Ultima Thule

Mark's Highlights of the Year

2007-11-14T20:01:00.000-05:00

These highlights were in the 3 part email series I sent out during the course of the trip, but in case you missed them here goes...

- Crossed the equator for the first time on the way to Buenos Aires
- Went to thermal pools for the first time in Salto, Uruguay
- Visited Iguazu Falls where the countries of Brazil, Paraguay, and Argentina meet.
- Sailed an old-fashioned catamaran on Lake Titicaca in Bolivia (it cost about $2 to do this)
- Went whitewater rafting on the Rio Urubamba in Cusco, Peru
- Hiked the Inca Trail (4 day hike) to Machu Pichu
- Played a couple pick-up soccer games with Peruvians (one at 4am after hiking to Machu Pichu and one at the bottom of Colca Canyon)
- Viewed wild condors (largest flying bird) while hiking in the Colca Canyon, Peru
- Felt an earthquake in Peru (ok maybe it was a tremor, but it sure felt like a quake to me)
- Spent my first Thanksgiving away from home in Iquique, Chile (it was very hard being away from my family)
- Went sandboarding ("snowboard style") in the Valle De La Muerte (Valley of Death) in the Atacama Desert of Chile (driest place on the planet)
- Biked from vineyard to vineyard in Mendoza, Argentina (great wine!)
- Saw a tango show in Buenos Aires, Argentina (this was excellent)
- Had a $5 steak or "asado" in Buenos Aires, Argentina (delicious!)
- Attended a Boca Juniors (Maradona's old team) soccer game (with the championship on the line) and sat in the visitor's section/cage (not the ideal place to be)
- Witnessed the 2007 New Year's fireworks in Sydney, Australia (best I've ever seen)
- Attended an opera in the Sydney Opera House (most recognizable building in the world)
- Worked as a porter / housekeeper / waiter in a hotel in Paihia, New Zealand (I found out my boss' son played Ares on Xena Warrior Princess)
- Saw the Southern Cross for the first time (smallest of the 88 modern constellations)
- Went sandboarding again (this time "boogie board style"....much faster) near Ninety Mile Beach, New Zealand
- Took a boat through "Hole in the Rock" in the Bay of Islands, New Zealand
- Experienced half a year's worth of rain in a four day period in Paihia, New Zealand (even the locals had never seen anything like it)
- Saw whales for the first time in the Bay of Islands, New Zealand
- Swung from trapeze to trapeze 20 feet in the air in Paihia, New Zealand
- Went to "Minus 5" ice bar (everything is made of ice) in Auckland, New Zealand
- Scored my lowest round of golf (105) in Greymouth, New Zealand (I'm not kidding that's my best, I'll keep working on it)
- Ice-climbed on the Franz Josef Glacier in New Zealand (this is one of the few advancing glaciers in the world)
- Skydived for the first time over Lake Wanaka, New Zealand
- Got lost in a human maze in Wanaka, New Zealand
- Bungy-jumped 440 ft. out of a gondola over the Nevis River (highest bungy in New Zealand) in Queenstown, New Zealand
- Saw more waterfalls at one time than I thought possible in Milford Sound, New Zealand
- Toured the Cadbury Chocolate Plant (saw one ton of chocolate fall like a Willy Wonka waterfall) in Dunedin, New Zealand
- Walked up the steepest street in the world in Dunedin, New Zealand
- Went zorbing (rolled down a hill in a hamster-like ball) in Rotorua, New Zealand (this was a blast!)
- Nearly run over by a large male kangaroo in Melbourne Zoo when he noticed another male "taking an interest" in one of "his" females (he ran right between me and my sister)
- Flew from Melbourne to Cairns Australia without ever showing any ID
- Spent Saint Patty's Day in Melbourne in a 16 bed dorm room with 14 Irish people (13 of whom were male) Needless to say I didn't sleep much that night.
- went diving on the Great Barrier Reef (saw Nemo and others)
- saw the India Ocean for the first time in Bali, Indonesia (picture perfect waves)
- held an impromtu english class on the beach with about 10 Indonesian kids in Lombok, Indonesia (I was the only foreigner in sight)
- motorbiked solo around the island of Lombok, Indonesia (population 2.4 million)
- spotted Anthony Edwards, the actor who played "Goose" in Top Gun, at the airport in Bali, Indonesia
- saw the Petronas Twin Towers (formerly the tallest in the world) in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
- witnessed the fracas that is known as the "full moon party" of Ko Pha Ngan, Thailand
- kayaked through caves, saw a huge monitor lizard, and visited a rubber plantation near Bor Thor Village, Thailand
- played the game Connect Four and lost at a go-go bar in Phuket, Thailand
- witnessed a few Thai kickboxing matches (or The Art of the Eight Limbs) in Ko Phi Phi, Thailand
- jumped out of my seat at a snake show in Thailand (was able to touch a cobra)
- sat with and tentatively petted tigers at a tiger temple in Thailand (I was escorted around by a 16 year old girl, ha)
- saw a bout between a cobra and a mongoose (no animals were killed and it was the mongoose all the way)
- walked over the famous "Bridge Over the River Kwai" - outside Bangkok, Thailand
- toured the temple of Angkor Wat just outside Siem Reap, Cambodia
- shot slingshots with several Cambodian boys near Siem Reap, Cambodia
- dined on grilled kangaroo, crocodile, and ostrich all in one meal in Saigon, Vietnam
- ate scorpion and liked it Saigon, Vietnam
- watched Dave try to eat raw rabbit meat before he was stopped and told you have to cook it first in Saigon, Vietnam
- crawled through the Cu Chi tunnels of south Vietnam
- learned how to cross a street in Saigon, Vietnam
- went on an overnight cruise through Halong Bay, Vietnam (possibly the most beautiful place I've ever seen)
- attended a water puppet show in Hanoi, Vietnam
- passenger in a slight fender bender on a motorcycle in Hanoi, Vietnam (it's amazing this doesn't happen more frequently)
- went trekking/mudsliding for 2 days through Sapa, Vietnam (the other possibly most beautiful place I've ever seen)
- was taught several drinking games by the locals while on a 3 day trek through northern Thailand
- elephant trekked and went bamboo rafting (my elephant ran away and I fell off the raft), Chiang Mai, Thailand
- successfully bought train tickets in India (this is a feat...believe me)
- visited the Ellora caves (amazingly carved out of the side of a mountain) outside Aurangabad, India
- paid a visit to the Taj Mahal the day after it was voted a new seven wonder (this is one building where the pictures don't do it justice)
- had my coke stolen from me by an Indian woman on a train outside Delhi, India (she proceeded to drink it right in front of me)
- shared dinner with an Indian family on a train going to Delhi, India
- saw Mt. Everest....nuff said
- tried the apple pie at no less than 5 villages in the Khumbu region of Nepal (I'm thinking of writing a Zagat's Nepal)
- listened to Bob Dylan at a tea house in Pheriche, Nepal (it was just about the only cd they had, fortunately it was a good one!)
- had my Himalayan guide hijacked/seduced by a fellow trekker while on a 13 day trek to Everest Base Camp in Nepal
- travelled in the most crowded bus conceivable in northern India (seating capacity 29, spacial capacity ~68)
- I've been told over 20 times now that I look like Michael Owen (English soccer player)
- "slept" on a night ferry to Ko Tao. A huge space with mattresses laid down. It was so cramped you couldn't roll over without bumping into the person next to you. (foreigners on port side, locals on starboard)
- Scuba dived at Southwest Pinnacle and Shark Island off of Ko Tao, Thailand
- bought a fake Breitling watch that is actually working out ok
- bought a fake G-shock that I eventually received 3 offers to buy it from me in Egypt
- went to Burma for a day to renew my visa (about a month before the uprising began)
- Six weeks before this trip ended I mailed my guitar and souvenirs home and they didn't show up until I'd been home for 3 weeks
- Saw the Hong Kong skyline for the first time (most beautiful in the world imo)
- Spent my birthday in Hong Kong, went to a space museum, played video games, and saw the laser show over the skyline.
- got lost my first night in Beijing and had a random Russian guy help us find our way
- Visited the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square in Beijing
- Couldn't visit the National Museum of China because it's close for renovations for 3 YEARS!
- ate Peking duck in Beijing (delicious!)
- Hiked along the Great Wall of China (this really does deserve it's reputation as a wonder of the world)
- drank a glass of tap water for the first time in 5 months Helsinki, Finland
- Felt like a midget in Helsinki, Finland (all the clothes in the store are XXL)
- Visited a Finnish sauna (the sauna was invented here after all)
- Finally enjoyed a descent beer in Helsinki (it just wasn't cost-effective to drink imports in Asia) - Visited the Museum of Terror (building where torture was conducted by both communists and Nazis depending on who was in power at the time) in Budapest, Hungary
- celebrated the Heritage Festival in Pecs, Hungary
- went on a self-guided wine-tasting tour in Villany, Hungary
- saw Ricky Gervais perform his stand-up act Fame in London
- took out 5X more $ than I wanted b/c I got the exchange rate wrong in Turkey
- toured the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, Turkey
- was able to stay with and meet locals in Istanbul (thanks to my friend Hulya)
- visited the pyramids of Giza after hours by horseback
- the director of the art museum in Cairo invited me to his daughter's wedding
- did a night dive in the Red Sea at Dahab, Egypt
- walked to the top of Mt. Sinai for sunrise in Egypt
- wore out my passport with 61 stamps
- reunited was several "Charlotte" friends in NYC
- was greeted by my entire family at the airport in Raleigh (they were equipped with balloons, a welcome home sign, and everything)

Istanbul, Turkey --- Beautiful!

