TravelStream™ news feed for member mimmik on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/mimmik en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Mon, 26 Nov 2007 06:55:43 -0500 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mimmik/mimmik/1078251720/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mimmik/mimmik/1078251720/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mimmik/mimmik/1078251720/tpod.html Mon, 26 Nov 2007 06:55:43 -0500 When was the last time you did something for the first time?

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Ko Samet, Thailand

Well, this is lovely: another warm, humid, tropical morning on the island of Ko Samet (in the Gulf of Thailand southeast-ish of Bangkok), sitting here listening to the surf and the insects chirping happily away in the surrounding national park (and the occasional annoying jet ski...).

It's my first few days on my first trip to Asia and so far it's fab! I'm more or less recovered from being (to put it mildly) a bit ding-y (and dingy as well) after travelling about 36 hours straight to get here from about-to-be-snowy Colorado by car, plane, 2 buses, boat and sawngthaew (a pickup truck with benches in the back used as a taxi) and finally feet, but it was all worth it. At some point I figured I'd travelled almost exactly one hour for each of my years (I arrived on my birthday!) to get here, so that seemed fortuitous somehow, although my math skills have been known to be very...creative, so maybe someone should verify those numbers. :)

Some quirks have happened already along the way--maybe because it all began on Leap Day??--starting with stupidly crying my eyes out in the back of the car while mom and dad drove me to the airport. I've never done that before any other big trip or move, but this time I couldn't help it--my big bud Nash kept putting his head in my lap and looking up at me with those gorgeous brown eyes of his--I'm gonna miss all of you!!! ;) *sniff* (No sleep for the 36+ hours before that probably didn't help...)

Nash and his wedgy pillow--how can you resist a face like this?!?


my wonderful family--I couldn't do this trip without you!!



Another funny episode happened as soon as my flight touched down in L.A from Denver. No fewer than 7 people around me whipped out their mobile phones to call a ?loved one?, but no, not to say, "Honey, I'm home, I'll be there soon", and no, not "Hi, I've just landed, can you come pick me up?". No sireebob. Every single one was only interested in the Oscars which were in progress at the time, and the urgent communication was only about Best Picture, Best Director, how was Lord of the Rings doing, etc.-- only in L.A.!! And to drive home the point that we'd landed in the City of Stop-and-Go (and Stop-and-Stop), we were promptly in some kind of traffic jam on the runway and had to sit there for at least 10-15 minutes before we could go on to the gate. I was instantly transported back to the hours and hours (and days and days) I spent on the highways when I lived here way back in the 20th century...

The L.A. International terminal is chaos personified. People speaking every language and from every nation and in every type of clothes were walking around, trying not to lose their children while desperately trying to find out where to go to stand in line for 45 minutes to be practically strip-searched by security before narrowly making their inter-continental flights. As I stood in line I had a lot of time to watch the flights posted on the boards--to Dubai, to Sao Paulo, to Sydney, to Beijing. Airports are such centers of possibility, and I get rushes of smiles and ideas every single time I'm in one. Someday when I'm rich and have loads of time and a little more adventurousness, maybe I'll show up at an airport with a wad of cash and a die (the Vegas kind, not the death kind!). I'll stand under one of these international boards and with one roll of the die will decide where to go. Could be fun, but how do you pack?!?

After building up a healthy appetite giong through the rigors of security, I had a quick bite to eat in a bizarre timewarp lounge (complete with people drinking martinis on faux leopard and zebra skin sofas) somewhere deep inside the bowels of the waiting area before heading off to the EVA plane (a Taiwanese airline).

With complimentary gorgeous little sea green styrofoam slippers that reminded me of hospital shoes (of course I took them when I left the plane!), a Cosmopolitan magazine (in Chinese) and an empty seat beside me (aaaahhh, the joys when you're tall and need the leg room to sprawl out in!!)), I proceeded to pass out and sleep most of the way to Taipei, only waking up long enough to eat noodles, more noodles and then I think noodles. I guess staying up all night in Boulder before I left had its advantages, as I normally can't sleep sitting up, but there was absolutely no way I could have stayed awake at that point. It's official: procrastination CAN be beneficial!

