JJ and Jason's travel blog

Back to the Real World/Transportation Log

Well, we're back in the states, in our hometown of Houston, TX.  We live in the back apartment on our property until we get settled, and are quite comfortable enjoying all the things we missed while we were away, like family & friends, the great food, the mild weather, the relaxing vibe &  friendly people.  Getting to see all our favorite teams all the time doesn't hurt, either!

We would like to say thanks to everyone for their wedding & travel support and sending us emails & blog comments.  Special thanks to our parents for doing all the dirty work, like wedding/reception coordination, gift transport, mail collection, personal errands, and temporary slumlord duties.  We couldn't have done it without your help!  And we hope we didn't offend anyone in the blog- if you know us, you know that although we like to poke fun at all the oddities & ironies of life, we would never do it maliciously.

We have gone from getting married (finally!) in January, to going around the world and wearing the same 4 shirts for 5 months.  And most of that time did not include the luxury of washing machines or soap.  Now Jason wears starched shirts & slacks to work, but JJ still uses her bicycle to run our neighborhood errands while looking for the right job to make her happy.  Someone smart once said, "The grass is always greener on the other side."  Well, we were "on the other side" for so long, that this Texas grass is looking pretty darn green at the moment!

There is no way we could properly summarize our experiences this year.  But let's just say that in our experience, although every country and people we visited are very different, in many ways we are all very much alike.

J3 2005 Transportation log:  32 planes, 4 trains, 46 boats, 21 buses, 5 feniculars, 1 hot air balloon, 1 horse and buggy, 1 Jandarma (Turkish police jeep - yikes!), 3 off road 4x4 vehicles, 4 camel rides, 4 rented cars, 6 scooters (3 each), 1 golf cart (not used for golf), 1 richshaw, 1 gondola, 2 hanging pulleys (1 each), 1 boogie board, 2 helicopters, 1 white water raft, 2 parachutes (1 each), 1 campervan, 2 bicycles.  This does not include friends' cars, city and tour buses, subways, taxis,  and escalators (1 notable - the longest in the world in Hong Kong).

And remember our favorite quote of all- "It's not the destination, it's the journey!"

I'm On My Way...Home Sweet Home

Oct. 5- We were early to the Beijing airport again & read books while we waited.  At the gate, almost all of the 250 passengers cued up before the gate attendant even started boarding.  Then when she called for rows 20-40, all the others got in line too!  We read our books for another 30 minutes while everyone else stood, and were soon off the ground, heading towards the Pacific & home.  The food & service left much to be desired, but the naps were awesome!

We spent a few days in LA & Long Beach visiting friends & soaking in the incredible weather.  Our old neighborhood looked exactly the same, and we had a great time eating normal food again, visiting all of our friends, and watching good ol' Jerry Springer shows with themes like "I love you and your daughter too".  Boy we miss this country!

Back in Beijing

Oct. 2- The Mongolian Air flight was a success- we landed in one piece in Beijing.  We then headed straight for the Red House Hotel, which we had reserved beforehand.  We went out for Sichuan food, per Jerry's recommendation.  We had the fish in spicy oil bowl, and it was awesome!  It took 3 waitresses to get our order straight because they couldn't believe we wanted as much food as we ordered.  Truth be told, they were right.  But between the inexpensive prices and metric system, we really didn't know how much we ordered, and we didn't care.  Jason picked our meal from the tank in back, and a few minutes later, it was cut up & floating in a boiling bowl of hot chili oil.  After getting lost out back of the building, we found our way to our local shop for 3 waters  & 4 Tsingtao for $3, we were off to our room early.

Oct. 3-  Up & out in a taxi to Panjiayuan antique market even though it's Monday and the weekend is best there.  Half of the shops were closed, but we still saw some good stuff & bought things as well.  Next shopping stop- the Xiushui Silk Market.  This place is like Yashow with all the clothing & scarves a person could want.  We got lots of goodies for the folks at home (and a bit for ourselves of course), and finished by buying a big suitcase to take it all home in- for a whopping $17.

<<As in some other countries we've been in this year, bargaining is not just common, it's practically a law.  In China, it is more prevalent than ever.  It is standard to offer less than 20% of what the salesperson asks for.  After they whine about how you're killing them, you're such a shrewd businessperson, that offer is waaaaaaaaaaay too low, you then start walking away.  This goes on for about 5-15 minutes, depending on how patient & polite you are.  Needless to say, after almost 7 months of travel & buying souvenirs, Jason ended up a bit on the not-so-patient side.  With JJ playing good cop, she & bad cop were in & out in record time, with a load of goods to show for it.

After a taxi home & freshening up, we had big double meat burgers at the pub next door.  We wanted to go to a hip cool bar Jerry recommended, but the old & lazy thing kicked in and we settled for Internet & our warm hotel room.

Oct. 4-  Up late and hit the computer room for some photo admin, then ate yummy dumplings for practically nothing at Yashow Market, and we still found a way to get ripped off for a few cents.  We spent the rest of the afternoon in the Ho Hai area, stopping at the drum & bell towers...famous for...the big drums & bell respectively.  The drum tower (originally built in the 1200s, burned down & rebuilt several times) is where in the old days- pre-Timex- that the drums would be beaten to tell the locals what time it was (on the hour).  The bell tower (same history, currently dating to the 1700s) holds the nation's biggest bell, weighing in at a hefty 63 tons!  Both had great views of the surrounding hutongs.

We left the towers and hit the hutongs, stopping at a local restaurant for some Tsingtao while we watched the day go by.  After paying 40 cents apiece for two 630ml Tsingtao, we hit a trendy restaurant and ordered 330ml Tsingtao for $3 apiece!  What a difference a few blocks makes....sounds like Houston!

The touts here are amazing.  But once you sit in their restaurant, often you can't find anyone to serve you.  That's because they're all out in the street touting for more customers!  We stayed awhile in the Ho Hai district.

Before going home, we made it a point to go into one of the standard Chinese bars with the cheesy band of one or two singers, keyboards, & an acoustic guitar.  They typically sing Chinese & English language music classics, like Hey Jude, which is what our new friend requested for Jason.  With the sore throat & exhaustion, Jason didn't do so well.  But the good news is no one knew him!  This new friend of J3 brought his two other friends over to our table and we had a nice time chatting.  Of course, not much was understood on either side, but it was fun trying.  The oddest part was the main kid showed us his calorie/carb chart from his job at McDonald's (they are all in college too) and his friend kept saying the McDonald's catch-phrase "I'm Loving It!"  WEIRD.  Over the next hour, he fell in love with JJ, Jason's beard, and two other girls at the bar respectively.

By the end of the day, Jason had made some headway in the rummy game, but with one day left, 25o points wasn't nearly enough- JJ was still up over 600.

Oct. 5- Had to sleep in a bit due to the Tsingtao's & that pack of Marlboro's J3 inhaled at those bars last night.  We had our last cup of tea while packing for the last time on foreign soil (at least for a while ).  Took a leisurely stroll to Yashow to score some more dumplings & do more last minute shopping.  Although we had the purchase price almost worked out, we apparently chose the busiest time of the week to eat.  Jason stood waiting patiently for about 25 minutes at the dumpling stand, looking like Shaq towering above all the 5 foot somethings around him.  Height was not an asset, especially when those little old ladies start yapping about their slow orders!  Jason decided to just stay out of the fracas & wait...

We finally scored a plate of 15 and they were great, as usual.  Then we proceeded to play hardball for more souvenirs (JJ= good cop, JB= bad cop) & tried to buy some small, portable speakers for the ipod (thanks friends!) but those folks wouldn't budge.  We then had our last massage at Bhodi, and said goodbye to one of our favorite massage places ever before heading off to the airport.

First & lasting impressions of Beijing-

1. Smog.  Worst since Bangkok, and it's a tie.

2. Hacking & spitting- could be the smog & the cigarettes, but whatever the reason, it's done by old & young, male & female.  Watch where you step!

3. Clash of old & new- 3 wheeled carts, powered by people or horses next to brand new luxury cars.

4. Last but not least, HECTIC.  In line at a store, on a bus, in the street, in a restaurant, EVERYONE moves & talks like they are late & life is over if they don't get where they're going first.  It can almost make you crazy if you let it, but remembering that they are a country that holds more than 1/4 of the world's population helps cut them some slack.

Zaijian (goodbye) China, hello America!....Wow, we haven't said that in almost 5 months!

Mongolia- Back in the U.B.

Oct. 1- Back in U.B. for a few days. We gypsy cabbed it to the center of town, hit the post office for postcards, & ate lunch at an outdoor cafe.  This time, we only found one hair in one of the soups.  We had stopped in a store to shop for khazak tapestries, but couldn't agree on price with the salesman (he plays hardball & we weren't desperate).  While at the cafe, a girl came up to us and offered to sell the tapestry she had in a plastic bag.  Did she see us in the store?  Who cares, the price was more than right, and all of these have hung in a ger for decades, so the stench didn't scare us off.

While back at the State Dept. Store, Suzanne told us about the "postcard guy" (we'll call him PG) who grabs women's chest.  Just as she's describing his antics, PG rounds the corner towards us!  He immediately shoves a postcard towards JJ to read.  She backs away instead of leaning in to look, and PG misses his target on his signature move!  After shooing him away, we bought a few souvenirs & ended the afternoon at Charming Beauty for hot-rock massages.

Later that evening, we met up with Suzanne's friends- Darren, Tracy, Eggy and her son Tingis- for dinner at a great Mongolian restaurant.  The food was really good...and the best part- NO HAIR in our schnitzel!  They saved the hair for Suzanne's beef tips at this restaurant - yes, 3 out of 3 meals in UB restaurants were hair positive!  After passing on the $5-$10 mugs, we hit the Black Cat w/Suzanne & Tracey for a nightcap.  It was there that we met a table of Mongolian guys who were having a very nice time & invited us out dancing, but we had to decline since they were about 8 shots ahead of us.  They made one last attempt to rope Jason into the dance club, but JJ wouldn't let him answer and pulled him out the door.  But first, we were able to finagle 2 Gingis Khan mugs out of this place for a whopping 80 cents each, & were off to bed.

Oct. 2- Scrambled eggs & toast for brekky- wow!  We hit the Black Market, a flea market where one can buy literally everything and anything- from socks & underwear to art to antiques to tools.  Suzanne never goes to the BM without her dowel ( a small wooden stick) due to the fact that muggings are common.  We stuck close to her side...to...er...umm...protect her.  Basically, if anyone gets too close, she starts swinging it around like an extension of her hand.  Well, it worked- she cleared a path all afternoon wherever she walked.  Jason found an exact replica of Bambulai's pants that he liked, & quickly bought them.  After a few more souvenir purchases, we were back in a gypsy cab to Michelle's French Bakery for an afternoon delight.

We went back one last time to the ger souvenir store (located on the old Buddhist temple property) and bought some last minute souvenirs.  After a 20 minute ride from Suzanne's housekeeper for $4.20, we were at the airport ready to say goodbye to Mongolia.

Mongolia- The Gobi- Pt 3

Sept. 29- We awoke before dawn & after brekky in the ger, were off on one of the highlights of the trip- a camel ride into the sand dunes!  JJ quickly named hers Thor since he was a blondie opposed to the normal dark-haired ones.  <<The Bactrian camel is found only in the Gobi, and is famous for it's two humps.  Unlike other camels with one hump for storing water, the Bactrian's two humps store fat, used for nourishing the body during times of little water or food.  As the fat is burned, the humps lose their rigidity and can actually fall over to the side.  And of course, the humps form a natural saddle in between.  Our camels had actual saddles also, but the humps were great back rest & handle bars.  In addition, these camels grow thick, shaggy winter coats for the winter, and shed in the spring.  This is essential to handle the temp variation from 25'F below zero in the winter to up to 122'F in the summer!>>

<<Notable- In Mongolia, no animals (dogs, horses, etc) have names...mainly due to the fact that animals always serve a purpose other than just being a pet.  For example, cow=milk/meat, sheep=food/wool, horse & camel= transport/airag, dog= security (they are at EVERY SINGLE GER when we arrive, barking and threatening to bite our leg off).>>

After a 45 minute, 1 mile ride in which Thor took a knee in the mud and threatened to get JJ wet too, we arrived at the foot of the Khongoriin Els (Sand Dunes), which reach heights of up to 300 meters (1000 feet)!  We climbed to the top of the dunes (if only some local entrepeneur would think to sell oxygen at the top!) and sat on top for a while to enjoy the view.  We found out on the way down why these are also called the "singing dunes", due to the sounds the wind makes at the top, and also due to the fact that when you run & jump & slide on your bottom, the pants-to-sand friction makes a sound that sounds like singing.

We rode Thor & Co. back to camp & bought a few homemade souvenir goodies from Bayerra, our host & camel farmer (or rancher?).  We then drove a few hours & stopped for lunch at the exact time a windstorm swept through the valley we were in.  L&B were determined to make it work, so we put up a large tarp to block some of the wind, ate quickly & washed the sand down with some wine & water, & hit the road again...singing like Mongolian Povarottis along with the tape player.  These songs were way better than the "Into the Great Wide Open" & "In a Big Country" & "On the Road Again" that had been stuck in J3's heads for the first day or two.

We arrived in another soom (town/village) called Bulgan, went to the mall for the essentials- juice, cake, wet wipes.  We passed on the freshly dried pieces of meat laying on the counter since Lufzan already had that covered.  This "mall" was a basic rectangular, 3 story building with one door on each of the short sides leading to one long hallway splitting the building.  On either side of the hall were identical rooms with everything a 7-Eleven would have in each one.  Yes, every room had the same stuff.  We wondered what would happen if someone suddenly made his mutton half off, would the others stone him?  Afterwards, we didn't get a chance to ask many capitalism vs. socialism questions, since we were too busy juggling for the kids outside.

On our way out of town, we stopped for petrol & then at a watering hole, where locals (& folks like us) stop to collect water which is routed thru pipes from the mountain a few miles up the road.  There was no faucet, so obviously the water is plentiful throughout all the summer months.

We made it to the "Flaming Cliffs" by mid-afternoon.  These cliffs were definitely fabulous & flaming at the same time...sort of a mini Grand Canyon & painted desert combined.  We learned a bit about how the sea used to reach this valley below, certain vegetation, and played with the mind-twisting toys sold by the sole vendor at the spot...yes, definintely the end of tourist season, which is a good thing.

Drove another hour & set up camp.  Wet wipe showers for J3 while L&B made dinner of beef & veggie soup.  After dinner, we collect firewood....I mean, dungwood....for our fire.  Surprisingly (and thankfully), dried poo doesn't really smell bad at all, although we sure weren't about to start roasting marshmallows either.  We shared a bottle of Mongolian vodka with the boys & while chasing it with orange juice, tried to explain the OJ Simpson nickname & story with the boys.

Up later than usual at the crack of 8.30 am, & drove to DG to check in for our flight back to UB.  After checking in early, we toured the town one last time to a market, some shops, and Jason fulfilled his promise and bought the boys s small bottle of whiskey, which the 3 drank on a bench outside the airport building while waiting for the plane.  The takeoff was similar to the jeep, on the same bumpy dry desert land, but the shocks were probably worse than the jeep.  We actually got off the ground & made it back to UB in two pieces.  Lufzan's employee, Batir, picked us up from the airport & we ATM'd the last part of our balance, a whopping 856,000 turgrits!  After arriving back at Suzanne's place, we had the best showers we have ever experienced in our lives, and napped to tv till our gracious host got home.  We ordered pizza delivery, minus worms & hair, and were off to be very early for a serious night of sleep for the first time in a week.

Mongolia- The Gobi- Pt 2

Sept. 27 continued- We had finished our first few days in & around the Gobi sleeping in a nomad's ger, and camping on the open range.  Night 3 was again an adventure in it's own special way.

We drove back north to DG to stay in a hotel so that we could pick Lufzan up from the airport in the morning.  With some help from Lufzan on the mobile phone, Bam found the better of the two main hotels in DG.  It was called the Devshil, and was supposedly better than the other choice across the street.  We honestly couldn't tell the difference from the outside.  Bam set us up in our room and went to his nextdoor to freshen up before dinner.

Now.  J3 have been in some truly divey hotels/hostels in our days, and this one was at least top 3.  But it wasn't the facilities- it had a bathroom, bed with matress, blankets, etc.  What was a bit unsettling was the fact that everything either was broken (window, walls) or smelled (toilet, hence the half-used incence sticking out from a hole in the bathroom wall).  In addition, everywhere we looked, we saw stains only CSI-UB would be able to describe.  Yes folks, this was the better hotel of the two.

We decided it was too far to turn back now, so we locked the bags & the questionable deadlock, and met Bam downstairs to go to dinner.  Dinner was at a "club" nearby called Mineral Bar, which was a small place with about 8 tables/booths, English dance & hip-hop, & Mongolian music, and dim lighting with disco lights flashing back & forth across the small dance floor and our dining table as well.

Dinner was typical- we couldn't read the menu, Bam couldn't find much useful in the phrasebook- but we finally found a way to order BEEF!  It was served with noodles, veggies, spices, etc. and was very tasty!  We tried 3 different types of Mongolian beers- one lager, one fruity, one dark, and they were all mighty tasty.  One notable was the red lit door, and the green lit door.  No 70's movie references, please.  We had had another long day, and the beer & beef soon told us to hit the Devshil and catch some winks.

Sept. 28- In the morning, Jason snapped out of his slumber by washing his hair in the sink's  freezing cold water.  JJ didn't dare- she stuck to a strict wet-wipes diet.  Bam brought Lufzan back from the airport and the fab 4 ate brekky in our room- bread, jam, coffee, & sardines (only L&B of course).

We went to the bank to pay the next installment of our payment (since there is NO ATM in DG!).  Yes, according to Lufzan, DG has a population of over 50,000 people in the winter- in summer they move north to chill out in their gers- but no ATM.  In fact, we often saw the pop. estimate more like 12,500...maybe that's the summer pop?  The bank lady processed our transaction, we paid Lufzan, and we were off for another day of adventure.  Our 3 hour bumpy drive had one other silver lining- it gave Jason more time to learn the Mongolian music on L&B's tape.  Yes, after 3 days of driving in the desert for 10 hours a day, listening to the same tape, it starts to grow on you, even if you just mumble the sounds trying to sound Mongolian.  Lufzan likes to sing, and so does Jason (in case you HAVEN'T heard of the Slack Daddies), so this ride was filled with music.  Wish we'd taped it....

Around lunch time, we arrived at a ger stop in the middle of the steppes, where we had lunch with 2 ladies that Lufzan told us he stops at every season.  They welcomed us in and this time L&B cook the meal of beef, veggies, & noodles.  It was fantastic!  We hung out with L&B & our new friends Erdentstetsek & Baigaionaa, and Lufzan shared a small bottle of vodka with the group, each one of us taking a small cupful and passing it to the next.  The bottle didn't last long at all.  <<Another Mongolian tradition is to dip your ring finger in the vodka before the first drink and flick it in the air, then touch your forehead, basically showing your respect to the gods.  J wanted to splash a little on the floor for his dead homies, but that went against the strict traditions of visiting a ger.>>

A two hour drive later, we arrived on the crest of a hill before we noticed the herd of camels lounging in the afternoon sun with their two owners.  Lufzan had called ahead & booked a ride for us.  We rode about an hour along the trail enjoying the view of the surrounding hills, and getting some good closeups of the beautiful dental work in those big mugs of theirs.

Another hour drive later, we ended up at a camel breeder's ger camp (2 gers) and set up for the night.  They had the typical amenities- ger, stoves, bathroom (the land surrounding the gers), satellite dish & solar panel.  <<Notable- Nomads often have sat dish & solar power.  They have more reliable power than most Mongolian towns.  Lufzan told us that once, 3 large villages had no power for 3 months.  So, the village folk would go out to the nomads on the steppes to catch up on news & current events...and maybe to charge their cell phone batteries!>>

Another great meal of beef & veggie soup cooked by L&B, tea & wine, and then we moved on to a mean game of poker.  Jason went on a hot streak during Texas Hold'em & took the boys for a small fortune (about 5 dollars!).

Mongolia- The Gobi- Pt 1

Sept. 26- We awoke a little late, since both Jason & Bam's wristwatch alarms were nestled deep in their sleeping bags.  But we were still up before dawn, & after a little hot tea and using the facilities, we were ready to hit the road.  As opposed to the jurlong/outhouse we described earlier, the facilities here were literally outside, wherever you wanted to go.  We had some tea and Bambulai partaked of some leftover dumplings (ummm...we weren't hungry yet...) and canned sardines (wo!  we were really not hungry yet!), and we all had some fresh bread.  J3 actually tried the snuff when it was offered by Batamunk's other son, Anogin.  We also met Anogin's wife, Tdoughya.  After a photo-op with the entire fam, Bam & J3 (making sure to get the motorcycle in the photos), as well as swapping addresses, we were off for day 2!

After passing thru a village called Govi Ugtaal, we arrived at Ukh Gazryn Chelo, which is an area of reddish rocks jutting out of the ground.  We then stop in another tiny village called Guryansayhan, where Bambulai hunted for a lunch spot.  After at least 30 minutes of driving and stopping to inquire about food, it was apparent that there really weren't any eateries open, and we guessed everyone just ate at home most of the time.  Bam met some girls, asked them some questions, drove them around with us for a while, and soon we were in their ger home, where they began making lunch.  We had stopped at what seemed to be a ger corner store for veggies, and stopped at another ger (probably mom's house) to grab a glass of milk, and we had our missing ingredients.

Lunch was similar to last night's meal, but more of a soupy stew with cabbage, carrots, potato, thin strips of dough, mutton, & fat chunks.  It was pretty tasty but the mutton scent still hit a nerve.  We again watched the entire cooking process from the left side of the ger while drinking tea & eating snacks.  There were about 5 young ladies around lunch time, and we brought out some balloons and played with the two kids while watching their TV a bit.  Although we had a good time, we couldn't stay long after lunch since this lunch scavenger hunt lasted at least 2hrs.  We tried to counter the mutton taste in our mouth by downing some oreos in the jeep.  It worked for about 10 seconds.

After getting a little lost once or twice (even Lufzan has a hard time making a straight shot to destinations because of the fact that there are no roads, just paths in the sandy dirt made by cars & bikes), the next stop was caves at Khentee Bosoogi U Agui, where Jason & Bam got quite dirty climbing around.  Bam forgot to mention we needed a flashlight!  No worries, JJ would be able to get help if necessary...oops, no ger for hours...maybe not!  Afterwards, JJ tried the jeep out a bit (shhh!) and it took at least an hour or two to realize we couldn't find one ger!  We were really in the middle of nowhere.  So we decided to camp since it was almost sunset.  No problem, since the sky was amazing as usual and we got to enjoy Bam's cooking (rice & mutton soup) with some red wine, use the camping gear & wear the traditionial Mongolian coats which Bam had brought for us, full length and super warm.

