Munich

Since I'm lazy, I'm just going to list the things we did while we were here.

• Spent lots of time in Munich's beer halls ("biergartens" in German)
• Ate lots and lots of Bavarian food (sausage, sauerkraut, and potato pancakes....mmmmm :))
• Visited the BMW Museum, which was largely uneventful (though the building itself was pretty cool)
• Visited Dachau concentration camp, which was a very sobering experience (pictures below)
• Shopping (after Christmas sales here are amazing!)
• Drinking hot wine and watching ice skaters downtown (which we had intentions of doing but never got around to it)

And things we didn't do (which I really wish we had…):
• Visited Neuschwanstein Castle (which just means I'll have to come back... :))

And finally, some interesting facts:
• Germans use the letter ß in place of "ss"
• Most luxury car manufacturers in Germany follow what is known as a gentlemen's agreement by limiting the top speed of their cars to 250km/hour (155 miles/hour), though this is easy to remove
• Doing the Nazi salute is punishable by a fine of up to 10,000 Euro
• 80% of Munich was destroyed in WWII
• There were 42 assassination attempts on Hitler during WWII, most of which were by Germans
• BMW, along with many other companies, employed slaves from German concentration camps to work on their assembly lines during WWII
• The tea party in America has used propaganda identical to the propaganda used by the Nazi party
• Oktoberfest celebrates the anniversary of former German King Ludwig I

Trip to Munich (on the Autobahn!)

This has been the best trip ever. Here we are cruising the Autobahn at a cool 180km/hr (113 miles/hr., and possibly the top speed on this car):

Some other highlights:
• We haven't gotten lost once
• Saar taught me how to drive a stick
• For some reason, we've have been listening to '80s music nearly all the way here (which Saar is so graciously serenading to me at the moment)
• Lunch cost us a mere fraction of what it would have cost us in Switzerland

Switzerland (Things I Love About This Country)

As follows:
• The McDonald's, which remind me a little of Starbucks (and they charge Starbucks-like prices, too... meals are like $13)
• Driving through endless tunnels
• How easy it is to navigate the freeways here
• German words like "die" and "und" and "tunnelstrasse"
• Swiss food (fondue, sausages, and chocolate!)
• All the towns here are decorated with Christmas lights
• There are like 50 varieties of chocolate in every grocery store
• People will speak to you in German even if you express that you have no idea what they're saying
• Our rental car (a Renalt Twingo... see below)
• The currency

And some things I don't like about this country:
• Paying 20 cents for ketchup, paying $20 for meals, paying $5.80 for bottled water, paying $15 for road maps, and paying $1.70/L for gas... I'm sort of eager to get to Munich...

Interlaken (Sledding)

Though it got off to a pretty slow start, Interlaken was amazing. It's situated at the base of Jungfraujoch Mountain, and is flanked by two lakes, so the scenery is unbelievable. We spent the afternoon sledding (or, as the locals call it, "sliding"), which required a steep drive up to the town of Isenfluh (which our little car did pretty well on!), followed by a tram ride up to another town called Suwald. It was worth the effort, though, as we were rewarded by this view along with a sweet 4km run down the mountain.

Zermatt (Last Day Already...)

What a beautiful place to wake up to on Christmas morning:

It doesn't feel like Christmas without family, but it is nice having Saar here.

Anyway, we woke up this morning, took one last walk around the town, and left for Interlaken (which we had to drive through St. Niklaus to get to - very cool on Christmas day!). In hindsight, we probably should have spent the day skiing, as Interlaken was somewhat of a ghost town on Christmas, but it was kind of nice not having anything to do. Saar and I were planning on going out for dinner, but in the end, we ended up napping and then eating at McDonald's. Not necessarily how I imagined my Christmas, but being that I'm in Switzerland right now, I guess I really have nothing to complain about :)

Zermatt

What a quick few days we've had here. Some of the highlights:
• Teaching Saar how to ski (thanks to my excellent instruction, he was expertly navigating beginner runs - which are nothing like beginner runs in Michigan - by the end of the day)
• Riding up the mountain in gondolas (so much more comfortable than chairlifts!)
• Seeing a ram (or at least I think that's what it was) on a chairlift ride up the mountain
• Trying to ski down steep, long runs in deep powder at an elevation of 4000m (this is incredibly tiring to try to do)
• The following conversation I had with this 8-year-old I met on the chairlift:
○ Kid (before I made up my mind as to whether I would introduce myself or continue listening to my iPod): So where are you from?
○ Me: The US
○ Kid: Cool, me too. Which state?
○ Me: Michigan… what about you?
○ Kid: New York. So how long have you been skiing?
○ Me: Since I was about your age. You?
○ Kid: Six years.
○ Me: How old are you now?
○ Kid: Eight. So where else have you skied?
○ Me: Only the States.
○ Kid: Oh. You should go to [some resort in Europe whose name I didn't recognize]. Is this your first time in Switzerland?
○ Me: Yes.
○ Kid: Do you speak German?
○ Me: Not really, no.
○ Kid: What languages do you speak?
○ Me: A little Spanish. What about you?
○ Kid: Oh me, too. And also German, French, and Italian.
I don't really remember what else was said, but those are the good parts. Seriously, I'm pretty sure this is going to be our future president.

Zermatt (Finally!)

After a treacherous six-hour drive (which was only supposed to have taken us four...), we finally made it! (This portion of the trip is the one I'm most looking forward to.) And although we could have stopped in any number of towns along the way to go skiing, I'm glad we made the drive all the way down to Zermatt... this place is breathtaking. It's a car-free city, so the only way to get here is by train. And it snowed earlier today, which makes it even more spectacular!

Just look at this place:

Zermatt (Finally!)

After a treacherous six-hour drive (which was only supposed to have taken us four...), we finally made it! (This portion of the trip is the one I'm most looking forward to.) And although we could have stopped in any number of towns along the way to go skiing, I'm glad we made the drive all the way down to Zermatt... this place is breathtaking. It's a car-free city, so the only way to get here is by train. And it snowed earlier today, which makes it even more spectacular!

Just look at this place:

Zurich (Things I Love About This Place)

After only four months off, I'm traveling again... this time with a companion (Saar) and for a much shorter period of time (two weeks as opposed to three months), both of which make this a much different experience. Anyway, I arrived in Zurich early this morning and have already seen much of the city. My favorite parts so far:

• How everything in this city is reminiscent of IKEA
• The view of the Alps from our hotel window
• Eating chocolate (which costs a small fortune here)
• The building made of train cars, which was decorated in lights at night (see photo below)
• Drinking mulled wine outdoors, which Zurich had perfect weather for (it was 40 degrees tonight!)
• Walking around the Christmas market (Christkindlimarkt)

By the Numbers

- 106 days abroad

- 5.5 books read

- 7 items lost

- 6 pairs of sunglasses broken

- 17 T-shirts purchased

- 12 kilos - weight of my luggage when I started my trip

- 32 kilos - weight of my luggage when I ended my trip

- 150 new Facebook friends (give or take)

- 14 flights flown

- 55 hours, $2200, 40,000 Delta miles, and 3 flights to get home after I was denied a seat on the Delta flight I was standing by for for the third time

