Nomad Wannabe

Cristo Redentor and Jardim Botanico

2009-10-17T15:47:00.004-04:00

Christ the Redeemer, the icon of Rio, stands 700 meters over Rio on top of Corcovado. The status is 38 meters tall. On a sunny day, you should be able to see all the coastlines and the Sugarloaf. When we got to the tram, there was a note on the side of the ticketing window that said ´We are not responsible for the weather on top of of Corcovado´. The ticket girl smiled apologetically and said ´it is not clear today´. I responded, `I know, you are not responsible for the weather on Corcovado´. 10 minutes of ride in Tijuca, the national forest, we are at the summit. As we walked up, we were engulfed by fog and clouds. I did not expect it to be so bad until I realized we were already standing in front of the Christ. We could not make out half of the statue. There was the bottom half and some dubious shadow of two arms in the cloud. The face is not visible at all. Everyone exclaimed in their own language - oh no! you can´t see anything!

For amusement, we still took a picture in front of the statue. The camera would not even focus when set at auto focus mode since it could not tell what I was trying to focus on. It was a blur. Oh well, I guess I would have to say I was not too impressed by the newly voted wonder of the world. As for the view, there was leaves three meters down the platform where Christ was standing and down further there was only fog.

We descended the mountain and headed to the Jardim Botanico, which was designed by the order of Prince Regent Dom Joáo in 1808. It has a great collection of exotic plants, a rose garden, an orchid garden, a Japanese garden of lotus pond, and bamboo and an Amazon garden. It was supposed to have over 5000 plants. The rows of palm trees were impressive. This was the best botanic garden and the oldest I had ever visited.

Mike went back to the hotel when I strolled the street fair along the Copacabana beach. Tonight we will go to Ipanema beach for dinner at restaurant Sao Sebastiao in the boutique hotel Froneria. Then we will head to Centro for a Samba club. Tomorrow is the last day. I hope it will not rain.

Also because of the weather, we could not hang glide today and I will have to reserve it for next round.

Pao de Acucar & Santa Teresa

2009-10-16T17:06:00.003-04:00

This morning we went to Pao de Acucar (Sugarloaf), one of Rio´s icons which can be seen from most part of the city. The summit is at a soaring 393 meters. To get there, one must take the telefonico (cable car), first stop is at Morro da Urca at 215 meters, next stop is from the peak of Morro da Urca to the top of Sugarloaf. The cable ride was very fast. It zipped through and we were at the summit in no time. It was a cloudy day. When the clouds passed, we could see the Cristo Redentor and the Corcovado mountain. The winding coastline was clear in view and the beaches curved like the hems of skirts, the waves like the lace embellishing the white beach sand. The view was breathtaking even on such a gloomy day. I could only imagine in my mind´s eye how gorgeous it would be if this were a sunny day with blue sky and blue sea.

The weather is warm and humid. I was happy to wear a dress and not freeze. Women dress completely differently here in Rio as compared to Santiago where the style is very much conservative. You see a lot more colors and a lot more skin, and not just on the beach. It was definitely more tropical.

Because of the clouds, we decided not to go to Cristo Redentor today. This morning´s hang glide session was also delayed until tomorrow depending on weather. We decided to go to Santa Teresa via Centro and took the Bonde to the old hilltop Bohemian neighborhood. Santa Teresa. The Bonde (tram) is the last of the historical streetcars that once crisscrossed the city. In the 19th century, Santa Teresa used to be the neighborhood of the wealthy, therefore a rich collection of 19th century colonial mansions and villas still remained. Nowadays it is the center of Bohemian Rio.

At last night´s Samba show, we met a couple from Spain, who recommended a Brazilian restaurant Do Arnaudo, at the second stop of the Bonde in Santa Teresa. As we were scanning through the pretty houses and winding streets, Mike saw the restaurant. We rang the bell and hopped off the bonde. The double cable rails inlaid the cobbled street, Do Arnaudo sat on the right side of the road on the way up hill. It was a bar/restaurant. We ordered dried jerk beef with pumkin, rice, beans and onions. Basically a small portion of feijoada. In Portugese, it´s called lombinho com macaxeira arroz (faijo de corda e farofa de abobora). I had a caipirinha. This was a cocktail made from cachaca. It went very well with the feijao and was very strong. Since I had it on an empty stomach, in no time, it went straight up my head.

We spent about two hours wandering in the pretty neighborhood of Santa Teresa, following the tram track up and down the hill. At the end of the trail, it made a circle and the track came back to where we had lunch. Nearby was the Bonde station. The Bonde comes very half hour. Local kids hop on and off without tickets but it was a norm. The Bonde was so full there was already people holding on and hanging out each side. Two local girls opened their arms and exposed two seats for Mike and me. The girls held on to the cable steel handle the entire time back to Centro, giggling, chatting with each other and making calls on their cell. It was quite an experience for me, sitting squeezed tight in one of the four spots in my row, in this 19th century yellow cable car, rattling down the stony hill.

Porcao and Samba City

2009-10-15T22:54:00.003-04:00

Per my Brazilian coworker´s suggestion, we must go to Porcao, a Brazilian steakhouse, so we went and spent two hours eating there. The view was breathtaking. The Sugar Loaf was very close and the water calm after a storm this afternoon. We ate many rounds of beef of various cuts, all marinated to perfection, grilled medium rare to medium and frequented its buffet for other goodies. It´s all you can eat, but after sushi and beaf and six big portion of side dishes that came with the meal, I stopped. The next table of a dozen or so men came before us and took several cigarette breaks during the meal and came back for another round of meat after we were leaving. Food kept being served even though we put the red stop sign on our table indicating no more ´sim por favor´. At times, the waiter almost pushed the meat onto our plates. It´s freshed grilled, hot and juicy. He was eager to show off and we could not say no.

I also tried a dessert called kinzi, it was made of egg, caramel and coconut and was extremely sweet even for my big sweet tooth.

at 7 30, we booked a tour to Samba City for a mini carnival show located in the samba school in Suburb Gamboa. The show started at 10 and ended with the floats going out onto the streets. We all put on hats of feathers in all colors and shapes, danced with the samba dancers from the show. There were fireworks. People were waving their arms and shaking their hips. Music was loud in the air. The happy atmosphere was contagious. We got a glimpse of the famous Rio de Janeiro carnival.

Two Sides of a Coin

2009-10-14T17:05:00.005-04:00

¨Valparaiso and Vina del Mar are just like two sides of a coin¨, Willie, our guide told us as we drove down the steep hills of Valparaiso to Vina del Mar, ¨one is old, the other one new and modern.¨

The tour started at 9 30. We were greeted by the jovian Peruvian, who lived in Korea forfour years since 19, married a Mexican, had two sons, and told us plenty tales about history, geography, and politics. Valparaiso is about 135 kms west from Santiago. On the way, Willie told us that two things came free with Santiago, wander dogs (homeless dogs) and lady drivers (apparently he was afraid of them). He claimed that the street was five lanes all in one way during rush hour because they had to reserve three lanes just for the lady drivers!

We stopped by Curacavi where we took photos of a llama who happily ate the grass Willie collected. Curacavi is an Indian word meaning the meeting of the stones. A lot of Indian chiefs had stone in the name, when the chiefs met in the valley, the place adopted the name of ´meeting of the stones´. Then we passed Casablanca where the vineyards were. The scenary is gorgeous with the mountains as a backdrop, vineyards and villas in the front. Locals come from Santiago to the vineyards for weekend day trips especially in summer season.

Valparaiso used to be the biggest port in the country. It was first discovered by the Spanish in 1541. The city was built on hills. All the houses are colorful and the hills remind me of San Francisco. There are 15 funiculars in the city, mostly built in the 1880s, with a few still in working condition. We took one up the hill. The wood interior is smooth. As the cable car moved up slowly, it made cracking noises. It´s surprising that after 100 years, this antique still works. At the top of the hill, we got a bird´s eye view of the hillside, the sea and the port of ferries, private boats and larger cruises. Valparaiso is a World Heritage place because of its unique colorful hillside houses and colonial architecture. The center of the town has two squares, one is the Plaza de Armas, the other is the Plaza de Sotomayor.

Lunch was at a castle named Castle de Mar. Out of the window, pelicans sat on the rocks or hovered over the seashore. I tried a Chardonay from Casablanca. It was very good. Seafood was superb. We tried Chilean king crab, parmesan scallops, salmon (which was a big export item in Chile) and conger with mixed seafood.

Vina del Mar has a history since 1900. It´s an area built up just for the rich from the old Valparaiso, which the working class live. We went to the piers and the beach. The water has the cold current from the antactic hence it´s always cold. Even in summer when outside temperature is over 90 degrees, the water is still too cold for swimmers. Willie said it had been called the ¨True Love Test¨. To demonstrate their love, men either plunge into the cold water, or go into the castle store to buy their lady some diamonds. Well, my man did neither.

As soon as Mike learned that there was a casino in town, he wanted to gamble. We have gambled all over the world, now we are going to donate some money to Chile. We went to the casino and played half an hour of Blackjack. I doubled up since I hit three blackjacks and had a few more good hands. He made out 15% higher too. So Chile ended up paying some of our day trip!

The last stop was the Easter Island (Isla de Pascua) musem where one of the two original statues from Easter Island could be found in Chile. This stone statue is from Rapa Nui and it was about 4 meters tall. The height of the statue symbolized the social status of the person. For example, the tallest would be 22 meters hence the Chilean president would have had such a statue.

The bad part of the day was my camera lense jammed up. The zoom no longer worked. For the rest of the trip, I will not be able to zoom any more. Too bad...

General Eating Schedule

2009-10-13T22:13:00.005-04:00

Breakfast 9 to 10
Morning coffee and pastry 12 to 1
Lunch 2 to 4
Afternoon coffee and snacks 5 to 6
Before dinner drink 6 7ish
Dinner 8 30 -9 to 11ish
Icecream maybe at 11 if the lines are not too long

This schedule for the past week has really messed me up. Indeed I am eating all day long but I still get hungry. The stomach adjusts itself in front of good and endless options. The first two days I starved at 6 because it was normally dinner time for me but no place was open for dinner. We were waiting outside restaurant before 8 so we could get in when it opened. By third day we were eating at 9 pm and inserted a number of random eating sessions during the day hence the hungry feeling went away and along came the stuffed duck complex by midnight.

Portenos eat dinner around 9 30 10ish and go out at 2 AM and party till 5 or 6 AM. Especially in Palermo where we stayed, there were countless hip bars, sidewalk cafes, and traditional and international restaurants... We did not see locals crowding up usually until after 11 PM. It was a brand new life style for me even though I am definitly too old to party after 2!

Santiago Impression

2009-10-13T21:34:00.006-04:00

We arrived at Santiago international airport at 8 AM this morning. The hotel picked us up. Mike had to pay 131 usds for entry fee as a reciprocal procedure since US does this to Chilean citizens.

It was much colder than Buenos Aires since now we are in the mountainous areas. The first scenary that wowed me was the snow capped Andean mountain in early morning mist as the backdrop of the highway. When we got out to walk around later the long mountain range could be seen almost anywhere in the city.

On first impression, I thought the Santiago streets were much cleaner than those of BA. There was not much dog waste on the roads while in BA, everywhere on the sidewalks, in the parks, there was dog poop. The Portenos love dogs but they do not clean after them on the streets.

We are in the Providencia neighborhood. Down our street, there is a very quiet and pretty neighborhood of well maintained, upper middle class houses. We walked about 20 minutes to the Parque Metropolitano (metropolitan park). Its summit offers a panoramic view of the city. Unfortunately the funicular that was supposed to zip us up to the peak was out of order so we opted to hike the six kilometers to the peak. It was getting warm and sunny and we encountered numerous cyclers, joggers up and down the hill on our waving road up. The view was getting better as we ascended. We decided to cut through the road for cars and looked for shortcuts in the hiking trails on the side of the hill. We hiked a very steep trail following a pipeline in the woods for about 20 minutes when we finally hit the main road again, only to find us detoured to the electric towers instead of the peak where the Virgin Mary statue stood.

Eventually we made it to the summit. There was a church and the statue of Virgin Mary opened her arms to welcome us. The view over the city was breathtaking. Even though it was an overcast day, it was all worth the 2 hour hike to see the majestic Andean snowy peaks afar. Most of them over six thousand meters high. Aconcagua peak was the tallest and stood a 6920 meters high.

We took the park bus down the mountain and headed towards Plaza de Armas where most of Santiago´s points of interests are. There were many colonial style buildings near the plaza. We visited the Cathedral of Santiago and had lunch in an Italian restaurant. Seafood is great in Chile, a good change from eating so much beef in Argentina.

Our hotel staff recommended Divertemento Chileno for traditional Chilean food. It was in the park near its gate. We tracked all the way back in the evening. Mike ordered grilled mixed fish, all fresh. I had Cazuela de Ave (country style chicken and veggie soup) and seafood salad. The soup came out in a bowl larger than the largest size of ¨Pho¨. I almost fell over my seat when I saw it. I was provided with a gigantic spoon larger than my mouth but the first spoonful sent me straight to food heaven. I did my best and drank most of the soup and finished all the veggies. There was bits of rice in the broth.

For dessert, Mike had Ponderaciones, crisp pastry wrapping vanilla ice cream. I had a Port Flan with Cognac soaked prunes.

The first day of Chile turned out to be great. I´d say Santiago is non pretentious, hearty, pedestrian friendly, metro easy, clean, and friendly.

Last Day is Shopping Day

2009-10-12T17:31:00.004-04:00

We shopped all day today and just got back. Had ice-cream again at Freddo again. We each had a belt made at the fair, Argentina leather with custom buckles.
Last steak meal tonight. We are going to a restaurant called "Standard". Its famous dish is the 24 hour slow-cooked beef ribs.

Tomorrow we fly out to Santiago, Chile. Ciao, Buesnos Aires!

San Antonio de Areco & Ombu Estancia

2009-10-12T17:18:00.014-04:00

San Antonio de Areco, a pretty little town of 5000 people, is an easy drive away from Buenos Aires. It's in the pampas where we visited the Ombu estancia about 6 KMs away. This was a mid side estancia that had ten working gauchos. I even saw a woman working the horses. I asked the tour guide if a girl was born into a gaucho family, did she have the freedom to do whatever she wanted? The answer was yes. The woman could do anything just like men, or better. According to Daniel, our guide, gauchos, the special people who formed their own unique culture and history over the years, were dwindling in numbers. Gauchos are traditionally very poor people. The profession itself was starting to die out as a result of modernization.

We were served with wine and freshly baked empanadas stuffed with ground meat. After the snack break, we rode horses on the estancia. Only a couple horses ran. Mine was a stubborn one that would not go any faster than the dog that was following the group. It was not so much into eating like the horse I had in Goreme, Turkey but it was glued to the slow speed like the horse of Julee. I kept thinking about that other ride Julee and I had. How different is the landscape now! The pampas is vast and flat. I couldn't see any buildings at the end of the horizon. Horses, cattle, and sheep grazed the field.

After the horseback riding, we went back to the house. An asado (BBQ) lunch was served outdoors. Tables had been set up right near an old tree whose trunk must be over 4 meters wide. We had freshly bbq'ed pork ribs, chicken, blood sausages, chorizos, beef steak and other assortment of salads and sauces. Malbec was served. I have gotten so used to drinking wine these days, I can easily get tipsy before noon. Argentina's Malbec tastes so good, I am fallen love with it. People on our tour came from Australia, England and US. I noticed that blood sausages were the least favorite on our plates. I tried mine and finished it but it was definitely not my favorite either. The homemade ice-cream cake with caramel and nuts outside was delicious.

After lunch, the gauchos showed us some serious horse whispering. The gaucho teenager was able to take the horse upside down, with four legs in the air, belly completely exposed and head on the ground. The two bonded so well, it must have taken years for the animal to trust the human like this.

An older gaucho musician played guitar and sang some traditional songs about the gaucho's life on the pampas. Dogs ran around between tables for leftover bones and meats. They all got a stomach full just like us.

The estancia was tranquil and beautiful. The land was full of green plants, trees and spring blooms. Next time, I would stay over a night or two to enjoy the peace and quiet.

La Cabrera

2009-10-11T21:42:00.008-04:00

I am exhausted from eating. La Cabrera, another parrilla highly rated on TripAdvisor.com and by our hotel, presented us each with 20 ounces of steak, six small side dishes to share, and with the steak came with our own six small side dishes. We also had half portion of a tomato salad with mazzerella. I did not know it was half portion until seeing the bill.

Our waiter was like a magician. Each time he showed up, more food came with him. He even brought us a tree of lollipops at the end of the meal. We each had to take three of different flavors. Then came the limoncello, which was also on the house. I did not complain. I had mine and Mike's portion.

Meat was extremely juicy and tasty. Shared sides were hot dishes: pumpkin, squash in buttery sauce, two types of sauteed onion, mashed potato, and roasted potato in bacon sauce. Separate side dishes were mostly olive oil and vinegar based and very refreshing.

I am dying from overeating. Mike, surprisingly ate all his portion and was not even full. He is definitely in his meat heaven. No more ice-cream tonight...

Quick Facts of Cows

2009-10-11T17:25:00.004-04:00

Cattles are raised on the pampas in Argentina. There is the wet pampas near BA and the dry ones in the west or Patagonia where there is not so much rain.

The cows are lean because the land is flat therefore the cows do not need to move much, hence no muscle development, hence tender. Fat cows make tender meats. :)

La Boca and San Delmo

2009-10-11T17:09:00.014-04:00

After a deep tissue massage in the morning, we relaxed our sore butts and legs from horseback riding. Sunday is the day for street fairs and tango in the streets of La Boca and San Delmo.

La Boca is photographed as the symbol of BA in many travel magazines because of its colorful houses in El Caminito, the name of the colorful street of the neighborhood. The two blocks of houses in bright red, green, yellow, blue, and purple are the only areas safe enough for tourists. All guidebooks and our hotel staff warned us against going beyond those streets. If you simply read the guidebooks, it could easily sway a tourist to skip La Boca since it was most of the time described as the shanty town of BA and extremely unsafe. I was glad we went. Otherwise we would have missed this unique little corner of the town.

The cab dropped us right in front of the triangular house. Immediately we were attracted to a circle of people watching the street tango in full swing at the square.

