Red Sea, not Dead Sea

After I finished up my year abroad, I wasn't sure what I was going to do with this blog site, but now that I have some new photos to spread around, I'm glad I kept it up and running. It makes for a pretty convenient way to store and share photos, so without further ado... Red Sea diving!

First off, don't expect any photos of the pyramids, mummies, or me riding camels; I didn't have much of an opportunity to explore Egypt since I was way down the east coast - Marsa Alam, if you're interested in specifics - and my main goal was diving (also, I've already ridden a camel). Since I started SCUBA, I've heard great things about the Red Sea, and I'd say it pretty much lived up to the hype. Aside from SCUBA, the central coast of the Red Sea is also a huge winter vacation destination for central Europe, so I spent my time in Egypt surrounded by Germans, Italians, and Russians. Not so much of a destination for Americans though - "You're the first American I've ever had in my shop", one local told me.

"It's like diving in an aquarium" was the repeated thought I had over the 6 days I was in the water. It's very clear, pretty warm even in the winter, and the coral is probably the best I've seen. What's even more impressive is most of the dives I did were shore dives, which means these beautiful forests and hills of coral were a 20 or 30 yard walk from the beach. There's very little development or pollution along the central coast, so the reefs look pristine compared to the Caribbean.

However, there was another reason it feel like it was diving in an aquarium, and that was because there were very few big fish around. Like most of the world, the Red Sea is getting heavily overfished, and the dive guides were telling me that they've seen significant drops in fish populations even over the last five years. There was no shortage of tiny, beautiful reef fish, but few jacks, tuna, or snappers, and no sharks. I did see the number creature on my trip wish list though, a dugong (a relative of the manatee). They're extremely rare, and the one I saw only stuck around for about 30 seconds, but that was long enough to get a photo. Plus, that same dive was probably a tie for the most turtles I've ever seen in one place; it makes sense, since both dugongs and turtles were there to chow down on the sea grasses.

Aside from these more exciting critters, there were also the usual reef suspects, like moray eels, lionfish, clown fish (aka, "nemos" as everyone calls them now).

The other couple of rare or unusual spots for me were a really nice octopus, hiding in a coral head, and a few schools of big-mouth mackerel. The mackerel (another "Finding Nemo" star) were swimming around in fairly large schools with their mouths open straining the water for plankton to eat, which was a pretty entertaining scene to watch; I failed to get a good photo or video clip to do it justice, but I've posted a couple that should at least give you some idea of what it looked like.

Based on this first trip, I think it's safe to say I'll be back for diving again, but the next time, I'll be more organized about getting out of the resort area and into the countryside. I wanted to see some tombs and mummies!

Top 3 lists

Top spots most likely to make me fat 

1. Greece
2. India
3. Vietnam 

Top spots for "OMG!" scenery

1. Iceland
2. Norway
3. Malaysia 

Top spots for feeling like I'm on the Discovery Channel

1. Ecuador
2. Malaysia
3. Maldives 

Top Cities

1. Hobart, Australia
2. Split, Croatia
3. Buenos Aires, Argentina 

Top spots for friendly locals

1. Iceland
2. India
3. Vietnam

Best unexpected spots

1. Montenegro
2. San Carlos de Bariloch, Argentina
3. Cuenca, Ecuador 

Top spots for outdoor adventures

1. San Pedro de Atacama, Chile
2. Iceland
3. Tasmania, Australia 

Top spots for SCUBA diving

1. Galapagos, Ecuador
2. Borneo, Malaysia
3. Flores, Indonesia 

Top spots to go with an empty suitcase and come back with it full

1. Thailand
2. Singapore
3. Vietnam

Top spots I can't wait to get back to

1. Maldives
2. Tasmania
3. Iceland

"What do you miss most about home?"

In addition to "What do you do for a living that lets you travel for a year?", "Where have you been?", and "What's the deal with your Congress?", questions about what I miss after a year travel is one of the most common. Truth be told, modern globalism means there isn't much available in Washington DC that I can't get in any major metropolitan area anywhere in the world, so I haven't been without most foods, music, TV, etc. for long enough to really rise to the level of making me "homesick". As I miss some things, I can find them in the next airport or capital city, and spending nearly a month recently in London certainly caught me up on a lot of the foods and drinks I'd been doing without.

However, there are certainly a lot of experiences or comforts I've been lacking most of the time, and as things have occurred to me over the last couple of months, I've been noting them down, so I can remember what to appreciate when I'm back in DC. Don't think that these can't be found in other countries, just that if you spend most of your time with backpackers in hostels, you're likely to feel the same way after a while.

