Altitude Industries Evergreen, CO Overland Gear and Rooftop Tent Dealer

One of the best ways to explore the world, is the overland route!  You can backpack it and stay in hostels, or travel the world in your own personal vehicle complete with a kitchen and place to stash all those souvenirs!   As you might see on this blog, we spend about 6 months traveling south america in a VW bug we purchased in Chile, and then sold before we returned home to the united states.  This was great, but a far cry from the amazing overland gear available these days!

Altitude Industries is located in Evergreen, Colorado just outside of Denver. We are an authorized iKamper Dealer and carry the new Skycamp rooftop tent. Its the ONLY 4 person hardshell rooftop tent on the market, and can be setup in less than 1 minute!  Once open, you can fit your whole family inside comfortably on the king size mattress!  Closed, its a compact, sleek, aerodynamic hardshell. Come visit out showroom to see what makes it so special!  We know you'll be as impressed as I was when I received my tent at the Overland Expo West last May!  Its what made the Skycamp the most successful tent campaign of all time on kickstarter selling near 1000 tents for $2.4M. 

visit www.altitude-industries.com for more infomation!

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World Trip Blog Retired - See new blog!

For those of you who've told us how much you love seeing what's going on in our life, I have started a new blog: Lee & Betsy's Life (http://www.leehoffmanphotoart.com/blog) Since our world trip is over, I am retiring this blog. However, it will stay online in case you ever wish to come back to read a story or look at pictures. We are so glad so many people were able to enjoy the stories of our big adventure!

Click here to see the new blog!

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Home Sweet Home

The trip is over! We returned to Santiago, Chile last week and sucessfully sold our little green bug (not before it gave us one last problem; flat tire on the way to deliver it to the lady we sold it to). We are now back in Colorado at the Hoffman's new house in Kittredge, which is near Evergreen. We enjoyed spending the first three days back with Lee's grandparents who were in town. Today, Saturday the 25th is our welcome back party. Over then next few weeks we'll be visiting with friends, looking for new jobs, setting up our place to live at Lee's parents house, getting cell phones, and just plain getting into the swing of "real life" again. Hope to hear from and see all of you soon!

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Patagonian Animals Oh My!

These are some of the animals we have seen along the way on our Patagonian drive.

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A new challenge

There’s no better way to look like a completely uncoordinated idiot than by trying a new sport. Fortunately for us, ice climbing turned out to be much easier than we expected, and we quickly looked like pros (ok, maybe not that good, but decent). We spent the third day of our backpacking adventure with an ice climbing guide on Torre Glacier at the foot of Cerro Torre. After our glacier trek we decided to try our hand at the real thing……crampons, ice axes, harnesses, rope, the works! Our day started with a two-hour hike into the glacier, including a river-crossing hanging upside down from our harness. After that, we spent about four hours trying out three different pitches with our guide. One even included an overhang. We’re talking about trying it again in Colorado. But, it’s a little easier to trust your life to a permanent glacier than to a frozen waterfall…… (yes, that is Betsy in that photo!)
View Photos of Patagonia Road Trip #3 (Perito Moreno Glacier Walk, Trekking Cerro Torre & Fitz Roy, and Ice Climing Torre Glacier)

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Keep on Trekkin’

The Perito Moreno Glacier is situated at the south end of Parque National los Glacieres. On the north end are, of course, more glaciers, along with two spectacular famous peaks, Monte Fitz Roy and Cerro Torre. We spent the past four days backpacking around the bases of both. The park is literally a backpacker’s dream. The river water is drinkable, 100% glacier water. The trails are well-maintained, and the campgrounds are pristine. Plus, the entire time you’re staring up at the massive rock slabs at the top of the big peaks. We’re back feeling refreshed after lots of exercise, sunshine and fresh mountain air.
View Photos of Patagonia Road Trip #3 (Perito Moreno Glacier Walk, Trekking Cerro Torre & Fitz Roy, and Ice Climing Torre Glacier)

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Ice Ice Baby

We made our way down south to El Calafate, a small town made famous by its proximity to one of the largest and most impressive glaciers in the world: Glacier Perito Moreno. After a leisurely day in town, we spent our next day on a glacier trek (it sounds hard-core, but in reality any little old lady could have done it). Nevertheless, we felt like we were living in a Discovery Channel Program. Perito Moreno glacier pushes out into two huge lakes, with the walls of ice jutting out nearly 250 feet above the surface and down 500-600 feet to the lake bottom. The best part about visiting the glacier was watching it move before our very eyes. Every few minutes we would hear a loud crack, followed by a chunk of the glacier tumbling into the water below. Four or five times throughout the day we say slabs of ice the size of 20-story buildings sheer off the edge and fall into the water with a massive splash. Later on we’d see the remains floating to the surface as icebergs. Our trek took us by boat across the lake and, with crampons strapped to our feet, onto a relatively flat part of the glacier to see the various peaks and valleys formed in the ice. At the end, they served us whiskey on the rocks (i.e. glacier ice) to celebrate.

