148 - June 27th
As per the trend with all trains in our travels, our 5:50 am arrival in Ayutthaya was much closer to 6:45, ah well, that extra hour of train sleep felt that much more glorious! After consulting the single line in our book describing how to get anywhere from the train station we went with gut instinct and located a river ferry. Bags dropped and bikes rented we were off and cycling (on the wrong side of the road) for a day of wat-seeing. Over the last 5 months we have rented bikes a number of times as a way to see sites that are further a field and generally get a different look at some of these towns. Said bikes have ranged in ride-abiliy from mildly clown like to completely unable to stay in gear, today’s bikes were awesome. They went forward when you pushed the pedals, the breaks were nearly silent and John was able to extend his knees to nearly 160 degrees!
The temple ruins were quite amazing, built in the Angkor style and in varying degree of repair (or disrepair). In the process of being the map carrier (and therefore the leader) I only nearly got us killed a handful of times. Somehow I thought the last month of riding in cars, tuk tuks and songtails on the other side of the road would prepare me for being in charge of a moving object that should follow the rules of the road, not the case. 24 years of riding a bike have ingrained a "right side" thing in my brain. Lucky for John, he chose not to follow my lead on more than one occasion.
We survived and wandered to a night market for some street based dinner, courses were hit and miss with the chicken/ rice course being far more popular than the salted pineapple shake course.
149 - June 28th
Up and at ‘em bright and early to catch a quick train to Bangkok (fifth time there, first time we will be staying for more than 7 hours) to meet up with my friend Jenn, who I've known since middle school (definitely not going under John's column)! Met up with Jenn early afternoon and after some much needed catch up headed out to a one of the largest markets in Asia, rumored to have over 15,000 stalls, we wandered a bit and somehow ended up trapped in the "new pet" section. That's right, when you want a pet in Bangkok, you come to this market. Puppy? Uh huh. Fish? Yup. Chipmunk in a Sweater? Got those too. And all the accessories you can possibly dream of. When we finally made our way out of the pet area we realized the market was shutting down. 
A quick consultation to the guidebook let us know we should head to Victory Point for an outdoor picnic. 
After selecting a number of different noodles and some de-cobbed corn we settled in at a bar with big beers and a bucket of ice, only in Aisa is the beer so watery that the ice doesn't seem to have any affect on the flavor. *Bonus props to Jenn here who remained perky and alive until the end of the night, despite an 11 hour plane ride and a 6 hour time difference*
150 - June 29th
We started the day with a canal taxi ride. Not as romantic as one would think because the water is disgusting with a capital “D”. Basically every house, farm, and street within five blocks drains straight into the canals. So the boat operators have installed a handy splash-guard/tarp strung to the side of the boat. When we exited the boat we were immediately hounded by several taxi/tuk-tuk/rickshaw drivers wanting to take us to a multitude of destinations. To avoid all the hassles, Eliza guided us on the start of our walking tour. After noticing we “might” be headed in the wrong direction Eliza re-routed us down another street. Fifteen minutes later, when we still had not reached our destination, I asked to see the map. Not only did Eliza originally lead us in the wrong direction, but when she corrected her route, she botched that maneuver as well. And for the four hundred thirty second time on the trip, I pulled Eliza’s map reading privileges. In order to get us back on track, I had to direct us in a complete circle right back to the water taxi departure dock. Efficiency at its finest. Once back on track we visited Wat Ratchapaddaram (don't ask me for the correct spelling), which has really cool architecture. Then we hit up the Democracy Monument, a nice structure in the middle of a traffic circle. Next on the Bangkok list was Khao San Road, the main back-packers area. Here we purchased some more souvenirs and checked out sights that make up Khao San Road. We then boarded a river taxi. The river was not much cleaner (since the canals flow into the river), but the boat was larger and therefore needed no blue tarp as a splash guard. We took the river taxi to the Grand Palace . The Grand Palace acts as the ceremonial capital to Thailand and is a beautiful collection of buildings.
There are several different architectural styles that contrast each other but manage to blend quite well. After the Grand Palace we headed to Wat Pho , which houses the world’s largest reclining Buddha. 
