Bangkok (take 1 & take 2)

After spending over 2 months in South America and stopping over in the Pacific Island mentioned before, our entryway to Asia was Bangkok. And it was a surprise. Yes - we knew that Bangkok was a larger city but ... yet it appeared larger and more developed than we expected. Large highways, comfortable buses, good train syste, even extensive town ferry system - nice! But we knew that we were in the right place - the Tuk-Tuks (rickshaw motorcycles) were everywhere. Our first time in the city we only had a couple of days as we were rushing away to the flower festival (see more in Chang Mai entry). The second time we allotted more time to take the city in. Our top Bangkok highlights:

1) "our special breakfast stand" - extremely low key in a middle of a local food market in a rather non-touristy area of Thewet. We discovered it during our first morning there. Stomachs empty, for the first time we were not able to rely on any of my language skills to intelligently order a meal. Thai is quite different. This was the beginning of the traveler's "hand language" that we have been using in Asia. We basically pointed at some pots that a few nice ladies had in front of them hoping that they would be able to explain what is inside. They were able to "describe" two out of the dozen dishes they had in front of them. It was apparently fried "phishes" and brown sauce that was "no meaty". We ordered the brown sauce and another curry sauce both over rice noodles, which since then we have been having almost everywhere in Asia. While the curry was nice it was so spicy that even our spice-friendly tongues could not take it. On the other hand, the brown sauce turned out to be a sweet and tangy peanut sauce - absolutely delicious and VERY appropriate for breakfast. We had the peanut sauce breakfast a few times at the same stand - unfortunately with a bit of a language barrier I was not able to score the recipe and later we have not found the same delicacy anywhere else in Thailand

2) fruitshakes at every corner. We had them pretty much at every meal and more. Banana, papaya, strawberry, mango - you name it. Delicious, inexpensive and available at any hour almost anywhere. Add some local rum or vodka (froma protable water bottle) to it and you have a super yummy coctail (s) at night (did I say cheap!?)

3) the WATS. Buddha's temples are abundant in Bangkok. We visited a bunch. One more impressive than the other. Emerald Buddha, Golden Buddha, Reclining Buddha - magnificent figures - not to be missed. 4) The teak palace. We both loved it. James thought that it was the best royal quarters that he has ever seen. I am not sure that I agree but the less pompous wooden structure definitely had its charm without the ostentatious luxury in "traditional" palaces around the world,

5) The shopping - so many markets - so much to see - so much to buy. Unfortunately since we are on a road for a long time I had to stick mostly to the "see" part. Besides the famous knock-off stuff , Bangkok really has a lot of very nice handicrafts. Scarfs, wooden articles, lamps, etc... If I only did not mind carrying it all. Or if the shipping was easier to execute and cheaper...My favorite market was a Lumphini Night market. I got one full night to just hang out by myself at it (without James beyond-bored stare). This was only possible because there was another attraction that was a must-do for James and not-at-all-my-thing for me, namely:

6) Thai kick boxing. Bunch of short thin, yet super shapely Thai man, fighting in a boxing like ring. Here is a couple of James' pictures. Check for James' comment. The freakest part The least favorite part about Bangkok - spending way too much time on the Polish passport issues. I love being Polish but our bureaucracy has got to go!

Morea

This is our honeymoon after all! Maybe this is why there are almost no pictures to be shared from these few heavenly days :) The truth is that we spent so much time in the water that we almost never had a camera with us. Morea is a gorgeous little island just a short ferry ride away from the Island of Tahiti. After arriving on Tahiti at midnight - we stayed the night on a hostel's floor (as is usual we had no reservations). Then we were off on the morning ferry to the island that we were told is much quieter and prettier than Tahiti. We were not disappointed. The island became our little piece of paradise for those few days. We were "stationed" in a little hut on the north western part of the island where the beach is the whitest and surrounded by coral reefs. Literally, our hut was within a stone throw from the sand and the lively coral was just a couple of yards from the sandy beach. Furthermore, within a half an half- hour swim, we even had a private little island! It used to be an exclusive Club Med property but has been abandoned and is only now looked after by 1 hut. Surrounded by all kinds of aquatic life, including 2 types of rays (sting-ray and eagle-ray) we were in heaven. We spent hours in the water. And it really did not matter that we came to Tahiti during its several rainy week streak - we were wet most of the time anyway :) It seemed that we would only come out to rest, eat and sleep. The eating on this island was quite different than most of this honeymoon - here we cooked every meal as the prices on this island are just outrageous. I have never been to another place like it. We did however splurge once for a dinner in a restaurant - and I must admit that it was one of the best meals we have had on this trip. We had fresh fish tartar and serviche - both excellent. The favorite story from Tahiti though was the shark diving. Just imagine 30 black tip, about 1 meter long sharks just circling around you, feeding on a huge tuna brought by our instructor to "invite the fishees".. Now imagine these sharks scared, making space for a furious 2.5 meter lemon shark. It really was amazing how quickly the huge grey shark commended respect. With no effort, uninterrupted, he tossed the enormous tuna head around until there was only bones left. What a spectacle!

