Going out with a Bang in Hong Kong

Top: Brent and Zoltan with the Tower of San Miguel at trivia night

Bottom: Big Buddha in the background

Top: Our winnings at the horse races. We bet $20HK on a trio and won.
Bottom: A literal "ice bar" that served vodka shots. They give you fur coats when you walk in.

Hong Kong has been quite the experience... Let's put it this way: it's been by far the city we've stayed up the latest. We had one super tour guide in Zoltan. He planned itineraries for us and went out with us every night despite having to get up at 8am. I don't know how he did it.

Hong Kong has such amazing night life... people party until 4 in the morning every night of the week. It's sort of a weird town though in that it's a mix of New York, Las Vegas and Beijing. It's really NOT uncommon to see older businessmen with young Asian women (you probably can figure that one out) and people driving Ferraris and Maserati.

There is a layer of smog here, but beautiful mountains near by to escape the city. We got to see a giant Buddha, won $500 HK (about $125 US) at the horse races, explored the Museum of History and took quite a few cable cars to get magnificenest views of the city.

Today we're back to the States. We have mixed emotions about going back. We feel like we could keep traveling forever - we're now used to living out of a backpack and sleeping in 20 different beds throughout the month. I miss talking to my friends, seeing family and being productive in society. I miss my dog, Morgan! I can not wait to see him. I hope he hasn't forgotten about us.

Vietnam

Top: Brent in the middle of celebration around Hoan Kiem Lake in Hanoi
Bottom: Dinner at local place with tiny table and chairs, but delicious and cheap food

Top: Marianne trying sticky rice cooked in bamboo (yum) for 25 cents... and looking much larger than the Vietnamese around her ha!
Bottom: Brent put to work in the rice field in Mai Chau

Vietnam has been such an incredible experience.. .highly exceeded our expectations. We also happened to align our trip (unknowingly) to the 1000 year founding celebration of Hanoi so the place was filled with so much energy, street shows and decorations. We were lucky to have "accidentally" picked this time.

We had the opportunity to visit a small village called Mai Chau, west of Hanoi. We stayed in a stilt house owned by ethnically Thai people. The people there were so fantastic and it was such a change of pace from Hanoi. We were fed SO MUCH FOOD for every meal... like three of four meat options. I've never been fed so much in my life. We're off to Hong Kong now!

Some Pics From Sydney

Top: Man playing the Didgeridoo (maybe have messed up that spelling)

Bottom: Brent in heaven at Asian Eating World

Below: Opera House and Sydney Harbour Bridge in background

I come to Sydney to watch a play about a New Hampshire Town :-)

Brent and I arrived in Sydney safe and sound yesterday. A lot of people on our travels have told us that Sydney is "just another big city." Well, I have to disagree.

Today we went on a self-guided walking tour. We saw Parlaiment, the ANZAC memorial, the Botanic Gardens, and, of course, the Opera House and the Sydney Harbor bridge. The latter two are a site to see. We went inside the box office to see what was playing there. To our surprise, it was way more than just opera. We decided we'd try to go see a show. After finding out the comedian (Josh Thomas?!) was totally sold out, we asked about the play "Our Town." Come to find out, if you're under 30, the play is only $30 (as opposed to $90)... it was a no brainer. Funny thing is, "Own Town" is about a fictional town in New Hampshire. Yes, we come to Sydney to watch a play about NH starring actors whose accent is... eh... actually, some did a spectacular job, but some definitely still sounded Australian.

Besides the play, our favorite part(s) of the day was the food! Delicious food. We ate the Tiger Pie from the Harry's Cafe de Wheels, lamb skewers and pork suimai from the asian markets, Thai chili chicken curry from a food court, and these marshmellow chocolate things Brent really wanted. Yum.

Underwater Caving

The past few days have been so much fun. We went underwater caving in the NW (see pictures) where we were able to see glow worms, get some information about caves, black water raft with glow worms lining the ceiling, and finished up rafting down the river.

