TravelStream™ news feed for member philthy on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/philthy en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Mon, 05 Mar 2007 08:37:01 -0500 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/philthy/asia_2003-2004/1077611820/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/philthy/asia_2003-2004/1077611820/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/philthy/asia_2003-2004/1077611820/tpod.html Mon, 05 Mar 2007 08:37:01 -0500 This trip will take Sarah and I throughout Asia.

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Bikaner, India

At 4:30 A.M. Bikaner was another bleary-eyed arival. The cold air on the long, open-air rickshaw ride was not quite enough wake Sarah or I up for very long after we got our room. Waking up later that morning was much more pleasant.

Bikaner was defitely the less touristed desert counterpart to Jaisalmer. Like almost every city in Rajasthan it had a palace and fort, and the palace was worth the visit just for it's mosaics. But we didn't come to Bikaner for palaces, we came for a camel trek. Luckily we were able to talk to someone who had just come back from a camel trek organized by Bikaner's very own "Camel Man." The review was satisfactory so we signed up for a two day one night trek, which could be extended if we so desired.

By 10:00 A.M. the following moring, we said goodby to our guesthouse owner and were off on our camels into The Great Thar Desert. The "we" was Sarah and myself, riding camels designated for us, two people on foot holding the reigns to our camels, and an entourage of people riding on a cart already full, presumably of trek equipment, being pulled by a third camel. It turns out, thankfully, that the entourage wasn't for us. All but one were just taking a free ride by camel cart to the next village. Stll, that left three people for a two tourist camel trek.

The first rule of camel riding is to get on the camel "slow but fast." This, I figured out, meant getting on smoothly without taking too much time. I was given the camel with the attitude and this rule was key to getting on. The first time I tried I must have somehow instictually known what to do because it was no problem. Of course it was still a weird experience. It seemed like the camel was at a standing position three times before it really was. This was definitely better than later times when I wasn't so smooth and the camel (we later nicknamed Clyde) seemed to get straight up all at once.

Sarah's camel was not so moody, but it had other "issues" which you can probably guess since it was nicknamed "Beansy." Then there was the mating season "call." All three camels with us were male, and whenever another camel approached they would make this sould like water glugging out of a plastic jug while wagling their extremely long toungues out. Apparently this was to establich dominance, and among our three, the cart pulling camel appeared the "most dominant." Of course I'm not a camel so what do I know?

Off we were into the desert, on Beansy and Clyde. If the mental image you have is something like Lawrence of Aribia, as ours was, you're a little off. It was definitely hot and arid, but the desert here was also full of lots of scrub brush, not rolling dunes. We actually saw a lot of wildlife as well: antelope, birds of prey, and something our guide Dula called a "Blue Cow" which just looked like a big antelope to us. Even more ruinous to our mental image of the desert were the areas of agrigation. That's right, as we rode along, it was more like desert, desert, small village, desert, unbelievably green pasture, desert, more pasture, desert, etc. Not quite Lawrence of Arabia. Still, the sky was clear and at night there was a full moon which lit up the desert almost as much as daylight. And where we camped it was desert as far as the eye could see.

As uncomfortable as camels are to ride, when we stopped, our comfort was guarenteed. The cart being pulled by camel #3 was full of food, water, cusions, blankets, chairs and a table. The food was excellent and the portions seemed ridiculously large, not exactly roughing it. It didn't exactly take away the stiffness from riding a camel all day either, which is why we left it as a two day trek.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/philthy/asia_2003-2004/1085775000/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/philthy/asia_2003-2004/1085775000/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/philthy/asia_2003-2004/1085775000/tpod.html Mon, 05 Mar 2007 08:11:46 -0500 This trip will take Sarah and I throughout Asia.

