Fia Taa - Ethan and Sara's Malaga

2007-08-15T14:27:00.000-11:00

Its been fun, but we are no longer fia taa.
Well, if you've never read the definition of what 'fia taa' means in Samoan, now is the time. Because although we want and will always want to be taa, we've decided now is the time to grow oo (roots). So visit our new blog at www.rootsinstx.com

See ya' there.

Fa.

Etena ma Sala

2007-07-04T04:02:00.000-11:00

Its been a while. But, as Ethan and I have settled into a life and a routine, writing about it seems so mundane after all the adventures I have written about in the past. But, as I have been told...those that do read this blog would like to know what happens apres-R-T-W? Well, after going RTW, one settles down and tries to get used to sleeping on the same pillow, having coffee the same way every morning and finding routine things that seemed so difficult while traveling.

We both work now. Ethan at Walsh Metal Works (www.walshmetal.com) and I at BiZVI Grafix (www.BizVIGrafix.com). I am becoming a bit more computer savy now that I market website and software designs, so maybe I should upgrade this blog? Nah. I like it this way. We finally got the internet hooked up at our new home. Yup, we have a home. The first one we have ever had just the two of us. Well, we are housesitting for a couple that are off island. But, housesitting suits us fine. We even have a doggie and kittie to watch. Sir Happy the German Shepard and Tiger Muffin the big fluffy orange kitty.

So, the reason I really got back on this blog was to talk about our latest adventure. Way back when, when we were in Samoa....Gayle (Ethan's mom) started talking about this sailing trip through the BVIs with her friends Karl and Valerie. We thought is sounded so romantic for a 25th wedding anniversary but it was so far away and all...

It turns out we got to go on that trip to the BVIs. We sailed on a catamaran with four bedrooms and four baths and an airconditioned salon room. It was very luxurious. It was very relaxing. The eight person group we were with included Gayle Washburn, Larry Clemons, Karl and Valerie Ball, Adem Clemons (Larry's son) and his friend Julie, then Ethan and I. We would love to do another one of these yachting cruises again. We have also added some pictures from the trip below.

Us boarding our charter flight from St Croix to Beef Island.

The big blue ocean!

Another catamaran sailing.

Captain Larry at the Helm.

That's the Dodger 2, our yacht for the week and the peeps in the picture are Gayle and Tom Fickle (who is another F'sted St Croix resident, but was sailing on another boat). We had a little interboat party.

Karl and I in the galley, eating seemed to be a big pasttime on this trip.

Sealegs at Cane Garden Bay - first time on land in a while. That's Valerie, Adem and Julie.

Ethan and Sara.

The Baths at Virgin Gorda.

Ethan and Sara again in the garden at Gayle's house.

Sailing, sailing, sailing.

Sunset from the yacht.

Us at the baths on Virgin Gorda.

2007-06-01T00:13:00.000-11:00

Good Morning World!

Its been a while since I posted. We have been extremely busy. My first Stateside visitor came down. Elizabeth. So, Ethan and I had a very tight deadline to get the toilet into the house so we could camp there. We wanted running water and a toilet and we had each of our afternoons and weekend days laid out. Yet, this is an island and on an island, not everything always works out as you expect it. So, we didn't get the toilet in and the pump was ready but the doors to the pump house weren't. Anyway, to make a long story shorter, we opted to use the bar toilet down the street, pitched camp inside the shell house, went to the beach and had our bags stolen. Elizabeth was asking how prevalent the crime was and I replied that I was smart about it and nothing had happened to me yet. Well, while we were in the water, a car pulled up and snatched our bags off the beach. Argh! A lady from the bar followed the car, but when they threatened her, she backed off.

So, we decided not to camp. There was a string of crimes that week and we just didn't feel safe. So, Elizabeth stayed with us at the Gayle's townhouse and we all still had a great time. Who says four people can't co-habitate in a small dwelling? Thanks Gayle! We also made Ethan stop working on the house and enjoy playing tourguide and took Elizabeth and I around (or jsut her while I was working).

I GOT A JOB!
Yup, I have a new job. Although I am staying at Blue Moon two nights a week, I am working as the Marketing Manager of BiZVI Grafix, a local technology consulting company. Those that know me are thinking, she's not a technology girl. But, I am a marketing girl and they are willing to work with that. So, I like the job and I am very happy to have many non-profit clients in the VI. I have only been there three days and they are willing to work with my upcoming craziness of a schedule, so Ill post more later, after I get to know the job. If you go to the website, please know that my first project is to redesign the website. www.bizvigrafiz.com

WE GOT OUR OWN PLACE!
Gayle is awesome and we love staying with her, but I have been wanting to make my own nest for a while now. While Ethan and Elizabeth were at an ar opening (at Ethan's work), he found us a place to stay until October. This older couple is leaving the island for the summer and need a dog and house sitter. We volunteered and they are happy. The place has a pool too!

Oh, for those that didn't know this. I have put my MBA on hold. I had some issues with my scholarship and in the long run, I realized I didn't want to leave St Croix, Ethan or the life we started together. I AM NOT GIVING UP THE DEGREE! and will probably enroll at Univ of Virgin Islands when I get residency down here. I am very happy with this decision and can't believe how well things are working out since I made that decision.

Thats about it for now, so cheers and alofa.

Off to Puerto Rico for the weekend!

2007-05-09T01:43:00.000-11:00

In the last post, I realize I put in pictures of Ethan building the water pump shed and told you about going to Puerto Rico. So, I must apologize, but I don't have any pictures of Puerto Rico. The one day trip was so short...I forgot to pull out the camera. I can tell you that it looks a lot like Miami but more authentic Caribbean.

I am gardening a lot in the backyard of the townhouse...Ill post some pictures of that next. It keeps me busy and makes me feel so proud when things sprout up out of the ground. I keep getting stung by fire ants which are leaving lovely scars on my feet, but the alternative is to wear shoes. And that aint gonna happen!

Gayle is planning a RPCV of St Croix party. That should be fun. I run into people all the time at Blue Moon that were associated or involved somehow with Peace Corps. Just yesterday, I met a couple that lived in Embassy housing in Manilla Phillipines and they housed many a rural volunteer coming to the city. We also had a great talk about gender roles. She was a Navy commander and he a teacher and how living ina developing country makes that a very interesting and unique situation. Neat people.

What else...oh, I am waiting to hear from Arizona again. Seems there may be a little issue or misunderstanding on my scholarship. We'll see. I keep calling and writing to everyone but I can't get any answers so I am staying put.

Today, I am off to ride my bike to the beach again. Yesterday the weather didn't cooperate, so I gardened and planted coconuts. Today, I am going even if it does rain. I just wont bring my camera and Ill put my cell phone in a ziplock.

THats life in my world....Sorry I can't give you more updates on Ethan. He works all day and I see him for about an hour before I head to work and then he goes to work onthe house. We reconvene when he picks me up at work late night and then we both pass out in bed. Saturdays are our day and we enjoy them soooo much. Sometimes we work on the house and sometimes we explore the island. This weekend its work work work. Gotta get that toilet in before Elizabeth comes so we all have someplace to go potty!

Ciao for now.
-z-

2007-05-07T08:13:00.000-11:00

Off One Rock, onto another and back again.

Yup, we didn't quite have island fever, but the break from St Croix was nice. We went to Puerto Rico for the weekend. What a developed place compared to our little island. The purpose of our trip was the scope Home Depot for house building supplies and get prices on everything. So, apon arriving in PR, we jumped a public bus and headed to Bayamon to the Home Depot. We had some other shopping to do, but were quite exhausted from trip and decided that we could brave the buses later and take a little nap. Ahhhhh....hotel, airconditiong, what a life! Then we headed to the Plaza de Americas, which I hear was up there as one of the biggest malls in the US until only a few years ago. Everyone from all over the Caribbean comes to PR to shop and man, the ladies department at Macys was scary. I had post-Peace Corps trauma again going there and decided I could settle with a few mail order items instead.

On Sunday, we headed to the beach across from the hotel and then explored Old San Juan for a little bit. We had a great lunch including some ceviche and calamari...mmmmm.

Back to St Croix, our baggage didn't make it so we had to take a second trip to the airport to pick up our bags.

That was our trip. The End.

Oh, someone asked me for a life update.
Well, we love St Croix. We continue to fall more in love with each other every day. (Sorry you all needed a little sappiness right?) I am still going to Arizona as of now. Ethan is still building the house in Prosperity. (I try to help when I can). Our first continental visitor is coming in May (Elizabeth from DC). Gayle had a birthday. We are heading to the States in August for a trip to Florida, California, and then Tuscon...where Ethan will head back here. Some pics.....

Sunset in St Croix

Gayle, checkbook in hand, when we filled the water cistern FINALLY!

2007-04-09T03:00:00.000-11:00

Ethan hard at work.
Some of the hinges and metal things they make at Walsh Metal.
A sculpture by Mike Walsh in the art gallery attached to the shop.
I got some pictures of Ethan at work at Walsh Metal, so I thought I would post those too. Mind you, he is building his mom's house in his spare time and his main job is at Walsh.

2007-03-30T05:30:00.000-11:00

Rythyms at Rainbow Beach, also walking distance from the house we are building. Notice the Cruzan rum selection?

The view from rainbow bar facing the ocean.
The beach between Rainbow and the house. Our own little blowholes!
Ethan pumping out the cistern.
Before picture of the house, front view.
Before Pic of the house, back view
Blue Moon, where I work.
Turtles Cafe, where I check my email
My new used bike!

And sunset!
Ah, paradise.
I haven’t updated our blog in a while because we have been trying to get settled. Now, that we are starting to settle in, I thought I would do an update of our lives for all of you that are still interested in the adventures of Ethan and Sara.

Before we left for St Croix, I decided to accept admission at Eller School of Management at University of Arizona. This came after some other planning had changed things. Ethan and I were both sold on going to St. Croix, so Arizona put some distance in the way and we are still figuring out what that means.

Then we got to St. Croix. It was a bit tough at first. We showed up here with a dream to build Ethan’s mom’s house, but no money, no car, no jobs, no cell phones. Gayle moved into the smaller bedroom of her two bedroom condo so we could stay in the bigger room. The classified ads in the newspaper were hopeless the first week and I started to get worried. Actually, I started to panic. Ethan of course told me not to worry and it was just a matter of time.

Then things happened quick. I heard from one of Ethan’s childhood friends that there was a restaurant in town that needed help and another friend of Ethan’s referred him for a position at a metal fabrication shop. The interviews went well and we both started work. Then, we started looking for a small truck. Trucks are very hard to come by on this island and the search was not looking great, when Budget rentals came up with a cute little Toyota 2x4. Unfortunately they sold it and when Ethan went back to check about other trucks, they admitted the guy didn’t show up with the money and Ethan jumped on it immediately. Then, I got me a bicycle! A beach cruiser at that. I love it and am enjoying the freedom of going places on my own.

So, we got jobs. We got wheels. We are meeting people around town and every spare moment we have goes towards working on the house. The cistern had more cracks than expected so it is taking a bit longer to finish, but after we get the cistern fixed and sealed, we will have water. With water we can do plumbing and cement so things will move along.

St Croix is becoming home for me. I hate to get sappy, but I really like it here and see this as a permanent move for me (well, after school and all). Life here is island life! It moves like Samoa or some of Thai islands we visited but we use American money and have some American amenities. It is perfect and comfortable and definitely where I want to call home.

So, I am attaching some pictures of our lives here and we promise that when we have space, we would love to have you visit. Anyone and everyone is always welcome. Just give us some time.

Cheers and Love,
Sara and Ethan

2007-02-17T15:40:00.000-11:00

We're goin' to Disney World!!!!!

Back in Florida, we decided to take a trip to visit some old friends and one day included a trip to Disney World. We didn't realize that it was Presidents Weekend, so it was busier than expected. We did go on the Tower of Terror and Rock-n-Roller Coaster and walked around the world in Epcot. It was nice, but we definately have to come back to do more of the parks next time.

We head to St Croix March 1st and are very excited about our next step, JOBS!

If you are still reading this, great! And sorry we have been so silent for so long, but you can always email us to say hi.

Cheers,
sara and ethan

2007-01-23T15:26:00.000-11:00

Finally, I had some time to post pictures of Carnival in St Croix. There were moko jumbies to ward off evil spirits and lots of 'wining' (dancing with your bootay in a grinding motion). There were wonderful costumes and lots of RUM! More pictures are on the snapfish link.

Carnival in St Croix...

Pictures of the most fun parade in the Caribbean.

2007-01-12T00:02:00.000-11:00

The end is near, I know it now. Gayle, Ethan's mom, bought us two seaplane tickets to St Thomas and a reservation at the National Parks campground at Cinnamon Bay in St John for our Christmas present. Ethan has talked about this place non-stop since I met him over two years ago and has promised to take me there. We knew this was the end of our holiday. On Sunday, we head back to the Continental US and consider what to do next. We both really like St Croix and would love to come back here, but first I have this graduate program I have to work on. We'll see. The world is an oyster right now and there are pearls everywhere! We both feel really secure about our options and life, but we do need to make some money soon.

Oh, St John....forgot. The beach was super fine white sand, with light rolling waves coming in from the bays. The island is mountainous and the drive was steep but the roads were fine. We hiked into the next bay and enjoyed thats one too. We snorkled around an island and man do those fish know they are protected. We lounged, we drank rum, we cooked and we slept in a tent. It was relaxing and wonderful. My only issue is that the sand fleas leave nasty welts on my body. Not everyone, just me and a select few others with sweet blood type.

We are now back in St Croix and thats about it. I promise to load tons of pictures when we get to Florida.

New uses for a Heineken can.

Ahhh, the beautiful crystal clear waters of the caribbean ocean

The beach at Cinnamon Bay

Walking down to the beach, early morning.

Hellluuuuu

St John, USVI

Cheers and Alofa,
Sara and Ethan

2007-01-02T15:21:00.000-11:00

The green flash IS real!!!!

Tonight, I saw the sun turn green as it fell into the ocean. Although I didn't get the opportunity to watch the sun drop into the ocean often in Samoa, Ethan did. He never saw a green flash in Samoa, but we did tonight. We went for a late afternoon swim, a bit chilly, but it was nice. Then we got a cocktail and plopped into our beach chairs and watched a cruiseship (a small one) leave right in front of the setting sun. But as we have religiously watched the sunset over the past few weeks, it always seems to get cloudy at the last moment. But tonight there was a little crack in the clouds and thats where the sun fell. I kind of expected the whole sky to turn green but instead the very top of the sun turned green before it droppped down under the horizon. It was damn cool. I think its lucky. I mean its a full moon, the green flash. Good things are gonna happen this year!

So, to everyone:

HAPPY NEW YEAR AND BEST WISHES FOR THE NEW YEAR!

2006-12-28T01:58:00.000-11:00

Still waiting for the Green Flash....
We have an evening ritual in St. Croix and that is to watch the sunset at a beachbar. This is the wrong time of year to see it, but supposedly if the sun falls into the ocean and there is no clouds, the sky flashes green. I am still waiting to see it and they tell me it IS real. So until then, I'll just drink my coconut rum and pineapple juice and wait.

We watched 'tramp' the other night. A police car followed by a big generator run truck with a 12 person band on the back slowly made its way down the main street of Fredricksted. It was not the old style scratchy band, but a new bass induced electronic version of it. On both sides, it is reviving an old tradition and making it popular with the kids. There were hundreds of people following the truck and dancing all the way to 'the village.' The village is the carnival attractions, food booths and a stage for entertainment. We had some great roast pork with Sazon rice and sweet potato and a side of conch in butter sauce. The ginger beer was also quite tasty, but too sweet. Next time, it gets a shot of rum! So thats life so far during Carnivale in St Croix. I will bring my camera next time so I can leave you all with some pictures, although I don't know if I can post until I get back to Florida.

Cheers and Happy Holidays!

2006-12-20T03:53:00.000-11:00

St Croix, Virgin Islands.

Ah, we are settled for a bit in St Croix and staying with Ethans mom. The weather is hot, sunny, and we are enjoying our rum and cokes! The internet connection is slow, so I have no time to post pictures....but wanted to let everyone know that we are safe and sound and happy. The next phase of life is quickly approaching and its a bit scary, bnut for now we are going to enjoy the current situation and take it one day at a time.

Cheers and Happy Holidays from St Croix...
Sara and Ethan

2006-12-08T14:45:00.000-11:00

The Good Ole US of A

We cant believe we made it. Seriously. After 14 countries and multiple border check...nothing compares with trying to come back into the US. Wow. What a ordeal.

So, we got to Frankfurt Airport with plenty of time. We left to go to our gate so we could buy some dutyfree (the Cuban Bacardi and Jagermeister) but all US flights have to go to the C terminal to go through a special customs section, where we are then put into a room with nothing until a bus shows up and takes us to the B terminal at our gates and far away from any of the duty free shops. Noone tells you this, so we are just being put into line after line and getting further from duty free as we go. I did go back out to the B terminal (the beginning part) and was able to purchase the rum but was told the Jager is different and not allowed into the US. The sealed back was to stay sealed on the flight and everything would be peachy.