Tango, the dance of passion, love and desires can be found everywhere in San Delmo and La Boca. We strolled along the two blocks of streets. Mike snapped a few quick jump shots of me in front of the brightly painted walls.

Local artists sold their crafts and paintings on the side of cobbled street. I bought two framed collages of day and night of La Boca, on which of course there were cats. I had to bring some cats back home. :)

Next stop is the Case Rosada. We were there the other day but they closed for tours. Today it was open for tours. Even though it was in Spanish, we followed the guides dressed in soldier uniform upstairs into this presidential house and its beautiful courtyard. There were pictures of the Peron family, historical photos of the revolutions and wars. I thought the house was bigger than the White House.

Granted it was a little difficult considering we did not understand much of anything from the tour but it was nice to be able to go upstairs, see the inside of hall and the pretty courtyard with fountain and palms.
San Delmo's Sunday market opens from 10 AM to 5 PM. It's a quick cab away from the Plaza de Mayo. We had a fast lunch then joined the hundreds thousands of people in the fair.

The main street is blocked on Sundays specifically to make room for the fair. All the way down the road, all we could see was sea of people. We saw lots of leather goods, handicrafts in glass, wood, stones, silver, weaved clothing and vantage clothes.

We saw a band of youngsters making music in the middle of the street. In South America, as if dancing and singing were a part of the birth right, we see people everywhere, young and old reacting to music and rhythm is in their blood. I found myself often jealous of them to be able to let go and let their hearts and limbs take them.

Tonight we are going to La Cabrera, another parrilla for steak. Steak is the main staple here, all twenty cuts or more on the menu, all juicy and delicious. Mike is in heaven...

Serendipity in the Storm

2009-10-10T21:46:00.011-04:00

I think I did mention that I walk long ways for food but never did I think that I'd walk a long way, drenched in rain for a scoop of ice-cream. As all guidebooks said, never leave BA without trying their ice-cream.

We got the recommendation from our hotel this afternoon and decided to walk 12 or so blocks in Palermo Hollywood to find the best ice-cream at Freddo (crossing Honduras and Armenia street). This is before dinner since all restaurants are closed until 8 PM. Only tourists eat around 8. Locals don't show up until after 9:30 PM.

And was it worth it? Absolutely. Gigantic scoop of one Italian chocolate with nuts and another scoop of strawberry in thick crispy cone. Street fairs in Palermo were closing and restaurants were starting to open up. And drops of rain fell as the wind picked up. We had to quickly decide on our dinner choice. We selected La Cabrera, another parrilla with fame. As we arrived there in the rain, the hostess informed us it was reservation only. Dejected, we left. This time, up came the storm. Leaves were falling, puddles were forming. I wrapped my hair in my scarf and tucked in my purse to protect the camera. The next closest choice was Tequi, the French restaurant newly opened in Jan. and was very popular according to Home's precious little guidebook. As we ducked under the awnings of buildings, hopping over puddles, hiding and running interchangeably to get to our destination, I was cursing that if this place were also reservation only, I'd be hating life. When we were standing under yet another awning, we realized this was Tequi itself. There was no window anywhere. There was a sign of the restaurant as big as a book. No lights were lit. The facade was painted full with street art. We hesitated and thought the restaurant was no longer in business.

Post note 11/13/09: This photo was borrowed from the web and here is the facade of Tequi. That stormy night, there was barely anything visible, not even the vibrant colors of the wall art. It was odd enough that we called through the thick door and even odder that it opened to us with its light and warmth. Because of this, Tequi would always have a special little place in my heart.

A cab stopped by, someone looked at us, apparently other customers looking for the same place. A minute later, they must have registered it was closed, the cab took off. We were still under the roof, shivering from the rain but too drenched to step out again. I saw this tiny door four feet away and decided to hop onto it. There was a call button on the side of the wall with green light flickering. As I pressed on it, Mike also came by. We desperately called into the button as into a dark abyss. "Hola, Hola!" A moment later, a girl responded and said something in Spanish I could not understand. Mike said "she wanted us to move away from the door". We stepped back... The door opened, a pretty girl in black dress appeared. She led us in, looking at us, two raggidy rats, messed up hair, and wet shirts. "Do you have a reservation?" OH NO!. "no we don't..." My stomach dropped. "But I can't turn you back into the rain..." she smiled gently, "I will find you a table". Oh, thank you thank you. I wanted to kiss her. What an angel!

We sat down facing the glass side of the restaurant. The tall glass covered from ceiling to floor. We could see the chefs working from our table. Outside there was a palm tree-covered courtyard, which turned into a cafe during the day. We saw the pouring rain and occassional lightening as our three course meal passed through our plates.Mine was: Warm oysters with salmon roe and tapiokas, wild duck, quince and sweet bread, and three chocolates with mango sorbet. It was absolutely delicious. To top it all, I had some more Malbec, which I fell in love with as I came to BA and another sweet red wine whose name I now forgot. The evening turned out to be lovely, thanks to the kind hostess from Tequi and its wonderful waiters and exquisite food.

Now I am intoxicated with Malbec, sitting in my wet jeans. No time to document our day at the San Antonio de Areco and the Ombu estancia. That will have to be another entry.

Recoleta, Centro, and more

2009-10-09T16:44:00.015-04:00

We went to Recoleta today. This is the richest area in town. From the taxi ride, we could see the Cartier, Louis Vuitton shops. It has the most popular street fair and the cemetery of Recoleta.
The city of the dead hosts some of the richest and most famous, including Evita Peron. She was dead at age 33. She never went to college but left such an impact on her people. Her grave is the only one left with flowers blooming everyday. It took us an hour going through 'house' after 'house' of elaborate carvings, sophisticated statues and beautiful shining marble sarcophagies.

We took a break at La Biela, serving since 1950. I tried mate, the yerba herb tea, which is supposed to be a national obsession. It was not served traditionally in the teapot. This one was a cup full of dried herbs. The server poured hot water in it and added a bag of sugar. I used a straw and was instructed not to stir it. I soon realized why since I would have a mouth full of tiny bitter herbs. It was definitely an acquired taste. I think I prefer the green tea.

After a little stroll at the fair, we stopped by Munich for lunch. The restaurant served huge portions, just like the meal we had last night.

Casa Rosada, the presidential palace was our next stop. The pink house stood the entire side back side of Plaza de Mayo. in the middle of the plaza, there is the small obelisk symbolizing the independence of Buenos Aires.

We walked from the plaza to the big obelisk at Plaza Republic. The street on one side had at least 10 lanes going one way. (Julio 9 Ave.) We had to run to cross the street in time.

The weather was perfect. The Portenos are everywhere chilling in the sun, in the numerous parks in the city.

Tonight we have a tango show at Tango Rojo at 10. I chose Tango Rojo instead of the more Broadway production type of tango show because I wanted us to experience the traditional tango. The more touristy ones such asSenor Tango, has horses coming on stage during the tango show. Tango Rojo, on the other hand has very intimate setting and still has the traditional taste of tango. The show room is in Hotel Faena and it only seats 120. I first read about it on Forbes travel issue. As I sipped my Malbec and enjoyed the dainty deserts from the three tier tray, the magic of tango flowed through the air. The energy was dark, seductive, passionate, deeply suppressed yet the same time with ultimate abandon, just as I imagined it all could and should have been.

From Sao Paolo to Buenos Aires

2009-10-08T18:31:00.007-04:00

We boarded the flight last night. Early this morning we landed at Sao Paolo airport and started the long layover. Sao Paolo airport was not as chaotic as I thought it'd be. In fact, it was quite orderly. At the gate, one guy knew our names and that we were transferring to BA and immediately pointed us to a different terminal. The restaurant choices were none but we managed with some roast beef sandwiches and patatas fritas. The girl did not speak English, us no Portuguese except "obrigator"-thanks. The menu was in Portuguese.

By evening we arrived at BA, sun was shining as compared to a day of rain in Sao Paolo. The ride from the airport to the city was long, green and the spring air came from the lowered car window. Ah, really 'good air'. Everything was refreshing considering Virginia is turning colors of Fall and leaves are gone some places.

We are staying in the middle of Palermo, at this boutique hotel called Home Buenos Aires. The front desk guy, Thomas led us to our retro 60s deco room and said "welcome Home to Buenos Aires.

Tonight we are heading out to a parrillas (steak house) called Miranda. I am completely starved. I am afraid I will engulf an entire cattle.

*post note: Home BA ended up being one of the nicest hotel experiences we had. The front desk and bar staff were graciously wonderful. We enjoyed our breakfast with different fresh ingredients every morning, the day trip to the estancia, and the deep tissue massages. We tried restaurants and shops recommended by the hotel and they were always spot on.

What not to miss for the stomach

2009-10-03T21:28:00.004-04:00

When traveling, I follow my nose. I can walk a long way for good food. For the upcoming trip, I started researching on good restaurants and local food/drinks that we should not miss.

For Argentina, of course you've got to beef up. Its grass-fed, lean and flavorful meat is a must not miss. Buenos Aires has countless parrillas (steak houses). We are going to try Miranda, recommended by several guidebook and in the Forbes Travel Issue on BA that Srini gave me. We are also going to an estancia for a day where I am sure steak from open fire will be served.

To drink, there is mate (a herbal drink with caffeine), licuados (a milk blended fruit drink), a chopp (lager). Argentina produces a lot of beer. Its annual domestic consumption per person is over 130 lbs. That's a lot of open bottles.

For sweets, facturas (sweet pastry) and helado (ice-cream). Surprisingly, Argentina has great ice-creams.

For Chile, one drink stood out for me. It's called pisco sour. It's brandy with lemon juice, powdered sugar and egg white. I will be on the hunt for it.

Brazil's feijoada is a meat stew with beans. It's so hearty that it's traditionally only served on Saturdays for lunch. Supposedly you get this one meal, your whole week is covered. For drinks, there is Cachaça. This is a liquor made from fermented sugarcane. It is the most popular distilled alcoholic beverage in Brazil. It's used to mix the very popular cocktail caipirinha. To drink it pure, look for the "gold"Cachaça, aged in wood barrels with dark color and premium quality.

Rio also has a big Japanese population. I am expecting to find some delicious sushi.

All this talk about food makes me hungry. Only four days to go!

Ready to go

2009-09-20T20:38:00.001-04:00

All visas have been obtained, daily plans have been set, guidebooks were bought. I am ready to go!

Buenos Aires
San Antonia de Areco estancia
Santiago
Valparaiso and Vina del Mar
Rio de Janeiro

Still trying to decide if we want to hang glide in Rio or not.

I Dream a Borderless World

2009-07-31T22:19:00.003-04:00

I started prepping visa applications. This would be the first time I have to coordinate the timing and get all visas for each of the three countries. Because of my citizenship and the passport from the "Red" Commie China, I am not welcome at probably 95% of the world without ton of paperwork proving myself clean, free of crime and ill intentions. The end goal would be getting a visa stamp to pass through airport security. On the one hand, having a passport full of stamps from all the places I've been leaves me a cool memory to dwell on later; on the other hand, it really sucks to frantically type all the same information on pretty much the same forms from different embassies. Chilean embassy asks me to fill two forms, one for visa request, one for tourist application. Both asked my father's full name and my mother's full name. I also need to declare my eye color, hair color, height, and the color of my complexion. What is that? I debate between putting white vs. yellow. I am not technically yellow but by race I guess so. Then the last one is "is there any particular feature?" (... that will distinguish me from any other well behaving citizens???) I put an N/A for that one even though I do have two moles on my face. Nah... they wouldn't care...

I dream of a day that the world would be truly borderless for the wanderers to roam around free. Wouldn't that be really nice?

South America Finally!!!

2009-07-22T22:56:00.002-04:00

Two years ago in January, I was planning a trip to South America then changed my mind and went to Egypt and Jordan instead. It was a great choice but at the back of my mind, SA is still on my top priority list. Last week, I finally book the flights for Mike and me. We will be going to Argentina, Chile and Brazil for about two weeks in October.

Planning formally starts now.

the Battle of a Dinner

2008-09-14T00:51:00.003-04:00

I really don't know how mom did it. All these years of Spring Festival dinner feasts coming out of our kictchen, cooking up a storm while all of us parasites stuffing our faces over course after course of dishes. Today's dinner has been in the plans for months and today it finally happened. In fact after the dinner party is over and after at least a bottle of wine down my throat, at 1 AM, I am exhausted to elaborate any further. I am completedly exhausted... happy though that I did not have any incident like two weeks ago, such as chopping off the tip of my finger or having anyone food poisoned instantly after the intake of MY food. Well, right now I am going to bed. I think my grandma in heaven would finally be relieved that I CAN coook, afterall, a good ten course meal... since she always harped on mom for not teaching me to cook or sew or do anything that a proper Chinese girl should do.

I just called mom. Thousands of miles away over the phone line, I sensed that she was relieved too that finally her daughter can stand on her own. Mom can finally answer to grandma just like she did years ago "Well, she will learn to do all these when she needs to. " What a day!

Into the 5th

2008-08-09T11:41:00.014-04:00

Our hotel in Fira, Santorini

On August 7, Mike and I celebrated our fourth wedding anniversary. We were supposed to go parasailing at the Perivolos Beach but it was too windy. I called Costas from Wavesports twice checking on the weather. It was negative. Therefore we decided to walk to the nearby village, Imerovigili. In the afternoon, we took the bus to Oia in the north of the island. Oia is supposed to have the world's best sunset. Oia itself was very pretty and had multiple Greek Orthodox churches in the typical white body and blue dome. We waited at the top of the caldera patiently for sunset. The cliff side view of Oia town was even prettier than that of Fira. There were windmills among all the little white traditional houses. Oia's blue domes. It was breathtaking, the white walls and blue domes against the blue sky and blue sea. Everyone said Santorini was the most beautiful Greek isle of all. I saw it immediately. Oia itself was less busy and more quaint than Fira, the latter being the capital of Santorini. All the bus transfers are in Fira so traffic to Oia or the red and black sand beach in the south of the island all starts in Fira. If you prefer quieter nights and nicer village view, then Oia is the place to stay. We were glad that we stayed in Fira because of the convenience and more stuff happening but nothing beats the cliff side view of Oia.
Sunset was beautiful and romantic on Oia's sunset point but we really could have seen the same just from our terrace in Fira. It was a mad scene on the sunset point. People started waiting around 6 PM and the normal sunset time is a quarter past eight.
On August 8, not giving up with our parasailing plan, I called Costas again. What a joy when he said "Yes Lei. Today is OK." We took the next bus from Fira to Perrisa and landed on the black sand beach of Perivolos. In front of the Chili Bar, Costas was fixing his boat. A warm greeting later, we doned our life jacket and were out to sea.

When we were far away from the beach, we walked up to the bottom of the boat and were individually hooked up to a steel bar that would hold both our weight. The bright red parachute was already open behind the boat, swinging in the air with the word "Chili" on it. Costa was driving the boat and his helper released the rope initially tied to the boat. The parachute went up in the wind taking us with it side by side under the steel bar. The wind was strong and in no time, we were above the sea about 300 meters. We could see the beach afar, some houses on the island but mainly the dizzying blue whirlpool of sea below us. We kissed in mid air.

The boat twisted and turned and broke through waves. A few minutes later, we started to descend, so close to the water, I started to wonder what was going on. Then suddenly we were dropped and my bottom dipped into the cold sea. I screamed with excitement. The next second, we were lifted all the way and up we went again straight into the air. Costas did this trick three times while swirling the boat so that we would drop, dip, turn and shoot up again. On the real landing, we were pulled back to the boat. It was very soft, we were able to both squat for a half second then stood up with the parachute still lifting our bodies.

We then went jetskiing. The water was extremely chopping because of the strong wind. I held on to Mike for dear life. The wave runner hit all the big waves and sometimes we were so high in the air, we bounced far from the seat, we'd drop so hard back down that I thought we'd bounce off into the waves. The sea water was all over my face. I had to close my eyes half the time to avoid the sting.

Back to the beach, I could hardly stepped into the blisteringly hot black sand. It was the lava sand that absorbed so much heat under the sun. Everyone on the beach was on a lounge chair. It would be impossible to lie down on the sand here.

Every morning over breakfast, we looked at the cruise ship docked in front of the Big Volcano. Boats came back and forth sending loads of passengers to Fira. During the day, the town is incredibly busy.

We spent a good part of the first two days of our fifth year of marriage at Enigma over Fira's caldera, chill'n and enjoying each other's company. I even, for the first time of any of my travels, finished reading a book. One third at least in the jaccuzi tub on the terrace overlooking the volcanos, cruise boats floating and the georgous Fira town. It dawned on me that the success of marriage (in my shallow experience), maybe is simply sharing and wanting to share.

Fira, Santorini

2008-08-09T11:41:00.012-04:00

The Flying Cat 4 sailed into the crater engulfed by the huge caldera of Santorini around 7:30 PM. We were in this tiny ferry swinging in the gigantic waves which formed a crib. After waiting for the never coming boat, we were roasted at the Mykonos dock, hope dwindling. The past few days, the boat was not able to operate due to strong wind. Three hours and a long nap later, we were staring in amazement at the reddish, brown, and black tone of the cliff soaring hundreds of meters above us and the whitewashed houses at the edge of the cliff. About 1700 BC, the volcano erupted and the center of the island sank into the sea leaving the crater of today of 10 km in diameter.

The caldera

When we arrived at Enigma, our hotel at the top of the caldera in Fira, capital of Santorini (aka Thira), the western sky turned orange red. The hotel receptionist told me that the normal sunset time was 8:15. I looked at the watch, it was 7:55. We had time for the famous Santorini sunset.

Sunset Fira from the hotel terrace

Our hotel is built on the cliff, stepping down to about five storeys. Our suite was 3rd storey down. The terrace was facing the big and small volcanoes and the sun was still in low sky. Without unpacking, we situated ourselves on the patio and watched the sunset. Everywhere I go, I always love watching the sunset. Sunset over the sea is the best of all since there is nothing blocking the view and the sun always seems so much closer. I looked around and saw all the whitewashed houses turned golden under the sun. The surface of the caldera became even more multi-colored.

