Laxmi Vilas Restaurant in Mumbai India…our favorite spot in the city.

The “Colaba area” of Mumbai India has been described as “London on acid.” There are beautiful old palaces and monuments built by the british mixed with the overall craziness of taxis, people and Indian streetlife in general. Lindsay and I stayed right in the middle of this fascinating area. We are the type of people who generally stick with something that we like and we found our favoirt little spot to eat in Mumbai called Laxmi Vilas. This cute little resteraunt is tucked away on a side street right near “India Gate” in the heart of Colaba. The restaurant has a downstairs for locals (no AC) and a very small upstairs (surrounded in class) that ran AC for the westerners. :) Numerous times we would end up at this little restaurant and the owner/staff would great us with a smile and simply point upstairs (where the AC was). Everytime we went we had a friendly waiter that would bring us water, Coke in a bottle and some of the best Indian food we have ever had. Lindsay is always much more daring with food but I found something I liked and stuck with it everytime! To beat the heat and craziness of Mumbai we loved Laxmi Vilas.

Below are pictures from the Colaba area of Mumbai...our favorite resturaunt was in this area:

Enchanting Marrakesh, Morocco

Winston Churchill once call Marrakesh “the most lovely spot in the whole world”. We could not agree more. This desert oasis in Morocco is one of a kind. Lindsay and I started our Marrakesh journey by catching a train in Casablanca. We shared a cabin with some local Moroccans who were very polite. We watched out the window of the train as the landscape changed from green shorelines in Casablanca to the red deserts near Marrakesh. We pulled into the train station and simply walked the few miles to the “old city.” Like many old cities in this part of the world you enter through ancient walls. Once inside the ancient walls of Marrakesh I was immediately in love. There are numerous narrow streets, little stalls selling food, animals, people, and hundreds of motorcycles that come flying by honking their horn. The sights, smells and overall scene is one of a kind. Throughout the old city are old guesthouses known as “riads.” A typical Riad will have a courtyard with fountain, beautiful guestrooms and a rooftop area will pillows and tents for relaxing day and night. Our Riad did not disappoint and had all of the above and more. However, our first challenge was finding the riad. I had rough instructions that I took off the web but navigating through the alleys and streets of old town was incredibly tough. Luckily a teenager showed us the way and walked us right to the front door (he was not happy with the tip “baksheesh” I gave him and I thought for sure he was going to be waiting for me later..ha ha). Once inside we were greeted by a very gracious host who made us some mint/herbal tea. To this day Lindsay and I are searching for this tea as it was INCREDIBLE! After dropping off the bags we hit the old city again to explorer. Our destination was Djemaa el Fna square which is home to the world famous food stalls of Marrakesh. The journey from our riad to this square was fantastic. Eventually the narrow alleys make way to a giant bazaar (market) filled with colorful stores selling anything you can imagine. The bazaar eventually gives way to Djemaa el Fna square which is one of the coolest places we have ever been! The square is an absolute assault on the senses. There are snake charmers (yes), musicians, street performers, fight clubs (yes people fighting), etc, etc, etc,. The sounds, sights and smell are overwhelming to say the least. The snake charmers like to charge for pictures and they are VERY good at catching you. I secretly took a picture of one and I thought there was no way he saw. Within seconds he was in my face saying “you take picture…you pay.” At night there are hundreds of food vendors that set up shop right in the middle of the square. We decided on one (just because the guy smiled at us) and had some of the most amazing food ever. They bring you little clay ovens that are full of chicken, coos-coos, etc. We ate the food and were amazed at how good it tasted. Sure enough we were back the next night for more. :) Over the next few days we continued to explore Marrakesh and fell more and more in love with the city. We eventually caught a night train to Tangier and had to say goodbye. We will never forget Marrakesh, Morocco!

