With a short vacation in October, I couldn't think of a better place to go than my favorite island of Jeju.  I spend a year living and working there, and while the job might not have been the greatest, the surfing, exploring and social life was amazing.

Most of my friends have departed from the island and are back in "the real world" (which pretty much just means an area not half as beautiful as Jeju) but I still have a couple friends around that it was great to catch up with. 

This time around Anne and Santi came with me for just over a week of travel in Jeju.  We started out with 2 nights in Hyeopjae which is on the west coast and has a beautiful view of Biyangdo (an island/volcano just off the coast).  Hyeopjae was a good base for checking out some of the sights in the west.  Unfortunately a typhoon was working its way through Jeju, so the weather wasn't perfect, but we were still able to visit the Peace Museum, Glass Castle (where I got to make something from glass) and eat some great food.

After Hyeopjae we headed to Seogwipo on the south side and stayed in a hotel just steps for my old apartment.  Lot of memories in that area and it would not have been complete with a beer at the little convenience store right next to my old building.  Being based in Seogwipo we did the typical waterfalls and Oedolgae rock tower.  I went back to Jungmun to check out my old surf spot but it wasn't warm enough for a swim.  One night we woke up at about 1am and drop to the summit of Halla-san and spend the next 8 hours hiking up and down the tallest mountain in Korea for a sunrise.  The hike was long and strenuous, just like it was when I did it with some friends about 5 years ago, but worth it.  The summit was absolutely freezing and windy, so we didn't last long, but on the way home we stopped in one of my favorite spots of Donnaeko and cooled our feet.  Seogwipo was great as it gave me a chance to meet up with my old friend Jeff and my friend/co-teacher Candy.  We had a few drinks at a friend's bar and Candy took us to some great galbi and norebang for singing. 

The trip finished up on Udo which is an island off the east coast.  Udo is famous for its coral-sand beach and peanuts/peanut ice cream.  We stayed right next to the water and when all the tourists left for the day, we had the whole place to ourselves.  The sunsets behind Hallasan were amazing and we ate some great food.  An interesting still-moving seafood stew and some great galbi in addition to peanut ice cream and empanadas were all consumed just feet from the crystal clear water.  We took a little time to drive around the island and hike to the high-point.

After two nights on Udo, we made our way back to Fukuoka.  But with 2 friends from Cairo moving there in August, I think we'll be back again.  Although Jeju is growing and changing, it is still an absolutely beautiful place to explore. 

10 days.  I've been here 10 days now.  It's pretty crazy to think that I've been here that long already.  It seems like yesterday I was eating crabs, drinking Dead Rise and playing wiffle ball.  I guess that's how it goes.

Each day here is getting easier and easier.  I realized in Egypt that by the end of the 4 years I had generally forgotten what it was like to start a brand new life.  It's not easy.  


I left the States for Fukuoka on August 4th and didn't arrive til the evening of the 5th. We were ushered by school admin from the airport to our hotel quickly and efficiently and passed out after some much needed showers.  

Day 1 I woke up in a hotel room in downtown Fukuoka after a few hours of solid sleep and had to prepare to meet people from school and take care of the essentials. This day would see us doing our alien registration, signing up for bank accounts, taking a look around our classrooms and school, eating at the mall, picking up our signature stamps and getting a subway card. We were met at 10:00am by the incredibly helpful Kumi and shuttled all over town. All-in-all we put in 5 or so hours becoming 'official' here, and that's about all I could handle with the jet lag/time difference. Changing my day 13hours ahead really puts me into zombie mode around 3-4 in the afternoon. Staying awake becomes a struggle, and you know that if you fall asleep, you'll only be up at 3am ready to go. After the full day, we had grand plans of going to the neighboring pork restaurant, getting a delicious meal and a drink. That devolved into convenience store food and a shower.

Day 2 we checked out of the hotel and moved our stuff into our new apartment. The apartment is about what I expected. I knew it would not be as large or open as what we had in Egypt, but was definitely going to be bigger than the studio I dwelled in for my year in Jeju. This place has 2 bedrooms, 1 'tatami' room, a living room and kitchen/dining 'area'. There is 1 bathroom with a separate toilet closet. And when I say closet, think about the size of an airplane bathroom. But smaller. The bathroom itself is probably larger than what he had in Cairo, but we had anticipated 2 toilets, not one. It was our own fault, we just didn't look into the details thoroughly enough and made assumptions. But the toilet does have buttons so you can choose to use it as a bidet if you want. We also got the internet set up and cable hooked to our new 47” 3D/LED/LCD LG TV which has made the down-time a little easier.

Days 3, 4, and today have basically been all about cleaning, rearranging, unpacking and watching TV in between. The house is generally set up and and livable. It's nice having multiple rooms which gives us an extra buffer zone and there is an OK balcony which I look forward to enjoying if the rain ever stops. As I write, I'm sitting in the tatami room which is basically a traditional Japanese room with rice-straw floors, wooden ceilings and a very mellow feel to it. We can't have any traditional furniture in this rooms so I'm sitting on a big futon-type cushion with some pillows. It's really a relaxing room and a good place to just get a little alone time to unwind. Unfortunately, I'm just realizing that we'll have to go through a ton more unpacking when our shipment from Egypt arrives during the 2nd week of September. Until then I'll be running on about 3-4 work outfits.


During one of our first days we were fortunate enough to get a call from some returning teachers whom took us to a restaurant where we ate a huge meal, had some drinks and got to know our new coworkers. It was great getting out of the house and was really appreciated.  Today a new friend (whom we share a mutual frien) picked us up and took us to a nice little store with a lot of imported goods including imported beers, salsas and snacks.

