Saturday, June 28, 2008

Taking the bus to Pattaya


We decided to get out of the city for a few days and jumped on a bus to Pattaya, the closest resort area. The bus was kind of like an old Greyhound. It took about 2 hours or so and only cost $8 for a round trip ticket. This city is a European destination. All the tourists are from Europe (Speedo City). It doesn't seem like many Americans head out to this area. Oh yeah, I forgot the Japanese tour buses. I guess I am overgeneralizing. There are some Americans here, there are just really old, white, and have a young Thai lady around their arm. We see that a lot. Anyway, it is nice to be hanging out on the beach. It was a little annoying when we first sat down in our beach chairs because people try to sell you everything and they just walk right up to you and shove product or food in your face. We finally figured out that we should just act like we are asleep and they leave you alone. You can even get a pedicure, manicure, and massage right from your chair. Tomorrow we are headed out on a dive boat to view some coral life. We love and miss you all and can't wait to be able to share more pictures of all the beautiful things we have seen!

Thursday, June 26, 2008

Fish, Food, and Elephants (?)







After having breakfast this morning, we headed out for a boat tour. It was very interesting to see the houses that rely on the river as their road system. There were many hidden temples, Gila Monsters in the sewage pipes and wild and crazy fish that kept splashing us as they whipped their tails. After drying off from the boat ride, we headed into the newer part of Bangkok. Old or new, big or small, there is a theme in Bangkok...food and shopping (and apparently hungry elephants). There are food carts and shopping everywhere. The sidewalks and side streets are filled with every item you could imagine. The smells and sounds can be very overwhelming at times, but it is much more controlled (and welcomed) chaos than Kathamandu. Tomorrow we have to check out of the hotel we are currently at and we have made the decision to head to the beach. We are going to jump on a bus and soak up some sun. There may or may not be Internet Cafes there. We will just have to see when we get there.

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Happy 4th Anniversary to the one I love

This time four years ago I was in Maui with all my family and friends, getting married to the one I love. Happy 4Th anniversary Danielle. And to many more to come.

Bangkok Delight

Wow Bangkok is a great city, tons of things to see, food, to eat and shopping to be had. We walked all day yesterday we started off at the Grand Palace then ate or way up the street through the hundreds of street vendor food stalls, there is some amazing food for cheap. We managed to walk through several different shopping districts, fruit and produce area, knife and ninja star area, flower area, amulet area, fake designer cloths are and many more they all group together and sell the same things in one area, it's kind of weired if you ask me it makes for tough competition. After walking a bunch we had a Thai massage and a great dinner followed by cruising the late night wild streets of Koh San Road what a busy day. Off to do it again. Sorry no pics it was taking for ever.

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

In Bangkok

We arrived in Bangkok around 7 got a ride to the hotel and were having an amazing dinner by 8:30. Danielle is so happy to be out of Kathmandu the city was wearing on her. From what we have seen Bangkok is a huge city with endless things to do. Here is a pic from our dinner table not a bad view. We have a computer at this hotel and are going to be here for a few more nights, so look for more updates.

Monday, June 23, 2008

Happy (Late) Father's Day...

You really lose track of time out here. Even though it's late... I hope all the dad's, especially both of ours, had a great Father's Day!

Back Streets of Kathmandu


Well we got back from are trek safe maybe a few bruises but nothing major thanks to Santa and Binod from Itreknepal. We finished our trek a few days early so we have been exploring the small narrow back alleys of Kathmandu and we have seen a lot of cool and weired things, our ears are ringing from the constant horn of the motorcycle. This is a really fun city if you get of your but and explore it, we have walked a ton we fell like we are still on the trek.


Tomorrow we are flying to Bangkok to spend our last 10 days of the trip in Thailand, I cant wait for a Thai massage and some great food, I need to pack on a few more pounds after walking 80 miles on the trek. All is well and IO am only posting one pick since the Internet is running at a snails pace. Love you all.

Thursday, June 19, 2008

There she is, the great Sagarmatha, Mount Everest

Our last post was quite awhile ago because it is the slow season up here and most of the Internet Cafes, which are few and far between, have shut down their connections. Anyway, after leaving Namche Bazaar, we headed to Tengboche for a night, then Dingboche where the facilities left a lot to be desired. So, we left there and went to Periche for a night. After that, it was Loboche, followed by Gorak Shep. We fought rain and fog the whole way and wondered if we would ever be able to see these great Himalayas that surround us. Finally, we woke up in Gorak Shep at 4 a.m. to about a foot of snow (to our surprise) and behold, the great Everest. We jumped out of bed and literally run up to the top of Kala Pattar mountain, about a 1,200 vertical foot climb above 18,000 feet...talk about a workout with no breakfast, a foot of snow, and the sun just barley coming up. Wow, what a view of these great mountains. We have a ton of wonderful pics that we would love to share, but the computer cannot handle the size, so we were only able to put up this one. That is all for now, but as we get closer to Kathmandu and especially in Bangkok, we will be able to post more often. Bye for now! Thanks again to Santa and Binod from Itreknepal for making this a trip of a lifetime.

