| August |
back to top |
| 8/3/01 |
Florence |
| Drove our newly acquired Peugeot 505 GR station wagon from Siena to Florence, with Coral Tolisano. Spent the day wandering Florence. Saw Michelangelo's David, a truly amazing work- neither of us had known how large the statue really was. We ate watermelon from a street vendor before hiking several hundred hand hewn stairs to the top of the duomo (Santa Maria del Fiore). Amazing view. We also visited a medieval bridge (Ponte Vecchio, the oldest in Florence) covered with shops that sell gold jewelry . Wonderful sunset view from the bridge. |
| 8/4/01 |
Rome |
| Met Jim Tolisano at the airport, and dropped off ICONS' gear to be shipped to the states. We drove to our hotel near the Vatican, the Hotel Adriatic, and got our room, which we shared with Jim and Coral. Went for an early evening walk to the main shopping district. Saw the Pantheon. Had dinner in Trastevere at a very friendly restaurant. Wonderful dinner. Saw a movie at a theater that shows films in English. |
| 8/5/01 |
Rome |
| Tried to take Jim and Coral to the airport in the Peugeot but the car battery died. So, they took a cab instead, and we toured Rome on foot. Explored Roman ruins, including the Colosseum. Ate Chinese food for dinner. After two months of Italian food, it was nice to have something different (don't misunderstand, Italian food is wonderful!). |
| 8/6/01 |
Rome |
| Recharged the battery at service station. Tried to get new headlight for the Peugeot, but would've had to wait several days. |
| 8/7/01 |
Rome/coast-Sabaudia |
| Left Rome and headed south. First real day of touring with the Peugeot. It was dark when we pulled into our beach side spot, near Sabaudia. Wooden stairway led down to the beach. It was peaceful sitting on the stairway listening to the ocean crash in the dark. Uncomfortable first night in Peugeot. Seats did not fold down evenly and left large bumps under our backs. Not enough padding. Steady traffic of people pulling in to parking lot to "make out". But we slept, and for free! |
| 8/8/01 |
Sabaudia/grotto/Veroli/Collepardo |
| Shopped in Sabaudia for thicker padding for our bed. Success! Drove inland on secondary and tertiary roads towards mountains and grottoes (caves), Jeff's new obsession. Beautiful drive, but the exhaust fumes were terrible. Visited our first Italian grotto, Grotte di Pastena. Grottoes are amazing places. Narrow corridors and vast chambers filled with multicolored pillars, stalactites and stalagmites. Very cold and quiet but for the sound of water dripping and the twittering of bats. After the cave visit, we continued inland and into the mountains. Stopped in the beautiful town of Veroli for a beverage and a walk. Camped in a practically deserted campground near Grotte di Collepardo (the last almost empty campground we'd encounter until Lisbon). |
| 8/9/01 |
Mountain/grotto touring |
| Visited Grotte di Collepardo. Grottoes start to determine our direction in travel for awhile. Continued our leisurely touring on back-roads, working our way towards Parco Nationale D'Abruzzo. Camped in parking lot of Grotta di Verrecchia. Accompanied by cattle grazing nearby. The sound of the bells around their necks was melodic and soothing. This sound would accompany us on many more evenings in the mountains of Italy. Parking lot doubled as a helicopter landing pad. |
| back to top |
| 8/10/01 |
Grotto/D'Abruzzo |
| Visited another cave, Grotta di Verrechia. Drove to Parco Nationale D'Abruzzo. Beautiful mountains, but too many people, so we continued south through the park, and made tracks on the autostrada towards Calabria. Camped in Peugeot on top of a mountain above the town of Marcone. Beautiful, wind-swept landscape, with sheep and shepherds with their dogs protecting their flock. Amazing night. |
| 8/11/01 |
Marcone/Pompei/autostrada south towards Pollino |
| Drove down from the mountain-top, passed a ruined medieval castle, then on through Marcone, towards the autostrada. Figured out why it is NOT a good idea to drive the Peugeot through the "centro storico" (historic center). Barely made it through the VERY narrow streets of town, with a little guidance from the locals, and a lot of laughter from the cops. Drove south towards Parco Nationale del Pollino, and the wolf project. Stopped in Naples to see the ruins of Pompei. Got terribly lost, but survived the crazy driving of the Naples region intact to enjoy a thorough touring of the ruins. Very cool. Slept in a hotel along the autostrada a good way south of Naples that we jokingly dubbed the "Mafia" hotel, due its large scale and dubious prospects. Great to shower after days of camping and hours of walking through the volcanic dust of Pompei. |
| 8/12/01 |
Autostrada to Pollino/Castrovillari |
| Made it to Parco Nationale del Pollino. Exhaust fumes continue to be nauseating, so we decide to take the Peugeot to a mechanic in Castrovillari, the nearest big town to the wolf project. Since it was Sunday, we camped near town so we could go the mechanic early the next morning. Slept in the car up a deserted road, with a beautiful view. Saw a fox run across the road. |
| 8/13/01 |
Pollino |
| Peugeot mechanic says, from what we can determine with our inadequate Italian, that the Peugeot is too old to fix -- no parts. Bummer. We drive out to meet the folks at the wolf project. Met Elisabetta, Marco (who left that night for time off in Rome), Silvio, Alessandra, and the rest of the crew. Very nice people. Communication was a little difficult, since Elisabetta was the only one who speaks much English, and our Italian is very lacking. But we communicated pretty well, considering. Went with the crew to do "wolf-howling" that night. Heard one wolf respond to the simulated howls our CD player and loud-speaker put out, and Jeff and Silvio heard pups! Exciting. Also freezing. Saw a fox. Slept in our new room at the project house. |
| 8/14/01 |
Pollino |
| Jeff tries his hand at sorting wolf scat (feces), a process involving tweezers and a lot of patience. A big part of what the students do deals with scat: collecting it, sorting it and analyzing it. They also use radio collars to track some of the wolves. Radio-collars, along with scat collection, tracking in the snow and "wolf-howling," are used to locate the wolves and determine their home ranges and movements. Scat analyzation is used to determine what the wolves are eating. Wolves in Italy have, since the ending of legalized hunting and an unsuccessful effort by the government to eradicate them, made an impressive increase in population, and are spreading throughout the country, all on their own, without reintroduction! Pollino is one of the areas continually inhabited by wolves, and continues to be a probable source for their spread throughout Italy. |
| 8/15/01 |
Pollino |
| Hung out at the house, visiting with the crew, asking questions about the project, and observing their work. In an attempt to solve the exhaust problem, Jeff put duct tape over every place where fumes could get into the car from the engine. Also experimented with window settings (open and close ratios). The result seemed successful, but further testing would be needed. Cooked dinner for everybody, then broke out the bottle of Havana Club. Ended up drinking the whole thing between the five of us (Elisabetta, Silvio, Alessandra, Jeff and Meg), even though we were scheduled to get up early the next morning for an all day hike to look for scat and set up "wolf-howling" stations. Had a great time, singing and laughing. |
| 8/16/01 |
Pollino |
| Woke up with hangovers, but got out of bed anyway. Headed out to our mountain-top hike, stopping on the way to check on a project truck being serviced, and at a beautiful little town. Eating crackers helped somewhat with the nausea, but Jeff wasn't doing too well until the driving over curvy, mountain-side roads was over. We spent the rest of our day hiking, taking coordinates on the gps unit and checking our location on the topo map, looking for scat, and enjoying the amazing views. Made it back to the house late that night, and slept quite well. |
| back to top |
| 8/17/01 |
Weekend trip to coast |
| Drove to the coast for a weekend trip. Very crowded. That night we escaped the frantic coast and parked in a church parking lot on a mountain-side, overlooking the coast and the lights of the towns below. Soon found that it was another popular spot for Italians to "make out." After settling in for the night, we noticed smoke coming from the hill below us. Turned out to be a fire forming by the side of the road 50 meters below. Having seen the devastation of fires throughout Calabria, we grew alarmed. The fire grew steadily so we decided to move the car to a safe location. It was dark and our headlight didn't really work so we couldn't go far. We watched the fire engulf some trees, and it appeared to be getting out of control. We decided to try and alert people to the problem. After thumbing through the Italian dictionary for the word for fire, "fuoco", Jeff went the house most threatened by the hillside blaze and rang their bell. A terrified old lady answered rapidly in Italian as Jeff warned "fuoco...fuoco!". She obviously wasn't going to do anything so we left her alone. Jeff stopped a passing car and they promised to call the authorities. Fire department never came. Police never came. After engulfing a dozen trees or so, the fire petered out, just another char spot amongst many in the mountains of Calabria. Finally went to sleep, after pulling back into the church parking lot. Felt very bad for the fright Jeff gave that poor old lady. |
| 8/18/01 |
Mountainous coastal highway/Fellito/Roccadaspide |
| Woken up very early by cleaning/maintenance man for the church. Leisurely drove north along the coast, leaving Calabria, traveling through Basilicata and into Campania, enjoying the scenery of the amazing coastal mountains dropping abruptly into the Mediterranean. When the coastal mountains started tapering off, we drove inland towards the higher elevations. Stopped in Fellito, Campania, for lunch, and a hike and swim in the river canyon at a World Wildlife Fund site. Discovered rocks along river were covered with tiny frogs! Continued north through the beautiful cliff-top town of Roccadaspide, to a campsite on top of a mountain above the town of Castelcivita. The duct tape and window settings seemed to help a lot with the fume problem and brought it into tolerable range. |
| 8/19/01 |
Grotto/Paestum/Pollino |
| Visited the Grotta di Castelcivita, with our own private tour! Very nice cave, but the really cool stuff (we were told) was closed for repair to the light system. Next, we drove to Paestum, 7th century BC Greek ruins on the Gulf of Salerno, then headed back south to Pollino. Ruins were great! Three massive temples surrounded by a myriad of smaller ruins. Drove back to Pollino. |
| 8/20/01 |
Pollino |
| Megan tries her hand at sorting scat. |
| 8/21/01 |
Pollino |
| Pizza! Allessandro, a friend of the crew and also a student with the University of Rome studying wildlife, cleaned the wood-fired pizza oven, made a traditional pizza pan with long handle out of spare kitchen items, and everybody got ingredients together to make pizzas. It was great fun, and tasty too. |
| 8/22/01 |
Pollino |
| We got ready to leave the project house and head south for Sicily, but heavy rain prevented us from leaving. Spent a rainy day reading, cleaning and listening to music. |
| 8/23/01 |
Coast/Sila Massif |
| Weather broke, so we got back on the road, after a sad good-bye to our new friends. We drove to the far coast, on the Ionian Sea. Stopped to see the Roman ruins of Copia. About mid-day, as we were heading south along the coast in the middle of nowhere, we were surprised to see a very large prostitute, wearing lingerie, waving at us from the side of the road. Did we just see that? As we continued towards the next town, we saw half a dozen or so more freaky looking prostitutes doing business along the road. It was all just so bizarre and out of place. The coast was too crowded for us, so we headed inland and uphill, winding our way through the Sila Massif, a beautiful mountain range near Cosenza in Calabria. We spent the night on one of the mountains off an old dirt road. The sunset was bright and red and beautiful. Both of us had scary dreams that night. Weird. |
| back to top |
| 8/24/01 |
South towards Sicily |
| Continuing our way south towards Sicily, we spent the day driving secondary roads through mountains, along the coast, and back into the highlands again. The mountains are much more attractive and clean compared with the coastal areas. People also don't seem as poor in the higher elevations, but not necessarily because they have more money, just a better quality of life. After driving up a mountain, on a very narrow, very scary road, we found a campsite in some Pines, and watched another beautiful sunset after fixing the Peugeot headlights. There seem to be a lot of flies this time of year, everywhere. |
| 8/25/01 |
Ferry to Sicily/Taormina/Mount Etna |
| We finally made it to Sicily! We spent some time lost in Reggio di Calabria, the major port city of southern Calabria, but found the ferry terminal and took the short ride across the straight to Messina, Sicily. We didn't hang around in Messina, although it didn't seem like a bad place, but drove directly to Taormina, a picturesque hill-side town, full of tourists, and boasting the ruins of a Greek theater with an amazing view out to sea and of Mt. Etna. Unfortunately, Mt. Etna was fogged in, but the rest of the view was incredible. After a pizza lunch in Taormina, we made our way to Mt. Etna. It was similar to trying to find Pompei, with less traffic (none, actually), but we did reach the base of the most recent eruption (the end of the road), where we stayed (in a hotel). Lovely hot water bath. You appreciate things more when they're rare! |
| 8/26/01 |
Mt. Etna |
| We woke up excited to check out the volcano, but were unable to take the tram up to the top because the eruption (which we missed by about two weeks) had taken it out. However, we were able to hike up through the cooled lava flows to a vent, steaming hot air into the foggy afternoon. The lava rocks around the vent were brightly colored from the sulfur in the steam. The sky broke loose with rain as we headed back down the mountain, and we were soaked by the time we got to the car. We ate a huge lunch at the hotel buffet, and then got back on the road, heading south. Found a campsite near the base of some radio towers, outside of the town of Buscemi. Finding campsites in Sicily is hard -- too much development (mostly agricultural). |
