The end of one adventure, the beginning of another

Spoiler alert—Korey and Ines are back in the Unites States of America!  Well, with how late this post is, we were supposed to be back now anyway, but this is to let you know that we had to cut the trip short, which explains the absence of posts the past month!

As we planned out our adventure in South America, we realized just how much hiking and physical adventure we were planning to embark upon in the near future.  Given Ines’ lasting knee woes and after checking out all options, we decided to skip South America and make our way home to Michigan earlier than planned (Korey would like to point out that he fully disclosed to Ines that she would be traveling from the bright sunny 80 degree Australian weather to a late Michigan winter filled with snow, however the doctor’s opinion we have been traveling with—Dr. Vigil’s— prevailed).  Korey worked his travel booking magic and within 72 hours of making our decision, we arrived in Grand Rapids, Michigan (our new home!).  

After a series of medical appointments and some imaging, our traveling doctor’s opinion was confirmed and Ines was scheduled to have knee surgery within the week.  We are now three weeks out and she is doing great, hobbling around like a true champ!  It looks as if the combination of a previous knee surgery, climbing Mount Kilimanjaro, and golfing Asia was too much for Ines’ knee to sustain (Ines would like to state that Korey’s GO-GO-GO personality also may have contributed- Korey of course disagrees).  So, we find ourselves at the end of this truly amazing adventure!  

We both feel lucky to have met one another and privileged that our lives opened up in a way to be able to travel around the world together.  What an adventure!  We are also both so very thankful to all of our family and friends who followed our travel escapades and supported us in our travels and continue to do so in our lives.  We hope you have enjoyed reading our blog as much as we enjoyed writing it, and we leave you and our future selves with another set of trip bloopers!  We are sure to look back on this time in our lives with great joy and lots of laughs and we are looking forward to what the future will bring!  Thanks for sharing your love and friendship with us and for sharing in our around the world adventure!

Love,  Ines and Korey

Thing we missed the most while traveling the world:  

Ines- 1) my friends and family, 2) my Sonicare toothbrush! (never leaving that behind again), and 3) my wardrobe (including my shoes)!

Korey- 1) my friends and family, 2) Detroit and MSU sports (yes, second to family and friends!), and 3) the every day conveniences we take for granted in the US.

Things we loved the most while traveling the world:

Ines- 1) the number of people from the US living out their lives abroad, 2) the languages, the cultures, and the people of the world, 3) the food!

Korey- 1) learning about and being a part of so many different cultures, 2) the adventure!  Waking up in a different country, trying to figure out what city to sleep in on a given night, and figuring out how to get to and from all the places we went.  Wasn't easy, but it was a blast!, and 3) have to also go with the food!


The place we loved the most while traveling the world:

Korey and Ines (this is the place we agree on!) - Iceland!  Our experience was truly other-worldly.  Iceland was a great departure from anything either one of us had ever experienced, as we loved learning that Vikings are alive and well and living in Reykjavik, Iceland!
Ines:  The Maldives!  The pure blue-green water, the silky white sand, and the privacy we had on an island the size of a Target was unparalleled.  It also was the best way to recover from climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro.
Korey:  Sweden!  The city of Stockholm was almost perfect.  From efficient public transportation, to great food, and most of all just happy people living there, it was easily a place that Korey felt we could live in and love.  The history and friendliness of everyone we met didn't hurt either!

Quirks and Bloopers - Part 2

Back by popular demand, it’s quirks and bloopers part 2!  We received so many responses from friends and family letting us know how much they enjoyed hearing about Korey’s bad picture taking and Ines’ ability to turn simple shopping trips into disasters.  Of course we had plenty more reasons to laugh at ourselves during the second half of the trip and we are happy to share.  In no particular order here are our funniest moments from the second half of our trip!

Who turned out the lights?

It’s no secret that Africa - while amazingly beautiful - does not yet offer the things we take for granted when it comes to energy and infrastructure.  We learned this in many different ways throughout our stay, but no moment was more memorable than during our stay at the Mt. Meru Game Lodge the night before we started our climb up Mt. Kilimanjaro.  We had just checked in to the Lodge and made our way to our room to frantically re-pack for our Kilimanjaro adventure and charge our electronics when we realized that none of the outlets were working.  Was it our chargers or the outlets?  We made our way over to the front desk to notify them of our power outage and ask if maybe a fuse had blown (total naiveté on our part).  Upon reaching the front desk, Korey casually stated to the woman behind the check-in desk, “Our outlets don’t seem to be working, and the power seems to be out in our room, could we get someone to come take a look?”  Very slowly and with what seemed like the most dramatic body movements, the woman behind the check-in counter leaned in towards Korey and declared in a voice so distinctive of the african-english accent, “This is not only a problem for you!  This is a problem for alllllll of Africa!”  She then proceeded to stare directly into Korey’s eyes, providing no further clarification.  Korey then slowly backed away from the counter as he replied to her with a sheepish “Okay.”  We made our way back to the room, lied down under the mosquito netted bed and apologized to each other and to the world for being the biggest American jerks in the world.  We didn’t come out of the room until dinner (candlelit-of course) and afterward we retreated back to our dark room resolved to pack our bags by the light of our headlamp flashlights.  Having accomplished this feat, we went to sleep only to be awakened halfway through the night by all of the lights turning on and our electronics buzzing to let us know they were connected and charging.  Yeah, we probably deserved that.  

