Edmichel

Enjoying our last day in Bkk, Ed is watching the BCS championship game, (Go BAMA), and I post the final blog for this trip. Bagan was amazing with more than 4000 temples in @ 26 sq mile area. We spent 3 days exploring. The variety of temples in various stages of ages, most were originally built between 900-1200 AD. After Bagan we enjoyed 5 lovely days on a beach in S Thailand. Tomorrow at 6am we board the plane back to Boise. . It was a great trip!!... read more

We are back in beautiful Bangkok which feels, oh so luxurious, after India. India, hmmm, India. This was our 4th trip to India, and we still find it to be, by far, the hardest country to travel in. Life does not appear to be improving for the average person. But still a fascinating, and frustrating country! So, a 'quick' recap of the past 2 weeks. Chitwan NP in Nepal was great. We take the 6 hr tourist bus to Chitwan. We thoroughly enjoy our 3 nights, and 2 full days of activities. We stayed inside the park at a quiet rustic place. It felt abit like a camp with all the planned activities, but was fun! The park has accomadations for @ 60 people, but there were only @ 15 people staying there, so we felt ... read more

Happy T-day!! Hope everyone enjoyed their turkey! We enjoyed some delicious dahl, curry and french onion soup!! Definitely a memorable t-day for us! Katmandu - it is amazing! We were last here in 1996, and although it has definitely grown, it hasn't changed that much. the look and feel is still very much as we remember it. With the exception of the internet cafes, and ATMs, which were not around in '96. It still has that ' 60s feel and probably one day will become a UNESCO site! The streets are still amazing, crammed with taxis, motorcycles, bicycle rickshaws, pedistrians all crammed in a one lane pot holed street. Horns blowing, whistles shrieking, the amazing smells of incense, small street stralls crammed with an amazing collection of trinkets, buddhas, hiking gear knock-offs, clothes, etc. interspersed with ... read more

Another chapter! We are sitting in our Quito guesthouse, snuggled in as it is a bit colder and wetter than we expected... and having just left 75 degree Galapagos it feels even colder. Galapagos was absolutely amazing!! We visited 10 islands and each one was different from the other. Overall we had great weather, sunny the first 5 days, high clouds the last 3. The sheer # of animals and there total lack of fear of us was incredible. They were so curious. I am going to get this sent before I lose it. We leave tomorrow for a 5 day trip the Napo River one of the tributaries of the Amazon. Sorry for the spelling errors, its too hard to make the changes . It looks like some of the changes did not take.... read more

For future reference, walking a round of golf does not keep one in shape! This has been made quite clear to both of us. I knew I would regret not hitting the gym before we left, but thought, well, we will just do the ´easier hikes´. Only problem - there aren´t any. All seem to be 4-5 hours one way! But for some reason we were determined to do the Fitz Roy, since, unlike Torres del Paine, the view is not magnificantly displayed in front of our campground. So on Tuesday we took the 3 hr bus ride to El Chalten, which is considered quite a mecca for climbers. The bus was immaculate and had 2 great signs displayed in the front of the bus clearly written in both Spanish and English. No eating on the ... read more