Rick, Author at The Agostins

February 25, 2015

Torres del Paine: Erratic Rock – Campamento Italiano

Guanaco, Torres del Paine, Patagonia, Chilie

Wild and Surreal

Hiking at the end of the world, here in Patagonia, has been one of the main “pillars” of our trip since the very beginning. It’s one of the main reasons we’ve been moving so quickly up to this point with a small window of not “freezing cold and dark.” So far we are so glad we got here when we did, even in the height of summer down here it can be cold, wet and extremely windy, hot and sunny, hail and sleet followed by snow; and that’s all in the same day… before noon. To say the weather changes quickly is an understatement, it was pretty surreal to be rained on in extreme wind and look up and see nothing but sun and have to search the sky for the cloud that is providing the present shower. And then there are times when there aren’t any clouds and you realize that what you thought was “rain” was just water blowing off the lake. Add to the extreme weather gorgeous towering peaks, condors and llamas, and it gets even better.

We arrived at the Erratic Rock hostel after a few hours on a couple of buses. Erratic Rock partners with the Bar/Pizza/Rental place next door (Base Camp) to make the unofficial base camp of Puerto Natales, Chile’s backpacker/climber/trekker scene. Every day through out the summer at 3:00pm they put on a free, hour and half long, info session on hiking in the park. I must say, it was one of the best “info sessions” we’ve ever heard on hiking, the info provide is extremely helpful, if you’re planning to spend time in the park it’s extremely valuable.

At the info talk we found out about 3 most common routes through the park named after the rough shape the trail makes through the park:

The W – Torres del Paine National Parks bread and butter. It’s it’s a 3-4 night hike to the most popular views with the option to stay in refuigos (little, expensive, bunkbed-style lodges) or camp and enjoy a boat ride from the bus stop to the start of the trail at the beginning and end.
The O – Follows, more or less, the same route as the W with the addition going over John Gardner Pass and around the backside of the towers and a more extensive look at Glacier Grey with few more nights of camping and a few less people.
The Q – Takes The O and adds a 16km hike through the pampas (grass lands), another night or two of camping and cuts out the boat ride (and the cost associated with said boat) and covers pretty much the entire park.

You can probably guess what we did; The Q! And it was totally worth it, all 138 kilometers of it!

We took a bus out to the park and after registering at the entrance, watching the mandatory fire prevention video (There’s no lightening or anything like that here in Patagonia so fires don’t occur naturally and the landscape isn’t really adapted to recover from forest fires and after they huge fire a few years back they are hyper vigilante and understandably so) we went from a dozen buses at the entrance to 5 buses at the boat dock where the W starts to 8 of us on one bus to the last stop “Administration” and the start of the Q. Due to the park being about 2.5 hours from town and after registration and everything we don’t really start hiking until almost 1pm but it’s not a huge deal as our first planned camp is only a couple of hours from administration. We start our hike through the pampas with our new friend Brad who we meet at Erratic Rock during the Base Camp info talk.

Wow. We were not ready for the wind. I knew it would be windy but it was crazy windy, like makes you want to crouch down so you don’t get blown over. The three of us stumbled our way to the first campsite, Campamento Las Carretas occasionally catching glimpses of the Paine Massif. Just before arriving, as we made our way over the first hill a few guanacos (like llamas) curiously made their way over to see us. Once we arrived at Las Carretas, we took a look around and found the perfect campsite. Brad decided he would go on to Refugio Paine Grande, but it would certainly not be the last we would see of him.

Our first night was great. There were only a handful of other campers at Las Carretas. We meet a couple from New Hampshire that was on their way out who gave us some great advice on the hike as well as a Swiss couple that were also just starting the Q.

We woke-up early, had a big bowl of oatmeal and made our way through the wind to our next destination, Paine Grande. The morning was really rough, with constant 40 mph wind, with 55 mph gusts, blowing sleet into our faces the entire time. Liz learned that her beloved Merrell hiking boots had finally met the end of the road, as she saw bubbles of air and water gurgling out from about six different places on them. Liz was not a fan of this part of the hike.

