pardon the interruption

in the chaos that is my life i took a trip to hong kong last week. the weather was shit. cloudy. foggy. rainy. so instead of the usual tourism photos i decided to document my trip in beverages. here goes. note - i am pretty hyped up on thera-flu.. so this could be nuttier than usual. the travel bug has kicked my ass and punched my ticket to misery.



this was probably the best day i was there...at the time i though - wow it can only get better. i was wrong. my first day spent walking around Kowloon and the harbor. (ok not a beverage shot.. but necessary proof i was actually there)i've gotten pretty good at just wandering around a new city and finding some good stuff. no guide book required!

the second day i was joined by one fun coworker. it was pouring rain so we mastered the metro and went to a nunnery (where i got yelled at for touching a wheel that said "turn for luck"- not sure what happened there) went to the history of hong kong museum where i found it more fun to make up the titles of the exhibits than to actually read. then we took the star ferry (a 50 cent bargain. YES it cost just 50 cents) over to hong kong island and went on the world's longest escalator... not as fun as one might think...then stopped for a beer. and then another beer... you get the idea.

it reminded me of being with some of my old friends who used to say "lets drink about it."



monday morning it was over to the office to put in a few days of work. yes maybe i actually did work. well between the office pranks and the lunch breaks...



the staff at our office there is amazing. A-mazing. it was a really good week.



we went for lunch at some really good places.. for dumplings and rolls and noodles and some other interesting things... i was happy with the veg selections, but trust me - everyone was eager to point out the pig intestines and the gooey duck (google it) they were ordering. much appreciated.



after walking down a back alley, up to the second floor and thru the cleaning supply storage room, i had some of the best indian food ever. some sort of ceaser salad concoction and matar mushroom and of course loads of naan bread. all washed down with a pint.

one of my favorite dinners was at a 'western' place where they had these on the menu.



add in some sweet potato fries = HEAVEN. really. i went back.

we had a big staff meeting the last two days and it was fantastic to have the time to chat to people with (we counted) 7 different passports. our group lunch served up some lime soda. it put sprite to shame. and helped cool down my lit up taste buds. they were on FIRE.



on the last night a small group of us (read: the lush's) went out on the town. first stop was Aqua bar. a lovely mojito with a pretty good view.



and then back on the ferry to lan kwai fong - a "happen'n" place. we headed directly to the russian bar.. the ICE bar. where vodka was the beverage of choice. vodka that none of us could pronounce. vodka that required a series of blackberry messages to a friend in another country to figure out what exactly we should to get. vodka that was tasty but stung nonetheless. vodka that kept on coming....



yes the bar is actually a freezer. yes i'm wearing what appears to be a snuffalupagus jacket. after that on to a place called Insomnia. and a Filipino live band. you havent lived till you've heard a cover of Beyonce in an asian accent. YAHOO!

all in all a pretty fun time. but man the travel KILLS me.

these boots are made for walking

**BTW thanks to everyone for checking on me yesterday as if i was on suicide watch. yes sucked the steelers lost, but i promise i'm not crying in the corner or unable to eat. trust me on that one!***

i full on admit i did a shitty job packing for this part of the trip. i totally blame it on my fiery hatred for said task, and the fact that i did no research and paid only a passing bit of attention to the suggested item list. i ended up continuously throwing "just one more" thing into the suitcase, because honestly you never know when you might suddenly NEED to wear a hot pink tank or desperately wished you had your cozy fleece pants.

fast forward

so monday morning comes and we are kind of running around the hotel courtyard not sure exactly what we should be doing but not exactly doing anything that needs to be done. there will be 6 of us climbing together. and just cause i feel like it, i will now do a little profile of those involved: (and hope to god they dont read it).

