tour with fletcher and julie

Cambodia, Thailand, Colorado!

julie — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 21:13:20 +0000

a lot has happened since the last update, so let me fill you in. we finished off southeast asia with a bang! from laos, we flew to siem reap, cambodia and tried to keep cool while exploring angkor wat. next was phnom penh, the busy capital of cambodia. and finally, we made our way through bangkok, thailand and down to the beautiful islands of ko tao and ko samui for some beach time!

sunrise at angkor

jen, mel, and kerri enjoying the view

trees growing on one of the temples

fletcher and the girls

camera tricks in the temples

julie gets her fortune told in one of the temples

fletch and mel stop by a street vendor to try the local cambodian cuisine, fried cricket!

not an uncommon site in eclectic phnom penh

thai locals take us to a rooftop bar in bangkok

sunsetting above bangkok

siblings going diving in ko tao

it was an amazing past couple of weeks together, and we had moments we will never forget!

we have decided to set our backpacks down for awhile, replenish our bank accounts, and enjoy the summer back in vail, colorado. now we are just getting settled and adjusting back to life in America. we are still reflecting on our life-changing year around the world, but we feel so grateful to be able to call vail home. thanks for all of your support and we hope to see all of you soon and catch up! bye…for now!

The Heat is On in Laos

fletcher — Wed, 26 May 2010 11:01:08 +0000

Welcome back to the tour with fletcher and julie. Many new updates, places, people, and friends to talk about ! Let’s get to it…

Before we begin…please note that I am not fletcher or julie. I am their new guest blogger and I am happy to walk you through our adventure through LAOS. I joined the j and f tour with some friends on May 16th, when we arrived in Luang Prabang, Laos. A country full of life. The people are very kind and very hard working. Mountains surround you in every setting, and the aroma of grilled bananas and tuk tuk exhaust tickle your noise. This is a magical place that reminds you how precious life is even when we are all miles away from our own home.

Me and Jules enjoying the sunset over the Mekong

Mornin with the Monks

Every morning at 5am monks take to the streets to receive food offerings from their community. Usually just a scoop of white rice. Boys of all ages walk in a single file line and receive food for the day.

Chanting Monks in the temple, 6pm

coolin off with a coconut

boat ride for 1 hour on Mekong with the whole crew....$5.

Time to head to the waterfalls to take a dip…

I dunno about you guys...but here is the next abercrombie model

Elephant time…

king of the jungle!

Time to feed these beautiful beasts

not a Corona ad here...It's for Lao Beer

Meet Mae Thom. She likes her bananas peeled please.

Evening walk to the highest temple in Luang Prabang.

200 stairs later...we made it to the top of the temple

A relaxing town here, but we were ready to move on to the capital and see the city lights. Next stop…Vientiene, Laos.

Now, that is a big Budda...Ladies and gentlemen welcome to the Buddah park

Pick your favorite Budda

After the park…it was time for some real action.

local soccer match was the place to be

After walking around the city for a couple days it was time for a little pampering…

$8 for an hour long massage...SOLD!

In Vientiane, we decided to walk through a non profit organization called COPE. This was truly a touching experience. Cope is a rehabilitation center to help people/locals who have lost an arm or leg. The organization was started for children who have been injured from land mines that still remains from the Vietnam War.

COPE Center

It has been an amazing journey so far. We are currently in Cambodia and enjoying a new culture. I am so happy I got the chance to join these two during their trek around the world. We are truly blessed we get to experience these travels together. Stay tuned for Cambodia and thanks for letting me guest blog. I hope you still remain a fan!

