Two Love Birds Head Out To Spoil Their Wedding With An Early Honeymoon

Photos: numbers

proneymooners — Thu, 1 May 2014 13:26:00 GMT

Photos: Siagon

proneymooners — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 20:27:00 GMT

That's All Folks: Final Numbers

proneymooners — Sun, 1 May 2011 01:06:00 GMT

177: Total length of our trip (in days).

9: Number of countries we visited.

4,414: Number of pictures taken. Now we have not really gone through them yet and that number will come down, but you might want to bring a pillow with you to see our slideshow!

30: Number of flights.

5,565: Number of minutes spent flying. That is equal to 92 hours or 3.9 days!

39,556: Number of miles flown. That is equal to 1.5 times around the earth!

30: Number of airports visited. Some of the best were: Delhi, Hong Kong, Bangkok, and Siem Reap in Cambodia. The worst was Kathmandu without question.

10: Temperature of our coldest day, which was in Nepal

100: Temperature of hottest day, which was in Australia

25: Number of books we read. It was fun to swap and trade as we went along.

25: Number of UNESCO World Heritage Sites visited. Although World Heritage sites are not very well know in the U.S., around the world having something listed by UNESCO is much more significant and always leads to a disproportionate admission cost. UNESCO provides sites with the top level of preservation for natural or historical areas deemed important by the UN.

4: Number of times we paid for laundry. We did a lot of washing in sinks!

Thousands: Number of pictures we are in taken by locals mainly on their cell phones trying to be sly. We are sure that if you were to Google "Weird Western Tourists I saw today," our picture would come up.

79: Number of postcards written.

0: Number of other Americans we met who were on a work vacation. Everybody had quit their job or was in school. This in comparison to the many European we saw who get 3 or 4 week off from work and can travel to distance places such as Asia.

93: Number of days one of us was on drugs. At times we were on Malaria pills, Diamox for the altitude, or antibiotics for various bugs we picked up along the way.

2: Number of days of snow in our 6 months. We figure we will get enough of winter when we move to Minnesota that we could miss one this year.

42: Number of different beds slept in. Overall the quality was very high, just a couple of times did we really need our sleeping bag.

50: Number of times we had to pack and unpack. The month while in our campervan in NZ was so great as we didn't have to pack up!

Worlds Largest...That we saw on the trip. One of the joys of traveling was just running into odd things like these below. Who knew...

17,000: Elevation in feet of the highest internet cafe in the world near Everest Base Camp. Travis's mom happily logged on!

20: Length in feet of the barrel on the worlds largest cannon on wheels. This puppy was located in India and used to shoot a 100lb cannon ball!

14,000: Number of silver coins melted to make the worlds largest silver object. The object is an urn that was made to carry holy water from the Ganges in India all the way to England. It is over 5ft tall and has a 15ft circumference.

90: Height in feet of the worlds largest sundial, which is located in India.

710: Number of square miles of the worlds largest sand island which is Fraser Island in Australia.

1,600: Number of miles of the worlds largest living organism, the Great Barrier Reef in Australia.

19: Degrees of the worlds steepest street located in New Zealand, and believe us that it lives up to its title.

5,300: Number of feet of the tallest cliff in the world located in Milford Sound. The top of the peak to the left is over a mile above sea level and rock face all the way down. Weird to think that water boils at a different temperature at the top than at the bottom.

1,600: Number of feet of the worlds tallest hotel which is in Hong Kong. We did not stay there.

2,600: Number of feet of the longest escalator in the world located in Hong Kong. Something like 40,000 people take it daily to commute down/up the hills.

16,640: Elevation of the highest train in the world which we took into Tibet.

Thanks again to everybody who followed us on our world tour. Until next time...

T&V

More Pictures Online

proneymooners — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 23:10:00 GMT

We are officially home and nursing sensitive stomachs after getting food poisoning the night before flying home. Thanks for going out with a bang China! We are having the delay our Chipotle eating frenzy until we fully recover. Below are a few more link to pictures on the last leg of our time in China.

Lhasa:

https://picasaweb.google.com/108055633292560731377/Lhasa#

Shangri-La:

https://picasaweb.google.com/108055633292560731377/ShangriLaAndTigerLeapingGorge#

More to come later,

T&V

Putting The Dragon To Rest

proneymooners — Sun, 24 Apr 2011 23:09:00 GMT

After Lhasa, we flew to a mere 10,000 feet and landed in Shangri-La. This is a city know originally as Zhongdian and used to be rather ordinary until the governing bodies realized that there was tourism bucks in the name made famous from James Hilton's novel. So they changed the name a few years back, claiming to be the exact location of the FICTIONAL novel. The town is not the paradise you might have expected. Maybe we were there at the wrong time of year as it was still very cold and brown, but even at the best time to be there it would not be our pick for capturing our Shangri-La. We did though find a great "Western Run" cafe where we had the best French Toast this side of the Himalayas!

Since leaving Lhasa we have been slowly working our way through the Southern Yunnan Province one long bus ride at a time. Like Lhasa, the Yunnan is full of tribal people so visually it is very interesting. Walking through the streets of the various towns we have passed through has revealed different tribal dresses and our many hours on the buses have made us privy to their heavy agricultural way of life. Fields being harvested, hand ploughed, hand planted, day in and out. It is something to admire and be in awe of and hope will remain as China quickly moves into the modern age.

We enjoyed a rest from the cities and Chinese tourists by spending a few days hiking through the Tiger Leaping Gorge. After our first afternoon of hiking we came to a beautiful guesthouse with a fantastic view overlooking the gorge and 18,000ft peaks which could be enjoyed from their dining room, decks, or toilet, your pick. Our next day was a full days hike out but as we set off we found ourselves walking on a road. Having thought we were "in the middle of nowhere" getting the "real deal" experience as the Lonely Planet had told us about, we were a bit surprised to find a road. A great deal can change in China in just two years and not always for the better. Perhaps when our 2009 guidebook was researched this was nature at its best but it is now made a bit less natural by the numerous roads leading to the hiking trails that will inevitably shuttle Chinese tourists up and down racking in more money whenever possible. China certainly is a concept and we are glad we got a glimpse into it but it does not leave you warm and fuzzy inside.

We are now less than two days away from our departure date and are ready to board our plane. We are getting a little "China-ed out" and can almost taste the guacamole on our awaiting Chipotle burritos. Until we return and can crank out our final "By the Numbers," enjoy a few figures from China:

26: Number of days in China

3,000: Number of concubines buried with Emperor Qin who was also responsible for creating the whole Terra Cotta Army (this guy sure knew how to go out with a bang)

50: The percentage of the world's concrete that is in use, is in China

1977: Year the Terra Cotta Warriors were first unearthed after being burried for 2,000 years

$.20: Cost of a half-liter of pineapple beer purchased at Walmart (and we even went for a step above the Great Value brand which was even cheaper)

3,750: Number of miles the Great Wall spans (just for comparison sakes, our drive around the South Island of NZ was only 2,625 miles)

40,000: Number of fingers lost in factory accidents in 2004 in the Pearl River Delta (a Lonely Planet factoid)

6,000: Pounds of gold used to make the burrial stuppa of the fifth Dali Lama resting in the Potala Palace in Lhasa, Tibet

48: Number of hours we spent on trains in China

1,032: Number of pages in our China Lonely Planet (and we have been lugging it around since Laos, 4 months ago)

16: Number of authors who researched, wrote and updated the most recent addition of the China Lonely Planet (our other LP guide books generally had 1-3 authors; China is a beast to tackle)

$1.20: Cost of a good 610mL beer

$7.70: Cost of the least expensive place we stayed in China, and no, it wasn't a dump

$77: Cost of the most expensive place we stayed in China; it was worth every penny and we felt like royalty. Ironically it was the night following our least expensive stay, but that was purely a coincidence.

Over and out from across the world one final time.

T&V

Pictures from Xi'An

proneymooners — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 23:51:00 GMT

https://picasaweb.google.com/108055633292560731377/XiAnPhotos?feat=directlink

Man, We Sure Could Go For Some...

proneymooners — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 22:34:00 GMT

No matter how long you travel for, there are always some things that you miss that you start getting excited for as your arrival home approaches. Well, we have been getting quite excited about a few things, some of which we just started missing and others of which we have literally been craving since the first day (see #1 on the list). Surely had we gone home right after New Zealand our list would be about two items long but because we were submerged back into unfamiliarity (i.e. 3rd World) again for the final stretch, our list has grown. Here is is, in no particular order except for #1 of course...

