Saigon / Ho Chi Min City

The mini bus came promptly at 8 AM to pick Jord and I up at the hostel to take us to the big bus. The big bus, called Mekong Express, was going to take us across the border, from Phnom Penh to Ho Chi Min City. It was one of the best bus rides I've taken so far. They stayed with us through all the border crossings and got everyone across without any hitches. It was spacious and comfortable and fast - we were in the city early that afternoon.
What we noticed first about Vietnam as we cruised into the city, is that there was physical contact between guys and girls."Yesss!!!" we exclaimed, "We are not forbidden from holding hands in public!!" This is good news for me, since I am often left half a block behind when I can't hold on to Jordi. In Cambodia it is not proper to touch someone of the opposite sex in any way. I couln't even give Scott, my brother in law, a hug goodbye in public. You never ever see anyone holding hands, or hugging, not even on motorcycles. Girl to girl affection is ok, and guy to guy affection is fine, but nothing else. In Vietnam however, it seems to be much more relaxed.
We got off the bus and a guy came up to us wanting us to stay at his hotel. We didn't have plans for anywhere else, so we agreed to follow him. We trailed him through a maze of alleyways that seemed endless, until we got to a little house. He opened the gate, and it looked so clean! His wife and kid were inside, and they were so nice (The hotel is extra rooms of their home). We got a great big room with a balcony and a big bathroom for $12 a night. It was beautiful, and I loved the view of the city and alleyways from the balcony. That evening we walked around the center of the town. It's quite impossible to describe Saigon. It's madness, it's craziness, it's a beeping, jostling, crowded jumble of people, food, carts, bicycles, and motorcycles.
I had been reading a book called Catfish and Mandala, and it takes place in Vietnam (highly recommend the book by the way, it's by Andrew Pham). I was reading the book, and hanging out in the city he was describing, and everything he wrote was all so true!
" Kiosks hedge the street, no sidewalks, catching the drift of humanity churned up by the traffic.The sandwhich makers, old ladies with oily hands...lather pork fat onto tiny loaves. On the curbs, the shirtless men of sun-jerked sinew in boxer shorts and rubber sandals, squatting on their hams, grill meat over coals in metal pans...In an alley, a mother and daughter fry dough cakes, selling them wrapped in dirty newspapers. Next to them, laborers hunch on plastic footstools slurping noodle soup from chipped bowls...People shout, curse, barter, laugh, whine, edging words into the traffic, hustling for money. The buildings press narrow...every other one a storefront, open for business, selling selling, selling anything, everything. Food, paper, spare parts, clothes, candies, color TV's, fake watches, cheap Chines fabric, screwdrivers, wrenches...."
You get the idea - and it really is like this! It is also interesting to watch the traffic - there are sooooo many people driving, and most of them are on moto's. There are hardly any traffic lights, everyone just flows around eachother. Somewhere in the chaos, there is order. There is order to people's daily lives, to what they eat and sell every day, to how they drive. Although slightly overwhelming, I loved the nonstop energy of the city.
Unfortunately, the first day we were there, my sore throat had evolved into a bad cold. After a morning of walking around the city (and buying a new camera - yay!) I was feeling pretty woozy. We got cyclos (bicycles that have a seat in front that they push you around on) and they took us around the city a bit, and back to our hotel. I had a fever, and pretty much slept the rest of the day. The next day I felt just as bad, with a very sore throat and fever, but we had to get to the airport. The sweetheart lady at the hotel gave me a whole bunch of medicine and was very concerned for us, she was so cute! (I had no idea what the handful of different pills were, so I opted to not take them). So that was our brief visit to Saigon/ Ho Chi Min City. It was fun and frantic, and I'm bummed I didn't get to experience more of it.

Pearl of Asia

Our bus to Phnom Penh was scheduled to leave at 11 AM. So we got to the station at around 10:40. We waited with Scott, Andrea, and their tuk tuk driver until about noon when they finally started loading up. We waited on the bus for about 20 minutes before we finally rolled out of the station. A few minutes later, the bus stopped to pick up more people. Why those people couldn't have just walked to the bus stop, and how they knew the bus would be driving by at that time, I don't know. We stopped in front of someone's house to pick up a package. We drove around town for an hour making all sorts of stops - Jordi and I had no idea what was happening. We finally left Battambang somewhere around 1 PM, and were barreling along the road. The bus didn't slow down for anything, not the cars in front of him, nor the oncoming traffic. Throughout the journey we made several other stops, sometimes so the driver could get out and go to the bathroom, sometimes it was a roadblock and some guys would get out and go sit down and chat with the police for a while before climbing back on. Sometimes the bus would stop and certain people would get off, and get back on again a bit later. I wish I knew what everybody was up to!! We were entertained the entire time by Cambodian Karaoke music, as well as a classic Kung Fu movie. Although the TV up front was held together with tape, the surround sound in the bus almost exploded my eardrums! We finally made it to Phnom Penh at about 6 PM. It was raining, and we had no idea where we were. Luckily, the Swards tuk-tuk driver had a friend in Phnom Penh whom he called to pick us up from the station. So he was there with our names on a piece of paper, and it was really nice to know we could trust him and not have to pick from the dozens of drivers who were vying for our business. He took us to a guest house near the center of the tourist district on the river. We checked into our room, which was fine but moldy. I told Jordi, "It's really moldy. I'm going to get sick." I wasn't complaining, just stating the facts. Jordi didn't seem to mind, and I didn't feel like finding a different room, so we stayed there for two nights. (And I got sick.)
Our first night in Phnom Penh we walked through the night market, and then found a little restaurant to have dinner. We walked along the river for a bit, and then showered and went to bed and had moldy dreams.

