up to date...

aside from the devastating events of photo eating viruses, we are having a BAAALAAAST....as you might have suspected:) We are in Vietnam right now! Yes, Goodmorning to you too! So far we have explored Hanoi, Halong Bay via Junk, a super rainy rainforest, Hue, the DMZ, Hoi An, the highlands...and now since none of those names mean much to you....a run down!

• Hanoi: fantasmically refreshing after having enough of China:) We wandered through the Old Quarter, the French Quarter, Ho Chi Minh's Mausoleum(preserved body and all), found deliciously refreshing sugar cane drinks, and ate and ate and ate...


• Halong Bay: we boarding our Junk(sailing boat) and set off into the unknown! We did a 3 day 2 night trip in the bay...kayaked around, sunbathed, Austin trekked. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halong_bay


• Ninh Bihn: small town with beautiful sites to see around....including a boat ride along a river that is formed between the karsts...the ride goes through 3 caves, a skooter ride through the country side, a view from heaven...atop a limestone karst, and even a jungle trek that both of us went on...and we stayed with the locals 1 night


• Hue: former capital. citadel and all...even a citadel within a citadel within a citadel. we liked it here, we rented skooters and just drove and drove and drove, until Frankie tried to hop onto a sidewalk to park and pressed the gas instead of the brake:) heeeheeee clumsy. but before f crashed, we drove out to the tombs of Tu Duc, which are set within a lush landscape and dilapitated stone temples...very beautiful! we also ate and ate and ate...even an imperial feast one night(wait till you see these pics) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hue,_Vietnam


• Hoi An: beautiful city by the river. with tons of tailors...if anyone wants a beautiful custom made $80 suit, silk lining and all, go here! f skipped a's trip to the beach inorder to indulge in a little girl time shopping:) Austin took a snorkeling trip and saw tons of squid...but nothing compares to Indo! We also did a cooking class here! Very intertaining, but we did it, made Vietnamese pancakes(very taco-like), rice paper, spring rolls...and everything turned out delicious!! So to tell you about our favorite dish so far...Bahn Xeo...a thin rice batter pancake filled with shrimp, sometimes beef/pork, and bean sprouts; served fresh veggies(lettuce, mint, vietnamese basil, cilantro) and rice paper....take the rice paper in hand, put the pancake open faced on the paper, fill it with veggies, roll it up and dip it!!! YUMMY! we also saw My Son....http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Son and did a trip through the DMZ ...including the


• we then went to a little town not really worth mentioning xcept for the food we ate and the bus ride described earlier


• Dalat: now we are posted up in Dalat in the highlands of Vietnam! Tired of the hot weather and craving some rigorous adventure, we will set up shop here for a few days for Rapelling through waterfalls and bikeriding through jungles and farms:) Enjoying it so far...and guess what?? THERE'S TONS OF WINE HERE....Dalat wine is widely available all throughout Vietnam, and now...we are right smack dab in the center of all the gloriousness:)

okay...thats enough for now....we know all you really want are pics and don't really read these;)

tooter mcgrooder...

ever taken a mini van with 25 other people, capacity for only 14...driver honking all of the 11 hours you are on the bus, bags falling on your head, smokers puffing away, passengers silently getting carsick?? No?? Well maybe you've been on a bus with a maniac driver who takes blind curves at unbelievable speeds on a one lane road in a country that doesn't have or doesn't abide by traffic laws...except for one: I'm big, you are small...MOVE. No?? Surely you've been jammed next to someone you don't know nodding off to sleep on your shoulder while crabs attempt to feast on your little toesies?? hahha...guess not, except for maybe you, Corina:) This is the image that should pop into your heads when we say "bus ride"! Aaaaah...what a journey...literally:)

this is what its all about!!!

it finally happened...

yes sir! that's right....every traveler's worstest NIGHTMARE ever....dah duh duh...LOSING PHOTOS! So a Vietnamese PC(of course) decided to dump a virus on our flash drive and our memory card:) hahahah...yeah I can laugh about it now, because **it happens right?? and what can I honestly do about it now??? NADDA! So, folks, won't be any pics for a little while...sorry! But don't worry, we have a new card and I'll be snapping away soon, I mean, you really won't even know you are missing anything! Right??

