I've moved!
There's a new blog ... you can find it here: http://tidulwave.quark.net
I promise to update it at least once a month with 10 on 10 photos, other than that, well .... we'll just have to see.
A link the world of reality, family, and friends while we're off exploring the planet ...
There's a new blog ... you can find it here: http://tidulwave.quark.net
This morning, we took the bus from Plovdiv to Veliko Turnovo, where I spent most of the duration of my previous trip (a cultural exchange/mission trip for college students). Now I remember what I liked about this country!
OK … I’ve been in Bulgaria before. Really, I have. But I don’t seem to be able to recognize anything. But I only spent an hour in Sofia on that trip (if you don’t count time at the airport) and none at all in Plovdiv. I’m not sure that excuses not recognizing the one church we visited during that one hour in Sofia (the Cathedral of Alexandur Nevsky), even after being in it for a while on the current visit.
My mum came to see us in Estonia! Yeah! She had wanted to visit the Baltic States for quite some time, so when we asked where on this RTW trip she wanted to come find us, she chose Estonia. I’m glad she did.
It’s so good to spend time with friends! We spent out time in Holland exploring the country with my college roommate, Laura, her husband, Feike, and their two beautiful little girls. What a treat! Not only did we get to see good friends in a new place (which always helps you see other sides of the people) but we also got to see a new-to-us country with the help of a native (Feike is Dutch).
First, I should say that Cape Town is gorgeous. The landscape is green and sweeping, the mountains are majestic, and the sea smells amazing. Go a bit further north (about 15 miles) and you find wine country that looks like Napa and produces delicious wines I could drink every night. The beauty of this place makes it obvious why the Brits and the Dutch would want to colonize it. The stories of sailors and the Cape of Good Hope are inspiring. And the animals … well, South Africa is home to African “Jackass” penguins, the second smallest species of penguin … need I say more when it’s a family favorite animal?
We spent the majority of our 48 hour transit time between Phuket and Tanzania in Johannesburg. Before you get the idea that this was a surprise to us, let me say it was planned and we even had a tour booked to fill the most part of the time that would otherwise have been spent in the Johannesburg airport.
I had pretty bad culture shock as we drove back from Ngorogoro Crater (just next to the Serengetti) to Arusha at the end of our safari. I know a lot of it was just normal transition from national park/wilderness setting to the city. This happens to me in the States, too. Dirt road becomes paved (there’s a whole discourse that could go here about why the World Bank chose to pave the road to the Serengetti national park rather than between large cities in Tanzania … but I don’t know enough about politics to go there). There are more people and more noise.
Our first game viewing day on this trip was in Arusha National Park. It’s the smallest National Park in Tanzania but also has the distinction of being the only one where the animals are sufficiently accustomed to humans that tourists can go for a guided hike with a ranger. Tanzanian citizens don’t need the ranger (and often walk the main road just to get to the town on the other side).
Since being on safari in Tanzania, I’ve learned that the wildebeest migration technically occurs all year round. It’s just where you are and where the animals are that determine if you get to experience it. Thankfully, we were in the same place as the wildebeest during this trip.
• We met a Kenyan man on a rest stop during our bus ride from Nairobi to Arusha (where the safari started). He told us about how he knew the man who was the “Terminator” from the movies was now governor in California. He had read in the newspaper that this man was up for re-election, but it was unsure if he would win. His opinion? “I would vote for him – he is obviously a great warrior.”
So I know we came to Tanzania to go on safari. I know, too, that “safari” is practically synonymous with animals and pictures of animals. But I really thought that we would still get to interact with Tanzanian culture at some level. And we haven’t.
There’s nothing like spending 10 days in some the most famous National Parks in Africa to make one realize just how little one knows about animals – especially what they really look like.
I debated calling this post "The International Language of Shopping," since shopping is what most people come to Singapore to do ... and since the person who greeted us at our hotel asked that we return our key to reception while we are "out shopping." But then I decided that was far too cynical ... and we've had lots of fun during our 2 1/2 days in Singapore to be that cynical.
When you read the guide books about Thai food, the one thing they consistently tell you is to be careful about hot food. Thais like their food spicy, and apparently we Westerners have wimpy tongues and should watch out lest we burn them off on the first bite.
There is a distinct likelihood that by the time a traveler finishes their visit to Thailand, they will be convinced that their name is, in fact, “massage.” Every day, as you walk down the street, past the many vendors, restaurants, tailors, and massage parlors, they almost all call out to you. “Where you from?” “You want suit?” “Hello, massage!”