Long Overdue Pics from Vietnam and Cambodia

Cruising Halong Bay on a junk.


Morning mist.


Cyclo and Citroen outside the Sofitel Metropole in Hanoi.


Sunrise at Angkor Wat.


Banteay Samre.


Preah Ko.

Belated pics from our trip to Asia!

Dhaka, Bangladesh.


Rainy day at Lalbagh Fort. Dhaka.


The Taj.


Workers on the Red Fort in Delhi.


Mong Kok, Hong Kong


Man Moh Temple, HK.


Pork!

Good to Be Back Home, Except for the Work Part

Two weeks away. We got back on Sunday. There really is no place like home. Not that I didn't have a good time. I did. It was fun. It was hot. It was jam packed.

We were a week in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Four of those days (4 in a row) were for Mr. Octopus' brother's wedding. Bengali people loooove to party. You've never seen people have so much fun without alcohol. They just love being around each other. They may get tired every once in a while, they may be sleep-deprived, but that doesn't stop them for hanging out every day.

Then Mr. Octopus and I did a side trip to India for 3 days to relax and celebrate of 3rd wedding anniversary. We did 1 day in Delhi and 2 in Agra. The Taj Mahal was awesome. I highly recommend. Definitely see it with a guide because you will miss things if you do it yourself. We stayed at the Oberoi Amarvilas, which was excellent. Very pricy, but I think it's worth scrounging up your pennies to stay here. Every room has a view of the Taj.

Then we went to Hong Kong for 4 days. HK is a cross between Chinatown (a clean Chinatown, the cleanest one you can imagine), Wall Street and San Francisco. The food was good. We went into a few hole in the wall places and each was great. It was a welcome change after 11 straight days of Indian food. HK is also like one huge mall, which got annoying after a while. Name brand stores everywhere. People shop like crazy. I think that shopping is the most authentic HK experience you can have.

I should mention that it rained every day of our trip. The upside was that the rain cut down the heat, which was not nearly as oppressive as I was expecting. Still, I would've liked at least one clear day.

Anyways, I'm glad to be back home. I have a nasty case of jetlag. This morning I woke up at 4am. Yesterday at 5am. I hope to shake it off before the weekend is here.

On Vacation

We're on day 11 of our vacation to Bangladesh, India and Hong Kong. We're currently in Agra. Can't write much right now because the one hour I signed up for on this computer is ending soon. A few thoughts.

I thought I'd been to the third world (Vietnam) until I arrived in Dhaka. Hardly any women are out on the streets in Bangladesh. The only women you see on the streets are either the very poor or those accompanied by men. Everyone of any means is driven-- either by car, bus, baby taxi or rickshaw. No one drives themselves (that goes for men too).

In our first 5 hours in India we saw cows, goats, pigs, donkey and monkeys. Our hotel room in Agra has a view of the Taj Mahal. We've visited the Taj twice and it did not disappoint. We're off to Delhi this afternoon, then to HK tomorrow. I am craving non-Indian food.

Here I Go, Blowing Resolution #4 Again

I'll make this quick.

When I got back from Arizona, I told myself that I wouldn't plan any more trips for a while. That I should stay at home, relax and save money. But here I am, not quite a week later, wondering if I should plan something for Presidents' Day. I don't think I'll do it, but I have to admit, it's really tempting. It's like a big piece of chocolate dangling in front of me... So good, but so bad.

Alligator Spotting with the Family Octopus

We hoped that this gator would dive into the water and get all crazy violent, but all he did was open his mouth and move a leg.

Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving! We spent the holiday in Florida with the family Octopus. On Saturday we tried something new and took the cousins for a field trip to the Everglades. The Octopus and I were the oldest in the bunch, so we sorta felt like group leaders. The power was almost intoxicating.


Sunset over the glades.

Turning Back the Clock is Overrated

Today feels like the longest day ever. I can't believe it's only 9pm. I don't like that it gets dark so early. I need sun. I feel myself getting sad. LA life has made me really dependent on sunshine. I don't remember feeling this way in NY.


On a brighter note, I am really getting into succulents. I just got this great book called Designing with Succulents. Not only are they super cool looking, they require little water and are very good for fire prone areas like LA. Their leaves are filled with water and they don't act as fire ladders since they are usually low to the ground.


