thetembas's TravelStream™ — Recent TravelPod.com entries

thetembas's TravelStream™ — Recent TravelPod.com entries TravelStream™ news feed for member thetembas on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/thetembas en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Sun, 08 Jul 2007 22:52:26 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com Mmmmmm.... Pork Buns — Hong Kong, China http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/thetembas/world_2006-07/1171858620/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/thetembas/world_2006-07/1171858620/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/thetembas/world_2006-07/1171858620/tpod.html Sun, 08 Jul 2007 22:52:26 -0400 Sara and Julius travel around the world in 8 1/2 months

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Hong Kong, China

Our flight to Hong Kong with Emirates was not nearly as plush as the ones with Singapore Airlines. Although we did get a camera on the nose to watch the take off and landing, the movie selection was dull, dull, dull. The one smart idea they did, however, was serving the meal first thing, before the drinks. It settles down the restless passengers to fill them up with food. Hong Kong is an amazing city, there is no other way to put it. It is surrounded by these green, lush mountains but the city center is full of skyscrapers, incredibly tall apartments and neon lights. It is unlike anything we had ever seen. What had Julius in awe was the skyscraper construction sites where people actually used bamboo scaffolding.Bamboo! But this is the scaffolding that built the city so it must work very well.We stayed right in the heart of Kowloon, where most of the affordable hotels and eateries are located. We were walking distance to most everything though it took us a while to figure out the city's overhead and underpass pedestrian walkways. Once we figured them out we knew that they are one of the best ways to get around. The less street crossing the better. Our hotel was well recommended by many websites for their spotless rooms and friendly service. These were both true. The rooms were tiny - about enough for a bed and desk - but that is common for Hong Kong. The best feature was the ethernet internet connection in the room which was the fastest we had seen since the start of the trip. The hotel owner seems to be buying up rooms on different floors of the building if they come free. He started on the 8th floor then bought a few sections on the fourth and second floors when they went up for sale. On our floor we didn't know what other business was there until the door to the other wing was opened over the weekend. The hall had lights with red heart lamp shades and the rooms had signs that rotated between "open" and "do not disturb". Sheepish looking men stood outside the doors. Hmmmmmm..... When we noticed the sign in the elevator that said the name of the building we had to chuckle at the irony. At least our hotel owner gave the hotel a different name. The main tourist activities in Hong Kong are to try all the food (especially Dim Sum), do some shopping, walk the promenade (including Hong Kong's "Walk of Fame" for Chinese movie stars) and take the tram up to "The Peak" for the best views of the city. We had to smile at the collective gasp and "Ahhhh" of the mostly Chinese and Korean crowd when the tram came through the trees and the city appeared below. Why can't westerners show such excitement at a good view? We added a stop at the convention center since our brother Patrick works at one and the Hong Kong one is said to have the biggest window in the city. The place was buzzing with conventions that would be very familiar to anyone in the states: the Job Fair and the Wedding Expo! Yes, ladies, wedding expos are now one of those things taking over the world. While buses of students were corralled to the Job Fair you could see the young high school girls look longingly at the hall next door. Weddings would be much more fun than the job hunt. The food in Hong Kong is great and cheap, one of the few cheap things in the city <i>if you find the right restaurants. If you want western food or fancy meals be prepared to pay through the nose. We ate noodles, noodle soups, steamed and fried dumplings, pot stickers and other goodies. One place we ate made their noodles and pot sticker wrappers by hand daily and it was the best we had even eaten. Steamed pork-filled dumplings were a food we had never tried in the states but we ate them daily in Hong Kong. Hong Kong is actually a fun city to walk around. From the days when the British ruled there all the signs are still in English and Chinese. If you have a map you can find your way around fairly easily or ask for directions from an old man on the street. If you get tired you can jump on the double decker buses and double decker trams. They also have some minibuses on the busy routes that actually stop picking up passengers when all seats are full. We have never seen that! Usually the world's minibuses will stop adding passengers once people are falling out the windows.We wish we had more time there to see more sites but we tried to cover the main markets. There are thousands of shops throughout the city, selling every from high end clothes and electronics to dirt cheap stuff from China. Leafleting is one habit the city needs to break. We have never seen so many people passing out leaflets. In such a commercial city I guess it the cheapest way to advertise.When we came back to Hong Kong after spending a week in Mainland China it was the last weekend before New Year. The sidewalks were mobbed with people shopping for the holiday, crowds that put America's Christmas mall crowds to shame. We will definitely come back to Hong Kong again, especially since it has become a good place for Africans to do do some buying of Chinese goods. From the airport and around town we met a number of African businessmen who fly to Hong Kong to do deals with Chinese factories for clothes, shoes, etc. Instead of buying from India, Africans are now heading to China for the best deals on these items. As an easy gateway to China Hong Kong will only become more popular.   
]]> Chang Mai - Long Live the King! — Chang Mai, Thailand http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/thetembas/world_2006-07/1171848840/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/thetembas/world_2006-07/1171848840/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/thetembas/world_2006-07/1171848840/tpod.html Sun, 08 Jul 2007 22:47:11 -0400 Sara and Julius travel around the world in 8 1/2 months

