Jess and Craig:

Greetıngs everyone! Jess and I just left Cappodocıa, in central Anatolia, where we were taking in the sights. We have had trouble trying to characterise the place, but we have basically decided that it is kind of like a mixture of Arches national park, Smith Rock, and Mesa Verde, though different from all three. It is an area (also) kind of like central Oregon, where volcanic mountains you can see on the horizon have covered the area in basalt cliffs and volcanic tuff. The difference is that Hittites who moved here 3000 years ago decided that the cliffs themselves would be a good place to live and carved homes into the rock faces. Over time, some areas became underground cities (apparently 100 have been discovered) with as many as 5000 rooms going 8 floors underground. Later, early Christians in the 4th century began carving their churches and monasteries into the rocks and painting the walls with amazing frescoes. So you get to go on great hikes here through beautiful canyons only to stumble upon carved caves in the cliffs and explore the rooms beyond.

We took a night bus from Istanbul to get here, and though the bus was a million times better than any Kathmandu counterpart, the all night ride was still a little brutal. There was a crazy old lady on our bus providing some comic relief, though there was a roadside stop in the middle of the night when the stewards threatened to kick her off the bus. We got here at 8 AM and wandered up to a pension called "Flintstones Cave" and we thought the name was so good we had to stay there. There are many hotels here which occupy both old and new cave dwellings, and the Flintstones had a few cave rooms. Trying to get back on the budget travel wagon, we opted to camp in the yard.

The first day we hiked all around the area, walking up a canyon and being enticed by hundreds of openings carved into the rock on both sides. We feel very fortunate to have ended up here in the spring, because the grass at the ground everywhere that is not a cliff is literally covered with thousands of wildflowers in every color imaginable. We arrived at a small village and climbed to the top of a rock tower for a view of the area. We then came down a different canyon and got really lost but had fun anyway. We discovered grapevines and fruit trees growing at the base of sheer cliffs at the canyon's bottom, which meant the farmers must have had a better way of getting there than the really dicey way by which we arrived. In the afternoon, we walked up to the Outdoor Museum, which is an area of very well preserved dwellings and churches. The glimpse of the way people lived in these caves over 1000 years ago is fascinating, and the grandeur of the structures that they carved out of living rock is amazing.

Yesterday we rented a scooter to explore some sights further afield. At this point it is worth mentioning that the weather in Turkey has been refreshingly cool, often chilly in the shade. So though the freedom of being able to go and stop wherever we wanted was great, we did not dress warm enough for cruising long distances at speed on the motorbıke and both of us froze on our ride. I ended up with plastic bag gloves to protect my fingers a little, and we bought a pair of wool socks for Jess which she covered with plastic bags before she put on her sandals. Style was not our first priority.

We made our first stop at one of the biggest underground cities. We hired a tour guide to show us around and brought our headlamp because, though the main section of the city is lit, we also crawled down a few tunnels and went into some rooms that were as dark as they were 3000 years ago. There were discernible bedrooms, kitchens, cafeterias, and wineries, and churches underground, and tunnels that apparently connected this city with others up to 10 km away.

Our next stop was the Ilham valley, which is really just a beautiful canyon with a trout stream flowing through it and homes and cathedrals carved into the rock cliffs above. After a hike through the canyon we hopped back on the scooter and started heading north on the other side. We were heading for a monastery that was in our guidebook but passed through several villages with impressive ruins. Finally I couldn't resist and pulled over at one to explore. The big apparent rooms were at the base of a cliff that was probably 400 ft tall. At various levels there would be one random window looking out of the cliff, with no clear indication of how anyone ever got there. There was a sort of staircase on leading to some rooms a couple of stories up, but it had fallen apart for a short section and required a little scrambling to get around. Jess was not on board for that bit, which was probably good, because she never would of let me do some of the things I had to to get further up into this castle. After taking several dark winding stairways and stemming up a 40 ft of vertical chimney, I popped out at one of the windows 200 ft above the ground and was rewarded with a great view of the whole valley. Jess, meanwhile, was wondering what I could possibly be doing for 30 minutes in there and was imagining doomsday scenarios when I popped out again.

Our last stop was the monastery itself, which was apparently the largest religious complex in the area. It was eroded away in some areas, but there were still big churches with paintings and large bedrooms, dining rooms, and kitchens. We actually found a steep staircase in the monastery that tunneled through the rock to arrive at another high window and great view.

