the journey "home"

steven and i flew home at the end of september.

it was a bit sooner than we had thought

(we did all of our budgeting using lonely planet prices and it turns out those are not to be trusted).

though it was earlier than expected, we felt great about coming home,

and to us it seemed as though we had been gone for at least six months.

we never made it to nepal liked we had planned,

but that just means we have reason to go back! (soon?!)

we flew into SFO 

and got to spend a couple days visiting with our wonderful friends

who didnt care that we were recovering from jet lag and not very exciting to be around. 

we then bussed up to santa rosa to spend time with more friends,

enjoying the sunshine, western pub food,

and making wonderful dinners using ingredients 

picked from diana's incredible garden...

-e

for some reason i only have this one picture from our time in san francisco. getting over jet lag is lame. pretty amazing moment though. watching the space shuttle fly over the city from our friends rooftop.

mmmm pub food. we missed you.

visiting our friend diana's garden. i could have spent all day here.

enjoying the sunshine in santa rosa

fresh veggies and funky nails.

mandalay :: u bein bridge

after hiking up mandalay hill

the cab driver we had hired for the day

suggested we head out of town to 

visit the u bein bridge.

according to the cab driver

(and later the lonely planet book we referenced)

this bridge is the longest teak bridge in the world.

this statement sounds intriguing and magical,

but in reality it's horrifying.

we realized, about a fourth of the way across,

that we were on a poorly constructed bridge that 

felt like it was going to break 

with ever creaking step forward.

which would leave us swimming for shore in the middle of a lake.

after we got over our fears of falling through the bridge

we had one of the most memorable evenings of our trip.

we got to see a bit into every day life 

of villagers settled outside of the big cities we had been exclusively exploring.

we watched as the sun set, creating the most stunning colors 

stretch across the sky and reflect in the glassy lake.

we met two young monks who talked with us for hours,

inquiring about our thoughts on their country

and clarifying questions about american slang,

most importantly what does "bitch" mean and is it the same thing as saying "shit"...

seriously?!

we walked back with these two monks long after sunset,

hoping that our cab driver hadn't given up on us.

he was still waiting at the car and we drove back to the guesthouse 

on a euphoric high we had never felt before...

there were plenty of boats with the owners trying to convince you the sunset was much better from the boat

steven trying to look comfortable and at ease walking across the creaking bridge 

the poles holding the bridge up (and a blurry golden paya in the background)

nearly every piece of teak holding the bridge together was broken... unnerving 

the sun falling behind the clouds

monks were the main commuters on this bridge. crossing from the monasteries to the university on the other side, and practicing their english with anyone who will pause in the middle of the bridge.

sunset across the lake

the worst tourist trap in myanmar. women have cages of beautiful birds that you can buy and set free...

heading to myanmar

thanks for our awesome family and friends

we are able to continue our trip to myanmar.

the first step was getting our visas from the myanmar embassy.

after a long day of paper work and waiting

we are on our way today...

-e

thank you

yesterday 

after this post

our family and friends came together in a huge way.

when steven's sister saw what happened to

us on the bus to bangkok

she set up an account for people to

donate so that we could continue our trip.

she did this all without telling us.

while we were asleep in a different time zone.

we woke up the next day and saw something incredible.

our friends and family had replaced the money that was stolen

and left the most encouraging

words of support and love.

we feel completely undeserving 

and totally grateful to 

have these people in our lives.

we cannot say thank you enough

and we'll never forgot the generosity and sympathy

we've been shown.

 it's beyond belief that tomorrow

we will be continuing our trip in

myanmar...

-e

osaka castle

our friends in japan had us

sight seeing in osaka

until the moment we had to

board a train for the airport.

just hours before we flew out we were

exploring osaka castle.

it was large and

magnificent,

as you would imagine a castle to be.

the bottom 5 floors were

full of history and replicas

showing the many changes

this castle has been through during 

it's long and complicated history

(the first castle was constructed in 1597).

the top floor was a panoramic

city view of osaka

where we got to see just how

far the city stretches.

i'm really glad we took time to see

this incredible sight,

and we got to our flight with minutes to spare...

-e

this is not a photo bomb... it's our dear friend kaori

the tastes of osaka

while we were in japan

we ate some incredible food.

japan did not let us down yet!

one snack which turned out to be

one of steven's favorite meals 

was tako yaki ( fried batter with octopus).

usually we got this street food at 

a little stall while sightseeing,

but our friends in osaka knew of a place

where you could cook your own

tako yaki.

steven got a chance to 

practice his skills,

and we built some more

memories that will last a lifetime...

-e