1. A Chipotle Burrito loaded with guacamole

2. Margaritas

3. Ben and Jerry's (you can guess who put this on the list)

4. Maple Syrup (same as #3)

5. Buying an ice cream cone and not having to share it (they were so expensive in Australia and New Zealand that we always had to share a cone and it is just not the same)

6. Homemade Breakfasts

7. Yogurt and Granola

8. Breakfast at Snooze (the best breakfast join in Colorado and maybe all the world)

9. Running (though it may not be that great when we have to run for the first time in 6 months at 6,000 feet)

10. NOT eating every meal out (it gets really hard to choose where to eat 3 times a day)

11. Good driving

12. Not having to pack and unpack

13. Clean clothes and ones we haven't been wearing the last 6 months straight

14. Safe, good meat

15. Fresh vegetables

16. Non-greasy or fried foods

17. Good safe water

18. Real toilets that we can put toilet paper in and sit down on

19. Whole wheat!!

20. Home made baked goods (baking for that matter in general)

21. Not wearing our valuable around our necks

22. Not being stared at all the time

23. Conditioner and a hair brush (Victoria sacrificed weight by bringing 2 in 1 and a comb and her hair that once was short and happy with 2 in 1 is no longer either)

24. Titus tuna (only Travis misses this, but for those who are unfamiliar it involves a LOT of mayo, hard boiled eggs, and a few other things...oh, and tuna).

25. Good clean air

26. And of course, the recorded voice of the Denver Mayor as you take the train in the Denver Airport from the terminal to baggage claim. That is when we will finally know that we are home.

T&V

p.s. Anyone who can help with any of the above items we will forever be grateful for!

Why we don't like Yak Butter

proneymooners — Sun, 17 Apr 2011 19:02:00 GMT

Howdy from Tibet! Wow is it hard to breath up here or is it just us? Lhasa is at over 12,000ft but below the snowline and also timberline so there is little to convince us we were this high other than just going up the stairs.

We began the trip to Lhasa on the train that started in Xi'An and the first day was mostly less than spectacular scenery and time was spend checking out the different cars and getting to know our bunk mates. Although the train was quite long with over a dozen cars, we were in 1 of 2 'soft sleeper' cars where there are ONLY 4 people in a room each with a small mattress. Most of the people on the train were in 'hard sleeper' cars which had 6 to a room and even more where just in seats like a plane. Our spot was well worth the extra bucks.

One of our bunkmates was a Chinese gentleman who seemed to sleep most of the trip and the only time we heard him talk was when he was excitedly yelling at us in Mandarin about seeing some antelope-looking animal out the window. He also got off the train at 2am. Our other roomie was a tourist born in Zimbabwe and worked for a gas company in Qatar. We was just a few years older than us and was a great companion to help pass the hours. We were curious to learn about growing up in Africa and also what living in an extremely wealthy desert was like.

Two cars down was the dinner car where there was no English but just a poster of 6 or so dishes we could choose from to eat. We did the old point and shoot method and got some tofu and also a chicken dish. Just after finishing, some lady with poor English told us we had to leave and go back 'home,' which we took to mean our bunks. It was around 2pm and the dinning car had big windows and a table to play cards on and we didn't really want to leave nor could we figure out why we were being dismissed. Other people (Chinese) where sitting there and didn't have to leave. But not wanting to be tossed off the train in the middle of Tibet, we slumped back home.

But all was not lost as we had a big window in our room and could comfortably sit or lay down. By the time we went to sleep, the landscape was starting to look like a brown plain with hills in the distance and salt lakes scattered about. It also had started to snow. To make sure we got a good nights rest we both popped an Ambian and warned out friend that if we started acting crazy, it was probably the sleeping pill talking.

We awoke after a sound slumber to a total white-out. A couple of inches had coated the plateau overnight and now the sun was shinning and distant mountains could be seen. That is the way we like to start the day! During the night we had also passed the high point, going over a 16,000ft pass making this the highest railroad in the world. When we awoke, we figured we were still over 15,000ft and remained so for some time. John from Zimbabwe got an oxygen mask from the crew and plugged into one of the many outlets in our room!

After another awkward lunch in the dinning car and seeing lots of yaks out the window, we began to see Lhasa in the distance. The city supposedly has a population of 400,000, 80% being Chinese that have moved there and turned what used to be an idyllic, Holy town into one big shopping mall. Up until 1950 Tibet was its own region from China and the Dali Lama was the political and spiritual leader living at the grand Potala Palace in Lhasa. Those days feel long gone though we were there to get a peak into the Tibetan culture that can be found in pockets before it is all gone.

At the moment, Tibet feels like a military show. We had to get expensive permits just to get to Lhasa, join a tour with a guide, stay in a less than great hotel for too much, and look away when soldiers march around with huge guns. There are few places in the world where you can see religious pilgrims prostrate in front of monasteries with tread-bare clothing and knee pads as they bow down and then right behind them are heavily armed men making a show by marching around 'keeping the peace.' At times it was hard to take in.

The Chinese military has been patrolling the Tibetan quarter of town since the 19XX protest where there was serious violence as the Tibetans where upset their city, holy leader, and way of life were being totally destroyed. Since then, the major square near the most popular monastery was "improved" by the Chinese, which in reality meant that it was widened and new stone laid to allow military vehicles to drive in if need be. One night we had dinner on the major square on the second floor and could see no less than dozens of soldiers on rooftops around the monastery looking down as the Tibetans make their circuits around the holy site. On top of that, they had video cameras everywhere as surveillance and we were told that some of the beggars where actually police spies and could sometimes be seen on cell phones reporting back on what they heard on the streets. While walking the circuit with our guide, we where asking seemingly innocent questions and often she would say that we can't talk about that here...

So with that little rant out of the way, we can talk about the positive parts of Lhasa. Our tour group consisted of ourselves, a fun Argentinean man named Oscar, and our Tibetan guide. In English, our guide's name translated into "Friday" and that was a lot easier to say so we stuck with that. At the age of 5 she had left Lhasa for schooling in Kathmandu and then went on to India for college as part of a program for "refugee" Tibetans in the northern Indian town where the Dali Lama now lives. She returned to Lhasa just a few years ago to take care of her parents; it was pretty clear she did not want to be there but family is important and she is an only child so that is her duty so to speak. We can't say we blame her, while she was in Nepal and India, Lhasa turned into China Town...but we won't go there again.

Watching the Tibetan people, most of whom had traveled many days to get to Lhasa, as they circled holy sites in droves was worth every hour on the train. Our guide told us that you can tell where in Tibet they had come from by their clothing. Some had bright wool clothes and long hair with beads everywhere and looked quite ratty while others had on what would pass for Sunday church in Texas: nice leather or felt cowboy hats and blazers for the men, long skirts for the ladies and a Tibetan boot. But no matter what corner of the region they came from, they all had a smile on their face and were deep into chanting or spinning prayer wheels and most often both. While walking with them you could feel for a second that you where no longer in China full of fashion shops and construction cranes or around the rather rude Chinese folk. What was also amazing was that these Tibetans now have to cross busy roads to get around and are surrounded by the largest standing army in the world making sure they don't "act up" and yet they seem to be so happy. Buddha must be something powerful!

Also on the list was going just out of town to an active monastery where we could see monks debating. Now this is something that everybody has to observe sometime in their life. Six days a week, monks of all different ages head out to the courtyard to debate the Holy Scriptures. To get an idea of what they are discussing, our guide told us that one might have to take the side that the world is empty while the other takes the other side and debate based on what they have learned so far from scriptures. We are not talking about any old debate though, they can often last for months until one has no more of an argument. Our guide told us that it is very unwise to argue with a monk, you will never win!

As we approached, we could hear all this chatter and what sounded like loud slapping! Inside were hundreds of monks in pairs mostly. One is seated on a cushion and is kind of like the receiver of the debate. The other is standing and is the driver. He is almost yelling and every few seconds he would raise his hand and come down hard, slapping his other hand as he was making his argument. BAM! And then it was up to the seated guy to try and rebut the claim. Back and forth they would go, the standing guy often would begin to wear a hole into the ground from planting his foot hard as he came forward with his point. We sat for a long time watching, taking it all in. We took a few videos as that is the only way to understand what it is like. It was GREAT!

Next on the list was to see the Big Daddy of Lhasa, the Potala Palace. Just Google a picture of it and you will begin to understand the scale of it. It was a palace built first in the 7th century and then expanded by the "Great" 5th Dali Lama (the current one is the 14th) on a hill right in the heart of Lhasa. The 350 steps up to the entrance just about killed us and then there were many smaller staircases within the complex that were extremely steep and narrow to keep us breathing hard the whole time. Since the 1950 "liberation" the Dali Lama fled to India and left the Potala Palace for the Chinese to turn into a tourist attraction. What once used to be the head of all things Buddhist is now void of any religious importance and costs a chunky $15 per person to see. Oh and you only get 1 hour to see the 1,000 rooms (but the clock does start AFTER you make it up the initial stairs)! The time limit is because there are so many people that want to see the palace in addition to the Tibetans who come to pray there. Even though this is the slack period for tourism in Lhasa, it was packed and we were ready to leave when our hour came up. One can only take so much Chinese crowds in dingy, small rooms that smell bad already. And that brings us to our blog title ...

The Yak is everything to the Tibetans. They use them to haul goods, eat the meat (Travis had a Yak stew for lunch one day), use the fur for clothing, make cheese that is mostly eatable, but they also make yak butter. While we were in Nepal we had seen yak cheese and small quantities of the butter (for your toast) but were we totally unprepared for how much it is used here. And we are not just talking about it as something for bread, the Lhasa specialty drink is warm yak butter tea (we passed), but more than that it us used for religious purposes too and this is why we are officially done with all things yak butter.