We stopped for lunch by the lake and watch the mad-house that is Refugio Paine Grande; most peoples first and/or last stop on the W. It’s where the boat arrives/departs and has a huge facility for paid camping, a small store, and a large refugio. After a quick lunch of reheated lentils it was on to our destination for night Campamento Italiano, another free site. The weather had improved, still windy but not getting pelted by sleet, just a steady rain.

Most of this day was through the area that was devastated by the fire in 2011, you can imagine how beautiful it was with all the trees, but the views were still pretty awesome even on an overcast day.

We crossed a couple of bridges, set-up camp in the most protected spot we could find, built a rock wall to help with the wind and made a big a meal!

25k down!

February 21, 2015

Serengeti Safari

We knew we wanted to make our way east across Tanzania (we had a flight booked out of Dar es Salaam) so we booked our 2 night 3 day camping Serengeti safari from Mwanza through Serengeti National Park around the edge of Ngorongoro Crater (you’ve gotta pay extra to go down into the crater where the rhinos are) and then catching the bus to Arusha.

It was AWESOME!

We saw almost everything you possibly can see in Serengeti. Lions. Giraffes. Elephants. Hippos. Heartbeasts. Cape Buffalo. We had a cheetah walk around our jeep and monkey that practically jumped into our jeep. We saw a number of leopards and even saw one with a fresh kill up in a tree. We got some great videos and amazing photos, despite not have any kind of a zoom lens. We spent two nights camping in the middle of the park waking up to giraffes walking less then 50 yards from our tent.

From there we made our way over to Ngorongoro Crater but on the way we crossed through the endless plains (Serengeti means “endless plains”) and the great migration. We’ve heard of the great migration, we’ve seen the National Geographic documentaries, “Planet Earth” etc. but it’s impossible to capture it. It’s wildebeest and zebras as far as you can see in every direction. There is a hill on the edge of the park and from the top you can see what almost looks like a single file line of wildebeest and zebras from one horizon to the other. We drove through the plain for over 2 hours and saw big herds and little groups, just as far as you could see everywhere. It was pretty epic.

Eventually even the “endless plains” ended and we made our way up the hills to the crater. We past Maasai villages and saw Maasai tending their herds and flocks among the giraffe, zebras and wildebeest as we made our way up to the rim of the crater. From the top you can see all the way across the crater and it’s looks like scene from Jurassic Park or something like that.

We came to the end of our Serengeti safari at the “bus station” in Karatu where we said goodbye to our guide and then got in a “minibus” to Arusha. It was a standard mini van that was filled way over capacity. And of course the mozungos get put in the way back. You know the little seat in the very back of a mini van that has 3 seatbelts and barely holds 2 adults? We sat 4 wide back there for 3 hours. We spent the night in Arusha then made our way to Moshi at the base of Kilimanjaro.

February 21, 2015

Welcome to Mwanza, Rock City!

After our failed attempt to take the mythical ferry from Kampala to Mwanza, we eventually got a bus and made our way to Mwanza, aka Rock City (They call it Rock City because the town is built on top of and around giant boulders). We arrived in Mwanza, Tanzania about 9pm after riding the car ferry with our bus. It was dark and we had no reservations, no Tanzanian money and no idea where we were exactly. We stumbled around in the dark (not a lot of street lights in Tanzania) and finally found a place to stay for the night. It was questionable at best (there was no shower door and a hole in the shower floor) but the owner was nice enough and she quickly made friends with Liz.

Over an extremely overpriced dinner (the owner was nice enough to join us at the hotel restaurant) she invited us to Church with her the next morning! We agree without a second thought, people in Tanzania are so friendly!

The next morning we arose and met our host and realized on the way to church we were going to a Catholic church… I say, “No worries, Liz, I got this… 8 years of Catholic education finally paying off. Just follow my lead!” #OverConfident

FOUR HOURS.

NON-STOP.

ALL IN SWAHILI.

