A Short Teaser - Bangkok

We only got to spend a short six hours in Bangkok.  We were both really excited to go there.  Needless to say, we did not have time to relive any seens from The Hangover II.  We went to a temple where they made us rent clothes that covered our ankles. 

We also had to take a boat ride while in Bangkok.  While on the boat we saw people throwing bread into the water and there was a swarm of fish feeding on the bread.  It was crazy.

Afterwards we did a few other scavanges, ate some delicious lunch (green curry) and went to get traditional Thai massages.  When we arrived, we saw this sign that made us laugh - sorry,  no happy endings to report. 

 It just so happens some of the other teams where at the same massage place.  We all had completed our scavenges for Bangkok so we headed back to the airport.  We are off to Sri Lanka!

Inle Lake, Myanmar

We took an eight hour taxi ride to Inle Lake from Bagan.  We left at 9 pm.  It was the craziest ride.  It was a straight shot on one street that twisted up and down a mountain.  At 3 am, the belt that goes around the a/c and the power steering broke.  We were stopped on the side of the road for 30 minutes but our driver was eventually able to fix it.  We arrived at Inle Lake around 5 am the next morning.

After checking in our hotel that was located on the lake, we had a quick breakfast and then set off.  You had to hire what was basically a taxi boat to get around.  We traveled throughout the lake and witnessed  first hand how the locals depended on the lake.  They bath, brush their teeth, clean their laundry, clean their animals, play, and fish in the water. 

 There were some water buffalo cooling off in the water and some kids were climbing on top of them and diving into the water.

We also got to see the long-neck women.

I loved this place. 

The next morning we went caught a plane back to Yangon and shortly thereafter we caught a flight to Bangkok. 

Myanmar, Bangkok, Sri Lanka, Oh My....

We have seen some amazing places over the last week or so. 

Myanmar - this country was fantastic!!!

         Before we get into this leg of this amazing journey, please take into consideration that the experiences and photos that we are sharing of Myanmar have not been experienced by many Americans.  Keep in mind that the country does not have a national banking system - this was a problem for us as most places would only change crisp new $100 bills.  Without ATMs, we were stuck with the cash we had on us when we entered the country.

We began this leg by arriving mid-morning and checking into the wonderful Governer’s Residence Hotel and promptly met for our morning group session. This leg would be one of the longest legs, thus the delay for this post. Our itenerary’s included a choice of four cities including Yangon, the city where we originally landed. We teamed up with the Sydney Sisters, Katrina and Fiona. That same day we spent most of our time at a local orphanage and spent some time with the children and staff. Needless to say it was fantastic. Another team - John and Jack, joined the four of us and we had a great time touring the home and playing with the kids. The Sydney Sisters brought little toy dinosaurs and whistles for the children and the childen were so excited to the toys. We gave the children stickers, and I gave a couple of my baseball caps away . Then John and Jack busted out bosslewood air planes and the children were amazed. Next we all took turns in a little lot playing football (soccer). Of course I showed my skills. Yeah right!!

Before calling it a day, we also went to see Aung San Suu Kyi's house which was really cool to see (from the outside as it was surrounded by a tall gate).  

 The next morning we flew to the city of Bagan.  Upon arrival Natasha made the comment that  the weather was actually pleasant.  I had to explain to her that it was only 7:30 A.M.  It was very shortly after that conversation that it was HOT.  I think we spent all our money  on  bottled water .  The first thing we did was  have a breakfast at a river side café.  It was a simple and healthy breakfast of cheese pizza and fries.   A habit of the locals is to take a beetle nut, lime paste, and cigaette tobacco roll that up in a leaf and dip it.  It was a task of ours and I tried it.  Basically, it was homemade Copenhagan. 

After this, the sites that we witnessed were breath taking.  We loaded up on a horse and carriage and was off on our journey.  We went to too many temples to name but just look at the pictures. 

