TravelStream™ news feed for member katenclint on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/katenclint en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Sun, 19 Jul 2009 14:43:43 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/katenclint/1/1248021634/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/katenclint/1/1248021634/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/katenclint/1/1248021634/tpod.html Sun, 19 Jul 2009 14:43:43 -0400 Our Amazing Adventure

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Kampala, Uganda

Another long bus ride took us from Nairobi, Kenya to Kampala, Uganda. We spent 13 hours sitting on yet another bus and stayed awake the entire time to watch the spectacular African scenes pass by our window. Our plans for Uganda were to travel to Bwindi Impenetrable Forest to do a 3 day Mountain Gorilla trek and only to stay for a week and a half total in the country. We wished we would have done a better job with our research because had we known how amazing and safe Uganda is we would have stayed a lot longer! So far we both agree that Uganda is definitely one of our most favorite countries we have visited yet. It is known as the “Pearl of Africa” and has so much to offer in terms of natural beauty and culture. There are plains, mountains, lakes, rivers and lush forests. It is home to the Big 5 as well as Chimpanzees and Mountain Gorillas. It has the impressive Lake Victoria and is the source of the Nile River (which flows North from Uganda). There are over 30 different tribes all with their own language and culture and the people that we met along the way were so open, friendly and genuinely kind. Although we had the misconception that Uganda was not a very safe place to travel we were told that it’s actually now one of the safest places to travel in all of East Africa. After spending a day in the big city of Kampala we made our way to Bwindi with “Amazing Safaris” company. This was our 4th all day bus ride in 6 consecutive days! We drove through fantastic scenery, spotted lots of wildlife, and stopped at the equator line to take photos. We passed wide fields of green tea plantations, crops terraced on the mountain sides, and drove through the Queen Elizabeth National Park. A common site was to see men pushing bikes along the road and up steep hills that were overloaded with huge bunches of green plantains and bananas. We also continued to be amazed at the sight of women balancing several things high on their heads with ease. We even saw them balancing shovels on top of the cloth wrapped loads on their heads while carrying a baby on their back. Wow! Exhausted and with sore butts we finally made it to Bwindi. Our accommodations at the Buhoma Community Camp, that were set up by the Safari company were perfect! We stayed in the “luxury tents” with an attached bathroom and the best shower I think we had our entire trip. Our particular tent was very secluded with a deck that overlooked the lush green forest of Bwindi. It was very relaxing and romantic. The night before our Gorilla trek I was like a little kid on Christmas Eve. I was so excited to finally see and be close to Mountain Gorillas that I could barely stand it. Most people who know me well know that this has been a dream of mine since I was a little girl and watched the movie “Gorillas in the Mist”. For a long time I considered my dream job to be a field researcher where I could live in Africa and research the gorillas; to be the next Diane Fossey. I’ve read several books about gorillas and used to spend hours by myself at Como Zoo just watching and drawing sketches of the Lowland Gorillas. Now, my time had come. The next morning we awoke before sunrise to prepare for our trek. After talking to the rangers and going over the rules of the trek (like if a 500 pound Silverback gorilla charges you, don’t run!), we broke into our groups and took a van for about an hour to our starting point. We only had one other couple, an older couple from Scotland with us and we were set up to trek to the largest of the gorilla groups, the “ Habinyanja” family, which consisted of 18 members including several babies. Our drive there was along a winding red dirt road that hugged the thick green forest. Children would run to the side of the road, smiling, yelling and waving to us “Mzungus” (white people). We met with the other rangers and trackers just outside of the National Park and began our trek. The weather was perfect and we were feeling energized and ready to hike. We were told that we could walk anywhere from 30 minutes to 8 hours to find the Gorillas depending on how far they had traveled from the day before. At times groups will walk all day and still not find them. Trackers with GPS and radios set out early in the morning to try to locate them and then they radio our guide to tell us where to go. They start their tracking from where the Gorillas were the day before using marked GPS coordinates and then use clues such as broken branches, gorilla droppings, and other evidence to clue them in on where to find them. We trekked for about an hour through villages and small family farms before we even reached the thick forest. The forest was a nice cool retreat from the hot sun and the guide informed us that the trackers did in fact locate the Gorilla group and they were not far. We were so excited to know that we would for sure get to see them, and soon. After walking in the dense forest guided by a ranger with a machete to clear our path we knew we were getting close. Our team told us to remain quiet, to leave our bags behind with our porters, and to get our cameras ready. We assumed we would be able to see the gorillas right away since they are so big, but because of the very thick vegetation and the gorilla’s dark black color we were near them for several minuets before we realized they were right there. We first saw a few females and babies lounging at the base of a tree. They were deep in the foliage so it was a little difficult to see them and photograph them. Still, the first sight of them was so amazing! We then moved on to see the rest of the nearby group. We were able to get about 10 -20 feet away from the gentle giants and watch as they went about their business as usual; eating, climbing, grooming, resting, playing. This particular group is what they call “habituated gorillas” (as opposed to “wild gorillas” or the “research gorillas”) . The habituated gorillas are viewed by one tourist group a day for only 1 hour. They are used to seeing people and appear comfortable around them. We knew we only had an hour to watch and admire this family so we tried to soak in every moment with them. We watched some high up in the trees eating and watching us from above. One right near us kept farting really loud and super long which was cracking us up. The guide said they eat so much vegetation in a day (around 50 kilos) that it produces big round bellies and a lot of gas. Boy did it ever! There were 3 small babies that kept wrestling and playing with each other, climbing vines, and clumsily rolling all over the place. They were so fun to watch. We were also very close to 2 females, an adolescent, a very small baby (the guide said maybe 3 months old) and the leader of the group, the impressive silverback. The females and adolescent formed a sort of triangle and started a grooming chain, picking things off one another and at times eating what they found. One kept sticking her finger in her ear and then eating it. The baby was all over the place. It could not sit still and kept climbing over the very patient adults, climbing and swinging on the nearby vines, and even cuddled with the Silverback. This was so cool to watch. We had learned that the Silverbacks can be very involved, patient, affectionate and of course protective fathers. Check out the photo that Clint got of the Silverback holding the baby in his arms (one of the few photos of the Silverback because he seemed to avoid the tourists more than the others). It was so incredible to watch the gorillas stare back into your eyes and into your camera and see them watch you with the same intensity as you to them. Their eyes, hands, expressions and mannerisms can be so similar to humans. The hour we spent with them felt like only minutes. I could have easily watched them all day long and not grown tired of it. However, I am very glad that they put such a time restriction on the viewing tourists so to give the gorillas the quiet, wild life they need. After our hour was up we reluctantly walked away from the gorillas, repeatedly looking back to get one last glance at the incredible sight of them in their natural environment. I would be very happy to return one day and spend another hour with these extraordinary animals. On the walk back we stopped for a picnic lunch along the way and took in the forest views. Children in the passing villages would run to the paths where we walked and hold up their drawings of gorillas hoping we would stop to buy them. Clint and I couldn’t resist and bought one from a little boy who had drawn what appeared to be stick figures of gorillas. The rest of the way back is a blur. I was on a high from finally seeing gorillas and had a perma-grin and sore cheeks from smiling so much.
When we got back to our camp we went down to our secluded tent deck overlooking the forest. It was at this moment that my incredible day became even more perfect. Clint turned to me and told me how this trip has made us grow so much closer and has confirmed what he already knew; that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with me. He then got down on bended knee, pulled out a ring from his pocket and asked me to marry him! I think my first response was “are you serious?” but that was soon followed by “yes, yes, yes”. The funny thing was that I had already made up my mind to ask him to marry me that night but luckily he beat me to it since he was better prepared. When my Dad came to visit us in Thailand Clint had asked for his blessing and then in Nepal he had snuck away to buy me a ring. When I was thinking about how I was going to ask him to marry me I figured I would have to make him a ring out of grass and stems since that was all I could think of. Clint said he wished he would have waited to ask me so he could have seen that. He says he’s still waiting. After the most perfect day with the gorillas followed by the most perfect proposal from the most perfect man we then walked together through the Buhoma village talking to the local people, buying gorilla souvenirs and then stopped at an orphanage to watch their daily performance. The orphanage started after HIV/AIDS had claimed the lives of many parents, leaving many homeless children to fend for themselves. Now the children have homes, meals, education, and a place to play and showcase their talents. They dance, sing, play drums and display their homemade handicrafts for tourists every night to raise money for the orphanage. Their performances were full of energy and were a joy to watch! They did not stop moving, drumming or singing for nearly 2 hours and showed us many traditional ceremonial dances. We purchased a few items from them and then went back to our lodge for dinner. Dinner was a table set for two, lit with a kerosene lantern, and again overlooking the serene, peaceful forest. A very romantic way to end our incredible day. We ordered glasses of boxed wine that they filled to the rim and toasted our engagement. We could not be happier!

The following morning we made our way to Kabale and then to Lake Bunyoni. An island on the lake was recommended by other travelers and instead of spending the next week of our time in Uganda taking long bus rides to get in as much as we could, we decided to take some time to relax and celebrate. To get to the island we took a dug out canoe (the free option) and painfully paddled against the wind and waves for over an hour and a half. It was a good work out to say the least. We arrived to Byoona Amagara on the island of Itambira and checked into our “geo-dome”. The geo-dome was a straw, round hut with two single beds and no door. I was a little concerned about not having a door because of weather and critters but once we got used to it we enjoyed having the open view of the beautiful lake in front of us. The occasional lizard and spider that would enter was no bother to us. Our few days on the island were very relaxing! We did a lot of laying around and doing nothing, which was very needed after what seemed to be months of being on the go. The food was fabulous at this resort even though it took the staff on average 2 hours to make each meal we ordered. Our paddle back to the mainland was easier and filled with sunshine and the sound of school kids on the passing islands.
Back in Kabale we purchased tickets for our bus ride to Kampala ahead of time and was told to come the following morning to the same spot, which was basically a parking lot full of buses with no wheels, to catch our bus. We thought this to be a bit odd but everything is new to us so we went with it. When we arrived the following morning to see only the same wheel-less buses we asked if we were in the right place and was told we needed to go to the bus park several blocks away. It was almost departure time and we had our very heavy backpacks so we opted to jump on the back of 2 bicycles to take us to the park. This is a common form of transportation in East Africa and although it was difficult balancing with all of our luggage we were glad to have the experience. The bus ride back was long, bumpy and dusty as usual, but we made it. When we arrived to Kampala we retrieved our bags that were stored under the bus and found them completely covered in thick dust and grease. After trying to wipe them off we were both covered in dirt! We then planned to get a ride to a taxi park where we would take a minibus to Entebbe, the city closest to the airport. Two motorcycle taxis offered to take us to the taxi park and then tried desperately to convince us to instead ride all the way to Entebbe with them on their bikes. This didn’t sound like a bad idea except we had our huge, dirty backpacks with us and the price was high so we told them to just take us to the taxi park. 15 minutes later we realized we were on our way to Entebbe. We spent the next 45 minutes struggling to hold on to our bags and balance on the back of a small motorcycle weaving in and out of traffic. When we arrived in Entebbe we looked ridiculous! Our faces and clothes were covered in dirt from our bags and the road. We argued with the drivers about payment since they drove us after we told them not to but in the end we were happy to have made it there safe and fast and with no more bike, bus, or motorcycle rides ahead of us. Our time in Entebbe was brief. We were only there for one day before we flew to Cape Town, South Africa to meet Clint’s parents. Uganda will always be a special place to us, not only because it is where we became engaged but also because it truly is the “Pearl of Africa.” One day we hope to return!


]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/katenclint/1/1245873962/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/katenclint/1/1245873962/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/katenclint/1/1245873962/tpod.html Thu, 25 Jun 2009 01:09:47 -0400 Our Amazing Adventure