This concluded the walking portion of our tour, so we hopped on the river taxi again, transferred to the skytrain, and headed back to the hostel. With Jenn in town I had another soccer ally to convince Eliza staying up until 4 am to watch the Euro final was a good idea. Our main problem was finding a viewing location since the kickoff was scheduled for 1:45 am and the bars “legally” have to close at 1 am. Our first bar would have been great, as it was modeled on an English Pub. But the wait-staff told us they would be following the letter of the law and close down at one. Our second bar of the night was a little rowdy. Let me explain. Thailand is known for many things and one of them is the availability of female attention for hire. The street that we were on is known as Cowboy Road, and is one of the main areas in Bangkok where the oldest profession in the world is alive and kicking. Our second bar attempt was right in the thick of it, and not our cup of tea. On the third attempt we found a bar that would close at 1am, but we were welcome to say inside to watch. So at 1:45 am we found ourselves locked inside a Bangkok bar watching a soccer game being played in Vienna. It was a good game all around, bus especially because Spain won (who I was rooting for). After the game we headed right back to our hostel for some much needed sleep. And yes, most of the street was still partying hard.
151 - June 30th
Even without overtime the Euro 2008 championship game finished around 4 am Bangkok time. That meant that this trio was soundly asleep at 4:04 am Bangkok time. The result of this early bedtime is that we all (John included) slept until 11 this morning. Needless to say, it was a slow start!
Once we were moving we went to visit the Jim Thompson house, an American man credited with reviving the Thai silk industry in the 20th century. When he moved to Bangkok after the Second World War, while starting up his silk trade, he began collecting Thai houses (sort of like collection cars only different). He eventually used parts of these houses to construct his home; the result is that his house-turned-museum is a variety of traditional Thai architecture in one place. He did take some artistic liberties by facing some of the ornately carved panels inward instead of outward.
We followed this up with a visit to the modern Asia art exhibit on display next door. Jenn and I got a chance to play an interactive video game and John got a chance to laugh at us and catch it on film.
After lunch in the land of malls we located some needed travel supplies for all parties and went back to nap. Due to a late evening downpour we ate our last dinner in Thailand in an area known as Little Arabia, delicious kebab and falafel all around.
152 - July 1st
After saying our goodbyes to Jenn this morning at 5, we got to moving a few hours later. Bags packed for flight we were ready to bid farewell to South East Asia and make our way to India. Immigration from Thailand was not a quick process but not painful either. The security checkpoint proved a little tougher to get through. Did you know peanut butter is a banded substance? Now we do. The flight from Bangkok to Delhi proved to be a very swanky ride. Tasty airplane food served on real plates with real silverware and actual wine glasses!
Upon arrival in the Delhi airport we were greeted with complete immigration chaos. There appeared to be an India Passport line and a Foreign passport line but after a few minutes in one we realized there was no true method to this madness. An hour and 40 minutes later John and I were both through, and really not a moment to soon, even the patient blond one on this trip was running out of calm.
The next 20 minutes in the car from the Airport to my friend Jassa’s house were a brief introduction to the driving style in India. A highlight on the ride was the no U-turn sing posted at the top of a freeway on ramp, hhhmmm. Once there Kanwarjit (Jassa’a dad) was waiting up to greet us. Thoroughly exhausting day!
153 - July 2nd
After a good night’s sleep we awoke to a wonderful Indian breakfast with our hosts, Kanwarjit and his wife Janet. At breakfast Kanwarjit was notified that his morning meeting at work was canceled, so he gave us an impromptu tour of New Delhi. We drove around the Rajpath area, which houses the Indian President’s house, the Parliament buildings, and the offices of the Ministers. The whole area was planned and constructed under the oversight of a couple of British fellows (Kanwarjit told us their names, but I can’t recall them now).
As the story goes, the head architect visited New Delhi, selected the site, and then went back to Britain to finalize the designs. He then sent the designs to India. His underling in India (also an architect with his own ideas of grandeur) modified the plans in order to place his buildings in the most prominent positions. Then, after the construction was completed, the head architect visited India for the opening ceremonies and was quite shocked to see his buildings pushed to a less conspicuous location. After this we were driven around the embassy district and other British planned neighborhoods. These neighborhoods have wide tree lined streets with large mansions. 
We then checked out Purana Qila (an old fort), the National Museum and the Crafts Museum. The National Museum houses a large collection of exhibits detailing the history of India. The Crafts Museum houses traditional arts and crafts from all over India. Purana Qila is an old fort located in central Delhi. We then went shoping with Janet in an Indian clothing store (or as they call it "a clothing store") and had tea with Jassa's siter and family. Tea, we are so civilized. 
That was followed up be a delicious dinner.
