http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Erin and Jason/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Erin and Jason en-us Thu, 04 Dec 2008 17:11:53 UTC Thu, 04 Dec 2008 17:11:53 UTC Everything was great until we got to the border... The ThaiCambodian border that is. The Lonely Planet guidebook we are using like everyone else here it seems warns you in no uncertain terms to NOT NOT NOT buy a bus ticket in Bangkok to Siem Reap gateway to Angkor Wat but instead to just buy a bus ticket to the border. We fell for their scams anyway. When we got to the border we were talke http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Cambodia/North/Angkor/blog-351248.html It wasn't easy getting here. The flight was short enough. We landed just after 5 AM but at the domestic airport since antigovernment protesters shut down the international airport. Then we sat on the runway for 5 hours until they decided to start processing travelers at the domestic airport.We later found out we were one of the last planes to land in Bangkok.Both airports in Bangkok have since http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Thailand/Central/Bangkok/blog-349373.html Tuesday 25 November 2008 Slumming it Bombay StyleFor our last day in India we decided it would be appropriate since 55 of Mumbai residents live in slums to go on a tour of the Dharavi Slum www.realitytoursandtravel.com. We met our guide Girish at the Churchgate train station and rode a cramped passenger train to Dharavi central Mumbai. A slum is defined in India as any residence built http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/India/Maharashtra/Mumbai/blog-349121.html We've spent the last few days in Kerala one of the most beautiful states in India. We started in Cochin an old port city with many islands connected by ferries that run every 10 minutes and cost only 2 rupees 4 cents. It's a large fishing community and the shoreline is embellished by huge fishnets that look like large prehistoric spiders with nets that are lowered into the water. However beau http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/India/Kerala/blog-347862.html Two nights ago in the city of Mysore we went to see a Bollywood movie. The movie was in the local state language Kannada with no subtitles but we still understood most of what was happening. The funniest part of the movie were the dance scenes. Much of the movie was filmed in Mysore and we recognized some landmarks. But the dance scenes were filmed in Switzerland and since we spent a day in http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/India/Karnataka/blog-345042.html Erin was here a couple years ago but my Asaf first introduction to India was 10 days ago when we landed in Mumbai formerly known as Bombay. It was not the nicest introduction.It was early morning and on the taxi drive from the airport we passed by hundreds if not thousands of families living and sleeping on the street. Then we saw what looked like slums. I have seen poverty before. I hav http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/India/Goa/blog-341300.html We are flying to India tomorrow. We should be excited. We were a few days ago and we are starting to get excited again. But... it's so hard to say goodbye to Paris. We just came back from Morocco a couple days ago and after a month outside of France Spain and Morocco we were reminded once again how much we love it.We are staying in a random neighborhood on the outskirts of town. Not a tourist http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/France/-le-de-France/Paris/blog-337632.html What was supposed to be an 18 hour journey from Granada Spain to Fes Morocco became a 45 hour journey due to sea storms and cancelled ferries. After spending the night in Algeciras Spain a real dump of a port town we finally got the ferry the following afternoon to Tangier. From there we continued on our bus to Fes arriving at our hotel just after 1 AM. By the next day our difficult journ http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/Morocco/Marrakech-Tensift-El-Haouz/Marrakech/blog-336492.html After our siesta in Barcelona we had a pleasant visit with GiladAsaf's brother whose house we stayed in while he was back in the States. Anyway Gilad showed us his Barcelona by taking us for hot chocolate it's more like a hot thick pudding that you eat with a spoon to his favorite local restaurants and showing us around his neighborhod Gracia. It was a short but sweet visit.Then we had http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Spain/Andalusia/Granada/blog-332295.html That's why we like them. A funicular is a type of selfcontained cable railway in which a cable attached to a pair of tramlike vehicles on rails moves them up and down a very steep slope the ascending and descending vehicles counterbalancing each other. We have ridden some that are counterbalanced by a weight instead of another vehicle.Our first funicular was in