Miles and Erin's Life Adventure!

A New Adventure that's easier to remember!

2007-12-21T20:49:00.000-08:00

Hey all! I started up a new blog so that you can watch Devon grow with us! The site is a little easier to remember www.milesanderin.blogspot.com . Hope you'll come and check it out every now and then! Take care, Erin

It's a boy!

2006-12-27T22:43:00.000-08:00

Just wanted to give you all a quick update!
On December 17 our baby boy Devon Miles was born!
He weighed in at 7 pounds and 4 ounces and was 21 inches long.
We are all doing great and enjoying our new little family!

Here's a few photos of my belly just before Devon came!

And here's some of little Devon!

Devon Miles on his birthday!

Just one day old!

Devon with cousin Ren'e. His feet are almost as big as hers!

Just 4 days old with Lola and Grandma!

We hope you all are doing well and enjoying the holiday season!

Growing Baby!

2006-09-17T19:35:00.000-07:00

Hey all!
It's been awhile so I thought I would give just a quick update on the status of our growing baby! All has been going really well. As far as I can tell (comparing myself to all the "horror" stories I've heard) I've had a relatively easy and enjoyable pregnancy. While some seem to view this as a horrible thing to go through to get a wonderful outcome, I really see it as an honor and a blessing. My most overwhelming thought is that God is so amazing! To have a little life growing inside of me that I get to feel every day is so mind boggling and awesome! It is just another way God has confirmed His greatness! So, as you can tell I've really been enjoying this time in my life! I find all these changes in my body so fascinating and cannot wait to be a mom! Miles is doing good too! He seems to enjoy the baby and the pregnancy experience more and more. As my belly grows it is a more visual reminder of what lies ahead! Anyhow, enough of my blabber, here's some photos of my growing belly and some shots of the baby! I'm currently 6 months along or 27 weeks, take your pick! Sending you all lots of love and blessings! Erin

Back to Reality!

2006-06-22T11:47:00.000-07:00

Wow! Well, it's been forever now since we've updated this blog! Obviously the "real" world isn't as fun as the one we were living in before! So, we are officially back to reality!

We got back to the Bay Area in the beginning of June. Since being home we've gotten the opportunity to visit with family and friends and share stories of our travels. We've been really fortunate to have a couple of great friends that have been housing us for the past month. This has enabled us to take our adjustment to reality VERY slowly.

I must admit that being knocked up, homeless, and jobless (for Miles) isn't as fun as it sounds! It's gotten a little depressing. But honestly, after 11 months of adventure, I don't think I'm allowed to complain!

So, the good news is that we have found a place to live and will be moving in on July 1st. Miles has been really fortunate and had several job offers since we've returned home. He has finally decided on one that suits him and will be starting work shortly.

I go back to work in July, but only for a few months because I can't fly for too long with a bun in the oven! So, life is good. I'm back with my Zoey!

Things couldn't be better! Thanks again to everyone who helped make our trip all that it was!

There's a long list of you! And here it goes...

Thanks to Jason Fass , Dan Stock, Jenn & Jaime Exley and Glenn Burkhardt for helping with the initial packing and moving of our house as we prepared to embark on this grand adventure!

Thanks to Glenn & Danielle Burkhardt for allowing us to store our stuff in the basement all this time!

Thanks to Jamie Exley for driving us all the way to Yosemite and hiking the first part of the JMT with us!

Thanks to the Aten Family in Chuuk, Micronesia for housing us both in Chuuk and Palau and recommending diving with the Truk Aggressor!

Thanks to Captain Niall Lawlor of the Truk Aggressor for a great week of diving and for recommending the Palau Aggressor to us!

Thanks to the Morrone family (we met Matt and Heather on the Truk Aggressor) for welcoming us into your home in Guam and housing us as we made our way to Japan!

Thanks to the Nagashima family in Tokyo, Japan for housing, feeding and showing us such amazing generosity! You really made our visit to Japan AWESOME!

Thanks to Paco and AnnCe' for showing up in China! You truly made our trip memorable! And you especially helped me (Erin) while we were in China to loosen up and have fun and look at my experiences differently! I love you girls and hope you will always be in my life!

Thanks to Tito Manuel and Tita Beth for housing us in Manila and "hooking us up" (as usual) with a great hotel in Borocay!

Thanks to Lola and the rest of the Torre family for taking care of us while we were in Manila and welcoming us into the family festivities during Christmas!

Thanks to Tita Judy Anne and the rest of the Parroco clan for having us over for Christmas dinner!

Thanks to Josh (Jason Fass' cousin) for a great week of diving in Myanmar!

Thanks to Heather and Sam Bretzfield for housing and feeding us in Bangladesh and allowing us to experience your life over there! Can you please call the tailor and have Nilu make dinner and have Taju take us shopping and when we come back have Jamila give me a massage? By the way, are we still going to barb-b-que on Wednesday at the IC? Seriously...rough life!! (=

Thanks to the Schaefer family in Bonn, Germany for housing and feeding us! We are so thankful to have you guys in our lives. If only we lived down the street from each other!

Thanks to Eva and Jose' (we met on the Palau Aggressor) for housing us and showing us around Madrid, Spain! You two are always welcome in California. Mi casa es tu casa! Muchas Gracias!

Thanks to Dave and Wendi Spector for picking us up at the Philly airport and always being such great friends! We really enjoyed our last visit!

Thanks to Chris and Rachel Spahr for housing and feeding us while we were in Jersey and for taking us all around and to the airport on our way out! We really appreciate your friendship!

Thanks to Jason and Adrianne Fass for housing us since we've been back and helping out with Zoey!

Thanks to Glenn and Danielle for housing us since we've been back!

Thanks to Inday and Mark for storing some of our stuff and for taking care of the Nissan and just for everything you do!

Thanks to Jenn, Jaime and Nanay for taking care of Zoey while we were gone, for taking care of the Honda and for storing some of our stuff! You guys ROCK! We could not have gone on our trip without you!

A special thanks to Jenn for being "home base", which essentially means she was our secretary. She took care of all paper work and bills and all that stuff we weren't able to deal with from abroad. Thanks so much Jenn!

And two final thank yous...first to Miles. Thank you this trip. For all your hard work in achieving it, for making it fun while we were out there, for taking care of me and for making me feel so loved day after day! I had so much fun with you and really enjoyed having silly inside jokes and moments we will remember forever! I love you!

The last thank you goes to all the great people we met on this trip! I can't speak for Miles, but for me you are what made this trip fun! So many days full of laughter and good memories! I felt like a kid again and really enjoyed getting to know each of you! We had good conversations and just great fun! You are always welcome here in California! Please come visit!

And that's it! As time goes on and life changes we will do our best to update the blog and throw some photos up of what's going on in our lives. So, when you think of it drop by and take a look!
I wish you all so much happiness and many blessings!

Thanks for reading!

Lots of love, Erin

¿Que Tal? Madrid, España

2006-05-15T11:10:00.000-07:00

We left Germany without a hitch (a welcomed change) and arrived in Madrid on May 7th. We stayed with Jose and Eva who we met diving on the Palau Aggressor back in October of last year. We had such a good week with them that we exchanged contact information at the end of the trip and bid each other "Until next time."

When Erin and I first started talking about where to go on this trip we thought about spending the entire time in South America. Our thoughts were that we could see a land that we had yet to visit and learn Spanish at the same time. For what ever reasons, we chose Asia. After we met Eva and Jose, Erin and I entertained the idea of going to Spain to partially fulfill that desire. We ran the idea by Jose and Eva in December and their response was "You're late already. Come home. We've been waiting for you." Needless to say, incredibly nice people.

They picked us up at the airport and brought us to their flat in Alcorcon (20 mins away from central Madrid) which we quickly renamed the 'Hotel de Eba'. All the modern amenities and another reminder that we were done "backpacking".

We spent the following day visiting academies that taught Spanish in an effort to gather as much information. We wanted to start as soon as possible in order to maximize the 8 weeks that we had intended on staying in Spain. We went to 5 schools and when we got home later that night, we were pretty disappointed. We had not done ANY research prior to arriving in Madrid and had this pre-conception that it was going to be affordable for us to do an 8 week course.

We weren't even close! The cheapest that we could find would have cost us 1800 Euros and the average was around 2500 Euros. Do the conversion to dollars after that and Erin and I had to do some serious thinking. We had the money BUT had to consider where it would be best spent (especially with Siobhan coming in December).

It didn't take long to make the decision. We order our tickets to go back home the following day and spent the next week as 'gearies' (tourists). Madrid is a beautiful city where old meets new. We came just at the right time. Flowers were in bloom and everyone was out and about enjoying the warm weather and long days.

Along with the numerous plazas, outdoor cafes and narrow alley ways in Madrid, we visited the towns of Toledo

and Segovia (where we were lucky enough to catch a glimpse of the annual puppet festival).

Our hosts were kind enough to give us a crash course in Spanish culture where we had much to learn. We only scratched the surface in beginning to understand the food/daily time tables and will have to go back some day to take in the rest. Thank you Eva and Jose for opening your house to us. We look forward to returning the favor. Hasta luego!

FMP

Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da...

2006-05-05T14:12:00.000-07:00

We are at that point in life where everyone around us is popping out babies. All of my best friends from high school either have or are having children. Victor has 2 and his wife Brenda just gave birth to their second, Jasmine Marissa Hailey . Dave and his wife Wendi just gave birth to their first, Carly Jordyn, last month.

Chris and Rachel are due with their first in July.

Even my younger sister Jenn (I'm her elder by 5 years) and her husband Jaime beat us to the punch and are due with their first in September.

Erin's best friend from high school, Jenny and her husband T.J. are due with their second sometime in August. Her other friend, Jenny is expecting in June and another classmate, Amanda recently gave birth to her first child. My 2 younger cousins, Roque and Mari Cris are both due with their first children over the summer. Thom and Eva, just had there third girl Marlena, last month.

And that's just the recents. My older sister (she's my elder by 5 years) Christie and her husband Mark have 3 girls.

My good friend Greg has 3 girls. His brother Dan, also a good friend, has 1 and their other brother has 2. My buddy Glenn has 2 as well. Erin's sister Shay has 2 and her older brother Sean has 4. Her younger brother Kenny already has 1.

With the exception of our good friends, Jason and Adrianne (he'll say it's because they just bought a house and kids are the next phase but I say that he doesn't have a penis) that accounts for all of our immediate family and married friends.

We're not much for playing "Keep up with Jones' " but I must admit that there was a part in me that was ready for the next step before we went on this trip (Erin certainly was). But our plan was to enjoy our freedom and indulge in one last selfish act before starting a family and becoming self - 'less'.

Well....we're on the board baby! Say hallo to my little friend. A little earlier than planned but after Erin stopped taking birth control in October of last year, let's just say that we were not "not trying". A funny side note is that Erin did not intentionally take herself off the pill. She ran out of her supply and had my sister mail her some when we were in Japan. We found out the hard way that you are not allowed to have more than 1 month's supply of any medical prescription in your hand at a time. My sister had mailed 3 months worth as we requested and did the honest thing by listing it on the packaging slip. They held the package at customs, called to inform us of the rules and asked us what we wanted to do. Since it cost more than the price we paid for the 3 month supply for them to give us 1 month's supply (they would charge us for the cost to have a pharmacist divvy up the meds as required by law) Erin just told them to mail it back and decided that it was time get off the pill. Now 6 months later and here we are.

Erin visited the doctor here in Bonn and the sonogram showed a healthy 12mm baby and heartbeat with a due date of December 20th. We don't know if it is a girl or a boy (and won't find out until the birthday) but I am preparing for a girl. That way, when Siobhan comes out, it's what I will be expecting. If "he" comes out, that will be the icing on the cake.

At the end of the day, we'll be totally happy and pray for a healthy baby. As they say in Bangladesh, "Enshallah".

...life goes on bra! Lala how the life goes on.

FMP and Erin

Güten Täg fröm Bönn, Germäny (I knöw they dön't belöng büt I jüst löve the ümläüt!)

2006-05-05T05:45:00.000-07:00

We made it out of Bangladesh but not with out a paying an arm, leg and baksheesh! Here's the short version. We tried to leave on April 19th which meant that I had over stayed my visa by 3 days. "Tee-ga-say" or "No problem" someone in the passport/immigration office told us. Just pay 500 Taka ($7) per day overstayed. We weren't sure that we were going to get on the flight in the first place (it was over booked) and were relieved once the ticketing agent cleared us. They also put our bags on board at no extra charge. Another worry as we were over the limit (according to Air India's website) with all the crap that we had purchased.

As I approached immigration, I had my taka all ready to go. The officer scanned my passport into the system, looked at me and said "Sorry, you can not leave the country." With out giving me a chance to speak, he pushed his chair back and said "Follow me." Unbelievable, I thought to myself. We were led to the supervisor's office who kindly explained to us that there was no such thing as a "penalty fee". They had no way to process the money and the only way that I could leave was to go to the passport/immigration office (downtown) and get the necessary documents (loosely translated as baksheesh the government). We missed the flight and spent another 2 hours at the airport waiting for them to pull our bags. It was a royal pain in the baksheesh to say the least.

Back at Sam and Heather's, we found out that there was a hartal that day and conveniently for us, the Awami league had another one planned for Thursday. Sam and Heather live in the Diplomatic Zone of Dhaka and we were therefore safe from any of the rioting but the passport/immigration office was in a hot zone. With Thursday out of the picture, next was Friday - an off day as Friday serves as their weekend. Saturday was a public holiday and Sunday turned out to be another hartal. The flight from Dhaka to Delhi only runs on Sun/Wed/Fri so we basically spent another week lounging around as we waited for a day where I could safely make my way to the passport office, pay the $100 extension fee and make our ausfahrt out of Bangladesh.

Money spent at this point was:

$100 for the initial 14 day visa (Erin payed the same price but got 30 days
$100 for my extension
200 taka per day penalty for each day overstayed (ended up being 1400 taka or $20)
$30 each for our transit visa thru Delhi (we were only there for less than 12 hours but needed one to get our bags and transfer on to a Lufthansa flight to Frankfurt).

Wednesday rolled around and when we got to the airport...we found out that the flight had been cancelled. Great! Luckily, they rescheduled it for Thursday morning. Got up on Thursday, went thru the entire process again, made the flight and finally got out of Bangladesh.