After that, we motored back for Göreme chasing our lengthening shadow and racing the sunset in the increasing cold air. It was a beautiful ride and we made it back, frozen, right at sunset. We scoured the town for a fire to thaw our frozen parts, and found one outside at a great little bar. We drank local wine and had great food and conversation with the owner.

We spent our last day on another hike through local canyons. I got us lost a few times (but that is half the fun), but we got found agaın and then hopped a nıght bus to Olympos, our next stop in Turkey. So now we are hanging out on pebble beaches in the shadow of the mountains and trying to figure out our next destination. We will let you know when we get there!!

Hi everyone!  Here are a couple of lınks to some more photos:

Here are some pics from around Kathmandu

and

Here are our photos from Istanbul

Enjoy!!

Our lives have completely changed in the last few days. We left the limited electricity, dirt roads, gas shortage and riots of Kathmandu behind and arrived in the ultraclean and modern city of Istanbul.

Before I enter into the present I will quickly wrap up our last few days in Kathmandu. Despite the controversial firing of the head of the army and the subsequent resignation of the prime minister the streets of Kathmandu remained relatively calm and no curfew was ever enacted in the city. However, due to riots over unrelated other issues there were curfews in the suburbs limiting our access to adventures away from the city (i.e. bungee jumping and camping with our new Kathmandu pals). Despite the limitations we still had a great time. We basically spent the whole time with our friends Rohit and Niraj, who incredibly kindly took time out of their work days to take us on picnics, to see temples, to dinners, and even to a Nepali movie. We even got a fabulous last Nepali meal at Niraj's home before getting on our plane. It was an amazing time. We feel very lucky to have met these guys, they certainly made our time in Nepal much more personal and interesting. And we are looking forward to our lives crossing paths with them again in the future. In the end, although we were excited to be heading to a new part of the world it was sad to say goodbye to our new friends.

Our flight to Istanbul was long. Actually there were three. But they are worth mentioning because we got to lay over in a place neither of us had ever heard of...Bahrain (probably a bit embarrassing to admit). As far as lay overs go we ate up the novelty of the new country even if we were just in the airport the whole time.

Finally, many many hours later, actually at 4 am, we arrived in ISTANBUL.

Culture Shock!

Oddly enough, the glamour, the cleanliness, and the developed world was truly shocking to us after so long.

We booked ourselves in an upscale guest house and the clean sheets alone made us feel like we may never leave. However, what really won our hearts was the breakfasts included with the rooms. Endless cheeses, sweet cream butter, espresso, breads, cheeses and more cheeses....the breakfast was so fabulous that we purposefully tried to eat light in the evenings to save room for the mornings.

The sight seeing in Istanbul has also been great. The AyaSofia is jaw dropping, the Byzantine cistern is absolutely amazing, and the skyline scattered with mosques is absolutely beautiful. We are also in love with the parks and the flowers and the fresh air and birds and need I go on...

But, by far my favorite activity since arriving has been the Turkish Bath! We decided since we were here we would have to go and although we knew it would be touristy we should go to the most famous of baths, Cagaloglu. This turkish bath is 500 years old and as they like to boast on the list of 1000 places you have to see before you die. We did not really know what to expect when we went, our guidebook gave us very little background, basically just telling us that it was worth it to get the service that included a bath attendant and massage. So after signing up for that option at the door and handing over more than we would pay for a day of skiing for the two of us, we parted ways and entered into the unknown. The woman's side and men's side are virtually the same. You enter into a lounge area that is surrounded by cubicles with beds where you can relax, changed clothes, and lock you valuables. They give you a sheet to wrap in after you remove all your clothing and a pair of sandals. Then you head into the bath with and locate your attendant. The main bath room is large circular room made of marble, with benches and sinks around the circumference and marble platform in the center. The ceiling is domed and has many small sky lights giving the space a beautiful aura with the filtered natural light. There is an smaller adjacent room called the hot room. The first room was fairly hot itself, but in the second room is more like a sauna and even the marble benches are warm. So now down to business. When I entered the main room I was told to seek out my attendant, Selma. She was in the middle of washing another woman so I hung up my sheet, did a quick rinse in one of the sinks and sat observing my surroundings. The washing takes place on the center platform and when I came there were about seven naked ladies lying there being scrubbed down by these big turkish woman. It was actually pretty amazing to be in a place that was so ancient and observe a process that has taken place for hundreds of years. When my turn came, I too lied down on the marble and got scrubbed from head to toe with a loofah. Apparently, in my first Istanbul shower I had not gotten all of Kathmandu off me, because as Selma bluntly put it, I was dirty. The scrub was followed by a massage and a shampoo. A final rinse and I swear I have never been so clean. It was the perfect thing, I only wish I had done it the moment I stepped of the plane. And even though we basically paid more for one bath than we did for a months accommodation in Nepal it was totally worth it. Craig's experience was pretty much the same as mine except the men keep their sheet on and he had the rough and hairy Gustav doing his exfoliation.