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Nairobi, Kenya

Our flights from Nepal to Nairobi, Kenya were long. First, we had to fly from Kathmandu to New Dehli, India where we had a 2 hour lay over. We walked off the plane to 43 degree Celsius weather ( 116 degrees Fahrenheit). Too hot! Then from New Dehli we flew 4 hours to Dubai, UAE where we had a 5 hour layover. Clint took advantage of the modern conveniences and bought a Big Mac and DQ Blizzard. Finally, from Dubai we took a 6 hour flight to Nairobi, Kenya. We had only slept about 3 hours by the time we reached Nairobi. We were both so excited to finally be in Kenya, Africa! After long lines through immigration we went out doors to find our ride. Before coming to Kenya, a friend from Minnesota, Christine, offered to have us stay with her family in Nairobi. Her mother, Rosemary, planned to pick us up from the airport and luckily we found her right away. We immediately felt very welcomed and comfortable with her as she was very genuine, open and kind. On the way to her home she taught us Swahili words and told us of her family. She had just returned from visiting Minnesota 3 days prior where she visited her son and saw her daughter, Christine, graduate. After a tour of their home and getting settled into our room we decided to skip a nap and instead took a ride to the city center with Rosemary to meet her husband, Titus at their place of work. Like Rosemary, Titus welcomed us with genuine kindness and immediately offered to help us arrange our Safari plans. We would have one day of rest and sightseeing in Nairobi before departing for our 3 day Safari to the Maasai Mara. The next day was my 28th birthday. I felt so happy to be celebrating my day in a new continent and in a region that I have wanted to visit since I was a little girl. We spent our day with the family’s daughter, Kui and niece, Kate. It began with a visit to Kui’s church where we stayed for three hours! Clint and I are not usually churchgoers but we actually both really enjoyed ourselves. The church is located near a university so the majority of the congregation is young. The music was lively, the energy of the people and pastor was so positive and upbeat, and the messages were relevant with discussions about current events and issues. We danced, sang, laughed, discussed topics with our neighbors and later shared tea in the “visitors lounge”. The rest of the day we spent exploring the city. We walked through a “Safari Walk”, and later enjoyed dinner at a local bar/restaurant where we ate Kenyan food, drank Kenyan beer and watched Kenyan soccer. After the match ended, a great live band sang Happy Birthday to me. We made our way back to home by Matatu which was a great way to end my birthday night. These are local minibuses that are stacked with Tvs and incredibly loud, vibrating sound systems bumping R&B and Hip Hop music videos and songs…like a dance club on wheels. Kui said that the music and videos started as sort of a joke but became so popular that most of the Matatus now have them. For the most “pimped out” ones, that have the latest music & video monitors behind every seat, people will wait for an hour to ride in one. After being in Asia where we rarely heard music we could move or dance to this was a familiar treat that we realized me missed more than we thought.
The next morning we left for our Safari. Our journey began with a 4 hour ride through the Great Rift Valley (you know where the dinosaurs migrated to on the movie Land Before Time to find “tree stars”….And where it is commonly believed humans evolved from). We were amazed by the scenery even before we got to the Maasai Mara. We saw herds of Giraffes and Zebras and saw a family of large Baboons cross the road right in front of us carrying babies on their backs. The land was vast and scattered with beautiful Acacia trees. We saw the most picturesque scenes of tall, lean Massai men with shaved heads held high, dressed in their traditional red cloth draped across them that blew in the wind, holding long sticks and herding mass herds of goats or cows across the expansive, rolling hills of the Valley. We didn’t get a photo of this beautifully unique East African scene but when we saw this we both looked at each other in total awe and new it would be etched in our memories. We also saw strong Maasai women with shaved heads, in their traditional colorful attire adorned with beaded jewelry and decorations carrying very heavy loads on their backs with waving, smiling children following behind them. When we reached camp we were pleasantly surprised with the accommodations. Although a bit wary we chose the “Permanent Tent” option because it was much cheaper than the high-class, all-inclusive lodges that many people stay in. To our delight the permanent tents were great! A large green canvas tent with one spacious room, two beds, mosquito nets, and our own private cement bathroom attached at the rear, with Hot water! All constructed under a hand-made wooden shelter. We arrived just a couple hours before sunset so we quickly deposited our things into our tent and headed out for our first ever game drive. We were so excited to finally be doing a safari on the beautiful African savannah, truly a dream come true. The savannah didn’t disappoint. One of the most beautiful places either of us had ever been. “The Mara” as many people call it, is a Maasai word meaning spotted. Looking over the savannah from atop one of the many hills the land appears spotted with small groups of brush or trees. What an amazing sight! Picture grassland and hills as far as the eye can see, spotted with the beautiful Acacia tree, flowing in the wind like an endless green ocean. On top of that, herds of gazelles, wildebeest, buffalo, impala, zebras, giraffes and many more all grazing in the warmth of the African sun. Our first game drive was one of the best. We entered the park and immediately saw herds of grazing animals. It’s pretty amazing to see so many different types of animals all together wandering across the land. Only minutes into our first drive we got to see one of the coolest things ever. Lions had just taken down a large buffalo and we arrived in time to see the carcass before it was devoured by the hungry pride. When we arrived the lions were resting from the exhaustion of taking down such a large animal but staying near to protect their prized dinner. We only watched this scene for a short time because our driver/guide, Paul, told us he had something “much better” to show us. We raced on and came upon a tree with the rarest of the “Big Five” taking a cat nap in the branches. To our amazement, the leopard had also carried its kill, a small gazelle, up into the branches. The guide said that they can go months without ever spotting a Leopard and we got to see one on our very first day! We were very lucky. From the Leopard we moved on to see three young cheetahs laying in the tall grasses. The van got within a few feet of them and they just laid there allowing us to stare and snap photos. On the way back to the camp site we watched the orange sunset disappear behind the broad view of the tall savannah grasslands. On our very first day, which was only a few hours, we saw giraffes, zebras, Grant and Thomson gazelles, impalas, topis, lions, a large male elephant, cheetahs, a leopard, ostriches, jackals, Olive baboons, buffalo and many large birds, including the largest of all flying birds, the Cori Bustard. We saw 4 out of the Big Five (Elephant, Buffalo, Leopard, Lion and Rhino), with only the Rhino left to see. This first day adventure surpassed our expectations and was a very emotional experience. What a feeling it is to be in the natural setting of the cradle of human kind., where all of our ancestors are from. An unforgettable experience indeed.

The second day we opted for a day long journey which would eventually take us to the Tanzanian border and to the Mara river. Again, we saw so much wildlife and natural beauty it felt surreal to us. We returned to the buffalo carcass to find it half eaten and surrounded by many more male lions. Some clearly had already had their fill as their stomachs were round and bloated and they looked too full to even move. We watched for a while as two young males tore off hunks of buffalo with their large teeth and strong jaws. The scene was even more fascinating with the many scavengers; spotted hyenas, jackals, and vultures, patiently waiting their turn to get a quick bite before it was all gone. We finally left this Circle of Life scene and made our way through the Mara to the river. On the way we observed the same three cheetahs from the day before lounging in the tall grasses. We also stopped to watch a herd of about 20 elephants cross the road right in front of us. There were enormous bulls with large tusks and also the tiniest of babies following their mothers. We admired them as they slowly made their way to a nearby creek to drink. When we reached the Mara river we got out of the van and were taken on foot lead by a ranger with a machine gun (protection from the territorial hippos). This river is famous as the place where millions of wildebeest and other herds cross to get to the Maasai Mara and are met by massive, hungry crocodiles. The herds migrate from the Serengeti in Tanzania when they have devoured all the grasses there and are forced north to greener pastures. Unfortunately, we were too early to see this natural wonder of the world. The herds migrate usually between June and August but no one knows exactly when this will take place. On our walk we saw many families of Humungous Hippopotamuses and the famous crocs basking in the sun as well as the ruts dug into the riverbank from past migrations. We came across several blue balled monkeys (their balls are bright blue!) and two giraffes that stopped eating to monitor our every move. We ate a picnic lunch near the river and then made our way back to camp. We stopped again at the buffalo carcass and saw a single male lion sleeping right next to the carcass, guarding it from the surrounding scavengers. I felt sort of bad for the waiting many who had been patient now for over a day.

When we returned to our camp we immediately left to visit a nearby Maasai village. According to the Massai man leading our “tour”, the community uses the money they get from tourists to fund their school. Their only other income comes from selling cows, goats and handmade goods to other Maasai villages. We stayed in their village for a couple hours. The men showed us 3 of their traditional dances and asked Clint and the other male tourist to join them. Jumping is a big part of their ceremonial dances and the Massai men are known for their ability to jump really high! The men that can jump the highest typically have the most cows or goats and are held at a higher esteem. I joined the women as they showed us a few of their ceremonial songs and dances as well. Small children gathered around and some danced with the adults. So cute! The men then showed us how they make fire using a wooden block and stick placed on a metal sword. We were invited into their homes, a small, square room made of sticks, grass and cow dung that the women build. They say it takes 5 months for the women to make one home and they lasts for about 9 years before they are typically forced to move because of termites. We were shown necklaces with lion teeth and claws and explained the Maasai practices of killing lions with nothing but spears! They also explained that men can have many wives and numerous children. The leader said that his father had 6 wives and over 32 children! They still practice male and female circumcision even with the social pressures to stop this tradition. Boys and girls become men and women during this ceremony at age 13. To show bravery, the boys are encouraged not to cry or make any noises during the procedure. We then went to tables where the women had their handicrafts and jewelry displayed for purchase. Clint and I bought a beautifully beaded and decorated stick made of olive wood used by tribe chiefs during important meetings. We also shared homemade honey beer with the local men and watched as the herdsmen (some as young as six years old) brought their goats and cows back from grazing. Since they live in the game reserve where there are no fences, they keep their livestock fenced in their village to avoid run-ins with Lions or other predators. Our tour ended with a visit to the local primary school and a chat with one of the teachers. We were told that there are between 70 and 90 students in each grade with only 1 teacher to a classroom! We were surprised to hear that they teach Christianity as one of their subjects since the Maasai do not practice Christianity. The teacher said that the students are encouraged to keep their “culture” outside of school and learn how to be a “modern” Kenyan citizen in school. We found this a bit disheartening. How confusing for these young children to be taught one thing at home and then come to school and taught very different values, beliefs and lifestyle. Our tour overall was very interesting and we felt very welcomed by the beautiful people of the Maasai village.

For our last game drive we decided to wake up before dawn to watch the Mara come to life with the rise of the morning sun. We were still yet to see the last of the Big Five, the Rhino, so we kept our eyes peeled for this near extinct giant. We admired the colors of the sunrise and with the light of a new day we spotted a female lioness with three tiny cubs trailing behind her. I was beyond excited to see this! We followed them as they walked on to more private surroundings (away from safari trucks). The cubs were so cute. Our driver said they were only about 8 weeks old. We watched them until they finally disappeared into the dense brush. Next we spotted it! A huge Black Rhino. We read that Black Rhinos are one of the most endangered animals after being poached for their horns (for eastern medicine and Yemen knife handles). Wow! What a treat to see the Big Five in only a few days. We then stopped back to the buffalo carcass to see what had become of it. We were amazed to find that the only thing left of the huge animal was its head! Hyenas eat even the bones so there was nothing left of the skeleton at all! The lions had left the scene and the hyenas had moved in to take their spot on the food chain. The jackals and vultures still waited, moving in to steal a bite whenever they could. We moved on to watch the pride of full bellied male lions slowly stroll up the hill nearby. We felt more than satisfied with our views of the day so we decided to head in for breakfast before going back to Nairobi. We still feel overwhelmed with our incredible Safari adventure. To see these spectacular animals in their natural environment is something that invoked emotions I can’t even describe.

Back in Nairobi we stayed with Rosemary and Titus again who continued to take great care of us. I think we can say that so far on our trip Kenyans win the prize for greatest hospitality. In Nairobi we took day trips around the city and visited the National Museum and an Elephant orphanage. The orphanage center rescues abandoned or hurt baby elephants and then eventually reintroduces them back into the wild. The stories of some of these small babies was so sad but to see them right before us happy and thriving was a really cool experience. In the city we often saw many paintings of Obama on the sides of buses and Matatus and Kenyans wearing Obama shirts and hats. When talking to Kenyans and telling them we are from USA, they are quick to share how proud they are that Obama’s father is from Kenya. Something else we noticed was how many people walked everywhere. There were always people in the streets and walking along busy roads to get to work. After spending time in the city and with our family from Kenya we took a nine hour bus ride to the coast of Kenya to a city called Mombasa. We headed straight to a budget resort on the ocean and although it was cloudy and rainy, we enjoyed the beach. We met some great local people and agreed to meet two young guys, David and Jesus, at their hut for a fish dinner. We didn’t really know what to expect but when we got there we were pleasantly surprised. Their hut and table was decorated with fresh pink flowers and they had made coconut rice, fresh red snapper fish cooked over an open fire with cut up tomatoes, onions, avocados, mangos and bananas. It tasted so good!! We all chatted over dinner and David and Jesus shared with us how hard life can get for them, especially during low tourist season. Many of the locals in this area rely on tourists to buy their handicrafts, food or tours and without this income life can get very difficult. The overall living conditions that we have seen in Kenya have been very poor. In Mombasa, especially, we saw many small homeless children begging for money or food and wearing no shoes and worn clothes. Although Clint and I have seen horrible poverty along our journey it is something that hits us to the core every time. It is not something anyone can, or should, get used to. Being a witness to the poverty and listening to people’s plight sparks discussions about the sad state of the world we live in. Here are some of the things we have passionately discussed:
How can it be that some individuals in this world have billions of dollars to themselves while others don’t have even shoes on their feet or food to eat? It is completely unacceptable! Sadly, there are millions of people who are willing and able to work but there’s simply not enough jobs in this current system. Because our society puts profit before human needs some people are worked to the bone (at times still not making enough to provide for their families) while others are completely denied work. As the homeless kids approach us motioning for food and holding their stomachs to show us how hungry they are we can’t help but think of the crop yields that are destroyed or farmlands decommissioned just to control food prices and all the wasted food we see every day in first world countries. We have the capacity to organize ourselves better so all people have access to basic needs. How can we continue to let 25,000 people die each day from hunger related disease when they can be saved for next to nothing? We have the collective power to put an end to these travesties, it’s not an easy road, but is something that has to be done! Often times we are told that we can “help” by donating our money to a worthy cause or sponsoring a child in a third world country. Although this is noble and needed these efforts are simply putting a band-aid on a very serious systemic problem. With the current state of the economy and unemployment on the rise around the world it could easily be us on the street or one of the 4 billion people (2/3rds of the global population) living in poverty. We, as a collective, need to get our priorities in order to end the suffering. We need to put our energy into leadership that represents us and the interests of all working class people across the globe not just the interests of the multi-national corporations and the ruling-class which we have seen time and again. We need to demand change from our leadership and hold them accountable for their actions and promises. We need to remember that our fight against poverty, unemployment, homelessness, lack of healthcare and education does not start and stop with the US. It is in our best interest to make sure the fight is global, unite amongst common goals, and not stop until our demands are met.