I really like the city so far. We are a short bike ride from the beach, baseball stadium and some parks and live on a river. Our commute to work will be about 8-9 minutes on foot or 3 minutes by bike. Quite the improvement from Cairo. The city is really green with water on one side and bordered by mountains on the other 3. Unfortunately with this typhoon going by, we haven't seen much of the sun which is a big change from Egypt and definitely affects my mood. My lack of Japanese language knowledge in addition to the lack of English being used in businesses has kept me from venturing out too much, but I'm getting better about it.  2 days ago we peddled our bikes to the Atago Shrine for some nice views of the city and then on to a large furniture store (we're looking for a new couch).  We probably rode for a couple of hours, and this seems to be the way I'll be getting around the most.  The other day I was even lucky enough to have a beautiful sunny day to ride along the river to the base of the mountains and back.  The further I got from downtown Fukuoka, the more and more green rice fields I got to wind in and out of.  


A couple of days ago we got a few tickets to the Softbank Hawks baseball and took advantage of that.  We rode to the stadium and sat in bleacher seats in the left field.  It was my first indoor game.  It took about 4 hours (!), and wasn't as exciting as an O's game, but it's nice to have so close.  I couldn't really figure out what made the game so freaking long.  It could have been the cheerleaders, lack of knock-out pitching or the tons of foul balls.  In the pictures you'll see the interestingly shaped yellow balloons which are eagerly launched in the 7th inning to help spurn a rally.  That was quite the scene.  

As stressful as it's been adjusting here, we seem to be surrounded by some pretty good people in a really nice city.  The more comfortable and knowledgeable I get, the more I think I'm going to really like this place.  But I'll always miss Cairo and the friends I made there.  

I first made it to Sir Lanka back in 2011, shortly after the first revolution in Egypt.  Unfortunately I lost a lot of those pictures in a hard-drive crash.  I decided to go back for spring break with a few friends that had not been.  It was really enjoyable last time, so I figured why not.  I also had neglected to see anything but the southern beaches on my first trip, so I was excited about the prospect of seeing Sigiriya and Anuradhapura. 

Flights from Cairo to Colombo are relatively cheap and short, with a stop over somewhere in or near the Emirates.   We left after school on a Friday and were in Sri Lanka by 8am Friday morning.  A prearranged van picked us up and took us straight to Anuradhapura.  
The site was massive and pretty cool.  We actually had to be driven from part to part, from seeing the stupas (solid dome-looking things with the points on top) to the Buddhas.  After a few hours in the hot sun, we journeyed to our remote accommodation called 'Galkadawala'.  It was an amazing tree-house type lodge right next to a large watering hole.  Everything was open-air with big beds (with mosquito nets), outdoor dining and vegetarian food.  It was like being a kid and having a massive tree house with friends.  It was a place I would have loved to have spent more than 2 nights.  While at Galkadawala we visited the cave Buddhas of Dambulla and made it to the super impressive site of Sigiriya.

Sigiriya was a palace hewn out of a massive rock in the middle of Sri Lanka.  It reminded me of my favorite site of Petra in Jordan.  The hike up to the top of Sigiriya was long, and I can imagine having done it when they used 'ladders' carved out of the rock.  The humidity must have made it nearly impossible to have any traction.  There were numerous pools carved out of the rock on top for bathing and drinking.  The structures built on top would have been up to 3 stories tall and visible for miles.  Sigiriya is definitely something that everybody going to Sri Lanka needs to see, but make sure you go as early as possible, it gets hot and crowded fast.  (And don't miss the museum.)

After the site, we had a nice lunch and swim at a nearby hotel with a view of the palace we had just explored.  The next morning we headed south through the tea plantations to Kitugala where they filmed 'Bridge on the river Kwai'.  We went rafting down the river (which was much calmer than our experience on the Zambezi) as the sun set shortly after we arrived.  Our rooms were stilted bungalows right on the banks of the river that were totally open minus the mosquito net.  The view from the rooms was beautiful and the sound of the river was very relaxing, although it could make you feel like using the bathroom more than normal.

The next day we headed to our final destination of Ambalangoda on the beach.  Unfortunately our trip was slightly delayed as our back left wheel decided to detach itself from our van and going rolling past us, jumping a fence and landing in a nearby yard, just meters from falling into the gorge.  This delay cost us about an hour or two, but we were lucky enough to get the experience of riding a swiftly moving local bus around the tight mountain turns, back to our previous accommodation so we could calm our nerves with a beer as we waited for the van to be repaired.  The van ended up having some bigger problems, and we ended up meeting another driver closer to Colombo to finish our journey to the beach.  

After a few hours of less-eventful travel, we made it to our villa which was right on the beach.  For the first time we had AC, which was a nice change.  (Although at night, both places we stayed were cool enough that we did not need AC.)  We spend the next 4 days or so swimming in the really warm ocean, watching lightning storms coming in, playing cards and 'quiz-up', drinking beers and Arrack, reading and just relaxing, far from the stresses of Cairo.  Our villa had 24 hour security, breakfast brought to our table every morning and delivery services.  There wasn't much indoor space beside the bedrooms, which was nice in the fact that it forced us to be outside as much as possible.  

After Ambalangoda we spent a few hours at a hotel by the airport and departed at about 3am.  It was a great final trip with Brad who was one of my favorite and most easy-going travel companions.  Looking forward to him visiting in Japan soon!

South Africa was my second winter break trip since moving to Egypt.  My other two years I went back home to spend some time with family.  This was also my second winter trip with my good friend Brad who traveled with me through Indonesia.  South Africa had been a place I had been interested in seeing for awhile, but had honestly waned a bit after going to Zimbabwe and doing some amazing safaris.  The kicker for SA was that we found round trip flights for less than $400, but the catch was that we had to fly on Saudia Airlines and sit in the Jeddah airport for hours.  

