The end of this trip has come, but I feel it is definitely a new beginning. A new beginning with starting my career, new friendships, new ideas to travel elsewhere (he he), and new insights to myself and the world!

Here's a map of my travels:

Soo, some have asked, and here it is! A grand finale of the bests, worsts, and everything in between of my travels:

The BEST big moments:
-Sydney Opera House

-Great Wall of China; Terracotta Soldiers of Xi'an


-Angkor Wat Temples, Cambodia

-Taj Mahal, India

-The Himalayas of Nepal

The BEST little moments:
-Driving along the windy roads of Queensland, Australia, from the beaches to the rainforst, and coming across everything from tea houses to fruit farms to cool wildlife (cassowary!).
-Pretty much everything about New Zealand, from glaciers to amazing lakes to fjords - its beauty is really breathtaking!

-Riding bikes around Bejing. Lounging around in Wudang Shan waiting for the rain to stop and playing cards and watching a repeat 80's Arnold Schwarzeneggar movie, Commando (which, oddly enough, I had come across several more times while traveling). Then, when the rain finally temporarily stopped, we jumped out and went for a walk and came across this beautiful ancient temple hiding in the midst (Dragon Cloud Temple) in the forest. I really thought, "this is China."

-Walking around the busy and lit-up streets of Hong Kong and catching the daily night light show at night


-Lounging around and being lazy in Laos, watching repeat Friends episodes and drinking Lao Beer.

-Getting that one day of sunshine in Vietnam and sunbatheing on the rooftop of our hotel.
-Having one amazing day after the other exploring the Angkor Wat temples. Started off with probably the best breakfest I've ever had to a full day of amazing sight-seeing to watching spectacular sunsets from the temples to finishing the day with delicious Cambodian food. Perfect!

-Beach hopping in Thailand and the big event of the day is deciding what kind of massage to get or to get a pineapple or banana shake. What can beat that?

-Sleeping with all our clothes in Nepal it was so cold and hiking to see an amazing sunset and sunrise overlooking the great Himalayan range.


-Going from being fearful and overwhelmed about India to loving the chaotism!
Also, seeing Bollywood movies in India is quite an experience!
-Enjoying the simple life and people of Sri Lanka. Going from the tea plantation to the hill country to the beach. Met great people, westeners and locals alike!



-The art of bargaining in each country. This is something that always takes a little time to figure out, yet its fun (although definitely tiring). In China you had to go down by at least 70-80% and then settle at something like 60-70%. Vietnam was a lot of fake acting (a loud gasp... you look like someone just told you that you lost a million dollars, they equally look as shocked... you feel like you are riping their hearts out and will send them to immediate poverty... yet you know they are overcharging you by at least 50%.... it goes on and on). In India you have to be quick-witted and really on your toes because the process goes by quickly and before you know it you "settle" and then almost immediately afterwards you realize "d'oh! I could have gone lower." Sri Lanka they do this "how much do YOU think its worth?" Uhhh.... what?

BEST food, in general:
-Indian! From the masalas to the paneers to the dosas, great variety!
-Thailand. Enough said. Mmmm.....
-Cambodian. Are there any Cambodian restaurants in Chicago? It was nice to try something new and different, and the Khmer amok's and curries were to die for!
-Chinese. When we could actually communicate what we wanted, it was awesome! A fave being a chicken peanut dish.

Which leads to....
Best local/traditional foods
-Egg tarts, Macau. This yummy egg custurd in a pastery shell. Soo fattening, but soo good!

-Sticky rice and curries, Laos
-Pho (noodle soup) and Naem Nuang of Vietnam. With Naem Nuang you make your own spring roll with this transparent rice paper and add think noodles, herbs, veggies, sauces, its delicious!
-Khmer curry, Cambodia. If you like coconut, you'll like most dishes in Cambodia. It has a nice influence of Thai food.
-Pad thai, green curry, massaman curry, tom yam soup - Thailand
-Momos in Nepal. Momos are kinda like pot stickers, with a little kick!
-Umm... everything vegetarian in India! Chana masala, dahls, nan, dosas, thali's, I could go on and on! And nothing like the masala teas, yummy!

-Rice hoppers, curd and honey, and wattalapan (steamed pudding with coconut milk, eggs, and jaggery) - Sri Lanka

BEST sunsets (a toughie!)
-Angkor Wat, Phnom Bakheng Temple, Cambodia. We underestimated the time to get to this particular temple, and so the sun was already beginning to set. We get there and it starts drizzling and as the temple happens to be perched on a hill in a foreste, we started running... and running (all right, we were a little out of shape at this point. I would say jogging more like it!), through the trees so it seemed that the sun was already set. So we thought we missed it but finally get to the top, huffing and puffing, at the most perfect time and just like that, the rain stopped and we were greeted with this spectacular sunset. It was almost surreal, especially rewarding after the battle to get there!

-Greymouth, NZ. We were returning from seeing awesome rocks and blow holes (that weren't blowing, by the way), and the sun over the sea was just setting to this amazing array of coloful orange colors! The driver/guide was racing to get the car back on time, but seeing how obsessed I was with trying to get a good picture while also trying to stay in my seat, kindly pulled over and we got some nice photo opps. THEN, he was soooooooooo sooooooooo nice and said "fine, let the car be late" and we raced to this peer to see the sun set just over the horizon. Sooo amazing and worth it! And these kiwis, soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo nice!!! By the way, NZ is appropriately called the Land of the White Cloud.

-Nagarkot, Nepal. What can beat seeing a sunrise and sunset overlooking the Himalayas?!

-Tangalla, Sri Lanka. Sitting on the beach. Sipping a cold Lion Lager. Enjoying the beach life. The sky turned every color possibly, but had these cool streaks of orange and blue. Beautiful.

My Most Favorite "Friends"
-Leeches in Sri Lanka. Lets just say feeling a cold slithery thing on your foot isn't the best. Luckily, twice, I got 'em (after shrieking like a baby) before it crawled up my leg to suck my blood. Ew!
-Cockroaches in China. One night I got up to go to the toilet in Hong Kong, and being that our room was 2X2ft and would wake up Char and Lauren, I didn't turn on the light. Next thing I know I hear a loud "crrrruuunnccchh" under my foot. THANK GAAWWWDDD I was wearing flip flops!
-Ants, centipedes, and beetles in Thailand. At one particular dumpy place in Koh Phangan, there were ants all around the walls literally over and all around my head. I moved the bed away, as well as myself, but of course they were still getting on the bed and I couldn't sleep because of the paranoia of feeling ants on me. Then even had all these strange dreams about ants being dinausar size and coming to get me. Weird, I know! Then this centipede that kept on finding its place in our room in Koh Phi Phi. Maybe we unintentionally made a nest for it?
-The cows roaming the streets in India. Watch your feet for stepping on dung!
-Started in Nepal, then India, and finally in Sri Lanka, I think I kind of developed a fear of monkeys! They are much more aggressive and creepy then the cutsie Curious George monkey that we know!

BEST Beer
Lao Beer, NO QUESTION!

BEST Most-Anti-Climatic Moments:
-Wudang Shan, China. Climbing endless stairs in the rain, to more rain and more cold. We finally get on top after 3 hours of climbing, and there was absolutely NO visibility whatsoever. Zilch. I got on top, and with the more intense rain, cold, and wind, hardly even took the last step when I shouted to no one in particular (because you could hardly see anyone in front of you), "Thats it! I'm going down!"

-Adam's Peak, Sri Lanka. Yet another stair climb that this time began at 3:00AM, a 5,200 step climb to "spectacular sunset views" and "amazing shadow of this mountain over another one." Granted it was warmer, but of course when we got on top we were greeted with being literally inside a rain cloud. At least we got some nice views on the way down!


-Fraser Island, Australia. Fraser Island is this cool island that is made of sand and has more sand than the Sahara dessert!

It was only anti-climatic because it literally rained all 2 days of this safari and we couldn't do some stuff. It was still amazing, but if I had to hear one more time, "well, normally if it weren't raining you would see this and that....". We did see a dingo though and the group was nice! And this cool colored sand hill.

-Franz Josef Glacier, New Zealand. Deciding to do a full-day climb up a glacier because of the more spectacular views, Lauren and I geared up and set off. No surprise as it has been raining before, that it only picked up while we were hiking. We were SOAKING to the bone wet, and as luck would have it, the 1/2 way, 1/2 day point was no different than being near the top. It actually rained non-stop all 3 days we were there. Bummer. It was still amazing though, even squeezing through these narrow passages:

Still managed a smile at the top!

-Lipton's Seat, Sri Lanka. Hmm... can you guess? A hike up a hill to.... no visibility and rain! Do you see a theme here?

BEST Beaches
-Long Beach, Koh Phi Phi, Thailand. Rated as one of the top 10 beaches in the world, this beach is truly beautiful with the soft white fine sand and the water so clear and blue.

-Whitsunday Islands, Aerlie Beach, Australia. Can I say paradise? Actually rated as one of the top 3 beaches in the world, it was almost a dream. Saw a dolphin swimming along, the sand uber fine and white, and the water was the clearest aqua color ever.

-Leela Beach, Koh Phangan, Thailand. We stayed at a great hotel here and had this nice beach to look at!

-Tangalle, Sri Lanka. This is more so because of the atmosphere. It is sooo soo quiet and peaceful there. You could literally be the only one on the beach steps away from your hotel, paying a measely $5. Nice!

-Bondi Beach, Sydney, Australia. A nice long stretch of beach where you can hang out at a nice beachside cafe and watch the surfers have fun!

-Hikkaduwa, Sri Lanka. Similar as Bondi with it being a surfers beach, but much more quiet and peaceful. Beautiful sunsets!

-Goa, Palolem Beach, India. Its lively, yet relaxing!

Biggest Risks
-Being in a country with an escalating civil war - Sri Lanka. The military look like they are 13 years old and wander around carrying these machine guns with their finger on the trigger. Don't make any sudden movements!

-Bungee jumping! Not only once, but twice! 1st was the infamous Nevis Bungee jump off a highwire, 134 m (440ft).
. An awesome exhilarating experience.
2nd was in Macau off a tower, 233m (764 ft).

Almost was a 3rd time in Nepal, but I got worried I was becoming a bungy junkie. :-)
-Eating dog in China. Yes, dog.

When in China, do as the Chinese do? It was cross-section slices and served cold. A bit savory, but.... dog!That, and there were many times that, for lack of communication, we literally had to point to something and hope for the best. Or do an impression of a chicken with our arms and make sure to show that we wanted just chicken, NOT chicken feet. Who knows what we ate (I try not to think about it) most of the time! I'm still curious what we ate in Chongqing when we had a hot-pot (which originated as stewed intestines) and Lauren picked something that looked edible enough. It was either that or sheep's brains.
-The cave in Van Vieng, Laos, that we not only had to wade through dark murky water, but also had to walk on a slippery wall with jagged edges... with flip-flops... in the dark. I don't count the tiny candles we had "to see." I almost felt lucky that afterwards I got this mysterious foot pain for 24 hours that went from hot and burning to sharp pain from left to right.

The BEST Nice hotels/guesthouses... and then the WORST:
Niiiiice... for the luxury:

1. 1. CoCo Hut, Koh Phangan, Thailand. Absolutely worth the mega upgrade we gave ourselves to pay for it (about a week's worth of accomodation for one night, but we needed it after almost a couple of weeks worth of horrible accomodations). A shower that you didn't need to sit on the toilet, tiled floors you could walk barefoot on, a soft bed and pillows, A/C, a TV and even a computer in our room, a balcony overlooking the sea, and great customer service with SUPER friendly reception/staff that you could literally snap your fingers and someone would be there to help you. The great beach and the great massage... it was hard to leave!

Niiiiiice... for the atmosphere or other:
-Bush Gardens, Aerlie Beach, Australia - fun hostel and I became BFF with the fun staff there.
-Xi'an's Shiyuan's Hostel, China - a great hostel atmosphere with things like dumpling parties and other communal activities. It had a nice loungy and homey common area to eat, drink, and meet people.
-Kingfisher, Tangalle, Sri Lanka - When its just you and a few other people as guests, you definitely get VIP treatment! I.e. having a coconut drink fresh from the tree delivered to you as you sunbathe on practically a private beach to yourself, steps away from the beach for $5, by the way. Great people and friends there.

-Goverdhan Tourist Complex in Fatehpur Sikr, India. The staff was soooo polite and nice that you almost felt like hugging them and telling them its okay when they "disturbed" you to ask you a simple question. Soo nice!

The Not-so-nice, worst accomodations (and actually, there was so many, this was more of a tough decision! haha!)
-Leela Beach Hotel, Koh Phangan, Thailand - refer to ant story in "my favorite friends" above. That and the "bathroom" was practically outside, there was no sink, and you could share shampoo with the neighbor next door as well as join their conversation the walls were so thin.
-Hotel Namaskar (Main Bazaar), Delhi, India. For some odd reason, I ended up staying there a 2nd time and for some reason the dumpy room didn't bother me as much. But the public urinals and small ally to get there did, as well as the garbage and cow manuer you constantly had to avoid stepping on. Can't decide what was worse, the smell or the filth? Hmm....
-Green House, Dalhousie (Adam's Peak), Sri Lanka. I really don't think they ever changed the sheets. Or ever cleaned anything, for that matter. Gross.
-P.P. Long Beach Beach, Koh Phi Phi, Thailand. It was dark and really mildewy. And everytime it rained we got water in the room and random bugs. Oh, and then ants invaded our precious jar of (expensive) nutella and we had to through it out. Hmph. NOT happy about that.

Best Starry Night
-Himalayas, Nagarkot, Nepal
-Makarora, New Zealand
-Tengalle and Mirissa, Sri Lanka

BEST massages
-CoCo Hut, Koh Phangan, Thailand. Thai massage by the beach as the sun was setting. Got cracked and stretched and maneuvered in ways I didn't think my body could move. Hurt, but felt great afterwards.
-Bangkok, Thailand. Another good Thai massage.
-Koh Phi Phi, Thailand. A nice sunset cocunut oil massage on a beautiful beach. Almost could fall asleep except for the that mosquito that was eating my arm.

(by the way, any massage in Thailand is about $5-$7).
-Luang Prabang, Laos. After a couple of months backpacking and traveling, this was our first "we deserve a little luxury" massage. It had an awesome ambiance and I finally got that big knot on my left trap to go away.
.... and the weirdest:
-Ayurvedic massages, Mombay and Goa. In Mombay it was at a stinky gym, umm... a lot of rubbing with vegetable oil (seriously), more rubbing, and lets just say I almost felt violated. Then in Goa, once again, one really shouldn't have qualms about their body because it was borderline inappropriate. So when I got to Sri Lanka and was asked if I wanted an ayurvedic massage, I quickly answered, "no thanks!"

• By the way, all of these massages were around $5-$8

BEST Activities
-Doing a live-abroad scuba diving trip on the Great Barrier Reef. Awesome!

-Skiing in New Zealand (Mount Cardrona);

Tranzalpine Express from Christchurch to Greymouth - stunningly beautiful.

Admiring the beauty of the country:

-Kayaking in Laos and then stopping for Lao Beer.
-Boat ride on the Mekong Delta, Vietnam

-Trekking in Nepal (it was a short but good one!)
-A 10-day Vipassana meditation course in India. Probably the hardest thing both mentally and physically (yes, even over marathons and triathlons!) I've ever done. Intense, but sooo worth it!
-Hiking the beautiful hill country in Sri Lanka

If I were to go back anywhere of all those countries, where would be my top picks?

• Not in any particular order*

-India - Its so big and there is sooo sooo much to see. From the north to the south, from the east to west, each state is so different than the next - language, culture, food.
-Australia/NZ - Amazing amazing countries! Sooo beautiful and again, so much to see and do. Perfect for anyone that is active and that likes to do things amongst stunning nature.
-Nepal - we got a taste of it, but I would loooooooooooooooove one day to come back and do a 7-10+ day trek. Anyone interested?

Best comfort foods
-Nutella, peanut butter, Hawaiian pizza, ginger cookies

Couldn't have lived without...
-Anti-bacterial hand sanitizer, my cocoon sleeper sheet with pillowcase, fabreeze, a lightweight rain jacket (sooo came in handy), sleeping pills (am I addicted now?), ipod, shower flip flops, suduku and books (for swaps) for entertainment, chain and locks, comfortable walking shoes

Wish I had...
-Better earphones! I went through 3 pairs! More fabreeze, more toothbrush covers, and more $$ so that I could have traveled longer, ha ha.

Travel reads
Eat, Prey, Love (Elizabeth Gilbert); Kite Runner (Khaled Hosseini); Middlesex (Jeffrey Eugenides); Girl from the Picture (Denise Chong); Honeymoon with my Brother (Franz Wisner); 2X John Grishman books and 1X Mary Higgins Clark book for easy beach reads; Freakonomics (Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner); The Village in the Jungle (Leonard Woolf and Nick Smith)

Any regrets?
NO WAY! I don't regret not a single thing. Yes, there are things I would have done differently, but thats what makes the experience what it is. Even the "bad" moments weren't that bad and were quickly followed by something good or you appreciate the next thing more.