Ok, so this was not meant to be a lecture…just wanted to share what we have seen, felt, questioned and discussed during our travels. After spending time on Tiwi beach we spent a few days in the city center of Mombasa to stay close to internet and phones. My mom was scheduled to have her 2nd surgery to remove her lymph nodes and I wanted to be able to stay connected to family. This was a high emotional and stressful time as there was complications after her surgery which made my mom go back into the OR. Waiting to hear from my family on how she was seemed like an eternity. In the end, my mom was OK and is on the road to recovery. We now wait for pathology reports and pray, pray, pray for No cancer! After feeling assured that she was OK, we took a 9 hour bus ride (was supposed to be 6 hrs) to an island called Lamu. We had heard great things about this place and although we would not have much time there we decided to go anyway. We are very glad we did! Lamu is an island of about 25,000 people situated off the eastern coast of Kenya. It’s known for its traditional Swahili culture where around 2,500 donkeys take the place of vehicles and nearly everyone is a practicing Muslim. The people are SO friendly and helpful and we were constantly greeted with “Jambo” (Hello), “Karibu” (Welcome) and “Hakuna Matata” (No worries). There are cats and donkeys everywhere and all the streets are extremely narrow. Some buildings date back to the 17th Century and many are built with ocean coral and cement instead of brick. There are also old and new Swahili villages made of sticks and mud mixed right in with the old and modern brick, cement and coral buildings. According to a tour guide on the island, Swahili started when Arabs came and mixed with Africans, creating a unique language and culture. On our first day in Lamu we were greeted by a short, round man who referred to himself as “Ali Hippie”. He told us he was a well known chef listed in the Lonely Planet guide book and asked if we wanted to join him at his home for a seafood feast. We agreed. At his house, we, along with two American girls, sat on the floor and was served plates of homemade crab cakes, chipati, red snapper fish, coconut rice, lobster, fresh juice and dessert. It was delicious!! After dinner Ali Hippie and his family brought out their wooden drums, plastic bins, and bells and performed beautiful Swahili music and songs for us. It was a great night! The following morning we went on a Dhow boat trip (wooden sail boat) for the day. This was the first time Clint and I had been sailing. We fished for lunch using a line strung around a wooden block in the ocean channel. Clint was the only one out of 6 of us that caught anything. He caught 3 very small fish that normally we would have thrown back but the captain told us not to. For lunch we stopped at an island full of Mangroves where the captain built a fire and cooked our lunch over open flame in his underwear. We enjoyed coconut rice and mixed vegetables with fresh mango for dessert. He also cooked the very small fish which was just enough for us to get a taste. We then sailed to a beach were we swam and walked along the smooth, deep sand. The weather was perfect all day and we had a great time! That night I got a henna tattoo on my foot, we shared a large Swahili dinner, and crashed early. Our last day on Lamu we planned to walk to another beach but instead were forced to stay under shelter out of the all day rain. We hung out at a nearby café, drank strong French pressed Kenyan coffee and spicy Masala tea as we worked on the blog and listened to the showers. Another relaxing day in paradise! Later we visited with some more local women while they gave me more henna tattoos on my hands. The next morning we rose early and took a boat back to the mainland and then another 9 hour bus ride back to Mombasa. During our ride the bus had suddenly cut off and we coasted to a stop. The driver tried to start the bus but with no luck so after a few failed attempts, a staff member said something in Kiswahili to the people on the bus. We thought we’d be there for a while because a bunch of people got off the bus. After a minute Clint looked back and realized he was the only man left on the bus. Weird…….. then all the sudden the bus started moving slowly forward, the driver popped the clutch and the bus started. Before Clint realized that all the men were helping to push the bus and he should be ouvt there too they were all piling back inside. As our ride continued we enjoyed the stunning scenery from our bus windows. We were in awe of the natural scenery and also enjoyed people watching. We saw many women balancing large boxes or containers on their heads wearing their colorful attire with babies strapped to their backs. Vendors ran to the windows of the bus carrying baskets of golden mangos on their heads and bottles of fresh milk. Men worked in the fields and pushed large overloaded carts along the roads. Children waved to the moving buses, many of them carrying their younger siblings on their backs themselves. Never were we bored with the sights of Kenya.

We are now in Uganda, our 8th country on our Amazing Adventure and now into our 5th month. We leave tomorrow for another 3 day safari to see the awesome Mountain Gorillas of the Impenetrable Forest. Another dream of mine about to come true!



** Special Thanks to Christine for inviting us to stay with her family in Nairobi and to Rosemary, Titus, Joyce, Kui and Kate for making our time in Kenya so special and memorable!


]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/katenclint/1/1242480206/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/katenclint/1/1242480206/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/katenclint/1/1242480206/tpod.html Thu, 04 Jun 2009 22:15:01 -0400 Our Amazing Adventure

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Pokhara, Nepal

* These are our daily journals from our Annapurna Trek 5/16/2009 - 5/27/2009. They are quick notes to help us remember our fabulous journey.

Note: 3.3 feet = 1 meter

Day One: A beautiful and sunny, blue sky day. Only trekked for about 3 hours. Trail was fairly easy but still challenging and gave us a taste of what our days ahead would be like. Lots of stairs!! Saw men in the river fishing using electrical current to kill the fish and then nets to scoop them up. Ganesh says this is illegal but people do it anyway. Stayed in a nice guesthouse with great mountain views, comfortable bed, and hot shower. Slept well and awoke early to morning calls from the rooster. (Naipaul 1,765 meters to Birethanti 1,025 m to Hile 1,850m)

Day Two: Left guesthouse in Hile at 8am. Ganesh said it would one of the tougher days and it was! At least we hope it doesn't get much tougher than today. Many, many stairs uphill. Lonely Planet says "3,280 wide stone steps" just today! Rained for a couple hours, cloudy, foggy and pretty cool. Watched kids in their uniforms walk to school. Amazed that they walk up and down mountains everyday (Sunday - Friday) starting at age 6. Ganesh said they walk about 2 hours each way! As we continued our ascent the altitude and thin air became more apparent. I was dizzy, light headed and nauseous. Acute Mountain Sickness (AMS) can be very serious but we read around 50% of trekkers experience symptoms to some degree. We stopped for lunch, rested and ate garlic soup (garlic is supposed to help AMS symptoms). Felt better. The 2nd half of our journey was exhausting! We both felt poorly, probably from the altitude and from not being in the best of shape. Rain had stopped but it was still chilly and overcast. Although the clouds were disappointing for the views we knew today would have been a lot harder if it would have been hot and sunny. We shared the path with many mules carrying large heavy loads of supplies to guesthouses and a cute dog that ate mule poop. There is mule, buffalo and cow poop everywhere. Got to watch our step. After a very, very, exhausting day we finally made it to our guesthouse in Ghorepani at 3:30pm. Trekked for nearly 8 hours today.
(Hille 1,850m to Ghorepani - 2,874m)

Day three: We set our alarms for 4 am this morning, met Ganesh by 430, and started our hike up to "Poonhill" before sunrise. Poonhill rises above the surrounding mountains providing a specatular 180 degree view of the Annapurna and Dhaulagiri mountain ranges. Our prayers were answered with clear blue skies. The 45 minute hike was straight up hill and took us 450 meters higher. It was more difficult than we had anticipated especially so early in the morning, on an empty stomach and with sore legs from the day before. The exhaustion was worth it as the sights on the top were energizing! We watched the sunrise from behind the mountains slowly engulfing the snow capped peaks and revealing the majestic beauty. We went a bit picture crazy. After taking in the views in the cold outdoors for about an hour we made our way back to the guesthouse to have a hearty breakfast and pack for our next destination. The weather and skies were perfect all day. The mountain views were breathtaking and the terrain was not too difficult...well, it had its moments. We descended 500 meters and realized that sometimes trekking downhill can be more challenging than going up. It is hard on the knees! With Clint's recent knee surgeries (only 7 months ago) his legs were especially shaky from fatigue. We took today slow. Overall, a wonderful day! (Ghorepani 2,874m to Poon Hill 3,210m. Gorepani 2,874m to Banthani 2,400m. Banthani 2,400m to Tadapani 2,630m)

Day Four: Awoke around 6am after a restless night. The rooms had paper thin walls and we could hear every noise/movement from our neighbors and the outdoors. A couple in their 60s and 70s were in the room next to us and the woman woke up in the middle of the night with a horrible headache (symptom of AMS). She was crying and very scared probably since we all have heard how AMS can be fatal. Made ma a little scared for her too. Hard to sleep. Luckily, she was feeling better by morning. It was a cloudy morning but during the breaks in the clouds we could see the awesome Annapurna white cap mountain directly and closely in front of us. Also watched Langur monkeys playing in the trees (this is monkey we had never seen before). The first two hours was all downhill , we descended 500 meters. This again was tough on the joints! Our legs were also very sore from yesterday. We then trekked uphill about 40 minutes where we stopped for lunch. The weather was hot and partly cloudy with a cool breeze. Lovely! I got my first leech bite on my ankle that bled like crazy. At lunchtime we admired a sun rainbow that made a complete circle around the sun. The 2 hour trek after lunch went well. Combination of up, down and flat terrain. We stayed in Chomrong town. Sipped tea and played cards with Annapurna I and Fishtail snow capped mountain in clear and close view. Got one of the most amazing foot and leg massage that I have ever had in my life from a local guy. Slept well!
(Tadapani 2,630 to Chomrong 1,950m)

Day Five: Chomrong to Doban. Trekked 4 hours down and uphill before lunch. Saw lots of goats, buffalo, cows and mules today. Weather was cloudy but nice. My knees hurt horribly!! In so much pain it was bringing tears to my eyes, especially going downhill. After lunch, ibuprofen, tiger balm, ace bandage and knee cream, I was feeling a little better. Hiked along rocky paths through moist, green jungle. Rained a little. Arrived in Doban in afternoon and relaxed! Watched another Langur monkey in the trees across the river from us. During dinner watched a documentary on Nepal and Annapurna Sanctuary trek. Chatted with a guy from Switzerland about Africa travels. Praying for NO pain tomorrow!
(Chomrong 1,950m to Dovan 2,505m)

Day six: Left Dovan at 8am. Ascended 700-800 meters in less than 3 hours. Lots of large rocks and boulders to climb over. Crossed several small bridges and rivers/streams on rocks. Views of rocky cliffs, cascade waterfalls, strong river below us. Could feel the altitude. Both got headaches and ordered garlic soup again. Decided to stay in Deurali instead of moving on. Started pouring rain so it was good we stayed. Very chilly! Clint and I napped and cuddled up to stay warm. Read my book "Grapes of Wrath"...amazing book. Played yet another game of Gin Rummy 500. Relaxed. Nursed headache and the nasty chest/sinus cold I've developed. Rained heavy during the night. Awoke to lots of fog and clouds but no headache.
(Dovan 2,505m to Himalaya 2,873m to Deurali 3,230m )

Day Seven: Left Deurali at 7am. Arrived in Machhapuchre Base Camp (MBC) at nearly 9am Ordered more garlic soup to help with our headache and dizziness. My sinuses are burning! Altitude and sinus problems are not a good combo. Still, excited to finally reach the top. Made it to Annapurna Base Camp (ABC) at 11am. Yeah, we did it! The last stretch was difficult mainly due to thin air. Very foggy so couldn't see much of anything around us. Big boulders, no trees but purple flowers everywhere. Walked over snow and ice from previous avalanches. Scenery reminded us of scenes from Lord of the Rings. Cold! Prayed for clear sky in the morning so we could admire the mountain tops all around us. Ate a garlic, tomato, Yak cheese pizza for dinner. We reek of garlic! Walked around Base Camp and visited a small memorial site with Tibetan prayer flags and memorial plaques of people who had died in the mountains. Played a very long game of Hearts with other trekkers. Our porter, Krishna, got very sick. Had horrible stomach pains and fever. We were worried about him. Still feeling affects of altitude ourselves. Cuddled close in the night and wore every layer of clothing we brought. Slept in hat and gloves. I awoke with racing heart. Probably from the altitude. Rained hard all night.
(Deurali 3,230m to MBC 3,703m to ABC 4,130m).

Day Eight: Awoke at 5am to try to see mountain views at sunrise. Unfortunately, still raining and foggy and cloudy. Got to see a very quick glimpse of the snow capped mountains all around us before they disappeared behind the fog once again. Boo! We were a bit disappointed but what can ya do? Decided to begin our descent after it was clear that the weather was not going to change. Krishna was also still sick and I was still not feeling well. Weather was cold! We bundled up and walked through wet and muddy paths. Streams were higher and stronger so it was more difficult to cross over them on the slippery rocks. Trekked downhill up and over rocks for nearly 4 hours! My knees were causing me so much pain with each step down. I feel like a 90 year old woman. Stopped at Himalaya for lunch (2,900m) and then walked downhill more to Bamboo (2345m). Walked downhill 1200 meters today! Ouch. Stayed at a lovely guesthouse with hot solar powered showers. Exhausted, we went to bed early. Killed a gigantic centipede. Slept well. Awoke to blue, clear skies...a day too late. (ABC 4,130m to Bamboo 2,345m)

Day Nine: Left Bamboo at 8am. Cool air, and blue sky. Good Views of Fishtail and Annapurna III mountain tops. Walked through the moist Bamboo Forest. Arrived in Chomrong after many, many, many stairs up and down. Planned to just have lunch in Chomrong and then continue on but our porter, Krishna, who had gone ahead of us this morning, was very sick when we arrived in Chomrong. He still had a fever and looked awful! Decided it would be better to stay to take care of Krishna. Watched a thunderstorm roll in. Played cards and listened to the rain. (Bamboo 2.345m to Chomrong 1,950m)

Day Ten: Woke up to more rain. Laid in bed and listened to it on our rooftop. By 730am it had stopped and we had blue skies once again. Enjoyed the views with instant coffee. Krishna feeling better today thankfully. Said his fever broke during the night. Left Chomrong and walked downhill to Jhinu. Only took an hour and 15 minutes. This is where the hot springs are so we decided to stay here overnight to give Krishna more rest and give us some good hot spring time. Had a tasty lunch, made a cribbage board on paper and played with pieces of dried coconut as our "pegs". Walked down a steep hill to the hot springs which were right along a roaring river. Soaking our sore bodies felt great! We were the only trekkers down there and shared the pools with Jhinu locals. Rained again later at night. Saw enormous toads! Krishna decided to head home the following day so we said our farewells to him. (Chomrong 1,950m to Jhinu 1700m)

Day 11: Woke up at 6am. Started trek at 745. Nice, sunny, blue sky day with cool breeze. Trail was nice! Lots of flat (comparatively) terrain today. Views of terraces, flowering trees and bushes, villages and farms. Walked past many corn fields, waterfalls, and over bridges. Arrived in Tolka (1,775m) for lunch at 11:30am. Wet with sweat. Hot and humid today. More uphill than down which is much better on the knees, but harder on the lungs. After Tolka we had to climb a very long, steep hill. Clint practically jogged up but I was struggling a bit. Took about an hour and a half. After hill, the rest of the trekking was easy. Made it to our destination, Pothana at 315pm. Had tea, took showers, and relaxed. No others travelers were at our guesthouse, just us. Another big thunderstorm during the night. Very loud on our tin roof!
(Jhinu 1700m to Tolka 1775m to Pothana 1900m)

Day 12: Our last day! Rain had stopped by morning. Blue sky again. Left by 745am. Nice, easy walk down. Good views of Pokhara, the lake, mountains and villages. Made it to the bottom at Phedi by 10:30am. We made it!!!! Waited for a taxi and celebrated with coca-cola and potato chips. On the taxi ride to Pokhara we saw many farmers hard at work. Many plowing land with cows and wooden plow. Happily made it to our hotel! Enjoyed a nice dinner by the lake with Ganesh and celebrated with a beer. Can't believe we did it.
(Pothana 1900m to Phedi 1000m)


*For future travelers to Nepal*
If you are looking for a reliable company in Nepal to use for trekking and other excursions we highly recommend using:
Asahi Treks and Expedition LTD.
P.O. Box Thamel Kathmandu Nepal.
www.asahitreks.com
Contact: Ganesh Adhikari (our guide) at: Heroganesh@hotmail.com He would be happy to customize a trek to fit your needs and would even pick you up from the airport and book accommodations for you if needed.



