Randomadventure

New Years in Baja California

2008-01-09T09:08:00.002-08:00

After Christmas, I drove a car out to Los Angeles to my friend Susan's mom. It was a nice drive, and I was able to stop in San Diego and see my friends Matt and Andy from college. We had fun in San Diego, watching football, ultimate fighting, and walking to the local bars. The following morning I headed up to Los Angeles and called Susan's mom Margret to let her know I was on the way. She was kind enough to stay on the phone with me until I arrived at her door, and took me out for dinner as well, before boarding the train. The station below was great, but the train I bought my ticket for was canceled without warning, and the next one was late. This made for a late trip to Tijuana.
After arriving in Tijuana, I had another bite to eat, and caught a van to Rosarito, where I spent the night. The next day I walked around the town, had tacos, and caught a bus south. It was New Years Eve, and I could have stayed for the party scene, but I asked the gentleman at the bus station to recommend a relaxing little town which wouldn't be as crowded and focused on partying. He suggested Camalu. The bus for which I purchased a ticket was full, and the next bus required a stop in Ensenada. This would have been a nice place, as it had a nice little walking area. I kept on, however, and ended up in Cavalu later that night. It was extremely little. I mean, the only paved road was the road passing through the town, and the one pool hall I found didn't have anyone playing. It was pretty much dead, and my hitchhiking efforts led me nowhere. Luckily, a friend I met on the bus (below left of me) was getting gas and offered to take me to the next town south. He took me in his old Cadillac, and made great time. I don't know how fast he drove, but I know the Cadillac was pegged with the speedometer only going to 85mph. We stopped at an old schoolmate of his Miguel, and they caught up (below right of me)

We all had yoghurt, tamales, and grapes. It was very interesting, and my ride ended up having to leave because he received a call that his brother was in some sort of car accident. I was going to continue on south, because this town was even smaller than the last, but not far from a slightly larger place a bit further south. I was coaxed by the mom, Estela, to stay with the family there, and we had a great time chatting about all sorts of things.

For instance, Miguel plays soccer for his university, and could juggle a ball with all sorts of stalls, between his legs in the air, and quite acrobatically. The father told me of when he was in Arizona, and how he walked from Mexico all the way to Phoenix, for 3 straight days, and ended up staying a few months, and how it cost $2000 for the trip. Now he has a really nice little grocery store in town, where the mom made us all a wonderful breakfast in the morning. That night, however, we all had fun with fireworks, blowing up buckets, lighting off bottle rockets, etc... We celebrated midnight with a toast of orange fanta, and went to bed.

The following morning, the boys took me out to "the old mill", which is on the water. We saw some seals, and had a fun drive out. The "nopale" farm above was very interesting, as it seemed to be prickly pear cactus which are partially harvested for food, and is also featured on the Mexican flag as the bit where the eagle lands.

When I caught my bus, I headed south to Guerrero negro. I walked around, missed a bus further south because of a time change that occurs when you cross into south baja, and had some good conversations on the merits of Mexico vs. the USA in a bar. I also heard of a town called San Ignacio from some others, and how it was a good place to see whales and quaint.

I ended up heading there the next morning, and found that to get to see the whales, required a 60km ride on a dirt road, and that the van trip ($40US) was full for that afternoon. I decided to start walking until I could try and hitch there with a supply truck or something. I didn't have any luck for hours, and watched the eagles hunting prairie dogs and read a magazine. I started walking back to town, and got lucky catching a ride with a couple from Oregon who were going to camp out on the beach. The picture above shows the sand peninsula where the cabanas were at sunset. I was able to find a place to sleep, and had a small dinner. Since the whole place was solar powered, it was dark early, which meant an early nights sleep. I did manage to get up for the sunrise though, which was amazing.

I was able to get on a whale watching boat, which is just a small boat piloted by a local fisherman. The whales don't come in any large numbers until February and March, but we did manage to see a lot of birds.
We also saw dolphins, and had them playing directly next to the boat, and jumping in and out just by us.

I really enjoyed the dolphins, but we did also manage to see some whales.

A teacher from just south of Los Mochis saw what he thought was a dolphin, but was the young whale below. He was in very shallow water, and interesting to watch.We later saw an adult, and followed it for a while. Apparently, in the high season, they become used to the boats, and are also very playful. Our boat captain/minister/fisherman/mechanic told us many stories, about being lifted out of the water on the belly of a whale, by being splashed, having celebrities like Pierce Brosnan and Cameron Diaz, etc...
I was able to catch a ride with the teacher, Martin Cuevas, and his uncle, and we went and saw an oyster farm, and caught the same bus. I received a little bit of misinformation regarding the Ferry from Santa Rosalia to Guaymas, and luckily asked at the ferry station as the bus made a quick stop. It turned out that the ferry left early in the morning on Friday and Sunday, though I had been told evening. I decided to continue on to Mulege, a town about an hour south, anyway because I had already bought the ticket and had it in my head from speaking to some bikers, that it was a relaxed town. I arrived around 10pm, and it was also quite dead. I walked around, and decided to take a bus back north and catch the ferry in the morning back to Guaymas. of course, on the walk back I found a pool hall, and got into a few good games which helped me miss my bus. It was decided for me to stick around a couple of days.

The next morning I went to inquire at a dive shop about scuba diving. It was very expensive, but they also had a kayak, and I could use the gear for the day, so I agreed. I met James from San Francisco at the dive shop, and he drove me and the kayak to the beach after breakfast, and was also going diving the following day. I kayaked across the bay, and then did some snorkeling around the point. It was a great day, which ended with us eating a self caught lobster, scallops, and fish at a restaurant near the beach. The family that ran it was very friendly, and we ended up coming back later. We met a couple of photographers from Chicago, and tried to hit up the disco, but there wasn't much going on a Friday. Apparently Saturday was the night to be out.

The following day we went to "Burro Beach" to dive a wooden sailboat wreck. The wetsuits were hard to get on, and water wasn't clear. My vest kept inflating which meant I kept floating up, and releasing air and sinking, and it made the whole thing a pain. Our second dive was similar to my snorkeling the day before, but not as good. It was an ok experience. Maybe I have been spoiled by great diving the past year, and lunch included, boats to reefs, etc.... We did have a fun group though, which ended up with a night on the town, Poi ( a sort of fire on a rope thing) and a return trip to the restaurant on the beach, about 2 miles from town. We were even lucky enough to get a ride back to town with a nice guy in a pickup. When he dropped us off, he then gave us a 6 pack of beer because he didn't want to get yelled at by his daughter (his wife was with him in the car) Funny night. The disco was quite busy, and I slept for an hour and ran to catch the 4:30am bus to get the ferry.

The ferry was about 11 hours, and when I arrived in Guaymas I was able to meet my old friend Victor Calleja out for a couple of tacos, before catching my bus north. I arrived in Tucson around 5:30 am, and decided to walk home. I was so used to walking a few miles here and there, that it seemed like no big deal. Now, since getting back, I haven't walked anywhere. It is funny how things changed.

Well, Happy New Year. Take care.

Christmas - ish

2008-01-09T09:08:00.001-08:00

Christmas eve and Christmas were spent with my roommate Andy, not doing a whole lot worth writing about, unless shuffleboard and pool in a bar is considered a festive Christmas. But after school and before Christmas, there were some fun little parties that let me be a real college student again. The pic below is of my beer pong (we won quite a lot) partner Patricia, who goes to school with me.
I also attended another party at my old work, which was a bit more formal. This is me and Emebet, who just moved to Atlanta and may have officially been my date for the party. It was nice to see everyone again, but I also felt a bit odd and out of place. I think if I actually still worked there, I may not have felt that way....

My friend Veronica invited me to another semi-formal Christmas / Holiday party, and it was very fun. I met a lot of people I didn't know, and there wasn't a dull moment. As you can see, they were prepared. I learned how to play a game called "flippy cup" which I had never played before. I guess as one grows up, you are always learning more.

Here is one of the hosts, Veronica, helping herself to some jello.

My friend Jim Kolbe, was gracious enough to let me use his cabin to relax at for a few days, down in Patagonia. The picture below is his patio, where I spent the evening grilling chicken, drinking beer, and smoking a cigar.

The property has a stream, and some incredible Cottonwood trees. The picture below features a huge hawk, which was evident even from far away.

I fell in love with this tree and took several pictures of it.
After my time at the cabin and in Tucson, I decided to take a short little adventure to California and Baja Mexico.

Crazy November, and Thanksgiving

2008-01-09T08:58:00.001-08:00

The month of November was unusual. I had the opportunity to attend a NetImpact conference in Nashville, as well as go directly to the Greenbuild Expo in Chicago. Then, after a week of school, I headed to Denver to meet up with "family" for Thanksgiving.

This is my friend Courtney. She invited me to the NetImpact conference, which was very interesting. She also helped out with getting the funding approved, and we had some great nights out in Nashville, so we are pretty good buddies now. Before going to Chicago, I rented a car for a quick visit to Adam's place in Knoxville. It was good to see him, and casually mentioning Thanksgiving in Colorado had him booking a flight and joining us. We both used to play trumpet, but he can actually still play.
After Tennessee, I flew to Chicago. I was able to volunteer for the conference to get free admission. It was very interesting, and I met a lot of people and learned a lot. I also got to catch up with friends and family. Sommer (below right) let me stay at her place, and then my sister came to Chicago for some training, and we all went out one night.

At the conference, at an awards ceremony, I saw my old friend Emilie Hagen get an award for some up and coming green builder competition something or other. We were best buds when we studied in Germany, and it was great to see her. She had some friends visiting in Chicago, and we all met up for drinks. Of course, I couldn't just post a posed picture.

