Bangkok

Waiting for the bus outside of Bangkok’s airport terminal, we were rudely introduced to the SE Asia humidity. We arrived in the PM and rode the airport bus almost right in front of our hotel lobby. It was raining cats and dogs, so it was nice to not go wondering around the neighborhood looking for our place. We stayed at a nice hotel called New Siam Riverside. Our room was big, with a comfy bed, much needed A/C, pool, and a delicious complimentary breakfast buffet (seriously, they had every breakfast food you could ever want).

We didn’t do a whole lot the first night. We still had to shore up a few night’s accommodations in the islands, so we spent some time shooting off emails. We settled for dinner at the hotel’s restaurant, which was surprisingly good and shockingly cheap. They practically gave the food away. The rain stopped by the time we finished dinner, so we walked around the neighborhood to get our bearings. The streets were a chaotic mixture of food stands, clothing shops, tailors, massage joints, and many others. There were lots of western looking folks hanging around, but that was somewhat expected.

The following day, we explored the Banglamphu neighborhood near our hotel. Most of our day was spent lazily wandering the streets and shopping around for souvenirs. In the afternoon, we hung around the pool for some R&R, before treating ourselves to an hour long $6 foot massages. It was a painful yet refreshing experience.

Our final day, we visited Bangkok’s largest and oldest Buddhist temple, Wat Pho. The architecture, somewhat similar to Beijing’s Forbidden City, was very beautiful with lots of curves, arcs, vibrant colors and interesting shapes. The temple is most famous for its Reclining Buddha, which is basically a 150 feet long golden Buddha statue laying on his side with his hand propping up his head. It looked a little like he could have been lying on the floor with a bowl of popcorn in front of him watching TV. After Wat Pho, we took a tour of the Jim Thompson house. Jim was an American who moved to Thailand after WWII and started a famous Thai silk manufacturing company. He disappeared without a trace in the 60′s, but his house has remained as a museum of traditional Thai architecture and design. We learned a lot about the building techniques used, which often blended functionality with Thai customs and religious beliefs.

To cool off that evening, we went walking through one of Bangkok’s massive and crazy shopping malls where we picked up a few items and just admired the mayhem. We had to put our negotiation skills to the test to get home that evening. Our taxi driver was refusing to run his meter (which he’s legally supposed to do) because there was a lot of traffic and could make more if we just settled on a fixed price. We weren’t suckers, though, and knew about how much it should cost from a taxi ride we made earlier that day. We put the screws to the guy, threatening to walk several times, but we finally agreed on a reasonable price.

Unfortunately, we had to miss breakfast the next morning to catch an early flight to the beaches of Southern Thailand. It was the price we had to pay for some white sands and blue waters.

Thailand Beach Prep

Beijing had these great little workout areas randomly situated around the city. We decided to hit up the elliptical machines for a few minutes to get the beach bods ready for Thailand - it was too little, too late.

北京

From Athens, we had a four hour flight back to Terminal 5 in London’s Heathrow airport. During our six hour layover, we managed to accumulate half a library’s worth of books at one of the terminal bookstores, and also got some serious lounging in on their plush couches. Being that we had a grueling nine-hour flight ahead of us, we made a stop over at the British Airways customer service desk to inquire about our seating arrangements. Since they speak our language in London Town, we were able to strategize with a really nice customer service guy who advised us on his take of our optimal seating arrangement for a flight of that duration. It was one of the better red-eyes we have been on thus far because the two of us were able to stretch out over a four person row of seats. We didn’t get as much sleep as we should have because we spent most of our time watching some newly released movies. Haley’s high-pressure sales techniques convinced Jim to watch Mama Mia. He then had to watch a second movie to get the songs unstuck from his head while Haley took advantage of three seats and slept.

The Beijing airport was huge yet seemed surprisingly empty. There could have been two million people in there for all we knew. That’s how big the thing was. We briskly moved through customs and then took the metro into the city center. When we were in Chile some fellow travelers told us of their experiences in Beijing and how they had such a difficult time navigating around the city. They warned us that all English stopped once you leave the airport. We didn’t experience that at all though. The metro was in Chinese and English and plenty of signs, menus and people here and there spoke it as well. Maybe the city had really made strides to integrate English in preparation for the Olympics and floods of foreigners.