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Landing in Lukla... Trekking to Namche


Well, finally we got out of the Kathmandu Airport and on to Lukla. The flight was the most amazing we have ever been on. As you can see by the picture, there is no room for error on the landing. It is all "old school" flying, no GPS, only visual, so it can get interesting very quick. After landing, we met Santa and Binod, our guide and porter with Itreknepal. We had lunch, sorted out some gear, and then hit the happy trail. What a difference being out of the city. It was so fast paced and polluted, that it was getting on our nerves. Finally, we are away from cars and back to a slower pace. It is amazingly beautiful. The people are wonderful, trails nicely maintained, and Guest Houses in every village. Our first night we spent in Monjo, a little further than Phakding because we were going at such a fast pace, we thought we would cover more ground. After a good nights sleep and drying out after all of the rain, we got up and headed directly uphill (2200 vert in just 2.5 miles) to Namche Bazzar. We arrived early, about 10:45, had lunch, took a nap, and then took a tour of the city. So far, so good. Tomorrow we will do a little training hike to help acclimatization and spend the night in Namche again. Enjoy some of the pics...OK well, we tried, but again the computers are too slow for this large images... sorry...

Sunday, June 8, 2008

Stranded in the Kathmandu airport

After a busy day of touring Bhaktapur and enjoying all the temples and culture we had to get up at 4:45 to make a flight to Lukla which is the base of the Himalayas. We got to the airport at 6:15 and were told the flight was delayed due to weather, we were told to go hang out in the terminal which is tiny, we ended up waiting for 6 hours until they canceled all flights for the day, we were bummed there are a million other things we would of rather been doing than chilling in the Kathmandu airport, oh well it's part of the experience. Hopefully we get on the plane tomorrow or Danielle might catch a flight back to Bangkok JK. We're back in Bhaktapur and just had a good lunch and did a little shopping. Hopefully we will get to bed early tonight since we have to be back at the airport at 5:45 to try again, lets all hope the weather clears long enough for the plane to land. We love and miss you all. We'll keep you updated when we can. We were trying to post pics but the internet is super slow and the software is having troubles handling it, maybe next time.

Saturday, June 7, 2008

Finally in Kathmandu

After 32 hours of traveling we are here wow that was a long trip. Not sure exactly what I expected but man the drivers out here are crazy. We are staying in the little town of Bhaktapur it is about 15 minutes from Kathmandu and it's definitely a slower pace which is good because we just need time to chill. We got unpacked and quickly cruised the area. Danielle is taking a nap so I walked down the road to the Namaste Internet cafe. Got to go we are going to start are trek tomorrow instead of Monday due to there being good weather to fly to Lukla. I'll update you when we can. All I have to say is watch out for cows, dogs people, tractors and about anything else you can think about on the road. Thanks to are local Guide Shre from Itreknepal.com for giving us a great tour of Bhaktapur.

Friday, June 6, 2008

18 hours and Super Mario Brothers...




Finally we got onto the plane headed to Bangkok from LAX. It was a little weird because they put us on a bus and drove us to the other side of the airport out in the middle of a parking lot and loaded us there. It took a long time to get everyone on the plane since it is so big. Even though we were in economy, the accommodations were decent. There is definitely more room than on a Southwest plane. It would have been nice to be in 1st class because they had full on recliners complete with the leg pull outs. Lucky bastards. Anyway, we are now sitting in the Bangkok Airport waiting for our flight to Kathmandu and stretching our legs since the last 18 hours we were stuck in our seats. It is a process getting to our final destination, but it will be worth all of the hours in the plane. Oh yeah, and Danny, you are going to laugh at this. They have movies, TV shows, music, and video games on the plane right on the back of the chair in front of you on demand and guess what they had???? SUPER MARIO BROTHERS!!!!!!!! The "A" and "B" buttons were reverse, so we only got to

world 8-1, but we were in good practice since we played on Danny's Wii for Memorial day weekend. Anyway, that's all for now. Talk to you all later!

Thursday, June 5, 2008

We're leaving on a jet plane...

That is right. After a delay getting into LAX, we are finally ready to board our plane headed for Bangkok. 18 hours later...we will arrive. Next stop, Kathmandu. We will post a blog whenever we can, but we are not sure of the services yet. Hopefully we will be able to load pics and such. Stay tuned... :-)

Sunday, June 1, 2008

Hiking Peavine





After a late night drive home we awoke early again, it seems like we never sleep in anymore. We went to breakfast with Danielle's parents Dave and Diane and some good family friends from Lodi, Gail and Tracy, they were driving thru town after a weekend softball tournament in Carson City. It was great to see them. Dave and Diane just got back from Arizona seeing family and attending Dave's niece's graduation. After a good breakfast I did some last minute yard work before we leave, the lawn was getting long quick. After a quick touch up we decided to take a hike up Peavine, not sure exactly how much we hike but it was about 8 miles and a lot of vert. It's all good training for our trip next week.

Oroville Wiffle Ball Game





Friday night we played our last Softball game of the season, since we are taking off this Thursday for a month long vacation. The game ended in a tie after 9 hard innings of softball, Danielle was the player of the game, whats new, she worked her but off and had a runner collied into her at 1st which she managed to get the good end of the hit and laid the girl out, wow she is tough.

Saturday morning we awoke early and headed down to Roseville and had lunch with some good friends Brett and Macy. After lunch