Team A

This is going to be a short one due to the frustrations involved in typing on a keyboard with extra letters. In addition I take no responsibility for misspellings or weird letters from here on... So Turkey has been awesome, so different and comfortable. Food is absolutely delicious with virtually no risk of food borne illness and such a rich culture. We have spent 10 days in Turkey in just 2 cities. Istanbul- We arrived after the best flight I have ever taken - Turkish Airlines is great! Public transport to the city center was super cheap and easy, that's always a bonus. What a beautiful place, lovely seaside walks, stunning mosques and plenty of parks. On top of it all, some of the best food to date, döner kebab, caçik, hummus and so on. We ... read more

Hmmmm.... where to start? I guess our first point of entry into Central Asia would be good. Kazakhstan- After 7 days awaiting a visa, an overnight in a border town and 5 hours at immigration, we were granted permission to leave China. Getting into Kazakhstan was easy in comparison, a smile, a salam and a stamp. Another couple of bus rides later and we arrived in Almaty. Oh Almaty, so lovely and gridded and not overcrowded. In between doing silly bureaucratic stuff, such as registering with the local police and obtaining visas for continued travel, we strolled the streets and well manicured parks and ate doner kebab and fries daily. Our first stop in Central Asia was a great one, the people very helpful, the food tasty, the city lay out easy to navigate and the ... read more

In the middle of Ulaanbaatar, after trekking, camel riding, horse riding, and riding around in an old Russian jeep through vast open sweeps of grassland, desert, and mountain valleys for the better part of a month, we find ourselves in an internet cafe with almost fifty locals playing internet games and yelling across the room. Can this be real? Are we really still in Mongolia? Mongolia, the land of nomads, gers, yak meat and mare milk, and apparently a huge population of counterstrike players. So much to say about this wonderful country but without the needed time to write it, I'll sum up our travels by bullet point. What we did: - Jeep trip through the Gobi desert. 8 days, dirt roads, shake, rattle, and roll. I still feel the bumps from the dirt track, but ... read more

I, Andrew, can be such a putz. Camera number two broken. Riding a bike through the rain in some absolutely amazing countryside, I wanted just one more picture, even if my hands were dripping rain while pressing the power button. Fzzz. That aside, China, what an amazing country. Let's start at the beginning... We left Laos with no issue, exit stamp in the passport and a bus ride through no-man's land to China. Waiting behind Alyssa in the immigration line on the Chinese side, I suddenly remembered my first foray into China a few years back (just a flight connection) at which time the immigration officer was convinced the man in my passport picture was not me (I begged and pleaded and was allowed to make my connection). Suddenly, Alyssa was being asked for alternate forms ... read more

We are in China and well! Food bugs have been eradicated and weight we may have lost due to food borne illness is quickly being found again in the form of dumplings and perfectly fried noodles. Having a blast, proper update to come on some later date, until then .... Viva China!... read more

Laos is a truly amazing place. We have had the pleasure of spending the last 2 weeks in this beautiful albeit rapidly developing country. At the moment we could be better (2 days ago I spent a 9 hour bus ride holding my stomach, only to purge all contents at the stops, since late last night Andrew has decided to copy me and has been ridding his body of internal contents for the last 12+ hours), but at least the scenery is beautiful and the people are extremely friendly. So we have pretty much (unintentionally) followed basically the same route that I took through Laos 4 years ago. It is amazing to watch a developing country in the midst of development. So much has changed in 4 years - there is now a supermarket and a ... read more