Kari & Jason's Vagabond Report

That's all folks

2010-11-28T14:01:00.000-07:00

23 November 2010 Tuesday

A 4:00am flight through Amsterdam and Minniapolis brought us back to Fargo by around 6:00pm. We went from around 70 degrees down to around 7, and are still in a bit of temperature and culture shock. It has been good to have a bit of time to relax and visit family before we made the trek back to Colorado to find jobs and a place to live.

Due to the jet lag I have been up to see the sunrise for a few days now…..

Last days

2010-11-28T13:52:00.000-07:00

Day 89 21 November 2010 Sunday

Day 90 22 November 2010 Monday
Saqqara and Dahshur
We shared a car with another couple at the hotel and traveled south to the older pyramid, tomb, and temple complex of Saqqara and pyramids of Dahshur.

The Red Pyramid at Dahshur.

Inside the Red Pyramid

The Bend Pyramid at Dahshur.

The Black at Dahshur.

The Stepped Pyramid of Zoser at Saqqara

View of more pyramids in the desert

Fiber from palm tree used for ropes, rugs, animal feed, etc.

“Cop” tic Cairo

The Coptic Christian area of Cairo dates back at least to the first century A.D. and the remains of the Roman fort that still very present today. There is also the “Hanging Church” and the Greek church of St. George. The area is easily accessible directly from the metro, but also entirely surrounded by walls and armed tourist police.

We also took a walk around the "Garden District"

Islamic Cairo

2010-11-28T11:33:00.000-07:00

Day 88 20 November 2010 Saturday

We took the Cairo Metro a couple of stops and then walked 20 minutes to the “old Islamic” neighborhood of the city. This was the historical center of town until the Aswan dams prevented flooding into lower Cairo and facilitated the building of a newer, European style 19th century down town.

The area encompasses beautiful mosques, mausoleums and madrassas, dating back more than 700 years, and very lively modern bazaars. Active restoration and beautification efforts are being made to preserve the area and maintain its attractiveness for tourism. The surrounding area remains one of the poorer and over populated neighborhoods.

Interior of a mausoleum

Door of one of the gates to the walled city.

Pyramids of Giza

2010-11-28T10:32:00.000-07:00

Day 87 19 November 2010 Friday

We made the obligatory trip to the pyramids and sphinx at Giza our third day in town. A painless 30 minute city bus trip southeast from the downtown area brought us to the famed area.

We must have entered the “locals” walking entrance near the sphinx because there were no tour buses and limited concession sales, and only 10 armed tourist police instead of the usual 30. The pyramids are indeed the massive iconic structures of heavy sacked stones that we have all heard about for our lifetimes.

In postcards and travel brochures the pyramids of Giza always appear isolated in the middle of a desert landscape. In reality, the suburb of Giza has grown all the way the to edge of the park. The sphinx is only a hundred yards away from the edge of town.

The pyramids of Giza were covered in polished limestone casing stones, and would have been brilliant white in their day. The scope of the building projects dating from the second millennium B.C. is phenomenal. The great pyramid of Khufu: Originally, 480 feet tall, built over 20 years, composing 5.5 million tons of limestone (2.3 million blocks), 8,000 tons of granite (imported from Aswan 500 miles upriver) some blocks weighing as much as 25-80 tons, and another 500,000 tons of mortar. If, indeed, the pyramid of Khufu was completed in 20 years, then 800 tons of stone would have been needed to be placed each day.

Cairo and the Egyptian Museum

2010-11-28T10:13:00.000-07:00

Day 85 17 November 2010 Wednesday
Day 86 18 November 2010 Thursday

We arrived in Cairo, to a town in a bit of a relaxed atmosphere due to the holiday, it was a relief. After getting some food, we walked around the evening streets, which were packed with locals of all ages out and about enjoying their time off. Day two was filled with a visit to the Egyptian Museum. We had heard many reports from travelers about how poorly signed the displays are and how the number of artifacts the museum contains feels overwhelming. Although the displays are outdated and at times poorly lit, being able to see the tomb artifacts from Tutankhamen, the diversity of mummified animals, and countless sarcophagi demonstrate that this is obviously the best Egyptian museum on earth.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-487991/Am-I-cursed-King-Tut.html

In the museum we constantly remind ourselves that the wealth of Tutankhamen’s tomb may have been comparatively small for this insignificant, short lived pharaoh. The difference was the tomb was only discovered in 1922 and, unlike all of the other pharaoh’s tombs, which had been robbed and pillaged since antiquity, King Tut’s was mostly intact. The tombs included everything a pharaoh might need for their travels in the afterlife, including furniture, chariots, boats, food, and pets!

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24426101/ns/technology_and_science-science

During the reign of Akhenaten, a direct predecessor of Tutankhamen, artistic style radically changed to contain more caricature type of features.

http://www.art.com/products/p15180467-sa-i3605106/richard-nowitz-statue-of-pharaoh-akhenaten-also-known-as-amenhotep-iv-roman-museum-of-antiquities.htm

Note: We should mention to people intending to visit Egypt that STI or ICIS Student or Teacher Cards will save you 40-50% on all sites and museums.

Water in the Desert

2010-11-17T10:31:00.000-07:00

Day 83 15 November 2010 Monday

Day 84 16 November 2010 Tuesday

This is one of the many (possibly hundreds) of large diesel pumps of the Oases.

Flora and fauna of the Oases. (Where is Bessie?)

Egyptian scraper bikes and motorcycles.

Our last day in Bawiti, the main town in Bahariya, was also the first day of the Festival/Feast celebrating the return of people from the Hajj. All of the children are out of school, many of the shops are closed, and everyone is in a very friendly and light mood. Adults had out candy and families slaughter a two year old cow or sheep.

Young boys practice donuts on bicycles and motorcycles in the empty sandy streets.

The young girls dress up in their best winter jackets (it was around 75 degrees today), and hope for treats.

The blue entrance into someone’s family complex, which is surrounded by more typical drab brown mud brick walls.

The owner of Popular Restaurant is jokingly referred to by the locals as the “One Bad Muslim.” At his restaurant he provides beer and wine to the tourists (for a healthy profit).

Toyota land

2010-11-17T08:53:00.000-07:00

Day 81 13 November 2010 Saturday

Day 82 14 November 2010 Sunday

Bahariya Oasis, 375 km SW of Cairo, on a road connecting 4 of the major oases of the Western Desert in a crescent shape. The economy of the town revolves largely around desert safari tours and lodging, and 80% of the vehicles in town are desert ready Toyota Land Cruisers. Luckily the police state atmosphere of the New Valley Oases to the south is not present here.

The major desert safari attraction is the dramatic natural scenery of the White Desert National Park. Eighty million year old calcium rich sea bed has eroded into cloud like shapes on pedestals. Golden sand has blown in across the desert, contrasting the whipped cream like rock, and near by volcanoes have provided a peppering of small black iron ore.

Adjacent to the White Desert is the “Black Desert,” named for the numerous cinder cones which showered the otherwise cream colored landscape with igneous dark debris.

More camels

Escape from tourists

2010-11-15T02:01:00.001-07:00

Day 77 9 November 2010 Tuesday
Day 78 10 November 2010 Wednesday
Day 79 11 November 2010 Thursday

Day 80 12 November 2010 Friday

After 27 hours; one train and two busses and a strange night in Kharga Oasis (where the police felt they needed to shadow us for our “safety”) we arrived in Dakhla Oasis. Natural high aquifers in the midst of the western desert permitted agriculture to exist here for hundreds of years. It is feared that the limited water supply, extensive development of agriculture, and high modern pumping capabilities will exhaust the ground water resources within 20 years.

In the morning we visited old Al-Qasr village, a semi-abandoned mud brick warren of homes and narrow lanes. We were able to wander the pathways between crumbling 2-3 story 500 year old homes in virtual solitude.

Later that day we stopped at Mut Bir Talaata, (Mut Hot Spring #3), where for $2 you can sit by the hot spring pool at SolYMar chalets all day (and we didn’t see another tourist.)

Where the Kings and Queens started their journey to the afterlife.

2010-11-12T06:53:00.014-07:00

Day 73 5 November 2010 Friday

Day 74 6 November 2010 Saturday
Day 75 7 November 2010 Sunday

Day 76 8 November 2010 Monday

An early morning train ride brought us to Luxor (notice a theme here), this travel stuff is almost like work.

But there were some nice views out the rain windows of the agriculture and life in the Nile Valley.

In the afternoon we visited the Luxor museum, which contained a well chosen selection of thoughtfully displayed artifacts from the local tombs and temples. We made a comical connection to one of the mummies on display. Back at home we had seen a documentary about an unknown mummy displayed in a curio museum in Niagara Falls since the 19th century. Recently, a researcher dated the excellently preserved mummy back to the time of Ramses I as well as performed DNA testing. In the documentary they concluded that this mummy may have been one of the great pharos. The Niagara Falls mummy has been repatriated to Egypt and we stumbled upon it in the Luxor museum.

