Boston: the adventure continues

I have just accepted a job (gasp) in Boston, and we will head there mid-January. It's not quite as adventurous as some of the places we've been, but we are both looking forward to this next stage in our lives.

Update 09/2009: Jerome is now an Assistant Professor at University of New Brunswick, Saint John: Click here.

Update 03/13: We are living in Halifax, a very cool city. Love it. Jerome's work updates are here

and here

The End

We are back home in Canada, hiding out at my parents' house in Hammond River (pop. 500). After the hustle and bustle of the last few countries we were in, this place is eerily quiet. And damn cold too. But it's good to be home as well -- we have been enjoying drinking water from the tap, and seeing our friends and cats.

We had a wonderful trip, and it's hard to believe it's over. Surprisingly, we never got really tired (except for a couple times when we were sick) and we enjoyed every minute.

After all the travelling we did, we look back and know the best times were spent with our friends: the ones we knew before and whose houses we invaded, and the ones we met along the way who travelled with us, took us out for dinner, and welcomed us to their countries.

So, a big thanks to: Andrea, Rodney and Julianne in Halifax; Aunt Clare, Uncle Tim, and Paul and Annmarie and the kids in England; Natasha, Franck, Bader, and Abid in London; Mikiya and Anne in Berlin; Rick and Jessica in Italy; Baris, Emre, Emre's grandma and Haider in Turkey; Walid, Mohsen, Ali, and Said and his family in Syria; Saseen and Ghada in Beirut; Kate and Andy in the desert, on a cruise ship, in India, or wherever we were together; and the countless others who helped or rescued us when we looked lost, confused, hungry or in need of a walking stick to beat off marauding monkeys. Our finest memories are with all of you.

This journey is over, but we are still doctors without jobs, so stay tuned to find out where we end up next! Hopefully we will know within the next few weeks.

Awards and distinctions

After six months on the road, visiting some of the greatest cities and sites on the planet, we self-administered a survey and are ready to hand-out a few awards and distinctions. We only visited 11 of the roughly 200 countries in the world, and our answers are highly subjective!

1. Favourite sites

• Taj Mahal, India
• Wadi Rum, Jordan
• Golden Temple, India
• Crac des Chevaliers and Saladin's castles, Syria
• Haghia Sofia, Turkey
• Pyramids, Egypt
• Jodphur Fort, India
• Cappadocia, Turkey

2. Favourite cities

• Istanbul, Turkey
• Beirut, Lebanon
• Damascus, Syria
• London, UK
• Cairo, Egypt
• Florence, Italy

3. Favourite Beaches

• Railay, Thailand
• Bodrum, Turkey
• Kabak, Turkey
• Bamboo Bay, Ko Lanta, Thailand

4. Most useful travel items

• unlocked mobile phone
• universal sink plug

5. Ideal day of eating

• Breakfast: Turkish (olives, cheese, tomatoes, cucumber, boiled eggs, bread, apricot jam).
• Lunch: Napoli pizza or Chang Mai noodle soup and mango sticky rice
• Dinner: Peshwari Afghan lamb kebabs and Dal makhani.
• Dessert: Glouchestershire cheese plate or Turkish baclava and puddings.
• Night snack: Syrian chicken shawarma, from Medan St. in Damascus.

6. Best style and fashion

• Men: London, England.
• Women: anywhere in Italy.

7. Funniest moment

• Caroline: watching Jerome get his second nerdy bowl cut/reverse mullet/military buzz by a Syrian barber in two weeks due to serious communication breakdown. He just went in for a beard trim.
• Jerome: religious Islamic song editing for the US market in a Russian cosmetics office in Damascus. Click here for full story.

8. Favourite mode of transport

• Caroline: Movenpick Radamis II Five-Star Nile Cruiser
• Jerome: Mr. India, the best camel on the Pakistan-India border

9. Favourite markets

• Aleppo souq, Syria
• Urfa souq, Turkey

10. Favourite museums

• Egyptian Museum, Cairo
• Mosaic Museum, Gaziantep, Turkey
• German National History Museum, Berlin
• Borghese Gallery, Rome

11. Favourite hotels

• Baron Hotel, Aleppo, Syria
• Windsor Hotel, Cairo, Egypt
• Elif Star, Goreme, Turkey
• Shahi Palace, Jaisalmer, India
• Seventh Heaven, Pushkar, India
• Sultan's Inn, Istanbul, Turkey

12. Favourite drinks

• Blackberry juice in Damascus
• Lemon juice in Egypt
• BEER in Germany
• Coconut shakes in Thailand
• Masala chai on the train in India
• Ayran in Turkey

13. Favourite shisha cafes

• Kurdish militia tea house on Edgeware road in London
• Erenler Chai Bahcesi Tea Garden, bazaar district, Istanbul

14. Best baclava in the world

• Karakoy Gulluoglu, Karakoy district, Istanbul, Turkey

15. Next destinations

• Cuba, Greece, Iran, Venezuela, China, Cape Breton Island

Packing

In case anyone is plannning their own around-the-world adventure, here is a list of everything we packed or picked-up along the way (excluding souvenirs). I think we packed really well, so maybe this list can help your preparations.

Beaches

We spent the last 10 days in southern Thailand, first at Raileh Beach and then on the island of Ko Lanta. Even on this "backpacker" island, most of the beaches are overcrowded with resorts. Fortunately we found a really laid-back beach with excellent food at Bamboo Bay. We had a lot of fun sleeping in thatch bungalows on the beach, swimming in emerald green waters, and frollicking in the sun.








Our bartender at Bamboo Bay gave us his recipe for Pina Coladas, so get ready to party Saint John!

Nick's Pina Colada (Bamboo Bay, Ko Lanta, Thailand)

2 shots pineapple juice
1 shot coconut milk
1/2 shot whole milk
1/2 lime squeezed
1 shot syrup
1/2 shot malibu
1 shot dark rum
1/2 shot white rum

directions:
- shake with ice
- serve with slice of orange

Island living

We're currently hanging out on the island of Ko Lanta in Thailand. We've been here a week. Very nice and good food, but I have to admit, at times we've actually been, well, kind of bored.
Have we lost the ability to relax after running around for so long? No doubt this will be rectified when we get back to Hammond River, New Brunswick in a short time.

Sukothai

Here are a few pics of the old ruins in Sukothai. We rented bikes for two days and visited lots of temples and buddha statues.

Chiang Mai

We also took a bit of time out from eating and cooking to go visit some temples in Chiang Mai...

And to go for a trek in the jungle. I have to admit I'm excited to get back to hiking in Canada where we don't need a guide, and can choose our own companions so that they don't include a racist British expat and Germans with unsuitable shoes (not shown).

Our Favourite Activity

It has now been about 5 months since Jerome and I have cooked or washed dishes. But we have been eating a lot of good food. We haven't mentioned food much on our blog, but eating on this trip, as in Toronto, has been our favourite activity. After Bangkok, we headed up to Chiang Mai in the north of Thailand, and let food completely take over the next four days. We did two days of cooking courses at Baan Thai, and hopefully will be able to reproduce some of the dishes at home. By the way, does anyone know where to buy galangal or kaffir lime leaves in Saint John?!

There is food everywhere in Thailand. And it all looks so good!


Jerome eating one of his favourite meals in the world: Chiang Mai (kao soi) noodles, with a coconut shake. Total cost: $1.60.


My favourite Thai food: mango sticky rice.


Cooking class:


The results don't even look too bad. Especially when paired with a Singha beer!