| 8/27/01 |
Siracusa |
| Spent the day in Siracusa, checking out Greek and Roman ruins, including the fort of Castello Eurialo, built in the 5th century BC by Dionysius the Elder, which is partially made up of caves, and the Parco Archeologico, which holds the Ear of Dionysius (a prison carved from natural caves into the shape of an ear) and Greek and Roman theaters and anfiteatros (where gladiators fought). Also checked out Ortigia, the lovely old town, with its beautiful waterfront and architecture, including a church built out of a Greek temple to Athena. Jeff bought insect screening and made velcro on/off window covers to keep the bugs out of the car at night. Another big improvement in Peugeot living. Camped in radio-tower-land again. No bugs bothered us. |
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| 8/28/01 |
Caltagirone |
| Drove to Caltagirone, a city reknown for its ceramics and ceramic artisans, and walked around the quaint old town, including up the 142 steps of Santa Maria del Monte, tiled by local artists. We checked out the shops and studios filled with beautiful works, and then made our way to the Giardino Publico, which contains an interesting tiled gazebo. After intense searching, settled on a campsite in a field near an old castle. Slept great. |
| 8/29/01 |
Agrigento-Valle dei Tempi/Palermo |
| Went to Agrigento to tour more ruins. The Valle dei Tempi ruins are impressive, and we were glad we stopped to check them out, despite the oppressive heat and swarming crowds. Drove to Palermo, and plopped down in the lovely Joli Hotel. What luxury! And a shower too. Boy were we ready for a shower! |
| 8/30/01 |
Palermo |
| Couldn't just do one night in the Joli, so we stayed another day in Palermo, wandering around town, and relaxing in our room. Palermo is an interesting and complex city. Modern, yet rotting, Beautiful, yet ugly. A study in contrasts. |
| 8/31/01 |
Ferry back to Calabria |
| Left Palermo, driving north towards Messina and a ferry back to the mainland. What beautiful water this part of the Mediterranean has! The Ionian Sea has the prettiest, but the Tyrrenean Sea on the north side of Sicily is also quite spectacular. After ferrying back to Calabria, we drove north on the autostrada, camping just before dark off an old dirt road on a mountain side. As the sun set, thick fog came in to shroud the mountain. Clouds swirled around us, while openings to the clear night sky full of stars and the bright silver moon passed overhead. It was an amazing experience. |
| September |
back to top |
| 9/1/01 |
Rome |
| Made it all the way to Rome. Of course we decided to stop in Rome again, since we had missed the Sistine Chapel and the Vatican the last time. The hotel that we ended up being able to get was far too expensive, but it was in Trastevere, a hip and happening neighborhood, and we got to see a movie at the English movie theater. |
| 9/2/01 |
Rome |
| As it turned out, by the time we got through St. Peter's, the Sistine Chapel was closed! What a bummer. Will there be another chance? Drove north to Siena, and camped in the Alto Merse Nature Reserve. Heard the craziest noises -- grunting and such. Wonder if it is a wild boar. Most likely, but sounds like a monster (grendel). Creepy and yet fun. |
| 9/3/01 |
San Giovenesse/Siena |
| Rented the casina (cottage) at San Giovannese for the night, and headed into Siena to run errands and see the duomo, which Megan hadn't seen. Quite beautiful. Returned to the Peugeot to find that the trouble we'd been having with the ignition was now permanent -- the car would not start. After taking as much apart as we could, to no avail, we abandoned the car, took ALL our stuff out, and took a cab back to San G. Nice staying in the casina, all alone, but San Giovannese is slightly creepy when no one is around. |
| 9/4/01 |
San Giovenesse/Siena |
| Got the casina for another night, and took the bus into town to see if we could save the Peugeot. We were not ready to give up on her yet. The auto club very nicely helped us, even though we are not members, and called a mechanic for us. We met him at the car, and he diagnosed a broken ignition. Well, I could'a told him that. But, what they DID tell us, that we weren't sure of before (remember the encounter with mechanics about the exhaust leak and our car being too old to get new parts?), was that they could replace the broken part, and in just a few hours. Yeah! And it didn't break the bank. Brought Peugeot back to San Giovannese with her new ignition, and cleaned her out in preparation for the next leg of our journey That night there was a big rain storm. Shutters banged and slammed late into the night. |
| 9/5/01 |
Italian autostrada/Switzerland |
| Got on the road about 11 AM, after getting all packed back into the car. Drove north on the autostrada to Switzerland. Found a great mountain-top campsite, but realized it was a Military Ordnance zone after Jeff went for a walk and found spent ammo shells and parachute flares! Hightailed it out of there, and ended up in nice secluded grassy spot instead. Saw a beautiful fox. |
| 9/6/01 |
Swiss Alps/Interlaken |
| Drove through three absolutely breathtaking mountain passes in the Alps on our way to Interlaken. Snow had fallen the night before on the peaks, so there was a dusting of white on the gray rocks and bright green grass. One of the best things about traveling is you never really know what lays ahead on your path. We had no idea we would get to see such beauty on our drive this day. The earth is an amazing place. Found a cute hotel in Interlaken, decorated like grandma's house. Nothing was level, there was lace all over, and it was just perfect, in a crooked sort of way. Quite cozy. Got to watch BBC prime (a language we can understand!). |
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| 9/7/01 |
Interlaken/France |
| Drove on the freeway (can't remember what they call it in Switzerland and France) via Geneva to France. Found a very nice forested, mountain-side campsite near Lyon. Got rained on that night. Lots of flies again. |
| 9/8/01 |
France/northern Spain, near Barcelona |
| Drove across France and into Spain. France is expensive. We have decided we think taxes should pay for freeways -- we don't like toll roads. Took a bad, bad dirt (and large rock) road to camp outside of Barcelona in the foothills of the Pyrenees. Not sure Peugeot will be the same She started making new, and not so happy, sounds. Lovely view from our campsite, but hope campsites aren't this hard to come by in the rest of Spain. So many signs marking "private property." |
| 9/9/01 |
Touring near Barcelona |
| Tootled around side roads, checking out the area. Camped near a monastery, surrounded by cork trees. Very private, peaceful and beautiful. |
| back to top |
| 9/10/01 |
Barcelona |
| Cold morning sponge bath. Brrr! But definitely worth it. Drove into Barcelona, and walked down La Rambla, the main street. At the end of La Rambla is the harbor, where we went to the aquarium to see what lives in the Mediterranean Sea. Some very colorful and interesting creatures. Camped off a dirt road in a National Park outside of Barcelona, just south of the city. |
| 9/11/01 |
Spanish autovia/Andalucia |
| Made for Andalucia, in the south of Spain, via autovia. Toll roads are not our friends, but they sure are faster than secondary roads when you want to make tracks. Andalucia is very beautiful. Reminds us of the American Southwest. Very glad to be here. Started taking secondary roads through some of the more scenic areas, and found a campsite up a dirt road on park land. Seems there is a bit of replanting going on in Spain. Peugeot overheated, but not until we had reached our campspot. How very nice of her. Went for a walk before dinner up the hillside. High desert ecology. Came back to the car to find carnivorous wasps eating dead insects from the front of our car. Weird. Enjoyed a beautiful sunset. |
| 9/12/01 |
Grenada |
| Woke up to a beautiful sunrise. What a great camping location -- we got both a pretty sunset and a pretty sunrise. Driving towards Grenada, on our way down the mountain where we had camped, we came across a huge, Moorish-style 16th century castle. The view of the castle from the mountain-side was impressive. Got a private tour, as we were the only ones there, and as it turned out, we were very lucky, because it was Wednesday and the castle is only open to the public on Wednesdays. Cool. Continued on to Grenada. Tried to go to the Alhambra, "one of the greatest accomplishments of Islamic architecture," but tickets were sold out. And the crowds were awful. Did laundry in a funky place (Why don't they let me do it myself?). Met a friendly woman from Texas, Durean Volk, at the laundry mat. Wonder if she's related to Frances Volk? Stranger things have happened than to discover relatives while traveling. Grenada has cute downtown area that we wandered around. We checked email, and learned of the terrorist attacks. Shocking and tragic. Found camping after dark up steep dirt road. Bathed. |
| 9/13/01 |
Gibraltar |
| English - yeah - weird town though. Drove around the rock. Went to the movies - Swordfish depressing after terrorist attacks. Pub food (fish and chips). Strange, expensive hotel with English tv. Watched news. Ugh. The reality of the attacks sinks in a bit more. |
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| 9/14/01 |
Ronda, Andalucia, Spain |
| Left Gibralter. No working ATM in Gibraltar, so we had to pay in pesetas, and got ripped off on the exchange. Drove to Ronda, Andalucia. Checked into the Hotel Morales -- very cute, cozy and cheap. Ate Chinese for dinner. Began spending a lot of time on the internet, since access is very cheap. Slept well in the Hotel Morales. |
| 9/15/01 |
Ronda |
| Decided to stay in Ronda awhile, awaiting the world's reaction to terrorist attacks. Spent the day in town, checking email and news on the internet, eating a huge late lunch, having crepes and tea at Moroccan-style cafe, and resting. Spent another restful night at our new favorite hotel. |
| 9/16/01 |
Ronda/grottoes |
| Took a short drive out of Ronda to Cueva del Gato. The cave was closed to public, but had a beautiful swimming hole. Drove down the road to another cave, the Cueva del Pileta, and waited an hour and a half to get in. Cave was filled with prehistoric drawings. Very cool, and worth the wait. Spent the night at Hotel Morales again. |
| 9/17/01 |
Ronda |
| Spent the day wandering town. Discovered that our main destination this day, the Arab baths, are closed Mondays, but we were not too disappointed, since Ronda has plenty of beautiful sights. The town is built on two sides of a canyon, with a bridge joining the old town to the new(er) town. The views from town are breathtaking. Another night in our cozy little nest at the Hotel Morales. |
| 9/18/01 |
Ronda/Sevilla |
| Finally tried churros con chocolate. Yum. Drove to Sevilla for the day. Toured the Alcazar (Moorish and Spanish palaces) and garden, Bario de Santa Cruz (old Jewish neighborhood), Cathedral and La Giralda (Mosque's Minaret). Beautiful architecture. We like Sevilla. Returned to Ronda for the night. |
| 9/19/01 |
Ronda |
| Another day in restful, quaint Ronda. |
| 9/20/01 |
Ronda |
| Yet another lovely day in Ronda. Getting lots of internet time in while staying here. |
| 9/21/01 |
Morocco |
| Decided to go to Morocco. Took a pre-dawn train to Algeciras, on the coast of Spain, and then a ferry to Tangier, Morocco, then a train to a small town south of Tangier, Assilah. Morocco is very poor compared with Spain. Spirits were high, at first, because we were finally in Africa! Four very persistent hustlers and many not-so-friendly vibes later, and we weren't sure we wanted to be in Morocco after recent terrible events. Ugh. Had a great couscous and chicken dinner, dirt cheap. Stayed in a simple, but decent hotel, Hotel Andalus. |
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| 9/22/01 |
Morocco/Ronda |
| After being warned by a local to say we are from somewhere other than the US (impossible at hotels because they have to see your passport) because some folks in Morocco don't like Americans, especially now with the threat of bombing against Afghanistan, we decide we will check out Morocco some other trip. It just didn't feel comfortable. We returned to Spain, and arrived in Ronda, our peaceful haven, late that night, and were lucky enough to get a room again at the Hotel Morales. |
| 9/23/01 |
Ronda |
| Began planning an alternate travel route after the aborted trip to Morocco. Jeff worked on photos, preparing them for the website. Stayed at Hotel Morales. |
| 9/24/01 |
Ronda -
Hotel Morales |
| Jeff spent a lot of time working on photos. Stayed at Hotel Morales one last night. We'll miss it. |
| 9/25/01 |
Sevilla |
| Drove to Sevilla, which was on our way to Portugal, and did laundry. Great place does it for you relatively cheap in an hour! Best laundry deal of our whole trip. Beautiful drive to campsite north of Sevilla, but all fenced land. Camped in dry riverbed. |
| 9/26/01 |
Algarve, Portugal |
| Drove to Portugal, through Algarve region. Beautiful. Stopped in Tavira -- lovely little town. Algarve is beautiful, but we avoided the heavily touristed areas. Found a camp site on logging roads, outside of Monchique. Rained that night and next morning. |
| 9/27/01 |
Sintra |
| Arrived in Sintra with heavy fog. Checked into a bed and breakfast (Isaura's) arranged through the tourist office. Ate Indian food!! Yummy! |
| 9/28/01 |
Sintra |
| Hot shower! Heavy rain. Read in bed until the rain slowed. Walked around Sintra. Beautiful. Drove up to Moorish castle. The fog was incredible. It felt very medieval going up the winding, tree-lined road to the castle. Spent another night at Isaura's B&B. |
| 9/29/01 |
Sintra/movies |
| Peugeot does not like starting after rain. But she finally came around. We walked around Sintra after breakfast, and toured through a lovely botanical garden, before leaving Sintra. Headed towards Lisbon, but side-tracked by a mall with movie theaters (with movies in English!) Watched a double feature of Planet of the Apes and A.I. It was fun. It was dark when the movies got out, so we had to drive in the dark, which is sort of painful with only one headlight, and it took forever to find a campsite. Before we went to the movies, we finally got a back-up system for our photos: we bought CD burner. We also finally took the back seats out of the car, which was a wonderful improvement in space and comfort. Had to sneak them into a dumpster on our way to find a campsite. Ended up finding a lovely spot overlooking the ocean, and slept well, if not enough. |
