Archive for the 'Travel' Category
Back from Iran, again
January 10th, 2007Another year, another trip to Iran. For photos, check out my photo gallery
Preparing for Buenos Aires
March 26th, 2007There comes a time in every guy’s life when he has to show his dome. Actually, I did this in preparation for my upcoming trips since it’s easier to travel without having to worry about hair.
Travel Health Kit
March 28th, 2007As I began packing for my trip to Argentina, I figured it would be wise to put together a health kit that could potentially be useful during international travel. This is what I’m taking, adapted from a list recommended by the CDC.
- (optional) Malaria pills
- (optional) Antibiotics for Travellers’ Diarrhea (e.g. Cipro)
- Antidiarrheal medication (e.g. Pepto Bismol and/or Immodium)
- Antihistamine — for allergic reactions or to help with sleep.
- Antimotion sickness medication.
- Acetaminophen or ibuprofen — for pain or fevers.
- Antibacterial/antifungal ointments or creams (e.g. Neosporin)
- 1% hydrocortisone cream
- Insect repellent with DEET (up to 50%)
- Sunscreen
- Basic first aid items (bandaids, gauze, etc.)
- Antibacterial hand sanitizer.
- Thermometers.
A few other useful items to have for international travel (if you won’t be staying at high-end places) are the following:
- Combination lock — for locking things up when you leave your room.
- Photocopy of your passport and other important documents.
- Electrical outlet convertors — for digital cameras and stuff.
That’s it…just trying to remember what to bring on trips.
My Manbag
March 29th, 2007
Continuing my travel preparations, I decided I need a daypack or small backpack to carry with me on the plane, or just to walk around with in Argentina. I went to Adventure 16 (which is like REI but a little smaller) and found this cool Timbuk2 messenger bag…or as I like to call it, a manbag. Girls carry bags; guys carry manbags.
I’m really torn, because I don’t know whether to love it because it’s a useful bag, or hate it because it’s almost a purse. Maybe I should call it a manpurse.
Trip Log: Uruguay
April 5th, 2007Greetings from Punta del Este, Uruguay! Even though I flew into Buenos Aires, Argentina, I was only there for one night before taking a ferry over to Uruguay to meet up with Rubin and Andrew (friends from school). This isn´t a travel journal, but just a few pictures whenever I have time (and a good internet connection).
Andrew and I at “Finger Beach”, a beach in Punta del Este with huge finger sculptures…and a lot of graffiti.
Our first night out in Punta. From left to right: the “Australian” guy, Andrew, two girls we hung with (whose names we have yet to learn), me, Rubin, and a random 17-year-old (who did some amazing impersonations). We were out till 6am that night.
At the beach, which is what Punta del Este is known for, on some rented lounge chairs.
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That´s it for now. Adios!
Trip Log: Buenos Aires
April 9th, 2007We are now in Buenos Aires, trying to take in everything this big city has to offer. There is lots to see and many good restaurants — all with excellent steak and wine.
Argentina is known around the world as home of the tango, and trying to experience this culture we decided to take a tango lesson. We found a dance hall that offered lessons to locals and tourists, and luckily there were beginner and first-time lessons. The dance hall:
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Trip Log: Patagonia
April 15th, 2007Patagonia — it´s not just an outdoor clothing company; it´s the name of the mountainous region in southern Argentina filled with lakes, glaciers, wildlife, and other amazing scenery. We flew down here (getting close to the bottom of the planet) to visit a few well-known sites.
The city of El Calafate is most famous for the huge Perito Moreno glacier, an incredible glacier the size of Buenos Aires that moves very fast, approximately 2 meters per day. Its front end lies in a lake, and we hiked to get the best views possible. Here we are getting close to the glacier.
Trip Log: Buenos Aires 2
April 18th, 2007The Recoleta Cemetary is one of Buenos Aires´main attractions. It is a huge and elaborate cemetary for the elitest members of Argintinean society: past presidents, military, and just general rich and famous. Evita (Eva Peron, the wife of a past president) is also buried here, and people continue to bring fresh flowers to her site daily.
Trip Log: Buenos Aires 3
April 20th, 2007This city is filled with mosquitos (but no malaria luckily). I´m too lazy to wear repellent so I’m getting bitten every 10 minutes. As a result I´m covered with mosquito bites…as well as some large strange-looking lumps. I just hope this is some weird new reaction my body is having to these local mosquitos because most of these things look and feel like abscesses (large, warm, tender, kind of hard). Not exactly what I want in a foreign country.
My first one, pictured below, was the first one and during the next two days I had two more form on that arm and one on the opposite arm. I actually felt one swell up in a matter of a few seconds. I better not die.
Post-Trip Thoughts
April 25th, 2007Sadly, my trip is over. I am now home after three weeks touring several countries in South America. Why I was slightly reluctant to go on this trip initially, I’ll never know, because I cannot wait to return and visit the rest of the continent one day.
Overall it was an awesome few weeks filled with new activities and great food, particularly beef (as well as lots of wine and scotch). Here are some brief thoughts on the countries I visited:
Argentina
An amazing country. Buenos Aires is an exciting and vibrant city with people partying until the early hours of the morning. In Patagonia region you’ll find excellent outdoor activities and beautiful scenery. Also, the large Italian influence gives this country a very European feel.
