TravelStream™ news feed for member thomasmagnum on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/thomasmagnum en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Thu, 29 Jan 2009 01:07:37 -0500 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/thomasmagnum/1/1231589700/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/thomasmagnum/1/1231589700/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/thomasmagnum/1/1231589700/tpod.html Thu, 29 Jan 2009 01:07:37 -0500 Around the world in 86 days

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Pak Chong, Thailand

After four days too many, we finally got out of Bangkok. Most people go north to Chiang Mai, which is a town (really it's a city of over 200,000) up in the mountains in the northwest that is famous for its trekking and indigenous hill tribes. We heard many mixed things about it and the fact that it puts you much further away from Laos led us to opt out of Chiang Mai. We decided instead to head northeast, where there is a mostly straight path to Laos, with buses and trains the whole way. We found a national park in our guidebook called Khao Yai, which is over 4000 sq. km of mountains and forest. It is known for its diversity of wildlife and 250-300 elephants that roam freely. We hopped on a bus where we were the only falang (white people) and took it three hours to the nearest town, Pak Chong.

We found a guesthouse outside the park that was quite cheap and did full package tours into the park. It was called Greenleaf Guesthouse. We arranged it from Bangkok and they picked us up from Pak Chong, about 20 mins way. The accomodations were modest, but fine for 6 dollars. We had dinner and rested up for our big trek the next day.

It was freezing cold when we woke up and we had to wear all the clothes we had with sleeves. We piled into the back of a covered pickup truck with four Germans and two French girls and they drove us to the park. Immediately upon entering, they stopped at a turnoff so we could take pictures of these macaques, which are kind of like mini baboons, on the side of the road, at the edge of the trees. They were so cute and weird looking at the same time. The adults look like they're wearing Ziggy Stardust eyeliner and makeup. You could get quite close to them because they were used to being fed by people (discouraged but not condemned). Of all primates, they probably resemble humans the least, until you look at their hands. They look just like ours. It's creepy. Then we proceeded down the road, which was nicely paved all the way through, stopping every few minutes for something the driver or spotter were able to somehow see off in the trees. The first thing we saw was a gibbons about half a km away in the trees. The guides set up a telescope on a tripod for viewing, but our new camera was able to accomplish the same zoom- and takes pictures. It was really cool watching him swing through the trees. They have really long arms for this and we got some great pictures. Then we saw more gibbons, both white and black, sharing a tree branch- a really encouraging sight for race relations and maybe even a new ad slogan for racial tolerance: "Tolerance- so easy a monkey can do it." I don't know.
We then parked the truck and started on a hike in the woods on a lightly trodden trail. The big hope on this mission was to see wild elephants, which only happens a small percentage of the time. It started out cold but soon warmed up- it's the rainforest. Along the hike we saw more gibbons, a tree sloth, great hornbills (massive birds with a huge horned bill) some tree lizards , but no elephants- yet... along the way, we saw lots of evidence of elephants being there recently- freshly trampled vegetation and fresh scat (still warm), namely. Then we started to hear noises in the distance, like a repetitive cracking. This is telltale of elephants bowling over land through trees. We follwed the noises and then found what was likely their trampled path. We then found some scat the flies hadn't even found yet- we were hot on their trail. And then we could see rustling treetops about 30-40 meters away. We pursued slowly and cautiously, quiet so as not to alert the elephants. At this point, our guide whispered, "I'm going to go up there and see. If I yell 'Run!', run back to the big tree we had lunch at." That's when we remembered that these are gigantic wild beasts that aren't used to human contact. They can be aggressive and territorial, especially when protecticting the pack. He took one of the German guy's cameras up there and was gone about ten minutes. He came back with a video of the last elephant in the group taken through some trees from about fifteen feet away. He spooked them and they got a little aggro, so he came back and decided we should leave. It was still exhilarating to be that close to wild elephants though.
After the hike, we stopped off at the Haew Suwat Waterfall and spent some time relaxing there.
The next day, we scheduled a half day tour that didn't start till the afternoon. We were trying to decide what to do till 3 o'clock and then the lady that ran the guesthouse, Mrs. Nin, asked us if we would have any interest in joining her across the street at the elementary school in serving food to the school children on what was kind of an ice cream social day. We decided it could be fun. It was. When we got there, all the kids were performing these class song and dance numbers that were really cute. When they finished up, these two strange white people scooped them ice cream cones. They ate reluctantly. One cone after the next. Then a group of teenagers that had come on a tour bus, all wearing blue shirts that said, "Let's we inspire you," began to congregate near us. They were taking pictures of me and Debbie from about 20 feet away. Then one came up and asked where we from. We said America. They got super excited and asked if we could pose with them in pictures. They were from Bangkok. This is actually not the first time this has happened. The first time was on the beach in Bali- these teenagers from Borneo really wanted to be in pictures with us. It's a really weird experience.