Cheers!

jenn myers

goooobye vietnam….

fletcher — Fri, 14 May 2010 11:38:06 +0000

chao (hello) to all. well, the vietnam portion of our trip is coming to an end, and we have really enjoyed our time here. we love the friendly people and the unique culture. since our last blog, we have explored halong bay via “junk boat” and taken an overnight train to the quiet mountain town of sapa.

halong bay: after spending quite a bit of time in the busy cities and dodging motorbikes, we decided to head for the sea for some relaxation aboard a modern-day “junk boat” (an ancient chinese sailboat). we spent our days sailing around the bay and enjoying the views of the limestone karsts and islands from the deck of the ship. we explored limestone caves and even kayaked around a floating fishing village. we had a great group of foreigners on our boat as well, so we exchanged stories with a couple from australia on their honeymoon, another couple from denmark on a 4 month trip around se asia, and a solo traveler from england. the honking motorbikes seemed like a world a way!

cap'n fletch and julie with limestone islands in background

"junk boat jam" in halong bay...traffic jams are not reserved only for the roads in vietnam!

great weather, calm water, beautiful view

fletch kayaking with the floating fishing village in the background

our new mates on the deck of the boat

sapa: from hanoi (the capital of vietnam), we hopped on an overnight train to head inland to mountainous sapa. sapa reminded us of home a little bit, which was nice. the town has a nice lake near the center and is surrounded by mountains in ever direction. the mountains that make up the area, are at the very eastern end of the himalayas. from sapa, you can view the tallest peak in vietnam, fansipan (3,142 m or 10,308 ft). it’s dry season in this part of the country now, but during winter snow covers the peaks in this area.

we LOVED sapa. this town was way quieter than other vietnam cities we have been in. also, we had an opportunity to experience the minority ethnic groups of the region. the tribes still live in the mountains farming rice and corn and maintaining much of their traditional culture and language. we even had the opportunity to take a jeep tour (down a very steep rugged road) to a couple of traditional villages with our h’mong tour guide. it was so interesting to see such welcoming people, still living such a traditional way of life in the mountains…even though many of their traditional houses did have TV’s inside!

on our overnight train - thankfully, julie is not too much taller than a local vietnamese person

ladies from a nearby village surprisingly speak excellent english and - like smart business women - try to make a personal connection with you before hitting your pocketbook

fletch gazing out off our hotel balcony

the lake near the center of town

beautiful mountains and steep rice terraces

julie and our h'mong tour guide

kids hard at work in a small tribal village

fletch and our guide in another tribal village

and that sums up our travels in vietnam, and we have a feeling we will be back one day. we learned a lot about vietnam and met so many welcoming people here. we have already started our list of places we would like to return to and new places we would like to go!

we are now in hanoi, and tomorrow we are flying to laos and meeting up with jen (julie’s sister) and some other friends from back home. we will spend the next month making our way through laos, cambodia, and thailand…so stay tuned!

gooood afternoon vietnam!!

fletcher — Sat, 08 May 2010 07:13:41 +0000

so we have continued our travels through central vietnam and are loving it. having many amazing adventures and learning a lot about the current vietnam and old vietnam. last time we talked we were in dalat. the high mountain town. well we have since headed to the beach town of nha trang and then to hoi an. we were in nha trang for the a local vietnam holiday so it was a little busy but had a chance to get off the track a little. through some fellow travelers we got introduced to a native named “andy”. he ended up being our amazing tour guide around nha trang. he took us outside the city and into the countryside a little where most of the people actually live and work. it was an amazing experience. we also wanted to learn a little about what goes into the food that we eat so we had a little cookin session with his chef.(he has a little restaurant)

locals flying kites for the holiday

hindu temples

chillin in a coconut farm having a fresh drink

little country town

julie working on her new job

our new set of wheels

andy surprised us with lunch, FROG!!

at lunch time andy asked us if there was anything we don’t eat. we pondered for a moment and said no. so when lunch came out we could tell by his face something was up. before you new it we where eating frog. tasted like chicken…

our seafood hot pot that we cooked up

after a fun time in nha trang we headed for our night bus to hoi an.