- 37 nationalities of people met (Moroccan, Spanish, Portugese, Greek, Turkish, Egyptian, Jordanian, Syrian, Serbian, Iraqi, Iranian, Pakistanian, Israeli, Thai, Cambodian, Vietnamese, Laotian, Korean, Japanese, Chinese, Indian, Singaporian, Dutch, Danish, Irish, Scottish, English, French, Italian, German, Austrian, Polish, Finnish, Australian, Kiwi, Canadian, Columbian)

- 23 modes of transportation (Plane, Car, Ferry, Sailboat, Train, Subway, Taxi, Tuk Tuk, Local Bus, Charter Bus, Minibus, Pickup Truck, Foot, Hot Air Balloon, Camel, ATV, Elephant, Bamboo Raft, Bicycle, Motorbike, Kayak, Diving Ship, Tube)

- 17 experiences that could have killed me (bungy jumping, rock climbing, ATV riding, camel riding, hot air ballooning, surfing, driving in Cairo traffic, feeding monkeys, wearing a snake around my neck, climbing to the top of the monastery in Petra, driving along mountainous roads in Laos, sliding down a gigantic slide at the Full Moon Party in Koh Phangan, climbing to the top of a waterfall in Luang Prabang, tubing in Vang Vieng, scuba diving, riding an elephant, bamboo rafting)

- 25 cities visited

- $4,000 over budget

- Hundreds of hours spent in transit

- 11,000 total pictures taken (approximately - although I bet the total is much higher than that)

- Millions of memories made (cheesy, I know...)

So, I guess this is goodbye... for now, at least. I'll definitely be back, though :)

Bangkok (Things I Will Miss About This Place)

I apologize for the long absence - I'm actually writing this entry on my flight home right now.

Here's a quick breakdown of how I've spent my last few weeks:

- Diving in Koh Tao, highlights of which included seeing blue-spotted stingrays and moray eels, and kayaking through a torrential downpour
- Meeting someone whom I've spent the last two weeks with - and since most of this time was spent doing mundane things like shopping and eating, there hasn't been much to update you about
- Trying - unsuccessfully - to get a standby flight back home before finally giving in and buying another flight, thus extending my stay in Bangkok by a full week (hence the reason I've spent so much time at the mall)

So, although the last few weeks have been largely anti-climatic, this trip itself has been incredibly life-changing for me, opening my eyes to new cultures and experiences, and - although I know it sounds trite - teaching me plenty about myself.

Things I will miss most about Thailand:
- $6 massages
- 7-11's
- The lizards that climb all over the walls
- 30 baht ($1) mango smoothies
- Taking your shoes off everywhere you go
- Shopping
- Haggling
- Having to flush the toilet using a pail of water
- The creativity that goes into the Buddhist offerings here
- The incredibly diverse landscape
- The way everyone sounds like they're singing when they talk
- The people themselves

As good as it feels to finally be on my way home, I'm really going to miss this place.

Koh Phangan (Part II)

Having booked no travel beyond my ferry to Koh Tao, and realizing I wouldn't have enough time to really enjoy Bali (where I originally intended on ending my trip), I've opted to spend more time on the islands here. And, since I was curious as to what Koh Phangan had to offer aside from Full Moon, I decided to venture back - opting this time to stay at a meditation resort called The Sanctuary. As it turns out, this is really not my crowd (half the people here are fasting and don't seem interested in talking about anything but their colonics, and the other half - those strictly here for yoga classes - will not stop raving about how spiritual they are), the meditation and yoga courses were both great, and the food was phenomenal. (Granted, verything on the menu here contains wheat grass, spirula, lemongrass, ginger, flax, or something else I've never eaten or heard of, but it was just so nice to eat real SALAD again.) Some other highlights of my last couple days here:

- Swimming out to the pier to watch the sun rise
- Lying on a hammock for hours reading travel magazines
- Learning some Muy Thai boxing moves
- The bats in our bathroom
- Falling asleep to the sound of waves from outside the window of my bungalow

Koh Phangan (Full Moon Party)

Considering how much time and money it took me to get here, I was a little worried Full Moon was overhyped, but happily, it lived up to my expectations.

Here's a brief rundown of the events of the past few days:

- Arrive after a day and a half of traveling.
- Find a room on our first try - even though there was a giant hole in the floor, we couldn't complain at 300 Baht (10 USD)/night
- Pool party
- Pear loses the room key, and I spend at least a couple hours sleeping on the porch in a soaking wet dress before one of our neighbors finally takes me in
- Eat. Nap. Eat.
- Buckets and body paint at Clare's and Rose's
- Beach party, night one. Flaming jump rope. Death slide. Dancing to the same ten songs over and over again.
- Julia, discovering her roommate has the key to her bungalow, breaks into ours. I find her there when I return.
- Eat. Nap. Go for a run along the beach (the only good thing I did for myself this whole weekend
- Visit one of the dozens of clinics on the island (which I believe make up a substantial portion of the economy here) to remove a piece of glass embedded in my foot (extremely painful, by the way - and my nurse had the nerve to tell me to suck it up)
- Order nachos for dinner (I found this appropriate in keeping with the theme of doing nothing good for myself the whole weekend)
- Beach party, night two
- Watch the sun rise with hundreds of other Full Mooners
- Take a short scooter ride around town
- Come back to the bungalow at 8am, soaking wet from last's night's downpour
- Take the ferry to Koh Tao with hundreds of other hungover backpackers, most of whom still have their body paint on from last night

Though I am definitely ready for a little downtime (and scuba diving!) in Koh Tao, Full Moon was definitely worth it :)

Trip to Koh Phangan

Here's a taste of my last day and a half:

6:30am: Pack. Shower.
8:30am: 4-hour bus ride to Vientiane.
1:50pm: 2-hour plane ride to Bangkok.
4:00pm: 45-minute taxi ride to the bus station.
7:30pm: 9-hour bus ride to the ferry docks.
7:30am: 5-hour ferry ride to Koh Phangan.
12:30pm: 30-minute taxi ride to Haad Rin.
1:00pm: Check-in to our bungalow (finally!)

I am so looking forward to a night out tonight...

Laos

Slow boat down the Mekong. Breath-taking scenery. Overnight at a hillside village. Visiting a local hospital in Luang Prabang to get Catie's rash diagnosed. Beach volleyball at Utopia. Night markets. Indian food. Climbing the muddy steps to the top of a waterfall in the pouring rain. Driving six hours through undulating, mountainous roads to get to Vang Vieng. Backpacker town. Friends and Family Guy playing in every bar in town. Tubing tanks. Torrential downpours. Tubing. Shots. Buckets. Mud wrestling. Mud volleyball. Trapeze swings. Extremely strong currents. Evening hangovers. More buckets at Q Bar. 8am bus to Vientiane.

Not ready to leave.

