Angkor Wat Temple Complex

Today was our first full day in Cambodia. We decided to hit the ground running and visit the Temple Complex. There are dozens of temples around Angkor Wat, but since AW is the biggest, it gets the most recognition.

We rented a car and a driver for the day and got a tour guide to show us around the hot spots. It was really cool having the tour guide because he told us all sorts of history of southeast Asia, most of which I didn't have any clue about. It was also nice having a car to get the relief of the A/C. It was so hot there. I was sweating like crazy all day.

We toured around all day. We were exhausted by the end.

At the end we stayed for the sunset which was just so-so because it was pretty cloudy, plus I don't get all worked up over a sunset. I mean, it goes down every night.

After getting back to our hotel we had to rest in the A/C for a while before I would face the outdoors again. Did I mention it is hot here?

We went out on the town for some cheap but amazing food for dinner. I think last night's dinner was one of the best we have had on this trip. I am loving Cambodian food, also it's not spicy like in Thailand which is a major bonus for me.

Traveling to Cambodia

We had quite the adventure traveling from Thailand to Cambodia. For the sake of the trip budget (and for a dose of real adventure) we opted out of flying and chose instead to take the train/bus route. For your amusement, I will provide you with a step-by-step explanation of our day yesterday.

Prelude: Try to spend the rest of your Thai baht on snacks for the train, so as to not end up with tons of Thai money left over. Fail miserably. We were grabbing all of the most expensive snacks in the 7-11 and still couldn't manage to spend more than $5.

1. Depart from Bangkok at 5:55am on a third class non-air-conditioned train.

2. Thank your lucky stars that there is a second class car on the train like the Lonely Planet book mentioned there might be, and sit down in it as fast as you can, before someone snakes it.

3. Ride the train that had no suspension for 6 hours to a small border town.

4. Take a tuk-tuk from the border town to the actual border.

5. Walk to Thai immigration, stand in line and hope everything goes fine.

6. Walk over the border into Cambodia. Get a little confused because there aren't really any signs for what to do next; but there are a lot of casinos.

8. Stumble upon Cambodia passport control. It looks so unofficial at first you will think there is no way this is the real place.

7. Stand nervously as the Cambodia passport control guy seems to be taking forever looking at your passport, and then requires a scan of all of your fingertips and take your photo. Then hands you your stuff and waves you along without uttering a single word.

9. Take the free shuttle to the nearest Cambodian border town.

8. Convince a group of other travelers to split a taxi van with you so the driver will agree to leave since he wouldn't until he had a full van.

9. Take the taxi-van two hours to Siem Reap, the town you are actually staying in.

10. Take the worlds slowest tuk-tuk from the bus depot to our hotel.

11. Check into your hotel and thank your lucky stars again you made it with no problems.

It was quite a day. After we made it we headed out on the town for some traditional Cambodian dinner, and it was amazing.

On our walk home from dinner I basically got attacked by a six-year old who wanted me to buy him some things. It was oddly terrifying and Joseph had to forcibly remove him from me and tell him "No," to which the boy responded by slapping him and calling him a swear word. It was so bizarre, and it left me feeling flustered on the rest of the walk home.

Last Day in Thailand

Today we leave Thailand and start our journey towards Cambodia.

We had an evening flight and it was still raining (so unbelievable) so we just hung around the hotel lobby that is this nice open air seating area after we had to check out of our room. Eventually it cleared up enough for us to take a final walk along the beach, which I was glad for because it really is beautiful.

We grabbed some McFlurries while we were waiting for the airport bus, and even though they only have tiny sizes over here, they tasted just like home which was nice.

We arrived in Krabi airport - one of the smallest airports I have ever been to. They said they had three gates but as it turned out there was really only one gates with three names. See the picture below for evidence. We flew to Bangkok where we would stay over night for a few hours before catching a very early train to the Cambodian border.

We have had a fun time in Thailand but we are really excited to move on and to explore Cambodia.

The Day it Just Rained Part the Dos

So on Monday it rained all day again. It was actually pretty sad this time because it was our last real day at the beach and our last real non-travel day in Thailand, but it was raining when we woke up and just kept on through the day.

To make ourselves feel better we decided that we would treat ourselves to some fancy massages. There are a lot of massage parlors around town, but most of them seem kind of sketchy with tables out in the open, and the last thing I want is to be getting a massage out in the open where everyone is involved. No thank you. I feel weird enough getting massages without other people lingering nearby. So we found a nice place that gave you juice while you were waiting and was private and smelled amazing and was really nice. Still the massage for 60 minutes was only about 15 dollars, so it was totally worth it.