Click here to see the glacial calving in action!
View Photos of Patagonia Road Trip #3 (Perito Moreno Glacier Walk, Trekking Cerro Torre & Fitz Roy, and Ice Climing Torre Glacier)

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Earplugs and Gravel:

We’ve taken to wearing earplugs in the car. It’s not that we don’t want to talk to each other (although, after five months of talking to nobody else, a few hours of silence is ok). It’s the combination of a gravel highway and a VW Bug is enough to make your ears ring for days. This is one rugged road trip down “highways” with four inches of loose gravel, with nothing but flat land and sagebrush as far as you can see for days, and wind so strong that your car door is likely to get ripped off if you dared to open it. Thankfully we only have one more long day without pavement ahead of us. After that, we’ve reached Southern Patagonia and all that we’ve been looking forward to seeing: Mt. Fitz Roy, El Calafate, Torres del Paine, Tierra del Fuego, mountains, glaciers, fjords, etc.
Pictures of Patagonia Road Trip #2

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Call Guiness:

Lee’s going down in the all-time rock skipping hall of fame. Out on the edge of the lake, the conditions were perfect. Calm water, super flat rock, and precision throwing. He wound up, let the rock go, and it skipped not once, not even twice, but TEN TIMES along the surface of the water! If you get a moment, make sure you e-mail Lee and congratulate him on his triumph.
Pictures of Patagonia Road Trip #2

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Shoo Fly!!!!!

Well, we’ve added another hike to our list of “never agains”. Our guidebook suggested a day hike to the top of Cerro Alto Dedal, a peak overlooking a good portion of the national park. We set out pretty early knowing it would be a long day. The first two hours of the hike were spent bushwhacking our way through an endless forest of bamboo shoots and thorny bushes so thick that it was like walking through a tunnel. Suddenly, relief……..or so we thought. We had reached the rocky (and plant-free) ridge leading up to the summit. This is where the swarming began. Mutant horse flies the size of quarters!!!! The were incessant….buzzing and circling around our heads, in our ears. We pushed on until the torture was too much. After five hours of hiking we didn’t have anything to show for it.

Pictures of Patagonia Road Trip #2

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Back in Colorado!

Ok, not really, but we got your attention right! We´re still here in Argentina, but we did climb a peak called Cerro Colorado the other day. It was just outside San Martin de los Andes, and, well, it´s named after our home, so we had to climb it! The peak is just over 5,000 ft., which doesn´t sound like much. But, considering we gained nearly 3,000 feet in under two hours, it was a lot like climbing a 14er! The very summit is all dark red volcanic rock. It´s very striking, especially since not a single other mountain surrounding it looks the same. The view from the top looked out over two huge lakes, and the largest Volcano in the entire area.

Patagonia Road Trip Pictures #1

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Triumph on Aconcagua!

The picture says it all, we made it to the summit of Aconcagua! I don´t even know where to begin to describe the trip, it was definitely in the top 5 most difficult things I´ve ever done during my life. We survived 3 straight days of 80mph winds at 19,000ft Camp II to finally arrive at the suffocating elevation of 22,841 ft above sea level at 1pm on Wednesday the 11th of January. The trip was full of unique mountaineering challenges as well as fun times. We are extremely happy with the result of our expedition, and now we are glad to be back in Mendoza eating good food and drinking wine! Of course, I am most excited to be back with my beautiful wife after over 2 weeks of no contact whatsoever. For those of you who are interested in the particulars of the trip, I´ll try to add a detailed account to this blog entry at a later date. I will also be posting pictures with descriptive captions to give you an idea of what it was like up there. For now, I wanted to let you know we made it and are home safe. Hope everyone is doing great back home, and we can´t wait to see you soon. Lee

Lee´s Aconcagua Photos
Brandon´s Aconcagua Photos
Rob´s Aconcagua Photos

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Wish Me Luck!

Brandon and Rob are here in Mendoza now and we just finished getting our climbing permit for Aconcagua! The climb startes saturday at 8,000ft. If all goes well, we summit 11 days later at an altitude of 22,841 feet above sea level. Aconcagua is the highest mountain peak outside of the Himilayas. We are arranging the expedition ourselves, with all of our own food, fuel, gear, tents, etc.. So wish us luck, this will be an enormous undertaking. I´ll be thinking of all of my friends and family back home, and Betsy back in Mendoza (drinking wine and enjoying the warm sun after spanish school each day). We will of course be safe and smart, and will give it our best effort. Talk to you all in 2-1/2 weeks back in Mendoza. Much love, Lee

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Feliz Navidad From Argentina!

