tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-50314352980725286112024-02-18T19:04:11.873-08:00Sweet Little Journeydgershteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08592233995990955504noreply@blogger.comBlogger27125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5031435298072528611.post-89781353339534907052018-02-07T20:23:00.002-08:002018-02-07T20:23:50.060-08:00Cabo de Roca and BelemOne of the tricky parts about traveling with a baby is that your day is broken up into Before First Nap, Post First Nap and After Second nap (sometimes even After Third Nap!). Forget AMs and PMs - we had a whole other time system to maintain, which would sometimes present a fairly complex scheduling problem. We had to sync long bus or train rides with nap times so that we don't waste precious daytime sitting somewhere and waiting for Babes to finish her nap (been there, done that, would not recommend)<br />
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Cabo de Roca is the Westernmost point of Europe, once believed to be the edge of the world. It has beautiful oceanside cliffs, a lighthouse and some seriously epic views. It is also about 30 minutes past Sintra - the place we spent so long traveling to and from just the day before. The thought of doing the same trip again and trying to get as lucky with trains and sleep schedules was daunting, but we decided to go for it since it was our last day in the area.<br />
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It did not disappoint!<br />
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There's not a whole lot to do in Cabo de Roca other than checking out the lighthouse and the cliffs, so we only spent about 30 minutes there.</div>
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From here, we headed back to Lisbon and beelined straight to Pasties de Belem to offer our services in Pastry Quality Assurance. After paying our dues standing in line (no baby fast pass here!), we finally got to experience the fuss. This place had 13,992 reviews on Google Maps! You could definitely tell the difference between the pastries here and any of the other locations we've tried. These were THAT MUCH MORE delicious!</div>
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Since we were already in the area and Babes had a few more daylight hours left in her, we went inside the Church of Santa Maria de Belem.</div>
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And then spent the rest of the day relaxing by the Tower of Belem and enjoying our pasties.</div>
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I think she got upset that we ate all the pasties and all she got was a banana.</div>
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<span id="goog_207673412"></span><span id="goog_207673413"></span><br />dgershteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08592233995990955504noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5031435298072528611.post-10455275536839086002018-01-25T21:14:00.000-08:002018-01-25T21:14:59.536-08:00SintraPortugal is absolutely phenomenal for traveling with a baby. 5/5 would recommend. We didn't quite realize the extent of this until our day trip to Sintra from Lisbon. Sintra is an easy 1-hour train ride from Lisbon, with great signage and accessible transportation. The only not-so-easy part was buying the train tickets. Luckily for us, wearing a baby on your chest is the equivalent of holding up a huge sign saying "Please Help Me / Let Me Cut In This Line / Tell Me If I'm In The Wrong Line". We had a few people approach us offering help, and letting us know that babies (and elderly) get priority and are allowed to skip all lines everywhere. This included the 23452345 person line to buy the tickets to Sintra, as well as the 234098098 person line to get on the train.<br />
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Sintra is a gorgeous town on the west coast of Portugal, with lots of historic monuments, Moorish castles and royal villas. All these attractions are conveniently connected by both local busses and hop-on-hop-off tours. You definitely need several days to see all the sights, but most people just fit in all the major spots in one day.<br />
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We visited The Moorish Castle, which was constructed sometime between the 8-11th century as an observational stronghold to guard the town of Sintra. It was eventually taken over after the Christian conquest of Portugal.<br />
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Our second stop was Pena Palace - THE major highlight for most tourists coming to visit Sintra and Lisbon. The bright, eccentric colors of the palace contrast the surrounding green of the Sintra forest and make it stand out among all the other architecture in Sintra. This palace was built for Queen Maria II by her young German consort, Ferdinand II. We walked through the palace, and to be honest, liked the outside much much more. The comical architecture and bright colors made it feel like a Disney castle set.<br />
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This is one of the initiation wells of Quinta de Regaleira. The wells were never used, nor intended for water collection. Instead, they were used for secretive initiation rites.<br />
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Once we were ready to head back, we were greeted with several bus-loads' worth of people waiting in line for the bus. With our heads down, and our baby held up high, we confidently marched right past the whole lineup of people, all the while avoiding eye contact. No one said a word except for the first man in line who was extremely vocal about how much he disagreed with this whole babies-get-priority thing.dgershteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08592233995990955504noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5031435298072528611.post-56635917116182934812018-01-24T20:56:00.001-08:002018-01-24T20:56:41.042-08:00LisbonWe debated for a while were we wanted to go for our honeymoon. Given some of the safety-related restrictions we were facing with a baby in tow, we decided to stick to something more familiar and take a 3 week vacation in Europe like all good tourists. This trip was going to have its own set of challenges - Babes is no longer exclusively breastfed so we have to find food for her, she is getting pretty heavy so we have to carry around a stroller, AND she is now a full on crawling-almost-walking machine! No more Japanese-style-thin-floor-mats where we could just lay her down and have her stay there for the night. We now needed a proper crib at each place! We considered bringing our own pack n play but it would've been such a hassle to carry around between destinations, given that we like to be able to carry all our luggage in our backpacks.<br />