We understood ZERO. We were trying so hard to “pay attention,” stay awake and not offend our host but we had no idea how long it would be. I expected a typical 45 minute mass; I think I whispered “10 more minutes max.” probably 15 times. It just kept going and going; 4 separate offerings where EVERYONE walks up to the front to give money (everyone together, just the girls, just the guys, everyone together again). There were over 600 people (I counted to pass the time for a while). I tried to laugh along with everyone else to the jokes in the sermon.

Somewhere around the 3 hour and 30 minute mark I must have started looking a little bit bored and wasn’t as “focused” on the priest when I heard “something, something, something, Muzungo, something, something Muzungo” and then EVERYONE looks at Liz and I and starts laughing. Muzungo, basically means “white person” in Swahili. Apparently the priest made a joke about the 2 Muzungos in the crowd making it through the whole mass and only “a few more hours left.”

After the service we waited for another 30 minutes for our host to get her gallon of holy water blessed and then it was on to the market. Our host did her grocery shopping and then finally called her taxi driver to take us all back to the hotel. When we got back to the hotel our host stuck us with the bill for her taxi for the day! Then she was asking us what we wanted to order from the hotel restaurant for lunch, it’s almost 4PM now, and we had to politely get the heck out of her hotel before we went broke with our “new friend.”

Our first stop after leaving the hotel was to the ATM (she had taken us for all we had at the time) and we ran into an American girl at the ATM that was getting out of a safari jeep. We had wanted to look into safaris in Mwanza, so we asked her about her experience and next thing we know we’re in the jeep with her guide going to the Hostel she was staying out to see if there was room for us (which there was for 1 night) switching our luggage from the crazy hotel and finally breathing a sigh of relief.

So we had ourselves a safari guide and we worked out the details of our safari!

February 2, 2015February 20, 2015

Short Stories from Africa

So we have few short stories from Africa that didn’t feel like enough for their own blog posts but I thought they would be entertaining to share nonetheless:

Going to see the frogs

The place we stayed in Yei, South Sudan had a interesting feature in the bathroom; Toilet frogs. These little frogs lived in the back “tank” part of the toilet and if you flushed when they were swimming they would come flying into the bowl with the water and swim frantically until the gripped the side and climbed right back up where the water came from. Liz was the first one to find them and when I went to check it out, I flushed again and nothing. Turns out you kinda had to surprise them and catch them swimming or they would be clinging to the walls of the tank, which is where I found three of them when I looked inside. And so, the term “Going to see the frogs” was coined.

Who told you to become a Rastafarian?

This was one of the few things the pastor that was driving us around Yei, South Sudan said in English on his cell phone while driving (he said A LOT not in english on his cell phone while driving). It was in the middle of a serious conversation in the local language and then out of nowhere in a loud serious tone “It’s a very bad thing you’ve brought into your family! Who told you to become a Rastafarian?!?” Liz and I both tried not to laugh out loud but couldn’t resist. We now regularly ask each other “Who told you to become a Rastafarian?”

Meeting the Mayor of Port Bell

Liz and I had grand plans of taking the fabled ferry from Kampala, Uganda to Mwanza, Tanzania. I say fabled as there is or isn’t one depend on where you look on the internet. Once we got to Port Bell (the port in Kampala) we found out for sure there isn’t one (side note: there used to be a ferry but it was deemed “no longer safe for passenger travel”). We figured it wouldn’t hurt to see if would could find anymore information about possible water crossings at “Sailors Bar.” That’s where we meet a thoroughly drunk older man that everyone else kept referring to as “Mayor.” We humored his rambling dialog for a little while assuming he was somebody’s uncle or something and none of the staff seemed the slightest bit concerned.

About 10 minutes in The Mayor really took a liking to Liz, and asked me if she was my wife… then proceeded to try and barter for her. He offered me “An African” in exchange for Liz which I of course turned down, then he upped his offer to “Two Africans!” again I declined and insisted again that I wasn’t interested in any trading. They then thought he might sweeten the deal with a case of beer… In his mind Liz had zero say in the matter so we figured we better leave.

Just for the record I wouldn’t trade Liz for anything… not even “Two Africans, and a case of beer” and there is no Ferry from Kampala to Mwanza.