We wanted to take the chance to wish everyone at home a very, very Merry Christmas. We hope you all have a wonderful weekend filled with food, family, friends and lots of celebration. We will be thinking of you all from down here in Mendoza, Argentina. No white Christmas for us.....it´s about 95 degrees here! But, we´re looking forward to spending our first married Christmas together! Merry Christmas and God Bless everyone. - Betsy & Lee

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Nepal: Quick Facts From The Trail

- Lee & Betsy spent 5 full continuous days above 14,000ft in the Everest Region

- A Yak is a male, but did you know a female is actually called a Nak?

- We reached the summit of Kala Pattar on Nov 10th. This is 18,200ft high. At this altitude there is less than 50% oxygen of sea level.

- We hiked over 200 miles in 18 days in the Anapurna Region.

- A porter carries up to 70lbs and is paid about $3 per day.

- Everest Base Camp (17,160ft) is actually located on top of the Khumbu Glacier. There is nothing there more than the wreckage of 2 helicopters and piles of rocks.

- We estimate that less than 40% of trekkers actually are successful in making it to Kala Patthar due to injury and acute mountain sickness.

- Lee hiked 28 of 31 days in Nepal in tennis shoes and sandals due to an deep bone bruise on the ankle that prevented him from wearing boots.

- In the high Himilaya people burn Yak dung in their stoves to heat their houses since no trees can survice at that altitude. Yak dung is of course primarily grass.

- Mt. Everest is called Sagarmatha in Nepali, which means "Mother Earth". It is 29,035ft high.

Nepal Photos #1
Nepal Photos #2
Nepal Photos #3
Nepal Photos #4
Nepal Photos #5
Nepal Photos #6

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Back to the "lowlands" again...

We made it!!! We actually saw the top of the world with our own eyes. It was so amazing.. But, mainly we wanted to let everyone know we are back down to the lowlands again (12,000ft if you can call that "low" heheh). We made it to our final destination of Kala Patthar and Everest Base Camp. Kala Patthar is 18,100 ft and is the viewpoint for the whole Khumbu Glacier, Everest Icefalls, Mt. Everest and Nuptse. INCREDIBLE!! We also visited base camp which is at 17,160ft and is actually on the Khumbu Glacier. Just wanted to let everyone know we were successful, and are back safely! See you in less than a week (if you are in Colorado that is).
Love, Lee & Betsy

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Anapurna II

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Poon Hill Views

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6 Feet of Snow in 48 Hours - Avalanches Galore!

Just in case any of you have monitoring the news with a fine tooth comb, we wanted to give you a personal update to let you know that we are alive and well here in Nepal. We just got back from 10 days on the trail on the Anapurna Circuit, a loop that takes you through some of the highest peaks in the world. The highpoint of the trek is a 17,000 ft pass about half way into the journey. But, before we could make it to the pass, and after 5 days of trekking, we were hit with a 100-year storm that came from China. It snowed as much as 6 feet in 48 hours in the high Himilayas. We sat inside our cabin and watched the views disappear in the clouds and the ground, trees, and everything else drown in heavy wet snow. Finally when the snow stopped falling, we headed to the next town up, called Manang, at 12,000 ft. We didn't make it any further... news had reached us from the last town before the pass, called Throng Pedi; avalanches had swept across the trail and cut off our route. Nobody could pass. We were so dissapointed, but there was nothing we could do and we didn't have the time to wait for the snow to melt. So, we decided to turn around and make the 5 day journey back down. The day we turned back we must have seen 30 avalanches firsthand. They were coming down from the 14,000ft peaks on the other side of the river in the valley we were in. It was a bit scary, but also completely incredible. Later that day we realized the severity of the storm when we learned that two groups of camping trekkers, totalling 40 people, had been killed by avalanches in Throng Pedi, the next town up from where we had been. However, we just discovered 10 minutes ago online that this was not completely true. 400 trekkers had indeed been stranded there, but nobody was killed. An expedition group of 18 people climbing a nearby mountain had actually been killed. Nonetheless, the situation is tragic and we feel very blessed to be safe and healthy. The storm has moved on and the snow is melting quickly. We are heading by car to what would have been the end of our trek to hike 2 days into the mountains to a viewpoint called Poon Hill where we will hopefully catch a view of the Anapurna Range that has been up to this point, completely blocked by clouds for us. After that, we off to the Everest Region for 12 days. Wheh, that turned out a bit long and detailed (can you tell Lee is writing this one?). We just wanted you all to know that we are safe and sound. We have very limited internet access in Nepal, but we'll update the blog again in a few weeks when we get done trekking. See you all soon for Thanksgiving!

To read an article about this in Kathmandu Post, go to:
http://www.kantipuronline.com/kolnews.php?&nid=55429

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Sugar, Spice and Everything Nice

Everyone get ready for a big dinner party when we get home because I (Betsy, that is. Lee decided to forego the class.) am now a master of Thai cuisine. After a full-day of hands-on training in the kitchen, I can now successfully prepare pad thai, spring rolls, chicken with garlic and basil, chicken and ginger stir fry, green curry, and bananas in coconut cream. A few things I learned today: 1) Thai food has a ridiculous amount of garlic in it. 2) You can’t use olive oil in a wok. 3) When you flambee something- stand WAY back, 4) There are about a zillion kinds of basil in Thailand. Too bad we only have one at home. The only thing we’re lacking now (ok, besides the fact that we’re homeless and don’t even have a kitchen) is a good wok. It’s on my Christmas list already.