• Good drinks with old friends - I don't just mean high-quality beer, wine, and alcohol. I mean having good drinks with good friends who I've known for years. I've actually come to enjoy meeting new people and going out for drinks with them, but there is something so relaxing and cozy about having a happy hour or brunch with someone you know well enough that you don't have to try at being social... AND I mean high-quality beer, wine, and alcohol. Most of the countries I've visited think "micro-brewed" means Amstel or Coors. 
• Speedy wi-fi - Ridiculous, I know, given that I've found very few places that don't have access at all, but there's nothing entertaining about going back to dial-up speeds. So I'm attached to my internet... again, sue me.
• Clean clothes - I've never felt as consistently grubby as I have this year, and I never thought I would actually think "yay!" after getting a bundle of laundry back. I'm more comfortable with wearing dirty clothes now than I used to be (I won't tell you how many days I've been wearing this same outfit now), but I just like having clean clothes to put on.
• Having more than 3 sets of clothes - Seeing a pattern? 
• Hot water showers, and a soft towel after - Pure luxury.
• Not feeling like there are bugs on me - No, I'm not infested with bedbugs, but I have been spending a lot of time in tropical countries. First, you spend all of your time swatting the flies, gnats, and mosquitoes away. Then, you just give up because it's too hot and too much trouble. And finally, you begin to feel them even when they're not there. That usually starts the cycle over again for me.
• Feeling like I belong - I wrote about "the panda factor" and feeling like everyone is staring at me where ever I go in India, southeast Asia, and South America, but it does get old. Of course, I've noticed that I start to get antsy in places I blend in too, so I don't know what to do about that...
• Beds that are longer than 5 feet, 10 inches - Outside western Europe, I'm usually taller than the locals, and the length of the beds can be a challenge. Stubbing your toes when stretching out doesn't make for sound sleep.
• Unsweetened and/or freshly brewed iced tea - One thing that no country besides the US, Japan, and the Philippines seems to understand, even the ones that adore hot tea. It's refreshing, people!!
• Not feeling like it's time to re-apply mosquito repellent, or sunscreen, or both - I hate them both so much. Only slightly less than I hate sunburns, skin cancer, and malaria.
• Carrot cake with cream cheese frosting - it's my favorite, and a rarity to find it done well outside the States.

That's honestly about it. Almost all of them could be taken care of by staying in "higher class" (i.e. more expensive) accommodation, which I've found means losing a lot of the local experience and social connections with fellow travelers. So instead of feeling deprived of any of my usual creature comforts, I prefer to think of as being enriched with new friends... and sometimes dirt, bugs, and sunburns.

Happy Anniversary to me (part 2)

At 5am this morning, I was getting on a boat in Malapascua, Philippines, heading out to SCUBA dive with thresher sharks when I realized that exactly one year ago (adjusting for the time change), I was getting on a plane at National Airport, heading for an unplanned overnight in Newark before going to Oslo. I had told work I wouldn't be back for 13 months and was taking a last look at the city where I had spent most of the last 18 years. I can honestly say the main thought running through my head was some variation of "Do you have any idea what you're getting yourself?" And I can honestly say I didn't - and still don't. One of the major reasons I love traveling so much, especially longer-term travel, is that it removes a lot of the preconceptions about what I'm going to be doing this afternoon, or tomorrow, or next week; it's all a bit of a present waiting to be unwrapped.

The reason I came to Malapascua: the Oceanic thresher shark

Almost every morning, if you're willing to get up before 6am and sink 100 feet down, you can see them coming in to get cleaned of parasites by other fish. Otherwise, they spend all of their time 200-300 feet down in the middle of the ocean

Now before all of you friends of mine with a more optimistic bent of mind start saying "But that's true everyday! Even when you're at home!", let me say that yes, I agree with that affirmation... in concept. The problem is that after a few years doing the same job, in the same place, with the same people, I forget that I don't really know what's actually going to happen every day, and when something unexpected pops up, I don't pay enough attention to appreciate the moment. It's much easier to live in the moment and pay attention to what's going on around me when I don't know where I'm sleeping tomorrow night, or even what city I'll be in. Not to mention when there's a spectacular island sunset, or I'm 100 feet underwater watching sharks swim by, or trying unidentified street food in Bangkok.

So I'm lazy at living the moment... sue me.

The beach at El Nido, Philippines

If you look carefully, you might see the smallest clownfish I've ever seen hiding in the anemone

I love ribbon eels, and not just because of those silly flaps on their nose. But it's a big part of why.

Anyway, my point (if I had one) was that I had some anxiety a year ago about not having a major theme, or a purpose, or a reason, or some guiding principle in my traveling. Now that I'm approaching my return to the States, I'm glad that I didn't, or didn't try to hard to make one. I had some set down an itinerary and some "guidelines", but for anyone paying attention, you can see that the longer I journeyed, the more and more I deviated from them. In fact, if I have any regrets from the past year, it's that I planned too much. Most of the best memories I have came from those moments when I took an unexpected turn, made a spontaneous decision, and let the wind push me on a different path. Rest assured, if (when) I ever get the chance to do this sort of traveling again, I will be leaving with substantially less of everything I took with me last July: less luggage, less planning, less money, less anxiety, and less uncertainty.

