Updates of time in Germany

Miraculous image of the Christ being scourged at the pillar, in Weis Church . (Miraculous because in 1738 it began to cry real tears.) This is the reason for constructing such a magnificent Church.
This is a part of the elaborate ceiling from the Weis Church on the romantic road in Germany. Built around 1746, the church is an ideal example of the rococo period designs.

Neuschwanstein Castle in southern Germany. This castle was built by King Ludwig II, who was a great nature-lover. The setting in the Alps is like a fairy-tail...making this castle one of the most heavily visited castles in Germany. We only saw it from the road, but later regretted not making the trip out to see it up close....oh well...that's what return trips are for right?

Pictures from France.

Hey everyone....long time no update from me......well to those of you who I can't see in Chi-town, I thought I would post some pictures from the rest of the trip.....a little at a time...because the last part of the trip covered 5 countries in one month...so I will separate them like that. Now that I am home....it has been a series of mixed emotions. Some of them good, but others bad. Settling for a life of a lot less adventure every day, is stress-free but complacent. I would take the stress that travel brings any day, if that meant, I could see this beautiful earth in new ways. So I am trying to figure things out, and excited for what the future may bring, but also depressed at the same time, I have to start working and making money to pay off the debt that we accumulated in the last months abroad. Depressed not only of that, but sad that my trip couldn't last to end of this year.....I would just love to be able to catch a flight to Costa Rica (like I originally planned) and escape reality for just a little bit longer. I know..we all feel this way, from time to time....making me no different than most....but still....after having an ulterior reality for 9 months, it is an adjustment, just to be home. A sensory underload, I would call it...and even though I would love to just work BS jobs for the rest of my life, just to fund more travel adventures, I know my purpose on this earth is bigger than that!!! .....the places I have seen could fill up most peoples' vacations for the rest of their lives...and I am truly blessed to have been able to see them all, already....I am humbled and blessed for the opportunity and ready to see, how I can help utilize those experiences, to make this world a better place. My new mission. I hope everyone is doing well. More from me soon...let me know how everyone is doing. cemeteries in France are of a unique style....most of them are of various layers and tiers, like the one in the above picture.
Fred Chopin's resting place, at the same cemetery that Jim Morrison was buried.
Jim Morrison's resting place in Paris. There were many famous people to be buried in the same cemetery. Different from any cemetery than I have ever been to in the U.S.

Sunset over a lake in the South of France.
Jayme and I in France, if you couldn't already tell. We spent several days in Paris and 4-5 days in the Southern Burgundy wine region of France. It was nice to be able to experience the culture both Urban and rural. I fell in love with all the flowers. Every house had tons of them. Come to find out, this was true throughout all of Europe!

Love from Iceland

Hey everyone...long time no talk.....let´s just say...Europe is expensive for the internet....so since I only have 5 days left till I come home...this will be my last post from the road. It has been an adventure of a life time, and I have seen so many great things....I am sad that it is coming to an end...and after chasing summer for the past year, I can now say...that I ended in winter....Iceland is cold! I must say, that I am glad that I wasn´t carrying around all that cold weather clothing for nothing! J/K. Anyway, I can´t wait to the wedding to see everyone and catch up.....lots of love from Iceland!

Thailand Pictures

Well....I am now on the week countdown to leaving Thailand, and the almost one-month countdown to the home stretch! I can't believe that my time around the world is coming to an end soon. I am so excited for Europe though! Anyway...I have tons more pictures to post from Singapore and Australia too! Maybe I will have another cloudy day, later this week! Anyway...I hope these will do for now. Dad...thanks for the extra money for Europe and please let me know about those other three packages! I hope everyone is doing well and I look forward to seeing everyone soon at the wedding...!!!!



View of the City of Bangkok from the Golden Temple high on the hill. This temple was high on the hill in the center of the old city and had 360 degree views of the entire city! A must do, on any visit to Bangkok!


Me with the "Lucky Budda" We were very lucky to come to Thailand during their New Year. There are only two times of the year where certain sacred budda images are available for the public to view and the Lucky Budda is one of those statues. It is very sacred in Bangkok...and the monks come to this particular Budda to pray for many hours every day! It was considered lucky to make a prayer here and that is exactly what I did.....I knew the opportunity was a special one!

Outside of the temple that housed the lucky Budda in Bangkok!

Tremendously huge golden Budda Statue in Bangkok!

One other beautiful sunset shot! Got to love them....I could watch the sunset over the ocean every night! Maybe one day that dream will come true!