PICTURES OF PHUKET

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Phuket, Thailand - Tsunami update

If you were somewhere in a black hole last winter, and didn’t see any sort of news coverage of the tsunami, and you came to Phuket today, you honestly would have no idea that such destruction ever took place. Currently, there is a fair amount of construction and reconstruction going on along the western coast (where we are staying, and where the tsunami had the biggest effects). However, in a touristy area like there, there is generally always a lot of construction as new resorts are built or upgraded. We’ve gotten several different accounts of the damage from locals. According to some, CNN blew the whole thing way out of proportion and the island was back in business within two weeks. According to others, the situation was much worse. Regardless of how extensive the damage was, thousands of people lost friends, family members, or their business and surely each and every person here was affected. Nearly every coastline road was washed away (and since rebuilt) and every business directly on the beach was flooded. But, everyone here is in agreement that the worst result of the tsunami was that it scared tourists, the most important revenue source, from coming to the island. So, by spending a week in Phuket, we are probably doing more for the “tsunami relief effort” than we ever did by donating money to the Red Cross last year.

PICTURES OF PHUKET

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A paradise on the Andaman sea

If you are planning a tropical vacation anytime soon, we could go on and on about why Phuket is probably the best place you could come. Here are a few reasons: 1) The beaches. There are several stunning beaches along the west coast of the island. You can take your pick between total isolation, tourist-mania, and anything in between. 2) The price. Things are dirt cheap here in Phuket. Case in point….two poor backpackers (Lee and Betsy) can afford to stay in a brand new, beachfront resort for six full days. 3) The food. Becoming obese would be no difficult task here. The food is incredible, it’s cheap, and if you like seafood, it couldn’t be fresher. 4) The sunset. It’s the best we’ve ever seen and the vivid colors last for nearly an hour. 5) The locals. People here are so nice, and incredibly friendly. Everyone greets you with a smile, and truly wants you to enjoy your time here. It’s been arguably the best, and most relaxing beach getaway we’ve ever had.

PICTURES OF PHUKET

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Underwater Adventures

Betsy is now officially SCUBA certified! The three-day course consisted of classroom time, training time in a swimming pool, and four real dives in the ocean. Lee joined in on the first two dives as a “refresher course” in his scuba training (it was also his birthday – not a bad way to celebrate!). We split up for the second day of diving, with Betsy continuing her training with the instructor and her fellow student (the village idiot from Hong Kong) and Lee checking out a shipwreck on another island. Our dive company, South Siam Divers, owns a fleet of gorgeous boats, complete with showers, a sun deck, and a full buffet lunch served each day.

PICTURES OF PHUKET

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The Ugliest Duckling

Phuket officially wins the award for the mangiest, ugliest, nastiest stray dogs we’ve seen so far. There’s one beach dog in particular that we’ve seen each day (his “turf” is our hotel vicinity). He’s a little stalky dog who’s been so inbred that his legs are only about 3 inches long and his front feet point straight out to the sides. He’s got black and white fur, but the skin underneath is a strange red color all the time. We’ve named him Ducky because he waddles along like a duck trying to keep up with the other mangy beasts around here.

PICTURES OF PHUKET

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Jeepin’ around

In an effort to save time and numerous headaches taking taxis and tuk tuks around Phuket, we decided to rent a car for our week here. Although it’s been nice to have our own transportation, allowing us to explore the island a bit, it hasn’t exactly made life easier. The car itself is a total piece of junk. It chugs along up and down the hills, the gears stick, the windows barely roll down…..the list goes on. Nonetheless, it runs. We discovered that gas along the beach is purchased at little huts, not unlike a lemonade stand, where the station attendant pumps the gas from a small barrel, into a measuring container at the top, and then into your car. Navigating here has been no simple task either and has contributed to a few squabbles in the heat of frustration. But, Lee’s successfully mastered driving on the left side of the road, and sharing the lane with the billions of motor bikes.

PICTURES OF PHUKET

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Beware of ‘Lady Men’

Transvestites abound in Phuket, and all over Thailand for that matter. Our new friend and local bartender aptly described them as “lady men”. Some make it to the big time – on stage in one of the famed cabaret shows. Many others lurk around the bars and streets of Patong, Phuket’s busiest beach town, waiting for an unsuspecting traveler to take them home. To us, they seem VERY easy to spot by their short skirts, very high heels, and buckets of makeup on their faces. Lee’s convinced that they start this at an early age. He even took a picture of a kid we saw on a train – he swears it’s a boy dressed as a girl……Betsy’s not so sure.