We spent the next morning booking bus and plane tickets that we needed, until our tuk-tuk driver came to take us around. In most capital cities, the touristy things to see are river walks or parks, palaces or cathedrals, government buildings and museums. Although Phnom Penh, once known as the Pearl of Asia, does have all these things, what most people go and see are the Killing Feilds and Tuol Sleng, a high school turned into a prison/torture chamber. In many countries, you can see war memorials, statues, and monuments. In Phnom Penh, the city itself is a war memorial. Just over 30 years ago the entire city was evacuated, bombed, its people mass murdered or herded to the countryside. It was a little bit depressing walking around this city, the proudly delapidating French architecture along the Mekong River giving glimpses into what I could imagine was once a beautiful city.
We only had one full day in Phnom Penh, and we chose to see the Killing Feilds and Tuol Sleng instead of the historical museums and palaces because we thought it was important to know where these people were so recently coming from. Almost all Cambodians have been affected one way or another by the war. Most have lost numerous family members, and something like 70% of the population is under 30 - many of them born in refugee camps. Our tuk-tuk driver (30, and born in Thailand) took us first to see the Killing Feilds. This is probably one of the worst places i've ever seen in my life, a horrible attribution to the absolute cruelty of man to man. I've seen the bloody temples of Tikal and the ovens of Auschwitz, but the horrible thing about this was its absolute base-ness. It's a small field outside of the city where they drove truckloads of prisoners. Within this small field are dozens of "holes" which were actually mass graves of hundreds of people. They found almost 9,000 bodies in an area of a small park. They killed the people (who were already tortured at Tuol Sleng) with bamboo sticks and iron rods taken from oxen carts, rarely "wasting" bullets on them. Sometimes the killers were as young as preteens. (One of the men on trial for crimes against humanity is in his early 40's!)

It was a very disturbing and sad trip, and I appreciated that they had a good informative museum explaining the politics etc, as well as a wall around the field keeping out beggars and preserving peace and solemnity. My dad told me the first time he went to the KF, there was nothing out there - no wall, museum, or anything, it was super eerie. The second time he went, it was like a zoo with everyone trying to sell him stuff while he walked around. So I think they have done a good job finding a balance.

Our next stop was Tuol Sleng, a high school in the middle of town. It looked like a nice high school, with tile floors, corridors, breezy stairways, and a courtyard. I could easily imagine high schoolers in the 60's and early 70's going to class and doing their thing. Blink, and a nightmare has arrisen. The buildings are covered in barbed wire, the shuttered windows have bars on them. The classrooms are turned into torture chambers, with medieval torture devices. Upstairs classrooms have walls built into them, fitting 30-40 prisoners per room in solitary cells. Out of the tens of thousands of prisoners kept here, only 7 survived.

We walked along the river that night, they are redoing the river walk, putting in a great big sidewalk with palm trees in the middle. It will be really nice when it's done! I see the progress Cambodia is trying to make, and I wonder how it would have been had they not gone through such calamity. Cambodians are yearning for change, better lives, a place in the world. With the Prime Minister himself an ex-Khmer Rouge and in power for the last 30 years, we can only pray!

We ended our night at a restaurant called Friends, part of an organization that takes street kids and teaches them restaurant and customer service skills. The best food EVER and really great decor. For anyone thinking about going to Phnom Penh, this restaurant is a must!

I am glad I got to see everything we saw, if only to have a greater understanding and appreciation of Cambodians past and pain. They are some of the sweetest and most polite people I've ever encountered, and I look foward to visiting the country again.

I'm Goin to Battambang!

"Blissful Battambang" This is how our guidebook describes this little town, which is actually the second largest city in Cambodia. And I quite agree! Although I think I am a little biased since Scott and Andrea live here, so we got to hang out with them every day. Also because we stayed in an extremely nice hotel that I would never think of entering because of its grandeur, and it was $14/ night! So that was definitely blissful :)
We arrived in Battambang with the taxi driver and his wife, who actually owns the house that Scott and Andrea are living in with the grandma (long story). Anyways, everyone invited us to stay the night, and they made dinner for us as well. Another sister in the family cooks for Scott and Andrea, so she cooked extra, and the four of us ate in the kitchen together (the rest of the family eats separately because Scott and Andrea's meal is cooked specifically for them - another long story!) At any rate, her cooking is AMAZING, and we had a delicious meal and got to hang out with the extended family for a bit. The sister that cooks has two kids - a 10 year old girl and 5 year old boy. They are both super cute and friendly, great kids to play with :) We spent the night in an extra bedroom of the house, it was really nice! It reminds me a lot of our house in Guatemala, with cement walls and tiled floor and a bathroom for every bedroom.

The next morning, Monday, we went to Sunrise Coffee House, a coffee shop that some of our missionaries started that is now being run by Cambodian ladies. I finally got to have oatmeal! Scott and Andrea went to their language lesson at church, and Jordi and I checked in to our grand hotel down the street. We spent the day exploring the town, hanging out with the family, and Scott and Andrea, and eating delicious Khmer food. Scott took us through the Central Market, which was quite a circus for the senses. We also had to learn to cross the street, which is possibly one of the scariest things about Asia. There are no rules to the road, you just walk slowly into traffic and everyone dodges you. It's quite exhilarating.

Tuesday we spent the morning at a Cambodian cooking class. We had heard from several people about a restaurant called Smoking Pot that offered Khmer cooking lessons every morning. So we signed up for it, and learned how to make three common (and scrumptious) meals. That day it was only Jordi and I, and two British girls that were in the class. Our teacher took us to the market and picked out all the vegetables and meat needed for our three dishes. The market was much easier to handle since he knew exactly what he was doing. We got fresh coconuts and all fresh vegetables. We got fish that were caught in the morning from the lake, and watched as they killed and skinned them right in front of us! We also saw all sorts of crazy "food", such as duck embryo's, fried bugs of all shapes and sizes, dried squid, skinned frogs, and buckets of innards. So I wish Andrea and Scott luck. ;)
We took all our fresh goodies back to the restaurant where it was washed and prepared for us. Our teacher told us all about the different vegetables, their names in English, and their purpose for cooking. It was all super interesting! We spent hours chopping and chatting, cooking in the wok, and making curry paste with a mortar and pestle. We made a coconut curry, a beef stir fry, and an awesome lemon grass and sweet basil soup. We got to eat everything we made, so we couldn't move afterwards! Which was fine, because it started pouring down rain, so we sat and talked with our teacher for a while until the sky cleared up and our food digested.
Later, we found out that Battambang has a Vietnamese Embassy, so we took our passports there, and prolonged our stay while we waited to get our visas :)