The flight was late so we arrived in Philadelphia starving, tired, and with less than an hour to go through customs, immigration, and get to our connecting flight. We were doubtful. In immigration, the slip asked what countries we went on during this trip and we couldnt fit all the countries on the slip. At the desk, the man made me list all (not just SE Asia, but where) and then asked how I could afford to volunteer in Peace Corps with no money. When Ethan went through after me, the same nice immigration officer gave him a scratch piece of paper with the way to apply for a job with border and customs control. He was pleasant althoguh militant. Our luggage was the last to come up onto the belt and of course with a list of countries on our immigration tag, we were sure to get searched in agriculture. The man was a jerk. He asked what every thing in our bag was, where it came from and what we were going to do with it. He re-emptied our bag and xrayed it. He also leafed through our Lonely Planet Thailand and asked us if we were in a rush. We told him we boarded our connecting flight in 20 minutes. This suitcase was packed so neat and nice and FULL and we threw everything back in when he was done. We had to check our duty free because US flights would not allow a sealed bag and I took random things into the plastic bag as carryon so we could close the suitcase. As we waited for our bags, only my backpack came up. We knew this was an issue right off, since our backpacks usually come together. Both of us had envisioned the suitcase exploding (popping open, not actually exploding) and were yet to talk about it in fear of actual catastrophe. But as the belt stopped and all the others left, we realized that our suitcase and Ethans pack were not coming. That suitcase contains all of our souvenirs from around the world. Ethan bag contains his only clothes. It would have been much easier for my bag to not show up, since I have stuff at moms. We went home, had a snack and some champagne and then slept. Although the sun rose and we were up regardless of the amount of sleep. My grandparents and my uncle and Rachel came over and we had lots of coffee and talked and then Ethan and I drove to the store for new shoes. Very exciting I know. We all met for dinner at the Club for lobster. It was wonderful and great to spend one day with my grandparents before they left for Hawaii.

I think we are adjusting. Florida is ok to visit although we dont want to live here. It is really nice to have each other to lean on for our adjustment back to US life. I think everything is going to turn out ok. Well, we do have to find out where we are moving to next.

We ran to the next step which was to check the baggage. The man said it would make it. We then ran to our gate, which was boarding and we got on. The flight was uneventful and seeing my mom on the other side was awesome. She was waiting at the closest to the gate she could get which was so fun and the smile and hugs we got were worth the disaster of Philly.

2006-12-04T04:18:00.000-11:00

Dresden, Germany and The AUTOBAHN!!!

After much work on trying to find our way to Berlin and then down to Frankfurt for a reasonable amount of money, we decided to hire a car. If we got over the border to Dresden, the fare was about $200US and we could keep it for a week and drop it in Frankfurt. Deal. We left Cesky Kruml0v excited about driving. Ethan loves to drive and I love navigating and being passenger. We were both excited to be able to just stop the car wherever necesary or not neccesary and have that freedom. Why didn't we do this anywhere else on our trip?

When we left for Cesky Krumlov, we had planned to go back to Prague for a few more days, but honestly we just weren't into Prague or the vibe there. The hostel makes it and we had picked a ok one. I am sure had we given it more time, we could have enjoyed ourselves, but it just seemed like a big modern city. Instead we were going to go straight through. We took a bus from Cesky Krumlov to Prague and had only 20 minutes to get from the bus station to the other side of the city to the train station for a train to Dresden. We had 5 minutes until our train left, when the ticket police checked our tickets and informed us we had bought the wrong ones. We honestly did not know that we bought the wrong tickets and for a lousy 4 more Krones we would have done so. Instead, we were hit with a 500 Krone fee and missed the train. Argh. Now we were really hating Prague and ready to hit the road. They specifically hit tourists with backpacks and after meeting many people in many cities who never buy tickets and hope for the best, we have alwys bought our tickets. Of course we are the ones to get the fine too. We caught the next train to Dresden (2 hours later and 1/2 hour late on top of that) and arrived in a new city blind. We found a cool but somewhat expensive hostel and treated ourselves to a dinner of wings and nachos at a Mexican restaurant. The next morning we picked up our little yellow VW Fox and made our way to Berlin.

THE AUTOBAHN.
So, we get onto the highway alright, but Ethan checks to see if the left lane is clear and to pass a vehicle and jumps over only to have a car come up on him at 200kph and get very angry. From then on, he realizes its not about if the lane is clear but if he can see far enough back where the cars are coming from. We were traveling between 130 and 150 kph and cars were passing us like we were little old ladies putting along on a back road. Each car that passed us seem to make a whooshing noise and sometimes we could barely see them coming. On the way into Berlin, I wanted to stop at an Ikea (because we could) and we got to check out what all this Ikea buzz is about. Ethan didnt like that you were trapped on a path and couldnt vear off, but it was fun to see the styles and think about a home in our near future. We got icecream at the end and back on the highway to find our way into Berlin.

BERLIN.
The city of owls and nightfolk. We should make a point to say that dark happens about 4PM in Germany at this time of year and it is usually overcast during the day, so life seems dark anyway. Why not just party at night and sleep during the day? We went on a pub crawl the first night and were extremely disappointed. But by 2AM, I had to go to sleep. The second night, we headed out with some friends we met at the hostel and stayed at a bar called the WHITE TRASH FAST FOOD Bar and Restaurant. The band was hard rock and the DJ upstairs was pretty cool. It was a mix of Irish, American, and Aussie friends and the first bar we stopped at seemed to be a gay one but after we were turned away at the wine bar (more for the size of our 9 person group), the other American asked if they served our kind in this place and the bartender was very hospitable. Slowly we realized we were the only girls in the place but the great thing about Berlin is that it doesnt matter! Everyone is cool and noone gets upset for you to break the mould. Berliners were awesome everywhere. If we pulled out a map, someone always tried to help us. If someone didnt speak English, they got their friend. We met people everywhere.

We also visited the Jewish Memorial, which was extremely moving, beautiful, touching and offered free admission. Germans seem to have realized the atrocity of the holocaust and are trying hard to remember but move forward. On the same note, we also visited the Checkpoint Charlie museum, where we learned a ton about the wall and separated Berlin. This is history of our childhood and now we can be more connected to it. From Berlin, we decided to go to Munich because, well we can. It was a long drive and we arrived in Munich blind again. We realized that we knew where to go IF we came into the train station but driving was another story. We stopped for directions and made it to Wombats but were a bit disappointed by this highly regarded a somewhat pricey hostel. There is NO kitchen and no credit cards. And we had some very inconsiderate roommates. Today, we are headed to a traditional beer hall for BEER and food. This is the home of beer and the original Oktoberfest. Tomorrow we will find out more about the history and maybe catch a museum or two. We hope to go see the Disney castle (or the castle that Disney used to design theirs) two hous drive from here.

We head home shortly and are anticipating the move to the US. I will load pictures when I get the chance. We love getting comments, so if you are reading this, please let us know so. Cheers!

2006-11-29T04:19:00.000-11:00

Prague, Cesky Krumlov

We took the overnight bus from Krakow to Prague.

We enjoyed Prague but it was a very big modern European city. From Prague, we headed south to Cesky Krumlov, a beautiful medevial 18th century city that was built into a winding bend in the river. We enjoyed it very much. Ethan went next door with an empty mug and came back with a huge draft beer for less than $1. I cooked in a great kitchen. We relaxed.

Now we are in the train station in Prague heading to Dresden Germany. We are hiring/renting a car that will take us to Berlin and then down to Frankfurt. We are both excited for the flexibility of the car and Ethan gets to drive on the autobahn!!!

More to come, our time at this cafe is up.
Sara and Ethan

2006-11-24T20:38:00.000-11:00

Final Thoughts from Krakow

After a week in Krakow and a great time, we leave you a final picture of Krakow, courtesy of Sarah, a friend we met at the Pink Flamingo Hostel. Actually, we want to shout out to all the really cool new people that we met at the Pink Flamingo. I know that many of you have access to this website and we want to say that the world is small and I am sure paths will cross again.

2006-11-23T23:20:00.000-11:00

Pictures and Comments...

We have updated the pictures on the www.fiataa.snapfish (or link from the right of the page) through Krakow and you are welcome to see all of them.

IF YOU ARE READING THIS...we would enjoy hearing that you are and what you think. It is
easy to post a comment to any post, just click on the comment box and type type type.

We leave for Prague this afternoon and you are sure to hear more about that lovely city. Krakow is definately a must see for any traveler and on our come-back-to list. We loved it here.

2006-11-20T09:42:00.000-11:00

Krakow, Poland

We spent two days in Frankfurt and didn't really do much. Everything was expensive, even soda and beer. Dinner off the street of bratwurst was nice, but everything else blew our budget. I did do a full hour interview from the call center across from Frankfurt Main train station and we watched American sitcoms dubbed in German on the tv in our room. Our only English options were a rotating MTV and BBC channel or CNN.

We took our RyanAir flight to Krakow, leaving at 6AM on a two hour bus ride to Frankfurt Haun. It really is everything they say in the magazines about being a bare bones airline company where the flight attendants hawk drinks food and even scratch lottery tickets! But it was cheaper than a bus or a train and way worth the fact that we booked a $0.01 flight (we paid 4.50Euro for each of our bags and 20 for our taxes).

The streets of Krakow through a Lomo camera lens.

Krakow is awesome!!!! We love it here and the vibe of the city was so great from the first impression. Although the first hostel we picked was a loser, we moved to a great place called the Pink Flamigo and are much happier here.

The city square is full of street performers and the buidlings are amazing and really old. The restaurants are everywhere, the prices are good, and there is soooo much to see. The old Jewish quarter has become a hip area for artists and clubs and nice restaurants. There are sooooo many clubs here with lots of music of all types.

The gate of the synagogue in the old Jewish quarter.

Today we went to Auschwitz. It was very emotional as we expected. But even more so as I spent some time finding where all my great grandparents are from and learning that my fathers grandfather was from a small city in Poland. It hits home to know that I personally could have cousins that were shipped to Auschwitz. Gives me chills.

"Through work lies freedom" in german. The gates to Auschwitz.

The south gate into Birkenau.

The tracks that led so many people to the camps.

Visiting Auschwitz, a death camp where 1.5 million people were excecuted (1.2 million Jews) is an experience that really cant be explained. So many people come to see this site and the tours are done matter-of-factly. Unlike, the excessive shock valued 'Killing Fields' of Cambodia that very few people new about, most people that visit Auschwitz know the history. I was prepared for so much detail and tears and crying, but this tour was not created to shock and awe, more to educate and inform. The most shocking things I experienced were the room full of hair which was left instead of being shipped off for use in fabric manufacturing. The death wall was also a touching monument with the flowers and rocks and candlers all placed in front of it. We visited on a gloomy grey day and really got an earie view of the city. The massive size of the camp and the living quarters and the barbed wire as well as the interogation rooms was unexplainable. The tracks leading into the area gave me the creeps. I am so happy to have experienced this tour and feel more connected with my roots. With this tour, I felt inclined to research my

After Auschwitz and back in Krakow, one would never believe that a city that draws people to visit a death camp could be so full of life. It is refreshing and nice to know that the once Jewish Ghetto has become a hip cool section of this great city. There are more than 18 University level institutions in this city, one which is the oldest in central Europe dating from 1364. Schindlers List was filmed here and actually happened here. Did you know the bagel originates from Poland and was brought to New York by Polish Jews in the 1850s?

Wow...one could party every night of the week here in Krakow. Who wooda thunk? Seriously, I am conditioning myself to stay up later and sleep later because that is the way that this city works. Most of hte clubs are underground making it seem like a sleepy town on the surface, but once you pick a destination and head underground, it is crazy wild and you could never go to all the clubs here. There are soooo many.

We went to the salt mines today. The Wieliczka Salt Mine, nowadays practically on the southeast outskirts of Krakow, has been worked for 900 years. It used to be one of the world's biggest and most profitable industrial establishments when common salt was commercially a medieval equivalent of today's oil. Always a magnet, since the mid-18th century Krakow's Wieliczka salt mine has become increasingly a tourist attraction. We walked underground at the depths of 120m in the oldest part of the salt mine and saw its subterranean museum. I actually licked a wall and a salt statue. This is the most amazing chapel with hand carved reliefs on the walls and everything is made from salt. The miners were starting to gather for a special service for the men trapped in the coal mine and those that died the day before in another part of Poland.

The chapel (made of all salt).

2006-11-19T09:48:00.000-11:00

Thoughts on Turkey, traveling, and preparing to readjust.

Turkey was chill. Istanbul was ok on the way back through but because we couldnt change our flight to Frankfurt, we didn't get the extra day we wanted which means we didn't get to do a few of the sites that we had saved for our trip back through. We will jus thav eto go back. Man , we say that often. The food in Istanbul wasnt as good as it was in the rural areas, everything seemed more expensive. We did buy shoes! Both of us got a nice pair of leather shows to come back to the US in, yeh! But currently, we are both getting used to those shoes and fighting blisters from the massive amounts of walking.

We loved Olympos and Goreme. If you go to Olympos, dont stay anywhere besides Saban house. That is http://www.sabanpansion.com/ with the funky Turkish "s" if you are typing it. We also wish we had more time in Goreme and next time, we want to head east.

Its funny, as we go through this rtw trip, we keep making mention to where we will go on the next trip. What we want to add, take out, and how we will modify the next travels.

Now, we get ready for Eastern Europe and then back to the good ole US of A. Its getting to the end and now a new beginning. School acceptance and rejections are the next big thing and then we can start the next step.

We want to thank everyone that has continued to read this blog and if you are planning a round the world trip, we would be glad to help with the knowledge from the countries we have been. Who knows, maybe you will be helping us with our next trip.

2006-11-19T04:27:00.000-11:00

Cappadocia.

We stayed in Goreme at a clean neat hostel. The only issue was the super rambuncious 5 year old reaking havok and tempertantrums all over the hostel. The dog was our tour guide to the Open Air Museum which was fun. Everyone in town said hello to Spotty the Dog and we felt priveleged to have such a popular tour guide. When we thought we took a wrong turn and pulled out the map, Spotty made sure we knew he was right and gave us this look like 'you doubt me?, silly tourist!'

The uniqueness of the region was formed by the eruption of Mt. Erciyes (ancient Mt. Argaeus) and Mt. Hasan some 60 million years ago, which spread a thick layer of ash over the area. This hardened into a soft porous stone called tufa. During the following centuries, erosion from rain and wind created valleys in the soft rock that left behind higher sections of crazy interesting formations called “fairy chimneys”.

A view of the valley.

The Cappadocia area was ruled by a series of small, independent states, under priest-kings as early as the 6th century B.C. Herodotus mentions it as the region between Phrygia and Cilicia in the 5th century B.C. Xenophon mentions people living underground in his book Anabasis although the earliest residents are unknown. In 17 A.D. Tiberius made the region a Roman Province. It became a sanctuary for Christians who hid in the existing underground cities and made their own mark by carving several thousand churches and monasteries. When the Arabs started their raids in the 7th and 8th centuries, they again went underground and continued carving elaborate cities.

Me peaking my head around the corner in the underground city. These tunnels went down 8 floors and breathing was difficult at the bottom.

Another part of the Cappadocia region, where they filmed the sand people in Star Wars, near a monastary built out of rock.

A cool looking chimney at the end of the day at the sunset time.

The opening doors of the camel (not truck) stop used in the old days of the Sikh trading route. Also, that is the Turkish flag at the door.

It was a great tour, a wonderful chill city, I only wish we had more time to enjoy the area. We would have tasted some of their wines and maybe done a little more exploring.

2006-11-19T04:15:00.000-11:00

Ah, heaven found in Turkey (Olympos)

After a freak snow storm and some really cold weather, we were really on the fence whether we shouold go south south to the mediteranean and visit Olympos. We had heard it was cool but we didnt really want to stay in a treehouse in the middle of winter, but in the end we went there anyway and boy were we happy. The town had very few visitors, but we stayed at a bungalow place that rocked. Meral, see picture below:

is a super star host. I wanted to cook Turkish food and we cooked every night. Our bungalow was in an orange grove and the oranges were in full bloom. The average Turk drinks more than 8 cups of tea a day and was out to fit in with them. Ethan on the other hand wanted to match the tea with oranges and consumed more oranges than was thought humanly possible.

We met a really cool guy (Udof) who lives in Berlin and gave us great info and we promised to meet him for coffee when we get there. The second evening Ethan and Udof went ot see the Chimera fire Flames that never extinguish. They have been that way for centuries and pirates were known to use them to find the cove. Ethan blew one out and it mysteriously relit itself as was expected. I stayed and cooked with Meral.

Chimera Flames!

The last night Meral treated us to Raki (Polish anise flavored liquer) and we would up spending an extra night there. We had amazing fish for dinner. The food there was the best we had in all of Turkey. I also went mushroom hunting on the mountain with Meral. Ethan swam in the Mediteranean Sea! Yup, it was cold but he did it. We also hiked around the area and saw the ruins too. It was our favorite time thus far in Turkey.