Once in India, the saga continued. We got a hotel close to the airport as we just needed a place to crash for 10 hours before the flight to Germany took off (at 2:20AM local time). We didn't mind spending the $110 for the comfort and convenience (cheapest hotel in the airport area) but it was only for 10 hours. Well, as stated in earlier posts, we're done backpacking. They waited until 2:00AM to clear us and as always, we were thankful to make it on as stand-by passengers. We threw our bags on the conveyor belt to be tagged and the agent looked at us with a frown on her face and said "Why do you have so much baggage? You're overweight." We asked by how much and she said 23 kilos. After punching some keys on her board, she looked at the screen, looked at us, looked back her screen and then informed us that the cost was going to 300 Euros ($366). Add that to the tally and we basically dropped $650 trying to get out of Bangladesh. I felt like I was going to baksheesh but we had no other option. So we paid the agent, boarded the plane and I spent the rest of the flight trying to convince myself that we still made out with all of the DVDs, software, clothes and gifts that we bought....yeah right.

Now in Germany, we've spent the last week in Bonn with the Schäfers. I met Thom and Eva in New Zealand during my travels in 1996 and have kept in touch ever since. They visited us in San Diego in '97 and then Erin and I visited them again in '01. Since then, they've had 3 girls. Johanna is the oldest at 8 followed by Louise, 6 and now Marlena who is just 7 weeks old. Luckily they all got their looks from their mom and they are the cutest things you dun did ever see.

Bonn has been a welcomed stop for us. On top of our reunion with the Schäfers (we almost thought we lost them) it was nice to get back to clean fresh air, modern comforts and western food. The people are a little bigger and the cars a little smaller, but it's a cute and quaint town that most would associate Europe with. It's also the birthplace of Ludwig Beethoven. We've spent the week catching up, getting to know the kids, reminiscing and enjoying the spring blossoms (when we arrived the temperature was 9°C over the weekend but has jumped up to 27°C). There's a festival over the weekend that we plan to attend and then we fly to Madrid on Sunday. Hopefully this time without the hitches.

FMP

Asalam Walekum from Dhaka, Bangladesh

2006-04-19T00:06:00.000-07:00

Not knowing much of Bangladesh when we arrived on 4/2, the plan was to chill out with Sam and Heather for awhile before heading out to "get to know" the rest of the country. We've been here for 2.5 weeks and never got past the chillin' stage. We're officially done backpacking and have become full time leeches. But how can you blame us when they invite us to their luxurious home,
take us out to all the best restaurants and parties in town and give us full access to Taju (their "tank" driver) and Nilu (their housekeeper who cooks, cleans and does everything in between). OK! So we haven't seen the Sundarbans or Bangladesh's other 2 UNESCO World Heritage sights. We haven't seen Cox's Bazar, considered the world's longest and broadest beach or Kuakata beach, where you can watch the sun rise and set over the Bay of Bengal.

But what we have done is shop, shop and shop! Bangladesh is known for its ready made garment industry. Just look at the tag on your favorite piece of brand name clothing and there's a good chance that it was made in Bangladesh. If your not too picky about a loose thread here or a small hole there, then Bangla (AKA "Bongo" by expats) Bazar is ‘the’ place to go as they get all of the over runs and seconds. Here's Sam, Heather and Erin displaying their purchases after our first trip.

After all was said and done, we calculated that we spent about $100 (7000 Taka) total between the 4 of us. Shirts were between .50 and .90 cents. Jeans were $3.50. Button downs were about the same. You get the picture. Not only is the clothing cheap, but you can also get great deals on pearls (pink pearls are the specialty), software, DVD's and handicrafts. Erin and I bought so much "crap" that we had to buy another suitcase (got a great deal on that too) to get all of it to our next destination.

Aside from the shopping and restaurant outings (usually followed by ice cream or gelato), Sam and I managed to play 18 holes (here's something you usually don't see golfing)

and the girls have had their fair share of pedicures, massages and visits from the salwar kameez tailor.
I’ve also done a ton of reading while Erin scores 100% on her Sodoku daily and is now on chapter 2 of her ‘Learn to Speak Spanish’ book. It’s just what the doctor ordered. But the best part for us has been the ‘getting to know Sam and Heather’ aspect. They don’t have a TV (by design) so we’ve spent a lot of our evenings just talking about everything and anything. Sometimes it’s during a card game and sometimes it’s over tea, but every time it’s something new.

Thanks guys! We appreciate your hospitality and are ever grateful for your friendship. Here’s to our next vacation abroad. CHEERS! (as we clink our glasses and carefully look each other in the eyes).

Quick Facts:

Bangladesh has 147 million people in a country roughly the size of Iowa (the US has 298 million).
There are reportedly 600,000 rickshaws in Dhaka.

This country (from the list of ones that we’ve been to) by far takes the trophy for “worst driving”.
Heather and Erin went to the same high school together and Heather and I worked together for a short stint when I lived up in Lake Arrowhead. She is currently teaching 1^st grade at the American International School in Dhaka.

Sam is the Founder and CEO of bGlobal Sourcing which does Business Process Outsourcing for companies around the world. They are less than a year old but are already making a name for themselves, signing on new clients daily and expanding to a bigger office (Sam after a long day). If you ever need to create a website (amongst other things) be sure to check out http://www.bglobalsourcing.com/

FMP

"Same Same, But Different"

2006-03-31T21:24:00.000-08:00

We made our way to Mandalay via an overnight bus (more on that later) and visited the surrounding ancient cities. We met Jeff (an American currently living in Japan and teaching English) and shared a taxi for 2 days checking out Amarapura, Sagaing, Inwa, Mingun and Paleik. All interesting but I would have to say that the high light was our visit to Mandalay Hill to watch the sunset. We were joined by some of the local kids who were again, very eager to practice their English.

Many of the tourist sights around Myanmar include, "free of charge", children who are supposedly off from school for the summer. These "students" walk with you around the site and point out/explain the various points of interest. "I just want to practice my English" is the usual line, as they lend a helping hand up a step or run to grab branches from a tree for you to stand on so that you don't burn the bottoms of your feet (you must take off your shoes at all of the temples/pagodas and depending on the time that you arrive, the walkways can get blisteringly hot!). At the end of the "tour", they ask for some money to help with their "studies" and if you say "I'm sorry - no" they politely remind you that they just spent the last half hour carting you around. Giving or not giving is another post and I'll leave it to that.

My point is that the kids at Mandalay Hill were "actual" students. We were wary when they first approached us as the standard "What's your name?", "Where are you from?", "How long you stay in Myanmar?" hit us from all sides. But as they looked at their sheet of paper to ask us another question, we knew that something was different.

Their assignment was to go up to what looked like people that speak English and engage in casual conversation. Armed with a set of 100 questions or so, we ended up sitting down at the top of the sunset viewing platform with about 10 kids - going through their sheet, helping with pronunciation and just laughing. Great kids. After the sun went down, we were asked to meet their teacher.

The teacher (don't have his name committed to memory - sorry) was of course very nice and seemed to be very appreciative of the time that we spent with his students. Apparently, it's very rare that he gets Americans that visit the area so it was nice to hear the accent (vs. a French-English or German-English accent which is most common).

Quick side note as I step onto my soap box - Most stats that I have heard (and now seen) state that only about 20% of Americans own passports. Here's one page that I found that has some interesting links http://www.gyford.com/phil/writing/2003/01/31/how_many_america.php . Get out and see the world!! I'm not saying that Erin and I are pioneers (not even close as Europeans have always and continue to travel extensively throughout SE Asia) and that what we are doing is so right. What I'm saying is that there is more than just America. We are getting such a bad rap outside of our borders right now that more often that not, I say that I am from the Philippines (Erin sometimes says she is from Canada but only when approached by complete strangers - along those lines, Canadian backpackers often sew Canadian flag patches on their backpacks so that they are not mistaken as Americans). It's just easier to avoid the conversations about politics and Bush that can often follow the "Where are you from?" greeting.

I think that we are very much an insular country that has a very narrow understanding of how the rest of the world lives. That then leaves us with judgments that have been shaped by what we see on CNN (if that) which can be often wrong or guided by some sort of political agenda. I think that this is what is wrong with America(ns) today. We lack the ability to understand that people are different but more importantly to "let" people be different. A common saying throughout SE Asia is "Same Same, But Different". If that makes sense to you, then get out and see the world - so that you can experience and begin to understand AND accept our differences. I hope you'll find what we have - that by in large, people - regardless of race, religion, sexual preference or political affiliation - are truly peaceful, kind hearted, loving people. Children are a great reminder for this as they don't pre-judge people and often love unconditionally. So I'll step down now and get back to them.

The teacher was so excited to have American-English speakers that he asked us if we would visit his classroom the following evening. After a full day of sight seeing - Paleik (Snake Pagoda), U Bein's (world's longest teak bridge) and Sagaing Hill (we were lucky enough to catch a local festival celebrating a novice monk graduating to full fledged monk) - we ended the day by talking to the classroom about home and our travels, introduced them to Mr. Blues, played charades and word association games and just simply had a great evening. No sales job. No one asking for money, food or "Buy postcard? No sales today. You buy from me. Lucky money". Just people wanting to learn English and spend time with foreigners in their land. Thank you!

After Mandalay, we took a relaxing boat ride down the Aryeyarwady River to Bagan - temple central (42-sq-km plain dotted with some 3000 temples). Putting it bluntly, we're temple'd out! The sites were impressive but they've lost their "WOW-ability" factor on us. We've seen enough gold covered payas to last a lifetime (could be considered unfortunate but it's the truth). Here are some pictures nonetheless.

The last two places we stayed at in Bagan and Inle Lake (where life happens on the water) were well out of the traditional budget travelers monetary range but being on the road for 8 months now (what was the over/under line on that again?), has not calloused us but actually softened us. We gave in and stayed at 2 "nicer" hotels. Bagan's hotel had a swimming pool and the best buffet breakfast to date ($28 per night) and Inle Lake was right on the water with mountains as our backdrop ($35 per night). We've come to realize that we are NOT the hard core backpackers we were 10 years ago and the conversation for need of familiar amenities has been a frequent topic of discussion lately.

With that being said, we are off to Dhaka, Bangladesh today (4/2) to spend some time with Erin's high school friend and husband (Heather and Sam Bretzfield). After that...who knows. We may be going to Spain but with the loss of wind in our sails AND the fact that practically everyone we know is having or recently had a baby (making me think that we are ready - Erin has been;-) may cause us to pack it in and head home. We'll see. Since we're talking about kids (again), the children here are awesome! It's just that easy.

FMP

Dive! Dive! Dive! - Mergui Archipelago

2006-03-18T21:29:00.000-08:00

From Yangon, we hopped on a twin propeller plane to Kawthaung (Southern most town in Myanmar). This is the jumping point to the 4000 islands that make up the Mergui (Myeik) Archipelago. The flight runs once a week (Saturday) and since our live aboard did not depart until Sunday, we had one day to kill. Putting it nicely - there's absolutely NOTHING to do in Kawthaung. There are 3 "hotels" and the only reason that the town survives is because it is the place where foreigners from Thailand spend a couple of hours/dollars after jumping over the boarder only to re-enter Thailand 1 hour later with a new 30 day visa. Our $20 dollar room had no electricity until 6PM (we landed at 9AM) so with the heat, we both took at least 4 showers that day. We did have a nice view of the bay though and sunset that evening.

That night, we had about 8 boys who were apparently living on the streets surround us during dinner. We were the odd foreigners who actually stayed a day (vs. jumping in a long tail back to Thailand) so they were full of questions. Some of the questions were asking for food (not money) but like any kid, they just wanted to laugh and be loved. They got a huge kick out of my one and only card trick and were eager to learn the new hand shakes/high five combos that we taught them. Erin, bought dinner for them later and they scarfed down their meals like it was their first in days. They were all very appreciative and it just made us feel sad because all of them were good hearted boys. 3 of them walked us back to our hotel later and 2 of them made me walk in the middle with my arms draped over their shoulders as they danced, laughed and sang while passing the local karaoke lounge. Got on board the trimaran"Gaea" the following afternoon. Met Dave and Kat and the rest of the crew and were pleased to find out that we were the only 4 on the boat that week (usually caters 8 divers). The diving was first class and we were still able to see new things. A manta up close and personal on the first day,

followed by a leopard shark, 5 ft. bull shark, cuttle fish, octopus, new species of nudibranch, and stone fish - all firsts for us.

We also met Kuhn Penn who is the Gaea's newest crew member (saved him after his mom was taken - too cute) and even Mr. Blues got wet after being certified.

Thanks to Josh (and Jason) for taking great care of us over the week. And also to Captain Mee, Miss Taw, Aow Aow and Joe for the great food and nightly "game". Another unforgettable week! Dave and Kat - We'll see you at Sloshball 2006 if not the Galapagos first!

Back in Yangon for a day and half. Applied for my Bangladesh visa today and we are on an overnight bus (15 hours) heading north to Mandalay, Bagan and Inle Lake later today (3/20). The Internet is fairly new technology here so times between posts will be longer than usual. Thanks for checking in on us though!

EJP & FMP

P.S. - Our thoughts and prayers are with Dave, Wendi, CJ and families. We love you guys. Please know that we are thinking of you during this time.

Min-gala-ba from Myanmar

2006-03-18T02:35:00.000-08:00

Arrived in Yangon, Myanmar (Burma) on the 7th of March and could immediately tell that we were going to like this country. There is such a huge mix of ethnicities and everyone is extremely friendly. On more than one occasion, we have had complete strangers come up to us and ask, "Where are you from?", "How long have you been in Myanmar?" or "Where are you going?". More than any other place that we've been, locals really want to talk with us and welcome us to their country.

We spent 4 days in Yangon checking out the sights, meeting with travel agents to plan our next step, window shopping and just flat out relaxing (went to a hotel close by one day to use their gym/swimming pool facilities and then got a 1 hour massage for $7 - capped off the night by having cocktails at the Sakura Tower with views over the city and Shwedagon Pagoda followed by a movie (King Kong) for 800 kyat or 80 cents).

Like the Empire State Building and the Eiffel Tower, Yangon has the Shwedagon Pagoda. A 98 meter high stupa (bell shaped monument) at the heart of the city. We spent the day wandering the grounds and met a young monk eager to practice his English. Ottama (monk pictured with Shwedagon in the background) ended up giving us an in depth tour of the complex and then invited us back to his monastery for some soda and casual conversation. Just genuinely a very nice guy.

We walked around downtown the next day and had "high tea" at the up scale Strand Hotel. Lunch costs were similar to back home which is always a little shocking when you are used to paying 5000 kyat (1100 = $1 USD and is pronounced "chat") for a phat meal for 2. But we believe that it is nice (and necessary for us to survive) to mix it up every now and then vs. eating at food stalls every meal. After tea, we stopped at Mahabandoola Garden and played with these kids who were totally into me taking their pictures. After I said "O.K." they would run over so that they could look into the display to see their faces. Then they run back in front of me to pose again. The make-up on their faces is called Thanakha which serves as a skin moisturizer and helps to keep them cool. You see many kids and adults using it throughout the country. I'll try to get a better picture of the men in their "pa soe" or "longyi" which is also very common here (picture of a bicycle taxi driver wearing one and above - the guy next to Ottama - at the end of the day we would call it a skirt). Myanmar is one of the few countries in Southeast Asia where Western style clothing has not completely taken over. I guess that's why we like it. It's so different and culturally diverse with a wide array of looks and ethnic backgrounds and everyone (at least to us) has been nothing but smiles.