154 - July 3rd
Woke up bright and early today to make the 5 hour drive down to Jaipur and see the sights on the Golden Triangle. Within three hours of our trip we had shared the road with camels, horses, mules, monkeys, dogs, goats, water buffalo and cows. Not to mention whole towns that creep up to the last lane of the highway. Our first stop was an old fort by the name of Neem Rana where Jassa’s sister was married a year prior.
India has taken a number of historical forts and, after restoration, converted them into hotels, which in turn are responsible for continued restoration. The result was an amazing place in great shape.
Next stop, the Amber Fort outside the city of Jaipur. This was our first major tourist stop in India and as we arrived in the town and turned toward the fort, a number of “official” guides waved our driver down and tried to convince them they were the right person to show us around. Some were more persistent than others, running along the car even after the window was rolled up and we were driving away.
Little did we know this was a tame experience. Also started the photography trend, you know where you realize you are in someone’s frame and step out only to have them ask you to be in the middle of the family portrait?
Yeah, this was just the beginning.
http://picasaweb.google.com/jwwinasia5/FinalBlogPicts/photo#5225908584329539218
After the Amber fort we were on our way into Jaipur. After seeing the city and visiting the City Palace Museum we were tuckered out and ready for some refresh time.
Gave Pradeep (who was our patient driver through this whole adventure) the address as we knew it and began our attempt to locate our hotel. As neither he nor we are from the city the next hour was spent asking for general and specific directions from anyone who looked knowledgeable enough. When we did finally locate our place we realized we had been nearly in front of it at one point when a kind direction giving individual pointed us to the other side of the city, ah well, we found it in the end.
As we haven’t really done any walking in India we decided to try for dinner on foot. Getting there was pretty easy as it was still light out and lots of people slowed down when they saw us walking, making street crossing much easier. Getting back was a whole different ballgame. Pretty sure there are not the same laws governing fixing headlights, or even headlight regulations. To cross a busy street here at night, one must go carefully, pray to any and all deities you know that the single headlight indicates a motorcycle not a bus and have confidence that luck in on your side. Somehow this all aligned for us and we made it back in one piece.
155 - July 4th
Today we set out to see the remaining sites in Jaipur. Our first stop was a place called Jantar Mantar.
It is one of five astrological observatories built by Jai Singh while he was in power. In modern times it looks a lot like a sculpture park of modern art. He had a number of sundials and moon dials as well as instruments to read the positions of the planets and predict the coming rains and droughts.
Our next stop was the Palace of Wind, built by a maharaja for his harem and wives to view the city and its events it is a five story structure only one room wide with screens on all levels so that the ladies could view the events without being viewed back.
We rounded out the site list with a trip to the Central Museum to see a collection of Indian prints (with an added bonus of lots of European pottery). At the museum we noticed again that we were a much on display as any of the art, with entire family groups following us from room to room, to watch us look at things. Quite an interesting sensation.
156 - July 5th
This morning we headed to Fatehpur Sikri after a brief stop in Bharatpur to tour a museum that was most decidedly under construction.
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Fatehpur Sikri was briefly the capital of the Mughal Empire. It is a very stunning building in its construction and layout. The red stones used make a marvelous and formidable fort. 
One can imagine how grand it was during the brief period it was utilized (rumor has it that soon after completion the capital was forced to move locations due to the lack of a water source here, oh and the son imprisoned his father in order to gain control of the kingdom)!
Next we headed for the Taj Mahal.
The downside to visiting Fatehpur Sikri, the Taj Mahal, and Agra Fort are all the touts, hawkers, and beggars that line the streets leading to these sites and in the case of Fatehpur Sikri inside the fort itself. India is a juxtaposition of wealth and poverty. While we have dealt with all sorts of people on our travels India has proven to be the hardest to handle. There are no/limited social support structures for the poor people of this nation and so they must rely on menial jobs or begging to support themselves. We have been told most beggars do not get to keep the money they collect, but instead must pay the money to another party who uses them as a financing system. It is hard to experience a small child clutching at your arms while asking for “money”. Possibly the only English word he or she knows. And the rickshaw drivers and “tour guides” are relentless in their pursuit. They are literally in your face for blocks asking you to buy this, or hire them for that, all the while never accepting “no” for an answer. Even ignoring them has its drawbacks. If you simple walk past their constant shouts you hear “What, you don’t want to talk to Indians?”. This particular approach to selling caught us off guard. I am not sure what lesson in economics stressed the importance of insulting your potential buyers, but these guys have mastered it. Which is really too bad, because all they have ended up doing is demeaning themselves. We can be thankful that Eliza has so many wonderful friends here as without them our perception of this country would be skewed.