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Our itinerary included a roundtrip flight to France, with stops in Lisbon, Lagos, Sevilla, Madrid, Malaga, Barcelona, Nice and Paris. The overnight flight to France was pretty smooth and we arrived in the morning. Much like the Japan trip, the first day was a complete write off full of heartbreaking cries and a solid 24hrs of on and off sleep. But unlike the Japan trip, this time we were prepared - a hotel reservation at the airport for the first day and night and no events planned. Even though I saw a meltdown of this magnitude coming, I still struggled and doubted myself as a mother, partner, human... and looked at next day return flights. But at least this time there was no fever involved and I knew the language so I felt a lot more comfortable with our decision to travel.<br />
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The following morning we boarded our 1hr plane to Lisbon. Babes was able to catch a few more z's thanks to the kind people who let us have two seats together.<br />
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From the airport we took a couple trains to get to Alfama, the historical heart of Lisbon, where we booked our Airbnb. From the train station, it was a beautiful uphill walk on narrow, pretty-sure-pedestrian-only-but-not-sure-how-some-cars-got-here cobblestone streets and views of the ocean.<br />
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Since we were a bit early for checkin, we stopped for a coffee at a cafe nearby. Danny went in to order us two lattes and a pastry, while I sat down to feed Babes. A few minutes later, our two .. lattes.. came.<br />
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I guess we got what we paid for; two glasses of hot milk. Danny mentioned that he thought it was weird they asked him if he wanted the lattes hot, and... just in a glass? But regardless, the hot milk was delicious and we enjoyed it just as well without the caffeine, making a note for next time to make sure to say ***CAFE*** latte. These pastries though - Pastel de Nata - are a signature Portuguese dessert. There's a lot of disputes about which bakery shop in Lisbon makes the best and most authentic Pastel de Nata. Some say it's Pasties de Belem, others claim it's in Manteigaria and I'm sure there are quite a few other runner ups. We only had about 2-4 each a day, so we didn't get to try all of them. We're not fatasses.<br />
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Soon enough we were able to check into our Airbnb, where we were greeted with yet another round of Pastel de Natas. After digging into these ones, we very quickly went from 0 to full on Pastel de Nata snobs.<br />
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After a quick break and nap for Babes we ventured back out into the streets of Lisbon. Our CFO (Chief Food Officer, Danny) found us a cute looking restaurant (which had the mandatory 4.5+ star rating, of course) where we tried some traditional Bacalhau fish, as well as beef stew. It was delicious!<br />
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Since highchairs were unheard of in such small restaurants, we let Babes roam and entertain herself by playing peek-a-boo with the cooks.<br />
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After dinner we headed over to Castelo de Sao Jorge for some gorgeous sunset views over Lisbon.<br />
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<br />dgershteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08592233995990955504noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5031435298072528611.post-15394284875019138982017-04-16T11:18:00.002-07:002017-04-16T16:47:44.667-07:00Wakayama & Kumano Kodo<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
This leg of the trip was both my biggest fear and my biggest highlight. It's off the Tokyo/Kyoto tourist funnel, slightly in the middle of butfucknowhere, and absolutely gorgeous. Kumano Kodo is a network of trails spanning across the Kii Peninsula in the Wakayama Prefecture. For over a thousand years, pilgrims used to hike these routes to get to the three major shrines. The walk itself was an integral part of the pilgrimage process as they undertook rigorous religious rites of worship and purification (<a href="http://www.tb-kumano.jp/en/kumano-kodo/" target="_blank">cite</a>). The whole trail takes about 5 days to complete, with lots of Ryokans along the way. You can do as much or as little of the hike as you want, as all the major stops are connected by public bus.</div>
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Had it been just Danny and I, I would've maybe possibly been able to convince him to do the whole 5 days. But luckily for him, I wasn't going to put Babes through that, so we opted to just stay at a couple of the pit stops, and do short day hikes from there.</div>
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Our first night in Wakayama we headed to <a href="https://www.tripadvisor.ca/Hotel_Review-g1023661-d1864145-Reviews-Kiri_no_Sato_Takahara-Tanabe_Wakayama_Prefecture_Kinki.html" target="_blank">Kirinosato Takahara Inn</a> (HIGHLY RECOMMEND even if you're not doing any of the hikes). It's a small 8-room hotel located on top of one of the mountain ranges. All 8 rooms face the mountain range, and traditional style breakfast and dinner are included, as is the onsen.</div>
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There were two onsens; one for ladies and one for gentlemen. There were also instructions on how to use said onsens, showing exactly how to bath yourself prior to entering, as nothing is allowed to touch the hot spring water except your super duper clean and naked self. Both Danny and I didn't end up getting the full onsen experience, as we each got our respective onsens to ourselves.</div>
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lunch was served outside with a beautiful view of Takahara.</div>
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The view and sunset were unbeatable. The trip here was quite tough; we had to take a 3hr train, then transfer to a 1hr bus, and then have someone from the hotel pick us up at the bus stop and drive us up a mountain through one-way-looking winding roads. I'm not proud of that last part, given that the only way to do that section of the trip was by car and we didn't have a carseat. So I'm gonna shove that memory under the rug and never do it again.</div>
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For next morning's breakfast, we embraced the whole Ryokan experience and dressed in the yukatas that were provided in our room.</div>
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And headed off to Hongu to see the largest Torii Gate in the world. </div>
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We did a short 1hr roundtrip hike to the outlook through the beautiful rainforest.</div>
