Monkey Caravan

The Library Project (Video)

2010-12-31T15:00:00.000-08:00

Kerry and I just put the finishing touches on our stop-motion capture of the library donation we assisted in Lantian county (outside Xi'an, China) this past fall.

It was a perspective changing experience, and I hope this inspires others to travel, and to help encourage and enable education.

http://www.library-project.org/

Special thanks to Pogo for allowing the use of his track "Whisperlude"!

Tandem Bike + Giant Wall = Pretty Awesome.

2010-10-29T14:21:00.000-07:00

From the night we arrived in Xi'an, it was tough not to keep getting drawn back to the amazing wall. It surrounds what was the entire city, and is now the city's urban center. At night, it is lined with lights and when walking around town, it is a constant and illuminated backdrop to the city's character. During the day, its surrounding parks are filled with groups performing various Chinese operas to largely older crowds, and you would see people riding bikes along the wall. As soon as I learned we could ride bikes on the wall, and around the entire wall seeing the whole city, I was determined to do it. What made it even more quirky and cute was that you could rent tandem bikes! I'd never tried a tandem bike but have always found them to be cute and absolutely ridiculous so of course, once we made it to the wall, that's was the sweet ride for us! :D

We had the mid-day heat and air pollution to keep us company during our little adventure which further enhanced with the fact that our magical bicycle weighed a cool 3 metric tons, had oil as viscous as molasses, and poorly inflated tires. To put yourself in the moment, imagine you are peddling a rusty Harley Fat-Boy in hundred degree heat with a sack full of dust on your head. In other words, it was pretty fantastic! We didn't let the complications keep us from our destiny, so we peddled on, stopping every so often to down another few bottles of water, (which we seemed to be sweating out faster than we could drink it), catch our breath, and take in the views.

There was so much to see. We were riding around the perfect symbol of the China of today. This immense and ancient wall riding between sky scrapers and temples, was the old and the new. The poor and the rich. We smelled the various food vendors' mind blurring and delicious smells. We listened to the sounds of the opera singers and musicians as one group faded into another on our ride, and all the while were huffing and puffing for air as we neared heat exhaustion and our lungs burned from the particulates in the air. It kind of summed up what is so great, and what is so difficult about the China we experienced.

All-in-all it was not an easy ride, but it was incredibly fulfilling. There was so much to take in that it took a little while to just let the sensations we had absorbed sink in. We didn't really do much that night, (did I mention we were kind of exhausted?). More savory foods, a bunch of water, and a lot of reflection back to both the recent book donation, and the experience of riding our first, and perhaps last, tandem bicycle on the wall in Xi'an. This was the last thing in our to-do list for Xi'an, and it was a nice way to end our time there. The next day we just relaxed and took in the every-day version of Xi'an. We had a nice last meal with Tom, and the following morning, caught our ride to the Xi'an airport to head back towards Beijing for the final stop on our trip.

The Library Project

2010-10-28T16:22:00.000-07:00

This trip to China was really built around three things. Seeing as much of the amazing cultural sites and people as we could was of course one of those things. We wanted to spend time and catch up with old friends, and we wanted to help set up a library in one of the rural communities. Over the years, we have donated time/effort/money to our friend Tom's NGO The Libary Project, I designed that logo actually ;) But we both had always wanted to get more hands on at some point. During our travels in Laos, we got our first taste of delivering books and school supplies, those wonderous little springboards of learning and curiosity, to the kids in villages, so to say we were excited for this day was an understatement.

It was a pleasant drive with two Library Project employees, their driver, and two high school students who, like us, were volunteering for the book donation. Our little van wound along the countryside over the small mountains on a clear warm day. After a few hours of driving we got close to the village. Once there, there were a few interesting sites that surprised me. One was a little glimpse of growing up in the Midwest! Almost every home was drying corn cobs outside their houses. In general I was a bit surprised to see how common corn was in China. They tend to just eat it steamed on the cob, enjoying the sweet naturally grassy flavors, but this corn was being dried to feed the household's animals, it was a little thing, but something about it was really comforting and charming. I liked the village already! It was a fairly barren and dusty place with occasional gaps in terrain and buildings treating you with nice vistas of the surrounding hilly countryside. It was a cute rural community and our first real chance to see something other than city life in China. It did make me wish we had more time than we did so we could have spent more time in more rural locations.

Tom's amazing team helped organize even the smallest detail so in the end, we were tasked with manual labor and documenting the occasion which was great fun! We snapped photos non-stop and ended up with thousands of strong images that will be used by the project in promotional and archival endeavors.

There were two libraries to be set up that day and Kerry and I were split into the two teams. Kerry was to go to a smaller school with only four students and I was assigned to the larger school. Kerry's donation initially had a delivery hiccup, but they were able to get things sorted and have a successful setup so quickly that she and her team came back and joined us to set up the larger school's book donation. After setting up shelves, toys, and globes, we stamped all of the books and Tom's team taught the teachers and school leaders how to manage and maintain the collection. Once the prep was done, the kids were allowed to come and start digging in! In an instant, it was a flurry of excitement! It is truly a fantastic thing to see, kids born in an impoverished community getting an opportunity to exercise their curiosity and thirst for knowledge. Their energy was excited, playful, and definitely contagious!

Around noon, a majority of the kids wandered off in different directions towards their homes for a mid-day meal, but there was a painful part of that moment too, for not all of the children were leaving. Not every family can afford to feed their children more than once or twice a day, so while their friends all ran home to fill their bellies, they were stuck at the school to sit and wait until classes would start again. Trying to keep the blue moment from marking the day for the kids, we began to play some games with them. It was a successful diversion and soon everyone was fully engaged and the lunch time breezed by, but it was a sobering moment of reality for me.

The afternoon was spent playing games with the younger of the 100 school children, helping the kids with the books, and answering the inevitable collection of questions from the teachers that Kerry and I had become used to answering as we traveled the country. "How much money do you make?", "Where are you from?", "Do you like Chinese food?", "How much did your tattoo cost?". It was comical and pretty much identical each time, haha! It was a little exposure to the differences in our societal mores for sure.

The day was capped with a nice ceremony where the school had speeches and performances for us, the principal signed the presentation documentation, and we mounted a little sign on one of the book shelves. It was a little hard to leave, for us and the kids. They had so much fun, and got so attached, especially to the two high-school girls who volunteered. There were a tears shed by the kids, but in the end everyone was really happy with the successful day.

We had been super curious to try yangrou paomo, a mutton based soup that Xi'an is famous for and the team was very kind and took us to a tiny local shop that served it. It was clear the shop wasn't used to Western visitor. There was a charming moment when even the cooks in the kitchen came out and nervously asked if they could take a picture with me. We could tell the yangrou paomo was really meant more for a cooler time of year, but it was a hearty and happy bowl of yum. The mutton was tender and flavorful in a richly seasoned, slightly oily broth which was then filled out with a crumbled flat bread that had the effect of dumplings. There was a nice and flavorful chili paste and pickled garlic cloves as condiments which added a little zing and acid to cut the hearty delicious soup. After we finished our meal, we traveled back to the office, shared contact information, hugs, and our goodbyes with the team and volunteers who had shared the special day with us.

The Fascinating Terracotta Warriors

2010-10-27T15:25:00.000-07:00

We awoke early to meet with our driver for the day. She and her husband were regular drivers for The Library Project. We had the wife of the duo that day and she was a hoot. She didn't speak a lick of English, and our Mandarin was really poor to horribly poor, but that didn't stop her from talking for about 30 minutes solid to us... we just kept smiling and nodding. Once we arrived at the site of the famed Terracotta Army on the grounds of the absolutely massive mausoleum of the first Qin Emperor we found a wonderful English speaking guide who worked for the museum there. She was extremely knowledgeable, friendly, patient, and only cost us 100rmb which given the service was a bargain. Without her guidance, I'm not sure we would have gotten nearly as much out of the visit. The active archeological site is broken up into four main buildings. Three are buildings built around the massive pits where the warriors are being uncovered and the fourth is a museum. It is difficult to try and describe with a few words how massive some of this stuff is...

The first and largest pit, which is a hanger-like structure is a dwarfing open 16,000sq. meters, (that's over 52,000sq. feet)! The warriors are arranged by rank, and are all hand-crafted and truly unique, and not just in the "oh, one eyebrow is slightly different from the next because of hand imperfections", they are all different shapes and sizes, ranks. Some brave, some hungry, some tall, some short, and all shattered into thousands of fragments that archeologists pour countless hours gluing carefully back into their original form.

With some of the newer excavation, they have found ways of preserving what is really fantastic coloring of each figure. We all see the images and imagine that they were always that gray-ish hue, but actually they were all artistically painted in vibrant colors that with new technology we are all finally able to appreciate. Only a few parts have been treated with this new technique, and hopefully any new additional digging will net some even more spectacular works. Another surprising thing was that there were several other things other than warriors buried in the various pits including very intricate bronze chariots detailed to the point of having articulating parasols, rare birds, and other curious-at-the-time animals.

The site was found by accident, as most of these things usually are, by a group of farmers digging a well. One of those farmers, Yang Junpeng, is still living and the museum employs him which I thought was really cool! We got a picture of him signing the really nice little book we purchased there.

Once we got back into Xi'an, we met back up with Tom and took in the bizarrely white "fog" that surrounds the city from his high-rise in the corner of the city. I say "fog" because there was a very curious moment which made us a bit careful about calling it what it was, pollution from the massive coal burning operations. The government has done a fantastic job portraying the city as fogy, and the population, not having been exposed to actual fog was none-the-wiser. When we were describing San Francisco as cool from the fog, we got confused expressions from the people we were talking to, and had to recover by explaining that our fog in San Francisco, is "cool" fog... not like their "warm" fog... It was a little strange, but in the end, we didn't want to offend anyone. We were cautioned by our friend Tom that many people in China tend to take negative discussions about the country, even if they had no hand or control over it, very personally... but let me say, that "fog" is brutal on the body. Each and every day, we would go to bed with burning eyes, lungs that ached, and would wake up with sore throats. Tom goes to the doctor regularly just to see if he is sick because the regular symptoms are the same as having a rough chest cold so he can't be too sure! Crazy but true!

There was a great treat when walking back through town was to go through a local park. The park was full of apparatus for exercise and stretching, populated by many middle-aged and elderly folks keeping fit. It made me wonder if our culture here in America would ever adopt having jungle gym equipment built for adults in the parks in stead of all of the things being meant for young children... There were also several ping-pong tables set up outside which really got my attention. I watched for a few minutes when one really friendly fellow walked over and chatted us up practicing his English. Sensing my interest, he asked if I'd be willing to play a little. Tom and Kerry were both tired and I think not really very interested in getting their clocks cleaned on the tables, but even if I was doomed to failure, I couldn't pass up the rare opportunity, so I agreed. One nice guy let me borrow his paddle and spot at a table and while I certainly didn't take every point, (we broke even), there was one specific set up and slam that got a lot of smiles and head shakes from the old timers which really made me happy. It was great fun to play outside, and if I hadn't been so zonked from spending all day at the terracotta grounds, I would have played all day!

Remnants of the silk road.

2010-10-03T10:31:00.000-07:00

Xi'an rests at starting point for the northern stretch of the silk road. Thanks to that, it has long had a rich influence from the cultures and peoples from the other pieces of the long fabled trade route. There is a wonderful Muslim district in the heart of the city where there is a vast mosque. I found it most fascinating for its architecture which was decidedly Chinese, but every once in a while you'd be reminded where you were with either arabic lettering written on a sign, or you'd pass by a caretaker wearing Muslim garb.

After the mosque, we wondered the streets and alleyways. The sights, sounds, and smells were all very different from what we had seen in China at that point. Things seemed a little more put together. Lots of orderly stalls, and the smells were from great flat breads being baked in clay ovens and roasting lamb.

Even the markets were catering to a different crowd. There were head-scarves being sold with the clothing, and the spices and vegetables were all just a little more Central Asian. It was a really funny thing to cross one street, and immediately be greeted with the modern Han Xi'an world. The Muslim district really was a tiny little self contained world tucked away. It was a great place to explore, and the memory of our little taste of that area lingered pleasantly for quite some time.

Later in that afternoon our friend Tom got a call from another Tom. This new Tom, Tom Honeycutt was another ex-pat working in education and taking some time off to travel around China as well as make a trip back to the US to see if he could still manage his way around the States after having spent so much time in China.

That evening provided some great opportunity to get to know each other and have some great food while sharing some beers. One fantastic small world moment was at the end of the night while we were sharing traveling tales, Tom Honeycutt asked what I did for a living and I mentioned that I made video games. He then followed up by asking if I made things like that game Chocolatier from PlayFirst. After I picked up my jaw from the dirty floor, I replied that not only was it like Chocolatier, I had worked on that game. He then asked if I knew a guy named Jack Murphy, and I do! In fact, he and I have worked at the last two companies together. I sit just a few desks away from him. Well, it turns out, Tom Honeycutt and Jack go back a long long way and have been great friends since first grade. So out of the billions and billions of folks I could have run into and made friends with in China, it happened to be with a childhood friend of a colleague and buddy. Definitely a small world moment, and I can't tell you how much fun it was to come back and watch the reaction on Jack's face as I relayed the news of our run-in. :)

Our first moments in Xi'an

2010-09-21T23:25:00.000-07:00

Our flight out of Beijing was pretty simple and we arrived late in the evening in the Xi'an airport. We wanted to travel overland, but given the brevity of our trip and our inability to sleep on bumpy overnight trains, we opted to fly. The flight gave us the added opportunity of meeting in the airport with our great friend Tom Stader as his flight arrived within 30 minutes of ours. He was just flying back to Xi'an, his home base in China, after giving talks at both a TED conference as well as at the Swiss Pavilion in the World Expo in Shanghai! He has been traveling quite a bit helping to support his ever-growing NGO The Library Project. We've supported them over the years, I designed that logo ;), and it is just amazing to see how well it is doing now and moreover, the great impact it has, but more on The Library Project in a few posts.

Once at the airport, Tom helped us snag a cab for a great price and we headed into town to help fill all of our hungry bellies, kick back, and relax our tired bodies with a few drinks. We grabbed some really fantastic street food cooked by a perfectly surly and shirtless grill master outside of Tom's apartment building. Our meal consisted of spicy yet deeply flavored crawdads, skewered chicken wings, skewered beef slices, pickled cucumber salad which was unreal, marinated tofu disks, and a few bottles of local brew. It was yet another moment when the Chinese street food more than delivered! It was dirt cheap, and I'm salivating just thinking about it now. You had to eat the crawdads with supplied plastic gloves. I should add though, the gloves for the crawdads were great for keeping some of the hot oil from getting all over you, but it was better in concept than practice since the hot oils would just eat through the gloves. By the time you were done cracking your crawdads and pealed off your gloves, your hands would be saturated with the savory oils. You just had to remember: DO NOT TOUCH YOUR EYES until you could really wash your hands. Not just typical China, "damp them in a bucket and then dry them with the old rag" wash them, but soak them and use hard-core soap wash them. Any less and you'd be crying for weeks. I'm sure there is no regulation in the amount of spice they put on those things. They were delicious, but that heat could really really build up.

While we were hanging out at the street stalls, we had our first of the many Xi'an encounters with expats from around the globe. Our friend Tom is very well known in the area, and given the small size of the expat community, it was very frequent that we'd run into some of his fellow compatriots. That night we ran into all sorts of folks, mostly teachers, from South Africa, England, and the US, a few were even from Chicago and Ohio which made for some funny common stories from our younger days in the Midwest.

We wondered all around the North-West corner of town visiting a few hot spots after our food. One had a rocking band with a bassist that outside of that setting would have looked very mild mannered and demure, but with her band and bass, she tore it up. In the last stop of the night we spent some time getting to reconnect with our old friend Tom and to learn more about Eugene, a teacher from South Africa, and Erica from Ohio at a very colorful bar with a rather hilarious drink menu we didn't end up testing. It was a really great way to be welcomed into our new stop in China!

Next up, with the rising of the day's sun, we get our first experience with Xi'an's "fog"!

Cheers,
Isaac

The World's Best Flea Market? It Just May Be.

2010-09-17T07:39:00.001-07:00

Kerry and I love shopping in crazy outdoor markets when we travel. Often we don't buy anything, it's just the atmosphere that is authentic and electric and the possibility that we could find something special that makes it so cool. So when we read about Panjiayuan we knew it was a must-do for our stay in Beijing.

It was impossible to really capture how big and sprawling this place is. Over the ages it's been added to, and it shows. One section will be blanket after blanket, row after row of people hawking various wunderkammer and antiques (although most are fakes). Next to that you might find three stories of row shops housing jade sculpture, or maybe musical instruments. Then rows, and floors of furniture. Then you will find artists by the dozens if not hundreds followed by even more fields of other sundry crafts and antique-this-and-that. But it is the art I need to elaborate on. China, and Beijing more specifically, surprised and impressed us yet again. While there is a lot of calligraphy and ink painting that one would expect to find from Chinese artists in stalls, the oil painters and sculptors were as surprising as they were talented. Much of the subject matter seemed to be split between various communist themes and image studies of China's cultural past including portraits of minority figures and weathered streets. There are some famous and successful artists coming out of Beijing's art world and the most successful of them are in many cases being directly copied by some of the younger or less successful artists. While some were direct copies, others took painting styles and themes and came up with twists all their own which in some cases was absolutely brilliant. We ended up buying a few of those paintings and spent hours going through the hundreds and hundreds of amazing oils which were at prices that made you almost feel guilty of stealing. Here is a quad-shot of our four favorite artists we ran into. The older master had both booth and a shop and in his shop displayed a truly massive stretched oil painting of a Chinese ceremony of some sort which was rendered so well, and was just so beautiful it would have been a show stopper in any museum in the world. We had no idea where we would show such a painting or how to transport it for that matter, but whatever he was charging it was worth ten times more I'm sure.

One curious thing I noticed was that at several of the row end caps people were selling pairs of walnuts. I'm sure you've all seen the "Chinese Health Balls"sold in random shops in the US before. They are usually chrome or enameled with little chimes inside that you roll in your palms for some esoteric benefit. Well, here, those balls are definitely sold, but what seemed to be more popular were these walnuts. They seemed to like the ones that were really round, about the same size, and heavily pitted with very deep pores. They made a very unique grindy-slidy kind of sound as someone walked around rolling them this way and that in a palm as they perused the stalls.

That night we wondered back the 798 district for a nom-tastic dinner at a pseudo-Western cafe filled with local art figures and ex-pats from France and elsewhere. Before calling it a night we wandered with no direction through the galleries and surreal sculptures found everywhere on the grounds tucked in corners, hanging off of buildings and in some cases in your way. Many of them are large fiberglass pieces painted in a solid coat of high-gloss red.

One artist in particular that blew my mind into little bits of happy was the brilliant work from Xian Yang, a Chinese artist living in the US. The solo exhibition was made from sculptural images often including multicolored strings creating transformative outlines connecting one shape to another. The work centered around this gigantic sculpture portraying the interdependence between China and the US.

It was nice to see the 798 district at night because it really came alive. During the day it is a fairly placid place, but at night, there are concerts, art openings, and a lot more foot traffic with people milling about and sitting amongst the sculpture strewn alleys and courtyards.