A nice, cheap, clean, place to stay

So after we parted ways with Drew at the airport in Uganda we got a ride with 3 other people who were headed into Kampala and already had a driver lined up. We thought we’d go to the center of town and find something cheap so when the driver asked if we had a place to stay in mind we said “No. Got any ideas for someplace nice and cheap?” He thought for a minute then made a phone call, and responded back with “It’s not really open to the public, but it’s nice, clean and I know them and it’s cheap.” Sold!

Turns out he signed us up to stay at “Home for the Religious”… a Convent! Sister Angelica was definitely taken back a bit and thought we were crazy when we told her our plans, but obliged and provided us with a room… granted they didn’t have any rooms with double beds “for couples” after all it was a convent, but she did give us a room with two beds (and two very large Bibles)! It was the cheapest thing we found in Kampala, and it was quiet, probably due to the rule “OBSERVE SILENCE IN THE CORRIDORS AND BEDROOMS.” It was a quiet two nights.

Why Americans don’t buy anything?

Anyone who has spent any time in a tourist area has undoubtedly experienced touts trying to sell you all kind of junk. And for some reason I seem to get offered weed a lot, all over the world. Must be a young(ish) white guy thing I guess, lol. Usually the drug offers are fairly subtle “hey man, wanna party?”, “you want smoke?”,”Lookin’ for a good time?” and are usually accompanied by some friendly chit-chat “Where you from?“ “on holiday?” etc. and maybe a coconut or something else a little more “legitimate” they are “selling.” And then some just come out and say it “Need some weed?” I usually give them a polite no thanks, or just ignore them completely. Liz is usually completely oblivious to all drug offers.

Well this guy on the beach in Zanzibar needs to sit in on Liz’s marketing 101 class. Liz and I are walking to dinner on the beach and this guy comes up with some key chains or something in his hand (again totally not uncommon) and says, “Hey man, want to buy some cocaine?”
I was a little taken back by his directness but said, “No thanks.”
“Marijuana?”
“Nope, not into that stuff.”
“Hashish?”
(In my mind… Are you seriously asking in that order?) “Ha, ha. No man, we don’t do drugs.” Thinking the conversation is over…

Then he comes back with, “Wanna buy a diamond?”
(I can’t not laugh at this point; No I don’t want to buy a blood diamond on the beach in the dark for a guy that just tried to sell me a boatload of drugs.) “Nope, don’t need any diamonds either.”
We start to walk away thinking surely the conversation is over and he realizes we aren’t his target demographic. But no, there is more…

He holds up his handful of key chains, “Want to buy a key chain?”
Still trying not to laugh; “No man, not buying anything tonight.”
Now he is clearly offended; “Why Americans don’t buy my Bull S#!t?”
“They don’t buy anything?”
“No, man. They don’t buy anything, they don’t help Africa.”
“Not even the drugs?”
“NO! They don’t care about Africans. They don’t help Africa!”
“Could be you’re approach.”

At this point Liz and I decided we’re at the restaurant we want to go into and I guess he gets the picture at this point or sees someone else, but walks off continuing his rant about how American’s don’t care enough to buy drugs from Africans.

Catholic guilt will work on a lot of things but not on buying drugs and blood diamonds. – Liz

January 23, 2015

Seed Effect: South Sudan

After literally years of wanting and trying to visit the Seed Effect team on the ground in South Sudan we finally made it! (If you don’t know Seed Effect the micro-finance ministry in South Sudan you might want to read: What is Seed Effect, Our South Sudan Visa Journey and South Sudan Here We Come). We new about micro-finance but we were ready to see it in action. We met up with Drew Mosier, Seed Effects Dallas based state-side Executive Director in Entebbe, Uganda and headed to a little air stripe between Entebbe and Kampala. After an interesting “baggage screening” (unpack everything) we meet our pilot, Dallas, and the 4 of us climbed into the only 4 seats on the plane! I got to play co-pilot. We taxied down the dirt runway and we were up, up, up and away for our two-hour flight to Arua, Uganda.

