Already Off to a Bad Start

I hope this isn't an indication of how the rest of the trip will go - at Long Beach Airport they said that one of our bags was too heavy for jetBlue (50 pounds max) so we had to break out one of our small, spare duffel bags, throw a few things in it, and check it. Big mistake. It wound up in Boston, not JFK.

Guess whose bag was over 50 pounds. One hint - it had a bunch of hair care products, a hair dryer, and an electric toothbrush.

Now we have to pick it up at jetBlue Baggage Service on our way to the British Airways flight tonight.

Off to Africa (again...)

This week we leave for another journey to Africa - this time to the East African nations of Kenya and Tanzania. We are flying to Nairobi (via London), spending nine nights in Kenya and three nights in Tanzania.

The cameras are ready, lots of memory cards packed, and the video camera is charged up. We even packed our "safari" vests - they look very geeky, but they come in handy.

Caren has been warned not to touch or feed any of the animals. We've started taking our malaria pills and the bug repellent and Cipro are at the ready.

Unfortunately, we first have to fly to NY, then endure a long flight from JFK to Heathrow, followed by an even longer flight to Nairobi. Kenya is 10 hours ahead of California - I hope the kids can figure out the time change when they call.

Here are the hotels/lodges/camps we're going to in Kenya:

Sarova Stanley Hotel, Nairobi
Sarova Shaba Lodge, Shaba National Reserve
Mt. Kenya Safari Club, Nanyuki
The Ark Lodge, Aberdare National Park
Sarova Lion Hill Lodge, Nakuru
Sekenani Camp, Maasai Mara National Reserve

In Tanzania, we're staying in a lodge at the rim of Ngorongoro Crater and a lodge in Serengeti National Park.

Even though we're going to be near/on the equator, it's the dry season (winter) where we're headed, so the weather should be in the 70s during the day and the 40s or 50s at night. Nairobi Weather Report:

Sampling of Photos from our Morocco Trip

Here is a sample of the photos we took on our Morocco trip:

Our Bicycling Expedition to Morocco

So...instead of updating the blog every day of our trip (which was impossible due to limited internet access), we decided to wait until we got home and put together a DVD including photos and video clips from our B&R expedition trip.

You can view the contents of the DVD online by clicking on the links you'll find below. There are three parts to the DVD to keep the "chapters" at a reasonable length.

I'm no Martin Scorsese or George Lucas, but it's actually pretty good. For the first 5,000 qualified people that request a copy, I'll mail a copy of the DVD with free shipping. Just send me your address and specify if you want 16:9 wide screen format (for a large plasma or LCD television) or 4:3 format (for older TVs and a lot of PC monitors. I can also burn PAL format (for those of you outside the U.S.).

If you want to view the contents online and you click on the following links, you may be requested to download and install a Plugin control from Photodex. Don't worry - do it. It is the Photodex Presenter viewer control which runs the video show in your browser with very good quality (a lot better quality than videos on YouTube and the like). Unfortunately, this program only works on a PC (sorry Mac users).

A couple of more things for those of you that were on the trip with us - if you've got additional photos you'd like me to include on your personal copy of the DVD, put them up on Flickr or one of the other photo sharing websites so I can download them (or email them to me) and I'll make you a custom DVD with your photos included as well. Also, the first "chapter" is our pre-trip to Fes before we met up with the bicycling tour. Your DVD will not include that "chapter" - I don't want to bore you even more with our "home movies."

Turn up the volume of your speakers and enjoy!

Our Bicycling Expedition to Morocco - Pre-Trip to Fes

Our Bicycling Expedition to Morocco - Part 1

Our Bicycling Expedition to Morocco - Part 2

Download Photodex Presenter Plugin

Grand Opening of the Wine Cellar

Last night, we hosted a "grand opening" of our wine cellar. As with most construction projects, this one took longer than expected. It's still only 99% complete - there are about half a dozen small items that still need attention.

Here is a now complete photo album of the cellar construction, from start to finish:

Wine Cellar Photos

About 16 people showed up for tapas and a sampling of four different wines. We put out a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc, a Pinot Noir from Oregon, a Petite Sirah from Sonoma, and a Cabernet Sauvignon from the Coonawara area in Australia.

