Has it really been six months already?!?!

Yes, today, 02FEB2011 officially marks six months to the day that we arrived in Sydney, Australia, the first destination on our round-the-world trip. We have covered some significant ground in the past 185 days including 16 countries on four continents.

At this point, I'm very thankful that we started expensive. Meaning, while Australia & New Zealand ate up a fair amount of our trip budget, as did the Egypt tour and the East African safari, I am glad we spent that money in the beginning and are now traveling in Southeast Asia where our dollar stretches much, much further. If we had done the reverse, I'm afraid we'd be so stressed about counting every penny we wouldn't enjoy the destinations as much and we might be compelled to skip places, like Kangaroo Island, that ended up being one of the highlights of the trip.

awww, aren't they cute?!?!

Of course, I also can't fail to mention the volatile situation in Egypt, where we spent almost two weeks just three months ago. To be honest, it already ranked as the #1 place I would have expected something like this (the mass protests) to happen, simply by virtue of it being incredibly overpopulated and with the majority of people living in poverty. It was certainly one of the most challenging places we've visited and we were on a private tour! I can only hope that the government finds an effective way to rectify the situation, although it is really years (decades) in the making and cannot be fixed overnight.

view of Cairo from a felucca on the Nile River

On a more positive note, Greg & I continue to stay healthy and, after a brief (and free) consultation with a pharmacist in Bangkok, Greg's athlete's foot has now healed almost 100%. It turns out that we were treating the symptoms wrong; i.e., the skin irritation was actually eczema while the fungus is only in the nails. So, armed with the proper medications, he is on the way to a full recovery.

no, this is not how you cure athlete's foot!

Finally, in honor of the official start of the Lunar New Year tomorrow, February 3rd, I would also like to wish everyone a Happy Year of the Rabbit! I am turning over a new leaf, so to speak, by making a valiant effort to get paid for my travel writing. Just today I submitted a guest blog to GoBackpacking as part of my application for a job as a Featured Blogger. No matter what happens, I know it's a step in the right direction!

live bunnies (in outfits!) at Chatuchak market in Bangkok