We then went by bus ( big pickup truck with covered bench seating) down the road to an elephant camp, where you can ride an elephant around a circuit trail with the trainer for about forty minutes for a few bucks each. Our elephant was Tom-kun, a 55 year old Thailand native. Our mahout (trainer) was a Thai David Crosby from Crosby, Stills, and Nash. He wore all red, including his beret. We walked through the river and when we came out, our trainer got off and put us in the driver's seat on the neck and took pictures.
He barked commands, which the elephant followed, all the while chatting with him. It was a really cool experience. We fed Tom-kun bananas at the end as a thank you and he smiled for us.

The afternoon/evening tour was centered around a bat cave, which we had heard so much about. Every evening at sunset every day, over 2 million bats pour out of a cave up on a mountainside to go out and feed. It lasts for about thirty minutes and is incredible. We walked out into this massive corn and other crops field and got into position for viewing. While we waited, several hawks circled waiting on some dinner for themselves. Then it began, only a couple at a time. Then more came. Then more, until it was a steady river of bats flowing out of this cave. They would wind and change direction, like a ribbon in a breeze in slow motion. When they flew overheard, you could hear their wings flapping. We furiously snapped pictures thinking it would end any second. It didn't. It lasted at this rate for half an hour. To top it all off, it was a full moon that night, and there was still daylight and blue sky. Watching two million bats flying past a full moon was by far one of the most amazing natural things we had ever seen. We got some great video and pictures. Check out the video.
We went back to the lodge and had dinner and packed up our things to board a night train north to the Laos border that Mrs. Nin had arranged for us. The night train was hell, but we'll leave it at that.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/thomasmagnum/1/1232557380/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/thomasmagnum/1/1232557380/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/thomasmagnum/1/1232557380/tpod.html Tue, 27 Jan 2009 13:23:27 -0500 Around the world in 86 days

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Hanoi, Vietnam

We are currently in Hue, Vietnam (Central Coast about 50km south of the DMZ) celebrating Tet (Chinese New Year) with the locals. They celebrate hard for about three days and continue moderately for another week or ten days, ushering in the lunar new year. Last night we had dinner at a nice French restaurant (I had the $4 duck l'orange New Year's special) and had some drinks in a restaurant full of rowdy Vietnamese and French revellers and counted down the new year and said "chuc mung nam moi" (happy new year) to everyone and walked outside to some fireworks we didn't expect (we should have- they make them right next door.) It took us a couple minutes to realize we had a hotel room with a balcony on the seventh floor a couple blocks away directly facing the fireworks, so we ran home and got there in time for the last few minutes- it was really cool.

We are quite glad to be out of Hanoi. We took an overnight sleeper bus the night before last just to get out before Tet in Hanoi (and just Hanoi) got any crazier. Hanoi is an insane city with entirely too many people and too many damn motorbikes (mopeds). We have adjusted to the fact that most people in Southeast Asia ride motorbikes (scooters) and they are crazy and everywhere, but Hanoi takes this to unbelievable proportions. Traffic is truly the definition of chaos and insanity- but somehow it works- most of the time. Four directions of traffic- motorbikes, cars, trucks, buses, bicycles, pedestrians and all things in between will converge on an intersection with no regard for traffic lights (of which there are few) and just plow, bump and nudge their way through, all while laying on the horn the whole time. It's really something to see- from the safe-ish confines of a taxi. Crossing the street is a sport in itself. For a city of 3.5 million people, it's amazing to us that there are only 30 motorbike fatalities a day (seriously). 20,000 people die on motorbikes a year in vietnam, the majority in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon). We hear the motorbikes are even worse down in Saigon- can't wait! It's unfortunate because it makes it very difficult to feel comfortable exploring the city for fear of your immediate life, and long term- the pollution is out of control. Everyone wears masks while driving and some just all the time. I got sick our second night in Hanoi (first time for me) and thought it was mild food poisoning or flu, but it cleared up in 24 hrs after leaving Hanoi and going out to Halong Bay and I really think it was from the fumes that were collecting in the open-front restaurant we were eating at on the street and after walking around all day sucking them down.