Finding our Beijing

2010-09-17T07:27:00.000-07:00

Kerry and I moved into a hotel that was adjacent to a really surprising neighborhood in Beijing that we felt right at home in. The district is called 798, and it is the epicenter of Beijing's exploding contemporary art scene. The massive district is chock full of galleries, shops, studios, cafes, and the some-still-functioning relics of the districts history as an industrial hub. You'd walk down one street full of pipes with steam leaking up in the air or on the ground, crazy machinery, and then turn the corner into a 40,000 square foot monstrosity of a loft-style gallery filled with a mix of the beautiful, experimental, subversive, and sometimes ugly. It was the subversive that surprised us the most. In a country so controlled and censored, (we haven't even been able to post to our blog, this has been done in proxy thanks to Marc and Lisa, THANKS AGAIN!), it was really surprising and refreshing to see so many artists able and willing to speak out. There was something about it that felt a bit more genuine to to Kerry and me. While you always find artists, particularly student artists, trying to speak out against a governing power in subversive ways, it just seemed more honest and brave here in China's evolving core in Beijing.

We took breaks now and again in one cafe or another soaking in the art-rich atmosphere. It was fun to see even in the walkways, there were tons of fashion photographers with their crew and models posing in front of the galleries and sculptures.

Once evening started to set in, we headed towards the day's real goal which was to go to a very highly regarded restaurant called Da Li Courtyard, a wonderful Yunnan cuisine place in a great old hutong.

With the encouragement and funding from Jon Laws to make us get out and do a really extravagant dinner while we were in China, we eventually picked this place, and we were definitely not disappointed! It would be hard to have a more romantic meal. It was just beautiful, delicious, and charming from beginning to end. There were seven courses that night, (it changes with the chef's whim), and is a prix fix menu only. Our favorite and most surprising dish turned out to be the first. It was strips of tofu skin and mint leaves covered in an utterly confounding to identify light sauce that was just mind-blowingly tasty. Each dish had a great deal of new and bold flavors for us to try often including lemon grass, small portions of some protein, and some spice.

Once we were fat and happy, we lingered for a while with their unique drinks made from Yunnan rice-based spirits, muddled mint, water, sugar, and muddled lemon chunks making for a citrusy mojito-esque glass of awesomesauce. They made for warm glows and happy moods after a nice meal.

Da Li Courtyard is located near a strip of shops and eateries. We then let ourselves float from shop to shop walking off our large meal and had a really lovely time taking in the vibrant night-life of the neighborhood.

As tended to be the case throughout the trip, we ended our day with a harrowing adventure to find a cab home. After about 3:30pm, it is near impossible to get a cab anywhere in China... In the early evening there is usually a shift change as well as a mix between drivers who don't want to pick up Westerners, (the rumor is that they are afraid we are frustrating and angry to deal with so they avoid us), and that they don't want to drive through rush hour which particularly in Beijing, is just ridiculous. Once we did find an empty+willing to work with us+willing to drive through town cab, we then had the challenge of trying to explain where we were going. Showing them an address and a map only worked a small percent of the time. It often had to be augmented with my stilted and limited Mandarin and charades. We found ourselves changing our plans over and over again to do everything we could to avoid the cab-ventures and I'll be incredibly happy to leave that part of China behind. It does get hard sometimes to remember that you must keep a smile on your face to keep from making your chances of reeling in a cab even harder. Taxi travel here is most definitely more complicated and challenging than anywhere else in the world we've visited. All of that being said, the little challenge to find our end-of-day cab did little to squash our high spirits after such a lovely day and night. With the art-district and great meal, we really found our swing in Beijing.

Summer Palace

2010-09-16T08:19:00.000-07:00

We woke up fairly early, still feeling residual "wake up early" benefits from jet lag, and after a nice bao ze, (steamed pork bun with vinegar and chilis), we headed toward the summer palace. The summer palace has a very troubled history thanks in no small part to empress dowager Cixi. She spent gobs of China's funds on the place at a time when the money was needed for the navy to help support the nation. She played a huge roll in the downfall of China into a place of deep corruption at that time. All that being said, the place is absolutely gorgeous! :)

Kerry, Mitch, and I strolled around the lush grounds until we found a nice little gazebo with a few old men singing and played a nice leisurely game of Scrabble with the board and tiles Kerry and I had thoughtfully tucked into our packs this trip. That little slice of time, just sitting listening to the birds and singing, gentle breeze, and slow game made for perhaps the best moment in the whole trip up to that point. It was just such a peaceful place to spend time.

After we wrapped up our game, we decided to head upwards toward the "incense tower" which overlooks a nice sized lake some distance below. Along the way we passed a vast collection of older Chinese folks playing instruments and singing in pockets of shade.

Eventually, we meandered up to the summit and began exploring the shrine seated there.

The view from the top was a really nice place to see vast expanses in China's sea of new, the skyscrapers and hazy sky, as well as the clusters of shrines and classically Chinese boats peddling around the waters. Looking up the hills you'd find green on green, and tall pagodas, and in the valley spilling out to the horizon was nothing but modern high-rise after modern high-rise.

After some popsicles, and some chill time from the heat to take in the site, we headed down the slope and finished out the day with a nice boat ride to the center island which housed an informative little museum which gave a fairly detailed account of the last emperor and the above mentioned empress dowager. The summer palace was definitely the most impressive and beautiful historical site in Beijing, and made for a really nice day!

China, Day 3

2010-09-13T08:02:00.000-07:00

Our day started with another crazy cheap, super yummy, meal for breakfast. It was a delicious, saucy, crepe-ish kind of savory thing with a sort of crunchy thing inside. It was full of yum, and a totally new flavor/texture experience which is always fun!

We decided to explore some of the hutongs and the surrounding area. The hutongs are the old-China lanes in the heart of Beijing that represent a small little slice of the historic past that "the people" have decided was worth hanging onto. In the heart of the area are two large historic structures left over from the Mongolian occupation of the city, the drum tower and bell tower. They've been updated and evolved with successive emperors. Once we ascended the kinda-epic stairway in the drum tower we were treated with a tremendous view of the city and the serendipity of a drum demonstration! The performance was pretty awe inspiring. It was five drummers on five perhaps two meter tall drum stands who played very complex rhythms and utilized very inventive techniques to make some unusual percussive sounds. I loved it! :D The pain in the butt was the fact that my loner rechargeable batteries from Mitch died moments into the performance, doh?! So I didn't get a very good audio recording of it. My memory and some of the video we took will have to suffice.

After the tower we started wondering around the hutongs. They were quiet, meandering, and full of charm. We snapped away and had a really nice time just soaking up the feel of the place.

The little lanes were full of these little peaks into even smaller little walkways that lead into the individual residences. They almost always had a bike or two, and makeshift boards and wires patching up decades if not centuries of wear and use. It was definitely, at least at that point, the most peaceful area we had explored in China.

We ended our walk at an area called ho hai which is a pretty touristy but still very cute area full of roof decks and views of roofs and the adjacent ponds. We grabbed a beer, took in the breeze pushing around lanterns, and watched the rickshaws peddle around the travelers up and down the lanes.

Our evening found for us yet another special meal, this time in the form of Chinese hot pot. Mitch and LiNa took us to a very popular local spot where you sit and play board games, (Chinese checkers, Chinese chess, or cards), before your table is ready which was pretty awesome. Once we got in, the meal was really delicious and brought with absolutely superb service. The hotpot meal itself consisted of veggies and meats dropped in either a spicy or mild soup that you then dip in various sauces before eating. Also, I found a baijiu (local spirits made from sorghum), that wasn't completely unpalatable, so win! Ha ha.

China Day 2

2010-09-13T06:54:00.000-07:00

Our second day in Beijing was also a good one. For breakfast Li Na made corn porridge and we ate left over meat pies from the night before. Then Mitch, Isaac and I headed out to Tian'anmen Square. we took the subway there and although it threatened to rain, it just stayed in that blissfully overcast breezy pre-rain state all day. Tian'anmen itself was interesting to see given the history, but otherwise it's just a large open square. the line to see Mao's tomb stretched over several blocks so we decided not to go in. Mitch said that he's actually never seen it in the 4 years he's lived here; the line is always crazy.
After walking through the square we ended up at the gate for the Forbidden City. we walked through a fair bit of the "city", and it was good to see but quite a bit of it looked the same, and we were pretty much only allowed in the courtyards and gardens rather than inside the rooms. The imperial garden itself was ok but nothing compared to any of the temple gardens in Japan. We actually had a hard time not comparing the aesthetics of the buildings, gates and gardens to those of Japan. In our opinion Japan is much more beautiful, but it was absolutely worth it to see for ourselves what these spaces actually look like, since previously we only had Chinese epic period movies to go by.

Two really funny things that I didn't get photos of: The restroom right outside the Forbidden City had a gigantic gift shop inside of it (didn't feel it was appropriate to take a photo) and the audio guides had a languages available section listed, one of which was Esperanto (didn't think to take a photo until it was too late). One other interesting detail was that there were some groups of Chinese domestic tourists who wanted and in some cases did, take photos either of us, or with us. That happened in Japan too, but it is always fun to observe fascinations with other nationalities and races.

We found a steamed bun place for lunch that was yummy, and once again Mitch saved the day by ordering for us; the menu was all in Chinese with no photos or display food, so it would have been really hard for us to order on our own. The meal for the 3 of us including 6 orders of dumpling plates, a cucumber salad, and 3 bottled waters was just under $3 total. Food in China is cheap!

After lunch Mitch took us to an area with department stores full of items for rich folks, and we had a beer and walked down an alley where several vendors were selling skewers of wriggling scorpions, dead starfish, spider, bugs, etc for grilling. After chilling for awhile we decided to catch a cab to head somewhere else for about an hour before Li Na got home. That's when things got weird.

For the next 1 1/2 hours, we could not get a cab. we saw tons of empty cabs that wouldn't pull over for us, and the 2 that did pull over asked where we were going and then dismissed us when we told them the university district (which was pretty far away, not a tiny fare). We also saw some Chinese people get turned away from cabs, so it didn't appear to be solely because we are foreigners. Mich said that hasn't happened ever before and he was completely baffled. We proceeded to walk (while attempting to hail cabs the entire way) for the 1 1/2 hours until we gave up and found a bus that took us somewhat in the right direction. Of course it was rush our at that point, so it took us almost another hour on the bus. Once we were off the bus we again attempted to hail a cab and had several empty ones pass us before one FINALLY stopped. Crazy! By the time we got home we were all like "what just happened? Is the US at war with China all of the sudden?" Soooooo weird.

The evening was redeemed by a delicious meal of Peking Duck (they call it Beijing duck here, hee hee), along with Sichuan green beans, Kung Pow chicken, Mao's favorite dish of pork belly, and duck soup. we waddled home and went to bed fat and happy. With sore feet.

China!

2010-09-08T05:23:00.001-07:00

After an uneventful flight we arrived in Beijing on Sunday evening and had dinner at Mitch and Li Na's apartment. They live in the University district which is a really cute neighborhood, and the weather was nice but a bit humid by San Francisco standards (Mitch had told us it was not humid at all, but we found out that was by midwest standards). Anyway, Li Na made a delicious dish of stewed chicken with potatoes and homemade flat bread named laobing. It was yummy! Afterwords we walked around the neighborhood and looked at the night market where the vendors sell fruit and vegetables. Since Mitch was still jetlagged as well we all headed to bed at 8pm.

We woke up super early the next morning and went out for street food breakfast. It was AMAZING. We had fried dough "donuts" without sugar, soup and some pork steamed buns named baozi.

Then we went to the Chinese hospital attached to the university so Mitch could get his bandages changed. Bandages you say? Yep, poor Mitch tripped and put his hand through two, TWO glass windows the day before we arrived. So his right hand needed a bunch of stitches and he has a splint for the tendon in his thumb, and is all covered in bandages for the next 2 weeks or so.

After breakfast Mitch took us to an underpass near his place where senior citizens dance every morning for exercise. It was quite a production with live music and props, and got some fun video and photos of it. It was just ridiculously happy and we all walked away with big smiles.

We then took a bus to the Badaling section of the Great Wall. We got there around 11:30 and the sun was scorching. It was also a bit further away from the ever present pollution in Beijing that looks like fog, so that made the sun feel stronger also. We walked up quiet a few stairs and got a terrific view of the wall. In the photo of the 2 of us you can see an enormous sign on the hillside celebrating the 2008 Olympics. We found it a bit cheesy and would have preferred a photo without it, but they put it in the most scenic spot so that it would be in all of the photos. As Mitch said "Hey, this is the REAL China- it's good to have it in the photo!" hmmmm. He might be right. Anyways, it was a fun day and we had a great time.

After a late lunch of noodle soup we went back to the apartment to cool off and wait for Li Na to get home from work.

For dinner, we had beef filled "pie" from a really nice woman that runs a shop that Mitch and Li Na have been going to forever. The woman was so sweet, she even brought us several free soups to try. For a perfect ending to a great day, we walked around outside near the canals and watched people sing karaoke from portable TV/Audio set ups that some enterprising people run on the sidewalk. It was dark so unfortunately we didn't get any photos of that. You will need to use your imagination for that one.

We got a good nights sleep and we are off to see Tian'anmen Square and the Forbidden City today. Plus, it's supposed to thunderstorm, so things might get interesting today.....
Thanks to Lisa and Marc for posting this, since China has blogspot blocked ;)

[note from Lisa: appologies for the formatting not being as nice as usual, I've never used Blogger before!]

In case you missed it...

2009-12-17T21:11:00.000-08:00

Some of our more interesting blog posts from our recent trip to Laos and Thailand:
Arrival! Plateau! Homestay! Leeches! Books!

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Last 3 days in Luang Prabang + Bangkok

2009-11-15T18:16:00.000-08:00

The day after our homestay in the Hmong village, we decided to have a chill day and went to Wat Xieng Thong because a store that sells ethnic masks was supposed to be right next to it. After much searching, it was double confirmed that the store had closed down. Bummer. We did go inside the Wat though, and it was lovely. It even had some cool images of Buddhist Hell, something you don't normally see represented in temples.

After the Wat we had a lazy time shopping, window shopping, and having lunch by the Mekong. Around 4:30 we headed out for a sunset cruise (1 hour) of the Mekong. Lovely! We were the only 3 passengers on a boat built for 20 and it was really great to get to see monks swimming/bathing, fishermen fishing, and even a gas station on a boat. The sunsets in Laos have been very quick and not very colorful, but this one was at least not overcast and of course very charming. After dinner we ran into Mike from Oregon (who we met a few days before) and he recommended we take a cooking class from the Tamnak Lao Three Elephants Cooking School. This was really good luck because we had been discussing whether or not to go on a boat ride to the Buddha Cave (cave with lots o' small Buddhas in it), and none of us were terribly psyched to go. So the next morning Isaac, Kat, and I went and did the all day cooking class.

Actually, the first thing we did was get up at dawn to see the monks receive alms. This is a really well-known activity that lots of tourists visit and photograph. There are signs all over Luang Prabang asking people to be respectful, photograph from a distance, and not disturb the monks. Let me tell you, it was a circus. We all agreed that it was probably the most disgusting example of "bad tourists" that we have ever seen, anywhere. People in the monks faces, wearing skimpy clothes, having friends take their pictures standing right next to the monks, etc. I took the picture below, which is even before things got really crazy. I wanted to photograph the bad tourists more but I was so embarrassed to be holding a camera at that point I just wanted to put it away and watch the alms giving in silence. I guess not every experience traveling is a good one. According to this link, the monks don't want to continue the charade... it's sad it has become what it is now.

So, back to the cooking class. We learned how to make lots of great Lao food (and ate it!), went to the market to look at vegetables, and had what were undoubtedly the coolest group of people in our cooking class. We had a recovering investment banker from South Africa, A UN human trafficking specialist from Australia via Spain, 2 US Army wives living in Okinawa but teaching in Vientiane for a few months, and an American couple living in Yokohama working for/in the US Navy. Everyone loved the class and afterward Kat, Isaac and I went with Joey and Julia (the American couple) to have Lao Lao and walk through the night market again. It was a really fantastic time with a great group of people.

Our last day in Luang Prabang Isaac and I took off on our own to explore some different areas of the town. We ran into Wayne, the South African, and he suggested that we go to Utopia, a bar/restaurant overlooking the river. We did and it was a really nice way to waste an afternoon, if I do say so myself. Also, Isaac and I went into what I thought was a clothing store and Isaac bought another large awkwardly shaped instrument. I'm serious. Only Isaac could find the one thing in the store that we couldn't bring on the airplane, again. At least they could ship it for us! And it really is a lovely Hmong flute-organ thing. It sounds cool too.
After that we went to the Traditional Arts and Ethnology Centre, which had some fascinating exhibits. And...drum-roll... I was able to buy an authentic fair trade mask made in Laos. Score!

We met back up with Kat and hung out a little bit for our last night.
The next day we flew to Bangkok, where we planned on buying some cheap clothes. The first few malls we went to were impressive in their Tokyo-esque new and shininess, but disappointing in that they were more expensive than the US. We went to the Puma store, where Isaac is very familiar with the prices, and confirmed this. More expensive! Lame. But we eventually stumbled on MBK mall, a haven for cheap deals and fake Prada bags. I didn't really want any fake bags but we did find a few items of cheap clothes, had some surprisingly good cheap meals, and hung out in the arcade for way too long. We are dorks. One funny thing was I saw a (fake) Esprit watch that I wanted, and was attempting to talk the woman down from her price of the equivalent of about $23. The watchband, which was embossed with the words "Genuine Leather", was clearly not genuine leather. When I pointed this out, she started saying the thing that all shop keepers seem to say when you question the purity of a silver item: "It's 80%". About half way through saying it she realized how ludicrous that statement was and started laughing. Which made me laugh. We laughed together for a minute, she lowered the price a bit more, and of course I had to buy it then. I mean, come on. The watchband was 80% leather, right?

So that's it - the end of the journey in South-East Asia. For now. It was a very nice trip, and felt great to be back there. :)

coming along nicely

2009-11-08T21:26:00.000-08:00

Due to work, jet lag, jet lag, rolling around in clean sheets, showering with hot water, drinking straight from the tap and an untimely cold on Isaac's part, we have yet to finish our Laos blog entries. Actually, I have had the last entry written for days, but I can't post it until we get the photos re sized and sparkly. and I just don't have the energy at this very moment. Because you can just imagine how many episodes of Project Runway we had to watch after 3 weeks away. You understand.
Also I am concerned that the last blog entry, like all my other blog entries, is too long. Although thank you Kat for the tip about paragraphs. If you are a loyal reader and have been admiring the segmented quality of my last few blogs, thank Kat. But once again laziness will probably take over and you guys will just get the entire post all at once, like unstoppable verbal diarrhea. You're welcome for that mental image.
Because I know everyone enjoys images with blog posts, I have included this completely unrelated and gratuitous image. It is a rare self portrait that I took while almost kicking Lisa's face. Yes those slippers are real sheep skin. No you may not have a copy of this picture.
Again, you're welcome:

Our homestay in a Hmong village

2009-11-01T10:47:00.000-08:00

When we got to the Hmong village where we would be spending the night, Kia explained that we would be spending the night in the village chief's house. The village chief also ended up being the village Shaman, school master, and former medicine man too. Score! All the children were staring at us for prolonged periods, open mouthed, as if we couldn't see them back. This was to be a theme during our stay, but more on that later.

Kia explained that since it was a Saturday, there was no school so most kids were either working or in their homes, and most of the adult villagers were harvesting crops (as they do every day during the harvest seasons) and wouldn't be back until dinner time. It was about 2 pm and Kat, Isaac and I hadn't expected to be at the village quite so early as we had thought the other village stops would take longer. Since this was a custom trip G.D. set up just for us, I guess all bets were off. It was very quiet and Kia didn't really put his heart into trying to facilitate conversation - the three of us sat with Kia and the chief in his house in the near dark (there were no windows and the village didn't have electricity for lights) for a while and it was a little bit awkward. Eventually we all got to asking each other questions - the chief wanted to know our jobs, if Isaac and I have kids, and of course had to ask Kat "what are you?". As saying "American" was, of course not accepted, she has learned to quickly add "Korean" which then lead to more questions about why she moved to America (she told him she was 5, so it wasn't really her choice), and if her parents left because of the war (how old do they think Kat is???).

