Tamela's Adventures

Way back when...

2010-06-15T14:20:00.004-05:00

This last Saturday, June 13th, I toured Windsor Castle, City of Bath – Roman Bath, and Stonehenge. Each place was fantastic to visit and wished we had more time at Windsor Castle and Bath. The tour took us on an hour bus drive which viewed the country side of wheat, cattle, and sheep, our first stop was to Windsor Castle. Windsor Castle is where the Queen of England stays mostly, however she was in London celebrating her birthday, so once again, did not get to have tea with her. I did get to see the start of Changing of the Guards, Queen Mary's Doll House, and several other parts of the castle.

Windsor Castle, the largest and oldest occupied castle in the world, is one of the official residences of Her Majesty The Queen.

"The Castle's dramatic site encapsulates 900 years of British history. It covers an area of 26 acres and contains, as well as a royal palace, a magnificent chapel and the homes and workplaces of a large number of people."

The second stop on the tour was the City of Bath, Bath is a quaint little city…several places to shop, eat ice cream, and a great place to relax and watch street entertainers playing music or juggling fire torches. There is a Roman Bath museum that was included in our tour. I walked in the foot steps of Romans and was amazed at the building structure and the statues guarding the large spa. For .60cents, I toss down a glass of warm mineral spring water that is known to make you look 10 yrs younger…I believe it’s working…anyway I felt it was working, it was a good excuse to enjoy an afternoon chocolate scoop cone. There was so much to see and do, however the tour did not allow the time needed to really enjoy Bath. This will be on my bucket list for another time in England.

http://visitbath.co.uk

The third and final stop was to Stonehenge. Its mind-boggling how those large stones arrived and a wonder what the formation means. It will remain a mystery…

London Bridges Fallin' Down

2010-06-08T12:49:00.004-05:00

It’s amazing, when I tour countries I always learn more world history…during this BIG Bus London tour, I learned about the Great London Fire of September 1666, that destroyed 13,200 houses, 87 parish churches, plus other buildings as well, which all started by a Baker shortly after midnight. The Baker was a little tired and went to bed after making biscuits (cookies to us) and forgot to turn off his oven fire…oops!

In April 1968 the London Bridge was sold to Mr. McCulloch for $2,460,000 USD, the bridge was taken apart, each piece was numbered to aid re-assembly and was reconstructed in Arizona, US and re-dedicated in October 1971, however Mr. McCulloch thought he was buying the more impressive bridge which is known as the ‘Tower Bridge’. That’s funny…

We also went by Marble Arch, Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, Marble Arch, Buckingham Palace (didn’t see the Queen, though), Harrods famous shopping center, London Eye, Marble Arch, Tower of London, and did I mention the Marble Arch? I bet we went by the Marble Arch 10 times during that tour…We also rode over the New London Bridge and the Tower Bridge…Walked around Buckingham Palace and took pictures of the guards and maybe next week we will see the changing of the guards.

On Sundays the pubs served roast (beef, lamb, or chicken), so that evening I had a delicious roast beef dinner and then snuggled in for a good night sleep…

The weather has been great, high 60s to low 70s with a few rain showers…

There’s a dazzling array of elephants in town decorated and raring to go! They are part of a huge fund-raising conservation campaign, over 250 brightly painted life-size elephants, each painted by a different artist are for sale on June 30, however don’t believe I have room in my suitcase for one of these elephants. Darn the luck!

Next weekend, we tour Stonehenge, Windsor Castle, and Bath…can’t wait!

Where am I?

2009-11-01T04:26:00.003-06:00

Prior to traveling to unknown paradise that is not on the top 200 vacation destination, I searched the website to find out information about this unknown paradise. Reading articles titled ‘Welcome to Hell, arriving through a modernized Atyrau International Airport, Kazakhstan, Central Asia, former U.S.S.R.’, so really it can’t be that bad, but everything I have read was not looking good.

So I’ll have to see for myself.

Arrived Sunday night (Oct 18), received a good night sleep for a long week ahead. Prior to the end of the week, it hit, the flu, hit us all, 8 out of 9 team members had the flu, some worst then others. The first weekend trapped in the hotel with the flu. So during the second weekend, did a little touring, took some pictures, walked to Asia and back, hit the local shopping mall, well that was about 4 hours of the weekend. We did try to take a drive to see the Caspian Sea, but we were denied a driver for the long drive of 45 miles.