We spent one day doing museums in Hanoi. We started with the Ho Chi Minh Museum Complex, which was really quite fascinating. He is something of a Jesus/George Washington figure around here. They call him "Uncle Ho". In Lenin fashion, they keep his body on display in a public mausoleum for viewing- which is a very solemn and regular practice for the Vietnamese and tourists alike. We were quite disappointed to find out that it's only open in the morning (it was just after noon). I wanted to see if I could visually confirm the rumors that when it's "sent to Russia for maintenance between late October and early December," it's actually being handled by Madame Tassaud's, of Wax Museum fame. This year marks the thirtieth anniversary of his death at 79, and I imagine it's quite hard to keep a dead 79 year-old body fresh that long- I'm even more skeptical of Lenin.

We arranged a trip out Halong Bay, which is about a four hour bus ride out of Hanoi. The minibus was packed to the gills (per usual) and I was sick to begin with. It was a miserable ride and the weather was terrible, and so was my attitude- I was so disappointed to be in such bad shape with the weather so miserable for Halong Bay, one of the most amazing natural sites in the world, and possibly the part of Vietnam I looked forward to the most. Halong Bay is a large greenish-blue water bay with over 3,000 limestone karsts (vertical islands) of varying size and shape jutting up out of the water, some vertical and sheer-faced limestone cliffs, others mellower and covered in green. When we got there, we were blown away by the number of boats at the harbor- hundreds, each of which hold between ten and fifty people. They call them "junks", but they are actually quite nice- somewhere between a riverboat and a small wooden cruise ship. Our boat had sixteen people, a group from France/Singapore, some from Germany, and a couple from Hong Kong. We headed out for the day trip, gathered in a rather nice dining room and had a six course seafood lunch, which I would have loved normally, but repulsed me then. Despite the rather dismal weather, the islands were still there, though the viewing distance was minimized. In a way, the gray fog kind of gave them a mystical or dreamlike quality that sunshine and blue water could never do. They took us to some caves that were discovered by the french about 120 years ago that the entrance is halfway up a cliffside in a near-perfect circular cove. The tour guides claim that either one of the cave rooms or the whole thing is the largest in the world- it was quite huge and impressive with all the limestone stalactites and -mites, but I can't verify their claim- anyone wanna do the research- Yeager? We had a nice dinner after that, where we anchored in another cove for the night, spinning in a slow circle, rocking with the waves. Our cabin for two was surprisingly nice, especially since it was the first bathroom we had in weeks where the toilet wasn't in the middle of the shower (a terribly annoying Asian thing). I got some rest and woke up refreshed, though freezing, the next day. It was incredibly cold that day, and we just aren't really set up for it. We had breakfast and slowly lumbered back to the dock through the morning. They gave us yet another seafood lunch once we got back to land before packing us back into the van for Hanoi.

Maybe we didn't give Hanoi enough time, but all this coupled with being quite cold and rainy, we decided to go south before our relatively poor image of Vietnam was irreconcilable. As soon as we got back to Hanoi, we booked a sleeper bus 10-12 hrs south to Hue, went back to the hotel where we stayed previously where the girl at the desk offered us an open room for showers (sweet girl), then boarded the bus and headed south, all the while picking up hitchhikers on the road trying to get to their families for Tet. It slowed us down, but we could hardly argue- we had the sleeper seats, they had the floor. Plus it's the holiday, plus it's chuc mung nam moi!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/thomasmagnum/1/1232193960/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/thomasmagnum/1/1232193960/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/thomasmagnum/1/1232193960/tpod.html Tue, 27 Jan 2009 13:22:53 -0500 Around the world in 86 days

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Luang Prabang, Lao Peoples Dem Rep

* words coming soon*
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/thomasmagnum/1/1232017800/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/thomasmagnum/1/1232017800/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/thomasmagnum/1/1232017800/tpod.html Tue, 27 Jan 2009 11:57:30 -0500 Around the world in 86 days

