch their legs or simply move to a shadier spot. It was pretty cool and Leslie snapped about 150 pictures over the course of the two hours.

The last time we saw a lion, a solitary male crossed the road right in front of us. We were able to snap a picture of him as he moved into the tall grass and trees, but this was the closest sighting we had. We even heard him roar.

We saw many other animals as well: zebra, giraffe, kudu, antelope, buffalo, elephants, rhino, baboons, monkeys, hippos and many more.

One of the coolest sightings we had was early on day two when on a back road we spotted a cheetah relaxing in the sun on a large rock. One of the things I wanted to be when I was in kindergarten (in addition to an astronaut and Terry Bradshaw) was a cheetah. This was probably as close to that dream as I’ll ever get.

By day three we were pretty satisfied with all we had seen, but we still hadn’t completed the “big 5” tick list. While the tick list itself was of little importance to us, we were eager to see a leopard. The leopard proved to be very elusive. We took some back roads where there had been recent leopard sightings, but the leopard is nocturnal and mostly hides by day. Additionally, leopards cover great distances making recent sightings of limited use in tracking them down.

Then trouble hit. We were pretty far off the main road in our tiny Tata and we got a flat tire. For obvious reasons we couldn’t get out of the car to change it. We remembered a hide nearby where you are allowed to get out of the car so we drove on the flat the 6kms to the hide. We quickly changed the tire, keeping eye and an ear out for anything that may be lurking and headed to the nearest rest camp. Rather than drive much further, we changed our reservation to that camp and the next morning headed out of the park as planned. We were able to get a new spare through the car rental company right at the border of the park. Not a huge crisis, but interesting nonetheless.

The luck of it was that we took a different road out of the park than we would have otherwise. And on that road, we got our leopard sighting. It was moving very quickly away from us in tall grass and we weren’t quick enough to get a picture, but it was cool to see.

Kruger was great. A large camera with a massive telephoto lens seems to be the norm for most visitors and I can see why. Still we got some good pictures with our little point-and-shoot Canon and it was very cool to see all these animals in the wild! Now it is off to Johannesburg and our flight to Europe. One week left in this adventure.

The Kingdom of Swaziland

2010-08-09T03:29:00.003-06:00

Swaziland, the small country surrounded on three sides by South Africa and bordered to the east by Mozambique, was a welcome stop on our route from the coast to Kruger National Park. You could easily drive the length of the country in a day, but we allowed ourselves four days to explore just a bit of this tiny kingdom.

We expected to visit two of Swaziland’s National Parks – Mkhaya and Mlilwane – but were thwarted at the first. The road from the highway is definitely a 4x4 road and our little Tata was not equipped to even attempt the river crossing we encountered barely 500 meters in. We spoke to a local boy and realized we hadn’t sufficiently researched this park. It turns out that it is one of the fancier parks in Southern Africa and prior reservations are strictly required. A tractor comes twice per day to pick up guests and bring them to their swanky accommodations. We later learned that these accommodations would have been way outside our budget anyway.

So, we moved on and landed at the Swaziland Backpackers Hostel in the Ezulwini Valley. This is the gateway to the Mlilwane National Park and the most commonly visited area of Swaziland. We had a nice night here, but decided to move on the next day. We moved to a hostel not too far away that afforded us more opportunity to get out and hike around and see the area.

We went on a short hike that afternoon up the mountain Sheba’s Head where we had some beautiful views of the surrounding countryside. We also met some nice folks that evening that were just beginning their round–the-world trip. Now veterans of this sort of thing (ha!), we passed on some of what we have learned as others had done for us when we were first starting out. Although I think the one rule of this sort of travel is that no two people (or couples) experience the same things and places in the same way. You’ve just gotta see for yourself!

Finally we headed into Mlilwane. Mlilwane actually has a hostel inside the park that made for nice affordable accommodation. The real perk of Mlilwane is that large predators aren’t much of a threat. There are crocs and pythons and hippos and even ostriches you need to be wary of, but you aren’t confined to your vehicle as you are n most game parks.

So we went for a hike. The park, like the country, isn’t that big and we covered a good chunk of it in one day. We hiked the “Hippo Trail” and it was nice to get hiking again. We came across all sorts of animals as we hiked from zebras – some were skittish, others didn’t seem fazed as we walked right past them – warthogs, crocs, monkeys and a myriad birds and antelope.

After the hike we sat at the Hippo Haunt restaurant at the main camp and had a beer. This is an interesting place as it is next to a small pond where hippos reside. There is small stone wall on the edge of the pond and every now and then local school groups will show up and a ranger will put some grain out for the hippos. Onto shore the hippos come. It is neat to see them up close and get good photo opps, but it does feel a little TOO zoo-like. It’s hard to really think of these hippos as wild, though they could leave the area if they wished.

The next morning we set out for South Africa again and left Swaziland behind. It is beautiful country and the people here are incredibly friendly and nice. Oh and one more thing… Swaziland can’t abide catapults.

The South African Coast

2010-08-05T01:42:00.016-06:00

Our original plan was to fly back to Johannesburg and then bus it to Nelspruit and head into Kruger National Park. From there we would head into Mozambique. However, after talking with a few other travelers, it became apparent that travel in Mozambique is slow going and difficult and we would not have sufficient time to really explore the areas we wanted to see. Instead, we decided to keep our car rental for the month and travel the coast.

The first stop was Hermanus. Hermanus is known as a top spot for seeing whales during season. Luckily we were there during the season. We grabbed a table at a café on the water and while enjoying lunch, watched the Southern Right Whales in the bay.

We didn’t stay long in Hermanus, but it did occur to me that the teens of the area must be more mature than U.S. teens as I did not spot a single missing “m” on any of the town’s signs.

From Hermanus, we joined up with the “Garden Route.” It was definitely low season and things were quiet. It was quite a nice scenic drive, but I think we are just not scenic drive people. We spent a night in Knysna, which was a quaint little town, but again things were almost too quiet.

Eventually we drove inland a bit to the Addo Elephant National Park. This was our first game viewing opportunity and we were excited for it! We stayed outside the park at a cool place called Avoca. The folks there were incredibly nice and they gave us a full chalet for the price of their cheapest hut.

The area was beautiful and the park didn’t disappoint. The park is known for – you guessed it! – elephants, and we saw many. We also saw hyena, buffalo, tons of antelope and vervet monkeys.

After Addo, we headed onto the “Wild Coast.” We thought it was given this name due to the rough coastal landscape. While that is partly true we learned it is also due to the fact that the area was never really brought under control during Apartheid. As such the villages and culture of the region seem more intact than other places we had been in South Africa.

One of the coolest spots we visited was Coffee Bay. A little over a decade ago, some surfers approached the Xhosa village at Coffee Bay about opening a hostel (the "X" in Xhosa represents a type of click made by the tongue on the side of the mouth). The hostel is a joint venture of sorts between the surfers and the Xhosa people. Many of the local villagers work at the hostel and they take pride in the hostel, their role in it and their village overall.

We were welcomed, as they do once per week, to the “head man’s” home in the village for dinner and dancing. The “mamas” served us a great traditional meal of samp and beans along with their traditional home brewed beer. We sat around (with women on the floor and men seated in the Xhosa style) and chatted for a while with one of the Xhosa from the hostel serving as interpreter as many of the villagers don’t speak English. However, it wasn’t long before the music started and we all began to dance.

The village was definitely an interesting experience as old ways meet modern life. The women still put on traditional costumes for these events, though the customary red shirt is often now a T-shirt. The village has no electricity in the mud and thatched huts, but they do have a cell phone tower (they say keeping the phones charged is the biggest problem).

Unfortunately, I was not doing so well by this point as I had acquired some food poisoning. We’re pretty sure I got it from a fast food restaurant on the N2 Highway of the Garden Route as that is the only recent time Leslie and I ate separate meals. I ended up spending much of the next day in bed and missed my chance to go surfing.

Leslie did head out and spent time in the village. The locals all hang out by the water selling beadwear and Leslie bought some beads from Martha and Mbumba after chatting for a long while.

It was the weekend so the kids were out playing on the beach and Leslie fit right in! The place is so serene and beautiful, but the real treat was seeing how the village, the local surfing community and the travelers all seem to work so well together -- not always the case in South Africa.

We had planned to make the long drive to Durban next, but the folks at Coffee Bay suggested we stop about 100 KM south at a place called the Mantis & Moon Hostel. We took their advice and were glad we did. We met a bunch of nice folks and two – an Englishman named Charlie and an American named Trevor – hitched a ride with us the next day further up the coast. We dropped Charlie in Durban and Trevor, who is living in South Africa and works at the Mantis & Moon, came with us all the way to St. Lucia.

St. Lucia is known for its wetlands and it was a beautiful spot. The hippos and crocs are abundant in the area and we saw many on a day hike the afternoon we arrived. We spent the next day hiking around and exploring while Trevor went to the Hluhluwe Umfolozi Game Reserve on a guided safari.

The next day we dropped Trevor at the bus station so he could head back to work while we headed north for the kingdom of Swaziland.

Stellenbosch and Franschhoek Wine Regions South Africa

2010-07-31T02:08:00.012-06:00

Stellenbosch is a small university town not too far from Cape Town and is the heart of the South Africa wine region. It seems that South African wines do not have the popularity of many other regions in the United States (even though they have been making wine here as far back as 1659). However, we can see this area becoming another wine "hot spot," particularly if you are a fan of red wines.

We visited 9 wineries or farms as they call them here in South Africa. Our first farm was M'Hudi. While doing some research on South African wines, I found out that M'Hudi is the only black family owned vineyard in South Africa. I emailed M'Hudi about a tasting and got an email back from Diale (the viticulturist) and got a date set. We met with Diale (or more commonly known as Oupa (meaning Grandfather) at their house and farm and chatted for almost three hours about practically everything! From Africa, America, politics, sports and of course wine! Oupa and Raymond (Oupa's daugther's husband's father... I think I got that right! Who also is also apart of this family affair winery) were fantastically friendly and funny. Oupa is super unpretentious. I had said that the Sauvignon Blanc had a green apple smell and Oupa laughed and said, "Really? I don't really know what a green apple smells like. I think there is more of a hint of cat piss! Though my wife would kill me if she heard me say that." Ha! It is true with a lot of South African wines, it has that minerally cat pee smell that sounds weird but totally works in a Sauvignon Blanc!

Also their two grandsons were running around the yard and on their bikes. We really felt welcomed and almost like a family member just having wine on the back porch. We loved the wine and bought a bottle of the Pinotage and Merlot. Their pinotage has a real smokiness up front that then reveals dark fruits on the back end. Also their Merlot has old world characteristics and was really full bodied. We had to explain to Oupa that not every American hates Merlot post Sideways (a movie he has heard about but not seen!)

There are generally three things we judge a winery visit on: 1. Of course the wine; 2. How welcoming the the winery staff/tour is and finally 3. The location. M'Hudi has to be our favorite winery we have visited on this whole trip!

We also went to a few other wineries too! We headed to Thelema's beautiful farm where we had some pretty great reds including a really good Cabernet which is really dry but nice deep coffee flavors. I also loved it that they had a really cool dalmatian!

We then were at the super slick Tokara tasting room. Tokara has a beautiful view out their tasting room. More fantastic wines and great olives as well.

We ended our day in Stellenbosch with Glenelly Estate. This is a newer farm and owned by May de Lencquesaing, owner of Chateau Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande in France. We had a fantastic personal tour of their new "green" building. The bottles are beautiful with one of May de Lencquesaing's glass collection on the bottle.

The next day we headed to Franschhoek which is supposedly the "Napa" like area of South Africa with tons of hip restaurants and wineries. We started off at Dieu Donne for a tasting. They even had a brewery so Jim got to do a beer tasting as well. Dieu Donne has a fantastic view of the Franschhoek valley.

Just down the road from Dieu Donne is Chamonix which has a cool cellar that makes you feel like you are in the French countryside. We absolutely loved their Sauvignon Blanc Reserve 2008. It is fermented in French oak and it gives it a perfect wood/citrus taste.

We could not resist also Yonder Hill just for the picture...

We could have spent weeks here and still not made it to every winery (we did not even have time to make it to the town of Paarl!). Stellenbosch and Franschhoek are great wine regions and seemingly unpretentious people who just pour good wines. We are excited to try even more South African wines when we get home!

Cape Town, South Africa

2010-07-25T03:41:00.001-06:00

Thirty-five hours of travel and we arrived in a different continent, climate and hemisphere for what certainly feels like the final stretch of our adventure - Africa!

Cape Town is our first stop in South Africa and and seemingly everyone from friends at home to fellow travelers we have met along the way, rave about Cape Town and it is easy to see why.

The "Mother City" is dramatically set against the Atlantic and framed by imposing Table Mountain, which is visible from almost anywhere in the city. We timed our visit to Cape Town to miss the World Cup (not that we don't like soccer - or as everyone outside of the states say "football" - but to hopefully avoid the expense that the World Cup brings). even though we were a week after the World Cup the city and the Country were still buzzing from it. Vendors are still out selling vuvuzelas and jerseys on every street.

We luckily arrived to sunny weather in Cape Town and so we quickly decided to hike up Table Mountain. We have done a lot of hikes on our trip and we felt that Table Mountain was a pretty awesome day hike. The panoramic views from the top look out to lighthouses lining the cape, the city and the Atlantic. It is a gorgeous view.

Ever present at the top of Table Mountain is the Rock Dassie which is literally Dutch for Badger. These guys have become used to people on Table Mountain and they seem to ham it up for the photographers. However we are still confused by the plaque on Table Mountain which claims that the elephant's closest relative is the Dassie?

Through Cape Town's beauty there is also an infamous past. We grew up with protests against South Africa due to apartheid and it is interesting to see how South Africa is progressing. However, issues still obviously exist and the echos of South Africa's recent past still linger. Outside of Cape Town (and seemingly a lot of the cities) are townships where people live in houses made of scrap iron and other found materials. The townships were originally where the government forcibly relocated blacks further from the city center. These townships still exist post apartheid and there are movements to revitalize them and bring basic services such as water and electricity to the homes. We went to the District Six museum in Cape Town to get some small feeling of the history.

District Six was the name of an inner city area of Cape Town which was a lively community in Cape Town made up of a number of different ethnic groups.

From Wikipedia:

On 11 February 1966, the government declared District Six a whites-only area under the Group Areas Act, with removals starting in 1968. By 1982, more than 60,000 people had been relocated to the sandy, bleak Cape Flats township complex some 25 kilometers away. The old houses were bulldozed. The only buildings left standing were places of worship.

While there have been attempts at reconciliation, there have been numerous roadblocks. The museum is really interesting and has pictures and stories of the people and families who lived in District Six. It also provides a history of what happened to the area and a memorial to the destruction of the community. It is a very moving museum and very much worth spending a long time reading about the people and the history.

On our last day in Cape Town, we rented a car and headed down to Cape Point which is said to be where the Atlantic and the Indian Oceans meet. It was pretty windy but clear for some great shots of the point.

There are signs everywhere that warn that baboons are dangerous and to not have any food out or they will steal it. Well as we were walking we saw a couple sit outside right next to the signs and eat a pizza. Well, sure enough a baboon mother and baby came out and stole their pizza! No eating outside!

We headed up the eastern side of the Cape to Simon's Town where we stopped at Boulder's Beach where hundreds of Penguins crowded in the bushes to rear their young. There is a deck built along the beach that allows you to get pretty close to the penguins.

We left Cape Town to head up to the wine regions and then up the coast. Cape Town is a beautiful city and a perfect start to seeing South Africa.

Beijing

2010-07-15T12:06:00.011-06:00

Beijing – the north capital – or Peking… whatever you call it, it is immediately apparent that the city is very different than Shanghai and Hong Kong. Where Shanghai and Hong Kong have seemingly embraced the high-rise buildings, frenetic pace and commercialism we typically associate with cities of the west, Beijing seems positively laid back and quaint by comparison; almost as if from another era.

Though our first impression of Beijing was the modern airport and the even-more-modern airport express train to the city, we emerged from the subway station to a different world than we had become accustomed to in the previous weeks. There were no skyscrapers anywhere near us and though major roads and subways criss-cross the city, Beijing’s heart is in the hutongs that spread like a tapestry in the in-between spaces of the city.

Hutongs are, for lack of a better word, alleyways. But that really doesn’t do it justice. Hutongs represent a way of life for many of the people of Beijing. Close-knit families will share a typical hutong dwelling that are basically courtyard central homes. And many close-knit neighbors will share a hutong “alleyway.” Each one seems to represent a micro-community of its own.

Once again, I defer to Wikipedia:

Hutongs are a type of narrow streets or alleys, most commonly associated with Beijing, China. In Beijing, hutongs are alleys formed by lines of siheyuan, traditional courtyard residences. Many neighbourhoods were formed by joining one siheyuan to another to form a hutong, and then joining one hutong to another. The word hutong is also used to refer to such neighbourhoods.

Since the mid-20th century, the number of Beijing hutongs has dropped dramatically as they are demolished to make way for new roads and buildings. More recently, some hutongs have been designated as protected areas in an attempt to preserve this aspect of Chinese cultural history.

When we first arrived in Beijing we stayed in a hostel that was located in a hutong. Immediately, even though we were only short-term guests, we were made to feel a part of the family.

Beijing hospitality, though, showed itself even before that. As we came out of the subway after our ride from the airport, we got turned around and walked the wrong direction as we tried to find our hostel. Looking confused a local twenty-something on his bike asked if we were lost. We showed him on our map where we wanted to go and he quickly identified our mistake. He sent us off in our direction and he rode off in the opposite direction to join his friends to watch the World Cup match that had just begun. Three minutes later he came riding up behind us and said he thought we might still have trouble finding it and he wished to walk with us. We insisted we knew the way now and he should join his friends, but still he walked with us. He seemed embarrassed when we mentioned that he had given us a very good first impression of his city.