My massage lady was not to pleased with me though because apparently I don't know how to properly relax when someone is all up in my personal space. She kept shaking whatever body part she was working and and saying "relax, relax". This of course had the opposite effect of helping me relax. She also told me I needed to come back for just a shoulder and neck massage because they "are a big problem". So after my impressive massage appearance we went back to our hotel.

We watched movies and looked out the window hoping it would stop raining. Which it did, after the sun went down which totally ruins our beach side lounging plans, and basically just mocks us.

Oh we also dropped our laundry off. Really exciting stuff I know, but I really love that for 50 cents a pound I can get my clothes washed, dried and folded in about 24 hours. I wish we could take one of these ladies home with us. Is that rude to say? Probably, sorry.

And that about sums up our day.

Leaving Koh Phi Phi

Sunday was our last day in Koh Phi Phi. We got lucky that it was sunny all morning. After we checked out of or hotel we still had a few hours to wait before the ferry left to take us back to Ao Nang where we were staying for two more days before heading on to Cambodia.

We managed to make it all the way back without getting sea sick which makes the day so much better. Unfortunately, it had started raining again while we were on the ferry and kept raining all night (and the next day - more in that in another post).

However, despite the torrential rains Sunday will be known as "the night Joseph lost the room umbrella because he was so distracted downloading a fantasy football app."

We had gone out to find some food, and as I had mentioned previously it was raining, so we had taken along our complimentary umbrellas. Then after dinner we stopped in the lobby to use the Internet that works better than in our room, where Joseph declared he had to get this new app. Then we went back to the room. At some point during the evening, Joseph's umbrella magically disappeared (mine made it back to the room safe and sound). We think he had just left it in the lobby and the friendly hotel staff cleaned it up, and that is the story we stuck with to avoid having to pay for the lost umbrella, but really who knows.

Saturday - Koh Phi Phi

Was a special day. It was sunny all day. It was so amazing. So we tried to cram as much beach time as possible into the day.

We headed over to Long Beach, a beautiful beach on the island to set up camp for the day. And by set up camp I mean lay out our beach mat and flop ourselves in it where we would lay for the next 5 hours with occasional interruptions for swimming.

Today I was struck by how amazing it is that we have created literally laying down all day as something wonderful to do. I mean the beach is full of grown people, some topless (not me, in case you were wondering), laying around. I guess we can call it enjoying nature so that is how we justify it. Either way, I am glad we do justify it, since it really is a great way to spend the day.

After sufficient sun time, we decided to walk back to our hotel instead of taking a boat, you know for exercise. It was actually pretty cool, because the trail was not very nice, so we got a little jungle experience.

After showering and resting a bit (since sun bathing does not qualify as resting) we headed out to hike the Koh Phi Phi viewpoint. Basically, it is a strait up steep staircase to the top of the island which mercilessly, as is the nature of most islands, wasn't too far. But, it was far enough that I was sweating profusely by the top. Also, just to really stick it to you, they charge you 20 Baht to go up the final few steps to the viewpoint, because they know that at that point you are of course going to pay, because you didn't hike up there for nothing. And let me just remind you that it is really only like 75 cents so it's not the amount, but it's just the principle of the thing. In the end, however, despite my complaining, the viewpoint was very lovely. After sitting for a while we headed back down, right when the old Thai man overseeing the lookout, looked to the sky and predicted rain in the next 30 minutes. He seemed much too wise to be ignored. Prophetically, exactly 30 minutes later as Joseph and I were sitting down for dinner it did start raining, just like he said.

This story is even more amazing because we have been trying, since we got here to find someone or something that can give us a reliable forecast. Such a thing does not exist. Every forecast either says "rain all day" or "no rain all day." These are never right. It always rains for some portion of everyday and then is beautiful for the rest of the day. It is just a matter of getting it right so you're not sitting inside watching a movie when it is sunny or outside on a longtail boat in a driving storm. Both have happened to us. Miraculously this wise old man, like some character in a Disney movie, had it all figured out. He even told us the forecast for the next day - very nice in the morning rain at about 3:00 in the afternoon. Sure enough, it was beautiful all morning, and as our boat was pulling away from the dock at 3:30 to take us back to the mainland a storm rolled in. We thought about paying this guy to come around with us an give us the forecast each day, or telling him he should write his own weather app.