Luxor(Thebes) (and later Memphis) was the base of government for the New Kingdom pharos from 1550-1069 BC (during the 18th-20th dynasties). Recognizing that the great pyramids of lower Egypt were essentially beacons for tomb raiders, the nobles of the New Kingdom attempted to disguise their tombs by placing the entrances to the tombs discreetly in an eroding hillside behind a pyramid shaped mountain. To date the Valley of the Kings contains over 60 tombs, the Valley of the Queens over 75 tombs, and the surrounding area is scattered with dozens more. Unfortunately, the public is not allowed to take pictures anywhere on the site of the main “Valleys”.

New excavations in this area on going.

Colossi of Memnon, the remains of the Temple of Amenhotep III, miss named by the Greeks who believed they were statues of Memnon.

The terraced funerary temple of Hatshepsut has been largely restored which exemplifies the architectural importance of this unique temple.

Some hieroglyphs, cartouches and artwork from the temple.

Karnak was the religious center of the New Kingdom of Egypt, built and modified over 1500 years.

The 2 sq km site contains two lakes, temples, courtyards, pylons, obelisks, statues, a sphinx lined path to the Nile, and at least a few thousand tourists.

The Hypostyle Hall, a sequoia like forest of papyrus shaped columns covering 6000 sq meters is breathtaking.

Oh and to get to many of these sights at a decent hour (aka, when it wasn’t boiling hot and when there weren’t too many people) we rented bikes for $3 each and left the hotel around 5:00am.

More Red Sea

2010-11-12T04:07:00.000-07:00

Day 69 1 November 2010 Monday
Day 70 2 November 2010 Tuesday

We walked 2km out on the dirt road before some Bedouins picked us up and we road in the back of their truck. They dropped us off a few feet from a 4 star resort. We walked inside dusty and dirty and purchased a $9 buffet breakfast. After finishing breakfast we walked outside just in time to catch the 4 times a day over crowded standing room only local bus.

We spent the next two days snorkeling and diving along another pristine reef.

Dam… now we have to move it!

2010-11-12T03:21:00.018-07:00

Day 71 3 November 2010 Wednesday
Day 72 4 November 2010 Thursday

After another wonderful over night bus experience we arrived in Aswan at about 5:30am. Checked into a hotel to get a couple hours of sleep before checking out the town.

On the second day we headed down to Abu Simbel, about 50 km from the Sudanese boarder, to see the temples at Abu Simbel built by Rasmses II around 1200 BC. On our return to Aswan we also visited the temple of Philae. Both of these large temple complexes were relocated to avoid being permanently submerged by the Lake Nasser, which was created by the construction of two dams on the Nile River in 60’s and 70’s. One of the fun parts about traveling in this part of Egypt is that you get to wake up at 3:00am to join the obligatory “police” convoy. Aswan in also famous for its rose colored granite used for obelisks and columns, quarried here and floated down the Nile to be disturbed throughout the eastern Mediterranean.

Aswan is still surprisingly rural, just a few streets off of the main drag there are dirt streets and flocks of chickens and herds of sheep between the buildings.

Wadi Elgemal Characters of Egypt/Staying Flexiable

2010-11-04T11:47:00.003-06:00

Day 67 30 October 2010 Saturday
Day 68 31 October 2010 Sunday

From Dahab we took a series of buses for a very long overnight journey up the Sinai, across the Suez and down the west coast of the red sea to Marsa Alam

At the market we inquired about a dive camp recommended to us. The gentleman at the store was very helpful, but we had difficulty communicating with the taxi driver about the name of the dive camp and where it might be. We went to a café and asked someone who was working with a young Norwegian woman about directions. The Norwegian woman in turn told us about a Bedouin tribal cultural gathering event at Wadi Jimal Protected Area’s Eco-Lodge. She was returning to visit there in 15 minutes. Would we like to go with her? We decided that we were flexible and had nowhere else to be so why not?

The gathering is a three-day event, now in it’s 3rd year that tries to bring solidarity and public awareness to the different (often marginalized) bands of Bedouin around Egypt. (Similar to a Native American Pow Wow) Tribes from the far corners of Egypt sent representatives (mostly only men, unfortunately) to meet, discuss, sing, dance, perform, and compete in fun events. The public was welcome to visit, stay, and socialize for a festival site entrance fee. We shared the ride down from Marsa Alam with a student named Karim from the northern Sinai Bedouin Trib. We were welcomed into the North Sinai camp where we were given tea, fed, chatted and entertained. The festival ended with all the participants chanting and singing and having a great time. Thanks to our new Norwegian friends we were able to use an extra staff tent to sleep in. After almost no sleep the night before we slept as soon as the opportunity arrived.

Backpacker’s aquarium

2010-11-04T11:27:00.001-06:00

Day 61 24 October 2010 Sunday
Day 62 25 October 2010 Monday
Day 63 26 October 2010 Tuesday
Day 64 27 October 2010 Wednesday
Day 65 28 October 2010 Thursday
Day 66 29 October 2010 Friday

Since scuba diving is one of our pastimes, we have been looking forward to the opportunity to dive the renowned reefs of the Red Sea. On Sinai’s east coast Dahab is know as the more laid back backpackers town compared to Sharm el Sheikh (the “Cancun” of Sinai). There are still 5 Star resorts available but more1 to 3 Star hotels and plentiful dive operators make it affordable for the rest of us. Many of the reefs are so close that much of the diving is done directly off shore or by using taxi trucks to shuttle. The diving has been great, free diving is also popular, and if you want to stay on top of the water the windsurfing and kite surfing are very popular due to the prevailing steady longshore winds. We stumbled onto a locally produced magazine, Blue, that celebrates water sports in the Red Sea, as well as supporting the environmental efforts of HEPCA.

As far as underwater photos of diving the Red Sea are concerned, we are going to leave that up to the professionals.

Yes, the coral did look like this for many of our dives. The big schools of fish and Manta Rays are more prevalent in the southern Sinai in the hotter months. (Lion Fish are a dime a dozen here)

We would like also to recommend the Alaska Camp hotel for clean affordable accommodation.

Click on the pictures to link to the professionals shots.

Jordan's beach resort town

2010-10-28T14:17:00.000-06:00

Day 60 23 October 2010 Saturday

Jordan’s access port to the sea, is a resort and duty free zone. Although the public beaches were a little dirty, the reefs just a few meters from the shore were full of life.

The beach boardwalk was backed by what looked like vegetable gardens in this port town with a small town feel.

Carved sandstone in a desert canyon

2010-10-28T13:54:00.000-06:00

Day 57 20 October 2010 Wednesday
Day 58 21 October 2010 Thursday

Day 59 22 October 2010 Friday

We all know the iconic image of the Treasury facade deep within the slot canyon at Petra, but what the heck was Petra?

In a large nutshell, Petra was the great desert city from the first millennium of the Nabataeans. The ornate sandstone facades that we recognize in photos are the large tombs the nobility and very affluent. The Nabataeans oversaw and supported the ancient caravan trade in the area, especially the lucrative trade of frankincense and paper. The Romans / Byzantines had their fingers in the area for a few centuries. The Crusaders set up shop in the 11th century. At one time the name was changed and the location of the famous city hidden in the desert fell into obscurity. Much of their great tomb structures, cut into the sandstone walls, survive today, but little of their free standing masonry structures, which were their homes, shops, etc. remain. A massive earthquake in 555 is blamed for some considerable damage to the city, causing it to be largely abandoned.

A Swiss explorer sought out the city in the 1812. At the time Petra was only sparsely inhabited by the local Bedouin. Burkhart (the explorer) documented the rediscovery, and the Thomas Cook company started offering tours in the 1920’s. Today Petra receives 800,000 plus visitors a year. Fee hikes at the lucrative site are a hotly contested issue. This year prices for tourists will be raised twice, from $45 up to $90 for a three day pass (day trippers coming from Egypt or Israel will pay $135). Local residents pay $1.50.

Administrators are trying to limit the number of annual visitors to the site to 1 million or less. The hotel and restaurant owners are frustrated because they want to see their investments to continue to grow, while the local Bedouin are still wondering when they are going to see a solid portion of the proceeds.

We spent 3 days exploring only a small portion of the 42 sq km site. After just a few days of hiking through

slot canyons and up hills in mid-day sun our bodies were tired. We had the pleasure of meeting a local Bedouin woman named Fatima that someone asked us to look up. We found her working in the site, said hello, and she instantly welcomed us and invited us for tea. Latter that day we found ourselves treated to dinner with her family at their home. Her hospitality speaks worlds about the Bedouin people!

Jerash, Jordan

2010-10-27T12:56:00.000-06:00

Day 56 19 October 2010 Tuesday

This city reached its peak in the 3rd century AD as a Roman colony. By the 5th century the Christians had built several churches. Following the Persian invasion of 614, the Muslim conquest in 636, and a devastating earthquake in 747 Jerash fell into decline.