Chiang Mai (Various Adventure)

More things to cross off the bucket list:
- Bungee jumping (my second time - but my first harnessed by my feet, so it still counts for something)
- Zorbing
- Ziplining through the jungle - and seeing gibbons in the wild!
- Playing an extra in a movie (random, and very fun... even if I don't make the final cut :))

I also got my hair straightened today, which took six hours, turned out perfectly, and only cost me 800 Baht (around $25). Any my ladyboy hairdresser Nan was a trip - I held onto his number if any of you are heading to Chang Mai in the future and are interested :)

Chiang Mai (Hillside Trek)

What an amazing birthday. I woke up this morning to roosters crowing and a gorgeous view of clouds nestled in the mountains. After breakfast, we bathed elephants that we then rode down the river, then picked up bamboo rafts (constructed the prior evening) upon which we continued our journey. After it was all finished, we took a covered pick-up truck the 100km back to Chiang Mai.

Some other highlights of the trek:
- The hilly 9km hike
- Stopping at local villages along the way
- Swimming in the hot springs and beneath the waterfall
- Getting bitten by a leech (albeit not a positive highlight)
- Sitting around the campfire
- Taking shots of "happy water" (rice wine)
- Listening to the rain on the tin roof of the hut where we slept

After returning to Chiang Mai, Abby and I took well-deserved naps, then she treated me to dinner, and we celebrated at a Thai reggae bar with everyone from the trek.

It's going to be hard to top this next year :)

Chiang Mai (Cooking Course)

What an amazing day! We arrived in Chiang Mai early this morning via overnight bus, which was admittedly one of the most miserable rides I've been on thus far (though I kept my mouth shut, as Abby - still recovering from jet lag - had it much worse). Unfortunately, we didn't have any downtime, as we were picked up for our cooking course just after we checked into our hostel. And though I wouldn't recommend battling sleep deprivation with the consumption of massive quantities of food, the class itself was great, and included a trip to a local market to shop for ingredients followed by the preparation - and consumption - of five courses (pad thai, green curry, prawn and coconut soup, fried fish and papaya salad, and mango and sticky rice) - all of which were amazing. Overall a wonderful day :)

Pictures are uploaded!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/emilydarnbrook/

Chiang Mai Part 1

I don't think life could get any better than this. Today went something like this:

7:00: Get into Chiang Mai after a 13-hour bus ride, completely sleep-deprived
8:00: Check into possibly the cutest hostel ever
9:30: Join a cooking course
10:00: Visit the market to pick up ingredients for the meals we picked out to cook
10:30 - 4:00: Prepare (and subsequently devour) five courses, including pad thai, green curry, papaya & fish salad, prawn & coconut soup, and mango & sticky rice
5:00: Pass out
6:00 - 11:00: Check email. Blog. Post pictures. Enjoy the rainstorm.

I absolutely love this city. Aside from there being an infinite number of things to entertain us here, the people here are also incredibly nice. I know I've said this about every country I've visited, but I really do think Thailand is my favorite.

Bangkok (Round 2)

Second time in this city, and it's almost starting to feel like home. This time is way better than the first, though, since Abby is here now (her blog is way more detailed than mine if you're interested in more than a bulleted listing of things we did in each city :))

Anyway, highlights from my second time here:
- Final night with the tour group
- Watching the World Cup finals (and the night that ensued)
- Our hostel (so much nicer than the one I stayed at the last time I was here!)
- Visiting the Grand Palace
- Seeing the reclining buddha at Wat Pho

Boring, I know, but it was kind of nice to have a little downtime... especially considering how busy Abby and I will be over the next couple weeks. Plus it gave me a little time to get some more shopping in... :)

Siem Reap

What a fun city. And Angkor Wat is absolutely magical.

Some highlights:
- Tasting crickets (a little bit like BBQ potato chips - and actually pretty good!)
- Watching bats
- Getting fish foot massages (apparently the fish are supposed to eat dead skin off your feet, but I wasn't able to tolerate it long enough for it to be effective)
- Getting $2 pedicures
- Watching an apsara (traditional Cambodian dance) show
- Trying honey and black sesame ice cream
- Browsing the night markets

Pictures to come!

Phnom Penh

What a sobering day. We spent the morning visiting the genocide museum (Security Prison 21) - a former high school whose classrooms were converted to torture chambers by Pol Pot's security forces in 1975. We then visited Choeung Ek, the infamous killing field where 17,000 detainees held at S-21 were executed.

A little info about the Cambodian genocide and the Khmer Rouge:
- Upon taking Phnom Penh in 1975 - two weeks before the fall of Saigon - the Khmer Rouge implemented an incredibly brutal period of restructuring. Led by Pol Pot, the Khmer Rouge sought to transform Cambodia into a giant peasant-dominated agarian cooperative, which they attempted to do by wiping out all educated Cambodian citizens, as well as the families of those citizens. (Even children were executed - and often brutally.)
- While the Khmer Rouge's methods of torture were horrifying, perhaps the most disturbing part of this story is how people were actually executed: since bullets were prohibitively expensive, victims were often bludgeoned to death with shovels or beheaded with the sharp stems of palm tree leaves.
- The Vietnamese army finally liberated Phnom Penh 1979, though 3 million of the country's previous population of 7 million had already been executed. Only seven prisoners from S-21 survived, and we actually had the privilege of meeting one of them. Hearing his story of what he went through during that time was heartwrenching.
- Sadly, many Cambodian children are ignorant of the brutality that took place during this period, as this portion of Cambodia's history is not taught in Cambodian schools, and apparently parents do not typically talk to their children about their own experiences during this period.

Other random facts about Cambodia:
- Cambodia does not have child labor laws, and since secondary school is not compulsory, many children drop out to get factory jobs (which pay just $60/mo.)
- After a couple is married, it is common for them to live with the woman's family. It is also typical in Cambodia for the couple to support the woman's family once they marry - the reason girls are preferred to boys in this country
- Boys are typically more educated than girls in this country, as boys are expected to provide for their families; however, with the same level of education, girls actually get paid more than boys once they enter the workforce
- When expressing thanks, it is polite to bow your head here (this is also a common practice in other Asian countries)
- Diet Coke is more expensive than regular Coke in this country
- For some reason, locals here address Western women as 'lady'
- As far as I can tell, all bras sold here are the same size
- People here drive on the right-hand side of the road, though people drive both right- and left-sided cars
- Name brand clothing is really cheap here, as factories unload many their old and defective products to locals to sell
- The population of Cambodia is now around 15 million - 11 million greater than it was in 1980

Typical foods here include:
- Papaya salad with dried shrimp
- Tom yum soup
- Lok lak (beef and tomato salad)
- Spring rolls
- Fish amok
- Morning glory
- Curries and stir fries

Other highlights of this city:
- Driving through endless stretches of rice paddies on our way from Ho Chi Minh
- Our cyclo ride through town
- Seeing monkeys around Wat Phnom
- Drinking lychee cocktails
- My "takeaway" coffee, which was served in a rubberbanded plastic bag
- My first tuk tuk ride
- My $5 North Face bag
- $6, 60-min foot and shoulder massages
- Visiting the Royal Palace and Silver Pagoda, which is tiled in solid silver

Ho Chi Minh

I still can't believe I'm already on the Southeast Asian portion of my trip. This journey has been a phantasmagoria of cultures thus far, but the dichotomy between the Middle East and Southeast Asia is incredible, and has actually left me a little culture shocked.