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Gyantse, China

Day 4 Gyantse
Due to some poor planning we ended up having a rest day in Gyantse. This was not all bad as we could use the rest and because Gyantse is probably one of the best towns in Tibet. Almost all of the architecture is Tibetan (not Chinese) and because Gyantse's Baiju Temple is pretty impressive. The temple is more like a temple complex the highlight of which was the Gyantse Kumbum. This nine story stupa-looking structure contains 108 different chapels. Each chapel contains different images some more disturbing than others. Of course the more common images of Buddhas are found here, but also some less common ones we hadn't seen before. There was a protection Buddha in one chapel that was squashing a person with his feet, he had human skins flung over his arms and shoulders (not real ones, mind you) and was bearing fangs (not teeth). Not exactly the happy-go-lucky Buddha most westerners are familiar with. Another chapel depicted the Tibetan sky burial in graphic detail: bodies being devoured by birds or, if you did something wrong, a wolf. I left the Temple with more of a fire-and-brimstone image of Buddhism.

Day 5 Gyantse to Shigatse
A long but fairly easy day. 92 km but no passes AND paved the whole way. About halfway there Marcus, the Swiss cyclist, caught us and rode with us for about 20 km. This is where we learned that he was at one time a professional mountain biker. This made us feel a little better about him zooming past us on the first past us with full paniers. Marcus broke the wind for us in return for some more conversation. It turns out that Marcus has been sneaking though all the Tibetan checkpoints at nighttime. He started cycling in Bangkok and plans to cycle at least to Turkey if not all the way home. In other words he is what we would call hard core. After 20k I think he had enough of our pace and drafted behind a truck the rest of the way to Shigatse. Once he took off we took a breather and much more slowly made our way to Shigatse. Sarah was dragging a little from being sick so it was good that we had another rest day (this one planned) in Shigatse.

Day 6 Shigatse
Shigatse is not as pleasant as Gyantse, the Chinese influence seems to have overwhelmed this Tibetan city. The Tashilumpo Monastery was impressive, but the way the tourist groups went through it felt kind of zoo-like. Shigatse was a nice place to rest since we had a nice room and access to showers. Also I needed to find another tire and this was my last chance. Somewhere along the ride I rubbed a large hole in the sidewall of my rear tire - I was lucky I didn't pop the tube. We found a tire but I was warned about the quality of Chinese tires, but I figured a cheap Chinese tire was still better than a good tire with a gaping hole. Well, there was only one way to find out. By evening I was feeling sick and run down as well so we decided to spend one more day in Shigatse and make up the time by skipping the ride up to base camp (skip the cycling, we would make up the time in the jeep). We were spending evenings here with Marcus and his friend Monica so that made things a little better. Actually somewhere along the line Marcus also got sick and was also recovering in Shigatse.

Day 7 Shigatse
Sick. Laid in bed. Took my last shower for the next six days.

Day 8 Shigatse to mm Marker 4998 (4998 km from Shanghai)
I believe Sarah refers to this day as "The day we learned what truly crappy bikes we've rented." Our guide told us that we would be riding to just past Jiding Qu, which meant we were only riding for about 58 km. This was good because I was still feeling pretty run down but I figured that I could handle a relatively short day (no passes either). The ride was fine until about 10 km from Jiding Qu, then Sarah's chain started grinding pretty harshly through her rear derailer. At Jiding Qu I took the derailer apart and greased the cogs using what grease our guide could dig up. I'd say there's a 50/50 chance that it was Yak grease. That seemed to help at first but then the grinding came back. Luckily, since we had taked that extra rest day, another group of cyclists with another company were biking the same route as us. Their bike tech oiled up Sarah's chain and told us that her derailer was so worn that it no longeer fit the chain. He gave us some chain lube and offered to give both our bikes a once over at their camp that night. Well the chain lube helped alot although it didn't make my ride any better. At Jiding Qu our guide told us that it was still another 25 km to our guesthouse and that actually turned out to be 40km. Sarah was definitely pulling me all day, by the end I was so tired I almost didn't make it. So much for a short day. That night, the other group's tech, Jose, looked at our bikes and the verdict was not good. He did give a spare part for Sarah's derailer and wished us the best of luck. That night we spent the night at a Tibetan truck stop and gained a drunken Chinese truck driver roomate in the middle of the night. Not exactly the great night's sleep I was looking for.