fletcher getting ready for the night bus

at 6:00am in the morning we arrived in hoi an. we have heard a lot of good things about hoi so were ready to see if it all was true. yes it was. this little town has everything. from old town buildings, amazing beaches, great riverside food, great culture, lanterns and don’t forget all the tailor shops. hoi an as hundreds of tailor shops. which can be a little extreme at points but also fun. we couldn’t help to dab our feet a little. although a little touristy but overall hoi an is a very beautiful town that is a peaceful place to enjoy vietnam.

breakfast view in old town

historic bridge

our taxi..

on our bike ride through the farms

fletcher trying on his new custom suit

a lantern stall at night

julie trying to blend in...

a dinner over the river

chillin at a local spot...notice the guys bed in the background

thank you hoi an for a great time

hoi an has been a lot of fun and now we are off to the north. stay tuned for our last update of vietnam before we head to laos.

and don’t forget to check out the link (on the right-hand collumn) to our entire online photo gallery, with all of our pictures!

gooood morning vietnam!!

fletcher — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 14:45:43 +0000

after our wonderful time in malaysia, we headed towards vietnam and landed in ho chi minh. since neither of us have ever been in asia before it is very exciting. everything is so different and new. it is a place in the world that all need to come and visit. we thought ho chi minh city (“saigon”) was one of the coolest, craziest, busiest cities we have ever seen – in a good way! nothing like diving right into southeast asia! the city has a pulse that no one can describe. the motorbikes move around like swarms of bees, people never stop working, food stalls all around, random things to do, but you better be ready for people…

must be the motor bike capital of the world!

one of the many "bike vendors" hustling tourists...

yum, lunch at the famous pho (noodle) joint...bill clinton ate here too!

fletch, just blending in...

the hilarious water puppet show

fletch at the American War "history" museum

after our time in ho chi minh we got our hop on hop off bus tickets and headed north. we went to mui ne. a little beach town that is known for its kite surfing. where we rented a little room near the beach and relaxed while reading some books.

fletcher chilin in front of a temple

hangin on the beach with some traditional fishing boats

fletcher losing years of his life...

leaving the beach we went inland and headed up to dalat. dalat is a high mountain town in the highlands of vietnam. this is where we took a tour of the countryside on the back of a motorbike, and went on a hike. they actually have pine forest because the french destroyed the rain forest and planted pine. also french villas… it is a great relaxing city with a mountian feel. they even have wine. they offer red, white, rice, banana, and snake wine.

getting a lesson on silk

our guide taught us about buddhism at a nearby pagoda

happy buddha

touring the countryside

that is snake wine that fletcher had to try..still alive!

the market in dalat..

hiking through farms in vietnam..

and now we are continuing our way north….loving every moment in vietnam. it is a great country to learn about history and see a new culture. talk to you soon.

mystery location revealed…

julie — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 09:00:14 +0000

so, as you may have guessed (or not…), we are currently in malaysia! as we explained, this very unique country was not in our original plan, but it just goes to show that some of the best things in traveling (and life) are unexpected. yes, malaysia was unexpected, but ended up exceeding our expectations as a destination. it was our first stop in southeast asia, and we dove right in to the complex malaysian culture, food, history, and the ocean (literally!).

we landed in penang, malaysia. penang is an island-state off the west coast of malaysia, just south of thailand. it is a bustling financial center with influences from from china, india, and malaysia. one of the highlights for us was the cuisine. there is so much variety here to be had from night markets (basically about 20 street vendors lined up), to upscale swiss restaurants, to “hawker stands” (the real local food served on the street). all the meals are served with a variety of sauces and curries, and explosion of herbs and spices we’ve never even seen before, and served with a tropical flair, like coconut (ie. coconut milk rice or coconut curry), mango (mango salad or mango curry), or banana leaves (the functional banana leaf may encase rice/fillings to be steamed or substitute as a plate and your rice and toppings are served on top creating a work of food art!). needless to say, we have been enjoying everything and consuming large amounts of white rice, a staple of every meal…even breakfast!

east meets west in little india...a little veggie pizza, green curry, and of course, rice!