Seahorse!

Another sea horse! (Look closely)

A not-very-friendly cuttlefish

A much friendlier banded shrimp

Last post, I said I was going to answer one of the most common questions I've gotten this year - "What do you miss most?" But it looks like I've rambled a little long already, so I think I'll save that one for a couple of days. I know I'm posting more in this month that I have in the three before it, but there's a very good reason for it - I'm on a tiny tropical island with nothing but a beach, SCUBA diving, and good food, and I need something to keep me busy in between books. There are worse problems to have, I suppose.

My current hostel, on Malapascua island

Where you can find me most afternoons

The Malapascua shipyards

Happy Anniversary to me (part 1)

It's hard for me to imagine, but it appears I'm rapidly approaching the first anniversary of my departure from DC. With hardly any routine for 12 months, my sense of time is pretty well skewed, with last week feeling about the same as 9 months ago. But it's hard to argue with calendar, and the memories of 25 countries since last seeing Washington. I thought to commemorate the big date, I would write up a couple of ideas I've had for posts for a while now, starting with the common things I've come across in every country I've visited so far, and then move on to answering one of the most common questions I get, "What do you miss most?"

The first thing I do when traveling to a new place is feel for the differences, the ways that the place I'm in is not like anywhere I've been before. However, after traveling for so long, I've begun to pick up on the things that show up everywhere. I'm not talking about in the big cities, because almost every big city in the 21st century is like every other big city, and they all have Starbucks and 7-11 and Subway restaurants. Outside the metropolitan areas, the differences and local cultures are much easier to see, but so are these common outside influences. And they aren't the ones that probably leap to mind first; not Coca-Cola or McDonalds or even Starbucks (Fanta is probably more popular than Coke most places, Subways are more numerous than McDonalds, and a lot of the world doesn't like - or know how to make - good coffee).

For example, I've not yet been in a city, town, or village that didn't sell Pringles in most of the shops, no matter how small. I can only assume it's the tube packaging, and the fact that the tubes come in several different sizes, that make Pringles so appealing to shopkeepers everywhere. In several countries, I didn't see any "real" potato chips sold, but did see Pringles and one or two fake Pringles competitors for sale, in several flavors.

My first of thousands of Pringles sighting, stuck at Newark Airport

In the States, we frequently make jokes about Starbucks taking over the world, but let me tell you, I think the real danger of a corporation taking over the world comes from Sanrio, owners of the Hello Kitty brand. And and opposed to Starbucks, we would probably all welcome the Hello Kitty troops into most towns with open arms, just because they would be so darned cute. Hello Kitty's adorable face is literally everywhere in the world, no matter how remote, and branded in the most incongruous places, from appliances to cars to office equipment.

All must bow to the Kitty! Hello Kitty sees all.

And speaking of incongruous, something else that turns up everywhere is the music of Bob Marley. Don't get me wrong, I love Bob Marley's music - I just can't quite figure out how a man who's music is all about strife, revolution, hardship, and poverty has somehow come to symbolize kicking back and taking it easy... although the automatic association with marijuana probably explains at least part of it. Even outside tourist areas, Bob's smiling face is almost as likely to be found as Hello Kitty's, and I've heard his music on public buses, barbershops, and grocery stores all over the world.

Then there are the categories that show up everywhere that get even a minimal number of tourists. Irish pubs and Chinese restaurants seem to spontaneous appear anywhere American, Australian, or European tourists stop, although the "Irish" pubs may serve Pad Thai and don't know there is a difference between scotch and Irish whiskey, and the "Chinese" restaurants may be operated entirely by Ecuadorans. Similar to Bob Marley, Irish pubs seem to be synonymous with "good times" all the world over.

And speaking of good time, I've been enjoying my time in Philippines quite a bit. Since some of the best times I've had this year have been in southeast Asia and/or SCUBA diving, I decided to go back to that area and spend some serious time on tiny islands, occasionally diving, and the Philippines is a fantastic place to make that happen. The islands I've been to don't have the cultural elements that Indonesia or Malaysia do, but they are friendly, inexpensive, and laid back. And in the two weeks I've been here, I've been diving on torpedoed Japanese WWII wrecks, in a freshwater hot spring, and with thresher sharks, so no complaints about the underwater side of things either. I'll post more Philippines photos later, as well as a description of where I've been...once I don't have the constant distractions of a beach to lure me away.

From my B&B's front porch in El Nido, Phliippines

Sunset in El Nido. Those banca boats make for some nice photography subjects.