Shopping is very expenses except if you are purchasing vodka and cigarettes…believe it or not, I haven’t bought that much, nothing really to buy, no souvenirs, no postcards, no shot glass, and no souvenirs.

I have noticed that even though everything is extremely expenses the ladies here dress very nice showing off their Chanel, Prada, and other name brand boots. I would have to say, the boots are more expenses then some of the residences I have seen.

So the country is Kazakhstan and the city is Atyrau which is in two continents, Asia and Europe. The hotel is on the Europe side and the office is on the Asia side. So each business day, I’m in one country, one city, and two continents. The Ural River that I cross each day is the border of the two continents.

Most places that I have toured, you can always find a McDonalds, Starbucks, or a Pizza Hut, but not here, the only American restaurant is ‘TGI Fridays’. The food here is ok, they like to put pickles in most dishes, which I find odd, but it’s still good. The KZ people favorite meat is horse, I know right, how can they eat those lovely creatures, but after trying a taste, (Sorry Sis), I can understand why…it’s GOOD.

So I have 4 ½ days left of this unknown paradise and returning home will be the best thing about this place.

Lake Trout Fishing

2009-08-28T15:21:00.010-05:00

It’s been raining back home for six days straight and Bruce needed to keep busy, so off to Canada he went-- to see me and do a little fishing for Lake Trout.

It’s 4:30am and our Canada fishing trip has already begun. We were meeting our fishing guide at 6:45am on Lake Minnewanka in Banff National Park. It was a gorgeous day which also turned out to be a great day to fish. We were fishing for Lake Trout, which are bottom water fish, so fishing is a little different for us, but with a lesson from our guide (Blair), we both caught-on fast. Little toss to put the bait out and then let it sink to the bottom, two hard jerks up and reel in about twenty times then let it sink to the bottom again. After about 10 mins of this, the guide is ready to take us to another spot…but wait…someone feels a little heaviness…who could be reeling in the FIRST FISH…wait for it…it’s ME…oh my gosh I pulled in the first fish on the boat…Can you believe it! It’s big enough for one person to have lunch, but not two, however Blair’s rule is not to let the first fish on the boat go, plus he could have it for lunch. So of course I didn’t make a BIG deal out of this…Bruce had the second fish on the boat, it was so small, that actually could be used for bait. Next spot to try out and this time we let our bait sink to the bottom with a little bumping of the bait and up comes a 6lb fish on my pink bait…awesome! This is FUN…so lets make a little bet here since I’m winning…who can catch the most…so we made our bet and what, what is this, Bruce has a 3lb fish on his line…crap lets change the bet…but the sun came out and the wind came to a dead stop and the fish stopped playing the game. Darn it!

The water on Lake Minnewanka was like looking into a mirror, a person could see about 40 yards down, it was a gorgeous day and we had a great time fishing and enjoying the lake that was snuggled in the mountains.

Pictures are coming soon...

Peking Duck

2009-07-22T07:05:00.003-05:00

Hello from China…….

We arrived safely and we all are healthy…how do I know that all 4 of us are healthy??? Well during the lay over in Hong Kong we went through a temperature check after departing the plane, when we arrived in Beijing China, we went through 3 temperature checks as well. The first check: the medical team, in their breathing mask, took each passengers’ temperature inside the plane, and then once we departed the plane we went through two more temperature checks. Each day when we enter and depart the Hotel and Office, our temperature is checked as well…So I feel we are all very healthy…

My first and only tour of Beijing was Saturday (July 11) and I did the Royal Canal Boat tour, the tour took us to the Five-Pagado Temple (Built in 1473) it is a museum to house 1,200 stone carvings from ancient times. Then to the Purple Bamboo Garden, which I loved, it covers an area of 140,000 square meters, including three lakes with two small islands in the lake. This place was a family park, I watched people enjoying the hot summer day, exercising, and the most enjoyable was watching several retires gather to sing. The garden is great place for people to SING. The Chinese people gather and sing for us Westerners. The last stop was ‘The Summer Palace’ which I swear there were over a million people there. It was hot, very hot, and I have never seen that many people in one place. There were vendors selling postcards, toy whistles, steaming corn on the cob, ice cream bars and plenty more items.

