tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-46450919802940452122024-02-18T21:24:52.888-08:00TaDa!Tara and Daniel's Travel BlogUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger34125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4645091980294045212.post-83777394495345563742007-08-02T08:44:00.000-07:002007-08-02T22:32:26.957-07:00more updates and some overdue pictures...<div>Entering the Manang district (just before Tal):<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8sTlMOmeKq0bDwYPi0Hg_WlH7qDeev5VW33QxjF239d7MHgku2K0mJEj9LfmETePeVK2p_5jSDwwttBXBVmLg80B0Q5rw_BMmX5QOuucf4ZGPQuIq5LQZcNkYPj3mwbt6pCGoa3lR/s1600-h/daniel+006.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5094339395894428370" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8sTlMOmeKq0bDwYPi0Hg_WlH7qDeev5VW33QxjF239d7MHgku2K0mJEj9LfmETePeVK2p_5jSDwwttBXBVmLg80B0Q5rw_BMmX5QOuucf4ZGPQuIq5LQZcNkYPj3mwbt6pCGoa3lR/s400/daniel+006.jpg" border="0" /></a> Mt. Manaslu in the background:<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihS7889mjME_4NuMo5i71QaagRQP2S2x0ZXLQC4IJgN4wak3zXT0U1tteJN0hZFG9k_Ig747uHnMRfnfL1-cTawQb3XNeEkoYE7RdBkz_v8JWaHz0ERHEo1z2iu7S_at1A-VxUMjGj/s1600-h/daniel+010.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5094339400189395682" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihS7889mjME_4NuMo5i71QaagRQP2S2x0ZXLQC4IJgN4wak3zXT0U1tteJN0hZFG9k_Ig747uHnMRfnfL1-cTawQb3XNeEkoYE7RdBkz_v8JWaHz0ERHEo1z2iu7S_at1A-VxUMjGj/s400/daniel+010.jpg" border="0" /></a> On the way to Thorong Phedi:<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgk2Q9_JNO2IUxOPCBnsjAQYeti5wKIhUMnvWvebJaAzVFij5wAOXBDjkvREqK1Kr1xmbjiuQpQ7xO_DP93pZv88Tis6yn19zdO_NW3-zbFOAuQ0983dzg8VLBWNp0Moy9KQL_lUJ_g/s1600-h/daniel+017.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5094339404484362994" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgk2Q9_JNO2IUxOPCBnsjAQYeti5wKIhUMnvWvebJaAzVFij5wAOXBDjkvREqK1Kr1xmbjiuQpQ7xO_DP93pZv88Tis6yn19zdO_NW3-zbFOAuQ0983dzg8VLBWNp0Moy9KQL_lUJ_g/s400/daniel+017.jpg" border="0" /></a> On the way to Thorong La Pass:<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRHECnLgHXfylTYYDaCHlyX6yTnArg_AZYEy2z5-Kk3U-QQHEa6H-zuWvHiEOCbdrhJfy5RYjxlYpiLJjBVVOy-a6blJPRWfzuGFHme3Mya-Jc5PsVqkP8B6QqWf3NZ0mfuYSKyYaK/s1600-h/daniel+019.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5094339417369264898" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRHECnLgHXfylTYYDaCHlyX6yTnArg_AZYEy2z5-Kk3U-QQHEa6H-zuWvHiEOCbdrhJfy5RYjxlYpiLJjBVVOy-a6blJPRWfzuGFHme3Mya-Jc5PsVqkP8B6QqWf3NZ0mfuYSKyYaK/s400/daniel+019.jpg" border="0" /></a> View from our hotel in Ranipauwa (night after completing the pass):<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhY-QXPPBhYpgLu-eoiCqebwkbIUaaLHyBotzvZr3uUehv0-iys2pQL0WiF8nBLbyGeFSiAF0xETJnqqdYYJsvLslpVUo8vUfibOS4g970_8cVey-qV93gfs_Fb3wTsbE2cYBO-lIST/s1600-h/daniel+021.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5094339417369264914" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhY-QXPPBhYpgLu-eoiCqebwkbIUaaLHyBotzvZr3uUehv0-iys2pQL0WiF8nBLbyGeFSiAF0xETJnqqdYYJsvLslpVUo8vUfibOS4g970_8cVey-qV93gfs_Fb3wTsbE2cYBO-lIST/s400/daniel+021.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRDtYL3aVmMMfRCtrpprI_mtR6Yl9-MI-tMQMzLKYijiJFu3T9nHBGts96gsqq24ZqKeC0iPadPkOqgjRSjSXEi7UdBUrlrFkslY2wdQ7_spefnhF_8LrNMsKbHGWbHVO6bwH6SU8b/s1600-h/daniel+001.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5094337063727186562" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRDtYL3aVmMMfRCtrpprI_mtR6Yl9-MI-tMQMzLKYijiJFu3T9nHBGts96gsqq24ZqKeC0iPadPkOqgjRSjSXEi7UdBUrlrFkslY2wdQ7_spefnhF_8LrNMsKbHGWbHVO6bwH6SU8b/s400/daniel+001.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiohcLoTRFRvGLcG5B4xtn148cNCqweqlAelJucw6dGiEIEyeXhC4Ayjo6gUQJ_zi7v3TemQzK8pHSfBkWqtgLTo7IrWba7tQM1vOCPh5Yb3QzF3ZEbapsGZZhhCGD9Llb_cJe97k40/s1600-h/daniel+002.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5094337076612088466" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiohcLoTRFRvGLcG5B4xtn148cNCqweqlAelJucw6dGiEIEyeXhC4Ayjo6gUQJ_zi7v3TemQzK8pHSfBkWqtgLTo7IrWba7tQM1vOCPh5Yb3QzF3ZEbapsGZZhhCGD9Llb_cJe97k40/s400/daniel+002.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiV3eVtobpSNj0jIqsogYKiMdOirYxr-gOTiGKl2-7FPVXLL7RCi6Z2kgYaAHuXVYaaAFeALsf33UB6fWFS5VfkznPMw7gYKaiUYqVcbRNXktqXPeXmn-3FGOKcMhMEhe36uPXjZupX/s1600-h/daniel+003.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5094337085202023074" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiV3eVtobpSNj0jIqsogYKiMdOirYxr-gOTiGKl2-7FPVXLL7RCi6Z2kgYaAHuXVYaaAFeALsf33UB6fWFS5VfkznPMw7gYKaiUYqVcbRNXktqXPeXmn-3FGOKcMhMEhe36uPXjZupX/s400/daniel+003.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHMmoGGD4VEJjXZeDypiSaA4kJZ21huV74JOQpEEoZOwSuu_Fmoad1b60a4gMGWcdzPKP5VcaFcR0pPuFFu4TZp3lVV1zAjNFO4qNiRBwXTP_AftwCQItJXeq_-hBTDfGRxbwPAspp/s1600-h/daniel+004.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5094337089496990386" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHMmoGGD4VEJjXZeDypiSaA4kJZ21huV74JOQpEEoZOwSuu_Fmoad1b60a4gMGWcdzPKP5VcaFcR0pPuFFu4TZp3lVV1zAjNFO4qNiRBwXTP_AftwCQItJXeq_-hBTDfGRxbwPAspp/s400/daniel+004.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1NVikpsFL318H5RNymoyXW3Or1defydVaHjlGbrdQUpZH6jQyoF0Sb3W-hAjoG_lxWNQEcmNWZCsXI5Ci-pXUW76U9jP0mDf87wnyJtXg2zh5jXoJ_1JZXbkHpouIk7TDoSZaMC4N/s1600-h/daniel+005.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5094337093791957698" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1NVikpsFL318H5RNymoyXW3Or1defydVaHjlGbrdQUpZH6jQyoF0Sb3W-hAjoG_lxWNQEcmNWZCsXI5Ci-pXUW76U9jP0mDf87wnyJtXg2zh5jXoJ_1JZXbkHpouIk7TDoSZaMC4N/s400/daniel+005.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><div>sorry for the long breaks between posts. I've become lazy about the blog lately.</div><br /><br /><br /><br /><div>After getting to Pokhara on the 22nd, we pretty much just chilled for 5 days. we tried to sleep past 530 every morning (that's the time we were getting up roughly during our trek), but didn't always have success. We mostly ate healthy amounts of food we couldn't find during the trek, and read.</div><br /><br /><br /><br /><div>After leaving Pokhara, we took a bus to Royal Chitwan National Park, which is close to the border with India. We stayed at a place called Island Jungle Resort, and so obviously we had to take a boat to get there. About an hour after we got there, we went for an elephant ride through the jungle. It was pretty cool at first, but wasn't the most comfortable. We sat on these platforms that sat on top of the elephant's backs, and there were 4 people on each platform. On that first safari, we saw spotted deer and a couple rhinos. We went on three elephant safaris all together, each one lasting about an hour and a half. We didn't see any tigers unfortunately, but saw 5 rhinos. We also went for a guided walk through the jungle, which was really muddy, but a lot of fun. more so than riding on the elephants I think. Although, I was worried about getting leaches on me the whole time, and Tara was worried about getting attacked by a rhino or a sloth bear. Neither happened. Our guide spotted a wild bore, a barking deer (it barks like a dog) and a monkey in the trees. I didn't actually see any of these animals, only heard them. Later that afternoon was elephant bath time! It was exactly like in the Flintstones where I was showering and the elephant sprayed water on me with it's trunk... ok not really, but it was a lot of fun. I walked out into the river where they were already swimming and jumped onto the back of one of them. It sprayed me a bunch of time with it's trunk and then walked around and periodically sat down in the water. After 10 minutes it rolled over and I got off. We stayed there for 2 nights and not quite three days (because of travel time). The only real issue we had was the treatment of the elephants. The guides would sometimes hit them really hard to get them to move along the trail, with steel rods. Our elephant's head was bleeding in a couple places. We would all cringe whenever the guide decided it was time for a smack.</div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5094342475385979682" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwNqBmkQuR4Ar7CNFBaoK-kHMO15uG1Bn3OJDrE1-UU7W6qZTUiOLx1iL9pWG-i8HW-jYRIa4m3nUBF2tQksRhjJOXcAvNX4vzhw50oknhXiKEbvqqYQD9PLwNg8ct8FI6y5GMZPsu/s400/daniel+030.jpg" border="0" /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5094342492565848882" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEid2wyKunJgNIVadxNQx6WhcfuC-zf991-h-1GexuRiihDIhwpFK9rdbRsT-GWSw4eKRnOvpehCuo_gVOsb8yhL9EEEwrr2eN-DGXUNjLBZ6et57J3uI63Azyml2nzOlTapGb543pB0/s400/daniel+031.jpg" border="0" /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5094342501155783490" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPCIErUtOSqH-QCYTuztH93K0LRsUVA0O2Z50UWlqk7tnUO1EzBvwmdQxjUMHA9C2mMIH8z4_hdf_oqGXd5oHCMGXCL3sYTXFF-CB_1Bb7Pf7ecbJvEKDhSGcLWDapuesyf099WJsV/s400/daniel+028.jpg" border="0" /><br /><div></div><br /><br /><div>After spending a night back in Kathmandu, we took a taxi out to the Gokarna Forest Golf Resort and Spa for some spoiling. The hotel there is a Le Meridien. Because it's the off season we were able to get a good price for the room, and stayed for 2 nights. We each got a massage at the spa and I played a round of golf. The course is the best one in Nepal (they have 11) and one of the best in south Asia apparently. I didn't shoot very well, so I won't tell you my score. Let's just say Paul would be happy about it, but not many others would be. The crown prince of Nepal was in the group behind me. I saw monkeys all over the course too and at one point a troop of about 50 scrambled down the fairway next to me and I had to wait for them to pass. And getting a caddy was mandatory, so I played for the first time with someone carrying my bag and suggesting which club I should use. It made the round a lot less tiring, not carrying my bag, but it didn't make it any easier. Here is the website of the course and hotel: <a href="http://www.gokarna.com/">http://www.gokarna.com/</a></div><br /><div></div><br /><br /><div>And now we are back in Kathmandu, just killing time before our trip to Tibet, which leaves tomorrow morning.</div></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4645091980294045212.post-65821473425841018792007-07-22T20:17:00.000-07:002007-07-22T20:56:46.937-07:00Amazing trekking adventures!we are back from our trek now. I don't feel like writing too much right now, because there really is a lot to say. Just know that it was amazing, and an incredible challenge. We walked almost 200 km's and went from 740m to 5416m and then back down to 800m. We couldn't see mountains the whole time because of cloud cover, but we saw glimpses at least of every one we passed. <br />And of course there is the great news of our engagement at over 5000 meters! I will add some pictures slowly as there are many and the internet never seems to be fast enough.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4645091980294045212.post-91323413216360674802007-07-04T10:22:00.000-07:002007-07-04T10:44:39.178-07:00Incommunicado - 2.5 weeks<a href="http://www.volunteers.org.np/Nepal_Maps/images/annapurna_map.gif"><img style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://www.volunteers.org.np/Nepal_Maps/images/annapurna_map.gif" border="0" /></a><br /><div><a href="http://images.google.com.np/imgres?imgurl=http://www.nepaltrekking.com.np/bigmap/annapurna_circuit_trekking.gif&imgrefurl=http://www.nepaltrekking.com.np/annapurna_circuit_map.html&amp;h=938&w=900&sz=83&hl=en&start=1&um=1&amp;tbnid=HjcBjEFUe7gmVM:&tbnh=148&tbnw=142&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dannapurna%2Bcircuit%26svnum%3D10%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN"></a><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://www.responsibletravel.com/ImagesClient/TL100159.jpg"></a><br /><br /><br /><div>Tomorrow morning we are leaving for our trek around the Annapurna's.</div><br /><br /><div>Here is some info about the region - <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annapurna">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annapurna</a></div><br /><br /><div>and a short video I found - </div><br /><br /><div><a href="http://www.metacafe.co.il/watch/383729/the_annapurna_trek_in_5_minutes/">http://www.metacafe.co.il/watch/383729/the_annapurna_trek_in_5_minutes/</a></div><br /><br /><div></div><br /><br /><div>We are taking a bus tomorrow morning to Besisahar and from there we take a jeep to the next village, where the road ends, called Khudi. Then we start to walk. It will take about 5-6 hours to get to Khudi, so we won't be able to start until around 1 in the afternoon tomorrow. Because of the heat and the late start, we'll probably only walk for a few hours on the first day. After that it will be about 5-7 hours a day on average. The trek is supposed to take between 16 and 21 days, so we aren't sure exactly how long we'll be gone. To the best of my knowledge there is no internet along the way, so you won't be hearing from us for a little while.</div><br /><img style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://imagecache2.allposters.com/images/pic/LPIPOD04/BN8953_3~People-Crossing-Sagging-Suspension-Bridge-Over-Khudi-Khola-on-Annapurna-Circuit-Nepal-Posters.jpg" border="0" /><img style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://www.transitionsabroad.com/publications/magazine/0701/bamboo_bridge_nepal_larry_morgan.jpg" border="0" /><br /><div></div><br /><img style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://www.trekkingteam.com/uploaded_photo/13manaslu_ii.jpg" border="0" /><br /><div>Keep it real while we're gone. Or else. </div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4645091980294045212.post-73073803506868543872007-07-03T07:17:00.000-07:002007-07-04T10:19:57.756-07:00Goodbye India, Hello Nepal!okay it's a little past hello Nepal now, we got here on the 30th of June. So I'll try to remember what it was like saying hello.<br />Our last day in India was a little sad for us. We really enjoyed our time there and are absolutely going to go back in the future. We spent the last day running a couple of errands (mailing another package of stuff home, picking up our plane tickets to get to Kathmandu, eating momo's from a nice Tibetan lady on the street for the last time) and then had our third cooking class. We took three classes in three days from this lady in her kitchen and learned how to make palak paneer, channa masala, shahi paneer, malai kofta, pakora, samosas, chai (tea) and chapati. We really liked the food in India, and wanted to learn how to make some of the stuff, so we were happy to learn more about the ingredients and how the stuff is made. Although not everything we made was as good as we have eaten in restaurants... so I don't really know if we accomplished anything.<br />After our cooking class, we caught a night bus from Mcleod Ganj to Delhi, a 12 hour ride. Our flight was at 11:30 the next morning, so if everything worked out as it was supposed to, we would have 4 and a half hours to get to the airport and sit around eating crappy food and drinking crappy coffee. But about 4 hours into the trip, at our rest stop, the driver discovered oil was leaking from the engine... we sat around there for 2 hours, without actually knowing what was happening or when we would be leaving. Tara and I were starting to get pretty nervous. Missing our flight was not an option. There were rumours going around it was going to be an all night stop. We asked about getting a taxi the rest of the way and some jerk asked for 8000 rupees. The regular tourist price for a taxi from Delhi to Mcleod Ganj is 3000 and we were already a 3rd of the way... but we were screwed out of more than 8000 rupees if we didn't get there in time. Just as we were trying to get a crew together to share, the bus roared to a start. We sat back down, shut our eyes and hoped that the bus wouldn't break again. It was a nervous and of course, uncomfortable sleep. But we made it eventually, and got to the airport in time to have bad food and coffee. For such a big city, they really have crap food choices in their airport.