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Chang Mai, Thailand

Our train to Chang Mai was not unbearable, but we will say it was difficult to bear. Due to the high number of tourists the seats were booked out far in advance and we were stuck in the coach seats instead of the sleeper cars. We did get food provided, which was nice, but they did not turn off the lights ever which was not nice at all for an overnight train!Chiang Mai is a favorite place for people to visit in Thailand. Not only is the climate cooler and the town less hectic than Bangkok, it has many fun activities for tourists to participate in. For you who know Tanzania you could say it is Moshi to Bangkok's Dar es Salaam. Our days were pretty full with activities and when we needed a break from it all our excellent guesthouse had both BBC and Al Jazeera English to watch. One highlight for me was taking a Thai cooking class for a day. It was great - not only did we learn about the ingredients, we tried many basic but favorite Thai recipes. I managed Phad Thai, Red Curry, Spring Rolls plus a lot of other dishes. They even give you a nice color cookbook to take home. Once we get back to Seattle I will visit some shops in the International District and I will try to see if I can do it at home. They sure tasted delicious there. I even managed to save some for Julius so he could try when I got back. One activity that sounded kind of cheesy but was actually loads of fun was the visit to the Elephant Park. Here they train Asian elephants to do all kinds of interesting tricks and after the show you get to take an ox cart ride, ride an elephant, eat a buffet lunch and then cruise down the river on a bamboo raft. All these activities are in one village and the place runs like a well oiled machine. They process loads of tourists every day and you don't have to queue up at all. The show had elephants kicking soccer balls, playing harmonicas, bizarre stuff. We bought some bananas and sugar cane to feed to them after the show but one elephant spotted them under my seat, came over and stuck his trunk where I was hiding them under the bench. Before we knew what he was doing he had picked them up and stuffed them in his mouth, much to the delight of the crowd. There is no stopping a determined elephant. Our favorite part was riding the elephant. We had a very cool "driver" who got down and let us take turns sitting on his spot on the elephant's neck. I was a bit nervous that I was going to fall off but Julius loved it. He rode there for most of the trip. We gave the guy a big tip because none of the other drivers were letting their passengers sit there. Savvy villagers built tree houses at elephant height and sold more bananas and sugar cane. Julius handed them off to the elephant while we walked along. The bamboo raft trip was quite peaceful and they let Julius steer the boat. Villagers in boats also sold coconuts so we could drink the water out with a straw. We had breakfast one morning at the hotel with a woman about Mom's age. She told us that she was going to a big botanical festival she heard about that was going on outside the city. It sounded like fun to us so we went the next day. The place was truly an event. We went on a Sunday which made the crowds even bigger. In all there was about 60,000 Thai people there, most wearing their royal polo shirts since the festival itself was a celebration of the king's 60 years as head of the monarchy. Not only were there competitions for orchids and other flowers, there were also many demonstrations on the different agricultural projects that the king and others implemented around the country. It actually helped us realize why this king was so popular. Since the king here is not actually the head of the government, he can just focus on helpful projects that benefit the poor and the farmers. He started a lot of non-profits that helped the farmers process rice and sell their goods for fair prices. He apparently has a big interest in agriculture. That is why a botanical festival was how his anniversary was celebrated. All the pavilions and booths had some sort of information on how the king helped the Thai people and heaps of lavish praise. One farmer who was quoted in a pavilion said "The King came to our village and spoke to us about trying different crops and to stop growing the opium. We followed his advice and now we are very successful, making more money than ever before. Thank God the King came to visit us. Long live the King."We were impressed by the number of tourists in Chang Mai, both young and old. One phenomenon we noticed in Chang Mai especially are the older American or European men with much younger Thai dates/girlfriends. One bar we went to to watch a soccer match was almost half those couples. To each their own, I guess. Both looked quite happy in all the cases. Unfortunately we had another 2nd class night train ahead of us in seats. Everything else was booked up to Bangkok. To add insult to injury our train was three hours delayed! This gave us time to catch up on postcards and blogs but it is still no fun to start a train ride at midnight. This time I was armed with socks and eyemasks so we were prepared. I even got a few winks of sleep before rolling into Bangkok on noon the next day.Check out our Chiang Mai photos on our Smugmug page. The Royal Botanical Festival also has its own page.
]]> Ban Krut - Beach Bumming on the East Coast — Ban Krut, Thailand http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/thetembas/world_2006-07/1169687160/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/thetembas/world_2006-07/1169687160/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/thetembas/world_2006-07/1169687160/tpod.html Sun, 08 Jul 2007 22:38:41 -0400 Sara and Julius travel around the world in 8 1/2 months