Just a short walk from our bungalow.

King of the Mountain!

2006-11-17T06:14:00.000-11:00

Pamukkale and Hieropolis

In Pamukkale, most visitors go for the calcium pools, like the picture:

They were very interesting, but not beautiful like the pictures of them in the brochure guide. Instead of crystal clear water and people lounging around in bikinis, we found murky water being diverted to form new pools because the older ones were eroded. We took our shoes off and got our feet wet in the steamy water. It was an interesting natural phenomenon that had been over visited and they are trying now to preserve it a bit to keep the tourists coming. But the real beauty of the area is Hieropolis.

We spent the day behind them exploring the ancient city of Hieropolis pretending we were
archaeologists.

Sara leaning against an ancient pillar.

Ethan pretending to reassemble the ruins.

The town was like a ghost town and we had an alright dinner at our pension. The touts were strong to get us into one pension over the other and the bus was actually stopped short of town because a man that gave us a flyer in the previous city had called a woman to tell her we were on that bus. We got angry and wouldnt even look at that pension. One night we had excellent Turkish pizza.

2006-11-17T06:04:00.000-11:00

Gallipoli and Selcuk.

We have spent the last few hours loading pictures to snapfish and are overinternetted so we dont have much time to blog but we will share a few pictures if you want more. But please visit snapfish for the full reports of all the pictures from Turkey.

Ephusus in Selcuk.

Ethan on the ancient throne (latrine) and Sara hugging the Turkey LP.

The theatre of Ephusus.

2006-11-01T04:37:00.000-11:00

Istanbul, Turkey

So, we arrıved ın Turkey to cold wet weather. Mmmm, not so fun for us ısland people! We are stayıng ın a fun socıal hostel wıth lots of drınkıng last nıght. We ate lamb shısh and the local beer ıs good. We also met a current PCV from Moldovıa (sp?) and we talked a lot of Peace Corps lat nıght, makıng us home sıck. We are really startıng to mıss and wonder about our famılıes and frıends ın Samoa, so ıf by chance you are readıng thıs from Samoa...we mıss ıt there and you and everythıng about ıt. If you are leavıng soon, enjoy ıt because you too wıll mıss ıt once you leave. If you make ıt out to eıther of our vıllages, send our love and best wıshes and when we have tell them we wıll call when we have the means too (ie:$).

Anyway, we are enjoyıng the ancıent cıty. We lıstened to Muslım prayer at the mosque behınd the hostel last nıght and then agaın at 5AM. It woke us up, but I thınk we are both so used to prayer from Samoa that ıt was almost soothıng rather than shockıng. Tomorrow maybe we wont even wake up.

The streets are all cobblestone and the buıldıngs are all old, very old. Today, we saw the Sultan's Topkapi Castle and learned all about harem and how the sultans were not just royal prınces, but the rulers of the country. We got to see the old baths and harem hangouts and bedrooms and we also got to see the precıous stone collectıon. We saw a 86 karat diamond! I mean talk about heavy...who would wear such a thıng?

The Grand Bazaar was well, grand but pricey. we enjoyed walking around it but that was enough. No shopping until we get back to Istanbul.

Just outside the Grand Bazaar.

We took this walking back down to our hostel. Unfortunately we ran out of time and didnt get to go in but we here it is amazing and we'll just have to go back another time to Turkey to visit it and of course to buy a carpet.

The Blue Mosque. The Mosque of Sultan Ahmet I.

Spıce market which we never made it to, either...

AyaSofia was amazing. It was originally built in the first century as as a Greek Christian Church but during the Ottoman Empire, it was converted into a Mosque and the amazing mosaics were simply covered over. There is years of restoration to be done, but as of now you can see the amazing use of the building both as a mosque and before that as a church.

The inside of AyaSofia.

2006-10-31T07:30:00.000-11:00

Keyboards are different in all parts of the world. Its amazing how difficult it is to write if the y and z are reversed or ıf the comma ıs where the apostrofy should beç Soö(what ıs thıs and I cant fınd the questıon mark!!!!) please excuse the typos and I wıll contınue. We returned from a great stay ın Pecs, Hungary and enjoyed Budapest on the way back through. It was nıce to see another cıty becsıdes the maın one of a country and we have decıded to try to do that whenever possıble. Pecs was a college town wıth a autumn country feel. The language barrıer was crazy dıffıcultö but we managed and had a great tıme. We are both tryıng to break out colds so we dıdnt go out much, but we dıd enjoy a dınner out and walks around town. Per the tourıst offıce, we stayed ın a dorm room at the Unıversıty. It was lıke gettıng ready for school agaın but ıt was also very roomy and a nıce break from bıg dorms of hostels of people comıng and goıng at all hours. We have pretty much gıven up our prıvacy and personal lıfe whıle ın Eastern Europe and Turkey as doubles are sooo expensıve and to make our money last a bıt longer, we are goıng to try to manage ın dorms.

After Pecs, we headed back to Budapest for one nıght and then to Vıenna. We had a great tıme ın Vıenna and pıcked the musıc museum or as our one museum for the day. (One can only see so many museums ın one day). It was ok, nothıng great but our next choıce was a ball. Ethan really wanted Wienershnitzel before we left Austria and we both wanted to check out these Heuriger or wine taverns that date back as an institutıon of every day lıfe. In areas where wıne ıs made, these taverns were where people drank the new wıne of the season, but they ahve become a bıt more tourısty sınce then wıth musıc and food. In the old days, one used to brıng theır own food and other beverages besıdes wıne. So we headed to the north of Vıenna on publıc transportatıon and arrıved ın thsı old cobblestone street wıth wıne gardens lınıng ıt up and down. We had no ıdea where to go but somet averns had the ghosttown feelıng of emptıness so we made lıke tourısts and followed a bus full of Japanese busıness men ınto the busınest place on the street. We pıcked well as ıt was packed and had a great spread of food. We had no ıdea how to order food and there was no menu so we dıd a lot of poıntıng and pıckıng and prayıng ıt wouldnt be too expensıve. The wıne was delıcıous and after a few 1/2 lıters of wıne, even the folk wıth the accordıan and vıolın sounded great. We feasted on ham, saurkraut, and wıenershnıtzel wıth salads and salamı and cheeses. It was great fun and we made frıends wıth a German man who was travelıng on the long weekend for fun. We lıstened to everyone that knew the words sıng along to the songs and because we were travelıng by tram and metro, we dıdnt have to worry about gettıng home, only gettıng lost! Anyone headıng to Vıenna, defınately worth the trıp!

Cheers... we have arrıved ın Turkey and wıll wrıte all about ıt after we have tıme to scope ıt out.

2006-10-26T04:48:00.000-11:00

Budapest, Hungry: a city definately worth visiting.

So, we took a Eurolines bus from Vienna to Budapest and were told on the way, that there was some right wing problems and we should stay out of crowds at nighttime. But as we talked to others, we realized that info is like the US Embassy reports and made to just warn naive tourists of dangers. It seems that on the 50th anniversary of the uprising against Soviet rule, the country is still torn. There was violence between protestors and police and some injuries were sustained. The city continues and we are not in any danger.

We went to the Museum of Terror, a very artistic and interesting museum about Hungarian history housed in the building that the Nazis and then the Soviets occupied. It was very difficult to go into the basement, where the interrogations were done, but it was the real thing. We learned a lot.

Our other favorite thing. The baths!!!! Yes, we took a lovely dip in the old baths, housed in the original buildings from many years ago. Budapest has many natural sulfur hotsprings and the pools were a series of very cool, warm, hot, steam, sauna, showers, fountains, indoor, outdoor. It was great fun, but a nap was needed afterwards.

Tonight, we hope to hit the town and maybe go to a club. We did go shopping at some great second hand clothes stores and walked up to the fort around the Castle and took trams, trolleys, and metros. More to come.

In case you are curious, we are heading to Pecs next (south of here) and then back to Vienna to take our Star Alliance flight to Turkey. We don't have a solid plan in Turkey yet, but we will. Then we head to Germany (through Frankfurt) and we plan to go to Berlin, Prague, and Krakow (maybe Warsaw if we have time) before heading back to FL for a week and then off the St Croix for a month.

More to come! Sara and Ethan

2006-10-25T05:18:00.000-11:00

Europe-the developed world and posh civilization in Vienna

Yup, we can tell that we have touched the developing world again. Delhi airport was the worst airport in the whole world. It is extremely small and must succumb to the pressures of international security. The lines were hours long and the extra 3 hours we allowed was all used up waiting in ques. Any question we asked was answered wrongly, so we just continued to ask again until we could make an educated guess. We did make it out on our flight and arrived the next morning in Austria. We were shocked with prices from the getgo. Way too much time spent in India to understand that things actually cost euro! From the train, we headed down town and got lost trying to find our hostel. By the time we got to it, I realized that my cold had escalated, was exhausted and angry that I had no energy to walk around Europe. Ethan took a walk without me, but when he returned to find me and get some lunch, he too layed down and we both passed out again. I made great use of our very pricey hostel and enjoyed the down comforter and pillow. In the evening, I stayed in nursing my cold after cooking dinner. Yes, I cooked for the first time since, well, since Australia.

We walked around Vienna and took a tram and saw the city. Everything is sooooo clean and old. It is amazing to see things so much older than the US. Maybe when we go back through Vienna, we will get to see the Vienna Boys CHoir or the Philharmonic, but this trip was just mouths open, gazing at the buildings and such.

2006-10-21T23:11:00.000-11:00

FROGGER, India style.

Not much else to say about Guwahati. Ok, so there was some political issues there while we were there,but no big deal. The northeast states really didn't offer a lot. We picked that region of the country because it seemed 'less traveled' but in actuality it was very traveled, but only by Indian nationals. We were the only two foreigners of many many tourists. The State-run tourist agencies were of no use and noone could answer questions.

All in all, if we could redo a part of our trip, we both wish we could have headed north to Sikkim instead of NE States. The permits weren't that big a deal and the mountains would have been amazing. But, no what ifs, ands or buts...

Back in Delhi...we are playing Frogger again. This came up last time we were here when Ethan likened crossing the road to playing the deluxe version of Frogger. Not only to do you have to avoid auto-rickshaws, cycle-rickshaws, cars, taxis, cows, dogs, and beggars, but you must also determine if the people confronting you as average citizens wanting to shake a foreigners hand or sly businessmen trying to mis-direct you into their stores. All of the vehicles travel at different speeds and all that are able to pick up a fare will slow down causing more confusion.It would definately make an excellent Frogger deluxe. We definately got the high score!

But, Delhi isn't that bad the second time around. We now know how to go to the bathroom in squat toilets and to always have paper on hand. We also know how to hold it for long periods of time. We also are pretty savy on the bargaining. We know the food. We can ignore the tauts and catcalling from the shops. And I can ignore the men staring at me. Really, we kind of liked it the second time around. Delhi is a big mixing pot of the whole country and we enjoyed watching the people from our balcony.

Diwali is a big Indian holiday and we were lucky enough to be in Delhi to celebrate. It is the festival of lights and with the present giving and candles everywhere kind of resembles Christmas/Hannukah in the States. Every shop had marigold garlands and candles at the door. Tinsel and crepe paper hung everywhere and everyone exchanged gifts. The best part (well for the first hour or so) was the fireworks. We have missed three 4th of Julys in the States and enjoyed watching the fireworks from all directions around the street and throughout the city. It was a major display no matter which way you looked. But after an hour or so of M80s being dropped outside your window, it started to feel a bit like a warzone. I had a bit of a cold, so Ethan headed to the roof to watch more while I took two cold pills and tried to sleep through the noise and the stink of sulfur from everywhere. I didn't do so well and actually had to sit right next to the tv to hear the movie.
I'll let Ethan describe it from the roof...
All over the city the sky was lit up from the fireworks being set off by everyone all over the city. The light displays were impressive with the constant explosions of huge firecrackers. This started around 6pm and lasted well past midnight. Looking into the sky from our balcony on the third floor I had a good view of the city and I have a feeling of what it must have been like in a city that was getting bombed. I enjoyed the specticle and celebration for a few hours but then it got old and was like the fireworks that would never end. I finally got to sleep around 1am when things slowed down. It seems surreal now looking back on it the following day.

As for the bargaining, Ethan got wanted sunglasses at one of the markets where tthe man started at Rs1000 for a pair of fake Oakleys claiming they were genuine although they were labeled "Oakeys." Ethan told the man they were not real and he said, yes yes and they sell them at the Oakley store. By the time we walked away, he called us back and took Rs100. My best bargain was for a shirt from Rs650 to Rs100, so Ethan wins the prize. We considered buying Pashmina scarves to bring home, but we know absolutely nothing about the quality and really can't justify spending more than what we spend on lodging on a scarf. Maybe next time we travel through here we will have some money to spend on some really cool gifts.

For now, we are just looking and making sure we have warm enough clothes for Europe. We leave tonight for Vienna and are trying to do the last of the cheap internet work from here.

2006-10-17T18:33:00.001-11:00

Heading to the NorthEast States... leaving our dreams of tea farming and the most wonderful Indian town ever!

We got on the Darjeeling Toy Train and it was mass chaos. We were promised that the seats in 1st class were similar to those in 2nd class. But when we got on, we could barely find a place for our bags and Ethan's knees were touching the chair facing us, where there were two other people. The family we were facing were from Mombai and they were only taking the train to the first stop and then taking a taxi the rest of the way down. Their bags were already on-route. Not a bad idea as Ethan and I look at each other and think, 'next time.' Mind you, this is a 7 hour meandering siteseeing train ride on a 2 foot track, that takes only 3 hours by car. We asked the TT if we could pay the difference for 1st class and she said there were no seats, then we asked for a refund and they said that many people get off at the first stop and we could move to the other car. We agreed and were very happy for the extra room. They used the steam engine to move the cars around and it was very cool to hear the choochoo of a traditional train, but for the trip down they used the diesel engine.

The first five hours were great. We got to see people in their homes and we waved back at children, women doing washing, men planting, school children walking to school. The train came increadibly close, almost into peoples homes and shops. The same cliffs that I was too scared to look over on the way up, were now chugging along side of us and I could enjoy the view and looking over them. We saw SNOW CAPPED peaks of mountains in Nepal and Sikkim! We also enjoyed the views of waterfalls, wildflowers, and mudslides where the mountain had washed out. Wer went through the clouds, saw tea estates, men making tar and doing road and traintrack work. We made our lunch of Nepali bread with Yak cheese and a fresh apple. We were truly enjoying the trip for the first 2/3 of it, then we got bored and realized how late we were for our connecting train to Guwahati. By the time we were at km market 22, I was watching each twelth of a km pass by. If anyone knows why they measure in 22km12, 22km11, 22km10, .... please let us know.

So, by the time we got to Siliguri (3km) from NJP, the connecting station, we stopped and waited. Then we asked the TT when were leaving. He said that we should take a rickshaw and not wait for the train. He told us it should cost Rs8 to Rs20 and we headed out to the street only to be quoted Rs100. Mind you the train cost Rs45 all the way down. We went back to sit on the train and go to NJP the cheap way (yes, we are stubborn) and the Indians that told us the price were shocked that they would charge so much. The goal was to go change our tickets in and make sure we were refunded the money and rebooked for tomorrow. But, the TT told us we could do all that in Siliguri, so we got off the train again only to find out that we could rebook but could not be refunded for our missed train. The lady at the window told us to stop at the office tomorrow for a refund. We found a decent room in a plain hotel, ate, showered, and slept.

So, the next day, we went to the train station and they asked why we didn't come last night? We could have a got a full refund but now we could only get 50%. Frustrated, we just took the 50% and spent the day in Siliguri (a city, I don't recommend visiting). Nothing but industry and shops and men that stare because they don't get many foreigners stopping there. We caught the 6:15PM train to Guwahati only to find that our seats had other people in them. They showed us their tickets and claimed to have the same seats. We quickly went to the office to explain the problem and the man pushed me away claiming they were my seats and to kick the other man out. I went back and re-explained that to the four inhabitants of my seat and they just stared at me. Ethan went to find the TT and I hung back. Then I went to find the TT and Ethan hung back. About an hour later, the TT showed up and the man that showed us his ticket, fumbled to show it to the TT. He immediately kicked everyone out of our seats and the rest of the people in our bunk area gave us dirty looks. Our bunks were separated because we were waitlisted and the family surrounding me turned the light on at about midnight then off, then on at about 2AM, and then they all got up and ready at 3AM and I tried to go back to sleep. The Chai/Coffee vendor strated his rounds at midnight. Who wants coffee at midnight? But then at 4AM, we realized we had arrived in Guwahati. Wow, that was quick and what are we supposed to do in a city before the sun comes up?