<br />It was a nice, short flight into Kathmandu, just an hour and a half. We got a meal and a beer and watched TV on the seat in front of us.<br />On arrival we had to fill out visa forms and pay USD $30 each. This visa fee could also be paid in Canadian, Euros, Aussie, or English pounds. Not Nepali rupees. There own government won't even accept the currency.<br />After getting our bags, we were met by the usual mob of rabid taxi drivers screaming like crazy "free taxi" "100 rupees", if of course we go to some crap hotel that gives them commission for every sucker they bring in the door. We had a hotel reserved already, so we told them to get away from us and got into a pre-paid taxi to our destination. This is a concept we became familiar with in India. I think it started because the taxi unions would get pissed off being screwed over on fares or having to negotiate different rates to go all over the city. For a foreigner to get a meter price would be crazy to them I think. It's actually fine with us though, we know we're paying the same thing as all the other tourists, there is never a big hassle and we get where we want pretty easily.<br />We stayed at a more mid range place in Kathmandu, outside of the tourist ghetto of Thamel (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thamel">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thamel</a>). The hotel was called Kantipur Temple House, and was built in a traditional Newari style (Newari's are the indigenous people of Nepal, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newar_people">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newar_people</a>). This basically means lots of really intricate wood carvings on every door and window frame. Thamel was a zoo. Tiger balm sellers, hash dealers and rickshaw drivers all over the streets pushing their stuff on everyone. The drug dealers would just walk by, being a little more discreet. But the other 2 would just harass the hell out of you until you were out of ear shot. Then there are the shops. Every one is either a trekking store, a travel agent, a guesthouse, a tourist restaurant, a pashmina shop or some other tourist crap store. It was annoying to be there. But there was a good variety of western food, so we ate at a couple of the restaurants, just for some change.<br />We spent 2 full days in Kathmandu. On one of them we walked around and tried to arrange a couple of tours. One to Tibet (you have to go there on an organized tour, otherwise you can't cross the border). The other to Royal Chitwan National Park <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Chitwan_National_Park">(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Chitwan_National_Park</a>). We went to about 10 different travel agents and heard many different prices and stories. Almost every one of the places is a middle man to the middle man, so they add extra commission and have no control over what we actually get. Eventually, after some internet research, we found one of the real trip operators and booked with them the next day. For the rest of that first day, we sat around the Garden of Dreams, a small city park/botanical garden, which was really nice. We met a German tourist wearing a Maple Leafs t-shirt, he was obviously cool.<br />The next day, we did a walking tour of the city that ended in Durber Square. Durber means palace, and it's here that the royal family of Nepal used to have their palace (it moved somewhere else like 100 years ago). It is the main square of the city, even though it is actually much larger than just a square. There are also more than 10 temples in the area including one that the city is named after, made entirely of a single tree and another called the Hippie Temple because it's where all the hippies would hang out in the 60's and 70's. Our guide told us it's where Bob Dylan wrote 'Knockin' on Heaven's Door'. There was also the Kumari Temple (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kumari">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kumari</a>), which is where Nepal's living goddess lives. The way it works is that a 4 year old girl, of a high-caste and of a Buddhist family is chosen after a series of tests. One is that the girl must be completely free of any marks on her skin, no pimples, cuts, birthmarks or anything like that. She must have the same horoscope as the king (so when the King died in 2001, a new living goddess had to be chosen to match the new king). And she must be brave (they put her in a dark room and terrify her all night) if she makes it without losing her mind, she is in. She becomes a living goddess. She moves into this temple and is treated as a goddess until she reaches puberty, at which point she goes back to being a normal person. She isn't allowed to touch the ground. If she gets cut or gets a pimple, she isn't the goddess anymore. If you ask me, that would fuck a girl up being raised as a goddess and getting everything until you're 11 or 12 and then going back to just being a normal citizen. But my opinion doesn't really matter. She is a goddess to Buddhists and Hindus in Nepal.<br />After our tour of Durber square, we walked down Freak Street. It's named after all the freaksters and hippies who came and hung out in Nepal in the 60's and 70's, although there aren't any hippies anymore.<br />This morning we left Kathmandu. We took a bus to Pokhara <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pokhara">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pokhara</a>) , Nepal's second largest city, although it's really more of a town. It sits on a lake, Phewa Tal, and is surrounded by the mountains. We're told it's beautiful here when the clouds don't ruin the view (it's the monsoon right now, so we can't see any peaks). Oh well.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4645091980294045212.post-27158404221434304632007-06-26T05:29:00.000-07:002007-06-26T06:35:03.060-07:00Naggar, Mateura and Mcleod Ganj<div><div>View from the bus to Manali:<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJXXxvtGqaEBXXH2LaypNqChFM5ibahsB5ScKwp0ekV7UF-IYqr20jKiL1IMAWAdZjRLHbHCV54HB3n8I4v4CEeGhYw4gOh2Nol-BU8KgTa_6e0mClmrkUQBNvzCtVpxlkx3BS0Y_M/s1600-h/IMG_1341[1]"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5080354507816909730" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJXXxvtGqaEBXXH2LaypNqChFM5ibahsB5ScKwp0ekV7UF-IYqr20jKiL1IMAWAdZjRLHbHCV54HB3n8I4v4CEeGhYw4gOh2Nol-BU8KgTa_6e0mClmrkUQBNvzCtVpxlkx3BS0Y_M/s400/IMG_1341%5B1%5D" border="0" /></a><br /><div>I don't remember how long ago it was now, maybe a week or so, we left Vashisht and went by taxi to Naggar. It's a village which a 2 km up from the main road along the Kullu valley ( a little bit south of Vashisht)</div><br /><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5080362101319089170" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkHlUsTrWx3jp7I1Lzroazas8KMjNyxnzVWHFk8d3J_JQMEYuiaf_adShf4ykCFSjJbsQYwWXTIGm2RUjIcE0wKExRxb9rXv1fr1mNw8R2oEIGfKr7bYp5wwhQMkSwFiaqsRpc1sau/s400/IMG_1376%5B1%5D" border="0" /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5080354516406844338" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0RZFGF3p4lRXMbWWcWs8AyGXBGxd4o_5aZSuptKtxBqHEEktl3PoYp6x4oFDvSL2tWwsn-8GnwvAeYAGFNSbvWR-GMWIq0f8zcNtbSfjWhe93Ce0Es-RrOR7hasjgarIZK_nxr-EA/s400/IMG_1377%5B1%5D" border="0" /><br /><div>It was a nice place, but we couldn't find a room that we really liked, so we only stayed there for 2 nights. One site of interest in Naggar is the castle, which used to sit on top of one of the surrounding hills, but was moved stone by across the valley by the villagers some hundreds of years ago (sorry,forgot the details). Some of the views were really incredible from parts of the town though, and so we enjoyed that of course. I also got an Ayurvedic massage, which was both relaxing and necessary (Ayurveda - <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayurveda">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayurveda</a>). The next morning, we left all of our stuff with a travel agent, and went fishing along one of the tributaries of the Beas River. We spent like 4 hours fishing, but didn't catch anything! This made us feel pretty pathetic, but we still had fun hanging around the river and trying to catch the trout. I was also a little upset because I was hoping to catch my dinner. A taxi picked us up later in the afternoon (with our stuff) and took us to Jari, small town along the Parvati Valley. </div><div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5080354529291746258" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6ZGoaHCsrElTx3Xll1-Mq-a6IWpEo1WXyAkE_Z57MRA21zTSUYDxVReDOO4yljxUkvIepCa-R4br3E8ory0ZofCSYDlvBtXtrFTTQxbiDuH49LiGfQ0RPx_vNnSPLhCTa6YuRwUjm/s400/IMG_1388%5B1%5D" border="0" /></div><div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5080354520701811650" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTUpcaSzx5z2Ztz6wWoXd_3jTs2vzhBkruk7_JIT7mXmifuzmsl-dYe77jbeIww3DaI_Ibn_wiyLWt3XAgi7dAH4MIu9THki6fXdWkHl-HFrpBMBXyVTdGdG26g60UluarxNa7n42G/s400/IMG_1356%5B1%5D" border="0" /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5080362084139219938" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDYLMaT9_DiQFeLo-6j57SmdslA0AsyYTRRv2fY-AObqGpo43LtaYWP-Hd1-CmG7f7Obv1Nna3alyTZXpUyXHUaClLQYCl9Qyg5lnDQ8YU4DgldK6RnQr2X1Z_WyZriesu0jhwW_s4/s400/IMG_1395%5B1%5D" border="0" /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5080362092729154546" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuFYE728X4mIDgrpxfAppn3kpMBxKYg983BzmZdOZAB5mHt8FK3cgdxtbk-7OhyphenhyphenlxNxvBaPwGBsBROrd1T0XssP9U8vlPCj41OOtY_nBq2lb4xhyke4dv_ZzaKc3h2yG9SHDZjhoBe/s400/IMG_1402%5B1%5D" border="0" /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5080362097024121858" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgID_ggIp2Td8hgZx65zpxT75RgQrCBvzaScI-OBC4_UjUOqoWTjXkbYXNVvSSSjaprqJZg7VTrrKRai_Ty-t4xDIt_YH3otYwnjh1Lj8Omrg4ZObxFbtUc_n3YC4K_phMBRJ9Rwo61/s400/IMG_1415%5B1%5D" border="0" /></div><div>We didn't actually stay in Jari though, we hiked up from the road for about 20 minutes until we came to the village of Mateura, which was much more quiet. The population couldn't have been more than 100 people. We got a room at a small guesthouse, which seemed to be the nicest in the village. None of the rooms here had an attached bathroom though, so we had to settle for a common one (a bathroom has been one of our musts for rooms, when it's possible). It was perfectly clean though, because we were sharing it with the family who owned the guesthouse, so they kept it up for themselves. The family had 5 cows, so we were living next to them as much as we were the people. The walking trail that we took to get to Mateura continued on the other end of town and a couple of the days we went for hikes. The second hike we did was to a village on the other side of a valley from Mateura. As soon as we got into the village, a man approached us and offered a cup of chai. So we went with him, back to his house and had some tea and talked for a little while. He was a farmer and his main crop,like so many in the state, is apples. While we've been walking on these trails for the last couple of weeks, you often see people with big baskets on their backs, taking some kind of crop from the hills to where it needs to go. So, recently these baskets were always full of wheat. In August, they are full of apples. The man (his name was Krishna) also told us what he pays these people to carry his apples. 1 Rupee for kilo. 37 Rupees is one Canadian dollar. A couple of the days we also had to go into Kasol to run a couple of errands (only internet in the valley). It was a boring place, full of Israeli's and not much else. There was more Hebrew than Hindi to be found in the town, and it was easier to get a felafel than some Indian food. But it's location was still beautiful, so it wasn't a complete waste.</div><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5080354503521942418" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxnlRmOlZ2eE4Woqiw66W5pRui7FVJj3VKwHay0BbNX4r7FdzR7C31D3oACGHff7l-S3ABYqVIzcFzG4I7sW-nVjs9ivcv6Gf4XrmpZS50xv9oKjiYUkr1zgEg667v-F2ZdPibplTj/s400/IMG_1434%5B1%5D" border="0" /><br /><div>We stayed in Mateura for 4 nights. We then took a night bus to Mcleod Ganj (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dharamsala">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dharamsala</a>) , close to where we are staying now. Mcleod Ganj is the home of the Tibetan Government in Exile and His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama. As well being the home to the big DL, Mcleod Ganj is also home to many Tibetan exiles and the town is said to be more Tibetan than Indian (we've eaten momo's off the street a couple times already, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Momo_%28food%29">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Momo_%28food%29</a>). You also see many Tibetan Buddhist monks walking around town in their red robes. Typical of us lately, we are actually staying in a guesthouse, 45 minutes uphill from Mcleod in a village called Dharamkot. The view is great, we are actually in the clouds most of the time, so there is plenty of moisture here. It's fun having to walk to get anywhere, although a little tiring at times. But living in these villages and walking everywhere is a good warm up for our trek, which is coming up in a couple weeks.</div><div> </div><div>We purchased our flight tickets from Delhi to Kathmandu today, so on June 30th, we leave India for Nepal.</div><div> </div><div>Funny observation about myself in India: Whenever we walk by other white people on the street, I find myself unsure if I should say hello (because here, we are brothers!) or just keep walking like they were like anyone else. I think the other whities have these mental arguments as well, because whenever I end up nodding hello, they have the same funny look on their face.</div></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4645091980294045212.post-58216004184443711752007-06-15T05:40:00.000-07:002007-06-15T06:05:15.937-07:00Shimla and VashishtWe took an overnight taxi ride from Rishikesh to Shimla on Sunday night and arrived pretty early in the morning. The ride wasn't the most comfortable, so for the first few hours in Shimla we just slept to catch up. Shimla was really crowded with Indian tourists, there for partly the same reason as us, to get away from the heat of the plains. There wasn't a lot to see, but it was still nice for a couple days. The town used to be the summer capital if India, when it was still run by the British, until 1947. So because of this some of the buildings, particularly the town hall, are built in colonial British style. There is also the second old church in India. And a monkey temple, Jakhu Temple. We walked up a steep path for 30 minutes, seeing some monkey's on the way up and of course at the top where the temple is. The highlight was when of the first monkey's we passed started to run up to Tara, she had been holding a bag with some lychee in it. She got really scared though, and quickly through the bag off to the side sop the monkey would leave her alone. Outside of that we had no issues with them, it was fun to watch them run around the temple. The Indians would give them some food so they were quite close to us for most of the time, even though they scared us a little bit. There are signs saying to keep your glasses in your hands, but this was a little difficult for us, since we're both a little blind. Basically whenever a monkey came close to me I would reach for my glasses for fear of losing them. But like a true warrior I would keep them on to watch how cute the monkey's were.