Our lodge room.  Pretty dark without any power!

Matching outfits

Imagine Korey wearing one of Ines’ shirts or even a pair of her boots.  Or, imagine Ines wearing one of Korey’s really cool (Ines disagrees with the word “cool” and would like to replace it with the word “old”) t-shirts that says Subway or a shirt with an emblem from one of his favorite baseball teams.  Sounds terrible, right?  We observed this phenomenon throughout Asia, couples wearing matching outfits is simply the thing to do.  We also saw it advertised at clothing stores and we observed people in matching outfits everywhere we went.  What we thought was an anomaly the first time, quickly became commonplace amongst the happy couples we watched around us.  Guys in skinny jeans and polo shirts to match their girls, girls in loose fitting Levi’s and sweatshirts to match their guys.  Then it went completely insane for us with the partner matching when we began witnessing couples in matching Disney clothing!  Nothing says I’m with this person like wearing matching Mickey Mouse shirts and jeans and shoes and, well, you get the point.  Needless to say this provided hours of people watching entertainment for the two of us and would make a great drinking game for future travels.

It was a thing for couples...

and dude friends...

But what can you expect when it's advertised everywhere?

We even fell victim...  Ines needed a cool hat though!

Can Korey take a good picture?

You’d think after months on the road constantly using a camera to capture once in a lifetime moments, Korey would get better at this picture taking thing.  Unfortunately he did not get the “picture” gene from his mother (who, according to Korey has captured his entire childhood and teen years in film and digital), and continued to take some of the worst photos.  What makes it even worse is that he deleted the ones that he thought were really bad, leaving for you to enjoy only the the ones he didn’t notice were awful.  The beauties below somehow made it past Korey’s cut.  Yikes.  He won’t be offering to take anybody's pictures anytime soon and for those of you that spend time with him, for the sake of your captured memories, don’t ask him to take the picture.  Ines’ pictures were all fine.

Trying to get a picture of the Kuala Lumpur skyline.  Instead Korey captured a random dude on a bike, a pole, and a cool highway divider.  Yikes

Korey thought this was an awesome shot on the train in Switzerland....until you notice the bottles in the reflection. Considering it was a moving train, there were no second chances...

Korey didn't take this picture, but he did leave the camera on panorama mode thoroughly confusing our tour guide trying to take the picture (and distorting our shapes).  So we blame Korey again

That’s not a weave you’re looking at

Frequently commented upon on our blog by friends of Korey’s (eager to mock him), we felt it only appropriate to include Korey’s newly long locks in the bloopers.  Brought on by laziness and Ines’ curiosity to see what it looked like, the hair grew long and fast.  And who knew it would be curly?  Ines states that the mocking Korey endured was worth it, and any man in his 30s that can run his hand through a full head of curly locks should think himself lucky indeed.  Although Korey’s original goal was laziness, Ines’ goal was for Korey to achieve a world traveler Man-Bun.  We were almost there when it got too big for him to keep his ball cap on straight.  And nothing gets in the way of the beloved Tigers ball cap.  So, we said goodby to his curly locks (Ines cried).  Here are some of the behind the scenes looks you didn’t see.  

Absolutely out of control.  Korey says he looks like a girl.

This is Korey's apré scuba look

Ignore this!  Ignore this!

While we are hesitantly starting to accept that the selfie stick is actually a real thing, boy oh boy the rest of the world has taken it to a whole new level.  We witnessed it all.  From people spending hours trying to get the perfect selfie, to oblivious people holding up the crowded streets to get the right angle for their very important selfie.  It was beyond anything we’d ever seen.  Neither one of us are very good picture people, opting to enjoy the moment as it happens and never really thinking to capture it in a photo (never mind the perfectly crafted photo requiring multiple shots, the perfect angle, perfect lighting, and distance from the face).  We did, however, get asked to move aside many times as the true picture takers (always with a very elaborate selfie stick) took it to a whole new level.  Our favorites were the parents that had their kids take dozens of pictures of them doing sexy poses.  Sexy poses on the beach were our favorite parent-child quality time watching.  You read that right, and we witnessed this more than once in more than one place.  Nothing says good parenting like a hot mom yelling at her eight year old son to get the perfect photo of waves crashing over her bikini clad body.  See for yourself, and don’t forget to pack your selfie stick the next time you travel!