We walked out of the train station and everyone was yelling "Shalum, Shalum, Shalum" and Ethan turned and said they were all saying hello and welcoming me in Hebrew. We laughed and realized that you pronounce Shillong as above. Shillong is a hilltown and they were offering spaces in their share jeeps up to that town. So we had some Chai (the worst chai ever) from a drunken vendor, then sat down in a restaurant where we confused them by asking for a menu and tea. We were exhausted, dirty, and very silly. We joked about heading to Shillong, but instead walked around the city and waited for the Tourist Lodge to open. We were barely greeted by some grumpy men with mouthfuls of Pan (red chewing nuts that you must spit out and rot your teeth and make you a bit difficult to understand). We were told there was no availibility and that Ethan went ot check out another lodge but it was too expensive. They said the attached tourist office opend at 7AM, so we waited then they told us 8AM, then we got frustrated and wanted to call Spice Jet to change our tickets and leave India. We were sick of the run around. We found out it will cost us 1/4 of the price of our plane ticket to get to the airport in Guwahati and were cranky from lack of sleep. Then we took deep breathes and decided to go to Shillong. There was great site seeing and a hill town would be way better than this god for saken dirty city with bad service, no water, and unhelpful government tourist offices. So, we found a share jeep and got to Shillong only to find there are no guest houses in this part of the world, only hotels. We sucked it up and spent Rs550 on a decent room (mind you our budget has been Rs250) and rested, booked a tour of the area for tomorrow and went searching for a cheaper room. We couldn't find one, the town is booked solid. This is a major tourist destination for Indians.We have yet to see another foreigner in the city.

Our tour was wonderful. We saw waterfalls, caves with stalagtites and stalagmites, and the Bangladesh border. We brought our own lunch to save money. We find the people of this area a bit standoffish with us and therefor have kept to ourselves. I use my staring coping mechanism of saying 'hello' or nodding and smiling very effective. We have one more night here and then we head back to Guwahati where we fly back to Delhi (for two days) and then out of India.

We'll post more pictures when we get to Delhi.
Cheers for now.
Sara Zuckerman and Ethan Washburn

2006-10-11T01:52:00.000-11:00

If we don't return, it's because we decided to stay in Darjeeling and become tea farmers.

Seriously, this is the greatest town. If you were worried about us having a hard time in India (especially me), you can be assured that we have found a place we feel very comfortable in. Darjeeling is a great little hill town, not far from Bangladesh, Nepal, and Bhutan. There are Buddhists, Hindu, Siikks, Muslims and just a great melting pot of cultures. The Tibetan food is great. We love momos and yak cheese is so great in omelettes.

We took an overnight train from Calcutta to New Jalpaiguri (10 hours) and then crammed into a share jeep up these crazy insane thin roads up to Darjeeling (3 hours). At some points, the road had fallen down and at others we backed up so oncoming traffic could get by. It was a bit scary. We followed the toy train tracks all the way up and have booked a ticket to go back down on the train. The Darjeeling Toy Train is one of the most scenic in India and has been in continuous use since the 1800s. It will take us 7 hours instead of the 3 by jeep, but we are doing it for the siteseing and my nerves!

In Darjeeling, we found a cute guest house. The water is scarce unless you stay in the nicer hotels, so we get buckets of hot water. We are still getting used to the squat toilets too, but the view is fantastic. From our room and the balcony, we can see the valley and mountains and we occassionally get ingulfed in a huge cloud. Last night, we watched the moon peak out from the clouds as they moved very parallel to us, almost as if we were in the same plane. We had dinner at a Tibetan place that was great. They use yak cheese, which seems to have a swiss cheese taste when cooked and is fabulous as were the dumplings (momos). We also shopped and weren't attacked as we were in the rest of India. Looking is ok and the prices are fair, actually very fair as in most cities they elevate the prices for foreigners. We bought some material and a silk shirt at a government run village based co-op shop and saw some of the most beautiful saris ever there.

Today we learned about tea and bought some. We saw the plantations and learned proper seeping methodss. We alos wondered through the market and saw a glodsmith make a gold chain. We have a lot more to do here and tomorrow we wake up to go to Tiger Hill to watch the sun rise from the highest mountain in India. We will be able to see Everest if it is clear. More to come...but in case you were worrying about us...we have found our favorite Indian city. Cheers and Namaste.

2006-10-08T20:43:00.000-11:00

Calcutta India...

First, before leaving Varanasi we sat at the train station for ever. We didn't know what to do with our bags and it was hot, very hot, so we went to the train station several hours early with the intent to just read and chill. I forgot all about the staring by the men and realized how hard it was to just be a foreign female sitting on my bag in the train station. In India, it is not rude to stare for prolonged periods of time but I am very uncomfortable with it. Ethan helped a lot though. If I stare back at someone, they don't even blink, but if he stares at them, the person gets really uncomfortable and look away or even walk away. These college ages kids came up to me at one point and asked me if they could ask a question and I was very stand-offish at first, but then I realized that these guys were rural school children that really wanted to practice English. They had come for a day trip to Varanasi (3hours by train) to pick up their school books for college. They asked probing questions and were very interested in knowing things like my qualifications and whether I was in a 'love' or 'arranged' relationship. If it got too personal, Ethan jumped in to explain that it was rude to discuss personal info in our culture. We couldn't find their town on the Lonely Planet map, but they did make me sign their school book (autograph) and talk to his brother on the cell phone. It definately made the time pass.

On the train, once in our seats (sleeper, no A/C), we were swarmed with vendors, beggars, and occassionally person using our bench until the next stop. In our six person area, we were a Thai monk, Israeli guy, wife and child of the Indian man in the next bunk, and Ethan and I. But since the woman and child were hanging with the hubbie, we got people sitting in their spots and our space on a regular basis. With a constant eye on our bags, we were wondering if we would ever get rest on this train. We finally put our beds down and laid out on our spots, put in the ear plugs, and slept to the th-thump of the tracks. We were woken by 4AM to men screaming for chai and coffee which we wanted but not at 4AM! By 6AM, there were shopping vendors selling gadgets and belts, a singing beggar, children collecting water bottles, and plenty more food vendors.

We arrived in Calcutta to a huge train station and shared a taxi with the monk and the Israeli to Sutter St. (sorry, that sounds like the opening line of a joke). We found a decent guest house, dropped our bags and I had another of my moments. I was sad for all the beggars and homeless people living on the street with the contrast of rich Indian coming to shop till they drop all around it. It is part of Hindu culture to give alms, but it amazed me the reliance on the begging and why isn't something bigger being done?

In Calcutta, I finished my third application and we wandered around the parks and down to the river. Once out of the touristy areas, the beggars were less but the touts were still there and we got hassled a bit for things by people that you would have thought just wanted to help or be friendly. I did find a new hobby while in Calcutta...I picked up a tube of henna ink and I henna-ed everyone in our guest house. I love to doodle and this stuff is great. I think it would be a great hit in Samoa...especially because it only lasts a few weeks instead of permanantly like tattooing. We walked around to shop, but it is really difficult to browse as there is always someone trying to move you, listening to you, and you can't stop or you will be attacked. Maybe tomorrow we can do some shopping. As for today, there is a citywide strike and nothing is open. In fact, they advise that tourists stay off the street. We draw enough attention as it is. So, with nothing else to do, we will go read our books, hang out at the guest house with the other home-bound travelers, and catch the 10PM train to Darjeeling. More to come....

Sara practicing henna on a two willing victims.... Not bad, huh?

2006-10-07T21:19:00.000-11:00

Agra & The Taj and then Varanasi....

AGRA
So, from Udaipur, we took a 10 hour bus (sleeper) to Agra. We decided to skip Jaipur, as it is mainly a lot of the same of Jodhpur but busier and more touts. Our 10 hour bus trip turned out to be more like 16 and we were exhausted when we got there. The sleeper is great, if you can sleep on the bumpy roads, but at 6AM when the man is wailing down the isle screaming CHAI and children are crying and the lady across is coughing something that sounds like consumption, it starts to get uncomfortable. I must also make mention at this point, that there are no pee-stops like in Thailand. Well, if you are a man you can do so but for women, I find it easier to dehydrate myself and hope that I can hold it. We were lucky enough to stop next to a hotel at 10PM and they were kind enough to let me use their squat toilet for no charge (I was willing to pay) and was good for the bulk of this trip.

Agra, home to The Taj Mahal is a huge tourist city. The Lonely Planet warns of touts and scams and all sorts of bad stuff. So, we tried plan well and arm ourselves with all the info necessary to get off the bus, buy our train tickets, visit the Taj and then get out that night on the train. Didn't happen. First, the bus was very late so instead of arriving at 6:30AM, we started the day more like 10:30AM. Our rickshaw driver told us the train ticket office wasn't open on Sundays and we believed him. He took us to his 'friend' who could sell us a ticket. Very expensive and not today, tomorrow. We ditched that driver and stubbornly walked to a hotel that we found in the book. The hotel was ok and it was nice to have A/C and a television. Actually, I was glued to the Peace Debate from UDenver being broadcast on BBC until we showered and decided to head near the Taj for food and to see what all the hub-bub was about. We had a nice rickshaw driver, he seemed more honest than most and we asked him to drive us the next day to the Taj and Fort. Around the Taj area, the beggars, street vendors, and men trying to pull us into the shop were really strong and overaggressive. Ethan and I had a great time speaking Samoan so noone could understand us and we constantly used the "English no good" line. Some children began to mimic our Samoan words, it was really entertaining and useful with bargaining. It also made them loose interest. The next day, we had our driver take us to the train, where we were unable to book tickets that night, so we booked them for the next day. That meant one more night in Agra. We moved our bags to a cheaper guest house, same owners and headed to the Taj. It was amazing. Although it is Rs750 to go in, they give you a 1/2 liter of water and have refill options available for free. They put us through metal detectors and searched our bags. Ethan had his lighter and our playing cards taken away. But once inside, it was serene and beautiful. The Taj was impressive and we have many pictures for you puruse. It was definately not worth missing, but we were a bit stuck and everything was expensive in Agra. We went to see the Fort but were surprized that they wanted another Rs250 to enter, so opted to just look at it from the outside and head back to rest. We had a great South Indian meal down the street and chilled.

The next day, we lazed around and I finished one more grad school application, while Ethan worked away at finishing his book, until we left to go get the train. At the train station, we watched a festival float go by, tribute to the last day of one of the many Indian festivals. When we got on the train, our bunks were separated and the people there were convinced we should be in the A/C class car, but no, we were in their bunk and it seemed a bit odd to them. The next morning, I made the two boys day by sharing my iPod. The father seemed pleased that I was entertaining his children and the boys helped teach me my numbers in Hindi.

Varansi is the holiest of cities in the Hindu Indian world. They believe that if you die and are cremated in Varanasi at the Ghats of the Ganges river, you are freed from the cycle of death and rebirth. The city is crammed and the alleyways leading up and down to the river flood every year. They are maze-like and crazy-narrow. The touts are everywhere. Men and children following you, some helping you to get unlost and some getting you more lost. If you take a wrong turn into a home, a woman from a dark window yells 'no go' and we apologize and turn around. To quote Lonely Planet, "a walking along the ghats is a 'world class' people watching walk as you mingle with the fascinating mixture of people who come to the Ganges not only for a ritual bath but also to wash clothes, do yoga, offer blessings, buy paan (micture of betel nut and leaves), sell flowers, get a massage, play cricket, wash their buffaloes, get a shave, improve their karma by giving to beggars, or simply loiter. It is itraditional India at its most colorful and most picturesque."

It was a pretty magical place, hence the reason it is also a big tourist stop. We took the sunrise boat trip down the Ganges (see picture of the sun rising) and truly felt the magical vibe of the city. Our boatman gave us some nice insight after feeling trapped between buildings and salesman, drifting down the river was a great way to feel the city. We arrived on an overnight train and spent only one night here, leaving on another night train bound for Calcutta the evening after our sunrise boat trip. More from Calcutta soon....

A young Chai vendor....

2006-10-06T21:22:00.000-11:00

Udaipur, Rajasthan

What a great city! So, we found a cheap room (Rs150) and we ate at a great restaurant. The man that ran the shops, brothers wife, Shashi, runs a cooking class. I set a goal to submit my grad school aps (at least two) and then I could take the class. Well, I did it and I tried to sign up but she was booked with her three students that day. I went in to sign up for the next day as they were finishing and they were all so happy and full. Ethan and I took the class together in this woman's home. It was awesome and the best Indian food we have had yet. In addition to food, she taught us about caste and culture and how her husband was murdered and she can't marry again. She loves to cook and this is her way of supporting herself and her two boys. We spent five hours in her home and I can't wait to share the recipes back in the US. This was the highlight of India thus far, for me. If you go to Udaipur, go to the Sunrise Restaurant and ask for Shashi. Remember that if you book classes through the spice shops, they get a cut. If you book it through her she gets all Rs400.

Us with Shashi....in her home.

Spicey Box....

We also hung out at a cool vibe restaurant on the river with a young entrepreneur named Vicki. A modern Sikh as he likes to call himself (with a Spanish girlfriend) who claims to offer Chai, Henna, and advice for free. He is a good salesman and not pushy. The food was ok, but we found ourselves going there for the conversation. His restaurant was over the bridge and to the right, cant remember the full name but it included Marine in it. Ethan and I said that we didn't sitesee in Udaipur, we peoplemet. On the last day, my iPod went missing and we spent the day retracing our steps. Now, those of you who don't know me, I tend to misplace things and it wasn't until we arrived in Agra that I found my iPod and I apologize to all the people I accused and glad that I didn't find the police station to fill out the report yet. Nela, "no laughing!"

2006-10-05T22:13:00.000-11:00

Jaislamer and our desert camel ride

A local bus to Jaislamer from Jodhpur.

So, after a great birthday in Jodhpur, we headed by bus to Jaislamer, where we stayed in an old soapstone home with a great little nook overlooking the fort. The highlight of our two nights here was the camel safari. We opted to not spend the night in the desert, due to cash restrictions, but in the long run it wasn't a bad idea. The sunset camel walk was hot and after two hours in the desert heat and a lot of rocking on the back of a camel, we were happy to be heading back to a bed after sunset. In the desert, it was crazy. So many camels and Indian tourists from all over. They all want a picture with a foreigner and go to all the white people and take group pictures. It kind of made us feel like celebrities After the sun sets, we hopped back on our camels and headed back to the parking lot where our driver was waiting for us and rode back to town. I really liked our camel owner. He was a nice guy and shared an India cigarette "a bidi" with Ethan. Very well spoken English and laid back kind of guy, so we tipped him well. Our biggest issue with India is that everyone is trying to sell you something. Its hard to tell if someone wants to say hi and practice there English or if they are trying to pull you into their shop down the street.

Jaislamer Fort

View from our 'nook' at the sandstone guesthouse.

Look mom, no hands....

Us and Ethan's camel.

Sunset in the desert.

Holding up the sun, no so heavy.

2006-10-02T23:48:00.000-11:00

Delhi India and travels to Jodhpur

Two opinions of Delhi and sorry, no pictures.

First Sara says....
Wow, what a large, noisy, dirty, and different city. We took the advice of fellow travelers and booked our room ahead of time and had a little sign with our name on it for our driver picking us up in the Delhi airport. Good thing. We arrived at 11PM Delhi time and turned the television on to hear about the coup happening in Thailand. It all makes sense. Our last night in Bangkok, we noticed a few weird occurances with the police. Street vendors scattering like cockroaches, black plastic bags of bribed goods from stores, and car tires locked with big clubs in front of our hotel. But, the coup is not affecting anything in the tourism world...we still have traveler friends there and everyone is ok. Actually, their new big Bangkok airport should be open by now. I think we were some of the last to travel through the old one.

In Delhi, I had a minor breakdown, ready to ship back to the US or Samoa, or anywhere besides Delhi and we decided we would spend as little time as possible in the city and do our shopping when we came back through. We changed to a more reasonable hotel and were steered the wrong direction when trying to book our train tickets, but besides the men staring and me realizing the dress is more conservative than Samoa, I made it out. We booked a train to Jodhpur, Rajasthan and decided to spend our first week in that state. As we waited for the train, men and women were staring at me like I had six heads. I finally realized that my below knee length skirt made the men drool and the women give me a 'you slut' look. I packed that skirt away at the bottom of my bag, not to wear again until, well, I don't know when. Jodhpur is a little city that I spent my 32nd birthday. We splurged and spent almost $20US on a great top rooftop room of an old Haveli and had a great time cooking with the Nepali staff. Also touted for the best spice shopping, I jumped a bit too quick and purchased a few, which we now have to carry around for a while. I also jumped on a birthday outfit, a Salwar Kameez, the traditional (other than a sari) outfit that most women wear in India. We enjoyed the city and then headed out to Jaislamer.

