A Ride on Space Ship Earth

Incredible India

2009-06-11T03:56:00.000-07:00

Spending 2 weeks in the mountains without a shower, change of clothes or much sleep, we were very much looking forward to our return to civilization and a long relaxing trip to India. After treating ourselves to a sauna/massage and yak steaks we left to catch a bus to the Nepal/India border. The primitive but functional bus left the station half full. With our legs stretched out we departed with the sun setting, staring out the window to the peaceful orange tinted Kathmandu skyline; India only a few hundred miles away. The bus however, was not ready to begin it’s journey. We wandered the streets of Kathmandu for the next two hours picking up passengers until every seat was filled and all floor space covered. Floor space designated for the most colorful/poorest passengers. We were herded into the rear of the bus with our legs jammed against the back of the seat in front of us. (Picture Seth in advanced yoga pose). Even with a healthy dose of sedatives, the 8 hour ride was miserable. Every few miles pot holes literally flung us out of our seats. When our were asses were planted, we would be catapulted forward by the bus breaking to nearly avoid hitting something (not necessarily another vehicle) accompanied with the drivers constant and obnoxious use of his horn. At one point we were woken by heavy rains that somehow flooded our seats. This forced us to shut the windows, which turned our pool into a steam room. The next time we woke up Benjy was covered in mosquito bites. The last bus plague that fell on us were the multiple rest stops. Like U.S. highway rest stops, all Nepalese are standardized. Instead of McDonalds and Baskin Robbins the Nepalese stops all have diseased dogs, massive piles of garbage, beggars and filthy food. When we finally reached the border we had to take a jeep three hours to the closest Indian train station. The driver packed 16 people into the Jeep!! There was little English spoken at this Indian rail station, but we managed to figure out our train left in four hours. We found the seediest hotel available, crashed for a few hours and jumped on the train for a six hour ride. 24 hours after embarking we finally arrived to our destination, Varanasi, probably the hottest most disgusting city on the planet. Welcome to India.

Varanasi is reputed to be one of the holiest cities in the world. Many Hindus flock to this city on the Ganges River to be cremated and have their ashes spread into the holy river. Some that cannot afford the wood required to properly cremate the body simply attach rocks to the corpse and throw into the river.

Along with human remains, the Ganges river is on of the most polluted on the planet. In recent water testing for fecal bacteria, researches found 500,000 bacteria per centiliter of water, the government standard for safe river swimming is 5.

These kids were swimming less than 100 yards from cremation ceremonies.
We gladly left this holy city to meet up with Benjy’s friend Erin in Delhi. The highly populated city of Delhi is spread out over a great area and is clearly divided into two parts, New and Old. New Delhi has extra wide tree lined roads, elegant apartment houses, parks and some modern shopping districts. Old Delhi has some of the cities impressive religious and tourist sites including the mosque, Jama Masjid. Not sure if we really had to ‘cover up’, could have just been one of many Indian scam artists.
Regardless, we look amazing!!
The rest of Old Delhi is a maze of bustling streets filled with people, rickshaws, motorbikes and livestock.

Not all of the livestock wander the streets forever.

Goat hooves for sale.
At 115 degrees, the dingy city of Agra leaves little to be desired less one exception. The triumph of the Mughal empire the Taj Mahal, built in 1632 as a tomb for the emperor’s wife, took over 20 years to construct. Recognized by many as one of the Seven Wonders of the World, the Taj did not disappoint; it is truly one of the greatest things ever constructed.
People from all over India come to visit this historic monument. For some taking a picture with the Taj is as impressive as taking a picture with these funny looking white people.
I think these guys liked Erin.
Looking to escape the heat, we headed down south to the famous beach state of Goa. Goa is like most beaches except the Sacred Cow is always entitled to the prime real estate
One of our days in Goa was spent working as extras on a Bollywood movie set. We were posed sitting down or walking next to these famous Bollywood stars. One of the actors, Sunjay Dutt we later discovered was a huge star. Described to us as the “Indian Al Pacino” his picture appeared in the Mumbai newspaper everyday we were there.

Sunjay testing out a Segway with his personal bus in the background.

The filming was done at a '7-star beach resort' where we sat around all day, ate lunch and were given 1000 rupes for our labor. After the shooting, we went to the hotel's casino and Benjy and Seth each turned their 1,000 rupees into 8,000! It is important to note that 1000 rupees is only $20. That being said, our hotel was only 500 rupees per night. Long story short...we were ballin that night.

