Our Visit To The Relaxing Vibrant Surf Town Of Montanita, Ecuador

It was a quick 1.5 hour bus ride from Puerto Cayo. It cost us $6. And we're in the surf town of Montanita, Ecuador. We've only booked a one night stay here as we were told this is a big party town and one night is enough but we're not sure...immediately after stepping off the bus, we're in love.
Locals and gringos pepper the streets. Restaurants and shops abound. Mexican, Italian, Mediterranean, oh my! Friendly smiles and others speaking English...bakeries, fro-yo, tattoo parlors and surf shops a plenty. Hotels and hostels, each one unique to the next. Colorful and clean. We are loving the vibe in this seaside town. It took us all of two minutes to see the sign for our hotel off the main street near the bus stop. The hotel owner, Robby, meets us with smiles and English. He's from California and has built one incredible hotel here (Montanita Estates). He immediately takes to Reese and tells us he has a son close to her age. Right then he also asks his staff if the 3 bedroom villa is available as it has a full kitchen and we're welcome to it! (Ummmm that room goes for $225 a night...which is really about $800+ US equivalent and he was just going to give it to us) We graciously and politely told him the room we booked would be perfect because it had a king bed while the others have a queen. But whoa, how nice is this guy already?!
We check out our room which is spectacular and very luxurious before walking back over to the center of it all.
Earlier I saw someone eating pizza which just sounded amazing so we set out to find it. And we did and it was fan-freaking-tastic. We got the pizza, salad & lasagna combo for $12. It was one of the best meals we've had in a while. I love seafood but we've been eating it everyday and I was happy to have this Italian comfort food. Along the way we've already talked with a few people, both locals and foreigners that are super duper nice. Of course Dean already made plans to take surfing lessons with one guy.
And I'm getting a massage tomorrow AND a mani/pedi! Y'all, this is huge right now! I couldn't tell you the last time I saw these places! I seriously might not sleep tonight!
We strolled along the beach soaking up the sun, digging our toes in the sand and watching the surfers ride the waves. We wandered the little streets taking in the enormous amount of restaurants and local artisan shops. Everything is unique. No chain stores or fast food joints here.
Lots of guys have long hair, dreadlocks and/or tattoos and are carrying a surf board. We kind of blend in. I love it! And there's so many families with kids!
We walked back to our hotel for a dip in the hot tub before retiring to our room to put baby girl to bed. We're already talking about staying here longer than first planned...I REALLY hope we do...

So how exactly did we make Ecuador a reality?

Several people have asked and I've actually wanted to share the details of how this trip/adventure/family sabbatical all came to be. I need to share some back story too so this may get a bit lengthy!

First and foremost something like this requires an open mind. And you must WANT to do it. It's not something I suggest if your hearts not in it. Okay so beyond that, what really does it take?

Dean and I have traveled to many places (we met on Semester at Sea where we lived on a ship for 3 months and traveled to 13 countries while taking college classes) and have always talked about continuing our travels when we had kids. So when we had Reese we talked about what exactly we would do. Where? When? How long? HOW? For me it was important that we not leave the country until she was at least one year. Why? I wanted her to get a good start on building her natural immune system and I wanted the first year near our families and friends. Secondly, I didn't want to go TOO far from home. At one point we thought about going back to Thailand for a while because we loved it there but with Reese it is just too far from home (18ish hour flight) and we don't speak any Thai. So the conversations continued over time. Then we started researching.

We also talked about how we could do it financially. We aren't rich nor do we have a deep savings account. We would have to plan ahead enough to have the money we would need before we go.
The financial piece played a big role in us landing in Ecuador. While researching, Ecuador kept coming up as having a low cost of living while having great weather and being beautiful! And it's not far from home (4 or 5 hour flight to Atlanta or Miami), Dean speaks decent Spanish and the currency is the USD.

Basically we researched where we wanted to go and started number crunching to see how much money we could put aside and save before we went. We started to like the idea of Ecuador so we dug further into the logistics of living there. How much are furnished apartments? Where should we live? As we began digging deeper we were taking notes. We created an Ecuador cost of living spreadsheet (I'll share that soon) to give us an idea of how much we would need per month. Then based on how much money we could save, we would determine how long we could be here before returning to the 'real world'.

Before I go further let's talk more about money. My family has one income which is Dean's job. For the past year he has been working with his dad and together they run a software business. The business is still in its infancy. Our income covers our bills nicely and we live a modest lifestyle. But it's basically paycheck to paycheck. If you would like more specific details about this please send me an email.