What I learned from traveling
-Do it! Instead of saying, "I wish I can... I want to..." DO IT! Obligations and responsibilities will always be there, but life passes by quicker than you think and traveling is such a rewarding and humbling experience. By the time you really "have time to go," it may be too late. Pictures are pictures and words are words, but seeing something with your own eyes is something else. When I first saw the great Himalayan range, I got goosebumps and was just in awe. I really wanted to transport everyone I know to see it with their own eyes. Amazing.
-Planning and too much of it often leads to disappointment. This trip, more than any other one I've taken, really was "go with the flow." Changed plans daily, got ideas from other people, and it worked out great!
-I feel soooo much more appreciative of what I have and who I have in my life. We all take soo much for granted and its not until you see the poverty or how little people have, and yet are still happy, that you realize that!
-Patience. Its something that I admit to lacking sometimes, but you learn to gain it. Like in Sri Lanka you literally have to wait at least one hour to get your food. But whats the hurry? In Laos everything just moves at a slow pace and takes forever. Again, will there really be that much of a difference in your life by waiting an extra 10-15 minutes? It'll happen when it happens. And with bargaining in all of Asia, if you rush, you lose. With that, the longer I spent 'on-the-go' the less I felt I stressed about silly stuff (things being late, etc). Definitely good to be easy-going and have an open mind, and traveling helps with that, for sure!
-Its okay to splurge every now and then. Backpacking is hard work and so is traveling. Having little rewards for yourself every now and then, whether it be a nicer room or a more expensive dinner, is needed and totally worth it!
-Poverty doesn't necessarily have to mean unhappiness. I saw soo many kids that literally have nothing, yet smile and laugh and play for hours over something as simple as a little rubber tire with a rope. Which leads to my every-growing observation that kids in 3rd world countries really are soo much more behaved! They may not know what is all out there, but they are at least happy with what they have!
-I guess its the society we live in, but routines can be boring! I learned to like waking up and each day being so so different than the day before, and each day being a new adventure.
-Per Vipassana, attachment leads to cravings which lead to misery. Simple, yet so so true.
-The more I travel, the more I want to travel and see more! Got great new ideas from fellow travelers that I met. So those of you that are still traveling, keep me udpated!
-What comes around goes around. Ahhh... good 'ol karma.

Welp folks, its been fun! Sooo many memories, good fun, and an experience of a lifetime. Thanks for allowing me to share all my memories and experiences with you! And thanks to the ever loyal readers! I appreciate it!

See you out there!

-Ellen

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." -- Mark Twain

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Last I left off, I was in Tangalle REALLY enjoying the simple life. Here, life consists of afternoon cricket games,

The man on a bike with small treats (which, by the way, is the view from the guesthouse/restaurant. Nice huh?),

and of course, what makes it the most special, the company!

Great friend who spends months here at a time and has made Tangalle his "1st 2nd home." He came here pre-tsunami and came back afterwards to altruistically and generously sponsor a local family to help rebuild their guesthouse and also helps another guesthouse. The world needs more people like him!

Local friends who are super nice.

One night we somehow randomly started a party and ended the night all drunk off rum and cokes. Fun!

Great fresh fish dinner with good company!

And for those of you who are sick of my sunset pictures, sorry! I'm on the beach and that is usually a highlight. This one in particular was especially spectacular. Check out the amazing colors:

It would have been easy to stay here forever, but I felt it was time to move on and next settled in Unawatuna, a beach town which unfortunately was hit pretty bad by the tsunami and the "beach" was literally about 2 feet wide. It was still pretty though...

especially having dinner practically in the water.

And once again, met these super nice Russians and we had great conversations about travel and the motherland!

Fortunately for travel, Galle happens to be a hop and a skip away from Unawatuna. Everyone talks about Galle being this big "literary capital" full of snooty people talking about all sorts of literature, but aside from that, it is really a time capsule to the Dutch colonial area, dating all the way back to the 1600's. Its not just a fort, it also has churches, mosques, temples, and even a community inside it. Although the fort itself withstood the tsunami, a lot of things were destroyed within it. However, restoration is slowly but surely getting done, and walking around the walls of the fort is really lovely with some great views...

How badly I wanted to jump in the water while sizzling in 100+ degrees!

Dutch Reformed Church

Next stop was Hikkaduwa, what is known as "surfer's paradise" and is a fun beach town with plenty of water sports. It is more lively then some other low-key places, which is a nice change of pace. And once again, beautiful views:

One day I was walking on the beach to go do a shipwreck scuba dive, which was REALLY cool, by the way, and came across this big o' turtle in the wild! It was soo cool! Someone was feeding it, and it was just soo cool being so close to it and petting it and feeding it! It was so cute!

A Canadian I met called me crazy, but being that I had an extra week to spare, I thought I would do at least something of the cultural triangle that Sri Lanka is known for. So I spent a day to travel to see Sigiriya and Dambulla, and then a day to get back. It was well worth it though!

Sigiriya, also known as either "Remembrance Rock" or "Lion's Rock," is this impressive rock that was formed by an extinct volcano and has numerous natural cave shelters and rock overhangs. A popular myth, which I understand many people still believe, is that it became a residence, both royal and military, of King Kassapa in the 5th century after he overthrew and murdered his father to come to power (hmph). But what the facts say is that it wasn't a fortress or palace, but a Buddhist monastary that was built way before King Kassapa came into the picture. Sounds like this King Kassapa has a little power problem. Anyway, it was abandoned after that 14th century and was discovered in the late 1800's. I'm glad it was because it is truely amazing! From the water gardens to the boulder gardens to the summit terraced gardens, everywhere you look, there is something amazing:

Here the entrance is beautiful and symmetrical water gardens and the view of the rock, which of course I climbed!

The boulder gardens that jut out to form other walls and columns, like the audience hall:

Sigiriya is most famous for these images of frescoes, or these images of woman figures that are well-preserved. Whatever theory you believe, the myth or the modern theory, the myth is that the women are King Kassapa's concubines or celestial nymphs. The modern theory is that the women represent aspects of Tara Devi, a divine being who helps the human reach enlightenment. Either way, it is amazingly intact with beautiful colors and design:

Just when you think you've seen it all, you come across the lion's paws, 5th century. THe lion symbolism is believed to be a reminder to devotees that Buddha was Sakya Simha, or Lion of the Sakya Clan, which means that the truths he spoke of were as powerful as the sound of a lion's roar. The staircase leads to the summit of the rock.

Me on the summit. The summit is about 1.6 hecters and is said to be a place of residence. There is even a pool (that would have been nice, huh? Too bad its all gross and murky). There are some spots that is thought to be for meditation, a throne, and ruins of dagoda's.

View from top. I don't know if you can see it, but at the top of the photo there is this gigantic buddha statue, I swear, it towers in the sky!

After Sigiriya, and really, what can top that? I went to Dambulla, known for its cave temples. The entrance is this giant golden buddha,

and from there a small hike on top of a hill to the cave temples. Yes, another climb in the blazing sun and soaring heat:

The caves' history of worship dates all the way back to the 1st century when there was yet another incidence of a king overthrowing another king, and this king took refuge in these caves and then built these amazing rock temples. There are 5 caves, and the 1st one, the temple of the King, has the impressive 15m reclining buddha:

Then the others have everything from wooden statues to of course buddhas statues, and more!

Looks peaceful, huh? Hmmm... would have been nice to take a little siesta!

So, like I said, I saw .2 of the Cultural Triangle, but I have to save something for the next time I come, right?

After a long journey back to the beach, I did a stop-over in Hikkaduwa again to watch some more surfer's action, and then headed to Mirissa, a beautiful, peaceful, and quiet beach with clear waters and nice relaxed atmosphere. I decided since my trip is coming to an end soon, might as well upgrade a little to a whopping $20USD for my own private bungalow,

A nice pool,

and dinner and breakfest included. Nice!

And now I made it back to Tangalle to fully detox and rest for a few days before I make my loooong journey back home! This has been my life,

Talk about fresh cocunut from a tree!

This is the life!

Stay tuned for my highlights and best/worsts of my almost 6-month journey! Woo hoo!!

Its a simple life remains copyright of the author travellen, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Soo.... Sri Lanka. I never thought that the finale of my travel adventures would encompass all my travels thus far. Sri Lanka reminds me of my first destination on this trip, Australia and New Zealand for its amazing scenery and beautiful nature:

Nepal for its panorama views and patient people. China for this Wudang Shan stair hike we did, which entailed climbing like 20394823049832 stairs in the misty rain.

Where's the top? No seriously!

Here in Sri Lanka there was another stair hike, Adam's Peak, 5,200 stairs, I did and of course it was misty and rainy at the top (not nearly as bad as Wudang!) with .... no "perfect sunrise" view or "great shadow of the mountain!"

Nice view, huh?

Oh well. Vietnam for the tempermental weather - rainy, its sunny, its cool, its hot, its HUMID (seriously, can be 90%+ humid). Then Laos, once again for the subtle scenery but also for the laid back and chill lifestyle people seem to have, and the "sleepy" towns, aka. Ella.

Really, thats the town.

Cambodia because I went to this TOTALLY cheesy touristy 'cultural' show

that we stumbled upon there, and now here, and also for some temples (which of course don't compare). Thailand for the beaches, but I would say the beaches are more of a combo of India and Thailand, but with a LOT fewer people. Example, here is my panoramic view of Tangalla beach:

Seriously, I am the only one on the beach. Crazy! And my guesthouse is a good 15 feet from the beach, and I'm paying less than $5. And finally, India, obviously because of the proximity and the similar food and characteristics (BUT Sri Lanka is 10X cleaner and the people are much more honest). So yes, its lovely and I already postponed my time here!

I started off in the hill country, known for its lovely views and awesome hikes/walks. After a brief stop in Colombo (thats all it needs!), I was off to Kandy where I went to the lovely botantical gardens

and then this elephant orphange. So cute! I watched them bathe, get fed, and have fun!

A nice family pict, huh?

An amputee elephant!

A 7-DAY old elephant with mom

Bottle feeling elephant!

And finally, because it was soo beautiful, a rainbow at the elephant orphanage:

Then to the famous Temple of the Tooth Relic

where supposedly, there is a tooth of a buddha. The tooth has a super long history that dates back to 310 BC and it had to go through extreme measures to be 'protected' (was bounced around Sri Lanka for awhile) and even survived a terrorist attack a few years back. Interesting. From Kandy I went to Adam's Peak, for the infamous 2:30 am (yes am!) wake up call to begin a 3 1/2 hour stair climb of 5,200 stairs. It was really hard, but still serene. Its a famous pilgrimage site for hindus, muslims, christians alike because on top of the peak there is a famous footprint (which of course was covered). The Buddhists say its of the buddha, the Indians say its of Lord Shiva, and others say its the footprint of Adam when he first set foot on earth after being cast out of heaven. Here are some monks doing their pilgrimage (they were resting, like we were frequently doing!):

Either way, this Sacred Footprint, was quite a hike! As I mentioned earlier, the peak was in a rain cloud, so we couldn't really see any of the supposed nice views and/or sunrise. Oh well...

This is what we climbed up!

BUt on the way down, we saw spectacular views of the hills. I guess we missed a lot climbing in the dark!

From Adam's Peak, we (I met another North American and we traveled several days together) went to Haputale for some more beautiful hikes and a nice visit to the tea plantations. Sri Lanka is most famous for its tea, so a visit to learn about the process of going from wet tea leaves to drying them to crushing, grinding, fermenting was pretty cool. Funny thing was that they didn't offer tea at the end of the tour nor did they sell any tea. Then they said that they export all the good tea, and the tea we drink in Sri Lanka is the "low-quality" tea. Gee, thanks.

The tea plantation

The tea leaf pickers all women by the way who were required to pick at least 10kg of tea a day for a whopping $2.50. No joke. BUT they were alll soooo funny and had such lovely toothy (or toothless smiles). They were harassing us to take pictures of them, and then were laughing at each other when viewing them. So cute!

So since we were in an "active" mindset, we decided to do a nice hike up to Lipton Seat, where Sir Lipton himself liked to come and enjoy the views. Once again, luck would have it that as we were climbing up, we were going deep into a rain cloud. But here is me on top, and then the .2 minutes when it cleared:

Then a brief stop in Bandarwela, and finally to Ella, a beautiful "sleepy" town where we stayed at this super nice guesthouse, met some nice people, had some excellent food, and just relaxed in the hill country. This is what Sri Lanka is about, its a country with lots to see and do, lots of smiles (really, people just randomly say Hello to you!) but also has a relaxed atmosphere about it.

Nice view of tea plantation.

Yet another great smile!

Rawana Waterfall

A random cute preschool we came across on our way to Ella's rock:

And the beautiful Ella's rock, talk about great panoramic view! Very peaceful! We chilled out there for awhile and just enjoyed the view:

Well, its all fun and games until you get onto the train/buses. What an experience that is! The trains/buses in Sri Lanka... hmm.... how to describe it? They are just crazy! The trains are ancient looking and have these big open windows so that when the train barely slows down to the stop, people are throwing their kids through the window (seriously, no joke!) to reserve a spot and/or jumping on (mind you, the train is still moving). There are no assigned seats, so you just pack in with everyone else. Its hilarious and I love it! If I went back in time, like 100 years, this is what it would be like. I actually prefered to be in the 2nd and 3rd class because of the experience. People playing music, the food vendors, the people curiously observing you and trying to make conversation without knowing anything other than "where you from?" The buses are even funnier because its even MORE cramped (which is hard to imagine). So as with the train, everyone just piles on, but with the buses, anyone that has anything in their hands and has to stand, just throws there bags and kids for that matter, on other people's laps, and ... thats just the way it is! No questions asked! And then you get the random person that drools on you (my friend), or on top of your leg (me), and a random package on your lap (me again). Its sooooo funny!

However, you do get nice views...

ANd more often than not, the 'route' to go somewhere is literally on the train tracks. Luckily, the trains are ancient and move super slowly so you can definitely hear one coming. You just have to jump out of the way in plenty of time to spare:

He threw a flower at me, which was cute!

Here's us and people taking a nice stroll on the traintracks...

After the hill country, I decided to venture out to Yala National Park, which is known for its wildlife and leopard spotting. It has the world's highest leopard population. Its also kind of east, so it actually had a major terror attack a few months back and just opened after the New Year. Having never done a safari, I thought, why not? It ended up being pretty cool, 4WD and all, but I didn't see any leopards. Elephants, but after the elephant orphanage, it wasn't that exciting, deer (which we have in Illinois), peacocks, birds, and some other neat stuff. Definitely mega $$ because it was just me, but what can you do? At least I can say I was on a safari! Besides the not-so-exciting wildlife spotting, the 125,000ish hecteres are full with nice lagoons, plains, and scrubs. Definitely looked very safari like:

See the Elephant rock? Eh? EH?

Kinda random, but here you are searching for... animals and wildlife, and then you get these random scary looking military guys wandering about.

The park, as with many other places in Sri Lanka, was also affected by the tsunami. Its estimated that 35,000+ people died in Sri Lanka due to the tsunami. And thats not even counting some areas. Where I am now, the south beaches, you can definitely see the destruction and bareness, and even more harrowing is people's personal stories

By the way, a local common food is rice bowl hoppers that you eat with chutney... super yummy, and of course now while I'm on the sea, fresh seafood (the pict is of calamari) which they get fresh and is a whopping $2-$3. Its delish!

Welp, thats about it for now! Next update will be exciting news of my beach hopping! haha!

A 360 of travel adventures... remains copyright of the author travellen, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Wishing you all the best for 2008!

We made it to Goa safe and sound and spent 3 hard, excruciating days laying on the beach

and sunbathing for a good 5-7 hours. Don't worry, it was not all just fun and games. We also had a strict schedule of when to flip over and when to get a nice cold drink. Ha aha! Then New Years day (have to start the New Years, right?) we decided to get an ayurvedic massage for all our hard work. It was an hour and half, about $12, with a deep tissue massage with soothing oils. Who would know that I was really tight in some areas (my calves) from not doing anything all day?