After the buggy ride we rented some bikes and of couse my bike did not stand a chance.  I punished that thing.  With every bump in the road the seat went lower on the bike and eventually the handle bar would not stay straight on the bike.  After sight seeing for an entire day we then took a taxi for an 8 hour cab ride overnight to Inle Lake.  More to come...

Taipei, Day 2 - Its still a small world...

      We took a train out to Hsinchu today to do some scavenges there.  We saw the East Gate and then the City God Temple.   Remember we meet someone yesterday from Sugarland, TX?  Well,  today at the City God Temple we met a local lady who spoke perfect English.  I asked her if she had ever been to the states and she had not, but her son lives in Houston and goes to school there.  So crazy. 

     We completed some of the food scavenges and that was quite interesting.  The first was zong-zi and was a pork and rice mixture.  The second was Boba and is a milky drink that has tapioca pieces in it.  Both were yucky.

     When we got back to Taipei, we went to fishermans wharf and saw the “Lover’s Bridge.”  A group of girls approached us and asked us to take a picture with them.  Turns out they were from Manilla and since we were there just last year at this time, we had plently to talk about with them.   We also got to eat the world’s tallest ice cream cone.

     Shortly thereafter it started to pour down rain.  Earlier in the day, my purse broke so once it started raining, we went shopping for a new purse and then headed back to the hotel for a quick nap before the group meeting tonight.

    Tonight we found out that Myanmar is our next destination.  I had read up on Myanmar in the past as Zoe was hoping we would make it there on this trip.  It has only recently opened up to tourists.  I am really excited to go but just a little nervous.  Its super hot there and is going to be the complete opposite of Taipei and its modern way of life.  I am loving this trip!

Taipei, Day 1 - Its a small world after all....

….. On a personal note I woke up somewhere about 7 hours into our 12 hour flight and could not for the life of me remember boarding the plane, storing my luggage, or anything.  Needless to say we both missed the chicken and rice dinner we were told.  Breakfast was served shortly after we woke up and the rest of the flight went well. 

      We landed in Taipei at 06:00 A.M. local time and proceeded to our hotel via bus.  During our rides the MC of the trip Bill always provides us with interesting facts about the country that we are currently occupying.  The two facts that stood out the most to me was the fact that Taiwan was the first democratic government of Asia and the birth rate is amongst the lowest in the world. 

    We checked into our hotel (The Regent) and were out and about within three hours.  We went to the Taipei Main Station which contains both the metro and the high speed train.  It was not very hard to figue out the train schedules and the locals are eager to help.  For some reason, we stand out and look lost.  A local gentleman we met explained a few things to us and was great help.  Just to show us how small the world really is, we found out he was  from Sugarland, TX.  How cool is that??  So we ended up buying tickets for the high speed train and boarded a train to Kaoshing to see the Tiger and Dragon Pagoda.  It was really cool seeing the country side via train and Natasha read that at one point we were traveling at 266 kmh.  Pretty fast!!  I can’t think of any trains state side that go that fast.  The Pagoda were very vibrant and colorful.   

    We took the train back to Taipei and then traveled the city by metro.  We then went to see a local movie.  To be clear, American movies were available (Titanic 3D, The Lorax), but our scavenge was to see a local movie.  We purchased two tickets, popcorn, and some not so normal Sprite.  The movie title was Z108.  When we purchased the tickets, we simply asked for the next available screening of a local movie so we had no idea what we were in for.  The movie was basically an attempt to take every concept from an American or Western movie and incorporate it all into one.  It had everything from zombies and martial arts, to cops and drug lords, to strippers and sex scenes, to serial killers and family relationships, plus there was even one black guy and a black joke.  The dialogue was horrible and we laughed through most of it because it was so over the top.

  After the movie, we went to Tapei 101 which is a building/mall with 101 floors. We took an elevator to the highest floor you can reach (89) and it only took 37 seconds. We called it a night after that.

 

  

And we're off...

     Our second day in San Francisco was actually our first day to race and complete scavenges.  We were able to see some cool local things that we have always wanted to see including the opening scene from Full House, the most “crookedest” street, and we walked the Golden Gate Bridge.  We also tried dim sum for the first time. 