I felt pretty good after my sleep when we arrived in Taipei early in the morning. I had a couple of hours to wander around the airport (VERY clean, VERY quiet, VERY organized-- makes L.A. look like Baghdad!). It was a nice, gentle way to ease my brain around the fact that I really am in Asia. The food in the souvenir stores was totally new to me (but I'm sure it's very normal here) -- lots of Japanese stuff that looked like seaweed and every kind of what I think was dried fish (but who knows???), cans of dried, shredded pork 'For age 1-6', packages of all sizes and colors and shapes of 'dried been curd', and a sign that assured me, 'Please! Feel easy to buy!'. Uh huh. A kitschy(sp?) souvenir store (across from the Bonjour Patisserie, where Dad will be proud to know I paid 4 crisp dollar bills for a small mocha!!) had various Chinese stuff (Made in Taiwan of course!! :)) and a hilarious series of little notebooks with a large bubble cat drawing on them (is this Hello Kitty??) and this text:

'I am BooBoo Kitty. I like Smily.
Big Red Apple. I like it.'

cool. :) Along with people hunched over steaming bowls at the noodle bar next to my gate--at about 7:30 in the morning, I guess noodles just ain't fer dinner round here-- and the meditation area just down the perfect blue carpet, complete with Five Rules posted to be Better in Mind and Spirit in the Buddhist Way, I was beginning to grasp an inkling of what might be in store for me in the coming months.

Nothing much of note happened between Taipei and this gorgeous little island, except that by the time I'd gone thru passport control in Bangkok and got my big backpack, I became dully aware that my feet hurt. Upon closer inspection, I was horrified to see the unrecognizable, fat sausage-like lumps at the ends of my shins. WHAT THE HELL ARE THOSE??? my soggy brain tried to comprehend. I guess sleeping thru 20+ hours of flying without much walking around the planes isn't the best for the old footsies. And to compound matters, the plumpness had clashed with my sandals, creating--BISTERS--THE HORROR!!! Not on my bloody first day!!!! Oi..... So I bandaid-ed myself up (ya know, with plasters) and walked out into a blast of hot, humid air--I have arrived! With a smile on my face, found out right away how easy it is to travel in Thailand by painlessly getting to the bus station to catch my ride to the ferry pier in Ban Phe, a city on the coast about 3(ish) hours away from BKK.

So here I am, among the breeze-blown trees and softly crashing surf. After several showers and meals and hours of sleep and chilling out (and finally figuring out how to 'flush' the toilet by pouring a bowl of water into it--DOH!), I feel very relaxed and happy to finally be travelling long-term after so many years of only dreaming about doing it, and of course living out my favorite motto, 'When was the last time you did something for the first time?", which I shamelessly stole from the fab Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation . So here I am, doing something new virtually every day (I usually sit on a different patch of sand, or read a different book, walk to a different beach, talk to different people, try a different beer or curry...hey, that all counts, right?!).

So you get the picture-my days are spent exactly as I was hoping for my first week; that is to say I've been doing nothing but lounging and lazing on the beach, either in the shade of a tree (and under the stealthy, dropping and furiously biting little red+black ants--I call them the Little Bastards) or splurging on a chair and umbrella (50 cents), reading, dozing, watching people, talking to them, buying freshly cut mango or pineapple from the beach vendors (they're soooo nice, but what a crap job to walk up and down the island all day, every day, in the sun, selling fruit and sarongs to the lazing farangs--Thai for foreigners/westerners...). Yesterday I actually got off my duff and did a bit of exercise and walked down to the southern tip of the island. It seemed to take me forever (something like 5 km over a lot of rocks and hills), but the different beaches and coves are so beautiful, especially the furthest one south, and it was really nice to do something more physical than sitting or lying down all day. I even got a massage on the beach for about $2.50, yet another new experience and one I'm likely to repeat...

Evenings are usually spent hanging out with Joan, from the Faeroe Islands. We ran into each other (literally, with our big backpacks!) in a little store in Bangkok at the bus station before finding ourselves on the same bus to the coast, and sort of faked our way onto a boat and over to the island, as you do when you're new to a place and really don't know what you're doing or where you're going. It's fast becoming a Ko Samet tradition to have the hard-to-resist yummy, spicy Thai curry soup with coconut milk and equally tasty (but not spicy) Thai beer with various other people before heading off to sit on the beach at a cafe/pub and drink rice whiskey while having a good girlie chat and watching the fire show (gorgeous, shirtless Thai guys twirling fire staffs and fire balls on chains--it's magical and very hypnotic!) . Life surely ain't too bad...

Along with Joan, I've met some really great people already, and also some very...unique people, as you do on most beaches I suppose. And I'm sure I'll meet loads more--one of the great pleasures (and sometimes great pains) of travelling is the people you meet who challenge your thinking and open your brain up a bit more by helping you see or do things differently. And with that deep thought, I'm off to have another amazingly relaxed day on the sand. :)

Btw, if you want to see more pics, email me and I'll send you a link for my online cache with loads more.


