Name that Market...

We're home!  And I am wide awake at 4:00 AM thanks to jet lag... sigh.

I've been spending my jet lagged AM hours looking at pictures.  Some of my favorites are of the various markets we encountered on our trip.

See if you can match the countries (Singapore, Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand, Japan) to the pictures that correspond below (one country is featured twice): 

Market #1

Market #2

Market #3

Market #4

Market #5

Market #6

Sayonara

Getting on a plane in a few hours and headed back to reality.

Tokyo clues explained.

If you are a film buff or an 80s music buff, you probably figured out our final location was Tokyo... I guess I was in more of pop culture mood (rather than a history/politics mood) when I wrote the last set of clues.
We made a point to watch the Oscar-winning "Lost in Translation" again recently in anticipation of our visit to Tokyo.  Sausalito was the cliche-jazz band that performed in Park Hyatt's New York Bar in the movie (and you may recall that Bill Murray's character ends up hooking up with the lead singer).
Thanks to a promotion from signing up for a Hyatt credit card, we are actually staying at the Park Hyatt.  I am pretty sure we are about the only people to check in to this hotel ever with backpacks for luggage and arriving on foot after walking 10 minutes from the train station.
I also can't help but think of karaoke and  two of the best karaoke songs of all time when I think of Tokyo... The Vapor's "Turning Japanese" and the Styx "Mr. Roboto" (from the "Kilroy Was Here" album).  Hopefully we'll get a chance to do karaoke when we are in Japan... but unfortunately, I don't have the masterful skills necessary to pull off either of those songs.

Tokyo

Thanks to my friend Kaz, an English teacher at a high school in Tokyo, we had an amazing day in yesterday and even more exciting things planned for today, including a trip on the bullet train and a Japanese fireworks festival.

Final clue

We have arrived to our last destination.  Here is one last picture clue to go along with the other pop culture themed clues.  Think movie posters.

Destination nine clues

This is our final destination...

SAUSALITO GIGS HERE
VAPORS FAV CITY
KILROY'S BEST

Elvis sighting

Spotted Elvis last night outside a British pub in the Wan Chai neighborhood in Hong Kong. 

Hong Kong clues explained

If you guessed Hong Kong, Special Administrative Region of China, as our 9th destination, you were correct!  This is another one of our "less than 24 hour connections" that we are permitted under the rules of our airline ticket. so unfortunately we won't have long to check out this awesome city.

According the UN and the WHO, Hong Kong has the longest life expectancy of any country in the world at 83 years.

Perhaps Hong Kong's most recognizable countryman to Americans is Jackie Chan, star of such films as "Rush Hour" and the 2010 "Karate Kid" remake.  Chan also did the voice for Master Monkey in "Kung Fu Panda" and "Kung Fu Panda 2".

So what does it mean to be a "Special Administrative Region of China"?  I'm not sure I understand all the nuances, but a few key things I do know are:

• Hong Kong was a British colony for about 150 years, and in 1997 was "given back" to China.
• Hong Kong is allowed to enter into their own international and economic agreements.  For instance, Americans don't need a visa to visit Hong Kong, but they do for the rest of China (that helped with making our decision to stop here and not Beijing or Shanghai, where we'd have to pay $150 for the visa).
• The amount of sovereignty that Hong Kong has from Beijing (location of the central Chinese government, controlled by the Chinese Communist Party) is a source of debate and controversy.  There were recent protests in Hong Kong over the appointment of a new executive for the city by Beijing that the people of Hong Kong believe represent Beijing's interests and not their own.

Destination eight clues

Here we go again...

HOME OF RUSH HOUR
LIVE LONG AND PROSPER
RHYME TIME

One Man Wolfpack

Had a drink at the Hangover 2 bar... But didn't get any facial tattoos or see any smoking monkeys last night.

Bangkok

After 15 (surpisingly enjoyable) hours on a train (thanks to a funny group of young Dutch tourists) we have arrived in Bangkok. 

Bangkok clues explained

After a loooooong train ride, we have arrived in Bangkok!

Bangkok was given the distinction of the World's Hottest City by the World Metereological Association.  Pretty sure that wasn't what Buster Poindexter was singing about in his song "Hot, Hot, Hot"... but it is fitting nonetheless.