| 9/30/01 |
Lisbon |
| Drove into Lisbon, and checked into the campground. The best campground we've seen so far on our trip. It also helped that it was almost empty. Washed clothes by hand, but it rained that night and they wouldn't dry. Set up CD burner. Went to Jeronimos' monastery, and toured the waterfront across from the monastery. Drove along the waterfront of Lisbon. Ate Chinese. Slept well while it rained. |
|
| October |
back to top |
| 10/1/01 |
Lisbon |
| Rain Day -
read in car all day. Junk food
dinner. |
| 10/2/01 |
Lisbon |
| Peugeot balked at starting up again because of the rain, but she's a trooper. Wandered around the Baixa area of Lisbon, ate roasted chestnuts and washed laundry (expensive). Baixa Baixa is old, decaying, and dirty but historic and beautiful. Meg got interviewed on camera by university students during their "rush." Left Lisbon, and headed towards Spain. Had a difficult time finding a camp spot, but ended up on a dirt road by a prehistoric stone monolith. The field across the road held very cute lambs and sheep. Took a full moon walk to the monolith. Rained again that night. |
| 10/3/01 |
Evora and Elvas, Portugal/Merida, Spain |
| Stopped in the lovely town of Evora and spent some time sightseeing: chapel of bones, archeological dig, Roman temple, aquaduct. Had a picnic in a field with tall oaks on our way west. Stopped in Elvas, a walled city near Spain. Beautiful. The driver's side window wouldn't shut, but we "fixed" it. Can't open it any more, but at least it closed. Left Portugal and drove to Merida, Spain. Walked around the streets of Merida, and ate Chinese for dinner. Slept in a rotten hotel in Merida, Hotel Bueno. Hotel Bueno no es bueno. |
| 10/4/01 |
Trujillo/Toledo |
| Woke early to get the show on the road, and to make sure there would be hot water for a shower. Had our coffee and tea and left Merida. Drove to Trujillo, a beautiful town with a lot of medieval architecture still in pristine condition. Trujillo is also the town that Pizarro comes from. Still a nice place, though. After checking email and making a tasty lunch, we continued on to Toledo. After checking into the "El Greco" campground, we wandered around the wonderfully preserved old city, checking out the swords and knives that Toledo is known for, as well as gold crafts. Toured the beautiful, huge church. |
| 10/5/01 |
Toledo/Madrid |
| Woke up late, and the showers at "El Greco" weren't very good, but we were clean and rested when we headed for more touring of Toledo. We went to the Monastery San Juan de los Reyes first, then wandered around the streets of the city again. We left for Madrid in the late afternoon. Stopped in Madrid for churros y chocolate and a stroll around Plaza Mayor, then drove north to sleep at a beautiful spot on the side of a mesa. Went for a walk and discovered a cave. Rained that night again. |
| 10/6/01 |
On the road north/Mesa country |
| Woke up to more rain, but Peugeot wasn't too ornery about it this time. Drove to a small town, Jadraque, for groceries and donuts. Stopped at the cave, to check it out more thoroughly with a flashlight. Very cool, several chambers, evidence of past habitation. Drove North. Stopped to take photos of mesas, mesa top ruin, adobe town and sheepherder south of Santa Maria de Huerto. Stopped in Santa Maria de Huerto for coffee and tea and to write postcards. Continued north through beautiful red earth mesa country. Found a campsite off a dirt road south of the Pyrenees. Beautiful cliff top spot overlooking valleys of farms and medieval towns and mountains. Saw a large scorpion. |
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| 10/7/01 |
Andorra/France |
| Woke to an amazing view of the valleys below. Continued driving north towards France. Decided to go through Andorra. The Pyrenees were quite impressive as we drove north through Spain, but by the time we got to Andorra, they were not as rugged. Although Andorra is a very small country, it took a very long time to cross, between traffic in the main city of Andorra La Vella, and delays due to a major back-up at the border. We finally made it through and into France, and found a nice campground with a friendly owner, in Err. |
| 10/8/01 |
Villefranche de C./Cote d' Azur |
| On our way towards the Cote d'Azur, we stopped at the lovely walled town of Villefranche de C. to wandered around. After driving the freeway from Perpignon, France, to Toulon, we took secondary roads along the Cote d'Azur. The scenery didn't really start to get impressive until after St. Tropez. But, boy, did it get impressive! Beautiful red rock shores and turquoise waters. Had to find a camping spot in the dark, and after looking for too long, and finding the campgrounds shut for the night, we ended up with a perfect spot on a dirt road in the mountains just inland from the sea and west of Cannes. |
| 10/9/01 |
Cote d'Azur/Italy |
| Continued on secondary roads through Cannes, Nice and Monaco, and into Italy. Stopped for a picnic lunch at a beach in Menton, and took a swim. Beautiful. After crossing the border into Italy, we got back on the autostrada and made tracks to Siena. We arrived after dark, but found our spot in the Alto Merse Nature Reserve without any problems. We could hear the crazy wild boar grunting again. It's hunting season, and we saw and heard lots of hunters. Rained again that night. |
| 10/10/01 |
Alto Merse/Siena/San Giovannese |
| We stopped at San Giovannese, and were in luck to find them still open. Got a room in the main building, then headed into Siena to do laundry, go to the travel agent and get on the internet. After returning to San Giovannese, started getting things together to travel without the car. Packed some things to leave with ICONS and some things to send home and threw some stuff away. Aired out sleeping bags and clothes. Had San G. all to ourselves that night -- it was very quiet, sort of eerie. |
| 10/11/01 |
Siena/San Giovannese |
| Spent the morning working on the website and getting ready to go. Went into Siena in the afternoon for groceries and other errands. Made a wonderful dinner of tortelini with pesto, baguette with brie and olives, baby-greens salads and red wine. It was great to have access to a kitchen after months of road food and eating out. We made sure to enjoy the bath tub thoroughly -- you never know when we'll see one next. Stayed up too late working on the website. |
| 10/12/01 |
Rome |
| Got our stuff packed, mailed our package to the US from Rosia, and headed for Rome. Once in Rome, we found our hotel, checked in, dumped our stuff (which we have too much of), and brought the Peugeot to Luigi at the University of Rome. It took us too long to find his office, so we barely made it in time to see him before he had to go to class, but we gave him a bottle of port we brought from Portugal, and left him the car. What a sad good-bye with Peugeot. She was so wonderful to us. We will really miss having the Peugeot. I think I'm going to cry now. . . . . . okay, I'm better now. After leaving the car (sob!), we went back to the hotel to regroup. Later, we walked to Trastevere (we were smart and booked a room in a cheaper part of town this time) to eat dinner and see a movie. Took a cab back to the hotel because it was late. Slept very soundly. |
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| 10/13/01 |
Rome |
| Walked to the Vatican Museum, to finally see the Sistine Chapel. Our luck was on, because it was open (you never know when they could have an unforeseen closure). Huge museum. We had to walk about ten miles (seemed like it with all the crowds) to get to the chapel, but it was worth it. Amazing. The rest of the museum was interesting, too. We were mostly interested in the Egyptian exhibits and the early Roman stuff. In the Egyptian section, we got to see a mummy, sarcophagi, cuneiform tables and statues of gods such as Anibus, the jackyl-headed god of the underworld. Unfortunately, the Etruscan exhibit was closed. Walked back to our hotel, and promptly collapsed on the bed and fell asleep for a couple of hours. After waking from our naps, Jeff headed out to look for a duffel to put the stuff we strap on our backpacks in for our flight tomorrow to Athens, but didn't have any luck. Megan spent some more time working on the website. |
| 10/14/01 |
Rome/Athens |
| Flight to Athens. It was uneventful. Arrived in Athens and took the bus and metro to our hotel. Ate gyros and Greek salad for dinner and wandered around the base of the Acropolis. It is beautiful at night with all the lights. |
| 10/15/01 |
Athens |
| Toured the Acropolis and went to the National Archeological Museum. Acropolis is under repair and covered with scaffolding. Archeological Museum contains the best collection of Mycenaean art anywhere. Incredible. Ate baklava. Also incredible. |
| 10/16/01 |
Naxos |
| Got up bright and early to catch the 7:30 AM ferry from Piraeus to the island of Naxos, in the Cyclades island group. Arrived in the early afternoon, and upon finding that the campgrounds are closed for the season, we found a pension, Pension Irene, through the tourist information center. The rooms have kitchenettes, so we could cook. How nice. Walked around town and checked out the kastro (old castle area). Town is cute and very Greek -- white-washed homes with blue shutters stacked all up the hillside. |
| 10/17/01 |
Naxos |
| Jeff started to get a cold. Wandered around town some more, and checked out the Temple of Apollo, which is on a small peninsula at the edge of town. Very windy. Waves splashed over the thin walkway out the peninsula to the ruin. Too many kitty cats on this island. But they're cute. |
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| 10/18/01 |
Naxos |
| Moved upstairs in the hotel to a more peaceful room. Jeff's cold got much worse. Bought groceries so we could cook in our room. Nice. Rested and worked on the website and read. |
| 10/19/01 |
Naxos |
| Sick day. |
| 10/20/01 |
Naxos |
| Met Susan, a neighbor in the pension. Megan walked around town with Susan and ate lunch at the gyros stand. Jeff stayed in bed, sick. |
| 10/21/01 |
Naxos |
| Sunday. Across the narrow lane from our pension was a white-washed Greek Orthodox church. Several times during the day, we were startled by the cacophony of the great bronze bells that rang only a few meters from our balcony. At other times, we heard the melodic, haunting song of the priest, as the sounds of his prayers rose and fell through the neighborhood for what seemed like hours. |
| 10/22/01 |
Naxos |
| Jeff finally felt better, so after breakfast we walked down the beach and watched the wind-surfers practicing in a small, shallow cove. |
| 10/23/01 |
Naxos |
| Toured around the island in a rental car. First, we drove through the mountainous NW region. Impressive. Region in drought, so much more dry and brown than usual. Every shade of brown represented. Stopped to check out a herd of goats with their tiny kids -- got to pet one. So cute. Stopped again to pet a couple of piglets that were running around with the sheep and lambs. Also extremely cute. One of the piglets nipped Jeff when we tried to give them water, but not hard. Checked out one of the Kouros, a 7th century BC marble carving, unfinished. Photographed the many stone walls and old, ruined buildings covering the island. Walked a meandering trail in Halkia, the Byzantine capital of Naxos, to see a Byzantine church. Ate a picnic lunch under Mt. Zeus. Walked on the beach near Alyko and found a private cove to sun bathe. Ate dinner in Filoti. |
| 10/24/01 |
Naxos |
| Finished updating website! Spent all day working on it. |
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| 10/25/01 |
Nafplio |
| Checked out of Pension Irene, and caught the 11AM ferry to Pireaus. Windy! Rather stinky and cold 8 hour boat ride. Took the bus out of Athens to Nafplio, arriving late at night. Cute hotel, nice folks. Long day of travel. |
| 10/26/01 |
Nafplio/Mycenae/Sparta |
| Toured the ruins at Mycenae (circa 13th century BC). Walked around Nafplio old town and new. Cute. Took the bus to Sparta. Checked into the Hotel Cecil, and walked around Sparta. |
| 10/27/01 |
Mystras/Sparta/Athens |
| Took the bus from Sparta to the Byzantine ruins of Mystras. Hiked around the medieval city on Mt. Taygetos. Amazing. Many buildings in ruins, some partly rebuilt, and some still in use, including a nunnery. Caught an afternoon bus to Athens, and stayed at the Marble House Pension. |
| 10/28/01 |
Athens/Trikala/Kastraki |
| Took the bus from Athens to Trikala, where we checked our email while waiting for the bus to Kastraki. Got the news about Ben breaking his leg. Our poor little doggy. Continued on to Kastraki, and checked into a domatia (B&B) and ate dinner. Called home to find out more about Ben. |
| 10/29/01 |
Kastraki/Meterora/Kalambaka |
| Hiked up to several of the remaining 24 monasteries of Meterora, which are perched at the summit of natural sandstone spires. Absolutely incredible. Toured inside two of the monasteries, Varlaam and Agiou Nikolaou. It must be amazing to live in these places. Ate a picnic lunch on top of one of the spires. Bought some art work. Hiked back into Kastraki, and then walked 2 km to the bigger town of Kalambaka for dinner. |
| 10/30/01 |
Kastraki/Trikala/Thessaloniki |
| Took the bus to Thessolaniki. Had to wait until 2:30 AM for our connection to Istanbul, so we wandered around, mailed some packages, and went to see "Apocalypse Now, Redux." It was quite intense. The theater was a beautiful, red velvet affair, with an excellent sound system. Three and a half hours well spent. Drank sodas at a posh cafe/bar and read at the bus station to kill the rest of our time in Thessaloniki before our bus' departure. |
| 10/31/01 |
Istanbul |
| Bus to Istanbul took 14 hours. Crossing the border was time-consuming, and expensive. We meet some other travelers on the bus, and we all made our way together to the center of Istanbul, Sultanahmet. By the time we finally got checked into a hotel in Istanbul, it was night. We ate a delicious dinner at the restaurant next door to our hotel, the Aladan Hotel, and wandered around Sultanahmet. The Blue Mosque was quite impressive with all the lights. It was closed for prayers, so we couldn't go inside. The night was filled with the beautiful, chanting song of the call to prayer. Each mosque employs a man to call worshippers to prayer several times a day. Now amplified with loud speakers, the call was once made from the tops of the minarets so all could hear. After strolling down the Hippodrome, we walked to the Bosphorous shore and saw over the straight to Asia. Very exciting to be in Turkey.