Anyway, today marks the first day of the guided tour portion of my trip - and the end of the inherent penumbra of traveling alone. While I anticipated I would most enjoy this segment given that it should be the most structured and brainless of my trip, I actually have found the I feel the opposite, and crave the freedom to do what I want, when I want. There is also an inauthenticity in traveling strictly with a group of Westerners (not that I don't like them!) I don't necessarily have any complaints about this place otherwise, though.

A few highlights:

- Eating pho (the very best part about traveling to Vietnam!)
- Cruising the Mekong Delta, stopping along the way to see how rice cakes and coconut candy are made
- Our tour guide, who fought for the South during the Vietnam War and who told us an incredible story about a former relationship he had with a Viet Cong spy

Random facts about Vietnam & Ho Chi Minh:
- Ho Chi Minh was actually called Saigon until the end of the war
- The motorbike is by far the most common means of transport here
- Interestingly, all adults wear helmets on motorbikes but almost never put helmets on their kids
- There are approximately two million Vietnamese children suspected to have been conceived by American Gis. The Vietnamese claim these people can be identified by their being hairier than normal.
- In place of summer and winter, Vietnam has rainy and dry seasons
- Markets here sell four packs of live frogs, bound by their tiny little legs (simulataneously sad and hilarious)
- People in the Delta region of the city do not celebrate birthdays but rather celebrate the deaths of their ancestors
- There are no McDonald's in this city
- Fruit is extremely prevalent in this country. Common fruits include dragonfruit, lychee, mangosteen, jackfruit, mango, pineapple, pineapple, papaya, and coconut.

Bangkok

Ahh, Bangkok… the quintessential backpacker city. I got in around 11pm my first night, and despite my intentions of getting sleep after my overnight layover, I couldn't help myself, and ended up going out. Khao San, though flooded with tourists, is great, and has incredible shopping, bars, and street food, and access to more ATMs, currency exchanges, and pharmacies than one could possibly need. And after being in the Middle East for a month, being in a place where local women are free to drink and wear occidental clothing is refreshing. Some highlights:

- Hanging out with Pear and Nardsiri, who are two of the nicest, most amazing people I've ever met in my whole life
- Eating tons of sticky rice, which is especially good with mangoes and coconut milk
- Shopping at MBK, a huge indoor market with incredibly cheap clothing
- Eating authentic Thai food - which is much spicier than I expected!
- Drinking Thai tea (basically just tea sweetened with condensed milk)
- "Denmark"

Random facts about Thailand and Bangkok:
- Thai is a tonal language, and words like "na" have as many as five or six meanings depending on the tone in which they're spoken
- Drinks are typically available in buckets, which I wish the US would emulate
- Not surprisingly, Thailand is the world's leading producer of rice, but the US is actually the third leading producer
- Many shops sell faux brand name products, though this is technically illegal. To create the image that this is being controlled, police will do random checks, causing shopkeepers to close down stores for hours

Doha Airport

In an attempt to be cost-conscious, I booked a flight to Bangkok with an overnight layover in Qatar. It was a mostly positive experience, as I met this great and really nice guy, Dean, though I'm really looking forward to a real bed (or even cushioned airplane seats!) after sleeping on an airport floor for the past 12 hours.

Aleppo

Traveling alone this past week, with no one to appease but myself, my plans have become somewhat quixotic. I decided to travel to Aleppo, for example, about two hours before actually leaving. For such a short time here, it was definitely memorable. Some of my favorite memories:

- The guy on the bus who periodically walked down the aisle spraying all the passengers with horrendously-smelling cologne
- Touring the city with Rani, who currently works as a tour guide but showed us around for free (and hooked me up with some fabulous deals on souveniers!)
- Having tea with all of Rani's friends in the souqs (this took up the better part of an afternoon, as the souqs are 1.5km long)
- Having drinks (finally!) at the famous Hotel Baron
- Playing truth or dare, which led to a very interesting night
- Having my personality analyzed by Rani's roommate Ido, who was amazingly accurate

Damascus Part 2

Syria was a late addition to my itinerary, and cost me $130 to get in, so I had high expectations for this city, but I wasn't disappointed. This place is incredibly friendly - and shockingly cheap (my meals here have probably averaged about $1.50 each, and I bought a copy of Photoshop CS5 for only $1.00 - ironically, the same price that I paid for a bar of Aleppo soap). Among the highlights:

- Traversing endless souqs with Andrew and Ben in pursuit of a place for dinner the first night I arrived
- Rolling dough for fatta per invitation by the chef of the restaurant we found
- Painting our faces for the US and Germany games, and then watching them in the streets with a group of die-hard football fans
- Eating homemade ice cream rolled in pistachios - a popular dessert in Damascus
- Being invited for tea with a Syrian family, who kept a pet pigeon
- The guy who generously volunteered to jump in a cab with me to show the lost cabbie how to get to my hostel, even though he had to return back to his shop by foot
- Bilal and Hamaza, two of the nicest, most generous guys I've ever met
- Touring the city with Bilal, whose father was a big shot in Damascus and who simply dropped his name to get us entry to the citadel (currently under construction and closed to the public) and to a working Syrian movie set
- The night I came down with a fever, which was only memorable because all the boys skipped the Argentina game to stay in with me

Damascus

I feel like a millionaire in this country... and actually, I'm pretty close. (I have nearly 600,000 Syrian pounds in my bank account right now!) And though I tried to spend some of it today (believe me, I tried hard to spend it!), I couldn't seem to do it.

Here are my totals:

$1.00: Ice cream
$1.00: Postcards
$1.00: Soap
$8.00: A whole bottle of perfume (which smells identical to RL Romance)
$1.40: Lunch
$1.00: Snacks
$2.00: Blackberry Syrup

Grand Total: $15.40... and I probably have enough snacks to last me another two days!

Some of my initial observations of this country:
- The people are incredible. As compared to the other countries I've visited thus far, they know very little English, but upon learning that I'm American, they all greet me with "You are welcome."
- It is much cleaner here than it is in either Egypt or Jordan
- Bargaining is very uncommon (a huge thrill for me, as I can finally stop worrying about being ripped off!)

Random facts about Syria and Damascus:
- Damascus houses the world's largest restaurant, which has capacity for over 6,000 people
- Damascus is the world's oldest continually-inhabited city
- Average government salaries are just $300/month, and university graduates rarely earn over $700/month
- Inflation has been a huge issue for this country over the last couple years
- Though Syrians are well-educated, with a literacy rate of over 80%, the country's unemployment rate is over 10%
- Syria has more Iraqi refugees than any other country

Amman

Though Amman is far from the nicest city I've visisted thus far, its people are definitely among the best. All the vendors here welcome you to their country, countless people have offered us tea and drinks, and a family I met at the bus station encouraged their three-year-old daughter to give me a kiss.