We spent the next few days wandering the city and seeing the sights. I won’t lie, typical “sight-seeing” was getting a bit old to us at this point of the trip. That is not to say that Beijing doesn’t offer some incredible sights. We saw the Forbidden Palace, the Temple of Heaven and a number of other sights. And they all were awe-inspiring.

One of our favorite moments happened while visiting Tiananmen Square. We noticed that several people were taking pictures of us as I guess we looked a bit out of place. One group of teenage girls was frantically snapping pictures with their cell phones. Noticing this, we decided to start posing. That was all the encouragement they needed. They quickly surrounded us to get their picture taken with us. Well, fair’s fair, so we had them take a picture with our camera as well.

We had a lot of rain prior to arriving in Beijing, but for the first few days the rains stayed away. One of those days found us at the Great Wall. We decided to head to the JinShanLing to Simatai stretch of the Wall. It’s a bit further from Beijing, but hasn’t seen as much restoration and also doesn’t get the volume of tourists. While the skies were clear, the heat was in full force. In fact, at 107 degrees, it was the hottest day on record since 1951. My flip-flops melted to the wall a bit.

The Wall is incredible. Of course everyone has seen pictures or heard that it is the only man-made structure visible from space with the naked eye (not true, by the way), but until you see it and walk a stretch of it, it doesn’t really sink in just how incredible this structure is.

We walked the 6 km stretch in about two hours, pausing in towers along the way to cool off as best we could. We saw very few other tourists and many sections had seen limited restoration, which added to the experience.

It does get very steep in places and the views –both of the mountains and the Wall winding in the distance – are mesmerizing.

Though we’re told this stretch of the Wall has far fewer hawkers than other stretches, we did see a few. They haul their water, souvenirs and even beer coolers and ice cream up the Wall to sell to the tourists. We met quite a few and were interested to find that those we met were Mongolian. The irony of a structure of this scale being built to keep the Mongolians at bay now providing a source of income for Mongolian hawkers was not lost on us.

If you have been reading the blog, you know we are always in search of good street food. We did hear that Wangfujing Night Market has street “stalls.” We researched it a little and found out that the street used to be a thriving street food area that the Chinese government decided was a “eyesore” and unsanitary for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. So we read that unfortunately the government started a campaign of showing up with police trucks and simply wreaking havoc by throwing tables food and kitchens into the trucks. However, after the trucks left allegedly the people showed their resilience by just grabbing new tables from the back and starting to cook again. Eventually a pact was struck and the government built stalls for the food vendors. It obviously feels different now than what it did pre-Olympics but you can find some interesting treats still. This is the place for that “wow” factor of fried seahorses and fried starfish. But you can get good grilled oysters, dumplings and fried squid (but for more than you would pay at most street food stalls).

And the rains did eventually come to Beijing, but worse still, the rains continued to fall in the south. As such, we decided that our previous plans to explore the Chinese mountains to the south would have to wait for our NEXT around-the-world trip. Instead, we stayed closer to Beijing and visited the small village of Cuandixia (pronounced (as best I can): KWAN-DEE-SHA).

We were able to take a series of subways and local buses to reach the small village in about three hours. This is a small historic village that has a history of about 400 years and preserves more than 70 courtyards with approximately 500 rooms that were built during the Ming Dynasty and the Qing Dynasty. This ancient mountain village, the best preserved in China, covers an area of about 10,000 square meters (2.5 acres) and is renowned as the 'Potala Palace' of the Beijing area. Today it is a popular day trip for domestic tourists. We decided to spend some time and rented a room for the night.

The village isn’t big and on the weekday we visited, was pretty deserted save for the locals. We did meet two women – an American named Janet and a Kiwi name Joanna – who were the only other non-Chinese in the town. No one else in town – neither the residents nor the handful of visiting Beijingers – spoke a word of English.

Still, we were able to find a nice dinner. There really are not formal restaurants, rather you just find someone who is willing to cook for you. We had eggplant with brown sauce, potatoes with wood ear mushrooms and pork belly soup with some crazy noodles. We agreed it was one of the best meals we had while in China. An interesting side-note is that we had dinner theatre in the form of an acrobatic squirrel.

We headed back to the home we were staying at as we could hear from across town that the party had gotten started there. Some vacationing Beijingers were also staying there it turned out and they were already well into their cups. Again they all wanted pictures with us -- probably more the three ladies than with me. And one gentleman took a particular shine to Joanna.

At one point Leslie, as she is wont to do, told a pirate joke (in a Scottish accent, of course). Though we knew our new Beijing friends could not speak a word of English, they laughed wildly on cue. Though some of them were getting pretty drunk and we had no common language, it was a great time. Though we went to bed around 11:00, incredibly, they stayed up to watch the World Cup match that didn’t even begin until 2:30 AM.

We returned to Beijing for a few more days before heading back to Shanghai for our flight to Africa. We spent almost two weeks in Beijing and really got a feel for the place. Though we were disappointed not to be able to visit the mountains, the extended time in Beijing allowed us to settle in and experience life in this capital city.

Shanghai, China

2010-07-01T01:58:00.029-06:00

China is an interesting place as it is one of the fastest changing countries in the world. It seems like the big cities are constantly evolving and (for better or for worse) changing the places where people live. Expos and Olympics have forced what were quiet Hutong streets (basically alleyway areas where lots of people live) into tourist attractions with expensive sushi bars and souvenir shops selling recreated propaganda posters. Luckily even with this ever-changing landscape there are still little areas we found where you can sit at local restaurants down funky streets and feel the Shanghai city life.

Of course as with every country we have visited there are little differences about how people do things and interact with each other. First and foremost, Shanghai has a LOT of people living here… there are almost 20 million people in Shanghai alone! And nowhere is that felt more than in the subway. Queuing is supposedly better than in was 10 years ago but it is still frustrating when someone walks right in front of the line after you are waiting in the queue. It happens a lot and we have become pretty deft at blocking the line cutters with elbows and quick movements in front of them! Also the lines are pretty jam packed at most times of the day.

Another funny little quirk is that when it gets hot out all the men in Shanghai roll up their shirts and bear their bellies to beat the heat. Restaurant, mall or alley it does not matter, if it is hot the belly is out.

Every once in a while on this trip we find ourselves in the most unexpected places. In Shanghai, it was the way we attended the World Expo. We had decided not to visit the Expo as it was just too expensive. But then one day my friend, Kavita, from Law School who lives in Shanghai now, emailed us saying she had free VIP passes for us to the Expo. It turns out that the UK Pavilion was hosting a “gay day” reception and Kavita, having been named “Shanghai Lesbian of the Year” was an honored guest. We had a fantastic time drinking wine and hanging out in the Great Britain VIP area with Kavita and her friends and various diplomats.

Another guy she knows works for the Luxemburg Pavilion and invited us all to an “after party” at the Luxemburg Pavilion where we tried some Luxemburg beer and wine. It was really fun to meet some of the people who are working at the Expo from all over the world.

The rain from Hong Kong followed us up to Shanghai and we were pretty socked in for a lot of the time we were there. This made it so that it was simply hot and humid and wherever we went we were sweating. We stayed in the Bund area which was the area where all the banks and financial institutions from the UK were based back in the 1930's and 1940's.

After the Bund we toured around the French Concession. This area is pleasant as there are large streets lined with trees. Also it feels a little less crowded. There are some cool little alleyway shopping areas that have been redone in the last few years. This is where a lot of the expats live and so there are tons of little cafes and restaurants catering to expats and tourists.

Across the water way you can see the famous Shanghai Pudong skyline with the Shanghai Financial Center, Jin Mao Tower and Oriental Pearl Tower. It is really incredible to think that the Pudong area was essentially farmland prior to 1990 and all the buildings you see have gone up since then. Kavita gave us some more great inside information. You can go up to the observation deck of the Shanghai Financial Center for 150 yuan a person (about 22 bucks) OR you can go to the lobby of the Park Hyatt on the 87th floor, hang out there and get essentially the same view for free!

Everyone who has been to China seems to have a strong opinion of it. Generally that opinion is based on difficulty in communication and then of course...food. I think we got pretty prepared to leave plates mostly full after them disagreeing with our "western" palates. Despite what we have heard, we have really enjoyed the food! We have avoided most sit-down restaurants for the street vendors or hole in the wall institutions displaying their food in the window for passersby. One of our favorite places was just down the road from the hostel where on the sidewalk is a boiling vat of water and then two rooms facing the street. One room was where they were hand pulling noodles and the other was a garage with small tables next to a parked car with a dozen or so Chinese men were slurping away at their steaming noodles. The spicy meat noodles had chili spiced ground beef in a seemingly endless bowl of broth and noodles. We tried the wantons the next day and they were huge with minced cabbage mixed with beef. The super friendly lady who seems to run the place let us know that "Shanghai wantons are bigger and better than anywhere else." Got to love the rivalries there are for food! It is funny to eat extremely hot soup in extremely hot temperatures in a garage but they are a staple of Chinese fare.

However our favorite street food has to be the Xiaolongbao. Xiaolongbao is a pork (or, if you can find it, crab) dumpling with, besides the meat, a soup filling. These are a staple in Shanghai and while the normal steamed ones are good, the fried-bottom-topped-with-sesame seeds-and-green onion Xiaolongbao are crave-worthy. They’re cheap too; about 60 cents for four! They are super tricky to eat as the soup filling is extremely hot and burns your tongue or top of your mouth. Also, the soup squirts out all over your clothes if you are not careful! Local Shanghai folks love to watch the foreigners comically try to eat the Xiaolongbao , although we never did see a local do it much more successfully.

Steamed buns are also a great on the road snack. Again, another dough filled with meat option! However, you can get a great steamed bun with greens and tofu.

Shanghai was our starting point in China and we had planned on heading south to do some trekking. Unfortunately Southern China has been hit by some of the worst rain and floods in years. So that dramatically altered our plans. We decided to head to Beijing instead as the weather was pretty good up there and check out areas around there. We tried to get the train but for some reason the train tickets (except for standing room) were sold out for a month! It is a 24 hour train ride, and even though we think we are getting pretty good at the long haul travel, 24 hours standing is just too much for us! We had heard multiple reasons for why they were sold out… black market, kids leaving for summer break or that it is just summer travel season. Either way, we luckily found a pretty cheap flight to Beijing and so we head there next!

Hong Kong

2010-06-25T05:29:00.001-06:00

Hong Kong wasn't part of our original itinerary, but in order to fly to Shanghai on our RTW ticket, we had a layover in Hong Kong and decided we may as well spend a few days exploring the city and its famous skyline.

Hong Kong was a bit of a shock to our wallets compared to the rest of Southeast Asia, but we were able to find a relatively inexpensive hotel in Kowloon across the harbor from Hong Kong island. We stayed in the Chungking Mansion. Contrary to images that "mansion" may conjure, the building is a huge, old building housing a myriad of small shops and restaurants on the first level and numerous hotels and guesthouses on the other levels.

From Wikipedia:

CUHK anthropologist Prof. Gordon Mathews estimates that people from at least 120 different nationalities have passed through Chungking Mansions in the past year.

With this lively mix of guest workers, mainlanders, local Chinese, tourists and backpackers, the Chungking neighbourhood is one of the most culturally diverse locations in Hong Kong. Chungking Mansions was elected as the "Best Example of Globalization in Action" by TIME Magazine in its annual feature "The Best of Asia."

The building is kind of rundown and the rooms in the hotel we stayed at were barely more than a prison cell. But that is par for the course, so we've been told, for budget accommodations in Hong Kong.

Our first full day was Wednesday and we were happy to find that most museums have free admission on Wednesdays. The monsoon season is heating up and the weather wasn't great so we took the day to wander the Kowloon Cultural Center on the water facing Hong Kong Island. This area provides some of the iconic views of Hong Kong.

We visited the art museum and the space museum. The art museum was great with everything from modern art to calligraphy to ancient artifacts exhibits. The space museum was definitely geared for kids and rather dated. They still have Pluto as a planet and one exhibit called Venus a star!

Street food seems to be harder to find in Hong Kong now than it was just a few years ago as we've been told the government is not renewing licenses or issuing new ones to street vendors. This is a shame as we were really looking forward to Hong Kong street food. We did find some dim sum down near the Temple Street Market and tried some dumplings and a BBQ pork bun.

Restaurants were much more expensive so we stuck to street food and eating cup o' noodles outside the 7-11. "For richer or for poorer..."

The rain never really went away for our time in Hong Kong so we never made it out to some of the outlying islands to experience some of the hiking and beaches in the area, but we did visit Hong Kong Island via ferry.

Immediately noticeable as we stepped off the ferry was the lack of hawkers. Hawking bans are strictly enforced on this side of Victoria Harbor and, we must say, it was nice respite. As the skyline pictures above indicate, Hong Kong Island is filled with modern skyscrapers and most house incredibly nice malls in their lower levels. We went to the 88-story International Finance Centre and the I.M. Pei-designed Bank of China Tower. Both may be recognizable to you if you saw the recent Batman movie "The Dark Knight."

We wandered around a bit as well and the central elevated walkway made getting around a breeze.

We eventually headed back to Kowloon to catch the Symphony of Lights, which is a well-coordinated musical presentation in which the lights of Hong Kong's buildings display an elaborate lightshow in step with the music. The lightshow was pretty cool, I guess, but we commented that we may be a bit spoiled by Vegas. The music was interesting too. It was sort of like a combination of syclavier-era Frank Zappa mixed with 16-bit Nintendo music (I realize that analogies should make something clearer and probably no one gets this analogy, but it is literally all I could think of -- it was weird!). Here is a video that we did not take if you're interested in seeing it (I don't have audio on our PC right now, so I'm not sure if it is the same music or not)

It was cool too see a bit of Hong Kong. It is definitely the most contradictory city we have visited, with one foot firmly in the east and one firmly in the west. Now on to mainland China where hopefully we won't be eating cup o' noodles!

Bangkok

2010-06-21T06:27:00.004-06:00

Despite two previous stops in Bangkok (was supposed to be three were it not for the red shirt protests), we still hadn't really had a chance to explore the city. This time through we had more time and feel we truly got to experience Bangkok --- the good, the bad and the ugly.

We ended up staying not far from the palace, many of the more popular temples and the infamous Khao San Road. But we were still far enough away to have a nice mellow, quiet hotel. We did venture down to Khao San a few times, however, and it lived up to it billing.

The recent unrest in Bangkok hasn’t seemed to slow down Khao San, at least after dark. The street and really the area are jammed packed with restaurants, bars and guesthouses. For those that don't know, it is the backpacker mecca of Bangkok and was made famous (or more famous) by the 1997 book (and later Leonardo DiCaprio movie) called "The Beach." Khao San, like Vang Vieng and Haad Rin on Koh Phangan (also depicted in "The Beach") pretty much solely exists now to cater to backpackers looking to get wasted cheap and with no ID required.

These have not been our favorite types of places. But Khao San is definitely a sight to behold. It reminds me of nights on Sixth Street in Austin, Texas on steroids, but with Black Eyed Peas' "I Gotta Feeling" blaring constantly from ten different clubs.

The World Cup also brought out loads of crazy fans and every restaurant and bar shows the games. That said, we met some really nice folks sitting and watching some of the matches.

A few blocks north of Khao San there is a street loaded with street stalls. Really the stalls are everywhere, but here there was a good concentration of them and we found the best Pad Thai either of us have ever had. We went back a few times to try to get more, but never found them open again.

We also decided we had to go see some temples. Honestly, we were getting a bit sick of visiting temples. Not that they aren't beautiful, but we've seen a lot of churches and temples at this point. We decided to first walk down to Wat Pho, one of the more famous temples and site of the giant reclining Buddha (more on that later). As we were walking south to the wat, we realized we might be off by a street or so, so we sat down in a park and tried to hide the fact that we were consulting a guidebook map. Alas we were made and a nice older Thai man came up to us and offered to help. At first we were a bit wary, but he seemed very genuine. Still I was thinking that perhaps he'd ask us for a bit of change for helping at most. He told us about some of the temples on our map, suggesting some and not being too enthusiastic about others. He also pointed us to nice temples not featured in the guidebooks such as the Lucky Buddha and "Glorious Temple."

He then gave us what seemed like great locals advice and said always get a tuk tuk with a white license plate as these are government licensed and prices are fixed. Wow really!?! Why haven't I heard of this before!

We headed out to the street to look for a white license plate. A few yellow license plates passed and then there came a white. Our new friend hailed him for us and showed him on our map where we wanted to go. We got the great price of just 50 baht (about US$1.50) for our own tuk tuk for the whole day of temple gazing! Thanks, new friend! And off we went.

The first temple, Wat Indrawiharn, was very cool and featured a giant 32 meter (100 foot) tall standing Buddha.

The second temple, the so-called "Lucky Buddha" (I still don't know its real name) was actually quite nice too. Not a tourist to be seen anywhere. It wasn't very big though and after a quick look around, we headed back to the tuk tuk. When we got there, the driver asks if it is okay if he goes to the toilet. Of course, we say sure! Shortly after he leaves, a man in the car next to us starts talking to us. He asks about us and where we're from then says he is lawyer too and works for a firm called Baker & McKenzie. They have offices in the US too, he says. Leslie knows of the firm and we have a nice conversation. He's a corporate tax lawyer, he says, but his parents still live in Bangkok and his brother is a monk at this very wat. “Where are you headed,” he asks. We show him on the map that our Thai professor friend from the park had helped us with. "Oh Glorious!" he says, "you will really like that." Oh why is that? "Well it's the best tailor in Thailand, maybe all of Asia," he says. Uhh, what!?! Tailor? Umm, we thought it was a temple. "No, but it is great deal, usually not open to tourists, only Thai people. Today is the last day of their tourist promotion.”

