Istanbul (Not Constantinople)

     Four days in Istanbul seemed to be just about right. Possibly even a bit much. It did not turn out to be among my favorite places we've been so far. Many more pictures HERE and HERE.

     Day 1 was already rough as we had gotten up super early for our flight from Singapore and LuAnn was not feeling well. The Ataturk airport was a truly wretched affair, even worse than NYC which takes some doing. The immigration line had about 4000 people in it and the customs guys were in no hurry at all. Worse, for some reason, they decided LuAnn's documentation had a problem but since they barely spoke English no one could tell her what it was or what to do and I was already through so I couldn't come back to help. I have never seen such a surly bunch of unhelpful civil servants. They make the DMV look friendly. I was not pleased. For better or worse English has become the lingua franca of the world. How do you have immigration officials in an International airport who don't speak english at all? Dafuq? Anyway, finally they just let her through after a trip to another line for another stamp, but still no explanation.

     The whole thing took so long that our luggage was nowhere to be seen. Finally we managed to locate it off to the side but again, completely unhelpful and unfriendly staff. We did manage to get a pocket WIFI device and the young lady there was both helpful and friendly and improved my mood a bit. Getting the train and a cab to our apartment was no problem.

     The apartment had many hilarious features. The bathroom was such a tiny closet that the water heater was over the toilet, so low you would bang your head on it every time you stood up. The view of the Bosphorus was stellar but the lack of screens made sleeping difficult due to mosquitoes. The galley kitchen had these ridiculous swinging saloon doors...I can't even. However, Ali, our landlord was sweet and kind, and gave us a complete walking tour of the small section of Istanbul we were in, introducing us to all the shopkeepers as we went, including his father, the butcher. That whole experience reminded us of why we love to stay in apartments over the impersonal hotel. Think that happens at the Hilton?

We were, however, treated to some unexpected fireworks that first evening though.

     Day 2 we hit the local cafe and enjoyed the Italian-style coffee and simit, a sesame pretzel-type thing, but without the twist, just a circle. I was getting some Turkish down so it was a bit easier. The ferries across the Bosphorus were cool, cheap and ran regularly. We visited The New Mosque, dating from the 1600's. Needs a new name. Lovely though.

     Afterwards we hit the market behind it where LuAnn got some tea. Kudos to the young handsome Turk who sold it to her, since generally she doesn't even drink tea! We walked down to the Sultan Ahmed Mosque, AKA The Blue Mosque but it was closed for prayer so we went to Hagia Sofia for a few hours. What a crazy place. It's been a temple of some sort for at last 1000 years, first Christian, then Muslim, then desanctified to use as a museum. Here you can see many Christian and Muslim religious works side by side. Well worth reading about. There was a cool Islamic art exhibition which I'll say more about at the end.

     We then went back to the Blue Mosque, which was also overwhelming in it's size and scope, and recorded the call to prayer where the different mosques in the area call and respond to one another.

   
     Right outside we saw the obelisk of Theodosious and the column of Constantine. The history stuff is my favorite part of this place, though much of that history is, in fact, awful.

     Then we got the streetcar back to the port and went back to Uskudar got some food from the local deli and ate at the apartment. Long day!

     Day 3 we took the boat tour of the Bosphorus and saw many lovely buildings, though there was no narration so it was hard to know what we were seeing. At least it was cheap. Met three lovely Russian girls from Moscow down for the weekend from their jobs in Biz Dev at Price Waterhouse Cooper.

     We had a lunch of shrimp in garlic at Sanat, under the Galata bridge where the waiters/hawkers      Ali (Baba) and "Jimmy" were very entertaining. After lunch we went to the Grand Bazaar and saw many amazing fabrics, carpets, ceramics, spice and tchotchke of all descriptions. After we walked down a street with many carpet and antique shops.

     Next we got the streetcar across the bridge to Beyoglu and couldn't find the funicular so we hiked up to the Galata Tower but were too tired to bother climbing it. Instead we walked down İstiklal Caddesi (Independence Avenue) Taksim Square, stopping for a drink and some bruschetta on the way. Taksim is mostly known to foreigners as the place where most of the Gezi Park Protests took place a few years ago. It was not very picturesque for sure.

     From Taksim we again couldn't find the funicular so we got a cab down the hill to Bashiktash and caught the ferry back to Uskudar and a cab home. Note all turkish spellings are anglicized here to make the best of it.

     Day 4 we got the ferry again, and caught a cab through horrific traffic while the cab driver ranted in Turkish the whole way. We caught on that he was trying to tell us the cab couldn't go where our hotel (we had to move from the apartment after 3 nights) was as it's a train only road but eventually we caught on after being screamed at for 20 minutes, jumped out and walked the rest of the way.  We were both pretty shot so we had lunch at a place that had the clay pots that they cook the lamb in and they break the pot at your table. Very theatrical. After it was so crowded around the touristy areas are hotel was now located, we decided to have a nap instead. For dinner we found a place called Lucky Texans and had those burgers we've been craving. The Turkish owner told us he spent time in Texas and Florida, and just opened a few months ago, and so far, the Turks weren't really understanding his thick juicy burgers. We wish him well. His food was superb.

