Adventures in Azjerbaijan

When we found out My Man would be assigned for a three-week assignment in Baku, Azerbaijan, this summer, I asked the kids if they wanted to go visit.  "More traveling?!" sighed one.  "It would be nice to have some down time," replied another.  "Not really, but you should go!" answered the third.  Sometimes I think my kids are aliens.  Who passes up a chance to see a new piece of the world?!  But that is fine by me.  We worked out babysitting and I booked tickets to visit My Man on my own.

He arrived last week and scouted out the area, wandering all through Old Town, making friends with a local barber, and getting the lowdown on the best local restaurants.  Sometimes it's nice to let him go ahead and get the lay of the land.

I'd never been anywhere near the Middle East before and although Azerbaijan doesn't technically count, it feels like it should.  Arid landscapes, oil rigs, dome shamed architecture, palm trees, a blazing hot sun--all it's missing are the camels!

It was a fascinating city to visit and by the end I was disappointed I hadn't had enough time to explore more of Azerbaijan (though My Man had already finagled an invitation to go camping with the local paragliding trip a few days after I left, so he will get to see the green, mountainous region!).

Speaking of paragliding, practically the moment I landed, we were getting up at 4 in the morning to meet the local paragliding club to go fly.  They generously allowed me to tag along, and I was glad I did, in spite of the insanely early hour.  The views of the early morning sunrise over the desert were stunning.

We went to two spots and hiked to the top of the hills at both places.  My Man flew three times (soaring until it was time to go at the second place).  On the second hike up the mountain, as I was walking I ran into something that felt like fishing line strung between the bushes.  Turns out it was the spiderweb for the largest spider I've ever seen in real life (not counting tarantulas).  I was very happy that the spider was still on the web and not on me, or the shock may have caused me to scream or fall off the mountain.  It was seriously huge!

But we made it up the mountain in spite of the gigantic spiders and other bugs and My Man took off.  I hiked, took pictures, and read while he flew.

By noon, when we headed back to our hotel, it felt like we'd already had an entire day of fun.  But after a few hours hiding from the sun, we headed back out to explore Baku's Old Town.

Another evening, we headed to Upland Park, a public area on top of the mountain overlooking Baku.  There is a beautiful monument to the soldiers who died in the Azeri-Armenian conflict in 1992 (which is still ongoing).  There are monuments, a restaurant overlooking the ocean, and a mosque up top as well, not to mention a fantastic view of the flaming towers.  Watching the sunset over the ocean and skyline was incredible.

While My Man was hard at work paying the bills and saving the world, I did a little bit of editing work, researched some upcoming trips, worked out, and read.  One day, however, I signed up for a walking tour of Baku.  I figured out the Metro system and headed for the meeting point.  Only no one showed up.  Turns out I was the only one who had signed up so the tour company canceled the tour, without telling me.  So I took a self-guided tour and had a great time.

Old Town Baku is enchanting, surrounded by impressive walls and turrets, it feels like you are inside a castle.  The roads are cobblestone, there are mosques and palaces and tiny alleys and cute cafes and souvenir shops.  Half of the Old Town is actually under water now, but the part that is left is well worth exploring.

And even though My Man had to walk, it was fun to meet up every day after work to go out for dinner and explore a bit more.

And then, practically before I knew it, my trip was over!  My Man has a little over a week left here, but soon he'll be home and we'll head out on our last summer adventure (a road trip to Western Ukraine).  Overall, I'd have to say I can wholeheartedly recommend a trip to Baku.

Summer Roadtrip Part 1: Ukraine, Moldova, Romania

The last day of school, the kids dropped off backpacks, hurriedly ate lunch, and piled into the car as we headed out for a week-long roadtrip to explore Eastern Europe.  Just a couple hours into our trip, we ended up here:

It was pouring rain, the road had simply ended in construction, and we weren't getting a cell signal.  Not the most auspicious start to our trip!  But My Man found a suitable detour and we headed on.  Then we realized that the border crossing Google Maps was sending us to was actually a ferry and that we might not make it before it closed for the day.  We re-routed again to make sure we avoided entering Moldova in Transnistria (an unrecognized republic that claims to be independent but which most countries consider part of Moldova--we had heard that entering Moldova through Transnistria, though faster, would cause some problems when we left Moldova) and avoided the ferry crossing.  The plentiful potholes in the roads were harder to miss, but My Man did an incredible job of navigating the rough roads in the rough weather.  Before we knew it, we were leaving Ukraine and crossing into Moldova.