We may be slow, but at this point, it clicked. The guy in the park must work for this tailor, I said to Leslie later as we were underway again in the tuk tuk. At that point I told the tuk tuk driver that we didn't need any clothes, we didn't have money to buy them even if we did and we could skip Glorious and head to the next temple. At this, the tuk tuk driver came clean (sorta) and said he gets free gas coupons from the tailor if he brings us there. We only need to look for five minutes, he says. Okay, we can look for five minutes to get this guy some free gas. At least he's being honest, we think.

We were expecting a hard sale at the tailor, but really didn't get it. We sat down in the “VIP room” for five minutes, looked at some catalogs and then left. No big deal really. We then went to Wat Benchamabophit affectionately known as simply Wat Ben. Another really nice temple, but we were tired and decided to save Wat Pho for the next day.

After being dropped back at our guesthouse, I simply had to know what had just happened to us and Googled "Glorious Tailors." What I found was exact descriptions of our day. From the "professor" in the park to the tuk tuk driver bathroom break to the "lawyer" from the UK (or the U.S. if he happens to be talking to Europeans) to the claims of free gas coupons to Glorious Tailors. Everything that had happened to us that day went according to script. It was very elaborate and very convincing. We read online that a lot of people do buy a lot of stuff from Glorious which, of course, is why they do it. We didn't buy anything, however, and got a good day at the temples out of it and a very cheap tuk tuk for the day. All we lost was a little pride at being deceived so easily. All part of the Bangkok experience, I guess.

The next day we did head down to Wat Pho and saw the temple and the famous reclining Buddha.

From Wikipedia:

Wat Pho is one of the largest and oldest wats in Bangkok (with an area of 50 rai, 80,000 square metres), and is home to more than one thousand Buddha images, as well as one of the largest single Buddha images: the Reclining Buddha. Made as part of Rama III's restoration, the Reclining Buddha is forty-six metres long and fifteen metres high, decorated with gold plating on his body and mother of pearl on his eyes and the soles of his feet. The latter display 108 auspicious scenes in Chinese and Indian styles.

The Wat Pho complex consists of two walled compounds bisected by Soi Chetuphon running east–west. The northern walled compound is where the reclining Buddha and massage school are found. The southern walled compound, Tukgawee, is a working Buddhist monastery with monks in residence and a school.

It was quite cool, but again, we were a little numb to the temples by this point. With that in mind (and a relatively expensive entry fee) we decided to skip the Grand Palace and just saw that from the street.

Bangkok is definitely a trip! We're glad that things have returned to some semblance of normalcy after the protests so we were able to explore this city. Now off to Hong Kong!

Lao(s)

2010-06-17T22:11:00.043-06:00

We had decided a while back to fly from Hanoi to Lao. In fact, it's the reason we had the three-way ticket from Siem Reap to Hanoi to Lao in the first place as the three-way ticket actually made it cheaper. We had heard a bunch of horror stories about the bus ride and the border crossing so we opted to take the quick 45-minute flight to Luang Prabang.

The vibe in Lao is completely different than in Vietnam. We had heard that Lao was sleepy, but the slow pace of life in Lao still was a bit of a shock. Luang Prabang sits on a peninsula where the Nam Khan river flows into the Mekong. The city is very small consisting of just three main roads running lengthwise on the peninsula between the two rivers. In the middle of the town there is a steep hill that houses Buddhist temples and a stupa that crowns the hilltop. This main "old town" is only about a kilometer long and a quarter kilometer wide yet is home to about 20 wats (a wat is a Buddhist temple that has living quarters for monks). Buddhist monks are a very common sight in Luang Prabang.

In addition to the various wats, temples and stupas, there is a great deal of French colonial influence and much of the architecture is French. This all makes for a very beautiful and peaceful place.

Just outside Luang Prabang we visited the Kuang Si waterfalls. The falls are a popular spot for locals and tourists alike. But the area is very big and it was pretty easy to get away from the crowds. Though we did try out the rope swing in the main pool.

The falls are beautiful! We have seen a LOT of waterfalls on this trip and this may be our favorite. It almost looked fake like something from a zoo or Las Vegas. But it is all natural. Swimming in the emerald waters was very refreshing and the "doctor fish" nibbled at our feet. These little fish can also be found on many street corners in Southeast Asia. Small tanks are set up and customers pay good money to dip their feet in and have the fish nibble and massage their feet (supposedly eating away at dead skin). It was certainly an interesting sensation, but one we were glad to not have paid for.

We hiked around the area as well going up to the top of the falls. All in all it was a great day in a beautiful spot.

It is not all peace and quiet in Luang Prabang though as it does have its fair share of restaurants and bars. We mostly ate street food on an alley off the night market where 10,000 kip (about USD$1.20) gets you a large plate that you can fill up with as much food as you can. The food was great and Leslie enjoyed the night market as usual.

We also spent one night in a local bar with a very international crowd watching the opening match of the World Cup between host South Africa and Mexico. Watching it with such an enthusiastic crowd gave us a new appreciation for "the beautiful game" though we still needed someone to explain to us Americans why a draw isn't anti-climatic.

After Luang Prabang we made our way south and decided to stop in Vang Vieng. Vang Vieng has become a backpacker mecca in recent years and we have seen T-shirts from the small town as far away as South America. The town is located in a gorgeous valley along the Nam Song river surrounded by karst mountains similar to those in Halong Bay, Vietnam.

Supposedly the town started to attract the attention of backpackers due to the beautiful setting and a chance to visit an unspoiled Lao town. Ironically, the town is now overrun with backpackers, mostly younger, who come to go tubing on the river and get drunk. Guesthouses, restaurants and TV bars are everywhere. The TV bars are an interesting concept where TVs playing bootlegged DVDs of American TV shows -- mostly Friends and Family Guy -- are played non-stop and backpackers lie around watching and nursing hangovers (or start on new ones).

We were going to try the tubing but we started to notice that a lot of the westerners around town had patches over their eyes. We even saw one guy with patches over both eyes being led home from the hospital by his girlfriend! We started inquiring about this to people we met and found out that many of the people who had been tubing came away with conjunctivitis (pink eye)! Some of the backpackers tried to claim that it was just an outbreak in the hostels, but we asked one of the guys that rents the tubes and he just shrugged and said that it was the start of the rainy season and things are getting washed down from the mountains. So we decided against it and got out of dodge a day early. Vang Vieng wasn't one of favorite spots which is too bad really because it is a beautiful area.

Our last stop in Lao was the capital city of Vientiane. Like the rest of Lao, even its biggest city has a peaceful, unhurried feel to it. Like Luang Prabang, Vientiane sits in the Mekong valley. There are a lot of temples and wats here as well and we visited a few, though we are beginning to get a little "templed out."

One of the things we were really looking forward to was the street stalls and beer gardens that set up along the Mekong. However there is a good deal of construction going on now because they are redoing the promenade along the river and there didn't seem to be much going on. We opted not to endure the construction and instead stuck to the restaurants near our guesthouse.

Vientiane is also the place we found ourselves on the 16th of June, more than eight months into our "honeymoon", for our first wedding anniversary. We splurged and dropped nearly USD$20 on a big sushi dinner and talked about how great that week in Dunton and Telluride was and how fantastic this year has been.

Hội An and Huế, Vietnam

2010-06-09T21:52:00.071-06:00

After our Halong Bay adventure we began our journey to Hội An by taking a bus, boat bus, motorcycle and then two more buses. Exhausted by the 34 hour journey we stepped into our $13 a night beautiful hotel with a pool. Hội An has become a travelers destination as it is a quaint town with cheap accommodations, really good food and is a mecca for clothes. It is funny because the little town with $13 a night rooms is just about 45 minutes away from Da Nang with 5 star Hiltons and Greg Norman golf courses, and Hội An is exceedingly more charming. We were a bit worried because often these charming towns become "Disney-fied" by the excessive tourism, but Hội An retains its charm and local flavor despite a high number of tourists and expats.

Our initial itinerary for Vietnam got somewhat derailed by the unrest in Bangkok. Because we decided to fly to Kuala Lumpur instead of getting visas in Bangkok, we ended up having to fly to Hanoi instead of our original plan to take the bus from Cambodia to Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon). As a result, Hội An is as far south as we traveled in Vietnam. The sleeper bus we took south was interesting and restless enough to persuade us to spring for the train on the way back north.

Hội An's old town is basically just three main streets parallel to the river. There is a boardwalk area on one of the islands in the river as well, but it seemed more touristy and we didn't spend much time there. The old town is dominated by French colonial buildings often framed by beautiful flowers and lanterns.

As with much of Vietnam, the streets are clogged with motorbikes, but old town is certainly less crowded than many places. Still you need to be on your toes! We spent the majority of our time just walking the streets and trying the various street foods that are unique to Hội An. Interestingly (and debatable) is that two of the most famous local dishes -- White Rose dumplings and cáo láo -- are said to get their unique qualities due to the water used that comes from a single well in Hoi An and the ash from a particular tree. Additionally, the White Rose dumplings recipe is a secret, held by one family in Hội An who supplies all the restaurants in town. White Rose dumplings do have a very light, soft rice paper that surrounds a shrimp filing and a garlic rice wine vinegar dipping sauce. The White Rose has become our favorite Vietnamese dish so far. Fresh shrimp and nice light rice paper? Hard not to love.

The cáo láo is a noodle dish with sliced pork and fried dough on top (and a load of mint and other veggies). The cáo láo had an almost gingery broth and in my opinion (likely to get flak about it from hardcore phở fans....) better than any phở I have had! Also, all these dishes are typically a dollar on the street where you sit on tiny plastic stools with other Vietnamese. Jim and I both agreed that the street vendors are generally a step above their restaurant counterparts selling the same dish.

One morning I got up early to check out the local market to see the fishing boats come in. I got up at 5am, jumped out of bed and headed quickly to the fish market as the boats come in early. At 5 am the sun was already rising and the town was quiet and serene. However, the serenity was soon over as I got to the fish market. The market is slight chaos as small boats with one lady and baskets of fish compete for space to unload while slightly bigger ships with 6-7 fisherman are frantically unloading their catch as well. Even while the unloading is happening, others are yelling and bargaining for the best deals on the purchases before the fish can even get off the boat. I tried as best I could to just stay out of the way as there was barely enough room to walk around. It was hard to stay out of the way, but through the hustle and bustle I could kind of stay in the background, take pictures and witness the craziness.

We also took the opportunity to pick up some new clothes. Hội An is famous for its custom made clothing sold at amazingly low prices. We stopped into a tailor shop called Thiên Thi after a few days of the tailor's brother recognizing us on the street and chatting with us to get us to visit his shop. Most of the people trying to sell us stuff asked where we were from, but his response to us saying we were from the United States was definitely the funniest. He said jovially, "Oh USA!! Before we were bang bang (making guns with his fingers) and now we're Yay! (making a hugging motion)." His persistence paid off and I bought a few custom made skirts.

Though located inland a bit on the river, Hội An is close to the beach as well, and we rented some bikes and headed out the four kilometers for a day at the beach. It was nice just to cool off a bit as temperatures were regularly in the upper 90s with lots of humidity.

After Hội An we took a quick bus ride back north to Huế. We decided to stop in Huế on the way north instead of on the way south in order to be there for the big annual Festival. The festival has traditional Vietnamese dances and concerts as well as some international acts. The Citadel, which is the former Imperial Palace, is extravagantly decorated with lights and traditional paper lanterns.

We were only in Huế for a couple of days but we did go explore the Citadel, a walled-in section of the city that is somewhat reminiscent of Cartagena, Colombia. We spent most of our time in the Citadel exploring the Imperial Palace. Contrary to Hội An, Huế has seen its fair share of war and unfortunately much of it had been destroyed by bombings, but it is slowly being rebuilt and restored.

As always, we tried the local specialties... bánh nậm has shrimp (and sometimes a little pork too) in a rice like roll that is steamed in a banana leaf. Using a banana leaf to seal in food and steam it has become my new obsession as it creates interesting, delicious and pretty healthy food. Anyone know where one can find banana leaves in Boulder?? Finally, another fantastic food idea is the nem lụi cháy. Tofu or meat on a lemongrass stalk with veggies. You wrap it in rice paper and dip it in peanut sauce. (Peanut sauce can make anything taste good though!)

Finally we headed back to Ha Noi on the overnight train. The train was much nicer than the bus as we had our own bed. We did share the small berth that had 6 beds with 3 kids and 3 adults (besides ourselves). It sounds crowded, but the family was lovely and the young kids were practicing their English they learned in school with us.

Really, it was a pretty easy and relaxing trip through Vietnam, and Jim and I were laughing that this post might be a little boring as everything went pretty dang perfectly! Easy travel is of course great, but does not give a funny story afterwords. That is the pleasant thing about Vietnam, the beautiful people, amazing food and gorgeous landscapes.

Ha Noi and Halong Bay, Vietnam

2010-06-03T03:51:00.012-06:00

Vietnam. It was only 35 years ago that Saigon fell and the U.S. embassy was evacuated. Even though Jim was young and I was not born yet, obviously the Vietnam War (called the American War here in Vietnam) affected us all from stories of friends and family to its influence on film, television and a generation. Today Vietnam is reestablishing relationships with former foes (US and Vietnam reestablished ties in 1995) and is becoming a major tourist destination due to its beauty and history. I had wanted to visit Vietnam ever since my sister visited the country when she was on Semester at Sea.

We flew into Ha Noi and settled into our hostel after dodging the touts at the airport claiming that they were our driver to the hotel. It is a common scam in Ha Noi airport, a driver will claim they are from your hotel, but actually take you to a different hotel where they receive a commission. They are pretty amazingly good and the hotels will even have a card from your hotel to try and convince you that you are at the right spot!

On the way from the airport (with our driver from our actual hotel) we witnessed Ha Noi streets. Simply, the streets are crazy. Small streets PACKED with motorcycles. It is pretty amazing how everyone gets around and you do not see more accidents. Every time you cross the street it is an adventure. After watching the locals, we realized that the best way to cross is simply to walk slowly and let the motorbikes dodge you.

Whole families can ride one bike. The record that we saw was five on a motorbike! Mom, dad and three kids!

We stayed in the Old Quarter of Ha Noi which is the historical center of the town. Near the Old Quarter is Hoan Kiem Lake which has a beautiful pagoda and a little respite from the craziness of the Ha Noi streets.

After dragging Jim to street food stalls all around the world, we finally found the street market made for Jim... Street beer!! Our friend Jed, knowing Jim is a beer geek, sent along a New York Times article "In Vietnam, Traveling an Unlikely Beer Trail" which pointed us to the intersection of Luong Ngoc Quyen and Ta Hien to try the bia hoi or "fresh beer." Bia hoi is brewed each night and delivered fresh by 8:00 AM each morning and scores of bia hoi joints pour the stuff from kegs right on the sidewalk for 4000 Vietnamese Dong or about 15 cents per glass.

Locals and tourists alike crowd the sidewalks sitting in tiny plastic chairs to drink the lager-like beer. We both agreed that it is much tastier and creamier than the large brewery stuff. Plus at 15 cents per beer and only about 2% alcohol you can enjoy several on a hot afternoon while watching the chaos on the streets in front of you.

While in Ha Noi we booked a trip to Halong Bay. Halong Bay is a beautiful bay surrounded by limestone islets. It is a UNESCO World Heritage site and they are trying to get it voted as one of the 7 natural Wonders of the World.

There are a lot of tours that go to Halong Bay where you cruise around the Bay on a "junk" boat. We had heard from a lot of people and the Lonely Planet guide book that you get what you pay for when booking the junk boats. We even heard horror stories of rats on the boat and so on. However, we also heard from others that, it is just that the food is not THAT good (just tofu and sticky rice), but you could get the three day/two night (one night on the boat, one night on Cat Ba Island) for $45 (which includes transportation and all meals). Well, being the cheapskates we are, we figured we can deal with anything for two nights (even rats!) and all the boats go to basically the same spots on Halong Bay. So we searched out the cheapest tour we could find.

When the tour picked us up from our hotel, the guide took us aside and said, "I know how much you paid, so don't tell anyone else on the tour because some people paid $120." And that was for just two days/one night. Ha! Sooooo.... somehow we ended up on one of the nicer boats. Nice room on the boat and good seafood meals. So essentially we found out that we could have been on the cheap bad boats, but sometimes when the fancier boats have space, they fill them up with those who paid less. Just like on an airline you may have paid $300 whereas the guy next to you paid $100.

Cruising along the bay was beautiful and then we got to get out of the boat and do some kayaking. After that and before the sunset everyone on the boat swam and jumped off the top of thee boat.

We had a great group on the boat, and after dinner there was karaoke which was ... interesting.

The next morning the boat fired up and started moving at 7am. We headed to Cat Ba island and had a 2 hour hike in the National Park on the island. It was hot and humid, and Jim and I think it was possibly the most we have ever sweat in our lives. We had a quiet night on Cat Ba and headed back to Ha Noi the next day after another boat cruise on Halong Bay.

With Halong Bay being on everyone's must do list for Vietnam, the bay is packed with junk boats all going to the same spots. While the bay itself is certainly beautiful we definitely would have liked a less touristy experience.

So far we have loved Vietnam and the people here. Vietnam has the beautiful landscapes and open people who are always smiling. We head South after Ha Noi to Hoi An on a long overnight bus ride to continue our adventures.