The planes for Saudia were acceptable, but it was like we were all children again.  There was obviously no alcohol and every single program on the entertainment system was censored.  Any skin below a woman's neck was fuzzed out and and skin above the knee was similarly blurred.  Any words relating to sex, alcohol, pork, etc. were all bleeped.  They couldn't say 'bar', or 'sex' even though they had some crappy American laugh-track comedy in which the main character was talking about a sex tape the whole time.  The Jeddah airport is embarrassing.  For such a seemingly rich country, Saudi really dropped the ball with Jeddah.  Layovers seemed to all be between 4 and 12 hours (ours were 6 and 12 hours respectively) and they decided to have all flights arrive around the same time so that there was no seating available anywhere.  We sat on a marble floor by security for a few hours just so we didn't have to stand.  The bathrooms were wet from people preparing to pray and the only food options were 2 cafes with no bottled water and stale food.  I hope I never have to fly through that place or on Saudia again.  

Back to the trip...  We arrived in Johannesburg tired and sore from sleeping on marble, but soldiered on to find a sim card and a car.  Unfortunately the overwhelmed genius that we put in charge of renting the car booked one for almost twice what I found on my phone while standing guard over our bags.  We ended up canceling the super expensive car and going with the much more economical one found online.  Piling into the car, nobody really wanted to drive, so we put the person in charge of car reservations in the driver's seat on the way to our first destination:  the Drakensberg Mountains.  The ride was was beautiful but terrifying at the same time.  Our driver seemed to aim for every pothole and tailgate any vehicle like we were both magnetized.  It was like being in a crazy Egyptian taxi for 6 hours at a time.  We stayed in a 6 bed - room in a hostel near Dragons Peak in the Drakensbergs.  The room was fine, and we found a little restaurant with cricket playing to have dinner and a beer.  The date was December 23rd I believe so people were in the 'Christmas spirit', with a boys choir singing songs down the road.  We skipped the choir and instead went and had a few bottles of wine while a thunderstorm rolled over the mountains.  Hiking in the Drakensbergs was amazing.  The scenery was beautiful and the only down side was that we got rained on during the hike.  It was definitely a place to spend more than a night or two as you could day over night hikes and see cave art and explore remote areas.  The place was so pristine, we drank straight out of the local streams.  

After two nights in the Drakensbergs we headed to the beach where we would spend Christmas eve and day.  Another grueling ride with beautiful scenery led us to Wild Lubanzi.  This place was so remote that we had to park our cars at a villager's house and go by 4-wheel drive the rest of the way.  The guest house was right on a cliff amongst Xhosa villagers overlooking the sea.  It was a stunning view with tons of stars glittering all night.  Wild Lubanzi seemed like a free-love, anything goes type place with a lot of very interesting travelers and a cool group of volunteers who prepared all the meals.  We spend 2 days here swimming in the ocean, admiring the scenery and just unwinding from busy Cairo life.  

From Wild Lubanzi we headed to Orange Elephant Park and another hostel with a private room.  The park was a pretty cool stop, and mostly so the boys could do a safari.  On the drive in we spotted a giraffe, some lemurs and various other wildlife.  That night we had some great pizza and the semi-attached bar/pizza place and retired shortly after.  The next day we went on a safari which included a brai (bbq) in the park.  It was a pretty cool safari as we had elephants pass us on the road so close that we could reach out the windows and touch them.  We were even lucky enough to come upon a lioness relaxing in the shade of a tree.  

From the park we went to a half-way point in Oudtshoorn which is in the little karoo (outback) and is famous for ostriches.  We stayed in a really cool home stay that had large comfortable accommodations, a pool and friendly hosts.  We dined on ostrich burgers and the next day went to a local wildlife park where we saw alligators being fed and numerous big cats.  Our last stop was an ostrich farm were we saw the whole process of raising the birds from eggs all the way up.  For the skinnier/younger crowd, ostrich rides were even available.  It was pretty funny to see the kids trying to ride them and was an interesting stop if not too commercial.  

From Oudtshoorn we headed to Montagu for a little taste of the wine country.  Montagu was a tiny town in a valley surrounded by mountains and vineyards.  We stayed in a really cool b&b type place above a restaurant/microbrewery that ended up running out of their own beer...  Our main goal was to do some wine tasting, and did we ever succeed.  We hired a young local guy that was starting a wine tour business to take us around for the whole day.  All-in-all we probably stopped at 6 or so vineyards and tasted some amazing wines.  The Pinotage we had from Van Loveren is probably my favorite wine I have ever tasted.  Really hope I can find some back in the States as the 3 bottles I s̶m̶u̶g̶g̶l̶e̶d̶ brought back home will be gone before long.  At the Excelsior winery we even got to blend, bottle, cork and label our own wine.  It was a long, delicious, inebriating day and included a few hour nap at our place before dinner.  We all woke up a little too late to do much besides go get a meal and a drink at the local (only) bar where they were nice enough to give us a shot of moonshine to kill anything in our intestines and remove the enamel from our teeth. 


Montagu was our last stop on the way to Cape Town where we would stay for the next 4 days and spend New Years as well.  Our apartment here was tiny, but comfortable minus the lack of AC and fact that we had no windows looking outside.  Either way it was downtown and affordable.  We were just a short walk from a lot of restaurants, bars and parks with Table Mountain just in the background.  New Years was packed with tons of people on the streets and big parades.  It was almost like Mardi Gras in New Orleans.  While in Cape Town we booked a shark diving expedition that was easily one of the highlights of the trip.  After an hour drive north, a 20 minute boat ride and some briefing we put on wet suits and jumped in the cage as a fishhead on a rope was thrown in front of us.  Up until this point we'd only since shadows of the creatures well below the surface, but once in the cage they would follow the fish heads right up to the side of the cage so we could almost touch the 17ft long beast.  Despite being inside the cage, we all could not help but jump back from the front as the Great White gnawed on the fish right in front of our eyes.  Cape Town was nice for a variety of food and drink and I finally got my buffalo wings (although the only place we could find them was at Hooters) and a sampler platter of beers.  