fletcher (aka ansel) getting creative with his camera on us

the popular bicycle taxis lined up outside the night market

in penang, we visited many of the sites in georgetown, which is really the historical center of the island. the british founded georgetown as a trading port for the british east india trading company and was the gateway into malaysia. as we walked around, it was like we were in a living museum, passing the old stone fort walls, old british colonial churches, indian mosques, and chinese buddhist temples. the town is even separated into neighborhoods like “china town” and “little india”, both of which boast some of the most amazing food. oh yeah, did i mention the food???

fletcher posing near the old british fort, fort cornwallis, at the port

chinese outnumber every other ethnic group in penang, and this is demonstrated by the numerous chinese temples

demure julie covers up in respect of the islam faith inside one of the many mosques

this is the view of that mosque from the street

fletcher, thinking "it's hot...not in colorado any more...."

chinese worshipers light incense in an offering

another temple...

soon, we made our way to the opposite coast to the remote perhentian islands. never heard of ‘em? neither had we, and that was the allure. the perhentian islands consist of two islands, and we decided to spend our time in coral bay on the “small island”. we thought we had landed in paradise full of lush rain forest and white sandy beaches. the island was very quiet and peaceful, runs off a generator, does not have any vehicles, and we found a private bungalow for only about $25/night!!! the highlight was definitely the scuba diving, with decent visibility and lots of marine life and 1/3rd the price of the US. julie clocked her first real dives (5 of them!) as a new scuba diver!

peaceful coral bay, the view from our bungalow

sunset on coral bay

ahhh, cooling down with a mid-day fresh banana-mango-papaya milk shake

taking the boat from the island back to the mainland

with a few more days to spare, we headed back towards the west coast to another island north of penang, called langkawi. this island was a lot more touristy than we expected, as it is a weekend destination for the local malays. in contrast to where we had just spent the last 5 days on a secluded beach, langkawi was a bit overwhelming for us, not to mention HOT HOT HOT, and humid. but it was still fun to see how the local malays vacation.

we refused to come out of our room until the sun started to go down

and that brings us to now, where we are anxiously waiting for our flight tomorrow out of penang to bangkok and then eventually to ho chi minh, vietnam. more to come soon!

new zealand, south island highlights!

julie — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 08:45:26 +0000

hello to all! it has been awhile because we have had a marathon few days of travel and unexpected “bumps” in the road. we are writing right now from a “mystery” location. our plan was to fly from auckland, nz to bangkok, where we would then jump on a flight to vietnam. BUT…the night before our flight out of nz, we realized that our visa company mixed up the dates on our vietnam visa…which meant we could not enter the country until april 21st. needless to say, we freaked out a bit because we did not want to spend too much time in bangkok right now due to the rising political tensions in the city. soooo, we ended up quickly coming up with an alternative place to pass the time. but, you’ll have to stay tuned to find out where we are right now! in the meantime, see below for our photo journal of our campervan trip through the south island in new zealand. we have come up with some of our favorite moments on the south island. enjoy! and remember to click on our online photo gallery to the right to see all of our new zealand pictures.

1. abel tasman national park

our hike along the coast

beautiful person, with beautiful background

2. nelson lakes national park

huffin' and puffin' up mount roberts, looking down onto lake rotoiti

that little speck is fletcher, surrounded by the mountains in nelson lakes national park

3. arthur’s pass national park

death valley highway up the pass

our hike into one of the many valleys near arthurs pass

4. lake wanaka

artsy outdoor town in an amazing setting

5. adventure capital of the world, queenstown

another amazing town, in an amazing setting

view of queenstown

6. milford sound and fiordland national park

easter morning on a cruise thourgh milford sound

capturing the morning light on the lush cliffs of mountains

amazing views

our hike near milford sound, the views just keep getting better and better!

7. mount cook national park

hiking up the valley in mount cook national park on an overcast day...though still beautiful!

our drive out of mount cook as the clouds part

8. oysters for fletch in christchurch – can’t leave new zealand without trying their famous “bluff” oysters as they were in season!

julie tries to capture the mouth watering moment!

stay tuned for our next blog, and our “mystery” location will be revealed!

