Photo Catch Up...

Waterfall in Luang Prabang, Laos

Mekong River Delta, Luang Prabang, Laos

The feeding of the Monks, Luang Prabang, Laos

Rice Fields, Vang Vieng, Laos

Tuk Tuk Rider, Laos

Hand-made paper, Laos

Silk Worm Production, Luang Prabang, Laos

Woven Silk Scarves, Luang Prabang, Laos

Swimming in the cold water, Laos

Meeting the Little People, Hong Kong

Tiananmen Square, Beijing

The Bird's Nest with Smoggy Sky, Beijing

Temple of Heavenly Peace, Beijing

The King's Joy, Beijing

Embassy Row, Beijing

Lazy Panda, Beijing

Floating Market, Thailand

Leaving Hong Kong heading for Beijing

Walk of Fame, Hong Kong

Finding a new place

May 24

Today we take our time getting going and only show up for our funny little breakfast at 9:30.  We continue our lazy streak by sitting around and taking care of computer stuff and waiting around for the landlady's sister to show us her home next door that will be available tomorrow if we want to rent it for our two week stay.  We wait until the appointed hour only to learn that the current tenants want us to come back at 2:00.  At this point, we decide to head into town to do some shopping and to grab a bite to eat.  We find a small cafe on the edge of town and seat our selves for lunch.  At this point, we only have about 30 minutes to eat and it is clear that we will never finish in time for our 2pm meeting.  Hudson and I return to the hotel to meet and the sister has brought along her son who speaks good English to help broker the deal.  The house is ideal with two bedrooms and a day bed in the living area.  It has a wonderful kitchen and balcony with an amazing view of the harbor below.  The bathroom is a good size and comes with a washing machine which is much needed.  Best of all, there is plenty of hot water.  We negiate a great deal and will settle in tomorrow around noon.  When we get back to the lunch spot, our food is waiting for us and we eat greedily.  Afterward, we split up into groups of boys and girls and Annie and I have fun window shopping for a change. We return to the hotel after stocking up on fresh oranges - the kids are eating them by the dozens.  Dinner is, of course, at Ilias' restaurant where we dine on a special offering they have prepared with vegetables from their garden and fresh Skopelos sausages.  Dinner is great minus all the imbibing from the night before and we get home and off to bed.  Looking forward to a hot shower tomorrow!