Goa, or as many people call it, is "not really India." Its FULL of Westerners and tourism and is known for its party scene and beaches. The beach we were at, Palolem, supposedly the nicest in Goa, was no Thailand, but pretty nice. It has the usual beach vendors selling everything from shawls to CD's and the random people that would just stand there and gawk at you - but hey, thats India! It adds character to the beach scene. We thought to come here, the party center of India, to celebrate New Years. We ended up at Dancing Shiva's and after a few drinks realized it was getting closed to midnight. We didn't notice much of a change (people looking at their watches, music stopping, etc) and decided to follow some people heading to the beach (the bar we were at was a little off). There were fireworks all along the beach,

which was nice. Then I looked at my watch. 12:00. Then 12:01. Then 12:02. Where is the countdown? Realizing that there probably wasn't going to be one and realizing that I have to have a countdown, Char and I did our own, which was a little anti-climatic, but whatever. Then we went back to the bar for some more drinks and chit-chat with some people we met, and well, when I started falling asleep while talking to someone, it was time to go, ha ha! And sorry to say, thats not the 1st time that has happened! Oops! But yes, it was really fun. So all we saw in Goa was Palolem beach and Palolem town, which had some really nice shops. It was funny, just past the cute beach bungalows by the beach, one commonly sees pigs and cows milling about, and well, sometimes the cows are the ones that you have to get around to get that seat you want!

But a beach is a beach, and it was super relaxing. I plowed through 2 books, which was good!

Here is a pict of our place, with the cute x-mas decorations:

And of course, sunset in Goa:

Have I mentioned how great the food is?!?! Ohh myyyy gawd! Goa is especially known for its delicious seafood, and I can't agree more. Yummmmy! Besides the awesome variety of vegetarian food, they also have Indian-Chinese food, which sounds funny, but I like better than real Chinese food. Its less oily with a little spice. But here in Goa, you actually chose the fish you want to eat (me, knowing nothing about 'proper fish selection' pretty much just chose the smallest, because it would be cheaper). Its all fresh and amazing!

Then.... sniff sniff, Char left to go back to Chicago... Here is a pict of our last dinner (I have to kindly draw attention to our nice tans, ha ha!):

At first, it was very very weird. Literally, for the last 4 months, starting with Lauren, then Lauren and Char, then Char, we practically spend every minute together. So as Char pulled out of the driveway and the super nice reception all waved her off, I first thought, "now what? What do to? Its just me now." Well, one of the first thing you realize traveling by yourself is that it gets SUPER expensive. You're not sharing and splitting costs. The 2nd thing is you don't have someone to talk to about stupid things that we always got a laugh at (BM's). BUT, what I soon realized is that its kinda easier to meet people? I don't know if it was me being alone and wanting to talk that I'm more direct, or other people feeling sorry for me, OR people talking to me out of curiousity of why I am married and traveling by myself? Who knows! And yes, I did say Married. Married? Yes, married! Married? Yes, Married! (thats a reference Sixteen Candles, for those of you that didn't get it!). In Bangkok, Char and I got wedding rings to use in Nepal and India to ward off any unwanted attention and to look "unavailable." Well, in Nepal it kinda turned against us, long story but Char, you know what i'm talking about! So we took them off. And now with just me, I put it back on, and it has also backfired with people I didn't want to ward off. So it was about to come off, but then it really came in handy so I'm just going to leave it on. Who knows anyway about this whole ring theory.

Anyway, here's an example of how the best part of traveling is the people you meet: I met someone really friendly in my train compartment on the way to Kochin, Kerala (then later his friend). I met someone while I am checking in the homestay. I met someone randomly on the street. This is all say, within an hour or so. Before you know it, we are all having dinner and then drinks together. Then coffee and dessert at a coffee house (sound familiar?). I met them all individually, and yet, we all got along so well it might as well been like hanging out with any of my friends at home. So fun!

Since I was to be in Kerala for literally 24 hours on the button, I had to move quickly. Luckily, Cochin and Fort Cochin are small enough that it is easily walkable and mangeable. And thanks to my new friends that kindly escorted me, it was even that much easier. Kochi or Cohin, is a cute little town with a cluster of islands and peninsulas, and has a rich history of maintaining ancient western influence because of the former Portuguese and British colonization. Just like Macau, China, its always cool to see these things in a place you wouldn't expect. Fort Cochin is similar to Goa, in that it is "not really India." I don't know if its being by the sea, but everything is sooo laid back, the streets aren't that loud or crowded, I actually didn't even see that many cows roaming the streets, but goats:

and is very relaxing with unique ancient western architecture combined with traditional Indian. There is the famous Chinese fishing nets, a system used for centuries and requires a lot of manpower to counterweight the fish that you catch (although, everytime I walked by it seemed they caught like 10 fish. Thats just me though!):

And then rhere is St. Francis Church, what is said to be the oldest European-built church in India. It was built by a portuguese guy in the 15th century. And by the way, fast fact, did you know that Vasco de Gama was buried there for 14 years before being moved to Lisbon, Portugal? He actually died in Cochin and his tombstone is still in the church:

Which, speaking of Vasco de Gama, on my little tourist map, it 'highlighted' Vasco de Gama Square, which I was looking forward to seeing because I loove European squares (especially in Spain) because they are so full of life, but here... well, it literally was a plain old boring open space with a few vendors. Hmm.... oh well!

So since Fort Cochin has the most concentration of diverse religious establishments, I had to check out the impressive catholic Santa Cruz Basilica,

Jew town, with its 16th century synangogue (which of course was closed because it was a Saturday), is in the middle of a the 'town,' which I guess soon became a center to trade spice in Kochi. Its too bad I don't cook, because it really looked fun to select!

and the muslim quarter:

It really has it all! Lucky its small enough that everything is easily walkable. Fort Cochin is really cute!

So, I hate to admit it, but I am about to leave Kerala without doing the 'thing-to-do,' a backwaters tour. Kerala has something like 900km of waterways and boats are rented as you coast along and see life on the water as well as get a home-made special Keralan dishes (cocunut dishes are their speciality, and fish of course). Oh well... I have to come back, I guess!

BUT, I did enjoy a speciality of southern India, dosa and chatni (chutney) thats more traditionally eaten for breakfest:

The cone shaped thing is the dosa, this paper-thin lentil-flour pancake.

Oh, I'm obsessed, I know, but here is a pict of yet another sunset from the rickshaw I took to Fort Kochin. Pretty, huh?

By the way, its very very hot and humid, and keeps getting even more so as I am working my way even further south. For .0002 sec I actually missed cold, but then I thought about it, and figured I was much better off sweating my butt off then freezing my butt off!

I'm in Trivandrum now, the capital of Kerala. If you look at a map, its literally almost at the southernmost tip of India! On the west side. Its another big city, so I'm just taking the day to relax and hang out. I'm tired! So no surprise how I ended up on the beach in Kovalam! The beaches there, well, Goa is much nicer, and it was so-so. Crowded, ugly sand, and once again, same 'ol with vendors everywhere, murkey water, and then .... more and more people:

Notice, well, I don't think you can notice, but ALL the westerners are laying out on the beach on easy chairs. ALL the Indians are having a blast in the water. It was kinda fun to watch, kids, women fully dressed in sarees, everyone in between jumping around in the water and having fun. Makes me appreciate yet again how Indians are such genuine people that really appreciate the simple things in life. Its just soo amazing here! I don't even mind the rickshaw drivers anymore! So whats a dollar or two? They really are a wealth of knowledge. It is still beyond me how my rickshaw driver in Goa knew that my train was delayed by 3 hours, about 1/2 an hour before the train station attendants knew. Hmm.....

Here is another pict of Kovalam, they had these old boats lying around that were antique looking, but I wasn't sure if they were still being used or just hanging out there?

Actually, I realize that its kinda a dark picture and you really don't see the boat that much, but eh, what can you do?

So today is my last day in India! Minus a possible day in Delhi, but I might be too cold to venture out. I had an amazing time here and am soooo thankful and appreciate for all the wonderful people I've met and also for learning about the diverse culture. I love India for the character it has, and for the great personality of it and the people. Everywhere you go, its something different and unique. Its fun to explore! Talk about NO RULES and living in the moment! I like it! Everyday is an adventure and brings new and pleasant surprises.

Hopefully that will continue as I venture even further south to the great country of Sri Lanka! Stay tuned!

Happy New Year from India! remains copyright of the author travellen, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Well, inspite of all that.... its actually been really enjoyable! Granted, some travelers may say we have been pampered a little and thats probably why we like it. And well... its true. We've been pampered a little. In Delhi we met up with a friend of college who showed us around and hooked us up (Thanks Sachin!), then we were away in a meditation camp for 10 days so we were away from everything. When we got out a friend we met (on the last day, because that was the day we could talk) took us out around Pune and treated us to X-mas dinner, which was nice (thanks Priya and your dad!), and then off we were to Mombay to stay with my friends parents and hang out with some of his friends (Thanks Raj!). His parents are actually almost too nice and giving, but very much appreciated being taken care of after 4 months on the road!

We also hooked up with Raj's friends, Yogesh and Priya, in Mombay who were both super nice. Here is a pict of the group:

They, as it seems everyone in Mombay, were mostly part of the film industry. Not just Bollywood (which, by the way, I looooooooove! Om Shanti Om - I just saw it and I love it! The soundtrack is amazing!). Char and I were trying not to look too clueless we are in healthcare and know nothing about film, but it was kinda fun to be around these people and learn about the industry (they were more about the business aspect of it). It was too bad we weren't there during a time of a primere because we could have gone to that. Next time!!!

Soo... yes, we have been a little pampered, but have still gone out on our own, survived trains and buses, and seen the 'real' India. India is the most polluted country in the world. It also has one of highest level of poverty, which we were also warned about the aggressive beggers. I have to say when people said it "smells," I thought, "sure sure, it can't be that bad." Lucky for us someone recommended to buy Vicks and put it under our noses. The smells can almost be unbearable at times. In between public urinals out in the open, cow maneur everywhere, and just garbage everywhere (really, I've never seen a place so dirty), its gross. We got the jist of it because when we were in Delhi we happened to stay in Old Delhi, near the train station (Main Bazaar), aka. the slums of Delhi. Seriously, even a driver hardly would drop us off there because it was so sketchy. The "street" was pretty much us walking on garbage. Luckily, we survived to live the tale. BUT, if you put all that aside, its a vibrant, colorful, and ever-changing city. Its fun! We learned to dodge rickshaws while crossing the street as well as the 02394832234932 people that are always around. Really, in India people are just everywhere. And here I thought China was bad - ha!

We are in Mombay now, and we've seen yet another World Heritage Site of Elephanta Island, a place with many rock-cut temples and was constructed around 450AD to 750AD. The caves has sculpted images all related to Shiva and many images and stories to tell the story of the god.

Then on the way back by ferry we got a great view of the famous India gate, an icon in Mombay, that was built to commermate India's independence from the British. Next to it is the Taj Hotel Palace, one of the most expensive and beautiful hotels and historic in India. We treated the Pai's to a nice lunch there, which was yummy!

We also went to Colaba, which is one of the most happening areas in Mombay for its street shopping, and for its action. We did some quality shopping there and even came back a 2nd time for more. Ahhhh... just can't get enough of the hustle and bustle!!

The caste division in India is also interesting. Yes, there are a lot of poor or low class people and majority are on the street begging, but there still seems to be some kind of opportunity to work, i.e. drivers, and servants for everything (a person who opens a gate, a person who watches the gate, a person who helps with luggage, etc). At first I thought it was unnecessary (America is all about the consolidating to save money), but then realized that whatever it may be, its providing a job for someone. On the other hand, for the well-off... well, if your family has money, you're pretty much taken care of. You would have a driver, no doubt. Which I admit, isn't that bad (we had a few drivers). The separation of the classes is pretty grave, and I can see it more in Mombay than any other place. Mombay is known for being a business capital and film capital of India, so you can be in areas of the city where you might as well be in a nice place in the States, but then also turn the corner to a slum area. Its a really great and fun city though!

The traffic in India is absolutely horrible and talk about NO RULES on the road! Its crazy!!! Random thought.... we met someone in China who had studied in the States and when we asked him what he thought of the states he said "Booooor-ing." I was TOTALLY taken-aback. Boring? What? That would never even cross my mind. Then I was offended, then taken aback again. I let it go, but now after traveling throughout Asia and now India, yes, the States is boring. When I say boring, I mean by all the rules and regulations, structure, routine, etc. Everything has its place and soo many people (myself included) like it. There is nothing wrong with that. But then when you are in a place that doesn't hardly have any of that, it can be overwhelming and chaotic, but also fun (if you can accept it). Everyday is a new adventure and there are always things happening. I kinda like it!!! I'm going to e-mail that person and tell him to go to India.

All and all, its nice that people speak english and we have had pretty good interactions with the people, they always seem willing to help. Hopefully it will stay that way!

So another night we met up with my friends friend Priya, who owns this beautiful art gallery. This is a sunset picture from her gallery:

I would have taken a picture of the artwork, but I think its illegal? Anyway, She had to make a 5-minute stop at another friends opening and she took us with. We literally were there for 5 minutes, I barely finished my wine and left. Then today, we are in the newspaper! She is in this picture and the article mentioned that she brought along 2 Chicago friends and that we were impressed with the exuberance of the art. Sure, why not? It was kinda cool! So during the brief time we were in Mombay, we are famous! Or.... think like Mr. Pai, who said "why didn't they put your names? It could be any 2 Chicago people?" Well, we know who it is!!!

Oh, by the way, if you thought the beaches in Chicago were bad, check out the seaside here:

See all that garbage? TOTALLY smelly and dirty. When we went for our morning power walk with Mr. Pai, he's like "walk by the seaside!" We just couldn't handle it and instead walked on the street. Ha ha!

Next stop, Goa for New Years! Woo hoo!!!

I never thought I would say this, but...... remains copyright of the author travellen, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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It was Sachin's dad's best friends son that was getting married and they were all super nice and welcoming (even though Char and I invited ourselves there. But I guess in India most weddings have 500+ people and its really open, so a few extra faces doesn't matter). Nonetheless, it was all really really beautiful.

The next day Sachin, Char and I had a late start but did some sightseeing. We saw Humayun's tomb, which was built in the mid-16th century and is a great example of the famous Mughal architecture with high arches, beautiful gardens, and of course, the tomb of the wife of the emperor is red and white sandstone and black and yellow marble.

The cool thing about India, which I'm figuring out, is that although it can be dirty, polluted and crap everywhere, the sites are grandiose and pretty well-maintained (thanks to the expensive "foreign prices"). Most of the sites we've seen are pretty quiet and beautiful. Then you step outside and are greeted by cows and goats, horns honking and almost getting run over by a cycle rickshaw. Thats the way it is here!

The next day, lets here the music, ahhhhh, we hired a personal driver (they do that a lot here although I know it sounds super snotty) to take us to Agra where the Taj Mahal is, and Jaipur, in the Rajastan region. After 4 hours in the car, we arrived at the Taj, and ..... there it was! One of the most amazing and extravagant monuments in the world. What I think makes it more amazing then the aesthetic appeal is the story behind it.... Emperor Shah Jahan built it for his 2nd wife, Mumtaz Majal, who died giving birth to their 14th child (daaaaaaamn!) in 1631. He was sooo heartbroken then their is rumor that his hair turned gray overnight and that he sought to built this magnificant memorial for her. 50 years later and 20,000 workers this great monument was done. It was all HAND BUILT, they didn't even have wheelbarrels! People had to carry all this heavy marbel and handcraft the intricate detailed designs with semiprecious stones from all over Asia. Its really amazing and once again, I got goose bumps when I first saw it... and then again when last saw it...

It was soo amazing and once again, I have to think how lucky I am that in one single week I got to see the Himalayas in Nepal AND the famous Taj Mahal!!!!

Next, we saw the Agra fort, which is more like a palace:

After the fort and the Taj we slept in Fatehpur Siri where we saw the Jama Masjid, or the Dargah mosque which was built in the 15th century and is cool because it is a combination of a Hindi and PErsian design and has this 54m high Victory Gate, supposedly the tallest in Asia. Then we drove to Jaipur, what used to be the capital of Rajastan. Its also known as the pink city, not to be confused with Jodhpur, the blue city. And then there is Jaisalmer, in the desert where there are these fun camel treks that we really wanted to do, but don't have time for. Next time. BUT, close enough is that we got to see camels trek along the rodes, along with elephants and pigs and cows, stray dogs, and I don't even know what else. But camels, they are soooo cute! They always look like they are smiling

Anyway, Jaipur really is pink! They painted the city pink in 1876 to greet the Prince of Wales ... and really hasn't been touched since (so yes, a lot of things look a little rustic). Raj (means 'king') and Stan (means 'palace') sooo.... guess what? We see a lot of palaces, and forts here. We started with Amber Fort, which is of Rajput design,

moved on to the City Palace, a beautiful maze of buildings where one can see how the maharjas lived,

then hit the Jantar Mantar, this outsized, crazy looking astronomical instrument place, and finally finished at Hawa Mahal, this beautiful Palace of the Winds, that is pink (go figure) and built for women of the court.