One of the many sunsets from Phuket! We will miss the ocean, back in Chi-town!


Yes...they do have McDonalds here! The one thing we have learned is that the world loves McD's. We have found them in every country that we have been to, besides the Cook Islands. Only in Thailand does Ronald bow though!


Me riding a Tuk tuk in Chiang Mai. These are famous all throughout Thailand and are the bargain way to travel. They say to watch out for the ones that try to sell you fake gems...we found this true in Bangkok...where our driver left us at a temple, when we wouldn't buy any gems! This guy was a nice one though!


Nightly sunset ceremony from the lobby at the Mariott. The dance consited of traditional Thai dance with Firr throwers and Drum beating as well as musical chimes....Nice touch!

Me...watching the sunset from the cascading pool at the Mariott resort in Phuket. We were lucky to spend a month and a half here and if we couldn't be in Nepal....I wouldn't want to be anywhere else. We watched the sunset on the Adaman Sea every night....only once did we see the sun melt into the sea though! Always clouds on the horizon!

Us riding Elephants in the hills of Chiang Mai in northern Thailand. The lady next to us...happened to be from one of our favorite towns in New Zealand...it was a nice coiincidence!

Pictures from Bali

Hey everyone...finally some more pictures! These being way overdue....but I have yet to burn some Thailand ones to a disc...or the ones of the pink dolphins in Singapore! Hopefully those will come soon. I am now back in Thailand...for one month in Phuket....I will now extend the offer to all those who want to meet up in Amsterdam...I will be there at the beginning of July for those who want to meet me there! I hope everyone is doing good! Lots of love from Thailand. Let me know how everyone is doing!



View of the hotel...and pool...from the lobby, where we stayed in Bali...you could also get poolside massages!


This is a shot of the pool at our hotel.....not to bad of a pool or a view from the pool in the previous shot!


Every monday...at the resort...they had a owners party...even though we weren't owners we were invited, because we were staying there with our exchange program at interval international....the party was right on the beach, and they had live acoutic music and free beer and food.....this is a picture of me, drinking the local brew, at the party...called Bintang...it was quite nice!


This is some of the rice terraces we saw on our drive to the north part of the island, where we went diving...Bali is famous, for some of the most beautiful rice terraces in the world...this is just as much a part of Bali as the Hindu faith. Most of the people who don't work in the tourism industry, work with rice. It is considered a great value to own a 10x10 plot. This costs 150 US dollars, and to us that may seem like a little...but most people here, don't even make that much in a month....so this is a not an option to own one, unless you come from wealth.


View of the volcano, from our balcony at the Peninsula Beach Resort...


Bali...the land where you can see the sunrise and sunset...every day if you wish. This is the view of the sunrise, from our balcony at the hotel...where we stayed in Nusa Dua. This part of the island is on the east coast...so if you are lucky and the morning is clear....there will be a spectacular sunrise. We loved our balcony here....out over the ocean we could see the sunrise and even se the volcano from there...as in the previous picture!


The sunset draws everyone to the beach in Kuta...It is not to be missed on a trip to Bali! We were lucky to see it, on this day...it rained and was cloudy all day, but just like magic, the sky opened up...just as the sun was setting!

Jayme and I on the Kuta famous Kuta beach for the sunset. Everyone in this town, stops what they are doing for sunset and all flock to the beach, to watch it. It is magical! This town is alot like many of the towns, in the US..there are many shops and even a Starbucks...It is the town, that most people stay, to be close to the nightlife, shopping, and all the action! They even had a Hard Rock hotel there...it looked pretty nice, suppossedly having the biggest pool in all of Bali!

A beautiful fountain, that was outside on the grounds of the museum...


This is a shot of Jayme, holding one of the other cockatoos, outside of the museum!


This is a picture of a Maccaw parrot at the art Renassance Museum in Ubud. This district of Bali is art orientated and many artists flock to this area...to sell their goods. Silversmiths, Batik (cloth makers) shops, and many painters shops line the streets.