Wednesday Scott and Andrea took us to a typical Cambodian breakfast of beef noodle soup, these fried donut things (they're not sweet, you put them in your soup. Really good actually!) and coffee with sweetened condensed milk. Sooo good!!!
That night was the birthday party of the 10 year old girl that S & A live with. Andrea had ordered her a birthday cake, and in the evening we went back to the house. Everyone was dressed in their best, and very excited at the prospect of a cake! Birthday parties are a very American invention, most of the adults in the family have never had a birthday party, and don't even know the exact date of their birth. They lit the candles and we all sang Happy Birthday (universal song). It was really cute and fun, I'm glad we got to be there for it!!
When we got back to our hotel, we ran into a friend of my dads, named Jeff Davis. He was in Cambodia leading a missions team, so it was fun to see him! He invited Jord and I to have dinner with them the following night, so we decided to stay in Battambang yet another day ;)

So we ended up prolonging our stay in Battambang twice -the Swards couldn't get rid of us! Actually, our grand hotel couldn't get rid of us ;)

Thursday Jordi and I rented bikes, and spent the whole day touring around the neighboring countryside. It is SO much fun to ride your bike in Cambodia. Most of the population is on bikes, or motorcycles, so it's fun to ride in a pack wherever you go. Also, as we rode along every little kid would hop up waving their arms and yelling "Hello! Hello!!" They were so cute, and they loved it when we said hello back to them :) We took one of the roads out past the city and along the river, where it was super jungly and gorgeous. We rode for a few kilometers until we reached a temple area that had a temple from the Angkor period, as well as huge Buddha statue and modern Wat (temple). It would have been cool to walk around and look, but after being ushered by a police man to a little table where we paid $2, we were continuously followed by 2-5 people trying to be our tourist guides. I got sooo frustrated because they were either following us or trying to get in front of us to "lead" us. Then they asked for money for being our guides! I was like Ha, ya right!! It's always hard to find a balance of friendliness and firmness, of compassion and common sense, of being generous or being ripped off. But we enjoyed a beautiful ride back to town full of friendly little kids yelling hello, who didn't want anything from us except a reply.
That evening we went out to dinner with the missions team and the missionaries (the Swards and one other family). We went to a really nice place and had a lot of fun with everyone! We hadn't eaten with a group of people in a long time!
Unfortunately, something I ate made me feel really nauseous, and I spent the night throwing up a lot. :( The next morning I was still sick, and was a little bit worried because we had to take a 5 (which was actually 7) hour bus ride to Phnom Penh. I took some Immodium which my mother had wisely stuck in my hand before we left, and Scott and Andrea supplied me with water and saltines. We got to the bus stop and said our goodbyes. Luckily the Immodium worked, and we survived our bus ride it to Phnom Penh without incident. But that's the next story...

Angkor Wat, Siem Reap

The first day we were in Cambodia, we made it to Siem Reap around 4 PM. We hugged Scott and Andrea, and met their friends whom they met while training at MTI in Colorado. The hotel we stayed at was really nice, and it came complete with a bedside Bible and condoms. (I thought that was kind of funny). That evening we went out to dinner at a place called the Red Piano. Angelina Jolie had eated there while filming Tomb Raider at Angkor Wat, and the restaurant was very proud of this fact :)
The next day we got breakfast at this awesome little cafe across the street from our hotel, and then we went to see the Angkor temples. It is an amazing sight!! There are over 2,000 temples scattered around miles of jungle. The temples were built over a period of 3-400 years, and were palaces for kings as well as temples of worship. Each new king tried to outdo the last with his temple, so the most recent and most grand of the temples is also the most famous - Angkor Wat. Scott said we should see that one last so we wouldn't be dissapointed by the other ones :) All the temples were amazing. Huge stones that were placed by hand, intricate carvings on everything, and minute attention to detail. We saw the temple where Tomb Raider was filmed, where the trees are growing through the stones, it's crazy! I can't believe the work that archeologists have done and have yet to do, almost rebuilding some of these temples one stone at a time.
We went back to town in the middle of the day for lunch and air conditioning, and came back in the afternoon to see Angkor Wat. We spent hours wandering around the whole temple area, it was stunning and so cool to see.
That night we went out to eat at a really nice Indian restuarant. We ordered bowls and bowls of different curries, and tons of rice and naan. It was some of the best Indian food i've had, and the bill for all 4 of us came to $20. I love Asia.
The next morning the four of us went out to breakfast downtown. The poor waitresses thought Scott was crazy for ordering a pot of coffee for the whole table. They started giggling and everything, but they brought it to us! We sat for a while drinking coffee and chatting about lots of important sibling things :) It was very nice.
We hung out that morning (mostly hunting down places with AC and giving them service) and we left in the early afternoon for Battambang. Andrea and Scott live with a family in Battambang, and one of the sisters of that family lives with her husband in Siem Reap. Her husband is a taxi driver, so he was the one that drove us around all weekend, and he also volunteered to drive us to Battambang. His wife wanted to come too, to see her family, which meant that Scott, Jordi, Andrea, and I all had to fit in the back of a little Camry. So that's how we spent the rest of the afternoon - off through the rice fields on our squishy way to Battambang!

Planes, Tuk-tuks, and Automobiles

Short Version:

Technically our trek to Asia started when we left San Sebastian to go to Madrid where we had a 30 hour layover, in order to fly to London where we had a 3 hour layover, where we took a plane to Germany for another 3 hour layover, and finally got on an 11 hour flight to Thailand. By the time we arrived in Bangkok, we had spent the last 2 nights either in an airplane or at the airport (0r getting our camera stolen). We spent one night in Bangkok before getting on a bus at 7 AM and riding on it until we got to the Cambodian border, around noon. We sat sweating at the border for a few hours getting our visas and walking across with our backpacks (you can only walk, not drive, across the border). On the other side of the border we rode in a taxi for 2 hours to the town of Siem Reap, where we were meeting Scott and Andrea. Once we got to the town we got on a tuk-tuk, who took us all over the place looking for an internet cafe so I could check my e-mail to see where Andrea had said to meet them. We found internet, I found out the name of the hotel, the tuk-tuk managed to get us there, and we had a very happy reunion with Scott and Andrea. And then we fell asleep.