Erin "extraing"

To get to Mumbai we took the famous and scenic all day train trip. The non AC and sleeper class cars were jam packed with traveling Indians, but ours sat the three of us plus one comfortably.

Benjy having a rest.
We would later discover that alcohol on the train is strictly prohibited and had to fend of the security guard with a few rupees.
Our hotel in Mumbai was located directly behind the famous/infamous Taj Mahal Hotel and Tower. The old hotel is an extraordinary building.
Along with the Taj Hotel there are several remarkable buildings in the old part of the city. Among these buildings stand out The University of Mumbai and Victoria Terminal train station (frequented by 2.5 million passengers a day). The buildings are an impressive specimen of 16th century Gothic architecture. It was too hot to take any pictures of them, but if you are interested Google away.

Benjy and Seth inside the train station and no Benjy did not run to the terminal.
Mumbai is a city of extremes. It is the most heavily populated city on the planet (see wikipedia). There are fabulously wealthy people, plush apartment buildings and terrific restaurants. On our last evening together, we went to a restaurant to “see and be seen”. Not sure if we saw anyone or anyone saw us, but the food was really good and most importantly it didn’t make anyone sick.
What makes Mumbai so unique is the contrast between the extremes. At night, the sidewalks in front of these high rise apartment buildings are cleared and literally the next lot down the sidewalk is completely carpeted with the sleeping homeless. Try to imagine New York City and add another 5 million people with no additional jobs or housing. People often defecate in public and rubbish is scattered every where. Over fifty percent of the city is made up of slums. The Oscar winning movie Slumdog Millionaire showed the slums very well. Benjy explored the Tharavi Slums which are the largest in city and also where they filmed the movie.

A two story home.
Benjy was given some rupees to distribute to the children and was quickly the most popular guy in the neighborhood.

On three everyone say ‘CURRRY’!!

Sagamartha

2009-06-01T01:50:00.001-07:00

We assented into the mountains in a 12 seater propeller plane with a 1st row view of the cockpit.

We caught our first hint of intimidation looking out of the airplane window and being surrounded by mountains towering above the plane on all sides. Right when it looked as though we were headed directly into a mountainside we banked right and touched down on what appeared to be more like a driveway, then a runway. Our destination was the town of Lukla at 9300 ft above sea level.

No Sherpa, no guides just a map and a rough game plan to get to Everest Base Camp and back. Mount Everest is known world wide, however, few know the origin of its name. In the late 19th century the British commissioned the Great Trigonomic Survey, which at the time was the largest scientific undertaking in history. The survey resulted in the mapping of the sub continent of India as well as the discovery of the Himilayan giants, among them, Everest. The project also provided the first measurements of the earths curvature. One of the leaders and main surveyors of the project was Sir George Everest and although he never actually saw the mountain they choose to name it after him in honor of his work elsewhere. It was known, and still is known locally as Sagamartha “Godess of the Sky”.

Day one, Lukla to Manjo about 5 hours of walking with little change in altitude.

Lukla

Day two, Manjo to Namche Bazaar, this was about a 4 hour walk straight up taking us from around 9,000 ft to 11,200 ft. Namche is the biggest village along the route to Everest. We spent two days here while we acclimated to the altitude.

Namche

Day 3, on our acclimization day we set out by ourselves to catch our first view of Everest.

By the end of the day we gained a local friend, hung out at a monastery, saw a Yeti skull, and visited the village of Khumjung.

Our local friend Edic

Khumjung
Monastery

Day 4 , Namche to Pengboche. It was about a 6 hour walk and took us through Tengboche which has a world famous monastery.

Tengboche Monastery

Pengboche

Our lodging ran us approximately 60 cents per night. Typical room below.

Day 5, Pengboche to Dengboche 12,800 to 14,100 ft. Only around a 3 to 4 hour walk but it was our first time encountering snow. This assent brought upon a new dimension to the trek. Above this altitude the air becomes exponentially thinner and each subsequent gasp of air yields less and less oxygen. From here on up the we battled splitting headaches, sleepless nights, the inescapable cold and eventually frigid temperatures.

Dengboche

Day 6, Our last acclimization day here and since it snowed the entire time we spent our time reading, Benjy beating Seth in chess and our relentlessly joyful friend.

Ram, our lodge’s owner.

