Taiwan 2011

September 11, 2011

2011-09-11T19:24:00.001-07:00

Today we woke up, had breakfast, and went on a hike near our hotel. We were fascinated and somewhat grossed out by the spiders that we saw all around the hotel. They were (we think), the same type of small-dog-like spiders we saw in Kenting National Park. (Maybe they are a Taiwanese National Park-specific species (we hope!)). They are definitely the largest and scariest spiders we have ever seen (and we see a fair amount of them in our apartment). Katie had to coerce George to get close enough to provide some perspective for the size in the photo. (They still look way smaller than they actually are relative to George in the picture because he refused to snuggle up close enough…)

We then got some take-out lunch from the village before going to the Gorge hike. We got a rice dish and a noodle dish, but ended up avoiding the rice dish since it was loaded with liver…

The Gorge was spectacular. Our guidebook describes the gorge as “walking into a Chinese painting”. That is a perfect description. The water was such a pretty blue (it reminded Katie of the color of Lake Louise). Our pictures don’t do it justice, but we hope you can get an idea of what it’s like.

We had to catch our train back to Taipei, so we drove back to the Hualian train station, where we enjoyed Slurpees from the 7 eleven. The 2.5 hour ride brought us back to downtown Taipei, where we met up with PJ’s family for dinner at a Hot Pot restaurant. After too much food, we taxi’ed back to Nankang for our last night before our return to CA. We spent part of our evening watching the Sept 11 memorial ceremony. Tomorrow is the Moon Festival! (Another excuse for us to eat more mooncakes.)

September 10, 2011

2011-09-11T07:23:00.000-07:00

This morning we woke up and met Dad’s friend from college, who he hasn’t seen in over 40 years! The friend was from Hualian and still lives there. He and his wife took us around the city to some spectacular vista points and then we went to lunch together before catching our whale watching boat. “Whale watching” wasn’t exactly what we did. We “dolphin watched”. There are ~5 different types of dolphins in the area, including Spinner dolphins and spotted dolphins. We listened to a short lecture about the different types before our excursion, but since Katie didn’t understand a single word of it and George wasn’t paying attention, we can’t be overly descriptive about them…

Our trip was 2 hours and we saw a pretty good show. The dolphins (which were Spinner Dolphins), were very active and did a lot of jumping and spinning in the out of the water. Mom and Katie took ~50 pictures between the two of them, but only got a handful with any glimpse of anything that could have possibly been a dolphin. Except for one, which is shown here:

After we made it back to land, we hopped in the car and drove to Taroko National Park, one of the most visited places in all of Taiwan. We stayed in a “hotel” run by one of the local tribes. The hotel was more like a camp with rather fancy cabins. After dinner, we watched a two hour performance given by the children of the tribes people. It was mostly music and dancing with some commentary that Katie didn’t understand and well, George was not paying very good attention to…

Tomorrow….the gorge!

September 9, 2011

2011-09-11T07:14:00.000-07:00

We took the train to Hualian, which took ~2 hours. Once there, John and PJ had to rent two cars to hold the 8 of us, so we went from the train station to the car rental place. Once we had the cars, off we went to the beach to say hi to the Pacific Ocean. Unfortunately, we were a little too friendly with the water and all of us got drenched by some big waves. Oops! With our wet pants still on, we went to the Farglory hotel, an ahhhmazing hotel located on the top of a hill overlooking the city of Hualian on one side and the ocean on the other. The hotel was absolutely beautiful. We wish we could have spent more time in the pools, shops, and restaurants, but the next day we had to hurry off to get to the whale watching boat and then to Taroko National Park in time for dinner.

Cunningham rules still apply

Before the next wave got me

Friday Sept 9, 2011

2011-09-08T19:48:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we went to the National Palace Museum, a museum that is the home of the largest and finest collection of Chinese art. The collection is so large and the building is so small that most of the pieces aren’t on display at any given time. Katie’s favorite item was a jade napa cabbage. George liked the stone that looks like a piece of meat. (pictures of both at the bottom: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Palace_Museum)

PJ picked us up from the museum and gave us an insider’s view of the Shilin Night Market. She used to go here with her high school friends, so she knew the best foods for us to try. The market seemed like a cross between the Underground Market in SF and the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul. We got 1) stinky tofu (not all that stinky, really-Katie’s labmates told her it was going to be REALLY stinky), 2) fried shrimp rolls with a special “secret” sauce 3) seafood soup 4) oyster pancakes 5) these awesome kiwi, pineapple, orange, apple juice drinks. We were stuffed, but then had to try these warm pastry-like rollups.

This afternoon we take the tilting train to Hualian where we are planning to go whale watching (GW is EXCITED (except he forgets that he gets motion sickness…))

September 8, 2011 (Stinky tofu is not that stinky)

2011-09-08T08:52:00.001-07:00

This morning we went to see the family burial site. We made offerings to the ancestors and dad translated the writing on the memorial. Then we said goodbye to the family in Pingtung and took the train back to Taipei where we’re currently writing this as the beautiful scenery flies by at over 100 mph.

In Taipei we’re going to the National Palace Museum and then to the night market for some cobra meat and stinky tofu with PJ and the girls. Friday we’re off to Hualian for a fun-filled family field trip!

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

2011-09-08T08:48:00.000-07:00

Today Da jiu picked us up and took us up north to the line designated as the Tropic of Cancer. There is a monument marking the spot. Then we went to Chiayi to see Dad’s old elementary and middle schools and have lunch. One of the best parts about Taiwan is the food. We haven’t had a bad meal and the prices are ridiculous. For example, this lunch was $12 for four people and we were stuffed. Chi bao le! GW and Da jiu also found us these gigantic pearl milk teas to drink with lunch. Sooo good! We can actually enjoy these in CA since they have been exported, but everything seems to taste better here. Especially liquids, since it’s ~100 degrees, with 100% humidity.

We drove through Kaohsiung, the 2^nd largest city in Taiwan (also a major port) and saw the school where mom and dad W met when they were teachers.

The whole family went shoe shopping and bought shoes before dinner with Da jiu and Da jiu ma and their son, Jingyi. So much good food! So little room!