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Vang Vieng, Lao Peoples Dem Rep

Vang Vieng is a lot like Steamboat and other places in Colorado- there are big mountains and beautiful scenery everywhere and a bunch of people who enjoy a good time down in the valley. There is a similar veriety of summer activities that people come here for: mountain trekking, rock climbing, fly fishing, bike riding, river tubing and partying. The town is a little bit polarizing among travellers. Everyone has an opinion: either love it or hate it. Some dislike the sort of hedonistic aspects of it because it tarnishes the idyllic view of unspoiled frozen-in-time Laos they have. Others take it for what it is: a little town that has embraced some Western modes and enjoys a good time.

That being said, tubing the river was so much fun, it was ridiculous. You take a tuk-tuk taxi truck thing with some tubes down to the river and right where you get in, there's two bars. A French guy walks up to us and asks if we'd like to help the school children by buying a giant mojito in a plastic bag (for mobility) for about a buck and a half. "Okay, but only for the children." Before you even get in the river, you hear the music blaring from the bars about 50 meters downstream. You get in your tube and float down the swift and brisk Mekong to a group of bars, all of which have giant rope swings and zip lines that throw people great heights and distances into the river. I don't know where the Vang Vieng haters come from, but where I come from that's what you call good clean fun. The drinks flow cheap and often free for the girls. One of the bars had a big mud wrestling pit. All of them had ridiculously loud music. The last bar was packed with people all having a big dance party. It looked like MTV Spring Break '93, but the people were far more dishevelled and from all over the world. We closed the day on the river singing "I've Had the Time of My Life (And I Owe it All to You)" with about 200 people. Good times.

The other thing people don't like about Vang Vieng is that people watch TV here- that's right, TV! There's this weird phenomenon of having multiple TVs in restaurants and bars where they only play "Friends" and "Family Guy." You'll be walking down the street and people are sitting up on these elevated platforms that have large tables for communal eating and drinking and bunches of cushions and pillows for getting comfy and watching TV. You can pretty much choose your restaurant by which episode is playing that you want to watch. They all have delicious and cheap food and beer and it's actually quite fun and a bit of a bonding experience to laugh at the same things with people from all over the world. Sometimes you just gotta say to yourself, "When in Rome..." Besides, it's how the Lao people do it here. It's not like a bunch of westerners came here and said "We're not eating here unless you play 'Friends' episodes all day." So to all the haters: get off your horse and just enjoy it for what it is.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/thomasmagnum/1/1233034500/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/thomasmagnum/1/1233034500/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/thomasmagnum/1/1233034500/tpod.html Tue, 27 Jan 2009 10:13:39 -0500 Around the world in 86 days

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Vientiane, Lao Peoples Dem Rep

After an early morning border crossing from Thailand into Laos, we arrived in the capital city of Vientiane just before noon. Some have described it as the most relaxed capital city on earth. I think we would have to agree.We had a reservation at the Mali Namphu Guest House for the following day, but we showed up anyway and they were able to accommodate us one day early. The room wasn't quite ready, so we killed a couple of hours walking around town and then sipped on our first couple of bottles of Beer Lao at a nearby pub. We really enjoyed this charming town. The people were quite friendly and the town itself was fairly easy to maneuver on foot or by bicycles.

There is a ton of history here, and we spent one day peddling around on our push bikes to see some of the sites. We made it to see Vientiane's replica of the Arc de Triomphe on our 2nd day. This war memorial was actually constructed in 1969 using concrete which was donated by the U.S. government - although we had different ideas about how it should be used. The intent was to have them build a new airport for our war next door, but apparently they thought a nice new monument would make for better use of the funds. Good for them.

The selection of restaurants to choose from was another great part of Vientiane. The French influence is pretty apparent. We had good food all throughout our stay in Vientiane, and one night in particular stands out. Tom got to experience his first meat fondue dinner at The Caves restaurant. This dinner is an old favorite for Debbie. It was the reward meal for good grades growing up. Delicious! Our favorite breakfast spot was right across the street from the guest house - La Fontaine. They served amazing omlettes, fresh breads, and delicious fruit.

