Here's the second page of my new scans.

Last updated 21 June 98

"Aloy" is the name of this restaurant. It's my favorite little hole in the wall in Bangkok, and they serve northeastern Thai food. Their specialty is called Som Tum, which is a grated green papaya salad with lime juice, tomatoes, peanuts, a few dried shrimp, and lots of Thai hot chilies. The people here are Jim, a Canadian; Lamai, who helps out serving food to tourists so she can practice her English; Maria, a French-Canadian who introduced me to this place; and Richard, an Englishman who was on his way to Cambodia and Vietnam. (83K)

Tongdosa is an important Buddhist temple in South Korea. It was originally built about 650 AD. These turtles greet you as you enter. (42K)

This is one of my "colleagues" at my school in Ulsan, in the southeastern part of the country. She taught math, so we had to communicate with sign language. Most of the teachers were young (early 20s) men and women looking to meet someone and get married. Two fellow teachers (women) quit their jobs while I was there because they had married... (54K)

Here is a typical alley in a Korean city. This is in Kuri, a suburb of Seoul. I walked through this alley almost every day on my way to work. I had to be at the school at 2 pm, so I'd shop for Mandoo (pot stickers) or Kimbop (Korean sushi-style rolls). (59K)

I was lucky enough to be in Thailand during a total eclipse of the sun. I went to Nakhan Sawan, an industrial city in the middle of the country to be in the path of totality. There is a Buddhist temple in the middle of town, on top of a high hill, where most of the people came to watch. The monks at the temple were as interested as anyone else, and got their viewing glasses like the rest of us. (46K)

This is Ravi. He and I met at the total eclipse of the sun that happened in central Thailand. He was a Malaysian advertising agent who had come up to Thailand to see the eclipse and think about things. We ended up at some bungalows on the banks of the Mekong river; he with a notebook, me with a sinus infection. (11K)

I ended up back in Malaysia for ten days, waiting for my flight to South Africa. Ninna from Hong Kong and I ended up going to Penang for a few days. Penang is an island off the coast of north-west peninsular Malaysia, and it was once the seat of British colonial power. Many of the streets still have English names. This is a picture of the Plaza Hostel, where we stayed. It was your basic "backpackers" hostel, with lots of cheap beds. The best part about the place is the Indian restaurant you can see on the first floor of the building. Wonderful cooking by the family that runs the place. I learned a very good lesson at this hostel: Don't spend the night anywhere close to a mosque if you don't have your earplugs! (67K)

Next stop: Capetown! One of the most beautiful cities in the world, Capetown's centerpiece is Table Mountain. It's a 3000 foot high, flat-topped piece of rock that dominates the landscape. The main part of the city is off to the left; this shot is of the nearby Lion's Head, itself 2000 feet. Behind Lion's Head is the fog that often sits just offshore, much like San Francisco. (63K)

Here's the view of Table Mountain from Lion's Head (see previous picture). It's about an hour hike from the hostel where I was staying (called Zebra Crossing. Definitely stay there if you're in Capetown!). You can see how the city comes right up to the base of the mountain, and if you look carefully, you can see where the cablecar leaves to go to the top. (75K)

I'll admit it: I cheated. This is a scan of the ticket I used to get up the mountain. There is a trail, but I was brain-dead from the 15 hour flight when I went up, and I didn't want to kill myself falling off. I hiked up Lion's Head 3 times to make up for it, and anyway, the view is better from there. :-) (60K)

The first time I climbed Lion's head was with Utoni and Wendy Ann. She's an traveler from Australia who was staying at the same backpackers as myself. Utoni was 19 when this picture was taken. He had just graduated from high school, and was hanging out in the city before going home to Namibia. His parents were wealthy enough to send him to a good school, and the best schools are in South Africa. The view behind them is of the Twelve Apostles, a rock formation that is part of the Table Mountain complex. (70K)

We're whitewater rafting on the Zambezi river in Zimbabwe. We've gone through a few big rapids, but there are more to come. The water was about 84 degrees and the air temperature was about 100 degrees, so there was little relief from the heat. When I'm rafting in Oregon and it's hot, I can just drop over the side in the calmer spots to get cool. You can't do that on the Zambezi, or the crocodiles will get you. (48K)

More rafting on the Zambezi. This man is our "Highsider"; a rafting guide trainee. There is an apprenticeship system on the river, with a constant dialog between the guide and the highsider. On the easier stretches of the river (lower than class 4), the highsider takes over and hones his skills. (42K)

This is Tico. He's one of the kayakers who rides herd on the rafts. If you fall in the water, he or one of his cohorts paddles over and drags you back to your raft, so you can climb back in before the water gets too calm (see about crocodiles, two pictures up). This is a class 6 rapid called "Commercial Suicide". We were porting our rafts around the rapid when Tico decided to give his new kayak a test drive. He popped out about 40 feet further down the river exactly as he had gone in; grinning and upright. (60K)

After leaving Africa, I ended up in Germany, visiting some friends before heading home. One of the places I went was to see the ancient castles at Dahn, just north and west of Karlsruhe. It was freezing cold! I hadn't experienced a winter in over a year, so it was quite a shock to my system to go from 80 degree Cape Town to 20 degree Germany. Diane was able to get the day off and take me around. It was really beautiful, in a cold sort of way... (46K)

I was able to spend 4 days with my friend Wilma in Bonn. Unbeknownst to me, it was Fasching! It's the German equivalent of Carnival or Mardi Gras. We went up to Cologne, where the holiday is celebrated more 'vigorously' than in other parts of Germany. People were everywhere, running around in the streets, dressed up like ghosts and demons, and drinking beer. Good beer. Lots of good beer. (46K)

Eventually, Wilma and I got cold running around Cologne in February, so we ducked into a little gasthaus called Peffgen. There we drank more Kolsch (the specialty beer of Cologne) and sang songs. At one point, these fine gentlemen walked by, handing out little gifts to keep people safe on this night of celebration. (67K)

Back to the previous page.

Back to Chris' travel page.

Back to Chris' home page.