Sept. 27- After brekky and packing up, we drove thru the morning and arrived at Dalanzagad, the the largest city/town in southern Mongolia, around lunchtime.  DZ is described in Lonely Planet (LP) as a "soulless and windy" town.  It has a similar feel to UB except much smaller- delapidated concrete buildings, none more than 3 or 4 stories tall, 2 or 3 paved roads.  With this forewarning and after seeing a few tumbleweeds sweep past, we suddenly imagined Clint Eastwood riding up on his horse, telling someone, "Dyin' ain't much of a livin', boy," or one of his other famous spaghetti western lines.  One thing we did notice was the uniforms the kids were wearing- boys wore suits/ties & girls wore a uni that reminded us of chambermaids (black dresses w/collar & aprons).

We ate lunch at a cafe/restaurant in the middle of town next to the open air market with about 6 stalls selling clothing, tools, and anything else you could need in the desert.  Lunch consisted of more mutton pastry similar to dumplings, and veggie/mutton soup.  It was obvious by now that ordering cow or pig or chicken was just not worth it...even if we could pronounce the word correctly or get the phrasebook out in time to show them, the standard answer was always, "No, but we have mutton," in Mongolian.

Lufzan called during lunch and told us he couldn't make it today due to aircraft issues ("the machines are broken".  It turns out that the ONE domestic airplane used by Mongolian Airlines was on the fritz and needed some repairs.  Our immediate response was, of course, to inquire about our flight back to UB in a few days!  Fortunately, Lufzan would work that out by using another domestic airline that is apparently more reliable, if that counts for anything.

After lunch, we continued on a few hours drive south to visit Golden Eagle Valley and Yolyn Am, which means the vulture's mouth in Mongolian.  We parked & hiked through the valley, weaving our way back & forth across the stream flowing thru it, and keeping on the lookout for mountain goats & other animals.  We saw one group of mountain goats, high-flying birds (probably vultures) & lots of little rodents who would run & jump into their holes when they saw us.  The stream was not frozen, something you cannot say for more than half the year here.  Aside from one local selling small wood & rock carvings & making sure his dog didn't attack us, we only saw 8 other people.  <<Note to self, always go to popular places in low tourist season (in this case, we did the trek on the very last few days of tourist season.>>  What a beautiful valley, and it was practically all ours!

At the exit, we stoppped off in the souvenir shop.  The souvenir shop was empty except for the local manning it, and we bought one of our favorite souvenirs, a camelhair tapestry depicting...you guessed it- CAMELS!  It was the equivalent of $2, but, of course, we played hardball & bargained him down to about $1.73....

All hiked out & ready to rest, we headed back to DZ for our one night in a Mongolian hotel...one we would never forget...

Mongolia- Gobi bound

Sept. 25- Lufzan & Bambulai met us at Suzanne's place, and after a little prep & pep-talk, we started our trek (J3 & Bambulai) to the Gobi from Ulaanbaatar.  The plan was to drive to the Gobi and fly back.  This would allow us to test the "life is not a destination, but a journey" theory once more.  And Lufzan had agreed that it was probably only necessary to drive to/from the Gobi once...unless you're a guide, of course.  Also, our schedule was tight due to the Ulaanbaatar-Beijing itinerary.

We quickly realized that our trip would be a once in a lifetime adventure from the first moments.  We literally got to the outskirts of UB within 5 minutes, and were on dirt roads from then on.  It was at the edge of town, while filling up with petrol, that we had our first use of the Mongolian jurlong (bathroom), which was the typical outhouse with slats of wood for a floor, with a strategically placed opening between two of the boards.  We also quickly encountered our first owoo (also ovoo), one of the thousands of shaman rock pile shrines that Mongolians have erected over the centuries to mark a sacred place or important pass.  Along with rocks, blue plastic or textile strips, empty water & vodka bottles, & animal (we hope) bones are often added to the mix.  After circling 3 times clockwise, & adding a rock of our own at each pass, we were back in the jeep bumping along southward again.

Our jeep is a standard Russian issue from the 50's, called jaris in Mongolian, complete with retro padded ceiling, no seat belts, spare petrol can we could smell immediately, and as you can imagine, shocks to remember forever. Let's just say it was a bumpy ride!  Not to mention the driver side door flew open about once every 20 minutes.  That and the bumps kept Bambulai busy all day long!  Lufzan had said the jeep was 6 yrs old when we had asked, but we guessed his English numbers still need some work.  But the adventure had begun and J3 and Bambulai had nothing to do for 2 days except learn Mongolian & English respectively, and head south asap!

We made another stop to get water from a well in the middle of the plains, and visited with some folks tending to their horses & cows.  After a drive thru some pretty interesting rock fields, we stopped for lunch near a religious site.  Here, hundreds of Mongolians were waiting in line to get a glimpse at some sculpture covered in a dark sheet with a hole in it for viewing.  It was surrounded by a circular wall, about 30 feet in diameter.  So the line made the circle and led out into the plains.  Inside, next to the shrine, were two areas with more gifts to the gods (we presume)- one with all bottles of airag, which is fermented mare's or sometimes camel's milk (usually stored in re-used water bottles) and vodka bottles (some empty, some not), and a pile of cookies, candy, etc on the other.  Some folks were donating and some were partaking in the feast, although we cannot say we saw anyone taking a swig of vodka.  Maybe that's off limits. 

Outside the circle, there was also a large rock on which people would rub their money, hats, as well as themselves apparently in order to gain some cleansing/ blessing from the shaman & gods.  We never could get the perfect translation from Bambulai, but through our chat in Mongolian & English, we got the idea.

It was at this stop where we got our first taste of airag, which Bambulai bought from a stand next to the religious site.  It was served in a re-used water bottle, and if in a nomad's home (ger), would typically be served in a cup from their large metal or plastic barrel which they store it in.  Airag is definitely an acquired taste.  But if you block out the sour, unpasteurized, lumpy, and "from a horse" parts, it's not too bad.

At some point in the next few hours of driving over miles & miles of flat, barren landscape, we entered the Gobi, although there was no large billboard or sign like at Yellowstone National Park or anything.  In fact, the scenery doesn't really change at all from UB.  <<Interestingly, Mongolians consider that there are 33 different Gobis.  And the most famous part- sand dunes- makes up a mere 3% of the total territory, which is 1600 km from southwest to northeast and 800 km from north to south.>>

After a few more hours of jeep action Bambulai located a few gers in the distance.  <<A ger is the name for a circular traditional nomadic house made of animal pelts/leather & a frame of wood or metal. These days, the materials are usually more advanced, but the design is the same it's been for centuries.>>  Bambulai hit them up for dinner & lodging, and they immediately agreed to put us up for the night.  <<We learned that out on the steppes (plains) of Mongolia, the typical lodging is a ger.>>  Before our departure, Lufzan told us that in most areas of his country, the nomadic locals will offer their homes and feed you, and they ask nothing in return.  Tourists usually bring items to give in return for the hospitality, like matches, cigarettes, pens & pencils, paper, balloons, crayons, etc.  He told us that since the Gobi trek is more touristic, the locals along that route do expect a little money for their hospitality (although still only a few dollars).  We brought goodies to give the children of our hosts- crayons, balloons, etc.

<<Mongolian nomadic traditions- While nomads are traditionally hospitable, opening their doors to any and all passersby, custom dictates a rather strict set of rituals to follow when visiting a nomad home. Visitors must cross the threshold through the low door, move clockwise, and take their seats on the left side, feet pointing away from the shrine at the back (but not at anyone else).  The hosts will first offer the traditional fare- tea or airag along with an assortment of snacks.  It is impolite to refuse anything offered, so at least a taste or smell is appreciated.>>

When we entered our first ger, the lady of the home (Amarment) immediately started making tea.  Tea here is made with milk (the not-so-fermented type) and tea leaves.  The standard cooking pot is a large wok-shaped pan placed on top of the central cast-iron stove, in which the fire is produced from dung.  Yep, there aren't exactly many trees around, and coal is expensive and rare, so Mongolians use what is easiest to come by.  And as we had already noticed, if dung were pennies, Mongolians would be a rich people!

While Amarment started dinner, we had some tea and our first taste of some bitter, dried yogurt sweets, which are another staple food for nomads.  We tried our best to enjoy the experience, but we have to admit it would take years of living in the steppe to acquire a taste for these treats.  We noticed Amarment grab a large leg of dried mutton from a shelf, and proceeded to chop it up.  Then she made dough, and we realized (with a little phrasebook work by Bambulai) that we were having dumplings for dinner!  Hey, we love dumplings, so we were excited.  During prep-time, Batamunk (dad) showed up on his motorcycle (the most common transportation) and they showed us photos of a man & his wife & kid.  We soon realized that it's Batamunk Jr who lives in L.A.!  We were then offered snuff, a tobacco powder, which we smelled politely and returned to Batamunk.

Dinner is served.  Aaaaahh, MUTTON.  Mutton  is basically lamb, but tougher, unbearably smelly, and with much more fat content.  Our first few bites of the dumplings were tasty (mutton as well as onions, some spice, and maybe potato).  But the flavor- and more importantly, the smell-is so overwhelming that it gets to you quickly.

<<We would realize over the next week that the problem wasn't the mutton meat itself, but the fact that every dish had an equal amount of mutton fat to mutton meat. The fat is quite valued here, but we spent most of our meals picking it out- and trying not to get grossed out.  The smell of mutton fat, which they also use for cooking, permeates everything.  Everything starts to smell and taste muttony, and even the old bills definitely emit a muttony odor.>>

After dinner, we did language study a bit more with Bambulai and went outside to gaze at what was the most amazing starry sky since New Zealand, noticing that the big dipper was much bigger than we had ever seen!  Then we hit the sleeping bags for our first night in the Gobi, since we would be getting up before dawn the next day to get on the road early.

SanbanO- Welcome to Mongolia

Sept. 23- After our last day of shopping & one last massage (JB-full body, JJ-feet, etc), we headed off to the airport in the evening for our 3 hr flight to Ulaanbaatar, the capitol of Mongolia.  We arrived early, and spent the extra time reading & hanging out at Starbucks listening to the Rolling Stones' greatest hits.  A true sign of the cheap labor costs in China was the fact that the 3 employees outnumbered the customers- J3.  They worked diligently cleaning up, checking and re-checking merchandise, etc.  The Stones were a nice change of pace compared to the typical trio of muzak-playing bands we typically saw in the bars.

<<<Note to overseas traveler- No matter how badly something fits when you try it on in the store/shop, no matter what problem you may have with the item, you are wrong and it fits perfectly....according to the salesperson.  It's like they think they have this Jedi mind trick thing going...."It looks perfect...No, not too tight, it stretches...No, it will not shrink when washed, it's preshrunk...Fuscia is the only color I have left, and it looks great on you...it matches your eyes...">>>

We said sanbano (hello) to Mongolia after a reasonably uneventful flight, having read the airline promo magazine telling us how amazingly peaceful & beautiful Mongolia is.  Well, they got the beautiful part right.  Peaceful, somewhat.  According to Suzanne (our host), the locals sometimes get a little...shall we say...aggressive with tourists and expats living here.  She told a few stories that had us gripping the wallet a little tighter, and we moved on.

Suzanne and a driver met us at the airport and took us back to her place, where we had tea & caught up on life.  Suzanne elaborated on the issues with the foreigners & locals, and it seems the locals just are a bit frisky and aren't very harmful.  But still, the image of the "wild west of the 2000's" stuck in our imagination from that point forward.

Sept. 24- The next day we awoke, had some quick brekky, and headed off to the market.  Along the way, in our Mongolian version of the Russian gypsy cab (sorry, pre-blog reference) which is a citizen making extra dough giving someone a ride  It's very common here, and very cheap.  We got our first daytime glimpse of the capital of Mongolia- old, concrete, delapidated buildings, crazy drivers, curious on-lookers (at us), & locals selling drinks/fruit, and even phone service- from their phone- on the sidewalk.

Suzanne gave us more info on Mongolia, and we discussed our plan of attack for finding transport & guide services to the Gobi.  We ended up at one of her favorite places, an Irish Pub which serves decent grub.  We had our first Mongolian beer and had lunch on their patio in sunny mid-sixty degree weather.  Aside from the squashed knat & still-squirming worm we found in the salads, the meal was ok.  We would find out soon that eating here is an adventure in itself- ALWAYS.

It was at the pub that we met up with Lufzan, owner of a travel agency specializing in treks around Mongolia.  Suzanne had met him on a plane and they soon realized they had a mutual friend.  We met and discussed the who's, how's, when's, etc for a Gobi trek.  It all sounded great but we told Lufzan we'd think about it and get back to him (just to be sure).

We then went to see some old Buddhist temples in the middle of town.  They were interesting albeit a bit delapidated.  We visited the tourist shop, which was the first real "ger" we ever entered.  A "ger" is a Mongolian teepee (for you yanks) which is round in shape & traditionally made of wood frame & animal skins.  We bought some Mongolian goodies and went across the street for coffee.  After some java & organizing a time to meet Lufzan later that night, we went to a traditional Mongolian show with Suzanne's friend Tracey and her daughter.  We heard music played on traditional instruments from the region, saw shaman & religious folk dressed in amazingly colorful outfits, watched contortionists turn into pretzels a-la Cirque du Soleil (JJ's favorite part), and heard the world famous Mongolian (and southern Russian) throat-singing, or khoomei, where the singer creates 2 to even 4 different tones at the same time.  The main tone (lower) stays constant and the higher ones fluctuate to create melodies sounding like a flute.

<< Heads up!  Time for a little culture>>
Another similarity between Mongols & the wild west is the love of music & nature.  Mongolian music conveys this deep appreciation that Mongolians have for their country, its natural beauty, and the inspiring deep blue sky above the vast Mongolian landscape, and usually their beloved horses as well.  Most Mongolians are expected to have at least one song in their back pocket for a special occasion.

Mongolians are an interesting people.  Their culture is still very nomadic- many live on the steppes (plains) and move around throughout the year.  Others move from their permanent place in the city to the steppes for the summer or winter, depending on which climate they live in.  They look like a mix between our Alaskan Eskimos, Native Americans, and Chinese.  It's no wonder that scientists believe the Aleutian islands stretching from Alaska to Russia once was a land bridge.  Ghingis Khan is definitely the great, great,  great, great, great, grandfather of Sitting Bull, if you ask us.

Mongolians are a predominantly Buddhist people on paper (through the centuries the Tibetan Buddhists were part of the Khan dynasty and were a big religious influence), yet they mix a quite bit of Shamanism in as well (worshipping the master of mountains, water, sky and land, multiple gods, a shaman is a medium between the visible world and an invisible spirit world and who practices magic or sorcery for healing, talking to the gods, and control over natural events- again, the Native American similarity).

The favorite sports of Mongolians are a special type of wrestling called Bukh, archery, and horseracing.  These all are on display annually at the national celebrations called Naadam & the Bukh champion gets almost all the glory.

After the cultural show, we all went to dinner and Lufzan joined us to finalize the deal, while also introducing us to Bambulai (his cousin & driver) who would drive us to the Gobi for the first few days alone, since Lufzan had a previous engagement to attend.  Bambulai seemed like a nice fellow, and J3 were frankly excited to be forced to really learn some Mongolian, since Bambulai knew practically zero English!

Well, off to bed after first packing light for the trek.  We leave early tomorrow morning!

<<Traveler's note- According to Suzanne's 2 year old Lonely Planet, there is NO golf course in the entire country of Mongolia.>>

China- Beijing Pt 3- Mongolian Airlines Marathon

Sept. 22- After dodging another attempted cab scheme (saved $3!) we headed to MIAT (Mongolian I....A....Travel)....well, something like that, but in Mongolian.

We arrived for what we thought would be a 10-minute credit card swipe-and-out w/ tickets-in-hand trip turned into a 3hr marathon event.  First, their visa machine wasn't working.  We called the US Visa collect phone # and they said it was a problem with MIAT's machine.  Oyouna didn't buy it, although she did admit that another couple had the same problem with their visa card earlier.  Lucky for them, they had a lot of cash.  Unlucky for us, we didn't.  We explained to Oyouna that normal people didn't have that high of a limit with their ATM card.  And we didn't want to pay the fees to take out $ 4 times.  Also, the credit card payment would be in US$, and wouldn't include the typical high "conversion fee" that Mr Bank O. America likes to charge us.

So we tried & tried & tried the visa again....NO DICE.  Oyouna then informed us of the special arrangement they had with Amex, where they could get a verbal confirmation from them (which MIAT would NOT accept from my ready & willing Visa phone rep earlier).  JJ tried to call Amex and use her Amex without physically having it on her person- NO DICE....picky picky.

Between all this brainstorming (BS for short), poor Oyouna would walk to the back behind a partition wall and consult with the manager, who obviously didn't want any piece of J3's problem.  This, of course, made J want to go pay her a visit & give her his "opinions" on MIAT's service.  However, the possibility of Chinese police escorting him out of the building- and possibly country- kept him in his seat.  We were now referring to this unknown manager as the Dragon Lady from the Eddie Murphy movie The Golden Child.  Somewhere in there J3 suggested there just HAD to be some sort of  helpdesk for that little credit card machine, but Oyouna informed us that the lady who normally handles credit transactions was sick...and located in Mongolia, and couldn't be reached...convenient.

Oyouna still didn't seem to think her machine was broken, & couldn't think of any helpdesk, and thought we tourists and our crazy Visa card were the only possible reason she couldn't get off work yet (we're at about 2hrs and counting now).  When J3 suggested calling the airport and charging the card with their machine, Oyouna informed us that MIAT at the Beijing airport ONLY TAKES CASH.  huh?  wha-wha-whaaaaat?  J3 then suggested calling another MIAT office, but were informed they were now closed.

After 2-1/2 hrs and about 5 visits by Oyouna to the Dragon Lady, J3 call Air China to spite the MIAT mess-makers, but found the ticket price was $150 more apiece.  Good thing we didn't cause trouble & get escorted out yet!  After trying the card again (just for fun!), we try to use our Debit/ATM card.  This didn't even have a chance since the Dragon Lady was on the phone line that is also used for the credit card machine!  Jason then asked "what if Dragon Lady (he didn't say that part out loud) was on the phone when we were trying the Visa earlier?"  Oyouna didn't even want to think about that one, and J3 were frankly too tired to pursue it.

Just as Jason is working out the details with Visa to up the limit on the ATM card (our last option), Oyouna gets a call from Dragon Lady and they have a long conversation with credit card Chinese/Mongolian talk.  Just as Jason is gaining level 3 clearance and divulging his mother's dog's maiden name, the Visa lady starts to say something that seems really important....and the cord falls out of the phone on J's lap.  J3's world stops turning at that instant and if you looked hard enough you could literally see steam shooting out of Jason's ears.  Just as Jason is about to take the aforementioned Visa card & cut it into 100 jagged pieces and gulp it down with some Chines jasmine tea, Oyouna hangs up & says those 8 words J3 never thought they would be so happy to hear..."I think I can now run your card."  Guess they miraculously find that part of the "credit card fire drill book" that allows them to accept & process our Visa.  Amazing.

We let Oyouna do what she does best (issue frickin' tickets!) & quickly left the premises before something- anything- else went wrong.  Back to Red House for the largest Tsingtao EVER & some grub.  We never thought meeting our first Mongolian would be this much fun!  Poor Oyouna...she didn't deserve that J3 tornado.  And boy what an intro to Mongolia!

China- Beijing Pt 2- Palaces, Tiananmen Sqr, Great Wall...

Sept. 19- The next morning, we headed to the Mongolian Embassy.  Let's back up a second for those who haven't gotten the scoop yet...

JJ's former high school teacher in boarding school, Miss Suzanne Duree, has globe trotted to places like Myanmar and now Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, where she is now a teacher,counselor, &administrator.  Along our trip, we communicated with her via email and she invited us to visit if we so desired.  Well, we had allotted a full 2-1/2 weeks to Beijing for either travel to remote China or Mongolia.  We chose to just cover Beijing this trip and use it as a launching pad for a Mongolian trek to the Gobi Desert, since Mongolia is hard to get to and we may never get this close again.

So we were headed to the Mongolian Embassy to get visas for travel to Mongolia.  While waiting in line at the embassy, we read a sign that said visas were not required for a select few countries,  such as the US and Cuba (huh?).  We jetted off after the usual 'should we get one just in case this sign is wrong?' discussion, and headed to dim sum at the Comfort Inn hotel restaurant called "the Deluxe", again recommended by Jerry.

The Deluxe was a bit quiet and formal looking, but the food was great.  Of course, it took 45 minutes to find out since it took 30 minutes just to order!  This is not the regular dim sum we have in the states, where the overly aggressive women push carts around and throw plates of incredible looking items on your table.  Here, the menu was in Chinese only & there wasn't a cart to be found.  We asked for someone who speaks English, and of course the demure polite girl explained in broken English that she spoke English (similar to the amount of Swahili that we speak).  We didn't have the heart to burst her bubble and ask for someone else, so we just suffered thru the standard ordering procedure of J3 digging into the phrasebook until we just said thinks like "dumplings" and "pork" and hoped we'd get lucky.  Well, we did get lucky because it was great food.

After lunch, we were off to a travel agency to talk Mongolian travel stuff, gave the agent our thoughts, and we planned on talking the next day to discuss what he found.  We then visited Yashow Market to buy thermal underwear for Mongolia.  Yashow is a 5 story building with miles of shops selling clothing, souvenirs, electronics, sunglasses, suitcases, etc.  After an afternoon nap, we had a big dinner with Jerry- Peking Duck, crab, veggies, all washed down with some traditional warm rice wine.  We then went over to Jerry's to see his place.  After finding out the massage shop in his building was closed, we headed home.

Sept. 20- UP AND OUTTA THERE!  We left Gongti Hostel and headed to Red House.  What a difference a few dollars makes!  Obviously we're getting older, and we now have limits on just how much we'll suffer to save a few bucks!  Again, the lingering colds definitely had a lot to do with it.

After dropping our things off in the new abode, we headed to the Forbidden City, called Gu Gong in Chinese, the famous walled city which was the imperial palace during the Ming and Qing dynasties.  It is the world's largest palace complex and covers 183 ares, surrounded by a six meter deep moat and a ten meter high wall, and consists of 9,999 buildings.  We wandered the many different areas of the city trying to follow the bad audio guides we rented, although we only were able to get to 9,998 of the buildings, we still enjoyed it immensely.  The weather was rainy & overcast, but that didn't take away from the beauty of the City.