FMP

Recap - Hua Hin

2006-03-09T22:51:00.000-08:00

We've been in Myanmar for 2 weeks now but before we give you the low down (next post), let me rewind quickly to Thailand and Hua Hin. Erin flew into Bangkok on March 2nd. I ran up there that night and as big as Koh San Road is (or Bangkok for that matter), I still managed to run into Carl (host of Malapascua Cribs) and Sandra who we traveled with briefly in the Philippines (insert small world quote here). I surprised Erin by planning breakfast with them the following morning and after bidding each other "Until next time" we headed down to Hua Hin. Wind had already been blowing consistently for the last week and dudes - I'm a kite boarder now! I guess after 3 weeks of doing nothing else... Thanks to all the transients and crew at KBA - Eran, Wan, Peter (a.k.a. - Spiderman), Sammy, Todd and Nung (a.k.a. - De-Power Ranger).

Whether it was beach bowling, volleyball or football while waiting for the wind, or Nirvana, Same Same or Hilton Bar or giving me tips on how to finally go up wind - my 3 weeks there was unforgettable.

May the wind be always blowing cross on-shore! Here are pics of the rest of the long term transients that were there during my stint and Erin and Marie on their horses in between 200 Baht an hour massages. I'm sure I'll see you guys again kiting on another beach or wide open snow field.

FMP

We're still alive!

2006-03-05T20:19:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone!
Nothing much to report. I re-joined Miles on March 1st in Bangkok, Thailand. We immediately headed back down to Hua Hin so Miles could get in a little more kite boarding. He's really starting to pick up the sport! He purchased his own kite board gear and is looking forward to doing some more of the sport when we return home. We are currently back in Bangkok and will catch a flight tomorrow to Yangon, Myanmar (formally Burma). We plan to stay in Myanmar for 1 month. We will be doing some more diving there aboard another live-a-board dive boat, so we are really looking forward to that. Then we will be heading to Bangladesh on April 2nd to visit with a friend of mine that lives there with her husband. And after that who knows? The funds are starting to dwindle, but we did just get a refund from our taxes so we may be able to last for a little while longer. Sorry there's no real news to report or great photos to post, but it had been so long since we last posted anything I thought it would be a good idea to let you know we are still out here! I'm sure Miles will get on in a few days and post something a little more exciting! For now I'm off to do some shopping in Bangkok! Hope you are all well!
Sending lots of love, Erin

No Wind in Hua Hin

2006-02-13T08:04:00.000-08:00

Not too much to report. I've been in Hua Hin (about 3 hours south of Bangkok by bus) for almost a week now. I did some research about kite boarding in Thailand and this place came up. I didn't know what to expect but this is what I found - basically every retired, Speedo wearin', burnt European in the world is here. Nothing against burnt Europeans...it's just that I thought I was in Thailand. There is a beautiful, long white sand beach but unfortunately it's accompanied by high rises that line the entire 3KM stretch so I would have to say that this is not my idea of an island get away.

The only reason that I've stuck around this long is because I pulled the trigger and bought a kite board set up. Wind was good the first 2 days but the kite hasn't seen the light of day for the past four. Here's the routine: Get up, have breakfast, walk down to the beach, sit and wait for wind, have lunch, sit and wait for wind, sit and wait for wind, get up, walk home, have dinner, get ice cream, go to the Internet cafe, go home, go to bed. The only other excitement that I've had is when I went for a swim to get some exercise and got stung by a jelly fish on my stomach. Burned like hell for about 4 hours (felt feverish too) but I think the pain was lessened somewhat by the local food stall lady who immediately doused me with vinegar and aloe when I came out of the water. Nice lady.

I feel like someone is trying to tell me something. Here are some pictures of monks (I know - totally random) and below that is the latest from Chris on Cindy. Please think of her today and send her your best wishes for the Happiest of Valentines Day.

FMP

The doctors have decided to be more aggressive with Cindy's pancreaticcondition. They have kept her in the hospital for at least a few more days. On Tuesday (Valentines Day) they have her scheduled to be taken to the Kaiser Hospital in Anaheim for a special procedure that only that particular hospital can perform.

The procedure will drain the pseudo cyst and the pancreas of as much of their collected fluids as possible. SO they seem to have turned a corner in their approach to this condition. I expect Cindy to be in terrible pain because every time they have disturbed the pancreas, so far, the pancreas has kicked back. We'll find out. In some ways Cindy is like the pregnant mother who at the end just wants the baby out! Cindy wants this to be over!

The last few days have been good for us. Erin has once a gain returned from her trip and has spent 5 days here with us. She is so thoughtful and helpful. Erin is really a sweet kid, you know? I am very proud of her and I thank Miles for making his sacrifice to allow her to come here!

Please keep Tuesday in prayer for the doctors and Cindy.

Thanks,
Chris

It's been 6 months...

2006-02-06T23:57:00.000-08:00

...on the road and time for a quick recap. But first, 2 confessions. I have read some other travel blogs and thought to myself, "This person needs to take a writing course or 7" or "This guy has gotta be 12 years old" or "Who writes this crap? Can this be real?" The thoughts that the author is trying to convey is done in such a manner that it either sounds like a 2 year old wrote it OR the author is trying too hard to sound like a published writer (using big words and what not) which in turn makes it all sound like crap. Then I went back and read our blog and realized that ours is a combination of both. No offense to any of you other "writers" but there is a reason why authors get paid to do what they do and I am unemployed in Bangkok right now.

Second - The 6 months have been awesome to say the least but I think I'm getting burned out. Maybe it's time to come home. That's all I have to say about that.

Review of where we've been in chronological order: Guam, Chuuk, Yap, Palau, Japan,

China, Vietnam (Erin went back home), Philippines, Vietnam (only for 4 days), Cambodia and now Thailand.

This is my 4th time in Bangkok (once with the family when I was younger, once with Erin in 1996, once for a wedding in 2001 and this time). It seems like no matter where you go in Southeast Asia, you inevitably end up in Bangkok. We took a long (13 hours) and bumpy ride from Siem Reap to Bangkok and had our first flat while taking public transportation. We consider ourselves very lucky in this category as we've heard some horror stories from other's in the past.

Erin has gone home again to attend her annual mandatory training for Southwest and I will spend the next 3 weeks looking for a place to kite board in Thailand. That's the plan for now at least as I was hoping to go trekking in Nepal while she was home but the state of affairs are currently more unstable than usual at the moment. Then I looked into snowboarding in India but the 5 day wait for a visa (not including weekends) and price of a round trip ticket was not worth it. Things could be worse.

Thought you might be interested in what I have been carrying around for the past 6 months. Everything here is what I left with except the articles that I have marked with an "*" which was picked up on the way. Starting from the top left corner and zig zagging my way through: Back pack, 2 pair of convertible pants, jeans, 2 pair of lightweight "comfortable" pants, 4 pair of underwear, 2 long sleeve shirts for warmth and 1 long sleeve shirt for "going out", 5 short sleeve tees (1 given as a gift in Japan), 1 sarong (essential!), 1 soft shell jacket, 1 rain jacket, 2 knitted hats, 1 pair of gloves, 1 belt, 1 mask & snorkel, swimming goggles, 2 Tupperware holding 4 months of diabetic supplies, glucose meter and frio wallets (keep insulin cool), 3 pair of board shorts, day pack, 5 pair of socks, 1 converter, 1 speaker for ipod, 1 ipod (essential!), underwater camera case, 1 headlamp(essential!), 1 non-battery powered flashlight*(given as x-mas present in the Philippines) , 1 USB headset* (great for talking on skype or google talk), headphones, sunglasses, handheld fan*, multipurpose knife* (essential & given to me as a gift from my Tito Manuel in the Philippines when he remembered that my leatherman was stolen in China), playing cards, Lonely Planet guide book and leisure book, toiletry bag, bandanna (essential), silk sleeping sack, travel pouch, pen, calculator* (essential for doing your conversions!), passport, wallet with credit cards, local & U.S. cash, sun hat, rain fly for back pack, rope (great for drying the laundry you just did), Mr. Blues, Tupperware to hold electronic "stuff", 1 pair of athletic shoes, 1 pair of tevas and 1 pair of flip flops.

FMP - Painting found on the infamous Koh San Road

This just in...Miles Parroco named HUSBAND OF THE YEAR!!!

2006-02-02T23:51:00.000-08:00

Well, for those of you that don't know, not only is February 2nd Ground Hog's Day, but it also happens to be my birthday!! I turned the BIG 2-9! My last year in my 20's. ): Anyhow, I just had to make a special post to tell you just how wonderful my Miles is! So, here is what happened...
On the morning of February 1st I woke up casually and as usual Miles was already up and running. He said he was going to head down stairs to see if Paco, AnnCe' or Dennis (a Canadian guy we've been traveling with) were up yet. He was gone for about 10 minutes or so. I got dressed and ready for the day. He came back and said no one was up. I told him I was ready to go to breakfast, but he said he needed a few more minutes. Then he started complaining of stomach cramps and saying he didn't feel so well. (Not an unusual occurrence in this part of the world.) Then I heard a knock at the door and it was AnnCe'. She said she just got up and wondered if we'd eaten yet. I was more than ready to eat, as usual, and said, "let's go!". Miles said his stomach hurt too much and that he would stay behind. So AnnCe' and I headed off to breakfast.

AnnCe' told me that she met some French girl at the temples yesterday and the girl had some information on volunteering in Cambodia. So, she asked if we could stop by her hotel and talk to her after breakfast. I said, "sure, no problem!" After breakfast we walked over to the hotel. When we walked in I was thinking, "Wow! This place is really nice! What kind of back packer is staying here?" The man in the lobby asked if he could help us and I told him we were here to see a friend. AnnCe' said she forgot what room number and went to the front desk to ask. I just took a seat in the waiting area and admired my surroundings. Then the hotel lady asked us to follow her to the room. As we were walking AnnCe' turned to me and said, "This place is really nice, huh?" I said, "Yeah! It's like a mini oasis!". The grounds were so beautiful. There were little bungalows everywhere and lots of tropical plants, but it was all very nice, very not our budget! On the way to the room we passed by a pool. I've been wanting to go swimming for several days now and was already making plans in my head to ask how much they would charge me to spend the day at their pool! Once we got to the room the lady said go ahead and opened the door. I thought, "what is she doing?! This isn't our room, we can't just walk in!" Then AnnCe' opened the door a little and gave a little knock. I said, "AnnCe', you can't just walk in, what if she's not there?" Next thing I know I hear this horrible French accent calling, "Bonjour! Bonjour! Come in!" I was thinking, "that's strange, that voice sounds a lot like Miles." Then we walked in and I was hit with a wave of jealousy! The room smelled wonderful and looked so clean and fresh! Then I looked at the ground and saw Miles flip flops by the bed and my back pack under the bed! I said, "Miles what's going on?!" He burst out of the bathroom and said, "What?!! How did you know I was here?!" I said, "I can see my back pack under the bed!"
Anyhow, long story short (too late) I got to stay in the most heavenly room for 2 days! I had air conditioning, a hot water shower, a clean bed, comfortable pillows and a pool! I stayed by the pool all day! It was wonderful! Thank you Miles for knowing me so well! It's just what I needed! Also, thanks for being such a good liar AnnCe', you really helped pull it off!

The next morning (my actual birthday) Miles woke me up at 8:30 and told me to start getting ready for the day. I kept asking questions like, "should I wear my tennis shoes today?" The response, "just dress comfortable". "Do I need to put on some sun block?" The response, "just dress comfortable." So, I gave up trying to figure out what was going on and I just dressed comfortably. Then we had breakfast and while we were eating Paco and AnnCe' showed up. Of course they came smiling, saying their happy birthdays and giving me lots of kisses! Silly French girls! After breakfast Miles flagged down a tuk-tuk and we all got in...all except Miles. I said, "what?! You're not coming?!" He said no and waved goodbye.

A few minutes later we arrived in the main part of town. Paco and AnnCe' covered my eyes and led me down the street. When I opened my eyes we were standing in a Spa! Miles had arranged for a girls day at the Spa! Our visit started off with a nice cup of tea while our feet were washed in warm water full of tropical flowers! Then we had to pick out a fragrance for our massage and a body scrub. We each had a full body scrub, a full body massage and a facial! It was wonderful! Then we all went to lunch together, including Dennis. By the way, it was Dennis' birthday too! Poor guy...no one to spoil him, but we did our best (a few beers, a hammock and a t-shirt). After lunch Paco and AnnCe' took me to the beauty salon in the market for a manicure and pedicure! It was such an amazing day! I'll never forget it!

(the beautiful foot bath and the girls modeling our complimentary panties!)

So, I just wanted to brag about what a wonderful husband I have! He deserves a little public praise! And I wanted to thank Miles, Paco, AnnCe' and Dennis for making my birthday so memorable! Also, thanks to everyone back home for all the birthday e-mails and electronic greeting cards! I feel so loved! I wish you all the best! Hugs, Erin

Siem Reap - Angkor W"H"AT!

2006-02-01T19:51:00.000-08:00

From Phnom Penh, we took a 5 hour bus ride north to the town of Battambang. Not too much to see but it was a nice break from the hustle and bustle of the "BIG" city. Spent 2 days there checking out the local temples and took a ride on the Bamboo train. 8 km's of uneven, bumpy, "single" railroad track that the farmers use to transport goods to the city. I mention single track because if you happen upon a "train" heading in your direction, you simply unload, lift up the platform, pull the axles and let the other train through. The ride was bumpy to say the least but it was a fun glimpse into local life and we were assured that this was smoother than any of the surrounding roads.

From Battambang, we took an 8 hour boat ride up the river to Siem Reap. Another scenic day as we wound our way lazily through riverside villages and farm land. It's currently dry season so the rivers are quite low. "How low are they!?" So low that we often bottomed out and the driver would have to gun the engine while two of the deck hands pushed us through with bamboo poles. We figured out quickly that this is why they told us "Any where between 5 to 7 hours." when we asked how long the ride was.

Siem Reap is the base to explore Angkor Wat and surrounding temples. We bought a 3 day pass and spent the first day exploring by bicycle (pedaled 17kms and got in well after dark). Erin and I figured we had enough of the bikes and did the big circuit (26kms) the next day by tuk-tuk. Erin opted out the 3rd day choosing the swimming pool over the saddle and I went back to Angkor Thom with the Frenchies by bike.