And back to the positive. The Taj Mahal is another place that can not adequately be described in words or even pictures.
The approach initially hides the Taj Mahal from view, but then it appears before you as you pass through a large door/gateway. Truly magnificent. The view was made even more spectacular by all the Indian tourists clad in the bright colors of their native dress.
After spending a fair amount of time touring the Taj Mahal we headed to Agra Fort. This fort is also made out of red stone. It was the capital of the Mughal Empire during the rein of Emperor Akbar and was modified by his grandson Shah Jahan. One of its many highlights is the view down the river to the Taj Mahal. After all the touring we were ready to get some food and shut-eye. But, due to a horrible map provided on the hotel’s website, we once again struggled to find our hotel. After finally locating it we were too tired to venture out for food and chose to eat at the hotel’s restaurant. A clever ploy if you ask me.
157 - July 6th
Turns out we really lucked out with our timing for this trip. Early this morning the clouds finally decided to empty out, and they did so with a vengeance. As we made our way back to Delhi it poured the entire way. The bright side is that many trucks chose not to drive in this weather so the road was considerably emptier than any other leg of our journey.
Upon arrival back in Delhi we met up with some friends Robin and Vidur for a drink and some Wimbledon Final action. It took some calling around to find a bar that would be showing it as it happened that a major cricket game, India v. Sri Lanka, was happening at the same time so that was by far the bigger event here. John and Robin won some random swag and it was one heck of an exciting match to watch.
158 - July 7th
Headed over to the Jama Masjid Mosque to take a look around and see Old Delhi. After weaving our way through the bazaar of the entry way, the mosque itself was breathtaking. We are told that it holds more than 20,000 people at prayer time. This also marked the height of our movie star experience thus far in India. More people worked up the nerve to request photos with us than anywhere else on the trip! At one point I was in a picture with 7 women all in different color saris with 4 of them attempting to reach over and hold my hand for the shot. Of all the days to leave both cameras at home, to bad it was this one!
159 - July 8th
Prior to this time in our adventure, my friend Jassa has been in Turkey for a wedding, but when we woke up this morning, he was officially back!! After a slow start to the morning, we dropped Jassa at his office and went to a shopping district to browse the Indian handicrafts. When we finished with our browsing we went to collect Jassa and head over to see a Bollywood movie. After meeting up with Robin and Anuj, we were off to Gold Class to watch Love Story 2050. The next three hours were both immensely comfy and totally awful. What Gold Class means is you are in a theater that has about 40 seats, each of which is a massive reclining chair with a small table between each pair. You are greeted with a champagne flute of sparkling juice and your popcorn is served at your seat. It was amazing; on par with the french fry hotdog on a stick in South Korea. The movie itself may be on it’s way into history as the worst Bollywood flick of all time. It started out bad but believable and went progressively down hill from there. I loved the dancing and random songs but was alone in my desire to see it through to the end. All four boys in attendance with me were ready to leave soon after intermission. Oh, that’s right. In Bollywood flicks you are given a 5 minute intermission after the first hour and a half to get up and stretch before they start in on the second half. When I was finally convinced to leave the leading lady was having a conversation with her talking pink teddy bear (who sports a blue mowhak) and goes by the name BoBo. Yeah, it was that good.
160 - July 9th
Bright and early this morning Shivali came to grab the three of us for a two day jaunt up to Amritsar in the Punjab region of Northern India, about 30km from the Pakistan border. The train trip up was a really nice view of countryside and a relatively smooth ride, aside from the times you are served coffee, tea, juice or milk, then the train would generally rock back and forth like a see-saw.
In Amritsar we got to stay at Jassa’s family house, an amazing place built in the 1920’s and furnished in the decades following. We spent the afternoon hanging out and having lassis on the front porch to relax up for the evenings exciting events.
Around 5pm we piled in the car and headed west to the India-Pakistan boarder to watch the flag lowering ceremony. Now if you have never attended one of these it is nothing like it sounds. It is much more a strong showing of national pride, lots of pomp, some serious showmanship and all together quite fun. As soon as we walk in we are directed to a foreign visitor’s area, a good thing since getting there half hour early there was no seating left in the normal area.
This place is really just the road between the two countries with a highly ornamented gate on each side. Lining the road and at the end of the show area are major grand stands so each side can pack a large group of people in every night.