Then we got to ask him some questions - he has 11 kids, aged 35 to 2, his wife was working in the fields and would be spending the night near the fields rather than trek back to the village (unfortunately that meant we never got to meet her), he became chief by being elected. Elections are every 4 years and the stipend is very small so he still needs to make money from farming.

After some more interesting conversation, Kia went to take a mid day nap and Kat, Isaac and I went to go take photos of the village and walk around. The Chief's 2 youngest daughters were following us around from a distance(age 4 and 7, I would estimate), and were truly adorable. The picture at the top of the post is the older daughter and grandson, the man with no shirt is the chief, and the younger daughter is the picture below the chief. I would also like to add that even the 4 year old was working. She had a large baby, maybe 1 or 1.5 years old and literally half her size, strapped to her back and was doing an admirable job of attempting to rock and shush him since he was screaming his head off for about 3 hours straight. I later learned that the baby's dad is her older brother and the baby's mom was working in the fields all day, which is why the baby was so upset. When the mother did get home around 5pm, she also had a small infant strapped to her back. She had been doing the same work as the men in the fields all day, just with a baby strapped to her back. These women are no joke. Working their butts off from age 4, apparently! We passed out some books, which were well received, and Kat gave out pencils to all the local kids we saw. The kids didn't beg but were very happy to get the pencils. At one point we didn't know if we had enough to give to a new group of kids so we put the pencils away. One little girl who had seen other kids get pencils from afar kept looking at the other kids' pencils with a really sad longing in her face, but didn't say a word. No begging here either. Kat and I did a quick head count and decided we did have enough to give her and the other kids pencils and they were so happy!

When dinner time arrived Kia cooked us a simple meal of choko (local veggie) and chicken soup, sticky rice, and one other dish made of local greens. It was delicious, although my belly was still wonky from the bumpy ride. I forced myself to eat something so they wouldn't loose face, and took a cipro in case my upset stomach was the start of getting sick. Kia apologized for the simple food and accommodations and we explained that we were very happy with them - we wanted the authentic experience! We defiantly got one. Bathing was in public from a spigot in the middle of town (They bathe together but with sarongs on to cover up). Seeing as how everyone was still stopping what they were doing to stare at us, we all decided to just wash our hands and faces and brush our teeth. The toilet was a squat toilet outhouse behind the main house, and they had Isaac, Kat, and me all sleep on the same raised platform together. This was fine with us although very different from the Lowland Lao house, where Isaac and I were asked to sleep separately even though they probably thought we were married. The roof was tin, walls were wood plank, and floor was packed dirt. While we had dinner chickens, dogs, and cats all came and went and were either allowed to stay or forcefully kicked out seemingly at the whim of the house's inhabitants.

Picture above: Cooking dinner

Before bed we all sat by candlelight/flashlight and talked some more. It was really great to get to know the chief and ask him questions about the Hmong, about his life, and his family. He gave us all a drink of Lao Lao from a bottle that had been packed with Lao Lao and large 1 to 1.25 inch bees (a tonic that "makes you strong!" we were promised). I only had a tiny sip because of my belly. The chief invited us to sit with his family and eat a bit more, which we all did even though we weren't hungry, because he was being so polite and generous. Soon after we went to bed and my arms stomach and thighs broke out in small hives which made sleep really hard. Luckily I had brought the cortisone cream from our first aid kit (we only had our little day packs, the big packs were in the Green Discovery office in Luang Prabang). So now the mystery is, am I allergic to Cipro (never have been before), the bee juice or something else? My dad is deathly allergic to honey bee stings, and I can't remember if I have ever been stung by one. I guess I need to see an allergist when we get back to the states. I feel fortunate it was just hives and not something more severe, since the nearest emergency-ready hospital was in Bangkok!

The roosters started crowing at 4am and everyone in the house started getting up, and the 3 of us tried to sleep a bit longer since it was still pitch black. One funny thing was the kids, and not just the 4 year old, kept stopping by our bed and pointing the flashlight at us and continuing to stare. It was so funny - I knew from earlier that they didn't seem to have a sense we can see them staring at us, but with a flashlight 6 inches from your face in the middle of the night, come on! Opening my eyes and moving didn't seem to get the message across that they were blinding me, so I finally would very sweetly say "good morning" and that would send the kid and their flashlight running. It's amazing that they didn't seem to know I could see them back until I talked to them!

The next morning we had bread, leftover sticky rice, and more leftover choko from the soup for breakfast. Then we went for a walk with Kia and the Chief to see their herb garden, where they grow their herbal medicines. The Chief explained that sometimes foreigners come to stay with them for a week or two to study their knowledge of medicinal plants. They even had a German stay with them for a year and a half in 1996. Still, judging by the kids' reactions I think maybe it's been a little while since falang have spent the night. We gave the Chief the rest of the books from Big Brother Mouse, to give out to kids or to the school. He looked at several of them with the youngest daughter and she seemed really curious about them. I think we may have a future reader on our hands! Before we left the Chief showed us some dried animal's feet (looked kind of like a large rodent, sort of), and said they were something Shamans give Hmong people for protection. He wanted to know if we could take them home with us. We asked Kia what animal they were from, but he said he didn't know of the English name since we don't have them in the west. Then we asked if they were rare, and Kia didn't understand the word "rare" or "endangered". So we had him ask the chief - "Are there many of these animals in the forest? Or not so many?" He asked the chief and the answer was "Oh no, not many at all". Ah. So we had to regrettably tell him thank you, we are very honored at his generous gift, but no, customs would not let us keep them if there are not many left. I can only imagine the hot water we might have landed in if we had tried to bring some exotic semi extinct animal's paws home. Yikes.

Picture above: The central room of the house. The bed with the mosquito net is where the three of us slept.

The stay was really great for all of us, and I think especially moving for Kat. She really wanted to stay longer and wants to go back with Kiru (her husband) in the future. I loved it too, and I'm not sure how much of it was my belly problems, but I felt one night was probably good for me. It was a tiny bit like camping and I was so hot and sweaty by the next day I couldn't wait to shower. Isaac and I both agreed we liked the first homestay a bit better (partially because Udon was such a great guide), and Kat liked the Hmong homestay best, because the Chief and his family had been so wonderful. We all agreed that we felt very happy and lucky for the opportunity to get to spend the night in the village.

Next up: Back to Luang Prabang!

On our way to a homestay in a Hmong village

2009-11-01T10:06:00.000-08:00

After our homestay on the Balaven Plateau with the Lowland Lao village, we were eager to do another homestay near Luang Prabang. Our goal was to stay with a village of minority tribe people or Hmong people. Sorry for the long post, but there is much to tell.

We went to the Green Discovery office because we had such a good experience with them in Pakse, and they showed us several options for 2-3 day treks with overnights in a village. The treks would be minimum 5 hours trekking, intermediate level, crossing streams, partially in open fields (blazing sun) or jungle (bugglies and harder trekking). Seeing how I broke a sweat walking through the night market at 9pm, none of these details sounded like fun to me. Kat and Isaac had been more excited about trekking than me but the massive wave of heat at every corner was dampening their spirits, which was good for me as that put us all on the same page in terms of only trekking out of necessity. G.D. also had a one day trip that involved seeing a few Hmong and Kamu villages by car and returning same day. I asked if they could customise a trip for us, essentially tacking on a homestay to the end of the car/village visit. They said ok. I love Green Discovery!

They hooked us up with a Hmong Guide named Kia, who was pretty good but not nearly as into being a guide as Udon. I asked Green Discovery if they thought buying pencils for the village kids was a good idea, since the kids at our other village stops had really wanted some pencils. It's not good to encourage begging for anything but Udon had explained to us that not having money for pencils meant the kids couldn't practice writing, and in some cases couldn't go to school. Green Discovery thought it was a good idea so Kat, Isaac, and I all agreed to give some out and if the kids were begging too much then we would just give some to an adult in the village to pass out instead. We also stopped by Big Brother Mouse, a non profit in Luang Prabang that writes and publishes childrens' books in Lao and Lao/English to get kids into reading. Fully stocked with books and pencils, we were on our way.

Our first stop was at village that was half Hmong and half Lao. What a difference between the houses! The Lao ones were partially concrete, raised, and seemed more expensive and sturdy. The Hmong ones are wooden with dirt floors, and smaller. Kia explained some interesting facts about the Hmong, their spirit worship (they are animist, not Buddhist), and how they have 2 doorways to every house but the second doorway is only for family so we must never go through the wrong door or else it will anger the spirit of the house. You can also never sleep with your head facing that door.

The village Shaman invited us into his house, showed us his house alter, and even though he appeared to be of very modest means, he gave us all a root similar to a sweet potato and invited us to have a snack. It was very nice of him and the root was also very good, mild and mostly water. We said thank you and checked out the next village.

The next 2 villages were primarily Khmu (I say primarily because it seems that a lot of the Hmong and minority villages that have been forced by the government to relocated from the highlands now live next to one and other in combined villages). I was noticing that none of the Khmu or Hmong were dressed in their traditional clothing, which was to be expected but still disappointing. That's modernization for you. We gave out some books and pencils to some very shy kids (no begging here) who would take them and pretend to ignore the books until they thought we weren't watching. Then they would all gather around a book and start looking at the pictures (and hopefully read it too!).

We also saw an old Khmu lady doing needlepoint, and Kia said it was for the night market in Luang Prabang. He pointed out that the pattern, which I had seen sold in many different stalls in the night market, was a Hmong pattern. Kia said all the Khmu make Hmong textiles because that's what sells. I asked him why the westerners don't like Khmu handicrafts, and he said "you tell me, you're the westerner!" Fair enough. But I couldn't get him to describe what Khmu traditional handicrafts look like, so I guess it will remain a mystery for now.

We had a picnic lunch at a beautiful place overlooking the valley on our way up the mountain. Unfortunately I was getting car sick from the bumpy, windy road, so I wasn't able to eat much. The village we were headed to was up a mountain, only 60km away from Luang Prabang but about 2.5 hours away because of the roads.

Next up: our stay in the Hmong village!

Morning markets, temples up high, and Lao traditional ballet

2009-10-29T20:07:00.000-07:00

Our first guesthouse in Luang Prabang was conveniently located just a dozen or so meters from the small street that houses the morning market. The morning market in Luang Prabang is primarily a food market for the local homes and restaurants and features both delicious looking and truly bizarre food stuffs. On the delicious side of the spectrum you have the yum-tastic local veggies, including our newly favorite choko (more on that in another post soon), some really interesting and tasty fruits, fermenting fish sauces, more kinds of rice than you've probably ever seen, and grilled meats. On the more eccentric end of the spectrum you'll see dead or dying bats, hundreds of toads in a net covered bucket, buckets of slithering eels, some kind of mole-guinea pig looking things, and what I thought looked like grilled rat on a stick. It was great fun getting to walk around and take it all in.

Since the market is primarily a locals-only sort of vending location, there are a few confused looks that you get as you walk around. You don't feel unwelcome mind you... I don't know if the Lao have it in them to make anyone feel unwelcome ever, but you do get a sense from a few of the vendors that they don't want you to get in the way while they try and real in a sale from locals passing by.

In the heat of the day (in hindsight not the greatest time to do this) the three of us, Kerry, Kat, and I, hiked up the large hill that sits right smack in the center of town. As you make your ascent you see stair counts passed and stairs remaining that both encourages and discourages you as you go. There were around 300 stairs and some of them quiet steep. By about half-way up, we were all gasping in the 100+ degree heat. Once we made it to the top, we found a large collection of shrines, a cave, and a Wat tucked and hidden amongst lots of tiny blind paths. It was really fun to walk along the paths and not know what you might run into next.

The most hilarious thing was that there were all of these signs for "Buddha's footprint". We kept meandering around trying to find it, and we think we did, though it was not what any of us had expected... it was more like what you see when someone finds Elvis giving Jesus a high-five in their toast in the morning than a footprint... There was a rock with a sort of Sasquatch inspired indentation that had been painted in with gold paint... ya... nice... Buddha's footprint. Good lookin' out. WTF right? That was a little funny and disappointing, but the rest of the sights up there certainly were not. I think my favorite thing up there was this really cool looking moth that just sat there next to us as we took photos and tried to cool down. It was there when we arrived, and there when we left, just idly moving its wings now and again and staring longingly West.

That night, the three of us decided to check out the Luang Prabang Royal Ballet. They were performing that evening and Kerry and I wanted to make up for not having seen traditional dance the last time we were in the region. The music leading up to the dance performance was really beautiful and lots of fun to see performed. They were all playing traditional Lao instruments that seem to resemble familiar things, but sounded a little different from much of what we had heard before.

The show was of of the Search for Princess Sida. A tale about a missing princess, a monkey army trying to help find her, red and green birds fighting, and a final showdown with the evil giant Thotsakan. As I understand it, it is a portion of a much longer story, but they show this bit because of all of the fun-to-watch conflict. The overall performance, dancing, and costumes were really great, especially the simian mannerisms injected into the portrayal of the monkeys. What the performers young and old might have lacked in some synchronicity, they more than made up for with pride and showmanship. It was great fun for us and Kerry and I were glad that on this trip, we had made the time to see some traditional dance.

Next up, a homestay in a mountainside Hmong village!

Landing in Luang Prabang

2009-10-25T03:11:00.001-07:00

Kerry and I have commented about a lot of things, but I think it's worth making note of how warm it is here in Laos. In the evening, with a breeze, while on the water, the temperature is 95 degrees, (about 35 for your Celsius peeps), but we have pretty much adjusted and now, when we do a trip at altitude where it drops to a bracing 85 degrees, we need a jacket... SF is going to feel frosty!

OK, enough about that. Since my GI distress was all shifty, we flew rather than bussed it out of Vientiane to to Luang Prabang. The flight was SUPER short, 45 minutes, rather than a 10+ hour bus ride! Score. My belly was feeling pretty stable and kosher by the time we arrived in town. And wow, what a cool town. Definitely the cleanest place we've seen in Laos, and oozing with... well... lots and lots of charm.

Our pho lunch was right on the Mekong. The views of the surroundings kept us pretty distracted for a good chunk of time.

That night, we stayed in a super cute B+B style guesthouse on a charming narrow brick side street called Pakam Guesthouse. It has dark wood details, is very clean, and run by a friendly family that keeps the place tidy and quite. They have a small veranda with a couple of teak chairs that was great for the three of us to chill and have a few glasses of lao lao at night.

Luang Prabang is known, among other things, for its night market so we had to dive in a check it out. One of the side streets is nothing but finger lickin' delicious food, (though here, of course, you can't lick said fingers without a heavy bout of colon cleanse the following night, lol). The rest of the market is filled with handicrafts made in the surrounding villages consisting of carving, textiles, snacks, lao lao concoctions, and lots of other bobs and bits. It is really beautiful just to stroll around, which is exactly what we did as long as our legs would allow it.

Vientiane

2009-10-23T18:12:00.000-07:00

Our arrival in Vientiane was uneventful other than the fact that none of us had slept well on the overnight bus, and Isaac's GI distress was getting worse. He decided to start the 3 day cycle of antibiotics that his GI doctor had prescribed. They are a new kind that only targets the bacteria in the GI track and don't effect the rest of your body (nonabsorbent). So Isaac will find some yogurt in the future to help replace the good bacteria.

Isaac slept most of the morning while I wrote blogs on our laptop and saved them for later (no internet in our place). Our place is not cheap ($16) by southern Laos standards (we are in the capital now), but was the best we could find with clean sheets and a clean bathroom, and later we found out it's in lonely planet which I didn't even know. We told the tuk tuk driver to take us here because I had found another place, next door, on tripadvisor and it ended up being double the price listed. It seems everything is quiet a bit more expensive then what lonely planet, tripadvisor, etc has listed. Not just hotel rooms, everything. That's probably due in part to the weak exchange rate for dollars. Lucky for us, it is all still cheap by US standards and we had budgeted for things to cost more.

The next day, after breakfast and internet time at the wi-fi place, the three of us headed out to see Pha That Luang, which Lonely Planet names "the most important national monument in Laos". It's a giant golden stupa that has been rebuilt several times over the last 200 years. It was pretty, but not terribly interesting for me. Still, it was nice to see and I got some good photos out of it. There was a young boy and older woman selling small caged birds (looked like sparrows, maybe) outside the temple, and I got a neat shot of that. They kept trying to sell them to us and I wasn't sure why, since I assume they are either for eating or for pets, or maybe to release as an offering at the temple. Anyways, they looked neat.

We went to lunch at Makphet, a restaurant that serves modern Lao food and trains former street children to be waiters and cooks. All of the profits go to the nonprofit that runs the place, and after being trained the teenagers/young adults can find work in other restaurants. It was nice to support the place and the food was really good, although I think I prefer the traditional Lao food to the modern Lao food. The flavors of the modern Lao food seemed a bit milder to me, but still delicious. Isaac got a really delicious watermelon/lime blended drink and even ended up ordering a second one, so you know it was good! The service was very good (as it has been everywhere in Laos) so I think they are doing a good job of training the street kids.

It was sooooo hot out, that we all decided to walk back to the hotel and shower. After the shower Kat decided to hang out in the cafes and Isaac and I decided, in the interest of cultural research and to put money in the hands of those who need it most, to get massages. After our $12 hour long massages we decided we hadn’t truly helped out and given the masseuses enough money, so we added on 1 hour foot massages. It was truly a selfless act on our part, I know. Of course when we found out the foot massages were only 50,000 kip each (8,500 kip= 1 dollar), we totally felt like we had robbed them. But they were very happy and we were totally blissed out, so all was good.

After the massages we found Kat and all decided to go to a nice French restaurant for our last night in Vientiane. We had an AMAZING meal of soup, salad, wild boar, venison, good wine, and a Belgian chocolate mousse for dessert. It was the best chocolate mousse any of us had ever had. Totally overly full after our decadent day, we waddled back to the hotel.

When we got to our room (Kat stopped by before going to her room to pick up something) we all remarked that it smelled strongly of body odor, which was weird because we all had been showering enough to keep the dreaded falang-stank off of us. After Kat left I sat down on the bed (which was strewn with our belongings, just as we had left it) when I noticed there were a few plastic bags with items wrapped in newspaper in them. They weren’t ours. Then I noticed a backpack on the floor that wasn’t our either (and turned out to be the source of the stank). What the what??????? We checked around and all of our stuff was still in the room, and the room had been locked. Isaac brought everything that wasn’t ours to the front desk and they were as perplexed as us. So I don’t know if they gave some drunk falangs our room key or put it in our room by mistake for them (although the hotel service certainly didn’t seem swank enough to do that). Hmmmm. Anyways, the stank left with the backpack and we slept with the manual slide bolt locked!

The next day Kat took a 9 hour bus ride to Luang Prabang and we took a 45 minute flight, since Isaac’s tummy was still upset. Next up: Luang Prabang!

Don Khone to Vientiane

2009-10-20T23:38:00.000-07:00

After spending our last night in Pakse we took an early morning mini-van ride to the 4,000 islands region of Laos, about 3 hours south of Pakse. It is named 4,000 islands because there are tons of tiny islands, although the two that seem to have the guesthouses and tourist infrastructure are Don Det and Don Khon.

