Fancy Nancy on the Road

Summer Tripping 2008

2008-08-09T04:59:00.001-07:00

After Southeast Asia and before the Olympics, I planned on about 4 months at home relaxing. With a few trips to break it up - which ended up being a string of week trips to Denver, Oregon , Chicago , Mexico and Vegas that left me exhausted before I boarded the flight to China!

In June, I went to the Copper Canyon with my dad and niece, Jamie. Dad had found the combo bus/train trip - we took a train along and through the Copper Canyon , which is four times as big as the Grand Canyon in Arizona. It was a beautiful trip, with travel through the high desert and along rivers included.

A pic of Jamie on the train at a stop shows some of the local indian women selling their intricate woven baskets. These tribes fled the central part of Mexico during the initial Spanish invasion in the 1500's for the high country and the Copper Canyon -we took a hike into the canyon and saw indian families still living in the canyon in rudimentary cabins built into the walls for protection from the brutal weather. Also bought some very cool seed bracelets from them in the canyon.

There were some beautiful and HUGE hummingbirds all over Mexico - here are some in a tree on the rim of the canyon. Also - here is a pic of the canyon from our hotel hanging right on the rim of the canyon itself. I didn't sleep well since it was at 7,000 feet - so when I got up in the middle of the night to sit on the much cooler porch, I got a treat of a lightning storm miles away across the valley.

We had a great guide and learned alot about Mexico along the way. I was pretty chagrined to learn how little I really knew about Mexican history apart from the discovery of guacamole in 1847. For example, who was Pancho Villa and why should we care? Anyone, anyone? Bueller?

He was one of several military gents that challenged the incumbent and longtime strongman president of Mexico who ruled for almost 30 years. Pancho was from the Chihuahua state that borders Texas and got pulled into a civil war. He has about 20 "wives" (ie recognized by the Catholic church but not the state after #1) and a gazillon kids. He was assassinated in the 1920's.

Also had some time on the Oregon beach with the Swinnerton clan I visit each Thanksgiving. Great time playing games at night and walking with Atty and the kids on the beach just outside our house. Funny thing happened - when some folks were "downtown" in the little tourist part of town, they ran into a large group of Secret Service agents with motorcycles - apparently, the King of Jordan was taking a motorcycle tour of southern Oregon between events in the US. A week later, Obama met with him in Jordan on his big tour of the mideast - weird to feel the strings of foreign affairs stretch to OR.

Also spent a great birthday week in Chicago at Jean's - she threw a BBQ for my old high school (and token college friend, Jim) friends and asked them to bring memories of me - it was pretty funny what people pulled out - not playable for a family venue like this blog. Tried to get into the Obama office while in town but its not a walk-in place for volunteers to visit - its strictly by appointment and an HQ for strategy and operations for the national campaign.

DID I MENTION OBAMA?

Did some volunteering for the campaign this summer - I walked into the weekend office in Los Gatos during the phonebanking into Indiana and got pulled into the core group of South Bay volunteers.

Its been a fascinating experience learning just how grassroots a campaign like this is. I have met some truly dedicated people - and some a little too excitable! It was a relief to finally see the phonebanking and canvassing (roadtrip to Medford, OR a few weeks before the primary and before his big 80,0000 person rally in Portland) pay off and allow for eventual rallying behind one candidate -and its my guy! Also really interesting to see who volunteers - I met alot of teachers and retirees and women in the group. Didn't meet too many high-tech people except for occasional folks on the weekend for phonebanking.

Had a garage sale in July to fund some voter registration efforts as well as helping one of the delegates get to Denver - raised $840. Here is a pic of Kristin and Kirsten and I with the candidate.

On July 29th, I boarded a flight to Japan and began what is probably my last big trip of my timeoff - on my way to Beijing.

Diving in Thailand.... and home with reflection

2008-04-04T13:17:00.001-07:00

From Laos, I decided to spend a short week in the south of Thailand on the island of Koh Tao - its off the Southeast coast of Thailand. After the exotic and personal experiences of Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam, I wasn't super keen to spend a week "on vacation".... since Thailand is so developed, this wouldn't give me much opportunity to experience the real Thai culture. However, it was a beautiful island, and I have a peaceful 6 days diving and reading and contemplating my feet.

The pic above is of George and I diving... albeit in Vietnam at about 40 feet. Now imagine us diving with fish and live coral and one little blacktip shark and you have Thailand underwater.

My hut off the beach with a trusty guard dog. Dogs are everywhere.
The beach I stayed at in Koh Tao - see the coral heads in the water- nice snorkelling! I saw a small blacktip sharp near the rocks in the middle top of the picture - running away from me.
I was sitting at a table on this beach writing my journal when two guys walked up - they were checking out the resort as a potential alternative to their hotel. We talked and laughed for 30 minutes. One of them was an 18 year old, a family friend to the mid-30s guy with him. The 18 year old was heading off on his own to Vietnam and Cambodia to meet a friend. At one point we were talking about how 1/2 the wild tigers in SEA had been killed in the last 25 years, and the 18 year old said "That is so gay!" The other guy and I just cracked up - his point was made but he didn't quite get the lack of political correctness and descriptiveness using that term meant. I laughed later that day imagining him in the Khmer Rouge torture prison museum in Phnom Penh, saying " The Khmer Rouge was so gay !!!" . Having an 18 year old niece set to travel on her own to Europe this summer, I gotta say its still a bit young to be out on your own.

Here is the view from my bed - nice,eh? Yup, that is the ocean about 100 feet from my feet. The "resort" was kinda rustic (Muslim squat toilet, no screens) but the view was amazing, and I could be up and getting suited up for a dive in 15 minutes. Now imagine this view at 1am when you have been sleeping for a few hours and someone is trying to open your door - I woke up when I heard this - and saw a person standing at that window feet from me - ARGHHH! I think I yelled "what?" and then just plain yelled, the woman in shadow yelled, and the two of them scurried away. I heard them in a few minutes walking nearby so I think it was a couple that had been drinking at the bar and got confused about which hut was theirs - but it scared the shit out of me - my heart punched against my chest for 10 minutes. It was a sign to leave the next day so I did.

Here is one of my cabin mates - a green lizard or gecko.

There were TONS of geckos in the trees - I never knew till this trip what a real gecko sounded like - I was confusing the soft chirp of a green lizard with the very loud gecko call, which seriously sounds like "GECKO", (or "Chronkite " sometimes - I swear).

The night before I took a boat to Koh Tao, I spent on Koh Samui, a larger and much more developed island (ie Oahu). They have waterbuffalo fights which are pretty funny. Imagine a bullfighting ring surrounded by people - but instead of a matador and bull, you have two waterbuffalos facing off. It reminded me of the quote that war is 10% terror and 90% sheer boredom - most of the time the two buffalos would be looking in opposite directions, looking confused. In Laos, I did a hike that put me face to face with many buffalos on the trails through the rice fields - and I would crack up when meeting them. They would stop, look alarmed, move off the trail and watch you go by -then stand there with a cartoon balloon above their head saying "now, I was going somewhere, where was that?". Imagine two buffalo doing that. Occasionally, they would lock heads and horns and some blood was shed, sadly around the eyes - but for the most part, this was very low key bull fighting, thank god!

I got friendly with the diving company and some of the local expats since I was diving each day and learned a bit about what its like to be an expat in Thailand. And its not all good. Thailand is a very corrupt country (note that its former disposed prime minister is going on trail soon) and there are lots of backoffice payoffs and ineptitudes to living and working there. Be cautious when you travel in Thailand - there are lots of folks trying to part you from your dollar.

With time to kill on my hands, I decided to get my Advanced Open Water PADI cert, which means I am now legal to dive to 30 meters. I was illegally diving beyond the legal 18 meters for the last few years and didn't know it -but have a greater appreciation for how half-assed the dive companies can be that I have been diving with. This crew in Thailand was strict on buddy checks and making you assemble your own gear, a very good reminder for me. Besides Navigation and Deep Diving, I did an underwater photography section (really fun - I might have a new expensive hobby- shots from my dive are below) and Bouyancy, which I still suck at! My favorite exercise in that section was underwater somersaults and hanging upside down - they help you get to a neutral ,not-moving bouyancy level without feeling like work.

Caught some shrimp near their hole - they dove in in the next second.

A porcupine fish - has spikes on it and its box shaped. We christened this "Bambi" in Bora Bora since those heartshaped eyes just grab your heart!

My best shot underwater - there are black and white Funereal Nudebranches near alot of colorful Christmas Tree worms embedded on some coral heads. Not alot of new things to see on these dives but I really liked the nudibranches and blue-spotted rays.

Had an allnighter in the Bangkok airport before my flight home via Tokyo. Have been quite philosophical since I got back - maybe from seeing the impact of so much recent war, and from looking forward to reentering the workforce later this year. Here are some tips for people thinking of traveling in Southeast Asia if you are interested.

1. It is so easy to travel here, since so many westerners come here. English is spoken everywhere that a tourist might be. This means that you will have people very aggressively trying to part you from your money so get used to saying No when people try to sell you something.

2. Skip southern Vietnam - its all a sprawling metropolis around Ho Chi Min City with not alot of beauty (think Cleveland). Head to Hoi An or Hue in the middle of the country on the coast, or directly to Hanoi.

3. Don't plan your short trips before you get there - you will spend way more energy and money than you need to. Any city that has seen a tourist will have travel agencies that can book you on a plane, or bus, or train, or a packaged tour for a day or a few days, immediately. There are usually several in any block so compare prices for the lowest price. I know its weird to not plan ahead but seriously, you can plan an adventure to anywhere on one day's notice at these places, including pickup and drop off at your hotel. We planned our trekking trip to Sapa Vietnam including all hotel, guides, train, meals, and village homestay the day before we left!

4. Bargain, Bargain, Bargain! If you are anything but Asian looking, assume that anyone in SEA will hike up the price to you and is prepared to negotiate it down.

5. Get used to more crowds in transport - unless you rent a private car to take you everywhere, you will be sharing that minivan or bus or boat. The planet thanks you for conserving.

6. Get your ass to Laos and Cambodia before everyone else does - easy to travel, cheap, beautiful, sad.... they have it all. And much less commercial than Thailand, so you meet real people.

Next up - Mexico's Copper Canyon in early June and then tentatively China/Nepal/MidEast starting in August.

Laos Called - It Wants It's Silent "S" Back

2008-03-23T12:17:00.000-07:00

Hello from Denver DREAMING of Laos! Back from my trip and updating my blog finally - internet was very slow in SEA and I just couldn't take the time to upload photos there for the blog.

Just as gray is the new black, Laos is the new Romania for me.... it was my favorite country on this trip. I went in with high expectations based on people that had been there and it didn't disappoint.

A word of explanation. It took me about a week to realize that noone in SEA pronounces the "s" in Laos. When the French colonized Laos in the 1800s, there was no single country but instead, several kingdoms of the Lao people- so the French aggregated them and called them the plural Laos. Being French, they didn't pronounce the "s". Being American , we do. Mistakenly.

After the hurly-burly and in-your-face commercialism of Vietnam, Laos was an oasis of calm. It is one of the least populated of the SEA countries ( 6 million to Vietnam's 90 million), very poor, starting to ramp its economy outward, very Buddhist and..... Communist! For a very long time now, since 1975, or the fall of Saigon. It was fascinating to compare these two seemingly Communist countries (Vietnam and Laos) bring in international investment and privatize business.

I flew to the old royal capital, Luang Prabang, which is a Unesco World Heritage site. There are 32 Buddhist temples in the area that I was looking forward to visiting. LP is a gracious old French colonial town - and way too easy to travel in. I spent 1.5 weeks there, staying at a hotel with CNN so I could keep up with political news, great food, the temples, cooking class, etc. In case you hear Laos and think it might be rough to travel there - think Carmel, California. No kidding. Those French have been visiting for years.

The pic up top is of the morning alms. Each day, the monks in the temples walk down the main street at dawn with their alms bowls to collect food. Its a traditional interaction between monks (who don't work in paying jobs) and the townspeople. Monks get food for the day and the townspeople get implied blessings. Monks can only eat until noon, so they eat at dawn and just before noon. Since there are so many tourists and locals participating in this each day, the monks had a ton of food in their bowls. I saw them periodically reach in and give a handful of rice or fruit to young kids standing next to this line with baskets. They are poor kids from the town and the outlying area. It was nice to see that sharing. I loved this morning - seeing hundreds of monks in their bright orange robes lined up down the street.

One of my fave temples was Xieng Thong - it had a building housing the wagon for burial of cremated remains of the Royal family. It also had these gents and many more Buddhas lining the walls.

I talked to one of the young monks for awhile and he invited me to the evening chanting - it went on for 30 minutes and was magical. Note that the monks below cover their feet when in temple - the feet are considered dirty and it is an insult to point your feet at someone. Even if they are the tourists in the back of the temple.

This temple complex was covered in glass mosaics. On the back of the main temple was this Tree of Life mosaic - incredibly beautiful, albeit hard to capture on my camera.

Here is a detail of a mosaic on one of the smaller buildings - lots of elephants.

I had just walked away from my monk buddy after the chanting when I walked by Rick Cord - Rick and I had worked together at McDATA and knew that we were both in SEA but hadn't coordinated a meet anywhere, nonetheless in a temple in Luang Prabang. Amazingly small world - here we are enjoying a beer to celebrate.

Laos women still wear their traditional silk/brocade-edged skirts with sandals, and most women have long hair in a bun or ponytail. So I loved this street sign for pedestrians above. You can see the little girls at this primary school are dressed that way, also, with the lead girl hoisting an umbrella.

Many of the temples have extensive painted murals inside -this one had tigers and lions next to Buddha.

The temple below was a large one that houses many of the statues that need repair - this effort is funded by the UN, I think. So behind the altar , there were dozens of statues in states of disrepair.

The temple below with the exterior painted SO reminded me of the Romanian painted monestaries in Bucovina that I visited last summer. The murals in Laos told the story of Buddha in 92 cartoon-like panels - and I am sure, like the biblical stories painted on the monestaries in Romania 600 years ago, that they were meant to teach the illiterate people the stories of their religion. Love the symmetry. I've attached a pic of Voronets, one of the Eastern Orthodox monestaries in Romania, for comparison.

There is a lovely waterfall outside of Luang Prabang that is popular with the tourists.

Below the waterfall are pools that you can swim in. I ducked into one that was off the path - and had it all to myself as a result - imagine me paddling around those rocks in the middle of this milky, turquoise blue pool on a hot day - heaven!

There is a hill in the middle of LP with a temple and a large golden stuppa on it - this view is from the top of the hill, when I walked up to see the sunset. You can see the rooftops and temple spires of LP, as well as the Mekong River, sand islands and surrounding hilly countryside. I've included a pic of the main road in LP - old colonial buildings now occupied by travel agencies , shops and restaurants.

I was getting a little too comfortable in Luang Prabang (a friend expressed concern over my CNN addiction) so I went up the Mekong for a few days to a village called Muang Ngoi. My friend Laurie had been to the village just before it 7 years ago and asked me to go farther on so that she could live vicariously through me - and I am so glad that I did. You reach Muang Noi by boat - there are no roads there. There is one road in town , stretching the 3 block length of town. MN was a simple fishing village until about 2000 - when it bought some generators for electricity and starting opening guest houses for backpackers. Its still a pretty rustic place - here is a pic of the road with one of the many canine inhabitants (sorry - my Mac is uploading some pics on their side even though I have rotated them). Its a dramatic view up the street to a mountain. The town is surrounded by mountains and it lovely. I picked a super deluxe hut for $2 a night - had a shared toilet, a spiggot on the wall for showering (cold, of course), a lightbulb that was on 6:30 to 9:00, when the generators ran. It also had a view of the river to watch people wash clothes or themselves, and a hammock. At night, I fell asleep to the thunder of bug, dogs and roosters crowing.

On the river on the way to town, passed a boat like ours - with cattle on the roof.

One of the attractions of Muang Ngoi is that there are several villages nearby that you can walk to to see village life as it has been for 50 years (no electricity, cooking over fire, etc). So one day I walked about 90 minutes to a village called Huyxen. On the way, I passed through incredibly pastoral valleys surrounded by hills, layered with dormant rice fields, and haunted by many water buffalo. I passed this foursome taking a mud bath - they do this to keep bugs off them and to keep cool.

A few shots of the valley I crossed. I stopped at one of the huts to absorb my experiences this day - it was so peaceful and beautiful and moving. Until the bombs went off.

Laos is one of the most bombed countries on the planet. In the late 60's, the CIA worked with the incumbent government in Laos to keep out the communists that were attempting to overthrow the government. This behooved the US since the North Vietnamese were using eastern Laos to run troops and supplies down to South Vietnam during the American war. We had not declared war on Laos with Congress, so therefore the CIA ran a secret war in Laos and heavily bombed eastern and northeastern Laos with 250,000 bombs , in hopes of hitting the northern Vietnamese troops. 20% of these bombs didn't explode and remain in the earth. Each year, 100 people die as the bombs are accidently triggered, predominantly women looking for firewood. As I walked through these beautiful valleys, or lay in my bed, I heard 5-7 booming explosions a day - there are UN and British teams setting off the bombs. At this rate it will take 100 years to make the country safe. Its a tragedy for so many reasons, not the least of which is that , like Bosnia, its a physically stunning country primed for outdoor adventure travel. Hearing these bombs echoing off the valley walls was a reminder to me that these people continue to have a very hard life. But I sensed no animosity to myself as an American. Below is a shot of a bomb sitting next to my guest house.
Here is a view up the river, as water buffalo wandered over and into the water before collapsing in a "huff" to submerge themselves.
My nickname growing up was Garlic Gut so boy did I love seeing that garlic is a local crop - here is a local pup raiding the garlic drying on the main road. And below, that same boy is getting a bath in the Nam Ou River.

The main road has drainage channels on either side of it - this baby was making a run for it over outside my guest house.

I spent about 2.5 hours in the village of Huyxen. There was one place to eat, so I ordered Vegetables Curry, rice and a Coke (yes, they walk cans of Coke in for tourists to buy for $1). While I was eating on a platform with two tables, about half a dozen villagers wandered up on the platform to hang out on the hammocks and chairs. Noone directly engaged me but I think they were curious about me. I was the only tourist to walk to town that day, it seems. One of the girls had cut her finger hacking at bamboo - so I put a bandaid on it. She kept looking at it - maybe she had never seen one? After lunch, I hung out with the kids - they had a chart of the English alphabet with a picture of something beginning with each letter - they asked me to pronounce each word. It was an odd chart - showed Giraffes for G - so I guess it must be for an international crowd, since these kids would have no idea what a giraffe was.

I asked the kids to show me their school (it was Sunday) so we wandered over to their wood-framed, bamboo walled school. We spent some time copying my English phrases on the blackboards - until they started climbing the walls - literally. They crawled up the walls saying "photo, photo!" for me to take their pictures.

Here is my lunch coming down the ladder - Laos houses, like Cambodia, are traditionally on stilts even out of a floodplain.
Walking around the village - you can see how basic the houses are - and how many kitchen activities are done outside (probably to prevent fire and keep smoke out of the house).