As the crowd waited for the sun to set there was a lot of dancing in the street and national cheers. When it finally came time the officers from both countries in very traditional army dress did a lot of fast walking, some stomping, kicking and saluting and finished the whole thing off with both sides lowering their flags at the exact same time, in order to show equality.
The crowd cheered and chanted “Hindu-stan” through the whole event. When all was said and done and the gates were closed again, most of the crowd rushed that direction for photos with the guards and the gates, he headed the other way, back into town, to visit the Golden Temple.
The Golden Temple is a Sikh temple in the middle of the old city in Amritsar and it is indeed golden and beautiful. The temple itself is in the middle of a lake in the middle of the temple compound.
The outside structure supports the functions not directly related to prayer (kitchen, lodging, etc) and the water in its center, where the temple is, is considered holy. A walkway out to the temple on one side was packed full of people. It turns out the gents in the front raise a pole and let a number of people thru and then lower it again until the entrance to the temple clears out. The temple itself was really beautiful and the whole place had a welcoming, laid back feeling to it that we had not really experienced before at the sites in India. Nearly everyone there had come to enjoy the temple, not to hustle. Very refreshing.
161 - July 10th
We started the day after sleeping in quite well. The first stop was Jallianwala Bagh, which is a memorial park dedicated to those killed by the British in a massacare during the independance movement. The park is nice escape from the hustle of the city, but still comands a feeling of respect from visitors.
After the park we walked around the local markets and checked out the city of Amritsar. We then collected Jassa (who had work in town) and headed to the train station. The most exciting part of the train ride back (for me) was when something hit my window and cracked the outer window (luckily, or actaully probably by design, it was a double paned window). I had just started to drift off to sleep, and was resting my head on the window and my seatback when, bam, something hit it. Another train was passing in the opposite dierction at the time, so I don't know if it came from that train or what. 
Later on the ride another window on the oppisite side of the carraige was hit. A girl riding the train said that window get broken every time she rides the train. That will be the last time we ride a train with her. 
162 - July 11th
Today we started with a personal Kanwarjit tour of Humayun's Tomb. 
The tomb itself is only a small part of a massive garden, although the tomb is quite large. The park that surrounds the tomb creates a wonderful oasis in the middle of the city. 
We followed this up with a final round of souviner shopping. I will miss getting things for cheap, but barganing for everything does get annoying. Next we headed back to the house to begin our packing. We managed to ditch a number of items that were no longer needed. Suck as flip-flops with half the bottom only patially attached, making them more of flip-flop-flops. This was followed by a trip to the American Embassy. No, we were not in any diplomatic trouble. Apperantly the American Embassy is THE place to go for swimming. It houses a mini-country club. There is a swimming pool, a resturant, bar, and even a scalled down baseball diamond. We hear it is also the best place to get a steak in all of India. From there we headed to dinner with Jassa, Kanwarjit, and a whole host of others. After a delicious dinner we headed out on the town. Before we got to India Eliza had three things on her To-Do list: See the Taj Mahal, see a Bollywood movie, and go dancing while listening to Punjabi music. Having already completed the first two (one bad, one good), we finished out the list while wasting some time before our flight.
163 - July 12th
So I am not sure whose great idea it was to stay up all night and then go to the train station, but is was not mine. After getting there at 2:30 am, as we planned, we discovered the plane was going to be over a hour late. Also, we got through security, immigration, and customs without much trouble. I guess they only take a long time when you are running late. Our flight itinerary is as follows: Delhi to Amman, Amman to NY and NY to Seattle. The flight from Delhi to Amman, Jordan was pretty smooth. My two complaints are 1) the state of the bathrooms - just barely better than public bathrooms, but at 30,000 ft. And 2) the flight attendants wake you up to offer you peanuts, juice, breakfast, or whatever. I really should have printed a sign "I have been up for 24hrs and I don't want: a moist towelette, juice, coffee, tea, blanket, pillow, breakfast (if that's what your calling this re-heated sludge) or complimentary headset. Please let me sleep." Next time I'll know. Now, because the first flight was late we were worried about the next flight. Upon landing in Jordan, we rushed off the plane and to the "Transfer" counter, where we needed to get our boarding passes. The line took foreeeeeveeer. The whole time we kept asking the same airline guy (whose job it was to corral the passengers into some order (see previous blog post regarding lines in Asia)) if we would make our connection. And the whole time he said "no problem". What we didn't know is that the reason he said "no problem" was that the next flight was delayed two hours. Finally we boarded the Jordan to New York flight. The first thing we noticed about our surroundings was the presence of about twenty children