It's difficult to put the temples into words as any description would be a grave injustice. The next best thing are pictures but even then, you're unable to capture the size and beauty in it's full grandeur. My advice - Come and see them when you can!

Just for fun! - FMP

Cambodia Calling

2006-01-25T22:16:00.000-08:00

From Manila, we flew to Ho Chi Min City/Saigon on January 17th and entered Cambodia 3 days later. We traveled via the Mekong River and visited the floating markets,

crocodile farms, fish farms, and vermicelli noodle "factories" to name a few.

The highlight however was just cruising along the narrow waterways while viewing a day in the life of those who live along the river. I am certain that tourist boats run this route daily but nonetheless, the kids ran to the banks yelling "Hello" as if our boat was the first one that they have ever seen.

Vietnam is a country of natural beauty but as always, what makes a place worth coming back to (at least for me) are the people. We will be back!

After a series of buses, boats and tuk-tuks we managed to cross the border and make our way to Phnom Penh, Cambodia where we met up with Paco and AnneCe who we traveled with in China for a while. It is always great seeing familiar faces but it's even better when you love those faces.

Our days there were very interesting as our feelings and emotions went through a roller coaster ride. The first day of "sight seeing" was at the Killing Fields of Choeung Ek. A series of mass graves where the remains of 8985 people were exhumed in 1980. All of these men, women, children and infants were brutally exterminated by the Khmer Rouge between 1975 and 1978. As I walked around the Memorial Stupa ( a tall, clear glass panel showcase housing more than 8000 skulls) I asked myself how something like this could ever happen. When will we learn? Then I looked around and saw butterflies and tried to imagine how a place so peaceful, was once a place of horrors. How?
The graves are now empty pits and as I walked around them, homeless children came up to me and asked me if I wanted to take their pictures. "Sir. You take picture? Ready? 1-2-3 SMILE!" was their pitch in a perfect English accent. To those not aware of the routine, you take their photo for your scrap book (give it a label of authentic poor kid in Cambodia or something to that effect) and then pay them 4000 riels ($1 U.S.) for their "time". If you don't pay them, be prepared to be followed for the rest of the day as they hold out their hands repeating "You take picture, you pay me!" I don't mean to mock these children as they are trying to survive. I guess I'm trying to show that the effects of the Khmer Rouge are felt by these children and many many more 3 decades later. This was the first country that I have visited where the poverty really hit me in the face. One moment I'm enjoying the view as I eat by the riverside and drink a .75 cent beer and in the next moment, a 5 year old boy carrying an infant comes up to me asking for anything. Or a man in a wheel chair comes up to us and wants to know if we could buy him some pants or a shirt because everything has been stolen and all he has are the clothes on him and they are wet after having to wash them (Erin gave food and a shirt respectively). This may be their "schtick" but in either case, we are better off then them. Because of that, it has forced us to really examine our lives and ask what are we doing as we travel and in life in general? How are we contributing to make the world a better place?
After a few days of taking in the local sights and visiting the theater (traditional Cambodian dance/music and shadow puppetry)

AnneCe saw a flyer posted at one of the Internet cafes asking people to donate their time or money at their local orphanage. We all decided to donate our time. Erin and Paco actually did double duty that day as they visited a center that was affiliated with a restaurant that we ate at the night prior (tried to hit as many restaurants labeled "Dining for a Cause" as designated by the Lonely Planet guide book). AnneCe and I went to the S-21 museum that morning which was another gruesome reminder of the Khmer Rouge and Pol Pot Regime.
After lunch, we all went to the orphanage and spent the afternoon just playing, talking and laughing with the kids. It was a great day as it reminded us that even though this country (like many others) has a turbulent past, it is now healing starting with the kids and organizations such as The New Cambodia Children's Life Association and The Light House Orphanage. There is still much work to be done however, and if you have some time and can make a donation please go to www.lighthouseorphanage.org . We thank these children for showing us those things that are pure and for helping us to try and answer the questions that I think we all have.

FMP and Erin

Buses and Bancas and Tarsiers - OH MY!

2006-01-12T00:32:00.000-08:00

It's not easy getting around the Philippines. We've been in the motherland for exactly one month now and "unfortunately", we will be unable to visit all the places that we had originally planned to. It's not to say that the Philippines doesn't have a good public transportation system - in fact it's quite the opposite. Tricycles, bike taxis, car taxis, buses and jeepneys are only a moment away (our longest wait has been 30 mins). But it just takes a little longer to get from point A to point B. Actually it takes a lot longer.

Here's a typical example of why. We wait by the side of the road with our packs on and within seconds, a bus/jeepney pulls over. We yell out our destination and the conductor confirms with a raised brow as he climbs to the roof to stow our bags. We jump in and before we sit down, the conductor uses the coin peso in his hand to rap the metal railing twice. "Ping-ping" signals the driver that we are on board and just for confirmation he yells "Sige" (pronounced see-gay - Go ahead or OK). We squeeze into our seats and make 3 to the bench (even though the head rests indicate that the seat was designed for 2). From here, we hunker down for our 100KM ride. We go for 1 minute and the conductor hits the pole again - this time the "ping-ping" tells the driver to pull over as he has spotted another passenger. She has 4 huge sacks of rice to throw on top. They negotiate price, a couple of words are exchanged with pointing and 2 minutes later, we're on way...or so you think. Now the driver spots a waving passenger on the other side of the road so we pull over again. At home, this 60 mile ride might take 1.5 to 2 hours "depending on traffic" (in quotes because this is the most famous of sayings in Manila when asking how long it takes to get there) at most. But we quickly realize that we are not in Kansas anymore Toto (eng).

Our ride lasts for 4 hours! 4 hours of starting and stopping on a bouncing bench while losing feeling in your toes, inhaling diesel fumes, sun burning your left arm and leg and all the while, the rooster at your feet times his "cock a doodle doo" to just the moment before you get ready to nod off and hopefully pass the hours more quickly. Your eyes spring open and your head rights itself straight only to start the entire process again. But first you re-adjust your butt so that the other cheek can now tingle it's way to sleep. You see this throughout the Philippines. People line the road 50 meters apart waiting for the bus. Even though they can see their neighbor and probably already know that they are going the same way, they refuse to walk closer. On the other end, passengers expect to be let off right in front of their door. Never mind the fact that the bus just stopped 10 seconds earlier. Bus stops just don't exist!

Since Boracay, we've made our way to Cebu and now Bohol (including some surrounding islands) and in that time, we've taken almost every form of transportation available in the Philippines (just missing the caribou - water buffalo).

One day to Iloilo (where my mom was born) by air-con bus for an overnight. Got up the next day and tried to catch a flight to Cebu City but all were full (too close to the New Year). Improvising, we took a taxi to the pier and caught the 1 hour super ferry to the island of Negros (where my father was born). Next was a 2 hour bus ride from Bacolod to Cadiz only to find out that there were no bancas that day to the island that we wanted to go to (Bantayan). Recalibrating again, we took a 1.5 hour jeepney ride to Sagay followed by 20 minute tricycle ride to the pier in Sagay, followed by a 2 hour wait for the coast guard to clear the banca, followed by a wet and wavy 3 hour banca ride to Bantayan, and finally a 30 minute tricycle ride to the beachside town of Santa Fe (here's our beach side bungalow).

I realize that this sounds like a bitching session but that is not the intent what so ever as we are still having the time of our lives. It's simply meant to tell you why we feel that we have not covered as much ground as we have in other countries. Oh well, we'll just have to come back.

After a day in Bantayan, we jumped on another boat to the mainland of Cebu and made our way via tricycle, bus and banca to the island of Malapascua. We had a fantastic cottage/crib ($14 per night) over looking our private beach

and best of all met Carl and Sandra (2 more wonderful Swedes). We had great fun playing cards, dining by the beach, watching the sunset with a drink on the floating bar (pictured here behind the banca and us on it),

staying up way too late and just laughing as we got to know each other (seen here conducting our first annual ugly face contest). It was great meeting you guys and we'll look forward to meeting you again. Until next time!

Erin and I also did some of our best diving yet as we saw animals that we have never seen before. Thresher sharks (no photos as they don't stick around very long but we did see them and was impressed enough to dive the same spot again just in hopes to catch another glimpse),
mantis shrimp, tiny clear/fluorescent shrimp, soft corals,

different types of nudibranchs (colorful sea slugs)

and Erin's favorite - the sea horse and pygmy sea horse - are all things we have not seen before! This trip has been full of firsts and we just thank God for every day!

After 6 days on Malapascua, we traveled to Cebu City for the night and got up early the next morning to catch a 6:20 AM ferry to Tagbiliran on the island of Bohol. From there, we jumped on a tricycle to the town or Corella to see the Tarsiers (world's smallest primate). These guys are 3 to 5 inches tall (not including tail) and it goes with out saying (but we'll say it anyway) that they are the cutest little things.

Then we headed upstream to Nuts Huts which are cottages situated in a valley along the Loboc river. Great place to relax and explore the Chocolate Hills (brown during the "dry season" which is obviously not now) and National Park which we did the next day by motor bike. We also met up with Iddo and Orit who we met for 15 minutes in the small town of Songpan in China. It's a tiny world.

The weather was fantastic yet again for us (we always seem to get lucky when planning outdoor activities) as we spent the day cruising thru the country side, swimming at a natural spring pool (with rice paddies in the background), visiting local churches and just taking in the sites (even saw semi wild monkeys - free to roam but are fed by the locals).

We've made our way to Panglao which is a small island to the south of Bohol and have done more diving. Our place (Alona Tropic) is the most expensive place that we have stayed to date (1200 pesos or $24 U.S.) but it's right on the beach and has a pool (uncommon) on very nice grounds. It's still a cold water shower with a little salt, but what can you expect for $24 in a country that is consistently at 80% humidity and made up of 7100 islands.

I celebrated my 35th birthday (thank you well wishers!) on Panglao and it went like this - Woke up to a beautiful sun shiny morning and did 2 dives. We saw all of the usual suspects

but also saw/did more firsts. Schooling big mouth mackerel eating (feel free to stop the video after 45 seconds as I was so happy after seeing it - you can hear me rejoicing into my regulator -that I forgot to stop the camera)

frog fish (the oddest creature that we've seen - look for the eyes)

and dive #100! Then a swim in the hotel pool with mango shakes followed by a surprise dinner arranged by Erin on the beach under a starry moonlit sky while being serenaded by an acoustic guitar during the entire meal. She invited Iddo, Orit , Chris and Christina (dove with us that moring and seen here at our 2nd annual ugly face contest), ordered a cake and got what seemed like the entire restaurant staff to come out and sing happy birthday to me. Simply an UNFORGETTABLE day! Thanks babe.

Sorry for the long post but it's been a while since I could find some time and a good connection. Off to Vietnam/Saigon/Ho Chi Min City in a few days. On a final note Erin's mom is home! Here's the report from Chris:

"Cindy has been moved again. Kaiser has moved her to our home in Riverside!!! She will be here for a few weeks before they do the planned surgery. She will return to the hospital twice weekly for tests until then. We are very happy at this blessing for her and us. So we are thanking God for this blessing and praying that she will not have a relapse. Cindy is looking forward to getting her hair cut after all that time in the hospital. Thank God in your prayers tonight for this blessing and answer to prayer, and please continue to pray for her improvement. Thanks to all of you - Chris"

We love you Mom!

On the flip side - please send your thoughts/prayers/well wishes to my Lola (grand mother) who fell down last week and broke her other hip (almost one year to the date that she broke her other hip). She has already had it replaced with titanium and all reports are that she is doing well but it never hurts. Our thoughts and prayers also go out to Manong Jerry and the Aten family who took such good care of us when we were in Chuuk. Here's to a speedy recovery.

FMP and Rin-rin
P.S. - This is Butch. Yet another Pinoy goat-tee wearin' brethren!

Boracay (pronounced Boar-ah-kai)

2006-01-01T05:41:00.000-08:00

We made it to Boracay on the 27th without too much hassle (tried flying on the 26th but all flights were full) and have been lounging ever since. The beach is as beautiful as everyone before us has said with turquoise waters and blinding white sand that stretches forever. Our agenda on most days was swimming or kite boarding lessons in the morning

followed by mango shakes and more swimming in the afternoon. After watching the sunset

we would take a beach side stroll looking for a place to dine and then would cap the day off with either a one hour massage (for $7) or a stroll back to the hotel listening to the bands that plagued the strip. Life is hard!

Rang in the New Years with some friends that we met on Pandan island along with the locals.

The firework show was impressive. Check out the video (warning - it's about 3 mins long).

We hope you all had a wonderful holiday season. We've been on the road for 5 months now and feel very fortunate to be here. Obviously we are enjoying ourselves but at the same time, things are a little awkward as we feel guilty knowing that Erin's mom is not doing so well. We continue to ask that you send your positive thoughts/vibes/prayers to Cindy who is still battling her way towards recovery from pancreatitis. Here is the latest from Chris:

"Cindy got some bad news today - we seem to be doing a cha-cha, you know 2 steps forward and 3 steps back. The pseudo-cyst grew some over this last week and her temperature and white count is going up again and the MSRA (staph infection) is still very present and dangerous to those visiting. The doctor said it is even present in her perspiration. So any thing within 3 feet of her has a chance of being infected. So gloves and masks and robes are important. Sorry for the discouraging news but we are still trusting God to bring this to a successful conclusion."

We wish you all a happy and healthy 2006 and thanks for checking in on us!
Miles and Erin

P.S. - I found another one of my long lost cousins

I bet you didn't know...

2006-01-01T04:38:00.000-08:00

Hello friends and family!
Well, just thought I'd give you a "little known fact" about our travels. Most of you don't know that we have had a constant traveling companion with us since we left the States.
His name is Mr. Blues. (Seen here preparing for take-off!)

Mr. Blues is a teddy bear that belongs to this elementary school class in Concord, California.

My great friend Lori, who also happens to be the flight attendant that has taken on my flying schedule for the year (and therefore made this trip possible for me-thanks Lori!) told her mother of our traveling plans for the year. Lori's mom is the teacher of the class in Concord and asked if we would be willing to take their class bear Mr. Blues along with us. So, we agreed and have been sending postcards and photos of Mr. Blues back to the class as we go along. As it turns out, Mr. Blues' traveling adventures have become quite popular! He is not only being followed by the class, but now by the entire school and will soon appear in their school news letter. Miles and I are also hoping to publish a children's book about Mr. Blues when we get home. So, if you happen to know any publishers...We'd appreciate the contact!
Anyhow, here's a few photos of Mr. Blues.
Micronesia
Japan
China
Vietnam
Philippines
The guy's a real character! I mean once he starts talking you just can't get him to shut it!
Mr. Blues wishes you a Fantastic 2006!
*Hugs* EJP =)

Meeerrry NEW YEAR!

