bangkoscow

stats

2008-09-10T08:01:00.000-07:00

Throughout my trip (which comes to an end in 30 hours) I've kept a record of train and bus times. Since these alone do not constitute a post, I thought I would think up a number of facts from my trip as a whole. The following is what I came up with:

1. Major Train/Bus Time
- 19 days, 3 hours spent on trains and buses (19% of trip)
- 4 days, 16 hours spent on buses (4.5% of trip)
- 14 days, 11 hours spent on trains (14.5% of trip)

2. Longest Train Stretches
- 54 nonstop hours from Ulaanbaatar to Novosibirsk
- 84 hours from Almaty to Moscow with a two hour break in Novosibirsk

3. Capital Cities
- 17 capital cities: Washington, Bangkok, Vientiane, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Pnom Penh, Hanoi, Beijing, Ulaanbaatar, Moscow, Riga, Istanbul, Bucharest, Bratislava, Budapest, Prague, Dublin

4. Countries
- 20 countries (19 never before visited)
- 10 Asian countries (Thailand, Laos, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Cambodia, Vietnam, China, Mongolia, Kazakhstan)
- 10 European countries (Russia, Latvia, Turkey, Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Germany, Ireland)
- 8 former Soviet states

5. Trip Length
- 99 days or 14 weeks 1 day or 3 months 6 days

6. Least-used Item
- Thermarest

7. Least Tourists / Most Tourists
- Almaty, Kazakhstan / Prague, Czech Republic

8. Best Museums
- The State Hermitage (St. Petersburg, Russia)
- The Electrotechnic Museum (Budapest, Hungary)

9. Best / Worst Hostel
- Riga Hostel (Riga, Latvia) / Don't remember name . . . (Hua Shan, China)

10. Worst Companion Conflict
- Involving Alban losing to Lance in a Scrabble game by about 400 points. yeah . . .

11. Worst Mishap
- Having to pay the taxi driver in UB ten times as much as he deserved while he started driving away with our stuff locked in his trunk

12. Closest Transportation Call
- Almost missing the plane to Kuala Lumpur from Bangkok. We had about 30 seconds to spare. Moral of the story: Do not rely on night owls to wake you up on time.

13. Best Foods
- Thailand: Pad Thai
- Laos: French-style baguette with veggies
- Malaysia: Roti and Dahl
- Singapore: Roti and Dahl
- Indonesia: BBQ chicken on the beach
- Cambodia: Food from "The Dead Fish" restaurant
- Vietnam: Pho (beef noodle soup)
- China: Garlicky beef noodle soup from Xi'an
- Mongolia: Peter's curry noodles
- Russia: Buffet breakfast at the $200 hotel (don't tell Phil)
- Kazakhstan: Gina's gluten steaks
- Latvia: Pastries
- Turkey: Kebabs, turkish delight, baklava
- Romania: Pizza Roma
- Hungary: Our delicious pasta; fresh raspberries, peaches, plums, grapes
- Czech Republic: Our delicious tacos
- Germany: Flammkuchen (literally, "Flame Cake")
- Ireland: Alita's sweet potato / potato soup

14. Average Scrabble Scores
- Lance: 333
- Alban: 308

15. Books Read
- Name of the Rose
- James Thurber Carnival
- Harry Potter 1
- Harry Potter 2
- Harry Potter 3
- Pride and Prejudice
- Harry Potter 4
- Blue Like Jazz
- Irresistable Revolution

16. Number of Words and Pictures on the Bangkoscow blog
- 7,900 words (including this post)
- 79 pictures
- ratio of words to pictures: 100 to 1 (interesting, huh?)

17. Most Avid Blog Commenters
- Jennifer Payne (77%)
- Ted Howe (60%)
- Aaron Marson (51%)

electrotechnics

2008-09-09T14:54:00.000-07:00

"just feelings" responses

2008-09-09T10:12:00.000-07:00

Thanks to all of you who sent me feelings to go along with my pictures. It was a lot of fun to read them and see your various perspectives. I also appreciate having friends and family that can describe things with words I have to use dictionary.com for. After each feeling I'll put the initials of the person who sent it so you can learn a little about each contributor. I'm not sure who I'll end up sending a post card to, although if you already got one, your chances are slim (though several people from this category sent in excellent words). Oh, and don't judge if the postmark is from Boonsboro. I only have one day left . . . Anyways, here is a list of the contributors (in order of appearance) along with the initials that identify them (there were a few repeats, so I added a couple middle initials). Also, take notice of John Howe's interesting idea.

