California, USA: Clean, Convenient & Hospitable

What a whirlwind!  We've been back in the States for just 2 weeks for 3 weddings and holy cow our heads are spinning.  Los Angeles, Pasadena, Orange County, San Francisco, Los Gatos, Southern Oregon, down the coast back to SF then to San Diego for a Radiohead Concert and now up in San Luis Obispo for Wedding #2.  I am a tourist in my home state and it's been rather enjoyable (and tiring!).  I feel as though I am seeing my home country through new eyes.  Maybe I am.

I have come to appreciate America in a way I never saw or felt before.  First of all, we live in such a pristinely CLEAN place.  Look around you.  What do you notice?  Manicured lawns, nicely paved streets and sidewalks, pretty gardens and absolutely zero trash strewn about.  Spotless retail stores with nicely stacked merchandise free of dust and grime.  Clean restrooms, cars and people.  No stink as you walk down the street.  No, this isn't what I am used to but damn do I appreciate cleanliness.

And the convenience!  You can get absolutely anything you want at any time.  Do you realize just how fortunate we really are?  You want red licorice at 3:30am?  Sure.  How about watching Star Wars right now?  You can get it.  What about that double nonfat soy vanilla latte, hold the vanilla and make it with Splenda not sugar?  You got it with a giant smile.  The list goes on and on.  I completely took for granted how much and what you can get anywhere, anytime.  Credit card is universally accepted, even for a $1.25 newspaper.  (This is NOT the case in many countries!  Not even accepted at a market or restaurant in many cases.)  And you wonder why credit card debt in our country is a ubiquitous problem.  America is frighteningly convenient.  But that's another story.

The hospitality took me by surprise.   I used to work in the hospitality industry and I was still floored just how friendly and thoughtful everyday interactions are here.  I mean sure, you get the occasional person in a bad mood but overall, customer service is king.  One of the first stores I went into after returning home asked me on the credit card swipe screen "How was your experience with your checker today?" and before I could sign my name, it required me to answer.  Whoa!  I am used to a giant sigh from a clerk or server and a look like I am bothering them by being in their shop or cafe.  I should say it wasn't this way everywhere all the time in other countries, but the norm is to be unhelpful and unappreciative to the customer whereas here it is revered to be helpful and pleasant.  Americans have come to expect it.

There is no question that I now see and appreciate America in a new light.  But I also appreciate Southeast Asia, Australia, New Zealand and Indonesia for what they are and what I have learned while visiting (see blog entries 1 - 70! :)  It makes me appreciate home.  But I am just as thrilled to leave again on September 9 for Europe in the fall:  Greece, Italy, France, Holland...

Grecian Paradise: Skopelos

Photo Album.  After a short day in Athens, we took a ferry to the idyllic Greek island of Skopelos.  What’s more public transport in our lives?  It was strange to be back in Western culture.  You mean we actually have a plush seat?  And the toilets are clean?  I don’t have to squat?  There’s A/C?  Wow!  I suppose we did pay for it after all, but quite a bit different than the Indonesian $4 ferry from Bali to the island of Lombok. 

Brilliant turquoise waters greeted us as we

 approached Skopelos.  Terraced white buildings draped over the mountainside cove, woven together between cobblestone streets like a labyrinth.  The sun was pounding down on our shoulders in 90+ degree heat but felt amazingly refreshing due to its arid nature.  It had been humid in our world for 3 months straight so it was quite nice to not feel like I could cut through the air with a knife and drink gallons of water daily to stay hydrated. 

As soon as we departed the ferry with our turtle shells on our backs, we prepared for the journey to The Skopelos House.  Bonnie and Tom (Andy’s parents) put together colored photos for directions to this 400-year-old abode since there are no street signs or clear dir

ections used in writing.  We passed the bakery, turned right at the white wall with the wrought iron gate, up a hill with a Lucky Strike sign, pass the mural at the hairdressers and turn left on the 20^th step.  We made it!  We entered with a skeleton key and plopped our bags down with a sigh of relief.  After 7 years of hearing about this paradisical Grecian sanctuary, Andy and I are finally here. 

Skopelos is a very unique island in the Sporades.  It’s mountainous and covered in a blanket of dark green pine trees.  I have visited the Cyclades Islands in the south (Santorini a

nd Mykonos) which are both pretty barren and desert-like so this was a foresty treat.  We spent 12 luxurious and much-needed days here (7/31 - 8/12).  After two months of rice and fish in Asia, we gorged ourselves with delicious feta cheese, fresh baked bread, vine-ripened tomatoes, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and peaches that knocked our socks off - my mouth is watering just think

ing about them.  They are the perfect combination of sweet but slightly tart, deliciously juicy (but not enough to drip down your chin) and crisp with zero strings that get stuck in teeth. 

We read books on the beaches just about every day and delved into our packed lunch and cold beverages in the cooler.   Each beach was pretty packed with Europeans on summer holiday (especially this year since Mamma Mia was recently filmed on Skopelos).  We found refuge on Valario Beach which was a bit of a hike, but well worth the trip since it was beautiful scenery and secluded.  A swim and a snorkel here, a snooze there...ahhh.  Our fuel tanks were being filled up by the minute.

Squares? Trapazoids? No...PYRAMIDS!!

Yes, THOSE Pyramids!

The last of the Ancient 7 Wonders of the World...and we lucked into seeing them!! Well, we had angled for the opportunity since we booked our Bangkok to Cairo to Athens flights way back in Bali in May. But we didn't know if a pop over would be feasible during our 5.5 hr layover - and despite my assurances from Air Egypt call center ladies, we were still skeptical upon touching down in Africa.

