ChloeH

Spain is almost like a vacation from my vacation... First of all, I´m sitting in my hotel room with a computer connected to the internet. That itself is amazing (given that I didn´t bring a laptop). The room is also only 40 euros, if I heard them correctly of course. So I´m catching up on some blogging. I met Scott in the Madrid airport 3 weeks ago. The plan was to head to Toledo from the airport for some small(er) town relaxation first since he´s jetlagged and post-oral boards. First impression - Spain is like America. Remember that I´ve said everywhere (outside of historical city center) is much more like China than America? Well, Spain is much more like America. In the sense that things are orderly. The train claims to refund your tickets if it´s ... read more

...is difficult. The schedule of eating lunch at 3, dinner at 10 and bars and clubs not getting going until 12-1am is rather exhausting when you want to squeeze in some daytime sightseeing also (early too, given that many sights and museums close at 2pm). So finally got down a little time for some more blogging. Been in Greece for 3 weeks already. Slowly made my way through a few places - Chios from Turkey as in the last blog, Delphi, Meteora, Santorini, and now in Paros. My proudest moment in Greece - finding the Chinese consulate in Athens without a map, by metro and foot without a cab. Arrived very early off the ferry from Chios to Athens, so thought to try to find the consulate for my visa. It's far enough from the center ... read more

Stayed in Mesta for a few days, a medieval village on the island of Chios in Greece, just across from Turkey. The village has been in continual habitation since the 14th century and the castle like center of the town is still very much intact. There are only 300 permanent residents now, but it used to be a flourishing town of 2000 or so, profitting from trade of mastic, a resin from the mastic tree which apparently only grows well in the south of Chios and nowhere else. It was a great commodity with prices at its height similar to its weight in silve, and now still is about 80 euros per kg. The villages therefore are built with defense in mind, away from the shores and fortress like to prevent pirate raids. I stumbled to ... read more

Arrived in Europe yesterday morning. The flight from Bali itself was long with interesting stopovers. Did not imagine previously that one of the new experiences of this trip would be the flights themselves. Apparently air travel is still a luxury in Asia and the Asian airlines have much better service and food than US ones currently. Cathay Pacific to Thailand, Thai Air to Bali, and now Malaysian Air to Istanbul. After a 3-hour spa session to scrub away one month worth of sweat and deet and repaint my sand-chipped toe polish, I hopped onto a long overnight flight to Istanbul. First stop was at midnight in Kuala Lumpur, then 3 am in Dubai. You might assume that the airport shops and restaurants may be closed at these times, but in both places, everything was very open. ... read more

I woke up at 5am on Thursday, to catch the right bus to the Elephant Conservatory. Adam, the hotel owner at Tri Gong Residence, drove me himself to the bus station at 5:45am and made sure I bought the right ticket. After waiting to 7:10, the bus finally left for Lampang. The conservatory is on the way from Chiang Mai to Lampang and after a couple dozens of Thai pop karaoke videos and an unscheduled stop for reportedly a bad tire later, I was dropped off on the side of the highway next to the Conservatory. Somehow I did manage to arrive at the check in center on time for the start of the course, 8:30am. We changed into our denim mahout suits and walked to the elephant show grounds, where our elephants and mahouts were ... read more

Day 1.5. The plane ride was smooth. Ambien and Cathay's in-seat screen made that 14 hour flight (that's only the SFO-HK part) seem almost not long enough. Bangkok airport was incredibly easy to navigate. Essentially no line through immigration. No one bothered to check my bags through customs. And they have this wonderful, cheapish (150 Baht, $5) express bus straight into the city - something that most US cities somehow still hadn't invented - a testament to how wonderfully our lobbists work, those taxi and aiport parking ones. In any case, despite my very fast realization (even just in the SFO transfer) that I've still packed too much, it was only a 3 minute walk to the great little guesthouse Baan Dinso. On the bus ride, I can't help but again feel how everything outside of ... read more