On our 3rd day, we saw Pha That Luang, also known as "The Great Stupa" in Laos and has become a symbol of Lao nationalism. After some site seeing, we did a little shopping. Debbie replaced her purse, and because we were quickly discovering that we were going to be needing some more warm clothes, we each got another pair of pants. It's amazingly cheap to eat, drink, shop, site see, etc.- it's great.

That evening, we went bowling at the L.B.C. - Lao Bowling Center. It was something different to do, and good fun as well! After three games and a blistered thumb for Tom, we decided to check out some live music at a local club just down the street. The band was pretty good and apparently they were performing some of the top Lao pop songs, because we heard many of them on the radio again and again throughout the rest of our stay in the country.

On our final day, we boarded a "VIP" bus for the "4 hour" trip north to Vang Vieng. You sure didn't feel like a Very Important Person on this crowded coach, and it was definitely more than a 4 hour trip! We're learning to expect longer than quoted times for most modes of transportation in South East Asia - we'll get there when we get there.




]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/thomasmagnum/1/1231470900/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/thomasmagnum/1/1231470900/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/thomasmagnum/1/1231470900/tpod.html Mon, 12 Jan 2009 07:27:58 -0500 Around the world in 86 days

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Bangkok, Thailand

We spent four nights in Bangkok...about two too many. The city is quite busy (as you might image with a population of 7 million), and there are taxi and "tuk tuk" drivers - these are three wheeled vehicles with a very "open" feel about them - at every corner doing their best to convince you that they know the best place to take you. No matter how many times we would ask to go somewhere in particular, it seemed almost impossible to actually make it happen. You see, the drivers and various restaurants/hotels/markets all have pre-arranged agreements where commissions are paid if these drivers bring customers their way. So that gets a little frustrating after a while. On top of that, Debbie's purse was stolen in a bar on night 3, so 2 nights would have been perfect!
By far the best day in Bangkok was the one that we spent touring a
couple of the massive temples there. Our tour guide was a short little
man - like a flamboyant leprechaun type, who went by the name
"Chocolate" (pronounced "shock-o-lot"). The structures themselves are
truely amazing and the devotion to religion is astounding.
A good portion of our first couple of days there was spent laying out our plans for the Southeast Asia portion of the trip. There was a strong internet connection in our hotel, so this was ideal for planning. In fact, we got the name for our next accomodations in Khoa Yai National Park by reading the blog of some other travelers who use the same site that we use. After a few tiring days in the busy city, we were looking forward to a change of pace. Trekking through nature instead of through crowds of people sounded like just what we needed.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/thomasmagnum/1/1231211460/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/thomasmagnum/1/1231211460/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/thomasmagnum/1/1231211460/tpod.html Wed, 07 Jan 2009 07:27:58 -0500 Around the world in 86 days

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Bali, Indonesia

Hey there, it's been a while since we've made contact, but we're still alive and well. We are currently in Bangkok on day 2/3. We have reliable internet acces at our hotel, which is what kept us out of touch in Bali. Things were a bit more primitive in that way in Bali, Indonesia, believe it or not.

Our week in Bali was beautiful, hectic, eye-opening, and relaxing all at the same time. The country itself is amazingly pretty as far as the lush green forest, beautiful flowers, and endless rice terraces that dot every hillside go. What immediately took us aback was the sheer volume of people (and dogs). We expected a lot of people, being Indonesia and all, but we naively thought that would be different in Bali somehow. It wasn't. The journey from the airport in Denpasar to our hotel a little ways up in the mountains was characterized by insane traffic, composed of a million motorbikes with an average of 2.7 people per, weaving in and out of cars, trucks, and buses, all doing the same. It was immediately apparent that there were no traffic laws per se, just an understood mode of honks. Our driver, who was a friend of a friend of ours in Steamboat, kept us safe on these roads for the week, which is a full time job, which it was.

