Just captions and pictures this time.  Sorry it took so long for an update, I wanted to wait until I had lots of cultural goodies to post. It’s hard to write about how cheap my pedicures are or how we spent our last evening eating foie gras and frog legs with the Sofitel GM in a fancy french restaurant an elevator ride away.

First some introductions.  This is my dad’s support network here in Jinan, his driver Mr. Li and his family.  His wife and children have joined us for tours around the city, several delicious meals and little ‘bing bing’ and 11 year old Kyleen have provided many smiles.  Kyleen is learning english, and we had lots of time to practice.  Mr. Li’s sister is Jade, she has been my dad’s interpreter as her english is good and Mr. Li is just learning.  She has also been a tour guide and good friend so we have spent a lot of time learning about chinese culture with her…including the proper way to get my nails done and feet rubbed. hah!

First real game of the year for Greg and I, dad has been here already a dozen times, I think we did alright but this picture might say otherwise.  If you look close enough I think you can tell that I am mid-curse word as my drive skidded to a stop 20 yards in front of the tee box.  Also please note my huge guns.

Jade had us over to her apartment for a home cooked meal, which was amazing! plus she had a lot of great chinese art work so we had a chance to decide what type of art we wanted to bring back.

Dad helped out with the cooking too, he’s really trying to interrupt the womans role here.

Some street food including crabs on a stick!

Of course with all the culture we’re taking in an afternoon nap was in order.  I think the guys were busy playing chess, and taking pictures of me drooling on the couch.

Greg and I went to climb Taishan Mountain, the most Holy of China’s Taoist mountains.  At least one climb is mandatory for all chinese Taoists and the hike is taken very seriously….all 6,700 stone steps of it. (as if Nepal wasn’t enough we actually chose to do this activity)

Unfortunately we had really terrible weather.  Rain on the way up and fog for our morning sunrise. Bummer, maybe we’ll do it again someday.

When getting married, many chinese hike up Taishan to bring a lock as it will bring good luck to their marriage.  I saw Greg lingering by the locks, then I saw a bolt cutter…hmmmm

Of course, on this, the most pampered leg of our journy, we even had a good connection waiting for us on top of the mountain, Mr. Zhang.  He met us at the top, brought us to our hotel and ordered us lunch.  Mr. Zhang then gave us a tour of the mountain and joined us for dinner.  He practiced his english with us and we really were grateful to have him share his time with us. This is pig’s foot btw.

We woke for our famous sunrise opportunity and found thick fog and heavy winds.  No sun for us

Imagine a gong ringing in the distance and war cries of tourists echoing around the blind bend of the mountain. And then you can imagine why Greg thought we were walking into an ancient battle.

The mountain is littered with many painted stones.

Mr. Zhang giving us our fair well as we get ready to walk down the mountain.

We just loooove the stone stairs.

Ridin first class

One of my favorites – the hotpot.  Sooo good.

I guess I could have given warning before the pictures….but, after the foot massages at around midnight I decided to get a suction cup type massage. It hurt and I now have big bruises.  Of course I made Greg do it too, but I think I have looser skin or something because my back is much more knarly

This is an hour later.  Also sweet Lee jeans right? Rhinstone incrusted too. Awesome.

Jinan is the ‘City of Springs’ with close to 100 springs bursting up around the city.  This creates canals and lakes, the perfect place to build many city parks.

This housboat on the main canal is also a teahouse, we had great tea there but had a hard time finding a spoon to stir the sugar.

Onto Qufu, the home of Confucius.  We visited temples, his home and his grave…along with hundreds of other chinese tourists.

Women step with the right, men with the left. And no stepping on the doorjam. I tried to fake out Mr. Li a few times and I think insulted some Chinese people in the mean time. oops.

Greg was looking for confucius, he wanted to have a ‘beard-off’. 

More good food, all this food is for 7 people.  And a huge pot of fish soup followed the meal.  It’s insane how much we eat here.

The gang leaving Qufu, including James and Maggie, two students here in Jinan who majored in English.  They found my dad and befriended him many months ago.  James has showed my dad many gems around Jinan and they both took us to an amazing dinner one night.  Their english is nearly perfect so having them on our Qufu trip was super helpful.