James Howe (JH)
Jennifer Payne (JP)
Ted Howe (TH)
Evan Howe (EH)
Odie Weir (OW)
Laurel Howe (LH)
Elissa Lombard (EL)
John Pace (JSP)
Brittany Jepson (BJ)
Carolyn Weir (CW)
John Howe (JEH)
Amberly Howe (AH)

enlightened (JH) illuminated (JP) awe (TH) rapt (EH) holiness (OW) pensive (LH) psychedelic (EL) history (JSP) mysterious (BJ) almost too much (CW) dazed (JEH) hu? (AH)

peaceful (JH) tranquil (JP) cheerful (TH) poetic (EH) indecision (OW) blithe (LH) tranquil (EL) escape (JSP) solitude (BJ) blah (CW) dreamy (JEH) lonely (AH)

imposing (JH) solitary (JP) insignificant (TH) dwarfed (EH) progress (OW) inquisitive (LH) small (EL) timeless (JSP) triumphant (BJ) triumphant (CW) doleful (JEH) small (AH)

exhausted (JH) satiated (JP) exhausted (TH) nonplussed (EH) despair (OW) cantankerous (LH) full (EL) clown (JSP) defeated (BJ) cheerless, dejected (CW) dead (JEH) physically susceptible (AH)

confused (JH) beguiled (JP) wonder (TH) wonderment (EH) unsettled (OW) reverent (LH) lost (EL) you can't get there from here (JSP) exotic (BJ) coming unraveled (CW) distinct (JEH) limited (AH)

bored (JH) reflective (JP) crazy (TH) gleeful (EH) dizzy (OW) marvelous (LH) un-flattered (EL) inside-out (JSP) distorted (BJ) oh my poor head (CW) dilapidated (JEH) amused (AH)

artistic (JH) singular (JP) intrigued (TH) befuddled (EH) sweetness (OW) smothered (LH) strange (EL) avocado flourish (JSP) inspired (BJ) puzzlement (CW) disproportionate (JEH) indifferent (AH)

touristy (JH) connected (JP) connected (TH) ironic (EH) bothered (OW) absorbed (LH) nosy, chismo (EL) pops (JSP) voyaging (BJ) he is smiling, I'm not (CW) delusions of duffer-hood (JEH) introspective (AH)

dictatorial (JH) legendary (JP) frightened (TH) atrabilious (EH) grandeur (OW) self-respecting (LH) impervious (EL) all about me (JSP) larger than life (BJ) quietude (CW) delighted? (JEH) brooding (AH)

impatient (JH) lethargic (JP) expectant (TH) deja vu (EH) expectance (OW) fatigued (LH) tired, resigned, world-weary (EL) waiting game (JSP) longing (BJ) how long yet to wait (CW) dumpy (JEH) resigned (AH)

museums - budapest, hungary

2008-09-09T00:06:00.000-07:00

Budapest has this trap called the "Budapest Kartya". It costs about $40 for 48 hours, and gives the carrier free transportation on buses, trams, and the metro, as well as free entrance to a myriad of museums. No question, if you spend your time wisely, you can use the card for more than it cost, but then again, if you didn't get the card, you would spend much less (and see less as well). This was the dilemma we were faced with upon arrival in Hungary's magnificent capital. You can guess from the following whether we got it or not.

Museum 1: The Jewish Museum

The Jewish Museum was held in an ornate synagogue only a few stops from our hostel. Although small (about 4 rooms) it had a nice collection and interesting room dedicated to Hungarian Jews during the Holocaust. We saw Torah scrolls and crowns, yadim, various things for Purim, Seder plates, and a host of other Jewish ritualistic instruments.

Museum 2: The Electrotechnics Museum

Probably my favorite of the lot, we got a tour from a German physics teacher who spoke only German. It was fun to try and understand all the different experiments involving magnets, electricity, various forces, positive and negative vectors (I think?), etc. in another language. Regardless, it was a boys dream museum - we made a ball roll back and forth between to pillars, made arcs travel up between two wires, made a 350,000 volt spark that scared us silly (stay tuned for the video - since I jumped terrifically I'm not sure you can see it, but you can definitely hear it . . .), and more. Besides the interesting experiments, the museum also held an impressive collection of lights ranging from Edison to Halogen.

Museum 3: The Stamp Museum

I think the stamp museum in Budapest is unique in its claim to have stamps from every country in the world. At more than 500,000 stamps, there's a lot to see. Fortunately, the friendly lady who runs the place gave us a handy info sheet that made it easy for us to see some highlights by giving the section, frame, and page number of the interesting stamp. We saw a Penny Black, the first adhesive stamp, Greek stamps from the first modern Olympic Games, 3D stamps from Bhutan, Hungarian stamps with ultra-violet fibers (housed in a special area so you can see them), the biggest stamp (USA), and the smallest stamp (Costa Rica). Very cool.

Museum 4: Franz Liszt's Apartment

This small museum housed in Liszt's three-room apartment had his library, several of his instruments, some original scores, and the like. Photography cost extra. I didn't pay (shh don't tell - it was only one picture).

Museum 5: The Fine Art Museum

After cooking some delicious pasta and sauce, we headed to the Fine Art Museum with our hostel friend Efrin. Although we had to pay extra to get in (as on Thursday night there's a special "museum +" program) we enjoyed a fantastic temporary photography exhibit called "Soul and Body", some interesting Egyptian artifacts, the Jazz ensemble playing in the large gallery room, and highlights of the permanent exhibition including Gauguin, Monet, Da Vinci, Raphael, El Greco, and Valasquez. Afterwards we enjoyed views of the city at night.

I think this picture is hilarious. We all have THE EXACT same expression.

szorborpark

2008-09-06T14:51:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure Budapest's statue park, created from discarded communist-era pieces, would have been worth the inconvenient hour of public transportation if it hadn't been for the stage it created for imitation pictures. There - all you need to know in one sentence.

