The End!

Before: (January 20, 2010) Pale Oregon skin, excellent physical condition, intrigued by the world...

After: (December 10, 2010) Tropic tan, 10# weight gain, wiser to the ways of the world...

Our trip in a nutshell: USA-Cook Islands-New Zealand-Australia-USA-Japan-Thailand-Laos-Vietnam-Cambodia-Thailand-Malaysia-Singapore-Turkey-Italy-Croatia-Italy-C***-Canada-USA-Germany-South Africa-Mozambique-South Africa-Madagascar-South Africa-Zambia-Botswana-Tanzania-Egypt-Jordan-Oman-USA!

What an amazing year! Not a bad honeymoon.

We experienced so many adventures- kayaking to a deserted island, tubing through caves, backpacking, hiking on glaciers, rock climbing, scuba diving, running hashes all over the world, shark cage diving, riding horses in the Snowy Mountains, swimming with Whale sharks, snorkeling, bike tours, getting stung by stingrays, hiking, Oktoberfest (where drinking is a sport), whale watching, tubing the Vang Vieng, swimming on the edge of Victoria Falls, riding elephants and camels, a safari, and avoiding shark attacks in Egypt!

We experienced so many foods-White Bait sandwiches in New Zealand, Okonomiyaki in Japan, Chicken frog in Malaysia, Singapore Sling in Singapore, Paw-paw and passion fruit in the Cook Islands, Beer Lao in Laos, Laksa in Borneo, Haxe (pig knuckle) in Germany, Baba Ghanoug in Oman, Kushari in Egypt, Zabu in Madagascar, Ink Fish Risotto in Croatia, Simet in Turkey, Green Curry in Thailand and Fish and Chips in Australia.

We experienced so many different accommodations- friendly B&B’s, Japanese ryokans, Turkish gulet, Cambodian dive boat, safari tents, hostels, Capsules in Japan, apartments, Egyptian dahabiya, run down motels, fancy hotels, beach house, camper van in Tasmania, villas, rustic bungalow, and a hut in the Routeburn Track, New Zealand.

We experienced so many different types of transport-motorcycle, ferries, dhows, riding in the back of trucks, chapas, Tuk-tuk, Citroen taxi, 4WD, rental cars (driven on the “wrong” side of the road!), Floating bus (Venice), slow boat, “VIP” bus, mini-van with chickens on the roof, bullet train, long boat, airplane (toooo many to count), felucca, safari truck, moped, pirogue, and gondola.

We experienced so many sites- Angkor Wat in Cambodia, the Pyramids of Giza in Egypt, the Cu Chi tunnels in Vietnam, Peace Memorial Museum in Hiroshima, Tsukiji Fish Market in Tokyo, S-21 Prison in Cambodia, The Grand Bazaar in Turkey, St Marcos Square in Venice, Red Light District in Bangkok, Diocletians Palace in Croatia, Avenue du Baoababs in Madagascar, District Six Museum in South Africa, and the Petronas Towers in Malaysia.

We experienced so many wonderful people- friends and family who met us out on the road, friends we made along the way, locals who reached out to us, and hashers we ran with.

Thanks for reading! Now get out and travel!

Trish and Dean

Muscat, Oman

After an uneventful overnight in Amman, Jordan we arrived in Muscat, Oman with a sigh of relief. Gone are the hawkers and the garbage strewn streets…here the streets are practically paved in gold! Colorful flowers and ornate street lamps all strung with lights! It was like Disneyland. (To be fair, it is not always strung with lights- they are celebrating the 40^th National Day).

We wandered through the Mutrah Souk with its labyrinth of alleyways in a fog of frankincense. Here you can barter for gold, silver, pashminas, old guns and other Arabic trinkets.

We headed into town to hike through the mountains. The view was incredible from so high up! Unfortunately, I think we lost the trail…as we ended up having to climb over a dam to get back to the waterfront. Omani women don’t exercise, so our cab driver Mohamed said to Dean “Your wife is very strong!”

The Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque, the third largest mosque in the world. The complex is over 40,000 sq meters and is able to accommodate an amazing 20,000 worshippers. Construction started in 1995 and took six years to complete. It is well known for the huge Swarovski crystal chandelier and the second largest handmade Persian carpet in the world. The carpet took four years to make and weighs a staggering 21 tons. It was handmade in Iran by a workforce of 600 women.

We rented a car and drove two hours to the town of Nizwah. In the 16^th and 17^th centuries Nizwah was the largest oasis, the centre of trade and the capital of Oman. The Nizwah fort was built in the 17^th century, construction spanned 30 years and it is one of the oldest and most famous forts in Oman. They did an amazing job of restoring it.

Fancy Arabic dinner! Dean ordered the mixed grill and I had the waiter order a vegetarian meal for me. It was fantastic….a spinach-noodle-bean soup, hummus, big salad and vegetable stuffed bread. We are now addicted to the lemon-mint drink…that’s what happens when they don’t serve alcohol!

