Epic 30th Birthday!

Two months ago today I celebrated my 30th birthday! Well to be truthful, I celebrated my birthday over a couple months time. :) This four month trip that I recently returned from was graduation gift/birthday celebration trip to myself. I'd been itching to travel and since I had just completed my Bachelor's degree and my 30th birthday was approaching, I figured what better time! The celebrating began in Mongolia, where my friends threw a birthday party for me the night before I left. Numerous people were invited, old friends from ten years prior and new friends I had just recently met. Crazy that some of my old youth group crowd came with their young children! Trina made not one, but three cakes for us to enjoy! Apple spice, lemon poppyseed and of course, chocolate... I may or may not have had all three. ;) 

birthday bash in Mongolia

three delicious cakes!

I continued to celebrate through out Europe and ended up waking up the day of my birth in Paris, France. Now, to be honest, Paris has never held much intrigue for me, it was never high on my list of places I wanted to visit. But when I realized that I would have to fly through there on my way to Tunisia, why not spend an day there!? So I began my birthday eating hot, fresh baked croissants slathered with Nutella at a French hotel. I got picked up and began to explore the city some. I didn't have much time, but we saw quite a bit in a short amount of time. Stopped off at the Notre Dame cathedral. Massively amazing, the architecture is simply incredible. Then on to the greatest attraction of Paris, the Eiffel Tower. Now, remember Paris was never a big wonder on my list to visit, but the Eiffel Tower is impressive. Well worth a trip there to just see it. Way bigger in person than in pictures. We climbed the staircase to the 2nd story and passed on the elevator to the top, because there were so many people in line already. 

We ate our lunch after that while on a riverboat that took us up the river through the city. The tour was all in English and I learned about several other old, cool buildings in the heart of the city. It was a gorgeous, sunny day. Had to laugh at all the tourists with their selfie sticks. One middle aged guy stood and took selfies almost the entire one hour boat ride. 

Then the mad dash to the airport. Actually the drive to the airport wasn't bad. And check in wasn't either, but then the line for passport control...... it wasn't a dash either, more like a snail's crawl. I had plenty of time, or so I thought, but I didn't figure for an hour plus in line for emigration. I sighed a breath of relief after making it through finally, then turned the corner and remembered I still had to go through security. Ugh. Thankfully, that didn't take as long, but was still running late by that time. Then of course, found out my gate was the far end of the terminal.... so with my backpack and computer bag commenced to fast walking/running through the airport. My shin splints acted up and my legs were screaming in pain by the time I made it to my gate. BUT, I made it! 

And wonder of wonders, I was greeted in Tunis by four smiling faces and once at their house by a lovely oreo cheesecake to finish off the day. 

perfect end to the day

A Few Random Pictures

I'm sure nobody has even noticed my lack of blogging.... but I keep telling myself that I need to write more about my trip. Finding the time and energy however has been a struggle lately. I journaled a lot while traveling and it tends to be that the more I journal personally, the less I blog and vice versa. Though since I've been home, I've not done much of either. :) 

Today I just have a few random pictures from my trip around the world (it was more like half the world). I'll try to write more soon! 

Kids grow so much in 3 years time!

the beautiful, awesome city of Istanbul

Hagia Sophia

Met up with Dad overseas for a couple weeks 

a famous mosaic inside the Hagia Sophia

Back to Mongolia. Again.

The middle of April I found myself in Outer Mongolia, one of my favorite countries. I continually have people asking me what my favorite place is that I have visited. Honestly, I kinda dread that question, because there isn't a simple, easy answer. But Mongolia is one of my favorites, probably because it was the first country I lived in outside of North America. This was my 5th visit in the past 10 years. It was good to see old friends, who are now grown, married and have their own families, as well as make some new friends. The night I drove into Khatgal, there was a crazy blizzard;  I had to climb over major drifts on the porch to get into the house. But most of the weather was nice. It was spring, so warmish sunny days, but really windy. 

one of my favorite views ever

did I mention that it was windy?

Sorry for the lack of blog posts. I've been on the go for the past few months, the longest I've been in one place was 18 days in Mongolia. Otherwise I've been changing locations every 2-8 days. Its been an adventure and soon I hope to have some blog posts up about this trip. :) 

Turpan- Ancient cities and Mummies in the Desert

One of my last days in Xinjiang, we set out for a day adventure to the nearby city of Turpan. We took the highspeed train and reached the city in roughly an hour. The temperature was vastly different from Urumqi! It was like we transported directly into the middle of summer. Maybe it something to do with the fact that its a desert.... 

