Rachel and Philippe

The Trip to Bangkok The flight to Bangkok was pretty uneventful. The food was already better, we left Pakistan as the country was beginning to disintegrate, and we even got a movie about Creationism. It was sort of like being in Kansas, only with quotes from the Koran instead of the Bible. Same same, but different. My other funny / sad experience on the plane was with two completely covered women standing in line at the bathrooms (all empty as far as I could tell). Now I'm patient, but I wasn't going to sit there all day waiting for them to figure out how bathrooms work. Opening one of the doors to show them it was empty inside, they looked grateful. They now understood that the bathroom was empty. However, they still hadn't quite figured out ... read more

As we leave the Hunza Valley and head into Gilgit, the scenery and atmosphere changes drastically. There is a big military presence, as Gilgit is the military and administrative headquarters for the Northern Area - most notably, there are guns all over and there are no women on the streets. As we get off of our bus, the place is a little overwhelming. We walk around looking for our hotel. Our first choice was either 1) full, 2) closed, or 3) now a girls' hostel. You could imagine our confusion by this conflicting information, but somehow we got all three explanations from the same man in the same conversation. Anyway, somehow we ended up in the Madina. It was a Westerners’ oasis - BBC, the first white people we’ve seen in a long time, and ... read more

Philippe and I made to China a week ago. There is lots to share, too much to share! Getting to Kashgar... an epic in itself We took a 'shared taxi' from Bishkek to Osh. About 12 hours in a taxi with two local Kyrgyz folks. Long trip in a car, but an interesting business situation - instead of posting on Craig's List that he can drive others to Osh, he goes to the Bazaar and waits with the taxis. Everyone somehow knows where the taxis to Osh are all hanging out and sooner or later, he picks up a couple of folks to drive with him. While Bishkek has a pretty diverse population regarding Russians and westerners, as we travelled further south, we became more of a spectacle. We were hooked up with a friend of ... read more

Hello, everyone! We are wrapping up an excellent trip in Kyrgyzstan... lots of trekking, climbing, eating, meeting new friends, learning new languages! As you can imagine, the internet here in Asia is a little more difficult than earlier in our roadtrip, where we had our own laptop, electricity everywhere, and free Wifi! Regardless, we have posted a few entries about our Kyrgyz experience - breaking up into the different segments of our trip so far. The pictures are a bit slower to add, but in the next few days, we will try to add more (so look back over old posts for new stuff). The short version of Kyrgyzstan - Philippe had three weeks in the Karavshin (this isn't posted yet... sorry), we did a six day trek outside of Karakol, we camped in the ... read more

Our next adventure was about 35 km from Bishkek... climbing in Ala Archa. Because our previous unsupported trek was six days, we ate most of the food we brought with us. So this time... we took up the kitchen sink, hiring a porter to help carry up our things. We planned to stay for seven days and climb both rock and alpine routes , so there was a lot of food and gear. Toby and Scott, new friends we met through the Alpine Fund (non-profit organization that takes kids climbing) came with us - so it was a little bit of a party. The hike in was about 5 hours of up, up, up. Packs were heavy, but eventually, all of our stuff arrived at the Ratsek Hut, where there's a little tent city, friendly Russians, ... read more

So after a few weeks in Omaha, I've bought all kinds of stuff... I heard from Philippe just before leaving, so I got a list of things to bring/leave behind. Everything seems small, expensive, and somehow it will become invaluable. My super-cute Grandma is watching incredulously as I unpack prescription drugs, camelback mouthpieces, and backpack covers. I enjoy explaining how all of these things will come into play in the coming weeks and months, and Grandma tries her best to act like it all makes sense to her. Flying halfway around the world.... it takes awhile. The actual flying time was about 24 hours, with a day layover in Denver, a couple of hours in London, and a few minutes in Tblisi (Georgia... the country, not the state). The flight pulled up in Bishkek at about ... read more