We drove another two hours out to Wadi Shab, an oasis created by thousands of years of rain eroding unimaginable amounts of earth. Most of the locals stayed right by the parking lot, which is where the wadi meets the sea. Perfect for us, as we hiked for an hour down the wadi by ourselves!

Clear water rimmed by wild date palms….not a bad place to be!

After an hour we got to a point where you could only continue by swimming. Emerald green water on a hot day…

Disclaimer: I got this picture off the internet! I had read about the “keyhole,” a narrow head shaped space eroded out of the rock face at what appeared to be the end of the wadi. We had two local Omani’s following us, and they couldn't believe it when I swam through the tiny cave (actually, I couldn’t believe it myself…very dark, deep and claustrophobic!)

Disclaimer: This is not Dean, I don’t know who this is…but it is a good picture, so I stole it off the internet! After you swim through the hole without your head getting stuck, you come into a magnificent cave with a waterfall. The Omani locals quickly swam back to get their friends probably saying, “We followed these crazy Americans into this tiny cave, come see!”

We (as well as our B&B host and another guest) were invited to lunch by our cab driver, Mohamed. The Omani people are so hospitable! We got to experience a true Omani meal. We were brought into the front room that was filled with incense smoke (looked like something out of a Cheech and Chong movie!) and watched TV (why talk?) His children then set the table, well tablecloth. We were summoned to the floor where we ate whole fish, rice, different fruits and juices. Our host kept refilling our plates with food, and saying “eat, eat, EAT!” The wife and children were not present. Afterwards we had Omani coffee and dates. The other female guest and I were brought into another room to meet the wife. Normally, the women and men would be in separate rooms the entire meal…but we were treated differently since we were “westerners.” Fascinating!

Our last night in Muscat we ran with the Jobel Hash House Harriers. We were driven out into the desert with a group of about 30 runners. We ran on a freeway (not yet open!), through a work camp (locals staring in awe), down a dry river bed, through a long dark culvert (with lots of things to trip over), through a construction site and back. All in all, a wonderful way to end our stay in Oman! Now on to one night in Munich, Germany….and HOME!

The Red Sea, Egypt

We arrived in Sharm el-Sheikh, known as "Egypt's answer to Las Vegas" or the "Red Sea Riviera." When we went down to the beachfront promenade we immediately encountered a Hard Rock Cafe, TGI Friday's, KFC and McDonalds. We stayed at a beautiful B&B run by an Italian couple and located in a nearby village with a mountain backdrop. Local food, goats and camels running around...much more our speed!
Lucky for us, Sharm is also known as a "scuba-diving paradise." We came here only to dive...as did EVERYONE else! We did get to complete two "checkout" dives and see how amazing the crystal clear water really is. Unfortunately for us (and some Russian and German tourists) there were two shark attacks in two days (and later a fatality). So we were unable to dive the Thistlegorm, a 129m-long cargo ship that sank in 1941...Dean's dream dive.
We moved an hour north to Dahab, the "Ko Samui of the Middle East." A backpackers dream.... crystal clear diving, golden beaches and a rugged mountain backdrop. We snorkeled right off the promenade, and it was amazing!
We stayed at a great apartment in the village (again, lot's of goats and camels). Dean and Tim (the owner), on the rooftop arisha. Ocean view on one side and mountains on the other.

Our first dive site was the Canyon...a long narrow trench that runs perpendicular to the reef shelf. Divers descend 30m to the bottom of the canyon, so you can see bubbles coming up and out of the ground. Very beautiful! Afterwards you drink tea and eat lunch at one of the many pillow strewn restaurants.
Our second dive was at the famous Bells and Blue Hole. This is the Bells, a narrow breach in the reef table, named because of the noise the tanks make as they ring against the rock on the way down. You descend through a chimney, exiting at 27m. It is like riding a glass elevator!
Above you can see the Blue Hole....a gaping sinkhole that drops straight down- some say to as deep as 130m. Unfortunately, the site has claimed many lives...thrill seekers that have gone to far, or divers who have lost all sense of direction in the "blue." It was very much like sky-diving!
The Bedouin's and their camels. You can take a camel safari out into the desert, even spend a few nights. You can also take a Bedouin-led camel convoy on a dive trip...the camels carry the scuba tanks and dive gear!
Our last day we intended to hike from Blue Hole out to Ras Abu Gallum Protectorate, 400 sq km of coastline with excellent snorkeling. Two different locals told us to grab a taxi (ie. back of someones truck) and once at Blue Hole, begin hiking on the coastal trail. Which we did...until we reached the "Egyptian Tourism" policeman, who informed us we had to have "permission" to go further. To make a long story short, we met up with some other hikers and managed to bribe the policeman to allow us to continue. All of which took about an hour...making us very late for our scheduled taxi ride home. We did get to snorkel...and justice was served when we realized that our taxi driver was the deliverer of the Tourism Police's now cold (since we were held up) lunch! HA! On to Amman, Jordan for a night.