Mike & Mag's World Adventure

Hong Kong- The last leg

mikephall83 — Wed, 28 May 2008 23:25:00 GMT

Hong Kong was literally a breath of fresh air. HK is by far the cleanest city I have ever stepped foot on. You can't even find a cigarette butt on the street. The entire city is clean and layed out in such a user friendly manner that getting around by foot and by the subway was a breeze.

We spent most of our time shopping in Hong Kong; that is what one does in HK. The entire city is swarming with outlet stores, huge malls, shopping centers, markets, night bazaars, etc. Since everything in HK is imported from China, the prices are low and the options are endless... from the real stuff to fakes you can find it all.

And the Chinese food was fabulous! The people were all very kind and polite and overall it was the most perfect place to end our journey on a high note.

India- Holy Cow!

mikephall83 — Wed, 28 May 2008 23:16:00 GMT

How can one describe India? I will try to explain in a way that is truly representative of our time and experiences. Basically, India is everything at once: beautiful yet filthy, sinful yet holy, malicious yet loving, etc. One day you will be flying so high you're saying, "I love India" and then the next day you're screaming and in tears crying, "I hate this country we have to get out of here!"

India will try your patience in more ways than you can count. It is a culture unlike any else we have experienced. Sometimes we asked ourselves if we were still on the planet Earth. The population is so large that you get a lot of good and a lot of bad all in one.

The average Indian is typically a strict Hindu that covers with cloth from head to foot: the women wear saris (beautiful silk lengths of materials that they wrap around their waste as a skirt and then the remaining material is thrown over their shoulder or around their head as a scarf. Women are generally pretty subservient and seem to be missing in public most of the time (meaning they were pretty much always in the house). In public women are outnumbered by men by at least 10.1. The day we went to the Taj Mahal we were required to enter through 2 lines, one male the other female. Easy to say I entered about an hour before Mike made it through the long line of awaiting males.

Being a white female in India is just plain frustrating. Several times men would approach us and introduce themselves and speak to Mike only, completely ignoring me, as if I wasn’t even there. There is also the widely accepted opinion that Western women are all prostitutes. For one reason, the majority of Western women that they do see are on MTV which would certainly give you that impression and secondly… female prostitutes in India are identified as prostitutes if they stare men in the eyes. Therefore, Western women that stare men in the eyes must want to have sex with them; and we are all nonreligious sinners as well, so I guess it fits.

Luckily there were exceptions, and we met several individuals and families that were that were extremely friendly to us. It was not uncommon to meet a family or individual and then after 10 minutes of conversation be invited into their home. This was actually new for us. One time at dinner we had a family sitting next to us offer their food to us to try and then invite us to their home for breakfast the next day. Unfortunately, the next morning we were leaving India so we had to decline the offer. This situation just displays the ups and downs of India… the previous day we had just changed all of our flights to return home and here it was we were going to miss what could have been a pretty interesting breakfast date... oh the dichotomies of India.

So why did we leave early? The biggest reason is that India was just too damn hot. We were there during the hottest time of the year where temperatures soared to ~113 F. I suffered from heat exhaustion twice to the point that I thought I was having an anxiety attack each time…my hands were shaking, I was sweating profusely, and I couldn’t catch my breath. Everyone we met said, “Why are you here? You must come back and visit our country in September, much better.” And they were right, we just couldn’t do the things we wanted to do due to the heat.

But the things that we were able to do made our short trip worth it. Our first destination, Calcutta, was a great city to begin in. The British invested more into this city than any other. This meant, good roads, beautiful architecture, and like the rest of India, good English. Calcutta is considered the cultural capitol of India. We found this to be true as we spent two days enjoying free cultural performances from traditional and modern dances to musical performances. One evening we decided to visit the local gallery display at the Academy of Fine Arts. As we were viewing a painting we suddenly found huge flood lights on us and cameras flashing. We turned around and started smiling for the cameras, not exactly knowing what was going on. Initially it was news cameras, but soon after the lights faded we were surrounded by Indians that wanted to take our pictures, either with them or just by the painting.

In India we were stars. Indians love taking pictures with white people, it’s like we’re exotic or something. I should also mention that Indians love to stare at white people. It was not uncommon for both women and men to blatantly stare at Mike and I for a solid 5 minutes. Apparently it’s not rude to stare in Indian culture and the staring never stopped.

For the most part we were almost always the only white people anywhere we went. This meant we always had a possy surrounding us trying to lure us into a rickshaw, hotel, restaurant, their shop to buy souvenirs, etc. Indians working in tourism were fierceless and pushy. They were smooth talkers and almost everything that came out of their mouths was a lie. We would get into a rickshaw and say, “Please take us to the Alka Hotel”, and the driver would say, “oh no the Alka Hotel is full (which was always a blatant lie) but I will take you to a nice hotel” and refuse to take us to our requested destination. Or the drivers would just drive you to a souvenir shop without your permission and say, please go in a look for just 15 minutes, just look, no buy, and I will get commission. They would plead and beg and we would pretty much have to yell NO a million times to get our point across, “just take us to our damn destination!”

After Calcutta we headed to Varanasi, the most holy city in India. This city is set along the Ganges River and is considered the most holy Hindu city to pilgrimage to. Hindus have long believed that bathing in the Ganges or dying in the holy city of Varanasi circumvents reincarnation and hence provides a permanent place in the Swarg (Heaven).

Early one morning, before sunrise we hired a boat to cruise down the Ganges to view the morning rituals. One reaches the River by a Ghat, or staircase that is designated by its name or function. As we passed the Manikarnika Ghat which is famous because it is where the cremations occur, we witnessed the burning of the bodies. Everyday, all day peoples bodies are cremated and then their ashes thrown into the river.

During the evening we witnessed a ceremony that served as an offering to the sacred river. Sadus come by and bless you with tikkas and you can purchase little floating votives with flowers to release into the river as a prayer or a request to the gods; in our case, safety and happiness for our families.

