Well, I think we have tortured our friends and family long enough. My mother has probably called half of the embassies on the planet now trying to figure out where we disappeared too. It's time to reveal the grand secret.

Since I last wrote from the Bangkok airport we have traveled thousands of miles, touched ground in three continents and visited two new countries. We decided to totally mix up our plans and try something completely different for a while. No more Asia, no more noodles and chili sauce, no more wats and pagodas, no more cockfights outside our hotel windows, no more geckos crawling across our walls. What better way to transition between the exotic East and the old West than the city that straddles both worlds. A city that has stood as a division between the continents for thousands of years. A place where cobblestone streets and streetside cafes mingle with the sounds of the call to prayer.

Welcome to Istanbul. Welcome to Turkey.

Oh...did I mention we swung by the Pyramids, King Tut's mask and the Sphinx on the way?

Yes, it's been a crazy couple of days for us. When we first talked about this trip oh so long ago, the original idea was to travel Eastern Europe and Southeast Asia. As we refined our plans we decided that we could be gone longer if we focused solely on cheap Asia. However, after over two months of traveling Asia I have a confession to make. Traveling is hard.

That's right. Despite these witty and occasionally exciting entries I write, I have to say that we were not at all prepared for just how hard this trip would be. Nothing is easy on the road, particularly in Asia. Everyone stares at you, mysterious animals roasted on sticks serve as food, finding a place to stay for the night can be an hours long ordeal and it's just not relaxing. The travel writer Paul Theroux once said something like, "travel is only glamorous to those who are not traveling." And how.

We decided that we needed to throw a major wrench into our carefully planned trip and renew our vigor. That wrench was tossed in a big way in Bangkok when we went to visit a travel agent about a bus ticket to Chaing Mai in Northern Thailand. What started as a simple attempt to price a bus ticket turned into a two hour long brainstorm session with a genius travel agent. We walked out of his office with a roundtrip plane ticket to Myanmar followed closely by a ticket to Istanbul with an overnight layover in Cairo figured in. That certainly spiced up our plans.

It was certainly a strange feeling waiting for our plane to Cairo. No longer were we surrounded by hordes of Chinese tourists and adventurous Japanese. Now there were men in skullcaps and women covered in black except for a small eye slit to see by. We were preparing to enter a totally new world.

I should have Jennifer talk about Cairo because she was mesmerized. Some monuments fall into the "disappointment" category. Mount Rushmore, the Mona Lisa, Amish Acres (for you Hoosiers.) The Pyramids are not one of these. They are truly mammoth and ooze a sense of eternal history. Stones the size of Buicks stacked as far as the eye can see, stretching up to the heavens. Over two million of these stones to be exact. The Sphinx is rather puny in comparison, but how can you fail to be impressed by one of the most recognizable statues on the planet?

The sprawl and chaos of Cairo and its 20 million inhabitants doesn't exactly beckon, but we're very happy that we swung by for a few hours to visit the last remaining wonder of the ancient world.

We have only been in Istanbul for about a day so I'll reserve writing too much yet. All I can say so far is that this is by far the most beautiful city we have been to on our trip so far. So many of the Asian cities we visited, while full of wonderful people and great sights, are a dirty, disappointing mess. Istanbul is lovely. Full of cobblestone streets, endless food vendors with mouthwatering dishes, the Blue Mosque, Aya Sophia, Topkapi Palace, and many other magnificent buildings. We look forward to exploring and I'll do my best to write about what we find.

There you go. Now everyone knows where we are...at least for now. As far as what's next? We plan, roughly, to head on to Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary...we're not sure where exactly. Possibly Croatia, Slovenia, Poland...who knows? But for now, we're happy right where we are.

-- Shawn

p.s. We have lost every mailing address we had. If you ever hope to receive a postcard or package from us, then please email us your address at kobbtravels@yahoo.com. *Note: Giving us an address is no guarantee we'll send you anything. So there.*