A Little More....

After our night in the airport in Madrid, we got up at 4 AM to get on our plane to London. We got to London for a layover, and flew to Germany. Both of these flights were short and painless, and the layovers were fine also. We finally got on the plane to Thailand, although we didn't know it was going to be 11 hours long. Airplanes are probably the WORST place to try and sleep. We were so desperate, I actually tried sleeping on the floor in the 6 inches of space between our seats and seats in front of us. But then my legs had nowhere to go so my knees were bent backwards trying to fit under the seat. And Jordi's legs had nowhere to go, so they were squishing my already precarious position. It obviously did not work out very well, and I resigned myself to watching all 3 movies and countless TV shows.

Eventually we did land, thank goodness, and got off the plane. We were blessed to not have to wait in line for customs (if the line was anything like it was when we got to London, I might have cried), and we got our bags right away too. Then we had to figure out where to go....There were signs for taxi's and busses to "the In Ercity" which I though was funny. There was a couple from our plane that were waiting for a taxi, so I asked them if they spoke English, which they did, and where they were going. We ended up sharing a taxi with them, and staying at the same hotel as them that night. They were a very sweet couple from Europe, and lifesavers for us! We showed up at the hotel and got a room with air conditioning. The hotel even had a rooftop pool! It was really nice, and we went swimming right away, which felt amazing!! All this for $20! What a relief, after being in Europe! We had arrived in Bangkok in the morning, and wanted to stay awake until the afternoon for jet lag. So after our swim, we hit the streets. Good, cheap food every way you turn, rivers of people and tuk-tuks, sidewalks and streets bustling with activity, warm lazy air - so glorious!! We got the most amazing fresh squeezed orange juice for about 25 cents! We walked around for little while, and then went to a salon where Jordi could get a haircut while I got a massage. They asked me which kind of massage I wanted. My options were 'Thai' or 'Swedish'.

"What's the difference between the two?" I asked.

"One is pressure points, one is just relax," the lady answered me.

Well, after being on airplanes for days, a half hour of strategic pressure sounded pretty good. So I went for a Thai massage, and I had half an hour to regret my decision.

"Follow me."

So I followed her upstairs to a big room with a whole bunch of mattresses on the ground.

"Lie down."

So I lied down on a mattress, face down. All of the sudden I felt my shoulder being ripped apart from the rest of my back. I almost cried "OH MY GOSH FOR THE LOVE PLEASE STOP!!!" and ran out of the room. But instead I grit my teeth, scrunched up my face, and tried to think of Disneyland.

After the limb tearing ended came the stampede of horses. I do not know how this tiny little Thai woman felt like a 2 ton horse trampling me, but she did. And then her pointy elbow would find some crevice to twist and turn in, meanwhile my eyeballs were rolling to the back of my head.

After she slapped me around a little more, she said "Done" and left the room, leaving me slightly dazed and confused. I got up and found my way back down the stairs to see Jordi still lying in the chair getting his hair washed and his scalp massaged.

"What? How does your hair wash last longer than my massage??"

Anyways, the luxurious haircut finally ended, and we continued to meander the streets for a while, before finding a good place for "dinner" (it was about 3 PM). I got Pad Thai and Jordi got a delicious coconut soup, and we relaxed there for a bit before heading back to our hotel. At 4 PM we were dead asleep on our amazing bed!

7 AM the next morning we got on the bus to take us to the border. It was actually a large van, not your average bus, which was really nice. The roads in Thailand are great, and they even stopped a couple times to give us a stretching or eating break. At one rest stop we saw a huge horned rhinoceros beetle lying dead on the ground.

"Whoa!! Gross!" Jord said.

Our bus driver came up behind us to look.

"Delicious!" he explained to us.

We made it to the border before noon, and had to do all our paperwork and get visas, which took about an hour. Then we had to walk to the first building where we waited in line for Thailand to let us out. Then we went to another building where we waited in line to give them our Good Health certificate. Then we went to another building and waited in another line for Cambodia to let us in. Finally we were done, and we got a taxi with a Canadian guy we met to take us to Siem Reap, where we were going to meet up with Scott and Andrea. The taxi took a little while getting out of town: First, we stopped at somebody's house where the driver got out, unloaded everybody's backpacks, and then him and some other guy stuffed some sort of car machinery inside the trunk, then loaded up the backpacks, smooshed them until they fit and the trunk closed. Then we went to someone else's house where they unloaded the backpacks again, filled up the oil container, and loaded the backpacks again, continuously pounding on the trunk until it closed. Then we went somewhere else where the taxi drivers friend who was in the front seat got out. Then finally we were on our way! Once we were on our way, it only took about 2 hours.

We got to the town of Siem Reap, and got on a tuk-tuk that was supposed to take us to an internet cafe, so I could check my e-mail to see where Andrea had said to meet. I told the driver we wanted an internet cafe and he said something, followed by "free for you!"

"Wait...why is it free for us?" I asked him.

It was free if we stayed the night at this certain hotel.

"No no no," I explained, "We're meeting my sister at a hotel, we can't stay at that hotel, sorry. Just an internet cafe please."

He responded with something else that also ended in "free for you!"

I asked him why this was free for us also, and it was because it was at his house, or something, but we could use his computer if we would hire him for the whole time we were in Siem Reap to be our driver. We couldn't do that either because Scott and Andrea had already hired a driver, so eventually we got to an internet cafe. He dropped us off at the right hotel, and we finally got to see Scott and Andrea!!