ME: the lone chick. the one who thought that being a recreational triathlete would translate into success in oxygen deprived situations. also the one with a smart ass response to anything. (have you met me?)
BOBBY: the one who made a rash decision 5 years ago "for better or for worse". he's the moderately tempered, easy going, sometimes cynical guy, who YES does wish i would shut up (sometimes)- but he's been around the world with me and i THINK enjoys it!
BRIAN: the contest winner (you may remember this whole trip was the result of my company running one). he's a mild mannered HS math teacher. and probably one of the just plain NICEST people i've ever met. he brought a pink bandanna to wear because one of his daughters insisted he take it. he's 6'4". big huge guy.
SHAUN: brian's brother. a 3:20 marathoner who was at first a bit quick to point out the shortcomings of the african culture (WHAT?!?! no oatmeal?) deathly afraid to fly, he made his first journey across the atlantic. that takes balls. he was also the one who succumbed to the porridge..
MIKE: the intellectual one of the group, as evidenced by his choice of scrabble words. he was quiet, thoughtful, and easy to coerce into posing for promo shots.
MACON:kind of the ringleader and celebrity guide if you will.. this was his 18th kili climb. he's bold, and sarcastic and blunt.

*disclaimer* we also had about 12 porters with us. who carried the cooking stuff, tents, food and a little of our stuff as well. these guys were amazing. let me say that again. amazing. they climb about 2-3 times per month and when i say climb i really mean RUN. they huff it up so fast you wonder if they actually are catching cabs or something. the hike was so good and positive and soo much easier because of them. just didnt want you all thinking i was huffing 90 pounds of gear up this sucker. more like 40, but still....

so we had a heck of a morning. trying to shove all of our gear into this truck and then well all of us (we had two guides). it was kind of like when you were 7 and going on the annual family vacation to the beach. if you were like me you were put in the WAY WAY back of the station wagon with your little brother to share about 2 cubic feet of space along with bags that would dangle precariously and then fall at maximum speed onto your head, that you would then have to shove (using your puny 6 year old arms) back to their original spot. over and over and over...


thats brian walking back toward the camera.. and me carrying the HEAVY duffle.. thanks bobby....

so off we go.. sort of.. errands - lots of errands. someone needed a paper. someone was dying and needed a coke. (a warm coke...) someone wanted bananas. at long last we made it to the gate and started our trek (note that there are actually 6 different routes to the top, so you can choose your poison.) ours was the road less traveled. we saw only 2 other groups along the way. i was happy to avoid the "kili freeway" as some paths turn out to be. it made the journey that much cooler to feel like you had the mountain all to your self. it was kind of odd though starting out. no fan fare. no photo op (think disney). no big gate you cross under that says "point of no return". just a little trail that you might miss had you been moving too fast.

DAY ONE: we had a moderate hike though some pretty dense vegetation. for the first hour we had three little tag alongs who lived in a hut..





it was a nice easy day. we stopped only once to rest and refuel. that was our first into to the facilities provided along the path. as we would later learn, they are quite primitive and likely to smell worse than death. it quickly became evident to me that my best bet was to find a little spot amongst the trees.



we spent the day chattering about topics i cant remember and remarking (probably too often ) that we could not believe where we were and the task ahead. we reached camp late in the afternoon. just that first time we were all pretty polite about which tent to choose. "you pick first", "oh it doesnt matter".. etc.. later in the trip we would be tossing our stuff into the first (and closest to the meal tent) and possibly muttering "sucker" under my (errrrr OUR breath).



because i had not been camping in oh about 5 years, it was a bit of a challenge to figure out what to do while IN the tent. lesson number one was to keep your boots outside... EXCEPT at night. morning dew on your boots, well sucks. the other fun and exciting part was sleeping. on a hill. the trick was to position yourself that would allow the least amount of blood flow in the wrong direction, while simultaneously keeping your oh so slippery sleeping bag atop the mat. oh and this all had to be done by scooching yourself around in the dark with no hands - it was COLD out and not worth and blasts of cold air to exude an extremity from the depths of a warm sleeping bag. i'll be honest. i did not master this. ever. from about the second night forward, i was cold. and damp. and sleeping at an angle on hard ground. but that was just something to deal with. no biggie.

we were treated to real popped corn (not the redenbaucher stuff with the fake butter) for a little predinner treat.