     Next morning, it was time to go, and although we had emphasized that we needed the airport shuttle, they had failed to book it for us so we caught a cab and again dealt with the awfulness of the airport. In 30 countries it is easily the worst I've seen. In fact it's the only airport in the world I've seen that makes NYC look good.

     On the upside we learned a lot about Islamic art. Seems calligraphy and decoration are the primary elements per the rules of Islam which I shan't get into here. In the exhibition we saw at the Hagia Sofia all the pieces had eight sutras (suhdras) illustrated in different patterns. The traditional pattern looks like this, where the main variations from piece to piece are in color and style of the calligraphy, backgrounds, and framing. Forgive these unedited pix:

 The translations of the eight sutras are these:

Here's an example of the "typical" type:

     The far more interesting pieces (in my view) were the ones which broke the traditional mold (surprise!) and abandoned the simple framing in favor of more unexpected forms and shapes, such as these:

   

The Six Month Awards!

     It is difficult to believe that six months ago we we sold out, packed up and lit out for the territory. In honor of this fact, we have compiled some awards to commemorate the highs and lows, winners and losers of our trip thus far. So we are pleased to present to you The Six Month Awards!

The catagories are: 

Best WTF Moments:
     The winner is:
          Booking a ferry from Koh Lanta to Krabi, Thailand and finding it required a boat change in the open sea from a large ferry to a small longtail boat (about a 5 foot drop) as the boats slammed together, while carrying our luggage, followed by climbing out and across multiple boats & ladders up to the dock in Ao Nang. Not for the faint of heart or weak of hip!

Runner up:
     Asking the staff if we could sit at one of the empty cocktail tables at Ku De Ta bar on top of the Marina Bay Sands in Singapore, and being informed there is a "minimum spend " of $3,000 at the tables. What? No. Who WERE those people sitting there anyway? Yeesh. Nobody sensible.

Most Hilarious Moments:
     The winner is:
          Being so psyched to eat the "Classic Burger" we ordered in Siem Reap, Cambodia after months of no western food, only to discover that although it contained lettuce, tomato, some kind of ham/bacon, sauteed onion, and a roll, it did NOT actually contain a burger.

     Runner up:
          Cow Crossing Guard in New Zealand

     Actually there have been WAY too many pants wetting, can't breathe, hilarious moments to pick a winner, so it's a tie. Good times all around.

Most Sobering Moments: 
     The winner is:
          Visiting the Land Mine Museum in Cambodia

The runner up:
     Browsing the displays at the Osaka Castle showing the mass destruction of WWll bombings.

     In general seeing the effects of war, poverty and religious extremism of one kind or another has been pretty sobering and frighteningly enlightening the world over. Stop it. Please. Help each other. Be kind. No more killing, pollution and littering, OK? That'd be great. Thanks.

Personal Worst: 

Andy: Simultaneous diaherra and sneezing from massive allergies in Mexico. 'Nuff said.
     
LuAnn: A full-on tearful breakdown, while wading in the Andaman Sea in Southern Thailand, after realizing we booked 21 days in the 104 degree Leaf House Bungalow with no A/C, overlooking a trash pile. "I'd want to go home but I don't even have a home to go home to!" (Note: fixed after canceling and rebooking a far nicer place without too great a loss of face or funds).

Best Meals: 
     The winner is: Any meal that we were served in Japan. Seriously.

Worst Meals: 
     The one exception:
          The huge mound of tripe & cabbage cooked at our table with a drunk salaryman in Osaka, Japan. We think he was trying to pick one or both of us up. Flattering but pass.

Runner up: a bowl of plain melted cheese LuAnn inadvertently ordered with her bad Spanish in Guanajuato, Mexico while our son Austen looked on in dismay. Not happy, like this:

Most Expensive Destination:
     The winner is:
          Singapore. $83 for a small pizza and 2 beers. The aforementioned $3000 minimum at Marina Bay Sands. Two more beers at the Long Bar at Raffles Hotel? That will be $46, please. Hey, it's where the Singapore Sling was invented! We didn't have one. We were there barely 4 days, and spent $1075 while trying to be "frugal". Yikes.

Runner up: New Zealand. Two flat whites and two muffins? $26 please. Yow! Like Japan, though, so worth it.

Least Expensive Destination:
     The winner is:
          Cambodia. We stayed at the beautiful Rose Royal Boutique luxury resort, with a very attentive staff (almost to the point of lurking) for about $20 a night. We visited the amazing sites at Angkor Wat, and returned to the hotel in the heat of the day to swim in their clean sparkling pool. According to Trail Wallet, the budgeting app we use made by our friends Simon and Erin at Never Ending Voyage (check it out!), our four days there came in at $325. About $40 a day each.