Afterwards, we walked next door to Tienanmen Square, the large plaza named for the Tienanmen (Gate of Heavenly Peace) which sits to its north, separating it from the Forbidden City.  It is seen by many as the symbolic heart of the Chinese Nation.  Outside of China, the square is best known for the protests of 1989.  Built in 1417, the square is 880 x 500 metres, making it the largest open-urban square in the world, much larger than Russia's Red Square, giving it an area of 440,000 square meters.

After turning down a few high priced cabs and catching the economy type (2 dollars cheaper- YES!), we got home and went next door to dinner at the Football Club, a pub/sports bar next to-and connected to- our hotel, which never seemed to have any customers but us and a few random people, although the pub grub was just what the doctor ordered.  Burgers and shepherd's pie and 10 quai Tsingtao was the menu tonight.

Sept. 21- Up & at 'em early, and after a 2-3 hour ride we arrive at the Simatai section of the Great Wall.

The Great Wall was originated as separate sections built by 3 different Chinese states as a defensive fortification around 700-600 BC.  It didn't become the "Great" wall until the Qin Dynasty, when Emperor Qin Shihuang had all the walls joined together to fend off the invasions from the Huns in the north.  It finally took its current form during the Ming dynasty (1368-1644).   The "great" part is due to the fact that it's approximately 6,700 kilometers (4,163 miles) long, and- if you believe the UNPROVEN rumor- is the only man-made structure on earth can be seen from space.

The Simatai section is the least renovated of the tourist stops at the wall, creating an air of authenticity that has earned it the reputation of being the most beautiful section of the Great Wall.  Here, the wall really looks as one would expect it to look some 500 years after it was built during the Ming Dynasty...with sections that have crumbled and are impassable.

We had an awesome day which included a gondola ride and mini-train ride up to the top, hiking around the wall & surrounding area, and even riding a cable swing thing part of the way down....whatever it's called, it was fun.  Almost more amazing than the views was the little old ladies that were fit enough to follow us up & around the wall trying to sell postcards, souvenirs, etc.

After 30 minutes of wondering whether or not the bus left us, we found it & the group (whew!).  After a nap-happy ride home till 9pm, we went to Serve the People, a great Thai food Jerrecommendation!!  Bought some Tsingtao at the shop near the hotel and did some internet before beddy bye.

Sept. 22- We reserved a spot on the Mongolian Airlines (MIAT) flight by phone & headed off to the Summer Palace, the best example of the typical Chinese garden, and is ranked amongst the most noted and classical gardens of the world.  It was basically the royal family's "summer house" to get away from the heat & craziness of the Forbidden City.  The main area with the most famous buildings was closed for renovations, which we have noticed several times here in Beijing.  They were obviously getting ready for the Olympics in 2008.  But the parts we did see were impressive- great architecture, jade, theater replica, beautiful garden escapes from the heat, lakes, hills, etc.  Yep, a palace fit for an emperor.

China- Beijing Pt 1- Jerry's Bday to the most expensive cheap massage ever!

Sept. 16- We arrived in Beijing to the expected- people, people, and more people, with a lot of smog mixed in.  After some confusion, we boarded the bus to the neighborhood where our chosen hostel was located.  We hopped off at what we thought was the correct stop, and were immediately lost.  We asked some folks for directions, to which they had no response (not in English at least).  After quickly discovering some hutong (an ancient community formed from narrow alleys & streets and courtyard residences), we followed a nice lady that offered to walk us to our hostel.  About a mile later, we arrived to find it was full.  The nice folks called another place for us which we booked immediately, fearing a trend could be forming.  We cabbed it to the new place, Gongti Hostel, which is literally a 4 story section of Gongti Workers Stadium.  It was interesting for about 10 seconds, until we realized the bathroom was about 30 rooms away down the hall.  Our chest colds still lingering, the 4 flights of stairs didn't impress us either.  But the price was right, and there was no telling how far away and/or difficult our other options were.

We called our friend Jerry, who is a Chinese American who lives in Beijing and works at That's Beijing, a local magazine specializing in life in the city for ex-pats or tourists.  Jerry came over and took us to a great dinner of German food at one of his favorite places.  We then went over to the Stone Boat, a great bar situated on the southern edge of the lake at Ritan Park, where Jerry had organized his birthday party.  We met lots of new friends, listened to the DJs (incl Jerry) mix some great tunes, and had a ball.

Sept 17- Slept in, and strolled the streets near our place trying to find Franks, a restaurant recommended by Jerry.  We couldn't find Frank, but found the Den, another recommendation , where we had a nice tuna sandwich & burger.  Walked around the Sanlitun district, highlighted by our first sighting of the famously cheesy musical ensemble of 2 or 3 people playing guitar & keyboards, while singing english & chinese songs badly (usually).  They were so bad we just had to stop & listen!  On our way home, we stopped in one of the many cheap massage parlors (30 quai= $3.75), where we suffered thru 30 minutes of mediocrity.  JJ claims it was her worst massage ever and collected a few bruises on her back.

Sept. 18- Lunch w/Jerry at another of his favorite spots (forgot the name).  Jerry ordered a feast of beef, tofu, spicy chicken, mango ice, soup, all topped off with fruit tea for our chests & throats.  We then hit the "herbal" pharmacy where Jerry found his favorite cough medicine, a jug of what tasted like pure honey & mint when it hit the throat.  Then we saw Jerry's office (that's Beijing) and said goodbye for the day so he could get some work done.

We then headed off in a taxi to Ho Hai (the lakes) for some great strolling around beautiful lakes, narrow hutongs, and even a quick 3-wheeled bicycle rickshaw ride throughout the area (along with almost EVERY other tourist within 10 square miles).  It was fun, albeit very touristic.  We stopped and played cards at an outdoor bar while people watching.  "It would have been better if if wasn't for those darn kids" (we know we're getting old when we say that line) who popped a few loud firecrackers near unsuspecting passers-by along the promenade.  Oh yeah, the bathroom stunk worse than any other we'd been in up to this point- which is saying a lot.

We strolled thru the nearby hutong alleys once more, checking out the small shops, residences (when we could get a good look inside their gates), local restaurants, and the old men playing Wei Qi (or Wei-Ch'i, or "Go" in English), which is a board game with disc-like pieces that resembles checkers, but is considered by most Oriental game experts to be the worlds greatest strategic skill game, far surpassing Chess in it's complexity and scope- although its rules are far more simple.  Unlike chess, no computer program has yet been written which has been able to compete with the best Wei-Ch'i players.  I guess UNO isn't so hard after all, relatively speaking...

After taking a taxi back to our neighboorhood, we checked out Red House, another hotel in the area.  We were just too worn down & still a bit sick, so we had to get out of Gongti where just going to the bathroom took too much effort.  Red House was red hot, and we pre-booked the rest of our stay in Beijing.  We then walked to Morel's for Belgian beer, mussels, & chicken caesar salad....MMMM.....MUSSELS!  After stuffing our faces with mullosks, we headed to Bondhi, Jerry's favorite massage place.  It was $17 for an 80 minute foot massage (a bank buster compared to the cheaper ones) but worth every penny.  These folks know what they're doing.  They provide free unlimited tea, fruit, curries w/rice, fresh squeezed juices (apple, watermelon, pear, etc), and scrubs-like clothing to make you more comfortable.  We were in heaven!  Another night of bad sleep due to the lingering colds, but things were getting better and would improve drastically when we moved into our new digs at Red House in the morning!

Hong Kong- Toutrageous!

Sept. 12-  In the dictionary, the definition of the word "tout" is "1. To solicit customers, votes, or patronage, especially in a brazen way. "  KEYWORD BRAZEN.  And next to this definition is a photo of a man on Nathan Rd. in Hong Kong, trying to rent you a room for the night.

We arrived in Hong Kong around 3.30pm, and immediately took a bus to the Kowloon District to find a room.  The ride into town was beautiful.  The Hong Kong area is very lush, green, and hilly, with beautiful buildings popping out of the landscape.  We had done our LP Guide review and had chosen our top 3 hostel/hotels.  However, we literally couldn't get to them before the touts got to us first!  They hang out on the street in front of the buildings, almost psychic knowing your destination before you do.  Hong Kong is not exactly the easiest place in the world to rent a room on the fly, primarily because the buildings are all 15+ stories tall and house all types of businesses, hostels/hotels, and the ground floor is all shops....BUSY shops.  So just to get to the hostel, you must make your way thru the crowds into buildings with horrible or no signage- not exactly the same as strolling thru a Greek island town asking the folks on each patio if they have a room for rent.  Add to the mayhem J3 X 2 chest colds = not good.

After an excruciating hour or two to finding a place, we settle on a nice, quaint, small, unremodeled place which we thought was worth it to save a few HK$.  Maybe we should have taken the chest colds more seriously.  The small, window AC unit had dust from decades ago, and it blew right on us when we laid in bed.  And the building (like every other building we saw with hostels) was an old, concrete, dirty mess with an interior courtyard w/trash, etc in the bottom.  Marvin Zindler would have a field day, and so would the fire inspector, if he/she ever showed up, which we doubt.  In fact, Lonely Planet recommends bringing your own smoke alarm to HK for the simple fact that all the economical housing is unsafe.  And the fact that there's a hostel next to a laundry next to a restaurant next to a textile shop leads one to be a little...um...shall we say...ill-at-ease.

We slept awhile and headed out to check out the town.  We stopped & had some so-so Thai food, & a beer @ Ned Kelly's Last Stand, a bar named after the Aussie version of our Jesse James (or maybe Jesse is the US version of Ned?).   The chinese jazz band was interesting, but after a while we were excited to get home for more rest & meds.

Sept. 13- We proceeded to sleep until the middle of the afternoon the next day!  We set up our Chinese visa with the hostel during one waking moment in the AM.  Dumplings & soup for dinner, soothing to the chest alright.  Next we were off to Delaney's, an Irish pub known for great food too....J3 agrees.  Played a little trivia with the other patrons, & off to bed <cough cough>.

Sept. 14- Up & out by noon, and proud of it!  We took the famous HK Star Ferry to the island- where all the cool buildings are that you see in the famous photos.  We discovered the Bank of America Tower...where we withdrew money for no fees!!!!!  This made our week since the typical fees are $5 charge from the bank who owns the machine, $1.50 non-BOA fee from BOA, and 1% from BOA...the "foreign currency charge" we think.  You do the math.  We walked around, had some lunch at a crowded, loud, fast food type Chinese restaurant.  Did we mention it was LOUD?!?  We continued on walking crazy streets of cars, pedestrians, shops of all price ranges and types, and seafood/fruit/meat/veggie markets.  The crazy thing is that although the tourist mayhem is insane, business is very much king here, so more than half of the streetgoers are in suits & heels (mostly women regarding the latter).

We visited the Manmo Temple, one of the oldest on HK island dedicated to the Buddhist gods of literature and war.  There are cats wandering around, and hanging thoughout the small place are huge coils of incence hanging from the ceiling.  Jason left with the ashes in his hair to prove it!  We then rode the "world's longest escalator" on Graham St., an outdoor escalator that runs up the island to nearly the top.  J's arch/engineer side pondered the types of materials needed to make an outdoor escalator with incredibly intricate machinery in such a rainy, humid part of the world...but then the  Peter Griffin/Homer Simpson in him started to wonder if Hong Kong has a Crispy Creme...

We then took the peak tram to Victoria Peak.  We walked up to the top, had some mini-donuts at sunset (see?...found the donuts!), and gazed at the beautiful harbor at night- one of the most famous views in the world.  We ferried back to the mainland and had dinner again @ Delaney's- lobster bisque & steak sandwich- and we were feeling healthier by this point, the mold-infested AC notwithstanding.

Sept. 15- Up late, found a restaurant that was open (it was really late, like 2pm!).  This place was a little pricey but we were tired of wandering, so we had some soop to soothe our bodies and did some internet for 3hrs.  Back to dinner at- you guessed it- Delaney's, for beef dip & beef salad.....MMMMM.....BEEEEEF....  Strolled the streets for a while and called it a night.

Sept. 16- Off to the airport early morning.  We're sad to say that we were happy to leave HK.  But we know it was mainly due to our illnesses and a little tourist burnout, so hopefully we will return someday and really enjoy it to it's fullest.

Dubai, UAE- R&R&R...&R...&R

Sept 6- We arrived around in Dubai, United Arab Emirates at around 1am and hung out with JJ's old friend Mike Campbell (brother of Melissa of Brisbane fame- see previous blog entries) at his apartment.  Dubai is a very cosmopolitan, westernized city in UAE, on the east coast of the Arabian Penninsula.  It's a big business, oil, import/export city with lots of ex-patriots (foreigners like J3 working there).  And everywhere you look, there is a building under construction.  One interesting fact Mike enlightened us with is that UAE was recently noted for having the 2nd most active cranes in the world China!  Let's just crunch some numbers for a minute.  The UAE has a land area of 83,000 sq. km. with a population of 2,563,212.  China's land area is 9,326,410 sq km with a population of 1,306,313,812!  Bottom line, the UAE has money and lots of it!

We awoke late and went to lunch w/Mike, Dave, and Hassan.  That night we shifted gears from roughing it in places like Turkey and Morocco....in a BIG way.  We saw the hot hip-hop band The Black Eyed Peas at the Dubai Expo Center.  Aside from the fact that the sound was the quality you'd expect from a...well...an EXPO CENTER...it was a great time.  But we were definitely experiencing a little culture shock.

Sept. 7- More of the same- coffee around noon frm Costas downstairs, and lots of blogwork, laundry, and hanging out trying to get over Mustafa's revenge.

Sept. 8- Note to self- Thursday night is like Saturday here!  So we hit the town, first to Jumera mall, which had incredible interiors- almost like a Las Vegas casino.  We were denied entry into a bar due to Dave's sandals (this ain't NYC!) and ended up in Trader Vics, where the drinks were as stiff as my back after the Hong Kong beds (sorry, getting ahead of myself).  We weren't that impressed w/the ambience, so we headed to IBO for some real fun.  It's no Rich's, but a good time was had by all.

Sept. 9- Up late, food w/the boys including our new buddy Hassan @ Tony Roma's in another mall.  This mall was designed where each section of the mall is designed as a different part of the eastern world- from China to Egypt to Morocco.  Headed back to Hassan's where we relaxed to jazz and tried his mango flavored tequila....mmmm!

Sept. 10- We shopped for xmas gifts at the local shopping area, then off to a desert trek & dinner.  Our Landcruiser got stuck (no JB root beer belly jokes please), rode a camel, had a great dinner at the "oasis", and watched the sunset over the dunes.  After a shisha and watching some belly dancing, we headed back & hit the hay early for once!

Sept. 11- Sunday lunch @ the Jumera Beach Club, which overlooks the Burj Al Arab (the most famous hotel in the world right now (you know, the one that looks like a big sail).  No one can get into the Burj...without dinner reservations worth probably $200!  We met the hotel mgr of the Jumera Hotel & Club-Rebecca, a friend of Mike & Dave's, and she gave us a tour of a villa & the view from the rooftop club.  After some rest at the apt, we went out for dinner at an all-you-can-eat restaurant.  Notable- JJ's old friend Tarek showed up to say hi.  After dinner, we said our goodbyes and headed off to the airport in a cab...both of us coming down with chest colds!

<<On a side note- Think you (or we) have been around a lot?  Check this out.>>  Christian, a friend of Hassan's, has moved around a lot in his life due to military parents, and currently due to his job as a hotel manager.  He has been to the following places (amount of time in parentheses):  Bombay, India (3 yrs), Vienna, Austria (3 yrs), Paris (3 yrs), Cairo (3 yrs), Tunis, Tunisia (1.5 yrs), Switzerland (3 yrs), Providence, RI (1.5 yrs), NY, NY (3.5 yrs), San Francisco, CA (3 yrs), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (1 yr), Bahrain (1.5 yrs), Agaba, Jordan (6 mo), Abu Dhabi, UAE (6 mo).  He is headed soon to the Maldives, a tropical island chain in the Indian Ocean.  We proceeded to make fun of him for never visiting the moon, Antarctica, and Never Never Land. AMATEUR!

Thanks to Mike, Dave, Hassan, and the rest of the gang for showing us such a great time!  Now, like Alexander the Great, we feel the need to go further east!

Top 5 Turkish Male & Female Names

5. Nuri  //  4. Murat  //  3. Mustafa  //  2. Ali  //  1. Mehmet

Note: Top female name - Fatma.  No other name was even close!

Istanbul Pt 2-Bosphoruses, Black Seas, & Basilicas

Sept. 4- Our last full day in Istanbul.  We jumped on a daily cruise boat down the famous Bosphorus Strait, which connects the Black Sea to the Sea of Marmara, and eventually the Agean & Mediterranean Seas.  This waterway also divides Europe and Asia geographically.  It's famous for beauty but also because it was/is a critical ship route, making it a big part of military & political/mercantile strategy though the ages.  With the shores rising to heights up to 200m (650ft), lined with palaces, ruins, villages, gardens, and Ottoman style houses called Yali, this is one of the most beautiful stretches of scenery in Turkey.

We stopped at several little towns and ended up close to the mouth of the Black Sea in a little village on the Asian side, where we took a 5 minute cab from the village to the top of the area to get the best view from the cliffs.  Our taxi driver showed us why we had no reason to worry about thieves- his pistol!  Yep, after hearing we are from Texas, he showed us his gun and aptly named himself the "Turkish Cowboy" on the spot.

After checking out the view and getting a ride down with the "Cowboy's" dad in another car (dad also gave us some fruit to munch on), we we had a great lunch of large prawns sauteed in chili oil & steamed mussels while overlooking the pier area.  After some ice cream on the dock for dessert, we were back on the boat headed home.

Dinner was spent with J&S, H&K, and 4 friends of the Aussies at Metropolis, a restaurant in our neighborhood w/"the best curry ever" according to Hamish.  Well, it was good no doubt, but Hamish was probably a bit famished when he made that call.  Everyone hit the road for various reasons except for J3 & J&S.  We finished the nargileh, and headed downstairs (due to sprinkles) and hung out in the basement to J playing electric guitar badly (does he play it any other way?).  Once again, the staff had no change, so they basically got no tip.  Bummer for them, although they didn't mind...

Sept. 5- Holy cow....we had the BEST post office experience EVER!  The employees were nice & the last man to help us was cracking jokes!  This is a drastic change from every other one we've been to.  It is usually like trying to get a honeybaked ham at 3pm on Dec 24.

We then toured the Basilica Cistern, also known as the "Sunken Palace".  This cathedral-sized cistern is an underground chamber capable of holding 80,000 cubic metres of water. The large space is broken up by 336 marble columns each 9 metres (27ft) high. The bases of two of these columns reuse earlier blocks carved with the head of a Medusa, supposedly to ward off evil spirits.  The cistern was built during the reign of emperor Justinianus in the 6th century, during the glory days of the Byzantine Empire.  The cistern's water was provided from the Belgrade Woods, which lie 19km north of the city—via aquaducts.  The cistern was also used as a location for the Bond film From Russia with Love.

We strolled the city a bit more, picking up some dervish art and having a late lunch next door to Nobel Hostel along the way.  We met a nice guy named John who told us his story of buying in SoCal and selling for so much profit that he travels the world (like Cane maybe?) and goes back to his place in Prague to relax every few months.  And we thought our trip was cool!  We said our goodbyes to Jamie & Sarah, and hopped the bus to the airport.

So long Turkey...we shall return!

Istanbul- where east meets west

Sept. 1- Arrived early in the morning in the main tourist hotspot in Istanbul- Sultanamet- where we were immediately offered shoe shines for our tevas and flip-flops.  Yep, the touts are alive and well in Istanbul!  Even the nice gentleman who sold us a newspaper tried to reel us into the back of his store to sell us a carpet!

We started to look in our LP book for some hotels and, of course, every tout within a mile radius could see the tell-tale signs of weary tourists.  As usual, we fought them off for a while, but even the toughest tourists give in at some point.  The fact is that often the touts are representing the same places recommended in books and by the government agencies, or just new, trustworthy places that just haven’t been around very long.  In fact, the tout we decided to trust took us to the FIRST place we were planning to check out- Nobel House Hotel!  We checked out the room, it looked good enough, we did a bit of quick negotiating, and we booked it & settled in for a nap.  How easy was that?!

We eventually ventured out and went first to probably the most famous site in Istanbul, the Blue Mosque, named for its bluish-gray exterior.  The interior is amazing as well (although it was hard to tell with the thousands of wires holding up the ottoman style candle-lights which are about 10 feet above the floor).  Next was the Agia Sofia, a museum which was formerly a mosque and church at different times.  This is obvious inside when you see both Muslim writing/art and Christian mosaics that the Turks have restored to show the interesting & diverse history.  This was east-meets-west at its best, which is what Istanbul is most famous for.

After tourist time, we headed to a nearby pharmacy since JJ was developing a case of Mustafa’s revenge, similar to those revenges carried out by Montezuma in Mexico, and Mohammed in Morocco.  Same feeling, different bacteria…Fortunately, this pharmacy was the over-the-counter antibiotic type.  Back at the hotel, JJ slept 16hrs straight that evening/night- 4.30pm to 8.30am!

Sept. 2- The next morning, Jason joined JJ in the sick house and we took a stroll back to the pharmacy & did our business..AGAIN.  We then headed to Topkapi Palace, the place where the reigning sultan (ruler) would live with his servants, family, and of course, his harem.  We toured the grounds which includes many areas restored to original designs & interiors, and one wing with an armoury & jewel museum, including items from Turkey or gifts to the sultan from over the centuries.  The kicker was an 86 karat diamond!  Good thing JJ already has her engagement present!  WHEW!  We then toured the beautifully restored palace harem.  Overall, the Topkapi Palace was incredible, and the harem was definitely worth the $ even though the guides rush you through so they can bring in the next group for more $$.

When we arrived back at the Nobel, the hotel clerk gave us a note from our friends Hamish and Kirin, who had found a place around the corner from us.  We met them at their place, met their friends Kate & Annabelle, and headed to the Grand Bazaar, arguably the world’s most famous market.  We met up with our old buddies Sara & Jamie and strolled through the bazaar, buying lots of souvenirs/xmas presents, and fighting off the touts.  We actually met a Turk selling carpets who guessed out of the blue that we were from Texas.  His wild guess paid off because we now plan to visit his carpet store opening up on 19^th & Rutland in the Heights.  What an amazing coincidence.

That evening, we had a drink or two at the Aussies’ hotel streetfront bar, “Backpackers”.  After a little funny business with overcharging on our bill, we realized the owner/ manager was not the most pleasant or honest person we knew, and vowed to take our business elsewhere.  We took the ten people strong group to a local Turkish restaurant and had a great meal, including white wine that the girls bargained for to earn a discount.  At the end of dinner, we were told the owner was gone and they had no change.  We warned that this meant no tip, and even went next door to a shop to try to get some change, but to no avail.  The wait staff didn’t seem to have a problem with no tip, so we headed home full and content.  Tipping isn’t required in Turkey but it’s appreciated.  Good thing these guys were so nice and we didn’t ruin their night.