North Island New Zealand Road Trip!!

fletcher — Sat, 27 Mar 2010 22:15:32 +0000

hello there. internet has been expensive and hard to come by here in new zealand so that is why we have been mia. after leaving australia, we landed in auckland, new zealand where we found a great campervan, which has been our home for the past couple weeks now. over the past couple weeks, we have travelled extensively through the north island. from auckland, we travelled along the coast all the way to the northern tip of the island – cape reinga - and the all the way down through wine country and finally to the southern port town and capital city of wellington, where we hopped on a ferry over to the south island (where we are updating the blog from right now.)

we are dreaming about our boat at the auckland boat show

well…so far we have covered a lot of ground. in the following post, we will take you day by day via photos of our tour through the north island of new zealand. enjoy!!

day 1: we picked up our campervan in auckland and travelled up to the famous bay of islands area. don’t forget to drive on the left side of the road…

this is our new home for the next 28 days

day 2: we woke up in paihia and took the ferry over to historic russell. we finished the day off in a bay enjoying the best fish and chips.

chilin on the ferry..russell in the background

view of remote matauri bay

the best fish and chips in new zealand in the town of mangonui

Day 3: we drove up the coast and got side tracked at matai bay for the rest of the day and night.

matai bay

spending the afternoon reading our books in matai bay... we just couldn't leave

day 4: on our way to the northern tip of the island, we stumbled upon a golf course that is self service. they had a honor drop box for your green fees. so we dropped in some money and took to the course. we ended our day with a very relaxing afternoon in tapotupotu bay.

fletcher working on his swing..

a pre dinner stroll in tapotupotu bay... our camper is parked 10 yards from the beach on your right

day 5: today we explored the very tip of the north island called cape reinga. this is where the tasman sea and the pacific join. you can actually see the two seas collide. then started our journey south.

at top of new zealand

julie enjoying the cape reinga area

day 6: we woke up in the kauri forest and took some hikes to some of the largest kauri trees in new zealand. these trees had trunks over 5 meters in diameter and the tallest was 51 meters. then we continued our drive south bound and ended our day at another amazing ocean side campsite.

fletcher hugging the kauri tree

typical scene out of our van in the north island

another amazing campsite on the north island... not bad

day 7: we explored the coromandel peninsula south of auckland…if you look close you might see fletcher rocking a new hat…picked up in this region

new zealand costline...gotta love it

fletcher enjoying the hike down to cathedral cove

day 8: we finished exploring the bay of plenty area and headed to rotorua. Where we could shower for the first time in 7 days and clean up for our dinner out to enjoy our one year anniversary….

we were really excited to drive past an orchard called "blueberry corner"...fresh organic blueberries..fletcher in heaven

our night out for the magical one year anniversary... the best year of our lives!!

day 9: after waking up and enjoying some delicious blueberry pancakes (by chef julie) we hiked through the redwood forest before heading on.

our evening walk

day 10: we continued to drive south towards the wine region. our first stop was the art deco town of napier in hawke’s bay. we explored the town history and style then proceeded to camp along the river.

pulled over at one of the many rest areas in new zealand and this is what you get

colorful napier

our campsite along the river..

we have been very excited to cook organic meals comprised of local meats and produce... a big relief after 6 months of little veggies

day 11: we started this day off right and ended it with an amazing walking tour of some vineyards. in this little cute town of martinborough we walked vineyard to vineyard tasting wines and enjoying the views.