2007-11-13T19:54:00.000-05:00

I decided to visit my friend Hulya in Istanbul for a week. Ever since I've known her she's builds Istanbul up as if it's the greatest place so I had to see what it was like. I boarded a plane in London and flew out to see one of the most important historical cities in the world. It is a unique city because part of it lies in Europe and part in Asia. Hulya's cousin, Alp, was kind enough to let me stay at his apartment on the Asian side. He made me feel at home. Most of the sites are on the European side so in a period of 5 days I went to Europe 5 times and Asia 5 times.

Istanbul is located on the Bosphorus Strait, and Hulya and I went on a Bosphorus cruise one day. Other highlights of the trip include Hagia Sophia, Sultan Ahmet Mosque or Blue Mosque (which by the way is the most beautiful mosque I saw on the trip), Topkapi Palace, Dolmabahce Palace, and hanging out with real locals. I would definitely recommend going there. (especially if you can get someone to show you around that knows all about it) All of the food was also a highlight. I ate a baked potato the size of my head.

Me, Hulya, Alp, Jeansu, Mine, Thomas, and Berna at dinner

Beautiful view of the Bosphorus

Hagia Sophia

At dinner with Hulya's aunt and Alp, after visiting Dalmabahce Palace

Ortakoy Mosque and the Bosphorus Bridge

Sampling hookah for the first time. I believe in Turkey it's called narghile (but Hulya can correct me if I'm wrong)

NYC and back in the U S of A

2007-10-24T16:56:00.000-04:00

We finally made it back to the States (for the Aussies and Europeans) or America (for the SE Asians), but no trip around the world can be complete without a stop in the most diverse city in the world, New York City. Since we didn't make it to Canada we started out by checking out Jaymin's favorite Canadian band, Stars, in concert. Although we met so many Canadians on the road it didn't feel like we needed to make a special trip up there. The Stars lead singer won the coveted prize of sweatiest performer I saw on the trip, or in my life for that matter.

We also met up with and hung out with Jaymin, Justin, Pam, Hulya, Jose, Jes, Ben, Michelle, Shannon, and many others. Thanks for welcoming us back!

Michelle, Mark, and Shannon

Hulya and Ben

Barcelona

2007-10-20T14:46:00.000-04:00

In Barcelona we embraced our artistic side at the Picasso Muesum. I also embraced the siesta before we explored the Barcelona nightlife.

Egypt

2007-10-19T14:09:00.000-04:00

From the western comforts of Europe we crossed the Mediterranean to the land of Pharaohs and mummies. We explored the desert on horseback, and climbed into the giant ancient tombs known as the pyramids. We climbed Mt Sinai at night and watched sunrise from the summit, and went scuba diving in the red sea at night.

Hungary

2007-10-10T10:39:00.000-04:00

Our next stop in Europe was behind the former iron curtain in Budapest. Sights included the castle, hot springs, and caves. We also traveled down to Pecs for the heritage festival and went to Villany for an afternoon of wine tasting. Villany is known for its blue Portuguese wines.

Helsinki

2007-09-26T09:09:00.000-04:00

First up in Europe we headed north to Scandinavia and Finland. It was a treat just stepping outside from the plane and taking a deep breath after coming from Beijing. There aren't a lot of big, can't miss sights to see in Helsinki, but its a great city for biking, walking, and saunas. I also checked out the historic sea fortress, which being Finland was only involved in 2 skirmishes over the 200 years it was operational.

Beijing

2007-09-21T06:31:00.000-04:00

From Hong Kong Mark and I went over to Beijing to supervise preparations for the Olympics. Construction and renovations were everywhere, so I think they'll pull it off next year. We checked out Tienanmen Square and walked through the Forbidden City. We also saw the Emperors' Summer Palace, between the 2 places the Emperor had a lot of land that the citizens were never allowed to see. The Summer Palace also housed the renowned marble boat that the Empress Dowager (Emperor's mother) gifted to the navy while they were in the middle of losing a war.

The highlight of our China trip was spending a day trekking along the Great Wall. Its amazing a structure this big was built so long ago. In the sections we explored the wall followed a high ridge at the top of some hills, and looked like it would have been effective enough that Mark could have defended it on his own. I also found it amusing that they mentioned that it was proved you can't see the wall from space in 2003 when one of their astronauts went up into space. I wonder if they had to rewrite the school textbooks after that.

Next up: Europe

Hong Kong

2007-09-20T05:51:00.000-04:00

Mark couldn't pass up a chance to visit the Asian capital of banking, so we went to Hong Kong. We went to the rooftop of the Peak tower on Victoria Peak overlooking the entire area, watched the skyline buildings nightly light show, and climbed a lot of steps in order to see 10,000 Buddhas at the monastery.

Thailand again

2007-09-04T03:01:00.000-04:00

That's right, we're back in Thailand for the third time on the trip. Highlights this time include hanging at Ao Nang beach in Krabi, scuba diving in Ko Tao, and treking through the hill tribes near Chiang Mai. Hill tribes have come a long way in northern Thailand, as the one I stayed at had satelite TV so we didn't have to miss the Man U game while communing with nature. Also one of the villages that looked a little more rustic just parked their motorbikes out back to keep them out of sight. We also rode elephants and went bamboo rafting as part of the trek.

Trekking to Everest

2007-08-16T03:05:00.000-04:00

One of my goals on this trip was to go to Nepal. I had hoped that while we were in India we could add it to the itenerary and fortunately things worked out. We flew from Delhi to Kathmandu, and altogether spent about 3 weeks total in Nepal (most of that time spent in the Himalayas trekking to Everest Base Camp). This will definitely go down as one of the highlights, if not the highlight, of the trip.

We hired a guide (Kamel) and trekked for 13 days. (16 if you count weather delays) We stayed in Sherpa tea houses along the way. July is low season, coincidentally it's also monsoon season. This meant rain. (luckily we were rarely caught in any rain) Visibility wasn't ideal, but it wasn't bad. The benefit of going in low season was that we practically had the mountains to ourselves. We only saw a few people along the way. The few we did see, quickly became friends because they were most likely going our way and were probably staying at our same tea house that night. We ended up walking with two other trekkers, Lauren (from Florida) and Kelsie (fellow North Carolinian).

The day we climbed to Kala Pattar (where the best views of Everest are) we were very fortunate to have clear weather. We were 5,549 meters above sea level (or almost 3X the height of Mt. Mitchell in North Carolina) and we had perfect 360 degree views of the Himalayas and could see several 8,000+ meter peaks. On the way back we walked over 40 miles in one day. (exhausting to say the least) We were also stranded in the town of Lukla for 4 days because of weather. (believe it or not this isn't that uncommon) Just flying into and out of Lukla was exhilerating. The runway (pictured) is the length of a football field and has a brick wall at one end and a mountain at the other. (needless to say not much room for pilot error) All in all a great experience. Enjoy the pics...

The nerve-racking runway

Dave's pack (left), my pack (right). Not sure what he has in there.

Took this picture of Nuptse early one morning from just outside Tengboche (not sure why but I love this pic)

From left to right - Dave, Kelsie, Lauren, and Mark

From left to right - yak1 and yak2.

Dave and Lauren checking out the himalayas

Trekking is exhausting work...

