And then..... Denver

Life on the road was fun while it lasted; but all good things must come to an end. Fortunately for Jenn and I , our awesome trip ended with an awesome new beginning in a cool new city.

Anyone that knows us know us very well probably knows that we've been in Denver for a little more than a year now. This area is, without a doubt, the most action packed place we've ever lived. Instead of scheduling activities (as we did  in the panhandle and DC) we end up having to schedule down time. From outdoor stuff like skiing, camping, hiking, and climbing to indoor get stuff like beer fests, museums, pot lucks, and concerts: there always seems to be something to do here.

Luckily we fell in with a super group of nice and active people as soon as we got here. Within a week of being in Denver we had hiked two mountains, been camping, and attended our good friend's Summer Solstice party (not to be missed). We knew right away we were in the place for us.

Since that first week our lives have continued to be a whirlwind. Mountains, snow, a dog, a wedding, visitors.... it's been non-stop. If we haven't tried to recruit you already - let us know when you can make it out to visit. We'll be sure to show you a good time. We'll end up filling the state with our circle of friends just in time for us to move again.  :)

-J2 

Finally got that horseshoe out of there

Jenn has been saying it for a long time: we've been extremely lucky on this trip. A little too lucky if you ask her. Things have been going so well for us in terms of weather, missing high seasons, catching lucky breaks with transport, good health, and on and on... surely we are due for a bit of misfortune, no?


Except for a bit of unforeseen snow in China we've had awesome weather throughout our trip: I've been carrying around an umbrella that has been unfurled only once. We haven't been robbed though we rarely use safes nor insist do we on super secure hotels; and despite our best efforts we haven't lost anything of great value (we left a camera behind at a restaurant in Japan and we left our laptop at a street side market in Egypt - both were returned to us). We even had a broken camera miraculously start to work again - now I can experience the joy of taking pictures of Jenn taking pictures.

We have had a bit of misfortune - but hardly anything worth mentioning. Jenn did have to pitch a broken hair straightener and we've both left some clothes behind (absentmindedly or on purpose because they ceased to fit), but that's about the worst of it. Not too bad for 6+ months on the road, huh? Well, maybe the stars have shifted... or maybe that bum shaman's curse finally took hold. Who knows, but our streak is over. The hammer has dropped. We finally had a bad day.

The other day we were on a train from Bulgaria to Hungary. Long trip - got to see a lot of mountains do some reading and writing. Perfect, right? Well it was EXCEPT.... when we woke up our laptop was missing. We tore our little two person cabin apart, but someone somehow snuck into our locked room at night and made off with it. We loved that little thing - bummer, huh?

To make our day just a bit worse, as we dejectedly stepped off the train I realized that my shoes have finally eaten it. They are no longer even remotely water resistant. AND THEN!!! We were trying to cheer ourselves up at the police station (needed a police report for insurance) by taking pictues of my shoes... while reviewing the shots I realized that I am balding! Jeepers.... what a bummer of a day.

But don't worry your pretty little heads. It's not all that bad. We have traveller's insurance that should cover the computer (we'll make updates when we see how well World Nomads treats us). Luckily our short bad streak seems to be over already. Jenn has since left her purse at a restaurant only to have it returned. On arrival to England we caught the last bus of the night from the airport only to have a free $12 ride because we didn't have British pounds. Seems like that horseshoe has found it's way back home where it belongs.

Walk Like an Egyptian

This post is long overdue - we're writing it in Prague in late April.
March 2010
So, I'll be honest here. We're starting to get a bit exhausted from traveling. Don't get me wrong - we're still loving every minute, but the thought of going to another highly visited touristic place makes us a bit tired just thinking about it. I've heard people talk about getting "templed out" on long RTW trips, and thought it sounded bratty - but now, I kind of understand the feeling.
BUT - one place still gave me that giddy "all night the night before like a kid waiting to visit Disney World" feeling - the Egyptian pyramids! So, like any other super busy tourist site, we researched how to get there before all everyone else arrives. We find it rewarding to "beat the masses" and challenge ourselves to find our own way (public buses, taxis, walking) to the sites before the loads of tour buses pull into the parking lot. I think we just find it fun to add sort of an "adventure race" spin to traveling - and we're usually rewarded by having the place to ourselves for a while.

Much to our dismay, we didn't actually find too much information on how best to see the pyramids at sunrise - which is what we planned to do. According to the "LP" (the Egypt Lonely Planet Guide Book), we found that there are a few restaurants you can visit to see the sunrise before the main gate opens at 8:30am. We hired a driver for the day named Jacob, who was recommended to us by our new friend Julie we met via couchsurfing (we'll explain that site better in a future blog). We arrived to the pyramid opening gate at 6am, only to be hounded by a person trying to sell us a super expensive camel ride with a camel that looked like he needed food. We declined and found the restaurant that the LP recommended - only to discover it was in a 5 star hotel and had a less than ideal view. Bah.

We sat there with our 25 Egyptian pound ($5) coffee and tried to figure out what the heck to do next. Our driver who called up a camel stable that a past client had enjoyed. We agreed over the phone to a fair price of 200 Egyptian pounds ($40) each for a 2.5 hour private tour. However, the price seemed to go up quite a bit once we were there. After negotiations we settled on $150 for the tour, which included both entry fees to the pyramid sites, the panorama desert, the Sphinx and our private English speaking guide. We felt like we were getting a bit reamed, but the morning was quickly getting away from us and we wanted to get moving.
The tour was well worth the money. The pyramids were gorgeous. Riding a camel was just as amazing as experiencing the pyramids.
My camel had quite a bit of gas, which Jim noticed more than I did because he rode behind me. Both of our camels made lots of gastric noises, which our tour guide called "Egyptian music."
The Sphinx is carved out of one single stone and therefore is smaller than we imagined it. But, something else looked a bit "off" to us. We then learned the beard has been removed and taken to the British Museum in London. Why couldn't they just leave the poor Sphinx alone?