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Ban Krut, Thailand

Our train to Ban Krut was a small local train it was expected to be about a seven hour trip. I lost the schedule that listed the stops and could not find another one so I was a bit worried on how we would know when to get off. The stops are not announced and the locals all know where they are going. Ban Krut is a small little town so who knows how long the train would stay there. At one point we asked the conductor if he could let us know when our stop was coming up. This piqued the curiousity of the bored ladies sitting around us and they all wanted to know where we were going. When we said "Ban Krut" all we got were blank stares and quizzical looks. We assumed that this must be the smallest town ever. No one has heard of it! One lady who spoke a little bit of English and could read Thai written in Latin alphabet took our ticket and studied it. When she read the name her eyes lit up and she said "Ohhhh! Ban Kthluuuud!" to which all the other ladies vigorously nodded their heads and repeated her "Ban Kthluuuud". This is an example of why tonal languages are so incredibly difficult for non-tonal speakers to master. We can't even promounce it even if we are repeating after them! As soon as the ladies knew where we were going they set to work. One asked for the phone number of the hostel and called them on her cell phone to tell them when the train was arriving and that they need to pick us up. This was a huge help since we were coming in late at night. Other ladies shared their peanuts and other snacks with us. It really helped us meet our neighbors. When the stop did arrive they helped us carry our luggage down the aisle and waved goodbye from the door. So much kindness.When rode to our hostel in the back of the pick up we both marveled at how much the town looks like Tanga, the town in Tanzania where Julius was born and grew up. By 10pm the town was shuttered up and all the hostel residents were already in bed. Just the place we were looking for.The next morning we got up and came out to see the beach resort in daylight. It was fabulous - spotless and quiet with about six couples our age and up. The beach had white sand and beach loungers. The ocean had big waves which were fun to jump in. We got breakfast included and it was the biggest free breakfasts we had ever had - eggs, bacon, sausage, toast, fruit, coffee and juice. We spent the day how a day at the beach should be spent, laying around in lounge chairs reading. Every few hours we would order a smoothie or a beer, eat Phad Thai and maybe take a nap. When that got old we would jump in the water a bit to cool off. I mistakenly though that I had put sunscreen on my legs in the morning and ended up with a wicked burn. But besides that it was total relaxation. We even popped a bootleg DVD into the laptop to watch when a tropical storm came in the second day and dropped some heavy rain for a few hours. We met some of the other couples at the resort, sharing beers with one couple our age from England until late into the night. Some Canadian party girls who were doing an around the world trip at 18 showed up on our last day. I can't imagine traveling the world alone at 18. Weren't we all dingbats at 18, breaking rules and chasing boys? We did feel bad for them when they saw how old and boring the other youth hostel boarders were. They were on their way to Phuket, though and I am sure they found the parties they were looking for there. We went to a temple on the mountaintop nearby with them which was a great temple. It looks brand new and has great views of the beaches below. There were village scenes painted on the walls that we enjoyed, especially the fact that everyone in the village is painted with a smile on their face.On one of our afternoons we noticed that the couple who came from town to do massages was there. We agreed to get one - you have to try a Thai massage in Thailand, right? We learned quickly the difference between Thai massage and Swedish massage. While Swedish massage is a relaxing experience, Thai massage is a workout! They hold massive amounts of pressure on different pressure points around the body then twist you and turn you like a pretzel while stepping on you or digging elbows and knees into you. Afterwards you feel great but during the ordeal you are trying not to cry Uncle.We caught a ride to the train station to catch the train back to Bangkok. We were getting off at the final destination so it allowed us to kick back and enjoy the trip. To see all our Ban Krut photos, visit our Smugmug Page!
]]> Pamukkale: Cotton Candy Dreams — Pamukkale, Turkey http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/thetembas/world_2006-07/1167664920/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/thetembas/world_2006-07/1167664920/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/thetembas/world_2006-07/1167664920/tpod.html Sat, 07 Jul 2007 20:30:49 -0400 Sara and Julius travel around the world in 8 1/2 months

