It all started about a month ago, when my friend Joe Stump started tweeting about how his friend shot an RPG in Cambodia. Sure enough, when I got to Phnom Penh, it was all I could think about. So we headed to the ATM and then told a tuk tuk we wanted to go to the shooting range. To our surprise, the shooting range was actually in the back of a military base. In fact the whole shooting range operation was run by the Cambodian military. I was expecting to pay around $150 to shoot an RPG, but when I saw the price was $300 (after our tuk tuk negotiated the $50 discount from $350), I had second thoughts. However, my good friend Austin Bryan gave me $100 to spend on something I wouldn’t normally use my own money for. That dropped the price to $200, and for something I surely wouldn’t get the chance to do ever again, it was definitley worth it.

We drove another 45 minutes to a remote military base where we loaded the trunk with weapons. While I was just there for the RPG, our car mates were there for the RPG, Grenade Launcher, Hand Grenades and K57 Machine Gun. Finally we arrived. With a propane tank on the horizon (which we all missed) I set the RPG launcher on my shoulder, put on ear protection an pulled the trigger. It was an awesome experience! I actually felt like I was inside one of the hundreds of video games I’ve played where shooting an RPG is routine. It might have cost $300, but I’ll certainly have a great conversation starter for years to come!

Here’s the video:

Since most people’s iPhone’s aren’t unlocked and AT&T charges an obscene amount for international data roaming, I’m going to assume that the majority of users aren’t going to be able to use any applications that need to access the Internet. Therefore, I’ve divided my list of iPhone apps in to two categories: Offline and Online.

Offline (no Internet required):

• GoodReader – An offline html/doc/pdf reader and my #1 app. I have 3-4 different websites backed up on my iPhone, along with countless Lonely Planet pdf files. It’s because of this app that I don’t travel with a guidebook.
• Currencies – My personal favorite currency convertor (except that it doesn’t include Syrian pounds and Lao Kip)
• Babelingo – A travel phrase book with 300+ phrases in 11 languages (but still no Arabic…).
• MotionX GPS – An offline GPS application. When I know I have an upcoming bus or train ride, I often store the destinations as gps waypoints so I can monitor how much longer I have on the journey.
• gUnit – The most comprehensive Unit Convertor for the iPhone
• Your favorite time-wasting game: My current favorites are Catan, Spades Classic, Adikus’ Backgammon and Lux DLX

Online:

• Kayak – The easiest way to check flight prices on your iPhone
• Flight Status – Great interface for monitoring/tracking flights
• Skype – Great for a quick and cheap call home when you find free wifi
• Tweetie 2 – My personal favorite iPhone Twitter client (the latest version supports geotagging tweets)

“It is tradition to cook a chicken for Neema’s dad when he comes to visit us tomorrow,” Baraka said to us. We were staying with Baraka and his wife Neema in their Dar es-Salaam home having dinner at the dining room table when this conversation came up. Neema had not seen her father in years and since he would be gracing their house with his presence the next morning, Baraka was explaining the importance of cooking a whole chicken. “We’ll be heading to the market tomorrow to get one,” Baraka stated.

“Where is the cheapest chicken?” I asked thinking it was going to be at one of the larger grocery stores. There was a moment of silence and then Baraka said with a slight smile, “We will be picking one out at the market and then we will bring it home and slaughter it.” WHAT? Did i hear that correctly?? That’s crazy! Then again, did I really think they bought frozen chickens in the grocery store when most people here don’t even have freezers? Of course they would slaughter their own chicken just before the big meal. Baraka could tell I was intrigued and invited us along for the experience.

The next morning, while Neema visited with her estranged father, Chris, Baraka, and I headed down the road to the market. When we arrived at the chicken coops, Baraka turned to me and said, “Choose the chicken we will eat. And make sure you grab a hen because they taste better.” I gave him a look of horror and bewilderment as I quickly turned my head to my prey. I actually had to grab the chicken out of the big cage? Baraka opened the door and I slowly put my hands in, trying to figure out which bird would put up the least fight. Sadly, I’ll admit that I was somewhat scared that one would turn and bite me and I would come down with an actual bird flu of some sort. Then, when I finally committed to grabbing one, I missed her. They are fast little suckers! Finally, the chicken coop owner became annoyed with my shenanigans, pushed me aside, and grabbed one of the hens by its wing, and shoved it towards me to hold on to.  I positioned both of its wings behind its back to be sure it wouldn’t escape, and I followed the guy behind the chicken coop to the slaughter house. Surprisingly, the chicken squawked but didn’t put up a fight. Thank you Miss Chicken for not making me look any dumber than I already looked.