2005-12-27T04:45:00.000-08:00

We hope you all had a wonderful Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanza (and anything else that you celebrated). It's been a while since my last post but now that my love is back by my side, I find that I don't have as much time as I did in Vietnam to "waste" posting:) It's good to be whole again and have my better half back.

I arrived in Manila on 12/14 without too much hassle. I actually went to the airport in Saigon the day before but was rejected at the counter for one reason or another. It was too long ago for me to even bother and will spare you the details - bottom line, we both made it. As you may or may not know, Erin and I have come to the Philippines in the past but I always forget how well we are treated once we arrive in Manila. My Uncle Manuel (Parroco) sent his driver to pick me up and immediately brought us to where ever we needed to go. We always feel like royalty and so I just wanted to say thank you Tito Manuel and Tita Beth from the bottom of hearts. You have always been too kind to us and we hope to repay you sometime in the near future.

We only stayed for the day in Manila to take care of some house keeping issues. Mainly, extending our Philippine visa, obtaining a visa for our next port of entry (Vietnam), exchanging dollars for Pesos ($1 = 53 pesos) and making New Years reservations. Again, Tito Manuel and his connections came through and with one wave of his magic wand, he took care of everything (which is what allowed us to spend only one day in Manila).

We left the next day to dive the Apo Reef off the island of Mindoro. It was a combination of buses and boats that got us down to the smaller island of North Pandan (just off the west coast of Mindoro and the jump off point for Apo). Although we forgot how the public transportation system can work over here, we jumped "on" with both feet during our second bus ride of that day (this was just after a 2 hour mini-van ride from Manila which was packed to it's gills and a 2 hour ferry ride across to Mindoro). The bus was full when it arrived at the station upon first glance but as the locals began climbing to the roof, we followed suit.

Here's another example. The jeepney was actually more full before I could take this photo. I would say 20 passengers are missing as they jumped off to grab some food and use the facilities.

We had a good ride nonetheless and arrived at Pandan island 13 hours after leaving Manila that morning. Sometimes it's worth getting all of our travel time out of the way so that we can just throw our bags down and not have to worry about getting up the next morning. Pandan island was a great place to unwind and that's exactly what we did for the next 8 days. We read, dove, talked with fellow travelers and just soaked in the sun. Here are the pictures from our Bungalows and views from our veranda.

We also had the opportunity to charter a banca (local boat) with new found friends (Sofia and Henrik from Sweden) for a 2 day-1 night dive trip out to Apo Reef. Good people and great company as we did 6 dives out on the "protected" reef area. I quoted the last because all though this area is well patrolled, we did have one of our dives cut short after hearing (and even feeling) 3 blasts in a 5 minute time frame. The guide signaled us to surface and we immediately went to the Coast guard station in the area to log a complaint. The officer on duty assured us that it was not in the protected reef area that we were in (most likely, it was an hour away by boat which is out of their jurisdiction) but it was unnerving nonetheless and sad to know that dynamite fishing still happens on a regular basis in and around the islands.

The reef however, was full of life and it was great to be back in the water with all of the usual suspects. Check out the turtle video (he was about 2 meters in length) and be glad to know that we saw numerous sea turtles in the area which of course is a great sign that the reef is being well maintained.

We were reluctant to leave but looked forward to Christmas with the family. Sofia and Henrik joined us for the night and next day before splitting ways (we'll look forward to our next meeting in Sweden my friends) . Again, we are always spoiled once in Manila but this time it was from the Torre side of the family (my mom's side) . My cousin Ren picked us up from the bus terminal and beds were already prepared for the 4 of us. The next few days were spent relaxing and catching up with cousins, Aunts, Uncles and of course Lola - my 91 year old grandmother (shown here holding her hip bone which was replaced with titanium last year).

Although a little slower getting out of her seat, she is still sharp as ever! Many thanks to Tita Beth and Ren, Tita Carmen, Tito Art and family (especially Fritz, Sa-sa and Marlon for taking us out) Tito Jess and Tita Cynthia, Tito Jorge and family, Tita Judy Ann and family, Lola and everyone else that I failed to mention - for our gifts and making us feel at home for the holidays. So many years pass by between visits but it always feels as if we were here just yesterday. For that, we are ever grateful that you are our family and hope that we can do the same for you one day in the States. We love you all.

We arrived in Boracay today (after leaving Manila at 3:30AM followed by 2 bus rides and a banca ride) and will blog soon of the beach and New Years eve gala. Meerrrry New Year to all and thank you again to our family here that has taken such good care of us!

FMP and Rin-Rin(my Filipino name)

Your Attention Please: There's a WHITE girl on this plane!!!

2005-12-11T21:50:00.000-08:00

Mabuhay!

I am officially in Manila! I landed bright and early this morning at 5:30am on Monday December 12 (1:30pm on Sunday in the US). For those of you that don't know, December is the peak traveling season for the Philippines. Not only because of the holidays, but because it is the best weather of the year. It's still pretty warm here (enough to want AC), but they refer to it as winter and the "cold season", and coming from San Bruno that's sort of funny!

Anyhow, because December is so busy it makes flying stand-by a bit difficult. When I called the reservations desk on Friday morning to check how many people were booked to fly from SFO to Manila they told me that every flight from Friday to the middle of the week was over sold by at least 40 people. Translation: "you're not getting on the flight". So, I decided I better start trying for any and all flights right away, rather than sticking to my plan of leaving on Sunday. Amazingly it only took me two days of trying before I got on!

My white skin started drawing attention right away, even in San Francisco. Not only was I the only person in line for the flight with a backpack and without a balik bayan box (large box used specifically by Filipinos to bring lots of stuff to and from the Philippines - it's actually so popular that they sell colorfully designed carriers for the boxes), but I was the only white person without a Filipino escort. So, every Filipino within talking distance was trying to figure out what my story was. It started with the lady in front of me in the check-in line. As soon as I got in line with my big ol' back pack and no Filipino by my side she said, "Excuse me miss, this is the flight for Manila." "Thanks, I know."
And then the questions began...
Lady:"Why are you going to Manila?"
Me:"My husband is Filipino." (thinking this would stop the questions)
Lady: "Well, where is your husband?"
Me: "He's in Vietnam right now, I'm meeting him in Manila."
Lady: "Oh, is he in the military?"
Me: "No."
Lady: "Oh! He cannot get a US visa?"
Me: "No, he was born in the States."
And on and on it went. Pretty funny stuff!

So, now I'm at Miles' Tito (Uncle in Filipino) Manuel's house in Manila. The few times I've been exposed to Filipino family abroad I'm always treated just like a princess - literally. I was picked up by Tito Manuel's driver. He had a huge sign flying out the window with my name on it. Not that it was necessary as I was the only white girl for miles! Upon arrival at the house I was served breakfast by the staff and after a shower and a nap I've now been served lunch. Believe it or not, it's really hard to get used to. I try and make a game of clearing my dishes before they do, but they always win. Ah, life is rough!

I'm sorry, but I just have to tell you a quick Filipino accent story. It just happened and I'm cracking up. I'm trying to not let these things make me laugh because let's face it, it's rude and their English is much better than my Tagalog. But this just made me giggle. Bic-bic (yes that's her name) served me dessert and she told me it was Lychee flan. She said, "This is Lychee plan, at least that is the name in Tagalog. I don't know what you call it in English." I said, "We call it Lychee flan." She said, "Oh! Lychee plan!" "Yes, Lychee flan." If only all of Tagalog were that easy!

Well, Miles is due to arrive here at 7:00pm this evening. So, I'm sure you'll be hearing from us soon! There will be lots of pictures of family and beautiful beaches to post! I wish you all a wonderful holiday season! Merry Christmas!
Love, Erin

P.S. For those of you that are interested, here's an update on the status of my mom: She is still in the hospital and her status is quite literally day to day. She has the most severe case of pancreatitis that her doctor's have seen. Some days have been really bad and the doctor's talk seriously about a major surgery, and other days she seems to improve and they put the surgery on the back burner. (The surgery is very dangerous. Not only because she has a lot of infection inside her, but also because the surgery that they want to do is a six week process. She would go into surgery every day for six weeks and they just pick away the dead parts of her pancreas. Not fun.) Today she has been in the hospital for about 6 weeks and there is no definite release date in sight. Right now she is not improving or declining and I think the doctor's are going to reevaluate her situation on Tuesday. Eventually she will have to have her galbladder removed, but that's a ways down the road. The only thing we know for sure is that she has a long road to recovery ahead. She hasn't eaten anything since the end of October and gets all her calories via IV. She will not be able to eat solid foods for a long time, and cannot even have liquids until she's out of the hospital. I really enjoyed my time with her and am very thankful for it. Unfortunately I felt that I needed to continue on with our travels. I've discovered that Miles is my home, and it's hard to be away from home for very long. So, please continue to pray for her. Her condition is not a life or death situation, but it is so long and drawn out and painful. Also pray for my father as he has a lot on his plate. Thank you for all of your love and support and well wishes for my mother! I will let you know when her condition improves.

It's all Dalat AND a bag of chips!

2005-12-04T21:15:00.000-08:00

We made it to Dalat (once called Le Petit Paris) and enjoyed the cool weather and adventurous terrain that it had to offer. I went mountain biking and canyoning through a company called Phat Tyre ventures and had an absolute blast. Who would've "thunk" that I would do my first rappel in Vietnam.

But first, a quick recap on our accommodation. We stayed at the Dreams Hotel where a bed cost us $6 and it included an all you can eat breakfast buffet AND free internet access (it's the little things that keep a backpacker happy). We decided to stay an extra day doing nothing just for the breakfast! Fresh fruit (mangoes, dragon fruit, pineapple, papaya, banana, and water melon), coffee, tea, juice, freshly baked baguettes, cheese, yoghurt and eggs is what was included in the spread.

Top that with an incredibly nice owner (Yeung - One day she invited us to sit down and have lunch with her and her family as I was typing away - just an absolutely lovely woman) and hopefully you can see why we enjoyed our time there.

The mountain bike ride was difficult but well worth the pain (jumping on the bike to do 45KM with some serious steeps can hurt after being idle for 4 months) as we saw just about everything that day. Never have I been on a mountain bike ride where there was great single track through rice fields and luscious valleys

followed by views of coffee beans and broom bristles lining the road as they dry.

Add to that some climbing, fast descents, water crossings and village crossings (while kids chase you naked yelling "hellooo") and you have the recipe for one fine day.

We did have some casualties though as I went ahead of the guide who forgot to mention that a sharp right was coming up at the bottom of the hill. By the time he said "STOP", it was too late. I jammed on the brakes but my momentum carried me over the handle bars and into the river. I landed on my feet but my camera was in my pocket. Miraculously, it dried out and after some minor surgery, it's actually working better than before. The other was your standard flat tires. The trucks tire burst about 25 yards from us and scared the be-jesus out of me!

Got up the next day and went canyoning which is essentially trekking down a river. You walk on trails when you can but when it disappears, you wade, swim or just slide your way down. When you get to the top of a waterfall, you rappel or jump.

We did 4 rappells with that last one affectionately called the "washing machine". I'll let the pictures do the rest of the talking.

Currently in a beach/fishing town called Mui Ne and and have been taking kite boarding lessons. Wind is relatively consistent here so it's kind of a Mecca for the sport in SE Asia. If I wasn't doing that, then wasting the days away on the beach or in the courtyard of our beach side cottages was our other "activity".

Graduated past the training kite (only broke one:) and got thrown pretty hard yesterday but feel confident to hopefully don the board in the near future(no wind the last 2 days) Leaving on a bus for Ho Chi Min City (Saigon) this afternoon where I only plan to spend the day before jumping on the plane on 12/13 to meet up with my honey in Manila. Until Next time!

FMP

PS - Here's something you don't see every day.

"No more yankee my wankee! The Donger need food!"

2005-11-30T20:45:00.000-08:00

Just in case you were wondering, this is what 2 million Dong looks like. Here's a close up "Uncle Ho" followed by a potrait and live version of me in 70 years.

I've made my way down the coast to Nha Trang in central Vietnam. Since my last post, we left Hue (once the capital) after 3 days and drizzly weather. It was low key as Christian (the guy that I have been traveling with since Hanoi) was under the weather during all of our time there. He went to the local hospital in order to rule out malaria (diagnosed with your run of the mill flu later) and let me just say that depending where you are in Asia, it's wise to do everything possible to avoid getting sick. Here's a picture of our toilet in our hotel in Hue followed by a picture of the hospital's "amenities".

We did a boat tour on the Perfume River which brought us by a number of kings tombs and pagodas.

Toured the Citadel which is Vietnam's version of the forbidden city and then jumped on the bus for a 5 hour bus ride to Hoi An (skipped the DMZ as I couldn't be bothered to walk around the tunnels/fields all day in the rain).

Hoi An is a lovely city (you were absolutely right Mizay) oozing with charm in a cozy and intimate colonial setting by the river (beach is 4KM away). Shopping is on the agenda for most and many come to get tailored made clothes/shoes. Christian got a suit and 3 shirts made for $85. For anyone looking to get clothes made, I would highly recommend Hoi An versus Thailand or Hong Kong per say, as the prices are right and accommodation at a 4 star hotel with all of the modern amenities will run you as little as $25 per night. Since Erin wasn't with me, I just took in the sights and will wait to come back with her in the future to go on our shopping spree.

We rented motorbikes for 2 days and visited the cham ruins of My Son

as well as rode up the coast to China Beach. This is supposedly the place where American soldiers were helicoptered into for some R & R during the war. We had the entire beach to ourselves (minus some military "life guards" and occassional fishermen) and even had sun (thank goodness as it had been almost a week since seeing a full day of sun).

The surf was mush otherwise insert photo of me ripping down a double overhead barrel here.

Stayed the night at Hoa's place who is a local legend in the area and then rode back the next afternoon before heading for Nha Trang on another painful overnight bus. The rain has been with us all day today so we are going to leave tomorrow (no sense in staying in a beach town when the weather sucks) and will head inland for the hills to Dalat. We'll try to get some proper mountain biking in as well as a tour with the Easy Riders. Stay tuned.

