gibbon19's Xanga

Monday, July 04, 2005

Mon, 04 Jul 2005 12:11:08 GMT

Happy 4th of july-

Arrived in Dubai late last night...staying at a pretty nice hotel...but from what I discovered today, not nearly high end. I took a taxi out to the infamous Burj Al arab hotel...the worlds only 7 star hotel...it was amazing. Just hanging out before my flight tomorrow...taking in the culture...Dubai is quite modern and they predict it to be the next london/new york in 10 years or so. You certainly can tell there is a lot of expansion going on with all of the construction...its everwhere. Went swimming in the Gulf...it was bath water. Temp here seems to be 95ish or so. I heard from Hunt Talmage, Circumnavigator Member...we are going to dinner in Bangkok in a couple of nights...i was happy to hear he would be around. Thats about it for now.

Sunday, July 03, 2005

Sun, 03 Jul 2005 08:15:04 GMT

well my time in africa has expired...it has been a great time, with lots of adventure. I enjoyed commencing my trip in morogoro...it was nice to see theo and learn about much of what he has going on with the orphanage in dodoma. It was amazing to see the type of establishment they have in the middle of nowhere...great facility/labs all funded by the catholic church. Next, my safari/kili hike was the most intense week Ive had in awhile. Throughout the safari saw all the animals one could ever hope to see. The highlight, by far, took place the moment we drove into the ngorongoro crater. Dee and I saw a lion munching on a noon-time snack (a wildabeast!) We also were able to see some of the only black rhinos in the world on the 2nd day of our crater visit. In between the safari, my new found friend Dee and I stayed at the Ngorongoro Farm House. This place was simply amazing. For five minutes all I could spit out was "wow". We were treated like rock stars and were given the wild african dance by the fire pit....and the whole nine yards. As I mentioned in a previous entry, my Kili Hike was crazy. Looking back, I am certainly glad I did it....however I am very lucky I even made it to the top. So cold So Cold SO COLD! Kinda funny/DUMB that I decided to do it on a mere whim...with no training whatsoever...oh well at least I was in decent shape and that I MADE IT. To anyone interested in such an adventure in the future...i have loads of advice...and I certainly encourage the voyage...shoot the glaciers are only going to be around for another 20 years or so....grrr global warming...

I have spent the last week or so on the island of zanzibar aka paradise. I have definately scoped out numerous hammocks and am still finding sand in my hair...I met lots of cool people, stayed at a place called Kendwa rocks for a few days...then spent a couple in the "capital" of sorts, StoneTown. The other day met some local americans, one who is a firefighter in Iraq....yikes...he had an interesting take on the whole war/American involvement in Iraq. Yesterday I ended up taking a ferry back over to Dar. Oh boy, I wish i wouldve spent the extry 5 bucks and taken a plane ha....I knew I was in for it when they started passing out the puke bags halfway through the 2 hour voyage. Oh well, it certainly wasnt pleasant...but i made it...and happy that I got to see this side of Dar. (when i first arrived early june i experienced the slums of Dar) Stayed at the New African Hotel, was nice to stay at a decent place for once...laid by the pool most of the afternoon...had a thai dish for dinner....and now I am waiting for my taxi to the airport...complimentary I might add. Next stop, Dubai for a couple of nights...then bangkok! peace

Friday, June 24, 2005

Fri, 24 Jun 2005 09:10:03 GMT

Ok....bad news=pistons lost. Good news=I just climbed to the top of Mt. Kilimanjaro!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

hey,

well i made it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i wouldnt put so much emphasis behind that if i didnt mean it..it was so hard...we turned the 6 day trip into only 5 days...it was a blessing tho, because we pretty much were a step ahead of everyone on the mountain..they say only 40 percent of the people that attempt to climb kili actually make it ot the summit..im happy to report that my group, which comprised myself and 3 ladies, all made it! 100 percent! it was so hard,, you cant imagine how it feels 20,000 feet up in the air...well you basically feel like crap....just wanna go to sleep. The 3 ladies i was with...dee, tayo, and laurie...were awesome..dee was the lady from wisconsin that i did the safari with. the other two are from colorado....(they live at 10,000 ft) so that helped them. The ladies..and pretty much everyone that does the climb has been training for months for the 5/6 day tenting trek. I am happy that i could just show up with no equipment and complete the trek. The first few days of the journey were not that hard...The last day, the summit day...well we were on zero sleep...and had to get up at 12 midnight to start the 6 day hike to the top...at the top of the mountain..it was 20 below with a 50 mph wind...so cold so cold so cold so cold. I would say this was one of the toughest things ive ever done..the altitude sickness part is horrible...especially for a boy like me from michigan, alt. 300 ft. or whatever....The ladies i was with were on anti alt. sickness drug and they said that helped a lot. So yeah, in 5 days we hiked 62 miles. ahhh so much...but like i said the summit day was the worst...in a matter of 36 hours we slept for 1hr and hiked to the top of kili and back down...you can imagine how that added to the severity of the climb. Looking back im super happy i did it....but you couldnt pay me enough shillings, US dollars, gold, or beer to do it again. I have some great pictures and video of us doing the climb...i took a pic with my MSU shirt at the summit point...got a tee shirt and whatnot too...as far as how it worked with the guides and the porters...we had one head guide, deo, and he had an assistant...each day we started hikiing we would take exactly what we needed (ie rain jacket, extra socks, lots of water) and then start hiking..we left behind all the rest that we didnt need for the day hike with the porters. There were 4 of us ("clients) and we had 14 porters (sad b/c they only make 5 bucks a day, but we tipped well) ....so we hiked up with deo and his assisant and usually hiked 4-5 hours a day...eventually summitting at 6:40 am on wednesday morning. I give good earth tours Five stars/Five stars...if i could give them six stars i would..thats how great they were. i mean i showed up with basically nothing for hiking except my bag...and they rented me all the best stuff....all basically north face and H/H gear. oh and food...really good...we got breakfast lunch and dinner on the mountain every day in our lil dinner tent...our cook was awesome...you wouldnt believe how good food can be some thousands of ft up a mountain.