]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/katenclint/1/1242302041/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/katenclint/1/1242302041/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/katenclint/1/1242302041/tpod.html Thu, 04 Jun 2009 22:11:31 -0400 Our Amazing Adventure

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Kathmandu, Nepal

We arrived at Kathmandu airport to nice, cool air, a welcomed break from the hot, humid, SE Asia weather. We were corralled into a crowded triage area where officials checked travelers for swine flu (asked where they came from, took temperatures, etc.) We got our tourist visas and headed out to the crazy, chaotic outdoors to find a taxi. It was this time that a hail storm started. We were surprised to see this and hoping this was not going to be the typical weather during our stay in Nepal. Luckily it was not. Our taxi took us to our hotel in the center of Thamel. Nearly immediately we met with a tour company representative who gave us information about Himalayan mountain treks. We were not planning to book through a Kathmandu company but after doing our research, looking at photos and reading reviews we decided to go for it. We had a day and a half in Kathmandu before we would head to Pokhara to start our 12 day trek. We enjoyed exploring the loud, busy city. The streets are very narrow filled with heavy traffic, bike rickshaws and lined with handcraft and jewelry shops in old brick and wood buildings. The smell of incense and curry is everywhere. The people are so friendly and greet you with smiles and "Namaste" as you pass them. The majority of women have their noses pierced and a lot of the older women have their septum pierced as well. They wear beautiful, colorful Nepali outfits made of silk or satin accented with jewelry and a red dot or tika on their forehead. They are beautiful! Many of the men wear traditional Nepali hats (Topi ) with tika on their foreheads as well. In addition to walking the streets Clint and I also took a bike rickshaw to Buddhist and Hindu temples and to a place called Durbar Square. Here we met a young guide who showed us around for a few hours explaining all the sites. Many of the buildings dated back to the 12th century and are still used today as places of worship for Hindus and Buddhists alike. We visited a building built in 1757 which is the home of today's Living Goddess, Kumari. This is a young girl who after passing several tests as a baby was named the living Goddess of Nepal. She is forbidden to touch the ground outside her home so when she leaves she has to be carried. Once she reaches puberty she is then able to return to a "normal, mortal" life but must remain a virgin forever. She lives in a building in Durbar Square and occasionally will make appearances in a gold framed window but unfortunately we did not get to see her this day. Another building we visited is known as the temple that is built from one single tree and supposed to have healing powers. People will rub a wooden post inside to avoid getting sick or to cure them from an illness or pain. I had Clint rub it good (to avoid getting sick again). We were amazed at all the intricate wood carvings and were especially intrigued with the Kama Sutra carvings on many of the temples. In Christianity, sex and religion/worship are so very separate and we would never see images of people engaged in sex in our churches but in the Hindu religion sex is sacred and is depicted on many of their temples. On our tour we also got to sit in the same spot that the Dali Lama sits when he meditates with other monks of this area. We also sat under the tree that Buddha himself apparently sat under and meditated for 10 years (Nepal is the birthplace of Buddha). Here we took a photo with two Sadhus, Hindu holy men (see photo). It was great having a guide as it taught many things about Hindu and Buddhist religion and also about the history of Kathmandu. The rest of our time in Kathmandu we ate on rooftop restaurants, people watched, and sipped on Nepal Chai Tea, resting up for our tough trek ahead of us.

The morning we left Kathmandu our trekking guide, Ganesh, met us at our hotel and brought us to the bus station. We took an old, small, run down bus (like all of them here in Nepal) for 8 hours to Pokhara. Pokhara is a town located right on a lake with the spectacular Himalayan mountains in the background. It is where the majority of the Annapurna treks start from. After gathering needed supplies (sleeping bags, hat, gloves, scarves) from one of the many outfitting stores we enjoyed a nice dinner and went to bed early. The following morning, after a good breakfast, we headed out with our guide, Ganesh and our porter, Krishna, to the bus stop. It was a local bus that was completely jam packed with people so we happily climbed on top and sat with the luggage and several other trekkers for the 2 hour journey to Nayapul. This was a good way to see the views and breathe in the fresh mountain air. When we were nearly to our destination, our guide realized that our required trekking permits had fallen out of his back pocket during the ride. We were all concerned because it was Saturday so we would be unable to order new ones and we could not trek without these permits. Luckily, it was only a short delay. Ganesh managed to get the permit numbers from the company in Kathmandu and the check point authorities simply called their office to verify the numbers. Luckily we had brought our passports along even though Ganesh had told us not to because they were also required. We started our first day a little later that planned but all was well. I carried a notebook with us during the trek and took short journals each day so you can refer to the "Annapurna Trek" blog if you are interested in day-to-day notes. Overall, the trek was amazing! There were definitely times, I think by day 2 or 3, when we thought to ourselves: what were we thinking?...we are 2 city slickers from flat Minnesota what made us think we could climb the Himalayas for 12 days! But as the days went on we got stronger and adjusted to the altitude. We were reminded of the power of the human body, mind and spirit! I discovered that I have the knees of a 90 year old woman and that walking downhill can be incredibly painful. In fact, my knees were worse than Clint's who just had 2 knee surgeries. Yikes! We were lucky to be trekking during the start of low season. The weather was still good for the most part and there were not many other trekkers compared to the very crowded high season. It made for a very quiet and peaceful journey. The guesthouses we stayed in were basic but comfortable and the food was actually better than expected throughout our trip. Coming back from our 12 days we felt stronger and healthier. We had pain, altitude sickness, exhaustion and incredibly sore muscles but all of this made the experience even more empowering in the end. We did it!
The first thing we did when we returned to Pokhara was take hot showers, shave, and drop off our dirty laundry! We actually had 10.5kg (23 lbs) of dirty clothes! Next we checked e-mail. It was nice to have a break from technology for a while but we were also excited to hear from friends and family. Unfortunately, the news I heard from my mom via e-mail was heart wrenching. She told me that she had cancer and was having surgery that day to remove a tumor in her tongue. To be away from her and family during this tough time was very emotional for me! My first instinct was to jump on a plane and come home but after talking to my family they told me that that was the last thing my mom wanted from me at this time and that they would keep me updated on news as it came. For the next several days I stayed as close to a computer as I could. Clint showered me with hugs and positivity which was what I needed. I heard that surgery went well and after a few days I was able to Skype with my mama. Thank God for the internet which at least make me feel a little closer to home. Clint and I plan to take one day at a time and continue to send my mom lots of love and strength from afar. If needed, we may come home early from our trip...but we are hoping the worst is behind us and my mom and Ron will be able to meet us in Argentina in August as planned.

After our trek, Clint and I stayed in Pokhara for a few days and relaxed. We got caught up on e-mails and stayed connected with family. We then booked a trip to Royal Chitwan National Park for 3 days. The bus ride which was supposed to take 5 hours ended up taking 10. We were stuck for 4 hours after protesters blocked the road we were on. Apparently, a few days before someone was killed and people were blocking the road to get compensation. The delay got a bit long but the weather was nice and it allowed for good people watching. This is also not uncommon in Nepal so we were not surprised. We arrived in Chitwan at 5pm and after getting settled into our room and eating for the first time that day we went to a Cultural Program in town. It turned out to be a great program of live local Tharu music and dance. The following morning we awoke at 530am to begin our full day of activities. We started the day with a canoe ride down the Rapti river. The canoe was made from a single hollowed out tree. We sat and enjoyed the views as two men stood at each end of the canoe and pushed us along using long bamboo sticks. We would have had this tour all to ourselves but a guy from India asked to tag along. We were totally fine with this until we realized how ridiculously annoying he was. He was one of those guys who talks constantly and tells crazy off the wall stories trying to convince you that they are true. He showed us a tiny scratch on his arm and said it was from a Tiger. Then he said that by looking at Clint's hairline (I had just cut his hair) he was sure Clint's mom fed him Tiger meat as a young kid. He also said that Americans are so big and tall because we are fed Polar Bear and Whale meat...we just don't know it because the mother's keep it all a secret. I could go on about his stories! Anyway, during the canoe ride we saw many species of birds and even a couple crocodiles. After the river ride we took a 2 hour walking tour through the jungle. The large animals in this area are Rhinos, Tigers, Sloth Bears, Deer, and Elephants. During the hike the guides were very cautious and told us to stay close to them. The explained to us what to do if an animal attacks and assured us that they were there to protect us. At first we thought they were trying to scare us in order to make the walking tour even more exciting but after hearing stories from other people we think they were actually serious. During the walk we saw wild peacocks, bugs, many birds, and a lot of animal prints and other evidence from Rhinos, Tigers, and Bear. We were not expecting to see much else but toward the end of our tour the guide stopped us because he heard animals running and thought it was horses. To the guides surprise, and ours, we saw a mother Rhino and her baby running across a field. It's not as common to see Rhinos on the walking tour so we were lucky.
On our way back to our hotel we stopped at the river where the elephants were bathing. Our guide said we could bathe with them so we went for it. This was a crazy experience! It's a bit intimidating to be sitting on a huge animal in the middle of a river that has crocodiles in it. The elephant kept moving from side to side making in impossible to stay on her. After many falls into the river and climbs back up on top of her we decided we had enough fun and let her bathe by herself. After we took showers and a short nap our next adventure was a jungle safari on Elephant back. This turned out to be a really cool experience and far exceeded our expectations. We were on elephant back with another couple for nearly 3 hours. The ride was very bumpy and a bit uncomfortable but it was worth it. We actually saw 6 Rhinos and got within a few feet of 3 of them, including a mother with her baby and a huge male. It was wild! We were told that some of the Rhinos are very comfortable being around elephants which made it easier to get so close to them. We also saw lots of deer (2 different species) that were mostly bedded down in the underbrush of the jungle, as well as more peacocks, and wild chickens. The combination of the river, tall grasslands, and the dense jungle with mountain views in the background made for some fantastic scenery. We also rode through the town the Chitwan on our elephant. The town is very unique and is primarily inhabited by the Tharu people who came from India in the 1960s. The homes are made of mud, bamboo and grass roofs and nearly everyone has livestock (goats, cows, chickens) living right there next to their homes. They use horse drawn carriages and no one seemed to be phased that there were huge elephants walking through the streets.

The next morning, before getting on another bus to Kathmandu, we visited the Elephant Breeding Center. Here we got to see TWIN 6 month old elephant brothers. Twins are very rare with elephants so this was a treat. A few of the young elephants came to the fence where we were standing so we got to feed them grass and pet them. We also got to see a 17 day old elephant. So little! So cute! She was near her mother and 2 year old sister. She also came to the fence but when I touched her hairy head she got spooked and clumsily ran to her mom to nurse. Adorable! It was a little sad to see the mothers and some of the older baby elephants chained up. Our guide says that most are taken to the jungle to graze daily but the babies have to wait until they are strong enough to do this. We were also told that instead of bringing a male elephant into the breeding center to breed they bring the females out to the jungle and usually they are impregnated by a wild elephant, not a domesticated one. Other times the wild male elephants will charge through the electric fence at the breeding center and do his duty there.
After the breeding center we made our way to Kathmandu on another long uncomfortable bus ride. Our trekking guide, Ganesh, met us at the bus stop and guided us to our hotel that he recommended. He then invited us to his home to share dinner with his family. We went out and bought fruit to bring to his wife and then was picked up by Ganesh by 630pm. We had the pleasure of meeting his beautiful wife and sister in law as well as his two son (ages 11 and 9). They provided us with delicious BBQ chicken, curried goat, and Dahl Bat (the typical Nepali food of rice, lentils, curry vegetables and chili salsa). We ate the Napali way; with our hands and enjoyed a few beers with Ganesh. We felt honored to be invited into his home. For the last couple days in Kathmandu Clint and I bummed around, worked on this looooong blog, shopped, and enjoyed our last of Nepali meals. Yum! We have really thoroughly enjoyed Nepal and can see ourselves returning to this area to explore more of Nepal as well as Tibet and Bhutan. We would recommend Nepal to anyone. We always felt safe, the Nepali people were so great, the natural beauty is stunning, it's relatively cheap, the food is great, and it is full of unique culture. Come see for yourself!

Tomorrow (June 5th) we fly out of here and head to a new continent, Africa! We take 3 flights from here to Nairobi, Kenya and will arrive early on June 6th. We are planning to stay with a friend's parents in Nairobi which we are really looking forward to. We can't wait for new views, culture, food, and wildlife safaris! We will be in Kenya during the Wildebeest migration so we are lucky! Until next time...


For future travelers to Nepal:
If you are looking for a reliable company in Nepal to use for trekking and other excursions we highly recommend using:
Asahi Treks and Expedition LTD.
P.O. Box Thamel Kathmandu Nepal.
www.asahitreks.com
Contact: Ganesh Adhikari (our guide) at: Heroganesh@hotmail.com He would be happy to customize a trek to fit your needs and would even pick you up from the airport and book accommodations for you if needed.