PS Did you notice my appropriate shirt?

PPS Interesting external link.

"just feelings" - bret mckenzie

2008-09-01T15:01:00.000-07:00

I think life would be very boring if we were happy all the time. Have you met people that are always happy? They bother me. I hope they're not bored.

In the space of three months, most (all?) people experience a lot of different feelings. Since I'm one of those people, and in three days I will have been traveling for three months, I've experienced a lot of feelings.

I'm posting ten pictures today that remind me of feelings I've had on this trip. I thought about labeling them, then I thought it would be more fun to see what feelings these pictures remind you of. Here's what I'm hoping:

1. You send me an e-mail with a one word (or two or three if you must) feeling that goes with each picture.
2. After maybe five days, I'll re-post the pictures with the various responses.
3. I'll pick my favorite responses (as in one person, ten feelings) and send them the final postcard - one for August and September.

Please e-mail a response to alban.exe@gmail.com (don't put your response in a comment, it'll ruin the suspense).
Also, number your responses like the pictures so I don't get confused.

PS After rereading the post, I realized that the beginning makes it sound like I'm not happy. On the contrary, I'm quite happy (among other things) at the moment.

PPS Avid blog readers (you know who you are), maybe you can encourage those less likely to read/comment?

Number 1

Number 2

Number 3

Number 4

Number 5

Number 6

Number 7

Number 8

Number 9

Number 10

from istanbul

2008-08-29T08:31:00.000-07:00

The long and short of it is, everything did work out. And again, you probably know everything you want to about our trip, thanks to Lance, who not only uses his internet time more efficiently, but also spent a couple of days in Riga by himself. We figured out how to register our visas in Kazakhstan, and then received an e-mail from Gina and David Hebley, who let us crash on their floor for the remaining two days in Almaty. Needless to say, it was nice to eat good food, sing hymns, help with "English Club", teach Sabbath school, and have a tour guide for the mountains. Then, upon arrival in Novosibirsk, we purchased tickets to Moscow that left just 2 hours later. It couldn't have worked more smoothly.

Arriving in Moscow was like running into a huge sign that said "WELCOME TO EUROPE!" The monumental buildings, frequent ATMS, subway system, and easy-to-find hostel were a welcome change from Almaty. I finally decided to buy a 1 GB card for Lance's camera, and was therefore able to take a couple hundred pictures in Moscow, St. Petersburg, and Riga (although I stole this picture of St. Basil's from his MySpace page). Although Moscow was fun, it really didn't compare to St. Petersburg. Nice temperatures, the astounding state Hermitage museum, impressive cathedrals, venice-like waterways and delicious doner kebabs were only slightly dampened by the large number of mosquitos that plagued out hostel. Riga is very nice as well. Our hostel was one of the best of the trip, cheap pastries abound, and the old town is beautiful.

And now it's Istanbul. The city's culture reminds me of Kuala Lumpur, probably because it's Muslim. I like it. A lot. Stepping out of the tram near our hostel, I was completely unprepared to stumble across the Hagia Sofia and nearby Blue Mosque (which looks similar, but newer). I can easily say that they are the most awe-inspiring buildings of the trip so far. It was chilling to go inside the Hagia Sofia (called Ayasofya in Turkish) and see in real life what I had seen in textbooks before. Good food abounds: kebabs, baklava, turkish delight, etc. are found on almost every street.

Tonight Aaron and I head to Bucharest, Romania. Since we'll be traveling for 24 hours on seats, I'm glad the hostel we plan to stay in sounds amazing. Besides that, I'm sure Romania will be one of the most beautiful legs of the trip.

almaty, kazakhstan, etc.

2008-08-12T22:47:00.000-07:00

Lance and I are in Almaty. To be honest, I can't think of good reason why. I asked Lance why we were in Kazakhstan and he said, "I'm happy to be here". I'm not sure I could say the same thing. We haven't really done anything, the adventist church we contacted didn't return our e-mails, we couldn't get tickets to Moscow, so we have to take a 1st class sleeper back to Novosibirsk (sounds good, but it's expensive), we don't know how to register our visas, so we may get fined; the list goes on. Too much stress for my liking. Probably everything will go ok. We'll find some way to get into the beautiful mountains that surround the city, we'll figure out what to do about our visas (or nothing will have to be done at all), we'll thoroughly enjoy the 1st class train, and we'll be able to get a ticket to Moscow the same day we arrive in Novosibirsk (and avoid having to pay $80 for a hotel room). It would have been simpler if Georgia and Russia could've been civil. Oh well.

But aside from the stress and nuisances, we love life. Yes, we think about going home now almost everyday, but will we regret coming to Kazakhstan? No - I have to agree with Lance on this one. The city is beautiful and modern. Although we haven't found the part of town with tall buildings, the streets are all lined with beautiful trees, and they slope constantly upwards towards impressive looking snow-covered mountains at the city's edge. The near-by super market is perfect. Bread, cheese, cereal, milk (which turned out to be strong-flavored yoghurt), tomatoes, onions, peach nectar: everything two hungry college boys could want.