We were able to capture this moment that went on for at least an hour....picture by the tree...picture by the water...etc.,

More selfie fun!  These girls posed with the hats, then without the hats, then with the selfie stick...and you will notice they have matching outfits!!!

Go Tigers!

So everyone knows the last time the Detroit Tigers won the World Series, right?  Well, Korey thinks it’s probably on the top of everyone’s mind every day of the week like it is for him.  Imagine Korey’s surprise when while walking the streets of Chaing Mai, he spotted a 2006 Detroit Tigers World Champions hat.  Obviously the Tigers did not win that year, but they did make the World Series which means that World Champion hats were made just in case they did end up winning.  Typically the products from the losing teams get shipped to areas of need overseas.  Sadly, Korey was not quick enough on his feet to capture a picture or even talk to the woman wearing the hat.  He will forever be tormented that he didn't offer to buy the precious token hat from the Thai woman.  It'll just have to haunt his memories the way the Tigers continue to haunt fans year in and year out...

No picture available.  But we all know with Korey taking it, it probably wouldn't have turned out anyway

Check the Air Pressure

Every culture has its "phrases" that are common to them, and unless you are "in the know",  you are clueless.   Our favorite example of this is when our African Safari driver, Emanuel, repeatedly mentioned his need to check the tire pressure.  After a few more interesting safari sights, he stopped the safari caravan, got out, and promptly relieved himself behind the vehicle.  It then occurred to Korey what he meant by needing to "check the tire pressure" and moved to relieve himself as well.  Sadly, there were no bushes nearby for Ines, so she had to wait.

Emanuel, after "checking the tire pressure"

Machete to Ines' Knee Route

We’ve touched on this before, but it’s worth bringing up again because it likely was the blooper of all bloopers on this trip.  Everyone now knows about the seriousness of Ines’ knee injury (she’s doing great by the way!).  Well, the blame can't all go to Ines' bum knee,  there was some additional culpability on Korey's part too.  Why Korey?  There are seven routes any person can take to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, and Korey selected the Machame Route based on the timing of our trip and based upon the routes offered by the booking and guide agency Korey selected to take us up and down the mountain.  Korey would like to state that, of the two routes offered, the Machame route was the least difficult.  However, once on the mountain, we learned that of all the routes available to climb, the Machame route was the second hardest of seven routes to be taken.  As such, Ines has placed some responsibility on Korey's choice of route, that we will now and into the future, fondly recall as the "Machete to Ines' knee route".

Ines immediately post surgery.  The happy drugs were still in effect!

Australia - Days 101 to 113

Hello Mates!  Welcome to the outback, mates (yes, Australians commonly use the word “mate” and “outback”).  This land is full of of exotic animals, extreme weather, Fosters beer, and really great people!  Well, 3 out of 4 we found to be true.  Fosters beer was nowhere to be found, and we quickly concluded it is not popular to Australians.  We left Asia excited to explore as much of Australia as time would allow and with an exciting travel plan.  We will both admit it was so refreshing and easy to travel in an English speaking country…

We flew directly into Sydney, and realized instantly that Sydney is not nearly as big of a city as we had previously thought!  We hopped on a train from the airport into the heart of the city.  Two stops to the central station and a two minute walk brought us to our hotel for the night.  It was very refreshing to have it be so easy!  For such a famous international city, we found Sydney to be relatively quaint and easy to walk around.  That night we hunkered down at a local restaurant and planned out our days in Australia.  After some intense internet searches and a few phone calls, we had rented ourselves a “Spaceship” camper-van and mapped out a flight to Cairns and a driving course that would take us from the Northeastern Australia coastline all along the eastern coastline to return to Sydney! 

We flew the next morning to Cairns (the name pronounced like a pirate would say it, CAHRRRNS), a small scuba diving resort city on the northeastern edge of Australia.  As we drove through the city in a cab, we both said to one another at the same time that it felt as if we were exploring Florida in the 1950’s.  Much hotter and humid than Sydney, the streets of Cairns (remember it’s CAHRRRNS) were filled with long blonde-haired partygoers in board shorts and bikinis enjoying their vacation in the sun.  Ines would like to call into question whether these partygoers were in fact on vacation like us, or whether this was simply their lives.  Our first order of business was to pick up our newly rented Spaceship camper-van (which doubles as a vehicle and a sleeping/cooking venue!).  We arrived at the rental facility and received a full orientation to the Spaceship Orbit #1 from a surfer-looking guy, with every other word being “Mate” and starting each answer to our questions with the phrase, “No worries Mate!”  It was unreal.  Once oriented, we climbed into what would be our home for the next nine days.  As the name Orbit #1 was painted bright red and had Spaceship written all over it, we were quite noticeable on the roads.  This, of course, pleased Ines and was hilarious to Korey.  We then explored Cairns (one more time for the novelty, CAHRRRNS) for the day and booked our excursion for the next, scuba diving in the Great Barrier Reef!