So how did we save for our trip?
We reduced our ongoing bills as much as possible! Last year before Reese was born we paid off both of our cars while we had two incomes, we rented out our house and moved into a cheaper apartment. These big changes freed up some cash to start putting away. These are very substantial changes that some may not make but for us it was well worth it.

Shortly before our departure we sold our cars. This was a big chunk of change for our trip. But obviously we planned to return and would need cars again so we put some of the money in savings to cover about of year of payments when we return as we will have to adjust to having car payments again. We also moved out of our apartment and put our belongings in storage. Once our year lease was up we went month to month until our plans were finalized.
We sold a few big items like our sectional sofa and big screen TV to save the money and free up space in our storage unit. We sold some smaller things too that we really just didn't need or use anymore.

We also don't calculate the two 'extra' paychecks per year into our budget. What I mean is Dean gets paid biweekly which turns out to be 26 paychecks per year. Two months out of the year he gets 3 paychecks (as does anyone that gets biweekly pay). We make our budget to only include the 2 paychecks per month. Therefore we saved the two 'extra' paychecks for this trip. Usually those go toward our our family cruises/vacations etc.

We also received a security deposit refund from our apartment. Since we aren't moving into another apartment right away we decided to use this as well to fund our trip.

If you receive a tax refund that's also a great way to save some money.

Once our belongings were in storage and we moved out of our apartment there were a few weeks before leaving to come to Ecuador so we stayed with family to save a little more while Dean still worked full time. This actually worked out great as we got to spend good quality time with our families before taking off.

We estimated the total of what we could save and compared that to the estimated monthly cost of living and travel expenses to Ecuador. We would have roughly enough for 3 months.
We then discussed timing. When should we go? Our apartment lease recently ended and we went month to month which gave us some flexibility. We had travel plans in September already, Dean was going to south Africa with family for two weeks and Reese and I were going to GA while he was gone. Also in the mix was the fact that Deans sister is pregnant and due in early February so we want to to be back around for that. So we did the date crunching...and made our departure date for October 1, 2014. Our return date is December 24, 2014.

Our total budget for the 3 month trip is approximately $8500.

I'd love to hear your thoughts...was this helpful to you? Would you like to do something similar? Any questions? Please ask! I love to hear from everyone that is reading.

Coming soon....
What about Deans job? Did he quit or is he still working? How do you just leave like that?

Ecuador: What is Workaway?

As you read this blog and my recents posts about our current life in Ecuador you may be wondering how in the world we ended up in Ecuador and why.

Most of you know that Dean and I love traveling. We met traveling in college on Semester at Sea and we've continued our travels through our relationship and marriage. We've been to over 30 countries together and don't plan to stop! But now we are a family now and it isn't quite as easy to just take off anytime anywhere. There's a financial piece too. How do we afford it? What about jobs? That part will be a separate post so stay tuned.

We first decided that we wanted to spend a few months in Ecuador and we were brainstorming ideas about how we could make it happen. We both love to research and with the internet at our fingertips we began a zillion searches. That's when I happened upon the website www.Workaway.info. It's a website that connects hosts with volunteers all over the world. The hosts are looking for volunteer help for anything from A to Z and volunteers give 20-25 hours a week of their time in exchange for room and board! Say what?! Aside from flights, room and board is usually your BIGGEST expense while traveling! This is HUGE! And you can literally find anything you can imagine to do...anywhere! I'm not joking guys, check out the website!

Anyway we loved the idea of doing this for a portion of our trip. After lots of searching and communicating with potential hosts, we arranged to stay with a family on their farm outside of Quito. They raise pigs & chickens, have 7 dogs, and a son turning 1. They are from the US but have been living in Ecuador for the last 6 years. As we are traveling as a family, we agreed that I may not be able to 'work' the full hours so we were going to chip in a bit for food costs. Still an amazing deal for a unique traveling and volunteering experience.

I can't recommend the experience highly enough. More posts to come on our 10 day Workaway experience including what we did, what we ate, our accommodations, etc.