<br />That night we took a night bus north to Manali, almost at the end of the Kullu Valley, at an elevation of over 2000 m. The peaks of the Himalaya are around us, just beyond the hills of the valley. There is also the Beas river which flows through the town and is good for rafting (although we aren't going rafting here). We are staying in a nearby village named Vashisht, which is nicer because it's much quieter and less like a town. Vashisht is based around the hot springs which flow here, and there is a public bath at the end of the main road. However, it's still a little crowded and noisy for us, so we are heading in a couple of days to an even smaller village, where we plan on keeping this relaxation thing going, but mixing in a little fishing as well.<br />One interesting thing which we weren't expecting is the large numbers of Israeli's that are staying here and in the surrounding towns. Almost all of the tourists that are here now with us are Israeli, many of the signs have Hebrew writing on them, and all of the restaurants serve Israeli food (along with the other tourist food like Italian and 'Continental'). <br />Thankfully the weather is in the 20's here and we are very comfortable and have our appetites back.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4645091980294045212.post-87084048737311784472007-06-09T04:06:00.000-07:002007-06-09T23:51:46.065-07:00sorry for going AWOL, we are great!really sorry for the big gap between posts. At first my reason was slow internet and too much relaxation to have time to write these things. then it was just slow internet and laziness towards having to write such a long post to update everyone. <div><br /><br /><div>I am not exactly sure where I left off, but I think it was after our first full day in Mumbai. On the second day, we didn't do as much sightseeing, because we saw most of it on the first day. We walked around a really busy market area for a while, bought our train tickets to go south to Goa and went to see a Bollywood movie. It was in Hindi of course and we didn't understand most of the dialogue (the odd line was in English, making the movie actually in Hinglish). But if you know anything about Bollywood, almost every movie has the exact same plot: boy meets girl, then there is some troubles and in the end they end up happy and in love, so we thought it would be fine. We got the gist of the movie, but it was a little boring at times not knowing what was being said. and weird when everyone would laugh at a joke and we had that same blank look on our faces.<br />The next morning we took an 11-hour train ride south to Goa. There was no A/C either, we thought we would see if we could survive in the heat for that long (it was about 35 degrees). Plus it was a third of the price. It was definitely a hot ride, pretty tough at times, but it wasn't the worst thing in the world. One thing we really didn't like about it was how readily the Indians throw their trash out the window. No one even thinks twice about it. I cried myself to sleep that night... <img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5074320151780473666" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivfzBqYdcZBl_tvG-me2b1a9EN1Hh94biH4Vq8s_mg7dqS2zow6M_tFCR3fdJNq-plFOOgKXNO9Fo3Xzqe0tFHaQUU_AkKDU9qE_C4hA38AY1bHJrgSfHcMk9YTYPmlggcd9G9p_yu/s400/P1010612.JPG" border="0" /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5074320147485506354" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_zsclZ7KfUfLfbFxpW1qfZgTas3oE8jlGtSyz85kWTo7cSxiHgNl1IcTw0u4-yCmNLJeuRbDts8RDWrPkGFJJt9xL9dK16OJFVGzZugmU2l7h1wET6WJ2pUc1Ckp9atCGMvRce2BI/s400/P1010610.JPG" border="0" /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5074320143190539042" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjC9RAzqSx_VF0dcHR4j_74DSzLECYf__YOCiK0ViOXcNmJYij8NRaVmQj9yQOgTzjF-kAY_4LMhJq4nMwnSQ07NfrQDAhPS0idSBScNKfI7QIAzSxUUc-mz27kCNEmf2VrxPLdgw4/s400/P1010590.JPG" border="0" /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5074320143190539026" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjs5P30aLMj6Jhtm2mkRIGx4LxEk006vAdyLTqydrHRfoYF2cuQkG0n77LjFKNn9Ow6trr72tCezQmDZi-4ie8-YjEyv6vh2qLWRtTbpLxwESAA33mniiiEw1KC4Er7NLKe6EPwePh3/s400/P1010560.JPG" border="0" /><br />When we finally arrived, we took a taxi the rest of the way to the town we wanted to stay in, a small coastal village called Arambol. We didn't make any plans as far as how long we were going to stay there because we didn't know what to expect. But we really loved it and ended up staying there for 8 nights. We stayed in a nice guesthouse by the main 'road' and spent each day sleeping in, eating, reading, swimming in the Arabian sea and... that's about it. A couple of the days we walked about 30 minutes into the jungle and hung out underneath a huge banyan tree. It really was paradise. We miss it now that we aren't there anymore and we were sad to leave it. <img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5074324085970516818" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcqEQMTVjAELv6LQbjCuKp6vxtC2z5pPSdqPUuQJUjrBIZb91HRXNFLoJoWD85F9BMZg5eYOw9wYrIZ0kJAnkJF_GUQM3uu3XcoywYskWeiYqWQMgyKE276gEoVZ8w8gsoPZM6MbGX/s400/P1010654.JPG" border="0" /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5074324090265484130" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZrFJz5c6tnADHhj_5PlxYctDcT0DvTxwxh0nxHU4JXXDQSJvtqFZRoKrjyzxmHzkEVpN5H0N2rBvLOlcVHFAhLt036tRmr0om3nIllbWp6_gmkqS0LgzLlJSEfS_bVtb9X5ycrOQ2/s400/P1010661.JPG" border="0" /><br />After Goa, we took a flight north to Jaipur, the capital of Rajasthan. It was about 45 degrees there, probably hotter. And it's a pretty large city, so it's got plenty of cars and of course lots of pollution in the air. Jaipur is known as the Pink City, because in the old part of town most of the buildings and the two palaces are painted pink. It was okay, but to be honest we were a little underwhelmed with the place. Plus, that kind of heat makes any place hard to enjoy. That being said we did have a good experience there. While walking around the bazaar area in the old town, one of the shopkeepers started to talk to us (he sold kitchenware so there was no ulterior motive). He really wanted to take us to see his guru. We weren't really sure what to think, but he assured us it wouldn't cost anything, and he seemed like a nice guy, so we said sure and gave it a shot. We took an autorickshaw (three-wheeled motorised buggy) together to see his guru. We were both skeptical and sort of thought we would end up paying a bunch of money for the meeting, but it didn't turn out that way at all. We spoke to the guru for about 30 minutes and he told us about our energies and chakras. He also made some incredibly insightful and accurate comments about us, our families, and our lives. We were pleasantly surprised by this and actually enjoyed the experience. I don't really know what else to type out about it, so if you want to know more, email us or just ask when we're home and we can articulate a little better.<br />We didn't do much the next day, on account of the heat, outside of going to run a couple errands and going to meet Krishna (the shopkeeper) for a beer. He was a really nice guy, so it was nice talking to him again.<br />AND we were in the newspaper! On our first day in Jaipur, two guys approached us, saying they were reporters and asked a couple of questions about what we thought of the city. They then took our pictures and said we would be in the paper the next day. When I asked for the paper the next day at our hotel, I was told it was a Hindi paper, and because I wasn't going to understand any of it, I said not to bother. But when we met Krishna later on, he brought us a copy of it. So we have a little article with us now (in Hindi) with our pictures next to it from one of the Jaipur papers. </div><br /><div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5074324094560451442" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhk8XRTyFOxSZ0b8T7mo_FPOZPMUylGdDcBJa1Tvva4GHgrCmVYRnvPSiaI4mkaitxTwfDZ34gTTKnISvBbUr_OGqDDe9NdPgSomVgWcZmmrO_cZmB0Fyw9lOX-ZjuId_4gYy4sZP4l/s400/P1010669.JPG" border="0" /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5074324098855418754" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhP9Qo_8ZmT6tKJx7u1CvKvUrnUkX4augA4hC6wCNiQ5a5EZVSFwuCLl9zl7sqmjJ4yPZi4RuxEdNkf8L7qzKo15XoA5_C0zf3xI7g5vCYX6ZYp7qPg165YHDs_itLUDHZLn9xVMI9g/s400/P1010676.JPG" border="0" /><br />After Jaipur, we took the bus to Agra. it had A/C, but it was hard to tell because we were still hot and sweaty. But when we got off, the heat hit us like a punch in the face. We were already sick of the heat and had changed our plans to get into the Himalaya as fast as possible, so Agra was going to be just a day trip. We stored our bags at the train station and hired a rickshaw driver to give us a 4 hour tour of the city, most of which was spent at the Taj Mahal. It was really beautiful. It's one of those things that when you see it, you end up taking over 10 or 15 pictures, and most of them look almost the same, but that's just the way it goes with things like this. Also being in a place where so many Indians are at once, with cameras, made us very popular. We got tons of long stares (apparently no one told them it's rude) and some picture requests. It's funny to think that some family will be going through their pictures from the Agra vacation, and we will be a part of their memories.<br />We boarded a train that night for Delhi, where we had no intention of staying for longer than the night. We got to a hotel, slept, and then the next morning took a bus to Haridwar, a Hindu pilgrimage sight on the banks of the holy Ganges river. Unfortunately AC buses weren't available at the time we got to the station, so that was a really hard 7 hour trip (over 45 degrees). We couldn't drink enough water and were really gross by the end of it. We thought that it was going to be cooler in Haridwar than it actually was, and also that it wasn't going to be very commercial due to the religious significance. But it wasn't very exciting for us and it was very hot still, so we got out of there pretty fast. It was really busy though as these months are a part of the Hindu pilgrimage 'season', and seeing that many people at the ghats (steps into the river) bathing in the waters was a cool thing to see.<br />Right now we are in a town called Rishikesh, which is the self-proclaimed yoga capital of the world. There are a great number of temples and ashrams here, so there is lots of yoga and meditation going on around town. I think we're going to try one of the yoga classes tomorrow morning, but we aren't staying here long either... still not cool enough. Our next stop will be Shimla, in the state of Himichal Pradesh, which is basically all mountains. It sounds like an incredible place... and a much cooler place... so we are very excited to get there.</div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4645091980294045212.post-60413177845338844082007-05-25T07:28:00.001-07:002007-05-25T07:28:59.699-07:00I posted some more picturesof Slovenia and our more recent stopsUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4645091980294045212.post-73102418177917484292007-05-24T08:45:00.000-07:002007-05-25T06:54:54.575-07:00Budapest and now India!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibjxg8PRPe_VAljUnZeuJW1fD2wnIcFL_7m8-7RiTlFEOzNFmKSEUasFcK3mi5c5u8u15ECqot28O-SLCcSsMNngl39YOnSGrsE_xeYbCF4XBWXoI7dmZxMp4qVI7f0P9zSNDtcp9_/s1600-h/IMG_1222%5B1%5D"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibjxg8PRPe_VAljUnZeuJW1fD2wnIcFL_7m8-7RiTlFEOzNFmKSEUasFcK3mi5c5u8u15ECqot28O-SLCcSsMNngl39YOnSGrsE_xeYbCF4XBWXoI7dmZxMp4qVI7f0P9zSNDtcp9_/s400/IMG_1222%5B1%5D" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5068492481941527778" border="0" /></a>We spent a week together with Tara's family in Kesthely on the western shore of Lake Balaton in Hungary. While there we spent a day taking a dip in a thermal lake (Europe's biggest maybe? who knows) at a nearby town called Hevis. We also took a day trip to Vienna, which was a good time (we all had sausages too, if you were wondering) Outside of that we just relaxed there for the week and enjoyed our trip interlude. We've passed the 3 month mark of our trip now. Seems like a ton has happened already and we've still got so much more planned...<br /><br />After Balaton, we drove with Tara's brother, Ryan, to Budapest. We stopped just outside the centre at the Statue Park. Once communism fell in Hungary, all of the great statues people loved to look at for a reminder of who their heroes are, were taken down and eventually moved to this park. It was interesting to see these big statues of once powerful people. good job for making a park out of it though, instead of just destroying them like some of the other post-commie countries. After the park we drove into the city and parked our car in Pest, near the Jewish Quarter, and walked around for a few hours. We walked around some more of the city over the next couple of days and there are many great buildings in Budapest. However not all of them are well kept, like in Vienna. So you've got a lot of grand, beautiful buildings, and a bunch with broken windows and whatever. and of course, Hungary's claim to fame, the thermal baths. we spent our final afternoon in the city swimming in both hot and cold pools in a very nice bath house, I think it was Baroque architecture... but i don't know anything about architecture, so not sure if you can trust me.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDqL-VzAoW1p1qgF0ZbW73h2FDa8TqvvLIZoudOykLxTaE-w2ZVZtC1_2zMC5_RJl4ERzLwvxfcfRGWL4rxWp1rPG46RHrLGIoXXRpwmrPDS797Ts4oUVdrTA9jOior444KbHmb4a3/s1600-h/IMG_1244%5B1%5D"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDqL-VzAoW1p1qgF0ZbW73h2FDa8TqvvLIZoudOykLxTaE-w2ZVZtC1_2zMC5_RJl4ERzLwvxfcfRGWL4rxWp1rPG46RHrLGIoXXRpwmrPDS797Ts4oUVdrTA9jOior444KbHmb4a3/s400/IMG_1244%5B1%5D" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5068492469056625874" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwWuLTVnjP-PUR2PiM4BJ-8AQj7qC8I4Evb_lc33o_IDtDxOfKbH7XV-ywkcqpZE0ye416ylFVO-dNVRtdlnmim6C4y8uYOyPjASsdlDDeTEDOqDGbjMahppJuhJZBHkegB5Entvqz/s1600-h/IMG_1242%5B1%5D"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwWuLTVnjP-PUR2PiM4BJ-8AQj7qC8I4Evb_lc33o_IDtDxOfKbH7XV-ywkcqpZE0ye416ylFVO-dNVRtdlnmim6C4y8uYOyPjASsdlDDeTEDOqDGbjMahppJuhJZBHkegB5Entvqz/s400/IMG_1242%5B1%5D" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5068492499121396978" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5T1VH7Iqw8pCQnmIbF2rZGvJxsX-4-WkvQmPnuc5_U1GOIt_P6rSUA6HpSjC_oGs0sLbd3RUxVQ3heDX2cng2L6diR1WF-THn0YUl3tv04flgKv6JNXA_0ZCj5s9_2qNFHHTRXRHv/s1600-h/IMG_1253%5B1%5D"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5T1VH7Iqw8pCQnmIbF2rZGvJxsX-4-WkvQmPnuc5_U1GOIt_P6rSUA6HpSjC_oGs0sLbd3RUxVQ3heDX2cng2L6diR1WF-THn0YUl3tv04flgKv6JNXA_0ZCj5s9_2qNFHHTRXRHv/s400/IMG_1253%5B1%5D" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5068492503416364290" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Our host in Budapest also took us to a wine festival in a small town called Etyak which was good fun too. We ate some new foods and had wines too. Deep fried goose wings. some pizza like thing called Langos, cooked in a mud oven. and a sweet doughy pastry cooked over hot coals, that was both huge and delicious!