Easter Island (Rapa Nui) - how lucky are we?

How many people can say that they have been there? Not many as the island has not been very visited in the past and only in a last couple of years is receiving a few dozen thousand tourist per year. But the lure is not in just a fact of the remoteness. The island is just magical. It feels like one is a part of a magic story. Huge moais are scattered on the entire island reminding one of the mystical cultures once present here. To this day no one knows how this statues were moved around and stood up on their pedestals (ahus). Most of them weigh tonnes and are carved in rocks miles away from the final erected statues... It is just unbelievable. And all the moas that were carved and never made it to their point of destination - there is literally hundreds of these magical giants all over the island with most right at the quarry abandoned due to any imperfection during carving or accident during moving... absolutely breathtaking.

We got to learn about the culture, legends and theories from a great Aussie guy who came to the island to make the Costner movie... and never left...Married a local, studied the island even more, and now shares it with tourists lucky to pick his agency... There was more luck on the island to be found. On the 3rd morning we met a Polish couple: Justyna and Wojtek. I was thrilled! The night before I was just telling James how awkward it has been to be almost deprived from Polish language during our trip... So not only did Justyna and Wojtek let me speak a bit in Polish but also turned out to be wonderful travel companions to both of us for the next 3 days! They were awesome travelers (yes kids were left at home) - curious and adventurous .. to James' content also spoke great English. Together with them we experienced some of the most memorable moments on the island: - the most gorgeous sunset by the moai just outside of town - sipping on some fine Chilean wine staring in an amazement as the sky turned different shades of red, orange and purple creating only a fair background for the unreal set of moas set right by the magnificent ocean... "zyc nie umierac" - as Polish would say

- the most unbelievable beach setting - no it was not your typical blue water tropical beach - tit was much more. A small white sand beach tucked away on a remote part of the island with a full row of moas among palm trees guarding all the sunbathers and a hill to climb right on the side for those not so keen on water and moas... yes there are some weird people out there. we were just stunned by the entire setting - no wonder why we kept on revisiting.... Justyna and Wojek, James and I - each time we drove back to the is spot we stood there awed.

- and a bull fight... no not the type that you would think of in Spain. I am talking an actual, muscle-full, sand kicked, steamy breath, horns pointed and dug in skin - real fight between two bulls. That is what stopped us ine day from driving on a road for about a tense and very interesting twenty minutes... lucky that we had a car and Wojtek (driver) with guts. Otherwise we might have been there for way, way longer...

What else about the island. Wild horses. Everywhere... This year they have estimated that there were more horses on the island than inhabitants (over 3400). While they look wild - pretty much hanging out everywhere - in fact they all have their owners - as a closer look on their skin ca show. Sadly their marks are quite large... Another favorite thing about the island - sea turtles..Almost domesticated :) it seems that people treat them well here as they are friendly enough to come right to the shore and even swim around you. James and I loved our snorkeling afternoon with them. I think it was even better than an organized scuba dives we took there... Although these were quite nice too. Only was that sunken moai real? I also finally found a place that served curanto (a stew of fish, pork, chicken and vegetables all cooked together .... Here it is called uru and besides served in expensive restaurants to tourists (like us) is only eaten on special occasions by the locals. I bet the "real thing" tastes better - the one we got was not bad, but not all that impressive - at least we had great company! The food to brag about really were teh tuna steak empanadas - they were the delicious staple of our diet there. Oh we also saw a local dance show. Wow!These people are just gorgeous! All single friends - head to Easter Island - probably the best looking people in the world! Gorgeous girls and super nicely built men... Really! And they really like interacting with foreigners - something about a small gene pool on the island at this time... more of our pictures on snapfish (see the link on the left) for more facts and info on the island you can check out: http://www.polynesia.com/rapa-nui/introduction.html or just start saving money - you have to go there in your lifetime!

PENGUINS

Call me silly but the only reason that we went to Punta Arenas, Chile was - penguin colonies. I think that these animals are so cute that i even dressed my groom as one for the wedding. Didn't he look charming?