Caren worked for several days preparing all the food - she did a fantastic job. Jordan opened the wine bottles - very tiring work.

Our guests brought us gifts - wine to stock the cellar. We received a nice bottle of Caymus Cabernet (from Cinde - Caren's trainer), a Clos du Val Cabernet (from Bryan), a Beaux Freres Pinot Noir (from Ed and Elyn), a bottle of Justin Isoceles (from Joanna), a Stag's Leap Petite Sirah (from Ted and Amber), two French wines (from the Ammons), and a nice Sangiovese (from the D'Amicos of course).

We've been methodically stocking the cellar. We're up to about 400 bottles. And we keep getting shipments from the six different wine clubs we're enrolled in.

Ouarzazate

Today is Sunday and we have arrived in the town of Ouarzazate. This town is called "the door of the desert" because from here we will venture out to the Draa River Valley and then into the Sahara Desert.

We arose well before dawn in Fes to catch a 6AM flight to Casablanca where we connected with a regional flight to Ouarzazate. Our driver Mohammed was waiting at the door to Dar Seffarine at 4:30AM. He brought his son along to help shlep our luggage and to keep him company. It was so early that we were up before the first blaring call to prayer at the mosque down the street.

Ouarzazate is about 120km south and east of Marrakech. We will be headed further southeast to the town of Zagora in the next few days, then into the Sahara Desert.

While in Ouarzazate, we are staying at Le Berbere Palace Hotel. This is where we will meet up with our B&R tour group and begin our biking and hiking expedition.

The hotel seems to be overrun with vacationers from France. This is the high season and I suppose people from France want a few days in the desert just like people from LA flock to Palm Springs or Las Vegas. Morocco has not yet implemented non-smoking ordinances. Every French tourist seems to be a chain smoker.

We sampled more Moroccan wine at lunch. Not bad, but it tastes very young. Considering that Muslims don't drink alcohol, they seem to have several wineries in this country. Probably to serve the hoards of tourists from Europe and avoid having to accept imports from France and Spain.

Does the Information Superhighway Run Thru Morocco?

On our first day in Morocco we noticed another startling difference with the developing nations of Asia - internet access in Morocco is almost non-existent. We saw several internet cafes, but they only had a few older computers and they were tied up all day by young boys playing computer games.

In Asia, internet cafes with high speed access are on virtually every street corner. People of all ages use computers in Asia and they access the internet for email, blogging, news, IM, Skype calls, and education. I think there is a huge education and cultural gap in Morocco.

Perhaps we'll have better access to the internet at some of the hotels on our bicycle tour, but for now, it's apparent why the economy here still operates the way it did a hundred years ago. I imagine that increasing tourism from Europe, a construction boom, and an influx of young people from rural areas to the cities will pressure Maroc Telecom to provide faster, less expensive, and more pervasive internet access.

Doing Our Part to Help the Economy in Fes

We experienced several startling moments during our first day in Morocco. We awoke to the call to prayer from the loudspeaker of the nearby mosque. At 4:30AM!!!! Caren says it sounds like someone trying to milk the wrong sex cow.

Mohammed (yes, another Mohammed) cooked a fabulous breakfast for us and the other guests. From the roof terrace at Dar Seffarine, the first thing that struck me was the sea of satellite television dishes. It seems like every rooftop has a satellite dish, presumably all tuned to Al-Jazeera.

After breakfast, our guide for the day, Idriss, picked us up and we started a day long tour of Fes and its medina. Idriss was born in the medina so we trusted that he knew his way around the maze.

Guess what was one of our first stops---a carpet showroom. What trip to Morocco would be complete without at least one visit to a rug merchant. The salesmen are masters at their craft. IBM should have hired a bunch of these guys many years ago. They would have wound up crushing their sales quota and earning Golden Circle sales recognition.

After saying for weeks that there was "no f__king way we are going to buy a rug", Jordan wound up negotiating for TWO rugs. Hey, we couldn't decide between two rugs, they included "free" shipping (by DHL), and the price for the second rug was about half the price of the first rug. I guess these guys know the sales promotion of "Buy One, Get The Second at Half Price."