Siem Reap and the Angkor Temples

2010-05-27T03:11:00.022-06:00

Arriving in Cambodia there was some anticipation about what exactly we were going to experience. Here is a country that was controlled by Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge in the 1970's who brutally tortured the people and executed a fifth of Cambodia's population. The fighting and terror did not end completely until 1998 after a protracted guerrilla war. It was amazing to find that despite poverty, war and genocide the people of Cambodia are so warm, friendly and have a great sense of humor.

We flew from Kuala Lumpur directly to Siem Reap. Siem Reap, or more the temples near Siem Reap, was once the heart of the Khmer Empire from about 802 AD to 1431 AD. (note: Khmer are the Cambodian people, and the Khmer Rouge was the name given to followers of the Communist Party led by Pol Pot). The temples were abandoned in the 15th century and most of the temples were overtaken by the jungle surrounding them. In the late 1880's the temples were "rediscovered" by a Frenchman and the temples have been slowly restored and cleared since that time.

The temples of Angkor are spread out over 300 square kilometers so we tried to make a plan for seeing as many temples as we could without getting too "templed out" or soaked because of the ridiculous heat and humidity. Our hostel suggested a tuk tuk driver that they often use, Sambol, who turned into our de facto guide for the temples. Sambol was great and drove us around the temples for three days.

We started off in Angkor Thom where outside of the entrance we got to feed an elephant bananas (which was certainly a highlight of the trip!).

"I call him Stampy."

The major temple Angkor Thom is known for Bayon which from far away looks like a pile of rocks, but once you get closer you realize there are faces enigmatically looking down at you. The faces supposedly are the face of King Jayarvarman VII to represent the omnipresence of the king (as the kings were considered god-like at the time). Mostly these temples were built for either Hindu or Buddhist religion (depending on what king was in control at the time). These temples are huge and it takes forever to see all the hallways, small passages and reliefs on the walls.

After Angkor Thom we headed to Ta Prohm. Ta Prohm's beauty is that it has not been restored and there is little of the jungle that has been removed. Therefore it has a mysterious aspect that makes you feel like you are walking into the temples as they were when they were rediscovered. This is also where a lot of the Tomb Raider shots were filmed (for the Angelina Jolie fans).

Our final stop on the first day of temples was Angkor Wat. Angkor Wat is one of the few temples that was never abandoned. After the Kings left Angkor, Buddhist monks continued to worship at Angkor Wat. As it was never fully left to the elements, Angkor Wat is one of the best preserved of all the temples.

While we were walking through the massive hallways and corridors of Angkor Wat we ran into a group of four monkeys who make the temple their home.

Day two of temples brought us to Preah Khan, Neak Pean, East Mabon and Pre Rup. These temples were surrounded by huge lakes that required boats to reach them. Now, the lakes have dried and you can only imagine the huge moats and reflecting pools. One of these temples was still being excavated while we were there.

Finally, on our last day visiting the temples we headed about 40 kilometers outside of town to Banteay Srey and Banteay Samre. Our guide book from 2000 warns that these two temples are isolated and even dangerous because of their isolation. It is amazing how things have changed in 10 years as Banteay Srey was the busiest temple we visited now complete with a visitor's center. Banteay Srey is popular as it has some of the best preserved and most intricate carvings of all the temples.

Banteay Samre had some amazing carvings, however there was barely anyone there. Both of these temples feature a deeper red sandstone and were constructed during a different period.

In addition to visiting temples, we noticed that a lot of the restaurants in Siem Reap advertised Khmer cooking classes. It was a deal as the class was only $12 to learn to make a stater, main course and dessert (and it would cost about $11 to order all this in the restaurant) which you get to eat too!

For the class we first headed to the local market where we saw the local foods that we would be using to make the dishes. It is a great market with river fish moving around on trays, crabs trying to get out of baskets, buckets of eels, beautiful fruit and spices, even "aged" eggs considered a delicacy .

I made a green mango salad with sweet and sour sauce, Amok fish and some crazy tapioca, jellied dessert. Not only did we make the food, but we also learned how to make little chili trees and a rose out of a tomato! It was a ton of fun and I am hoping to recreate the meal back home (I have to find a good Asian market in Boulder though for some specific ingredients!).

In addition to the temples, Siem Reap also has a vibrant night life. In the heart of town there are literally hundreds of bars, cafes and restaurants and most offer the local Angkor beer on draft for the low low price of $0.50! While certainly not the best beer in the world you can't beat that price and we had a few. We met a bunch of other travelers that were able to last much longer into the night (well dawn, really) than we were. It was with a few Brits that we sampled the cobra wine and absinthe.

All in all we enjoyed our short time in Siem Reap. The temples are certainly worth the trip and the town itself is the perfect size for us, allowing the local culture to thrive and not be totally engulfed by the tourism.

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

2010-05-22T08:35:00.002-06:00

We had not planned on going to Kuala Lumpur. However when the political situation in Thailand (mostly Bangkok) was becoming hairy with standoffs between the government and protesters we decided to go somewhere else to get our China and Vietnam visas.

There was an inexpensive direct flight from Koh Samui to Kuala Lumpur and so we decided to get a ticket to Malaysia. Neither of us knew much about Kuala Lumpur besides (of course) the Petronas Towers. The Petronas Towers were the world's tallest buildings from 1998 to 2004. The towers remain the tallest twin buildings in the world. We walked by these towers numerous times as most of the embassies are located near the towers. We were both impressed with their uniqueness, and they are really beautiful buildings. We stayed in a great hostel right in a colorful part of the city as evidenced by the downstairs neighbor...

The city of Kuala Lumpur is very modern and (maybe it was just the area we were in) has some of the fanciest malls I have ever been in. If you need a Louis Vitton, Jimmy Choo shoes or a new Bentley this is the place to find it. Luckily Jim and I are not in the market for any of these expensive things, but going though the malls provides a shortcut to get to the embassies. Also it provides a little A/C because it was extremely hot and humid. Also Kuala Lumpur has good public transportation, but we were close enough to most sights that we only took the monorail a few times.

As I am a food dork, I was really excited to find out that Kuala Lumpur is a hot spot for food as numerous different cultures and people (Malay, Indian, Chinese, Pakistani, Afghan, Thai, etc.) have settled here. Right near our hostel was Jalan Alor. Jalan Alor is a tiny street food haven surrounded by fancy malls. There are rows of hawker stalls with people out front trying to reel you into their open air restaurant where the seating is right on the street. You have cars trying to squeeze through next to the plastic tables and chairs as well.

Both Jim and I were excited to try the grilled fish and Meng Kee Grill Fish was recommended. We tried both the grilled stingray and the grilled "chicken" fish. We are not sure if "chicken" fish is a type of fish we have never heard of, or just a different name for a more common fish. Either way, the chicken fish was good, but the grilled stingray was amazing. Both are grilled crispy brown and the fish inside melts in your mouth.

I had to try one other Asian delicacy that is pretty hard to find in the U.S., and that is the infamous durian fruit. Durian fruit has been described as smelling like smelly feet, compost or onions (or all of those in some freakish combination). Because of this smell, the fruit has been banned from most hotels and public transportation. People either love it or hate it, and with this kind of reputation.... I had to try it. I loved it. It tastes like sweet cheese or a custard. It is a taste that is hard to describe but I thought had a perfect balance of sweet and creamy. Also, I didn't think it was THAT smelly. Besides being tasty, I read that it is also a very healthy fruit, high in B vitamins! I think they are really hard to find in the U.S, so no worries! I will not be bringing one over as a dessert!

The last "interesting" food I had to try was a "dried meat and meat floss bun" burger. This is a Chinese delicacy and the store is filled with vacuum packed dried meats and a grill up front cooking all sorts or dried meat in a sauce. They put a bun on the grill, heat up some dried meat, and then top the bun and dried meat with cucumber, mayo, chili sauce, and finally shredded pork floss. For about U.S. 80 cents, this was another great food find!

Malaysia was another country where the people couldn’t have been friendlier. In fact it might be the safest we’ve felt in a city of this size anywhere, including the U.S. The mix of expensive high rises and street stall markets, women shopping in fancy malls in full birquas, the vibrant art and cultural communities, and Kuala Lumpur’s explosion as financial capital all contribute to make the city a very great (and, sadly, overlooked by most tourists) place to visit.

Island hopping in Thailand

2010-05-16T02:10:00.036-06:00

After the trek to (and from) Makalu in Nepal, we were ready for a change of pace, so we headed from 5000 meters down to 0 meters and eventually -30 meters in the Thai islands. It being the low, rainy or "green" season (depending who you ask), we decided to stick to the Gulf of Thailand rather than the Andaman Sea islands as they are supposed to be drier this time of year. We settled on Koh Tao, a more recently developed, quieter island that has become a mecca for divers.

Getting there was an adventure in itself. After arriving back in Kathmandu we found the city and indeed the country more or less shut down for a protest strike or "bandh" led by the Maoists. This left us relatively confined to our hotel in Kathmandu with no businesses open and no motor vehicles on the road. The exceptions were emergency vehicles and tourist transport buses. The tourist transport buses were very difficult to get though, so our friends at Rolwaling Excursions picked us up from our hotel to take us to the airport. We did get stopped at one point by some Bandh enforcers looking to make sure they were transporting tourists. They saw us and we had no further problems.

After the flight, we felt like we were going out of the frying pan and into the fire as Bangkok was similarly embroiled in political upheaval. However, like our first visit, we found the protests confined to a small area of Bangkok and not an issue for us. We cabbed it directly to the rail station, however, and hopped on the overnight train to Chumphon (over the bridge on the river Kwai incidentally). From there a two hour ferry to Koh Tao and another world seemingly as far away as you could get from politics and protests.

In Koh Tao we made the decision to first head to the quieter east side (or sunrise) side of the island and Tanote Bay. Though the island is not big, a very bad road serves to fairly isolate Tanote. There are only four or five "resorts" in the bay, each consisting of maybe 10 (maybe fewer) bungalows. It being low season, we guess it was less than half full. Our bungalow, though modest, was right on the water and cost about US$13 per night for the two of us!

We spent our days lounging in the bay and snorkeling and occasionally cliff diving (see that big rock in the bay in the pic above). The snorkeling here was as good as we've ever encountered. The reefs go right up to the shore and there is virtually no tide. But swim out a bit and you can dive down along some striking walls. We saw tons of reef sharks, grouper, triggerfish, barracuda, a ray and tons of other assorted colorful tropical fish. The coral and anemone were beautiful as well. Sorry though, we no longer have an underwater camera so we have to poach pics from the web.

Each night we tried a different restaurant and ended up enjoying Poseidon the most with its treehouse-like atmoshere. We were a bit disappointed, however, in the lack of good seafood and fruit. I guess Tanote's isolation keeps that stuff out.

After five days, we decided to head across the island to the west (or sunset) coast to the more happening Sairee Beach. This is Tao's main drag just north of Mae Haad where the ferries come in. We found another cheap bungalow though this one wasn't on the beach (there are plenty on the beach for more money though). Sairee has a ton of dive operators and it seems the beach is deserted by day as everyone is off diving. Just before sunset though the boats roll back in and the bars and restaurants start hopping with beers being swapped over stories of the day's adventures. The sunset is amazing and some of locals entertained us twirling their sticks. A bit down the beach they were twirling sticks that were on fire.

We were going back and forth as to whether to dive or not since the snorkeling had already been so good and so cheap. But we relented... it is one the cheapest places to dive on earth. We decided to go for a full day, three dive trip to Sail Rock, one of Thailand's most celebrated dive spots. It didn't disappoint. Though we saw much of the same marine life we saw snorkeling, the swim-through "chimney" was worth the trip alone. We also got a great look at a lionfish which was pretty cool. We had a great time and it was a perfect day. The only disappointments were we did not spot a whale shark and the visibility at 30 meters was pretty bad.

After two dives at Sail Rock, the final dive was at the Southwest Pinnacle. This was the highlight for me as we swam through a huge school of yellowback fusiliers that was simply surreal.

Back onshore, we grabbed a spot on the beach at the Big Blue Bar and shared a beer with Jen, our divemaster and took in yet another beautiful sunset. The next day we hopped to Koh Phangan. Phangan has a reputation as a party island, but we were led to believe that if you avoid the "Moon Parties" it isn't that crazy. We made the mistake of going to the cheaper Haad Rin, the backpacker destination on Phangan and the site of the Full Moon Party. Being weeks away from the full moon we expected it to be mellower. We were mistaken. We spent one night partying with kids half our age (okay well maybe half Jim's age), drinking free Red Bull and vodkas (courtesy of the hotel) and the legendary "buckets" (see photo below of our friend Dennis deep into one). We didn't even make it to 11:00, let alone the midnight traditional start to the nightly festivities.

We quickly headed up island to the more low-key Haad Yao. One benefit of Koh Phagnan is that it is more developed and therefore things are a bit cheaper. An A/C room was about half what it was on Tao (though we stayed in a fan room on Tao). That was nice, but we definitely preferred Tao, though it is impossible to truly evelauate either island after so little time and so few places visited.

We didn't spend really any time on Koh Samui other than from ferry to airport, but it definitely seemed to be the biggest, most developed of the three with chain restaurants and even malls. It was a nice time in the Thai islands, though we didn't encounter much local culture. It is definitely a spot catering to tourists and western tourists specifically. One spot on Phangan even had a sign that said "westerners and foreigners only" which made us sad.

We decided that rather than test the political climate in Bangkok, we would re-route through Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to get our visas for Vietnam and China, so we loaded into a small prop plane and left these little island gems behind.

People of Nepal

2010-05-03T21:00:00.001-06:00

One of the real treats of Nepal has been how friendly the people are, particularly in the Makalu region where tourist presence seemed like the exception rather than the rule. Also, digital cameras are a big hit and seemingly everyone wants their picture taken so they can view the result on the LCD screen. We thought we'd post some of our favorite of these pictures from our time in Nepal.

The Trek to Makalu

2010-05-01T01:00:00.014-06:00

One month ago we had no idea we'd be in Nepal in April, but our good friend Rob was invited to climb Makalu and we were able to get to Kathmandu and tag along with the expedition to base camp. The expedition was led by Rolwaling Excursion and Chhiring Dorje Sherpa, an amazing person and climber with 10 Everest summits among his accomplishments. The U.S. team was joined by a French team and Leslie and I and another trekker, Ann, and about 150 porters set out for Makalu.

We met everyone in Kathmandu at the Hotel Annapurna and, on April 14th, flew to a small village called Tumlingtar. The elevation at Tumlingtar is about 300 meters above sea level. Base camp is at 5000 meters and the summit of Makalu that the climbers hope to reach is 8,463 meters. That's a lot of elevation gain!

The experience of being with a climbing expedition like this was certainly unique. There were 13 of us altogether plus about half a dozen guides, eight kitchen staff and about 150 porters. We had quite the army. It takes a while to get used to the concept of porters. Leslie and I are used to going it alone. The Sherpas depend on the business trekkers and climbers bring them though and are absolutely essential to the climbers who have much more gear to bring up the mountain than we did.

We end up carrying very little. A daypack with rain gear and maybe a warm pair of clothes for when we arrive in the next camp. The porters carry everything else. Each porter has a basket which they carry on their back supported by a strap that goes over their head. Most are carrying in the neighborhood of 30 to 45 kgs!

A typical day begins with us being brought tea and/or coffee to our tents at about 5:30 AM. At 6:30 we make our way to the dining tent for breakfast. Meals were incredible. Tons of food and very well prepared. At 7:30 we hit the trail. Most porters have already left by then. We had about 4-6 hours of hiking each day. Some days we were given pack lunches, other days the kitchen would be set up and a full hot lunch prepared. The porters would set up our tent city and by mid-afternoon we would have tea and soup. Dinner, again, was a huge, incredibly prepared many course meal. After dinner, Chhiring would lay out the plan for the next day.

Everyone we were with was great. All of the Americans (Chris, Rob, Eric, Brad, and Ann) and the French (Sylvie, Alexia, Sadrine, Philippe, Michael and Christoph... better known as "Yeti") all got along great and made the trip that much more enjoyable.

So back to Tumlingtar and day one. After the hour flight we piled into jeeps that took us to the village of Khandbari. We stayed at a small hotel that night and slept indoors for the last time on the trip. From Khandbari we drove to Chichila, pretty much as far as the road goes. From there we would walk. That second day we made it too the village of Num. The villages get progressively smaller the higher you go and Num was very small. We had our first tent village set up here and had fun playing with the local children. One of the great things about the Makalu trek is that it isn't nearly as frequently traveled by westerners as other routes such as the Khumbu to the Everest region or the Annapurna. We were an infrequent sort of diversion for the villagers it seemed and they were as curious about us as we were about them. The children in particular loved to shout "namaste" at us as we walked by, knowing we would respond in kind like a parrot. And everyone loved the digital cameras and the ability to see themselves on the LCD screen.

The next day was not long, but the first of any difficulty. We went 1000 meters straight down a steep valley to the Arun river. It was hot and humid as it was rainforest at this elevation. Many of us took the opportunity to take a brief dip in the river before crossing the suspension bridge. And Leslie had her first leech encounter!

The ascent on the other side of the river went up over a 1000 meters to the village of Sedua. We were certainly conspicuous in this tiny village and many of the villagers came out to see us.

The next day we climbed to Tashigoan, the last village of the trek. It was here that I made my contribution to the American climbers' blog:

Of Monsoons and Sutures
We awoke in Seduwa just inside the Makalu Barun National Park at 5:12 AM -- 18 minutes earlier than was hoped -- to the sound of a barking dog. The dog beat our alarms to the punch. Still spirits were high; the weather wasn't perfect, but there was no rain and we had a relatively easy day in front of us. The hike was beautiful through the cloud forest and we came across many smiling faces along the way. The team members all made the hike to Tashigaon before lunch and we were glad for it as the clouds began to descend. During lunch the rains came. We were sheltered, but many of the porters had not yet arrived in Tashigaon and were not so lucky. But a little rain didn't slow them down and they carried their heavy loads down and up the steep valley sides.