Varanasi, like the rest of India was absolutely littered with cows. Cows are everywhere, and since they are considered holy creatures, they roam free and are never harmed. Cars simply go around them or wait for them to exit the road. This means a lot of poop. That is one thing India is not lacking… poop is everywhere along with garbage. Oh and what do the cows eat? Well of course, the garbage.

Next we were off to Agra, the city of the Taj Mahal. It was everything you could imagine and more. The Taj Mahal is the most romantic and tragic piece of architecture I have seen. It is said to be the largest architectural feat to be built for love. The story goes like this: The structure was built under Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his favorite wife, Mumtaz Mahal. It is a story of true love and sadness.

The structure is built completely of marble and actually functions as her mausoleum and on the inside is her tomb. Once the Shah died he joined his beloved, as they are both now laid to rest side by side. The tomb and the walls are all inlayed with intricate designs of flowers that were carved of the most precious of stones. Upon visiting the Taj Mahal it appears to be straight from a fairytale and just plain magical. The Nobel-prize-winning Indian poet Rabindranath Tagore once described the Taj Mahal as “an eternal teardrop on the cheek of time.”

And with that I think I will end this journal entry. I could go on forever about India, there is just too much to share. I will forever remember all the trials and tribulations that we experienced in just a few weeks in that crazy country we call India.

Thailand to Nepal- Sometimes up hill sometimes downhill

mikephall83 — Sat, 10 May 2008 20:55:00 GMT

Namaste (hello from Nepal)-

We are blessed! The past month we've been fortunate to have my mother and our friends visit us in Thailand. We immediately headed off to the island of Koh Tao. This island is every diver's mecca and so we indulged in the trend and booked a private boat for one day of snorkeling. The day was perfect sunshine that illuminated the waters with an unbelievable clarity. Our first spot was called Shark's Bay. Here we sited several black finned sharks, some of which were about 6 feet long and real fat. That was awesome! The rest of the sites contained more colorful coral and fishies. We were lucky to site an eel that was so shimmery it looked like gold. It was by far our best snorkeling trip and we were all glowing at the end of the day from the experience.

We got adventurous with Thai bowling (a game in which a person is at the end of the lane re-stacking the pens after each frame and all score keeping is done with pencil and paper. It was pretty comical. We also spoiled ourselves with messages, pedicures, and shopping galore. When it was time for the girls and mom to leave we were all sad but happy to know that we would all be reuniting in just a few weeks.

So, off we went to Nepal, Mike and I on our own again. Nepal was like a pleasant breeze on a hot summer day. The people here are the warmest we have encountered and the scenary spectacular. We immediately booked a hike in the Himalayas and on Day two in Nepal we were packed into a crappy bus and made our way on winding roads through valleys and canyons that were so deep I couldn't stand to look down for fear of us going off that tiny ledge. Here I should mention that most buses were packed full with people on the tops of the roofs as well; perhaps the riskiest behavior on EARTH. With luck we made it safely. The next day we took a taxi which carried us even deeper into the mountains. The tiny taxi was pounding with the beats of the local Nepali music as we cruised by little Nepali boys in girls in uniforms walking to school, farmers in the fields picking rice, wheat, corn, etc, and tried to soak in all of the beauty of the peaks that laid before us. We were nothing but smiles.

As we started our hike which crossed streams and included many "Nepali flats" which were described by our guide as being "sometimes up hill sometimes down hill". This is also a line from a famous Nepali traditional song which our guide later taught us. Can you just imagine us singing as we hiked thru the mountains? -- it was pretty funny. Oh and Nepali flats... not the same flat by Kansas standards.

Trekking through the Himalayas was by far the highlight of this trip. When talking to Mike about it lastnight I actually got teary eyed. The views were like scenes from a dream with clouds encasing peaks so majestic and boundless that many people die just trying to summit them. We were in serious climbers territory. Which is why I can easiliy say that our trek was the hardest that I have ever done. On the last day I was bellowing, "I just can't do this anymore... I'm so done right now". Our entire legs from toes to knees to hips were sooooooo sore we could hardly bend them at the beginning of the morning. But, after popping some pain killers and drinking our Nepali Chai tea each morning we sucked it up and headed out for another day of trekking.

To sum it up we hiked an average of 10-12 miles a day for 7 days covering over ~80 miles in the Himalayas...MANY UPHILLS! We're pretty proud of that accomplishment. We were fortunate to have a wonderful guide that was very patient with us and took the best care of us, telling us what to eat to avoid getting sick, teaching us Nepali card games and answering all of our questions about his strict Hindu life and the life and practices of other Nepalese people.

Trekking through the mountains was really like going back in time 100 years. Mountain life here must be the hardest life I have ever seen. I saw several very elderly women carrying a bail of hay over thier backs that was so large I could barely make out that there was a person under it. Not to mention that she was carrying this heavy load down a steep flight of nearly 3000 steps. I am NOT exaggerating either!

The conditions at high elevations were the harshest. The wind beat your face so hard that most of the children had raw cheeks from sunburn and wind with snot running down their noses. Every child seemed to be sick and everyone was absolutely dirty the further up we went. I think this was because water for washing was very difficult to come by. In the highest of places it was difficult to get much of anything and what you did get was ridiculously expensive as supplies had to be flown in by helicopter. Despite all these hardships, every Nepali we encountered gave us a big smile with palms together placed at the nose, accompanied with a "Namaste".

Our final destination at the highest altitude was called McTinoth. This is considered one of the top holy sites for all Hindus and Buddhists alike. It is believed that many of the Hindu gods once visited this place for peace and prayer. Sudas, men in India that devote their lives to worhip, often pilgrimage here by foot. There are about 5 different temples in this complex for cleansing, prayer, etc. We went to all of them and at each received a blessing and a tikka (the red, yellow, or black dot on the forehead) for good luck. At one of the temples we splashed/cleansed ourself with the mountain water running through the mounths of the cows that lined the mountain wall. It was a cold experience but hopefully it worked and I'm totally cleansed; wouldn't that be amazing, to be cleansed of all our sins.

Anyhow, before I get too new age on you guys I better get to the end. Besides, the real new age stuff is going to come in India, where we're going to find real "Enlightenment" either that or a lot of cows and garbage... Can you tell that we're not so excited about going to India. To tell the truth we're both a little terrified. Wish us luck. Tomorrow we head for Calcutta!

