Komments from Korea

Some observations from Korea:
1. The Ritz Carlton Seoul (where we were staying) has the “fancy toilet” thing down. The bathrooms have toilets with heated seats and buttons that make warm water shoot up to wash everything and then another button makes hot air dry you all up. An odd feeling the first time - but definitely a keeper. The #1 question at our first breakfast when we saw everyone was: “Did you try the toilet?”

2. Under the rules of the competition, you have to have a photograph – with both team members - at every place you go to prove that you were actually there. You end up asking a lot of strangers to take your photo and - when no-one is around - you end up with lots of photos of your nose hairs, half of one ear, the top of your head, or an odd angle as you try to hold the camera as far away as possible to get the location in the background…
3. We learned that Koreans do not like to tell you “NO.” They are too polite and think that No is rude. So instead, when they cannot give you an affirmative answer, they just cross their hands to symbolize “no way.” We saw this a lot.

4. At the fortress on top of the hill, there was a fierce looking gargoyle spitting out water- about half way up. It's the Korean version of a water fountain. Next to it was a hanging cup for climbers to use to get a drink of water. I was too afraid of flesh-eating parasites to try it, but I liked the concept.

5. Everyone is doing well and is energized. Emily and Elizabeth have been great at plotting, planning, mapping… really taking on the challenge of the event. And there has only been one meltdown.. which was quickly overcome. Natasha and David are doing great. Only one major fight so far to report but there are several weeks left….

6. We had to go into various convenience stores and find the weirdest thing in there. My favorite was seaweed juice sold at 7-Eleven.

7. We had to do a Taekwondo demonstration - at this special park area - Elizabeth and I are particularly graceful at it.

Seoul: Second Day

Seoul is a HUGE city with millions and millions of people. It is a little like an ant hill.... with busy ants moving in and out of buildings all the time. Here is Emily in profile sitting at the hotel window with Seoul all around her. Day 2 we headed out of town as soon as we got our scavenges. On a fast train to Busan. Korea put a new KTX express train system in about 7 years ago and it is awesome – comfortable, quiet, nice seats. We used the time to decipher all of today's challenges and to plot them on the map so we can be efficient at knocking stuff out when we get back into Seoul. We took a 3 hour ride down to a waterfront town where we had to visit the fish market. It is a huge, outdoor market with a smell that is beyond description. There is literally nothing that lives under the water that these people do not drag onto land and eat. Including squids and sea urchins and sea slugs and sting rays. URGGHHH!! It was quite a sight. Next stop was Lotte (a department store with a large food court in the basement). We had to buy random stuff to make a picnic. We bought all kinds of odd things and then two big orders of French fries to even out our food choices. Some was good, some was awful. We then took the train to Suwon (another town) where we had to climb to the top of a hill and visit a fortress. It was a steep climb up.. lots of groaning and sore legs.. but a fantastic view at the top. Back in Seoul, we found that the weather had not been great all day. Cold and rainy. We had to eat traditional Korean Bar-B-Q where you cook your food right at the table. A twist on fondue but the same general concept of communal eating. By the time we got back to the hotel last night, I was literally sleep-walking. I forget each year how tiring this trip is. WOW. I was asleep before my head hit the pillow.. with all of my clothes on.

We are now at the airport… heading out to our next destination.. MANILA, PHILIPPINES. I’ve never been. Can’t wait to see what adventures await us there.

Hey Seoul Sista

Day 1 in Seoul: Our first day here was hard, hard, hard. We were all very tired after the trip – even though the flight was great. The weather went from cold to hot to cold in a minute’s notice so I was consistently dressed poorly and we made a number of planning blunders that cost us points. We got back to the hotel last night somewhat discouraged by our first day’s efforts. The key challenge to yesterday was a hike up a pretty large hill in the middle of Seoul. We left that until mid-afternoon, hoping for a cool, clear patch of weather, but when we went to start the hike, the path was closed. Apparently hiking in Seoul can only occur between the hours of 10 and 3 PM (who knew???).

Second frustrating Seoul fact… virtually every temple, shrine and national monument can be seen ONLY as a part of a tour group and the tours are divided up throughout the day based upon the language spoken on the tour. There is a strict policy against allowing any interlopers into a different language tour. So your ability to see anything – as part of the English tour – is limited to twice per day and you better time all of those perfectly or you are out of luck. Rainey and I talked our way into one Korean tour for the Secret Garden by telling the ticket seller that our plane was leaving and we desperately needed to see the Secret garden before we left. But that was our only lucky break., Besides that one nice lady, we were consistently turned away. This is us at the Secret Garden... a neat, ravine type garden hidden literally in the middle of Seoul. And the Cherry Blossoms are out at the moment, which are so beautiful. Weirdest experience: We had to go to a place called Dragon Hill, Spa which is a large building in the middle of the city that has been turned into part gym (with indoor pool and work-out facility),