Typical afternoon at the teahouse, drinking coffee and reading a book

Resting on a boulder and catching our breath

We're at Everest base camp near the Khumbu icefall. There's only half the normal amount of oxygen in the air at this altitude. (only way I can explain this pic)

Another thin air moment

Dave reaching Kala Patar

Kamel, Dave, and I were so excited to reach the top that we did the Toyota jump

It was cold up there

From left to right Lhotse (27,940ft), Everest (29,035ft), and Nuptse (25,726ft)

Dave posing

India: just like home

2007-08-09T01:16:00.000-04:00

From Thailand, Mike, Mark, and I headed over to tackle the chaos of India. Trains running hours late, taxis who try to raise the agreed price after you're already en route, and waiting in line behind the cows are just part of the norm here.

In between the rains during monsoon season we went to the Ghandi house in Bombay. From there we went to Arangabad and explored the ancient Hindu, Buddist, and Jain cave temples of Ellora and Ajanta. Finally, we went to the Taj Mahal the day after it was announced as one of the new 7 wonders of the world. The detail in the Taj Mahal is amazing.

And on a sad note we had to say farewell to Mike after 3 months of travel through SE Asia as he heads to China and then back home. His ready for anything attitude will be missed.

David Cottone: Hats

2007-08-08T02:14:00.001-04:00

As many of you know, our friend Dave is a pretty well-rounded guy. When he's not crunching numbers as a CPA in the office, you might find him travelling the globe, or throwing a frisbee to one of his ultimate frisbee teammates. You might say he wears many different hats. Not only does he metaphorically wear these hats, but he physically wears many hats too. Here are a few examples:

Relaxing...

He chose this hat as the only hat he brought for a year of travel. (??)

Work hat...

He served as a stunt double in Raiders of the Lost Ark. Here, he has just finished outrunning a 10 foot tall boulder and is giving Harrison Ford (not pictured) a high five.

Didn't bring a hat so he's making due...

He had never worn one so he just had to have one... (look how happy he looks)

He actually chose this one when there were many other hats to choose from...

This isn't really relevant, I just think he looks like Borat in this pic...

You Be the Judge

2007-08-08T00:03:00.000-04:00

Well, for some time now, I've been told I look like an English football (soccer) player named Michael Owen. I thought it'd be interesting to do a blog entry and see what our heaps of readers think. It started in the U.S where I've been told a couple times, then once in Australia, twice in Indonesia (as I left a convenience store, an Indonesian man held the door and said to me "Right this way, Mr. Owen"), and many times since then. So to test this out a little more (and because he's my favorite English player), I bought his jersey. The first time I wore it, I felt like a celebrity as I couldn't make it down the street without being called out. My next idea is to work on my English accent and get Dave to act as a bodyguard and see just how far I can take this thing.

Goal...

Doing what I do best.

Look at that other guy's face.

Off the field.

Excitement.

Finale.

Vietnam

2007-07-01T08:43:00.000-04:00

From Cambodia we headed over to Vietnam. There we survived the flood in Saigon, enjoyed the beaches and scuba diving of Nha Trang, and kayaked through Halong Bay. Also we tried some truly exotic food, even Mike was able to tear away from Outback to try something different.

Jaymin Berg: Male Model

2007-06-20T01:21:00.000-04:00

Chic, trend, vogue, dandy, and yes even snappy. These words are a feeble attempt to describe the suave male model that is Jaymin Berg. Move over Derek Zoolander. Whatever Jaymin's wearing is sure to be the next big thing. He's the maharajah of models, the great czar of garb, the king of clothes, the Christmas carol of apparel, the head of threads, and the zeus of suits.

Abercrombie & Fitch, Versaci, the Gap...just a few of the big names that are throwing loads of money at him in an effort to sign him up as their premier male model. He's told the big boys to take a hike, he's only allowing himself to be courted by the likes of Hanes, Fruit of the Loom, and Jockey. Here are just a few samples of his work:

Here the Fruit of the Loom fashion director has asked him to make a face that says "This white t-shirt is really comfortable! I couldn't be more relaxed while eating a scorpion!" (what a great male model)

Here he's pretending to have just completed a cooking class. Something he couldn't have done without his trusty white t-shirt.

This is an example of the extreme levels of comfort a white t-shirt can allow you to achieve.

But hey it's not just about relaxing....a white t-shirt can also help you fit through a Vietnamese tunnel without any problems.

Here east meets west, white t-shirts and conical hats. What could be better?

Here the director has asked him to "be one" with the lillies while wearing a fabulous white t-shirt.

And finally here he is modeling with several other top male models. (one of which really seems to like Jaymin's white t-shirt)

Earthquake Thailand: Mark Schrader the rock upon which we stand (posted by Jaymin)

2007-06-14T08:31:00.000-04:00

Judging from the outpouring of emails we received, we assume that most of our friends, family, and acquaintances are unaware that we were hit by an earthquake while we were in Thailand in May. Between the four guys on vacation, we received a total of one email inquiry regarding our safety after the big earthquake in Thailand. We assume this is due to lack of information and not a lack of caring. Nevertheless, the following is an excerpt the associated press (link for full article).

BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) -- An earthquake of magnitude 6.1 with its epicenter in western Laos was reported Wednesday afternoon by the U.S. Geological Survey, and its tremors were felt as far away as the Thai capital of Bangkok, several hundred kilometers to the south. There were no initial reports of damage or casualties. The quake occurred at 3:56 p.m. (0856 GMT) at a point 155 kilometers (97 miles) west-northwest of the Laotian city of Luang Prabang, said the USGS. The region is sparsely populated, with little urban development. The quake caused high-rise buildings in Bangkok to sway, and many offices were evacuated, with their panicky occupants gathered in the street.

Since most of our readership is unaware of the earthquake in Thailand, I’d like to briefly recount the happenings of that day. When the earthquake hit, panic filled the hotel like a poisonous gas. As the building shook, people cowered in fear, froze in terror, and became frightened like little children who just realized they’ve been separated from their mother at the grocery store. While the other guests were busy instilling more panic in each other, we, on the other hand, were able to remain calm for one reason alone – Mark Schrader. Not enough can be said about the leadership by example of Mark Schrader during this time of crisis. Mark was unflappable during the earthquake, as if he had no idea a natural disaster was occurring. Mark’s state of peace during the earthquake really resonated with us and allowed us to remain calm during a time when we would usually be filled with fear. Luckily, I was able to videotape about 30 seconds of Mark’s leadership and poise during the earthquake. Please click on the video to see for yourself.

Link to video if embeded video is not working

Michael Wilson: Discovering the secrets of the orient (posted by Jaymin)

2007-06-01T10:51:00.000-04:00

It's often said that there no education like travel. The exposure to new ideas, cultures, and practices helps build tolerance and maybe even appreciation for different types of people we meet every day. I can't help but believe that all the guys on the trip will be more well rounded upon their return to 'the States'. In particular, Mike has really made an effort to appreciate all of the nuiances of Thailand. If you don't know Mike, he's a college friend who has joined Mark and Dave for about 3 months during their trip around the world. Mike has really pushed himself outside his comfort zone and explored things that he might never try in the U.S. He's constantly trying new food, visiting historic sites and attending different cultural events. Props to Mike in this brief picture tribute.

Mike taking in the Grand Palace in Thailand.

Mike after the Thai Cultural show in downtown Bangkok.

Mike relaxing after enjoying some tradditional Thai food in Bangkok.

Mike after enjoying a special Thail style coffee (with cream and sugar).

Mike checking out the menu to see if the food will be too exotic/unusual for his American tastes.

Angkor Wat

2007-05-27T02:19:00.000-04:00

From Thailand we moved on into Cambodia. Our first stop was Siem Reap to see Angkor Wat and the surrounding temples. Our friend Sarah also joined us for these temples. For those of you who are more pop culture than ancient history, this is where they filmed the movie Tomb Raider. We spent 3 days exploring the temples and ruins, and I didn't find any ancient treasures the entire time.

Tigers and Cobras, oh my

2007-05-17T02:01:00.000-04:00

And I'm back making posts to the blog after a brief vacation from my "job" while on the trip. Pam and Mike joined us in Singapore where we travelled up through Malaysia to Thailand. As he posted, Jaymin joined us in Bangkok while Pam returned to the States. Mike is traveling with Mark and I throughout Asia. As a quick intro to the people appearing in pics for those who don't know everybody, Jaymin, Mike, and Pam are friends from NC, with Jaymin having friend senority as Mark and I have known him since preschool. While in Bangkok we saw the Emerald Buddha at the Grand Palace, and then decided to get a little more adventurous.