Vietnam has been absolutely wonderful! For me, regardless of the country that I am in, it's the people that make it tic. The scenery can be gorgeous, but if the people aren't friendly.... For instance, walking home from dinner the other night, Christian and I were invited off the street and into a house where we were promptly offered rice wine (this stuff was strong - after our host poured some into a small tea cup, he put some in his lighter just prior to using it to light his smoke:) We sang and clapped to "some" song as the host strummed his guitar and filled our cups numerous times. This would never happen at home (I know that I wouldn't feel comfortable inviting 2 guys off the street and into my house:(

Everything for the most part has been going my way. It sucks not having Erin but she is doing something much more important AND Vietnam will be here for us next time. Actually, our plan from the Philippines is to fly back to Saigon when we'll do the south together before heading into Cambodia.

FMP

Here are some of the many colorful faces and scenes found all over Vietnam.

Happy Gobble Gobble Day!

2005-11-24T01:52:00.000-08:00

I don't have much to be thankful for so I plan on doing the following. Since it is 11/24 here, I'll tempt fate by downing a huge bowl of bird flu infested pho. Should I survive to see 11/25, I will do the same tomorrow being that it is Turkey day back home. If all goes well, I'll blog back stating that I am so thankful to be alive!

COME ON! (which literally translates into "ThankYou" in Vietnamese - although spelled differently). I have everything to be thankful for. For starters, I am in the old capital of Hue (pronounced who-a) in Central Vietnam and was able to speak to Erin this evening. Most of the internet cafes in China had headsets with microphones hooked up to the computers so Erin and I were able to speak live to each other via google talk once we split in Nanning. Since crossing the border however, I have not been as lucky. We basically have been reduced to cross each other's paths in cyber space via "old fashioned" email. After wandering around town this afternoon, I saw this cafe which had the headset and hoped to find Erin on line. Not only was I able to talk to her but her sister Shay was there and then my sister Jenn got online in Northern California so I talked to her and my mom too. Oh happy day! Always great to hear from home. Much different than the last time we traveled in 1996. So much so that my family doesn't even feel as if we have been gone for 4 months as we communicate via email often. Aahhh...the joys of modern technology. Speaking of which, the engineering of the rice fields in Sapa (just left there)is pretty awesome if you ask me.

And here is a photo of a house that was built with a slight elevation so that they could put these beer bottles in between the concrete slab and the base of the house so that sunlight captured by the bottles is then transferred inside.)

Back to other good news - Erin's mother Cindy is making progress. Here is the report from my father in-law Chris:
"Today, Cindy got some positive action with her case. One of the Doctors took the lead to be assertive about her care. Wednesday morning Cindy was taken to have an MRI to determine once and for all if she has gall-stones. He said in 80% of cases of pancreatitis the gall bladder is the cause. Long story short - They found stones in her gall bladder and have treated the pancreas by implanting a stint (plastic tube) to allow the pancreatic fluid to drain into the intestine and the hope is that it will also drain the cyst and the infection that is there.Long term recovery is 12-18 months, gall bladder removal sometime in that period.She is encouraged by the support and prayers she knows are going for her.Thanks, Chris and Cindy Jensen."

Please keep her in your thoughts and I am sending my well wishes to her and all of you for a safe and happy holiday.

Other things I am thankful for - Nice rooms in a hotel for $4-Phat fresh meals for under $3-Internet time for .40 cents per hour-Beer for .75 cents (tall bottles and less for draught) and finally,I am thankful that I still snicker everytime someone says Dong - Thanks Mark:)

From Hanoi, I went via overnight train on a hard sleeper to Sapa. In the northwest of Vietnam, it is known for it's ethnic minorities and trekking.

I did a 2 day trek through the rice fields and valley and spent the night in the small village of Ban Ho. The weather was not the best but at least it didn't rain. The family that we stayed with was very nice and the dinner that evening was ridiculously gluttonous. It was nice to get the heart pumping again and the contrast in cultures is always eye opening. It's a hard life that most of these villagers lead (compared to our standards) but yet they still have the ability to smile and laugh each and every day. Here are some of the kids and my accomodations for the night with a view from the balcony.

When we got back on the second day, we booked our train tickets for the night train back to Hanoi. It left at 9PM and got us into Hanoi at 5AM. The rest of that day was spent looking for breakfast at 7AM (another killer bowl of pho on the side of the road for 5000 Dong or 33 cents),

window shopping for Erin, taking in the sights

and playing "Look for the woman with the cone shaped hat".

All of this was in an effort to kill time before we jumped on the night bus to Hue. It left at 7PM last night and got in this morning 12 hours later. I can't do this shit any more. I look around and all the backpackers are in there early 20's! They get up all bright eyed and bushy tailed while I look for my teeth and try to work the kinks out of my lower back after 4 hours of sleep.

It was a down day today as it was raining but I plan on touring the DMZ fields tomorrow and the Old Citadel the day after before heading on to Hoi An.

Save some turkey for me!

FMP

Good Morning VIETNAM!!!

2005-11-20T01:48:00.000-08:00

Left Nanning on the 15th and needless to say, it was a lonely couple of days without Erin. There was nothing (in my estimation) to do in or around Nanning as it was just another Chinese city. I felt like such a loser walking around town, eating by myself, barely saying 3 words over the course of the day. That being said, I did have an interesting incident happen on the day that I went to pick up my passport at the Vietnam Consulate (Monday the 14th). If you'll remember on my last post, I could not find a Vietnam Lonely Planet guide book in China. I knew that I wanted to get from Nanning to Hanoi, but I was not too sure how that was all going to transpire. When I went to the consulate, my visa/passport was not ready yet and they told me to come back at 6pm. I decided to sit and read there and as I sat down, I noticed that they had a Southeast Asia Lonely Planet in their office which included Vietnam. I asked if I could browse through it and then it dawned on me to ask them if I could buy it. They said no and followed in broken English with, "Someone loose it." I took that as someone lost it and it was now their copy that they were unwilling to sell to me. I sat down again to read it and then thought, "Well, let me ask them if I can make photo copies of the Vietnam section". I asked them if they had a copier in the office and they said no. Then I asked them if I could take it to make some copies and then bring it back when I came back at 6 for my passport. They said yes and I walked out the door, made the copies and came back 2 hours later at 5pm and gave them the book. 6:00 came around and people started rushing the window from all sides (Chinese protocol when "lining up" for something). As I let the masses squabble, I noticed that there was this one "Westerner" in amongst the cattle. I made a brief mental note as most Westerners don't usually bum rush the show and then continued to read my book. 10 seconds later, that same guy came up to me and said "Did you take my "F" ing book (in his British accent)? I said "Excuse me?" "Did you take my F-ing book? The guys over there said you took it." " Whoa" I said. "There must have been some misunderstanding because I asked them if I could take it to make some photo copies and they said yes." Then he went on to drop more "F" bombs saying that he had been all over town looking for it and spent 40 Yuan doing that. I apologized but he just continued to be an ass. So I killed him...just kidding. I told him that there was a misunderstanding and I would be more than happy to pay the $5 but that there was no reason for him to act like that. "You'll loose every time." was my last sentence and I looked at him and said in way to let him know that he may be going a little too far. Now, I am a lover- not fighter but the adrenaline was pumping and I had a little time to process things as I was caught off guard. I was going for my wallet and with that said, he replied, "Ahhh, forget it." and walked out. I would like to think that he was intimidated by my look/words as he was a smaller "bloke", but more than likely, he couldn't be bothered. I don't know what compelled me to post this. It's just that it was so out of the blue (the entire incident lasted 45 seconds or so). And I remember thinking after I made the copies, how good of a day it was and that if you have faith in the cosmic forces that be, all things will work themselves out. Then that happened. I spent the the next several hours playing the scenario through my head and thinking to myself what I should have done or said. I hate it when that happens. I was so miffed at myself for not just kicking his ass:) that I even had a hard time falling to sleep. Oh well. I guess what I really want to say is please don't let that be you and F him.

Crossed the border the next day without incident and met a very nice couple from Singapore on the train (we chatted to help time pass) and a Vietnamese cardiologist from Na Trang who I ended up sharing a short taxi ride with to the actual border patrol station. He gave me his contact info. and told me to contact him when I get to Na Trang. NICE! Vietnam was already showing some of it's colors. From the border, I met up with every Westerner that was on that train (7 of us) and with strength in numbers, we negotiated our rides to the train station (got beat up on the first Vietnamese transaction - as to be expected) and then made our way to Hanoi. Since then, I have traveled with this group (in various forms) around Hanoi,

Halong Bay

and now Sapa (the local market, spirits and indigenous hill tribe kids).

I'm traveling with a guy by the name of Christian now who is from Germany. We took the night train up last night from Hanoi
and we'll hike around the local villages around Sapa over the next few days. Vietnam has been good to me as food, beer and accommodation are cheap (here we are eating on the side of a road in downtown Hanoi - The vendor carries everything that she needs to make a fresh bowl of Pho right in front of you including plates and seats!),
the people are nice and the haggling has been kept to a minimum (got beat up a little on our Halong Bay cruise ship for 3 days and 2 nights but it's a small price to pay when I look at the fun that I had and the location that surrounded me.) Still getting used to the money as it was weird withdrawing 2,000,000 Dong(that's million BTW) from the ATM the other day (16,000 Dong = $1)

Thanks for all the positive thoughts that have been sent to Erin and her mom and please keep them coming. As the Beatles said - "All you need is love".

FMP
Parting shot - Ho Chi Min reincarnated?

A few words from Erin!

2005-11-16T07:36:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone!

I've been letting Miles do most of the talking for us as we travel and now I feel as though I'm over due for a post!

First off, a special note to the men out there: if you ever want to score major points with your lady, just create a website for your friends and family to see and say great things about your lady and at the end tell her you love her! Seriously, it's magic! Because right now all I can say is, "How great is Miles?". And for those of you that know Miles well, you know this question can only arise a few times a year and even that is generous! (Just kidding babe!) All kidding aside, I can only reciprocate Miles' sentiments. Our travels have really brought us closer and reminded me why he is my absolute best friend and my partner in life forever! Miles truly helped me get through China. Unfortunately my experience there was more heavily influenced by the rude people and dirty conditions than it was by the handful of kind people and beautiful scenery. So, having someone to lift my spirits and get me to look at it all in different ways was essential for my survival.

I also wanted to add a post because I have a more personal update to share with you. I found out about a week and half ago that my mother is quite ill and had been hospitalized. She was diagnosed with pancreatitis and colitis. Thankfully she is doing better right now and out of the hospital, but she is still on an IV and a strict liquid diet and in a lot of pain. Family and friends have come together to try and help my father with the task of taking care of my mother while working and tending to my younger sister. So, after some serious prayer I felt that it was a good idea for me to head back to the States to help take care of my mother for a couple of weeks. After a few days of struggling to get a flight out of Shanghai, I finally made it safely to San Francisco. I will be flying down to Southern California tomorrow (11/17) and intend on surprising my mom. Hopefully my unannounced visit will lift her spirits and be a big help! So, just in case you were thinking about calling me over at my parent's house, please don't do it until Friday (11/18) as I don't want to ruin the surprise!

In the mean time my Miles is traveling all alone in Vietnam! )= Last I heard from him he is safe in Hanoi and has picked up with some fellow travelers. Miles and I plan to meet up with each other in the Philippines sometime in December, but you never know...plans always change!

I just wanted to thank all of you that have left comments on the blog and communicated with us via e-mail. You'll never know how much we cherish a few silly words on the internet! So, as Miles is out there alone right now please be sure to keep in contact with him. It really means a lot to both of us!

I wish you all the best and a Happy Thanksgiving just around the corner!
Sending much love, Erin

China's Many Faces - Final Thoughts and Postcard Shots

2005-11-13T04:02:00.000-08:00

Only a day since our last post but there's not too much to do in Nanning. Since we hit the Vietnam Consulate on Friday, we're stuck here over the weekend so I figured I'd take the time to sum up some of our thoughts.

It was a month of ups and downs. From cab drivers refusing to take our fares in Beijing to a complete stranger introducing herself in the middle of the street, handing us fruit as a good will gesture and welcoming us to her city just last night. Seeing the many faces that China had to offer, we've realized that it is just like many countries across the world. It has its own little nuances that are strange to foreigners, but that is why WE are called foreigners. Speaking of which, the country is relatively young in the tourist industry and therefore it's people are still unfamiliar with seeing white people in certain provinces. In Yangshou for instance, Erin had to adjust to people stopping her in the middle of the street requesting that they have their photo taken with her - this did not happen just once either.
It has it's poor areas surrounded by modernization. It has it's rude people and it's genuinely kind hearted people. It had it's hard side
and it had it's more humorous side.
In short, you can never categorize an entire nation when running through it for one month. Yes we had SOME difficult times but these were OUR expirences. We spoke with many others who were totally enamored of the country a majority of the time and were on their 3rd go around of visiting - this was THEIR expirience. We are thankful for our expiriences and the different faces and consider ourseleves lucky to have had the opportunity.

Some of the different modes of transportation that we expireienced - Sleeper train, soft seat train, bikes, sleeper buses, horse and boat.

Also, I am extremely thankful for Erin and our relationship. I can honestly say that we have not had any knock 'em out - drag down fights. When you spend 24/7 (figuratively AND literally) with someone in a foreign country and you find yourself in a difficult situation, the first person that often feels the brunt of your frustrations is - guess who (ironically it is also often the one that you cherish the most). Erin and I have had our disagreements but in no way are they any where close to some of the fights that we had when we travelled through South East Asia (9 months) back in '96 (or even when we didn't travel for that matter). We've really grown and I like the fact that I have become dependent on her for many things. Thanks babe for being the best travel companion and for putting up with me. I never thought that it would go so smooth. I love you.

FMP

Parting "post card shots" (IMHO) . Click on the photo to enlarge.

5 days in Yangsh-YO!

2005-11-09T20:54:00.000-08:00

Chers Amis - this is what happens after spending 5 days with the Frenchies. We have had a wonderful time these past few days in this scenic town (reminiscent of traditional Chinese scroll paintings with the classic pointed mountains)

biking, hiking,

kayaking,

caving (is there such a word - perhaps another side effect of hanging with Paco and Ance)

and mud wrestling (guys - please keep your comments clean as this is a public website:) .

I even visited a Chinese Acrobatics show and had the best seats in the house...my stomach!#$%^! Speaking of which, here are some of the local foods (yes those are frogs next to the chicken).

Although I was "tempted" to try some of the delacacies, I realized that it would have been more for bragging rights and therefore passed. The food in Yangshuo did something to Erin too as she has gained 3 feet in height and will look to pursue a career in the WNBA when we return.

All in all, Yangshuo was a great spot to rest our bags for a few days and recharge the batteries. We ate well (got our fill of Western food), ran into my long lost cousins,

and ironically, stayed in the nicest room yet AT the cheapest price yet (40 Yuan per night or $5). We were sad to leave our new found friends

but will look forward to our next redezvous. Until next time, please be safe France, Italy, Kent, Finland and Canada.