Ecuador Day 3

October 3, 2014

- today we leave Quito and head to the farm about 3 hours away
- We went to get breakfast and had the same as yesterday along with the friendly service
- also met a gentlemen that items a lodge on an island of Ecuador in the Amazon (whaaat)
- enjoyed conversations with him about Ecuador and the world and his activists pursuits
- after breakfast we walked around the corner to the super maxi (grocery store basically) to grab a few things like wipes, shampoo and conditioner, 2 wash cloths to have on the farm
- We walked back and packed up our things as we arranged a pickup at 11am
- at 11am no one arrived
- at 11:45 we called Shawn at the farm to find out if there was an issue
- turns out traffic was pretty bad but Washington arrived at 12pm
- We picked our things into his brand new Kia van and loaded Reese into her car seat
- I ride shot gun bc I get car sick and a 3 hr ride is no joke!

Alas we arrive to the farm! We're greeted with their 7 dogs and these adorable smiles :)

And this my friends was our humble abode for 10 days

Ecuador Day 2

October 2, 2014

I didn't get the best nights sleep in our cramped bed but we all awoke about 7:30 am ready to start the day. The hotel provides breakfast from 7-10 am and that's exactly where we headed first. It's actually a full restaurant too! This hotel is just very unique and cute and I love it. It has curved walls, beautiful teal doors and windows, stained glass, ivey growing beautifully up the outside walls, a quaint courtyard with flowers and stone pathways and it's completely fenced which is perfect for our Reese bear!

Breakfast was made to order and we had scrambled eggs, sunny side up eggs, yogurt, granola, banana, watermelon and coffee. It was perfect and delicious. The dishware is beautiful clay. Our server is so so nice and accommodating to our Spanish level. And she loves Reese (I mean who doesn't, but still) she helped us order our meal in Spanish and kept telling Dean how good his Spanish is. We're really trying to immerse ourselves in the language to learn better. He knows way more than I do but I'm excited to learn! After our delicious, complimentary, meal we played inside and out while setting up wifi calling on my phone to reach out to our families. It was great to be able to reach them so easily and they loved hearing from us. Back to the room for a tissue and snack and Reese is actually ready for a nap. While she snoozes I write this and Dean is planning our next step. Bus tour? Walking tour? Wandering? Who knows! Our day in Quito wasn't planned in advance (which is typical for us) so we're figuring it out now.

The weather is beautiful. Blue sky with a few small clouds. Lows are in the 40's and highs in the 70's. The cooler temps actually feel great! Not even cold just fresh and brisk. Today we're wearing jeans with sneakers and zip up hoodies. It's perfect.
Baby girl had a great nap and when she woke up we ventured out on foot to find lunch and look into the double decker bus tour. There are plenty of places to eat here that's for sure! We decided a small cafe with indoor and outdoor seating looked good. It had cute little wooden tables with paper placemats and chalk to draw/color with. Perfect for Reese! We first sat inside then realized outside was the best. Great view of the mountains and the street! Why not?! I had the sopa to start. It was the best I've ever had! Potatoe with avocado and cheese. We all loved it, Reese included. My meal was grilled chicken with rice, vegetables and small salad. Overall it was tasty and hit the spot but the chicken was dry. Bummer! Dean also had a similar dish but called chicken salad. His was also a bit dry. I had cappuccino too which was amazing. Reese enjoyed climbing the furniture, writing with the chalk, and roaming close by with us between bites of food. Our server here was also extremely nice and helpful.

The remainder of the day was filled with sightseeing, eating, walking and lots of bus rides. Oh and did I mention eating?! We're pretty good at that sport. It went a little something like this: 
- found park to sit, relax and look at the map at to find the double decker bus stops
- found a wonderful pastry shop for a delicious sweet treat
- got on bus tour which was 3 hour tour around the city showcasing the most beautiful and historical places
- Reese did fantastic in the ergo! Even napped a while on the tour
- the city of Quito is huge and gorgeous
- We stopped and got off at the virgin statue that had a 360 degree view of the city and surrounding mountains and volcanoes

- We paid about 20 cents per person to walk up into the statue and get the highest view possible
- bus tour was $12 pp (Reese was free)
- the tour ended at the largest park in the city
- We asked a local police officer the best way to get back to our hotel and she said to take the bus
- the bus ride was also about 20 cents per person
- We got on the wrong bus first but people were helpful and told us how to get on the correct one (thank gosh for dean's Spanish!)
- 15 min bus ride and we got off
- it was dark outside by now and I wasn't sure where to go from here so I started getting nervous because it was also getting cold for Reese
- We stopped in McDonald's to sit and look at our map & hotel was across the road!

Pheeew! Home sweet home (away from home) at last! Today was long and busy but very worth it. 

Ecuador Bound!