Enough rambling now for my first entry--more later from ??????????
xxxooo
m
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mimmik/new_zealand/1138374000/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mimmik/new_zealand/1138374000/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mimmik/new_zealand/1138374000/tpod.html Sun, 26 Mar 2006 20:56:25 -0500 I'm off on my next big adventure--and a scary 1 at that--committing to at least a year in a modern, westernized, English-speaking country for at least a year to become(GASP!)a full-time student again!

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Christchurch, New Zealand

so this is my new home for the next year--christchurch.
arrived with big sis shawna for a nice 2-week sister holiday before i start my year-long course, so watch for lotsa pics of our road trip around part of the south island (including where we throw ourselves off some very tall stuff) and more...
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mimmik/mimmik/1134416340/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mimmik/mimmik/1134416340/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mimmik/mimmik/1134416340/tpod.html Mon, 12 Dec 2005 14:46:25 -0500 When was the last time you did something for the first time?

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Fes, Morocco, United States

so this is the final pic i chose for the LP thorn tree december photo contest.


to see a larger version of the pic just click on the thumbnail of it in the gallery above...

and to see the other green pics i decided not to use, go to the previous travelogue entry's photo gallery.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mimmik/mimmik/1134345480/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mimmik/mimmik/1134345480/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mimmik/mimmik/1134345480/tpod.html Sun, 11 Dec 2005 21:43:54 -0500 When was the last time you did something for the first time?

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SE Asia, India, Ireland, New Zealand..., United States

these are pics i chose from to post in a monthly photo contest on lonely planet's thorn tree forum, The theme in Dec. is 'green' and it also has to relate to travel...

see the next travelogue entry (click on the photo in the gallery) to see which one i decided to enter...
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mimmik/africa-europe05/1120777500/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mimmik/africa-europe05/1120777500/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mimmik/africa-europe05/1120777500/tpod.html Thu, 06 Oct 2005 19:24:03 -0400 What happens when you scrunch a family of 5 together for the longest stretch of time in 2 decades for a trip up (& down, thankfully) Kilimanjaro & around E Africa & beyond? An unforgettable experence.

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Boulder, Colorado, United States

So after a 2-month rest in gorgeous Colorado, I'm off to Africa to climb Kilimanjaro with my family, then stay on the road for various other adventures, so it promises to be a great summer.

We did quite a bit of hiking around Boulder and beyond--including a few of Colorado's 50+ 'fourteeners'--peaks that are over 14,00ft/about 4270m--to try and prepare as much as possible for the high altitude challenge to come, but we're pretty unsure about what to expect. Being in Boulder helps, as it's already at about 5400ft/1650m, but we'll just give it try and have a great time with each other and the mountain, and see how it all goes.

Some pics of the prep stage to come, including:
-hikes around Boulder: Bear and Green Peaks, Sanitas, Mesa Trail
-14'ers like Sherman, Bierstadt, Quandry
-the mess in my parents' basement with our multiple tons of gear (thanks mostly to REI).

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As for the rest of the travelogue, it is in a bit of a rough stage atm, but at least the outlines are there, and I'll try to add at least a few pics sometime soon. But maybe don't hold yer breath...

As always, I love to get email, so send one along if you spot any typos, wild deusions masquerading as fact, or just have regular ol' comments. You could also subscribe, but seeing as the trip is over, it'd be more for getting updates when I add more pics or maybe if I get around to fleshing out some entries someday. (!)

enjoy.....
m
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mimmik/africa-europe05/1126404480/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mimmik/africa-europe05/1126404480/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mimmik/africa-europe05/1126404480/tpod.html Mon, 03 Oct 2005 22:09:29 -0400 What happens when you scrunch a family of 5 together for the longest stretch of time in 2 decades for a trip up (& down, thankfully) Kilimanjaro & around E Africa & beyond? An unforgettable experence.

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Boulder, Colorado, United States

It'll be good to be back and see my family in Colorado again, and also to really launch into serious research for my next adventure:

moving to New Zealand to study massage therapy for a year, and if they'll have me (and I like it enough), stay to work and get residency.

Time for a home base somewhere in the world!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mimmik/africa-europe05/1126231140/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mimmik/africa-europe05/1126231140/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mimmik/africa-europe05/1126231140/tpod.html Mon, 03 Oct 2005 22:07:56 -0400 What happens when you scrunch a family of 5 together for the longest stretch of time in 2 decades for a trip up (& down, thankfully) Kilimanjaro & around E Africa & beyond? An unforgettable experence.

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London, United Kingdom

And a final time back to London (this travelogue map is looking like my loopy my Asian one from last year--but this time I keep circling back to London instead of Thailand!).

