What’s been going on…

Let’s see. I’m clearly a horrible blogger. For that reason I’m here today to present a very brief summary of our destinations from the past few months. I’ll try to get around to actual posts for each location at some point in the near future, as I will be presented with much more down time than I’ve had lately. I’ll start where I left off. 

Hong Kong Part 2:  Cable Car and Dolphins!

I really enjoyed Hong Kong. 3 weeks there was a little too much time, but I definitely miss the food.

Jim’s view- “Expensive, crowded, and full of many delicious foods. Also home to the soon to be extinct pink dolphins.”

Shanghai, China:  Wandering, incredible food (pumpkin/corn/beans, Shanghai style dumplings!), Coheed and Cambria concert

Shanghai wasn't quite as polluted as I'd expected based on things I've heard about China. Interesting place but not somewhere I'd necessarily return to.

Jim’s statement- “Home to the Shanghai dumpling which is one of my favorite dumplings. A bit crowded and polluted, but a cool place visit.”

Xi’an, China:  Wall around the city (twice), Terra Cotta Army, Hua Shan (horribly polluted mountain hike), diaperless babies

I liked this area, however I experienced my least favorite hike ever!

Jim’s views- “Cool little city. Definitely enjoyed riding the wall and checking out the sites. Easily my favorite of the 3 I visited in China.”

Beijing, China:  Forbidden City, Peking Duck, The Great Wall!

The Great Wall is an incredible structure. We were fortunate enough to visit one of the less crowded areas on a gorgeous blue skied day. Wear sunscreen if you go!

Jim's reaction- Shoulder shrug…”We had Peking Duck. I mean the city itself was blah. The Great Wall was amazing.”

Trans-Mongolian Railroad:  Great views, surprise bus ride

I've decided that trains are my favorite mode of transportation. Well, maybe. I like boats a lot too.

Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia:  New friends, closed museums, cashmere

Ulaanbaatar is home to 60% of Mongolia's population. It is quite a different experience from the rural regions of the country.

Jim’s view- “Provided me with my first pick-pocketing experience. Lots of honking. Lots of cashmere and wool. Plenty of food. Nothing impressive.”

Terelj National Park:  Incredible 8 day horseback riding journey filled with gers, scenery, rivers, rain, hail, wood stoves, and food

This place is pretty beautiful. We had to rely on the cold river for bathing purposes and 8 days was a bit too much time there.

Jim says- “Beautiful despite being rainy. Would like to go back.”

Central Mongolia:  Disappointing 4 day camel-less journey with sand dunes, kids (babysitting), an oasis, the geographical center of Mongolia, and long bus rides, Milky Way

We went on a tour specifically so we could ride camels through sand dunes, so when that did not happen, we were all pretty upset. Beautiful area though.

Jim's opinion- “Pretty cool. Wish we could have ridden camels.”

Irkutsk, Russia:  Tasty dumplings, an icebreaker, ridiculous pink dishes (beets), learning the Cyrillic alphabet!

I really enjoyed our time in Irkutsk. It is a great little city.

Jim- “I liked Irkutsk. A nice introduction to Russia.”

 Olkhon Island, Russia:  Peaceful, quiet island in the center of the world’s largest freshwater lake, Lake Baikal, jeep ride, banyas (one by the water!), naked Austrian man, incredible food (fish)

This place was incredible. I really miss it and recommend it to anyone in the area, unless you prefer bars and noise to peace and quiet, in which case I do not recommend it.

Jim says- “Loved it. The banya by the beach was fucking awesome”

Trans-Siberian Railroad:  84 hours of naps, food, reading and chatting which felt like 30 or so, 1 awkward Armenian, 2 great Filipinos, and 2 creepy Russians (plus their vodka)

I loved this ride and can't wait to go back and do more of the routes. It was an amazing 3.5 days that felt like nothing. 

Jim’s views- “That sounds about right. Thousands of miles of birch tree forests.”

Moscow, Russia:  Lenin, the Kremlin, MyMy, an old friend with Chihuahua puppies!

Moscow was beautiful as a city. Nice and clean. I just wish I spoke Russian.

Jim comments- “It was nice. Kremlin was really cool to see, in particular the carriages of royalty.”

St. Petersburg, Russia:  Swan Lake (disappointing performance), a full day at the Hermitage, Catherine’s Palace (Gold, Amber, lakes, everywhere!), a fort, Love of Three Oranges (opera)
 I really love St. Petersburg. It is a very nice city. 

Jim happily recalls- “Hermitage was awesome! The fort was pretty cool. Great to see our Filipino friends again. Need to see a better ballet.”

Warsaw, Poland:  Jewish Ghetto, Old town, Warsaw Uprising museum

I wasn't too impressed with Warsaw. It is a typical city. 

Jim thinks- “Warsaw Uprising museum was pretty cool. Was disappointed that the erotic art museum no longer existed.”

Krakow, Poland:  Auschwitz, Jewish Ghetto, salt mines with the smallest elevator ever, castles, walls, horrible hot wine

I enjoyed Krakow and the surrounding areas. Our activities were pretty depressing, but it is very important to see these things to be able to understand everything we learned in school.

Jim's opinion- “Krakov…Krakov, that’s how they say it there. Are you typing that? Stop it! I'll slap you! Good jumping off point to the devastating Auschwitz and Birkenau.”  

Prague, Czech Republic:  Astronomical clock, tour of sites, mirrors, walks, a great playground, visitors from home, day trip to Kutna Hora (Sedlec Ossuary- Bone Church) 

Not the biggest fan of Prague. It is beautiful, but there are other places I enjoy much more.

Jim- “Prague was not as good as I’d hoped based on what I’d been told, but it was a nice city and where I met my father who came to visit, so that was awesome.”

Salzburg, Austria:  A nice house outside the city, an extra long bus ride, Snowy day at the ice caves, Hohensalzburg Castle, Hike in the alps, goats! And of course the Sound of Music

I've been to Austria before and I still absolutely love it. Not so much the city itself, but the mountains, people and weather.

Jim says- “The castle was really cool. I liked the public transportation. It was good. Oh, and the cable car ride was really cool as well. Oh! And the way up to the ice cave was very enjoyable, in part because of the snow storm.”

Munich/Memmingen, Germany:  Train stations, A night outside of the airport, emergency blanket use

We had quite the experience here due to the lack of internet the days leading up to it. Oops.

Jim notes- “Very cold and unenjoyable. 5 hour wait on the concrete outside the airport. Why the hell do they not have benches?”

Rome, Italy:  Bus ride, wandering, Colusseum, Circus Maximus, Baths, Ruins, Pasta/Pizza, Vatican Museums pre-crowds, Climb up the Dome stairs, Possible pope sighting, Capuchin Crypt

I'd been to Rome before and loved it as much this time as I did the last. 

Jim states- “Rome’s pretty awesome. It’s basically an open air museum. Sometimes extremely crowded, but if you can get away from the crowds, it’s an experience I think most people should have."

Well there you go! Nice little summary of what's been going on. We are now just north of Pompeii, south of Naples, in a very interesting little town. More to come soon!

(If there is anything in particular you'd like to know about, just let me know! I will be sure to include more details in the future posts.)

-October 27, 2013