From there Jaymin, Mike, Mark and I went shopping on the water at the floating market, crossed the bridge over the River Kwai, and adopted some tigers for pets. We also watched a cobra show where different men got in a pit with a cobra and avoided its bite for a bit before capturing it. These guys made a cobra look slow! One guy went in the pit with 3 cobras, and caught the last one with his teeth!

Jaymin arrives in Thailand (posted by Jaymin)

2007-05-14T10:22:00.000-04:00

I arrived in Bangkok,Thailand on May 13th. Mark and Dave have spared no expense in ensuring that my accomidations are nothing but the best. Our domicile in Bankok cost 160 baht per night. To put this in context, a snickers bar cost 40 baht. Essentially, my sleeping quarters cost 4 snicker bars per night. Perhaps Americans just have a comparative advantage in producing rich milk chocolate candy bars filled peanut butter nougat, roasted peanuts, and caramel. Anyways, everything is going well so far, and we'll update more regularly from here on out.

Four Americans, the beach, and a Full Moon.....by Pam

2007-05-04T00:24:00.000-04:00

Ah the joys of Thailand. After a couple days in Singapore and Malaysia, we made a mad sprint to an island off of the Western Coast to attend the Full Moon Party. The attendance of this party is an average of 6,000 people crammed on Hat Rin beach, and the average age of patrons is 23. I of course, had no problem blending right in. The guys however had to shave that evening before leaving so they could relive their youth.

We prepared ourselves in the days before, by designating training days. Day 1 of training was "Beer Day". Day 2 was "Liquor Day". Mark notably pointed out that we are pretty old if we have to train our livers for a big party. I'm not going to lie, after day 2 I was hurting. The hopes of attending this party with a bunch of 21 year olds with energy and vibrance looked dismal (this picture is from dinner a few blocks from the party). We ordered coffee and are faking these lovely smiles.

We finally made it, and the beats were bumping and the madness ensued. There were probably 10 different DJ's spinning on the island, and a tropical depression was forming off of the coast so the waves were rough and it was raining. We found the quietest bar on the beach, sat and sipped slowly and watched the craziness from afar. We then decided to quit acting like senior citizens, and take a stroll into "The Jungle"...

If you can't beat them, join them. Basically we were forced into buying the famous buckets of the Full Moon Party, and that my friends, is when we had arrived....

Mark was so happy he decided to give himself a hug after swimming in the ocean between dance moves...

I think Mike looks 21 in this picture, no?

I am displaying my thirstiness, and Mike is upset that the bucket is empty. Mark, who we shall compare to Yoda for his quick thinking and wisdom, energetically realizes that there are more buckets less than 10 feet away from us....

We continued to dance the night away, do some jump roping, fell in the sand, thought about napping in the "Sleeping area" (that had guards) and finally watched the sun come up. The party was still going strong into the next afternoon from what we were told.... I'm pretty jealous the guys have many full moons left in Thailand :)...

Goin Ridin

2007-04-22T22:16:00.000-04:00

If we're in Indonesia, it must be time to ride. Mark and I rented motorbikes on Lombok to take our own personal tour of the island. The views driving along the coast were incredible. We also stopped to eat coconuts, and talked with some of the residents best we could. Mark was asked if he was Italian, which he says is a first. Mostly people would call out England when he rode by. Everyone was really friendly to us as he headed along the coast.

Indonesia

2007-04-18T22:31:00.000-04:00

And we've now begun the Asia leg of our trip, starting in Bali and Lombok. Its been great here, we've gone scuba diving where I saw a shark and a turtle, tried our hand at surfing, and just hung out at the beach and the pool. This is quite addicting. Stay tuned for a surprise celebrity appearance on the world tour coming up soon.

Perth

2007-04-15T21:43:00.000-04:00

From Cairns all the way to west coast Australia, and landed in Perth. While in Perth we took in a "footy" game (australian rules football, a highly entertaining cross of soccer and rugby). The team mascot was named from a Bon Jovi song. We spent most of time in Fremantle just outside of Perth, where we enjoyed the nearby beaches and fish and chips. I took a torchlight tour of the former max security prison there, and Mark hung out with David Brent (his clone anyway).

Great Barrier Reef

2007-04-12T23:26:00.000-04:00

We made it to the Great Barrier Reef after Melbourne, where we all went scuba diving!! The reef is amazing, and the best place I've ever dived (with my impressive 6 dive resume). Lori swam with a turtle while snorkeling. In other news though, Lori has left to return home after Cairns and the Reef, so the trip is back to only Mark and I again. She will be missed.

Melbourne

2007-04-01T02:05:00.000-04:00

After saying farewell (for now) to New Zealand, we flew back to Australia and visited Melbourne. We celebrated St Paddy's out in Melbourne and Mark and Lori continued celebrating all night as they had added bonus of staying in a dorm with 11 Irish travelers. We just missed the Grand Prix there, but still got to see the Ferrari exhibit in town. We also checked out the zoo where Mark almost got knocked over by a kangaroo rushing by to defend his woman from a rival kangaroo.

Zorb!

2007-03-27T21:36:00.000-04:00

Once we made it back to the north island, we decided it was time for something completely different. So we decided to zorb together! Look at the pictures, the zorb is that giant ball at the top of the hill. All three of got in the middle with a little water inside to make footing difficult. We then rolled the ball down the hill from inside (I mean we just got it started and gravity did the rest from there). The chaos and hilarity ended when Mark landed a leg drop from the top ropes on Lori and scored the rare and unnecessary 10 count pin to win.

More South Island

2007-03-21T06:55:00.000-04:00

After surviving our sky dive, we took on puzzling world where we had to leave Lori behind when she couldn't find her way out of the maze to the car. From there we headed to Queenstown, the adreneline and party captial of the south island of New Zealand for a couple fun nights and adventure filled days. Next we saw the incredible sights on the way to Milford Sound, including the Mirror Lakes. Finally we toured Cadbury chocolates (yum!) and Speight's Brewery (burp) in Dunedin before heading back up to the north island.

3---2---1---Bungy!! (what?? bungy is a number)

2007-03-18T07:44:00.000-04:00

Well I did what many come to New Zealand to do.... I bungy-jumped! I hadn't planned on doing it when I signed up for this trip, but after sky-diving I was looking for a new thrill. This definitely provided it, b/c I had to take the plunge myself. (whereas with skydiving your tandem partner does the jumping for you) Also I went without either of my travel companions who were interested in other activities.

I decided to bungy in Queenstown (the adventure capital of the world). And I decided to do the "Nevis Highwire Bungy" which is the tallest in New Zealand at 440 ft. It's called highwire for a reason, you jump from a gondola suspended on a wire over a huge gorge with a river at the bottom. You get about 8 seconds of free fall before you bounce back! It was heaps of fun! The pics don't do it justice.

You'll notice in the pics that I go through the usual phases of bungy. Excitement, nervousness, relief.

Funny Picture Post

2007-03-18T06:59:00.000-04:00

Here are a few pics that we've taken over the course of the trip. We find these to be funny, and maybe you will too. The first 3 pics are of all of us modeling our extremely well-fitting work clothes. Dave is working on obtaining a job as a model for Abercrombie, Lori could fit lots of extra towels for the guests in her pants, and my shirt doubled as a sail when i wasn't using it. The next 3 pictures are examples of New Zealand creativity. They literally call everything "____ shop". Lori has been taking pictures of these shops to add to her already started collection, and these are a few of our favorites. The next two are from our acrobat day. If you look closely at the one with Lori swinging on a trapeze, you'll see me in the background on a tightrope. (about to fall off after taking only one step :) Next, is a picture of how windy it was when we took a cruise out in the bay. You'll note my gut is fully exposed. The last two are my favorites. We decided to have a little fun with a statue in our room. I put my glasses on him and he then magically resembles my friend Jaymin. Next, the statue (Jaymin) treated us to a guitar solo. (it looks like he has a mustache and is looking at his finger placement) Hope you enjoy!!!

Oops I did it again

2007-03-10T00:28:00.000-05:00

Got lost in the game, jumped out of a plane...

That's right baby, I went skydiving again and this time dragged a pair of Schraders with me (or was that dragged by a Schrader...). Sky diving is so great. I can't stop smiling for the next 4 hours after a jump, and my adrenaline continues well after the jump.

Driving on the Wrong Side of the Road

2007-03-07T23:43:00.000-05:00

Road Trip!!! From Picton we rented a car to head around the South Island, as Mark and I learned how to drive when everything is backward. We went to Blenhiem for a day of wine tasting at the various vineyards in Malborough. This region is known for its Pinot Noir and Sav Blancs. We also saw the Abel Tasman coastal walks and the Pancake rocks as we made our way to the west coast and headed south. Mark and I conquered blue ice when we went glacier climbing on the Franz Josef glacier with pick axes and crampons, I never knew I could look so coordinated on ice.