So in the end, we are very happy. We are eating like kings and working hard to dwindle away our trip savings. Tonight we head on a night bus to Cappadocia. I am very excited about seeing this part of Turkey, it is the reason I wanted to come here. So that is all for now. We will update again soon.

Hello world.  Yesterday was a little bit of a touch and go day politically in Nepal, as the Maoist Prime Minister tried to fire the army chief in spite of everyone in the rest of the government, the US and Indian embassies, and a lot of other people thought it was a bad idea.  There were disturbances in the streets and a fear that there would be a city wide curfew with shoot-on-sight punishment for violators.  But today (for now, anyway) things are completely calm and back to normal.  But the unrest has curtailed our plans to travel very far afield, so we will likely be killing a little more time in Kathmandu until we fly out on the 6th.  

Despite the excitement, we had a pretty fun day anyway hanging out with our Nepali friends Rohit and Niraj.  We got a tour of a school, nursing school, and a hospital with which Niraj is affiliated, and were having lunch at a new cafe (and going on live radio to talk about it) when the news of the curfew came and we had a crazy motorcycle ride through the streets trying to get back to our hotel while dodging demonstrations and street fires.  Never a dull moment.

Anyway, the main point of this entry is to post the link to the photos from our last days diving and hanging out with Ruxy in Thailand.  I know it is out of order, but here it is.

We still need to get the pics from our first week in Nepal up, and then we will be all caught up...we will keep you posted when we get there.

Take care, and keep in touch!

Hey Everyone! Jess and I are back to the world of Kathmandu after a couple of weks on the trail. We had an amazing time trekking, and are already planning future trips. For those of you (like us, for example, before this trip) who don't really know what trekking in Nepal is like, here is a basic rundown:

We went Tea House trekking, which means that we hiked every day from one remote mountain settlement to another, staying at tea house guest lodges. It is a fun way to travel because you do not need to carry a tent or cooking gear, as you are sleeping in lodges and there is always a tea house within an hour or so when you get hungry on the trail. Every tea house has an amazing menu, and the food is generally pretty good (though increasingly expensive the further you get from the nearest road...they have to pay a guy to carry everything in to them, and inflation kept us off beer for the whole hike!). Typically, you don't have to pay anything for your room, as long as you are eating dinner and breakfast at the lodge.  They try to charge you occasionally, but you can bargain down everything, including discounts on the food menu!!

We started our trip by taking a bus to a town near the Tibetan border north of Kathmandu called Syrabrubesi. We hiked up the Langtang valley and spent an extra day in Kyanjin Gompa, where Jess nursed some blisters while I climbed a peak (16,400 ft sounds high everywhere except here, where Tsergo Ri looks like a little dwarf surrounded by its Himalayan neighbors). We then hiked back down the valley and turned up to a town called Thulo Syabru and the beginning of the trek to the sacred Gosakund Lake. A couple days later, we arrived there and spent another day relaxing and peak climbing around these gorgeous lakes that sit at a little over 14,000 ft. The views were amazing, the place was fantastic, and the lakes were a really cold swim (judging from the audience of locals my dips gathered, swimming was not a common April activity in Gosakunde).

We reluctantly said farewell to the lakes, hiked over the Laurainayak Pass and headed down toward the Helambu region. On the way, we stayed at a lodge on an exposed ridge in a place called Therapati and watched thunderheads roll in at sunset, kicking off a lightning and hail storm that turned into a blizzard. We awoke to a thin coat of snow that disappeared as we headed down the valley. We entered the Sherpa land of Helambu and trekked a few days down toward Kathmandu, through many old villages that were several days from roads. We popped out, after a grueling hike from Tarke Gyang, at Melanchi Pul Bazar and had a celebratory dinner (and our first beer in weeks!) at a roadside guesthouse. The next morning, we took a 5 hour bus ride to Kathmandu (even though we were only about 10 miles away as the crow flies) and here we are.