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Pamukkale, Turkey

Pamukalle is a very sleepy town in the off season as the entire town is based around the tourism of the Calcium travertines. This was the place where we spent our new years eve, a quiet new years indeed. I think many of the foreign tourists want to be in Istanbul for new years, so most of the people visiting the site were Turks. Our hotel in Pamukkale was the exact opposite of the one in Selcuk. The owners were too delightful, the place spotless with central heating and piping hot water. The owners were one of those couples you hope to be like after 12 years of marriage, gazing at each other lovingly, teasing each other and talking admiringly about the other all the time. It was very sweet. Plus, the wife was a fabulous cook. In the winter when it is too cold to go outside, the family's living room was the common room and dining room for the hotel. There are few tourists, so this works fine. We ended up interacting a lot with the family, talking about religion and politics, Turkey in the EU, Iraq war and all the other topics everyone is talking about in Turkey these days. They had Al Jazeera English here as well so we watched the aftermath of Saddam's execution on there. Of course it was also all over the Turkish channels. People immediately picked up on the fact that Saddam was executed on day the Sunni celebrate Haj, basically spoiling their holiday and pissing them off. I don't know if the US didn't notice or didn't care but most of the Muslims on this side of the world assume it was their idea. People are very open to talk about the war when they learn that we are not fans of Bush either. There are enough terrible governments in the world (every country has had a few) that people know not to judge someone by their current government. We can say that across the board the world dislikes Bush. Everyone assumes that Bush attacked Iraq to get their oil. The news stations show all the human suffering going on there and you really see how this war has made our government so unpopular.The day after we arrived was the first day of the feast of Haj for the Sunnies, when they celebrate God's mercy on Abraham when the angel intervened before he had to sacrifice his son (either Ishmael or Isaac, depending on if you are reading the Muslim or Judeo-Christian version). The Shiites start celebrating a day later. To celebrate, all Muslims sacrifice a lamb with half of the meat being given to the poor. The hotel owners shared a plate of meat with us and it was very tasty. The calcium travertines were quite spectacular. They are hard to describe, but it looks like the mountains have puffs of snow on them.Since it was declared a UNESCO site they have cleaned up the place and are much more strict on where you can or cannot walk. We hiked up the designated trail. It was pretty cold out so once the hot springs settled in the pond for a while they became quite chilly. I liked to walk in the fresher, warmer water. Once we got to the top there was another ancient Roman city. Not as spectacular as Ephesus but they had a very interesting cemetery, one of the best preserved Roman grave yards. They have some pricey hot springs to swim in but there was no one swimming (it may have had something to do with the 40 degree air temperature). The temperature of the water was about 96 degrees, not enough to counteract the cold. Plus, Julius justifiably thought that the walls of the pool were too dirty. Not much is done in the winter since no one wants to get in.New Years Eve in this town didn't have a lot of options and we didn't want to go to any discos, so we stayed home and watched the countdown shows with the hotel owner. The big show on Turkish television is the same as the states, Pop Idol. In fact, Pop Idol is a huge phenomenon all over the world. We watched pop idol in Sweden, France, Croatia, Germany and other countries. I liked the Turkish one best for a few reasons, one being that they sang Turkish style music, in Turkish. The hotel owner said that they launched one a few years back that had them singing American songs and it never caught on. When they started this one with Turkish music it was a huge success. Many other Pop Idols shows we saw were singing American or British songs. It not only ignores their language, the singers also end up butchering the lyrics!The other part we loved about Pop Idol Turkey was the "Simon-esque" judge for the show. It was a famous Turkish singer who decided to have a sex change operation when he was already a big star. Now he is a she and even more of a celebrity than before. She has gobs of make-up on and these crazy costumes and is very big. But everyone seems to value her approval since she is the meanest judge. She is certainly an example of the open-mindedness that surprised us in this country.From Pamukkale we had a 10 hour night bus to Cappadocia in central Turkey. Julius likes night buses so he was looking forward to it more than me. I was pleased by the fact that they drove safe and slowly. We watched the thermometer recording the outside temperature keep sliding down closer to freezing. To counteract this they like to fire up the heater until the bus is about 90 degrees. Every two or three hours the bus would make a pit stop, all the lights would be flipped on and I would wake up. Not a restful night sleep but we managed.See the rest of our Pamukkale Photos on its Smugmug Page!
]]> Plitvice National Park — Plitvice National Park, Croatia http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/thetembas/world_2006-07/1169168580/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/thetembas/world_2006-07/1169168580/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/thetembas/world_2006-07/1169168580/tpod.html Sat, 07 Jul 2007 18:31:42 -0400 Sara and Julius travel around the world in 8 1/2 months

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Plitvice National Park, Croatia

When we took the bus to Plitvice we were not sure what to expect when we got there. It is off, off season for this national park so we didn't know how easy it would be to get around. It turned out that the entrance where they dropped us was under construction. Rain was starting in so we headed to the tiny town near the park where we could find sobes. We went to two and were met by apathetic young women who quoted us high season rates. Neither had helpful information about the park. We went across the street and found a real sobe, run by a Croatian/Bosnian couple and their son. They had good rates and a cozy home. It turned out that she came from a long line of sobe owners living here. Her parents and grandparents housed people visiting the park. With the rain outside we decided to wait until the next day to see the park and pray for better weather. We spent a nice time with the family, chatting about Croatia, the government, the changes after the war (good and bad) and all sorts of other topics. We learned a lot by watching the news when they could tell us what was going on. We even helped the son with his English homework. TV in Croatia is nice to us Americans because it is the only other country we have been in besides Sweden where they subtitle shows instead of dubbing them. It doesn't help us with the local shows but we can understand the American movies. We watched American Pie 2 and Police Academy 2 which reminded us how racy the movies can be on European channels (uncut, un-bleeped). They also have shows like Big Brother (Croatian edition),Weakest Link and Who Wants to be a Millionaire (also Croatian - a million Kuna). We see the same shows everywhere in the world. When a formula works, why not? Our favorite show, also one we have since seen in other countries, is a practical joke show out of Canada that has no words, just zany music, and scenarios that can be understood without words. The jokes are not too embarrassing to the victims like many shows in the US are and all of us were guffawing at every skit. Things like an old man asking someone to help give him direction as he is parallel parking and then goes on to hit both cars while the guy looks on horrified and waving his arms. This show works almost all over the world so I am sure the creators are making good money. The next morning was bright and sunny, thank goodness, so we got dropped off at the park. Our host told us that in the summer the park gets over 10,000 visitors a day. Over the course of the day we met 15, all Croatians. The park isn't as spectacular in the winter because the waterfalls are smaller and the sun is not overhead, but the peacefulness of the setting more than makes up for it. We felt like we had the whole park to ourselves. The winter is warm for the whole European continent, including Plitvice, and there has not been snowfall yet. That would have been pretty too. We stayed one extra day because I was getting over a 24 hour stomach flu and Julius was starting to get it. Once we felt good to travel we headed on to Zagreb. Beyond the park we saw one lovely town where waterfalls flowed though people's yards. It looked like an enchanting place to live.    To see how lovely this park is, visit our Plitvice Smugmug Page!
]]> Dubrovnik - Pearl of the Adriatic — Dubrovnik, Croatia http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/thetembas/world_2006-07/1169168280/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/thetembas/world_2006-07/1169168280/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/thetembas/world_2006-07/1169168280/tpod.html Sat, 07 Jul 2007 18:17:20 -0400 Sara and Julius travel around the world in 8 1/2 months

