jenny's sparkle tog

a few more countries....knocking um down

2010-07-24T02:12:00.000-07:00

first off is the rest of malawi. i ended up going south and hiking around on mt mulanje. tried to make the peak but the second day it was super foggy and rainy so it wasnt possible to make it so just ended up getting wet because its africa you dont need to bring your rain gear.... ohhh lessons learned i should already know. luckily there were cabins we stayed at that had fire places so it was possible to dry up (we being a german fellow i met in the town below).

cabin the first night

scenery on the mtn

some more of the mtn

then i was off to zambia and went to victoria falls and lusaka. didnt see much of zambia but had a great time.

victoria falls
more vic falls

then going a bit further south i made my way to botswana and took a morokoro canoe trip on the okavango delta. that was great fun. camped on an island and couldnt sleep the first night because of the noisy noisy hippo outside my tent. went on bush walks and saw lots of elephants, some wildabeasts, zebras and a giraffe. that was fun.

very close up elephants

dugout canoe time

more dugout canoe

now i find myself in namibia for a few weeks before i return to botswana for a couple more. its not easy to get around here in namibia or botswana. not much in the way of local transport but im finding my way. there are lots of things id like to do but hard to find rides to get there. so far ive been to windhoek then to the sleepy town of luderitz, which may be one of my favorite towns thus far, and now im in swakopmund on the first speedy internet ive been on in africa.

windhoek

kolmanskop, ghost town in the diamond mining area near luderitz

kolmanskop

went on a little sailing trip, on a sail boat but using the motor. saw penguins, flamingoes, sea lions and ......

crazy lucky dolphin shot

well i have a little less than a month left then its back to actually find a job this time. hope everyone is well and see you soon.

tanzania and some of malawi

2010-06-14T09:17:00.000-07:00

hey all i am almost out of internet time so not much time for explanations but i know you all just come for the pictures so i wont break any hearts. but here is some of my travels in tanzania and malawi. i spent 3 weeks in tanzania after egypt and now im in my second week in malawi having a great time. especially since its world cup fever here. CATCH IT!

usambara mtns northern tanzania

village trek tanzania,

thats kenya over there somewhere

getting used to animals in bathrooms. if anyone remembers from such sparkletog classics as turtle in the bathroom northern laos.

sunset ruaha national park

cheetah!!!

lion and cubs!!!

ruaha national park

power out at hostel have to take a boat to town for the world cup!

sparkletog 2010...jenny sees a bit of Africa

2010-05-14T03:06:00.000-07:00

well were back on the travel wagon. Africa this time. so far its been a fun trip but super hot. i guess ill just start in Morocco. the trip actually started in europe with family the intention being going to a cousins wedding. but because of the volcano in iceland we missed the wedding, sorry chris and aurelie! so i headed overland from ireland to morrocco with a fun stop in paris first, hey torry and amy. so in morocco i stayed about 2 week and went from tangers south stopping in a few cities along the way. its a beautiful place but lots of people trying to get you to buy things and barter for everything, a bit like india but not quite as crazy.

medina in fes
medina in chefchaoun, thats not spelled right

medina in essaoura
essaoura

chefchauon

then i caught a flight to egypt to take a peek at the pyramids in cairo and they were great. as good as i thought. next i took a bus to aswan to see abul simbel then hopped on a felucca, little sailboat for part of the trip to luxor which is where i am now. so many temples in eqypt, im almost templed out.

giza

abu simbel, egypt

felucca on the nile, egypt

luxor temple, egypt

well thats it for now just a taste of a few places. next up i fly to tanzania on the 18th to travel around the south for a bit.

nearing the end!

2009-11-16T05:53:00.000-08:00

well gang its true, the sparkle tog 2009 is coming to a close. i have about a month left in my trip before i head back to the good ol US of A. im in brazil at the moment and will be here till my flight back. again i left alot to write about but here goes of what i can recall. so after the salt flats i headed south then north to potosi. it is know for the huge silver mine that they discovered. the spanish found it or heard about it and took all the silver back to spain. now there is only zinc and some other minerals left so its just cooperative groups of bolivians left mining what they can. i ended up going on a tour of the mines and it was crazy. hot, dusty, not a great place to be working especially since there isnt much money in it. but there still going at it so here are a few pictures.

the mountain (cant recall the name)

climbing around in the mine. we ended up going about 900 meters into the mountain.

workers in the mine

next up was sucre. and i didnt take many pictures of the town because i wasnt in the mood i guess. i took some spanish classes and ate lots of good food. there were these fruit salads in the market, goat cheese, wine, chocolate. its really know for its chocolate and it was great. i was going to bring some home but i ended up eating it on the bus from sucre to santa cruz. i should have put it in my big bag not the little one with me but youll just have to go taste for yourself.

mask museum in sucre

i went to santa cruz next to sort out my brazilian visa then went back to samaipata to see some archaelogical ruins...El Fuerte. samaipata was a great relaxing small town. nice change from sucre and santa cruz which are both relatively big cities. el fuerte was kind of a crazy place. just this big rock on a ridge that people, pre inca, carved on. it looked like they carves a space ship out of the rock. doors and windows...strange and lots of work. impressive all the same.

el fuerte

samaipata

after i decided to go check out the jesuit mission circuit before heading to brazil. i wanted to get off the main track and sure did. stopped in four different towns and it was slow going. buses didnt leave everyday and at odd times so i wandered around small towns and waited alot. nice break but slow. and all the missions started looking alike so i was ready for brazil when i made it.

jesuit mission

mission

picture at the mission

i took a train from san jose de chicitos (something like that) to the border then over to corumba in brazil. and wow i knew brazil was going to be expensive compared to everywhere ive been but it was shocking. getting me ready to be back in the states i guess. the first place i really stayed was bonito and it was beautiful. ended up taking a couple tours, one to a bunch of waterfalls, one snorkling and one rapeling into a cave. the rivers in the area are super clear and clean because they spring out of the ground. but the rapel onto the cave was great. it was 70 some meter rapel into the cave, 30 stories, and there was a lake at the bottom that was 80 meters deep at its deepest point. the cave was huge and really beautiful. then we had to climb the ropes back out, absailing, and that was a bit of a challenge. but great fun.