All in all, it was a very successful day on Phi Phi Don. Although I wouldn't recommend going to this island during busy season, it was crowded enough when we were there and the town was obviously not very full.

Last Weekend

Last weekend I didn't have any access to wifi so I wasn't able to update. I know you were all very disappointed to not get my daily updates.

On Thursday it literally poured rain all day. It was the first day that the rain made it totally impossible to go to the beach or pool. Well I guess Iied, it didn't rain all day. We got up in the morning and it was cloudy but not rainy so we got dressed and went to the pool, we had wanted to take it easy, and about five seconds after sitting down it started raining and it didn't stop all day. It was sort of hilarious but also sad. So we spent the rest of the day lounging watching movies and eating snacks.

On Friday we headed to Koh Phi Phi another island where we were planning on staying for two nights. It was still raining and the water was pretty rough. Joseph almost had to go puke out the back of the ferry from all of the tossing around. Iron stomach that one.

So we arrived at Koh Phi Phi and checked into our hotel and then walked around in the rain a bit trying to get a general sense of the lay of the land. At one point it was raining so hard we had to find shelter under a pavilion to try and avoid getting totally soaked through. After that we decided we deserved a nice dinner, so that is what we did. We went in search of a nice dinner and we were looking for some non Thai food. I have really begun to crave pizza and hamburgers. I guess I really am an American. Although they do sell hamburgers here at some places I would never get one here, it would just be disappointing. Plus they spell it "ham burger" with a space, which for some reason makes me think of ham loaf, and then it becomes completely unappealing.

Anyways, we stumbled across a European place and Joseph became friends with one of the waiters "Bobby" who was a true traveler, he said he had been traveling for nine months. He called it traveling, I would call it drifting.

Anyways, after a delicious "western" diner we ended up back at the hotel praying for sunshine and clear skies.

Four Island Tour

Today we signed up to go on a four island tour. It is an all day adventure where they take you on a boat to 4 different islands and you get to spend some time at each place.

As a side note, going on these excursions always seems to put together a very interesting mix of people, that leads to some very entertaining people watching.

Unfortunately, Wednesday was the first day where we started to see some bad weather as a result of a tropical storm some where nearby, so the water was really choppy, which lead to some crazy boat riding and some rough water, so the swimming wasn't the best. But it only rained for a few minutes and the sun was shining, so I can't complain.

We pushed on, determined to enjoy ourselves. At each of the islands we scouted out the best piece of real estate and set up camp for the allotted time on each island. At one island, Chicken Island, we got to snorkel which was really, cool. We got to see some neat fish and clams. I wished we could have stayed and snorkeled for longer.

We didn't take our cameras this day, because we weren't really sure how it would be and we were worried they would get wet or something, so sorry for the lack of pictures of the island tour. I do have a picture from dinner.

This was Robbie's last night so we braved some street food, that was once again delicious. We have found that most of the street food is just as good if not better than the restaurant food, plus you feel like you are getting a more authentic experience.

Beach Days

Monday and Tuesday were spent relaxing at the beach.

An interesting thing about Thailand is that they use long tail boats sort of as taxis, and for a few dollars you can get a ride to a nearby island for some beach time.

On Monday, we went to Railay beach. We spent the afternoon swimming and laying out. It only rained for a few minutes in the middle of the day, which gave us an opportunity to have some overpriced lunch at the only spot to eat on the beach.

On Tuesday, we went to Poda Island. Which was so beautiful, I think it was my favorite of the beaches so far. The water is very clear which makes swimming fun.

After a day at the beach we would head back to the hotel for some complimentary cookies and some nap time before dinner. Well, I would nap and Joseph and Robbie would go get Thai massages which sounds a lot like just getting beat up for an hour.

There are a surprisingly large amount of Indian restaurants here, which really shouldn't be surprising given our general proximity to the Subcontinent, so one night to mix things up we had Indian. We live a crazy life.

