http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Honeytrekker/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Honeytrekker en-us Wed, 23 Dec 2009 23:03:05 +0000 Wed, 23 Dec 2009 23:03:05 +0000 I'm glad to know that marriage hasn't cured Steve of his random romantic notions. We had agreed not to exchange Christmas presents this year but he reneged on that when he surprised me with tickets to a Billy Joel concert on our last night in New Zealand. Billy Joel is my favorite musician and poor Steve already had to sit through me cooing with the cluster of middleaged women sitting around u http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Cook-Islands/Rarotonga/blog-355781.html Remember a few short months ago when I shamelessly boasted on about my hiking prowess Yeah I retract all of that. I am officially out of shape. Yesterday Steve and I embarked on a 18.5 km hike through the Tongariro Alpine Crossing. We clearly have not mastered the kilometersmiles conversion if we thought that would be a fun way to spend the day. The hike started out pleasantly enough pas http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Tongariro-National-Park/blog-353468.html Sorry my last post was a little scatterbrained. I was trying to type too quickly after a few sleepless nights. Nez Zealand has been a huge culture shock after the past few months of hitting more difficult places. We expected it would be easy as we speak the language and the culture isn't terribly different national obsession with macho tackle sport and love of beer but we had no idea how incr http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/Kaikoura/blog-351897.html After an allbutrelaxing Bali cruise more on that when I'm at a less expensive terminal we arrived in New Zealand on Thanksgiving Day. We actually managed to find the one restaurant in Christchurch that offered a special Thanksgiving turkey dinner. Unfortunately it was the largest All Blacks rugby pub in the country so the holiday ambiance was pretty weakWe rented a car and spent yesterda http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/Lake-Tekapo/blog-349484.html I'm sorry we haven't posted in a bit. The evil internet gremlins gobbled my last couple of posts just as I was trying to save or post them and I haven't had much opportunity to retype them. This is just a quickie to let everyone know that we're still alive. We've spent about a week in Bali and leave in a few minutes to start sailing around some of the more remote islands near here. Our friend http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Indonesia/Bali/Sanur/blog-346059.html First off I am beyond elated to be able to call Barack Obama our PresidentelectI'm a bit of a dork about politics so we hightailed it from the wonderful Laos countryside to an urban area in hopes of finding CNN or BBC coverage of the election returns. This was a great idea in theory but we forgot that Socialist governments occasionally block certain television content...like American news. W http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Red-River-Delta/Hanoi/blog-341970.html The last time I was in Thailand I tried tinting my eyelashes darker for the first time. I absolutely loved the results but the treatment itself was a bit unnerving. In short while I was resting on the table with the possibly toxic dye on my eyes the beautician climbed up on the table sat on my hips and proceeded to give me a rather aggressive frontal massage. I couldn't open my eyes to see http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/North-West-Thailand/Chiang-Mai/blog-340859.html About 2 weeks ago in Nepal I thought to myself we have gotten almost no rain on this trip. And at that point I was very much correct. Other than a few sprinkles on the Lares Trek and the hail at Cape Town we essentially have been percipitation free until now at least. It started in Cambodia each afternoon around 200pm it rained. We got caught out riding our bikes in a down pour but it http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/West/Vang-Vieng/blog-340849.html Confession we're continuing our Places Angelina Acquired Children tour in Cambodia. Steve and I decided to rearrange our trip a bit because my friend Sue's work schedule didn't permit us to visit her in Thailand when we'd planned so now we're visiting Angkor Wat. I absolutely love this country. Despite enduring some of the worst human rights hardships in recent history the people here are http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Cambodia/North/Angkor/blog-337970.html After nearly two months of sleeping in tents and rooms in which I would never dare touch the bed directly we splurged last night and booked a five star hotel in Bangkok for about 150. This would be a very nice room by any standards but was particularly amazing after our recent rooms that rarely cost above 7night.Less than a week ago we were staying in a NR 150 room about 2 and I was awa http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/Central-Thailand/Bangkok/blog-337229.html We've stuck out in most places we've traveled because of Steve's height and my yellow hair but India takes the burfi. Until we reached Varanasi we haven't been in any busy Western tourist towns even Agra was only filled with Indian tourists so we've been the object of much curiosity and excitement. We were walking down one quiet beach in Goa when two girls came running up in a flurry of sa http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Uttar-Pradesh/Varanasi/blog-332872.html I can't believe that we've been married and out of the country for more than two months now. It's been two months since I've worn heels or carried a purse used a cell phone seen friends or family though the new friends we've made have helped immensely slept in the same place more than two nights in a row cooked a meal myself had more than three outfits to choose fromHowever those are sm http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Nepal/Kathmandu/Thamel/blog-336091.html Short version Lonely Planet India failed us again. We planned our itinerary based on a magical six hour bus between Udaipur and Agra that they listed. When we went to book that same trip actually was listed as 13.5 hours from 530PM to 700AM. We decided that we could handle that but with an upgrade to sleeper class. The actual journey took close to 22 hours with two buses and we met a lo http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Uttar-Pradesh/Agra/blog-331892.html We read in our Lonely Planet that the off season for Goa ends in September with cessation of endless rain during the monsoons. I can personally attest that Lonely Planet is incorrect. The off season definitely extends into October. A couple days ago we took a long 14 hour train from Mumbai to Goa opting for the daytime train so that we could see the beautiful scenery between those two d http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Goa/Candolim/blog-330779.html Kelly and I have made it out of Africa. After almost a month camping through the bush we made it to our 3rd continent Asia. Not suprisingly the African bush has very little internet access especially when camping. Even when we did have internet it was pretty damn slow this is my longwinded excuse for not blogging in awhile. In addition to having no internet there was almost a complete http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Maharashtra/Mumbai/blog-329257.html Thus far I've been a little disappointed with the overall efficiency we've witnessed on this continent. I will admit that I expected a bit more chaos discontent and blatant government corruption. We finally got the show of shows today We awoke very early so that we could reach the BotswanaZambia border when it opened at 6AM. We arrived to the Botswana border station to see a line of peopl http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Zambia/Livingstone/Mukuni-Village/blog-329233.html Poor Steve. Just over a month ago he married a young healthy bride. Then she discovered that she's allergic to Africa. All of it. The predawn sand dune climb in Namibia caused a hacking cough that put most emphysema sufferers to shame. A hand gently brushed against a rock during a San bushman paintings tour swelled to more than double its normal size and then proceeded to shed all of the s http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Botswana/North-West/blog-329229.html Botswana officially takes the prize for having the worst internet I've ever used. I was only able to find two cafes in the whole country both of which shut down as soon as I hit post on my blog entries. Rather than embarrass myself with another round of internet cafe fury I opted to ignore the existence of technology until we arrived in India. I'll try to recreate some of the posts that di http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Maharashtra/Mumbai/blog-329227.html It's our last night in Namibia and I'm a bit sad. I absolutely love this country. The days have been filled with lazy contentment as I read or knit on the bus periodically interrupted with gasps of disbelief as we pass a lion guarding a watering hole or a deep red sand dune towering against the brilliant blue sky. The past fortyeight hours were among my favorite on the trip. Steve and I cele http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Namibia/Etosha-National-Park/blog-322447.html We're in Swakopmund Namibia. The majority of our group was eager to arrive in this adrenaline sport hotspot and we all immediately booked 4wheeling sandboarding and sky diving excursions. Less than an hour after arriving in this town we were already seated on our 4wheelers or 'quad bikes' I foolishly thought that the 125cc automatic quads were too wimpy and selected a 250cc semiman http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Namibia/Swakopmund/blog-320919.html