bonito

cave

ben and i in the cave

the hostel we were in in bonito had some really fun people and we ended up heading to iguazu falls next. first to the argentinian side then to the brazilian side. i was in argentina only for a couple of days but managed to fill up on steak while there. the falls were amazing! nothing like ive seen before and no wonder so many people go. immense.

iguazu falls

after seeing the brazilian side i caught a bus to belo horizonte then on to ouro preto to meet up with my aunt sharon. ouro preto is a beautiful and steep city. they discovered gold here some time ago and thats why the city was founded. lots of green hills, churches and jewelery stores.

ouro preto

look at the size of that brazilian snail!

sharon and jenny in ouro preto

waterfall we hiked to one day

and so here we are up to the present. i said goodbye to sharon and the gang, hello everyone, left ouro preto and decided to come to diamantina north of belo horizonte. another beautiful city with lots of churches and rolling green hills. just relaxing and wandering around the hills. next up im off to meet some friends who live near curitiba, felipe and tati for those who know them. and just wile away my time visiting until i make my was back home.

diamantina

they like togs here!

.......Kid, the next time I say, "Let's go someplace like Bolivia," let's GO someplace like Bolivia.

2009-09-26T08:37:00.000-07:00

and here are some more pictures of the festival in the town near la paz. tiahuanaco parade

tiahuanaco festival ladies dancing

next up on jenny´s itinerary was cochabamba, because there is a national park just south of there where there are dinosaur footprints in the rock! i got to cochabamba on a sunday and there was yet another festival and parade going on. it was independence day for cochabamba or something and i actually say evo morales the president of bolivia. on monday i went by the tourist office to see when to catch a bus to toro toro (dinosaur footprint place) and turns out buses only go on wednesdays and sundays. so i decided to hang out till then and caught a bus wednesday night to toro toro. got there at about 1:30 in the morning and luckily there was a hotel right next to the bus station open and cheap too. next morning i went to the park office and got a guide to go and see some of the sights and here they are.

some canyon i dont remember the name

dinosaur footprints

dinosaur footprints (teradactyl)

thats right more dinosaur footprints

hills around toro toro

toro toro

took the next bus back to cochabamba because they are very infrequent and didn´t want to get stuck in toro toro. went via cochabamba to oruro then by train on to uyuni to see the salar de uyuni (largest salt flat in the world). i ended up getting a tour with 5 other people to see the salt flats and it is probably the most sureal place ive ever been before. the salt flats themselves were... well just a sea of white. used to be part of the ocean some time ago and now just white ground.

salt hotel

salt flats from fish island.

salt flats again

thats me on his head

after the salt flats we went and saw some volcanos and also some lakes and here they are.

volcan ollague (active)

this is lake coloraada. bright red and parts bright blue. the white is mostly borax deposits but some sodium, magnesium and gypsum.

laguna colorada

another lake

this is near the geysers (bubbling hot mud)

flamingos at laguna colorada

laguna verde and volcan licancaabur (5960m)

this is the borax lake

after the salt flats i made it to tupiza the next evening. i was actually supposed to catch a bus at 6:00 in the morning but slept in and missed it. but met another girl from france that also missed the same bus and we ended up catching a ride in the afternoon in an suv. there are tours that start in tupiza and end in uyuni and the suvs go back to tupiza in the afternoon so that was a nice break. felt a bit sick in tupiza (food poisoning i think). so i just hiked outside of town one day to some dry waterfall. right outside of tupiza in a small town is supposidly where butch cassidy and the sundance kid died and are buried. not for sure but thats the story. really hot dry place tupiza.

outside tupiza

as for now im in tarija known for wine. my stomach is still a bit quezy but gonna do some wine tasting despite it all. apparently the grapes grown here are some of the highest in the world. worth a try!

back by popular demand

2009-09-15T10:23:00.000-07:00

ok really machu picchu is why the sparkle tog is back so soon. surprised? i certainly am. but i heard the clamor for more and i do take requests so here is the latest (ok just mark and debbie asked for machu picchu so hello and here it is). but first after ica and the dunes i made a quick stop by the nazca lines to see what they were all about. declined to take a flight but heard they were great...maybe next time. after my time in lima because of the pirates i was in a bit of a hurry to get to bolivia for... i don´t know why. it was just one of the countries i was really looking forward to my whole trip so i rushed through southern peru leaving some unfinished business for next time i make it here.

nazca lines from the mirador tower outside of nazca

ended taking a night bus from nazca to cuzco because that was the only choice i had. would have been nice to see the scenery during the day but not able.

cuzco

cuzco plaza

cuzco

i only ended up spending that first day in cuzco then took the bus route to aguas calientes at the base of machu picchu. had to catch a bus at 800 to santa teresa then caught a share taxi past santa maria to the hydro electra where there is a short train to aguas calientes. i met three other people on the bus so we shared a ride to the train then ended up just hiking 2 hrs or so along the tracks to the city. the last part of the hike was in the dark but it was along train tracks so easy. the next day myself and this austrailian fellow who i had met the day before got up and left our hotel at 400 in the morning to hike to the entrance of machu picchu. we both wanted to get a ticket or number to be able to hike up wayna picchu which is the big hill next to the picchu. they only allow 200 people up a day so you have to hike up early to get in line and beat the buses to make sure you are one of the first 200 people in line. so it took up an hour and a half or so to hike up to the entrance...not an easy feat mind you. but we made it and were in machu picchu early. it is really an amazing place. the picchu is on a ridge surrounded by steep mountains. myself and paul (the austrailian) wandered around until ten when we were able to climb wayna picchu and it was switchbacks up to the top of the hill but the view was spectactular from the top. worth the early morning frantic hurry hike up to the entrance.

mountains surrounding machu picchu
wierd rabbit looking animal in the ruins

machu picchu

machu picchu with wayna picchu in the background (its the tallest one)

a llama seemingly very proud of machu picchu

machu picchu from wayna picchu

by the way its really hard to pick pictures that ive taken cause there are so many and it takes a bit of time to put them up so if anyone wants to see more of any one thing let me know and i can do a greatest hits sometime.