But perhaps the highlight of Kazakhstan was encountered in the train itself: people. One lady offered us a tomato, some bread, and a large roll of sausage (we followed Paul's advice in Corinthians and graciously enjoyed it). We enjoyed teaching a couple Russian boys and one Kazakh girl how to play scum, and later, when they had left and we had new companions, we played a variation of UNO with Alexandra (age 8), and Nadia (age 12), who, with the help of an older Kazakh girl who spoke some English, asked us our names, about our pets, our siblings, our parents, our trip, etc. Alexandra called me beautiful. I guess being called beautiful by a blonde eight-year-old in Kazakhstan will have to go down as one of the highlights of my trip.

My camera broke. I think it got sand in it from the Gobi. So, for the next two weeks, I'll be memorizing faces and places more carefully.

no, read me first!

2008-08-05T22:07:00.000-07:00

Yeah, they didn't go in opposite order like I hoped. Scroll down (quickly, don't spoil anything) until you reach the post entitled "read me first (carefully)!" Then proceed accordingly.

section four: the gobi

2008-08-05T21:31:00.000-07:00

Highlights of our seven-day trip to the heart of the Gobi desert:

Our driver Muko (Moe) and his pimping Nissan off-road van.

Playing all kinds of card games with Peter and Vanessa.

Lunches:
Day 1: Fried eggs on toast
Day 2: Fried curry noodles with tomatoes, peppers, garlic, and onions
Day 3: Spaghetti and tomato sauce with squash, peppers, garlic, and onions
Day 4: Fried rice with egg, peanuts, curry powder, garlic, and onions
Day 5: Fried potatoes, peppers, garlic, and onions
Day 6: Garlic and onion pancakes with curry powder
Notice a trend?

Mistakenly missing the solar eclipse (twice), and then watching the solar eclipse.

Streaking on the dunes at Sunset (an idea received from our crazy Spanish hostel-mates in Beijing).

Riding camels. I named mine George. Peter named Lance's Hillary.

Eating goat everyday for supper (This is only a highlight in retrospect).

Watching the sky for shooting stars and satellites with Peter (two nights ago we saw 22 satellites and 21 shooting stars in about an hour).

Taking our first shower in seven days upon arrival in UB.

section three: terelj

2008-08-05T21:06:00.000-07:00

Terelj is a national park about 60 kilometers from UB. It was an amazing overnight trip.

The mongolians: Our hosts and owners of five gers, ten horses. They took us horse riding through the fields and practiced their favorite (and nearly only) English phrase: "Yes, No, OK?" I'm still not sure what this asks. We usually responded with a confident reply-statement: "Yes, No, OK!" They also gave us chunks of mutton from their stew to chew on.

Alister and Katherine: Erudite young couple from London. Kat likes to read good books and suggested several. She supports Manchester United. Ali likes and plays rugby and cricket. He is also in to wine. He'll be volunteering at a winery in Napa for a month next year. They are both excelent card players. I imagine they would get along perfectly with Evan and Jenny.

Pictured: Will, James, Vank, Lance, Me, and Tina. Lance messed up my 10 second timer shot by attempting to put his arms on our shoulders. Oh well.

Claire and Christina:English teachers (in Korea) from South Africa and Boston, respectively. They don't like Korean food. Tina grew up on delicious Italian all her life. Claire took my copy of "The Count of Monte Cristo" to read on the way back to Seoul.

James and William:Two shaggy-haired 18-yr-olds from England. James says "mmm" like he's pondering his next comment or your previous one. William confidently suggested that the opposite country of Canada is Gabon.

Peter and Vanessa:Dutch couple with whom we travelled to the Gobi. Peter is loud and boisterous, Vanessa is more reserved. They are going to visit Argentina next year at my suggestion.

Vank: Loud, young, cursing, american economist from New York who loves to string sentences together berating America for being sheltered, uneducated, etc. When Will and James suggested that coverage of our presidential election is better in England than in the US, his reply in agreement included the f-word at least ten times - he wishes we had a new source like the BBC. He would very much like to see Gabon beat Canada in curling.

section two: beijing

2008-08-05T20:53:00.000-07:00

Beijing means north capital. While in China, we learned the words for north (bei), south (nan), east (dong), and west (xi). They were prevalent in the names of subway stops.

Though each of our hostels has produced interesting fellow travellers, Beijing's were prehaps some of the best. There were the five espanoles, teacher travelling from Russia and Mongolia who showed us pictures of themselves streaking on the Gobi's dunes.

There were the tipsy Kiwis, who, sitting under the large TV screen, were convinced I was staring at them instead of the pre-olympic volleyball match (though slightly aggressive at first, they clamed down after and explanation). There was the Israeli girl who thought helself good at billiards, yet lost several times to some lucky amateurs from the states.

There was the easy-going Aussie, whom we bombarded with suggestiong and advice for his upcoming trip to Shanghai and Xi'an. There were the hostel helper girls, who found our Scrabble game to be absolutely fascinating.

I enjoyed getting to know some of the people in Sanlitun Youth Hostel.