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| November |
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| 11/01/01 |
Istanbul |
| We decided to extend our time in Turkey, so we changed our flight for the following week. We spent the day touring Istanbul. First, we went to the Aya Sophia, the Church of the Holy Wisdom, in the 6th century a Christian church, then a mosque, and now a museum. Gold leaf mosaics on the domed ceiling. After the Aya Sophia, we went to the Turkish and Islamic Arts Museum, where they have a wonderful collection of carpets, among other things. Impressive. Calligraphy of Arabic script is quite elaborate and beautiful. The museum also has an ethnographic exhibit that shows traditional homes and carpet making. Interesting. Along the Hippodrome, during Roman times a chariot race track, we saw the Egyptian column from the temple of Karnak, the Obelisk of Theodosius, with its 3500 year old hieroglyphs. Cool. We also toured the Topkapi Palace of the sultans. It was a full day of sight-seeing. Ate another delicious meal for dinner. |
| 11/02/01 |
Istanbul |
| Made arrangements for an overnight bus to Cappadocia. Visited the Blue Mosque (Sultan Ahmet Camii). We had to remove our shoes, and Megan had to cover her head with a scarf. It is a beautiful mosque. The floors are covered with prayer rugs and the walls and ceilings covered in colored, patterned tiles. The windows are a myriad of colors of stained glass. There are huge columns and enormous, low-hanging chandeliers. After the mosque, we headed for the Grand Bazaar, where we spent some time lost, wandering through the winding passages, past stall after stall of wares, including jewelry, carpets, textiles, clothes, antiques, art and much more. We did not buy anything, but did spend a little time with a carpet salesman, who was very nice, but sad when we left empty handed. Walked through the Arasta Bazaar on our way to dinner to look at more carpets. Beautiful. Ate another tasty meal before departing for the bus station and our overnight bus to Cappadocia. |
| 11/03/01 |
Goreme, Cappadocia |
| After a very long trip on a bus that was filled with sick, coughing people, we arrived in Goreme at about 9 AM and checked into our hotel. Our room, a cave that dates back to the 6th century AD, was quite cozy and cute. After resting for a few hours and showering, we met with three other travelers, two from Australia and one from New Zealand, and went on an afternoon tour with Ali, the owner of the hotel, which is his converted family home. It was a wonderful tour. We went to an underground Roman city, carved out of sandstone, which once held about 3000 people, and is one of many in the area. We also went hiking in a valley surrounded by sandstone spires and formations of many colors, including pink, yellow, brown, white and tan, and filled with the colors of fall foliage, including red leaved grape vines, with the remnants of this years harvest still on the vine. In the depth of the valley, after climbing through a narrow canyon, our guide Ali took us to an ancient cave dwelling where early Christians lived and hid. The area here is also filled with these types of caves as well. On our way out of the valley, walking through more asparagus-like sandstone spires, we passed more ancient homes and churches carved into the cliffs, one with tombs, square columns, a domed ceiling and an alter. The cliff itself contained several stories of caves -- like a high rise building. The whole day's adventure was truly amazing. Back at our own cave, the evening was filled with the beautiful music of two Turkish weddings, which drifted up the hill and in through the tiny window in sandstone room. Turkish music is lovely. Turkish doggies, however, are not, as they like to bark a lot at night. |
| 11/04/01 |
Goreme, Cappadocia |
| Woke in our cozy cave. Spent a mellow day wandering town, looking at rugs, emailing and hanging out. |
| 11/05/01 |
Goreme, Cappadocia |
| Rented a car and drove to the outdoor museum, a sandstone cave monastery and the Ihlara valley with three other travelers from the pension, one of whom was Nate, one of the guys we met on the bus from Greece -- just happened to run into him at our pension in Goreme! Had a fun day checking out sandstone cave ruins and the natural beauty of Ihlara valley. Returned to Goreme to catch an overnight bus to Safronbolu, a town near the Black Sea known for its preserved Ottoman houses. |
| 11/06/01 |
Safronbolu |
| Arrived in Safronbolu in the morning and checked into a gorgeous hotel in a renovated 150 year old Ottoman house. Spent the day touring around the beautiful town, checking out the Ottoman houses. Ate too much Turkish delight. |
| 11/07/01 |
Safronbolu/Istanbul |
| Took a bus to Istanbul after spending the morning in Safronbolu. Arrived in the late evening and checked into a hotel recommended by the travelers we met in Cappadocia. Ate Turkish crepes for dinner at the silly Cennet restaurant, where the band plays loud Turkish music and dances around the room, trying to get the diners to join in. |
| 11/08/01 |
Istanbul |
| Spent the day shopping for treasures. Bought some kilims and antiques. Beautiful. Ate dinner at a Mexican restaurant with very tasty food. |
| 11/09/01 |
Istanbul/Flight to Bahrain/Bangkok |
| Packed up and attempted to send our treasures from Turkey via UPS, but UPS never showed, so we decided to take them with us to Thailand. Took a taxi to the airport, and caught our flight. Changed planes in Bahrain for our flight to Bangkok. Lots of folks in the airport in Bahrain with cool Arab-looking outfits. |
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| 11/10-11/18/01 |
Thailand/Bangkok |
| Arrived in Bangkok at 9:00 AM, 11/10. Not enough sleep on the plane. Took a taxi into town and found a guesthouse, checked in, and napped. Not good -- it made us want to stay up late, which leads to jet lag. Wandered around the Khao San Road area in the evening -- there were vendors there selling everything from Pad Thai and curries to deep fried grubs and scorpions, massages, air tickets, bus tickets and visas, pirated software and music cd's, used books, tailored clothes, fake id's, and all sorts of other stuff. Crazy place. And smelly, too. Spent our time in Bangkok checking out the sites, including Wat Phra Kaew, home of the Emerald Buddha (actually probably jade), the Grand Palace, Wat Pho, which houses the giant reclining Buddha, and Wat Traimit, home to the recently rediscovered solid-gold Buddha. Took the Chao Phraya River Express up and down the river which afforded excellent views of river life and the city. Caught a few movies at Siam Square. Went to the National Museum, which is apparently the largest museum in SE Asia. Wandered through street markets, including China Town and the Indian district of Pahurat. On the 18th, we caught the night train to Chiangmai, in northern Thailand. |
| 11/19/01 |
Chiangmai |
| Got a songthaew (modified pick-up truck) to the Libra guesthouse, through which we would take our trek. Spent the rest of the day wandering around Chiangmai after resting and cleaning up in our room. Wanted to go to the movies, but we'd seen everything they had showing. Ate yummy food at our guesthouse. |
| 11/20/01 |
Chiangmai |
| Shopped in the day market and night market, but didn't buy -- lots of beautiful things, though, including tribal handicrafts and Thai and Lao silk textiles. Got packed and ready for the trek into the mountains of northern Thailand, near the Myanmar border. |
| 11/21/01 |
Trek |
| Took a songthaew to the trail head with the other folks on the trek -- nice group of people from all around the world. Hiked through mountain forest to the hill tribe village where we spent our first night. Had to ford a river to get there. We wandered around the village before dinner, checking out the homes, gardens and livestock, including pigs with their piglets and hens with their chicks. After dinner, the women brought out their wares to sell, mostly home-made purses and hats and bracelets. Then the kids sang songs for us and in return we lead them in a new one for them -- the hokey-pokey. Also handed out toothbrushes and colored pens and pencils to the kids. Visited several peoples' homes and watched local men smoke opium (women don't normally smoke until after their kids have grown). They have been growing and smoking opium for generations and much of their economy is based on it. Spent the night in a large bamboo and thatch house. It was a chilly evening! Never expected cold weather in SE Asia, but there you have it: there is cold weather in the mountains in northern Thailand in winter. |
| 11/22/01 |
Trek |
| Headed out the next morning on foot towards the next village. Some of the Lahu tribes-people went part of the way to help carry gear. One of the villagers sold Jeff an iron Lahu knife forged in town by the blacksmith. The Lahu religion is Animist, centered around a single Goddess Geusha. The blacksmith is a holy man who imparts magic on the knives and muskets in private ceremonies. Apparently the iron is smelted from rocks found in a nearby river. We also were given the opportunity to shoot a muzzle loaded Lahu musket. Hiked through the jungle until lunch, then rafted down a river on bamboo rafts. Saw a huge butterfly with transparent upper wings and yellow lower wings, with a gigantic body, while eating lunch next to the river -- it was the biggest butterfly we'd ever seen! At the end of our rafting adventure, which included one spill overboard for Megan, we arrived at our night's accommodation, another hill tribe village. This one was on the verge of electricity and big changes. It was a lot less intimate than the previous night's experience, a lot less contact with the folks we were staying with. But, their livestock was just as interesting to us as the previous village's, and included piglets in the yard stacked like cord wood to conserve heat -- cute. |
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| 11/23/01 |
Trek/Chiangmai |
| The last day of our trek began with elephant riding. Definitely arranged for the tourists and not necessary to get from point A to point B, but still it was a lot of fun. At the end of our ride, we fed the elephants bananas. Their trunks are so agile! Our next adventure was hiking through a very long, undeveloped cave, with bats, huge spiders and amazing limestone formations. We hiked through from one side of the hill to the other. Very cool. After lunch, we rode in another songthaew back to Chiangmai. Upon arrival at our guesthouse, we were told by the staff to bathe pronto! After three days without a shower, I guess we were a little stinky. |
| 11/24/01 |
Chiangmai/Chaingrai |
| We took a bus to Chiangrai in the early afternoon, making our way towards Laos. Shopped in the night bazaar and bought some local crafts. Realized we were missing some laundry from Chiangmai, so we called to have it sent to our next stop. |
| 11/25/01 |
Chaingrai/Chiangkhong |
| Took a bus to Chiangkhong on the border of Laos in the early afternoon. Laundry arrived in Chiangkhong not long after we did -- guesthouse had it sent up by bus. Phew. Ate grilled cheese for dinner and tried to rest in the noisy, but cute, Nam Khong guesthouse. The border town of Chiangkhong seems to be mostly just a border crossing town, with amenities for tourists and not much else. |
| 11/26/01 |
Laos/Mekong River/Pakbeng |
| The guesthouse shuttled us to the border, at the edge of the river, where we had our passports stamped "out" of Thailand, and we crossed over into Laos, where we were processed "into" the country. We were then loaded into an overcrowded cargo boat -- full of tourists. It was very uncomfortable and people were quite unhappy. Felt like we were "tourist cargo" -- pays much better than the other kind, like rice and chickens. Not what it was billed as when we signed up for this trip. But once we got going, we enjoyed the beautiful, interesting scenery (we got one of the few seats by a window, not glass, just an open space) -- jungle filled with huge hardwood trees covered in vines, banana and palm and coconut trees, fisher folk in their long wooden canoes wearing traditional pointed straw hats and tossing large nets into the water, water buffalo grazing along the riverside, thatched-roof houses on stilts, rice paddies . . . . . The guesthouse in Pakbeng, the stop-over point on our boat trip (it takes two days to Luang Prabang by slow boat) was "rustic" -- hot showers consisted of buckets of water boiled over a fire, then scooped over oneself, but it was hot water anyway and it cleaned and felt awesome after the long day in the uncomfortable boat. I understand why people here bath twice a day, what dirt! And no electricity in our room because it was newly built -- we were the first people to sleep in it. It was a very cozy, warm bed, though, which is good, because the nights are cold. The guesthouse had a pet monkey, just a little guy, and he was very friendly and stinky. Loved Jeff's fleece jacket and slept like a baby in his arms. Very cute. Dinner at a funky little restaurant was very tasty. (Most restaurants in Laos are funky, with no kitchen really, dishes done on the ground in large plastic tubs) Decided to skip the second half of the slow boat the next day and figure something else out. |
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| 11/27/01 |