Chiricahua: "Wonderland of Rocks"
Last, but not least, I am making arrangements for our next trip: Arizona. The Octopus and I have been nostalgic for our 2005 road trip where we hit a bunch of national parks, so we decided that Arizona is the place for us. We'll be skipping the Grand Canyon and other Northern AZ sites in favor of the lesser traveled Montezuma's Castle, Saguaro and, what looks to be very interesting, Chiricahua. I'm looking forward to getting more national parks brochures.

In and Around Santa Barbara

Santa Claus lives in Santa Barbara!

We had a great time in Santa Barbara this weekend. We stayed at the Inn of the Spanish Garden, which I would highly recommend, and had a fantastic Italian dinner at Olio e Limone. We walked around town, shopped a little (I picked up a bottle of Pasolivo olive oil), and watched a bucketload of Entourage on DVD. We also visited Los Olivos, a little town in the Santa Ynez Valley (where Sideways was filmed), and had a yummy lunch at Los Olivos Cafe.


Mission Santa Barbara


The Presidio


The chapel in the Presidio


At the huge and wonderful Saturday Farmers' Market in downtown Santa Barbara


Hierloom tomatoes galore


Driving back to LA

Fleeing Hurricane Henriette

Casa Natalia's Beach Club
We spent the Labor Day weekend in San Jose del Cabo, Mexico-- the less touristy of the two Cabos (Cabo San Lucas being the other one). It was our first time to Cabo and we stayed at Casa Natalia, a great boutique hotel in town. The town itself is small, sleepy and dusty. It was super hot while we were there, over 100 degrees each day. We had a good time, but were really happy to head back home before Hurricane Henriette made landfall.

Our room.

The church in town.

Locals filling up before the hurricane. The line actually extended back much farther (there were dozens of cars in line).

Returning to LA. Flying over Baja.

Santiago, Chile

Only good things to say about Santiago. The city is modern, clean and safe and the people are friendly. There isn't tons to do, but it's a good (and necessary) stopover for other points in Chile.

Santiago is in a very active earthquake zone and yet it has a great subway system that everyone uses. If only LA were like this.

Riding the teleferico.
The very cool and colorful Bellavista neighborhood.
Downtown.
Quiet evening in the city.

Easter Island Rocks

The road up to Rano Raraku, the quarry from which all the moai (stone statues) were carved. Rano Raraku was hands down the coolest thing we saw on the island (or ever, possibly).

Completed and half-buried moai along the outer rim of the quarry. There are moai all around the island-- some close to the quarry, others miles away.

An especially charismatic moai.
There are only a few roads outside of town, some were paved, but most weren't. We saw lots of wild horses and a few cows.

Ahu Tongariki. The largest re-constructed ahu on the island, with 15 moai (ahu is sort of like a shrine and is the flat thing on which the moai stand). It's hard to tell from this picture just how big the moai are, but the tallest one is 46 ft, the shortest is 18 ft, and the average weight per moai is 40 tons. By the time European explorers made it to Easter Island (18th century or so) all of the moai and ahu had been toppled as a result of tribal conflict. So all of the moai on Ahu Tongariki and other ahus on the island are standing today because of archaeological restoration.

All of the moai are different. Some have pukao (topknots or hats), which were carved from red volcanic rock from a different quarry called Puna Pao. It blows my mind to think that the natives transported moai from one quarry miles away and pukao from another quarry miles in the other direction, and erected the moai with pukao on top (somehow it fit!), all without the help of wheels or working animals (the horses are believed to have been brought by the Spanish).

A rainbow after one of the many showers on the island.

Sunset at Ahu Tahai.

Greetingfroms Easter Iisland...

where i´m blogging via dial-up service (or so it seems). It is so slow here that by the time I see this text , I´m too lazy to go back and correct my mistakes. So bear with me.

Easter Island is pretty rad. It is the world´s most remote, inhabitabited island. About 4000 people live here and almost all of them live in the island´s only town, Hanga Roa. The climate is subtropical and the days have been sunny and windy, with very sudden and violent downpours. There are more wild horses on the island than people (about 5000). In town there are lots of stray dogs, all quite friendly. The seafood is fresh and yummy. I think I´ve had enough tuna ceviche to last a lifetime.

I won´t give you a brief history of the island (it would take too long and be inaccurate, I´m sure), but suffice to say that the moai are totaly awesome. How the islanders managed to transport them over miles is beyond me. The coolest thing by far is Rano Raraku, the volcanic crater - quarry- where all the moai were carved. We hiked along the crater yesterday (both outside and inside the rim) and saw hundreds of moai-- some completed, some still attached to the quarry wall, some in the stage of being transported and others toppled, face down in the grass. We took lots of pictures and I will post them once I´m back in the States.