Our scuba experience started early the next morning, when we were picked up from our Camper-van parking spot at 7am, with our boat leaving port around 7:30 AM to speed ferry us out to the reef.  The journey to the reef took an hour, having spent that time learning scuba safety procedures, scuba rules, and the history the reef.  It was a gorgeous 85 degree day and we were excited!  We were brought to an area called Hastings Reef and asked to put on wetsuits (this was a process in and of itself), then were helped into our gear and moved out to the edge of the boat to jump into the ocean!  We started the day with snorkeling and immediately saw the beauty of the reef.  Looking out over the ocean, we’d had no clue the beauty and wonder that lay just beneath, and it took us about a millisecond to realize how cool of an experience this was going to be.  We both looked up at each other from the water’s surface with wide eyes and muffled words of excitement as the snorkel gear wobbled in our mouths.  Afterward, we marveled at the looseness of rules they had for us on snorkeling.  No lifejackets were provided, neither one of us could recall any questions as to whether or not we could swim, and our general instructions were to “stay in this area.”  It’s a good thing we are both decent swimmers!  After about an hour of snorkeling, it was our turn to take our shot at scuba diving.  Again, after a quick lesson on “this is how you breathe into the tube thingy” (that’s how Korey remembers the instructions), we were moved into the water.  This scuba diving experience was a first for Korey, although Ines had a much less instructive and generally more frightening experience in Bali last year (Thanks Chia-Ti!).  Korey described his first experience as a bit freaky, feeling the pressure of the water against his body increase as he was lowered deeper under the water’s surface.  He later stated he was hesitant to trust the breathing apparatus and this took some getting used to, but we both got the hang of it pretty quickly and were able to enjoy our scuba time up close and personal to the reef.  We enjoyed the morning’s scuba dive so much we signed up for the afternoon scuba session!  

After a hearty lunch and a quick boat ride to another location on the reef, we strapped the scuba gear onto our backs, slung weights across our hips and set off into the water for a much longer afternoon scuba adventure.  Korey had some challenges with his mask (we love the beard but it made it hard for the seal on the mask to work well).  A couple of panic filled moments ensued 30 feet below the surface when his mask filled with water, but we were able to troubleshoot the problem and enjoy the reef in all its wonder.  Unfortunately, Korey used up most of his oxygen dealing with his mask (and anxiety) and had to ascend, but Ines had a great leisurely experience for another 45 minutes under the sea!  We both returned to the mainland amazed at the Great Barrier Reef and thankful that we could scuba dive in such a magical and beautiful part of the world.  Our highlights from under the Pacific Ocean included following a couple of clown fish as they weaved in and out of the living coral, giant clams the size of Ines that opened and closed their mouths as our own were just inches away, black sea cucumbers inching along the ocean floor, and parts of the coral that retracted when we reached out to touch it (no worries mate, we didn’t touch the living coral!).  The day ended with wine, cheese, and fresh fruit on the hour-long boat ride to the mainland.  As Ines basked in the sun with her glass of Australian wine, a seagull sent her a little gift, landing inches from her wineglass (this happens to her a lot), and as Ines screamed and checked herself head to toe, Korey deemed the day our luckiest ever!  We returned to our Spaceship in Cairns exhausted and used the last of our energy to eat dinner and find a campsite to tuck ourselves in for the night.

That night the humidity level felt as if it were over 100%, and combined with 90 degree heat, the Spaceship proved to be difficult to get any sleep.  After attempting four hours of restless sleep, we abandoned sleep for the night and decided to hit the road down the eastern coast of Australia.  In total, driving down the east coast required 30 hours and about 2,500 kilometers of driving and we were eager to explore.  We left our campground at about 3 am (happy for the air conditioning), and within five minutes Korey had to dodge a giant snake in the road, then hit another animal that looked like an armadillo (we later learned they are not found in Australia- maybe it was a turtle? a possum?).  Avoiding the roadkill combined with driving on the left side of the road kept Korey awake just fine!  We watched the sun rise over beautiful beach landscapes and stopped for breakfast in the beach town Townsville, then continued on to another beach town named Mackay for lunch.  We wandered around an open market in Mackay and marveled again at the similarities of small town Australia and small town United States.  It was straight out of the 1950’s!  The day ended in the small beach town of Rockhampton, and after a total of 12 hours of driving, we were thoroughly exhausted!  