We miss Phil.

section one: xi'an

2008-08-05T20:40:00.001-07:00

Xi'an is a mix of old and new. An ancient 10-meter high wall surrounds a relatively small section of the actual city which has quickly outgrown its former fence. Modern architecture clashes with traditional chinese buildings. Double-decker busses look out of place with a bell-tower background. Older noodle shops sit next to popular bubble tea stands.

The food is delicious: breaded chicken on a stick with a cumin-flavored sauce; coconut bubble tea or liquidy strawberry yogourt; beef noodle soup where the meat is flavored with anis or cloves.

Despite the somewhat touristy atmosphere, Xi'an was enjoyable past the terra-cotta madness and Hua Shan hike.

read me first (carefully)!

2008-08-05T20:33:00.000-07:00

Five posts go up today, all at the same time. I put them in reverse order, so start with this one, and read down until you've reached familiar territory.

I dislike getting behind. Whether in a game, class, blog,or journal, it's just generally a bad feeling. But I think this feeling is almost worth experienceing because it create the opportunity for another feeling: that of catching back up. I'm terribly behind in games of scrabble won, but Ive just won two in a row. I was stuck in Shanghai in my journal, but now I've made it to Mongolia. My blog hasn't changed in three weeks, but now Im updating. I'm catching up, and it feels nice.

Too much has hapened since Shanghai to put into one post, so I'll break it into four sections. Since many of you have already read Lance's more regular updates, I figured I'd try and find something else to write about that is hopefully new and interesting.

It might be a couple of weeks before I shell out the cash for another internet cafe. My advice to the reader (you): read one today, then wait a day or two between the next ones. That way you won't get bored and you can comment more than once (travellers like me love comments from home). Actually, do whatever you want. Don't skim though - although the spelling might be sketchy (what to you expect when I'm on the clock?) I think they're all worth reading. Maybe.

PS Except for in a couple places, the words don't go with the pictures. You can figure them out, or if you have questions, feel free to ask.

july mystery picture

2008-07-15T10:07:00.000-07:00

Here it is folks. Send me a reply with the meaning of these characters, and you'll receive a homemade postcard. Give me the pinyin equivalent for extra credit (I'm not sure what the extra credit gets you).

guilin, nanning, shanghai, in 5 pictures

2008-07-15T09:54:00.000-07:00

Just for you, John.

Cycling through the rice paddies in Guilin was
definitely a highlight.

On occasion of the intense midday sun, I wanted
to go for a swim in this stream. Probably wasn't
very sanitary.

Delicious fried dough with a spicy sauce. Food
was the only good thing about Changsha.

Our train from Changsha to Shanghai. On the
straight stretches between towns we cruised at
200 kmph. 1200km in just 10 hours.

Shanghai's skyline is alright, I guess.

nanning, china

2008-07-15T09:11:00.001-07:00

Note: If you read Aaron's comment (thanks a lot!) and went to Lance's blog and read the rest of the story, this might be boring. Hopefully I'm not writing this in vain.

When we arrived at the border between Vietnam and China, everything went smoothly for Lance and I, and although they were very thorough on the Chinese side (even rooting through all our bags), we were through in very little time. As we waited on the bus to Nanning, there were no signs of Phil. After at least 45 minutes, the bus began to move. We frantically tried to get it to stop and wait, or at least let us off to wait for Phil, but they would have none (I'm still not sure what the problem with leaving us there was). We were told that Phil could take a bus leaving two hours later and that we could meet him in Nanning. Sure enough, after waiting in the station, we found Phil, who claimed he had been detained because he didn't look much like his passport picture, and his signature had changed. I don't buy it considering both of those stipulations apply to me as well. Regardless, we had now lost two hours, and were faced with finding our way around in the dark. Arriving in Nanning was similar to the experience we encountered traveling from Singapore to Indonesia: overwhelming. In Indonesia it was because of excessive touts. In Nanning, it was because we suddenly realized that we had no Chinese currency, no knowledge of Mandarin or concept of how in the world to read characters, and no one who could speak English to us. In a way, it was refreshing. During our two day stay in Nanning, we only sighted two tourists, uruguayos. Unfortunately the refreshment quickly turned to utter frustration. After recreating the tiny characters for "ATM" and our hostel's address to a more legible (?) size, we set off, hoping the driver had understood. Sure enough, we passed an ATM and then stopped, and Lance set off through the crowds (the Chinese sure know how to make a crowd!) to get enough money for the taxi and hostel. 20 minutes later (in which Phil and I suffered the wrath of an antsy taxi driver yelling in an indecipherable tonal gibberish) Lance showed up, with no cash. After trying at least 5 machines, we finally got my card to work, and we were able to pay the driver and get a triple room in a hospital-like hotel. What else can be said about Nanning, China? Good noodles. Good, homemade noodles. Thick and delicious. At this point, we were still at the "pointing at pictures" stage, but we happily chanced on a Muslim-run noodle jo'nt with plenty of pictures. Perfect.

one day warning

2008-07-14T20:18:00.000-07:00

Since there was such a strong response to the first mystery picture, I thought I would give a warning that the next one will probably show up Wednesday morning (my time). This one will be slightly more involved. By the way, the first responder will definitely get a sweet postcard, the following will increase there chances depending on how many postcards I can make.