From Cape Town we split up the 13 hour drive with a stop in the middle of nowhere in a place called Phillipolis.  This place was like an American Southwest ghost town.  2 streets, a handful of houses, some sheep farming, a church and 2 'restaurants'.  Pretty much everybody spoke Afrikaans but Brad and I still wandered out looking for a bite.  In rounding out the interesting nature of our trip, we ended up in the wine cellar/basement of the house/restaurant.  There was a table and chairs set up, so it's not like we were the first ones, but it was still a dirt floor and we could hear all the chairs moving around above us causing dust to filter through the dim light.  We ordered a bottle of wine and some delicious lamb chops and savored how unique the entire experience was.  The last day we hit the road and drove straight to the airport and on to our horrible air journey.  

South Africa was a really amazing trip.  Obviously I wish I'd had more time to see it as we drove several thousand miles in 2 weeks just to try and squeeze in a much as possible.  If it's ever on your radar, definitely try and spend some time down there and don't miss the mountains.  

After about 10 hours of travel I arrived in Zimbabwe. Making it through customs was as easy as it can be when you're sleep deprived and the girl at the counter is jokingly trying to steal $10 from you as your brain is still trying to process what's going on. 
After customs we got our bags and took a rather expensive taxi to the pathfinder bus station and bought all four tickets we would need to get us through all of our stops and to the final destination of Victoria Falls. With a few hours to waste Anne and I went and sat by the holiday inn pool enjoying some sandwiches and eventually an ice cold Zambezi beer. Eating and drinking were interrupted by frequent bouts of eye drooping and head bobbing as we battled to stay awake. Once the time came to board the red double-decker bus we headed towards the station ready for a chance to doze. 

The bus was massive and fairly clean and provided snacks and drinks. For entertainment we had "Remember the Titans" playing on the aisle tv's in addition to a chunky cheeked little boy learning the basics of peekaboo. The ride to Gweru took about 4 hours with one 10 minute stop. Upon arriving in Gweru we were met by a native Zimbabwean man (he was white, don't think in stereotypes) named Gerry, I think, who shuttled us to Antelope Park. He briefly mentioned having his family farm taken away by the government around 2001. This was a common theme with white Zimbabweans we would meet along the trip. (At least so far)

The first night at the park was led off by a delicious buffet barbeque followed by a few beers by the river. The night was an early one as we were both drugged up from the flight and ready to turn in. Before we could crawl into our separate mosquito-netted bed, we each had to shower. The separate showers, while clean and comfortable were over run by bands of mosquitos. Like Brotherhood supporters on a Friday morning, they came in droves, produced an unending drone and would not leave whether they believed the battle to be won or lost. When one went down, two more blood suckers were there to take up the martyrs cause. Luckily I brought a piece of a mosquito coil which produced an uneasy cease-fire as would come with the fog of war. 

The night was filled with the sounds of lion calls in the near distance but nothing to the point of waking me from a dead sleep. The morning began with an elephant ride through the park. I've had the chance to pet one off these thick skinned massive creatures before and been intimidated just being near them. Riding them though was a pretty cool experience. While riding 12 feet of the ground I was lucky enough to spot a few giraffes, ibex or antelope and a juvenile lion. The elephant behind me had learned the trick of picking up items to give to a handler in exchange for a treat. For lack of a better term it was pretty cute and impressive to see this massive creature trying to hand you a random fist-sized stone or length out a twig in exchange for a few feed pellets. I didn't necessarily keep the half brick sized sandstone, but appreciated it nonetheless. 

Following the elephant adventure and some pictures we headed off to Great Zimbabwe, a massive prehistoric structure and the largest south of the Sahara. The site consisted of a large cliff monadnock that was reinforced with stone walls. In the valley below were circular walled enclosures for the populace with walls over 4 meters thick and still standing standing strong with no mortar. The cliff site had a great vantage point to keep an eye on any invaders while the ground structures were built sturdily enough to protect the residents. The drive to and from was about 6 hours roundtrip, but worth it.
Day three began at 615am with a lion walk, which is exactly as it sounds. A group of six of its plus two handlers and a guide took a male and female lion out for their morning walk/hunt. We crossed the nearly dry river on a short wooden bridge and entered the game enclosure. After waiting about two or three minutes in a predetermined spot, we got our first glimpse of the beasts. The lions appeared from the haze near the river and their deep purring as they picked on each other was audible for about 50 meters or more. The pair were 15 months old and came up to about my waist. I've seen taller dogs, but nothing with such muscle, and with paws the size of dinner plates. The two nipped at each other and wrestled like any young kitten or pup, but in the back of my mind was how easily they could "play" with me and use my limbs as chew toys if the mood changed. As we walked the lions would rub against us as if asking for affection. Soon we became comfortable enough to scratch their backs and even stroke their tails as they strolled ahead of us. As the morning warmed up, the lions seemed to get lazier, making for quite a few photo opportunities. We became one of the pack as we progressed and they didn't treat us like a snack at all but as more of a partner. At one point we were fortunate enough to see the pair stalk an antelope but it was already too far away. Zebra were spotted on a different hill with a separate pride following them. Unfortunately for the juvenile lions, the zebra stallion was too strong and protective to let one of his group become breakfast that morning. Despite my lack of interest in seeing fresh blood, there was something exhilarating about watching the siblings spread out and hunt. Apparently they had been successful in a few recent trips, but ours was not one of them. Even without the thrill of a kill, I would say the hour spent walking with the lions was one of the coolest things I've ever done.
 
Too follow this up we filled our faces full of a pork laden breakfast and went to see the lion cubs. We entered the enclosure which housed four females of about 5 months. One was older but did not care for people. They all lazily sat in the shade battling both the heat and the incessant flies which caused their ears and eyes to twitch sporadically. None were in a playing mood but two allowed us to pet them and rub their bellies. The socialization is part of a greater project to breed the lions and eventually introduce them back into the wild. They want them to be comfortable with humans to facilitate lion reproduction and make them comfortable being around people on the way to introduction into the wild.

