Hi everyone,
Welcome to the official Mike and Nadia travel blog. We'll be posting stories, pictures, videos and random thoughts on here over the course of our travels. We'll try to keep this updated once a week or so, assuming we can get connected and figure out how to do this.
Just so you're 'in the know', here's what's on the agenda:
Oct 19 - Nov 5: China
Nov 5 - 28: India
Nov 28 - Dec 8: Thailand
Dec 8 - 24: Malaysia & Brunei
Dec 24 - 28: Singapore
Dec 28 - Jan 5: Hong Kong
Jan 5 - 8: Cambodia
Jan 8 - 22: Vietnam
Jan 22 - 29: Taiwan
Jan 29 - Feb 16: Japan
We look forward to having everyone along for the ride.
Mike and Nadia
P.S. You can also reach us during our travels at mjarlitt@rogers.com and nadsy@rogers.com
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Hey Mike and Nadia,
ReplyDeleteI wish you all the best for your trip. Have a happy and safe journey.
Cheers,
Navi
Salaam
ReplyDeleteI am so excited for you guys...
Can't wait to follow on this journey of a lifetime....
Take lots of pictures.. and sorry we missed you guys yesterday
Layla
Nadia and Mike,
ReplyDeleteEnjoy your trip! Give Kelly a big hug from me.
Razia
Nadia and Mike,
ReplyDeleteWe will miss you and we are looking forward to our adventure in India, Thailand and Malasia with you. Have a safe trip look, see listen and absorb everything.
Love,
Mom and Dad
Mike & Nadia, Have a fabulous trip. We are looking forward to following your every minute ( it will be like we're there too). Love, D,G,&S
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteHere's hoping day 1, flight 1 is going well!
ReplyDeleteTip of the Day: Just discovered that this blog allows you to delete your own comments. Outstanding. Could come in handy at some point.
Have a great trip!
BigBro.
And now, a public service announcement from the Interior Ministry of the People's Republic of China:
ReplyDeleteWe are currently experiencing non-technical difficulties. The MandN show will return to this channel soon.
Sorry Comrades.
Hi
ReplyDeleteThis is MOPO adding comments on behalf of MandN. 24/10/2009
"Greetings from China! Yesterday we took a tour to the Great Wall and Ming Tombs. The weather was perfect…sunny and high teens - in fact, we spent much of the day in t-shirts. The Great Wall is pretty spectacular, but just jammed full of tourists. It's also a lot steeper than I ever imagined. Fortunately, the tour company had arranged for a foot massage for each of us after the wall experience. I've attached a picture of us near the highest point at Badaling.
Last night we hooked up with Auntie Razia's friend Kelly for dinner. She took us to a nice Western restaurant in a section of town where she lives and all the embassies are located. We had a nice dinner and walked around the neighbourhood.
Today, we went to the Summer Palace and the Temple of Heaven. It was a lot more hazy today, but it was still a beautiful day - probably high teens today. We're starting to find that more and more temples are starting to look the same, so we may skip the Lama Temple, which we originally had in mind for our last day here. Instead, I think we want to check out Wanfujing steet where they sell scorpions, snakes, etc. We'd also like to check out a five story subterranean shopping complex just up the street from our hotel.
Tonight we have dinner plans with a nice Spanish couple, Jose and Susana that we met on our Great Wall tour yesterday. I'm pretty sure we'll end up in the embassy district.
This is MOPO adding comments on behalf of MandN. 25/10/2009
ReplyDelete"We just wanted to send you a note to let you know that we got to Xi'An alright and we had a great day here. We spent the afternoon checking out the drum tower, bell tower, and spent quite a long time in the Muslim quarter of the city. We went to their "Grand Mosque", which is apparently one of the largest in China. Nadia wore her scarf and one of the men waved to us and took us into the mosque despite the fact that all other tourists weren't allowed. It was kind of ridiculous, but we were nonetheless happy to have privileged access.
The Muslim Quarter is something else…lots of sights and smells. The way that the Chinese handle meat is often shocking…we saw meat strewn out all over the ground at room temperature with flies all around it….needless to say, we didn't get a hankering for any "street meat".
Xi'An has pretty much the worst pollution problem we've ever experienced. My allergies have been driving me nuts here. The only way I could describe the air here is that it's a mix of dust, rotting cabbage, bbq'd street meat, metal shavings, smoke, and paint thinner. Both of our throats were getting pretty sore by the end of the day. With that said, the town really comes alive at night, and has some real appeal. We call it a "town", even though its population is about the same size as Toronto. Tomorrow we'll go check out the Terracotta Warriors - we were debating taking a tour, but it sounds easy enough to take a bus from the train station, so it looks like that's what we're going to do. If we choose to, there are English speaking guides for hire there at a fraction of the cost that a tour would entail. Plus, we don't get subjected to the selected lunch and mandatory factory stop.
Yesterday in Beijing we had a good time on our last day. We went through a market that featured calligraphy and antiques. We continued on into the hutongs which really highlighted the way that a good portion of the Beijing people live. We also went to "Wanfujing" street, which is where you can get pretty much anything on a stick. I took a nice video of scorpions wiggling around on sticks by one of the stands. Also got some pictures of cockroaches, seahorses, and larva on sticks too! We also had a good dinner out with Ulupi's sister, Unnati. It was certainly a challenge finding our way to her apartment, but eventually we hooked up with her.
Down the street from our Beijing hotel was a Wal-Mart, so Nadia wanted to check out and see if they had any good deals on clothes, shoes, etc. Our eyes were truly opened to the globlal Wal-Mart machine that has clearly attempted to embrace cultural differences. We went into the seafood section…tank after tank of live fish, turtles, etc. In the "on ice" section, they had all sorts of fish, squid, and even stingrays! This place is crazy.
Way to go Fozie, love your picture on the elephant! Sounds like an exciting trip! Can't wait to see the pictures from the Taj Mahal.
ReplyDeleteHi;we love the pics, looks like a good time is being had by all. I sent a couple emails but not sure if you get them so we're posting a comment instead.If on your travel you see a certain type of cinnamon, not the common one called cassia but the one called alba it comes from sri lanka. It's hand rolled & smells like orange blossoms & vanilla. They look like quills. anyway if you find them could you please buy a good amt. for me. Thanks wishing we were there.Love, Shanti's Family
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