Quebec City Canada. On this tri http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/blog-329880.html When I said the 11 days we stayed in Paris would probably be the longest we stayed in any one city I spoke too soon. We're staying in Barcelona for 12. It's been such a nice relaxing visit Lucky for us Asaf Jason's brother Gilad lives in the Gracia neighborhood of Barcelona and we've been staying at his place instead of a hotel. He's in a great location with a market two blocks away resta http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Spain/Catalonia/Barcelona/blog-329871.html Here we will list the funny stuff that sometimes we do or happens to us. We will update this entry occasionally when we have new funny stuffThis happened in Estonia. The menu said lemonade so I ordered one. The waitress opened a bottle of Sprite and poured it into a glass. The same happened in a couple other countries including France. So unless you want Sprite don't order lemonade in Europ http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/blog-326451.html We have spent a little more than a month now in France and today is our last day. Except for 2 days in Paris en route to India in a month. We absolutely loved it here and feel we got to know the country much better. Although as foreigners traveling through not speaking the language well and with mostly superficial encounters with locals we have no pretenses. We have taken trains boats su http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/France/Languedoc-Roussillon/Montpellier/blog-325952.html We arrived in Torino at night and checked into our 4 star hotel. Every hotel in Europe gets a star rating. Wersquove stayed in many decent one and two star hotels once in a while a three star but this was our first and to date only 4 star hotel we got a great deal on the internet. It was nice but nothing to write home about it. Wait I am writing home about it Ha ha Anyway the next da http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Italy/Liguria/Cinque-Terre/blog-324224.html After we dropped my Mom off at the Paris airport we jumped on a train and headed down to Dijon. Dijon is a sweet little town the capital of the Burgundy region with a lot of pride in its regional gifts selling all sorts of yummy flavors of mustard and gingerbread French lavender and those little aniseed candies my cousin and I ate when we were young. The town mascotsymbol is the owl and the http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/France/Rh-ne-Alpes/Annecy/blog-324219.html Today we went to the DDay beaches at Normandy. This was where the U.S. finally entered the war in Europe it was a day that changed the history of Europe and the world. Some of the most decisive and deadly battles in World War 2 were fought here and this is where the liberation of France and the rest of Nazioccupied Europe began.First we visited the memorial battlefield at Ponte du Hoc. Th http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/France/Lower-Normandy/Bayeux/blog-320641.html We spent 11 days in Paris far longer than we have spent or are likely to spend in any one city on this journey. We loved Paris who doesnrsquot and got to do and see everything we wanted. We saw the Louvre Musee DrsquoOrsay and the Rodin Museum. We had dinner at an outdoor bistro in Montmartre. We went down in the catacombs well Erin and her Mom did and then to the top of the Eiffel http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/France/Brittany-/Saint-Malo/blog-320172.html Ah we've been here about five days now and I am loving it Our studio is in a great neighborhood on the Right Bank correcting Asaf on his earlier email walking distance from the Louvre and Rue Montorgueil a cute pedestrianonly street with cafes shops and the pastry shop Marie Antoniette bought her cakes from. Our studio is very cozy smaller than my studio in the Tenderloin but it's per http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/France/-le-de-France/Paris/blog-314585.html In Peterhof a beautiful palace outside St. Petersburg Russia there are fountains that spray people when they step on stones. They appear to be random and automatic but are in fact operated by a bored looking teenager sitting on a bench and pressing his foot down on a pedal. We've only seen one squirrel in the last month in the gardens at Peterhof St. Petersburg and it was redIn Russia t http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Latvia/Riga/blog-312805.html Kaunas Lithuania This is not the capital of Lithuania nor a beautiful place or one with many attractions. I am here for sentimental reasons only. My grandfather was born here. My mother's father who helped raise me and my brothers and who was probably the best human being I ever knew.Fortunately when he was 2 years old his family moved to the U.S. I say fortunately because during World War http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Lithuania/Kaunas/blog-311982.html