My second weekend, I went shopping which of course I loved. I purchased pearls, purses, sunglasses, flashlights, matches, and some Christmas gifts. Had a big time! I love to negotiate with the Chinese, we upset some of them, but I’m sure they got plenty of money from us. So it’s very fun to buy what ever you would like for very cheap then get on the web to find out what you actually bought and how much it would of cost if you didn’t get it in China.

I’ve had several massages here, full body for $30 and foot & head massages for about $5 each. The full body massage…once again I had quite the experience, Sarah and I decided to do a full body massage, the ‘girls’ speak very little English and we speak less Chinese. So they stuck us both in one room to have the massage, good thing we had two beds. Inside the room there was a shower, which the ‘girl’ asked me to take first, so I did (haven’t done that before a massage), so then it’s Sarah’s turn so she pretends to take one. The massage took an hour and of course it was a good massage, however this of course is not like your normal massage, one of us received a ‘credit card charge’ and both of the ‘girls’ got to first base. OM! So anyway, after the hour massage the ‘girls’ once again wanted me to take a shower, however this time both ‘girls’ and I are in the shower room and one of us is still naked…oh my that’s a first. So the ‘girls’ leave and I’m out of the shower and it’s Sarah’s turn. While I’m trying to get dressed, here comes one of the ‘girls’ again…so really it’s a good thing I grew up with two sisters.

So today was the total solar eclipse around 9:30am in Asia, so of course we stop work for a spell to check it out, however today like all other days in Beijing China, we could not even see the sun from all the pollution. Since we are now in 2009, some of us just watched it on the web.

Total solar eclipses are rare events, averaging their occurrence in the same given area an average of once every 370 years. Totality of longer than 7 minutes is a rare event, fewer than 10 per millenium (a thousand years). The total solar eclipse of July 22, 2009 has a totality of 6 minutes and 39 seconds. It is the longest solar eclipse our generation will experience. It begins in India and ends in Marshall Islands in the Pacific Ocean. It travels the course of 3 hours 25 minutes. The umbra travels along a track approximately 15,150 km long that covers 0.71% of Earth’s surface area. An observer in the umbra experiences total solar eclipse. The next total solar eclipse longer than 7 minutes will occur in June 25, 2150, two generations away.

So I leave on Saturday and arrive back to American on Sunday, I was happy to go to China, but I’ll be very happy to be home with my man.

Vermejo Park Ranch

2009-06-04T11:01:00.001-05:00

For Christmas of 2008, Bruce (the love of my life) gave me a weekend get away to Vermejo Park Ranch in New Mexico. At Vermejo Park Ranch there are several things to do, hunting, fishing, site seeing, and relaxing…

So in May, I cashed in on my Christmas weekend get away, which Bruce and I had great time fishing, getting lost in the park, and relaxing in the cold, rainy weather. I can say Bruce did get some entertainment while we were on this Christmas weekend get away.

My responsibility is to load the boat with the light weight fishing stuff, fish (one pole) and not to hook Bruce. Bruce, loads the heavy fishing stuff in the boat, drives the boat, fishes with two poles, and takes my caught fish off my hooks. So let me tell you how the weekend went…I lost two pretty, shiny, trout baits and damaged my fishing rod, hooked myself a couple of times, received several bruises on my legs from pushing the small fishing boat off into the water, tangled my line with Bruce’s line, froze, and almost fell out of the boat. Every time I did one of my entertainment stunts, Bruce would just smile and shack his head. He was a great sport and we did have a great time.

I love to fish, but of course I’m not good at it…

During the weekend we saw over a thousand elks, hundreds of deer, herd of buffalo, three black bears, two bald eagles, and one coyote. I did hear some turkey gobbling and some other unknown bird sounds.

This was the second year of enjoying Vermejo Park and hopefully there will be more to come…

Learn more about Vermejo Park Ranch - http://www.vermejoparkranch.com

It’s BIG, it’s BLACK, and it’s HURTS!!!

2008-11-12T10:14:00.005-06:00

Well it’s official…at the age of 39, I finally broken a bone, it’s been confirmed that my right big Flintstone toe is broken. (Well I might of broken my nose when the calf ran over me several years ago (that’s another story), however didn’t see the Dr, so didn’t get that confirmed.)