The Rain in Spain

Madrid

Our time in Madrid started with a 6 hour nautious bus ride to get there from San Sebastian. Maybe that was a bad omen. We finally arrived in Madrid and took the metro to the center part of town. We wandered around until we finally just picked a hostel. It was 50 Euro for literally a box. No windows or ventilation of any sort, no bathroom, just a bed in a box. Anyways, I was not feeling very well at all, but we went out to walk around the city and get dinner. For some reason, mostly because Jordi wanted to, we ended up at an all you can eat buffet that was disgusting. Kind of edible, but really not good. Then we went to an internet cafe that had phones so I could call my mom. As I was talking, Jordi was standing outside waiting for me. Some shady characters came up to him and started talking to him, asking him for cigarettes and trying to "play jokes" by playfully punching and shaking him - and taking our camera while they were at it. Jordi realized it too late, and they were already gone and dissapeared by the time he knew they had taken it. It was very heartbreaking for me as I was the one taking most of the pictures, and I love taking pictures. It had all our pictures from our coastal trip in France and the time we spent in San Sebastian. Our car trip to France was one of my favorite parts of our trip, so I am very bummed to not have pictures of it. Anyways, it was a really hard night for us, and we eventually fell asleep in our unventilated room. The next day, we woke up and mostly just wanted to get out of Madrid. We packed up our bags and figured out how to get to the airport on the metro. I was stomach sick and not feeling well at all, we were both frustrated over the camera, and also we had to be at the airport at 4 am the next morning for our flight - so our plan was to get a hotel by the airport and hide out til early the next morning. We got to the airport and ran around for at least an hour trying to look for someone to help us out. ("We don't have any information on hotels near the airport, you need to go upstairs." "Oh no, you need to go downstairs." "You need to go to that terminal" "You need to go to the next metro stop") Anyways, we finally found a lady who could help us, but all the hotels were booked because there was a conference. Besides, the hotels were over 200 Euro a night! So we decided to put our stuff in a locker and spend the night in the airport. We stashed our backpacks and got back on the metro. We went to Parque Retiro, which is probably the most popular park in Madrid. We got there and sat and had lunch, which was nice. Then we rented a row boat for almost two hours, which was really fun and beautiful, and very relaxing. We walked around the park a little more, and then went to Plaza Mayor for tapas and watching the preformers. It was really fun! And I was feeling a little better by this time. :) My Auntie Donna had told me about this little place in Madrid that has the only authentic Flamenco in the city. Since sleeping in the airport doesn't cost any money, we decided to splurge for the show. I had made reservations earlier, so we asked for directions and amazingly found our way through the alleyways to a little place called Casa Patas. Turning in from the alley, we walked through the doors to Casa Patas - it was all lit up, warm, decorated and fun looking inside. We signed in, and then had to wait at the bar for about 45 minutes before the show started. Everyone was either eating dinner or eating tapas at the bar, and everyone in the restaurant was there for the show. At 10:30 PM they shut down the bar and restaurant and ushered everyone behind the back restaurant wall, where there was seating for the show. The seating was shoulder to shoulder at tiny little cocktail tables, facing a small stage. It was a very intimate setting :) Out came the musicians - guitarist, violinist, drummer, and two singers - and everyone started cheering and clapping. I believe Flamenco has Moorish influence, as well as Gypsy background, and you can really hear this in the music and song. As soon as the music started everyone fell silent, for it was stunning. I could not believe how fast the guitarists fingers moved, and the voices were sorrowful and beautiful. The vocalists also do a little clapping thing throughout the whole show, which adds to the effect. Then out came the flamenco dancers - the man in his suit (who I had been talking to at the bar about the kind of cheese he had ordered!!) and the woman in her twirly dress (The cheese he ordered was from Galicia, by the way). They started dancing, and they were captivating. They move so fast and passionately. Actually, the whole ordeal is profoundly passionate - the singers, the dancers, the musicians. As Jordi observed, "Everybody looks like they are about to cry."

The show ended after midnight, and we had to wind our way through the subways back to the airport. We got our backpacks from the locker and went back to our terminal. By the time we found the perfect stairway to sleep under, it was almost 2 AM. We slept for two hours before starting our trek to Asia....

There and Back Again

We left San Sebastian on Tuesday morning. Well actually, we drove around the city at least 5 times as Jordi tried to figure out the stick shift and I tried to read the incredibly vague maps we got for free from the Tourist office. We made it out of the city only to be greeted by about 20 roundabouts, and proceeded to zigzag our way from toll road to street road (which are parrellel to eachother, and connected with about 20 roundabouts) until we actually made it across the border and stayed put on the toll road. The only problem with the toll road is you have to come to a complete stop to pay the toll, which was a little exciting as Jordi hadn't quite mastered the art of the clutch. I would carefully count out our change and hand it to Jord, and he would proceed to slow the car down, but forgetting the clutch, making our poor little car hop like a bunny rabbit! Then all the money would fly all over the place. We would finally come to a complete, albeit dramatic, stop and Jordi would hand the startled toll road attendant what was left of the change that hadn't bounced out of his hands. The attendant would stare at the 10 cents we gave him and go, "Uhhhhh...." This happened a couple times. But we did eventually master the use of toll roads AND stick shift! :)
Anyways, we didn't have any itinerary or any idea of where we wanted to go, we were just going to drive up the coast. A little ways into the drive and we saw a sign with three pictures on it- one was of a little guy surfing, one was a girl under a beach umbrella, and the third was a sailboat - and there was an arrow pointing to the next exit.
"Well, those are all good things!" Jord said, "Wanna go there?"
I said, "sure!" so we pulled off and started driving down a little foresty road toward the town. We saw huge Quicksilver Pro (surfing competition) signs and another sign that said, Bienvenue a Hossegor. We were like, Oh my gosh, we're in Hossegor!! (We both had heard of this town through surfing magazines and movies) What are the odds? We didn't even try!
We got to the beach and saw a hotel called Hotel Hossegor Amigos, which I thought was a good name, so we stayed there! It was 50 euros for our own room with a double bed and our own bathroom and shower, plus a great ocean view!! And downstairs was the Amigos restaurant and a nice little living room area. It was an awesome hotel, and an awesome little town!! Unfortunately there was absolutely zero swell, so we didn't get to surf, but we hung out at the beach and went swimming and explored the town. The next day we explored up the coast a bit and checked some surf spots. We tried to rent bikes, but everything was closed, (since summer is over) so we hung out at the beach some more. There were some cool little restaurants and cafes that we frequented often, and one restuarant had a fuzbol table, so that was pretty fun :)
After two nights in Hossegor, we decided to venture on. It was pouring rain as we drove up the little coastal road (not the big toll road). It is absolutely beautiful countryside and it was really cool to drive through it all. We drove through all the little towns, stopping at one town to get tea, and stopping at another place where there were huge dunes that were a tourist attraction. We climbed up them and it was an amazing view, so that was fun. We ended up driving all the way to a little town called Lacanau, on the northern part of the Aquitane peninsula. My brother Aaron had surfed there and recommended we go there, and we didn't see anywhere else to stop, so we kept driving until we got to Lacanau. We got to the little beach town, and once again it was a really cool little town with a laid back beach vibe. We found a hotel that was right on the beach, and stayed there. We walked up the beach and around the town - mostly everything was closed, but we had dinner at a delicious little pizza place and enjoyed a gorgeous sunset. The next morning there was a little bit of swell, so we rented boards and went out. It was actually really fun, small, but we had it all to ourselves. We drove back down the coast and stopped in Biarritz, which is further south than Hossegor. Biarritz is a beautiful little city, with enless walks along the coast and the cliffs. It reminds a little bit of La Jolla in San Diego. There are tons of caves, a little harbor, and a light house you can walk to. We hunted around for a hostel and got a great one, once again! Across the street from our hostel was a tiny little pizza place (we've been eating a lot of pizza - possibly because it's the only thing we know how to order). Anyways, we went there and met another couple from Melbourne, Australia. They were super friendly and fun, and we ended up hanging out and chatting with them for a while. The next day was rainy and cozy, and we sat in a cafe and people watched for a while. We walked around some more, and in the afternoon went surfing. It was actually really fun, kind of stormy surf. That evening we met the Aussie couple again at the pizza place, and had dinner and hung out with them that night also.
The next day we had to go back to San Sebastian and return our car. We finally found a hostel there, and got some canned ravioli to eat for dinner. Doesn't sound that appetizing, but it actually was :) We went out for a little bit of tapas as a supplement to our canned ravioli, and ended up meeting these two Australian girls, also from Melbourne. They were a little younger than us, and incredibly friendly and funny! We had a lot of fun chatting - one of the girls has parents that have a beach house in Australia, so hopefully we'll get to meet up with them again!! :)
Well, that ended our time in San Sebastian. After this, Madrid!