Mamma Mia Island

May 23
Today we pick up our rental car in the morning and when we get there we are also shown the apartment that they are offering.  It turns out to be two studios side by side with Annie having to sleep on a sofa in the middle of the living room for the next two weeks.  Not such a great arrangement, although the price is great.  We are very non-committal on the apartment, however, we go ahead and get the car.  Easy breezy rental process and within 10 minutes we are down the road in our cute, red Renault.  We pull up at the hotel and gather up the kids for our first real adventure day here on Skopelos.  We are off to explore the island and to find some of the beaches that were featured in the movie "Mamma Mia".  We drive along the coastal road up the western side of the island and discover several other supermarkets that are available to us while we have our car.  We also pull up to Kastani Beach from the movie, but it does not have the right vibe for what we are after. They have carved out a grassy area which seems very out of place here and built a fancy restaurant and bar that rents out chairs and umbrellas.  We opt to continue on our path.  We pass by many other beaches: Milias, Panormas, Stafilos, before arriving at Neo Klima which is pretty deserted and we have the long stretch of pebble beach to ourselves.  Extra bonus is there is a picnic table and a shelter for shade.  We lay out our blankets and bask in the warm sun.  The water is still pretty cold, so any swimming is done in fits and spurts.  We have a nice lunch of olives, feta, salami and far too much bread and settle our lazy bones onto the beach for several hours.  We are intent on learning the Greek alphabet this week so we can translate the into English the many signs that we currently cannot read.  After we feel we have received a sufficient bronzing, we pack it up and head farther afield toward the small western town of Glossa.  When we arrive, we very quickly learn that no cars are allowed in town so we park on the outskirts, grab a refreshing drink and hoof it up hill to the center of town.  These small towns are rife with very narrow passages that are all intertwined.  There is no real privacy here as we hear the conversations of each family that is talking as we pass by.  We are learning that most of the families have lived here forever and are most likely related in some way.  Not sure if that makes the lack of privacy any more bearable - probably not.  We find a lovely bakery and sample their offering of baklava which is, of course, delicious.  Farther along we climb toward where the arrows indicate is the center of town, although we give out of steam before finding it.  We return to the car and are heading home when we see the sign to Agios Ionnis church (St. John's Church) which was featured in the movie.  The kids are claiming fatique and wanting to return another day, but we press on anyway.  We wind through the olive groves, passing cherry trees in full bloom, figs, organges, lemons and arichoke plants.  We finally reach the bottom of the very tall hill we have to climb to see the tiny church at the top.  We make the climb and are rewarded with a magnificent view of the surrounding area.  You have the feeling of being on top of the world as you look out at the deep blue ocean and feel as though you can see the ends of the earth as it rounds off in the distance.  The church is mostly a tourist attraction now and houses some relics, but little else.  We sign the guestbook and sit in the olive grove at the top before attempting the return trip.  Annie and Sam are intent on swimming in these amazingly clear waters and there are a number of spots that seem ideal.  They decide to climb out to a small out cropping of rocks that they can jump from and are encouraging me to join them when.....SPLIT.....I have ripped a huge hole in my shorts.  I return to the land, covering myself as best I can while they swim.  On the return trip home, we stop on the side of the road and enjoy some of the juiciest, freshest cherries I have ever had.  Back at the hotel, we give showering another try, but no luck so we rest a while before returning to our new favorite restaurant for dinner.  We sit inside as the weather gets cold and breezy at night.  The Greeks are really feeling the pinch of their current economic crisis and we are seeing the stress the reduction in tourists is causing them.  Each night, Ilias stands on the sidewalk greeting passersby and encouraging them into his restaurant for dinner.  Most of the time it works as he is a real character with a zest for life.   The meal is wonderful as always and afterward the family of Ilias, Ionnis, The mom, and other brother all join us at our table for drinks and stories.....we get an earful and a belly full and this is the first time we have had as much to drink since we left Raleigh.  We get home feeling very satisfied and very sleepy. A great day!

Living the Island Life

May 22

We awaken to the most gorgeous weather we have seen.  The view from our hotel is amazing and we can see all of the details of the cafes that line the harbor and the hillside that rises up.  The houses gleam in the bright sunlight and the water is a turquoise shade of blue.  We have a bit of an odd breakfast as we are the only guests currently staying in the hotel.  The older couple serve us coffee - amazingly weak - bread, butter, jam and ham and cheese.  We have internet service in the lobby only, so we all gather in that area with our little machines at the ready to play and catch up on news from home and any business that needs tending to.  After breakfast, we head into town to find a supermarket to purchase some picnic items and find the perfect place.  We stock up on bread, feta, olives and salami for an impromptu lucheon out by the pool.  We all split up the groceries for the walk back up the hill to our hotel.  We inquire while in town about a rental car and arrange to pick one up the following day.  We also find out about an apartment that the rental car company has to offer and we get some of the detail about it for the days after we check out of the hotel.  Ironically, we learn that the car rental guy is the brother of Ilias in whose restaurant we had dined the previous evening. We stop along the way to tell Ilias about the ironic meeting and he invites us to have a coffee and lemonade with he and his wife.  We get back to the hotel around 12:00 and all head up to the pool for a nice afternoon of relaxation in this most idyllic location.  We read, nap and swim for many hours before another attempt at showering in our hotel room.  The owners insist the water is warm, no hot in fact, and they hold their hands under the tap.  When we strip down and prepare to bather, however, not even tepid.  This is getting old fast.  We force ourselves to shower despite the cool temperature and fell all the better for it.  Around 8:00 we walk once again into the edge of town and return to our new favorite restaurant, Ilias' Taverna for another great meal.  After dinner, the long walk home awaits, but at least we are burning off all of the calories we are consuming at each of our many meals.  Bedtime soon after our return.