Love you all and can't wait to see you in just a few weeks!

Never Ending Peace and Love (NEPAL),

Maggie and Mike

Sawa Dipi Mae! (Happy New Year in Thai)

mikephall83 — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 14:52:00 GMT

Wow, it seems like ages since we've updated this blog. We've been doing so much in Thailand that the time is flying.

We were fortunate with our second attempt at snorkeling. In Ko Chang, which is an island that is a national park we experienced the best snorkeling yet. The visibility was superior and there were so many fish that a few times we got stuck in schools of parrot fish, squid, needle fish, and zebra fish. We can't wait to do more snorkeling and hopefully diving on the island of Ko Tao, which is world reknown for its reefs.

Mom has arrived! We picked her up at 2am in the morning after several hours of flight delays. We thought she was going to be exhausted and ready for bed, but instead we went to go get drinks at a bar in the popping backpacker district of Bangkok called Kho San Road. We've been doing a lot of shopping as the clothing and jewelry is my favorite here in Thailand.

Our first destination was Koh Samet, another island that is a national park and only a 4 hour bus ride from Bangkok. Koh Samet is one of the few islands where the Thai vacation, verses the other islands that are mostly Falongs (white tourists). We spent the Thai New Year on this island and it was total insanity.

The Thai New Year is such an important holiday to the Thai people it can be compared to Christmas, a time when families come together and get 3 days off for holiday. The neatest part of the holiday as that it involves cleansing your body of old/bad luck for the New Year. Since the New Year also happens to fall on the hottest time of the year it has morphed into the largest water fight on earth. People of every age line the street for a week and throw buckets of sea, ice, river, tap, or whatever type of water they can get their hands on at people passing by. You can't step outside your hotel without becoming completed soaked for a week. We had such a blast throwing buckets and soaking everyone during the celebration. We kept asking ourselves, "why don't we do this in America for the 4th of July or the summer solstice.... it's so much fun!

After being beach bums, getting messages, and getting soaked on the island of Koh Samet, we made our way to Chang Mai, the mountainous region in the north of Thailand. Here we booked a two day trekking tour. On our first day we visited 4 Hill Tribes, one of which was the Karen (Long Neck Tribe) that wears heavy brass rings around their necks to stretch them and make them long. Apparently the tradition started as a way to protect the women from being killed by the tiger, the neck rings functioned as a type of armor.

Soon after, we made our way to an elephant camp where we were loaded on top of elephants for a short ride. I had a bit of a terrifying experience since our elephant trainer kept getting off our elephant and wandering off in the woods. This left us alone with an elephant that was intent on going off the trail into the jungle, or over a cliff to munch on grass, trees, etc. I seriously thought I was going to die... I just kept seeing that video of the elephant that goes crazy and kills all those people as it runs off in defiance. But, ofcourse everything turned out okay and I lived through it.

Later that afternoon we set off on our hike to the top of the mountain. This is the point where mom and Mike thought they were going to die. I don't think any of us were prepared for the difficult hikes that laid ahead of us. Thanks to our very kind and patient Thai guides we all made it to the top of the mountain that evening; 3,000 ft in elevation. That night we stayed at the village of a hill tribe that gave us all wonderful massages. Our guides whipped up 3 amazing curries and then we played music and games all night. We slept in what they called the "Bamboo Hotel" aka a bamboo shack that had the most amazing view of vast mountains off the porch.

The second day of our trek included swimming in a waterfall, white water rafting, and bamboo rafting down the river. Unfortunately, the white water rafting was more like rock jumping since it was the dry season, the water was so slow we got stuck nearly every second on a huge boulder. It was actually pretty comical. It was one of those things that they should have stopped booking the rafting trips due to the conditions but they don't because then they wouldn't have income...so what do we get? A hell of a rocky river rafting trip.

Today we're catching a train back to Bangkok to meet up with Emily, Alexis and Jen our friends from Kansas and can't wait to see them! We're thoroughly enjoying all the Thai scenery, people, food, etc and can't wait to share it with friends. It's amazing that we're almost done with this trip; 4 months down one more to go!

Wishing you all peace and love,

Maggie, Mike, Joan

We're in Paradise Now

mikephall83 — Fri, 4 Apr 2008 13:11:00 GMT

The private Bamboo island in Cambodia, what a relaxing experience. The beach was pure white sand so fine that when you walked on it the ground made squeeky sounds. The island was barely inhabited with a few people operating bungalows and a restaurant and then the few other tourists there. We made some friends that had a volleyball and played a fierce match of volleyball, one game of which was against the locals. Not surprisingly they beat the crap out of us. One of the locals was playing in his tighty whities and that was a site to see. We only had electricy on the island for about 4 hrs a day while they turned the generator on to make shakes for us and until about 10pm at night when they would turn it off. This was a bit of a challenge as they gave no notification as to when they were going to turn the lights off so making your way back to the bungalow in the dark was pretty difficult. Not to mention we had no fan or air con so it was brutally hot at night. But luckily the days made up for the nights with beaches of paradise each day. After a few days on the beaches of Cambodia we were feeling the need to mix it up and decided to head to Thailand.

We booked a bus ticket to the Island of Ko Chang in Thailand. We were expecting a long day and indeed that is just what we got. In one day we traveled on a total of 3 buses, 2 minivans, a speed boat, and a pick up truck in order for us to arrive at our destination. It was an exhausting day but Ko Chang was definitely the reward at the end. I can say without a doubt that this island is the most beautiful place I have ever seen. The water is absolutely crystal clear and calm with a tint of aqua blue. The beaches are free of rubbish and beggers/vendors, the sand white and fine, and the coast line is filled with palm trees and rain forest so thick there are no roads on the interior of the islands. Today I caught a glimpse of monkeys swinging on the trees outside our bungalows. Not to mention that there are dozens of islands around us that provide nice eye candy as well.