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Dubrovnik, Croatia

Dubrovnik is definitely a city with an off season. We hear stories about Dubrovnik in the summer, people queuing in line to get through the old town gates, crushing crowds once you get in. People living here regaled us with stories about when the cruise ships pull up and drop tens of thousands of people off, every day. In December it just felt like a small town with a smattering of tourists here and there. The local government saw that this was a problem and started a "Winter Card" program where tourists get cards that allow them into special events and gives them discounts on different museums. These cards were a good idea and we ended up going to a free wine tasting. Croatian wineries have been around for a long time but they haven't caught on as much in the states. We thought these were very tasty so if anyone gets a chance to try one, go for it. At first it was a bit intimidating with all these men in thousand dollar suits (People in Dubrovnik appear to spend even more money on clothes than those in Split). However, everyone was very nice and two zany women retirees from Florida showed up and made the party very fun. All over Croatia the way to stay is in the sobes. Sobes are rooms for rent, usually in a separate building attached to someones home. Some places share a bathroom, other places you get your own. Sometimes you can get a small kitchenette to cook your own meals. There are not enough hotels to manage all the crowds that come in the summer and it is a good way for families to earn income. We stayed at sobes the whole time except in the capital Zagreb and all of them were a great experience. In Dubrovnik we stayed with a family, an older couple, probably in their 70's, their son and his family. When people are sent to rustle up boarders at the bus and ferry stations they usually send the oldest female in the household. They are onto something there, because if most people are like me they would prefer to go with some cute little white haired old lady than some young guy in his 20's smoking a cigarette. So, the sobes are their domain. Our "sobe lady" was delightful. If she caught us leaving in the morning she would bring out sherry and "nut liquor" for a few drinks to send us on out way. The prices in December are probably 1/4 the price in the summer because there are a lot more Sobes competing for just a few tourists. Many close for this time of year, so I think we got good sobes because of it. Many of the days we spent in the old town, wandering along the walls and and walking along the marble streets. There are at least three monasteries in the old town; Franciscan, Dominican and Jesuit. The Franciscan monastery holds the oldest continuously functioning pharmacy in the world. It has been functioning since 1317. The whole city of Dubrovnik is stunning but especially the old town. The "new" city climbs up a hillside so walking home involves steps. Many, many steps. We got used to it but I can say that I was happy to have the next few cities be a bit flatter. Dubrovnik was the first city where we started to see signs of Christmas. People don't seem to go crazy over Christmas like in the States. What is nice is the lights that go up everywhere. Nothing glams up a city like lights on the palm trees and decorations on the light posts. On St Nicolas Day all the young kids in town got together on the steps of main church in the square and performed a play about the life of the Bishop. In Croatia, St Nicolas is still a bishop, not a magical man on the North Pole. While we were in Dubrovnik we got together with Nina, the daughter of Nicola and Katica. She lives in Dubrovnik with her husband and three kids. She took us out to see parts of the city we wouldn't have seen and helped us with our family tree. It turns out we have quite a number of relatives in Australia. She has some addresses so we plan on looking them up when we get there. Her house is currently under construction (the reason we couldn't stay with her) but she has an open invitation to all family members to come and stay at their place. The house should be finished in a year or two. Spending a few more days here was relaxing, no rush, rush, rush to see all the sites. Plus, with no lines to wait in, it didn't take that long to see everything. Unfortunately, most of the ferries to the surrounding islands were on hiatus for the winter so there was not as many activities to do. That will have to be done on our next visit. Now it is off to Zadar, a hopping off point for Pag island and the Northern part of the country.See all the photos of our stay in Dubrovnik on our Smugmug Dubrovnik Page!
]]> Biella, Italy - Coming Home to Family — Biella, Italy http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/thetembas/world_2006-07/1167913920/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/thetembas/world_2006-07/1167913920/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/thetembas/world_2006-07/1167913920/tpod.html Sat, 07 Jul 2007 17:18:32 -0400 Sara and Julius travel around the world in 8 1/2 months