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Welcome to the jungle

The time finally came where we had to leave our beach haven and return to the madness of Bangkok. We initiated ourselves back into city life by heading to Khoa San Road – the center of the backpackers universe. By dusk, the place is already crawling with people, and the pubs and bars are gearing up for the night’s festivities. Some even set up right on the street, offering deals like “60B for a really strong cocktail” (that’s $1.50). At one point we noticed a commotion going on and a crowd beginning to gather around one particular woman. Was she a Thai celebrity, we wondered? We quickly learned that she was Miss Canada – the current Miss Universe – making her way around the city with her entourage closely following.

PICTURES OF OUR SECOND STAY IN BANGKOK

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An elephant’s life

As a tourist in Thailand, you can sign up for any number of different tours. City tours, countryside tours, hill tribe tours, market tours, temple tours…..you get the picture. Many of the tours include a trip to an elephant camp where the animals take you for a short tour of the area. Sadly, many of these elephant camps are nothing more than a group of poor, uneducated villagers, who mistreat their elephants, and abandon them when they find a better job. It’s very sad, and very cruel. Even in the heart of Bangkok, we’ve seen men walking elephants down the street in the peak of rush hour, just to sell a ride. We were lucky, however, to visit probably the best elephant camp in Thailand. Rather than being chained to a fence each night and taken on countless tours all day long, these elephants are brought home to the jungle every evening, where they roam free and live like they are still wild. During they day, they do no more than one or two tours, and are treated very lovingly by their trainers. Sadly, we learned from an employee of this camp, the elephant camps in the north (like the one we went to in Chiang Mai) are notorious for the mistreatment of elephants. It makes us both very, very sad that we unknowingly contributed to the cruelty by paying for our elephant tour in the north.

PICTURES OF TIGER TEMPLE DAY (AND ELEPHANT RIDE)

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Cuddling with tigers!!!

It’s truly a one-in-a-lifetime experience when you get to ride an elephant, and hug a tiger in the same day. We lived that day today! Today’s tour took us our to Ketchanaburi, to see a myriad of things, including the wonderful elephant camp, the bridge over the River Kwai (Betsy’s been singing ‘We Didn’t Start the Fire’ ever since), the World War II Museum, a spectacular waterfall, AND…..tigers!!!! Years ago, at a particular Buddhist temple, a monk residing there took in an abandoned tiger cub. Ever since, the monastery has been rescuing abandoned tigers, and several cubs have been born under their supervision. At the temple, you can actually touch the tigers! One at a time, we were able to walk into the tiger area, where nine tigers were lounging in the afternoon sun. We were the lucky few who were selected to have the tiger’s head placed in our lap for a photo. It’s hard to describe the feelings running through you as one of the world’s strongest creatures is looking up at you. They were so gentle and peaceful, and we both felt that our time with them was too short. Lee, the cat lover that he is, went in three separate times to see them up close again.

PICTURES OF TIGER TEMPLE DAY TOUR

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Floating Market

Imagine doing your grocery shopping from a paddle boat, as you floated by the produce section. That’s what the floating market, just outside Bangkok is like. Ok, not exactly. While the farmers still sell as many varieties of fruits and veggies as you could ever need, the markets has evolved into one of the area’s main tourist attractions as well, with the vendors also selling the typical t-shirts, handicrafts and knickknacks from their little boats. To get around, you hop in a little wooden paddle boat with a guide and make your way through the canals. As you float by, the vendors reel you in by grabbing your boat with a cane, and making sure you look at EVERY single thing their selling. While we were there, we saw yet another movie/tv show being filmed!

PICTURES OF FLOATING MARKET TOUR DAY

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Does this tour ever end?

When we signed up for the floating market, we thought we were going to the floating market…..only. Little did we know that in Bangkok, if you sign up for a tour, they cram as much into your day as is humanly possible. In other words, on a half-day tour we were taken about 15 different (and rather uninteresting) places. Each stop was approximately 15 minutes before we were rushed back on a crowded mini bus and driven to the next tourist trap. So, although we did get to see the floating market like we planned, we also saw a gem factory, as snake farm, an orchid farm, a woodcarving shop, and place where the make coconut sugar. Yes, that was the HALF-DAY tour. Doesn’t a full-day sound fun?

PICTURES OF FLOATING MARKET TOUR DAY

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Lee got a hickey from another girl!!!

Ok.. so it happened about 5 minutes ago out on the street in front of a bar. We are in a beach town called Kata in Phuket. We were walking by after dinner when we saw this really gorgeous, really young girl. I just had to stop and pet her and then we decided to buy her a couple bunches of bannanas; she loved them! Next thing I know she was giving me a hickey on the neck.... and I mean my WHOLE neck! Well, by now you've guessed that I cheated on Betsy with an elephant :)

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Volleyball - Soccer? You decide....