Sept. 3- The next day, we awoke to….rain!  We had almost forgotten what it looked like!  The last time we saw rain was in Norway, four months ago.  We strolled the Grand Bazaar again, bought ourselves the obligatory Turkey t-shirts, and walked the spice bazaar to Galata Bridge.  We crossed the bridge and met up with our Turkish friends Murat & Orhan, who we had met in Dalyan.  We met their friend Ashkin and went to Galata Tower, a former defense tower which overlooks the Bosporus Strait where it meets the Mediterranean Sea. We had an awesome dinner in the popular Beyoglu/Taksim neighborhood, enjoying traditional Turkish staples like ayran (yogurt, water, & salt) & kunefe (dessert w/cheese, pistachio, etc).  After dinner, watched the Turkey vs Denmark World Cup qualifier in a local bar.  It was an up & down game, and Turkey almost pulled out a terrific comeback, but a late Danish goal caused the boisterous mood in the bar to come to a screeching halt.  The score ended at 2-2, which was bad for Turkey who needed a win.  We walked a little more and then said our goodbyes to our Turkish buddies, and headed home via cab.

Cappadocia- Cops, crazies, & caves

Aug. 30- We awoke to another beautiful day with brekky on the terrace of our pension.  We then headed to what would be a much longer errand than we thought…

We had been a bit disappointed with the balloon ride for several reasons.  One, it was overloaded.  Even if we had a different sized basket than the 8-person we were promised, we were certain that the balloon boys still stuffed more people than the manual deems safe.  In addition, we went on the second ride of the morning only because Ali said it didn’t matter whether you take the first or second.  In retrospect, Ali admitted that what we had heard after booking was correct- the early morning ride is much more beautiful & less likely to vary from the normal route.  The kicker was after floating down only one of the region's many beautiful valleys, we headed up & north away from all the cool landscape into farmland for the rest of the ride.  We noticed we were the only ones going this direction and noticed all the other balloons staying the course thru other valleys and towards our town of Goreme.  Remembering the sales pitch we were given spurring us to use THIS company instead of the others, we recalled our tourist agent Ali saying "If you are not 100% satisfied, you get half your money back".  Well, we really were disappointed and felt we had a subpar ride...and it was very expensive.  So, we went to Hiro Tours to speak with Ali about it.

We explained our issue to Ali, and of course, he suddenly (but not surprisingly) backpedalled his sales pitch to something like "I'm just a travel agent...They won't give me my money back so I can't give you yours....etc...etc."  We explained that we, basically, didn't care about that and he shouldn't make promises he couldn't keep.  Ali had a valid question as to why we didn’t complain yesterday, to which we responded that we were on another tour (which we booked thru him) all day and didn’t want to discourage our friends Sara & Jamie who hadn’t ballooned yet.  This polite yet uncomfortable debate lasted for about an hour and included Ali's younger and useless manager, to no avail.  We even got to the point where Jason walked to the Jandarme (military police post) to get them involved.  <<In smaller towns, the “tourist police” who handle tourist issues are actually the real police.  And in Turkey in small towns, the real police are soldiers.>>  Wouldn’t you know it, the Jandarme was empty and locked.  So Jason walked back to Hiro to join JJ in continuing the debate.  Hiro eventually offered part of the money back, claiming it would come out of Ali’s pocket, which put us more on our pedestal of justice, telling them it was critical to make the balloon company partially responsible.  We were now determined to find justice.  It was now a matter of principle!

We smartly took the offer of partial refund and walked straight to the main tourist office across the parking lot to work on the rest- to the dismay of Ali & Hiro we might add.  There, we wrote a summary of the events, and the youngster manning the place called to the main office in Istanbul, and the Istanbul tourist office had a few (we can only guess) unpleasant phone calls with Ali and his manager.  Eventually, the owner of Hiro Tours showed up across the parking lot at Hiro's office to get the lowdown on these foreign troublemakers.  At one point, Ali walked into the tourist office and asked for his money back…to which we politely declined.  Then he told us he had our receipt (which we had returned for the partial refund) and would just say he simply never met us.  We just looked at tourist boy, back at Ali, and laughed in disbelief.  This was now getting weird.

After a while the tourist office dude directed us to the Jandarme and said they would work it out.  On our way there, while walking across the parking lot, the owner of Hiro approached us and asked to trade our receipt for his money back…to which we politely declined…and started walking faster.  After several tries, we finally found someone at the Jandarme.  It seems they had been busy cruising Cappadocia for bad guys.  We were sat down, offered a cigarette, and asked to give our story to the officer in charge thru another soldier who translated (his name was Ali as well).  After a short summary about “Bad Ali” to the officer thru “Good Ali”, it was apparent that the officer really wasn’t in the mood to play referee with some silly tourists and a local.  He requested the presence of Bad Ali & Co., so Good Ali rode off in the jeep with the other 2 soldiers to retrieve them.

After the entire group was assembled, the officer heard Ali & Co.’s argument (all in Turkish although we pretty much got their drift- tourist bad, local good), he sent them on their way.  The officer told us (thru Good Ali) that unfortunately the balloon company itself was based out of another principality, and out of his jurisdiction.  He also told us to not fear Bad Ali & Co (which we truly DID at this point) and to be happy with the refund and have a nice trip.  We were satisfied that we did what we felt was most important- teach Ali & Co. a lesson about making false promises to tourists, seemingly a habit they have had for a long time.

We thanked our officer friend, and got a ride from Good Ali and the other soldiers up to our next tourist site- the famous Open Air Museum (OAM), another set of hills with amazing rock cave churches containing beautifully redone frescoes.  Good Ali & the boys work security at the OAM and we had a nice chat on our way there.  In ancient times, this area had a convent and monastery with many monks & nuns, so there were more than ten small churches at the OAM site due to the large number of worshipers.  Another day, another amazing historical site.

After the museum, we walked back to Goreme thru Love Valley, another amazing landscape.  Near the beginning of the walk, we met up with Good Ali and another soldier, who showed us the route and the best views.  We picked & ate grapes & pears and saw the sunset over Goreme.

That night, we went to “Turkish Night” (cultural show) in the town of Uchisar with Sara & Jamie and Suleyman (our pension owner).  We saw many traditional dances of Turkey (due to the mix of so many different cultures throughout their history) and the famous whirling dervishes, which is where a man whirls, or spins, for sometimes hours and supposedly “stands between the material and cosmic worlds”. His dance is part of a sacred ceremony in which the dervish rotates in a precise rhythm.  He represents the earth revolving on its axis while orbiting the sun. The purpose of the ritual whirling is for the dervish to empty himself of all distracting thoughts, placing him in trance; released from his body he conquers dizziness.  It’s an incredibly mystical dance and was our favorite of the night, except for Jason’s making it to the finals of Belly Dance Fever.  Yes, he was recruited along with four other guys to dance with the belly dancer, and represented H-town well.  Other highlights was finally tasting the traditional Turkish drink raki, which is like Ouzo but stronger.

We ended the night back in Goreme with S&J at Fat Boys, a small bar in the middle of town, where we had a great time dancing (even a quick break-dancing session with Jamie & Jason), and playing DJ behind the bar.

Aug. 31- Our last day in Cappadocia.  We had a nice lunch at the Cappadocia Kebap House and walked Rose Valley.  On the way there, we were given a ride by Hassan, a nice man who was driving his horse & buggy to tend to his garden in the valley.  We stopped at a few “shops” which were literally caves high in the hills in which the owner carries supplies daily and sells everything from water to tourist trinkets.  We had a beautiful walk, saw lots of caves and beautiful scenery, and ended up in the town of Cavusin, where we took the bus back to Goreme.  Had dinner at Cap Kebap House again (it was that good) and Jason got his music fix by buying some local tunes.  Next, the 12 hour bus ride to Istanbul, which was extremely uneventful- Praise Allah!

More pics!

Sorry it's been a while.....  we're settling back into Houston and will have the text updated soon!  Until then, get a sneak peak by looking at the pictures posted today, including: more Turkey, Dubai, Hong Hong, China, and Mongolia.

Well, our boys didn't win the big series but we're proud of them for going so far - GO ASTROS!!!

Turkey- Hot air & cool caves in Cappadocia

Aug. 29- Hot air balloon ride this morning.  Bus scheduled to pick us up at 6.20.  So, of course, we awoke at 6.15 and literally jump into our clothes & rush out the door.  We rode with our new Aussie friends and- suspiciously- several more people to the tea & cookies meeting point.  Here we downed some goodies, checked out the balloons from the early shift cruising the skyline, and got more amped for our flight.  Then we chased our balloon (our company's) in the van to its landing spot and changed passengers.  We found it odd that the "8-person" balloon we booked ends up fitting 13 people, not including the pilot, but quickly remembered where we were, and reality set us straight.  Good thing it was a boy-girl-boy-girl sort of setup in each little compartment, so no one complained too loudly.  If it were J, Hamish, and Matt in one section, it would have been a different story.

We started off with a bang, hitting the first valley we saw and did what ballooners do I guess- just sigh and stare out at the beautiful scenery.  It really is a fantastic way to start a day.  We veered off from the valleys and floated over farmland, even getting a little drenched by some crop sprinklers (at Hamish's request I might add).  We eventually made a rough landing in a field where the crew was on the scene to help us out and hand us our champagne for toasting.  There is some debate between the authors (J3) whether or not we really crashed.  You see, the pilot DID say "We crash..we crash..." when we landed.  One of us thinks he was serious, the other thinks he was joking since we had been asking him earlier if he had ever crashed a balloon.  Who knows.

Next, we made the obligatory champagne toast and we received our official "I paid hundreds of dollars and all I got is this stinkin' certificate" flight certificate.  It was only then when we realized that we should have given them cool fake names like Jose Cuervo or  Ruth Westheimer since the certs had our names written on them!  The only successful name joke was accidental- a lovely Korean girl in our group named Grace who was crowned "Grease" by the balloon boys on her certificate.  A verse and chorus of "Greased Lightning" singing and hand jive dancing ensued immediately, only made worse by the 2nd bottle of champagne.

We were quickly whisked off back to our pension where we were to be picked up for our day tour of the area.  We swallowed our brekky in seconds, and were back in another van, again with the Aussies and 2 more of their friends, Sarah & Jamie, who had arrived on an overnight bus just minutes before.  While in the van, we learned a quickie fact that the word Kapadokya comes from the Persian language and means something like "land of the horses".  Our first stop was at Agzikarahan Caravanserie.  In ancient times, the silk road leading from Europe to Asia had stopping points where the traders could rest, feed their horses, etc.  These places, called caravanseries, were basically small villages contained inside protective castle walls.

Next stop, Belisirma, another hill with cave dwellings carved throughout, leaving it to look like a big sandy block of swiss cheese.  FYI, these caves were just that in the old days- caves.  The reason we can often see the caves is due to the fact that much of the outer walls of the hills have been eroded or broken away by earthquakes, rain, and probably abuse by silly foreigners like us.  Our next stop was a trek thru Ihlara Valley, where we walked/hiked for over an hour and stopped at rock cave churches, bought overpriced fruit from random boys on the trail (the 'ol bait & hook), and had a nice lunch at a restaurant next to the stream.  We think the waiter wants JJ to become a vegetarian, since he twice brought her a cheese pizza instead of the meat one she ordered.  Our next stop was at a crater lake, where our Aussie friends took a quick dip in the water while 3 local teenagers praised the heavens for this random bikini blessing bestowed on them (not Hamish's, silly). 

The next stop was Kaymakli Underground City.  <<history lesson time>>  The area of Cappadocia has over 80 underground cities, of which around 25 have been discovered.  Question- if the others aren't yet discovered, how do we know they exist?  Methinks our Turkish tour guide should replace "discovered" with "excavated".  But we couldn't pin him down on this subject.  Anyhoo, the UG city was amazing.  This is where Christians would hide out for months when invaders did what they do best- INVADED.  The cities are set up for real long-term housing.  They have living quarters, kitchens, children's nursery, livestock stalls, even rooms where grapes were danced upon, filtered & fermented into wine.  There is even a ventilation shaft stretching the entire eight-story depth of the city.  One memorable feature was the wheel-shaped doors, which are so big they had to be carved out of stone inside the caves, and had to be opened on the inside, by moving a rock "doorstop" and rolling them aside for moving people & things in & out.

Next we found ourselves at your typical tour-ending sales pitch, but enjoyed it thoroughly.  We were in the Avanos pottery shop/factory.  This is where some of the region's best mud is magically turned into beautiful, colorful, and ornate pottery.  We saw how the workers do their thing, and Hamish even gave it a go, turning a ball of mud into very strange vase, then into something John Holmes would be jealous of, then back to a ball of mud.  We then proceeded to fight off the sales pitch (as well as our own itch to buy the beautiful goods) and off we went.

Next, we arrived at probably the most famous Cappadocia items- the famous "fairy chimneys".  These are rock formations in sort of a tall cylindrical shape, with different type of rock on top coming to a point.  This top rock is shaped like that because it has been protecting the bottom section from rain, wind, etc for centuries.  They got their name when the locals many moons ago thought that these rocks were so amazing that "only fairies could make them".  We concur- they ARE amazing.

We headed back to Goreme and had some beer and nargileh with the Aussies while waiting for the bus to take Hamish, Kirin, Matt, & Susie to Istanbul.  After the fearsome foursome (FF) took off, we (J3, Sarah & Jamie- from now on S&J) headed for Dibek Restaurant.  Even though the FF warned us not to go here, we did it anyway since Jamie's sister knows people there.  Turns out, the friends-of-friends were great, but the food was just as bad as the FF had said.  Oh well, the waiter was fun and we had a great time with our newest friends from Down Unda!

Turkey- Goreme & surroundings

Aug. 28-  Arriving at Goreme (the main town in Cappadocia for basing your trip) at 5.30am with the sun coming up, we realized immediately why people come here from all over the world.  At the risk of being cheesy, it looks "other-worldly", with chalky rock formations in the shapes of sand dunes, "chimneys" which are phallic-looking pillars with hard basalt rock on top, and Grand Canyon-style gorges and cliffs.  The town is surrounded by such wild formations on three sides, and has tons of "cave dwellings" which are still used by locals and are also part of many pensions.

We entered the only tourist office open at this hour, Hiro Tours, and met Ali, the hard-working man who has the morning shift.  He found us a room at  a cheap but nice pension (same place as the Aussies) with a cave room & lots of good amenities- great towels & pillows (finally!) and a hot, powerful shower....it's the little things that matter after 3 months, folks.

Good news- we're living in a cool cave room!  Bad news- Cave room= easy rock to carve= lots of dust on everything!...oh well, nothing's perfect...

We also booked a hot air balloon ride thru Ali with Kaya Balloon Tours, due to Ali's positive recommendation and the old line, "If you don't enjoy it 100%, we will give you half of your money back."  How can you argue with that, eh?  We slept 3 hrs until around 10.30am, and were off to lunch at Kale Restaurant, where we had traditional Turkish food- cold yogurt w/ravioli and a pot of lamb & veggie stew.

We then took the bus to Uchisar, another famous town in Cappadocia, known for it's castle on a huge hill in the center- with the standard Cappadocia cave dwellings carved into the hill.  We tromped around the town a bit, first randomly stopping into the 1001 Nights Motel.  No idea why they named it a motel, since there were no empty swimming pools, cockroaches, or front desk clerks named Bubba.  It was a charming place with regular and cave rooms, and even a real treehouse in front where supposedly some folks spent the night recently for cheap when the place was fully booked.  Next we stopped off for a juice, tea, baklava & nargileh at the House of Memories rest. & bar, which has great little cave rooms upstairs which look out on the hills & valleys.  Next was the castle at the top of the hill where we saw some great views of the surrounding area and wandered thru the caves trying to imagine how one would live in there.

Still hopped up on caffeine & sugar, we started our hike/walk out of town thru Pigeon Valley, one of the 6 or 7 valleys in the Cappadocia region.  Of course, it took asking about 10 people just to get to the valley (lots of warnings to not go off the path, etc, so we wanted to be very sure of our route!).  Eventually we realized that "turn right next to the green thing (old watermelon stand) after the big rock" aren't such bad directions after all, since that led us directly to the start of the valley.  The valley was great, except for the bug that stung/bit JJ on the foot.  We thought for a while there that we would need Life Flight to come rescue her (since there ain't no way Jason is doing the fireman's carry to Goreme) but the pain subsided enough to continue on.  Pigeon Valley led us directly back to Goreme, where we did some internet/photo admin on those lovely Turkish keyboards.

Dinner was at the Goreme Restaurant (creative, huh?) where we ate a Turkish flatbread thing with omelette ingredients inside, and traditional stew cooked in a clay pot which the waiter breaks in front of you before serving.  Bought some Turkish blues music which we heard while having dinner.  Nighty-night, off to bed.

Turkey-Bus ride to Cappadocia (Kapadokya)

Aug. 27- After a short dolomus ride from Dalyan to Ortaca, we got on the big bus for the 15hr ride to Goreme, in the heart of Cappadocia.  It also is spelled Kapadokya, and we don't know which is more "proper" since the K word sounds Greek, but our Turkish friend spelled it with the K's....oh well.

The bus ride in itself had enough excitement to be the base script for a full fledged Hollywood action/suspense thriller.  I can see Bruce Willis as Jason, shaved headed maybe, but not really bald, and...maybe Angelina Jolie as JJ, only much hotter than someone who'd hang out with a loser like that Brad Pitt guy.  The bad guy would be someone like....oh, Gary Oldman.  Yeah, he's a great bad guy.  Anyway, after the typical miscommunications at the bus station while fending off the touts (IE "We already have a bus ticket, dude!"), we were off on what we thought was the typical Turkish bus.  Driver smoking at will, bad American movie (dubbed in Turkish) on the ONE TV (which cut in and out and had volume way too loud), and the now standard (to us) attendant serving water, soft drinks, hot tea, and cookies.  The problem with the drinks & snacks is that you, the customer, have NO IDEA when the next pit stop is going to be.  And it's so much trouble to ask in Engliturkish and get an answer you trust, that you typically just say "no thanks" to these freebies.  PS- THERE IS NO BATHROOM ON THESE BUSES.  However, they proudly tell you that they are required to stop every 2-3hrs, kinda like there's no smoking on the bus, Mr. Bus Driver?

A few hours into the trip, we had formed a bond with some Aussies sitting next to us.  If you travel much, you know how it is...you see someone on a bus, for instance, that is the only other non-local besides you.  You give the "How's it going, pretty crazy on this bus, huh?" gesture, and he nods back with the old "No kidding, what a trip!".  Well, our new friend Hamish and J3 were a few of the only people on the bus awake and watching the road (by coincidence, not because we don't trust the driver to drive the entire 15hr trip with no sleep and a few random rest stops or anything).  All of a sudden, we made a sharp swerve left (at 75mph) thru the oncoming traffic lane onto the LEFT shoulder (this is a right lane driving society, people).  That's when Hamish and J3 see what the problem was- an old man crossing the road holding two cows by ropes, one of which was ahead of the man in the center of the road.  The man and the other bovine were still on the right shoulder.  Well, Cow #1 reacted by moving in the direction away from the bus- to the other side of the road.  The owner, however, apparently not wanting the problem of catching old Bessie for the next 3hrs, decided to hold on to the rope and try to pull the 900lb animal BACK to the other side.  Bessie wasn't having it, and basically stood her ground on our left side of the road.  Hence the daring- and perfectly executed- move by Mr. Mustafa Andretti (our driver).  We will never badmouth him again.  Plus, a friendship was born between J3 and the other English speaking folks on the bus starting with Hamish, when we gave the, "Holy $h#!, did that just happen?!?!", gesture to each other, which J3 have found is also popular among travelers in strange places.

At one pit stop we met the rest of the Aussies- Kirin, Matt, and Susie- while trying to figure out if we had enough time to pee and if this was the dinner stop, since it was now 10pm.  Apparently yes to pee and no to food, so off we went.  At some point, the attendant was picking up trash and encountered Jason's half-full water cup, which he took and proceeded to pour out on the carpet in the aisle of the bus.  Guess he wants to keep the trash can tidy?  Yet another confused "look" between Hamish and Jason.

We finally stopped for dinner at 12.30am and had some chicken & rice dish that was actually not too shabby for being on the side of the road in the middle of the night...at a bus stop.  It settled our bellies enough to get a few hrs. of sleep in before arriving at our destination in the wee hrs of the morning.  Oh yeah.... our destination.  That's the kicker of the bus adventures.....

We had read in our LP to beware that some bus companies will sell you a ticket directly to Goreme- the place we planned to stay in Kapadokya- but in actuality, there were no direct buses to Goreme, only to Nevshehir, a town 10km away, and you had to take a small dolomus to Goreme from there.  They noted that you would be left on the side of the road on the outskirts of Nevshehir with no other transport in sight, early in the morning.  Here's OUR story, which is similar yet different...Our ticket agent in Ortaca told us that there was NO direct bus to Goreme, and we'd have to change in Nevshehir, which we expected to be true (from our LP reading) and thought we had found an honest and knowledgeable Turkish bus ticket agent.  So, at 5am in the middle of nowhere (as expected) somewhere near Nevshehir, the bus stopped and we started to exit and collect our bags.  We also had warned the Aussies (also destined for Goreme) of this dilemma and they were exiting with us.  Fortunately for all of us, Kirin read on her ticket that the destination was Goreme!  She showed the attendant, he directed them back on the bus, and J3 said in their best Engliturkish that we wanted what Kirin had, and we were back onboard as well.  Ten kilometers later, we were in Goreme!  Whew!  That was a close one!  We tried to fathom the "what ifs" but it became too much like a Twilight Zone episode, and we all know this is an action/thriller film, not sci-fi.

Turkey- Dalyan & surrounding area

Aug. 24- Took the 11.15am bus to Orteca, and a dolomus (small local bus) to Dalyan by 6pm.  Walked thru town & found the Cinar Pension and booked a room.  This place was mentioned in the LP book, and for good reason.  It's clean, with a great roof terrace view of the famous rock tombs across the river.  The owners are Ali and his wife, and Ali's parents, Salim & Fatma.  We walked around town, and had dinner at Caretta per Ali's recommendation, where we met the nice staff including Mike & JJ....yes, JJ!  Had great turkish pizza w/spicy meat & thin crust, and a steak w/peppercorn sauce.  The local wine- Doluca- is not to shabby.  We didn't try the featured dessert- "Viagra of JJ"- but were definitely intrigued...  Had an Efes back in the room while Jason tried to climb that rummy mountain and cut down on JJ's lead.