Holding the hand-drawn map from the hotel, we explored Fira in the evening. First we had dinner at Ouzeri, a local taverna. Then we trailed the cobble street of the Gold Road (named so because of all the gold shops along the street) all the way to the Cable station. The cable goes from the top of the caldera to the old port below and it only runs in summer. Lots of restaurants with volcano view are at the top of the cliff. It was a great vantage point for me to take night pictures of the Fira town below with thousands of lights, blue pools of the hotels, and bustling restaurants and lounges. Around 12 AM, people were still eating dinner. Night clubs just started to become busy. Shops were still all open with tourists picking out handmade jewery and souvenirs. I had the largest ice-cream ever since it was not scooped into the cone. Instead the shop girl gave me two huge wooden spatula-full of the cold treat.

Night View near the cable station

Next morning I got up really early and walked my way down the steps to the old port. The Gold street that was bustling the night before was quiet and still asleep. The steps went winding down to the bottom of the caldera and smelt quite bad since this was the donkey route to the old port so it was full of donkey droppings. I had to tip toe around at times in my flip flops while taking in the fresh morning view of the sea. The sun was not even out yet but numerous boats already started their morning commute.

Around 7:30 when I started to walk back, I heard bells and hasty steps on top of the cliff and out went a train of donkeys led by an old man wearing a blueish grey hat, just like coming out of the picture books I had seen of Santorini. I was so excited I started waving to the man saying hello and good morning. He waved back and said hello. The cute donkeys walked by very obediently with their heads down one after another.

Very soon, herds of donkeys came down, among which were also horses. The stairs became obviously crowded. At one point, I was backed into the corner, hanging half way outside the trail, holding my camera tight. I looked down, the stairway had formed a busy traffic jam.

Santorini, here we come

2008-08-06T02:49:00.003-04:00

We got up this morning for breakfast by the pool. The sun was scorching already at 9 AM. The wind continued to blow. The sunburn on my shoulders were painful. I decided I'd spend the rest of the morning reading under the shade.

Our hotel reception called the old port who confirmed that the Flying Cat was going to depart Mykonos today since the wind condition definitely improved. So here we are come Santorini.

Delos, the Sacred Island

2008-08-05T09:55:00.007-04:00

Delos is the birth place of Apollo and Artemis. According to the Greek mythology, Zeus had an affair with Leto who got pregnant with twins. Hera, the jealous wife of Zeus tricked the god of birth so Leto could not give birth for days, years and then centuries. Poseidon took pity on the poor woman and offered his hidden island of treasure, Delos for Leto to give birth. Delos was originally submerged under water, thus the name "adhilos", meaning invisible in Greek. When the island appeared, the name became "dhilos", visible in Greek. It was inhabited five thousand years ago and by association to the gods, it was always famed as the sacred island. Even the Persians who invaded Athens and burned the Acropolis, only came on Delos, paid tribute to the gods and left without destroying anything.
We boarded the 10 AM ferry from Mykonos and arrived on the island around 10:30. The tour guide was a middle aged woman who walked fast and talked fast. Out of the many interesting historical stories she told us, the most intriguing ones were that Delos was the world's largest trading port for centuries, it had the world's first military treaty, the island's residents were up to 25,000 and all were rich therefore no social uprising despite its mix of culture and cult development. Delos had a mixture of people from Greece, Egypt, Italy, France, Syria and etc. each speaking different languages, using different currencies, practicing different religions and worshipping different gods. For example, the Temple of Isis is still standing today marking the Egyptian glory.
After the tour, we had our own free time to climb Mount Kynthos. There was a fabulous view of the nearby Cyclades once we got to the summit.

The past few days were so windy. The Flying Cat, a fast ferry that travels from Mykonos to Santorini was cancelled. It is not possible to know the weather and ferry travel forecast until 6 hours ahead of time. I have my fingers crossed since we are leaving Mykonos to Santorini tomorrow.

One other note is about the Greek yogurt. It is not sweet but is very creamy. Served with honey, it is perfect for breakfast. So far all the lamb dishes have turned out great. I had grilled octopus for dinner once but it was not remarkable.

Mykonos Blue

2008-08-04T10:53:00.003-04:00

Mykonos is the first island on the Cyclades that we are visiting. We went to the old town from the Platis Gialos beach by bus. The old town of Mykonos has convoluted streets that were built to confuse the pirates in the old times. It was like a dream walking on the narrow streets flanked by white houses typical of the Cyclades with bue shutters, doors and domes. The scenery was whimsical as if coming out of a fairy tale.

We walked around the old port and later ended at the famous windmills and the Little Venice. The colorful houses were built right on the edge of water, hence where the name came from.
In the afternoon we went to the beach and baked in the sun for five hours. The water was gorgeously blue and clear. It was still cool. The sun was fierce but it was extremely windy so the breeze helped us cool off. What usually took me to tan in an entire summer was achieved in one afternoon... and now I am suffering from 'severe' sun burn.

The Acropolis

2008-08-03T05:25:00.006-04:00

We got up at 6:15 this morning to make sure we could make it to the Acropolis by 8 when its gate opens. By the time we got there, there was already a full bus waiting. We quickly passed all the crowds who stopped by the first sites such as the Propylaia and went straight up to the Parthenon.

The ruins of the Acropolis were as dramatic as they could be. Even though we've seen them so many times on TVs and magazines. Seeing the real thing was still a "WOW!" The Parthenon was half covered by scaffolding. On the way up, I quickly took off jumping to supply shots for our newly launched blog "happy jumps". A few of us from work started this site to collect photos of jump shots around the world. Kiat already took one in front of the Potala Palace in Tibet. Soon will jump at Machu Pichu and Smitha in front of the Taj Mahal. I cannot miss the shot at the Acropolis. Two rushed attempts later, the crowd took over. We then hurried to the highest spot of the Acropolis before everyone else. There the bird's eye view of the entire Athens was breath-taking. In the wind, I could not even hold tight on the camera.

With the jump shots out of the way, we took it easy and just roamed around. There were ample ruins. Athena and the Poseidon were worshipped in the ancient temple of the Erechtheion. The Porch of the Caryatids held the statues of six tall maidens. The gigantic marble columns and gateway were preserved well. It was hard to believe that the Theatre of Dionysos could hold 17000 people.

After the Acropolis, we headed to the temple of Zeus, the Hadrian's Arch and the national garden. On the way to the Sydagma metro, a band of soliders and traditionally dressed men went marching by. We were not sure what the occassion was.

This afternoon, we might go to the Port of Piraeus.

Athens Impression

2008-08-03T04:50:00.004-04:00

Athens, since seeing it on TV during the 2004 Olympics Game, I've made a mental note that it had to be a place to visit soon. 9 hours flight via US Airways and a bumpy landing later, we arrived. The transit signs were all very clear. We took the metro straight to Monastiraki, the center of Plaka where our hotel is.

Even though we could see the Acropolis from our sixth floor balcony, we resisted the temptation and decided to stroll the streets in the afternoon, knowing that Acropolis would be way too crowded and hot. The National Archeological Museum was our destination after eating a ham and cheese sandwich and a peach ice shake at a corner bakery. It was about 88 degrees outside but was very windy. The breeze kinda cooled off everything so Mike was not suffering too much. I loved the heat so was enjoying the weather.

The museum was three-storey tall, modest but full of treasures. The most impressive of all was the bronze collection, out of which the most gorgeous piece in my opionion was the bronze figure that depicted the idealized youth. I was mesmerized by the facial expression and his gaze. It was pure perfection. Another piece was the statue of Poseidon, also thought to possibly be the statue of Zeus instead. This was created in the 15th century B.C. The god was perfectly balanced in an athlete's body, poised and powerful, demanding attention of all passer-bys.

A nap in the mid afternoon later, we headed out to the pebbled hills towards the Acropolis and watched the sunset over the ancient Agora (market). Restaurants filled the hilly roads leading up to the Acropolis. We chose Zorba. Mike had lamb stew and tomato salad. I had veal souvlaki and sardine/olive appetizer. I liked his food better as usual. The owner gave us two Ouzos for free. It was served with ice cubes inside so the clear liquid was also milky white when it came to the table. Ouzo was supposed to contain 40 to 48 percent of alcohol. I knew it would taste just like raki from Turkey so I expected the heavy anise flavor, which always reminded me of a Chinese cough syrup. It was not my favorite drink.

The streets were crowed and welll lit even at 10 PM. We walked around Plaka. There was a perfect night scene of the Parthenon perched up on the rock. A lonely star shone brightly in the sky to the left of the parthenon. Music came with the breeze from nearby restaurants. The ancient sites were a lot quiter at night.

At 11 PM, we found Ice and Grill in our neighborhood, a shop that had dozens of ice-cream selections and grilled food. I had my second servings of ice-cream of the day. Kiwi and lemon, wonderful before bed time.

After a day in Athens, I would say I liked it more than expected. Everyone told me I would hate it because it was supposed to be dirty, dusty, crowded and boring. I seldom hated any place I'd been, let alone hating a place I haven't yet visited. I guess side by side with the beautiful Greek isles, Athens faded in comparison. But I liked its solid sense of history, its bustling night life, and the friendly people who told me the next stop was me before they got off to their own station.

Windows of Croatia

2008-06-23T22:09:00.012-04:00

The windows of Croatia are my obsession of the trip. Walking down the cobbled streets, everywhere I look, it is picture-perfect. Most windows are decorated with flowers and plants. The healthy greens spread freely from the wall, with blossoms so rich and vibrant, exuding love of their owner's hands. I imagine the woman of the house watering the plants everyday, bringing them out to soak in the all-year-around sunshine and taking them in behind the drapes at night...

Each window is unique. I only wish my camera captures what my eyes see.

The Pursuit of Happiness

2008-05-31T00:37:00.017-04:00

We ate our way from Turkey to Croatia. As Julee said, most of the time we were really not hungry, we were simply greedy. But how could you NOT? Just take a look at this...

* Breakfast on the terrace of Hotel Kelebek, Cappadocia, looking at the Rose Valley

My absolute favorite is the ice-cream. Turkish ice-cream is more creamy while the Croatian counterpart tastes like gelato. They both offer lots of varieties especially with the flavor of fruits which U.S. does not have. My face was glued to ice-cream whenever I saw a stand which was practically everywhere.

The ice-cream man was "playing" with the ice-cream in Fethiye. Julee had the world's largest cone.

We found the midye (mussels) across Galata Bridge in Istanbul. They were stuffed with rice and tasted lemony.

Fish sandwich by the Bosphorus was our cheapest lunch but incredibly fulfilling. I took the cash and pushed my way through the locals to get to the grill. Two local guys actually let me purchase ahead of them, meanwhile quite curious about a foreigner eating their street food. We sat down on the curb and ate the sandwich among the locals. I did not see any other tourist. They did not know what they missed.

Seafood in Croatia was to die for. These mussels were served in Split in wine and garlic.

In Turkey, Julee negotiated in the fish market for our dinner produce. She tried to teach me how to see if a fish was fresh or not by staring at its eye balls and opening its "face". She said if it were fresh, it was supposed to look alive. Yuk! I trusted her pick.

We had one chance to dress up and go to a bar in Fethiye. My packing principle is to use an item at least twice but the kitten heels were really not easy to stay on after days of walking in flats. We had fancy drinks with their little firework show.

We both LOVED salt so the salted sardines or anchovies were our favorite appetizer. I suspect I might die young due to the over consumption of sodium.

Our favorite restaurant was in Trogir. Alka has the best grilled squid and I loved the anchovies and olives.

A fancy lokum (Turkish delight at a bakery shop). We usually have tea and dessert around 3 PM.

Seafood pancake (crepe) in Sibenik. Baby shrimps were stuffed inside. The shrimps tasted sweet.

While Julee had her crepe, I had prawns, heads and all on the plate. They were finger licking good.

Beer was great in both countries. Ephes was the most popular Turkish beer. In Croatia, I tried local Croatian beer and beers from Slovenia. They were all good on a hot day by the sea.

* In Sibenik having lunch by the harbor.

We do not waste food!

*Julee dipping the bread in the last bit of the sheep brain and tongue soup in Selcuk.

Kebebs are popular and fast eats. We discovered adana kebeb which was spicy mixed lamb and beef. We both liked the kick. On a day where we did not have time to sit down we would order a roll to go otherwise we sat down to enjoy it on the plate in Oludeniz after the paragliding.

Day 17 - Dubrovnik, the Pearl of the Adriatic

2008-05-25T07:52:00.008-04:00

We stayed in an apartment within the old town wall. It was 80 steps up into one of the many side streets from the Placa town square.We used the clock tower at the end of Placa as an anchor point to navigate through Dubrovnik's meandering cobbled streets. This way we could always make it back to the Placa. We learned the way to navigate the streets of Croatia was to find an anchor that did not move. For example, a boat that docked at the harbor would not be a good reference point since by sunset it might have sailed off.

There were cruise-load of people filling the town center and all souvenir shops. It only got quieter after sunset last night where we had dinner outdoors and listened to a concert in the Domino Church.

This morning we spent three hours walking the city walls that circled the old town Dubrovnik. They were built from the 13th to the 16th century and are still intact today even after the bombing in the early 1990s. I noticed that the new roofs replaced after the shelling were of a brighter yellow than the original roof which had a more subdued earthy tone. The aerial view of the terra cotta roofs against the turquoise sea and sky was breathtaking. I think the coast line of Croatia with such vibrancy and refreshing clarity redefines the color of blue.

Our favorite restaurant "Capital Konoba" was the 7th street from the Clock Tower. We had grilled fish with broiled potatoes and spinach. The sea bass was so fresh, it tasted sweet. Later we will have ice-cream for dessert, and find an outdoor cafe to just chill and read.

Day 16 - Julee, get up! Time for Dubrovnik...

2008-05-24T08:31:00.004-04:00

Every night we left the window open so we could breathe in the cool air from the Cappadocia mountains or the Dalmatian coast. To catch the bus at 5:45 for Dubrovnik, we were informed by the ticket lady to show up at the bus station at 5. I set the alarm clock last night for 3:50 to get ready and finish last bit of packing. It was a Friday night and we did not know that Trogir, a tiny town would party all night. We did notice that the population in Trogir were very young. Most people we saw on the streets were under 35 years old. We thought the majority of the town were just young men in their teens and early twenties. A car alarm broke out honking every five minutes from 12 to 1. All night long scooters went zooming by on the cobbled street below our window with loud screams. The disco music was romping in the next door bar, possibly the only one in town and in the neighboring towns since we saw the local bus number 37 carrying drunk young men out of Trogir bus station at 5 AM. At 3:30, I gave up my attempt to fall asleep since I was going to get up at 3:50 anyways.

When I stared at the alarm clock next time, it was 4:20. I woke Julee. Twenty minutes later we were at the Trogir bus station. Time passed slowly and it got chilly. I kept asking Julee the time and we were counting down the minute when the bus should show up. At 5:45, the bus still did not show up. We got very concerned and of course based on our previous situation of being stranded on islands, we blamed it on the Croatian bus system which seemed to be a little fickle. Julee went inside the bus ticketing center and I went to check other waiting buses. A moment later Julee came out and said "The clock in the bus station says it is 4:55 right now and my watch says 4:55. Did you set the clock back an hour?" "No. I just took it out and used it. You were the one that set it in Turkey." I answered knowing she's going to kill me now. "The Croatian time is one hour back!!! You made me get up at 3:20 to catch the 5:45 bus." I ran away from her.

I am now officially no longer the clock keeper. Hey the good news was the bus came on time. We got on and arrived on time in Dubrovnik.

Day 15 - Krka National Park and Šibenik

2008-05-23T15:43:00.008-04:00

We were standing at the bus stop this morning waiting for the bus to Šibenik. The traffic was really bad considering Trogir is a town of merely 1600 people. We figured it was a crossing between larger towns such as Split and Šibenik and that was why there was so much commotion at the two-lane street in front of the old town entrance. Our plan was to take the intercity bus to Šibenik then from there to the Krka National Park. We did not know the schedule as it was not published anywhere at the bus station or provided by the Trogir travel info center. 20 minutes later, no bus showed. Frankly in Croatia, we were never sure whether we were waiting at the right spot, at the right time, or waiting for the right bus. Compare to the supreme Turkish bus system, the Croatian bus system, especially in the off peak season was a little confusing for us.

Suddenly out of nowhere we heard a greeting from a passing car. It was Jasha and Christian, the two German backpackers we met last night over dinner at Capo. At this local seafood restaurant, we had to share a table with others since they only had long table with simple wooden benches and we got into chatting. Jasha and Christian drove from Germany to the Balkans. "Are you heading to Šibenik?" We hopped off to the street and chased the car. They said they were going to the Krka National Park and it was so kind of them to pull over to the side of the street and agreed to give us a ride.

An hour later, we arrived at the Stradin, the town that serves as the west gate of the Krka National Park. From here, we thanked our gracious German drivers and went to explore the town. The National Park offered much better and more organized tourist services. A nice glassy building housed the tourist information center. We learned that we could catch the 12 PM ferry to see the Stradin Buk (the waterfall). The ferry schedule was written on the board clearly in front of both the departure and arrival docks.

The ferry ride took about twenty minutes. We walked five minutes before we heard the sound of water. Then behind the woods we reached a bridge, where the Stradin waterfall stepped down from the top of the hill and dropped to the bottom of the bridge and calmed into a natural swimming pool of green water. The part of the park where our time allowed us to visit was very tranquil and green. Waterfalls were everywhere, small ones merging into large ones, forming a nice terrace of waterfalls.

We took the ferry back to Stradin around 2 and asked the info center to call a taxi for us to go to Šibenik since the only bus to Šibenik was at 5 PM. Michael, a man who worked at the harbor and lived in Šibenik happened to come into the center and overheard the conversation. He offered to drive us back to Šibenik right away for half the taxi price. Stradin is a harbor town so there was not even a taxi stand anywhere. We did not know when the taxi would come. Michael cleaned his car for us and for the second time in the same day, we got a ride out of pure coincidence. The ride to Šibenik was unbelievably scenic. Every little town along the coast was etched in a perfect painting with blue sky as backdrop and terra cotta roofed houses dotting the hillside or island.

We visited the St. James Cathedral in Šibenik which was also a UNESCO world heritage site. Lunch by the Šibenik harbor was perfect. I had Buzara od Škampi (large prawns cooked in tomato wine broth). Julee had shrimp crepe.