The overall atmosphere of Thailand is one of relaxation and peace. The country is doing very well economically and that is evident in the tourism. No one is pushy or trying to rip you off. The Thai people have embraced a lot of Westernization but are still very culturally distinct. There are more customs here to follow than any other countries we have visited. Such as greetings, entering an establishment without shoes, eating etiquette, etc. We're trying very hard to not be rude or offensive as many things that we do are considered just that in Thai culture.

So what have we been doing? A lot of sun tanning and dining on the most delicious food on EARTH! Lastnight we took a Thai cooking class and learned how to make 4 dishes: Phad Thai, Tom Yum Soap, Fish Salad, and Paneang Curry. Our instructor was a "hippie" Thai lady named Chulie and she was so patient with us and helped us to make a fine feast.

Lonely beach where we are staying is a young hip place with a lot of super chill bamboo huts and restaurants right up on the beach. There is a lot of partying here and we've participated in the Mekong Bucket Craze (Mekong Whiskey, Red Bull, Coke, and lime all mixed up in a bucket like you would use to make a sand castle with at the beach, and a bunch of straws for everyone to share.) At night we find ourselves getting into all sorts of exciting conversations with other travelers. Often times we get lured into the topic of politics as everyone wants to talk about American politics, specifically the upcoming election.

Today we were supposed to go on a snorkeling trip but b/c of rain the trip was canceled. The forecast predicts rain for a few days so it looks like we had better head to Bangkok as there won't be much beach bumming in the rain. In Bangkok we will have a better chance of catching the game. That is, the Jayhawks beating UNC and making Roy wish he'd never left! Go Jayhawks. In just a few short days we will be meeting my mom at the airport in Bangkok. Can't wait to see her! Of course we're having a splendid time in utopia but miss our friends and family. It's going to be so refreshing to see family and friends.

Well, I better wrap this up. We love you all and miss you all! Happy to hear that you're finally getting some decent weather. See you in a few months!

Maggie and Mike

Temples, Genocide, and Private Beach Huts

mikephall83 — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 20:52:00 GMT

We are REALLY in Asia now!

Currently we are in Cambodia and have been here for over a week. We began our time here in the city of Siem Reap. Siem Reap is famous for Angkor Wat... a complex of numerous religious temples that were built around the 10th Century. We hired a Tuk-Tuk(a motorcycle that has a cart attached to the back of it)to take us from one temple to the next.

The temples ranged from having tiny detailed carvings that tell stories of war and worship to having huge spires with Hindu god's faces as well as Buddhas. The temples were absolutely captivating and the history that is told through the carvings that have lasted for centuries is breathtaking to say the least. Each temple took over a 100 years to build. Some temples had huge trees that were wrapping around the pillars amongst the forest and gave it a very creepy feeling. The movie Tomb Raider, with Angelina Jolie was shot at the temple Te Prahm.

After our spiritual journey through the land of the temples, we headed south to Pnom Penh, the capitol of Cambodia. On our first day in PP we met up with an American that recommended that we volunteer for an NGO that provides water filters to people living in poor villages of Cambodia. Most Cambodians drink surface water as wells are too expensive and boil their water for drinking. Still, contaminated water causes diahrrea and dehydration and makes many children sick and can kills infants as parents do not have the resources to treat waterborne illnesses. The neat thing about the NGO was that it was completely locally ran, meaning all of the employees were Khmer.

The group of Khmer NGO workers took us to a remote village where we did education regarding the filters and then distributed them to 2 lucky families. When we first arrived we visited the school and received several stares. I might add that we were the first and only tourists(white people) to have ever stepped foot in this village. Then Chourlee, the director took us to the temple where he showed us how to pray, Buddhist style. All of the villagers were so grateful and showered us with coconuts, food, smiles, and a lot of gratitude.

Perhaps the most unique part of the entire day was when Chourlee, shared his story with us. Chourlee shared that he was 6 years old when the Khmer Rouge Army took over Cambodia. The Khmer Rouge committed one of the most horrorific human injustices of our time by murdering over 2 million people, 1/4th of the entire Cambodian population between the years of 1975-1979. Just as the War in Vietnam Ended in 1975, Pol Pot took power and led one of the most gruesome, real-life, genocidal experiments on Earth.

I will try to sum up the history briefly. Pol Pot studied Marxism and believed that Cambodia should be a completely agrarian society in which everyone farmed. Therefore, in 1975 his army forced everyone living in cities into the countryside to become farmers. Peasants in the countryside were seen as "Ideal Citizens" and anyone with any education (doctors, teachers, people wearing glasses, or anyone that was non-Khmer was immediately taken to a killing field to be executed; often heavily tortured before being killed). I might also add that the Khmer Army were too cheap to waste bullets on their victims so the killings were done by hammers, garden hoes, knives, or other farming equipment... anything they could find.

Luckily, Chourlee's family was living in the countryside during that time so the soldiers and Pol Pot's Regime treated his family much better than most. However, he still lost 2 of his brothers to starvation and still told us stories of how he worked 14 hr days in the rice field and very little of the food was ever given to the workers. He was also brutally punished for doing minimal things.

As you can see, the history here is very raw and there are several people still walking the streets of Cambodia that have seen things that I can not even imagine. And, for Chourlee to share his experience with Mike and I... Wow! Most Khmers never talk about the war, so we felt very special that he opened up to us, even though we knew it was very painful for him to share his story.

After our visit to the village we visited the Killing Fields and the Genocide Museum the following day. That was a heavy day. The museum is called S-21 or Tuel Sleng, previously a school, which functioned as the detention center (aka torture facility)that people visited before they were sent to the Killing Field. The museum still had drippings of blood on the floor and everything in place as it was left in 1975. The pictures and images that we saw that day will haunt me forever. I can say very honestly that I have never seen such terrible things in my entire life. I became physically ill from the photographs and the entire experience.

There is an upside to this sad story. One of which is that the Cambodian people are SURVIVORS. Despite the terrible things that they have lived through, they are the happiest people alive and have been more kind to us than any other people in all the countries that we have visited. Secondly, it has made us appreciate how fortunate we are to have a full and healthy family, safe drinking water, libraries with books, free school(here most children can't afford to go to school, doctors and medicine, food to eat... the list goes on and on.