We are probably, for our own journaling purposes, going to follow this up with a day by day account of our trip, which you might want to skim. But here is where you can see photos of our trek.

Hope all is well on the home front, and thanks to everyone for keeping in touch!!!

Take care!

Hey everyone!  We are alive and kicking, and Nepal is treating us pretty well.

As I said when we first arrived, our first impression of Kathmandu was a real contrast to where we have been, and that impression has only been reinforced during the last few days.  Kathmandu is a really vibrant and crazy capitol, but probably less developed than any major city we have ever visited.  Many of the streets here are unpaved, and all of them are very narrow.  This makes traffic a really bonkers dusty affair.  While we thought the air quality of Bangkok was a drag, Kathmandu smog kicks its ass any day.  While the streets are filled with smoke-belching trucks, cars, and motorbikes, the problem is compounded by the fact that, due to limited supply, the city only has power 4-8 hours a day, and the computer on which I am typing is being kept alive, like everything else that is switched on in this town, by a diesel generator.   But Nepalis just roll with it, and give you a candle when you check into the hotel.  It is a small indication of the spirit of the people here...things (the lights, the government, the gas pump) might not always work right, but they make the most of it and don't seem to dwell on the negatives.  

We have had the extreme good fortune of being put into contact, through some friends of ours in CT, with a guy named Ben Ayers.  He works for an NGO called the dZi foundation doing community development work here, has lived in Nepal off and on for 10 years, speaks fluent Nepali and has trekked pretty much every trek in the country.  We had coffee with him on our first morning (at a shop he co-owns as a side project, where Jess got a legit cappuchino for the first time in a while), and he pretty much planned our trip for us.  He told us of the New Years festival in Bhaktapur on the 13th (more on that later), helped us hammer out a trekking plan (and got us our permits), and gave us some tips on how to fill the time in between.  So armed, we had a few days to kill and spent the first couple getting to know Kathmandu. 

As everyone who read about our time in SE Asia knows, we got our fill of temples there.  But the mellow Buddhist temples there are a world apart from their cousins here.  We spent our second day here touring the temples of Kathmandu.  The first stop was Swayambhunath, a Hindu temple complex called "The Monkey Temple" due to the revered monkey inhabitants.  It is a very in-your-face place, and really drives home the fact the Hindu temples are not, like the Buddhist Wats to which we are accustomed, places for personal prayer and quiet reflection.  They are vibrant family affairs, with chanting, ceremony, and animal sacrifice.  The images and statues are covered in pigments, flower petals, and blood, reflecting all the ways that people are trying to appease the gods who they see as very active participants in day to day life.  It was mostly chickens and ducks who were meeting their doom in these ceremonies, but we also saw goats and cows being led up the hill, never to have another dull moment.  The next place we stopped was Pashtupati, a temple of many buildings right on the banks of a sordid river.  This temple is a place where families come to cremate their dead, on pyres right above  the murky water.  While we were there, there were 4 shrouded bodies burning on 4 separate pyres while the families looked on.  The ritual includes pushing the ashes into the river to be carried downstream, and the bathing of family members in the water (which, at this time of year when the river is low, would seem to require an immediate after-bath shower).  In addition to being an auspiscious place to be transported into the next world, this temple is also a favored place to die, and there is a sort of old folks home right on the grounds, filled with people hoping to breath their last breath on the banks of that river.  It was a sobering visit, but completely engrossing and strangely moving at the same time.  The last place we stopped was the Buddhist temple of Boudnath.  Even the the Buddhist temples here are way more interactive, with eyes painted on the spires, bright prayer flags blowing in the wind, and worshipers circumnavigating the base spinning hundreds of prayer wheels and ringing bells.  But it was a comparatively peaceful scene, and we spent the sunset drinking chai at a rooftop cafe, eye to eye with the temple's spire. 

It would not be our blog without a nod to the food here, which is absolutely delicious.  There is a lot of dal and curries on offer, borrowing heavily from Indian food.  But Kathmandu has some pretty international cuisine as well, and everything we have tried has been delicious.  We have been driking a lot of Nepali milk tea, eating momo (which are like chinese dumplings but come vegetarian everywhere and can be steamed or fried), and staying full on Dal Bhat, which is essentially all you can eat rice and lentils that costs around $ .40 in small cafes (yes, there is a place that is cheaper to eat than Thailand).  Sometimes it comes with curd, which is cardamon-spiced buffalo-milk yoghurt and delicious.  We also went to a Korean restaurant with Ben (after a night of climbing on an outdoor artificial climbing wall, made more exciting by the fact that the power went out halfway through our evening there and we climbed with headlamps on)  where we ordered so much food I couldn't believe it, washed it down with plenty of Everest beer, and ended up paying about $5.00 a piece.  So we continue to eat well, and look forward to every meal.