After getting back from Chicago, I had a crazy catch up week, and it was off to Colorado for a week of relaxing and hanging out with friends. Mike Adragna and Adam Doiron flew in, and we all (Heidi, Jeannie, Matt, Meghann, George) went to a condo in Winterpark. Just a relaxing weekend of cooking and all that is inolved with that, some board games, movies, and a night in town.

Above is Mike's only visit to the kitchen. I don't think he contributed much more than helping to empty that bottle. Probably better that way, as I doubt his food would have been eaten anyway.

This is the best picture I had of us all at the table. The food was excellent.
Immediately after dinner, and for much of the rest of the weekend, the area looked a lot more like this:
We did make it town. The below picture is significant, because it illustrates the door that was just behind me, blowing cold air on me everytime anyone wanted to go outside. As the evening went on, I became quite friendly with the passersby. There was even an accident which I may have instigated, but no need to go into details.

The evening became goofy, but no need to illustrate how. I will just show you how Adam and Meghann may have reacted to a buddy reunion.

Imagine, this man, if you can call him that, is a doctor.

Heading back to Tucson

2008-01-08T16:59:00.001-08:00

After getting back to the US, I still had the trip from Denver to Tucson. I hung out with my friend Heidi(on bike) in Colorado, and checked on the renters in Ft. Collins.

After that, I found a roadtrip buddy in Meghann McCormick. She just decided to come along and fly back from Phoenix, and was excellent company. First we headed to Telluride, a place I had never been, and was beautiful (below).

That evening, she tricked me into a game of foosball, and killed me, as she was captain of her college foosball team (they have those on the east coast). She is quite competitive I learned, and I promptly beat her at everything from pool to paper rock scissor. She promised to beat me as soon as a ping pong table was available.
We went for a drive up to a waterfall, which was full of fancy 4-wheelers. I thought the road was fine, until I got the car stuck, and we had to walk on.

Meghann was also a great contributor because of her exotic sandwiches. Ostrich, buffalo, etc... we had a cooler full from her work. Here she is, offering me up a tasty gourmet sandwich, voted Boulders best.

There were many views of Americana. There wasn't a dull moment.

Coming back into Arizona, there were the beautiful sunsets I had been missing. We ended up crashing at my friend Todd's house in Flagstaff, where I showed her how to play Ping Pong, in a crowded bar.

I ended up getting her to the Phoenix airport barely in time, and was soon back in Tucson.

My last few days in Switzerland

2007-08-21T12:35:00.002-07:00

I can't do a blog of my adventures and not show pictures of the Alp, where my Grandpa has his cabin (below)

I was back for August 1st, which is Swiss Independence day. There were fireworks everywhere.

Switzerland is also a great place to catch up with family. My cousins (below) and I hitched to a lake party and got there quickly with 2 out of 3 total cars giving us a ride. The ride home took considerably longer, but did give us a ride to their door. It was great hanging out with them.

I was also able to go on an adventure with my old friend Hanspeter. We used to hang out when I visited Summers, and now he is a daddy. Below is a picture of a cliff, with the circled portion indicating where we came out of a cave, for a tremendous view.In order to get into the cave, you have to crawl through this crack, and then abseil into the pitch black hole. It was real adventure. Especially since only a handful of people have ever been inside. Not even my Grandpa knew about it. It was discovered a long time ago by a shepherd, who eventually went into the hole, and discovered a full bear skeleton, which is not in a museum.

Here we are, Hanspeter, me, and his dad. We all managed to squeeze our way to the hole. Then we enjoyed some cheese, salami, and bread. I think we also managed to finish off a bottle of wine.

Getting out of the cave was much tougher, because it inolved pulling yourself up the rope. That, among other things, showed me I am really not in very good shape.

The little red circle should be on this picture, though you may need to click to zoom. one is the entrance, the other the opening in the cliff.

I love the Swiss Mountains. If anyone has a job for me over there, please let me know.

Here is Hanspeter on another short adventure of ours, a different trip, which involved us on a little boat, swimming in the rain, on the lake near his house. We went to a small restaurant and had some fish. It was fun.

Slovakia with Sami

2007-08-21T12:35:00.001-07:00

Sami and I went to Slovakia, since he had vacation, and nothing much to do. We had a good time, as usual, with no plans at all before leaving. It was great to run into some old, very motivational friends.
For instance, Ivo Novak, an accomplished Physicist who runs a Pension and is a jack of all trades (above) let us try his home made schnapps. He also rented us some bikes and gave us a good deal on a room. He even took us to Bratislava where we stayed at his place there, had a few drinks, and a good night out.

We just headed off on the bikes, and many roads led to fields, where we made our lunch. It was a great day, but we got pretty dirty.

In the end, since I had sandals and shorts, I was elected to wash the bikes in the river, just outside town.

Ivo took us to his land, which had his fruit trees, his workshop, and his homemade house which conveniently is exactly the volume you can build without a permit. It is an excellent design, with very efficient use of space.

Here we are back in Bratislava, out at a bar where they played AC/DC and other classic hard rock, Sami's kind of music. We watched one guy make the slightest defiant gesture to the a-hole bouncer and get thrown out of there in no elegant fashion. We also had a rough time finding our little apartment, as it was in a big building that all looked the same.

Amsterdam, then Sailing in Sweden

2007-08-08T16:13:00.001-07:00

My good friend Thomas Janelid from Sweden invited me to go sailing with him in the Archipelago off the east coast of Sweden. It was a once in a lifetime opportunity. In order to get there, I had to train it to Amsterdam and catch and early morning flight. That meant hanging out at the bar below until it was very late.

Amsterdam is a beautiful city, with the canals, and art museums (yes, I did go to them for a change)

Upon arriving in Sweden, Thomas and his dad and I went directly to the boat, where Thomas swiftly insisted we needed more beer. I noticed a little tension between him and his father. It turned out to be a typical situation of a father not realizing when his son is grown, and continuing to impart his wisdom, and son doing things a little differently.

The father had recently purchased this beautiful sailboat, and Thomas wanted to use it with some friends. I didn't realize that as a condition of using the boat on his own, Thomas had to sail with his dad for a week.

This was probably the first time they had sailed together since Thomas was a boy, and Thomas later confessed part of my invitation was to act as barrier between him and his father, so that they wouldn't kill each other. He didn't quite phrase it like that, but Thomas and I are good friends and think very similar, and I knew what he meant.

We were able to get away and row to a little island to relax. The trip as great, as I learned a lot about sailing, and got to experience one of the most unique places to sail in the world. The archipelago is not very tidal, despite being on the ocean, and it has thousands of islands you can just sail up to and anchor at, thanks to the great Swedish land use laws.

For instance, our little boat adventure to an island led to wonderful contact with nature.

And an encounter with a rare poisonous snake.

We headed back to the boat in the evening, for some whisky. I learned to sort of appreciate sipping a good whisky while on board the boat after an excellent meal. Every meal, on the boat was great. I think it was the combination of the sea, and the outdoors style cooking that just made it a great experience. In the end, I became a sort of son of Thomas's dad as well. I made me think, for my dad to be a part of this trip would have been great, as the fathers had a lot in common.

Here I am piloting out little craft out to a multi million dollar sailboat. Thomas wanted to see the inside of it, and since we had helped them off the rocks the day before, we figured we had the right to stop by unannounced. We were sailing by and noticed they were crooked and still. The guy came to pick me up, and I helped him while his wife panicked. We tried to tow the boat of the rocks using the anchor, then the rescue boats came, and a camera crew to record for a show similar to COPS, but for ocean rescue. It turns out Thomas's dad called them in.

We did quite a bit of fast sailing as well, when the wind was up. As you can see below, the boat is tilted quite a lot as evidenced by my dangling feet.

That sort of sailing also caused us to rip a sail, which meant Thomas had to get hoisted up to get it down, and I spent a good deal of time sewing it up. That wasn't quite as much fun.

It was a great trip. I have been truly blessed by the great experiences I have had.

Glastonbury Music Festival and Couleur Cafe

2007-08-08T15:50:00.000-07:00

After the Camino, I met Jana in London and we went to the Glastonbury Music Festival. It was incredible the exhibits and things being shown before the music even started. Unfortunately, as you can see by the pictures, we only had very few hours of dry weather.
The first day was without music, but also the nicest weather. It was great walking around the grounds, looking at the random tents and art. there were people teaching crafts, and I even sort of learned how to play the didgeridoo.

It soon changed to almost nonstop rain, but there was also really good big bottles of cider to drink.

This festival also had great food everywhere, but getting around was quite a project, as it was on a huge farm.

The consistency of the mud was impressive. It could hardly be described. I was robbed during one of the concerts, finding my backpack open and jacket gone. See, if only it had been raining the WHOLE time, i would have been wearing it.

The atmosphere was amazing, with some amazing bands. The Killers, Modest Mouse, and many other British bands, too many to name. It was hard to decide what to see.

The festival really did a great job of providing an experience, not just music.

I was pretty much the only person without boots. to get into Glastonbury requires and act of God, and I was very lucky that my girlfriend Jana was able to get tickets. It was a shame we fought quite a lot during the weekend, which may be why we are no longer together. We did not, however, fight like the people below.
This was the Kaiser Chiefs show.

Couleur Cafe - June 29 and July 1.

Once back in Belgium, my cousin Markus came to visit for another music festival, with some interesting bands, Couleur Cafe.

At this show we saw live from Buena vista, Kelis (my milkshake brings all the boys to the yard), and Gotan Project, which is a fun tango group which was impressive.