Shortly after lunch Eric and Rob broke out the medical kit to treat a Sherpa who had an open suturable lac approx 5cm from a mishap with mini sledge while pounding a chisel. The Sherpa, Lhakpa, had sustained an injury that received sutures approx 3 weeks ago and now he had cellulitis. The sutures were removed and the wound was once again dressed, though this time it was left open. Cleaned, dressed and PO antibiotics, we sent him on his way to be seen again on our return trip out.

This was all made a bit more interesting as the weather continued to intensify and the monsoon rains came in sideways mixed with hail. Lhakpa successfully patched up, he headed into the yard to show off his new bandages to his friends.

The rains (and hail) did let up a bit. Brad and I enjoyed watching about a dozen Sherpas chasing tonight's dinner (chicken) through town. Coops may be a bit easier, but this was certainly more entertaining for chasers and onlookers alike (if not for the chicken). So now we sit awaiting dinner and our sleeping bags that will surely follow closely on dinner's heels. Tomorrow is our first long, hard day. About eight hours of hiking and lots of steep ascents away, Khongma awaits.

- Jim Kendrick (with help from Rob)
17 April 2010

That was one of two minor surgeries our docs, Eric and Rob, performed on the trek. It was great to see these guys able to help these villagers. A few days later Eric helped a 16 year old girl who had a smashed finger.

From there we really started climbing into the mountains. We arrived at the teahouse at Khongma after catching our first real glimpses of the snowcapped peaks of the Makalu region. By the time we reached Khongma, though, the clouds had built and we could barely see ten feet in front of us. From this point on we would be staying at teahouses as there are no more villages. The teahouses are pretty rustic and the Sherpa people sleep inside and set up makeshift kitchens. We still sleep in our tents set up just outside the teahouses.

From Khongma we hiked up and over two passes at Shipton La and Keke La to the Dobate teahouse. By this time we were getting accustomed to the weather patterns: beautiful mornings with clouds steadily building into the afternoon. We were always able to get to the next camp before any real bad weather hit though. After dinner we talked about the rest of the trek and made a plan. The teahouses don't lay out ideally for proper acclimatization. The next teahouse was at Yangle Kharka but that is actually lower in elevation than Dobate, so we decided to make a two day push to base camp. We stayed the next night at Riphuk Kharka at the same elevation as Dobate, which made for a long day. At Riphuk Kharka Eric entertained the Sherpas with his yoga.

The next day we covered the 1,100 meters from Riphuk Kharka at 3,900 meters to base camp at 5,000 meters in one day. It is certainly not ideal to ascend more than 1000 meters in a single day when at that altitude and some of us certainly felt the effects. For me it triggered migraine like headaches and others were bit sick as well. Luckily we had a rest day at base camp.

Base camp was beautiful. Leslie and I had, for the whole trek, been lamenting the fact that we were not going to be able to climb for the summit. When we came into the valley and saw the imposing Makalu before us as we stood already at 5,000 meters, we found ourselves relieved that this was as high as we were going. Pictures can't possibly do it justice.

Our time at base camp was too short, but the climbers needed to get to ABC (advance base camp) and continue to acclimatize. It was sad to leave everyone, but our considerably smaller group (three trekkers, one guide, four kitchen staff and seven porters) started our journey back, leaving the climbers for their further month long climb to the summit.

The walk down retraced our steps. Unfortunately Ann, the other trekker, fell ill from exhaustion on the way down. The porters did a superhuman job helping her down the mountain until we could get to a phone in Tashigoan. From there a helicopter was called and Ann was evac'd. The sight of the helicopter landing in the small village was something and the whole village turned out to see.

In Sedua we were lucky to be there while they had a village market day. The people were selling clothes and shoes brought up from the cities as well as local foods. This area produces a lot of millet, and so one of the major foods was a cooked millet soup. The women of the village wore tribal piercings in their noses that were scorpions hanging down. Again, these villagers were very friendly and were inviting us to sit with them (so long as we showed them the pictures of themselves!)

A few more days of hiking and we came to the end of the journey. A flight from Tumlingtar to Kathmandu and we finally got showers. Makalu was an incredible journey for us and one of the major highlights of our whole trip. We have to thank Passang, our guide, Chhiring and everyone at Rolwaling, all the Sherpa people that helped us up and down, Rob for inviting us and Chris for making it possible.

Welcome to the World Lhakpa David Henry!

2010-04-29T02:05:00.001-06:00

When we left for Makalu base camp, we knew that we would likely be up on the trek somewhere when my sister and her husband were going to have their baby. On the way to base camp, we were able to get updates by e-mail via the satellite phone the climbers had. As we got closer to the due date everyone on the trip was asking about the updates and as excited as we were to hear about the baby being born!

When we headed down from base camp we no longer had internet or phone access for about 5 days. However, when we were with the Sherpas we felt for sure that the baby was imminent so we headed into the small teahouse at Dobate where we were camping at 3900 meters and cheers-ed to our new nephew David Henry. The teahouse was small and smokey and kind of reminded us of the scene in Raiders of the Lost Ark where Indiana goes to the snowy pub in Nepal to find the medallion that Marion had. Together with the Sherpas we toasted to the baby with Raksi (home-brewed alcohol made out of rice, millet or barley).

When we got further down and closer to the end of the trek we were able to call home from a phone in one the villages. We were so excited to hear that David Henry was born on April 29th. And our guide Pasang busted out more Raksi! As we were talking to the Sherpas they said that since David Henry was born on a Wednesday his Sherpa name is Lhakpa. One of the traditional ways of naming babies in the Sherpa culture is naming the baby by the day of week they were born and Lhakpa is Wednesday.

Finally we are able to call and get word on David Henry...

...from this village...

... and properly toast to our new nephew!

WELCOME TO THE WORLD LHAKPA DAVID HENRY!!!!

Kathmandu, Nepal and Prep for Makalu

2010-04-09T04:03:00.004-06:00

We are in Nepal! We just arrived and only have pictures from the flight in (my first glimpse of Everest), but we wanted to post this update since we likely won't have another one for about a month. We were fortunate enough to be able to re-route our trip and join our friend Rob and his expedition heading to Makalu.

From Wikipedia:

Makalu is the fifth highest mountain in the world and is located 22 km (14 mi) east of Mount Everest, on the border between Nepal and China. One of the eight-thousanders, Makalu is an isolated peak whose shape is a four-sided pyramid. Makalu is one of the harder eight-thousanders, and is considered one of the most difficult mountains in the world to climb. The mountain is notorious for its steep pitches and knife-edged ridges that are completely open to the elements. The final ascent of the summit pyramid involves technical rock/ice climbing.

We will be with the expedition until base camp (5200m; 17,000ft), but we won't be making a summit bid as Rob will. Still this is a unique opportunity and we are very psyched. The hardest part of this is that the timing isn't perfect. We will be deep in the Himalayas as our nephew is born and that is extremely difficult for both of us.

The expedition has a blog and should be updated as we go, so that is your best bet for following us over the next month.

http://www.k2klinke.blogspot.com/

The journey for us will be just under a month; for the climbers more like two months. So please check it out!

Australia!

2010-04-06T07:43:00.016-06:00

We only had a week in Australia (which is obviously not even close to enough time to really travel in Australia) but we were excited to head up to Byron Bay as numerous friends had told us that it was one of their favorite places.

We flew into Sydney and checked into our hostel Kangaroo Bakpak. It was apparent as we got into Sydney that the Australians are just overwhelmingly nice. Everyone we met seemed to be going out of their way to help us out. The staff and everyone at the hostel we stayed at hung out and made dinner together and made us feel welcome right away.

The next morning we got our new van. Our van was from the same company as the van we had in New Zealand but this van was pretty bad and run down. It was scary to drive and Jim did a great job driving the van on the left side of the road, with a manual transmission (on the left), minimal (if any) shocks and a ridiculously high center of gravity. It gave some hair raising moments we DO NOT want to repeat. However, the Foster's Home For Imaginary Friends painted on the side was cool! Though neither one of us had any idea what it was when we picked up the van.

We took our time driving up the East Coast of Australia for the 10 hour drive to Byron. I loved the birds we saw. I was especially excited to see a kookaburra!

As we had mentioned in a previous post we meet Darrell and Michell Lamb on the Milford Track and they had graciously offered to let us park the van at their house and use the facilities. This was an amazing offer that we took them up on as the Byron Bay Blues Festival that weekend meant everything was are booked up including campgrounds. We had a great time with the whole family and it again just shows how incredibly nice Australians are!

Byron Bay is an eclectic town that was a whaling town until just the 1960's. Luckily the whale industry was shut down and surfers started noticing the great breaks in and around the bay. The legend grew and Byron is now a surfers/hippie paradise with ever rising housing costs and population. (Yup, trade surf for mountains and it does sound like Boulder!)

The water here is beautiful and we took a suggestion from the Lamb's and hiked the nature preserve around the lighthouse.

We also spent a good amount of time on the beach. The water was beautiful and the sand perfectly fine and white. It was a great change of pace as New Zealand was getting cold! We had planned to go snorkeling, but were told visibility was very poor due to high surf so we just played in the surf instead.

As it was Bluesfest time we were able to catch a bunch of local bands at the band competition at the Beach Hotel. Unfortunately reality intruded just a bit and we used the bar's free wifi to do our taxes while listening to the various bands. This band was our favorite but unfortunately they came in second.

Also at the Beach Hotel Bar we randomly ran into a bunch of folks from the U.S. band Umphrey's McGee. We had a great time talking travel with the group. Also we were lucky to be able to go to Bluesfest (Thanks Dave!!). It is a good sized festival but not too huge (about 17,000 people a day). We ran around the festival and checked out U.S. Umphreys McGee and Old Crow Medicine Show and a host of other bands that were new to us.

We had to leave sadly, and took our time heading back down the coast for our flight from Sydney to Bangkok. On our way down we heard that we had to check out Fredos Pies. A couple of surfer guys we met had mentioned that Australia is the only nation to eat its national emblem. As I had not seen a Kangaroo, I decided that I might as well eat one at least! Fredos is famous for its "gourmet" pies including emu, crocodile, camel and sometimes possum. The surfer guys said that the croc was pretty much just fatty. So I went with kangaroo. It tasted like beef and not gamey. It was good!

There was also a kangaroo playing a banjo painted on the wall at Fredos which I, of course, thought was hilarious!

Our time was really short in Australia but we felt like we got quite a bit in. We were sad to leave Australia but are ready and rested for the challenges of South East Asia and the rest of the world to come.

The Final Stretch - New Zealand

2010-03-27T07:00:00.007-06:00

After Milford and Doubtful Sounds we started to head down the Southern Scenic Route of the South Island for our last bit in New Zealand. The first place we wanted to make sure we hit was Bluff to sample the famous Bluff Oysters.

Bluff oysters are only dredged in the Foveaux Strait from March to August and we happened to be there right in season. The Bluff oysters lived up to the hype of being fat and delicate. The only disappointing thing is that they are not served after being freshly cracked open on the half shell. We bought them fresh from the source, however, which made them about half the cost of getting them at a restaurant!

After Bluff we headed to the Catlins area. Here there is beautiful coastline with dramatic cliffs dropping into the ocean. We stopped at Nugget Point where there is an old lighthouse that was built in 1869. Also we spotted a bunch of seals down at the bottom of the cliffs.

After driving the Southern Scenic Route all the way to Dunedin, we went back to Queenstown. We had a few days so decided to head up to Glenorchy to walk a little of the Routeburn Track which is another one of New Zealand's Great Walks. We camped at one of the Department of Conservation sites and had a really fun night with some people we met there. Marisa from San Francisco and Stephan and Sabine from Germany.

We all decided to make the walk together the next morning on the Routeburn. The Routeburn follows a beautiful river and has more amazing waterfalls. If you haven't figured it out by now, if you're a fan of waterfalls New Zealand is your place.

We hiked all the way above treeline to the Routeburn falls. Once above the falls in the valley, the weather got rough with wind and rain, so we headed back down.

The short trek was a great way to wrap up the New Zealand trip. We loved the hiking that we did around New Zealand, and wish we could have done even more of the Great Walks. We were sad to leave New Zealand but excited to head to Australia for a short trip and then to Southeast Asia.

Kayaking the Doubtful Sound

2010-03-19T04:47:00.016-06:00

Doubtful Sound is not quite as well known as its northern neighbor Milford Sound, but it is quickly gaining prestige and rightfully so. Larger and more remote than Milford, Doubtful Sound is only accessible by guided tour. We opted to go the more low-key route and kayak rather than do a cruise. Doubtful Sound got its name when famed explorer James Cook opted not to sail into the sound because he viewed it as doubtful that he would be able to sail out again.

In the town of Manapouri, just south of Te Anau, we met up with our guides at Adventure Kayaks and hopped in a boat across Lake Manapouri. We arrived at the end of the West Arm of the lake, the site of the Manapouri Power Station, about 45 minutes later. The Manapouri Power Station is interesting itself in that its design and construction were the result of the Save Manapouri Campaign environmental protests against the raising of lake levels of the originally planned station. These protests unified New Zealanders and gave birth to the country's modern environmental movement. The power station is largely underground and takes water from the lake and feeds it through massive tunnels to its release at Deep Cove in Doubtful Sound. This allows the plant to provide energy with minimal disruption to the environment (although, of course, there is some impact).

After a bus ride over Wilmot pass (the few vehicles on this side of the lake are sent over on barges as no roads access Doubtful) we too arrived at Deep Cove. Our luck with the infamous Fiordland weather finally gave out and we climbed in our kayaks in a light but persistent rain. Many of the guides say the misty rain is the best way to see Fiordland. I don't buy it, but I must say it was beautifully atmospheric and didn't detract from the day on the water.

Deep Cove is just one of many arms of the huge Doubtful Sound. We paddled out of Deep Cove and down Hall Arm considered to be the most dramatic of the sound's arms. We would have a total of about five hours of paddling time that day and it really did fly by. Leslie and I shared a double kayak and had a lot of fun paddling together. The water is incredibly calm and the area receives so much rain that the top few meters of water is virtually devoid of salt. This fresh water at the surface also gives the sound a black as oil look which adds the atmosphere of the place.

There are of course the strikingly steep walls, the rainforest flora clinging to the sheer cliffs and the myriad of waterfalls, but the real treat of Doubtful is its isolation. With no roads to access it and a limit to the number of guides, you feel like you're in a lost world, totally alone.

We had a small group, but all were strong paddlers and we moved well and saw a lot of Hall Arm. Unfortunately our camera is not waterproof so we didn't chance it to take many pictures.

There is quite a bit of wildlife in the area (bottlenose dolphins, fur seals, penguins and several species of whale frequent the Sound) but its sheer size means you're lucky to see much and we weren't that lucky.

Doubtful Sound was a nice contrast to the crowds of Milford, equally as beautiful and much more wild. If you go to New Zealand and don't go to Doubtful (and don't kayak for that matter), you're missing out!

The Milford Track

2010-03-15T21:13:00.163-06:00

"The finest walk in the world"

This quote from an article in the London Spectator by poet Blanche Baughan had perhaps the most significant impact on New Zealand tourism from its 1908 publication date until 2001. We're not sure we would put it at the very top our list, but it is certainly in the running!

It takes four relatively easy days to hike the track from the northern shores of Lake Te Anau to Sandfly Point on the Milford Sound with three nights in New Zealand Department of Conservation huts along the way. It covers a total of about 54 km or 33 miles and reaches its highest point at Mackinnon Pass at 1,140 m (3,740 ft).

We were very lucky that we had great weather for the full trip. It was cloudy at times but never really rained. Some say the Track's beauty is augmented by the rain in that hard rain makes for more numerous and more intense waterfalls. But we were glad to have the sun!

The trip begins from Te Anau Downs which is basically just a parking lot and a dock for the catamaran ferry. The ferry takes you north on Lake Te Anau to Glade Wharf. We caught the later of the two ferries and our boat was filled mostly with "guided walkers." Milford track is one of New Zealand's "Great Walks" and one of the few that has separate huts for guided walkers. These "huts" are more like hotels and, for a hefty fee, you can stay in them and have your own room, showers, meals, etc. Plus you don't have to carry much more than a daypack. The huts on the Milford Track are staggered and the first hut you reach is very close to Glade Wharf where the ferry dropped us off. This is called Glade House and is a guided walkers hut. The nice thing about the huts being staggered is that despite a large number of people of the Track, the separate locations of the huts means we never saw any guided walkers again and enjoyed relatively uncrowded trails. We continued past Glade House for less than an hour to Clinton Hut for the night.

The Track requires all "trampers" to stay in the huts so we needed reservations. We got ours over nine months earlier and were lucky to get them then. An interesting result of this is that you are with the same 40 people in the huts all three nights. On the first night we ate dinner and talked with Darrel and Michelle Lamb. When they found that Australia was our next destination and that we intended to go to Byron Bay over Easter, we learned that Byron Bay is their hometown and that the annual Bluesfest would be happening that weekend. The Lambs are a great example of Kiwi and Aussie hospitality as they offered to let us park our campervan at their house in Byron Bay! More on this and the Lambs in our Australia post coming soon!

That night the hut ranger, Peter, took those interested out for a short walk after dark to see some glow worms and then to observe the stars. We had a perfectly clear night and Peter had a cool laser pointer that literally seemed to reach the stars... and we finally figured out some of the constellations we had been wondering about such as the Southern Cross.