Bordeaux to San Sebastian

After we left Clive and Diana, we took the train to Bordeaux, which was thankfully much less eventful! We arrived in the town, which is situated along a river with lots of awesome architecture, fountains, cathedrals, and squares everywhere! We got a good little hotel and spent two nights there. We spent our days wandering around and enjoying our time to hang out. We noticed that every other store was selling these things called 'macarons', so finally we decided to buy some - they're soooo good!! All these different flavors of almond paste (i think) encoated with a merengue (i think). Anyways, those were fun! We had some great food and had a lot of fun ordering completely in French!! We were thinking of renting a car to explore the coast, but it was really expensive, and there were no waves at the moment anyways, so we decided to just get the train to San Sebastian.
We got to San Sebastian in the early afternoon on Friday, and found a hostel that had a room available and stayed there. As we were walking around in the evening we noticed that everywhere had tapas, little appetizer things sitting on the counter at every bar. That night we tried it out - you take a plate and load it up with whatever you want, and then pay for it later. It's pretty fun, but I don't know how they eat dinner after that!!
Actually, one night we did have an actual dinner instead of tapas, but we felt pretty sick afterwards. The next day we decided we were only going to eat 'Raw' - fruits, vegetables, nuts, etc., and give our stomachs a little break. It worked great for me, and I felt much better, although Jordi was ready for 'real food' by about 10 am! Since then we have consciously tried to incorporate fruits and fiber into our diet, which is not very convenient, but has been really good! :)
We stayed in San Sebastian for 4 nights. One day it was hot and sunny, so we got to swim and hang out at the beach. One day we hiked to the Jesus Statue and took a run along the river. One day there was swell, so we rented boards and went surfing. And every day there were tapas and people singing in the streets til 3 AM. Spain is one big party town!! On Sunday there was some sort of huge festival - so many people on the boardwalks that you felt like you were in a moshpit! And yet we never did figure out what the big deal was; besides tons of people, there wasn't really an indication of the occassion!
We went to the car rental place in San Sebastian, and it was way cheaper to rent a car from there, so we did! It's a little black hatchback, stick shift, deisel, and awesome! :)
We rented the car on Tuesday, and decided to go back into France and drive up the coast, hoping to find some waves :)

Aquitane, "South of France"

