Walking on ice, the big ice, a glacier. You know it is different... this is the stuff that's usually floating around in your soda on a hot summer day, but no, there is so much of it you are standing on it. At the ocean you get in it. Here it supports your weight. I use to go on snorkeling vacations and I'd tell folks it was the closest to off planet travel I'd ever get - it's a different world underwater. But really, a glacier walk is just as close, maybe closer. From camp we scrambled down the mountain slope, [View Full Entry]

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WOW! What a magical place! Cappadocia is UNIQUE, unlike no other place, with its magnificent landscape reveling the curious cones, pyramids, mushrooms and hats of the fairy chimneys. No doubt one have to be here to marvel the place's wonders completely. Pictures fragment the whole scenario and in Cappadocia you are surrounded with 360 degrees of natual beauty. I never had so much trouble selecting pictures for a blog... I took hundreds but they still can't traslate the beauty of the place I experienced. That's it... you need to experience it and a still picture doesn't capture the feeling. [View Full Entry]

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Cajamarca merits a one line entry in a chapter preface in the Rough Guide to South America, an astounding piece of understatement for the city where arguably the most pivotal event in the modern history of the continent occurred. Try reading chapter 3 of Jared Diamond's "Guns, Germs, and Steel" for an excellent summary (even if you don't agree with the overall conclusions of the book). It was here that the conquistador Pizarro, with a small band of about 170 soldiers and cavalry, took prisoner the Inca emperor Atahualpa, despite the presence of an Inca army of tens of thousands of [View Full Entry]

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After some tough negotiations for transport to Pakse we left the border town of Vang Tao on mopeds. It took us about an hour to reach the nondescript town from where we were hoping to find transport to Si Phan Don (The 4000 Islands) near the Cambodian border. It soon became apparent that we had missed all the buses that were heading in that direction so we headed to the rather muddy sawngthaew (converted lorry) station at the edge of the town. As is always the case, we were told that we would be leaving shortly, and as is always the [View Full Entry]

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Not exactly getting lazy…let’s just say it is been quite busy recently! So, here is part two of our trekking adventure in Xishuangbanna… more pictures and more fun! After nearly got our backpack leaving without us, getting lost in the jungle, meeting our new traveling companion (Yako the dog) and spending the night at Ms Shu house, we were ready for more adventures! A few tips about traveling in remote area of China ... Trip duration Whichever the number of times, you would ask how long it would take from point A to B, you would actuall [View Full Entry]

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So it's been a while since we last blogged: we last left you in Hungary, and since then made our way overland through Romania, Serbia, Montenegro, Albania, Greece and Turkey, and now find ourselves back in the restful bliss that is Thailand. I'll endeavour to do some back blogs to fill in the missing bits of the trip, but for now we wanted to share some pictures of our new home! After arriving into the sweltering heat of Bangkok we opted for an aircon room to help the acclimatisation process. Mediterranean Europe and Turkey had been hot, but Bangkok was hot [View Full Entry]

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One of the great feats of our time is our ability to just jump on a plane and within the space of a few hours be surrounded by timeless sandy beaches, warm tranquil water with colours of turqoise and teal that shimmer against a harsh sun beating down onto its surface. Whilst sipping on my Caparinha the national Brazilian drink consisting of cacaca, crushed lime, sugar and lots if ice to quench even the most strongest thirst I ponder to myself this is the life! A couple hours north of Salvador Brazil is a small town called Praia do Forte. [View Full Entry]

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One of the important Blogs I have neglected to publish earlier this year, 2008, concerns our school's evaluation by the Education Department of the Province of Jiangsu, China. It is a process that is mandated for the provincial educational institutions every 5 years, and Taizhou Teachers College was ready for this rigorous examination of its academia and facilities. I observed the faculty and staff of our college work day and night and into the weekends, making sure that no questions would be left un-answered for the visiting team of educators, who would look into every aspect of colleg [View Full Entry]

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