Day 9 Km Marker 4998 to Lhatse
An unexpected short day. 54 km and a easy-ish pass, only a 400 + meter climb. I was hurting at first, taking breaks ever 20-30 minutes. Sarah was pulling me again. Luckily the pass wasn't bad and the downhill was great. Lhatse wasn't anything special but we did find some good Chinese chocolate (thanks to a tip from Marcus).


Day 10 Lhatse to Baipa
This was the highest we would bike the whole trip - the sign at the top of Gyatso La said the altitude was 5220 meters. Of course that meant we had a 1100 + meter climb. I was off to another slow start, it took me about 3 hours to feel before I go "my legs." That meant Sarah had to pull me for that section. Actually the pass wouldn't have been that bad if not for the altitude. It was another slow climbing road that wound around the mountains and we rode almost all of it. Near the top Monica, who we had met in Shigatse, popped out of a truck. She was hitching to the Nepal boarder and seemed to be making good progress. Aparently Marcus had recovered and was only an hour or two behind us. The top of the pass was an explosion of prayer flags, one of the best displays we have seen. The ride down was nice scenery - actual green pastures! The downhill was more work than I would've liked, we had headwinds but not as bad as day 3. After 8 hours and 30 minutes of riding time we decided to take the jeep for the last 25 km. Not because we were tired, we actually both felt great (somehow), but because we didn't want to get rundown or sick again.

Day 11 Baipa to Base Camp
This was our "catch up" day by jeep. That was fine by me, even though the road into Everest was recently redone it still looked pleanty rough. We drove up to base camp and stayed at a yak-hair tent called "Hotel California." There's actually not alot to do at Base Camp, after you take some photos in front of Everest and check out the Yaks surrounding the area that's pretty much it. We played cards and listened to the wind howl all day. Aparently May is the time to climb Everest so there were lots of groups preparing to climb Everest there. There was a climber from Hong Kong trying to ascend another smaller peak in the area who came down that day and stayed at our "hotel." After a month of climbing his group had to come down - the winds were just too severe. I can't even imagine what it was like up there - after just one night at base camp both Sarah and I were feeling pretty nauseous from the altitude.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/philthy/asia_2003-2004/1083241260/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/philthy/asia_2003-2004/1083241260/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/philthy/asia_2003-2004/1083241260/tpod.html Mon, 05 Mar 2007 08:03:55 -0500 This trip will take Sarah and I throughout Asia.

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Chengdu, China

After seeing off Sarah's parents, we started looking towards our next destination: Tibet. Timing was important because we wanted to get there early enough to acclimate to the altitude. We still had a few things to take care of before we got there, like getting a visa extension and getting a flight into Tibet (our earlier notion of taking a bus into Tibet sounded too painful for us at this point).

Our first stop out of Hong Kong was Yangshuo, a tourist hub for westerners in China. We haven't seen that many westerners since SE Asia. In fact, it is such a known westerner hub that there was a Chinese school group from Nanning there for the sole purpose of talking to westerners (cheaper than a trip to Austrailia I guess). They ended up being great company and were amazed when I told them that I liked to barbecue (apparently men in China do absolutely no cooking). So why so many tourists? Beautiful karst scenery. We took in what we could of the scenery over a few days before finally braving the 24 hour bus ride to Chengdu. By some miracle the bus was non-smoking (it was actually enforced too!). Of course we did end up at a bus station not on our guidebook's map of Chengdu, but by this point we were used to these little difficulties in China.

Chengdu is another large Chinese city that has overhauled itself in the last few years. Old neighborhoods have been leveled to bring in highrises. The youth hostel we ended up in was actually on one of the few remaining "old" streets. With very little car traffic, people sitting on the sidewalk playing games or drinking tea, kids playing soccer, and lots of little shops or restaurants along the way the street definitely had atmosphere. All the buildings had clay roofs which enhanced the charm of the street. Of course we didn't get to appreciate this as much as we would have liked because Sarah and I both had the flu. I think there were two full days where we hardly went out of our room other than to arrange our flight to Lhasa.