Today we went wine tasting and drove down the east coast.

A few pics from NZ

Top: Glacier walking on Franz Josef

Bottom: Visit to Puzzling World on a rainy day

Below: Atop Queenstown Hill

New Zealand

Spectacular! I have only a minute to write, but just wanted to let you know we're all safe and sound in New Zealand. We did a full day glacier walk on the Franz Josef glacier yesterday (amazing), lots of walks throughout the country and jet boating on the Shot Over River in Queenstown. I will post pictures later, but I think this is my favorite country yet...

Perth, Australia

Upper: Kangaroo with joey

Lower: Marianne and Brendan at Brendan's golf club.

Marianne and Phil at King's park overlooking the city.

Perth is absolutely lovely: parks, beaches, endless beaches, walks, bike rides, yummy food and Little Creatures beer. Phil and Brendan (my aunt and uncle) have been spectacular showing us around. Traveling around the world has been the time of my life, but I missed going out for long walks and not being hassled to buy things on the streets so Perth came at the perfect time. I could definitely see myself living here, it's such an outdoors area - reminds me so much of Portland in a way.

Some highlights:

We saw kangaroos and koalas yesterday. Kangaroos hide in the bush during the day to avoid the sun and come out of night. As we were driving home yesterday and the sun was setting, they were out in full force. They are such neat animals and nothing like them. To Australians, they're no big deal though.

The beaches. I can't express how absolutely beautiful the beaches here are. It's the end of winter here, but the weather is starting to get warm. I would say it was close to 70 degrees if not hotter as Phil took us on a walk along the beach where Heath Ledger was known for going and where they held the public part of his funeral.

Parks. There are SO many parks and all of them beautiful. Endless walking/running paths around the lakes and oceans.

Pictures - Ephesus (Turkey), Mykonos, Santorini and Olympia

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Pictures from Athens and Istanbul

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Continent #6 - Australia

We made it to Perth safe and sound. It's kind of nice to be out of the Muslim countries (although Bali is primarily Hindu) with an American passport with the last name of Jones. What a nutter pastor!!!!!!! It was all over the news in Indonesia.

Bali was such a wonderful place. The people are so kind and peaceful (a little different than the Egyptians) and there is so much to do. Meals were really inexpensive - dinners with appetizers, main courses and a drink or two were about $20 for the two of us. White water rafting was really fun and the monkey forest in Ubud was the coolest (if you read Eat, Pray, Love, Ubud is where she stayed for the three months). We drank the local beer, Bintang, while watching the sunset at Kuta beach. I got sick the last day and couldn't do much of everything. Brent was a good sport and didn't mind sitting out by the pool while I recovered in bed.

Arrived in Perth yesterday, the 11th. Perth is spectacular - I see why my uncle Brendan and his family love it here. We're staying in the granny flat at Brendan and Phil's place. We had an absolutely lovely dinner with Phil and Brendan at a place called the Naked Fig that was right on the beach. Today has been a lazy day. We FINALLY did our laundry. Something we had not properly done since Ireland (over a month ago). I went for a longish run in perfect running weather - sunny and around 60 degrees. I think I am going to really love it here.

Will be able to post some pictures later finally.

Bali kicks a$$

10 US Dollar = 60 minute massage with not one, but two masseuses. And strong ones. We probably could've bargained even further, but I really can't complain at all.

If you have ever thought about coming to Bali, go. Please, for the love of whatever you may believe in, go.

White water rafting, monkey forest and other things tomorrow...

Off to bed to get some sleep before the big day.

Egypt, oh Egypt

Brent and I are sitting in the Luxor airport with, literally, like 10 other people. Does no one else fly out of Luxor? It's kind of creepy but I suppose the airport is nice and clean and there was no line at the security. We're flying Qatar air to Bali via Doha and singapore. I have a feeling Qatar air is going to have some pretty sweet perks and good food. Anyhow enough about the Luxor airport...

