http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Edmichel/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Edmichel en-us Sat, 02 Jan 2010 04:44:38 +0000 Sat, 02 Jan 2010 04:44:38 +0000 Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas Wishing smoother landings for you in 2010Love EM http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/blog-461692.html 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 arent any. All seem to be 45 hours one way But for some reason we were determined to do the Fitz Roy since unlike Torres del Paine the http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Santa-Cruz/El-Chalten/blog-461382.html We spent 5 days in Torres del Paine and had fantastic weather. It is beautiful We are now in El Calafate will stay until Sat when we fly to Bariloche which they say is in the most beautiful setting these are getting hard to surpass http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/blog-460427.html ok a few more...the iceburgs were amazing Today we leave for a week of hiking and camping if the weather cooperates at Torres del Paine. http://www.travelblog.org/Antarctica/blog-459045.html I will start by just posting some photos. I think they pretty much tell the story... http://www.travelblog.org/Antarctica/blog-458856.html Ironically we just received an email from our blog site that stated they had missed us and gave us a new password. So we will post a few photos and depending on the speed of the internet post some text too. Well the internet was fast but the computer shut down. Fortunately we had saved the photos. So this will be a pictorial story. Basically we have spent 2 wks in the south of Laos and http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/South/blog-373840.html Photos of the people of India http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Rajasthan/Jodhpur/blog-35418.html So our last 2 weeks in India were spent in the much cooler highlands among the tea and coffee plantations. Munnar a samll town quickly became our favorite place in S India. We stayed at a quiet questhouse just outside of town along the river. The area has 98000 acres of tea plantation which gives the area a very manicured look. We had a great rickshaw driver who spent the day with us showin http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Karnataka/Mysore/blog-40338.html Well we seem to be getting use to this beach living stuff Having trouble pulling ourselves away. After almost a week in Varkala we headed to the southern most point on the continent Cape Cormorin stopping along the way at one of the larger Hindu temples. I think it was the first one we were allowed to go in as usually they do not allow non Hindus entry. It was huge with lots of alleyways a http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Kerala/Kollam/blog-35415.html Wow a great way to celebrate the holidays. Started with a sampling of the Kerala coast up to the 'jungle lodge' and finished back on the coast. The holidays began with an enjoyable backwater tour thru the canals along Kochi in both a rice barge and later a narrow wooden canoe. Learned about calcium carbonate production for cement and coir making jute made from coconut husks. A delicious se http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Kerala/Angamaly/blog-32663.html Wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas. We will probably be spending the day touring the backwaters on a converted Rice Barge. Rosemary our cousin will arrive in Kochi on Friday morning spending 10 days so we will celebrate Christmas and New Year's with her.Well our Bangkok segment was extended a bit longer than we had hoped. We thinking we were being smart had purchased our tickets to I http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Karnataka/Mysore/blog-32197.html Our bags are packed we're ready to go... Hard to believe this is our last night in Guilin. Harder to believe we have been here 5 weeks. It was great fun but we are both ready to get on the road again. We teach 2 classes tomorrow the 2nd one finishing at 430 then its off to the airport for our evening flight to Bangkok. A couple of days to complete our travel arrangements to India and then on http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Guangxi/Guilin/blog-30195.html Here's how we celebrated our Thanksgiving weekend. We left Saturday morning to go to PingAn a 600 year old Zhuang minority village about 2 hrs north west of Guilin. It's known for its terraced rice fields and for the women who have the longest hair. They wrap it around their head but when unwrapped it falls literally to the ground. It is pretty amazing. The village is built on the hillsides http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Guangxi/Guilin/blog-28914.html Pictures of our apartment. We find it homey Two steps above Peace Corps Mainly because of the washing machine internet and air conditioning. http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/blog-26742.html We had a great week in Yangshou enjoying the great food fantastic scenery and the very slow pace of the town. Several days we rented bikes and just toured around the rural countryside among the rice fields seeing people working the field fishing and the occasional water buffalo all surrounded by the beautiful karsts. There are hundreds of them and make a beautiful backdrop for the country http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Guangxi/Guilin/blog-26724.html Pictures from around the Yangshuo area. Well it took all that time to get the pictures downloaded. Spending the week in Yanshuo and having a great time. It is quite the oasis with beautiful scenery this was the scenery we expected along the Yangtse great food and a very nice place to stay with a balcony looking over the river. We will write more later. http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Guangxi/Yangshuo/blog-25874.html This was about 2 hours East of Chongqing. It is set in a horseshoe shape canyon with massive stone walls that have been carved out. http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Chongqing/blog-25086.html Ok a recap of the past week. Chongqing although a big city was great We upgraded our room to stay right downtown in a Chinese business hotel that was very nice although the breakfast included was a bit unusual but we are getting use to noodles and dumplings for any meal. We spent 3 days there one day just walking around the old city Citapol or something like that I don't have our book wi http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Chongqing/blog-25077.html Well its hard to believe but today is our last day in Lhasa. We leave tomorrow morning for Chongqing which is south of Chengdu and the start of the Yangtse river cruise. The past 2 days we just roamed the streets of Lhasa enjoying all the sites. We also found out for .70 per kilo we could ship all our cold weather gear to Shanghai so we included a Tibetan horn and a few other misc items... 3 http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Tibet/Lhasa/blog-23954.html On our return from EBC we spent several days in Shigatse which allowed us to tour the town and enjoy the monastery. We also spent a day in Gyantse which had a beautiful fort and chorten. http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Tibet/Friendship-Highway/blog-23265.html