Are you kidding me! Marc, It's been a while since I've checked your site. Looks like you are having a blast tubing from pole to pole....
Things back home are just about the same as you left them. So, whenever you are ready to jump off a taller pole, think about us for a minute.
Glad to see you are having a blast. Remember, Rosi and I travelled for 20 some years before the kid bug bit us. So keep soaking it in.
Mitch G
Travels My husband and I continue to love reading about your travels, Marc, and marvel at your ability to do things on your own. I was on an organized tour of Vietnam, Cambodia and Bangkok this past Jan/Feb...weather was grand. I agree with you that there was something about Cambodia that caught my spirit. One of my traveling companions had her camera ripped off of her shoulder while walking at night in the streets of Saigon. You're not alone on that count. We're returning to AZ next month so we'll see your folks and catch up on more details of their travels and yours. I understand your exhaustion with travel...but I reach that wall in days...not months!!! Blessing to you. Patty Steinway
Glad you're safe-n-sound Sorry to hear about the heist. I guess I'm actually surprised that's all you've lost so far - based on all the unfamiliar places you've been. At least they mugged you nicely :-) You could have been hit over the head with a baseball bat or something. As far as 'hitting the wall' goes, I wondered if all the constant traveling would get 'old' after a while. There's definitely something to be said for staying put once in a while. Have fun with Tim!
Toilet massage reply Thank you Marc for another wonderful blog. Your descriptions
and explanations leave me wondering whether you have done my traveling for me or are encouraging me to do more. My visits
to Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam were all courtesy of USMC
37 years ago. Patty's on the other hand as you know were
recently. Travel well and safely. G.H.
Looks like fun! Thanks again for sharing, even if it's out-of-order. Thanks, too for the little explanation at the end. Pretty cool to get a glimpse of something outside the US, for those of us stuck inside. I'll have to remember your 'toilet/massage' story for the next time we're 'toiletting' together - that's hilarious! Almost sounds like one of those hidden camera t.v. shows.
awesome My wife and I had an exchange student from Thailand stay with us for part of the 2000-01 school year, and she gave us this cool soap sculpture with the king's face in the middle. We've never used it, as it's really ornate and I would feel weird about using soap with a king on it.
This trip is fascinating - hope you're enjoying it as much as I'm enjoying reading about it.
Cambodia continues... Good stuff, Marc. You're getting to be quite the knowledgeable tour guide! On a side note, have you gotten any feedback from your blog subscribers about difficulty printing out your entries? Maybe no one else does it, but me. The 'print version' button reorganizes the whole entry layout and when I click 'print preview' in my browser half of the pages are blank and most of the pictures aren't there (don't print out). Just curious if it's me or what.
Very tough stuff! Marc - thanks (?) for sharing your experience in Cambodia. Hard stuff to read and difficult pictures to see, but I'm sure it was much worse first-hand. I think Marty summed it up pretty well - as hard as it is to believe, this kind of stuff has been going on continuously throughout the history of mankind and goes on today (Darfur, Islamic countries, etc). We're just so insulated from it all here in the U.S., so to see it (or the remains of it) for yourself is pretty stunning/shocking, I'm sure. Though difficult, your experience is invaluable and one that all of us could benefit by having ourselves.
Cambodia Marc, The whole thing, Cambodia at that time, was a shame. The world knew it, but it was under reported, I don't know why. Maybe for the same reason the atrocities committed by the Islamic extremists are under reported, while the few mistakes we make are over reported. I don't think things are getting better. Too bad.
The US tries to respond, but we have not found a good way to do so. Power hungry people will always be among us to make life hard, when it should be joyous. I really worry about the Islamic extremists. Bad times are coming if we are not successful in modifying, stopping, ??, this ideology.
On a lighter note, if you go to India, you will find the same kind of traffic madness, so .enjoy.
Marty.
lucky you We have printed out all the blogs for Grandpa and Ki. Want me to scan them in and send them to you? Hope you're having fun in Thailand. Thanks for keeping us posted on what's going on.
Thanks for the photos! Thanks again for sharing your adventures with the rest of us who'll probably never get to Aussie Land. The pics are stunning - I'm sure it was hard to choose which ones to include. Would have loved to hear your rendition of "Sweet Home Chicago"!
GB Reef Hey Marc, I did the vom under water too. Can't remember if I pulled the reg out or not. Anyway these experiences make one appreciate feeling good even more.
the Pix of the Cod toward the bottom of the blog looks like he's got one of the diver's head in his mouth and is swimming away.
It would be fun to be on the trip with you. Oh well, the next best thing.
Marty.
Engineers...... 1 league = 3.000 006 027 mile
1 league [nautical] = 3.452 338 344
I was looking up the conversion before I finished te first paragraph.....sad but true.
Jim
never there when needed! Sorry I couldn't make it to hold your head, but you really would have fought me off, just like T-ball days! You got through! Glad I hear all these reports post-fact; much more enjoyable. Enjoy the Earth and its relative solid state.
WOW!! Hey Marc! Awesome pics from the dives. I am so jealous! One of my life's goals is to visit Nemo, too. Hope to ground has stopped for you by now. :)
Robert's Jealous! Good stuff, Marc, except for the sea sickness - sorry to hear about that. The GBR is one of those places Robert has dreamed of diving on. Again, guess we'll all have to live vicariously through you and your adventures! The pics you included on the blog are great. Thanks again for sharing your experience with us desk jockeys.
Tongariro Crossing & Canadian Rugby I feel your pain for the Tongariro Crossing...hard to convince the wife to do it on the Honeymoon. At least she let us walk to the first climb (by that point we were drenched and cold, not standard Honeymoon fare!). And then you got to watch the All Blacks vs. Canada! So jealous! Glad you had an awesome time in NZ, can't wait to hear about AUS.
Too late... ...I'm in Australia already and doing my best to not think about how big it is and how much there is to do. Only a little over 3 weeks here before moving on. Would love more time here, but gotta get to somewhere CHEAP.
Damn... Way to pick travel a travel partner...I can't believe you're still in New Zealand, Vorovoro seems like forever ago. I hope you don't go to Australia, it's a much bigger country dude.
Hi from back in the US. Marc, I knew you would love NZ, from my experiences on the north island. I look at your pix and read your notes and wish I was doing the trip. Oh well. Keep the info coming. That Rugby is nuts!
Your friend Marty.
Almost everything... I didn't come all this way to miss anything, right? Actually, I would have preferred a slower pace on the north island, but the owner of the car was a tad eager to see ever freaking town/city/beach/area on the island. Am indeed on sensory overload and am ready for several days of doing/seeing nothing and sitting on my bum in front of a large TV. But all in all I'd say that we covered quite a bit of the North considering we only had a little over 3 weeks.
I left Chicago heading west in the beginning of April '07 and continued going west until March 1st, 2008 when I returned to Chicago having confirmed that the world is indeed round.
The stops along the way - Fiji, New Zealand, Australia, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos, Nepal, India, and Tanzania.
As of March, 2008, I retired my backpack and posted my final entry about this journey. All the entries are still there for your reading enjoyment. Remember, the entries are shown newest to oldest.
Cheers!
----------------------------------------------------
Explore.Dream.Discover...
... full info
Mitch
non-member comment
Are you kidding me!
Marc, It's been a while since I've checked your site. Looks like you are having a blast tubing from pole to pole.... Things back home are just about the same as you left them. So, whenever you are ready to jump off a taller pole, think about us for a minute. Glad to see you are having a blast. Remember, Rosi and I travelled for 20 some years before the kid bug bit us. So keep soaking it in. Mitch G