Day 14 - Hiking and Hitchhiking from Stari Grad to Hvar

2008-05-22T15:37:00.013-04:00

Lying on the bench in front of the Stari Grad harbor, exhausted and dehydrated, I peeked under my scarf that was covering the heat from the sun and saw that Doug was talking to some random couple at the ticketing office. Doug pointed at me while the man turned and stared at me. Meanwhile Julee wandered off to take pictures of the lonely harbor without taxis, buses, coffee shops or restaurants, and there was not even a souvenir stand that sold water. The ticketing office was closed too. We were told today was some public holiday.

It all started at 5:30 AM this morning when Julee and I got ready for our day of island hopping. Our destination of desire was supposed to be Hvar. A town on the Adriatic coast that is known to be the playground for the rich with fantastic scenery, harbor, and a castle. Last night Julee read the Lonely Planet guidebook about Stari Grad, the transitioning town where we should take a bus which will lead us to Hvar. The guidebook said Stari Grad was older than Hvar and had some sites worthwhile to see. Out of delusion, we decided that we would go to Stari Grad first after we arrived by ferry from Split around 11 AM. The town of Stari Grad was not near the port. It was 2 km away from the port. On the ferry, we encountered Doug, a backpacking traveller and a body double from Vancouver. Unfortunately, after hearing that Lonely Planet somehow recommended not to miss Stari Grad, out of the entire ferry load of hundreds of tourists, we were the only people who decided to head to the opposite direction from Hvar to go to Stari Grad instead. We walked two thousand meters against the traffic on the street without pedestrian pavement. Stari Grad was indeed a pretty little town but it was only worth two minutes of stroll on its picturesque promenade by the water.

It was too late when we found out that we missed the bus that connected from Stari Grad harbor to Hvar at 10:40 AM and the next one was at 2:40 PM. Julee and I had to catch the ferry back to Split at 5:30 otherwise we would not make it back to Trogir tonight.

*The never-ending road leading to Hvar...

At that point the only solution would be to hitchhike out of Stari Grad and into Hvar. We left the town and walked by the roads in the farmland full of olive trees, grapes, lavender and wild flowers. The country roads had no pedestrian pavement, we followed the safety rules so we would face the oncoming traffic and meanwhile we waved at all passing cars, trucks and vans going toward Hvar direction, which by the way were scarce.

At one major crossing, we stopped. One side of the road pointed to Hvar, the other pointed towards Selca. To our surprise, 8 out of 10 cars coming out of the fork decided to turn the other way, the other 2 out of 10 cars would not stop for us. We had drivers passing us multiple times, some put up two fingers indicating he was going a short distance only, others drove by opening both arms as if to say " What do you want me to do?"

Two hours and an estimated 7000 meters of hiking later, we were back where we started at the Stari Grad ferry port.

Doug walked to me and said "I think I got us a ride". "Really?" I immediately sat up and yelled at Julee to come back from the water front. This wonderful couple on vacation in Hvar from Austria, became our savior of the day. They loaded our backpacks into the trunk of their car and drove us to Hvar, whose distance of 17 kms seemed so impossible to reach on our foot only minutes ago.

Day 13 - Waiting for the Silver Lining in Split

2008-05-21T16:26:00.005-04:00

Split is another jewel along the Adriatic Sea. It has a population of 170,000 people and is the second largest city on the Dalmatian coast. On the bus ride from Trogir to Split this morning, we saw lots of skyscrapers, a sight we had not seen at all on this trip. We of course, avoided all the industrial part of the city and headed straight to the Diocletian Palace, a walled old city of over two hundred buildings that still kept its medieval charm.

It was drizzling on and off throughout the day. We did not get much sunshine we had hoped for about six months since starting to plan the trip. The town would have looked picture perfect against the blue sky. We were a little disappointed. However the weather did not dampen our spirit, we still enjoyed the picturesque old town with all the quaint little houses, cafes and cobbled streets.

I completely fell in love with all the pretty windows of green and blue shutters and flowery plants hanging from the balconies. I would have to post pictures later since pictures are better than a thousand words.

Day 12 - Thunderstorms in Trogir

2008-05-20T14:21:00.011-04:00

We were almost tearful leaving Turkey today. We had so much laughter and so many fond memories. We loved all the places we visited and the food. What we loved most and would miss most would be the Turkish people, who are so hospitable and wonderful.

We flew via Vienna and arrived in Split around 2:30 in the afternoon. The bus system cannot compare to that of Turkey. We waited 20 minutes before we were told by a driver from an arriving bus that we were at the wrong bus stop. The one for Trogir is outside the airport on the road. We dragged our luggage to the street. I asked Julee to wait at the corner and I started walking to investigate more. 300 meters later in 85 degrees heat along a road under construction, I still could not find a sign for bus or bus stop. I finally gave up to turn back when I spotted a girl across the street standing under an orange box looking like a bus station. I waved at her and asked her if she were waiting for a bus. She said yes and she was waiting for the one to Trogir which was supposed to be at my side of the street. Because of construction, the bus stop was moved off the road. No wonder I missed it. We walked back to where Julee was, which was actually where the bus would now pick up people. Two minutes later, we hopped on the bus which was very old and just a simple city bus.

When we arrived at the central bus station in Trogir, we transfered by taxi and paid 60 kunas (12 dollars) for two minutes to cross two bridges. Our hotel Sikka is really close to the bus stop and it is right by the sea. When I opened the shutters of the window from our third floor room, there was a picture perfect view coming right from a post card.

We stepped out to explore the town in no time. Trogir has a population of 1600 people and is a UNESCO World Heritage site. As soon as we walked into the labyrinth of pebbled streets, boutique shops, bell towers, churches and courtyards, we were enchanted by its old world charm.

When we decided to sit down for a cup of coffee outdoors under the sun shade of a cute little restaurant, within minutes, the sky got dark and gloomy and it started to rain. The waiters came running outside and picked up all the cushions and table clothes leaving only Julee and I sitting there sipping our cappuccino and lemon tea.

It was as if the sky opened and water just poured down. There was lightening above our umbrella. I took out my scarf and wrapped my head and Julee quickly hid her camera. Lemon tea tasted great in the rain and there were drops of water dripping onto the back of my neck. We sat there looking at the people standing in boredom across the courtyard in the pizza shop. We felt lucky that at least we had a place to sit and a Croatian menu to learn some new words.

Eventually it got so bad the waiter came out from the kitchen and waved at me. We got up and took a dive in the rain and went into their kitchen. Our waiter and two other young men were baking a bread for themselves in the kitchen and cooking something off the stove top.

Later in the evening, in puddles of water we treaded in and out of the lanes and shops of Trogir. We absolutely loved everything. Julee is already contemplating of buying a house here, next to her house in Turkey. She said her leave slips are on their way.
By the way, I had the grilled squid for dinner. It was to die for. I can have this every meal in the next five days. However we do have to consider the mountain of fish, mussels, lobsters and shrimps that are lying around and not to mention the ice cream which is bound to taste like gelato. I warned Julee not to get in my way when I am in the mood for food.

We are from Chilaysia

2008-05-19T13:48:00.004-04:00

"We are from Chilaysia." After being asked so many times where we are from or endlessly saying NO to the guesses of "Japan?", "Korea?", "Taiwan?", "Singapore?","Thailand?", and then answering separately that I am from China and Julee is from Malaysia, we decided that we would coin a country and say we are from there. Thus the birth of the proud country of Chilaysia. We now only have to create our national flag and national anthem.

* Courtesy of Bob Tobias at 9:33 PM Croatian time on May 20, 2008. We now have our national flag. :-)

Ok we are out now to my nightly dose of Turkish ice-cream. My favorite flavor of blackberry. Also in the center of Sultanahmet, there is Turkish Tourism Festival going on with a stage of live music, band and pop singers and lots of locals dancing around.

Day 11 - Grand Bazaar

2008-05-19T13:19:00.008-04:00

*Entrance into the Kapali Carsi (the Grand Bazaar). It's really not that grand until you walk inside its four thousand shop maze. You could stay here for days if you are a shopper like me.

"How about I give you a good price, only for you!" Julee and I decided to pack all our shopping at the famous Grand Bazaar all in the last day. We started 10 in the morning and got out at 5 in the afternoon. There were so many bright shiny objects (in Julee's words) that constantly distracted me, I could not focus on any one thing before I leaped from one shop to the next, pointing at yet another discovery with all the excitement that I should NOT be displaying in front of the vendors. I am completely an impulse buyer. At the end of the day, I became a bag lady. Hopping with a backpack full of ceramic which I collect from all over the world and a double-bagged gigantic nargile pipe, which I regrettably did not purchase last year in Cairo.

Haggling-wise, it never felt right. I never knew whether we did a good job or not after comparison across different shops. The Grand Bazaar has over four thousand shops under ornately painted domes. It was not intuitively organized at least for us. The signs are in Turkish so we really did not know which way to go. Every shop led to the next which were all full of fancy intriguing objects. We were like kids in the candy store.

* Heaven for ceremic lovers. I love all the tiles in Turkey.

I was dizzy from the selections. Eventually a blue tree of life plate went home with me.

To hide our interest from the shop keepers or to make an attempt to do so, Julee and I decided that we would use a code word - "Grilled octopus (our favorite food)" would be the code for "Hey Julee come here. I found something I really liked!" For Julee especially, who had absolutely no way to hide her interest when it comes to a rug or a gigantic necklace. She would go into a carpet shop, sing praises to the rug of her desire, kneel down and give me a 10 minute lesson on the differences between a kilim vs. a sumac and the varying knitting and knotting techniques. The carpet seller often looked at her in amazement and invited her to be their sales lady. I teased her "Why don't you just pay twice the price for this rug since it's so precious!"

After the shopping, we went back to the Galata Bridge and had dinner watching our favorite scenery in Istanbul, the Bosphorus. Tonight we will pack and tomorrow morning we fly to Croatia.

*Pack mule sitting outside Yani Cami (New Mosque) near the spice bazaar. At this point, I had my precious nargile with me. I made the guy double bag it. In fact, I almost lost it half an hour later since I forgot it at the shop outside the train station when I was buying a ring. When I realized I lost it, I let out a cry on the street that made other Turks around me jump. I ran back to the shop and had to say "No I've eaten already" dozen more times to the restaurant waiters trying to get me inside... but I had my nargile back safe and sound.

Day 10 - Half-way Point Back to Istanbul

2008-05-18T04:42:00.009-04:00

*Sunrise before crossing on the ferry.

Nine hours bus ride later, I woke up at a ferry crossing when our Metro bus was waiting in line with other buses and cars to cross the river. We did not figure out the name of the river. In the East, the sun was rising. When the ferry moved across the waters, I saw the beautiful sunrise above the horizon. Another hour later, we were back in Istanbul.

Julee and I are so impressed by the Turkish transportation system especially the buses. Plenty of leg room, extremely clean, punctual, not crowded, friendly drivers and conductors, and easy service for ticket purchases. We did not use the bus companies Lonely Planet recommended. We immediately realized that all companies offer on-par services. Depending on your schedule, any company would work out well. The only improvement would be a website for the company to provide bus schedule, general pricing and length of journey to help travelers overseas to plan ahead. If we were able to get such information ahead of time, we would have had a chance to visit Pamukule and only stay for the day in Seçulk.

We took the tram after we arrived at the Otogar. At this point, Julee's already purchased a rug so we had an extra bag. We dragged and pushed everything and made it back to Kybele. Only this time there was a sense of finding home. We knew exactly where to go after hopping off the tram.

This afternoon's plan is to visit Topkapi Palace, eat the fried fish sandwich by the Galata Bridge, cross the Bosphorus by ferry, then head to the riverside cafe for nargile and Turkish tea. Tonight I might go back to Çemberlitaş.

We also met the Kybele hotel owner who was featured on Lonely Planet's small Istanbul handbook. He collected thousands of lamps that are hanging from the ceiling of the hotel including each hotel room, the lobby, the lounge and the restaurant. I shook his hand and sincerely complemented him about his lovely hotel.

*Outside Kybele hotel

Day 9 - Ephesus

2008-05-17T08:32:00.005-04:00

We just came back from Ephesus, a five minute cab ride away from Selçuk. Ephesus is the best preserved Roman city in eastern Mediterranean. It was a sunny day. By 10 AM, it got really warm. Neither of us could keep the long sleeve on. Since it is Saturday today, there are lots of locals also visiting especially groups of children.

The most impressive sight was the Library of Celsus. It was built in 2nd century AD by Celcus Polemaeanus, the Roman governor of Asia Minor. The library was built between other complexes. In order to make it appear larger than reality, the central columns are larger than those at the end. The niches on the façade hold statues of the virtues: Arete (Goodness), Ennoıa (Thought), Epizteme (Knowledge), and Sophia (Wisdom). The library reminded us a little bit of the Treasury in Petra.

For an extra charge, we visited the Terraced House. The house was built on the hill and stood three storeys. There were elaborate mosaic on the floor and frescos on the wall, some of which perfectly preserved. It was the residence of Roman officials. The size of the living units, courtyards and complexity of the multiple bath houses inside all showed the kind of luxurious life the wealthy Romans led thousands of years ago.

After Ephesus, we returned to Rumeli, a local restaurant we found yesterday and had Turkish pizza for lunch. Julee had the brain and tongue soup and I had the mushroom soup. I tried a spoonful of Julee's soup. The brain was white and a little chewy while the tongue was dark red and slippery. The mushroom soup was delicious especially after a few drops of lemon juice. Pide is the Turkish pizza with finely grounded beef and spices topping. It was in the shape of an elongated American football. The pita bread curled up at the edge, making the crust thicker. Julee had lamacun, a thin crust pizza with the same topping.

Day 8 - Selçuk

2008-05-16T08:11:00.005-04:00

We took the bus at 6:45 AM at the Otogar (city bus station) from Fethiye. Five hours later we arrived at Aidin. There was no direct bus we could find with the schedule we were looking for therefore we had to transfer via a domuş (minibus) to Fethiye. The bus driver quickly asked a local boy to direct us to the domuş. An hour later, we arrived in Selçuk. This is another one of those towns where everybody knows everybody else. A man asked where we were staying. After telling him ''Homeros''. He said '' Oh, Derviş's pension. I am Derviş's friend. I will call him to pick you up.'' Five minutes later, a man in green plaid shirt came to the bus station. He opened his arms while he was still steps away and shouted '' Hallo, I love you!'' As he came to me and introduced himself, he picked up my hand and planted a kiss. '' I am Lei and this is my friend Julee!'' Derviş grabbed both our bags and led us across the street to his house, which was only three minutes away from the bus station. The poor man walked 60 staircases up the hill with my suitcase in his left hand and Julee's backpack on his right shoulder. By the time he got to his house, his face was red and he was sweating.

Homeros is a private house. We were greeted at the terrace by Derviş's mom who is the cutest old lady. We were served hot Turkish tea and a cookie. The room was on the first floor and we had two separate huge bathrooms for both of us. We have been treated consistently with hospitality and genuine friendliness throughout our travel. The Derviş family were no exception. We love the Turkish people.

This afternoon we would just wonder around in Selçuk and see the St. John Basilica, the Ayasoluk Castle and the Isa bey Mosque. Tomorrow we will go to Ephesus.

Day 7 - Flying Like an Eagle

2008-05-15T04:17:00.019-04:00

Standing at the top of the highest peak in Ölüdeniz (1700 meters), I felt butterflies in my stomach. It took us 20 minutes of ride in a truck on the bumpy unpaved road uphill winding till Julee and I were dropped off at the clearing. Hali, my pilot did not waste any time to whip out the jump suit, helped me go in and zipped me tight before he put me into the harness with a stirdy chair in my back. My suit was purple. Julee got in her silver suit. With the helmets on, we looked like we were going to embark on a space travel tour. It was a perfect day. The sky was strikingly blue and the wind was perfect for flying.
''Run when I tell you, run fast and do NOT stop.'' Halı said. I repeated the instructions to myself and thought this was no point of return so of course there would be no stop. Hali opened the parachute and laid it out behind us then he hooked himself to my harness. When we were ın position, a third person walked in front of me, dragged the string and started running backward towards the cliff. As I ran sandwiched between the two men, I was sure I stepped on both of them. In the next second, the man facing me disappeared, I saw the slope below me and I was air lifted. This was one of the most exhilarating moment in my life as the wind took me and fiercely swung me towards the sea. The air was cold at first. My hands were freezing. My arms could feel the wind puncturing the jump suit. I adjusted myself so I could lean back into the chair. The ride was smooth. Hali explained to me the names of the cities below, the twelve islands near Fethiye and patiently answered my gazillion questions. The Aegean Sea was perfectly blue. Closer to the beach at Ölüdeniz, the water turned a little green and sparkled like diamonds. The terra cotta roofs of Ölüdeniz looked like tiny jewelry.
In mid air, it warmed up. I felt the sun on me. Hali asked me if I wanted to try the Spiral. From the name, I could tell it would be a very dizzy experience and could not have been positive for a motion-sick person like myself. ''Why not?'' I heard this stranger coming out of my body and answered very firmly. And that was when it started. I soon had the first hand experience of what people would say ''my life has turned up-side-down''. Everything in my vision was spinning around and I was in the center of the spiral. I lost my equilibrium instantly. The sea, the mountain, and the terra cotta houses went all over places. It was the strangest sensation.

When we got closer to the beach, Hali asked me if I wanted to navigate. I was so happy about his offer, I immediately grabbed the handle on each side and started pulling. Left straight down pull took us to the left facing the sea. Right side directed us to the beach and houses. I was having so much fun, he had to gently interfere and take over before we crash-landed over the roof. The landing was not rough either. As we were over the beach about 4 feet high, he said ''Stand''. I extended my legs and pulled myself up as straight as I could from the chair, I did not even squat down or stumble when I landed in the sand. My heart was liberated with excitement, it was pounding so hard. My ears were ringing from the spiral movement. As I got out of my jump suit and looked up, I saw Julee's red and white parachute right above. She was about to land too!

Day 6 - Chil'n in Fethiye

2008-05-14T08:40:00.013-04:00

Fethiye did magic on Julee. At the marina as we passed the boats and shops, she said ''why don't we just chill today?'' I could NOT believe my ears. She wants to rush everywhere packing everything in one day most of the time. ''Sure. Why not?'' I was so groggy on the bus because of the Dramamine and the previous day of hiking, I'd love to just stop and smell the roses.