The next part of the journey took us back to the bus and on to the Hwange National Park for some safari-ing.  The bus ride wasn't too bad, but this time it was a single-decker and they played 'Pitch Perfect' and a crappy local movie full of slap-stick comedy.  We waited at the Hwange Lodge and had a cold beer while watching large animals meander up to the watering hole for an evening drink.  Our ride picked us up after a drink or two and took us to our new accommodations at Miombo Lodge.  We stayed in a small fan-only room with an awesome and huge outdoor shower and tons of mosquitoes.  The first evening we had an awesome steak dinner, some South African wine and a pretty warm night without AC.  Luckily for us, we were upgraded to the honeymooon sweet for the second night.  More on that later.

In the morning, we woke up before sunrise, had a quick breakfast and hit the road for our first safari.  Before we'd even been out of the lodge for 5 minutes, we came upon our first giraffes and elephants on the side of the road.  The park was really amazing.  Everywhere we turned there were buffalo, elephants, giraffes, zebra, warthogs and tons of stuff with horns.  The watering hole with elevated viewing deck was surrounding by well over 50 elephants, some hippos and a couple crocs.  We did 3 safaris through the park and were even lucky enough to see a pride of lions just after a kill.  Although I didn't get to see rhinos or leopards, it was still a great experience seeing so many of these animals in the same place.  The honeymoon sweet we got to stay in for the second night had 2 showers, a huge bathtub overlooking a small watering hole despite being a permanent tent-type structure with huge 4-post bed.  The wind made it kind of loud at night but the comfort of the bed definitely made up for that.  Our final day was spent with one last morning drive through the park and some relaxing beside the pool waiting for our ride out to catch the bus towards Victoria Falls.


Vic Falls had been the main reason that I was so interested in Zimbabwe.  It's the largest waterfall in the world (while being neither the tallest or widest...) and if I had a bucket list, would be on it.  We arrived in Vic Falls relatively late and were just exhausted.  As the exciting couple that we are, Anne and I staggered to the restaurant/bar at our accommodation to grab a quick bite and beer before we both passed out.  A valuable lesson was learned on this trip:  AC is very valuable in Zimbabwe in October.    In the morning we were picked up early and driven to the border with Zambia.  We crossed the border across the Zambezi river and made our way to our pick-up point for the Devil's Pool trip.  This was the #1 thing I was looking forward to on our trip.  The Devil's Pool is a small pool of slow moving water over looking the edge of Victoria Falls.  As you can see from the pictures in the slide show above, you really are right on the edge.  It was amazing.  The feeling of being that close to the edge was exhilarating.  The water that got faster and faster the further we went out of the pool was terrifying.  Luckily our guides showed us exactly where to go so we didn't have to worry about being swept over the edge.  Laying over the edge of the falls looking straight down at the clouds of mist being spewed back up towards us was another image from this trip I'll never forget.  In addition to the falls, we did a big ride around town so we could see what the local (non-touristy life was like and drink a Scud) and climbing (illegally to the edge of the falls from a different area) and went on a crazy whitewater rafting trip down the Zambezi.  Our raft on the trip must have flipped 6 or more times in the 20 rapids.  Every level 5 we flipped and one 4 turned us upside down as well.  Anne supposedly got stuck in a whirlpool for a few seconds and I was lucky enough to swim with crocs, even though I was not made aware of this until I climbed back into the boat.  The trip was finished with an exhausting climb up the side of the gorge to our awaiting BBQ and ride back.  After the falls we snuck in a little trip to see the falls from the opposite side and I purchased a ton of old money from some street kids.  


Leaving Vic Falls was tough.  Not just because we both loved it, but because we decided on the super cheap sleeper train that barely had bathrooms, did not have food and had no water available.  Luckily be brought sprite and wine, which were the only things we could drink for the 12 hour trip.  Our room on the train was straight out of the 50's and had not been updated since then.  The beds were made up and were relatively comfortable, all considered.  I took a sleeping pill to help, but that train must have stopped a few dozen times through out the night, picking people up in the middle of nowhere.  


After the train and another bus, we made our way back to the the airport and caught our flight without issue.  (Well the only issue was that neither of us had taken a shower in 24 hours or so, but thank god for some detol wipes.)  


Hands down one of the coolest trips I have ever been on.   

As usual, I'm posting with a bit of delay.  While it's pretty much all my fault, Weebly does not load very well (if at all) on my super Cairo DSL connection.  It's like having dial-up AOL all over again.  I'm going to do this quickly and without re-reading, so I apologize ahead of time for the mediocre writing and mistakes.  

While things like the internet drive me crazy in Egypt, getting random time off does not.  Upon arriving back in the country in late August we found out that we were getting about 8 extra days off of school due to the instability.  Obviously I'd love for Egypt to be stable and have a functioning democracy, but I can't complain about extra time of work.  And to make it better, a group of us decided to head to Greece where my mother's father was from.  (He was the first one in his family born in the States.)  We decided on a road trip through the south west with a few stops.  Driving through the Peloponnese was quite the experience.  

Our first night was spent in Athens so we could see the Acropolis and local Athenian sights.  It was pretty amazing, but of course there was a ton of work going on so it was hard to take in with all the equipment around.  The views from the top were amazing and it was great to see something that I've only seen in text books till now.  