i ended up splurging and taking the easy train route back to cuzco which was nice. there were so many things to see around cuzco and i really wanted to get a move on to bolivia that i left alot to come back to. so i left the next day for puno then on to copacabana in bolivia. ended up getting my visa for bolivia at the border for a whopping 135 us dollars. the same for when i get my visa for brazil. i guess since the us charges them then they charge us. just fair i guess but talking to people from europe who dont have to pay anything gets to you a bit.

ran into paul the austrailian again in copacabana and ended up going straight to the island of the sun to stay. it was really peaceful and quite. relaxed mostly and took a boat to the north of the island to see some ruins then back to copacabana.

island of the sun looking back at copacabana

in the north of the island of the sun

sunset from copacabana

la paz

stayed in la paz for a few days. actually stayed at this place called adventure brew (very famous with travelers) and it was a brewery. so dont everyone worry i drank plenty for everyone. and we were able to go on a brewery tour as well which was so much fun. other than that we went to tiahuanaco, some more mysterious ruins outside of la paz. there are plenty of mysteries here in peru and bolivia. the stones on the ruins are super square its amazing way back when they could get them so square. i also heard the rock came from lake titticaca which is where copacabana is and its really not close. big rocks too. anyway here are some pictures.

tiahuanaco

oh yeah there was a festival in town too which was fun. parades, fun costumes, good times

parade

well there you have it for now. until next time..................

PIRATES!

2009-08-27T11:26:00.000-07:00

well folks the sparkle tog ran into a bit of a snag but we are back in business. the snag being i was robbed by pirates while on a boat on the ucayali river deep in the jungles of peru. ok i didn´t actually see who robbed me but if you are robbed on a boat in the jungle i think it must be by a pirate. but ill get to that a bit later in the story since i feel the need to write my story in order.

after trujillo i went to cajamarca where i didn´t stay very long, one night, then took a bus to celendin. i was heading towards chachapoyas and it was the long way but beautiful. made it to celedin in the afternoon wandered around the tiny town and the market and here is a picture.

celendin market day.

next it was on to kuelap which is an old stone fortress from 900ad or so. i met a couple of guys from spain (fernando and pablo) and we ended up hiking up from the town of tingo. it was a pretty straight up hike and tiring. we met a peruvian guy on the way up that ended up joining us on the hike. he was visiting family that lived in the village below the fortress and he hadn´t been there in 10 years or so. and when we met him he had actually gotten scared of hiking alone and was going down until he met up with us. he was apparently afraid of the silence. so we hiked up with him and he also asked if he could hike down with us to. so while we visited the ruins he visited his family and came back down with us. by the way all of this was translated to me from the spanish guys because my spanish is getting better but needs lots of work.

hike up to kuelap

kuelap

kuelap

next on to chachapoyas where we stayed the night then onto pedro ruiz to catch a bus to tarapoto. on the way we stopped at gocta waterfall that is up for the 2nd tallest falls in the world or the 14th depending how you judge falls. im not sure how they judge falls but to me it was two falls not just one. it was beautiful and really tall dont get me wrong but maybe ill have to read up on waterfall definitions to know for sure.

gocta falls

turkey near gocta falls

so after all of that we headed for a boat from yurimaguas to iquitos. it was to be a three day boat ride sleeping on a hammock on the top deck. there were alot of other travelers so we had a ball. ok sleeping on a hammock is fun for a while but not very comfortable for three nights. the end of the boat ride before iquitos was on the amazon and it is pretty big. its the dry season so not as big as it gets but impressive. saw lots of birds and even some dolphins from the boat. once we got to iquitos myself and pablo went on a one day jungle trek in a reserve outside of the city. also say a butterfly farm, ate lots of fish, saw lots of fun dead things at the market (turtle, iguana, pirana, these big squirmy grubs, lots of fish i didn´t know). they also had a medicine isle where they sold cures for everything made out of the plants and trees in the rainforest. good fun.

yurimaguas port

sunset

part of a village in iquitos (iquitos itself is a regular city not like this)

jungle mushrooms

jungle frog

monkey at the butterfly farm

medicine isle market belen iquitos

floating village iquitos

sloth with the old fashion bowl cut

ended up spending a week or so in iquitos then hopped on a boat for pulcallpa. a five or six day boat trip this time. not many tourists on this boat because it takes so long but rather than fly or go back the same way i took the long way again. and the first night when we landed in requena is where i realized i had met a pirate. when people from the port came on the boat came on to sell drinks and snacks i woke up to buy water and my little backpack was gone. truthfully i had gotten a bit relaxed about my important belonging and didn´t do what i usually did to be careful with them and paid the price. lost my passport and credit cards which were the most annoying but also lost my journal and some other fun stuff i had collected on the trip so that was a drag. the most stressful part was having to wait three days until i could get off the boat to use a phone to cancel my credit cards. luckily i met two brothers who offered to help me get to lima since i only had 30 soles (10 dollars not enough to make it on my own). so we got off the boat early in contamana because they were working and i was able to call and cancel my cards and also arrange to have money wired to me in pulcallpa. one of the brothers bought and sold wood for a company and the other was an entimologist. about the perfect people to help me. we even went to a lake near contamana to catch bugs which was fun. so long story short i got money in pulcallpa and still hung out with the brothers until lima then back on my own. starting to deal with getting new passport and credit cards.

iquitos dock waiting to leave for pulcallpa

sunrise ucayali river

sunset ucayali river

another one

tranchula (the day we went to catch bugs)

loading a cow on our boat from contamana to pulcallpa

another one

is jenny taking peru by storm or is it the other way around

well the lima part is pretty boring filled with beauracracy and phone calls to banks. but did meet some fun people and was able to finally rest for a while. i haven´t really stopped moving since the start so it was actually nice to have a forced rest.

sanfrancisco church lima

lima

famous hairless dogs in lima

santa rosa celebration lima

after lima i headed down to ica and stayed at a little town in the sand dunes. went wine and pisco tasting the one day i spent there and it was great. not the greatest wine but fun all the same.