Scooter Ride to Bokkharani National Park – Thailand

During our trip to Thailand we stayed in a great little beach town called Ao Nang. This town has a great beach vibe with palm trees, beautiful beaches, shops, jungles and countless wooden Thai boats waiting to take you for a ride. Lindsay had spotted a picture in the Lonely Planet guidebook of an incredible looking jungle full of trees, waterfalls, etc called Bokkharani national park. We noticed that this was fairly close to Ao Nang so we decided to rent a scooter for the day to check it out. We took off on our scooter and the drive out to this national park was a blast. We passed Buddhist temples, food shacks, etc as we winded through the jungle. Most of the drive was on a very busy highway and our little scooter required that we drive on the shoulder of the road. Fast cars, motorcycles and large trucks would come flying by. In addition to this there were numerous times when rain showers would come slamming down on us. At one point the rain was so strong that we had to pull over and stand underneath an abandon building just to take cover. We were both soaked to the core and just stood there shivering while the over sized helmets on are head bounced around. :) Needless to say it was quite an adventure. We finally made it to the park and were literally blown away at what we saw…it shattered our expectations. First of all we were the only westerners around which always makes you feel like you have found a gem. Second of all the natural beauty of this park was mind blowing. Picture the most beautiful movie set that Disney could build, add 3 times more waterfalls and you start to get the picture of what this place looked like. Giant trees and lush jungle flowers grew amongst numerous pools of water and countless waterfalls. The color of the water was turquoise blue and it sparkled next to the green trees. We walked around taking it all in before finally deciding to take a swim. We found a great swimming hole and began jumping in and out of the water via the numerous rocks and waterfalls that were around. Then a group of young Thai kids (probably around 13) came by and showed us that you could climb a tree next to the water and jump in. I couldn't resist following the Thai kids up the tree for a good jump into the water. :) We sate in that area for hours just swimming, talking and taking in the unbelievable beauty that was around us. We then started the long drive home on our trusty scooter (again with rain showers, fast trucks, etc). We pulled in to Ao Nang right at sunset and spent the rest of the evening cruising the beaches and coastline on our scooter. We stopped at one point to watch the sunset (and locals swimming) before heading back to our hotel back in Ao Nang. It was an incredible day.

Russian Bureaucracy Madness

While studying for our trip to Russia I had read about the bureaucracy that exists in the country that can make travel tough. However, during our entire time in that beautiful country we never experienced it…that is until our final moments before leaving. We were booked on an overnight flight from Moscow to Beijing. In the late evening we headed to Belorussky train station in central Moscow to catch the painless train to Sheremetyevo Airport. Everything was going smoothly until we checked in for the flight…it was chaos. After making through that we thought “the worst is behind us”…then we saw the passport control line. Imagine hundreds of people trying to make their way through about 4 passport control lines (being managed by some very slow moving Russian airport workers). At first it looked like there were 4 lines but after a few minutes people started pushing and cutting and it turned into one blob of people (it felt like a rock concert). I remember thinking to myself “at least we got here early and we have 2 hours before our plane leaves.” Well...15 minutes before our plane took off Lindsay and I were still waiting in the line! Over the last 2 hours we had seen numerous arguments, countless cutting in line and a Chinese man yelling about how unfair it all was. The best moment was when a Russian man and his entire family cut in line and the whole crowd starting yelling. He turned around and said “I am Russian…this is my country…I can do this.” We eventually made it through the passport control with only 10 minutes left before our flight left. We were running through the airport with our bags at full speed (think the Amazing race). We finally made our flight and could finally attest to the “Russia bureaucracy” we had read about. :)


This picture was taken just after we barely made it on our plane...sums up the experience!

Ajisan Noodles in China….YUM!

I have mentioned this before but I will repeat it again; if Lindsay and I find a place we like to eat we will keep coming back. This was certainly true of Ajisan Noodles which we discovered during our trip to China in 2010. Our first night in Beijing it was getting late and we needed to eat. Here is a travel tip that we have learned over the years…if you are in a pinch a mall food court (in any international city) is a great place to find cheap, clean and tasty food! We were hanging out in the central shopping district and decided to hit up Oriental Plaza mall for some food. We stumbled upon a little noodle house called Ajisan and took our seats. The menu was hard to decode but we ended up ordering some of the most amazing noodles we have every had. We came back to this Ajisan numerous times while in Beijing and almost always ordered the same thing: Pepsi (comes out in cute little can) and noodles. When we left Beijing for Shanghai we were very sad because we assumed that there was no more Ajisan in our future. However, to our great surprise there were numerous Ajisan noodle houses in Shanghai as well. Come to found out it is a chain out of Japan that has locations all over Asia (and now one in Los Angeles). Needles to say we hit up Ajisan numerous other times while in Shanghai. To this day we firmly believe they are the best noodles you can get!