Greg and I are catching a night train in a few hours heading to Xian to see the Terracotta Warriors and the city itself.  From there we go straight to Beijing to finish out our trip.    My dad and Jade are joining in Xian where surprise surprise we’re staying at another Sofitel…saweeet…  and Jade might join us in Beijing where she has friends and of course the amazing skill or ordering the most delicious food for us.

Also, you can see more pics if you click on any of the above pictures – it will take you to my webalbum.

I am having a difficult time describing our first week in India.  I think I fantasized about SE Asia being this cultural wonderland where locals stare with curious eyes,  food so different you close your eyes and point, a freedom of tourists, and steadfast cacophony so loud you want to run and hide.  What I did not find in SE Asia I have found here in India.

Mumbai was chaotic but worth it.  Rajasthan has been a blessing and welcome relief.  We first went to Mt. Abu located on the southern border of Rajasthan, a Hill Station known to attract pious devotees on pilgrimages.  We visited a few Jain Temples that were made of white marble and had intricate carvings so delicate you want to break it off and eat it.  The main Jain temple, see photo below, was built almost 1,000 years ago and cost 120 million rupees in 1031AD.

From Mt. Abu we traveled to Jaisalmer in the far west.  We found a stunning desert fort rising from the sand like a mirage as we pulled in at sunset.  Our hotel is brand new, it overlooks the whole city and the ancient fort, a really nice treat.   A popular excursion from Jaisalmer is a camel safari which we of course did.  We are sore and sun sick but the two beautiful days in the desert will be a lasting memory.

We are staying in Jaisalmer for two more days to catch the Holi Festival, also called the Festival of Colors which from what I gather is a night of throwing colorful powders, pastes and water dyes on other people…should make for some good pictures.  Of course I’ve left out the religious aspects but this post is rather lengthy as it is – feel free to google Holi (ignore the part about possible hazards found in the color dyes, India is of course an adventure)

A few pictures are below, apparently the internet cafes are charged per byte transfer so we’ve been encouraged not to load many pictures.

Our days in Nha Trang were spent like this.

and like this. Swimming in the ocean was amazing relief.

A lunchtime nap in Saigon

This is the gate where the liberation army’s tanks busted through in April, 1975 and ended the war between north and south Vietnam.

Greg is a huge sucker for the street vendors, I think it is because his friendliness transcends oceans. He always says ‘I just want to know how much it is’ but once you ask they will chase you down the street until you buy.

We went to find the botanical gardens in Saigon today, we found the zoo instead. A few noteworthy things happened but what shocked me the most was how much the people taunt the animals. This lion was no more than an arm’s length away and people would throw rocks, wave arm’s and shake water bottles within inches of these bars.

Oh and we also got sprayed by a hippo.

I finally found myself a nice hat…now we’re twinsies

We also went to the war memorial museum. This is us practicing smiles after that depressing visit.

We are heading to Cambodia tomorrow so contact may be limited for awhile.

Love, K&G

We’ve been cruisin down the coast of Vietnam for the past week or so, the country is beautiful and the food is delicious.  We catch our 5th nightbus to Saigon in about an hour where we’ll spend two days before heading to Cambodia.   It’s been a relaxed tour through Vietnam, not a whole lot has been done but a lot has been seen….and eaten.

This was at the border of Laos and Vietnam.  These lovley ladies woke us at 3am to exchange money while we were sleeping on our bus (why did the bus schedule happen that we arrive at the border at 3am when it doesn’t open until 7am? I don’t know, but it’s been pondered).  Anyways, they woke us with flashlights to the face, so rude.  And then they tried to cheat us out of 100,000 dong. They ran in packs.

The bus to Hue, our first stop in Vietnam dropped us 14km out of town…love language barriers…so we hired some guys on scooters to drive us into town. Of course Greg was chosen to ride on the smallest man’s bike. hahah

The cyclo’s of Vietnam.  We never took a tour but were asked countless times.

This was part of the Forbidden City in Hue where all government relations happened up until WWII

Greg loooves the reader boards.

Doors shut

Loads of pondering

This compound was huge, I think this was part of the ‘education and garden area’

DELICIOUS street food

Always fishermen hard at work

Greg’s lovin the new hat

In Hoi An we arrived for the full moon festival, everyone turned off the electricity and the town lit up in candle light

OK gotta run before the bus leaves without us.  More on ‘nam later!