To settle our stomachs and enjoy the neighborhood, we went for a walk after dinner. Just around the corner from grandma’s house is a track where a huge number of people were walking.

Tuesday, September 6th

2011-09-08T08:38:00.000-07:00

Today Da jiu picked us up and took us to Kenting National Park in the southern most part of Taiwan (in fact we went to the southern most point in Kenting, too). We spent the day driving around the park, eating yummy food (mostly seafood) and walking around the Kenting Forest Recreation Area. Mom says the last time she was here was when she graduated from high school! Some of the neatest aspects of the park are the caves you can walk through and the coral rocks that are high up on the mountain. When Taiwan was formed, the rocks were deposited here, far above their natural place on the ocean floor. On the way out of the park, we passed a greenhouse with lots of plants inside. [Taiwan has ~4500 plants, and about a quarter of them aren’t found anywhere else. Apparently orchids are exported from Taiwan. Grandma has this amazing purple phalaenopsis. that we thought was fake because there were so many perfect blossoms.] But the thing that grabbed our attention was this spider that was hanging from the ceiling of the greenhouse. GW says it was bigger than most small dogs. We could have killed it, but we would have needed a rifle.

Monday September 5th

2011-09-08T08:23:00.000-07:00

The next day we went to breakfast before John’s group meeting. GW was especially excited to think about C elegans crosses again—you can take George away from science but you can’t take science away from George….or something like that. We met up with Er yi (Second Aunt), cousin Brian, and Xiao jiu (Younger Uncle) for lunch (dumplings yum!) Before getting to the train station for the high speed train to Pingtung to see Grandma and Grandpa, Mom, San yi (Third Aunt), Da jiu (Older Uncle), and Da jui ma (Older Uncle’s Wife). The train was an amazingly fast 1.5 hours. (So this is how it would feel to go from SF to LA if California actually came through with the high speed rail…) Mom and Da Jiu picked us up from the station in Kaohsiung and took us to the house in Pingtung. On the way we stopped at this massive and super impressive Buddhist Temple (The Foguangshan). It is still being constructed, but it’s almost finished. When we got to Grandma’s, San yi made us a yummy dinner and we had some amazing longyans and dragon fruit for dessert. The fruit here is amazing. Some of the best mangos, pineapples, papayas we’ve ever had. We had these crazy beet-colored dragon fruits.

Saturday, Sept 3/Sunday Sept 4th

2011-09-08T08:19:00.000-07:00

Today we go to Taipei, Taiwan (Ilha Formosa = “Beautiful Island”). Small bit of Wangingham trivia: one of the movies recommended for us to watch to get acquainted with Taiwan in the Lonely Planet Taiwan is called “Formosa Betrayed”. We actually saw James Van Der Beek filming this movie at the train station in Bangkok, Thailand three years ago. Still have not seen the movie.

We took the red eye to Taipei from SFO and got there at 5am Taiwan time on Sept 4^th (Happy 30^th birthday George! Shengri kuai le!) John picked us up from the airport and took us to Nankang. It was still too early to wake up the family, so we went out to breakfast on his street and then took a tour of his new lab at Academia Sinica. We woke up the girls and played with them for a few hours until it was nap time (ours and theirs). PJ and John woke us up for dinner, which was a special birthday treat—dinner at the top of Taipei 101! (this building looks kind of like bamboo and for 5 years held the record for the tallest building in the world.)

After dinner, the girls went home and the boys went to pick up dad from the airport.

"This is not a Zoo"

2010-10-31T18:25:00.000-07:00

We spent the next four days on Safari in a private game reserve called Sabi Sands, adjacent to Kruger National Park. Each day consisted of getting up at 5 am to go out on a morning game drive, eating and napping in the heat of the day, and going on a second game drive starting at 4 pm until sundown, which was around 8 pm. We had an amazing time and recommend this camp (Arathusa), and experience to everyone. As you can tell from the following photos, which were taken on a pocket, digital camera with mediocre zoom, we were able to get extremely close to the animals. In fact, at times the animals were so close we weren't allowed to take pictures (in case we scared them and they might topple our vehicle, eat us, or worse....). The pictures pretty much tell the story. Enjoy!

Elephants at our Camp!

Leopard

Thirsty Leopard

Hyena

African Buffalo, also known as the "Black Death"
(just a friendly reminder to stay seated inside the vehicle....)

Our Camp, Arathusa, in Sabi Sands

Our cute rondavel

Gerry the Giraffe

Rhino grazing

Feeling lucky to be uncomfortably close to the Zebras

Safari, our favorite leopard, ready to pounce some Impala

Herd of African Buffalo at our camp's watering hole

Katie loves the small ones!

Enjoying our sundowners

Yes, that's a (thankfully sleeping) lion by George's ear

The Lion Awakes!

Cape Town Day 3

2010-10-20T11:26:00.003-07:00

Today we woke up on the early side to meet our new friend, Amelia, near her place. Amelia offered to show us her work and the surrounding township, Guguletu. Amelia graduated from Berkeley this past spring and established her own fellowship to help kids in this township learn and appreciate music. For those of you who may not be familiar with townships surrounding Cape Town, they are housing communities that were established when the blacks and coloured people in Cape Town were forced out of the city during apartheid.
Amelia is helping Ntonga School of Music, which teaches the township kids of all ages the guitar, percussion, harp, piano, recorder, trumpet, saxophone and more. It was inspirational to hear what she and the other teachers were doing. You can learn more about her work here: http://www.harpntonga.blogspot.com/.
Amelia then gave us a tour of Guguletu and introduced us to some of her friends. It was a unique and eye-opening experience. We were really grateful for the opportunity. It makes us wonder what our place is in the world and our opportunities in relation to theirs.
We rushed back to the hotel to meet our driver for a trip down the Cape Penninsula. Our driver was awesome. We first went to Boulders Beach to see the African Penguins. We laughed at the way they walk and hop for about an hour before heading down the coast to the Cape of Good Hope. The two top attractions of the park are Cape Point (which is the tip of the cape) and the Cape of Good Hope, which is the most southwesternly point on the African continent. The scenery was spectacular.

We headed back to the hotel for a drink on the rooftop bar in time to see our last sunset in Cape Town. Tomorrow we head for Nelpruit for our safari that will begin on Friday.