]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/katenclint/1/1240671600/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/katenclint/1/1240671600/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/katenclint/1/1240671600/tpod.html Thu, 14 May 2009 07:36:26 -0400 Our Amazing Adventure

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Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Clint, Julie and I, left Krabi, Thailand early in the morning on a nice but very full minibus. The ride was uneventful, we made it through immigration no problem and arrived in Penang 10+ hours later. Penang is an old, historically and culturally rich city located on an island off the North-Eastern coast of the Malay Peninsula. We arrived in the evening without accommodations and so we ended up trudging through the old part of the city where there were no sidewalks and heavy traffic in the rain, with our heavy backpacks in search of a decent place to stay. We ended up settling in an old Colonial style mansion built around the turn of the century for a wealthy Chinese family that was later converted into a hotel. It was an interesting place to stay, made even better by the 2 friendly, Chinese receptionists who enjoyed talking to us travelers. Our plans were to stay in Penang for at least a day but after looking at our travel timeline we decided to leave the following morning to get to the other "higher priority" places. We had already decided to stay on the Peninsula of Malaysia instead of going to Borneo, a large island off the Eastern coast. This was not an easy decision since Borneo (a spectacular rainforest and the only natural habitat to Orangutans!) is supposed to be amazing but due to time, cost and Clint being sick we decided to explore the beauty of the peninsula instead. We unenthusiastically (after our long ride the day before) booked another 10 hour minibus ride to the Teman Negara National Park. We tried to sleep on the bus but had little success. The majority of the ride was nothing short of terrifying. The driver, who was a very friendly, talkative guy, drove like a maniac! Clint and I have come to expect this from drivers in SE Asia but this guy was something else. He passed cars on two lane highways when going over hills, around corners and when we could clearly see traffic coming toward us. He squealed the tires on nearly every corner as the suspension struggled to keep the car upright. Poor Julie had bruises on her hip from repeatedly banging against the car wall. We all held out breaths, closed our eyes, repeatedly prayed and shouted fear-invoked profanities. When we weren't watching our lives flash before our eyes we were trying to take in the spectacular scenery outside our windows. We read that around 60% of Malaysia is forested. It seemed like everywhere we looked were rolling hills of green or vast expanses of palm oil plantations. It was really beautiful! Thankfully, we made it safe and early to Teman Negara.
Taman Negara is a National Park located within the oldest rainforest in the world, dating back 130 million years! Even older than the Amazon rainforest. We were excited to explore. Within the first hour of being there we found an enormous beetle struggling on its back near our bungalow. We helped it to its right side and then took photos and marveled at it. I put my camera case next to it and snapped a picture so you can get an idea of how large it actually was. After settling into our bungalow we immediately booked a "Night Jungle Safari" for that night. It wasn't until we were packed in on the top and back of the 4 x 4 safari truck that the guide made a few announcements. He told us we actually were not going to the jungle but instead would drive through a palm oil plantation nearby and we may not see any wildlife so don't be disappointed it we don't. Clint and I just rolled our eyes...you never get what you paid for on budget tours. Still, it was worth the $10 price of admission. We actually got to see 2 nocturnal Leopard Cats who let us shine the spotlight on them for a while as they played with field mice. The leopard cats are slightly larger than a domesticated cat but have spots like a leopard with long, lean bodies and long tails. They can be very "aggressive" according to the guide so we kept our distance. We also saw a nocturnal Owl Monkey in a tree which is rare to see and some birds. We were pretty excited since we were not expecting to see much, if anything. The next day Julie and I took a small boat to the other side of the river to trek through the national park. Clint was not feeling well and decided to take it easy. He had been sick since before Julie came but was now feeling worse instead of better so he rested in hopes that he would be back to normal. While he slept, Julie and I ventured into the forest. Within the first 20 minutes of walking through the narrow, dirt path we spotted a monkey in the trees right above us, a large monitor lizard, beautiful butterflies, a gigantic spider on its magnificent web and the biggest and fattest ants we had every seen! We then did a "Canopy Walk". This consisted of 10 swaying walkways suspended between huge trees some 40-50 meters (120-150 feet) off the ground and between 5-15 meters across. It was really neat to get a birds eye view of the forest. Julie had never done anything like this before and took the first few bridges very slowly, carefully, and with her eyes only on the saving tree in front of her, but after warming up she walked those swinging rope bridges like a pro! When we finished this adventure we decided that we still had the energy to climb up to a viewpoint. It was so hot and humid in the forest and after hiking uphill we could have literally wrung out our t-shirts they were so wet with sweat. Blah! Exhausted, we made it to the top and took in the breathtaking views before heading back down. On our way back we opted to try a different trail in order to see some new scenery. This trail was more difficult, longer, and had no other tourists on it at all. We were out of water, hot, sweating buckets and exhausted. Still, it was worth it. The jungle scenery was beautiful; enormous trees, twisting vines, ferns as big as cars, and blooming flowers. Along the way we also came within a few feet of a huge bird called the Great Argus Pheasant (Kuang Raya). It stood on a very large termite hill right next to our path and did not move as we inched our way past it snapping photos. Before heading into the jungle we had watched a short video showing some of the native species of Teman Negara and this bird was on the video! We felt very lucky to have seen it.
The next day we left Taman Negara and headed to Kuala Lumpur (KL); Malaysia's largest city and Capital. We took local buses there which is always a fun and unique experience. The scenery again was green and magnificent. Clint was still not feeling well even after being on medication for over a week so we decided to bring him to a clinic in KL. Our original plan was to stay in the city for a couple days and then head 2 hours south to a city called Melaka. Clint, however, was not well enough to travel so we ended up staying in KL for the duration of Julie's stay. Although this was a little disappointing, we were lucky to be in a huge city with lots of things to do and see, as well a city with good medical facilities for poor Clint. The first Doctor we took him to told us he had "Amebic Dysentery" and so he was put on anti-parasite meds and told to stay on all liquid diet and then a BRAT (bananas, rice, applesauce, toast) diet. This was not easy for him. After symptoms continued we took him back to the clinic and a different doctor diagnosed him with a bacterial infection and put him on different antibiotics again as well as meds for the intense abdominal pain he was suffering through. In between taking care of Clint, Julie and I toured the city. KL has a hop-on hop-off double-decker tour bus that was awesome! Every city should have these. We paid a flat fee of $10 for a ticket valid for 24 hours that we could get on and off of at any of the 16 stops around the city. The buses either had headphones or a loud speaker with recorded descriptions of each area or landmark we passed. They also had a platform/balcony on the back of the bus where you could sit or stand outside. For anyone going to KL I highly recommend this bus. Julie and I stopped at the Lake Gardens area and spend a few hours walking through the Bird Park. This is the largest free flying bird park in the world and is home to about 3000 birds, species both native to Malaysia as well as from around the world. Most of the birds, excluding the carnivores, were free to walk and fly freely around the park that was enclosed by large, high net canopies. I'm not a huge bird person but I really enjoyed this experience and would recommend it to other travelers. We also visited a beautiful Orchid flower garden that features some 800 varieties of Orchids. From the bus and our walks we enjoyed views of unique architecture throughout the city which is blend of "colonial influences, Asian traditions, and Malay Islamic inspirations". I was most intrigued with the intricate Mosques and the Islamic buildings as there are not many of these in Minnesota or other parts of the world that I have been to. We also snapped photos of the famous Petronas Towers, known as the world's tallest freestanding twin towers, standing at 452 meters high (1,483 feet) and the KL tower; the 4th tallest communication tower in the world. When we weren't visiting the tourist spots of the city, Julie and I enjoyed wonderful massages, shopped at the Central Market and ate a variety of food. Luckily clint was able to join us on Julie's last day to take ride to the top of the KL tower for a view of the city and then later for a nice dinner out. It was nice to be all together again. We really enjoyed having Julie travel with us! We all got to know each other even better. Clint was disappointed that he was sick and unable to share in all the exciting activities with his sister but hopefully Julie is able to meet us in Brazil like she is planning and we can make up for missed adventures.

After Julie left I took Clint to a reputable hospital where he saw a GI specialist. This Doctor (Dr . #3) believed Clint had a GI bacterial infection, such as salmonella or E-coli. Tests results showed high white blood cell count which means he did indeed have an infection. After taking a new and different antibiotic (Ciprofloxin) Clint was finally getting better!! Thank God! We still took it easy as he needed to get his strength back. He had lost 10lbs in 3 weeks (20 lbs since we left in January) so as soon as he was able to eat normal food again we took to the restaurants. He had been saying all along that as soon as he was better he was going to Papa Johns Pizza and Krispy Kreme Donuts. It was a happy day for both of us when he finally got to do this....he ate an entire large pizza and 3 Krispie Kremes for dessert. Talk about catching up on calories! When it was clear that Clint was on the road to full recovery we went to a travel agent and booked our flight to our next destination...Nepal! We had nearly a week before our departure so we spent the next several days just bumming around the city. Malaysia and specifically Kuala Lumpur is extremely diverse; culturally, religiously, architecturally. There are many immigrants from China, India and the Middle East, as well as other Asian countries. The main religion here is Islam which is apparent by the clothes and hijab (headdress) that many wear and the many mosques and prayer rooms scattered around the city. According to one our taxi drivers there are many tourists that come from Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq and other Middle Eastern and African countries. There is also Chinatown and Little India in the city which are popular destinations to find good, cheap food, accommodations and shopping deals. All of the diversity made Malaysia very different from the other countries we visited in SE Asia. Not to mention, nearly everyone spoke English here as well as Malay. Outside the more historical and cultural parts of the city, Kuala Lumpur is full of modern developments; skyscrapers, businesses, western hotels and restaurants, great public transportation, and tons of shopping malls! Clint and I have never seen so many malls. So many in fact, that we had no choice but to succumb and become the dreaded "Mall Rats". Neither one of us like malls at home but, being close to the equator, it gets unbelievably hot here so the malls are the most convenient place to take refuge from the heat. One of the malls we frequented had an amazing food court. It was a great place to find comfortable, cheap, and clean places to eat. I think we also went on 3 movie dates in the mall in one week. It brought me back to the days when we first started dating.

After Clint was feeling almost back to normal we took a couple days to visit Melaka, 2 hours south of KL. Melaka is known as a "World Heritage Site". It is located on the coast and historically was a major trading port (at one point the greatest) of SE Asia. It was first colonized by a Sumatran (modern day Singapore) prince and then later was fought for and controlled by the Chinese, Portuguese, Dutch and British. Melaka's unique history has materialized in a rich combination of Chinese, Islamic, Indian and European Culture. Clint and I took a walking tour around the city and were intrigued to see Dutch buildings and Chinese Temples dating back to the 1600s. Clint and I stayed in the Chinatown of Melaka, right next to a famous street (Jonker Street) that turns into a busy night market after dark. We were also right next to a large stage where both nights there were hours of Karaoke entertainment. The older Chinese generation LOVE karaoke! I was in tears laughing over the characters who would repeatedly go up on stage. Some where simply horrible singers (reminding us of the Lion on Wizard of Oz), others came in costume and with dancers. One group of 4 older ladies danced Salsa awkwardly to the Chinese music. I got some of this on video! Melaka was a nice getaway from the busy city and we were happy to explore a little more of Malaysia.

Well, Clint and I are now about to leave Malaysia and head to Nepal on the 13th of May. We have really enjoyed SE Asia but are also ready to move on. We are approaching our 4 month mark of traveling together and feeling ready for more adventures. In Nepal we plan to do a two week Trek in the Himalayan mountains so our next blog will not be coming for several more weeks. We will be free of any technologies and to be honest we are excited for this. Time for some peace and quiet and clean mountain air!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/katenclint/1/1239355380/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/katenclint/1/1239355380/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/katenclint/1/1239355380/tpod.html Mon, 04 May 2009 07:01:30 -0400 Our Amazing Adventure

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Krabi, Thailand

After the sleepless bus ride from Chiang Mai to Bangkok Jim, Patty, Clint and I were very tempted to purchase a 1 ½ hour plane ticket instead of taking a 15 hour bus ride to the South. Instead, we all decided to save some money and test our luck with the bus again. As we feared, this turned out to be another sleepless night. We arrived in Krabi late morning and took a tuk-tuk (pick-up truck with benches) to Ao-Nang beach. The scenery was breathtaking; lush, green, forested limestone mountains, colorful flowering trees, expansive blue ocean views. We knew we were in for a real treat! Before exploring our stunning surroundings we devoured a quick breakfast and disappeared into our rooms to sleep off our travel delirium. Our hotel was about a 10-15 minute walk to the beach which we enjoyed because it forced us to walk and stay active. The town definitely caters to tourists but compared to some other areas in the south of Thailand it wasn't too overwhelming. The beach was nice, not too crowded, and on one end it was inhabited by many friendly monkeys. After watching others feed them from their hands and have them sit on their shoulders, my Dad and I did the same. I got a little nervous when 3 monkeys jumped on me all at once but my Dad seemed like a natural. It was very fun! Clint, although reluctant to get in contact with the monkeys, stayed close to snap some photos and Patty watched from a distance. Instead of moving hotels all the time we stayed in Ao Nang for nearly a week and took day trips to other beaches and islands. Our first day trip to Railay beach was an adventure. We lounged on white sand overlooking more green limestone mountains that shot out of deep turquoise waters. We bought grilled corn on the cob and Singha beers from beach vendors and lounged until the thunderstorm came and finally drove us off. We were the last to leave the beach and were not bothered that we were getting soaking wet. We walked the long path to the other side of the island to get a cheaper meal. Unfortunately, it was this meal, we think, that gave me, my dad and Clint a "stomach bug". My Dad and I were pathetically in bed the entire next day. I'm convinced it was the smelly squid that I warned us all about at the cheap restaurant. When we finally arose from our sickly beds with an empty stomach we slowly made our way down the road to find something inviting to eat and found our way into McDonalds. Yes, McDonalds. Thai food did not sound appealing at all after our sickness. So, a cheeseburger and fries it was. The next day we were feeling almost normal and took a long boat to Poda Island. We were told by someone to walk around to the back of the island to avoid the crowds and get to the best of the beaches. We walked through tall palm trees to a small white sand beach with less crowds and beautiful views. Another day in Paradise! The last day with my Dad and Patty we took a large Ferry boat to Koh Pi Pi island. This island is known for it's tear invoking beauty and also one of the islands that was devastated by the Tsunami in 2004. We only had a few hours there before the last Ferry went back to Ao Nang. We spent our hours on an amazing beach, soaking up the hot sun, swimming in the clear waters and watching little kids play in the waves. From what we saw there was no evidence of the Tsunami other than several construction sites and signs to a memorial garden that we were unable to visit. The last night with my Dad and Patty we enjoyed a spectacular seafood feast. We ate outside under a bamboo bungalow and devoured grilled shark, crab, squid, mussels, large prawns with baked potato, salad, and garlic bread. Mmmmmmm good! And we didn't get food poisoning. Hooray! We then bonded once again over a game of late night Hearts. The next morning we had to say our farewells. This was not easy. We had a wonderful 3 weeks together that seemed to fly by! It was hard to imagine that the next time we would spend time with them would not be until Christmas. Nearly 3 months down, 8 months to go of our "Amazing Adventure". We really love that we are able to share this adventure with the people closest in our lives. It's wonderful how traveling together allows to you get to know and become even closer to loved ones. We felt like we knew my Papa and Patty pretty well before, but now we feel we know them even better, and I think that they feel the same way about us. Even Clint and I, who have known each other for 12 years and have been in a relationship for nearly 6 years (whoa!) are getting to know each other on a deeper level and growing closer. We are looking forward to Clint's sister Julie coming here soon, and then later, Clint's parents, my Mom and Ron, Clint's other sister, Priscilla, and some of our friends. We are lucky travelers to have such wonderful traveling companions!