It was a great day - walking through such beauty and playing with kids. When I got back to MN, I had dinner with Martin, my neighbor in the next hut. He is on a 6 month trip from Switzerland, travelling without using a plane. He took a cargo ship to Singapore and will take the TransSiberian railway back west - very inspirational given that I used my carbon footprint for 5 years taking regional planes. At dinner we met the boy below, Hom, who lived in the village. He agreed to take Martin on a traditionally fishing trip the next day and a hike up that mountain at the end of the street for a great view. There was much negotiating back and forth on price (in Laos Kip and Thai Baht) and the inclusion of LaoLao, local Laos rice whiskey. Here is a pic of them sealing the deal with a handshake.

Walking back from dinner was fun - there were sounds of singing and drumming through the town. We learned that the women of the town get one day off a month to "not work" and they party like its 1999 that night - went to sleep listening to the drums.

Back to Luang Prabang for a few days before I flew to Thailand. I took a boat across the

Mekong to visit some less travelled temples- here I am with a local boy acting shy. His friends wanted to take pictures with my camera. If you took the picture, you ended up turning it around for the kids to see themselves, accompanied by much giggling. I also got a great video of two little girls doing local dancing and singing but its too large to upload!

When you pray at a Buddhist temple, you never point your feet towards Buddha. In Thailand, you can cross your legs in front of you. In Laos and Cambodia, women should keep their legs to the side like I am attempting.

One of the temples I visited had funding to train monks to maintain the artwork in the temples around town. Here are several monks taking a class on drawing. They also learn carving and gilting.

This monk opened the temple for me and we ended up having a long conversation. His name is Bounnian, which means sticky rice. He told me it was because he was born so compromised they thought he would die. His grandmother thought to put him in warm water, which revived him and he survived. She called him "sticky rice" since she has to put him in water like rice. So I called him Sticky. He was trained in gilting and did the art to the right inside his temple. He was interested in reading English (very common for all monks to walk to learn English) so I gave him a book about Bhutan, including about Buddhism in Bhutan, that I was walking to a bookstore to donate.

Here is a store in LP that I frequented each night for water. I loved how they had EVERYTHING outside on the sidewalk.
Each night in Luang Prabang, there is a night market for local crafts. I can't believe that they haul in and set up their goods each night but they do - and it stretches for 6 blocks. Here is a view of it out of my hotel window.

Sigh, time to go. Can you tell that I loved Laos? I reluctantly flew to Thailand when my visa ran out. Here is my tuk-tuk taxi to the airport... I already miss these little guys.

Sapa - Trekking to Hilltribe Villages

2008-02-25T01:55:00.000-08:00

Our three days trekking in Sapa in Vietnam's northern border with China has been one of the coolest things I have done on this trip yet, and definitely in Vietnam. Siem Reap edges it out by a nose. There are 50 indigenous tribes in Vietnam that are not Vietnamese - they account for about 11% of the population and tend to be in the hilly areas in the North and mid-West. We opted for the 4 night, 3 day option that included a homestay at a village. We took the night sleeper train the first night and arrived at 5am - then hopped on a minibus which drove through the dawn the remaining 35 km to Sapa, an old French outpost town. After breakfast, we gathered in the hotel lobby for our guide and saw this group of Hmong women and girls outside. How darned friendly, we thought.

The second you walk out the door, a convoy (I kept hearing the 70's song in my head) of these women and girls attach themselves to your group, at a ratio of about 3 native to each Westerner. We stopped right before we hit the muddy descending trail to buy bamboo hiking sticks... oh boy were they needed. John was inundated with kids trying to sell him a stick for 5000 dong, or about 30 cents. John bought a stick, his mom did not and later when we realized how slippery and muddy it was, and when he would offer his stick to his mom, our guide kept offering to slap him.

It had been really cold in the mountains - we heard that 800 water buffalo had died and reports of older folks and kids were heard , too. In fact, we saw buffalo in wooden huts since they were trying to keep them somewhat protected. It had warmed a bit when we got there - very misty and foggy but I was warm as long as I was moving. Here is one of our first glances of the valley with a river below and terraces of rice.

This picture can't begin to do justice to how muddy and slick these trails were. I would never look at them on my own and say Yeah! But I had little ladies to help me. The first part of the trail I was pretty independent, especially since I had a stick. However, the Wall from Hell changed that and I occasionally grabbed the hands of two older ladies that had glommed on to me.

Here is one of our escorts with a few water buffalo. She was a tough cookie - wouldn't let you take a picture later in the day without buying something.

We stopped for lunch after a couple of hours of sliding down the valley. There was a crowd of ladies outside the lunch place - its obvious that they can't come in so they hover outside.... in wait, like spiders.... and if you glance at them, its all over but the crying.... ( "you buy from me! Cheap cheap!". Note the pig wandering among the group - these black pigs were everywhere.

Our guide was a Black Hmong 17 year old girl named Tsai - and she was AWESOME! So assured for 17 - her English was pretty good and self taught,and she was tough! Here she is on the left, with the two women that held my hands the first day. After lunch, when the ladies are leaving you since the trail is easier, you are expected to buy from them if they truly helped you (this is a debate since some escorts that didn't ever touch you ask for something too). I bought a cool blue embroidered (called Brocade here) purse from the lady on the right. I think I overpaid even with some bargaining. We were warned that they prices were realllllllly high on the trail since they think they got you emotionally - so just bought the minimum after bargaining and bought more at the market in Sapa. George always gets the pretty girls.

Tsai took us through her village and to her own house - that was very special of her. Here is a shot of her little sister (center) with a baby, not a sibling, probably a neighbor, sitting in front of the family hearth. These houses tended to heat with fire and cook with fire but also had electricity - for the DVD player and TV - how sad!

Here is Tsai and about half the village kids watching TV in her house.

Despite the TV, some girls kept busy making hemp string that will be used for weaving the gorgeous Hmong textiles for sale to tourists.

Here is Tsai in front of her primary school - she is a beautiful girl. She is wearing the national uniform of Hmong guides - her native black clothes with leggings, and umbrella and Wellington boots. We all wore Wellies, actually, and a good thing since several times I went up to my knee in mud - but you can feel every stone! Tsai said that most girls stopped school after primary and only boys went on to high school - rats! We didn't see many boys , they were probably in Sapa at school.

We stayed the night in a Red Dzao village - this is a different tribe from the Hmong and has a different language. The house was two stories with a dorm upstatirs for us with mats and blankets about 4 inches thick. The first floor was concrete and had a TV . The kitchen, shown below, was a bamboo room attached to the house - probably to keep fire risk to a minimum. All food was cooked over this "two burner" bamboo fire with the little black cat about 2 inches from the fire - she was fearless - and loud! She parked herself in front of one of the girls cutting up meat and meowed incessantly till she got something. That dog , Crabby Dog, was ... crabby.Poor guy was old and moved slow (except for a brief frantic play time with another dog that night). He growled all the time if you got near him. I got up at 2am to pee and had to walk through the kitchen to get to the bathroom - and in the pitch dark that damned dog started growling at me!

This is Grandma to the family - I am scrunching down to be at her height. Sure, she looks cute and all, but the next morning when my bamboo stick went missing, guess who had it!

We had another group staying at the house and both our guide and their guide (name unknown but also a firecracker!) helped cook dinner - here she is towards the end of dinner prep. All of those dishes were cooked over the fire and were damned good! We started with fried sticky rice in paddies - yum. And then they made french fries in a huge wok and when they were served, we realized that they were garlic fries. Double yum !! There was a guy from San Francisco there and we were joking it was like Gordon Biersch fries at AT&T park! For breakfast, crepes. Amazing. Though everything I brought smelled like smoke for days.

After dinner, the family put on a Vietnamese Karaoke soap opera... it was on ongoing story about a guy getting dumped by his wife for a rich guy - lots of sobbing, from him. With Karaoke lyrics on the bottom so you could join in. Here we are sitting around a brazier trying to stay warm - our guides were transfixed by the video - and Aileen got sucked in . We were joking that we needed to pick her up a DVD to take home... or was it a joke? The home stay was great! Hung out with our guides alot, and the family a bit. In fact, the San Fran guy introduced them to Uno and got the mom hooked - she ended up betting her husband over who had to cook crepes in the morning over Uno hands - and she lost.The next morning we were greeted by the usual crowd of women waiting for the howlies to start sliding around - this meant more treachorous mud trails! Many of them trekked with babies tied to their back - and were helping us! Two girls tagging along for the walk with the valley in the background. The girl on the left had dark round bruises on her forehead - we saw that alot - and it turns out they are permanent scars from a traditional headache cure involving the heated end of a newly killed buffalo horn. Said to see that they were permanent scars.

Trying to capture how slick it was - here is the group crossing a river. You got used to sloshing through water - it was the slick red steep mud that was the problem - thank god for little Hmong ladies.

We got a great big convoy!!

Here are my Day 2 ladies - don't look happy , do they? I teased the lady on the right about not smiling and her friend said she was self conscious about not having upper teeth. And she was tough when it came time for buying... had to hold firm on the price for a pair of earrings from each lady. I asked a Red Dzao lady at lunch how much for a cool cloth necklace with metal decorations - I swear she said $50. I bought one for 50,000 Dong ,or $3, in the market. The amount of in your face price gouging and selling is a bit obnoxious and alot sad... but I guess one of the few routes to money for women that aren't allowed an education past grade school. I just wish I could hire them into high tech sales teams !

Thought this Black Hmong girl was beautiful.

The lunch crowd on Day 2 - that little lady in the middle was shy about pictures - she is a Red Dzao.

That baby was a cutie!

You read that there will be a waterfall around lunch time - and there was this stunner with our lunch place at the bottom. However, I was more interested in taking a picture of the trail that we slid down to get there - on the right side - with a few people on it to give you perspective.

Different group of stalkers after lunch. This lady on the left followed me pretty closely... her name began with "N" and she was also 44 years old. Separated at birth??? Her daughter is behind her with a baby strapped to her back - she looked about 14. Girls start to marry at 13 .

Back in Sapa for a night and day before catching our sleeper train back to Hanoi. I loved this sign... you have to understand that heat is an option, not a given, in Sapa. For example, we were promised a free fireplace in our hotel rooms - well, fireplace translated to a portable electric heater and you better believe we wanted it - there was no heat in the room until the night when these funky pipes under the bed got warm water circulating. It was funny to watch the people all bundled up to eat in our hotel restaurant - including seeing their breath inside. We huddled over our soup - but it was sooooo worth the cold. At the home stay I actually had to strip off some layers in the night... like from 6 to 4!

Did some short day hikes the last day and saw these ladies walking by.

We had the option of taking a moto back up the hill and I took it! I had hurt my ankle slip-sliding down the trails the day before and thought I would give it a break. I was nervous at first - here we are starting and I am reaching out to grab my camera from John. Within a few seconds I felt comfortable enough to take pictures as we drove. I've taken a few rides in Hanoi since then which frankly feels more dangerous - other bikes or cars or buses could hit you since traffic is free form. But it was fun. Took a ride to the Temple of Literature today and the driver tried to get me to pay more as we drove there - no way! The driver on the way back was much nicer - and both had helmets for me, so it felt pretty safe. I would take a moto on places like Siem Reap if I had to do it again - you are very much part of the scene rather than removed in a car that way.
Red Zdao ladies sewing textiles in the market in Sapa.

Dresses for sale near the river that feeds a French-era power plant.

Cute kids in Sapa - but a second after I snapped this pic they were on me like locusts!!!

We took a van down the hill to the train at the end of our third day - and wondered why they were picking us up 3 hours before the train. Well, part of that time is spent stopping so that the driver can shop for fresh water buffalo meat on the side of the road. One guy hung a piece of meat on his moto to drive with.... ick!

One last shot. We went into a restaurant called Baguettes et Chocolate - another training cafe to get kids off the street - more charity from us - such givers! I had to have a shot of John - notice anything weird, besides John's face????? Hollister..... Southern California??? Not! I love mistakes like this - I can imagine that some Vietnamese entrepreneur deciding to make these sweatshirts thinking, "Sure, Hollister is in Northern California but Southern sounds so much cooler!"

Northern Vietnam- Now This is What I'm Talking About

2008-02-24T23:59:00.000-08:00

Using Hanoi as your base is the way to travel north Vietnam. There are tour offices everywhere - you never need to plan ahead - just show up and shop around for the right package and price. We did several trips out of Hanoi - one being Halong Bay. About 3 hours East of Hanoi, Halong Bay is a collection of 3,000 limestone islands in a fairly dense area off of the coast. We boarded a junk and cruised the bay before stopping for exploring a cave and kayaking - and you then sleep on the boat. This area is another Phang Nga Bay in Thailand, which is where James Bond Island is (Man with the Golden Gun was shot there) which had similar geography - but the scale of this was much larger. And so there were boats.... probably 200 of them. Above is the mooring where we got out to climb up into a large cave - over a km walk through the cave. Below - the scene on the top of the boat - there were lots of "oh my gods" spoken. The legend is that a dragon (big in Vietnamese myth) ran from Hanoi to the sea - and as he ran, his tail carved valleys in the land, leaving mountains. The sea filled in these valleys, and thus Halong Bay was born. I believe as much as Intelligent Design, just more charming.

Aileen and I on the top deck enjoying the first sun in Halong Bay in a month! She is not wearing her J-Lo sunglasses (bought in HCMC for $4) but I am wearing mine - and they broke shortly afterwards... a little tear was in my eye.

Went kayaking through some caves and caught the sunset on the way back to our boat.

Overall, Halong Bay was lovely and a nice gentle break from our trekking in Sapa the days before. We had one full day before Aileen had to leave - so we chose to go to the Perfume Pagoda. We knew it was the most sacred Buddhist site in Vietnam, and included a hike 3.5km up to a cave to the pagoda, after an hour row down a river lined with mountains that looked suspiciously like Halong Bay, but on a river. Since the three of us have Buddhist bents, and since we knew that it was the time of year that Vietnamese Buddhists travel there to make offerings and pray for the New Year, we thought that it would be a peaceful and spiritual thing to do.

OH MY GOD WE WERE SO WRONG!!! We should have known when our hotel staff tried several times to get us to go another day, not on the weekend (not an option since Aileen was leaving the next day). The two hour van ride there was okay .... until our driver clipped a dog. My heart just stopped. He ran away with one leg up so I desparately hope it wasn't broken. Our driver was introduced as someone with 20 years of safe driving - but he would drive sooooo fast down these narrow roads with kids and dogs and elderly folks.. and tourists ... wandering around.

The river trip was amazing... we had a girl rowing our boat. Many people in other boats were carrying food and golden flowers and would wave and say "HELLO" to us...... our guide explained that many of the folks were from the country and would never have seen a westerner. We were the exotics at that point - so Aileen did her best royal (remember...Queen of Cambodia) wave. Later people were petting her... well more like touching her arms either because she is pale or pink from the sun. There were TONS of boats on the river heading to the cave.

I can't even describe how brutal it was to step off the peaceful boat into this riot of people. I am guessing there were 10,000 people there. Our guide disagreed but I swear I brushed against a good 1,000 myself. Here is the view from our lunch table - which was interesting. We had passed many types of carcasses hanging outside the restaurants - because this is the ONE time of year that people from all over Vietnam come to the pagoda, the restaurants offer stuff for the country folk, like deer, and dog, and cat. We even saw a cage of cats and one of porcupines. It was enough to put me off my food so rice and fish for me. We decided to take the cable cars up and walk down to save time. Uh huh.

This is as close to the Black Hole of Calcutta that I hope I ever get. We stood in this queue for 75 minutes before we got on the cable car. It was okay (eesh) when we were in the parts with metal dividing the crowd. But there were parts where you were simply in a mosh pit of people - and you had to push and be pushed. Here is a shot inside the building - the stairs were sign of heaven - until we got to the second floor. Many Vietnemese were grinning their heads off - it was all big fun, the pushing. I stood there and thought to myself, "Do I really want to go to to China where this will be more common?".

Here is Aileen in the cable car.... she LOVED the view as you can see! The funny thing... all that waiting meant it would have been faster to walk up.

After another 30 minutes or so, after morphing into a simple head being transported by a thousand legged body (that is what it felt like), we got into the cave! Here is the first room - tons of people milling about, many carrying their offerings on plates (like chickens) and boxes and flowers. We went further into the cave and found the main alter - all light up with incense in the air. People wouldn't leave all offerings - some they would take back to their home shrines, I suppose - so they hauled stuff 3.5km up the hill through crowds and then back down.

We got separated in the cave (I was shocked we stayed together as long as we did - at one point I was gripping John's T-shirt) so we walked down the hill separately. Now, the experience had already been disgusting and amazing at the same time, and the walk down added a new element. The whole 3.5km walk down, a mix of stairs and boulders, was lined with stalls and restaurants, selling sugar cane juice and crawling army men and videos of prepubescent Vietnamese boys singing pop songs. So, I thought, how does this play with the precepts of Buddhism. Classic Buddhism teaches that this life is temporary and one of many on the way to the ultimate truth. It also teaches that you should not be possessive of things or people since they are temporary. So this blatant and LOUD display of commercialism was depressing.... but in a way, the perfect way to illustrate how I see Vietnam. Here are some stalls on the way down.

Mystery meat - there are chickens, cats and dogs here.

Some friendly guys on a neighboring boat.

So, this day that we hoped would be a peaceful spiritual trek instead turned into one of the more bizarre and visceral days of my life - its up there with the "crawling through bat guana and over bamboo bridges in the Burmese sea gypsy bird nests cave experience". The ride back was through the same village that we had come before - and was a fascinating peek up close at what struck me about Vietnam. Sometimes on trips like this I realize that I have grown used to things around me and I don't notice them anymore - but they all add to the texture of the country. So here are a few random thoughts on my almost 3 weeks in Vietnam.

Most of the people live near HCMC, Hanoi or the coast. However even 20 miles away from a large city like Hanoi, you see how close the people are to their agrarian and spiritual roots. There were rice paddy fields within 10 km of Hanoi - being worked by hand at 6pm as the sun was setting. In the communist times, people starved. When the economy was opened up to allow private ownership (capitalism) and foreign investment in 1990, within 3 years Vietnam was exporting rice. However, there are still big gaps between poor and rich.

In the rice fields, there are frequently shrines like shown below - we think that they are holding the ashes of the ancestors of the people still farming that land. Its peaceful.

Life is still pretty cheap, I suspect. Drivers all around the country drive fast and aggressively. The national anthem of Vietnam should be car, van and moto horns since the standard way to drive is on the wrong side of the road as you pass others, or on someones butt (usually a moto) as a warning to move over. The experience of hitting that dog made me guess that they are going fast to save money - the faster they get these tourists back to their hotels, the more trips we can do with the van. So the fact that we didn't see any accidents with humans doesn't convince me that they frequently are hurt by speeding vehicles. I do know the Vietnam recently imposed a helmet law for motorcycles as a way to save medical costs - so there must be a bunch of accidents happening.

Its noisy - damned noisy. Constant honking, constant music playing loudly. Not alot of privacy. Speaking of privacy - people seem to live on the sidewalk , I suspect since their homes or apartments are tiny. You will be walking by a hotel in the evening or early morning - and there will be people sleeping all over the lobby of the hotel - and there will usually be a few motorcyles pulled up into the lobby for safety.