under the age of five. I am not kidding. Apparently Royal Jordanian Airlines is known for having massive families aboard (a couple people Eliza talked to informed us of this). The flight was long. Something like 13 hrs. Too long to be trapped in an aluminum tube. So, as on all international flights, this one served alcohol for free. And one particular fellow decided it was his duty to drink his ticket cost in booze. Well, by the end of the flight he was particularity sloshed. Right before the plane was set to land (as we were returning our seats to their upright position and stowing our tray tables) he started to yell about how this plane was late, and how he wasn't going to make his connecting flight. The flight attendant finally got him to sit down and buckle up for landing. As soon as we hit the runway, he got up, pulled down his bags, and marched down the aisle toward the plane door. We lost sight of him for about two minutes, but then he came marching back up the aisle in a huff with a flight attendant pointing out his seat location. He finally sat down after exchanging some choice words with the plane staff. I don't speak his language, but he was so drunk I am not sure slurring counts as a language. He was only seated a couple of minutes because when we finally got to the gate he jumped right back up, grabbed his kid, and headed off down the aisle again. That's right, he was part of one of the families flying. He had two small children, probably two and five years old, and a wife. He then stormed off down the causeway toward baggage. We followed with the rest of the passengers. As we rounded one corner we saw the guy pinned against the wall by another passenger with several people crowding around. They were all speaking in Arabic, so I am not sure exactly what happened. I can guess at two things. Either he finally said the wrong thing to the wrong guy, or he might have threatened to do some harm to his children or wife. What I gather from the attitude and actions of the crowd was that he did something that posed a threat to someone other than himself. And the guy was holding him down as a service so the drunk wouldn't do anything further. As we continued towards the baggage claim area, a couple of police ran passed us. Not wanting to be delayed further, because we only had 1.5 hrs to get our bags, pass through customs and immigration, ride the airport shuttle train to the next terminal, check in there, pass through security, and make it to our next flight, we went straight to baggage. While waiting for our bags I saw the guy waiting at the other end of the baggage claim area surrounded by four cops. I don't think he made his connecting flight. We finally got our bags. When you are running late they never pop out first. We passed through customs and ran to the sky train (to transfer terminals) and made it to the Delta terminal 35 minutes before the plane was scheduled to depart. Unfortunately, due to airline requirements passengers are require to check in 45 minutes before their flight's scheduled departure. And so we missed that flight. After waiting for about 30 minutes we finally got to the ticket counter and were helped by a very nice man from Delta. After some phone calls and typing, he booked us on a flight out the next morning. We lucked out because he was cheerful and even cracked a couple of jokes even though he had to stay after his shift ended. I think he was glad to be helping us, and not the lady at the next counter who was trying to pick up an unaccompanied minor with only an email from the child's mother as proof of relationship with the child. That one was as doosey. Then we had to go back to the first terminal to find the Royal Jordanian Airlines office for our hotel and food voucher. After three tries we finally located the right place. Turns out we had walked by it twice without knowing because they didn't turn on the overhead sign to say it was a Royal Jordanian desk. Not winning customer service points here. After some explanation, we got our hotel and food voucher. Ramada Inn, my first time to New York City, I travel in style. We caught the shuttle bus to the hotel, checked in, dropped our stuff, and headed to dinner. The dinner was a buffet of mostly not appetizing entrees. One nice man at the hotel restaurant (who was coincidentally the only nice man) got Eliza a nice wheat free chicken breast. We then headed up to our room and passed out. Something about 26 hours of traveling and 46 hours of being awake to make sleep come quickly.
164 - July 13th
We woke up at 5am to head to the airport. The hotel was so full of fellow travelers that it took two shuttle buses to get us all to the airport. It would have only taken one if this was Asia. Personal space, good to be back. We then checked in, passed through security, and found our gate without incident. After a fast food breakfast, again good to be back, we boarded the plane and headed off. The flight went smoothly (as compared to the previous day) and we even got in early. Since we arrived early, we surprised both our families. Seems as though they were planning to hold a big "Welcome Back" sign. However, they were not yet in place. We were so glad to see them anyway.
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Well, that concludes this portion of the travel blog. We will try to post all four gadzillion pictures that were taken, so check back. It has been nice to read all the comments and emails we have received. A taste of home is always appreciated. Thank you. If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to keep commenting, or email Eliza or me All distractions from reality are very welcome!
Thank you for reading,
Liza and John