First, let us discuss the smell of yak butter. We have thought about it for a while and think it is best described as regular butter that has started to go bad and then it is doused with cat urine. On the streets, we would walk by HUGE, like 20lb rolls of the stuff sitting out which they would sell small buckets of to the locals for their visits to the monasteries. Apparently it is good luck to slop the melted butter on the already precarious stone steps which made you reach for the handrail, also quite slick, and didn't help as we were gulping for air climbing the stairs and nearly passing out from the stench. Next, in these small rooms inside that housed shrines there would be one or more candles that burn just on yak butter. But these candles where in 3ft wide basins that had many wicks in them that stuck in the half melted butter that people would add to when they went by. We saw many people carrying large thermoses and in them was melted yak butter that they would pour into the holy vats. Some must have had 20 gallons of liquid/congealed yak fat in them, now smelling like burnt cat piss. We would not make for good Buddhists.

Lhasa and Tibet are places that should be seen but it is also important to know what it will be like. We hope that this helps. Go soon too before it is too late and bring a gas mask!

Off to fly over the Himalayas to Southwest China to find Shangri-la.

T&V

p.s. Again, sorry if the formatting and such is really strange. The typing kept switching between languagues...fun stuff.

This Place is Really Old

proneymooners — Thu, 14 Apr 2011 23:50:00 GMT

We decided to change up our mode of transportation yet again and in anticipation of some long flights ahead of us we took an overnight train from Beijing to Xi'An. It was quite slick and we actually had enough time to get a full night's sleep. When we awoke at 8am in the Xi'An train station we were relatively well rested and ready to take on a new city.

Yet again, luck was on our side and low and behold a sign with "Travis Titus" came into view as we waded through all the people outside the train station waiting to pick up their friends and family. We were whisked off to the hostel and before 9am we had our room, and were enjoying a complimentary cup of coffee with a delicious American breakfast of eggs, toast, fruit, and juice. With some food in our bellies we were ready to take on our next big feat. Getting our permits to get into Tibet. China was in a way the big ugly stepsister of our trip. It was at the end of our trip and therefore more difficult to plan and book since it was so far away, the visa process was one that we couldn't start until shortly before leaving for China, it was one of the few countries neither of us had been to, and we knew very few people who had been there either who could offer advice. So we ignored the problem until about two days before our departure from Auckland when we finally had our China visas in our hands. This is very unlike us and not at all in the style of the way we had traveled thus far, but we were both intimidated by China and all it had to offer and didn't know where to begin. A big part of that problem was going to Tibet. Another BIG unknown. Our original plan of trying to get a permit and go without a guide didn't seem to be working, so we were forced into "plan" B which could be equally unsucessful but was worth a shot. We spent the next 5+ hours working with "Betty" at our hostel to get our Tibet permits, train tickets, and a flight out of Tibet. You of course need a flight or way out to get the permit but didn't want to get that before you knew you had the permit. Quite a tricky line we had to walk but it was there way or the highway so we got our tickets, crossed our fingers, and went out to see the city that was just outside our door. It was sunny and warm and we were itching to get out and enjoy the day!

Xi'An is a city of only 4 million, so just over one-fourth the size of Beijing and much more manageable to walk around. In Beijing we had to walk 30 minutes just to get to the subway. In Xi'An we just had to walk outside our door and things were awaiting us. Our hostel was located just inside the city wall which is not like a little fence someone puts in their backyard to separate their property from their neighbors. This is a huge, tall, thick wall made of brick that is 14 km all the way around. It circles the old city area though todays city has pushed well past the gates. We walked the busy streets full of families and young folks enjoying their weekend, past the various bell and drum towers along the wall to the Muslim quarter. Immediately the smells changed from the ones we associated with Chinese food and plugged our nose for to new smells of food we might actually want to eat! We were both very excited for the change and wandered around looking at all the street food, dried fruits, breads, etc. that were being sold along the road. Long ago, Xi'An was the end of the Silk Road which may be the reason there is a Muslim congreation that has settled here.

We strolled around and splurged on a 50 cent soft serve ice cream from McDonalds to eat while sitting in a nearby park. Our view from the park included lots and lots of brightly colored flowers that were lovely as well as two McDonalds, two Starbucks, a KFC, and a Baskin Robins. Are you sure we are in China? Oh yes, there is a little boy peeing on the street through his open croch pants...Turns out the Chinese are more environmentally conscientious than we had given them credit for and don't use disposable or reusable diapers. Nope, they put their kids in pants with an open seam from the front to the back so whenever they have the need to go they can just squat and do exactly that. Perfect! It is pretty funny to walk through the streets seeing little baby butts hanging out. The idea does seem to have its virtues in that it seems that kids here are potty trained at a much younger age than back home and as mentioned before, diapers are one less thing going into their landfills. Rebecca and Jeromy, we can bring you back a pair if you would like?

Hard to beat a day in the park, but we had come to Xi'An for other reasons. People come here for one reason, the Terra Cotta Warriors, and we were not about to miss them. The next morning we boarded a bus with 12 others from our hostel and our Chinese tour guide Jah Jah. Words don't quite describe our day both in terms of the warriors and our lovely guide, but it was well worth it. Seeing 2000 year old artifacts that were just discovered 30 years ago by a farmer trying to dig a well is amazing and hard to even wrap your head around. The history here is so old and just being uncovered it is interesting to think what they will unearth next. The Terra Cotta Army, 8000 Warriors strong, was built by an emporor so that he would be protected when he died. This along with his 3,000 concubines would keep him happy and safe. And just for extra measure he also had a "river of mercury" surrounding his body. Just in case, you know.

The warriors were each made by hand by an army of hundreds of thousands of laborers. Each face was unique though since it was the face of the artists who made it. No detail was overlooked. You could look at the type of shoes the warrior was wearing and know what class they were in, the bottoms of their shoes would tell you if they were married or not, and the type of armor they wore as well as their top knots could tell you their position in the army. Only one of the 8,000 wariors, a knealing archer, was found intact. All of the others that have been restored were put back together from various pieces found at the site. They think it will probably take at least another 100 years of work to assemble the rest of the army.

After a full day of taking in the warriors and trying to grasp the idea that we spent the day among 2000 year old artifacts, we got to enjoy Jah Jah serenade us with Chinese lulabies on our ride back. Fortunately our names are too hard to remember so she picked on Tom, another person in our group, to sing English songs to us all. She may have been half the size of Travis, but boy was she a little firecracker so Tom had little choice but to oblige. It was a memorable day and Jah Jah will probably be what we remember most from that day rather than the Warriors. Sad but true.

Having accomplished our most important goal in the city we decided to stretch our legs and head up onto the wall for a better view of the city. Unfortunately the city was yet again in a cloud of smog, but it was apparent that the outside had the new ugly modern buildings and the inside of the wall was full of old traditional buildings. A stark contrast, but it made for excellent sightseeing as we biked along the cobblestone wall on our rented tandem bike. Every once in a while we would pull over and see a flattenend lot getting ready for construction on the outside, and a beautiful park on the inside. Quite the contrast.

Having seen all of the nice parks from above, we went in search of them on foot. Along the wall there is a nice walking park/path that has beautiful blooming trees, people strolling, and lots of others doing their tai chi and aerobics. There are simple but functional machines scattered along the path that can be used for "exercise" (a "treadmill" that is basically a bunch of rolling pins attached together) and stretching machines that seemed much more popular. We had a good time entertaining ourselves with the "guess what this machine is supposed to do" game before we found the real gold. Ping pong tables! Travis was just about as excited as a little kid on Christmas morning and apparently others must have noticed his delight as well because sure enough within a few seconds a paddle was in his hands and he was rallying with a woman who seemed to be quite good. Turns out everyone here is quite good at ping pong and they all took turns schooling Travis with their finess and rediculous spin. To say Travis's ping pong game was humbled is an understatement. These people are good! It seemed to be a social event but also something they took very seriously. They brought their own nets, paddles, balls, and workout towels of course. After a few hours we walked away with our tails between our legs having had a good laugh at oursleves and provided a great deal of entertainment to anyone who walked by.

We sat in the sun on the porch of our hostel soaking up the last of our sunshine before heading off tomorrow morning at 5:30 for the train to Tibet where we will spend the next 36 hours before arriving in a much cooler and less oxygenated environment. Hello altitude training!

T&V

p.s. Sorry for all of the awful spelling in our recent blogs. Neither of us are very gifted in that regard and there is no spell check. We also normally attach a map but it is all in Chinese characters and won't do you a whole lot of good. Look it up if you are one of these people.

Chinese Gastronomical Treats

proneymooners — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 23:19:00 GMT

We are surprised that this is our first blog post dedicated just to food, but better late than never. We were both so excited about the foods we would get to eat along the way and have so far aside from the times one or both of us were sick, we have really liked the food. As you all should know by now, we love food, one of us maybe a bit more than the other, but none the less we both like to cook, eat, and enjoy food. As we traveled through SE Asia we took a few cooking classes and tried to sample the local food as much as possible and only on occasion gave into our Western cravings of pasta or cereal. China however has been a whole different story...