Wednesday, June 08, 2005

Wed, 08 Jun 2005 23:47:38 GMT

Well, it's 4am here in Dubai...landed a few hours ago and waiting until 810 when my flight leaves for Tanzania. I will be happy to arrive...traveling takes a lot outta me...seems like Im always hungry too...Having my laptop def. paying off right now..found wireless access here at the coffee shop for free! Helps kill some time, gotta love reading up about our pistons. Italy was fun, but I'm happy to get outta there...Euro just stomped all over my american dollar :( Plan on spending a night in Dar Es once I arrive in Tanzania...just to get some shopping done and possibly check into a safari or something. After that I plan on bussing it out to Morogoro in order to track down Theo and possibly Dr. Bennink. Dubai seems really nice and I'll be staying here for a night on the 4th of July. Real pretty beaches from what I've seen on TV. Talk to you later, off to africa :)

Sunday, June 05, 2005

Sun, 05 Jun 2005 19:28:30 GMT

still on island::::laid out today on own private beach so nice great views refreshing water had pizza n tiramisu dessert stuff tonight for food met local guy from corsica, we went to beach, he turned out to be weirdo; was glad to lose him....love my new hotel has pool overlooking med sea leaving tomorrow at 130 plan to get up early and get sun oh forgot to mention ran into 4 total msu kids over last few days all in monterosso small world

Sunday, June 05, 2005

Sun, 05 Jun 2005 07:12:33 GMT

on the island of corsica got here by taking four hour ferry from livono italy about to go set out on mini adventure to find beaches ive had fun last few days traveling to monterosso, pisa, florence, livorno, and now here:::had great food last night, lebanese dish no one speaks english here and it seems that im only american visitor this keyboard stinks talk to yall later

Wednesday, June 01, 2005

Wed, 01 Jun 2005 07:20:33 GMT

On my way to the med. coast, I stopped in Pisa. Sitting in my hotel right now, its 10am, lucky to find cheap internet access. Saw the leaning tower and all...it was pretty neat. Best part about the tower and the historic churces surrounding it is that there is grass so you can just lay back and admire the structures. After seeing the sites, I had my first real authentic italian meal. The streets here in Pisa are just as one would imagine...real narrow and something around every corner. The ristorante I found was perfect...tucked away in this little corner...had a pasta dish with some ham stuff in it along with some vegetables. It was great, took a picture of the food..thats how good it was. Not too bad price wise either, about 10 euros..plus I got fresh cut bread right out of a bread box...After the meal and an expresso I wandered over to this English Pub and made some friend...eventually I went home not before admiring the river that runs through the city of pisa. The town is peaceful and a much needed rest from Rome. Architecture wise, reminds me a bit of London the way the buildings are situated on the river...quite stunning. For now I am going to go outside and peak my head into a couple of barber shops. Seems like I saw a million of them around town yesterday. These Italians take pride in the way they look ! Later I am gonna go to the train station and either make it to a beach or to Cinque Terre.

Tuesday, May 31, 2005

Tue, 31 May 2005 07:59:33 GMT

Food wise....Ive been eating a lot of pasta, for instance...last night went to pasta place across the street...you get huge plates full for only about 6 or 7 euros. Very very filling..other than that just been munchin on some pizza..found some decent stuff by now...and well thats about it...food not that great tho, there are some times when beer def. comprises a good portion of my caloric intake...ahhh whaddya gonna do...hope to find some authentic dishes at cinque terre

Tuesday, May 31, 2005

Tue, 31 May 2005 07:56:47 GMT

just checked out of my hotel here in rome. It was a great trip with the study abroad group..def once in a lifetime do you get to visit the world health organization, world trade org, and food and agriculture org....we all went to the beach yesterday...a good 25 of us or so...beautiful water and great limestone buildings..got plenty of sun..that is for sure! As for now, I am about to head over to the train station to see what I need to do to get up to the cinque terre. I plan on hiking between 5 little cities up there. should be back within 5 days or so. I was lucky enough to convince my hotel manager to allow me to keep some of my bags at the hotel and pic them up later. This is great because now i have a light load and dont have to worry about my valuables. peace

Saturday, May 28, 2005

Sat, 28 May 2005 19:12:01 GMT

Final few days here in Rome. Weve been having fun times..its nice because the group that i am with is done with all of their school stuff. We went to FAO on Friday and that was interesting...however it made for quite a long day. The other night, we walked down to one of the local churches and saw the pope. Tomorrow (sunday) we are going to head down to the vatican for mass, not looking forward to the masses of people. We got to experience the crowds today while we were walking around town seein all the sites...ie spanish steps, trevi fountain, panthion....Great sites, too many people...happy we did it just for the pictures. Monday the group has a free day so we are all going out to the beach. From what I understand its only an hour away...I have been dying for the beach! Group leaves tuesday, I hope to head out to the amalfi coast and get some sun. Times up, talk to yall later