As soon as we emerged from the metro en route to our hotel, we were ambushed by pushy rickshaw drivers. “Hellooo, rickshaw, hutong tour, where are you going?, rickshaw.” A mob of them followed us a half-mile down the road, before we finally turned down the street to our hotel. It didn’t matter how many times or ways you said no – they just wouldn’t go away. Our hotel, Bamboo Gardens, turned out to be a great pick. We booked it on short notice back in July when we were under the gun to get our visas. It was located in the Xiaoshiqiao Hutong, a little above the main city center, but within a reasonable walking distance. It was a traditional place yet very modern. Complete with a huge garden (hence the name), internet in every room and an awesome heater to welcome us in from the cold each day.

Our arrival day was very smoggy and stagnate and a face mask would have been useful (we really didn’t see that many – maybe a few dozen or so during five days). After getting situated and catching a power nap, we headed to the Drum and Bell Towers that were near our hotel. These were formerly used to drum or bell the hours of the day. We then walked a lap around Houhai Lake and saw what we guessed to be a local swim club swimming in the cold and not so clear waters. These people were die-hards. We weren’t sure if they were a polar bear club, but the lake freezes in the winter so they must be getting in as many laps as they can before that happens. We explored one of the nearby hutongs and then went back down to the lakeside for dinner. Jim had a lovely jasmine tea that tasted a little too much like bubble bath for his liking.

Day two was a day of walking. We visited the Forbidden City, Tian’anmen Square, the Wangfujing shopping district and also their local lunch market complete with scorpions on a stick. We also walked through the famous night market where both locals and tourists come to find dinner. This thing stretches on for quite a ways and is stocked with seahorses, bugs, starfish, meats, dumplings, you name it and they had it. We opted for dinner elsewhere as the smells are enough to make your stomach turn even without sampling anything. We were pretty impressed with Beijing’s Forbidden City. After an overdose on medieval/ gothic architecture all through Europe, the interesting shapes and bold colors were a nice change.

The following day, we took an organized tour to the Great Wall, which also included a tour of the Ming Tombs – the Emperor’s burial grounds. Our tour guide was very helpful and taught us a lot about the sites as well as Chinese culture and customs. Unfortunately, our tour had a few detours that we weren’t expecting. Detour #1 was a visit to Jade factory where they gave us a brief spiel about jade and then try to sell it to us. Detour #2 was a Chinese Medical center where white coated doctors taught us about all the benefits of Chinese herbs. They then wanted to check our pulses (supposedly they can learn a lot by a pulse… supposedly), and then wrote expensive prescriptions for all your ailments - ”we take cash or credit cards.” Some suckers fell head over heals for this sham – we opted out of both side bars in disgust. We had read about these “detours” in our guide books, but thought our hotel recommended service wouldn’t lead us astray. The Great Wall was great but a little odd. We visited the Badaling section and it was kind of all the things you would expect – huge, steep to climb, long, middle of nowhere. What we just don’t understand is why they would build and rebuild for a thousand years this huge wall on top of steep mountains that no one could possibly cross even if a wall weren’t in the way. Those Mongolians must have been really scary and half mountain goat. Strangely, we rode a roller coaster to access the Wall, which was a lot more fun than hiking up to it.

Dinner that night was at Hutong Pizza – some of the best pizza we’ve eaten east of NYC.

The next day, to avoid language difficulties, we opted for a simple breakfast at Starbucks. We then walked through Jingshan Park which gave us a good vantage point to see the city. Informally called coal hill, it was man made from the material dug to create the huge moat that surrounds the Forbidden City.

We reversed our course back to the airport early the next airport (rickshaw drivers were still sleeping), to catch our plane to our next Asia stop – Thailand.

A few other things:

- There are a lot of public bathrooms throughout Beijing. This is normally a good thing. But when you can smell a bathroom before you can see it, that is not a good thing.

- Beijingers spit often. Not discreet little spits. These are full-on, flem-clearing, loogies. Not sure exactly why they do it. We’ll get back to you.

- Jim got a ridiculously good haircut from little hole in the wall barber shop. It took about four minutes and cost $3.

It’s all Greek

Our first real destination in Greece was to the island of Santorini. We arrived in Athens the day before, but skipped all the tourist activities and devoted the day to errands, laundry, and on-line work. The ferry ride to Santorini was long, about seven hours, and not particularly enjoyable. We opted to save a few bucks and ride in the economy class, which ended up being similar to spending seven hours in a floating Burger King with 90% of the people around you smoking. Our outlook on life improved once our boat landed and were picked up and taken to our hotel for three nights, Manos Villas. Our room was huge, with a nice balcony overlooking the pool. It was a nice and comfortable place to stay for a few nights.

