USA - Excellent!

And the adventure continues :) We are heading out tomorrow for a condensed version of our originally planned cross-country USA road trip! Get ready Carolinas, Hotlanta, FL, Mississippi, NOLA and possibly even Ruston, LA!

I'm still on west coast time, but can't wait to set out on this latest adventure and soak up a tiny bit more warm weather before it's all sweaters all the time here in Maryland.

Keep in touch, and we'll write when we can!

Hong Kong

Cheers from Hong Kong! Sal and I are on the computer at our hotel (12 hours ahead of USA east coast, 15 hours ahead of west coast!) using our 15 minutes of connectivity per day. Apologies for not updating the blog since arriving here, but at least we can connect to Google from this part of the world. :)

Sal described Hong Kong as a perfect blend between San Francisco (with its steep hills) and Chinatown in NYC (great food)! It also has a district named SoHo and a Times Square complete with a giganto TV screen, so you can guess what other city it is similar to.

We CANNOT believe this is the last night of our 'Round-the-World adventure and feel that we are just now getting the hang of it and picking up momentum. Many people we've met along the way have been flabbergasted at the thought of traversing the globe in such a "short" amount of time. Yes, American readers, three months' holiday for such extensive global travel is a trifle short jaunt to the rest of the world...in fact, we've met many people who are off on anywhere from five to twelve months of travel adventures...and some that have vowed to "no come back." Please view that link - we miss you, Jim!

We've loved every minute of this crazy adventure and will never forget the amazing people and animals we have met along the way. <Shout out to the gibbons in Khao Yai National Park in Thailand!> Once we're home sitting on our bums we'll upload some pictures and videos and hopefully describe in an interesting way some of what we've seen and what we've learned.

Looking forward to seeing you this week loved ones and friends.

All our best from Asia,

Jilvatore

Chiang Mai - over as fast as a tiger bite ~ Happy birthday Mr. Frat!!!

And yes Jilv knows from experience... :) More on that later, but Jilv got bit by a tiger today...granted a four month old tiger, but still. I'm totally fine mom, no worries!

Below are a few photos to show how we celebrated Mr. Frat's birthday in style with jungle animals today:

Me feeling a tiger tooth on the toe - unexpected! :)

Sal being brave with HUGE 5 ton Asian elephants giving him hugs

Sal being even MORE brave with a full grown male tiger - the female was far too agitated which was scarier!

'Vatore owes an entry on our amazing time in Krabi/Railay Beach still, so please look forward to that.

And Jilvatore owes a description along with pics of our few days in Chiang Mai.

Tomorrow we embark on the infamous, yet wildly popular, bus-to-slow boat ride from Chiang Mai to Luang Prabang, Laos. Wish us luck! Sounds like we'll need it =)

<3 to you all

PIGEONS AND PIZZA - Deep Thoughts by Jill Shaner

Around the World in 90 days...so granted we have not seen the world in depth or anywhere near the majority of it, but from what we have seen it's safe to say that the MOST cultured (by way of international presence and longevity -- i.e. being one of the Etruscans' main sources of food) animal on the planet is the pigeon, and the most global food is pizza. If you're a picky eater, fear not when traveling. Pizza can be found in every city in every country we've traveled to. And if you are afraid of missing home while abroad, you don't have to go far to hear the comforting coos of pigeons ~~ just like home. ;)



่รสสรฟื ห้ฟืำพ ฟืก หฟสอฟะนพำ ดพฟะฟืกีนืน

 

Crabby About Leaving Krabi

In 22 minutes we'll be boarding a wooden motor boat from the mangrove cladden eastern side of Railay Beach, headed toward Krabi town -- part one of three in our journey to Chiang Mai (northern Thailand's biggest city), where we should arrive via airplane from Phuket around 10 PM tonight.

We are pretty sad to be leaving this laid back beach town with the most beautiful views of limestone karsts and caves framing the open sea. It's been a wonderland and a dream come true...playing in the refreshing ocean water, snorkeling with tons of tropical fish during a day trip to Maya Bay in Ko Phi Phi Leh (where the movie The Beach was filmed in 2000 - we loved hearing the Thai guides say "Leonardo" hahaha), cave climbing and treking, as we watched real mountain climbers do their thing and one VERY intense vertical hike up and down a jungle limestone karst to a lagoon and popular viewpoint. Sal is the ONLY person during our time here that we have heard made it all the way to the lagoon. I'm pretty proud of my jungle man!! :) I think I would've made it too if it hadn't been raining so hard...maybe next time!

That's it for now! Wish us luck on our journey up north =)



  

Khao Sok National Park

Sal and I had an amazing day today doing a Limestone Lake Tour of Khao Sok National Park in Thailand. I'm at an Internet cafe right now with terrible sticky keys, so I'll just briefly write that the weather was perfect, and we had a fabulous time!

Speed boating through gorgeous jungle green water, matched only by the jungle above it!

Kayaking and swimming in the same water, even as a British tour group member talked about alligators and crocs.

Seeing a family of Dusky Leaf monkeys in the trees while kayaking (soooo cute!)

Cute faced Dusky Leaf Monkey! (Pic from Google Images)

Eating a fresh Thai lunch and chatting with our group (a couple from Germany, a couple from New Zealand, the British chap and our Thai guide -- so many interesting and great people!)

Hiking for three hours through the JUNGLE! So Indiana Jones/Tomb Raider and just incredible...to a cave, where we had to wade (sometimes the water was to our chins) to get through to the middle -- going all the way through is prohibited during the Rainy Season due to flash flooding, so that was a little scary, but our guide was great.

Then, more diving/swimming and kayaking before speed boating back to the dry land.

Sal and I had the hottest, most spiciest Thai curry dinner EVER (and we will never send food back to the kitchen for being too bland again) at our bungalow. LOL It was great though, but I think I'm still sweating from the hot peppers.

Now we're in a gecko infested Internet cafe, getting ready to head back to the tree house (I kid you not) for our last night's stay in Khao Sok. What a dream it's been so far, especially for Sal who since arrival yesterday has caught one chameleon, one massive skink, one tree frog, one toad, one giganto cave toad and one enormous millipede. =)

Time to walk back by the light of Sal's Christmas gift flashlight (thank you again mom and dad!!!) and get under the mozzie net for a good night's rest before our early minibus to Krabi beach! Miss you all!

Wat Pho - Temple of the Reclining Buddha

Wondering if the Thai massage offered at Wat Pho temple will feel as tortuous as it looks...images of peoples' arms being pulled backward behind them are stuck in my mind. Oh well, we'll find out! ;)

Looking forward to seeing the giant reclining Buddha -- have only ever seen a painting of it on a restaurant wall in the Lower East Side of NYC! Sal's seen it before and done the painful massage, but is looking forward to going again! Off we go :)

Sal holding a little goat at a shepherd's home near Jodhpur, India during a rural safari

Me standing at the lake palace on lake Pichola in Udaipur, India