Tourist leave more behind than just $12 at the gate.

Welcome to Jordan

2010-10-22T13:38:00.001-06:00

Day 55 18 October 2010 Monday

Today we traveled to the capital city of The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, Philadelphia, no wait I mean, Amman was like Rome built upon 7 hills but now sprawls across 19 hills and beyond. With a population of only 2000 in 1900, this is a adolescent of a capital city when compared to Damascus or Istanbul. The current population is approximately 2.2 million.

Jordan has a dynamic population that includes large numbers of refugees from the wars of 1948, 1967 and the two Iraq wars. Many of the Iraq refugees have a greater spending capacity than the local Jordanians causing rising prices. For us traveling in Jordan feels as though the Jordanian Dinar spends as quickly as a Euro.

A 2nd century Roman amphitheater with seating for 6000. The ancient Eastern Roman city had a much larger population due to thriving caravan trade, but through history Amman has boomed and busted.

Pieces of the Dead Sea Scrolls were a surprise at the anitquated museam.

Anthropomorphic pottery coffin

Dust storm driving south to Petra

Quiet Time

2010-10-18T12:56:00.002-06:00

Day 51 14 October 2010 Thursday
Day 52 15 October 2010 Friday
Day 53 16 October 2010 Saturday
Day 54 17 October 2010 Sunday

In 1980 an Italian priest, father Paulo Dall‘ Oglio, resurrected an abandoned 1000 year old monetary in the mountains north of Damascus. Anyone (travelers/pilgrims) can come to Dier Mar Musa and visit or stay as long as they would like. We chose to take 3 nights to relax while washing dishes, cleaning rooms, and taking walks in the surrounding desert mountains. The monastery buildings are built on the hillside following the natural contours. The fortified church contains three distinct layers of frescos from different periods of worship. The site also contains a cheese making facility, a well stocked 3 story library, a newer building able to house large parties on retreat, plus many other smaller buildings in need of some sprucing up. Visitors arrive by taxi or tour bus and hike the last 2.5 km up to the monastery.

We helped in the kitchen, cleaned a few rooms and helped the goat farmer that supplies the monastery with milk that is made into yogurt and cheese. And went for a few walks in the mountains.

After leaving Mar Musa on Sunday we spent one more night in Damascus to catch up on a few things we missed the first time. While we were trying to catch a service minibus a business man stopped in his car to ask us if we needed help. We said “No, we are just trying to get to the center of town. Do you know if a the bus stops here?” He offered us a free ride, which we accepted, he turned out to be a Palestinian who works for the Syrian government in the trade and commerce department. This is just one of the many instances in which a Syrian has gone out of his way to help us. But one thing we found interesting is that when we stated we had just returned from Mar Musa his eyes lit up and he asked if we had seen Father Paulo. After dropping us off right were we wanted to be he insisted on giving us his name and phone number, and told us to call if we had any problems.

Strolling Damascus

2010-10-18T12:48:00.000-06:00

Day 49 12 October 2010 Tuesday

Day 50 13 October 2010 Wednesday

Khan As’ad Pasha, a hotel for passing caravans from 1752. Khans are usually located near the markets or souqs. We have seen several khans along the many trade routes, but most have been consumed by the shops of the surrounding souqs. This one is in beautiful shape and open for tourists and exhibits and performances.

The Azem Palace 1749 was built by As-ad Pasha al Azem. The Pasha (Governor) of Damascus was a very important and powerful position within the Ottoman Empire. He was responsible for the safe travel of pilgrims and their goods going overland to for the Hajj to Mecca, thus had to maintain a good working relationship with the desert Bedouin tribes. Since Damascus was also the foremost arms producer in the area, the Pasha also held control over the blacksmithing artisans and a huge arsenal. With these arms, the Bedouin tribes as a possible mercenary force, the Pasha was also a huge potential threat to the Sultan and was therefore his term was limited.

Umayyad Mosque built in 705 by Khaled ibn al-Walid converted from a Byzantine cathedral which had followed a Temple of Jupiter. Besides its large size, another exceptional feature of this mosque is the 37m long gold mosaic.

Hammam Nureddin the oldest working bath in the city.

Pide making

Brass table carving

Fresh dates

Street side beverage vendor

A small percentage of the busses in Damascus are brightly decorated.

From new back to old

2010-10-18T12:01:00.000-06:00

Day 48 11 October 2010 Monday

Today was a travel day from Beirut to Damascus. This, more popular border crossing went very smoothly. We did have a small problem: after paying one driver and then, being passed to a different minibus driver in Beirut. After a very simple boarder crossing we arrived in Damascus, the new driver had not been paid back in Beirut. We tried to call the first bus company with no luck, so we were out $20. Next time maybe we will get a receipt, but you know they never give out receipts.

In the afternoon we visited the national museum and wandered around town a bit, and found some really nice piles of baklava.

Baalbek: Roman temples on a titanic scale

2010-10-18T11:57:00.000-06:00

Day 47 10 October 2010 Sunday
Today we visited the ancient Roman city of Baalbek (Heliopolis - Sun City)

The center of the site is composed of two massive temples as well as smaller courtyards and fountains.

The larger of the two temples, dedicated Jupiter (A.D. 60) is 90 meters long with some of the largest columns (only 6 still standing) in the world.

The second, smaller temple, dedicated to Venus (A.D. 150) which is still very large, is much better preserved.

Menagerie

2010-10-18T11:47:00.000-06:00

Day 46 9 October 2010 Saturday

Beirut is a menagerie of modern, ruined, historic, religious, secular, affluent, and working class. A visitor would see just as many large churches as mosques, just as many Mercedes 500SL’s as mid 80’s Toyota Tercels, and just as many western fast food venues as local falafel stands. Walking the neighborhoods is a mixture of modern and restored high rises, as well as, historical mansions and bomb pot marked carcasses of buildings.

We visited the National Museum, where between 1976 and 1990, during the civil war most treasures were locked away in the basement. Those that weren’t like the 1800 year old sarcophagi were encased in concrete bunkers to protect them from the shelling and looting.

Byblos (Jbail) or also the biblical Gebal

2010-10-08T13:33:00.001-06:00

Day 45 8 October 2010 Friday

The current town of Byblos has been continuously inhabited for the past 7000 years, and was at one time the busiest trading port in the eastern Mediterranean. Originally called Gebal, the Greeks called it Byblos named after the papyrus (for making books) that was shipped through here from Egypt.

We ended the day by traveling on to Beirut through the middle of a rain storm.

Mountains just minutes from the ocean

2010-10-08T13:20:00.003-06:00

Day 44 8 October 2010 Thursday

A simple day, we took a short trip up the mountains to Bcharre to view the Qadisha Valley. This is just down the road from The Cedars ski area, one of about 5 ski areas in Lebanon.

Bonjour, Welcome to Lebanon

2010-10-08T13:17:00.003-06:00

Day 43 7 October 2010 Wednesday

Today was spent in travel to Tripoli (Trablous). The visa was free but the taxi drivers were a pain. So far English has been the language to converse with tourists in, but here in Lebanon (just when we were getting comfortable with our Arabic, ha ha) we have been switched to French.

And the number one place to hang out while crusading is……..Crac des Chevaliers

2010-10-08T13:16:00.001-06:00

Day 42 6 October 2010 Tuesday

No seriously if I had to live in a castle this would be the one.

Roman pillars in the Syrian desert. OR Where the camels rested.

2010-10-04T11:50:00.011-06:00

Day 39 3 October 2010 Saturday
Day 40 4 October 2010 Sunday
Day 41 5 October 2010 Monday

On Saturday we travel only a couple hundred kilometers south and east to Palmyra (Roman)/Tadmor (Arabic) and it rained in the desert. We spent the next couple days wandering amongst the sand blasted pillars, temples and towers.

More beautifully stacked rocks

2010-10-01T12:41:00.003-06:00

Day 38 29 September 2010 Friday

Apamea 2km colonnaded street

Serjilla a very well preserved and reconstructed dead city.

Water wheels and Aqueducts

2010-10-01T12:34:00.003-06:00

Day 37 29 September 2010 Thursday

Hama is known as a base for reaching the many sights surrounding area and for its waterwheels and aqueducts.

Citadels and Souqs

2010-10-01T12:27:00.001-06:00

Day 36 29 September 2010 Wednesday

The people of Aleppo were very welcoming, but it is a big noisy city. Here are two of the people who asked to have their picture taken.

The Citadel

Doors of the Souq

View over the city

These nice folks welcomed us to Syria with two nights of free falafel. It is a very popular falafel stand near The Baron Hotel.

Byzantine bypass

2010-10-01T12:04:00.002-06:00

Day 35 28 September 2010 Tuesday

Some of the popular sights in Syria are the “Dead Cities.” These are ruins of Byzantine cities that had vibrant populations and were rich olive oil and wine producing areas. These cites were abandoned between 800 and 1100, due to changing trade routes after the expansion of Islam into the region. The large stony masonry work was impressive.