After having spent 2 rough days in PP we decided that we needed a break from skulls and headed down to the beach. That is where we are now and it is paradise! Tomorrow we're catching a boat to an Island where we are told that the beaches are empty and basically it will be our private island (with a handful of other tourists). Everynight we eat "BBQ" aka fresh grilled seafood consisting of baracuda, squid, red snapper, shrimp prawn... with potatoes, vegetables and salad. Ummmm it is so delicious. We really feel like we're on vacation now!

Once again, all is well! We are learning something new everyday and remembering everyone back home! We love you and miss you and are so grateful for your comments, emails, and love!

Peace,

Maggie and Mike

Good Morning Vietnam!

mikephall83 — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 14:47:00 GMT

Let us begin by saying that Vietnam is our favorite place visited as of yet! Anyhow, I believe we left off last in Mui Ne with the Sand Dunes and sledding. Well, the sand dunes were beautiful and sledding down them was exhilirating; however, getting there was a bit of a challenge. We signed up for the sunrise tour to watch the sunrise at the sand dunes and on the way there our jeep broke down. Imagine being in a jeep in the dark with no other cars on the road at 5am and our driver is cutting wires, with sparks flying to attempt to get our jeep to start up. I'm thinking, we're going to explode, but instead the jeep starts up.... that is for a few more miles until it breaks down again. This time the smell of gas is permeating everywhere and smoke is coming from the hood and we have missed the sunrise. The driver finally gives up on fixing the jeep and we decide to just walk to the dunes since we are about a mile away. The whole situation was quite humorous and we got a laugh out of it. The dunes were white in one area and orange and red in another area. I felt like we were in the desert of Egypt... it was surreal. Once we finished our tour of the dunes a new jeep had arrived... all was well.

We then made our way to Nha Trang which is a beach town with beautiful islands and mountains along the coast. Unfortunately, during most of our time in Nha Trang it was cloudy and rainy. We only got one day on the beach. But, we did have a nice spa day with a hot mud bath and a hot tub with mineral water from a hot spring. That was a relaxing day.

From there we headed even further north to Hoi An. Hoi An is a really neat place (our favorite in Vietnam) because the town is protected as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, so all of the old history of the area is preserved, dating back at far as the 8th century. There's a section of town that you have to get to by bridge and they don't allow motor bikes or cars so it's really quiet. The area was settled by Chinese, Japanese, and Vietnamese so their cultural influence makes Hoi An completely unique from any other city in Nam. Also it's a port city so, there have been many outside influences with all the trading networks formed at the port.

Outside of town there are some ruins from the Champa people that are as old as 800 AD.The interesting thing is all the buildings are made out of brick and the archaeologists dont know how they put them together because there is no mortar between the bricks! The theory is that they used some kind of plant oil and rubbed the bricks together to make a paste. Then they would set the building on fire to fuse it altogether.But they still aren't sure. Oh and more slanted commentary on the Americans. Evidently during the war the VC and North Vietnamese Army set up a military base where all the ruins are. Consequentially Nixon ordered that we drop a bunch of bombs on them and some of the ruins got destroyed. You can still see all the craters....big bombs! When the guides explain it, they blame the US for all the shit being destroyed but they dont consider the fact that if the VC would have respected their own heritage and not set up shop there, we wouldn't have been dropping bombs! Anyway...

Aside from all the history, Hoi An is known for its clothing. So Mike got 2 suits and a pair of dress shoes made for less than $200! Maggie got a suit, a pair of leather boots and several other articles of clothing made as well. We were like 2 kids in a candy shop. It was like no other shopping that we have ever experienced before. We picked the design, material, everything and then 24 hours later... ta da... a perfectly fitted article of clothing. It is absolutely amazing!

Currently, we are making our way up to Hanoi, and will head to Cambodia in just four days. Will check in soon! Please know that we are healthy, happy, and loving our journey! We love you all back home and think of you often!

Peace,

Maggie and Mike

Vietnam

mikephall83 — Mon, 3 Mar 2008 14:31:00 GMT

Well weve been in Vietnam for about 6 days now and it has been really great. We've been in Saigon most of the time, except for 2 days where we went on a southern tour of the Mekong Delta.This is the first place that we've been where we have stepped into the real culture and haven't been accomodated as tourists. Unlike Bali, a lot fewer people speak English and we aren't stuck in a tourist industry.Instead we are mixed in with the real culture. We see how they live,how they work, where they go to school and where they buy their groceries.Not surpizing but there are very few American tourists here. We've seen quite a bit of foreigners here but a lot of them are from Australia, Japan, and Germany. We've been getting some stares because of how tall and white we are and little kids seem to be fascinated by Mike's tatoos and beard!

Our first day here we went to the war remnants museum which was a very real and eye opening experience about the war. They have old American helicopters, planes, tanks, bombs, guns...you name it. But the photographs were what really hit home about how bad it was over here. There was a section about mutated babies from agent orange exposure, even 2 mutated fetuses in jars. Photos of napalm victims, bomb victims, all kinds of casualties. It's easy to understand why the war fucked up so many young men's heads. Interestingly, we refer to it as the Vietnam war and the Vietnamese refer to it as the American war. They also had a recent photo exhibit about the MAG (Mine Advisory Group) showing how the teams are going through villages in places like Cambodia,Angola,and Kosovo and clearing out land mines to make it safe for the people who live there.I guess Cambodia has a big mine problem from the time when Vietnam invaded in the 70's.

We also went on a trip to the Cu Chi tunnels, which is where a group of 16,000 south Vietnamese rebels/guerrillas were fighting for the VC against the US and south Vietnamese. They lived in tunnels and did all of their fighting by surprise attack (booby traps), popping in and out of the ground from tunnels. They also have a firing range where you can pay to fire some of the weapons from the war (Mike shot 10 rounds from an AK 47!) There was a group of 3 American vets in our tour group who came on a trip to Vietnam with their therapist. They all suffered from pretty bad Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and they came back here to face some of their old demons. The tunnels were difficult for them and walking through the bush, hearing the gunfire from the shooting range I'm sure freaked them out.But it's good because they are getting new memories from Vietman, hopefully to replace some of the bad ones. Talking with them about their views and opinions of the war then and now in Iraq was quite interesting.