We arrived in Aura just in time to find out that we were going to have a two, no maybe three… no, no, make that a four-hour layover while our next (and bigger) plane went and dropped off some other people that were headed to a different part of South Sudan before coming back to take us to Kajo Keji (KK), and the Seed Effect headquarters. We briefly entertained the idea of walking into town but the security guy with the gun at the gate to airport didn’t think it was a good idea to leave the airport grounds and suggested we enjoy the “canteen” on the airport grounds (we didn’t argue it’s one of our travel rules… “Don’t argue with guys with big guns”). We passed the time catching up with Drew, playing dominos, getting a briefing on South Sudan and watching the lizards catch bugs. Before long our plane was back and we were flying the short 45 minutes to KK!

Our plane landed Kajo Keji International Airport, aka the dirt strip at the edge of town and we were greeted by what seemed like a hundred kids surrounding the plane and greeting us with “Hi-eeeeeee…!” In the middle of them all was Scovia Kiden, the South Sudan Country Director for Seed Effect, with some of the team to greet us and take us to the office. We piled into a Land Cruiser and down the dirt road into town. We arrived at the office and meet the team then it was on the compound where we’d be staying for our time in KK. Compound sounds more exciting that it is, it was the local pastor’s house and everyone seems to call any group of buildings with a wall around it a compound in South Sudan.

The pastor’s compound had one of the few water wells in the area so there were always kids running in and out all day every day with jugs of all kinds to fill up and carry home. We took our turn playing “water pump” a few times over the course of the next few days and the kids seems to like it when we pumped as the jugs seemed to multiple very quickly when I was pumping water… or maybe I’m just a lot slower at it than they are.

The next few days were a whirlwind of meeting with the team, with clients, hearing stories of life change, training, learning and encouragement; and a lot of getting used to the speed of life in rural Africa. One of the first things we learned was “gayla-tot” which is what all the kids yelled at us if they weren’t yelling “Hi-eeeeeee…” it loosely, and affectionately, translates to “white person.” We got a lot of that; driving down the road, walking through the market pretty much everywhere. Kids would run out to the road and wave at us as we drove by yelling “Gayla-tot. Gayla-tot.” Then we would wave and they would yell “Hi-eeeeee!”

We visited a bunch of the markets around KK and met a number of Seed Effect clients. Some were on their ninth or tenth loan cycle while others were just starting their first or second loan cycle with Seed Effect. They all had amazing stories full of suffering and hardship but full of hope and optimism as well. They want to see their country healed. We heard stories of fleeing the violence and instability of a civil war and ongoing conflicts, of families being lost in refugee camps and stories of uncertainty. But we also heard stories of healing, of kids that can now go to school, of communities being stabilized, and stories of life change. Part of Liz and I’s goal for our time in South Sudan was to document some of the stories of Seed Effect clients and share them with the world. We’ve got number we plan to share of the next few months on Seed Effect’s blog so stay tuned.

The Seed Effect team had asked if we could lead some team training on a number of topics. Liz saw a perfect opportunity to work Brinker’s and “big rocks” analogy into her training class on “Goals and Priorities” and of course there were plenty of rocks to work with. And what team training would be complete without a seminar on “Feedback is Priceless?” She did a wonderful job and had the team totally engaged. She can now add internationally known development speaker to her already overflowing résumé.

I was volun-told that I would be preaching on Sunday, which was nice of Drew to tell me in advance because he said on his first trip he only found out that the American visitors were always expected to “Give the Word” when they called him up to preach so I was extremely thankful for the day or so I was able to prepare in advance as well as for Join the Journey and their daily devotions to inspire me to speak on Abraham and Isaac from Genesis 22… luckily for y’all the mango tree the church meet under didn’t have any recording equipment so we won’t be posting my “sermon” here.

Over and over throughout our time in Kajo Keji I was constantly reminded of 1 Peter 3:15 “…always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you…” It seemed as if the Seed Effect team always had the gospel on the tip of their tongue, the Word of God seasoned all of their conversations; it was truly encouraging, and more than a little convicting.