Let me back up a little and mention that a European young man walked up to us as we were walking to breakfast to ask if we knew how to get to the islands, as he had just arrived on the overnight bus from Vientiane. Trying to be helpful, I suggested he see if our minivan was full yet and if not he could buy a ticket on it for the islands. Big mistake. He ended up being incredibly loud and crass, swearing loudly and talking about his sexual exploits during his travels. Think typical frat boy, only Dutch. He said we seemed responsible and fun so he latched on to us and ended up deciding to go to Don Khon with us (which is significantly less touristy then Don Det). In a way I feel bad writing this because he didn't seem like a bad person, but truly so loud and uncouth. During our first lunch on the island I just wanted to say to all the locals "he's not with us- really- we aren't going to be acting like that!". The islands are so quite it's like shouting in a library when you loudly talk about "getting fucking pissed in Vang Vien". After lunch we managed to get a different guesthouse than him, telling him we just wanted to chill in our hammocks and that we would see him around because it's such a small island. We did run into him several times on the road, and he always asked where we were going and we would just say "out for a snack and then back into the hammock" which was actually true. The rest of the time we actually avoided him because he found another traveler to hang out with and when he was talking he was so loud we could hear him before we saw him and run away. Isaac described it as being like a cat with a bell.

Anyhoo, we ended up at some little 5 dollar bungalows with grimy showers but clean beds and most importantly, decks with hammocks right on the Mekong. We walked around town a bit but it was rainy so we decided to forgo trekking or taking a long boat ride in the rain to try and see some rare freshwater dolphins. That would have been nice but we were unanimous in thinking reading a book and drinking lao lao by candlelight in the hammock would be nicer. It was lovely.

There were baby water buffalo, little chicks, kittens, and other cute animals everywhere, and everyone was very friendly and said "sabadee" (Hello) when we passed by.

The locals all bathed in the river (adults wearing sarongs) and all the open air restaurants were almost always completely empty. There were very few falang around, although we kept ending up at the same places as this group of 3 younger and 2 older french people. We orginally planned to only spend one night on the islands but ended up spending two. The only real downside was that everything became damp so quickly and started to smell like mildew. The second day we ran into the manager of Green Discovery from Pakse (whose uncle we stayed with during the homestay); he was giving a family a 5 day rafting tour. Small world! He had us convinced we should go see some waterfalls but then it began to rain and the lethargy set back in. Back in the hammocks we went. We did get the energy up to go to Don Det, just to see it, check our email, and get a drink. Well, the email was not so good (see previous posts), the town had this nasty Khao San Road vibe, and the menu was full of western food and "happy" shakes. We got a very non-happy drink each and then hopped on the boat back to our hammocks.

The next day we took a minivan back to Pakse, stopped by Green discovery to pick up some things we had left there and got to see Udon and Aot again. I also got to talk with a very interesting American woman who has been living in Laos for 7 years teaching English, and is just about to start managing the hotel that Green Discovery operates near Wat Phu. We bought overnight sleeping bus tickets from them, said goodbye to Pakse and left on the 8pm bus.

When we got to the bus station the man assigned me and Kat in one bunk and Isaac in another. The bus bunks consist of smaller than double sized beds that they put 2 people in, which might be a stranger if you are traveling alone (but same sex if it's a stranger). We asked if we could have me and Isaac in the same bunk and he seemed very put off by the idea, so we figured maybe opposite sex was against Lao culture so we agreed to me and Kat sharing a bunk. When we got inside the bus we saw lots of other couples, both Lao and Falang, sharing bunks! Turns out his being put off was just that he had assigned a man with Isaac's bunk and if that had been Kat's bunk he would have had to do 2 minutes worth of work to rearrange the seats. There ended up being a empty bunk, so that would have been ideal because then Kat and Isaac's bunk mate would have had their own beds. Le sigh. Isaac spent the entire night with a strange man and Kat and I ended up bunking together on a top bunk of a swaying bus with Kat trying not to fall out of the bunk and me trying to wedge myself up against the glass so that I didn't push her out. None of us got much sleep and we all agreed it was the worst night yet during the trip. When we arrived in Vientane we all had a touch of GI distress but Isaac's was the worst and we couldn't do much other than blog and (finally) mail that huge @#$% musical instrument back to the states. Oddly enough, I have had a fine day just hanging out and blogging. We will spend tomorrow in Vientane as well and hopefully get to see some of it, because it seems lovely. Kat roamed the city alone today and said it was very nice. She is resigned to taking the bus to Luang Prabang the day after tomorrow to save money but if Isaac's GI distress isn't absolutely cleared then the two of us may fly and meet her there. At $80 a ticket vs $20 for the bus, it's an expenditure we don't want given the news about Isaac's job, but the road to Luang Prabang is supposed to be hellish if you get motion sick (which I do), and even Dramamine won't keep me from falling out of a bunk that's wildly swaying back and forth for 10 hours. So we are going to think about it tomorrow, but the flight is only 45 minutes vs 10 hours. Tempting. So we will see. It's looking less likely that we will fly down to Siem Reap to see John and Narissa, as much as we would like to, due to finances and time. So that remains to be seen also but if we don't go then we will have almost a full week in Luang Prabang, which I think would be fab. So either way, we win!
Cheers,
K&I

Leeches in Laos

2009-10-20T03:13:00.000-07:00

The roosters woke us up at dawn, but Kat and I laid in bed for a little while longer, not wanting to wake the guys sleeping in the main room. eventually we decided to get up once it was a little light out, and suddenly Kat looks down at her chest and sees that she is covered in big blood stains. she holds up her hands and sees one is covered in blood and still bleeding. Thank goodness the blood only got on Kat's clothes (and white jacket!) and not our hosts' bedding. that would have been a nightmare. Kat reported that her hand didn't hurt at all and remembered feeling "something gooey" on her hand in the middle of the night (after we had our midnight wee) and flicking it off. Leeches! well we couldn't sleep after that, so we got our flashlights out (it was just barely light in the room) and searched the bed. the leech was on the mosquito net just over where my face had been! lucky me we woke up before it got hungry again. We patched Kat up and everyone had a big laugh about Kat getting a leech in bed. Then we had a yummy breakfast, sampled a little "medicinal" lao-lao (just a sip, it was 7 am!) and went for a walk around the village with Udon. It had rained during the night and everything was wet and muddy. At one point Kat realized she had another leech on her foot and flung it off in time. Then we all realized we had leeches on our feet/legs and all got them off in time before they attached (except Udon, who had no leeches, and told us to keep moving for goodness sake, then we crazy falang wouldn't keep getting leeches). When we got back Isaac took off his hiking shoes and realized a leech had attached to his foot. He removed it and it bled like crazy, but luckily we had band aids. Then Fredrick found a leech on his leg, already attached unfortunately. a little while later Kat found a leech in between her toes, that had gone unnoticed for quiet awhile. In the end, I was the only one who didn't get a leech attached to me! And everyone thought I would be the first, because I am so accident prone. I always say: being accident prone makes me more cautious. Hah.

However, I did get an innocent enough looking bite on my chest the day before that days later got a little infected and started to look really nasty and you could see 2 huge fang marks half centimeter apart where a rather large spider must have bitten me, so what are you going to do, you can't win them all.

We continued back to Pakse at a leisurely pace after saying goodbye, good luck, and thank you many times over to our hosts and the other villagers. We then went to see some waterfalls, a coffee plantation, a tea plantation, a market where Udon explained the strange fruits and vegetables and encouraged us to buy some outrageously entertaining Lao music videos (which we did, the hip hop being the best that we saw), had another yummy lunch where Udon ordered off the menu venison for us, since by that time he learned we did not want falang food but real Lao food.

We stopped by some road side huts where people were making the knives that the farmers cut rice with (Isaac bought one). The metal of the knives comes from truck struts as nothing is wasted in Laos. It was pretty cool and I got some video of them hammering the steel. None of us noticed what all the anvils they were using were made of until Udon nonchalantly pointed it out. They were huge unexploded ordnances from the Vietnam war. They were literally hammering as hard as they could on the base of the inverted bomb again and again. Obviously at some point someone had taken the charge out of them (or "the boom" as Isaac says, since neither of us are bomb experts). This was not some show for the tourists. Every knife making hut we drove past was using huge bombs as their anvils. And that's about all I have to say about that.

We said a very sad goodbye to Fredrick, Udon, and Aot and exchanged email addresses when we got back to Pakse. As luck would have it, we did run into Udon and Aot again after our 4,000 islands trip, and now that we are in Vientiane and completely done with traveling through Pakse, I am a little sad. I won't be able to think of Laos without thinking of our homestay with Udon, Aot, and Fredrick. Next up: Don Khone and 4,000 Islands!

Bolaven plateau and homestay: part 2

2009-10-20T03:02:00.000-07:00

That evening we arrived in the rural Lao village where we were to spend the night, after navigating some of the worst roads I have ever seen. They were so flooded and full of holes and ruts I thought for sure we would have to get out and push, but Aot is a fantastic driver and we never got stuck. Add to this any number of water buffalo, little kids, stray dogs, pigs, and chickens and you can imaging how hard it would be to drive on those roads. I can assure you we held on for dear life in the back to keep from flying up and hitting our heads on the top cover of the sawngthaew.

When we booked our 2 day tour with Green Discovery eco-tours in Paske (and I cannot say enough good things about Green Discovery, I highly recommend using them if you are in Laos, and from the Pakse office you can request Udon or Aot as your guide) The traditional trip had us staying in a guest house. I asked if we could do a homestay in a village instead and the office manager, who was also wonderful, said he would call around and see what he could do, even though that wasn't the way the package was planned. When we got to the village, Udon explained that we would be staying with the uncle of the office manager. He had put us up with his own family! This was beyond generous and cool. Everyone in the village is a coffee farmer (at least for one job, it seems everyone in Laos has at least 2 jobs) and they had only had one other group of falang spend the night in the village, ever. The previous group had been all women so Isaac and Fredrick were the first male falong to ever stay in the village. Ever, people. When we arrived Udon told us that since coffee bean harvesting had just begun the previous day, all of the heads of the households had all gathered for a day long meeting to discuss the harvest, and to celebrate drinking beerlao and lao-lao (rice whiskey moonshine, tastes like Awamore from Okinawa, anywhere from 40 proof to make-you-blind proof) since the morning. Needless to say the atmosphere was festive and friendly. the house was built on stilts with a kitchen, communal room, 3 bedrooms and electricity. The bathroom is outside and consists of a squat toilet (everywhere in Laos) and a large tub of rain water and a bucket to pour the water over yourself to bathe. we all took turns bathing and let's just say it was brisk, to say the least, since the sun was almost down and the Bolaven plateau is cooler anyways. I would say it was in the low 80s upper 70s at that point. The bathing was an interesting experience and I'm glad for it since that's how much of the world bathes. Still, I wouldn't voluntarily give up my nice hot showers when they are available!

They were out of beerlao so they sent someone to get more (on the awful roads, in the rain, no less!) and then Udon said he had a surprise for us. He had been telling us since our tour the previous day that we were special to him, friends now, and he had a surprise for us.

The surprise turned out to be a baasii ceremony, which every Lao person (we were in a Lao village, not a minority village) has before or after a trip, during a wedding, when they are very ill, or other special occasions. They were doing it for us as their special guests, and this village had never done it for falang before.The ceremony was beautiful, moving, and very special for all of us. it was a big honor and it's hard to put into words but I will try to condense it for you. The ceremony consists of the head of the village making a long speech calling our Khwan, or guardian spirits, back to us if they have wandered away because we will need them to protect us on our journey. White cotton strings are placed around a stupa-like arrangement of banana leaves, rice, lao lao, candles, and water. All the adult villagers who were present (maybe 10-15) reach in, touch the arraignment, say something in unison, and take the strings. then they one by one come over to the 4 of us, and Udon and Aot also, and tie the strings around our wrists while wishing us well. the strings stay on for 3 days to bind the guardian spirits to you and then need to be untied, not cut. After that it gets even more festive and we pass around a cup of beerlao that we keep refilling and all drink from, with everyone encouraging whomever is pouring to give the fullest glasses to whomever is already drunk, or whomever is saying they shouldn't have any more, naturally. I guess some things are universal. And keep in mind most of these guys had already been drinking all day during their meeting. Festive! Udon and Aot taught us some Lao drinking toasts and we all talked about our lives and families and got to know each other better, while Thai soap operas and Lao music videos played on the TV. From what we have seen of Laos even the poorest huts have satellite dishes. Everyone likes their TV! The villagers seemed especially interested in what the weather was like where we are from, and what we thought of Lao weather. Natural I suppose, seeing as how they are farmers. The more beerlao that was drunk the more it seemed that that everyone forgot we can't speak Lao so I had some people trying to ask me these questions directly and I had to run over and grab Udon or Aot to translate! Dinner was, as usual, delicious. The men all slept in the communal room, the Lao women slept in the 2 childrens' bedrooms, and Kat and I were given the nicest sleeping room, the parents' bedroom. When we got up in the middle of the night to go to the toilet (which is outside of the main house) the stars were incredible (Isaac saw a shooting star when he went to pee). Apparently, that's when Kat got her first leech, although we didn't know it until the rooster woke us up at dawn. Next up: leeches in Laos!

Bolaven Plateau and homestay- part 1

2009-10-20T02:41:00.000-07:00

We had the most amazing 2 days traveling to the Bolaven Plateau with Udon, our guide (from the previous trip to Wat Phuo), our driver Aot (who also speaks English, pronounce "ought"), Kat, and Fredrick from Belgium. Everyone was 23-35 years old and full of energy so it was a great match of people. We rode in the back of a small pickup truck with a roof and bench seats called a sawngthaew, which is pronounced similar to Tsing tao (the beer) so that's how I remember the name. Everyone had great fun listening to my tone deaf attempts to pronounce words in Lao, since Lao is a tonal language. Sadly, I don't think being fluent in Lao is in my near future. We first stopped at an eco preserve near a waterfall where the Lao government has set up several different households of minority groups to live in the same village, each in their traditional dwellings and clothes. This is the villagers' choice, and Udon says the families choose to do this because they get plenty of food and their children get to go to school, which I gather is rare in the minority villages as well as the poorer Lao villages. Udon said even if school is free, which it often is out in the countryside, if the kids don't have money for the uniform, books, paper and pencils they can't go. Also they may be needed to work on the farm or at the family business and therefor not be able to go to school. This eco preserve also helps the minority groups because it funnels the majority of tourists into this manufactured village, where they can take a million photos and see the tribes without damaging the actual tribal villages' culture by exposing them to too many outside influences. Isaac bought a neat but awkwardly shaped musical instrument that we are hoping to mail back home today or tomorrow. I am sitting in our hotel in Vientiane writing this and it has certainly become the proverbial albatross around our neck at this point, albeit a funny one, as we attempt to transport it on tuk tuk, sawngthaew, and my favorite, overnight bus. But I digress. After that we had a yummy lunch at another waterfall, and Udon ordered our food for us so it was delicious. Everything was eaten with sticky rice and we loved it. Soup with lemongrass and tamarind is my other new favorite thing.

After that we rode elephants from the river into the jungle to another village. It was Issac and me on one and Kat and Fredrick on another. The seats were pretty rickety, (Isaac's back/side support was completely broken), so we hung on for dear life when the elephants needed to go up or down hill. I will say that the sun was blazing when we weren't in the forest! We had a great time, with butterflies everywhere and everyone in the village staring at the strange falang (foreigners) as we went through. Not many falang visit the villages that aren't off a major road. Our elephant was pretty hungry and kept veering off course to sneak some leaves, much to the dismay of the elephant trainer. We had just seen her eat a ton of bananas but what can I say, she is a foodie like us. She was pretty slow but managed to pick up speed quiet a bit when she saw a variety of leaves she liked! Kat and Fredrick's elephant kept using her trunk to blow air on them and made sounds that sounded like a dolphin. Truly adorable. We also had a funny moment where I heard Kat (behind me) say to Fredrick "what a weird looking bug OHMYGODITLANDEDONKERRY" at which point I shook my entire upper body, heard a loud buzzing sound, and saw a huge brightly colored beetle fly off my shoulder. Oh, and twice I had the same spider-as-big-as-my-hand in a web right by my head experience as the last time we rode elephants in Cambodia. This is always slow motion scary, almost comically so, because the elephants move SOOOOO slowly, rocking way out of the spider's path and then lumbering back into it. I ducked way down and the spiders scurried away when they saw us coming, so it ended well. Ironically, both spiders were on the side of the elephants that Fredrick and I were on, and we are the two most scared of spiders! Udon later told us that Lao people cook and eat these spiders. No thanks.

After that we continued driving east, into Salavan and Paksong. The weather got cooler the higher into the plateau we traveled, which was a relief, and we stopped by several Katu and Alak villages along the way. The Katu historically carve their coffins way in advance and store them under their raised houses/huts, but since there is a wood shortage we only saw a few concrete coffins. I'm not sure if these are just symbolic now or if they still use these as their coffins. The kids were really excited for me to take their photograph and when I would show them the image in the display they would shriek and laugh and all the other kids in the village would race over and try to get in the next photo.

I must have showed them 10 photos in a row and their screams of delight never seemed to diminish. I could have stayed there all day . I did get a little video of Kat showing them their photos and their reactions after. Incidentally, Aot and Udon love that Kat's name is "Kat" so they renamed her "Meow" or "meow meow", which is Lao for "cat". Everyone keeps thinking Kat is Lao and they don't initially understand that she is American. Udon explained that they never see Asian Americans or Asian Europeans although they do get tourists from other Asian countries. "Falang" refers to white or black foreigners, not asian foreigners. So Udon was explaining to the other Lao people that Kat is secretly "Falang", since she is American. I think Kat has gotten used to the response she often gets after she replies that she is American, which is "but you look like us, where are you really from?". So she just says Korea now when they say that. I am curious to read Kat's blog and see her thoughts on the whole ethnic identity/nationality thing. She has been writing in her paper journal and calling it "blogging" so I anticipate some Kat's Meow blog action when we return. Maybe it's nothing to Kat but I am fascinated by the fact that she is Asian and American seems to be blowing everyone's mind. Next up: Homestay!

Slipshod Slipgate

2009-10-20T02:17:00.000-07:00

Here we go. It has been several days since our last post, and much has happened both good and bad. The bad first, to get it out of the way: 2 days ago we had brief internet access and Isaac checked his email. He got an email from his friends at work saying his game studio is shutting down and everyone is out of a job at the end of December (actually, they are out of work now, but get paid until December 31st). This is quiet a shock since everything was going so well and the company even hired several people right before Isaac left. Gazillion is keeping it's other studios, Slipgate Ironworks is the only one shutting down. Obviously there must be some reasons behind this drastic move but everyone just keeps telling Isaac that they will tell him more when he gets back. After the initial shock and requisite panic over money, we realized we will get by with my job and his unemployment check as long as we live frugally. And that's assuming the worst; that he doesn't get another job before the end of the year. Now Isaac is just really bummed that the job he loved and the game he was so proud of is ending so suddenly. Hopefully he won't be out of work long, more from a self esteem point of view then a money one. He really wants to stay in the game industry which will be more of a challenge now that he doesn't have a shipped AAA game credit under his belt; he did however make a lot of contacts and is very talented so I believe it will happen. We've seen many friends in worse situations get laid off and handle it with grace, so we will just try to follow suit. When we were on the Bolavan Plateau (more to come on that soon) our guide Udon heard the fourth member of our tour, a very nice Belgian named Fredrick, lament that is nice SLR camera was stolen in Bangkok and now he has to take photos with a crappy replacement point and shoot his entire trip, and lost some of his photos as well. Udon said that in Laos it is considered good luck to lose a material possession because then later you won't lose something important like and arm or leg. He said that especially on river trips Lao people try to lose a little something in the river! So that made me think of all the "bad news from home" emails we could have gotten, and this one was by far the best. So maybe this will save us from getting worse news later. Plus there is nothing like being in a country like Laos, where most people have lives that are so much more difficult then most Americans, to put how lucky we truly are in perspective. OK, enough with the sentimental talk...