Moldova is a very poor country, and we noticed a difference as soon as we crossed the border.  There were horse-drawn carts everywhere, the roads were even worse than in Western Ukraine (an impressive feat), and there were fields and fields of sunflowers, potatoes, and wheat.  It was very beautiful.  Normally, on family roadtrips, I read a book aloud to help pass the time.  This time, however, we tried an audiobook.  It was awesome to be able to look out the window as we drove.  I had a moment as we passed another horse-drawn cart with a Moldovan family in the back when it hit me--wow, we are driving across Moldova!  That's absolutely amazing.

We arrived at our hotel around 9pm, and after some yoga to work out the kinks from sitting too long, went right to bed.  The next morning, when we went to check out, we found out the hotel only accepted cash.  We hadn't changed any money into Moldovan Lei, not expecting to need any.  We had USD, Euros, and Hrivnia, but couldn't make the right combination (they didn't have any change).  My Man and the boys headed into town to find a bank while Darling Daughter and I stretched our legs a bit in anticipation of the long drive ahead.

At last we were on our way to our first stop: Old Orhei, an old monastery perched on top of (and inside) a cliff.  The views were amazing.  We didn't have a guide, so wandered around a bit looking at everything.

There wasn't a lot to see, but we were glad to have stopped.  My Man spent a few minutes fantasizing about getting out his paraglider and flying down, but the wind wasn't quite perfect, so he decided to wait for Romania.

We had another border crossing a few hours later and then we were in northern Romania, on our way to Brasov, Transylvania, where we would stay for a few nights.  In Romania, the sunflowers were just opening and there were fields and fields of them!

We arrived at our guesthouse just in time for dinner.  We opted to walk after so many hours in the car and enjoyed a delicious Romanian meal to welcome us to town.  (This is where it became apparent just how much energy the kids had suppressed during the drive, as it took about 200 attempts to get one regular picture of the three kids :D)

The next morning we rose early, ate a quick breakfast, and then the kids and I headed off to Bran Castle (Dracula's castle!).  I had read that it got crowded quickly, so we tried to get there by opening (9am).  Traffic was slow because of several sections of construction, however, so it was 9:24 by the time we got there.  Already, the tourists were there.  (It was probably good we got there when we did, because by the time we were leaving, the line was out the door and halfway down the hill!  The crowds inside were almost claustrophic when we were there, so I can't imagine how bad it got later.)

The castle was an interesting experience--extremely crowded, somewhat eclectic, but still, it retained a charm of its own.  Of course, it's not actually Dracula's castle and Vlad the Impaler (the count after which Stoker's Dracula is modeled) only stayed in the castle about 2 months, but still, it was fairly easy to imagine it as a vampire lair.  And the views were incredible.

After that we stopped for a picnic lunch.  Transylvanian forests are beautiful and even though we didn't venture too far off the road, the spot was serene and beautiful.

After lunch, we headed to Rasnov Fortress (along with about half of Romania apparently!).  It was really hot and crowded, so we opted to take the glass elevator up instead of hiking--a very smart decision!  The fortress itself was interesting to wander around.

Apparently, it was only conquered once--when enemies found the secret path to the fortress's water source.  After that, legend has it that two Turkish prisoners were set the task of digging a well in side the fort through solid rock in exchange for their freedom.  It took 17 years to dig the 500+ foot well, but after that, the fortress was once again impregnable.

After exploring the fort, we headed back to the forest for some quiet reading, meditating, and exploring, before heading back to our home away from home for the night.

Meanwhile, My Man had been paragliding all day.  Taking a ski lift up to launch and landing just a few footsteps from our guesthouse, it doesn't get much better than that.  Conditions were great and there happened to be a paragliding festival going on at the same time, so there were lots of pilots in the air.  The whole trip was planned around the flying here in Brasov, so it was great to see it all come together so well.  We were home just in time to watch his last flight and landing.

Next on the agenda was what I'd been most anticipating: the Seven Ladders (Canionul Sapte Scari) hike.  The first review of this hike read like a horror story.  Seven rickety, precarious ladders straight up cliff faces, slippery from the splashing waterfalls they edged, the whole hike winding through a narrow but gorgeous slot canyon.  The pictures were incredible.  It made me want to do it but also made it sound like if I did, I would be certifiably insane, especially if I brought along our kids.  A bit more searching, however, indicated that the article was old and that stairs and bridges had recently been remodeled and that now it was a beautiful, safe hike.  I was stoked.