The first airport guy we spotted, Ahmed received a barrage of inquiries from us and blew us away with his interest in assisting us and his patience. It seemed like it was gonna happen (pee pee dance, pee pee dance!!!) and after we purchased 2 quick Egypt VISAs, we were ushered through immigration and out to the taxi lot. How easy was that?

Ahmed kept reassuring us, "No problem, no problem" as he began negotiating with a large taxi man in Arabic. We waited in anticipation; what was the magic $ # going to be for this trip? We had learned through our research that the Great Pyramids of Giza are only 40 km from the airport, on the other side of Cairo, so hopefully we wouldn't get too jacked on the deal. Bottom line, $100 US, or 530 Egyptian Pounds. We hopped in and kept pinching each other, well, not pinching cuz Stace doesn't like me to poke at her, but you know what I mean - I was GEEKED UP!!! I had been thinking of this possibility for a month and now we were crossing a river...the NILE!?! We stopped for some pics...of the NILE River! Is this really happening? The world trip has been so great, but this is like the EXCLAMATION POINT!

Mohammed, our animated taxi man was spewing out facts about his beloved city. 22 million cars in Cairo, cemetaries for the rich, cemetaries for the poor, mosques with forever-climbing steeples and finally as we watched his eyes in the rear view mirror, he glanced to his right. There were the Pyramids, right there in the distance. Through the thick haze that covered the entire city, we caught our first glimpse of the magical stone creations from eons ago. Big smiles of anticipation stuck to our faces as we slowly meandered through the growing traffic near the Pyramids. Unfortunately for us, the actual park for hte Pyramids didn't open until 9am. But no bother, as long as we could SEE them that would be fine by us. We were asked if we wanted to examine them by foot or on horses. Hmmm, hadn't thought about that one. Our first inclination was to decline the 4-legged opportunity, we are backpackers afterall and money doesn't grow on trees. And for some reason, I felt that a horse ride would cost some dinero.

We were working our way into a small village-like setting and once we parked were met by a horse handler, Omar. With very little full court press, we gave in and warily saddled up onto Liza and Flower. Omar led us on his white stallion through the small streets, past Range Rovers, Mercedes Benz', galloping horses and dozens of camels. A camel ride would have been cool - but count our blessings, no regrets! After traveling in a direction AWAY from the Pyramids, we eventually found our way onto the sand of the Sahara desert. I felt like friggin' Indiana Jones! Stacy often found herself leading our charge through the crowds, however, as Omar was rapping with me about how he likes Americans very much, but how Egyptians in general do not. "Uhhh, honey, we are Australian" I mouthed to her from behind.

More and more summer vacationers - lots of Saudis we were told, here spending money and partying, stormed past whipping their horses, hooting and hollering. Lots had aerosal cans of foam that they were spraying on people. Omar was very protective and snuffed out every potential foaming with some negotiation of his own. As we climbed the dunes, off to the right were the 3 largest Pyramids - live and in person!! We took photos and just marveled at our circumstances. We made it and its only 7:45 in the morning!! The furthest to the right is the largest, the middle was 2nd and the one on the left the smallest of these 3. The surreal nature of this experience had me around the neck - incredible.

With a plane to catch and lots of traffic to battle, we asked Omar to take us back. We were on the Sahara dunes for maybe 30 minutes but it was so worth the trip! Omar told us of a place we could get a look of the Sphinx and then also we how the historical papyrus paper is made. The traffic on the tiny streets was now crazy - at times a little scary actually. More Mercedes, more partiers, a few more camels, guys selling snakes...uh, can we just get going? Omar insisted we stop at a member of his family's apartment complex and climbed the zigzagging stairwell to the roof. Sure enough, he was true his word and we felt so close now to the mesmorizing creations. The Sphinx is a lot smaller than you'd think, or maybe up against the background of the Great Pyramids it's just dwarfed? We could now see the othe 6 smaller Pyramids as well (9 total) and lots of ongoing excavation activity. The wife and I just peered out, again trying to burn the image into our heads forever.

At the street level again, Omar showed us into the Horus Papyrus Museum, where we were to see a demonstration of how the peper was prepared. What it actually was was an art gallery, with lots of beautiful Egyptian art on the paper, all with prices attached. Ahhhh, now it made sense. Tours always take you through the gift shops at the end right? We were met my a tall fellow in white who was very formal and anxious to see us. I had an 8:30 am beer and he quickly, like the blink of an eye, showed us the paper process. We were then thrust into decision mode - what art were we going to buy? At first we were taken aback, but then the thought of taking home a beautiful souvenir from Giza hit us and sounded nice. He had his thoughts of course, of which one(s) we should purchase but we don't need a wall MURAL, man. We are white, yes, but we are not made of money. Please let us buy a small one, please. It took some serious eye to eye to get him to comprehend, but after all was said and done, we walked out happy with a larger than expected piece about the love of King Tut and his bride. The kind man even wrote our names in heirogyphics on the papyrus paper!!

A sense of relief overwhelmed us once we were safely back in Mohammed's taxi and driving to the airport. We were alittle behind schudule but all was fine. We made it! It happened! For pulling a Pyramid visit out of our butts, our layover trip to Giza truly could not have gone any smoother or more Egypt than that! Our exhileration had calmed some only to be mortified by the intense smog that blanketed Cairo. It was disgusting! The town is perhaps the center of life, who knows, but it is very dirty, chaotic and generally unappealing. A 5 hour visit was perfect!

We made the plane and couldn't wipe the grins from our faces, the Pyramids!!! I really hadn't felt this type of exhilaration at any time during our magical 6 months. It just goes to show what can happen if you just let it.