October 1, 2014

Yesterday we made the journey from Florida to Quito. If I could sum it up in one word it would be flawless. We couldn't have asked for it to go any better! We left the house at about noon and went to Miami airport. Everything went smooth and we grabbed a bite to eat before we boarded. We let Reese roam and run and burn some energy in the uncrowded gate we were waiting in. The flight into Atlanta was quick and easy. She slept a little bit of the way and when she didn't we snacked, played on the phone, and looked out the window. We arrived in Atlanta right on time and had precisely one hour until our next flight departed. (Which isn't very long for an international flight!) We had to change terminals (from domestic to international) and thankfully the Atlanta airport makes this quick and easy with the fast train and lots of good signage. We had a restroom break and grabbed a snack for the fight and BOOM it was already time to board. I was a little nervous because this would be the longest flight with Reese at 5 hours. And that's after a 2 hour flight already. When we boarded we asked if the fight was full and were told it was actually OVER sold. Ugh. Bad news. Momma started to get a little nervous!

But low and behold, several people didn't board and we were able to move to the first row with lots of extra space! What what! Thank you God! This made a world of difference while traveling with an 18 month old. After takeoff, that space became Reese's play area. For 3 hours she enjoyed playing with her dolls, rolling a ball, blowing bubbles, reading books, chatting with friendly passengers and climbing in and out of the seats. Then we stretched out across the row of three seats and baby girl slept the final 2 hours. I watched an episode of shark tank and another mindless sitcom. I couldn't believe how easy it was! And the sunset from above the clouds is beyond mind blowing. Pinks, oranges and purples for as far as the eye could see. Before we knew it we were landing in Quito!

The Quito airport is beautiful and easy to navigate. And customs was quick and easy. (After we spent about a half hour filling out the customs forms) We grabbed a taxi to bring us to the hotel which is about a 40 min ride away. Baby girl was awake and a bit crabby but still a champ. We arrived at the hotel about midnight Ecuador time which is 1 am home time. We'd been traveling about 12+ hours total so we were tired but mostly excited that we're really here! The hotel is adorable. Our room is very cozy (okay, it's a bit tight) but still perfect and has more than what we need. We opted to stay at a more unique place rather than the typical American style hotel. Finally by 1:30 am we crawled into the full size (we thought it was a queen) bed and drifted off. Good night Quito! We can't wait to see you in the daylight tomorrow. :)

