THANKS FROM MT. KILIMANJARO

Having a Kilimanjaro beer at the foot of Mt. Kilimanjaro. Thanks, contributing readers!

Travel can change a person. Sort of.

When we left the United States a year ago, one of the few "must do" items on our list was a climb up Mt. Kilimanjaro. At nearly 20,000 feet, 'Kili' is the highest mountain in Africa. Towering far above arid plains and broad savannas, its snow-covered peak seems as alien and out of place as two tall white Americans at the Taj Mahal. 

When we finally arrived in Arusha in northern Tanzania, we decided the mountain looked more impressive from a rooftop bar, cold Kilimanjaro-brand beer in hand, than from behind a fanny pack-wearing tourist, which is where we would have spent the next six days if we'd done the climb--while paying $1,000 each for the privilege. 

After nearly 12 months on the road, our perspectives have changed. Rather than spending so much time and money to suffer and hurry along a well-traveled trail just to say we had, we'd rather enjoy what little time we have left on our trip. Maybe we'll regret it later. Maybe not.

In the photo above, Kili was a bit shy and hid behind early afternoon cloud cover. But even a partial view couldn't keep us from being complete dorks. Kip bought a hideous $2 hat for the occasion.

Thanks to everyone (Todd, Jordan & Matt, H, Amy, Christine, Mom!) who recently contributed to our coffee/drink fund. Who knew one day we'd be sipping a Kilimanjaro beer while staring at the real thing.

Mt. Kilimanjaro at sunrise.

If you want a clear view of the tallest mountain in Africa, you need to get up before the sun, which we managed to do. Once. Combined with the previous day's happy hour, that was just enough for us. Off to a slow safari in the Serengeti. Which remains at the top of our must-see list.

150 DAYS: A LOOK AT THE NUMBERS

Celebrating 150 days on the road at a sidewalk food stall in Rangoon, Burma (aka Yangon, Myanmar).

After eight countries and around 20,000 miles, we hit the 150-day mark of the trip this week in Myanmar, the country formerly known as Burma.

While there have been plenty of teachable moments and surprises, the most shocking part so far is that Liz hasn't left Kip stranded in a rice paddy with a water buffalo (see photo 5), or that Kip hasn't killed us both in motorcycle wrecks (2) or cliff jumps/falls (many). Seriously. 

In celebration of reaching such an auspicious milestone safely (as if we need a reason to celebrate), we pulled up two plastic chairs at a sidewalk food stall in Yangon and ordered a tall, cold Myanmar beer, toasting to the simple pleasures of the traveling life while hoping we wouldn't get food poisoning.

Yes, we were sweating, the mosquitoes were feeding, a smelly stray dog sat under Liz's chair (which she loved), and the beer was actually a bit warm, but no matter. This was living! 

Inspired, we did a bit of calculating and came up with a few of the more interesting numbers from the journey thus far. It's been a long, strange trip indeed. 

• Countries visited: 8  (South Korea, Philippines, Palau, Malaysia, Singapore, Laos, Thailand, Burma)
• Miles traveled: 20,000-ish (rough estimate...hard to calculate from here)
• Favorite place: Catanduanes, Philippines
• Cheapest hotel: $4 (Muang Ngoi Neua, Laos)
• Most expensive hotel: $74 (Demai Beach Resort, Malaysian Borneo)
• Favorite volunteer opp: Beach cleaning in Borneo 
• Places volunteered: 38
• Favorite 1 of 7 photo: See below
• Photos taken: 8,245

The five little angels in white sprint back to their mosque after helping us clean up a beach on the tip of Borneo. 

A few more:

• Books read: 28 each (long bus/boat/train rides; beach time)
• Weight lost: 10 lbs. each (third-world travel is guaranteed weight loss, whether you want it or not)
• Overnight buses: 10+ (saves a night in a hotel, plus you wake up in a new place; of course, you're exhausted, cranky, and confused upon arrival, but, hey, that's like every morning before work back home, right?)
• Times mobile phone rang: 0 (not that we have working phones, but still...)
• Times shaved/worn a suit/tied a tie: 0 (this one's for Kip)
• Times worn close-toed shoes: Twice (to hike a mountain and to prevent leeches)
• Missed flights: three (all Kip's fault)
• Pairs of flip flops worn out: 5

Second favorite 1 of 7 photo:

Kip makes a new friend in the Philippines.