On both of the beaches there were a bunch of wild monkeys. We generally stayed a good distance from the monkeys, for fear of rabies. However, there were a lot of people on the beach that didn't share our feelings and were feeding them. The monkeys seemed very brave and not scared of people at all. For instance, on Tuesday when we were at Poda Island. We had bought some waters and a package of cookies to take with us for some snacks during the day, I had just left the bag laying out on our mat, literally one foot from where I was laying. One foot from my head an face. I was laying on my stomach taking a little beach nap, when I hear some people sort of yell and a weird sound. I look up and see the backside of a monkey who had just stolen all of my cookies, and run off with them. Needless to say I was very startled that a monkey had come so close to me while I was unaware, and very disappointed in my loss of snacks. Fortunately, we haven't had any other encounters with monkeys. We just watch from a distance and mock the stupidity of people who let their small children get up close and personal with wild animals.

Ao Nang

We are technically staying in Krabi at Ao Nang beach. It is beautiful here. Everything I was hoping it would be.

Fortunately, it is technically the low season here, it being rainy season and all, so there are all sorts of deals to be had. We found a new hotel that was much nicer and generally the same price as our original hotel, so first thing we made the switch. We are both very happy with our decision. Our new place is much nicer and really makes you feel like you are in a tropical paradise. It is a resort with three pools, bungalows on a lagoon and a jutting jungle-covered cliff right in the back yard.

Not really knowing what to do with ourselves, we headed down to the beach to scope it out, and find a place to relax. We couldn't technically check into our new place until after 2, so we had some time to kill. But we didn't mind given the scenery.

One thing to note is that the sun here is really strong, I had sort of forgotten how much stronger it would be this close to the equator. We both got a little red just walking around. Now we make sure and sunscreen-up before we leave the hotel.

Our friend Robbie who went to law school with Joseph, planned on meeting up with us here for a few days on his way to Burma. It was fun to have him here, and he had already been to Cambodia so he was able to give us some helpful tips about the next leg of our trip.

Robbie - We are glad you came to break up the monotony.

Leaving Chiang Mai

I am behind.

On Saturday we left Chiang Mai and flew down south, for the beach. We flew into Phuket, although we were staying in Krabi which is about two hours away. One of the best things about Thailand is that for a mere three dollars each, we got a private ride to the airport in a luxury van, I mean it was seriously fancy. Joseph said it made him feel like Beyonce.

We had originally planned on taking the train down south, but after we got to Chiang Mai we realized it would actually involve a train a bus and a taxi and probably more than 24 hours, so we opted to fly.

When we arrived in Phuket it was raining and the airport was filled with people cat-calling you to their travel agency, it was overwhelming. Oh yea and it was raining I couldn't even think straight. We finally decided it would be best to just take a taxi to our hotel, since everything else seemed like a hassle. It was during this taxi ride that I realized that it does not seem that there are any driving rules whatsoever here, and our driver was driving fast and furious. I was car sick almost immediately, and I never get car sick. Oh yea, and it was still raining.

Anyways, we finally arrived at our hotel and were only moderately impressed. We decided we would stay there the first night but that we would look around to see what else we could find.

That night we walked around a bit to get the lay of the land and find some tasty food.

We were happy to be at the beach.

Chiang Mai - Temple Tour

Today was our last full day in Chiang Mai. We had signed up for a private tour of some of the local Buddhist Temples.

The first temple that we went to was on the top of the mountain, which was really awesome. We had a tour guide that pointed out some interesting facts about the Buddha that I didn't know. For instance, most Buddhist know the day of the week they were born because it corresponds with a different Buddha. Joseph whipped out his phone to learn I was born on a Sunday, and Joseph was born on a Thursday. I went with the thinking Buddha and Joseph went with the meditating Buddha. Also, there were a lot of bells hanging around and our guide said you ring them to bring help from the Angels, which I thought was pretty nice.

We also went to some other temples in town, one that hadn't been maintained, but they still had big gold Buddhas inside which was cool. I enjoyed touring the temples, and learned a lot.

We spent the afternoon at the pool napping, since vacation is tiring, and then we had some authentic street food for dinner. We love the street food, and it seems their food is better than the nicer restaurants which try too hard to Americanize, so I think I can live with the risk of disease. We were vaccinated before we came.

Chiang Mai - Elephants

Today was the day I had been waiting for since this vacation was planned oh so many months ago. Today was the day we got to ride on elephants. We signed up for an all day jungle excursion. We got picked up from our hotel and headed up to the jungle.