On with the adventure!

P.S. Jim, Isaac showed me your email and I almost peed my pants laughing. Let's hope that you don't need to pass out your resume while wearing the eat AT(Kerry had to stop typing... she's laughing again... and almost peeing), "eat at Quiznos" sandwich board. If you do I hope it's not in the K-mart parking lot. I guess though if it is you and Isaac can take a break from your sandwich board wearing at the K-mart cafe. cheers! Thanks for making me laugh :)

Laos!

2009-10-14T06:12:00.000-07:00

Sorry for no picture but we are sitting in an Internet cafe in Pakse, Laos right now. We have had an interesting few days. We took the overnight bus from Bangkok to the border of Thailand/Laos, which is fortunate because we almost missed it. We got an amazing Thai massage and spent way too much time at a cafe overlooking the river (and by way too much I mean just enough) and hadn't planned for Bangkok's massive traffic at rush hour. Our driver told us it would take 1-1.5 hours to get to the train station, and when we told him we only had 50 minutes he finally said "oh, then is highway ok?" This is ridiculous because the highway only costs about $3 more in tolls (which we pay, not him), and took 20 minutes rather than 1.5 hours. I think he wouldn't have even offered the faster route if we hadn't been in a hurry! Anyhoo, crisis averted and we got on the train. Sleep was difficult for me and Isaac because the train was super loud, we had top bunks, and the train was swaying and banging and hopping so much I woke up a few times in the night and literally thought that the train was derailing. Kat slept fine, but she did have to pee a lot (even more than me!), which brings me to my list of new things I now know about Kat:
1. her bladder is really tiny, and like me and Lisa she has to pee RIGHT before bed.
2. she is afraid of cockroaches because she thinks they will crawl in her ear and she will need a doctor to remove them. She said it "wouldn't be a big deal" if one crawled in her mouth. She has been wearing earplugs to sleep because of this.
3. she can drink more booze then me.
4. she is super awesome and chill about traveling like Isaac, and I need to chill out more too. She is being chill about my freak outs too so that's nice.

Oh by the way the malarone is making me a little dizzy. between that and the heat I am riding a boat on choppy seas in the cafe. but I press on! It's been dark for over 2 hours and it is still sweltering. Laos is HOT.
When we arrived in Pakse after a relatively uneventful border crossing (neat Visa for the passport!) this cute old man who had befriended Isaac asked if we wanted to see his home, and we said yes, but it ended up being a wild goose chase because his english wasn't great and he was either mildly scamming us (wanted us to pay for an over priced car to go with him) or he was senile but I think mostly a little senile. Anyway long story short we were hot, tired, and hungry and we promptly got ripped off at the money exchange place, the lunch place, and the hotels we looked at were all way overpriced. Oh and we over packed, again. I know I said I wouldn't but our packs are way too heavy. The place we ended up staying has a cute little porch on the Mekong and is cheap but is pretty grubby. Pakse was feeling like a bit of a border town but we woke up today in better spirits and found a reputable travel agency and we went on a tour of Wat Phou (sp?) part of the ancient Khmer temple sites. It was awesome and our guide is really nice. We had already signed up for another tour with the same agency tomorrow so we asked for the same guide. His English is good so that makes a huge difference. It really lifted our spirits and made us think that maybe heading to southern Laos is a good idea after all. I can't wait to show everyone the photos we took!

So tomorrow we are going to the Bolaven Platue and Paksong. we will ride an elephant into the jungle a bit, and see some minority lowland tribes and stay in a village for the night. The next day we will see a coffee plantation and Tat Fan, a huge waterfall that is very well known. It might rain but we have been lucky so far. There will only be 4 of us taking the tour- the three of us and someone we haven't met. Wild card! so I think we will have a great time no matter what. After that we want to head down to Don Det in the 4,000 islands region for an overnight. we may not blog for several days after this, so our next blog should be a big one! That's what she said.
Peace out,
K&I
PS
Isaac wanted me to add that we ate lotus seeds, had an amazing authentic Lao lunch in a restaurant overlooking the mekong, took a homemade car ferry boat over the river, and saw a ton of monks in their orange robes. And waterbuffelo and people picking rice in conical hats, like oldy times. That is all.

Bugs, noodles, rice, pork.... but not at the same time.

2009-10-11T18:55:00.001-07:00

Our first day in SE Asia starts with us landing in Bangkok after a long air trek. Once we landed in Bangkok, one of the first things that hit me was how much things have changed. Gone was the 70's era airport decor and hyper-chaotic crowds. What has replaced them is an absolutely gorgeous architectural structure housing art, and orderly queues... (I know right?!). It was a very smooth few queues and we were off in a natural gas powered cab, (again, I know right?!), from the airport our first hotel, On 8.

Once we were rolling on Sukhamvit it all stated just pouring back for me. Bangkok, while much has been upgraded and there are far more points of exposed technology and advertisements, is still the scent-rich, bustling, and fantastic city.

We got into the hotel, dropped off a few things, and powered on to the Chatuchak market. We knew, as tired as we were, we needed to buck up and keep ourselves up until night to ensure our body clocks are properly reset. The market proved to be a great place for distraction... almost too much! There are many thousands of vendors selling everything from opium pipes to Tibetan skull and silver carved totems, and lots and lots, and lots of clothing vendors. We found a fucking great bar in the middle of the market that provided us with some much needed chill-and-drink time which was desperately needed due to the oppressive heat and zero air circulation amongst the vendor stalls. As cool as the bar was, once we did the mental conversion on the price, we realized it was really expensive for Thailand... the drinks were about 180 baht (6 bucks)!!! For the record, an awesome meal can be had for about 45 baht. Speaking of food, I also had bugs for the first time! Kerry, Kat, and I ate grasshoppers, crickets, tiny lizards (whole), and even some grubs! They were soy sauce flavored and full of crunch. The grubs tasked like polenta to me, (strange, but true), and the easy favorite for all of us the whole tiny lizards, they were really ugly looking, but tasted awesome. Pictures coming soon of the munchies :)

Eventually fatigue took over and we had to take the skytrain back to soi 8 to the hotel. Once back, we had a quick bite to eat and kicked back with a bottle of Sang Som. Good times :)

Tomorrow we will explore more in Thailand... get a massage, and then hop the train over to Ubon Ratchathani to border-cross over to Laos! It is just so great to be here.

Chillin' in Taipei, and by chillin' I mean sitting and really tired.

2009-10-10T16:07:00.000-07:00

So the first flight is behind us, and we are, as one might expect, lots of tired going on. The flight was roughly 12 hours and we are now an hour away from the last hop over to Bangkok. The best tidbit thus far was losing our friend Kat on the plane while we were exiting... Just take a moment to let that sink in. A plane, (a 747 to be fair), with two aisles, we are all walking in single file lines... very slowly towards the ONE exit, and somehow... inexplicably, we lost an adult human female laden with baggage, (backpack etc.). After some terribly confusing standing in one place and circling to look around, we were certain that she was either still on the plane, or far far ahead of us. Eventually, we went to the next gate and set up camp. I stayed around to watch our packs and keep an eye out for the Kat, while Kerry went out to wee and hopefully find the Kat wondering around scavenging for some snacks. Turned out, after the wee, Kerry was washing her hands and Kat walked up to her and said, "Oh, hi."... So there we are. We are all back together, just spent a ridiculous amount of cash on terrible food and are now a few minutes closer to Bangkok. w00t!

Packed and ready!

2009-10-09T20:04:00.000-07:00

We are packed and ready to call the cab to take us to the airport. A nice glass of single malt, and a final email check, and we will begin our journey, starting the first hop to Bangkok!

Peace Corps volunteer needs your help! (ok, mostly your money, but it will be used to help)

2009-10-01T11:28:00.000-07:00

My friend and ex-coworker Andrea has been in Niger as a Peace Corps volunteer for over a year now, and is raising funds to buy textbooks for her students. This is a really good project, so you peeps should cough up a little dough if you can. Even $10 would help. She needs $4000, and I think if we can spread the word then she will get it. She has a great blog (http://nigerafrica.blogspot.com/) but can't post to it right now because her internet connection is spotty. Cause it's Niger, y'all (say it in a Britney voice)! here is the info from her email:

Hello all,
I hope you are doing well and enjoying the last bits of summer. It's mini hot season here in Niger and while it's not nearly as hot as it is during the true hot season, it's pretty darn warm around here (and humid). But, I am doing well, staying healthy, and getting ready for another eventful school year in Niger.
I am proud to finally announce that my project proposal has been approved and posted to the Peace Corps website. So, I am now officially asking anyone who is able to donate to the project - any amount will be incredibly helpful. I'm also asking those of you who are willing to share this email with your friends and family so that I can reach and even broader group of possible donors.
Here are the steps to take to donate to my project:

1. Go to the Peace Corps website: www.peacecorps.gov
2. Click on the Donate Now link on the left
3. Type my last name, Schuitema, or the project number, 683 172, into the search box
4. Scroll down a little and you will see my project, which they have titled: English Textbooks
5. Enter in the amount you would like to donate, click donate, and then follow the directions for entering your information

It's as simple as that! Thank you all for your continued support, I can't put into words just how much I appreciate it. Be well :)
Cheers,
Andrea M. Schuitema

One month + One day.

2009-09-09T16:32:00.001-07:00

We have one month and a day until we depart for Laos. I am giddy.

That is all. Thank you for your time.

:D

Found some film! Ummm... developed some film! Finally

2009-06-23T19:34:00.000-07:00

I have had some B&W 400 ISO film laying around the house for awhile, staring at me, exposed and undeveloped. And when I say awhile, I mean awhile. Like this-is-embarrassing-get-it-out-of-my-sight long time. I wasn't sure what the pictures were from, and I kind of wanted to just TOSS IT as to avoid the whole "do I get it developed and then what.. get a darkroom? scan it? " thing. I kind of suspected it might be from when we went to Cambodia 2004 so I never threw it out. We brought our 2 megapixel camera when we went to Cambodia and those pictures are shit, because it was a 2 megapixel point and shoot. My color photos from my film camera turned out like shit, because I never learned to take great color photos with film in school and also because I had a commercial lab do the prints. But I suspected that I took some B&W, and I thought this roll might be it. Last week I found a place in the city that still develops B&W film, and will also scan it. Jackpot! pictures of Angkor what that can actually-gasp-be printed on 8x10 paper and not look like ca-ca. yeah! I am so excited!!

been busy...

2009-06-23T19:18:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone! been real busy here and haven't had time to post much. so... to get you up to speed... We went to Ed and Ineke's for an after work BBQ and saw stars when the sun went down. In San Francisco. for those of you not living in SF, this is a rare occurrence because of the fog. We dubbed this day "best. monday. ever". We went to a very nice beach BBQ for Isaac's co-worker Malia, who moved to NY. It was beach. It was fire. It was nice.
Then we went camping in El Dorado State forest, near Tahoe, over memorial day weekend with a bunch of friends. more on that later, when I have time to look through those photos...

No one will play this game!!!

2009-04-30T16:12:00.001-07:00

OK, so I saw this post on Kotaku and while this isn't the first time I've seen a game like this pop up, it for whatever reason spurred me to post about it.

There are Sooo many shite WoW clones being made.... when will people learn. If you want to copy or emulate an existing game... you have to at the very least meet the same level of quality... the only quality these guys will see here is spelled kwality.

Just because a game is "free" absolutely does not mean people will be even remotely interested in playing it. It just lowers the entry bar. If you have a fun game, people will want to play it. They may even pay you for it! But come on, if you have a shitty game, people, (like me), will point and laugh at you. Time for these "me-too" development studios to get a clue. This is not exclusive to games by any means. It seems so obvious. Pixar did not invent 3D animation in film, they just did it better than anyone else. CNN did not invent TV or web news casting, they just packaged it better than anyone else had. World of Warcraft did not invent the fantasy MMO, they just did it better than everyone else. Quality, quality, quality. Not kwality. Quality is not cheap or free, nor should it be, but in my opinion it is always worth it.

That is all. *Steps carefully off of his soapbox and gets back to working on a quality game*

eco-zombierific

2009-04-17T18:59:00.000-07:00

I went to Rainbow grocery, the vegetarian co-op near my work, to pick up some groceries for dinner and also to carb up for lunch today. Generally I like Rainbow; even though many of the customers are eccentric(to say the least), it's not as expensive or showy as Whole Foods, and duh, I'm the kind of person who chooses to live in San Francisco. For those of you who are unfamiliar with Rainbow, My gay Joe once challenged another coworker to see who could find the first woman wearing lipstick when they went there a few months ago. they both lost because neither could find a single one.
so... Rainbow. ah, Rainbow. Everybody was a total zombie in there today. The crowd that does their grocery shopping at 11:30 am on a friday is normally kind of on island time anyways, but seriously. By the time I had the third person slowly shuffle into my path while looking straight at me with unseeing eyes and stop directly in front of me while they appeared to contemplate the meaning of life, I wanted to say "Duuuude. you're like totally in my way. Can you, like, chill over by the organic vegan pastries please?"
humph. (makes grumpy old man face).
ohh! someone just stopped their car outside my apartment and is blasting thriller-era Michael Jackson! Yay! more updates later.

two things

2009-04-05T19:36:00.001-07:00

okay, two funny things to blog about today. The first is that we went to eat Pho with a couple that we are friends with, and the guy at the restaurant asked if we minded sharing a big table and we said "no". then we get seated at a big round table (probably bid enough for 8-10 people) with another guy, who was there by himself. this is always a little awkward for me, partially because I always feel bad for people eating alone (I hate it myself) and partially because American culture doesn't often put strangers at the same table unless it is at a counter. So I said "hi" to the guy, and he said "hi" back, but he seemed to be all about the pho and not wanting to join our group so that was all good. we proceed to talk amongst ourselves like the guy wasn't there (nothing inappropriate mind you, just acted like we were at tables next to each other instead of at the same table). and at some point in the meal I told the other couple that next time we travel maybe they should join us and meet up on the road, and they said they probably can't because they will be busy. And then they tell us that she is pregnant (note that they did not say "we are pregnant", which is a phrase that I absolutely despise. no, you both are not pregnant. she is pregnant, you two are having a baby). anywoo... I kind of saw the guy next to us change posture or something but I ignored it because of a.) I was surprised at the pregnancy news and b.)Isaac literally did a spit take with his soup and said "what?!". But when I got home I realized how funny/weird this must have been for the poor dude sitting next to us- he's already eating at a table with strangers and now he's sitting there while big personal news is being revealed.

The second thing was that I was sitting in the living room a minute ago and looking at the box of ~~butt rocks~~ kitty litter we just bought and it just looked totally trippy and bizarre. Then I realized I was a little drunk on sake. but then I thought that the picture I took was kind of funny anyways so I wanted to post it. sorry if it's not funny to you sober people.

old emails

2009-03-22T16:48:00.000-07:00

I'm putting together a book of old travel emails from my family and found this funny exchange between me and Isaac. It's old but I thought I'd share. BTW, at the time we were planning on making some sort of preserved octopus display like one we saw at Paxton's Gate.
Kerry: What do you think of the jar I'm watching on e-bay? There is no embossing except on the bottom!
Isaac: Pretty sweet! We would have to cover the top, but will probalby want to do that in any event anywho
BTW, do you have Micheal's phone number? The window people need it.
Kerry:I don't sorry.
The jar comes with a cover, right?
Isaac: it looked like it did
Kerry: then what chew talkn' bout?
Isaac: about obfuscating the top, so it doesn't looksie likes a cuuntry jar :)
Kerry: that's an old timey octopus jar and lid!!! those are very rare

We got the jar and now it's sitting under our kitchen sink.

The ol' Photoshoppe

2009-03-19T19:17:00.000-07:00

When I was just a boy I remember Pappy taking me down to the Photoshoppe for some 5 cent filters. If I had been especially good he would ask Mr. Smith, the shopkeeper, to let me touch the gradients. "Don't tell grandma, this is our little secret" he'd say with a wink. Years later I was driving past where the Photoshoppe used to be, and there was a big Walmart there. I guess you can really never go home again.

quit complaining

2009-03-19T18:21:00.000-07:00

I am skilled in illustration, photoshoppe, and fashion critique. You can judge for yourself. Except that there will be no judging of this blog! This is Craftyk-o-vision and you will like it!!!!!!!!!

shortpants

2009-03-18T18:25:00.000-07:00

I hate when people dress as if the two halves of their body are going to completely different climates. Today I saw a woman wearing teeny tiny shorts (Not obscene butt-cheek showing pants, but almost). She was wearing cowboy boots with white knee socks,and..... a winter coat and scarf. WTF? I mean really. She looked crazy. We Live in SAN FRANCISCO and it is always CHILLY here. Even today, which was sunny and more of a light jacket day than a winter coat day, was not a teeny tiny shorts day. I would be a lot less judgmental about the entire outfit if she had committed to the costume and worn a little tank top and flip flops. Then I would have wondered how she wasn't cold, and maybe chalked it up to natural body temp or something. But the winter coat and scarf were a dead giveaway that she was freezing. and a whore.

I have included a image I photo shopped of the bikini girl from American Idol wearing ski pants (to show the reverse outfit) as well as a picture I drew of the girl I saw today. I did not have my camera with me. But, as you can see, I did have some free time today.

I love a nice orderly line

2009-03-18T13:04:00.000-07:00

What is it about lines that makes me want to get in them? And is it just me? I was walking to the farmer's market for lunch today, itself an interesting experience. Example: a man was handing out free samples of peanut brittle and telling people "try some, it could be your last chance at happiness" and he was so earnest when he said it, like he really believed it, and there appeared to be no one selling any peanut brittle at the farmer's market today. So perhaps it was a misguided attempt at socialization, or an art project, and not a "sample" as I first assumed, but I digress.
anyway, I had to walk past the Orpheum theater and saw a small mob of people descending on the ticket booth. There were about 40 people already in line, with expectant, eager faces. And I tell you, I was almost drawn into that line. never mind that they mostly show musicales at that theater, and I hate musicales. In fact, there was a huge banner advertising "Wicked" above the door, which was probably the only thing that stopped me from queuing.
This isn't the first time either, one time I passed a Mexican bakery that had a huge line at the door (never mind that I hate Mexican baked goods), and I almost got in that line too. My fist thought was "what are they selling that everyone wants?" and my second thought was "there's something in there that everyone wants, thank god I happened by!" I still don't know what they were selling, and it haunts me. Why can't I just let other people have stuff I don't have? I don't know. It's probably the smug look on the faces of everyone in line, like they know that if I decide to get in line they will be way ahead of me.
It's probably a good thing I don't have kids. Which is really quiet an understatement, if you know me well at all. But one of the reasons is I know, I'm sure, I would be one of those moms lined up at Walmart on black Friday at 5am to get the tickle me Elmo. I would be the one you read about in the paper, trampling some poor worker while I fight over the last doll. Hands off, fuckers. That Elmo is mine!

Hands off ladies, he's all mine

2009-03-03T19:46:00.000-08:00

Isaac just left for class complaining of a stomach ache. I was worried that maybe it was a wrong choice on my part to buy bento boxes for dinner (we were in a hurry). he assured me that no, the upset stomach was from lunch. He started out by saying, and these were his exact words: "I got an email from Armadillo Willie's, 'cause I sometimes eat there". What? I was too speechless to ask how on earth "Armadillo Willie's" got his email. but I digress. Anyways, he proceeds to tell me that they sent him a "delicious" looking photo of a chili cheese dog, which by his own admission is "dangerous" but is also something he hadn't had "in a really long time". sigh. He said by the last bite he felt like "ughhhhhhh". I told him I was going to post it on our blog and he was like "what?! Don't do that! I'm not proud of this" which made it even funnier, hence the post. I love you monkey.