In the picture below, the following day, is when Markus came to visit, I was interviewed for some dutch tv program. I won't explain the poem I recited, as it would probably embarrass my mom.

My cousin and Markus helped out a couple of kids see the show. That night we saw Johnny Clegg, the Roots, and Sean Paul. It was a lot of fun.

Another advantage of the festival was the food was from all over the world, with tents and spontaneous shows of drummers or dancers in the circus like atmosphere.

The festival was in an old revived warehouse area. Even the old warehouses had great architecture.

On the Camino de Santiago

2007-05-27T04:22:00.001-07:00

The Camino de Santiago is an old Pilgrims route to Santiago de Compostela, which starts from all over Europe. The 800km that are in Spain, are well developed in terms of signs and reasonable accommodation. I spent almost a month of my trip walking the Camino, and below is a short account. I highly recommend the walk, and am happy to help anyone interested in doing it.

May 22 2007
I started my journey with a long overnight train ride Brussels that landed me in Bayonne, France. I had a couple of hours to look around, and took the picture of the courtyard inside a church(below). The town was very nice, and despite having plenty of time, things started to get a bit tight as I stepped in a fresh dog poo, and then got lost on my way back to the train station. I made the train, which connected to St. Jean Pied de Port, where the Camino starts.

I started the Camino with a wiley old Italian guy, who is impossible to keep up with. I followed him off the train, which had many walkers on it, most of which were going to spend the night and start in the morning. He had a tiny backpack, so I knew he knew what he was up to. His name was Lino, and I followed him for the next 4 days, averaging 40km per day. He was truly inspirational, and full of energy. You meet a lot of people like that, though none as fast. The picture below is outside the place you get your credentials as a pilgrim, which allows you to eat and sleep cheap, all along the way.

We hit it off quickly, and when he asked me which route I preferred to take to Roncesvalles, where we would sleep, I said the higher route vs. the flat one. He wanted the flat one since he had done it all before and it was getting late, but complied. We were very lucky as it was rainy and foggy, but we ended up above it all, with a view down on the clouds where it was raining and stormy. It was a nice walk, with sheep and horses grazing lazily.

I ended up losing him when I stopped to take a picture while he headed on. There was a fork in the trail, one through a forest,the other a gravel road. The road was better, not muddy. I chose the forest, and when I realized I lost him, I started doing the Camino my way, which meant I stopped, pulled out a book, and fell asleep. Not the smartest as it was getting late, but some other hikers woke me. I arrived in Roncesvalles, met up with Lino and friends for a dinner, and then we had a group mass in several languages. We all slept in an old converted church housed with bunks.

The following morning we got up extremely early to the sound of bells and classical music being played in the old church. It was a rough night because the guy next to me kept rummaging through his bag all night, and did apologize in the morning. It was the beginning of a long journey, starting with 37km of the 790 total as illustrated.

The scenery the first full day was excellent. It was a nice day, there were cows and bulls in the fields, and I had my first sandwich (bocadillo). Later that day I walked by the building below. It has a beautiful view, isn't too far from Pamplona, and I think would make a great hostel.

The view of the mountains is just below the proposed hostel. Of course, I have many different ideas, so I have often heard I am a bit crazy. This is one of many of my ideas, and I don't know which one I will do. I encourage comments from those who read this, as to what I should do.

That second evening, we arrived at a 12th century hostel which is a church/monastery, with a lovely garden, right on the river. We once again had wine and a meal, and I met another bunch of great people. The following morning was meant to be a 50km day, the longest of the whole trip. Capper, my new friend who teaches at the University of Minnesota, and Lino had been walking together for a while, and we walked right through Pamplona without even slowing. Capper and I decided that the pace and discipline Lino had, was not the experience we wanted, so we went a bit slower, and had a nice conversation about Jack Kerouac and books. We did end up making it, and met up with Lino for a few glasses of beer and a dinner.

We ended up walking together a couple more days, though I had blistered feet.

After several days with Lino, which meant leaving at 6:30 and walking nonstop with time for a glass of milk and sandwich, until arrival at the pre-determined destination by 2 or 3pm, I headed to Brussels. I had made up a lot of time, had crazy blisters, and my girlfriend Jana had Monday off of work, so the nice long weekend sounded nice.

Returning, and my own Camino

After I returned, I was on my own and settled into my own rhythmn. It consists of leaving relatively early, walking, relaxing, reading, talking, and then walking until 9 or 10 at night. This way, I rest all day, and can walk late and avoid the noon sun. This is not how most do it. They get up very early and rush to get a bed, as they are in short supply and often gone by 2 or 3pm. For this reason, my strategy is much less stressful, since I sort of count on something working out and feel lucky if I find a place to sleep. So far,I have had to pay for one room at a hostel-cheap hotel, but the rest have all been at Albergue´s, which charge around 5Euro a night vs the 20 I paid for the hostel. One day I had to walk an extra 15km late at night arriving near 10pm when most doors shut, and was lucky that the guy running the place threw a mattress on the kitchen floor, which was also the quietest place in the building.

That same day I had the fortune of getting to walk into town with a shepherd and his dogs and donkey, from the hills. He had a 21 year old dog, who was blind and deaf, but still followed the other dogs out to the field every day. It was fun, drinking wine and talking about how his life is, and the fondness with which he spoke of his old friend (the dog) and how all the young ones weren't as disciplined workers as the old one. Incidentally, he said he never started drinking before 11a.m. (see above and below)

I also had luck the following day, where I happened upon an Italian run old church Albergue, where they blessed our feet, cooked pasta, had wine, a salad, and desert, and then had a breakfast and hot chocolate ready for us in the morning.

The following day, I arrived near 10, and had to get a hostel. Today I also stopped early at a hostel with free internet, and because I didn´t want to get into Leon too late, meaning I would miss all the sites.

In this church I met an Austrian Guidebook writer. Seemed like a pretty good deal. Walk the trail, take notes, and pictures.

The place below is inside a church, where someone volunteers and cooks meals. there is a small attic space where a bunch of mattresses are, and if there isn't room, they also put them in the actual church. I only came to look, but it was very cozy.

This is a picture of me and an Austrian guy who was in the military. Him and his friend do all sorts of adventures together, and we also kept crossing paths. I saw them several times, and on they often sang Austrian marching songs. It was a lot of fun. Ir0nically, I think I drank from this fountain, which obviously says don't drink, and that is the reason why a couple of days later I had to puke.

Here we have 3 Brazilians who managed to get a large amount of girls initiated into Brazilian culture by teaching them the girl from Ipanema in Portuguese. They had a pretty big party here, and all were friendly and Merry.

On 5/31 I met Jose Luis. He had an even smaller backpack than Lino, which always intrigues me. There were even a couple of people who had nothing, though I suspect they were just going for walks. Anyway, this intrigued me, and he also had quite a pace, so I caught up with him and we chatted. That is one of the nice things of the Camino. You can casually talk to people, and then casually move on. Anyway, we spoke, and he immediately started to tell me I was scatter brained, and that I needed to focus more on the present. That I was full of nervous energy, and that he felt like he was looking into a mirror of a younger version of himself. We had a great conversation for a few hours, and he later explained that this was the first of his trips he had to organize because he had a bad back. He had his things sent from hotel to hotel, and only carried a jacket and some water with him. He said he would have loved to carry on as I did, but because he started so early, he had to get to the place his stuff was early enough to make sure he had room, and organize the next day. A completely different way to do it. We ran into each other several times over the course of the next several days. He retired at 47, so hopefully we are quite similar after all.

This procession occured at the same place that the Brazilians are in the photo above. There was a once a year celebration due to some saint. I had kept on, but ended up coming back to the spot for the celebrations. It was good to get some local food, and music, and as I walked backwards, I ran into many friends I had passed on the way.

The picture below illustrates the morning I woke up sweating, had almost taken off everything I was wearing, and then had to vomit. I later met a German gentleman who was stuck in bed for several days because he drank some water he wasn't supposed to. That is when it became clear I probably did the same. Luckily, I only had one rough night, and it did allow me to walk completely alone at dawn.

It also turns out that my little delay, helped time a perfect entrance into Burgos, where I was able to see a procession for some other holiday. I had a great little table at a cafe with a Swiss guy, and we talked about him recently quitting his job to go to Africa and build wind turbines, despite having little to no knowledge. All very interesting.

The town below I think was Castrojeriz. It has been a while since I did the camino, and I really should have kept up on this blogging along the way. I do remember there was a great little restaurant at the beginning, with old wood screws used for pressing grapes. THere were huge fields of flowers.

After walking, and not having anywhere to be, it has been quite hard to come back to normal life. I look at the field below, and remember how several days felt so much longer, and now that I am back I am blinking though weeks without a single memory. It is really a shame. What is the happy medium?

The picture below is from when I took a fork in the road that according to some Irish ladies, was not the original trail which snakes next to the highway, but an alternate route which goes through the country. It was more scenic, and didn´t offer many towns to drink or get food at. It did offer this nice oasis near the train tracks. I went for a swim with the frogs, and continued on. That afternoon I couldn´t hike as late as I liked, because the small town I passed around 7pm had a small grocery store, where I got the usual cheese, real ham cut form the leg of a cured pig, yogurt, beer, chocolate milk, pastries, and bread. I was going to head on when the owner mentioned the next place wasn´t for another 24km. THat is quite a stretch at that time of night. I ended up chatting with some masons, running bricks up the scaffolding as they were old, and really quite lazy. I had a few drinks, and went to sleep.

In this little swimming hole there were frogs everywhere. Every time I moved, I could here them all jumping in the water.

