Siem Reap, Cambodia

We arrived in Siem Reap on Thursday afternoon and so far have found lodging, organized plans for tomorrow and eaten a snack. Following a little food and some beers, we settled in for hour long oil massages. Amazing. They cost $8. I will be getting another one this evening.

Singapore Swing

Ah... it feels good to be traveling again after graduation. We arrived in Singapore Wednesday evening at 11:00pm after about 28 hours of travel. It honestly wasn't too bad of a trip with layovers in San Francisco and Hong Kong. We stayed at the apartment of Marta's friend Patrick. He is working for a PR firm here in Singapore. This morning we grabbed some breakfast and walked around the Riverfront area. The cranes continue to build and the city seems even larger and more modern than when I was last here in 2001. Aside from a little rain, it was a nice stroll and I think we are all looking forward to going out next Thursday when we return from Cambodia. Off to Siem Reap now...

View from Patrick's apartment.

Cityscape and Riverwalk. This will look familiar to fellow SAS alumni.

Marina Bay Sands Hotel and Casino - this is definitely on the list for next week.

A little wet, but enjoying the stroll.

Ready for action.

Amazing city views abound in Singapore with the lush manicured green-space sharing the spotlight with the skyscrapers and sculpture.

USA

Back home for our medical school graduation this coming weekend. Then it is off to SE Asia for a month. We will be introducing a new traveler to the blog as well as our friend Joe will be joining us for the adventure! Perhaps we can convince him to write a guest column?! Our next post will probably be from Singapore or Cambodia. Until then, we leave you with a photo of the medical school graduates from the West River campus. Well done friends.

Colombia: En Barranquilla se duermen asi...

Home tomorrow.

Colombia: Parque Nacional Tayrona in Panorama

Playa Cabo San Juan de la Guia

Playa Cabo San Juan de la Guia

A good view of the two beaches at Playa Cabo San Juan de la Guia.

View from the rocks.

Another good view of the two beaches...taken from the mirador where we slept.

Last view of Playa Cabo San Juan de la Guia.

Sunning at La Piscina. This beach is protected by a natural sea wall of rocks and is great for swimming.

Beach at Cañerveral, our last stop before exiting the park. This beach is not safe to swim in due to its dangerous currents.

Colombia: Parque Nacional Tayrona

Parque Nacional Tayrona is a short jump from Taganga, a reason why this area has become quite the backpacker hang out in Colombia. Many visit to hike to the Ciudad Perdida (Lost City). Drew and I didn't have the 5 days budgeted for this trek, and quite honestly hiking in the humidity of the jungle just didn't seem all that great anyways. However, I hear the trek is worth it from those that do it. We visited Parque Tayrona for its well known beaches, spending two full days in the park.

We chose to take a boat from Taganga to Playa Cabo San Juan de la Guia, spend the night there, and then hike between a few of the other beaches before taking a car back to Taganga. I was expecting a smooth boat ride since it is the Caribbean. But I am happy I took my anti-nausea medicine before we set off because the swells were quite large for your typical speed boat. Fifty minutes in the hot sun bouncing around on a boat was not exactly that pleasant! The views and beaches in Tayrona were quite worth it. Cabo San Juan is also equipped to rent you hammocks/tents and has a restaurant and store. We slept in hammocks on the mirador overlooking the sea.

We spent much of the second day hiking to the other beaches in the park. La Piscina was a beautiful beach (pictured in the panoramic pics). We spent most of our day there, as the other beaches are unsafe to swim in due to dangerous currents. You can tell just looking at the waves how rugged and dangerous they could be. The last bit of the hike was 45 minutes through the jungle...needless to say, we were sweaty messes by the time we reached our vehicle pick up site.

We headed back to Taganga for one last night...excited to eat our $2 pollo a la brasa and Coke Light for the third time in town.

Playa Cabo San Juan de la Guia in Parque Nacional Tayrona. Pictured is the boat we arrived in from Taganga and the hut above is where we slept in hammocks for the night.

Playa Cabo San Juan de la Guia.

Playa Cabo San Juan de la Guia.

More views of the same beach.

The other part of the Playa Cabo San Juan de la Guia beach.

Good view from the opposite side. There were really two beaches separated by a little stream and the hammock hut on the rocks above.

The lush rainforest pictured behind...a sharp contrast to the arid hills of Taganga.

Smooth rocks surround all the beaches in Parque Tayrona.

Rain clouds moving in later in the afternoon.

Our sleeping quarters. We chose the ocean view location instead of the field below because it was cooler with fewer mosquitos. However, it actually got cold enough that I had to use my pack towel as a blanket to cover my head and upper body.

Drew doing yoga on the rocks near the mirador hut.

Sunset at Cabo San Juan de la Guia. Not quite as good as the sunsets in Taganga.

View of the beach from the mirador.

Enjoying another day at the beach at Cabo San Juan de la Guia.

The jungle landscape while walking between beaches. We spent much of our second day at another beautiful beach called La Piscina.

Colombia: Playa Grande

After spending our first day in Taganga scuba diving, we chose to have a relaxing day at one of the nearby beaches the following day. Chairs, shade, clear blue water and a good book. Yes please!

Playa Grande, a much nicer beach around the corner from Taganga. We spent the whole day there lounging in chairs and swimming.

Playa Grande from the water.

A much needed swim to cool off.

We stationed ourselves underneath the big tree in the middle of the beach.

View of Taganga on the boat ride back from Playa Grande.