Cape Town Day 2

2010-10-20T08:31:00.000-07:00

Today we went to Robben Island. This island has had 4 lives: first it was a prison, then it was used as a leper colony, then it again housed prisoners and now it is a museum. It is most famous for its second term as a prison, when it housed political prisoners during apartheid. It is sort of similar to Alcatraz: it was an island where all the “bad” criminals were sent, including Nelson Mandela. If you saw Invictus, you saw what we saw yesterday—Mandela’s cell (for those of you who haven't seen it, we're posting a picture). We also got to see the limestone quarry and other places of interest on the island. Our tour guides both had connections to the island—one was a former prisoner, the other’s grandfather was one of the leaders during the apartheid protests. It was moving to hear the personal stories that these people had to tell. We took a boat to get there that left from the Waterfront. Our ride was about 30 minutes and we got some incredible views of Cape Town and the surrounding area.

Last night, we went to a restaurant/bar called Mama Africa that has live music at night. We met up with a friend of a friend, Amelia, who works in a Cape Town township: more on this later. She knew the people of the band playing that evening. The music, which is an African/Jazz combo with an amazing singer, was superb and we are now the proud owners of a new music CD of the band.

Cape Town Day 1

2010-10-19T00:19:00.000-07:00

Sunday was essentially an entire day of travel. We started off with another wonderful breakfast staring at the Vic Falls mist. Then we said goodbye to our guide Patch and traveled back into Zambia for our flight to Jo'burg. Three immigration stamps later we made it to Cape Town.

One of our curious fans asked about what we were reading and drinking. We were drinking Zambezi Sparkles, think strawberry, fizzy, tall glass, umbrella, and delicious. Katie is reading Water for Elephants, on a nice, quaint paper copy. George finished Three Cups of Tea and is now reading Why the West Rules--For Now, both he'd like to point out, electronically on his Ipod Touch.
We made it to Cape town and surprisingly easily got a ride to our hotel. Let's just talk about our hotel for a moment. First after not choosing any of the 40 hotels in our 6 guidebooks, Katie found this one online. It turned out to be ok (sarcasm). We got upgraded from a studio to a two-bedroom suite. This "room" is 4 times the size of our apartment, on par with most mansions in Palo Alto. Our favorite amenities include a washer and dryer, a kitchen and a butler, who brought us movies, a wireless internet booster, detergent, pots and pans, and our Ferrari. Just kidding about the Ferrari, but there is a car service. Good job Katie.
Monday we wanted to go to Table Mountain, however, the visibility was zero. So we changed plans and went to the District 6 museum. This is the part of town that was razed and black residents were forced out to the townships. This museum is for former residents to reclaim their land.

We next went to the Castle of Good Hope, the oldest building in the country. The Dutch East India Company used it to defend their supply station. Ships would stop in Cape Town on their way to the East. We got a tour of their torture chambers and prisons and saw the living quarters of the Dutch.
On our way back home, we toured the Company's Garden, a large city park, and walked through Greenmarket Square, a market for arts and crafts. Back at our hotel, we relaxed and had our first home-cooked dinner in a week!

Victoria Falls!

2010-10-16T23:43:00.000-07:00

Today was our second full day in Victoria Falls and FINALLY we get to actually see Victoria Falls! After a delicious breakfast, we headed to the falls, a quick walk from the hotel. Our pictures truly do not do the falls justice. It was absolutely spectacular. We encourage everyone to visit this site and to do so from Zimbabwe. The view from Zambia does not give you the full experience.
Katie is sure she has never seen anything more spectacular and also has never seen people more stupid than she saw today. Stupid group of people #1 included those swimming in the Devil’s Pool. This is a pool of water at the top of the falls that is supposedly “safe” for swimming. The reality is that it is a pool perched on top of the falls and one bad move and you’re tumbling over the falls. Apparently someone went over not long ago, according to Patch, who says you have to be crazy to set foot in there, and he was raised here. Stupid group of people #2 were those that were bungee jumping off the Victoria Falls bridge, which looks very similar to the bridge over the New River Gorge, complete with white-water rafting below. WE were stupid group of people #3, for being scared of the monkeys on the trail by the falls. At least, the guys laughing at us thought so.
Our next adventure was the hotel pool. We spent the rest of the day eating, drinking, swimming and reading. Tomorrow we head back to South Africa for a few days in Cape Town. We’ll certainly miss it here but we’re excited for a new place and some cooler temperatures.

Day 2 Part 2

2010-10-16T11:56:00.001-07:00

Tonight we went on a sunset cruise on the Zambezi, upstream of Victoria Falls. The views were beautiful, the temperatures bearable, and the drinks were plentiful. It was amazing. We started off our trip by seeing a pair of Zambian Elephants on an island in the distance, so our driver went closer to get a better look. By the time we got within picture-taking distance, there was only one elephant in sight, munching on some grass for dinner. Should these Zambian Elephants cross over the river to Zimbabwe, they become Zimbabwean Elephants. The biologist in us frowns.

We also saw a monitor lizard and a group of rocks in the water….which turned out to be submerged hippos. The sunset was spectacular.

Day Two, Part One

2010-10-15T22:06:00.000-07:00

We started today surprisingly refreshed and over our jet-lag. When we woke up, we went in search of breakfast and found an amazing breakfast downstairs at the Jungle Junction restaurant by the pool area.

Today we had an appointment with Patch, our personal tour guide. He was assigned to us by the hotel to help us pick activities while we’re here. Of the possible choices: Bungee jumping, white-water rafting, ziplines, lion/elephant walks, sunset cruise, game-meat dinner, we’re doing the cruise and made up our own activity: a tour of Vic falls and Livingstone. Yes, we’re lame, but Katie likes to think of it as “risk adverse” and George likes to think of it as becoming more culturally aware. Since it’s oh, 100+ degrees outside, we have designated 10-4pm as relaxation/nap time. Another favorite aspect of our room is the air conditioning…

Back to Patch: so we met with his this morning to solidify our “activity choices” and he ended up taking us around the town of Victoria Falls. We mainly visited the open market/curio shops. Who wants a set of elephant salad spoons?