The next day we headed out and drove through Corinth to the ancient site of Mycenae.  Mycenae was a pretty cool walled site on top of a small hill with a view out to the sea.  Being one of the most well known centers of Greek civilization, it was worth the short drive from Athens.  From Mycenae we headed down the coast on some gorgeous coastal roads with extremely sharp turns that were a bit of a challenge for our van.  Randomly we stopped at a small little coastal restaurant with a great view of the beach.  I ordered a Greek salad, some olives and some feta for my meal.  This was a mistake.  I love feta, but I ate in one sitting more feta than I had had in the previous 3 years.  On top of the salad was a brick of feta accompanying the other brick of feta that came with my olives.  I had to eat all 3 pounds of it because when you live in Egypt, you can't just ignore delicious cheese.

After the restaurant we hit the road again.  Unfortunately we kind of misjudged our route and the distance it would be till our next stop.  We ended up driving through the mountains and towns that were so small we actually drove through cafe seating areas.  At certain points there were only inches on either side of the van as we drove between walls or parked cars.  The views from the mountains were stunning, although I couldn't totally enjoy them as I was driving.  Steve took over later in the evening and got as to our next stop of Ancient Olympia.

In the morning, 4 of the 6 of us woke up relatively early and headed to the site of the first ever Olympics.  We got there early enough that we were basically alone for a while.  The site had been messed up by some earthquakes but was still impressive.  Obviously we had to run on the original track.  (I might have taken the race a little more seriously than my friends.  I might be a little too competitive...)  Either way, walking in to the stadium and imagining what it would have been like hundreds of years ago as people lined the surrounding hills and chanted.  

After the site and breakfast we hit the road again and went to the port so we could take a ferry out to the island of Kefalonia.  The ferry was smooth and comfortable and we had no issues.  Once on the island we had some more twist and turns as we drove to our house for the next couple of nights.  We picked up a few liters of  wine, feta and other staples on our way.  The house we stayed in was great.  3 bedrooms with a pool and located on the side of a hill over looking a small little gulf.  It was gorgeous and one of the most beautiful scenes I've ever scene.  The beach down the hill was really beautiful as well.  It was a marble beach so the sand was perfectly white and covered in tiny smooth little pebbles.  The water was warm an comfortable.  After a couple nights we headed back towards the port and stopped at the Melissani cave.  The cave was really impressive.  It wasn't huge but was filled with perfectly clear water and there was a huge whole in the roof of one cave.  

Our next stop was in a tiny mountain town just a few hours from Athens.  It was really cool and quite a change.  We drove through more precarious turns and drop-offs to get there, but it was worth it again.  We were about the only tourists in the town which is on the side of a cliff looking out to the sea way off in the distance.  We did a 'pub crawl' and stopped at all 3 establishments in the tiny town that were still open.  Not too many people spoke English, so it was a challenge at times but we got by.  The rooms were really cool and made of wood and raw stone with huge fire places.  Even though it was pretty chilly at night, the accommodation doesn't allow fires till later in the season.  The next day we walked around the town in the daylight and took pictures.  It was a really relaxing end to a nice vacation.  After our little tour, we drove back towards Athens stopping in some sketchy borough to get lunch at a 1 Euro - Gyros place and load up on wine and cheese at a grocery store.  

It was a great little trip and I hope to make it back to Greece some time, perhaps with a little less driving.  

For the big birthday this year, one of my best friends and I decided to do something memorable to commemorate.  Considering he has a wife and kid now, he's got some serious shackles which prevent us from doing too much, but the AT is something I've always wanted to do. 

After some deliberation and a bit of planning, we decided on the Maryland section of the Appalachian Trail.  It's only about 41 miles but we needed to do it in 3 days.  This meant 3 sections of 18 miles, 12.5 miles and 10.5 miles going from north to south.  Not a daunting task for a thru-hiker, but for a couple of regular guys without any recent hiking experience, it would prove to be difficult. 

Billy was on top of the maps, elevation diagrams, stops and most of the pre-planning.  It definitely helped having his OCD ass tackle all the prep work and probably resulted in a smoother trip.  I borrowed most of my supplies from an old friend, including my sleeping hammock and picked up the rest at Sports Authority. 

We started out in Penmar Park which is on the border between MD and PA (shocker based on the name...) at around 6am on Friday morning.  We had to walk slightly north (just 2 minutes) to get to the actually state border before we turned south and started our hike.  The first day was a daunting one, and proved to be as difficult as we feared.  The trail on the first day started extremely rocky and steep in a few sections, and with 40+ lbs on our backs was no easy feat.  We took a morning snack, lunch, and afternoon snack break in addition to our water/map/blister breaks throughout the day.  We rarely had bathroom breaks as we were generally close to dehydration.  I think Billy suffered a little bit more from lack of water as I was drinking continuously from my water bladder and he just used water bottles when we stopped. 

My meals consisted of trail mix for snacks, peanut butter and bagels for breakfast and boil-in-bag meals (which were delicious) for dinner.  I also had a couple candy bars, some beef jerky, cliff bars and electrolyte tabs for other variety. 

The hiking was fun and a great chance to catch up.  The blisters I developed on my feet and the reminders of old muscle pulls were not as great and definitely made the hiking more difficult.  We arrived in camp that night around 6pm (12 hours after departing, but with about 2 hours total breaks in between) and set up our hammocks and test out our rain-flys just in case it rained the next night as expected.  We ate dinner at the picnic table outside the shelter and met one of the ridge-runners (park employees who check up on the trail) and a section hiker who was on an extremely long section.  We passed out pretty close to dark that night and slept fairly well in our hammocks.  Waking up the next morning was another story...

Waking up after 18 miles of hiking was painful.  We were both up before 7am I believe and were both feeling about the same:  like 80 year-olds with rain storms approaching.  All our joints were pretty sore and our leg muscles tight.  One of the worst pains was the rawness felt in our shoulders after wearing our heavy packs all day.  Apparently you get over this as you progress down the trail, but we didn't.  There was no better feeling than taking our packs off and no worse feeling than having to put them back on. 