The next day we hit the trail relatively early for a gradual climb along the Clinton River through beautiful forests. The rivers in this area are stunningly crystal clear and an emerald color. We could observe rainbow trout and eels clearly as we hiked along the Clinton. Of course waterfalls are a highlight of the Fiordland area and we saw many this day. But the best was yet to come. We arrived at Mintauro Hut in the early afternoon. The sandflies we have mentioned in earlier posts were out in force making us glad to have the shelter of the hut.

The next day is the biggest by most reports. We again were among the first to set out and headed up steadily right from the hut to the Mackinnon Pass, the high point for the Track. It wasn't totally clear at the pass, but we could still clearly see the Clinton valley we had just traversed and the valley ahead of us.

A few kilometers down the trail begins to follow a river. A ways down, back below treeline, the river begins to sharply descend via a series of incredible waterfalls carved into the limestone. This is, for me, the most beautiful part of the Track though it should be mentioned that it is hardly what we would call "wild." While it is understandable due to the remoteness of the location and volume of visitors, it was still a bit disappointing to find steel and wood staircases along the trail. But this is a minor gripe.

We arrived at the Quintin Public Shelter beside the palatial guided walkers "hut" for an early lunch. From there we did the side trip up to Sutherland Falls. This waterfall is officially New Zealand's highest falls and at one time was believed to be the highest in the world. A nice feature of the falls is that you can literally walk behind them. We tried this and though we got VERY wet, it was well worth it to look up at the falls from behind with the sound of the rushing water reverberating in your chest.

We arrived at Dumpling Hut in early afternoon and again hid from the sandflies in the hut. Though we did take advantage of the seclusion of being among the first to arrive to take a swim in the river.

The final day is the longest in terms of mileage (meterage?), but is pretty easy hiking. This day was by far our best weather bringing clear blue skies with just a few puffy white clouds floating in and out of the valleys. The trail again passes through rainforest and along picturesque rivers and streams boasting waterfalls each uniquely beautiful.

Knowing we were going to have plenty of time to get to Sandfly Point in time for our boat across Milford Sound, we moved leisurely and checked out the myriad of birds in the area. Many of the species have no natural predators so are not very shy. Though a notable exception to this are the introduced animals such as stoats and possums that are currently preying of endangered species such as the Blue Duck and the Kiwi. Still we spotted kea, wekas, robins, bellbirds, tui, fantails, paradise ducks, herons, spoonbill, amongst others.

We found Sandfly Point to be, unfortunately, accurately named. Still, we took the time to walk around the area and see some of the stunning vistas the Milford Sound has to offer. We eventually climbed on the boat and headed across the Sound to the Milford Sound Visitor Center. From there a two hour bus ride along the also stunning Milford Road brought us back to Sly, our campervan, in Te Anau Downs and the end of our Milford Track experience. The Milford Track is indeed a great walk and we would highly recommend it for almost anyone. There were people of all fitness levels on the trail at the same time as us as well as ages ranges from young children to folks in their 70s. It is a truly great way to see New Zealand's Fiordlands.

Central Otago Wine Trail

2010-03-11T04:22:00.007-07:00

Central Otago has probably one of the prettiest wine regions I have ever been to. Vines surrounded by rugged desert mountains and deep blue lakes. One of the other distinguishing qualities about this region is it is at latitude 45 degrees south. This makes Central Otago the southernmost wine producing region in the world and also at the same latitude line (albeit the North 45 of course) as the famous wine regions of Burgundy France and Willamette Valley in Oregon.

We spent the night in Luggate before we headed down to the Cromwell/Bannockburn region for the wineries. That night at our campsite we hung out with a some of the local wildlife, the hedgehog. This little guy was loud! He was rustling around so much I thought it was a dog digging around behind us!

But... back to the wine. We headed first to Aurum. Here there is a cute little yellow cottage where you can sample their wines and olive oil grown on site. The winemaker is from France and we were able to try the region's famous Pinot Noir and Sauvignon Blanc.

Pinot Noir is king in this region and is certainly a hot spot right now. (And it is reflected in the prices of bottles of Pinot from all of the Central Otago wineries (but luckily for us we were just sampling!).

We headed to Olssens next where we tried some wine but was a little stuffy. Nice tasting room though.

Then we headed to the winery that we both loved the most (tied with Chard Farm) and were looking forward to: Felton Road. Felton Road has a beautiful compound that heads up onto the hills.

Further down the road, they have vines growing right on the shores of the lake. Here there was a great woman who runs the cellar door letting us taste and learn about the wine. We tried the 2009 Chardonnay Elms, the 2009 Riesling, the 2008 Pinot Noir and the 2008 Pinot Noir Calvert. The whites were great and the Pinot Noirs were amazing. We did not get to try the famous Block 3 or 5, but she did point out the vines to us!

After Felton we visited Mt. Difficulty that has beautiful views of the region from their very stylish restaurant and tasting room. Their wines were good... their Sauvignon Blanc was a little green but maybe it was unfair to try any wine after visiting Felton.

Finally we ended with Bald Hills. I chose this winery out of the many in the region because I swear I have tried the wine before. The winemaker said they had sent a large shipment of wine when they first started producing to the US but has since scaled back to focus on their regional markets.

The owner of Bald Hills (along with his wife) is a great gentleman named Blair Hunt who grew up in Fiji and New Zealand and went to USC. He is there and explaining and pouring the wine at the cellar door! Their winery started as a retirement spot and of course has grown into another full time job. We had a lovely time talking with Blair about the region, Fiji and New Zealand. We bought the Pinot Noir from Bald Hills as we loved the wine and the place (right on the lake as well).

That night we camped out by the river that runs by Chard Farm Winery and is also the river that runs under the famous AJ Hackett Bungy jump.

We loved Central Otago for its intimacy with the Cellar Door tastings (most tastings were with the owners or winemakers) beautiful scenery and of course amazing wine. It is an area which we kept coming back to after all of our other trips in NZ for its wine, adventure and beauty.

Marlborough wine, green-lipped mussels and heading to Christchurch

2010-03-04T16:47:00.004-07:00

Again, I was excited about the wine regions in New Zealand and Marlborough is one of the largest wine producing areas in New Zealand. Also, we have been told is the "new world" wines first generated attention in the wine world.

We mapped out a course as best we could to include larger wineries we had heard about in the U.S as well as some smaller outfits to discover some new wines. Also, there are a lot of wineries in the region, and without having days in the area; it is impossible to try them all in a day. I was disappointed to find out the Kim Crawford does not have a "cellar Door" (wine tasting area at the winery) as that is the Sauvignon Blanc that my friends from the firm and I would have a glass of at the Palm.

We started off with Maui wines where there was a beautiful tasting room with stained oak wine barrel slots for the walls. We tried what is the typical selection of wines in this region which is a couple of Sauvignon Blancs a Gewürztraminer or Chardonnay or Pinot Gris and of course Pinot Noir.

We then headed to TWR where there was a tasting with the owners of the winery. It was a small sparse tasting room, but we had a great time chatting up the owners about their wine and wine making philosophy. We really enjoyed their Riesling "D". Neither Jim nor I generally drink Riesling as it is generally very sweet, but we were told that the more classic Riesling is actually not too sweet. We purchased a bottle of the Riesling to enjoy with our green-lipped mussels for dinner (more on that later).

From TWR we headed to Fromm Winery. This winery is different from the typical Marlborough winery as it focuses on red wines. They had a Syrah and Pinot Noir. The winemaker is from Switzerland and focuses on what he calls, "cassic European styles, and wines with an unpolished expression of vineyard, climate, vintage and people involved."

We then stopped by Cloudy Bay. Cloudy Bay has a sleek tasting room with a view back to their ageing Chardonnay barrels.

Finally we headed to Allen Scott Winery. They have a fabulous looking restaurant and a bubbly lady pouring the tastings and answering a plethora of questions.

While in the tasting room, Jim noticed a picture of the Scott family and spied the father and son with.... beer? We found out that the son opened a brewery "Moa" down the road from the winery. While Jim likes wine, he is truly a beer connoisseur. So we had to seek out Moa. The brewery is named Moa after an extinct, flightless bird endemic to New Zealand that were about 12 feet in height.

We sat out on the front patio of Moa with a couple of locals talking about New Zealand and beer. The brew master came out to chat with us and we sampled the beer in different stages of brewing including some very hoppy beer before it gets "aged" in Chardonnay barrels from the winery.

After Moa, we found a beautiful place on the beach to camp. And we started to make green-lipped mussel dinner. To get to Marlborough from Nelson we went through Havelock, the self proclaimed "green lipped mussel capital off the world." As it is the capital, we had to try some and at the source they were a great deal.

We steamed them with a garlic white wine sauce with bread to soak up the sauce. They were delicious and maybe the best (and biggest) mussels either of us have ever had!

After Marlborough, we went into Christchurch. Though we did not stay long in the city, we had a nice afternoon wandering through the city center and had a nice lunch there. Christchurch, at least on a Saturday, is very mellow with people shopping, dining and running and biking on the bike paths through the many parks in town. We then made our way out to the Banks Peninsula where we camped for the night again right on the water. The following day we drove out to Akaroa. The drive was beautiful and the town of Akaroa is a quaint and friendly mix of French colonial and Maori culture.

The West Coast of New Zealand

2010-03-01T18:15:00.011-07:00

After Mt. Cook and Mt Aspiring we headed for the coast and made our way up the famed West Coast of New Zealand.

Our first stop was in Haast where we stopped at a small cafe and tried a whitebait sandwich. Whitebaiting is quite popular here and the whitebait sandwich is one of those local foodstuffs we had to try. Whitebait are like fish larva and they are generally served up in a egg patty. The sandwich is just the patty on some white bread. It was good but mostly just tasted like an egg sandwich, so it was a bit disappointing. That's about all there was to do in Haast so we headed up the coast pretty quickly.

The first thing we noticed about the West Coast is the sandflies. Man, these little buggers are a nuisance! They are everywhere here and their bites are far more annoying to us than mosquitoes in that they itch like crazy for a long time. Over the course of our time in New Zealand we got a bit better at avoiding them, but they make some otherwise beautiful spots quite simply unbearable. We found a nice spot to camp on the beach that night and the one thing that makes the sandflies a bit easier for camping than mosquitoes is the fact that they go away after dark.

In the morning we made our way to the glacier country. First we went to Fox Glacier and hiked the short walk to face of the glacier then to the Franz Josef. They were very nice, but after the glaciers of Patagonia, these were a bit of a let down. There were massive crowds and many people get guided walks on the ice, but we opted not to do this as it was pretty expensive. The short walks were good for getting out of the van and stretching the legs and the cool thing about these glaciers is that they literally run down the valley through rainforest. The waterfalls of the valleys were quite impressive as well.

Many of the stops along the West Coast are quick little trails that run to the sights. We would stop do the quick walk and see the sights and be back in the van to move on pretty quickly. This meant that we spent far less time on the West Coast than we had initially anticipated. We saw the Pancake Rocks as well. All of these sights are quite spectacular though and we were glad to have made the trip.

Eventually we made our way up to the literal end of the road in Karamea. There we did the first leg of the Heaphy Track, another one of New Zealand's "Great Walks." This one starts at an estuary that was by far the worst place for sandflies we have been so we got moving quickly. The sandflies don't seem able to find you if you are moving, but stop for a second and they swarm. The trail was incredibly beautiful, winding through rainforest, over rivers and by waterfalls until you arrive at Scott's beach. The trail hugs the beach and then eventually heads back into the rainforest to the Heaphy Hut. We didn't make it that far, but we did enjoy about an hour on a gorgeous and totally unoccupied beach just watching the waves crash against the rocks.

That night we went up to an area near some limestone arches and caves and camped for the night. We ventured into both Box Canyon Cave and Crazy Paving Cave. Neither of these caves are very deep, but there are some beautiful glow worm displays to be seen inside.

As we camped, we had more visits from wekas. Wekas were common visitors to our campsites on the West Coast. Wekas are wood hens that are very curious and obviously are looking for us to give them some food. We, of course, didn't give them any, but that didn't stop them from approaching and even trying to climb into our van.

The next morning we hiked up to the limestone Oparara Arch for a quick look before leaving the West Coast for Nelson. We had hoped to do some sea kayaking in Abel Tasman, one of the most popular of New Zealand's National Parks, but we opted to save our money for sea kayaking in Doubtful Sound in Fiordland. Nelson was a very cool town that actually has "mostly fine" weather which was nice for a change. We wandered around town and pulled the trigger on a small iPod speaker as we were going a little nuts without music in the van. We went to the Founder’s Brewery that was a cool old place in a historic village in the park. We sat and tried their beers and then grabbed a two liter bottle to go. But don’t call it a “growler” as we do in the States. I’ll let you Google that one!

The West Coast was certainly beautiful and nice scenic drive for a few days!

Aoraki/Mt. Cook and Mt. Aspiring National Park

2010-02-27T15:55:00.006-07:00

Our first stop was Wanaka and from there we had easy access to both Aoraki/Mt. Cook and Mt. Aspiring National Park. We headed to Mt. Cook first loving the new found freedom of "Sly," our campervan.

We used the cafe at the Mt Cook Village to purchase some Internet time to let our friends and family know they weren't going to be hearing from us quite as much in New Zealand due to expensive rates and limited access (one of the minuses of campervan life). Then we headed up to Tasman Glacier at the foot of Aoraki/Mt. Cook.

The hike was beautiful and the trail almost a highway, but it was very crowded. Tasman isn't the prettiest of glaciers as it is receding dramatically and is laden with sediment. Otherwise the peak was an extraordinary sight,a great half-day hike and not a bad place to soak your feet.

The next day we headed past Wanaka on a dirt road into Mt. Aspiring National Park and enjoyed one of our favorite day hikes in New Zealand: Rob Roy Glacier.

The hike itself was very nice, if short, through dramatic temperate rainforest. Once we got up a ways, though, the waterfalls started to come into view. The first one we saw poured off a high cliff and as the wind blew the water dissolved into mist. It was spectacular and photos just don't do it justice (so here's a photo).

A bit further up we realized this waterfall was just one of at least seven coming from the Rob Roy hanging glacier.

We reached the viewpoint, but once again it was a bit crowded so we headed down to the stream past where most ventured. The valley was not quite as spectacular from that vantage point but we took the opportunity the privacy presented to do a little glacial water skinny dipping. It was cold!

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We could glimpse Mt Aspiring at various points throughout the hike, but Rob Roy valley is really the highlight. Highly recommended!

Queenstown and our first winery of NZ (Chard Farm)

2010-02-25T16:46:00.014-07:00

We arrived in Queenstown after 24 hours of traveling from Santiago Chile. We touched down and had a beautiful view of the Remarkables mountain range. We were exhausted from the travel but after checked into our hostel, we forced ourselves to walk around Queenstown and stay awake until 9 p.m. to avoid jet lag. Queenstown is a cute mountain town catering to the "extreme sports" junkies in the summer and skiing in the winter. While there are a myriad of things to do in Queenstown, we barely made it to 9 p.m before fatigue overtook us.

The next morning we picked up the campervan that we would be living in for the next five weeks! The van is our home while we are in New Zealand and the van we got is hilarious (as you can see from our earlier posts of the van). We heard about Wicked vans from our friends Kendall and Mike who had one of the vans in Australia. They are cheap and they all have slightly obnoxious paintings on the outside. We are lucky because we personally believe we have the best decorated of the vans we have seen. You can not get much funkier than a Sly and the Family Stone van (we have not seen a P-Funk van). Here are a few shots of the setup in the van (a few people have asked us about the setup)

After picking up the van we headed to a Wanaka, a small town next to aptly named Lake Wanaka. However, as we were heading out of Queenstown we stopped at the first of many wineries that we visited in New Zealand We saw the sign for Chard Farm across from the famous "bungy bridge" and stopped in. Chard Farm is in a stunning location with the Kawarau River on one side and the mountain on the other. It is a small winery and the owners are at the cellar door for an intimate and unpretentious tasting.

We started off with their bubbly "CO2" - 50% Pinot noir and 50% Chardonnay. It was nice and refreshing. Next we had their Swiftburn Sauvignon Blanc, then finally their famous Pinot Noirs. First the Finla Mor Pinot Noir that was rounded, fruity but not as earthy as their other two Pinots we tried (the Viper and the Tiger).

Jim was a big fan of the The Viper Pinot as it was dark and had deep earthy tones. We loved the winery and the owners and bought a bottle of the Sauvignon Blanc for later! We then continued to Wanaka.

Wanaka is where we really started to grasp the parking/camping situation. We had heard about the amazing camping facilities in New Zealand and knew there would be a cost to them but we had severe sticker shock! $30-$50 a night to park and use the showers! (some have kitchens and TV rooms, etc as well) Maybe we were a little naive to this but it was unanticipated and a blow to the budget! (especially when gas is 2-3 times as much as it is in the US). We started to look for DOC (Department of Conservation) campsites that are usually just toilets and at the most $5-$10 a person. We found a great spot near Wanaka in a small town called Luggate that is a private cricket pitch with really nice bathrooms, shower and a washing machine!

We have decided that simplicity (and low cost) is best and have been staying at simple campsites and making our own meals as we do have a traveling simple kitchen! It has been fun to try and come up with healthy and cost effective meals in one pot! And the campsites we have found have been in generally more spectacular settings than the "holiday parks" anyway. And this is how we have been living in New Zealand, and it has worked out great!

We Want To Take You Higher! -- New Zealand!

2010-02-24T15:41:00.001-07:00

We landed in New Zealand a week ago and left Santiago, Chile just before the earthquake. It was crazy to hear about, but our friends in Chile are all fine, which is a huge relief. We are traveling around the South Island in a campervan, so unfortunately, blog posts will be few and far between for the next six weeks. We ARE writing them though and will update with a slew of posts when we are able to.