part Dave & Buster’s (with video games and putt-putt golf), part spa with treatments and saunas. Sort of a Disneyland for Adults. Yesterday, an estimated 4,782 Korean people were there (talk about crowded). It is divided into women and men floors and not a single one of them had ANY nudity issues. They wander the halls naked, they sit on the couches and chat naked, they blow dry their hair naked… Emily was totally befuddled by the sight of that much female flesh in one small area. We had to stay there for an hour and try out some part of the facilities, so I opted for a massage. What an odd event. I was led into a room filled with beds and naked women… butts in the air.. no sheet or covering. I dutifully laid down and then got pulverized (like chicken getting ready to be made into a chicken fried steak) by a stocky – and very well-muscled - woman. At the end of the pummeling, she started wiping me down with warm clothes (which felt pretty good) until I realized that she was scrubbing out under my arm pits and between the crack in my butt… she left no spot un-shined. At that point, I broke into the giggles. We had a panic attack late in the day because we had left one of our mandatory eating challenges to do over dinner. Then, as we went from restaurant to restaurant asking for this specific dish, we were told repeatedly that no restaurant served that dish on Sundays. If you do not eat your mandatory challenges, you get ZERO points for the entire leg. I was freaking out. We finally left that area and took a taxi all across town to another, very busy restaurant section of town and started again. There, we finally found a place that would sell us the very-yucky boiled chicken in dishwater soup that we had to have. I almost cried with relief when they brought it to the table. That one was too close for comfort. My new mission is to finish our mandatory challenges earlier in the day from now on as my old heart cannot take that level of stress. This is exactly what you feel like after a day on Great Escape....

See you in Seoul

That’s right. We just found out. Our first destination is Seoul, Korea. I actually do not really even know where it is on the map. Can’t wait. A country that I have never been to and know nothing about. We leave in 3 hours. A 13 hour flight. We will wake up in the Far East.

Our day in Los Angeles was spent at Santa Monica – shopping for last minute stuff and enjoying the great weather. We had an incredibly efficient Target run where we got most of the clothes and things that Emily and Elizabeth needed for the trip. This afternoon, we had our official check-in at the Sheraton Hotel in Los Angeles. Rampant upheaval in much of the world scared off a few competitors this year so we are heading out with a small – but solid – group of 6 teams.

For those of you new to this blog, here is a quick introduction to the rules and concepts of the Great Escape round-the-world scavenger hunt. First, we have no idea where we are doing: this event is a Blind Date with the World. We only find out our next destination an hour or so before we are leave our current position. We only know that we will be going west around the world and will visit 10-14 countries before we return to New York in 24 days. Whenever we land in a new country, we will receive a booklet of 150-300 scavenges, riddles, puzzles, competitions that we can do in that stage of the competition. Each item has a different point system (from 5 points for a simple “answer this question” scavenge to 500 points for a long, out-of-town trek to a remote destination). We have a specific amount of time in each country or region before the rally closes. The trick is to amass as many points as possible during that time frame. So strategy is everything!!! How many things can you do in a short period of time to get the most points possible.

The teams this year are: Lawyers without borders – That’s Rainey and me – back for our FOURTH year

Sister Act – Rainey’s daughters (Elizabeth, 25, and Emily, 20). They are excited but a little nervous.

Silver Surfers – Natasha and David. Natasha is our immensely talented young lawyer at Littlepage Booth and David is her boyfriend. They are also blogging and you can follow them at: http://natashaanddavid.blogspot.com/

The Drifters - April and Travis. April is our legal assistant and office manager and Travis is a former New York Knicks basketball player. (They attract a lot of stares in SouthEast Asia where Travis is double the size of every one else). And yes, we are all wondering if the entire Littlepage Booth office will implode with all of us gone at the same time.

Team Weathehawaki: Their team name stands for “Where the Heck are We?” This is a team of two doctors, David is a radiologist and Jan runs a bike shop that they own. They have competed in ironman races and tracked the Gorillas In the Mist in Uganda. WOW. They are going to be hard to beat. They bought as their luggage.. a back pack. I’m not kidding. I am hauling a body bag of junk around the world and they have … a back pack. Very intimidating.

Faster than road kill: A team of two friends from Canada – Mark and Chewie. They used to work together years ago but do not really know each other so it will be interesting to see how they do traveling under extreme condition.

At our Bon Voyage dinner tonight, Bill took us to an authentic Asian restaurant and ordered a sampler platter of crickets, bugs and maggots. We all were supposed to try some (and even Rainey choked down one of each). Emily and David refused but Natasha gagged down a cricket and Elizabeth was a trooper and tried one of the each. The crickets were not that bad… like a crunchy popcorn shrimp. The maggots popped in your mouth and oozed a goo that tasted remarkably like manure (although, to be honest I have never actually eaten manure before). YUCK!!!!

One of the happiest moments in life, methinks, is the departure upon a distant journey into unknown lands. Shaking off - with one mighty effort - the shackles of Habit, the leaden weight of Routine and the comforting cloak of Home, man feels once more alive. --Richard Burton, Journal

2011: The packing has begun....

