travel

Knysna (or, Getting There is the Hard Part)

South Africa, May 2011, , View all 5 comments

My protective and well-intentioned husband who’s sure I will lose my passport if left in charge of it keeps it in his safe at work. When it needed to be sent to Kinshasa for an updated visa, he took my stapled-in yellow fever vaccination card out before sending it on. Normally, a good idea. When my passport came back from Kinshasa with the updated visa, I wasn’t even allowed to see it. “It’s in my safe, it’s safe! Don’t worry,” he assured me. The night before we left for South Africa, he brought both our passports home. I admired my new visa for a few moments and put it away in my travel bag for the trip.

The next afternoon we landed in Johannesburg. At the immigration check they asked me for my yellow fever card. It’s stapled in the back, I said, instinctively. No, it’s not, they answered. I asked to see it. There’s the mark of the staple, where it used to be. Confused, I checked my bag, thought for a few moments, then looked over at Seb, who was just getting the green light at his immigration check and heading on through. “Where’s my yellow fever card?” I hollered. Also confused, he thought for a few moments, then remembered: “Oh, shit, it’s still in the safe.” I stared at him, dumbfounded. This can’t be happening. He came over and we tried explaining the situation to the immigration gal. She clicked her tongue and shook her head and said, “It’s gonna be a long trip back to Congo.”

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2 Weeks in South Africa

South Africa, May 2011, View all 3 comments

You would think living in the heart of Africa we would get to see lions, zebras, and hippos on a regular basis. Nope. Congo has been without any large animals for a few decades now. Apparently war, poverty, and hunger can do that to a place. A farmer who lives nearby told us that once upon a time elephants and giraffes roamed his property. The last time he saw anything like that was in the 1980s.

So apart from the Lubumbashi Zoo (which was, surprisingly, a fun little trip), we have to leave the country to go on a proper safari. We chose South Africa as the first recipient of our tourism dollars on this continent, cleverly timed to celebrate our first wedding anniversary.

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Chiang Mai

SE Asia, December 2010, , View all 4 comments

Soiphet and driver (I wish I could remember his name) drop us off at our final hotel for our final 2 nights.  The Rachamankha is extraordinarily beautiful, and so peaceful.  Like a museum, actually.  That night we have dinner in an open, tree-filled courtyard, while a musician plays ancient instruments.  I feel existential for a split second, like, Wow, I’m really somewhere right now. Continue reading →

Two Nights in Bangkok

SE Asia, December 2010, , View all 2 comments

From Phuket, we head to Bangkok.  Here’s where I broke my no-within-country-flight policy.  To travel overland would take us a day and a half, and we just don’t have that kind of time.  So instead, we jump on a Thai Airways flight, and arrive in 85 minutes for about $100 per person.  With a full lunch and wine served in-flight, of course, in keeping with the Asian hospitality theme.

Bangkok.  There’s something about that name, like Kuala Lumpur, that sounds all exotic and mysterious to me.  I can’t wait to see it.

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Christmas in Krabi

SE Asia, December 2010, One comment

Today a long journey lies ahead of us.  We’ll spend about three hours crossing the Andaman Sea to get from Malaysia to Hat Yao, Thailand, then another few hours overland.  First up, a limo pries us away from our fantastic beach paradise and takes us to the other side of the island, where we wait for our ferry.  A little motorboat takes us from the pier to the waiting vessel.  The weather is a bit temperamental, the waves high and the ride rough.  The boat is packed.  Everyone has a seat, but there are no seats to spare.  Someone behind us gets seasick.  Continue reading →

Langkawi

SE Asia, December 2010, , , One comment

Langkawi… ahhh.  I had never heard of it before beginning research for this trip, but apparently it’s “Malaysia’s best-known holiday destination” according to Lonely Planet, and now I can see why.  Seb’s request for this vacation, well, besides being somewhere developed, was that we would find a place to spend several days in a row doing nothing but relaxing beside a beach.  This was the kind of place I hoped he’d had in mind.  We just had to rush through the first several stops to get here.

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