Vietnam has seemingly only had an open economy since 1990.However, these folks are some of the most brutal capitalists that I have even seen - so I suspect that throughout the socialist economic times, there were huge gray markets going on. Vietnam is far more touristy than I had imagined - and the people are in-your-face-aggressive about buying their wares or taking a moto or rickshaw ride. You just have to say No and move on. I have only seen the tourist economy in action - but I suspect other industries would be as spirited and competitive.

Food is an interesting topic. I know that I have tended to be in touristy spots - but there are a ton of restaurants, including informal cafes with miniature plastic chairs thrown out for locals to eat at. Also - not alot of stores to by groceries... people seem to buy fresh meat and veg and fruit daily to cook with . Like Romania, in fact. Makes all those stores full of processed food in the US seem... overkill. Here is a typical sidewalk cafe in Hanoi.

Hanoi is a very interesting city. We didn't read it anywhere but figured out that there are neighborhoods, or sometimes just a block, dedicated to a specific good. For example, below is a cobbler in the shoe area on the Northeast side of the lake. After a while , you could navigate by type of store - We're in the candy area! Here are the types of goods that we have seen so far - makes for a long day if you have a variety of things to buy.

* Candy

* Shoes

* Underwear Alley

* Eyeglasses

* Towels

* Kids clothes

* Furniture

* Backpacks/luggage

* Jewelry

* And the weirdest - gravestones. And they display samples. I was walking by this one today and did a double take - its both funny and perhaps prophetic - but I think they stuck a young Brittany Spears on one tombstone. We saw two funerals in Hanoi.One was a van parked in the street with the coffin in it and the family members crying at the back of it. The second was more like a wake for an elderly woman just down the street from our hotel. They had flowers and incense music (reminded me of a New Orleans Jazz funeral) and a picture of her on the sidewalk, and there were people sitting nearby dressed in filmy white robes...

Hoan Kiem Lake is the center of the Old Quarter - we strolled it our first day and saw old men like this enjoying their weekend by the lake. In the distance is the famous Tortoise Tower in the middle of the lake, frequently used on advertising for Hanoi.

We walked through a food market and I was fascinated by these fish. They had been live minutes before, but even with their heads cut off they continued to gasp for several minutes. Probably all muscle memory but fascinating.

One of our last nights in Hanoi we ate on the street (so we got to sit on those groovy mini plastic seats). We grilled beef and vegetables on a hotplate ourselves and ate it with hot chili sauce and baguette. YUMMMM. Here are John and I and our Tiger beers.

So - Aileen left last night for Scotland, and John is off to HCMC today. I will really miss her - she's a great travel mate with a great sense of adventure and humor. And she's gonna be a queen so you gotta like that. We ran pretty hard for the last month - so before I fly to Laos on Wednesday, I am staying in Hanoi for a few low key days of catching up my blog. I moved to a hotel with CNN specifically to vedge with. Total bonus - I found the Academy Awards on several Vietnamese stations - so you know when they say Billions are watching, its true. They didn't mention , however, that a nasally Vietnamese interpreter would be repeating what everyone says! Here is Flat George offering Real George encouragement just as they were announcing the Best Actor winner. His smile turned upside down when Daniel Day Lewis won instead.

Walked around and saw some cool French architecture in Hanoi.

If I were to coach someone who wanted to experience Vietnam, I would nudge them towards the north of Vietnam. There are amazing natural wonders, big and small cities and some history.
I will be going to the Hanoi Hilton tomorrow before heading to Laos the next day but wanted to get this blog out when I had fast internet (rare here).

(I will not ) Miss Saigon!

2008-02-09T00:20:00.000-08:00

Hello All from Vietnam!!!

First of all, I must apologize to the country of Cambodia - they are NOT the only nation of nosepickers.

I have the benefit of writing this after two weeks here -and can contrast and see the different parts and dynamics of Vietnam with hindsight. Its a very interesting country - not the least of which is how it combines a legacy of communism with an economy now that is staggering in its capitalistic bent. Here is a little cutie decked out for New Years right across the alley from our hotel entrance.

We've been in Vietnam about 2.5 weeks - its a huge country, stretching over a 1,000 miles from Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon) in the south to Hanoi in the north. The train linking the two cities, the Reunification Express, takes over 40 hours on a normal train to connect the two cities, and 30 hours for a speed train direct.

We arrived in HCMC's backpacker area the day after Tet (Lunar New Years) - but , of course, didn't avoid the ongoing increased cost and service charges for "New Years". The skank element in HCMC was much lower in the backpacker area than Bangkok, we were happy to discover. We walked around a bit looking for a hotel recommended by a couple we met in Siem Reap - and a little lady in green ran over , took us by the arm and helped us find our hotel, and another one with available rooms when our first choice was booked. She hung around a bit - don't know if she expected a tip or not. Here is a shot of a typical street near our hotel in HCMC. Lots of motorbikes - HCMC has 5.5 million people and 3 million motorbikes.

One thing that consistently delighted me was how many of the restaurants are organized. We stayed at a hotel on an alley with many restaurants nearby. The restaurant's seating area would be on one side of the alley and their kitchen would be across the alley - and the extensive menus (usually Vietnamese selections along with Italian, American and other choices for travellers) would be prepared in a room like the one below - not alot bigger than my kitchen, which is teeny, and with a gazillion options covered in the way of supplies. The next pic is from our balcony. We had a 5th floor room so 6 stories up. Vietnamese buildings tend to be very tall and skinny- there are 85 million people and limited land near the coast and cities to build on (the rest is water ,rivers or mountains). These red flags are everywhere.

We probably didn't do HCMC justice and only got out of our hotel area to head out to the Cu Chi tunnels 50 KM northwest of town. This complex have over 200 km of tunnels linked together, along with connected meeting rooms, hospitals, cooking areas and manufacturing areas for weapons and clothing. Though so close to the American occupied Saigon during the "American War", the Vietcong using these tunnels inflicted major damage to local American troops ; they could steal out in the night for covert ops against US troops, then drop into multiple tunnel entrances when pursued. In fact, US troops would throw grenades into the tunnel holes when they saw a Vietcong soldier drop in, but by the time the grenade went off, the north vietnamese would be long gone to another part of the connected tunnels. Before touring the area, we saw a brief movie on them. I have to say, I was quite moved to be hearing the Vietnamese side of the war and to hear the Americans described as American Imperialists. And to top it off, I have the benefit of comparing it to "my war", the Iraq war - and its spooky, frankly. For example, it was chilling to see the various bamboo booby traps that were laid to kill and injure US soldiers - holes in the ground with a variety of sharpened bamboo sticks and metal spikes that US soldiers would fall into or walk into. Ingenious, simple and brutal. I couldn't help but think of how surprised we were in Iraq when we started to lose soldiers in ways outside Rummy's plana - to explosive devices hidden in holes in the road, or dead animals, by the Iraq insurgents. Ingenious, simple and brutal.

The tunnels themselves have been expanded - so its an amazing effort to walk them . I went about 100 yards underground, bent over at the waist and crouching the whole way, with an occasional crawl or butt slide. Its pitch black in them between exits, and hotter than hell as well as small. Aileen walked them above ground and said that every 20 yards or so there would be an exit stairway ,and people from our group would stagger out, sweaty and green-faced. She said that I was one of the few women to walk the whole way through.

There was an American tank parked in the area - and some folks, including young US backpackers, climbed on it for a grinning picture - kinda made me sick since I realized that some US soldiers probably died so that that tank was abandoned. An interesting fact was that most of the Vietcong that used these tunnels were actually women from the local village - most of the men would be more mobile and would be fighting in tactical battles or engagements in a broader geo-area - but the women needed to be closer to home to take care of family. Also - the Vietcong wore specific black rubber sandals so that they could identify each other - and they killed any villagers that wore the same sandals that were not official Vietcong - I supposed to protect them from infiltrators. Here is a guy showing how they would enter a typical tunnel entrance and then cover it up. Teeny tiny.

Walking hunched over in the tunnelsl- here is the guy in front of me (I took random pictures in the darkness since I couldn't see) as he drops a level in the tunnel through a hole... you always wondered how high the drop was but it was usually no more than 2-3 feet - amazing that people running quickly through didn't snap ankles.

We popped out in the hospital room - a half buried room with very rudimentary medical capabilities.

Afterwards, we stopped at the War Remnants Museum - it focuses on both the wars against the French and the Americans. Again, you are seeing the other side of what you have heard about for 30 years. There was a very moving exhibit on the 30 or more journalists and photographers that were killed in Vietnam and Cambodia. Also , there was information on how the US worked with the French before the French punted the war to the US - and how the US assisted the South Vietnamese government as it fought the North Vietnamese army under Ho. Don't get me wrong, I feel very patriotic as an American and was off kilter hearing the propaganda against the US - but why is it (in hindsight) we so often pick a side that either turns against us or inflicts intolerable cruelty. Simple answer is it all indirectly benefits the US interests - but when you read that the South Vietnamese government imprisoned, tortured and killed 50,000 of its own people that they accused of aiding the communist insurgents, you gotta wonder what to believe.

The final rooms were pictures and stories of the collateral damage done to Vietnamese citizens - death and disfigurement from napalm, Agent Orange, carpet bombing. Very moving, very humbling, very depressing. I remember thinking," There will be a museum like this in Bagdad in 20 years, I wish that I could drag Bush, Cheney, Rummey, Wolfie, Condi and the rest of the team here to see what a mis-executed war results in." It didn't help that I was reading "Bushworld" by the NY Times writer Maureen Dowd at the same time - Aileen thought I was talking to her when really I was swearing about what I read our current government did leading up to the Iraq invasion and afterwards.

So, glad to have witnessed these things - and really glad to get the hell out of there!

We took a night sleeper bus to Nha Trang (see above), a beach town about 10 hours drive. Its a new concept here - instead of taking a night sleeper train with beds (impossible to get with Lunar New Years tying everything up), or instead of taking a bus with situp seats, these buses carry fewer people but each person has a sleeping pod - a reclined seat/bed. The first bus beds were vinyl, came with a vinyl pillow and a blanket washed sometime in the last year. And, to make it really fun, the driver .... kind of a sadist. I think he thought if he had to be up, we all would be! So he had Vietnamese TV playing really loud in speakers all over the bus until at least 10pm. He then played music till almost 11. I finally went up to ask he turn the music off and he at first shook me off and said "No". I was dumbfounded! He finally turned it down and off at 11 - must have been the official rule. We pulled over a few times for people to get off or potty stops. At 2:30 am, we pulled over, 1/2 the people got out to use the pit toilets and then got back on the bus - and watched the bus crew order and eat a small meal. Now its okay to give the guy a break to keep him chipper, but tell us so we can also be eating soup at 2:30 am.

We got dropped in downtown Nha Trang at 6am - it was a little after sunrise, and I gotta tell you, its trippy to be walking around a town with a few hundred other backpackers looking for a room. The good thing is that these towns know that there are buses arriving, and hotels and restaurants are open. Plus - the Vietnamese are up really really early.

So Aileen and I walked to the beach area hoping to score a hotel on the beach strip - the guy who directed us there said that there were no hotel rooms in town, that 4,000 people slept on the beach the night before. A slight exaggeration. We stopped in a few nicer looking places and found them booked. A guy with a bicyle rickshaw asked us if he could drive us to hotels - we looked at the single rickshaw seat, our two butts and luggage, and his typical skinny thighs, and said "huh?". He whipped out this wooden seat that allowed us both to cram on the seat , I held my suitcase and he had Aileen's backpack in the back. It was quite the sight of us slow-mow'ing along the road - hoping to avoid red lights since starting up. At one point around 7am, the national anthemn played. What was odd was that in Bangkok when that happened in a bus station, people stopped in their tracks out of respect. In Vietnam, it didn't even cause people to pause , which surprised me given they are still a socialist centrally controlled country.

Nha Trang.... not so nice. Its a cheesy beach town that in the gray weather we had, didn't offer alot of charm. There were a few things - like this barber on the sidewalk. And on the beach there were several seafood stations where you could get lobster or shrimp. I did two morning dives on the sunniest of the days - I am glad that I went but it was very sad - even though we were diving in a national maritime park, there were very few fish, it was mostly coral. The highlight was a huge cuttlefish - about 18 inches long. George went diving, too.

After a few days, we took another night sleeper bus to Hoi An to rejoin Aileen's son, John. This bus was MUCH better - had real sheets and pillows on the bed. At one of the stops, a guy from the vinyl type of bus (smells like feet) stepped into our bus and said he would buy any of our beds for a kidney!

Hoi An is a charming city halfway up the coast - and Hoi An'ners would be pissed to know that I am lumping them in with South Vietnam. It is a Unesco World Heritage site for its mixed French/Chinese/Vietnamese architecture. Its pretty crumbly, which surprised me, but also a shoppers dream. Here is a shot of the old town from across the river. Most of the classic buildings are painted yellow. This was a few days after Tet so many lanterns were still up - plus there are many shops selling these pretty silk lanterns. Lots of dogs, including one taking a breather in one of those mini-chairs.
Oh, the food in Hoi An. The food so far in Vietnam was pretty mediocre - in part due to us being in HCMC and NhaTrang near touristy spots - most choices that weren't European were fried noodle or fried rice. But Hoi On has a few specialities that were terrific - here are the White Rose Dumplings, which are rice noodle dumplings filled with shrimp in a garlicy light fish sauce. We went back twice in 3 days!

Took a cooking class at the Red Bridge cooking school - very nice!~ First thing was to wander the market with a guide. This market was possibly the best I have been in - it was fresh food (veg, fruit, spice, meat, fish)and clothes and trinkets and flowers. Here is a lady selling fresh French Baguettes (all over the place as a legacy of France colonizing Indochina) out of the back of her motorbike.

Then we got on boats and went upriver about 20 minutes to the school. Had about 90 minutes of watching our teacher cook and then we tried a few things at our own cooking stations. I was in a mood - tried three times to burn down the cooking hut , which thankfully was right on the river if things got out of control. Haven't caught a towel on fire in many a year using it as a pot holder on a gas stove!

Various shots around town. Lots of bikers. Also we made a point of ducking into the many alleys to see how the non-touristy areas looked, and sometimes walked into deadends that were the front doors of peoples houses.

Hoi An is also known for making clothing on demand. You see about 200 of these shops below - out front they have all these clothes and inside racks of silk and cotton and books of fashion, including western style. They will make you anything, to your specific measurements, overnight. We laughed since it got progressively colder as we were there and they started putting out jacket examples right in front,and it sure worked. They also make shoes. So, I had no intention of buying clothes. Aileen wanted to check it out and maybe get a special dress made for an upcoming wedding - so $130 later we both had several outfits/tops in silk. Very beautiful and fun to do - hope I wear them. When we were walking in the alleys, we stumbled upon some of the shops actually doing the sewing. I assumed that there were factories on the edge of town, which there probably are - but there are also small shops, (shall we say sweat shops?) in these alleys where people are hand sewing or sewing on foot pedal sewing machines (ie. not electric). We asked if they worked all night and they said no - I am guessing that since they take orders at night and have you come in after lunch, that they get up early and start working at 5am.

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Hoi An was definitely an improvement over southern Vietnam . We decided to save time and fly to Hanoi.

Imagine..... Cambodia

2008-02-08T22:52:00.000-08:00

We flew to Siem Reap , Cambodia rather than take a 12 hour bus - and boy were we glad of our decision! Siem Reap is the home of Angkor Wat -and about 99 other temples of the Angkor period 10th through 15th century.. The town itself is great - we walked to the old market area and had to wade through a sea of motos like above carrying 1-5 people, with just a suggestion of traffic signals and control.

On our first full day, we hired a tuk-tuk driver for the day. Here is a boy filling our gastank on the side of the road - very typical to see stands of liter pop bottles that are filled with gas for the motos. Most people think of Angkor Wat as a single temple to see - we found out that the Khmer Ankgor kings built around 100 temples in the area.... and they are magnificant.

One of our first temples was the vast Angkor Thomm - a walled complex 12 km around - with many temples in the middle. Check out the face (probably of a king building the temple) in the gate.

The pic below is the approach to Bayan... my fave temple - its up several steep flights of stairs - and has 200 faces in it. We were watchng the Discovery channel here in Vietnam last night and they had a special on Bayan - all of the faces are of the king building it - in a close eyed meditative pose.

The women carvings are typically of cuort dancing girls. When the Thai overran the Angkor people in the 15th century, they took many of the dancing aspects back to Thailand with them.

There is a strong Hindu influence on these buddhist temples. And keep in mind that 1,000,000 people built and lived in these temple areas when London was only 30,000 people. Enjoy!

Sorry for the sideways shot - many of the temples have deteriorated - and trees have sprung up within the walls - very atmospheric. One temple was used in the Tomb Raider movie - its as if Angelina was with us there.

We totally scored our second night there. There was a festival going on... Angkor Nights - and we got tickets to see the Fine Arts Dept of Cambodia perform Khmer dances on a stage right in front of a lit-up Ankor Wat. This led to the first use of "Imagine" that I use in my title. When Aileen and I were in the Amazon rainforest, our friend Kirsten sat at breakfast watching a huge blue butterfly float by. She turned to us and said, "Can you imagine, sitting at breakfast watching a big blue butterfly fly by?". Since we had just witnessed it, and didn't need to imagine it, we cracked up. So when Aileen and I have a magic, unimagined moment on this trip, liked watching dance in front of a spotlit 800 year old Wonder of the World, we say, "Imagine?!"

One day we went farther afield... to a river about 35 km out of town that had 1000 year old carvings in the riverbed - which was not only great, but really special since my friend Clifton had been there also - and I didn't realize it was the same place until about halfway through our walk.

Many of the images are of a reclining Vishnu. And there were many symbols of fertility - especially penises - everywhere! Below - a pic of a three headed figure. And later - reclining Vishnu in the water.

Khmer ladies on the side of the road on the way back from the riverbed - it was a remote site on a dirt road.

We stopped on the road to see how a local family boiled down palmtree fruit to a sugary thick liquid. Here are some of the kids in the family I love how the little baby is looking at George.

Oh my god - we saw this several times - a guy on a moto with three LIVE pigs trussed on their back - with their faces pure confusion on their dilemma.

I love this little lady- she is holding a bird in her hand. We learned that all of these carved women were unique - and there were hundreds per temple.

A huge temple complex - was a buddhist university.

Cambodian kids learn English in the following order.

1. One dollar !( strangely enough the US dollar is used in Cambodia, even at the ATMs)

2. Oh madam, I can't discount to that - no profit!

3. You remember me (when we come back down from the temples - they would hang around the temples and pester pester - here is Aileen getting a deal on some Khmer scarves

4. Beautiful ladies.... well, Aileen and I decided that was spontaneous and not with an agenda when directed our way.

On our last day, we headed to Tonle Sap Lake to see the floating villages - they were very interesting - people live on floating rafts with houses, or in boats. They have floating churches and floating pig pens and floating schools. And it was very depressing - very very poor. Here are some houses on the way to the port to catch our boat.

Aileen is a big softie - she is giving our leftover food to the 10 or so kids who hung on the side of our floating restarant and begged. Its very sad how poor it is that kids and their mothers have few options.

These kids also hung around - but not in a boat - in a tin bowl that they paddled in. The boy had one arm.

Caught this girl washing her hair on her back porch.