This is really the first place we have been where we have found very limited English, particulrly when it comes to restaurant menus. One of our biggest fears so far, particularly after seeing a few of the English menus and realizing what being offered, is going somewhere and having to "point and hope" in order to have a meal. The menus almost always seem to contain animal parts that we don't eat back home such as feet, hooves, intestines, heart, testicles, shark fins, and other unmentionables. We thought we were pretty adventurous eaters, but turns out we are pretty tame and have very American-like eating habits that we are not very willing to change.

In Hong Kong we got a jar of peanut butter and have been using it along with a few other items we got in Beijing for "emergencies." We also have to confess to giving into several Western meals at our hostel, but the alternatives are not very appealing. We have had a few good dishes almost all of which involve eggplant (boy do they cook a mean eggplant) and dumplings. The rest of their food is far from desirable and is either floating in oil and or in an orange viscous sauce that covers up the taste of whatever it is you might be eating. Needless to say the comfort foods we have been looking forward to for the last 6-months will seem even better now after eating our way through China.

We will leave you with some tidbits from an English menu we ate from the other night. These are direct quotes (we took the menu back after ordering and copied them down), none of which we made up and thankfully there were pictures for these dishes which only helped 50% of the time. Enjoy our "lost in translation" meal...It was actually one of our better meals so far if that says anything at all. We did not have any of these below in case you were wondering:

Self Made Frozen Skin

Since the Constraints Flowers

Assorted Brine

West House Donkey (yes they do eat donkey meat so that part we know is correct)

West House Saliva Chicken

Cordycepts Reference Crispy

Tofu Spiced Corned Egg Flight

Bumper Crop

Small Potatoes Burn Tsai Pai

Sands Signs Shrimp

Whistle Burning Perch

Wild Mushroom Little Flaky Meat

Smell of the Urine Mixed with Dried

Beef with Thai Pepper Cake Explosion

Well, that's all for now folks. Eat your hearts out!

T&V

15 Million and Still Going Strong

proneymooners — Sun, 10 Apr 2011 23:10:00 GMT

Beijing is a great city, let's just get that out now. Nerves were high as we left Hong Kong as we thought we would be leaving behind English writing, sit toilets, country music, ice cream, and good old fashion peace and quite. Turns out we were wrong (though sit toilets are rare away from our hostel).

On the plane ride to Beijing (on a Chinese airline I will point out), we both were listening to the radio of which there were many American station to browse. While filling out our immigration cards who else but Mr. Garth Brooks came on and just about brought us to tears (well maybe just Travis) as this was not the anticipated welcome to the far east. To boot we were served COMPLIMENTARY Haagen Dazs cups. It is corny to say, but it was literally the tipping point when we knew we were going to be ok and have a great time in China. Anywhere that plays the king of country and has good taste in ice cream sounds good to us! Once we were through the dozens of immigration check-points full of cameras, thermometers, and unknown other propes, we found our driver (which is pretty amazing when you think that this airport serves the largest city in the largest country in the world) to the hostel and headed into town.

Over the last 5 months we had been working prety hard to dodge Old Man Winter and had been doing a darn good job overall but it was clear that in Beijing he was still lurking. Trees are still mostly bare and the landscape is VERY brown. It was a bit of shock for us certainly coming from New Zealand, but even Hong Kong. Still, Spring was in the air and on the highway into town we passed guys out on their Harelys and a few cherry trees blooming. With our eyes glued outside upon this new place, we kept thinking we would see the city skyline coming into view at some point as our hostel was called "Downtown Beijing Backpackers." But the deal with Beijing is that its 15 million citizens live in a city that covers a landspace roughly the size of Belgium and thus there is not a prominent high-rise area we expected. Instead we found ourselves pulling into a charming little neighborhood in a historic part of town that was dominated by one-story buildings and narrow roads that our taxi could hardly squeeze down. We were warmly welcomed into our hostel, which is one of the better we have stayed at yet, and then headed out to hit Beijing.

There is a massive subway system that serves the equally massive city with something like 12 lines running around cris-crossing here and there. Our book suggested that since buses are subject to major traffic jams the best way to get around is underground. A single trip to any stop, no matter the number of transfers is 2 Yuan or about $0.25 and you get to ride on brand-new trains and emaculate stations (well maybe don't eat off the floor). What a deal! But then again, that is what everybody else in town is thinking too. As we were waiting to catch our first train towards the epicenter of Beijing, Tiananmen Square, the station was very empty. But then the train arrived and saying it was packed to the gills would be an understatement. We have never seen crowded like that before. When the doors opened, people literaly fell out from the human pressure within and it was a mad 10 seconds as some tried to barrel in and others worked closer to the door to get ready for their future stop. Um, we will catch the next one... We did make it onto a "less crowded" train and used the subway system extensively over our next 5 days. We were so appreciative of all the English signage in the stations and also within the trains, there was really no way to get too lost. Physically getting off where you wanted to was another task though, and Travis can vouch that even if you can see clear over everyone's head, it offers no advantage for pushing through the masses towards the door. They are small but might people who will put up a good fight in the scramble to get on and off.

But trains were not the only way we got around. Believe it or not, Beijing is a great place to bike. It is as flat as Kansas and no bike we saw has gears. There are designted bike lanes pretty much on every road and most roads have a whole paved path that is seperated from the cars by a large median that is for bikes only. Traffic lights have red and green lights in the shapes of bikes that control traffic. And everybody else is on a bike too so when it doubt, there is power in numbers. It was a rare occasion to look around and not see another biker cruising withing 100 yards. Perhaps more astonishing though was the number of electric bikes that dominated the roads. Why such things have not taken off in other parts of the world is a tragedy, they just seem so practicle. Most people had built-in gloves that you could slide you hands into and grab the handlebars during the winter (which is a nasty one we gather). So this is all to say that we were by no means the only folks on two wheels as we saw the sights. We biked to the Forbiden City smack in the middle of the city to see great ancient architecture. This was the last palace of the Chinese dynasties and grand doesn't begin to cover it. We spent all day wondering around through massive marble thrones and small living quarters for the eunuchs. One the major highlights though was going to see a collection of clocks that the royal family had collected over the years. You might say that "clocks" sound pretty boring. Well, not when they are several centuries old and some are so big they would take up whole rooms but the actual face of the watch might not be more than 2 inches in diameter. Most would have figurines that would dance every hour or perform other tasks. Cool even for Victoria.

After seeing the old, we then biked on to the massive Olympic Park to see great modern buildings. We decided that the Water Cube was just too cool not to pay and go in for a closer look. The good news is that it is nifty on the inside, but they were also in the process of laying out a huge stage OVER the pool to host an automotive show on. It was a little odd to think you could go off the high dive and land in a Mini Cooper. Just next door was the Bird's Nest that really did look like a mess of steel and although we did not go in, we can only imagine they were no doubt holding a cosmetics convention over the long jump pit.

So far we have taken planes, trains, bikes, and now we boarded a bus to go hike the Great Wall. Following a recommendation from a lady we met in India, we booked a hike with a local company called the Beijing Hikers Club which started out as just a group of mostly ex-pats looking to escape the city and has turned into a full-time job for guides who lead hikes several times a week in the Beijing area and other parts of China. They provided a luxury bus, water, and food for our full-day outing to a section about 2 hours north of Beijing that is not where the tourists get shuttled around to. The touristy sections are equipped with cable cars to lift you up the wall which is normally on a high ridge, and the wall has been completely restored looking like a wide road. That is not what we hiked on. It was a scramble up to the "wall" which was at times more of a mound with a dirt path. But you could see it coming from one end as far as the haze would allow and then it would again disappear in the other direction with towers ever 500 meters. Our first reaction looking at the dry, barren landscape was why in the hell would somebody go to so much effort to protect it. Had we been rulers we would have said, "Genghis Khan you can have this area as far as we are concerned." But that is not how history played out and we found ourselves walking from ruined tower to the next trying not to get blown off by the dry wind. Have we sold you yet for a hike here? It was great to be there for a few hours and understand the magnitude of the wall and the history, but not a place you would want to spend your Spring Break. It was also just a nice time to chat with other English speakers, we even met a family from Montpelier VT! The whole state population of Vermont would probably not even cover the population on the subways in Beijing.

Back in the city we had seen the major sights and it was time to roam around and see what the current culture was about. We were fascinated by walking up and down our local street to see the types of shops that the locals (particularly the youth) were flocking to. Odd places selling quotes on matchboxes, t-shirts with nonsense English sayings on them, and fashionable housewares. Also of huge amusement to us was the monster line at the churro stand. This place would give you 5 churros covered in chocolate sauce and frozen yoghurt and they could barely keep the stuff in stock. We twisted each others arm and got one ourselves. Yum.

