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Reflecting: 2011

Reflecting back on 2011 here are 99 of my top memories (in chronological order). Thanks to all that shared in the experiences!

  1. Shared life goals and dreams with great friends at the Sanctuary of Truth in Ancient Siam, Thailand
  2. Smobbed through traffic running from the police on some janky scooters in Bali, Indonesia
  3. Scuba diving in the Gili islands of Indonesia
  4. Whitewater rafting down the Telaga Waja River in Bali, Indonesia
  5. Got buzzed off Luwak coffee in the hills of Ubud, Indonesia
  6. Listened to the chanting and watched the traditional Kecak Dance at the Uluwatu Temple in Bali, Indonesia
  7. Bungee jumped a BMX bike off a platform into a pool below in Bali, Indonesia
  8. Witnessed traditional Thaipusam rituals in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
  9. Smelled the Batu Caves in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
  10. Made $100,000,000,000,000 (that’s one-hundred-trillion) Zimbabwe dollars in Malaca, Malaysia
  11. Kayaked through the waters of Halong Bay, Vietnam
  12. Saw Ho-Chi-Minh’s body in Hanoi, Vietnam
  13. Nearly got run over by hundreds of scooters in the street of Hanoi, Vietnam
  14. Saw dogs heads for sale (presumably to be eaten) in Hanoi, Vietnam
  15. Got fitted for a custom tailored suit made in Hoi An, Vietnam
  16. Hiked through the MySon Relics of Hoi An, Vietnam
  17. Celebrated Tet (Vietnamese Lunar New Year) with a spectacular fireworks show in Nha Trang, Vietnam
  18. Rode a red-eye sleeper train from Nha Trang to Saigon, Vietnam
  19. Shared beers (with dirty ice from a burlap sack) with some old Vietnamese men that didn’t speak a lick of English in the streets of Saigon, Vietnam
  20. Crawled through the underground Cu-Chi tunnels and fired an AK47 used during the Tet Offensive in Saigon, Vietnam
  21. Witness the effects of Agent Orange at the War Remnants Museum in Saigon, Vietnam
  22. Hiked through Angkor Wat during sunrise in Siem Reap, Cambodia
  23. Watched the sun fall from atop a temple in Angkor Thom in Siem Reap, Cambodia
  24. Donated to the Cambodia Landmine Museum Relief Fund to help them remove more active landmines from the Cambodian/Thailand border
  25. Got tickled by fish that ate the dead skin off my feet while I sipped on a glass of wine in Siem Reap, Cambodia
  26. Road a horse through the old rice fields of Siem Reap, Cambodia
  27. Toured the John F. Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida
  28. Drove my RV on the famous Daytona Beach in Daytona Beach, Florida
  29. Ate a feast at The Wilkes House in Savannah, Georgia
  30. Peered through others peoples prayers at the smallest church in America in South Newport, Georgia
  31. Took a bike ride around St. Simons Island, Georgia
  32. Boated out to the start of the Civil War at Fort Sumter in Charleston, South Carolina
  33. Went rock climbing in Charleston, South Carolina
  34. Relaxed in the shade of the giant 400-year old Angel Oak Tree outside of Charleston, South Carolina
  35. Sat on “A Bench By The Road” on Sullivan Island, South Carolina
  36. Hollered in Spivey’s Corner, the “Hollerin’ Capital of the Universe”
  37. Deciphered the original Rosetta Stone at the British Museum in London, England
  38. Straddled the international dateline in Greenwhich, England
  39. Walked through the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, France
  40. Climbed to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris, France
  41. Listened to hymns at Notre Dame in Paris, France
  42. Road bikes and dominated baguettes & babies in Versailles, France
  43. Picnicked on the grounds of Marie Antoinette’s old Palace of Versailles in France
  44. Saw Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa at Musée du Louvre in Paris, France
  45. Avoided paying for an overpriced ticket to Moulin Rouge in Paris, France
  46. Ingested a “Mother of Pain” currywurstspezialitäten (1,000,000 on the Scoville scale) after signing a liability waiver in Leipzig, Germany
  47. Witnessed the atrocities of Hitler’s concentration camps in Auschwitz, Poland
  48. Participated in a scavenger hunt through downtown San Francisco, California
  49. Launched a new version of MFI new hobby of kiteboarding in the Outer Banks of North Carolina
  50. Retraced the path of the Wright Brothers first 4 flights in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina
  51. Marveled at the Bodies exhibit in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina
  52. Witnessed an amazing 4th of July fireworks display in Savanna, Georgia
  53. Tried smoked rattlesnake meat in St. Augustine, Florida
  54. Witnessed the final launch of the Space Shuttle program (STS-135) in person in Titusville, Florida
  55. Flew my first international flight as a pilot in a Cessna 172 from Florida, USA to Freeport, Bahamas
  56. Snorkeled in the crystal clear waters from a catamaran of Icacos, Puerto Rico
  57. Whitewater rafting down the Pacuare River in Squires, Costa Rica
  58. Slept in a hammock at Rockin J’s in Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica
  59. Scuba diving in Bocas del Toro, Panama
  60. Took a private water taxi to Star Beach in Bocas del Toro, Panama
  61. Zip-lining through the tree canopy in Red Frog Beach, Panama
  62. Watched ocean-liners pass through the Panama Canal
  63. Performed my first “elevator jump” bungee jump into the fog above a river near La Fortuna, Costa Rica
  64. Soaking in the hot springs during a violent thunderstorm while lightening illuminated the silhouette of a volcano in La Fortuna, Costa Rica
  65. Went on a nature walk and saw sloths, monkeys, toucans, frogs, lizards, and more in Manuel Antonio, Costa Rica
  66. Spent the night on a converted oil rig in the waters of Semporna Malaysia
  67. Scuba diving in one of the Top 10 diving locations in the world in Spipidan, Malaysia
  68. Followed a Xmas parade down the cobblestone streets to a soccer game in Antigua, Guatemala
  69. Disconnected and relaxed along the shore of Late Atitlan, in Santa Cruz La Laguna, Guatemala
  70. Saw the ruins of Joya de Cerén in San Salvador, El Salvador
  71. Climbed the old Myan pyramids of Tazumal where the heads from human sacrifices used to roll down in Chalchuapa, El Salvador
  72. Roamed the colorful streets of Grenada, Nicaragua
  73. Hiked up and volcano-boarded down the black ash of Volcan Cerro Negro in Leon, Nicaragua
  74. Thumbed my nose at an antiquated embargo and traveled to Cuba
  75. Navigated precarious and unmarked roads in a rental car with a bent rim to Cienfuegos, Cuba
  76. Lived with Cuban families in “casa particulars” and learned about life in communist Cuba
  77. Listened to rumba music on the steps of Casa la Musica in Trinidad, Cuba
  78. Galloped on horseback across the Cuban countryside to a waterfall up in the mountains of Trinidad, Cuba
  79. Witness firsthand as Cubans lined up in a breadline (and milk-line) for their weekly rations in Trinidad, Cuba
  80. Sampled Cuba’s infamous $7.00 CUP ($0.40 USD) street pizzas in Santa Clara, Cuba
  81. Witnessed the final resting place and monument of Ernesto “Che” Guevara in Santa Clara, Cuba
  82. Stayed in a 5-star resort and relaxed on the white sand beaches of Cayo Santa Maria, Cuba
  83. Drank an overpriced, watered-down Mojito at La Bodeguia Del Medio in La Havana Vieja, Cuba
  84. Sipped daiquiris at Floradita Restaraunte Bar, Earnest Hemmingway’s old watering hole in Havana, Cuba
  85. Marveled at the communist propaganda throughout Havana, Cuba
  86. Photographed old school cars parked outside of the Capitolo in downtown Havana, Cuba
  87. Met the famous Cuban artist Leo D’Zázaro at his studio El Ojo Del Ciclón in Havana, Cuba
  88. Strolled down El Malecón while sipping on Havana Club rum in Havana, Cuba
  89. Watched kids playing stickball with a broom and bottlecap in the streets the Centro district of Havana, Cuba
  90. Shared a Xmas eve feast — Cuban style — with my hosts in Havana, Cuba
  91. Hitched a ride in a old “Yank Tank” with a Cuban, Mexican, and Lebanese to Playa de Este, Cuba
  92. Ate a Xmas day pig roast on the Santa María del Mar beach in Havana, Cuba
  93. Toured Partagas Cigar factory and bought some Cohiba cigars from shady factory workers in Havana, Cuba
  94. Walked through Necropolis Cristóbal Colón at sundown in the Vedado area of Havana, Cuba
  95. Swam from Playa de Cerado out to a reef and then scuba dove (because Cubans aren’t allowed on boats) in Ciamito, Cuba
  96. Ate a $1.00 CUP ($0.04 USD) scoop of ice cream at the state-run Coppelia in Havana, Cuba
  97. Photographed the murals and sculptures of Salvador González Escalona on Callejon De Hamel in Havanah, Cuba
  98. Celebrated the end of the year and the start of the next on Calle del Arco in Antigua, Guatemala