How do you tell a north american driver in NZ? They turn on the windshield wipers when they make a turn.

Lori Weighs In

2007-03-01T05:57:00.000-05:00

A bit from Lori...After finishing our long stint of working in Paihia, we headed back to Auckland. Here we met up with my friend Cheri and some of her buddies from Florida, Kajal, Palvi and LaTisha. It was great having some female companions after travelling with the boys for so long. In Auckland, amongst other things, we went to the Minus 5 Bar which was very "cool". Everything was made of ice including the glasses and seats, brrrr.

From Auckland we flew to Wellington. Here we visited the Museum of New Zealand (Te Papa), rode a cable car, went to a film archive, visited the botanical gardens and enjoyed some karaoke in the evening. We all really liked Wellington and if we didn't find jobs in Paihia, we were going to work here.

After our stay in Wellington, we took the morning ferry down to Picton where we will begin our journey on the South Island.

Just a couple side notes...Here they call restrooms, toilets and you get funny/confused looks if you ask for the restroom. Next, one of my concerns as a backpacker was getting caught in a room with a loud snorer...little did I know I'd be travelling with one. I'll let you all guess who that might be, you've got a 50% chance.

Hole-in-the-Rock, Whales and time to move on

2007-02-21T00:58:00.000-05:00

Our last big adventure on a boat was a dolphin/whale watching trip and Hole-in-the-Rock.
We saw whales, and they also took the boat through Hole-in-the-Rock with the King's afternoon cruise. Wasn't a sailboat this time much to Mark's disappointment.

For our next adventure, Mark and Lori will be joining the circus as a brother/sister flying trapeze team, and I've been working on my jousting in case they ever bring American Gladiators back.

In other news we're quitting our jobs and going back to backpacking around again. We're heading to Auckland this weekend and then we'll make our way to south island New Zealand from there.

Cape Reinga

2007-02-14T23:39:00.000-05:00

Another day off of work and another adventure. This time we hopped an Awesome Adventures bus headed to the northern most point in New Zealand, Cape Reinga. We visited a Kauri tree forest, which are the very large trees native to New Zealand. Here's a picture of me standing in front of one of the smaller ones. We also went sandboarding, which was the highlight of the trip for me. We saw the lighthouse at the Cape and spent some time at the beach before heading back to Paihia.

Sailing On The Edge

2007-02-11T00:28:00.000-05:00

We're not letting actually having to work interfere with having the time of our lives though. We spent a bay off sailing around the bay on a catamaran called On the Edge, and went kayaking and hiking when we stopped at one of the islands. Nights are spent hanging out with new friends in Paihia, at one of the 5 places that have nightlife here.

Paihia

2007-02-04T23:14:00.000-05:00

We arrived in Paihia and decided we liked it here quite a bit and would stay awhile. To support our sailing habit (its not cheap), we decided to get jobs. All three of us are currently working at the same hotel, Scenic Circle - Bay of Islands. Lori is working as waitstaff (in the hotel restaurant) and housekeeping, and usually works both positions in the same day. I'm being lazy and only working in housekeeping, and usually volunteering to get cut from the shift first. Mark is working as porter & waitstaff & housekeeping & gardener and practically lives at the hotel. I think next week he's starting shifts in reception, cook, and night watchman. I think he has to wait two more weeks before his first manager shift, which would mean he's tried every position at the hotel I'm aware of.

In addition to working, we also decided to take a break from hostel life for a bit. Dorms and tandem bikes are exciting and all, but sometimes you need a break. Lori and Mark are staying in the staff house for the hotel with 4 other flatmates. They have to go over a large hill to get to work/town everyday, but they have a great view from their back balcony out over the bay.

I moved into a place creatively named the whitehouse. I'm at the top of the hill overlooking the bay, check out the view from my front porch that I get to see every morning. I have 7 other flatmates, and yes, I have noticed I'm using British English in this post.

Kiwi Kountry

2007-01-31T00:49:00.000-05:00

Hello again and greetings from sunny New Zealand! From Sydney we flew over into Auckland, New Zealand, and after a few days there we decided we had enough of the city and it was time to head to the beach. After having difficulty finding a cheap car rental, we found Matt and Elese, two Canadians staying in our Auckland hostel were heading north as well. We hitched a ride with them in the station wagon they had just bought from another backpacker the day before and took off for Paihia, in the Bay of Islands in Northland, New Zealand. See the picture for how we expertly packed 5 people, their bags, and camping gear and food in the wagon. On the way up we stopped off and went through glowworm caves before arriving at the beach. The Canadians managed to buy a car that dings at you when you're going over the speed limit on the highway, which provides endless laughter on a 4 hour drive. We're staying at the beach now, stayed tuned to see if Mark will ever get a tan...

My Impressions of Sydney

2007-01-13T23:07:00.000-05:00

Well we spent two weeks in beautiful Sydney, Australia and we all enjoyed it. Our first night was New Year's Eve which was fun. They put on the best fireworks show I've ever seen. We also spent a few days at Manly Beach which is a beautiful beach. I've been trying to run (exercise) as much as possible, and running on the footpaths along the beach is beautiful. Everybody seems to run in Sydney so it makes it easier to motivate myself. The sun is very intense and I have to be careful with my freshly shaven bald head. The prices here have also come as a shock to us all as we're having a hard time finding a place to eat out for less than about $9 USD, so we're cooking as many meals as possible which is nice.
After staying in Manly moved into the city and are staying in a part of the city called Woolloomooloo (love the name!) Here we're staying in a huge 4 story hostel. We like it here because it's very close to the Royal Botanic Gardens (the most beautiful gardens I've ever visited) and it's close to the heart of Sydney. (I run by the Sydney Opera House everyday) We stayed here a little over a week and did a lot of things. We have spent a lot of time in the nearby gardens, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney Fish Market, Sydney Aquarium (very impressive), tour of the Opera House, saw an Opera (La Traviata) at the Opera House, visited Admiralty House (the Govenor General's House), visited Kirribilli House (the Prime Minister's house), saw street performers at Circular Quay, walked across the famous Sydney Harbour Bridge, visited the world-famous Bondi Beach (HUGE waves the day we were there), Australian National Maritime Museum, and I'm sure I'm forgetting a ton of other things.
Now, we're off to New Zealand to find jobs in order to support our insatiable travel habit. Wish us luck!

My New Hair-do!

2007-01-13T23:03:00.000-05:00

Well despite my best efforts to have long hair for once in my life, I couldn't take it any longer and decided to cut it all off. I didn't cut my hair once in South America and had planned to go for the "surfer look" while travelling for a year (when else am I going to get the chance), but it's just too hot and I can't take it! So Dave and Lori both helped me cut my hair. (gotta remember the budget) It started off with Dave and I using the scissor tool on a couple of pocket knives to cut it, but that was a slow process so Dave went out and bought real scissors, while Lori helped with the scissors in the meantime. Cutting the rest with a disposable razor didn't take long at all. (I've always wanted to shave my head) Overall, I like it, but I doubt I'll keep it like this for long. I could be in for some painful sunburns....

Happy New Year!!

2007-01-01T18:38:00.000-05:00

And we are underway again!! We rang in the New Year in style in Sydney, Australia down by the harbor watching the fireworks. Here's a picture of how excited Lori was as we counted down the seconds to 2007. I like Sydney so far, but we're having a bit of shock at the prices here after being in South America for so long. Sydney is more expensive than DC so far, but we'll find a way to pinch pennies soon enough.

Merry Christmas and South America wrap-up

2006-12-25T22:12:00.000-05:00

Merry Christmas everyone!!

We're now back in NC for the holidays. Finished the South American leg of the trip off with some time in Buenos Aires where Hulya joined us. We watched a tango show and also watched Boca Juniors (famous Argentine club soccer team) play in the final game of the season and squander a chance to win the league title with a 2-1 loss to Lanus. After two months in South America, Mark and I can sing "Hips don't lie" backwards as a great duet next time we're at karoake.

Mark and I are getting ready to start the Australia and New Zealand portion of the trip, and Lori (Mark's sister) will be joining us for this portion of the trip as well. We'll be in Sydney, Australia for New Year's Day, posting will resume afterwards. The adventure resumes, and until we bring sexyback sometime in 2007 have a great year!

SCUBA certified!!