Thanks to inaccurate GPS instructions, we ended up getting a bonus hike at the beginning.  Ironically, another family (from Israel), arrived just before us and headed up what looked to be the trail.  I had read that we needed to follow the yellow marks (not red, or we'd end up somewhere else), but we didn't see any marks.  After a few minutes, we met up with the other family and realized they weren't sure they were in the right place.  Frankly, I wasn't either, but it was a beautiful trail and I figured we could hike for 15 or so minutes to see what we found before calling it quits.  When we still hadn't encountered any yellow (or red) trailmarkers, we decided to head back down and see if we'd missed the spot.  Sure enough, there was a turn just a bit earlier along the road that led to the signed trailhead.  Not too far from the parking area, there was a V in the trail, the red trail to the left, the yellow trail straight ahead.  I was glad I'd read that we needed to follow the yellow trail, because at that point there was no indication of which was the way to go to the Seven Ladders.

The hike was nice, along a bubbly creek, through the forest, but longer than I'd expected.  At last, we arrived at the base of the Seven Ladders trail, where you pay a small entrance fee to hike through the canyon (5 lei for kids, 10 for adults, so about $1.25 for kids and $2.50 for adults).  The hike was great.  Perhaps not quite as epic as I'd imagined, but really beautiful and unique.

The ladders and bridges were in great repair and seemed very safe.  There was some water splashing from the waterfalls, but not as much as I'd expected.  The hike to finish the loop back to the lodge was almost as beautiful in a more forest-beautiful kind of way.

The main disappointment was that we couldn't zipline back down as we'd hoped.  There is a zipline (50 lei) that goes from the lodge back almost down to the parking lot, but it's for adults only (they would have let Young Man but not Darling Daughter or Funny Guy).  I tried to pin down the minimum age or weight--they waffled a little, 18 years old, they said first, then "maybe 14" and 45 kg.  Darling Daughter and Funny Guy are both right around 45 kg, but still didn't make the cut.  They were devastated.  Then we found out there is a zipline area for kids under 45 kg at the bottom (20 lei for 30 min; 4 lines).  Funny Guy signed up and loved it.  

Unfortunately, Darling Daughter had pushed a bit too hard on the way up and her legs gave way partway down, causing her to stumble and fall off the path.  Thankfully, she was OK except for some scratches and bruises, but it was very slow and painful getting back down the rest of the way.  Young Man helped out by giving her a piggy back ride most of the way.

And best of all?  The weather had initially forecasted rain, then thundershowers, but we had beautiful perfect weather all day.  We even stopped for a leisurely picnic on the way home, enjoying every minute possible in these beautiful forests.  The thunderstorms finally blew in as we were eating dinner, comfy-cozy back home.

My Man got to go paragliding in the mountains a couple hours away today and isn't back yet (that's why I'm getting this all written up so quickly!).  I got to talk to him for a few minutes, though, and it sounded like another epic flying day.  Hopefully we'll get the full scoop and pictures soon.

Sadly, this is all the time we have in Transylvania.

Tomorrow, we head off to Odesa, Ukraine, via Moldova then Transnistria, so it will be a long day of driving but could be interesting (remember, Transnistria is the self-declared but not acknowledged country that is really part of Moldova).  I was wondering how the kids would react to so much driving in this vacation, but so far at least, it's had great results.  Darling Daughter said it has been her favorite vacation except for Paris, France, and the boys have been positive too.  I almost think I have a harder time with all the driving than they do!  Looks like we'll have to plan some more roadtripping-in-Europe adventures.  Next up will probably be Poland!

Slices of Life: Summer in Paradise

Funny Guy's final field trip was to Sun Center waterpark in Lamphun, a quarky waterpark/amusement park that is still partly under construction. But these first graders didn't care about the semi-disarray. They jumped right in and splashed and laughed the morning away. 

After lunch, they got to try out several of the rides. Funny Guy's favorite was the mechanical bull. Though it threw him both times, Funny Guy "yeehawed" and whooped and even held on with just one hand as it lurched around. Definitely a great way to end the year.

On the last day of school, there weren't any sad faces on these three!  We celebrated with icecream on the way home.

One of our first summer outings was a bike ride over to the soccer field at Payap University. We played soccer, watched clouds, read, and rode bikes until we were completely drenched in sweat. Then we rode home to shower off and go swimming. Definitely a great first day of summer break.

Another fun outing was lunch with friends at Nic's Restaurant across town. It's the world's greatest restaurant where you can get great food, gluten free cake, and smoothies and the kids can play for hours on the bamboo boat, climbing tower, swings, or trampoline.  Definitely a great place to meet up for a play date!

Darling Daughter missed friends already, so invited them over for swim parties and sleep overs right away. I knew I'd be starting work soon, so we crammed in as many as we could that first week of summer.

