Ko Chang--aka dreamy beach

Zion Bungalows on Long Beach, southern Ko Chang. Highly recommended and dirt cheap.

Wicked sunsets over the sea right out our door

Bangkok!

We only had a couple days in Bangkok and I had been there once before--but we loved it as soon as we stepped off the plane. We took the public boats everywhere on the river and walked and walked--finding the reclining Buddha the first afternoon.

Macau!

Why we're so bad at blogging

The thing about great travel blogs is that they're full of snappy impressions, they keep you in current touch with places half way around the globe, they share photos and funny stories. This blog is not one of these.

I have friends with great blogs. But Sam and I are not good bloggers. First of all, we both only want to spend the absolute minimum amount of time possible online, so that when we finally find internet (and we're now pretty good at finding it free) we just want to get in and get out. We write our families to tell them we're alive, we delete some spam, and, if we're lucky, we respond to a few quick notes from friends.

If you want to see better blogs than ours, check out http://www.theyaelchronicles.wordpress.com/; 2headedturtle.wordpress.com; http://sarahspy.blogspot.com/

Go to Fernando's in Macau

After a couple weeks in China, we were ready to eat some bread. So we found Fernando's in Macau, the best place ever for Sunday brunch. White wine, portugese seafood dishes, and delicious crusty bread. Mission accomplished, happy birthday to me.

Chengdu

Pandas! Including babies. Which are very cute.

Wengshu Buddhist Monastery. A real retreat in the middle of the Tibetan Quarter in Chengdu. Possibly the most restful place in China. A smiling lady gave us oranges and a guy in a yellow vest refilled our teacups again and again.

It's hard not to go on and on about the food. For 26 yuan (about $4.50) we had a most awesome dinner--noodles with spicy garlicy sauce, wonton soup and dumplings--all delicious. Doesn't do it justice.

Xi'an

Our favorite noodle guys, Muslim Quarter, Xi'an. Best breakfast ever.

Terracotta warriors outside Xi'an, Shaanxi Province

Xi'An is amazing-and that's just the food

We thought Xi'an would be a dumpy little town, and we only came to see the terra cotta warriors. But it turns out, the city is great, and the food so good, that we didn't even make it out to the warriors site yesterday. Instead, when our overnight train got in at 8 am, we found a youth hostel and spent the morning walking through the Muslim quarter, an area of old Ming-era houses and shops with the most amazing street food ever. Flat bread baked over an open fire and covered with chili oil and cumin; noodles with thin slices of mutton and spicy oil and cilantro, steamed buns and pastry stuffed with onion and lamb. Yum!

Photos! Take 1.

First Day in China--Tiananmen Square and the forbidden city. Mao looks down on us-I think he likes us. Antha and Sam on the Great Wall. We did a 6+ mile hike along the wall between two small towns in Inner Mongolia-parts of the wall were nearly rubble.

Franz Joseph Glacier, West Coast of the South Island of New Zealand. Brr.

Milford Sound. Thanks to Tom Novick and Lisa Archer for this recommendation. The Milford Track hike was a highlight of our trip so far.

Day 2 on the Milford Track in New Zealand. 11 miles through a ravine with mountains rising on both sides--and our first glimpses of the McKinnon Pass (behind us).

Hello from China

Sorry for the lack of news, but we're in China and having a great time. We did a 10K hike on the Great Wall yesterday and have been enjoying the great food-- Peking Duck for Thanksgiving Dinner.
To rewind a bit- we landed in New Zealand after 31 hours of flights and hiked the Milford Track for the next 4 days. It really is amazingly beautiful and we saw at least 700 waterfalls (especially on day 3 when it rained nonstop). After the hike--which successfully got rid of our jet lag--we headed up the west coast of the south island and than into wine country before hitting Kaikoura on the east coast to see some whales and dolphins. NZ was over too quickly and we'd like to get back.
Tonight we're on the overnight train to Xian--home of the terra cotta warriors--than making our way to Guangzhou. There has also been a change of plans, we're now flying into Hanoi (instead of Bangkok--to avoid the protests that have shut down the airport). Miss you all lots enjoy some of the pictures

Itinerary!

Nov. 11th: Leave NYC fly to New Zealand through Seattle & Seoul.  

Nov. 26th: Leave NZ fly to China through Seoul.

Dec. 9th: Leave China fly to Bangkok. We'll go to Cambodia, Vietnam & Laos.  

Jan. 13th: Leave from Singapore fly to Delhi through Paris. 

Feb. 3rd: Leave India fly to Cairo.  We'll go to Jordan & Israel.  

Feb. 24th: Leave Egypt fly to South Africa. We'll go to Namibia & Botswana.  

March 29th: Leave South Africa to NYC.  

The Route

Here's the route (map below): New Zealand, China, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Singapore, India, Egypt, Jordan, Israel, South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Zanzibar

Tips, friends & visitors welcome!

View Larger Map

Yesterday the CD 5 organizers trained 30 Somali youth on canvassing in their neighborhoods for Barack Obama.

First morning in Minneapolis

It took us 20 hours to get to Minneapolis from NYC. After the first 13 hours of driving we stopped and spent the night in Chicago with Sam's folks. In Minneapolis, we woke up early for breakfast at delicious Hell's Kitchen. It seems weird that Minneapolis (and most other cities) have better breakfast joints than NYC, but there it is. Sam pretended to be a local by reading the Star Tribune. 2 hours later I started my job with the Obama campaign. At 10 am. On a Sunday. The day before Labor Day. Welcome to the Campaign World.

Sam likes to pretend like he's already on safari, even though it's just the GW Bridge.

Minnesota here we come!

In T minus 9 days, Sam and I will pack up the car we borrowed from my dad and drive me out to Minnesota. For nine weeks I'll be relocating there to run the election protection program for the Obama campaign. Then a week after election day, we leave for our 19 week round-the-world trip!

Sam, Antha and Andrew on a doorstep in PA. With Tate, we knocked on 300 doors.

We hadn't canvassed in a while and must have missed it, because we spent a long day in Pennsylvania knocking on doors for Obama before the primary there. Antha went back for 12 more hours of knocking the day before election day. Obama didn't win PA in the primary, but he is the nominee. So we feel good about that.