The day that my Dad and Patty left Krabi to head to Bangkok was also the start of the Thai New Year; Songkran. This includes a day long water fight that the entire town/city participates in. Clint and I were completely drenched after walking 1 block down the street so we decided to fight back and purchased large super soaker water guns. In Ao Nang the main street is turned into a one way and people pack into the back of pickup trucks with enormous bins of water. They drive around and around throwing buckets of water or spraying with their water guns anyone they pass. People also take powder and smear it on passerby's faces, hair and bodies. We looked ridiculous but had a blast! With April being the hottest month of the year in Thailand we gladly welcomed the water. It was really fun seeing local people (and travelers) of all ages getting into the fun. What a child's dream come true...one huge water fight!

After Songkran we got onto another ferry and floated to the island of Koh Lanta. We headed to a quiet beach called Klong Kong and settled in our own bungalow The resort was fairly new with an outdoor pool, a great bar/restaurant surrounded by palm trees & orchid flowers and was right on the beach. I loved it here! The beach was not the most beautiful we had been to in Thailand but it was quiet, relaxed, and had the most amazing sunsets. There were few tourists here, the vibe was chill and happy, and no one hassled you to buy anything on the beach. There was not much to do other than soak up the sun in the sand or by the pool, take walks along the shore and eat good food. On the main road there was a 7 Eleven store which we walked to a few times for cold cheap waters. There are 7 Elevens everywhere in Thailand! We have come to love them as they always have the coldest AC inside and have the coldest beverages which on hot days is greatly appreciated! We spent 3 wonderful days on Klong Kong island. Leaving paradise was hard to do but we were excited to meet Clint's sister in Phuket. We took a bus to Patong Beach on Phuket island to get a feel for the city before heading to the airport the following night to pick up Julie. The city was a bit crazy! A mix between Las Vegas, Bangkok, and South Beach, Miami. It was quite the culture shock from quiet Koh Lanta. The beach was full of people, as well as Jet Skis, speedboats and paragliders and the water was full of trash. I guess the main reasons tourists come to Patong is to shop and party, not for the beach.

Julie flew in from Korea after midnight and as we waited for her in the airport we couldn't help but notice that everyone coming out of the gate were couples with matching clothes...some with matching hats, shoes, and baggage too. We were so confused. We thought maybe all Koreans did this when they traveled. It wasn't until Julie explained that they were all honeymooners that the light bulb went off.. Still, why were they matching? We have no idea. It was easy to spot Julie as she was the only one without a matching twin and the only blond white girl in the bunch. We were excited to experience Southern Thailand and Malaysia with her and headed back to the hotel to get some sleep before our busy days ahead. Before we retired for the night Clint and I enjoyed an early Christmas. We excitedly opened bags of treats and travel goodies that Clint's mom and Julie put together for us. It's amazing how happy a new razor, fresh deodorant, travel laundry soap, Rice Krispy treats and Doritos (and more) can make a backpacker. The next morning we ventured out onto the busy streets of Patong. We shopped, walked along the busy beach, and took it slow and easy while Julie acclimated herself. That night we all went to a Muay Thai (Kickboxing) match. Muay Thai is huge in Thailand, as well as other countries in SE Asia. Clint and I had been looking forward to going to one for a while but wanted to wait until Julie could experience it with us. Before we left we were invited to indulge in a free dinner buffet at our hotel for the owners 2 year old son's birthday. The very friendly owner was from NY so we enjoyed amazing chicken wings, potato salad, bruchetta and other foods that we had not had for over 3 months. Tummies full and Chang beer in our hands we headed to Muay Thai. Upon arrival we were given free bright green t-shirts and told to seat in the STD (standard) section. Hmmmmm. There were 8 matches starting with boys between the ages of 8-10 and going up to adult men. Before every match each boy/man would perform a special ritual before fighting. Live music came from a group of men in one of the corners of the bleachers. It was a very fun night and we were relieved that it was not as bloody and brutal as we were told it can be. After the fights we ended our night at a Hooka Bar. We all were really bad at it so we had the guy that worked there, who was a pro, show us how to smoke the Shisha (flavored tobacco) properly. We still didn't get it down.

The next morning we rose early to catch a ferry to Koh PiPi island. Julie was not feeling well after a long night of Chang beers, Shisha and Jet Lag. On the way to the Ferry, Julie lost it out the window of the bus, then several more times off the side of the Ferry, and even more times on the shores of Koh PiPi after we arrived. There were huge waves that day so Julie was not the only one who got sick on the Ferry ride. It was a rough 2 hours! I was up on the top deck of the Ferry with her when she was sick and Clint was inside the cabin. We didn't realize until later but it was Clint's window that was directly below Julie's line of fire. Luckily he kept his window closed! After a much needed nap, we all lounged on the beautiful beach. The island has no motor vehicles on it and everything is within walking distance. Although very touristy, it is unbelievably gorgeous and a very pleasant place to post up for a while. It is known also for it's nightlife but we didn't really have the desire to experience this. The next day we decided to climb to the much talked about viewpoints on the island. It was a tiring hike but we made it and were so glad we did. The views were surreal, showing stunning green mountains, 2 different island lagoons, and the most turquoise waters as far as the eye could see. We stayed up there for a while, taking it all in and snapping too many photos, trying to capture the beauty of it all. Photos never do it justice but you'll get the idea when you see them.
The following morning we took a 4 hour long tail boat tour around the surrounding island. The waters were again extremely choppy with waves bigger than we had ever experienced on a little motor boat. We felt like we were on an intense water ride at Valley Fair as we kept getting completely drenched with the salty water slapping us in the face. It was a little scary at times but we managed to keep laughing, plus it added to the adventure. Once in the bays and lagoons the water was calm and simply spectacular. We swam and snorkeled in the clearest and again the most turquoise of waters. The coral and sea floor was awesome and fish of many colors surrounded us as we snorkeled. Next we went to Maya Beach. This is the beach famous because it is where the Leonardo DiCaprio movie "The Beach" was filmed. The night before we all watched this movie at a local pub so we were even more excited to experience it for ourselves. To get to and from this beach was literally death defying, or so we felt. The beach is located in a secluded cove that only speed boats can get to. The long boats that we were on anchor on the other side of the cove and the passengers have to jump into the water, swim to a wooden ladder coming straight out of the water near sharp, rocky cliffs, and then walk to the other side of the island where Maya beach is located. This normally is an easy task I would imagine but we came on a day when the sea was very rough so the waves could easily slam you into the jagged rocks if you didn't have perfect timing. Luckily I encouraged us all to wear life jackets because the tour guide sure didn't and they were definitely life saving. Getting onto the island wasn't too difficult because a boat had a rope tied to the ladder that we used to hang onto and pull ourselves along to safety. The beach was beautiful but very crowded with other tourists and we only had 45 minutes so we didn't have that much time to enjoy it. On the way back, when we reached the wooden ladder, the boat and rope were gone and the sea seemed even rougher. We had to climb to the bottom of the ladder and wait for the huge waves to come and then jump in right as they were going back out (and before the next one came in) to avoid getting literally smashed up against the sharp mountain wall next to us. I was first in line and my first attempt was tried without instruction from one of the tour guides. I came crashing back with the powerful wave but luckily was still close to the ladder where Clint could grab me back onto it. My hero! My feet and legs got a little banged up on the rocks but that was the least of my concerns. I was seriously scared! Wondering how the hell we were all supposed to get out of this dangerous area and back to the boat safely. Clint and I then waited for the tour guide to give us a "go" and hearts pounding we swam our absolute hardest to get away from the crashing waves. We tiredly made it! Once near the boat we watched Julie attempt this nerve racking feat. She came very close to the rocks which made me respond with repeated distressed yells of "Julie," "swim harder," "you can do it". When back at the boat we examined our cuts and bruises (nothing too bad) and Julie inhaled a much needed cigarette. We survived! We finished our tour with a trip to Monkey Island where Julie got to feed one of the obese monkeys. Overall, we had a great, adrenaline filled time and were able to laugh later at our near death experience (Ok, maybe we are exaggerating just a little...moms, don't worry).
Our next destination was back to Ao Nang, Krabi. On the way there one of the passengers on the ferry next to us spotted some kayakers in the distance that looked to be in trouble. She informed the staff and the ferry made their way to the rescue. The couple had drifted extremely far from shore when the tide shifted and try as they might, they could not get back. The woman was crying and looked so relieved to be rescued. The man, however, had jumped into the water and was trying to swim back to shore while pulling the kayak with his girlfriend still in it. He was laughing after the rescue and claimed that he wanted to kayak back when we got a little closer. Prideful men! Everyone applauded as they climbed onto the ferry. When we arrived in Krabi we arranged for a bus to pick us up at 6am the following morning to take us on a 10 hour ride to Penang, Malaysia. On the road again!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/katenclint/1/1238941860/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/katenclint/1/1238941860/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/katenclint/1/1238941860/tpod.html Mon, 20 Apr 2009 03:22:01 -0400 Our Amazing Adventure