The next morning Ines learned that Korey had a hidden agenda that contributed to the long drive.  It was Super Bowl Sunday, well, actually Super Bowl Monday in Australia!  Korey wanted to watch from the city of Brisbane, a much larger town, with the thought that the game would be televised and Korey could witness Peyton’s last game.  We had a bit more driving to do that day to make it to Brisbane, and we upset ourselves when- along the way, we saw our first kangaroo as roadkill on the side of the road.  Ines almost cried, until we later learned from the locals that kangaroos are basically like deer in Michigan.  They were everywhere!  After a much shorter driving day than the day before, we successfully made it to Brisbane and reserved a hotel because, well, Korey needed a shower!  

The next morning (Superbowl Monday morning) we found a great spot on the Brisbane River to settle in and watch the game.  We found it a bit strange to watch the Super Bowl at 10 in the morning although this made Korey very happy and we had a fun normal day in Brisbane!  Overall, we had a very normal Super Bowl experience in Australia, sharing bar food and a pitcher of BudLight amongst locals dressed in football jerseys.  The only difference we found was that all of the Super Bowl commercials were local to Australia, so in between plays we looked up the American commercials on our phones.  

After a nap and some exploring, we had a delicious steak dinner (Australian beef is the best!) and received a great recommendation from our waitress (who was from Texas and newly relocated to Australia) to visit the local Koala Sanctuary just outside Brisbane and associated with the Steve Irwin Zoo.  What a great recommendation!  It was the perfect place to see all of the unique animals Australia has to offer.  We fed kangaroos, watched the wallabies hop around, saw a swimming platypus, visited with exotic birds, and even held a koala.  Of course, the koala pooped right on Korey (not Ines!) ruining his t-shirt, and even that couldn’t take away from our experience at the sanctuary.  We were most confused by the Tasmanian devils (nothing like the Looney Tunes character we both grew up loving).  We even saw a cassowary (a rare large bird), some scary spiders and snakes, plus a dingo (which we thought was someone’s dog that they brought into the park until we saw a sign showing it was dingo).  All in all a great day!

The next morning we jumped into our Spaceship and continued along the coast with the goal of reaching the town of Byron Bay, highly recommended by so many people we met along the way.    We were lucky enough to get one of the last sites at the popular campground in Byron Bay, right on the beach.  We set up camp, made a food and beer/wine run, and had a great evening right on the ocean with the stars shining down on us.  The local Australians (who are all really serious about their camper-vans) marveled at our simple set up, as our bright orange Orbit #1 was nestled between the local’s giant RV’s (complete with patio furniture sets).  We spent the next day enjoying a local’s brunch, relaxing at the beach, and exploring the cute town of Byron Bay and were back on the road by late afternoon.

Our next destination, Australian wine country!  A few hours south of Brisbane and north of Sydney is the Hunter Valley area known for their wines (the Napa of Australia).  We worked our way through the rolling grape orchards and hills and stopped at a small winery and found ourselves their only customers.  We had a great conversation with the owner, who had just purchased the winery and told us the story of her honeymoon to the United States (which was a theme amongst many Australians we met) and talked about the similarities and differences between Aussies and Americans.  We laughed so hard at times it was hard to swallow the delicious wine.  As we purchased a few bottles for the road, she informed us of a new local brewery that had just opened nearby, which of course got Korey’s full attention.  Good thing we did, it was delicious!  This was by far the most win-win day of our Australia adventure.  Good food, drinks, people, and tailored to the both of us!

We ended our wine country excursion back in Sydney, and enjoyed a great seafood dinner along the water in Sydney Harbor, overlooking the Sydney Opera House.  The next two days were spent planning for New Zealand and our South American adventure to come.  

Things we learned; 1) It’s impossible to describe with words our experience, and we highly recommend snorkeling and scuba diving to anyone considering visiting Australia! 2) Australia in the summer is what could be imagined America was like in the 1950’s with wholesome family adventures and summer camping, Floridian-like buildings and promenades, and pristine white sand beaches, and 3) It is absolutely possible to enjoy wine country and local beer brewing in the same afternoon!  We love Australia!

Our hotel in Sydney included a Disco elevator!  Watch Korey strut his stuff

Our view of the boat from the Great Barrier Reef!

Ines mentally preparing for her dive!

We are truly amazed! We love it!  

Korey struttin' his stuff for the camera again!