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dgershteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08592233995990955504noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5031435298072528611.post-61457447438789512582017-04-16T10:23:00.001-07:002017-04-16T16:43:19.414-07:00Inari & Kiyomizudera<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Kiyomizudera was a bit of a letdown given that it went under construction two days before we arrived</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But we still really enjoyed walking around the temple area and seeing the beautiful cobble-stone streets and fancy tiny houses. I think the construction scared away most of the tourists, because all photos I've seen of this place usually involved people packed like sardines down all the streets.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Babes was being really great again, and even flashing some smiles. This smile also made it to at least 4 other tourists' cameras as they not-so-sneakily switched from photographing the temple to photographing her.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Inari however, was not under construction, and so we found our tourist sardines here. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"With great views come great tourists" - Dalya, June 2014</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But we did manage to get some touristless shots after waiting in line for a while and getting a quick 1/2 second chance at a shot. Babes was also not having any of it, so my anxiety levels were quickly rising and I wanted to get out of there as soon as possible. It's almost as though she had a temple sensor - the moment we approached anything sacred she would just start wailing and ignoring all the "please be quiet" signs.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Babes passed out the moment we got home so dinner had to be takeout, and I'm not even sorry.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Next up: <a href="http://dalyagershtein.blogspot.ca/2017/04/wakayama-kumano-kodo.html" target="_blank">Kumano Kodo</a></span></div>
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dgershteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08592233995990955504noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5031435298072528611.post-44637889127442865952017-04-15T18:34:00.005-07:002017-04-16T20:12:41.060-07:00Arashiyama<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjJTVWn_385kAU9eWXZlUvArhv0t2T51Pq3oeAkJ42b03OpIRB38Te3SoxaHjhayo1vxODZhIAJL-EVXEkhYegmwqF5FTB0_qjsKyduUwACS7rgScqlnFtYevaOOCv7r4HLjDXmvEeJp7t/s1600/_MG_9793.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjJTVWn_385kAU9eWXZlUvArhv0t2T51Pq3oeAkJ42b03OpIRB38Te3SoxaHjhayo1vxODZhIAJL-EVXEkhYegmwqF5FTB0_qjsKyduUwACS7rgScqlnFtYevaOOCv7r4HLjDXmvEeJp7t/s640/_MG_9793.jpg" width="640" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">This was another highlight for me, and a nice break from the Kyoto station madness. As usual, we were the first tourists on the first train to Arashiyama. We headed straight to the bamboo forest, where we spent a good 40 mins trying to get the perfect shot with Babes, and probably photobombing both of the wedding shoots that were going on.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsmcvF-E8nby09-Vqa-jAgjESAEEWJkizMCe_F_GyYTUSuMz43A7Pan7XNwzAdbOQHvpGFMUYH8lunFKxyH7FPJewdEaGRIacOZFgXAM2wCCdyidiUZ8kfRtIs8gZTWFmtASgemyJ1B_x4/s1600/_MG_9845.jpg" imageanchor="1"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsmcvF-E8nby09-Vqa-jAgjESAEEWJkizMCe_F_GyYTUSuMz43A7Pan7XNwzAdbOQHvpGFMUYH8lunFKxyH7FPJewdEaGRIacOZFgXAM2wCCdyidiUZ8kfRtIs8gZTWFmtASgemyJ1B_x4/s640/_MG_9845.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Pretty sure the only thing that forced us to eventually leave was Babes getting hungry and needing a feed. It was a nice change from the bitter Canadian winter to be able to just feed outside without needing to find a warm coffee shop.</span></div>
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<b style="font-weight: normal;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkrx9r-xhQVbYsIVlmMCxuUAb9v_6Q4b2KGoqVI8-5rd_xliIfZEQ9oH4ocmWzl5cdoHSZ3wQKxVNAdWY-xjQPA_CITMR87CCDW6JXTIsRzaVUbxonLWL_tjAJiVMqkqIIf63uytiCShFq/s1600/_MG_9906.jpg" imageanchor="1"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkrx9r-xhQVbYsIVlmMCxuUAb9v_6Q4b2KGoqVI8-5rd_xliIfZEQ9oH4ocmWzl5cdoHSZ3wQKxVNAdWY-xjQPA_CITMR87CCDW6JXTIsRzaVUbxonLWL_tjAJiVMqkqIIf63uytiCShFq/s640/_MG_9906.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></b></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We visited the monkey forest which was at the top of one of the hills, requiring 20min of uphill climbing to reach. The degree of incline was inversely proportional to the amount of tourist, which worked out in our favour.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYTn6JBS1lJwRMoHEaXw2djOh6xulk8ttkhqgFA5P-RRsUofRbDxZ0V4M8TZ1yu91PsVucMQyD9YqYFCRSMa3IQlyYf-_QCsH3wdWhwZjbd-bn5gG-gWfN17kMZzGakoAj30PmloSNCKRS/s1600/_MG_0032.jpg" imageanchor="1"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYTn6JBS1lJwRMoHEaXw2djOh6xulk8ttkhqgFA5P-RRsUofRbDxZ0V4M8TZ1yu91PsVucMQyD9YqYFCRSMa3IQlyYf-_QCsH3wdWhwZjbd-bn5gG-gWfN17kMZzGakoAj30PmloSNCKRS/s640/_MG_0032.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This was the “boss” monkey, with his two girlfriends on the left</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">There was also a really nice view of Kyoto from the top of the monkey forest</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzFPXU_Z3yMdP-ZqDsptpw0Xdzh6y6GoWJQ1xDkEqHB5Ay5t9Fyf_Ifzl1kpGWty0ZaTlWFIrOP1vuOAmUOK53yF9-cpoIgQG2ZIcRFsknORnB-LvNVjukmGQ5B14PEJy39KN5dHYBCoCM/s1600/_MG_0071.jpg" imageanchor="1"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzFPXU_Z3yMdP-ZqDsptpw0Xdzh6y6GoWJQ1xDkEqHB5Ay5t9Fyf_Ifzl1kpGWty0ZaTlWFIrOP1vuOAmUOK53yF9-cpoIgQG2ZIcRFsknORnB-LvNVjukmGQ5B14PEJy39KN5dHYBCoCM/s640/_MG_0071.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Before heading back, we stopped at a tofu restaurant (yes, on purpose, by choice) where they served all different kinds of tofu; white, green, boiled, cold, tofu skin, etc. We dined like (vegetarian) kings.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Next up: <a href="http://dalyagershtein.blogspot.ca/2017/04/inari-kiyomizudera.html" target="_blank">Inary & Kiyomizudera</a></span></span></div>
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dgershteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08592233995990955504noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5031435298072528611.post-60310447787560682422017-04-15T18:22:00.003-07:002017-04-16T20:11:56.404-07:00Hiroshima<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">This was definitely one of the highlights of the trip, for both Danny and I. Seeing the peace memorial, and walking through the museum was a moving experience. With Babes’ cooperation, we were able to spend a good two hours reading about everything that happened, and the after effects the radiation had on the people of Hiroshima and Japan as a whole.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Learned about the history of the paper crane - a symbol of peace in honor of a little girl who was suffering from leukemia after the radiation. She believed that if you make 1000 paper cranes, your wishes will come true. So she set out on a journey to make them, wishing that she will be able to overcome her illness. Unfortunately she did not make it, but the people of Hiroshima spread her story around the world and built a statue of a child with a paper crane in the Memorial Peace Park in her honour.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Next up: <a href="http://dalyagershtein.blogspot.ca/2017/04/arashiyama.html" target="_blank">Arashiyama</a></span></div>
dgershteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08592233995990955504noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5031435298072528611.post-29200523101015046382017-04-15T18:16:00.003-07:002017-04-16T16:40:04.572-07:00Miyajima<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">Since our days started at 5am, we had lots of morning time for exploring. We decided to check out the busiest intersection in the world - Shibuya Crossing</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We ended up boarding the local train at peak rush hour - 0/10, would not recommend - and got on the first Shinkansen (bullet train) to Hiroshima we found - the Nazomi - also 0/10 would not recommend since it was the wrong train. I read and re-read all the rules of the JR pass and memorized the two lines we are not allowed to take. So naturally, the first bullet train we took was one of those lines. We ended up getting kicked out (gently) by the ticket officer who told us to just get off at the next station and transfer to the permitted line, and got away without any extra charges.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Next up: <a href="http://dalyagershtein.blogspot.ca/2017/04/hiroshima.html" target="_blank">Hiroshima</a></span></div>
dgershteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08592233995990955504noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5031435298072528611.post-91563881132220188862017-04-15T18:13:00.003-07:002017-04-16T16:39:07.851-07:00Shinjuku Goyen<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">Babes was finally back to her normal self, so with the first ray of light at 5am we started our day. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We then made our way to Shinjuku Goyen, the supposed number 1 place for Hanami in Tokyo, though I'm pretty sure every local was more in awe of Babes than the Sakura. We kept getting “KAWAII!!! KAWAII!!” thrown our way from every direction, which in Japanes means “cute”.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">After waiting IN LINE for a spot to take a shot next to a Sakura tree, we entertained the crowds by lifting Babes up and getting a huge wide-mouthed smile out of her with every lift. Pretty sure we weren't the only people taking photos of her. One lady even had the nerve to ask to HOLD MY BABY for a photo with her. That was a big fat NO on my end.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Next up: <a href="http://dalyagershtein.blogspot.ca/2017/04/tokyo-day-4.html" target="_blank">Miyajima</a></span></div>
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dgershteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08592233995990955504noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5031435298072528611.post-43505139626234117702017-04-15T18:06:00.003-07:002017-04-16T16:38:27.291-07:00It is strong in time, and it is gently to time tough at time.<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">This day was mostly a write off, since Babes was still recovering from the flight. The fever subsided pretty quickly the night before, but she was still pretty exhausted and we decided to take it easy.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Babes impressed us again with how good she was at the restaurant, smiling at all the locals and peacefully munching on her Sophie.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The eel was indeed out of this world. It was a little restaurant that specializes in eel, and served everything eel; eel soup, eel bones, eel kabobs, and eel on rice. It was quite impossible to read the menu, even with Google Translator, so I was glad Danny took a photo ahead of time to show the waiter what we wanted.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">After dinner we explored a bit of night time Tokyo. It was quite an experience to witness falling-over-hammered-Japanese people by night, after seeing how quiet and proper they are during the day. I only saw this behaviour in Tokyo, though we didn't go out past 7pm anywhere other than Tokyo.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Next up: <a href="http://dalyagershtein.blogspot.ca/2017/04/tokyo-day-3.html" target="_blank">Shinjuku</a> (which is still Tokyo)</span></div>
dgershteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08592233995990955504noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5031435298072528611.post-83479400246528159872017-04-15T17:54:00.003-07:002017-04-16T19:59:52.849-07:00Tokyo<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">On our first day, we ventured out to Chiyoda area. I wanted to hit some of the (Cherry Blossom) spots. The really cool thing was that since Hanami and Sakura season is such a huge event in Japan, Google Maps adds temporary Cherry Blossom viewing spots directly on their maps:</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I almost expected Google to make a game out of it, kind of like Pokémon Go.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I remember picking a particularly beautiful and fully blossomed tree to take a photo of, when a local passed behind me and shouted “Imitation! Imitation!”. I quietly put my camera away and carried on.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Some actual, not imitation Sakura:</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Next, we hit up the Japan Google office for lunch. I didn't realize that the office here was in the 5th tallest building in Tokyo, so lunch came with a fantastic view</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">As well as our first taste of real, Japanese sushi (90% of the reason we wanted to travel to Japan)</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Babes was amazing the whole time, smiling at everyone and looking around. We also made use of the mother’s room, which I had access to from my home office, and had her take a long 2hr nap there.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This was also when I noticed she was running a mild fever, so I was mildly losing my mind and we took her home as soon as she was up. I must've checked her temp at least 234987 times, and it kept fluctuating between 36.9-37.1, which is juuuust below the 'fever' line. I started questioning everything and hating myself for bringing this poor child with us to Japan, and even considered booking the first flight back home that I could find. But after a solid 24hrs of sleep (yes, with feeds sprinkled in there somewhere), she woke up with a huge smile and was happy as a clam.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">**Shoutout to my best friend who was able to calm me down even just a tiny bit while I was just about losing it**</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Next up: <a href="http://dalyagershtein.blogspot.ca/2017/04/tokyo-day-2.html" target="_blank">Tokyo, Day 2&3</a></span></div>