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Chiang Mai, Thailand

After a choppy, rollercoaster of a flight to Chiang Mai Clint and I went directly to "The Secret Garden" guesthouse where we were to meet my Dad (Jim) and Patty. They had reserved online a two story, two bedroom house for us to share for 4 nights in a beautiful, garden setting. When we got there we were pleasantly surprised to see a lush, green paradise with a wonderfully comfortable room, much better than our previous budget accommodations. We awoke the jet-lagged napping travelers when we arrived and exchanged long hugs and stories of family and travels. It was so great to be with family in person as opposed to just seeing them on a computer screen via Skype. The days spent at the Secret Garden were very relaxing! It was the perfect place for Jim and Patty to catch up on sleep and recover from their jetlag. We all swam in the pool, ate amazing meals together, photographed the flower and art filled gardens, chatted with the very friendly owners, and planned our future weeks together. Our third day we ventured out and went to the Tiger Kingdom and Elephant Park. At the Tiger Kingdom we chose what size/age tiger we wanted to "visit". The larger the Tiger the cheaper the cost but none of us felt confident enough to chose the larger option. Patty and I chose the 3-5 month old and Jim and Clint chose the 5-7 month old tigers. Even given the younger ages, it was still intimidating to enter into a Tiger's cage and then proceed to pet them, lay on them and pose with them for photos. We all survived and were glad we went through with it considering it may very well be the first and last time we would ever be that close to a Tiger. Next we went to the Elephant Park. This was one of our highlights of our trip! Jim and Patty went on an elephant ride while Clint and I secured good seats for the elephant show. We had already been on an elephant ride in Laos so that's why we skipped it this time around. The elephant show was a riot! We all laughed out loud as we watched elephants playing harmonicas and instruments while dancing and whipping their trunks around in circles, painting beautiful pictures, playing soccer, playing darts, and bowing to the crowd. After the show we fed them bananas and pet them. It really did appear that the elephants were having a good time (unless they were just good actors) and seemed to be well taken care of by their trainers. Each appeared to have their own unique personality making it so fun to watch them. The photos and videos we've attached explain it all!
The Secret Garden was in the town of Bo Sang, a little distance from Chiang Mai city, so we learned how to take the local bus into the city to go exploring. We visited several Wats, wandered the hot streets, and enjoyed the popular Sunday evening market. Patty and I treated ourselves to a fabulous $15.00 1 ½ hour Thai massage that left us feeling lighter on our feet and more energized than ever. It was lovely! We all walked through the Sunday market, tasting local dishes, browsing through local handicraft and art stalls, and people watching. After hours of walking we stopped at the market street food area where I thoroughly embarrassed myself in front of dozens of people. Clint pulled a plastic stool from a stack and gave it to me to sit on, failing to tell me that he noticed it was cracked in several places. I, exhausted from walking around all day, plopped down with all my weight on the stool, the legs of the stool literally flattened and I landed on my butt on the hard ground. I instinctively let out a scream and then heard gasps and people speaking in fast Thai all around me. The loud cracking of the plastic and my scream attracted everyone's attention to my pitiful fall. Luckily Clint wasn't too far away and could help me laugh it off. I was beat red with embarrassment and he was beat red from uncontrollable laughter. The owner of the table came over, shook his head and put the broken stool back on the stack with the other 2 stools. Apparently, the stack was not to be separated.
After 5 great days in Bo Sang and Chiang Mai we headed North to a small, chill town called Pai. The 3 hour mini-bus ride there sharply winded through lush, green mountains. The scenery was beautiful but for me, who is prone to getting car sick, it was a rough ride! We all enjoyed the quaint town of Pai very much. We didn't do much sight seeing here but enjoyed strolling the streets of the town, checking out the street vendors and listening to live music at night. We signed up for an all day Thai cooking class and started with a morning trip to the market where our Thai instructor, Dao, explained each ingredient she purchased. We tried to chose all different meals so we all could taste each others creations. We learned how to make 4 different kinds of curries from scratch, fried rice, pad thai, 2 thai soups, 2 thai salads, stirfrys, spring rolls, and sticky rice with mango. Most everything was delicious except for maybe the papaya and cucumber salad that my Dad and I made. When Dao had put out the ingredients for the salads we were wondering why there was an entire stinky, dead crab in the mix. We soon were directed to put the entire crab, shell and all, into the stone grinder and crush it into the salad. It may have been a decent salad had it not been for the stinky crab flavor and chunks of crab shell. At the end of the day we all received certificates and cookbooks to take home with us. It was a very fun experience that left our bellies very full and made us excited to test our skills at home. Given the timeframe we had with my Dad and Patty we needed to head south if we wanted to see all that we wanted to see. We boarded another mini-van to head back to Chaing Mai which turned out to be a hell ride for not only me this time. The back and forth, winding roads were made even worse with the very fast driver at the wheel. When we arrived at the rest stop, about an hour and half into our trip, my poor Dad exited the van with his shirt unbuttoned all the way, wet with sweat, and white as a ghost. I had never seen him that pale! I was also feeling horribly sick so the two of us commiserated with each other as we sipped on soda in an attempt to calm our queasy tummies. We reluctantly reentered the van with barf bags close if we needed them but luckily after the rest stop it only got better and we were back in Chiang Mai in no time. After waiting a few hours at the bus station we hopped on a large overnight bus to Bangkok. This was to be a 12 + hour bus ride and so we paid extra money to get the "VIP-first class" overnight bus. Besides the smiley stewardess that brought us handfuls of beverages and a bun with weird, sticky, brown stuff in the middle (still never found out what it was) we really do not know what made this a "VIP" bus. The seats were uncomfortable, the toilet stunk up the entire bus horribly, and the AC blew very musty, moldy air that made Patty, who has bad asthma, cough all night. The blankets we were given during the ride also gave me bed bug bites all over my legs. They also played a movie that Jim and Patty were especially thrilled about...an American Jet Li movie dubbed over in Thai that was nothing but non stop killing and bloody violence. It made the start of the bus ride very relaxing. Ha! None of us slept very well, if at all, but we arrived in Bangkok safe.
Before arriving to Bangkok we had been told by several people that it's a big, dirty city that isn't worth more than a day or 2 stay. We all ended up loving it and wished we had more time to spend there. It was a clean city full of character and culture. We stayed in a fun, lively part of town near Khaosan Road surrounded by cheap and very tasty street food stalls, vendors selling art, jewelry and clothes, and funky bars and restaurants. Walking down Khaosan Road was something else. I got a kick out of the many stalls where you could get your hair braided, or better yet, get extension braids or dreadlocks! We saw several people in the span of a few days getting long extension dreadlocks. What!?! Wannabes turned "Hippy" in only a few hours time. I told Clint he should get them so we could fit in better with some of the backpacker crowd. He wasn't having it. During our walks down Khaosan road we were often asked if we wanted random things; tattoos, braids, tailor-made suits, tuk-tuks, bugs to eat, and Ping Pong shows. We knew before we came that the sex tourism here in Bangkok is a big problem so to be asked about the ping pong shows was not a surprise but still disturbing nonetheless. Every half block we were approached with the questions; Tuk-Tuk? Massage? Tattoo? Ping-Pong? Blah! Other than hanging around the fun and interesting area near our hotel the four of us visited the National Museum, the National Art Gallery, and several Wats. In one Wat we entered we sat and respectfully listened to the methodic chant of Monks. This was a very beautiful experience.
Another morning, Clint and I took a trip to see the famous floating market while Jim and Patty stayed back to ride the local water taxi on the river and visit the flower market in Bangkok. They said they enjoyed this very much. The floating market was interesting for us to see but it has turned into such a huge, chaotic tourist attraction that it is clearly functioning as such and not as an actual market like it once was. Clint and I rode in a long, wooden row boat through the market which was a bit of a joke. The small canals were so packed with other like tour boats that traffic was at a stand still for over half the time. After this thrilling boat ride we simply walked around the water canals, which was much more enjoyable, ordering rice noodle soups for lunch and buying fruits from the boat vendors. In the city the four of us also visited Lumpini Park, a park known as the "fitness park" of the city. We came a little too late to see the groups of locals that supposedly come in the morning to do their Tai Chi but we did see others running, biking, and working out throughout the beautiful, well-groomed park. This park was free to the public, had a weight "room" outside and was scattered with many, colorful exercise machines, which we all tried out for ourselves. If only MN had a park like this it would make going to the "gym" so much easier and more enjoyable. We also ate at the park's outdoor food court and tried a variety of tasty Thai dishes and treats that we never had before. A Thai woman was extremely friendly and helped us order food and introduced us to her friends. We bought special health shakes from her called "Nutri-life" or something like that. They tasted awful and when we left she wrote down her "Nutri-life" ID number and said we can use it anywhere in Thailand as well as many areas throughout the world, for "Nutri-life" discounts. If only they were good enough to buy again. We noticed that even people who are not trying to sell you something are very friendly, helpful and smiley here in Thailand. Even some of the Tuk-Tuk drivers stop to help you with directions with nothing expected in return. We were only able to see a fraction of the large city of Bangkok because we were there during a rainy week and every afternoon it would pour rain, making it difficult to venture out. Still, what we did see and experience was great and left us wanting to someday return to Bangkok to explore more. Our next trip is to the South to soak up the sun on the infamous beaches and islands of Southern Thailand.

Our next blog to come soon...
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/katenclint/1/1237867320/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/katenclint/1/1237867320/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/katenclint/1/1237867320/tpod.html Tue, 24 Mar 2009 00:53:30 -0400 Our Amazing Adventure

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Luang Prabang, Lao Peoples Dem Rep

Vang Vieng is a small town along a clean river surrounded by massive, green limestone mountains. The scenery was beautiful and the town was what we expected. Known for it's party scene and drunken tubing adventures it's popular among younger backpackers (and some old diehards.) The town is relatively small and is crawling with tourists. The majority of the restaurants have lounge chairs and tables where you can lie down among many pillows, sipping your fruit shake and nursing your hangover. Several restaurants play the T.V. show "Friends" all day, every day! If it's not Friends, it's "Family guy" or "The Simpsons". We have to admit that we are guilty of catching up on some episodes of "Friends" while we were there.
Our second day there we partook in one of the only things to do in Vang Vieng, tubing down the Nam Song river. This "tubing" experience turned out to be a river pub crawl. There is a stretch of bar after bar along both sides of the Nam Song. As you tube down, workers from the bars throw a rope out to your tubes and drag you to them where you are then given free shots and cheap beer. Each bar has zip lines, rope swings or slides into the water and loud music to dance to. We tried some of the smaller zip lines and Clint did the slide which left his whole back feeling bruised for the next several days. This was a fun day that we shared with many other travelers from around the world, however, with the beautiful scenery and clean, blue-green waters it would have nice to simply enjoy the quiet nature as well. We kept trying to imagine this area before the influx of partying tourists came, we're sure it was stunning. The locals are trying to keep the partying to a minimum by enforcing curfews and drug laws but unfortunately some tourists don't seem to respect these efforts. It is also encouraged that tourists refrain from walking around in their swim suits and bikinis as it is offensive to local culture and yet we saw people ignoring this request repeatedly. If it wasn't for Kate getting sick we would have moved on after a few days but instead we hung out for a week until she felt better. At least we had our "Friends", Rachael, Ross, Monica, Chandler and Phoebe to keep us company.

The bus ride to Luang Prabang was 8 hours of constant winding mountain roads. The scenery started out beautiful but soon turned into entire mountains in flames or scorched from the slash and burn farming methods they practice here during the months of February and March. It was so smoky at times we could barely see 100 feet in front of us and the smoke did not help the motion sickness we were both trying to fight. When we finally made it to Luang Prabang we were shocked at how smoky it was. Still, we liked the city immediately. As the main tourist destination in the country this city is set up to cater to a lot of tourists. There are guesthouses, restaurants, internet cafes, markets, street vendors, travel agents and lots of tuk -tuks readily available. One of the main attractions are the waterfalls nearby. We took a daytrip out to see the big one and was in awe of how beautiful it was. The photos don't do it justice! The water was so clean and clear and unbelievably blue. We hiked to the top of the waterfall and swam in the pools. One of the pools of water had an awesome rope swing hanging from a tree that was really fun and made for some great photos. In town we enjoyed meandering around, visiting Wats, listening to the Chants of monks, walking through the night market, and sampling the different street foods. One morning we awoke at 5:30am to watch the daily procession of monks in their orange robes lining the streets to receive their morning alms (offerings). The alms are given by locals, and also tourists, and is usually a small handful of sticky rice that is put into their alms bowl. It was a spectacular sight to see dozens of monks moving in fluid lines up and down the streets and to watch the people lining the sides of the streets sitting on their feet on floor mats or in chairs with their large bamboo containers of sticky rice. It was also very shocking to see how horribly disrespectful some of the tourists can be during this cultural and religious ritual. There are signs posted in the city as well as in travel books explaining that during this ritual tourists can observe but they should be at a distance, should not use flash photography, should be crouched lower than the monks, and they should not give alms unless it is meaningful to them. We witnessed tourists up in the monk's faces snapping photograph after photograph with the flash as their friends sat giving alms simply for good photo opportunities. What is wrong with people?? After the monks disappeared down the streets we moved on to stroll through the morning local food market. There were women selling huge buckets of live frogs, large live moles that were tied together by their feet, weasels, squirrels, large bugs, snakes, and many varieties of fruits and vegetables.
Instead of taking a bus to a new destination we decided to explore the Luang Prabang area in a different way. We booked a 2 day trek and kayak trip through a travel agency whose mission is committed to cultural preservation. Six of us took the journey; 2 Australian men, a couple from England, and us. We departed Luang Prabang by truck at 8:30am to our trekking path north of the city. We were told that this particular trek was considered "easy to moderate". HA! All six of us were sweating buckets and so dirty and exhausted after trekking for 6 + hours. We crossed streams by jumping from rock to rock, climbed steep hills and mountains in the hot sun that seemed to last forever, and cautiously scooted down steep dirt hills. At one hill, to avoid injury to his knees again, Clint simply sat down on his butt and slid down the hill. We were already so dirty it didn't matter. We followed narrow foot paths up and down mountains that connected different Hmong and Khmu villages along the way. Our guides were 2 great Hmong University students who provided us with a wealth of information and lots of laughter. The villages we stopped at were very remote, had no electricity other than a few that had generators, and were very traditional. When we arrived, kids and some adults would come out to look at the dirty, sweaty visitors. They would exchange smiles and greetings in their language and offer us stools to sit on. After asking at each village we were welcomed to take photos. The kids really seemed to enjoy seeing themselves on the digital screens and it's always so fun to hear their giggles. After a very long trek we finally arrived at the Hmong village where we were to spend the night. This village consisted of about 230 people, all living in bamboo thatched roof homes on dirt floors. There were animals everywhere!! One of the first sights we encountered were 2 young boys rolling down a hill on their home made, wooden seated scooter (see photo). We stood and watched for a while, cheering them on, and then a little boy, no older than 2, wearing just a hooded sweater and a huge smile came, sat behind one of the boys and away they went together down the steep hill. We were a bit nervous for this little boy but he sure wasn't, he was all smiles and made it to the bottom no problem. We arrived at the home where we were staying and were greeted very warmly by the village chief, Mr. Pa Chai Lee, and his family. Our first activity was to get cleaned up so one of our guides, Leng, grabbed a couple buckets and took us to a stream. There we shared "bath time" with many other members of the village and took bucket baths with very cold stream water. It was refreshing and did the job! We also learned that the village did not have any toilets and if you needed to go you simply had to go in the jungle. After we were washed up and settled in we had dinner. The dinner they gave us was very tasty, an overabundance of cooked vegetables, soup, steamed rice and buffalo meat. We sat at a table with one small candle and after about half way through our meal realized that 5 feet from the table were 4 or 5 children sitting on the bed staring at us as we ate. It was so dark we didn't see them at first until we heard their giggles and our eyes adjusted to the candlelight. After we were done eating they all jumped up and came to finish the food that we could not. Had we known they were waiting to do that we would have hurried and eaten less.

By the time we went to bed, which were comforters on uneven wood floor boards with flat hard pillows under mosquito nets with big holes in them, we thought we would just crash after such a physically exhausting day. It wasn't that easy. We were lined on the floor very close to one another in a hot upstairs on a very hard surface that we were not used to. There were 2 or 3 heavy snorers and I kept feeling the bed bugs bite me throughout the night. Needless to say, none of us slept more than a few hours if that. Being in this village at dawn was quite the experience though! We woke to the sounds of every single animal waking up and having their breakfast. This included roosters, chickens, turkeys, ducks, pigs, goats, horses, and dogs. I don't think we could accurately describe these morning sounds even if we tried but just imagine all those animals being as loud as they could, hungrily waiting to be fed, all at the same time. We couldn't help but laugh. At 6am I finally got up and took a stroll through the village. Everyone appeared to be awake, doing their chores and preparing for the day. I saw two younger girls using a large machine made of wood and 2 large stones to grind corn. It did not look easy and yet these girls, who were dripping with sweat, still had smiles on their faces. It is clear that in many of these villages the children have their own responsibilities and chores. By the time some of them are toddlers they are contributing to the workload. It is not uncommon to see girls and women pulling a lot of the weight as well. In this particular village the children did not attend school so they balanced their days with work and play. After a big breakfast we wrote in Mr. Pa Chai Lee's guest book, took some group photos, expressed our gratitude, said our farewells, and hit the road. This short amount of time spent in the village surpassed all of our expectations and left us feeling more enriched.

The hour and a half hike down to the road where we met the truck with the kayaks was a piece of cake. It was mostly down hill on a large dirt road surrounded by spectacular mountainous scenery. The smoke from the slash and burning was not as bad this day so we could appreciate the sights more and not be burdened with burning eyes and throat. The kayaking adventure was a great work out and a lot of fun! We went over several small rapids and even with our best efforts still managed to tip our kayak over. Clint lost his sunglasses but other than that we were unharmed and cooled off. We waved to kids on the shoreline, watched dozens of people pan for gold along the banks, and enjoyed floating down the mighty Mekong river. By the time the 3 + hours of Kayaking was over we were tired, sore and ready for a hot shower and clean, dry clothes.