While walking around, we couldn't help but notice that a large number of the people had thick, black "nerdy" glasses. Victoria then began to notice that some people did not even have lenses in them! It was all a fashion thing to wear these clunkers. It was also clear that American culture was the rage. We were first introduced to this as we sat down for our first dinner and found ourselves listening to Beyonce. But apparently much bigger than Beyonce is Jack Johnson, a folksy younger singer. We must have had 6 or 7 meals with his serenading. Not expected, but honestly much better than the Chinese pop sound.

Beijing was a great place to start a tour into China, now it is off on an overnight train to the West for Xi'An and the Terracotta Warriors.

T&V

Here is a link to view our Beijing photos:

https://picasaweb.google.com/ttitus23/Beijing#

Escalator to Heaven

proneymooners — Thu, 7 Apr 2011 19:05:00 GMT

Eleven hours and five movies later we arrived at the Hong Kong airport. Having been here in November at the very beginning of our trip everything looked familiar and we knew a few things about how to get around but having been in a serious sleep-deprived state five months ago, we didn't feel like we had much of an edge if any on the city. We were however, doing much better this time sleep-wise and were ready to go.

For just a few dollars we hopped aboard a bus and got off at the 6th stop as the lady at the information counter had instructed. After walking for 30 minutes in the wrong direction we finally got our bearings and made our way to our hotel. Turns out duffle bags that can "turn into backpacks" are good duffle bags but crap backpacks. Should have known (or packed less). Sore shoulders and all we were very excited to find our hotel, it having been one of the first few words of English we had seen since getting off the bus an hour before. We ended up on the 19th floor of our hotel with a big view of the city. Pretty good so far. We didn't make it very far that night since we were still on NZ time which put us well into the middle of the night HK time.

Fortunately for us, the HK public transport system was easy for us tourists to figure out so we hopped onto the nearest subway and rode to the end of Kowloon. We were staying in the part of HK that is connected to mainland China so it is not one of the islands, but water was all around. We walked through Kowloon park, a sanctuary in the bustling city, with an aviary complete with flamingos, a sculpture garden, and the worst Chinese garden we have ever seen, but who knows, maybe this is what they really are supposed to look like. Guess we will never know. We ran into swarms of little munchkins in their matching school uniforms of matching sweatpants with tucked in sweatshirts and matching white sneakers. Talk about taking away any form of personal identity. Oh well, they looked pretty cute!

Down by the waterfront we walked past designer store after designer store. Shopping is the primary pastime for people here and brand names are very important. On an island where there is nowhere to drive we saw dozens of Porches and other fancy cars. Totally unnecessary but very important to have for status reasons.

We took in the HK History museum to learn a little bit more about how and why they are separate and so different fron their neighbor China. Unbenonced to us, HK was occupied by Japan for nearly 4 years during WWII. During that time the Japanese thought the island too crowded and shipped half of the population off the island to dwindle their numbers down to 600,000 people. Little good that did them since they now have over 7 million living there! We also learned that it was only in 1997 that HK finally separated from England and got their own rights so to speak. They describe their relationship with China as "one country, two laws." Just to give you an idea of how different their two laws are, we waltzed into HK with no visa and were accepted in for 90 days while China has one of the most difficult visas to acquire with a very thurough process. They also use different currency and as far as we can tell though we haven't been to China yet, seem to be a bit more relaxed. We will see...

We hopped back on the subway and rode it underwater between Kowloon and the main island of HK. We went in search of a big view up on the 43rd floor of the China Bank tower and boy was that cool. To fit 7 million people on such a tiny piece of land you are forced to build up and up and up and that is just what they have done. The island is one skyscraper after another smooshed together on the parts of the island that aren't too steep to build on. Between the skyscrapers and the hilly jungle, it is quite a site from above. What a place this is. One of the other cool features that allows so many people to get about is their above ground walkways. They have a whole system of walkyways for pedestrians so you don't have to cross a single street going to and from work and home. The walkways lead to the real pedestrian "highway" which is the worlds longest escalator. It is like an HOV lane in that it goes one way in the morning and another in the afternoon and transports roughly 30,000 people a day. Crazy! We rode it uphill and were probably on it for 15-20 minutes looking into window shops and scoping out dinner options for our walk down. We did have one minor sidtrack to a Ben & Jerry's that we spotted from the escalator but after trying their new Dulce Almond, delicious by the way, we were back on and still heading up.

After finding our way back down we joined the throngs of people enjoying happy hour on a Friday afternoon. In the area we were in you could have been in any city back home. There were far more Westerneres than Chinese, and the restaurants ranged from Mexiacan to Italian to Greek to almost anything but Chinese. It was really something else. Another reason we guessed China would be a bit different.

We ended the night on the ferry from the main island back to Kowloon with the light show going on both sides of us. Buildings shine, blink and flash for 10 minutes each night after dark. It was almost too smoggy to see from one side to the other but the lights broke through the smog enough for us to get a good show. Pretty cool stuff.

The next day we decided to escape the tall buildings and took a ferry to one of the outer islands. Very few people live out here and even though we were still very close to the main island, we couldn't see it because the smog was so thick. Our escape plan had worked better than we thought. We walked along the sandy beach and continued on a path that led us up. For the first time in a while it felt like we were in Coloraod again; it was hot and dry but we savored it knowing this would be our last day for a little while. As we sweat our way up the hill we got a better view of HK Disney Land but that was about it. The island was far from developed unlike its neighbors and was one dry deserty hill that looked nothing like the jungles of HK we had seen yesterday.

We had both remembered our 12 hour layover in HK fondly and now we rememberd why. It is a very easy place to be which surely is the draw for all the other Westerners we saw who live and work here, beaches are no more than a 40 minute ferry ride away, the only traffic is that of other people, and there are plenty of big green open space to enjoy ouside of the huge highrises. Definately a unique place that we will likely come back to but they need to do something about the smog for sure. Now off to the real deal. China.

Here are some pictures to enjoy:

https://picasaweb.google.com/ttitus23/HongKong#

T&V

When in Rome, Go See Auckland

proneymooners — Mon, 4 Apr 2011 22:53:00 GMT

After not showering, doing laundry, and eating lots of PB&J sandwiches for 26 days, we thought we would drop into the "Big City" of Auckland on the North Island to get some city back in us before going to Hong Kong and Beijing.

We were fortunate enough to again have willing hosts who took us in and provided much needed internet and laundry time. Oh and they just happened to have the primo spot in town. Our American hosts live in Vermont part of the year (I think you can guess which months) and across the harbor from downtown Auckland the other part of the year. They double and get two summers enjoying a great little community full of used book shops, bakeries and beaches on this side of the world. They are also just steps from the ferry that links them to downtown on which we happily arrived to see them waving for their deck.

With only 4 days in the city, we had 2 major things to accomplish. The first was to get our Visas for China and the other was to call back to Wedding Headquarters in Vermont to get the scoop from our Wedding Planner/Mother of the Bride on all of the progress since we set sail in November. The call back home went well and the good news is that we ARE still getting married. Getting a Visa proved to be a bit tougher.

After researching websites, downloading forms and finding the Consolate for the Peoples Republic of China, we headed off only to show up just after they closed shop on recieiving applications for the day. Trying to see if they would make an exception for us didn't seem like it would do a whole lot for us so we returned home (which invloved a long bus ride and then ferry trip) and set our alarm nice and early for the next morning. By our second trip to the Consolate we felt like pros on the public transportation system. We submitted our paperwork and were able to pick up our PRICEY visas 5 hours later. Yippe!

With our time to kill we walked around Auckland's huge public gardens (you know it seems like every big city outside the U.S. we have gone to has amazing FREE gardens.) Anyway, this one had rows and rows of pepper plants and wild-looking eggplants, and even the cool fern-like plant that curls up when you touch it. Victoria had to pull Travis away from the plant or he might still be there!

To celebrate our visa success we statisfied our ever-growing craving for good Mexican food and put together a darn tasty enchilada dinner. We were pretty pleased with the outcomes in that dinner was delicious and our hosts thought that we made it for them...ha!

With another day at our disposal our hosts drove us up the coast a little ways to a great reserve smack in the suburbs that felt like a million miles from the city. Looking for a litle exercise we put on our swimmers and attempted to stay afloat while swimming along the shore and quickly found out that while we once had faint hopes of doing a triatholon some day, we are S.O.L. when it comes to any distance swimming. After draining half the ocean out of our ears we all hopped back in the car to pick up a double chocolate truffle cake for the birthday of one of our hosts. After a night with a wonderful sunset from the deck, expensive champage and delicious chocolate cake, how could we top this...How about leaving for Hong Kong the next morning at 5:00am on a 12 hour flight? That ought to do it.

New Zealand By The Numbers:

50 million: Number of sheep on the South Island

1 million: Number of people living on the South Island (though we and others think this is too high)

4,124: Number of kilometers we drove in our RV

25: Number of nights in RV

25: Number of different campsites (we were on a mission to see it all by goodness!)

1: Height in miles of the world's highest cliff, located in Milford Sound

19: Number of degrees of the world's steepest street. It was impressive

50,000: Number of chocolate balls Cadbury Chocolates rolls down the above street as an annual fundraiser (much like a rubber-ducky race).