one of the wineries

winery

sand dunes

huacachina the town i stayed in.

since then ive been to nazca to see some of the lines in the desert. then on to cuzco and machu picchu, and now im in puna about to head for copacabana bolivia tomorrow. ill have to add more pictures later of the picchu. to be continued..........

knock knock

whos there

ali

ali who

alittle old man who can`t reach the doorbell

lots of things to write about...maybe i wont wait so long to sparkle tog next time

2009-07-16T12:57:00.000-07:00

Well i made it to south america and am in peru now. I didn´t realize it had been so long since i wrote until i started looking at pictures. so last i wrote i was in thailand on my way to the northern part of laos and it was just as amazing as i remembered from the first time i was there. I started in vientienne then on to vang vieng where i did a bit more rock climbing.

thats the rock where i did a spot of climbing (not to the top)

closer picture of the rock

outside vang vieng

after vang vieng i went to phonsavan where they have these mysterious plain of jars. just a lot of big rock jars laying around. they aren´t sure what they are for but probably having something to do with buriels. then i went on to luang prabang where i stayed a few day and relaxed for a few days. took a bike ride and drank some good wine. i met a couple of french guys who found this little store with some really good french wine and it was good. give it to the french for knowing good wine.

phonsavan plain of jars

phonsavan plain of jars

you wouldn´t believe how many pictures of jars i have!

after luang prabang i went to nong kiaw and it was beautiful. the river cut through these limestone mountains just like vang vieng and it was amazing. well see for yourself.

nong kiaw

went fishing one day on the river with one of the french guys i met in luang prabang and the brother in law of the owner of our guesthouse

fishing trip

the guest house i stayed is right next to the bridge

wierd fish we caught

another wierd fish we caught (didn´t eat it)

nong kiaw from the bridge

i ended up also going rock climbing in nong kiaw. at breakfast one morning i met a couple of guys going and they invited me along. one of the guys was from railay beach in thailand (where i learned to climb) and he was a professional climber for a long time in california somewhere. it was really fun and a little scary since we climbed up to this cave along the river. it was about an hour boat ride to the first climb then after we headed farther down river to see some pictographs in and around this cave. i didnt climb up to this one because it was a bit over my expertise level of climbing so i waited by the river.

rock where we climbed up to the cave.

hand prints on a rock face above the river

you can kind of see the red hand prints on the rock face

After nong kiaw i went to luang nam tha which is north again. and ended up meeting some people going on a village trek so i decided to tag along. it was good fun. muddy rainy slippery trail but fun. oh yeah also in the hotel i stayed at in luang nam tha there were turtles in the bathroom. the first night i got there i went to take a shower and near the bucket and stool there was what looked like a fake turtle that they have in gardens but i was so tired from the long day of travel that i didn´t really pay attention. then as i was washing my hair i looked at the fake turtle and it blinked. so not knowing if it was the kind of turtle that bites, which probably all turtles bite, i gave it its space. but it was a little unnerving having a strange turtle watching you shower and go potty. the next morning there were three! i dont know if i just didn´t see the other two the night before or what but its not very relaxing having to avoid turtles in the bathroom early in the morning. but we worked it out in the end and gave each other space to just be ourselves.

turtle

lunch on the trek

village we stayed in on the trek

kids in the village

then i made my way back in to thailand and to chang rai. ended up going with some people to the white temple which was a crazy looking temple with wierd murals inside. you´ll have to go see the inside for yourself because your not allowed to take pictures inside.

white temple

hands at the white temple

then i took a boat to the west to fang then a bus south to mae taeng to spend the night then a bus the next morning to pai. it was the long way but i wanted to take a boat and it seemed a good of time as any so thats how i did it. i spent about a week in pai because i met some good people and started learning yoga which was a good break from travel.

boat ride stop

after pai i headed for bangkok to catch my flight to lima. now that was an exhausting trip. 40 some odd hours! i went from bangkok to delhi (5hrs)... to brussels (9hrs)...to toronto(8hrs)...to lima (7hrs). thats not including layovers. surprise surpise i caught a cold and was a bit sick when i got to lima. but luckily annmarie came and met me in lima and it made being sick a bit more fun. so we stayed in lima a few days then headed north to casma via chimbote.

lima, miraflores

annie with a pot on her head... just so everyone knows if you come and meet me somewhere you too can make it on to the sparkle tog holding things up.

There are these great ruins just outside of casma that we went to. the sites were sechin and chanquillo. i just put pictures of chanquillo up for no other reason then i forgot to add sechin and it takes really long to add photos so im not going to.

chanquillo

annie in chanquillo

i didn´t realize that the west of peru is a desert but it sure is. the green part is the river casma

i almost forgot but in the collectivo taxi from chimbote to casma we met a futbol player and he invited us to his game in a town near casma. so annie and i found a neither collectivo taxi (which are just taxis with as many people in them as they can fit) and went to yuatan. it was a cute little town with a futbol stadium on the hill. we didn´t take any pictures because we were the only gringas in town and getting stared at alot so as it to act and feel like less of outsiders we played it cool and just watched the game. After casma annie went back to lima and i went on to huaraz. once i got there i was stuck there for three days because they were have some sort of strikes. if i understood spanish i could tell you why but i dont so here is a picture of the strikers.

downtown huaraz

after the strike was over i went to caraz to do a trek on the santa cruz trail. not having ever hiked in peru i didn´t want to do it on my own so i hired a guy and his horse to guide and carry my stuff. it was a new experience because i had to buy all the food at the market for me and him and then get my self to the trail head where i met him. the trail was super easy to follow and there were tons of people around so it would have been super easy to do it on my own but what are you gonna do.