We now only have 2 more days in Laos before we fly to Chaing Mai, Thailand to meet Kate's Dad and Stepmom. We have had a wonderful time in Laos and are truly grateful for all of the incredible experiences we have shared here. The people we have met along the way have made lasting impressions on us that we will cherish for a long time! We are excited to see familiar faces soon and be able to share our amazing adventures with family. Thailand, here we come!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/katenclint/1/1237209360/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/katenclint/1/1237209360/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/katenclint/1/1237209360/tpod.html Mon, 16 Mar 2009 10:17:16 -0400 Our Amazing Adventure

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Vientiane, Lao Peoples Dem Rep

We started our journey North on a pretty fantastic sleeping bus. We actually had our own full bed sized compartment, that we both fit into nicely, and were given free water, candy, and a meal of pork and rice. The 10 hour trip went fast and as soon as we knew it we arrived in the bus station in Vientiene, the capitol of Laos. We hopped in a Tuk-Tuk to catch a ride to the city center and on the way met a couple nice Brits. Upon arriving in the center, we all wandered around in search of an affordable place to stay. After chatting a while about our traveling adventures we decided to meet up again. We grabbed a quick breakfast and hopped on another Tuk-Tuk that took us around the city to see the sites. Our first stop was a "Buddha Garden" which was beautiful. We wandered around a garden full of sculptures of Buddhist and Hindu Deities. One of the main attractions here is the enormous laying Buddha. After that we visited various wats, temples, and landmarks around the city. We then went t to the"Cope Visitors Center". This center was highly recommended by another traveler and we were very glad we took the time to visit. Cope stands for "Cooperative Orthotic and Prosthetic Enterprise" and their center provides prosthetics and mobility devices for those who need them, free of charge. The majority of the people receiving the prosthetics are victims of UXO (Unexploded Ordnance); unexploded bombs, but the center also provide them for those disabled from birth defects or other accidents. It is estimated that 260 million explosives (land mines, cluster bombs, sub-munitions) were dropped in Laos from 1964-1973 and an estimated 78 million remain unexploded in Laos today. We learned that Laos is the most heavily bombed country, per capita, in the world! The Visitors Center was very informative and very emotional for us! We viewed photos, read testimonies, and watched documentaries. Like in Cambodia, people here, especially children, continue to be sadly be affected by UXO's.

The following day we made our way to the airport to meet Clint's former co-worker, Pao. He and 7 other members of his family made the long journey from MN to Laos to visit extended family. We piled into a van and drove about 45 minutes north of Vientiene to a Hmong village where his family lives. We felt a little awkward at first, being strangers among a reuniting family, but they made us feel very welcome. Pao's cousin owned a hotel where we stayed comfortably for 2 nights. Surrounding the hotel were several houses where other members of the family lived, 7 families in total. The properties were all connected and were scattered with little storage huts, many different kinds of fruit trees, and animals wandering about. Most of the time was spent gathered in the common area, a back yard of sorts. Shortly after we arrived we sat at tables in the common area, enjoyed lunch, and was introduced to more of the many family members. When lunch was served we learned that the table etiquette was a bit different than what we are used to. People simply dig into the several dishes on the table with their fingers or their own spoon. This style was easy to get used to as it made sharing the meals a more communal experience. Later, we took a walk around town with Pao, his wife Yeng, their son, nephew and cousin. They showed us around the Hmong village and we stopped at his aunt and uncles house to say hello and deliver mail from family in MN. There we were shown a typical Hmong house which is basically a one room bamboo and thatch roofed home with a dirt floor and fire pit for cooking. Later, Pao told us we were heading to his cousins house for dinner. When we arrived we were surprised to see that his cousin was hosting a Grooms Dinner for a Loatian wedding and we were seated among the many guests. The food was very good and plentiful! Although communication was difficult, Pao's cousins enjoyed toasting and challenging Clint and I (Clint especially) to drinking Beer Lao with them. We communicated through gestures, facial expressions, laughter and Pao's translations.

We slept well that night and awoke at 6am the following morning to head to the market across the street with the family. They said that early morning is the best time to go to get the freshest breakfast and foods for later. Our first taste of breakfast was "tri-color" soup/drink. This is a very sweet treat of different color and shaped tapioca, sweet coconut milk, black beans, and a sort of syrup. It's actually quite good. For those living in St. Paul, you can get this dessert there too. After walking around the market, making purchases, and taking in all the colors, smells, and sights we went back home. We then had a breakfast of fish and rice...by far some of the best catfish we have ever had! While we were finishing our breakfast Pao tells us "look, they're getting the cow ready". We knew what he meant because the night before he had asked if Clint wanted to kill the cow for the celebration the next day. We looked behind us and watched as several of the young guys dragged the cow from the tree it was tied to and one whacked it on the head with the blunt side of an axe and brought it down within a couple hits. Once this had happened we went closer to observe this cultural event. We witnessed them cut the cow's jugular and drain the blood into a large bucket with salt in it to coagulate for a soup dish. We then watched at they poured boiling water over the carcass to loosen up the hair and then scrape it off using spoons and machetes. The hair that they could be removed this way was burned off. They covered the carcass with straw and lit it on fire. They then butchered it and took the meat and other parts directly to the kitchen to prepare for the huge feast we were about to enjoy. This all happened before 9am! As this was going on there were several men, including Pao, carving crossbows and fishing spear guns out of blocks of wood, the women were cooking and getting ready for the big festivities, and the kids were playing everywhere. We observed that the kids (there were a lot of kids!...at least 15-20) were involved in everything that the adults did. In the U.S. kids are at times pushed away from adult activities and told to "go play over there." Here, the kids are included and engaged in nearly everything. It was also fun to watch the men with the children who showed such involvement and attention toward the children. Before the celebration began we were escorted behind one of the houses where the men were gathered to share a dish of fresh raw beef and spices and rice wine. It was explained to us that the jug of rice wine was made a few months ago and opened for this specific occasion. They made the rice wine by filling a jug with rice husks and yeast and sealing it. After a few months they open it up and stick a couple long bamboo straws all the way to the bottom. They then pour water into it and one person drinks a cups worth of liquor at a time, then they pass the straw to the next person, refill it with water and the fun continues. Shortly after this, the dinner festivities began. We were ushered into the home where there were tables lined with food and where all the men sat. Kate was the only female and felt a little out of place but Pao assured her that it was OK. The festivities were to celebrate one of the families moving into a new home.
Before we ate there was an hour or so of rituals that we observed and participated in. One was to call on the good spirits to enter the home and bad ones to leave. Some of the men examined closely the cow's tail and two cooked chickens. Pao said they were looking at the shape and form of them to see if good luck or bad luck would come to the home and family. We never found out the results but we'll assume the best. Another ritual involved the guests of the party who were each given 7 white strings to tie on the family members wrists for good luck and then give the them a small amount of money. Clint confused the instructions that Pao had given us, turned to a random man next to him and tried to tie the string onto his wrist. The man looked very confused but then smiled and pointed to the family. We have been laughing at this mix up ever since. The feast we had was unbelievable! There was so much food and only a fraction of it was eaten at the time. We ate dishes with Cow's meat, skin, fat, intestines, stomach lining, coagulated blood, and probably a lot more that we didn't even realize. There were heaps of sticky rice, pumpkin, Laap (a traditional Lao dish), soup, and fruit. The party came to a pretty quick end after the feast and we spent the rest of the afternoon digesting and relaxing.
Later we took a hike through the farm land of Pao's relatives. We, along with many children and adults, piled in the back of a truck and went exploring for a few hours. It was a great adventure. At one point we stopped at a tree and caught bugs with the children. Clint with his long arms shook the tree branches as the kids went wild to catch these small, green beetles. We were told these insects were to eat for later. Hmmmmm. Sure enough, when we returned, the children washed them and they were fried up to eat. We both tried a pinch of them...they were crunchy and tasteless, just how we wanted them to be. We then ate more food again! This time we ate the Cow's face meat. Sounds gross, but the meat was actually pretty good. After watching the adults play Bocce Ball, a very popular game here, we got into our best clothes and headed to a traditional Lao wedding reception. The reception was beautiful, everyone was in their best dresses and outfits (which left us feeling a little under-dressed) and the food and beer were again plentiful! We were so full already but ate once again. After dinner we all went to the dance floor. We followed everyone's lead and danced a traditional Lao dance. This dance involved slowly walking in a circle, facing your partner, and moving your hands around (almost resembling a hula dance). Clint added his own twist and shake moves to it...he was a natural!!
The following morning we awoke early again to the rooster outside our window and went to the market with the family. We enjoyed more Tri-color, rice noodle soup, spring rolls, and then more fish and rice at the home. I think our stomach expanded quite a bit while we were there! We had also purchased games and treats for the children at the market. We bought them a plastic bowling game and when we returned we watched as they played it for the first time. How fun! Next we took some photos with the family, expressed our sincere gratitude, and headed off to Vang Vieng in a Taxi (a pick-up truck with benches in the back).
We felt very lucky to have been welcomed to the Lor family home in Laos. It made our experience here more meaningful and memorable.

Special thanks to Pao, Yeng, Malina,Yengchee and the rest of the Lor family for a great time with great company!

]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/katenclint/1/1236483600/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/katenclint/1/1236483600/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/katenclint/1/1236483600/tpod.html Fri, 06 Mar 2009 22:43:26 -0500 Our Amazing Adventure

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Pakse, Champasak, Lao Peoples Dem Rep

We have been told throughout our trip in SE Asia that Laos is the most relaxing and chill place to visit. So far, this has held true. After Siem Reap, we made our way closer to the Laos border and stayed in Kratie, Cambodia for a of couple days. We skipped the organized tours and treks offered and just relaxed. Our border crossing experience went well. We took a Cambodian mini bus to the border, was dropped off, got our passports stamped and walked into Laos to catch our next mini bus to the 4,000 islands off the Mekong River. We were jam packed into this minibus (mini van) with 13 other travelers. We had paid to go all the way to Don Kong (the big island) but the rest of the travelers were all going to Don Det (small island) so the driver told us in order to get to the large island we would have to pay more...of course! This is pretty typical here. We have learned that you rarely get what you pay for in SE Asia! So, after the rest of the travelers got off at Don Det, the driver and his friend pulled up on 2 motorbikes and told us to get on. This is not the easiest way to travel when you have large, heavy back packs, but we managed and made it to Don Kong is one piece. The 4000 islands are beautiful, lined with palm trees and flowers and surrounded by the blue-green waters of the Mekong. We took a day trip by boat to the small islands of Don Det and Don Kone where we walked the palm tree and bamboo lined dirt paths to a waterfall and had lunch overlooking the beautiful scenery. We then took a minibus to another waterfall; the longest cascade waterfall in Se Asia. It was a HOT day but well worth it. The small islands are known to be more beautiful and more appealing and we definitely saw why. We chose to stay on the big islands because it had internet and we were planning to Skype (video chat) with our friends on Sunday morning, a date we did not want to miss. Sunday morning came and we did manage to connect with our friends. It was so great to see and hear everyone! It made us not feel so far away. Even though it was 10am our time (9pm their time) we cracked open a Lao Beer to cheers with our friends. We then hopped on a boat and then a bus to Pakse. The minibus again was way too overcrowded! This time there were 19 of us in a 12 seater.

We only stayed in Pakse for a day. The perk of this stay was the Indian restaurants! The food was so good and so very cheap we kept going back for more. You can get a huge meal with Nan (bread), jasmine rice, and a tasty dish for $2.00. This was also probably the first city we have been to in SE Asia where we were not harassed by vendors or Tuk-Tuk drivers, or children asking for candy or money. It was refreshing to not have someone in your face at all times of the day. From Paske we took a bus to Tat Lo, a small town along a tributary of the Mekong river that was surrounded by several smaller villages. The bus was ancient and run down but the scenery outside our window was beautiful! During the day we hung out, moseyed around, walked to 2 nearby waterfalls, enjoyed the small town scenery (mostly consisting of bamboo and thatch huts and lots of farm animals) and tried every restaurant in town (5 in total). It was such a relaxing place to chill and we got a kick out of watching the many cow families, large pigs with their piglets, chickens with their chicks, and dogs pass the Ma and Pa restaurants where we ate. The cicadae bugs were unreal here too. We had never heard them to be so loud in our lives! They were a favorite toy among the local village children. One girl sat with us as we played cards at a restaurant and "played" with one. She pulled it's wings off so it wouldn't fly away and giggled as it tickled and clung to her fingers. We also took an elephant adventure ride that took us across the river 3 times, through treacherous terrain, and into a local village. We expected a trail bound, Como Park pony ride type meander but instead got a thrilling ride that kept our hearts pounding as the elephant tried to maneuver through the narrow paths in the woods and the steep, rocky banks of the river. We had to hold on tight a few times for fear of falling off. It was great! We felt a little invasive when trekking through the local village and so, even though there were great photo opportunities, we put our cameras away and just smiled and exchanged "Sabadii" (hello) with the beautiful people. After our elephant trek, it was time for the elephant's bath so we stayed and watched her bathe in the river with the mountains, waterfall and sunset in the backdrop. After her bath, Clint followed the elephant's lead and jumped in the river to cool off too. Shortly after he got out of the river, several locals came with their bathing baskets of soap and shampoo to take their daily baths. Children came, stripped down to nothing and jumped in, playing "king of the rock" , laughing wildly, and dunking each other under. It appears that the river is a large part of the Laos culture (at least in the region) as we have seen many playing, washing clothes, bathing, fishing, and simply hanging out by or in the river.

We are now back in Pakse and are waiting for our night bus to pick us up to take us to Vientiane(the Capital, 10 hours away). We then plan to meet Clint's friend and co-worker, Pao (who travels to Laos to visit his family often) at the airport on Saturday. He had arranged for his cousin to pick him up and asked us to join them in going to a Hmong Village 52 Km north of Vientiane. We are very excited to meet up with him!
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