After 26 hours of traveling, a detour to Seoul, Korea, and an early morning plane change in Seoul we set foot on Hong Kong island. Something about stong head winds, low fuel, and then the need for a new flight crew added the unexpected additional 7 hours to our flight. But, after a short nap and shower we were ready to see how much Hong Kong had changed since we were last there in 1998. The first thing that we noticed was the additional skyscrapers along both sides of the Harbor. The new IFC Tower 2 now dwarfs the former tallest building, the Bank of China. Soon the IFC 2 will become the second tallest when the new building on the Kowloon side is completed. The practice of land reclamation continues along the harbor and the ... read more

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year everyone!! Please paste the link below into your address bar to view our Scrapblog Christmas card. Have a wonderful holiday season and we'll be in touch, via the blog, throughout our journey. Best Wishes, Pam and Ron http://www.scrapblog.com/0E2E7659-0C75/662ACB9B-9368... read more

Leaving Venice we trained and bussed our way to Slovenia. Our route took us to the town of Piran on Slovenia's coast. It's a nice town with the main focal point being a square named after the famous violinist, Tartini. The old town is interesting with its winding alleyways and quaint boutiques. The most unusual feature of the town was the long concrete promenade that doubles as a beach. Piran is mainly a tourist destination and the sunbathers were lined up on their towels and in their chairs along the length of the promenade. Concrete beaches aren't our idea of day at the beach, so instead we ate pizza at a seaside cafe and enjoyed the view. The cost of food and lodging in this area of Slovenia was really high, so we stayed for a ... read more

For 2 decades we have sat on the island of Corfu and wondered about the little country of Albania, just a short ferry trip across the Adriatic. Now that it is finally allowing visitors, we decided to take the day trip and check it out. Before going, we read Tony Wheeler's account of it in his book entitiled "Bad Lands". What a strange little country it is! We were only able to visit the coastal resort town of Agio Saranda and the Roman ruins of Butrint. Our time in the city was very limited due to the hour long drive to Butrint. Agio Saranda has sprung up into a city from the little village that it was during the dictatorship of Hoxha. The construction got a little chaotic with developers claiming land and building hotels and ... read more

Astyapalea was delightful and Amorgos was as beautiful as ever. We are continuing our travels through the islands and these two stops were especially nice. Both islands are a bit off the beaten path and exhibit a more traditional Greek life style. Astyapalea is shaped like a butterfly and has a fabulous castle ruin above the town of Pera Yialos, where we stayed. We hiked up to the Chora and walked through the ruins several times. The upper area of the Chora is like a ghost town, with doors slamming and hinges creaking as the wind howls through the deserted pathways. The houses surrounding the castle were abandoned in 1953 due to a major earthquake and now are padlocked and slowly decaying. The government is attempting to restore the castle and the surrounding village, but is ... read more