Nyoman Kelid was our driver's name- Nyoman indicates he is the third child, Kelid is the family name- Indonesia has a fairly rigid caste system like India. He made most of our arrangements for us for the week. He set us up with a beautiful hotel in Ubud, which is kind of a crafts village in the center of the island, for the first three days. It was right in the main area, but set on some beautiful property with a rice field and gorgeous flora right outside our window. He took us to various woodcarving shops, batik clothing shops (batik is a traditional hand-made cloth and patterning process), painting communes, and other various crafts landmarks.
We went up to a plantation where they grow all kinds of herbs, fruits and coffees. It was interesting to see things like vanilla and cinnamon in their natural setting- sometimes you don't know what it looks like before it gets to your table. By far, the highlight of this outing was the coffee and tea tasting. This area is known for a famous variety of coffee called Kopi Luwak, which is regarded as the most unique and desirable (and most expensive) coffee in the world. It's not any ordinary coffee- it goes through a "roasting" process that some might find crude beyond belief. The red ripe coffee beans are consumed in the raw by a mongoose-type animal. The stomach acids in effect "roast" the beans whole. somebody then picks the beans from the animal droppings, cleans them, then grinds them up and voile!- Kopi Luwak coffee. It sells for somewhere around $100/pound in uppity parts of the world (it's suspected that many consumers don't know how it's made, just that it's the most expensive you can buy). We got to try a cup for about $3. When in Rome...

We decided to then head to the east side of the island for some beach time. Nyoman Kelid drove us a little town called Amed that is a bit less travelled than nearby Tulamben and Padang Bai. It's a little beach community dominated by divers and their tourism. It was a nice change of pace from the much more populated area of the south. This isn't to say there wasn't plenty of people trying to sell you things you don't need, but the pressure and frequency was greatly reduced. We arrived there on New Year's Eve without a hotel, but no worries of finding one- we had Kelid. He seems to know everyone on the island of 2.5 million people. We stopped at his first recommendation and found it a bit dumpy for New Year's accomo, so we went to the next. For ten dollars more than the first place, we got a major upgrade- roughly two stars to four. This place was awesome. The room was huge, with walls full of windows (sliding glass doors) that looked out on the ocean. The restaurant looked over a huge pool, suitable for dive instruction, which looked over the ocean. They had a special New Year's menu with traditional Balinese dancing, which was really cool. Increasingly older and more proficient sets of girls would come out dressesed like ornate Hindu-style dancers and do their trance-like dance of poses and hand movements. We made friends with six other travellers from around the world and rang in the new year drinking Bin Tang, the beer of Bali and playing Uno, which was the game of choice for this group, who had been there a couple weeks. It was really fun. Relaxation took place over the next couple days.

We finished our Bali experience with a whirlwind tour of the east coast, down to the far south, with stops at a market in the oldest village in Bali in Candi Dasa, a lunch at a beachfront restaurant in Padang Bai, and then a sunset Balinese dance(show or play of traditional myth) in Uluwatu at the Monkey Temple. That's what we call it- there were thousands of mischievious monkeys running around stealing glasses off people's heads, cameras, and anything else that wasn't nailed down. The small amphitheatre for the show overlooked the ocean, which was a couple hundred feet down a sheer cliff, and features one of the best sunset views on the island. We then had dinner at a seafood restaurant on the beach (literally- the tables were in the sand) in Jimbarin Bai and then checked into some roach motel in Kuta Beach, the tourist hell of Bali. Tom has (had) a relative who had a hippie cult there around 1970 and imagines it looks nothing like it did then- this guy wouldn't have been caught dead in this today (he was caught dead in India several years later, but different story). Next afternoon, we got on a plane headed for Bangkok...





]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/thomasmagnum/1/1230100980/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/thomasmagnum/1/1230100980/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/thomasmagnum/1/1230100980/tpod.html Wed, 24 Dec 2008 02:18:33 -0500 Around the world in 86 days

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Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Sometime in the last year, Tom saw a TV show on the Travel Channel where a company would take people up to the top of the Sydney Harbor Bridge. They throw you into a grey jumpsuit, which is the color of the steel, so you blend in with the bridge and passing motorists aren't distracted by the guy up on the bridge in the bright yellow shirt about to jump off. Plus, they can charge you lots of money to dress like a Ukrainian astronaut. Anyway, it's a pretty thorough operation. You have to read all the warnings, sign all the waivers, and watch the video. Then you strip down, removing any and all things not attached to your body that might fall from several hundred feet up and through the top of some hot shot in a convertible's skull. Then they adorn you with all the safety gear and communication devices and teach you how to use it- makes sense. Just before they put you up on the bridge, they ask if you're afraid of heights, and if so, you go to the front of the pack of twelve (near the leader). Your safety harness is attached to a burly gear-like mechanism that fits onto a steel cable that runs the entire length of the climbing route- it's 100% safe- maybe a little too safe.

