Livin’ the Dream

Without every traveler, internet site, Lonely Planet guidebook, bootsnall user, etc. that’s offered us advice and suggestions we would not have had the trip we did.  So since karma can indeed be a bitch, and it’d be selfish to not share some of our experiences and advice, let me offer up a brief rants and raves discussion for some of the places we traveled.

— Raves —

MagicBus in New Zealand – This hop-on, hop-off traveler’s bus service was exceptional and makes any trip to NZ fun, easy, convenient and affordable.  Aside from transporting you around, they also arrange accommodations and activities and provide a great atmosphere to meet other backpackers.  Definitely check em out if you don’t have or want your own transportation.  Ask about Richie, our badass bus driver who got us kicked out of the only open bar (and only entertainment) in Greymouth!  I should mention that MagicBus in particular had more sophisticated travelers compared to the younger Kiwi Experience clientele who generally seemed stuck in permanent party mode.  http://www.magicbus.co.nz/

The Mountain House, Arthur’s Pass, New Zealand – A charming hideout at the only main stop on the TranzAlpine railroad.  If taking this train, seriously consider staying over here for a night or two.  Once all the trains have passed through, the tiny town and surrounding areas is all yours to enjoy.  The Mountain House consists of a hostel and a series of shared cottages which define tranquility.  The owners are exceptionally hospitable but be fair warned as rumor has it, the cottages may be getting torn down.  http://www.trampers.co.nz/

Featherdale Zoo, Sydney, Australia – Not just for kids, this zoo has every living thing you could hope to see and play with in OZ.  Kangaroo’s, wallabies and emus actually hang out on your side of the fence and wander around the zoo with you. Avoid peak tourist times of the day if you can.  http://www.featherdale.com.au/

Dream Village, Gili Trawangan, Indonesia – Angelo and Gabriel make this bungalow getaway a true paradise.  Towards the nicer end of accommodations on the island, this happy retreat still remains an affordable luxury.  The place is well sized and decorated but the staff really make this place what it is.  They are well respected, trustworthy and cater to your every need.  Apparently, they’ve spruced up their website as well.  http://www.dreamvillagetrawangan.com/

Sam, Siem Reap, Cambodia – Sam is a professional tour guide for the many temples of Angkor.  He is without doubt, one of the best tour guides you can get.  It’s possible to hire many tour guides once you get to Siem Reap, but I promise you none will be as knowledgeable or speak English as well as Sam.  Plus he can also help with transportation and hotel booking.  Book in advance as he’s getting pretty popular and be sure to not be stingy on the tips.  He should be charging a lot more than standard going rate of $20/day but he doesn’t. email:  kao_samreth@hotmail.com phone: 855-12-763-463

Star Fashion, KSR, Bangkok, Thailand – If you must, Mr. Kriss and Star Fashion put together some great suits and clothes.  He’s located at the Star Dome Inn just off Khao San Rd.  He’s professional and super fun to work with.  Don’t expect Versace quality fabrics but getting a suit custom made in Thailand is an experience worth indulging for.  My pair of last minute linen pants he put together on just a few hours notice are still going strong.  http://www.khaosanroad.com/directory/comment.php?listing_id=772

Ban Kwan Chang Elephant Camp, Koh Chang, Thailand – Of the 3 elephant trekking operators on the island of Koh Chang, only Ban Kwan (also know as Klong Son) is supported by the Asian Elephant Foundation, a highly reputable organization.  So if you want to go elephant trekking with a good conscious and avoid supporting the abuse of elephants go with Ban Kwan.   http://www.jungleway.com/elephant_camp.htm

— Rants —

Biting Flies, New Zealand – Why didn’t anyone warn us?  These little buggers were everywhere and penetrated our beloved Space Ship every night we camped.  Mosquito nets proved to be our only successful defense.  http://www.wildwalks.co.nz/sand_flies.htm