Aside from the doom and gloom, the people in south Vietnam are very nice and always give you a smile and a wave.Its hard to believe that a war even happened here. Down in the Mekong Delta we got to see how people live by farming, fishing, and selling their products in the floating markets. You can find anything from toothpaste to tomatoes, clothes to carrots in those markets. It's really amazing! And they do it everyday!

We also went to temple where the people who worship there practice Cao Daism. It's a multi-denominational religion which started in the 30s and is a mix of Catholicism, Buddhism, and Hinduism. They pray to the respective statues of Jesus,Buddha, and the Hindu god and a humongous all seeing "eye" which is the main figure in the temple. There are nine levels to the temple, each level being one step closer to nirvana or heaven.It takes 5-10 years for a member to advance a level but there is nobody praying on the 9th level. On the 9th level there are 7 chairs; one for the pope and the others for the respective officials of the church.The chairs are empty because the pope died in Cambodia in the 70's and all the cardinals have also passed away. There hasn't been anybody "worthy" enough to take over the seats so they remain empty.During the prayer there were only 2 people praying at the 8th level so that goes to show how difficult it is to move up.

Tomorrow we move on to Mue Ne which is an area known for beaches and sand dunes. We were reading something about "sand sledding" which sounds like fun. More to report later!

Mike and Maggie

Gallery: Bali!

mikephall83 — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 17:04:00 GMT

Gallery: Australia

mikephall83 — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 16:45:00 GMT

Bali,Indonesia

mikephall83 — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 18:28:00 GMT

Hello Friends and Family-

It has been nearly two weeks that we have been on the tiny island of Bali. Bali is in Indonesia and is one of a few hundred islands. Indonesia is the most popular country for Islam and over 80% of the Country is Muslim, yet the island of Bali is has remained nearly completely Hindu. That means that the people here have prayer 3 times a day and continue to worship at the beautiful temples that we have visited throughout the island. Everyone here is very spiritual and often times you will see people with rice on their foreheads and that means that they have just finished their afternoon prayer.

One of my key observations of Bali is that it is a country completely set up on tourism. The entire island, every inch of it is geared to tourists with hotels and restaurants everywhere. However ,after the terrorist bombings of 2003 and 2005 from Muslims outside of Bali, tourism has absolutely fallen. Many times we are the only people in a restaurant eating and people are starving for business. Many people are shocked that we are Americans traveling here, b/c virtually all Americans have stopped traveling here out of fear of bombings. Therefore, the Balinese people are struggling very much to support themselves and are incredibly desperate for business which leads to pretty determined vendors.

But we have felt nothing but safe here and are enjoying the Hindu culture. On our second day here, Valentine's Day, we hired a private driver to take us to the very south part of the Island called Uluwatu where we watched a traditional Balinese Dance called the Kecak & Fire Dance. The dance was set outside the temple which was set on the cliff by the sea which was absolutely beautiful. The dance was accompanied by about 25 men that made grunting like noises to set a sort of beat. Like most, traditional Balinese dances the story included two lovers their struggles, the struggles of good verses evil with an underlying Hindu tone to it. We have since seen 2 more Balinese dances. All of which the girls do amazing eye movements and hand movements. There is little movement but every step and movement of the eyes is choreographed. After the performance we went out to eat to a restaraunt where we picked out all of our food from aquariums with live lobsters, crabs, fish etc. It was very delicious ( Enak in Bahasa, the local Indonesian language).

In Kuta, which is surfers paradise we have mainly been hanging out at the pool in our hotel. The beach is littered with trash and many vendors so we haven't spent much time there. Unfortunately, much of Bali is covered with litter and open dumps can be seen throughout the country. After a few days in Kuta we set off for Ubud, the cultural capital of Bali for some Culture of course. There we visited the monkey forest which is teaming with over 300 Monkeys. They were super cute especially the mamas that carried their baby in between their legs. Since I had my water bottle hanging from my purse the monkeys found the water swishing about in my purple bottle very fascinated and kept running up my legs to swat at it and try to get at it. This was very scary at first since monkeys were just running towards me and then up my legs. Once I realized they weren't going to hurt me I relaxed and we enjoyed our time there.

In Ubud we also went on a hike through the rice terrace fields. This was quite amazing and just felt great to get out of the city to a place where there were no honking motorcycles or tourists. Occasionally on the track we ran into people carrying rice or coconuts on their head to take into town to sell. We also saw farmers weeding their perfect rows of rice. The terraces are absolutely perfect in their symmetry and very efficient at provided the water for the rice to thrive. On our hike we ran into a very old man that offered to climb up a tall tree and bring us down a coconut which we drank. Of course he wanted money for his service, so we gave him the 50 cents he requested. So as you can see Bali is SUPER cheap!

From Ubud, we headed further North to Lovina, the place of black sand beaches. Lovina is also in the mounatains so the temperatures chilled out and we were actually able to see the beautiful forests that you imagine when you think of Indonesia. Everywhere else has experiences so much deforestation, but the North still has quite a bit of forest and mountains and volcanoes so the soil is very rich. Therefore, there is a ton of farming up there-- vegetables mainly. There were very few tourists in the north so we enjoyed the peace and quite and nature. It was here that we had out best Balinese experience and it was at "Warung Putu" Warung means something like a small food joint, kind of like cafe in english and Putu is the name of the owner. After having a wonderful dish of fresh Mahi Mahi for 2 dollars a plate we spoke with Putu about his love for cooking and ours as well. We shared interest in learning how to cook some Balinese food and he invited us to help him cook a Balinese dinner for us to enjoy the next night. The next night Mike showed up with camera in hand and I ready to start cooking. We made duck, corn fritters, a vegetable dish with coconut milk, sprouts, green beans, and black rice pudding. At the end of it I was sweating like a pig and so hungry that the food tasted the best that I had every had! We were so grateful that Putu shared a bit of his culture with us for free and with so much love for what he was doing. And the food was the best that we have tasted since our time in Bali.