Fethiye is a city less popular than Bodrum and was recommended by my friend Erich from Virginia Tech. We were greeted by the old couple who owned Tan Pension. When grandma saw us, she opened her arms, hugged me tight and gave me a kiss on each side of my face (the Turkish way of greeting).

The shower was tiny. It was a shower, toilet, wash sink all in one. There was no room to turn to dry oneself so you would need to get out to the main room. Therefore when one of us takes a shower, the other one would stay outdoor. This was a new experience but Tan Pension was highly recommended by Lonely Planet because of the living with locals experience.

Just now we had lunch by the marina looking at sail boats, islands and the sea. Then we went shopping and Turkish ice-cream. Before we came to the Internet room, we had Turkish tea over coconut strawberry locum. Right now Julee is searching for Clint Eastwood in Poncho photos on the Internet to compare to my look in Cappadocia. After I lost my sweater (my only warm clothes with me,) during the horseback riding, I depended on my poncho from Göreme everywhere I went). The two pictures looked scarily similar, except that he had a shot gun in his hand in most posters and of course I look more handsome without a mustache.

''Four liras for the ice-cream?''

Day 5 - More of Göreme

2008-05-14T07:48:00.018-04:00

Simple objects in plain sight bring out the magic of Cappadocia. As I look at my photos, I go back to the calm and quiet of Göreme, the little village where our cave home is.

Day 5 started after 3 hours of sleep since we went out the night before to Ürgup, a nearby city of 40 minutes ride from Göreme, for a live music show. We packed and left the luggage at the hotel before we went out on a tour in Göreme.

We met Bill, a retired stock trader from Seattle and his wife, Terry. After retirement, they sold their house and started traveling around the world. Heather, a former teacher, is from Australia; and our guide, Dhalia.

Our first stop was Kaymakli, the underground city of eight storeys high all underground. The Hitites built the first underground cities around 3rd century, then the Byzantines, then centuries after, each generation built more. There are over 200 underground cities in Turkey and only about 40 were discovered and opened for tourism. At Kaymaklı, the first storey was for animals so when the enemies came, they might think the caves were just for keeping livestock. The second storey were living rooms and food warehouses, which had built in holes on the ground for food storage, wine storage and communication with the cave next door. There were also in-wall candle holders and hooks on the ceiling to hang a baby crib.

The tunnels from cave to cave were extremely narrow, only allowing one person to pass at any time. It was also very low so we had to lower our head and back or squat down to pass through to go into the side rooms, which widened and heightened to normal size and height. The third storey down was for community kitchen, dining and living rooms. The fourth level was already 25 meters (about 75 feet) below the ground and was for living area.

For defence, the Hitites invented a wheel which may be rolled into a curved ditch right in front of major gates inside the city to block the invading enemies. From the insiders' end, three people will be strong enough to move the over the few-ton stone wheel. From the outside since the passage only allows one person to pass at any given time, even if there were thousands of troops outside, the one person at the front facing the wheel would have no way to move it. Meanwhile the stone hole built in the middle of the wheel would allow the defenders to poke the enemy using a spear or knife and eliminate him. When we were 25 feet under ground, the air was still fresh enough for us even though we were going up and down dozens of tunnels about 1.3 meters tall. This was because there was a built-in air shaft that went down to the eighth level. Each storey and each room had a hole to connect to other rooms and eventually got connected to the air shaft for ventilation. The entire city from defense or living perspective was truly amazing.

We then went to a winery, the Monk's Valley, the Imagination Valley, and took a hike at the bottom of the Rose Valley.

Empty 2nd floor of the newly built winery.

Cappadocia's famous fairy chimneys, got its name, according to locals, looked like fairies or the fairies created them. Göreme, in the Central Anatolia (Cappadocia) was a lake long time ago. Three main volcanoes erupted and most of the chimneys we saw nowadays are made of sulfur. The rock formation that looked like mushrooms were made up of two different stones. The cap is basalt and pressed down the body part, which was made of a lighter stone, sulfur. When erosion by snow, rain or snow took place, the cap which was harder did not get affected as much as the body which was softer and got chipped away. The two stones were not connected. The cap was simply sitting on top of the body.

At 7 PM, we boarded the night bus to Fethiye. Before boarding, I went to Fat Boy, a Göreme local bar. The girl at the bar told me the ride might take over 14 hours instead of the initial 12 hours quoted by the bus company. Great! I pumped up my Dramamine dosage...

Day 4 Part 2 - Horse Back Riding

2008-05-12T10:30:00.022-04:00

After the balloon ride in the morning, we decided to take a horseback riding at 11. When we got to the ranch, I mounted a horse called Nuray. Julee had Yildiz and our guide Ilkish had a horse called Chichek. We rode into the Rose Valley and White Valley, each named after the color of the stone canyons in the valley. Nuray is constantly hungry so would eat at any chance she had. I had to tighten the rein and fight with her at times since she would leap off the track to get to her favorite plants. After about 20 minutes, I figured out the two things she loved to eat. One was a type of grass, the other was the grey tiny leaves from the Russian olive tree. There was nothing to hold on to from the saddle, so I used the right hand to hold the front of the saddle and the left to hold the rein. I later managed to not hold on to the saddle at all. Every time after Nuray nibbled another mouthful, she would happily gallop and at one time it went so fast, my camera bounced hard on the saddle, the lense cap flew off. I learned to say "S-----" to make her go slow, left tap on the belly to go faster to the right and right tap to head to the left. The scenery was so gorgeous. Yellow and purple wild flowers bloomed below the pink gorges. Everywhere we went, we saw different rock formations in unbelievable shapes and forms. Ilkish said Nuray was the problem child, Chichek was the crazy one and Yildiz was the slow one. Speaking about slow - Ilkish told me Yildiz was slow even as a baby at the ranch. Ilkish clicked his tongue and yelled at Yildiz to fasten up but Yildiz was taking his own sweet time. Regardless of what Julee did, Yildiz refused to move any faster than a turtle. He was so slow, Julee was always about 2 to 5 minutes behind me. Ilkish would let Chichek run wild for a few minutes when I let Nuray eat at her heart's content.

*To prove the point of how slow Yildiz was, we could play a game called "Where is Julee" to find where Julee was in the photos...

It must have been a comfy relaxing ride, no wonder Julee was taking a nap.

We rode for two hours in the valley and above the cliff before returning to the ranch. As soon as we got in the car to go back to the hotel, it started pouring but we had all the sunshine we needed to enjoy the ride.

Day 4 - Hot Air Balloon Ride over the Fairy Chimneys

2008-05-12T00:40:00.020-04:00

* Pumping up the big Sultan balloon.

I was woken up at 4 today by the call to prayer. At 4:15, I got out bed to get ready for the hot air balloon ride. At 5:15, Julee and I were picked up and dropped off at the take-off ground where the balloon with red, blue and white stripes was pumped up by two big fans.

As the balloon inflated, we had breakfast and patiently waited.

*The fan blew about 10 minutes then the fire was lit. Sultan stood up and filled up.

Finally it was up right and people started to climb into its four baskets. The driver passed by me and whispered, "don't go in, we will go into the other one." I looked at where he pointed. Another balloon was on the ground not inflated yet. I thought he was kidding until Julee came by and said the same thing. We got so lucky to switch from an economy class ride of 20 people to a private VIP ride. We waved goodbye to the balloon.

Sultan left with "basket" load of people leaving the two of us behind.

I snapped a shot of Julee in front of our VIP balloon while it's being prepared. She was obviously happy that we would have our private ride.

Some more hot air...

15 minutes later, our balloon was ready. We climbed in. The fire shot up inside the balloon, heating the air and we took off without even noticing the movement.

Shooting up

Taking off

Our captain is Mustafa. He said he did not have any control over the balloon. We'd be where the wind would take us. In the air, we encountered the other balloon inflated from the same lot and plenty of others in vibrant yellow, purple, red, green and blue. They dotted the morning sky of Goreme and floated over the white washed fairy chimneys like jelly fish in the sea. Julee took one side of the balloon facing the landscape and I took the other side facing the other balloons and faraway mountains since we need to keep the basket balanced. Mustafa kept firing up so the balloon would go higher. Every once in a while, I got bumped by Julee's backpack, sensing her excitement seeing yet another amazing rock formation.

The landscape was amazing. The mountains were covered in mist. The sun already rose but was hidden behind the mountains and leaving a golden glow on the mountain top. The layers of mountains showed different shades of blue. We each took a ton of pictures. At some point, we were about 2500 feet up, other times, we were so low, we could almost touch the top of the rock and tree branches below us. I saw a grayish fox running by only for a short second then the tail disappeared behind the bushes. We waved to any balloon that passed by and village people on the ground waved at us.

Before we landed, we were asked to put away everything. A truck was waiting for us as we barely passed all the power lines while Mustafa looked for an open field. Finally he decided we'd land in a field right before the ground would dip again into a valley. The two people from the truck ran out to cross the field to reach us. Mustafa threw them a rope to help anchoring us. The landing was not as rough as Mustafa said it would be but Julee and I held tight to the basket. I especially warned her to be careful so we don't have any Nile mishap again.

We each got a diploma for our balloon ride graduation, celebrated with a glass of champagne. My diploma mispelt my name as "Lou" instead of "Luo". I did not have the heart to tell Mustafa. I was happy either way with our accomplishment.

*After landing in the field with our captain.

At 7:40, we were back at the hotel. Today will be a day to relax.

P.S. Since the balloon basket was not so big, when Julee turned, this was what I would face.

Day 3 - Cappadocia

2008-05-11T10:41:00.010-04:00

We left this morning to board the Turkish Air from Istanbul to Kaseri. The driver picked us up at the airport. In 50 minutes we arrived in Goreme at the foot of the hill where we saw a sign to the hotel Kelebek. The driver pointed up to the top of the hill and said "your hotel's up there. The reception is at the top." Then he turned around and left. Julee and I looked at the pebble road going up about three four storeys high and looked at our suitcases and started laughing. Julee picked up her backpack like a baby right in front of her belly, and I lifted my suitcase and started climbing. Half way through we were panting and stopped to catch a breath. When we made it nearly to the top, a bunch of cleaning ladies came out. Our room (#4) was not ready yet. The hotel is built in caves and each level has two or three rooms. The reception is at the top of the hill with huge glass windows. The terrace overlooks the town and other cave houses. The view was stunning.

Our room is a cave with one queen bed and one day bed. Julee decided to take the day bed since she prefers a hard bed. Our ceiling and walls shows the original stone cave. There is a window by my bed looking out to the town.

We visited the Goreme Open Air Museum. It was about 1.5 km away from the hotel. The area was full of mountains and hills eroded by wind and water. The stones are in white. On the way to the Open Air Museum, we saw short skinny grape plants growing individually (no vine) by the road side in sandy soil. Earlier we booked a tour for the day after next when we would actually visit a local winery. After seeing the sad state the grapes are in, Julee and I wonder how tasty the wine would be.

The Open Air Museum was occupied by Christians evading persecution in the 11th century. The community lived in caves and built lots of cave churches in the area. Some of them are elaborately decorated with paintings of the nativity and the crucifixion on the dome and walls. The colors are still well preserved. We went to a dozen churches and cave houses. Some built in the middle of the hill and we had to climb up steep steps.

On the way back, it started raining. We had our safari hats on and I put on the wool shawl I just bought from the local shop since I wasn't prepared for the 50-degree weather. Julee said I looked like Clint Eastwood coming out a Western movie with the mountain backdrop. The only thing I needed was a gun.

We picked a restaurant randomly but it turned out to be great. I had Testi Kebabi (beef kebeb) cooked in a clay pot. To open it for serving, I had to use a long knife to hit the upper part of the pot while turning the pot. After loud dozen clicking, the pot suddenly broken into two pieces, the top still in my hand, and the bottom dropped to the table, with my nicely cooked beef in garlic and tomato broth. We also had Turkish humus with lavash and soups. The humus was dry and not like the Egyptian style with lots of olive oil but it was good.

Day 2 - Sultanahmet and Whirling Dervishes

2008-05-11T09:57:00.013-04:00

On Day 2 we got up at 7 to make sure we showed up at the Aya Sophia at 9 since Julee liked to be the first arriving to beat the crowd. We soon knew it was worth it because on Saturdays, not only were there tourists, the locals came out to enjoy the Spring too. We then went to the Blue Mosque, the Hippodrome, the underground Cistern, took the tram to the spice market and crossed the Galata Bridge to go to Beyoglu, the modern part of town.

After spotting the stuffed mussels outside this fancy grocery/eatery across the bridge, we sat down to have our second lunch, which included also marinated octopus, and Turkish tea. The after lunch stroll under the Galata Bridge where restaurants and cafes were built to fully utilize the space led us to a nargile and coffee house. I ordered apple flavored water pipe and watched the ferries plying the waters of Bosphorus. Above the bridge, locals were fishing. Dozens of fish lines draped from the bridge in front of our eyes, the silver string shining in the air, some were moving up with struggling sardines freshly caught.

We had Saturday evening planned to see a ceremony at the Sirkeci Train Station Hall after a day in Sultanahmet.The Mevlevi Order are a Sufi order founded by the followers of Jalal ad-din Muhammad Balkhi Rumi, in the 13th century in Konya, Turkey. They are known as the Whirling Dervishes due to their practice of trance-style dancing in honor of Allah.

We arrived at the train station 15 minutes earlier. One quick fact about Sirkeci Station - this is where the Oriental Express originates. The performance started with Sufi live concert for 20 minutes then the six Dervishes appeared with hands crossed on their chests. Three were women and three were men. They were cloaked in black and had tall brown hats on. The ceremony started with the music in the background, slow at first as the Dervishes sat down and bowed in one line. Then three on each side, they stood up and bowed to each other and started forming a circle and walked slowly counterclockwise. As the music got faster, they took off their cloak and started swirling, moving faster by the minute. Their eyes were closed, heads tilted to the right side, right hand pointed upward greeting the god, and left hand face down to the earth. The girl in orange gown was the one in the center and she was the fastest of all. When she turned, her gown flew like a spiral. She used her left foot as an axle, and tapped her right foot effortlessly on the ground every half a second so her body would turn about 270 degrees until the next tap on the right foot for the next turn. The other five Dervishes swirled around the girl. The men were in white, the women in pink and yellow. They each turned in their own area for about ten minutes non-stop with eyes shut and looking drugged. There was no moving out of the zone. After ten minutes, they still looked the same way as if time froze. I felt the wind at my feet because the closest Dervish to Julee and me was just a foot away. His eyes were almost half open but he looked like he was sleep dancing.

I stared at the girl in orange and timed her. We decided that she was turning each circle in less than a second, which meant she had already turned at least 600 times without throwing herself out of the circle and collapsing on the floor. Julee was video taping the ceremony while I attempted to focus on the girl's feet. Both of us felt dizzy after about a minute. The entire ceremony consisted three tiny half minute breaks when the Dervishes would stop twirling to form a line again, cross their hands on the chest and bow (all with eyes shut), and form a circle again and here we go again. After thirty minutes of watching, I could no longer take it. I felt that I was going to be hypnotized the next second. It was truly intriguing and weird the same time. I could not figure out how the Dervishes could twirl like this for such a long time.

After the show, we ate yet again since food was everywhere and shop owners would come out to invite us in any time in the day. Adana kebeb and hot soups in a tiny shop near the train station warmed us up before the night ended. I bought baklava for dessert to take back to the hotel.

Day 1 - Istanbul

2008-05-09T16:02:00.010-04:00

Our Room at Kybele hotel.
Day 1 started around 3 pm when we arrived at Ataturk airport. We took the light rail then changed to Tram and it got us to Kybele Hotel in 40 min. Kybele was amaziıng with friendly Vefa at the front desk waiting for us and welcoming us. It was the coziest most intriguing boutique hotel I have ever stayed in.

The hotel dining room.

Mike, the owner of the hotel is an antique collector. Over the years, he's collected all sorts of lanterns which he used to decorated every inch of the ceiling of Kybele.

We ate kebeb, grilled calamarı, lokum, I drank raki, Turkish coffee and tea and window shopped till 7 30. Raki has anise flavor. Since it's not my favorite taste, I only had half the glass. It was served with a glass of water since it was very strong.

I decided to go to Cemberlitas on my own today. Vefa mapped the walking instruction on the hotel business card. I got a little lost but found it still within 10 min. Here are some quıck and interesting happenings of tonight since there is no time to type on this Turkish keyboard in detail: as İ lay down on the hot stone amongst a dozen other women I had no clue who would be the attendant providing me the scrubbing service and oil massage since everyone looked the same wrapped by a red and white stripe towel or in their birthday suit. There was no badge indicating who works here and who is just visiting. When someone finally came to me after me steaming on the marble hot stone for about 15 min, I soon realized that the way of communication during a cleansing session was a slap on the butt cheek and a brisk but authoritative word:Turn! I anticipated the order of turning, twice front and back, soaping and scrubbing then twice slapped again to sit up for arm cleansing. After agreeing to hair washing (thinking what the heck), I got directed to sit on the marble floor. Without any warning, a whole bucket of near cold water was poured onto my head, not enough to choke me but certainly gave me a jolt. It then went fast, bucket of water, (ouch), soap, (ouch my eyes), bucket of water, (cough. cough.) bucket of water, (ouch my eyes and ouch). Done.

After the oil massage, I happily left and chosen the direction following the tram. It was about 10 PM. Vefa said the tram route would take me back to Kybele. I walked about 20 min then realizing the somewhat Blue Mosque-looking mosque was really not the Blue Mosque. They all looked the same in the dark. There are lots of people on the street. All the restaurants are open and coffee/tea houses too. I passed the Grand Bazaar sign, which meant I was definitely lost. At a street boothş the vendor told me I was 2 kilometers in the opposite direction from Sultanahmet, where the hotel was. I had to walk back about 3 KMs along the tram to find Kybele. 20 minutes later I passed Cemberlitas again. Another good Turkish who found me puzzled staring at the business card stopped me and asked me if I were lost. He looked at my business card and kindly reassured me that I was on the right track and made sure I understood I should NOT turn on the road until I see this and that...

I made it back. My left calf was a little sore but the hamam experience was still very good. Julee greeted me in our room with tomorrow’s plan. It will be a packed day.