Mekong River/Pakbeng to Luang Prabang |
| Spent the first part of the day walking through Pakbeng, with another guy we met who was not interested in packing into the slow tourist cargo boat to Luang Prabang. Visited a couple of Buddhist temples, and talked to the monks at one of them and went into the shrine. The temples, or wats, here have huge wooden barrel drums skinned with animal hide that they hang from their sides in small out buildings. The second temple we visited in Pakbeng also had a very large wooden bell (the size of a person). The monks wear saffron dyed robes and if it's cold, they wear yellow dyed knit caps. Most men in Thailand and Loas spend at least a short time in a monastery, about three weeks or more, during their life. All the little kids were on recess when we walked by the schools, and they all yelled, "Sabaidee!" (hello) when we passed. Some also wanted pens. This is what they say when they want you to give them something. They learned it from earlier travelers who would pass out pens to the little kids. They were very cute and friendly. At one o'clock we decided to head down river to Luang Prabang via speed boat. It was much faster than the slow boat, but also uncomfortable. The boat was flat bottomed and barely touched the water as we sped down the river. I'm glad we wore crash helmets. Stopped to give another speed boat a wrench -- seems they broke down four hours before and were still trying to fix the problem. More amazing Mekong River scenery. Arrived in Luang Prabang a little stiff from the cramped boat ride, but it only took 2 1/2 hours instead of six. Caught a tuk tuk (local equivalent of a taxi: three wheeled, noisy, stinky vehicles) into town and checked into a guesthouse, the Vannida, a remodeled colonial mansion, in much need of repairs. Luang Prabang is a very old city -- it used to be the seat of monarchial power in the region until recently, and also has many old colonial buildings. It's a popular stop on the tourist route, and there are many amenities (for Laos) including internet (SLOW) and bakeries (chocolate dipped macaroons!). The night brought down the mist and smoke settled low over the town -- most people here use wood to cook and heat. |
| 11/28/01 |
Luang Prabang |
| The morning mist was slow to burn off, and it didn't get too warm all day. Hasn't really been hot since we left Bangkok. We wandered all through the town after breakfast, checking out the old colonial architecture, several wats, a hand-made paper-making store/factory, many species of beautiful, colorful butterflies, farms across the river along the shore and the many stores selling the amazing silk textiles the women weave, as well as the different baskets the hill tribe people use for catching fish, storing rice or tobacco and carrying things -- Jeff was particularly interested in the hand-crafted old swords. |
| 11/29/01 |
Luang Prabang/Vang Vieng |
| Caught the 10 AM bus for Vang Vieng. Had to arrive by 9 AM to get seats -- extra, wooden seats are added in the aisle, but those didn't look too cozy. It was another uncomfortable day of transportation, but the road was fairly good (only had a few washed out, pot-holed spots) and the views were absolutely incredible. We went over the mountains to Vang Vieng, through many small villages. Arrived in Vang Vieng and all the tuk tuk drivers were at the bus stop to give folks a ride to guesthouses. Decided to walk, and were glad we did -- it was only a couple of blocks to the main street where everything is located. Felt bad for the people who were bamboozled into paying for a tuk tuk. Our guesthouse was very clean and comfortable and fairly quiet -- a welcome change. Found an Indian food restaurant for dinner and it was excellent. |
| 11/30/01 |
Vang Vieng |
| Spent the day exploring town and enjoying our comfortable room. |
| December |
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| 12/01/01 |
Vang Vieng |
| It finally got hot. Took a tuk tuk 6 km to visit a cave. We traveled with 4 people from Israel. Had interesting discussions about mandatory military service in Israel and the about the Palestinian crisis. The cave was wide (not deep) and beautiful, a gold reclining Buddha was in the center. After returning to town, we climbed a tall (and very steep) hill for a wonderful view of the area. |
| 12/02/01 |
Vang Vieng |
| Went on a hike to explore another cave. Beautiful walk through rice paddies to get there. We saw an incredible variety of butterflies. The cave had amazing concretions, but we only went part of the way in. Saw a huge cave spider and a cave crab. Our guide, Mr. Wong, was slightly annoying, "Stop here... looks like elephant... very beautiful...wow...number one... ok, lets go," but funny. |
| 12/03/01 |
Vientiane |
| Departed Vang Vieng reluctantly since our room was so comfortable and the Indian food restaurant so tasty, and headed for Vientiane, the capitol of Laos, in a very crowded songthaew. Three and a half very uncomfortable hours later, we arrived in Vientiane and found a guesthouse. Wandered around the city and ate dinner. Tried to check our email, but the ISP for Laos (there's only one) was down, so we had cookies instead. Not much to see in Vientiane -- it's a very under-developed city -- so we turned in early. |
| 12/04/01 |
Vientiane/Kharot |
| Spent the morning checking out the market, where they sell the beautiful hand woven Lao textiles, then headed to the Thai-Lao border. It was a rather intricate process of various forms of transport, including taxi, bus, songthaew and a tuk tuk, but we ended up in Thailand on a bus for Kharot. |
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| 12/05/01 |
Kharot/Nan Rong |
| Arrived in the middle of the night in Kharot and checked into the Thai Hotel. Guesthouses are definitely preferable to budget hotels in Thailand, as the hotels are rather institutional and noisy, but we managed to sleep and bathe, despite the loud people across the hall and no hot water. Ate breakfast at the very 'colorful' VFW hall, which was replete with three retired American soldiers drinking beer at 10 AM, several Jehovah's Witnesses attempting to speak Thai to the obviously bothered waitresses, and a few other travelers like ourselves. Breakfast was unexciting, but the experience was amusing. Our bus to Nan Rong was equally 'color full' in a different way -- loud Thai music videos playing on the TV implanted in the front of the bus, chromed rotating fans going at full speed, the back seat full of monks all dressed in their orange robes, and stops every 15 minutes, it seemed, so several food hawkers could walk through the bus to sell their meats-on-a-stick. It was great for the first 15 minutes. We were originally going to stay in Buriram, 50 km north of the Angkor-style ruins of Prasat Hin Khao Phanom Rung, but the bus went through Nan Rong, which is closer, so we hopped off there and stayed at the Honey Inn, a guesthouse run by a retired local school teacher. Off the tourist track, there weren't too many amenities for us, but we managed to eat and went to bed early in our mosquito-invested room. |
| 12/06/01 |
Prasat Hin Khao Phanom Rung |
| Took a 'taxi' -- just a guy with a truck -- to Phanom Rung and explored the restored temple ruins. Amazing. Not a huge compound, but still beautiful and impressive, and on top of an extinct volcano. The temple is still in use, only now it is Buddhist instead of Hindu. Went back to Nan Rong and got a bus to Bangkok. Decided to try out a guesthouse near Siam Square this time, so we checked into the A-One Inn and then headed for the movies! |
| 12/07-12/17/01 |
Bangkok |
| Holed up in a cheap hotel, while Megan battled some unidentified and painful tropical disease, watching B-rated American movies on the only English channel on the tube and reading used paper-backs from the hotel lobby, we made our way through ten unpleasant days in Bangkok. Feeling better after two trips to the hospital and a round of antibiotics, we plan our next move: the beach! |
| 12/18/01 |
Trat |
| Finally made it out of Bangkok -- headed to Trat, the jumping off point for the island of Koh Chang, in Southeastern Thailand, near the Cambodian border. |
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| 12/19/01 |
Koh Chang |
| Got up bright and early to catch the songthaew to the ferry for Koh Chang. After about a fifty minute ferry (really a converted wooden fishing boat) ride, we arrived on the island, and took another songthaew to Lonely Beach, in search of Sunset Bungalows -- which we never found. Ended up instead at Maggie's Place, in a very basic bamboo hut with shared bath facilities. Hiked down the beach to check out the scene, and ended up taking a taxi to the other two major beaches to do recon'. Ate a nice dinner at the very atmospheric Treehouse restaurant overlooking the ocean, and met some interesting and fun folks from all around the world, and visited well into the night while listening to what seemed like our very own CD collection (who stole our CD's?). |
| 12/20/01 |
Koh Chang |
| Hard day of laying on the beach, reading, and enjoying the sunset. Oh, life is so rough. |
| 12/21/01 |
Koh Chang |
| Happy Solstice! Spent the shortest day of the year (they all seem the same here, though) snorkeling. Saw so many amazing fish -- felt like we were in an aquarium. Jeff got a little burnt, but nothing to cry about. |
| 12/22/01 |
Koh Chang |
| Did some more reading and laying on the beach. |
| 12/23/01 |
Bangkok |
| Decided it was time to mosey and so headed back to the big city on our way south. I wonder how many hours we've spent on buses so far on this trip? If only it paid money, we'd be rich! |
| 12/24/01 |
Bangkok |
| Back at the A-One Inn, after one night in another hotel across the alley when the A-One was full. It was probably nicer, but we felt nostalgic, I suppose. Went to the movies -- they actually had some new ones out. |
| 12/25/01 |
Bangkok |
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| Enjoyed Christmas by going to the Snake Farm and watching a demonstration with a King Cobra (4.5 meters long!), several Siamese Cobras (smaller, but more dangerous) and a number of other venomous and nonvenomous snakes. The demonstration included the handlers (rather nonchalantly, I must say) stimulating the cobras to strike and show off their hoods, venom extraction (the snake farm is a part of the Red Cross hospital and produces antivenom) and feeding. It was quite exciting, especially since we'd never seen cobras before. We also exchanged our Christmas gifts to each other: Hepatitis A booster shots! Fun! And ate Haagen Daz ice cream. Went to a movie, "Dancer in the Dark," which depressed us, so it really felt like Christmas. |
| 12/26/01 |
Bangkok |
| Packed up and checked out of the A-One Inn, and headed to the train station to get our tickets for a night train to Surat Thani, where we would catch a bus for Khao Sok National Park, in southern Thailand. After buying our train tickets, we had several hours to kill, so we decided we'd ride around Bangkok in a taxi -- just kidding -- really, we wanted to go to the zoo, and did eventually end up there, after over an hour in traffic. Bangkok traffic is notorious, and rightly so: it is the worst traffic in the world (in my humble opinion) and I would think anyone CRAZY to drive in it. It's bad enough being a passenger. But, we did make it to the zoo, and weren't too pleased. Quite a few interesting animals, but the exhibits left something to be desired -- we felt bad for the animals. Too many of the animals had just steel cages -- not all, though, and some had trees and plants and earth, but not enough. On the bright side, though, we saw a monitor lizard swimming free in a lake in the zoo. Not sure if it was an escapee or just wild, but it was the most exciting part of our visit to the zoo. Well, that, and when the leopard growled at us and made us jump. |
| 12/27/01 |
Khao Sok National Park |
| Arrived in Surat Thani only two hours late, but still early enough to have some day left when we arrived at Khao Sok National Park after a couple hour bus ride. Checked into the Khao Sok Jungle Huts, where our neighbor was dealing with a "semi(??)" poisonous snake extraction from their bathroom (how wonderfully exciting). Rather lovely bamboo bungalow (not sure if it's really a part of the Jungle Huts -- it's a ways away down a path and looks totally different, and much nicer). After eating breakfast, finally, at noon, we headed into the park for some hiking. It's rain forest here, and we've seen quite a bit to prove it: bamboo, ratan, vines everywhere, huge hardwoods, huge-leafed plants, very noisy insects and frogs (saw three different species on our walk and two in our bathroom), praying mantis, huge spiders, that snake in our neighbor's bathroom, several species of lizards (one 8-inch long one in our bungalow), many different species of butterflies, including that huge yellow and black one we saw on our trek in northern Thailand, a 2 inch long beetle something like a rhinoceros beetle, long-tailed macaques living in a colony across the river from Art's Riverview Lodge, where you can eat dinner and watch the macaques play on the trees and cliff. This place is so full of life -- it's awe inspiring. |
| 12/28/01 |
Khao Sok National Park |
| Day of rest, walking and watching the macaques from Art's. |