Aug.25- Along with rooms for rent, Cinar Pension also offers boat tours of the surrounding area (like tons of tourist companies).  We decided to do all of our boat excursions thru Cinar, to keep the tourist numbers down and deal with people we already knew we could trust.  So, at 6am, we boarded the Cinar's boat, along with our captain/guide- Salim.

Salim is in his 60's and speaks no English.  He's a lovely little man with a heart of gold, and a bit of rheumatism in his shoulders and knees.  He likes boating, thermal baths, and grilling fish for friends and family... OOPS, got off onto a "Dating Game" tangent there for a moment.  Well, all of this is true of our man Salim.  He took us to see large turtles (about 3 ft long), to the Koycegiz lake that the river connects to, and to a thermal/sulphur hot spring for an early morning bath.  That's where we learned of the rheumatism from Salim (we take it back, he knows SOME English...like "rheumatism").

Back to the pension for brekky on the beautiful terrace, and prepared for boat ride #2.  Napless but content, we got back on the riverboat with Salim & five Turkish tourists, Murat, Orhan, Zuleyha, and another couple.  Our first stop was the ruins of Kaunos, where Zuleyha got us the Turkish discount (2 lira instead of 4), due to her determination, Turkishness, and probably a little femininity!  After finding out that there is the Turk price and the tourist price, she convinced the guy to give us the same price since we were her friends.  He grumbled something like "I'm not supposed to do this and you are not being fair using that Jedi mind trick on me!" and let us in for the cheap rate.

Kaunos was impressive, but nothing compared to Efes even though it supposedly is only 10% uncovered.  Only the future knows.  After Kaunos, we headed to turtle beach, which is a peninsula separating the ocean and river.   We had a quick lunch on the boat w/Salim and headed to the beach side to check it out.  After a few hours of reading/body surfing, we headed back to the boat.  We headed north up the river to the mud baths.  We spent a cheap 4 lira (less than four bucks) to get the total mudbath treatment, swimming in the mud pool, dry in the sun, back into the pool, shower off, and hot spring bath to top it off.  Next, we headed back to the lake, and had a sunset swim- the same spot where we took a dip during sunrise!

Back at the pension, we had grilled fish & lamb dinner prepared by Ali & his wife, and hit the hay- we were pooped!

Aug. 26- A looooong ride to Oludeniz!  First, the main bus ride was longer than expected.  Then, the dolomus seemed to pick up every single person walking alongside the road and at every corner.  The 20 minute dolomus estimate was more like an hour.  The beach at Oludeniz was beautiful, but the small rocks which made up the beach reminded us of one of our least favorite parts of Greece.  But after Greece and Oludeniz, it's obvious you have to sometimes give up comfort for beauty!

After returning to Dalyan, we had another great dinner at Caretta.  Before telling our friends bye, we sat in the front (the other side) of the restaurant and had a coffe & Bailey's, while watching the man across the street wash his upper body with a rag in the middle of his bakery.  Minutes later, his son did the same thing.  It was no wonder that he had zero business while we were having our coffee.  Then off to a nargileh place for some R&R.  Saw their pet- a large rooster perched on the bicycle next to the bathroom, and enjoyed some good music.....over, and over, and over again.  Over time, we have learned that many people like to put a CD into the stereo and let it go.  They don't seem to notice the same songs repeating every 30 minutes.  Maybe it's the language thing?  All I know is, J3 almost became "Psycho Killers" after hearing the song with that name by Talking Heads 4 times!  We decided to chill out with a nightcap nextdoor at the "Rock Bar", where we met Iceberg (bartender) and Psycho (DJ) while listening to awesome metal music, like Nirvana, System of a Down, Korn, Metallica, RHCP, etc.  Ahhh, what a relaxing way to finish a beautiful day....

Aug. 27- Another great brekky on our terrace, then out to hike the rock tombs we've been gazing at for days.  Took the rowboat across the river, paddled by one of the little old ladies working the boats.  We made the stiff but not-too-difficult hike to the tombs, which gave us a magnificent view of the river, Dalyan, and the surrounding areas.

We returned to Cinar, said goodbye to our gracious hosts, and were off to the bus station for our next ride- this time, to the famous land of Cappadocia.

Turkey- Selcuk/Ephesus (Efes)

Aug. 22- Arrived in Istanbul to find that we need a visa, and they only take cash (according to the man at the visa desk).  Keep in mind it is 4am and he's the only airport person around.  We tried to get cash out of the one ATM we can find, and come up only with something like, "your transaction ain't happening".  We then tell our new friend (sarcasm) that the machine won't work.  We ask where is another ATM.  He ponders his options, and finally...no, miraculously, finds a credit card machine 5 feet away on the desk.  We pay w/credit and move on.

Got to the bus station (via tram)- the largest we have ever seen.  It is a huge oval with hundreds of company offices, hundreds of buses coming & going, and thousands of touts trying to get us into THEIR office.  We chose one of the recommended companies and booked our tix to Selcuk.  <<Note to reader- We had planned to leave Istanbul immediately and take the proper 3-4 days exploring it at the end of our time in Turkey.>>  Our 12 hr bus ride was not too shabby.  We had many pit stops, as well as a nice little attendant serving water, sodas, and cookies.  Aside from the bus driver's cigarettes (as in Greece, they must REALLY believe all the smoke goes straight out of their little side window!) the trip was quality.

We arrived in Selcuk at around 7pm and quickly found a place to stay...with A/C of course!  Met Shawnie, a nice British lady, who gave us the scoop on the area over dinner and Efes (the beer, not the ruins).  After some rummy and hookah (nargileh in Turkish) with Efruz (another hotel employee), we hit the hay.

Aug. 23- A good brekky- cheese & pepper omelette and muesli/yogurt/fruit.  We hit the town of Selcuk and ended up stopping in a carpet shop owned by Ludwina from Belgium.  Due to the fact that she does not need to sell carpets (her husband makes enough Turkish lira), she simply gave us a carpet lesson with no sales pressure.  We learned about designs and where they come from, and how to check quality.  Ate lunch at the one cafe/restaurant that didn't have a tout in front pushing the place.  Had our first adana kebap (spicy meatballs) and some tacic (Turkish for the Greek tatziki).  We rested back at the hotel until Lilly picked us up for the ride to Efes.

We stayed in Selcuk simply because it's the closest modern city to Ephesus (Efes), our true destination.  Efes, built by one of Alexander the Great's Commanders, is known to be the most well preserved ancient city in the Mediterranean region, supposedly much more impressive than Troy, it's more popular sister city up north.  It, like most of Turkey's structures and culture itself, has been a part of many empires over the years.  Ruling empires like to use pre-existing things rather than rebuild or mine for marble, etc all over again.  So, let's just say lots of things are either missing from what you're looking at, or were borrowed from something else.  Efes has been robbed or defaced less than most ruins we have ever seen.

Lilly's partner picked us up from Efes and took us to "the gozleme (pancake) place", next to the "Seven Sleepers", another ancient site we didn't go to.  The pancake place is a large area of cushions, carpets, and low tables where we had nargileh and chocolate gozleme (similar to a crepe).  Lilly met us during "dinner" and we had some of her spicy lamb gozleme and immediately became jealous.

We had been told by Shawnie in the morning that Lilly sells carpets.  During the ride to Efes, Lilly said the same thing- that at the end of the day, she would like to teach us a little about carpets, and show us her collection to see if we were interested.  In other words, she gives tourists free rides to Efes in order to get them into her shop and put on the carpet purchase pressure.  So we went to Lilly's shop, heard about all her American friends she has visited (we bet only ones who have bought a carpet), had some tea/coffee, and got down to the business of politely not buying any of her carpets.

Little did Lilly know that we had become good at this in Morocco!   <<Note to reader- when it comes to tourist items like carpets, no matter what someone in these countries tells you, no matter how stern they sound, EVERYONE will bargain on price.  We had a long conversation with Lilly at the pancake place about this, telling her how we felt we can't trust the prices since it is understood that they are ALL negotiable.  She confidently told us that she sells her carpets for what they are worth, and does not bargain.  That way, the customer knows what to expect up front.  However, when we told her we couldn't afford her carpets, she somehow forgot "the pancake pow-wow" we had had just hours earlier.>>  To be honest, there was one we would have bought if the price was right, but it most definitely was NOT.  Guess J3 just have good taste because we always seem to pick the pricey ones!  We did end up buying a few small items from Lilly, to add to the Xmas gift collection.

<<Rummy Update- If you're wondering about the ongoing gin rummy game & why no mention for a while, it's because Jason hasn't been doing so well...not well at all.  Jason has been doing most of the actual blog entry lately, so this subject has been not-so-accidentally left out.  Suffice it to say that JJ's lead has almost as many zeros at the end as the Turkish lira had only a few months ago!>>

Off to bed for tomorrow's bus to Dalyan.

Malta, continued

After we found a bed which could actually be used for something other than firewood, we headed down the block to the Tex Mex restaurant we had been eying for days.  And for one shining moment in Malta, we were impressed!  The burrito was nice & spicy, and the burger was big and tasty!  Even the service was above average.  We went out of our way to tell the manager (Ben Kingsley with a goatee & Napoleon complex- in front of the guests!) all of this, although part of motivation is that he treats the staff poorly and we wanted to rub it in that the waiter he hates most (ours) is a great server!  Back to Waves Bar next to our place for some internet.  However, we got caught up in a chat with a British mom & daughter duet that were in Malta for a little bonding.  Odd note- the daughter's boyfriend plays American football at his British Uni and can't stand soccer or rugby or anything else!

Aug 21- Off on the bus to Valletta, and give into Burger King's smoke wafting across the square.  At the counter, we noticed advertisements for "WIN A TRIP TO HOUSTON, TEXAS FOR THE NEXT WWF SMACKDOWN/RAW/HAMMERTIME" wrestling thing...  Guess we gotta get tourists to Houston somehow!

Next we took the bus to the Hagar Qim and Mnajdra, the oldest megalithic temples still standing- in the world!  Yes, older than Stonehenge and the pyramids in Egypt, dating back to 3600BC.  They were nestled on the hills overlooking the ocean, and sunlight shines thru certain points to shine on critical parts of the interior.  As with most ancient structures, we were just amazed at how they could even get these huge stones (some more than 10 tons) to this spot in the first place.  We walked to the nearby Blue Grotto, a cove with high cliffs and crystal blue water.  We didn't have the energy to climb to the bottom (and back UP) of the cliffs and go for a swim, plus beach burnout could be a factor as well (like 2 months in Greece!).

A quick bus back to Valletta for an internet marathon and then a traditional Maltese dinner in Sliema.  Dinner was rabbit & veggie stew and pizza w/Maltese sausage, plus some cappuccinos to top it off.  Malta is like many other countries in the way they celebrate special occasions, especially military ones- by blowing stuff up.  Malta has many holidays, commemorating saints, military victories, etc.  This day- NO, this WEEK- must be one of the big holidays.  They have shot cannons (like, 20 shots at a time!) for several days.  And to top it off, they had a nice fireworks show over the bay.  We had a great view from our dinner table, and could easily see when the shot (cannon or fireworks) was fired.  And if you remember from Science class, light travels faster than sound, so we had just enough time to hold our ears before the deafening POW!

Off to the airport as our flight left at 1am.  Yes, we are gluttons for punishment when it comes to flying, esp when it saves some $$ !  Another early morning in a strange new land awaits!

...Hello Malta

We arrived in the small, 2-island country of Malta around 4am.  Malta is on the schedule simply because the airline tickets from Casablanca to Istanbul, Turkey were hundreds of dollars cheaper- each.  However, Malta Air has one flight from Cas. to Malta- per week.  Four days later is the one flight per week from Malta to Istanbul.

Upon leaving the airport by taxi, we head directly to the most recommended area of the island (for our tastes) called Sliema.  We hadn’t booked accommodation yet, so we hotel-hopped about 20 minutes and found one with a room- Europa Hotel.  We were told we could check in at 7am (much earlier than we expected!) which meant a little early morning street wandering for J3.  Luckily we were still wired from the airplane coffee and the simple fact that our bodies couldn’t grasp what the heck was going on.  We watched the sunrise outside our hotel (which is waterfront) and bought a $3 bottle of water at our hotel since nothing else was open.  Then off to bed for a nap!

Out again by 1.30pm to check out the island a bit.  We went to TGIFridays thinking it would bring us back to the same food in the states which we love, but obviously the lettuce and other items take the slow boat over from the states- not good at all.  Took the town bus to Valetta, the oldest part of town, and toured St. John’s cathedral, gawking at it’s amazing detail and marble floors.

A quick Malta history lesson- Malta has many ancient monuments that show it was inhabited 1000 years BEFORE the pyramids in Egypt.  It has been ruled by many empires since the beginning of recorded time- Phoenicians, Macedonians, Normans, Arabs, Byzantines, Romans, Ottomans, Persians, French, English….and we probably missed a few!  The country is located south of Italy and north of Africa, in a spot right in the middle of many important trade & military routes by sea, which has made it a valuable commodity over the centuries.  Malta played a very important and famously brave part in the Allies victory WWII by disrupting shipping lanes of the Axis powers.  Only in 1979 has it finally become an independent nation.

After St. John’s, we checked in at the Tourist office to see if there was anything enlightening we missed, but our Lonely Planet had it all covered.  We went to the public health clinic to get some drugs for JJ’s - and now Jason’s also!- Mohammad’s revenge (see Morocco blog entries).  Despite the dilapidated interiors, loosely organized check-in system, and ultra-weird comb-over extreme doctor that checked us out, we actually left with prescriptions for antibiotics and other goodies that would soon stop the madness occurring in our systems…for the time being at least.  We had a nice pasta dinner (“only breads, crackers, rice, etc”, said the doctor) and took the bus back to our neighborhood with lots of kids heading out for the night to Paceville (pronounced Patchville by locals) which is the party area of the island.  Between the stomach issues and age, J3 were happy just to go read in bed!

Aug. 19- Bad British Brekky (they could make a movie about it) to start the day- cold coffee, plain bread, butters & jams, paper-thin cereal that melted into the milk immediately…plus, the schedule change shortened it and we almost missed it.  Our hotel was not the best we’ve ever been in, but close to the bottom.  The first room had no ceiling fan (too many teenagers throwing oranges into it while running on high).

Off to the post for 2hrs to ship our two Moroccan carpets to the states.  It was lot’s of work, but the nice postman made up for it.  Walked to the harbor & booked a cruise to the Blue Lagoon (the most beautiful area of the islands) for tomorrow.  Ate at a Maltese restaurant but due to doctor’s warning, only ate margarita pizza (at least it has bread, although the additional things on top aren’t exactly on the doctor’s approved list!).  It was very good.  That afternoon, Jason napped and JJ laid out on the rocky beach area in front of our place.  For dinner, very expensive Chinese- coke, water, Pad Thai, & soup = $30!

The next day, we had quick brekky, and requested a replacement for our broken bed (don’t hold your breath!).  Off to our cruise!  We hung out at the dock on the boat for awhile, probably waiting for the staff to lure a few more customers before takeoff.  We get two mats on the front of the boat, next to the music speaker- primo spot, right?  Not when we realized the crew had the entire collection of “best soft rock songs to ever hit #37 on the charts”.  You know the ones- “All out of love” by Air Supply, He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother” by the Righteous Bros?, and something called “Sayonara/Goodbye”.  Bad call on seat location!  After awhile, it became obvious we had a 6 or 10-disc changer on our hands.  The tunes took an upturn and we realized at least there was some Nirvana Unplugged & Dire Straits in the mix.  Stopped off for a swim off of the island of Gozo, and J3 took turns jumping/flipping (JJ) off the front of the boat- while dodging jellyfish!  J wasn’t as good as JJ at dodging, but only got a small sting.  Back to Comino & the Blue Lagoon.  Ate lunch on the boat (cold cuts, salads, nothing at all exciting) and walked around Blue Lagoon.  It IS beautiful, but it was hard to see the water with all those tourists swimming in it, and hard to hear yourself think with all of them screaming at the top of their lungs- either kids having fun or parents telling the kids to stop doing something they shouldn’t be…  Price note- $5.40 for a bottle of water!  The boat was urged to take a speed boat trip around the lagoon and thru some “caves”, but we weren’t in the mood.  Upon our departure off the boat back at the dock, we heard the last broken record of the day- our main crew member yelling that she hoped we had a nice time, while holding out her hat to hint that tips were definitely accepted!

Upon arriving back at our “hotel”, the bed was not replaced nor was it repaired.  It took at least another 1-2hrs to get the staff to replace it- and all of J3’s patience with the staff.   Both rooms had one good and one bad pillow….and they were ALL ugly.

To be continued…….

Bye bye Morocco...

Upon arriving on our train from Fes to Cas., our buddy Omar picked us up at the train station.  We retrieved our bags and went over to Fatima's (Adil's mom) and said goodbye & thank you for the last time.  We stayed at Omar’s cousin’s apartment that night – Kamal.  After a shower, some rest, and water, we went out for dinner w/Omar, Kamal, Zaineb (Omar's new friend), and Ryme @ the Tahiti Beach Club, a great restaurant on the beach located next to the more than 10 swimming pools which are very popular during the daytime.  After a nightcap at another place where the Sambuca was flowing (and burning!), we called it a night.

Day 14- We awoke to construction (thank goodness for waking us!), cleaned up, packed, & headed across town to Omar’s family house.  Kate & Adil arrived later from their Agadir adventure, and we had another over-the-top fantastic meal (couscous, chicken, salad, filet beef skewers, meatballs, fruit) with those mentioned, and Omar’s brother. This house is also amazing- 4 stories with pool and the traditional Moroccan interiors (like the grand salon in Fatima’s) but with a modern flare- it was only built a few years ago.  Did some heavy internet/email/photo work and that evening we were off to the airport to yet another country!

Big THANK YOU's to Adil & Kate, Mama Fatima, the Atlassy family, Rashid and parents, and Omar and his family (including Kamal!) for being the most amazing tour guides EVER!  We can't thank them enough for their generosity...and for the extra 5 kilos we gained!

Fes, Morocco

Aug. 13 – After saying our “till later”s to Chris & Al, Julie, & Phil, and “see you in a few days” to Adil & Kate (they were off to Agadir for the real honeymoon – we tried to go with them but they just wouldn’t have us, I don’t know why??  Heehee…) J3 was off to the train station for the 4 ½ hour ride to Fes.  Adil’s friend Omar, now an Irvine, CA resident, has a family place in Fes and insisted we stay at his place for free.  His Moroccan hospitality wouldn’t have it any other way and who were we to complain?!

We had pretty comfy seats in first class and there was one empty seat next to us which was occupied twice, briefly, by 2 different helpful and informative “tourist office employees” who left shortly after finding out that we had our accommodations sorted already.

Upon arrival in Fes, we taxied to the rendezvous point, Palais Jamai (5 star hotel with the really fancy looking pool in the Fes photos) to meet Mohammed, the full-time house staff, so he could take us to Omar’s place.  While we waited, we splurged on an 12 USD chicken club sandwich and it was worth every penny!  Mohammed stays at their place in the medina while it’s being remodeled into a riad.  It’s the typical old-style home- a large rectangular, 3-story building with a large courtyard in the middle.  He fixed up one room for us, beautifully I might add, for our 3 night stay.  Mo is Berber (a region in Morocco) and speaks no English so he brought his neighbor, Ismael with him to pick us up.  Ismael speaks Spanish and almost no English so it was up to Jason and Ismael to sort things out en Espanol.

We left the bags in our room finally and went straight next door to Ismael’s riad and relaxed on the roof terrace overlooking the vast medina- an amazing view indeed.  We had dinner there and spent lots of quality time speaking Arabic/Berber/Spanish with our new friends, and then off to bed.

Aug. 14- After brekky w/Mo, we headed out thru the medina with Mo and Ali, who is one of the construction guys working on the riad.  Ali speaks some English, which is probably why he came along.  Mohammad & Ali was easy for us to remember (think boxing!).  However, our buddies couldn’t get their mouths to form Jason and JJ any closer than “Janeson” or “Jackson” and “Jane-Jane”.

We wandered thru the areas of the medina tourists rarely see (unless severely lost of course).  The guys took us through Ali’s neighborhood, through shops working on lumber, metalworks, leather, and even went to a local pool hall.  We were led in straight to the back, through all the male-only crowd to a back area with nothing around but a Spice Girls and Michael Jordan poster (at least 15ft off the ground, I might add).  We were told this place was formerly a French prison and then led to another area (briskly- maybe because police were around and tourists aren’t allowed?  Maybe women aren't allowed? We never found out) where we were shown the owner’s small-time flower water bottling business.  It looked very sketchy (and probably is illegal) but what’s the big deal with a little flower water, eh?  He had a huge vat full of empty Heineken bottles, and crates full of the same bottles full of flower scented water, which we splashed all over our clothes and heads as a natural cologne (it was extremely hot and we WERE a little sticky).  Ali wanted us to drink some (to freshen up your insides), but that’s where we drew the line, so he had to drink alone.

It was in the billiards/video game/flower water production facility/prison that we came up with a few nicknames for ourselves and our friends…Ali became “the machine” because he was the guy who got things done- construction, tour guide, flower water promoter, etc.  Jason said he wanted to go back & help w/construction on the riad, and JJ quickly volunteered to supervise from our room at the top of the riad.  Hence her new nickname, “El Capitan”.  Mohammad seems to work tirelessly 24hrs a day, and would continually check that we were ok, so he was very tired at all times, esp. during our long walks through the medina.  He soon became known as “Sleepy”.  Jason never got a nickname…I’m sure the readers can think of a few, right?

We wandered for several hours more in the crazy medina- more twists and turns through more than 1400 different streets/alleys.  Fes’ medina is bigger and more difficult to keep your bearings than Marrakesh, and just as insanely busy and hectic.

We headed back to the riad for a late lunch, made by Saiid “Le Cocine” or “The Chef”.  Saiid was the other construction worker around when we arrived, and younger than our other two buddies.  He had prepared a nice chicken tajine for the five of us while we were out, and it was as tasty as the best restaurants in town!

After a nap, we wanted to venture out on the town at night so, with Mo to tow, we jumped into a “Petit Taxi” (a little red cheap taxi) to Bab Baoujloud, a small area inside once of the medina gates with a few cafes/restaurants, and we enjoyed some sweet honey twists and a coke & sprite.  Yes, we’ve kept up our unusually crazy night lifestyle!

Aug. 15 – We had to fight off Mo from being our guide again today since we were sure he had better things to do that tour us around.  He reluctantly stayed behind (like a puppy watching his owner drive off) and we taxied into the “new town” of Fes for some travel admin.  We later found out that it’s not so much that Mo feels the need to make sure we’re OK and having a good time, but he’s normally bored so when people come in, that gives him an excuse to go out.