So, that leads me to now. We're back in Bali, waiting to flyout to Vietnam in just a few days. Unfortunately, Mike has run into some bad food and is stuck in the room close to the toilet for now. Hoping it will pass soon, we're taking it easy and resting up for Vietnam.

Overall, we're enjoying our time here with a lot of relaxation and trying to take everything in as best we can with open hearts and minds. We will keep you all posted with anything new and love you and miss you all!

Peace,

Maggie and Mike

Aussie Part 2

mikephall83 — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 18:49:00 GMT

I think when we left off last we were going to the Hunter Valley to do some wine tasting. Well we have done that and so much more! The Hunter Valley is where most Australian wines come from. We went down for 3 days and stayed at a pretty cool hostel down there where we were the only people not picking grapes. It was crazy!...on our first day that we arrived the whole place was empty..kind of a cabin-like joint in the middle of the valley. We thought we were the only people staying there until late in the afternoon the whole hostel was flooded by dirty,muddy, stinky grape pickers! Maybe they were a little jealous that we were there on holiday tasting wine and they were breaking their backs in the fields all day! Oh well....we got to tell them how great the wine was! The wine famous in this region is Semillon, which is a super fruity white grape with a really clean and crisp flavor, somewhat similar to Sauv Blanc.Our tour consisted of 4 wineries (one of which specialized in sparkling wines)a cheese tasting, and a free BBQ dinner at the local Irish Pub.

While in the Hunter Valley we checked out their local zoo which was very cool. They had a big pen full of baby kangaroos and emus that you could feed out of an ice cream cone and cuddle with. Kangaroos are so soft! One of the other highlights was the koala that they pulled out of its pen so you could pet it and take photos.The koala was so amazingly friendly, we were just waiting for it to start talking to us! (We actually had an interesting conversation with the koala about American politics...he was quite informed for a koala!)

Our next adventure included a surf camp with our totally rad stoner surfing instructor that mad fun of us for looking like fairies while we were attempting to surf.That shits hard man! But overall we did pretty good...we caught a few waves (standing up of course). But by the end of the day we were worn out as hell!

Then the Blue Mountains.What can I say...waterfalls out the wazoo, breathtaking views of Grand Canyon-like valleys and tons of lizards and parrots running wild! And the mountains(well more like canyons) really are blue! We stayed in a little town called Katoomba at the coolest hostel ever (thanks Sage for the awesome recommendation!)It was really chill and a great place to unwind. Tomorrow we head out for Bali! Gotta go! Running out of time! Try to stay warm back home! We miss ya and love ya!

Maggie and Mike

Aussie!

mikephall83 — Mon, 4 Feb 2008 14:36:00 GMT

Gday mates! How ya goin? We're here in Australia havin'a heap of a good time!So no worries mate!

It's Super Bowl monday here (we're 17 hours ahead so we watched the fourth quarter of the game live at 1:00 in the afternoon.)We went to the pub here in Sydney, had some feesh and cheeps and watched the Giants cruise on to victory!Hell yeah!

Aussie has been really great since we've been here.(Except our first night)When we flew in to Sydney we were staying at a hostel called Mates Place. It's in the King's Cross district of Sydney which is where our travel book said "all the backpackers go to" Well come to find out its the fucking red light district of Sydney! We new what to expect. Loads of hookers, homeless drunks, backpackers, cheap food and beer and bars.And more bars. And more backpackers. Anyway the place that we stayed might as well have been a frickin dumpster because it was disgusting!Dirty sheets, dirty hostel rats (people who stay in hostels for weeks at a time, sit around all day doing nothing, sleep until 3 in the afternoon only to wait until night time so they can get wasted and keep everybody awake until 6 o'clock in the morning)and a shared bathroom that had all types of scum and mold growing all over it.With the combination of the loud assholes in our 8 person shared room, the drunks yelling at each other outside, the homeless guy playing guitar on the streets serenading the tourists with his rendition of Wonderwall by Oasis every 20 minutes, one could have gotten more rest sleeping in a gutter with a 10 dollar hooker on crack than we got that night.Needless to say we got a refund and got out of there pronto!

The rest of our time here has been awesome. Our first full day in Sydney we did the touristy stuff....guided walk around the city, the harbor bridge, Sydney Opera house etc.(Pics coming soon.) And we stayed at a very nice clean and friendly accomodation in the city center.After that we flew to Cairns which is the jumping off point for the Great Barrier Reef. We went on a snorkeling trip there which was nice. Heaps (they says heaps instead of lots)of coral, big parrot fish, giant clams,sting rays, pretty nice. We went on a 2nd trip that was a lot better. Anyway after that we headed north to Cape Tribulation which is a beautiful rainforest in northern Australia.It was incredible! Lush rainforest area where we went on a river cruise and saw 3 crocs, tree frogs,and giant fruit bats all in the wild!

Our 2nd snorkel trip on the reef was amazing! We swam with green sea turtles, white tip sharks (they're harmless moms so no worries!)sting rays, Nemos,lionfish,and tons of other stuff.

Our next move is to the Hunter Valley for a 3 day wine tour. All is well, and we're having a blast!Cheers!

Mike & Maggie

5 year anniversary

mikephall83 — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 15:32:00 GMT

Kia Ora-

Currently I'm sitting her at an internet cafe in Aukland NZ. The smell of urine is so strong I'm going to make this fast.

Just wanted to say thanks to all of you that keep commenting and sending emails. We love to hear news of home, especially when KU is doing so well and the weather that there is snow. Of course I have quite a nice tan by now and have been hanging out at the beaches almost daily.

Tonight Mike and I will celebrate our 5 year anniversary by going out to a nice Indian Restaraunt and spoiling ourselves with lots of wine and dessert. Oh and we also splurged for the double room for some privacy... the dorm just didn't seem appropriate.

Travel is going well. We are just waiting to head to Australia and hopefully will catch a flight to Cairns a city near the Great Barrier Reef to do some snorkeling, scuba diving, and surfing. NZ has been great and of course we don't have near enough time to check everything out so hope to return some day!