We are currently in Nanning which is the staging grounds for Vietnam. We applied for our Visas on 11/11 and will get them on 11/14. This will be just in time to cross the border on Tuesday, 11/15 when our Chinese Visas expire. In the meantime, we treated ourselves to VIP accommodations at $15 per night and went shopping for necessities at Walmart of all places. We were on the lookout for a Vietnam Lonely Planet guide book but did not have any luck so we are entering "blind" in a sense (the plan is to cross and then make our way to Sappa in the North before heading down to Hanoi-stay tuned...) After that we went to the movies and plan on a big night at Pizza Hut - we're soft backpackers - what can we say?

On a final note - FU T.O.! I always told the boys not to get too excited when you came on board. If I see you in Vietnam over the next month, better watch your back sucka!

FMP

Huanglong -Yangtze River - Yangshuo

2005-11-05T02:14:00.000-08:00

It has been hectic these past couple of days and it made me think about what we've been posting. A lot of the responses/comments that we have received have been to the tune of "It looks so beautiful!" or "I'm so jealous of you guys." While we have had SOME wonderful times these past three months, please let me assure you that we have had our share of bumps and bruises along the way. Just yesterday, we got out of a taxi and I conveniently left my money belt in the back seat. Luckily I had my wallet with cash in hand, but the belt held $200 in traveler's checks and more importantly, my passport. Without going into too much detail, we spent the next four hours at the mercy of the taxi stand attendants (from the train station that we just left) who were super helpful and called all of the taxis (or so it seemed) in Wuhan to track it down - THANK GOODNESS! However, the $200 in checks did not make it back - go figure. It took an hour walking around town to find a phone where we could call American Express and it cost us $20 to make that call - ARRRGH!).

This was all after a 4 hour bus ride that left at 6AM from Yichang - after a 3 hour sleep - after a tour the night prior that started at 10PM and ended at 1AM. Who signs up for a tour that starts at 10PM you ask? Try the stupid ass Americans that were talked into it 3 days prior by a slick Chinese travel agent who assured us that we did not want to be on board our "cruise" ship

as it went through the locks. The cruise in and of itself was pretty disappointing and we paid an arm and a leg by China standards. We did have some nice views

but again, we found that we were had by the travel agents that booked our tickets as we talked to other back packers who had paid much less than we did. The saying for us thus far is "You live and you "DON'T" learn."

After that, Erin lost her appetite as we witnessed a rat being swept out of a restaurant and meet his end after the sweeper smashed it with the heel of his shoe. Then we walked the other way and saw a worker grab a live catfish from a tank and then slam it to the ground (this is all in the middle of a busy walkway in front of the train station BTW) before putting it in his fryer. We were short on sleep, had just gone through some stress with the whole passport thing, had not eaten a proper meal in over 14 hours and now had a 14 hour overnight train ahead of us.

We've run in to some straight up rude people (i.e. food vendors not willing to serve us - This has REALLY happened - or business owners acting as if we were bothering them when coming into their business). The different culture (i.e. spitting/hacking up of phlem by almost everyone/everywhere - smoking in close quarters (I'm sure I'm going to die of second hand smoke) - run down hostels/ hotels (we average about $15 per night and that's about what it gets you) - dirty Eastern style (hole in the floor) toilets. All of this together has straight up worn us down! Again, we have had some nice memories and have met some very nice people along the way ( this has helped keep a smile on our face as we exchange war stories - THANKS for your company),

but overall - We're ready for Vietnam. We have until the 15th of Novemeber and are currently in Yangshuo which is a nice town "dotted with karst topography" - limestone peaks/upthrusts.

We'll spend a couple of days unwiding here (we're back to shorts weather) before heading to Nanning to obtain our Vietnam Visas. That's it for my bitch session.
FMP

Pictures from Huanglong National Park a couple of days back- Known for it's crystal clear blue lakes.

Me and Erin switching places with a local porter (These guys carry people to the various viewing places if they have problems with the altitude (4000 meters) or if they're just too damn lazy).

Chengdu to Jiuzhaigou to Songpan

2005-10-29T03:54:00.000-07:00

Let me start by taking back a little of what I said on the last post. Since leaving Beijing, we have run into some very nice people. In the "smaller" city of Chendu (9.1 million) we had a man intoduce himself in the middle of the road as an English speaker (we obviously looked lost). He proceeded to read the piece of paper that we had printed on in Kanji "Please take us to the massage center" (Only 15 Yuan/hour - It was no Scheiman but then again it was less than $2.00 to have someone touch my body for an hour:) for the taxi driver. The taxi driver didn't know of any in the area but the guy took us by the hand and brought us to one within walking distance. After he set us up there, he gave us his business card and told us to call us if we needed any more help. Most everyone outside of Beijing has been friendly so I liken it to a tourist perhaps going to New Yory City. Not to say that New Yorkers aren't nice, it's just that everyone seems to move a little faster in the big cities. I think that Tokyo is one of those rare exceptions.

Since leaving Xian (18 hour overnight sleeper train),

we went to Chengdu and visited the Panda Research Center.

and quickly headed north again to Jiuzhaigou (12 hour overnight bus) which is China's version of Yosemite. The scenery was beautiful (crystal clear blue lakes and waterfalls) and we caught it as the leaves were changing.

From there, we headed south (3 hours by bus) to Songpan where we did a 2 day horse trekking trip. We saw it all as far as weather was concerned (light snow on day 1 and clear blue skies on day 2). The scenery was great there and back but Erin and I agree that the time in between could have been better spent (it was freezing - our water bottles were frozen solid when we woke up the next morning).

We head to another national park tomorrow and will have some pictures up of that next time. Here are some pictures of the Great Wall and Xian that we didn't get up last time and some odds and ends.

FMP

Beijing and Xian China

2005-10-22T00:24:00.000-07:00

We got into Beijing on Monday evening of this past week and immediately realized that China was very different from Japan. 1.3 billion people and they all seem to be right in front of us. The culture, although not rude, is not as friendly/polite as we had just experienced in Japan (no offense to any of our Chinese bretheren) and our lack of mandarin has proved to be quite a barrier. From the public bus en route to our youth hostile, we got off at the wrong stop, flagged down a taxi and luckily managed our way (almost through sign language) to get dropped off within walking distance of our place. We spent the night in our first dorm room (oh how we were spoiled in Tokyo with the Nagashimas) and found that it is not as inexpensive as we had hoped. Beds are anywhere between 60 to 80 Yuan per person in the dorms and our first Room in Xian cost us 170 Yuan (8 Yuan to the dollar). The food however has been very good and very much the opposite from Tokyo. Our breakfast this morning of tea, omelets, seafood fried rice and toast cost us only 35 Yuan.

We spent 3 days in Beijing and visited the Forbidden City and of course the Great Wall of China. We hiked a section which, because of it's location, is not frequented by many tourists. So we basically had that section of the wall to ourselves. It was only a 10K wall but it took nearly 5 hours as the wall was very steep in sections. It was truly 'GREAT'! We rented bikes one day and cruised the streets with the locals. Again, with 1.3 billion people in front of you, things felt hairy! We left for Xian on an overnight sleeper where we had tight accommodations on the top bunk. Got to Xian the next morning at 7 AM to quickly jump on a tour bus for a visit to the Army of Terracotta Warriors. Very impressive. We're off on another overnight sleeper (22 hours) to visit Chengdu. Until next time.

FMP

Have to run but here are 3 pics of the Forbidden City.

Konicihwa from Tokyo

2005-10-16T07:32:00.000-07:00

Tokyo is a quite a contrast coming from a month in Micronesia and we have enjoyed every minute of it. But before I go any further, we would like to thank the Nagashima family (Shoji-san, Hitmoi, Moto-san,

Ki-san, Yuko-san, and Ao-san)

from the very bottom of our hearts. Our week would not have been the same as their hospitality was unparalled. Although we never met prior, they took us in to their homes and treated us as if we were old friends. Then they fed us, chaparoned us all over town and woke us each morning with breakfast and presents! We
have NEVER met anyone so kind and generous. We hope to return the favor when they come to visit us but in the meantime, please accept our gratitude. Domo arigato gozaimasu.

Tokyo is unlike any city that I have ever been to as it has all of the modern features

that one would expect from a 1st world metropolis, yet it still retains some of its old traditions and customs. For example, the train/subway system
is extensive, extremely punctual (we were told that trains run every 2 mins on weekdays and every 5 minutes on weekends) and can become overcrowded during rush hour (at certain stations, there are employees who's job is to push willing people into already jam packed trains so that the doors may close) . Yet, the trains remain very clean and during many of our shoulder to shoulder rides, you could almost hear a pin drop. Most people are respectful of other poeple's space so they make an effort not to talk too loud and definitely look down on talking on your cell phone in public places. Hopefully you get my parallel of modern
meets tradition
but maybe it's better that I say that they are just more respectful of others as a whole. We took a couple of day trips to Kamakura and Nikko to visit world heritage temples and shrines

and also went to the happiest place on earth - Tokyo Disneyland.

Erin was extremely happy about that. The other days were spent walking around the various districts to shop and people watch, visiting an onsen (public bath/spa) , participating in a tea ceremony, watching Kabuki theater, cruising the river, eating the local and traditional delacacies

and were lucky enough to witness the end of a traditional Japanese wedding on 2 separate occassions.

A week was not enough so we will definitely be back. Until then, sayonara. Off to Beijing tomorrow (10/17). Thank you to all of our friends and family that have visited the blog and sent us comments/emails along the way. It is ALWAYS great to hear from home and to keep a pulse on how you are all doing.

FMP

Palau - Eat, Sleep & Dive!!

2005-10-09T01:41:00.000-07:00

That's pretty much what we've been doing for the last week. Palau is a "must do" under water playground for all you diving enthusiasts. With 4-5 dives per day, we saw everything from schooling barracuda to sea turtles, leaf fish and stingless jelly fish . We even spotted the mantas that we missed in Yap (unfortunately a little too far away for a photo op). We'll let the pictures do the talking. Out of our 2 weeks in Palau, the first was spent on land in Koror (A huge thanks to Junior Aten for letting us crash at your place and truck use and to Rose Kohama for your huge help while we were land based). We visited the nearby Ngardmau Water Falls and did an overnight kayaking camping trip on one of the many deserted beaches in the Rock Islands. The second week was on the Palau Aggressor live-a-board dive boat. We're off to Tokyo tonight (Sunday 10/9). Hope you are all doing well! We were also able to include a few photos from Yap that didn't make it onto our last posting.

The elusive mandarin fish - The Palau Aggressor II and Erin at the foot of the Ngardmau waterfalls.

Colorful soft corals at night - Scorpion Fish and schooling jack fish.

"Stitches" The resident Napoleon Wrasse, the Morrone family who put us up for the night in Guam & poolside at Yap Divers.

Mnuw restaurant at Yap Divers Resort, juvenile emperor fish & "selves" portrait while waiting for manta's in Yap.

Our private Idaho, crocodile fish & sea turtle.

Can you see the scorpion fish? Lion fish

Barracuda, Rock Arch &white and black leaf fish.

Grey reef shark with Bhoyet "da best dibe guide eber" in the background and Jelly Fish Lake.

Manta-less in Yap!

2005-09-26T01:48:00.000-07:00

If you read most dive books on diving in Yap, Micronesia most will say that you are pretty much guaranteed to see Manta Rays. Well, the luck of the Irish strikes again! We did 5 dives and we did not see 1, I repeat, not 1 Manta. There were divers that were there days prior to our arrival and had seen multiple Mantas on their dives. So much so that they even claimed to be "bored" of Mantas. And sure enough, as soon as we hit the water...not a Manta in sight! There was a very cute Japanese couple (first time I really wanted to speak Japanese, just to converse with them) that did 4 dives with us, and of course did not see any until their 5th dive when we were not with them! We still had a wonderful time on Yap. The island is very clean and the people there are extremely friendly (one of the high chiefs bought us a few rounds of drinks one night while we were out at a local tavern).

A special thanks to the Morrone family who put us up in Guam on our way to Yap. Thank you to Bill Acker and all of the staff at the Manta Ray Bay Hotel who gave us a great deal on our accommodations and diving.

This is Miles talking...Erin typing... "We've been so lucky with all of the friends and family that have taken us in to date. Without going into too much detail, we had an awesome hook-up in Chuuk, on the island and on the Aggressor. Yap also was basically handed to us. Now in Palau we have a free place to stay for the week, and once we get on the Palau Aggressor we got another fantastic deal. After this we head to Tokyo and our good friend Aaron Danzer put us in touch with a family who will also accommodate us. The goal is to see and visit as many countries that are on our wish list, but we are guided by a budget. With all of the help that we have and will receive (even extending to all those that helped us back home) I really think that we will be able to stay on the road to visit those countries."

This is Erin talking and typing..."It has all been an interesting and exciting experience for me so far. I'm discovering that with age (even though I'm only 28) comes a desire for the nicer things. I think back to our last trip in 96' and wonder how I got through it?!! I have definitely been struggling with the "clean" factor. It's a good thing we are sort of easing into it because I'm not sure I'd be able to handle a place like India right off the bat! No offense to those of you that are from India, I'm only going off of what I've heard. Anyways, I know that we are blessed beyond compare, and I try and let that be my focus." Hopefully in our next post we will have awesome Manta Ray photos from Palau and other exciting sea life. And maybe we'll even have some "Survivor Island" photos as well.

Chuuk (Truk) Lagoon

2005-09-18T19:47:00.000-07:00

Chuuk is a wreck diver's paradise! With 64 WW II Japanese sunken ships in the lagoon, we've seen everything from bikes, to plates, sake bottles, trucks, tractors and of course marine life. I actually enjoy the fish more but it has been a great experience pentrating wrecks for the first time. Averaging 3-4 dives a day, we have gone the deepest yet (137 ft) and headed down companion ways with zero ambient lighting to see a fully intact wooden telephone booth with the phone still hanging on the hook. Thank you to Manong Jerry, Manang Helen, Peter and Lisa Aten who have given us the tour of the entire island and have done everything to make our stay absolutely incredible! Also, thank you to the Truk Agressor and their crew. Our week on the live aboard is the only way to dive the lagoon. We leave for Yap tomorrow and then on to Palau shortly after that.

FMP

Greetings from Guam!

2005-09-10T15:04:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone!

Just a quick update to let you know we are currently in Guam.
Guam is a US territory for those of you who didn't know, and therefore it is very American.
The main attraction here is the mall. We've seen just about every retail chain there is, but believe it or not we have yet to see McDonald's or Starbucks, but I'm sure there is one of each somewhere!

Guam is a big Japanese tourist hang out, as it is just a short flight from Japan. Most everything is printed in Japanese and English. I have found the Japanese tourists the most interesting thing in Guam. They are very fun to watch, and the younger people have such a cool funky style. It's gotten me excited for our visit to Japan!