Our hotel in Chaing Mai was across the street from a little park that the locals used every evening when the daytime heat subsided to play some pickup games of.... volleyball-soccer. I don't know what the game is called, but it AMAZING. Take a look and see for yourself...

VIDEO CLIP OF VOLLEYBALL-SOCCER MATCH(Right Click and "Save Target As" to your computer then play file from your computer)

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Zero, zero, seven, bang – AH!

On the first night of our trek, our two guides introduced our group to a drinking game of sorts. The game was called Black Magic, and aptly so. If you lost a round, you got a stripe of soot from an old cooking wok smeared across your face. With our crew of crazy Brits, Scots, and Irishmen, one stripe of black quickly turned into smearing black by the handful all over faces, arms, body’s – wherever they could (we’d worked ourselves out of the game at this point.) They all woke up the next morning looking like they’d just stepped out of the coal mine.

PICTURES OF ELEPHANT RIDE & JUNGLE TREK

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A rainforest without animals?

If you live in Colorado, all you have to do is step out into your backyard and you’ll very likely see more wildlife than we did on our entire trek in Thailand. There are virtually NO animals or birds in the forest here. If you count spiders and crickets as animals, then it was like Wild Kingdom. Otherwise, it’s totally devoid of any type of wildlife.

PICTURES OF ELEPHANT RIDE & JUNGLE TREK
VIDEO CLIP OF THAI CAZOO PLAYING AT OUR CAMP(RIGHT CLICK AND "SAVE TARGET AS" AND THEN PLAY FILE FROM YOUR COMPUTER)
VIDEO OF KID WITH HUGE BEETLE ON A STRING(RIGHT CLICK AND "SAVE TARGET AS" AND THEN PLAY FILE FROM YOUR COMPUTER)

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The view from an elephant

This was one of the things we were most looking forward to on our trip and we got to do it during our trek! We sat on a little bench on Metu’s (our elephant) back for a full hour ride through the forest. He’d reach his trunk up every few minutes so we could hand-feed him bananas! It was amazing!

PICTURES OF ELEPHANT RIDE & JUNGLE TREK
VIDEO CLIP #1 (RIGHT CLICK AND "SAVE TARGET AS" AND THEN PLAY FILE FROM YOUR COMPUTER)
VIDEO CLIP #2 (RIGHT CLICK AND "SAVE TARGET AS" AND THEN PLAY FILE FROM YOUR COMPUTER)

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Keep on Trekkin’

Have you ever wondered what it’s like to work out in a steam shower? We learned first-hand on our 3-day trek through the rainforest outside Chiang Mai. Strangely, the temperature probably didn’t rise about 90 degrees or so. The humidity, on the other hand, was unreal. You’d take about 25 steps and your body's faucet would just turn on. Thank goodness for all the waterfalls throughout our trek! They made for nice, refreshing breaks, and baths, along the way.

PICTURES OF ELEPHANT RIDE & JUNGLE TREK
VIDEO CLIP #1 (RIGHT CLICK AND "SAVE TARGET AS" AND THEN PLAY FILE FROM YOUR COMPUTER)
VIDEO CLIP #2 (RIGHT CLICK AND "SAVE TARGET AS" AND THEN PLAY FILE FROM YOUR COMPUTER)
VIDEO CLIP OF THAI CAZOO PLAYING AT OUR CAMP(RIGHT CLICK AND "SAVE TARGET AS" AND THEN PLAY FILE FROM YOUR COMPUTER)
VIDEO OF KID WITH HUGE BEETLE ON A STRING(RIGHT CLICK AND "SAVE TARGET AS" AND THEN PLAY FILE FROM YOUR COMPUTER)

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Dance, dance dance

Surely a major trip highlight for Lee was seeing first-hand the traditional Thai dances. He was mesmerized by the torch dance, awe-struck by the tea leaf dance, and riveted by the dance of the swords. He’s been practicing them all ever since the show! Keep at it Lee!

PICTURES OF CHAING MAI
VIDEO CLIP (RIGHT CLICK AND "SAVE TARGET AS" TO YOUR COMPUTER, THEN PLAY FILE FROM YOUR COMPUTER)

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My, what a long neck you have

There’s a tribe of people in northern Thailand that are known for the long neck women. Originally from Burma, the women wrap thick (and heavy!) copper wire around their neck, gradually adding rings to stretch their necks over time. They add a new ring every one to five years, starting at about age 5 or 6. The tribe is still relatively new to Thailand, immigrating only 10-15 years ago. They’re actually not even considered Thai citizens and are only allowed to live on the very northern edge of the country. If they’re caught in other areas, they’re deported back to their home country.