I knew we were getting close to the slaughter house when the putrid smell of raw chicken, blood and guts roasting in the mid morning sun caught my nostrils. Whoa… it was nauseating! The shack that housed the men working was tiny. The roof consisted of rusted sheet metal and small, aged branches. There were two of four walls built holding the roof up. There was a sign above the shack with pricing on how much it cost to hire the guys to slaughter the chicken. Luckily it was cheap (~ $0.25 USD) so Baraka decided to hire them to do it quickly instead of us doing it at home. Baraka still wanted me to help after he realized that I had never slaughtered a chicken. I was up front and center when I handed the chicken off to the axe man. He took the chicken, threw it down on the ground and with one swift swing of the axe, the chicken was now two. Ugh, there was blood covering the walls and I quickly glanced down at my legs to make sure the blood hadn’t hit me as well. It was creepy seeing the body move without the head but that didn’t stop the guy from grabbing it’s neck and throwing it into a steaming pot of water. He stirred the whole bird (sans head) around with a large wooden spoon to loosen the feathers. After soaking the bird for 30 seconds, he pulled it out of the pot and threw it to another guy who began stripping it of its feathers. I was surprised at how quickly the feathers came out after soaking it. I had to give the guy credit, he de-feathered the chicken in 5 seconds time…no joke. The last guy was waiting for our prized hen, and when he got it in his hands, he showed that bird who was boss. He had the stomach and guts emptied from the chicken in no time and suddenly it was back in my hands once again; this time, in different form.

It was an experience. A true African experience. I am not currently a vegetarian, but after witnessing the kill, it made me want to reconsider.

I love driving, and even more, I love driving fast! In fact, back in the states, the only things I hate about driving are traffic and that the high cost of a speeding prevents me from cruising at my desired speed.

After renting our Toyota Yaris in South Africa, it never occured to me that I might be able to cut loose on the open road. You see, all over Cape Town there are signs warning of speed cameras ahead. Although I never actually saw one of the alleged speed cameras, it was enough of a deterant to keep me driving just more than a few kph over the speed limit.

Then we crossed the border… I had read in the Namibia guidebook that speeding tickets cost only $1 per km over the limit, which meant at a absolute maximum (given the Yaris’ performance) we’d be looking at a fine of ~$70. Combining that with the roughly 0.1% chance of actually seeing speed checkpoint (based on conversations with people who had driven through Namibia), I felt comfortable going whatever speed I wanted.

The first few hours were on an open paved road quite far from wildlife, so I could literally floor the gas pedal and go as fast as the car allowed. What an incredible feeling! Driving without constantly monitoring the speedometer is how it should always be. In fact, not worrying about my speed or police down the road made me even more aware of the road conditions and my surroudings.

About 10 days later, we arrived in Etosha National Park, where at the main building they had the recently revised speeding fines posted. Evidently the $80 ticket from before the guidebook was written now cost over $500 plus a court visit. I guess I was quite lucky we hadn’t been pulled over yet. Despite that we never once saw a police vehicle for the rest of the trip, we kept ourselves to a more reasonable speed.

I’ll never forget how enjoyable driving is when you don’t have to worry about your speed. Looks like I’ll have to wait until I’m on the autobahn in Germany to enjoy it that much again!

One of our favorite nonprofits in the world is a San Francisco based or organization called Couchsurfing. They exist to connect travelers with locals in over 230 countries and territories around the world. The Couchsurfing community is made up of over 1 million members who come from 62,000 different cities and speak 1,270 unique languages. Since their founding in 2004, 1.25 million successful CouchSurfing stays have been recorded and 1.5 million new friendships have been formed.

I joined Couchsurfing over a year ago, but was never an active member. I had almost forgot about it until we starting thinking about how we could meet local people as we travel the globe. I remembered Couchsurfing and knew it would be the perfect for our situation. However, since we believed so much in the organization (and because we didn’t have any references yet) we decided to start hosting people at our apartment in San Francisco a few months before we left for our trip. In total we hosted about 15 people from all over the globe and have made quite a few great friends (even some that we’ll stay with while we’re traveling).

Couchsurfing with Ben and Kerri in Rundu, Namibia

So far on our trip, we’ve Couchsurfed with Jonathan in Cape Town, Ben and Kerri in Namibia and Baraka in Dar Es Salaam. They were all FANTASTIC hosts and each had a unique local persepective of the country we were visiting. They all went above and beyond the call of duty to show us around their city and make sure we felt comfortable in their homes.

As we continue our journey, we plan to Couchsurf as much as possible. While not all of the homes we’ve stayed at were as convenient as a downtown hotel, the expierences and friendships far outweighed any commute we had to a city centre. If anyone reading this isn’t already a member of Couchsurfing yet, I highly recommend you join the community and feel free to add me and Amy as a friend.

1. Connectivity in several of the countries we will be exploring is quite expensive (especially for uploading photos)
2. To assist us in covering the costs of our domain, equipment and website/video hosting (for all you techies out there)
3. You’ll get a sweet gift in return… details below…
4. We will commit our time to meeting locals, learning cultures / customs and share everything with you
5. 10% of all proceeds will be donated to a local charity or cause

Donations of all amounts are greatly appreciated! You are what makes it possible for us to maintain this website and share our amazing adventure. Should you donate at least one of the following amounts, you can expect to receive:

• $10.00 or more: A personalized photo postcard from our current location
• $25.00 or more: The above plus recognition on our blogroll and a personalized thank you on our website
• $50.00 or more: The above plus a local gift from our travels

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