Best of all though... we saw a Bollywood movie! It was soooooooooooooooooooo funny!!! Its called Aaja Nachle. I can't believe how cheesy and dramatic it is, BUT it is kinda cute at the same time. VERY energetic and fun and entertaining. And of course seeing a movie in India is a little different than at home. There is assigned seating, and since the Bollywood movies are so long, there is a 15 minute intermission. Ha! It was really fun and this theatre in Jaipur that we went, the Raj Mandir Cinema, is supposed to be famous because it really looks something like a temple, a meringue and a nightclub, all in one.

Thats Rajastan for ya!! Its a short, but sweet trip!!

We are back in Delhi andid a pow-wow sightseeing of the Red Fort, which was built by the same emperor Shah Jahan that had the Taj built. Its huge and pretty, but honestly, I think I'm a little forted out! We quickly made it to India's biggest mosque, the Jama Masjid which took 14 years to build and is definitely impressive. Its said to be Shah Jahan's final architectural extravaganza. Here is a pict of the madness at the entrance and of the mosque itself:

BUT, what I am most impressed about is the CLEAN (there are a few things I can say that about India) subway system!!! Its super efficient, easy to get around, and an easy ride! We took it and thought that it definitely topped Chicago's "L". Seriously, if India can do it, anyone can. Once again, I just have to mention that although India has amazing sites, it is soooooooooooooooooooooo dirty, soooo polluted, and sooo much poverty. Its really sad, but its really everywhere. EVERYWHERE! Public urinals, cow and goat crap everywhere, and garbage! garbage! garbage! I actually was feeling bad about dissing China so much about these things, when China looks like New Zealand compared to India. But as people saw, its all about the experience of India. Even the Bollywood movie we saw poked fun at us Americans being grossed out about the cows and the dirt. ha ha!

Now watch out! A cycle rickshaw is coming!

The Taj and I remains copyright of the author travellen, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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10 days.

Silence.

You try a couple of hours. Then a day. Then 10!!

I'm nervous. Its going to be hard, but... I'm hoping it will be rewarding in the end. It'll be a good time to sit (what else is there to do?) and reflect on my travels, my life, and everything in between!

(sorry, you need to scroll down a little to get to the "aftermath" part!)
....................................................................................................................................
The Aftermath.

The Vipassana camp is over. While I was there, I was trying to think how to describe this experience. To say that it was the hardest thing I've done in my life, both mentally and physically, would be an understatement. To say that a marathon, 1/2 ironman, any other physical accomplishment I've done, is "hard," I have to smile and almost laugh. Nyet! It doesn't even compare. This was really the hardest thing I've ever done. The silence wasn't actually a big deal, believe it or not. It probably was about 1/10th of the experience. You just get used to it, and if it wasn't for a few instances in the beginning where I wanted to tell Char something stupid, (ew! I swatted a fly and it landed in my dish!) it really wasn't an issue. Before I mentioned the food, or lack thereof, I thought that that would be hard to get adjusted to. But once again, it was about 1/10th of the experience. We actually ate lunch at 11am and then had a snack at 5pm, and that was it. The challenge was this is about you and the power of your mind. Vipassana is about insight and the importance of mental action and seeing things as they really are. Its training your mind to be aware and equanimous of consciousness, perception, sensation and reaction... which leads to being aware of the reality of "now" as your body experiences it. Which ultimately leads to getting rid of suffering and misery. A point which I like that he made is about cravings. Cravings lead to attachment which lead to misery. Think about it. And also about living in the present, not past or future. The goal is to purify the mind, and eliminate tensions and negativites that make us miserable. Who wants to be miserable? I know I don't. And how we can be miserable towards other people and try to change them, when ultimately, we are the ones that are miserable and need to change, and that change has to come from within.

It is also about meditating for 10 hours a day. Observing respiration and then sensations. Mentally working through the many many physical issues (my knees hurt, my back hurts, etc).

This was the schedule:

4:00am: wake up call. Or should I say, wake up dong.
4:30-6:30am: Meditation
6:30-8:00am: Breakfest. Bucket showers to bathe. Relax.
8:00-9:00am: What I tended to call "power" meditations. It was mandatory to do these group sessions and you had to sit still, NO movement, in the lotus-flower position without moving. Just being aware of sensations in your body. Keeping your eyes closed. Not even wiggling your fingers or feet. It sounds Nazi, I know, but that was where the hardest part of the camp came. The physical pain at times was absolutely unbearable. Sometimes I would try to think about the anatomy of all the places that hurt (hello! I'm a PT!), but then I remembered that I was supposed to be concentrating on my respiration and sensations. That, and I need a major review of thigns! But yes, I soo wanted to cry outloud in pain at times. But throughout the 10 days you train your mind to observe and be aware.... and basically train your mind to get over it "its impermanent. It will go away." At the end, I could sit no problem! Soooooooooooooooooooo rewarding. I really felt, when I got to that point, I could conquer the world. Nothing can stop me now!
9:00-11:00: meditation
11:00-12:00: lunch
12:00-1:00: rest
1:00-2:30: meditation
2:30-3:30: power meditation (group, no moving, etc)
3:30-5:00: meditation
5:00-6:00: snack time. The girls and boyz were separated by this curtain. We were also on separate sides during meditation and were separated the whole time. No contact allowed.

6:00-7:00: The 3rd and final 1-hour "power" session
7:00-8:30: Video discourse on meditation. These were fun and anxiously awaited for because the dhamma, Mr. Goenka, has an awesome sense of humor, was engaging and empowering to listen to. He was almost a mind-reader to your experiences that day, and after a day of going through soooooo many emotions and challenges and not being able to talk about it with anyone and dealing with it on your own, it was great to hear him almost relive what you felt that day, laugh about it, and just learn about the power of the Vipassana technique. And no, really, its not a cult or sect or ritual or anything. Yes (referring to my 1st "entry" above), I did think about stuff and reflect and analyze, but for the majority of the time I was ssooo concentrated on my mind and my body, that there could have been a horn in my face and I wouldn't even have budged. Hmm... okay, thats a little stretch, but you know what I mean.
8:30-9:00: meditation
9:30: lights out and bedtime.

So yes, 10+ hours of meditation a day.

Here is a pict of the golden stuppa where we meditated all day:

It was non-stop and sometimes I wanted to cry, other times to laugh, other times cry again, then other jump for joy. I think it was the 7th day that I really felt happy. Soooo much going on! The whole experience is a personal experience and what I experienced is what I experienced and not one single person will go through the same thing. Everyone does it for a reason, and gets something different out of it. I really really believe everyone should do something like this. It really really trains you to be the master of your mind... and really get to know yourself (i.e. me always thinking I'm 'tough' because of my athletic endeavors, but then really wanting to cry and quit because I didn't think I could handle it. That was day 2). How many times in your life will you really have no outside stimulation (no talking, reading, writing, music, etc)? Ugh! Its sooooo hard to explain, and I kinda don't want to explain or describe because if even 1 person of the 2 people that is reading this does it, I want them to have their own experience and not be "biased" of my experience!

But honestly, I have never felt so happy in my life. I feel soooo pure, cleansed, detoxed, rejuvenated inside, I can almost burst! I know it sounds crazy, and this probably won't last long, but really! Its how I feel! Like today, so we leave the camp, had a nice X-mas lunch (merry x-mas by the way! I kinda forgot about it sense we were at the camp and there isn't too much going on here for X-mas) with someone we met from the camp, want to go to the train station (heading around Pune) and BAM! How should I put this nicely? An unfortunate and ugly situation with a rickshaw driver. Yes, I was annoyed, but I didn't even flutter with anger or hatred, not even an ounce. My heart rate didn't even raise. I had a calm and clear mind. No anger in me whatsoever. And yes, we moved on. Of course to had to have another 'incident' within about 15 minutes of that, but again, we learned so much about 'misery' and recognizing yourself and your reactions, that again, I didn't even twinge. And honestly, 12 days ago we had a similar incident (umm... in case you can't tell, rickshaws are NOT a foreigners best friend and pretty much everytime you even approach one, nevertheless get in one, there is going to be an unpleasant interaction because of the notorious ripping and scamming). I literally was FUMING when that happened. I turned red, my heart was beating a mile a minute, and I was just LIVID with anger towards these people. LIVID! And LIVID for the next hour or so before I forced myself to let it go. But I was totally miserable for that hour. Why? No reason! What happened happened.

Noww.... well, I'm fresh from this experience, but its kinda cool to not even react to unpleasant situations. I don't want to be miserable, and hopefully will continue to keep up with some practices. By the way, I know whoever is reading this thinks I've become this junkie hippie and have been brainwashed by this whole thing, but I really recommend everyone to do it: www.dhamma.org.

It was the hardest thing I've done EVER, but the best thing I've done. And yea, I did it!!!!!

So go ahead, experience the here and now!

Be Happy!!!

HEre's a pict of a sunset at the camp:

Silence.... and now the aftermath remains copyright of the author travellen, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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So I had to spit out the bad stuff. Besides these petty things, Nepal is absolutely stunning. The thing to do in Nepal is trek. EVERYONE comes here and does 7 to 10 to 21 long treks. Being that we are only here for a total 4 full days, we opted to do a 4 to 5-hour trek (hahah!) and then do sightseeing. The "easy" trek (why do they always say that?) was actually difficult and for the first time, we heated up. We were basically trying to keep up with our guide, who was walking at a brisk pace, and we made it to Nagarkot in 3 hours. The guide was like "wow! You guys are in great shape! You're fast walkers! It normally takes 4 to 5 hours, and you made it in 3!!! WOOOOOOWW!" We were like "Umm..... we were pretty much trying to keep up with you!" Oh well. Although we were mostly walking on garbage, it was still a nice trail and soo refreshing to be away from the pollution and be in nature. Ahhh....

Nagarkot is known for its awesome views of the Himalayas, and that was no joke. I know it sounds like I say this a lot, but really, seeing the majestic Himalayan range is like nothing I've ever seen before. It is soooo stunning, I really can't even describe. I got goose bumps looking at it (and thats not only because it was so cold), but even writing this now. I looove mountains, and to see mountains like that is seriously out of this world. Nepal has 14 of the highest mountain ranges in the world, and 8 of them are 8,000ft (including Mt. Everest of course). We watched the sunset and sunrise there, which was sooooooooooo awesome!!!!! Here are a few of a 023990823423 picts I took:

Then here's me in my nightware. Seriously, thats how I slept it was so cold

:

We also did some great sightseeing to Bhaktapur, this ancient city that has pretty much stayed the same for thousands of years and is really really ancient and you could literally transport yourself hundreds of years and it kinda looks the same:

We also saw Buouddhanath Stuppa, the largest stuppa in Asia:

(it really is big, but I guess the picture doesn't really show it) and the cool little town surrounding the stuppa:

One of the more interesting things we've seen is Pashupati, a cremation site. Yup, there literally were people being cremated as we watched. There is this whole ceremony that happens, their feet and hands get washed in the holy water, their body is covered in a yellow drape, and then umm.... they get cremated. They believe that the human is the highest form of being and that to be cremated you are skipping the re-incarnations, which are more lowly ways of being (like an animal or something). To be cremated you use the 5 elements of nature, and.. some other details I can't remember. To be honest, it was really eerie and spooky:

Then of course there was the Monkey Temple. I'm sure it has more spiritual significance, but really, there were monkeys all over the place which was cool, but they kinda scar me. They can be super aggressive.

What I liked most about Nepal is the people. They are SUPER SUPER SUPER patient and REALLY nice! AND very interesting looking, they look very fusion because of the neighboring Tibet and India. Here is a pict of our guide Ram, its an angle shot, but you can kinda (maybe?) see his wide set eyes and flat nose that almost looks mongolian:

I'm soo glad that soo many people told us about coming here, and although it was a hassle getting here, it was well worth it. Seeing the Himalayas in person is definitely a highlight of my trip. I wish everyone, someday, will come out to see it. I would also love one day to do a 7-10 (no more!) day hike through the Himalayas. People that have done it say it is sooo amazing and I believe it!!!!

Here is a last shot from the plane of the himalayas:

Amazing!!! You really feel like you are on top of the world!!!!

On Top of the World: the Himalayas remains copyright of the author travellen, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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we totally feel spoiled. We did make it to Koh Samui for the day:

which was pretty chill and relaxing. Then came back to Koh Phangan for the infamous Full Moon Party, 11/24/07. There were a couple of pre-parties on the beach, this pict came out bad, but its basically 02348923049832 people dancing:

and that itself was SUPER fun. Then the full moon party itself was craaaazy! We danced the night away from 11:30pm till about 6:30 am. There were all sorts of music playing and it is such a fun atmosphere. EVERYONE is out to have a good time, and you can see that. Of course you see lots of craziness happening as well, but those are details I shouldn't share on this public site. Haha ha!

After the full moon party, we took a trecherous boat ride to Koh Tao. Yes, it probably wasn't the smartest idea to take a boat ride after a night of staying up and drinking and high tide due to the full moon, but what can you do? I somehow managed to not throw up, but I can't say the same for every 3rd person on the boat. Seriously, I've never seen a something so bad. You know its bad when the crew is walking around carrying plastic baggies to throw up in and kleenex. And this perfume (??) thing to put under your news thats supposed to help with nausea? Unfortunately, Char was one of those people, and yea... the poor thing, it really really sucked. Here's a pict of it, all those people that are leaning over are throwing up, ew!

We barely made it off the boat and were whisked to the nice Ban's resort:

where we have spend the last couple of days recovering on sleep and being hung over. Oh, guess what? It was the funniest thing. So here we are at the restaurant and they are playing this already made DVD player from the full-moon party the night before (so quick), and.... there we were! We saw ourselves dancing the night away! Glad I wore a red dress that was easy to spot and that Char had this cute hat on! Yea! So if you ever catch a video of the Full Moon party in Thailand in Nov, look for us! Or, since we both felt the need that we had to buy it, ask us to see it!

I went scuba diving the other day and that was pretty much the reason we came to Koh Tao, its supposed to have the best diving in all of Thailand. But of course, as luck would have it, its the start or finish (who knows?) of the monsoon season so the visibility was TOTAL crap. Its probably the worst diving I've done. But we still saw some cool things, big o turtles, trigger fish, bannerfish. Its no Great Barrier Reef, I'll tell ya! Sooo... thats about all that we've done during our stay in Thailand, beach hopped. And relaxed:

Now we are in Bangkok. I remember coming here a couple of years ago and not liking it... but now I do! The weather is beautiful, and its actually nice to be in a city. There is a ton to do in Bangkok - you can go blue in the face from looking at wats and temples. Or just hanging out. We actually met up with someone we met in Xi'an, China (LH, Tam!). Crazy to see him again and realize that its been 2 months since we last hung out and we have all sorts of fun stories to share. Ahhh... the beauty of traveling, always running into people!

Guess what? We saw Thai boxing! It was sooo fun! Its easy to get into it. I learned that Thai boxing is different than regular boxing because they can kick with their legs, so most of the time, the fighters are guarding their face (more than usual, I guess!) and their kidneys, ha ha!:

Here is a pict of the awesome and huge (45m!) reclining buddha and the grand palace:

All and all, we spent 2 full weeks in Thailand its amazing. I know I usually like to do a little recap, like I did China, and I wanted to do one of SE Asia, but its kinda more for more and I don't have too much time now. Out of the SE countries, I loooved all of them in their own way. Laos for the people and the atmosphere, Vietnam for the sites, Cambodia for the temples and the food, and Thailand for the beaches. Fun fun! Now we are off to Nepal and India for the next leg! Woo hoo!

p.s. I know, I know... I'm a little obsessed with sunsets!!!

More beach, party, buddhas and shopping remains copyright of the author travellen, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Anyhoo, to back track our a little, from Cambodia we bused it, actually took a personal taxi (long story) to Bangkok where we caught a flight to Phuket. After less than a 24-hour stop over there, we took a ferry to the great Phi Phi island. That is where The Beach is filmed and is frequently named one of the best beaches in the world. When I came here a few years ago, we took a day trip to the Phi Phi islands and I remember it being wonderful, crystal clear blue water and white fine sand. So needless to say, we were pretty excited to lay back and have some beach time after all our travels. We spoke too soon. According to our guide book, there was this super cute little beach resort that had nice bamboo huts and bungalows, and was given a "thumbs up" by the guidebook. So we got dropped off there by the water taxi (the only ones to get dropped off there so that should have been a hint) to find a deserted and desolate tiny tiny beach that was totally under construction. What the? We asked the price and found it waaaay overpriced and over our budget. D'oh! So the reception was kind enough to tell us to take a "5-min" walk over a hill to get to Long Beach, where there were plenty of budget hotels. No problem, we thought. So with our bags and everything we started the slow climb..... up and over this jungle area. Seriously, it was a jungle. There was no route just a walked-on mud path that was barely wide enough to fit ourselves. Not only was it hot and extremely humid out, but we literally were walking through this jungle that had steep, slippery inclines and declines that we practically had to slide down. It was trecherous! People were hardly climbing up and were looking at us with disbelief that we were doing this 'trek' with all our bags. We emerged from the path dripping with sweat, covered in mosquito bites, and just gross. Then of course there are no roads or sidewalks, so we had to trudge through sand from place to place to finds things not available or waaay too expensive. We finally found one and not caring that it was smelly and musty, it was close to the beach. We practically threw our bags down, changed, and did a Baywatch enterance into the clearn, warm waters. Niiiiiice! There we watched the sunset and finally could settle. What a journey! Was it worth it? OF COURSE! The beach was fantastic, soooo pretty:

Then started our 1st few days of real 'vacation' from beginning this journey. Our decisions soon came to: should we have a pineapple shake or mango shake?