Leave Athens for Skopelos

May 21

We get up and have coffee early and ready ourselves for our 8:00 departure to the bus station.  Instead of trying to save a few bucks by lugging everything down into the metro, we decide to find out how much a taxi to the bus station will cost.  Turns out it is not much more than the metro, but much quicker and much more convenient.  We arrive at the appointed hour and wait for the 9:00 departure which (surprisingly) happens at 9:00.  This bus is a far cry from those we have travelled by in Thailand and elsewhere in Asia.  We have assigned seats and it is bright and shiny, nearly new and very cozy for our 4 hour drive. Once underway, we watch as the big city fades away and we are zooming down more bucolic street that soon give way to orchards and farms and finally seaside villages.  We arrive in Volos around 1:00 and take another taxi to the ferry port.  We cannot board the boat until 2:00, so Annie, Hudson and I take a stroll around town while Paulie and Sam have ice cream at the dock while guarding our luggage. Soon, we are on board and sailing at a very rapid pace toward our final destination.  This is a wonderful ride and before we know it we are pulling up to the first port of call - Skiathos.  The Greek island group we are visiting is called the Sporades and is located northeast from Athens in the Aegeon Sea.  We may a short stop and then onto Skopelos.  As we approach the harbor the kids are amazed at how beautiful it is here.  The water is crystal clear and the sky is a gorgeous shade of blue that sets off the white stucco houses.  We get off the boat and are enchanted with the small cafe lined walkway that circles around the harbor.  We soon get a taxi to our hotel, the Aegeon Hotel, and we arrive amid some confusion at the reception desk.  The landlady seems to think we were arriving on the 23rd and does not seem at all prepared to have us as guests in her hotel.  She does not speak good English and insists that we speak to her daughter on the phone to discuss the details of our reservation.  Eventually, we get settled into two separate rooms and unpacked a bit and off into the town to find our way around.  We walk along the waterway until we reach an outdoor cafe and are lured in for our dinner to a most welcoming location.  We meet the owner, Ilias and his family and we have a great dinner.  It has turned a bit nippy and we have a brisk walk home up, up, up the hillside to our hotel.  We are not able to have any hot water so we forgo showers before bedtime.

Monastiraki Market & Pireaus

May 20

Today we head out for a Sunday market called the Monastiraki Market.  We arrive on the early side of things for the Greeks as the shops are not yet open and there are no vendors that we can see.  It is quiet and a nice time to walk through the ancient streets and imagine all of the history that has taken place here.  We happen upon a very small church, in fact, small is not a small enough word...tiny or miniscule are more apt for this church.  It was so small that about half of the congregation had to stand outside the doors.  One might say it was standing room only...haha!  We peer inside and watch the very end of the service.  The stone to build the church, Little Mitropoli, was brought from Galilee in the 12th century and inside you can admire 19 mythological scenes. As we continue to meander we come upon a travel agency and since we are in need of ferry tickets to go to Skopelos so we venture inside and purchase our tickets.  With that little errand out of the way, we purchase some of the most beautiful cherries I have ever seen from a fruit vendor and walk along the narrow, labarynthine streets before calling it a day and pressing farther afield.  We want to visit Pireaus, the third largest city in Greece and home to a huge port.  Paulie really likes the feel of the port and we can have a lovely view and eat a bite of lunch there.  We take the metro for what seems a very long ride and come out at the end of the line.  It is a beautiful spring day and we bask in the warmth of the sunshine.  We pick up a snack of cheese pies at the corner bakery and all share in their toasty goodness before taking a catwalk up and over the large boulevard to the harbor.  When we reach the harbor, we are all amazed at the huge boats docked there and how crystal clear the waters appear. We return to the other side of the street to have a lunch of pork gyros and then return to Athens via the metro.  Back at the Athens Delta Hotel, we rest and make arrangements for the next days travel.  We want to make the most of our last night in Athens and so decide to head back to the Plaka for dinner.  After a long walking around and getting slightly lost among the ancient and endless alleyways, we settle on a small corner restaurant that looks delicious.  We enjoy a great meal and return to the hotel to get packed up and rested for the next adventure.