9: According to our Cadbury guide, the number of pounds of chocolate the average American eats in a year. Compare that to the Swiss who eat 22lbs/year!

7: Number of days without any rain. And 6 of them where the last days we had.

1: Number of times we were stopped by a traffic light (they are firm believers in round-abouts)

Dozens: Number of times collectively we stalled our manual transmission (mind you we were shifting with out left hand and the stick itself was over 2 feet long). It also required 2 hands just to get 'er in reverse. Oh Bertha...

Back to the land of unsafe water, mystery foods, and a language we don't understand...why are we doing this again? We will soon find out!

T&V

New Zealand-South Island Pictures

proneymooners — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 20:58:00 GMT

Well we have finished our 26 day stint at an amazing place and will try to get around to telling a few stories but we think pictures will do the talking best.

We have trimmed our collection down from 900+ to 92 for your viewing pleasure:

https://picasaweb.google.com/ttitus23/NewZealandSouthIsland?feat=directlink

T&V

Seeing the 3rd Most Recognizable Shape in the World

proneymooners — Tue, 1 Mar 2011 21:10:00 GMT

Any guesses? It's the Sydney Opera House. Who knew! The first two are the Nike Swoosh and the big yellow arches of McDonalds according to our guide Richard who took us up the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Our feeling was that if it was good enough for Oprah, it was good enough for us! We spent three hours getting ready and climbing the bridge and boy was the view worth the hike. Victoria was a bit worried about her fear of heights but there were only a few times when she thought she was going to die. All and all, not too bad.

The bridge is a World Heritage site and was in the process, a 12 year process, of being restored both visually and structurally. They were removing all the lead based paint that had been used when it was originally built (1923-1932) and were also adding structural support that would help add over 100 years to the life of the iron bearing all the weight. Pretty cool. As we walked over this iron,we felt very grateful knowing that the bridge wasn't falling apart as the scaffolding made it look. We learned on our tour that of the 6 million rivets that were hand made, a mere 42 have been replaced from the original. Pretty good record. It truly was a work of art and one that we both appreciated more and more as our guide told us of the workers that fell to their death because they were up there day after day in wind, cold, and rain without anything to strap them in. Amazing! Since it was constructed during the depression, these folks felt lucky to have had jobs at all. I am sure they would be happy to know that people tramp all over their work of art every day and pay good money to do so!

This bridge walk of ours was the kick-off to Travis's 26th birthday celebration. Having worked up quite an appetite we grabbed a bite to eat on a nearby rooftop bar and watched one of the enormous cruise ships depart from the harbour. It was quite a site; news crew helicopters were dotting the sky and a fire boat lead the way spraying a wall of water to add to the festivities. And all for Travis's birthday! Not really, but we liked to think so.

We hopped on our favorite mode of transport in Sydney, the ferry, and cruised our way over to the other side of the harbour to go to the zoo. We had been hoping to see a platypus in the wild but had to resort to the zoo instead. They were well worth the price of admission as were the other cute little critters we saw. The platypus are unique in many ways, but to add to their uniqueness is that the males have a claw that is poisonous. So they are a land/water creature that lays eggs, and have a poisonous claw! Pretty sweet. And they are tiny tiny. We were both picturing something the size of a beaver and nearly missed the little guy when he swam by us. It certainly made our day as did seeing the world's smallest penguins. And because we were on the other side of the harbour, we had a great view of the city when yet another cruise ship departed. These were not just any ordinary cruise ships, these were the Queen Elizabeth and the Queen Mary II. They were a pretty big deal in town. We actually saw their arrive on the news our second morning in town and went down to the waterfront and there they were! HUGE and blocking our great views, but there nonetheless.

We ended the day at a great seafood restaurant on the water celebrating Travis's first and maybe last birthday in the southern hemisphere...at least for a while. All in a days work. Not too bad.

Our week in Sydney was filled with ferry boat rides (we became experts on the ferry system) and lots of walking. We rode the ferry to Olympic Park and walked the empty streets of the sports venue complex that for two weeks in its lifetime was packed with people and is now essentially empty with minimal purpose aside from tourists like us visiting. We took a ferry out to Bondi Beach where you find the open ocean and can walk along the coast past beach after beach of surfers. It's quite a thing in Australia but after having read Bill Bryson's book we were both scared to death of all the things in the water that could kill us or at least make us really hurt. We instead opted for the safety of land and whatever it had to offer us.

At "the other" beach in Sydney, Manley, we found (and by this I mean sought after) Victoria's favorite thing in the whole wide world. Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream! Yes, they have a few scoop shops in Oz so of course we had to find one. We split the most expensive cone of our life, but it was worth it. Not having had B&J's in 4 months was quite a struggle, so we had to jump at every opportunity we could find in Oz before it disappears again for another 2 months. Yum!

We ended up staying three extra days in Sydney since Christchurch was not suitable for visiting and that was our next stop. There is so much to see and do in Sydney it is hard to tackle in five days or even one week as we were now to do. And it is so BIG. The neighbourhoods are all so different and full of live from the beach towns of Bondi and Manley to the business district we were staying in to the waterfront, Botanic Gardens, and Opera house to the wild and crazy parts of town. It was all there, and just a bus, walk or ferry ride away. We spent our evenings walking along the piers and the waterfront taking in the sight of the Opera House all lit up. It is one that you never grow used to no matter how much you see it face to face.

Trav had the lucky experience of seeing it all from the air on one of the beautiful blue sky days that we had. His birthday surprise from his parents was a sea plane flight over Sydney Harbour. By some random stroke of luck, his fellow passengers on the flight never made it so it was just Travis and the Pilot. Once Travis told the Pilot that he too was a pilot, he got all excited and let him take the reins once they were up in the air. They buzzed the Harbour Bridge and flew over the Opera House on their loop around the harbour. We will share pictures some time soon, we promise!

We would both go back to Oz in a heartbeat but will probably wait for the US dollar to get a bit stronger. We have never met nicer people in our lives and are sure that people visiting the US don't have this same experience. Everyone was so friendly, chatty, and eager to help us have a great time which we did without a problem!

Now onto NZ where we are told the Kiwis are even nicer, but we won't believe it till we see it! That's all for now.

T&V

Phew, that was Close!

proneymooners — Mon, 28 Feb 2011 21:25:00 GMT

We have so far stayed very safe in our travels and aside from a few bouts of food sickness in SE Asia, have been quite lucky. We have however compiled quite a list of "close calls" some of which have been getting closer and close. I don't think either of us really expected 6-months away to be much more risky than 6-months at home driving, flying, and being the outdoorsy folks that we are, but maybe we have been wrong.

Our trek in Nepal turned out to be timed perfectly to the weather. By just one day, we missed an accumulation of 7 days worth of trekkers (around 3,000 people) who were all stranded in the tiny town of Lukla where everyone begins and ends their Everest Base Camp trek. There were riots because of course with no flights supplies were running out, people were getting sick because of crowded facilities, bribery was going on left right and center and people were missing day after day of international connections to get them out of the country and back home. People were angry and desperate (so much so that they paid upwards of $400 per person to take a military helicopter flight out) but there was nothing that could be done. The weather was misbehaving and that was it. The day we arrived they had finally flown the last of the stranded passengers out and we miraculously flew out our selves the next day too.

Additionally when we were in Nepal, a bridge in Phenom Penh collapsed after a stampede of people crossing it became too much. 347 people died. After reading this we thought, whew, we won't cross any bridges in Phenom Penh and we have a few weeks for them to recover before we get there. No worries.

In India there was a bombing in Varanasi, a very holy city, at a very holy and also very touristy site killing several people. We fortunately didn't plan to go to Varanasi but also hoped that none of the other touristy holy sites we might visit in the next few days would be targets either. Fortunately we got out safe and sound.

It seems that luck was on our side and allowed us to get through SE Asia before S$!t hit the fan. Bangkok erupted in violent protests, the Cambodian and Thai border began clashing yet again, and a boat full of tourists sank in Halong Bay killing 12 tourists just weeks after we left having done the exact same trip. We certainly feel lucky to have made it out of SE Asia unscathed and to have gone when we did in the window of peace between countries.

Just a week before we flew into Brisbane they experienced sever flooding causing thousands to evacuate. Buildings were washed away, ferry docks, much of the riverbank, and plenty of damage done to personal property. After such sever droughts, the flooding could not have come as more of a surprise. When we did arrive, there was still lots of work to be done to repair the city, but life was back to normal for most.

As we enjoyed ourselves a bit further north of Brisbane on the Sunshine coast, the countries worst cyclone in 100 years was brewing. It hit further north leaving a path of destruction and devastation. Our original plan was to fly directly to where the cyclone hit and work our way south. Fortunately and for whatever reason, we changed our plans and were unaffected.

And finally the earthquake in Christchurch. Just three days before we were scheduled to fly to Christchurch an earthquake hit the city destroying it and killing what will probably be upwards of 300-400 people. A friend of Victoria's from UPS and her boyfriend who we are hoping to see later in NZ were in Christchurch at the time and managed to make it out unscathed. We fly there on the 1st of March, pick up our RV and head out of town.