The second leg of our trip was a scouting expedition to Yei, which is one of the towns Seed Effect is considering for it’s third branch in South Sudan. Yei is considered by many the most stable part of South Sudan and it shows, people and groups are flocking to Yei, it’s main market was HUGE! We met with a number of groups and individuals that are based in Yei to get an idea if Seed Effect would be a good fit for the community. And three flights and another four-hour layover at the “canteen” in Arua later we were back at the airstrip outside Entebbe hugging Drew bye and jumping in a car to Kampala.

Liz and I talk a lot about expectation these days, as we travel always wondering what the next village/country/place to sleep will be like and South Sudan was everything I expected and at the same time nothing like I expected. There were no bullets whizzing overhead but we heard stories from other parts of the country where the bullets still regularly fly. There is practically no infrastructure, no paved roads, electricity in most places is own your own with solar panels and generators and the water is pumped by hand from a well. The people are warm and inviting and proud of what they are doing. Clients view Seed Effect as a company they are choosing to give their business to, but also as part of their family. Maybe I just didn’t know what to expect but I was totally blown away.

God is working in South Sudan and he is using Seed Effect.

December 25, 2014

Merry Christmas

God brought us a long way (figuratively and literally) this year from our comfortable, steady lives in Dallas, to a nomadic life often not sure where we’ll be spending the night. We are learning more and more everyday to trust Christ in everything, He is the answer.

From wherever we are to wherever you are,
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

December 18, 2014

Seed Effect: South Sudan

As many of you know Liz and I are big supporters of Seed Effect a micro-finance ministry that we’ve worked with for the last few years. One of the “pillars” of our trip was to spend some time working with Seed Effect in South Sudan and our trip is right around the corner! We’ll be there in January spending about 10 days meeting the the local staff, collecting stories, learning and seeing what God is doing in South Sudan. We plan to document these stories of life change and share them through Seed Effects various social media channels (as well as right here of course).

Many of you have partnered with us to support the work Seed Effect is doing in South Sudan before but we’ve got some exciting, timely news … matching donation through the of the year!

http://vimeo.com/114054485

So while many of you are considering your “End of Year Giving” please consider partnering with us and Seed Effect and you’re money will go even further with a matching gift.

You can read more about our heart for South Sudan, the work of Seed Effect as well as donate directly at SeedEffect.org/LizAgostin. You can hear more about the work of Seed Effect and stories of hope from the South Sudanese themselves below:

December 18, 2014September 13, 2015

Throwback Thursday: Easyriding Dalat, Vietnam

I promised Liz I would write the post on Dalat, Vietnam and since it’s been over a month and 2 (going on 3) countries ago I thought I better get this up before I forget how awesome it was.

Dalat, sits in the mountainous western part of Vietnam between Danang and HCMC so the weather is not the hot humid jungle you expect in Vietnam but pleasantly cool.
We only had 2 nights to spend in Dalat so we started with a little hiking.

On our way back from the hike we finally learned why it’s important to have your “ducks in a row” apparently that’s how you market them to sell (hint: it helps if you tie up their feet).

The true highlight of our time was our easyrider trip. Motorbikes are in intricate part of the culture in Vietnam and no trip is complete without letting a local that knows the area like the back of his hand show you around. We’d done our fair share of adventures on a moto in Vietnam but I was looking to having someone that actually knew where we were going directing us. Our easyrider trip was arranged by the owner of the Wolfpack Hostel (seriously that’s the name and it is AWESOME!). I thought it’d be more fun if I drove a bike too (instead of sitting 3 deep all day). We meet our guide, Hung, first thing in the morning and we were off.

Our first stop was to see the amazing dragon sculptures at a temple in town. It was HUGE! And we learned about Chinese unicorns, the don’t have horns and look kinda like dragon/lion hybrids.

Then we were on our way into the countryside to visit a flower farm.

Then it was more riding (i really liked driving through the country side!) and a stop in a little tribal village with a really friendly family that showed us their home and let us take a few photos.

From there we rode to a place that makes civet coffee. That’s coffee made by weasels (the civet cats to be specific). I won’t go into details of how the weasels make it …

As part of the tour we got to see their homemade rice “wine” still… AKA Moonshine. I imagine the civet coffee business isn’t that profitable, but if you can make some rice wine, and in true vietnamese fashion, throw some dead things in it, you can sell it as an elixir. We tried it, sans dead things, and it wasn’t too bad. Our guide lit some on fire to show us how strong it was.