Should we have a sunset massage or dusk massage? (we settled for the dusk by the beach):

How can you beat that? And some good eats!

Soo.... that was pretty much 2 full days on Phi Phi!!! Laying out, catching some rays, and relaxing. No worrying about anything. Next stop is Koh Phangan where we are now. Another day's journey, another adventure with our accomodations. In Koh Phi Phi... it was kinda gross. Centipedes and strange bugs about, water in our room from the non-insulated walls, blah! So when we got to Koh Phangan and got ourselves to even a worse place, this one covered with ants, an outside "bathroom" area (no sink, just a basin, I could go on and on), we almost had had it. We slept there, but, as is becoming routine, I had all these bad dreams about bugs and ants and stuff. Daaaaaaamn it. Sooo..... as luck would have it (it is Thanksgiving, huh?), we found a sweeeeeeeeet accomodation just down the beach from where we originally were staying. Of course, we decided to splurge for it, but its worth every penny. Guess what? It has toilet paper! A garbage! Tiled floors! A separate shower area from the bathroom (in Asia they are mostly an all in one, so you pretty much are sitting on the toilet while showering). All these MAJOR luxuries we haven't had. And, yes we are paying a LOT, there is even a computer with internet, a TV, and a fridge in our room. And did I mention the spectacular view from our private balcony?

We can't get enough of it! Soooo... life is good! In all honesty, we had to do this. I don't think I could take yet another couple of days, or week, of really bad accomodations. So here we are! Another few days here while we party at the infamous full-moon party!

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In the same caliber as the Pyramids (check! Been there done that), Machu Piccu (Hmm... maybe next year) and the Taj Mahal (in a couple of weeks!!) is the world famous Temple of Angkor - the single largest religous site in the world! Located in Siem Riep, the temples of Angkor are spread over more than 40 miles and were built between the 8th and 13th centuries. Its HUGE and you can see everything from single tower's made of bricks to amazing stone temple complexes. The main Khmer temple is the infamous Angkor Wat (literally translated as "sacred" or "capital city.)" You know when you hear soooo much about something and you get there and are like "hmmm.... its okay." Well, here it was everything we heard about, and more! After 2 days of visiting temples, Angkor Wat, with its lotus shaped towers is by far the most impressive and the most beautiful temple. Pictures don't do it justice, but here it is:

Like I said, its huge and this is just 1 pict of 29034820394823094823094823094 that I took that depicts it more. Its about 4 miles long and has many bas-relief carvings that depicts stories and characters from Hindu mythology and the historical wars of Suryavarman II. Suryavaran II constructed it in early to mid 12th century in a form of a massive 'temple-mountain' dedicated to the Hindu God, Vishnu. Sooo... to say again, it is amazing, even more amazing is the water that surrounds the comples, moat, which was purposely built to represent the edge of the universe (or something like that). Its hard to keep track of all these beliefs and significance of things. I won't bore you (or I'll try not to!!) with details about all the Temples, but they are all very unique and different. Besides Angkor Wat, the next most amazing temple is Angkor Thom ("thom"means 'big'). Its a huge complex (trust me, it was seriously 90+ degrees out and we were baking as we were walking around. Seriously, baking and melting) and is a 3KM walled royal city and was the last capital of the Angkorian empire. Enclosed in the city is Bayon, the state-temple that is called one of the greatest of Angkor's temples (I believe it!). It has 5 entrances (gates) to the city, one for each cardinal point and each gate has 4 giant faces. There is this cool elephant terrace (protecting the temple) on the south gate. The Bayon was built by Jayavarman VII between 1181 and 1220. The Buddha faces are the best part - they are all smiling down on you!! Every detail of the face supposed to mean something, but eh, who can keep track of that?

Sooo.... once again, to try and not bore you with details, the other temples we saw were Banteay Kdei, Ta Prohm, East Mebon, Ta Som, Neak Pean, Preah Khan (known as sacred sword with some amazing carvings), Ta Prohm (also known as jungle temple with these cool trees that are inter-mingled with the temple):

with which we saw the most amazing sunsets at Prasat Kravan and Pre-Rup (this is Pre-Rup):

The restoration process is huge and there are still a lot of temples in ruins, but overall it is sooooo incredibly amazing.

So what do you do in Cambodia, or Siem Riep, besides go to Temples? Well, we went to Tonle Sap Lake, one of Earth's most interesting natural phenomena because each year during Cambodia's rainy seaon, the Mekong River actually backflows into the "Great Lake"" via the Tonle Sap River. So from the dry season to the rain season, the surface area of the lake expands 4X!! Crazy! So the cool thing about the lake is that you get to see the floating villages of Chong Kneas to see the life and homes of Cambodians:

Its kinda sad because they are sooo super poor. Not just in this village, but everywhere in Cambodia. Here is some other facts about Cambodia besides because one of the poorest Asian countries). The Communist regime of Khmer rouge years lasted for many years and were super brutal with radical programs like isolating the country from foreign influences, closing schools, hospitals, and factories, abolishing banking, financing and currency, outlawing religions (FYI, now its officially Buddhism), and relocating people for forced labor = labor camps (12 hours of non-stop work with hardly any rest or food). During this time there were massive deaths, executions, work exhaustion, illness and starvation. Many still refer to it as "darkness" years. Then in the mid-70's, the Khmer rouge takes over again and basically orders hundreds of thousands of educated and middle-classes to be tortured and executed. Others starved to death or died from disease or exhaustion. During this time the death toll, mind you, this is within 3 years, is estimated to be almost 2 million.):

-Almost 50% of Cambodia's population is under 18 years of age
-Avg life expectancy is 57 years old
-About 90% of Cambodia's people are ethnic Khmers practicing Buddhism, with the remaining being Vietnamese and Chinese and very remote tribes.
-Its estimated that 1/3 of Cambodia's population lives on less than $1 dollar per day.
-Unlike the other SE Asia countries we have been to, Cambodia does not have a booming economy.
-The unoffical currency is the dollar, but I would say its the official currency because we have hardly seen the riel. We even went to the ATM and got US dollars! Its kinda weird!!
-In the mid-1960's, Cambodia allowed Northern Vietnamese guerrillas to set up bases in Cambodia to continue their attack against the US-backed government in South Vietnam. So in turn, the US began a secret bombing campaign against North Vietnam on Cambodian soil. Then later in the 70's the Vietnamese invade Cambodia, and their war-torn years continue. How many years of guerrilla warfare can one country endure? I read it somewhere (can't remember where now, but it stands out in my head) that there are still thousands of landmines that are still out there from the war and close to a hundred people die each month by accidently coming across it. Its crazy. So we were heavily warned to not go off the beaten path because it is a serious and grave danger.

Cambodia has been really eye-opening. One, to the sad poverty of the people (it always sad to see such young children begging), but also to learn about their (unfortunate) history and more about Buddhism philosophy, such as "live in moderation in all facets of life; material objects stand in the way of greater happiness." Hmm.... once again, as I have realized from traveling, do we really need all those pairs of shoes that we have, or the other countless material things we have?

Remind me, I'll probably need it when we get to Thailand and clothes are less than $5!

Oh, here is a beautiful sunset we saw of Angkor wat and then another temple:

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Anyway, I guess I can't be in Vietnam without mentioning war. Vietnam is the most bombed country in the world. In the world! Its hard to believe, but after re-learning about the Chinese 1000+ year invasions, the French 80+ years, and US 10+ years, we thought it was necessary to go to the Cu Chi Tunnels, a network of tunnels that was used by the Vietcong during the American War. This system has been used by the Vietnam for centuries (I guess you learn after awhile) and were a key part of guerilla warfare during the Vietnam war and played a major role in defeating American soldiers. It stretches for hundreds of miles and the tunnels were dug from clay by local people. Its pretty complex and the maps look crazy. The cool thing is that it had living spaces, kitchens, clinics, even a 'honeymoon'' room (one night only). So for the Vietcong, it was good escape from bombings, hiding from the enemy, and to do surprise attacks. Everything was pretty unbiased, until we saw this really old school video that talked about the "ruthless Americans"" attacking the "gentle Vietnamese." It was almost amusing, the propoganda of the video.

But part of the tour was to actually go through the tunnels, and mind you, it was pretty clever for the Vietnamese to use the one thing that most Americans don't have - their super small physique and frame. I don't think I could have fit in there:

They made the tunnels so tight and narrow, that most americans couldn't squeeze through them. But you ask, how could they survive in their, and what about flooding the tunnels or throwing gas/fire down there? Well, they designed air holes for fresh air and also for smoke to get out and also a pseudo underwater system that if attempted to be flooded, the water would go directly to the river (there was also a river entrance). And of course clay doesn't burn or melt or dissolve or anything, so that solved that problem. Hence, covered all bases. And it worked! We walked through it, well, half bent over and waddling more like it,

it was sooo hot and muggy!! When I surfaced, I was practically gasping for air. Okay, thats an exaggeration, but I can ONLY imagine how people lived there for months at a time! Crazy! So besides the tunnels, we learned about the ingenious booby traps and other clever designs (tunnel entrances) to deter the "ruthless Americans." Óverall, some of it was cheesy with mannequins writing letters to their moms and polishing their shoes, but I thought they did a pretty good job of re-creating it. It was also good to learn about it from their perspective - nostly unbiased, except the video.

On a side note, there is absolutely NO friction towards us being Americans (which some random people warned us about). Since Vietnam opened itself to tourism in the early 90's and President Clinton visited it in 1996, they like Americans because Americans ='s $$, and tourism is becoming a thriving industry here and helping their economy. I asked our guide about the opinions Vietnamese have towards Americans and he said that they have really tried hard to put their war torn history behind them and have moved on. I can see that. When we went out to dinner with Char's friends 2nd cousins friends (phew!) they said they were a new generation and want to nove on from the past. The guide also said, and I heard this from someone else, that there is more friction between Northern Vietnam (the "communist republic") and Southern Vietnam, the anti-communist and Catholic region (2nd largest Catholic population second to Phillipines) then towards any other country. Interesting. That was the whole trigger of the war, and as the guide reiterated that there will always be problems but but are looking in the future. And once again, that Vietnam is a nation, not a war. Then our tour guide from today, when we said we were Americans, shook my hand and grinned and went on to talk about how he was an English translator during the war. So as always, there will always be harsh feelings somewhere, but its a friendly nation trying to get back on its feet. And tourism is helping that tremendously, so everyone is everyone's friend. Woo hoo!

Ho Chi Minh City is mostly referred to as Saigon, and it is a pretty busy city with lots to see and do (but not as chaotic and congested as Hanoi, the capital). Once again, the influence of the French is here with colonial style buildings and baguettes. We did a pow wow and pretty much saw all the sites in one day: the general post office that is one of the most attractive buildings in the city because it really resembles a train station is ornately designed (designed by a french architect), the Notre Dame Cathedral - always interesting to see a basilica-style cathedral in Asia, Reunification Hall, City Hall, Municipal Theater, and lots of 5 star hotels. Oh, and this amazing Jade Emperor Pagoda with the traditional roof green stacked ceramic tiles and cool sanctuaries.

Today we went along the river Mekong Delta. The famous Mekong River is the 3rd (4th?) largest river in the world and runs all the way from India, through China, and all throughout SE Asia. Its mega, as I like to say and we took a nice river boat cruise through it and saw some traditional floating houses, markets, and fishing boats bobbing along. It was super murky (probably because of the most recent floods), so no swimming. Hhaha! But it was a nice sunny day so we were happy. We went to some homemade coconut candy shops (delish!) and road bikes through the villages, which was cool. The Mekong Delta is definitely famous for its ethnic diversity and I can see that. Here is me with the traditional Vietnamese cone hat on the Mekong Delta:

So now I can check off yet another "1,000 Things to See Before you Die." Yea!

Bye Vietnam! Cambodia, here we come!!

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Hoi'an, in the central part of Vietnam is known for shopping. Not just any kind of shopping, but tailored shopping. You can get anything personally made - suits, blouses, skirts, dresses, you name it. We even met someone that lost a swimsuit and had himself a tailored swimsuit made. Nice. So yes, Char and I went a little crazy. We came into Hoi'an knowing about the tailored clothes and decided we wanted a suit for interviews to come, and maybe a dress pant for work. For me, 3 coats, a suit with skirt, pants, a dress, and 3 blouses later, I was still itching for more. But Char held me back (I had to hold her back also) and we stopped. Yes, these are bargain prices and its all handmade and tailored to you, but it adds up. I gotta say, its hard to walk away sometimes because you keep finding things that you like. But alas, we survived

What to do besides shop and getting fitted? Hoi'an happens to be another UNESCO World Heritage Site (which seems like every town we go to these days). Its definitely historic and because of the location by the Thu Bon River, it served as a trading port to traders from Europe, China, and Japan. So you get everything from Japanese style bridges,

to Chinese pagoda's (I think I've shown enough of those), to unique long, narrow tube houses. It definitely has a historic feel to it and is a lot smaller and more chill than Hanoi. You can actually cross the street and not almost get killed. There is also the Central market, a hectic and frantic market that sells all kind of food and clothes (of course):

.

Unfortunately, right before we came here, there was massive rain in the central region and flooding. We were worried before coming here and were in fact greeted with drenching rain, but it has since cleared up. Unforunately, here is what we say when we went by the riverfront to grab something to eat:

Which is too bad because I hear the riverfront has some great restaurants. But all things considered, the flooding has definitely caused some destruction and lost buisiness

Soo... not much else to report from our end! Just lots of shopping! Shopping! And more shopping!

Oh, and obviously we weren't going to carry all this stuff home, so as I was packaging up stuff to ship, I decided to send this also. He'll arrive in 3-4 months by seamail:

.......................................................

So after Hoian we took an overnight bus to Nha Trang, this beach town that we had been looking forward to seeing since we entered Vietnam. We arrived to a beautiful sunny day. Happily, yet still groggy from not sleeping from the 12 hour bus ride, we took a nice walk by the beach and soaked in the fresh air and listened to the waves crash. It was soooooooooooooooooooooo nice and we were super excited that it was sunny. And of course happy to be by the beach. I don't know what it is, just being by the water makes me feel sooo relaxed and happy. Being that we don't have beach towels, we decided to lounge around and read on the rooftop of our hotel instead. It was soo relaxing and chill. Finally! Then, we had heard about the Thap Ba Hot Springs where there are tubs of warm mud and mineral baths. How could we not go to that after our stressful time in Hoi'an having clothes tailored and being re-fitted a thousand times over? We tend to find lots of excuses to treat ourselves and do the "well, we deserve it." ha ha!

It was everything we thought it was going to be and more! In an organized fashion, we showered in hot mineral water and then went to these mud tubs, which are full of sodium silicate chloride, which is supposed to help the good 'ol joints and stuff. We hung out there, rubbed mud over our bodies, and enjoyed the nice sunny day. Its kinda cool hanging out in the mud, I tell ya! Then we shuttled to a shower to clean ourselves from the mud (and umm... the mud was kind of hard to get all out!), then another shower to get to these hot spring little tubs. We soaked in there for awhile and just relaxed. It was soo nice!! Finally, we were shuttled in a large hot pool area to finish off our afternoon of beauty treatment.

Here's me maxin' and relaxin' in the mud:

We were sooo relaxed after that that we had a quick bite to eat, and then napped and watched a movie ("the Rock" was on. It was pretty good!). And finished off the evening with a delicious seafood dinner by the beach. It was perfect weather, comfortable in tank tops and a slight breeze from the sea. Ahhh... we told ourselves, "this is the life!"

But then of course today woke up to cloudiness and showers. Hmm... I knew we spoke to soon! So besides beach there is not much else in Nha Trang so we literally lounged around today going from cafe's to restaurants, checking the internet, and are about to take another overnight but to Ho Chi Minh City, otherwise known as Saigon. At least I can say we are rested!!!!

Shop 'till you drop, then frolick in mud remains copyright of the author travellen, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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We arrived to Vietnam from sunny and hot weather to chilly, rainy, and muggy weather. Blah! Then we had some difficulties finding accomodations and had to settle for someplace more expensive than what we wanted to pay for a night before we moved... again and again. Finally, it was bound to happen - I thought it would be China, but less than 24 hours of being in Vietnam I got some kind of food poisoning. Boo! It was horrible and I still can't think of what it could be, so now I'm just scared to eat anything. As many travellers can attest to, being ill in a foreign country really makes you miss the comforts of your own home (and bathroom!). Alas, I'm in slooow recovery but am feeling better. Good 'ol ibuprofen!