Acropolis & Parthenon

May 19

Today we are up early after our long sleep and we make our way to the lobby area for breakfast.  We check up on things on the computer and take our time getting out the door.  We are off to the Acropolis today to get a taste of what the kids have been looking forward to for months.  We take the Metro, but stop at Omonia station to check out a tourist agency that can help us get to the island of Skopelos in a couple of days.  We are unable to find the office, but we do enjoy some cheese pies while here.  Back enroute to the Acropolis, we arrive and walk up the cobblestone street to the South Entrance.  We enter and have quite a climb to the top of the "mountain" on which the Parthenon sits.  The kids are in awe and we talk a lot about the history of the site and what it means to the Greeks.  The Parthenon is technically the Temple to Athena Nike, the Greek goddess of the hunt and protector/namesake of the city of Athens.  From up at the top of the hill, you can look out over the entire city  and we can see all the way to the port of Pireaus on one side and the foothills on the other.  The sky just begins to clear up a little while we are there and it makes the city below shine in the Spring light.  After we have ventured around for a while, we opt to head over to the area known as the Plaka or the ancient marketplace.   We enjoy walking along the streets and taking in the small shops that line the walkways.  The proportions of this city are much like Bangkok, where a huge city is broken down into small neighborhoods and within those the walkways are quite narrow and lined with buildings on either side.  Once we arrive, we find a restaurant for lunch and we enjoy real gyro sandwiches and Greek salads.  We continue on our walking adventure for a while and then return to our neighborhood for a siesta.  We try to shower in our funky little bathroom, but the shower head cannot stay put on the wall so we have to hold it in our hands while we bathe.  Hudson devises a method for stopping up the water and so I am able to enjoy a nice hot bath instead.  Dinner and bed follow shortly thereafter.

Doha to Athens

May 18

At 2:00 we were in the air flying toward a desert country I had only heard of a couple of weeks prior.  We are to land in the capital city, Doha, and change plans for our flight to Athens.  The flight is very nice and the service is unmatched on Qatar Airlines.  We watch a couple of movies and before we know it the sun is rising and we are approaching our first destination.  This place is nearly all white...the desert, the city, the light....it all has the appearance of being in a dream with all the color faded to shades of white.  Once we are on the ground, we board a bus that takes us to the terminal.  This is a most curious place.  People from the across the globe mingle here.  We purchase some coffee at the restaurant and the cashier takes the money in countless currencies.  There is a shopping area on the bottom floor with jewelry, luxury cars, and the largest tub of Nutella known to man.  We are in the airport for only a short layover and then we get back on our way.  We take another bus and board another plane.  The heat is already searing and it is only 7:00 in the morning!!  Once on board the plane, we settle in for another long ride.  A couple of movies later we are approaching Athens.  The weather here is cold and rainy and we have to take out what little long sleeve clothing we have.  We get to the metro station and wait for a train.  We have a long ride into the city from where I have directions to our hotel.  We arrive at our stop and have to walk in the pouring rain.  Very few people on the streets speak English and the street signs are written in the Greek alphabet so we are quite lost.  We make a few wrong turns and then arrive at our hotel.  The reception man is very kind and we are quickly checked in and unpacked.  After a while, we search out a restaurant for dinner and discover a very nice local place to eat.  Again, not much English spoken here, but we are able to see the evenings offerings in the kitchen window and make our selections.  The meal is absolutely delicious.  After months of eating rice and noodles, it is amazing how good bread and cheese tastes.  We go all out and order Feta, Olives, Bread and Tzatziki.  By the time it hits the table, our family of vultures has devoured it.  I think we may have scared the server by how eagerly we consumed the food.  After we eat, we walk back to the hotel and settle in for a very early evening.