Ethan says...
What an amazing place!!!
We arrived at the Delhi airport around 11pm after a two-hour delay leaving Bangkok
(Something to do with an unknown bag that had to be found). We were very tired and ready to get to a bed and shower. We booked a hotel the day before, one that included hotel pickup. As we walked in to the main terminal it was incredibly overwhelming. There were hundreds of people yelling and shouting to get our attention from taxi drivers, hotels, and beggars just wanting money. We found a sign with Sara’s name on it and I became a little more relaxed, booking a hotel with airport pickup prior to arriving, was defiantly the best way to go.
As our driver carried our bags to his car more and more people started following us. When we got to the car these random guys opened the door to the car and but the bags in to the car. I thought wow, everyone is very helpful… as soon as we got in and were ready to leave several guys stuck their hands in to the car and asked for tips. We told them that they didn't do anything, NO.
The 45 min. ride to the hotel was crazy, cars, trucks, motorbikes and rickshaws were everywhere blaring their horns and cutting everyone off. Hectic and I'm glad that I was not driving. When we got to the hotel we were helped into our room. The room was nice a/c, hot water, sheets the works. It was about $30 per night and the most we have spent on lodging on our travels yet. We had a great night sleep.
The next morning we ventured outside to check things out and find a cheaper place to stay. As soon as we opened the doors to the lobby it was sensory overload with the traffic, smells, cows, a man playing a flute, incense, and just about everything you can think of. We walked down the street and were immediately offered taxis and invited in to everyone's shop to take a look. The smells on the street were interesting from; great smells of food, exhaust, urine, and incense. We found a place that was ok after looking a few guesthouses with A/C and bathroom for $12. We didn’t really need the A/C but the room was sealed and kept out the noise from the busy street outside
After walking back getting out bags and putting them into our new hotel we were exhausted. There was so much going on outside we was nervous to go outside. We had a bite to eat and walked to the train station to get tickets. I thought that the airport was bad. If some one wasn't trying to sell us something they were steering us away from where we wanted to go (scam) telling us that the office was closed, or didn't sell tickets for trains today.
After finding the tourist ticket office, that was open and veryhelpful we bought tickets to go to Rajasthan for the following night. We were now getting used to the city and were not so overwhelmed as we were before. I wasactually enjoying the hustle. We found an Internet café and got caught up onwhat is going on in the world. We leave tonight at 8:30pm for our first trip on the trains of India, wish us luck! I'm looking forward to the adventure. I will write to you when we get someplace. I'm looking forward to the adventure. - Ethan

The clocktower in Jodhpur and main market.

View from our room in Jodhpur.

View from the top of the fort, where we had a birthday sweet.

Birthday dinner at the Haveli.

After Jodjpur, we headed to Jaislamer, where we took a camel safari into the desert to see the sunset. We also climbed a top a very old fort in the city and stayed in a sandstone guest house. The next adventure requires more time....so check back soon. Remember, check pics at www.fiataa.snapfish.com.

2006-10-02T22:50:00.000-11:00

Cambodia.

We seem to like lounging in hammocks, in our bungalow...no matter which country.

Wow, Ethan has written this blog twice, but today I tried to post it and somehow deleted it for the second time. The first time, Ethan had written it and the power surged and he lost about an hour worth of work. This time, I have spent 20 minutes trying to change the Korean language that this computer is defaluting to back to English, gave up, tried to hit post, but accidentally hit delete. Ethan is going to kill me.

We are trying to keep an updated blog but at this rate, who knows.

So, I will fill you all in on Cambodia briefly, feel free to email us or tell us if you want more details on a bit of our travels, but internet cafes are all different, power surges are regular and I know you all want to at least hear that we are well.

Right, Cambodia. We arrived in Cambodia after a fitfull night of rest on the floor of the Bangkok airport. It didn't fit our budget to go all the way into Bangkok after a late flight in and early flight out, so we found the area of the airport where the loudspeaker was minimal and the floor not SO dirty and laid out our hammock. The flight was uneventful and we arrived in Phom Penh without a guidebook ,feeling a bit naked. You never realize how much a guidebook does for you until you don't have one. We found a Spanish couple searching for the same as us and we agreed to share the taxi into the city and work from there. We were all a bit stubborn about the taxi driver picking the hotel, so left the driver and meandered through a local market with suitcase in tow (the Spanish couple had a lot of baggage). The market had frogs without skins and great veggies, all different than what we had seen in Laos or Thailand. We took a trip on Sunday out to the park and watched as hundreds of people flew kites. It seemed a big social occassion and as someone told us, it was the end of monsoon season and it was their way of celebrating. Very serene and peaceful as we sat back and watched the children run around, a bit scared of our white faces and just enjoyed the moment.

Interesting Facts: I bet American Bacardi doesn't have "Established in Cuba" logo on it's bottles. We are convinced it tasted better from Cuba, than from Puerto Rico.

The beggars were more than in Thailand, so was the pressure to take a tuktuk or a taxi, or to buy this or to come into a store, so we opted to rest and eat at our guest house. We actually had a room with TV, so we took advantage of it and watched a movie (on local television, not dubbed). We went to the Killing Fields which was very emotional. For those of you who don't know, Cambodia had a holocaust of sorts in the late 70's, when Pol Pot, exterminated educated and intellectual Cambodians. I am reading a book now on it, but the Killing Fields was where they did their "interrogations." On the way out, again the driver asked if we wanted to go shoot big guns at the range, but somehow after seeing so much death (in your face), shooting seemed like the last thing one would want to do. The next day, we headed to Sihanoukville by bus. This area was a bit off season and now we understood why. We walked a good distance to the beach, again too stubborn for a motorbike taxi. Yes, the local way is to put my bag between the drivers legs and sit behind him. Ethan would do the same on another guy. I wasnt up to it, so we walked. We were on a hunt to find a way to get to Bamboo Island, as a fellow traveller had told us all about it. But, the place that ran one bungalows said it was closed for another week or two. They couldn't give us the name of the other place (we knew there were two bungalows on the island), so we booked at Cloud Nine, a great little place off the main beach with a great view. We did find the other managers, but realized that one place was mainly used for daytrippers and the other for sleepovers and we were happy that we didn't book with the daytripper side and enjoyed our stay at Cloud Nine. The seafood was fantastic and a very good value for the money, but there was an abundance of beggars and beach vendors all around us. We bought local crayfish and squid from some vendors that were extremely tasty, cooked in front of us with their portable hibachi coal pots.

The lady who cooked our squid. MMmmmmm....lobster tails, squids and beer.

From Sihanoukeville, we took a early morning bus back to Phon Penh and then another to Siem Reap. Over tired and a bit hungry, we took the first tuktuk that had a somewhat honest face us and had him take us to the guest house of our choice. Although a bit overpriced, we ate some food and passed out. The next day, Sa, our driver came back and we booked him for the day and agreed to discuss using him to get to Angkor Wat the next. We went to see the silk factory and were amazed by a great free tour of how silk is made. We did puruse the gift shop, but nothing matched our budget. We also visited the Aki Ra landmine museum, which was an amazing experience ( http://www.akiramineaction.com/) This man was forced to plant landmines as a child and is now working a small non-profit to demine Cambodia. Landmines are still being made in the US and that was a frightning thought after seeing the damage they could do. They rarely hit the enemy, they usually get field laboreres or children. Visit his site for more info. We met some children there too, who were being schooled and taught new skills, that they could do with or without a limb.

Then comes Angkor Wat. Wow... so one time in Thailand, we actually saw part of a National Geographic special on Angkor Wat, which got us really excited for this part of our tour through Cambodia. I will cut and paste some facts about Angkor Wat and encourage you to visit the separate album of the pictures taken there. Also know that during the Pol Pot regime, these amazing historical structures were almost destroyed along with the people of the area.

from Wikipedia.com:
Angkor Wat (or Angkor Vat) is a temple at Angkor, Cambodia, built for king Suryavarman II in the early 12th century as his state temple and capital city. The largest and best-preserved temple at the site, it is the only one to have remained a significant religious centre—first Hindu, then Buddhist—since its foundation. The temple is the epitome of the high classical style of Khmer architecture. It has become a symbol of Cambodia, appearing on its national flag, and it is the country's prime attraction for visitors. Angkor Wat combines two basic plans of Khmer temple architecture: the temple mountain and the later galleried temples. It is designed to represent Mount Meru, home of the gods in Hindu mythology: within a moat and an outer wall 3.6 km (2.2 miles) long are three rectangular galleries, each raised above the next. At the centre of the temple stands a quincunx of towers. Unlike most Angkorian temples, Angkor Wat is orientated to the west; scholars are divided as to the significance of this. As well as for the grandeur and harmony of the architecture, the temple is admired for its extensive bas-reliefs and for the numerous devatas adorning its walls.

That's it. We could have spent days visiting the Wats around Angkor, but with only one day, we pushed off back to Bangkok. We had heard the roads were bad on the Cambodian side of this journey, but we never imagined that we would be in a small minivan, silent, deaf(from the noise of the banging vehicle with the rocky road), and without a pee break for ever. Four or five hours later, we arrived at the Thai border and were rewarded with Thai vendors selling familiar foods and a deluxe bus with a/c, reclining seats, a toilet, and Lord of The Rings...all the way back to Bangkok.

Bangkok was not so bad on the way back through. We were pleasantly surprised that we were much more comfortable in Bangkok this time through and even managed to take a local bus to the mall. Yup, the mall.... We atre our last streetside Pad Thai and pressed on out to India. More to come from Delhi soon.
Fa

After in-your-face sex tourism in Thailand, this was refreshing.

Oh, pics are having trouble loading, but they are all on albums on snapfish, so click the link: www.fiataa.snapfish.com .

2006-09-20T06:08:00.000-11:00

Full Moon Party in Ko Phangan

So, you heard from the last post that we found paradise. It was a crazy journey, but the rewards were well worth the hassle. Our pre-booked (no need...unless we were booking right on the beach of the full moon party) bungalow rocked. The ride over the mountain may have been hairy, but the beach was out of the way and our little hut was right next to the beach. We made friends with our neighbors, Mike and Sheila (from UK, but Mike is originally from Australia). It was great to chill for a bit. We spent just as much money on our motorbike rental for four days as it would have cost us for a taxi ride in the back of a pick-up, there and back. Our first full day, we took a tour of the island and came to the conclusion (after much research) that our beach was the best. We therefore spent the next two days there and no where else. It was so relaxing. Ethan even enjoyed staying put for a bit. We were invited to a great little spot in the jungle by Mike and Sheila. It was not a tourist spot and the traffic they did see from farang was the type of people that found the out of the way spots. The guys that ran it are really cool hippie-Thai-rasta that are into art of all forms and life out in their little jungle getaway.
We ate great seafood, we sunbathed, we drank, and we rested up for our long night at the fullmoon party.

Pre-party with Mike, note the bucket of RedBull, Thai Whiskey, and Coke

The night of the fullmoon party, we loaded up in a longtail boat and got super salty wet on our 1 hour trip to the other side of the island (Hat Rin). Even over the deafening engine of the boat, we could hear the base from the beach as we rounded the bay towards the cove. The lights were crazy wild at all these beach bars and everyone on the boat agreed that we were happy to be staying NOT on this beach but of course excited about the party.

Crazy beach picture...

Hat Rin was about 1/2 mile long with continuous music blaring from each bar onto the beach. There were vendors selling body art, food, buckets of drink, clothes, and of course great music. We wished the DJs were a bit more visible, but besides that we loved the music and the vibe and the whole thing. We danced like rock-stars (I think the redbull helped)...and by 4AM were ready to go back to rest. By then, the beach was full of peope passed out, people pissing in the bay, and boats starting to take people home.

Hat Rin Beach, later that night...

About 5AM, we waded through that cove to our boat and headed back. Just out of the cove, the engine died. Ethan put on his lifejacket and we all sat there bobbing in the open ocean (about 10 minutes) and watched the sun rise over the horizon. What a great way to end a night, start a day.

On shore, Ethan praised me not for missing my bedtime, but also my wakeup time and we went to sleep. It was about 10AM when I woke up covered in bites of some sort, probably from Hat Rin and spent the rest of the day swimming, sleeping, a bit more sunbathing, and relaxing. This was something Ethan had planned over 6 months ago and I was soooo worried that I wouldn't be able to stay up all night, but I am so glad we did it. And once again, the redbull helped.

From Ko Phangan (Nai Pan Yai), we loaded up the motorbike....
and headed back to the wharf. We took a boat to Ko Samui, where we took a flight back to Bangkok. We arrived into BKK after 10PM and our morning flight was at 7AM to Cambodia, so we found a quiet spot (well, it is an airport) and tried to get a few Zzzzz before heading out in the morning.

2006-09-08T22:55:00.000-11:00

Paradise Found

We finally got over to Ko Phangan after some changes to our travel plans due to bad weather. We were planning to take a overnight ferry from Surat Thani to Ko Phangan, to save on the logging for the night. We arrived in Surat Thani in the evening where the minivan dropped us off at a little restaurant, we have no idea where in the city we were. It was 8:00pm and the boat was scheduled to leave at 11:00 so we had a little time. There was a lot of confusion when we got off the moonbeam and no one spoke English so we couldn't get any of our questions answered. After a lot of hand gestures a man finally showed up that spoke English. He told us that the waves were to big and the night boat was not running and we were going to leave on the first boat the following day and he knew of a guesthouse that we could stay at for the night. This situation sounded like quite a scam and we were a little frustrated, cranky and tired.
We ended up going along with the few other people that were in the same boat, or lack there of, and going to the guesthouse. The guesthouse was sufficient and not very expensive. We walked to the market had some dinner before walking back to our room for the night.

The Next Day:
We got up the next morning and Ethan was on a mission to find some coffee . We were still not sure where we were in the city, it was a little after 6:30, and there were not a lot of places open yet. Ethan returned in ten minutes with two bags of coffee, that is how they do takeaway in Thailand, and we drank our coffee and watched the city wake up and get ready for business.
The travel company told us that they would pick us up at our hotel at 7:00am and take us to the wharf. We had been sitting in the lobby talking with some of the other people that were also forced to spend the night in Surat Thani. By 7:30 no bus had shown up and we all started to get nervous. The boat was scheduled to leave at 8:00 so a group of people jumped in a taxi not waiting for "the bus". We talked to several employees at the hotel and after many phone calls we were made a bus showed up and we were whisked in to it.
The boat did not leave until almost 9:00 and it was packed people were sitting all over the place where ever they could find room to squeeze in.
We arrived on Ko Phangan in the afternoon and rented a motorbike. We were headed to the other side of the island and we had to get us and the bags out there. We tried to get someone to take our bags out there for us or have Sara take a taxi with the bags but in the end we saved the money and piled us on the bike with my backpack between my legs and Sara's on her back. The road was very steep and unpaved for most of it. It was a scary adventure for the forty five minute ride and then we found it!

A jam-packed ferry of farang headed to Ko Phangan for the Full Moon

Nai Pan Yai Beach, early morning...

The cove is called Nai Pan Yai and it was exactly what we were looking for. It had a good beach, clear water, quiet and comfortable bungalow. It was the perfect ending to two full days of traveling so we stayed there for four nights.

Our bungalow....

2006-09-03T21:21:00.000-11:00

Ko Lanta.
Well after two nights on trains and (one from Nong Khai to Bangkok and then another overnight down to Trang), we picked a western island (Ko Lanta) where we got in a minivan, took two car ferries, and wound up on this beautiful island. It is slow season, so we had a great bungalow with a great view and we even got sunshine!

View from our bungalow....

Our beach at Ko Lanta...

Sunset...

Now, we are headed across south Thailand to Ko Phangan (in transit) and are going to celebrate the full moon there. We promise to keep you updated soon, especially on Nong Khai (one of our favorite cities thus far). Ciao, Sara and Ethan

PS - The link to our pictures on snapfish and the old one on shutterfly are both working now...

Don't forget to comment and tell us you are reading!

2006-08-30T19:53:00.000-11:00

Vientienne and Nong Khai

For those of you reading in sequential order....we inadvertently missed one of our favorite stops. Our last blog brings us through Van Vieng. From there we headed south to Vientienne. We were told it was a big city with very little to offer, so we spent one night and got our Cambodian Visas taken care of. There was some great left-over French architechure and food, mostly crusty baguettes but with little maintenance on the city, the buildings were falling into disrepair. Our block didn't have water for most of the day. Anyway, we got out as quickly as possible and headed over the border into Thailand to Nong Khai. Since most travelers, take the bus to the train station, this city seems to get far-less touristy traffic and we felt very comfortable there. Mut Mee guest houses were awesome with thatched attached bathroom to our bungalow and a great staff and lots of people sharing stories. They were also keen to give us a map of the area and all the places to visit by motorbike. We spent a few nights there because we liked it and postponed the trip back to Bangkok a bit. Our favorite and most weird siteseeing was at Kew Gardens, where we saw huge sculptures of Hindu and Buddhist gods. The park was Alice in Wonderland like and fittting as the sculturer was also a guru who saw a vision after falling in a hole as a child. We also got to see him. They had him embalmed in a glass bubble on the top floor of a Wat, with weird memorabilia like a picture of the blood he caughed up just before he died and his final resting bed.

Pictures from the Kew Garden Sculpture Park

More pics from Kew Gardens...