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRqhxG_W8gen05Luh4jadGXPbBpv8uEatD7ksZXkz-n0VytiQrpyUDyaq3l0xlzKUArQUlaR6JIIWmoe4slNWr3ebWmF44lsfrtH3MsxIiTrkx2utrNIRfypZDcRP7bJiZfAGQj09j/s1600-h/IMG_1259%5B1%5D"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRqhxG_W8gen05Luh4jadGXPbBpv8uEatD7ksZXkz-n0VytiQrpyUDyaq3l0xlzKUArQUlaR6JIIWmoe4slNWr3ebWmF44lsfrtH3MsxIiTrkx2utrNIRfypZDcRP7bJiZfAGQj09j/s400/IMG_1259%5B1%5D" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5068492516301266194" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Right now we are in Mumbai, India! Big change. We spent 14 hours or something in Amsterdam on Tuesday before flying here early Wednesday morning. We arrived last night and spent today just walking around. It is hot! although to be honest i expected hotter. Like near death heat and I'm just not feeling it. But we're sweating up a storm either way. It's a big city, something like 16 million people, so its crowded with cars and people. On our walk today we saw an incredibly poor slum and then 15 minutes later were inside one of the most expensive hotels in the city. Pretty big gap in wealth I guess. After sitting in a large field (under some trees) watching a bunch of people play pick-up cricket, we had some lunch and spent the last few hours of the day on Chowpatty Beach. not swimming because the water is gross, just chilling (in the shade).<br />We kind of expected it to be like Egypt with people hassling us everywhere, but so far it hasn't been like that.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNtet_KTGy0CYgiFo3FQSh1KFUXlYun8i90E2cnUvmr4bjbzzS7ueZ3xZDRJtfccVc6JkChIM_wvefPrhDWIuboufF8aYh36sjBz6s15d9r5yN5hoIwqLzHIA7xq5Pv9tIYjBrzaJW/s1600-h/IMG_1267%5B1%5D"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNtet_KTGy0CYgiFo3FQSh1KFUXlYun8i90E2cnUvmr4bjbzzS7ueZ3xZDRJtfccVc6JkChIM_wvefPrhDWIuboufF8aYh36sjBz6s15d9r5yN5hoIwqLzHIA7xq5Pv9tIYjBrzaJW/s400/IMG_1267%5B1%5D" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5068494848468507938" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPt8-o5qVDp8KB_MEJ80LX9fa4mDjHfOBDeoQq0sLK2KACxvO5DBCMb6MBVWQj-KRoIoS-CM5mjhU5SC8NXTUKGtWT7VNK_sIjrTmXQ3A9u-AMq57yBojpFu8aVhm2AF-rZGdgRZxL/s1600-h/IMG_1269%5B1%5D"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPt8-o5qVDp8KB_MEJ80LX9fa4mDjHfOBDeoQq0sLK2KACxvO5DBCMb6MBVWQj-KRoIoS-CM5mjhU5SC8NXTUKGtWT7VNK_sIjrTmXQ3A9u-AMq57yBojpFu8aVhm2AF-rZGdgRZxL/s400/IMG_1269%5B1%5D" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5068494865648377138" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5R6G6zz88CaQyoAjDWXzf7dsR1JcQkaNGnw7dX5vuqxK1C53SRhaGGw52drUEP_tvnQJUqfPJK3Ohv2FI7nfmL5-5C_4522y2ZY3L4D2VSzTqrTjniFqvXSVXMkXh7LjUKopw8Ljg/s1600-h/IMG_1275%5B1%5D"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5R6G6zz88CaQyoAjDWXzf7dsR1JcQkaNGnw7dX5vuqxK1C53SRhaGGw52drUEP_tvnQJUqfPJK3Ohv2FI7nfmL5-5C_4522y2ZY3L4D2VSzTqrTjniFqvXSVXMkXh7LjUKopw8Ljg/s400/IMG_1275%5B1%5D" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5068494878533279042" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiA298jZcTpwwjB17ITtIga26-I111EwGLZKS0cOBx2ed5uafCoft5nhPlfCmA8gwjhRShvrO85gUnFuQY_hiq9LDkKz_UkqrOEGftElYJ1T7rpSB8ePTQg6oc6mGb6oyZd-KJP2JIK/s1600-h/IMG_1278%5B1%5D"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiA298jZcTpwwjB17ITtIga26-I111EwGLZKS0cOBx2ed5uafCoft5nhPlfCmA8gwjhRShvrO85gUnFuQY_hiq9LDkKz_UkqrOEGftElYJ1T7rpSB8ePTQg6oc6mGb6oyZd-KJP2JIK/s400/IMG_1278%5B1%5D" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5068494895713148242" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjv80UKk7iZeWGD73iU5TjKjFJfHuTimygpoC09QbV2txEtQ7H4WNouZz-WDWOPnEB_kQ1WMMIoaDX_I8Zf8cjCQu94ByVzK82_RVTojw7nOCdl4jXXI9JUor6TkGWVBVcWjTOrN-Qj/s1600-h/IMG_1279%5B1%5D"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjv80UKk7iZeWGD73iU5TjKjFJfHuTimygpoC09QbV2txEtQ7H4WNouZz-WDWOPnEB_kQ1WMMIoaDX_I8Zf8cjCQu94ByVzK82_RVTojw7nOCdl4jXXI9JUor6TkGWVBVcWjTOrN-Qj/s400/IMG_1279%5B1%5D" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5068494904303082850" border="0" /></a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4645091980294045212.post-24308997095136659732007-05-15T04:13:00.000-07:002007-05-25T07:27:47.698-07:00just a short update...ok maybe not so short.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXXBdfpBVlayV79mzdZNq-KqSbI0fGCdumTBoJf5KB0h5GR6dTFTHLUemMLQf2eI7QIQg6g72RIOU8lHI1wZtr9r5ZZ1kS1Zd0xElxlLlKdDbGLcyff2rRoVw-JnZImKSnWUmRyqty/s1600-h/IMG_1126%5B1%5D"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXXBdfpBVlayV79mzdZNq-KqSbI0fGCdumTBoJf5KB0h5GR6dTFTHLUemMLQf2eI7QIQg6g72RIOU8lHI1wZtr9r5ZZ1kS1Zd0xElxlLlKdDbGLcyff2rRoVw-JnZImKSnWUmRyqty/s400/IMG_1126%5B1%5D" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5068504413360676290" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-3p4uNx0wG7XSoPQUc3mIOm-oDMGdpX_s9974tu0v3LrntdpOq_SOGwrDGXpg3C57G32xrsw-bm63k8mdFrdS_fMBtiwb02lsHePOz7lNabdEEWGdoQmLLQqLJ3W1mTnnP_hSQMM8/s1600-h/IMG_1128%5B1%5D"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-3p4uNx0wG7XSoPQUc3mIOm-oDMGdpX_s9974tu0v3LrntdpOq_SOGwrDGXpg3C57G32xrsw-bm63k8mdFrdS_fMBtiwb02lsHePOz7lNabdEEWGdoQmLLQqLJ3W1mTnnP_hSQMM8/s400/IMG_1128%5B1%5D" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5068504421950610898" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRbwtksvBp9BZcUbCLRYv7KGbxDMR8iwo2uKhHpMOb8qfSPj10fUjEYAmVGOzaC9Pa6wCLyKU5ewSYlM4LuLmAvV3O_7NYN9JFi33AYcX6YfjibzHhEYVVeCZzAvMingh_5r9ivmhT/s1600-h/IMG_1151%5B1%5D"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRbwtksvBp9BZcUbCLRYv7KGbxDMR8iwo2uKhHpMOb8qfSPj10fUjEYAmVGOzaC9Pa6wCLyKU5ewSYlM4LuLmAvV3O_7NYN9JFi33AYcX6YfjibzHhEYVVeCZzAvMingh_5r9ivmhT/s400/IMG_1151%5B1%5D" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5068504443425447394" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUQ4Yku8ktZV_XYdX1VYJB1inWSeqUOr-FSxtWLpS0IOsENFXm05cUrwj3-kvbjRq1ruz6tRK712dfnDxglfWQ_Pi_7LXRAI9yjk7jkRa25NkDBoMD0JAdJI2UHnVXt3GvhbAGjrlU/s1600-h/IMG_1158%5B1%5D"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUQ4Yku8ktZV_XYdX1VYJB1inWSeqUOr-FSxtWLpS0IOsENFXm05cUrwj3-kvbjRq1ruz6tRK712dfnDxglfWQ_Pi_7LXRAI9yjk7jkRa25NkDBoMD0JAdJI2UHnVXt3GvhbAGjrlU/s400/IMG_1158%5B1%5D" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5068504460605316594" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjltpZjpPBr6w5M1X2r7BY0Z9x1D-5fTcwp38DTjMLyBTMoR6a6sBHBvVRKJw_OgPivGVfeqooj60HIBODGN90nlVSeuKo7TrHt5pYZu_CKu71a9PIiB0foQmT2JmtIGeosg22Sewjb/s1600-h/IMG_1171%5B1%5D"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjltpZjpPBr6w5M1X2r7BY0Z9x1D-5fTcwp38DTjMLyBTMoR6a6sBHBvVRKJw_OgPivGVfeqooj60HIBODGN90nlVSeuKo7TrHt5pYZu_CKu71a9PIiB0foQmT2JmtIGeosg22Sewjb/s400/IMG_1171%5B1%5D" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5068504473490218498" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisBEHBBSOt5uLY3s7zN1kbh9wMeORt8jg0jh5iiZ6WZ3S67Dbve3pVon6R-CVj7G2R-fJd7WLWCw0E1BWqxVxWztgQK5LihY6iEFP4F2wFmRBmZspTckK3BQtxubZOI7dQnuehfGSB/s1600-h/IMG_1116%5B1%5D"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisBEHBBSOt5uLY3s7zN1kbh9wMeORt8jg0jh5iiZ6WZ3S67Dbve3pVon6R-CVj7G2R-fJd7WLWCw0E1BWqxVxWztgQK5LihY6iEFP4F2wFmRBmZspTckK3BQtxubZOI7dQnuehfGSB/s400/IMG_1116%5B1%5D" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5068501660286639474" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeWTrSr6ey4xIds1gN_Ov2hXrzjFWnkGdGMdUAVDXuj1T6ge7u7Px_nRiN0A_Cmn6q7Gm-dwVNztIw8zK1_Ffhw1lR8A1k5IsdrgwXCw3iUT3EN3zM91yV84xQ4dTLdxU3PTERZlom/s1600-h/IMG_1099%5B1%5D"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeWTrSr6ey4xIds1gN_Ov2hXrzjFWnkGdGMdUAVDXuj1T6ge7u7Px_nRiN0A_Cmn6q7Gm-dwVNztIw8zK1_Ffhw1lR8A1k5IsdrgwXCw3iUT3EN3zM91yV84xQ4dTLdxU3PTERZlom/s400/IMG_1099%5B1%5D" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5068501664581606786" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIUGW3etxFd7Y6ZgSeHPnkpQheqV8w6oz14ar_azUYqwMqE0hu_DhTvyjnuIpi-MXgKmSHk0tsJ9kYhIxdTZx0911yD9-xRTXBKEyR0VoAeZ84rHqN7f93FRw74LomOyb5PHvjfhZl/s1600-h/IMG_1105%5B1%5D"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIUGW3etxFd7Y6ZgSeHPnkpQheqV8w6oz14ar_azUYqwMqE0hu_DhTvyjnuIpi-MXgKmSHk0tsJ9kYhIxdTZx0911yD9-xRTXBKEyR0VoAeZ84rHqN7f93FRw74LomOyb5PHvjfhZl/s400/IMG_1105%5B1%5D" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5068501673171541394" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_cPuOwfS-NvA3wNUbc2q7QjXuzh08Zv-4OgWkxeklecIm1KVwRyiZnEi27CNWMFb5aIB8sCTuAbVqwRQ50lLzWf432hAv3gYUK-bwfr_utCvRybF1eW7AQqZaA3IV2JpIAaRT-jpQ/s1600-h/IMG_1108%5B1%5D"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_cPuOwfS-NvA3wNUbc2q7QjXuzh08Zv-4OgWkxeklecIm1KVwRyiZnEi27CNWMFb5aIB8sCTuAbVqwRQ50lLzWf432hAv3gYUK-bwfr_utCvRybF1eW7AQqZaA3IV2JpIAaRT-jpQ/s400/IMG_1108%5B1%5D" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5068501681761476002" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_-Xf9act75-jqV3bunRJt8oeF_7f1JYzW4PGJFSHJvSgDwibUSqZSAANK8NSTVb9Z177iusFHVZMCra9IdZK8H3z7Pp_M2Vo5cWzdubfSDN3WBxkMaaohpuuH_aQ3xylx6N_ZkyNp/s1600-h/IMG_1163%5B1%5D"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_-Xf9act75-jqV3bunRJt8oeF_7f1JYzW4PGJFSHJvSgDwibUSqZSAANK8NSTVb9Z177iusFHVZMCra9IdZK8H3z7Pp_M2Vo5cWzdubfSDN3WBxkMaaohpuuH_aQ3xylx6N_ZkyNp/s400/IMG_1163%5B1%5D" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5068501690351410610" border="0" /></a><br />Slovenia was excellent! we loved it there right away. it has a very quiet charm to it, which is our kind of charm. Ljubljana, the capital, was a very nice city. The architecture was grand of course, like many European capitals, and there was also a river through it, which always makes for a nice place to have a drink. The city also had a small area called Metalkova, which was an old army base that squatters took over in the 70s and have since lived there under more liberal rules than the rest of the country. There were a couple of bars there as well as a hostel which was converted from an old prison. some of the rooms were the cells. we didn't stay there, but it was pretty cool to see the rooms with bars still on the doors and windows.<br /><br />After Ljubjana, we drove our rental car (a really old Renault 5 with 175,000 kms on it) into the Julian Alps. Driving on those mountain roads was a lot of fun, and provided us with some nice views. First we stopped at Lake Bled, which is right at the foot of the mountains, has a very nice old town that overlooks the water, and Slovenia's one and only island in the middle of the lake (it had a monastery of course). After Bled we went further into the mountains to Bohinj Lake, which was much quieter and less touristy. We parked our car here and started to walk. We trekked for 2 days, 4 hours on the first and about 8 on the second day. On the first day we walked up from 650 meters above sea level to about 1500m. we slept in a mountain lodge that is only reachable by foot and had some incredible views of the surrounding mountains peaks and down below of Bohinj Lake. The next day we got up early and walked 4 hours, up another 100 m to a place called Sedmera Jazera (7 lakes). it was fun walking through the snow, which still covered the trails in many places. the views were incredible! its too hard to describe. ill put up some pictures and you can see for yourselves. After having lunch there, we started going down. It got pretty steep at times, we had to hang on to cables that were in the rocks. Looking down it seemed that pretty clear that if we fell down we would roll/slide for a while and likely die, so that made it a little more thrilling. On the way down, we stopped at Crno Jazero (black lake), and then continued on down to where our car was. It was a great feeling when we got to flat ground again. Made us really excited for trekking in Nepal... although Tara said I need to move my ass a little faster.<br /><br />After the mountains, we went to a cave, one of 7000 in Slovenia. It was pretty cool to see, because the walls, floor and ceilings of it still "grow". it grows by water slowly dripping through the rocks and just hardening over time... like 1cm per 100 years. So there were many of these finger shaped things everywhere. There was a river that ran through the floor of the cave as well. The only downside was that we had to tour the cave as part of a huge group with a guide, which we don't really care for, mostly because you have to deal with stupid people who don't be quiet, or are drunk like a few Polish guys.<br /><br />Right now we are in Khestely, which is on the western shore of Lake Balaton in Hungary. Tara`s family came to visit us and we are spending the week with them around here before we head to Budapest on Friday.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4645091980294045212.post-71200039065076090512007-05-04T07:46:00.000-07:002007-05-04T09:21:45.902-07:00The last 10 days in Croatia<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinfaCd1aFL9kMF6M6hIFn3-aJaw96EMgg6XiayeNL78jdim0GHmBi7LXnwR2q5jbpm3aZvRRgwQ6h6dLDcu-5K9oqEDCWCHoV4bKLwl3MqbCdZR0VMYe7k7BExEVQ3QfoyVzBpw7pu/s1600-h/IMG_1016[1].jpg"></a><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCqnFZCXXPTVKa5kMGEQ7Cy-oXVWX97csV9RFIyiT-TTRXU5h9VRtFGOEeNUSc8FqLzw6xgvs3ghvB1Yf8McFUK1QYJTvZ2Ox3m_Wv0tTMfGYA3cvzaDvhpwuRM-7Y6_bomM-pUSEU/s1600-h/IMG_1031[1].jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5060740048687750338" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCqnFZCXXPTVKa5kMGEQ7Cy-oXVWX97csV9RFIyiT-TTRXU5h9VRtFGOEeNUSc8FqLzw6xgvs3ghvB1Yf8McFUK1QYJTvZ2Ox3m_Wv0tTMfGYA3cvzaDvhpwuRM-7Y6_bomM-pUSEU/s400/IMG_1031%5B1%5D.jpg" border="0" /></a>OK, so we're really behind on these posts. We're leaving Croatia for Slovenia tomorrow and are only now updating you... we've been busy, you know, seeing stuff...<br /><br /><div><div></div><div>We first arrived in Dubrovnik, which is a coastal city in the far south of Croatia. It's famous for its old town, which sits on the water and all of the rooftops are covered with red-stone tiles. We were hoping that it wouldn't be a let down, just because of all the other old towns that we have visited by this point, but it was not. We spent about 4 or 5 hours walking around the old town, and had our daily ice cream of course. There was a nice church to check out there, and while we were sitting inside an old woman approached us to beg for change. As she was walking away from us, she farted. It was a beautiful moment.<img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5060735959878884434" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXXGfQsOhXcSFuI9V_ybjSQkTYP80gAADsUkVX9sxQCpv37sAnRLT4sS0l5nL9EOae8qYVKsz6su21GsfEeB8Lng-ccgWr0xVRIHBBZhB-_eq782fwLIPnTmPgOn-mc7Qv74cwOooF/s400/IMG_1004%5B1%5D.jpg" border="0" /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5060735972763786338" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdkmkNAZyqtJTk2yCVsHQ_3M9vKCwketueJBoWXBx0gWm-Q__imgSpvMrVxz04lsSxntfou3i9bSTQaK42yqQ4paRo3FwHGB9tQD8p5T9tMQ4yymg_iNJoT62p1vrUfGU17hUII-dg/s400/IMG_1006%5B1%5D.jpg" border="0" /></div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5060735977058753650" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_jigy1DpWWf0ye3EJ6ltdJJabl7RN1d5lGVNrcTURFL83a9Fdry0U8deVdfpncdRA44HfN0zV6EeGDwbkAceUXVYamXQklyy5srEKRtjE9kb2-Kf7KcmYV8oHfq6Tp7cLovDbjRRe/s400/IMG_1008%5B1%5D.jpg" border="0" /><br />We rented a car there and drove up the coast, <img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5060735985648688258" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5AkHR5JY8qnbehJHFBvpwXmBh9weMvIkty5CokOL33ZsgGc6zhFNLBKlxyelCGHuVLDfxpozBRGfPbU0SztECPQGtthojC3iBDOXgjOVXhAlMqGk9JIUFMxKB7cEp3glAWGbdp3-4/s400/IMG_1014%5B1%5D.jpg" border="0" />first to have some seafood for lunch in a town called Mali Ston (the area is known for its oysters and mussels, we had both). From there we drove out onto the Peljesac Peninsula and found a place to camp almost at the end of it, at an abandoned church. Sorry if that offends anyone, but it really was a great place to camp. Churches always get the best viewpoints, and there wasn't much flat ground around there, so God left us no choice. Besides it was probably one of the best sunsets I've ever seen. It was so pink/orange and we could see it sink into the sea in between the peninsula and an island right across from us. It was beautiful.