I had my lunch in this large pipe, and fell asleep for a while. Somebody woke me, or I would have likely slept there for the night.

Below is Leon, another big city I didn't stay in. I got in early enough, and left quite late in the day, after having a beer with a German from several days before. I was sitting there relaxing and he bought me a beer, surprised I had caught up with him. I was just watching the old people at the market, thinking how there were no young people, and he was rambling on about the competition he had turned the camino into. He was upset about a fit American couple who were putting together some serious kilometers, and he thought he would show them and keep up. Turns out he had just organized a German guidebook recommended massage and was done with his personal race and was going to stay in this town for a while. Turns out while trying to keep up, he got sore, and ended up taking a taxi to pass the American couple who were unknowingly in the race, due to their comment earlier in the trip of how surprised they were to see him again. He sure showed them, being at the next stop first, despite leaving later (and the use of a taxi) Goofy the little competitions we create. I just listened.

This cathedral, not far from the market, warranted another little sit down and an icecream. People watching is great.

The consequences and rewards of walking late.

I have taken many pictures of the sky, and the clouds. Things you really don't notice in the day to day. The evening I walked real late, I purchased a cigar, again trying to figure out what my dad likes so much about them. Apparently, when you walk, and smoke a cigar, you can get quite a buzz. I must have looked crazy whistling in the dark and smoking a cigar at a brisk pace. That night, I rolled into a small town that was having some other sort of band that night. THe hospitallero left the door open for me, so I could leave and come back late at night. It was fun, with crazy dancing and a live band with trumpets. The following morning, I had a late breakfast, and met Petra, a girl from Switzerland. We walked and talked together.

This view comes from a mountain pass, probably one of the highest points of the camino. I scrambled up to the peak, despite the trail being far below. I actually had an Austrian follow me because he thought I must know something. I just sat there and noticed the light green patches in the mountain looked like a man with a bird about to land on his arm. My imagination is creative when I am daydreaming in the car, so if I am doing it all day, it gets pretty out there(you probably have to click on the picture to zoom in and see what I am talking about)

I spent a few days walking with this group, on and off. Petra and Christi, the two ladies next to me were fun company. We hung out for a while, always crossing paths. Petra and I ended up walking for several days, speaking Swiss german. We had all sorts of adventures, even though we didn't walk together too much, we seemed to end up in the same places a lot. This was a crazy lot of people, with one having a baby push cart as his backpack, another with great Camino tatoos from prior trips, and another pushing a bicycle the whole way. A real fun group of mostly Spaniards. I love it when people don't take themselves too seriously.

Petra and I sat down and made snacks, much like a table at a marathon for those that walked by. It was fun handing out apple slices, and cheese, and whatever we had in our bag. That is actually how we ended up with the group at the end of the day. We ended up having our own personal rest stop, though later that day I would get lost off on my own, and my leg would start to hurt me for the first time. I believe it was shin splints.

This stop is the home of an eccentric guy who claims to be the last soldier or protector of the pilgrim trail. Story has it that those templars who used to fight for the church, and went to the crusades and such, also protected pilgrims back when the road was dangerous. Now, he has this little stop with no running water, and offers food and shelter. He has several swords and pets, and had some french gypsies camping out behind his place who played a lot of guitar. The whole town was abandoned long ago.

This picture was taken of "Camino", a Spanish girl who was actually named Camino, walking the camino. the town had an exposition on the camino de santiago, with pics from the whole trip.

Galicia is the last region of Spain, and the home of the city Santiago de Compostela.

Vineyards like this, with large trees which soon became the norm along the countryside were wonderful to walk through.

It was almost sad to be coming towards the end of the trip.

I liked this picture, an old citroen french car and an old John Deere tractor, parked next to each other

The trail could take you into some small towns, though the equivalent of alleys.

This tree was called, "el Milenario" for supposedly being a thousand years old. Castellano, which is a way to say the language of Spanish in Spanish, is also the type of tree, but don't quote me.

Getting tight on time, I was stretching my kilometers, really pushing myself to make my flight. Now I was feeling the consequences of walking backwards one day. I tried creams, and once warmed up would not stop walking all day because if it cooled down, I could hardly walk again. For instance, I would walk into a restaurant, order a sandwich or tortilla to go, and then walk in circles around the place until they were done, so i would not stop.

Though I was never rained on until the end of the trip, I had one instance where I could have avoided the rain by simply sitting in and having my food during a shower. I decided to keep walking because of my shin, so I walked in the pouring rain. At one point, I saw a guy who had just stopped, frozen, with this horrible scowl on his face as it poured down. I couldn't help myself, as I was in a great mood, moving along to stay warm. I had to just start laughing out loud. Likely another moment people thought I was crazy.

one hundred kilometers to go. Piece of cake. These markers were few and far between early in the trail, and now they were quite common, since so many people only walk the last bit, since they can still qualify for the certificate. I found them annoying, because I liked not knowing, and now the concept of time and distance was coming back. I would check my watch and watch my pace. All foreign concepts just a week ago.

This picture illustrates my lost socks. Petra threw them out the window because I farted on her in a hostel. What she didn't know was that "out the window" meant into a neighbors yard, where there was a vicous dog. I lost the socks, one of only 3 pairs. Oh well.

This lovely old lady talked to me for hours, about her town, kids, late husband, tradition, the city, etc.... It was really nice, we hugged, and I moved on. She showed me her garden, her trees, and her tiny town. Sometimes a simple, "is the trail this way?" turns into a few hours of doing nothing and talking.

In this bar, maybe 20km from Santiago, I stopped in for a sandwich in the morning, and stayed all day and a good part of the next day. they played music, drew all over my shirt. I gave the bearded guy my shirt, and he ripped it to his liking and drew all over it. It was fun helping out with the bartending and serving the passing pilgrims. We ended up going out in town, giving some pilgrims a ride to Santiago, and I slept in a tent outside in the rain. The guy with the beard was quite a character, walking every year, with his dog, making jewelry to sell, and having no agenda at all.

The end, the goal. the church. That night, I found this amazing cuban guy and his daughters playing music. It was the perfect ending. Sitting, listening to cuban music. What a trip. Highly recommended.

In Europe

2007-05-27T04:21:00.002-07:00

When I arrived in Europe, my girlfriend Jana met me at the airport. We had a few days in London, where we got to do a bit of city exploring, found her dream car if she were to ever own one, and I met several of her friends. This is how my European adventures began.

After a few day there, we headed back to Brussels, where if I have time I can add some more pictures and stories, but at the moment I am on the Camino.

USA Roatrip

2007-05-27T04:21:00.001-07:00

After my long time away, I had to get back to the states, to get my taxes and school in order. I stopped at my Great Uncle Walter's house, and we ended up having an easter egg hunt at my 2nd cousin Heidi's house.

Anthony, another 2nd cousin, took me to the A's game with him. It was a great game, where the A's won in the last inning, with a grand slam home run.

When I got back to Arizona, adventures began almost immediately, as I was persuaded to go on a fishing trip up to northern Arizona, Showlow area, and since it was getting late we got a motel and I showed Andy how to play a bit of pool.

We did a bit of fishing the following day, and it was quite windy. I ended up going for a bike ride, apparently during the only time the fish were biting.

Andy ended up showing me how to fish, it seems, as I caught none. We had a good time, fishing late at night, having a few drinks, cooking all our meals on the fire, etc...

The mountain biking was great. I ended up seeing what I think was a wolf, and I also got lost. I ended up making it back ok in the end, as always.

Once back in Arizona, Andy, Mike Adragna, Travis, and some others went to a comedy club. After midnight, it was my birthday, so we stayed out quite late and acted like young people do on a birthday night. In the end, Mike and I got off to a late start the next day.

Mike has actually been invited to do the text on this portion of our roadtrip, as a guest writer. Enjoy!

On the way up to Ft. Collins, I stopped with Alison, to do some horse riding.

After Chicago, I was able to see my mom at a party, and then headed out to Madison where I met my old friend Ethan at Mickeys for some lunch and good conversation.

Heidi joined me in Minneapolis, and she is going to do a bit more writing here as well. Enjoy!

Yangshuo, one last Chinese Adventure

2007-05-27T03:46:00.000-07:00

In Yangshuo I had a wonderful time. I am even thinking of hosting a trip there for climbers (anyone interested?) I am serious, and think it could be a lot of fun to get some friends to come.

The first picture is Guilin, which is a nice city, but a city. The limestone is nice, but as you spend more time in the area, you realize it can get much better. I heard of a boat down the river, and tried to get to the river via motorcycle taxi because I figured I could get a ride on any old boat, rather than the expensive tourist boat, which has a monopoly due to "safety".

My driver spoke no english, but tried to help me when I was proven wrong, and could not get a ride on the river. I was determined to get to Yangshuo somehow. We tried the boat below, and I took several pictures of the ride, as can be seen from the next few fotos.

I eventually had to catch a bus we flagged down on the street. I ended up in Yangshuo, found a cheap place, and wandered about. In the morning, I rented a bike, though it was sort of raining and I got quite muddy.

It was very fun biking about, with many nice views.

For instance, everywhere was like below, with rice patties and such. Note, it isn't very easy riding between rice patties, and quite scary really.

I ended up going climbing with some locals. It was a lot of fun, though my hands were out of shape and gear was bad. I took them out for some szechuan food, and we played this fun feather sack kicking game.

This is the cliff we climbed.

In Yangshuo itself, there is a market, and if you pass behind it, by several houses, there is a trail to the tv tower. I took this trail just before leaving, and had splendid views and complete solitude, within the town itself.