Cool things to share:

Here they have the half and whole flush toilet levers. Half flush for #1 and full flush for # 2. It's a water conservation thing. Pretty neat huh? Also the most common phrases are "Choice" which means cool and "Getting Pissed" which means bloody drunk.. Also the vibes here are so chill that anything goes, "No worries" is so commonly used and it's true here. Things seem very safe and the people are genuinely kind and relaxed. Plus it's incredibly hip to be sustainable and you see green practices everywhere! I love it!

So talk later. Love you and Miss you all!

Maggie

Gallery: Abel Tasman

mikephall83 — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 15:25:00 GMT

Wellington, Abel Tasman

mikephall83 — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 17:52:00 GMT

Spent 2 days in Wellington. We went to the Te Papa museum which is the national museum of NZ. There was a lot about how NZ was formed by plate tectonics, earthquakes, etc. and a lot about the Maori history, which is the native tribe here. Also went on a half day Lord of the Rings tour which was pretty cool. We got to see 8 locations from shoots in the 3 films including Hobbiton Forest, Minnis Tirreth, Helms Deep, and Rivendell. We're excited to watch the movies to see all those places on the screen.

After Wellington we went to Abel Tasman National Park. We hiked 25 miles over 4 days. Needless to say afterwards our feet were very tired and blistered.(Mike's anyway!)Each campsite that we stayed at was a beautiful beach, next to an estuary which had to be crossed at low tide. On our first day walking to our second camp we collected about 50 clams and made a very nice seafood and sausage jambalaya.The next day was fucking crazy! We heard that there was bad weather coming and we got stuck in the middle of a huge storm. We ended up making one of the crossings just after high tide in pouring rain and water that was about waste deep. 5 hours and 7 kilometers later we arrived at our camp soaking wet and ready to pass out!But the sun came out, the sky cleared up and the weather the rest of the time was great.

The track itself was across the coastal mountains in Abel Tasman. Through rainforest, rocky terrain, and beautiful beaches. It's pretty much paradise!And like the first day, we were able to collect fresh seafood at every beach.Mussels the size of your hand! And all free, as much as you can grab!

Toward the end we were pretty tired but we made it to the end and are now relaxing.Tomorrow we head to Nelson to hang out for a few days. We're pretty excited because the hostel we are staying at has free bikes so we can cruise around town and check it out.We're also looking into booking a fishing trip if it isn't too expensive.Blue cod and grouper perhaps?

More photos will be posted when we get Auckland and computer time is cheaper.Til next time!

Maggie and Mike

Gallery: Auckland

mikephall83 — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 14:30:00 GMT

The City, The Cave, and The Possum

mikephall83 — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 14:00:00 GMT

Well, now that we have done a few things we can write about them. Our first 2 days were spent in Auckland which isn't bad for a big city but we were ready to get out. If I could compare it to anywhere back home it would probably be Chicago. A big city that doesn't really feel too overwhelming and is easy to navigate. In our time there we went to the beach and roasted in the sun for a few hours, got lost on a bus ride and met a lot of cool people in our hostel bar.It seemed that most people in the area where we were staying were just partying and drinking too much either on their way in to NZ or leaving.

Once we left Auckland it started to feel more like what you would imagine of NZ. We traveled 3 hours south to Waitomo where we stayed a little lodge in the hills called Juno Lodge.THis was a very cool place that was secluded and quiet with beautiful scenery of the surrounding hills.It was also the jumping off point for our caving adventure. As part of our adventure we repelled down 3 times(once into a waterfall) army crawled through tiny little holes, squeezed through tight little crevaces, checked out the glowworms as they lit up a pitch black cavern and did a little rock climbing to get out. It was easily on of the coolest things you could ever do. I think we were underground for a total of 3 hours.

That evening we went to the local pub for a pint or two. I had the most insane burger i think Ive ever encountered.It was called the Crusty Burger. 1/2 lb burger patty, steak strips, fried egg, bacon, lettuce, tomato, cheese, beets, and ketchup with fries.

When we went to sleep that night we had a crazy encounter with a creature of the night. At about 4 in the mornin we were awaken by a growl outside of our tent like nothing we had ever heard. It was a growl that started high pitch and sort of shrill and ended with a low rumble. This went on for about an hour as we lay there trying to figure out what the fuck was out there and whether or not it was going charge our tent and attack us. We figured out that it wasn't a large animal by the sound of it so after awhile I got out to investigate. What happened was it turned out to be a NZ possum sounding it's mating call about 5 feet from out tent. I shined my light on it and it stood up on its hind legs and stared at me. They are actually kinda cute. About the size of a racoon with a big fuzzy tail. They are vegetarian and completely harmless. But they sound scary as hell! Anyway I guess the reason why it was by out tent was b/c we were near a fruit tree where it was probably eating.

Right now we are in in transit in a city called Hamilton, on our way 8 hours south to Wellington. We will be there for a few days before we go hike the Abel Tasman Track for 4 days. I don't know if we can write again before then or not, but we will have plenty to tell afterwards.

We are having an awesome time will try to make everyone as jelous as possible while we are gone.Til next time. Cheers!

P.S.- Photos will be really slow b/c since both of our cameras shoot at such a high resolution, we have to resize them and post them and that takes forever when you pay $2 for 20 minutes of computer time.sorry!

New Zealand.....Finally!

mikephall83 — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 09:13:00 GMT

Ok so we are here at our hostel in Auckland....after 30 hours of flights and wanting to kill ourselves with a 10 hour layover at LAX, we made it! We don't really have much to tell yet other than we were really excited to take a shower and brush our teeth when we got here. This afternoon we are planning on taking a stroll through downtown Auckland to see what this place is all about and come back to the hostel for a free dinner of Fish N' Chips.No pictures yet. They will probably ebb and flow on the site whenever we have the time to actually load them. Anyway...Cheers! We'll post another message soon!

Mike & Maggie

Welcome!

mikephall83 — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 05:10:00 GMT

Welcome to our World Adventure blog page! We are currently flying to New Zealand! Aukland here we come.. our upcoming adventure is caving in Waitomo with glow worms. Yee haw!