When we finally did make it out we headed on a day trip for Leshan. Not to see the "Grand Buddha" there (the local tourist attraction) but instead to get our visas extended. Unfortunately since we had our tickets to Tibet this was our last chance to get our much needed extension. Of course the woman giving extensions had to have her little power trip over us, dangling the extension in front of us, but in the end we did get it.

Our last full day in Chengdu we headed out to see pandas, otherwise known as THE MOST DANGEROUS ANIMAL KNOWN TO MAN!!! There is a panda breeding center in Chengdu where you can see these supposedly "cute" or "cuddly" beasts "at play." The first two pandas we saw were lazily laying on their backs while eating bamboo, probably to sharpen their teeth for a vicious attack later. We even saw panda cubs "cutely" rolling around practicing this skill which seems to cause humans to drop their guard when around the "innocent" animals. Certainly a skill developed for surprise attack. At the end of our tour we found the gift shop which sold Chengdu Panda brand Cigarettes. Even pandas know that smokers are more likely to be the slow ones in "the pack" making for easy prey.

After our tour through the vicious psyche of the panda we were left stunned... and hungry. Sarah and I finally made it to a monastery so we could sample what monastic food was like. From what we had heard in other areas of Asia, food served in monasteries is vegetarian and void of spices (even garlic). Knowing this we went a little crazy ordering. The food was good (my favorite was the fake eel) but everything we ordered ended up being insanely spicy. I guess Sichuan monks can handle the heat.

Our flight the next morning took us to Lhasa, but Tibet will have to wait for the next travelogue.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/philthy/asia_2003-2004/1088427720/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/philthy/asia_2003-2004/1088427720/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/philthy/asia_2003-2004/1088427720/tpod.html Mon, 05 Mar 2007 07:58:39 -0500 This trip will take Sarah and I throughout Asia.

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Istanbul, Turkey

After nine long months of not seeing my parents (Ed and Peg, for those who don´t know), they decided to check up on us during our time in Turkey. I´m happy to say that they look great too (I´m assuming we looked great to them). Of course having not seen them in nine months made seeing them even better. My parents looked excited to see us, and didn´t look too shocked when we said that the large 20+ kilo backpack that I was carrying was the one we wanted to send home with them (thanks again mom and dad). Another plus of travelling with parents is that we feel we can let them treat once in awhile. For example, the first two nights we stayed in Istanbul my parents treated, they had even reserved the room ahead of time (something we don´t do that often). We got to our hotel and it was beautiful, right in the heart of the Sultanment (old town) area; quite a change from what we were used to. We checked in, found out where the good fish restaurants were (Kumkapi), and hit the town. My parents filled us in on what was going on at home and we started Day 1 of boring them with our travel stories.

At breakfast the next morning we discovered what a huge part of the Mediterranean diet was: bread, cheese, tomatoes, olives... mmmm... These were served at almost every meal until we left Turkey, but somehow we never got sick of it. I think being starved of cheese all that time in Asia has affected my brain somehow. Our first full day in Istanbul and we were off to the Grand Bazaar, a huge covered open market with
thousands of shops. So, shopping isn´t really my thing but the architecture of the bazaar was pretty cool and Sarah did end up with a really nice coat my parents bought her (for a missed birthday). We saw the other Istanbul sightseeing hotspots; Aya Sofia that first full day, Blue Mosque the next. Both are worth all the hype, with beautiful vaulted ceilings and marble as far as the eye can see.

After day 2 in Istanbul we caught a night bus out of Istanbul to Efesus (Efes). Our first bus in Turkey and I must say I was impressed. They run more like airplanes, serving coffee and snacks; the only snag was that there must´ve been some celebration in Istanbul that night (maybe from a football game) because the streets were absolutely filled with people celebrating. The few stops the bus made early on were extremely
long due to these huge crowds of people. We were still used to busses with boards as seats, so these air-con busses seemed like luxury to us. And they were always right on time, something else we still weren´t used to.