Counting is hard Mr. Hat?!

2009-01-15T17:51:00.000-08:00

Sorry for the title, I just had to get a little elbow jab in at Kerry for her five, er' seven things post :D

I tend to shy away from tag replies, predominantly after being burned from having been poked to do it so many times on DeviantArt, but alas, a request from Kat seems ever so hard to decline and Kerry already took the plunge, so what the hell right? This will probably be the most personal post of this kind that I've done.

One: I was raised in a Very religious household. In fact my father was a minister. I know have an incredible amount of guilt for trying to spread that religion as a child. I really do feel that I should have known better. Today I am an ardent Atheist. And while I don't hold it against my parents for having raised me in a religious household, I regret not having been raised with no religion.

Two: I am a classically trained violinist and have taught myself with the help of friends and family growing up to also sing, play guitar, electric bass, and enough piano to do a fair bit of midi work. I love to pick up or make new instruments and incorporate their unique textures into my art.

Three: I've always wanted to be a rock star and still wish I spent more time making music. Though since I've found other ways to create strong art, (photography, games, sculpture, etc.), my urge for that lifestyle has waned and I now just want to ensure I am in a life environment where I can continually create. Happily, I've been able to keep that a reality and see no reason for it to end.

Four: I started smoking at roughly fourteen years old and quit smoking on February 12th 2001. I am now more sensitive to smoke than anyone I know and have a hard time not lecturing and/or physically assaulting smokers as they pass by on a sidewalk.

Five: Six months after I quit smoking I had the wonderful and enlightening opportunity to hold a human lung riddled with a form of lung cancer and emphysema. It felt like a leaky latex sack full of golf balls. The memory doesn't haunt me in the slightest, but did help put things in perspective. I haven't smoked a cigarette since. I recommend it to everyone!

Six: I, (Kerry as well), have an extremely strong passion for travel that I hope is contagious. Kerry and I continually debate whether or not to put everything we have in storage and teach English and volunteer in a foreign third-world country for a few years. It still could very well happen at some point. Related to that, also regret not having learned more languages in my early youth.

Seven: Although I do feel somewhat guilty about it, I have to admit that I do look down on people who believe in the supernatural, including religion as being horribly mislead, and am confident that so long as we can survive as a species we will socially evolve past religion and the supernatural in anything past entertainment. I reject the notion that people require self-delusion and belief in figments of the imagination in order to have positive hope or reason for kindness, caring, or sympathy.

Well, that's it, time for some good times with Kerry and the now visiting LISA!!! So excited!

Okay Okay- 5 things (Kerry)

2009-01-14T19:52:00.000-08:00

My friend Kat over at Kat's Meow (http://kathyahn.com/) recently challenged Isaac and me to write 5 things most people don't know about us on our blog. It's a kind of chain mail thing, where you do it and ask others to follow along after. I won't be asking others to do it, although of you are reading this and feel like taking the plunge go right ahead and let me know so I can check it out. I will let Isaac decide if he wants to post 5 things about himself, since this is a shared blog. And while I deeply admire Kat for being so open about her life that she posted 5 things that were very personal, I'm going to half ass it as usual. Oh shit, Isaac just reminded me it's 7 things. Fuck.
1. I started living on my own at 16 (that's personal and surprising, no?)
2. I grew up on a mini farm, where we raised/slaughtered our own chickens and had goats, ducks, and a horse.
3. To be honest, I never really wanted the horse or appreciated having one. I still feel ambivalent about horses. I don't dislike them. I did and do LOVE goats, however.
4.I have always wanted to see the pyramids of Egypt- I wanted to be an archeologist through most of my childhood. I know they won't live up to my expectations when I actually see them.
5.My first paying job was collecting night crawlers after the rains and selling them to a nearby bait shop (I was about 7).
6.I dated a 26 year old when I was 17 (tee hee).
7. ummm... I'm running out of facts about myself. I used to have my tongue pierced? yes that will do. no one else who went to college in the 90's had facial piercings....

Dirty Thirty? No, clean thirty!

2009-01-06T17:43:00.000-08:00

So, last week, Isaac asked me what I wanted to do for my birthday over the weekend (since actual birthday falls on an uber-lame Tuesday). Like many women, I had certain feelings about turning thirty. And those feelings were centered around a blinding, all consuming rage over turning thirty and not having a walk-in closet. You see, dear reader, we have lived in a 1 bedroom apartment in San Francisco for the last 6 years. And it just so happens that the apartment also just had a birthday. It just turned 100 years old. and 100 years ago it appears that they didn't have closets. So our closet (and might I add it is the only one in the entire apartment, poor Isaac has a even smaller Ikea wardrobe)is an afterthought- a tiny little thing added sometime later in the apartment's life so that the apartment could legally be listed as a 1 bedroom. This thing is small, and contains suspicious water stains over a lifetime of wallpaper and paint layers(see first photo). It will not properly contain all of my clothing, which is not even that much for the NYC "sex in the city" lifestyle I am so clearly living. Le Sigh. So, Isaac and I looked at the closet with fresh eyes and figured we could knock the top shelf out, raise the bar (literally), and add a second bar. The result is perfection! I have a bin for socks at the bottom, another bin for pajamas, and all of my coats, tops and bottoms now fit in the closet. Don't ask about bras and underwear because I had to find another solution for those, but they are out of sight now. we bought an over the door shoe rack(I know... duh) and even had enough space that I am allowing Isaac to keep his three pairs of shoes there too. Now that I'm thirty, I have a big girl's closet! Hooray! And for those of you who think it's lame that that's how I spent my birthday, please remember that my life already has plenty of boozy cocktail parties and absolutely no bathtubs or walk-in closets. Hence I spend much of my free time dreaming of the day when I will live somewhere with a bathtub and a big closet. Now the closet gods have been appeased!

Happy Dirty 30 Kerry!

2009-01-06T17:09:00.001-08:00

Atheists saving the world!

2008-12-23T23:32:00.000-08:00

Isaac and I recently heard about Kiva.org, a non profit website where anyone can make micro loans (any amount you want, but $25 is the default amount) to people in third world countries who need loans to improve their living conditions. Isaac and I donated $25 to 2 different groups of borrowers, each in Cambodia. Isaac and I have seen Cambodia's poverty first hand and I can imagine that getting a loan to start a small business is make or break for a lot of people there. We also saw that you can join a group of lenders, where whatever you lend is added to the group's total. The coolest part is the second largest group is an atheist/freethinkers group, who are out to prove that Atheists are altruistic and not the nihilists we are often made out to be. You can check out the group's blog here. They are called Atheist-Monkey, how perfect is that?! So please consider making a micro loan today, and if you feel inclined then join the atheist group first (we didn't join until after our first loan, so that one doesn't count toward the group's goal. Learned that after.) I won't go on and on about how it works, but the main point is you get paid back, which you then can keep (it's your money after all) or you can lend to someone else. So basically you get to keep helping people at no extra cost. If you want to help out the group of borrowers we helped, the link is on the right hand side of our blog. After they get all the money they need the picture will be replaced with another lender's profile.

Thanksgiving, part 2

2008-12-13T15:49:00.000-08:00

Here we are with my dad, Marc and Lisa, and my grandma and her new boyfriend. Yeah, you read that right, my 92 year old grandma has a new boyfriend, and he's awesome. And she's awesome. Don't believe me? Here is a photo of her in 1933 on her high school's women's basketball team.

I'd like to see what your grandma was up to in 1933. Because I bet it wasn't shooting hoops.

Thanksgiving

2008-12-13T15:42:00.000-08:00

Tired of seeing pictures of me and Isaac? I didn't think so! I know you bitches love to look at us- that's why you read our blog! Well, I have a special treat for everyone. We went home for Thanksgiving so here are lots of pictures of us, and our families. You're welcome.

Obama ♥

2008-12-13T15:25:00.000-08:00

"Red stickers mean "I Voted!"

This was by far the most amazing election ever. Isaac and I always vote, but this time it really felt like it mattered. Seeing the lines at my work (we are a polling place) was incredible, and my coworkers and I kept running down to peek all day. It really felt like everyone cared this year. After work our neighbors Layla, Merritt, Pierre and their twin babies came over for homemade pizza, big salad and champagne. I like to pronounce it Cham-pag-ney to Pierre, because he's French. He doesn't mind. Being French I mean. I think he might mind my pronunciation. Anyways, we watched the news and tracked the results on the web (see the picture with the guys looking at the results- even the baby is happy!)and when it was announced that Obama was the winner, we all ran outside shouting and laughing. Every car on Valencia street was honking it's horn and everyone on the street was yelling, singing, and high fiving complete strangers. It was magic. Then we went back inside and watched Indiana go blue, for the first time that I can remember. Merritt is from Indiana too so it was special for all three of us to see that. Hooray!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Halloween!

2008-12-13T15:21:00.000-08:00

Isaac's costume is Billy Mitchell from King of Kong. Mine is a pumpkin.

Karaoke!

2008-12-13T15:09:00.000-08:00

We FINALLY rented a Karaoke room with 8 of our closest friends on Saturday. It was a lot of fun and everyone sang as loud and as drunkenly as they could. I think we all agreed Ed and Isaac's duet of "Dick in a box" was the evening's highlight. And we all got a kick out of sneaking flasks of alcohol in, since everyone in the room was well over 21. ahhhhh... high school memories. The first picture is Jess before and immediately after knocking a light off the wall. Fortunately the guys were able to reattach it and no one was the wiser. After karaoke we went to Kat's house and almost set her house on fire because we started a fire in the fireplace with the flu (sp?) closed. we had to use a fire extinguisher to put it out. Oh yeah, and before that we almost got kicked out of BAR, BAR for god's sake, because people were getting a little bit naked. Just a little so they ended up not kicking us out. Crazy kids!

Dirty Thirty

2008-12-13T15:01:00.000-08:00

Isaac's Birthday! Woo-hoo! We went bowling with Jen and Garland. Lunar bowling. Being the birthday boy, Isaac pooled all his birthday super powers and easily won every game. we were all suitably impressed. And even though I was a bad girlfriend and didn't get even one birthday-themed balloon or hat, the group in the lane next to us was coincidentally having a 30th birthday party for one of the bowlers. So there were "dirty thirty" signs and balloons everywhere. See? No need to decorate! The universe takes care of these things. Unfortunately, Isaac's birthday luck had run off by the time I bought him a bowling-alley lotto scratcher. Oh well.

Muir Woods!

2008-12-13T14:50:00.000-08:00

So as I sit here writing this in... ummm... August or late June or something... we just went to Muir woods with dad! yeah! It was a lot of fun. Dad had never been so it was a nice drive up to Marin over the bridge. Parking at Muir was terrible but once we got parked we were able to wander around for several hours. After we ate some delicious Pho and garlic noodles at Sunflower (Turtle Tower is not open at night). Dad tried to get the waiter to tell us what the "secret ingredient" in the garlic noodles was. Silly dad! they won't tell! Not ever. Isaac says fish sauce. I say crack. I think I'm right.

errr.. forgot to add a few things

2008-12-13T14:46:00.000-08:00

sooooooo.... Isaac and I have been really busy and haven't blogged in awhile. time to play catch up! that means you need to ignore the dates of the next few posts and pretend they are from a few months ago. So sit back,crack a cold one, and pretend that you are scared to death that Palin will be president in a few years.

Busy Weekend

2008-10-05T14:43:00.001-07:00

Last weekend we had an extremely busy but fun weekend. we were all ramped up to go to the opening of the new Academy of Science in Golden Gate Park, but when we got there it was sold out. bummer. We decided to stroll around nearby Hayes Valley and as soon as we parked the car, we saw our friend Bryant walking up to us. Bryant moved to Philly about a year ago, and was in town for a few hours during a long layover from Vancouver! None of us could believe our luck that we would run into each other. It was so nice to have a drink with him before he left for the airport. That's him in the picture above, drinking a comically huge latte.

Later on Saturday we celebrated our friend Ed's birthday at a BBQ at his apartment. Ed and Ineka have a video game called Rock Band, which I know will need no introduction for about half of our 6 readers. For those who are unfamiliar with it, it's like karaoke but with instruments that you get to play too. The photo above is Isaac rocking out until late into the night. :)

On Sunday everyone at the previous night's party decided to meet up at Folsom Street fair, a yearly San Francisco institution where S&M meets street fair. There were naked people who probably shouldn't have been naked. It was not sexy. But it was interesting, and Ed and Ineka had German friends in town who had fun taking lots of pictures that they won't be able to show their family back home. Sunday night we had dinner with our Indiana friend Rachel whose folks were in town (her dad fixed my car brakes in college, shout out Steve and Cathy!). overall an exhausting but fun and event packed weekend! I'm off to take a nap......

Great Times

2008-08-03T15:15:00.000-07:00

After a long period of not seeing Lisa and Marc it was like a much needed drug fix for a junkie complete with the aftermath of withdrawal. We, as always, had an amazing time. On June 21st we took a nice long drive down to Big Sur stopping whenever any of us felt like stopping to soak it in and take some pictures. The shot above is at one point were we could see a huge thunderstorm heading to the coast from out to sea. That storm that you see Lisa pointing at is the one that started this gigantic fire on one of the hill tops. Once we were down in Big Sur, we actually almost didn't get to drive back through on Highway 1 due to all of the fire crews and helicopters trying to start their attack on the blaze.

On that following Tuesday, we decided to test a theme park here in California to see how it measured up to the epic coaster-filled mega-parks of the Midwest. Of course, the park turned out to be much smaller in almost every measurable scale, but since it was a really slow Tuesday with little to waiting for every ride and Perfect weather, it made for a really superb day! In the day we also discovered that we are all losers in comparison to Lisa. At times when the rest of us would need to stop and let the dizziness wear off so we wouldn't yak all over the place, Lisa was calmly sitting back with a Buddha smile, soaking in the gentile sun and breeze, wondrously curious as to why we were having such a hard time. The image below pretty much sums up the day.

We can't wait to see them again...

Volcano Wedding

2008-07-04T10:52:00.000-07:00

On June's Friday the 13th, Kerry and I headed out into the heart of California's old mining country to attend the wedding of our good friends Mike Plocek and Margarethe Olsen. The event took place in the beautifully authentic Volcano, California. I say authentic because it still has the feel of a small old mining town even though any real mining efforts have long since died out. We stayed in a really charming original hotel and saloon called the St. George where all of the festivities took place. Due to the glut of wildfires that have struck Northern California this year, there was no power in the whole town most of our stay, but to be honest, it was really more of a treat than a burden. It just made the whole thing feel, well, more authentic. In Volcano, there is a rather large cave called Black Chasm where due to the lack of power, we took a tour using only flashlights! Though thankfully, just before the ceremony began, all power was restored.

The non-religious ceremony was expertly presided over by our good friend Ed Moss and was enhanced by original stories and poems written for the occasion and read by their respective authors. If I can get links to the writings, I'll link them here as they were really quite fantastic! It was a superb getaway for everyone and there were some good times catching up and meeting new friends over drinks and grilled deliciousness.

The drive there and back was one of my favorite parts of the whole trip. Driving along the old gold rush highways with the top down, embracing the intense heat is almost therapeutic. We stopped whenever the impulse to just take in the view or take some pictures struck, and the luscious green that dotted the drive gave ample opportunity to give us more practice with our IR filter.

There was some talk from some of the other wedding attendees of having their wedding at the same location in Volcano, and I hope they follow through with it, it would be great to have an excuse to go back to this magical little spot.

Isaac's Tattoo!

2008-05-04T20:47:00.000-07:00

After a great deal of planning, research, and discussion with Kerry and fellow artists, I finally moved forward to get a tattoo. Most of you know, I've had a strong drive to get a tattoo for many many years but never pulled the trigger for various reasons; wrong design idea, nervous, some amount of fear and regret about old ideas from my youth.

This time however, I really did know what I was looking for, but finding an artist turned out to be a great deal harder than I had anticipated. I spoke to a whole slew of tattoo artists around the bay area before finally finding the one I was looking for in Philip Milic. The rub then was in getting on the schedule. After about 6 months of waiting for my appointment, I was finally in!

The first shots here are of the process in the first session one week ago. I arrived for the first session at about 2pm, and didn't leave until maybe 7-7:30, so it was a really long day, but having Kerry to hang out with and having Jen and Garland come by with some good wishes and awesome caramels (THANKS!), it was a fun and fulfilling day. Here is a shot Kerry took inside the studio of Philip mid-session.

Here is another shot of the process, this time with a close-up. Pushing the needle in, again and again.

The piece, as you can see in the first image, is of a cherry blossom branch (sakura), with a pair of cicadas on a trailing, weighted limb. There are many layers to the meaning for me, but here is one. I have very fond memories of cicadas from my childhood in Indiana. It was magical to play with them both alive and in picking their shed exoskeletons from the trunks of trees. They represent my roots. The blossoming branch is a reference to many things, but one is that in the traveling that Kerry and I have done, bar-none our favorite place has been Japan. In was an inspiring, beautiful, cultured place, and in that way the branch represents looking forward, full of appreciation, Spring-like optimism, and life. Kerry and I are extremely happy with the final result, I hope you all will be too. Because the final session was only yesterday, the colors are deeper and brighter than they will be after they have settled in a few months. I can't wait to share it with you!

Our last full day in Rome.

2008-03-28T11:16:00.000-07:00

It is our last full day here in Rome and today we made it out to the Vatican Museum. Our super helpful B&B helped us book a reservation which allowed us to have a super fast que compared to the "regular" line which stretched about 5 people wide for nearly a kilometer! (Look at me, we've been in Europe so long I'm counting things in metric without even thinking about it). Once we got inside we began our exploration carefully because we had read all sorts of warnings that if you got off track and missed a section they won't let you go back to a previous gallery, (what a stupid rule for a museum!). Much of the ancient art was not groundbreaking in comparison with what you tend to see in every nook and cranny in the churches and museums throughout the city, but they were inspiring none-the-less.

The most amazing thing for me about the whole museum was that every single surface was covered in some sort of art. In the image below, it is a snapshot of a hall that was roped off just to show the level of detail you see throughout the museum.

Once we made it into the "apartments" of some of the former popes, we began to see a great deal fantastic renaissance work including one suite that was frescoed entirely by Raffael! Most people can afford a house painter, and maybe even a small mural... the popes, they get Raffael. Money and power can do amazing things. This is a detail from one of the every-surface-frescoed rooms in the suite from Rafael.

Towards the end of the overwhelming onslaught of art you are led into the coupe de gras of the museum, the Sistine Chapel. You are not allowed to use cameras of any kind in the room, so I will have to just describe some things. The room was much smaller than either Kerry or I had anticipated, (especially after the grand scale that was St. Peter's Basilica yesterday), but that was a really good thing as it allowed us to really examine the details of the ceiling and wall frescoes. We rented an electronic audio guide from the museum and were lucky enough to find a seat along the periphery of the room which allowed us to sit and really spend time examining the details of the truly awe inspiring work with great commentary on the subtleties we may have missed. The nearly Technicolor saturation and scope of the work was truly a site to behold. It was one of those times where you really began to understand what all the fuss was about.