One of the most eye-opening aspects of Vic Falls is the juxtaposition of the luxury hotel and the surrounding town. Though the town is perfectly safe, the residents are much less well off. They’re asking to trade a T-shirt or bottle of shampoo or a pair of shoes for a craft item.

Victoria Falls, Day One

2010-10-15T12:27:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we woke up in Johannesburg, had an early breakfast and went to the airport for our flight to Zambia. A nice lady at the check-in desk asked if we wanted to be seated together. We said “of course” and lucky for us when we got on the plane, together meant two seats in first class. An excellent start to our journey!

After a short flight, we arrived in Livingstone, Zambia. Population 130,000, a balmy 40 degrees. Celsius. Yes folks, it’s over 100 degrees here. Ahhhhh, feels like Africa.

Our first sight of Zambia included this: can we say Arrested Development?

Our friendly driver met us at the airport and escorted us over the Zambia/Zimbabwe border. We soon entered our new home, the Victoria Falls Hotel, an elegant old hotel that is now a World Heritage Site.

We decided to try to get a view of the falls, since all we can see from our hotel is the cloud of mist in the distance. There’s a private walk to the falls from our hotel. When we started down the trail, we came across a friendly guard named Raymond. It was neat to talk with him. He’s 33 with three young kids. He only makes enough money working as a contracted guard to pay his rent, but he also manages to pay tuition for his kids schooling. He told us that supplies in Zimbabwe are limited but the import tax at the border makes it pretty much impossible to buy things across the border in Zambia. (He bought his TV—“when you have kids, you have to have a TV” in Botswana.) He gave us a tour of the area and showed us how to get to the park entrance. In exchange for a tip, he gave us a trillion Zimbabwean note (correction 100 trillion). We were greeted at the hotel by a group of warthogs and a baboon. We have yet to see the falls but we have a sunset cruise on the Zambezi this evening and plans to go to the park early in the morning before the temperature gets too hot.

Made it!

2010-10-13T10:12:00.000-07:00

Katie watched 5 movies: Valentine's Day, Date Night, Toy Story 3, Aladdin, and the Last Song. George watched: Hurt Locker (it was intense, Katie's hand might still be numb), Toy Story 3, and 6 episodes of Californication.

We were lucky and sat next to a small person for 16 hours. She was putting a poster in the overhead bin, the tell-tale sign of...you guessed it, a scientist at a meeting. She was going home to Jo'burg from two HIV/AIDS meetings in the US. She was French and she was nice. Then we made macarons.

We're excited to announce!

2010-10-12T14:01:00.000-07:00

After a year and a half of a happy marriage, we decided to take the next step....

Yes, you got it, we're going on a honeymoon! Meeting the two Wangingham (read Katie) honeymoon requirements of flush toilets and not-being-on-the-list-of-the-US-State-Department-places-not-to-visit, we decided (read George convinced Katie) to go to South Africa.

Currently, in lovely Terminal E in ATL (we think the one place in the airport we can steal WiFi), we're in the middle of our 30 hour trip to Johannesburg. It's a 16 hour flight from ATL to JNB, that has to be one of the longest flights. In fact it is: 3rd longest.

Our itinerary includes: Victoria Falls, Cape Town and Sabi Sands outside of Kruger National Park for safari. We'll see one of the seven natural wonders of the world, the most southern point of Africa (well close enough), and the Big 5 (learn about the moniker here). We hope to catch spray from the falls, views of the animals, and not malaria.

Stay tuned for updates and pictures!

Pictures

2008-06-05T06:28:00.000-07:00

Origami Museum in Narita Airport

Katie's hand vs Jackie Chan's--Hong Kong

George at Grand Palace--Bangkok

Reclining Buddah--Bangkok

Night Train to Chiang Mai

George and the Giant Lychee--Chiang Mai

Katie at Doi Suthep--Chiang Mai

Katie Ringing a Bell at Doi Suthep--Chiang Mai

Katie and George looking over Chiang Mai

Our Bus to see the Elephants

Elephant Parade

Banana Feeding

Elephant Ride

Cooking School

Finished Product

Cooking School

2008-06-05T06:17:00.000-07:00

Today we were students at the Chiang Mai Cookery School. I think we passed the test at the end of the day because we could barely walk home, we were so stuffed with yummy, Katie and George-made, Thai food. Although it was doubtful that George would pass at one point in the afternoon, when his wok went one way and his spatula went the other (flying into the air)...

We started the day at the local market, where we learned all about the ingredients that we used to concoct our 6 Thai dishes. Each course began with a cooking demonstration that was given by one of our 3 teachers. Then we each got the chance to cook our own dish and eat it (which was the best part, until about course 3...). Although Katie managed to finish off her steamed banana cake (course 6). We were given a recipe book that has all the recipes that we made, as well as many others. So hopefully we can bring our skills (and our new aprons) back to the States and put them to use!

Tonight is our last night in Chiang Mai. We endured the Night Bazaar in the torrential downpour to acquire a belated birthday gift for Kerri. Now we're off for one last night of Chang Beer, our favorite local brew.

Elephants

2008-06-04T07:04:00.001-07:00

Today was quite an adventure. There are many places in which you can ride elephants around Chiang Mai but we wanted to visit this particular conservatory further away that is the first elephant hospital, a mahout training center and place that exploits elephants less than others. New York Times article on Chiang Mai and Conservatory

We could have taken a taxi or hired a driver to take us directly there but what would be the fun in that? So we walked to the bus station to find out that there was no bus station. After lots of gesturing a nice man pointed us to the real bus station. We took a tuk-tuk there to discover that our bus just left. At this point we made friends with our bus driver, the ticket lady and several other locals. We could have gotten onto a nicer air-conditioned bus that left sooner but what would be the fun in that?

We were on a bus to Lampang about two hours away and the Elephant Conservatory was on the way. So once we reached our destination there was no bus stop, the bus just pulled over on the side of the highway and out we went. George snapped a picture of our friends, we smiled and the bus driver honked as he drove away.

We made it just in time to see the elephants bathe, about 20 of them of all different ages. After their bath they paraded: flag in tusk and even with an elephant drummer. They put on a show which consisted mainly showing how elephants help humans with logging. But they also painted pictures, one flower and one elephant! Our treat (and theirs) was feeding them bananas after the show.