Efesus is an ancient Greek city and is uninhabited now, which meant we had to stay at the nearest city, Selcuk. We were only there for one night. The ruins were impressive (Roman streets, theater, lots and lots of columns...) and the landscape, although right on the Aegean coast, was pretty dry and rocky. This is probably why the ruins look so intact. Another surprise to me was that Mary (as in the Mother of Jesus) was said to have spent here last days here. In fact, a house was found near Efesus that is said to be hers. My parents coughed up the overpriced taxi fare for us to check it out. It was a small stone house surrounded by some nice landscape. Very peaceful.

Our plan to go from Efesus to Saklikant and on to the southern coastal town of Kas was somewhat thwarted by a late start the next morning in Selcuk. We ended up staying one night in another coastal town called Fethiye. This turned out to be one of my favorite places to stay in Turkey; it was a small coastal town with great atmosphere one the
largest makets we have experienced yet (mmm... fresh cherries...). The next morning we were on to Saklicant Gorge; tiny gorge in the sense that it was very narrow, but a huge gorge in the sense that it was over 100 feet tall. Following a few other tourists we saw, we walked up the sides of (and sometimes the middle of) the river led by my Dad, who
seemed to enjoy leading us into river. With his hat he could´ve been likened to Crocidile Dundee of the midwest (or would that be Turkey?). We managed to make it into and out of the gorge with no one falling in, pretty good consdering the swift current.

On to Kas, our ¨relaxation stop¨ we picked as a place to just hang out after a few days of heavier traveling. With the mountain in behind the town dubbed ¨sleeping man mountain¨ we thought it sounded pretty relaxing (my Dad seemed drawn to that name for some reason). While we were there we took a day trip to a nearby beach (the area surrounding the beach was scattered with more Greek ruins, but it was too hot to explore). We discovered why most Europeans wait until the really hot months to hit the beach - that water is COLD! We also took a boat trip touring the surrounding islands near Kas (more ruins and plenty of
stops for swimming). Finally, we had to move on, but it wasn´t that difficult since Kas was a small, touristy town and I think we had experienced all that Kas had to offer.

Our final stop before heading back to Istanbul was Goreme, in the heart of the Cappadocia region. Cappodocia was home to some ancient civilizations including the Hittites and the Troglodites. The natural landscape is of bizarre stone formation, which early civilizations carved out cave homes and entire underground cities. We found a cave guest house with a family sized room. Our room was nice and cool during the heat of the day, but a little cave-like (I wonder why?) when we got up in the morning. With lots of caves and underground cities to explore in Cappadocia we did our best trying to take in what we could in the time we had. There seemed to be endless churches and chapels in and around Goreme. One, dubbed the Dark Church, had incredible frescos that were preserved extremely well due to the little amount of sunlight that could make it inside this carved cave church.

We also took a short bus ride to Devinkuyu, one of the underground cities, to see what
they were like. Wow, these were no Cu Chi tunnels (see first Vietnam travelogue). The tunnels and rooms were, for the most part, huge. This particular underground city had seven levels - it was DEEP!! These cities were built as a means of defense and we were told that the people who lived in them could survive up to six month without needing to go
outside. They even suspect that one tunnel connected Devinkuyu to a city several kilometers away.

Our last stop was with my parents back to Istanbul to see my parents off. Well, we saw a few more sights first, like the Spice Bazaar and Topkapi Palace. More importantly my Uncle Bill and Aunt Mickey treated the four of us to what ended up being two fabulous dinners back at the Kumkapi area (thank you Uncle Bill and Aunt Mickey). Have I mentioned
how good the food in Turkey is? We, of course, finally had to say goodbye to my parents, but it was only goodbye for seven more weeks when we´ll be home again.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/philthy/asia_2003-2004/1084969920/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/philthy/asia_2003-2004/1084969920/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/philthy/asia_2003-2004/1084969920/tpod.html Mon, 05 Mar 2007 07:52:36 -0500 This trip will take Sarah and I throughout Asia.