There have been major political protests in Bangkok in recent years, particularly in 2009 and 2010, by the United Front for Democracy Against Dictatorship, more commonly referred to as the "red shirts".  I am all about free speech, but I'm definitely not trying to cause any trouble, so to play it safe I'll make sure I avoid wearing a Manchester United jersey or any other red shirts during my stay.

Stu, Phil, Alan, Doug, Teddy, and Mr. Chow (or the Wolfpack as Alan likes to call it) had some pretty zany times in Bangkok in the film "Hangover 2."

Destination seven clues

Here's some information on our next location:

TOPIC OF BUSTER POINTDEXTER SONG?
NOT WEARING MY MANCHESTER UNITED JERSEY
WOLFPACK HANGOUT

Bath time

Chiang Mai, Thailand

If you guessed Chang Mai, Thailand as our sixth destination, you were correct!

Ascot, Bow, and Bolo are types of neckTIES... a little homonym humor there... TIE... THAI... lol.

The elephant is to Thailand as the eagle is to America. I'm not sure if the Thais know Dumbo (the 1941 Disney film and popular ride at Disneyland) ,Babar (from children's literature), and Horton (Dr. Seuss's character who "heard a who"), but they do love them some elephants.

And in the 13th to 18th centuries Northern Thailand was known as the Kingdom of Lanna. Chang Mai is the largest city in Northern Thailand and a major tourist area.

Yesterday we "adopted an elephant for a day"... Which meant we paid more money than the other elephant tours to be reassured that we were going with the only company that treats the elephants really well.  Not sure if that was true, but I enjoyed giving my elephant a bath.  Marshall was worried about bacteria from the elephant poop, so I don't think he enjoyed it as much.

Where in the world are the (Kenny) Rogers (Roasters)?

Apparently in Malaysia...  Along with A&W and Auntie Anne's pretzels. 

Destination Six Clues

our next location...
ASCOT, BOW, AND BOLO,
HORTON, BABAR, AND DUMBO,
LAND OF LANNA...

Kuala Lumpur clue explanation

If you guessed Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia as our 5th destination, you were correct!
Kuala Lumpur literally means "muddy estuary" in Malay.
Kuala Lumpur is well known for the Petronas Towers, which Matt Lauer visited during his trip KL in 2010.  At the time of its completion in 1999 was the world's tallest building at 452 meters... today it is 3rd or 4th.  Honestly, I learned way more than I wanted to about records regarding tallest buildings when I tried to look this up... apparently the Sears/Willis Tower in Chicago was actually taller if you counted the antennae and had more floors, but the Petronas Towers were considered taller because antennae don't count, but the spires at the top of Petronas do.  Anyway, it all seems like a moot point when you consider the building that opened last year in Dubai (Burj Khalifa) is almost DOUBLE the height at 830 meters!
Perhaps the person from Malaysia that is most recognizable to Americans is actress Michelle Yeoh, of "Crouching Tiger, Hiden Dragon" fame.  (According to Wikipedia... so take it for what it's worth) she was also a former Miss Malaysia, in People's 50 Most Beautiful People issue in 1997, and the voice of the soothsayer in Kung Fu Panda 2..

Kuala Lumpur

Destination five clues

Here are clues to our next destination:
MUDDY ESTUARY,
BIRTHPLACE OF CROUCHING TIGER,
HOME TO #1 IN 1999, TODAY #3

Cambodia by the numbers

A few interesting numbers from our last few days in Cambodia:

17 million--population of Cambodia,
99 million--seemingly the number of motorbikes on the streets of Cambodia,
5--most people we saw on a single motorbike,
6--number of 50lb bags of rice we saw one person transporting on a motorbike,
8--number of live pigs we saw being transported by a motorbike,
4000-- # of Cambodiam Real to the dollar,
.5--number of dollars to buy a beer,
12--average number of offers for a tuk-tuk ride we received in a one block walk,
37--years it took to build Angkor Wat beginning in 1125,
30,000-- people our guide said it took to build Angkor Wat, 
2000--elephants our guide said it took to build Angkor Wat,
50/50-- confidence I have in the stats provided by our guide (our Ankor Wat tour was very reminiscent of the Taj Mahal scene from Slum Dog Millionaire--lol.)