Katie's favorite part was our elephant ride through the jungle. We decided there was no use for cars if we all had elephants. And no use for dogs if Katie could just fit the baby elephant in her suitcase.

We had one of the last elephant rides of the day and there were no more visitors when we left. Since there was no bus stop we had to improvise, ie hitchhiking on a bus. Fortunately there was a couple also waiting for a ride. After about 20 minutes in the rain we finally waved down a bus, it was even much nicer than the one we took earlier.

The couple helped translate to the driver that we needed to go back to Chiang Mai. We chatted about Thai life with them until they got off at their stop. With no more familiar faces, Katie now felt a bit (extremely) uncomfortable and was on high alert. George was feeling really comfortable and was on no alert. He fell asleep.

After about an hour of being tense/relaxed we finally made it to Chiang Mai. George : "I feel refreshed, that was great!" Katie: "I was scared the whole way home. I have a headache."

We finished off the night with some Muslim Thai food near our hotel and some banana roti. Thanks Sharon for the recommendation.

Chiang Mai Saloon

2008-06-03T07:32:00.000-07:00

When you think about Chiang Mai in the north of Thailand, what do you think? A bar full of white people, a moose head, wood interior, pool table, fish and chips and Dave Matthews on the radio right? That's what we thought and that's what we found. Chiang Mai Saloon, best Thai food in Thailand....

Probably not. But I'm not going to lie, damn good onion rings.

We spent the day visiting the various "must-see" wats in the area. First we went to Doi Suthep This was about 15km outside of Chiang Mai up a nearby mountain. Both the wat (one of the most important in Chiang Mai) and the view were spectacular. The highlight was Katie being blessed by the monks on her birthday!

Afterwards we walked around Chiang Mai visiting other important wats. One wat was over 700 years old and housed some of the most precious relics including a marble Buddha relief over 2000 years old. In between wats we had a spectacular Thai lunch from a restaurant filled with local school children. Another wat was the largest all wood wat in all of Thailand. The best however was our final stop which was the site of a city-wide festival celebrating Chiang Mai. It was the tallest wat in the region built in the 1400s. (For those savvy blog-readers this wat at one point also housed the great emerald Buddha that is now in Bangkok that we saw earlier.)

After a quick water polo lesson in our hotel pool, we've ended up here at the Chiang Mai Saloon on their free Internet. Now we're on our way to get our drink on with Birthday Mojitos to prepare for our elephant adventure tomorrow! Be well.

Around Chiang Mai

2008-06-03T07:00:00.000-07:00

After our amazing showers, we went back out in the sweaty concrete jungle of Chiang Mai. We circumnavigated the moated and once walled off central region of Chiang Mai. This entailed walking about 17.5 miles. Okay maybe 4 miles.

We finished the night by going to the Chiang Mai Night Bazaar located right outside our hotel. George: "It was alright, I'm suprised these people make any money." Katie: "I loved it! The wooden elephants were cute." Surely we'll be back in America with some. Anyone else want one or ten?

Note: after shotgunning some Chang Beer, we've decided that they are pretty good. Not as good as 479 Brew but since we can't fit Steve in our suitcase...pretty good.

Chiang Mai

2008-06-02T01:19:00.001-07:00

How amazing a shower can feel....

First we had to make it to the hotel. Our tuk-tuk driver did not speak English nor did he know where the Royal Princess Hotel was. After 3 circles around the city and lots of pointing at the map (with obviously no understanding) he finally asked someone on the street. Luckily that man knew where the Royal Princess was because Katie was tired of smelly George.

To our dismay, our room wasn't ready at 9am. But we were treated to two glasses of yummy fruit juice. We had to endure more smelliness and sweltering heat. Our first exploration of Chiang Mai consisted of George eating two dishes of street vendor Pad Thais and Katie drinking another liter of water. We also made reservations for an all day long Thai cooking class for Thursday.

By the grace of God they let us into our room soon after. Never has a shower felt so good.

Bangkok to Chiang Mai Night Train

2008-06-02T01:13:00.001-07:00

Instead of taking a quick flight to Chiang Mai we decided that a night train would be more fun and a nice way to see some of the countryside. We were well rewarded. After a 60 cent Oreo Blizzard from the local Bangkok Dairy Queen we boarded the train. We were shown to our own first class cabin that had a large seat that converted into two bunk beds. We even had our own sink and air conditioning! Thank goodness for the air conditioning.

Our friendly waiter brought us curries and beer for dinner and we quickly fell asleep afterwards. George freaked out and dreamt a Californian earthquake, but when he woke up it was just the rattling of the train.

We made it safely to Chiang Mai, an hour late and smelly, but surprisingly refreshed.

More from Bangkok

2008-06-02T00:51:00.000-07:00

This afternoon, it was ridiculously hot. But hard-core tourists that we are, we stocked up on water and persevered. We caught the river express boat up the river to The Grand Palace stop. After checking out (and getting lost in) a local fine arts university, we made our way into the Grand Palace grounds. The highlight of this stop was the emerald Buddah, which is carved from a single piece of jade. It's amazing that wars were fought over it. We saw a bunch of extremely ornate structures and buildings, including a model of Ankor Wat.

After leaving the Palace grounds (Katie was now on her 3rd liter of water) and slathering on more spf 50 sunscreen, we headed toward Wat Pho. The coolest thing about Wat Pho is the Reclining Buddah, which takes up half of a football field and is just unbelievable. Unfortunately, it took us an unbelievable amount of time to find the reclining Buddah within the Wat Pho grounds. (Katie had to stop for another liter of water on the way.)

We caught the ferry to the other side of the river to check out Wat Arun, a temple that was similar in style to Ankor Wat. We climbed to the top deck of the temple (no easy feat because it was like climbing a ladder) and were treated to an amazing view of Bangkok. Climbing down the side of the temple was an even harder feat, but we managed to make it down okay.

We took the river express boat back to the hotel to grab our luggage and catch our night train to Chiang Mai.

Bangkok...Too Hot

2008-05-31T21:07:00.000-07:00

It should be noted that our Royal Jordanian flight was amazing. The pillows were firmer, the seats were larger, the air cleaner, the booze cheaper (free), the food tastier, the service faster, the landing smoother, the carpet plusher, and the pastures greener. (And we each got Iphones on the way out.)