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Lhasa, China

Our alarm went off at 4:30 A.M. reminding us of the long day ahead. It was fly-into-Tibet day and we had a bus to catch to the airport (arranged by our startlingly flamboyant tour booking agent). Sarah and I had both been taking diamox to prepare for the altitude and we both felt fine... at first. After the hour long drive from the airport we found a decent room and the n waited to meet with the person we had arranged our mountain bike trip with... and we waited.... finally I had to head back to the room because the altitude was getting to me. Apparently I was pretty bad off because I just met a woman a few days ago that I apparently asked for help the day we arrived from but I only vaguely remember her. Still, we gave ourselves plenty of time to adjust so I wasn't too worried.

Two days later we headed out and visited the famous Potala Palace. It was quite different from what I expected - more of a religious center than I would've thought. The whole thing was very impressive but in the back of my mind I kept thinking "I shouldn't be breathing this hard going up these steps, should I?"

The next few days were filled with guided tours (courtesy of our mountain bike tour) of a few monasteries in the area. Drepung monastery, only a few kilometers out of town, was huge. At it' height our guide told us that it housed over 7,000 monks. This was probably the first time I really noticed the smell of the yak-butter lamps filling the rooms. People who come and visit bring butter to fill he lamps which can sometimes lead to buttery slick railings. I guess a buttery hand is what you risk when visiting a monastery.

The most impressive sight had to be the Drepung monastery kitchen. Formed into a giant clay platform were three huge pots that could hold 8 yaks each. There were also two pots that could hold me easily, and underneath the pots was room for fire. Tea pots that could probably hold 4 gallons lined the walls. This was definitely a kitchen that could feed thousands.

At Sera monastery we got to witness monks debating and teaching. This was similar to what we had seen in Mcleod Ganj during Losar but on a much larger scale. This was hundreds of monks shouting and slapping to ask questions or make points. Johkang monastery in the heart of Lhasa is what most Tibetan pilgrims come to visit. All day they circle the monastery with prayer wheels. Inside we found the familiar smell of butter lamps and got to learn the history of it's construction. On the roof we found an excellent view of the Potala. We even got to witness a work crew of women pounding into place a new roof. They sang and stamped as they worked, somewhat reminiscent of African American spirituals.

When our bike finally arrived from Kathmandu we found mine with the handlebars put on backwards, Sarah's with a flat tire, and both bikes looking like they were worth half of what we paid just to rent them. Still, they were here so I as excited to ride. The next day we took a brief ride out the the Drepung monastery to give our bikes and ourselves a test ride. The bikes seemed OK and at this point we were more worried about ourselves.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/philthy/asia_2003-2004/1095381660/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/philthy/asia_2003-2004/1095381660/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/philthy/asia_2003-2004/1095381660/tpod.html Wed, 28 Feb 2007 14:31:50 -0500 This trip will take Sarah and I throughout Asia.

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Marrakech, Morocco

Fes. -OR- Sarah's Got a Shiv.

The next morning came in Fes and Sarah and I begrudgingly got out of bed and headed out into the city. After switching hotels and catching some breakfast we headed to the Fes Medina (Medina is a Moroccan term for the "old town" area - when the French came they typically built "new towns" next to the old ones leaving the old towns intact). This was where things got a little dicey.

Thanks to past tourists, a unfortunate "tradition" of touting exists in Fes. People try and be your guide for a fee and they take a commission on anything you buy. Unfortunately the first such person to approach us must have thought that coming off as a
psychopath was the best way to drum up some business. After we turned down his persistent offers to guide us, he went to his plan B: to up the ante and threaten us. His threat to "break your (our) eyes" at the same time his was digging his finger into Sarah's back, I think in his mind, seemed like a no-can-lose sales pitch. That must have been it because really seemed surprised and backed off when, after that "offer," Sarah
and I both spun around, and Sarah (I think realizing how much smaller he was than her) shoved him back and said "If you threaten me I will kill you, you evil little man." It was at this point that I thought Sarah was actually going to pull out a shiv and "stick" this guy. As we left, he shouted some obscenities (a last ditch attempt at our business, no doubt) but didn't follow us again. Maybe he was contemplating why his approach to guide us did not work, or maybe he also thought Sarah might have a shiv. In all seriousness, my heart was beating pretty heavy after this incident. We got a soda in the Medina to try and relax, unfortunately I think our enjoyment of Fes was a bit tainted from this incident. Thankfully we never had another such incident in the whole of
our time in Morocco. In fact it was just the opposite, most Moroccans we met were extremely friendly.