Basilica of St. Simeon (Qala’at Samaan) completed in 491, was the largest Christian church in the world at the time. St. Simeon was famous for spending 40 years atop of pillars up to 18m . After his death the church was erected around his pillar. Today the pillar is little more than a large boulder after being chipped away by pilgrims wanting keep sakes.

Along the way we visited the ruins of the temple of Ishtar, the Semitic goddess of fertility at Ain Dara, built in the 10th to 8th century BC. The temple has lion and sphinx decoration of black basalt which is unique to this mostly limestone area.

Welcome to Syria

2010-10-01T11:33:00.002-06:00

Day 34 27 September 2010 Monday

On this day we crossed the boarder into Syria, which explains why our blog activity has been infrequent. We decided to take a less used but more direct route border crossing at Akcakale. We were dropped by the minibus right at the gate, where we walked into Syria amongst the transport trucks. We had purchased our visas at the Syrian embassy in DC before we left, only $131. It was a quick and painless process. The rest of the day we spent changing busses and taxies to get to Aleppo.

"Hello, What is your name?"

2010-10-01T11:24:00.005-06:00

Day 32 25 September 2010 Saturday

Day 33 26 September 2010 Sunday

We traveled a little further east to Urfa, supposedly the birth place of the profit Abraham. This town has a expansive park surrounded by mosques and clear pools containing large sacred black carp.

Children and adults all know the English phrase “Hello, What is your name?” Even the mulberry tree knows the proper response.

Famous Ice Cream

2010-10-01T11:17:00.004-06:00

Day 31 24 September 2010 Friday

We spent a quick overnight in Maras (famous around Turkey for its ice cream, so firm you can cut it with a knife.) As backpacking tourists we were definitely a novelty in Maras.

We enjoyed walking through the old Bazaar, where metal working and other handicrafts are still performed on site.

Hotel California (You can check out anytime you like, but you can never leave)

2010-09-23T13:47:00.000-06:00

Day 26 19 September 2010 Sunday Day 27 20 September 2010 Monday
Day 28 21 September 2010 Tuesday
Day 29 22 September 2010 Wednesday
Day 30 23 September 2010 Thursday

Goreme (Cappadocia)

On Sunday we traveled from Selime to Goreme which is under 200km but included two hitch hikes to the bus station in Aksaray (because the buses don‘t run often on Sunday), an intercity bus to the Nevsehir bus station, and a city bus from the bus station to the center of Nevsehir to catch another bus to Goreme. We found a pension we liked and spent the rest of the afternoon at its pool.

The second day in Goreme we just visited the Open Air Museum, a dense collection of churches with nice frescos and plenty of tour buses trying to monopolize the site.

The first night we had a 23 bed dorm room to ourselves.

Another classic motorcycle.

The third day we took a minibus north, near Avanos/Zelve, and walked back about 12km along trails which were also incredible mountain bike single track!

Between the rock homes the locals have terraced vineyards and orchards.

7 am over Goreme is a balloon fest everyday.

1st millennium apartment block.

Many of the trails travel through natural water drainage tunnels.

The fourth day we visited one of several “Underground Cities” in the area. We chose the site in the village of Mazikoy. This was a much more intimate tour with just a handful of people from our pension. It is estimated that these underground cities could house hundreds of people in security in the event of a siege for up to six months!

Drying white bean pods.

20lb medicine ball cabbage

On the fifth day, with the help of our host at the pension, we visited other interesting chapels.

We got to slot travel a half mile slot canyon off of the beaten track.

Unique chapel with demonic icons.

Beautiful grapes on terraced vineyards.

Cute Donkeys and Troglodyte Byzantine Churches

2010-09-19T11:32:00.000-06:00

Day 24 17 September 2010 Friday
This day was devoted to traveling to the Cappadocia region. We stopped tonight in a tiny village named Selime. It lies just on the edge of the region, famous for towns, even cities dating back to pre-ottoman times that were created by peoples carving out homes, shops, barns, churches, etc., out of the soft, volcanic ash which then hardened to become tuff.

Tomorrow we will walk the 16km, Ihlara Gorge.

Day 25 18 September 2010 Saturday

The Ihlara Gorge composed of tuff, protected by a top layer of granite, with the Melendiz Suyu steam flowing through it was a popular retreat location for Byzantine monks.

The gorge is dotted with intricately carved churches.

The insides of the churches were covered in plaster and then thoroughly painted with frescos.

Many of the frescos have been defaced (literally) and have sustained considerable random vandalism over the past thousand years.

The Ihlara gorge, cutting through the arid Anatolian hills, provides a place for local villagers to grow fruits and vegetables all summer long.

We met several of the villagers along the path as well as their cute donkeys.

In Belisirma these local ladies were making their traditional pancakes (gozemele?), which is like a very thin large glutinous tortilla.

This day allowed us to get away from the mass tourist areas in the south and observe a bit of local life.

We finished the day near our pension climbing around the Selime Monastery. A huge single complex that included a two story cathedral with galleries, a large kitchen, and many ancillary chambers. We also climbed multiple hair raising sets of carved stairs before we stopped at a large chimney climb. This brought us to just below the hole with a masonry wall in the top left side of the hill.

Konya: capital of the Great Seljuk Empire from 1150-1300

2010-09-16T13:37:00.000-06:00

Day 23 16 September 2010 Thursday

Although the guide book informed us that conservative Konya might be reserved in relating to western tourists, but we found them very hospitable and engaging; perhaps because we are more of a novelty.

Konya’s most famous resident was Celaleddin Rumi (1207-1273), sufi mystic philosopher, poet, and inspiration for his followers, the whirling dervishes.

“The Seljuks didn’t let Islam’s famous condemnation of images of creatures with souls (humans and animals) stand in the way of their art.” (Lonely Planet Turkey 2000 Edition)

More great turquoise and black tile work in the Karatay Museum housed in the Buyuk Karatay Medresesi.

We found our way to a market area and stumbled into the fruit/veggie/meat/cheese area. Somebody at a cheese shop was happy to give us a sample of goat cheese from this interesting natural casing.

Leaving Side

2010-09-16T12:22:00.000-06:00

Day 22 15 September 2010 Wednesday

We turned away from the beach resorts today to central Anatolia and by the late afternoon we were in Konya. But before we left Side we took another couple hours to check out the sights.

Pediment from the Temple of Apollo with faces.

Warning when they sell you a boat tour of the harbor on a sailing ship, they probably don’t tell you it will be with two hundred of your closest new friends.

Parasailing, paragliding, parachuting, and ultra light flights are some of the popular airborne activities offered in this costal area.

Side

2010-09-14T15:25:00.000-06:00

Day 21 14 September 2010 Tuesday

Side is an Hellenistic port town that enjoyed a boom period by harboring pirates and incoming slave ships before being annexed by the Romans. Today it is popular with German package tourists.

Much of the site with the exception of the theater is freely open to exploration.

We always appreciate when exploring sites outside the USA, the visitor accepts responsibility for his or her own actions and safety.

What do you do when you have so many columns to re-erect and so little time and money? You catalog and file them away somewhere the won’t get lost.

Olimpos

2010-09-13T13:27:00.001-06:00

Day 20 13 September 2010 Saturday

Olimpos is a laid-back archeological site tucked in a narrow forested valley beside a scenic beach. It has become popular with backpackers for its chilled atmosphere and “tree house” bungalows.

Kekova

2010-09-13T13:20:00.000-06:00

Day 19 12 September 2010 Saturday

We took our first tour today, to kayak over the sunken Byzantine city around the island of Kekova and a few more Lycian sarcophagi.

Glamour shot with coffin. We have seen postcards of this exotic location throughout Turkey. Little did we know that you can wade out 30 ft from shore in waist deep water and touch it. How is that for exotic?

Other sarcophagi along the famed Lycian way that was an unexpected bonus to our kayak tour when the afternoon winds cancelled our return kayak journey.

Kas

2010-09-13T13:16:00.000-06:00

Day 18 11 September 2010 Saturday

Kas is the cute port city, popular with Turks. We heard that it was packed during the holiday weekend.

Lycian Tomb 6th -2nd Century BC

Lycian script on tomb

A couple eastern block motorcycles. The first is something Russian I believe, the second is a Jawa.

Thank You Sea Turtles!

2010-09-10T09:31:00.000-06:00

Day 15 08 September 2010 Wednesday

Day 16 09 September 2010 Thurseday

Day 17 10 September 2010 Friday

After making a quick escape from Oludeniz on Wednesday, we found another location that was more to our liking. Patara is a Roman site 1 km inland from a huge sandy beach with dunes, and 1.5 km from a village (Gelemis) which has plenty of pensions and restaurants, but a much quieter atmosphere, the perfect place to wait out the busy holiday after the end of Ramadan.

The ancient city had a harbor which silted up in the middle ages, thus, cutting it off from the sea, and strangling its economy.