Alpamayo (mountain on the trek)

nevado taulliraju (i think)

same as above

at the punta union pass (4760 meters) looking back at the valley we crossed

burros on the pass

other side of the pass

after the trek i went back to caraz and caught a bus back to chimbote via the canon del pato which... whoa... is the best way to describe it. it was a sketchy road on a big bus. i tried to take some picture from the bus because its hard to describe just how hair raising this bus ride was but none really did it justice. probably because i had to literally not look a couple of times. there were sections that were maybe 1000 feet up and not paved and the fill slope failing in places. i was on the side of the bus with the best view of the river and canon below and it was exciting. the best parts were where the bus had to back up because it was a one way road with few turnouts and tunnels through bedrock that barely fit the bus. awesome! but not going to do it again anytime soon.

part of the canon from the bus. the road is on the right somewhere i think a tunnel through the rock.

imagine this 1000 feet up and thats what the road was like higher up in the canyon

then i went on to trujillo which is where i am now. today i took a local bus out to chan chan, which was built around AD 1300 and is the largest pre-columbian city in the americas. it was pretty good... big adobe city. i took a different local bus back and didn´t really know where to get off but luckily i recognized a street name and got off. i had to walk about 20 minutes to find where i was exactly but all worked out. now im sitting in an internet cafe trying to remember the last 2 months of my trip.

chan chan

well until next time.... i dont know.... just do what you were doing before.

just pictures this time how about?

2009-05-23T23:52:00.000-07:00

so thailand has been my vacation from my vacation. i was a bit exhausted after india so i spent the first 2 weeks island hopping and then 2 weeks on the mainland. I've been seeing lots of temples and sand so its been a nice break. right now im heading towards laos where ill spend 2 weeks then back to thailand for 2 weeks then off to peru for the south american portion of my trip. thailand is so beautiful and easy to travel besides the heat and humidity. I'm having a ball.

railay east

railay east (closest) railay west (farthest beach)

railay

railay

im not crying...its just been raining on my face

sunset on railey west beach

ang thong marine national park

muay thai fights ko samui

muay thai fights

beach ko tao

island off ko tao (which is an island)

temple in petchaburi

cave temple petchaburi

monkeys at the cave temple

kanchanaburi

big budda

big budda in temple in kanchanaburi

bridge over the river kwai

rented a motorcycle and got myself caught in a rain storm near kanchanaburi

(cold wet ride back)

jenny at the burmese border (just saw rambo IV... not going to burma)

some temple in sangkhaburi

really long wooden bridge in sangkhaburi

sangkhaburi

by the way just a shout out to all the sparkle tog enthusiasts (all 4 of you!)...what up...and thats straight from the j-dog

so this is what it feels like when doves cry!?

2009-05-01T21:56:00.000-07:00

How to explain my month in India. Before coming here I talked to other travelers who had been to india and half of those people loved it and half hated it. So I was curious how I was going to fair here and what my reaction would be to traveling here. Turns out I both loved and hated parts of my trip, people I met and experiences I had.

I started my trip in Varanasi, which is south west of kathmandu. I took an 12 hr overnight bus from Kathmandu to the border then another 10 hour bus ride to Varanasi. I was exhausted when we (luckily i met some other travelers on the bus from kathmandu going to varanasi so i didn't have to start india on my own) got to varanasi. Varanasi was a very busy city at the time because they were having a festival so lots of indian pilgrims (not sure if thats the right word or not) were in town to wash in the ganges river. It is THE place to go when you die to have your body burned next to the river then have your ashes put in the river. Apparently expensive too so not all families can afford it so some people tie stones to bodies and sink them in the river. And there are burning ghats (where bodies are burned) and bathing ghats where people come to wash in the Ganges.

morning boat ride on the ganges and the main bathing ghat in the background
Bathing ghat

bathing ghat again

After Varanasi I took a train to Satna then a bus to Khajuraho which is known for the temples with Kama Sutra carved sculptures. My first overnight train ride was a bit of an adventure. The train was overbooked and the sleeper bed I had reserved was filled with people when I got there so it took some time to get everyone off so I could go to sleep. The train conductor came and helped as well he yelled and hit some people not really my style but effective I guess. The temples were beautiful and mostly just suggestive poses but some were kind of x-rated. The city was a bit more laid back than Varanasi but it is the low tourist season now because its super hot here so I was bombarded by shop keepers trying to get me to buy stuff.

One of the overwhelming parts of India is the sales tactics of... well everyone is a salesman. There are people constantly following you and talking to you trying to get you to buy stuff or go to their hotel or take a ride in there rickshaw. Its a bit exhausting and it did take some time getting used to.

temple in Khajuraho

carvings on the temple

close-up carving

Next I took a bus to Orchha which I heard was nice and really low key compared to other places which I was very ready for. Theres a palace and some temples there which were nice but most of all it was a small town and I could walk around with less constant touts.

Orchha some temple ruins

Orchha Palace

After orchha was agra to see the taj mahal! I took the train to agra and just spent the afternoon in agra to see the sites. I hadn't heard good things about Agra so I was almost thinking of not going but the Taj Mahal was pretty spectactular (thank you bess for talking me into it).

That night I got an overnight train to Udaipur. Which has a lake and some more palaces. It was a nice city. It took me about a week and a half to really sort of get into india but it was about here that I started to get the hang of it.. or deal with it (not sure the best way to describe liking india). But I met some really nice people there. It was funny I hadn't been having the best time up until then and on the train the night before I was trying to figure out how to deal with it all but I was determined to like it and the very next day I started to meet really nice helpful people and started to have a really good time.