We kept telling ourselves it was worth it to have the experience (we laughed a lot during the negotiation). The sales process had all the earmarks of buying a car in the U.S. - they offer you a seat and mint tea, then they show you dozens of carpets and ask what you like (a lot of features and benefits selling), and then they narrow down your preferences and start negotiating price. After a while, the Finance Manager (i.e. Sales Manager) comes in to play "good guy" and inquire how you are doing. When we finally agree on a price, there's the usual handshake and hug, followed by the rapid appearance of the accounting clerk to process your credit card payment. Doesn't this sound like your local Honda or Toyota dealership? I was waiting for them to offer me an extended warranty and chrome wheels.

All kidding aside, Idriss was a marvelous guide. He took us all over the medina and the new city. We saw the tanneries, the food stalls, the street where furniture is built, jewelry shops, a ceramics factory, mosques (the outside only - non-Muslims not allowed inside), the King's palace (when he visits Fes), and all the historic sites. He even took us to "Chinese street" where all the cheap goods imported from China are sold - kinda like shopping at 99 Cent Stores here in the U.S. We felt compelled to teach Idriss the Yiddish word "Khazeray" (junk).

Along one street they build huge wedding chairs for use at Muslim weddings and on the next street over they sold (rented) wedding garments. Caren picked up a handful of business cards from the vendors to send to Erin.

We've Landed in Fes

Yesterday, we arrived in the ancient city of Fes, Morocco. Toto - we are not in Kansas (or California) anymore. This is definitely a Muslim country and definitely in North Africa.

The Air France flight to Paris was actually very good. However, Charles de Gaulle Airport must be the worst designed airport on the planet. To get between terminals takes an eternity. I always thought London Heathrow was bad, but CDG is ten times worse. We were amazed that our luggage actually showed up in Fes.


















We are staying at Dar Seffarine - a gorgeous riad (i.e. guesthouse) inside the medina of Fes. 350,000 of the 1.5M inhabitants of Fes live in the medina. It is the largest in North Africa.

Dar Seffarine was an old building that has been magnificently restored by Alaa, an architect originally from Iraq, and his wife Kate (from Norway). It took 2 years for the reconstruction. They have been open for business since July 2006. I had to make our booking back in November. All six rooms are fully booked as a result of its growing reputation from travellers to Fes.

We were picked up at the airport by Mohammed (everyone seems to be named Mohammed) and driven to the Bab Rcif Gate to the medina. From there, a porter took our luggage in a cart and we weaved thru the narrow streets to our riad (no cars, only donkeys and foot traffic). It will be a miracle if we can ever find our way around the maze of pathways in the medina.

We'll try to post some more pictures in the next few days.

On The Road To Morocco

Next week, we're off on another bicycling tour - this time we're headed to Morocco. For everyone who saw the movie "Babel", don't worry. We're not going as far south as the American couple (Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett) in the movie traveled. And I've got medical emergency insurance.

Caren dreads the first part of the trip - LAX to Paris on Air France. She despises Air France. Even buying tix in Business Class hasn't changed her mind.

We connect to Royal Air Maroc (a 737, not a flying carpet) and land in Fes (our first stop). We are spending four nights at a small riad in Fes before linking up with the bicycle tour in Ouarzazate. (Look that one up in your Rand McNally Atlas of the World.)

We should have some internet access during our travels, so stay in touch with our blog for exciting news, laughs, and some good stories.

Making our Own Cult Wine

Caren's cousin Barry (Laurie's husband) got us turned onto Crushpad. What a great startup business!

They purchase grapes from fantastic vineyard plots throughout California and Washington state. You "buy a barrel" from the vineyard plot you want and make your own premium, hand-crafted, cult wine. If you don't mind waiting while the wine ages in the barrel, 18-24 months after you contract for your grapes, you get to blend and bottle your wine however you want. It's like outsourcing your own premium winery.

Barry's going to sell me (I hope) some of the 1/2 barrel of Cab he has aging that will be ready in 2008, and we are buying a barrel of Pinot Noir with grapes from the harvest later this year.

Who thought up this business idea? Who else. A former computer industry guy that got filthy rich during the Internet boom and raised several million in venture capital to start this firm. Then he went out and hired a bunch of smart people that knew a lot about the wine business and created a compelling business proposition.

I think we'll call our wine "The Boys" and slap a picture of Winston and Spencer on the label. Caren says "not."