Board Rider Backpacker Hostel, Sydney, Australia – “Quite possibly the dirtiest youth hostel we’ve ever been in.  The main corridors looked like a teen surf shop but between the lack of pillows, filthy sheets and puke in the sink, it was vial.”  Avoid this cesspool in Manly Beach unless our journal notes somehow intrigue you.  http://www.boardrider.com.au/

Germany:  Relax time.  ehem.  riiiight.  Since we got to Deutchland we’ve continued our pattern of nonstop travel.  First to Berlin to see the World Cup live, then Hildesheim, then Goslar, then Gottingen and tomorrow Kassel.  Can someone please just tie us down so we stop travelling?

Berlin:  Our brief day trip into Berlin was jam packed but totally awesome.  The city has essentially been converted into one big World Cup party.  Our high speed train zipped us into the city mid morning among throngs of Tunisian and Ukrainian fans.  Our priority before the soccer match was the famous Parliament building.  An architectural gem, this building has serious history to it including mysteriously catching fire shortly after Hitler’s Nazi party won a majority in Parliament.  The observation deck recounts the importance of the place and yields exceptional views out over Berlin while parliamentary functions take place below with the aid of sunlight strategically directed in from a cylindrical set of mirrors above.  Very very cool and a great German history lesson.  Our World Cup match was an experience.  Soccer fans here are serious and we were super lucky to have somehow gotten tix.  Even though the outcome of the game decided who would move on to the next round,  the game itself was a little disappointing as well to put it bluntly, both teams sucked.  But we saw goal and got to yell and scream like crazy and pretend we were rooting for Ukraine all along so it was fun.

Dellisgen:  For those who dont know, this is where Jenny’s grandparents live.  A small countryside village about 40 mins by train from Hanover.  It’s a gorgeous place with tons of special meaning and memories.  Oma and Opa are as cute as a high school couple on prom night and the farms and forests right outside radiate tranquility.  Well at least until the thunder storms come in over the hill.  Somehow in between massive meals, mitte schlafts (afternoon naps), and coffee and cake we managed to get out and shop in Hildesheim which is the nearest “big” city to walk around a store shop.  Slightly disappointed that no Bose sounds speaker systems deals were to be found even though the factory is located 3 km away.  Another day trip to Goslar in the Harz mountains was especially rewarding.  Local craftsman sell unique and interesting glasswork in this picturesque city untouched from the World War II once famous for its lucrative mining industry.  And right now we’re in Gottingen, Germany’s college town and the place where Jenny studied abroad 3 years ago.  We both love it here and were fortunate to come in time for Phillip, a family friends graduation which was super fun and completely unlike anything you might see in the States. So with World Cup soccer one just about every night, great beer to drink and no real place to be, lets just say we’ve been having a great time in case our lack of communication wasnt evident of that.

Korcula: while we had initially intended to go to Hvar last minute after consulting our Lonely planet we changed our plans and went to Korcula instead. Although one of the largest islands in Croatia the town of Kocula is small and quaint. A walled city it retains its italien charm as it belonged to Venice’s trading empire. Without a hotel reservation we decided that we would take a private room from one of the many locals who crowd you when you get of the boat. Steve ever proud of his bargaining abilities agreed to take charge of this task. Within 20 seconds he had been suckered in by a cute little old lady who didn’t speak a word of english, and he took her first asking price with out even attempting to bargain. I guess Steve has a weak spot but luckily for us we landed perhaps the best private room in Korcula apart from the fact that you couldn’t stand up in the shower. Check out the view from our  room!

We had a wonderful time wandering around the town (it only takes 10 mins to circle the city), lounging at the beach, and swimming off the city walls. It was a wonderful relaxing few days.