We spent our first two days two nights in Cairo. If you ever decide to come to Egypt I recommend this length of time or less. Go to see the pyramids at Giza, the sphinx, Memphis, the egyptian museum and maybe the bazaar if you're into shopping. Once you're done that - get out of Cairo. It's impossible to walk anywhere. Crossing the streets islike the human version of frogger and people are constantly trying to give you their "business card". I felt bad for the people there that were being generally being friendly bc we had to completely ignore them.. You just never know. Our hotel was decent though and the staff accomodating- with breakfast stretching until 11. On the third night we took an overnight train to Luxor which was a comfortable ride after Brent convinced me to take an ambien.

Luxor, although known as the hassle capital of Egypt, wasn't THAT bad in terms of being hounded. A donkey pulled cart
man - I think they're called kaleshes - followed us for a mile and eventually got off his donkey and asked for a tip bc he claimed he gave us advice. This young boy - maybe 15 - also grabbed brents butt cheek, the right one to be exact. I thought he was propositioning him for sex but brent claimed he was trying to get his wallet. Either way, it was funny/scary to watch.

Other than that Luxor was awesome. The temples of karnac and Luxor were really cool. We also saw the Valley of the Kings and a few other sites on the west side. It's amazing how preserved the sites are in Egypt. Maybe it's because they get out a centimeter of rain a year, not sure... Looking at the mummies though, Egyptians are darn cool are preserving things.

We're currently now in the Singapore airport on our way to Bali, Indonesia. I've never been in a nicer airport in my life. They have a butterfly santuary?! Behind me is the largest plasma screen TV in the world. Also, we're riding Qatar Airlines... one of the best airlines I've ever been on.

Must go retrieve Brent. Write later...

In Egypt

Arrived in Cairo last night.... What a busy city. Everyone we've come across is working for tips so they all are incredibly nice. Our hotel is right near tahrir square. Taxis and honking all night through the window. Drivers are crazy. Nobody pays attention to lane lines and nobody uses headlights--as if they are trying to conserve energy. Temps in the high90's. We made triple sure both our hotels have working AC. We're off to see the Pyramids, the Sphinx and finish the day off by cruising down the Nile.

As a side note, we're majorly hurting for clean clothes. I refuse to pay the exorbinant amount hotels charge to get your clothes washed but also don't want to spend an afternoon in a laudamat.

Off to breakfast and our Cairo adventure begins...

Paris and the Mediterrean

Travels have been absolutely fabulous... except for the fact that decent internet that doesn't cost $1/minute is no where to be found. Currently I'm in an internet cafe in Katakolon, Greece (a town not too far from Olympia, Greece - sight of the ancient Olympics. I have to make this post fairly brief as Brent doesn't like it when I spend too much time on the computer and ignore him ha!

Paris was awesome. The food being the best part. Baguettes, cheese, wine, crepes - absolute heaven. The sights were pretty cool too. Eiffel Tower and the Musee d'Orsay being my favorites.

We're been visiting the Meditterean countries the past week and a half: Italy, Croatia, Greece and Turkey. Istanbul was my favorite city, although very busy. Mykonos, Greece, a small island, was my favorite slower-paced place. We visited a beach called Super Paradise. :-) Today we went to Olympia and I loved it, even though our time there was minimal. We raced on the stadium track and checked out the Temple of Zeus.

I'm working on uploading pictures, but it takes FOREVER.

Iceland

Yikes, it's been so long since I've messaged. Part of the reason was due to the fact we were "stealing" slow internet at Granny's and it was too much of a hassle to try to get things accomplished online.

Iceland was unlike any other country we've been to - glaciers, geothermal spas, geysirs, waterfalls, volcanoes, stretches of volcanic rock that make you feel like you're on the moon - the place was really neat.

The people there were tall... I think I was below average height. Everyone was blond blue eyed, despite having 50% Celtic genes. Apparently, the Norweigan Vikings stopped off in Ireland for brides on their way to Iceland.