Our next stop was to a silk production farm. It’s was amazing seeing little worms go from devouring leaves to crazy machines and hot water unraveling their cocoons to machines weaving silk fabric like a player piano. The whole process was pretty neat, and Liz really like the boil silk worms, she said it tasted like a mix between pecorino and ricotta cheese, I think she hasn’t tasted cheese in a while then.

From the silk farm we went to Elephant Falls. A little waterfall that we were able to hike around and under.

We rode to another temple with a GIANT Buddha and some more dragons.

We stopped on the side of the rode and watch some farmers harvesting a plant that’s used in curry we’re were told it was sometimes used as lipstick, I made Liz try it.

More riding to another little waterfall, a mushroom farm, an orcid farm and a visit to a village that is named “Chicken” after giant statue of a roster with 9 spurs and a story of forbidden love.

Orchid Farm - Easyrider - Dalat, Vietnam

We got a little rain on the way back so we suited up and then we ended the evening with a “family dinner” at the hostel sitting around the dining room floor.

November 2, 2014

72 Hours in Bangkok

We left India for Southeast Asia with our first stop being a little layover in Bangkok, Thailand. We decided two nights would be a good intro trip to Thailand without too much of a delay in our itinerary and who wouldn’t want to see Bangkok on Halloween? So, how did we spend our 72 hours in Bangkok?

We didn’t do a ton of research before we arrived just found a nice reasonably priced hostel close to some of the main tourist areas. What I didn’t realize from my glancing at the guidebook map was how huge of a city Bangkok is… And while the hostel I picked Lub*d Silom, was right in the middle of everything, that actually made it about 2km away from anything. Not a huge deal as Bangkok has a great metro, taxis are prevalent, and tuk-tuks abound.

We arrived via a red-eye from Kolkata, India and after jumping in a taxi we made it to the hostel about 5:30am. They were friendly and let us crash in the theater room until our room was ready. Our first order of business after sleep for a few hours was Breakfast!

We were told a street right around the corner from our hostel has great food stalls. We found some kind of great coconut lime chicken soup to start the day. It was outstanding – Liz said it was her favorite food of the trip so far!! The flavor was light and complex and exotic and completely addictive. Unfortunately we were still out of it and didn’t think to take a picture… but we are definitely planning to find more of it when we get back to Thailand in a few weeks.

From there we decided we needed to see Bangkok from the water; after all, it is known as the “Venice of the East.” We found our way to the waters edge where we were quickly talked into a boat tour that would end by the Grand Palace and walking distance to a lot of other attractions.

We got a lovely tour via the water then the captain dropped us off at Wat Arun, an imposing temple on the west bank of the Mae Nam Chao Phraya (the river). We made it up to the top just in time to get absolutely poured on! Gotta love rainy season.

Our captain then ferried us over to the other side of the river where our tour ended at we went into see Wat Pho and the giant “Reclining Buddha.” We wondered around the grounds there for a while before making our way to a rooftop for sunset.

From there we grabbed a tuk-tuk to Khao San Road the backpacker home of Bangkok. Khao San is a crazy street light with neon, vendors, food carts and anything else you can imagine. We found a ton of great food, got a foot massage to heal our tired feet, and just wondered around Khao San people watching and enjoying the energy of the city.

There is, of course, tons of live music along Khao San and it didn’t take us long to find something right up our alley. A place jam packed with young locals and a 8 piece live band playing ska versions of Frank Sinatra, as well as a number of songs we didn’t recognize.

It was easy to stay up late on Khao San and we headed home about midnight; extremely early by Bangkok standards.

The next morning it was more neighborhood food, and I was thrilled that marshmallows were on the breakfast menu.

It was Friday and the big Chatuchak Weekend Market was open on but not as crowded as it normally is on Saturday and Sunday. So we took the metro to the market. If you know Liz you know how much she loves markets so we spend a few hours roaming round looking at all the crazy foods for sale.