Taj Mahal

agra fort

Taj Mahal from Agra Fort

Udaipur from the city palace

inside city palace

city palace

water buffalo's in lake pichola Udaipur

Udaipur (city palace on top of hill)

Udaipur

next I hopped over to Mt abu, which is a getaway place for indian tourists. It has a lake and some beautifully carved temples (which they don't allow photos of). It was pretty nice but not alot going on.

nakki lake

nakki lake mt abu

Next stop was Jodhpur. It has a beautiful fort built on a cliff. I ended up meeting a german lady at the fort who needed another person to go on a village tour the next day so I said sure sounds good. they were (and still are) bishnoi villages that we visited.

jodhpur fort

jopdhpur

inside the palace inside the fort

village house

next up I took a bus to jailsalmer which was so hot it wasn't even funny (but a dry heat). And what did I decide to do in the desert in the sweltering heat, yep thats right camel safari. It was fun despite the heat.

jaisalmer

camel safari lunch stop

more camels (the one on the left was mine)

camels in the morning

After the camel safari I made my way to Bikaner because it was on the way to Delhi where I had booked my plane ticket for thailand. India really tired me out. It was the first time since starting my trip I was pretty tired of traveling. So I got to Bikaner and found a cheap place to stay in the city and sat down to eat lunch and met a guy from denmark living in bikaner and a guy from bikaner. We started chatting and suddenly I was invited to a wedding party the following night. The next day I hung out with the hendrick (the guy from denmark) and he took me for a walk around the old part of the city to see a temple and some old houses.

temple painted on the inside, which is rare because most are carved

one of the old houses (havali's)

That night we went to the wedding party for the groom and it was really fun. I couldn't talk to many people because I don't speak hindi but fun all the same. We ate some curry and chipati then some sweets that were made out of milk and coconut. There was also part of the cermony where the ladies of the house washed the groom (he had clothes on) with this orange paste to welcome him into marriage and the brides family. It was a muslim arranged marriage so the bride and groom hadn't met and wouldn't meet until after they were married. The evening ended with a dj and stage where a male transvestite danced to music. I wasn't expecting that at a muslim wedding in india but india has lots of surprises so just go with it.

Two days later was the wedding which after the party the family invited me to and it was probably the best part of my trip in india. It was a bit wierd at the beginning because I was a bit of a novelty but after everyone got a little used to the white girl they started being a bit more comfortable around me. The wedding started at the grooms familys house were we got in cars and went maybe 2 hrs away to the brides village. We stopped and ate lunch at a school I think then the groom got on a horse and we all followed him over (walking) to the brides house. There was a truck in front of the group playing loud music and all the boys were dancing as we made our way over.

Once we got there the groom had his cermony outside with the priest then the bride had her cermony inside with the priest. then we ate lunch more curry, a doughy thing in curd, sweets and vegetables. Then after everyone finished the groom went into the house to meet his wife and we all got in cars and took the bride back to the grooms house. Up until the wedding I was on the fence about liking india but after meeting and spending time with the grooms family I couldn't help but love India. So moral of the story is... well I don't know so Ill end with a knock knock joke. Knock knock.... whos there.....Mary Lee.... Mary Lee who.....Mary Lee we roll along!

thats me in my new outfit on the left in case I didn't stand out enough.

Jenny's trekking attempts in Nepal

2009-03-29T20:04:00.000-07:00

I say trekking attempts not because I didn't go but because both of my treks didn't turn out the way they were initially intended. Which didn't turn out to be a bad thing just a note. After Tibet I hung out with the two austrailian guys for a bit in kathmanu then Ryan and I decided to do a trek in the annapurna range. We first decide to do an 8 days trip which after the first day of hiking it quickly got cut in half to 4 days. The reason being that Ryan had never been backpacking before and told me that after the first day that he wasn't down to do a longer trek. Which was fine by me because I figured after we got back I would try and find someone who wanted to do a longer trek. The annapurna range is spectactular. we started at nayapul, then to gandruk, then to ghorepani, then to tatopani, and finished at Beni.

somewhere on the trail in the annapurna range

Sunrise on poon hill above ghorepani

When we arrived back at Kathmandu I ended up meeting this girl who wanted to do a little more difficult off the beaten path partial camping trek. Which was Gangi la pass in the langtang valley. So I said why not, sounds good (which has really been the theme thus far on my trip) It was initially planned as a 17 day trek over the pass with 6 of those days camping. Since the pass is really difficult and its winter, Kerri (austrailian as well, funny that I've been traveling with austrailians for more than half my trip already) contacted a guide service, that was recommended to her by a friend, to take us over the pass.

We left kathmandu on the 15th and traveled north 8 hrs or so to syra besi (by the way I am probably butchering the spellings of towns because I don't have my map with me so you'll have to bear with me). It took us three days to reach Kanjin Gumpa which is the last place with lodges to stay in before we started for the pass. But the first night after we had dinner our guide came up to us and said it was not possible to cross the pass!? As it turns out our guide had never been over the pass in the winter when there was snow on the pass! Both Kerri and I were a bit surprised and irritated that the service had sent a guide with virtually no experience to get us over the pass. Next we went over to the mountianeering association in Kanjin Gumpa and they informed us it was really dangerous to cross in the winter and didn't recommend that we go...

So we were both a little angry that they sent us a guide with no experience and didn't even attempt to check the conditions before they sent us on the trek. All the lodges and the mountianeering association have phones and it would have been easy to check. Anyway we ended up letting our guide go because the only reason we hired a guide was to get us safely over the pass and since that was out of the picture now we didn't need a guide to follow a trail.

Langtang Valley

Langtang valley looking down on Kanjin Gumpa

Kanjin Gumpa

Langtang valley

So after our guide left we went on a couple day hikes out of Kanjin Gumpa then headed back down to another trail system that went to some high mountain lakes. We trekked for 14 days altogether and it was so much fun. The himalayas are just as impressive as I had imagined.

So all in all I've been in Nepal a little over a month and am going to catch a bus in a day or two to India and see what that's all about.

on the trail to Gosakunda (the high mountain lake portion of the trip

Snowy trail leaving Gosakunda

Lake below Gosakunda

Another lake

Tibet!

2009-02-22T21:53:00.000-08:00

So last we spoke I had given up on going to Tibet. And since then I had given up maybe 3 more times until it finally just came together. After I left Xian I headed to chengdu where I met a couple other people going to Tibet, or trying to go. With the politics the way they are you can only go with a group tour and guide, the chinese government won't let you just travel there alone so we (ryan from austrailia and Regis who is from belgium but lives in Austrailia and I) booked a tour with a driver and guide from our hostel in Chengdu. So I ended up spending 6 days or so in Chengdu just trying to work out the details. I met some pretty fun people in Chengdu so we just drank beer alot and chatted about nothing really so it made the Tibet rollercoaster bearable.