P.S...the pics you'll see with these posts are yanked off gettyimages b/c of the camera issue at the moment, so no, they aren't our own...for now.

like I said...

so what I said was....there are first times for everything! first time blogging, first time for a worker(about 70+ yrs old) in a temple in Vietnam to "get friendly" with me, first time speaking Spanish with a local in Vietnam, first time for long nails...now gone, first time in a long time finding fresh bread, first time diving, first time drinking palm wine, first time caught in a traffic jam and being the only one on foot....first time getting laid out by the blow of a suv's bumper...and the list continues!

this is what its all about...and this is our experience:) ENJOY THE MOMENT!

china dolls and rickshaws

So right now we are in China!! I am sitting at our Youth Hostel in Pingyao, China...Shanxi Province. This is a great city with tons of beauty and history....a real live ancient walled city! At night the city is ablaze with red lanterns strewn everywhere! Tons of food stalls lining the streets(Austin and I are eating everything in sight), bikes(the ones you have to use your feet for) everywhere...ready to run you over at any given moment, and just full of life! Yesterday, we spent the whole day riding around on our own miniature-wheeled bikes, exploring the city....here's a link...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pingyao

Before we arrived here, via about a 10hour bus ride, we were frolicking through Inner Mongolia!! We took a Grassland tour on horseback, slept in a yurt...

http://www.akairways.com/pix/chamber/yurts.jpg

...ate alot, and the next day, we went into the Gobi Dessert and rode special Camels with TWO humps on their backs...oh yeah...that's us...camel riding fools! You can see a pic of us fools on our page.

Before we got down and dirty in the grit and grime...we spent a nice time in Datong, China. There we visited the Hanging Monestary...
http://www.greatwalltour.com/greatwall_pages/provinces/shanxi/datong/hanging.htm

...one of the only places where 3 religions...Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism are combined to one temple. I'm not going to lie...it was pretty scary being up there with a million other pushy tourists, several feet in the air, trying to make way thru the most narrow ways...all while trusting that this HANGING thing isn't going to let go!!! It was all really really amazing though! That same day we ventured far off to the Yungang Caves...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yungang_Grottoes.

Here there are millions of carvings of Buddha...all carved into the mountain! Some of these are soooo incredibly massive, I just don't know how they were able to carve with such perfection and detail! Of course...we didn't skip our Chinese Lunch:)

Drum role paleaaase.........WE SCALED THE GREATEST WALL EVER!!! While in Beijing, we were able to access some really great sites! That including a wonderfully difficult:) 6 hour hike on the Great Wall!! It was Absolutely the most wowing thing ever! We opted for a less touristy piece, and a stretch that wasn't fully restored, which meant in some places we were walking on original stone! Just wait for the photos! You'll be blown away!!! We also did the usual...Forbidden City, Summer Palace, Olympic Village, Peking Yuck...I mean Duck, tons of wandering thru streets...by wandering I mean eating, Lama Temple, Acrobat Show...fun fun fun, and tons more! We had a balast in Beijing!!! And just because I know you are curious....YES! The smog is as bad as they show on TV! One out of the 6 days we were there was a pretty day!!!!

And here we are...where we left off....INDONESIA YO! We left off chasing Orangutans and taking the jungle by storm!! We were in Aceh(pronounced A-chay) in Sumatra. There, Austin convinced me to slide down slippery slopes....fall 4 feet onto boulders...and slam my foot into boiling hot springs!!! hahaha! We did a four day/three night trek in the Gurah Rainforest! We managed to be lucky enough to spot 3 Orangutans in the wild....they were soooo cool. Not so cool with us being in their territory tho! They launched everything except their first born babies at us!!! One barely missing me:) We lounged around in our tents during the rain or in our own hot bath in the hot springs...having all our meals prepped for us...and just enjoying where we were! Definitely "ENJOYING THE MOMENT"!!!!

Now ya'll are up to date and can sleep tight knowing that we are having a baaaalast! That and the fact that I am long winded and will keep these shorter from now on:) Luv Ya...Mean it:)

Don't forget....if any of you adventure seeker, fun-loving peeps want to meet us out here...get your booties in gear and pack up...lightly:)