Day 7, Dengboche to Lebuche, 14,100 to 16,000 ft

After a few snowy, cloud covered days the weather started to turn in our favor and the enormity and beauty of our surroundings came into view.

Day 8, Lebuche to Gorek Shep 16,000 to 16,800 ft, to Base camp 17,600 ft and Back to Gorek Shep. Long day about 9 hours hiking.

Gorek Shep

Base camp was a city of tents set up at the base of the Khumbu Glacier where the remarkable Everest assent begins. You can not actually see the mountain from camp but the views are almost as impressive.

Base Camp

View from 18,200 ft

People from all around the world come here to attempt to reach the top of the world. Expeditions spend anywhere from six weeks at base camp to two months while they go up and come back down to acclimate to the altitude before making the final push to the top. Mount Everest, the worlds tallest mountain stands at 8848 meters about 29,000 ft.

Day 9, Gorek Shep to Khala Pattar, 16,800 to 18,200 ft. After a grueling 1200 ft vertical incline we were treated to a stunning 360 degree view of the Himalayas. The view from Kala Pattar offers what the locals refer to as the million dollar view of Mt Everest.

The Million Dollar Shot

After taking in this special place we were ready to get back downside and spent the next few days quickly making our way down to Lukla.

Along our trek, we had the pleasure of meeting some of the most impressive people in the world, the Sherpa. Their feats of strength are extraordinary and style of life very unique. They are generally little men, but can be seen carrying 200 lb packs with their heads almost effortlessly.

Biggest pak we saw, weighed around 200 lbs.

Mini Sherpa

Taking a quick break

They have great calves

How else do you think the beer gets up

When it was all said and done we ended up walking with our 30 lb packs about 70 miles up and down the sides of mountains and assenting (then descending) almost two vertical miles.
No showers, no heat, little food…unbelievable

Nam

2009-05-05T11:20:00.000-07:00

We crossed via the Mekong River, a colorful introduction to the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.

Several times in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) we almost got killed by speeding motorbikes.

During our two weeks in the country we did not encounter any negative sentiment because we were Americans and were at war less then 40 years ago. However, when we visited the War Remembrance Museum it was a different story. The museum spoke of the horrors that the American force inflicted upon the innocent Vietnamese people. This of course is only half of the story, but it was valuable to view from a different prospective.
Outside of the museum we played badminton with the cutest girl in Asia. She was hysterical laughing at Seth’s shoes.

Benjy showing her sister the pictures.

During the war Cu Chi was a communist stronghold outside of Saigon in Southern Vietnam. The Vietcong built an elaborate maze of underground tunnels that they lived and fought in for 10 years during the war.

They would travel over 6 miles in one night though the tunnel to go and fight the Americans/South Vietnamese. Seth made it 20 meters.

A little to much city life and traveling we decided to treat ourselves to some beach time in Mui Ne. Mui Ne had beautiful sand dunes

Great beach

And surfing...kind of.

We don’t have any pictures to prove it, but Hanoi was a truly beautiful city. Constructed with mostly French architectural style, virtually every street both wide ‘Parisian’ boulevards and small hectic Asian alleys are lined with trees. Hanoi acted as our home base for our two Northern Vietnam excursions.

First we took an overnight train to the mountain town of Sapa. We spent two days hiking with a local guide through the mountains and countless rice paddies.

We spent the night in a local Hmong families home.

The Hmong people were very friendly and welcoming to visitors.

We actually were invited and went to a traditional Hmong wedding.

Our next excursion was to Halong Bay, probably the best known tourist site in Vietnam and a natural marvel. There are more than 3,000 islands that shoot out of the bays calm turquoise waters. We spent our first night on Cat Ba, the only inhabited island in the bay. Early in the AM we hiked up to one of the islands viewpoints.

The rest of the trip was spent relaxing on a junk floating around Halong Bay

The exchange rate in Vietnam is 17,000 dong to the dollar. We were in fact Vietnamese millionaires many times over.

Khmer

2009-05-05T10:55:00.001-07:00

The reality of Cambodia hit us like a speeding truck or maybe we should say hit us like a cow. Our taxi crossing the countryside came to a screeching halt and just avoided a head on collision with a cow crossing the street. The cow may as well have been branded “Welcome to Cambodia”

Originally the capital of Cambodia, Siem Reap is now a small charming city lined with dirt roads. Many tourists come here because of its close proximity to the Angkor ancient ruins.