Dubrovnik: is an odd place. In the end I simply didn’t know what to make of it. Although completely destroyed during the war you would never know it by wandering around the city. It seems as though a veil of silence has settled over the year of violence as if in advance of the onlslaught of cruise ships the ulgy history of this place has been diligently swept under the table. In the end it was simply eire. I suppose we were just tried but the city did not live up to the hype, it was not as beautiful as Rhodes, the beaches weren’t as nice as on the islands, and the tourists were overwhelming. While we did find ways to entertain ourselves (mainly by watching the world cup) It simply felt like a countdown until we could catch our flight to Germany. I don’t know if that is more a reflection on us or on the place.

Ahh Greece and the wonderful Western World!  A welcomed change of customs, religions and normal WCs (thats toilet’s for the un-initiated).

Rhodes:  Continuing from Marmaris and against the will of our 4day sea sick bodies we hopped on a ferry to Rhodes for we thought would only be a day or two.  You see the thing with traveling in the off season in Greece is that no one and no internet site has any info about how to get anywhere else besides where you are.  So we assumed we could catch a boat to Santorini a day or two after roaming around Rhodes.  Big mistake as the 16 hr ferry only left once a week.  Needlesstosay, we had plenty of time during our four days to see everything the worlds largest functioning old walled city had to offer.  It was actually quite beautiful and our hostel was just a small walkway removed from the main attractions.  Sun bathing in Lindos was spectacular and the overall feel of the Dodecanese was a great transition from Turkish life.

Santorini:  The gem of the Greek Islands.  And for good reason!  Vineyards chalked up on the hillsides, black and red sand beaches clad  with anyone and everyone attractive and partially naked, breathtaking views of the caldera from the many lookouts we couldnt resist stopping our little scooter at and arguably the prettiest and most famous sunset in the world in Oia.  So much to see and do yet amazingly one of the few places that still oddly seemed to keep its charm among the swarms of tourist.

Athens:  Off to Athens to begin the journey northward towards Croatia but not without another unexpectedly long stay in Athens, the result of travel difficulties in getting to Croatia from Greece.  Originally we planned on taking busses up through Albania, Montenegro and Serbia.  Well lets just say we got as close as the bus station for Albania before ditching the plan in favor of a less ambition and adventurous route.  By this time in our trip we tipped over the complete burn out phase and almost scrapped our plane tix from Croatia to Germany so we could just end early and begin the recovery at Jens grandparents.  But we gathered ourselves together atop the Parthenon for a gorgeous view over Athens and roamed the surprisingly pleasant downtown area along with Plaka where we stayed.

Bari, Italy:  OK so to get to Croatia we took two consecutive overnight ferries for a combined travel time of 40 someodd hours.  First from Athens to Bari, Italy and then from Bari to Dubrovnik, Croatia.  Thought it was be awful.  Ended up being a blast.  Bari was great functioning normal un-touristy city with charming old town and bustling new town.  Ahh the food!  A day in Italy to eat officially local cuisine.  What a treat!  So we spoiled ourselves with pizza pasta and gelato galore and read our books in the park with random shopping breaks scheduled in.  An unplanned day that was perfect!  Splurged on a cabin for the 2nd overnight ferry and packed fresh salami and prosciutto sammies with a 1 Euro bottle of wine thus completing the day in true backpacker style.

Istanbul:
Though it may be hard to believe we actually met compatriots in Istanbul. What i mean is that we met fellow American travelers and they were cool, liberal, and had travelled alot more than us. In fact we met one couple that was taking 10 months to travel around the world  for their honeymoon. In the end we enjoyed the company so much that instead of spending a single night in Istanbul before heading on to Goreme we ended up staying for 4 days. Check out Anthony and Shan’s blog at http://blogs.bootsnall.com/Shan+Lee if following our blog has gotten to boring.  So some of the highlights include:

The Sultan’s Palace: Here we saw the royal jewels which included gems so large you were convinced that they were fake. What I found the most impressive was a pill box cut out of a single giant emerald, just like in the Count of Monty Cristo. We also saw the infamous harem which was quite lovely though perhaps not as enlightening as I would have hoped. But we still ended up with some cool photos.