Here are some pictures from Iceland: http://www.kodakgallery.com/gallery/sharing/shareRedirectSwitchBoard.jsp?token=839008185905%3A1842509038&sourceId=533754321803&cm_mmc=eMail-_-Share-_-Photos-_-Sharee

We are just finishing up our trip in Ireland were we went to my cousin Eoin's wedding and got to see lots of relatives. The weather was uncharacteristically warm and sunny for Dublin. Hopefully I'll have those pictures up soon... we'll see.

In Iceland

Wooo HOoo we´re in Iceland. We arrived into Reykjavik a little later than expected as we had to land at Reykjavik´s domestic airport due to fog at Keflavik. We didn´t get to the hotel until noon (where we probably would´ve arrived close to 8am).

I am so excited to explore Iceland. The people here look like an amalgam between Norweigan and Irish (more so Norweigan I suppose)... perfect for Brent and me. We took a short boat ride to look at some puffins... I thought they were going to be a lot bigger and cooler, but, hey, the boat ride was nice. We then explored the city by walking and ended up at a museum. The museum had this great audio tour with wax structures (I seriously thought they were real until Brent convinced me they weren´t). The tour chronicled Iceland´s history from about 800 - 1500. Turns out many of the Icelandic women are of Celtic descent where men are of Norweigan.... go figure.

Must get to eating now. Very hungry. Not sure we´ll be as adventurous about trying local cuisine as we were in Peru. Petrified shark, no thanks.

Peru Pictures

Hi Everyone -

After an absolutely incredible experience in Peru, we're in Boston shortly to visit my new niece, Ariana! She is the most adorable girl I've ever seen.

Peru was awesome. We spent two nights in Lima, two nights in Cusco, one night in Aguas Calientes (town that people stay at to get to Machu Picchu), another night in Cusco and one final night in Lima. I will hopefully have time to write more later, but here are some pictures (which I hope to also have time to label while in Boston).

You have to check out Brent's post Machu Picchu meal....

Picture link:
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In Peru

Arrival into Lima safe and sound. We were picked up At the airport by a young guy whose English was... Eh... Not so great. It was a little disconcerting not being able to ask him about the hotel or where we were going, but I suppose that's also my fault having done little to no research (and for not paying more attention in high school Spanish class). We did, although, read Brent's wiki travel articles and paid close attention to the food and drink.

Anyhoo we have no idea exactly where we are, where we're going and with a driver that doesn't speak English. That's what traveling is about, right? And the possibility of getting taken down a dark alley and robbed of our passports?!?

Well,we make it to the hotel just fine at 1130 pm but haven't eaten dinner and I'm about to go cannibal and eat brent's arm. Since we're in Peru and want to indulge in local cuisine we order pizza. Yes, pizza. It probably tops my Mcflurry in Guatemala City. I suck. I promise travel gods to not be so american from here on out. I just didn't know where I was and I was hungry and it was late... After I consumed 5 slices we promptly went to bed because we were told we had a tour at 7 am.

Got up early , ate breakfast and waited for our guide to arrive... And waited. Remember that guy whose English was not so great and who happened to be the one who informed us of our tour time. Well, he was talking about our Cuzco flight pick up the next day. So tired..
We currently are waiting for, at 10, for our between 915 and 945 pick up. Hmmmm Brent is pacing, I'm writing. Just all part of the travel experience again, RIIGHT?

Hot and Humid in Wisconsin before taking off for Peru

Luckily we had a few days to recoup and do our laundry for the next leg of our trip, Peru. In addition to catching up on sleep, we visited Brent's 97-year-old grandma and went down to Milwaukee to catch up with Scott and the girls, and then headed to the German festival with Tom and Jackie. Much to do tonight so I'm keeping it short. Hope everyone is doing well!

Top: Cutest girls Clara and Maggie Bottom: Kristi, Scott, Jane, Brent, Grandma Fossum and Maggie



Marianne and Brent at German Fest