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| 12/29/01 |
Khao Sok National Park |
| Woke early, piled into a pick-up truck along with the other members of our tour group, and headed to Cheow Lan Lake. The reservoir was formed about 20 years ago by the Ratchaprapha Dam and is one of the largest man-made lakes in Thailand. Arrived at our departure point on the lake and took off in a long wooden boat. The lake was rather choppy and the wind was strong, so we got quite wet on the trip across the lake. However, the discomfort was worth it -- the scenery was amazing. Jutting out of and surrounding the lake are uncounted steep-cliffed and jungle-covered limestone (karst) formations, some up to 1000 meters tall. These towering islands and mountains in and around the lake contain abundant wildlife, including a few species we were able to see on our tour, such as gibbons, langurs, hornbills, and fruit bats (we were lucky to witness the incredible sight of hundreds of fruit bats -- the size of small dogs -- flying out from one of the islands -- wow!). Not to mention leeches (but that was on our hike). After crossing the lake, we arrived at the remote lodge/restaurant near the trail-head we would hike to tour a cave. The lodge consists of bamboo rafthouses, floating on the lake -- quaint. Following a tasty lunch, we got back in the boat for the short ride to the trail. We then hiked through the rain forest, under towering fig trees with their enormous (man-height and taller) root buttresses, through tangles of vines and across a number of streams to the cave, ever wary of the dreaded leech attack. Don't think we lost anyone to a leech . . . . this time. We had a short break before entering the cave, at which time our guides stated the necessity of hurrying through as it had been raining and they didn't want us to get caught in a flash flood. Inspires confidence, doesn't it? With that lovely thought, we all tried to hurry but still enjoy our "spelunking" adventure. We were to exit at the opposite end of the cave, so we had to make our way through the entire cave, wading in the stream (does the water seem deeper than it did a minute ago?). Also had to swim a few spots where the water was too deep for walking. Other than our fear of death by flood and the frequent LOUD teasing of our guides, it was a wonderful cave experience. We climbed up and down and through the undeveloped, underground labyrinth, spotting large cave spiders, toads and catfish. The cave also contained some lovely and impressive concretions. Upon exiting the cave, we all breathed a sigh of relief and felt the let-down that comes with the end of an exciting and possibly death-defying experience (while Jeff privately complained, "that wasn't long enough," as usual). We hiked back to the boat, and headed back to the boat-launch after a quick coffee stop at the rafthouse restaurant. When we got back to the boat-launch, the adventure wasn't over, as our return transportation seemed to be missing its key. After thoroughly searching the van, asking around and sending someone off in another vehicle to get a key, said lost key was found. Yeah! What a full day. |
| 12/30/01 |
Khao Sok National Park/Krabi |
| We decided to take the offer given by a friendly Danish couple with two kids, and rode with them in their rented car to Krabi. Checked into a hotel, checked email (congratulations to both Jen Silverman and Jenny Flynn on their impending new arrivals!), watched a movie and ate dinner. Turned in early. Not sure what we'll do next. It's either go to an island with beach or head south to Malaysia. |
| 12/31/01 |
Krabi/Trang/Hat Yai |
| Bus from Krabi to Trang. Tried to get a bungalow on one of the islands near Trang, but everything was booked, so we decided to go to Malaysia. Good thing, too, because our Thai visas were due to expire in two days, unbeknownst to us (we didn't check until we were leaving Thailand!). That was close! Was it really a month already? Stayed the night in Hat Yai, Thailand, near the border of Malaysia. Got a "fancy" hotel, and stayed in for New Year's Eve, eating take-out, watching movies on HBO and listening to the fireworks outside. |
| January |
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| 01/01/02 |
Hat Yai/Kota Bharu |
| Caught a minibus to the Malaysian border, then a regular bus to Kota Bharu. Malaysia is quite different from Thailand. Most of the women in Kota Bharu wear head scarves and long, colorful dresses. Spent the evening walking around town. |
| 01/02/02 |
Kota Bharu/Jerantut |
| Train from Kota Bharu to Jerantut. Arrived in the middle of the night. Checked into a hotel, making arrangements in advance for a ride to Taman Negara National Park the next morning. |
| 01/03/02 |
Taman Negara |
| Got our sleepy selves out of bed in time to catch the minibus to the boat-launch for our trip upriver to Taman Negara. It was a relaxing ride in a long, comfortable boat and we napped on and off during the three hour journey. Arrived at the village across the river from the national park headquarters and found an acceptable lodging situation. Changed into hiking clothes and went down to the river to eat lunch at a floating restaurant, then crossed over to the park. Went for a short hike into the rain forest, and before we even left the park headquarters' grounds, we saw two large monitor lizards (about a meter long) walking through the grass. We discovered we were lucky to arrive when we did, and not a day or two earlier, because it had been raining heavily and all trails were closed. The trails were still quite muddy, but passable, and we enjoyed a leisurely couple of hours exploring the rain forest. We heard several types of birds, including the hornbill, saw many species of beautiful butterflies and saw a number of types of small lizards. We were also excited to find many itsy bitsy mouse deer tracks (they're smaller than your thumb nail!) and several large cat tracks, which we photographed next to a coin for sizing. We later showed the cat tracks to a national park guide and he explained that they were tiger tracks. Wow! Later that night we signed up for a "night safari" for insects. Our guide, while not an entomologist, was very well versed in the local creatures, and was very skilled at spotting them at night. We were able to see a number of different species of arthropods, including giant (20 centimeter-long) centipedes, and a variety of large and beautiful stick insects, preying mantis, spiders and grasshoppers. We also saw several species of geckos and a small, unafraid bat which hung directly over the trail within inches of our faces. One of the spiders we saw, a bright orange one that our guide kept insisting he put his finger up close to, was deadly -- kills in as little as 20 minutes. Exciting! On our way back to our room, we spotted a toad that secreted a nasty looking white stuff on its back. Wonder what would happen if you licked it . . . . . . |
| 01/04/02 |
Taman Negara |
| Hiked a few kilometers into the rain forest and spent the night in a "hide" . . . . with rats. They were the extent of our wildlife viewing from the hide, or should I say "in" the hide (the hide is probably too close to the park headquarters and/or the animals were on higher ground because of the recent flooding). However, we heard every imaginable sound coming from the jungle, amplified at dawn and dusk. It was amazing. Rained on and off through the night. |
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| 01/05/02 |
Taman Negara/Jerantut |
| Got chased by leeches -- they come out when it's wet. On our hike from the hide back to park headquarters, we almost managed to escape the leeches unscathed, but at the very end, Jeff got one. Yucky (yes, that's the official term) creatures when they bite (they cause severe bleeding because of an anticoagulant in their saliva), but sort of cute when they reach into the air from the ground, searching for their next victim and inching their way towards you . . . Barely escaped with our lives! Walked the "canopy walk," which is a series of connected walkways 40-50 meters up in the forest canopy -- beautiful view of the jungle. Our visit to the rain forest at Taman Negara National Park was a wonderful experience. We showered and packed up to leave, and caught the afternoon boat down river to Jerantut. Purchased tickets for the train to Kuala Lumpur -- wanted a sleeping car, but they were booked, so we ended up in "economy class." |
| 01/06-01/09/02 |
Kuala Lumpur |
| Got into Kuala Lumpur at 7:00 AM, after an overnight train from Jerantut. Economy class wasn't as bad as we expected, but we still weren't as rested as we'd have liked to have been. Called Meg's mom's friends Scott and Jamie, who live in Kuala Lumpur and work for an international school, and took a taxi to their house. They live in a great house, in a lovely neighborhood. It was so nice to be in a "home" after being in hotels and guesthouses for so long. And Scott and Jamie were such nice, generous hosts. We felt very lucky to be able to stay with them and catch up on what they're doing (the last time Meg saw Scott was in the early 1980's). We also got to meet Scott's sister Jan, who was visiting while traveling the world during a year sabbatical from teaching. During our visit, we went to a butterfly garden (wow! so many beautiful species) and a bird park (got to see hornbills up close). We also went to the Petronas Twin Towers (they have a very impressive chrome look that reflects sunlight during the day and are lit up with lights at night, and are actually the tallest buildings in the world), and saw "Lord of the Rings" at the fanciest (our opinion) mall on earth (at the base of the P.T. Towers). We had a nice time visiting with Jan and her son, and Scott and Jamie and their two sons, and ate some delicious meals, including "rodi" which is sort of like a pancake, but eaten with curry sauce (yum!). We were impressed by Kuala Lumpur, which is a very modern, nice city with a beautiful skyline, especially at night. |
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| 01/10/02 |
Melaka |
| Caught a bus for Melaka. We checked ourselves into the Gold Leaf Hotel upon arrival, and headed out for a walk around town and to check out Chinatown. Besides being an architecturally interesting area, Chinatown also has the Sri Pogyatha Vinoyagar Moorthi Temple, the Kampung Kling Mosque and the Cheng Hoon Teng Temple. |
| 01/11/02 |
Melaka/Singapore |
| Spent the morning walking around the town square, up Saint Paul's Hill to see the ruins of Saint Paul's Church and around Chinatown. Melaka is a beautiful, historical city. It was once controlled by the Portuguese, the Dutch and then the British, and has a large Chinese community, so the architectural influences are varied and interesting. Early in the afternoon, we went to the bus station to catch a bus to Singapore. While waiting for our bus, we watched the mud skippers (fish that live out of water part of the time) crawl around on the mud banks of the river that flowed past the station. Cool. It was a long, tedious experience getting to Singapore, but not because of problems with ourselves getting through customs; our bus waited forever for a couple of Burmese monks to get through customs. We finally made it to Singapore, and found a hotel (rather fancy) in Chinatown. Searched high and low at that late hour to find decent food at a decent price; Singapore is much more expensive than Malaysia. |
| 01/12/02 |
Singapore |
| Thought about moving to a cheaper hotel, but decided ours was great so we didn't. Spent the day checking out Chinatown (strange for a city with such a high Chinese population to have a separate Chinatown, but they do). Beautifully restored buildings and endless antique shops filled with things we loved, but couldn't afford. Found a wonderful, clean (Singapore is very clean) food court with a huge variety of cuisines (ate there many times in the following days). Checked out a number of temples and mosques, including Jamae Mosque, Sri Mariamman Temple, Thian Hock Keng Temple and Al-Abrar Mosque. We spent most of the day walking around the city, making our way from Chinatown to the river and central business district, where the old colonial buildings such as Parliament House, City Hall, Raffles Hotel and the Supreme Court are located, as well as many sky scrapers. We then made our way to Little India and Arab Street to see the Indian and Arab markets. We took the MRT (Mass Rapid Transit) back to Chinatown. After a long day of intense sightseeing in the hot, humid weather, we were happy to return to our air-conditioned hotel room and crash. |
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| 01/13/02 |
Singapore |