Do Not Try This At Home

I’m all for adventure and excitement, but eating a curry wurst dish that requires you sign a liability waiver is by far the dumbest thing I’ve ever tried! 1,000,000 DEGREES ON THE SCOVILLE SCALE!

What’s Worse?

[Said in my worst Keanu Reeves voice]

Pop quiz hot shot! What’s worse? A Dresden haircut? Or a Romanian tattoo?

Lions And Tigers And Bears And Baby Kangaroos

According to guidebooks, the zoo here in Berlin is one of the best in Europe. So we would be remiss to miss out on it. And it’s right next door to our hotel, so why the heck not!? I don’t think you really need any of my witty commentary to figure out what’s going on in the photos, but if you can’t figure something out, then go pick up a copy of National Geographic or Where The Wild Things Are at your local book store.

A Deeper Dive Into Berlin

Yesterday’s marathon gave us the 10,000 foot view of the layout and history of Berlin. Today we decided to dig a little deeper and get a closer look at some of the sites we passed by.

We started off in Niederkirchnerstrasse which is the same area which we saw some of the remnants of the wall yesterday. Our first stop was to check out Topographie des Terrors, but we first had to cross over from the former West into the former East.

Topographie des Terrors is an outdoor museum on the site of buildings which during the Nazi regime from 1933 to 1945 were the headquarters of the Gestapo and the SS.

The museum is a series of posters and descriptions that run the full length of the remaining Berlin wall.

There was a TON of information and we learned a great deal about Nazi Germany and all of the events that lead up to its rise and fall. Here are just a few choice photos of photos from the exhibit.

I could go on and on about all the remarkable things I saw and read, but it’s one of those spots that you really just have to experience for yourself. But in short, this graffiti on the Berlin Wall pretty much sums it all up:

Luckily that is all behind us now, as this view through the wall at the Berlin Bear happily reminds us.

Oh, and don’t let that bear fool you! The word Berlin actually has nothing to do with bears as you might think. Berlin actually translates to ‘swamp land’ as the city is quite literally built on top of a swamp. Which is why anytime there is some new construction going on, you will find an elaborate set of tubes snaking up, over and around the construction site…

…to suck away the swamp water from the earth below.

Enough with things that suck! Let’s move on to something that rules!

The DDR Museum (GDR in English) is a hands on museum that tries to recreate the idiosyncrasies of life inside the German Democratic Republic. They really should know better than to let a couple of kids like us run around in a hands on museum! What were they thinking!?!?

It all started outdoors with the tricycle…

…which we rode inside to the garage…

…where we plotted on how best to smuggle a human across the border.

Some of us do our best thinking while on the john, so we headed to the bathroom…

to ponder, and to shave…

Don’t worry, we really enjoyed washing our hands afterward.

Walking down the hallway, we were so inspired by some of the photos of fashion…

…that we just had to try some on ourselves.

We must be getting delirious from all the lead paint in the house. Or perhaps we’ve just overdosed on fake wood paneling in the living room.

No. I know what the problem is. We’re just hungry, and can’t think straight. Time to head to the kitchen.

Hmmm, but what to make? Let’s look for a recipe…

…OHH! How about some pink-meat-pucks!!!?

Neh. We had that last week. Then perhaps some egg-brick and brisket?

Sounds delicious!!

P.S. For more absolutely AWESOME receipes and some hillarious commentary, click on over to the always amusing Weight Watchers recipe cards from 1974. You won’t regret it.

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