Travel: Amsterdam & Italy - Day 2

We crossed the international dateline during our flight so it’s now a new day but we haven’t been to sleep yet. I was able to sleep maybe an hour on the flight. We watched the movie Invictus which was very very good and I watched an episode of house. Also notable was the food on the flight, it was very yummy which was a pleasant surprise! We could only imagine what the food was like in first class…maybe one day we will see for ourselves. 
After the 6.5 hour flight, we landed at Schipol airport in Amsterdam at 8am (2 am home time). We were dragging at this point but our bags were first off the belt (yay, we have our bags! I always have a nightmare that I won’t get my bags when I travel internationally) and well, customs was easy as pie. We simply showed our passports and got the stamp. And with our 50 lb bags and carry on’s in tow we were free to enter Amsterdam.
We made our way to bank to get some euro’s ($1 USD = .74 euro’s) and to the info desk to find out the best way to get to our hostel which we found to be by train. We purchased our train tickets and a map and headed to the platform (where the train departs from the airport). By the way, I love trains. I think it’s because we don’t really have them in the US but it’s such a great way to get around. It’s fast, cheap, and usually safe. When we bought our tickets the lady said either platform 1 or 2. We took that as we could go on either train…
But in fact the one we got on turned out to not be right. We weren’t confident we got on the right train so Dean asked two young guys if the one we were on went to Central Station and they said no. We thought they were joking, but in fact no they weren’t. We had to get off at the next station, go back to where we started and get on the other train. Now let me paint a picture for you…Dean and I both have 50 lb suitcases, another bag on our shoulders and I have my camera bag too. And there are 2 steps to get on or off the train AND the doors only open for about 10 seconds. Needless to say, it’s not much fun to just get on and off this thing. And after 14 hrs of traveling, I was not in the mood for this either. I felt dirty, hadn’t slept, and it was 9 am. The city is waking and I want to go to sleep.
It was about a 10 minute ride to Central Station and following our handy map, it was about a 10 minute walk to our hostel. The city here is so interesting to the eye because the buildings are so old, they look antique. Many of them date back to the 1600’s and earlier! Most buildings are 4 stories, not many are higher. And canals are built throughout the city as well. Also, in case you’re not familiar with a hostel, I will explain it. A hostel is different from a hotel. In a hostel the majority of the rooms are shared by 4, 6, 8 or even 32 people. They’re full of bunk beds and a shared bathroom. Our room has two bunks and sleeps 6. We have a double bunk (double size beds). Hostels are very popular for backpackers and single travelers, and well anyone on a budget because they’re cheaper than hotels. The hotels are very expensive here. We don’t mind the hostel because it’s actually a great way to meet people.
We found our hostel, The Flying Pig – Downtown, checked in and found our room #206. Check in time was @ 10:30 am so we were a bit early. We dropped our bags in the room and took off back to the streets to find breakfast. We found a quaint little café around the corner that was perfect. Dean ordered and omelet and I had a traditional Dutch pancake and this thing was ginormous! It had apple, pineapple, and banana. It really was delicious. After breaky we walked around a bit, in and out of shops, the grocery store and a convenient store. We had to get some travel size shampoo, conditioner and body soap. Interestingly, not all the products had English writing so it took a while to figure out what was what. And because the jet lag was really set in at this point, we headed back to our room to try and get some rest.
We napped for several hours and woke up about 5 pm (11pm home time). The sleep was decent considering these beds aren’t the most comfortable (not the worst either), it was broad daylight, and the room window stays open because I don’t think there’s AC. We met three of our roomies – Lisa and Simon a couple from Australia, and Suge a guy from Canada. We all talked about our travel itineraries thus far and future. The couple is on a 6 month adventure covering literally all of Europe – they both quit their jobs to do this and they’re carrying everything they need in their backpack. So cool. I’m jealous.
Now it was time for the long anticipated shower…it’s ity bity but I couldn’t wait. I wouldn’t even care if the water was cold (well maybe). Actually it was a great shower. It was nice and hot and the pressure was good. Minor inconvenience though that you have to press the knob about every 30 seconds or the water will turn off. It is just like those faucets in places that you press and the water never runs long enough for you to wash your hands before you have to press it again. And the light goes out every few minutes too but hey, it was a hot shower. I cannot complain.
The second minor inconvenience is the fact that we didn’t bring an electrical adapter. The US electric plugs will not fit in the outlets here. No way no how, they’re circular. And we knew this already but totally forgot. So I had to forgo washing my hair until we get an adapter. After we got ready, we headed out with our roomies to explore and get dinner. Lisa suggested Indian food and we all agreed to it. Now there’s a restaurant every 10 feet so we didn’t have to go far. We found a restaurant that looked good so we went in.
And yay for English on the menu! I forgot to mention this earlier when we had breakfast but it’s a great relief to see not only Dutch but English as well on menus. I ordered Butter Chicken which is one of my favorite Indian dishes and Dean got Chicken Vindloo which is his fav and is VERY spicy. We ordered garlic Naan too. That’s always good. The food was delicious and the company was great. We all shared stories of our travels and life back home. After dinner we wandered to the Red Light District and went into a few coffee shops. Believe it or not, by midnight we were tired again and we ended the night. Back to the Flying Pig to catch some z’s.