We sitesaw, drove the motorbike around town, met locals, Ethan had a non-verbal hourlong experience fixing the tire of the motorbike while I hung out at a book store with a British man and his VERY young Cambodian girlfriend/wife, who told me Vientienne was better than Nong Khai. We walked through a tunnel of a mall and purchased nothing. We wound up next to another American that studied at South Pacific University in Samoa and talked Samoan to him! Small world. We reminisced about Samoa and said our goodbyes.

And then after two nights, we went to the train to head back to Bangkok. At the train station we ran back into the crew we had traveled on the Mekong with. So the train was a great fun party. Well, until this one French man told me that Peace Corps was a cover-up for the CIA. I tried to argue with him but realized I was going to get nowhere and just let it go. Ethan came back and I am really glad he didn't make the same comment to him, the French man may taken home a black eye for a souvenir.

Ethan and Colin being silly with Claires iddie biddie purse on the train.

Ok, now on to South Thailand....

Here are some of his sculptures.

2006-08-28T17:16:00.000-11:00

Fishing for Farang.

Vang Vieng is a midway stopping point between Luang Prabang and Vientiane in Laos. I must apologize about my atrocious spelling, but most words here don't translate into English well, so sometimes there are three spellings of the same word. In Laos, with the French influence, there is also a French-ized version of a name.

Anyway, Vang Vieng is known for its TV bars and tubing. Thats about all there is to do in town and most people somehow get stuck here for at least a night, but some fall into the rut and stay longer. We enjoyed the tubing for the one day, but when the weather turned the next morning, we decided to head out on a whim down to Vientiane.

Waiting to go into the river. The kids were bouncing on my tube with me and I highfived them all before I left.

This doesn't look bad, huh?

But, tubing was great! Let us tell you more. With a lazy river (well, not in Monsoon season) we were given advice by seasonsed tubers to stop at each bar as the river would get us back to town in 40 minutes and they said the first bar was the best. So, we come to the man fishing for farang. At the first bar, he stands on the dock and throws a tube at those waving for a lift in. He has two tubes, so if you miss the first, he'll throw the second. If you miss the second, he has this heavy bottle that should catch you instead of you catching it and if all else fails, there is a pretty permanent drift line he pulls up to grab to any of the lines that just got thrown at you. We didn't get into that much trouble being pulled in, but it was funny to watch others try to make it in. The other reason the man stood on the dock was pull the jumpers back in. Yup, there was a trapeze bar. You need not pay, only purchase a beer or soda to use their swing...climb up the bamboo ladder and grab hold. Ethan must have done it three times, I managed to get myself up there once. We spent a lot of time at this bar watching people belly flop, flip, and wish we had score cards for grading.

At this bar, the boys took a turn at wakeboard surfing on the floating piece of wood...

I think this was at the third bar...we were all starting to get some colour and some spirit!

After some fried rice and noodles, we moved on to the next bar...only a 100 yards down the river and had another beer. There swing wasn't nearly as cool, but they had this wood surfboard tied to a tree that you could navigate through the very heavy current, just like wake boarding. Ethan and the boys enjoyed this andI hope to get pictures from the others (that had waterproof cameras). The next stop had a simple swing and most of us had switched to water, so we didn't last there long. By the last stop, we were sunburned and cold (as it was now 5PM) - having extended the 40 minute drift to five hours - so we warmed by the fire and then headed back to the guest house for a shower. Definately a chill night after that experience and went tobed early.

So, we decided the guy at the bar that waited on the dock for the foreigners to float by had a cool job and in honour of his hard fishing work, we have named this post after his job. Fishing for Farang.

2006-08-28T16:19:00.000-11:00

Waterfalls of paradise!

Second day in Luang Prabang. So it seems everyone grouped up on the boat heading down the Mekong. Our group was the core 6 (Ethan and I, the Brits - Sam and Dave (on a RTW for one year), and Chad (RPCV Phillipines) and Wendy (RTW for a school break). Us six, spent day one at the first waterfalls. A nice little swimming hole at the bottom and a muddy hike up...stunningly beautiful, well that is until the second day of waterfall visits. Chad had traveled through Laos before, so he did a lot of the negotiating and tourguiding, but our tuktuk driver was very happy to have the repeat business. On our third day in Luang Prabang we headed to a boat ramp, where the longtail boat driver tried to overcharge us even though the prices were posted and we had another Lao guy help explain that we understood and wouldn't be taken for a ride - funny pun- and then went across the river to the entrance of this beautifully landscaped, still muddy (it is monsoon season), natural waterpark. Complete with restaurant, tables and umbrellas, a water wheel pushing a grinder and a water pipe. I think I have pictures. Very ingenious yet very old fashioned. Would be a great way to grind Cocoa Samoa... The scenery was amazing, the sun was out, and the water was cold. We were told to be careful because with the strong water, the spirits come out. I appreciated his comments as a different approach to his own religion and we were careful.

View from the top of the falls and us walking across the path. Have we mentioned, it's rainy season and the water was knee deep and powerful...making us concentrate on getting across instead of being washed over the edge.

See www.fiataa.snapfish.com for more pictures of these amazing waterfalls.

We went out drinking with some other folks, all Mekong boat friends and had a grand ole time. Traveling with two other couples was nice for the boys because they could be boys together and us girls made them promise us shopping time and they could wait for us in a pub. It all worked out really well and we all had similar interests. We learned alot about travel from each other and everyone was respectful. One night, the two Israeli boys joined us for a late night, post-bar chat. There is a law that bars close at 11:30PM in Laos, but most stay open until midnight, pushing those boundaries. There was a great sign in the bathroom of one bar we went to ... I will try to post it, but it sums up Laos.

Laos Bathroom sign.

From Luang Prabang to Vang Vieng, we had heard some not safe travel stories. Thirteen tourists were killed on the road by local militants in 2003 and although we had heard things were cleared up, but the travel agents don't tell you any information. There were these two Irish girls that got a little shocked by the soldier (undercover) with a gun poking out of his belt, but in talking to some others...they claim that the undercover solider is to protect each bus from bandits and that things were under control now. We however, opted to rent a whole minivan, and add people if we could. It was still about the same price as the local bus and we felt a whole lot safer.

We did add 3 others, filling our bus. Julie, an American living in Taiwan, and Colin, the Irish guy, and Claire, the Australian that reads alot. Everything was going well until we pulled over to the side of the road with three other minvans and three cargo trucks. One of the other minivans was having engine issues, therefore we all sat on the side of the road for about an hour waiting for a new van for the other group. We changed drivers (I guess ours was the one that could fix the engine of the broken van) and got moving in a caravan again when the other van arrived. Mind you, I was too scared to go into the woods to pee after hearing the stories back in Luang Prabang, but now we understand there is power in numbers.

The ride had amazing scenery and the occassional checkpoint, where the driver turned over cash to an armed guard (AK47). Only a few places along the road did we see young children with guns (BIG ones) and not toys - I guess this is an improvement from Chad's last trip (2 years ago). He really said there was a big difference in tourism efforts since that last trip. We arrived in Vang Vieng and checked into our luxary hotel ($8). So far, this was the nicest place we stayed with a beautiful balcony overlooking the Song River and cliffs on the other side. After a nice dinner, we headed to town as a BIG group and stopped off at the Happy Bar before returning home.

2006-08-24T20:58:00.000-11:00

Laos.

We headed on the A/C 2nd class bus to Chang kong where the women next to us was puking her brains out for the first half of the trip, making many of us naucious...but we held it and then she slept the second half. Most of these bus rides have a point where everyone gets out, can buy snacks, pay to use the toilet (or hole in the ground) and then get back on for the rest of the journey.

Ethan at the Laos/Thai border "Gateway to Indochina"

We had opted to cross the border and spend the night in Laos, which we now realize was the more relaxed laid back country town. Most travelers stayed in Chang Kong and then headed over (sometimes on a package lodging/boat across/Mekong 2-day slow boat package) which was a better deal than piecemealing it like we did. Ah...the boat ride down the Mekong river. I can't post pictures until we get to Thailand...but it was like 70 people (only a few Lao - mostly foreigners) in a long boat with benches deep enough to fit half a cheek and only wide enough to fit two adults sitting straight forward. We boarded the boat at 10:30AM after a speech from the customs man (well, he checked us into Laos the day before). He scared us into pre-booking a room in Pak beng, told us there would be No electricity in pak beng, no food available on the boat, and that we would arrive at 7PM, after all the tourists traveling the other way arrived making guest houses sparce and food unavailable. After a 3PM arrival, we decided we weren't too upset about pre-booking, but if you (the reader) are planning this trip, you'll get a hostel for about 1/2 the $300Baht we paid, if you just go. Then again, we were tired and very happy not to have to deal with the stress when we arrived. Pak Beng does have sporadic opwer, but we were lucky to have it all night when we were there. the boat did stop and these kids sold chips, water and beer half way through the day. It was town set into a hill with mudslides and one main street that totally benefited and catered to the passing boat traffic.

The boats for the two day journey, down the Mekong...

First day on the boat...

Second day was WAY more relaxed.

A view of a small village along the Mekong.

Laos food is like Thai food but with less flavor and less vegetables and more oil. The guest house in Pak Beng was fine and the mosquitos weren't that bad. The next day, we reboarded the boat at the requested time of 8:30AM yet we didn't leave until 10:30AM. The second day boat ride was way better, more relaxed and much more socializing. We met some new friends. A fellow RPCV (from Phillipines) and his British girlfriend as well as this other couple (British) who had put there lives on hold for a full year RTW. We didn't plan to all stay at the same guest house, but we did. Actually, all of us have done everything in Luang Prabang together. There is discount in numbers and we hired a mini-bus for the trip down to VangVieng tomorrow. It is also nice because us girls are shopping together tonight and the boys can wait for us at the pub for bit. Jaylia's Guest House (at $6US) a night for both of us, has been the best night sleep I have had since leaving Samoa, maybe even since my mothers house last December. All of us agreed the next day that the sleep was fantastic and the mattresses nice, sheets included!

Night one in Luang Prabang: Dinner with our boat crew. We made a plan to hire a tuktuk for a ride up to the waterfalls. It was beautiful and we'll tell you all about it if you read on.

2006-08-18T23:02:00.000-11:00

The Motobike Excursion of Pai; its surrounding villages, lands, and muddy roads (it is rainy season afterall).

We took the suggestion of the English couple at the bar to ask the bar owner to give us his map and route of the surrounding area by bike. It was great and the map only got us lost once when after the waterfall and before the big Wat on the hill, we realized the road was out. Definately, a big river blowout and from what we hear this big monsoon left some huge damage when it came through a few months ago. Anyway, the day was overcast and the rain stayed away, so it was a perfect day for cruising the motobike. It was very free and refreshing and we enjoyed the views, the people, It was nice to be out of the touristy stuff and into the big wide countryside. We stopped for beverages at random places; one such place being a two-story bamboo hut made of nothing (including the floors) but bamboo. The dog ran by and the whole place shook. At this point, we were also rethinking our travel schedule. With Laos as a new viable and side excursion trip...we wanted to get moving. The options included a 11PM bus, skipping Chiang Rai, down to Chiang Khong (the Laos border crossing) but we didn't know what to do for another day in Pie (a bit teeny of town) and I wasn't so keen on the overnight bus trip. So instead we opted for the mini-bus (van) to Chiang Mai and then the local bus to Chiang Rai. It added an hour or so, but we got to see and spend the night in Chiang Rai, which turned out to be good decision. The city was smaller than Chiang Mai and way fewer tourists. we stayed at a place called Mae Kok Guest House (say that...yup, you said it right) and the bed was a bit like sleeping on concrete, the shower needed to pushed with a wire hanger to get the leaves to go down and I frieked out on the worms (not earthworm looking) that accumulated at that time and wouldn't go into the bathroom without shoes for the rest of our stay there. We had big giant fried prawns and spring rolls from the market and stopped at a traveler hangout for guidance on Lao called the Teepee Bar. We went to the Hill Tribe Museum the next day which was great and an NGO type of place I see myself working at some day. I'm glad we stopped in Chang Rai and one day was enough. Even smaller of a town than Chiang Mai, more of a import/export city from China and elsewhere in Asia, down to Bangkok.

Next we head to Laos and the journey to get there.....

Local scenery in northern Thailand.

To cold to swim and a bit overcast...but me being mimika(show-off) at the waterfalls.

This was where the bridge was supposed to go across. Hence our turnaround point.

Rice fields...

2006-08-18T22:42:00.000-11:00

Life of Pai (actually that is what Ethan is reading currently) and funny, its also the name of the city we are in.

In case you can't read this, Ethan and I are in seats 7 and 8 of the 10 passenger minivan to Pai and this is our ticket.

On a minibus, we weaved in and out of the mountains to the valley of Pai. This little town was a suggested stop by a RPCV and we are truly glad we made the trek. The bus was a bit scary for Sara but Ethan enjoyed the scenery while I put my nose in the Sudoku book. The Thai man next to me even tried to figure a few out, but since neither of us spoke any of each others language, I couldnt explain. We thought we were getting close after a police check point when we stopped and everyone got out. It was our rest stop and the driver needed to eat. We had homeade sausages (not quite sure what was in them, but they were yummy).

Ethan in front of our 'minibus' at the pitstop on top of a mountain, about 40 minutes from Pai.

We are staying at Mr. Jans because it was close and in the book and now we see there are many other options out there, but it is quiet and serene and in the middle of a traditional herbal garden and we have our own bathroom with hot water (a first for us in Thailand).

Bungalow #5 at Mr. Jans

After checking in, we immediately rented another motobike and buzzed around town. We found the food a bit eclectic, for lack of another word. Every place had the standard Thai options along with pizza, sandwiches, burgers, and other assorted random bits. Every menu was 15 pages long. The afternoon dry period from 2pm -5 pm must throw many for a loop, but coming from Samoa with evening Sa, it almost made sense to us. The guy that sold us our beer at about 4PM, told us to put it in our backpack and to be quiet. Ethan said it was reminiscent of buying beer on Sunday in Samoa. After dinner, we tried to find a fun local bar and we did. I can't tell you the name of it but Pong, the owner was a really good guy and he gave us some great insight on what to do tomorrow.

Pong's Bar - that is tobacco (shisha) in the hookah behind us, I swear.

2006-08-18T00:16:00.000-11:00

Chiang Mai.... Trains, Bikes and Tuktuks

The twelve hour train ride left in the afternoon and per the advice of our Thai friends in the PC Office (Thailand Post), we left from the northern part of the city instead of travelling back into the city. There was so street vendors across the street and I ventured to find us dinner with nothing written in English nor any pictures. I even tried to look around and point at someone elses dish, but I managed to get a Thai style fried rice and some skewered meat and some dumplings. Oh, the fun of sign language. At this point, we have attempted many foods off the street and we have yet to be disappointed. The table you see below converts into an upper and lower bunk. We ate our street food and the few beers we brought along (mind you, we purchased one in the food car for 3x the price of the ones we brought with, so we were smart). The food car reminded us of something off The Beach - the movie. A whole bunch of crazy farang (palagi - for those of you in Samoa and foreigners for those of you not in Samoa) dancing to the tape player playing Abba and other really old 80s crap. We hung out with the one Thai guy in the car then left. We got back and our bed had been made so we tried to fit into one bed but no way...I crawled into the top bunk. I kept waking up and thinking I was going to miss my stop. Ethan tried to reassure me that the train turned around in Chiang Mai and that there was no way we could miss the stop, but my clock kept waking me up every hour or so. Not a very good sleep and the tracks were a bit old so it was bumpy.

Cruising in style on the train from Bangkok to Chiang Mai.

After checking into an American-run hostel, we got Thai massages. They came to our room and Ethan got the daughter (who could not have been 16 years old) and was amazed at her strength. Thai massage is rough and painful. They really work your body to get your blood flowing and stretch you in ways that you didn't know you could move. I liked it but I think Ethan will opt for the oil or herbal massage next time (maybe tomorrow). We napped and walked into town, got lost again, because the signs look like ดกหดเมารวียยขย้-เกห . If the words were in English characters, we could probably follow the signs a bit better, but there were very few signs in English characters. We found a cute place for dinner called Ratana's Kitchen and had the khao soi (a popular and very tasty Northern Thai dish of flat noodles, spicy sauce, and coconut cream and some veggies). After dinner we headed over towards the infamous Night Bizar and were unimpressed with the amount of haggling required to make a purchase. We gave up, called it a night and headed back to our bed for a good night sleep. The next day, we had a plan to visit a few wats (Buddist Temples) and some other stuff when we realized how much the tuktuks would run us. We checked out the price of a moto bike rental and realized we would save tons of $$ and we ran with it. Everyone drives moto bikes in Thailand and we hear even more so in Vietnam and other SE Asia countries. Ethan's learning curve was short...well it had to be...there was so much traffic and little room for error. There were no rules, no instructions, and lots of panicking (on my part). But after he got adjusted to driving and I to being passenger, we really started to dig it. We enjoyed visiting the Wats and were interested in the buildings and the Buddhism. We actually wanted to do this monk chat which was to let the monks practice their English and to teach farang about Buddhism, but the time and day didn't jive with our schedule. The bike gave us a ton of freedom to see things we never would have been able to and we truly saw the city. We had dinner at Huean Phan (which took three circumnavigations of the city to find and the first choice from Lonely Planet being under construction) but was wonderful. We were the only farang in there for a while, which says something about the quality of food. We had an amazing Green Papaya Salad (another Northern specialty) and then a lemongrass chicken soup and some a Burmese Red Curry (waiters suggestion) that were both out of this world and super spicy.