After a quick breakfast we packed up and hit the trail.  The second day saw more road crossing and it seemed like we could hear the din of civilization in the distance at almost all times.  Day 2 had our toughest climb up Lamb Knob, mostly due to steepness, length and our weak muscles and blisters.  I'm sure it's barely noticeable for thru-hikers.  The blisters I developed despite nice socks, frequent stops and dressings were pretty damn painful.  A couple were under my two big toes on my left foot, one on the side of of my right big toe and a huge blood blister on the sole of my right foot.  And another one in between my last two toes on the right...  After our lunch break on day two, we got caught in the rain.  It started as a sprinkle and we were generally covered by the trees.  Unfortunately it just kept getting worse.  We put on our pack covers and tried to keep going, but then it started dumping.  At this point we stepped off the trail and grabbed Billy's tarp.  Putting saplings through the eyelets we were able to get enough of a covering to keep the rain off of us for the last 45-60 minutes of the storm.  Despite our lean-to, we were both pretty damp and the remaining 4-6 miles weren't that great. 

Our final night's camp came at a site just north of Gathland park.  I can't remember the name now, but we never actually saw the shelter.  (In MD, you can only camp near designated spots/shelters)  We found a suitable spot for our hammocks, set them up and then stripped down and put on dry clothing.  Both of us ate another hot and tasty meal out of the bag and hung up our clothing to dry.  Shortly after dinner it started raining again and instead of finding a bear line, we attached our food bag to a small tree that we pulled down and then let go, sending it abut 12 feet in the air.  The trick worked, the tree was undamaged, but I have a feeling the technique would be frowned about by some enthusiasts. 

It rained ALL NIGHT.  Every time I woke up, I could hear the sounds of rain on the fly above me.  I stayed dry all night, but the humidity caused all of my things to stay pretty moist. 

I woke up on our final day only to hear rain still coming down around 6am so I rolled over and when back to sleep.  Upon waking up at 7 and 8 it was the same scenario.  After 8 I couldn't fall back asleep so I listened to my ipod and waited.  And waited.  By 10am, the rain seemed to have stopped so be crawled out of our cocoons and broke camp.  It was slow-going for sure.  The soreness was compounded, blisters worse and motivation low due to the rain.  Despite this we rallied and got excited at the prospect of eating a huge burger upon arriving at our final destination of Harper's Ferry, WV.  Our final day started out with wet shoes, a wet pack and a wet trail.  We only got hit by one more rain that Sunday, luckily and kept up a pretty good pace. 

At Gathland Park we stopped, used the bathroom  and refilled our water.  We also met a crazy thru-hiker that either lost it on the trail or was trying to find it on the trail...  His trail name was even 'Nutty Buddy' and he informed us a few times that he had been without a shower in about 180 miles.  In addition he was low on food.  I decided to unload a little bit and gave him my remaining peanut butter and a few Cliff Bars, only saving enough for a snack and lunch that day.  The elderly fellow seemed extremely excited about the food (especially the peanut butter) and we bid him farewell and continued on our journey.  I don't know if I've mentioned it, but I had some blisters on my feet.  And they hurt.  The only saving grace was that after a few miles of walking, my feet would basically go numb from the vibrations and I could barely feel the pain. 

After Gathland we had a pretty nice hike along the ridge towards Harper's Ferry.  I can't imagine the difficulty of the trail going north as we were dealing with mostly downhill switch backs all the way to the C & O canal.  They were tough going down, and must be brutal going up.  I swear I rolled my ankles about 3-4 times on the last 5 miles or so, but luckily it didn't hurt that much and I could keep going without much pain. 

The final 3 miles are on the nice flat C & O canal towpath.  The only downside to this was the amount of people (we would rarely see others on the trail despite  it being the weekend) and the sun.  It was hot and so straight that you could see where you were going forever.  It wasn't like the woods where your only concern is the next footstep.  Here we were planning way in advance.  Those last 3 miles seemed to take forever.  Especially as we watched people sitting in tubes, drinking beers and lazily floating down the river.  Much cooler and relaxed than we were...

Upon seeing the church steeple in Harper's Ferry, we both felt pretty relieved.  Our ride would be meeting us soon and we could finally take our wet shoes and heavy packs off our backs.  With a fist bump and congratulations, we completed our last 1/2 - 1 mile with smiles and took a final picture in the middle of the Potomac River as we left Maryland.  In HF, we stopped on the grass across from a restaurant, took off our shoes and relaxed.  Billy was definitely dehydrated so I gave him a minute to relax and drink up as I headed over to the restaurant and ordered a delicious, refreshing, Flying Dog Snake Dog IPA.  It hit the spot and felt great the whole way down.  We didn't end up eating there, as we decided instead to go to Red Robin and eat about 1200 calories worth of burgers and fries. 

After the first day my pedometer said we had walked over 44,000 steps and burned over 4,000 calories without taking our packs into consideration.  All-in-all I'd say we walked over 100,000 steps in those 3 days and I know for a fact Billy lost 6lbs.  No idea what I lost, but I'm sure I've put it back on by now...  This hike definitely hurt.  I couldn't walk right for a few days but it also kind of lit a fire.  I enjoyed being in nature and away from everything and would really like to try something similar next season.  Perhaps a week on a different section without so many up-front miles. 

For spring break our touch-rugby team headed to Cambodia for a tournament and some sight-seeing.  This year we had a largely new team with only 4 returning players from last year.  We practiced most weeks and finished 2nd in our first season.  What we lacked in skill we seemed to make up for with speed.  In Cambodia we were lucky enough to be joined by Renae, and Aussie that played for us the previous season and new the game way better than the rest of us. 

