http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/gregory/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from gregory en-us Tue, 05 Jan 2010 02:47:58 +0000 Tue, 05 Jan 2010 02:47:58 +0000 Grsquoday everyonehellip..Irsquom finishing up my first full week in Sydney and loving it so far. The weather remains very mild for it being the middle of winter but I've had to buy a sweater. So funny to think of December as the middle of their summer too Christmas must be a different experience. I finally found an apartment after looking at some tight situations. Apparently there are a http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/New-South-Wales/Sydney/Surrey-Hills/blog-178593.html Itrsquos amazing how weather can change the way you think about a place. Sydney has been having record low temperatures this past week. Granted it has only dropped into the low 40rsquos but that is cold when a lot of the houses do not have heating systems especially the apartment Irsquom staying in. Irsquove been wearing jeans and a hat to bed and huddling over cups of hot tea with my f http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/New-South-Wales/Sydney/Surrey-Hills/blog-184903.html New places to see new people to meet and new adventures ahead The main target of this trip is Australia Southeast Asia and possibly a trip around the globe through Europe on the way back to the US. The world is such a big place but seems a little smaller and life seems to make a little more sense the more places I visit. With the real estate market slowing in Florida I decided to leave my pr http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/New-South-Wales/Sydney/blog-174384.html I returned from Iguazu Falls into Buenos Aires and stayed at a friend's apartment for two nights...my last two in South America. The first day back was what the South Americans call Friends Day. Apparently it's like Valentines day except just for friends....which is kind of a cool idea. I think it might just be an excuse to have a party but it's a registered holiday so I couldn't argue wit http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/New-Hampshire/blog-14719.html Just spent the past week in Rio de Janeiro and am now in Puerto Iguazu getting ready to head back to Buenos Aires tomorrow morning. Rio was beautiful and lots of fun. Kind of like a HawaiiCalifornia mix with a South American twist. White sand beaches lots of surf big boardwalks and lush green mountains shooting up in the background. I flew from Buenos Aires and arrived in Rio at mid http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Brazil/Rio-de-Janeiro/blog-14206.html Made it down to Bariloche through some beautiful scenery in the south of Argentina. Bariloche is located near the border of Chile on the Argentinian side of the Andes mountian range in Patagonia. The town looks a bit like Aspen with wood and stone buildings ski stores on every corner and big snow capped mountians in the background. The town was fairly small and located on a huge lake about 20 http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Rio-Negro/San-Carlos-de-Bariloche/blog-14070.html I left Cusco and headed for Puno the Peruvian side of Lake Titicaca. We arrived in Puno after a really bumpy 6 hour bus ride. The town of Puno itself was really dumpy poor and dirty. We went down to see Lake Titicaca which was pretty anticlimactic as well. I was expecting some beautiful bright blue lake with mountains shooting up behind ithellip instead I saw a regular lake although I do http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Mendoza/Mendoza/blog-13017.html Amazing...that's the only way to describe Machu Picchu People kept telling me how cool it was but until you go there you don't ever realize how right they were. I left Cusco by train for the town of Aguas Calientes. Aguas Calientes is the last town before Machu Picchu if you can even call it a town it was about 2 square blocks in size nestled in the Sacred Valley. The following day we hik http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Cusco/Machu-Picchu/blog-12088.html I checked out of my apartment in Buenos Aires and hit the road for some new adventures. I met up with a friend in BA and we left for Cusco Peru. We arrived in Cusco after 10 hours of delays and connections through Lima and Arequipa Peru. Flying into Cusco I could see the big dry mountains begin to rise and see snow capped mountains further in the distance. As soon as I walked out the door of http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/blog-11847.html The time has been flying by and I will be moving out of my apartment in less than a week. My next stop is Peru maybe Bolivia if their political situation continues to improve and the roads remain open and then Brazil and the south of Argentina. I'm going to miss Buenos Aires but am excited to continue my travels and see some more of South America. It's beginning to feel a little more like f http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Buenos-Aires/blog-11063.html I've hosted two Asados BBQ's over the past 2 weeks and have really been enjoying the new apartment. I've been taking some private Spanish classes two times a week to brush up on my grammar which is really helping. I have also just begun teaching English to an older lady who owns an internet cafe down the street. I was paying for the internet and she was saying how she wanted to take some English http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Buenos-Aires/blog-9803.html I moved into a new apartment yesterday and love it. It's only about 8 blocks from where I was living before but much bigger a little quieter and closer to the really cool part of Palermo with great places to go out. It has a great patio with a grill which I will put to use this weekend. Last weekend a friend of mine had a BBQ asado and he began teaching me the ways of the Argentinean BBQ. http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Buenos-Aires/blog-9031.html A good friend Sean Pond from Hawaii who has spent the last year in Afghanistan arrived in Buenos Aires on the 26th of April for a week long visit. It was great to catch up and to have another familiar face in town. We saw all of the main touristy spots and tried out some cool restaurants and bars while he was here. We even took a last minute trip to Uruguay the day after a late night out wi http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Buenos-Aires/blog-8287.html Here are some pictures of the wonderful city of Buenos Aires. It's such a big city and so many cool places to see....enjoy http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Buenos-Aires/blog-7635.html Laurie arrived on the 16th to visit for a week and we had a wonderful time We spent the first few days in Buenos Aires went to Uruguay Colonia Monevideo and Punta Del Este for 3 days and then returned to Buenos Aires for the rest of the trip. We put quite a few miles on our shoes and a few pounds in our stomach's walking throughout the city and trying out some cool trendy restaurants to i http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Uruguay/District-of-Montevideo/Montevideo/blog-7638.html Ive been in Chile for a few days now and its such a clean safe nice city. Similar to a new US city in some ways but has a great South American feel to it with lots of color and history. The people have been very helpful and welcoming. Seems like a simple culture and very business oriented at the same time. Looking into apartments and jobs at the moment. The prices here are a bit more tha http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Santiago-Region/Santiago/blog-5598.html Ive had excellent weather the entire time Ive been in South America knock on wood. Santiago continues to amaze a great city that I never really knew much about actually a great country to retire in. There are mountains an hour north Andes are the 2nd largest mtn range in the world. Then there are wine regions and a beach only an hour away as well. Safety is very important here and there http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Santiago-Region/Santiago/blog-5639.html Japan was great Laurie and I really got a great feel for the city and found the people to be so friendly. Not nearly as many people spoke english as we had expected so a phrase book and suggestions from a good friend who spent a year therethanks again Marisa really helped. Besides almost burning my hand on the hot water dispenser thinking it dispensed Soy Sauce and then eating god knows wh http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Tokyo/blog-5641.html Spent a few days back in my hometown for the past 4 years of Honolulu for some last sun and fun. Also some pics of a day trip to the windy island of Lanai.After Hawaii it was onward to visit Brother and sisinlaw in the friendly city of Minneapolis back to Boston and NH adn then down to South America. attached is a picture of a last night out at the prestigious Da Dawg House dive bar in Wa http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Hawaii/Oahu/blog-5642.html Arrived in Hong Kong through a cloud of fog so thick you could barely see 20 ft in front of you. It reminded me of my first arrival into Kuwait I couldnt see a thing and the next day you feel like youre in a completely different place when you can actually see something. Anyways so Hong Kong was a little more honky tonk than Japan...as expectedat least in Kawloon. Side streets that make http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Hong-Kong/Hong-Kong-Island/blog-5644.html