2006-12-15T17:32:00.000-05:00

I went to Puedro Madryn on the Atlantic Coast of the Argentine Patagonia, and finally finished my SCUBA certification!! You heard me talk about SCUBA diving nonstop for a month, you may have even wished I would swim with the fishes as some point, and I'm finally SCUBA certified, and a card carrying member at that. Highlights of the dives included diving a wreck and seeing a sea lion.

In my element

2006-12-03T13:37:00.000-05:00

From San Pedro we headed back to Argentina, and went to Mendoza first. Mendoza is in the heart of Argentina´s wine producing region, and after all of the hiking I was looking forward to relaxing and tasting wines. Of course, to make sure the whole day wasn´t relaxing we biked from winery to winery. Our favorite place was the one that made chocolates and chocolate & fruit liquors. And yes, we liked the wine too.

Surfing the desert

2006-12-01T16:55:00.000-05:00

From the beach we took on the desert next. San Pedro de Atacama in Chile is the driest desert in the world, and the perfect spot for me to try to learn how to sandboard. Having never snowbaorded before, I was surprised how quickly I mastered going down the dunes. Or something like that. Other things I do in the world´s driest desert are stay out of the sun during the day, and party with locals at the free festival and concert one night.

On to Chile

2006-11-25T15:20:00.000-05:00

From Arequipa we boarded a bus (naturally, its how we roll down here) and headed to our last new country on the continent for this trip, Chile. After we experienced a wake up call by a "earthquake" shaking our building and waking us up (we were on the top floor of the highest building we could see in the area), we made our way to Iquique, Chile. Iquique is a city on the beach that apparently Chile is trying to build up as a beach resort destination, there´s even a part of town that sells duty free merchandise, including cars.

Activities for Iquique included the beach, the casino (where we tried our luck at subsidizing the cost of the trip with a little income), and we watched the Departed for $4 dollars apiece, which we thought was a great movie.

Also, this is where we spent Thanksgiving. As you all know, they don´t celebrate this holiday on this continent. Since I hadn´t seen turkey on a menu since arriving in South America, I didn´t spend much time looking. My big Thanksgiving meal this year was a chicken cesear salad, where the cesear dressing is actually just straight mayo.

Arequipa, Peru and Colca Canyon

2006-11-23T12:55:00.000-05:00

After the Inca Trail and Machu Picchu, we headed to Arequipa with Diedrick and Dane. Since I hadn´t had enough hiking from before, we decided to hike nearby Colca Canyon for two days. Our English speaking guide was a aprox 17 year old kid who introduced himself in English in front of his parents (who fed us breakfast) and then didn´t speak English to our group again the next two days.

After hiking down into the canyon and crossing the river twice, we spent the night at the Oasis where we could swim and play soccer, and ate our spegetti dinner outside in the light rain. We woke up at 3am the next morning and hiked up out of the canyon and back to where we started for breakfast again. From there we took a bus to the place where we watched the condors take flight in the morning. Afterward we took the bus back to Arequipa. Diedrick left for Lima, and Dane, Mark, and my plans to spend to night out partying were dented by finding out that because the nationwide elections in Peru on Sunday, the town was going dry. We preserved and found places willing to serve, but it was a quieter night than we expected.

The Inca Trail and Machu Picchu

2006-11-19T16:05:00.000-05:00

Day 2 of the Inca Trail was a brutal day of hiking that started at 5:30am. We started by getting our tickets to enter the trail, and crossing the river at the control point to get in. Impressively, my ticket had my name spelled wrong, wrong age, and they switched Mark´s and my passport number, but despite the closer scrutiny we were allowed to continue.

Our group consisted as 8 tourists, 1 guide (Henry), 1 cook, and 4 porters. The porters carry the food, tents, etc., and us tourists only had to carry a bag with our personal things, sleeping bag, and sleeping mat. The other tourists in our group consisted of Dane from Canada, Diedrick from Holland, and Mark and Michael from England. Lastly we were rounded out by Phillipe and Veronica, a couple from Belguim, which included the only girl in our group.

On the first day of hiking the trail the different groups get spread out over a bunch of different campgrounds. There are 500 tourists allowed on the Inca Trail each day. Our group had camped farther away from Machu Picchu than the rest of them, so on Day 2 we had to hike all the way up to Dead Woman´s Pass and down to the next campground, where almost all of the groups spent the second night. For the first part of the hike our group stayed together, but when the sun came out we really got spread out as everybody moved at their own pace. After a long lunch, we hiked the last way to the pass which was 2 hours of constant uphill\upstairs hiking to the top. 6 out of the 8 of us completed it in an hour and caught the group ahead of us, and then we waited over an hour for Diedrick and Michael to make it to the top after stopping for rest every 6 steps.

On day 3 we also got up at 5:30am, and we were making good time through the easier part of the trail and the ruins along the way that we decided to go all the way to Machu Picchu today. After lunch at the last campsite before Machu Picchu (this place actually had a store and hot water), we hiked the rest of the way through the Sun gate to Machu Picchu for sunset and then down to the nearby town of Aguas Caliente. Sore after 3 days of hiking, our group headed immediately to the hot springs in town to relax. After a few hours there, we head to a restaurant where we spent the night to have a spectacular dinner where our cook showed he knew how to use a kitchen when one was available. After being couped up in a tent for 2 days, we headed out into town for some drinks and even some dancing. On the way back to the restaurant, Dane, Diedrick, Mark, Mark and I challenged some locals to a 5v5 soccer match after finding some guys playing on a short concrete field. After falling way behind early, we finally started to click and tied it up before losing 9-8. After that I got an hour of sleep before heading back to Machu Picchu the next day.

Henry gave us the tour when we arrived, and then all of us tourists except Michael climbed to the top of Wayna Picchu, the adjoining mountain next to Machu Picchu. After hiking back to town we spent the day there before heading back to Cuzco on the train and bus.

Welcome to Peru*

2006-11-19T14:11:00.000-05:00

From Copacabana, Bolivia we pushed on into Cuzco, Peru. Cuzco is a city in Peru from where it is easy to get to a lot of nearby Inca ruins. Cuzco was our base from which we did some white water rafting, and then started trekking along the Inca Trail for 4 days to reach Machu Pichu. The first day we hiked 10 km along the river before setting up camp for the night. They were having a celebration on Saturday night where we camped, where we watched a 5 v 5 soccer tournment on concrete, listened to a small band play while people danced, and drank moonshine poured out of a gasoline container. More on the Inca Trail and Machu Pichu in a later post.

Also, if anyone has read any good books lately (long books too), I´m taking recomendations for reading materials before I head off to Australia or New Zealand, you can just email me with them directly.

*BYOTP

Copacabana, Bolivia

2006-11-11T18:52:00.000-05:00

From Salta we strung together some bus and train rides to get all the way up to Copacabana, Bolivia on the shores of Lake Titicaca, which is the highest lake in the world. And sure enough, Captian Mark and Captain Indiana Tang sailed the highest lake in the world.

The locals rent their boats down by the shore. After selecting the most sea worthy sailboat from the 10 or so available, we survived the walk across the shaky pier and boarded (one of the kids helping us embark fell between the pier and the boat). Being veterans of sailing HobieCats at Wrightsville, we intially wondered what we had gotten into when we saw what was involved in sailing the vessel. However, after rowing out through the other boats anchored near the pier, we got through the 12 step process of getting the sail up and were cruising the lake like the experienced vets we are in no time.

We also hiked on Isla de la Sol or Island of the Sun, where Inca legend has it that the Sun god arose here. We saw a few Inca ruins here along the hike, and enjoyed a late lunch overlooking Titicaca.

We also learned that some things are different at high altitude. For example, when baking at high altitudes you have to watch the oven, or you will burn your brownies. I´d like to thank Lori for warning us of this before we burned anything baking.

Halloween

2006-11-08T18:48:00.000-05:00

Halloween didn´t seem to be a big holiday in Argentina. There were a few stores that had a small selection of masks or costumes, but that was about it. We spent the evening in downtown Salta, and went out later and I only saw 3 kids dressed up. My favorite costume of the three was the kid who wore a scream mask, Argentina soccer jersey, and carried an axe. I´ll have to celebrate it next year.

Salta, Argentina

2006-11-07T22:09:00.000-05:00

Leaving Iguazu, we headed west to Salta, Argentina next. Salta is a base point for a lot of outdoor activities in the surrounding areas. We rented mountain bikes to go up to La Caldera and then up to a nearby dam to go swimming. After I was exhausted after 20 km of uphill riding (Salta is in a valley, so anywhere you go is up from the city), we discovered the road to the dam was closed and headed straight for La Caldera. We ate a late lunch at a ranch hotel restaurant where I enjoyed the best $3.66 steak I´ve ever had, and afterward they let me swim in their pool so I didn´t miss out on swimming just because the dam road was closed.