For the time being, here are a few pictures of our living accommodations for the six weeks here in New Zealand!

Horcón & Maitencillo - The beaches of Chile

2010-02-18T11:05:00.006-07:00

For our last week in South America we decided to spend some time relaxing in a couple of Chilean beach towns just north of Valparaiso. We spent the weekend in Horcón, a small fishing village, and then up to Maitencillo to a more resorty beach town.

Horcón is a cool, funky little town that, like seemingly all Chilean beach towns, is jam packed full of Chileans on the weekends. We stayed in a nice little place right on the ocean and spent our days lounging on the beach in whatever available real estate we could squeeze into. The beach was certainly crowded, but we seemed to be the only gringos there.

The town is an interesting fishing village in that, at least on the weekends, the fishermen need to be in with their catch before the throngs descend on the beach. This is due to the fact that the small beach is used to bring the boats in after the catch and horses are brought down to help pull the boats from the water.

The food selection is limited, but just about everyone sells very tasty seafood empenadas. Probably not the healthiest of diets, but we ate a lot of them!

Things were seeming to calm down on Monday, but we decided to check out Maitencillo for a change of pace. Maintencillo is much bigger with a long stretches of white sand. We found a little place along the beach complete with a kitchenette. When the sun was out it was beautiful and the first day we had an amazing sunset from our cabana.

We had hoped to do some surfing here, but the water was very cold and board rental plus wet suit rental was a little beyond our budget. Instead we took some long walks down the beach in between the hours of laying on the beach and reading. On one of these walks we went to the fish market and picked up some clams. Leslie made a great white wine garlic sauce in our kitchenette and we enjoyed an extremely fresh clam dinner.

One final thing of note is the huge population of pelicans in this area of the coast.

Valparaíso and Pablo Neruda

2010-02-13T14:00:00.002-07:00

Valparaíso is an artsy bohemian fishing town about two hours away from Santiago. It is also where poet Pablo Neruda had a home "La Sebastiana."

As we hiked the hill up to Pablo's home, Jim mentioned one of the cheesy jokes that Pablo liked to tell.
I responded "I know that's funny, but I'm just not laughing."
To which Jim recounted, "Hmm. Pablo Neruda said, 'Laughter is the language of the soul.'"
Leslie: "I am familiar with the works of Pablo Neruda."

All joking and Simpson's references aside, Valparaíso is a maze of small, curvy streets and stairs all steeply heading up the hill away from the coast. We had heard that the city was built with no "master plan" and so getting around the labyrinth is a little adventure.

It is also an electrician's nightmare!

Graffiti or street art is either encouraged or tolerated. So there is a combination of vibrant colored buildings with free art all over them. We spent most of our time walking around admiring the walls around the city.

Because of the city's uniqueness, it was declared a UNESCO world heritage site. Also their funicular elevators (highly-inclined cable cars) are one of the world’s 100 most endangered historical treasures as named by World Monuments Fund. (Who knew there was such a foundation!) We of course rode on the the funiculars to get around town.

For lunch we stopped by the fish market where there are restaurants on the second floor. It is hard to choose which to stop at as you don't want to show interest in any particular menu laid outside the restaurant because then you will be hassled by the waiters to come in. We did just finally choose a place and we had seafood empenadas (with razor clams, mussels and shrimp) and a huge bowl of ceviche.

Finally, we did stop by Pablo Neruda's home "La Sebastiana." It was the highlight of our stay in Valparaíso. It is unique and quirky just like the town and the poet, and through the audio self guided tour, it felt like you could actually see him sitting in his office contemplating the sea. Unfortunately, pictures are not allowed in the house so we only have pictures from the outside.

After a few days we were ready to get out of the congestion and craziness of the city and head for the beaches.

Santiago, Chile

2010-02-08T13:09:00.003-07:00

We had a few days to hang out in Santiago before heading up the coast to the Chilean beaches. We checked into our hostel, La Casa Roja, which is probably one of the nicest hostels we have stayed in in South America. We met up with my friend Brea who is living in Santiago with her boyfriend. Here is Jim, our friend Maoz from Israel, Brea and her boyfriend, Matt, chilling by the hostel pool.

The hostel is a restored mansion with a pool, huge backyard, big stocked kitchen and just a ton of space to hang out in. We did do our far share of sunbathing and swimming.

We, of course, went out and checked out the city. We were in the Barrio Brasil area which has nice parks and restaurant-lined streets. Brea took us around on a little tour of the town and we headed to the fish market in the middle of town. Here, you can find all sorts of interesting and exotic fish.

As we were looking for the market a Chilean man helped us find it and told us that the hall was designed by Gustave Eiffel (of Eiffel Tower fame). I tried to look this up and found out that there is much dispute over this claim. Whatever the truth is, it is true that the fancy wrought ironwork was fabricated in Victorian England and shipped to Santiago.

Chile is not the culinary capital of the world, but it does have some interesting foods. As many people know (and possibly to the consternation of Jim's stomach) I love street foods. I read about one of Santiago's most famous street foods and had to try it: The Completo.

Yes, the Completo is a hot dog topped with tomatoes, guacamole and a ridiculous amount of mayonnaise. Another infamous street food is the pobre. The pobre is a giant plate of fries topped with grilled onions, a steak or sausage and a fried egg.

There are also some very fascinating takes on pizza. (yes that piece on the far left looks like just layers of overcooked roast beef??)

We also found ourselves in Santiago for Super Bowl Sunday. Though we haven't seen any games since October, we thought it would be a fun taste of home for a night. We joined Brea and group of her friends to head to a bar that was showing the game. It may have been the only bar in Santiago showing the game as it seemed everyone in the city interested in it was crowded into the bar. This is despite the fact that the Super Bowl wasn't even mentioned in the local sports section in Santiago that day. Our friend Maoz joined us as well and it was funny trying to explain Futbol Americano to someone who had never seen a game.

Santiago is one of those places where most people just stop through on their way to someplace else. In our opinion they are missing out. Santiago is a great city with many friendly people!

Mendoza - The wine trail

2010-02-04T06:12:00.030-07:00

I have been a fan of Malbec for some time. I like the fruity character that it tends to have, and you can still fine good cheap Malbecs in the US. I was certainly excited to head to Mendoza to see the wineries where it is made.

We arrived in Mendoza after a very hot bus ride from Santiago over the Andes as the bus's air conditioner was broken. Despite the heat, it was a beautiful ride over the Andes with views of Cerro Aconcagua (the highest mountain in the Americas, and the highest mountain outside Asia). Interestingly, this area is also where Seven Years in Tibet was filmed.

Mendoza is hot and dry and it was 105 degrees when we arrived. We got settled in our hostel and checked out the town. We were expecting the town to be more catered to the wine industry with wine shops and boutiques on every corner. However, while Mendoza has a few pedestrian malls, a couple of wine shops, and a fancy Hyatt, it is a pretty typical Argentinian town.

We, of course, were here for the wine. Jim is certainly the beer connoisseur, but I prefer red wine and so I was excited to visit the vineyards. We checked out the options for wine tasting. A great resource for the area is the gringo wine magazine Wine Republic that can be found at most wine shops. We found the most economical way to do it was by taking a bus out to the Maipu area and rent a bike to tour the vineyards. Maipu is great because you can get a feel for all types of wine making processes from quaint historic wineries, modern boutique wineries and the huge industrial wineries.

We went to what was the most advertised bike rental place for the area, and got some pretty shoddy bikes. (FYI - The next day when we went we rented from Mr. Hugo, who is a fantastically friendly guy and whose bikes are far superior and gives you as much water and wine as you can consume!)

The map we were given showed Club Tapiz, which was one of the vineyards Wine Republic said has a great tour and tasting. It is also the one furthest away from the bike rental place and "wine road" so we decided to hit it first to make sure we got there. It was not a very pleasant ride as we were kind of on a highway to get out there. Also, my bike's tire started to go flat, so it took more than usual effort to get out there. When we did arrive, we found out that this was not where they gave tours, but instead was a gorgeous hotel surrounded by vineyards. We were very hot and tired and they were very nice to invite us in to their restaurant (a refurbished 1890-built villa) Terruño for a glass of Tapiz wine. I had their Malbec, and Jim tried the Cabernet Sauvignon. As an accompaniment, Terruño provided Malbec infused fruits and almonds which were fantastic.

After our wine at Tapiz, the security at Club Tapiz tried to pump up my bike tire and we tried to get back to the main wine road. Jim was, of course, amazing and rode the bike with the bad tire as it slowly deflated again. Luckily we made it back to the main area and asked the guard at VistaAndes winery to call the bike rental place for a new bike. While we waited, we walked across the street to walk through some vineyards and took some pictures.

Armed with a new bike with a hopefully better tire, we headed to CarinaE. CarinaE is a small boutique winery run by a french couple who retired and purchased a vineyard that had been shut down for some time. The owner is an astronomy buff and the winery is named for a constellation that can only be seen in the southern hemisphere and only during the grape harvest. The vineyards are 80-85 years old when the first owner established the winery. This winery had a small intimate tour and tasting outside on their patio. We tried their 100% Malbec Rose, their young Malbec (bottle aged only) and their Octans (another constellation) which is a Malbec/Cabernet Sauvignon blend where the Cabernet Sauvignon has aged for 12 months in French oak casks. It is available only at the vineyard, and was one of Jim's and my favorite wines we tried that day.

After CarinaE we headed to Bodega Familia Di Tommaso. This is one of Mendoza's oldest wineries built in 1869 and still has the original brick built tanks and cellars. The site has been named an Argentinian historic monument, so sadly they had to cease production of the wine in the original tanks. However, it does make for beautiful pictures, and a insight into turn of the century wine production. At the end of the tour through the bodega, we tried Di Tommaso's young bottle aged Malbec and Cabernet Sauvignon and Familia Di Tommaso Roble Malbec which was barrel aged in French and American oak. Doing these tastings we were starting to be able to discern flavors in the wines and which we liked. Both of us prefer the wine that has been barrel aged (as I think most prefer as it is the more sought after) as it has more oak, vanilla and just more rounded flavors.

We finally ended our tour with Tempus Alba which has a brand new fancy bodega and tasting area. This winery has the new modern equipment for wine making even though it is a third generation family owned winery.

There we tried another trio of wines ending with their reserve Tempus Pleno which is a 60% Malbec - 40% Cabernet Sauvignon blend aged 13 months in new oak barrels. This was probably our second favorite wine of the tours that day.

It was already 6pm, and we tried to go to Almacén del Sur (an organic farm with a restaurant recommended by our friend Heather) but it only serves lunch, so we decided to head home and come back after resting for a day.

The next day we explored Mendoza, and that night went to The Wines which is a tasting room in downtown Mendoza. I thought I was ordering a nice, but cheap Achaval Ferrer wine, but they accidentally served me the Achaval Ferrer Finca Mirador 2007, which scored 94 points from both Wine Advocate and Wine Spectator. It was a REALLY good wine, and luckily it was on that night's "half price" glass list.

The next day we headed back Maipu and started off at Bodega La Rural which makes Rutini wines. Here there is a cool wine museum with winemaking tools from the origins on the Mendoza wineries including cow hide presses and brass bottlers. There we tried the Rutini Malbec aged in French and American oak for 12 months. Another great wine.

We did not want to miss Almacén del Sur, so we headed there next. They make gourmet sauces and spreads, all organic, grown at their farm. They have a tasting lunch using their products in a large casona built in 1888. The lunch was amazing. There were so many courses I can barely remember them all. Lamb, shrimp, stuffed fresh peppers, braised ribs....

We left Almacén del Sur totally satisfied and full and headed up to our last winery, Trapiche. Trapiche is the biggest producer of wine in Argentina. Their tour is actually in a refurbished old winery that shut down in the 1970s when people were not consuming as much wine. They now are trying to make high end totally organic wines at the spot. This is the one vineyard that encouraged you to actually try their grapes off the vine! We had a nice tasting of their young Malbec, a Syrah and a very sweet dessert wine.

After the tasting we noticed that a storm was approaching, so we returned the bikes and headed back to the hostel.

We left for Santiago the next day, and were sad realizing that it was the last time on our trip to be in Argentina.

Patagonia animals in Torres del Paine and El Chalten

2010-01-29T06:50:00.008-07:00

Seeing animals in the parks at Patagonia is a rare treat. Most of the animals stay away from the main trekking trails as there are large untouched acres for them to roam.

In Torres del Paines we spotted a few Andean Condors, which is a national symbol to numerous countries in South America including Argentina. It was cool to see these birds as they came close to extinction, and are making a comeback due to conservation efforts. They sun their feathers to dry off after the heavy rain we had that morning.

The guanaco, the puma (mountain lion to us in Colorado), the zorro or Brazilian fox are some of the common animals. As with all mountain lions, sightings are extremely rare, as they will likely have seen you, but you will not see them. However we did see a lot of guanacos and a little fox while in Torres del Paine! (looks like Taz!)

Finally, while on our treks through Fitz Roy we heard numerous singing birds that we were unable to get pictures of but we did see this woodpecker pretty close to the trail!

Cerro Torre & Fitz Roy

2010-01-25T13:05:00.003-07:00

After five days in Torres del Paine, we headed back into Argentina to the small town of El Chalten, gateway to the areas of Cerro Torre and Fitz Roy. Though there is some camping both in town and in the mountains, most of the most famous sites can be visited by day hikes from town. Since we would have had to rent gear, we opted for a hostel in El Chalten and day hikes.

The first day in El Chalten the weather was pretty miserable, even by Patagonia standards. Clouds covered the area and heavy rain and winds made hiking unappealing to say the least. We had a few days, so we opted to try to wait it out. The following day the weather was slightly better, but we decided to bite the bullet and hike up to Lago Los Tres at the base of Fitz Roy. The hiking weather wasn't bad. It was cool and only occasionally was there light rain. But, unfortunately, the clouds obscured much of the famous sights. Still, it was a nice hike.

On day three, we woke to find beautiful, clear blue skies. Our plan was to head up to Cerro Torre. We made the hike to the mirador relatively quickly and with the sun still low in the sky, the views were incredible and it was impossible not to take amazing pictures. This meant, though, that the mirador was crowded with people. We quickly set off with a new plan in mind. We would head towards Lago Torre at the base of the tower and then head north on a three-hour trail to the area around Fitz Roy, since we hadn't seen much of it the day before.

We made good time to the split in the trail, but there was no telling how long the clouds would hold off and we had three hours of hiking ahead of us. After Torres del Paine, the Salkantay trek, Nevado Chachani and lots of other smaller hikes, we were feeling in pretty good shape. So, with only daypacks, we decided we would do a little trail running. We made the three-hour distance in a little under an hour and it was actually quite fun running on the less popular and empty trail.

As a result, we made it to the valley to enjoy the clear blue skies and spectacular views of Fitz Roy. It was well worth it! We snapped way too many pictures, but it was hard not to when the weather and light is so perfect. It was a great way to conclude the Patagonia part of our trip.

All in all, Patagonia's infamous weather cooperated much better than we could have ever hoped. The worst weather was in the Valle de Frances in Torres del Paine and still we were able to see the valley, if not under ideal conditions. Patagonia is an amazing place and we're a bit sad to leave. We've had three weeks in the region and could have spent three months. We can't wait to go back!

Torres del Paine

2010-01-20T14:01:00.011-07:00

For as long as I can remember, Patagonia has been a place I've wanted to visit. Specifically, Torres del Paine and (even more specifically) the Cuernos del Paine have captured my imagination. Anyone who has been in our house in Boulder has seen the large panoramic photo of the Cuernos prominently displayed in the living room. In short, I was pretty excited about this part of the trip. The excitement was somewhat tempered by expectations based on things I'd heard that the park was becoming overcrowded. Make no mistake, the park is crowded, but it is well managed and doesn't feel as much like an amusement park as I'd imagined. The trails, for the most part, are not the super-highways of the most traveled parts of Yellowstone, Yosemite and Rocky Mountain National Park. Most of the refugios have a similar feel to the 10th Mountain Division Huts back home in Colorado. Basically, this is not what I'd call backcountry, but it is still a great backpacking experience for such a famous place.

NOTE: For detailed route information on the "W," click here.

The jumping off point for Torres del Paine is the town of Puerto Natales in Chile. We arrived by bus from El Calafate at about 2:45 PM, just in time to catch the daily talk on the "W" and the full "Circuit" at Erratic Rock Hostel (highly recommended!). After getting the necessary beta on the park, we chose a route and began dealing with the details of gear, food, transport and reservations. The bus picked us up a little before 7:30 AM the next day and, after swinging by a few more hostels to pick up other hikers, we were off to the park. We arrived, got our park entrance tickets and got on the catamaran ferry across Lago Pehoe. It's a quick half hour boat ride, but the views of the Cuernos (we had great weather!) were pretty spectacular. I'll just say it lived up to my expectations and then some!

We got off the boat at the Paine Grande Refugio at 12:30 PM and immediately started hiking towards Refugio Grey. This first day provided the best weather of the trip with mostly clear skies. The wind was, of course, ever-present. The hike was pretty easy, especially since we rented our sleeping bags and tent each night at the refugios and didn't have to carry them. And the water is crystal clear and clean, making this area one of the few places left in the world (sadly) where you can safely scoop the water right out of the streams and drink it limiting the amount of water we had to carry. We arrived at Grey in less than three hours. The refugios insist on setting up the rented tent for you (probably so it doesn't get abused), but this made us feel like gapers, though they eventually relented and let us at least help. After making camp, we went up to the Grey Glacier overlook (or mirador) where the wind was blowing something fierce. The views of the glacier were great though and we even saw some calving. Back at camp, we enjoyed a nice dinner and hit the sack with plenty of light still in the sky.