TEST

PICTURES OF ORCHID FARM, DUNG PAPER, CAVE, LONG NECK VILLAGE
PICTURES OF CHAING MAI

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Poo-Poo Paper

Did you know that elephant dung doesn’t smell? Moreover, did you know that you can make paper from it? We visited the ‘special laboratory’, a.k.a. the little wooden hut, where they make the dung paper, as one of the stops on our day trip today. The entire process, from poo to paper, takes about 18 hours. On the same trip, we also stopped at a big orchid farm with a rather pathetic butterfly farm adjacent. The orchids were incredibly brilliant, with dozens of different varieties. The butterflies, sadly, were mangy and rather dull.

PICTURES OF ORCHID FARM, DUNG PAPER, CAVE, LONG NECK VILLAGE

PICTURES OF CHAING MAI

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The sky is falling!

Today we arrived in a town in northern Thailand called Chiang Mai, in spite of the fact that everyone was telling us repeatedly the we couldn’t come here because the town had flooded. True, the town had flooded, but it turned out to be only a few of the major roads, and the rest was just fine! Chiang Mai is the backpackers’ capital of the world. The entire city caters to the crowd that wants to sleep and eat for cheap, and see a lot of the area. There are guest houses and internet cafes on every block and a myriad of day trips and excursions you can choose from. Makes traveling here pretty simple, but you wonder how “authentic” your experience is at the same time. Nonetheless, Thai people seem to be very proud of Chiang Mai. We chose to rent a motorcycle to see the sights today, as it was way too hot to walk around on our own. The night bazaar here was equally big, but not nearly as impressive as the one in Bangkok.

PICTURES OF CHAING MAI

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Doin’ the electric slide

For those of you who’ve been to Thailand, you’ve probably heard of the famed electronic market. A mecca for those who desire to have the newest and the best “equipment” to make their life easier. The electronics market in Bangkok is the size of a large mall – four floors in all – selling nothing but computers, cell phones, mp3 players, printers, cameras, the works. Buying a Playstation 2 game here is a bit of a covert operation, but Lee managed to walk away with some new ones for Nate.

PICTURES OF BANGKOK

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Here a wat, there a wat

There are some 500 wats (Buddhist temples) in Bangkok alone. For a city of 11 million people, you need that many I guess. Each one seems to be more ornate and glittering than the rest. While in the city, we saw most of the major historical wats while in the city, and toured the grand palace where the royal family resides. The photos can’t even begin to do justice to how lavish and impressive everything was there. Interesting factoid we learned along th way: ‘The King and I’ – in any version – is illegal to watch here in Thailand. The kind is considered infallible and the movie does not portray him this way. Our tour guide at one particular wat said he had to watch the film in a locked room with a guard.

PICTURES OF BANGKOK

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The best market EVER

We found it, the pinnacle of all markets out there in the world: The Bankok night market. It runs from about 7pm until whenever people pack up and leave. We’ve been to many many markets so far and seen lots of handmade trinkets, plenty of fake Rolexes, about a zillion necklaces. This market was finally something different! Row after row after row of really unique, upscale, beautiful things – from clothes and jewelry to lamps and furniture. There was nothing “crafty” about the place. We walked for hours until we finally got to the center of it all – the beer garden of sorts - where they had a massive stage set up with pop singers and background dancers. Quite an evening.

PICTURES OF BANGKOK

VIDEO CLIP OF BEER GARDEN AT MARKET (RIGHT CLICK AND "SAVE TARGET AS" TO YOUR COMPUTER THEN PLAY FILE FROM YOUR COMPUTER)

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Tuk Tuk…..goose!

Tuk Tuk…..goose! So far, Bankok is not at all what we’ve expected. We had prepared ourselves for endless noise, chaos, dirt, mugginess and crowds. We were pleasantly surprised to find out that Bangkok is rather spread out, the weather was much more pleasant and less humid that China, the people are friendly, and the city’s actually pretty nice. Best part about it – it’s CHEAP. We’ve stayed in excellent hotels, and had incredible meals here so far. The food is such a nice change from the bland noodles and sketchy mystery meat we were eating on a daily basis in China! The tuk tuk (basically, it’s a motorcycle with two seats strapped to the back) is one of the primary methods of transportation here. The upside – you get to be outside and ride in a fun little car. The downside – the pollution and traffic are horrendous in Bangkok and, as soon as you sit down in a tuk tuk, you inevitably get stuck between two buses breathing in fumes.

PICTURES OF BANGKOK

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Comments now turned on!

In china the web was all in chinese... so I couldn't figure out how to navigate the settings of our blog well enough to allow comments. But, now they are turned on, so feel free to add our own bits to our blog. Look forward to hearing from you!!

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Snap, Crackle, Pop

Each weekend during the month of September, Macau has hosts an international fireworks competition - with two different countries competing each week. We were lucky enough to catch an evening of fireworks. We took our chances, even though it was still pouring, and climbed up to a huge cathedral looking over the famous ‘Macau Tower’ (their version of the space needle) and the harbor where the fireworks would be set off. We have a little video of team one. Unfortunately for everyone watching, team one wasn’t very impressive compared to team two!