So let me tell you about this first official broken bone. Normally I travel west to see my man however this weekend it was opening season of muzzleloader, so with that I decided to hang at my house. It was a Friday night and what to do, so I called a co-workers that’s been trying to get me to come out and play, so what the heck, what is there to lose…

So I meet two of the co-workers at Chili’s for some drinks and chow. After a little mistaken identity of a HyPo (Highway Patrol) and a good laugh, one of the co-workers decided we should move the party to bowling. Now I’m feeling my age and thinking I should really go home, but what the heck, what is there to lose…so off to Hoops for some amusing game of bowling…another co-worker joined us at Hoops and few drinks later off to lane 25.

Now I usually don’t bowl, but when I do occasionally I use a 10lb bowling ball, but for some reason I forgotten about that and picked up a 13lb bowling ball. So in the middle of my game, losing by a hair, while two co-workers are re-setting my pins, I decided to let the third co-worker feel how heavy this 13lb bowling ball is, well lets say it was a bad hand off and next thing I know I feel a thump on my right big toe. That came with a little yell and a few chosen words, but that didn’t stop me from finishing my game (of course with a limp and no shoe on the right foot). Oh, if you are wondering yes I did come in last…oh well…home I go…

So as I nestle into my bed, I called the co-worker (Sarah), to tell her about the progress of my big toe…

…ring, ring… “Hello”
“It’s BIG, it’s BLACK, and it’s HURTS!!!”
“What did you do?”
“Oops, this must not be Sarah?”
“No it’s Sharla, what did you do?”

Oops, called the wrong girlfriend, oh well, after a few good laughs and explaining what happen, I prompt my foot up and thru some ice on it and fell asleep. The next morning explaining the situation again to BW, the MD that he is, explained what needed to be done. I just needed to drill a hole in my toe nail to relieve the pressure. “So go get your electric drill and get to work”…right!!! There is no way in heck that I’m drilling my toe nail, not happening…so with some persuading from BW, I called Sarah to take me to the Doctor. Dr Marine (big guy that was a Submarine Dr) drilled into my nail with a needle. Twice the Dr explained how to drill my toe with an electric drill but more in detail then BW. Seriously…there is no way this chick is drilling her toe nail.

So after my trip to Lysite Wyoming and a little blood draining of the toe, all is good…NOT!

My Flintstone toe turned GREEN, yes GREEN…oh my…after another discussion with BW, he explained that the toe nail would need to be removed (I hope he is wrong). So I took a trip back to see Dr Marine which sent me to Dr Foot. Dr Foot confirmed that the toe was broken with an x-ray and explained that the toe nail is coming off (darn it…BW called it). So with a little numbness of the toe, Dr Foot removed the big toe nail, so all in all there WAS something to LOSE from that Friday night of what to do.

So a BIG Thank You goes out to Sarah for taking me to the Doctor (twice).

Lessons learn
Put the bowling ball down when handing off to the other player.

When in Norway you hike to Pulpit Rock

2008-09-14T03:46:00.009-05:00

For those of you that are not aware, I’m celebrating my last year in the 30s. However my mind still thinks I’m in my 20s and I can do anything…well Saturday I put myself to the test, not sure why, actually I didn’t realize what I was getting myself into to tell you the truth. When in Rome you do what the Rome’s do, when in Norway you hike to Pulpit Rock.