Iguazu Falls

2006-11-04T16:35:00.000-05:00

We saw the Argentina side of Iguazu Falls next. After a late start due to the bus issues, we spent the entire day at the falls hiking the various trails and seeing all the falls there were to see on the Argentine side. This was the most crowded and touristy place of the trip so far, we were shoulder to shoulder with other tourists the entire hike to the Garganta del Diablo, which was the most powerful of the many falls at Iguazu. Since my pithy descriptions can´t do Iguazu justice, pictures will be posted soon.

Concordia, Argentina

2006-11-04T16:07:00.000-05:00

From Salto we intended to head up to Iguazu Falls. We took a boat across the Rio Uruguay to Concordia, Argentina to catch a bus to Puerto Iguazu. Upon arriving, we found out we could spend the day changing buses 3 times to get there, or take an overnight bus direct. Since Concordia also had hot springs, it didn´t take long to make this decision. The information desk informed me that bus number 7 went to the termas (hot springs). What I wasn´t able to distinguish with my Spanish is that bus number 7 with a sign for termas went there. The bus number 7 we hopped on dropped us off on the road when it turned around, and the driver told us to walk straight until we saw it on the right. Two miles of walking through the blinding sun later, I was enjoying myself at the hot springs for a second straight day.

The overnight bus to Puerto Igauzu was a bit late, but it started great with dinner and Pirates of the Carribean 2 subtitled into Spanish. However, after going to sleep I woke up freezing and with the air conditioner dripping water on my head. After moving seats and falling asleep again despite it being 30 degrees, I woke up to find out that the bus had broken down at 4am. They moved us onto a new bus (much more comfortable tempature wise), and we finished the trip only arriving 2.5 hours late after all. Upon arriving, we no longer had backpacks under the bus, so we foudn a nice cheap hostel while they told 30 minutes for the bags. 75 minutes later we got our bags. Hopefully this will be the worst bus ride of the trip, and it really wasn´t too bad in hindsight.

Salto, Uruguay

2006-11-02T14:49:00.000-05:00

We left Colonia on a 5:55am bus to head to Salto next. My plans of sleeping were quickly dashed when the bus filled with high school kids about 50 mins later. Everytime I thought the bus was full, another group of four got on and they were all over the aisle and armrests and they were wide awake and chatty. The bus finally let them off at what looked like the middle of a field from my seat, and naturally I slept the rest of the way.

Salto is a town near some hot springs (Termas de Dayman) that we spent the day at. It had about 7 different pools, and thankfully 2 of them were covered so we didn´t get burnt by the sun. We´re still yet to see more than 5 minutes of rain on this trip. I tried the Asado here, which is barbeque (thanks Jackee). We also actually stayed in a budget hotel for the first time, here´s Mark enjoying tv in the room for the first time, appreciating a telenovela.

Tentative Itenerary

2006-11-01T11:29:00.000-05:00

Ok, this is our complete plan for the South American leg of our journey. Some of this we´ve already done and some of it we haven´t. We´re attempting to stay flexible so it is subject to change.

October 15 - Buenos Aires, Argentina

Colonia, Uruguay (sleepy little town where Argentineans vacation)

Salto, Uruguay (town famous for hot springs nearby)

Puerto Iguazu, Argentina (huge complex of waterfalls)

Salta, Argentina (central location for going to many outdoor activities)

La Paz, Bolivia (highest capital city in the world)

Copacabana, Bolivia (fun/touristy town on the shores of Lake Titicaca)

Puno, Peru (town on the shores of Lake Titicaca)

Cuzco, Peru (base location for most trips to Machu Pichu and other ruins, we plan to hike to Choquequirau)

Arequipa, Peru (outdoor activity town)

San Pedro de Atecama, Chile (backpackers hotspot in northern Chile)

La Serena, Chile (beach town)

Mendoza, Argentina (city in the heart of Argentina's wine region. It came highly recommended)

Santiago, Chile (capital of Chile)

Head south through the Lake District of Chile (no specific towns chosen yet)

Bariloche, Argentina (mountain town in the Lake District, trekking, rafting, etc.)

Bahia Blanca, Argentina (beach town on the way back to BA)

Mar Del Plata, Argentina (high-end beach town for the wealthy of BA)

Pinamar, Argentina (popular BA beach town weekend getaway)

Buenos Aires (we´re hoping to get back here in time to spend a week or two here)

As you can tell we´re doing a big loop. (forgive any spelling errors) I´ll try my best to edit this as we go with any deviations from "the plan". I´m also going to try to post a map later. (the computer isnt cooperating right now)

Colonia pics

2006-10-31T14:40:00.000-05:00

Here are pics of me in a park in Colonia, and the ´parade´I mentioned in the post below...

Buenos Aires Pics

2006-10-31T13:47:00.000-05:00

Pics are up. Here´s one of Mark downtown, Mark catching up on today´s news and myself in front of the president´s palace.

Other random things include about 95% of people in Buenos Aires smoke (my best guess of course); this will be Philip Morris HQ when things get too hot for them in VA.

Also, thanks to uncle bob for giving the 411 on Lopez below.

Random and Extremely Interesting Facts

2006-10-31T13:41:00.000-05:00

The thing that I love best about my readers is that they are such good listeners. I decided to do a quick and short entry on random items that you may be interested hearing about. Here we go...

27 lbs - Weight of Dave´s backpack (I told you we were packing light)
20.5 lbs - weight of my backpack (light, light, light)
85 cents - cost of a liter of the local beer
85 cents - cost of a very cheap bottle of wine
$1.25 - cost of ravioli and tomato sauce when we make it ourselves (enough for 2)
$6 - average cost for a night in a hostel so far (cheapest is $5, most was $7)
Machu Pichu - single item I projected to be my favorite thing before i left on the trip
Iguazu Falls - single item Dave projected to be his favorite thing before he left on the trip
Chile - country i projected to like best (we´ll see)
Argentina - country that I now project will be my favorite
Shantaram - name of the book i´m currently reading (this book is excellent, i can´t put it down!)
2 - number of times i´ve done laundry in our first 17 days of travel (although i´m due)
Rummy 500 & Poker - card games we´ve played to pass the time. (Dave owes me about $6 currently)
16 - number of days it took before my Dutch skin got sunburned. (happened yesterday while we were mountainbiking. I thought for sure this would happen sooner)

The biggest single thing I´d like to improve at is getting better about talking to other travelers as well as the locals. My Spanish is enough to get me by but I have a difficult time understanding others. The only way I´ll improve though is if i try to talk to more people. (it´s a real pickle)

Anyway, like I said, this would be a short entry, but hopefully you found it entertaining.

Colonia de Sacremento, Uruguay

2006-10-30T18:57:00.000-05:00

After Buenos Aires, we took a boat across the channel to Colonia, Uruguay. I chose Uruguay solely because I didn´t tell anyone I would be going there and I wanted to throw the paparatzi off of my tail. Colonia is a former fort that is a now a tourist town on the ocean. After spending the first night wondering why it seemed like there were plenty of people there, but no one went out at night, I finally learned that the nightlife on this continent doesn´t start until around 1, which is a big change from VA\NC as most of you know. Watched the town ´parade´of two dancers and 4 drum players one afternoon from the park. Met my first other American travelers here, so far Germany travels best on this continent.

Regarding technical difficulties with the camera, the biggest problem is using slow conections and computers that still have floppy disk drives. Look for some picture only entries to tie back to the text only entries once I find some more modern equipment. Why can´t there be a hostel with both tandem bikes and high speed internet? It´s a brutal life on the road I tell you.

