http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/lynneandmark/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from lynneandmark en-us Fri, 11 Dec 2009 23:08:26 +0000 Fri, 11 Dec 2009 23:08:26 +0000 Hello everyoneWe're actually back home in the U.S. now it's January 14th but we didn't have access to the travelblog for days. So we're creating a few more days of blogposts and adding pictures to our previous posts. Check 'em outJanuary 7th was our final day in Kalavrita. We overslept and missed the bus trip to the ski lodge so we had breakfast in town and then walked to areas we had not y http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Greece/Pelopennese/blog-119074.html Mark here Well we're in Athens and are heading home tomorrow night after one more day in the city.We arrived here on Monday afternoon and have seen a lot of great places in the past few days. Unfortunately we've been unable to reach the travelblog site for the past few days and now we're able to reach it we have no way of uploading pictures on this computerWe'll get online once we arrive back http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Greece/Attica/Athens/blog-117878.html UPDTATE pictures added 14January.Lynne here Well I completely forgot to mention in yesterday's blog entry that Mark's concert on Thursday went very well. The group received a lot of compliments and were asked to play again at the final concert in Athens.On Friday January 5 we spent some time in Kalavrita. We hemmed hawed over the opportunity to go to Olympia but we decided that because http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Greece/Pelopennese/blog-116781.html FYI pictures added on 7January Updated with smallersized but more photos on 14January.We arrived safe and sound and on time in Athens today. Chartered busses picked us up along with 120 other conference attendees and families at the Athens airport. They shuttled us to the small ountain town of Kalavrita in the Peloponnese region of Greece.Along the route we stopped at the Corinth Canal. http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Greece/Pelopennese/blog-116471.html UPDATE added pictures on 14January.The move to the Domatia was very wise even though it's more expensive we had a good night's sleep and a somewhat warm shower. It seems that the hot water supplies are very low so we'll try to space our showers out to odd times in the day in hopes of getting a hot shower The showers we've found in Greece are generally a very small square space maybe about http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Greece/Pelopennese/Nafplion/blog-116482.html UPDATE Pictures added 14January.Greetings from Kalavrita GreeceToday we got to see a little bit of this small mountain town. This charming city is over 2000 years old and is a popular tourist destination for Greeks who love to ski at Mount Chelmos. However there is such little snow this year no one is skiing. The air here is cool and crisp and there is a little snow on the mountain but n http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Greece/Pelopennese/blog-116479.html Hello everyone and happy new yearMark and Lynne are off to their next adventure in Greece. We will be staying in Kalavrita and various cities in the Peloponesse region and also will have several days in Athens. We're not sure when we'll have access to a computer for our first week of the 12day trip but we'll make sure to get you up to speed on our travels whenever we find internet access.Our http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Greece/Thessaly/Meteora/blog-115219.html Tuesday was quite a day. While we had a lot of frustrating moments we experienced some wonderful hikes and terrific moments.We had breakfast at Nicely's Restaurant which has an awesome homemade oatmeal breakfast perfect for getting a lot of energy. We needed it for our morning adventure which went a little differently than planned.We drove to the Black Point area on the northeastern edge of http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/California/Lee-Vining/blog-85261.html Hi everybodyWe thought we'd post a travel blog on our trip to Yosemite National Park and the Inyo National Forest.On Monday we left Santa Cruz CA and our wonderful hostess Berta Hees. After spending a few weeks in Santa Cruz for the Cabrillo Contemporary Music Festival Mark is a member of the orchestra it was time to get out into the wildernessWe had breakfast at Pacific Coffee Roasters in http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/California/Yosemite-National-Park/blog-85259.html Greetings from BangkokThe weather is hot and humid but not really much more than it was in Texas last week. We did a bit of touring today visiting several of the major tourist attractions in the city.We met our guide ldquoMs. Sammyrdquo she uses this name because her Thai name is rather hard to pronounce early this morning. We canrsquot imagine having a better guide. She has taught