October 19, 2010
Chiang Mai, Thailand
A Mahout and His Elephant Friend.
It’s super hard for us to believe that we were in Thailand a year ago. Hanna was getting a massage, and Mike had a run-of-the-mill day…you know, just riding and bathing an elephant. No big deal. Now we’re sitting in offices in New York.
Enjoy some more pictures from that elephantastic day:
Spectator Mahout.
Flappin’ in the Wind.
Line o’ Elephants.
Mike Scrubbing Mother and Baby.
The Official Portrait.
Back on Land.
Posted in Life Decisions, Rewind, Thailand, Transportation
Tagged chiang mai, elephant, mahout, thailand
September 23, 2010
Emei/Baoguo, China
Hanna's Friend...Until He Peed on the Floor of the Train.
After an action-packed train ride from Chengdu (yes, the kid above really is the peeing culprit), we arrived in the one-street town of Baoguo which sits at the foot of Mt. Emei. We quickly found the Teddy Bear Hostel. Let us quote from their website:
“When we are young, clumsy bear, beautiful bear mum, handsome bear dad, cuttie bear baby, mischief naughty bear bro and silly lovely bear sis are all our best friends. They are our guid-angle, watching us growth. Teddy Bear is the happiest memory of our childhood.
Now we have gorwn up, jobs has exhaused us, love has torn us. We are fatigue and tiredsome. But Teddy Bear Hotel is everyone’s home, although it is not as luxury as 5 star hotel, but we could have the most cozy time here.”
Unfortunately we didn’t have the “most cozy time” there. Sure, our five-bed dorm room was spacious, and two German teens already in there were quiet and respectful. The remaining traveler? A Chinese girl in her late twenties. We battled with this girl during our two nights there.
The first tussle arose because of the air conditioner. If air con is available, we use it. Who likes sleeping in a hot room? On the first night, the German guys were asleep already when we headed into bed. Being the respectful travelers we are, we tiptoed around and drifted off to sleep in the breezy room. About an hour later, the girl comes in and immediately shuts off the air conditioner. Did she think about the four other people in the room? Of course not. We each woke up then drenched in sweat, so Mike quietly turned on the air con again. When we woke up in the morning, the unit was off. This was strike #1.
On the morning that Mike climbed Mt. Emei, he woke up around 5am to the sounds of the shower. The girl was up already (perhaps she was climbing too?) and in the bathroom. Mike noticed that the girl had turned on the overhead lights, so he shut them off to ensure good sleep for everyone else. (He also turned on the air conditioner which the girl had obviously shut off for the millionth time.) He was planning on getting up around 5:30am anyways to make a 6am bus, so he got dressed and then slipped out the door. The girl was still in the bathroom as he was leaving. It makes total sense to take a really long shower at 5am.
As the bus was about to pull out of the station, the girl comes running from out of nowhere. She was planning on climbing the mountain yet almost missed the bus because of her hour in the bathroom. Hanna said that soon after Mike left in the morning, the girl turned on the lights AGAIN and turned off the air conditioner AGAIN. We hated this girl.
Fun fact: did you know that admission (half-price because of Mike’s student status, of course) and the round-trip bus ride to Mt. Emei cost US $22.37? That’s more than half the money we spent that day alone. Emei is expensive compared to China in general.
And now….bonus pictures from Mt. Emei:
Mike's View for the Day: Never-Ending Stairs.
Yes, Even Horses Made the Trek.
Field of Clouds.
Peanut Butter, Peanut Butter Oreos, and Buddha.
Looks Harmless Enough, No? Don't Joke the Monkey.
Mike forgot that he played travel guide and just found this short video. Hopefully it gives some context for the terrifying bridge-of-monkeys experience:
After a year on the road, this is still one of Mike’s favorite days.
August 30, 2010
Nara, Japan
An Understatement.
We had heard about the deer city of Nara before we even left for the trip, and other travelers we met on the road raved about it as well. The above sign, however, should have had approximately two million deer on it…not just one.
After a leisurely walk through the bigger-than-expected town, we were a bit disappointed that we hadn’t seen any deer yet. We approached the massive park, and then we spotted them:
They hang around in groups like a lazy gang and wait for silly tourists to feed them biscuits. Some deer even bow to their generous cookie-givers before greedily snatching up the food. We saw this practice but unfortunately did not get it on video. (It’s easily found on YouTube. Do the work yourself, and find a short video. Booyah.)
Friendly Guy.
These deer didn’t mess around; they were hungry. They did whatever it took to grab some food and would rush over the second they smelled it:
At first the deer can be a bit off-putting. Some of them are quite large and grizzly-looking, but the majority of them seem harmless. Hey, at least they weren’t monkeys…
Since we don’t want to write our final thoughts about the whole trip because that would signify the end of the blog, we’ve decided to start a new series of posts. We’ll take a look back at exactly where we were on this day last year and post a picture or two that haven’t been seen yet. This won’t be a daily post, but stuff will be posted when inspiration strikes. (Yes, we completely realize that today’s date doesn’t match up to the date our post about L.A. went up. We know where we were when!)