This last image, was taken in a market in my last day there, beside it was a cage full of live dogs as well.

Random Adventure back on track

2007-04-01T06:14:00.000-07:00

I am sitting in a cafe, with a beer and some Spring Rolls happy to report the Random Adventure is back on track. This morning, I went to the airport with my moms friends to see if I could get to Guilin. I have been helping out at home while my mom had friends visiting, and am happy to report that my dad is doing great after the knee opration. As my time in China is now limited to one week, I decided I wanted to go see Yangshuo, featured in Outside magazine this year. Anyway, I went to the airport with a backpack, bought a ticket at a counter, and soon found myself on a public bus, eating noodles and having a drink with a random, walking up a mountain for a view, and on a motorcycle tax on the way to try and hitch a ride on a boat by the river. I failed at that, as the government has regulated tourism so heavily here that it is virtually impossible to do that. I ended up skipping the boat, got back on the motorcycle, and had a great back roads journey through rice patties, wood drying places, and all sorts of beautiful scenery on my way to the enxt nearest major road, where the driver helped me flag down a bus and off I was.

I arrived in Yangshuo and looked into my bus home. Then I had some begetable dumplings, wandered about and realized this is where I need to be. Loads of biking, the climbing capital of China, and caving, kayaking, etc.. I found a room with a soft bed (very rare in china) for about $6, and started wandering again. Now I find myself in a cafe, having a drink waiting on a Spring Roll. W will soon get offline, read a bit of my latest book, and watch people wander by as I daydream.

Stay posted. In the next month I wil be in California, playing Softball in Mexico, giong to Colorado on my way to a wedding in Chicago, heading back to Chicago, and off to Europe. I am happy to report I am back. Sorry for the long delay. I will update and add pics soon.

Therapy in China

2007-03-22T01:10:00.000-07:00

My goal for my random adventure may seem like it was completely random, but it also involved helping out at home while my dad had knee surgery. My dad and I are quite similar in that personal needs can go ignored when there is a job to do. Once my father was finally pushed into getting his knee surgery, he immediately felt that he would be ready to go back to work. His progress is excellent, but one doesn't recover from something like that immediately, and here I am 2 weeks after the surgery at his work while he is in a meeting. My job, is to make sure that he does all of his physical therapy, and that he actually ices his knee and rests. It is quite fun staying at home again. I know what it is like to recover from surgery, and therapy is usually always skipped, reduced, put off, etc... Since there aren't therapists in this part of China, that is why I am here, and why I haven't been to consistent with the blog. As soon as things are better, I may take another trip within China. In any case, I will try and update the past articles a bit better, maybe improve the site, and add some more pictures.

Motorbikes, like a game

2007-02-27T07:29:00.000-08:00

Riding around on a motorbike in Vietnam was truly fun. I started renting a bike one afternoon in Hoi An and had solitary rides through rice patties and became accustomed to riding in the town with many pedestrians and other motorbikes. The unwritten rule, I quickly understood, was just don't hit anything in front of you, and don't worry about anything hitting you. In this way, you don't stop at intersections, and you don't go so fast that you can't stop. Whatever you do, never stop. This causes chaos as everyone is watching you and where you are going, and if you stop and go, it is impossible to tell, and intersections get clogged.

When I got back to Hanoi, I once again rented a motorbike and realized there were sevral levels to this game. Level one, country side. Level 2, small town. Level 3, big city with cars. Level 4, trying to navigate using a map and reading road signs. Level 5, same as level 4 but with rain. Level 6, in darkness. I only made it to level 6, the later levels include more and more passengers, higher speeds, etc....

It was challenging and always an adventure. The system actually works quite well. I did see a guy in front of me get run over by a car. he was thrown, but realized he did cut the car off, so he picked up his motorbike, his passenger checked all his limbs, and they got out of the street. I guess there is really only one kind of game over.

Vietnam for Chinese New Year

2007-02-25T22:48:00.000-08:00

I have been in Vietnam for over a week now and love it. The food is excellent, the scenery beautiful, and the people are very friendly. I came here with my parents for Chinese New Year,and my dad left yesterday to go back to work.
So far, we had a beautiful boat trip in Halong Bay, which included beautiful limestone caves and kayaking. The guide was very friendly and celebrated Lunar New Year when the guests went to sleep with the staff and myself which included rice wine and excellent food.

Our last night on the boat, the guide and I and one of the staff took a small boat to a floating Karaoke bar/fish market/home (see picture)
After a couple of days of that, we had a day in Hanoi which we used to do see a waterpuppet show. We also flew to Hue, which once once the capital for a short time and had a tour of the city, which had an excellent palace. After that, we spent a few days in Hoi An, which was a nice town with old architecture and I ended up getting a suit made. I also had the chance to rent a motorbike which was excellent fun as I could explore the countryside while listening to music.
On my trip, I met some old ladies making pottery for sale in town who invited me to also make a pot. It was good fun, and they helped me and then wanted me to sign it. I also met a lady smoking a homemade cigar.

Since my dad also likes cigars and hadn't found any in Vietnam, I asked her, and eventually started to roll a makeshift cigar from a bag of tobacco leaves.

After my dad left, my mom and I took an overnight train to Sapa, where we did some hiking around minority villages. It has been a lot of fun and we got to see how different people live and dress. The scenery is gorgeous with the rice patties shaping the mountain landscapes.

China Travels, all the way to the Great Wall

2007-02-15T15:53:00.000-08:00

On January 14th, Jana arrived with my sister leaving the following day. Since then Jana and I did a whirlwind tour of China, including stops in Hangzhou, Shanghai, Taishan, Beijing, Xian, and Chengdu.

As my sister missed her flight (it must run in the family) Jana and I stayed a few days in Hong Kong. We were able to see most of the sites, as well as eat on the peak at night, wander along the bay, etc..

After spending a week with my parents, we decided to a quick tour of China together.

Hangzhou
We flew into Hangzhou on the evening of Sunday Jan. 21st. Believe it or not, the hotel we found online was on top of a Ferrari dealership and convenient for walking around Westlake and into town. That evening we went for a walk and found some markets. Already, it was difficult restraining myself as there was limited room in our one small piece of luggage. This would continue to be an issue throughout the trip.
The weather was misty, but we rented bikes and rode around the lake. There were many beautiful bridges, amazing landscaping, and trails.

On the way to the train on our second day there, we walked right by a newly opened Hooters. As Jana had never been in one, we went in for some wings and a drink. The proprietor told us we missed our last train to Shanghai, so we went and got a room at the local hostel, which would end up having the softest mattress of our entire trip (mattresses are typically very hard) This was fine, however, as the following day we were able to see a Pagoda (see golden room picture) despite it being rebuilt somewhat tackily, and a street which was quite authentic where medicine (and now tourist stuff as well) See picture.

Shanghai Arriving in Shanghai was the equivalent of leaving China. It is very modern, an excellent subway system with an entire part of the network not even in our guide yet. We arrived quite late, and after walking in the wrong direction for a bit, decided we would go eat before going to the hostel. We wandered along a street full of little carts, and had wonderful dumplings and chocolate covered fruits. After that, we walked past some really nice architecture, went up to have a look at a rotating restaurant which was quite tacky, and found the Nepalese restaurant we were looking for was now a Frech cafe. We decided on eating at a Chinese place and had green mangoes, dumplings for me once again, and some vegetables. Walking back, we past a 24 hour Mcdonalds (pictured) and I noticed what I expected was apple pie was filled with peas. The picture above is of our "voluntary" guide when we went to see some sites.

After sleeping in and getting some really good coffee, we walked along the river (as much as possible as consruction forces you in and around so much it is quite difficult) The skyline is impressive, especially when you consider that 20 years ago there was only farmland on the opposite side of the river. We were able to cross the river on a ferry full of motorbikes, and then walked to the Pearl Tower. It was expensive to get in, but had a nice view, and a memorable museum.

We also had an excellent pannini at a restaurant nearby, and wandered around. That evening, after a wonderful Italian dinner by the river, we took the tourist tunnel back under the river towards our hotel, which had many neon lights (pictured).
It was touristy, but very cool, and we were the last ones to go before it closed fr the night. A quick game of Sega Outrun at an attached arcade, and some basketball, and we were on our way. When we got to the other side, we had a drink and took a cab to a western part of town, where we found a rock bar and played darts before going to bed.

Shanghai is very modern, with huge towers, modern buildings, and western chain restaurants on every corner. There was a lovely garden which was very Chinese, but other than that it was very western. In a temple is where we met the guide pictured above, and he showed us the garden, we had tea, excellent shrimp dumplings, and ended up wanting a sizeable tip. Later that night we made our way to the park, had a chance to view a couple of museums, and missed our original train after an excellent dinner on top of a museum.

Taishan

We missed our original train despite being 3 minutes early. Apparently several trains leave early, and ours was one of them. I was able to manage to get a partial refund, and we took a slow train and managed to get a place to sleep.

The first train only got us half way to our destination of Taishan, and ended up in Bengbu, a small town on the way. When we found another trainwhere there were no seats available, and we needed to pay to eat in the dining car in order to have a place to sit.

Once we arrived in Taishan we organized a hotel and figured out how to get to the sacred mountain. Over 6000 steps later and after having passed several temples, we reached the top. There were excellent views, we were the only westerners all day. It was an amazing day, with beautiful views and experiences. For instance, we had hot Red Bull(quite good) and I likely hurt my back trying to help a porter who gets paid $4 per trip (2 per day) when he carries 100lbs of incense and tourist products up the mountain. On top we did several minor hikes all alone, ate onion and funny sauce crepes, and took a cable car down. Since we were not able to get transportation all the way to Beijing, we ended up getting a bus to Jinan. There we found a nice hotel with internet in the room which was very inexpensive, 3-wheeled taxis, and another large serving of dumplings. The following morning we took a bus with beds on it to Beijing. On this bus we met an artist who shared his chicken feet and beer with me.