Last Day in Beijing, 2am flight to Doha

May 17

We can’t believe that this is our last day in Beijing.  The time as flown by and we are scrambling to take care of last minute shopping and site-seeing before our late night departure.  Annie and I have made plans to meet up with Chris and his girlfriend to do a little shopping and we head downstairs around 9:30.  Paulie is off to the zoo with Sam and possibly Hudson for the last day.  We are off to the Silk Market and pick up Jolie at the Qianmen metro to make the trek to our shopping destination.  She is delightful and it seems that Chris is quite smitten with her.  We arrive and devise a plan to split up and meet after an hour to reassess whether we want to continue shopping or not.  Annie and I make a beeline for the basement and the Tory Burch area for a purse and shoes for Bonne.  We use this excuse to revisit the items that we may also want to purchase and Annie finds a great bag in the meantime.  Afterward, we continue on to the jeans and raincoats before meeting Chris and Jolie at the designated spot.  We drag them back to our shoes and purses before venturing up to the 4^th floor to purchase a Chinese ipad for a very tiny price.  Then we decide to head out for a wonderful lunch in a part of town we had not yet visited.  We take a taxi to the hutong and enjoy this very small neighborhood street scene with the small boutique shops.  We make our way up some very steep and narrow stairs to a rooftop garden eating area.  It is certainly nice to have someone along who speaks the language and we order and have food at our table in no time flat.  Our meal is wonderful and with the open air seating and the wonderful spring day, it is a very memorable event.  After a while we venture back to the street and browse through the shops till we arrive at the end of the street.  Despite the late hour, we opt to go back to the Pearl Market to see if we can get a few gifts before returning to the hotel.  We make our way to that part of town and exhaust both ourselves and all the shopping opportunities before taking a taxi home.  We arrive around 5:45 and have a short time before we are to meet up with Chris for our final meal of Peking Crispy Duck.  We find a small restaurant on the walking street and enjoy a most delicious meal before going home to chill for a couple of hours before we have to head out to the airport.  We get all packed up and showered before heading upstairs for a last few rounds of pool and a beer before saying our goodbyes to Chris and all of the King’s Joy Hotel staff.  Somehow, we hail a large minivan taxi at the foot of our hotel who agrees to take us to the airport for a mere 200Yuan.  We jump at the chance and are off to the airport with time to spare.  We arrive at some underground parking nightmare garage where the minivan drops us off and we have to fight the other passengers to get off of the enormous elevator that delivers us to the terminal.  We get in a VERY long line of people who are on our 2:00am flight and wait an endless amount of time before depositing our luggage at the counter.  We head through customs, which is a bit of a challenge and then have to take a train to our gate.  This airport is huge and once we arrive at the gate we are almost immediately told to board the plane.  This is going to be a very long flight, but we are hopeful as we have head that Qatar Airlines offers super service.  We will see!

Forbidden City

May 16

Today we have decided to venture off to the Forbidden City to see one of the most amazing architectural feats that remains in Beijing.  We walk through Tiananmen Square and arrive outside the gates.  We are amazed at how many people are out and about today and wonder whether it is a holiday here in the city.  It turns out that the Mao Mausoleum is only open two days a week and this is one of them.  The line to get inside winds around the building and the square is full of people.  We get inside and read intermittently about the history of this amazing palace.  This structure served as the home of the emperor and his wife.  Only eunuchs were allowed inside and the dwellings include some 980 buildings that house over 9,999 rooms.  The concubines, wives and servants lived here and the complex is comprised of several layers of inner and outer walls that form the Forbidden City and the Imperial City.  This was home to over 24 emperors spanning the Ming and the Qing Dynasties from 1404 to 1644.  Many of the buildings were destroyed during the time that Chairman Mao was at the reins of leadership, however, the inner complex of the Forbidden City remains.  We walk through the hallowed halls and are forced to jostle for position with the hordes and masses to see even the smallest of details.  The throne rooms and the inner chambers are very difficult to see under any circumstances as they are roped off from quite a distance.  We walk around for several hours before calling it a day and returning to our neighborhood for lunch.  Annie and Hudson return to the hotel and Sam, Paulie and I go to the restaurant around the corner and way over order a lunch menu.  We go back to the hotel for a late afternoon nap and plan to meet up with Chris later to have a hot pot dinner.  We get to the lobby around 7:30 and  head out to the “rice” lady who is very pleased to see us coming back to her restaurant for dinner.  This is an amazing meal and much like our version of fondue.  We have shaved meats, spinach, cabbage, shrimp, dumplings and a whole array of rice and sauces.  After we have stuffed ourselves, we walk around a little before going home and to an early bed.

