After a very long and scary bus ride through southern China, we made it to Vietnam. After crossing the border, we spent the night in Lao Cai, the border town. The next morning we found a bus for the short trip up the mountain to the town of Sapa. The weather was cloudy, and we then found out that the weather is always cloudy and misty in Sapa because it is so high in elevation but still in the tropics. After arriving, we went for a short walk into the valley and found that once you get below the clouds, the views are terrific.
There are more than just seven wonders in the world.
The Yunnan
From Yangshuo we took the bus back to Guilin to catch a flight to Kunming. Sitting next to us on our flight was an older American guy from Seattle. Other than that, the flight was nearly empty. Once in Kunming, a huge chaotic city in southwestern China, we settled into our hostel (not very good) and then went to a nearby restaurant (very good). We ended up running into the same guy who was sitting next to us on the plane, and he said he was planning to hike Tiger Leaping Gorge.
Hong Kong and Southern China
The flight was long, and we were very jet lagged, but we made it to Hong Kong on a flight from Atlanta via Seoul. After spending two full days in Hong Kong, I will summarize by saying that Hong Kong is one giant shopping mall. Or, the wealthier sections were, and other sections were full of hectic markets for food and other goods. Everything has a very busy and exciting atmosphere to it. On the first morning, we took a walk through Kowloon, first passing through the park where many locals were doing Tai Chi. Later, we headed south to Hong Kong island.
Bangkok
We had heard from other travelers that the road from Siem Reap, Cambodia to the border of Thailand was in very poor shape. On top of that, there were some very dodgy bus companies around that were scamming customers. We had talked to one guy who took the trip the week before. It took him 24 hours to make the journey because the road was flooded in many places along with the other inconveniences of traveling in Cambodia. So, we opted to take a taxi, and a guy from Scotland joined us to split the cost. It ended up being the same price as the bus.
Lithuania
Vilnius was overcast and cold, but still beautiful. There is an old church on every single street, and the old cobble-stoned streets made for a great day of exploration. Then we headed west to the coast, to the Curonian Spit. A spit is like a peninsula, but skinnier. Once there we stayed in the small town of Nida, surrounded by pine forest and large sand dunes. We rented bikes for the day and rode out to the beach (much too cold to swim), the sand dunes, and around the forest. From Nida we went to central Lithuania to visit the Hill of Crosses, near Siuiliai.
Turkey Has Everything
Turkey has so much to offer that we highly recommend that everyone should look into a very long extended vacation here. Turkey has history that dates back thousands of years, a fascinating Middle Eastern and European culture, and spectacular and unique landscapes that can only be found in this region of the world. Oh, and there's the stunning Mediterranean coast, too.
Egypt: Pyramids and Heat
We deboarded our cruise through the Med in Alexandria, Egypt, and made our way to Cairo where we met Laurie's parents for a two week Nile adventure. I've always been fascinated with ancient Egyptian stuff, so it was a great experience for us to visit the Pyramids and other temples and tombs. We spent our first few days in Cairo where we wandered through the markets and mosques of the Islamic Quarter, ate some great meals at amazing restaurants on the Nile river, and played chicken with oncoming traffic.
A Journey Through Israel
From Egypt we crossed the border into Israel by land after taking a bus north from Dahab. We were temporarily held up at the border because we had Syrian stamps in our passport. We were told to wait in a special area until we could see the head guy in his intimidating uniform. We had heard this might happen, but the rumored "interrogation" never occurred. They just wanted some extra biographical information such as our phone number and grandfathers' names.
Petra
We crossed the border from Israel into Jordan and split a taxi with an Israeli couple who were also headed to Petra. We arrived rather quickly because our taxi driver topped out at 120 miles per hour on the highway despite our constant pleading to slow down. We made our way to a guesthouse and found that they had an all-you-can-eat buffet dinner every night for five dollars! It was quite social and we met a lot of other travelers, including a couple from Ireland who is traveling the world for two years. They made us look like wimps!
Into the Medinas of Morocco
Morocco quickly made our list of favorite countries in the world. Our initial experience in Casablanca was amazing. We had read that the city was not typical of Morocco, but instead it was large, busy, and chaotic. We had low expectations, but the city really surprised us. The medina (the old part of the city, surrounded by walls and made up of a maze of small streets) at first was very touristy. There were a lot of vendors selling things from their stalls that only tourists would want - European clothes, shoes, suitcases, and yummy cookies and pastries.
Ethiopia
To get to Ethiopia, we flew from Amman, the capital of Jordan, to Addis Ababa via Bahrain and Kuwait City. It felt like a whirlwind all night tour of Middle Eastern cities. The Bahrain airport was quite modern, and even had a Chili's. We watched two old men in white robes and turbans eat chicken wings at 2 a.m.