We also thought we would just mention the abalone diver attacked by not one, but two great white sharks off the coast of Australia. Peachy.

Here's to safe travels!

T&V

Tassie

proneymooners — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 21:01:00 GMT

So long Melbourne, it was time to head even farther south, by way of overnight ferry. After a short nights sleep aboard the Spirit of Tasmania, we stepped off the ship, rented our second car on the wrong side of the road, and found ourselves some breaky (breakfast of course). Tassie has a population of about 500,000 people with almost half of them living in and around Hobart, the "big" city. So to say that Tassie is lightly populated and rural would be a gross understatement. After we stocked up on groceries in our port city, we hit the good old country road. We didn't see much else besides cows, sheep, and an occasional house. The towns we passed through were small and adorable and all had berry-picking farms and local chocolate. We plan on coming back and doing a B&B tour of all these small towns when we are gray nomads (a local term for retirees with an itching for travel).

After some very narrow windy roads with lots of camper vans to keep us company, we arrived at Cradle Mountain National Park. We purchased our park pass and were taken into the park on their courtesy shuttles. They try to keep the animal disturbances to a minimum by offering these instead of having cars and camper vans driving in and out. They run every 8 minutes! Fortunately, the majority of the people who pack these vans full every 8 minutes walk about 500 meters, get their picture, and head on back. We decided to brave the park and go for a walk, and perhaps even brave a hike.

By the time we left the park two and a half days of hiking later, we had hiked every possible trail they had to offer and in case you didn't already guess, we had most of the trails to ourselves. It was pretty darn good. We hiked on trails around lakes, up to lookouts over even more lakes, and up a few small mountains (almost up the 5,000ft). We walked along an 8.5 km board walk, all of which was immaculately kept and maintained aside from the frequent piles of square wombat poo. A funny little creature. They are hard of hearing and are therefore quite easy to sneak up on and watch. Pretty darn cute. At night their other friends would come out too causing any vehicle on the road to drive at a crawl and still the roads were littered with roadkill! The animals here have no predators so are perhaps a few bricks short of a full load when it comes to self defense. They become victim to cars over and over again by trying to scavenge last nights roadkill and becoming roadkill themselves. This is fine at home when it involves skunks, rabbits, or raccoons, but here the animals are so cute it is just so sad! No one wants to see a Tasmanian devil or a cute little pademelon squashed, but more often than not they do.

Fortunately, you also get to see most of these creatures alive too. The cabin we stayed at was named after the pademelon. We had a little pademelon family that would come and visit in the mornings and evenings. We also saw wallabys, echidnas, and a few other animals that we hadn't learned about at the zoo yet. You might have to Google them to see for yourself what the heck they look like.

Having exhausted our hiking opportunities at Cradle Mountain, we moved onto our next National Park, Freycinet. The drive there was through small towns of course, but the scenery was spectacular. Sheep farms, rolling fields with cows grazing, fruit orchards, vineyards, and rain forests, all along the narrow windy roads that take you through Tassie. Point A to point B may not be that far, but everything takes a long time here. Never knowing the speed limit, we were also a bit wary. They post the speed for the zone that has just ended so it is hard to know what you are entering. Sneaky.

Freycinet was on the east coast of Tassie. We were told the kayaking here was great, but our good weather from Cradle had left us and we had some colder rainier days that we could easily hike through but would be less excited to kayak through, so off we went. As with Cradle Mountain, there were swarms of people, but they were easily left behind as soon as the pavement ended. We hiked straight up steep slippery rocks to the top of a mountain that no one else was on. We got perfect views of the bays below us, one of which is called Wineglass Bay which according to National Geographic is one the top 10 best beaches in the world. We believe them too now. After slipping down the mountain, Victoria's favorite thing to do, we walked down even further to the bays and along the beaches. A few brave soles were swimming, but we kept right on trucking.

Our final stop in Tassie was the city of Hobart. We got there just in time for the Saturday market and despite the rain, there were plenty of people out and about. It was like our Boulder Farmer's Market but 4x the size and full of arts and craft vendors as well as amazing food stalls. It was right along the water in an older part of town with cute little houses lining the streets.

We had met a family in Halong Bay while kayaking who we had chatted with over a lunch, discovering that we had been on nearly the same path for the last month and a half through SE Asia. We had a great time talking with them and as we were departing they offered us a place to stay in Hobart. So, we took them up on it. They live in a cute house in a quiet neighborhood on a hill above the city. We spent our visit with them chatting about our mutual travels, what they had missed, and avoiding the rain. Maybe it was just the rain, but Hobart felt a bit like Tacoma. Sunny one minute, rainy the next. It was a city on a hill over a harbor that spread out in all directions. There were really cute neighborhoods to run and walk in and a moderate climate that allowed flowers to bloom and the grass to be green year round.

Our hosts took us to a newly opened art museum in town created by a man who made his fortune gambling and then collected art. The museum was of his personal collection and there were 4+ floors of it! Odd to say the least, but someone called it all art and it was all his. Among other things we saw a poo machine that "ate" food, digested it and pooed it out, and plenty of other very strange things along those lines. It was culture all right. People were pouring in and every single visitor was given an iPhone as a guide that would figure out your location and give you information about each piece. Amazing! And it was all for free.

We visited the botanic gardens and found a Japanese Garden, and herb garden, a veggie patch, a rose garden, a fuchsia garden, and a sub-antarctic garden that was very cold! If only our cities back home had these things for free! Now if only we could find the same price for internet. We took a scenic drive up the nearby Mt. Wellington which is 3,000ft straight above the city and had snow on it the morning we flew out (remember it is summer down here). At the top was an amazing view but we had to fight the gail-force wind that made our rain coats look like parachutes.

The final highlight that was totally a fluke was bumping into a formal Speed-walking competition along the waterfront. At first we saw folks jogging around in bibs, spandex and numbers and thought we might see some kind of race. Well we sure got to see a race alright! What a goofy sport, and make no doubt these folks were athletes but somehow have not taken the evolutionary step to actually running.

Tassie was wonderful and a place we could easily have spent more time in, but alas we will have to wait for our return another day. And we will no doubt hit the Cadbury Chocolate factory that was closed.

Now off the the place where almost 25% of the entire population of country lives: Sydney.

T&V

City Lights--Touring Brisbane and Melbourne

proneymooners — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 20:52:00 GMT

Both of us being country folk, we were surprised in ourselves at just how much we enjoyed ourselves in the “big” cities. We arrived in Brisbane, Brissy for short (everything in Aussie land has an abbreviation, and usually on that ends with a “y” or “ie”.), and somehow ended up driving out of the airport in a rental car. This had not been the original plan but it was $40 for a day and public transport to get to and from the airport would have been $100 so the choice seemed obvious. We hit the road with windshield wipers blazing (if you have every driven on the wrong side of the road you will know what we are talking about) and found our way to our friend Angela's house. Her parents had just put us up on the Sunshine coast, and she had been volunteered for duty as well.

After parking the car, this was a manual car with everything in reverse for us so we were more than happy to be rid of it, we made our way into the city. When we finally made it there people were getting out of work and school; it was commuter rushhour. All kids in Australia have to wear uniforms, some more unfortunate than others. We saw these poor kids in the most unflattering outfits that looked like they were meant for either a nun or an 80 year old man going to his lawnbowling club. What a humiliation. We almost took a picture but felt too bad. Those leaving work were running or biking home through the park and over the river on one of the many bridges connecting the city. After dinner of burgers "with the works" (which means egg, pineapple, beetroot, and bacon) we were shown around the waterfront, or what was left after their floods only a few weeks before, and found free ping pong tables, and a movie being set-up to be shown later that night. What a great place! We got the best view of the town from above far up on a hill overlooking the city. Not too bad.

After our whirlwind tour of Brissy we moved onto our next city, Melbourne. Melboure is a foodies Mecca. There are so many immigrants of various nationalities that the food options are vast and very authentic. From Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Vietnamese, to Italian, Greek, Lebanese, French, and much more. It was so hard to choose, so why chose. Let's just have them all!

To walk off our food coma, we found our way through the city streets filled with beautiful old stone buildings to the river where low and behold, rowers were out and about. Could this city be any more perfect? We watched the rowers fly by with envy, their coaches on bikes yelling at them with megaphones, and wished we were out there with them. Instead, we walked through the enormous Royal Botanic Gardens full of flowers, lush green grass, people picnicking, weddings, gardens, ponds, and lots of people. On such a beautiful sunny day, the whole city seemed to be out in full force. We just don't have parks like this back home and it was free!

Melbourne had lots of cute neighborhoods to explore, and more parks than any other city we have been to. We read that the cumulative acerage of the parks in Melboure is that of Central Park in NY, and Melbourne is a much smaller city. Some of the parks made it feel like you weren't even in a city; the skyline dissapeared, there were no manicured lawns or landscapes, just grass and trees and open space.

As we said, we were completely take with the cities and surprised to have enjoyed them so. If Melbourne was just a bit closer to home, we might just consider moving there.