I am not sure if most of you know, but most of the population of Bali are of Hindu faith. This is very rare in Indonesia, where most of the other islands are of Muslem faith. These people are very serious about their religion, true in every house, hotel, and shop, all around the entire island. Many temples are in every location, so that people can worship at any time of the day. Even if they are at work.. Every morning an offering is made to the Gods, and put in each of the temples. Along the ground are offerings for the evil spirits, as well, which is the one pictured here. As you can see there is even a cigarette there, which are not seen in the offerings for the good spirits....see even they know that cigarettes are evil! ;) These offerings are an every day part of life on Bali and you get used to looking at the ground, to make sure that you don't step on them. It was very interesting to experience a culture, where most of the people practice the same religion. They believe that good and evil are a regular part of life, and that to have a good day, it is imporart to please both Gods, to keep the peace in one's life!


This is a picture of the biggest volcano on Bali. It was only visable on 2 of the mornings that we were there....you had to wake up early to be able to see the top. Most of the time, clouds covered it. We were lucky to be able to see it from the part of Bali that we stayed on~!

Back tomorrow to Thailand

Well...this is sadly going to be the last post for some time, due to limited access to cheap internet in Thailand. It turns out I have to pay to insert a Cd into the computer here..so there are not going to be new pictures....when I get to Thailand I will post some because I know of a place for cheap internet...but it is quite a walk in the heat, so that will be every now and then, but not daily! Anyway...the plans are all set for the rest of our trip! Unfortunately, we saved the most expensive travel for last, and we are already too tight on funding. This is okay...because we rented a car in both Europe and Iceland, for the majority of the time! We are going to make great use of all the camping equipment that we have been hauling around and not using-Thank God!!!! It will be nice to see the countryside of Europe starting in Paris...onto Switzerland, then Germany, and ending in Amsterdam. We have been burnt out on cities and I am ready to spend some time rejuvinating myself with nature again...hopefully Europe will provide me with that need. For us to spend the night anywhere in Europe, it would cost 60-100 per night and that doesn't include the $800 for the Eurorail...so we are nixing that and travelling at our own pace and leisure..by car....not one bought though....rented...much more reliable that way! In Iceland it is even more expensive costing the two of us over 100 per night, so again we are doing a car there and just go and see what we see! Then back to reality and life again, in July! I wanted to do Costa Rica..but I need to come back and work to save up some money before going there...maybe I could help out at the lab...when Joy and Mike are on their honeymoon....I would love to do it...so if you need the extra help...dad...you can count on me-for sure!!! I can't wait to see how everyone is doing and looking forward to the coming reunion at Joy and Mikes Big DAy!!! Lots of love!

More pictures coming soon!

Well I am back in Singapore as of this morning and now that I have free internet, there will be current updates and lots of pictures....I'm here for a week...so that is plenty of time to mess around with the blog. We decided to come back to Singapore, because I really wanted to see the pink dolphins that I never got to see the last time that I was here! Hopefully, Monday will be the day for that...but the other reason we came here is because we needed to renew our visa in Thailand for another month, now that we are not going to Nepal. Lastly, I love it here, it is more expensive than Thailand but there is plenty to do, and we stay at this great hostel called the Summer Tavern that is in the best location! I am glad that I will get to do the things that we never got around to doing here! The best part of the whole not going to Nepal thing...is that we are staying at a five star resort right on the Adaman Sea in Phuket Thailand....beautiful turquoise waters and a gym to boot! The time share- like thing, I own, is really paying off! We blew the last of our points in Thailand and get to stay for one month at the Marriot Phuket Beach Club! This is after Singapore! We have a one day lapse in between our four weeks there and that will be devoted to diving on a live aboard in the Similian Islands...supposed to be the best deep water diving in the world....weather permitting...please keep me in your prayers, I can't take any more bad luck. For those I didn't tell...they found my car in Australia....but being that I don't know anyone over there...it will go up for auction and the money will go to Australia...maybe I can pay them back in karma for the money that came my way! I now would like to throw the offer out to anyone once again...since you missed your other shot at the last two weeks in Thailand...there is now another shot....we will be staying at the same place and once again, all you have to do is get there and then....have the time of your life staying at the nicest place I have ever stayed at....you can trust me on this( some pictures will be coming soon to back me up) DO NOT PASS UP THIS OPPORTUNITY......Meet me in Phuket....Anytime between May 13-June 11! www.vacationclub.com! View the site....two bedroom villa floor-plan---the place is nicer than any apartment I have rented and all you have to do is get there!!!!! Join Me! I spend most of the time relaxing at cascading pools and watching the sunset.....plus working out at the gym...got to get back in shape for Joy's wedding. Every Monday they have an owners meeting party with free alcohol too! What more can I say to convince people to come? I will quit rambling for now...little sleep in the past two days and I need to relax a bit....Let me know whose coming!