As a friend told me before I left, "I won't be surprised if your blog postings get less and less frequent as the trip goes on." Her prediction turned out to be true, but less due to lack of interest in retelling my adventures, and more because the nature of my adventures was different over the last couple of months. Since leaving Bariloche, Argentina, I've been spending the majority of my time in modern cities and, just as I have a hard time with taking interesting urban photographs, I have a tough time telling interesting urban stories. It's not that I haven't been having fun and doing interesting things, it's just that they aren't the "snorkeling with whale sharks" and "dealing with Indian traffic accidents" sort of events that I like to blog about (they're more like the "drinking in pubs with ghost tour guides*" and "how many consecutive meals of tapas can I eat before it gets old**" sort of adventures). But, it wouldn't be fair to neglect a month of travels just because the countries I was visiting had clean toilets and microbrewed beer, so before I start posting about SCUBA diving, lack of electricity, and televised cockfighting (yep, roosters killing each other for sport on Filipino local TV), here's a recap of May.

My favorite view in London: St. Paul's from the Millennium Bridge

This statue is in the middle of Inverness. Since I didn't see a plaque, I assume it's there to commemorate the last unicorn killed on Scottish soil

To start with, my plans for May were shifted slightly due to the fact that my backpack - containing my computer, camera, passport, and various other items - was stolen while I was in Buenos Aires. I only mention this to highlight one thing: the only real effect it had on my trip was to cause me to stay in the UK a couple additional weeks than planned while my passport was replaced. Yes, I had a moment of panic when I realized I hadn't been paying attention to my surroundings and my bag was missing, but once I got over that, it took me two hours to file a police report, cancel my credit card, change my reservations for the next stop, and contact the US embassy about getting an emergency replacement passport. Within a week, I had a gotten a new temporary passport, moved on to London, replaced all the missing electronics and gear, and applied for a new permanent passport, which was shipping to my friends' flat in London. When I started planning out my trip, I had intended for everything to be I was taking with me to be replaceable or redundant, and more than anything else, I feel pleased it worked out that way when it needed to. However, I had to stay in the same country for an extra two weeks while my permanent passport was being prepared, and since I've developed an allergic reaction to staying in the same city for more than 5 days, I took the opportunity to get out of London and explore more of the UK.

A panoramic view of Inverness, with the River Ness running through it

On a walk in Lake District

First up was a long weekend in Inverness, Scotland, a nice little city next to a very famous lake, Loch Ness. I'm happy to report that Inverness is not just one big souvenir shop for Nessie; in fact, you have to work hard to even find references to the monster while in town. And although the river cruise on Loch Ness I took was scenic and full of the landscape I had gone up to Scotland to see (plus rain), there were no signs of any prehistoric beasts beyond the stuffed animals they sold on the boat. From Inverness, I headed back south into England to visit York, one of the oldest cities in England and center of enough events to make a history nerd like me quite happy. If you've ever been to London and though it just didn't feel "English" enough for you, go to York. It has all the tiny winding alleys, classic neighborhood pubs, and remnant stone gates into the city you could want, plus vikings, ghost tours, and a city-wide cat statue scavenger hunt. Even better, I got to visit a friend I met volunteering in the Maldives, as well as making a few new ones at one of the best hostels I've stayed in all year. Last on the UK itinerary was Windermere, in England's Lake District. The Lake District is where the English go to holiday in the summer, when the weather has a chance of being pleasant in England (as opposed to the rest of the year), and the landscape and scenery is spectacular, and perfect for hiking and biking. After a few days in Windermere going hiking and refilling burned calories with hearty English breakfasts at the B&B, I headed back to London to pick up my passport just in time to leave for Spain.

The gardens in the Alhambra

A cathedral in Granada, Spain

In Spain, I met up with a friend from DC to celebrate our birthdays, which fall a couple of days apart from each other, and just generally eat delicious food and drink sangria every day until the wee hours of the morning, with a little light sightseeing. OK, I'm joking about the "light" sightseeing; we actually hopped from Madrid to Málaga to Granada to Barcelona over the course of week, but it was a lot of fun and we got to see historic sites, beautiful architecture, and some great beaches. I love the vibe in Spain, even when I can't get a morning coffee because the cafes don't open early enough, and it's hard not to get swept up in the "what's your hurry?" feel of the country. Even though I've been spending much of the last year on tropical islands, the only times I've spent entire days just sprawling out on beaches have been in Greece and Spain - there's something about the Mediterranean that just fills me with the urge to do absolutely nothing. It's a good thing.

Some of the beautiful stained glass in La Familia Sangrada in Barcelona

A dizzying view down the staircase inside the tower in La Familia Sangrada

Part of the Passion Facade at La Familia Sangrada

The vaulted ceiling inside La Familia Sangrada

* A guide who leads tours about ghosts, not the spirit of a deceased tour guide.

**Trick question, it never gets old. I even discovered breakfast tapas this trip; they're like dinner tapas, you just have coffee with them instead of sangria.