A near miss, and then they are friends.  Ines with the bird that tried to deliver a "lucky present"

Dinner anyone?  Don't let the yummy coconut shrimp and oysters fool you, our hop, skip, swim, and jump dinner is on its way!

The town of Townsville, Australia.  So 1950's America!

The open market in Mackay

Skyline view of Brisbane, Australia

Nothing like a pitcher of beer and bar food at 10am on Super Bowl Monday!

Watch out for that.....koala....or kangaroo!

We were avoiding them on the road to get here, now we are paying Australian currency to see them!

Korey getting chummy with the native wildlife 

But of course, the kangaroo took to Ines right away, then she couldn't get rid of him!

"Maybe the dingo ate your baby!"

Family photo at the park! It's all fun and games until somebody gets pooped on

Our driving adventure!  Great for resting Ines' troubled knee

Australian wine country, Hunter Valley

Nothing like a great locally brewed beer to match Ines' fantastic local wine

Sprucing up the Orbit#1 for its big return.  Thanks Martha and Michael for the recommendation!

Dinner on the pier overlooking the Sydney Opera House

Singapore (Take 2) - Days 99 and 100

Hello again from Singapore!  No, this is not a mistake, or a repost, or even Korey messing up train rides again, we actually planned to come back to Singapore.  Our Round the World plane ticket had us coming and going from Singapore, and we were thrilled.  We had so much fun the first time around we were actually eager to get back.  Korey also discovered that the Singapore Open (their major golf tournament for the year) was to be held over the weekend and Jordan Speith would be playing, basically defining our activities for our few extra days in Singapore!

We flew in from Hong Kong on a Saturday, and since we were already familiar with Singapore, we picked a hotel in a different part of town that we wanted to explore.  The hotel also happened to be the tallest hotel in the world for a long period of time (73 floors, and it passed the Renaissance Center in Detroit in 1986, big shout out to Detroit!), and it would still be in the top 10 if it weren’t for every hotel in Dubai being ridiculously tall.  Needless to say, Korey loved it.  Saturday night we found a great street taco restaurant that made Ines feel right at home.  Win-Win!  

Unfortunately, a last minute change Saturday night meant the tee times were moved up Sunday morning (the leaders were supposed to tee off at 1 PM, instead teed off at 10 AM).  Our originally planned lazy morning quickly turned into a rush to get to the golf course.  We made it with a fast cab ride and quickly found Jordan Speith.  We love to see professionals play live at any sport, but we both share the thought that live golf and professional golfers may be the most fun spectator sport.  As Jordan Speith put his tee shot in a bunker far from the hole on a par 3 and mad at himself, proceeded to show his talent by hitting it of the sand with ease 15 feet from the hole.  As we watched him make the hole with one putt, Korey looked over at Ines with a huge smile on his face.  Ines knew right away that a summer of golf was in our future (as soon as Ines’ knee stops acting up).  

Weather wrecked havoc on the weekend’s golf tournament (apparently Singapore weather can be as unpredictable as Florida).  We’d planned to watch Speith finish the competition, but were thwarted when the rain started again.  We hung around for about an hour trying to wait out the rain, but when it got worse we vacated the tournament.  We left soaking wet and happy with our fun day at the golf course.  Ines even managed to squeeze in some shopping when she bought us dry clothes in the Singapore Open clothing tent.  We learned later that Korey’s Dad spotted Ines on TV while watching the tournament, along the roped-off section for spectators.  He told us about the close-up shot and how the camera loved her! 

Our last day in Singapore was spent working on blogs, planning our next adventure, and practicing saying the word “mate” in preparation for Australia, although the locals in Singapore probably thought we were crazy.  Next stop, kangaroo and koala land!

Things we learned: 1) always bring an umbrella to a golf tournament!  Whether to block out the sun or a torrential downpour, it’s just a good idea in general.  Korey learned the hard way when his wallet got a little bit lighter and his cell phone stopped taking charge again, and 3) Jordan Speith is a really good golfer.  He didn’t win the tournament (lost by 1), but he makes golf look easy and fun.  We also learned that he’d been traveling around the world, just like us.  He’s by far our favorite player and we’ll root for him going forward!

View from our hotel room.  If you look closely you'll see a worker dangling from the building on the left!  Craziness!

We're at the Singapore Open!