The deep white sand beach with warm water and gentle waves extends 18 km. The combination of attractions would surely have made this another huge package tourist development site in the 90’s if it were not for one little thing. Patara Beach also happens to be right in the middle of one of the last eastern mediterranean nesting sites for Loggerhead sea turtles! Since the turtles won’t nest if disturbed, and the hatchlings become confused by excessive artificial light, most of the large development was halted by order of the state. Also the nesting beach is simply closed at night. Sun worshipers are welcome to use it during the day. Sorry Emily we haven't seen any of them yet.

We found it!!!!

2010-09-07T13:41:00.000-06:00

Day 14 07 September 2010 Tuesday

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/article-1163131/Hunting-holiday-treasure-Turkeys-delightful-Turquoise-Coast.html

We found the town....you know that nice beach town that was a hidden backpacking traveler gem when they wrote your Lonely Planet (15 years ago). But now it is filled with tee shirt shops, neon signs, excursion boats, over priced resturants, fire spinning shows and the Aussie, British, Kiwi, and US dialect. You guys have all been there and probably had a great time, perhaps it was Rei Lei, Koh Phangan, Playa Del Carmen or Ibiza (that's if you are ancient).

http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g312737-r26595591-Oludeniz_Mugla_Province_Turkish_Aegean_Coast.html

Not all who came to Hierapolis at Pamukkale were healed by the tepid mineral waters

2010-09-07T13:18:00.003-06:00

Day 13 06 September 2010 Monday

We knew when we traveled to the travertines at Pamukkale that it has been a very touristed natural feature in Turkey since the 1970’s. We were pleasantly surprised by the roman sight of Hierapolis, which included the largest necropolis we have seen as well as a well restored amphitheater.

Although swimming in the calcium terraces is not permitted, as it was until the 90’s, to preserve the natural sight and limit destruction, the national park system has provided pools for bathers along the entrance path. This does not prevent tourists from trying to sneak onto the travertines to grab that postcard photo they had seen in days of old. Due to this desire guards were constantly blowing their whistles and shooing people off of the terraces.

Because this is a unique sight that allows swimming, we were stuck by how bizarre it was to see tourists in their bikinis and Speedos walking among the ruins.

The park includes a thermal pool (at a former hotel) filled with ancient fluted columns. Admission to the park was 20 TL ($13), to swim with the columns in the 85 degree mineral water was 25TL ($16) more. Nobody said enjoying Turkish culture was cheap. (We just walked in to take photos.)

Impressive too, were all the amateur photo shoots going on at the concrete travertines. Package tourist fresh off the busses and cruise ships excitedly strike the most dramatic poses for the cameras. Their friends at home must all be anxiously awaiting the new Facebook profile pictures these folks are generating!

It is always comforting to see that the Mediterranean food culture is never far removed from the local land. Farmers markets with piles of tasty tomatoes, cucumbers, eggplants, onions, garlic, chilies, herbs, potatoes… Of course, the climate is very tolerant here, but people grow food everywhere, and there seems to be grapes, as well as fig, olive, pomegranate, and citrus trees between all of the homes! These grapes in the photo sat behind a tractor, parked on the town street next to our pension.

Kari discovered an new drink, but we don’t think we will be bringing cases of it home. I has a chili pepper base

Afternoon in Pamukkale

2010-09-05T14:11:00.001-06:00

We made it to the traverites that were popular in Turkey tourist photos. Many of the hotel and pensions in town have tapped into the water and offer cold mineral water swimming pools, which was where we spent our afternoon today.

They light them up at night for free. By the way, these travertines dwarf all others we have seen. It is at least 1/2 mile long and probably over 200 ft tall.

For those that want people shots.

Ephesus (Efes): Capital of Roman Eurasia “My God this town is in ruins”

2010-09-04T13:29:00.000-06:00

Day 11 04 September 2010

They had indoor plumbing (on the left behind the 1900 year old painting).

They had wall to wall tile and marble.

They had a very nice library with over 12,000 scrolls.

They had streets paved with marble with many pilgrims a tradition that continues even today.

They had seating for 25,000.

Unfortunately, they lost their ocean front property to river silt from the Cayster River. (This is “Harbor Street”, it used to run to the harbor.)

And they did not have earthquake insurance to repair the marble wall puzzles, so now the nice folks with the Austrian Archeological Institute are doing it for them.

P.S. Take heart fellow travelers, you can find a decent dark beer in Turkey.

Autumn is upon us…..or Regaining our mid-day sanity

2010-09-03T13:01:00.000-06:00

August was to hot even for the locals. We has some 90 plus degree days with high humidity and now it is a pleasent 80 with a cooling breeze. (This is much better for walking around towns and unshaded archilogical sites.)
Day 9 02 September 2010

Beach day at Dikili, sorry no pictures. It was a nice black sand beach with one cruise ship in the bay and a few condos in the hills.
Day 10 03 September 2010
Took the bus to Selcuk the hop off point for those visiting Ephesus. The afternoon was filled with the Ephesus Museum and a wander around in which we stumbled upon many of the other sights in town.

Statue of Artemis from the museum with a chest covered in extra breasts or bulls testicles.

Yet another sign that the west coast of Turkey has been populated by different cultures throughout the ages.

The Turkish people seem to be more cat friendly, but this is the first time we have seen such a content feline congregation.

The Ramadan fast is to be ended with pide (or pita bread), here at 7:30pm the bakers were hard at work (with a line 10 deep waiting to buy) on the nights freshly baked bread. Tables at restaurants are typically ready set to end the fast with dates, bread and water.

Blue tiles are common in mosques. Water spigots are common on the streets for washing before prayers and for any other reason you might need water. This was an uncommon tile style on top of what looked like a traditional mosque bathing area but we could not locate the mosque.

Isa Bey Camii 1375 This is the first mosque we have visited where the carpet is a culmination of smaller donated rugs as opposed to one large patterned carpet.

Oh no we found some Greek/Roman/Byzantine ruins

2010-09-01T15:13:00.000-06:00

Day 8 01 September 2010

Spent today wandering the site of Pergamum, which was expanded under Eumenes II (197-159 BC) who built a library of over 200,000 volumes which rivaled the library at Alexandria.

Seating for 10,000 with a view.

Series of barrel vaulted chambers to make a terrace/retaining wall.

Pristine Roman mosaic floor laid in the 1st century AD, excavated in the 90’s.

On our trip in Turkey so far we have seen thousands of 3 to 8 story concrete apartment blocks, but we think the traditional Ottoman wooden/masonry home like this 250 year old version are a little more photogenic.

These older homes require more maintenance and lack modern conveniences and therefore are falling out of favor and into disrepair.

We think these are Santa Claus Melons, they are present at every produce market and street stand we see.

We have been enjoying the spicy peppers available as condiments or sometimes in stew dishes.

One can not travel through Turkey with seeing the image of Kemal Ataturk. A power vacuum resulting from the defeated Ottoman empire after WWI provided an opening for the Greek Army to invade present day Turkey. General Ataturk fought to regain lost lands that had a majority Turkish ethnicity. As leader of the new Turkish Republic Ataturk worked to strike a balance with the western cultures, including modernizing dress, instituting western legal codes, removing Islam as the state religion, replacing the Arabic alphabet with modified Latin script, simplifying the language to resemble Esperanto and changed the name of Constantinople to Istanbul.

Edirne

2010-08-31T14:09:00.001-06:00

Day 5

Most of this day was spent in transit to Edirne, the second Capital of Ottoman Empire near the Greek border. After locating accommodations, we spend the evening wandering around the exteriors of this towns 3 noteworthy 500+ year old mosques.

Today Edirne is a town of 120,000+ with an agricultural base, feels much more authentic when compared to Istanbul (12 million + people).

All of the above pictures are of Ucserefeli Cami 1447

Day 6

Although we haven’t found dirt cheep lodging yet, we got a great deal on some tomatoes today. Only 35 cents a pound for excellent, vine ripened, locally grown, beefsteak style tomatoes.

Tasty hearty bread

Horsy got new shoes!!! Made of recycled car tires, much better for walking around town.

Ottoman head stones were traditionally topped with some form of a turban.

Eski Cami, a many dome and column style mosque built in 1414, reminiscent of Cordoba in Spain.

Selimiye Camii 1575

Muradiye Camii 1436

Day 7
Travelled to Bergama (Pergamum) only 9 hours on the bus. Landscape changed from rolling grass lands and sunflower fields north of the Sea of Marmara, to wooded hills, across the Dardanelles straight and finally to rocky steep scrub land next to the ocean, just like parts of Greece, Italy and Croatia.

If Ottoman Sultans were on MTV “Cribs”

2010-08-31T13:47:00.000-06:00

Day 4

We visited Topkapi Palace Museum (and Harem-”Where the magic happens…..“) built by Mehmet the Conqueror soon after entering Constantinople and was used for over 4 centuries by Ottoman sultans. The expansive palace consists 4 courts, dividing public and private spaces, overlooking the Sea of Marmara.