Yes, the time is here.... The day that I count down to for 365 days ... The day that starts the best three weeks of the year ... The day that marks the beginning of our annual Great Escape adventure. Check-in is on Friday afternoon in Los Angeles. And after that, it's all a mystery. Each time, Bill, the producer of this event, has a pool where all of the teams chip in $20 and we guess which 12-14 countries we will be going to. The person with the most places correct wins the pot on the last night of the event. I average 2-3 correct guesses and typically come in dead last. So don't look to me for insight on where we are going. I am truly off on a Blind Date With the World!! Littlepage Booth is well represented in 2011 with returning competitors April and Travis... plus newbies, Natasha and David (competing as the "Silver Surfers") ... plus Rainey's two daughters, Elizabeth and Emily (competing as "Sister Act").... watch out world... here we come!!! The burners are on their way.

The Littlepage Women Sweep the Medals!!!!

With great sadness, our incredible trip came to an end last night in New York. We were all overwhelmed with deep depression and could barely bring ourselves to pack up all of our extremely nasty (and probably flesh-eating-virus infected clothes) for the trip home. It is so hard to go back to the real world after such an amazing experience. It seems like just a few days ago we were starting out in San Francisco ... and now it is all over. 40,000 miles traveled (and that does not include the uphill climbs), 11 countries, around the entire world!!!

And when the final scores were announced... it was a clean sweep for the Littlepage women (all three generations). In first place, and crowned "The World's Greatest Travelers for 2010" was Rainey and myself, in second place was Heidi and Lily and in third place came my mom and her partner, Barbara. I am so proud of my family!!!!

Thanks to everyone who has been following the blogs and giving us moral support as we circumnavigate the globe.... If you want to read more about the trip from other people's perspectives, please read any of the following blogs which will each provide a slightly different view of the event:
Lily’s bloggity blog is: http://lilygreatescape.blogspot.com/
Heidi’s blog is: http://heidililygreatescape.blogspot.com/
April’s blog is: http://greatescapescavengerhunt.blogspot.com/
Barbara (Mom’s partner’s) blog is: http://worldgrazer.blogspot.com/

Signing off....until next year....

Central Europe - Part 2 - Coming into Paris

Our trek across Central Europe ends....
I am soooooo sick of my luggage that I might just leave my suitcase by the side of the road and walk away from it forever…. This is by far the hardest part of this trip– mainly because you have to carry all of your junk from country to country. While most train stations have lockers, the subways in Paris were the final straw (with staircase after staircase after staircase). Next year I am bringing ONE change of clothes and nothing more (...or at least that is my sworn promise to myself today as I curse every extra pair of socks that I brought this time).

But it was a GREAT leg … West from Vienna to Linz to Strausborg to Munich to Freiburg to Basel to Paris …!!!! Some highlights from the second part of this stage:

In Freiburg we took a 6:30 AM steep up-hill hike to a look-out tower (which has 250+ stairs to the top… of course… it would not be a Bill scavenge unless it included stairs). But once up there, you get an amazing view of the entire city. And it is scary and a bit unnerving as the very top sways in the wind. We also had to uncover the legend of the Bachtle (which are these streams that run all through the town and were used to water the animals and put out fires). The folklore is that if you put your foot in one, you will marry someone from Frieburg and live there forever. I refused to put even my big toe in it: just in case the marriage part of the legend was true.
We timed the trains to have just over 2 hours in Basel: which was enough time to do all of the scavenges. Basel is a town that sits on the corner of Germany, Switzerland and France… you are constantly crossing streets and moving from one country to another. We took trams all over the city and hit several museums: one of which had an impressive collection of Picassos. This statue of a cat that spits water at y0u - that sits in the courtyard in front of the museum - tickled me.

Paris brought with it food scavenges of snails and duck liver pate. I love escargot… foie gras makes me gag.

We had to find the “Flame D’ Liberte” which is a statue that mirrors the top of the Statue of Liberty in New York. It also sits right on top of where Princess Diana died: the car accident happened in the underpass directly below this statue. People still leave things at the flame in memory of Diana and you can look over the edge and see the spot where her car hit the embankment.
And .. of course… the two best known Paris sites: the Eiffel tower: which lights up – every hour on the hour – with lights that twinkle all over it and a late-night show at the Moulin Rouge. It takes less than 15 minutes before you forget that the women are topless and just get caught up in the feathers, sequins, high kicks and false eyelashes. Lily LOVED every minute of it!!! At the end of the show, we had to get one of the showgirls to teach us some new dance steps and then we had to perform the new moves IN PUBLIC (no hiding from your own insecurities on this trip...). The video is hysterical - see below.
An interesting one… find the odd statue in Montmarte… which turns out to be an iron man who is literally walking out of the wall. He has one leg and hand out as well as his face. Someone has painted his fingernails hot pink, which gives the whole thing an even weirder twist. Honestly, this is one of those things that if Bill did not make you spend an hour looking for it... you would never find or see as he is in small square in the back end of a largely residential neighborhood. But I really liked it.