The first thing we did was we got to ride and feed the elephants. It was cool to feed them. While we were riding, the elephant would just reach its snout up to us, grab what we handed it, and then eat it. After the ride we fed them more from the platform which was pretty neat. That was when we got to pet them and really get up close and personal. The elephants really are huge and getting on them was scary, plus we were just perched up there on a little seat. The ride was much smoother than I was expecting. It was fun to ride through the jungle. I just hope the the elephants are treated well and that they live happy lives. All of my joy while riding was tainted by a little guilt. But, the Thai people believe that when an elephant dies its next reincarnation will be as a human. They also believe that elephants are good luck. These two things give me hope that they treat them well.

After the elephants we headed to some bamboo rafting, which was actually pretty fun. I was a little apprehensive since our travel doctor told us to avoid fresh water, but after seeing other Americans and Euros participating we firgured it was pribabaly safe. They had these really long rafts made entirely of bamboo and a driver that stood at the front with a really long pole to push us along. Our driver was 13, didn't speak any English, and thought it was hilarious to splash all the girls. At one point we ran headlong in to a rock and our little driver flew face first into the water and I almost followed, but was able to catch myself. Joseph said the rafting made him feel like Huck Finn.

After rafting we went hiking through the jungle to a waterfall and back. I also learned how rice paddies work, which I had been wondering about since we got here.

After the hiking we headed back into town, and we were exhausted.

After showering and cleaning off all of the jungle dirt we went out to eat with our new friend Boong. She was our travel agent and was very friendly and helpful.

It was a fun day, and a good way to see a lot of the jungle area.

Chiang Mai - Cooking Class

Today we signed up for a Thai cooking class, which turned out to be really fun.

Since we had signed up for the evening class starting at four, we spent the morning lounging by the pool and I took a nap. Because truly everyday is better when you get a nap.

For the class we each made four different dishes. After making the dishes separately you come back and eat them together. This worked out great for us because then we could share and try a bunch of things. One thing I took away from the class is that it isn't necessarily hard to make, as long as you have the right ingredients. They gave us a cook book with all of the recipes of the things we made so I am excited to hit up an Asian market when we get home and try out my new skills.

The class was fun and the food was delicious.

Chiang Mai - Thai Boxing Day

Today for our excursion we signed up for a Muay Thai boxing class. This was Joseph's idea. He really wanted to do it, and I was game because it sounded like it could be fun. Honestly, I was also apprehensive.

I don't think it is a popular excursion since it seemed like the lady we talked to just called her friend and we were the only two people there. At 1 in the afternoon two people showed up on scooters to pick us up for our lesson. They drove us through town to a very authentic boxing ring. There were two funny things about the scooter ride. First, Joseph and I were on the back of separate scooters, me with the wife, him with the husband. But, Joseph and the husband weren't the only two people on the scooter, the couple's 7 year-old son was standing in the front. The three of them on a scooter like it was a family car or something. I could not stop laughing. Second (this one is equal parts funny and scary) they drove us a little outside of town into this little neighborhood and the boxing ring was just outside covered by a tin roof. There were even chickens running around. I thought to myself multiple times "this guy could just kidnap us and no one would know where we are."

Once we got there our teacher ( a "number one champion") had us change into some official boxing shorts, then we warmed up by jogging around the block a few times and doing the jump rope. He spent some time teaching us the moves, during which I was complemented greatly on my skill and technique as a Mauy Thai fighter. At the end of the lesson we got to spar against the teacher which was really fun. It makes you feel tough, even though I would really only last maybe 2 seconds against this guy in real life. At one point during our sparring some of the neighborhood kids gathered around and were basically just laughing at me, because I don't think they get many tourists in that gym.

The class lasted for four hours and it was a lot of fun, even though we were both soaked through with sweat by the end. Our teacher was no nice and it was a great experience. Joseph and I were the only ones there which was awesome.

So after the class we got ready and went out on the town for some dinner. I had some delicious green curry that was again very spicy.

One great thing about this hotel is that they give you a free drink from the bar every day, so we ended our day with chocolate milk in bed and a movie. I could really get used to vacation.

Hello Thailand

We arrived in Bangkok, Thailand on Sunday morning at 930. Right on schedule. I was pleasantly surprised to see that everything was in both Thai and English making it fairly easy to navigate the city. Before going I was concerned about the language barrirer but I really didn't need to be. We haven't had any trouble talking to people here. We headed straight to the train station to check out the ticket situation for Chaing Mai. We weren't planning on staying in Bangkok at all because everyone we talked to said it wasn't really worth it.

The next available train with air conditioning wasn't until the night train, so we ended up with a day in Bangkok, since we all know I'm not going to ride a train for 12 hours with only a fan.