We ended up getting the train from Chengdu to Lhasa, which is a 45 hour train trip! It actually went bye really fast because the scenery was amazing.

from the train somewhere in tibet.

We got to Lhasa on a sunday and our guide met us and took us to our hotel then out to eat. So here is the Tibetian food section of the Tog... for all those vegetarians in the audiance you may want to skip ahead because Im about to talk about some delicious animals, well one in particular. Thats right Yak. The first meal we had was a rice, potato, yak, and pickled radish dish which was really tasty. I also had a yak burger, yak noodle soup, dumpling soup (no yak), momo bread (a dense tibetian bread very good). We also got the chance to stop at a friend of our guides house to see a traditional tibetian home and it was so much fun. The people in Tibet have this custom to force feed you drinks. Mostly it is sweet tea which is yak milk tea and sugar. So when they serve you a drink they motion to you to drink while they are holding the thermos then you drink and they fill it to the brim again then motion for you to drink again and fill it once more. This goes on and on until the meal is over. So when we were at our guides friends house it got a little out of control. At first we were just going to have tea then they brought out potatoes, then a barley mixed with milk rolled in a sheep bladder, then pickled cabbage,l then reaw meat that had been sitting out (and yes I ate it because its hard to say no). So at one point I had chopsticks and a hunk of barley in one hand, raw meat in the other and the lady was motioning at me to drink more tea so she could fill my glass again. It was a ball. We also had barley beer which tastes like cider sort of. The tibetian people are some of the nicest people Ive met so far.

Potala Palace Lhasa

Lhasa Bangkor square

Barley beer in the clear glass, yak butter tea in the saucer, potatoes, and barley mixed with milk on the brown plate.

So from Lhasa we went to shigaste then to Tingri then on to Everest base camp. Everest is so beautiful and COLD! We spent the night at the monestary near the base camp at 5200 meters high. It was pretty hard to breath even at the base camp. I didn't get altitude sickness very bad but I had a headache and trouble breathing a bit. All in all Tibet is amazing. I wish the chinese government would allow people to travel freely but not now. Well thats it for now Ill fill in more details later.

Everest!

Me, Ryan, Regis

So other mountain in tibet

camera back in business

2009-02-05T17:16:00.000-08:00

I'll try adn post more later because people are waiting in line at the hostel to use the internet and my 30 minutes are up.

safety first (he has crutches if its too dark to see)

shanghai fireworks

terracotta warriors pit 3

terracotta warriors pit 2

terracotta warriors pit 1

Terracotta warriors pit 1

chinese new years shanghai and some other stuff too

2009-02-04T16:58:00.000-08:00

I had so much fun in Shanghai over chinese new years. I stayed with a friend from college and her family and it was great to see how they just live in china. It was also nice to finally commiserate about some of the little differences china throws at you. And Chinese new years was pretty crazy. They don't have any regulations about where you can set off fireworks, as far as I could tell, and they let you buy the big fun kind you can't get in the US (unless you have a permit i guess). We went up to the 30th floor of their building and it was a relentless sea of fireworks going on everywhere for hours...longer than you care to stand there and watch. They really know how to celebrate in china but I have to say its not very safety first at all but I guess most really fun stuff isn't.

I left shanghai a few days ago and am now in Xian. Its pretty fun for a city mostly because I met a guy from hong kong, who has been living here for a year and knows all the good places to eat and see. So here is the food section of the tog and I'm not a foodie so descriptions about the food are probably not easy to picture. So first day we went to the muslim quarter and had these sticky rice squares dipped in a syrup, a pork dish that was kind of the consistency of stuffing from inside the turkey, these fatty square noodles with a peanut kind of sauce (served cold), and a deep fried vegetable thing that was kind of crunchy on the outside and gooey sweet in the center. My favorite that day was the pork stuffing dish really good. The next day we went to get some noodles in a different part of town and they were green noodles made out of spinach I think that one was good too. I've also had a noodle soup with wide fat noodles, these boiled white balls that were gooey outside and peanut kind of on the inside, steamed buns with mutton inside, a chinese hamburger which was just a kind of big pretzel tasting bun and pork on the inside and last but surely not least I ate stinky tofu. It actually wasn't that bad really the outside was deep fried in what ever stinks most likely then they serve it in a dish and poor a sauce over it. I thought it was pretty good but I definitely won't seek it out to eat it again.

So as for where to next Its changed in the last few days. I did want to go to tibet then to nepal but it kind of sucks trying to go to tibet. Not that its hard just expensive because you have to book a tour and as far as I can understand you have to have a guide with you the whole time your there. Anyway there aren't many people wanting to go to tibet this time of year so I can't find a cheap tour to go on so my plan now is to head south and be in vietnam before my visa runs out. And I just dropped my camera and now I can't get the computer to read my pictures so sorry I can't post pictures now but I'll try and find a place to get it fixed today and hopefully post some soon.

chinese new years shanghai

2009-01-24T20:14:00.000-08:00

Lets see where did I leave off.... After leaving the national park I made my way up to Yichang to see the three gorges dam. The day I went to the dam it was really smoggy so it was hard to really see the whole dam but from what I could see it is massive. I took a chinese tour to the dam (couldn't find an english one) so I can't impart any fun facts about the dam that you couldn't find yourself on the internet so here's a smoggy picture and a picture of the model of the dam. Exciting I know!

thats a person in the bottom corner and the fuzzy dam in the background

Next I headed for Huang Shan which is a mountain just to the west of Shanghai. I had to take an overnight bus to the town near the mountain and ended up meeting a guy from korea on the same bus who I've traveled with for the past week to the mountain then on to shanghai. The mountains were beautiful and again thank goodness for some guard rails because they like to walk you to places that over hang cliffs then carve stairs out of the rock and walk you down the cliffs. we ended up hiking up the same day we arrived on the bus then stayed on the mountain for a night before hiking down. it was really cold the second morning and foggy so for the first hour of the hike down all we could see was fog. Thank goodness it cleared up and we could see the scenery because it was pretty amazing.