The Blue Mosque (and every other important mosque in Istanbul as they didn’t charge entrance fees) The blue mosque was stunning, decorated entirely in blue painted tiles it is beautiful to see and is a nice  calm and cool respite when looking to avoid carpet dealers.

The Egyptian spice bazar:  which surprisingly did not have great spices but did have plenty of people trying to get you to visit their cousins carpet shop. The craziest part is that the central isle of the bazaar  had stand that sold only jewelry it ended up looking like a turkish rodeo drive.

But perhaps the most fun we had was sitting at a cafe on a bridge over the Bosphorus, the meeting point of Europe and Asia, drinking beers and playing team backgammon while the waiters just laughed at us.

Goreme: Smurf Village ok not really but it sure did look like it. Goreme is a village in one of the valleys that was used by early christians to hide from persecution. In order to avoid detection people lived in caves carving entire churches and monasteries into the rocks. Even today many of people continue to live in caves, we followed their example and stayed in our one cave hotel room. It was really nice although a little damp and mildewy. while in goreme we went on a great hike through three of the valleys, Honey Valley, white valley, and Love Valley which was absolutely beautiful. We also went to a Turkish night, a performance at a cave restaurant which consisted of an all you can eat meal plus 5 hours of traditional folk dancing including the famous whirling dervishes. We happily joined in the fun and joined in dancing around a bonfire.

Olympus: Site of the eternal flames and referred to in Lonely Planet as summer camp. Well we had to go because that was where you can catch the blue cruises. It was fun though unremarkable we stayed in a tree hous, hung out at the beach and then hiked up to the eternals flames at night. The flames form naturally as gas escapes from the rock it combusts, a really cool phenomenon but in actuality they just looked like campfires.

Blue Cruise:  Our 4 day cruise along the Turkish coast ended up being somewhat of a hit and miss adventure.  Extremely fun and gorgeous scenery but a bit of an uh.. eclectic crowd.  A brief description of a few of the sailors on board sums it up.   Captain. only had one arm, named the ship “Mr. Hook” and consistently worried about the coming storm which is why we never stayed in one place long enough to enjoy it. Jerre. questionable alcoholic who ended up with a 150 lire bar tab.  Beers were only 3 lire so you do the math. Teresa.  60 year eternal hippie woman who only talked about spirituality and everything Berkeley.  Honey.  20 year old hot Iranian girl from Canada who belly danced her way around the ship and into the crews quarters every night.  Yeah so it was an interesting but fun crowd and some of our swimming spots were as scenic as could be.  Steve also caught some fish one day using only string and bread and had em pan fried for dinner.  Yum yum!

Hello everyone.  We have made it to Jennys grandparents place in Germany and catching up on much needed sleep.  Unfortunately, internet here is actuallz harder to come by here than most places weäve been.  That said, we have to much to write about from our travels to Turkey, Greece, Croatia and even Italy for a day!.  But itll all have to wait until later.  Email us if you are interested in our cel number.  This one should be good for at least a few weeks and all incoming calls are free to us to call away.  Thinking of everyone and cant wait to catch up.

Steve and Jen

Since some reading this might be the worrying type.  Yes there was/is a fire at the Instanbul airport.  Yes, we are in Instanbul but arrived last night and are uneffected by it.  Actually we are quite suprised how much we like the city but we can write all about that later.  In the meantime, no need to worry.  Now back to my doner kebab.  S & J

The Holy Land – Or to quote Steve “Everyone expects me to speak Hebrew!”

Israel has been great entirely thanks to the incredible hospitality of Shelli – my good friend from college! With out her I question if our stay in Israel would have been possible.  Thanks Shelli!