VIDEO CLIP (Right click and "save target as" to your computer, then play file from your computer)

PICTURES OF MACAU

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Forecast calls for rain - again

It’s now a meteorological fact that where Lee and Betsy go, it’s going to rain. Sunday’s forecast actually called for squally rain! Sure enough, around 4pm, when we’d wandered possibly as far from our hotel as possible, the downpour commenced. Our $1 umbrella was useless in the wind. But hey, at least being drenched here doesn’t go hand in hand with freezing like it does at home!

PICTURES OF MACAU

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The view from the lighthouse

Today we climbed up to the top of Macau’s central park, which is situated on the largest hill in the area. There are paved paths everywhere along the hill where many people were out running in layers and layers of clothes to avoid getting any sun (despite the fact that it was about 95 degrees and sunny outside. At the top of the hill there’s a huge lighthouse and an old war bunker underneath.

PICTURES OF MACAU

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Vote for Pedro!

It’s election time in Macau. Everywhere you look there are signs advertising the election day (Sept. 25), and billboards for all of the groups running for their General Assembly (we’re assuming it’s like a town council, and they run as teams). There are about 18 teams running together - and their all numbered. We’ve seen two HUGE political rallies since we’ve been here, for teams 13 and 8. They hand out shirts and lots of shwag with their team number on it, and set up a big stage in the main square where they give speeches, and hire really bad singers to entertain the crowd. They also drive their election vehicles up and down the streets broadcasting their political platforms from the blaring speakers on the roof.

PICTURES OF MACAU

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Vegas baby, Vegas

Oh, wait, we’re in Macau, not Vegas. Macau, a city located about an hour’s boat ride from Hong Kong, is quite a place. Settled by the Portuguese, it’s got a distinctly European feel in some parts with cobblestone streets, cathedrals and old, colonial buildings. In recent years, the city has become a haven for gamblers. A few, large and bustling casinos are situated on the south end of town by the ocean. But, give it another 5 years and it’ll be the Vegas strip, no doubt. Everywhere you look in this city there is a giant casino and resort under construction. One, that looks near completion, has a giant volcano in the front. Many of the resorts share Vegas names too: The Rio, The Sands, and there’s even a Wynn hotel under construction. We went inside one called the “Lisboa” - it was packed, and the games were all totally different than in the US.

PICTURES OF MACAU

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Red light, green light

After taking an overnight train, followed by an afternoon in a waiting room of the ferry station and a two-hour boat ride, we arrived in Macau (Island near Hong Kong) with no clue where we were going to stay. Our plan: Betsy would wait with our bags while Lee searched for a hotel. First hotel he arrives at, he notices a group of young women, all dressed like they’re going out on the town. Well, it is a Friday night, after all. Strange, but they all REALLY want him to stay at that hotel. Too bad it’s too expensive for us. He moves on to the next to find ANOTHER group of very attractive scantily clad women - this time even more eager for him to stay. Yes, Lee had landed in the red light district of Macau, and these were all prostitutes wanting him to stay at “their” hotel. Lee, the faithful husband, respectfully declined, and we found a nice little hotel with a deserted lobby to stay in.

PICTURES OF MACAU

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The quest for #2

When we arrived in our quaint little home, we were immediately bombarded by about 10 local women - in their traditional clothes, trying to sell us trinkets they’d made, and asking us the same question repeatedly: “Number one, number two, or number three?” We finally realized they were talking about the three famous scenic viewing points that you can hike to from the village - and whether we would like them to guide us. We declined because, after all, we’re used to hiking and trying to find these little lookout points couldn’t be too hard, right? Wrong. We spend a good three to four hours in the stifling, humid heat climbing up and down, up and down the stone staircases trying to find #1 and #2, to no avail. Disappointed, tired, and drenched in sweat, we headed back to the farmhouse. So, the next morning, we got up early, and hired a local man as our guide. In addition to finally getting to see the spectacular views at #1 (where there happened to be ANOTHER hotel all the way at the top) and #2, our guide had all sorts of tricks up his sleeve. He made a sun hat out of leaves for Betsy, sang Chinese songs, and used leaves to whistle. See the ridiculous video of Betsy trying to do this! (Right click and "save target as" to your computer. Then open and play from your computer)

PICTURES OF LONGSHEN

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A little farmhouse just for us

The Longshen region of China is where, hundreds of years ago, the Chinese created miles upon miles of terraced rice fields. By “terraced”, we mean that the surrounding mountains have been notched out to look like giant staircases. Each “stair” holds rice and lots of water during the rainy season. In the middle of the rice fields, there are dozens of little villages, accessible only by the network of stone staircases that have been built throughout the area. This is where we stayed the night - in a little inn (there are at least 1 or 2 in every village). The inns and houses in the villages were all these huge and intricate 3-story structures…animals on level one, living spaces on level two, and bedrooms on level three.

PICTURES OF LONGSHEN

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