A couple of clothes shopping trips and afternoons lazed in Hyde Park later, and it was suddenly time to head to Heathrow and catch my flight back to Colorado.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mimmik/africa-europe05/1125885060/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mimmik/africa-europe05/1125885060/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mimmik/africa-europe05/1125885060/tpod.html Mon, 03 Oct 2005 21:57:45 -0400 What happens when you scrunch a family of 5 together for the longest stretch of time in 2 decades for a trip up (& down, thankfully) Kilimanjaro & around E Africa & beyond? An unforgettable experence.

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Ayr, United Kingdom

My next Ryan Air purchase was to Scotland to see some more good friends, this time from my teaching days in Sofia, Bulgaria (going way back to the 20th century).

Emma and Iain are two of the nicest, most generous and fun people you could know, and their wedding on Arran Island was one of the funnest times in my life. This time, I spent some more fantastic days hanging out with them in their 200-year-old house in Ayrshire in southwest Scotland (another favorite place on the globe).

And after doing practically no exercise at all since climbing Kilimanjaro (unless buffet meals count), I started running again while I was there--in such gorgeous country and with such a good companion, how could I not??

They're also thinking about going to New Zealand, so Emma and Iain--start packing!!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mimmik/africa-europe05/1125797460/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mimmik/africa-europe05/1125797460/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mimmik/africa-europe05/1125797460/tpod.html Mon, 03 Oct 2005 21:49:35 -0400 What happens when you scrunch a family of 5 together for the longest stretch of time in 2 decades for a trip up (& down, thankfully) Kilimanjaro & around E Africa & beyond? An unforgettable experence.

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Fanore, Ireland

After dropping Suz off at Shannon, I had a day to amuse myself and decided to visit a favorite place in Ireland--the central west coast.

I'd been through that area several times in previous years when I was heavy into Irish music. You can hear some amazing stuff in the pubs in Galway and Clare, and the land itself is something you can't believe unless you experience it in person, with the Cliffs of Moher, the Aran Islands and the Burren all within a short drive from each other, and stunning green, rolling hills and dramatic, winding coastal scenery in between.

I headed to a small village called Fanore to pay my respects to a friend who'd passed away the year before, an old and intriguing guy named John who picked me up hitching a ride a few years earlier. He ran a B&B/restaurant called the Admiral's Rest and also owned some land that he turned into an independent nature reserve, and we'd spent some really nice times talking about travelling and cultures and Ireland--I think he'd been a merchant navy sailor when he was a teenager, travelling all over Asia and other far-flung places, so you can imagine his stories, a perfect mixture of fact and pure Irish blarney.

I was actually staying with him the afternoon one of his neighbors ran in and announced the US was under attack by kamikaze pilots in New York--9/11. I'll never forget how bizarre and unreal it was, sitting there at his computer, where I had just been staring out at the cows grazing peacefully in the grass and the deep blue sea beyond, the Aran Islands just on the horizon, thinking, "Damn, this is so gorgeous and wonderful...". Then the ugly reality. I was flying out of Dublin in 2 days' time to move to Budapest, so it was an interesting time to be an American travelling abroad. Back when people were sympathetic and empathetic towards the US.

But when I got there, the B&B was all boarded up with for lease signs, so I didn't get to talk with any of his family. Instead, I decided to honor his memory by heading to one of his (and my) favorite places--the beautiful beach up the road, and spent several hours lazing in the hot Irish sun (no, that's not an oxymoron!), watching parents and their kids play in the sand and a couple of beginning surfers catch some wobbly waves, remembering the laughs with John, and thinking about life.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mimmik/africa-europe05/1125710520/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mimmik/africa-europe05/1125710520/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mimmik/africa-europe05/1125710520/tpod.html Mon, 03 Oct 2005 21:29:14 -0400 What happens when you scrunch a family of 5 together for the longest stretch of time in 2 decades for a trip up (& down, thankfully) Kilimanjaro & around E Africa & beyond? An unforgettable experence.

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Dingle Peninsula, Ireland

The next day was a day of finally finding the fabled well of Mary, then of much driving, much sun, much gorgeous scenery (!again!), many photos, a fresh seaweed bath (as you do!) and a fish/chicken 'n chips dinner with a sunset view over a beautiful bay complete with castle ruins, cliffs and surfers. Doesn't get much better than that.

Suzie had to get back to the UK the next day to prepare for her driving test and a move to a new city to start a new job (way to pack it all in, Syooz!), so we headed back towards the Shannon airport area and ended up in a funky B&B run by several sweet old grey ladies and an old pub with sawdust on the floor and locals mixing it up with tourists (Durty Nellie's I think??) across from Bunratty castle (gotta love those Irish names!).
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