So Saturday to celebrate a co-workers birthday (Huong turn 26) we (Huong, Brett 24, and me) hiked to Pulpit Rock. We were informed to take the hour Ferry ride, then catch the bus to Preikestolen (the name of the mountain) for a two hour hike to Pulpit Rock, make sure you have water and trail mix they told us…that was it, that was all that was known…now remember I exercise about 20% of the time if that…the young stallion and young doe workout everyday, plus they are young…So we are all full of energy and start the hike, now I’m thinking a hike, yep I can do that…really a ground path to the Pulpit Rock…no problem. Oh Dear Lord, I have a problem, we came around the first bend and wholly crap, the trail is rocks, what did I sign up for here…now we are only in the first 5mins of the hike and I’m stopping to catch my breath…ok…I must go on…within the next 10mins, time for another break and another the next 15mins. Well at this time Brett decided to leave us and now it was Huong and I, it was nice of her to keep up with me…haha! We passed several people coming down, a 78yr old man, and several overweight older women (yes older then me). With that I knew I could hike, climb, this mountain and I was determine. So we kept going on, Huong with her cat like walk on the stones had no problem at all, she was enjoying herself and laughing at me the entire way. We took are time, taking breaks to enjoy the view and snap pictures along the way. Almost there just up the smooth large boulder and around the corner and we are there…wait a minute, who do we see…Brett on his way down the trail, laughing his ass off…The young stallion thought I wouldn't make it…well I showed him…so within 2hrs we made the rocky trail hike to Pulpit Rock and WOW what a view! As Brett headed down the trail, Huong and I enjoyed a great lunch of trail mix, an apple mixed with small bites of chocolate, and water. We enjoyed the view and snapped some photos…WOW what a view…

Crap! We have to go back the way we came…which actually wasn’t bad going down the trail…you just chose your next rock to step on and go…went pretty fast. We felt for the people walking up the trail as we walked down and gave them encouragement.

Well this 39year old, out of shape girl DID IT!

Wow…now let me tell you about Amsterdam…

2008-09-08T13:41:00.005-05:00

Arrived in Amsterdam, my eyes are wide open and my chin is dragging the ground…what has this Oklahoma Girl got herself into…Sex, Drugs, & Rock-n-Roll… Amsterdam has it and it’s all legal…something I knew, something I had to ask about, and something I’m still not quit sure about. I’ve seen a beer bike with a keg and at least 10 very happy guys singing and pedaling as they rode down the pathway…

Wow Amsterdam…

Toured the Van Gogh Museum, the Anne Frank House, and Rijks Museum (still learning world history here)…got lost in a small town looking for the Harley Davidson store (twice – found it the second day) (NOTE: For those of you that are not aware, I collect HD shirts from all the places I tour…)

Amsterdam has several things to offer but I couldn’t hit all of them in the two full days I was there…like floating down canals, shopping at the market, parks, and pubs…

Wow Amsterdam…

I rode the train, sub, bus, and taxi…the hotel had cold beer and champagne waiting for us every night with a little food for taste…

So the next stop and last stop ‘traveling around the world’ is Norway…can’t wait…

Cheers,
Tamela

WOW!!! I'm touring GREECE...

2008-09-07T11:18:00.003-05:00

We (Sarah and I ) toured Greece in five days- seeing all the sites there is to see in Athens, the ‘Tomb of the Unknown Soldier’, ‘Acropolis’, ‘National Archaeological Museum’, and etc…We ate at the local cafés and of course had Greek Salads (which is not like the typical Greek Salads in the states). We shopped at the Center Market and I actually purchased a summer dress…

On Tuesday, we took the Ferry to one of the Greek Islands – Aigina and visited ‘The Temple of Aphaia’, bought some peaches and pistachio nuts and had a nice little lunch in a café off the beaten path…

The best part of the trip was walking in a little village up to the Acropolis where we sneaked a peak of the charming little homes. The village was all in white with bright colorful shutters and doors.

One thing I have realized about myself when I’m abroad is how I miss the smell of American Men…For you women that are reading this, close your eyes and think of your last date with your man and remember his smell…Old spice, Polo, CK, Stetson, or even Irish Spring (soap)…Oh my how I love those smells…

A couple of things to remember when you are touring Greece, the Greek people are friendly on your third counter with them, the taxi drivers not only stink but will charge you to much…if you not eating at one of the tourist cafés then you are not that big of a hurry, so sit back and relax.

I'm in Greece, WOW, how blessed I am...

With Love,
Tamela (Greek Goddesses)

Lazy Weekend in Jakarta

2008-08-24T23:15:00.001-05:00

Lazy Weekend…
This weekend was a lazy weekend, not much happened...On Saturday, we went to Maggua Dua to purchases some name brand: purses, watches, luggage, DVDs and whatever else we could find. I enjoy shopping when there is negotiating involved, I guess I get that from my Mom, she was the Queen of negotiating. It’s a game to me, in China I won a lot, or I bought a lot anyway, but here in Indonesia, I’m losing. They are pretty proud of their nice fake purses. The boys however bought way more then us girls (watches and luggage)…however there is not really any negotiating with them. Since I’m not a brand name girl, I have a hard time seeing the saving on a Prada purse for $60.00 or a Coach purse for $40.00 when I buy Wal-mart for $20.00.

