Dec 4, 2017
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Trip Stats
Some fun statistics from the trip!
🎢 We averaged a theme park every 25 days!
✈ We traveled 60,795 km’s, which is nearly the equivalent of circling the world twice: https://www.travellerspoint.com/planner_print.cfm?tripid=1013052
🌎 Visited 30 different countries on 4 of the 6 continents.
🗽 We saw 1 of the 7 classic wonders of the world. 2 of the new 7 wonders of the world. 3 of the 7 engineering wonders of the world and 2 of the 7 natural wonders of the world.
🍔 Ate McDonald’s in 23 different countries.
🛌 Slept in 142 different hotels, motels, hostels or Airbnb’s.
🚇 Caught 72 trains, not including subway lines.
💼 Crossed 23 borders, only lost one bottle of sunscreen and a couple of bullet shells.
💻 Connected to over a million Wi-Fi networks!
🚍 Slept the night on 3 buses and 2 sleeper trains.
📷 Took over 4000 photos.
📖 Read more than 20 books between us.
🤠 Been asked ‘where you from’ a million times!
Had one unbelievable adventure together!
Getting in as many last minute touristy photos as we can! Second time in Singapore and have really enjoyed both visits, the place is so clean and the architecture, pristine. The mainland of Singapore only measures 50km from east to west and today we walked a little over 15km of it, almost a third of the country! Not bad.
Can’t help but to continually be impressed with the Marina Bay Sands and the Gardens by the Bay. Would have loved to have spent a night there just to see the view from the infinity pool. Oh well, maybe when I’m Prime Minister one day.
Halong Bay, one of UNESCO’s new 7 Wonders of Nature, is absolutely stunning. The panorama setting on the camera must have been made for this place as the bay includes some 1,600 islands and islets, forming a spectacular seascape of limestone pillars.
Serious fun cruising the bay, fishing for squid, kayaking, exploring caves, making spring rolls, eating like Kings and of course, cracking punny jokes at its expense. “Ha long do you think the cruise will be?” “Wanna come ha long for a ride?” “What if I want ha longer bay?” 😅😅
Off to a great start in Vietnam!
A few days out by the coast of the South China Sea in Vung Tau. Spent our first two nights in what we now know as a holiday resort for the locals, and while no one spoke a word of English, we did have access to our own private beach with virtually no one around. Winning.
Plenty of churches out this way, with Vung Tau having its own ‘Christ the Redeemer’ statue creating beautiful scenes while you’re swimming at the beach, with the giant statue stretching his arms over Mount Nho and gazing into the distance ocean.
Kathmandu
Swayambhunath Temple, or ‘the Monkey Temple’ in Kathmandu. The UNESCO World Heritage site and its surroundings are home to hundreds of monkeys, which some consider to be holy. Legend has it that the monkeys were formed from the head lice of the Manjusree Bodhisattva, who in Buddhism represents the embodiment of wisdom and, according to folk tradition, raised the hill upon which Swayambhunath stands. 🐵🙈🙉🙊
After two weeks of hiking through mountain dust, a 365 stone step climb to the temple should be easy right?
Looking out over Kathmandu from the top of the Monkey Temple.
Durbar Square; consisting of temples, open courts, water fountains, tourists and unfortunately, serious damage from the 2015 earthquake.
Probably the nicest shot of Durbar Square, without too much of the damage.
Amediva Buddha Park. Still not sure why there are soo many statues of Buddha around the world, especially when the Shakyamuni (original) Buddha did not advocate worship of himself or of anyone or anything else. The dude was more about encouraging people to live an ethical, harmless life and using meditation to understand, for oneself, the nature and origins of suffering.
The streets of Kathmandu are epic for shopping, every second store sells North Face and Columbia gear! I wonder if those companies know that...
Around 3 in the afternoon, the team reaches our first (and main) goal, Everest Base Camp! Base Camp, as in the spot where expeditions pitch their tents for the beginning of the Everest summit! Even though the camp is essentially just a pile of rocks and prayer flags, we are so happy to have made it this far and to be surrounded by the beautiful giant glaciers, mountains and a solo Australian flag!
After returning back from Base Camp to our unforgettable stay in Gorekshep, we try and get an early nights rest so that one; we’re not stuck in the main dining hall with all the sick people and two; we’re up ready to face our final challenge of the trip: a hike up to Kala Pattar! Known as the best viewpoint of Everest, Kala Pattar sits at 5,643m above sea level, a full 155 metres higher than Base Camp. It’s a 4am start, so no light, no breakfast, (what feels like) no oxygen, it’s -20° outside and it’s a two hour trek, uphill. Needless to say this was the hardest hike of our lives. Thankfully, the views at the top are indeed stellar and after 10 days of hiking, we finally have some good photos of Everest itself!
Immediately after we summit Kala Pattar begins the long trek back to Lukla. It took us just four days to make the reverse trip, almost a third of the time it took us to get to B.C. With each step downhill, our oxygen intake increases and our bodies are happier. In one of our stops, at Tengboche, we visit the world’s highest monastery and after a week of vegetarian food, I get to eat a chicken burger with chips. Amazing. A couple of days later we fly back out of the Himalayan wonderland and back to the nation’s capital of Kathmandu. Unbelievable sights from above of the morning fog filling the valley, instill in us the surreal beauty of our last two weeks. We did it!
Beautiful villages, sensational mountains, crystal blue lakes, sparkling white glaciers and terrifying suspension bridges. What more could you want? Well, for starters; a hot shower, a toilet with a seat, a T-Bone steak (or just any animal meat at this point), a warm fireplace and a coke. Actually, the last one I got, though somehow it just wasn’t the same after being brought up to 5,000m on the shakey back of a porter.
The further we climb the colder it gets and the closer we get to our goal - Everest B.C! At this point it’s been over a week worth of trekking and acclimatizing. Our Intrepid group is amazing and we’re having lovely conversations as we walk for over 6 hours and 15km each day. At night, it’s all about eating, singing and card games! Needless to say, I’m loving the whole experience, though with the higher we climb into the altitude, every uphill has you feeling like you’ve just ran a marathon…Sherpa’s are beasts!