Back to civilization! Greg and I left Gabe up in northern Laos six days ago  in Vang Vieng where he spent his days tubing, drinking, puking (the first to get the dreaded t.d.), and getting in motorcycle accidents. All is well but I’d say our last 6 days were much more relaxing

Greg and I took a few night buses from Luang Prabang down to Pakse in the south of Laos where we took another bus and then a boat to Don Khon, a primitive island in the Si Phan Don archipelago of 4,000 islands. It was beautiful! We spent our days swinging in hammocks, reading until the sun set, biking to waterfalls and through rice paddies, watching the rare freshwater dolphins breach the surface and deciding which small guesthouse to eat at every night. We were sad to go, I think we could have spent the whole trip there, so cheap too! But, onwards to Vietnam tonight! It will be our first real experience with the Laos public bus, and it’s a night bus at that. Considering our ‘VIP’ bus from northern Laos to Vientiane broke down for about 4 hours in the middle of the night I’m a bit skeptical about tonight, but we’ll see.
But the best news is the internet is fast enough to upload pictures so here is a collection from the past 10 days starting with our slow boat trip down the Mekong from Thailand to Laos and ending with our departure from Si Phan Don.

This is on our way back from the motorcycle trip from Pai to Chiang Mai in Thailand.  This picture was just as the sun began to rise. We found gas (after coasting for 10+km for fear of running out of gas) and we warmed our tummys at a roadside cafe.  It was soooo cold before the sun rose and in the wind.

My first motorcycle lesson.  I think I scared Greg a little. Fortunately the bike was small enough that he could reach around me to steer if need be. haha

The ‘ferry’ over to load the slow boat for the two day trip to Luang Prabang

As you can imagine the engines to the longtail boats break quite often.

The slowboats lined up to load people (tourists) up

We slept in a small village called Pak Beng during our slowboat cruise.  This is the morning we departed

Cruisin the Mekong

The first day we arrived in Luang Prabang Greg and I opted to rent bikes to ride the 35km to some waterfalls, (Gabe and our new friends took a tuk tuk).  We chose the cheaper of the two bikes, the one speed cruiser.  The ‘gentle road’ turned out to be a bit more hilly than we thought so there was a lot of walking. (this road really was quite steep, the picture is deceiving..haha)

This was just a small waterfall we saw near the edge of the road

And this is who’s backyard it was in…wouldn’t that be nice!

Our faithful one speeds (although Greg’s peddle did fall off so we had to walk until we found a guy who could repair it)

We finally made it to the main falls, they were beautiful and made up so many different pools

The big one is behind Greg

We then hiked up to the upper falls where we had to traverse across the top of the big waterfall (see above picture).  At the top there was a tiny fence that warned us of the edge, this is how close we got though.  This drop was about 75 feet, the one below it was about 150ft.

Three of the pools had swimming areas, this one had a rope swing too. Greg started us off, showin how it’s done.

Luang Prabang was a beautiful little city.  Much more western than we were expecting, and much more expensive.

A wat (temple) in town

The first of many sunsets. We caught this one on our way to the nightbus to head down south

Skip ahead two nightbuses later and we are heading to Don Khon in the south of Laos

Our first afternoon was spent pretty much like this.

The view from our hut

Most the locals had their own boats used mainly for fishing and transport to the mainland

We rented bikes both days and traversed the islands. The roads were so bumpy, I’m shocked we didn’t get a flat!

This was the french built loading pier at the south end of Don Khon.  The only bridge the French built in Laos during their occupation was on the north end of this island connecting to a smaller island (but more touristy) called Don Det.

Catching the last bit of light reading until the sun set.

Early morning ride back to the mainland

mmm sticky rice

Off to Vietnam now, we’ll be doing the southern coast for five or six days before heading into Cambodia.

We’ll try and post again soon!