First stop was food. Our driver that we met at the train station took us to a local Uyghur place that was delicious! The Polo we ordered was 100x better than the stuff we had earlier in the week in the capital- probably the best I've ever had! And we had grilled meat kebabs also.... mmm, good! It was hot in the restaurant tho! whew. 

Next we went to the city museum. Some museums are cool and others are lame, but this one was interesting. Outside of town are some ancient ruins of a former city. In these ruins, several mummies have been found. They weren't embalmed like the Egyptians used to do to their dead, but simply because of the dry heat of the desert, these bodies have been preserved. One of the first things you see in the museum is several mummified hands. Kinda of startling if you aren't expecting it. Farther in are several full mummies, some remarkably preserved. One guy even had his toenails in tact! The history was interesting to read also- all the different peoples that inhabited that region over the centuries. There were a few dinosaur skeletons also. 

Now on to the ancient city itself! We drove out of town a little ways past vineyard after vineyard. The area is known for its grapes, raisins and wine. The green of the grapevines stood in sharp contrast against the tan sand. We also drove past the Flaming Mountain- its red rock sides look like flames of fire. Being non-tourist time, there was practically nobody at the ancient ruins. We wandered through old houses, climbed walls, peered into dried up wells and created random stories about the former inhabitants. I love history and geography, so exploring ancient ruins is right up my alley. 

Nearby is a traditional Uyghur village where the inhabitants still reside in mud/clay huts. This particular town has been in that particular location for hundreds of years. Now it has been partially commercialized, but still it was neat to visualize how these people lived for generations. The view was incredible, as the village is set back against the hills. Within walking distance are some old Buddhist caves that unfortunately we didn't have time to visit. Turpan is a place I'd like to visit again, for sure! 

The Mountains Called...

Last time I was in Xinjiang, we had wanted to go to the Nan Shan mountains for a day trip, but I wasn't able to make it. My friends went after I flew out, as they were there for an extra couple days. They said it was amazing and ever since then, I've wanted to go. Last week, we made a plan to go and I'm so glad it worked out. The day was beautiful for hiking in the mountains and we enjoyed our time out there. Well, I did at least and I think everyone else did as well. It was a little cool with the wind, but the sun was shining and the sky was clear. 

There was still snow on the higher mountains and ice on the lakes and rivers. I know it would be so much more beautiful in the summer when everything is green, but I never seem to travel in the summer. Alaskan summers are so amazing, that I never want to leave during that time, so I always experience other cool places at their non-peak times. Oh well. It was still beautiful. 

When we got to the park area, we ran into another expat family that my friends knew, so we teamed up with them for our hike/picnic. They also had visitors from the States, so were out for a day of exploring. The wind was so boisterous that when one of the girls tried out her huge kite, it dive bombed me at one point and I almost suffered an injury, but all was well. It made for a good laugh. 

I could definitely tell we were about 8,000 feet above sea level, as hiking up the hills were a little difficult at times. Need to work on my endurance, especially in higher altitudes, if I want to make that trek through the Himalayans one of these years. :) 

on our way to the mountains

still partially frozen lake

I love pine trees

had no idea that boys were being silly in the background :) 

Kazakh yurts in the valley

Back in Xinjiang after Three Years

Three years ago, I experienced the trip of a lifetime. Friends and I went on a ten day trip around the Xinjiang province. We had an amazing tour guide, so we got to see and do a lot more than we would have if we had been by ourselves. This past month I had to awesome privilege to visit these wonderful friends, who are now living there. We had a grand time exploring new places in their city and even nearby places. 

One day we went to a park across the city, and they actually had water in their fountains and manmade creeks! There are a lot of parks that have fountains or places for water, but lack the H2O. Not sure if that's because its so much trouble to clean it out all the time, or what. Anyways, we had brought a picnic lunch and enjoyed being outdoors. The pond had been freshly stocked with fish, so there was goldfish out the wazoo. 

My little buddy/nephew and I had fun! especially with the big bell at the park. During my time there, I taught him all kinds of fun things... hehe Isn't that what aunts are for? and he has an unique laugh, just like me! There's his regular baby-like laugh and then sometimes he starts chuckling in a deep-throated base voice, like an old man. I love it! 

Some days we sure wore out Little Man. Sometimes we just relaxed around the house, but other days were long days filled with adventure! Stay tuned for more adventure stories....