So let me start at the beginning. The flight – so we arrive for our red eye flight from Bangkok to Tel Aviv super excited to be going to Israel for the first time. We’ll it turns out NO ONE goes as a tourist from Bangkok to Israel and the El Al special security forces made sure we were fully aware of this fact, we were questioned about every detail of our trip plans. Thankfully I had just got off the phone with Shelli and could actually answer their questions. Let me just say that the guards were not happy about letting a German born in Pakistan onto their flight. Fortunately, the guard recognized Steve’s last name because there is apparently a famous Feinberg scientist in Israel and told us about where to go to find out info on Steve’s famous ancestor.  We managed to make it past security and to our flight but Steve had left his pocket knife in his bag which was promptly confiscated. Great. After chatting with Shelli about the flight we are now fairly sure that they sat a special security guard next to us just to make sure we weren’t planning to hijack the plane. I imagine as both Steve and I took sleeping pills he was quite bored. Anyway this was our first introduction into the high security prevalent everywhere in Israel.

Tel Aviv and Jaffa – Jaffa was beautiful but after a red eye flight and the terror of driving in Israel we really just spent a lovely afternoon reading in a park over looking the Mediterranean until we could finally meet up with Shelli once she got off work. I suppose it was a bit of a cop out but we really enjoyed ourselves.

Haifa – Ok so the part Shelli neglected to tell us is that she lives in an apartment at the Le Meridian Hotel directly on the beach. Oh yeah baby! Needless to say we didn’t leave the apartment except to stroll along the promenade and go grocery shopping until Shelli literally kicked us out of the apartment to go to Jerusalem. I think if she hadn’t been so adamant we may have spent the whole week at the beach.  

Jerusalem – the Holy City. Holy Crap it is impossible to navigate by car. We somehow made it to our hostel after the trip that should have taken 2 hrs took 6hrs. Right. We were so sick of driving that we ended up paying for a tour the next day which was great. We saw all the major sites – well the Jewish and Christian ones and were impressed by the charm of the old city. I think our favorite place was the room of the last supper one of the few places that there is historical evidence that it is what it claimed it was. It was amazing even after the Muslims tried to make it a mosque and the Jews the tomb of David. I guess the sanctity of some places can’t be corrupted; this was not the case for the other holy sites in Jerusalem. Just read Hermann Melville’s account of the Holy Sepulcher and you’ll know what we mean.

Masada – That night we drove to Masada and it was an incredible relief after all the city life to drive through the desolate desert. What struck us the most were the tent villages of the Bedouins and seeing the hills of Jordan reflected in the Dead Sea. We stayed at the youth hostel at the foot of Masada which I highly recommend to anyone visiting Israel and took the gondola to the top of the mountain the first thing in the morning. Masada was remarkable and there are simply no words to describe the place.  Just go! Though I have to say while the history is interesting we tried not to get wrapped up in it but instead to absorb the beauty of the place.  

Dead Sea – Hooray Steve could finally float. Check out the picture of Steve finally floating for the first time. We camped out at a spa resort En Gadi for half a day and couldn’t have been happier about it. Covered in mud and floating around is not a bad way to spend a day.  

Haifa – After the Dead Sea we drove all the way back to Haifa. The next day Friday morning we went to the traditional fruit market in Hadar – the cellar suk and purchased more fruit and veggies than we could carry. Then Shelli made us a fantastic Chabot dinner and Steve and Shelli even tried to teach me part of the blessing. We had a blast. The next day we went to En Hod, a beautiful mountain artists village Quesaryia incredible roman ruins from the time of the second temple, also a great dive site though we didn’t hop in ourselves; and some sort of yuppie but fun shopping street on Mount Carmel.  We also took a trip to the Druis village which was really like the bazaar scene in Aladdin “It will not break, it will not break, It broke”. Good times.

 

 

Akko- Our last day in Israel we visited the old city in Akko. Once a fortress for the crusaders it is now a bustling city that some how retained it’s ancient and Arabic feel. The still have the beautiful Arabian horses to pull wares around the ancient streets. It was really quite remarkable, but then again I love horses.

Sorry this entry is so factual but we are running out of time before our flight. Besides we need to keep some stories to talk about when we get back.