At times up to 5000 people would live within the palace walls including, the sultan, his mother, his four wives, his harem of up to 300, the Eunuchs, the Janissaries (his hired guard), the Grand Vizier, the Viziers, cooks, other staff, etc.

http://www.australiangemmologist.com.au/ab23-08.html

The treasury included assorted “bling” such as The Spoonmakers 86 carat diamond, many many ruby and emerald adorned house wares. The sultans wore incredible robes and “MC Hammer” pants.

The afternoon was spend on a boat ride up the Bosphorous by many of the later more modern palaces.

We ended the day by heading up the hill to the largest mosque, Suleymaniye Camii, in Istanbul which was closed for renovations at the time of our visit

This Old Mosque

2010-08-31T11:34:00.001-06:00

Day 2
Was filled with napping after many many hours of travel and sleeping on planes and in airports. We did visit the Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts which contained some very impressively large carpets and nice inlay Koran stands dates ranged from the 8th to the 19th century.

The evening was filled with a stroll through the streets checking out the Ottoman wooden houses, people watching and enjoying some of the Ramadan art performances.

Ramadan, The Holy Month, is a time of fasting where nothing should pass the lips of the observer during day light hours. This year Ramadan ends September 10th. The sunrise call to prayer signals the start of the days fasting. The sunset call to prayer alerts the observers to break the fast with a specially prepared meal. All around the city, every park and restaurant is filled with people awaiting the call so that they can enjoy the meal that has been sitting on the table or picnic blanket in front of them for sometime.

Day 3

We visited Aya Sofia, the famous basilica, constructed by Justinian in 537, when Constantinople was the capital of the Holy Roman Empire. After the Ottomans took the city in 1453, Aya Sofia was converted to a mosque, and its architecture was studied and influenced the large central dome style of later Ottoman mosques.

The “Blue Mosque” named for the blue tiles from Iznik on the interior gallery, finished in 1616, sits next door to Aya Sofia, and represents the larger central dome feature on a slightly smaller scale.

We also visited the Grand Bazzar, the Eqyptian Spice Bazzar and the modern shopping district across the Golden Horn.

We made it to Istanbul

2010-08-26T14:46:00.000-06:00

The first shot with minarets (in front of the Blue Mosque). Only 2,999 more to go!

Amsterdam for 14 hours

2010-08-26T14:34:00.000-06:00

On our way to Istanbul we planned a 14 hour layover in Amsterdam. We had both been there before, but enjoyed the opportunity to see the city again, to rent bikes and to simply cruise around. (One day for two people + no hotel + no museams + economical food choices + no gifts + rented bikes = total expenses 60 euros.... I think we are done travelling in western Europe on a weak dollar!)

Bike parking outside the central station......

This traditional Dutch child hauling system of a three-seat bike, it seems is being replaced by the extended front bucket method. (Both remain smaller than a minivan or SUV.)

Just in case you need a few flower bulbs....

Or some spray paint for that urban art project.....

This canal parting shot was made with the new 10mm lens...

Oh how excited we are for the photo opportunites ahead.

Escaped Convicts Just Wanted to Visit 70th Annual Sturgis Motorcycle Rally

2010-08-21T21:04:00.000-06:00

When we had exited Yellowstone National Park and entered Cody, WY we learned of the news of the manhunt for a couple who were on the run from Arizona. John McCluskey and Casslyn Welch were seen in Yellowstone Park the same weekend we were in the area. Next we made our way to Bighorn Mountains National Forest, WY. Guess what! Someone thought they had seen the couple here as well! Since we have seen so many motorcyclist lately on their way to Sturgis, it only makes sense that this couple is headed that way too. We guess they will wait until they get there to choose their favorite motorcycles to hijack.

Medicine Wheel, Bighorn Mountains, Wyoming.

Mount Rushmore (We didn’t feel the need to pay the required $10 to park at the site.)

Crazy Horse sculpture.

Nurturing an early appreciation for guns at the Wall Drug store, Wall, South Dakota.

Badlands National Park.

Minute Man Missile National Historic Site. (Yes, junior rangers, you can earn a merit pin for this one too!)

No Camping for Tents in Grizzly Territory

2010-08-13T19:53:00.001-06:00

We skirted through Yellowstone late in the day, hoping to avoid August traffic. We only stopped to eat and to quickly look at the water falls. Because of rain earlier in the day the Yellowstone river was flowing nicely.

Our plan was to camp around 9-10 p.m. at one of the many state campgrounds outside the northeast entrance to the park, in the Shoshone National Forest. We checked the entrances into five different campgrounds and all forbade tent (non -hard -sided) camping due to grizzly activity! By 11: 30 p.m. after diving another 30 miles away from the gate, we were exhausted and decided to just poach camp on a ranch road.

We later found out that a death had occurred after a recently tranquillized and collared grizzly, presumably woke-up, and mauled an unfortunate 70year old resident and botanist out for his hike.

The next day we drove through Cody WY, and on to Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area. The area was beautiful, and not very busy mid-week. They had rangeland for wild horsed and some great historic ranches to visit on the south end. We wished we had a boat to explore the river canyon, and that the wind didn’t howl after sunset.

On the road again....

2010-08-13T18:11:00.002-06:00

Its surprising knowing how many Subarus are in Colorado, how difficult it is to acquire a replacement alternator. All four auto parts stores in Glenwood Springs had to order one in with only a three day delay.

Jason felt that this was, mechanically, the easiest alternator he has ever replaced. After we got the new rebuilt shiny alternator and power searing belt, and Sandy had charged the battery we were back on the road again.

We turned north at Rifle and drove up to Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area to stay at Firehole Camp Ground. Woke up to a bit of rain, while throwing on the rain fly we were treated to an early morning rainbow.

The beach was very pleasant, Jason pulled out his snorkel gear to check out the 2’ carp that were lazily swimming close to shore.

After relaxing at the beach we continued north to Half Moon Lake Camp Ground just outside of Pinedale, WY. We went for a day hike to Photographer’s Point in the Wind River Range. The next day we enjoyed another quality beach at Half Moon Lake.

In the evening we continued north on 191 along the Hoback and Snake Rivers. We navigated the swarms of tourists in Jackson, WY unscathed to find a popular dispersed camping location on the east side of Grand Teton National Park.

Thanks to the National Park Visitors center for providing us with free WiFi.

Start of the 2010 Trip

2010-08-04T13:21:00.000-06:00

For those of you who haven't heard, we just moved out of our place in Avon, CO and are heading out over the next three weeks to travel the US and then flying to the eastern Mediterranean for 3 months.

So after putting everything in storage we took off on Saturday, and made it all the way to the turn off from 133 to Marble, CO (87 miles) before the alternator went out in Kari's car. Hopefully we have gotten all of the car trouble out of the way. Fortunately we had friends in Glenwood Springs, CO who were willing to put us up for the night AND let us borrow a car for a couple days while waiting for the part to come in. Thank you again Sandy and Jen. Forrest you have wonderful parents. With those days we went over to visit Kari's cousin Heidi and her husband Ryan and their daughter, Saskia in Hotchkiss, CO.

Serotta Nova with Campagnolo 50th Group for Sale

2009-04-27T21:22:00.007-06:00

Jason found a bike that we are trying to sell. Here is a link to more pictures:

http://picasaweb.google.com/karirogne/SerottaNova#.

And a link to the Ebay page:
http://cgi.ebay.com/Campagnolo-50th-Anniversary-Group-on-Serotta-Nova-60cm_W0QQitemZ170326284287QQcmdZViewItemQQptZRoad_Bikes?hash=item170326284287&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A1205%7C66%3A2%7C65%3A12%7C39%3A1%7C240%3A1318%7C301%3A0%7C293%3A1%7C294%3A50

Mayan Riviera Growth

2009-04-03T20:09:00.004-06:00

The development of the Mayan Riviera, of course has its bennifits and drawbacks. The building of enormous all-inclusive resorts has created employment for construction, hotel, and restaurant workers. This part of Mexico is starting to look like a mixture of Las Vegas and the Italian riviera.

This was a 5 star time-share consturction project down town we visited. Only $500k for a one bedroom if you want to buy.

One can now do up-scale shopping in this little beach town and finish it off with a gelato or a grande latte at Starbucks.

Ofcourse Wallmart is there to keep prices down as well as to bring overwhelming competition for all the small clothing shops, food stores,... even the tortilla makers.

Don't worry, you can still get some things for free in the Yucatan. This store doesn't want any to park on this side. The sign indicates: No parking 24 hours a day. Tires puctured for free.

Playa Del Carmen

2009-04-03T18:00:00.006-06:00

Jason had his spring break from classes and we found some very cheap tickets to Mexico, so we went to Playa Del Carmen, south of Cancun for a week. It was a nice break from the snow, and we were happy to soak up some tropical sunshine. We did not take that many pictures on this trip. We were in the Yucatan for three weeks in 2007 and did a bit of exploring and pyramid sites on that trip. This was a quick, simple beach and dive trip. Significantly less built up than Cancun (Vegas by the Sea I like to call it), Playa Del Carmen is a more of a cosmopolitan smaller resort.