Turkish Crash Course

2008-05-07T00:06:00.004-04:00

Serra, our Turkish coworker gave us a ten minute Turkish class today. Reading the words is one thing, saying a foreign language out loud for communication is another thing. My way of learning a language is through hearing and saying it . The things I learned to "pronounce" so far were of utmost importance to me so I really appreciated Serra's effort and patience.

Cemberlitas ['chember'litash] - the hamam I want to visit
Midye ['midi'e] - mussel, my favorite seafood
Turk kaveh - Turkish coffee
Varmi ['varme] - Mi [me] means "is there?"
Varmi turk kaveh fal [fa:l] - is there Turkish Coffee fortune telling?
Ceramic [ceramic] - this one sounds exactly the same as English.
lampa ['lamba] - I'd like to have a ceiling lamp like the ones I missed in Morocco. Kebele, the hotel we are staying at in Istanbul has lamps overhanging in every ceiling every room. It will be fabulous.
Vapur - ferry. We possibly will take one to cross the continents the first afternoon.
Ben lei - "I am Lei". This one is so easy. I urged Julee to remember it too so I don't need to learn "... and this is my friend Julee".

On Food!!

Doner - doner kebeb
lokum ['loku:m]- Turkish delight
simit - some round salty sesame thing which is supposed to be delicious according to Serra. We should have it with tea ['chei]
kalamar - calamari (this is my favorite too... if I could have it grilled with lemon and garlic... I would be in heaven. I am completely envisioning it in a mezze at this moment.)

If I am also concerned with manners, I should remember to say:

Merhaba - Hello
Sau - thank you in simple format
Tesekkurlash [te'shek 'kularsh]- is the "thank you" in difficult configuration for my tongue and I know I am butchering it so I will stick with Sau.
Hoscakal ['hosh'chakal] - good bye when you are the person leaving
Gule gule ['gewlei'gewlei] - goodbye when you are the person staying. It literally means smile, smile. When I say it, I think about Serra's smiling face. How cute!

I am 90% packed and ready to go.

Packing

2008-04-23T00:03:00.004-04:00

In my futile attempt to look slightly more fashionable than my last trip, I decided to pack a couple skirts for this trip since we ARE, after all, going to the beach! Not only are we going to be soaking in the sunshine over the turquoise Aegean Sea in Fethiye, we are also going to spend days along the Dalmatian Coast. I had this completely out of nowhere romantic picture of Croatia. I felt obliged to look girly at least once maybe in Trogir where sandals and skirt would not raise eyebrows as in a Muslim country...

Of course I am still bringing my very "attractive" hiking pants which I bought from REI last year for the very practical use during the backpacking trip. I simply can't live without the gazillion zip pockets on those pants. What's probably going to end up happening is me in hiking pants the entire way, bum-looking, and dreaming about the sun dress brushing my knees in the Adriatic breeze.

I have also decided not to backpack. Instead I will bring a carry-on size suitcase. I will still only bring minimum with me so I can bring back maximum from the Grand Bazaar.

The biggest lesson learned from the past is the supply of cough drops and cough syrup. Both in Egypt and Thailand, I suffered from bad cough, induced from cold/fever or pollution. The condition was not incredibly uncomfortable but extremely annoying since it affected sleep and carried on for days. I will go to CVS and pack a lot of cough suppressant for the upcoming trip.

The plot to get Julee to go to Çemberlitas

2008-04-07T22:48:00.007-04:00

Traveling with Julee was a breeze. We both get excited about pretty much anything; being Chinese, we both eat practically everything. All it takes is for one of us to mention an idea, it would most certainly spark interest in the other party. This is why it puzzles me why Julee refuses to go to a hamam in Istanbul. I cited multiple guidebooks that all said "MUST NOT MISS HAMAM", "authentic Turkish experience"; I cajoled her, "Wouldn't it be just great having a nice steam bath and massage after walking at the Grand Bazaar for eight hours...!?"; I begged, "please. please. I will carry your backpack for you for one whole day?" I threatened, "I don't care even if I have to drag your arse there. You are not missing this once-in-a-life-time experience!!!" I shamed her, "How could you? Going all the way there and not have a real Turkish bath!!" She did not budge so far. What's happening with this fearless woman who sailed the seven seas and never frowned even after dislocating her elbow on the Nile felucca?!

Back to what a hamam is. According to Wikipedia: Haman is Turkish bath. It's a steam bath, which can be categorized as a wet relative of the sauna. It had an important role in cultures of the Middle-East, serving as places of social gathering, ritual cleansing. For women, it was a place for socializing and gossiping.

A person taking a Turkish bath first relaxes in a room (known as the warm room) that is heated by a continuous flow of hot, dry air allowing the bather to perspire freely. Bathers may then move to an even hotter room (known as the hot room) before splashing themselves with cold water. After performing a full body wash and receiving a massage, bathers finally retire to the cooling-room for a period of relaxation.

The hamam every guidebook recommends to go is Çemberlitas, amidst Sultanahmet, among all the greatest monuments of Istanbul. When I look at the pictures from its website, I am dying to go and feel the warm, hot and cold and whatever that comes in between and after. Julee has sent me some articles on other women's experiences going to a hamam. In general they are described as a torture session where you are "steamed" and "skinned". I imagine Indian Burns taking place in a neighborhood full of kids and amongst all kids, the hamam masseuse would be the executioner, the big bully. My curiosity is running wild. How painful can it be? I would have to see it to believe it myself. And Julee, yes, she is coming along. Like it or not. I have a month to work out a plan to bring her there.

I want...

2008-04-01T12:47:00.008-04:00

Here is what I want most out of the trip:

Whirling Dervishes - we researched and found a Saturday night show. No advanced Internet booking is available so we will stop by to get tickets as soon as we arrive in Istanbul. In Egypt there were also dervish performances but did not work for the days we were in Cairo.
Raki, this is an alcohol beverage infused with anise flavor. It's unofficially the National Drink of Turkey. Usually you are suppose to dilute it with water otherwise you may have a bad hangover.
Nargile, water pipe smoking. Julee and I tried it the first time at El fishawy in Cairo. It is called "sheesha" in Egypt, "hookah" in Jordan. I gravitate towards the apple flavor. Lonely Planet recommends a few coffee houses that serve as the Nargile Gardens in the Sultanahmet. Must not miss!
Along with the drinking and smoking, I should also not miss the coffee fortune telling. After drinking Turkish coffee, people from the coffee house can read your fortune over the thick coffee grounds left behind.
Mussels off the street. Our coworker Serra who's Turkish raves about the mussels in Istanbul. I love seafood and mussels are one of my favorite. I imagine myself sniffing along and eating non stop.
Hot air balloon ride over Goreme. I have never been on a hot air balloon before. I heard that it would be a smooth sail. Watching sunrise over the stone chimney looking cave houses and churches would be superb.
Paragliding in Oludeniz. When Julee suggested this, I had a mental picture of parasailing. "Of course". I echoed to her idea. When I saw the pictures of parachute over the Aegean Sea, I realize I would be flying instead. Oludeniz hosts international air events annually so there are lots of experienced pilots who would glide with us. This is yet to be the most adventurous thing I will ever do.

The Itinerary

2008-04-01T09:27:00.005-04:00

Here is our itinerary roughly including travel time:

5/9-5/10 Istanbul
5/11-5/12 Cappadocia/Goreme
5/13-5/15 Fethiye
5/16-5/17 Selcuk/Ephesus
5/18-5/19 Istanbul
5/20-5/23 Split/Trogir
5/24-5/26 Dubrovnik

Turkish Delights

2008-03-25T23:21:00.009-04:00

Postings on my trip to Turkey and Croatia (May 2008) are here.

Prepping it...

Travelogue

We were lucky to have Internet access almost everyday. Whenever I could, I quickly wrote down the top observations of the day.

Afterwards...

The Pursuit of Happiness

Tonight I can sleep tight

2008-03-25T23:06:00.003-04:00

Today I got my Croatian visa after I got my Turkish visa last Tuesday so now I am all set to go. The planning started in November when Julee and I agreed we would each pick one favorite country and combine it into our next adventure. We also opted not to go with a tour group so we planned everything ourselves. I have the entire itinerary on a piece of paper, front and back. There are still details unfilled such as the night buses from Goreme to Fethiye and Ephesus to Istanbul, whether we could book a paragliding trip in Oludeniz as we wished for or the hot air balloon tour over Goreme, and etc. But yes, we are good to go. I remembered how long and PAINFUL I waited for the Jordanian visa last winter and how unbelievable to receive it only three hours before departure. What a joy it was to see my passport with both visas inside today standing outside the Croatian embassy!

The wedding

2007-12-20T23:21:00.004-05:00

This was a traditional Thai wedding, only shortened to maybe 20% of the usual time due to my highly efficient German friend. The “normal” one could take an entire day. Kade wore a traditional gold Thai silk dress. Her makeup and hairdo was flawless. Ralf seemed relaxed only because he probably did not know what was going on at any given moment. He was just following the flow.

As we sat down, the monks came in one by one, each wearing an orange robe and holding a colorful fan. They sat in a row on the long platform in front of the room and chanted for 20 minutes when the ceremony started. The groom and bride sat on the left side of platform. The parents sat in the front row. For the guests, there was no differentiation like in the west for the bride’s side vs. that of the groom. There were obvious similarities but also quite a few differences between a Thai wedding and a western one. Similar activities included lighting a unity candle, receiving the blessings, having a reception banquet after the ceremony …

Ceremony part I - monks chanting

Differences abounded: The bride and groom stopped in the middle of the ceremony (it seemed very abrupt to me since I couldn’t understand the Thai chanting). Kade and Ralf went to the left side of the room where two round one rectangular tables were placed. They split rice evenly from a container and put it on the plates and shared some other auspicious food items to serve the monks. Ralf held Kade's hand like what the cutting cake would be in a western ceremony.

Food serving during the ceremony

The monks, after chanting, got off the platform and were seated at the round tables and started eating. I guess it was obligatory to serve breakfast to the masters after the very focused blessing session (this was about 10 AM).There was about 20 minutes of break when the monks were enjoying their meal. All the guests left the room and went into the outside hall where tea, coffee and refreshments were served. The photographer was busy taking photos of the bride, groom and the guests. Some gifts were given during this time, the bride and groom happily accepted the gift and even took a picture with the guest, holding up the gift together.

Meanwhile re-configuration of the room was taking place when the guests mingled. The hotel staff rearranged the entire room so the chairs were no longer facing the platform where the monks were seated. All chairs were turned 90 degrees counter-clockwise so they faced the stage on the left side of the room. Here the real ceremony of “tying the knot” took place. The bride’s father put a white headpiece on the groom then the bride. The two pieces are linked by a thread. A bindy was dotted onto the foreheads for good luck.

Ceremony Part II - tying the knot and Dotting the bindy

The guests, starting from the parents then close relatives then last but not the least even the clueless foreigners were ushered up stage to greet and congratulate the newly weds. The procedure went as the following: take the pot from one of the bridesmaids, pour the water over the groom and bride’s hand, walk off the stage from the right side, and congratulate the parents of the bride and groom. Mike and I held the pot together and poured water slowly over Ralf’s palms. Kade was smiling sweetly as we poured water over her hands. We wished them “Best of luck”. On my three inch heels, I was very concerned of falling off the stairs screaming and making a bloody fool of myself in front of the very composed audience. Everything went in motion in peace and perfection. Nobody fell on their face... When I got back to my seat, I whispered to Katja about my “fear”, who told me that she was also completely nervous.

Pouring water for good luck

At this point, the ceremony adjourned and the guests moved to a banquet hall for the feast. The prime mister of Thailand also showed up and sat in the front center table just next to ours. We noticed that ours was the only table served wine, probably because of the Europeans, who instead of letting the wait staff serve by glass, insisted on keeping the bottle at the table.

Ralf and Kade accepting a wedding gift from the Thai Prime Minister

Ralf made a simple toast in English. Kade did one in Thai and English. The Prime Minister also made a toast. He seemed like a very nice man. There were at least three hundred people at the banquet. A band played Beetles on stage. Ralf and Kade even cut the cake, which we later found out was fake on all levels for show, except for a tiny triangular spot where a real piece of cake was lodged in surrounded by its plastic counterpart and was used for the “cut the cake” procedure.

Light the candles on the cake

The morning after the wedding, we took off, taking fond memories with us back to the States.

Thai Kickboxing

2007-12-14T22:58:00.000-05:00

I did not even think about this until Ralf walked into the hotel restaurant when Mike and I got back to Bangkok from Chiang Mai. I asked Ralf what the next night's plan was. He said dinner at the hotel as more people would arrive but Tero and his wife Katja would go to a Thai kickboxing match. Mike's eyes lit up instantly: "I'd go!" Frankly I had no interest whatsoever to see people beat the crap out of each other. I never liked boxing. I even fell asleep at the UFC match in Vegas when I took Mike on a surprise trip for his birthday. But I would never pass on any opportunity when traveling especially since I was in the birth place of Thai kickboxing.

Lumpinee Stadium is situated right outside the metro. After a whole day of tour, we were exhausted and had some time to burn before heading to the match. We had a massage in a street shop first. The stadium is owned by one of the functions in the Thai army. We got in via Kade's connection since her dad was a high ranking general in the army. As we went to the gate, ushers wearing badges approached us. All we had was a piece of paper with words written in Thai of the person's name and army rank. The usher went in and out came a guy in army uniform. He took us to the side door. We were given schedules of the night, a DVD of Thai kickboxing and a pamphlet introducing the stadium.

The night ahead consisted of 2 unrated matches, two preliminaries, four matches, one major fight and two additional ones for closing. We got seated in the VIP seat in the middle, two rows from the ring. The match was already on. Each fighter either wore red or blue. When they walked up to the ring, their coaches put a weaved head band and a pretty yellow "Lei" on them. The warm-up routine was almost like a dance or a ritual. The fighters prayed to the gods by touching their heads on the corner of the ring or kneeling down and touching their heads to the floor. They moved elegantly and extended their limbs mimicking crane, snake, eagle or tiger. It was all up to my imagination what they were at any moment. Meanwhile a live band was playing right beside us. One of the traditional musical instruments was like the trumpet Chinese played on a wedding day in the old times. They repeated the music the entire night, driving Katja crazy. It was really monotoned and was extremely loud to the point of being annoying but I was quite alright.

Most of the guys were tiny, weighing about 100 pounds. They did not have an ounce of fat on them. Compared to the boring UFC where fighters wrestle to the ground and stay there practically the entire time, the Thai kickboxing was very exciting and full of actions. The fighters moved with lightening speed and were constantly kicking, kneeling and punching. If they tangled together out of exhaustion, they wouldn't get more then three seconds of break. The referee immediately separated them and yelled at them to start punching and kicking again. One of the fights was bloody. One guy got punched in the nose. We all thought it was broken but he kept fighting finishing the five rounds, each lasting three minutes and in the end defeating the opponent.

Even though I had total respect for these fighters and was "wowed" by their techniques, it was a little too brutal for my taste. Overall it was a good experience but I would not do it again.

The Long Neck

2007-12-07T21:52:00.000-05:00

I've seen pictures of the long neck women. I always thought with that many rings around your neck, you are bound to have a really LOOOOOOOOOOG neck. I was surprised to hear Poi say that the neck was not long, it was the shoulder that was pressed down to create the impression of the long neck. When a girl is born, three to five brass rings are put on her. After each year, she gains another ring. From the number of rings around a woman's neck, you could figure out how old she is. For the long neck tribe, the longer the neck is, the more beautiful you are.
The end of the first day in Chiang Mai, we went to visit a village of five tribes. A lot of these tribe people lived in the border of Thailand and Burma and their livelihood was threatened by the Burmese war. The Thai government settled the families here and subsidized them. In the entire village, I counted no more than 50 families. The tribes live peacefully together, grow rice, vegetables and fruits, raise pigs, and sell handicrafts to tourists. The men hunt during the day while the women weave, cook, and take care of the children. Life is primitive here but sufficient.

We passed patches of rice field. Women were working in the field harvesting under the less vicious sun since it was almost dusk. Poi said every family gets a fair share since everyone worked together.

All the houses are bungalows, with dry leaves on top. The leaves were dried first before stacked together as the roof top. The "roof" is changed twice a year. I can only imagine during the rain season what happens inside the bungalow.
Poi took us to one of the long neck women's house. She was weaving at the "patio" when her daughter was learning. Here I found out that the brass neck piece weighed five kilos. I tried on with the fake which only covered the front of the neck. It was indeed heavy and so long that I had to raise my chin high enough to feel uncomfortable. She was weaving a colorful scarf. It would take her three days to finish and she sells each one for 200 bahts. A hand made piece outside would cost so many times more. I immediately bought two scarves. Looking at the shy little girl trying to help out mom, I had such mixed feelings. There was sympathy because it was unavoidable of the judgement of the modern material world I came from. It was hard to imagine living with such bare minimum. There was admiration. Here was the simple life style that I could never live and be content with. However they looked so sincerely happy, reaping what they sow and not coveting anything else. At that point, I was reminded again why I loved traveling so much - it opens my eyes through different perspectives.

Thai Massage

2007-12-05T21:04:00.000-05:00

During the one week trip to Thailand, I had five massages. I wish I could have more. The first massage I had was at D2 Hotel in Chiang Mai. After a whole day of oxcart and elephant riding, I had a herbal compress with traditional Thai massage for two hours. Thai massage was like passive yoga. It was not meant for comfort. The masseuse would twist and turn your joints, press awfully hard on your pressure points, and bend your body the way you thought you'd never make it. Even for me who practice yoga regularly, it was an ordeal. She bent the arch of my feet backward so much I whined in pain. When I returned to my room, I felt that I had multiple bruises on my pressure points. I was sore for two days. However it felt very good.

In the night bazaar in Chiang Mai, there were lots of massage shops. They were right off the street displaying the incredibly cheap prices of different services, such as foot massage, head/shoulder massage, etc. When I first saw people (mostly foreigners) through the glass door, I thought they were such seedy places. Not until I went in one myself in Bangkok a couple days later near the Lumpinee stadium. Mike, my friend Tero, his wife katia and I were waiting to go to a Thai boxing show. It was after a whole day of tour and we had some time to burn before the show. As we got out of the Lumpinee metro station, the first thing we saw was this massage shop. We bargained the price to be 100 bahts for 15 minutes. Tero had a foot massage and the rest of us had a neck/shoulder/back massage. In my friend's words:" It was the two euros best spent ever."

