Since our last update, we have gone back to Africa, briefly passed through the Persian Gulf, discovered a new continent, saw many golden Buddhas, met a new family member, got reunited with an old friend, went back in time and finally returned to North America.
Sonia at the Great pyramid of Giza. Check.
Egypt - Officially back in Africa, but worlds away from the Africa we knew. Cairo was much more modern and bustling than we had pictured. We spent a few days exploring Cairo on foot, mosque-hopping and trying to learn enough Arabic to find the right bus numbers. The highlight, of course, was visiting the 4,000 year old pyramids at Giza. Wow! And confirming that aliens were absolutely involved. We then headed up North to Alexandria, the once powerful outpost of Cleopatra. Now more European than Egyptian, we were blown away by the new Biblioteca Alexandrina, an amazing reincarnation of the ancient library. After a taste of modern Egypt, we headed back to Pharaonic times, taking a night train down to Luxor (once ancient Thebes). Wow, again! This place was somewhere between Indiana Jones and The Mummy. Straddled by the Nile, and about 115F in the shade (thank God we had lots of SPF50), Luxor is an archeologist's Disneyland. Despite the full-on-assault by literally every Egyptian trying to make a buck from a wide-eyed tourist, Luxor was phenomenal. The Temple of Karnak, Valley of the Kings, Ramses, hieroglyphs, camels... That's Egypt.
One-star hotel, four-star view of downtown Cairo.
Walk like an Egyptian.
You pretty much have to take this shot, right?
The coolest biblioteca in the world, Alexandria.
Ancient temple of Luxor. The least impressive sight in Luxor.
Really, really tall obelisk.
Shower of the gods.
Temple of Ramses III (Medinet Habu).
Four hours camel back. Super cool, but about 3 hours too long.
Thailand - Too bad we weren't earning frequent flier miles from Gulf Air, because Cairo to Bangkok was no puddle jumper. After a quick layover in the Kingdom of Bahrain (cha ching), and 10 hours somewhere over Asia Minor, we made it to Bangkok. But with the Red Shirt uprising still simmering down, we made a B-line 800km south to Phuket. Our first holy-crap-were-in-Asia moment came as we walked through the fish market. It was somewhere between "yuck" and "wow". But the food was amazing and so cheap. Looking to get back to the beach, we headed over to Koh Phi Phi, an idyllic South Thai island with no roads and lots of monkeys. It also happens to be where they filmed the movie, "The Beach" and one of the places most devastated by the 2006 tsunami. Lucky all is back to normal and life goes on. While we probably could have been content staying there FOREVER, we took a ferry over to Koh Lanta and almost got stuck there, taking the very last boat of the season back to Phuket. And then flew back to Bangkok. Khao San road was a zoo, kind of a model UN of backpackers from around the world. We only had 48 hours, so we just explored as much as we could on foot, making sure to see the Jade Buddha and 45-meter-long golden Reclining Buddha, as well as eating as much street food as possible (I think we had lunch 3 times in the same day). Needless to say, we LOVED Thailand.
Fancy Buddhist temple in Phuket.
Koh Phi Phi, a little slice of paradise.
Island taxis.
Chowing on a piece of pineapple.
Ride to Koh Hai.
Far from reality.
Little mermaid.
Scary green demon, but actually a good guy.
Gilded stupa, Imperial Palace in Bangkok.
Cheeeeeeeeese.
Buddha sandwich.
Japan - After having to fly through Beijing, we made it to one of the most populous and expensive places on Earth: TOKYO. We were greeted by Ryan's younger brother Nick, who lives and works in the big city. He is also married to a nice Japanese girl named Nahoko and the father of our six-month-old niece, Luna, a.k.a Sumo baby. 10 days went by quickly, each day discovering another corner of the megapolis that is Tokyo. Shibuya (Japan's Times Square), Akihabara (Electric City), Asakusa (the big lantern), Shinjuku (downtown), Ueno (central park) or just hang out in the "pseudo-suburbs" at Shimo Tokaido. Another highlight was getting to see Hiroyuki Kato, an old college friend of Ryan's that just happened to look him up on Facebook (after 13 years). He took us around, introducing us to horse meat, pickled octopus and "monja". Domo arigato, Mr. Roboto. We'll be back to Japan, that's for certain.
Konichiwa everyone. I'm little miss Luna.
The happy family: Nick, Nahoko and Luna.
When in Rome.
Asakusa, with our good friend Hiro.
Crosswalk or free-for-all?
Sushi night.
Giant beer, looking for giant refrigerator.
Uncle Ryan and chubby Luna.
Auntie Sonia.
Two Tuesdays - After flying west (huh, west?) three hours back to Beijing, we caught a LONG flight (12 hours I think) east, crossed the International Date Line and finally touched down at LAX, a.k.a America. Los Angeles, almost home, but not quite. While we had made every single flight going around the world, we missed our last connection to Portland, stranding us in LA for the night. At 9am the next morning, we were finally back in Portland, where this journey began almost 3 years ago. Home, sweet home (at least for the next 10 days)...
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