These three wheeled bikes are wonderful people-powered haulers of goods, people, even construction materials. They can also be ridden in areas that have been closed to automobiles.

This madona was beside our table in a simple seafood restaurant.

A trip to Mexico is not complete without a vist to a "panaderia"

Blue skies, white sands and clear ocean.

fun with snowmobiles

2009-04-03T17:15:00.005-06:00

Jason and Kari were lucky enough a few weeks back to join one of Kari's friends from college at his parents cabin in the woods to do some snowmobiling.

Loki wanted to join us for the rides but couldn't keep up in the deep snow, so he had to stay at the cabin.

Kari went to ND for a week

2009-02-21T22:19:00.005-07:00

And there was a nice moon rise. So here are the pictures.

When we were there last winter we ended up walking around a neighbors junk yard, so here is a picture from that.

X-games

2009-02-21T22:13:00.002-07:00

A little bit later we went to Aspen to watch the X-games.

X-Country with Heidi & Ryan

2009-02-21T21:58:00.004-07:00

A couple of weeks ago we went to visit Kari's cousin Heidi and her husband Ryan in Hotchkiss, CO.

We went cross country skiing one day on the Grand Mesa. Loki is learning to pull a little bit with his harness.
The group.

X-mas trip part 4

2009-01-15T21:28:00.004-07:00

Love the little towns in Utah.

A home for sale in Utah, if only I had the money and could find work in this town.

Sunset on the hills of Utah.

Don't know what happened here, but I like it.

X-mas trip part 3

2009-01-15T21:07:00.004-07:00

Gotta love driving accross Nevada.

Main St Ely NV

The Nevada Hotel ELy NV outside.
The local mercantile.

The Nevada Hotel ELy NV inside.

X-mas trip part 2

2009-01-15T20:36:00.005-07:00

Lake Topaz on the drive down to Mammoth.

Kari did get to play in the tub with all of the toys.

And we built a snowman.

In Benton CA they still keep alternative fuel vehicles around.

Some signage in an abandoned trailer park Tonopah.

Road trip to CA for X-mas & New Years

2009-01-06T21:57:00.005-07:00

We left the Vail Valley on a powder day wondering what kind of snow California might have for us. The skies cleared as we drove which allowed for some good picture taking from the moving car.

We spent the night just south of Salt Lake. As we drove by the lake the next morning we saw a Morton salt factory and the Bonnaville Speedway and the exciting town of Wendover NV.

We looked for a Basque resturant for lunch in Elko on Christmas, but darn them they were all closed. We met up with Karl, Kari's brother, to do some snowboarding.

Thanksgiving Travels

2008-12-02T20:51:00.006-07:00

For T day this year we went to visit Kari's cousin Heidi and her husband over in Hotchkiss. In looking at our photos we realized that we didn't take any pictures of the people so sorry here are some more outdoor scenes.

We went on a hike north of Delta in Dominguez canyon.

We are thinking we should sign Loki up for some modeling.

We had considered going to Vegas but Delta seemed more exciting.

Colorado Monument

Sculputure in Grand Junction, Chrome on the Range, made from classic chrome bumpers

Sun Room & Tomato Plants

2008-11-22T13:46:00.003-07:00

For those whom we told of our great sun room and the plants, here are the pictures.
Oh yah and it was 82 inside while only in the 50's outside.

A couple more picts

2008-11-21T21:15:00.003-07:00

While watching some very bad TV this evening I decided to add a couple more pictures... and hey now that I don't have a job I can put more and more of these up on the internet. So here are a couple more of Angkor Wat in Cambodia.

More Pictures Again

2008-10-15T21:16:00.002-06:00

While listening to the debate I felt like I should add a few more pictures to the blog. These are all from Vietnam.
A few tiles from Hue.
A tree shot from Hue.
A regional specialty liquor, we didn't try it.

What I think might be the worst thing about the Bailout

2008-09-29T09:15:00.001-06:00

Goodbye Universal Health Care, Energy Investments, Infrastructure Spending...
by: David Sirota
Sun Sep 28, 2008 at 22:00

Food for thought: $700 billion is about 5 percent of our entire economy. It is roughly enough to create a universal health care system for the next 5 to 10 years. It is also enough to fund the energy and infrastructure investments most economists say we need to build our economy in the 21st century. Handing that $700 billion over to Wall Street and putting it on the national credit card will make it almost impossible to finance these priorities.
Put another way, lawmakers who vote for this $700 billion bailout are potentially casting a vote to decapitate the progressive movement and the major tenets of its agenda - at least for the next generation.

Update on Kari's thoughts at 13:24
First round done.... Now lets come up with a different plan.

Grand Plans

2008-09-21T21:13:00.003-06:00

We had grand plans this weekend to go climb a peak that we can see from the house, this was abadoned after weather and health considerations. Instead we went for a nice 9 mile bike. Loki ran at least 12 back and forth between us and then off to the side after a smell, but he was finally tired when we got him home.

Today we went on a small hike around our house with Heidi (Kari's cousin)

As you can see the aspens are starting to turn.
And we collected some fire wood from the pile down the road.

Steamboat Rally Race

2008-09-21T20:20:00.002-06:00

The weekend of Sept 12th we went up to Steamboat/Hayden for the Colorado portion of the Rally America series. It looks like Travis Pastrana the motorcross racer/rally car driver won. Below are some pictures. http://www.rallycolorado.org/

A dog that was watching the sheep and chashing each car that drove away from one of the stages. A similar dog had attacked and injured a mtnbike racer a few months ago.

The first snow on the hills

2008-09-12T20:48:00.003-06:00

We had our first bit of snow.

So here are a couple more pictures taken from the deck.

Summer Hut Trip to Jackel

2008-09-09T08:58:00.004-06:00

This weekend was a company (REI Structural, Kari's) hut trip to the 10th Mountain Division, Jackel Hut outside of Camp Hale. We drove up in Jason's truck to haul the food and water, no hiking for us!!!

This was our first summer hut experience, but the second time we had been to this hut. It was nice to have a camp fire and hang out outside, instead of running back inside.

An image of the group.

Rental with a view

2008-09-08T21:55:00.004-06:00

So after 2 weeks of camping we moved into a place up in Wildridge. We have a direct view to the south right down to Avon and the slopes of Beaver Creak. We are renting a room in an older duplex surrounded by new homes selling in the 1.8 range. We don't know much about our landlord/housemate other than he rented us the room and then took off to Burning Man for two weeks while we watched his dog. This is the view from the front deck.

The living room is comfortable and filled with at least 20 plants, some of which are tacked to the ceiling as they stretch across the room. We also have a wood stove to supplement our heat this winter. But this means that we have to go out and collect firewood.

Our new mailing address is:
PO Box 1876
Avon CO 81620

Forgetfullness in the digital age

2008-09-02T21:16:00.004-06:00

Have you even come across a roll of exposed film that you had forgotten to develop? In the digital age one would think that these oversights wouldn't exist.... but low and behold we came across a 1GB SD card with semi-forgotten pictures from our drive from North Dakota to Colorado upon our return from SE Asia.

Kari's Grandpa Leslie and Grandma Katherine out working in the yard. Note the super sticky Red River Valley mud plastered to the tires of the golf cart.

Condemned school house along the road in south eastern Montana.

So of course we hopped the fence and went inside to take some pictures.

Some snow we found for Loki in the Big Horn Range in north eastern Wyoming.

More photos to come.....

New Place

2008-08-12T13:34:00.004-06:00

Hello All,
I know we haven't been putting much up here, so who knows if anyone is going to be reading this... but anyway.
We have found a new place, well at least for now. It consists of a fire ring and some pine trees and a nice flat spot to put up the tent. Yep, we are camping for the forseeable future. We have decided to call this the summer home. Still looking for a place to live, but it is harder to do up here than it is in Boulder.
Loki waiting for us to get up and feed him.

The view out the tent door, it is nice to get some sun in the morning.

Overview of camp.

Old time swing fun & a hike

2008-07-04T22:07:00.005-06:00

I (Kari) took another load of stuff up to Avon today and stopped on my way back to see Royal Crown Revue at the riverwalk in Breck. Some people might have joined me for one or two of their concerts back in college the first time. It brought back some good memories and made me think of you guys.

Then on the way back I did a short hike. So here is a picture of me on top of a little 13er called Grizzly Peak, looking south west.

More Pictures

2008-06-04T21:37:00.003-06:00

Not many new exciting pictures to take in Colorado these days, so here are some old favorites.
Just some piggies in a basket, this was a common way to transport livestock (pigs, chickens, dogs, etc.) on the back of a motor scooter in Vietnam.

The closest we got to a working ox, this was in a very mountainous region of Vietnam.

Just an on the fly picture of some girls in Chiang Mai during the New Year festival.