K&G

Chiang Mai is beautiful…everyday gets better. We took a train up here from Bangkok, it was long and hot but super enjoyable. First, it was like being on a roller coaster for 12 hours which kept things interesting but the scenery was most impressive. Rice fields being cultivated, wats and statues in the distance, water buffalo, monkeys and rail side markets. We are staying at a modest and clean guesthouse for three nights, resting up for our journey up to Pai on a 200cc bike. Should be interesting Can’t get enough of the food and street side massages. No USB jack here, pictures next time.
Love, K&G

Our first day in Bangkok was a long and hot one. I can’t explain how huge and detailed the many wats are in the city. We had a couple of experiences with Bangkok’s tuk tuk drivers, the first was entertaining and we didn’t get scammed any money but the driver took us all around town to silk shops and jewelry stores that we didn’t want to see. In the end he convinced us to look in a store for 10 minutes so he could get a gas coupon and then he dropped us off for free. The second was successful, Greg negotiated 6baht (15cents) for a ride all the way across town with no additional stops. We ate lots of food, drank lots of water and enjoyed the city but we’re off in a few hours to tackle the 12 hours train ride up north to Chiang Mai. We’ll come back through Bangkok on our way out but for now I’m looking forward to getting out of the city. Chiang Mai and Pai are also ‘connected’ so we’ll be in touch!
Love, G&K
Oh and a few noteworthy things:
- dogs and cats are EVERYWHERE and I think they all have rabies
- the Thai people are super friendly and talkative
- 6 mosquito bites and counting
- Pad thai for breakfast, lunch and dinner!

We made it! 18 hours of pure flying but we’re here. Just getting to know the city a little before we take of to Chiang Mai the day after tomorrow. We’re off to get Wat’ed out at the many impressive temples in town, and maybe some massages too, who knows!

It’s our last morning in America, and what a great day for all Americans!

Greg and I put together a really rough itinerary for the next three months that i’ve posted below.

When asked, Greg is most excited about our motorcycle trip in northern Thailand, cycling in Vietnam, a camel trek in the Great Indian Desert and our Annapurna Sanctuary trek in Nepal. I am also really excited about our trip to Cambodia. Greg’s coworker is from Cambodia and has set us up with many of her friends to guide us around Phomn Phen and Siem Riep. She has offered us to stay in her home there and has given us her closest friend to help us enjoy the country. OK off to run our final errands! Stay in touch.

Rough Trip Plans:
SE ASIA

Jan 21 – NWA flight #7 to Tokyo, Flight #21 to Bangkok
Jan 22 – Arrive in Bangkok, Thailand at 00:30.
Two nights stay at the Viengtai hotel; www.viengtai.co.th
Jan 23 – Travel to Chang Mai with a side trip to Pai
Jan 28 – Travel out of Thailand into Laos via northern entry point Van Houayxay/Houei Xai
Jan 28 – Take ‘slow boat’ down the Mekong River (or a bus weather depending) to Luang Prabang for 2-3 days
Feb 1 – Bus to capital of Laos, Vientiane via Vang Vieng.
Feb 2 – Bus to southern Laos, city of Pakse
Feb 6/7 – Cross border into Vietnam at Lao Bao and onto Danang, Vietnam
Feb 8-12 – Travel in southern Vietnam, Mekong Delta, Saigon etc.
Feb 12/13 – Cross border into Cambodia near Moc Hoa
Feb 13 – Phnom Penh and surrounding areas
Feb 15 – Southern Cambodia, Kampot, Kep, Kampong Saom
Feb 18-22 – Siem Riep and Angkor Wat ruins
Feb 23 – Cross back into Thailand near Sisophon
Feb 24 – Arrive in Chumphon and take a boat to Ko Tao in the gulf of Thailand
March 1/2 – Back to Bangkok and surrounding areas
March 4 – Fly to Mumbai. Flight #TG339, Thai Airways International Depart 7.50am

INDIA/NEPAL

March 4 – Arrive in Mumbai at 11.30am head straight to hotel:
CHATEAU WINDSOR HOTEL
86, Veer Nariman Road, Churchgate, Mumbai – 400 020, MH, India .
Tel.: +91 – 22 – 2204 44 55 Fax: +91 – 22 – 2202 64 59
March 5 – Head north towards Jaisalmer
March 10 – En route to Kathmandu, Nepal via Agra (We hope to stay at the Tibet Peace Guesthouse in Kathmandu for the first night depending on availability)
March 14 – Kathmandu to Pokhara
March 15 – Begin 10 day trek
March 25 – Back to Pokhara
March 26 – Begin travel back to Delhi
March 29 – Stay in Delhi and surrounding areas
April 4 – Flight #ET604, Ethiopean Air to Beijing at 11.10am

CHINA

April 4 – Arrive in Beijing at 8.05pm, find train to Jinan (1.5 hours long)
April 5 – Wake in Jinan at Katherine’s dad’s apartment to nurse wounds
April 6-23 – Who knows!!