That night I enjoyed a 75min massage for $15.00US or 135,000Ind. The massages here start by washing your feet in warm water with a little bit of destressing oil, then they start at your feet and work their way to your head without oil and then start all over with oil. After your 75 mins is up you receive a nice cup of tea. However, I haven’t figured out how such a small girl with small hands can hurt you…but she can…believe me…

Sunday was a day of relaxation (and recovering from the 75min massage from the night before).

Jakarta Malls…
The malls here are huge and expensive, it’s just hard to believe that when you are driving to the mall how much rubbish you see on the streets…but once you get inside it’s like a whole new world. Everything is very clean and shiny…the merchandise can be very expenses…there are Coach, Mark & Spenser’s, Polo, Fossil Watches, Giordano, plus many others shops to choose from…The Pondok Indah Mall 2 is 4 floors high, however the Grand Indonesia is at least 7 floors high, they are huge.

Putri Island

2008-08-18T20:07:00.010-05:00

This weekend, three other team members and me traveled to the Putri Island for some time to relax in the sun, hear the sounds of the ocean, and have some great island food. The weekend started off with a 1.5hr see how many people you can get into a boat ride. When we arrived at the island we were welcomed with the island drink – ‘Tang’ (last time I had that...I was 8). As we are walking to our bungalow, at the corner of my eye I noticed something large – it was a komodo dragon. Oh my-it was big! There were about 5 of those large lizards on the island.

The great island food was fried shrimp, rice, fried fish, watermelon, rice, pineapple, melon and some more rice all at room temperate (90degrees). I could lose weight at this place!

The pool was relaxing and sunbathing in the ocean was out of this world, however the bugs I could have done without…a slap here and a slap there, by the evening I had tons of bites…

I awoke to termite poop on my pillow and the two teammates had bed bug bites…life was fun in the beautiful island they call Putri (princess).

Jakarta Ants

2008-08-14T20:10:00.005-05:00

Jakarta traffic is very interesting…

There are lines on the streets that everyone ignores, sounds of horns, flashing headlights, and motorcycles is the norm…the motorcycles remind me of ants, there are thousands of them weaving in and out of traffic, when the cars actually stop at the traffic lights the bikes head to the front of the line. The most I’ve seen on this trip is four people to a bike, last trip there were five people to a bike. I’m amazed at what they carry on the bikes, car windshield, lamp shades, plus many other types of stuff…

My co-worker (Sarah) has written me a poem about the motorcycles that I call ‘ants’…

Jakarta Ants
Jakarta ants zoom down the lane.
Traffic here is such a pain!

The city streets are filled with crowds,
The noise they make- it gets so loud!

As we slide slowly along,
A lady with a baby sings us a song.

Twisting, turning, weaving about,
Zooming in. Zooming out.

When we stop, then they swarm.
Those little ants and the lines they form.

There's one! There's two! There's three! There's four!
Everywhere you look there's always more.

Our slow crawl takes at least an hour,
Breathe in, breathe out, just don't be sour.

Sit back. Relax. Enjoy the ride,
Jakarta ants on every side.

By Sarah Kuhn

Hello from Jakarta Indonesia

2008-08-12T02:16:00.002-05:00

Hello everyone—

It’s been awhile since I’ve done any traveling internationally…this trip I’m flying around the world in 56 days hitting Indonesia, Greece, Netherlands, and Norway. My first stop is Jakarta Indonesia for some business….I’ll be here for three weekends.

This Saturday the team toured the Indonesia Safari which was very fun…there were white tigers, lions, and bears walking next to our vehicle, and of course the normal type of animals that you see at any small safari in the states. A small baby zoo was at the end of the safari where I got to pay to hold a cheetah, baby tiger, a snake, and a baby orangutan (which by the way pee’d on me). What is it with babies pooping/peeing on me?

Baby orangutan was excited to see me…

Ken and I holding a cheetah…

Sunday is shopping for some fake purses and whatever else we find…however I wasn’t feeling well, so I hung out in the hotel room…

Cheers,

Tamela