Rice fields - this area is under water half the year during teh rainy season when the lake expands - and used for rice farming the other half. Some of the temples used to have water access to them for the same reason.

Snake anyone?????

After three days in Siem Reap, we took a boat to Phnom Penh, the capital. It was a 6 hour boat ride over the lake and up the Tonle Sap river. Our bus pickup was really late and I was stressing out.... and then our van showed up. It was a regular van PACKED with people, including, we were guessing the drivers family in the front seat, and a bunch of dumbfounded tourists in the back- really had to schwoosh in. We didn't know how lucky we were until we passed an open wagon being pulled by a motorcyle - and filled with even more dumbfounded tourists. I believe one woman yelled at our van "this could be you!". The amazing thing is everyone made it on the boat - it took off an hour after the announced time. The ride was mellow - we sat inside on seats for most of the lake section. There were 50 people lying and sitting on the roof - not comfy. I sat outside on the river portion and watched villages and boats drift by. The picture below is of the wooden plank ramp we had to walk up to get on the boat. When our van stopped, it was thronged by guys who carried your bag up that ramp for a dollar - glad to have them since I would have fallen in with my bag.

Here are the folks on the roof.

When we discovered that the Cambodian king was single and 50, we decided that Aileen would make a splendid queen - and that became the joke with our driver in Siem Reap. He had arranged for a driver to meet us at the dock in Phnom Penh - and here he is - can you read the sign?

Here is Aileen infront of her future home, the royal palace of Cambodia. I asked her to work on several things when she became queen,including getting the Cambodians to stop picking their noses blatantly in public.

Also got to watch Super Tuesday returns on CNN in PP - Aileen is gonna think she is American soon from what she is learning about the American political process and parties. GO BARACK!!

Our first day in Phnom Penh, we walked around and decided to check out the central buddhist temple of Camobdia- it was right at the end of our street. We started talking to a monk who offered to give us a tour, including sitting inside a small temple with one of the oldest buddhas in Cambodia. He then asked if we wanted to see his home - so we walked to his dorm . Each major region of Cambodia has a house on campus for the monks studying there and visitors from the region. We ended up sitting in their common room for 30 minutes chatting with several monks, including the head monk of this house,who was sipping a Coke. They were really open and liked talking English - more approachable than monks in Thailand. And when we were leaving, they asked for our email addresses - so we will keep in touch. It was a highlight for me for Phnom Penh. Here are our charming monk friends below.

After chatting with them, we headed over a great restaurant called Friends - its a non-profit raising money to get street kids off the street and trained for restaurant jobs. So , again, being givers, we ate for charity sakes... and it was good.

Phnom Penh was a tough city - not the least of which was our visits to the genocide sites. We first went to S21 - its the prison in PP used by the Khmer Rouge to house and torture prisoners before they were sent to the killing fields outside of town. It was a former high school used as a prison. Its in its original state. Some rooms were bricked up into individual cells - small and crampled. Some rooms were large and housed hundreds of people shackled at the ankle to a common bar. There were rooms that housed only a bare bed, no mattress, with the shackles still attached - and a picture of a prisoner from that room . The exhibits were great and very moving. Stories of people talking about their lost family members. Stories from former guards or fighters in the field, who talked about how they worked in the Khmer Rouge to survive. Some quotes"I was afraid of suffering, I wasn't afraid of dying." "To save our lives, we had to do what we were told to do. I didn't believe what they taught me. There was nothing I could do." What struck me is how the KR went out of their way to keep people in the prison for months torturing them before they confessed to fake things like giving secrets to the enemies like the Vietnamese. I was at Aushwitz last year and this so reminded me of this. I just didn't understand the need to perpetuate their politics on people they considered against the state . An evil group. They were forced out by the Vietnamese in 1979 after 4 years. We then went out to the Killing Fields. Its out on the edge of town and is a fairly small area. There were pits that had been excavated - about 8000 bodies were taken out. There is another area as big that remains unexcavated. They suspect as many bodies. There is a large white stupa as you enter the area - its filled with shelves of skulls like these. Of the 20,000 people at S21, only 7 survived the Killing Fields. We found out in Siem Reap that our driver, Chu, lost his dad to the Khmer Rouge.

This is the second use of "Imagine" for me - I thought of the movie the Killing Fields and that amazing scene when the two men are reunited at the end with John Lennon's Imagine playing in the background... always makes me cry.

Back in town - needed a break. At lunch, our waiting tuk-tuk driver totally crashed in the back of our tuktuk.

We walked back from our massage done by blind people (again, what we won't do for charity). Walked through this market as it was closing up.This wasn't a market full of tourist chochkies - it was a real market for local people. And it was full of trash that people had thrown into the street. Kinda nasty. There was a guy walking in front of us, big guy, and I cracked up when at one point he bacame so overwhelmed by the mass of people and smells and garbage that he just said "Jesus Christ!!!"

We were in Cambodia for Chinese Lunar New Year - and in PP for the day itself. We collected fun facts about what that meant for tourists.

* The Russian Market is closed - Chinese New Year.

* No French Toast - Chinese New Year (no bread)

* Hotel rooms - 50-100% more

* Buses - 20% more

The only people in SEA not affected by Chinese new year are the chinese! Not alot of fun stuff like fireworks - alot of decorations up. Here are some folks burning pots on the sidewalk - I suspect something about new years.

Took a bus to Saigon - about 6 hours - not bad. We had a stop as we waited for a ferry to come - and were attacked by vendors pitching their wares - including this lady selling yummy friend bugs. We loved them!

Have I Mentioned I Went to Thailand.... AGAIN!

2008-02-08T22:08:00.000-08:00

Some of you gentle readers teased me a bit about my constant jabbering about my perfect trip to Thailand and Burma in 2005....well, I'M BACK!!!

I have to admit.... after a comfy 4 months at home on the couch with Atty, I was a bit hesitant about this trip.....the half life on my travel confidence is about 1 month - meaning all that confidence I got in Europe has been eroding. I sat on the couch smooching Atty madly at 7:30 as the SuperShuttle guy was waiting outside. I am thinking " I wish I knew how to quit you"(in an ode to Heath Ledger in Brokeback Mountain, who had just died) and Atty is thinking "They've come to kill us all - and that guy already stole your suitcase. I'll be right behind you".

But - all was good as I glided west and reread Lonely Planet's Southeast Asia. In fact, one day in Cambodia when Aileen was expressing some lingering concern about the safety of riding in a tuk-tuk with the crazy moto traffic- I realized I was perfectly relaxed.....

First stop Bangkok - landed at midnight after 21 hours in flight. I went to the guest house that I had reserved.... to have the receptionist tell me at 1:30am,"oh Nancy, my friend gave away your room. " I ended up convincing them to put me in a triple room for the cost of a single since I had 6 nights booked later in the week - night bargaining power.

I went to Ayatthaya first - before Aileen and her son John, and his galpal Preiya arrived. Ayatthaya was the royal capital of Thailand for centuries until the Burmese eventually ran it over around 1800 (maybe???). Getting there was half the fun.... I took a cab to the Train station (60 Baht), paid 15 baht for a ticket 3rd class for a 90 minute ride, paid an astounding 4 baht to have a ferry take me across the river.... and walked a block to a great guest house on the river. 79 baht..... that is about 3 bucks! I LOVE Southeast Asia - its so cheap compared to Europe last year.

I met some lovely ladies the first night - Karin and Jen - they were in their third month of a 3 month trip to NZ, Australia and Thailand. They liked George very much.

Here is a shot of the ferry that I took for 4 baht (about 10 cents) - I am sitting on the porch of my guesthouse. My room was on the river and I heard this boat start running around 6am. Note the three boys "skitching" off the back of the boat.

Lovely, isn't she? I mean the Buddha, of course, though technically he is a guy. This famous image is at one of the temples. I rented a bike for the day and biked to 5 temples - a nicer way to explore than a cab or tuk-tuk. Was bloody hot, as you can tell by my "glow". There were guards watching to make sure you kept your head down low in respect to the Buddha so it was a challenge to slide in without showing George - I didn't want them to think I was being disrespectful. Note what George is looking at with a grin!

Many of the buddhas were headless - the Burmese stole many of the heads... as well as subsequent looters.

A BIG reclining buddha - this represents the moment when Buddha reaches Nirvana. This bad boy was 35 meters long and dressed to kill. Note the person in black at the face area - gives you perspective. His head was reasting on a big lotus flower.

Aileen and team arrived after a few days. I met her in Peru on the Inca trail and we have kept in touch since. Her son John was going to backpack SEA so she wanted to join me and hook into his trip. Our first night in Bangkok we went to a restaurant named Condoms and Cabbages - its a non-profit that raised money for Aids awareness. Thus begun our ongong "eating and shopping for charity". Here we are with Captain Condom... a superhero. George is jealous. Oh, the whole restaurant was decorated with condoms and birthcontrol pills - very festive.

We were having a drink on the street when this girl tried to con John out of some baht with thumb-wrestling - it was a non-starter but she was pretty tenacious. Problem in Thailand - people are out to get your dollar at the more touristy spots. Its irritating - just gotta walk on.

AHHHHH a Thai massage. For those that haven't had one, its a very physical massage where these little 90 pound ladies use their bodies and twist you in all different ways. Its like one on one wrestling - and they always win. Here is Preiya in the foreground and Aileen in the back, just before the ladies climbed on our backs! Lots of bone cracking but it feels great afterwards.

Spent the afternoon at the royal palace and grand temple complex - here we spotted our first monk/umbrella combo admiring the three wat (temple) roofs). The next wat was Wat Arun - its a simpler complex covered with ceramics - most from Chinese sailors a hundred years ago.
These kids sat in front of me on the train from Ayatthaya - very cute. The little boy would not look at me - very shy.

Back to Ayatthaya - here is sunset at one of the more impressive temple ruins. There are two buddhas sitting on the left in golden robes - see 'em?

Same temple complex from the other side - there was a wedding reception being set up in front of it - nice digs! I took a boat tour to visit 3 temples at sunset which made for a unique experience - got to approach the temples from the water. Also got to see some of the stilt houses lining the canals around the city (three rivers converge here). And spotted a lizard that was at least 3 feet long in the canal - still haven't figured out what that was!

This shot cracks me up. At one of the temples, people were paying to buy a golden robe nicely folded up on a tray. I think the point was to "buy" Buddha a robe as a donation to the temple. After they prayed over the robe, this guy on the bottom would take your tray and whip it over his shoulder, without looking, so that the robe was flung to the guys catching on the second level - they would then drape the huge buddha statue. You can see one of the yellow-orange robes in flight.

A view from Way Arun in Bangkok on the main river - you can see boats on the river - TONS OF THEM - and the royal temple/palace complex across the river. It was less than a month since the death of the sister of the king - very revered - so there were lots of Thais in black mourning clothes visiting the temples.

We stayed just off the backpacker area (Khao San road) - STAY AWAY ITS NASTY - but our hood was nice. We had dinner at a street cafe for about $2 each for drink and noodles.

One day we took a bus (public!) to a floating market 100 KM out of town... it was about 10 % locals shopping, 40% tourists and 50% people selling to the tourists. As your boat came down the canals, ladies manning the stalls would grab your boat! We also had to negotiate the price - started at 700 baht and we ended up paying 300 baht - kinda fun to negotiate but also reminds you how often they start high and people just pay it not knowing the price for non-tourists. This lady below was cooking in her boat.

More shots from the market.

We spent a few days as a foursome - then John and Preiya headed south. John will join Aileen and I in Vietnam in a week or so. I was ready to go - like Bangkok for a few days but its big and noisy - and I am soooo tired of seeing older white men with young Thai women...yuck! On to Cambodia next!

Finish, Pause, Restart

2008-01-24T01:34:00.000-08:00

Hello Friends -

It has come to my attention (from the constant bitching and mumbling) that people want me to update my blog after a deadstop in Italy. I was just happy to know that you guys care..... and actually read the blog! So here you go - a quick update of the last stage of my trip last summer, and a headsup of my current trip.

I am writing from a fan-cooled cafe on a rivers' edge in Ayuttaya, Thailand. Its the old royal capital of Thailand, filled with ruins and temples. I am killing a few days waiting for my friend Aileen to get here for our one month tour of Cambodia and Vietnam, followed by me going solo in Laos and Thailand. I have 8 weeks in Southeast Asia -I found that the 19 weeks I was gone last year was WAYYYYY too long - and I love my dog too much to do that again. Here is as summary of the end of my trip last year - stay tuned for blogs from Southeast Asia in the next few days.

I had intented to spend a whole month in Italy - and did enjoy the northern cities - but I hit the wall as I was approaching Rome. None of my rendezvous's worked out and I was tired of travelling alone - and tired of travelling in Italy, where I wasn't meeting local folks like I had in Eastern Europe since they were too busy taking care of the loud Americans. So, when my friend Sharon sent an email saying she was in Grenoble getting her EU citizenship papers and did I want to meet up, I jumped! I do want to go back to Italy to see Rome and the south - but I need to travel with someone so we can enjoy the amazing food and wine together. Any takers?? I think that at the same time I hit the wall on travelling, I also hit the wall on blogging - for the same reasons. I needed to drain all the experiences and memories in my head before I could move on. Which I did by lying on the couch for 4 months at home when I wasn't boring the living hell out of people with my stories and pictures.

I left you in Florence. From there , I moved to Siena to explore Tuscany some more. An amazing landscape - those pictures of hilltop towns surrounded by grapes and cypress are spot on. Here is a picture from inside the cathedral in Siena. I was surprised that you could take pictures inside the church - that is rare. You can see the bands of white and black marble. The floors were covered with stone pictures and images - most were covered to protect them but some were on display. It was a beautiful church.

Walking back to my hotel one night, I found the street crowded with old men. No women -just old white Italian men solving the world's problems. Caught these gents in action.

I did a day trip to a nearby hilltop town, San Gigmiano (spelling is so wrong). Its famous for its towers - there used to be 50 or so in the Renaissance times -used to outdo other families in the town (let's be honest, only the men would care how tall their towers were) and to hide in during periodic peasant revolts. There are about a dozen now. I got off the main tourist beat and hid out at a cafe on the edge of town that had 49 different kinds of bruschetta -I was in heaven!!! I was quite the bruschetta slut after my time in Tuscany. A little slice of heaven is shown in this pic - a tomato,pepper and egglant bruschetta, jug of wine and water and writing postcards on a hot afternoon.

Back in Siena. Remember your 64 pack Crayolas? Burnt Siena was indeed named for the town of Siena in Italy. Its predominately reddish/orange brick buildings. Here is a shot from on top the cathedral looking out to the countryside over the roofline. I love this shot because these distinctive towers are way up high and not visible from the street - so somebody built them out of architectural love, I think.
From Siena, I went for 2 nights in Orvieto, Umbria. Its right next door to Tuscany and about an hour north of Rome. What made this town unique from other hilltowns is that the hill itself was soft stone that was full of tunnels. These were used for things like olive oil pressing (good cool temp) and hiding out during WWII bombing raids. Here is a shot underground that shows a dovecote - where birds lived as a source of food. Had a nice time in Orvieto - met a lady from southern California that was finishing a month-long course in Italian - and ended up going to dinner with her and her whole language class.

Next stop - France !! I bailed from Orvieto in search of my friend Sharon in Grenoble . I wanted to leave Italy desparately - but Italy didn't want me to leave. I took a train to Milan hoping to get a train to Grenoble but it was full. Spent the night in Turin and caught the same train the next morning - only to have the train have mechanical problems. After a few hours of hanging around the train platform taking pictures of really big wrenches, we were finally put on buses to France. I felt like Al Pacino in Godfather III - everytime I tried to leave Italy, it pulled me back in.

When I finally arrived at the Grenoble train station, this lovely stranger greeted me with a copy of the movie "Solarus" and a question - "Did I know where George Clooney was?" - to which I replied, "Here he is!" and whipped out my flat friend George. This is Sharon's friend Severine -who was a terrifically fun host for the next week. Sharon and I hung out with her friends and bonded over rose and lingerie and and George (see below). In the interest of keeping my G rating, I won't include the picture of George watching the butt shot of himself in the movie Solarus - priceless !!

Sharon had arranged for an overnight hike into the Alps. We hiked up to a refuge that was in accessible by car - you get dinner, breakfast and a dorm bed for the night. It was terrific. First pic is of Sharon and her friend Jerzy - he had bought a honking piece of local cheese so we were enjoying it with peach beer on the deck of the refuge. Eventually pairs of hikers started straggling in - they were part of a larger party that was hiking the Mount Blanc route over 6 days. We hung out with them all night. Here is Sharon flirting in French with them. We played French Monopoly that night. It was a travel version so everything was miniaturized - we ended up getting out our headlamps so our 40-something eyes could read the teeny tiny cards.

After a girly-girl week in France and a quick rest at Karin's in London, I met up with my Scottish friends from Peru (met on the Inca trail -love being able to say that!) Aileen and Kirsten. Stayed with Aileen in her haunted house (used to be a monestary and bar and she hears noises and has seen shadows - which she recreated with hysterics and a napkin for Kirsten and I - no pictures though!).

This gent was on the trail in the west Highlands -Aileen and I spent a few moist but gorgeous days hiking. Black slug - never seen that before.

Here is a shot of the Western Highlands from our trail - full of waterfalls and heather and beautiful red and purple stone. This valley was used for several films so that gave me the excuse to watch Rob Roy and Braveheart again - any excuse to see men in skirts. Speaking of which - Aileen invited me to a wedding - here I am being shy with the groom and some other gents in kilts.

The last leg in Europe was two weeks in Ireland with Karin and her dog Kai. We took the ferry so that Karin could drive her own car. It was a beautiful GREEN two weeks in Dublin and counties Cork and Kerry. Kerry was the best - we rented a cottage on the water, cooked for ourselves (which I really missed after 3 months of travell)ing, and did puzzles after a day of local sightseeing. My fave thing in Ireland was taking a boat out to the remote Skellig islands. One island is a huge bird sanctuary and the other housed an abandoned monestary. The monks lived there from the 6th to the 11th century in morterless beehive stone huts with 2 feet thick walls - cold!!! Here is a shot of their settlement looking back towards the land.