Remote as this place is, it´s not immune to American cultural influences. We heard Lauryn Hill in a resturant yesterday. Saw parts of Shrek the Third on DVD/TV (bootleg no doubt). And caught a glimpse of Paris Hilton on the front page of the newspaper.

¿Where in the World is Chanchow?

Greetings from Santiago, Chile where it´s ¡Chilly! We touched down in Santiago at 7am and it was 28 degrees outside. I couldn't believe that I'd left summer in LA for wintertime somewhere else. But it's OK. Now it's warm. It's been about 65 degrees during the day. Chilean people are nice. They look much whiter than I expected. More Spanish than South American or indigenous looking. At least here in the city.

Mañana we are off to Easter Island. We´ll be flying on a 767 so I wonder how many people will be on the flight. LAN goes to Easter, then continues on to Tahiti (I think), then comes back. There is a small runway on the island that was expanded to accommodate an emergency space shuttle landing. No joke.

¡Hasta luego!

NYC to LA

Rewinding to September 2005, the month we moved from NYC to LA. We took about two weeks to drive out, the biggest chunk of time being spent in Wyoming to visit Yellowstone and Grand Teton. This was our route, with the circles representing where we spent the night-- Pittsburgh; Madison, WI; Sioux Falls and Rapid City, SD; Buffalo, WY; Yellowstone NP; Grand Teton NP; Tropic, UT; and Vegas.

I'd love to drive cross-country again-- next time taking a more northern route. I want to see Idaho and Montana especially. More nature, fewer cities. Actually, I'd really love to do a National Parks trip. Starting in LA and then hitting Sequoia, Yosemite and Lassen in CA, Crater Lake in Oregon, Craters of the Moon in Idaho, Glacier in Montana, Teddy Roosevelt in North Dakota and Voyageurs in Minnesota. Maybe we could rent a Prius. We met some people in Yellowstone who had driven their Prius from Texas and only filled up their tank once along the way.

Where It's Green

We are spending Memorial Day weekend with the extended Octopus clan in Connecticut. I can't believe how green it is here. The highways, which are usually only two, maybe three, lanes in each direction, are lined with evergreen, maple and other trees for as far as the eye can see. It's beautiful, but being a city/suburban girl, it's a little unnerving. The Octopus inlaws have a forest behind their house and the smell of the trees and things nature initially hurt my nose.

Octopus has many little cousins and one in particular really likes me. I think she loves me, actually. She's seven and people tell her that she looks like me. I don't see her very often and it warms my heart that someone who hardly knows me loves me so much. Families are the best.

My Favorite Weekend Getaway Place

Morning fog over the driving range. The view from our room.

Just returned from the Ojai Valley-- a quick hour plus drive NW of LA, near Santa Barbara-- and it was awesome. So relaxing, so beautiful. We stayed at the Ojai Valley Inn, which I would definitely recommend. Pretty Spanish mission style buildings. Nice landscaping. Lots of complimentary fitness classes (yoga, water conditioning, spinning). Good (but very pricey) spa. And golf, tennis and horseback riding, too, if you're into that. A very kid-friendly place to boot. What a treat to have a place like this so close to LA.

The same view, a few hours later.

Lots of lavender, salvia, rosemary and succulents.

Getting There

After several months of not going anywhere, the Octopus and I have a slew of trips lined up for the summer. These seemed like good ideas when I booked them, but now that they're fast approaching, I'm almost just as happy to stay home. It seems so exhausting. Flying is dreadful. And vacations always end up costing a lot (especially the short ones). But I shouldn't complain. I'm happy to visit family or be in a new place. It's just the getting there that sucks.

The Next Big Trip

We'll be heading to South America for the first time this June. So many interesting countries to choose from, but we decided on Chile, and boy am I excited. I really wanted to visit Patagonia, but June is winter down there, so we are instead hitting Santiago and Easter Island. Santiago looks a lot like LA, a city wedged between the ocean and the mountains. Easter Island is seriously in the middle of nowhere. A triangular-shaped island only 45 square miles big (about the size of Staten Island) and 2,000+ miles west of continental Chile (a five hour flight from Santiago).

Flag of Easter Island