<img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5060735989943655570" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFKqtFvRU0RjvJ4qLG2NXQftOcRs7dFFNMPfjSwLcXkjqreKkjIXtOUkOvGoGnxqXzNmFXILkOSOmz9oe9vN08NsEPj4Xhn-C9hKlmoGzfDtjj0GVreYj6S8mf1qpkplhSmLCM0Zqu/s400/IMG_1022%5B1%5D.jpg" border="0" /> After that we continued driving up the coast to an area called the Makarska Riviera, for some more beach time. We stayed in the main town called Makarska, <img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5060740044392783026" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWsChbG7zHejFDrfqSTcrnBfAdH1LMESbn5zwr3k7z9n_PeCL5ws2AkWVlalZAvme7hfduZ23lcwmlfE972aC33IeC_LLbpbi1rdRTwNzyRaDYWhqiETUy7bvmrtwcnlcIPlZqgIqE/s400/IMG_1025%5B1%5D.jpg" border="0" />and our balcony had a nice view of the beach and the sunset. We spent one day lying around the beach in Makarska and the next day in the town north of there called Brela. Most of the beaches here are pebble and not sand, which didn't sound great at first, but it has its benefits. Like there's no sand to stick to everything. I can't think of another one, but that's a big one for me. The water here is also really clear, we're constantly stopping to looking into the sea in amazement of it.<br /><br /><div></div><div>Once beach time was over, we drove to Split, but only spent a few hours there. There wasn't much to see, just Diocletian's palace. We drove out of town and camped in a quiet bay on the water. it was of course, a really cool place to be camping.</div><br /><div>Our next day was spent at Krka National Park, which despite its name wasn't as much like a national park as we had hoped. The main thing to see there are these really beautiful waterfalls, which are formed by plants growing on top of other plants that have grown out of the limestone base. This set of falls comes down in 17 steps. However, we didn't realize but the day we were there was labour day in Croatia, so the park was rammed! Besides the fact that you could drive your car or scooter almost all the way up to the falls, there were people everywhere. It ruined it for us. We left the park in the late afternoon and drove further north to Pag Island (there was a bridge). </div><br /><div>You aren't going to like the sound of this, but we felt we needed another day of some lying around in the sun. The island has a pretty limited amount of vegetation and is mostly rocky. For this reason, a kind of sheep's cheese is very famous from here. The only food for the sheep is salty weeds, which gives the cheese a pretty distinct flavour. We bought a little piece from a house off the main road. It was pretty good.. I don't know though. I like cheese, but I'm no Dutchman.</div><br /><div>After Pag we drove over the coastal mountains to the east. We actually camped out that night at a site in the mountains, so it was a little colder. The next day we went to Plitvice National Park. It's basically a lakes park, but because it's in the mountains, there are many waterfalls. Furthermore because the same thing happens as does in Krka, the entire park is covered with waterfalls of all shapes and sizes. You walk around on these wood bridges while the water rushes down underneath and all around you into small lakes and ponds. The water is also really clear and blue, with an abundance of fish, since its illegal to fish. I know I've said this a few times before, but this probably was the most beautiful place I've ever been. We were taking pictures almost the whole time, because everything just gave you that feeling where you had to have a picture. </div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5060740052982717650" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFVRfE6BnvRiucnyDqTuEHaVoRbc3V_mfuo2PYJJLZHi6TK1V8Emh7dT8t4WD1ro-0nunbBeEqSUAOlPxBrAjEe1FNjZLrvcqoeb3QxUa-zQ0zotBRGMkEXo6i8Rjagn60GxZDDp6u/s400/IMG_1076%5B1%5D.jpg" border="0" /><br /><div>Last night we arrived in the capital, Zagreb, which is nice. The architecture is very similar to the other major cities of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, so its nothing new, and we will get a much better version of it while we're in Budapest. It's also raining a lot right now, which is kind of annoying (and making us think of going to the beach again!)</div><br /><br /><div></div><br /><br /><div></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4645091980294045212.post-48747151306023306512007-04-28T09:34:00.000-07:002007-04-28T09:52:20.325-07:00Mostar, BosniaFrom Sarajevo we took the Swedish-donated Bosnian train (most infrastructure items in Bosnia have been donated) south to Mostar. Yet another highly scenic trainride complete with hairpin turns, switchbacks, mountains and a feeling that you riding in the clouds.<br /><br />Mostar is most famous for one of its bridges, Old Bridge. The Bridge is suppose to represent peace and unity among the B0snian people. <br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhswjqk08Ry6RnOswH7J98ss01aLqPOAVhkxFhxn6kn1xwCe-6O6t4E9ZmS-__0at1tdotnmyHTyiWMOTRFvugD3qR3GjkPbaCoWUGJvJ1WsoOuEn40aHEHF6bUPqoPZ9Rn1ocEOJJ5pKiy/s1600-h/P1000904.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhswjqk08Ry6RnOswH7J98ss01aLqPOAVhkxFhxn6kn1xwCe-6O6t4E9ZmS-__0at1tdotnmyHTyiWMOTRFvugD3qR3GjkPbaCoWUGJvJ1WsoOuEn40aHEHF6bUPqoPZ9Rn1ocEOJJ5pKiy/s400/P1000904.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5058519645636907714" border="0" /></a><br />Throughout the city there are many bridges, as Mostar is situated on yet another too-blue-to-be-real river. Why can't we manage to have any of these in Canada? Like Sarajevo, there is evidence everywhere of the recent war. Bombed out, bullet-ridden buildings are everywhere yet the same as Sarajevo, people remain resiliant. The main floors of destroyed buildings have been turned into cafes or flower shops,<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhceuKuMfogMDfEdxO-piUg0zhNYplqIqzDq52QPZWEpLxkaJA1seUKZaX9bJj4GdJp1umoyihFJjcIBfJCNlGvDwo2dkWwLbrLg2J3O8TrJGDkZ72I-mV11DPcyosd29lsq1OuaXIQ2qCv/s1600-h/P1000908.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhceuKuMfogMDfEdxO-piUg0zhNYplqIqzDq52QPZWEpLxkaJA1seUKZaX9bJj4GdJp1umoyihFJjcIBfJCNlGvDwo2dkWwLbrLg2J3O8TrJGDkZ72I-mV11DPcyosd29lsq1OuaXIQ2qCv/s400/P1000908.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5058519649931875026" border="0" /></a><br />and the old town (stari grad) which was previously destroyed has been almost completely rebuilt. Daniel and I have seen many Stari Grad's in our travels around the Western Balkans and we quickly agreed that Mostar's was the most beautiful. Although we only visited two cities in Bosnia we found the Bosnian people to be so warm, the food to be delicious (though lacking in tangible vegetables!), the country to be beautiful and the cities to be among our favourites. What a beautiful country.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGb8f3fd6Kd3YosdDWcr5wP04-QscWg6aXRWolp6DpPARvEjXe8QULO-6knlOVaywgGyXW3vc9fYv-8f3gC-UaDh2q_qsjv7RCSKF1dv9LvK0SO0PlMvJVVHOtyMNmqAb52Yg1t_FeEwbX/s1600-h/P1000956.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGb8f3fd6Kd3YosdDWcr5wP04-QscWg6aXRWolp6DpPARvEjXe8QULO-6knlOVaywgGyXW3vc9fYv-8f3gC-UaDh2q_qsjv7RCSKF1dv9LvK0SO0PlMvJVVHOtyMNmqAb52Yg1t_FeEwbX/s400/P1000956.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5058519662816776946" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiN1j_k2MuHvi7JSL1vaLMu11Ewd5_iFdYsdb_vgbyAZZd9zVeWHxy93ccOR3CFW5Xb-T0R-pqS8G-Do-rPruqeTn7DrtV8YCJyj2FLrmHQLlHPMBmWeINhyhaHbnBVvattWgXLRlJUFyD0/s1600-h/P1000915.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiN1j_k2MuHvi7JSL1vaLMu11Ewd5_iFdYsdb_vgbyAZZd9zVeWHxy93ccOR3CFW5Xb-T0R-pqS8G-Do-rPruqeTn7DrtV8YCJyj2FLrmHQLlHPMBmWeINhyhaHbnBVvattWgXLRlJUFyD0/s400/P1000915.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5058519658521809634" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGb8f3fd6Kd3YosdDWcr5wP04-QscWg6aXRWolp6DpPARvEjXe8QULO-6knlOVaywgGyXW3vc9fYv-8f3gC-UaDh2q_qsjv7RCSKF1dv9LvK0SO0PlMvJVVHOtyMNmqAb52Yg1t_FeEwbX/s1600-h/P1000956.JPG"><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span></a>..tjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14841570484744961858noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4645091980294045212.post-75688379649953495522007-04-28T09:20:00.000-07:002007-04-28T09:33:42.660-07:00Sarajevo, BosniaAnother scenic ride through North-Western Montenegro and onto the unpaved mountain roads of Bosnia and a few hours later we arrived in the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">Bosnian</span> capital city of Sarajevo. Daniel and I both agreed after a little time there that it was one of our favourite cities visited thus far. The city has a great energy to it, an interesting mix of Ottoman and <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">Austro</span>-Hungarian architecture, <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyBZyJAwlnJf0_L_-5n2xaROMMsyNW5ROm-GajZk1Ci62poFySR6suULXK6JBvcd4Db4KPCt2ktMSGKkhoMYR0pQtgqBrWLaGScTd7fCnNR2abcSgTyMwGwK77MfxnYMLXBf6YqwJ4MfAx/s1600-h/P1000890.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyBZyJAwlnJf0_L_-5n2xaROMMsyNW5ROm-GajZk1Ci62poFySR6suULXK6JBvcd4Db4KPCt2ktMSGKkhoMYR0pQtgqBrWLaGScTd7fCnNR2abcSgTyMwGwK77MfxnYMLXBf6YqwJ4MfAx/s400/P1000890.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5058515780166341266" border="0" /></a><br />an evident arts scene and a <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">resilience</span> that we both found to be amazing. Walking the city you were reminded constantly of the recent genocide that befell them. There are <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">spontaneous</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">cemeteries</span> everywhere - in people's backyards, in parks - and <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">bullet holes</span> can be found on most <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrlfH3p0QqI48FZLWTN5sjycTRJLruS2p88F0-iBn_yIT_YXu3TkIan9Dj6fUn0W6NYHHqe_bqoBaytNrhMsjchSf2sKWyGuSAcD_xg4p3gdIxNCJKYaQqGqLCW6dgVQs9x27i-Zdpiwj9/s1600-h/P1000896.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrlfH3p0QqI48FZLWTN5sjycTRJLruS2p88F0-iBn_yIT_YXu3TkIan9Dj6fUn0W6NYHHqe_bqoBaytNrhMsjchSf2sKWyGuSAcD_xg4p3gdIxNCJKYaQqGqLCW6dgVQs9x27i-Zdpiwj9/s400/P1000896.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5058515793051243186" border="0" /></a>buildings. <br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeUmlIeg0NcM_P7YvZQKLMDy2KM72u9DuKVlEEk41ksl-NXWBO9QRPLnJMWfrQrW_uLd6FPvSDontbOG30Lmzqu9wfCsAnDFkAR4B7W_QaoQNZMRi_-0lbjQuK-qSuQEgMHSSYTgPlZ5-Q/s1600-h/P1000885.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeUmlIeg0NcM_P7YvZQKLMDy2KM72u9DuKVlEEk41ksl-NXWBO9QRPLnJMWfrQrW_uLd6FPvSDontbOG30Lmzqu9wfCsAnDFkAR4B7W_QaoQNZMRi_-0lbjQuK-qSuQEgMHSSYTgPlZ5-Q/s400/P1000885.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5058515771576406658" border="0" /></a><br />Despite this <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">constant</span> reminder of the atrocities they had to endure only 10 or so years ago, the city is alive with people laughing, drinking coffee and getting on with their lives. <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZS2H8KLi887UHbyOJX23ql_u57D7-wSFNWi_XKmVLs7j2c1oCAERR4xHGHizpst7LBZmwnS3N4SAhoAv2ltFuYEM4KAwOLoRNwrfLIyi5leecnT8RxzUrbqCL2pR7I2ZST150yZAm2EHJ/s1600-h/P1000891.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZS2H8KLi887UHbyOJX23ql_u57D7-wSFNWi_XKmVLs7j2c1oCAERR4xHGHizpst7LBZmwnS3N4SAhoAv2ltFuYEM4KAwOLoRNwrfLIyi5leecnT8RxzUrbqCL2pR7I2ZST150yZAm2EHJ/s400/P1000891.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5058515784461308578" border="0" /></a>..tjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14841570484744961858noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4645091980294045212.post-80693718137974846332007-04-28T08:55:00.000-07:002007-04-28T09:18:52.623-07:00Everything's Coming Up Tara - Durmitor National Park, Montenegro<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2ycwtUOX-tHc4x1N0aWRFurQg0mX2ZWkGGDObjykM8CgKLu5wc_C638Hd-zZQID1y4FGgiFkxKEJDgiW8XKQ_CVyLWIIAihGVJS3jf1G0e6P8SBpOwR21KxM7OLQALVlJVtxAeTlsryjT/s1600-h/P1000849.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2ycwtUOX-tHc4x1N0aWRFurQg0mX2ZWkGGDObjykM8CgKLu5wc_C638Hd-zZQID1y4FGgiFkxKEJDgiW8XKQ_CVyLWIIAihGVJS3jf1G0e6P8SBpOwR21KxM7OLQALVlJVtxAeTlsryjT/s400/P1000849.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5058510918263362130" border="0" /></a><br />It was quite the feat getting to <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">Durmitor</span> National Park in North-Western Montenegro from <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">Kosovo</span> but after 3 buses and hitching, we finally made it. And believe me, the home of all things Tara (Tara River and Tara Canyon) was well worth it.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2AHwwp83AJCTWRbKYPxfUAAtfbzfSloArL0ewHKIB9Duw4YXOdjTLqLD0grcg9F_S9MenGt-eHrevlOGQ0yga-ESTVe7MYS8NxD8DqLVE8-agNXLI0_-1rix2zmOqd7lNXoifkWlrk0Nb/s1600-h/P1000857.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2AHwwp83AJCTWRbKYPxfUAAtfbzfSloArL0ewHKIB9Duw4YXOdjTLqLD0grcg9F_S9MenGt-eHrevlOGQ0yga-ESTVe7MYS8NxD8DqLVE8-agNXLI0_-1rix2zmOqd7lNXoifkWlrk0Nb/s400/P1000857.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5058510926853296738" border="0" /></a><br />We decided to stay in the largest town in <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">Durmitor</span>, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">Zablyak</span>. The town was situated in the centre of the park amidst snow-capped mountains, rolling hills, alpine lodges and clear-blue lakes. The place was idyllic. We spent four days hiking and relaxing amid the mountains. The highlight of our time there was hiking to a lookout over the Tara Canyon.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBT8SuTx8_CrJp8pn1RUFFVfu-BWeyLSjaX5TY5BtsNpc-gwNkbIwyYNQ0GVTlcph3O-_Yc0d0lIHDWb4nukpJd8DrbM-2HgYb_Hv2UjnjEyfF0ZZisAAChGXHnML_XTqU_aL-xkyXIwj5/s1600-h/P1000873.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBT8SuTx8_CrJp8pn1RUFFVfu-BWeyLSjaX5TY5BtsNpc-gwNkbIwyYNQ0GVTlcph3O-_Yc0d0lIHDWb4nukpJd8DrbM-2HgYb_Hv2UjnjEyfF0ZZisAAChGXHnML_XTqU_aL-xkyXIwj5/s400/P1000873.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5058510935443231346" border="0" /></a><br />Though the Tara Canyon is much lesser known than the Grand Canyon (I had never heard of it before researching Montenegro), it is actually second to it in size and, unlike the Grand, it boasts amazing mountain peaks reaching towards the sky, an abundance of trees and the almost too-blue-to-be-real Tara River running through it. We took many a picture at that lookout but unfortunately, I don't think any of them accurately capture the <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">grandeur</span> of it. It was truly magnificent...kind of like me!!! <br /><br />Montenegro is a country of astounding natural beauty and Daniel and I swore to each other that we would be back. It is gorgeous here!..tjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14841570484744961858noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4645091980294045212.post-75615850514782027172007-04-23T08:40:00.000-07:002007-04-23T09:27:56.860-07:00Belgrade and PristinaReally sorry, but the computer I'm using won't let me upload pictures. I'll do it next time I'm online. use your imaginations...