 

We got up pretty early the next morning, eager to see who had won the election. Our 13-inch big screen TV had about six channels - all in Greek (you know what they say). We couldn’t understand anything they were saying, but we saw Obama waving and smiling from the stage with Jessie Jackson and Oprah bawling their eyes out in the crowd, so it was pretty apparent that he had pulled it out. It was a good start to the morning. After a leisure breakfast on the balcony, we hopped on the bus to the town of Kamari on the eastern side of the island to get some beach time in and catch a few rays before we get roasted in Thailand. Since it was the low season, Kamari was a ghost town, but we lounged around for a little while and relaxed on the rocky beach. We rode the bus back to the main city of Fira where we walked along the western edge of town which is beautifully cramped with bone white houses perched on the cliffs high above the sea. The town and views were amazing and it finally gave us a good feel for what the Greek Isles were all about. We spent a good amount of time walking through town, and then watched a lovely sunset before heading back to the hotel. 

 

The sun was a little brighter and a little warmer on day two, so we took advantage by getting some good pool lounging time in. The weather was even warm enough to entice Jim into taking a dip in the pool – a very cold mistake.  That evening, we took a taxi up to a little town on the northern tip of the island called Oia (pronounced ee-eh or ee-ah). Apparently Oia is world renowned for their spectacular sunsets, so we figured we had better check it out to see how they measure up. It was a very cute town, like a smaller quainter version of Fira, with little white homes hanging off the cliffs in all directions. We (with the help of our dog friend who had taken a liking to us) scouted out a nice spot to watch the sunset. It was just OK. Not the best we’ve seen. Not even as good as the night before in Fira, but still pretty good in the grand scheme of sunsets. I guess the Whidbey Island sunsets have spoiled us a little over the years.  

 

The weather didn’t cooperate for more sunbathing the following day, so we packed up our bags, checked-out and got a few hours of work done in Fira. After lunch, we headed back to the ferry terminal to catch the boat to our next island destination of Naxos. In Naxos, we stayed at a guesthouse called Pension Sofi. It was a nice little place and they showered us with hospitality the entire stay – beer and cheese on check-in, Haley a rose, home made wine and olives, gift wrapped souvenir magnet and Greek coffee.  

 

We kicked around town that evening. It was a surprisingly large downtown area that was really bustling for that time of year. For dinner, we went with Pension Sofi’s recommendation of a small local taverna. The food was just OK, but the clientele was a riot. When we walked in the door, one of the patrons, a regular, greeted us loudly and asked where we were from. When we told him NYC, he started going on and on about our new president. Turns out he lived in Toronto for a number of years and just recently moved back to Naxos. Throughout dinner, he would occasionally strike up conversations with us from across the restaurant, mainly asking us questions about Obama. He finally moved from his table to ours and started telling us a few interesting stories about his tough times in Toronto. He even bought us a beer and invited us to a local bar that was set to open in an hour or so. We told him we may stop by, and bought him a beer on our way out to return the favor. Him and his friend shouted an enthusiastic ”OBAMA!” as we walked out of the door. Kind of a weird and interesting first night on Naxos, but nice to see that the US’s international relations have already improved. 

 

The following day, we explored the marble filled old town, a maze of almost tunnel-like streets leading up through castle walls to a catholic church at the highest point of the hill. We also walked out on a small peninsula to take a look at the Temple of Apollo. We opted out of a car rental to explore the interior of the island, and walked to the beach instead. It was a soft, sandy beach – a nice change from Santorini’s rocky shores. 

 

We boarded the ferry the following day to travel back to Athens for a day of sightseeing. Jim wasn’t feeling the best, and to make matters worse, the waves were huge and really rocking the boat around. It was a pretty woozy trip. We didn’t do much in Athens that afternoon. We put in a few hours at the internet cafe and spent a good amount of time looking for a restaurant that served something other than kebabs and souvlaki. You can only eat that stuff so many days in a row. 

 

The Acropolis was the only real tourist activity on our list, which we were able to check off the following morning. It was pretty interesting, and the views of sprawling Athens were nice from up top. The ruins were surprisingly disorganized though, especially considering the Olympics were held there just four years ago. You’d think they would have done more to clean it up and at least make it look somewhat nice and put together. After the Acropolis, we meandered through some other ancient ruins, walked through the charming Plaka neighborhood, and that was about it for Athens. 

 

For dinner our final night, we had a tasty meal of noodles in preparation for the next leg of our trip – Asia.

Albania

From Rome, we hopped on a plane for a short flight to Albania. Though it isn’t on most traveler’s must see destination list, we have two friends living there, and we were just too close to not see them. We’re so glad we made the brief detour.