Speith lining up his putt

Ines posing with Speith 

A rain soaked, but smiley, Korey

Matching new shirts thanks to the rain!  Korey loved how cute we were

Days 92 to 98 - Macau and Hong Kong

Hello from the Las Vegas of the East!  We thought it would be a nice change of pace to spend a couple of days in the city of Macau, an administrative territory of China, and experience for ourselves what this city has to offer.  We flew from Thailand onto a small island just off of Macau and were surprised to learn that this Airport was quite small and showed absolutely no evidence of its high roller reputation.  We hopped into a taxi and crossed over the bridge connecting the small island to Macau, and upon exiting the bridge, fell into the heart of the city and its grand casinos.  We were excited to take advantage of the low-priced five star hotels typical of any casino town and Ines quickly settled into the plush robe and complimentary hotel slippers, as if she were settled in for the night.  But Korey was hungry so we made our way through the Babylon Casino connected to our hotel, crossed the street over to the Sands Casino, walked further over to the MGM, and eventually settled in for a traditional Chinese dinner at the Wynn.  This all happened without us putting a single Hong Kong dollar into any of the slot machines (Korey was really hungry)!  We decided to be adventurous and order some dishes that we hadn’t yet tried, and so Ines settled in on some chili beef stir fry (and when ordering was told no less than three times that it is a hot dish), and Korey went bolder with an order of chicken feet.  What a fun dinner!  Between Ines downing her weight in water to cut the heat of her beef dish and Korey’s repeated attempts to grasp the oily chicken’s feet with his chopsticks, we had most of the surrounding tables guests watching us instead of each other!

After dinner, we made our way through the Casino in search of a blackjack table worthy of Korey’s Hong Kong dollars, only to find that Baccarat was the preferred game (not a blackjack table to be seen).  We watched for a bit, trying to understand how Baccarat was played, then gave up and retreated to our hotel for the night.

The next day we wandered through the streets of Macau playing tourist, visiting Senado Square, an older part of Macau settled by Portuguese traders centuries ago.  The Portuguese culture is very much alive and thriving in Macau to this day, and we settled in for a delicious traditional Portuguese/Chinese fusion lunch at one of the oldest Portuguese restaurants near the square.  Neither one of us had ever had Portuguese food before and we both were happily surprised by the flavors the fusion of cultures had created.  After lunch we walked along the famous Macau streets of Dos Mercadores and R. De Sao Paulo, filled with Portuguese and Chinese vendors hawking local foods and wares.  We stopped to marvel at the Chinese food stalls selling a form of jerkey, in every form of animal meat, processed to look like flat sheets of red shiny meats in the shape of a floor tile.  We were too shy to partake as they offered samples, choosing not to fight the crowds of people waiting in line.  We did, however, stop at one of the many Portuguese food stalls to buy and taste a Pasteis de Nata, a traditional custard pie and fought over who got the last bite.  It was delicious!  These streets led us directly toward the Ruins of St. Paul (ruined by a devastating fire and never rebuilt) and the nearby Fortaleza do Monte, the historical military center of Macau and a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  In touring the site we learned it was primarily built to protect against pirates.

Off we went to the casino after our day of touring, this time visiting the Grand Lisboa, the most famous casino in Macau.  Its architecture was the most impressive, as it was built to mimic a giant 47-story Lotus Flower.  We walked into the casino just in time to catch a retro Vegas Show Girls dance performance on an elevated stage in the center of the casino.  We were able to catch three outfit changes, complete with feathers, rhinestones, headdresses and more.  What fun! 

Korey also located a few blackjack tables hiding in the far west corner of the casino, sat down to play, and was surprised when a Chinese gentleman placed a bet on his hand!  The man was playing multiple tables at the same time, by placing bets on other people’s hands sitting at the same table.  And high roller bets!  Next to Korey’s minimum bet was a thousand Hong Kong dollar poker chip, awaiting the next card to be turned over.  Korey was quite nervous, as his decisions meant whether or not the intimidating Chinese man won.  Luckily, Korey won us dinner for that night, however his new friend won dinner for the month!  It was very interesting to say the least.  Ines promptly lost her money (and part of Korey’s winnings) on Roulette and Slots and we ended the night with a burger dinner at an Irish Pub in the Venetian next door.

We were in desperate need of a day to catch up on blog, sleep, and life, so we took advantage of the affordable hotel rates and stayed an extra day in Macau.  It was a rainy and cold day, so we slept in late, had a leisurely lunch, wrote some blog material, and wandered through the various other casinos, taking in the crowds of people brought in by Chinese New Year celebrations and comparing and contrasting Macau with Las Vegas.  We had a wonderful steak dinner that night that put us both in a food coma, waking just in time to pack up and make it to our high-speed ferry bound for Hong Kong. 

The ferry ride to Hong Kong from Macaú was great!  The smooth ride through the South China Sea only took an hour, and included a meal and free Coke Zero’s (Korey was thrilled).  As Hong Kong is a separate administrative territory of China, we were required to clear immigration and customs before finding ourselves in the heart of the city on Victoria Harbor.  We hailed a taxi and drove through a tunnel under the harbor to find our hotel in the Kowloon area on the north side of Hong Kong.  Our hotel included a smart phone with our stay that was preprogrammed with maps and suggested eateries and, amazingly, gave us international calling and unlimited data for free!  We later learned that this is somewhat common for hotels in Hong Kong, and we think it’s a great idea for travelers!  We took advantage immediately and called our parents, of course.  