Travel: Amsterdam & Italy - Day 1

Monday 5/31/10
We’re off on a two week adventure to Amsterdam and Italy!
And so the journey begins! Like usual, we were up late last night finishing up our last minute preparations for this trip. Dean was in bed just after one and I followed at about 1:30am. We arranged to have a town car pick us up at 12:45 to be at the airport by 1:30. Our flight was at 3:30 – bound for Amsterdam with connections in Chicago and London.
Surprisingly, I awake before my alarm that was set for 9am. This is good because there was still a list of things to do this morning before departing. This includes giving our house a quick cleaning as it is for sale and there are a few showings while we’re away. We cleaned, packed the last second items, and were ready just in time when Marshall (the driver) arrived. We load the car and lock the house. And so the journey really begins!
While Marshall’s driving was less than impressive (he almost ran off the road twice), we got to the airport right on time. We were worried that being a holiday, the airport may be a bit busy but actually it was quite the opposite. Relieved, we went to the American Airlines check-in kiosk. Just moments after putting our flight info in, we found out the first flight was delayed and delayed to the point that it would make us miss our connecting flight. Fantastic. To the check-in counter we go with hopes there were other options. After this experience now I know why some people stand at the counter for 10-15 minutes…people in line were definitely eyeing us and likely thinking “what in the heck is taking them so long – I have a plane to catch”. Well, if you’ve ever wondered that, this is a perfect scenario. The gentleman behind the counter was very friendly and realized our concern and after literally 10 options that were ‘no good’ and several phone calls later, we found another flight…but it would mean changing airlines, getting to the other terminal, and getting through security in less than 45 minutes. All at the expense of AA of course, not ours.
We ran from the north terminal to the south where Delta is. We received some good help here too…we checked-in via the kiosk then we became “those” people that everyone loves to hate. A Delta employee opened a lane just for us to check our bags as it was unlikely that we would make the flight if she hadn’t. And of course in the middle of the rush my bad was 2 pounds overweight (50 is the limit) so I had to remove some items from my bag and toss them into my carry-on to avoid the $50 charge. Dean’s bag weighed 50 exactly. Of course.
Security was quick and painless, thank goodness. And we arrived at our gate in the nick of time…only to find out this flight was delayed too. You’ve got to be kidding me. At this point our itinerary has already changed once – we were originally going from Atlanta to Chicago to London to Amsterdam. Now we were going from Atlanta to Boston to Amsterdam.
The flight from ATL to BOS was pretty quick once we finally took off – about an hour delayed. I can rarely sleep on planes and this was no exception. Dean and I chatted and surfed the net on the in-flight wifi. We landed at 6pm and our next flight was taking off at 6:50. It was going to be close but we stayed positive about it. We were finally de-planed at 6:15 and had to RUN to the next gate which was just a few gates down from where we were. Dean ran ahead of me to let them know we were coming and thankfully he did! The last few people were boarding the plane and we were the last on board but we made it. They made last call just as we arrived. We didn’t even have time to catch our breath! And it just so happened that we had the very last seats on the plane – row 44.
This flight is 6.5 hours (less than we expected!) which was a pleasant surprise. So now we’re in real time. We are about mid-flight now as I write and Dean and I watched Invictus (great movie) and had a great dinner. He had a chicken with veggies and I had pasta. A few hours remain before we land. It will be about 8 am in Amsterdam which is 6 hours ahead of home (EST). I’m thinking I may need to try and get some sleep now because once we arrive in Amsterdam we are going to hit the ground running…

Videos from Asia!!

Days 5-8 Shanghai, China

The flight from Hong Kong to Shanghai was short and we slept the whole time anyway because of that darn 445 am wake up call. However, the little sleep on the plane did not stop us from passing out as soon as we got into our hotel room. Speaking of the hotel room, DAMN!! A room like this in the states would cost nearly 10x the amount. Man we love Asia!





















Upon awaking from our restful slumber, we took it to the streets. Let's preface this by saying the smog created by the pollution could choke you quicker than LA ever could. Regardless, we made it out into the smog free city center. We were very hungry at this point as we had been sleeping for the past 8 hours. We found KFC and Pizza Hut but we were determined to find more local food. And try as we may, our persistance paid off. Our non-English-speaking selection proved to be a great choice. Although we had to point to what we wanted on the menu, we got our point across. Dean ordered spicy bullfrog and beef tripe and I ordered a more conservative dish of shrimp and corn cakes. All of the food was delicious and I even tried spicy bullfrog! Suprisingly it was quite good but I just could not get past all floating frog parts in the bowl. The spine was just freaking me out. Dean could care less, in fact he enjoyed chomping on the frog spine to ensure he got every bit of meat off of it. GROSS!!!!! Sadly, I forgot my camera and couldn't catch this exciting moment on film. =/

After dinner we opted for a taxi ride back to the hotel because even though it was well past dark, the heat was unbearable and when you add smog into the mix it makes for a very killer combo. We jumped in the cab and showed the driver our hotel address in Chinese. Not to our surprise, he got lost and we ended up in an alley full of massage parlors (No, not all the naughty ones you guys are thinking of). Our curiosity led us into one such place...just to check prices of course. 24 bucks for an hour body massage?? This was an offer we could not refuse. My massage was lovely. Dean raved about his too. It was really hysterical though communicating wiithout words. They didn't speak English and our Chinese is well, non-existant at this point. I've started to notice a pretty universal behavior - when you can't communicate through language with someone it always seems to be funny. Everyone just laughs. So we paid for a massage and laughed as we left.

Needless to say, sleep came easy that night.

On day 2 we enjoyed the buffet breakfast at our hotel. It had traditional chinese selections as well as western options. Dean enjoyed his dim sum and congee while I had fresh fruit and waffles. Call me boring but I don't really care to have the runs while I'm here. Dean doesn't mind.

To be continued...