To Evan: I bought that pychedelic Arsenal kit in Kuala Lumpur for about $12. Couldn't resist, plus I was the first sale of the day, and it would've been bad luck for the seller if I had ditched. Adebayor and Hleb? Are you kidding me? What's next, Fabregas, Toure, and Van Persie?

hanoi & ha long

2008-07-11T04:19:00.000-07:00

Hanoi and northern Vietnam were both a good and bad experience. Upon arrival, we were excited to find (or rather, be taken to) a room with three beds, a nice shower, free breakfast, and air conditioning for only U$13, but the hotel that offered us such cheap lodging turned out to be a disaster in the tours category. After we had settled in, we entrusted our hosts to book us a tour to Ha Long Bay (about three hours bus ride away) and also bus tickets to Nanning, China, where we would continue our journey north. For an all day tour which was supposed to include bus, boat ride, guide, caves, kayaking, and a delicious meal we paid U$22. Not bad, right? Little did we know that our meal consisted primarily of octopus (very chewy), the kayaking (which we paid an extra $4 for) never panned out, our gauranteed group of no more than 16 persons turned out to be more like 50, and the guide hardly spoke any English. What a ripoff. Then, the next day, we found other tour agencies selling two day trips for only U$23. Next time I guess we'll shop around a little. Despite the extremely annoying scamming that grew more and more frustrating as the day went by, Ha Long bay is beautiful. It would be absolutely stunning if it weren't overrun by fake-looking Chinese Junk filled to the brim with tourists of every country imaginable. Hanoi had it's charms, mainly in the form of food, and despite our discontent with the hosts of "Asia Queen Hotel", we enjoyed plenty of phó, lichee (of which I have now consumed over 20 lbs), and pastries. Everything seemed to be on the up and up until the morning of our departure. Having been told that the bus would pick us up at the hotel at 7:30, we were calmly waiting at 7:20. Then 7:30 passed. Then 7:40. 7:50. Buses are often late picking up travelers at the hotel, so we weren't to concerned, but we decided to ask anyways. And I quote, "Bus leave 7:30! You go now! Now 8:00!" "But it will pick us up at the hotel, right?" "No, no, no. Go now!" At this point we already disliked our scam artist hosts. Now there was nothing but hate between us. Thankfully, rushing off to the bus station on foot proved to be a good stop for any violence that might have erupted. Although we missed the 7:30 bus, we were able to catch the 9:30 bus, and felt relieved. Little did we know it was to be only the beginning of the most stressful and frustrating day so far.

cambodia, belated

2008-07-11T03:40:00.000-07:00

In the interest of being fair to Cambodia, I thought I would add a late post honoring the two days we spent there. I guess the time was so short that I almost forgot . . . Arriving in Siem Reap from Kuala Lumpur after busing is from Singapore the night before probably wasn't the best precursor to a day at Angkor Wat, but despite our drooping eyes, we managed to enjoy the impressive ruins for more than 4 hours. The following day we headed straight for Saigon. Here are a couple of pictures of the temples I managed to take before my camera ran out of battery.

to china

2008-07-07T17:21:00.000-07:00

I am ashamed. We relaxed all day yesterday in Hanoi, haciendo casi nada, and yet no post. We occupied our time with more important things?? Perhaps not . . . Sent "The Name of the Rose" to myself because I finished it, did some laundry, ate lots of pho and pastries, played scrabble, watched "Shaun the Sheep" (from the creators of Wallace and Gromit?), and practiced speaking German with, you guessed it, some Germans.

Today we head for China. In fact, we'll be there in about four hours. Expect posts soon.

phó

2008-07-04T02:05:00.000-07:00

I commented to Phil and Lance a day or so ago that I liked the vibe in Vietnam. I think a good vibe for me has a lot to do with delicious and inexpensive food. Probably the highlight of my Vietnamese culinary experience has been phó: beef and rice noodle soup. This morning we all went separate ways to find breakfast. I had taken a wrong turn in Hoi An looking for our hostel last night and noticed a phó stall, so I naturally took advantage of the detour by passing by again this morning. For one dollar I was served a delicious bowl of phó which is made up of a savory broth, beef, noodles, bean sprouts, and various greens including spicy basil, mint, and cilantro. Yum. I even got complimentary jasmine tea afterwards. Another delicacy we have enjoyed is fried chicken wantons with a sweet and sour sauce that I would describe as "pico de gallo asiano". Lance's favorite fare is the french style baguette sandwich with tomato, cheese, cucumber, greens, and chili sauce. And of course there is still the lichee - I think my running total has reached about 8 kilos.

On a side note, check out Phil's blog and Lance's blog for another perspective on our trip. He even has a sweet map that shows our route (and although I was tempted to steal the idea, I haven't given in to temptation yet).

lao pics

2008-07-01T09:45:00.001-07:00

A Wat in Luang Prabang, Lao.

Lance pointing out that the limit was 45 persons, not 60.