Thanks for looking.

New News

2008-05-26T20:51:00.003-06:00

Well as those of you at JVA might have noticed I have yet to come back to work there. That is because I have accepted a postion at another firm. At this time I am working in Denver and in a couple of months I will be moving to Avon. I wanted to thank everyone at JVA for the friendship and education. Working with all of you was great, it was simply time for me to try something else. I wish all of you the best and if you ever end up in the mountains and want to look me, it is probably easiest to reach me at: karirogne@gmail.com

This is the view from my window at work. I am up on the 19th floor in down town Denver. It is a new great experience when the wind starts to blow and the building sways. So far it hasn't made me sick.

A few more pictures

2008-05-18T18:42:00.004-06:00

In going through our pictures I have found a few more that I liked and thought that everyone who is still check this thing out might enjoy. These are all from the eastern portion of Laos.
A mother and her two girls walking though town one day.
Bath time at the river.
A man and woman going up a road with some farm equipment.
Most homes in this part of Laos had a loom underneith.
A spindle of thread.

Bangkok and the end

2008-05-16T10:32:00.004-06:00

Our last stop in Thailand was Bangkok where you can get your fill of tourists and gold wats. Kari can keep looking at the wats for days but the crowds and the heat were overwhelming.

A typical vision while walking around these really popular sights.

The (in)famous Kho San Road in Bangkok

The long tail boat motor of the rivers/canals of Bangkok is much larger than that of the coastal towns and islands, these guys have a transmission. This must be where all of those parts are going that we saw back in China town on our first day here in March.

The wat below our hotel in contrast with the new high rise buildings going up all over town.

At the airport at 1:00 waiting for the plane. We had a 30 hour travel day on top of the day of site seeing around town.

We will try in the next few weeks to put up our favorite pictures, those that didn't make it into the blog but are worth a sentence. Again if anyone wants more pictures of any place or anything just let us know.

Koh Lanta

2008-05-16T10:05:00.003-06:00

We arrived at Koh Lanta at the end of the tourist season and the beginning of the rainy season. Resorts were pulling their beach chairs from the wide and long beaches and shutting down, and the ocean wasn't as friendly as it was when Kari was there 6 years ago. We don't know if this was due to the incoming cyclone that hit Myanmar or just the start of the rain. Koh Lanta has a large Muslim population which has been able to stop the high rise developments and the Vegas debauchery seen on Phuket, this leaves a semi-quite island with women in hijabs and more mosques than wats, plus great food with friendly service.
A view of the old town.
Lady sitting in old town shucking garlic.
Typical transportation methods, including Muslim woman and man with shirt off.

After 4 days of beach and moto-scooter sight seeing we took off back to the big city
(Bangkok).

Koh Phi Phi

2008-05-08T13:41:00.003-06:00

This small pair of islands just to the east of Phuket is popular with both backpackers as well as honeymooners. The inhabited island is hourglass shaped with high hills at both end and a curved, lower beaches and resorts in the center. When the 2004 Sunami swept over the low beaches at the height of tourist season, 2000 lives were lost and only 700 bodies were recovered. Today, warning systems and evacuation routs have been implemented. New housing for the local inhabitants is in the process of being built at higher elevations in on the island.
We spend a couple days here to relax on the beach before moving on the the even quieter Koh Lanta. We wonder about the environmental impact of staying on Koh Phi Phi because it is such a small island that everything must be imported on boats from the mainland and all trash must be transported back to the mainland by boat.

Phuket

2008-05-05T18:41:00.005-06:00

The Island of Phuket on the Southwestern peninsula of Thailand has developed into a tourist destination onto itself hugely popular with Europeans. With its own international airport, some travelers connect to fly directly to the island for their entire Thailand vacation. White sand beaches are backed by resort hotels and guest houses as well as hill top wats. Aside from the standard restaurants, T shirt, sunglasses, and gift shops that accompany a tourist destination, Phuket’s other popular businesses include numerous tailored suit shops, massage parlors (with both standard and extra services available), as well as bars where higher priced drinks come complete with young ladies for company.

We stayed here for a couple of days to enjoy the great beaches and also did our dive trip out of this area.

The Island of Phuket on the Southwestern peninsula of Thailand has developed into a tourist destination onto itself hugely popular with Europeans. With its own international airport, some travelers connect to fly directly to the island for their entire Thailand vacation. White sand beaches are backed by resort hotels and guest houses as well as hill top wats. Aside from the standard restaurants, T shirt, sunglasses, and gift shops that accompany a tourist destination, Phuket’s other popular businesses include numerous tailored suit shops, massage parlors (with both standard and extra services available), as well as bars where higher priced drinks come complete with young ladies for company.

Similan Islands Diving

2008-04-24T02:57:00.005-06:00

Instead of doing day trips off of Phuket we decided to shell a bit more money (with more dives) for the 2 day live aboard to the Similan Islands. This national park was established in 1982. This group of 9 plus islands is situated 40kms off of the coast north of Phuket.

We finally found a use for Kari's new expensive leg brace, as she hasn't been wearing it that much on dry land.

Cuttle Fish

Cuttle Fish & Jason

Famous Disney personality

There was a plankton bloom with the full moon the night before our first day and although it reduced visibility it did allow us to see 3 Manta Rays, 2-3 meters across.

Ayutthaya

2008-04-24T02:53:00.003-06:00

Ayutthaya (76kms north of Bangkok) was the capital of Thailand for 416 years, from 1351 until the Burmese sacked it in 1767. Today the small city still resides amongst the ruins of the great former capital. It was very hot in the middle of April supposed to be 100 degrees F. It was probably our longest hottest day yet.

Elephant Nature Park

2008-04-24T01:50:00.004-06:00

We spent 3 days at the Elephant Nature Park
http://www.elephantnaturepark.org/
Lek, the founder works to rescue sick, old, and young elephants from trekking, illegal logging, or street begging jobs around Thailand and brings them to her park north of Chiang Mai. These elephants are often overworked and undernourished. One of the elephants at the park had stepped on a landmine at a logging operation on the Burma boarder, another was given speed in order to work both tourist trekking and a logging jobs concurrently, and some were just abused for years. By tying blessed monks robes around trees in the local area around the park Lek helps to preserve natural forest area for the elephants and other wildlife.

Chiang Mai, Thailand

2008-04-24T01:12:00.006-06:00

We cheated, instead of spending two days on the slow boat along the Mekong and one day on the bus, we flew for an hour and landed in Chiang Mai. It is one of the most popular places in Thailand to celebrate Songkran. The most popular activity it seems is to find 5 to 10 of your friends, a truck, and a large barrel of water. The group of you then drive around the city for three days throwing water on people on the street or other trucks of like minded people. This activity continues from 9am to 7pm on the streets and sidewalks, and no one escapes the water (some of it iced).

Like always we didn't have a reservation for a place to stay in Chiang Mai, we were fortunate that an exchange student, who spent a year in Estes Park, was able to host us during our stay. Thanks Bell!! When you come back to the US we will do some snowboarding together.
We though we found a scene straight out of a National G magazine when we stumbled upon the traditional flying paper lanterns being launched from a wat one evening in the old city.
We had seen courts and games of Kataw being played in the back yards in Laos, but we were fortunate to see the regional championship of Takraw. This game is played on a court about the size of a badminton court, with 3 players per team. The rules are similar to volleyball but only with the feet and head, like soccer. The ball is traditionally woven wicker but today professional balls are made from plastic, about the size of a #5 soccer ball, or a large grapefruit. The service and spiking portion of the game is part contortionist and part gymnastics at lightening speed.
Sunset

Luang Prabang: Wats, Smoke, & Water

2008-04-24T00:46:00.006-06:00

Luang Prabang was the former capital of the Laos Kingdom until the 1970's. In 1995 it was designated as an UNESCO World Heritage town. The lack of economic growth between the 70's and 90's due to the war and socialist government has helped to maintain this city as a unique mix of traditional Lao and 1920's French architecture. Luang Prabang sits approximately 4/5ths of the way up the Mekong, which snakes it's way from the Himalayas to its Vietnam delta. According to the Lonely Planet in French colonial times it would take longer to travel the journey up the Mekong to Luang Prabang than it would to take the steamer from France to Vietnam.
For this relatively small city Luang Prabang has over 300 Wats, some of them over 500years old.

When were there it was stiflingly hot (90+/- degrees & 90% humidity) and it was also the middle of the burning season. We were showered in the afternoons with ash from the nearby forests that were being burned in order that the local villagers could claim the area as their agricultural land. So we went to the waterfall to swim and cool off.

The other prominent form of heat relief came from the New Years Festival Tradition (Songkran.) This festival traditionally is a time of cleansing for home and person. The ritual pouring of water upon elders and friends has turned into a 5 day water fight in many areas of Laos and Thailand. But as this is one of the hottest times of the year it is a welcome event. (Except when the other foreign tourists forget etiquette and turn it into a time to throw water in the face/ears)