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dgershteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08592233995990955504noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5031435298072528611.post-84657177028856104662017-04-15T17:51:00.001-07:002017-04-16T16:44:18.537-07:00Travalynn<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I originally envisioned swaddling her and having her sleep in it for the majority of the flight, but our little champ started rolling just days before our trip and we had to quit swaddling cold turkey. This made for very poor sleep on the flight for babes, me, and the rest of the 457896 passengers. Oops..</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Upon arrival, we exchanged our Japan Rail Passes at the exchange center, and hopped on the train to Shinjuku Station. The subway was packed, but also SO quiet that you could hear a pin drop. Nobody talked to each other and there were signs everywhere prohibiting cellphones. Of course, this was the moment Babes decided to take center stage and explain to us how much she didn't like the flight. I've never felt so many eyes on me like I did on that subway. After what seemed like a longer ride than our flight, we made it to Shinjuku, where we were staying for the next 4 nights.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Next up: </span><a href="http://dalyagershtein.blogspot.ca/2017/04/on-our-first-day-we-ventured-out-to.html" target="_blank">Tokyo</a></span></div>
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dgershteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08592233995990955504noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5031435298072528611.post-76928327750250244462015-04-05T09:27:00.003-07:002015-04-05T09:27:45.574-07:00Italy - Cinq TerreCinq Terre is a beautiful area composed of five little villages embedded into steep seaside cliffs.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYNdJe2DqR3lX44RnNHhKCL8Ezdpk9CTBMreg9Dwk5ceMVlox5MR6Ha0aHKFECLla1uCsuyAmnEa5l0J7okROqxYMxo9ftXt8RV1XrQ6dbzixJ6oWaQslQgAjKfgJ9k3GnJF-0G_ZlDIKp/s1600/IMG_7470.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYNdJe2DqR3lX44RnNHhKCL8Ezdpk9CTBMreg9Dwk5ceMVlox5MR6Ha0aHKFECLla1uCsuyAmnEa5l0J7okROqxYMxo9ftXt8RV1XrQ6dbzixJ6oWaQslQgAjKfgJ9k3GnJF-0G_ZlDIKp/s1600/IMG_7470.JPG" height="398" width="640" /></a></div>
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There's a scenic 5 hour hike connecting all these villages and makes for an amazing full day of sight-seeing on a stairmaster.</div>
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Once you get past the 2345987234th step, you get a nice view of the village from above.</div>
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<br />dgershteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08592233995990955504noreply@blogger.com0Parco Nazionale delle Cinque Terre, Riomaggiore La Spezia, Italy44.128108999999988 9.712390700000014543.94573849999999 9.3896672000000141 44.310479499999985 10.035114200000015tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5031435298072528611.post-84006770899415927012015-01-25T22:51:00.001-08:002015-01-25T22:51:10.930-08:00Italy - RomeThis is by far my favorite city in all of Europe. Except for the mandatory 2394857298792345981 tourists. The nice thing about travelling South-East Asia was the fact that it was still possible to find tourist-less areas to see. Southern Europe in the summer? Not so much.<br />
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Our first destination in Rome, was, of course, the Colosseum. We set off early in the morning with high hopes and expectations that we wouldn't have to wait in line for too long. Turned out all 2394857298792345981 tourists also had the same hopes and expectations,<br />
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so we decided that seeing the Colosseum from all outside angles was more than enough<br />
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We came back to the Colosseum at night to see it lit up. I waited for this guy to leave for a solid 30 minutes before giving up and taking an un-consented photo of him. Sue me.<br />
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It's pretty hard to be original with the itinerary when visiting a place like Rome<br />
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<br />dgershteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08592233995990955504noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5031435298072528611.post-86634767744521312022014-06-30T06:09:00.002-07:002015-01-25T00:29:04.083-08:00BaliAfter reading many subpar reviews about the tourist overpopulation in Kuta, we decided to stay in a less popular, but highly recommended area of Bail - Kerobokan. We got very lucky with our host at <a href="http://dana-guesthouse.webs.com/thelocation.htm" target="_blank">Dana Guesthouse</a> who took us on a very cheap, full day, private tour around Bali, along with one other couple.<br />
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It took us until the end of the trip to be fully convinced that the tour was in fact <i>not</i> a scam, considering how great it had originally sounded.<br />
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The first stop of this tour was at a coffee plantation. Where - believe it or not - we actually got to try coffee for free! Didn't even pay tourist/foreign/bathroom/entrance/exit tax.<br />
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Turns out the most famous coffee in Bali is actually Cat-Poop coffee. Essentially, the coffee beans get hand-picked by these cat-like animals called Luwaks. Once the beans have gone through the Luwaks' digestive system and come out the other end, the still-intact beans are collected and roasted just like regular coffee. I was half expecting the tourguide to say "gotcha!" during her explanation, but she was either really good at scamming tourists, or this coffee was no joke.<br />
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Our <i>actually</i> free samples included some really good coffee, including white, chocolate and vanilla coffee, as well as various flavours of tea.<br />
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Our second stop was for lunch, at a buffet on the top of a ridge overlooking Mount Batur. We also got to witness that it <i>is,</i> in fact, possible to haggle the flat price of a buffet by half, thanks to the Chinese couple we were with.<br />
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The third stop was Tourist Central - the famous Rice Fields.<br />
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This guy makes his whole living by posing with the rice baskets and accepting tips.<br />
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Our final stop was the Monkey Forest<br />
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<br />dgershteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08592233995990955504noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5031435298072528611.post-41346885462026130722014-05-13T18:02:00.000-07:002015-01-25T00:32:32.854-08:00Railay and the MonkeysFrom Koh Phi Phi, we made our way to Krabi Town. Since we only had one day to spend in Krabi, we decided to try out the famous rock climbing place in Railay park. The guesthouse we stayed at - Gafiyah Guesthouse - helped us organize a climbing trip with <a href="http://www.tripadvisor.ca/ShowUserReviews-g1597036-d627649-r136794445-Railay_Beach-Railay_Beach_Krabi_Town_Krabi_Province.html" target="_blank">King Climbers</a>, and while we were doing that also kindly did our laundry and arrange our next transportation towards the Malaysian border.<br />