So besides those little mishaps, we still managed to squeeze a lot in. We just happen to arrive the night of Halloween. We totally almost forgot about it until a hostel that we couldn't even get into invited us to a Halloween party, which was nice. And it was fun! Seeing English, Irish, Aussies dress up and have some good 'ol Halloween fun with games and everything. Might have well been in Chicago!!

(The girl on the left was a mushroom, the guy in the midde... ???, and the guy on the right was a snowman. He won the costume contest).

We spent the next day sightseeing, everything from the Ho Chi Minh Mauosoleum (which, by the way, he was in Russia being 'cleaned' so we didn't see him. I later learned that he didn't even want to be embalmed. He strongly persisted that he be cremated and ashes thrown over the north, central, and south of Vietnam. But then as soon as he died, these officials just 'deleted' that request and embalmed him anyway. Oh well.) to the Presidential Palace to his Stilt house to the flag tower. We also saw this cool One Pillar Pagoda:

Story has it that Emperor Ly Thai Tong in 1049AD had no son and had a dream that he was visited by Quan Am, Goddess of Mercy. The dream was that she was sitting on a lotus flower and presented him with a baby boy. Of course later Ly Thai Tong married a new young queen who bore him a son. So he built this one pillar pagoda to represent a lotus flower and is in a small pond. AHh... how nice.

From there we also saw the famous Temple of Literature, the oldest architectural complex in Hanoi. It was established during the Ly Dynasty as well as founded in honor of the Chinese philosopher Confucius. It served as a center for higher learning and educating future madarins for centuries to come. I didn't get the whole story, but there is some kind of series of exams and one person passes and becomes the next instructor? Something like that. Its really beautiful:

The thing to do in Hanoi is to go to Halong Bay, a UNESCO World Heritage site and a contender to be a Wonder of the World in 2008. Everyone has to go on a boat tour where you are shuttled 3-hours in a bus to the bay to take a boat to the bay. We opted to spend the night there because it would be too much to cram in one day. The weather blah, but we still managed to enjoy it as it is really pretty. The bay is spread across 580 sq.mile and has more than 2,000 limestone and dolomite outcrops. According to legend (yes, I know, everything seems to come from some kind of legend!), the bay was formed when a gigantic dragon (ha long means descending dragon), plunged into the Gulf of Tonkin and created this myraid of islets by lashing its tail. Although geologists say the outcrops are formed by selective erosion, most people still believe the dragon story and all the boats have a dragon in the front. Dragons represent royalty and good luck in Vietnam. Anyhoo, besides looking at the amazing and bizarrely shaped outcrops, there are a lot of caves with all sorts of stories. We went to the Hang Sung Sot cave, which is known as the Cave of Awe. It has 3 enormous caverns and is pretty impressive (although we hear most of it is restored and we don't know whats real and whats fake). Our guide kept on pointing out things that looked like .... umm... rocks, and was like "thats a turtle!" We all looked at each other and were like "ummm.... okay. Sure." Then "Thats a dragon!" Yea, sure. Then he pointed to this and was like "What do you think this is?"

Uhh.... no comment on that one!

Here is a pict of Halong Bay with all the boats:

We also had the opportunity to kayak around the bay, which was pretty cool (although it was kind of rushed, but what can you do?). The rest of the evening was spent on the boat playing cards and hanging out with other backpackerrs.

So back to Hanoi. Have I mentioned yet what a change of pace it is from sleepy Lao? The city is sooooo congested and soooooooooooooooooo crazy with the motorbike traffic. It seriously takes 23904823094823 hours to cross the street (okay, like 5-10 minutes) because everyone is just driving like madmen (and women!). There isn't a real direction they follow... its just drive like mad, whether on the opposite side of the street or on the sidewalk, it doesn't matter. I think I faced death about a hundred times already:

Always an adventure!

Actually, besides being known for the traffic congestion (and noise! Soooooo much honking!!!!!!!), they are also known for the conical hats, which are pretty cute and ethnic looking:

(I guess I was kinda obvious taking a picture of her. Look at that smile! She probably wanted to sell me something). Most of them are vendors and are carrying the long wooden sticks on their backs and have something balanced on both sides. Amazing on how much weight they can carry!

After a walk around the Hoan Kiem Lake and a visit to the Museum of Ethnology, we feel we hit most of the hot spots in Hanoi. The Museum of Ethnology is pretty cool - they recreated a lot of the 54 ethnic groups that represent Vietnam. Here is a Central Highland ethnic home... the figures are all representative of things:

A lot to see and do in Vietnam!

Here is a quote from Confucius to finish up:

"I hear and I forget, I see and I remember, I do and I understand"

Welcome to 'Nam remains copyright of the author travellen, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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TOTALLY relaxed, chill and you really have to be patient. All and all, the slow pace of life is good training for the inpatient (which, I admit, is me sometimes!). Since coming here, we quickly learned how to greet people (put your hands together in a prayer position and slightly bow your head):

To say Hello is "Sabaidee" (said like Sa Bye Di) and thank you, "Kop chai," and to take off your shoes before entering a place. I really really enjoyed my time here and have gotten accustomed to just relax about things! Its a TOTAL change of pace from China, and I just can't get over how nice and friendly the people are! Even things like bargaining is actually fun and nice! The people genuinely laugh and smile, and even though you know you are getting ripped off, you just feel different about it... in a good way. In China you really had to start at least 80% of what they were asking, and maybe settle at 60%. Here is the happy median, which is a lot less stressful and exhausting. The other thing is that things here are sooooooooooooooooooooo cheap. Even "getting ripped off" literally means by cents and $1-$2. Which after a little while, you begin to haggle over pennies practically, and then just cave in, because you think "no really, its 5 cents. I will survive."

In New Zealand I saw many shirts that said "Same same" on the front and "... but different" on the back. At first I thought it was a new fashion statement that I didn't know about, but then being here, I see its the Lao thing. They don't say "same as" they say "same same." Its soooo cute. For example, our Lao waiter one night was trying to figure out if Char was Lao (for some reason, Char, being Philipina, in every Asian country we go to, they think she is a local. Especially in China) or not. So she said that she was in fact Philipina. So he says, "oh, same same us!" And just started laughing. We laughed too, but were thinking, "umm... no, not really, but whatever!"

So this morning we got up at 5:30am (gasp!) to see the monks process through this line of locals giving away local Lao food to monks in training, such as sticky rice (rice that is steamed for 4+ hours than regular rice, and really is sticky and supposed to make you fuller faster. Its sticky enough that you grab it with your hands and roll it in a ball), baby bananas, and some little cookies:

Its supposed to be this old spiritual tradition and we thought we were special that we woke up all early to see this. But of course we get there just as these hoards of Japanese tourists are getting off a bus to get situated to hand out food. D'oh! Then more and more Westerns emerged out of nowhere to take pictures and stuff. Yes... I know, we were one of them, but it was kinda sad. I felt almost bad for the monks because tourists were all up in their faces taking pictures of them like they were aliens or something. The feeling that this is some authentic tradition was waaaay gone. Yes, I know, once again, I was taking pictures too - but not all up in their face! It was an experience and definitely made up for it that we had some good coffee afterwards.

Oh, we had a funny experience the other day (or we thought it was, but actually, I think it was one of those "you had to be there" things). We were in VanVieng having some our favorite muesli with fresh fruilt at one of those loungy sofa things watching ... I think Season 4 of Friends?, when all of a sudden we hear this crackle, pop! closeby and the power went out. Then all of a sudden all the locals started yelling and were running around like madmen. Not knowing what to do, I looked around and saw that in a blink of an eye, Char had seriously already lept over the side of this little rail thing, and was crouched with her hands on her head. Me being with my gimp foot (refer to previous blog), was a little more slow-mo, not that graceful, and lept over the rail... and practically landed on Char's foot. She yelped and yelled "my foot!" Ohhhh myyy gawd. NOT good to have 2 travelers with gimp foots. In the meantime, we realized we were the only ones that were crouched and in hiding and got up to see find out that it was an electrical circuit outtage (which I guess can lead to a circuit explosion? I don't know!). It was soooooooooooooooooooooooo funny! But really, we were just reading how Laos can be dangerous and there have been bombings to tourist places, so it wasn't too far-fetched that we were scared and thought it was a bomb. Char's foot ended up being okay, and so was mine. Phew, we survived!

Besides just chilling out, Laos (actually prounced "Lao") has a lot of wats, or Temples. But as pagoda's in China, sometimes after you see a dozen, they start to look the same. However, they are still cool. There is this big one called Xieng Thong in Luang Prabang, also known as the Temple of the Golden City. Its known as the "magnum opus" of Lao religious architecture because of the golden reliefs and this big o mosaic Tree of Life. It was built in the 1600th century by King Setthatriat. We also went to "Mount" Phousi, and the reason I " " mount is because its just 329 steps to get to the top and its translated to "Marvelous Mountain," but really, its not a mountain but a little hill. All things considered, it has one of the best views of the sunset over the Mekong River and here is a pict of it with the Mekong river in the background:

We also went to Khoung Sy waterfall, one of the biggest waterfalls in Laos.

It was amazingly beautiful and has cool swimming areas to take a dip in. There was also a small trek to take to get to the top of the waterfall, but after about 5 minutes in flip-flops (again) and walking through slippery and muddy ground, I backed out because of the flashback to the cave and trek from the day before. Ha ha!! It was super relaxing to hang out at the waterfall and that night we treated ourselves to an hour $5 massage for all our hard work (hah!). But really, who can turn down an excellent massage for ONE hour for $5!!! My back has been in knots even from the beginning of my travels and I definitely felt loosened up afterwards and will definitely do it again!!

So besides wats, walking around the small "cities" (usually 3 blocks by 3 blocks), the markets are awesome here and sooooo super cheap. T-shirts for $1-$2, scarves for about the same, and many many other things. If I wasn't to lug around all these things, I would go crazy with the shopping! Its actually kinda cool how underdeveloped Laos is and that it is known as being "untouched" and underdeveloped - there is NO McDonalds, Kentucky Fried Chicken (everywhere in Asia) and gasp! Even NO Starbucks! Luang Prebang (where we are now, but soon to leave) used to be the capital but since it moved to Vientiane centuries ago, it is now a UNESCO World Heritage Village. Although that means that it should really be "untouched," in general Laos is trying to take after Thailand with tourism. So there are many Western-style restaurants here as well as internet cafe's. I REALLY REALLY hope that Laos DOES NOT become another Thailand, which is ALL about the tourism. It would spoil the gem that this country is.

As much as I enjoyed Laos, its time to leave. Its funny because both Char and I really feel like we have become sooo lazy... just from the week we were here. Everything is so slow and relaxed that it takes an effort to even move. We are leaving for Hanoi, Vietnam today and will be back to the grind! I think it will be same, same... but different!

Same, same... but different remains copyright of the author travellen, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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The scenery was breathtaking though, very serene, and very beautiful being in the mountains and climbing to see the rice patties and more interesting, the local Hmong (Chinese exiles that live in Laos and have their own language and traditions separate from the Lao people) going about their daily business. Here are some Hmong children:

During the hike, we crossed 2 caves. On that day, "caving" meant just walking into some caves, looking around, and taking some pictures. We learned about the stalacites (limestone formations going top-down from the ceiling) and the stalagmites (bottom-up from the ground), and just being in caves is also mystical. The Tham Hok Cave had this neat Elephant formation, which was cool. It was nice to get a break from the trekking!

We finally made it to Nam Song village, this very pretty bamboo hut village by the river. It was a LOT nicer than what I expected. I did a similar trek in Chang Mai, Thailand a few years ago (CMS, you remember this!), and we stayed in very unstable huts on stilts with pigs and chickens underneath us. Not so much fun. But this was like some of the nice (and cheap!) guesthouses we had been staying in. After a delicious meal and some BeerLao, we were off to get a good, and well-deserved, nights rest. Yes, I know I have mentioned BeerLao a few times, and don't think I'm an alcoholic. Its just such a part of their culture, and its soooo good! How can you turn down beer for $1USD that is really good?!?!?

The next day we did the kayaking along the Nam Song river, and that was definitely a lot more peaceful and easy than the trekking from the day before.

(In the background in the picture above you can kinda see people tubing, which is SUPER popular here. Basically, for like 6 hours you coast down the river on a tube (duh!) and just hang out. We actually didn't end up doing it. 1. no time and 2. too boring! I could maybe do an hour or so, but 6?!?! It still looked fun though!). With the kayaks though we were little rapids too. How I still managed to get caught in some trees and get turned upside-down and flip-over, I still don't know. It was funny though! We stopped to see the last cave, the Sleeping Cave, and we 'docked' our kayaks and were getting ready to take off our lifevests, as we had done earlier. But noooo... our guide said to leave it on because we had to swim in the cave. What? Not knowing to believe him or not (he was kinda a joker), we left it on. We then came to do this super trecherous and dangerous journey through the cave. I never would have imagined that not only did we have to literally wade through this murky chest-deep water, but then we had to sludge through all this mud to then walk on the side of the cave barely holding on with sharp rocks underneath. It was veerrrrry slippery and FYI, we were in flip-flops as we were not forewarned about this activity. It was sooo crazy! It was pitch-black and I managed to snag a flashlight, but Char and this other traveller had these miniscule candles that you could hardly see .2 feet in front of you. We barely made it inside to a point where we could actually walk without watching every step. What did we get ourselves into? We looked around, and the limestone formations were pretty cool, but the path to get there was definitely NOT so cool. As we were muddy and soaking wet, we decided to not climb the side of cave wall again for the danger factor and just waded ourselves through the murky, muddy waters to get to freedom. I see the light! We had to have a laugh about it because it got to the point where it was just funny, and of course, then felt we deserved a BeerLao. Whoa, was that an experience!!! Here is a pict of the water we had to trudge through to get inside the cave. I know, I know, it doesn't look as crazy I just described it, but this is just to get into the cave. Inside where it was dark and scary was much worse!

So that was the Trekking, caving, kayaking experience. If you ever are to come here, make sure you know what your getting yourself into if you do caving! Ha ha! What was weird was that something happened to my foot during that cave. Yes, it was super dangerous and even when we first started, I thought, "this would NEVER happen in the States. TOO dangergous and too much liability). But loooong story short, by the time we got home, the arch and top of my foot was unbearably sore and in pain (seriously, like 9/10 for you PT's). I really could hardly walk on it and thought I really did something bad. Where's a crutch when you need it? Luckily, (I hope!) I know what to do, so I drugged up on Ibuprofen, elevated, ace-wrapped, and iced my foot. And of course had some BeerLao (haha!). That seemed to do the trick and I felt better, until that night when I woke up with the sharp, burning pain on the outside of my foot. What the? It moved from the arch to the outside? So I didn't sleep at all that night because of the pain and then I got all paranoid about all the things that could be wrong with me. Did I step on something? Did I get bit by something? I can't be a gimp - I'm back-packing! And really, why does it feel like its hot and burning?! But then, even more strangely, by mid-day the next day, it just kind of disappeared. Hmm.... is BeerLao a miracle worker?

Its a mystery, but I'm all good now!

Trekking, caving, kayaking and BeerLao remains copyright of the author travellen, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Here's an example: So we arrive here and are looking at places to stay. We scout a little, make sure rooms are safe and comfortable, and we come across one that we like. We decide to take it, and the owner leads us to the room, kind of points to where everything is, and then just gives us this big smile... and leaves. At first, we are just happy to have a decent accomodation, but then we realized he was already half way down the hallway. So we chased him down and were like "umm... we would like to stay for 2 nights, should we fill out anything? and how much again?" And he just smiled and laughed and said "don't worry about it! Just pay when you leave and enjoy your stay." What? Sooooooooooo awesome! So much for paying upfront and the time costly paperwork, passport checks, and key deposits that we have had to deal with. Its that laid back. And by the way, we are staying in a nice place for $10USD.... which is more on the expensive side. Things here are sooooooooooooo sooooooooooooooooooooooooooo cheap! Dinners, beer (!!) are a little more than $1 USD, seriously. So of course you want to spend more because everything is so cheap, so we have to remember that every dollar counts! Clothes, nice clothes, you can find for $5-$10. But once again, the food, delicious food is around $1-3 dollars. AWESOME! I love it how cheap it is!