Highlights from Amman:
- Our 50 kuru (75 cent) dinner
- Exploring the Souk Jara markets on Rainbow Street
- Drinking watermelon smoothies
- Eating tons of hummus

Random facts about Jordan:
- Jordan (or, more formally, "The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan") has 7 million people, which is 10 million fewer than Cairo alone
- I'm not certain that it's required in this country for children to enter high school, as I've met at least two people who had only attended school until they were ten
- Considering women here are allowed to work, vote, divorce their husbands, drive, travel in vehicles with men other than their husbands, and leave the house without wearing an abaya and boshiya, Jordan is incredibly progressive as compared to Saudi Arabia
- Imports from the US are not taxed in this country, so there are actually quite a few American cars here!
- Pita bread is served with every meal here
- Nearly all the email addresses of the people I've met from this country have ended with the year they created them, which I think is kind of funny
- It snows here!

Dead Sea

I feel as though I should begin every blog entry with 'What a perfect day…', and this really was. We traveled to the Dead Sea this afternoon, one of the things I had most been looking forward to this trip, and yes, it lived up to my expectations. Floating in water that salty is a pretty unbelievable experience (but be cautious, as it hurts like hell if you get it in your eyes), and since we splurged for the paid beach, we spent the remainder of the afternoon swimming in the pool. Ah, bliss :)

Random facts about the Dead Sea:
○ The salt content of the Dead Sea is 31%, or nine times that of the ocean
○ At 408m below sea level, it's the lowest spot on earth
○ Egyptians used mud from the Dead Sea in their mummification process
○ As a result of the sea's high evaporation rates, the air layers above it are thicker than normal, reducing the strength of the UV rays in the surrounding area
○ Mud and minerals from the Dead Sea have been used to treat a variety of diseases, including psoriasis, herpes, and joint infections, and some insurance companies in the region actually cover Dead Sea treatments for people who suffer from these conditions

Aqaba

I've found since I started traveling by myself that I have an incredibly hard time deciding what I want to do from day to day. Case in point: I decided to go to Aqaba this morning about 20 minutes before the bus left. I'm glad I did, too... after two scorching days in the desert, spending time at the beach was a huge treat. (Surprisingly, it was actually much hotter here than it was in Petra, but having access to a body of water made the heat feel much more manageable.)

Tidbits about the Red Sea:
- It's actually a lake
- It borders Jordan, Egypt, and Israel, and Saudi Arabia is only 10km away
- The water is incredibly blue, and clear, and warm, which makes it perfect for snorkeling

This pretty much sums up what I did here (in roughly this order):
Snorkel
Eat
Nap
Snorkel
Nap
Snorkel
Eat
Sleep

Oh, and I helped one of the hostel employees set up his very first email account and Facebook profile :)

Oh... and I met some very cute Dutch boys... I'm definitely going to have to add Holland to my list of future travel destinations now :)

Petra

What an incredible place. I've seen plenty of pictures of Petra, but I really don't think any of them do it justice. Walking through the Siq realizing that this used to be a bustling community was an awe-inspiring feeling, and being that summer is the low season here, we had the park nearly to ourselves.

Tidbits about Petra:
- Petra is now considered to be one of the seven wonders of the world (which means I've now seen three of the seven!)
- Petra was built in the 3rd century BC but was only discovered in the 1800s
- Indiana Jones was filmed in Petra
- The area surrounding Petra contains 90 hotels, 40 of which have five stars

Highlights of my couple of days here:
- Having tea with a couple Jordanian women at the High Place of Sacrifice
- Climbing to top of monastery (this is no longer allowed, so we had to wait until after the guards had finished their shifts until we could do it)
- Being invited over for dinner with a Beaudoin family, who served me way too much food, insisted I take pictures with all their kids, and shared their daughter's wedding photos with me
- Playing cards with Dutch, British, Irish, Aussie, Kiwi, Argentinian, and Korean peeps
- The buffet dinner at our hostel... chicken, rice, and about 25 types of vegetable dishes... and it's been almost a week since I've had any vegetables with the exception of cucumbers and tomatoes (standard breakfast fare here)
- Meeting some girl who has been hitchhiking through the Middle East all by herself
- Trying tamarind tea

Trip to Amman (Best Day Ever)

Joci and I parted ways this afternoon, and while I am still bummed about no longer having her as a travel partner, the subsequent events of the day did quite a bit in abating my sadness:

I was talking to this Jordanian guy during my layover at the Cairo airport.  About 20 minutes into the conversation, he asks me if I want to sit next to him on the plane, which I agreed to (an odd request, but I figured it would be a short flight, anyway).  Anyway, turns out he gets me bumped to first class.  Then, we get to Amman, he insists on paying my visa fee, and - the best part - he offers to have his driver take me to my hostel in his LIMO.  (Yes, I know it's not advised to get in cars with strange men, but I felt this should be an exception.)

Along the way, I also learned that this guy has 17 siblings (some of whom own large plots of land that he pointed out on our trip from the airport), and that they, along with his friends, typically throw get-togethers for him when he returns from trips (including, interestingly enough, the three-day trip to Cairo he was returning from). He explained that this was customary in this culture, but no one else seemed to agree that this was a common practice, leading me to suspect that this guy just may have had connections to the royal family. I'm still disappointed I never got his last name...

Pamukkale & Kusadasi

 
 
 

Pamukkale was phenomenal. As I don't think I can adequately describe it, I've posted a picture to give you an idea of what it looks like.

Kusadasi, on the other hand, was kind of a waste of time. A popular destination for cruise ships, this place is filled with kitchy souvenier shops and overpriced food. Even the beach was disappointing, as it was crowded and much dirtier than I expected. Thought I wish we had've gone to Alacati to windsurf as we had originally planned, I can't say I'm necessarily upset about the change of plans, as I'm definitely starting to feel some travel fatigue, and I think I needed some down time, anyway. Plus, Joci and I came across an amazing jewelry shop, and flirted our way into some awesome discounts.

Trip to Pamukkale

It seems as though nothing can go wrong for us. Case in point: tonight, we left to catch a 10:00 bus just after 9:00. While it seemed as though we should have had plenty of time to get to the bus station, we quickly realized that the trip would take us just about an hour (making us about ten minutes late).

Luckily, we met a girl on the metro who was getting off at the same stop, and who accompanied us to the bus station (which she sprinted with us to get to!) and then convinced the attendant to contact our bus driver. (We later offered her money for this, but she refused it.)

Fully expecting that we would have to spend the night in Istanbul, we were completely shocked when we were told that the driver had just left and had offered to wait for us! So, though we showed up sweaty and completely unprepared for the ten-hour ride, at least we made it in the first place. Hopefully this luck continues…

Istanbul

Istanbul is definitely my favorite city thus far. It's clean, it's cheap, it has great food, and it has amazingly nice people - and unlike most large cities, everyone here seems really laid back. I could definitely spend a few more weeks here.

Anyway, the highlights:
- Stray Cat Hostel, which is home to three rescue kittens and has THE BEST breakfast I've had so far this trip. (Sunday's menu is eggs and crepes, and the rest of the week they have yogurt, nutella, eggs, tomatoes, cucumbers, and feta... plus free coffee and tea all day long :))
- Visiting Hagia Sophia & the Blue Mosque
- Learning about Islam, which is strikingly similar to Christianity
- Watching Salah (Islamic prayer) at a mosque - interestingly, men pray up front, and women all pray in the back
- Buying souveniers - Turkey has all kinds of good stuff :)
- Having seafood and wine (our best meal yet) with some boys we met from Portugal
- Watching the World Cup
- Smoking nergili (a.k.a. hookah in the States and shisha in Egypt)
- Visiting Topkapi Palace
- Cruising the Bosphorus River by ferry
- Our hammam experience (i.e., being bathed by a topless old woman... not necessarily my idea of an enjoyable experience...)