So, our first stop was the supermarket to find some ziplock baggies for the spices we purchased so we could send them home.  There were no zip lock baggies to be found in this town.  So, with that, we mailed the spices anyway – and that was an experience in itself at the post office.  There was one counter with just a mass of people waiting and whoever could push their was up to the front and catch eyes with the ONE girl processing orders was the lucky one.  Add into the mix that we were the only ones who spoke English in there and imagine the chaos!  Afterward getting out of there without going crazy, we were fully deserving of a big tasty beef burger and that’s what we got!  Big Tastys at McDonalds!  The next thing on the admin list was to find some internet and that proved to be quite difficult as well.  When we did finally find it, it was the fastest we’ve seen in Morocco – but still with a French keyboard so we weren’t there too long.  Next stop train station to buy our tickets back to Casablanca for the next day. 

Admin. complete and Petit taxi to Bab Boufloud to start our slow trek through the medina back to our home.  Wandered the streets, saw a tannery, jumped out of the way of all the horses and donkeys coming through the narrow walkways carrying stuff like water, fruit, empty bottles, etc.  We finally found some playing cards (that was difficult!) and ended up at Palais Jamai to sit in actual air conditioning for about an hour (it was HOT and sticky in Fes, just like Houston in August).  We sat in the hotel lobby enjoying the view and playing rummy (JJ is currently up around 800 points...but J has 5 countries & 2 months left for a big comeback).

That night we had dinner on the terrace next door again with Ismael, Mo, Atmane, and Habib.  Atmane is a young guy who speaks about 8 languages and is a desert trek guide in the Atlas mountains.  Habib is the “father” of the house and is a really funny old man, always smiling, dancing, and chatting away in Moroccan.  He even dragged JJ up to dance with him for a bit.  When Atmane wasn’t around, JJ/Jason traded English words for Moroccan and Berber words with Mo and Habib.  We were sure to teach Mo how to request an “air conditioner”, for future reference.

Aug. 16 – Through the medina again with Mo, this time looking for an ATM.  We were warned by a few people that we might get stopped for walking with Mo as the tourist police might think that he’s a “faux guide” trying to take our money for showing us around.  “…just say you’re staying with his family if that comes up.”  OK, no problem.  It wasn’t until we were at the ATM that the tourist police jumped Mo and got his story in Moroccan.  Then they asked us and we told them what we were told to say...you know, the truth!  Apparently, Mo has not updated his ID with his Fes address and it still says he lives in the Berber region.  So, Mo told the cops that he came with us from Casablanca for one day, we said he lived in Fes and we've been here 3 days.  Needless to say, our stories didn’t match and that almost got Mo into more trouble!  After some pleading with the guys, they let him go but said they would be looking out for him.  We almost got Mo arrested!!  In retrospect, we probably should have planned that one thru a little better.

Later that day we were off on our train to Cas. in first class, as recommended, but we’ve been told to just go see 2^nd class, just a walk through.  So, JJ tried to go see it and couldn’t even get there!  They were piled in there so much that they were spilling out between trains and even into the first class car!  Yikes!

A quick travel story.......

We just received an email from a new friend we met in Turkey.  He's an Aussie named Hamish living in England and although we've only known him (and his girlfriend Kirin) about a week, it's apparent that he has a way of getting into strange, bloggable situations.  This is a clip (and we QUOTE) of an email he just wrote us....

"Hello Jason & JJ.  How are things going in Dubai?  I hope you're both having an awesome time...I'm sure you are.  It's good to be back on a semi-normal keyboard but I still can't find the apostrophies and some other punctuation rubbish.

The trip from Istanbul went smoothly, except for the part when I sparked a full scale bomb alert at Budapest airport, causing several fire units, army vehicles, police cars, bomb disposal units, and all the rest to surround the plane shortly before takeoff.  All passengers were told to calmly get off the plane and make their way to a waiting but after a diligent staff member noticed traces of white powder covering a section of my pack.  Further investigations revealed that the source of the powder was some sort of round cylinder attached to a radio receiver/transmission device (one of my walkie talkies).  After Kirin and I were led off by some grim looking customs-type people, it finally emerged that the talcum powder I had bought to treat a particularly nasty underwear rash had burst in my bag and happened to be next to a walkie talkie.  At least the flight was only delayed for a couple of hours......"

Advice to Hamish (and the rest of us) from my mother- Ziploc baggies.....Ziploc baggies....

Marrakesh, Morocco

Aug. 9 - Rahim dropped us off right in the hussle-bussle of “the square” of Marrakesh that evening.  Our riad was right in the middle of the medina (old town), on the other side of the square.  Once we were settled into our very own riad (yes, we had every room!), we were picked up again for dinner at Rashid’s house, outside of town.  Rashid is another current Long Beacher, even living on the same street as we did, but he has built his home in Morocco over the last several years and it’s a beauty!  It is typical Moroccan style with large open living areas with couches along all walls, swimming pool, tennis court, garden, and of course always doling out massive loads of food!  We met his parents and then had a terrific dinner of the Moroccan staples- salads, tajine, and fruit.  Then back to the riad to rest up for the next day.

Aug. 10 – UH OH.  JJ has a tummy ache.  She shakes it off and we’re all off to the streets of Marrakesh.  We visited a tannery, which is where leather is processed from beginning to the end product.  Using mint leaves as a “gas mask”, we toured the tannery and learned about how cow and camel hides are turned into beautiful bags, cushions, and shoes.  There are literally hundreds of 4ft by 4ft pits with different liquids in them- salt water to clean the leather, ammonia pits (mainly from bird poo) to clean it and/or take the hair off, and pools to dye the leather the chosen color.  As usual, the tour ended up in their shop next door where they recommended their products over any other.  We submitted to the sales pitch and bought several goodies.

Later, we stopped at a “wholesale” lamp store where the worker was busy making the lamps in front of us.  These lamps are known all over.  They are made from wrought iron frame and sheepskin tightly wrapped around it.  The skins are painted and you add a light or candle inside.  They are often conically shaped in a curved, swirled fashion (hope that helps you imagine it!).  As usual, we came, we saw, and we purchased.
Lunch was at a café/restaurant on the main square.  Here we had good pizza and goat cheese salad, but suffered serious service flaws and Adil ended up on a mission to drill the place for it’s incompetence…and rightfully so.

Next stop- Medersa Ben Youssef.  Medersa is basically the Moroccan word for religious school.  This place was magnificent- the usual etchings of the Koran on the walls, mosaic tiles everywhere, and interesting dorm rooms surrounding the main courtyard.  JJ’s tummy expedited our departure, so back to the riad for a nap.  JJ had the cold sweats/ hot chills/ whatever…it wasn’t good.  Looks like Mohammed's revenge (the Moroccan version of Montezuma's revenge aka "intense gastrointestinal smasmitis") has gotten her.  Jason & the crowd went to dinner that night to a great Italian meal.  Aside from the Greek-style plate crashing (with Kate’s lasagna on it!), the meal was great.  Took a horse drawn carriage back to the riad with good veggie soup in tow for JJ, of which she ate about three bites.

Aug. 11 – Day 8- At brekky, JJ is about 70% better.  Did some internet (one dollar for internet AND to burn a disk of photos!).  Lunch was a nice low key tajine restaurant in the middle of the medina.  We wandered for a while through the different souks (markets) and ended up at the carpet souk…..you know that spells trouble!

We had probably the most difficult problem of anyone looking to buy a carpet- we have no home, and have tons of wedding gifts we haven’t opened, and have no clue of the color scheme of our future home when we return.  So we just tried to stay with the standard colors (blue, red, black, browns, orange maybe?) and started the UNBELIEVEABLY arduous task of dealing with the carpet boys.  These guys can see you coming.  If you even glance their way, they are in your face trying to get you into the store.  And once you’re in, you are seated, drinking their tea, and approving/disapproving tons of rugs they throw out in front of you.  The “yes” pile is then laid out across the shop and they basically expect you to pick the one (or more) that you want to buy.  It is quite an uncomfortable thing if you don’t see one that really hits you as a favorite.  This is because then they will explain to you why these carpets are irreplaceable.  According to the carpet shop guys, the ones you have chosen are of course THEIR favorites also, happen to be older and more valuable than the others in the store, and are made with such care and talent that one would be foolish not to buy!  More tea?

We had the fortitude to walk out of several places and ended up back in the store with our favorite carpet, which we really did like a lot.  Then began another round of carpet reviewing.  Brik, our salesman, had gotten familiar with our tastes during the first visit and found about 5 more carpets while we were gone.  These new ones definitely were more in line with our taste buds, but the one we liked most initially was still the fave- so that was it.  We bought our favorite along with another smaller, kitchen sized one of similar design.  We moved into the negotiating stage and did what we thought was a very good job of hammering Brik for the best deal possible.  Of course, he probably thinks the opposite.  But all in all, he and the other employees were the nicest we had met, and worked very hard to cater to our specific tastes.  We ended up with a warm and fuzzy in our bellies (JJ’s problems notwithstanding), had more tea, took some photos of us with the guys sitting on our new purchases, and slapped down the VISA.  Brik packed our package with some nylon tarp and a large needle & thread, and off we went to the riad, two carpets on J’s shoulder, ready for the post office.

That night, A&K&C&A went to dinner at a friend of Adil’s.  We hadn’t done the main square at night yet, and this was our last chance.  So J3, Phil, and Julie were off to the square.  The main square in Marrakesh is one of the most hectic places we have ever seen.  It is a huge concrete area with about 100 food stands (which have bench seating for about 40 people each) serving everything from seafood, meat, salads, soups, etc.  Then there are the stands that sell freshly squeezed orange juice and those that sell snails.  There are also hundreds of fortune tellers, knickknack sellers, cobra snake charmers, musicians, dancers.  In addition, this is THE main circulation point of the medina- cars, people, and horse drawn carriages all converge here- and try to keep moving!  Consider a county fair mixed with the NY Stock Exchange floor, and add to it the most aggressive and creative touts (salesmen) in the world.  We had some nibbles at one of the stands (60 dirhams = about $8 for 4 people) and then just wandered around in awe for hours.  We also wandered around the backstreets of the medina, and got lost several times of course.  It was fairly late, so the lack of lighting added a bit of suspense to our adventure, but we ended up safely back to the mayhem of the main square.

Marrakesh is INSANE!    Of course, you have to keep your valuables in a safe place so you can just enjoy the place without continually checking your pockets and sneering at suspicious looking folks who bump into you a bit too hard.  There are kids & adults begging to show you where to go (for a few dirhams), shops with fresh meat, veggies, fruit, nuts, spices...donkey carts rolling by w/short old men trying to steer yelling "bakar!" or "attencion!" or "look out!" in English....dogs, cats, birds...the ears, nose, and eyes are continually in shock.  It’s one of those places that we would suggest to anyone with a true sense of adventure, who doesn’t mind being in the center of a human tornado!

Aug. 12 - On the way back to Casablanca, we stopped at a roadside shack for lunch and ate freshly ground beef patties with onions and tomatoes and perfectly greasy lamb chops.  We spent that evening back and Fatima’s (Adil’s mom) watching the wedding video, arranging our next adventure in Fes, and of course eating another fantastic home cooked meal of salads & shish kababs.

More Morocco pics!

Essioura, Marrakesh, & Fes pics are up!  More words will follow shortly.....  we're in Dubai now with Mike Campbell and he's set up for internet, etc. so we'll be able to sort things out shortly, but for now we have to get ready for the Black Eyed Peas live in Dubai show!!  Toodles!

Turkısh keyboards are fun too!!

We're ın Turkey now, and stıll can't fınd a keyboard we can burn rubber on....so the blog wıll have to waıt a bıt.  Letters lıke ş, ç, ö, ğ, ü, etc cause a bıt of a speed bump ın the paper pad-to-blog speed.  Plus, the ı and i thıng makes thıngs fun too.  For example, here's a sentence or two wrıtten lıke I would type on a regular keyboard,  then the translatıon....

Howdyö yiall!  Howis thıngs goıng over there:  Weire just hangıng out ın Turkeyö clımbıng faıry chımneys ın Kapadokyaö enjoyıng the weather ( cultureç

<translatıon>

Howdy, y'all!  How's things going over there?  We're just hanging out in Turkey, climbing fairy chimneys in Kapadokya, enjoying the weather & culture.

For thıs reason, we decıded to use the blog tıme to do more research on Turkısh beers and the nargıle.

Hoşçakal (Toodles) for now!

J3

Essioura, Morocco

We were up and piled into the van early (noon) the day after the festivities for our 6 hour drive to Essioura - a beach town south of Casablanca.  On the way, we stopped in Qualidia for a lunch of salad and seafood platters in Adil's favorite seaside restaurant here.  He spent many summers in this town growing up and of course it now looks nothing like it did when he was little.  We stopped again in Safi, a town known for pottery making.  We saw a place up the hill in the village where they make pottery and many stores selling the final product.  We had a "guide" that we paid one US dollar to take us to these places.  These "faux guides" are illegal and the country is really cracking down on them, arresting them if they're caught.  Sometimes they can spend 6 months in jail for the offense. 

We arrived at our riad at dinner time.  A riad is a large house with a square shape and courtyard in the middle open to the sky above.  Each of the 4 corners used to house different family members and their families.  In the really old days it was for the typical 4 wives and her children/family.  Many of these riads have renovated and are renting their space out like a hotel or B&B.  Our riad, Villa Moroc, is larger than most riads and the different areas are accessed through a maze of halls and stairways.  We sorted out our room arrangements and settled into the dining room for dinner - pumpkin soup, fish pastry, and tajine chicken.  We took our wine to the roof of the riad to enjoy the view.  Jason was a little too curious and entered what he thought was a lookout tower only to find a couple lounging on their bed.  Luckily they were several stairs up and Jason could only see a shadow move.  The French couple joined us outside and we laughed about the mistake - and they'll lock their door next time.  Off to sleep in the incredibly comfortable bed!

After brekky at the riad, we were off on our own for some shopping in the "medina", which is the old part of town within fortress walls.  This area of Morocco is known for it's woodwork and art although they still have all the usual Moroccan fare.  This medina was larger than the one in Casablanca with more streets and alleys to get lost in - and we did!  JJ bought Berber style sandals and J3 made it out finally with a wooden serving tray - something they've been looking for in the states!  We wandered through the spice market, fish market, meat market, etc.  We witnessed delivery time at the meat market and saw cow heads and bodies being carried to the open air shops - no fridge or freezer here.  We had a great Moroccan lunch of couscous, chicken tajine, and rice & tuna salad. 

We met up with the group on the roof of the riad for drinks, discussing purchases, and enjoying the sunset.  Another fabulous dinner in a private room in the riad, Moroccan style (sit on couches, low table and low chairs).  This dinner consisted of salad, sardines, and beef stew.  We went for a walk after dinner and found ourselves at a cool rooftop bar in the medina for a nightcap.

The next day JJ woke up to a massage and brekky with Jason.  On the way our of town, Adil, Kate, Julie, Chris, and Al rode camels on the beach while J3 & Phil enjoyed a seaside lunch nearby.  J3 are saving their camel ride for Dubai.  Then we were off to Marrakesh, our next destination.

Morocco- The Wedding, Pt 2- The Wedding Day

Saturday, Aug. 6- During the afternoon, the US contingent headed to the habus, or market, in the old part of Casablanca.  This was our first taste of the Moroccan markets, which are filled with amazing lamps made of lamb skin & iron, shoes, carpets, spices, tapestries, mirrors, woodwork, etc.  We knew we would travel soon to a few cities known worldwide for their markets, so this was just a browsing type of visit.  The girls bought some shirts, and Chris bought some olives from the olive market, where there are hundreds of huge barrels overflowing with olives of every type, age, and spiced with various delicious combinations of peppers, paprika, cumin, garlic, you name it.  The market had a few other items that Morocco is famous for..... jellabas- full-length, hooded robes, kaftans- women's robes w/ornate embroidery & made of silk when used in weddings, babouche- leather slippers usually with pointed ends.  It was a great intro to what we would deal with in a much more intense way in the other markets over the next few weeks.

That evening, we headed again to Mama Fatima's palace, for the big event.  Again we arrived around 8pm, but more aware of the extremely relaxed schedule that Moroccans live by- no hurry, just enjoy life.  JJ & Chris joined Kate at a neighbor's house to be dressed by more of her "people".  The rest of us, along with the 60 family, and tons more guests, trickled in over the next few hours.

The band tonight was a more traditional wedding band, with two male singers (who always sang alone) and a band with violin, drums & percussion, and a keyboardist.  We again danced, clapped, and sang (those who knew the words) along with the band and lounged around the Salon, enjoying more cookies/pastries/tea.  There were also about 8 more tables set up in Mama's beautiful yard, so we often went outside to enjoy the night.  We talked more with Sadik, one of Adil's uncles, who was a merchant marine for 30 years and has seen every corner of the globe.  He is a riot, telling stories, asking Phil to find him an American wife (in the want-ads of Phil's paper if necessary), and just having fun practicing English for the first time in more than 10 years.  We later found out that he has a wife, so Phil realized Sadik's sense of humor and quickly stopped the presses on tomorrow's newspaper.  And we realized that the ladies of the family aren't the only entertaining ones.

Meanwhile, a few blocks away, the girls were learning more Moroccan wedding traditions on the fly.  Although Kate had asked many times what she needed to bring from the hotel, she still managed to "forget" her shoes (at Mama's close by) and her white silk under-robe dress (back at the hotel).  When Mama heard that, she collapsed in a chair, head-in-hands.  By the way, the hair & make-up girl was already 2-1/2 hrs late and now the "dresser people" were late as well.  So now it was 11.30pm (3-1/2hrs behind schedule) and Kate was still not finished dressing in her first of four outfits for the night!

Meanwhile, back at the Ponderosa (Mama's house), Adil gathered a group of guys to go pick up the bride, in somewhat of a traditional manner where the groom's tribe comes to whisk her off to the wedding.  <<Are you still imagining this?  You can see it in the photos>>  When our entourage of 6 cars arrived at the end of Mama's street, the bride's chariot was waiting.  The "chariot" is a wedding "carriage" which is carried by four men, with the bride sitting inside 6 feet off the ground.  Also waiting at the corner were neighbors, guests who had done this before, and two bands.  One was a band playing traditional Berber music.  The Berbers are a tribe located in southern Morocco, around the Sahara and Atlas mountains.  Adil is 1/4 Berber from Papa's side, and the band was brought from that region as a surprise to the entire family from Mama Fatima.  The music is mainly drums & percussion with a main singer backed up by the band.  This main entertainer also tap dances/stomps on a large metal upside-down barrel laid on the ground, making a bass drum sound.  And eventually everyone else dances on it as well.  The second band was just as exciting, mostly percussions.  So the bride's "entrance" took at least 45 minutes.  There was music, dancing, singing, and photo-op stops galore with just about every family member and guest with the bride in her chariot.  Then the house band heard the action and decided to make their own announcement of the bride's entrance (as if nobody could tell inside).  All of a sudden there were 3 bands playing (different songs) and a "Brazilian Carnaval" type parade moving slowly towards the house.

After the bride & groom finally arrived to their o-so-familiar throne, Kate changed into her 2nd outfit and dinner was served at 12.30am.  We enjoyed the cool breeze at our table outside while eating another great meal of tajine-style chicken, lamb, and fruit.  <<Tajine is a typical Moroccan way of cooking using a clay pot (the top is conically shaped) and baking meat, veggies, & spices, infusing the flavors into the food.>>  Near the end of dinner, the Berber band decided to take the party outside again and played in the yard for us.

Back inside, Kate was in her third outfit for photo time.  Everyone came up randomly to get their photo with the bride & groom on their throne.  More music & dancing, and eventually Kate appeared in her fourth & final outfit- the American wedding dress she wore at the first ceremony in Long Beach.  After more dancing, clapping, & singing, we left for the hotel at around 5am.

We can't describe in words how amazing this event was- although we tried in the longwinded paragraphs above.  And all this fun with no alcohol, what a novel concept!  They just enjoy the moment.  Not only was it special to be a part of Adil & Kate's special day(s), it was a treat to see this type of tradition first-hand.  And these things usually last 3-7 days!  Maybe a Moroccan attending a wedding in Dobbin, Texas with a country band & beer & barbecue would be just as amazed...who knows.  Thanks to Adil & Kate for inviting us- we'll never forget it!

Morocco- The Wedding, Pt 1- Henna Night

We dressed in our nicer attire (J3 did the best they could preparing in Athens) and were off to Mama's for the first of two nights of wedding celebration- Henna Night.  Henna is dye from a plant that is painted on the skin with a large syringe with a hole in the end (no needle) in a mud-like form, in different designs which refer to a certain tribe's ancestry (at weddings, these designs are from the groom's tribe).  The henna is placed on the bride's feet and hands, front & back, top & bottom on this, the night before the wedding.

So, picture if you will, the entire family of Adil(50-60 people) and the US contingent (all 6 of us) lounging around the Grand Salon, greeting each other with handshakes and one kiss on each cheek, and dancing and clapping along to the music, while waiting for the bride to arrive.  The entertainment for the night was Shikhats, traditional "party ladies" who sing songs and dance for the entire night (around 6 hours) with very few breaks.  The band that plays with them consists of traditional drums/bongos, violin, and other percussionary things- and they sing as well.  The family joins in whenever they get the urge to get up and shake something- and this happens often, all night long.  If you're not dancing, you're probably clapping along to the music.  After about one hour, our hands were like jelly, since they're not used to this sort of punishment!

The bride's henna was due to start at around 8pm, but by 10pm, we knew we should have had a snack earlier, because dinner was nowhere in sight.  After hours of hair and make-up work (not that lovely Kate needed it, of course), and being dressed by her "people", Kate arrived at 10.30pm in a white traditional Maroccan robe w/ elaborate designs on it.  In addition, she wore a solid gold belt, tiara, earrings, collar, and two pins on the shoulders which dangled baubles & more gold.  As she approached and sat in her small throne, the music, singing, and clapping got louder and louder to announce her arrival.  And of course, the ladies upped the volume on their shrilled tongued calls.  She was seated at the throne, and the night could officially begin.  While Kate endured 2-1/2 hours of henna-ing, the rest of us lounged around and enjoyed cookies, pastries, and mint tea, while dancing & clapping in between bites/sips.

Dinner was served around 12.30am, while Kate was still sitting on the throne letting her henna dry.  You see, it's mud that basically stains the skin, so it has to soak in and you know it's done when it's dry.  We had a sneaky suspicion that Kate was a bit famished by this point.  But hey, tradition is tradition.  Adil did his best to feed her some bites of the delicious chicken, then lamb, when possible.  What a wonderful meal, topped off by the standard mound of fresh fruits for dessert.