I would visit Thailand again, if not for anything else, for the massage.

11/27-Mae Taeng Elephant Camp

2007-12-05T20:10:00.000-05:00

Poi, our guide greeted us at D2's ultra modern lobby 8:30 sharp. The tour we arranged via the hotel originally only included the elephant ride, bamboo rafting and visiting the Lisu hilltribe village. I wanted to see the long neck tribe so we added extra to the day's event.

The first stop was the orchid and butterfly farm. Poi said it had over 500 species of orchids. The orchids were hanging in mid air, roots dangling without being planted in any soil. Water was sprayed on them six hours per day, three hours in the morning and three hours in the afternoon. That was why they did not need any soil to grow so gorgeously. I skipped the butterfly portion of the visit as I could only imagine -- where there is butterfly, there would be caterpillars.

We soon arrived at the Mae Daeng Elephant Camp. It was about 40 minutes away from Chiang Mai. As soon as we approached the camp ground, I was overwhelmed by the stench. It took me a good five minutes to get used to it. Elephants, young and old were walking, sitting or rolling their trunks to reach for the bananas and sugar canes in the vendor's hands across the fence. I bought a bunch of sugar canes for 20 bahts and walked towards the elephants. She rolled the cane from my hand effortlessly and was almost too quick for the camera.

The elephant show included elephant lifting the lumber, dancing, playing soccer, shooting basketball, picking up flower basket and putting on/off hats from the trainer's head. The most ingenious of all was the elephant painting. Two elephants each was given the paint brush. Using different colors, they painted branches and heart-shaped flowers. They also signed the painting and one of them said I Love (a heart) U. It was absolutely amazing. Supposedly elephants have great memories. They drew the pictures purely out of memory. It was intriguing to see their huge trunk holding a tiny brush and creating such wonders.

After the show, we went on the ox cart to go to the Lisu hilltribe village in the forest. The oxes were white and strange looking. I always thought they would look like a bull but they were nothing like that. Our driver graciously motioned to Mike and gave him the whip. Mike happily crossed over the seat and went to the front to drive the cart. The road was bumpy and dusty. Near and far in the jungle, elephants passed with passenger atop.

At the Lisu village, there were bungalows built for people to wait for the elephant ride. It was like a bus stop except that you stepped onto an elephant. Elephants carrying other tourists would come by, drop off the passengers and pick the next ones up. I was counting down to our ride and thought we'd go on this really gigantic male elephant. But a man in front of us took him. The next one was a female elephant and a bit shorter. We stepped on. The elephant "ride coordinator" snap closed the metal bar (simply a nail holding the bar in front of our belly). Off we went and I almost threw myself off the bar since I did not expect the ride to be so bumpy. We joined the convoy of elephants. I noticed that a baby elephant was following us and it actually sneaked out of the group and went to a Lisu bungalow. He stuck his trunk into a hole of the bungalow and apparently found some food and took it into his mouth. Our rider stopped the elephant and let everyone else pass us. I could not get it until I realize that we were riding the mama elephant. Mom would not move until the baby was around. The rider was yelling at the baby to come back but it was enjoying its freedom. It was quite amusing. The entire ride was a tug of war between our rider and the baby elephant. The mom would stop so she could feed the baby. At one point, the baby completely went to a wrong route and led the mom to frantically follow him into the narrow leafy path. On the way, there were "rest stops" for the elephants - bungalows selling sugar canes and bananas (20 bahts for a stack). Most of the time, before the tourists consent to pay, the elephants already took the bananas with their trunk and put them into their mouth. Too late!! We fed our mom and baby about three times until we used up all the change.

Temple, Temple, and Temple

2007-11-27T06:44:00.000-05:00

From our D2 Hotel we took a tuk-tuk to the old city of Chiang Mai. The first stop was Wat Phua Singh, an old temple. Our travel guide at the hotel picked three temples for us and this was the one she recommended to go first.

Ralf told me tuk-tuck was banned in Bangkok and I was really disappointed. From the Amazing Race reality show, I saw the tuk-tuk and always wanted to ride one. I was happy to know that they still had it here in Chiang Mai. We passed the moat and went straight into the temple, it took us 10 minutes and cost 80 bahts. I forgot to negotiate the price before we hopped on and I was worried that we would be terribly over charged. Later I learned that the old man who drove the tuk-tuk did not trick us.

The main temple was covered up for maintenance. The inside was like a Chinese temple with the main Buddha in the middle and two smaller ones accompanying him on each side. We had to remove our shoes to walk inside. Locals came here also and many kneeled down and Kou Dou (touched their heads on the floor while praying). The temple was fairly big. It contained living quarters for the monks and other temples and a pagoda. Each temple was painted with two main colors, red and gold. The Thai temples had triangular pointy roof unlike the Chinese ones. They all had lions and/or dragons in front to safeguard the gods.

After the first temple, we decided to walk around for food. Everywhere we went there were temples. Most of them looked the same. No wonder someone was telling me I may be "templed out" after Chiang Mai.

Mike's gone for a Thai massage now. Tonight we will go for the night bazaar, which is right outside D2. I love bazaar and really look forward to the hagling.

Chiang Mai - Spicy Papaya Salad

2007-11-27T06:33:00.000-05:00

When I had the first bite of the seafood papaya salad, I was thinking "this is not spicy at all!" I just had a chicken curry, it had red pepper in it. I accidentally ate one and was drinking my Thai ice tea to calm my tongue. Now with the papaya salad, since I ordered "mild" instead of "spicy", I thought they really took mercy on me. 10 bites down the road, the juice got soaked into the papaya, every bite became increasingly spicy. My mouth, tongue and even my gum became unbearably hot. I gulped down my ice tea and started drinking Mike's pineapple shake. Nothing helped. It was so bad I started tearing and my nose ran incessantly. The waitress, a girl no more than 17 started smiling at me when she passed by, probably amused by my misery. I couldn't describe this spice. It's not like the Chinese spice at all, which in general make your lips numb. What's even more interesting is you don't see one pepper in the dish. Mike said it was all in the dressing.What a shock!

Food was very good so far but not as good as Chinese food I had back home. It's different.

Here is my first taste of the local food. I had a bite into the red curry. I was happy with it when I realized there was no chicken in it and I ordered chicken curry. The waitress gave me someone else's order. I informed her and she brought me the second dish. For a carnivore, it was so much better with meat in it.

Bangkok Impression

2007-11-27T06:15:00.000-05:00

Our flight was one hour late in Guangzhou so when we arrived in BKK, it was all dark outside. The airport was full of people. On the way to the customs, I saw two huge statues of Thai Gods. They both looked fierce and are very colorful. Our hotel sent a van to pick us up. The traffic was bad. Normally it would take less than 40 minutes but it took an hour to go to the hotel, Rama Garden, where the wedding would take place. In the dark, I could only see the buildings along the streets we past. Bangkok looked worn out in the dim street lights. I barely saw any high rise. Compared to Beijing, this capital city seemed way less modern. There were all kinds of cars, SUVs, vans and trucks. Overall, I thought the drivers were much more disciplined than the ones in Wuhan. Speed was fast but the cars stayed in their own lanes.

The evening was uneventful. We had dinner at the first floor. I ordered a beef dish with broth and a stir fried dish came out. I was thinking about a "pho" like dish since the menu said noodle with beef broth. I was surprised but was happy with the taste after all.

This morning, we got up and had a buffet breakfast at the same restaurant. I had Chinese style porridge with salty duck egg and stir fried sweet sausage and other western breakfast stuff such as eggs and pancake. I could tell this hotel was catering to the western/foreign taste (they had American football on TV, a German channel, a French channel and a Chinese channel).

On the way again to BKK to catch a flight to Chiang Mai, our driver was speeding so we wouldn't miss the flight. This time, I saw a lot of high rises far away, probably where the city center was. In just about an hour after the flight took off, we arrived in Chiang Mai...

Food Heaven

2007-11-23T08:41:00.000-05:00

fish

I have been stuffing my face non-stop since I got home. Mom said it looked like I had been starving for ages. My sister-in-law said I was like my two year old niece in front of food-absolutely cannot wait! How could I?!! After being away from authentic Chinese food for more than a year. As we drove along the night streets of Wuhan, I saw food stalls, restaurants one after another, neon lights blinking with promises of the good food. There are so many Chinese old sayings about the topic of food. One of them could be roughly translated as "People see heaven in food." Yes, we Chinese, love food.

Forgot what this was but it was good...

Veggie seafood mix

Shrimp, just so that you know this is no way close to the "sweet and sour shrimp" in the USbamboo - apparently this was IN at dinning table when I was home
Duck
honey lotus

spicy eel

I was raised by a Cantonese mom and a Wuhanese dad. Mom never cooked spicy food so I grew up not capable of eating spicy food. When I moved to America, most Chinese food is so Americanized, it's hardly edible unless adding spice to it. I grew to love hot peppers and spicy sauces in the Sichuan cousine in no time.
Mike's favorite, garlic ribs at Mr. Xie Restaurant

We had our first welcome luncheon at a hotel restaurant near home. The meal was so spicy, my niece had her little cheeks burning as if she had blush on but she loved it. As usualy I told Mike that everything was simply chicken to trick him into eating frog legs, snakes, etc. He's not as gullible as three years ago though. :) It's impossible to post pics now. I will wait till I go back. Chicken

Veggie/Tofu

Good to fly again

2007-11-16T00:22:00.000-05:00

It's 12:30 AM. I am still packing!! Work has been so overwhelming lately, I couldn't find a moment to do anything before the trip. Starting this morning, my heart started racing. The brain had gotten stupid too as I juggled between last minute work stuff and my excitement/anxiety about leaving it all behind. I have to pack for winter in China and summer in Thailand. As I checked last night, my home town Wuhan is going to be around freezing temperature due to a recent cold front. Beijing already had its first snow of the year. Bangkok and Chiang Mai however are in the upper 80s to mid 90s. I had the luxury though this time to pack three large suitcases and three small suitcases unlike my last backpacking trip. I had all the room in the world to pretty much just dump anything I want in there. It's going to be a long night. But 13 and half hours on the plane would allow me plenty of time to sleep. I am so excited just about anything now. In less than a day, I'd be home.

New York - Joe's Shanghai

2007-09-19T00:02:00.000-04:00

Just came back from NY this Sunday. I took mom there for the Lion King show. Mag and Rosy met up with us for lunch at Joe's Shanghai (at 9 Pell st. in Chinatown). Maybe they put poppy seeds in the soup dumplings but seriously ever since I had it the first time two years ago, I kept craving for it to the point that I have to go to NYC every so often just to have it!!

This time we order three steamers (two crab and one pork) each containing 8 soup dumplings about the size of a baby's hand. Accompanying the dumplings are small dishes of vinegar with shredded ginger. The trick of eating it is to pick it up from the steamer using the tong VERY delicately so the soup inside doesn't spill and place it onto a Chinese soup spoon. Trust me spilling it will spoil all the fun of eating the "SOUP" dumpling because of course by then it would just be a dumpling. Then you will have to somehow pour the vinegar onto the top of the dumpling so it would soak into the tiny little opening atop the dumpling. Then from the side of the spoon you would bite a little into the dumpling and suckle the soup out of it. (Oh this is not good...I want to have it right now again!!!) The vinegar and ginger will add to the flavor and remove any greasy feeling therefore you won't get sick of eating 8 dumplings all at once.

I don't have any photos of these mouthwatering dumplings since there was no way I could wait... I would highly recommend Joe's Shanghai. They have chain restaurants in Flushing, NY Chinatown and near Time Square. You do have to wait in line and share a table with strangers since there are not enough seats most of the time. But who cares in front of good food!

Lombard St.

2007-09-18T23:46:00.000-04:00

Rosy felt lazy and went back to take a nap before going to Sausalito. I decided to take the camera and walk to Lombard St. Taking photos while walking uphill towards Lombard was an ultimately enjoyable experience. Although it was late summer, flowers were still blooming. I love the colors and each house being so different.

Happy Time

2007-09-07T22:50:00.001-04:00

San Fran was such a blast I could hardly drag my feet back to D.C. It was as lovely as ever. This time the weather was simply gorgeous. During the day, it was in the mid 80s. At night it was comfortably breezy with a light jacket except for the first night when Rosy and I were trying to find a bar from Little Italy all the way back to Fisherman's Wharf. This was also the first time I ever had digital memory of San Fran. Photos were just downloaded to the computer and will have to upload later.

All eleven of us showed up in high spirit... nine went to the same college, eight from the same class, Mag and I shared the same dorm room for four years... We adopted Yilin and Ying (the spouses that showed) into our family. Gosh it was just like going back to college. I haven't seen some of them for ten years! Nobody changed at least it felt like it. It was incredible how we picked it up from where we left it just like that! I haven't laughed so loud for ages. By the end of the trip, I practically lost my voice.

So San Francisco after the third visits, still remains my most favorite city in the US. This time I loved it even more. I will be back for sure.

Thailand - East Meets West

2007-07-16T23:12:00.000-04:00

Ralf is getting married to Kade on December 2nd in Bangkok!!! Kade's my Thai friend from grad school same as Ralf and he's German. I haven't seen Kade for seven years. I am really excited. Ralf is in Germany right now but will move to Thailand after Spring. I was thrilled about their engagement.

Ever since the engagement news, I have been planning the trip for the wedding. After over two months of requesting for vacation, I finally got the approval. Two nights ago, I booked the tickets for Mike and me to go to China and then from south of China to Bangkok, Thailand. Next thing to do is find the perfect travel guide and start looking for tickets from China to Chiang Mai, where we will stop over for a couple days before heading to Bangkok. I look forward to a TRADITIONAL Thai wedding or at least I assume so.

San Francisco - Third Time is a Charm

2007-06-23T02:05:00.000-04:00

I just booked the ticket to San Fran over Labor Day weekend for a class reunion. I haven't seen some of these people for ten years. I am beyond excited! This would be the third time I visit San Francisco, one of my favorite cities in the US. I can't wait to go back to the sea lions at Pier 39, Lombard St., and of course the "OH-SO-SUPERB" Chinatown restaurants.

Day 17 - Madaba

2007-03-15T22:20:00.000-04:00

Madaba is 30 km southwest of Amman. It is most famous for its six-century mosaic map of the Middle East.

On the morning of Day 17, the first place we went was the St. George's Church where the map was housed. The current Greek Orthodox church replaced the previous Byzantine church. The map was made from two million pieces of colored stone, depicting hills and valleys, villages and towns in Palestine and the Nile Delta. The map was right in the center of the small church. Some of the columns were built in the middle of the map. Only fragments of the map were left of what used to be 16 meter long and 6 meter wide display. However we could still see the Dead Sea, Jerusalem, Bethlehem, and etc.

The guide of another tour group was pointing his stick to Jerusalem in the map.

The river on the left is the River Jordan. Where River Jordan flows into is the Dead Sea. There are two fish in the river, one swimming out of the Dead Sea, the other facing the wrong direction swimming into the Dead Sea.

After visiting the map, we looked for the Mosaic School but unfortunately it closed on Saturdays. We spent the rest of the morning shopping around St. George Church, where mosaic and carpet stores abounded. Since Madaba was the last and only place for shopping, I went all out forgoing all my previous restrictions on weight and size of purchases. That was why I ended up with a 44 pound Kelty and 20 pounds to carry onto the plane. Julee and I each bought a rug. I got some ceremics and mosaics too.

Anyone who visits Jordan would have to buy some Dead Sea products. Alex, Julee and I went to a store whose owner was friendly and chatty. The lady told us she had six children and she was 45. We could not believe it since she had such youthful clear skin. The Dead Sea products must have worked!!! We were so "inspired", we each bought a bunch of stuff. Before we left the store, she picked up a pen, invited herself to Julee's cast and signed her name in Arabic.

The best shawarma place in town. On Day 17 I had lunch here and then dinner with the group. Everyone loved the grilled shawarma with pickle inside. I still dream of it till today.

Email from Kirsten

2007-03-14T07:34:00.000-04:00

Got in to work this morning and found Kirsten's email in the Inbox with two group pictures and her greeting:

"Hi everyone! I've attached all the group photos from the trip, so you all have a copy. For all the aussies and expatriots I sent in 'Chicken and Herpes' into Rove Live so hopefully it will get on the show. Hope your all well and getting back into the swing of things, I certainly am. Let me know what you think of the photos! Take care and keep safe. Kirst"

Lots of fond memories came back to me.

"chicken and herpes" came from the menu in Aswan when we went for group dinner. The menu item said "chicken and herpes". It was really chicken and herbs. :D It was supposed to be delicious but none of us ordered it.

On the summit of Mount Sinai. Just arriving... Daniel, Daniel, Laura, Zdena, Sandy, Dora, Kirsten (front), Alex, Bridget, and me.

Nuweiba beach camp - the Israeli girl who also stayed at our camp took the picture for us. She did not know how to zoom and she stood really far away from us even though we asked her to come closer. We decided to move forward together in a group approaching her instead, so she did not need to zoom nor step forward and we would still show up in decent size.

More of Day 16 - Mount Nebo

2007-03-10T22:42:00.000-05:00

After Karak, we drove to the Dead Sea. I took a quick dip in the strangest water I've ever swum in (see my blog entry on the Dead Sea) then headed further North to Mount Nebo. Mount Nebo has great biblical significance that it was the site where Moses first saw the Promised Land but was forbidden by God to ever set foot on. He died on the mountain after leading the Israelites for 40 years through the wilderness.

Our minivan went up the winding road towards the peak of the mountain. After we parked near the gate, we walked up hill for about 10 minutes till the imposing serpent cross came into view. It was at the edge of the cliff and the blue sky was its perfect backdrop. Later I learned this was inspired by Jesus's words in John 3:"As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up".

Julee and I walked in leisure around the Moses Memorial Church opposite the serpent cross. There was a map displaying all the sites in the panoramic view from Mount Nebo, including the Dead Sea, Bethlehem, Jericho, Jerusalem, and etc. Earlier Daniel told us, on a nice clear day, people claimed that they could see Jerusalem. It got us all excited. Then he added that he had never seen it himself from the peak. I stood in front the map and tried my best, I could not see Jerusalem. In my mind's eye though, I saw what was supposed to be the Land of Milk and Honey. I felt bad that Moses could not set foot in it. But God had his own plans.