But enough about Europe already!!!! Let's talk about NEW YORK CITY! I've been to New York before but this trip was the best ever and a terrific way to re-enter the US after 4 months in Europe. My friend Clif offered up his apartment in Brooklyn - 11th floor with a view of southern Manhattan. I met up with high school friends Carin, Deb and Jean for a mini reunion. Did some touristy things and some non touristy things - like ride a duck after dinner on the upper west side with Carin. The duck(a kids ride that you pop a quarter into) was so overloaded its started bucking - so hard that we feared for our lives (or at least feared breaking an ankle if we attempted getting off) so we rode it out. Our stomachs hurt from laughing. A guy seated at the restaurant next door offered another 50 cents to ride again since we were so entertaining. It was fun. Here our group in the great field in Central Park.
I was in town for the 6th anniversary of 9/11. We had gone to the WTC site a few days before. On the anniversary itself, they have two huge blue beams of light to represent the twin towers. I took this shot from Clif's balcony - it was amazing.
There were many firsts and life dreams fulfilled on this trip and one was to see David Letterman - yippeeeee!!! I saw the taping on 9/11 itself and expected Dave to have firemen read the top ten but it turns out he never even mentioned it. Interesting to see it taped - during the 3 minute breaks that commercials are later edited into, the band keeps playing and Dave is swarmed at his desk by his producer, writers.... and they change or add stuff on the fly. Before the show, he came out for some Q&A and found out that a newly married couple from Oklahoma City was in the audience. He changed the Top Ten Surprises Heard at the General Petraus hearings (that day , before the House committee about Iraq) to include a plea to not allow people from Oklahoma to honeymoon in New York City. I was walking down 53rd before the show - its the street where they do stunts on the show -and out of a door popped stage manager and occasional street interviewer, Biff Henderson. He let me take a picture with George after we chatted, and he said "what has that guy got that I don't have - get him back out, I am going to take a picture giving him the finger" - so here it is.
My final stop before home was heading to Denver to see my sister and family and to pick up my Dad for a week trip to the big national parks. We drove 3000 miles in 8 days, went to Teton, Yellowstone, Glacier, Teddy Roosevelt, Custer State Park in South Dakota, Devils Tower and the four presidents, Rushmore. Dad turned 84 on the trip and picked up his 50th state. He is just pea green with envy that I will be lapping him on countries by the time I hit Laos. Here we are at Glacier in a pretty little box canyon, and Dad sitting next to a cool pool ringed by rainbow colors in Yellowstone. The lower shots are of me at Roosevelt park, which include banded colored formations like the Badlands, and a snow shot in September in Eastern Glacier.

My dad came back with me after Christmas and retiled my kitchen - no more 50 year old tan and rust tiles! Here is the finished product - George approves. Also -a fun parting shot - we were driving north on Highway 1 and I noticed a large animal to the side on a hill. At first I thought it was a mountain lion - turns out it was a HUGE bobcat. He is faraway but if you compare him to the fencepost in the foreground, I am guessing he was about 70 pounds.

Florence... wow!

2007-07-24T09:02:00.000-07:00

How often in life are your expectations actually exceeded? Not often I would expect. Florence exceeded my expectations. Not in its beauty, which I counted on, but on how I had a visceral lesson in what the Renaissance was all about - and how huge this century and a half of artistic and scientific evolution was on humanity in general. Its one thing to see Michaelangelo's sculptures - to walk the very streets he walked was another layer. Here is a shot of the Duomo, the clock tower to it and the clock tower next to the town hall on the left from a hill across the Arno river.

I actually took this pic my first night in town -it was all downhill after this one! A shot at sunset from Point Vecchio (bridge) west over the Arno. Room with a view, anyone?

This is my favorite square, Piazza del Signorio . Its next to the famous Uffizzi gallery.. and also the Vecchio palace, which used to be the town hall. And prison I think. Lots of friction in Tuscany 600 years ago - the buildings have few windows and they are high to avoid the unwashed masses rioting in the front yard.

The Renaissance occured 1400-1550 and was basically a rediscovery of the individual and humanity of the individual from the times of the ancient Greeks. It was a sea change from the middle ages, where submission to the Church was paramount. This movement towards the individual was represented by many things - Galileo with scientific inventions, Leonardo Da Vinci with art and design, and Michaelangelo with sculpture and painting. Much of the credit for funding this goes to the Medici family, who sponsored many of those above. The difference from Florence and Holland when private benefactors sponsored art was that in Holland, the art became about the merchants and their lives, thus pictures of still life like food and flowers. In Florence, it was still about religion, but much more personal than before.

Lots of sculpture -here is a head that probably had a water spout out of the mouth - it was probably on a church at some point, like the Duomo. Its huge... about 2 feet high.

Here is a shot from my hotel window on the third floor to the roof patio across the way.

Here is a church on the hill where I took the shot of Florence from a distance. This style of multicolored marble facing is very common in Florence. Interesting how each region or city has a unique style to their churches.

This is the view inside the church - usually you can't take pics but people were here. Caught the late afternoon sun coming in. There is a guy sitting on the bottom on a bench so you can see how big the room is. Very elaborate painting on the walls and ceiling.

After hiking up the hill to see this church, got a treat of a view back to Florence. Hazy though.

Florence....its about.. and food, baby! Got two words for you... wild boar! Its a speciality of the area and makes a red sauce just plain sumptous. Here is a shot of dinner one night = wild boar lasagna, a mini bottle of chianti and tons of water - it was butt hot in Florence. Drank 3 litres of water a day, at least.

Here is my view at this dinner at an outside cafe - my room is under the tower on the right.

Florence claims to have invented gelato - and I gotta give them credit on having some of the best I have ever had. My fave? Chocolate orange - its like brownie dough. These gelaterias are allllllll over .I can't tell if the Italians eat gelato or just the tourists. At night, I would grab one after dinner and sit in that Signoria square to people watch. They put a piece of whatever the gelato is made of on the gelato so you dont even need to speak Italian - see the strawberry? I couldn't seem to find wild boar gelato, regretably.

Sculpture manifests in many ways. Sometimes its painted ceramic. This shot is from Europe's first orphanage, in Florence about 1400.

Madonna and Bambino - EVERYWHERE!!! This one is called Madonna of the Glass Eyes, cuz they are.

One of the ubiquitous leather stands on the streets - they are everywhere.

A shot of what some of the houses look like - very very tall. Its a vertical city which is why so many of my pics are on their side!

The Bargello museum specialized in sculpture with several Michaelangelos and Donatellos. Sometimes the less famous ones hit home...I loved this wall frieze. Tuscany is definitely for lovers and this captures that nicely.

Same museum...sometimes the museum is part of the package and is lovely to boot. The DeBargello's walls are covered with 3D sculpture, especially walking up these stairs to the Donatello David on the first floor.

These guys were solving world problems this evening.

Tilework is exquisite here - on the floors or walls. I actually got excited about coming back to tile my kitchen and under my new arbor after seeing how pretty these combos could be.

Sorry for the side shot -here is the main cathedral, the Duomo, from the front, with Giotti's tower next to it and the dome itself peeking through. I climbed this tower's 400 steps for amazing views. This tower was the first dome of this type since Roman times -and the architect totally made it up as he went along.

A look to the Duomo from Giotti's tower - see the little ants walking around the top? And the rolling Tuscan hills in the background. Sigh, lovely. Hot as hell, but lovely.

In front of the Duomo is the Bapistry, which is built on the foundation of an old Roman temple. This is a shot up into the ceiling which is covered with AMAZING gilt mosaics. Dante, yes that Dante, was baptized here.

The devil is in the details of the mosaic.

Most streets offer a view of the huge Dome from around town.

The Uffizzi gallery. Everything you ever heard about how great it is... believe it! It was a palace of the Medicis who donated it and the Italian art they had collected to the city. I spent 4 hours there - they do an amazing job of having the predominantly paintings in order by time... so as you progress, you see the impact of the Renaissance in art. For instance, the paintings become three dimensional as time goes on, not flat like many medival religious images.

This is a shot of the line of people who DIDN'T reserve a spot ahead of time. Hours and hours in the heat.... not too evolved.

Next to to the Uffizzi and the town hall is a sculpture area in the loggio -here is a shot of Perseus and Medea's head looking out over the Piazza del Signoria (just call it Gelato Square). That is a fake David to the right. The real one stood there for centuries until his arm was broken in a riot - so he was moved. These Italians are feisty, but they like their art.

That fountain of Neptune had all kinds of fun characters - this guy looks crabby.

The head on a statue of an Roman guy by Donatello - he was amazing. So real.... that was part of the deal... show human's humanity in art, which sometimes meant warts and wrinkles.

One of Michaelangelos Pietas - he did several. This one was one of his last, and people theorize that he portrayed his face on the old man holding Christ.

Michaelangelo sculpted on the fly. While some sculptors took the marble block and marked it up to make it easier to shape, Mike thought that he was the hand of God releasing the shapes from the stone.He chipped away freeform, from front to back, with no markings. And they just glow and breath. He done good.

I saw the real David at the Academia - and stood outside the exit doors to take a pic. You can't take pictures inside most museums. He's a babe.

A ashot of the front of the Duomo at sunset.

The Vecchio bridge at sunset. Its a medieval bridge lined with silver shops.

First time I encountered Vespas in volume- plus I liked the graffitti. Most of these cities have pedestrian only areas, and are very limited with car traffic. Its very nice.. .wish we could do the same in the US.

Just a no-name statue at the Debargello but even he glows.. the multicolored surface shows in this pic.

Walked around the area where the real people lived outside the tourist zone and loved this street - its just a bunch of houses piled on top of each other!

Went to the city market - vats of sun dried tomatoes.

Not only did this suffer the indignity of death, but then they stuck his head back on the body to boot.
A word on Rick Steves. Some folks don't like him - but between him and Lonely Planet, I prefer Steves. More detail, can trust restaurant suggestions, and he grades stuff so you know where to spend your time. Here is a little 4 table restaurant he recommended that I had an incredible plate of fresh paradelle in. The downside of Rick Steves? Sometimes everyone in there is American! One night, I swear the 10 tables had Americans only at them. Oh well -that works for me since I crave American English conversation.

Did I say that men wear orange here or what? Pants AND shirt!

More statues from the Neptune fountain. That horse on the left is alive.

Last night in Florence I went to a more contemporary restaurant, courtesy Rick Steves. There were 3 tables of Americans next to each other so we chatted, and in fact, I split a bottle of wine with one table, including Susan, on the left in this pic, from Oregon, and her husband Lance. We took this pic afterwards - and the table of Italians next to us who we hadn't said a peep to joined in, along with two waitresses, when they saw George. Sigh, George is a uniter, not a divider. Like many of my experiences, I have a bad exit leaving a town I really liked - the next day I went to Siena. The trains has gone on strike that day - and when I took a bus instead, it was a madhouse. Someone actually took my bag out of the bottom of the bus after I put it there and got onboard to get a seat. For some reason, I had a feeling I should check and rescued it. How freaking rude is that anyways!!!

George, How Como You Weren't at the Lake?

2007-07-20T07:19:00.000-07:00

My friend Michael described Lake Como as the perfect meeting of nature and man , with their buildings. He came close in that description but not quite perfect. Now if Clooney had been standing on the end of his dock tanned, shirtless and wearing biking shorts......now, that would have been been perfection. Sigh, it was not to be.

Took a day long boat ride up and down Lake Como. At first I was nonplussed on the lake... from the southern end at the city of Lake Como, its pretty but not spectacular. However, as you make your way north, it starts to get spectacular, as you can see.

The farther north you go, the more dramatic the mountains in the background. The northern tip is spitting distance from Switzerland and the Alps.

Hotels and villas line the lake... here is a hotel with a pool. The lake itself is rarely used for swimming....... too murky.

I am reading F. Scott Fitzgeralds "Tender is the Night".... picked it up in Split not realizing its about expat Americans living in Europe after WWI. They mention many of the cities I will go to, including Como. I loved this quote.

" After lunch they were both overwhelmed by the sudden flatness that comes over American travellers in quiet foreign places. No stimuli worked upon them, no voices called them from without, no fragments of their own thoughts came from the minds of others, and missing the clamour of Empire they felt that life was not continuing here. "

I think it hit on part of the reason I came on this journey... not to be entertained like a child by tourist-focused Europeans. Another great modern author, Rick Steves, hit the same point.

"If your trip is low on magic moments, kick yourself and make things happen. Seek the truth. Give a culture the benefit of your open mind."

Pretty pretty Veronna.

Lots of watercraft and kiteflying.

This gent helped me take some pics of George and myself in from of George's spread, which , alas, didn't turn out well. His brother in law came over and wanted to take a pic with George, too. Here they are ...... the dark forested area on shore is Clooney's property, very private.

This is how close I got to the hot tub that Kirsten and Karin and George and I will share someday. His land is the forested part of the end of that point in the middle distance. What do you say, is this the pic I submit to the San Jose Merc travel section?

This is the real live town of Bellagio.....look anything like the casino? Its very fancy pants.

So the boat took 4 hours and about 10 stops to run the length of the lake, then it reversed to return to Como. It was quite lulling. Here is a shot of one end of the boat. People would claim a plastic chair and when the boat started changed which end was the front of the boat, half this crowd would get up, drag their chair to the other end of the boat, and start over. The ladies standing to the right were on all day and had a great time amongst 10 of them... total Girls Weekend, from the looks of it.

Got this shot sitting at dinner. Lots of bicycles in Como. I saw business men in pinstriped suits and briefcases riding around, as well as beautiful woman in impossibly short skirts and high heels riding bikes.

Of course I found a Golden, have you no faith? Took a walk around the promenade and came upon this German guy and his golden.... sticks already in the water and the pup is shortly to follow.

On the way back to town, stopped by a very stirring memorial against Facism. It had quotes from people all over Europe, this one especially resonated with me.

" My death will testify that an intense love of life is not incompatible with the acceptance of a necessary death". Marguerite Berveets, School teacher and poet, decapitated 9.8.1944, Belgium

Evening sun on the spire of the town's cathedral.

I am the Quietest Person in Italy - Venice

2007-07-20T06:06:00.000-07:00

I think I am pretty sophisticated, maybe even a bit jaded having seen so many major European sites this summer. Then I get to Venice, walk out of the train station, and see a scene like below.... and just start laughing out loud! Its so grand and different and amazing and over-the-top scenic. And packed with tourists.

The city's Grand Canal, shown above, is like a backwards "S" through the city, which is like a bunch of smaller islands smooshed together. The unexpected thing for me was all the smaller canals .... and the resulting little bridges connecting them, like the pic to the left. Looks cute, but when you are rolling your suitcase to your hotel, you have to haul it up and down these steps. Great for my arms! But I kept thinking what the hell do all those out of shape older Americans do in the same situation. More later.

You travel around the city by walking, water taxi which are really expensive, or by boat bus... which is a great way to also see the canals. Here are some houses lining the canal. Note the doors right on the water for folks that boat to their house and enter from the water.

There were several favorite squares for me, this is one of them. Had dinner on this square to people watch two nights. The title of this blog is because I was overwhelmed with how bloddy loud the Italians are! Every conversation sounds like a fight, and there are a lot of conversations. Franny, who is Italian, once told me I was too calculated with my emotions. From her prespective, next to Italians, she may be right. I feel pity for introverted Italians, they must feel like orphans.

I like to call this picture...Lemoncello.

Made my way to San Marcos Square.. Its a huge place filled with pigeons and stupid tourists feeding these aerial rats so that they can get a picture... I loved the clock tower on the square, had an interesting clock with 24 hour marks, not 12, a lion (for St Mark, patron saint of Venice), and two folks banging on the bell on the top. This pic is from the loggia, or patio, of beautiful St Marks Basilica.

The facade of San Marcos Basilica...its all Baroquey, curly cues, golden mosaics, bronze horses stolen by Venice from Constantinople, and of course the ubiquitous lions... I loved it! The inside, which sadly you can't take pictures in, is 10 times as gawdy and alive - from mosaic'ed golden domes to intricate stone and marble tiled patterned floors.

I liked this pic, a gondolier sipping a Red Bull, like he needed the energy to row.

Top of the facade of San Marcos.

The Grand Canal at night.

Pont de Rialto, one of the main bridges over the Grand Canal. Its a wide bridge, the far side is like this one... an open staircase. In the middle its a street of shops, in the buildings behind the steps. Very medieval of them to have commerce on the bridge itself.

I just love the clothes drying outside in Europe, its so personal and familial.

Grrrr, I hate "lion" on my side.

Ah, my little dreamland.... the island of Murano, a separate island just north of Venice known for its glass-making. I spent the day there, shopping, shopping, shopping. I haven't much room in a rolling bag/backpack for 4.5 months, but mentally I was saving room for this day! Here is a nifty glass tree next to yet another scenic clocktower.

Sigh, an irritatably scenic town.

At dinner one night, I was mesmorized by this house, the windows kept capturing the trees and skies and light. These window shapes are quinessential Venice..... I haven't seen their shape elsewhere in Italy.

San Marcos Square, with the Basilica in the center rear, non-descript humongous buildings lining it on the sides and behind me to keep in the tourists who feed pidgeon/rats, and the Campanille watchtower. I went up the tower immediately to a sense of the island. I love climbing towers like this... feel a real sense of accomplishment. Sadly, this one didn't use the stairs, instead had an elevator, so the riffraff got to come up, too.

A view from up top, looking over the square and towards the mainland.

The five domes of San Marcos seen from the clocktower.

A glimpse of the real gold mosaics - this one is from outside the basilica, but imagine a huge church FILLED WITH THESE !!!!!!!!!!! Its amazing. I am so Polish, love the gawdy and over the top decor like this. Mom would be proud.

Locals use boats like cars, since there really aren't roads, and cars cannot drive in the city (people in California are scratching their heads right now in confusion).

So, that means their dogs ride the boats, too!

There are two towers in San Marcos square, here is the lion from the top of one. Public executions were done between these two towers.

Remember the lions from Korcula Island, Croatia? They were the southernmost point of the Venetian empire at its peak so it looks like a mini-Venice in alot of ways.

A moment a peace in a frenetic city.

I bought a 36 hour boat bus pass to make it easier getting around, so that meant that the busboat folks went on strike the next day. It was good for everyone in that it got us all walking off the pasta. And I had to laugh, there were total traffic jams on the smaller canals as people took spendy gondolas (80 Euro, so $110) to get around as an alternative. How romantic to be bumping up against other cranky tourists !

A peek from my window to the street below. How, you ask, do people move stuff, and people around, if there are no streets big enough to drive a truck? Carts !!! Here are several queued up to unload in front of the grocer across the street. Its a high-touch infrastructure - imagine the hands-0n effort it takes to move food, laundry, etc around the city for the 50,000 tourists in town on a given July day.

Arghhhhh, I shoulda avoided that quattro fromaggio pizza.

A very pretty square - had lunch facing this building, and was quite taken by the detailed marble all over the face. Turns out this is the front door of the city's major hospital.

And looking around the corner I figured out how they move around the older Americans having heart attacks from hauling their suitcases up and down canal bridges.

Canals are streets, and streets need stoplights, so,..... here is a stoplight, showing red in front of the middle window of the house opposite. Makes sense, I still think its cute.

Heee, heee ,heee wish I could have found this train!

YUM! Not sure what kind of food contributes the colors here but doesn't it look good - Bon Appetite!

Why Do European Men Wear Orange Pants - Slovenia

2007-07-17T08:17:00.000-07:00

Hello All - anyone have an answer to the above question? I see European men wearing orange all over the place... is it just my American Puritan roots that find that odd and funny? Its a life-loving color so actually fun to see.

Get confused between Slovenia and Slovakia? Don't worry, so does George W Bush.. he has been known to make comments about the wrong countries to their ministers. The answer is... Slovakia is south of Poland and split from the Czech Republic in the early 90s. Slovenia is a little powerhouse country between Italy, Croatia and Austria, looks like Austria quite a bit. These first pics are from its capital, Ljubljana. Yep, I spelled that right. The dragon is a dominant symbol in the town.... this shot is from the Dragon Bridge.

My first full day here was a Sunday so I got to see the weekly flea swap... people take over tables lining the river promenade and it makes for terrific people watching.