When the henna was dry, they ceremoniously cleaned her feet with a gold bracelet and water from a specific pitcher & bowl, which has meaning to the family.  Kate was then paraded out of the room- to the same intense singing, dancing and clapping as before- to wash her hands and take off the robe & jewels, leaving the silk dress that is underneath.  Then she actually ate some!  And trust me, no one got near that plate but Kate!

The night ended with much more dancing & singing, and Chris and JJ got some henna of their own.  After drying, the henna used tonight ends up orange, but other colors are common as well.  We left the house at around 4.30am, leaving Phil there to ponder his various marriage proposals from several family members.  Phil is a journalist in the US.  In Morocco, a journalist is as prominent and respected as a judge.  So it's no surprise the ladies of the family were eager to offer him her dowery which consisted of houses, farms, and several types of farm animal.  There were still at least 25 people there talking and eating, with no sign of sleeping any time soon.  And this is night one- the big night is tomorrow....or....today?!?

Casablanca, Morocco

Thurs, Aug. 4- Arrive at Mama Fatima's house (Adil's mother) and meet Mama, the staff (some very nice ladies that work & live in the house), and our new travel buddies- Kate's parents Phil & Julie, and Kate's longtime friend Chris and her husband Al.

We quickly headed to King Hassan II Mosque, built 12 years ago, and named after the King who had the mosque built.  It's the 3rd largest in the world, after the famous and religiously important mosques in Mecca and Medina, Saudi Arabia.  It is one centimeter shorter than the Mecca mosque, out of respect.  An amazing combination of mosaics, titanium and plaster carved facades, dark cedar, marble, and other materials all from Morocco, except Venetian glass chandeliers and two small white marble columns where the "imam" or prayer leader, sits.  Those are from the Carrara region in Italy (about as famous as Venetian glass).

The mosque (as all huge endeavors) has a few bits of controversy/interesting coffee talk.  It is located literally over the ocean.  They poured concrete and brought in rocks to fill the void underneath and be part of the foundation.  Supposedly the columns are eroding due to waves & tides, and there's a nice little battle between the construction company and the insurance co.  Constr. put in a claim a few years ago, and the ins. co. conveniently piled up the red tape and dragged things out past the 10 year warranty period.  Also, the mosque cost Morocco about $800 million, if you believe the estimates.  The king put up 1/4 of it, and the rest was "donated" by the Moroccan citizens.  Our Moroccan contacts tell us there was a little pressure to donate.  Let's leave it at that.

Internet time out, TO BE CONTINUED.

Continued.  Back to Mama's house for a late lunch of salads, fried fish, and grilled chicken- grilled on Mama's new gas grill which Adil brought over from the US and assembled in Morocco.  They are apparently very pricey in Morocco, and not very common either, especially to the customs agent who interrogated Adil for a few minutes until he voluntarily ripped open the box to cut the conversation as short as possible.

Later that night, we experienced our first hammam, or Turkish style bath.   This is where you enter (boys & girls separate), strip down to your undies, and go through a three-part bathing/cleansing process.  First, the sauna room where you just relax and sweat out all that tension, as well as lube up with a special soap that looks sort of like a molasses and wax mix.  Then off to the scrubbing table, where a man or woman takes a luffa-type glove (some tenderfoots like J3 may choose to call it an SOS pad) and scrubs you down- with authority!  You literally lose a few layers of dry skin & dirt, which balls up into nice little glue/pencil eraser balls all over your body.  Careful to keep your eyes closed and not to breathe in to quickly- sweaty dirt balls don't taste that great.  After a few rounds of scrubbing, you go to the bath area where you can shower off or sit at a large bowl/tub and wash yourself one last time, using a small bowl to scoop the water and rinse your freshly tenderized body.

Dinner back at Mama's was after 10pm, which we thought was late compared to us westerners.  Little did we know what was in store for us in the next few days.  Dinner was what would become standard fare- although never getting boring at all, and always delicious, or "ladeed" in Moroccan.  Moroccan soup served with the traditional honey/sesame/pastry curly cues, Chicken, and Moroccan sausages.  We then went out for a quick nightcap (or a "cold one" as Adil calls it) and to meet up with Adil's friend Omar, who lives in Irvine, CA (except for the ONE MONTH he spends back home in Casablanca!).  The girls had a fun wine experience with the waiter.  You see, a 1/2 liter bottle of wine costs 90 Dirhams (around $10).  A 3/4 liter bottle costs 200 D.  It took about 5 different people and 15 minutes for us to realize that this bar is using that "new math" that the rest of the world apparently hasn't heard of.  We opted for two 1/2 liter bottles (pretty smart, huh?).  The boys and Julie had Casablanca beer, a local brand which is actually very good.

We slept in the Grand Salon, or the main living room of the house.  It's a huge room with built-in couches all around the perimeter, with elaborately embroidered cushions & pillows.  The floor is marble, and the walls are accented with a combo of mosaic tiles & carved plaster designs, really detailed and beautiful.  This is the standard traditional design in a Moroccan home, promoting togetherness and comfort.  There are large round tables brought in and this is where we eat usually as well.  You can see it in the photos in the blog (the room in which the wedding took place).  J3, Chris & Al slept randomly on the couches in bliss.  Oh yes, did we mention the three chandeliers and the ceiling?

Fri, Aug. 5- Brekky downstairs in yet another room almost as big and ornamented to the gills as upstairs.  It's more of a casual area where the family and staff hang out together often, plus it's adjacent to the kitchen.  Had pancake bread with honey & jam, boiled eggs with salt & cumin for dipping, coffee, and tea.  Went and checked into the Rania Hotel nearby, our home-away-from-home for the next 2 days.  This is so we could get away from the wedding festivities if we just couldn't handle staying up until dawn with the rest of the family.  If any of us didn't believe this reasoning, we were about to become believers.

After getting our hotel rooms sorted out, we went back quickly to Mama's for lunch.  Couscous w/lamb & veggies, all served in one huge bowl.  We poured broth over the top (to help the cous stick together) & dug in.  The typical Moroccan way of eating is with your right hand (the left was used for other things in the old days), so some of us chose to try it out.  You literally take a bunch of couscous & meat & veggies in your hand, try to ball it up, and stuff it into your mouth.  It's great fun, and you get to eat like a kid and not get into trouble!  It also helps with the togetherness thing, since you're all eating from the same dish in a very intimate way.  Back to the Rania for a nap.  We were going to need our rest for "The Wedding, Part 1- Henna night" later tonight.

Athens cont'd & off to Morocco (slowly)

The next day in Athens was spent hiking across town to The National Archaeological Museum, one of the most famous in the world.  The collections are representative of all the cultures that flourished in Greece from around 4500 B.C. to around 500 A.D.  B.C., People!  B.C.!!  The items range from sculpture, pottery, jewelry, tools, etc made from such materials as clay, stone, marble, gold, and bronze.

After the museum, we walked to Kontokali, a fancy area of town planning to continue northeast on a famous street with some architecture of interest, but got pooped out and just headed back for siesta.  That night, we celebrated having all our units rented at the rent house in Houston by going to Jackson Hall, a nice upscale restaurant specializing in.....HUGE BURGERS!  This massive stack of bread & beef was $15 and worth every penny- and so was the huge salad.  We truly thought we were back in Texas for a moment.

The next day we finished up some shopping loose ends and said goodbye to Athens- but not hello to Morocco just yet.  Upon arriving to the airport, we found that the Iberian Airlines flight to Barcelona was delayed 2hrs, and we would miss our Barc-Casablanca flight.  Bummer.  So we were given a voucher for free dinner at Sbarro pizza.  Needless to say, it's not like Sbarro in the US.  Plus, Sbarro in the US kind of stinks, so you can imagine the quality.  Plus it was in an airport for Buddha's sake!   No es bueno.  We tried several times to use the free internet at the airport to email our friends Adil & Kate (A&K) and warn them we'd be a day late.  Fingers crossed they get it!!  But the computers wouldn't allow us to SEND emails.  So back to the customer service desk at Iberian- for the third time.  We told the nice gent the problem, and he asked what he could do in a puzzled way.  We said, "You can get us into the Executive Club and use the REAL internet maybe?!"  He made a quick official-sounding phone call (probably to the lady behind him through a large window) and then gave us a hall pass to the big house.  We wrote our email and crossed fingers again, and had a quick beverage on Iberian for our troubles.

Free bad dinner #2- Iberian Airlines flight meal- rubber chicken, rubber veggies, etc.  Upon arriving in Barcelona, we immediately went to the customer service desk to get our free hotel room voucher- with about 50 other passengers.

<<<Travel lesson #??-  Aside from the US, Britain, Scandinavia, Canada, Aus, & New Zealand, there is probably no other place in the world where there is actually a logically formed line, or "que".  Notice that Spain wasn't mentioned above.  Even when you think being pushed against- and touching- the person in front of you while breathing down their shirt is enough, IT IS NOT.  Little old ladies will step on your flip flopped toes and squeeze in without even acknowledging you.>>>

Back to the hotel voucher line...So JJ has become quite the pushy que person after 2 months in Greece (also not mentioned in the "que-savvy countires" list above).  So she was doing her wifely duties by blocking the crowd for Jason (QB) to fly in and get the voucher.  However, there was one tough outside linebacker that just wouldn't give up.  She was literally angling her way past JJ after being told 10 minutes earlier by the agent to get to the back of the line.  So Jason snapped and yelled "EXCUSE ME." <<lady turns to him, along with everyone within 15 feet>>  "WE ARE NEXT".  Good thing for her she knew English, cause J wasn't about to repeat it....at least in a verbal manner.  She mumbled something like "You let those other people in", referring to a couple that were waiting longer than us and were not pushy, therefore were not exactly up front.   Jason said "They were in front of us." (Novel idea)  Jason felt like saying "I let them in because they are not a pushy little *&^%$ like somebody I just met!"  But he didn't say that.

Voucher in hand, we headed with other passengers- including 'Miss Pushy Outside LB' to the hotel.  It is now around 12.30am.  We arrive and Jason ends up getting grief from the kid at the front desk (Rahim) when he couldn't understand his Spanish.  He basically told Jason in gestures that he didn't need to speak English.  Jason almost said "Y no necessito hablar Espanol si no puede hacer nada mas que ch!*% mi v$%!, like some pushy little somebody I just met",  But he didn't say it...

Free bad dinner #3- Hotel food.....mmmmmmmm.....Guess this great establishment gets most of it's business in overflow from the airport, since the dining area was set up with buffet style food, and water, place settings, and wine on the tables, ready for use.  Hence Rahim as the sole rep when you walk in the door.  Well, J3 know how to make something out of less than nothing.   So we took the rest of the wine upstairs and headed for bed.  We knew Barcelona is an "all-night" city, but regretfully, we had to be full of energy for Morocco!

The next morn, had a quick brekky (surprisingly good, although we only had 5 minutes) and headed on the bus to the airport.  Upon landing in Morocco, we quickly started looking for our larger rolling backpack, which was checked in in Athens, to Marocco via Barcelona.  Sounds shaky, huh?  After 20 minutes, the belt stopped and no J3 big backpack.  JJ went to tell our driver why we were still not ready to go (assuming he's still there, and assuming A&K even got our email and he's even there at all!).  She didn't find him.  So we walked 6 belts away to the end of baggage claim to the 'lost baggage' desk to make a claim.  One second before inquiring, we look to the right and notice our big boy rolling along on the very last belt, all by his lonesome.  The sign above the belt said some place like Burundi or something...  We take a second to think outloud about the what if's (like filling out miles of paperwork in only French & Arabic, possibly never finding big boy, etc) and move on.

As we're walking out of baggage claim, we sweep the huge room for our man (with our name on a piece of paper) hoping he's still here and JJ just missed him.  We don't see it and move towards the door, contemplating our next move with no Morocco A&K contact info.  Again, one last glance to the right by Jason, noticing a very tired looking man sitting next to a column with a piece of white paper on his lap, face down.  Jason and the man catch glances, and- as they say- the rest is history.  Yep, the "can I see your paper" look by Jason, acknowledged by our man, and voila!  it said "JJ and Jason"!  The man's name is Abdul-Rahim, or Rahim for short.  We will never associate him with that "pushy little Spanish somebody" we met earlier!  This was our driver for the next 10 days, and a nice fellow he is.

Off to Adil's mom's house for the start of another adventure!

Pictures!! but still can't master the keyboard here

We just uploaded albums from Zagoria, Corfu and Ionian islands through the wedding in Casablanca, Morocco.  However, this French keyboard makes it too difficult to update words yet.  Let's just say for now that Morocco has been an incredible experience!!  Stay tuned for details!! 

Arabic keyboards are fun!!!

Morocco's languages are Arabic and French, in that order.  So using keyboards here is lots of fun, so much that we decided to postpone blog till we can type without wanting to break something.....SEE YOU IN MALTA!!!

Bye Bye Corfu, Hello Athena

Saturday, July 30- Our last day in Corfu was spent playing with Charlie, packing, a fierce blog update, and one more night at the Beer Bucket.  The usual suspects were there, and we were happy to see them all one last time (for now!).  We did lots of goodbyes, and promised to see everyone soon, whether it's on Corfu, or other places like Audrey in her home country of Ireland, or Will & Zoe in England, or George & Fiona & Charlie in Guernsey, or Pete & Sari in Finland or who knows?!?  It was a great night, and we got home just in time to cat-nap before the 5.30am taxi arrived.  Aleko's son picked us up, and we were off to the airport for the 7am flight to Athens.

Upon arrival in Athens (or Athena to the Greeks, named for the goddess), we quickly took the bus to the center of town & found our reserved room and crashed hard.  We woke up in the evening and hit the town for some serious tourist business, aka shopping/eating.  It was an early night since we were still bushed/knackered (BRITISH English).

<<A few quick thoughts- Knack, nick, neck- in British English, knackered is tired, nicked is stolen, and neck is to slam your drink.  An American is a septic tank (rhymes with Yank).  Apple & pears= stairs, dog & bone= phone, china plate=mate=friend.  Those Brits are a strange breed.  They can't even keep their only language straight!  Lastly, you can "sort out" many things, like a problem, your accommodations, or a "slapper".>>

Anyway, back to Athens.  We have finally found a spot in a Lonely Planet guide that is total "pants"=crap.  We booked a room at a recommended hotel (FYI- "John's Place"), and it was one of the most miserable nights we have ever had.  First, one wall in our room was obviously renovated to separate 2 hotel rooms, and that wall is paper thin.  PAPER THIN.  We now know the itinerary, middle names, and bodily functions of our neighbors for that night.  And we guess they know ours too.  The phone (at the reception, one floor below) kept ringing at the highest volume setting....a lot!  It sounded like it was in our room.  But of course not, we don't have a phone in our room.  Nor do we have a TV, or a blanket, or hot water in the sink, OR A WASTEBASKET!  Oh yeah, and the armoire drawers were shredded to bits.  Neither of us felt we really got to sleep until deep into the night.  And Jason developed a fever and cold sweats during the night as well.  The phone and neighbors just added to the problem.  Then, to top it off, we were awakened at 7am by construction workers demolishing the building across the street!  We dragged ourselves out of bed, took showers, and quickly changed hotels.

We spent most of the day touring the most famous architectural site in the western world, the Acropolis.  We were burning up from the dreadfully hot sun, but enjoyed it simply for it's importance and beauty.  Heck, maybe we even learned something!  After a siesta in the afternoon, we went out for dinner and more shopping.  Found the last few details we needed for the wedding in Morocco, and a few extras! :)  PS- That silly smiley face is JJ's doing!  Now we're here writing this blog.  Yes, we're right here....watching you....yes you...get back to work!!!

IMPORTANT! OLD POSTS STILL AVAILABLE! SCROLL DOWN!

NOTE TO ALL!  IF YOU HAVE LOTS OF TIME ON YOUR HANDS & HAVEN'T KEPT UP, PLEASE NOTE THAT ONLY THE LAST 10 POSTINGS ARE LISTED AT THE TOP LEFT OF THE MAIN PAGE.

SCROLL DOWN A BIT TO SEE THE OLDER POSTS, INCLUDING OUR WEDDING/RECEPTION & AUSTRALIA/NEW ZEALAND!

J3

Last few days in Corfu

Last few days in Corfu

After arriving back to Corfu from Paxos, we went home & cleaned up for another boat party.  This time it was a boat christening for the Tilon 2.  This boat (as well as the Tilon 1) is owned by the “Don King of Germany”, a German boxing promoter namet Peter.  His boats are maintained by John & Juliet, longtime friends of D&A who J3 have gotten to know in their time on Corfu.  Peter wanted to christen his new boat in style and invite all the locals he has met over the years.  Peter, like most boat owners, uses the boat rarely, so John & Juliet are there to keep it in tip-top condition.  Juliet’s sister Julia and mother Jan also work on the boat.  The other sister, Julie, lives in Cyprus.  As you may have guessed, J3 felt right at home around the J-clan.

After some champagne on the dock, we had a traditional Greek barbecue at the marina restaurant, with bozouki player and keyboardist to boot.  Another feast!  We were still pooped out from the boat ride that day, so we called it a night about midnight to get caught up on our rest.

Friday, July 29-  The next day was another scorcher- 40 degrees celcius, over 100F!  We did everything we could to keep cool when every restaurant & bar was trying to save electricity by NOT running the A/C!  That night, we went out on a proper sendoff on our second to last night on Corfu- a traditional British pub crawl.  If you don’t know what that is, you probably don’t need to.  As you probably guessed, it was a great night full of lots of “cheers” and “yamas”.  The crawlers included D&A, J3, Will & Zoe, Pete & Chelsea/Sara, and Slim Shady/Steve.

According to D&A, just about everyone in Corfu eventually gets a nickname.  Only Pete, her fiancé, calls Sara “Sara”.  This is because the day Dave met Sara, he found out she supported the British footy/soccer team from Chelsea (one of Davey’s team Liverpool’s rivals).  The next day, Dave couldn’t remember her name, so he called her Chelsea.  She loved it so much she decided she wanted to use it from that moment on!  Steve’s nickname is Slim Shady.  This is because when D&A got to know Steve, he liked the song “Slim Shady” by Eminem.  Plus, Steve/Slim Shady is a little on the portly side!  Dave’s nickname is “La” which means “buddy” or “love”.  Ann’s nickname is “Mou” which is Greek for “my love” or “love”.  Kev, the cook at the Beer Bucket has a nickname as well- Moscow.  When Kev arrived on Corfu, he carried a small spy-type camera on a chain around his neck.  He would take photos of everyone without them noticing.  So they all joked that Kev is a spy from the KGP, the Russian CIA.  Hence, Moscow Kev.

Paxos-Tues. thru Thurs., July 26-28

Paxos- Tuesday thru Thursday, July 26-28

George, a regular at the BB lives on a boat and his girlfriend Fiona and her son Charlie are here visiting from Guernsey.  It’s one of the channel islands located in between Britain & France.  George lives in Corfu for the summer and back in Guernsey in the winter.  George owns a great old catamaran sailboat.  So those three, A&D and Charlie #1, and J3 all sailed on the catamaran for a two night stay on the island of Paxos.  It’s the smallest of the main 7 Ionian islands, and one of the most beautiful as well.

The catamaran doesn’t exactly fly, so we had a great 6-hour cruise to Paxos, filled with the regular work- reading books, eating sandwiches, and having some cold beverages (while working on the tan of course!).  About 10 minutes from landing at Paxos, we crossed paths w/ another boat we were looking for- a beautiful classic sailboat maintained by their friends Pete & Sari.  Pete & Sari are an outspoken & sometimes crazy couple who really know how to live life to its fullest.  They “maintain” the boat for a rich couple that use it 2 weeks out of the year, which is when Pete & Sari do the real staff work- cooking, cleaning, and taking the owners wherever they want to go.  The rest of the year, Pete & Sari have to live on the boat.  BUMMER.  So they were just back from a long 600 mile sail from north of Sardinia in Italy.  BUMMER.  They turned around and we met up in the cove in the town of Lakka, where many other amazing boats were docked.  Jason & Charlie #2 jumped off the catamaran and hung out with P&S while the others did the usual parking the catamaran, finding lodging for A&D&C#1 &J3, etc.  We had dinner at a local taverna & then some drinks with G&F before heading off to bed to rest up for what would turn out to be one of the best days EVER!

The next day was spent on P&S’s boat.  We were joined by another couple on a quick sail from to Paxos- Will & Zoe, good friends of D&A from Corfu.  The water in the cove is crystal clear and there is a sandy bottom.  This place looks like it’s straight out of a movie.  We jumped off the boat a million times.  Jason tried a flip and only did a ¾ flop with a half twist- TWICE.  Ouch.  JJ did her typical gymnast backflip off the highest point at the front of the boat.  The dingy on the boat is pretty large & fast, so we waterskied and rode the “donut” many times as well.  It was all topped off with an amazing meal prepared by Sari- seafood salad, tatziki, hummus, tuna salad, Greek salad, cold cuts, olives, grilled zuccini, grilled shrimp,and some smoked salmon straight from Finland, Sari’s homeland.  It was a delicious, unbelievable feast.  The boat had plenty of shaded area, especially a large flat cushioned area that Charlie #1 played on safely for hours on end, and then took a nice nap on it as well.  WOW, what an amazing way to spend a day!  Thanks so much to Pete & Sari for the great time!

That night we went back to Harbor Lights, a taverna/bar right on the dock, where P&S had the restaurant barbecue some tuna which they caught on their way here from Italy.  It too was amazing, almost like eating a pork chop.  There were several other friends of the group that happened to be in Paxos as well, so they joined the feast too.  All totaled, P&S fed around 15 people, including some new friends Will & Zoe.  The catamaran was docked literally 20 feet from Harbor Lights (a real 20 feet, not a “Greek” 20 feet!), so Charlie #2 went to bed while babysitting Charlie #1, which gave D&A some time to hang out without disturbing C#1’s nap time.  After a few nightcaps, we were off to bed.  WHAT AN AMAZING DAY!

The girls, the C’s, and Jason had planned to take the seaplane home just for fun, but it was fully booked.  Of course our friend Patrick told us he could score us some tickets, but it didn’t happen.  Patrick is the typical guy on these islands- he found our lodging, then we saw him cooking at the restaurant we ate at.  The next day we saw him taking some tourists out on a boat.  Then he’s trying to find us seaplane tickets!  He definitely wears many hats.  Of course, some of the hats fit better than others!  So we had to take the catamaran back with George and Davey.  It was not as fun as the trip there (it never is!).  Very hot, no breeze, and the long day before didn’t help.  Life is tough sometimes.

Thanks to George for taking us on an unforgettable vacation in the vacation!