you would have thought we had just been handed a gold nugget. we were that happy. but the REAL winner of the trip turned out to be this stuff: MILO

it was kind of like nestle quick, but you had to put a heaping load of sugar into it. BUT at 9000(and above) feet, when you are cold, and hungry, and well cold, this was heaven. so good in fact we went through both our canisters in 3 days and had to barter for another.

so we are in good spirits. enjoying the climb and the company. shoes are holding up well. no malfunctions to speak of. the night was probably the crazy part. its DEAD quiet. and then well you hear rustling... and i swear i herd grunting... some buffalo? and the stars. well the stars are just wild. for the first time in my life i saw the milky way clear as well day, and thought i could reach out and touch it.

you learn quickly there is little you need to be comfortable and be well here:



Day two. i think we all kind of woke up with the sun about 6 am. you learn that if you want to see the mountain you gotta play by its rules. there is about 20 minutes in the morning when the sun is just coming up that you can see it (otherwise its covered by clouds). so eager to see how much closer we had gotten we all got up to take a look. crap. still soooo far away.. but man it looks good.



we had our first breakfast on the mountain:

eggs, toast, butter (how the hell they got butter up there i dont know), milo, tea, porridge (not shown here, but an interesting concoction.. you wonder how goldilocks really ate the stuff...). and we got our stuff together and back on the trail for anther day of hiking.

one really neat thing was how the vegetation changed as we went up. officially you go through forest, moreland, alpine desert and then ice cap. quite drastic. and the weather changed so quickly. one minute its sunny, then cloudy (like you are IN the clouds), then precipitation - hail, sleet, snow..(closer to the top) or other things i had yet to encounter in all my years. but sure kept things interesting. ever so often our guides would stop us and point out things, animal tracks, ant houses, flowers, plants you could steep for tea, etc.



little side note about our guides. have i used the word amazing lately? Joseph was about 55 years old and insisted i call him papa joseph. like your grandpa. he would sing and tell us stories and make these great accompanying noises and motions that made me feel like a little kid. he was so fun. as the hike went on we all kind of looked out for each other, joseph included. always asking how he was, did he want a cliff bar, etc.



Edwin was the leader.we'd be hiking up and i'd hear "KAAAAAAARI". in this rough gruff voice. its him. we soon learned to just yell back "ED-Weeeeeen". part way through the trip he started calling bobby "simba". and he also is the reason i made it to the top. but thats later :)

so anyway, day two ended up at camp in pissing rain. it was miserable. we all crawled into tents and just tried to get dry! once it finally stopped we got out and explored around camp a bit. there were some cool caves.



we got this great view just at dusk.. mt munzi



the best part so far. nothing had been hard. yes we walked a long time, and up some steeper patches, some rocky parts, some heat waves, some freezing winds. but nothing too crazy. i think we got a bit of a false sense as Macon kept saying how hard this climb was. we were like whatever old man. we were eating pretty good. sleeping ok. no sickness or injury. i thought we were sitting pretty... HA. HA HA HA i say to stupid me on the mountain at 12000 ft. just wait.

"kari- this isnt disney land."

hmmm so where did we leave off.. oh yes. we had just arrived at the springlands hotel in moshi tanzania.

some things to note about our accommodations: they still used keys. the reason became evident when we learned the power goes off quite frequently. there is a switch next to the bathroom that turns on the hot water heater. in most cases this was actually a large barrel on the roof that was heated by the sun. there was a mosquito net above the bed. we had been warned of maleria so attempts were made to use the net. for about 18 seconds. bobby immediately complained he could no longer breathe and i could not keep from getting tangled up. operation BUG OFF was immediately canceled. we would take our chances. the food was really good. fresh produce etc was delivered daily. the staff was phenomenally nice. and so accommodating.

we enjoyed a great evening sitting outside, drinking some good beer, some great wine and well just talking. people who had just come off the mountain. people who would head up in the morning. it was definately the HOT topic.