Vientiane is the capital of Laos, but when I say that, don't think of capital cities you normally would. Basically, there is like two 4-story buildings and a fountain, and that is the downtown area. It is soooo small. I loove it how it is so rustic and small and.... just laid back! A couple of times, we were thinking, "no really, where are the people?" And then you find them sleeping at some random places. Hardly anyone gives receipts, you just kinda pay them when you are done eating, and thats that! Which, by the way, the food is absolutely ahhhhh-mazing. Of course we arrived and there was a festival going on by the river. I had to get a photo of the sunset:

I really can't pinpoint why I love it so much! I really feel happy and like I said, it was just a feeling we both got almost immediately, like "wow! This place is sooo cool! Now I see why people plan to stay here for a certain amount of time and stay here for so much longer." I've never seen people smile so much. At first I thought that we were getting laughed at or made fun of (yes, I know, its silly. Its just that I'm like 2 feet taller and 4 sizes bigger than anyone - they are TINY here), but then I realized that the people genuinely are nice, like to smile, and really have a no worries attitude. How great is that? The city is surprisingly Western, BUT does NOT feel like its overrun by tourists. The locals don't look twice at you and DO NOT stand in your face trying to sell things (i.e. China). The only "hassles" we have gotten is from tuk-tuk drivers, and that itself is hardly a whisper saying "tuk tuk?" and you just shake your head, they smile at you, and you move on. Here is one:

Although it looks small, we've seen a good 10-12 people crammed in there, and it really does make a "tuk tuk" kind of sound. Its kinda funny.

Laos is really is a gem and I hope it stays that way. Yes, there are tourists, but it doesn't affect the everyday life of the Laotian people. If we weren't cramped for time, I would love to just chill-out here for a week or two, then make my way to another city. As Laos is known for being "sleepy," today was a good example. We took a minibus from Vientiane to Vanviang (3 and a half hours) and took all of 5 minutes to walk around the town (its about 2 blocks by 2 blocks) then spent the rest of the day drinking Lao Beer for less than a dollar, ate equally as cheap excellent food, sat on of these comf 'sleeper' seats and watched Friends episode after Friends episode:

Ha ha! We were just opposite that doing the same thing - nothing! There aren't too many sites to see in the immediate area - there are excursion/day trips (which we will be doing), but you really just hang out and relax. Sooo sooo chill! Its awesome just having nothing to do.... for now. I would have to say I would get bored after about 3 days of this though! I enjoy sightseeing and doing stuff too much!

By the way, in case your wondering, here is what I'm traveling with for 4+ months. And yes, thats it! (I do laundry a lot, and yes, the bags still feel heavy. I also have shipped some stuff home!):

Here's a map of the travels to Laos:

I loooooove it! - Laos remains copyright of the author travellen, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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China. Before coming here, I knew it would be difficult, but being an optimist, I thought "it won't be so bad." Now, after traveling throughout China, I wouldn't call it bad, just hard. Some of the many stereotypes are true, yes it is super polluted in almost every way: air, land, sea, and noise. Noise (the Mandarin language is very harsh and people talk very loudly, the hawking, and with just so many people, its just loud), being a big one, and air being the first. No one speaks English and the most simple things can be such a headache (also, not the best at customer service). But, the people, when they want to be, are super nice and helpful. We really appreciated that. We probably saw .2% of the massive country with the billions of people, and some of the sites are truly amazing (once you make your way through the people). My favorites are the Great Wall, Beijing, and .... I guess just really getting to know the culture when we were in "small" towns ("small" in China is 3-5 million people) and being the only Westerners. Thats when you really feel like you are experiencing China as it is. Its a hard life. It boggles my mind to think how difficult it is to even regulate soooooo many people. By far the biggest problem is the air pollution. Granted, one of towns we visited is a coal mining town, but still - its bad. Every town was just as bad as the one before - hazy and smoggy. Besides the 1st couple of days in Beijing, we didn't see the sun the whole time we were there. And the smoking! Everyone smokes and China is a little behind the times with not smoking in enclosed spaces. Ugh. All and all, I'm glad I came but I don't forsee myself coming back to China, umm... in my lifetime.

To sum up China, here's a quote from Mao about China (I know, I know, its cheesy that I'm quoting Mao, but hey - its China! I had to mention him at least once!) that I like and I think sums up my experience: "The achievements are tremendous, the problems are numerous, the experience is rich, and the future is bright."

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Hong Kong is night and day compared to China - clean, very very modern and high tech, everyone is well-dressed, their isn't so much noise pollution with the hawking (illegal. If you do it, you get fined and possibly arrested), the Cantonese language is much easier on the ears, people are professionally dressed, customer friendly, and it really is a great blend of East meets West! Gotta love the skyscrapers after being away from it for 2 months (yes, its been 2 months since I've been gone!). We spent 5 full days there and it was very welcome after roughing it in China! I think we are spoiled now!

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Finally, Macau. A great blend of China, Hong Kong, and Portugal. Its supposed to be the next Las Vegas with the growth in casino's (there is a Venetian, Rio, MGM, etc), it also has some really historic and beautiful fortresses, churches, and temples. The food has been super and we enjoyed some delicious Portuguese food, wine, and sweets. If anyone is ever in Hong Kong, pop by Macau! Its only an hour away by ferry and is worth coming to.

And as usual, for more details, feel free to read my other blogs! Next stop is SE Asia (Laos first) and I'll try to send an update after traveling throughout Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Thailand in a month of so. I'm sure I'll have great stories!!!

p.s. Unfortunately, it takes 84324329432827529347329473284324239 hours to download picts onto something like kodakgallery, so hopefully the little picts from my blog will do. I think I figured out how to shrink them so that I can upload more (i have a monthly capacity limit). It was easy in Australia/NZ because I had a home base computer, but its SUPER hard to do it when you don't have that. I'll send a link when I get back home.

China, Hong Kong, and Macau remains copyright of the author travellen, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Actually, the same person that built the Venetian in Vegas helped build this one and it really is almost exactly the same. Super nice, big, with the canals and everything. It was actually pretty fun! Different than Vegas, however, is that the main source of entertainment in Macau is gambling, versus shows, the strip, concerts, and other things Vegas has to offer besides just gambling. Anyhoo, so besides the China feel, Vegas feel, there is, obviously, Portuguese feel! There are these amazing churches, fortresses, european style buildings, squares, and small cobblestone streets that I have not seen elsewhere:

The 1st picture is one of many pastel colored buildings we see and one of many churches. Which, by the way, because of the mixed religions of Macau, almost all temples are miu, where a combination of Buddhist, Taost, and Animist gods are worshipped. The 2nd picture is A-Ma Temple, which is named after a seafarers' goddess that dates to the 16th century. Legend has it that a girl, A-Ma, was very poor looking and she was looking for a pssage to Canton. She was refused by these wealthy junk owners but a lowly fisherman took her on board. A storm came and wrecked all the ships, except the one that the girld was on. So on arrival to Macau she vanished and reappeared as a goddess, on the spot where the fisherman built her temple. Its an innense mecca, almost overbearing at times, but very spiritual. It is said to exist before the city of Macau did. Finally, the last picture is the famous Ruinas de Sao Paulo, super amous in Macau. The church was built in 1602 along side a Jesuit College. Then in 1835 a fire destroyed all but the facade and the stairs behind it. It was restored in the early 90's and today is a must see by all tourists, like us! Its pretty cool!

The atmosphere is also interesting - Hong Kong is very business and very professional (and clean, organized, efficient, etc), and Macau has a small district like that, but it is 028443290X more laid back, and much better than mainland China - cleaner, less polluted, and pretty! I really feel it is a great mix of China, HK, and Portugal.

So all these days it took us to get here was worth it, and 2 days is enough. Looooong story short, we were trying to get organized in Hong Kong with our travels and other arrangements and basically spent 5 full days there. Then it happened that this weekend, when we wanted to go, was all booked up because it was yet another Chinese holiday (as we are learning, there are a lot of Chinese holidays. And when there are holidays, everyone and their mom's goes out of town and things are closed). With that there was this big convention, so basically we were short-ended on accomodations. Another long story short, we had to go to Goang Dong, China to sleep, to come back to Macau to spend 2 nights. So we wasted a whole day going through HK customs, Macau customs, and then China customs. Seriously. Big pain in the butt. All in an afternoon (its just an hour ferry to get from HK to Macau, and then a short bus ride to the China border). The next day was worse - we waited almost 2 hours for China customs, and then 30 min. for the Macau customs. Alas, it all worked out. Being back in China though... what a difference! We've been TOTALLY spoiled this past week and we literally crossed the border and, call me crazy, but it just seemed more polluted to me, dirty, was next to impossible to try to ask someone how to find a taxi, get to our hotel, and it was just a mess. Back to the hawking and people staring at us, not fun. We were happy that we were just there for one night. We did have our favorite bok choy, this yummy veggy, and poa (pronounced "bow"), this doughy dumpling with different fillings, so that was good.

So when we made it back to Macau, we felt we lot a lot of time and pow-wowed the city. It is small enough that we actually did walk the whole city. Lots of great and beautiful sites. Its just soo awesome to see portuguese street names and building names, and plazas and what not, in China. And of course we had to treat ourselves to a seafood portuguese dinner and some wine. YUMMY! (yes, we like to spoil ourselves sometimes!). Macau is also known for there egg tarts, which is tastes more custardy than eggy (depending) with a nice crisp crust. Here is me enjoying one:

And the next day we did more walking around and then I jumped off a tower. Yes, you read correctly. I think I am becoming an e-drenaline junky. When I jumped in Queenstown, NZ we found out that one of the world's tallest jump was in Macau. I was kinda joking, but after the high of jumping, I said "lets do it!" So Char wanted to do it, and it advertises itself as the Worlds Tallest Bungy Jump at 233 m (or 764ft). In NZ it was 134 m. Even Char asked me "why are you doing it again?" And I don't know! Why not? This one was obviously a lot different because we were jumping from this Tower and were lowered down versus pulled up. Not to bore you with details again (refer to 9/16 "E-drenaline" blog), but the build-up wasn't nearly what it was in NZ, but the jump was definitely crazy, the free-fall being 100m more. However, the swing was 'controlled' more by a secondary cord that was attached to us. And then I was hanging upside down for what seemed like 084329278432 hours (couldn't feel my legs after awhile), which was kinda uncomf. Bottom line - it was definitely e-drenaline again, but the experience in NZ was a lot better. I'm glad I did it, but I'm officially going to take a break from bungy jumping. For the next month that is! ha ha ha! Just kidding!

FYI - this is the tower that Char and I jumped off, the Macau Tower:

advertises itself as being "the World's Tallest Bungy" (how could I say no to that?), but that is controversial because it does have a deceleration cord (i.e. the more-or-less 'controlled' swing up and down with a 2nd cord after the initial fall). In NZ, that was almost as good as the jump itself! So I think South Africa has the highest freefall (meaning the jump, and then the bouncing up and down), but there is a bungy jump at the Royal Gorge Bridge in Colorado that is the ultimate highest (321m or 1053ft) but is rarely available for whatever reason. So basically, in a little more than a month apart I jumped possibly the worlds highest jump and the 5th (I think that is what NZ is!). Wow!

Livin' Las Vegas... in Macau, China remains copyright of the author travellen, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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.

Its actually really pretty when everything is lit up at night, although it kinda makes the skyline look boring during the day. Thats just my opinion though. Hong Kong happens to have the worlds largest light show every night at 8pm - the skyline on both the island side and the mainland side do this spectacular show. We went tonight and it was really cool how the buildings 'dance' to this background music and light up with different colors and shapes:

We also have been walking around a lot and have gone to out-of-this-world shopping malls. Really, I haven't seen anything like it. Think of the biggest, cleanest, most expensive and luxurious mall and times that by 10 and you will get one of the many malls here. Its sooo clean and sparkly, nicely decorated, and a concierge that practically fall over themselves to help you out. There is also an automated touch-screen computer on each floor to guide you to certain stores (with a map and how to get there and everything). We were practically drooling over it. Its definitely a lot more posh and we felt waaaay under-dressed because everyone was in a business suit or looked really nice.. and we were in shorts, tank-tops and flip-flops.

HK also has the worlds largest escalator that takes you around the city... they even have a neat area convienently called SoHo. I'm totally guessing, but I believe it may be around a couple of miles long? The escalator takes you up and up, but then you have to walk back down by stairs. Its really cute and lots of nice shops and restaurants along the way, and of course nice views of the streets and what not. Here is a pict of it:

I really like it here! It kinda reminds me of New York in a way that the city never seems to sleep and its just busy with people everywhere. Besides the busy city life, there is this really cool park called Victoria Park on a hill top that we took a tram up to (too steep to walk!). We had a nice 1-hour walk around it... the view was kinda hazy, but it was still cool to see the harbour and the skyline.

HK is very diverse and very modern and clean. Its going to be tough leaving, I'm getting too comfortable with civilization!

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Anyhoo, from Chonqing we took a taxi to a bus station, then a 3-hour bus ride to Wanghao, then a 10 min bus ride... somwhere (why the 1st bus couldn't go an extra 10 min, I just don't know and don't ask anymore), to finally get to the hydrofoil to take us on the Yangtze River. The river is famous because it is virtually the only route into the Sichuan province and is a major link between Sichuan and east China. Its the 3rd largest river flow in the world. Its also known for the 3 gorges, and the 3 Gorges Dam - a big mess that has a lot of controversy about it. Basically, the Chinese gov't spent billions of dollars to build this huge dam to provide electricity for China, mainly big cities like Shanghai. What they didn't think about were the consequences affecting the surrounding environment, and the people. They flooded the river a few years ago and I guess every couple of years they flood it some more. So all these people, millions of people, have to be relocated to different areas because the river is submerging the cities. Supposedly the gov't is compensating them for this move, but can you imagine having to start your life all over again? Some just move higher into the hills, but then again, they will eventually have to be relocated. Its a biiiig mess. And supposedly, the gov't is just pocketing soooo much money from this and its the people that are suffering the consequnces. It was, no surprise, another polluted and hazy day, so it was just somewhat enjoyable. The gorges were pretty cool, and someone we met said they went before they flooded it, and it was really amazing. I can only imagine. I htink its now at 156m, and they flooded it 50 m recently and will again next year. Max I think is 175m. Here is a pict of it with the hydrofoil on the side:

Somehow, and I don't know if it was the fast hydrofoil and breathing in the super polluted air so quickly, but I REALLY felt like my I had smoked 0293480239 packets of cigarretes a day. My lungs kinda hurt a little (or maybe I'm just going crazy from being in mega pollution for so long?).

Anyhoo, that was the hydrofoil experience (basically, a super fast boat). We disembarked and took another cramped bus to YiChang. We had to spend the night there and the next day took an 8-hour bus ride to Wudang Shan, also known as a military mountain, which I don't know why because there is nothing military about it. This mountain is pretty cool because of the Taoist temples, the word is that Tai Chi was invented there, and the story of the movie Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon was set there, but it really wasn't (of course). It was constructed in the 13th century but during the Ming dynasty there was this anti-religious revolt and they destroyed many of the temples. It has sense taken 3 hundred thousand men and 10 years to restore (considering all that, thats pretty good!). We got situated in the mountain to spend 2 nights there. Of course, yet again, the 1st day it rained the whole day and was pretty darn chilly (maybe in the 30's?). Kinda miserable. So we just played cards, hung out in our heated room, watched re-runs of the Arnold Schwarznegger movie Comando 02394823904 times (seriously, why did it repeat so much?) and went for a mini hike with our umbrellas and raincoats to the Purple Cloud Temple. THAT was really neat because the temple was almost hiding in the mist and was really pretty. This is kinda what I imagined China to be like (boy, was I wrong! ha ha!). I was seriuosly expecting to see floating ninjas (like from the movie Crouching Tiger) to come out and start jumping from roof to roof. That didn't happen, but it was really neat anyway. Here is a pict:

The next day, WOW! It actually looked like it cleared up a bit! We could see more than 50 ft in front of us! So we headed to hike up the mountain, what was said to be a 2-3 hour hike. 5 hours later, we were back at the hotel. The 'hike' was basically climbing thousands of stairs (probably 3 of the 5 hours) and then climbing down the stairs into the mist:

At first it was pretty darn cool. Amazing vast mountains, fresh air, and listening to this cool Chinese opera music through speakers. And exercise! Cardio exercise - yea! I've been going through major withdrawl of that here! Very... almost spiritual at this point. Ahhhh..... how nice! So we were taking our time and climbing and climbing.

Then it starting raining. Okayy... still, not so bad. Good to be amongst nature, right? Then as we approached the top, it started raining harder, got very windy, and the temperature seemed to drop like 20 degrees. But then again we were sweating like pigs climbing these stairs and the minute we stopped, we got cold again. Then it was... how should I put it nicely, not so nice. The top was this "Forbidden City" old temple, which was pretty cool because it was TOTALLY misty, but there were like 902348239048239048 Chinese tourists pushing and shoving, and we just couldn't go anywhere, nor see anything. No joke, you really couldn't see more than 3 feet in front of you. It was soooooo misty and cloudy. So back down we went. It cleared up a bit and stopped rainy, and then I was okay again. And here we were just hiking with nothing on our backs and we see these hard working locals carrying heavy loads all on wooden beams on their backs.... and still smoking (which by the way, they smoke sooo much here and the no-smoking thing that we are used to is NOT applicable here AT ALL. They still smoke in enclosed spaces, which sucks too):

So after all that, I was tiiiiiiired (5 hours of non-stop climbing stairs will do that do ya!). Was it worth it? I guess, now that it is done with! Its just too bad with the weather but at least we still did the hike and it was nice to also get a little rest.