After we spent some more time digesting further galleries from the museum, we headed out for a late lunch back at La Griglietta again, this time with our sites squarely aimed at getting a chance to experience the famous Roman fried artichokes (one of their specialty foods here in Rome), and WOW were we in for a treat. Our pasta dishes (Penne a la vodka white sauce, and matriciano) were fantastic, but it was really the artichokes, which had been prepared in such a way that the rough leaves were cut away, deep fried (not oily), and lightly salted and peppered to absolute perfection. It was the single best artichoke I've ever had, and I've had my fair share of amazing artichokes. Thinking about it has me salivating all over again. Good times!

Now it is back to the room for a final post from Roma, to pack our bags, have another dinner at Dino and Tony's and go to bed early for our early morning departure. It has been an amazing trip. One that, as always, will take some time to fully digest. We'll be able to share more memories and thoughts as time goes on. Once we are settled back in the states we'll get right on processing all of the images from the trip so keep an eye on our Flickr and DeviantArt accounts!

St. Peter's Basilica and lots of tiny cups of espresso.

2008-03-28T11:07:00.000-07:00

Today we began with a nice breakfast out on the balcony of our B&B, which we followed by a visit to the opulant St. Peter's Basilica. There was a deep que, but due to the free admission, it was a really quick line (maybe 15 minutes?).

Due to some nutjob's attempted hammer attack on it in the 70's the Pietà from Michelangelo is now behind bullet-proof glass near the entrance to the basilica, so it was difficult to truly capture, but it was an impressive sculpture to be sure. It doesn't have the grand scale of David, but the level of detail and sense of realism puts it closer to what I might have expected from someone like Bernini, and since Mary is wearing lots of robes, you are not struck by the masculine qualities of the feminine figure like you would be looking at much of his other work, (he tended to use muscular male models for both his male and female work... go figure, but anyway, I digress).

The Basilica is as opulent as you could possibly make a single space. Here is a shot that tries to capture some sense of the feel you get walking around it.

The entire basilica is filled to brim with art, as you might expect, but one detail that was a complete surprise to me was that there were no paintings! Instead, due to church planner's fear of fire, they had mosaics that looked like paintings done for the domes, walls, and panels of the basilica. It was an absolutely uncanny thing to see one up close, or zoom with the lens and see that the gigantic painting you were looking at was actually a gazillion little tiles that took nearly two decades to make (each!)!

This is a shot that shows some of the detail you see looking up, including one of those incredible mosaics.

Once we had our share of dead popes and mind blowing art, we decided to wonder down the Tiber river towards the Trastevere area of Rome. It was a beautiful walk, even in the sprinkly weather, down the river's edge, and we finally made our way to Trastevere which was a wonderful tangle of small cobbled streets perfect for getting lost in, (which we happily did). We roamed the streets until it started to rain a bit harder so we ducked into a cute little cafe/restaurant for a snack and some warm drinks.

I should mention that I LOVE drinking tea, and while Rome doesn't seem to really get the tea thing right, WOW do they get the coffee thing right! I'm completely hooked on cafe macchiatos, and ordered two of them at the little cafe. The proprietor was a really charming host and we lingered there for a while, but once the rain slacked a bit, we jumped back into our not-really-aiming-for-anything-in-particular route back through the neighborhood. We stayed lost for a long time and ended up stumbling into an old pharmacy run by monks for hundreds of years that services the popes. The walls had some really cool botanical paintings of medicinal herbs from treatments ages past.

Later that day we decided to take our B&B's suggestion and try out a restaurant called La Griglietta. A former guest from Texas had said to our B&B that he had the best steak of his life there, and with an endorsement like that how could I resist! Kerry was treated to an artichoke lasagna made by the owner's wife that was out of site, while I had the Taglietta, a full kilogram of superb cut of beef, (not unlike something John Candy was served). It was cooked to absolute perfection, slightly crisp and seared through on the outside, and tender buttery raw goodness on the inside. We both ended up gorging ourselves far past sanity due to both the amazing symphony of flavors and the portions that were, especially with the meat, truly meant for two. It was another meal to remember. We both wished we could have eaten more, but as it was we had to waddle home and crash into a food-coma, (the great wine helped too). Tomorrow, we will get up bright and early to finally see inside the Musei Vaticani (Vatican Museum)!

Centro Storico and beyond...

2008-03-28T11:02:00.000-07:00

On Wednesday we headed out to see several big attractions in Rome, must of which are in the Centro Storico region where the streets are all cobbled and cute. The first thing we hit was the church where Bernini's "Ecstasy of St Theresa" sculpture is featured. That's the one that shows St. Theresa with the angel standing over her. St Theresa's recollection of the event said that the angel stuck the fiery spear deep into her bowls, giving her the lords good lovin'.I'm paraphrasing, but you get the point. and her face is famous for, err, looking like she is getting some good lovin' from the lord. check it out:

After that we went to see the crypt of the capuchin monks, which is famous for having several rooms decorated entirely with bones and dessicated monks still in their robes. It was really amazing- Isaac and I were both expecting maybe 1 or 2 rooms, with bones lining the walls, but there were 5 or 6 rooms, with elaborate bone chandeliers, bone archways, and bone designs (such as a child's skeleton holding a scythe and scale, also made out of bones and attached to the ceiling). They didn't allow any photos or video, so here's a link.

Actually, it seems that several places that have a single "money maker" attraction don't allow photography, presumably so they can sell more postcards. Michelangelo's David in Florence was the same way. The next thing we saw was the Pantheon, (it's crazy to see so many legendary things so close to each other in a city). We took photos of the Pantheon, but they don't really do it justice. After that, we went to see the famous Trevi fountain, which is HUGE:

Then we walked a few blocks to see the 3 Bernini fountains in Piazza Navona. Unfortunately, the biggest one in the middle was being restored and completely covered except for small plexiglass windows to peek through. the other 2 were impressive though, and we were just happy that it wasn't raining! It was overcast much of the day but finally warmed up a little. Before dinner we stopped by the castle Sant'Angelo via the bridge of angels. The bridge has angel statues lining it

(Bernini again- our new favorite sculptor!) and it is really close to our B&B. Every morning we see tourists on top of the castle from our room, so it was neat to look through the camera's zoom lens and find our room from the castle. We also got a few nice aerial shots of the city despite the overcast conditions. And it was another free attraction, thanks to Cultural Heritage week in Rome. For dinner we went to a little trattoria called Dino and Tony, which is supposed to be pretty famous in the area. It was AMAZING. the portions are huge, and they kept saying "eat!' when we would set down our forks, so we left feeling slightly sick from too much food but it was really really good. Isaac and I split what turned out to be a huge appetizer plate with stuffed olives, pizza, salami and prosciutto, and some sort or ricotta and spinach thing. then I had 2 small bowls of chef's choice pasta (they brought me a mushroom one and a gorganzola one) and Isaac had Pasta carbonara (bacon, eggs, oil and some other goodies in a huge bowl). All the pasta was fresh, and we left feeling very lucky to be eating Italian food in Italy!

Pompeii

2008-03-27T11:20:00.000-07:00

POMPEII!

So, Tuesday started out with a 7:45am train to Salerno.

On Monday we booked the earliest trip to Pompeii, and the latest trip back. what we ended up with was a 7:45am trip to Salerno, where we would need to transfer to Pompeii, and a 7:36pm train from Naples to Rome, (we would need to get to Naples from Pompeii). Pompeii is between Naples and Salerno, about a half an hour from either direction, not considering the inevitable delays. Rome to Naples is about 2 1/2 hours. The train ride to Salerno was bright and sunny and gave us hopes that we might not get rained on for one day in our trip. I thought, "This is the Mediterranean!" and "my goodness, there are lemon trees and clothes on clotheslines at each town we pass. What do they do with all the lemons?" I guess that explains Italians fondness for lemoncello liquor. After a transfer and several delays, one which included us getting locked into a stationary train with several Italians who were in a hurry and banging on the doors, (I guess they aren't that laid back), we ended up at Pompeii around 1pm. The good news is, it's Cultural Heritage week in Italy so we got in free! The bad news is, the second we entered the gates, no joke, it started raining. We have become one with the rain. But I'll be honest, it limited our "artistic" shots of Pompeii. There was no changing of lenses, and our photos were more documentary than expressive because it is hard to shoot photos through a plastic bag. Even when you've bought that plastic bag on eBay with the express purpose of photographing in the rain. There were still other tourists, but overall, many streets were empty, and there only a few times when we had to wait for school groups to enter a building before we could enter. I imagine it is insane in the summer, or at least that's what we are telling ourselves to make up for the miserable weather. Pompeii itself does feel like a real city, with streets in a grid pattern and buildings still standing next to each other everywhere. Here is a picture of what it looks like to be walking down the street.

Pompeii is huge! Honestly, it felt bigger than Venice. There was no way to see everything, and archaeologists are still digging, (they have about one third left to excavate). Still, we feel like we hit most of the sites we wanted to see. Like the brothel, (ooh, la, la, pornographic frescoes!), and two areas that had plaster casts of the victims of Vesuvius's massive eruption. Here is a very visceral one of a dog that died from the eruption.

Speaking of dead dogs, I'm 97% sure I saw a dead dog in the Naples metro station when we were transferring trains. Seriously. A little kid was pointing at it and her mom dragged her away in horror. Naples is in the middle of a garbage strike,(which is an annual event), and smells exactly how you would expect. The metro station looked like it had been under attack, with rubble everywhere. And the fellow American who was living in Italy who told us, "Watch your wallet", wasn't kidding. Everyone seemed sketchy and angery, and I took some solace in the fact that my wallet had already been stolen in Paris two weeks prior. Isaac watched his money, and I watched his back. I put on my best "don't mess with me" face. To make matters worse, our connecting train to Rome was delayed an hour, and we had to wait outside in the cold. There was a nice Italian old lady sitting next to us who spoke no English who was helping translate the delays with pantomime, pointing to my watch and saying, "Mama Mia!" repeatedly. The train, when it arrived, was completely sold out, (including standing room), so we were glad we had reserved seats! We kicked some squatters out of our seats without too much fuss. The other four Italians in the coach with us were traveling from Sicily and really cool. One guy said sarcastically, "What, you don't want to stay the night in Naples?!" which was funny. The train kept loosing lighting because it had broken down in Sicily, (hence the hour delay), and we were all hoping it would actually get us to Rome. One of the Italians spoke excellent English, and was joking, "This isn't a train it's a disco!" (because of the lights going in and out). We ended up having a really nice conversation with them. They were asking all sorts of questions about America, and convinced us we definitely need to visit Sicily in the future. They were also very firm in explaining to us that the Sopranos does not accurately describe Italian mafia, (they brought the subject up). Apparently Italian mafia isn't that flashy. We tried to tell them that it's entirely possible that mafia in New Jersey are that flashy, but they didn't believe us. At any rate, we arrived in Rome around midnight with our wallets intact, and happy to be going back to our B&B.

Ancient Rome! (fullfilling a childhood dream)

2008-03-27T09:48:00.000-07:00

So we arrived in Rome on Easter Sunday, and the train was not nearly as crowded or crazy as we expected, which was great. We had a moment of severe panic when we arrived at our Bed & Breakfast and no one answered the door. Luckily the nice restaurant owner next door was able to hunt down the B&B owner's cell phone number and found out that he was just running late. Once we got inside the B&B via a terrifying 1930's elevator everything got a lot better. The place is super cute, and the owner is really nice and helpful, and even reserved our Vatican Museum trip for Friday. We even have a view of Castle St. Angelo from our room! Everything is IKEA so we feel right at home here. If you know anyone that wants to go to Rome, we would like to recommend our B&B. There are only two rooms, and it's 80 euros a night with a private bathroom. We totally lucked out. We took it easy the rest of Easter Sunday doing laundry and having dinner at the restaurant that had helped us out earlier.

On Monday, we went to Palatine Hill and the Colosseum. Thank you Lonely Planet for telling us to get our tickets at Palatine Hill for both places because we still had to wait an hour, but it was MUCH better than the never-ending que at the Colosseum. This was something Isaac had really wanted to see since he was little, so it was a real treat. This is a photo from inside the Colosseum.

Below is a photo of the Ancient Roman ruins at Palatine Hill. It is amazing that things are still so well preserved.

Afterwards, we went into Vatican City, which is right by our B&B. We had hoped there would be some gate where they would check our passports, or something that would make us feel like we had entered another country, (Vatican City is not even a member of the EU, so in theory they should have a Customs check, and stamp passports). Nope! We were walking around wondering when we would arrive there, and suddenly we were in St. Peter's square. There is a big wall, but no signs, gates, or officials! So weird. We got to St. Peter's square right before it started dumping rain again. Still, it HAILED at breakfast, (no joke), so at least it wasn't hailing! Still we are getting sick of the rain. "Real" restaurants around here don't open for dinner until about 7:30pm, and it was about 6:30, cold and rainy, and we were hungry. We found a decent touristy place that had average food, so that was OK, but nothing special.

Tuesday = Pompeii! :)

Firenze!

2008-03-23T02:59:00.001-07:00

(Firenze is Italian for Florence)

Rain, rain go away, come again some other day! It's been raining pretty much non-stop this whole trip, and while we won't let it get us too down, it would be great for those sweeping views and all day walks through cities to have it let up a little. We may get a little break next week in Rome, but it looks like it's cold and wet from here on out. C'est la vie, or whatever that is in Italian (I should really look that one up!).

On our our third and last day in Florence, we did finally get a break in the rain! It was a beautiful mild and sunny day. We saw Michaelangelo's David in dell'Accademia, and Galileo's tomb in Santa Croce.

The bad weather has kept Kerry's cold up full-force, but we still went out for a great Tuscan meal, and she commented that even though she couldn't taste very well, "at least it looked delicious". I had a wonderful meal starting with a duck meat sauce pasta, followed by a few perfectly cooked pieces of pork wrapped in the famous Tuscan lardo, which has a much milder flavor than bacon, but a buttery rich texture that keeps the meat moist and delicious.

Our bed and breakfast here in Firenze has been wonderful. It is a small charming place with a handful of rooms, and ever-present classical music. The decor is a mix of Florentine etchings and kid's art, which somehow works here, and the whole atmosphere is very comfortable and relaxing. The building the bed and breakfast is housed in reminded Kerry and I both of an old college building, in a good way. It is actually in the Swedish consulate building, which was pretty confusing when we first arrived and were trying to figure out if we were in the right place. It is a super-duper charming place, it definitely paid to do a lot of research in advance, (thanks Kerry!).

Overall Florence is much smaller than we expected, you can walk the whole city pretty easily. We expected Venice to be quite small, (and it was), but the size of Florence was a surprise, and a pleasant one given the lack of subway system here!

We are off to Rome in a few hours, it is Easter today, so things could get interesting with the crowds gathering there to hear the Pope's Easter announcement today. We learned our lesson in Paris to book our train in advance so at least we know we have seats on the train. More when we arrive!

2008-03-20T14:08:00.000-07:00

On our second day in Venice we made our way to the surrounding islands of Murano and Burano, famous for Venician glass and lace respectively. In Murano we had one of the best meals yet in Europe off the beaten track in the local hub of the island. It was a great meal filled with fish, squid, squid ink pasta, and the best most unbelievably tender octopus I've ever had.

In Burano, the buildings are even more saturated with color than those in the rest of Venice so we had a great time strolling the quaint cobbled streets and just taking it all in.

Kerry's head cold has persisted, and with it began a little ear stuffage with all the usual sinus junk. She started to get legitimately concerned that the deafness in one ear would be permanent. At various points throughout the day Kerry would tilt her head all the way back so her face was to the sun and then turn her head slightly to shift the fluids and get a little hearing back, and I realized... Maybe Jean de Arc wasn't actually turning her ear to hear the voice of some god, maybe she just had a head cold? I mean, what if she had friends who she just didn't hear until her ears cleared out a bit, and that didn't happen until she had her ear turned to the clouds? It's a theory, I'd like to see some grad student looking for a thesis topic pick up, I see great promise!

Whatever the symptoms of Kerry's cold are (I could read off the contents of her now French and Italian pharmacy in her purse for clues), a scoop of gelato seems to be the best cure, but really, what doesn't it help?!

Cheers,
-Isaac

Venizia

2008-03-20T13:56:00.000-07:00

So we made it to Venice, and with that we begin our jaunt through the second and final country of our trip. Recall if you will all of those paintings and pictures of a picturesque town full of vivid colors, and waterways flowing with singing gondoliers and know that they are not exaggerating. The city has gone to great lengths to preserve the city's historic feel, and they have done an uncanny job. Who knows if it will be here forever, but while it is, it is beautiful.

Now, that isn't to say it's all sunshine and lively pealing plaster over jade colored waterways... that's all there, but there are also lots of tourists, (even in March) along with the tacky shops that cater to them, and you have to go to extraordinary lengths to find a restaurant that doesn't break one of cardinal rules of either being next to a train station, near an airport, has a menu in more than one language, and in the worst cases, PICTURE MENUS! In a moment of weakness and desperation brought on by sun and hunger, we convinced ourselves that it was worth the risk to try one against our better jugement near the famous Piazza San Marco. Wow... just wow... we should have known better. For example... the barley soup starter with squid fritti served next to potatoes daphne, finished with desert, was actually, salty can quality soup, diner quality fried calamari with over salted fries, finished with canned fruit salad... ya... we left hungry and were much more satisfied with our later slice of pizza from a street on the walk back to our hotel.

While exploring the small wandering streets of Venice, we had a few destinations we felt we absolutely could not miss, and one was a famous craftshop that makes Venician masks, and boy were we not disappointed! The shop was fantastic-- full of plaster and leather masks from Venice's history, local plays, and mythology.

Many jester and harlequin masks were better versions of what you might find in Mardi Gras down in New Orleans, but others were unique and new to us. After some seriously hard debate, we decided on a the "plague doctor" mask. It looks kind of like a bird mask with a huge beak and round eye holes, and that's what we thought it was, but the shop lady gave us the rich background that it was in fact a historic piece modeled after a mask worn by physicians during the Black Plague that spread through Venice in the 1630's and wiped out a third of their population. The large "beak" of the mask would have been filled with herbs and lots of garlic to both block out the horrible stench and to hopefully cleanse the air before the doctor breathed it in, (at the time they thought the plague was airborne). The round eye holes look like the spectacles they would affix to the mask and hat to seal their head from the bad air. The "current" plague doctor masks around in other shops have stylized that particular style of mask much further and actually has a slit along the mask's beak to make it more bird-like but less true to the original design. Ours is dark and made from leather. We will take a picture and post it when we get back to the States.

Cheers,
-Isaac

Melanie and Hunter's Wedding in Paris

2008-03-20T13:33:00.000-07:00

These photos are from Melanie's wedding on Saturday the 15th. She was an amazingly beautiful bride, and since we only brought our point and shoot to the ceremony, the pictures don't really do her justice. The image of the 5 of us (with Silvie, another bridesmaid and good friend from when she was a kid in NY) is at a restaurant a few days before the wedding. The rehearsal dinner was at an amazing restaurant along the Seine, La Peruse, and I was able to say a nice little speech there after dinner. This ended up being fortuitous, because the day of the wedding I developed laryngitides! I blame Paris's freezing rainy weather the week previous to the ceremony. I now have a French pharmacy in my purse for my sore throat, cough, and cold. But I rally on! Anyways, the day of the ceremony itself the weather was gorgeous before the ceremony and started to rain after. Please click on the images to see them non-pixelated, we are having blog formatting issues, and cannot really deal with them overseas.