I've always wondered why it's called "The South of France", instead of "Southern France". I feel like I should be dressed in linen drinking a fancy drink in my villa covered in bougenvilla before saying, "Yes, and then we meandered through The South Of France and made our way to Bordeaux." But we did meander through the South of France and Bordeaux, although I am not in a beautiful villa with fancy drinks. (I'm next to some really annoyingly loud Spaniards at a internet cafe in San Sebastian, finishing a day of semi-fasting - more on that later.)
Aquitane:
When I lived in San Diego, I worked for Paul and Maybeth Rothery. Paul's parents, Clive and Diana, live in a little town called Cambes, in the region known as Aquitane, in the middle of the rolling countryside of France. They graciously agreed to let Jordi and I stay at their home, even though they had never met us before!
We got to the train station in Paris very early, but not early enough. Although I had printed out E-tickets, you still have to go to the window to get a regular ticket printed out for you. There was only 1 window open and about 10 people in line in front of us, and our train left in 20 minutes. Of course there was not a single other person to ask for help, and each person in line was at the window for at least 5 minutes. At this pace we were definitely not going to make our train! We didn't speak any French, which didn't help matters any. We tried to ask the lady in front of line if we could cut in line since our train was about to leave, and she seriously started yelling at Jordi!! I got sooo mad!! I ran out to our train that was about to leave and tearfully begged the conductor to let us on the train with our piece of paper. He finally relented, and we plopped into some seats. Later the same conductor came by to charge us again for the train (we had already paid 180 euros for our tickets, but hey, why not pay another 180??) So we paid because we really had no choice, and we couldn't explain ourselves at all, which was extremely frustrating. Anyways, we had a stopover in Bordeaux, and there was a very kind and compassionate lady at the window who printed up all the tickets we needed, as well as refunded us for the extras we bought!
When we arrived in Marmande (the closest train station to Cambes), Clive and Diana were both there to greet us. They took us back to their pretty and quaint house, complete with red shutters and a view of the countryside :) Parts of the house were over 300 years old, and you could see how the huge wooden beams were held together with wooden pegs. We hung out with Clive and Diana for a bit, and got a tour of the house and garden. Diana had prepared a French feast for us that night, so Jordi and I decided we had better go for a run! It was so nice to finally go for a run again, and the hills were so pretty to run through. It actually reminded me a lot of the Central Coast, with lots of rolling hills and vinyards.
After showers, we came down the stairs to a perfect evening and sunset, and an amazing dinner!!
The first course we had was pate with a special salt paired with applesauce, and also french bread. We also had a little amuse bouche, or "Amusement for the Mouth", like an appetizer :)
Our next course was a true "Coq-au-Vin", with little white onions and delicious little mushrooms in a wine sauce. We also had fresh steamed veggeis and mashed potatoes - it was all seriously so good!!
The next course was cheese! And grapes from their garden. All that was really good also, of course!
And last but not least was dessert - ice cream, with cooked cherries from their tree out front.
We had lots of fun getting to know Clive and Diana and learning about their interesting life, and how it is to live in France.
The next morning, after some coffee and croissants, they drove us to a local Farmers Market nearby. It was such a gorgeous little town square, and the market was photogenically selling fresh vegetables, homemade pastas, cheeses, and gorgeous baskets that I really wanted!
For lunch that day, we had a French meal of fresh quail cooked with onions, french bread, and strawberries, all fresh from the market!
Clive and Diana took us to see some extremely beautiful little towns, and we also went to see an old castle in the area. Jordi and I took the tour, which was really fun, and the panoramas were amazing. You could easily pretend you lived in the castle and were looking out upon the land, because probably nothing much has changed!
We went to another little cobblestoned town with a pretty little square and a fountain in the middle, where they took us for dinner at their favorite Italian place. The food was really good, and it was a gorgeous evening!!
The next morning we went for a walk, packed up our stuff, and Clive and Diana drove us back to the train station. It was such a great little time in the countryside, and I'm so glad we had the opportunity to visit it! I'm also so appreciative of the open hospitality and generosity shown to us by Clive and Diana - even though they had never met us, they treated us like long lost relatives!! Now on to Bordeaux....

A Tale of Two Cities: Paris (Continued)

Our next day in Paris was a Saturday. The streets were much more crowded than the previous two days, although the weather was still hot and sunny. We wandered again to the Ile-Saint-Louis and were mesmerized by all the beautiful shop displays. They seriously know how to tempt you - anything from cooking utensils to boars legs looked so enticing in the windows! The best windows to oggle at were the displays in cheese shops - hundreds of moldy or gooey or ginormous wheels of cheese, cheese, cheese. Also the bread and pastry shops, displaying freshly made goodies you never knew existed! My sister in law, Melissa, had suggested in an email that we take a picnic to Luxembourge park, so we decided to load up on supplies right then and there! We got bread, cheese, pear tarts, wine, and apples and walked until we came to the park. It's a HUGE park, complete with a palace and grass for miles that you arn't allowed to touch. We ate our lunch along with hundreds of others gathered at the park. We found some grass that didn't look too forbidden and Jordi conked out (he was pretty sick with a cold). I walked around and watched people playing Bocci Ball - seems to be quite the popular pastime!
I got back to where Jordi was sleeping on the grass, and noticed about 5 other couples or sleepers on the grass as well. I was congratulating him for starting a trend when a policeman came up to us and told us to get off the grass. Oh well, at least Jord got his nap!
We left the park and found the Pantheon, which was incredible to look at, but we didn't go in. We called our friend Dave Simonson again, and actually got ahold of him! We met him and his girlfriend Chloe in front of Notre Dame, and hung out for awhile with them. Eventually Dave helped us get our stuff from the hostel and took us back to the apartment, a twenty minute metro ride from the center of the city. Dave, Jordi, and I spent the evening eating cheese and bread and just hanging out at the house before going to bed.
The next morning Jordi and I took the metro back into town, where we walked around for an hour before finding a good cafe to sit in. We got a couple croissants and few tiny little cafes, which cost about 30 euro. Ridiculous, but it's Paris, and you just can't think about it too much!
We then walked to the Arc de Triomphe, and then walked all the way down the Champs Elysees until we got to the Louvre. By this time I was so hot and tired and grumpy, but we pressed on and got tickets to go inside. It was actually pretty amazing, and I forgot my grumpiness temporarily. We only looked at paintings since we spent so much time at the British Museum looking at other stuff. The painings and architecture were incredible, and I'm really glad we went. And yes, the Mona Lisa was there - surrounded by every Asian in Paris with a camera, so we didn't stop there too long.
By this time we were starving, since all we had were expensive croissants and miniscule espresso things, so we tried to find somewhere to eat. First, we tried to call Dave again, but our phone card wasn't working. So we found a little sidewalk cafe in a not-so-touristy part of town that Dave and Chloe had shown us, and sat down. All I wanted was a salad, or even something that contained a vegetable. Jordi went inside to order, and a few minutes later FOUR sandwhiches consisting of frech bread and sausage were brought out to us. Not only did I not want one sausage and french bread sandwhich, I really didn't want four of them!! So Jordi ate them all (what a good sport) and we looked for somewhere to buy a new phone card. We called Dave again, and him and Chloe wanted to meet us for dinner at the Moulin Rouge part of town. We took the metro up there, and found a little a little French restaurant where Chloe interpreted the menu for us :) I got ratatouille, which was delicious! Chloe showed us around the whole area - apparently it used to be a big artist community, and it's where Picasso used to live. It's a little far from the River, but it's on a hill and you can get great views of the city from up there. Little cobblestone streets and steep hills are everywhere, it was a cool part of Paris to see!
That is how we spent our last night in Paris - next morning we were off to the countryside!