And a few more serious #s:
2-3 million-- number of Cambodians estimated to have died during the Khmer Rouge genocide in the late 1970s,
600,000--# of Cambodians estimated to have died in the bombings by the US in the early 1970s (estimates vary),
40,000--# of amputees from landmines in Cambodia,

Cambodia has been a fascinating country to visit.  We have enjoyed not only the 50cent beer and $2 tshirts and sunglasses, but also learning about the history, culture, and politics.

View from the bus

This is the view from our $13 six hour bus ride.  The bus is nicer than any DC to NY bus I have rode (even more leg more and much better scenary than the jersey turnpike)... And, remarkably, WiFi on board.
Another hint to our location... There is no McDonald's in this country.

sad news

Marshall and I received some very sad news this morning.  One of Marshall's dearest friends from childhood passed away unexpectedly.  As we try to cope with this loss, thank you for understanding that we are not in the mood for blogging.

Little India

I was surprised to see this sort of Indian in Little India.

Enjoying a happy birthday

We are staying at the building behind us for my bday present : )

Cleanest city ever?

Singapore might have the cleanest subway ever... And this might be part of the reason why...

Singapore

If you guessed Singapore, you were correct!  Those of you that know me know that this is actually my 4th trip to Singapore, the other three were as a chaperone for my high school students (my school does an exchange with a school in Singapore)... and if you know me well you are probably not surprised I made my way back to Singapore... I love this city, its delicious food, its ultra-modern architecture, and its shameless love for shopping.

Many Americans know little more about Singapore than that they have harsh penalties for drugs (your entry card assures you that drug traffickers receive the death penalty) and fines for things like littering and chewing gum (though I can't find anyone who will actually admit to receiving one of these fines)... a popular tourist t-shirt proclaims "Singapore: A Fine City" and proceeds to list fines for various offenses such as jay-walking and vandalism.

Singaporeans take great pride in their food, which represents the mix of Chinese, Malay, and Indian cultures present in Singapore.  Famed American television personality and food-travel-guru Anthony Bourdain (or Tony B. as I refer to him in the clue) calls Singapore his favorite city; I would consider his episodes of "The Layover" and "No Reservations" essential viewing for any American traveling to Singapore.

Singapore has four official languages:  English, Chinese, Malay, and Tamil.  English is considered the common language between the people, the language of commerce, and is the first language taught in Singapore schools.  In addition to English, everyone also learns their "mother tongue" language... for the 75% of the population that is ethnically Chinese, that means learning Mandarin (or another Chinese dialect).

I am looking forward to eating some of my favorite Singaporean foods, seeing some teacher friends, and then eating some more.

Lunch in Germany

Family photo

It was wonderful to see our "German son"

Destination #3 Clues

Departing from Frankfurt Airport (the busiest in mainland Europe) means we could end up just about anywhere, here's some clues...

A FINE CITY
TONY B.'S FAVORITE CITY
ENGLISH IS ONE OF FOUR OFFICIAL LANGUAGES

Guten Tag!

If you guessed Frankfurt, Germany as our second destination, you were correct!

(According to Delta Skymiles Magazine) Frankfurt is named after the pork sausage in a bun that they have serving there since the 13th century.  Nearby Main-Taunus-Kreis is the "sister county" of Loudoun County, Virginia (and a high school there does an exchange with Dominion High School, where I teach).  Frankfurt is also renowned for their Apfelwein, or apple wine. Our 5 hours in Frankfurt incorporated all 3 of these clues as we meet up with our "German Son" Mortitz (a wonderful teacher we hosted this spring when his school did an exchange at my school), ate some lovely sausage, and Sampled the apple wine.

Destination #2 Clues

Off to our next destination...
PORK SAUSAGE IN A BUN
LOUDOUN'S SCHWESTER
I LIKE THEM APPLES

le tour

This nice British man on a bike was kind enough to pose with us.

Le Eiffel

Thankfully Marshall thought ahead in April and got tickets online to go to the top.

Notre Dame

23 Hours in Paris

If you guessed Paris, France, last stage of the Tour de France, as our first destination you were right! 