Tidbits about Turkey;
- Since Istanbul is such a progressive city, these statistics were shocking to me: 45% of Turkish men (which of course includes men from all over the country) believe they have the right to beat their wives, and 37% of Turkish men believe a woman who commits adultery deserves to be killed
- Turkish was the model for an ill-fated international language
- Boys here are circumcised around the age of four, and are dressed in prince costumes to celebrate the occassion (we thought they were really cute until we realized what they signified)
- Oddly, no one here works out - apparently there are very few gyms in this city, and running outdoors is nearly unheard of
- Turkey actually belongs to both Asia and Europe
- In Arabic, the prefix "mu" means person, e.g., Muslim means person of Islamic faith, and Muhammad means blessed person
- Bananas here are really expensive, but cherries are cheap

Typical Turkish foods:
- grilled corn
- sardines
- mussels
- fruit smoothies
- "Turkish delights"
- apricot juice
- apple tea
- shwarma (shaved meat)
- borek (phyllo dough and cheese)
- kompir (cheesy baked potatoes)
- ayran (a salty yogurt drink)
- dondurma (handmade ice cream)
- corn nuts and dried chickpeas (which sound gross but are really good!)

Trip to Istanbul

Joci and I got into Cairo on the overnight train at 5:30 this morning, and instead of trekking around Cairo with all our stuff until our 5:00 flight, we decided we would try to catch an early morning flight. Unfortunately, Egypt Air doesn't offer standby tickets, though, and in order to confirm our seats we would have had to pay another €50. So, deciding money was more important than our time, we opted to hang out at the airport all afternoon, a surprisingly fun experience. We found a spot for breakfast in the morning and were offered free coffee and use of the restaurant booths for napping by the manager, both of which we took full advantage of. So, ten hours and about five cups of coffee later, we are on our way to Istanbul! I can't wait!

Oh, and Joci and I were far from careful about what we ate this trip but didn't get sick once while we were here - I don't really know why, but I'm kind of proud of that.

Luxor

Luxor was incredible - by far my favorite city in Egypt. Surprisingly, Luxor is amazingly lush along the banks of the Nile but is surrounded by desert everywhere else.

Highlights of our trip to Luxor:
- Picking up hitchhikers
- Having pictures taken of us by some Egyptian kid (this was only noteworthy because it was the first time it happened; we were asked to take pictures with many other people throughout the rest of our trip, as well)
- Visiting ancient temples Kom Ombo and Edfu

Highlights of Luxor itself:
- The Bob Marley Hostel, which offered us free falafel sandwiches, tea, and a rooftop lounge for $3/night
- Our hot air balloon ride!
- Tour through Valley of the Kings & Queens with our awesome tour guide Nana
- The oil shop which made designer-inspired scents for amazingly cheap... I was being really good about not buying souveniers, but I gave in and bought a couple
- Eating at McDonald's for the first time in months

Aswan (Felucca Ride)

We began our day with an amazing (and free!) breakfast at our hotel before visiting the Nubian villages on Elephantine Island, just across from the city. While these were great, the highlight of our day was our felucca ride down the Nile.

Highlights of the felucca ride:
- Meeting our Columbian, Italian, Japanese, and Egyptian boat mates
- Swimming in the Nile
- Singalongs hosted by our guide, Nasser, which included the soprano version of The Lion Sleeps Tonight
- Learning dirty words in Spanish
- Learning how to write my name in Japanese
- Learning a card tricks from our guide
- Playing poker by candlelight
- Running into a donkey on my way to the bathroom during the middle of the night
- Sleeping on the boat and under the stars on a nearly perfect night

Aswan (Heat)

Unfortunately, I don't have too much to say about Aswan, as it was way too hot to do very much here. (The high today was 115.) Our hotel is incredible... AC, towels, toilet paper, clean sheets, decent mattresses, and even a rooftop pool and bar (pretty basic by US standards, but close to luxury here)!

Anyway, the only thing we managed to do before 3pm was eat, which we did at this amazing little floating restaurant called Aswan Moon.

Now I understand why everything is open so late here (and why even the kids stay up until well after what we would consider to be normal bedtimes)... this weather is just barely manageable even at 10 and 11 at night. I will say, though, it's pretty great traveling here at this time of the year, as we are nearly the only tourists here and thus have had a much more authentic experience. Plus, it only took my clothes TWO HOURS to dry this afternoon, meaning I don't have to worry about toting around damp clothes.

Something funny I learned today: apparently, the government is required to issue a state of emergency if the temperature rises above 45 degrees, though oddly enough, I've been told it never seems to do that... ha... I love that even the weather reporters here are corrupt.

Trip to Aswan

Trip to Aswan:
Currently traveling to Aswan via sleeper train - way pricier than our train in Morocco ($60 USD as opposed to $30-something in Marrakesh) and not nearly as nice, but at least we'll stand a chance of getting a full night's sleep :)

Interesting (and disgusting) things about the trains here:
- Train tickets can only be purchased in US dollars, which I suspect means we pay more than locals would pay
- Toilets on the train open onto the tracks... I was warned about this by other people who have traveled here, but I don't think I fully understood how disgusting it was until I experienced it for myself.

Cairo

Highlights:
- Eating in an Egyptian food court with our new friend Hussein (who paid for our meal and kept calling us honey)
- Seeing the pyramids!
- Our cab ride with Farek, which included highlights such as Farek's obsession with Lindsay Lohan, Farek singing to the gas station attendant, and Farek grabbing the arms of people in minibuses next to us
- Seeing how papyrus (Ancient Egyptian paper) is made
- Seeing mummies at the Egyptian Museum
- Crossing the street in heavy traffic to get to the museum (extremely dangerous, but it's how the locals do it)
- The ten-year old kid we witnessed smoking at the train station
- The people here (at least the ones we met!)

Tidbits about Egypt and Cairo:
- 90% of Egypt's fresh water comes from the Nile, which is extremely polluted in Cairo
- The airport here has a prayer area
- Friday and Saturday comprise the weekend
- Traffic is insane... lanes are either really wide or non-existent, and drivers here use their horns liberally (people here joke that your car is totaled if the horn is broken)
- 17 million people live in Cairo
- The Rosetta Stone is currently housed in the British Museum in London
- Everyone here loves Obama, and it's nearly always the first thing people tell us when we tell them we're American
- For reasons that still elude me, all the kids here ask for pens
- As women are commonly home during the day, we have primarily encountered men here
- Similar to Morocco, many people hassle you for money here, including the police (and it's incredibly unnerving turning down someone carrying a gun)
- The quantity of cooking oils in the markets here is incredible
- Everyone thinks it's funny to welcome tourists to Alaska
- The metro in Cairo reserves two cars strictly for women (women are welcome to board the other trains as well, but men are forbidden from riding these two trains)
- Sales pitches here are remarkably similar (for example, nearly all spice vendors ask you to identify an unusual spice in order to strike up a conversation and hopefully reel you in)
- Egyptian cuisine is similar to other Middle Eastern cuisine. Our favorite foods here included kushari, shwarma, falafel, figs, Schweppes lemon, mango juice, rice pudding, and dolmas.
shwarma, felafel, figs, Schweppes lemon, mango juice, rice pudding, and dolmas.
- Joci and I get hit on by nearly everyone here (don't get me wrong - it does have its perks ;))

Trip to Cairo

Highlights:
- Getting stuck on the metro on our way to the airport
- Joci's credit card issues (apparently you need to provide the desk the same credit card you used to book the reservation, and since Joci since cancelled that card, she had to write on a scrap piece of paper that she would pay the full ticket amount if there were any issues with her card... oh and by the way, she bought her tickets two months ago)
- Meeting locals on the two-hour bus ride to our hotel (I definitely wouldn't recommend public transit in Cairo!)