Beijing

Once we arrived, we took a cab to the Lama hostel. After that we used all sorts of public transport to navigate our way to a lovely Italian restaurant. In Beijing, after renting bikes, we were able to visit Chairman Mao's tomb (fully preserved, strangely yellow), the Forbidden City as well as the well hidden Starbucks within it, and a large hill behind the city where we met yet another friendly couple willing to invite us for overpriced tea.

The following day was a visit to the Summer palace, which was a gorgeous area outside Beijing, which was built when an empress used the money which was supposed to be used for a navy, to build a large palace area instead. There was a stone boat in the surrounding lake, and nice bridges and buildings.

The following morning, due to having very little time and having to catch a train that evening, we hired a cab for the whole day to go the great wall. This was actually quite good as we were able to go to a remote portion, and walk opposite of where most tourists go. We still managed to buy some morning dumplings for energy, have our own followers who claimed to be walking the same way, but were really trying to guilt us into buying something. I offered to pay them to leave us alone, and when I did, one requested I also buy something. This upset me greatly, and I demanded he give me some postcards as I already paid for them. They left us alone.

The walk was truly refreshing, and the views were nice. I realized that it may not be possible to do a walk like that in the near future as the "renovation" was evident in most places, and would likely transform the wall into something not as magical as it is in its present condition.

Some of the steep parts of the wall, and the twists and turns were truly amazing. To think of how something like that was built so long ago. After the wall, we had the cab meet us at another point on the wall and we headed back to the city where we grabbed our things, had a drink and some excellent pizza, and headed to the train station.

Xian
The train to Xian was excellent as there were only 4 beds per room, and they were comfortable, even an LCD screen with some program on Basketball on. There was a friendly gentleman sharing the room with us because the room he was supposed to be in stunk of feet. Arriving in Xian the following morning, we left our things at the train station and headed to see the Terra Cotta Army by public bus. The army itself is very amazing, but the compound that houses it seemed a bit too commercial, and parts weren't ideal for preserving them for the future. It was very interesting, and I did learn a lot, but was not too upset to get on a late train towards Chengdu.
Shortly before the train, we ended up grabbing some KFC and a coffee as it was late and most things were closed. I can't rememeber the last time I had KFC, but it tasted quite good.

Chengdu

The train to Chengdu was extrememly slow, despite being designated as fast. It seemed to halt for much of the night while other trains passed us. The bathroom facilities, after being on a train for 20 hours, were not the best. Unfortunately we did not get the luxury sleepers this time, and the train was crowded. We managed to get a lot of reading done, and saw some very nice landscapes.

Upon arriving in Chengdu, we ended up taking a bicycle taxi to a place called Grandma's place. It was another excellent meal (yes, the meals were getting progressivly more western) The following morning was a lovely trip to the Panda Research Park north of Chengdu. Chengdu also had excellent markets and food, and we were able to go to Qingcheng, a Taoist mountain retreat. This was a lovely hike which went through amazing forests and finshed with a huge Pagoda with a golden steer. THe walk down was also nice, meandering through several monk habitations, and ended with a boat trip across a lake.

China, a land of Contrast

2007-01-25T09:58:00.000-08:00

I have been travelling around again, and have been in Hangzhou and Shanghai so far. In Hangzhou, there was a beautiful lake and huge bike trails and where all the scooters are electric, and I came from a place with horrible air and trucks working around the clock. Now, in Shanghai there are toilets with heated seats, which wash and massage your dirty parts, where most of China requires squatting and doesn't have toilet paper. The down side, of course, is the costs here are much higher, and there are McDonalds, Starbucks, Pizza hut, KFC, and every other chain around every other corner. In an effort to be modern, Neon, cars, and excess have replaced culture and history.

I will write more as I have time.

Off to discover China

2007-01-19T05:21:00.000-08:00

After spending some time at home, I have organized a trip to fly to Shanghai, use the train system for a couple of weeks, and fly back from Chengdu. This should involve stops in Beijing, Xi'an, and TaiShan, and whatever happens along the way. It was important to do this now as the closer you get to Chinese New Year, the harder it all becomes. I have had a good time so far shopping, exploring Hong Kong, and having massages. Now I will be off to more adventure. I will update when I can, and hope to have excellent pictures when I return.

In China now, where pure capitalism is evident daily

2007-01-07T20:07:00.000-08:00

I have officially moved in with my parents again. I never though it would happen, but it is only temporary. It is strange being here because though things are cheap, you have no consumer confidence in even the stuff that is expensive. Quality is often poor. Another thing is the internet, which often doesn't work and is different. For instance, the blogger page can only be accessed in Chinese, which is ok since I am familiar with it, but I cannot understand what 编辑文章 means.

The great news is it is the perfect place to relax because doing things takes so much time and preparation, that it is often best to just relax. I have had several massages, have done quite a bit of shopping with my mom and sister. Now that I am settling in slowly, I have been able to get some pictures up (the one below is my mom and I SPR coffee, a coffee shop which has ripped off everything from Starbucks. Keep in mind, where my family lives is one of the few remaining places on earth where there is no starbucks.)

In the meantime, it is not at all obvious that this is a communist country. My dad and I went to get our hair cut and on the walk there he commented that since the last time he went, several new restaurants had opened, on the street mind you, as well as little shops offering all the strangest things. Here, the minute there is any sort of demand, a shop opens as very little is needed to subsist. Another example of how market driven the area is the rampant closing of western restaurants and shops where a recent Shell Oil community was just relocated. The shops opened to cater to the foreigners, and closed when they left.

After walking with my dad, the hair cut was phenomenal. It comprised of an excellent head massage which lasted for nearly an hour, and comprised several hair washes and conditioning. Then I got a neck, arm, shoulder, and back massage before finally being seated for my haircut. That only lasted about 30 minutes. The whole procedure cost less than $2. I can get used to this.

New Year in Thailand

2006-12-31T04:38:00.000-08:00

View from the beach seconds from our room.
I was in Thailand for Christmas and New Years relaxing with my family. We stayed on Kata beach, and had several excellent buffet breakfasts, days reading on the beach, and massages.
My dad and I took a day on a scooter which we had to rent from a kid because all the scooter places didn't have any left. It was quite fun and we got all sorts of comments on why we were driving on such an old scooter. I could hardly use the front brake as it shook so bad.We ate New Years dinner at a Swiss owned restaurant on the water(see pic) and my dad and I had cigars.
My dad had to leave us after New Years to go back to China and work. My mom, sister, and I headed to bangkok where we took a few days to take in the sites, and of course, a few more massages.
We had several tours and I was extremely impressed by the royal palace, which was perfectly groomed and I have never seen so much gold.My sister and I posed with peace signs as we got such a kick out of how many asian tourists pose with peace signs for photographs. If anyone knows why, please let me know.
This does not do the palace justice, but it does show some of the detail on a roof, and shows the trees a bit as well. It was incredible.After visiting the palace, we had an excellent little tour with the nicest tuk tuk driver(pictured), and had an excellent price as well. After a bit too many things seemed like coincidences, and we were able to avoid a jewelry scam that involved him, a nice professor at a fancy Buddha, and a really classy jewelry store. It is a long story, but we did not lose any money. I am slowly getting a bit street wise in my old age.

Switzerland with Family, India Cancelled

2006-12-20T08:48:00.000-08:00

Due to my flight issues, I decided to stay in Europe until I go to China.

I was able to visit my grandparents, uncle and aunt, cousins, etc.. the top picture is of us all eating chicken at this great restaurant.
Earlier that morning I went for a hike in the snow with Jana. It was fun but as usual, I got lost in the woods and was amongst cross country ski trails. When I finaly saw a gravel road and a car, I sprinted to ask for directions to the place my car was. At this point, Jana pointed out it was abou 100 yards away. Later that afternoon we went to Zug and had a walk around the old town and I did some shopping for my mom. My godfather also invited us for a drink, where I had an incredible hazelnut hot chocolate. I also went out with my cousins to see a great cover band. It was a lot of fun, and I even ran into some old friends in the club which I hadn't seen in a long time.
The bottom pictures are in zurich with my friends Martin and Beatrice, and a view of Zurich as it is beautiful and also needs to be included in all the beautiful places I have been.

I barely made the flight to Korea due to the airport being very crowded, a minor passport issue (details) and the fact I though my fight was about an hour later than it actually was. It seems I am cursed to rush, no matter how hard I try to be early. All worked out, and I didn't have another flight disaster. All is excellent, and I wish all Happy holidays.

Safari

2006-12-14T01:33:00.000-08:00

I think all is sorted out with the ticket and leaving, so now I will briefly explain my safari.

I went to Lake Manyara and Ngorogoro crater. Both were nice, I saw loads of animals, witnessed lions having um... mating. I saw baboons doing the same. I also saw loads of other animals, including elephants, giraffes, water buffalo, monkeys with blue balls, flamingos, rhino, gazelle, dik dik's and much more.

That was brief. Picture may follow, though I am not sure when. The picture is me changing a tire. I could loads of animals up, but just go to the discovery channel and the pictures might be better.

Stuck in Africa; The Death of Customer Service!