We arrived more or less on-time to Albania’s capital city of Tirana. As usual, for whatever reason, we ended up in the slow line through customs. We got a nice taste of Albanian line etiquette when a man walked out of his line when he noticed it had slowed down, and stood right in front of us. A few minutes later, he moved back to his original line once he figured out that ours was the slow line. Interesting strategy. Maybe we’ll give it a try back in the states.

Our friends Carolyn and Ndue picked us up at the airport and we headed north towards their place in the town of Vau Dejes. Albania is a relatively small country – about one sixth the size of Washington State. However, the two lane roads, which are often used by non-vehicular traffic (i.e. bike, walkers, horses, etc) can get a little chaotic, and it takes patience and skill to navigate them. Carolyn and Ndue pointed out some castles and various landmarks along the hour and a half drive. We did a quick loop through Shkoder, the largest city in the north, and then had dinner at a nice restaurant along Lake Shkoder where we ate and drank our fill and then some. We were also introduced to raki, an Albanian specialty drink similar to grappa that had us breathing fire.

The weather was clear the next morning, and we had our first chance to see some of the rugged and mountainous landscape. After a quick breakfast, we headed back south to Tirana to check things out during the daytime. Some areas were a little nicer than others, but you could definitely tell that it was a city making progress and dusting itself off from its communist past. In the afternoon, we took a nice scenic drive up the windy roads to Kruje and the castle of the famous Albanian defender from the Turks, Skanderbeg. Along the way, we passed what could be the only one of its kind – the George W. Bush Bar and Kafe. He had apparently made quite a strong impression on his Presidential visit in 2007. Ironically, the town is predominantly Muslim populated and the cafe owners are said to be as well. Go figure.

Dinner that night was a true feast. Ndue expertly grilled us some fresh fish we had picked up earlier at the market on a charcoal grill (real charcoal, not the lame briquettes). The fish was accompanied by antipasti of olives, cheeses, peppers, as well as prosciutto and parmesan, and a huge salad. We of course drank white wine with our fish after Ndue informed us of an old Albanian saying that didn’t translate all that well but basically said, “give me white wine with my fish or take me back to where I was.” We didn’t argue.

We woke up early-ish and hit the road going north to Montenegro. Just over the border, we stopped off in the quaint beach side town of Ulcinj, where we had a bite to eat and a drink. Further north, we poked around the small island/ peninsula of Sveti Stefan. Our final stop on the tour of Montenegro was the upscale resort town of Budva. We walked through the old town, admired the yachts in the marina and then enjoyed a pizza and beer for lunch. It was a long ride home and we were all pretty tired. We had a simple dinner, accompanied by a few Montenegrin beers we had picked up along the way home. Speaking of on the way home. We had a little trouble getting started. Ndue had recently installed a fridge/ heater in his car which we were using to keep beverages cool along our travels. We forgot to turn it off when we went wandering through Budva, and it sucked all the life out of the battery. Carolyn, Haley and I gave it our best effort to push the car while Ndue popped the clutch and tried to start it. We gave it a few good attempts, but Carolyn and Haley spent a little too much energy laughing and we just couldn’t muster enough speed. A Volkswagen finally gave us a jump and saved the day.

We slept in the next day and Carolyn made us all a delicious breakfast. With Ndue as our tour guide for the day, we set out to tour some more of the Albanian countryside. Our first stop was the ‘old bridge,’ built back in the 18th century over a crystal clear mountain stream. We then got panoramic views of the lakes, rivers and mountains surrounding Shkoder from atop the Rozafa Castle. For lunch, we went to a restaurant specializing in trout with huge pens stuffed full of all different sizes of them. Some were even bigger than the ones that Jim catches (in his dreams). We ate outside and enjoyed the nice weather and fresh fish.

That evening, we drove toward the mountains to the east of Vau Dejes and got some great views of the lake and surrounding area. We then drove to the other side of the lake where we unexpectedly ran into and briefly met Ndue’s father. The lights were still off (Albania has some crazy water and electricity restrictions) when we got back into town, so we stopped into Ndue’s cousin’s restaurant to meet him and to have a beer. We chit-chatted for a while with him and his sons who were a little hesitant but happy to practice the English they had been learning in school.

The next morning, we headed to the airport to catch our flight to Greece – the last stop on the Euro segment of our trip. Along the way, we picked up some byrek, a local specialty, to snack on for breakfast. We had a great time in Albania and are indebted to Carolyn and Ndue for all their hospitality.