Postcard: Cappadocia, Turkey

Fairy Chimney near Göreme, Turkey.

Blogging on the Road and Collection: Graffiti

Yes, this meta-blog is about blogging.  Specifically though, it’s about the challenges of blogging while traveling, and some of the things we learned along the way.  While we found a lot of other great information and tips on many aspects of world travel on other blogs, we did not find anything about blogging while traveling, so this post has been on our to-do list for a while, in the hopes that it will be of some use to other travelers.
The photos are of the street art we saw around the world.

Postcard: Basilica Cistern

Vaulted ceiling of the Basilica Cistern in Istanbul, Turkey.

Andasibe-Mantadia

We flew back to Tana from Morandava, where we met Dorique, who would be our driver for the rest of our trip.  We’d be driving south and east, and would not fly again until we flew out of Madagascar.  The scenery was beautiful, and reminded us a little of a Miyazaki film; vivid rice fields surrounded by rolling hills, and villages with European architecture.  Also, this little gas powered rail car seemed like it had driven right out of one of his films.

On our way to Andasibe, where we’d spend the night, we stopped at the Mandraka Reptile Farm.

Postcard: Hagia Sophia

A view through three arches from a stairwell in the Hagia Sophia of Istanbul, Turkey.

Morondava, Madagascar

After our very long day coming back from the Tsingy, we (all of us, including Ludo and Jose) decided to have a shorter day of activities the next day. We were scheduled to take a pirogue (canoe) ride, visit a fishing village, and tour the market in Morandava. But despite the fact that we sat all day, we were just too tired to think about more adventures. In the last few days Lana had been violently ill, we had driven for 9 hours the next day, hiked all over the Tsingy the following day, and we had been stuck in the mud several times on our drive back. We were fine—we had enjoyed it even—but we were ready for something a bit more low key.

Postcard: Tiled Kiosk, Istanbul

The Tiled Kiosk, in the Istanbul Archaelogy Museum complex, on the grounds of Topkapi Palace in Istanbul, Turkey.

The Grand Tsingy and the 17 Hour Drive Back

Part One of our Grand Tsingy Adventure.

The reward, then, for our journey to the Tsingy de Bemaraha wasn't the sagging, pathetically cramped and musty room at our hotel. Nor was it the beautiful,nearly full moon rising as we watched from our dinner table.  It certainly wasn't the strange and unappetizing choices for dinner, which I was just going to skip entirely but David insisted I eat something, requesting they make me an ‘omelet simple’ (plain).

In some ways, the reward wasn’t even the Tsingy itself--but I’m getting ahead of myself.

Postcard: Petra

Glimpse of the Treasury from the slot canyon leading into Petra, Jordan.