2006-12-09T07:24:00.000-08:00

I missed my flight because what was supposed to be sorted out wasn't. I will transcribe what I wrote down last night to adequately paint a picture of what I have gone through with Delta. From my journal, the second entry I wrote so far:

It is not that uncommon for me to miss a flight. Usually though, it can be attributed to some fault of my own, and Io am completely comfortable with it. This time, I am truly upset because of the amount of tike I, my sister, and my friends have spent trying to avoid this very situation.
Let me preface this story won the death of customer service in the U.S. by stating that when I came back from the airport at nearly midnight after having missed a flight, I was clearly frustrated, but broken, and briefly informed that my hotel was full. I am not sure if it was excellent customer service, or my silent look fo desperation, but I am now iuna bed that belongs to a student guide, with all o fhis personal belongings beside me. I di buy him a drink, and I believe he is sleeping in a tent tonight, but going above and beyond for a customer is what service is about, and they excelled at it here. With not a room available in the entire Meru House hotel, I received a bed at no charge when I needed it most.
Now let me give you an example of horrible customer service, bordering on illegal I believe. I discovered I was missing one solitary ticket about 3 weeks ago. Whether it was stolen, missing, or pulled by the agent when I came to Kilimanjaro (which is what I believe happened since it was written in my record) is not the point. The point is I proactively contacted KLM 3 weeks ago by visiting their office. They told me award tickets needed to be dealt with by the issueing airline, and that Delta in the U.S. simply needed to issue an electronic replacement since I had all the other tickets. They assured me the Delta online help desk was excellent and not to worry. As I was leaving for Zanzibar the following morning, I wrote a book of an email to the online help desk explaining I was in Tanzania mostly without power, that I would be away from phones and power for nearly a week, the situation, gave all my numbers, credit card info, etc.. I also explained how KLM had instructed me they could not help, and that I had personally visited their office. 3 days later I received a 1 sentence reply stating I needed to contact their “partner” KLM, and the details of their U.S. offices.
When I received this notice while on Zanzibar, I was a little bit upset, but decided to spend a fortune and call Delta, wait on hold, and speak to an agent. After some investigating and some more hold time, I was directed to visit the KLM office. After I once again explained I already had, she told me to visit the one at the airport, as if the head office of Tanzania was not capable of doing what a small airport staff could. I remained calm and asked the agent to put what she told me in writing and email it to me so that I could take it to KLM and they would be more helpful. She replied that she would, and I received a copy of my itinerary with no notes or statements emailed to me. This of course, I already had and was completely useless. I did, however, ask to be transferred to the international Frequent Flier around the world desk, which 9 out of 10 times has meant I get transferred to a different desk and waste more time on hold. She did manage to do this though, and the new agent I spoke with promised to contact KLM personally and sort things out. I asked for an email on the progress when she was through, but she mentioned she was not able to do so because they were not authorized, but that she would request authorization to do so. Again, I left with some hope, and a bill for nearly $50U.S.
When I returned to Dar Es Salaam, having not received an email, I returned to the KLM office. This time I stated Delta told me they could help, and was directed to an agent who specialized in reward travel, though she was busy for 45 minutes counting money. After she listened to my story, looked at my reservation, and saw the notes of the conversation with KLM, she instructed me to call Senegal, as the note stated that Senegal had Delta ticketing authority and that she could not help me. This made no sense to me, and meant more long distance calls and a third party, but I could not work with Delta because of the 10 hour time difference, so I called Senegal after leaving KLM with a print-out of my ticket notes. Both numbers listed were for a hotel in Senegal, which spoke only French, and had no ticketing info. Why Senegal was ever involved still confuses me, but I try not to think about it.
At this point I am wasting entire days dealing with this, and have even been to the airport in Dar Es Salaam. That evening, after convincing a call place to stay open late, I once again spoke with Delta, was cut-off, and tried again. Again a lot of hold time, but the last agent I spoke with was very positive, stating I could have a friend fill out a lost ticket form, and if I didn’t go to India, the entire thing could be ticketed electronically. At this point I was tired of traveling, and wanted to just go direct to China, maybe with a bit of a stay in Europe if possible, and asked the agent to figure something out and that I would email my sister to continue in my place. She gave my sister authority to do so, and said she would try and get me to China direct from Europe. I had a bus to Mbeya early the next morning, so I emailed my sister all the details, and left it in her hands.
The following evening I received an email from my sister stating that after hours on the phone, I needed to go to Senegal. Thousands of miles away, and I seem to remember something about visiting KLM. No progress at all whatsoever. This email prompted an email to my friend Brian about the lost ticket application, and my friend Adam chatted with me while I was online and also offered to help. Between the 3 of them, I ended up with an email stating KLM Amsterdam had faxed Kilimanjaro airport, I just needed to go there and fill out a lost ticket application, pay a fee, and they would give me a new ticket. Again, I felt positive, though I was a 15 hour bus ride from Arusha.
I arrived in Arusha on late Sunday night, and once again called Delta because it was my preference to just do the application the day I left, rather than pay $50US taxi to the airport, or take a bus for more than an hour to fill out an application. I was assured that I could do it the day of departure. I even asked if they could check on possibly flying from Zurich to China instead of India, and the agent promptly found an available flight. I asked him to change nothing, but to reserve the flight. Again, I got off the phone feeling positive, but skeptical, and emailed my sister to confirm what the gentleman said as I was going on a safari for the next 3 days. She did call them, and said everything was legit.
That brings me to today, the 13th of December, and the day of my departure. I actually arrived very early for my flight, and apparently Amsterdam never contacted KLM, and a new ticket would cost near $2000. I called Delta, they couldn’t help, so I asked them to note they needed to reimburse me. I was not able to buy a ticket however because they didn’t accept credit cards at the airport. My following Delta calls kept getting cut-off, or I was on hold while my phone credit ran out, or I was transferred to the wrong people. I left my sister a message to sort things out again, having spent nearly $300 U.S. on calls, internet, taxi, bus, hotel, etc…. I am still here.

Wish me luck. Thanks Michelle, Brian, and Adam for all your help. I am tired and looking forward to Christmas, or any resolution really. Tomorrow is another day.

Sorry for writing a book.
Thanks,
Christoph

Zanzibar, Dar, and Mbeya

2006-12-04T07:22:00.000-08:00

Happy December! Christoph (freshly shaved) and I (this is Heidi writing for a bit) are in Mbeya, TZ at my cousin Nicki’s house.. he is actually cleaning off the kitchen table right now, which impressed me. We are listening to Paul Simon and attempting to write about our trip post-Kilimanjaro.. it’s quite a task b/c we don’t really remember what we did. Time seems to blur together.. days fade into each other, even though we haven’t done that much. The hike down from the summit of Kilimanjaro was an epic descent from snow at 5896m to dense rainforest and of course rain at 1600m in the course of 8-10 hours. The actual descent back to our base camp was 3-4 hours depending.. I was zombie like b/c didn’t have enough fluids or energy given that at altitude I didn’t feel like eating anything and when I did eat two bites of the celebratory pumpkin clif bar in honor of thanksgiving I immediately felt like throwing up. Being awake for more than 24 hours and hiking for most of that also added to our sheer exhaustion.
Upon completing the hike, we next spent 2 days or so hanging out in Arusha sleeping and eating and getting our laundry done and going out of course. Some highlights of that time included tasteless pizza, swimming at a hotel pool, going out to Masai camp and chilling in a tree house and hammocks, atm adventure walks, and a rainbow. We took a bus to Dar es Salaam to make our way to Zanzibar.. an 8 hour bus ride. We stayed 2 nights in Dar at the lovely YWCA.. still with Chris, Jaci and Jana.. enjoying traveling as a group. We ate some of the best Indian food I’ve ever had at a local restaurant.. all vegetarian.. all Indian people aside from us.. it was delicious. After some logistical issues.. we realized that Christoph had lost (or I had lost) his airline ticket from Kilimanjaro to Amsterdam.. the first leg of his trip after leaving Africa and heading to India and then China.. a critical piece of paper suddenly missing. Also, his atm card wasn’t working so all money was coming from me and we were splitting it. This involved me going to the atm everyday and withdrawing the max amount.. about 300usd. We spent a ridiculous amount of money in 2 weeks. Going out to eat and drink and taxis and basically living like westerners.. Africa is cheap but only if you do it like a local would. We are planning on starting that lifestyle now, or at least a bit closer to that lifestyle. One thing that is wonderful is the produce.. mangos for 20cents, whole pineapples for a dollar.. and they are awesome. Very good seafood on Zanzibar.. and cashews everywhere, much better than cashews in the states.. and excellent curries and Indian food. Coffee leaves much to be desired but good spice tea on Zanzibar. Christoph is doing lunges right now with his backpack on.. we have not exercised much at all either.. or at all.. aside from swimming a bit.