<br /><br />okay, so its been a long time since we last posted. we've been many places since the last one.<br />First off, the train ride from Bar to Belgrade was really beautiful. I think my mouth was open the whole time we travelled anywhere in Montenegro.<br />One of the first buildings we saw after getting off the train in Belgrade was the former ministry of defense building. It's been left standing as a bombed out wreck, whether the reason is to remind everyone of what happened or just legal arguments wasn't clear. Nevertheless it was interesting to see what was left of these 2 buildings, the bullet holes in one of the neighbouring ones, and then the 2 very nice classical looking buildings on the opposite sides of the street.<br />We spent most of our time in Belgrade in Stari Grad (means old town, pretty much every city we've been to recently has an old town), although we also went to see St. Sava's temple, which is the largest Serbian Orthodox Church in the world. it was big, whatever. The old town was nice to stroll around though, especially because a large part of it is pedestrianised. We also enjoyed the many city parks that are scattered around downtown Belgrade. While here we also got into our first conversation about politics and the recent history of the Balkans, which Tara and I only kind of know about, being 10 years old when Yugoslavia started to come apart. <br />It was interesting to hear a Serb of a similar age to us talk about her point of view. She said she didn't really know what was happening in Croatia and Bosnia, being a kid at the time but also because the people there were being somewhat insulated from all the news. <br />All in all we enjoyed Belgrade, it was a nice city and the weather was great while we were there, and that always helps. <br />We then took a bus south-west to Pristina, the Capital of Kosovo. We had originally intended on going here before Belgrade, but Serbia does not recognize the UN stamp you get when you arrive in Kosovo. To them it is still a part of Serbia and thus make it difficult on people going in and out of the area.<br />We didn't expect big things from Kosovo. In all honesty, we just wanted to see what it was like there and what the people were like. It definitely was not a pretty city like some of the others we've seen, but the people were noticeably warmer. About 80 to 90% of Kosovars are ethnic Albanians, and like I already mentioned, we liked them. Tara commented that the people we'd met there and in Montenegro gave off a warmer vibe than the Serbians, and I agreed. It wasn't a massive difference, but you did see it in the way people interacted. The nicest building in town was the library, which had an interesting design. There are also a bunch of mosques around town, which is a noticeable change from the churches of Serbia and Montenegro. One other thing we noticed about Pristina, is that many of the vehicles you see are white 4x4's with the logos of international organizations on the doors (UN, EU, etc.). We both agreed upon leaving that we liked visiting there and seeing what it was like this soon after being a war zone. One kind of scary thing about Kosovo, as well as the other former Yugoslav countries, is that they were heavily land mined during the 90's. The guidebooks make it clear that you should not wonder off trails when hiking in certain parts or poke around in abandoned buildings. We aren't doing either one of these things, don't worry, but still it's kind of a scary thought.<br />We took a couple buses from Pristina back into Montenegro, to go to Durmitor National Park. Once again, as soon as we got to the border it was mountainous and beautiful. How do they do it?Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4645091980294045212.post-63568250719036171752007-04-13T09:42:00.000-07:002007-04-13T10:03:26.397-07:00Montenegro<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwy_wF0up8vYMv74jV9yD86l9Nq6w6X5dADsRUPab0WtKN2vB8j9AVHZ7sImegFyD_fNSTN-mQgYIaM2fq_gy_o1Hw1LlprUaqBbaa_kc4_h56DinSVzmyb_etNGwEemca3SOtRqrW/s1600-h/IMG_0897[1]"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5052959366892810146" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwy_wF0up8vYMv74jV9yD86l9Nq6w6X5dADsRUPab0WtKN2vB8j9AVHZ7sImegFyD_fNSTN-mQgYIaM2fq_gy_o1Hw1LlprUaqBbaa_kc4_h56DinSVzmyb_etNGwEemca3SOtRqrW/s400/IMG_0897%5B1%5D" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkjd1TE-2NxrZMLci4SSxqt4QxKz52xoDjBilG1SXspxS2oyIpPiCmjFIYl9SjZmeSSYSqBPH7fR6nxWN1ZI7Bu3hkbG-01WfNYn919R4A1aQU6mxMjZi_rHVLiVqmFdZBwysMoGM_/s1600-h/IMG_0902[1]"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5052959375482744754" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkjd1TE-2NxrZMLci4SSxqt4QxKz52xoDjBilG1SXspxS2oyIpPiCmjFIYl9SjZmeSSYSqBPH7fR6nxWN1ZI7Bu3hkbG-01WfNYn919R4A1aQU6mxMjZi_rHVLiVqmFdZBwysMoGM_/s400/IMG_0902%5B1%5D" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2zTWcc5CSjcwlo7js8qtiDJ29k9qx-I9BC-uwHLY7MW0WEhHUjFh4RXZyzF9AJTNUBrAhhTM0LTy16ZRdzfBAdpTNsZM4blB-C_y5YMofCDLikTEJzbYeYW5rFjwD2a0y0mAoijS6/s1600-h/IMG_0908[1]"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5052959379777712066" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2zTWcc5CSjcwlo7js8qtiDJ29k9qx-I9BC-uwHLY7MW0WEhHUjFh4RXZyzF9AJTNUBrAhhTM0LTy16ZRdzfBAdpTNsZM4blB-C_y5YMofCDLikTEJzbYeYW5rFjwD2a0y0mAoijS6/s400/IMG_0908%5B1%5D" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGyWGBd9sg1iPO7d_lPAD-4_zr3tl35KKlVS3ruh6qdH2ER0sGWTrI8Z99EW6_AUqd1lz4RCZANpk7O7jHHrkxrCjMyH_vSzG1S_ioSQVHGRCkx70lTqNXeIiHsG7ATWcHYbWc_M9w/s1600-h/IMG_0911[1]"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5052959384072679378" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGyWGBd9sg1iPO7d_lPAD-4_zr3tl35KKlVS3ruh6qdH2ER0sGWTrI8Z99EW6_AUqd1lz4RCZANpk7O7jHHrkxrCjMyH_vSzG1S_ioSQVHGRCkx70lTqNXeIiHsG7ATWcHYbWc_M9w/s400/IMG_0911%5B1%5D" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVMrO7giH4Phg5mVAx11uWi8pLtvvVtQC3FZjDAZfwW8ZwlDl9DqSoYm2j8VXgtSJkSS2kCv6C8yAzzfhFSaRusMPlsIH177FeNrzjFWfsXI02s6Bo0O-OMf54o9A_YaUFQX2yOfoN/s1600-h/IMG_0915[1]"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5052959388367646690" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVMrO7giH4Phg5mVAx11uWi8pLtvvVtQC3FZjDAZfwW8ZwlDl9DqSoYm2j8VXgtSJkSS2kCv6C8yAzzfhFSaRusMPlsIH177FeNrzjFWfsXI02s6Bo0O-OMf54o9A_YaUFQX2yOfoN/s400/IMG_0915%5B1%5D" border="0" /></a><br /><div>So far we've only been here for 4 days, but I think it's safe to say that we both like it a lot. It's incredibly beautiful here, all mountains and a great coastline. We arrived first at Ulcinj, just across the border from Albania. It was a nice small town. We spent our days there walking around the little bit of the town, but mostly enjoyed our hike along the coast. We had excellent views of the water almost the whole time. There wasn't very much sand, it was mainly rocky. The next stop was Kotor, further north. It is famous for it's walled in old town (which most of the coastal towns also have) and because it is situated on Europe's most southern fjord. It was very nice there, as expected, but there was very limited accommodation options, so we had to pay a little more than we had wanted to for a night's stay. Because of this we only spent one night in Kotor, and a day exploring the city and climbing up the mountain to the fortress, before leaving for Budva. It's much nicer here, more low key than Kotor, and has plenty of places to sleep. We took an apartment and have just spent the last couple days relaxing and enjoying having our own space to unwind in. We also walked around the town, but there isn't a ton to see, so it didn't take too long. Tomorrow we are taking a train from Bar (Montenegro) to Belgrade (Serbia). It's supposed to be a very scenic train ride, so we are looking forward to it. </div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4645091980294045212.post-53576250037773483542007-04-08T13:45:00.000-07:002007-04-08T14:09:54.609-07:00Gjirokastra and Kruja<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihq887Uuh1f_tGGAPnITQd3q3jOyxsFMIj3zFLJJu8kXJk3Nm9yDjmJ1j_l9-xsK9bYuk47sJ33OoDAm0W9baNTKArg-ADnGwyBPuYqyqAUJ039k0_1Jcb5-JlKqxaoWkW1qmjqDPI/s1600-h/PIC4+417.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5051167181167992210" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihq887Uuh1f_tGGAPnITQd3q3jOyxsFMIj3zFLJJu8kXJk3Nm9yDjmJ1j_l9-xsK9bYuk47sJ33OoDAm0W9baNTKArg-ADnGwyBPuYqyqAUJ039k0_1Jcb5-JlKqxaoWkW1qmjqDPI/s200/PIC4+417.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNl5ThDIG6wqfroMm2hWIUy-AtI0i6nAejgEI0SdFQIG06y6P0lQHnTxzprjDXMyi_VCpH2qEo5453E1eZH432FweNFLdas39m5YJOX9CdRaN5OAZjBETJYPXbaJiRBbkWNAQWyyFd/s1600-h/PIC4+396.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5051167185462959522" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNl5ThDIG6wqfroMm2hWIUy-AtI0i6nAejgEI0SdFQIG06y6P0lQHnTxzprjDXMyi_VCpH2qEo5453E1eZH432FweNFLdas39m5YJOX9CdRaN5OAZjBETJYPXbaJiRBbkWNAQWyyFd/s200/PIC4+396.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjptYL5gvDHsQ3D729C7O5TI72onvTfNKUntpHjfu4A9UF7qfEJz8zF61VPyklI2PgbpfC2Zw9A6OWP3s_utcBvMSahti2xhgY-bUkak3fjz7DI9Qw1-7dDPsk-WiR5dmpJ9wJ4ZA9T/s1600-h/PIC4+405.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5051167189757926834" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjptYL5gvDHsQ3D729C7O5TI72onvTfNKUntpHjfu4A9UF7qfEJz8zF61VPyklI2PgbpfC2Zw9A6OWP3s_utcBvMSahti2xhgY-bUkak3fjz7DI9Qw1-7dDPsk-WiR5dmpJ9wJ4ZA9T/s200/PIC4+405.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcYs0eKrZTmuKAgWVmkGU3owPnDWULCsuPpImjxBkc1GeQx8OMzyBlArPNUiEUwLAJxzxx3SmGeHPp4L-T_oL47sUxwj-Rri0Hnx9oaCTPXlcHmdhhWYc5CtEW7pFBgYmmPjRX8JUQ/s1600-h/PIC4+406.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5051167194052894146" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcYs0eKrZTmuKAgWVmkGU3owPnDWULCsuPpImjxBkc1GeQx8OMzyBlArPNUiEUwLAJxzxx3SmGeHPp4L-T_oL47sUxwj-Rri0Hnx9oaCTPXlcHmdhhWYc5CtEW7pFBgYmmPjRX8JUQ/s200/PIC4+406.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBOqQaXCMIc8ESz8ttYQxNTwS8gEed45qhkE7VbBEc-zbJYYvMpDZKDj4QVNipTUMyiydqFkMoOGh2rIGHfKXkDAjXYFZntc8Jen7FXyUFLkh_mGAJNItJGJpQW7LTa_UsocUXXoz1/s1600-h/PIC4+397.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5051166304994663746" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBOqQaXCMIc8ESz8ttYQxNTwS8gEed45qhkE7VbBEc-zbJYYvMpDZKDj4QVNipTUMyiydqFkMoOGh2rIGHfKXkDAjXYFZntc8Jen7FXyUFLkh_mGAJNItJGJpQW7LTa_UsocUXXoz1/s200/PIC4+397.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-izp0U-nv6eMFcoSC8ztaGcTA2IFLDDcb0SxB8yGwguF4V7hkdPpYjvNa0Qixm30Ntij3SjtT4SgC1tMZqrT6kfMcCE44d46w8xUQ_MjO39Xw5px6LmMWA5RXRnSsuRfqlxrZHi_8/s1600-h/PIC4+413.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5051166309289631058" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-izp0U-nv6eMFcoSC8ztaGcTA2IFLDDcb0SxB8yGwguF4V7hkdPpYjvNa0Qixm30Ntij3SjtT4SgC1tMZqrT6kfMcCE44d46w8xUQ_MjO39Xw5px6LmMWA5RXRnSsuRfqlxrZHi_8/s200/PIC4+413.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCOhHlg_6UhyphenhyphenBXrXDG2FlgzOg08djC5LTCj8A6gHaIEy8inmcQVFqAfk3lOD717JVm14W9ycOxd_atAmObyXKiLL2J_JWgNerSJJH9K8T5vFUyfN5dKRQl8D9l4uCVoOtzgD77U-PE/s1600-h/PIC4+399.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5051166313584598370" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCOhHlg_6UhyphenhyphenBXrXDG2FlgzOg08djC5LTCj8A6gHaIEy8inmcQVFqAfk3lOD717JVm14W9ycOxd_atAmObyXKiLL2J_JWgNerSJJH9K8T5vFUyfN5dKRQl8D9l4uCVoOtzgD77U-PE/s200/PIC4+399.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEia6PgDtX3md4tmTRUQkFTeoeJ2YXcgJeBu0XGdghRnWdXKUA7v-Pfw5UPle-L9PM8puvj6SFd-T2HZyFPrcnz-VTLNFQ1KZQciRQQt4ocqpZkDuG66EAW8gCXc7E51eAYX6EuI4-jI/s1600-h/PIC4+415.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5051166317879565682" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEia6PgDtX3md4tmTRUQkFTeoeJ2YXcgJeBu0XGdghRnWdXKUA7v-Pfw5UPle-L9PM8puvj6SFd-T2HZyFPrcnz-VTLNFQ1KZQciRQQt4ocqpZkDuG66EAW8gCXc7E51eAYX6EuI4-jI/s200/PIC4+415.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFkAe0mo4DjyLwWtDChjyWlgS_sLACr9f-URpMa3w5bPsvbfHO5qOiDOvjT3zzUa2djrNZ-lo7q5C7S_Pxct9EIabbpp7AchIYZFZKFgFH0qoqZuiR23NoULmD_D7JcRU2BITja9HR/s1600-h/PIC4+416.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5051166326469500290" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFkAe0mo4DjyLwWtDChjyWlgS_sLACr9f-URpMa3w5bPsvbfHO5qOiDOvjT3zzUa2djrNZ-lo7q5C7S_Pxct9EIabbpp7AchIYZFZKFgFH0qoqZuiR23NoULmD_D7JcRU2BITja9HR/s200/PIC4+416.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><div>As I wrote in the last post, we are in Albania now. After walking across the border with Greece, we took a taxi to Gjirokastra, which isn't that far from the border. The town is one of the two cities that was classified as a museum city during the 50 years of communism and was thus spared all the demolition that buildings in other Albanian cities and towns were the victim of. The old town of Gjirokastra was largely built during the time when the Ottomans ruled the area and the architecture is obviously reflective of this. The town is in the mountains, which provide a great backdrop to all the stone houses and cobble stone streets (which were really steep and tiring to walk up) There's also a castle at the top of one of the hills of the town, which we walked around. There is a war museum inside, as well as a prison, which King Zogu (King from early 1900s) and the Nazi's used as a prison. </div><br /><div></div><br /><div>It was really nice there, and as I said, these were the first Albanian people we met, and they were very nice. Having no idea what to expect from Albania or the people, we have really enjoyed it here. People have actually given more than we have asked for on a couple occasions, which never happened in Greece, and would never happen to anyone in Egypt.</div><br /><br /><div>After a couple nights in Gjirokastra, we got on a bus for Tirana. The roads in Albania aren't the best, and the first part of the trip was through the mountains as well. So the bus was probably going something like 30 km/h for the first few hours of the trip, which was sometimes pretty bouncy. The whole trip took us 7 hours or so, but I don't think we travelled more than 300 km's.</div><br /><br /><div>Tirana is nice as well and we have enjoyed what we've seen so far, although we are spending tomorrow exploring the rest of the city. So far we've seen just what was around us while we ran errands or just wandered around. Today we took a day trip to Kruja, which is just north of Tirana, also on the side of the mountains. It was pretty nice there. There is also a castle, which we took a picture of but didn't go inside. There's also a good antique bazaar, with some shops also selling handmade stuff made in the town. We spent a few hours walking around the market before heading back with some souvenirs.</div><br /><br /><div>I also put up a picture of 4 Mercedes next to each other. We read in our guide book that in the early 90's, after communism ended here, there was a total free-for-all in the country and a massive amount of stolen Mercedes Benz from Western Europe arrived. Looking around I would say half, if not more, of all the cars in Albania are 1990's edition Mercedes. It's pretty funny.