The Moses Memorial Church itself was very plain but it had so many beautiful mosaics on the floor and walls. They were about 1500 years old. The color was still so vivid as if they were made just yesterday.

I walked slowly inside the church, absorbing each mosaic. I felt very peaceful. As I got closer to the altar, I sat down on one of the wooden benches and prayed for my family and loved ones thousands of miles away.

Outside the Moses Memorial Church, I saw this slab nailed into the stone wall:

When Julee and I walked downhill towards our minivan, we saw a group of Italians walking up. Among them there was a woman in her 20s, wearing knee high boots in stiletto heels. Julee and I looked at each other. Both of us probably simultaneouly imagined how a sprained ankle accident would happen any second. I had trouble walking in sneakers in general on this trip for the places we've been...I could not believe this! But then again, this is an Italian. No matter when and where he or she is, an Italian is always dressed perfectly to kill!

What else on Day 16?... Dana & Karak

2007-03-07T22:17:00.000-05:00

Day 16 - what else?

I feel that I owe some additional entries to the cities I visited on Day 16 and 17 other than just the Dead Sea. Although I did not get a chance to write about them while in Jordan, it really did not mean that they were not great places.

Early in the morning on Day 16, we had our breakfast of boiled eggs, tea, pita bread with strawberry jam and cheese spread. This was the routine breakfast for every hotel that we ever had breakfast at. Some may have ham that had crushed pepper inside. Sandy, at one point, thought the pepper was mold. :P I loved their hard boiled eggs. It just tasted so much better than the eggs produced by obese and maybe six-legged mutant chicken in America. Knowing that I was always hungry and incredibly irritable when starved, Julee kept telling me I should eat more of the eggs instead of bread since protein sustains longer than carbs. At her encouragement, some mornings, I would eat a stack of pita bread and two hard boiled eggs!

I again took Dramamine during breakfast and I remember this day being my most groggy day of all. The group separated into a minivan and an SUV and left Petra on time.

Dana Nature Reserve

We were supposed to go to the Dana Nature Reserve, which clings to the edge of the cliff below the King's Highway and is one of Jordan's few protected areas of natural beauty. From the name, you would imagine seeing countless flora and fauna, birds and beasts. But this was what we saw.

It started out to be such a foggy day. On the King's Highway, we could not see the tail lights of the car in front of us until our minivan got really close. All we would make out were a few trees on the road side and the vague shape of houses engulfed in fog. That must have been the tiny village at Dana. I was so doped I could not care less anyway. But it was still disappointment and such amusing irony at the same time!

Daniel was sitting on the front seat. He turned around to us, threw his hands in the air, and smiled: "Well, Dana is checked off from our list. It would have been really beautiful on a nice day. Karak, next...!"

Karak Crusader Castle

We were debating in the van that Karak could not be a castle until Sandy read the Rough Guide out loud that Karak was "the huge and well-preserved Crusader castle ...and is one of the finest in the Middle East". It often amazes me to see structures you least expect to see, such as this castle in the Middle East, or Volubilis, the Roman ruins in Morocco, and Jerash, the Roman ruins we later visited in Northern Jordan. It is intriguing to think about the early travellers, covering distances for trade, for land, or for religion.

Karak sits on a hill with cliffs on three sides. It overlooks the King's Highway that leads to the Dead Sea at one end and Petra at the other end. (Below: view of King's Highway from Karak)

The Crusaders started building the castle in 1142. At any time, it could hold two to three thousand Crusaders. There were numerous cisterns in the dungeon that collected rain water via pottery pipes. Rooms were built to bake bread, create weapons or tools. The well-designed construction and its natual location made Karak a defensive stronghold. The most famous of its occupant was Reynald de Chatillon, who was ruthless and vicious. Salah ad-Din, the Muslim commander besieged the castle in 1183 to avenge Chatillon. He failed the first time, but eventually defeated the Crusaders in 1187 and personally decapitated Chatillon.

Chatillon's favorite pastime was encasing the heads of his prisoners in wooden boxes so that when he threw them off the castle walls, he could be sure that they hadn't lost consciousness by the time they hit the rocks below. The guide told us this was the infamous window where Chatillon tossed his prisoners. Passing it gave me chills down my spine. How cruel!

We spent an hour in Karak. It was absolutely freezing since we were at the top of the hill. Every arch we passed became a natural wind tunnel. We all enjoyed the war stories tremendously and were amused by our guide, who had a very dry sense of humor. He was actually an archaeologist that was still working on restoring Karak and digging out more treasures that may have been hidden in its huge fortress. His strange sense of humor amused the girls (Kirsten and Laura) so much, they could not stop joking behind his back and giggling throughout the tour.

Marrakech Palace in Dupont Circle

2007-03-04T01:06:00.000-05:00

Tonight, after one year from my trip to Marrakech, I had my first Moroccan meal. Mike and I invited Srini and Asha to dine at the newly opened Marrakech Palace in Dupont Circle. Khalid, co-owner of the restaurant, is Mike's friend Tina's husband. Khalid's brother is the main chef.

The place is tastefully decorated and was packed when we finished dinner. Khalid said they had 300 reservations tonight. We had two belly dancing performances tonight. The party room area which he showed us around after dinner had tiles from Fez throughout. In the center there is this beautiful fountain also made from typical Moroccan tiles. It really brought me back to Fez. Fez is famous for its blue and white ceramics. Look at the tile work in Riad (old house converted into hotel) Mabrouka where I stayed for two nights.

Here is a fountain at one of the Fez restaurants where we had lunch. The fountain in Marrakech Palace is on the floor and it has the same style and colors.
Dinner was delicious. Mint tea was not too sweet. I had chicken pastilla, salad (an assortment of carrots, garlic spinach and eggplant) for appetizer and chicken tagine with preserved lemon and olives. Everything tasted really authentic. All serve wear is made in Morocco. The plates and bowls are exactly the same kind as the ones I had in Riad Mabrouka. I remember loving those plates and wanting to buy a set but didn't have time to look for them.

After dinner, we went upstairs next door to Pasha Lounge, which Khalid also co-owns. I smoked sheesha. I could not believe how soon I get to enjoy it again since I last had the "hubbly bubbly" as they call it in Jordan. The tobacco was not as strong as it was in either Egypt or Jordan but it definitely had the same mild apple flavor. It was quite sentimental for me because I REALLY REALLY miss both Egypt and Jordan.

The Lovely People

2007-02-25T22:09:00.000-05:00

On this trip, I have experienced so much generosity and kindness of the local people. I had the honor to interact with some of them or just observe them from afar. In both Egypt and Jordan, I appreciated the constant greetings from locals, the never ending inquiry of where I was from and the outburst of joy if the guess was right, the funny sales pitch in the bazaar, the "marriage proposals" in the offer of an entire jewelry shop or a herd of camels, and everyone eager to help me find my way should I display the least amount of "lost" expression during my wandering. I most admired how people would always smile or laugh out loud although they seemed to have so little worldly possessions.

Here are some of the people that crossed my path:

Hoda - our guide in Cairo and Giza. She is studying Chinese and wants to be more competitive in the job market since there are lots of Chinese tourists in Egypt nowadays. She's going to Beijing to study Chinese for a few months this year and is hoping to find a job for the 2008 summer Olympics. In the photo, she's pinning up my headdress before we go into the Al Alzar mosque, Islamic Cairo.
In front of a cotton shop in Islamic Cairo - The contrast of the huge pack of cotton and the old man got my attention.
The boy on the Aswan ferry to the Elephantine Island. His mother cooked us the delicious Nubian lunch.

The boy that sells the ayish in the Khan al Khalili bazaar. I was initially just taking a photo of the ayish since I don't usually see bread sold this way. He came up and asked me to take a picture of him.

Our fearless leader Daniel and our Nubian guide JJ's two nieces in front of JJ's house in the Nubian village, Aswan. Daniel's Muslim name is Mustafa. The two girls were so excited to see him. They yelled out "Mustafa! Mustafa" and jumped into his arms as soon as they spotted him. It was adorable to see them play.

On the felucca sail from Aswan to Luxor, this is Mohamed, our felucca captain who took care of Julee during her accident. He did not talk much but he did so much to help us. When we climbed the country roads up hill in order to get from the Nile to the Nubian village hospital, I was not tall enough to hold Julee's arm upward since Daniel was carrying her. Mohamed took over and did not leave Julee for a second until we boarded the taxi to Luxor.

Luxor, in front of the Colossi of Memnon. I asked Alex to take a picture of me. This old man walked by and said "Can I take the picture with you?" He's looking straight at me in this photo. :)
Luxor, before the donkey ride to the Valley of the Kings. Here are the grandpa and granddaughter who led our donkey ride up the mountain. After the ride, I gave all my Starburst candies in my day pack to this little girl.
Luxor in the papyrus factory, the owner was explaining and demonstrating how papyrus paper was made from scratch.
The little girl from the papyrus factory. Mount Sinai at the last 750 step tea house. I think this is the owner of the cat that followed us all the way to the summit.
Our guide of the Mount Sinai "mountaineering" event. This is the man that's climbed Mount Sinai 3 times a week for twenty years. He's such a mountain cat himself! - And that's my favorite cat in Egypt in his arm.

These are the daredevils in Petra who came rushing down the slope where Julee and I were sitting to take a break. We dragged ourselves up and hurried out of their way. The first donkey almost slipped and fell. They disappeared in no time, leaving only dust behind from the donkey kicks. We were lucky we did not get run over! The singing girl in Petra on the way to the Monastery. (You can't really see her in this picture. She is at the end of the wavy road on the donkey.) As we climbed the rocky steps towards the highest point in Petra, we heard this beautiful song coming from above. Then at the corner of the road, the girl appeared. She was sitting on a donkey with both her hands holding a big red rock. She continued to sing even though she saw us. The mountain echoed and made her voice linger. As she passed me, she paused and gave me this shy smile. I smiled back at her. She came so fast and disappeared even faster. I was almost in a daze. I really regret not telling her she has a wonderful voice.
The beautiful little girl selling handmade jewelry with her mom on the mountain trail to the Monastery, Petra. She has such long dark eye lashes. We all believe that she will break so many hearts when she grows up.
The Bedouins setting up our tents and making us tea when we first arrived at the Wadi Rum camp. They are such courteous people. They prepared everything for dinner and set up the table full of food. They waited till all of us had taken our full plate and almost devoured everything before they went to serve themselves. At bed time, they came into the sleeping tent, asked each of us if we had enough blanket and made sure all our needs were met.

The two men from Philae Temple who offered me to take a snapshot of them.

The hat maker in the Citadel, Cairo.

The wedding at Aswan Coptic church. We were lucky to see the newly weds step out of the church. We were even luckier as another couple come in for the ceremony ten minutes later. Two weddings in the same night! When we walked back to the hotel, we noticed that the first couple we saw were celebrating their marriage right in the middle of the street. The groomsmen were dancing around them as they joined hands. There was a huge crowd of spectators. When people saw that I was trying to take pictures of the bride and groom, they made room for me and motioned for me to move into the circle. They then took a look from my camera and showed their approval for the photos.
South Theatre, in the Roman ruins at Jerash, Jordan. The three person band played for quite a while and the music was great! Sitting at the top of the theatre, built by the Romans 2000 years ago to seat over 3000 people, made it even better.

The camel ride to St. Simone Monastery, Aswan. I don't have a picture of the boy that made my camel go faster so I could feel the thrill. He also told me my camel's name, gave me his stick and asked me to raise it high while he took three pictures.
The guard in front of the Treasury, Petra. He's wearing traditional red and white Bedouin headdress and quite a few daggers are hanging from his uniform. He was fully aware that I was taking photos of him from afar but he tolerated me. I couldn't resist. It was too beautiful a moment to miss with him casting a tiny shadow in the massive pink rock of Petra.

Our guide Ahmed in Karnak Temple, Luxor. He's telling the story of Queen Hatshepsut. We also had lunch at his house the next day when we crossed to the West Bank, where his wife and sister-in-law cooked us one of the best meals in the entire trip. I bought my lapis cats from his brother's alabaster factory. After lunch, he explained to each of us what our name would spell out in hieroglyphics. I now wear the silver ring that has my name translated into hieroglyphics.
In Wadi Rum when our 4X4 got stuck, a Bedouin from a different camp stopped to help. He actually dropped off his guests first at his camp then came back for us. He pulled us out of the mud.

Chasing Sunset

2007-02-21T09:54:00.000-05:00

Everywhere I go, I love the sunset. For several days, I kept missing it. Day 5 on the felucca I was convinced that there was no way I would miss it since this time I would not be indoors at all. You never know! Julee fell and we left the sailing trip and moved into a vehicle to Luxor. I had a peek through the taxi backseat for the sunset but it was hard to capture the moment in a moving vehicle in traffic race.

Through the taxi back window from Aswan to Luxor

Not until the second day in Luxor did I have my first chance to wait for sunset by the corniche along the Nile. I timed it and ran from our Nile bank cafe upstairs to the corniche to catch the perfect moment. Very soon I realized I ran out of battery and left my camera bag and extra battery with Julee at the Cafe. I am sure it was quite a scene to see this crazy Asian lady running up and down the stairs, holding a camera and frantically answering to all the felucca salesmen speaking Japanese to her and declining their offer. When I got my battery and ran back to my "perfect" spot, it was not too late and I was so happy.

Felucca docking at the bank of the Nile

Sailing by ...

The top of Mount Sinai is the highest spot where I have ever seen sunset. The sense of achievement when I finally arrived after two and half hours of constant coughing, running nose and heavy breathing was so overwhelming, for a second tears rushed to my eyes. That is a moment I will forever remember.

When we settled in at our beach camp in Nuweiba, some of us sat by the sea to relax while others played frisbee. The sun started to set over the mountain behind our camp. The sand, the sea, our huts, and even the red frisbee glowed with a golden sheen.

Here is the Ramses II colossus at Karnak Temple in Luxor sunset

I left our Wadi Rum desert campsite as I saw the red clouds gathering. After climbing up a sand dune, I stayed patiently for almost half an hour waiting for the sun to come out. Meanwhile I must have taken a few dozen pictures. I could not help it. Everywhere you look, Wadi Rum is mesmerizing. Pictures could never do justice to its breathtaking beauty. The sky, the rocks, and the sand changed colors every minute with the movement of the clouds. The sun, however, only came out for a brief second...

It was serendipity that I should step into sunset when Alex and I decided to do some shopping before dinner. From our Petra Moon hotel we walked down the hill to the town center, and here it is for only thirty seconds.

1st day back to work & picture updates for the Trip

2007-02-20T23:15:00.000-05:00

I have embarked on the painstaking work of updating pictures for the blog. I have taken about 1800 photos exhausting 3.5 GB of memory (which by the way was not enough for me). I worked two nights over jetlag and now I have 8 days updated. Time for bed. More to follow tomorrow...

Meanwhile coming back to work the first day invoked such deep depression. Wearing heels and a skirt for one thing was horrifying. I could barely walk straight as I got used to wearing flats and being dressed up like a bum. I guess backpackers are not meant to care about their appearances. For me all I wanted was a good hot shower and toilets that flush. I also could not get used to Julee not being 12 feet within my reach. People say you form or lose a habit in three weeks. In the past three weeks, I have formed the habit of looking out for/looking at/looking for Julee. I talked to her four times on the phone today, went to her office twice, she came visit me once, and we emailed each other 4 times. We were both depressed. I think it will take another three weeks to get over this "Julee-around-me"ship and be able to function like a normal person.

Oh well, back to reality now.

Focus on Egyptian and Jordanian Food

2007-02-20T23:10:00.001-05:00

The food is so good on this trip. Sometimes I forget to take pictures before I dig in. By the time I realize 'oops, picture', the plate's already empty. Jordanian food is slightly better than Egyptian food to my taste buds.

Julee eating the pasta with meat in Cairo with really boring music in the background. We identified this restaurant by the 'red' chairs outdoors. I later went back to the 'red chair' place for a shawarma that was also heavenly. Another place next door recommended by Daniel was the 'purple chair' restaurant. Everything was cheap and tasty.

photo above 1-pasta w/ meat in Cairo; 2-beef tagen, Aswan; right 1: baked sweet potato from Khan al Khalili bazaar, Cairo

Ayish is everywhere both in Egypt and Jordan but I prefer the thinner ayish served warm at Jordanian restaurants; below: Mint tea at el Fishawy, Cairo

The Aswan eatery where we got ripped off for felafel's and pasta with meat dishes-We all felt really disturbed that we got charged 10 times more. We complained to the owner that we would pay the bill but we knew we got ripped off and we found him incredibly dishonest and rude to treat guests in SUCH a way. He already took our money but was obviously remorseful, he stuck a bottle of mineral water in our hands for each of us before we got out of the door.

Above 1- Koshri at Giza; 2-fresh lemonade and kakade, Luxor; 3-Bird's tongue soup (a type of pasta), part of the Nubian home made lunch on the ferry towards Elephantine Isl., Aswan; 4-Breakfast at Little Garden Hotel, Luxor. Abdul is making me a hot lemonade with honey to cure my cough and sore throat. He's such a sweetheart; 5-Veggie tagen, Luxor

The best deal - 7 flavored bread for 1 JD for our lunch picnic in Wadi Rum. Aqaba, Jordan

Left: My favorite meal: mixed grill in Aqaba, Jordan (5 JD =7 USD)

Our Wadi Rum camp kitchen in the ground. The big pot is sweet Bedouin tea, the small one is non-sweetened tea. Bread is baked in the ashes in our ground stove. :) Below: dinner plate and main course dug out from ground (chicken, potato and whole garlic)

Above 1-Nuweiba beach breakfast, banana pancake with honey;2 sweets (mostly baklava) in Petra; 3-King shawarma in Madaba was the best;

Above 1-tomato over rice, Petra, Jordan; 2-Mushroom soup, Petra; 3- Chicken Sawani, Madaba, Jordan (chicken with potatoes cooked in herbs, this dish is very good) 4-Luxor group dinner 5- Madaba group dinner, Good bye Kirsten!(Kirsten is leaving the next day...)