Miscellaneous Debris from Greece

MISCELLANEOUS DEBRIS FROM GREECE

Sometimes on long ferry boat or bus rides, the novel you’re reading just won’t cut it.  So we sometimes are forced to just note quirky things for entry into the blog at a later date.  Here’s some of our ramblings…

Famous people or friends/family we have seen the likeness of in locals-

-Luke Perry from Bev Hills 90210- Marko on Anafi

-Leon Eglezopoulos- man on boat in Corfu

-Phillip Rascoe- employee in restaurant in Kastraki

-Cathy Dasigenis- employee in restaurant in Kastraki (Cathy’s Greek too, we should have asked if they know her!)

-Hugo Arellano- - employee in restaurant in Kastraki

-Albert Einstein- man in campervan in Zagoria

-Eddie (the cat, RIP)- at least ten of the hundreds we have seen roaming the streets.

-Dook (the dog)- Athens

-Toby (the dog)- Naxos (same teeth and everything!)

-Aristotle (the philosopher)- Andreas in Athens

-Ray’s brother in “Everybody Loves Raymond”- man on Corfu ferry

TOP 5 GREEK MALE NAMES

5. Costas

4. Spiros (Ionian islands)

3. Marko

2. Ianni/Yanni

1. Niko/Nikos

TOP 4 ANSWERS FROM A GREEK TO A QUESTION ASKED BY J3-

4. “Ten minutes”, the answer when we ask when something will happen (bus, ferry, etc) no matter when the event will really occur.

3. “No, but we have Moussaka!” (in response to “Do you have stuffed peppers & tomatoes?”  FYI- the two are nothing alike.  They really push the moussaka!)

2. “Blahblahblah” (after J3 ask “poso kani” or “how much”.  We know how to ask the question, but don’t know enough Greek numbers well enough to know the answer to the question!)

1. Ochi (no)

MISCELLANEOUS RULES IN GREECE

-  No smoking on buses or indoors on ferries, unless you are the driver or an employee.

-  Most rooms have air conditioning.  But if the owner decides it’s cool enough outside, you don’t need it & will not be provided the remote control for the A/C.  Or, when in Athens, the A/C may be set for a minimum 25 degrees (78 degrees F) so that you can’t set it on freezing & open the window to smoke a cigarette & blow out the A/C compressor.  Of course, they have taken the liberty of deciding for you that 78 deg F is cool enough.  By the way, you of course never find any of this out BEFORE you have moved in & spent an hour unpacking all your bags.

-  The bus schedule is absolutely correct…unless it changes.

-  A tilting back of the head once means “no”.  Sometimes it’s just a mere raising of the eyebrows.

-  “Ne” (pronounced ‘nay’) means “yes”.  “Ochi” (pronounced similarly to “okay”) means “no”.  Isn’t it obvious that so much of other languages has come from Greek?

Corfu continued- we just won't leave!

MORE DAILY ENTRIES FROM OUR CORFU STAY....

Sunday, July 17- No day work for anyone so the 5 of us set out for Agni, a little beach cove north of us on Corfu.  We had lunch at Taverna Nikolas, A&D’s favorite of the 3 Tavernas there.  We jumped off the pier, of course – gotta jump off something - and swam with Charlie a bit before heading more north to Kassiopi, a typical Corfu harbour town.  We had a banana split from Ben, yet another friend they met over the years in Corfu.  They seem to know someone everywhere…small island!  Ann had been raving about his banana splits that he would make for her while she was pregnant– her biggest craving at the time.  It was very good and big but Ann was sure that it was not nearly as big as he used to make them.  A drink along the harbor overlooking Albania (very close at this point on the island) and we were off. 

Monday, July 18 – We got up early today for a day of shopping!  Davey dropped off Ann & JJ in Corfu town before heading into work for a couple of hours.  Jason stayed home with Charlie and Davey met him there later for a boys day in.  Poopie diaper change #2 for Jason- woopeee!…or should we say, woopoop!  It was a successful shopping spree for the girls – JJ got everything she was looking for!  That never happens!

J3 went into work with Davey that night and just chilled at the BB.

Tuesday, July 19 – we hired scooters for the day and got the “Scouse” tour of Corfu.  Davey is from Liverpool and Liverpuddlians are known as Scousers in England (among other names we won’t get into!).  We concentrated on the west coast where the beaches are sandy, beautiful, and crowded.  Some of the places we visited were Yaliskari, Pelekas lookout point (on a hill in the middle of the island), Glyfada, and finally Paleokastritsa.  As we may have mentioned before, Corfu and the Ionian islands on the west side of Greece are much different from the others we have visited.  Instead of harsh dry rocky landscape, Corfu is very green, with olive trees, cypresstrees, and many other types as well.  So the day was a definite success- fun, sun, beaches, hilltop vistas, and the best part of all- no Corfu tattoos!  That’s the nickname for the road rash one gets from a scooter accident, which almost all the foreigner locals have!  Yes, almost all of A&D’s friends have a scooter story to tell.  So no phone call to the insurance company today!  After 2 days in a row of waking up to an alarm, plus a day in the sun on a scooter, we were pooped and stayed in for the night.

Wed., July 20 – Another pool bar today.  This one is just a 10 minute walk from A&D’s house and it’s brand new.  It’s actually a “resort” for model airplane junkies from England.  We promised the bartender we’d make it out there one night at 7pm for “take off”.  We’ll see if that happens.  Sharon (BB bartender and upstairs neighbor/babysitter) was set to baby-sit that night but Davey had to work.  So, Ann & J3 started without Davey at Irish Knights in Gouvia.  Brett aka DJ Booka T was there hosting karaoke and immediately put Jason up there to sing Stevie Wonder’s “Superstition”, Brett & JJ’s favorite karaoke song for Jason to sing.  Davey closed the BB early and met us out. He just brought the BB regulars out with him and we went to Ipsos, another beach town that is very touristy, therefore has a happenin’ night life.  We shuffled from club to club before hitting the crepe/gyros joint on our way home.  Aahhhh – to be in collage again….

Thurs, July 21 – slept in, watched TV, went to the BB with Davey for darts night.  We had a great night with the regular BB darts folks.  Jason even won 2 euros for 3^rd place in one game and a whopping one euro in another!  The night ended with a night cap at G&M’s, a Greek nightclub across the street from the BB where the SWEDISH waitress taught us some Greek dance moves.  Only in Corfu!

Friday, July 22 – After another tough day at the house, J3 stayed in with Charlie to give Ann a night out at the BB while Davey worked.  Watched the Butterfly Effect and Lost in Translation.  It was a rough day.

Saturday, July 23 – Went for a drive to the north part of the island, to a town & beach called Sidhari.  Except for the Greek wait staff at the pool bar, you’d think you were in England.  This area is known for having primarily English tourists.  The beach was beautiful as usual, especially the small cliff-lined coves at the end.  We had some great Indian food on the way home.  After taking Ann & Charlie home, J3 spent another night supporting the BB’s business and hanging with Davey and the locals..Norm, Cliff, Frasier, etc.  A nightcap at Melodie’s in Gouvia (another place where Dave knows the staff), and off to bed.

Sunday, July 24- House hangout day, and off to Indian for dinner at A&D’s favorite- Viceroy in Ipsos.  This is where Dave used to work before becoming a bar owner.  Just before leaving the Viceroy, Charlie must have forgotten that we had a car, because he showed us a new trick- flagging down a cab.  This is where he sticks his arm out with his hand opened wide, with that serious “yo-cabbie!” sort of look on his face.  Also, he modifies this move in just the slightest way to give you a high-five.  After  dinner, we hung out at the BB for awhile until Charlie notified us (in his UNREAL vocal octave way) that it was time to go home.  Have we told you that he is destined to be an opera singer?  Jason took him and the girls back and brought the car back to Dave and hung out till closing time.

Monday, July 25- Down to the BB to do some business and pick up Charlie #2, the 11 year old son of a friend of A&D.  What a great kid.  We went to Aqualand, “The Most Amazing Water Park In Europe”- or so the ads say.  Well, it’s a fun place.  Plenty of water slides, kiddie play pools, wave pool, “lazy river”, etc.  After a really great time there, we headed back to Kontokali and ate dinner at Takis, A&D’s Kontokoli favorite (and ours too after 3 visits!).  Once again, we left when Charlie notified us it was time.  And everyone in Kontokali knew when we did, because they could hear him!

Off to the island of Paxos for 3 days tomorrow!

More Corfu

July 12-16 - Davey was all birthday partied out so he decided to stay home with Charlie while Ann worked at the BB (usually done by Davey) for Karaoke Tuesday.  We tagged along with Ann and Jason was one of the few people to sing.  They finally managed to drag Ann, Steph (Davey’s cousin’s girlfriend and good friend now of Ann & Davey), & JJ up there to sing “Paradise by the Dashboard Light”, as suggested by Jason since Ann & JJ did such an incredible rendition of the song last week in the cab on the way home after refusing to sing anything at the bar.  Brett (karaoke host and good friend) only had 2 microphones so Ann & JJ shared.  They are close but not nose touching close so they were hard to hear.  The 3 person audience (all friends) got lucky on that one!  Ann let Jackie off early.  Jackie was the other bartender working with her that night.  She stuck around for some singing, dancing, dancing, singing, dancing, dancing, dancing, and some more dancing.  JJ took over behind the bar with Ann – oh my!!  Only 1 glass was broken!  JJ still says it was her initiation to the ghost corner – the back corner where freaky things happen like flying glasses – really.

On Wednesday the girls and guys split up.  Girls were JJ, Ann, Steph, Helena (Bretts fiancé), & Claire.  5 blondes!  5 VERY blondes!  They got plenty of stares – you’d think they were in Saudi Arabia.  Boys were Jason, Davey, & Kev (Davey’s cousin and chef at the BB) – 3 brunettes.  They were not stared at.  Fun was had by all!

On Thursday we ferried over to a small island just off of Corfu – Vido.  Ann & Davey know the owner of the Taverna over there and we had a delightful Greek lunch in the amazing shady, breezy outdoor area overlooking Corfu town.  We took a walk around the island and noticed the wind picking up as we ate ice-cream before heading back.  The ferry ride back to Corfu was quite exciting – if you like choppy water.  We were sure one girl on the boat would not make it and JJ was ready to run the second she blew.  But she didn’t – whew!  Charlie got on the boat asleep but that didn’t last long.  We spent that night in, watched a movie, “The Terminal” and hung with Charlie while Davey slaved away at the BB.

A&D paid Jackie to baby-sit Charlie on Friday night instead of working at the bar so they could have a night to work together like the good ole days.  Knowing that would be a long night at the BB, J3 started out with a walk around Gouvia, looking for some sunnies since JJ left hers in the rental car from Lafkada and they were “not there” once we turned the car in.  She settled on their finest pair of 6 euro Prada shades.  Now we’re stylin’.  When we returned to the BB, Ann was there with Charlie on her hip, which didn’t seem strange at first….. until we remembered that Jackie should have him.  Jackie, mother of 3, has failed 2 out of 3 times now with Charlie.  She just can’t keep him calm…..  better keep her behind the bar.  JJ went home with Ann & Charlie leaving Davey & Jason at the BB to be boys, and that they were.

The boys slept in on Sat. while JJ & Ann watched “Collateral”.  We finally got motivated to go out for some food at Dominos, the pool bar.  We fully intended on swimming after filling our bellies with what was supposed to be good food but it was not, but the heavy meat pies and burgers didn’t help our motivation.  It just made us more tired.  It was another quiet night of a movie, “Die Another Day” for J3 & Ann and work at the BB for Davey.

Lefkas (Lefkada)/Birthdays

July 8 - Ann, Davey, & Charlie need a vacation too!  So, we rented a car and ferried to the mainland to get to another Ionian island, Lefkas or Lefkada – depending on what language you speak.  We’re still not sure which is the English version.  Anywho…  Lefkas is so close to the mainland that it’s connected by a causeway.  After stopping for lunch on the boardwalk in Preveza, we arrived in Nidri, on Lefkas and settled into our hotel rooms with a shared large balcony – which we spent lots of time on.  Voula – the hotel lady – assured us that we would have access to the pool at her other hotel, Yannis, as if that was a special thing.  Turns out, like almost all hotel pools in Greece, they’re open to everyone who’s buying a drink or some food.  What else do you do around a pool?  So, a dip in the pool, showers and we’re looking for dinner on the boardwalk of Nidri.  Typical Greeks, they’re out in front of every taverna telling you how much better their taverna is than every other one on the street.  Guess they all have some special butcher and farmer that they buy their goods from which the others don’t know about, eh?  Ann & Davey have friends that lived in Nidri before so we already had a good recommendation for curry!!  We ate dinner at the International Restaurant, after telling the tout (promoter) in front of the restaurant that we didn’t need the song-and-dance to convince us- his restaurant was highly recommended by Gary, one of the Beer Bucket’s bartenders.  MMMMM…CURRY!  It was so good that Jason decided quickly that his birthday meal the next day would be at the same spot!  We then met up with Gail, A&D’s friend who helped with checking out hotels, and her boyfriend Swampy…Yes, Swampy…Yes, seriously…No, we don’t know where it came from.  Swampy is a late 20-something who has done seemingly everything, from working on the Concord, to managing boats, to practically inventing a cure for cancer.  A&D forgot to warn J3 of Swampy’s habit of “over-exaggerating” until the walk home.  By then, J3 had listened intently to 45 minutes of his life story trying to keep a straight face, all the while thinking “do THEY really believe all this crap?” and more importantly, “does HE really believe all this crap?”.  Turns out, Swampy makes up for a few slight misgivings (like accidentally sinking a boat last year on Corfu while maintaining it- presumably the reason he moved to Lefkas) by bending your ear till you’re in a daze.

After a few nightcaps at the strike of midnight to celebrate Jason’s moving closer to the top of the hill he will soon be over, off to the balcony for our first late night hangout session.  Between the beautiful nighttime weather, the horrible local wine, and J3’s ipod, this balcony was our favorite place on earth at the moment.

July 9 – HAPPY BIRTHDAY JASON!!  Charlie’s voice box lessons he’s been practicing in the highest pitch possible were sure to wake up any late sleepers but even that was no match for our “sleep-through-anything” abilities.  So, we finally awoke in time for a drive around the island, first stopping at the waterfalls.  There was sign at our hotel that said, “waterfalls 3 km” with an arrow pointing up the road, so we followed that arrow.  At the end of the street there was another sign posted, “waterfalls 3 km” pointing to the right.  Another sign down the road said “waterfalls 3 km” pointing to the left.  Well, after the three longest kilometers in history, we arrived at the base of the stream & started our descent.  After a medium difficulty hike with Charlie in tow, we arrived at a 10m/30foot waterfall spilling into a beautiful little pool.  The three boys swam a bit in the chilly mountain spring, and off we went.  After a 1-hour drive across the island through the mountains and tons of switchback roads, we arrived at our next stop, Porto Katsiki, one of the most beautiful beaches we have ever seen- really.  This breathtaking beach is accessed by steps (75 of them) down to the white pebble beach with sheer white cliff walls all around.  The water is pale turquoise blue with an almost iridescent white quality due to all the powder from the rocks & cliffs surrounding it.  We had a great afternoon there relaxing in the calm waters and having a snack picnic.

After the long road home which put everyone to sleep except Jason (good thing he was driving!), we cleaned up & got ready for Curry-VS-Jason- The Rematch.  It was even better the second time since we asked the waiter to turn up the spice meter to fit our taste buds.  We ended the night  just as the day before, a nightcap on the port boardwalk, and a nightcap/ipod music session on our balcony.

July 10- Off to our boat we rented for a day of cruising around the smaller islands.  And wouldn’t you know it, the owner’s name is Charlie and so are all the boats he rents out!  We cruised around islands such as Scorpios (owned by the Onassis family), Sparti, and Meganisi where we had a great tasting lunch which unfortunately was ruined by a family of wasps who just wouldn’t take “get lost” seriously.  The owner of course blamed Charlie’s yogurt container on the problem, but we weren’t buying it.  It was so unbearable that we all just couldn’t stay at the table.  But the food was great and Meganisi’s port area was a nice place to visit.  The rest of the afternoon was more of the same- stopping wherever we wanted, dropping anchor and jumping in to cool off.  JJ and Jason even did a little diving/flipping for fun.  And no, no injuries to report!

That night it was the girls’ choice of restaurants, and they chose a nice Greek taverna on the boardwalk after interrogating the tout in front.  After dinner, we took a good long walk along the main street to check out the nightlife and burn some of the food off.  Then, at midnight, we celebrated Dave’s birthday with a few cocktails.  Off to our hotel for the same ritual of just enjoying our balcony. 

July 11 – HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAVEY!!  We drove through the main town in Lefkas on our way back to Corfu and had lunch there.  We sat down at a couple places that didn’t seem to notice us but the third times a charm!  We made it back to the Beer Bucket by 7pm to have a birthday drink for Davey with some of their friends before his birthday dinner down the street at Takis – Ann and Davey’s favorite Greek Taverna with the best cheese saganaki ever!  Charlie was exercising his vocal cords again so Ann had to bring him to the BB early, where the rest of us met up for more birthday fun before heading home for a good nights sleep.

Corfu! Week 1

The next week was spent slaving at the bar daily (eating & watching sports) and working diligently on our tans at local swimming pools or beach bars.  We also got our fix of some foods we haven’t had for a while.  We have eaten the following in the last few days- Indian food, Mexican food, Chinese food, fish & chips, salad with LETTUCE, and hamburgers!!!  And by the way, they were all fantastic!  The last 3 items were all eaten at the Beer Bucket, made by the genius chef they call Kev.  Kev is Dave’s cousin who runs the kitchen at the BB and is also one of their best friends on the island, along with his girlfriend Steph.  In fact, last night we had a boys night out & girls night in (with the exception of Charlie who crashed the girls night).  Jason, Dave, & Kev went out on the town in Gouvia and tested the spirits of several establishments, and played some spirited pool, where Jason lost practically every game.  Those pesky Brits…sharks, all of them!

Tuesday is Karaoke night at the BB.  So Tuesday- you guessed it- JJ (Jason’s talent agent) practically had a monopoly on the request sheets and had Jason singing all night.  Brett, the DJ, even picked some for Jason to sing after he found out that Jason grew up with some interesting music.  Some of the selections were Elvira by the Oak Ridge Boys, A Little Respect by someone covering the Erasure classic, and To All The Girls I’ve Loved Before by Willie Nelson and Julio Iglesias.  Jason sang this one with a nice fellow named Gil.  There was a bit of confusion on who was who, so Jason went back and forth between the Spanish lover accent of Julio and the twangy country voice.  A good time was had by all, and J3 even got some awards.  Jason got best singer and shared the bottle of champagne with the bar.  JJ refused to sing, so for “worst singer” Brett gave JJ a can of baked beans, “so we know we’ll hear some kind of noise out of her at least!”.

**Writing this on Thursday, July 7, and hoping that all our friends in London or with family/friends there are all OK.  Those bad guys don’t deserve any more print than these few lines….

Zagoria to Corfu

June 30- Before leaving Zagoria, we stopped in Aristi and had a fabulous lunch of Greek salad & beef in tomato sauce.  Zagoria totally redeemed themselves here.  Back to Ioannina to drop off the car & head to the bus to Igoumenitsa & then Corfu.  But first, our rental car rep offered to drive us to the bus station, and upon hearing that we hadn’t seen Ioannina, she decided to show us around.  We spent about 30 minutes riding around with our impromptu tour guide.  What a nice lady Angela is.  The bus to Iqoumenitsa was a nice ride, and we quickly jumped on the ferry boat to Corfu!  Took a quick taxi ride to Kontokali, where Ann & Dave own a bar called the Beer Bucket.  Ann & Dave showed up soon and the reunion began.  Ann and JJ know each other from Saudi Arabia during their high school years.  We had a great night re-hashing old stories and cruising the area of Kontokali and Gouvia, which is the more restaurant/bar/shopping area.

Ann & Dave have an 8 month old baby named Charlie who is georgeous.  He’s a die-hard Liverpool fan and future opera singer.  He definitely has some pipes!  And the pitch he hits gets to that certain part of your eardrums that makes you jump an inch off the ground.

Zagoria Villages

June 28- early morning bus direct to Ioannina where we rented a car to explore the remote Zagoria villages north of the city.  The villages surround the Vikos Gorge, which is the deepest gorge in the world (so they claim) but they are unique in that all the buildings are built entirely of stone from the surrounding mountains- roofs included.  Our first stop was Monodendri where we parked the car for a short stroll through the village.  There’s only a couple driving roads and you can only really get the feel of the villages if you walk through them.  The sidewalks are mostly pieces of stone on the grass between buildings.  We followed signs to a monastery – you’d think we’d have seen enough monasteries by now but apparently there is an incredible view of the gorge from this one.  No lie there!  This village is one of the main starting points for gorge trekkers – a trek that takes 7 ½ hours to complete.  The trail starts at this monastery so we thought about going for it…. For about half a second and then laughed really hard.  The monastery is in the middle height, closer to the top of the gorge and there’s a path that takes you along the sheer vertical walls of the gorge into caves, etc.  That, we could handle.  We suggest only going there with someone you really trust with your life! 

Next, we carried on to the western villages and found our home for the next 2 nights in Megalo Papingo.  The drive up there took us through several villages and up a small road with at least 20 hairpin turns that switchback up the mountain.  After settling in, we ate dinner at O Nikos, as recommended by our LP.  They had no menu and just told us what they were serving that night.  The stuffed peppers and tomatoes were cold and the lamb was dry – one of our worst meals in Greece – and the most expensive.  So, we won’t go back there…..

June 29- Next day, off to explore more villages.  We cruised thru a few that had only 15-20 houses total.  No tevernas or cafes to speak of.  We had lunch in Vikos- the second worst meal we’ve had in Greece!  We ordered straight off the menu, which was basically the owner telling us what she had.  It was a very short list.  The pork was obviously boiled or microwaved.  Guess there are some bad parts about traveling somewhere during low season.  We ended our afternoon at the rock pools between Megalo Papingo and Mikro Papingo (the smaller town next door).  There is a stream flowing from the mountain, and at certain points pools were formed over time.  The main pool was man-made- a wall to dam the stream a bit.  Great chilling and reading place.  Of course, Jason found a rock to jump off of too.  Dinner that night was much better.  We went to one of the other restaurant/cafes in town (there are only 5 or 6 and only 2 or 3 were open).  We had a great meal and watched the final game of the Confederations Cup.  Brasil beat Argentina (Sorry Patrick).  Jason asked if they had any dessert, and of course we were immediately given some sort of dried fruits with sugary syrup coating.  MMMMM….(not really).  Guess we’ll never know if we were charged for it since the “bill” was simply the owner saying “twenty nine euros”.  And of course there was no menu to do a sanity check with!  Oh well….