     Oh and guess what???   We are going to Taipei, Taiwan!!!!  

The coldes winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco

    Sorry for the delay, but we were in San Francisco for two days and did have a great time.  First, the only thing I can compare San Francisco to is Austin.  Only difference is San Francisco has a much greater “green” initiatave, the hills are much steeper, the atmosphere is even more laid back, the price of living is about four times as great, and finally the high tempature was 50 and the low was 40.  Not exactly hill country wheather in April.   When the wind was going it was freezing and we had to stop at an Old Navy and buy sweatshirts.

   Once we landed in SF we noticed that the Giant’s fans were loose and wild.  The fans were so enthuastic about the first home stand for the Giants.  Black and orange colors in every coffee shop and bodeaga throughout the city.  We inquired about getting tickets, but the cheapest tickets were $90.00 and they were in the nose bleed sections of the stadium so we gave up.  Instead we made our way to Fisherman’s Wharf and got great pictues of Alcatraz and the sea lions. 

We then searched for, of course, the nearest Inn-N-Out Burger we coud find.  On the way to the burger joint we could not help, but notice all the crab restaurants along the waterfront.  So while we snacked at Inn-N-Out Buger, we later dined at the Crab House.  We had a 2lb. dungeness crab that was delicious. 

We polished all of that food off and then walked every bit of it off.  Holy cow,did we walk.  The terrain was super hilly and was a long walk but we did go through Little Italy and Chinatown on the way back.  Finally, we arrived back at our hotel with an hour to spare before we met the rest of the group we would be traveling with. 

    The group is the perfect mix of first time world travelers, seasoned veterans, and just simply a positive group of people.    We are so excited to see so many people this year.  I can tell that this will be a fun trip.  See you all soon!!!!!

   “The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco”- not Mark Twain

It was nice seeing you guys!

Last night we went and ate at a "dark" restaurant called Opaque.  That's right you eat in the complete dark.  We were taken into a room by a sight impaired waitress.  The room is completely dark - there is no light anywhere.  We ordered our drinks and food from a set menu before we entered the dark.   Dinner was fine until I spilled a cold Sierra Nevada in my lap.  Also, because there were six of us at the table and you couldn't see what you were doing, Natasha somehow accumulated four glasses of water in front of her.  She could not stop laughing.  We were not allowed to use any electronics in the restaurant so needless to say we do not have any pictures. 

On a side note, when we checked into our hotel we found that our reservation was set until Sunday night.  That makes me believe we will be in San Francisco for the weekend and the game may begin state side.   Stay tuned..

……. Will you please take your seats and clear the aisles?? 

It would not be right to start the blog without giving thanks to all for our blessings.  Since this is our second chance to travel the world I think we are over prepared and thus have some heavy bags.  Between the two of us we have roughly 100 lbs. of luggage.  We will be losing some of the weight as about 15 lbs. of our luggage are just food rations.  Natasha has provided us with several energy bars, candy, 5 Hour Energy, and other snacks. 

On a personal note I would like to give an extra special thanks to Cohen for the cool t shirt.  I promise it will be put to good use.  Another special thanks to Stephanie for keeping Trey while we are away.  I already miss my dude, but I know he is in good hands.  

                Last year we were in fear of the unknown and the fact that neither of us had any control of our travels.    After the Indonesian leg of last year’s trip nothing will be too much for either of us.  I am not saying that this year’s trip will not have its challenges, but I know that we can get through it.  One cannot know what he is capable of until challenged.

                Ohh and HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOSH, many more my friend.   As I am sure you all can tell I am running out of things to say, so I will sign off.  After tomorrow we will have one more post, then I am sure will have a long flight to a currently unknown destination, so please be patient for the next post.   We are staying currently at the Palace Hotel (http://www.sfpalace.com).  Check it out.

 Peace and love!!

      The Silver Surfers

“Look out world I’m on my way”- Clipse