Building Our Wine Cellar

When you're home for several months, you start to think about fixing up the house. Caren's cousin Laurie inspired us to do some construction.

We had an unfinished storage area on the lower level of our house that was built into the hillside. We used the area to collect all kinds of junk over the years. Caren called it "the ratroom." That's a long story we'll leave for another posting.

Laurie suggested we build a wine cellar. What a great idea!

Finding a contractor was nearly impossible. With all the remodelling and contruction going on in the area (the wonder of home equity loans in action), no one wanted to tackle a small job and most contractors had never built a wine cellar.

Several hours of Google searches led us to Gabriel - he builds custom wine cellars and wine cabinets all over SoCal. What a find! If you are interested in building a cellar, check out his website and contact him. We don't get a kickback. GLR Custom Wine Cellars

Construction started in February and maybe we'll be complete in another few days. We better be. Jordan keeps buying wine and storing it in a spare bedroom. It's almost impossible to open the door because there are so many boxes.

Check out Caren's photo chronology of the construction:
Wine Cellar Construction

After we put all the wine into the racks, I think we'll put our inventory online and link to it from this blog. Keep an eye out for when we do this so you can order your favorite wine ahead of time when you are coming over for dinner.

The End of Tourist Season in Cambodia

I heard from my friend Chanra in Siem Reap, Cambodia. The tourist season has come to an end. The weather is too hot, too humid, and too rainy for many tourists to visit until October.

It was a successful season from a business perspective for Chanra. He made money renting his bicycles to B&R and other tour companies. He also was hired as a guide by several other bicycle tours.

He just led a group of Swiss tourists for 10 days throughout Cambodia. I told him that the Swiss do not tip very well. He called me to say that I was correct. For 10 days, the entire group only gave him US$20.

He should have enough money to last until next tourist season, but he is looking for work to make more money and to avoid being bored. If anyone knows of a job opening in Cambodia for a hard-working, English-speaking (somewhat), smart young man, let me know and I'll pass it on to Chanra.

We have signed up for another B&R bicycle tour - this time to Northern Thailand and Laos. We plan on going in November and stopping for a few days in Cambodia to visit Chanra. Meanwhile we need to get ready for our upcoming trip next week to Morocco.

Happy New Year 2007 and a Review of 2006

2006 was quite a year for our travels.

In March, we bicycle toured through Vietnam and Cambodia. Then in July, we went on a safari to South Africa, Zambia, and Botswana. October saw us take a bicycle tour to the Puglia region in southern Italy, as well as visit Tivoli (outside of Rome) and the Maremma region of Tuscany. And in November, we ventured with the kids to Peru, where we stopped in Lima, Arequipa, Colca Canyon, Cusco, and Machu Picchu.

In between these trips to four different continents, we visited the Napa Valley (with the Dorrs), Scottsdale (Barry and Laurie's Arizona retreat), Delaware (Barry and Laurie's charity dinner), Temecula (to satisfy Caren's video poker urges at the Indian casinos), La Quinta (to visit the Ammons and attend their daughter's wedding), Mexico City (for the remarkable Katz wedding), Washington, DC (to see Erin), and New York City (to drop in on Lorraine).

What will 2007 have in store? Right now, all we have on the calendar is a bicycle tour through Morocco in April. We're considering trips to East Africa, India, and Egypt at different times throughout the year, but nothing is booked yet. For the next couple of months, we need to work on our golf games when the weather permits and get into physical shape for the Morocco trip.

A Holiday Gift from Chanra

Chanra is a friend of ours who lives in Siem Reap, Cambodia. We met him during our trip to Cambodia and Vietnam in March 2006 when he was one of the local guides on our bicycle tour and a real help when Caren had her Vietnam visa problems.

We've stayed in touch by email, SMS, and internet phone calls (the wonders of modern technology bringing the world closer together).

We helped him out with financing his fleet of bicycles and support vehicles. He now has a thriving business renting the bicycles and support services to various tour companies (including Butterfield & Robinson). Another micro-lending success story.

The other day we received a great gift from Chanra - photos of the bicycles, truck, and Chanra himself. Check them out. Chanra's the fellow in the middle of the first picture and leading the pack of cyclists in the last picture.

We hope to visit him again in late 2007.