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The morning obviously started off with a torrential downpour, and us thinking that the rocks would be out of commission for climbing. After a whopping 30 minutes, all traces of rain were gone, the sun came out, the rocks dried up, and we headed towards the climbing spot.<br />
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Naturally, the climbing area came with a complementary monkey sanctuary.<br />
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And finally, we got to the fun part</div>
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<br />dgershteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08592233995990955504noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5031435298072528611.post-66052264704286933042014-01-15T13:18:00.001-08:002015-01-25T00:36:16.304-08:00Rain Season in Thailand<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
On our second day in Koh Phi Phi we had a bit of rain in the morning. Good thing we had to check out of the most remote hostel ever and find another place to stay. </div>
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The rest of the day was actually pretty clear, and surprisingly the streets were completely dry by mid afternoon with absolutely no trace of floods from earlier that morning.</div>
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We took advantage of this beautiful weather and went on our first official scuba diving trip outside of Australia.</div>
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Saw our first turtle within the first 5 minutes of our first dive</div>
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And proceeded to stalk it for pretty much the rest of the dive<br />
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Diving in Phi Phi was very different from the Great Barrier Reef in Australia. The coral in Thailand was a huge let down after getting spoiled by the flawless and colourful coral reefs in the GBR. Most of the reefs here were destroyed a few years back by various natural disasters and copious amounts of careless tourists. </div>
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I did get what I came there for though - TURTLES!</div>
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dgershteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08592233995990955504noreply@blogger.com0Ko Phi Phi Don, Thailand7.7461157999999992 98.7784100000000087.683181799999999 98.69772900000001 7.8090497999999995 98.859091tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5031435298072528611.post-60032140257033152252014-01-15T12:54:00.001-08:002015-01-25T00:40:47.098-08:00Koh Phi Phi and The Beach<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
From Phuket we took a ferry to the famous Koh Phi Phi.</div>
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There are plenty of services that run ferries from Phuket <--> Koh Phi Phi <--> Krabi and conveniently sell open tickets for any time, any day. Going through an agent for this is useless - the public transport is perfectly fine and probably the cheapest option of them all. </div>
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Koh Phi Phi is a small pedestrian-only island, so everything is very close together. Expect for the hostel that we booked, which was at the top of the hill, 23452349879 km away from the port where we arrived. </div>
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Following a friend's recommendation we booked a <a href="http://www.mayabaytours.com/#!plankton-tour/c15o7" target="_blank">fluorescent plankton tour</a>. There was a choice between a sunset tour that would bring you back the same day, or a sleep aboard tour, where you sleep on the boat and return to the island after breakfast onboard the next morning. Considering our relationship with boats in the past month has been subpar at best, we decided to just book the sunset tour. The tour included a boat ride to Maya Bay, where the movie The Beach was filmed (with Leo Dicaprio), dinner, snacks, snorkelling, kayaks, and finally swimming with fluorescent plankton when the sun goes down.</div>
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Pirates' Cave on the way to Maya Bay</div>
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Small passage through the limestone rocks to get to Maya Bay. Great snorkelling location!</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEia_KPr0_eyqxiwuKgIgMaBm8hYvL7IugklfX-zVtHyBWPPN7sbenmdVzhoFqr5MQzFxs0LR2YOy-Pru_Cl6jsqXCy5WC4KegvQz0pTIB6Fq85QHcfVPnohunnUbWTblbrjkY7Y2j4-TlSc/s1600/1146546_10151879746764180_2019018689_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEia_KPr0_eyqxiwuKgIgMaBm8hYvL7IugklfX-zVtHyBWPPN7sbenmdVzhoFqr5MQzFxs0LR2YOy-Pru_Cl6jsqXCy5WC4KegvQz0pTIB6Fq85QHcfVPnohunnUbWTblbrjkY7Y2j4-TlSc/s1600/1146546_10151879746764180_2019018689_n.jpg" height="426" width="640" /></a></div>
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Two Canadians in Thailand.</div>
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The tour was pretty great, until of course, we had to perform an emergency evacuation and run to a shelter on the island to hide from the surprise hurricane. Our "sunset boat tour" quickly turned into the overnight live-aboard tour and since we were the only two people on this trip that were signed up for the sunset tour, we were forced to stay overnight with the rest of the group. I guess based on our visible discontent about having to sleep on a boat, we got assigned a personal caregiver who gave us clothes to change into, extra food, extra drinks and came around to us every few minutes to make sure we were ok. The surprise hurricane conveniently ended by night time, and we were free to go back into the water in the dark and swim with the fluorescent plankton, which we wouldn't have been able to see as well had we only done the sunset tour. It was an incredible experience!</div>
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We all slept on mattresses on the boat (which wasn't half bad actually), and the next morning after breakfast and a short snorkelling session we headed back to the main island. All in all it turned out to be a fantastic trip and probably one of my highlights from Thailand. Too bad we booked that really nice hostel 45234958798km away which we never got to use. </div>
dgershteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08592233995990955504noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5031435298072528611.post-63204110297385597902014-01-08T09:46:00.002-08:002015-01-25T00:42:10.254-08:00Fuck it, let's go to Phuket<div style="text-align: center;">
After a long overnight train from Bangkok to Surat Thani (~1200BHT, and about 12 hrs), where a vendor sang "Singha Beer, Singha Beer, Singa all the way!" to the tune of Jingle Bells .. all the way.. and a few more busses and scams, we finally ended up in Phuket. Which might as well be named Little Russia. All signs and menus were translated into Russian, and sometimes English. </div>