Our handy log jammed above the strut on the rear axel.

palau bintan

2008-07-01T09:13:00.000-07:00

Indonesia. I'm sitting in an absolutely stunning location. The only sounds are an occasional moto passing by and our host chopping wood for today's barbecue fires. The 7:00AM sun smashes into the blue water, the wooden bungalows, the sandy beach shoreline, making the palm trees turn an almost flourescent green. A fisherman glides gently through the swath of glimering sunlight that widens as it nears the horizon. A place like this, like Palau Bintan, like and island untouched by the hurry of the world; a place like this, where the savory sea air ruffles the thatch on your roof, where the nearest suypermarket is 50km of shimmering water away; a place like this makes me feel poetic, reflective, spritual, and altogether alive.

malaysia/singapore

2008-06-26T07:21:00.000-07:00

Although we didn't have enough time in either Malaysia or Singapore, we still managed to enjoy our time there thoroughly. Kuala Lumpur is a stunning city in parts, and although the subway is extremely overcrowded, the public transportation system is still not bad, and is inexpensive. We enjoyed visiting the Petronas Towers Skybridge, and although they wouldn't let us go to the top, we did get a pretty sweet 3D prep video before heading to the 42nd storey. Other highlights of KL included eating delicious naan and roti in an Indian restaurant (a feat we repeated in Singapore's Little India), eating two kilos of lichee by myself, and walking through the market near China Town. I purchased a sweet adidas bag for 6 bucks, but promptly left it in an internet cafe. Lance bought himself a "Gucci" wallet. Singapore was even more efficient than KL. We enjoyed a more spacious subway, free national wireless, and fluent English speakers. The only downside to Singapore is that it is much more expensive than any of the other southeast asian countries (our hostel cost $30 per person!). We went to see the giant concert hall and theatre that look like durians, and stumbled across the public library. At 15 storeys tall, it was definitely one of the poshest libraies I have ever seen. Phil and I couldn't help but check it out for 20 minutes or so. In the streets before entering Little India the faces slowly changed until all 100% were Indian. It was quite a change in just a minute or so. The walk from downtown was instantly worth it on our first bite of fantastic roti with fish curry and dahl. YUM! I hope to one day I can return to these cities and countries and spend more time enjoying what they have to offer.

lao

2008-06-26T06:58:00.000-07:00

Last Wednesday Lance and I took a brief trip to visit Laos (we've become accustomed to calling it Lao since the French apparently added the "s" as a silent letter). To get to Laos from Bangkok, we took an overnight train to Nong Khai, Thailand, which is just across the border from Vientiane, the capital of Lao. We decided to try third class: 13 hours for a mere $6.50. The actual trip wasn't so bad, but the next day I was wishing for more than 45 minutes of sleep.
Lao was a nice break from the hectic atmosphere of Bangkok. No more horrible traffic, no more rushing everywhere, no more worrying about getting hit by a car. In Lao, they take life at a much slower pace. Maybe it's because they don't want to run into an UXO (unexploded object). Regardless, we passed a very slow day in Vientiane completing activities like eating at a vegetarian buffet, playing Scrabble at a bakery while eating delicious pastries, and becoming generally frustrated with the lack of working ATMs. That night we took a bus to Luang Prabang, about 9 hours to the north. Luang Prabang, located on a peninsula between the Mekong and another large, muddy river, was even more relaxed than Vientiane. We rented some bicycles for the day and rode around the town, checking out several temple complexes, eating delicious sandwiches (although I still suspect them of causing my current discomfort), and again playing Scrabble in a cafe. We even took a ride across the river to look at some caves (they were overrated).
On the way back to Vientiane the following day, our bus broke down. A strut on the rear axel snapped, and immediately caused a noise similar to grinding gears, only much louder. The driver and some of his helpers jacked it up a little, traipsed off into the woods, and returned with a log, which they proceeded to shove behind the wheel above the strut. I'm still not sure how we managed to limp the rest of the way, especially since the bumps only got much worse without the assorption of the strut.

june mystery picture

2008-06-18T00:42:00.000-07:00

I decided to post a mystery picture (each month?). The reader who can tell me what the picture is of will receive a hand drawn postcard (don't expect anything good . . .). Be sure to include your address if you think you know what it is. This month's picture is of a famous attraction in Bangkok. We visited it on Sabbath.

bangkok - june 13-17

2008-06-17T07:37:00.000-07:00

I mentioned to the parents before I left that living in Bangkok for several weeks would be the perfect start to the trip. It has been. Although many people might not enjoy relaxing in an apartment playing Scrabble, Lance and I have embraced it. We have played four times so far, I won once. The last game Lance won 340 to 339. But besides hanging out in or around the apartment, we have also done some fun things around the town.

On Friday we attended May Kaidee's cooking class. We learned how to make about ten Thai dishes including tom yam soup, isaan vegetables, fried vegetables with ginger and cashews, pad thai, peanut sauce, spring rolls, massaman curry, green curry, pumpkin hummus, green papaya salad, and sticky rice (with mango).