The most nerve racking part of landing in a new country is the first taxi ride at night from the airport to the hotel. You're like a hostage with no way of really knowing how much it should cost or where you are going. This ride was no different, except for our friendly and chatty cab driver. He got us safely to our hotel where we got a free upgrade from a normal room to a ginormous room with three beds.

This morning we ventured out in Chinatown, where our hotel is located, to find that the temperature to be more like a sauna and less like Palo Alto. We had some street food for breakfast. The best part was after reassuring George that the food wasn't too spicy, Katie broke out in profusive sweat after her second bite of soup. Even her nose was sweating.

Now we're off to see the sites of Bangkok and then take a night train to Chiang Mai.

Hong Kong

2008-05-31T20:54:00.000-07:00

After a good 36 hours without access the Internet, George--like any good addict--had the shakes in the morning. His first hit of the Asian drug was a short but sweet (and costly) one at the hotel business center. Ahh....

We decided to check out Hong Kong Island and we wanted to get there by taking the Star Ferry. A circuitous route to the Ferry Terminal took us past the Avenue of the Stars. (Katie has smaller hands than Jackie Chan). For breakfast/lunch, we had Dim Sum inside a City Hall restaurant at a place that was listed in our lonely planet book. It was easy to tell who the natives were and who used the same book that we had (they were white flip-flop wearing back-pack toting travelers).

We tried to check out the view of the city from the Bank of China Tower, but it was closed for the weekend. (We hope to take the Peak Tram with John this weekend.) Our favorite part of the day was a stop at the Captain's Bar in the Madarin Hotel, where we each had a girlie drink. This is a smoky bar in one of the original fancy hotels in Hong Kong, where many legitimate and illegitimate business deals were surely made.

After our drink, George let Katie ogle rings at Tiffany's. After dragging her out of the store, we discussed the merits/utility of shiny objects. (updates to follow.) We took the MTR (subway) back to Kowloon and got trapped in a never-ending mall of materialistic heaven. When we finally found our way back to the hotel, we grabbed our luggage and headed to the airport for our flight to Bangkok!

We Made It.

2008-05-31T20:45:00.000-07:00

Day One: After about 67 hours on 2 planes we made it to the portal of Asia: Hong Kong. Our travel was uneventful. Katie watched 4 movies about a man and a woman falling in love with each other...well one of them was a red sports car falling in love with a blue porche. I'll admit I watched the one about the cars too. In the Narita airport near Tokyo we saw an inspirational origami museum. George has found a new hobby.

We took the state-of-the-art airport bullet train into Kowloon and had our first trip snafu. We could not open the hotel door. After 25 flights of stairs and a bellhop. He of course opened the door easily.

Saturday, October 6

2007-10-11T20:14:00.000-07:00

Today we went to Ortakoy and Bebek to experience a different part of Istanbul. These two towns are on the Bosphorus and have really pretty views of the Asian side of Istanbul. Ortakoy and Bebek are a more Western representation of Turkish life with what seemed a more secular population. We decided to be adventurous and took the bus with the locals, which was WAY cheaper than taking a cab and really convenient. Not to mention safer (we almost died the last two times we took a Turkish Taksi ride).

In Ortakoy, we got the town special for lunch--a stuffed baked potato. Then we went into this really pretty Mosque that was right on the water.

We hopped on another bus to Bebek. In Bebek, we found Gunes, an ice cream place that Melis (an undergraduate in George's lab who is from Istanbul) recommended. We went in search of Gloria Jean's coffee shop. We walked along the water for quite some time and decided that we would never find it. We actually ended up walking all the way back to Ortakoy! We stopped at a Manti Restaurant for some Manti and (Katie wanted to try) some Ayran. Ayran is a diluted, salted yogurt drink that is even sold at McDonald's in Turkey. Just as we were passing the Bosphorus Bridge, we saw this huge group of people looking up at the bridge: this guy was hanging off the Bosphorus Bridge! Katie got scared and we ran away.

Back in Ortakoy, we grabbed an Efes beer (they have 80% of the Turkish market according to Wikipedia), the local favorite. After inhaling our fill of second hand smoke, it was time to head home.

Our view during the beer:

The night ended with some Apple Tea from the Ramadan festival and some sesame buns. George got his taste of being swindled when he got talked into buying a bag of $3 popcorn.

Friday October 5= Our Lucky Day

2007-10-06T02:45:00.001-07:00

Today was unbelievable, literally.
We had to get money so we went to the ATM, a bit out of our usual way. On our way to the Topkapi Palace, we passed one of a million carpet stores. There was a girl making a pure silk rug on a loom in front of the store, so we stepped inside for a peek. The store owner asked Katie if she wanted to add a knot. She almost peed in her pants she was so excited and George got a picture.

Then it was off to the palace. Saw the Main part and Harem, but the Holy Relics was closed. George was sad, but then we ended up running into the owner of our hotel, who was showing some other people staying in the hotel around the palace. We only know 2 people in Istanbul, so we thought this was really bizarre. Secretly, we almost ignored him because we thought he was trying to sell us something.
On our way to the Mosque of Suleyman the Magnificent, we were walking up this crazy crowded hill and Katie had the Rick Steves book in her hand for access to the map. And this guy asked us if we like the book and we look up and THERE IS FREAKING RICK STEVES HIMSELF outside the Mosque of Suleyman. He asked us all about how we liked the book. He was actually walking around the main sites with one of the other writers. Then we got a picture (to be posted later) and his autograph in our book copy. It was totally surreal.

The Mosque was pretty awesome too. Then we walked across Galata Bridge to Istikal St. George found $20 Turkish Lira lying on the street, so we had a freebie dinner to top off our lucky day. We tried Raki (the true Turkish alcoholic drink) and took a cab home for bed.