There are 22 teams in the Tour de France, 20 stages of the race and the winner gets to wear a nifty yellow jersey (though I personally prefer the 3rd place polka dotted jersey).

Through diligent travel blog and frequent flier rule reading, Marshall discovered that you are allowed unlimited connections of less than 24 hours on some frequent flier tickets... thus our 23 hour visit to Paris.  We realized after a quick scan of hotel prices after booking our ticket 11 months ago that something was up in Paris on July 21st... and quickly figured out it was the last day of the Tour. 


Off the eat some croissants!

Clues to the first destination...

As I embarked on clue writing, I realized there was another factor (in addition to the three I wrote about last week) making this process difficult.  Unlike when I would search feverishly through my World Almanac playing the Carmen Sandiego game on my Tandy computer in the early 1990s (most likely while wearing my hammer pants and blossom hat), today there is something called the INTERNET and this other thing called GOOGLE that make finding information a lot easier.  So if these clues seem tough, it was because I am trying really hard to make them "google-proof".

With that said, here's some hints to our first destination:
OUR FIRST DAY IS THE LAST DAY
THE 20TH FOR 22
GOING FOR THE YELLOW

Feel free to guess in the comments below... unless I've already told you my destination... then guess something else to throw everyone else off.

We depart tomorrow and I'll reveal our location shortly after our arrival.

16 pounds

My backpack officially weighed in at 16 pounds.  I think we are flying one airline that requires carry-ons to be 7kg (15.4 pounds?) or less... so I guess I will have to wear a few extra layers that day to avoid the checked baggage fee.

My sister-in-law Kanoa's years as a boy scout and cub scout mother have clearly served her well in coming up with her estimate of 18 pounds.  In fact, there is probably a good chance I'll think of another couple things I should take and the final weight will be 18 pounds... great job getting the weight exactly right, Kanoa! 

22 days of stuff...

I used this same backpack in the summer of 2001 for 4 months in Europe.  That trip it was about to burst; this time I left plenty of extra room to buy stuff along the way.

Anyone want to guess how much it weighs?

Where are you going first?

Much like Carmen Sandiego and Matt Lauer, my plan is to give you clues to each of our destinations.  This is going to be kinda tough because  A-- my friends and family are really smart (so it will be hard to write clues that are tricky enough); B--Marshall and I have told some of you about our trip, or at least parts of it... so, forget what we told you... after all, maybe we were lying to try to throw you off; and C-- I have no idea if anybody will really play along.

I figure this is the closest I will ever come to my lifelong dream of being Carmen or Matt, so thank you for indulging me by reading along and providing your comments/guesses to our next locations.

I'll post the first clue next week : )

How are you doing this?

How do a teacher and a bureaucrat afford to travel around the world?  The short is answer is through obsessively collecting frequent flier miles and planning 330 days in advance for the best opportunties to redeem them.  A longer answer is outlined in this Washington Post article by a guy that did a similar trip... though I have some philosophical differences with Mr. Wile (yes, there are philosophies of collecting and redeeming frequent flier miles)... he generally uses a lot of same strategies that we used.  Some of our best strategies have been:

1.  Sign up for credit cards with big mileage bonuses.  Don't settle for 25K or 30K bonus miles.  There are plenty of offers out there for 50K, 75K, and every now and again even 100K miles.  We've earned several hundred thousand miles over the past seven years utilizing this strategy (and yes, without wrecking our credit scores).

2.  Volunteer to get "bumped".  Most of the flights that we do "pay" for, we do so through airline vouchers that we have earned as a result of volunteering our seats on oversold flights.  In five years we have earned thousands of dollars in vouchers on four different airlines. 

3.  Book mileage tickets 330 days in advance.  Most airlines open their ticketing, including their mileage tickets, about 11 months ahead of time.  Booking as far out as possible (for us, often the day ticketing opens) is key in getting one of the few seats that is available through frequent flier miles.

I know these strategies won't work for everyone.  We are more flexible with "getting bumped" and more obsessive about planning our travel ahead of time than most people are able to be... but the tradeoff is a lot of fun adventures and getting to see a lot of the world that we wouldn't otherwise.