You start off walking under the bridge for a while, with cars and trains rumbling overhead. Then you reach the suspension arch and begin to walk on top of it until you are 134 meters (440 feet or 44 stories) above Sydney Harbor, the largest natural harbor in the world. Most of the time you are listening to commentary about the bridge and the scenery you are viewing, history and factoids- the good stuff. Our leader was Mandie, a native Sydneysider. She was very enthusiastic and fun, very knowledgeable about the area. In talking to her afterwards, we found out she would probably be in Thailand around the same time as us in the same town... small world. The whole experience start to finish was about 3.5 hours and well worth it. It's an incredibly unique experience that you can't get anywhere else.

p.s. the photos are actually from the top of one of the massive concrete and granite pylons that support the arch. Our admission included going up to the top of it afterwards by way of another 220 stairs. Since you can't take your own camera on the bridge walk, this was as close as we could get, besides the one photo we bought from them. The pylon was half as high as the top of the arch.

Merry Chrissy Everybody!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/thomasmagnum/1/1230030540/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/thomasmagnum/1/1230030540/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/thomasmagnum/1/1230030540/tpod.html Tue, 23 Dec 2008 08:23:38 -0500 Around the world in 86 days

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Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

We decided we needed to knock a few more tourist-type things off the list during our last week in Australia. A couple people suggested that the zoo would be a fun thing to do. Sydney, being a world-class city in a country known for its unique wildlife, naturally has a world-class zoo. This sounded fun to us and since neither of had been to a zoo as adults, we decided to go for it. We planned on taking the bus into the city, which we have become pretty familiar with, but Mel wouldn't let us- we had to take her car. Sydney's Taronga Zoo is across the harbor from downtown Sydney, but for our purposes, it may as well have been right downtown. The city driving was a little tricky, what with everything being backwards and all, but we managed and actually even lucked out with free street parking three blocks away. One of the most striking features of the zoo is its location. It is in prime real estate territory, surrounded by very ritzy neighborhoods and once we got into the zoo, we discovered how amazing the views of the city it has from its harbor cliffside property.

The main entrance is the highest point of the hill, which winds and descends down towards the harbor. They start you off in Wild Australia, immediately immersing you in kangaroos, wallabies, and all other animals Australia. Another distinguishing feature is how little separation between you and some of the animals there is. It was basically a petting zoo with (obviously sedated) kangaroos, wallabies, and emu/ostrich birds just freely strolling alongside you. The only hopping kangaroos were the joeys, I guess because they can't jump the reported adult distance of 25 feet, and their boxing skills aren't fully developed yet. Plus, you shouldn't give children drugs.
So for the sake of sparing everyone's time, we'll suffice it to say that the rest of the zoo was fairly standard of what you might find at a world-class zoo.

Next up: Sydney Harbor Bridge climb!
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Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Sunday we went to Palm Beach ("Palmie") for breakfast and a hike up to the Palm Beach lighthouse. Palmie is the northernmost area of a peninsula that creates a long narrow bay up the way from where we are staying. It's an ultra-fabulous spot where all the movie stars and athletes- Nicole Kidman, Russell Crowe, Leyton Hewitt (tennis) etc.- and the ultra-wealthy from around the world have holiday homes. It's pretty much like Malibu or something. It's the $5- $20 million beach home spot in Sydney. We had a delicious breakfast with terrible service- you see, it was obvious we were riff-raff that had washed up from down the beach- and then hiked up to the historic lighthouse at the top of the headland. It was a beautiful hike on a perfect day. For those familiar with Steamboat, it was the beach equivalent of the Fish Creek Falls hike- a little steep and rocky, but not too long for amazing views. After the hike, we cooled off with a swim at Palm Beach and then headed back to where we belonged...
Later that day, Debbie and I went to a local's Sunday evening hang out our hosts recommended. It's called the Newport Arms and it's a massive outdoor bar with live music and jumbo tron that they sometimes show movies, rugby and cricket games, and music videos on. The place was humongous and quite busy, but situated on the most amazing spot above one of the harbors. We decided it was the Sydney summertime equivalent of Slopeside during spring break. There were lots of pretty and cheery people about and we had a nice sunset view to cap the weekend.


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