Concerning Accomodation Selection

2006-10-27T18:13:00.000-04:00

Due our large following of readers, I thought I´d try to describe a few of the things that are now part of our everyday life. I asked myself "What do our millions of readers want to know about us?" and after figuratively putting myself in the shoes of several million people, I came up with the answer... I will describe the boring and mundane aspects of how to go about choosing our nightly accomodation!!
For starters we begin by consulting the all-important guidebook. (an essential item to say the least) The guidebook that we selected to get us through the South American leg of our journey is Lonely Planet: South America. (from here on to be known more efficiently as "LP") LP is very useful in helping us to decide which part of town we want to stay in. When deciding on an area LP tells us how close we´ll be to sights, bars, restaurants, etc. The only problem with LP is that it is so comprehensive and well-respected (no I don´t own LP stock) that every backpacker is also using it. As a result, it is not uncommon for an LP recommended place to raise their prices upon the recommendation being published.
The type of accomodation we are usually staying in is called a hostel. I know what you´re thinking ¨What´s a hostel?¨. A hostel is an alternative to a hotel that usually caters to the budget traveler. Most hostels have dorm style rooms (more than 3 beds to a room), kitchen facilities, and shared bathrooms. (this lifestyle is not for everyone) Think summer camp except without the bug juice.
What do we look for when selecting a hostel? There are 3 main factors: cheapness, affordability, and price, in that order. (hey, we´re on a tight budget ok?) We usually view several hostels, which means we do quite a bit of walking around. We will ask to see the room (the pic at the top is an example of a typical dorm room). Most hostel dorms contain 6-8 beds. We generally go for the rooms with fewer beds, as the rooms tend to be quieter. (we recently made the stupifying realization that we´re not 21 any more) We also will examine the kitchen facilities. We look for them to be clean and well stocked with important items like a large pot, strainer, and can opener. (for our regular meals of pasta and tomato sauce) Bathroom cleanliness also is important. Besides location these are the 3 most important factors. I intend to devote another entry on other hostel ammenities.(eg. internet, bicycles built for 2, a pool, etc.)
Once each of us has an idea of which hostel we want to go with, we hold hostel discussions that go something like this:
Mark: So, Dave, which place did you like best?
Dave: I liked Hostel A because it offers bicylces built for two.
Mark: Hmmm, well I liked Hostel #2 because it had free high speed internet which enables me to keep our millions of readers informed on our daily happenings. How strongly do you feel about Hostel A?
Dave: I´m 60-40 towards Hostel A.
Mark: Ok, well I´m only 55-45 for Hostel #2, so we´ll go with Hostel A.
(please note: Dave´s affinity for bicycles built for 2 is the reason we haven´t been able to make more blog entries)
In the event we can´t break a tie using the aforementioned civil method, then we´ve agreed it shall come down to fist-a-cuffs. When/If this happens, I´m sure we´ll devote an entire entry to this. (hopefully complete with pics and videos)
Well hopefully this entry has gone a long way toward quenching your curiosity on how we decide where to stay. Stay tuned for the next exciting entry where Dave will address the myth that south of the equator a flushed toilet spins counter clockwise...

Buenos Aires

2006-10-24T18:14:00.000-04:00

Spent almost a week in Buenos Aires after landing in Argentina. There has been a lot of activity in our neighborhood in just first few days we´ve been here. First, people were in the streets when they moved the body of Peron, who was a former president most of you would know as Evita´s husband. I also saw Evita´s grave where she was mummified. When we went by the presidental palace, they were having a rally regarding freeing one Julio Jorge Lopez, who is a political prisoner from what I could tell from the banners but haven´t had time to google yet. Police were present in force, but there was no violence during the rally. It seems like there is a reason people are rallying in the streets here every other day.

I´m having technical difficulties with the camera at the moment. I do intend to post pictures once I get it working again.

The trip begins!

2006-10-19T16:40:00.000-04:00

Greetings from Argentina!! We arrived safely on Sunday morning. Now that I´m here I can finally disclose the real reason we chose Argentina -- Mark can now get cheap surgery to replace the missing hair from his bald spot to reclaim his youth (see picture). I was questioning whether I was welcome here when I got nailed by bird poo during the 6 block walk from the bus stop to the hostel, but things only got better from there. 4 out of eight people in the room were still sleeping at noon when we checked in, apparently they have quite the Saturday nights in this neighborhood. The locals are unusually friendly here, and I spent Sunday walking through an art festivl in the neighborhood (San Telmo in Buienos Aires). My Spanish is as malo as ever, if that changes I will let you know.

Myspace and your space

2006-10-10T08:32:00.000-04:00

So my dad found out I have a myspace page the other day. I set up the myspace page when I was looking to set up a blog for the trip, because someone had told me you could host blogs there. I didn't use it as a blog because my pictures are too big for myspace, and I like this site much better as a blog. However, myspace seemed like a good way to keep in touch with people while on the road, so I didn't close the account. However, I've only told two people I have the account (both of which use myspace), and had another two people find me on it.

So dad mentions he found it when I'm eating dinner with my parents. I tell him that it seems like a cool way to keep in touch with people, but when you look at a myspace page it tells you how many friends you have on myspace. I mentioned that instead of just saying I only have 5 friends, it might as well print LOSER in bold across the top of the page. At this point mom chimes in "You don't need the internet to tell you're a loser." Ummm, thanks mom.

So now I think I'm going to try to use the myspace account. I know some of you reading this have myspace accounts as well, so please take a minute or two to add me as a myspace friend and I'll use it on the trip.

Next post will be next week from Argentina.

Evening Festivities

2006-10-09T23:25:00.000-04:00

The festivities also continued into the evening. Since I don't have a clever story at the moment, I'll just post a few pictures. I will say if McDonald's is going to have a limited late night menu, they should indicate such on the drive thru menu. Waiting until I order something to tell me it isn't a choice after hours is not efficient, and leads to impatient people who had a bad night shift at work yelling at you from the car behind, like she hadn't fed in 2 days or something.

Last Supper

2006-10-08T22:54:00.000-04:00

Well I'm back in North Carolina now, and our families had a big dinner on Saturday since we'll be gone by next weekend. Mark said his dutch relatives would be in attendance, but they didn't make an appearance at this meal either. I will certainly miss the food while I'm eating beans and rice over the next few months.

We went over the trip and how to pack for it (light, light, and with less weight). Also talked about some of the odds and ends will be bringing on the trip (guess who's bringing business cards). Of course, the spotlight was stolen by Sara (pictured), but she always steals the show.

Farewell VA

2006-10-05T19:02:00.000-04:00

I said goodbye to VA last weekend, and I'm now getting settled back into Raleigh until I leave next week. Thanks to everyone who came out and put up with my sign language for the night; I lost my voice that day and trying to scream only came out as a whisper for the night. There's still a lot to do before flying out to Argentina, but nothing that can't be handled in a week.

Intro of Mark

2006-09-20T11:56:00.000-04:00

Dave has done a good job summing up the trip. I can't believe we're actually going to do this! I quit my job working at Wachovia several months ago in June 2006 and moved back to Raleigh to work in the family biz for 4 months before departing on the trip in October. We leave October 14th and are going to travel up to a year or as long as our budget holds out. We will try to make this blog as interesting as possible so that people besides Dave and me actually view it.

Please let us know what sort of things you enjoy hearing about. If you want to see more pics of Dave with his shirt off, let us know. If you want to hear more about Dave's struggles with the Spanish language, let us know.

One of my goals is to visit all 7 continents and this trip will help me achieve that goal. We'll have been to 5 of 7 and possibly 6 of 7 if we go to Egypt.

Our overall goal is to try/experience new things. So along the way we may try to work, volunteer, meet locals, try local cuisine, hitchhike, write a book, learn to sail, make new friends, gain new perspectives, and so much more. This blog is where we plan to chronicle our journey.

As Dave said feel free to leave comments or email us.

"This suspense is terrible, I hope it will last." - Oscar Wilde
Ultima Thule

Intro

2006-09-18T10:06:00.000-04:00

Welcome to the travel journal!! (Or blog if you prefer). This will chronicle the around the world trip of myself (David), and Mark, who will introduce himself in a later post. For those of you reading the journal who have only met one of us, the quick background for this trip is we've been friends for basically our entire lives, and we've been talking about taking this around the world backpacking trip ever since we spent almost four weeks backpacking through Europe after graduation. Mark is also indentifying himself with a sign in the picture to the right of the post, which makes me the guy on the left.

Well, now the trip we've been talking about for years will finally commence as we fly to Argentina on October 14. The quick overview of the trip is we will be going to Argentina, Chile, and Peru first. From there we'll head to Australia and New Zealand. Next up is Thailand and Southeast Asia. Finally we'll wrap things up in eastern Europe before heading back to the good ol US of A in a year. If this type of travel interests you and you'll be in the neighborhood of our trip, be sure to track us here and let me know.

This blog has a comment feature under each post, so in addition to email you can also directly comment on anything that's posted here. My last day in Virginia is Sept 30 when I lose my apartment; I'll spend the remaining time before departure in NC.

2006-09-12T11:39:00.000-04:00

Testing 3 2 1...

Starting up

2006-09-11T13:45:00.000-04:00

T minus one month and 3 days until liftoff...