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Biella, Italy

     Our Mother's Mother, Esther, was born in the US to an Italian mother who came to America as an adult. Some other brothers and sisters came to the US but others stayed behind in Biella. I (Sara) was able to visit them while traveling through Italy in college, but  my mom had not come to see them until now.     We stayed at the home of Christina and her 82-year-old mother Lilianna. They were wonderful hosts and had a lovely home. My biggest memory of Lillianna was when she overfed me her delicious Italian food during my visit in 1996. Americans are not used to the concept of "courses" so when the bowl of spagetti comes out you dig in, not aware of the meat and vegetable course to follow. Luckily Christina built a new house where we ate in the kitchen, so we could see what food was waiting to be served and pace ourselves accordingly. Lillianna spoke no English so she communicated with food. We ate so well at each meal that I don't think we felt hungry the whole time we were there. She made some of our favorite Italian food like polenta, gnocci, risotto and others.      Christina was able to take us around the area a bit and we also spent time touring around with Maria Carrola and her father Pierre. Maria Carolla and I used to be pen pals when I was in high school and I stayed with her family when I visited before. She looks all grown up now! It was fun for us to see each other as real adults. They took us to a medival city near their town, where they now host medival faires in the summer. We told them that Medival faires were also popular in the US, but we have to settle with faux-medival buildings. A highlight of that visit was visiting some instrument shops where they made medival instruments like Italian bagpipes and the amazing Hurdy-Gurdy. We shot some videos and have them on our You Tube Page here and here.     Nella (sister to her late mother) and her family, plus her uncle John Franco. We had a great time getting to know everyone and looking at photos of the family, both our generation and previous generations.         The time didn't seem enough but we had to say our goodbyes and head off to Assisi. Christina vetoed our idea to take her mother back with us to America. Apparently Mom's cousin Susie tried also had this idea when she visited a few years back. But we did make Christina and Maria Carolla promise to visit us in the states. To see all our photos of Biella and the Family, visit our Smugmug Biella Page!
]]> Holy Toledo! — Toledo, Spain http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/thetembas/world_2006-07/1165071060/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/thetembas/world_2006-07/1165071060/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/thetembas/world_2006-07/1165071060/tpod.html Sat, 07 Jul 2007 16:16:33 -0400 Sara and Julius travel around the world in 8 1/2 months

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Toledo, Spain

Sorry for the title. I couldn't help myself. Toledo is a small town just a half hour away from Madrid via the new express train. This was another city our cousin Jen told us we had to visit and we had a great time there. Toledo is a very old city whose history I won't delve into because it is far too long (I am sure Wikipedia has all you need to know). I will say that it had a good mix of Muslim, Christian and Jewish influence. This can still be seen in the architecture. One of the main sites of the city is the huge and fabulous cathedral, not quite as huge as Sevilla but many say more fabulous. We are not so sure about that. We really liked Sevilla's. It was built in the 13th century in Gothic style. One interesting thing about Toledo's cathedral is that they just finished a huge renovation that went on for many, many years. They used some new laser technology to laser 800 years of dirt and grime from the walls, pillars and frescos. Consequently, it looks spotless. Almost too spotless. In fact, when we entered Julius assumed it was only a few hundred years old because it looked so new. Does this make it lose its charm? Maybe a little, but it still has many clever pieces making it worth its (post renovation) 6 € entry fee.One interesting room that was different than other churches we went to was the Archbishop room. Hundreds of years ago they decided to put a painting of every archbishop of the Toledo diocese on the wall of the room. Half were done in retrospect so they all look a little alike, but half were done while they were still alive so you really see the changes in the artistic styles through the ages.The other charming thing we saw in this Cathedral was probably my (Sara's) favorite church sculpture ever. Julius did chuckle a bit when he saw it too. Look at this portal on the gold altar. Any guesses on what it is? It is the Ascension of Jesus. I can just picture the poor guy working on this and thinking "How do I show the Ascension is such a tight space?" then coming up with this. I just think it is so clever. Julius was also impressed with the large iron gate before the choir. It was built by a metalsmith who bid for the project but then realized that it would cost much more than he expected. Since the church did not allow for cost overruns, he ended up having to sell everything he owned to pay for it then died penniless. That is commitment. At least he is remembered today. The last thing I will mention with Toledo is the fact that there are more sword shops here than any other city in the world. They outfitted the Spanish army for centuries. We visited one recommended by Jen, Mr Zamorano. His missing fingers are a testament to the sharpness of his swords. He gave us a tour of his shop which was very fascinating. For more photos of Toledo, Check out its page on Smugmug!
]]> Land of Steak and Wine — Buenos Aires, Argentina http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/thetembas/world_2006-07/1179213120/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/thetembas/world_2006-07/1179213120/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/thetembas/world_2006-07/1179213120/tpod.html Sat, 07 Jul 2007 15:08:18 -0400 Sara and Julius travel around the world in 8 1/2 months