After a slightly traumatic bathroom experience (they have weird toilets here, and the public bathrooms do not come equipped with toilet paper it is BYOTP) we headed out on the town, and into our first tuk-tuk ride. I will say the first ride was terrifying but they got less scary as the day went on. We went down to the Grand Palace and walked around a little bit, got some Pad Thai and fresh coconuts for lunch and ended up by the water. After some confusion, we thought we were taking a boat tour and ended up just on a ferry to the other side of the river. After that disappointment, we got on an actual boat tour, through some canals. Right after we started the sky turned black and looked like it was going to monsoon. We were nervous. Thankfully our boat driver noticed it to and pulled up under a bridge with a bunch of other boats to wait out the rain. Luckily we managed to stay mostly dry, and Joseph made a friend with the Italian guy also on our boat.

After the boat ride our new friend took us to this sky scraper in the city where you can overlook the whole city which was pretty cool, and then we all went back to the train station where we bade our new friend adieu.

The overnight sleeper train was actually pretty cool. We each had our own bed, and you could lie down and relax. It took me a while to relax, and get over my stranger-danger anxiety, but once I felt confident no one was going to steal me or my things from the train, it was quite nice.

We got into Chiang Mai on Monday afternoon, the train was running a little slow which is fairly common during rainy season we've been told.

We went straight to the hotel to check in and take much needed showers. We no longer smelled very fresh.

We spent the afternoon relaxing and booked a day trip for the next day, and went to dinner. Where I accidentally ordered some very spicy dinner, so spicy in fact I was sweating profusely. The lady at the restaurant asked me if I was okay, and told me that she used spicy peppers, but that it was okay because they would make me healthy.

All in all, it was a really great start to the Thailand leg of our trip. I already love Thailand.

Bidets of our Lives

Part I - Turkey

Hello, Joseph here. Until now, despite being listed as a contributor on the blog, I have contributed, in actuality, close to nothing. I have two reasons for this: 1) Megan has done an excellent job thus far of chronicling every thing in our communal lives that is somewhat important. The things that happen to me alone, and that she doesn't care enough about to chronicle (sports, fantasy sports, sports), wouldn't really interest anyone anyway, and; 2) Nothing has really stirred me to the point of contribution. Until now. And so, as a "guest contributor," I bring you the traveling installment series Bidets of our Lives. The purpose of this series is to shed light on the diversity of bidets that we are "experiencing" on our trip around the world. I will provide pictures, as well as a brief review - some pros and cons - and a final rating. At the outset I would just like to thank Megan for allowing me to lower the level of discourse on the family blog. She knows how important this is to me.

And so without further delay - the Turkish bidet.

The Turkish bidet is confusing. It takes a minute and a triple-take to really figure out the purpose of that metal protrusion. Once you turn the knob on the wall, however, and get soaked by the high pressure water, all becomes clear.

Pros:
1) High pressure for maximum cleaning.
2) Convenience?

Cons:
1) A certain repulsion bred by what we will call "proximity."
2) Small surface area coverage.
3) Impalement.

Final Rating:
1.5 Bidets*

Until next time, like sands through the hourglass, these are the Bidets of our Lives.



*This is a 5-bidet rating system. None of this 4-max-score crap. That always bothers me. Five should be the standardized max score, worldwide.

Istanbul Day 3 - Topkapi Palace

This was our last day in Istanbul and Turkey before flying to Bangkok for the Thailand leg of our trip.

In the morning we woke up early to get to the Palace when it opened at 9:00. We had to check out of our hotel by 2:00 so we needed time to see the palace and go back and shower before our flight, since we didn't really know how long it would be until our next shower.

About the palace; it was just okay. Maybe we were a little worn out from the sightseeing or something, but let's just say I've seen better palaces. It was pretty cool that it was sort of like a campus with individual buildings that you had to walk around in, and they did have some pretty cool crown jewels and old weapons on display. Anyways, I am glad we went but I wasn't blown away by it.

Then we went back to the hotel where Joseph got into a slightly heated discussion with the guy in the lobby who told us we were supposed to check out at noon (apparently he hadn't gotten the message about our late checkout). After showering and packing we went to find some food. Some food that wasn't meat. The Turks eat a lot of meat and a lot of kebabs, and quite honestly I couldn't take another kebab. So instead, we had some Turkish pizza, soup and salad, and I was very happy.