August 17, 2010
Los Angeles
Overlooking L.A.
So young, so innocent, so fresh-faced. We headed up to Griffith Observatory for the afternoon to catch the awesome views it affords. Though we were leaving for Tokyo the next morning, we had no concerns. Work was done, our apartment was successfully subletted, we paid all of our bills, and we had said our goodbyes to family and friends. We had the day to just enjoy and become excited for the trip ahead. (Freaking out about logistics for Tokyo started later that night.) This picture just makes us happy as it reminds us of the awesome trip that was ahead.
An Observatory Plaque That Made Us Chuckle Like Fourth Grade Boys.
Note: Since we are on the road again and don’t feel like writing blog posts, we are now accepting guest posts. The first (in what obviously be a ridiculously long series) is by Kiwi Mike, the very cause of Mike’s win in the senior pic poll. Yes, Kiwi Mike exists. No, he is not a figment of our imagination that Mike has used as a scapegoat for his unlikely win. Enjoy. (If you have something to say, email us your guest post. We only charge US $1,500 for us to post your brilliant prose.)
It was me. I did it. I voted for Mike, and I voted for him a lot. I wanted to do it because he is my friend. But it’s more complicated that that, and I am here to share my story. This is my story.
My name is Mike, but you may know me as Kiwi Mike. That’s because I am a Kiwi, well, not an actual kiwi, but I’m from New Zealand, and that’s what us New Zealanders are called. I mean, you didn’t seriously think I was an actual kiwi? You’ve seen photos of me. I’m way too tall.
My mother calls me Michael, never Mike. Michael was the name she gave me. She gave it to me when I was born, which was lucky. I don’t know how she knew that was my name. I guess it’s a mother thing.
I was born in a small midwest country town famous for its corn. Mom was an artist. She specialised in tractors and was world-renowned for the paper mache John Deere JTR-450. You may have seen it. They have it at the Met. It’s been there since 1982. It’s next to that painting of the soup can.
Dad was in a scooter gang when I was growing up. It was all the rage at the time at the height of the Oil Crisis of ’73. All the motorcycle gangs traded in their big, fuel-hungry bikes for scooters and roamed in big, angry, wasplike packs around the suburban streets. They didn’t do the interstate thing back then because the gas cost too much.
Dad would ride off to their clubhouse…well, they had to downgrade that as well. They had meetings at the local Boy Scout hall in between Scout meetings. They would go down there and plan their next big caper and drink sodas. It was a huge step back from their own clubhouse. They weren’t allowed to drink beer there because the Scoutmaster would tell them off. He’d say, “Hey, that’s our beer…bring your own!” Those Boy Scouts really liked their beer. Dad didn’t want to get on the wrong side of them because they could tie some big knots.
My early years were spent either helping Mom with her art (I was often a model for her) or cruising around on the back of Dad’s scooter causing havoc with him and his gang. I mean, you know how much havoc a man on a scooter with a small toddler strapped to his back can cause. The stares that he would get would cut through a block of butter.
Wait, you don’t want to hear about all of that. That’s got nothing to do with why I voted for Mike. Actually none of it is true. I made it up. Well, everything except for the being Kiwi part. That is totally true.
So why did I vote for Mike? He has answered that already. He knows why I voted for him because I told him why when I told him that it was me that voted for him. I voted for him. Did you know that?
I voted for my friend Mike because he seemed sad that he wasn’t in the top three. I wanted him to win because I liked his photo because he looks so special. I voted for him a lot. I voted for him at work. I voted for him on my laptop. I didn’t vote for him on my iPhone, my other computer, Kylie’s iPad, or anything else. I just voted at work and on my laptop. I did vote so much that my computer told me I couldn’t vote anymore.
I thought I voted about 200 times. I was wrong. I voted about 600 times or thereabouts. I voted a lot. I would come home from work and turn on my laptop and start voting.
I did that for about three days. I wanted to do it for the whole week, but I wasn’t that dedicated. Imagine if I had voted for seven days. That would have been seriously funny. But that is a pipe dream now.
I have no remorse. I did nothing wrong. There were no limits imposed on voting. I believe the exact words were get in and vote for your favourite now. I voted, and my guy won. And deservedly so.
He has got a great name just like me. And a winning personality, also like me. We could be brothers, except for the fact that we only met in Japan. Oh well.
I will answer your questions and comments now. I will not be answering death threats, bags of poo on my doorstep, or any other such silliness.
Good-day…
Posted in Italy, Random, Rewind
Tagged corn, guest posts, japan, kiwi mike, new zealand, scooter, senior pic, voting
One of the biggest sources of controversy on our blog was the senior pic poll. It started out as a friendly competition, but then it got ugly. Mike’s dad and mom battled it out for first place with Hanna a close third…and then Mike started gaining votes. Lots of votes. We kept laughing as Mike darted into first place with no signs of stopping. When we closed the poll and saw the results, we couldn’t believe them. Neither could many of you, it seems. Mike received threatening emails and comments from his family that accused him of cheating, but he maintains his innocence.