Jim and the Sphinx without their beards.

The only buzzkill of the trip was the last 10 minutes on the way back to the stable. The manager had said there would be no mention of money during the tour. But, our guide asked us to "give him a tip from the heart." Doesn't that sound like an test of how good of a person you are? Since we already paid the guide $50 for his services, Jim gave him $10 and asked if that was what he was expecting (for reference, our driver cost about $30 for 10 hours). He replied that most people gave at least double that, and sometimes more. The guide said - "no problem, you give what's in your heart and I am happy." He didn't look happy to me. This is quite a good sales/guilt tactic, but made Jim a bit mad.

After we visited the Giza pyramids, Jacob took us to Saqqara, which had some amazing tombs filled with hieroglyphics and beautiful paintings. Unfortunately, we couldn't take photos inside.
We finished the day at Dashur - which had the oldest known pyramid ever built. The tomb here was insane. We had to walk down a LONG slanting staircase which couldn't have been taller than 3.5 feet. If walking down a tomb isn't scary enough for you, try scampering down bent over!

Jim and our driver Jacob

The day well exceeded our expectations. Some advice I would give travelers who want to see the pyramids without the crowds - line up a camel or horse tour with a reputable company before hand. And if you're looking for an awesome driver - send me an email or leave a comment. Jacob was fabulous - he watched out for us, brought us pita and beer and kept us laughing.

Smoke a beer?

Jenn and I happened into a microbrewery in Athens the other day. Craft Brewery makes a light smoked beer which has an aftertaste that is just like smoked gouda. It was weird yet awesome; we would have been in danger of drinking too much if they cost less than 6 euro ($8) each. We got on a train directly after the bar so I had 12 hours to ponder over how to smoke a beverage. My solution: a modified water pipe (basically a hookah) replacing the tobacco with some sort of wood chips. Though I couldn't see any way of pulling the smoke through without bringing oxygen and thereby oxidizing the ethanol. Turns out that smoked beer is made by smoking the malts before fermentation. Probably a bit extravagant for me, but there are quite a few breweries in the states that do it - though they seem to prefer making porters.

I think I will try the method I envisioned though. I have about 3 gallons of (awful) apple wine that may taste okay as smoked apple vinegar. And how about some smoked soy milk or yogurt? Sounds a bit gross, but I bet that's what they said about the gouda.

-Jim

Salinity Now!

We were a bit skeptical about visiting the Dead Sea. Could it really keep us afloat? Can 31% salinity keep over 100 pounds on the surface without any effort?
It was pretty cold outside and the thought of swimming in a glorified lake didn't sound too inviting. But, we mustered up our strength and went - and we're so glad we did!

A Wordly Wonder

OK. I'm not afraid to admit it. Before a week ago I had never even heard of Petra. Hell - given three chances I may not have been able to point out Jordan on a map. But we heard from some (drunken?) pirate looking dude on a deserted beach in Egypt that Petra is the biggest tourist attraction in the middle east. We later found out that it is one of the new wonders of the world. Perhaps more importantly - it was featured in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. I'm always telling Jenn: "if something is good enough for Han Solo - then by god it's good enough for us."

(he was actually trying to take a picture of us and his friend, but he aimed the camera the wrong way)

So we started crossing borders having absolutely no idea what to expect* (mom and dad - see footnote below). Petra could well have been the world's largest stone carousel and Jordan may well have been a western hating Muslim hotbed, but how many chances are we going to get to bounce around the Middle East? Onward!

To make a long story short - Petra is an archeological site that houses the stone remains of an 8,000 year old city. Even if you don't see the stone carved buildings, the site itself is just incredible due to the sandstone canyons and cliffs. To get to the city itself you have to walk through tight and winding sandstone gorge - the rocks are many shades of red and everywhere you look is stunning.

(the entrance to the city)

(a close up of the sand stone rocks)

(Jenn in front of the famous treasury building)

(At the top of one of the lookouts -quite a long hike up. We left Jenn's jacket up here and had to climb up here twice. Our butts were sore for two days after)

As for Jordan itself - I think it was far and away the friendliest place that we've visited yet. Imagine what your reaction would be if you knew that someone walking past you on the sidewalk was a foreigner. You'd probably give them a nod or maybe a "hello". In Jordan almost everyone says "welcome to Jordan" with a big smile. You will be asked if you want tea (from strangers) and if you accept you may get stuck for hours trying to insist that you aren't hungry, or that you've had enough, or that gifts or take home food really isn't necessary. There were many times that we were offered a drink or a chat and I refused thinking that there would be some sort of catch as there always was in other countries we had visited. Jordan was truly different, people just honestly want to sit and talk - it was a very neat experience.

(A little girl insisted on helping Jenn tie her scarf around her head the "right" way - and wouldn't take any money when she offered to tip her for her services.)

We made friends with quite a few Bedouins (Arabs that live in the desert) in Jordan and Egypt. One night, we went out to the desert to look at the stars with our new Bedouin and Californian friends. The invitation to go out in the desert in the middle of the night might seem a bit scary - but the Bedouin (and Jordanian) people are the nicest you'll ever meet.
We loved our time in Jordan.

If you'd like to see more photos of Petra check out our Flickr photostream (click on the link in the upper right corner of our page).

**Note to our parents: Just kidding about the "not researching" stuff, we were escorted by security forces the entire time.

Tooth Brush Shuffle

Today, for the first time in over five months, I brushed my teeth without having to use bottled water. Just used the water that came out of the tap. What a wild and crazy world. We're loving Jerusalem already.

It was so convenient - I may just go do it again.