Thursday, October 4

2007-10-06T02:42:00.000-07:00

Since it's our last day in Istanbul, we're going to keep this short, so we can enjoy the sites for one last day. Let's just say this is the most awesome trip ever. And (at least Katie) isn't even exaggerating, as she is sometimes apt to do. Today we walked our feet off and saw:
1. Aya Sophia

2. Tomb of SultanAhmet I
3. Underground Cistern

Katie by the Medusa's head in the Underground Cistern:

Another picture in the Underground Cistern

4. Blue Mosque

5. Kofte for lunch

6. Archaeology Museum

The Alexander Sarcophagus

7. Chora Church

The outside of Chora Church

The inside of Chora Church

8. Took a turkish bath (mom C would LOVE this!) 9. Ramaden night festival by the Hippodrome.

Katie getting lost in the Grand Bazaar:

Wednesday October 3rd. Bosphorus Cruise

2007-10-03T13:36:00.000-07:00

Katie has been eyeing this cruise for weeks and today was the day we set sail. After a very nice complementary breakfast on the outside terrace of our hotel we took a public cruise ship up the Bosphorus. The trip started at the Golden Horn and took us to the beginning of the Black Sea with many views in between. We saw mansions, palaces, and mosques. We landed on the Asian side of Turkey (Katie's second time in Asia, the first being the airport we flew into).

Katie excited to be in Asia

George in front of the Black Sea

In the small fishing town near the Black Sea, it was only fitting that we had fish from the Bosphorus for lunch. We walked up to Yoros Castle, a dilapidated fortress with views of the Bosphorus, and of the Black Sea.

Yoros Castle

After the return trip we walked across the Galata bridge and ventured through the Spice Market. Katie got swindled into buying about 8 lbs of Turkish delights when she really only wanted ~10 pieces. We finished our sight-seeing with the Istanbul train station the depot of the famed Orient Express.

George in front of the Train Station

We had a pleasant dinner near our hotel and had lokma (think crispy doughnut) at the nightly festival.

October 2nd, Tuesday Instabul Day 1

2007-10-03T13:29:00.001-07:00

We slept until 1 in the afternoon. We exchanged some money and then had kebabs for lunch. Our first destination was the Grand Bazaar, the oldest mall in the world, where everything was for sale with no set price. We bought some gifts but spent most of our time haggling for a Turkish carpet. We settled on a small to medium sized carpet made from a blend of silk and cotton with an intricate red medallion in the center. (Picture to be added later.) We're both very excited about this carpet that current decorates our hotel room.

We went to a recommended restaurant Doydoy for dinner, which had a spectacular view of the Sea of Marmara and the Blue Mosque from the terrace. We enjoyed our dinner with local Muslims who were breaking their fast for Ramadan. We finished the night with a walk through the Hippodrome where we came across a huge street festival celebrating Ramadan. The carnival atmosphere was surreal in contrast to all of the ancient monuments in the square.

Monday October 1st, 2007 Basel

2007-10-03T13:17:00.000-07:00

This morning we said a sad goodbye to PJ, John and Yvonne and hopped on a train to Basel. In Basel we had a picnic lunch by a bunch of crazy fountains and pigeons. We went to Munster Cathedral which had the tombs of many important forefathers of Basel. We took in the sights of the city as we walked across the bridge over the Reine.

Hammering Man in Basel

We enjoyed some German beer at a small cafe near the center of town. We took a leisurely walk back to the train station had our last supper in Swizterland and took the bus to the Basel International Airport. Our flight to Istanbul was pleasant and uneventful.

We were greeted at the airport with stamps in our passports and a minibus to our hotel. When we arrived at the Apricot Hotel in the Old Town Sultanhamet District of Istanbul, Mehmet our cheerful hotel manager welcomed us. He showed us to our suite which was upgraded to include a jacuzzi bathtub. It was 4am when we finally were in bed.

Sunday, September 30 Combat de Reines

2007-09-30T12:40:00.000-07:00

We saw cows fight in Martigny. Farmers trained their cows to win fights with other cows. In nature they fight one another to lead the herd. In Switzerland they fight one another for the golden cow bell. Each cow has a huge number painted on her sides. ~10 cows are in the ring at a time and they duke it out in pairs until one is the winner. The fighting occured in an ancient Roman collesium where gladitors used to fight dragons or something.

Go number 110!
This was our last full day in Switzerland and tomorrow we'll spend the day in Basel before we fly to Istanbul. We had a nice dinner with everyone and finished the night watching Grey's Anatomy. See you in Istanbul!

Saturdaz, September 29 Vacation from our Vacation

2007-09-30T12:23:00.000-07:00

We did nothing todaz and it was fabulous. Katie slept for a total of 14 hours between Fridaz night and Saturdaz afternoon. Actuallz, we did our laundrz the Swiss waz: we washed our clothes in a modern washer and then hung them to drz in the drzing room.

Once our laundrz was in the drzer, we went to the store with John and Yvonne. We first stopped for croissants at the local Boulangerie and then we went to a store verz similar to Costco, but even bigger (2 stories!). The best thing about Swiss groceries, other than the fresh bread everz daz, is the milk is ultrapasteuriyed and doesnàt need to be refridgerated. It also doesnàt come in anz lower fat than 2%, which is also prettz great.

John and PJ are watching Grez's Anatomz on DVD. And we have been sucked into it as well. Todaz we watched a total of 6 episodes, from season's one and two. It is so good!

Zou maz have noticed that the zs are ys and the ys are zs. This is because we have taken a small vacation from adjusting to John's Swiss kezboard. We saved so much time bz not caring about teh kezboard that we decided to take a picture of ourselves working on the blog...

Friday September 28th, 2007 Bern

2007-09-28T10:04:00.001-07:00

Bern is the capital of Switzerland. The first animal that the founder of Bern killed was a bear and that is the symbol/mascot of the city. There are three bears in a Bern bear lair. Since Katie loves bears we went to see them. George condemned the Swiss for throwing food at the bears, "We would never do that in America." We later found out that it was only fruit and it was sold and overseen by the park rangers. It was so cute as one bear laid on her back as fruit dropped from the sky into her mouth.

Bern Bear inside Lair

After we saw the bears, we had lunch at this neat little cafe on the street, so we could people watch. We knew we were in German-Switzerland when George had pickle on his sandwich. (Newcastle is as tasty in Switzerland and comes in nicer pint glasses. )

We walked by Parliament, but it was closed for visitors because they were in session. Another city, another cathedral, but this one had a cool Sampson statue/ fountain outside where Katie felt the need to strike a pose...