During the entire poll, we claimed that neither of us ever voted. We still claim that. We hoped that Mike’s biggest supporter would come forward. The blog was quiet for a few days, and no one admitted the truth.
A few nights ago, we Skyped with our Kiwi friends in Australia, and the poll came up. We now know that Mike won because of this guy:
Kiwi Mike. Don’t Bother Him While He’s Playing Bingo.
Kiwi Mike read our post that Mike was crying himself to sleep because he wasn’t in the top three of the pool, so the Kiwi decided to help his similar-named friend out. That guy voted…a lot. Being a dorky techie guy who has an unhealthy obsession with his iPhone, his wife’s iPad, and his massive hard drive full of TV shows, Kiwi Mike figured out a way to have his computer vote multiple times. That’s why Mike got so many votes. He didn’t do it himself and had no knowledge about who was voting for him.
Kiwi Mike was quite amused with himself, and all you Jan/Joe/Hanna supporters can blame him for Mike’s win. Retract your comments of hatred towards Mike. Thanks.
Get off your pins and needles. The time has come to announce the winner of our senior pic poll.
Exactly 1,550 votes were cast, and we solemnly swear that neither of us voted once. Not once. The original competition was consistently a contest between Mike’s dad Joe, Mike’s mom Jan, and Hanna. Somewhere along the way, the competition changed, and Mike snuck his way into the top 3.
And now…the anxiously awaited results:
No, we couldn’t believe that Mike won either. We truly don’t know how. Even he admits that his picture isn’t the best. We’re still big fans of Mike’s parents’ pictures. Mike’s sister Jodi was a dark horse who had a last-minute run herself.
The prize for this contest was to feed and house us for a week. Since Mike unexpectedly won, that award will go to second place instead–Joe. Feel honored.
Please solve a mystery for us: who have you been voting for? We truly want to know where the votes for each person came from.
When we visited the Acropolis Museum in Athens, we were able to see many of the original sculptures that were part of the Parthenon. We noticed that many of the sculptures are missing and are listed as part of the collection of the British Museum. We learned that the British came to Athens at one point in time and removed a lot of the sculptures from the Acropolis, deeming them their property.
Now that we are in London, we were anxious to head over to the British Museum and check out their display of the sculptures:
Sculpture from the Frieze of the Parthenon.
Sculpture from the Pediments.
More than half of the sculptures no longer reside in Athens, and the British Museum has a large amount of them. The pediment sculptures, in particular, are much more intact than the ones in Athens.
We (mostly Hanna…don’t get her started) are a bit outraged that the Brits won’t give back these sculptures. Their stance is that they are exposing world civilization and history to a larger audience by having the art on display at the British Museum. Here the average person can see the art for free alongside other art from similar civilizations. We think this is bullshit. The Acropolis Museum is a beautiful facility that has reconstructed the sculptures from the Parthenon. Wouldn’t lovers of architecture and history benefit more from seeing the structure in its entirety instead of seeing many blank spots with signs saying that the piece can be found at the British Museum?
We aren’t political people and aren’t that well informed about the situation, but we definitely left feeling not very impressed with the Brits’ stance on this topic. They have an entire museum filled with stolen objects that they don’t want to return.
Maybe we are frustrated because the only part of Athens that we did enjoy was the Acropolis…
We have gleaned many hours minutes of enjoyment from looking at the results of our senior pic poll. Over 350 votes have been cast…and we think there have been a lot of repeat voters. We’re fine with that. Three contenders have emerged, and they are fighting to the death. Let’s just name names here: Hanna, Jan, and Joe. (Mike cries himself to sleep every night because he’s not currently in the top three.)
It’s been quite funny hearing Mike’s parents battle it out and claim that they have the best senior pic. These two haven’t been in high school for about forty years (sorry to age you guys…deal with it), but they are feuding like two popular girls seeking the prom tiara and sash.
We have decided to cap the voting next week, and you’ll notice that we have hidden the results of the poll from our faithful readers. (Ooooooh, tricky.)
YOU HAVE UNTIL 5:00pm ON WEDNESDAY, JUNE 14 TO VOTE.
Vote for your favorite senior pic as many times as you want. The winner gets to house us for a week and buy us dinner.
Click here to view the pictures and vote.
So we left Amsterdam yesterday, had a few hours to spend in Brussels, and then took the Eurostar to London. We’re gonna take a few days to settle into life in bloody ol’ London. While we are busy eating our weight in candy from Tesco, you’ll get some random posts about our trip. Real-time updates to come in a few days…
While we hung out in Tuscany with Mike’s family in April, we constantly joked about taking senior pics everywhere. We even got Mike’s sister and brother-in-law to take some. By the end of the trip, however, we forced the whole gang to don their most awkward look.
Our question to you: whose senior pic is the best? Scroll down, enlarge the pictures, and vote.
a) The Head Cheerleader–Amy
b) The Mathlete–Chris
c) The Best Dressed–Hanna
d) The Class President–Jan
e) The Teacher’s Pet–Jodi
f) The Science Nerd–Joe
g) The Bullying Jock–Mike
h) The Prom King–Pat
Vote early, and vote often:
Around the World in Eighty Liters 