For dinner that night we met up again with Blake (whom we saw in Singapore a few weeks prior) and his wife Katie.  We met them in their neighborhood, saw their apartment and met their dog Annie.  It was great to see how American living can be in Hong Kong!  They then took us to a trendy fresh fish catch-of-the-day restaurant nearby that was absolutely delicious.  We even tried the crispy smoked fish skin and shrimp heads!  After that it was off to an underground ping pong club.  It’s worth saying again, underground ping pong club.  Apparently there are a number of underground restaurants, clubs and kitschy cool places like this scattered throughout Hong Kong!  Unfortunately for Korey, it was after-hours, and ping pong was not being played.  He was psyched and ready to compete with some locals!  All in all it was a great, fun evening and we really enjoyed hearing about their lives and the things they’ve done internationally over the last six years living abroad.  Thanks again Blake and Katie, and best of luck with everything going forward!

The next day we played tourist in Hong Kong.  We walked up and down Nathan Street, a popular outdoor shopping area, and of course Ines made a few purchases (tea! that’s it!  Who goes to Hong Kong and doesn’t leave with some tea!), but the real highlight was the tiny hole-in-the-wall shop we found, making in mass quantities what looked like bubbly waffle cones.  We noticed a long line of locals waiting patiently to buy the sweet smelling treat, so obviously our curiosity made us stop and stand in line, not really knowing what or how to order.  A few minutes later, we tasted one of the best snacks we had on the trip!  We also learned they are called Hong Kong eggettes, or gai daan jai (literally, "little chicken eggs”), and these sweet egg batter waffles are one of the most iconic and beloved Hong Kong street snacks.

We also found a market nearby that seemed to have everything.  While Ines shopped (to clarify, Ines would like to state she bought nothing at this market), Korey marveled at the skyscrapers all around and how they used bamboo as scaffolding on the ones under construction!  Yes, it looked as unstable as it sounds for 50-story plus buildings, although very common in Hong Kong.  It was quite a sight!  Our day ended with a great recommendation from Blake and Katie.  Every night the city of Hong Kong performs a light show on the skyline over the harbor.  All of the skyscrapers light up and lasers shoot off in sync.  They recommended to us one of the best spots to watch was from the lobby of the Intercontinental Hotel on the opposite side of the harbor, and they were right!  Easily one of the most impressive city skylines in the world, and it was great to watch the complimentary light show highlighting Chinese New Year.  Adding in a the music from a live band and some great food, we had ourselves a wonderful last evening in Hong Kong.  

The next morning we were off bright and early.  We had a short, but fun stay in Hong Kong.  We both decided it wasn’t long enough and we’ll have to go back someday!  We both agree it was a bit hard to say goodbye to the hotel smartphone and ended our Hong Kong adventure by making calls to family for the second time in a week before leaving.

Things we learned:  1) while traveling internationally, be adventurous but trust our instincts.  We have learned that if the food seems bizarre and hard to eat, it probably is.  While Korey is glad he tried the chicken feet, it’s something likely to never happen again!,  2) world history is fascinating and has led to some amazing fusion of cultures.  The Portuguese/Chinese mix of people in Macau was very interesting, and we found ourselves surprised and amazed how the world has evolved differently in different places, and 3)  Hong Kong’s skyline is truly beautiful.  With a mountain behind it, it looks amazing from both sides and absolutely rivals New York’s skyline….

....also, a small side note….comparing Macau to Las Vegas isn’t quite accurate.  Macau is a great and fun casino city, but the Las Vegas of the US remains the true Sin City with its over the top glitz, glamour, and debauchery.

Yummy chicken's feet!

Celebrating Chinese New Year, Portuguese style

Hot sheets of meat!  Stand in line!

Nothing to show you because there was nothing left to show you, so yummy!

The Ruins of St. Paul in the background (only the facade is left standing)

The perfect dichotomy between old and new.  The view from the fortress, overlooking the Grand Lisboa

Stop, rest, and blog!  Our typical work day....

All packed and ready to go to Hong Kong!

Big Red, our ferry across the South China Sea

Hong Kong Eggette!  Light fluffy, and delicious!  (That's also Ines' look daring me to take it away from her)

Bamboo scaffold wonders of the construction world.  Amazing, isn't it?

Typical evening in Hong Kong.  Lights, camera, action!

The Hong Kong Skyline in all its glory!  A rainbow of colors.