Marrakesh, My New Favorite City

After our brief stay in Fes we headed off to Marrakesh. We weren't even going to go there at first but thankfully, for reasons I can't remember now, we took the long, boring, hot, did I mention boring?, train to Marrakesh. We arrived shortly before dusk, dumped our bags at our hotel and headed out. This time we were staying in the Marrakesh
Medina so finding the nightime action was easy. Which was good because I have never seen anything like it. We headed toward the main square just before dusk and the sights before us were amazing.

Thousands of people filled this square, there was an area of just performers: snake charmers, henna tatooists, storytellers, what I'm guessing were magicians, musicians, and dancers all vying for the crowd's attention. Then there were the food stalls, more like outdoor restaurants, that serve up delicious Moroccan fare at cheap-even-for-Morocco prices: cuscous (a North African grain) with "the fixins" (my term, not Moroccan), tanjine (a Moroccan stew), olives, calimari, pastella (a dinner pastry) and more. The food was great! After gorging ourselves we could head out in any direction for a huge
glass of fresh squeezed orange juice (only US0.25!) and to end the evening get some tea and a sweet at one of the many cafes in the Medina.

I was so excited to get back to the square the next morning that it was a bit of a shock to see everything except a few orange juice sellers' stands gone. Apparently these festivities are set up and torn down every night. Perhaps it was for the best because I don't think I would ever leave if that kept going 24-7. This way we were given the chance
to explore some of Marrakesh's souqs (specialty markets) and visit the Saadian tombs located nearby.

Another night in Marrakesh meant gorging ourselves again and just watching the nightime spectacle. This time we watched the square from a rooftop cafe sipping delicious mint tea (the stuff is everywhere and it's addictive like crack), the festivities really are as huge as they look from the ground. It's hard to believe that festivities this
grandiose go on every night, but I guess that's why most people, including us, come to Marrakesh.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/philthy/costa_rica_06/1167569100/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/philthy/costa_rica_06/1167569100/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/philthy/costa_rica_06/1167569100/tpod.html Mon, 19 Feb 2007 10:15:11 -0500 Our first big adventure with Anikah besides the adventure that is Anikah.

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San Vito, Costa Rica

The Food

San Vito, in southern Costa Rica, was settled by Italians. I don't know when or why, and I don't really care. All that matters to me is that they are here and man can they cook! They bakery right across the street fromour hostle had great pastries, and the Itialian reastaraunt up the road serves a dynomite Pizza.

I know it not exactly the standard fare that the typical Tico eats, and that is what we are here to experience, but people seem to eat it here so why not us too?

Wilson Botanical Gardens

So besides gorging ourselves on cheese bread and dessert and enjoying the cooler air, we did make a trip out to see one of the highlights of the area, the Wilson Botanical Gardens. Just a short 6 km bus ride up hill from San Vito, the wilson Botanical gardens has beautiful groomed gardens (with plants most of us could not identify), trail systems through a rainfrest area, and, well, more gardens. My descriptions could not do this trip justice, so just check out the photos.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/philthy/costa_rica_06/1166741760/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/philthy/costa_rica_06/1166741760/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/philthy/costa_rica_06/1166741760/tpod.html Mon, 19 Feb 2007 10:11:24 -0500 Our first big adventure with Anikah besides the adventure that is Anikah.