The ceremony was in the oldest cathedral in Paris, completed in 1100 (take that Notre Dame!), and in some of the photos we will post later you will see Notre Dame in the background. After the ceremony Melanie and Hunter, their parents, the photographer and Silvie and I took a limo to a few different famous sites to take wedding photos. Silvie and I went to help carry and arrange the veil and train and keep them out of the mud- Melanie referred to us as the "fluffers". Enough said. You can see in the photo how fluffy her dress is- We did well. By the time we were headed to the boat that we were having the reception on, Melanie had been in the dress about 5 hours and REALLY needed to pee. It also started raining really hard, which didn't help. At one point in the limo Mel looked at me and said "have you seen the movie 27 dresses? where the bride needs someone to help her in the bathroom because she can't lift her dress?" I hadn't seen the movie, but I said I certainly didn't mind. Once we were on the boat, she really was about to lose it and we raced for the bathroom- only to find it was a boat bathroom the size of an airplane loo. I looked at Mel and said "you sure you need my help?" and she said yes, so in we went. We made it work, and were both laughing hysterically (the dress was huge- Melanie said it counted as at least 3 more people) because it was like squeezing into a clown car. I can only imagine what the captain must have been thinking. The last photo is me and Isaac on the boat at dinner.

He looked cute in his suit as you can see! We made really good friends with all of Melanie's other bridesmaids and their guys, so that was a really nice aspect. At one point Silvie remarked that all of Melanie's friends are just alike. Isaac got along so well with the 2 bridesmaids' boyfriends/husbands that were there (and at one point discovered one of them knows a "secret" hand puppet thing he made up when he was a kid- the other guy had made it up when he was a kid too) that one bridesmaid, Christina, said "not only does Melanie have a "type" of friend, but we are all dating the same guy!"

The day after the wedding we relaxed and went to a huge flea market, where we wanted everything but showed restraint (thank you, lowly American dollar$) and bought only one etching from the 1800's for 30 Euros. It has a bunch of hydras on it- might be the evolution of hydras? At least it's mythical snakes with several heads. Pierre will have to read us the French on it when we get home. We were supposed to catch the 7:45AM train to Venice on Monday, but when we got to the station they said all the trains were booked until 7pm! Suckage. We put our bags in lockup and strolled around a very cold Paris until the train left. And, while I'm glad we tried a sleeper train, it was not comfortable at all. I don't want to do it ever again! 12 hours later, we were in Venice.

--Kerry

Notre Dame

2008-03-16T06:12:00.001-07:00

Notre Dame, originally uploaded by craftyK.

So, uh, well, this is Notre Dame! It is a pretty overwhelming structure. We thought this would be our "inside" day, but it turns out, the building is pretty big, so a lot of time was spent walking around checking out the abundant gargoyles, and then a line in the blustery wind and rain, (yes this shot was during a brief break in the weather), to be able to climb the hundreds of stairs exploring the towers of the cathedral.

Once we got inside we spent quite a bit of time checking out the endless supply of alcoves, relics, tourists, and priceless art. The architecture is baffling; I know it took 300 plus years to build, but even then it is a marvel.

Afterwards, we stumbled upon the fact that catacombs are closed this month, (bummer), but afterwards stayed in the Monteparnasse neighborhood to visit the grave site of Jean Paul Sartre and Simone De Beauvoir, (shout-out). Good times, but in the end, it was the only slightly disappointing neighborhood in Paris thus far. Not that it was bad, just not quite as impressive and quintessentially French as the rest of the neighborhoods we've spent time in.

Internet access has been spotty so we haven't been able to blog as much as we wanted. The wedding was amazing, we will be able to post more and catch up soon. Tomorrow we take a 12hr. train ride to Venice!

Au revoir!

La Tour Eiffel et Montmartre.

2008-03-12T14:31:00.001-07:00

On Tuesday we went to see the Eiffel Tower and it was pretty rainy and CRAZY windy all day. The lines were pretty long even now in off-season and with foul weather, so I can't imagine what it would be like in the summer on a clear day. It was really foggy and we faced gale force winds at the summit, but there were some truly stunning views. There is an unavoidable attraction to the beauty the tower has. It is a modern relic of the World's Fairs of the previous century, and with its sturdy structure and feminine curves it just pulls you towards it, but I'm rambling...

After spending most of the day wondering around the tower and going to the summit, we headed out for Montmartre for the evening. Montmartre is magical at night. We got some amazing, postcard perfect images strolling around the neighborhood and had an amazing meal, (Let's put it this way, they know how to make French onion soup in France, go figure). Also a glass of wine is cheaper than a bottle of water, a coca-cola, or a cup of coffee. At least they have their priorities straight!

Louvre!

2008-03-12T01:33:00.000-07:00

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After our rocky relationship with our euros kicked off our bon voyage, it seems our trip has swung into gear. We spent Monday's light hours, (note it was not light here, but rather deep dark and dumping buckets in a maelstrom all-day-long), at famous for a reason Louvre, (the weather was great inside!). They say it would take 9 months to just glance at all of the art there because it's a touch on the large side, so you have to plan ahead and just pick a section or two, and pretend the rest of the galleries don't exist. We chose to check out most of the French and Italian paintings and sculpture including La Jaconde (the Mona Lisa). Most of the museum is moderately to sparsely filled with visitors from around the globe, but the Mona Lisa crowd is absolutely bat-guano crazy, (see coming image for more). Kerry and I both found ourselves drawn to capture the crowd rather than try and take a mediocre photograph of the small master painting. It is pretty funny, it is in a spectacular room full of gargantuan paintings and only a small fraction of the visitors seem even remotely interested in them.

Afterwards we treated ourselves to some delicious Vietnamese Pho, (Isaac's bowl containing not just a few animal parts they he cannot name), and some good-ol-times sipping on what could be the world's greatest mojitos at a really fun bar. Au revoir for now, more to come later today.

Paris!

2008-03-09T22:56:00.001-07:00

Welcome to Paris., originally uploaded by Simian Cephalopod.

Sooooo. Here we are! This was the amazing view from our hotel room when we got in, which we very much needed to brighten our day. Why you ask? Well, in addition to an unscheduled 7 hour layover in Philadelphia due to "mechanical problems" (errr...yeah, go ahead and fix that, guys), I (Kerry) lost my wallet within 1 hour of arriving. Yes, you heard me- my wallet was either pick pocketed or somehow fell out of my bag, (both seem unlikely, but it had to be one of those things) between the train ride and the hotel. While I was initially devastated, after a while (and after Marc and Lisa helped cancel the cards -- shout out Marc and Lisa) I am (kind of) able to see the humor in losing all of my credit cards, my CA ID, my health insurance card, and a ton of cash all within 1 hour of touching French soil. That's got to be a record! How much money? 500 Euros (about $750). Major suckage. But it does make me wonder- what kind of an evening did my 500 Euros have last night? I would like to think it ran as fast as it could into the arms of some widowed grandmother who is barely scraping by, or even cuddled up with some poor Parisian schoolboy who has never seen, never even SEEN that much money in his whole life and now can finally buy a new suit so that Chloe, the shopkeeper's daughter, finally notices him. That's what I'd like to believe. But you see, I feel like I know my money pretty well. My money likes to spend it's time doing careless, regrettable things. And remember, this is my money's first time in Paris. I'm guessing my money hung out all night with strippers, used lots of drugs, and is just now waking up in a pile of it's own vomit, wondering what happened to it's pants. That's just a guess, but still. You so crazy,500 Euros. I love you, but you so crazy.
Well,we are off to see the Louvre! SOME people like to be productive (I'm talking to you, 500 Euros).
Love,
Kerry

Two by sea.

2008-02-08T10:26:00.001-08:00

Two by sea., originally uploaded by Simian Cephalopod.

About a week ago, Kerry and I went to the Half Moon Bay's Fitzgerald Marine Reserve for the minus tide they experienced that Sunday. With the tide so low, it allowed us to walk out hundreds of feet further than usual. It exposed gobs of marine life in small tide pools scattered about the rock. Speaking of rock, I banged my knee on one which hurt nothing more than my pride. Good times.

New Year's Day

2008-01-01T22:17:00.001-08:00

power lines, originally uploaded by craftyK.

After a very nice and low-key New Years eve spent at home, Isaac and I decided to go for a hike near the salt flats that we went to when mom and John were visiting. Too bad the trails were closed off because of the holiday. So we drove around a bit, and saw the trails at Ravenswood Trough. As we were approaching the gate to the trail, I saw a "trail closed" sign. :( not to be deterred, and getting antsy at having our original plans dashed, Isaac suggests that we go on the trails anyway. We even saw two people in the distance on the trail., which helped convince me that it wasn't a major crime. As we are getting closer to the sign, I saw a smaller sign behind the first that said "closed for waterfowl hunting season". Ohh. then we noticed the two people on the trail had what appeared to be shotguns. double oh-ohh. (Did I mention the entire area is on/near a waterfowl refuge? WTF?) So we decided the "trail closed" sign got the final say, and took some photos of all the power lines around the area (did I mention that this is supposed to be a wildlife refuge? oh wait, yes I did). Isaac and I got a few nice shots with our Harblei lens, which we will be posting over the next few days on flickr. I LOVE the Harblei lens. Seriously folks, you can't afford NOT to buy this lens! :)
At any rate, we ended up having a nice peaceful new year's day and Isaac made a kick-ass Shrimp Etouffee from scratch (thanks for the recipe Lisa) That was scrumptious. And I peeled the shrimp, so I even get to say i helped. How's that for starting the new year right?

Jess and Leonard's wedding

2007-11-20T14:35:00.001-08:00

Jess and Leonard wedding-37, originally uploaded by craftyK.

Back home in Indiana! We just went to Isaac's sister's wedding and it was really nice. They are the most relaxed couple I have ever seen at a wedding- I think I was more stressed picking out an outfit than they were. Now they're in Puerto Rico so Isaac and I have some serious envy seeping in. Not that Indiana's not great...
Bu anyways, it is nice to see all the family this week. Time to eat my fill of vegetarian sides!

Cemeteries and shifting (plus tilt)

2007-10-28T23:22:00.001-07:00

Colma Angel2, originally uploaded by craftyK.

Here is an amazing image I was able to capture with my new TS lens in Colma, Ca. I had actually heard of this headstone- the original is in Italy, and it is the most incredible weeping angel. We got lucky; it was at the first cemetery we stopped in. For those of you who don't know, Colma is often referred to as "the city of the dead" because it has more people buried here than living here. It's where most San Franciscans are buried. There are a LOT of graves - we couldn't believe we found this headstone on our first try! Click on the image to go to my flickr account and see another TS shot that I took today.

New lens!

2007-10-23T19:07:00.001-07:00

apron shift tilt, originally uploaded by craftyK.

I just got my new Hartblei 65mm shift/tilt lens! I am so excited to use its 4X5 powers on my little SLR. I didn't have the tripod handy (and boy is it hard to use without a tripod) and it's too dark out to use outside, so I'm only posting one image tonight. Since Isaac was still at work, my Nikon carrying neighbor Pierre helped me figure out how to use it. It didn't come with a manual- perhaps it was in Russian and they didn't bother to send it? Anyways, very exciting!

"A Very Gay Christmas"

2007-10-21T20:17:00.000-07:00

Or at least that's what the marketers for Bloomingdale's San Francisco office must have been thinking. I can see it now:
"Hey Ed, what should we do for the big holiday opening this year?"
"ummm.. I don't know, what do they like in San Francisco? I'm pretty sure I remember that they like gay. What can we do that's gay? How about models spray painted gold to look like angels?"
"I don't know Ed. That only sounds gay-ish."
"Yeah, but I'm not finished yet. What if those angels were wearing huge gold codpieces? And what if they were gyrating to thumping beats, surrounded by anorexic models?"
Or at least that's how I envision how the conversation went. It was truly amazing, and I deeply regret not having a video camera on hand to capture it. The still shots really don't, err, capture it, if you know what I mean.

Kerry's haircut!!!

2007-10-07T19:04:00.001-07:00

Kerry's haircut!!!, originally uploaded by Simian Cephalopod.

Kerry got her hair cut and it's CUTE :D I think it's the best I've ever seen it.

The Hitote Project

2007-09-23T17:59:00.001-07:00

Hitote, originally uploaded by Simian Cephalopod.

This is my entry for the Hitote Project. Since one of the key tools in artists creations is their hand, the basic concept is to have artists create an image of how they view their hand... and attempt to capture their personal style in the image. It's hard to explain, I recommend just hopping over to the project site and reading more :)

long exposure waves B/W - Pacifica, Ca

2007-09-05T19:48:00.001-07:00

Pacifica, originally uploaded by Simian Cephalopod.

This is another shot from the same location as the previous post, but taken by Isaac on the other side of the pier, and vigorously edited for good measure. The exposure was 10 seconds in full sun at midday.

Kerry thinks the water looks like a frothy latte :)

Memory of Water

2007-09-05T19:40:00.001-07:00

Memory of Water, originally uploaded by craftyK.

I thought the image of the rust pouring into the shell was rather beautiful.

long exposure waves- Pacifica, Ca

2007-09-05T18:16:00.001-07:00

long exposure waves, originally uploaded by craftyK.

This was from our first day out with our new ND400 filter. it only lets in 1/400 of the light, so we can do long exposures in bright daylight. We have a lot more experimenting to do, but I'm pretty happy with this for a first try. Isaac got some good shots too... now we need to go shoot a river!

Nina pants

2007-08-28T20:11:00.001-07:00

Nina, originally uploaded by Simian Cephalopod.

The littlest one of the household is certainly the cutest, fuzziest and most pampered. Isn't she CUUUUUTTTEEEEE!!!!?!?!

surgery complete!

2007-08-28T18:18:00.001-07:00

Isaac pre surgery, originally uploaded by craftyK.

Isaac's surgery to remove the 2 plates and 10 screws in his arm went well, and he's healing nicely. Here is a picture I took with my phone (excuse the poor quality) before the surgery. I LOVE that they wrote "yes" on the arm that needed the surgery. Don't want to open up the wrong one!

U-pick

2007-08-28T18:12:00.001-07:00

UPick_Small, originally uploaded by craftyK.

Here is the sign that lured us in for the tiny strawberries... notice the ocean in the background. Yeah!

Strawberry Fields Forever

2007-08-20T22:30:00.001-07:00

Strawberries Fields, originally uploaded by Simian Cephalopod.

So, Saturday was my 29th birthday, (woohoo, almost thirty! or something).. so anyway, Kerry and I decided to go on a little micro-road trip and explore some of the cool things off Highway 1 South of San Francisco that we had always just driven by. It is hard to find the right superlatives for the day. The weather was in the low 80's, the breeze was mild, the color of the ocean was as vivid as anywhere on earth, and we were just cruising down the coast with the top down stopping and going as the wind took us. It just doesn't get much better than that...

This was taken on one of our many stops. It looks a bit foreboding, but in fact, this is just a harmless image of a string of picked strawberry plants. One of our stops was at a "U-Pick" stop along the road. Kerry got a rad shot of the old sign at the front of the farm I'm sure she'll post in the next couple days.

Anyway, we saw some pretty awesome stuff, more to follow over the coming days.

Wayne's World. Party Time. Excellent.

2007-08-11T15:00:00.001-07:00

Movie Night, originally uploaded by craftyK.

On Thursday night we went to see Wayne's World on a temporary screen in Dolores Park with one of Isaac's co-workers. We had just had a big sushi dinner and it was great to sit under the stars with a bottle of Sake and Garth singing "Foxy Lady". It's San Francisco's version of a drive-in.

salt ponds, shack and bridge

2007-08-05T18:05:00.001-07:00

salt ponds, shack and bridge, originally uploaded by craftyK.

After seeing the brightly colored salt ponds, we saw an old bridge and some shacks nearby. It was too beautiful not to stop!

At the river Styx

2007-08-03T23:31:00.001-07:00

At the river Styx, originally uploaded by Simian Cephalopod.

So, we were trying to figure out where to go on Sunday and it ended up coming down to a crazy S and M pride festival, a trip to see the new otter exhibit at the Monterey aquarium, or to see if there was any way to get close to the crazy colored ponds that you always fly over coming into the city, (don't ask why those were our choices...). So anyway, in the end, the salt ponds were the choice de jour so we hit the Saab and trucked it all the way down to the South end of the bay.

This shot was taken while hiking around the salt evaporation ponds in the southern end of the San Francisco Bay. An explanation about why it is colored the way it is (yes that is the natural color of the water, no manipulation!), can be found here.

I had always wanted to check them out up close and personal ever since seeing the radical colors from plane windows that you can see as you fly into or out of the city. If you have never done that, it looks like this.

Egyptian Tomb

2007-08-01T13:33:00.001-07:00

Egyptian Tomb, originally uploaded by Simian Cephalopod.

Marcia and John were out visiting and one of the wacky places we visited was the Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum down in San Jose. According to the museum it is the largest collection of Egyptian antiquities in Western North America.

Aside from the, how should I put this, quirkiness of the Rosicrucians themselves, the museum held its own in terms of content and presentation. I'm such a sucker for secret societies anyway that they could have had a plastic mummy rapped in toilet paper and I would have been satisfied, but thankfully there were proper mummies and other such old stuffs. Good times were had by all.

This shot is of John peering down into a tomb.

On the road to Yosemite

2007-07-23T22:52:00.001-07:00

Road-To-Yosemite-One, originally uploaded by Simian Cephalopod.

This shot was taken just off of the highway on the way to Yosemite. The whole drive is fantastic and full of vistas like this one. It was a bit funny though, while surrounded with this level of beauty, they still had the gall to post signs for "Lookout Point Ahead" sights every few miles or so... just in case you weren't looking around the rest of the time. I didn't fully appreciate the reason for these sings until I was the one driving. While in some cases being the designated driver is due to the fact that your entourage is looking for a night out, in this case it means you only get to look at the view when they do post those signs for the Lookout Points so you have a reason to tell those in the car, "I'm sorry I need to pull over for a second". Luckily, Kerry was never one to complain about getting a closer look!

Roadside Antics

2007-07-19T19:32:00.001-07:00

Roadside 4, originally uploaded by craftyK.

Ah, Romero Imports. we saw your giant metal creatures and could not say no. The owner was kind enough to let us see inside his store (house?), where there was a perfect life size sculpture of a lion and a lioness with a cub in her mouth. He told us in his soft Eastern-European accented voice that if we ever are in the market to buy such an object, that he can make "anything. Anything, anything is possible". It was somehow reassuring to hear. This is a picture of the creature from the black lagoon, I believe. or maybe a giant Ape. I'm not sure.

Entering Yosemite

2007-07-19T19:25:00.001-07:00

Entering Yosemite, originally uploaded by Simian Cephalopod.

Hot tub at Indian peak ranch

2007-07-16T20:44:00.001-07:00

Hot tub at Indian peak ranch, originally uploaded by craftyK.

Isaac in the hot tub at sunset... yeah, it was nice.

Yosemite!!!

2007-07-16T20:24:00.001-07:00

Taft1, originally uploaded by craftyK.

For our 10-year anniversary we decided to go to Yosemite. We stayed at a secluded mountaintop ranch in Mariposa about an hour outside the park. The park was gorgeous, and although the weather was quite hot, the crowds were not bad during the week.

On Friday we had sweaty pizza at Curry Village (in Yosemite valley), and realized what a mistake it would have been to battle the amusement park level crowds on a Saturday. Let me put it this way... there were a lot of RVs. Buy stock in Cruise America. Buy it now. To hell with gas prices.

On Saturday we cruised Hwy 49 visiting towns that time forgot (since the gold rush anyway). We will post a few photos here, but check our Flickr pages for the real tour. Oh, and yes, the cowboy hat is QUITE sensible in 100+ degree heat.

This image is from the rim at Taft Point. A terrifically terrifying hike for acrophobes... like us. The big adrenaline dump that we got when man next to us dared his seven-year-old to do a handstand on the edge didn't help either.