The next day we hit the trail early and headed up to the glacier. The hike did not take nearly as long as we had anticipated based on the estimates given on the map. Despite some rain, it was a nice hike right up to the glacier. The glacier itself is immense. We had been seeing it for nearly a full day already, but its size is deceptive until you are right on top of it. Even then it is hard to truly appreciate just how big it is. This was the first time Leslie had seen a glacier like this and she has been obsessing over glaciers ever since she first laid eyes on it.

After the glacier we started back. The rest of the day would be backtracking to the Paine Grande Refugio where the catamaran had dropped us 24 hours earlier. The Paine Grande Refugio stands apart from the other refugios in that it is more like a hotel and a ski lodge. There is still a large camping area, but also a full store, a cafeteria, a bar and hotel-like reception area for those staying inside the refugio. One of the funny things about the "W" is that you end up seeing the same people each night at the refugios. It is almost like a traveling hostel. We had dinner that night with one couple we had first met in Puerto Natales: Sophia and Wilhelm. It was Sophia and Wilhelm that did the "Tail" part of the trail (see route description for more on this) and made us wish we had done the same.

The next day was the longest so we got an early 6:45 AM start. The first part of the trail was quite easy, but then the weather came in as we began up the Valle de Frances. This trail was more difficult than anything we had seen yet on the "W" but was still not too difficult. The wind, rain and even snow (or gropple to be exact) came and went often and rapidly. The views were not perfect due to the weather, but occasionally the clouds would lift affording us beautiful views of the whole valley, if not perfectly clear blue skies. One of the highlights of the valley is the hanging Glaciar de Frances and every once in a while we'd hear a rumbling and look up just in time to see huge chunks of ice break off and tumble off the cliffs above the valley. We went all the way up to the mirador, but the wind, snow, rain and cold (all at once now) limited our time up there. Besides, we still had another 13 kilometers to go to get to camp for the night.

Down below, the weather was more stable and sun and blue skies dominated. Well actually the wind still dominated, especially along a rocky beach at Lago Nordenskjold. We settled in again at Refugio Los Cuernos and made camp. We enjoyed a couple of beers we didn't have to carry (another nice thing about the refugios) and called it a night.

We slept in a bit the next day as we had a short, easy day ahead of us. As we left the refugio, an amazing rainbow formed to accompany the great views of the Cuernos, looking very different than they did from the catamaran due to how close we now were. It was an easy hike, but about halfway through the skies opened up. Heavy wind and rain soaked us by the time we reached Refugio Chileno. We huddled inside the refugio and tried (unsuccessfully) to dry our clothes. Chileno is the closest refugio to the towers themselves and therefore it was packed with day-hikers as well as those doing the "W," all trying to stay out of the rain and dry out. We climbed in bed early hoping the skies would clear by our 3:00 AM wake-up.

One of the fortuitous things about the towers is that they are perfectly facing the sunrise. On the off chance that you can catch them on a day where there are no clouds between you and the towers or the towers and the sun, it is pretty spectacular. We took a chance we would be so lucky and headed up the trail by headlamp. A relatively quick one and half hour hike got us there with over and hour and half to spare. We were lucky, however, as the there were stars in the sky for our hike and the towers were clear of clouds in the pre-dawn sky. We wished the earth would spin faster so the sun would come up with the towers still clear, but a few clouds did settle on the tops of the towers before the sun broke the horizon. Still, we did get a great view and a little of the red glow of sunrise on the towers that it is famous for.

We were back at Chileno by 8:00 AM and had some coffee and a bit of breakfast before hiking down to Hosteria Las Torres. Just before we started down the rains came again. This was the hardest rain yet and by the time we reached the Hosteria, we were again soaked. No big deal though as we could change into dry clothes, have a nice -- if WAY too expensive -- lunch at the Hosteria and wait for our bus back to Puerto Natales.

Torres del Paine is an amazing place. We hope to return and do the full "Circuit" in the future. I'm hopeful that the ever-increasing popularity doesn't change the place too much. It's pretty special just the way it is.

Torres del Paine Route Info/Beta

2010-01-20T13:57:00.008-07:00

One common sentiment among the hikers we met at Torres del Paine is how difficult it was to find information about the "W" and the "Circuit" before you get to Puerto Natales. So, we thought we would provide a little info to the Internet that will hopefully be of some value to those planning their first trip to Torres del Paine.

NOTE: you can read our full trip report here.

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General Info

We would recommend arriving in Puerto Natales by 3:00 PM the day before you plan to head to the park. This is to give you time to rent gear, if necessary, book reservations (for things like the bus to the park, refugios, etc.), and to attend the 3:00 PM daily talk held by the Erratic Rock Hostel. We attended the talk and it was very helpful and the people at Erratic Rock are great!

There are a few different buses that take you to the park that all leave Puerto Natales at 7:30 AM daily. It is best to book your bus ticket through your hostel so the bus knows where to pick you up. We also used Austral Glacier Travel to book our camping in the park. This is a good time to explain the camping (and non-camping) options in the park. The park has a number of refugios (small lodges with a staffed kitchen preparing three meals a day, bathrooms with hot showers and dorm rooms for those that prefer not to camp). Each refugio also has a paid campground and will rent you a tent, sleeping bag and pad. The camping can only be reserved in advance if you are renting gear too. Otherwise it is first come, first served and some did fill up fast while we were there. Since we are traveling for a year, we are not carrying camping gear and opted to rent gear at the refugios allowing us lightweight hiking and the ability to book our accommodations in advance. This certainly made the trek very comfortable and easy, but it limits you to the refugios (not always ideal as I'll explain later) and is kind of expensive.

In addition to the refugios, there are a number of free campgrounds. It is definitely do-able to camp only in the free campgrounds though it seems most stay at a refugio at least one night. You can only camp at designated campgrounds and some of the free campgrounds fill up fast too.

On the day you begin your trek the bus will pick you at your hostel at 7:30 AM (or thereabouts). At around 10:30-11:00 AM you will reach the Laguna Amarga park entrance. Your bus will stop and everyone will buy their park entrance tickets (note: you'll need your passport number if you are a foreign resident and actual identification if you are Chilean and hope to pay the discounted price for nationals). If you plan to do the W clockwise, you grab your pack and walk an hour or so down the road to Hosteria Las Torres and the beginning of the trail. Everyone else then loads back onto the bus and heads to stop #2: Guarderia Pudeto. This is where you catch the catamaran ferry if you want to begin your trek at the Paine Grande refugio (Lago Pehoe). This is what we did, but not necessarily what I'd recommend (more later). If you want to do "The Tail" you stay on the bus and head to the third and final stop: Sede Administrava CONAF. If you have good weather that day, this is what I'd recommend as it provides very good views of Cerro Paine Grande and the Cuernos del Paine (my personal favorite sights in the park) and can be done without adding a day to your trip.

The Trek(s)

First you'll have to decide how much time you have, how much ground you want to cover each day, and whether you want free camping, refugios, or some mix of both. I'm going to focus on the "W" as that is what we had time for, but I really wish we had allowed the time to do the full Circuit. If you have a week to 10 days, go for it! Note, though, that you'll most likely need to carry gear as there is a large gap between Hosteria Las Torres and Refugio Dickson.

Here are a couple of sample itineraries for the "W." I'll be describing counter-clockwise routes as that is what was recommended to us, but it is certainly possible to go clockwise as well. Camps are marked on the maps with a number for the night we stayed there. Sorry the map isn't perfectly focused and cuts off a bit of the tail part of the trail.

Route 1 - refugios only (what we did):

Day 1
Catamaran to Refugio Paine Grande and a 2.5 to 3 hour hike to Refugio Grey.

Day 2
Hike up past Campamento Los Guardas to Grey Glacier (about 2 hours roundtrip with daypack). Hike down to Refugio Paine Grande.

Day 3
This is the longest day, but still not all that difficult. Hike from Refugio Paine Grande about and hour and a half to Campamento Italiano. Head up the Valle del Frances past Campamento Britanico to the mirador (if you can, leave your pack with someone at Italiano and just bring a daypack). Head back down the Valle del Frances, pick up your pack if necessary at Italiano and hike to Refugio Los Cuernos. The full day took us about 7 hours moving at a brisk pace, but stopping for pictures, lunch, etc.

Day 4
Hike from Refugio Los Cuernos to Refugio Chileno. Note that the maps provided by the park (as of January 2010) do not show a major shortcut on this trail. About 2-3 hours into your hike, you will encounter a small lake on your left (the very large Lago Nordenskjold has been visible on your right for most of the hike). About halfway down the small lake the trail splits, follow the left fork, hugging the lake. At the end of the lake the trail splits again and again you stay left, though this time the fork is well marked.

Day 5
We got up at 3:00 AM to hike to the Torres del Paine for sunrise, allowing the 2.5 hours the map indicates. Moderately fit hikers should be able to knock significant time off almost all the times listed on the map, especially if you’re not carrying your tent and sleeping bag. The 2.5 hours ended up being 1.5 hours and we arrived well before sunrise... the first ones there! After you've had your fill of the towers, hike down, grab a cup of coffee and some breakfast at Chileno and hike out to Hosteria Las Torres. From there you can catch a shuttle to Laguna Amarga or just walk the road for another hour or so. Buses back to Puerto Natales leave at 2:30 PM.

Route 2 - refugios only with the Tail (what we wish we did):

Day 1
Take the bus all the way to Administrava CONAF and hike the tail to Refugio Paine Grande.

Day 2
Hike up 2.5 to 3 hour hike to Refugio Grey. Then go up past Campamento Los Guardas to Grey Glacier (about 2 hours roundtrip with daypack). Hike down to Refugio Paine Grande.

Day 3
This is the longest day, but still not all that difficult. Hike from Refugio Paine Grande about and hour and a half to Campamento Italiano. Head up the Valle del Frances past Campamento Britanico to the mirador (if you can, leave your pack with someone at Italiano and just bring a daypack). Head back down the Valle del Frances, pick up your pack if necessary at Italiano and hike to Refugio Los Cuernos. The full day took us about 7 hours moving at a brisk pace, but stopping for pictures, lunch, etc.

Day 4
Hike from Refugio Los Cuernos to Refugio Chileno. Note that the maps provided by the park (as of January 2010) do not show a major shortcut on this trail. About 2-3 hours into your hike, you will encounter a small lake on your left (the very large Lago Nordenskjold has been visible on your right for most of the hike). About halfway down the small lake the trail splits, follow the left fork, hugging the lake. At the end of the lake the trail splits again and again you stay left, though this time the fork is well marked.

Day 5
We got up at 3:00 AM to hike to the Torres del Paine for sunrise, allowing the 2.5 hours the map indicates. Moderately fit hikers should be able to knock significant time off almost all the times listed on the map, especially if you’re not carrying your tent and sleeping bag. The 2.5 hours ended up being 1.5 hours and we arrived well before sunrise... the first ones there! After you've had your fill of the towers, hike down, grab a cup of coffee and some breakfast at Chileno and hike out to Hosteria Las Torres. From there you can catch a shuttle to Laguna Amarga or just walk the road for another hour or so. Buses back to Puerto Natales leave at 2:30 PM.

Route 3 - free camping only

Day 1
Catamaran to Refugio Paine Grande and a 3 to 3.5 hour hike to Campamento Los Guardas (be sure to head up to glacier too!).

Day 2
Hike down to Refugio Paine Grande and east to Campamento Italiano.

Day 3
Head up the Valle del Frances past Campamento Britanico to the mirador (leave your tent up and your pack in it and just bring a daypack). Head back down the Valle del Frances and spend another night at Italiano.

Day 4
Hike from Italiano past Refugio Los Cuernos and Refugio Chileno to Campamento Torres. Note that the maps provided by the park (as of January 2010) do not show a major shortcut on this trail. About 2-3 hours into your hike, you will encounter a small lake on your left (the very large Lago Nordenskjold has been visible on your right for most of the hike). About halfway down the small lake the trail splits, follow the left fork, hugging the lake. At the end of the lake the trail splits again and again you stay left, though this time the fork is well marked.

Day 5
From Campamento Torres it is only a 45-mintue hike to the Torres del Paine for sunrise. After you've had your fill of the towers, hike down, grab a cup of coffee and some breakfast at your tent, break down camp for the last time and hike out to Hosteria Las Torres. From there you can catch a shuttle to Laguna Amarga or just walk the road for another hour or so. Buses back to Puerto Natales leave at 2:30 PM.

Now, of course, you can mix it up as well and stay some nights at refugios and some at free campgrounds (if you carry your own gear). The possibilities are myriad!

Tierra del Fuego - Patagonia - Ushuaia

2010-01-12T05:33:00.008-07:00

Patagonia is one of the places we had on our "must visit" list. Actually, over two years ago we tried to plan a trip to Patagonia for a week's Thanksgiving vacation. Realizing that was way too short a time for a trip to Patagonia, we ended up in Panama instead. It was during that planning the seeds of what would become this year-long trips were planted. And now we have made it to the southernmost city in the world: Ushuaia.

After the ferry from Uruguay at noon, we had a nighttime flight down to Rio Gallegos from Buenos Aires and got into the Rio Gallegos airport around 2:00 AM. The bus station did not open until 6:00 AM so we tried to catch some sleep on the floor of the airport with about 10 other travelers who were in the same predicament. Patagonia has a short season where the weather is passable (meaning there is still rain, wind and sleet, but that is a good day!). However that also means that buses and hostels book up early. We arrived at the bus station to find out that there were only two direct buses to Ushuaia and both were booked for that day. After about an hour of waiting and slight pleading with the guy at one of the bus companies, he got us on a bus to Rio Grande and from there we were to take a minibus into Ushuaia. We were very lucky to get on a bus, as when we were leaving the bus station we saw a couple who did not get on the bus making a cardboard sign saying "Ushuaia" to attempt to hitchhike!

Going from Rio Gallegos we crossed the Strait of Magellan into the archipelago Terra del Fuego by ferry.

When we arrived in Ushuaia at 1:00 AM the sky was still slightly glowing from dusk as Ushuaia is so far south (Latitude: 54° 48' 0" S). It is the southernmost city in the world, and calls itself "El fin del Mundo" (The end of the World). It is the jump off point to most Antarctica trips as well. It is still quite a ways north of the Antarctic Circle, however, and therefore, doesn't ever get 24 hours of sun. It is probably comparable to Juneau, Alaska.

We were ecstatic to be in bed as we had been traveling 40 straight hours since leaving Montevideo. We met some folks in the hoste, and all agreed to head to Laguna Esmeralda the next day for some hiking. We had a pretty fun group. It was a muddy trek as it has been raining a lot here, but there were only a few wipe outs.

Near the lake it started raining and some ladies from Buenos Aires who were camping invited us to have some coffee and sit by their fire. They were asking us where we were from and we explained: Germany, Holland, Israel and the U.S. They gave us a puzzled look, and said.... "and you guys are all friends?"

On our last day in Ushuaia we took a zodiac out to see the penguins on Martillo Island. The island is dominated by Magellanic penguins, but there are also some some Gentoos, larger than the Magellanic and with orange-red beaks ending in black. It is a huge colony, and the penguins are almost as curious about humans as we were about them and they would waddle up right to you to check you out.

The babies had been born about a month and a half ago, and were just starting to molt and lose their fluffy feathers so they can go into the sea to fish. I think our favorite part was watching the penguins swim, jump out of the water, then shake themselves off. They all start with their top, and down to their little tails. It was one of the cutest things I have seen.

Penguins - Martillo Island, Tierra del Fuego, Argentina from Jim Kendrick on Vimeo.

We only had a few short days in Ushuaia before heading to El Calafate, El Chaten and Puerto Natales where we are hoping to be doing a lot of backpacking/trekking around Fitzroy, Cerro Torre and Torres del Paine!

Montevideo, Uruguay

2010-01-08T17:33:00.007-07:00

We were able to find relatively inexpensive plane tickets from Buenos Aires to Patagonia, saving us a lot of time on buses. So we decided to use our new found time to visit Uruguay. Montevideo is a short three hour ferry ride from Buenos Aires.

We arrived in Montevideo and decided to walk the short distance to our hostel. Immediately we were struck by how quiet and empty things seemed compared to Buenos Aires. It seems as though much shuts down following New Years and we saw many shops and restaurants with signs that said they were re-opening on January 17th. We don't know if the weather plays a role, but we did experience one day of driving rain. It was, however, a nice change of pace.

We stayed in the Ciudad Viejo or Old Town. Our hostel was right in the heart of the bar district so the relative quiet of this time of year was perhaps a blessing. Things in Montevideo (and perhaps all of Uruguay) are much more expensive than Buenos Aires or anyplace else we have been in South America.

The Old Town is charming and the Plaza de Independencia, a block from our hostel, was very nice. We were mostly taking it easy and we spent a hour or so every morning at coffee shop in the neighborhood that we really liked.

We wandered the streets and ate at a few local restaurants -- those that we could find open -- on the first day. The Uruguayan people are very laid back and extremely friendly. We enjoyed our time with everyone we met.

One of the main advantages Montevideo has over Buenos Aires is the fact that there are several beautiful beaches right in the city. We spent one day lounging on the beach at Pocitos. We may have spent a bit too much time on the beach as we came away a bit sunburned. But we relished this time in the sun as we knew we were headed to the infamous Patagonia weather.

Our time in Uruguay was short... too short! We really wish we would have had time to visit coast towns such as Punta del Diablo. Punta del Este is a very popular international resort destination, but Punta del Diablo sounded like it would be more our speed.

We headed back on the ferry and then had a flight from Buenos Aires to Rio Gallegos in Patagonia. A 15 hour bus ride from Rio Gallegos to Ushuaia brought the total to 40 straight hours of travel. I'm going to bed!