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We found a great <a href="http://southernfriedrice.com/" target="_blank">hostel</a>, minutes away from Kata Beach. A pretty touristy place, but not as bad as some of the places were managed to avoid in Phuket. </div>
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We immediately signed ourselves up for an elephant trek at <a href="http://www.kokchangsafari.com/" target="_blank">Kok Chang Elephant Trekking</a>. It seemed to be the least commercialized camp, and judging from some TripAdvisor reviews, they actually took care of the elephants fairly well. </div>
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What they casually forget to mention when you sign up, is the free included GIANT SPIDER SANCTUARY. Where spiders freestyle jump and appear inches from your face when you least expect it.</div>
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I came down with a pretty bad fever while in Phuket, so I don't have very positive memories from this place. We never bothered getting any of the anti-malarial or any anti-fever shots prior to our trip, so I was pretty concerned it was something serious. Luckily enough, there happened to be a Canadian doctor from UBC right around the corner from our guesthouse, who took me in for a free checkup and told me I'll live. </div>
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<br />dgershteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08592233995990955504noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5031435298072528611.post-42172295647060115462013-12-16T15:56:00.000-08:002015-01-25T00:52:47.327-08:00More BangkokBangkok wasn't ALL bad.<br />
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We ended up visiting the Grand Palace, even though our scammers from the previous day had convinced us that it is closed and we can't even get near it<br />
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As well as the biggest lying down Golden Buddah</div>
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We got to visit the Lebua at State Tower Hotel, where the Hangover II was filmed<br />
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"We fucked up..."<br />
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We went to the famous Khaosan Street and briefly considered trying fried bugs and scorpions on a stick. But seeing I was already spending - I'm not gonna say how many - hours on the toilet daily thanks to all the curries, I decided to pass on the opportunity.<br />
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Had some more street Pad Thai<br />
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We ran into non other than our scam tuktuk driver. In passing, we yelled at his new prey that they're getting scammed. He didn't like that very much<br />
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And to finish off the day, we watched the sunset over the Temple of Dawn. At a fancy cafe. Where we didn't pay for anything. Not even the view. Oops.<br />
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<br />dgershteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08592233995990955504noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5031435298072528611.post-28577641346312865552013-12-13T14:18:00.004-08:002015-01-25T00:54:47.106-08:00One night in Bangkok...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Well.. "One Night in Bangkok" turned into "Three Nights in Bangkok Because All Trains Were Booked". If you're going to Bangkok, really do try to have your ticket out ready in advance.<br />
Also, have a good understanding of the ballpark prices you should be paying tuk-tuks and taxis. I'm sure our first Bangkok taxi driver is still bragging about his amazing deal with us.<br />
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Having a full day to explore Bangkok, we set out by foot to see the Grand Palace. And to fall for the biggest, most infamous Bangkok scam. After getting charmed by a very well-spoken Thai man, we got into the scam tuk-tuk ride (for only 40 Baht! Imagine that. ).<br />
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We visited the (not so lucky) Lucky Buddha<br />
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<span style="background-color: white;">Stopped at - I prefer not to mention the number of - Tailor Shops and Travel Agencies</span><br />
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And ended up angering the driver enough by not buying into any of the Tailor Shops and Travel Agencies that we were even scared for our lives by the end of the ride, having no idea where the driver was taking us.<br />
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Of course, upon finally returning to our hostel, we noticed the huge sign summing up our adventure in a nutshell:<br />
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To our relief though, after reading up on this we found out that some people had even BOUGHT SUITS (several even!) and gone on expensive boat rides and more. The creativity of these scams has no limits. From therein, we just felt lucky we had only spent 1.30$ and a few hours of the day. Almost felt like a rite of passage as a tourist in Bangkok, so I guess we made it out better than the average joe.<br />
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dgershteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08592233995990955504noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5031435298072528611.post-84943717722192257912013-12-11T22:55:00.001-08:002015-01-25T00:55:56.948-08:00Welcome to Bangkok, where the prices are made up and the meter doesn't matter.<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></span>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Getting through the Thailand border is a pretty complicated process and takes almost full day. There are lots of scam artists on either side of the border trying to convince tourists they need to get a special overpriced visa or try to sell fake visas and fake bus tickets. Canadians don't need visas, so we were safe from falling for any of the fake visa pranks. It was a long day of bussing, standing in line, walking across the border, and driving some more, but within the first few minutes of setting foot in Thailand, we were downing our first authentic Pad Thai from a street vendor. FOR ONLY 35 BHT (1.20CAD!). It was glorious. From the border we took an 8 hour third-class train all the way to Bangkok. It was hot, uncomfortable and crowded, but it was authentic and we felt like locals. Except for all the stares we got. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">But here we go! One night in Bangkok. What could possibly go wrong..</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></span>dgershteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08592233995990955504noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5031435298072528611.post-79889907322269442222013-12-11T22:07:00.002-08:002015-01-25T01:01:56.862-08:00Cambodia - Siem ReapSiem Reap is like a whole other country after Phnom Penh. The amount of tourists is through the roof in comparison. It feels like the main industry is tourism - people toppling over each other to go see the Angkor temples. They have 1, 3, and 5 day passes to see all the temples in Angkor, so you can spend as much or as little time as you like.<br />