Ios

This place is like spring break for backpackers. People stay in one of two hostels on the island (ours was on the beach :)), and bars don't close until 6 in the morning. Vastly different from Santorini, and ironically, just 35 minutes away.

I'm glad we spent the night here, but I think I'm ready to get back to Athens so I can finally sleep... I don't think I can handle more than one night like last night...

Santorini

Santorini:
Wow... this place is incredible. We toured the island via ATV today, and the views are absolutely stunning. This is definitely more of a honeymooning island than a backpacking island, but the days here make up for the lacking nightlife.
Highlights:
- Our private room at Anny's Hostel (hyperlink) for €15/night
- ATV rides
- Wine tasting (I'd highly recommend Santo Winery!)
- Watching the sunset in Oia
- Red, white, and black sand beaches
- Our sailboat ride
- Climbing the volcano
- Swimming out to/our mud bath in the hot springs
- The guy with the mullett
- Rosie
- Baklava (this is really Joci's memory)

Tidbits about Santorini:
- Everything here is painted either blue or white (including the trunks of trees, which for some reason they paint white)

Athens

 

Athens Highlights:
- Joci's arrival!
- Bungy jumping in Corinth
- View of the Acropolis from our rooftop
- The most amazing little outdoor bar, Taf
- 7am construction outside of our hostel
- Walking up four flights of stairs to get to our room
- Trying Ouzo
- Trying sesame seed bars
- The €3 salad place (Everest)
- Eating plenty of Greek yogurt
- Shopping at the flea markets
- Finding a clothing store called Detroit (someone still thinks our city is cool!)
- The ferry ride to Santorini - way classier than I expected

Tidbits about Athens:
- The marathon celebrated its 2500th year anniversary this year. Story of its beginnings here.

Trip to Athens (Why I Love Aegean Airlines)

My first gluten-free airplane food!
 

Also memorable: for some reason, everyone on the plane started clapping when we landed. Is that a cultural thing?

Madrid

Alicia left yesterday, which I'm still a little bummed about. I honestly could not have asked for a better travel partner. (Alicia, if you're reading this - I walked past many gelato places yesterday afternoon but could not bring myself to have any without you.)

Anyway, though it's a far cry from Sevilla, Madrid is beautiful - and the nightlife is incredible. One thing I love about the culture here is how centered it is around having fun - work seems to be a mere afterthought for many of the people I've met in this country.

Among the highlights:
- The photo exhibit at Caixa Forum
- The Reina Sofia Museum (which is free from 6-8 every night!)
- Seeing Carmen, a flamenco ballet show
- Eating real Spanish paella, which contains many unrecognizable species of sea creatures and is seriously difficult to eat considering how many things you have to de-shell (but is delicious nonetheless!)
- Finding pig legs and 2-foot octopuses at the Spanish supermercado El Corte Ingles

Tidbits about Madrid:
- The name Madrid is derived from an Arabic word meaning stream
- Toledo was actually the country's capitol until the reign of Philip II, who moved his court to Madrid. Soon after, he implemented a law forcing citizens with extra rooms to take in uprooted nobility and officials or pay an 85% tax; however, because the government couldn't enter people's homes to confirm the number of rooms they had (instead relying on the number of floors and windows), people averted this tax by building "casas de maliciosas" (hyperlink)

Lisbon

We're leaving... again. Alicia and I decided to spend the day in Lisbon en route to Madrid, which I'm really happy we did. Lisbon is very reminiscent of San Francisco with huge hills (great for the glutes!) and trams and trolley cars throughout. Considering I've been getting such little sleep these past few days, though, I have no desire to get back on a night bus (especially one that gets in at 4:30am!). We also don't have a hostel for the night, as everything was booked when we checked online this morning. I suppose this is a lesson learned, though, as I really don't know what I should have expected booking so late. I'm just hoping I'll be able to find SOMETHING; otherwise, I'm going to have to rethink my plans pretty quickly.

Anyway, my favorite moments from Lisbon:
- Our hostel (look "Inside")
- Meeting another photo buff, Asher
- Seeing a Fado performance
- Drinking mojitos and caipirinhas
- Climbing to the top of the city to visit Castelo de Sao Jorge
- Eating codfish, which is a typical Portugese dish though it is actually brought in from Norway

Lisbon Pictures

Pictures are updated!

Lagos
Lisbon
Sevilla

Lagos

This trip keeps getting better and better. We've been in Lagos for the past three days, Couchsurfing with the most incredible couple Eloisa and Tiago. The highlights (in no particular order):

- Rock climbing
- Having drinks with our rock climbing instructor Peter, who has had the most incredibly exciting life
- Watching the season finale of Gray's Anatomy with Eloisa (the first TV I've watched since starting this trip and SUCH a treat)
- An amazing home-cooked meal upon our arrival
- Building sandcastles at the beach with Tiago and Megan
- Doing our laundry in an actual washing machine & having reliable internet (little luxuries, I know, but it's amazing having them again after three full weeks)
- Hanging out with the animals (Sheeka looks almost identical to Pinto, and is the first cat I've ever seen with polydactyly)

Overall a great couple days. And on to Lisbon tomorrow!

Sevilla Part 3

I've only been traveling for two weeks thus far, and I'm astounded by how many people I've already met. (Interestingly, very few of them have been American.). Something that never occurred to me about a trip like this was how sad it would be leaving the people you meet, as it's very unlikely that I'll see many of them ever again (though maybe this will give me incentive to keep traveling to visit them all :)).

Anyway, we're currently heading to Lagos after having spent the last three days in Sevilla. Overall, I was largely impressed with Sevilla - it's amazingly clean, and much smaller than I expected. I actually think this city would be a great place to live if it weren't for sweltering temps and afternoon siestas (I really don't think I could stand being idle for that long). The city itself is beautiful, though, and I LOVE tapas & sangria.

Tidbits about Sevilla:
- "Tapas" means "lids" or "covers" in Spanish, which refers to their probable origin as snacks served in small plates used to cover drinks (interestingly, the McDonald's here serves tapas on their menu)
- Sherry is produced in a city just south of here called Perez
- Everyone here smokes

Travel Advice:
- Stay at Samay Hostel - the rooftop terrace is amazing!
- Do not purchase the Let's Go guidebook - it's terrible. Ironically, we met someone staying at our hostel who was helping rewrite the entire thing.
- Levi's has amazing tapas, and Carboneria has free flamenco!