The stuff was actually fun to see too. Here is an old fashioned iron.. you would put hot coals in it to iron. The scary thing is that when I was in Tanzania in 1998, I saw one of the camp guys ironing my underwear with a similar iron. Sad but true. And I was seriously tempted to buy those accordians.

Here is Saso, the gent who runs the wine tasting store, Enoteca, in downtown Ljubljana. The Pughs and Munshis recommended stopping here after a trip they took here last year and it was great ! Not only did I try some great Slovenian wine by the glass, but got to meet a couple from Portola Valley, CA.... the woman knows my doctor ....small world!
I try to climb stairs whenever possible... here are the stairs to the top of the clock tower on the castel hill.

After a day in the city , I rented a car and drove north to the Julian Alps, the northwest corner of Slovenia.. its where the Alps end bordering Italy and Austria , and is named for Julius Caesar. The first stop was Lake Bled, famous for the monestary sitting in the middle of the lake. I walked around the lake (about 3 miles) and heard the bells of the monestary ringing the whole time... later I read that its considered lucky to ring the bell if you take a boat out to the island and climb 100 stairs to the bell tower. The boats are very charming... the story goes that a town was granted exclusively rights by Maria Teresa when she owned the world to provide boat connections around the lake. Here is a guy trying to flag me down for a 10 Euro ride to the island.

Of course I found a Golden walking around the lake... what , you think I am an amateur at Golden Retriever stalking?

Marshall Tito,the solicialist leader of Yugoslavia (with Truman's blessing, since he was Communism-Lite and was a great buffer to the USSR), took over a former royal palace on Lake Bled and used it for a retreat, including to host folks like world leaders. I had lunch on the patio - its now a fancy pants hotel. I ducked upstairs to use their internet and found this groovy painting.

The next day dawned really rainy... thunderstorms actually.... which was a bummer since I was heading up and over a mountain pass that has 50 switchbacks and stunning views of the mountains. The bad weather turned out to be good, though, in that I had few fellow tourists and got to slow down and spend time with my fellow sheep as they wandered up the windy road. Here is my bud, Curly.

It finally cleared after I passed the summit.... made for some amazing views of the Alps.

The sun was just poking through on this picture.

This area of Slovenia has been a watershed for 1000 years... the latest being WWI and WWII. If you turn your head to the left, you can see metal ladder rungs bolted into the hill... this was across from a fort used to keep Turks out 500 years ago, and Italians out in 1915.

This beautiful valley was the scene of carnage 1915 and 1916. The German and Italian troops had battlelines up on the top of these ridges... nerve gas, trench warfare and brutal winter conditions. General Rommel of Germany cut his teeth here - he used a Blitzkrieg method of overwhelming the Italians that helped turn the favor towards Germany after a 2 year standoff... and he used it at the beginning of WWII.

Korcula Island Croatia and Split

2007-07-15T12:06:00.000-07:00

Hello from my dream home, Korcula Island, Croatia. After I left Dubrovnik and food poisoning behind, I think I was ready for some R & R...... and Korcula was the place. Rick Steves was spot on when he said this is the island that keeps him coming back. At left is a pic of my favorite activity on Korcula... late morning coffee and journaling with an amazing view of the Croatian mainland in the background.

I met a woman who lived in Australia but was from Korcula and she was laughing that after 2 weeks you are lulled into a near-comotose state on Korcula..... she was right... and it was good.

Here is my trip on the big ferry from Dubrovnik to Korcula.. its a mellow cruise up the coast for about 3.5 hours. I found a shady spot on the deck and put my feet up. The land in the background is the Peljesic peninsula, which is known for the Little Blue grape,or ZINFANDEL BABY!!!! Mike Grigch from Napa is from Croatia orginially and has opened a premium winery on this peninsula. I was tempted to stop by and see if he would hit on me like he did 10 years ago when I was trapped in a wheelchair with a broken leg (remember ladies?) but passed. Here is a view of my street - I had a room with a great family, Tonci and Teresa. Both are from Korcula, and Tonci renovated this house in the old walled city where I believe his grandmother lived. My window is the one on the top left.. I could hear people walking up those stairs all the time. I don't even know the address... I just navigated by the purple Bougeanvilla by the door.

I got two dives in.. and here I am with my dive master George. He held my hand underwater and it was special. Second dive was terrific.. in addition to lots of lobsters , saw some colorful nudibranches and octopus. And Mike the real dive master let me hold the octopus.. it was great texture..kinda sticky, gelatinous, he kept moving around my hands, his tentacles did nad suckers that sucked,and he kept shooting out dark ink. It was terrific! Mike has my first George pic and has promised to send me a pic of him diving underwater.

One of the perks of Korcula, and time,was that I got to see two American movies......outside....with a view of the medieval walls,and the moon. How cool is that! Movies were silly but the experience of seeing them next to a 1000 year old walled city... priceless. Can you recognize the movie... this one is going out to Karin~!!!!!!!

Went on a tour of the Peljesac peninsula for some wine tasting. Stopped in this town and sampled mussels and oysters.

Rented a bike one day and biked south to the town of Lumbarda. There was a winery in the neighborhood but I had a hell of a time finding it... here is a pic of some of the buildings I passed.

At dinner one night, I was close to finishing up my dinner at an outside cafe when the owner seated a large group right next to me. I geared myself for some loud conversation.. and here it came... except it was singing. In four part harmony!!! Korcula is known for its singing and has many chorus groups. This one next to me sang periodically throughout dinner - it was lovely.

One of the draws of Korcula is its famous Mariska sword dance. Its a tale that is hundreds of years old, revolving around a good (red) and bad (black) prince and their struggle over the woman both love. Here is a pic from the dance my last night in Korcula. My host,Tonci, played the good prince for years. Its a dangerous gig..... they have an orchestrated dance with swords in each hand and I saw guys cut that night.

How cute is this..... they sell plastic swords because of the dance and I caught some boys playing swords on the steps to the walled town. The little guy on the right was shy... but the kid in the middle was up for the game.. he posed for me.

My day on a real beach. Most beaches in Croatia are pebbles... which suck when you leave the water. This beach was real sand. I went there after winetasting, after picking up a huge sandwich at the market. I weaved my way through vineyards to get to this beach, and hung out for hours swimming the Adriatic and scoping out the boats that the rich French people showed up and anchored in.

Passed a boat yard on the way to winestasting.

Wine tasting here was a dream! Small place and not advertised too much.The owner told me a new major road was going in in a few months and he was hoping for more traffic. I didnt even call before I came and luckily two neighbors called him to come out. He is sealing the wax on this bottle of Little Blue, or Zin, that Karin and I will hopefully drink in Ireland (note... its still with me after two weeks.. 3 to go!). He also smoked ham and made goat cheese besides wine. And he made a killer Mandarin and Lemoncello.. Have a bottle of the Mandarin with me.

Here is my bedroom on the next trip I make to Croatia... took this picture from my coffee perch.

Another shot from the other way looking at the place I stayed on the right.. and the Adriatic in the distance. Note that this is a street! No cars in Old Town.. everything is carted in, and there are tons of stairs.

Liked this group of ladies...

My hosts Teresa and Tonci, about midnight, after the sword dance. We had dinner afterwards and they told me amazing stories of life under socialism. Like the guy Tonci knew who made a joke about Tito having beans for lunch when he was having beans. Someone ratted him out.... hard labor on a island quarry for two years. And this was Communism Lite... not as harsh as the Soviets.

Lots of beautiful stonework in Korcula - much is quarried nearby. The stone for the US White House is from an island next to Korcula.

Korcula was the southernmost point of the Venetian empire.. so there are lions and St Mark statues everywhere, just like Venice.

Marco Polo was from Korcula, before Venice adopted him. I liked this sign!

From my bikeride... heading back from the sandy beach through vineyards. You can see the mainland and Adriatic in the background. A great day. See my hand taking my pic in my sunglasses?

Reflections of the sea in a door window.

STONE, STONE, and a view of swimmers in the bay in front of the old town where I slept.

Reluctantly, I had to leave Korcula,and headed to Split on a 6am fast boat. Split is the sight of lots of Roman ruins... .one of the last Roman emporers Diocletian, was from here and built a huge palace and mausoleum to himself.

Around 800AD, Slavic groups invaded the ared and the townspeople retreated to Dio's palace. They never left... and built a town for the next 1200 years around the ruins of the Roman palace. It makes for a mosh of roman, mediaval and baroque architecture - very nifty.

I liked the Palace, and especially the tomb of Dio that has been converted to the oldest active Christian church in the world. Irony, that one, since Dio executed many Christians , and now his body is lost, and the tombs of some of the saints that he killed are now buried in his tomb. However, besides the palace area, I wasn't a fan of Split. Lots of tourists, lots of money, lots of tourists spending money in shops. And I had one of the few bad rooms in a socialist era concrete apartment building on the edge of town.. I took this pic from my window the morning I left.. Took a train to Zagreb and then Ljubljana, Slovenia. Ended up staying two weeks in Croatia.....loved it!

Montenegro .... The Black Mountains

2007-06-30T06:15:00.001-07:00

Spent a day in neighboring Montenegro, which means Black Mountain, named by the Italians who used to own the area - Venice.

Did you guys know that Montenegro was its own country? WHO KNEW!!!!

I have to travel with current guide books going forward. Montenegro officially separated from Serbia (yippee!) in May of 2006. In fact, it already uses the Euro, which is more than Bosnia, Croatia or Serbia can say! Here is a shot of the fishing village in the town where we caught a ferry. I took a day tour , which I usually pass on, and it was great - I learned so much more that way.What drew me to Montenegro was the old town of Kotor - what was terrific was to see that the large fjord that Kotor is on ,the largest in southern Europe, is stunning all around . Here is a shot of some of the mountains around the bay with some fishing traps in the water.

These churches are in the middle of the bay. The one of the left is Orthodox, I think. The one on the right is Catholic. The island it is on is manmade. Years ago, two fisherman found a statue of the Virgin Mary on a single rock in the water. They took it back to shore. The next day - it was gone! But turned up back on the rock - a miracle. So, local folks have sunk 80 odd boats to build a manmade island, and each year on the anniversary of the event, the MEN of the town drop rocks on the island - to continue to grow it. Its called the Lady of the Rock Church.

Enjoyed a spin around the old walled town of Kotor, a Unesco World Heritage site, then the bus took us up a hill on a 1.5 car wide road that had 26 switchbacks - for this view of the Bay of Kotor! The shot to the left is dark but shows some of the switchbacks - this particular one is in the shape of an "M", for Montenegro, or as legend has it, the Queen Melani, at the time, who the road's Italian architect had the hots for. Ubiquitous beach shot from a touristy town Budva -its the new new place to go since its still cheap. Note the "sand"... its rocks, damned rocks... and really hard to walk on. This town has lots of new hotels going in... rumor has it funded by Russian mobsters.

Montenegro is 80% mountainous - so many of the roads we were on were narrow and windy. Here is a shot of our bus being passed on a narrow road by another bus... close shot. The guide joked that Montenegrans take their driving tests on this road.

Fun doorknocker on a door in the old walled town of Budva. Fun seriously, once you have seen 6 old walled towns, you've pretty much seen them all.

Shot of part of the fort looking out to the Adriatic.

Stones stones stones. Much of Croatia and Montenegro use marble for their construction - didn't take me long to figure out it was cheap since the mountains are everywhere here.

There are cats everywhere here - so I especially liked the gargoyle that looked like a cat.

Nice peaceful scene in the old town of Budva.

You just gotta love the Cyrillic here!

A shot of Budva harbor and the mountains that extend to the sea. Montenegro used to be quite a tourist destination for the rich and famous -but hit hard times when the 12 year embargo of Serbia after the war included Montenegro. They are seeing a rebound. There was a brief shot of Montenegro in the last James Bond movie with Daniel Craig ( note to myself - see this movie again and look at scenery this time).

Oddly enough, I was in Budvar Montenegro 10 days before the Stones held a concert on the beach. I remember thinking , how much more money do these jerks need.

And I especially thought that when I heard that the annual monthly salary in Montenegro is 150 to 300 Euro a month - the folks going to see the Stones will be Russian mob guys, not local folks. Here is a shot of a house we passed 5 minutes beyond the posh beach where the concert will be held.

Last shot - on the bus watching our guide get us through the border check of Montenegro back into Croatia. This is an easy task these days - we didn't even have to flash the passports on this stop.

Dubrovnik

2007-06-30T05:21:00.000-07:00

Hello from sunny and gorgeous Dubrovnik, the Pearl of the Adriatic. The Dalmatian coastline (named for the multitudes of feral Dalmatians) is dramatic beyond my expectations - and has already been "discovered" by northern and Italian Europeans. I can tell because the tourists are getting fatter (Germans, not Italians).

Here is a shot from the walls surrounding Dubrovnik out towards the island just offshore - looks like Greece doesn't it. Below, a shot of the mountains further up the coast where I stayed a few days before heading to Dubrovnik. Dramatic!
Above, another beach shot, albeit a pebble beach (hey, that is so NorCal!). This is from a town north of Dubrovnik. I liked to get good and hot - then go and float on my back in the Adriatic and look at those mountains.

From the fountain in Dubrovnik -people used to get their drinking water from this centrail fountain.

Took a turn around the walls of Dubrovik - they have protected the city from would be invaders like Venice for centuries - only Napolean succeed in breaching them. WARNING -MORE WAR COMMENTARY COMING......In Dec 1991, after a seige from the hills above town and the sea, the Serbs started bombing the entire area, including the old town surrounded by these walls. No military purpose, just to be dicks. 80% of the roofs were destroyed, 100 people killed in town, and 200 Croatian troops killed, some in hand to hand combat, over the next 8 months. You can see the new bright orange tiles on these roofs next to the older undamaged ones.

Europe's clothes dryer!

A charming "street" - they are shown as streets on the map but are more like staircases and alleys. Didn't need the width 1,000 years ago when they didn't have cars.

Interesting architecture. The windows all have shutters which are shut midday to keep the heat out. All stone architecture.

A view back towards the main "new" section of Dubrovnik. The stone building to the left is another fortress frequently used for the Dubrovnik Arts Festival. The guy who plays Lucca on ER, Gorin Iamababeic, occasionally acts in plays there. Like we care if he can act.

A view along the walls up to a corner fort. The Serbs took those hills inthe background and then shelled the city from them.

I bet you are happy that I am leaving the war zone tomorrow -I am a bit obsessed with it!

Cats cats everywhere!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Shot above is of the main drag in the old town - the major activity is eating ice cream , sitting at a table paying too much for coffee, or strutting your stuff. Note the street - its paved with marble... so slick it reflect light... I think it would be fun to sit under an umbrella while it rained and watch tourists slip and fall.

Swimmers on the rocks just outside the old town walls. Sorry Adil -they all have their tops on!

Still a major fishing area - the area hasn't been overfished by large commercial boats yet, mostly family owned.

Towards the end of "our" walk around the town - the walls are 2km long, 3-6 meters thick, and as high as 26 metres. A highlight of my stay in Dubrovnik.

I can already hear my nieces saying "YUCKKKK"... squid of all sizes!

Saw this in English with Croatian subtitles... I listened to the English. George gave it a Thumbs UP!!

Took a tour of town with a ...... Yes, indeed War theme! The guide was a local and had many color stories I intend to capture in a separate message. Here is he standing in front of a map of the old town of Dubrovnik with dots for every Serbian bomb dropped on the city, plus red for houses that burned down.

A shot of my birthday dinner - ate at a restaurant at Lapad Bay, facing a western sunset - very nice. I was visited by a Cheese Bandit - this little bird was very aggressive and managed to take a piece of cheese as big as his head. The bottle to the left is 200 ml, or about a quarter of a regular wine bottle, to give you some idea of how small he was.

Sunset at the same spot below.

Walking back from dinner came upon this family who had a pretty pooped looking kid who still wouldn't give up his beach ball.

Shot of the place I am staying. Staying in a private home is very common in Croatia - they are called Sobes, and usually involve a woman hosting you in a bedroom in her house, while you share her bathroom. My hostess Ivana, has a great garden outside, where I could take my morning coffee and read or journal. She also has a 1 year old german shepard named Bellina, who would not stop pestering the little gray kitten who also lives here.

Beautiful Bosnia

2007-06-30T04:52:00.000-07:00

Arrived in Sarajevo, Bosnia after probably the worst train ride I have ever taken. Not trying to be dramatic - but let's say it was 13 hours in a car roughly 90 degrees all day, dirty windows with condensation so you couldn't see, toilets that backed up and repeated stops every 30 feet for no reason..... arghhhh ! I gladly overpaid for a hotel so I could shower and watch CNN while I drank gallons of liquids to recover. But I have learned that bad arrivals for me usually turn into great visits, and Sarajevo is no exception.

This is a stunning town - and all the more sad that it is still so war damaged (huh,is that superficial of me, like being sadder when an attractive person dies vs an ugly one... hmmmm). Sarajevo is situated between mountains ranges with a river running through it. Houses run up the side of the hills and overlook the modern downtown as well as the old Turkish town, shown in the pics to the side. Bosnia (as I am sure ALL of you know), is mix of Muslims, Catholics (Croats) and Serbs (Orthodox) people. Sarajevo is in the Muslim area and heavily influenced by the Turkish occupations over the centuries.

A few blocks from my hotel as I walked down the hill, I already saw evidence of the damage of the war. Here are sniper bullet marks still showing.. you see them all over. In 1991, the Bosnian Serbs, with help from the former Yugoslavian army and Slobodan Milosevic, surrounded mostly Muslim Sarajevo, and began a deliberate war of terror on its citizens. The serb commanders told their troops to fire, fire fire and completely break the spirit of the Sarajevans.

It really shook me to see apartment buildings like the one to the left. The walls would be completely pocked by bullet marks.... and you realize looking at this that the Serbs were targeting people in their homes. Not only walking out on the street on Sniper Alley, the main thoroughfare through town, but trying to kill people in their homes. Just trying to live and raise their kids. Pure terror. I hate the Serbs... that is simplistic but I just can't get to a point where I can understand dehumanizing people to this degree without some complicity.

Here is a famous spot - the Latin Bridge. Here, on June 28th, 1914 (yes, my birthday) a Bosnian Serb shot and killed Archduke Francis Ferdinand of Austria - he was the heir apparent to the Austrio-Hungarian empire, which occupied Bosnia at the time, and the Serb shot him to draw attention to Serbian independence. This local Bosnia incident had a domino effect when aligned countries fell in step.... and thus World War I started. Winston Churchill said, "The Balkans are able to generate more history than they can absorb". This was pointed to this incident but recent events show it continues.

It was about 137 degrees that day - so hot - but this local woman was walking in a coat......

Between hydrating, I shopping in the many little stalls and alleyways. The speciality here is very beautiful and detailed silver work, especially little Turkish coffee sets. Having to live out of a suitcase for 4 months prevented any purchases!

One thing that surprised me is how unbelievably gorgeous the country is. Here is a shot on the way from Sarajevo to Mostar, following a lovely river with spectacular views of the mountains. Bosnia would make a great playground for sporty tourists that like biking, hiking and rafting..... if it weren't for all the land mines that remain off the more beaten tracks.

Last war shot, I swear. A bombed out building in Mostar - only this city was not bombed by the Serbs, but by the Catholic Croats. The Muslims are simply caught between two more nationalistically violent groups. More musings on the war in a later section.