Dome of the Rock & The Western "Wailing" Wall – Jerusalem

One of the most fascinating cities we have ever been to is Jerusalem Israel. Ever since I was young I have wanted to visit “the most beautiful city in the world” which is the epicenter of 3 of the world’s great religions (Christianity, Islam and Judaism). The city has a very “intense” feeling and you can sense the high emotions everywhere you go. During our time there we saw numerous school children being escorted by gunmen with assault rifles for protection. There is the heavily armed Israeli military on every corner and security checks/medal detectors are everywhere. The old town is surrounded by the ancient city walls/gates and has 3 main areas: the Jewish quarter, the Muslim Quarter and the Christian quarter. Although we stayed in the Muslim quarter we spent our time exploring this entire area. At the center of it all is Dome of the Rock and The Western "Wailing" Wall. The first being a sacred to Muslims and the later being sacred to Jews. What was fascinating to me was how close these to sites are to each other. Dome of the rock literally sits on top of The Wailing Wall. In fact, the area in which the Dome of the Rock is built is considered “to sacred to enter” to the Jewish people (this is what the sign says as you enter). It is no wonder there is so much contention in this one little area. We first visited The Wailing Wall which is a fascinating experience. The Jewish faithful will come to this wall (which is one of the last remaining walls of the ancient great temple) to offer prayers on pieces of paper which they then slip into the cracks of the wall. This is quite unique looking as you have ancient stone blocks with millions of small pieces of paper shoved in the cracks. There are paper “yamikas” for non Jewish visitors and I happily wore one during our visit. There is also a side for men and a side for women. Lindsay and I stayed in this sacred spot for quite a while watching all the faithful pray. Immediately to the right of this wall is a walkway (with medal detectors and heavily armed guards) which leads up to the “Dome of the Rock” which is considered sacred in the Islam religion and is built on remnants of the temple which is sacred to Jews (again an explanation of the constant contention). The area around Dome of the Rock is beautiful and very peaceful (at least it was the morning we were there). Numerous gardens surround the ancient blue and gold structure which is so iconic. We spent hours slowly walking around, sitting for breaks and looking at this incredible structure. There are also very good views of the ancient city below. It was a beautiful and very peaceful experience to visit both of these sacred spots and we will never forget it.

Krak des Chevaliers Castle – Syria/Lebanon

During our 2008 trip to the Middle East I was incredibly excited to visit the city of Beirut in Lebanon. Unfortunately a couple of weeks before we left the city was rocked by unrest (this happens a lot). This meant that Lindsay and I had a couple of extra days in Syria (not a bad problem to have). We decided to make a trek up to one of the most amazing castles in the world “Krak des Chevaliers” near the border of Syria/Lebanon. This castle was built during the crusades and is INCREDIBLY well preserved. Getting to the castle involved a number of different steps (and for us some luck). We took a taxi to a bus stop outside Damascus where we were able to find a bus to the city of Homs. Taking a bus in the middle east is quite fun as they generally have crazy decorations and a cheesy movie playing with the volume at full blast! Within a few hours we were at a major bust stop in Homs and found a very friendly taxi driver who agreed to take us out to the castle and then wait to take us back. The taxi drive was fantastic as we got to see the countryside of Syria. We passed numerous small villages, farms, families herding animals in the middle of the road, etc, etc. The road to the castle winds up a large mountain and eventually you end up at this incredible castle structure. We spent hours exploring the castle and particularly loved sitting on the very top looking down at the beautiful valleys/hills in the surrounding area. This was the closest we were going to get to Lebanon. The wind was incredibly strong and there were no railings at the edge of the castle (a very long fall) needless to say it was an exhilarating experience. We finally made our way down to our patient taxi driver who started to take us back to Homs to catch a bus back to Damascus. The entire way back he and I were negotiating whether he would take us all the way back to Damascus (I just couldn't bring myself to pay what he wanted). Lindsay and I were loving it because he didn’t speak much English, and we didn't speak any Arabic, but all three of us understood one word….DAMASCUS!! He would mumble a few words in Arabic/English and end every sentence with DAMASCUS!!!! It was hilarious. We barely made it on the bus back to Damascus and I remember thinking that I probably had just enough cash left to catch a cab from the bus stop in Damascus to our Hotel…I was wrong. We arrived at the Damascus bus stop in late evening and there were only a few cabs left. I offered them all the cash I had left and they refused to take us back to the city for such a small amount. Needless to say we were getting quite panicked as hitchhiking in Damascus was not a good alternative. Luckily we were saved by a very outgoing British kid who was living in Syria. He came up and negotiated with the taxi to take all 3 of us back to the city. It was hilarious watching this British kid negotiate with a Syrian taxi driver in Arabic. We had a great chat with him as we rode back to the city. Not only did he save our hide that night but just as we were leaving I asked him what bus station I needed to go to the next morning to catch a taxi to Jordan. He told me the correct station which was completely different then were I was planning on going…saved our hide again! It was a fun day full of castles, adventure and friendship…sounds like a typical day traveling in the Middle East.