Once we hiked down we caught a bus to shanghai and got in pretty late that night maybe 1 in the morning but the hostel was still open so we had no trouble getting a room. Shanghai has been a pretty fun city so far of what I've seen and there are more europeans here then I've seen since I've been in china so I find myself picking them out in crowds and staring. Pretty soon I may end up getting my picture taken with random european tourist just like people have been doing to me since I've been traveling. I am already going to be in a lot of random photo albums here in china with various people who have stopped me on the street or in bus stations or anywhere really to get their picture with me. Anyway yesterday I moved out of the hostel and over to stay with friends in Shanghai and its a really nice change of pace. Im clean, my clothes are getting clean and I didn't realize until now that I haven't truly relaxed since starting traveling. Learning the basics of surviving china can be a little stressful so its nice to finally take a breather.

East Nanjing road Shanghai

Pudong district shanghai

zhangjiajie national park

2009-01-14T00:22:00.000-08:00

I ended up staying in fenghuang for four days or so mostly because I needed a little break from buses but also because I finally met some english speaking people. Most importantly I can finally feed myself a little better. There is some great food in china. I never really thought of chinese food being spicy but it sure can be. I have been eating soup mostly, because its been so cold, but also some bbq meat on sticks at street markets and lots of rice. I know what your thinking and no I am not exactly sure what kind of meat it was on the sticks but I think for now I would rather not know, but it was all really good and spicy.

I left fenghuang a couple days ago to come here to the zhangjiajie world geopark. Its this crazy national park. Its kind of hard to describe but its kind of like a pointy grand canyon. Not as big as the grand canyon but impressive all the same. The pictures don't really do it justice but even when your here its hard to process the magnitude. There are these crazy walk ways you can take that literally hang over the cliffs. But there are gaurd rails thank goodness but its still a little hair raising. baby steps to the edge to take a picture.

There were also...wait for it............WILD MONKEYS!

And yes it was as awsome as it seems. Anyway the first day I couldn't find an english map so I just kind of wandered around and got a little lost. Not super lost because I knew where I was and the direction I had come from but when I got to this village I was gonna get a bus back to the beginning but it turned out I couldn't so I had to hike back 2 hours and make it before the buses stopped running on the other end. I made it plus I got to see monkeys. That afternoon I found a map in english and so today I was a bit more prepared. I hiked up this mountain in the morning... lots of stone steps then I hiked back down to see the monkeys again which I did. All in all I don't know how far I hiked but it was maybe 8 hours the first day and 6 today. China is kind of kicking my ass as far as fitness goes.

So tomorrow I plan on making my way up to Yiching to see the big dam so hopefully everything goes smoothly. Now Im off to find some food and then my bed. So here are some more pictures of the park for your viewing pleasure.

there's a walkway on the top left of the cliff in the trees

2009-01-09T21:40:00.000-08:00

its a cigarette in the pigs nose!

Does anyone need a crossbow?

2009-01-08T22:41:00.001-08:00

So I have been fumbling my way around china, most of the time going the right way but not all the time. Long story short Im in fenghuang now. Its quite a ways north of guilin and yangshuo.

long story long, I left yangshuo to head out of the city a little and went to ping an, which is near longsheng north of guilin. Ping an is a village surrounded by some crazy rice terraces (dragon's backbone rice terraces). Anyway I got there one afternoon and it was beautiful. I found a place to stay in the village then hiked around on these stone walkways around the terraces. But I didn't want to walk around too much because I had all next day and for however long I wanted to stay to see the terraces. So the next day it was rainy, super cold and foggy. Couldn't see anything. So I wandered around in the fog all day just trying to stay warm and not get lost, then drinking tea and reading until I went to bed. The next day it was the same weather so I decided to leave. One day of fog walking is enough for me.

So I headed out of town trying to get here to fenghuang. I took a bus to sanjiang to get a bus here and when I got to the bus station the lady just kept shaking her head no as if no buses at all go north. Luckily (or not, you decide) this lady behind me started helping me and she said you can go to, and she said the name of a town I didn't recognize, then you can catch a train to fenghuang. And I said great I'll do that. Turns out that town was liuzhou which is 4 1/2 hours in the wrong direction. Anyway I made it there and got an over night train to huaihua (7 hours) I got there about 4 in the morning. Then waited in a hotel lobby until light so I could find the bus station. Then just a short 2 1/2 hours bus ride here. That was yesterday. So Ill probably stay here a couple more days then on to zhangjiajie, north of here, to check out some mountains then probably to the three gorges dam then towards shanghai.

By the way this town does have oodles of charm just like my book says. Im gonna try and post some pictures, hopefully in some sort of order.

hong kong

yangshuo

ping an

fenghuang

sparkle tog take one

2009-01-03T22:56:00.000-08:00

test test tog tog. Admirals tog earth date 01/04/09: well i survived hong kong new year! i stayed in the kowloon section of hong kong its just north of hong kong island across the bay. they closed off all the streets to vehicles so it was people everywhere. there are a lot of people in hong kong!

next I had a long few days trying to get to Yangshuo, which is north west of hong kong. luckily there were a lot of helpful people along the way. I think i ended up going the long way because it seemed like the most logical way but apparently not the most used tourist route. I didn't find many english speakers along the way but plenty of people willing to help. I stopped in wuzhou one night and when I got to the bus stop I had no idea where I was in relation to anything. so I walked out to the street to look at my map and within 2 minutes I was surrounded by about 15 people trying to help me find a hotel. finally two school girls walked me literally across the street to where I wanted to go. Being a non chinese speaking tourist makes me feel like a dingis a lot.

the next day was a very round about way getting here. I think my bus got canceled but i cant be sure. Anyway I had to go the guilin then back to yangshuo which was about 3 hours extra bus time. Anyway Im here, which was because of an andy recomendation (good call), and Im about to take some mandarin lessons tonight lets all hope, for the sake of allthe chinese people I come across that don't speak english, that some of it sticks.

2008-12-26T09:48:00.000-08:00

2008-12-24T19:01:00.000-08:00

after punch dancing out my rage, I have come up with a plan!

2008-12-22T20:24:00.000-08:00

2008-12-22T13:06:00.001-08:00