Our instructor was a little crazy. She made us dance to songs blasted from her cell phone and sing a silly song which started with the line "sap sap sap sap sap". I'm still not sure what it meant. Anyways, she claimed that the food turns out much better if you are happy and laughing the entire time. Here you can see bowls of vegetables and spices cut up and ready to be used. As we cooked, another girl washed and cut ingredients so that our bowls were always full. When we made green curry in Phil's apartment it took much longer. We took the class with two other girls, one from Chile, and one from France.

On Saturday night we went to "Sabushi" - a sushi conveyor-belt restaurant. Besides eating as much sushi as we wanted, we got to make our own soup with ingredients that passed by. In this shot Lance and I are eating some sushi with roe on the outside. We didn't quite get up the nerve to try octopus. Maybe next time.

On Sabbath afternoon we went to China town to get materials for making journals. We purchased paper, cloth, glue, and other necessities and have been working on creating our own travel journals ever since. Phil has already made two, so he has been showing Lance and I the best way to create them. Lance's will be green with white pages; mine will be red with black pages. After getting the materials, we took a boat down the river a ways and enjoyed the temples around China town.

PS If this post doesn't look right, try adjusting the browser window. I need to change the template so it doesn't vary from one browser to another . . .

may kaidee's cooking class

2008-06-15T05:34:00.000-07:00

bangkok pics

2008-06-12T09:47:00.000-07:00

delicious meal of phat thai, som tam (green papaya salad),
and sticky rice

bangkok skyline from phil's apartment balcony

bangkok - june 10

2008-06-09T20:44:00.000-07:00

Bangkok is hot, but not unbearable. Really, it's about the perfect weather for sleeping with a fan. A fan that's blowing directly on you at full power, that is. I haven't been tempted to use hot water for my shower yet, although accustomed Phil turns on the small insta-heater in the "cool" of the morning.

The apartment is small, but very sufficient. There is a bathroom with open shower, a small balcony perfect for drying clothes, and a good amount of cabinet and shelf space for storage.

Good and bad smells abound in Bangkok. It's very common to go from the aromas of delicious coconut milk to sewer or from pad thai to strange smelling fish in just a few steps. I never really know whether to be holding my nose or inhaling deeply. Mostly I just inhale deeply and suffer the consequences.

Food is of course delicious. We have eaten at several roadside restaurants and stands similar to the "menú" of Perú. Chicken vegetable stir-fry with fried egg, pad thai noodles, and som tham (a salad made of green papaya and flavored with chilis and lime) and sticky rice are some of the dished I have enjoyed. I hope to get some delicious smelling curry in the near future.

On a side note: If you ask a question in your comment, I'll try and answer them either indirectly in a new post, or in a self comment on the same post.

qatar airways

2008-06-09T20:18:00.000-07:00

Qatar Airways is nice. Before getting on the plane (and since I had an extra 24 hours to burn before leaving), I looked up some reviews. Although some of them gave the company good ratings, the reality was far better than I expected.

1. Entertainment. This category was by the far what stood out the most. I could choose from 75 films (which ranged from the 1969 Italian Job to Juno or Jumper of this year; countless TV shows (including our favorite "Flight of the Conchords"); endless games varying from speed racer to backgammon, from virtual golf to battleship; a huge database of music with a special "100 Greatest Singles" list; and other sections which I failed to explore such as live satellite TV.

2. Food. Perhaps not ideal for vegetarians, but the food was quite gourmet. Dinner consisted of lamb or chicken; delicious mashed potatoes; green beans with coconut; turkey, apple, golden raisin, and romaine salad; and strawberry cheesecake and Godiva chocolates for dessert. And as expected of a quality airline, we were provided with hot damp towels to wash our hands with before eating.

3. Comfort. The chairs were quite nice for economy, and on the second leg from Doha to Bangkok I had three seats to myself. Perfect.

In conclusion: Qatar Airways deserves the 5 star rating they advertise.

PS I had several discussions before leaving about how to pronounce Qatar. In the airplane they didn't really put an emphasis on either syllable. However, it is definitely not pronounced like "cutter" where the "t" sounds more like a "d".

bangkoscow map

2008-06-05T15:14:00.001-07:00

Hint: If you click on it, it gets really big.

june five

2008-06-05T14:17:00.000-07:00

5:18PM. I should be landing in Bangkok in exactly 3 hours and 27 minutes. Instead, I've just picked four quarts of delicious strawberries from my grandfather's garden. So what happened? This happened:

June 4:

9:00PM I arrive at Dulles two hours before scheduled departure and join a long line of primarily Indian passengers (connecting to Bombay).

10:00PM I finally reach the ticket counter and am chosen for a random security check - they ask me for the credit card number with which I bought my ticket. I explain to them that it was cancelled because Visa couldn't figure out why someone from Boonsboro would buy a one-way ticket to Bangkok through Qatar. "I threw it away this morning!" I say. No luck.

10:30PM The americanized aussie issues me another ticket, for June 5, arriving 24 hours later.

In the words of Phillip Gray: "Don't you feel safer. I know I do. Makes me want to curse and laugh, all at the same time."

That pretty much sums it up.

trina check this out!

2008-06-03T17:58:00.000-07:00

Hey Trina - I worked for an hour or so on this blog, and it came out decently. Thanks for the tips. I think I could do better with more time, and maybe I went a little wacko with the colors, but I like it alright.