our first morning (after, yes, i locked my self IN the room) we set out on a 2 day safari(it had to be modified a bit due to our Ethiopian diversion). the scene at the hotel was crazy! there were a few different groups heading out to climb, a few heading out on safari and a few trying to just get out of the way!

we met up with our driver and climbed into our truck. awesome.





and off we went. as we drove out toward Lake Manyara, - about a 3-4 hour drive - we passed alot of interesting and "OH WOW" moments. our driver was awesome, as i peppered him with questions for the entire ride...about religeon and govenment, and herding cattle, and kids in school and unemployment, and highways, and what he ate for dinner, and what he thinks of obama, and music and americans. and he was so patient. and didnt once (that i could see) give me the evil eye.

some of the things that went whizzing by...at least when we werent stuck behind a huge truck (or cows crossing) on the 2 lane highway...that also became subjects of my unending questions..











we arrived at the national park and had to do some official paper work kind of stuff. when we first pulled in we saw this huge family of baboons and immediately went "oh wow you have to stop". our driver obliged but kind of laughed.. saying you'll see a hundred more. and he was right.

we had a chance to get out at the entrance and walk around a bit. i had to use the facilities...and well, i'll be honest. this was my first experience with a hole in the ground (with four lovely walls for privacy). dont worry. i survived and actually by the end of the trip was quite skilled.

so we spent the afternoons driving around. it was awesome. you would turn a corner and BAM!



we had to stay in the truck (just like they tell you at disney - keep your arms inside the vehicle), but at one point we could get out. there was a huge swamp with hippos. it was just the perfect scene, with some zebras grazing behind them, some unidentifiable birds hanging around.



here's one of those funny little monkeys.



did i mention it was HOT??



we had a good day.

that night we drove UP, way UP to our hotel. and went down this muddy, rutted, roller coaster of a road that our 4wd had some reservations about. our hotel was on top of a hill, over looking the farms that supplied all their food. it was beautiful. peaceful. and revealingly COOL. temps in Moshi (where our home base was) were above 100.


we had an amazing dinner. and then sat out on the hotel porch and drank wine. yep. good day.

the next morning we set out early to see the ngorongoro crater.


we learned that a main "highway" goes thru the park connecting the towns of Arusha and Nairobi and other Kenyan destinations.



this is it.
and yes big buses travel this road. it doesnt go down into the crater where we were headed.. but can you imagine this is the BEST way to get from point A to point B?

we had the amazing opportunity to visit a Masai community.



that was unreal. walking through and being able to ask questions and see their daily life. wow. i asked the one guy who spoke english what they ate. he replied 'four things. goat meat. cow meat. cow milk and cow blood." yikes. i would not last 6 seconds here. he said no fruit or vegetables, but didnt elaborate on the reason. i also didnt know they were a polygamist group. he then pointed out the little "kindergarten" and said we could go over and take a look. the kids were fantastic and counting.



that was cool. they wanted to know where we were from and all kinds of stuff.

so after that we moved on to the crater. wow.



so we just drive around. its HUGE and well you just never know what you are going to come across.. it was just amazing. i mean that word is so over done in this post but ...







and this guy:


he was maybe 10 yards from us. just snoozing away with his lady lion friend. they would kind of pick their heads up and look around then go back to sleep. and YES i did make the comparison to madison and bobby rolled his eyes..

anyway.... we kind of happened upon this little situation... and it really burned up the reality lightbulb.. that this is really the food chain up close...



so lots happening in this pic... see the baby zebra? just born.. barely able to walk.. and maybe you can see the vultures still chowing down on the birth mess (ohh yes yum!). on the right is a hyena - literally salivating at the thought of a baby zebra appetizer.

that was cool.

one last little bit. we had been checking off in our heads all the animals we wanted to see. the one with the little asterick beside it was the elusive white rhino. not too many of those guys left.anywhere. so we werent putting high expectations on that. BUT as we were kind of deciding it would be time to head back, we caught a glimpse of this BIG thing a ways away. we stopped and just waited...



wow. we had such a good time out exploring. and still to come was the big climb.