| Spent the day walking through Chinatown to Orchard Road, the "modern" shopping district of Singapore. We planned to see a movie, but there were none playing that we were interested in, so instead we walked around some more (get the feeling we did a lot of walking in Singapore?). Rested in our hotel a couple of hours before dinner, then headed to our now favorite place to eat, the foot court we'd found the day before. After dinner, we took public transport, including MRT and a bus, to the Night Safari. The Singapore Night Safari is the best "zoo" we have ever been to, and we highly recommend. It is set up so that most of the animals have a natural habitat enclosure, with trails wandering through the "safari." So that visitors can see them, the animals are fed near the trails. However, the animals also seem to have plenty of "natural habitat" in which to disappear if they want. And the lighting simulates natural moonlight. Very well done. We finally got to see the creatures that made the itsy-bitsy tracks we found in Taman Negara, the mouse deer (only a few pounds each I would guess!). We saw many other wonderful creatures, including giant fruit bats (also known as flying foxes), in the bat enclosure. It was the most amazing animal encounter we had ever experienced. So that visitors can see the bats eating while they hang upside down from a tree, the bats are fed large pieces of fruit handing from the trees near the walkway. We were within inches of the bats while they ate. It was incredible. They really do look like flying foxes. And when they would fly overhead, it was impressive. Their wingspans were about 4 feet -- wow! We ended up staying at the "safari" almost until closing time, and missed the last bus back to the MRT, so we had to take a taxi -- ouch. But it was worth it. |
| 01/14/02 |
Flight from Singapore to Sydney |
| Packed our bags and headed to the airport early after eating lunch near our hotel. Volunteered to be "bumped" from the overbooked flight, but that did not end up to be necessary (darn). However, we were upgraded to Business Class, and on Singapore Airlines, it is VERY fancy and comfortable. Eight and a half hours was not long enough. |
| 01/15/02 |
Sydney/Blue Mountains |
| We arrived in Aukland and got on stand-by on an earlier flight to Sydney so we wouldn't have to wait until our scheduled flight that evening. Got to Sydney very tired. Showered (they have showers in the airport!) and rented a car. Waited until 8:30 PM for our luggage to arrive (our luggage did NOT catch the earlier flight), then headed west towards the Outback! Camped in the car in the Blue Mountains. We couldn't see the fire damage because it was dark, but we could smell it. |
| 01/16/02 |
Outback |
| Woke up late, but rested, and drove towards the Outback. The country-side consisted mostly of golden grasslands with eucalyptus trees scattered here and there, and farming and grazing lands. We stopped to buy a cooler and groceries, and then for lunch at a cute little picnic site. We noticed some colorful birds, and assumed they were the local equivalent of the pigeon. But no, they were parrots; gray and pink, beautiful parrots! As we got closer to the Outback, the landscape began changing, becoming drier with more shrubs and less grass and trees. Jeff spotted our first kangaroo, but Megan missed it. She missed the second one too and was beginning to think she would never see one. And then it happened: kangaroos everywhere. Well, not everywhere, but we began to see them quite often. Jeff even speculated that we would get to a point when spotting a kangaroo did NOT cause us to squeal with excitement and jump up and down. But that never happened. We also began seeing emus (large flightless birds like the ostrich), foxes (introduced by Europeans) and wedge-tailed eagles. Once we turned off towards our camp site, Mt. Grenfell, we also began to see feral pigs and goats (introduced). While they're not good for the environment or the other animals in the area, they were interesting. We drove about half an hour down a dirt road to reach the Mt. Grenfell Historic Site. The picnic area was host to several kangaroos grazing with out fear of humans, and we were able to watch from about 10 feet. Exciting. We made dinner and settled into our spot. The stars were spectacular -- it was amazing to see the view from the southern hemisphere. |
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| 01/17/02 |
Outback |
| Woke just after sunrise to a gorgeous sunny day. Walked a few hundred meters to see Aboriginal rock art -- paintings and hand prints. Went on a "walkabout" -- hiked the several-kilometer loop that leads out from the rock art sites. After driving back out the dirt road to the main road, and seeing more emus and kangaroos, we decided to drive to White Cliffs, an opal mining town down another outback unsealed road (gravel and dirt), so we continued west. Arrived in White Cliffs in time for lunch and a little opal "fossicking" -- Jeff did the fossicking, but didn't find any opals. Thoroughly checked out the opal mine fields and the equipment used for mining, including one machine with a face of its own (painted on by an artistic miner). After lunch, we went to the only place we were going to actually see opals: an opal store. This one was unusual, however, in that it was in a building (the home of the store owner) made from glass bottles and (I believe) cement. Rather an interesting effect. While all of the opals we were interested in were well beyond our price range, we enjoyed the education the store owner gave us and the chance to see some opals up close. We got back on the road, heading back south and east. Traveled down some rather nasty unsealed stretches of road on our way to Ivanhoe and Hay, and got a blowout flat tire just past Ivanhoe. Totally ruined the tire and bent the rim. But, the spare was full size, so we were on our way again with the spare, and with no need to fix the flat. Made it to somewhere between Ivanhoe and Hay, and stopped for the night under a totally clear sky filled with stars. There were no lights in any direction, and the land was flat, so the star gazing was spectacular. The Milky Way was much more intense, and we saw the Southern Cross. |
| 01/18/02 |
Hay, Riverina, Kosciuszko National Park |
| Continued south towards Hay (where we bathed at the tourist center -- free showers! -- and washed laundry) and into the Riverina region of New South Wales. The landscape again changed, but this time from dry shrub lands and red earth to low rolling hills of golden grass with the occasional eucalyptus tree. We continued to see emus and kangaroos, and were as excited each time as the first. Also saw a lot of road kill, which was very sad. Many automobiles we saw had sturdy metal grilles to protect from damage caused by collision with kangaroos and other wildlife. In the red desert sands of the outback we saw the bones of emus and kangaroos, dried white from the wind and sun and sand. While this was also sad, it was fascinating. We made our way across New South Wales towards its southeastern coast, through towns such as Wagga Wagga and Tumbarumba, eventually camping in Kosciuszko National Park. Before settling in to camp however, we made our way along a very windy and seemingly unending road through the park, sighting many parrots of different species, and cockatoos. The landscape had totally changed by the time we reached Kosciuszko National Park, where we drove through high alpine, thick eucalyptus forests and rain forest with giant fern trees. |
| 01/19/02 |
Kosciuszko National Park/SE Coast |
| Awoke early and headed out without packing up the car, as the insects were unbearable. Tried to pack the car at a picnic site down the road, but the insects continued to torture us (the flies in Australia are VERY persistent), so we had to continue driving with things askew. Made our way out of Kosciuszko National Park and over to Bombala, otherwise known as "platypus country." We arrived at the platypus refuge excited but resigned against success -- the man at the tourist information center in Bombala told us they were often hard to sight during the middle of the day, and we arrived at the refuge at noon. However, we were totally surprised and elated when we saw a platypus surface in the river. And they continued to surface and swim about. In all, we probably had about 15 sightings of about 4 or 5 individuals. It was so neat to see them, especially in the wild. They're crazy-looking animals, with their bills and fur and beaver-like tails. And if those things aren't crazy enough, they're monotremes: mammals that lay eggs. After checking out the platypuses outside of Bombala, we drove to the south east coast. We went to the beach for a walk at Mimosa Rocks National Park and it was exquisite: soft golden sand, cool ocean breeze, waves softly breaking in tiers along the shore. . . . . lovely. After our walk down the beach (and yes, we felt terrible that Ben could not be there with us -- he LOVES the beach), we continued north along the coast to camp in Deua National Park. Before setting up camp, we drove and drove through the park on mountainous dirt roads, ostensibly searching for our campsite. We thought we had found it, but the bugs drove us out. We realized, however, that it was our "good-wild-life-sighting karma" that drove us out of that campsite and kept us driving down those dirt roads, because we eventually sighted two wombats, a mother and her small offspring. Wombats are marsupials like kangaroos, but are more like small (30 lbs), stocky bears that burrow like ground hogs. They are nocturnal, so you only see them out at night. We had been hoping to see one, but had so far been out of luck. To see a mother and her baby was great luck! They're not shy, so we could go right up to them. We didn't want to bother them too much, so we snapped a quick picture and left them alone, very excited to have finally seen wombats. When continued down the road, we saw another wombat run off into the woods. The animals in Australia are so amazing and unique to our experience -- it was wonderful to be able to see as many different types of animals as we did. Right after seeing the wombats, we found a good place to sleep, so we did. |
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| 01/20/02 |
SE Coast |
| It was a day for bathing -- we were dirty -- so we found a shower at the local swimming pool in Bateman's Bay and removed some dirt. Had a friendly conversation with Martin, who ran the place -- he gave us coffee, tea and meat pies and sent us on our way clean, caffeinated and fed. Martin also gave us a recommendation for another beach to visit, so we went there. North Durras Beach didn't seem as nice as the beach we had visited the day before, but when we went down the stairs, we discovered a beachcombers paradise and proceeded to spend the next couple of hours absorbed. On our way back to our car, we came across a goanna, or lace monitor, which is a lizard about 1.5 meters long. It was polite and sat on a tree trunk at eye level for us so we could take many photos and ooh and aah over it. In the parking lot we met two friendly guys down from Canberra for fishing. Had an interesting and fun conversation in the parking lot before hitting the road for Sydney. Stopped at a wildlife park to see koalas, since we had not been able to spot them in the wild (apparently they're difficult to see way up in the eucalyptus trees, and they aren't everywhere). Got to pet a koala (they smell like eucalyptus) and checked out some of the other animals at the park, including the dingoes (also didn't see any dingoes in the wild), different species of birds, kangaroos (one with a joey, or baby, in its pouch) and wombats (sleeping in their burrows -- with glass windows so we could see -- because it was day). Decided to drive north of Sydney to camp. As we approached Sydney, we saw our first glimpses of the devastation from the fires. Total destruction of acres and acres of land. We saw several national parks destroyed on our way into Sydney, including the Royal National Park just outside the city. Overwhelmingly sad. Made our way through Sydney and towards what we thought would be easy camping. This was not so. We drove for hours into the night looking for a place to camp, then just for a hotel or anything, but the area we were driving through was mostly residential and farming. At one point, we were driving down a small road and came across a little dog, a jack russell terrier, on the side of the road, seemingly lost. So we pulled over and asked him if he was. He jumped right into the car and hunkered down, first on Meg's lap, then on Jeff's, like he was ready to go where ever we were going. We stopped at several houses and finally found his home, where his owners said, "Max, are you getting into trouble again?" He was so cute. Made us really miss Ben. We then crossed a river on a little ferry, driving into what we hoped would be an area with a campground. Before finding a campground, however, we spotted an owl of the type we had seen earlier in the day at the wildlife park, with a lizard in its mouth. It is called something like the "frog-mouth" owl. Very unusual-looking, large-mouthed owl. And then, after sighting the owl, we FINALLY found a place to camp, in Dharug National Park. |
| 01/21/02 |
Sydney-Aukland |