us http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/Central-Thailand/Bangkok/blog-11381.html Hello thereWe're back home now but I thought I'd offer a word of advice to travelers who are going to Cambodia particularly to Siem Reap and the temples of Angkor.We managed to get a very bad case of food poisioning while in Siem Reap. We're not sure where we ate the bad food our guess was at a lunch stop at an outdoor place outside of Banetay Srei. Let's just say that the food poisoning was http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Cambodia/North/Siem-Reap/blog-13016.html Mark hereLynne's been doing all the entries so far so I though I would jump in with a quick one. Unfortunately I only have about 3 minutes to do this so no pictures and please excuse any typosWe've been in Cambodia for a couple of days now seeing most of the major temples in the area. My favorites so far were Angkor Thom with the famous smiling Buddha images everywhere and Angkor Wat be http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Cambodia/North/Siem-Reap/blog-12537.html Hello again We're a few days behind in posting because we haven't had time to post. We've been travelling to many different places.On the 28th we left Chiang Mai a lovely city and drove to the small mountain village of Pai. We stopped at a Hilltribe Museum and our guide Udon explained the history of many of the different hilltribes in northern Thailand. We stopped at the tiny village of Mae http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/North-West-Thailand/Pai/blog-12535.html After leaving Bangkok we flew to Chiang Mai in the northern part of Thailand. We met our new tourguide and driver Udon and Sumai. After stopping at our hotel Tamarind Village a very cool place we headed up to Wat Doi Suthep a Buddhist temple perched on a mountaintop. The temple overlooks the entire Lanna valley where about 1.8 million people live. Even though a lot of people live in Chia http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/North-West-Thailand/Chiang-Mai/blog-12229.html Hello again Finally we have a computer that we can upload pictures fromAttached are a few pictures from Ayutthaya. This place was really amazing. It was the capital of Siam for several hundred years and the Burmese attacked and successfully ransacked the city. Many were killed others tortured. Many of the Buddha images were destroyed all of them were damaged. The destruction was quite amazin http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/Central-Thailand/Ayuthaya/blog-12150.html Itrsquos our last day in BangkokWe really love this city. It is so safe so exciting and very friendly. All of our friends really enjoyed their stay here too.Today our friend Nate joined us for our last guided trip. We went to BangPaIn the former summer residence of the royal family. It is a beautiful estate. We saw many beautiful buildings built during the time of King Rama V which was a http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/Central-Thailand/Bangkok/blog-11894.html Sawadee kaaSorry that itrsquos been a few days since wersquove posted friends. We have been so busy in Bangkok there has been little time to check in.Mark is feeling better now. His performance went well too.The cooking school at the Thai House was terrific. Lynne spent two days and one night at the Thai House learning to make many traditional Thai ldquohome cookingrdquo style dishes. http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/Central-Thailand/Bangkok/blog-11893.html Sawadee KaaThis morning Mark was still feeling a little under the weather in the morning so he rested at the hotel while Lynne went to the Floating Market at Damnoen Saduak.Ms. Sammy and our driver Mr. Odd yes that is his name picked Lynne up at 700am for our drive about 1.5 hours west of Bangkok. The Bangkok traffic is still amazing on Monday morning Lynne saw one tollbooth interchange http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/Central-Thailand/Bangkok/blog-11537.html Welcome to Sundayrsquos journalAfter three days in Bangkok we can say that we really like this cosmopolitan city. So many interesting things so many friendly people... but we wouldn't want to live here. It's just so crowded and hectic But what a great place to visit.We slept so well last night except for the hard rainstorm at about 100am. We were surprised that it had not rained at all si http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/Central-Thailand/Bangkok/blog-11383.html Sawadee KaaThat is ldquohellordquo or ldquogoodbyerdquo in Thai.We have found internet access so we can finally post to our travel journal.Wersquore having a fantastic time in Bangkok. This is a really amazing city 10 million people and very likeable. It is quite safe for such a big city and not nearly as polluted as wersquod expected. It feels like being in New York but with a http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/Central-Thailand/Bangkok/blog-11380.html