After a couple of days in Kathmandu, we needed to breath some fresh air.  We were lunatic enough to rent a motorcycle and brave the Nepali roads to explore some places outside of town, make our way to Bhaktapur for New Years, and try to get our first glimpses of the Himalayas that brought us to this place to begin with.   And Jessica will bring you up speed on those fun-filled days...

Hello all.  Just a quick note to let everyone know we are safe and sound in Kathmandu.  We escaped Bangkok before the 500,000 protesters clogged things up too much, and everything went smooth from there.  It is a real trip to leave the ultra modern asian-chic of the Bangkok airport and land in Kathmandu, whose airport reminded me a lot of my elementary school...diminutive, brick, and poorly lit.  It is also a shock to be in a new country after attaining such a comfort level with SE Asia...this is definitely a new world.   But we are so excited to be here and already feel like we love it. 

We will update on our plans once we know them!  Take care and keep in touch.

Hey Everybody!  Jess and I are wrapping up our Thailand stay.  We are still glowing and psyched about our dive trip, and looking for places to get in the water further on in our travels.  But for now, we are focused on the Himalayas.  We leave for Nepal tomorrow, after spending a great few days with Ruxy, Adi, and Sebastian.  We haven't done much other than enjoy family life with the Lazarescu-Rustanbegovichs, and we have gotten a pretty big taste of how much more complicated navigating Bangkok can get when you throw a 18 month old baby into the mix. But we have had a great place to stay, with an unbeatable 14th floor pool and comfy bed, so our stay here has been about as good as it gets.

It is getting hotter every day here, and also raining cats and dogs every afternoon.  It really underscores what a good move it was for us to ride in the season that we did...we would be a lot more soggy now....and it helps make us ready for a new location.  We aren't too worried about the weather affecting our flight tomorrow, though the reports of the largest yet redshirt anti-government protests taking place tomorrow have us a tad nervous.  But we are leaving early for the airport and hoping for the best.  Hopefully, you will here from us soon from Kathmandu!!!

April 4th, Koh Lak, Thailand

Scuba diving rocks!!

Our live aboard diving trip was a huge success. We enjoyed it so much that I could almost consider dropping even further out of society to become a scuba bum. For any of you out there who are divers you have to go out on a live aboard safari. They wake you up in the morning, feed you, describe to you all the amazing things you are going to see, help you put on your gear (I mean I had crew members zipping up my wetsuit, putting on my fins, turning on my air...practically spitting in my goggles for me) and then you begin your first amazing dive of the day. The day continues with a series of meals and more amazing dives. So as not to describe every fish we saw, I will stick to my highlight. About half way through a dive we were alerted to the reported manta ray in the area who was headed our way. As we sat motionless in the water this enormous creature swam by.  It was truly out of this world. They warned us when we see the really big things we have to 1) watch our buoyancy, 2) don't chase the animal, and 3) don't reach out to touch the animal. So as this huge creature (apx 12 feet wing span) was coming at me, all I could think was "don't move, don't move, it is not your fault if it reaches out to touch you". In the end it passed only about a meter away from me...a very close encounter. The next day Craig had his own close encounter as a whale shark that was circling us passed right above his head. For those who don't know whale sharks are the biggest of all sharks (and fish for that matter) but happily they are vegetarian. This shark was probably only 15 feet long (a baby in whale shark terms), but huge to us. Ok, Ok, Ok one more highlight- night dives. I loved night dives. At night most fish are sleeping (which is fun to see) and consequently the water is really quiet. What is nice about night dives is that because there isn't an overwhelming amount of sea life floating around you, you get to take your time and check out all the small creatures on the coral and buried in the sand. The other fun thing about night dives is when you turn off your flash light and move around the water lights up with the bioluminescent plankton that is surrounding you and your fellow divers. It is pretty magical. So, you get the point- diving rocks!

Now we are back on dry land and looking at getting on a bus at 7 pm tonight that heads back to Bangkok. The ride is at least twelve hours and unfortunately we were only able to book on the basic not so comfy bus. So it should be a bit miserable. We have three more days in Bangkok to spend with our friends who are now residents and then we head off to Nepal for our next big adventure!!!