January 2009
16 posts
Arizona: The Final Frontier
Greg had never seen the Grand Canyon, so we felt it would be appropriate for us to see some of own natural wonders before returning to the working world. So we headed out from LA on a 5-day loop around Northern AZ and Southern UT.
We drove out to the Canyon where we had reserved a room at the Bright Angel Lodge, located right on the south rim of the canyon. The first day, we went to several...
Juan Valdez: Bring Us Home
We said our farewells to Paul and crew. We had a nightmare experience getting to the tiny town of Salento that came highly recommended by Paul – 6 hour buseta (minivan for hire) ride, another hour bus ride, and an hour taxi ride, getting in at 10pm. Luckily, the owners of our destination hostel, Plantation House, were gracious enough to give us a bed, even though our reservation had been given...
The Holiday In Colombia Blog Entry That You've All...
Jeez! It’s been weeks since we’ve wrote anything! So much has happened. So much has been seen and done and savored without giving you the slightest idea of how amazing it has all been. I am sorry. Christie is sorry. I will work to make this the best blog entry of all time… OK. So we spent 10 days at Christie’s parent’s house in LA. We did very little other than...
December 2008
6 posts
Hong Kong - Shop 'Til Ya Drop
The flight to Hong Kong was uneventful. It wasn’t until the next night that we realized that we got out of Bangkok literally hours before both airports were shut down due to riots. We left at 10am, the airport was shut down late that afternoon. Reportedly, it took 2 days for people to get to Kuala Lumpur by train to finally get out of there. We were soooo lucky…again!
Mass transit is...
Ahhhh....Phuket! - We're going back to Thailand
So we narrowly escaped our Cambodian hospital and had a “fun” time trying to track down the American Embassy in Phenom Penh (so I could get more pages in my passport - that’s right! I’m soooo well traveled that I’ve run out of room for stamps in my passport). We decided to fly to Phuket to save some time as this was the last week in Southeast Asia.
Phuket is a nice...
November 2008
9 posts
Angkor...What's Wrong With Your Hands?!!!
OK. So we jumped on a cargo boat from the island to mainland Vietnam, with the interest of crossing the Cambocian border at a recently-opened crossing that is not as busy - not the best idea. 2 Americans crossing the Cambodian border + no other tourists crossing + small-town border police = having to bribe your way into the country. They knew we couldn’t get back into Vietnam, they made up a...
Phu Quoc-in' out
So a lot has happened since our last blog entry - our apologies as sometimes good internet access and spare time is hard to come by. We decided to fly from Hoi An to Saigon and bus the rest of the way as a compromise between saving time and saving money. Ho Chi Min City (Saigon) is a terribly congested crowded city. We figured out how to make our way on the local bus system which was a miracle in...
McWangster - Goin' Legal
Yep, that’s right. On a secluded beach, with no one for a mile in either direction, on the Vietnamese island of Phu Quoc, I asked Christie to be my wife, and amazingly, she said yes!
More details to come…
Michael Jackson's Tailor
We got in to Hanoi super early on the train and ate sidewalk pho while we watched the city wake up. We decided to fly to Denang - 30 miles north of Hoi An, rather than take another 16 hour train. We had heard from more than a few people about the weather being bad down south and we were greeted with a torrential downpour - greeeaaat. Less than a week before our arrival, there was 2 feet of water...
October 2008
12 posts
Sa Pa: A-Hmong the clouds
Ok ok - so we’ve decided that a pun is now needed in every blog entry, please forgive us.
Before I get into out journey into the northern Vietnamese mountains, Greg thought I should share in our little “missing ATM card” adventure right before we left Halong City. As you may observe, not all ATM’s give you your card back in the same order. When traveling (as anyone will...
Halong is your Cat Ba Monkey?
OK. So. Landed in Hanoi to a deserted airport that wouldn’t exchange currency from the country we just flew in from - the country right next door. Hello? So Hanoi-ing. But everyone here accepts US dollars - the irony is thick. We jump into a shuttle bus to the center of town, during which we witness guys pissing off the side of the highway and our driver almost kill about 15 scooter riders....
Laos Vegas in Vang Vieng
So to pick up where Greg left off - we set off a day later to meet our buddies in Vang Vieng. I wanted to stay an extra day to enjoy the place - Lena and I decided to spend the entire day sampling food (weird nut pastes wrapped in various leaves) and get super cheap massages ($3 - are you kidding me?!?!) I thought we should treat ourselves to a little R&R considering I had sprained my finger...
Mekong Dream
Before we left for Laos, I had one last mission to complete: Operation Durian. The Durian fruit has a mixed reputation. Some can tolerate it, even like it. But when you mention it to most who have come within a few feet of it, they cringe and tell you how disgusting the smell is and how they would never eat it in a million years. Most businesses, including hotels and airlines, will not allow you...
Thai me up and throw me in the jungle - PS we're...
So we’ve finally made it to Thailand - and not a moment too soon. After a brief but strange stop over in Bahrain (their airport has strange little animated dolls reminiscent of Disney’s Small World) we arrive in Bangkok in the wee hours of the morning. The air feels like a pollution milkshake but I do love the lower prices here! Rooms for 2 were like $8 - $12 here and meals for about a...
Back in E-G-Y-P-T!
So when we got back to Athens, we realized that the flight we had scheduled back to Cairo, in order to catch our flight to Bangkok, was too late for comfort. So we changed it to a day earlier. Which meant spending another night in Cairo. I was psyched!
When we first got to Cairo in August, I was freaked out. I was tired, hot, super anxious about the adventure that lay ahead, and definitely a...
September 2008
10 posts
Don't Mind Them Sealegs, Me Maties!
So after another brutally uncomfortable overnight bus ride (for Wang, that is - I have somehow mastered sleeping through speed bumps), and a brief minibus adventure, we arrived in Demre to hook up with our 4 day/3 night “blue cruise” along the Turquoise Coast. But not before my Turkish barber experience…
I had my head buzzed in Dahab and I was due for a clean-up. So I popped...
Turkısh De-lıte
That`s right - more pun jokes. I must say, other than the specatular natural sıtes, Turkısh delıght ıs now my new favorıte treat EVER. Rose flavored chewy treats wıth strange but famılıar taste. Turkey is quite delıghtful ıf ıt weren`t for thıs odd keyboard wıth letters I am forced to use that an Amerıcan would have no ıdea what to do wıth. But let me back up a lıttle and tell you about our days...
Greece Is For Lovers
It is. I’m serious. If you’re single and in Santorini, they’ve conveniently put some cliffs here that you can throw yourself off in despair. Couples everywhere. And Americans coming out the wazoo.
After a couple of last days in Dahab, enjoying the hilarious company of our small hotel’s staff of young hooligans and pirates, we were off to Athens. The Acropolis at sunset is...