Anyway near Punta Arenas there are penguins living in the ir natural habitat in two major spots: Isla Magdalena and Seno Otway.The Magdalena is a sanctuary that holds about 50 thousand penguins and can be only visited from a boat. I so wanted to be there... We even moved our flights as we realized that we were running late with sightseeing the southern part of this continent. However, the day when we were scheduled to take a boat out there the whole port closed due to strong winds. We could not argue much as even walking to the travel agency was a strain, since the winds were clocking at 120 km/hr... Luckily there was the back up option of going to Seno Otway which at this point holds close to 10 thousands of the beautiful Magellan penguins, about an hour outside of town. When we got there I could not believe how lucky things have turned out.There was so many penguins and we could see them from as close as 2 feet. Absolutely amazing!!!! These little creatures can really move ones heart. It was so so wonderful to see them walk around, swim, call on one another, feed the young ones, care for one another... Beautiful, unforgettable experience... I felt like a little girl spying on these cutsy birds, talking to them, mimicking their walk... They are SO cute! It was also awesome to come back home to a log cabin where our new friend Mauricio and our new Chilean grandma talked with us about life and all till late hours of the night over some hot tea, on leather couches, by the wooden stove... Mauricio not only gave us a lift to and from town, he also brought us to the airport and personally made sure that all was on-time with our flight. It felt more like we were being taken care of by a family than a place to stay for a night...Casa Desconsada was really a case and a well-worth splurge! Oh - foodwise - seafood soups are consistently awesome in Chile! And even the cheapest Chilean wine (yes - we even tried the box type) beat any Peruvian and Bolivian want to be wines.... Argentinian Malbec though still has a special spot on my pallet...

Torres del Paine - In a word...WOW

Such rugged beauty. For those who do not know anything about Torres del Paine it is a national park in Chile´s side of Pategonia which is famous for having beautiful glaciers, glacial lakes and its namesake Torres or in english Towers of Paine. We spent two days hiking in the park but I'm going to let the pictures do the talking.

Day 1 we were planning on doing two smaller hikes but during the first one the drizzle turned to a driving rain helped by the 120 kilometer per hour winds. That is the speed the ranger quoted and then told us to hide out in his place. So much for the second hike. Here are some pics from this hike and you can find more on snapfish.

Day 2 we hiked one leg of the famous "W" hike that most people do but we did not have the time. It was spectacular. Here are some more shots. No, it wasn't cold up near the top.

Off to Santiago now.

Beauty of Ice

Wow! One of the most beautiful places if not the most beautiful place I have ever been to... The glaciers of Patagonia. One day I saw a travel special on Perito Moreno glacier and I just knew that I wanted to see it, hear it, experience it... And we did.. and we did much more. We got to see the Perito Moreno Glacier from the popular cat walks set up at the face of it for tourists to see it.It was amazing! This glacier is one of the very few left on Earth that are still advancing forward (sadly most others are melting away). Moreno is moving at a whooping 2 meters per day which means that one can hear the cracks the small pieces falling off, the top snow slide down within just a couple of hours of watching it. We got even luckier. We observed a huge chunk fall off. What a spectacle! First one can see the small crack forming fast, then hear it as it breaks of a mountain of ice and splashes into the splendid green water. As it smashes with all its magnificence the the sheer volume of the bang just chills you to the bones. Then the mini tsunami it creates moves all the already floating and sunken ice everywhere around it. Just gorgeous!

But that is not all. We got to see the face of the Moreno face to face from a boat and... we got to climb it! The equipment (cramp-on-s and protective gloves) was provided. Whiskey and chocolate over glacier ice was served after the hike. What a day!

A day before then was equally if not more amazing. We were day- touring on a 200-person catamaran exploring the Upscala and other smaller yet amazing glaciers. Two favorite experiences there: one - best lunch location ever. Our packed sandwiches were a delight as we hiked to the Argentina lake to which 4 glaciers bring their precious cargo to... So tranquil. Out of this world. Out of this world were also all the ice sculptures that we were passing on the way to the glacier faces. All shades of blue diamonds often larger than our boat. Worlds just cannot describe the beauty. Pictures do no justice. You all just have to come and see for yourself!

Buenos Aires

Another late post from HCMC, Vietnam. When Ewa and I talk about towns which we have visited which we could live in for any period of time, Buenos Aires always comes up. Our reasons are it is 60-85 degrees Fahrenheit year round, it is situated on a river not far from the ocean and it is advanced enough to be interesting and not too frustrating. Oh, and the availability of cheap but great Malbec and steaks helps too! We spent New Years Eve in BA but that really wasn't that interesting. There was a free concert which we heard about 20 minutes of and then we went for a nice sushi dinner in a "trendy" part of town. It was like being in NYC; there was even about the same percentage of people speaking Spanish.

We spent a fair amount of time walking around the city and enjoying steaks at as many different "parrillas" as possible and getting geared up for our time in the mountains. We saw several tango shows on the streets and one show in a theater which was more like a Las Vegas show. Not my thing.

The steaks were my thing. I could have done nothing but eat steak. I would like to point out that while traveling through Peru and Bolivia decent meat is hard to come by and if you are lucky enough to find it, it's expensive. Being in BA was like Heaven for a carnivore like me (I don't like veggies).

I just added the pics from Bangkok Later