</div><br /><br /><div></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4645091980294045212.post-1325014676510507412007-04-08T13:02:00.000-07:002007-04-08T13:45:05.129-07:00picture update<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8rnNanwyJJk8TO1ZgQdRbsV4Qg3VV_0OQjN-KryTYBJENPV0VvuP8IykA85vLDfskJWBwrlt8C8z2Akt9Zvg2NvlhqKP5cZ-g5rmjoy43WfxjYibeZMGa139w1jnEtMSiFMp3FEaR/s1600-h/PIC4+388.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5051160833206328594" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8rnNanwyJJk8TO1ZgQdRbsV4Qg3VV_0OQjN-KryTYBJENPV0VvuP8IykA85vLDfskJWBwrlt8C8z2Akt9Zvg2NvlhqKP5cZ-g5rmjoy43WfxjYibeZMGa139w1jnEtMSiFMp3FEaR/s200/PIC4+388.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0B7Ls_Sekj2R1JlHn726hn4nIY4RkhNZJrtKxm4xnFEvzHx8hPhE7sZlNnfEmrjpYFdalsGcspR_-ft7CnoGaW94nkjYDYPgRXcnxhj8UrADSUoGURgYrRBcmmhzn7bvjd9WLSOpm/s1600-h/PIC4+391.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5051160841796263202" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0B7Ls_Sekj2R1JlHn726hn4nIY4RkhNZJrtKxm4xnFEvzHx8hPhE7sZlNnfEmrjpYFdalsGcspR_-ft7CnoGaW94nkjYDYPgRXcnxhj8UrADSUoGURgYrRBcmmhzn7bvjd9WLSOpm/s200/PIC4+391.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhP7IYr47-_0j2kJWWBj10rCbfipaYskywb7QVZKZnMergwAvjvDqFkI5ZGAiK4ba5hmi5fbrngUg_CmoK9ab-5vUKckA_Wa5SDqbb-Qd3t25AHYF_zdmaRZS0WblYS2SFgeIL4o0TX/s1600-h/PIC4+393.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5051160841796263218" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhP7IYr47-_0j2kJWWBj10rCbfipaYskywb7QVZKZnMergwAvjvDqFkI5ZGAiK4ba5hmi5fbrngUg_CmoK9ab-5vUKckA_Wa5SDqbb-Qd3t25AHYF_zdmaRZS0WblYS2SFgeIL4o0TX/s200/PIC4+393.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3r87HbvxmcCi8sA24epn8HGW5MMUvI3HYV-4aCqVVNeoANQzrG7kByxNfG09eHF-8U7tIItIw0l7v6-Lx_PKNIkVnd_fOQhAXN4LDooUZ2njwUWEJABL7uUUwi-CVZgYpzfL3p9kY/s1600-h/PIC4+375.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5051159536126205122" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3r87HbvxmcCi8sA24epn8HGW5MMUvI3HYV-4aCqVVNeoANQzrG7kByxNfG09eHF-8U7tIItIw0l7v6-Lx_PKNIkVnd_fOQhAXN4LDooUZ2njwUWEJABL7uUUwi-CVZgYpzfL3p9kY/s200/PIC4+375.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtxlR3cgiaGiU0sTT5lTxlkgbCwqIA8lr4k-jMsB3v9efKnqLIDSXN8rDAtPeRV4QHbedewgwBDNSZ3i8hLBr1YNl23S2u3EpbMoP_t0I3bc7usx3HDActrn3W5hcRR_F8m9REF8rS/s1600-h/PIC4+379.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5051159540421172434" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtxlR3cgiaGiU0sTT5lTxlkgbCwqIA8lr4k-jMsB3v9efKnqLIDSXN8rDAtPeRV4QHbedewgwBDNSZ3i8hLBr1YNl23S2u3EpbMoP_t0I3bc7usx3HDActrn3W5hcRR_F8m9REF8rS/s200/PIC4+379.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkIxS4FZ1dpG5Rgs_AU0vpa31MFBCwBrT4AMXCWkbFrbDEJLuwfEMZUoQ4pEvu-T5mSAtssivhWVcvPGQOtXNcAQrFusfTPaK4q7Mi6Pb54SiM6gymEZBxDNgLG9ss0Yx0b-lrBKgV/s1600-h/PIC4+383.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5051159544716139746" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkIxS4FZ1dpG5Rgs_AU0vpa31MFBCwBrT4AMXCWkbFrbDEJLuwfEMZUoQ4pEvu-T5mSAtssivhWVcvPGQOtXNcAQrFusfTPaK4q7Mi6Pb54SiM6gymEZBxDNgLG9ss0Yx0b-lrBKgV/s200/PIC4+383.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFjJKo5OYHHCgRhFNjh-wh1GNFNUeQ9OaTNUvb2PFdVszXQUICQsCf9J7gGBUe6kpHMPHYxwH6PTxvB-bOB-xY3zOfXUt_xZKij7kxnr4fYFIJynG6Ma6gdpXtSPIsycfdXkYKBpjx/s1600-h/PIC4+386.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5051159553306074354" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFjJKo5OYHHCgRhFNjh-wh1GNFNUeQ9OaTNUvb2PFdVszXQUICQsCf9J7gGBUe6kpHMPHYxwH6PTxvB-bOB-xY3zOfXUt_xZKij7kxnr4fYFIJynG6Ma6gdpXtSPIsycfdXkYKBpjx/s200/PIC4+386.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPePfzavvEUSyPPCUr08LesA8HUNUlVkIaFLJ60gqwaZ9XLhaxcoJ4_fPwu2-0gHn8J8prH_eJ6-ok4tVaiUN2ZGj-MbOo2Z7fKAMF0nFXVjuo5l5wZZnBEq8nT0wgDkdzuE_8k2DF/s1600-h/PIC4+387.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5051159557601041666" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPePfzavvEUSyPPCUr08LesA8HUNUlVkIaFLJ60gqwaZ9XLhaxcoJ4_fPwu2-0gHn8J8prH_eJ6-ok4tVaiUN2ZGj-MbOo2Z7fKAMF0nFXVjuo5l5wZZnBEq8nT0wgDkdzuE_8k2DF/s200/PIC4+387.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKx_1LfwBiwYLRFfnGIfJD-LQ68BcnEIQjIwUV7A79b1YjfvHzH_CiRZ4OcdV_L4afrKvXLWX2eQhsR62WPeUWpLCgWJLlXC16yU-5aIEYmV5dDoktmsoeWGioaSG8bAXTbDxOXy4Q/s1600-h/PIC4+352.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5051157513196608626" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKx_1LfwBiwYLRFfnGIfJD-LQ68BcnEIQjIwUV7A79b1YjfvHzH_CiRZ4OcdV_L4afrKvXLWX2eQhsR62WPeUWpLCgWJLlXC16yU-5aIEYmV5dDoktmsoeWGioaSG8bAXTbDxOXy4Q/s200/PIC4+352.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSzyG8y7f54nlogbqXlTHv1Ip4l66bI5L7sXrpDzX-5AycMcIbMWLQmk2oi81SgM_XPDm0yjuuG2Qya2vGIL9-FT8lPuXdYXc0Qf7vXiG-_VLVX32nXigVG5IN44c6Gz5EugfjLUpI/s1600-h/PIC4+357.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5051157521786543234" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSzyG8y7f54nlogbqXlTHv1Ip4l66bI5L7sXrpDzX-5AycMcIbMWLQmk2oi81SgM_XPDm0yjuuG2Qya2vGIL9-FT8lPuXdYXc0Qf7vXiG-_VLVX32nXigVG5IN44c6Gz5EugfjLUpI/s200/PIC4+357.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyhM9W5h-X9DcprxrN-M9FSlq4qFVvTZNsZZFhlvbSRLhxVU_HMKujaF0zSwqeaMBMvO_7WeAhQ1v-k_n4u6_X_3MNpfMZzaai7wd7C39uiczFVW5vADatQIx_mfmg6FFvJPopeN92/s1600-h/PIC4+365.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5051157526081510546" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyhM9W5h-X9DcprxrN-M9FSlq4qFVvTZNsZZFhlvbSRLhxVU_HMKujaF0zSwqeaMBMvO_7WeAhQ1v-k_n4u6_X_3MNpfMZzaai7wd7C39uiczFVW5vADatQIx_mfmg6FFvJPopeN92/s200/PIC4+365.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizsOpfDVKfUaR72mjLsrViBGrtxBm4p4zHR8rfYNiT64Fjp75SrKGS1jAMhPm5Bq1FddimkfbXiK3vAj2MY1RY8u646NevUyfaACP5EVtsc1_XHRVDDjdsNiurGTWtBZ8V-IV-oLR9/s1600-h/PIC4+363.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5051157534671445154" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizsOpfDVKfUaR72mjLsrViBGrtxBm4p4zHR8rfYNiT64Fjp75SrKGS1jAMhPm5Bq1FddimkfbXiK3vAj2MY1RY8u646NevUyfaACP5EVtsc1_XHRVDDjdsNiurGTWtBZ8V-IV-oLR9/s200/PIC4+363.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcpnq663goxCO49dzh-GHT6qgd6OwBOBmJgNB2NtLshd6d0SumdY7A-l5wm6s4vC3qZ4J19h1u3HBDdmQH3INnVfUx2OJx1IsHOkgtMjVA1S0HeYqB6vQkr1dDCf5Xi8_yWyfcOnMJ/s1600-h/PIC4+374.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5051157538966412466" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcpnq663goxCO49dzh-GHT6qgd6OwBOBmJgNB2NtLshd6d0SumdY7A-l5wm6s4vC3qZ4J19h1u3HBDdmQH3INnVfUx2OJx1IsHOkgtMjVA1S0HeYqB6vQkr1dDCf5Xi8_yWyfcOnMJ/s200/PIC4+374.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><div>Here are pictures I had meant to upload for Meteora, Ikaria and Santorini.</div></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4645091980294045212.post-28345376261996001022007-04-05T09:24:00.000-07:002007-04-05T10:32:24.148-07:00Santorini, Naxos, Ikaria and Meteora<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhm_1qb9vea714z5_OezBmiLy5irwpUCbzrQWGi5-FF4syZ5Y7lD1fBX4M9oBOxOfbiCccL54QG8_IfXe1oGb1mETNtl-howursZrBYhnFgv1-7M1AlykXkaXiFZ8LWjeZ588UJA-3_/s1600-h/IMG_0842[1]"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5049997373810482242" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhm_1qb9vea714z5_OezBmiLy5irwpUCbzrQWGi5-FF4syZ5Y7lD1fBX4M9oBOxOfbiCccL54QG8_IfXe1oGb1mETNtl-howursZrBYhnFgv1-7M1AlykXkaXiFZ8LWjeZ588UJA-3_/s200/IMG_0842%5B1%5D" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjY3Pu9zbob1Ku5_6lOByCC1IUlHeqbyO_Rvs6P7HkbJwn6u72cHZnSK9o2Hzd4oMaeIkiwIJNIWTQj2s0b_gDcP5WDrQhYUOANSrG5QeK1VMMcqqtSCD5EoGYm69dZ5q9PF-KdSXS/s1600-h/IMG_0843[1]"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5049997378105449554" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjY3Pu9zbob1Ku5_6lOByCC1IUlHeqbyO_Rvs6P7HkbJwn6u72cHZnSK9o2Hzd4oMaeIkiwIJNIWTQj2s0b_gDcP5WDrQhYUOANSrG5QeK1VMMcqqtSCD5EoGYm69dZ5q9PF-KdSXS/s200/IMG_0843%5B1%5D" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSZxHFqpErx8Y9Kfkg0YcqUviE4fQdkbja4G2Ba8qV-sAWlNcJNLowpIrX2ifg3RYNStZPSchwrlk32Of0TE_bTJHGzvV2UeWNaTnbGNkq3KIHj0cCLmJAvTEMiXMgfP7QXcL4ott-/s1600-h/IMG_0844[1]"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5049997382400416866" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSZxHFqpErx8Y9Kfkg0YcqUviE4fQdkbja4G2Ba8qV-sAWlNcJNLowpIrX2ifg3RYNStZPSchwrlk32Of0TE_bTJHGzvV2UeWNaTnbGNkq3KIHj0cCLmJAvTEMiXMgfP7QXcL4ott-/s200/IMG_0844%5B1%5D" border="0" /></a><br /><div>After we last posted, we took the ferry to Santorini, which is probably the most visited of all the Greek islands ( I made that up, but I imagine it to be true, so go with me). We rented a car with the other couple we were travelling with and spent an entire day driving around seeing the island, which turned out to be a great idea because we got to see everything and it didn't cost a whole lot. It is a really beautiful place. </div><br /><div>I'm already out of adjectives to use to describe the great stuff we are seeing, so from now on just assume everything is great/cool/amazing/incredible unless I say it's crappy. </div><br /><div>Unfortunately, the weather hasn't been the greatest, it was kind of cold in the islands while we were there. It wasn't snowing or anything, but there wasn't tons of sun, and we had to wear long sleeves the whole time. Kind of goes against how you would picture the Greek islands, but I guess everyone has winter.</div><br /><div>After Santorini, we went to Naxos, which is the biggest of the Cycladic islands (the group were hopping around). It is extremely mountainous, and all the roads are constantly winding around some mountain, which made for some excellent scenery. Again we spent a whole day just driving around the island, seeing whatever there was to see, but mostly just seeing little villages and enjoying the coastal and mountain views.</div><br /><div>We were scheduled to take a midnight ferry to Ikaria, which is a much smaller island to the east of Naxos. After trying to kill a few hours waiting for midnight to come, we stood at the port for 2 hours in the cold because the ferry was very late. We ended up arriving in Ikaria at 7 am, when we were supposed to be there at 3:30. Surprisingly, this was the first time the boats were not on time. After going to sleep for a few more hours, we just wondered around the main town there, enjoying how quiet it is. One guy in town even told us not to tell anyone about the island so that the number of tourists stays as low as it has been. So don't tell anyone, okay? </div><br /><div>That night we went and sat in a natural hot spring, which is one of the things Ikaria is famous for, there are many hot springs. The following day we again rented a car and drove around. I think this was probably the best drive I have ever been on. The island is small, has mountains down its spine, and the views from everywhere were great! We stopped in some great little villages as well as doing a short hike to have a picnic lunch on the trails. Beats eating in the PATH any day.</div><br /><div>That night we took an overnight ferry back to Athens, where we boarded a train and headed for the north of Greece, a place called Meteora.</div><br /><div>It's a beautiful place as well. There are monestaries perched on top of the mountains that overlook the village where we stayed. We hiked through the forest up to the first 2, but as we were eating our lunch it started to rain pretty hard, so we had to go back into town. After walking for an hour and getting pretty damn wet, we found a coffeeshop to take shelter in. The rain kind of ruined our day there, but at least we got to see some of it.</div><div> </div><div>Right now we are in Albania! Finally made it! The people we've met so far have been really nice, so we're happy with that. Unfortunately this internet isn't so fast, so I can't put up too many pictures. Sorry.</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4645091980294045212.post-64817890029711800732007-03-26T10:48:00.000-07:002007-03-26T11:01:29.030-07:00Let the Island Hopping Begin! Mykonos<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyG1CcaEVe8elu48GHGDnGbqzAdxsIa9tsC7DyXgu5zneCLZaKruDGfgtNFE3bPoWve4IGyub0SBPaS-yuMCV9_u6mA1v8C-3DHR8MKsc8FDc88M5gXd5DbFgvJz5R0fhzv3QbukGk4GA1/s1600-h/P1000686.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5046294297125413618" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyG1CcaEVe8elu48GHGDnGbqzAdxsIa9tsC7DyXgu5zneCLZaKruDGfgtNFE3bPoWve4IGyub0SBPaS-yuMCV9_u6mA1v8C-3DHR8MKsc8FDc88M5gXd5DbFgvJz5R0fhzv3QbukGk4GA1/s400/P1000686.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEin3Q85a3eVfDVxiuJQpwvm3LCuGDomHKt00kxdYx4tpE_3pzFEJAL5lS6O_V-6bAQvtyUt7Wx9g6HdAVv4vaScoH5wVH6E7cLRWj23HQBvT6R9usiavVkgsTr9kyFM72-frg-pXxXPYKHQ/s1600-h/P1000696.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5046294305715348242" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEin3Q85a3eVfDVxiuJQpwvm3LCuGDomHKt00kxdYx4tpE_3pzFEJAL5lS6O_V-6bAQvtyUt7Wx9g6HdAVv4vaScoH5wVH6E7cLRWj23HQBvT6R9usiavVkgsTr9kyFM72-frg-pXxXPYKHQ/s400/P1000696.JPG" border="0" /></a> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEismzhToTjpNeQJ7w57CxLhdOS7qcLsW-qi7wfB957Aisf3g9WmCCSWwvOJCbbIS3SDkOGmgHo9sFk3LYwByx7MGQTmWqdmmFNFC7ZE0fWUVFzX8wsXlz94hCG6SwS58kFUNLSj_Xvqqcux/s1600-h/P1000688.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5046294301420380930" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEismzhToTjpNeQJ7w57CxLhdOS7qcLsW-qi7wfB957Aisf3g9WmCCSWwvOJCbbIS3SDkOGmgHo9sFk3LYwByx7MGQTmWqdmmFNFC7ZE0fWUVFzX8wsXlz94hCG6SwS58kFUNLSj_Xvqqcux/s400/P1000688.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /><div>We arrived in <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">Mykonos</span> yesterday afternoon after taking the very comfortable Blue Star Ferry. When we arrived at the port we planned on camping just outside the city (Hora) as the prices from <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">accommodation</span> here are <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">exhorbitant</span>. Turns out in low season you can have your pick of hotels and pay equivalent to what we payed for our hooker-surrounded hostel in Athens. Score one for us! We are staying in a beautiful hotel just off the main drag in Hora. <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">Mykonos</span>, of what we have seen, is <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">absolutely</span> beautiful. The "city" may be full of one too many want-to-be <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">fashionistas</span> (god knows where they think they are going), trendy clubs, and overpriced shops but it doesn't detract from its undeniable beauty. Today we spent the day at the beach - it isn't warm enough to swim but it was nice to just sit by the water and read. Mind you, the natives are in down jackets right now so there is no way for Daniel and I in our t-shirts and shorts/skirts not to look like tourists! It's that warm Canadian blood.</div><br /><div></div><br /><div>Tomorrow we plan on visiting the sacred island of <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">Delos</span>, birthplace of Apollo and Artemis and the centre of ancient Greek mythology.</div>..tjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14841570484744961858noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4645091980294045212.post-744912284578335632007-03-26T10:14:00.000-07:002007-03-26T10:46:06.069-07:00Athens, Greece - A Bittersweet Affair<div>We arrived in Greece in the afternoon of Mar. 21. Our flight on Royal Jordanian Airlines from Amman was topnotch...two thumbs up for the <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">official</span> air carrier of The <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">Hashemite</span> Kingdom of Jordan! Leather seats, tons of leg room and a delicious lunch.