| Drove back south into Sydney -- had to cross the river on the ferry again. We parked the car right down town, under the Harbor Bridge. Walked to Circular Quay, the departure point for ferries heading to destinations around the bay. Toured around Circular Quay, checking out David Byrne's art displays ("The New Sins"). Took the ferry from Sydney to Manly and enjoyed the view of the city (and the Opera House) from the water. After returning to Circular Quay, we checked out the Opera House up close, then walked back to our car through the historical "Rocks" neighborhood (the original settlement was here). Drove to the Paddington neighborhood and walked around and ate lunch. On our way out of the parking lot where we did our final packing and getting everything together to return the car, Megan backed the rental car into a low wall and did some ugliness to the rear fender. Bummer! In Australia, they don't offer full coverage insurance -- there's always some deductible! Not having the best luck with this rental car, huh? Deductible was not devastating, though the paperwork was. Depsite the accident and the ensuing paperwork, we made our flight for New Zealand, but just in time. The flight to Aukland was not too unpleasant, considering we both needed a bath (we were going to bath at the Sydney airport -- yes, they have free and lovely showers at the airport -- but the "accident" delayed us). Took showers at the Aukland airport as soon as we deplaned, then found a hotel, got picked up at the airport and driven to our hotel by the hotel's courtesy van service, and crashed as soon as our heads hit the nice, soft, cozy and clean pillows. Yeah, we could have waited for the hotel room to take showers, but we were delirious and dirty -- not a pretty or rational combination. |
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| 01/22/02 |
Aukland-Dargaville |
| Great to sleep in a real bed! Took much of the morning to rent a car. Bought groceries and drove north through the country-side towards the Kauri forest on the west coast. Ended up in the little town of Dargaville, in a lovely old hotel. "Self-catered" dinner in our room and watched New Zealand TV (which includes shows from New Zealand, Australia, Britain and the U.S. -- quite the variety). We continued the tradition of "self catering," or "making our own food," from Australia, which we found more reliable and much cheaper than eating out every meal. |
| 01/23/02 |
Waipoua Forest |
| After another great night of sleep in the cozy, cute hotel room, we got on the internet and did some business and emails, then hit the road to check out the Waipoua Forest and the giant Kauri trees. Took a lovely walk through the Kauri forest and saw some of the older, bigger Kauri trees, Agathis australis, left (some over 2000 years old, with diameters greater than 15 meters!). It was a beautiful, peaceful and exotic experience, and the forest was teeming with plant life, including giant fern trees (some species grow to over 10 meters in height) and Nikau palms. New Zealand has only two species of native land mammals, both of which are bats, only a few reptiles (no snakes), and the native birds have been heavily impacted by introduced animals. Kiwis, which live in the Kauri forest, and which we didn't see in the wild, are flightless (thus ground-dwelling) birds. They are endangered (could become extinct, meaning no more kiwis). This in large part because of loss of habitat. But it's also because of competition with and predation by introduced species. Dogs are a big problem for Kiwis -- one dog was known to have killed over 50 kiwis! Although the plant life is intense in New Zealand, we really felt the lack of other wildlife. We realize that New Zealand didn't come with a huge variety to begin with, but the impact of the introduction of non-native animals can really be felt. Especially the sheep. Much of the north island is covered with grazing lands, albeit highly productive, green-grass grazing lands. These grasslands contrast rather heavily with the almost-tropical forests that have been preserved. This is a country, however, with only 3.8 million people (1.5 million of whom live in Aukland), without many four lane highways, and traffic is not bad on the windy, two lane roads they use to travel around the country. And it really does feel uncrowded. After our lovely walk through the Kauri forest, we made our way on one of those windy, two lane roads to the town of Kaitaia, where we found a room at another cute, cozy and friendly hotel. |
| 01/24/02 |
Kaitaia to 90-Mile Beach and Wellsford |
| Starting a pattern -- sleeping past 7AM! Woke up after nine, and with a ten o'clock check out, we got ready and out of our room just in time. That's the third hotel in a row with a ten am checkout -- is this normal for New Zealand? If it is, it's good, because otherwise, we'd sleep until noon in these cozy hotels, especially after our week in the car getting up between 6 and 7 am every morning. Headed north out of Kaitaia towards 90-Mile Beach (more accurately it should be named 90-Kilometer Beach) and Cape Reinga on the northern tip of the North Island. Stopped at the sand dunes at Te Paki Reserves to play around and go for a walk -- amazing, beautiful, immense dunes. The dunes cover about seven square kilometers! After our fun romp at the dunes, we continued north to Cape Reinga (where the Pacific Ocean and the Tasman Sea meet), and ate a picnic lunch there in the company of feisty gulls, and with a spectacular view of the cape, coast and sea. We headed south again, along Doubtless Bay and the Bay of Islands to the small town of Wellsford, where we found a cute little family-run motel and turned in for the night. |
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| 01/25/02 |
Waiotapu |
| Did NOT get up at 7:00 AM (when the alarm wanted us to awake), but rather a more civilized hour: 9:00 am. Decided to just let checkout time determine when we checkout (it usually is 10:00 am it seems). Drove south through Aukland and Rotorua to the Waiotapu Thermal Area. Took us all day to drive to Waiotapu -- didn't seem like it should take all day when we looked at the map. It's those two lane, windy roads that masquerade as "highways" in NZ (or maybe it's the lazy attitude we've developed about getting on the road, but don't tell anyone that!). But, we made it just in time to get into the "thermal area" and got to see sink holes and craters with blow holes, boiling mud, colorful pools, rivers and lakes, sulfur crystals and the Primrose Terraces. After our lovely excursion into the thermal area of Waiotapu, we drove south to Taupo. Stopped at Huka Falls, an amazing rush of turquoise water through a narrow, rock carved channel. The shear power and magnitude of the falls' force took our breath away. Found a hotel in Taupo and turned in for the night after eating one of our best "self catered" meals yet -- roast beef and roasted yellow peppers (called capsicum in NZ) on focaccia buns, with dijon potato salad, avocado slices and spicy corn chips. Yummy. |
| 01/26/02 |
Tongariro National Park/Napier |
| Drove to Tongariro National Park to see the volcanoes there, but the clouds were in low and it was raining, so we decided to check out the art deco city of Napier on the east coast and head back to Tongariro the next day. It was a pleasant drive to Napier through agrarian country-side and preserved natural areas. Napier is definitely built in the art deco style -- most of the city was destroyed in an earthquake in 1931, so they rebuilt using art deco architecture. We had delicious ice cream and walked around the quiet town (the stores all seemed to be shut down for the day, and although it was a weekend, it seemed rather early). After checking our email, we drove back on the windy, country road to Taupo, and found a motel in Tokaanu, at the southern edge of Lake Taupo. We were hoping the volcanoes (still active) would be out from under their shroud of mist the following morning. The motel we found was quaint with very friendly guests and owners. The rooms were more like little cabins, complete with full kitchens and living rooms, and we cooked ham for our sandwiches. Also did laundry and dried it in a "drying room." Very clever -- the room is small, well insulated and contains a heating unit and line on which to hang your clothes. It worked great overnight. Motel accommodation in NZ is great, cheap (cheap compared to the States, not Thailand) and has so many amenities! |
| 01/27/02 |
Tongariro National Park/Mt. Egmont/New Plymouth |
| Drove to Whakapapa and up Mt. Ruapehu on the northern side to see if we could get a better view through the clouds if we went farther up (yes, the clouds had not left). But the summits were not to be seen by us this time, so we enjoyed what we could see. The road goes up far enough to check out all the old lava flows above the tree line, and the mosses and lichens that covers them are beautiful shades of green, yellow and red. Also drove up Mt. Ruapehu on the south side -- much more lush vegetation, until you get up high, of course, then it's just the same almost desolate volcanic rock. Picnicked back down in the sun at the base of the mountain, near a beautiful stream. After lunch, we drove to Mt. Egmont (also known as Mt. Taranaki), another volcano, on the west coast near the town of New Plymouth. The weather was much more cooperative at Mt. Egmont, and the view of the snow-capped volcano was spectacular. We drove as far as the road would take us up the mountain, then hiked a bit further. Impressive. Following our foray on Mt. Egmont, we went into New Plymouth and got a room at the lovely Saddle and Sulky motel (I kid you not about the name). Our best room yet. Went shopping and brought home steaks to cook -- yum. (An aside: the cows in New Zealand are HUGE . . . and tasty). |
| 01/28/02 |
Waitamo Caves, Kiwi House |
| Drove to the Waitomo Glow Worm Caves. Yes, a big tourist attraction, but in the end, well worth the money and the crowds outside. The worms are the larval stage of a mosquito-like insect. They hang from the ceiling of caves, lowering a sticky thread to catch the insects that are attracted to the glowing light at the end of the worms' bodies. When the worm catches an insect, it brings up the thread and enjoys dinner. The ceiling of the cave was covered with these green lights -- it was like a sky full of stars. After the Waitomo Caves, we drove to Otorohanga Kiwi House, where we saw the small, flightless kiwi bird. They are hilarious when they run and jump about. We also saw the kaka (a large, brown bird with a ferocious-looking beak), the kea (a brown, but beautiful parrot), the morepork owl (their call sounds like "more pork"), the NZ falcon and the kokako (an endangered blue and gray bird). Another amazing animal was the tuatara lizard. These long lived lizards inhabit only a couple of islands outside of New Zealand and are an ancient species dating back 220 million years. After visiting the Kiwi house we drove east and visited the Mangapohue Scenic Reserve and the Marakopa Tunnel which was a collapsed limestone cave. We observed limestone formations and petrified oyster shells. The pastures we hiked back to the car through were over-run with sheep. We both managed to get "sheep dip" on our feet. Typical New Zealand - 3.8 million people - 35 million sheep. Drove to Aukland and checked into the Airport Garden Hotel (where we stayed our first night in NZ). |
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| 01/29/02 |
Aukland |
| Walked around downtown Aukland and ate lunch in the Ponsonby neighborhood. Returned to our hotel room to rest and pack for our flight to Fiji. |
| 01/30/02 |
Aukland/Fiji |
| Fortunately, we did no major damage to the rental car on our way to return it this time, and we boarded our flight to Fiji after a relaxed and tasty lunch at the airport -- they have a VERY nice restaurant/lounge area in the Aukland airport, complete with live piano music. Arrived in Nadi, Fiji after an uneventful flight, unsure of our plans. Ended up making reservations at a small, rustic resort on the island of Kuata. Stayed our first night in Fiji in the town of Nadi. |
| 01/31-02/07/02 |
Fiji-Kuata/Nadi |
| Headed out to Kuata in the morning by minivan and boat. When we got to Kuata, we knew we had made the right choice -- it was gorgeous. Beautiful turquoise waters, volcanic cliffs, golden beaches, palm trees, cute little rustic "bures" or huts, friendly villagers who owned and operated the "resort" and no crowds. We spent the next week lying on the beach, snorkeling the coral reefs, reading in the shade, visiting the local village, eating delicious food, talking with interesting people (both local and visiting), hanging out on a beautiful sailboat, beachcombing, exploring the coast on foot and kayaking. Paradise. |
| 02/07/02 |
Fiji/LAX |
| The boat we were supposed to take to Lautoka was booked, and we had to get to the main island since our flight was that night, so we hopped on a small, open boat that was heading in our direction. Although it was raining a bit, our bags stayed dry under a tarp and we were already damp from the humidity so it didn't matter. We made our way to Lautoka on a beautifully calm sea, and took a pick-up taxi to Nadi, where we spent our day waiting for our flight. We walked around the town, emailed, went swimming at the hotel across the street from the airport (life can be so rough sometimes), showered, checked in and finally boarded our flight some time after we were supposed to depart. Guess the flight was late getting in. We went through more rigorous than usual security (but still not thorough -- seemed like it was more for show than anything else). They did make Jeff take off his shoes. Boy were they sorry. Found our seats -- no one behind us and a quiet, small women next to us (yeah!) and enjoyed (right) the ten hour flight to Los Angeles. Arrived in L.A. at noon the same day (we left Fiji at about 10:30 PM and arrived at LAX at 12:00 PM -- it's the international date line). Back in America . . . . |
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