Because our team (Bam Bam Bigelow) was technically a school sponsored sport we were lucky enough to leave for Cambodia a day before spring break actually started.  We showed up in Cambodia on Thursday night and had the night and next day to explore while we waited for our friends to show up.  Upon arrival Renae was already at the 'German' bar across the street and we joined her for some beer towers and ear-numbing spicy food.  From there we headed out on the town and hit up some shady hooker bars, including one in which Brad accompanied the music on a set of drums.  The next day we grabbed lunch on the Mekong, went to the Russian Market and got massages.  That night we went out again, met up with some other teams, but were back at the hotel at a relatively decent hour and generally got enough sleep to function in the tournament the next day.  The other teams were all really laid-back and fun.  Everybody there pretty much as much for the drinking and hanging as for the rugby. 

The next morning we woke up early, grabbed a few tuk-tuks and headed to the field.  It was a small pitch hidden behind a local school with a tent set up next to us.  The air was about 104, with heat index near 114 and humidity about 99%.  It was brutal.  We were all so used to the dry heat that the humidity was killing us.  Everybody was stripping down and using huge chunks of ice to try and keep themselves cool.  We were a little shaky in our first game and ended up tying the local team.  After that we got our stuff together and won the rest of our games.  Unfortunately due to the tie, we only got second place but once we got on our roll, we definitely looked like the best team there.  Everybody played really well and despite how hot it was, we all seemed to have a good time. 

After the tournament we went back (I got a life-saving massage after the 5 games) showered, relaxed in and around the pool and then headed out to the social gathering right down from our hotel.  The teams at the social were nice enough to recognize us for traveling so far for a 1-day tournament and signed a banner for us, presented our trophy and even gave Renae the female MVP award.  After the social we headed to a few other establishments and ended up in a chlamydia infested escort bar singing karaoke at 3am on a Sunday.  (At this point I can't even remember if it was the same night or not, but I do remember being at that karaoke bar before we said goodbye to Nicole.)

The day after the tournament we headed to see the Killing Fields and S-21, a school that was used for imprisonment and torture during the Khmer Rouge reign.  The killing fields were extremely sobering and powerful.  I'll never forget the sight of human bones popping-up out of the ground and a huge tower filled with skulls of the deceased.  S-21  still had the remnants of blood on the floor below bed frames used for torture and still has the 1mx2m wooden and brick confinement cells still standing.  After another sobering tour we met and purchased a book from, one of the remaining survivors from S-21. 

Following Phnom Penh most of us headed up to Siem Reap to see the ruins in the area.  As far as ruins go, Angkor Wat has always been something I wanted to see and it definitely did not disappoint.  It was enormous, and even more impressive was the water-works dug around the temples including huge reservoirs and canals.  It was so ridiculously hot in Cambodia during April that we could pretty much only make it for about 4-5 hours of sight-seeing each day before we need to go cool off and relax.  Despite the heat, we still saw a dozen or more different sites including a nice riverbed-carving site that was only accessible after a short hike into the forest. 

The most memorable moment for me there was not watching the sun rise of Angkor Wat but actually just enjoying a beer at one of the vendors inside the park as the sun set.  By hanging out at one of the restaurants we were able to avoid all the calls for departure and got to stay around after everybody left. 

The nights in Siem Reap were spent downtown on Bar Street with some $0.75 drafts, some karaoke and lots of fish tanks.  Whenever we felt a little hot, we would go sit at one of the exfoliating fish tanks where for $2 you get a beer and a 30 minute soak in the tank as the fish nibble the dead skin off your feet.  The fish felt really odd at first, but I got used to it after a few minutes and then just enjoyed the beer and the cooling water.  Siem Reap is a pretty cool town with a great mixture of historic sites, nightlife and shopping.  I would definitely like to get back to Cambodia at some point and see a little more of the country side and may hit up the beach as well.  It's another country I could see myself living in. 

Dubai was an amazing trip that was a combined birthday present from my parents, Anne and myself.  Since this year was a big birthday I decided to celebrate with something special and unique.  We got a cheap ticket to Dubai, booked a day of skydiving (something I've always wanted to do) and a couple hours in the wave pool in Al Ain. 

Skydiving was incredible, especially jumping over the Palm.  I was nervous, but really excited at the same time.  I gotta say I've been more scared to cliff jump than skydive.  There was something surreal and disconnecting about being so high up.  It almost didn't seem real and was tough to contemplate would could happen.
The training took about 5-10 minutes and basically consisted of me being told to just keep out of the way of the guy  I was attached to.  We loaded into the plane and I was lucky enough to be the first jumper.  When my time came we got up to the edge, looked out and tumbled forward.  The first few seconds were crazy as everything was spinning and my stomach was in my throat.  After a bit of free-fall I got used to it and it just felt like I was flying.  When the parachute was pulled about a minute into the fall, everything slowed down and I really had a chance to see Dubai including the other man-made islands and the Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world currently.  Landing went pretty smoothly and I had a grin for the next few hours.  I can't wait to go again.

The other part of the birthday present was surfing in the Wadi Adventure wave pool in Al Ain (one of the other emirates).  It was a 2 hour drive and about 400 roundabouts from our hotel.  Upon arriving at 8pm, I found I was one of only 2 surfers using the pool so I extended my time from 1 to 2 hours.  It was well worth it.  The pool created a legit breaking right every 90 seconds like clockwork.  By the time I could paddle back out, a new wave would be getting ready to launch.  It was nice having somebody else out there to take a wave and force me to relax.  I was so excited I was trying to drop in on every wave and wearing myself out quickly. 

The setting was pretty crazy.  We were in the middle of the desert, backed up against some rocks.  The pool would suck in a bunch of water and build a wave.  When it was ready, some water cannons would shoot, you would hear a gate drop and out of the back left corner a surge of water would come forth.  It would then bounce of the wall where we were waiting and then ricochet the other way creating a 1-2m tall wave.  Unfortunately the middle pump was messed up so the wave got mushy in the middle, but the drop was still awesome.

All-in-all it was a great trip and I can't wait to go back for some more surfing and jumping.