Mostar was another lovely city -again, between mountains, with a river in the middle. The town is divided along Croat and Muslim lines to this day. I spent my time in the Muslim Turkish old town and the bridge. Here is a shot at dusk walking around the Turkish Old town. It was an overwhelming sensory experience - could see so many exotic things and people, smell incense, and hear music of all types. Amazing. Note the minaret of a mosque in the background.

Ahhhhh , the Mostar Bridge at last - see it behind me in the distance. Its called Stari Most - and is 700 years old. The Croats made a symbolically deliberate and militarily pointless decision to destroy it. The people rebuilt the bridge using at much of the original stone as possible after retrieving it from the river, and had a huge ceremony to mark that occasion (thank you Azur for the video).

Its surrounded by several buildings that have been used as prisons or armories over the years.

Young men in town jump from the bridge - yikes!

Sitting at dinner looking at the bridge with the view to the left and below - I was delighted to see fireworks go off on the hill across the way. I kinda have a crush on this bridge -can you tell?

Next up, Medagorie, Bosnia. I met some guys in Sarajevo that were headed to Mostar, so I got a ride with them. They invited me to keep going so I got to see stuff like Medagorie, which I wouldn't have seen otherwise. A very weird place. In 19814, 6 kids saw a vision of the Virgin Mary on the hill above their small town. (hmmmm, does anyone else suspect they had homework to do?). They told people and from there things snowballed and Medagorie has thousands and thousands of Catholic tourists visit each day! Its not sanctioned by the Vatican, but people come anyway. If for no other reason, I appreciated the fact that they had slightly different tourist trinkets here than most places - see below.

Also stopped at a nice waterfall oasis near the border with Croatia.

On to the Croatian coast and Dubrovnik next!

Painted Monasteries of Bucovina

2007-06-18T02:58:00.000-07:00

Romania has several regions in the north that intrigued me..... but I thought were too remote to get to, or at least too difficult to travel to. One is Bucovina, the northern part of Moldova, Romania's eastern region. In the 14th-16th centuries, the Romanian kings sponsored and built Christian Orthodox monestaries in this hilly region - and what makes them unique and incredible is that they are painted on the outside and inside. More on that later. My new friend Mihai from the pension in Sighasoara encouraged me to rent a car so that I could more easily get to this area.... trains would have gotten me near but not there. And he also asked if his 15 year old son Mihai Jr. could go. I was floored by his trust - but that is indeed what happened - Jr and I got in the car and headed about 300 KM to the northeast. What I didn't expect was how beautiful the countryside would be. Romania has the Carpathian mountain range running like a backwards "C" in the middle of the countryside - so travelling around the country requires a bit of mountain driving. The picture above is a gorge we drove through - it reminded me of Yosemite, though I am not sure if it was granite.

Various landscapes we passed on the way - I liked the haystacks in this picture with people working the fields near them.. with the hills in the distance.

Churches everywhere. Many had shiny metal roofs.... I asked our guide if that was a regional style ....... and he said, no, its lead, its cheap and we aren't allowed to use asbestos anymore.Okay!

Had to pass through several larger cities on the way... really had to mind the road since there are few traffic lights even in bigger cities, and the lights are to the right , not above as in the US. Here is a shot of an older apartment building so you could guess at what cities looked like under Communist rule.

Arrived at our destination, Suceava, and met up with our guide, Ciprian, shown here on the left with his fiance Irina , her brother and Jr. Originally, I had asked Ciprian to guide us for one day around the monestaries - but he offered to continue with us to Maramures, where the traditional Romanian villages were located. This turned out to be a godsend since we learned so much more, had more local experiences, and I didn't have to drive!

Stayed at a guest house the first night near Suceava - many people seem to rent rooms in their original houses (which are very large - no one here believes me when I tell them their house is twice as big as mine!) and live in smaller cottages in the back of the property. I slept in what looked like a dining room - and I really liked the ceiling treatment.... STALAGTITES BABY!!!

So - here's the deal on the monestaries. They were commissioned to be painted on the inside AND outside in order to educate the illiterate population on the biblical stories. They have the same general format and themes... with some variation. They also have long overhanging roofs to protect the outside painting. Bear in mind that these paintings were gone 500-600 years ago - and have not been retouched - they have only been cleaned. Magnificent.... these pictures don't capture the colors or details well.

First monestary was Suchevitsa. This shot shows Jacob's Ladder on the right. The left is the outside of the nave which at every monestary shows the saints, apostles, etc the same order to allow consistency across the monestaries.

There was a section on philosophers and here is Plato, I think, contemplating death - you can tell by the coffin and corpse above his head.

These images appeared everywhere - Seraphans, I think. Our guide, Ciprian, is grinding his teeth with all the mistakes I will make describing the monestaries !!!! The Eye image I believe is one of the original Christian symbols.

A recurring theme is about resisting temptation.

Another dude contemplating death.We couldn't take pictures inside the buildings but the painting there was even more brilliant. The first room would have a calendar system on the wall - a series of paintings for each day of the year.

I think this is a building at the second monestary, Moldevitsa. These monestaries are in the middle of a compound with a medieval stone wall surrounding them, and housing for the NUNs that live there. Yes, there are nuns, not monks. Dunno why. The statue to the left is of the king (Stephen the Great, I think) who built the monestary.

Much of the themes are about adversity of the faith. Here is a section illustrating the seige of Constantinople against the Turks.

Beautiful images.

Inside the altar area, you would find the same themes.... Passion of Christ story.... and a picture of the sponsoring king or noble presenting a mini-monestary (imagine the Stonehenge model from Spinal Tap) to Jesus... with someone, usually, Mary, acting as witness to the gift.

Guys on horses... I kinda stopped taking notes since it was overwhelming.

A broader view of the wall, I think at the third monestary, Humor. They each have a dominant color scheme - Humor is green and red.

This shows how the paintings are protected by the overhaning roof. Some sides were consistently damaged by weather, usually the north sides.

I liked this guy.

These panels represent a saint, maybe John,who refused to declare himself Moslem to the Turkish king.... so he was beheaded in the picture on the left.

Many of the characters wore these checked robes... kinda fun. Remember, this is not Catholic, its Orthodox.

Perhaps my favorite one was Veronets, known for its brilliant blue paint. But I liked it because of the back of the church, representing the great flood , I think. Here is a macro shot.

Closeups from the macro shot above. These are probably some kind of infidel.

Liked the octopus!

This guy didn't make it.

Last Judgement again.. an elephant and lion are shown.

Full shot of Veronets. Our last monestary.

Next up! A precarious ride across the mountains to the most isolated region of Romania - Maramures!

Stepping Back in Time - Northern Romania

2007-06-18T01:21:00.000-07:00

Maramures..... the last intact area of Europe with peasant villages that follow traditions of a hundred years ago. Its a series of villages surrounded by mountains.... and the roads are horribly pot-holed and difficult to traverse.... thus isolating these towns to some degree from the Communists and from rampant commercialism (though you can feel it coming.) These gents are from the village where we stayed for two nights, Botiza.

Maramures is known for its fine carpentry - including elaborate gates. This gate is on top of the highest mountain pass in the area - between the monestary area (Bucovina) and Maramures. They are building a church at the pass, as you can tell.

Here is a house in our village. Beautifully carved wooden gate, and a woven fence. Very pretty.

Here is our hostess... she rented out the rooms we slept in in a large house and slept in the cottage to the right. This is her backyard -chickens and all. Note the large church in the background. Bathrooms in this rural town had hot water heaters that were heated by wood - wow.

We had so many lucky moments. On our first day, we came upon grade school kids in front of a hall who were all decked out in local costumes. They were just about to practice their grammer school graduation ceremony.

So cute! The boys put flowers in the bands on their hats.
Heading in to practice and we followed. There were two gents from Australia taking pictures of the kids and our guide invited them in to see the kids practice. Later, these two guys said their best pictures were from when they ran into us, like during this practice.

These two were really talented. She played the 5 string guitar holding it vertically. Some of the kids sandg songs and these two accompanied them.

At one point, the kids paired off and started dancing. The girls did this funny wiggly butt move, and then the boys would do a bit where they stamped their boots alot. It was adorable. Notice how the girls are taller than the boys at this age!

First stop in Maramures was the Merry Cemetary in Sapatsa. In the 1960s, a wood carver started carvng elaborate and humorous gravestones from wood that showed how these people lived and loved, and also how they died. These markers make fun of death - thus the Merry Cemetary nickname.

This guy died in a car accident.

Worshipping George.

Note her regional shoes are reflected in the carving.

We met a family at the cemetary - turns out the grandfather, Victor, had escaped from Romania without a passport in 1989, thru Hungary to a camp in Austria. He was visiting with his wife and grandaughter. Turns out they live 10 miles from where I lived outside Chicago - Lincolnwood!! While we talked outside the gate, the lady taking tickets watched us.

Two local guides giving George a lesson in fashion.

Actually, Mihai and Ciprian,our guide , wearing local traditional hats.

There were real storks in huge nests all over the place -not a myth!

Romanians work so hard. Everywhere we went we would see men and women going to or returning from working in the outlying fields. They did almost all farmwork by hand. With long light of summer, they could be working at 5am till 8pm.

I am going to hell. We visited a monestary and I took a picture of the nuns, albeit from a distance, without their permission. They are from the Orthodox faith and are gardening here.

Here is a fairly new monestary in Maramures - the very tall wooden spires are unique to the area and are designated as Unesco World Heritage sites, as are the painted monestaries we saw in Bucovina.

A support building in the monestary - about 13 nuns live in this huge complex. Amazing wooden carving.

Holy water fountain in the middle of the complex.

Took this picture inside one of the oldest wooden churches in Maramures. When biblical stories were painted on the interior walls to teach the illiterate peasants, sometimes literary license was taken - the bad guys in this story were painted with Hungarian outfits... Romanians don't like the Hungarians since they occupied much of western Romania for centuries.

One of the carved gates outside a church - lots of detailed scrolls, sun images, ropes, etc.

We went to 3 wooden churches in the area - after 2 of them, our guide said to me ,"You like people more than churches." Boy, did he get that one right! I found the surrounding cemetaries more interesting - here is a picture from one of the headstones.

We had a beer at the local "bar" - really more of a shack. The bartender, whose named meant Tree Leaves, was a goofball, like pretending to walk away with my change, etc - very flirtatious. Until I sat next to him for this picture - all of a sudden he got REALLY serious. We joked he was my Maramures husband.

Ciprian surprised us with a horsedrawn wagon ride through the village before dinner. Here are some shots as we drove . This village had 1000 houses (that is how they describe the size,not by people, but by houses) and most houses had benches on the street where people hung out and chatted - very social.

This is shot from my balcony on the second morning we were in the village - it was market day and people were milling about.

Women on one side.

Here is our wagon driver and Ciprian hamming it up on our wagon ride. Romanians don't easily smile for pictures so I love this shot!

Hitchhiking is very common in Romania - both car and wagon.So on our wagon ride, we picked up a bunch of people, including this little lady.

Speaking of hitchhikers, we picked up several on the roads - they usually give a token amount of cash to you. This guy was great - when he found out I was from the US, he said "Bad President!" I've had several folks in Romania make comments about Bush - what do Romanians know that Red staters don't?
In the center of the town/village, the houses are concrete and large. Just outside town, this would be more typical - wooden house and gate, with a garden for vegetables.

Oh boy, major traffic jam on our ride. We have a confluence of car and wagons!

At the top of the hill , we walked around a monastery a bit. These monasteries are built for speed - they are put together like a puzzle in case they need to be moved in the event of invasion. This corner of the building gives you a sense of that.

A family working on the haystack, which I finally asked, what the hell are all these haystacks for? Simple answer - hay for animals. Not sure if these are for cows to sell or to keep for milk. I have no idea how this girl got up so high but she was very cute and posed for us. A view of the valley and rolling hills below.

Group shot of our wagon. We picked up hitchhikers... the two Australians (next to me in the second row) and some locals - full boat.

Earlier that day, we ran into a local market and walked around a bit. Here are three ladies comparing the bargains they made.

A word on headscarves - most women wear them here. Married women wear dark headscarves that are close around their face- not showing hair. Unmarried women wear lighter colored scarves that show hair.

Ciprian checking out the scythe selection.

Transylvania 6-5-000

2007-06-17T03:32:00.001-07:00

WELCOME TO TRANSYLVANIA, says George!!! Here he is greeting us in front of the restaurant in the building where Vlad the Impaler, Dracula, was actually born, in Sighasoara. The title of this section can be sung - its a variation on a Glenn Miller tune (Chattanooga Chu Chu).

Romania is my favorite country of the trip so far - here is the section on Transylvania. Another blog will talk about our roadtrip to the more remote areas of northern Romania.

My trip to Romania began in the Budapest Keleti train station. I had a 4 hour wait in the terminal before boarding an 11:15pm overnight train to Sighasoara, Transylvania, Romania (a 9 hour journey). I hate this train station. I sit for over three hours, the train is late, I actually manage to get on the wrong train and end up running through the station pulling a heavy rolling suitcase with two guys that made the same mistake - oh well. It worked out and I had a 2nd class room to myself. The border checks and sun rising at 4am meant I really didn't sleep much after 4am.... but that was okay since I was hypnotized by the countryside rushing by me...... a fog lingered over the hills and fields. Farmers were already hard at work at 4:30 - manually working, by the way. I have seen about 4 tractors in Romania in a week. Also loved the pear-shaped haystacks. Took about a million pictures. The locals think I am nuts since they are everywhere.

Transylvania is a region of Romania - kind of smack dab in the middle of the country. It has been overrun by Romans, Germans , Hungarians, but oddly enough, never the Turks. In the 13th century, maybe earlier, the King asked German Saxons to come to to Transylvania as protection against eastern invasions. The German culture is still very strong - many of the towns that they founded, including Sighasoara where I am now, have dual Romanian and German names. The language of Romania is related to Italian, since Roman troops established forts in the Dacia region in southern Romania - they intermarried with the local Dacian women and brought an Italian influence to Romania (which is named after this Roman influx of people).
My special nickname for Sighasoara is Land of a Thousand ATMs - since there are ATMs about every 100 feet in this town. My fave is Banca Transilvania, since its fun to say with a Dracula accent, and since they give out medium size bills, not big ones that are hard to break. I love the money here - it has clear holes in the bills with a groovy image, like a bird flying .

Sighasoara is known for its Citadel - its a walled compound on the hilltop above town, with several churches, a clock tower and houses for many people. It is the oldest cidatel in Europe to still be inhabited, and when you walk around its stone and dirt roads it feels like you are back in 1300. This pup was on a porch in the Citadel - I liked the clocktower images in the grillework.

One of the many towers built into the protective walls around the citadel, with a covered wallway leading to it.

I totally scored on housing. Showed up with no housing but the local Tourist Info office got me into a wonderful pension just below the Citadel. I took this picture lying in bed - which means I could see the lovely clock tower (from around 1350) from my room. This clock chimes every 15 minutes - it sounds like pots and pans being gently banged - very soothing. It also has carved wooden figures that come out on the hour.

Here are some beautiful Romanian women who indulged George and I on the top of the clock tower. You can see a tower and the church on the hill in the background.

Another view from the tower of the buildings in the Citadel - I have seen pictures of this view in winter and its stunning with the snow on roofs.

Leading up to the Citadel, there are several staircases. This one is called the Old Womens staircase... and this old woman appreciated the short height of the steps.

Vlad Dracula was born here - his dad was called Drac, so Dracula means Son of Drac. He was a Romanian Prince, who was effective keeping the everpresent Turks out of Romania - but became infamous as Vlad the Impaler, for his bad habit of sticking a pole along peoples backbones and them letting them dangle for days as they slowly died. Gruesome. But I did have a rare steak at the restaurant in the house he was born in. Bram Stoker was influenced by Vlad when he wrote Dracula - though all Romanians I have asked say there weren't any special myths about vampires before Stokers book.

A closer look at the clock tower with the figures next to the clock face. The roof of this building and many in Transylvania are covered in multi-colored ceramic tiles - very much like the buildings in Beaune , Burgundy, France - who were also influenced by German architecture.

One of the staircases leading from the citadel shows the condition of the buildings... and the huge pride of ownership of Romanians in their homes.

This is the courtyard that my pension room faced. These three kids playing soccer in the picture lived in the apartments up and to the right and were frequently playing there. The little girl Dinesa, on the left, truly ruled the roost.

I was VERY lucky to befriend Savu Mihai, the receptionist extraordinaire, at my pension. Mihai offered to guide me to several towns around the area on his day off. Here is a picture walking around the citadel walls of the town of Bierton, with some kids walking below us.

I loved this castle below - in the town of Cris. We couldn't get into it since they were restoring it, but it had a lovely multi-colored roof on the tower.

A corner of the Cris castle shows the stone workmanship . There are many slots for arrows to be shot from in the event of attack, and the corners of the walls came together like a puzzle.

Me and George on one of the towers in Bierton.

I loved this guy -guarding the castle at Cris.

A very pretty view from Bierton.

This covered stairway in Bierton is similar to one in Sighasoara that was built in the 14th century.

These are carved covers to coffins of some of the local gentry.

Mihai Junior, the son of Mihai from my pension, went with me to Sibiu, a larger local town, also founded by Germans 800 years ago. We spent some time downtown, which I found pretty, but also a bit too touristy, thus boring. We then went to the zoo -which was kind of fascinating coming from an American perspective. This is a picture of Mihai (who I have to beg to smile) next to the tiger cage - there were about 5 or 6 tigers sleeping. He is standing against a rail fence about 4 feet from the bars - that is it! No big moat or distance between you and the animals.

The wolves cage had no second fence... so the bars you see in front of the wolves were it between me and these guys - could have put my hands into the cage very easily. So wouldn't fly in the US. I like seeing the differences between the US and other countries like this.

Mihai and I also went to an outdoor museum that had probably 100 Romanian houses in a natural setting - its meant to show all the different styles of houses, churches and gates throughout Romania. It actually came in handy when we visited regions in northern Romania later in the week.

Nice architecture from the main square in Sibiu. A Catholic church with the green spire, I think. The tourist office is in the building on the left. The buildings in Romania are beautiful - not sure what you would call the style but its quite detailed in the decorations on the buildings, and Sibiu has been quite restored so they are all painted and spic and span.Sibiu is an official City of Culture in Europe for 2007 so has many art, music, and theatrical events going on.

I dunno - maybe I was feeling paranoid that day but I just felt like the buildings were watching me.

Very common architecture style for Southwest Transylvania - these are attic bedrooms with tiny windows.

Some painted furniture in the town square of Sibiu.

Ahh, the best part of Romania!. When Mihai Sr. befriended me at the pension, it was like a snowball heading downhill - it quickly picked up steam and became an avalanche of hospitality. First Mihai guided me a

round locally to Sighasoara. Then his son did the same the next day to Sibiu. On the first trip, Mihai Sr. asked if his 15 year old son could come with me to northern Romania to see the painted monestaries of Bucovina, and the remote villages of Maramures. Which just flabbergasted me since I has just met him the day before. Mihai Jr and I did go on that road trip - I'll detail in another blog post - but when we came back Mihai Sr. invited me to stay with him and his family rather than at the pension. Which was convenient since he had GIVEN AWAY MY ROOM for the next few nights. He really did...... but its been a great time staying with the Savu's. Here Mihai and his LOVELY wife Lenuta entertaining me in the kitchen. They kicked Jr. out of his room so I have a private room with the PC I am typing on included... I am like a second teenager since I have been on it updating my blog all day. Mihai's mom, Ileana, also lives here and has been acting as my surrogate mom, including chiding me for not wearing the slippers she gave me.