I also spent lots of time outside with Funny Guy, walking Mochi, biking around the neighborhood, or walking to the pond to feed the fish. Sometimes when it's so hot, it's easy to get lazy and stay inside all day, but we always love it when we get outside.

Our first Friday Fun Day was supposed to be a trip to Sticky Falls, but I was over-confident with my navigational skills and didn't look up directions. We'd been there once before and I was sure I'd be able to drive there again. I took a wrong turn, though, and by the time we realized it, correcting it would have taken almost 2 hours. Luckily, the kids were good sports and decided we could try out this place instead. 

It was great. We rented tubes (though the creek was too shallow to do much more than float lazily), hunted for crawdads, caught fish, and built a rock dam. We picnicked and read. It was an idyllic summer afternoon, and by the time we headed for home, the kids were thanking me for my mistake.

My Man hasn't been able to do much paragliding here, but there was one day of magic in June. He invited his whole section from work to come up and the wind cooperated perfectly.

He took off and flew, eliciting oohs and aahs and gasps and applause from the large audience below.

We could see a great storm in the distance, but it never got too close and the wind was enough to keep My Man flying until sunset forced him to land.

My Man took the boys to the archery range a few times across town. Since they already have the bows and arrows, it's only a few bucks each time.

There aren't many places that we can walk or bike to safely from our house, but there is one icecream shop that isn't too treacherous a bike trip and the kids absolutely love to go. They have some of the best icecream in town and the bike trip makes you almost feel like you've earned it.

The Consulate hosted a concert by a symphony quartet from Stanford University that My Man had to emcee. We brought the kids for the cultural experience and everyone enjoyed it. Unfortunately, however, no one was inspired to start practicing the abandoned violin at home.

One of our next fun outings was to Huay Tung Taow lake for a picnic lunch and swimming. About halfway through we were joined by a friendly bird who begged chips and fruit for the rest of the morning.  Young Man and Funny Guy also caught a couple crabs and pipe fish for their aquatic habitat.

And then it was time for me to start work!  I was bummed to be starting just a week after the kids got out of school, but so excited to be starting work at my first "real" job--not quite fair considering I worked at our business for years and also as a copyeditor and proofreader, but I'd never worked at an office or with a face-to-face boss! 

I get to commute to and from work with My Man and most days we get to eat lunch together. I love what I do as the Consulate's Management Assistant, helping with a large variety of projects. I organize events, help out with grants, work on environmental issues, organize English classes, and more. It's definitely busy, but it has been working out well and I am so happy I made the choice to start working.

Just a typical grocery shopping trip. Luau anyone?

Happy Father's Day My Man!  The kids made breakfast in bed, awesomely creative cards, and very cool presents, including this awesome rope dragon we got at the walking street market. 

 

I already wrote about our awesome 4th of July weekend and some of our other Friday Fun outings, but here are some more of our highlights from July:

Since I didn't work Fridays over the summer, we continued to have fun outings every Friday. For one, Darling Daughter and I attended a Consulate community activity to an interesting temple and lunch. It was a rainy day, but it was a fun outing and the hot chocolate was amazing. 

Another Friday Fun Day was a trip to the umbrella factory where we got to watch how they make the traditional fans and umbrellas here, from making the paper to the bamboo skeleton. They also have several artisans there who paint the umbrellas and fans, or anything else you have, including the clothes you are wearing!  Darling Daughter had her shorts painted, Funny Guy got a sword, and Young Man and I had our phone cases painted. It was great.

When Minions came to town, we decided to organize a big outing to go and had almost 50 people show up!  It was seriously one of the stupidest shows ever, but it was fun to get together with friends.

We discovered an airsoft place not far from our house and have gone a few times, including this time for one of Young Man's friend's birthday parties. Seriously can't think of a better place for an airsoft battle than a jungle full of abandoned cars, well, unless it is a place without mosquitoes and 90% humidity. . . .

 

And then it was already the end of July and practically the end of summer (well, the end of summer vacation anyway, since it's really always summer).  Even though the kids didn't want it to end, they all admitted that it was a great summer, full of fun and adventures and just enough relaxing. They had swim lessons twice a week at our pool, Friday Fun Days and weekend adventures, and lots of books, movies, bike rides, bug hunts, board games, and Studio C the rest of the time. Darling Daughter dabbled with baking and produced some stellar desserts. Funny Guy started a YouTube channel teaching kids how to duplicate his awesome Lego creations, Young Man invested in a soccer goal for our front yard, and they all enjoyed walking and playing with Mochi (our adopted dog for the summer). 

All in all, I'd have to say the Thai summer of 2015 was a resounding success.