A Tale of Two Cities: Paris

Paris:

We arived in Paris in record time, on the high speed Eurostar train. We excitedly looked out the window at all the rolling green fields that led into the city.
For those of you who don't know, Scott took Andrea on a trip to Paris shortly before they left for Cambodia. While we were packing for our trip, they gave us about 12 Euros they had left over from their trip. This was seriously a life saver!!
When we got off the train, we didn't have any cash, and our debit cards wern't working! So we used some euros to call Union Bank, and got that taken care of! Then we used the rest of the euros to get on a metro to take us to a more central part of Paris. We got off at a place we chose at random, and began roaming the streets in search of somewhere affordable. (Preferably with a bathroom attached!) Miraculously, we found a little hostel on a side street that had one room left for the night. It was 90 Euro, but it was a huge room with 2 balcony windows overlooking the street, and our own huge bathroom and shower!! It was heavenly! And in the morning, our breakfast was in a cozy, pretty room and they gave us juice, tea or hot chocolate, and a baguette with nutella.
We put our stuff down and headed out into the city. Apparently our hostel was in the Latin Quarter, and there was tons of little pedestrian streets and cafe's. We found Notre Dame, and it happened to be Mass there also. They let people wander around during Mass, so we did :) We then walked along and found ourselves on a little island called Ile Sainte Luise. It was soooo pretty!! There was nobody out except us, and we walked along the cobblestone streets beside the river under the colorful trees. It was extremely picturesque, and really fun! :)
We had dinner that night in the Latin Quarter (crazy expensive, but very fun), and walked back to our hostel because it was already late!
Our first full day in Paris was Friday, and it was also our 16 Montheversary of being married! :) We spent the day figuring out how to use the public phones (you have to buy specific phone cards), and getting our hostel for another night, and finding an internet cafe, and getting in touch with Dave, our friend from college who currently lives in Paris. In the late afternoon we started our trek to the Eiffel Tower. It took us about an hour and a half, but we walked the entire way along the river and it was so beautiful!! We got to the tower at dusk, which was neat because we got to see it in the daylight, and then we got to see it light up!! The lines were insanely long to get up, so we decided not to. We crossed over to the other side of the river and walked for a ways more before stopping at a little French restuarant for our montheversary date. It was very fun - the fancy funny waiters were probably the best part about the whole experience, although the food was really amazing as well. Our entertainment for the eveing happened when one of those merchants selling blinking Eiffel Tower necklaces and key chains that moo came sauntering up the street. While most people shake their heads and lower their gaze when merchants approach, the table of Italians next to us seemed to think this guy and his merchandise were God's greatest gift! They had the merchant there for at least 20 minutes, trying out everything he pulled from his pockets and going "ooooooooohhh!!" and chattering away to eachother in Italian. One girl was modeling some magnetic Tower earrings, while another man was testing out the lazer beam, and yet another man was testing out all the sounds from the keychains. And these were very well dressed people at a pretty expensive little place!! The waiters in their tuxedos didn't seem to mind, and the merchant left the Italians, each with their little mounds of blinking moo-ing treasures in front of them!
(more to come later)

A Tale of Two Cities: London

It was the most expensive of times, it was the most expensive of times....

London:

We arrived in London and walked to our hotel, which we had booked for only 45 pounds a night! (about 70ish dollars) We found out that this was because the room was on the basement level smelling strongly of burnt coffee, and there was no bathroom of any kind, just a bed! Down the hall was a toilet, no sink. To take a shower we had to walk up 4 flights of stairs to the communal shower! Our "continental breakfast" literally consisted of two pieces of white toast. And some burnt coffee (hence the smell).
So we tried to spend as little time there as possible! The first afternoon that we arrived, we decided to walk around and try to do some of the things on Grandma Jan's list (Jordi's Grandma had written out a list of things for us to do and see in London). We found Buckingham Palace and the park by the Palace. We walked through that park and found Hyde Park, where Speakers Corner is. It was fun to go there and see where Dad has often been! We saw amazing monuments and architecture everywhere. One thing that was interesting was the innumerable amount of World War tributes and memorials there were.
We eventually came across Westminster Abbey, and what do you know but they were closed for mass!
"Perfect!" I thought. My Auntie Donna and Uncle Rick had told me the best time to see the abbey was during Mass, so we told the guard we were there for Mass, and he let us in. Inside was breathtaking -high celings and everything was very ornate. They give you a sheet telling you how to follow Mass, so that was good! (When to sit, stand, sing along, etc..) It was incredible! We were tired from walking so much, so it was nice to sit in this beautiful place and hear the voices of the choir echoing throughout the church. It was a beautiful service and I'm really glad we got to go!
Afterwards we decided to try and get dinner, and on the "List", Covent Gardens was mentioned as being a good place to go and eat. Unfortunately for us, our map was super vague! We didn't see Covent Gardens, but we did see New Covent Gardens Market - close enough, right? WRONG!! After hours of wandering across bridges and throughout the industrial district of London, we found an empty parking lot with empty warehouses, which said it was the Covent Market. Finally we found a girl who told us where to go, so we got on the extremely expensive metro and arrived at a much more populated and friendly looking area!!
We found some amazing, albeit scorchingly spicy Indian food, and had an impressive quantity of naan!
The next day we spent hours at the British Museum, which was awesome. Then we went to the Globe and the Tower of London (creepy!) We didn't do any of the tours, but it was fun to see the places. In the evening we went to a typical English pub for a warm beer and steak and ale pie with mashed potatoes. Jordi liked the cuisine, but I probably won't miss it too much ;)
Then on to perhaps the best part of the day - Wicked!!! We got tickets earlier that day, so we went to the theatre and saw it that night. It was soo good, I loved it! I've been wanting to see it forever, and Jordi really liked it too! I have to say I think it's definitely better than the book.
Anyways, the next morning after picking at my toast (Jordi gobbled up his breakfast, bless his heart), we got on another expensive metro to the train station where we bought expensive lunch and got on an expensive train to Paris, where more expensiveness awaited us ;)
But we had a great time, and got to see a lot in the short time we were there. My favorite parts were Westminster Abbey, the Museum, and of course, Wicked!