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We found a gem of a lodge - <a href="http://www.lotus-lodge.com/" target="_blank">Lotus Lodge</a> - in the heart of Siem Reap. Although it felt like a Carribean all-inclusive resort and very touristy (the exact type of place we were trying to stay away from), we were slightly relieved to have some western civilization after the Phnom Penh culture shock. I was also really happy to find out that the owner was from Ottawa!</div>
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The lodge had everything. From included breakfast, to a pool, to great rooms, a restaurant, tuktuk shuttles to the city (but you had to find your own way back), bikes, personal pet lizards, and a working shower! All for - wait for it - 12$/night! </div>
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Anyway, the next day we decided to use the lodge's bikes and get a one day pass to the temples. It was by far the best way to explore the temples and made for one of the best days of the trip. We both got one hell of an adrenaline boost trying to navigate through the traffic-crowded streets of Siem Reap on bicycles. Which was enough of an adventure on its own, because we got to meet some of these guys along the way</div>
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I came up really close to one of them to get a nice shot and ended up being chased and hissed on by the little guy. For the Canadians out there: it was the equivalent of getting attacked by a goose. So I kept my distance from then on. But I did manage to snap a close up before running for my life</div>
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And now - to the temples!</div>
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<b>Ta Prohm</b></div>
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<b>Bayon Temple</b></div>
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<b>Angkor Wat</b></div>
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(No, you can't just get a group of 13 monks-in-training to pose for you like that on a daily basis)</div>
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I also found this composition quite humorous.</div>
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That's it for Cambodia. Just one question - what does Amok look like? Our first Amok was a grainy buckwheat-and-minced-meat mixture, and our second Amok was a curry based dish. So which is it?</div>
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dgershteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08592233995990955504noreply@blogger.com0Siem Reap, Cambodia13.3333333 103.8333333000000513.3333333 103.83333330000005 13.3333333 103.83333330000005tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5031435298072528611.post-9749436374236988972013-12-11T17:04:00.000-08:002015-01-25T01:05:38.539-08:00Cambodia - Phnom PenhNow this, was a culture shock.<br />
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We were lucky enough to meet an Australian on the plane who was heading back to Cambodia to finish his non-profit teaching position at an elementary school. He was kind enough to warn us about common scams and inform us about the politics, some history, how to haggle and even a few Cambodian words and dishes.<br />
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Yes, we ended up sharing a tuk-tuk with him to the city (which he haggled for us, of course, with his broken Cambodian). No, we had no idea what a tuk-tuk was until we got there. If you want a thrill ride, Cambodia is the place for you! Forget road signs, traffic lights, road markings and speed limits. It's basically a free-for-all, mostly-drive-on-the-right-side-but-don't-stress-about-it, close-your-eyes-and-pray-when-you-cross-the-street system.<br />
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We only spent one night in the capital, Phnom Penh. And it was definitely enough. Considering Cambodia was a last minute addition to our trip, we knew very little about it and were definitely not expecting this state of poverty.<br />
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As poor as the people were though, they were the nicest and friendliest people from our whole trip. Everyone greeted us as we walked past, the people who ran the guesthouses were really welcoming and people at restaurants tried their damn hardest to communicate with us.</div>
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We spent some time walking around the city to get a feel for it (and got a lot of stares). Eventually we found the market, where I tried Jackfruit for the first time. </div>
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Lucky us, we also happened to arrive two days before the Cambodian elections. The streets were full of rallies, with hundreds of people driving motorcycles around the streets yelling who they'll be voting for. Canada travel advisory "strongly advised" travellers to "seriously avoid travelling to Cambodia during this time". Oops. </div>
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The next day we took an 8 hour bus to Siem Reap, the gateway to all the Angkor temples. </div>
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<br />dgershteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08592233995990955504noreply@blogger.com0Cambodia12.565679 104.990962999999974.6372494999999994 94.663814499999972 20.4941085 115.31811149999996tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5031435298072528611.post-89071235019786214052013-12-05T22:57:00.000-08:002015-01-25T01:07:38.935-08:00Singapore<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This was our first country on our South East Asia trip. Considering I've never been anywhere in Asia, I had no idea what to expect. Other than some possible culture shock. And the heat. Dear God, the heat.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We only spent a couple of nights here since we had our next flight (to Cambodia) booked right away, so we had to speed through the top tourist attractions in this tiny county which had a surprising amount to offer. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">One of our highlights from Singapore was the jaw-dropping view of the Marina Bay from the bar Level33. We took our remaining 12.60 Singapore dollars and headed over to see the sights. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: start;"> With some luck, we managed to turn those 12.60$ into two coffees and getting the best seats in the house, out on the balcony</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: start;">Singapore is a very-night oriented city. Don't get me wrong - it's great during the day, but it wasn't until we saw it light up that we realized how beautiful it was.</span></div>
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dgershteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08592233995990955504noreply@blogger.com0Singapore1.352083 103.819836000000010.84410649999999987 103.174389 1.8600595 104.46528300000001