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Buenos Aires, Argentina

Our last country has finally come. It is hard to imagine that we are almost done! When we arrived in Buenos Aires we were met by Mom and Arla who were there the day before. We knew they arrived safely because the driver who picked us up told us that a woman yesterday took a photo of him holding the sign with their name on it at the airport. That could only be mom. BA is a huge city and is rightfully said to be the most cosmopolitan in South America. About 90% of the population is European (most Spanish and Italian) so it does have a real European feel to it. For years they pegged their currency to the dollar which gave them a good standard of living and made their money worth a lot overseas. It also made it an expensive vacation spot for those wanting to see South America. Unfortunately their currency was not worth a dollar and eventually this caught up with them. In December of 2001 their currency (the Peso) collapsed, the banks shut down and all these people living like Europeans lost their shirts. These were hard times but the one thing this collapse brought about was a new important industry: tourism.       Now, instead of it being just one alternative to Europe, it is a chance to visit a European-ish country where the dollar is worth three times more. Steak dinners are 10 dollars, leather boots are 30 dollars, taxi rides across the city are 4 dollars. A tourist could live very well here for very little a day, leaving lots left over for shopping and dining out.The fall weather in BA was perfect, cool at night but sunny every day. The city also had a good subway system which we used to get around. On our first day we tried to visit the downtown to get our bearings. During our visit to the main plaza we ran into a common sight in the city: the protest march. At first it made me nervous. What if things got out of control? However, no one in the square seemed concerned at all, sitting and chatting over their coffee as the air horns, firecracker blasts and shouting got closer. We asked a vendor who was protesting and she said it was doctors and nurses demanding more funding for hospital. That made me feel better. It didn't sound like a protest that would descend to violence. We watched for a while while they gathered around the president's office, shouting and waving signs. We then headed out to a different part of the city for more window shopping.Over the weekend the places to shop were the many fabulous outdoor markets. Our favorites were in Recoleta and in our home neighborhood of Palermo. Recoleta is one of the chi-chi neighborhoods in town where people dress up to do their errand running. The market was huge and full of art, crafts and textiles made in Argentina. We went a bit crazy with buying stuff but the prices were hard to resist and the quality was great. Recoleta also has the most famous cemetery in the country so we got to see where all the rich and famous people were buried, including Eva Peron, probably the most famous Argentinian woman outside the country thanks to the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical about her.          It is funny that shopping was such a huge part of our time in BA because we aren't real big shoppers by nature. There were a few things that kept our shopping in check. One is that women in Argentina are all skinny. It was very rare to see a woman of any age close to my size; the vast majority of women were a size 8 and below. Anything above a size 6 is considered plus size! This limited the clothes we could buy a bit. If someone were a size 8 or less they could really go crazy here. Also, Mom and I have wear a size 11 and 10 shoe, respectively. I did manage to find one pair of leather boots in my size but heels were out of the question; Mom had no luck at all. Shoes are huge business here so it saved us a lot of money to not fit into them!        When we weren't shopping we were going out for steak dinners. Argentina's grass fed, hormone-free beef is famous around the world for its quality and Argentinians eat more beef per capita than anywhere in the world. If you want a good steak, this is the country to get it. Thanks to the great exchange rate a very large tenderloin steak plus red wine and side dishes will set you back about 10-15 dollars.  Julius and I swore to eat steak for every lunch and dinner just on principle (the same principle that led me to eat Phad Thai every day in Thailand because it was 75 cents). The steak was as tender and tasty as everyone says. It was a pleasure to eat it so often. If we weren't eating steak we were perusing the bakeries with the fabulous pastries filled with Dulce de leche, a thick carmel paste.        With so much time spent shopping and eating out we didn't hit many cultural sites like museums and such. Our biggest bit of Argentinian culture was going to a Boca Juniors match at their world-famous stadium.  Getting tickets to the game without being a season ticket holder is very difficult (especially as a tourist who doesn't speak Spanish) but some guys started a business busing tourists to the game and making sure we didn't get in too much trouble. Boca Juniors are the most famous club team in Argentina and apparently have the craziest fans. The opposing team was not a huge rival of theirs so people were fairly well behaved.        When we tell people that in America the opposing fans and home fans are able to mingle together in the same sections they are stunned. This is apparently unheard of in the rest of the world, especially at soccer matches. At the Boca Junior stadium the opposing fans enter through their own entrance and sit in a special section surrounded by high bars and barbed wire to keep the home fans out. When the game begins, all sections are locked so no interaction (read: brawling) happens during the game. When the game is finished our door stayed locked until the the opposing fans had left the building. Fans in our section did have to be careful and not sit to far in front of the balcony where the opposing fans sat. When a full coke cup was flung from the balcony above, the guy next to us said it probably wasn't full of coke. Nice.      The game itself was a lot of fun. Each soccer team around the world has their own songs and cheers, something that never caught on in the professional leagues in the US. It is great because one section will start a song and the whole stadium will sing along loudly. This goes on the whole game. The teams ended up in a tie but at least we didn't lose. Oh, and one bit of trivia for all of you in the states. You know what "The Wave" is called in the rest of the world? "The Mexican Wave". No kidding. We felt a bit snubbed because everyone in Seattle knows that the wave was invented by a cheerleader and band director at a University of Washington football game. We wondered how it got the name "Mexican Wave" so we went to the source of all knowledge - Wikipedia. According to them, the Wave had spread around North America but the first time it was seen by an international audience was at the 1986 World Cup in Mexico City. The whole world watches the World Cup so after seeing it there, the wave became a global phenomenon. It also explains why everyone thought it was invented by the Mexicans.       So, there we are. We totally recommend this city and country to anyone looking for a fabulous and cheap place to visit. Size 8 and below are especially encouraged since you can enjoy its shopping opportunities to the fullest.Want to see all our photos for BA? Check them out on the Buenos Aires Smugmug Page!
]]> Iguazu Falls: Niagra on Viagra — Iguazu, Argentina http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/thetembas/world_2006-07/1179731820/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/thetembas/world_2006-07/1179731820/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/thetembas/world_2006-07/1179731820/tpod.html Sat, 07 Jul 2007 14:59:58 -0400 Sara and Julius travel around the world in 8 1/2 months