Zanzibar
It was so hot on Zanzibar that we were moving at a snail’s pace in everything that we did.. pole pole.. Swahili for slowly. We were introduced to this phrase when hiking Kili and it seeps into all African life. I see that my portion of the blog entry is a lot of rambling. I’ll try and focus.
Zanzibar.. ferry from Dar is 1.5 hours and about 35 usd. Local ferry is 2usd and 7 hours on a dhou.. local boat. Westerners take the fast one of course. We were barraged at the port by people trying to sell us tickets as there are many different ferries. We are used to being barraged by people trying to sell us stuff.. this happens constantly.. but this time was especially bad. I was starting to lose it.. thankfully Christoph helps me keep it together quite well and we take it in stride. And then a guy shows us where the grocery store is so we can buy some stuff before we get on.. and when we get back to the port he wants money, 3,000 tsh (Tanzania shillings- 1,300 is 1usd).. which is way more than we wanted to pay.. especially since all help is unsolicited and they basically force it on you and then demand money. This guy was quite angry that we weren’t going to pay him and started telling all the people around us.. and there were a lot.. that he helped us and we refused to pay him. Finally.. we entered the gates to get on the boat and all the touts remained on the outside. Our friends were suppose to meet us on the ferry after getting some paperwork from the embassy b/c their passports were stolen… and we didn’t see them so figured they were going to miss they ferry.. but then at the last minute they got on. Christoph is now doing some sort of dead lift move with his backpack. Ok, Zanzibar.. Stone Town is the main city.. we stayed here one night which included going to this old fort bar, eating amazing seafood at this market by the water. At one point during some sort of Zanzibar pizza purchase(eggs, dough, meat, cream cheese, lots of oil) Christoph ended up almost trading his shirt for a soccer jersey, but ended up trading it for a bloody Ralf Lauren whitish polo shirt with about 2 buttons and several holes. Since we ended up at Dharma lounge his new extremely smelly outfit did not make him as popular as he would have liked. The following day we got a driver to take us to the beach. We chose Kendwa beach on the north of the island, which was quieter than some others and had the best full moon parties, which was coming up. The best beaches are on the north and east of the island.. Stone Town is on the west. We arrived on the beach on a Wednesday afternoon.. and stayed until Monday morning when we got a ride back with the owners of the place we were staying.. Chris and Christoph both managed to step on Sea Urchins upon entering the water for the first time, with Chris doing it twice whining like a grenade had just gone off below his foot.
Maleika.. 6 beach bungalows.. we had two. We basically laid on the beach.. and swam.. and ate and drank beers at one or two of the local bars at night. It was very hot. Unbelievably humid. The water and the beach was gorgeous. Christoph managed to join a local beach soccer match which gained him the respect of the locals and promises of many future deals on everything from artwork to snorkeling. It also resulted in sore legs for the next few days. There was a bonfire on the beach every night with locals playing bongos and singing, and late one night Christoph and Chris managed to do a Vanilla Ice, Shaggy, Bobby McFerrin medley to bongo drums one night, with Chris even doing a bit of the Teenage Mutant Ninja turtle theme song. This delighted the locals as they were obviously sick of singing the same 3 songs for the tourists and eager to learn new tunes, as Christoph later lent them his ipod to learn some Toots and the Maytals. A german woman, Ruth and her family owned Malaika, and she would make us dinner with fresh fish and vegetables if we asked her to earlier in the day. We had some great fish. The whole fish on the plate.. eggplant, carrot/papaya salad, curry potatoes, tomato/mango salsa.. lots of spices.. cloves, curries, etc. We also had octopus.. which was good.. interesting.. you can see all the suction cup thingies. But I ate it, and it was quite good. We drank a lot and slept in a lot, walked on the beach, swam, read, wrote, listened to music.. at times it was a struggle to do nothing, at least for me.
The full moon party…. (Now this is Christoph doing the commentary) This was the main reason we came to the north as these were quite popular. The evening started with a trip to Kendwa Rocks, where the party was to begin. We paid for a buffet which included Calamari, Tuna, squid, and chicken.
There was also salad, rice, and other fillers provided to distract you from the good stuff. After a couple of drinks, excellent African music, and great food, Heidi, Jana, and I decided to try to Nungwi, a town up the beach which can only be accessed at low tide. The full moon party was still pretty dead, so we started the long walk. On a side note, long walks are no big deal when you have nothing to do, and are quite common and refreshing. Walking there involved a small section of walking in shallow water as the tide was already coming in. This meant that we didn’t have much time to get back before we were stuck, and only had a chance to buy a few ice-creams and a drink and head right back. The walk back involved getting wet, but we made it.
There was also a nice hotel restaurant above the water on stilts which had live music we checked in on. There was also a nice chill shisha lounge place where we were able to chill for a bit and listen to the music (the picture of me with Jana demonstrates both the lounge and the fact that it was necessary to walk in water as can be seen by my wet shorts.)
After relaxing and smoking a hookah, we headed back to the full moon party, which was extremely active at this point. There were blondes (part of a highly anticipated group of Norwegians who showed up but as Fife pointed out, “their chat was rubbish” paired up with Africans all over the beach. There were groups swimming and dancing, with some people doing Poi (fire attached to a chain, see pic)
, and a lot of dancing and relaxing. It was extremely crowded, and the men by far outnumbered the females, largely due to very few local females being present. Apparently, in the local culture it is normal to get denied multiple times before a female will show interest, and this fact obviously annoyed Heidi as pretty much the entire trip she was trying to be friendly about making it clear she was not interested. After some late night swimming, a smuggled bottle of rum, some dart playing, and a late night swim we went to bed. The following morning was supposed to be a trip back to Stone town, but ended up being a day of relaxing which included beach volleyball with the President’s son, tending to wounds, and going to bed early. We organized transportation into town with the German owner the following morning, and I got up before 6a.m. to try and catch what a sunrise was like. There were many locals about, but no westerners. After relaxing conversation with Jana and a good breakfast, I made the mistake of trying to go for a swim during low tide. This was like navigating a mine field of sea urchins in shallow water, resulting in getting stung in my hand. After a quick shower, packing quickly, and jumping in their van, we managed to get back to
Stone town early enough to once again visit an ATM, eat a nice meal, go to a pool, and once again have a good night out. We went to the old fort again, had excellent seafood by the water market again and had conversation with locals on the difference between Tanzanians and Zanzibarians and their history. We returned to Alex’s house to sleep, as we were going to meet early in the morning for diving. We overpaid for diving the following morning, but it was a very professional place, and we did have fun, seeing sea slugs, sea horses, and other things that live in the sea. We had a good meal and returned from some proper ice-cream. After that I managed to again be disappointed by both the bank and Delta for giving me no information and proving that customer service in the States has become a game of pawning off questions to someone else until they give up trying to find solutions. I am extremely bitter, but after calling my local bank branch, at least my atm card works again, though I have had to hand over the delta ticket situation to my sister as I am now far from civilization. While making calls, Heidi informed me she would go watch the sunset. I only had a few minutes left, and then proceeded to wait for her, went to the beach to find her, and then went back to wait at the internet place until it was dark.

After that I looked for her at the fish market, and decided she must have gone to where we were staying. When I arrived, I realized that Heidi had also given me all her money to pay for the internet and I had my doubts on her ability to even find the place. Once I realized that, I decided to take a shower and go out for some food. Before doing so, I left a note with a phone number, and made another lap of her usual hang outs. It didn’t take long to find her sipping a cup of tea at the fish market surrounded by locals. She admitted that she may have been gone a bit long, and that we surely missed each other at the internet café. This was good to hear, because I was convinced that she had told me where to meet her, and that I just wasn’t listening. Heidi, Jana, Jaci, and I then tried a nice restaurant and proceeded to order everything on the menu they had run out of.
This was frustrating but the food we ended up getting was good, and we headed home as we needed to catch the ferry at 7a.m. the following morning. Catching that ferry was also a bit of an issue. We literally bought out tickets when the ferry was supposed to be leaving, and then had our passports stamped and ran to the dock in time to see the ferry about 10 yards from the dock heading away. Luckily, it reversed and we jumped on when it got close to the dock.

Back in Dar Es Salaam

Arriving in Dar Es Salaam was anti-climactic as I made one more trip to KLM (wait for my bit on customer service) which did nothing, and then headed to a place called Pugu Hills, a small lodge near a nature preserve about 30km outside of town. This was interesting as there were no signs and all dirt roads, but eventually we made it even though a normal car should probably not have driven those roads. The location was amazing, and worth the journey. A dutch couple (who were not ideal for being in a service industry) were not welcoming, but the restaurant and huts and view and pool made it worth it. We all went for a swim, had an excellent shower, and then ate beef and fish and quiche, finishing it off with some apple pie. Since it was now dark, and Jana and Jaci had a flight out, we had to get going. The taxi driver, who we essentially hired for the remainder of the day, was not comfortable driving the 4-wheel drive roads in the dark, so I drove. It was quite fun, but once we got on normal roads I handed over control as I could feel people were uncomfortable, especially when I started driving on the wrong side of the road. After loading up bags, we headed off to the airport for an emotional goodbye. I then headed off to find another place to call the US and sort out my plane ticket and debit card(see the death of customer service) The following morning Heidi and I caught a bus to Mbeya.

Mbeya

The bus journey to Mbeya was long and hot, but I managed to sleep and read and share a bit of music with Heidi. For some strange reason, I am also able to eat making less of a mess on a bus while bumping along a horrible dirt road than on a stationary table. After one of the stops on the 12 hour journey to eat and use the restroom we returned to find our bus gone. This was really no big deal, as we are used to finding our public transport gone, and glanced around finding the bus waiting near the road. Once we boarded I realized that we weren’t the last ones missing, but the only other white person on the bus was also missing. Everyone else on the bus also seemed to notice that only the white people were missing, so using one of the 5 words I know in Swahili I exclaimed “Mzungus” as if white people were idiots causing the bus to laugh. Our arrival in Mbeya resulted in the usual mugging of taxi drivers and “friends” offering “special price”. After a short walk, we randomly walked into Heidi’s cousin Nicki, went out for a drink and dinner and had an early night. The following day we sat around and wrote this, had a nice local lunch, saw some local soap making, had a few drinks out at night. Today we went to visit Deborah’s orphanage and saw the construction of new dormitory. After a nice lunch, we headed to the internet café to upload this. Tomorrow I head off to Arusha on an 15 hour bus ride, and then get to sort out my lost ticket and maybe do a safari.