Look Mom, I have my helmut on!

Waiting at the petrol station for his fare. This is a tuk tuk. By the way, you have to crouch down low and forward so you can see out the windows.

One of the many markets in Chiang Mai.

We were sad to leave Chiang Mai but ready for Pai our next excursion and we promise to write more from their now. So as we hop on a minibus for a 4 hour ride up and over the mountains. we will write more from there.

2006-08-14T21:58:00.000-11:00

Bangkok.
Wow....what a city. So, Ethan and I are in the Peace Corps office in Bangkok chilling in their lounge while we wait for our 6PM train to Chiang Mai. We have had an excellent, fun-filled and exciting past few days and hadve decided that we should spend a few more days here on the way back through. So, Ill tell you all about those days.

Ronald welcoming us to Thailand with the traditional Thai greeting.

Well, after a horrible late night arrival and the grossest dirtiest smallest hostel room in Bangkok, we were not feeling the Bangkok vibe right off. After a good night of sleep (well as good as the bad mattress and neighbours could afford us), we packed up our stuff, headed out for a American style breakfast with bacon and eggs and COFFEE. The coffee was instant, did the trick andt he breakfast was cheap but now that we have been here a few days, cheap keeps getting smaller. When you convert everything to US dollars, everything here is cheap, but if we are now trying to set a Baht budget for our time here to keep my shopping in check! When I say cheap, we were living on a pricey island. Even the beer here is less than $1US for a big one. I bought myself a cute skirt for $4US and a new t-shirt will put you back $0.50US. Bottled water runs between $0.25 - $1US. In the markets, they tend to start about 4x higher than the real price but 711 and the other street stores keeps the prices pretty set. Anyway, enough price comparision...I have realized that I have lost a lot of my bargaining skills and that speaking Samoan with Ethan while bargaining is a very handy tool to have. Back onto the events...anyway, we found a great hostel for $450Baht (or $11.25US) a night with an A/C unit and a balcony that we really liked. It was off the famed Ko San Rd and we liked the view.
Pad Thai Vendor on Ko San Road...

Next, we wanted to go see the city and thought a trip to the weekend market would be a good experience. We still weren't even here for 24 hours mind you and it was a Sunday, reminiscent t of Samoa since it was a 3-day holiday weekend. Overwhelmed with the crowds, we only lasted an hour or so and were about to head back to our little comfortable niche (the hostel) and a nap. We wound up sharing a taxi with these two Aussie blokes, who also invited us out that night to a less touristy section of town to hear some good music. We told them how we'd been living on an island and were game for some more big city/cultural stuff more than your average tourist/Ko San Rd gig. We danced at this great strip of clubs (I couldn't tell you where it was for the life of me) and heard some great house music. By the end of the night, Ethan, the two Aussies, and this other British dude (whom they met in Vietnam) and myself were invited back with these Thai girls to their condo. The one doing the inviting, who owned the condo, was keen on the British dude and her sister and other friend were along as well. Turns out this girls condo was beautiful and gorgeous and her father worked for the police. Her English was good, the sister's was weak, and the friend spoke none. Another Thai boy showed up later (I think to keep an eye on them) and his English was at least conversable. We danced and tried to feed us, bought some more alcohol and they didn't seem the type to always invite farang up to their condo for an afterparty, so it was really interesting. I may note, that I was not drinking (although I did imbide on a few RedBulls to keep me going). We lasted a while and then left the boys to their own thing and Ethan and I taxied back to the hostel. Of course, we tried to sleep in the next day but I can't sleep in...so instead we went out and took naps in the afternoon.

View from the Skytrain bridge crossing over to the Weekend Market.

Day 2 in Bangkok. We tried to follow the Lonely Planet walking tour and got lost. But it was fun to get lost and wind up in communities where we were off the beaten path and just wandering the streets. Our lunch was fantastic, on the river and REAL Pad Thai and some noodle soup, next to a vendor selling snakes and snails (live in bowls). Way better and unlike the plain street variety Pad Thai on Ko San Rd. We enjoyed our four hour walk through the Amulet market, University, and Chinatown, and past many temples. We couldn't go in because we didn't have covered shoes and pants (or long skirt for me) on. After a good long nap, we headed out to the Patpong Night Market for some real bargaining and cultural experience. We had dinner at a place packed with locals and a menu with pictures under the expressway at a metal table on the street. It was so good, I still can't stop talking about the prawns in lime and coriander. We picked up some good deals at the market and stopped at a local joint in the area for one beer before heading back to the hostel and calling it a night.

Dinner on the street in Pat Pong, across from the night market, mmmm was it good.

Today, we head to Chiang Mai on a 12-hour train ride so stay tuned for more adventures.

2006-08-12T18:08:00.000-11:00

Bangkok Thailand.

Wow. We left Melbourne on an early flight and then truly decided that we didn't like Sydney when we had to pay to get from the domestic to the international terminal. We had budgetted out our money so tight, that we had to skimp on lunch to take the bus. We tried to walk but we were told there was no sidewalk and we would be arrested for walking on the highway. After a 6 hour layover, we headed out on Thai Airways for a 9 hour flight. We were fed well and drinks were free, even in economy! Cognac after the meal. We tried to sleep and watched three movies. Wow, we are so glad that is our longest flight of this trip.

Arriving in Bangkok was overwhelming. We are glad that we had a few weeks in NZ and Australia before heading here. This is a big, HOT, crowded city. Its amazing, exciting and a bit scary all at once. We arrived into the city, about midnight which was actually 3AM from the time we left Australia and we were tired. We settled on a really sketchy room for $250 Baht and decided to just crash and deal with it today. As we speak we are waiting for a lovely balcnoy room with A/C for $450 instead of the first one we chose for $350 with only a fan, but not enough breeze. ($450 Baht is about $10US). Ethan went out for some water and was only approached for other less wholesome things 4x in his 10 minutes out of the house. Its actually the Queens Birthday in Thailand right now, so it is a 3 day weekend and many things are closed. Its ok and it makes it a bit more bearable for our first days here.

We will write and take more pics in the next few days...just wanted to make sure everyone knew we are safe in Bangkok.

2006-08-11T02:02:00.000-11:00

Melbourne Australia.
What a wonderfully relaxing and refreshing stay in a VERY cold part of Australia. We would truly like to come back here and visit when we aren't freezing and when we can take some time to enjoy the city. Everyone has their tastes, but Ethan and I both felt more at home in downtown Melbourne over Sydney. Ethan's childhood schoolmate, Nancy, met us at the airport. We flew into Avalon (we thought it was Melbourne - discount fare on Jetstar from Sydney) and it was the other side of Melbourne from where Dexter and Nancy live. Oops. Sorry Nancy and Dexter and thank you for everything!

Nancy and Dexter (Our Melbourne Hosts!)

Nancy and Ethan were two years apart in school but their mums are still good friends. They hadn't seen each other in 15 years, but it was really nice for them both to reminisce and of course its always nice to have friends visit from overseas to your new home. Ethan and I learned that when we had friends or family visit in Samoa. We were their first overnight guests in their new house which was fun and I hope we were good guests. They had to work most of the week but there was a computer in the second bedroom and I took advange (poor Ethan) and spent two days working on finishing my college essays. Dexter has heaps of movies and series, so Ethan caught up. We experiemented with the Western style grocery stores and bottle shops and I still need to have my hand held as we go through the isles. Its still overwhelming. I made dinner for Nancy and Dexter, Ethan made me lunch and we truly enjoyed having a home where we could just relax. I also saw the doctor...yes mother...I am back on antibiotics for the cough. I think it should be cleared up but the doc said that some Thai massage and time in a hut on a beach someplace will definately help clear it up. So, no complaints, I can do both tomorrow when we head to Thailand.
Feeding the parrots at the Park.... That's Nancy on the right.

We tried very hard to change our JetStar tickets and our StarAlliance RTW tickets to spend a day or two extra in Melbourne but to no avail. We were completely bummed because Dexter and Nancy scheduled a poker/potluck with some mates on Saturday ngith and Ethan and I really wanted to attend. Did I mention that Nancy pulled out their old yearbooks and I saw the first pictures of Ethan as a child? How funny! He says dorky, but he hasn't seen mine! Anyway.

Today, we spent the day with Nancy and Dexter. We mentioned that we were interested in their little wine region (Yarra Valley), but besides that they were the trip planners. What a great day. They always start their weekends with cartoons, so we made a big breakfast and then watched superman. We headed out with a picnic lunch with winter coats to the mountains, where we fed the parrots. The parrots acted like pigeons but definately smarter and more beautiful. They are native to this area. We had seen one in Sydney and thought someone's pet must be loose, but no. Ethan got pooped on but the rest of us were spared of bombings and noone lost a finger. See pics. Lunch was lovely and then we were off to taste wine.

Midweek wine tastings definately rock over weekend tours. We were usually the only ones in the wineries and got extra special pours because, well, we were the only ones there. The wines were decent and by the last vineyard Nancy and I went in and left the men to power nap in the car. We all bought some. Ethan and I will be enjoying ours tomorrow on our 6 hour layover in Sydney airport. All in all, a great week. Ethan's got the sniffles but I think nothing some warm weather can't cure.

What winemakers do after work...note the beer bottles on the table and the grapes in the background.

We are still travelling in our two backpacks and I have a shoulder bag, Ethan a small pack for carry-on. No extra weight as of yet although if we keep eating as well as we have been, we maybe loosening a few belt buckles and backpack straps..he.he.he.

2006-08-07T11:54:00.000-11:00

We have left Sydney and are now in Melbourne. In the last five days in Sydney, we went to the Zoo...I think we took the most pictures there. It wasn't the most impressive zoo, but the animals were unique to Australia which was fun. The elephants were in quarantine ... which would be upsetting to someone visiting, who didn't happen to be heading to Thailand and India next. No worries for us!

Giant koala hugs Sara at the Sydney Zoo!!!

Oh look a kangaroo!

We also did a Saturday night out. As warned, no one hits the clubs until after 11PM, actually some don't even open until 10PM...so I took a nap. I can blame it on my nasty cold that I can't seem to break but we all know I like my sleep! We picked a bar called Melt and waited in line. Ethan and I are both used to getting in where we want and found waiting in a que a bit tough, but we did and it was worth it. I ordered a Cosmo at the bar and the bartender spent about 5 minutes making me what I considered the BEST cosmo ever! Ok, I haven't had one in quite some time but this one was definately made with TLC and class. Mmmm. I had two. By 2:30AM, I had danced enough and was ready to head out. Ethan caved in and we went back to our hostel. I am very happy we didn't head with the youngsters from our hostel to their bar of choice, where one of the boys thought he was being trapped in the toilet when in actuality it was a pull and not a push door. He climbed over the restroom stall, hit an innocent bystander on the other side, security escorted him out of the bar, where the police took over and he head butted a cop. He is being deported back to England. One night, Ethan did head out with that crew. I was feeling a bit under the weather and told him to have fun. Seeing the condition he returned in, I can tell it was a bit of a rough crowd.

Ethan checks the news of a friend...

We also took a trip to the biggest mall on the Southern Hemisphere during a rainy day. I really wanted to see "The White Masai" and it was playing there. Great movie about a Swiss woman who falls for a Kenyan Masai Warrior and lives with him in his rural village. Ethan and I both enjoyed it but isn't $15.50 Aussie a bit pricey for a moive? We did get to mossey around the mall and check out fashions ... none of which we could afford. But it was fun none the less.

Our last day in Sydney, we headed to the Sydney Jewish Museum. There were quite a few Jews on the first ship on convicts to Australia...knewly learned fact. It was interesting and we are both now very interested in exploring Eastern Europe...maybe even searching for some of my relatives homelands. The holocaust exhibit was really upsetting and disturbing, but a very good historical account/including pictures and memorabilia from the atrocity.

Ok, I can't end this blog on such a morbid note so I will tel you that Melbourne is a nice (COLD) city. I went to the doc this morning and hopefully I can beat this cough before we head to
Thailand. We are chilling at Nancy and Dexters home. Nancy and Ethan grew up in St. Croix together. Their moms were friends and therefore the 15 years in which they haven't seen each other doesn't seem like long at all. We are their first house guests and Dexter set me up a computer to help me finish my grad school apps. Oh...thats right, I should be doing that right now. Cheers!

2006-08-03T13:20:00.000-11:00

Sydney and Hunter Valley Wine Region.
We arrived in Sydney and met up with my friend Felicity (from Aspen) the next day. After work, we all headed to her parents place in Newcastle for the night. The plan included a day trip into wine country and back to Newcastle for the evening. Her parents were wonderful and had dinenr waiting for us when we got there. Wine country was a blast. We didn't get to go to a ton of vineyards but it was nice to not drive and be driven in a "wine bus." Today is a rainy day in Sydney and a bit nippy too. We are headed to a museum and then maybe a movie. Also, maybe we will find some shopping as well. Cheers!

Cool cathedral shot in Sydney.

Flick and Dom at Rosemount Vineyards.

Ethan and I at Tyrrell's Vineyard after the tour.

Ethan and the Opera House.

2006-07-31T12:53:00.000-11:00

New Zealand.... So, I borrowed some strangers card reader to get these pics off, so I had to pick quickly. More to come.

So after a few days with Sau's family, we headed into Auckland and stayed with Beks and Matty. It was a great weekend of relazing after leaving Samoa and before backpacking. They have a great city apartment right in the city. The first night, we headed out to their favourite restaurant, Japanese. I was expecting sushi, but it was more of a yakatori-type place in a deep basesment. It reminded me of the sushi place I used to frequent in Aspen. The saki flowed freely and it was yummy. Did we mention it was cold in Auckland? SO COLD! Beks dressed me up in her city clothes which was nice. She understood that I had nothing nice to wear after leaving Samoa and made me feel like a real city girl. Ethan too...wore one of Matty's hoodies. We went out to a bar called the Dog's Bullox and got pissed.

Night two, we made food at home. Sushi, salad, grilled veggies, and an avocado and shrimp salad. It was like a real dinner party and then a bunch of other people came over to watch rugby! Big game with the All Blacks playing Australia. All Blacks won.

Dinner at Matt and Beks house. Oh how sophisticated!

While Beks was working...Matt toured us around. While Matt was working, Beks showed us around. Matt loves cafes about equally as much as I do and we had a little tour of his favourites. We also went to the other side of the bay and got a good look at the city.

Auckland behind us!

Just chilling with Matt in the park, checking out the reggata boats...

Ode to THE LATTE!!!!

Looking down on me drinking my LATTE!

In the airport in Sydney...we were getting a bit angry and tired and hungry waiting for our shuttle driver to come back with another fare to help offset his costs of driving into the city. He finally came back and said that he would cruise around the domestic terminal to find a fare or charge us $40. Ethan started to get angry and said back tot he guy, "we agreed on $10 each and we don't want to be charged an extra $20 TALA....""
His response was, "What did you just say?"
Ethan, "Sorry, man..dollars. We've just come from Samoa"
Him, "Why didn't you say so...that's my country man. I'll take you into the city right away."
Talking in Samoan all the way to the hostel, the man is actually from Iva and is heading back to live there in the next year or so. He is impressed with our language and gives us his numbers and stuff incase we get into a pickle. He tells us we are family and we can always stay with him! Funny, how you can take us outof Samoa, but you cant take Samoa out of us!

2006-07-27T15:18:00.000-11:00

Ode to Wednesday July 26th.....
When we left Samoa on Wednesday, we got to New Zealand on Thursday (only 3 hours later) and with our travel the wrong way around the world, we will never get that day back. We feel we have aged a day without even knowing it.....strange world we live in.

We've made it to New Zealand. The RTW has begun. Ethan and I left Samoa with our Umu box and matching pulatasis and headed to NZ. We got out in Tonga and were already cold and after our arrival in Auckland, I still have yet to get the chill out of my toes!

Fa Samoa. Toe Feloai se isi taimi....

Sau and family picked us up at the airport and we headed out to Glendene where we were treated to a Samoan toanai. Although we had been eating taro and luau, it was nice to eat it with others that rarely get it. Of course, we let them eat most of it, since we just had toanai for a week straight in Samoa.

Auckland Toanai!

Lotu (Prayer)...in Auckland. Really, we are going to miss the Samoan style lotu on a nightly basis. It was nice to share it in NZ. So after a great meal, we watched some tv and fell asleep to Fast and Furious I. I walked to the "Dairy" (Samoan=fleoloa, US=711) and was amazed at the varieties of snacks, beverages,etc. You should have seen us when we went to the Grocery to pick out food. Sau really wanted to spoil Ethan and I when we got to the store and anything we picked up she wanted to buy us. Really, we just wanted to look but man those Oreos were yummy! We couldn't bare to eat icecream. We were so cold! On Friday, somehow we missed Wednesday, we headed into Auckland to change our tickets and here we are..... more soon.
Ethan and Sara

The whole fam...