<br /><br /><div></div><div>As Greece is a real shock to the wallet after our travels through the Middle East and specifically Egypt we opted to stay in Athens in the cheapest place we could - a <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">Hosteling</span> International hostel in the Athens district of <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">Omonia</span>. Our Lonely Planet warned us that the area was seedy but honestly it was completely fine apart from the hookers that hung out on the corner just a few blocks away. But really, are we going to let a few hookers keep us away from budget accommodation? I think they add character to the area. We didn't have much day left once we arrived and got settled but we wandered a bit around the "bohemian" area of the city and had dinner there. It was very nice. Narrow streets, little <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">independent</span> shops and a nice casual air. </div><br /><br /><div></div><br /><div>The next day we awoke to a sheets of rain pouring down. We thought we would be brave and tough it out so we donned our rain jackets and headed out. An hour later, soaked to the bone and freezing we succeeded defeat and headed back to the hostel. Mind you at this time a pesky pain was beginning to form in my stomach and I was having trouble forging on. We spent the rest of the <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">rain filled</span> day (it never stopped until 10pm that night) in the hostel room, me drifting in and out of sleep and clutching my stomach, Daniel reading and plotting our island hopping course. That night, once the rain ceased (and my stomach relented a little) we walked around the city a bit more. We were very pleased with what we saw.</div><br /><br /><div></div><br /><div>The next morning we were determined not to waste the day and though my stomach was still killing me and I hadn't been able to eat since the morning before we decided to do the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">grande</span> Acropolis/Ancient Angora/major sites in Athens tour. Everything we saw was very impressive and I can't express how beautiful the view is from atop the Acropolis looking down on the </div><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWoVYAEUnCYvsU5smAucxU6n_FVcV_Vv5eUkfRuUAuX-LObN2mOykeNb-VD8ddWkdgxT2V5W6WA8zXknE0QZgGbk5S5Y2VcdMTRryqsb4qu5PTR1D6p7fXd_UNobUkYQrlAIYSBUywsFK5/s1600-h/P1000684.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5046287966343619282" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWoVYAEUnCYvsU5smAucxU6n_FVcV_Vv5eUkfRuUAuX-LObN2mOykeNb-VD8ddWkdgxT2V5W6WA8zXknE0QZgGbk5S5Y2VcdMTRryqsb4qu5PTR1D6p7fXd_UNobUkYQrlAIYSBUywsFK5/s400/P1000684.JPG" border="0" /></a> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgE0oTp577wYMBQgREJ9JJdOQ53zZkKl2xd37SbG1zZzzrxFv0smlXKrky6RlhWFToxl8Jx-w4Qa5EipckBskX0dp4nTbRWlvzRtBYBEjg9-M79WCbBfZKtSUmUZU8twbTFav7Dya6HopAY/s1600-h/P1000680.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5046290530439095010" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgE0oTp577wYMBQgREJ9JJdOQ53zZkKl2xd37SbG1zZzzrxFv0smlXKrky6RlhWFToxl8Jx-w4Qa5EipckBskX0dp4nTbRWlvzRtBYBEjg9-M79WCbBfZKtSUmUZU8twbTFav7Dya6HopAY/s400/P1000680.JPG" border="0" /></a>Mediterranean, Athens and the surrounding hills/mountains. Unfortunately, in Ancient <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">Agora</span> my stomach got the best of me and I lost my cookies, beginning what would be a downward spiral for me. The rest of day and night I spent in bed with chills and a high fever. The next day we planned on leaving Athens for <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">Mykonos</span> but again I awoke very sick (day 3) and Daniel, very concerned insisted that we go to the hospital. Long story short, I picked up a virus somewhere and only today and I beginning to feel right again. Despite the stomach troubles Daniel and I both thought Athens was a beautiful, lively city. It was a sharp contrast to the Middle East as Greek women seem to have a penchant for anything tight, short or high-heeled. Talk about culture shock!</div></div>..tjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14841570484744961858noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4645091980294045212.post-32665837749478014362007-03-20T10:44:00.000-07:002007-03-20T10:52:04.243-07:00Petra and AmmanSorry, I forgot my camera when I came to use the internet, so I can't put the pictures from Petra or what I saw here in Amman today. I will put some up next time.<br />Petra was really cool, although I think we were both expected to see a whole city carved into the rocks, meaning more like houses and things like that. There were about 10 plus really amazing buildings with facades that were still intact, and they were worth the trip there without a doubt. But from the look of it, most of the people of Petra lived in caves. The best part was the entrance to the city. We walked 1300 metres in a narrow, winding canyon, with the cliffs high above us. Then as you reach the end of it, you see the best preserved building in Petra, the Treasury. It starts to peak out as you get closer. <br />Amman is kind of boring, not much to see here for tourists. We're flying to Athens tomorrow, so that's why we came here, as well as to see what a Jordanian city is like. <br />That's all I got, pictures to come.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4645091980294045212.post-56871040378334772432007-03-17T06:02:00.000-07:002007-03-17T06:26:56.613-07:00Wadi Ram, Jordan<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmL3tOhwaKPeu6T7mSBEPjvlUWbnMGBahrywBAq6YVMEIcI9fc0r6vZpDFxGY3ViVIMpEQsLpPT3rTUdpOPsoJGLhgxsYxzQSkbVBMJfcSWcY3BSOrMuClN49uLReKhCq7e2s7b9o5/s1600-h/IMG_0717[1]"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5042883416746863266" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmL3tOhwaKPeu6T7mSBEPjvlUWbnMGBahrywBAq6YVMEIcI9fc0r6vZpDFxGY3ViVIMpEQsLpPT3rTUdpOPsoJGLhgxsYxzQSkbVBMJfcSWcY3BSOrMuClN49uLReKhCq7e2s7b9o5/s200/IMG_0717%5B1%5D" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhB2YKyKj7yaxROkshyphenhyphenUu1GO9fZky0QeA9n0R8dSnpAJJ1RXIbkAagBCPBQc4RHLqgxLje67t4DdECHpYopCngWU0nSPE5KGiiCbeoB5otUguQjgz2ub2ByJmDcbBcKAh_PAKDj065f/s1600-h/IMG_0721[1]"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5042883416746863282" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhB2YKyKj7yaxROkshyphenhyphenUu1GO9fZky0QeA9n0R8dSnpAJJ1RXIbkAagBCPBQc4RHLqgxLje67t4DdECHpYopCngWU0nSPE5KGiiCbeoB5otUguQjgz2ub2ByJmDcbBcKAh_PAKDj065f/s200/IMG_0721%5B1%5D" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtkf_5Hqhteq51p-_IDUxGBhPSqeZcb8eSmynOoCs_XHnqQ-HRG4tJZq97opo0Zcw0XoglXO-aiIMa7-dlsDPUT1Xz8i6XtjH1k_aUoE3QuMJVt13XgVoWTFV67g4qYIZIp7fU8Fvf/s1600-h/IMG_0729[1]"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5042883421041830594" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtkf_5Hqhteq51p-_IDUxGBhPSqeZcb8eSmynOoCs_XHnqQ-HRG4tJZq97opo0Zcw0XoglXO-aiIMa7-dlsDPUT1Xz8i6XtjH1k_aUoE3QuMJVt13XgVoWTFV67g4qYIZIp7fU8Fvf/s200/IMG_0729%5B1%5D" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQtIA7VoN-TpgpvKbE9c63wWOTGugaZuprenOMk8GTCH6vB2JauMBARVnkvfQJYH3o8ZRFeJv8njlEABQlKe-CT3VaGmkVJF5dxywJf9NXPJ7dc2bG_4vzxJuD5DHTC5PBI8UQvYJh/s1600-h/IMG_0733[1]"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5042883425336797906" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQtIA7VoN-TpgpvKbE9c63wWOTGugaZuprenOMk8GTCH6vB2JauMBARVnkvfQJYH3o8ZRFeJv8njlEABQlKe-CT3VaGmkVJF5dxywJf9NXPJ7dc2bG_4vzxJuD5DHTC5PBI8UQvYJh/s200/IMG_0733%5B1%5D" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGliP2c-0-MOKyYwnIITi_lsDeDszdicTNxY2WaNOT32MwyrFW72Fm0OszT17Y2iNI_iNL6yTSU6l_tEZM2lzo_kuDh4J2gGR2r_PEp-EnPrNj_E0BqrCfOzu4df2CMbTYYQPx3efi/s1600-h/IMG_0749[1]"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5042883429631765218" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGliP2c-0-MOKyYwnIITi_lsDeDszdicTNxY2WaNOT32MwyrFW72Fm0OszT17Y2iNI_iNL6yTSU6l_tEZM2lzo_kuDh4J2gGR2r_PEp-EnPrNj_E0BqrCfOzu4df2CMbTYYQPx3efi/s200/IMG_0749%5B1%5D" border="0" /></a><br /><div>After our three nights on the beach, we headed to the border and left Egypt behind. We walked across the border into Israel, took a cab for about 10 minutes, and then walked across the border into Jordan. From there we took another cab, about an hour, to Wadi Ram which is in the southern part of the country. It's also desert, except the sand is red, as are the huge peaks that surround the valley (wadi means valley). We arrived too late to really go exploring on the first day, so we just pitched our tent, walked around a little bit nearby and then had dinner at a restaurant in the village of Ram. The next day, we had the whole day to go hiking through the desert. The scenery was really beautiful, and once again the pictures don't do it any justice, but it was a really great day. The only downside was how cold it was there. Our tuques and many layers were much needed there. </div><br /><div></div><br /><div>We left Wadi Ram this morning and are now in Petra, an ancient city carved completely into the sandstone rocks of the desert, which was built around the third century BC. It's in the Indiana Jones and Last Crusade. We're planning to spend the day tomorrow walking/hiking around this amazing place.</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4645091980294045212.post-9656707606705602952007-03-17T05:48:00.000-07:002007-03-17T06:02:30.080-07:00Snorkelling and relaxing on the beach<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjylspl4ONvaAzjHDXD4Mn-5a3B6_NQjl7xkqjq7zjxsm1wPjDr7IYYqct1BL-VXuB74CnJEKug9tlt5VIM6DM5_QNFDPdYu7gXe8YpHBviUCd3qGDictQjdxGo5MI_4OtffQ40JlJF/s1600-h/IMG_0715[1]"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5042877889123953282" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjylspl4ONvaAzjHDXD4Mn-5a3B6_NQjl7xkqjq7zjxsm1wPjDr7IYYqct1BL-VXuB74CnJEKug9tlt5VIM6DM5_QNFDPdYu7gXe8YpHBviUCd3qGDictQjdxGo5MI_4OtffQ40JlJF/s200/IMG_0715%5B1%5D" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJcwCkzIW4OpBtxnSWM-QsE_m-Q_5N8pwUTcibgFsQ5aUTR86pu4XQdKQ_D05BitEsHANeh8R7J-W47bs-S9lJ4h6f6kSNj5-CSk94CshYGYDIhlIh5KKi2qhc7gK53dbFSNyAa0vT/s1600-h/IMG_0716[1]"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5042877893418920594" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJcwCkzIW4OpBtxnSWM-QsE_m-Q_5N8pwUTcibgFsQ5aUTR86pu4XQdKQ_D05BitEsHANeh8R7J-W47bs-S9lJ4h6f6kSNj5-CSk94CshYGYDIhlIh5KKi2qhc7gK53dbFSNyAa0vT/s200/IMG_0716%5B1%5D" border="0" /></a><br /><div>The day after we climbed Mt. Sinai, we spent the whole day <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">snorkeling</span> in <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">Dahab</span>. The whole coast of Sinai is coral reef, and we both really enjoyed it. We <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">snorkeled</span> in two different spots, and the colours of both the reefs and the fish were really amazing. For me the highlight was seeing the lion fish. Unfortunately, we didn't have an underwater camera, so I can't share what we saw, you'll just have to believe me... or look up some pictures from the Red Sea on the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">internet</span>.</div><br /><div>After <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">Dahab</span>, we went further north up the coast to a place called <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">Beir</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">Sweir</span>, which basically is about 10 different camps. It was almost deserted there, just a couple other people at our camp. So Tara and I had our hut and the almost to ourselves. We spent our days just laying around, reading and tanning, and going for walks along the beach.</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4645091980294045212.post-62643230966860142492007-03-17T05:23:00.000-07:002007-03-17T05:48:27.149-07:00Mount Sinai<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLLNNU-ghJEhtRFOJxbL4mK0rQF9SeGtOGyCH1QewZWPMIBh68-7Nvoe_7vVHNKLgZDhimzftoD7Ow1k4Auvn0vEXSA6MAiKPvd-VAO6pMziNTVGUk3-vDa_c3VKg4X9foS_JcHa2T/s1600-h/IMG_0687[1]"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5042874204042013234" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLLNNU-ghJEhtRFOJxbL4mK0rQF9SeGtOGyCH1QewZWPMIBh68-7Nvoe_7vVHNKLgZDhimzftoD7Ow1k4Auvn0vEXSA6MAiKPvd-VAO6pMziNTVGUk3-vDa_c3VKg4X9foS_JcHa2T/s200/IMG_0687%5B1%5D" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmM1NrQR3ZK78Xh9uTkFvoRhFi3AtA_WVqbxHpZM7hyzYFUj_5rvoQXDSOzRFqwmKqautZlIuV7iID_Lrv9t4GBICkAJ5DbZBM8Vrk6B1oUmV01XAAx4k9EE78WcCMUCGjlcHUnlOa/s1600-h/IMG_0688[1]"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5042874212631947842" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmM1NrQR3ZK78Xh9uTkFvoRhFi3AtA_WVqbxHpZM7hyzYFUj_5rvoQXDSOzRFqwmKqautZlIuV7iID_Lrv9t4GBICkAJ5DbZBM8Vrk6B1oUmV01XAAx4k9EE78WcCMUCGjlcHUnlOa/s200/IMG_0688%5B1%5D" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZHostc4OJ9HG7e_Z9wBinV6nZlbtRZyh3MS5XRKMrv73LaUP1GxOaVeCLYjComDKikYdskrJaO8c6V-h7YyLGYxpIzc6NGX5kh9htu_3cVSua6sXjhLJEa5OsQvT3JUHqyMjmSN34/s1600-h/IMG_0695[1]"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5042874221221882450" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZHostc4OJ9HG7e_Z9wBinV6nZlbtRZyh3MS5XRKMrv73LaUP1GxOaVeCLYjComDKikYdskrJaO8c6V-h7YyLGYxpIzc6NGX5kh9htu_3cVSua6sXjhLJEa5OsQvT3JUHqyMjmSN34/s200/IMG_0695%5B1%5D" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgq7tstHqP4AmmAqQL5rFAxeDl_n0YjL4tjW76k-csqZDpUIyo-OvJYNbwQmkCeNkmYh7x-d6qjQFaR7UPNzS3HHU5B8xRC22OWIWjmhprnWt2VySwGBY25Gm-oROpwxknDnuBVgPJG/s1600-h/IMG_0703[1]"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5042874225516849762" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgq7tstHqP4AmmAqQL5rFAxeDl_n0YjL4tjW76k-csqZDpUIyo-OvJYNbwQmkCeNkmYh7x-d6qjQFaR7UPNzS3HHU5B8xRC22OWIWjmhprnWt2VySwGBY25Gm-oROpwxknDnuBVgPJG/s200/IMG_0703%5B1%5D" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLSY5_7AYZZ8EspQuKTtYsDs0ceeT0bh3da55ITSDMOoOmTwxVpn57u9ZDM2nW48cd_iOwPO9icthTk_zB1czD-S3zmIoWh6Pv-cfdl6i6aS1Dq-iQKHOtplIfym0WPyGr9aCPBa1l/s1600-h/IMG_0707[1]"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5042874229811817074" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLSY5_7AYZZ8EspQuKTtYsDs0ceeT0bh3da55ITSDMOoOmTwxVpn57u9ZDM2nW48cd_iOwPO9icthTk_zB1czD-S3zmIoWh6Pv-cfdl6i6aS1Dq-iQKHOtplIfym0WPyGr9aCPBa1l/s200/IMG_0707%5B1%5D" border="0" /></a><br /><div>As I wrote in our last post, we were going to Mount Sinai the following day. It seems like a while ago now that we were there, but here some of the pictures.</div><br /><div>First we went to St. Katherine's <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">Monastery</span>, and then we started to climb. The hike to the top took over 2 hours, partly because we started at noon, and it was really hot making the climb to the top. Of course, Tara and I did not bring enough water with us, so it was a struggle. There were a couple of 'shops' on the way up, where we were able to pick up some much needed over priced water. Once we reached Elijah's Basin, a plateau close to the top where many people who climb to see the sunrise sleep for the night, we climbed the 750 steps to the summit. The views were amazing from the top, and because we climbed during the day instead of the morning when most people do, we were able to spend 2 hours just sitting at the top, having lunch with the people we were with. All of us agreed it was worth battling the heat just to enjoy that time alone at the top. We went down on other trail, called the Steps of <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">Repentance</span>, made up of 3000 steps. The steps weren't perfect of course, but it was a much faster easier trip on the way down. </div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1