Great Wall of China

May 15

We are up before the crack of dawn in order to make our 6:00 meeting in the lobby for our Great Wall adventure.  I attempt to grab a coffee from the MacDonald’s, but they are closed.  The street is alive with activity…sweepers cleaning, vendors frying bread, restaurants making steamed dumplings…..it is an early morning kind of city.  Upon my return to the hotel, we grab the group and make our way to the metro and off to the bus station.  We have a little trouble finding it, but a nice woman helps us on our way.  We locate the area for our bus (#936), but we have missed the first one that was scheduled to leave at 7:00.  No worries, there should be another one at 8:00.  We are told that we are waiting for the wrong bus and it is very confusing because no one seems to speak English.  Soon, some western looking people are waiting in line for the bus next to us (#867) and we inquire as to where they are going.  They assure us they are also going to Mutianyu and we give some thought to switching lines.  We continue in our line and we meet a couple from Connecticut, the wife speaks Chinese and tells us that the #936 is delayed in traffic, so we decide to switch lines to the #867.  It arrives around 9:00 and we all take a leap of faith and get on board.  About 2 hours later, we are deposited at the bus terminal at the bottom of the hill at the entrance to the Great Wall of China.  We have about 3-4 hours to walk around before the last bus leaves at 4:00. We quickly find that the Great Wall has become a sort of Great Mall and the vendors are out in full force from the moment you set foot off of the bus.  We walk by most of the stalls, but get a little distracted once we see the lovely fresh fruit that is available.  I inquire about some bananas and apples and soon we are sampling the most delicious dried cherries.  I ask about the price and the total comes to…..are you ready for this???......$30.  Not the snack I had envisioned.  We walk away, thoroughly disgusted with the fruit seller as she calls after us….”how much you pay?”.  We keep up the pace until we arrive at another vendor who sells us the exact same fruit, dried cherries and all, for a total sum of $5.  We enjoy our breakfast as we approach the climb up to the wall.  Wow…..don’t know why I hadn’t really thought how high we would be hiking today.  Up, Up, Up the steep stairs we go, stopping every so often to see what we are in for up ahead.  It is an arduous climb, but we are pleased when we finally make it and are rewarded with an amazing view.  The day is sunny and clear and there are surprisingly few tourists that we are competing with for photo ops.  We arrive at outpost #8 and walk toward the cable car landing at outpost #14.  The section where we are was begun in 1404 by the emperor Yongle who wanted to protect his nation from the invading forces from the north.  This section was completed in 1420.  We enjoy our leisurely walk toward our destination, some of it is quite a challenge, but the exercise feels good on this beautiful day.  We are glad to be joined by Chris who livens up the family dynamic and motivates to keep on truckin.  We get there and decide to forgo the next section of the wall (#15-#23) and instead opt to go down the mountain by the cable car.  Once back on the ground level, we decide to have a nice lunch to celebrate our hike and for figuring out how to get here on our own, sans tour guide.  We find a nice restaurant and have a great meal with a few surprises (not the egg rolls we are used to) but we are all very full at the conclusion of it.  We return to the parking lot to await the last bus of the day and enjoy lounging in the sunshine for a while before the bus arrives.  Once on board, we are all a bit pooped and nap during the return trip to Beijing. When we arrive, we all hustle for the metro and the comfort of our room before venturing out to dinner.   We don’t get very far as we take the lazy way out and go one floor up to the restaurant/bar for salads and other Western food before falling into bed for a good, long sleep.