Then we squeezed ourselves into the over-stuffed airport shuttle to the airport for our evening flight. This is where things got interesting.

We get to the airport to check in and the lady pretty quickly tells us the flight is full and we don't have seats. The only problem with this is we did have seats and we had already verified those seats and the flight probably was full, with us on the flight. So I almost have a panic attack and she makes a call. Then she tells us to follow her to the dhfifidjs room (couldn't understand her to save my life so that is what it sounded like). So we followed her into what we will call the Room of Doom. The Room of Doom was not a happy place. There were other people in the Room of Doom, and none of them looked anything less than desperate. Joseph, feeling the cold chill of having the happiness sucked out of his soul (like a dementor) immediately said "We do not want to be here." Right when we thought things were going to get real bad, she says a few words to a man behind the desk, he says something back, she looks at me and says, "OK, follow me." We go back to the desk and magically everything is fine and we have our seats. It was so weird, and so confusing. We have no idea what happened or what was said between the two employees in the Room of Doom, but whatever it was it worked in our favor.

So we boarded the plane and headed for Bangkok, so excited to make it to Thailand.

Turkey was fun, but sort of exhausting.

Istanbul Day 2 - Haggia Sophia and such

This morning we were tired so we slept in late. So late, in fact, that we almost missed breakfast.

Today was also the first day we both had to break out the Pepto Bismol. I was hoping we wouldn't have to until this next week in Thailand, but no such luck.

On a side note, Joseph thinks Pepto tastes delicious. I think he is crazy.

After breakfast we headed out to the city, with our first stop being Haggia Sophia. We were both very excited to see it, and were not disappointed. It was one of the most amazing structures I have ever seen. I didn't want to leave. It was built in 500 AD and was a Christian church until the 1400s when the Turks conquered the city and converted it to a mosque. Now it is a museum and they have renovated it to show some of the old Christian art work while still maintaining the Muslim art work. It was amazing, and so big. I can't imagine how they built something that monumental so long ago. Definitely my favorite site so far in Turkey - Joseph agrees.

After finishing up at Hagia Sophia we walked to the water to take a cruise on the Bosphorus. On our way we stopped at the old Grand Post Office. We also walked through the Spice/Egyptian Market.

The river cruise was awesome. The weather was nice with a cool breeze, and there were a lot of old palaces that sit right on the water that they take you really close to. We also cruised by some old wall remnants from old Constantinople. I loved the boat ride.

After the boat ride we walked across the Galata Bridge to the Galata tower and then back into town. By this point we were both exhausted and couldn't decide on what to eat. We are both pretty sick of Turkish food. They eat a lot of meat here, and we just couldn't take it anymore. We couldn't bring ourselves to eat another Kebab something or rather. Right around this time we came to the main city square where hundreds of people had gathered to celebrate the end of fasting for the day (since it is Ramadan). It was cool to see all the people gathered with picnics waiting for the call from the Blue Mosque that it was okay to eat. We grabbed some Ramadan food: feta cheese tortilla wraps, some watermelon, and some waters. We sat down on a bench to join the celebrations. Then we walked home through Istanbul that was all lit up. It was the perfect way to end the night.

Istanbul Day 1

We caught the night luxury bus back to Istanbul, and arrived in Istanbul much earlier than we had been told. Once again, we were just dropped off on the side of the street.

One thing about the Turks, it seems, is that they aim to please. The problem is this doesn't always mean they actually do something to please or satisfy you, but rather, they will tell you anything that you want to hear, whether it's true or not, to give you the impression that you are being pleased. For example, the guy at the bus office in Selcuk originally told us that the bus was supposed to get to Istanbul at 7:30. He thought, mistakenly, that we wanted to get there early. But, since we wouldn't be able to check into our hotel that early, we told him that was too early for us. "Well, my friend, this bus arrives like 8:00, 8:30." Really. Interesting how it slowed down to buy us a full hour just because we wanted it to. We booked that bus anyway because it had a bathroom - which we didn't use. And sure as shootin' there we were standing alone in the middle of Istanbul at 7:00. Thanks, my friend.

But that didn't matter, we were excited to be in Istanbul. That is until we saw the hotel we had signed up for.

Our hotel ended up being scary and trashy with no AC and sort of like a big crowded frat house. We tried to not get to upset about it telling ourselves maybe the rooms wouldn't be so bad. So we dropped off our luggage, it was to early to check in, and headed out into the city. We got some bread from a street vendor and sat in Sultenahmet square to get our bearings.