From the market it was back to Khao San to see it in the day light a little and visit the fish spa. It doesn’t hurt but it’s definitely a shocking experience when you first stick you’re feet in.

That evening the hostel was having a costume contest before going out to the total madness that was the Khao San Road Halloween festivities. We were limited to what we brought with us or was in the “free” bin at the hostel. Liz tied for 3^rd with her “blue horns she found in the free bin and some make-up from friend.” And I took second as Steve Irwin. There wasn’t a lot of competition.

Khao San road was absolute madness wall to wall people everywhere. After about an hour we had had enough and decided we needed to move to a quieter street and get some pad thai then head home.

We slept in the next day, did some laundry then head to the airport to catch our flight.

Next stop, Hanoi, Vietnam!

October 25, 2014October 25, 2014

Churi Letdar – Thorong La High Camp (4925m) – October 7, 2014

Throng La High Camp, Annapurna Circuit Nepal

It was a very cold and overcast start to the morning at 7:00am. We saw a large heard of big horn sheep on the way to Throng Phedi. Later we found out from Brad that there was a wolf stalking them as well, but we never saw it. We survived the “danger zone,” a 20 minute section that cuts across an extremely loss gravelly rockslide area the warning signs say “Step lightly.” It was about two hours all in to Throng Phedi. We saw a hand written note from Brad to Song on the gate entering the village that said thatBrad was going to cross the pass today and would meet him in Muktinath tomorrow (crazy as he started in Yak Kharka and apparently passed us somewhere on the trail, probably along the section where there were 2 routes, one on either side of the river). After a quick break we were off for another 1 hour and 15 minutes of step climbing on lose rock up to high camp.

A lot of other people were talking about going over the pass as it was only 10:15am when we reached high camp and the clouds were moving out. We decided to stick with our plan to enjoy the altitude and the views and have an easier start to crossing the pass in the morning.

After getting a room we took the short 20 minute hike to the view point to take pictures. Then we settled into the dinning hall and talked with an isreali couple planning a road trip in the US for their honeymoon… Made me a bit jealous for good food!! Shortly there after, Song came into high camp and we spent the afternoon chatting with him and playing 3 man spades before more of the Isrealis showed up and we learned to play Yanni, and made up a few new catch phrases; “You gotta risk it, to get the biscuit.” We think it’s the made-up equivalent of “go big or go home.”

Liz’s 2 Things:
– 16,158 ft highest we’ve ever been! Thorong La High Camp is the last place you can stay before crossing the pass
– Blue Mountain Sheep – we saw a whole herd close up!
– Cold, cold cold! Boy it was cold and windy. We arrived in Thorong La High Camp early and it was chilly then, only to get chillier. Even inside, they said it wasn’t winter so no fire inside… which means NO heat! bundle up and order some hot tea and hope for the best. The bathroom run was quite cold. It was not near any of the rooms mind you… it was out in the middle of the complex, a good 20 yard sprint from the dining hall where we hung out or our room. But a good sleeping bag and a down jacket and we made it.

Best Part of Liz’s day:
Crazy panorama views from up here of the Chulus, the Amnapurna range, even Annapurna 1 (which is the biggest and we haven’t gotten to see yet!!)

Liz’s Worst part of today:
Thorong La High Camp is crowded and lacking in charm or amenities, and freakin cold!! We got in early, about 11am, which was good so we got a room (about 40 guides had to sleep in the kitchen and many porters had to sleep outside in tents). But getting in early kinda sucked because it was too windy and cold to be outside really so we had to sit around in the common room of the tea house – unheated. I swear I was cold for 20 hours straight! But we did make some new Israeli friends and learned a new card game “Yanniv”? Which I turned out to be pretty good at and it was a lot of fun!

I’m thankful for: still feeling good, no altitude sickness which can be deadly at these altitudes. God is blessing us with good health, a wise and careful husband who acclimatized us well and good meds to help too!

Memory Verse:
Assurance of guidance (Proverb 3:5-6)
5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. 6 In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.

Wild and Surreal

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