For Dad C., we visited Einstein's apartment in Bern, where he came up with the Theory of Relativity and some other groundbreaking works. We saw a good video on his life, but the apartment tour was a little, okay, extremely underwhelming. (At least we got the student fare...)

Our pictures don't really do justice to the beauty of Bern. It is a really picturesque city with cobblestone streets and old buildings. The best activity of the day was really just walking around and enjoying being in Europe. On the way back to the train station, we stopped at a chocolate shop to bring back some pieces of Bern for Yvonne.

Thursday September 27th, 2007 Geneva

2007-09-28T10:03:00.000-07:00

Today we took the train to Geneva. After we got off the train, we were hungry (as usual), so we went in search of food. We found Manor, this awesome store with a cute cafeteria on the top floor. We got some pizza and some crappy wine (maybe it was grape juice?) and went to look around the store. Crocs were almost 4 times more than in the US and Centrum Vitamins were 10 times more. Just for reference, a Kitchen Aid mixer was $799! Apparently tariffs maintain high living standards for the Swiss....

When the sticker shock subsided, we went out into the city. Another city, another cathedral, but this one had Calvin (of the Reformation)'s chair. We also stumbled upon a museum of art and history. Katie needed caffeine, so we went to Starbucks to people watch for a bit. Before heading home, we decided to see how the Geneva water jet compared to the Montreux water jet of the day before, so we went down to the Lake to gather some data. George says the busted water main wins, but Katie thinks it's a tie. We agree to disagree, what do you think?

Katie doing the tie-breaker dance

We went back to Lausanne to meet up with Pei-Jiun, John, and Yvonne for some traditional Swiss cuisine: Cheese fondue, horse and fries, beer and cigarettes. As for the cigarettes, we were seated next to a cigarette machine that looked like it had been there and forgotten for at least 50 years. So we were quite surprised when someone came to buy a pack every ten minutes. Apparently we had the most popular seat in the house!

Day 3, Wednesday September 26th, 2007 Montreux

2007-09-28T09:37:00.000-07:00

George’s brother took the day off and traveled with us to the resort town of Montreux. We took the funicular (reminiscent of a Disney World ride) to the town of Caux. There we disembarked and began our ascent to the top of Rochers de Naye in the "pre-Alps". The hike began on a paved road, which is how we thought the whole trip maybe. Easy hike no problem. Then the road became dirt and progressively more narrow. Then the weather changed from cloudy to rainy to foggy to snow. The hike ended with a 45% grade shot to the top. Needless to say it wasn't all that easy and we took the funicular down.

We stopped in Montreux a cute little resort town home to the likes of Shania Twain and a life-sized statue of Freddie Mercury (a beloved deceased resident). We were just about to leave when our fortunes changed for the better. On the side of the main Montreux street erupted a huge water main. This was no small event. We've both seen Old Faithful and Montreux's new geyser was almost as high and definitely lasted longer. The entire sleepy town seemed to be transfixed. We could not pull ourselves away either. We watched the 9 story-high jet of water drench the buildings, cars, and the street until the water man turned off the water. The remarkable part of this whole event was how long this took. We thought for sure this would only last a few minutes considering the amount of water and the damage being caused. A few minutes lasted 15-20 minutes and finally after 45 minutes the Montreux water company showed up.

We passed out at about 8:30pm and slept for 12 hours.

It starts out easy...

Then it gets a bit steeper and a little foggy...

Cannot see...

It's snowing! ...in September?

Long live Freddie!I thought the water jet was in Geneva!?...

Day 2, Tuesday September 25th, 2007, Stuck in Creperie

2007-09-28T09:22:00.000-07:00

We walked on the beautiful streets of Lausanne. Lausanne has nice street shops, a 12th century church, and a huge park on the Lake of Geneva. Our first lunch in Switzerland was in a cozy Creperie in downtown Lausanne. They spoke no english but Katie’s French was good enough for us to eat crepes of champigonne, oeuf, fromage and jambon. We waited patiently for our check. The tables beside us were filled with students, businessmen and women coming and going. We signaled for the check. The waiter nodded, so we thought he was bringing the check. But 15 minutes later, still no check. We tried to ask for the check, notre cheque, sil vous plait? They did not seem to understand. Finally, she understood our gestures and we were able to pay the bill. We were happy to have such a leisurely lunch, but were relieved that we did not have to eat dinner there, too (although we had already chosen what we would order if we were stuck that long)! We then visited the harbor town of Ouchy (pronounced ooo shay) and walked along the coast of Lake Geneva. Along the way we saw Roman ruins (not impressive), geese fishing with their butts in the air, and a poor hedgehog with a squashed foot. The Swiss are incredible sporty; our walk passed through miles of outdoor recreation facilities including a track, swimming pools, soccer fields, tennis courts, a curling building, and archery targets. We ended our trip with tours of the ant and roach facilities at the University of Lausanne where George's brother works.

Lausanne

George finds a Buckeye!
Poor little hedgehog
Haha geese derrières!

Day 1, Sunday September 23rd, 2007, The Weird and the Wacky

2007-09-28T09:20:00.000-07:00

This morning at 9 :30 we embarked on our 25 hour journey beginning in Palo Alto and ending in Lausanne, Switzerland. After five airports, three flights, two train rides and a side trip to London (where we saw Big Ben, Parliment, Westminister Abbey, Leister Square, Trafalger Square, St. James Park, National Portrait Gallery, and Buckingham Palace) we made it to our first destination.

Scenes of note along the way : 1) From SFO to ORD the man seated behind us proceeded to read a textbook on international economics out loud to his girlfriend the entire flight. 2) A small child behind us from America to London decided to kick the back of our seats and wail (and wail and wail) from Iceland to London. 3) Our first encounter with a native leads us not to talk to anymore natives. While in Trafalger Square trying not to get pooped on by the pigeons, a nice man smiles at George. George says hi. He says we must be from America after noting George’s cool Chrome bag. We chat with him and he tells us he is filming a TV show ; thinking it’s a sitcom or PBS we ask him about what. He films people responding to quetions such as, what do you think happens when you die, do you think your a good person, do you know what the 10 commandents are ? We were stuck and then born again. That was the last time we talked to a native.

George loving London