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Quepos, Costa Rica

Manuel Antonio National Park
Today we hit the beautiful beaches of Manuel Antonio National Park, which is just a 10 minute bus ride from our hostel. We walked with Ani in the shady area along the beach, giving her some morning exercise. Then we decided to hike a little in the coastal jungle to check out some of the views of the shoreline. That's when we had our first natural encounter - a group of cappucian monkeys. The were just "hanging out" (har har) and letting us take as many pictures as we wanted. On the hike Ani fell asleep in the baby backpack, so when we made it back to the beach she got a good 1.5 hour nap in it in the shade. So we were left with time to relax on the beach. I went for a little swim and tried to take a nap but had no luck. It was nice to think about what meetings were going on while I lazed on the beach. Sarah took to herding little hermit crabs and Libby walked around the rocks in off the shore. Once Ani woke up we took her swimming, which she enjoyed allot. On our walk out of the park we saw more monkeys and lots of iguanas.
Other Stuff
One of the nice things about having Libby around is that we get more of a taste of the local culture since she has been living here for a months. For instance we went shopping for food and she picked up this thing that looked like a brain, but turned out to be a vegetable called the coyhote. She fried one up for us and it tasted really good - kind of like a crunchy potato.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/philthy/costa_rica_06/1167013500/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/philthy/costa_rica_06/1167013500/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/philthy/costa_rica_06/1167013500/tpod.html Tue, 23 Jan 2007 13:11:02 -0500 Our first big adventure with Anikah besides the adventure that is Anikah.

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Uvita, Costa Rica

Dominical

Moving on from Quepos, we decided to
break up a longer bus trip to Uvita by stopping for one night in
Dominical, a little tourist town that attracts a lot of surfer
"dudes." I can see why; the waves for surfing were always
present. While taking a walk along the shady road there, we
spotted a team of leafcutter ants that had actually worn a path in
the ground while meticulously cutting up the leaves of one poor
tree. What I liked about dominical was that our room was right on
the beach, so a quick swim didn't take any planning. Also, the
town had a much less developed feel - our guidebook descibed it as what
Costa Rica would've been like 20 years ago. Houses, hotels and
sodas (diners) mixed amongst farmland, with plenty of shade given
by the palm trees. Part of the reason for this might be that to
get there from the north you have to brave a significant length of dirt
road. We took a "collectivo" to get there and this left our bags
almost unrecognizable with all the dust that they collected.

Uvita

Now
it is Christmas eve and, well, it just doesn't seem like Christmas
(especially considering I got some sunburn!). We took a walk to
the beaches of the Marino Ballena National Park to try our luck at
spotting humpback wales. No wales, but we did see some pelicans
and a lot of beautiful beaches. Apparently today was a busy day,
which meant maybe 100 people on a few miles of beach. Not
exactly Daytona Beach at spring break.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/philthy/costa_rica_06/1167757020/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/philthy/costa_rica_06/1167757020/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/philthy/costa_rica_06/1167757020/tpod.html Sun, 07 Jan 2007 18:22:58 -0500 Our first big adventure with Anikah besides the adventure that is Anikah.

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San Jose, Costa Rica

For new years eve, we found ourselves in Costa Rica's capitol, San Jose. Our first night we stayed in a place that was nice but had some annoying people staying there. So the morning of new years eve, we decided to "shop around" and we ended up in a place with a 17 month old girl named Jemena, a cat, and an injured dog I named "Scraps." Once Sarah saw the dog, I knew we would be staying there. It was a great opportunity for Ani to learn about sharing with Jemena.

New years eve in San Jose means, well, that you shouldn't be in San Jose. Everything is shut down and the majority of the Ticos blow out of town for the beaches. So maybe it is good to be in San Jose for New Years. Our hostel had it's own little new years eve party, complete with music and some neighborhood fireworks.

During the day we headed out to the university district so Ani could run around in some nicely groomed parklike areas. With food in hand and a shady table and benches, we had a great new years day picnic. Afterward Sarah, as if drawn to them, found an outdoor coi pond at the university. It's like a sixth sense with her. I mean, what are the chances that there are any coi ponds in Central America, and somehow Sarah finds one?!? It's eerie.

Today, we spent an extra day in San Jose to see the city when it had actual people in it. We found a great vegetarian place near the university and then headed down to walk around. After such a healthy lunch, what could be better than a churro?(a churro being a heavily fried donut). I'll tell you what - a churro stuffed with dulce de leche (caramelized sweetened condensed milk)!
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