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Iguazu, Argentina

       Iguazu Falls is either a 17 hour bus ride or a 90 minute flight from Buenos Aires. It is on the border of Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay. The only reason people come here is to see the falls. With the price gouging going on in the domestic flights we hoped it would be worth the cost to get there.        There are two ways to see the falls: you can stand over them and look down on the Argentina side or you can view them all at once from across the river on the Brazilian side. We thought this would not be an option because we did not have the 100 dollar visa for Brazil before we came.  Apparently the border crossing between the two sides is more porous than we thought. The taxi drivers can easily drive tourists through for a day trip, visa or not.      We were very lucky to arrive at the falls while the rainy season was starting up at the source of the falls in Brazil. This meant that the amount of water coming over the falls was exponentially higher than at other times of the year. Unfortunately the rain was also starting up at the falls which managed to soak us on both days. No matter. The place was spectacular.       We suffered from what one tourist called "Iguazu Syndrome" where we wanted to keep taking photos to try and capture the enormity of the falls. Though our camera's photostich and video function helped, it really can't convey how amazing this place is.       Some side activities were an exciting boat ride up to the falls (Like Patagonia, it was much more reasonably priced than the comparable activities in New Zealand), and a visit on the Brazil side to a bird sanctuary.   It was actually a lot of fun to see the birds up close. We got to hang out with some toucans, parrots and other interesting feathered creatures.       The Brazil side did have some great panoramic views but the biggest thrill was on the Argentina side at the lookout point to the Garganta del Diablo (Devils Throat). The walkway goes out to the edge of the waterfall which is the largest in the park. It was totally terrifying. So terrifying, in fact, that Arla saw it immediately turned around and Mom lasted for about two minutes before proclaiming that the whole platform was going to crack off and plunge over the cliff so she headed out as well. Here she is saying "Let's get out of here!" We stayed a bit longer to peek over the edge and totally freak ourselves out.               We did manage to find the best B&B ever for the two days we were staying here. I think it had the most positive reviews on Tripadvisor than any other place we stayed. We were intrigued on how a place could get 89 great reviews and we learned why when we got there. The answer? Free booze. The owner of the B&B was a man who was quite friendly and charming and had a cocktail hour each evening between visiting the falls and dinner. The cocktails were strong and we and the other guests had a grand old time. We all had dinner together (with more wine, of course) and by the end felt like we were all good friends. The owner of the place is smart in that he prices out the party girls and frat boys who would take advantage of free booze. The rooms, breakfast, good company, trustworthy cabdriver and free booze make it worth it.             We headed back to Buenos Aires for a few more days of power shopping before Mom and Arla had to head back home. A few days later we had to head to the airport for our flight to Dallas. Did we mention that we hated American Airlines? If it wasn't decided before, the flight home sealed the deal. American somehow thought it would be a great idea to schedule four international flights all within two hours. This meant that a zillion of us ugly Americans would be showing up at the airport all at the same time to wait in mile long lines and freak out about missing their plane. Of course there was no risk of missing the plane. The planes all end up being two hours late due to huge waits at the security, passport and airport tax lines (which are not equipped to handle four planes worth of passengers at the same time).               We finally lined up at the gate an hour after the scheduled departure and were entertained by the family that we hope never to be as long as we live. It was a couple with three kids who all looked to be under four. It was about 11 pm at this point and all three appeared to have gone completely out of their minds. The oldest had thrown herself on the ground, writhing and screaming like the girl in the exorcist while her parents tried to weakly plead with her to stand up. The middle child was tied into the double stroller but was doing his best to steal some attention by throwing an even bigger tantrum. When this failed to work he turned around and began to punch his infant brother in the face. Seriously. Of course the baby began screaming in pain and soon it was a chorus and screaming, sobbing hysterics. When Dad meekly told his son not to hit the baby the son started screaming "Shut up, Stupid!" and other more foul mouthed insults. Nice. Supernanny, anyone? If we were in a mall I am sure the rest of us witnessing this would have been smirking at each other but instead we exchanged nervous glances. Someone would have to be in the rows surrounding this family and we all prayed to God it wasn't us.               We ended up about 5 rows ahead which was OK. The crying and histrionics continued until the kids collapsed from exhaustion an hour later. This was good because we were stuck on the runway for two hours. We had to wait for all the other planes to go before we could take off. We were allowed free beer but had the same crappy food and crappier movies. Thank goodness for all the fantastic memories we had to think about from these last nine months of travel. Our luggage made it and we even made the connecting flight in Dallas with minutes to spare. No missed flights and only one late arriving piece of luggage for a nine month trip is quite an impressive record. Julius totaled it up and counted 77757 miles of travel for our trip. Holy Cow.     
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