2006-07-25T12:43:00.000-11:00

So, a few more pics of Saturday night out!

Ethan and a friend

Jonah, what are you up to with that devilish grin?

2006-07-22T17:42:00.000-11:00

LAST WEEK IN SAMOA...

Well...its been another whirlwind week in Samoa. We came in Monday morning from Savaii exhausted and with no tears left. And then rehydrated with the local beverage of choice (Vailima) for a few days...saying goodbye to our Apia friends and other PCVs.

Just a fun picture of how we sometimes travel in Samoa.

Skye and I, at the village store outside of Apia. The whole bus empties out, everyone goes faatau(buy food stuffs) and then gets on the bus and we leave for our 1 1/2 hour trip to Lalomanu.

We spent one last night at Tafua Beach Fales with Skye and Charlie. Charlie(group 70) came back for a holiday from his World Teach program and we had a great time. This picture is of Sili and Tai...the owners. Definately the best beach fales in Samoa and worth a trip. We remember when there were just a few, now we barely have time to tafao(hang out) with them, they are so busy.

Our favourite PIZZA in Samoa...that's Lina (another friend we'll have to come back to visit)

Jonah and me at Paddles Saturday night. (Gonna miss you BRO!) (Hey, I don't ever wear short skirts in this country...it was just that one night...I swear)

Nick, Mac Barr, and Josh...

So, tomorrow we leave Samoa. We are going to miss this place something fierce! But, we've got some travelling to do. So, toefeiloai!!!! Sara and Ethan

2006-07-17T17:42:00.000-11:00

Laauli Etena and Faletua Sala

A Full Week of Saying Goodbye to Savaii

The Faiumu Family...my adopted village fam. I almost put Fiti in my bag to take with me, the cutey in front.

Ethan and I washing our hands after food.

It has been a long and sad week of goodbyes. On Tuesday night, the mayor made me a feast. Ethan arrived in my village on Wednesday day and helped me to pack. The problem is that I didn't realize that we would wind up leaving the village with so many gifts. Wednesday night, the whole womens' committee threw me and Ethan a farewell party with gifts, food, and a whole lot of tears. Thursday night we had lunch BBQ with my across the yard neighbours, then dinner at Mele's family's house with pig and great Samoan foods. Friday we went to Sapapalii where the primary school did a gift presentation and thank you ceremony for Ethan. Every student gave Ethan something. It was quite a site to see little children with tears in their eyes and thank yous for the book reading that Ethan did for them. Then of course, we had a great big dinner with Ethan's family. Saturady was Grandmas birthday. Since the Pastor was attending the lunch, there was A LOT of food; he lead the prayer for our meal and blessed her for her 85 years. Saturday evening we all had a simple meal and hung out, talking chatting, remaniscing, and enjoying our last days. There were tears...but we tried to make it a happy evening. Then Sunday we went to church twice. Ethan did a speech in front of the whole congregation. But the most exciting and least known part of our weeklong festivities was the second Sunday meal at the Pastors house. We didn't know what to expect, although we did try to find out many times from different sources. So, we headed over there, totally clueless of what to expect. We sat down in the big fale at tables and watched as the High Matai and Pastor honoured the two visiting pastors from San Fran. Then they left and the Matai and the Pastor honoured Ethan for his hard work with gifts (A fue, a tootoo, taanoa, and many other honourable gifts). They saved his most precious gift for last and that was to welcome him with a new name to their village. For his 'tautua' (service) to his village they gave him a Matai name. Amazing. His name is Laauli, which is a son of Malietoa and a very highly respected Matai name. Ethan was extremely honoured and choked up. He did a great job reading a speech to thank them that his father had helped him write. His father did not attend the ceremony because he really wanted it to be the villages gift and nit his family's gift.
I translated the whole thing for him as I sat next to him. I was told Ill make a great Faletua (chiefs wife) because I help him with the language and everything. This moring we woke up at 5AM to do prayer one last time with his family, everyone cried and that was the end. We left for Taga, picked up my bags, stopped and gave hugs at everyones house, and then headed back to Apia on the boat. We have more gifts than a small army would know what to do with and we are sorting through them now. Well write more and hope everyone is well, but right now we are tired and ready to rest off this last week.

Ethan and all the Teachers at Sapapalii Primary School

Sala, Laauli Etena, and Ethan's dad Taoai - I think now that Ethan is a Matai, he should make a rule that all Matai get nipple rings, not jsut the full tatau! (Just kidding)

2006-07-07T12:50:00.000-11:00

Ahhh...I am going to miss Samoa.

Us being mushy on the beach. This is at Tafua Beach Fales in Lalomanu.

Sunset at Tanus in Manase, Savaii.

2006-06-24T10:15:00.000-11:00

Its been a while since a new post has appeared on this site...so I figured its time. Well, Ethan and I have been in our respective villages and separated for about two weeks, so this post will be more about me and whats going on in my life since, I cant speak on his behalf b/c I haven't spent much time with him lately. We have been hanging out at Nela's flat in Apia with her this weekend which has been lovely and sad because she is leaving on Monday back to the good ole US of A and we won't be near her again for quite a while. So out in the village, I have been a bit taa...because I keep heading out on my bike to visit friends on the other side of the village. One day, I woke up and was working on my college essay with a pencil and paper and decided, hey I can ride to Julya's house and use her computer while she is at school...then we headed back to my house in the afternoon so she could go to our primary school and check out their computer and what was wrong with it. She rode back to school the next morning with a headlamp at 5:30AM and was chastised for riding in the dark.

It has been nice these few weeks to go out on my bike and visit people and hang out and talk about me coming back and I get a bit nostalgic as I am really going to miss a ton of people in Taga. It took me a while to make friends without living with one family, but there are now so many people I am close with...it makes me sad to think about leaving.

Of course, I am excited about our trip plans and moving forward. I guess its just an emotional time for me with such a major change. This life changing experience and this great little island country is going to always be a memory for me and with the prices of flights here, not someplace I can just fly to on a moments whim.

Hey...if you are reading this...Ethan and I would like to know. Please send us a comment. As for pictures, I promise to get some posted eventually....internet is so slow here.

In honour of Nela's leaving...I am posting a pciture of our feet at our Regina's Beach Fales in Manase Savaii

and then is us with more patterned fabrics than one would think possible.

We are off to take a hike up to a lake with just us girls.. Should be fun. Fa Soifua! Sara

2006-06-05T17:10:00.000-11:00

So, our COS conference was at Sinalei Resort...It was nice to be pampered a bit with some push-pot coffee, gourmet food, a pool (without eels and prawns biting at you) and plush accomodations. The little bungalows had air/con (a true luxary) and showers that were open air but still private.

Yup, Team building! Wow, can you believe Theresa made it on top!

How pretty! What a display.

Our nice sexy pose with Monte in the background!

2006-05-26T22:32:00.000-11:00

CATWALK, COCKTAILS, and CLEAVAGE

I bet you never thought Peace Corps could be a AIDS benefit function. I haven't written in a while because Ethan and I have found ourselves emersed in the planning, organizing, and managing of the 2006 SamoaTel Fashion Awards. We have become part of a team of people that have pulled off what was dubbed 'the best party' of the year. I mean, if we had society pages here...we would be in it. It was a great sponsor party and tomorrow is the actual show for the public. For me, being involved with the media (television, newspaper, and radio), the fundraising, the logistics, the organizing...its all exilherating. Ethan has attacked the stage, lights, and catwalk making with a fellow a PCV and they are on fire. Ill write more when I have time...gotta run.

So, Saturday night was the fashion awards. Huge success! The place was packed with about 1000 people and everyone enjoyed the show. The glitches were small and I am so happy it is over. Yesterday, the staff and the visiting designer and models went to the beach and we had a great time.

This morning in the taxi ride over to the office, I watched the crew boats in the harbour preparing for next weeks races and I had my first thoughts of missing this country and getting sad about leaving. I mean, I only have two months left!!! I can't believe it. This country feels like home and always be my second country. That's it for now.

2006-05-13T17:46:00.000-11:00

MAKING CAKES…THE HARD WAY
I never thought making cakes would take all day. I woke up this morning and did my usual coffee and working on essays for college apps. Then I headed out by bike to find some bananas to make banana bread for Sunday’s big meal at the pastor’s house. As I said earlier, Mothers Day is huge here and I was invited to the mothers meal at the EFKS church. Everyone loves my cakes and to do something special, I thought I would make two and bring them with. Also, I hoped to make one for the pastor’s wife of the Mormon church as a thank you for the Siva and Happy Mothers Day.
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At 8AM, I went out by bike to find bananas. I stopped at Koreti’s house. She was very sorry she didn’t have any, but insisted on picking a ripe pineapple that she had been wanting to give to me. I told her I would be back to pick it up so I didn’t parade it around town. Then I headed up towards Lauesi’s house, but on the way, Manu asked me where I was going and when I said I was looking for fa’i pula, he said to come with him because he had a hanging bunch. He had a kid wait at the road to flag down the bus, if it came, and we headed to get some bananas. Meanwhile, I passed Lauesi and she told me to come back and say hi. So, I did. We chatted, her baby is so cute. And then I headed back to my house. On the way, I ran into Tasi (who lives behind Mele, who lives next to me) and asked if he could scrape some coconut for me when he got home. He asked if he could borrow my bike when I was done. I stopped and chatted with Koreti and her husband, who had returned from the plantation in their car and picked up my pineapple. Then I stopped at the small store and bought flour and sugar. They didn’t have eggs or butter, so the cake making was on hold until Junior returned from Salelologa and opened his store. About 10AM, I was hanging with Mele when we saw Junior’s truck go by, so I headed back to the store with Fiti (he is 5 and so cute) but Junior said there were no eggs for him to buy in Salelologa. I bought butter and decided to make the cakes anyway, but substitute double baking powder for the eggs. In the meantime, Mele’s oldest daughter brought me one egg from under a chicken somewhere to use. I made the first cake, no problem, but then as I put the second cake into the toaster oven, the power went out. This is a usual problem in Savaii, we loose power every other night, but usually in the evenings…hence the cooking the cakes during the day. Mele was over and she and I were making candy necklaces with yarn and saran wrap. So we finished that task and then took our naps. The power was out for about three hours and finally I was back on cake making duty. By the time the fourth and final cake came out of the oven, it was 5:30PM. The fourth cake I divided up and gave to the moms of the families that provided me with supplies, which was appreciated. And now I will go put the other three in the fridge to avoid letting the cats indulge themselves. Task accomplished. Malolo (rest).

2006-05-12T17:45:00.000-11:00

Mormon Siva “Dance”

So, I got back from Apia today after a bit of errand running. Did you know you have to have your visa before you get to India? Well, we sent our passports away so that they can issue them…meanwhile we are living overseas without a passport. I don’t think we have any risk of a ku (sp?) but it still feels weird to not have it on my person. Town was packed with tons of people shopping for Aso Sa Tina (Mothers Day)…I would say second biggest holiday here in Samoa, second only to Aso Sa Tamaiti (White Sunday). The lines were crazy and I too had to bring some gifts back so a little shopping was inevitable. The littlest things make me happy though. I was waiting in line when I looked up and saw one roll of Oral B special dental floss. It sounds so silly, but I have been using this unwaxed thick generic floss since my roll of good stuff ran out and I never appreciated the good stuff more. It was a wonderful treat and my teeth are very happy. Anyway, enough of that aside. We, then hopped the 2PM boat, full, packed, squeezed in like sardines in oil in 100˚ heat. Got to the Savaii and did some email checking, talked to mom on the phone, and then headed back to Taga on the bus of the last boat. I had barely gotten showered and unpacked when Mele invited me to the Mormon Dance. I figured, what the heck…and I went. I swear, every boy in the whole town asked me to dance. Now, when I first got to Samoa, I hated dancing and I thought that by dancing with a guy here was similar to accepting a drink from a guy in the States. You know, your accepting means you too are interested in striking up a conversation and getting to know the person. I was so rude back then, turning down all these boys for a dance because as I now know, in the Samoan culture, dancing is the one time you can get your groove on and the boy doesn’t want anything more than a dance. Simple, innocent dancing. It had truly helped me loose my inhibitions on the dance floor and I look forward to hitting some clubs on our trip and just letting go. Although, I would also like to learn to dance to a bit better. Anyway, I am going to miss this place and I am going to try to accept any invite that comes my way for fun new experiences from now until I leave. Rarely, have I ever been totally disappointed for doing something fun.

2006-05-08T17:47:00.000-11:00

Back in Apia...it was a nice week in the village, although not much to do right now. I went through my stuff and started giving things away. I hung out with friends, ate papaya...chilled with the ladies...it was Aso Fitu week. I know it sounds silly, but my first papaya was ripe today. I ate it! I grew that little one from seed. How cool.
Ethan came to visit. I was a bit bored and deciding what to do with my day, when Ethan called and said that he was going to bike to visit. I was pysched and we had a great time just tafaoing and making plans...

2006-05-02T17:14:00.000-11:00

Its Tuesday...we watched Brokeback Mountain last night. Had salad for dinner. Slept. Ethan left for Savaii at 4:30AM and I went to work. I go back to Savaii tomorrow for the first time in over a week. Wow am I kaa! We are doing really well with sponsorships at the SAF (Samoa AIDS Foundation) and working out logistics on the actual show. Tomorrow, we'll head out in the car and collect some cash and make some designer contacts... Thats about it. I keep thinking about grad school, travel, next steps, and I am still here for another three months. Slow down...

Selma, Edwina, Peati, Me, and Ken at the SAF Office.

Ethan and Maggie Chilling at Nela's House.

2006-04-30T16:29:00.000-11:00

Ethan and I are learning how to post pictures. Here's some Samoan scenery.

2006-04-28T22:23:00.000-11:00

Welcome to our blog! We booked our ticket RTW (round-the-world) today and in celebration, we opened this website.

Fia Ta’a
Fa’amatalaga o ma malaga
(Stories of our Wanderings)

Wow, now that this site has a name, we can get started. First, let’s provide you with a definition of it.

Per G.B. Milner’s Samoa English Dictionary:
Ta’a v.(&adj) 1. (of animals etc.) Run freely, be loose, be at large. ‘Ua ~ le solofanua: The horse is ~; ‘o le ma’a ~: Loose stone, rolling stone. 2. (of woman) Be loose, unchaste, wanton. ‘Ua ~ le teine: The girl is ~. 3. n. Lover, suitor. “O le ~ a le teine: The girl’s ~.

This word is used often now in slang for when someone leaves the house and ‘tafao’(hang out) outside the family compound. Hence, those of us that live in villages but do things in other villages (with girl friends, boyfriend, or actual work or PC related business) are generally teased as being kaa. I have been called kaa a million times in the last two years here, but significantly more since I have been in Apia working and leaving the village every week.

Fia Taa means that we ‘want’ to be taa. Faamatalaga is an explanation, o is of, ma is our (two people, listener not included), and malaga is a travel/journey/wandering/traditional introduction.

With the start of this new blogsite, we hope you know that our opinions are just that our opinions. We give an outsider/traveler perspective of the places we visit.

WHO ARE WE?
We are two Peace Corps volunteers in our thirties, who joined Peace Corps to live in another culture and learn about something about the world, to share our own experiences and maybe leave a little piece of ourselves. Since we are very different people, it is hard to write about us as a pair, but this journey is about sharing and learning to spend more than two consecutive weeks together. We are finishing our two year services separately in Samoa and excited to start our lives together. We met in San Francisco June 7th, 2004 at staging and became friends before we started dating. But after a time, we just couldn’t fight it. We continued our service in separate villages, both on Savaii although we were both still part of each others lives. Our projects were different but we did help each other with our respective skills. We talked about trying to do it together quite a few times and know we would have been successful and enjoyed it, but it just wasn’t in the cards. Maybe next time right?

WHERE ARE WE GOING?
We are working on booking our skeleton RTW ticket this month and we’ll get back to you on that. If you have advice for us on any of the following countries, please let us know:

India
Thailand
Turkey
Israel
Vienna
Frankfurt or other European cities on a budget from there

We are on the tightest budget we can be on, but know this is a trip of a lifetime. I am most nervous about the European part since the dollar is week and we will be ending our travel there.

WHAT WE WANT TO DO?
My goal is to learn to cook local food and flavours of every country we visit. After eating taro and breadfruit smothered in coconut cream and tinned mackerel for the last two years, I am looking forward to world flavours and earning some of my taste palate back. I want wine wherever it is available since I have only drank box and jug wine here.

Ethan’s goal is to travel with local transport wherever we go. Tuktuks and trains…I agree, lets stay away from tour vans and taxis whenever possible.

Homestays: We both want to do some museums and temples and I am interested in local art, but we both want to see and learn about the culture. We are NOT sick of the beach, despite what one may think after two years on a tropical island. We love the beach and look forward to finding other countries version of ‘beach fales.’