Uruguay
While I only visited Punta del Este, I feel it is a very modern country. I was impressed with the quality of the roads, buildings, and internet access. Unfortunately the young crowd there is a little…young. All the girls who were at the bars and clubswere well under 20 years old (which is why we referred to it as the Tanner Stage 2 part of our trip). All the guys here also tend to throw their sweaters over their shoulders — interesting style.
Chile
While I didn’t visit any major city — only the little Patagonian town of Puerte Natales — I got a slight glimpse of this country’s culture. First, the Spanish they speak is weird. I don’t speak Spanish, but I can definitely tell the version they speak is much different than any other dialect I’ve heard. Next, it’s an expensive country. It’s still cheaper than the US, but compared to the other South American countries, everything there costs more.
Overall I got to visit three new countries and one new continent…not too shabby. Even more exciting is the number of stamps my passport accumulated during this one trip!
Trip Log: Czech Republic
May 3rd, 2007Time for another trip. We are now in the Czech Republic, staying mostly in Prague. Since this country is the birthplace of beer, this online journal will be centered around beer. So expect lots of entries about the beers we try and the breweries we visit.
But just to show you we’re doing some normal activities, here is a picture of us early in the morning on the famous Charles Bridge (6am, before it fills with people). It was very cold, which is why we look so stiff!
Trip Log: Czech Republic 2
May 5th, 2007We took a choppy 3-hour bus ride to the city of Ceske Budejovice to visit the Budweiser Budvar brewery. The Czech Republic is most proud of this brewery as it was the country’s first beer — and if their name sounds familiar, it’s because of the American beer with the same name. The Czech Budweiser claims they were the first company, and the Americans claims theirs was first. The two companies are still locked up in trademark disputes (however, I suspect the Czechs were first…but what do I know.)
Trip Log: Czech Republic 3
May 9th, 2007Fooball (aka, soccer) — Europe’s favorite sport. We decided to experience the action of a match first-hand, so we went to see AC Sparta Praha play (AC Sparta Praha is usually the top-ranked team in the Czech Republic). A short metro ride took us to the Toyota Arena where, to our amazement, we found out the match wasn’t sold out. Two tickets cost us only $9 (American dollars)!
Trip Log: Budapest
May 10th, 2007Budapest — the capital of Hungary (in case you didn’t know). It is equally pretty as Prague but without the tourists and huge crowds. Most people don’t know that it is made up of two sections, Buda and Pest — each formerly independent cities on their own — separated by the Danube River. On our first day in Budapest, we took a boat ride on the Danube both to relax and see the best parts of the city.
Trip Log: Budapest 2
May 11th, 2007Budapest is apparently the food capital of Central Europe, and with tasty dishes like veal stew it is easy to see why. Something else they are famous for is palinka, a traditional fruit brandy that is very flavorful and strong.
I only know this because our last night in Budapest we were taken to dinner by friends of friends, who live there. As a sort of appertif (pre-meal drink) our friends recommended we each drink palinka, and we did — Ricky had apricot and I had plum. Even though the drink was very strong, neither of us tasted any alcohol. Here are some photos of the event.
Before (with an apricot in Ricky’s glass and a plum in mine):
Trip Log: Czech Republic 4
May 15th, 2007As our final hurrah in Prague, Ricky and I wanted a beer at the Golden Tiger. That name is the translated version of its Czech name (U Zlateho Tygra), and this pub is well-known for being one of the few very traditional pubs still in Prague; in fact, then-President Havel (of Czech Republic) brought Bill Clinton here in 1994 to show him what a true Czech pub was like.
By the Numbers
May 24th, 2007Here are some stats regarding my last few weeks of traveling.
Overall:
- Number of countries visited: 5
- Number of new continents visited: 1
- Number of new passport stamps: 18
Czech Republic:
- Total number of beers we had: 64
- Total liters of beer we drank: 20
- Unique types of beer we drank: 25
- Number of new beers we tried: 22
Not too bad…
List of Beers in Czech Republic
May 24th, 2007The last post made me want to list all the different beers we drank on the trip, starting with the first beer in the San Francisco Airport — Sam Adams. Here is the full list:
- Sam Adams
- Boddindgton
- Carling
- Pilsner Urquell
- Velkopopovicky Kozel
- Budweiser Budvar
- Gambrinus
- Stella Artois
- Staropramen
- Staropramen Dark
- Pivovarsky India Pale Ale
- Stepan Svelty
- Pivovarsky Master 18
- Primator Weizen
- Krusovice
- Singha
- Pivovarsky Klasiky Lezak
- Pivovarsky Banana
- Pivovarsky Sour Cherry
- Pivovarsky Koffee
- Pivovarsky Nettle
- Pivovarsky Blueberry
- Kozel Dark
- Dreher
- Kaiser
Aruba
December 3rd, 2007It’s vacation time! I have two weeks off from hell (the hospital) and I spent the first week in the Caribbean with a friend from medical school. Aruba was a nice place, but not nearly as nice and tropical as I thought it would be. I saw everything the island had, and so I probably won’t return again.
Photos will be up soon.
Belize Photos
December 19th, 2008Back from Belize. It was a great trip with lots of snorkeling, diving, lobster eating, and Belikin beers. And, unfortunately, sand bugs.
Anyway, check out my Belize photos.