It was Lenuta's birthday the day we returned from northern Romania, so we walked to the Citadel for the evening. Here are Mihai and Lenuta discussing the menu at the restaurant in Vlad's house - Mihai is also trying to shush the exhuberant Lenuta!

And here is Mihai giving Lenuta the traditional Transylvanian neck bite for her birthday.

My one night stay has drifted into two nights, and odds are will be three since the Savu family has been so fun and warm and just plain good folks!. I am very grateful to have met them - we've had some amazing discussions about life and its mysteries in such a short time. They are threatening to lock me in here so I can stay and speak English with them... so get concerned if I don't return in a year or so.

Awwww, what a beauty!! The Savu's dog, Lisa, who is half wolf and half terrier. Check out the mustache on her!

Eger.... the Alamo of Hungary, and damned fine wine

2007-06-17T02:28:00.001-07:00

Eger is one of the more important towns for wine in Hungary..... kind of like Napa since its known for its red meritage, Bikaver. Its also called Red Bulls blood wine.... and I will tell you more in a bit.Took a 2 hour train ride to Eger from Budapest. I didn't have housing arranged but had a target hostel in mind and figured it would have space on a Tuesday afternoon. In the train station, I was approached by this lovely lady to the left, who called herself..... Kathy (hmmmm, not sure if I believe that). She offered me a room in her apartment so I jumped, especially when she said washing machine and cable TV - yippeee !!!! Its very common for widows , especially, to rent rooms in their house to travellers. I shared a spotless kitchen and bath and had a living with plenty of room - for $15 per night. I ended p going the grocery store and making my own meals for three days and figured I was living on $25 per day, including museum fees. It was awesome... I was in a cheap mood. This pic is of Kathy making me coffee -kinda like Turkish coffee, since it steams up into a container - you boil it on a stove. I had this impulse to go and buy her a cheap drip coffee maker but then thought why, this works fine and she probably would like it more. Laundry is a treat on the road... here is my entire wardrobe except a dress I was wearing , drying in her bathroom. The washer is the white appliance to the right. It drains into the tub. On the left, you can see the hot water boiler.. they are in both the bathrooms and kitchens. When you need hot water, they spring to life..... very antiquated. Her apartment was basically a Communist era building.... kitchen, bath, the living room that had and the last room that she lived in. I think its very brave to take strangers into your house. And she was charming.

Not so charming is how American fast food is creaping into Eastern Europe. Burger King owned Budapest, and there was even a McDonalds in Eger, which is maybe 50,000 people. Not too many overweight kids but enough to see that video games and fast food are having a bad impact.

The shot above is from the castle in the town center. The mineret is the northernmost evidence of the Ottoman/Turkish occupation of Hungary. Behind it you can see the Orthodox Christian Church, and behind that some of the hills surrounding the town with vineyards on them.

Eger was a reallllllly mellow town... and after the frantic energy of Budapest was great. Instead of seeing large scale things , I got a chance to slow down. For example, the picture here is a shot of one of the churches in town reflected in the Camera Obscura at the local teaching college. Its like a big camera - the room on top of the building is darkened and light images from outside are sent to a white table in the room via mirrors. The guide was joking that he was could wear the clock on the tower of the church as a watch. This is the oldest Camera Obscura in Europe, from around 1776, I think.

Pictures of Mary from inside the Orthodox church, as well as the wall of the altar. Pictures of the apostles are always the top row, then pics of New Testament stories follow below. Mary is always to the left of center and Jesus is to the right in Orthodox churches.

The buildings in the distance are Communist era high rises - painted bright colors after the fall of the communist government in 1989. The museum guide said that the buildings spell USSR when viewed from the air. Creepy.
A typical street off the older part of town which the tourists don't usually see. These buildings look alot like houses all over Eastern Europe outside of the Medieval town centers.

The reason that Eger is like the Alamo is that it was the site of a prolongued seige by the Turks in 1552 that the Hungarians ended up winning. The Ottomans had taken over most of Hungary, even Budapest, and Eger was considered the last stand. About 2000 Hungarian troops holed up in the Citadel/castle against a force of about 40,000 Turks, who finally gave up and left. They came back about 40 years later and successfully took the town.

This plaque shows the siege. I especially like how women are portrayed as actively partipating... they are pouring boiling oil on the Turks below. Red meritage is called Bulls Blood in Eger, supposedly because during the seige the Turks saw the Hungarians drinking red wine on the castle ramparts and thought that it was bulls blood - and the Hungarians let them think that so they could be thought of as bad asses.

The original Hungarians (Magyers) came from central Asia and so Hungarian names begin with the family name, then the personal name, very much like eastern Asian countries. I knew that my maternal grandfathers name , Ferenc, was Hungarian, but after a week in Budapest and Eger, I realized its a common name, like Jones. I took this picture of some of the names of the 300 men who died in the castle during the 1552 seige - two are named Ferenc like my grandfather.

A pretty shot of a canel near the town center. I walked around alot. Also went to the local thermal baths. They werent as fancy as Budapest..... more like a water park. But you gotta love this image....a 60 year old woman, overweight, wearing a flowered bathing suit, yellow baseball hat turned backwards, blue wraparound sun glasses and a puca shell necklace. It looked like she got dressed in the dark next to an American rapper.
Y city I've been in..... lots of school groups, which makes sense here for them to be hearing about the historical importance of Eger. I love the head kerchiefs on the girls.

Now on to wine tasting! I didn't have a car to drive around the area, but there was a nifty option within 30 minute walking distance. There is a valley to the southwest of town full of caves. When the Turks approached the city, the townspeople not in the castle lived in these caves. Now, there are about 00 caves that store wine. They also are open for tasting... so you wander up and down the row of caves and can taste for about 25 cents per taste. If you like, you buy. Just bring a bottle and they fill it up with your choice of wine. I got a really nice Bikaver in a 500 ml Diet Coke bottle and had it at home with a bowl of pasta. I liked the cat at this cave.

This gent had some fresh cherries for sale.
A view of the vineyards as I walked home. The pic below has alot going on. There is a McDonalds sign advertising the restaurant a mile away, a Hungarian looking guy walking up the hill, a cross , and some crusty buildings. Captures Hungary to a tee!

Budapest Me!

2007-06-04T09:21:00.000-07:00

Budapest - a GREAT city !!

Here is my first taste of Budapest - the metro escalators are really deep ( the Communists dug one especially deep to use it as a bomb shelter in the Cold War). And they go really really fast.. .I feared for my toes and baggage. Made for a nice breeze though, which I needed.. it was hot!

Buda is the orginal city on the left and is dominated by the castle/palace and cathedral. Its also hilly, as you can see from the picture. I took this picture after hiking up Gellert Hill. Pest is the original city on the left... is flat, and has most of the commerce. The bridge shown here is the beautiful chain bridge.

Took one of the night cruises on the Danube and was very glad I did. The colors were gorgeous. This is the chain bridge at night all lit up.

And here I am in front of the Hungarian Parliment building.

The Money Shot - the Palace in Buda and the Chain Bridge.

What you need to note here is the building lit up at the right end of the Chain Bridge. It used to be a palace but is a fancy pants hotel now. The Pughs stayed here on an HP customer event (boondoggle). Now, look at where I stayed in the next pic.

One of these things is not like the other! I decided to go cheap in Budapest since is was pretty spendy. I had been staying in hostels and pensions with shared baths and showers but a private room. I took the plunge and did the dorm room hostel for 15 Euros a night. This room wasn't too bad till the second night when it filled (8 bunks) with INFANTS who went out to party and got home after 4am. It was pretty funny... the next morning I got up and showered and left , all the while walking around the bodies strewn about and no-one moved. It was like a neutron bomb. Bathrooms were not too clean.. so I told myself I was treating myself in my next stop, Eger, Hungary. And had a nice dinner with a crowd of US and Canadian travellers the last night in Budapest.

This is inside a Serbian church in Budapest. I liked the digital alarm clock next to the priests robes.

This is one of the large indoor markets that were built for the 1,000th anniversary of Hungary in 1896. Its got one of those nifty tiled roofs like some of the churches. The next pic is a stand inside that sold spices, especially peppers and paprika !!

This is from a church carved out of the Gellert hill in Buda. The Communists covered it up during their tenure but its back to being an active church.

George looking refreshed since HE didn't have to hike up Gellert Hill to get this view of the palce in Buda. Danube River to the right.

In the square in front of the St. Istvan cathedral (means Stephen in Hungarian, after their first Christian king), there was a little old fashioned ride for the kids - love the kid on the left... he was mesmorized.

The wall just inside the door of the Matthias Cathedral, the major cathedral on the Buda side of town. Most of these churches are ornately painted inside - just gorgeous.

Went on a silly tour of the underground caves of Buda. They could hold 10,000 people if necessary, for things like treating wounded in WWII. Now there is a silly personal growth wander through the Labrinth. There were statues everywhere and it was dark ... really creepy. George liked the fountain spewing red wine, though.

View of St. Istvan (Stephen, first christian king) and a view of the Parliment from the Buda side of the river.

NOW THE BEST THING EVER !!!!

The Szechenyi Baths in City Park. These are traditional shared sex baths using the naturally thermally heated water .

Yes, guys do stand in the water and play chess. So fun.

Nice shot of the outdoor pools. There were three of them. One cool, with a play area with jets that whisked you in a circle. I just loved watching this one guy laughing with his wife in this area. If you put him in a shiny black suit, he would look like one of the Communist leaders at Statue Park.

The central pool is for laps. The last is a hot pool, 38 degrees C, about hottub temp in the US. This is the one to the left... and my favorite. I would just sit on those steps and people watch. All told, I spent 3.5 hours here... cold pool, sauna, steam room, hot pool, beer, pedicure (with tools that looked like dental instruments)..... rinse and repeat. So far, this is the best thing I have done in Europe.

Inside pools - some have a higher mineral content to be medicinal.

Someone must have snapped a pic of me and my crew in the baths.

COMMUNIST STUFF::::

Took a walking tour featuring the communist history of Hungary. These two shots are from Statue Park where they have moved the communist themed statues to one place. Very cool- I especially liked the red star of flowers in the middle of the park.

One of the old time cars built under communist rule. People waited 5 years on a list to get a car like this. Came in 4 colors- red, blue, white and maybe black. I don't think lime green was an option.

Also went to the House of Terror, a fabulous museum featuring the Nazi and Communist terror and control history in Hungary. Its one of the best museums I have too anywhere - they stage the info in a way that is personal. For example, the room with the theme of Gulag had a carpet that was of Hungary all the way to eastern Soviet Union.... so that you could see how far it was they the Soviets took the Hungarian nationalists that they moved to work camps for decades at a time. The last room had movies running of the last Soviets leaving in 1992, with music in the background that sounded like a 1940s tune about saying goodbye. This museum is housed in the actual building that both the Nazis and Communists used as a headquarters - so the torror rooms in the basement are real. Scary stuff, but really great museum.

Buildings of varying condition next to each other in Buda.

These American ladies from DC sked for my help in finding something before they realized I was not Hungarian. Do I look European yet? I doubt it since my wardrobe practically screams that I was dressed by REI.

Wien There, Done That

2007-06-04T08:38:00.000-07:00

Czech Republic to Vienna, Austria and Slovakia

From Northern CZ, I headed down to Vienna, or Wien, as the locals call it. Pronounced "Veen". So, now reread the title of this section. I am so darned funny.

I was so proud of myself. I stubbornly did not want to backtrack to Prague to get to Vienna.. so I managed to leave from the little town I was in for hiking, transferred 3 times and ended up on a spiffy fast train (below).. got to Vienna in 6.5 hours, less than if I went through Prague.

I snapped this shot to the left a second too late - these ladies were sitting on a bench in rural CZ. Gives you a bit of an idea of how the locals look. Like my grandma, minus the black dress.

On the fast train, I was in a 6 seater cabin. They came to you with coffee and beer - gotta love that.

In Vienna for 4 nights, three days. So much of travelling is about eating.. you gotta eat this, you gotta eat that. I was still listening to that nonsense in Vienna, when I went to a high end recommended cake shop for cake and coffee. I felt overcharged.. George liked it anyways.

I like that they bring you an itty bitty glass of water with your coffee in Vienna.

Nice architecture in Vienna. I didn't know till I got there that Austria was under Communist rule from 1945 to about 1955. Even more reason to revel in the fun pre-communist architecture. Lots of Baroque fancy-pants buildings around town.

Here are the stairs to the top of the tower of St Stephens (I think.. there has been a bunch of them). I try to climb all the towers I can to get a great 360 degree view of the towns. This stairway is typical... narrow, stone, don't go if you fear tight spaces.

Here is a shot of the same cathedral and some nearby buildings reflected in a modern glass building. I liked the juxtiposition. Had to wait 2 days for this shot since it rained and was cold the first two days I was there. Nice colorfully tiled roof - reminds me of Beaune , France and the trip I took with the Pughs, Munshis and Jean.

I must admit that I was not a big fan of Vienna. It took me awhile to figure out why... and besides being at a lowpoint homesickness-wise, I think I realized why. Its all about rich people. Currently, lots of focus on shopping for high end jewelry and clothing. Historically, lots of info about the gigantic palaces and treasures of the Hapsburgs, who ruled over the Austrio-Hungarian for 500 years or so. But I didn't pick up on the history of this family beyond how well they lived and how well Maria Theresa was a procreating for the benefit of the dynasty (she had 16 kids, 11 survived to adulthood, Marie Antoinette was one of them, sold off to Louis of France).

Shot of the edge of one of the caskets in the royal burial crypt. All the biggies were there.. Maria Teresa and her hubby, and Franz Joseph and his Lady Diana precursor, Empress Elizabeth (aka Sissy).

At some point, it struck me that visiting Vienna, for me, would be like making a trip to visit Beverly Hills. Which I would have and did do in my 20's, but not now.

Shot from inside one of the courtyards of the Hofburg Palace. I had just been through the Royal Treasury and it was very cool . Its got crowns and religious icons and clothing and loads of stuff going back to 1100. Some of the crowns had sapphires and rubies as big as my knuckle on them.. and not all prettified, kinda raw still. Some of the clothing from bishops and investments into religious societies were embroidered with gold and silver threading. Really beautiful stuff.

I stayed at a pension about 20 minutes walking from the old town center. It was adorable. Had a private room with shared bath and showers down the hall. The main hallway was lined with hundreds of plants - very charming. Here is my host and gardener, Mr. Gebrial.

Okay, so I did like a few things in Vienna. Like the classic coffee houses (not Starbucks, who are all over the place testing the water in central and eastern europe right now). Here is a pic inside Cafe Hawelka. Rick Steves had described it as Trotsky-esque - and he was right. Filled with people on a rainy afternoon. You sit on couches reading papers that are strapped to wooden frames so that you can't steal them. I went two days in a row to read the International Herald Tribune (the international English paper that the NY Times publishes). I love that in this pic you can actually see the smoke in the air!! With a cup of coffee, the paper, sitting on a couch, all I was missing was my jammies and Atticus curled up on my feet to make it like my normal Sunday routine at home.

In front of my pension - I mean there is the door on the left , I saw a woman walking a Golden. When I asked if I could pet him, she answered with American English. Maureen and Paul Kruger are ex-pats working in Vienna. The pup is Hudson. After chatting for awhile, Maureen said that they were having a friend over to dinner and would I like to join them. Oh man would I , I was very homesick in Vienna. So I went to the opera that night but still made it over to dinner. The Vienna State Opera was good - Don Carlos by Verdi. But I had bought standing room tickets for 3.5 euro - so cheap! But the opera was very slow paced and was tracking to 4 hours, so I bailed at halftime and went to the Krugers for dinner - much more lively !!

A quick pic after dinner at the Krugers. My camera is new and I couldn't figure out why it wasn't working - until the next day when I remembered I had it set for internal shots at the opera before I came over to dinner. Maureen is on the right, and Magdalena, a friend of the Krugers from Poland, is on the left. She was charming.... we had a bi-lingual (german and english) conversation about why bad American music from the 7ös is so hot in Poland. Favorite Magdelena quote..." Bee Gees - Super!!". Please note that both George Clooney AND ATTICUS DJANGO are represented here Maureen is holding a pic of Atty that I am travelling with. Pathetic, ain't it?

This is a picture from that dinner party - whew, it was fun! Actually, this is from the Dutch section of the Kuntz art museum - I just liked how the painting showed folks just having a good time. Except the dog on the bottom - he looks cranky. I love Dutch art = it took me a trip to Amsterdam to visit with the Pughs to realize that all of that "boring" art like fruits, and flowers and people partying was actually a little slice of life from the 1600's. Much of this art was funded by the newly wealthy trading class that was Protestant - whereas in the past, before the Reformation, the Catholic church had all the big bucks (can you say Indulgences, Martin Luther?) so art was about religious themes.

And then - SLOVAKIA! Vienna is 4 hours from Budapest - but only an hour from Bratislova, Slovakia. So, I decided to get off the train in for a half day to see what the other half of the former Czechoslovakia looked like. I expected to find more of the Communist footprint - Slovakia hasn't had as mad a rush to Westernization as the Czech Republic has.

On the hour train ride, I had a great chat with Peter and Silvika (Silvia). Silvia was pretty good with English and translated for Peter when he didn't know a word. They were a great help in getting me off the train, to the office to check my luggage while I strolled the town, changing my money to Slovakian currency and getting me on the right bus to the old town center. As you can see, Peter also carried my big bag up and down the many stairs in the Bratislava train station. It was very cute - just before we hit a stairway, his aunt would say something and you just know it was "carry her bag". Peter made a point of saying that Hungarian men are known to be gentlemen (he is from the area near Eger in NE Hungary). He also mentioned that he's quite the Casanova. Silvia described her nephew as "Talk Talk Non-stop! They were charming!

Here is one of the older streets in Bratislava - the town is now about 300,000, I think, and the capital of Slovakia. Most tourists hang out in the old old part of town. You know you are there when you see the big Michael's gate, which was originally on the wall surrounding the original city, shown in this picture.
I only saw a few things to remind me of the Soviets. One was this pretty bridge - apparently , they tore down a big section of the old town, and built this monstrosity right next to the cathedral where the Hungarian Kings were coronated for centuries. Also saw some large apartment buildings from the train. Many here and in Poland and the CZ are painted bright orange and yellow hues. I bet its because the locals couldn't paint them fast enough from the concrete gray they had before the Communists left.

And speaking of painting, maybe to reinforce the love of color, little kids were painting up a storm under the overpass of that bridge. Very cute.
These windows in a crusty old building were all painted with Van Gogh images - dunno why but I liked it.

Walking back to the train station, I came upon a few hundred kids dressed up in various Slavic ethnic outfits. They were playing instruments and singing - this pick shows a group right in front of the Slovakian White House - where the president lives. Very charming.