The driver from our hostel took us to a floating villages located outside the city. We jumped on a boat skippered by a 16 year old and his first mate no older than 12 for a journey down the long winding murky river.
The river opened up to a lake that housed an amazing floating village.

Half way across the world, in a floating Cambodian fishing village Seth found the ultimate basketball court.
Our young captain brought us to a house boat where some old men were celebrating their new year with home made rice wine and fresh fish. They did not speak one word of English, but spoke the international language of Lets All Get Drunk.

About an hour and many many shots of rice wine later we headed back down the river. Apparently being 16 years old and drinking a ton of rice wine does not equate to greater boating skills. Who would have thought that those kids couldn’t hang with a bunch of full (and extra full) sized men? The boat repeatedly veered into the river bank and Benjy was called on to do most of the 1st mates duties. Seth was sprawled out on the deck in a blissful rice wine slumber.

After over 5 hours at sea, our hostels driver became panicked and contacted the police. No simple explanation was acceptable in this part of the world and a mosquito/lizard infested floating house was converted into a makeshift police quarters for further questioning. We stood by confused and a bit scared as the trial progressed with all parties present. Finally we told and recorded our story as it happened and were excused without bail. The underage drivers were found guilty and await sentencing.

Angkor Tom was an ancient city built in the 12th century occupied by over two million people. There are hundreds of temples surrounding the city including the world famous Angkor Wat. This temple is the pride and joy of Cambodia and is represented on their flag. Its massive structure took 37 years to build and was for the use of one man.

Another notable temple is called Bayon or Temple of Smiles.

In the 15th century the Siamese (Thai) invaded Angkor and the Khumer (Cambodians) abandoned the city and temples and fled to Phnom Phen. It was not until the middle of the 19th century that the French stumbled upon the ancient cities ruins. After 400 years, the jungle had completely overcome the city as the last temple we visited clearly showed

From Tomb Raider
In the 70’s there was a civil war in Cambodia. The communist, Khmer Rogue came to power under Pol Pot and began to exterminate all of the educated Cambodians and anyone who dared to act as an individual. In a massive genocide Pol Pot and the Khmer Rogue Regime murdered 3 million fellow Cambodians. The killing fields where tens of thousands of people were taken to be executed and dumped in mass graves. In the center of the fields they have erected a monument with over 9,000 skulls that were found when the fields were discovered.

Clothing still remains from victims.

In Southest Asia they let you shoot guns. American muscle, The M-16.

The Cambodians have yet to recover from their lengthy civil war. Poor living conditions exist across the country. Despite their poor fortune we found the people to be among the friendliest in all of our travels.

Thai Money Millionaires

2009-04-18T05:30:00.000-07:00

Backpackers from around the world flock to southern Thailand in search of white sandy beaches and rock bottom prices. After 5 weeks of intensive traveling, we were happy to put our feet up and do more of the same. The first Island we visited was Koh Samui where we coughed up $6 a night for this beachside bungalow.
View from bed
The island had everything we were looking for...

Friends
Massages
Sunrises
Sunsets

Our next island was Koh Phagnan. Phagnan is famous for its wild Full Moon party, attracting about 20,000 co-eds. Lots of sex, alcohol, drugs, etc…not our bag, so instead we went by taxi boat to a quiet part of the island and stayed at a yoga/wellness resort.

Self guided hike through the jungle. The plethora of mosquito bites and rashes we acquired were well worth the views.

After a few more days on the island Seth left for Bangkok to meet up with his girlfriend, Jess.
Jess and Seth headed straight for Krabi and its surrounding islands. The first stop was Railey, known as one of the most beautiful stretches of beach in all of Thailand.
Days were spent relaxing on the beach and evenings dining on fresh fish.

A quick 2 hour boat ride to neighboring island, Koh Lanta and once again back on the beach relaxing..
Seth and Jess ride Babar.

Meanwhile, Benjy was traveling across Thailand by land and sea to Koh Sok National Park. At the national park he did a 2 day jungle safari. The highlight was staying on Chiaw Lan Lake in floating raft houses. Waking up and diving out of your room into a pristine lake, is a fine substitute for a shower.

Man of the jungle.

2 hour hike through a cave, so many bats!

Benjy made it to Seth and Jess in Koh Lanta just in time to host Passover Seder. On this night unlike others, we relax while we eat.

From Ko Lanta the three of us headed over to Phi Phi island which is famous for its marine life as well as its perfect island cove where they filmed “The Beach” staring Leo D.