We then had our last meal at our favorite hotel restaurant, and then off we went to catch an evening train to Wuhan, the next destination.

Wuhan was yet another veeeeeeery dirty and veeerrrrry polluted city. Dirtier and mudier and definitely nothing to see at all. We went to a Wal-Mart as our action for the day, if that says anything. The next day we took an overnight train to Shenszhen, which is a little hub to get to Hong Kong. We walked across the border to Hong Kong, and here we are!!! Clean! Sun! Civilization! People look and dress nice! People speak English!! It seriously feels like a whole new world over here, and it is! We had a $5USD cappuccino at a nice hotel (just because we felt like we deserved it after the rough week). Soooo much easier! Soo beautiful to see water again. And the sun! We haven't seen sun since the 2nd day we were in Beijing, almost 3 weeks ago. Seriously. And people don't even look twice at us like we are freak-shows! And again, the sun!!!! Its also soo nice not to be around the disgusting spitting and hawking and what not. Ewww! Oh, another plus - Cantonese is a much softer language and easier on the ears than Mandarin.

All and all, it was a VERY VERY tough week o traveling. Very busy and very hectic. The good thing that came out of it is that I have lived and traveled as the Chinese do. We were the ONLY Westerners at a lot of places, and it was kinda funny when you get people taking not-so-obvious pictures of you. I definitely felt like I experienced China as it is. As a local, NOT as a tourist. We ate at small local shops, and had to get by with gestures and pointing, you name it.

This whole time we have been having discussions between ourselves and others about the way things work here, and we basically decided that is socialist with a capitalist umbrella. Socialist in a way that every shop sells the same stuff, all right next to each other. Example is in Wudang Shan - every single restaurant had the exact same menu. Can you believe that? I guess that takes out the competition, but its sooo repressive!! Capitalist in the goods that they buy and sell. Its very interesting and I'm curious to whats going to happen because things are changing sooooooo quickly here!!!

Generally, the people have been pretty nice and we have had mostly good experiences. The people that don't want to help don't, they just ignore you and move on. Which is fine. But the people that do go waaay above the call of duty and it is sooo appreciated when they help.

Here is a map of our week of traveling:

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Anyhoo, Xi'an is most famous for the Terracotta Soldiers (also called Terracotta Warriors). It is known as the 8th wonder of the world and is an interesting story...

During the Qin dynasty, Emperor Qin wanted his mausoleum to be protected by these 'fake' soldiers made out of clay. There is estimated to be more than 8,000 of them (thousands maybe even? Lots to be unearthed). Most of them face east the mausoleum to 'protect'him and the direction that Qin thought threats would come, but the ones facing each other are the poor people that were to pray and not fight. I think it was all built around 246BC. Then the next dynasty comes along and totally trashes it - cuts off the heads of the soldiers and destroys the place. Its speculated to be 2200 years old! Crazy, huh? Flashforward to the 1970's (can you imagine how much time that is that lapsed in the meantime?!?!) when China was going through a major drought and were digging irrigation wells to get water. The leader of the village digs out a soldiers head (this is all underground by the way). What the? Sooo there you have it. The underground Teracotta army discovered. Then there is this story that the people of Xi'an were superstitious and thought he was somehow evil because of this discovery and exiled him from that region. Xi'an became more and more famous because of this great discovery and President of France in the 70's was going to come visit and he wanted to meet the man who discovered it. So then he was allowed back to be the leader of the region and finally became recognized as the man who discovered the Terracotta Warriors and of course subsequently became famous. The President also asked for him to sign something and people say that although he is 90 or something, he still comes to the site and some lucky tourists have him sign an autograph for them. We didn't see him, unfortunately (if it is really him). There are 3 pits that are open to the public to view the soldiers. It is really amazing but a LOT of work to do the excavation and to put the soldiers body pieces together. It must be an archeologists dream come true to do something like this. The biggest pit has 2000 of these pottery warriors (soldiers) and horses in a space of 4000 meters. They think there are still a couple of thousand of these soldiers that still need to be 'unearthed.' They also have tons of crafts like arrows, spears, crossed bars, carved knives, etc. Its amazing that its mostly in-tact, just fragmented. That clay sure holds up well! But good thing it was buried for all these years!

Other than that, back to the Haze of Glory, the weather has been crap, I'm sorry to say. It rained the whole day yesterday, and today it is pretty chilly. We gave ourselves the day-off to ride our bikes around the famous wall that encloses the city (what is within this wall is called the 'downtown' and whats on the outside is called the suburbs). It is the best preserved ancient wall in the whole world. It was fun, but cold and even the work-out biking mildly warmed us up. It took us about an hour and a half to bike around the whole thing, and all and all, it was pretty nice to ride along the wall. The other thing Xi'an is known for is its towers built during the Ming dynasty. The Bell Tower is by where we are staying and it was built in 1344. As with the name, there is a giant bell inside and it is rung when there is an emergency. Here is a pict of it:

Then there is the Drum Tower, that, surprise surprise, has drums on the different levels. They are both actually really cool and are special to China for the wood that it is made out of. There is also The Great Mosque, the oldest, largest, and best preserved Islamic mosque in China. Funny enough, I think we are a bit worn out from all these things we are seeing and instead of going to see it and pay yet another entrance fee, we instead (twice) ended up walking around the market area and shopped for little souveneirs and stuff. Eh, what can you do?

China is interesting because, no offense to it, but the smog and the dirt take away from the beautiful things that are here. There are definitely amazing things to see, but when its enclosed in haze and fog, it somehow takes a different effect. So this hazy, overcast weather is getting kind of wearing. Yesterday we decided to go Western and hang out at our hostel (which ended up being super fun because we met all these cool travellers) and had pizza. Gasp! I know, I know, but really, I needed it! My stomach has been randomly aching and cramping from all this oil and grease and I just was craving 'normal' food. Up till now, we have made a point to go to local restaurants for places to eat. Most of the time we have been lucky and gotten delicious meals, but a few times it hasn't worked out, which is all a part of the experience. So as most travellers do, we treat ourselves on occasion with things like pizza (which is a different form of oil and grease, but it sure tasted good!). We are definitely going to be back to the 'roughing' it now because we are next going to some small towns.

So wherever you are, please send me sun vibes! Maybe I'll feel it through you and it will brighten my day!

Here's a map of my travels so far to Xi'an:

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It was actually kinda savory but I REALLY REALLY had to NOT think about what I was really eating ("it tastes like chicken.... ummm..... its just a cutlut... ummm"). If that wasn't bad enough, that next morning we went to downtown Datong, which, to backtrack a little, we decided to take a 2 day, 1 night trip out there to see the famous Hanging Temple, also known as "Temple Suspended in the Void" because it is anchored on cliff walls with wooden beams to prevent flooding that occured to previous temples that were built on the ground. Its cool because shrines exist to all of China's main religions, Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism. We also saw the Yungong Caves, caves made during the Tang dynasty in the 5th century that were hollowed out from top to bottom to make buddhas (to maximize sunlight and the stone. One giant buddha that measures 17m was made out of 1 stone! crazy!). Each giant buddha represents an emperor and when I say giant, I really mean giant. They were super cool! I think it was something like it took 40,000 people to work on it, and people from all over the world, Persia, Greece, India so there are a lot of their influences. One cave in particular is cool because it tells a story of the buddha as you walk clockwise around it. Here is Buddha "talking to the hand" (I thought it was pretty funny how the little buddha is holding up the giant hand):

Anyhoo, back to eating. So we somehow ended up in the 'meat market' area where cows are just hanging from the street, some chopped off heads of donkey (??), and the smell of who even knows what animals was atrocious. I have a pict I will post. Ewww! This if anything was a real taste of China. Initially we went to Datong, besides the sites, of course, because we thought it would be cool to see a 'small town.' Small town by China standards is 3 million! Dang! Beijing has 15 million, FYI. But this town definitely doesn't see as many tourists as Beijing because people were just staring at us and NOT chasing after us haggling to buy something. Anyway, we made our way back to Beijing via a sleeper train (which by the way, are pretty nice!) and went to the famous Night Market, known for its exotic foods. And yes, they were exotic/gross. Snakes on a stick, cockroaches, scropions, some animal's kidneys, you name it. At first I was thinking I would be adventerous, you know, 'when it china, do as the Chinese do." But Nyet! No thanks! I think between the dog and then the animals we saw that morning, I honestly was almost feeling sick to my stomach to try anything. So Char and I were boring and started with dumplings (seriously, how boring could we get?) and then ventured out to get some kind of unnamed meat wrapped in some kind of dough. So it was like most things here, dripping with oil, and .... somewhat tasty, but alas, I got to thinking about Sparky and if the un-named meat was dog and next thing you know, the rest of it was in the garbage. Eating dog once was good enough for me. Needless to say I left the Night Market without an appetite.

I think I'm going to be a vegetarian.

"Fried chicken kidney and ox's sex organ in bamboo barrel" remains copyright of the author travellen, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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So yes, check! Another Wonder of the World seen. Done and done. The amazing Great Wall of China, also known as Wan Li Changcheng, or "Long Wall of Ten Thousand Li, li being a Chinese measure of distance roughly equal to 500m). It stretches for several thousand miles and for anyone that is interested, it was built after the unification of China under Qin Shi Huangdi (around 221BC) as means to separate it from rival territories and barbarians. After Qin Shi Huangdi, other emperors continued to maintain and expand it as more threats arose. So from the 5th century to the 14th-16th, it was considered a priority and was continuously being built and reconstructed. Its interesting because during this time the wall was hated - it wasted the country's wealth and worked thousands to death in building it. It is estimated that over a million workers constructed it during the Qin Shi Huang time, but by the time emperor Sui came, there wasn't enough men left and they recruited the widows of the lost men. That would suck, huh? I found this interesting poem that described it:

The wall is so tall because it is stuffed with the bones of soldiers
THe wall is so deep because it is watered with the soldiers' blood.

The irony of it all is that after all that, the wall never served its purpose. Many invasions continued to occur and cross this 'defense,' and was of little use against the sea power of Japan and later, Europe. But as these things go, it did serve some good, for a route of passage for troops and goods, and more importantly, I guess it restricted the movement of the nomadic people. Or something like that.

So story goes that after the Qing dynasty, the Machus left the wall to fall into desrepair because it wasn't serving its purpose as an obstacle to invasion. It started to crumble, and now in present day its been slowly restored and repaired for tourist means. And by tourists, there are of course, millions that have tramped on it. But helloo? You can't go to China without seeing the Great Wall! We decided to pick a route that was further away from the city than the popular sites like Badaling where everyone goes, and Jinshanling to Simatai is known to be less crowded. BUT, as it happened, we were very very lucky and picked the day before a Chinese holiday to go to the wall so it was pretty empty. We did the almost 4 hour 10K walk from Jinshanling to Simatai, and were to tired to walk another 2 miles to the carpark and did a fun paraglide down a hill, which I've never done before. The great wall is beautiful and... hard work! Lots of lunging and climbing and hiking through steep steps and steep inclines/declines. GREAT to get some exercise and a nice cardio workout! It was a beautiful day though, not to hot. Most people go there in the summer when it is extremely hot, and I couldn't even imagine that. It was fun, and like I said, really really nice that it wasn't too packed with people.

So yes, now I can say that I climbed the Great Wall of China! And here it is (I picked one without me because I was gross and sweaty):

A 10K in 3:57:42 - The Great Wall of China remains copyright of the author travellen, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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-Squat toilets... something to get used to (strizan, you would DIE!). I've seen them before and I know its not that big of a deal, buuuut... its still not so pleasant.
-the spitting and burping. Also something to get used to (ugh! Its sooo gross though!).
-the history - amazing! I was bad and didn't brush up too much on my ancient Chinese history before I came, but I've been learning as I've been going. We already went to Tian'nan sqaure, the Forbidden City (amazingly big. There are many monuments for the 24 emperors that lived there over a span of 500 years and they have mini dragons and animals at the edges of the roof of each monument. The more animals to you have, the more 'higher-up' status you have. i.e. 9 vs. 3 (for the 'lower-class' concubines), the Temple of Heaven, the life of many emperors, the communist revolution, and .... how much the people still love and worship Mao. Oh, we went to see his mausolem, by the way. Cool to see him embalmed, I guess he is risen twice a day for public viewing, then he goes back below ground to his refridgerated room. I saw Lenin in Moscow, and they both look like wax figures. Still kinda cool. But yea, the many many temples we are seeing are super beautiful and colorful.

-Olympic Fever! They are definitely getting ready! 08/08/08 (the number 8 is a lucky Chinese #). I think its going to be REALLY cool, but yes, things are mega under construction here and most sites are still unfinished. I'm REALLY curious to how everything is going to pan out. They are not exactly customer friendly. Either they shove things in your face or they completely ignore you. More often than not, just ignore you. And its not exactly English-friendly either. We will see what happens. I have a sad feeling that things are just going to get more and more expensive (actually, I know they will. I bought a pin and keychain and it was TOTALLY overpriced. Its just the beginning I suppose!).
-Pollution - not as bad as I thought! We've had mostly sunny/overcast days. Today was the 1st day it rained... of course when we rented bikes for the day. Bangkok was 23094823904823904328904 worse and some other cities I've been to. I think the Olympic athletes will survive! I'd say if anything its hazy, but breathable.
-The Art of Bargaining - now this if fun, but emotionally draining. You really have to be in the mood. A few travelers that we met in Aust and NZ gave us some tips to just have fun with it, NOT to get angry, and this definitely has been true so far. You can pretty much guarantee that you will be given a price at least 50% higher than what its worth. Usually more. So you start the bidding. Kinda depending, but basically I've been started wayyy under and then trying to get a compromise maybe 60-70% of what they say. But then again yesterday I bought a Mao watch (he he, I had to!) for 20 yuan when he originally asked for 150 (which is like less than 3 dollars). It is actually fun, and its a lot of acting (gasping, looking shocked, shaking your head). You finally reach a final price where both of you are smiling. Then you walk away feeling good about yourself.... until the next block when you see the same exact thing you bought for 1/2 the price you bargained for. D'oh! Then you can just see the salesperson being like "haha! sucker!" But I try to think that I'm feeding their family, and its like $1 anyway. Which speaking of,
-Cost: SUPER CHEAP! Even though we are mega getting ripped off, its still dirt cheap (hostel room, $5/night, lunch: $2 for the 3 of us).
-Haggling: Annoying, but once again, I've seen worse (Eqypt). In super toursity areas, people just follow you around, but most of the time its like "lady! Looky looky! You want shoes? Good price special for you." Yea, whatever.
-Food: Pretty darn good! We've been doing some pointing and hand gestures, but so far we have been pretty lucky! And its been helping that we learned a trick to take a pepto tablet at the start of the day to coat our stomachs and (hopefully) try to prevent some future stomach probs. So far its worked! But yes, its very oil friendly... maybe thats why it is so good!
-The architecture: its kinda interesting. Still some very communist boring looking buildings, but then there are also some very modern looking structures. Especially for the Olympics they are builiding some crazy interesting modern structures/builings by some famous Swedish, Swiss, and English architects. Kinda Cool. Of course none of it is done yet.
-Bikes! Bikes! Bikes Everywhere! Its not as bad as Amsterdam, but there are a LOT of people on bikes and you have to tone your ears to the bell and to not be run over by one. Between bikes and cars, it seriously does take us 1/2 an hour to cross the massive 8-lane streets! BUT, Beijing is VERY VERY bike friendly - meaning that they have a separate mini aisle separated from the cars for bikes only. We actually rented bikes today and went around Beijing and its a pretty efficient way to get around... but also dangerous. I think I almost died like 10X.
-the bad english. Pretty much 80% of the time, things are spelled wrong, and said wrong. Basically, it just looks cool to write things in English, no matter if it makes sense or not. Its just funny. First your like, "uhh.. what?" Then you kind of have to take a sec to decipher it... then it still doesn't make sense. Menu's and signs are also pretty darn funny too. I'll try to post some up later.
-Noise and crowds: Definitely noisy, buuuut not as jam packed as I thought. When you got to Chinatown anywhere in the world, its usually packed with people. Here, well, its a little more spread out. Crowded, but nothing unbearable and different than any other big city. Definitely not as bad as I thought.
-And to refer to what I was writing about earlier, yes they still love Mao, and yes, there is a little part of me that thinks this blog is really being censored. We will see!

Oh, here is a Giant Panda. Soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo cute!!!

Beijing in a bambooshell remains copyright of the author travellen, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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