Then we headed to the Grand Bazaar. Which was really cool. I was expecting it to be a tented area, but it was really in an old sprawling building that was awesome. They also had all sorts of things to buy. I love browsing through things to see what interesting and unique things you can find.

After wandering the city some more we made it back to our hotel (I use this term lightly, see previous description) to discover that things in fact were not any better upon seeing the rooms, but were much, much worse than expected. After a few stunned seconds we hightailed it to the nearest internet cafe (which was surprisingly hard to find) and found ourselves a new hotel. We went back got our luggage paid the cancellation fee and ran, and I am so happy we did.

We ran straight to our new hotel with beautiful rooms and air conditioning and had a little rest. It gets too hot here in the middle of the day to do anything but siesta.

Then, not wanting to waste our time in Istanbul, we headed back to the streets. Our new hotel is in a less touristy part of the city and while we were walking down one street there were a ton of stores selling shoes, but they also had huge boxes of shoes around and there were a lot of people hauling the boxes. We stopped to look at a pair of shoes that looked nice and we asked the store owner how much. He said 15 Lira, roughly 8 bucks, so we were about to buy them when he told us they only do bulk orders, everyone on the street is selling shoes wholesale, he told us he sold to people all over the world, but mostly Africa and Russia. It was kind of cool to get a behind the scenes look at "Made in Turkey."

Anyways, moving on we made it to the Blue Mosque. They let visitors in even though it is a working Mosque, built in the 1600s. It was so beautiful, I was amazed. When we went in there was the shouter singing the prayers which sounded so beautiful. I loved it. It is called the Blue Mosque because the inside walls are covered in these intricate blue painted tiles, so amazing.

We also had to make our first stop at a pharmacy, which renewed my dislike of American pharmacies. Here, I was able to walk, in tell the pharmacist the problem, he gave me what I had already self diagnosed as the thing we needed, paid 10 lira, and were in our way just like that. Let's just say when I was getting our malaria medicine for our trip I had to go to the pharmacy three times, plus a call to my insurance, plus a trip to the doctor. That was annoying. Yesterday was not.

We ended the night with a lovely Turkish dinner. I had Corba soup, when I asked our waiter what it was he just kept telling me it's Turkish name, which wasn't really helpful. I ate it anyways and it was delicious. When I looked it up I was happy to find it was just lentil and potato soup, not something scary and random.

Turkey Day 4 - Kusadasi

Since both of our parents suggested that we should go to Kusadasi we figured we should probably go check it out. It was about 20 minutes from the town we were staying in, so we hopped on a little mini bus. These mini busses are more like communal taxis so they don't really run on a schedule. You just go down to the bus station get on the bus and wait until the driver feels like he's hit enough people to make the trip worth his while. Then, he will make some regular stops along the way, but it also seemed like he was perfectly willing to let anybody out wherever they wanted - including, very often, the middle of absolutely nowhere.

Back to Kusadasi - This town was crazy. It was basically one huge market, where you could get almost anything as a knockoff. It was amazing. But the hassling was unlike anything you've ever experienced. A typical approach usually went something like this: "Hello, yes, please, my friend, brother, you like ____? I make you good price." At first it is funny, then it gets old. I got tired of being harassed pretty quickly, so we headed out to an old fort to check it out and relax.

Since we were planning on leaving that night we didn't take our swimming suits but the coast was beautiful and the water looked amazing.

Later that evening after a dinner of deserts (Turkish ice cream and baklava (which we eat everyday)), we went back to Selcuk. On the way back we met an interesting man on the bus who owns a couple of Turkish rug shops, so we stopped by his shop in town and his wife was so nice and not pushy and gave us the insider scoop on rugs. I really wish we could have gotten one because they were so beautiful.

All in all a pretty successful day in another interesting town.

These are some pictures from our breakfast at our hotel on the rooftop terrace.

Turkey Day 3 - Zsa Beech

Today was a beach day. Down here on the coast they have beautiful beaches, with blue water that it is warm enough to swim in. We split the day between two different beaches. First we went to Pamucak and the we went to Yongocoka (this is not pronounced at all like you would think it is, also it's probably missing a few consonants but I can't really remember).

We spent the day sitting on the beach, swimming in the water, eating snacks and relaxing. It was lovely.

Also, if you really want to feel self conscious on a beach about your lack of tan, go to one where everyone is Turkish except for you.