Our hotel here is very cute and right on the beach. It's called Hotel Santa Fe, and runs about $63 dollars a night. Not too bad for American standards, but we can't wait for a more 3rd world price.

We leave tonight for Chuuk. We hope to spend at least a week there, and plan to be visiting with some of Miles' extended family. I'm telling you those Filipinos are everywhere!
Which is also another thing about Guam, it has to be at least 95% Filipino here. When we landed and the first 3 or 4 people we encountered were Filipino and speaking Tagalog, Miles said, "are we in Guam or the Philippines?!" Our Filipino taxi driver didn't understand the question, and therefore didn't get the joke. He told us we were in Guam. Thanks for clearing that up!

Anyways, we'll keep you posted on things to come. I have a rough day of lounging by the beach ahead, so feel sorry for me!
Sending Much Love, Erin

Sloshball and Arrowhead Pictures

2005-09-07T22:32:00.000-07:00

The 4th annual Sloshball fest was a little lighter than years past but we still had all the usual suspects - Keg stands, lumpia, Conness at 1st and quarters. It was great seeing all of you! We've got a good group of friends and it never ceases to amaze me that sometimes a year can go by before seeing some of you but we all pick up where we left off. I'll look forward to next years game. In the meantime, we're off to Chuuk, Micronesia for some diving. Palau, Yap, Tokyo and Beijing to follow. Here are some pictures from Sloshball and Lake Arrowhead (the previous post). Oki-Maka-be-sigh!

FMP

Back in the Bay Area

2005-08-31T13:27:00.000-07:00

DOH! Just in case you didn't know, formatting your digital camrea means erasing all of the photo's from you memory card. What an idiot I am! All pictures from the last week are GONE. Lake Arrohead, San Diego, Laguna Nigel and Erin's reunion - GONE! If any of you happen to have any digital copies that you can forward, it would be greatly appreciated. Quick recap is that we spent the majority of our time on the lake lounging, skiing, boarding and catching up with friends and family (Great to see Umro and Dea and familes!). Thanks to Jenn and crew for coming down from the Bay area and to the Van Dusen's and Glevy's for housing us and of course mom and dad for letting us check in at the "Chateau by the Lake". Back in the Bay Area now so that Erin can get the last of her work done on her tooth and the Slosh Ball game this Labor Day weekend. Taking off for Micronesia on 9/7! Until next time.

FMP

JMT cut short

2005-08-19T11:02:00.000-07:00

Bottom line is that we were not having fun. We did 7 days and I felt like we were running through every day. If we had an extra 2 weeks (have to back in Lake Arrowhead for Erin's reunion on 8/27) then maybe we could have completed the entire trail. No worries though. The trail will be there next time and if for some reason, we decide to go back, we can just pick up where we left off or just do another section. Here are some pictures.

Day 1 - Happy Hikers on the trail head with only 211 miles to go.

Jaime and Erin - Nevada Falls

Erin's blisters after day 1 - Only 203 miles to go:)

Day 2 - Lunch at Upper Cathedral Lake

Erin fully armored to fend off the mosies before going up and over Donhue pass

Postcard shots of Mount Banner

Day 7 - The Devil's Postpile

Hanging out at the Glevy's!

2005-08-15T11:34:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone! Today we are hanging out at my sister's house. I just had to put up a few pictures of my cute neice and nephew. I hope you all are doing well today! Lindy and Christopher, I love you very much and I will miss you very much. Now I can see your picture every time I'm on the internet! Lots of love, Auntie Erin

The first unexpected change...

2005-08-10T13:38:00.000-07:00

Well, today is August 10th. We are currently in the city of Mammoth Lakes. Definitely not on the intinerary!

So, after 1 week on the trail Miles and I decided to call it quits. The reasons go a little something like this...

Day 1 - about 15 minutes into the hike Erin gets a blister on her left heel. We stopped and applied the first peice of mole skin to it. About 30 minutes later Erin gets a blister on her right heel! We stopped and applied the second peice of mole skin to it. During the whole week I went through about 30 peices of mole skin!

Per Jaime's suggestion we took the "Mist Trail" up to the top of Nevada Falls, rather than the longer, but flater John Muir Trail (JMT). Seriously, I thought I was climbing Everest! Sweet and patient Jaime would look at me every now and then and say, "working hard?" I would respond through heavy breath, "YES!" Jaime finally decided to break away from Miles and I and meet at the top of the falls. Miles and I were moving rather slow. Me with my 50 lb. pack and Miles with his 60 lb. pack took the Mist trail step by step. Painfully slow. Most of the trail is literally giant steps carved into the rock. By the time we finally got to the top of the falls Jaime was about to give up on seeing us. He had taken a nice nap and thought we decided to continue on and passed him by. Nope, we were just extremely slow! So, we had lunch at the top of the falls and said farewell to Jaime. Ofcourse we didn't let him leave without filling up his little bag with trail mix and whatever else we could get rid of! Every ounce counts, and we just had too many ounces on board! And so day 1 set the pace.

We continued to go very slow each and every day. Mostly because of my blisters and also because the JMT is a hard trail with some serious up-hill!! By the way, I cried on day 1 of hiking. And I cried on day 2 of hiking. I think I didn't cry on 3 of the 7 days we were out there.
Seriously tuff stuff, this hiking is!

So, long story short...we were making an average on 1-2 miles an hour each day (including stops) and we had to make an average of 10 miles a day, and my blisters were killing me, the mozzis (mosquitos) were awful (like nothing I've ever seen - serious swarms - you could hear them at night buzzing around our tent), and around day 5 over dinner Miles says to me, "so, how do you feel about stopping?". I wouldn't dream of mentioning it, but since he brought it up I thought about it for 1 day and came back with a big fat YES!

So, here we are in Mammoth. We hiked for 7 days to Reds Meadow and then took a shuttle down to Mammoth. We plan on taking a bus tommorrow to Reno and then catching a flight to Southern California. We will then spend the next 2 weeks hanging out in San Diego and Lake Arrowhead and other various areas, and then I have my 10 year high school reunion on the 27th of August. After that we will head to the Bay Area for our annual Slosh Ball Party/Goodbye Party on September 3rd. On the 6th of September I have my final tooth adjustments (: yipee! And then we're off to Micronesia!

I'm sure Miles will chime in later on his version of the JMT experience and we have lots of beautiful pictures to post. All in all for me it was a good experience, but I'm glad it's over. We way underestimated the difficulty of the trail, and I'm just proud to have made it one week in the wilderness! I also covered 66 miles of trail (from Yosemite Valley to Reds Meadow), and I climbed over 13,000 feet of up-hill! Our highest elevation reached was 11,050 ft. on the top of the Donahue Pass. The views were spectacular, but honestly I was in too much pain most of the time to really take it all in.

The absolutely most wonderful thing that I got out of this part of our trip was seeing a side of Miles that I never have before. I have one amazing husband! I am truly lucky to be his partner in life. He had nothing but encouragement and positive comments for me every day. He completely took care of me, and seemed happy to do it. He tried his hardest every day to make my life easier and my pack lighter. He was and is my "knight in shining armour". Truly and amazing guy!

So, there it is. JMT done. Perhaps we will meet again you crazy trail. I must admit I dammed John Muir and his trail at least once a day. Hiking brings out the pessimist in me. People would pass us every day and say their hellos and things like, "have a fun hike!". All I could think was what?!!! Fun does not belong in that sentence. However, now that it's over...I can say that parts of it were fun, very small parts.

Thanks for listening. I'll "blog" again soon!

Erin (:

T minus 48 hours

2005-07-30T22:57:00.000-07:00

Laying out food for the JMT. After consulring with mutiple people, I still think we have too much food even though we only add up to about 2500 calories for each day. All the books say you should target 3000 to 4000 per day but forget them. We'll survive! It's not like I'm diabetic or anything like that. The moving crew this morning. Thanks to all and to the Burkhardts Storage facilty. Easy in Easy out. We are out of the 371 and I am typing on the floor. Tomorrow will be our last day and we'll get one more post before we leave for Yosemite on Monday 8/1.

FMP

John Muir Trail Itinerary

2005-07-23T16:16:00.000-07:00

We won't be able to post anything while we are on the JMT because we won't have access to a computer. So, I thought I'd give you a rough idea of our itinerary and daily mileage!

August 2 - Yosemite Valley (Happy Isles) to Half Dome Trail Junction/Sunrise Creek and the Ascent of Half Dome.
Distance=12.3 miles

August 3 - Half Dome Trail Junction/Sunrise Creek to Sunrise High Sierra Camp.
Distance=7.6 miles

August 4 - Sunrise High Sierra Camp, via Cathedral Pass to Tuolumne Meadows.
Distance=11.4 miles

August 5 - Rest Day in Tuolumne Meadows! Only 1 of 2!

August 6 - Tuolumne Meadows to Upper Lyell Canyon.
Distance=9.5 miles

August 7 - Upper Lyell Canyon via Donohue Pass to Thousand Island Lake.
Distance=9.7 miles

August 8 - Thousand Island Lake to the Devil's Postpile.
Distance=16.2 miles

August 9 - Devil's Postpile to Deer Creek.
Distance=9.0 miles

August 10 - Deer Creek to Tully Hole/Cascade Valley Junction.
Distance= 12.3 miles

August 11 - Tully Hole/Cascade Valley Junction via Silver Pass to Edison Lake.
Distance=11.8 miles

August 12 - Rest Day at Vermilion Resort!

August 13 - Edison Lake to Rosemarie Meadow.
Distance=12.3 miles

August 14 - Rosemarie Meadow via Selden Pass to the Muir Trail Ranch.
Distance=9.5 miles

August 15 - Muir Trail Ranch to McClure Meadow.
Distance=10.6 miles

August 16 - McClure Meadow via Muir Pass to unnamed lake north-east of Helen Lake.
Distance=12.2 miles

August 17 - Unnamed lake north-east of Helen Lake to Deer Meadow.
Distance=11.3 miles

August 18 - Deer Meadow via Mather Pass to Kings River.
Distance=12.0 miles

August 19 - Kings River via Pinchot Pass to Woods Creek.
Distance=11.6 miles

August 20 - Woods Creek via Glen Pass to Vidette Meadow.
Distance=13.2 miles

August 21 - Vidette Meadow via Forester Pass to Tyndall Creek.
Distance=12.0 miles

August 22 - Tyndall Creek to Guitar Lake.
Distance=12.1 miles

August 23 - Guitar Lake via Mount Whitney and Trail Crest to Trail Camp and the Ascent of Mount Whitney.
Distance=10.0 miles

August 24 - Trail Camp to Whitney Portal.
Distance= 6.8 miles

Total miles=233.4!!!

August 24th or 25th meet up with Shay Glevy somewhere and head to Lake Arrowhead!
Hopefully my legs will be smoki'n hot by the end! I'll take a photo for you! (=

Cute Zoey Photos!

2005-07-23T16:03:00.000-07:00

I had to put some cute photos of Zoey on this "blog" so that I could always look at her while I'm gone! The one above (top) is of her at 3 months old with her cousin Zeke! The one above (bottom) is of her at 4 months old with me! The one below (top) is her at 2 years old sleeping on her ball (too stinking cute!)!! And the one below (bottom) is of her at 1 just hanging out in our house! (=
I can only hope these photos make you as happy as they do me! Jenn, tell Zoey I love her and miss her every day, and give her lots of hugs and kisses please!

8 days until departure!

2005-07-23T15:37:00.000-07:00

Well, we are both excited and scared!
We feel a little stressed about the great number of things that still need to be done!
We have to pack up our apartment, move our stuff into storage, pack for the John Muir Trail (JMT), buy supplies and clothing for the JMT, pack and ship food for the JMT, pack and ship clothes for our 1 week stay in Lake Arrowhead, and pack for our remaining 11 months of travel in other countries! Wow, that's a lot!

I can't believe it's already here!

Here is our current itinerary (it can change at any moment, which is fun and scary all in one):

August 1st depart to Yosemite with Jaime Exley (fabulous brother-in-law), he's our ride!

August 2nd get wilderness permit in Yosemite and start our hike on the JMT and say goodbye to Jaime!

August 23 or 24th complete JMT, meet up with Shay Glevy (fabulous sister), she's our ride to Lake Arrowhead.

August 24-September 2 we'll be hanging out in Lake Arrowhead (my 10 year high school reunion is up there on the 27th).

September 3rd back up to the bay area for a slosh-ball party and b-b-q. Say goodbye to friends and family in that area!

September 6th is my final tooth replacement (hope it looks good)!

September 7th take a flight from San Francisco to Chuuk (pronounced Truk), Micronesia!
Here's a cool website to check out on Micronesia: http://www.visit-fsm.org/visitors/index.html

September 10th arrive in Micronesia! We'll be hanging out, diving, island hopping and living the life in Micronesia for the rest of September!

October 1st take a flight from Guam to Tokyo (might explore a little) to Beijing, China!
We plan on spending the month of October exploring China!

And we are still talking about November. More than likely we will head to Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos, but we'll keep you posted!

To sum it up, we are super excited, but I can personally say that I'm struggling with the sadness part too. I'm really going to miss my Zoey, family and friends. I just want everyone's life to be put on hold while we're away. Too many things can happen in a year, and I don't want to miss a thing. )= So please e-mail us a lot and send photos and tell us you love us! I know I'll need it! Talk to you soon! Erin

2 Weeks Until Departure!

2005-07-12T20:06:00.000-07:00

With just 2 weeks until the adventure begins there is still much to be done! Our apartment still looks like we intend to stay forever (not one box packed)! We know that our first month of travel (August) will be spent on the John Muir Trail, but we have yet to pick our first official country! Time is ticking away! Hopefully that will be decided soon, as tickets still need to be ordered! That is just a sample of what is to come...living by the seat of our pants! We are going to let the road take us where it wants to! I will be praying that God will keep us safe. Please feel free to join me. The recent thought is, should we say we're Americans or should we be from Canada? I have an inner struggle about it because I don't like to be dishonest, but I also want to be safe. I'm just going to give it to God and hope that He will guide us to the best answer. Well, I will keep you posted on upcoming events! In case you haven't guessed, it's Erin typing. I have a feeling that most posts will come from me. I seem to be much more into this "blogging" thing than Miles! (= Sending you all love and blessings! Erin

Testing 1-2-3!

2005-07-04T21:34:00.000-07:00

Just testing out our new website!
We are looking forward to our upcoming traveling adventures!
Please stop by every now and then and see what we've been up to!
Thanks to all our friends and family for your love, support and prayers both in the past, present and future!
We love you all very much! Erin and Miles (=