Sevilla Part 2

It's 6 in the morning (and nearly midnight back home!), and I'm just now going to bed. What a crazy night. We got back from a walking tour at around 6, then met a bunch of people on the rooftop terrace for paella and sangria at 8:30. I followed that with about five glasses of tinto de verano, which, although I probably won't be saying this tomorrow morning, led to one of the greatest nights out I think I've ever had. And now (finalmente!) sleep!

Morocco Pictures...

...are posted! http://www.flickr.com/photos/emilydarnbrook/sets/72157623979393337/

Sevilla Part 1

Well, we finally made it to Sevilla (and I apologize for these entries not being in real time). Anyway, we started the trip off with a tapas-and-sangria crawl (for only 14 Euro!) after which we checked email and called it a night.

So yes, largely uneventful. I'm blogging mainly because I finally have internet access again, but also because I met someone here from Albion College! Small world, huh?

Trip to Sevilla

I gave this its own entry because it's somewhat epic. To recap:
○ We traveled by taxi from Taghazout to Agadir
○ We traveled by bus from Agadir to Marrakesh
○ We traveled by sleeper train (which is something I always wanted to do!) from Marrakesh to Tangier
○ We traveled by taxi from Tangier to the ferry terminal, then by ferry from Tangier to Tarifas
○ We traveled by bus from Tarifas to Algeciras
○ And finally, we traveled by bus from Algeciras to Sevilla

Total travel time = 28 hours. Yep. We're hardcore.

Taghazout

Taghazout is the most amazing little town. We are staying at a resort right on the beach for roughly $6/night and eating amazingly for around $10/day. And the people here are so much different than the people in Marrakesh! We took a local bus to a nearby city to get some cash, and the whole back of the bus broke out in song - it was incredible. Other highlights of our day:
○ Surfing
○ Beach volleyball
○ Being buried in the sand
○ Learning my name in Arabic
○ Akmed professing his love for me (it's a good story, but better told in person)
○ The chicken traveling with all our luggage (very reminiscent of Borat)

Random tidbits about Morocco:
○ People here speak Arabic, French, English, and Berber
○ There are four sounds that cannot be translated from Arabic to French, and thus, numbers are substituted when these are used
○ Typical foods here include tagine, couscous, omelettes, pizza, orange juice, almonds, amlou, mint tea, and pistachio ice cream. Bread is eaten with every meal.
○ A one-humped camel is called a dromedary
○ There are mosques everywhere here which call Islamic people to prayer five times daily

For anyone considering visiting Morocco:
○ As a general rule, you should aim to pay about half of whatever vendors initially offer (and shop around so you know what's reasonable!)
○ Although it's pretty easy to get by knowing little to no French or Arabic, you should at least know "non merci" or "la shakran" ("no thank you" in French and Arabic), as that seems to be the only way to get people to leave you alone
○ Plan on no more than three days in Marrakesh, three days to see Merzouga, and at least two days to visit Taghazout.  Skip Essaouira unless you really want to shop (better prices and less aggressive vendors than Marrakesh).  And from what I've heard, Fez is better skipped, as well.
○ Stay at Equity Point in Marrakesh - it's relatively expensive by Moroccan standards but amazingly cheap considering how nice it is

Essaouira

What a great morning. Alicia and I are traveling to Essaouira with some friends we met on our Sahara tour, and after sleeping on the ground, going two days without showers or internet, and spending 12 consecutive hours in a cramped van, I couldn't be happier to be on an air-conditioned bus with reclining seats.

I still can't believe this is only the sixth day of our trip, and we've already visited the desert, the mountains, and today, the coast. Morocco has an incredibly diverse landscape. I only wish we didn't have to haggle for everything - it's amazingly tiring trying not to get ripped off here. Though Spain will undoubtedly be more expensive, I'm really looking forward to fixed prices again.

Still, I can't really complain about anything - we've had gorgeous weather, and we're currently on our way to the beach! It doesn't get much better than this.

The Sahara

We toured the Atlas Mountains and the Sahara Desert these past few days. Among the highlights of our car ride:

* Our tour guide Mohammad, who spoke "Mohammad" (a mix of French, Arabic, Spanish, and English, and understandable to no one)
* Exchanging email addresses with the Berber man I met in the desert
* Alicia giving three local girls one American dollar to share, which we're pretty sure was the end of their friendship
* Discovering how animal sounds are interpreted in French, Polish, and Dutch

And of the Sahara:

* Our camel ride
* Watching the sun set over the dunes
* Eating tagine with our hands
* Sleeping under the stars

All in all an incredible experience.

Marrekech: Part 2 (The Terrible, Horrible, No-Good, Very Bad Day)

Why this day was so forgettable:
○ I went a second night with fewer than three hours of sleep
○ Alicia's $160 hair straightener melted
○ I woke up feeling ill, then visited the tanneries, which are notoriously bad-smelling. As you may have guessed, I ended up getting sick and thus had the opportunity to visit an authentic Turkish-styled toilet (hyperlink). Exciting to say the least.
○ I gouged my toe running up a flight of stairs, which I would show you, but it's too gross. Thank God for Neosporin.

Not all went wrong, however. We met new Couchsurfing friend Jonathan and Belgian friend Bjorn, and had dinner at an upscale restaurant downtown (which still didn't blow the budget, even with wine!). It was nice to get out of the medina for the night, too - it was fun the first couple days, but being constantly hassled to buy things gets tiring pretty quickly.

We're heading to the Atlas Mountains tomorrow - hoping for an incident-free trip!

Marrakech

Alicia and I arrived in Marrakech this morning!  The plane ride here was... interesting to say the least.  Rather than sitting next to Alicia like the booking agent had promised, I was put next to a 400-lb., angry Moroccan woman who spoke no English and spent half the plane ride yelling over me to her friend in the middle aisle.

That was all forgotten, however, when the captain announced that we would be bypassing Casablanca (where we were supposed to have a two-and-a-half-hour layover) for Marrakesh (thank God for the volcanic ash!).

Anyway, Marrakech is by far the most spectacular place I've ever been.  Some highlights from our trip thus far:

• Shopping at the souks
• Bahia Palace
• Veggie tanjine
• Meeting two Robins (both of whom spelled their names with an "i")
• Meeting someone who looked identical to Rebecca

We are also staying in an incredible hostel for the night - complete with a pool (see photo at left).  I'll post more photos to Flickr as soon as I have a chance!

 

New York City (So Far So Good!)

This will be short since it's 3 in the morning. Allyson, Andres, and I just got back from a jazz club downtown, and although I'm exhausted, I'm dying to write my first post.

The picture to the left, by the way, was taken from the rooftop of Allyson's apartment - stunning, huh?






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The Surprisingly Romantic Detroit

It's about time Detroit got recognized for something!

http://www.lonelyplanet.com/travel-blog/community/?p=1777

Two More Months!

In preparation for my trip this summer, I've set up a blog so I can keep you all informed on where I am and what I'm doing.  I leave exactly two months from today, so expect more posts soon!