"The Beach"
Phi Phi Monkeys
Benjy, Jess, Seth and Byron at the viewpoint
Bangkok is the main backpackers hub for all of Southeast Asia. A traveler can find virtually anything in this city….

Seth eating a grasshopper.
New Indian friends after famous “Ping Pong” show. Still not sure if we should be fully disgusted or totally impressed.
Seth betting little girl in his second best sport, Rocks/Paper/Scissors.

Pay up Seth!
Banana, Benjy and Boom. Benjy currently has an attorney investigating polygamy laws in Thailand.
Protesting is the Thai National Sport. The standard “state of emergency” pic.
Thai new year celebration (Songkran) is more or less a massive 4 day water fight. Everyone in the city was armed with water guns and buckets making it impossible to go anywhere with out getting doused with water and chalk. We watched this little boy hit oncoming motorcycles and cars for hours every day. Sure there are a lot of accidents, but look how happy he is!

Wild!After 100 sets of Thai fingers their faces were thoroughly covered.
Throughout our stay in Thailand we spent a good deal of time on the islands and watched a lot of sunsets together (no homo). Here are a few.

Hong Kongian

2009-03-28T21:40:00.001-07:00

Our brief stay in Hong Kong was a true ‘rags to riches’ tale. Had we done our homework we may have stayed in a pleasant part of town, tried highly acclaimed HK Dim Sum and seen some sights of one of the worlds most monumental cities. Instead we went online the night before we arrived in the city and found the cheapest guest house with two beds.

We stepped off the city bus after a long day of travel and were immediately accosted by Indian suit makers and self proclaimed fake watch salesmen. Swimming through a sea of hustlers we arrived to our destination the Chung King Mansions. These were not the ‘mansions’ we had envisioned.

The Curious Mansion Lobby

Mansion Facade Seth trying to convince salesman that he does not need a Folex.
Flipping through the pages of a tourist pamphlet we picked up at the airport we decided to go to the peak and take a look at the city from above. Surprisingly, the peak tram was installed in the late 1800’s as a tourist destination. 100 years later, two more suckers.

For the first time in weeks we were invited out of the tourist circle and into the ex pat circle by friends of a friend, Dave and Matt, who are living in HK. Very fun night out in HK. We almost forgot we went here, but definitely a memorable stop at the ice bar.
Seeing that Dave had to work the next day (don’t think he ever made it in) he lent us his pass to the Four Seasons. Our hangovers were instantly lifted by the infinity pool overlooking the HK skyline.
That night we had planned to take a ferry ride to Macou (best described as the Chinese Vegas) to try to catch some of March Madness. Oddly enough, Dave and his friends were headed out to Macou that night to see a Journey concert. Journey’s lead singer Steve Perry had been on leave and his replacement was a Pilipino pop star discovered on Youtube by the band. Dave got us tickets up to the front row. The lead singer sounded EXACTLY like Perry. He pointed right at Benjy and looked him right in the eyes. Benjy almost tore an ACL his knees buckled so hard. The lead guitarist threw his pick right at Seth’s eye which he later recovered. DON’T STOP, BELIEVIN!!!!!

On our last night we ate a Peking Duck and saw the cities nightly performance of a Symphony of Lights.

I Think I'm Turrning Japanese

2009-03-21T01:02:00.000-07:00

We split our time in Japan between Tokyo and Osaka. Tokyo everyone knows as a major international city, while Osaka is its smaller, energetic, hip brother to the southwest. Our time in Tokyo was spent people watching, playing video games, and eating, a lot.

We took a train as fast as a speeding bullet to Osaka, where we stayed in a traditional “capsule"
hotel. Its too hard to explain what this means, see pictures.

One of our favorite dining experiences were at Izakaya’s, which are small restaurant/bar‘s. We had a blast at one in Osaka (below), which only seated about 8 people, fairly typical in Japan.

Two of Japan’s most scenic and historic cities, Nara and Kyoto are located right outside of Osaka. We spent a day in each city exploring their famous Buddhist temples and gardens.

Although Japan can appear to be a ‘western’ style city, we found that things were quite different. It is as if they are imitating our culture, but are only using rap music and Brad Pitt movies as research. Some things we found unique to the country.