T&V

Playing with Sharks and Dingos

proneymooners — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 20:47:00 GMT

So there are both some benefits to being in a civilized country again, and also drawbacks. The good parts are many in number and range from things like normal-sized TP rolls, menus without misspellings, food options OTHER than rice, and the list goes on. On the other hand, prices are just down-right absurd, particularly when living on $14 per day for food for 2 of us was the norm and now that MIGHT get us a sandwich made with day-old bread. Going to a grocery store and buying a single beer is almost the cost of buying a whole 6-pack back in the States and even a staple such as milk is 4 times the cost. This is all to say that we have gotten way behind on our blog and we would like to blame it on the sticker-shock of paying $6-12 for an hour of computer time. That, and we haven't really stopped to come up for air since getting to Ozzie. So in the interest of keeping us off the street begging for internet money, we are going to give you the abridged version of what we have been up to:

After leaving our friendly hosts on the Sunshine Coast, we began a 5 day package to see two popular and stunning natural attractions. One is the world's largest living organism and the other is the world's largest sand island. Any guesses...? They are the Great Barrier Reef and Fraser Island.

Off we went first to the farthest south island that is still a part of the reef, a coral cay with lots snorkeling, sun, and turtles. The only way to get there is a flight on a single engine plane which lands on the grass runway that is literally the entire length of the island. To make matters more exciting, the island is a rookery (bird nesting grounds, more on this later) and as we just about landed, the plane stirred up no fewer than a thousand birds all trying to play with the loud shinny "bird." Somehow we avoided clobbering the feathery devils and then were immediately reminded about how bad large quantities of bird poo smelled. The whole resort was just covered in white and only 3 days later as we were leaving did we start to become used to the fowl smell. In fact, Victoria had the amazing good luck of being on the receiving end of Avian Hersey Squirts 4 times. To say they have a bird problem is putting it mildly!

But all of that couldn't keep us from having a great time. The snorkeling was very good as all you had to do was jump in the water and coral was all around. But this was Australia after all and not all things play nicely. We were briefed on some of the more INTERESTING specimens we might see out there, such as: the deadly stone fish, highly venomous sea snakes, sting rays, and the subtle cone shell (yes, a small shell that can kill you). And then sometimes you see things in the water you had not quite anticipated or studied up on and leaves you looking for the nearest laundry facilities. Although we have done a good bit of snorkeling before, neither of us had seen a shark but why not now right? And we saw lots. They were Black Tip Reef Sharks and most were in the 4-5ft range. A staff member informed us they are quite harmless but might give a good bit on the leg if you encounter one in the shallows. And that is what led us to our last snorkeling before flying back out. I say last not because we didn't have time to go back in the water, but because we liked our legs too much. While coming back to shore we were going over a shallow, sandy area and happened upon Mr. Shark who was much larger than any we had seen yet (bigger than Travis for sure) cruising in about 3ft of water and was way to to close for our comfort. Damn if Victoria wasn't walking on water getting away. Back on shore safety we sat looking into the water for some time and could see our old friend still cruising around...Back to the pool for us!

But we also had some cuddly moments too as large sea turtles used the island as nesting grounds. Each night females would emerge from the water and start digging really deep holes to lay their eggs. We were lucky enough to see 2 turtles all the way through the process and even held the eggs. As if that wasn't enough, at the same time other nests were ready for hatching and baby turtles were making their dash for the water. Sharks couldn't ruin that experience.

Back on mainland, we switch gears and loaded up for Fraser Island on huge all-terrain buses that was just as impressive as the scenery. This island was huge (as in days to walk across) and it is said that all the sand in Australia makes its way there. But what we didn't expect is how lush a sand island could be. We drove through rain forests with trees 12 feet in diameter and ferns growing like weeds, the sand hidden most of the time. We also swam in gorgeous freshwater lakes with sand beaches that were as white as snow. One lake has a pH level of around 4 and while safe for us to swim in, doesn't support life (which meant no sharks!) The real highlight however turned out to be these buses as we were blasting into tough spots no land cruiser could go. The eastern coast of the island was made into an official highway and had posted speed limits (around 50 mph) and we were whizzing along dodging the surf and dingos all the way along it.

The dingo is yet another one of Australia's friendly creatures and is quite prevalent on the island. While they look like skinny dogs, we were warmed many times to not under estimate them as many small children have been killed by them! But they where cute...

Oh and let us mention here about the wonderful buffet we had on Fraser Island. Upon finding out that the package dinner was Mexican, many of our Australian companions groaned, hoping instead for fish and chips probably. But we were grinning ear-to-ear as since leaving Colorado have been hankering for something South of the Border. Suffice to say we cleaned the place up, taking more than our fair share and our disgruntled friend's too.

After an action-packed few days, it was off to see some of the wonderful cities Australia has to offer.

T&V

How Ya Going, Mate?

proneymooners — Sat, 5 Feb 2011 15:03:00 GMT

Howdy from Down Under! About 10 days ago we left the cool and damp weather of Northern Vietnam with sunshine and beaches waiting for us in Australia. First, however, we had to layover for 13hrs in the Bangkok Airport. We could have gone into town and made a day of it, but we were pretty sure you would have to pay a transit fee of $25 each and having already seen Bangkok, we didn't think it was worth it. So we settled in and found that the Bangkok airport is probably one of the better places to be marooned for a day as there are huge gardens outside, escalators to ride (with your trolly), and elaborate arrays of real orchids. Oh and there is the added bonus that when you check in oh say 6 hours before your flight, the exit rows are not taken yet! Score one for the tall guys; the added room made the 9hr flight to Brisbane quite comfortable. Not to mention that we got to see movies on the plane we hadn't even heard of since we have been removed from the Hollywood scene just long enough to be that out of the loop.

Our hosts Jan and Chris, friends of Victoria's parents from their days in Saudi Arabia, met us at the airport and we headed (on the wrong side of the road of course!) North towards their home on the Sunshine Coast. After being in 3rd World countries for 3 months, we were able to actually relax on the car ride in a way we had not been able to do for a long time. We didn't have to fear that the taxi was overcharging us, or the bus driver was going to kill us all, and we weren't running illicit drugs. But what was pleasant was the calm and order driving on the roads, particularly since nobody was honking their &*%@%!#$ horns. Despite the wonderful scenery, we were still a bit jet lagged and couldn't help but doze off for a bit.

Life was tough for us on the Sunshine Coast. We got to live in an actual house for a few days as opposed to the sting of hotels we have been staying in for the last three months. We pampered ourselves with cereal each morning (yes as lame as it sounds, we both were craving just a simple bowl of cereal) out on the deck overlooking the ocean just two blocks away. We had the great and unexpected pleasure of eating pints of Ben and Jerry's ice cream (Chunkey Monkey and Chocolate Fudge Brownie if you must know).

We finished the days by walking the nearby beach or biking to the corner store to pick up some stubbies (that is a type of beer bottle for those who don't live in the Southern Hemisphere) and even went for a run! This being our first run in three months it was more of a slog, but we made it none the less.

As a day excursion we hoped on a bus bound for the Australia Zoo, better known as the home of the late Crocodile Hunter Mr. Steve Irwin. Steve had quite a following for his show and his legacy still lives on at the zoo.

Most of the crocodiles he has caught over the years live there and partake in the daily shows the zoo offers. In a large arena the crocs are lured around with chicken and fish to perform for the audience, lunging out of the water and grabbing the food just as the trainer drops it. From even several hundred feet away, we could hear the snap of his jaws as he closed his mouth.

Also in the reptile and spooky category, they had the worlds most venomous snake (the Inland Taipan) and a python named Lily that is 23ft long and weights 330lbs.

Some of the cuter things we got to see were koalas, kangaroos, wombats, and a 104 year old tortoise. For not being children anymore, we sure had a great time at the zoo and getting to pet a baby koala didn't hurt either.

On the bus ride to the zoo, when we first stepped on, the friendly bus driver asked Victoria in his best Australian accent "how ya going mate?" She froze, no doubt confused by the unfamiliar combination of "how are you doing?" and "where are you going?". After an awkward pause she replied quietly "to the zoo?" and then said "by the bus?" Thus was our introduction to what is probably the most fun accent to listen to and the loads of odd phrases that is Australian. Texan is a close 2nd.

We took several day excursions to see the area which is amazingly green, lush, hilly and full of cute towns that could easily be a small town in New England if it weren't for the heat! Before shipping us off on a bus farther North, our hosts took us up to Noosa where many of the high and mighty of Australia come to be seen, including the heart throb Pat Rafter. The town is on a beautiful beach surrounded by National Park land and city ordinances keep the high-rises from moving in. They do however have a thing for round-abouts in Noosa, so if you find yourself driving a bus or large vehicle in that areayou can't say you weren't warned as they are everywhere!

Alas our days of living in a home, getting home cooked meals, and having free laundry (we did three loads) had come to an end and off we went to explore the world's largest living organism and the world's largest sand island! Quite a bit to take in, but we are ready...it's tough being us.

T&V