10 am morning stop at the tui brewery in middle of the wine region for some tastings...hmmm

fletcher showing off is hops in the wine region..

sunset in martinborough at our camp

day 12: in the morning we headed to wellington to catch the ferry across the cooks strait to the south island..

goodbye north island!!

now we are exploring the south island and loving it. stay tuned for our south island post!!

from down under!

fletcher — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 08:50:53 +0000

3 continents, 2 weeks, culminating in 1 unforgettable journey! from chile, to california, to australia…it has been quite a whirlwind. our flight that departed chile took us on the most indirect route to sydney, having us connect in los angelos, ca. we were very excited to spend this layover (weekend) with fletcher’s brother, bass, in nearby newport beach. the first day we arrived, bass said that he needed to pick up some friends at the airport, so we all went along for the ride. to julie’s complete surprise, her sister jen and her boyfriend turned out to be bass’s “friends” that we were picking up. later julie learned that sneaky fletch went behind her back and conspired with her sister to come all the way to newport beach to surprise her for the weekend. julie had absolutely no idea, and the weekend was a complete success! after bonding with our good friends and family from home, we were ready to embark on our next country…australia!

adam, jen, christian, julie, and fletch go sushi!

the sisters at the getty museum in la

1st stop: sydney-all the iconic sites in the city (ie. opera house, the bridge), the botanical gardens, sydney harbor, darling harbor, king’s cross, good thai food.

sydney from the botanical gardens

opera house in background

the opera house at night, view from the ferry

the famous sydney bridge with fletch

2nd stop: manly beach-this beach is a short, but scenic 30 minute ferry ride from sydney. we enjoyed walking along the coastal walkway and mingling with the very “LA”- ish locals. this place reminded us very much of california.

nearby manly beach is similar to newport beach!

julie joins the locals in that eternal goal of the perfect beach bod!

3rd stop: bondi beach-we spent a few days here at this very busy vacation spot, famous for its surfing.

and more beach...the world famous bondi

bondi is sand and surf for miles

4th stop: Cronulla-a more down to earth beach suburb, we came here to see our deer friend, jayme (and her friend chelsea), who is also traveling the world. see her blog link on our blogroll to the right.

night out in cronulla with friend and fellow vailite, jayme

national park near the landing site of captain cook!

jumpin' for joy with our colorado friends!

5th stop: blue mountains-easily accessed by the extensive train system, we headed inland for a change of pace. we visited katoomba, a quaint mountain town and hiked along beautiful cliffs, where the aborigines once roamed.

hike in the blue mountains, with the aboriginal legendary "3 sisters" in the background

after a quick (and expensive…) 9 days in australia, we took off to our next destination, new zealand. we will now spend the next few days in auckland before touring the rest of the country.

close call in chile…

julie — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 10:23:23 +0000

luckily, we made it out the day before the 8.8 magnitude earthquake hit chile. we are very grateful that we dodged this disaster, but we are also praying for the country and people whom we have grown to love over the past couple months. below is a compilation of pictures of our last week in chile (pre-earthquake).

valparaiso: a very unique and historical hodge-podge port town near santiago. our favorite things about the city were the many “ascensors” (or elevators constructed in the 1800′s) leading to various neighborhoods perched on steep hills and all of the very creative graffiti murals all over the walls.

elevator overlooking the the port

cool graffiti

more art...

pretty impressive...

vina del mar: the miami beach of chile. this beach town, located only a few kilometers south of valparaiso, was the complete opposite of valparaiso and full of glitz and glamour.

busy vina del mar

casa marin: for our last night in chile, we had the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to stay in a private cottage right in the middle of a family-owned vineyard. it was a great way to end our stay in south america…reflecting on our travels through south america and sitting on our deck, overlooking vineyards in every direction and the pacific ocean in the distance, sipping on the very wine we were watching grow!

doesn't get much better than this!

thats where our pinot grigio came from!

in the midst of the recent devastating earthquakes happening in haiti and chile, we are reminded again of how fragile our lives are and how lucky we are. with this in mind, we would like to encourage any of you to visit our donation page for project CURE. to read more about our partnership with project CURE, please click on the “project CURE” tab located near the top of the screen. project CURE has been successful at providing medical aid/supplies to those who need it most all over the world, and most recently those in haiti. go to project CURE’s website to learn more about what they are doing and how you can help.

if you would like to view all of our chile photos (or entire trip album), don’t forget to visit our online gallery.