Traditional Geisha
Deer attending sidewalk stands

Lots of weird statues

Never ending neon

We spent our last day camped out at a Sumo tournament. There are a few 15-day tournaments that take place every year, and we happened to be in Osaka while one was going on. It was a lot of fun. There is a tremendous amount of tradition and a lot of really nasty fat ass.

There are not many tall people in the country and Seth definitely stood out.

Kiwi Country

2009-03-13T00:53:00.000-07:00

Most of what we wanted to do in New Zealand was on the lower half of the South Island. We spent the first couple of days cruising down the scenic east coast.

Around 10:30 pm on our first night driving we ran out of gas and steam and needed to stop for the night. We ended up in the small town of Oamaru and moseyed into the towns lone bar. Our arrival was untimely, as we just missed the end of the speed sheep shearing competition. We did have the fortune of seeing two well lubed locals receive a mullet shearing, which we then noticed was the haircut of choice for the towns gentlemen. After an interesting night, we retired to the luxurious hotel Mitsubishi.
Our First destination was the Otaga Penninsula in Dunedin,, in order to get there we had to drive down windy waterfront roads that’s allowed about a foot between the car and a drop into the ocean. Seth held on for dear life as Benjy navigated the wrong side of the road. The views were well worth the drive.
After several days of travel we finally made it to Queenstown, better know as the extreme sports capital of the world.

Here we had planned to throw ourselves out of an airplane. Unfortunately, the kiwi’s have a strict weight limit for skydiving and needless to say, Seth did not make the cut. He’s not fat, just big boned. What we did get involved in was white water rafting and skeet shooting.
After 10 days of not shaving, Benjy decided to try out a new style. Parents of Queenstown- hide your children.From Queenstown we made our way to the Milford Sound or God’s Garden as we came to think of it. You cant help but feel as though this is a part of the world where humans do not belong. There are 3 million square km of uninhabited, conserved land. The long windy track through mountains and along majestic lakes to the sound would have been more fun in a Porsche, but the sights were no less beautiful. The water way is surrounded on all sides by cliffs larger than the Empire State Building , some of these cliffs have giant waterfalls flowing down their tree covered sides that continually dump water into the sound. The only signs of life are the handful or boats, birds and a couple of seals lying out on their rocks.

Inspired by Sly Stallone’s iconic performance in Cliffhanger we decided to spend a full day ice climbing on a glacier. Oddly enough, the glacier we accented, Frans Joseph, was located in the middle of a rain forest. Benjy felt right at home in his crampons, while Seth relaxed in his perfect glacier lazy boy.

Before we returned to the north island, back to the airport, we spent a couple of nights in the port town called Picton. Located just south of Picton is New Zealands wine region, know best for its celebrated Sauvignon Blanc.

Fiji Time 2/24/09 - 2/27/09

2009-03-01T21:36:00.000-08:00

We arrived on the mainland in Nadi at 5:30 am and cruised over to the marina to catch a boat to the islands.
Out of 30 or so islands to choose from we arbitrarily picked Wayalailai and set off on a 3 hour boat ride to the island. On our way we dropped off passengers to their respective islands. This is one of them.

Wayalailai is one of the larger small islands among the Yasuawa group of islands west of mainland Fiji. The island “resort” had a handful of private huts as well as a couple of dormitories. Also on the island were a couple of small villages inhabited by the local Fijians. Our dorm (below) was a rustic accommodation with no electricity and seldom running water.

The modern amenities that the island lacked, was more than made up for by the beautiful water and beaches, colorful locals and easy living.
We spent three days and two nights on the island. Our days consisted of one or two activities, three square meals and long hard hours spent stretched out on the beachside hammocks.
A small reef was only a short boat ride from the island where we went snorkeling and encountered a posse of sharks who swam by our sides. The other time we left the beach was at 5am for a morning hike to the top of the island. Pitch black and very slippery from an early morning shower, the hike was a bit challenging, but the 360 degree view was well worth it.

On our last night the Wayalailai Entertainment Group (aka the staff) hosted Fiji night with traditional song, dance, and the ceremonial drinking of Kava a drink that tastes like dirty water and makes your mouth numb.

Benjy is drunk.

See you in New Zealand, mate.

T Minus 7 Days

2009-02-12T14:41:00.000-08:00

Seth and I had our first arguement about which secluded beachside resort we were going to stay at in Fiji (My pick on the bottom, Seth's on the top) We debated the merits of our respective lodging for a while until one of us pointed out that it was impossible to make a wrong decision. So fuck it, we will figure it out when we get there.

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