Best Accommodations:
     The winner is:
          The SkyCity Grand, Auckland, NZ. We had a free 3 night free stay at this 5 star hotel, as a result of a Twitter contest Andy won from Expedia. The room was luxurious, the bed to die for, the restaurants first class, and the city was laid out in front of us to explore easily by foot. Wonderful. And free!

Runner up: The Studios villa in Ubud, Bali. The apartment was large, with a well equipped kitchen, but best of all, the grounds were a tropical paradise full of flowers and butterflies. There was even an amazing temple right in the complex, to say nothing of the infinity pool overlooking the rice fields. Seven nights for $325.

Worst Accommodations: 
     Since we painfully got out of the aforementioned pit-level bungalows, this would have to go to a really awful guesthouse we spent one night in Ayuttaya, Thailand. We sat on the mattress and it sank to the frame. It was so bad we've blocked out the name. It was one we booked while in the midst of the now infamous tuk-tuk scam in Bankok.

     We were going to try to include prettiest and ugliest places, or favorite/least favorite, but honestly it's just too hard. Some of the best places were marred by things that are hard to quantify, like too many rude tourists or too much trash or whatnot, while some of the roughest places were tempered by some of the nicest people or the most amazing sights. Besides, one man's meat is another man's poison. Get out there and see for yourself!

Why?
    Why do so many places in the world that are so plagued by mosquitos and other bugs have no screens? Not on the windows, not on the doors: why? It's crazy! Want to make a million dollars? Convince people in Southeast Asia and South America they need screens instead of malaria medicine and you'll be set.

So:
     So far so good! We still love it. No regrets, really. Andy recently said to a friend "I often wonder about the wisdom of our decision, but not the virtue." We miss our friends and family but we hope to see them again sooner or later and when we do we hope it will be all the sweeter. Most of all we hope we've inspired someone out there to take the leap. Do that thing you always wanted to do. You can fail doing something you hate too, so you might as well try what you love.

In The Swing Of Singapore

     The cold I was fighting finally hit on our last day in Ubud, Bali so there was nothing to report except sneezing and hate. The next day was a travel day and it was tough getting up at 5:30AM but we got through the 2 hour flight from Bali to Singapore without incident and the customs in Singapore was a breeze. A $20 cab ride got us to the brand new Park Alexandra Hotel in about 20 minutes.
   
     Turns out the hotel opened...that day. Wow! A month ago Expedia sold me a room in a hotel that wasn't even open yet! I heard the staff saying the "official" opening is in August. We are among the first 20 guinea pigs. Hilarious! The card keys were a major pain since you need them to work the elevators, and I estimate that each of the 6 cards we've been issued works approximately 25% of the time. Its just a brand spanking new hotel with some bugs to work out. There is a pretty infinity pool on the 7th floor though, overlooking some of Singapore's super modern buildings.

     We dropped our stuff and took my cold out sightseeing. We had a quick fried chicken lunch at the food stalls nearby, where they display their grade from the regular food inspections. What a change from other food vendors we've seen throughout Southeast Asia! Mostly B's. We ate at an A, wouldn't you? Seems Singapore is totally unforgiving of unclean conditions, which was comforting.  After lunch. we caught the free shuttle to Bayfront, walked down to the famous Gardens By The Bay just in time for this awesome light show! This is 30 seconds of the 20 minute piece, including theme from 2001, Star Wars, and I don't even know what all. I recognized most of the tunes but can't recall them here.

     We walked back to the iconic Marina Bay Sands and got the elevator up to the fabulous Ku De Ta bar on the theory that instead of paying $23 each for tickets to the observation deck we could get the same view plus 2 drinks! And that's exactly what they were. One Tiger beer and one house white wine: $50 (including tax and tip). Jesus. Here's the view from the outside:

     We were in the right hand tower, top floor. When we went to get a table (as opposed to the stand up bar tables) they guy said "See the woman at the door." who informed me the minimum "spend" to sit at those tables was....$3000. HAHAHAHAHA! Right. Who WERE those people sitting there anyway? About 15 people were hanging out there, say 5 groups of three. Why did they think that was worthwhile? Weird. Three Chinese businessmen, a bunch of 20-somethings... I just don't get it.

     Next up a fantastic dinner at Chinatown, then home for the night.

     I woke up feeling much better the next day, so we hit the Singapore Botanical Gardens. Stunning! They much deserve their reputation and I hear UNESCO is adding them to the World Heritage Sites soon. We walked about ten miles that day between one thing and another. Too many pix to pick:

     Afterwards we got the bus down the fashion mecca of Orchard Road to the Raffles Hotel, home of the Singapore Sling. Perhaps it's not politically correct of fashionable to be nostalgic for colonial times, but I am occasionally anyway. Not for the awful parts of course, but for the elegance, grace and style it once had, or at least projected.

     We walked back to the esplanade for dinner, then across the esplanade bridge at the mouth of the Singapore river to the Merlion statue, then cut through the Fullerton hotel and ran into something we saw a lot in Singapore. Following signs to the MRT subway station we ended up outside and...nothing. No indication where to go. It was like 3 blocks away. That type of thing happened to us a lot. You follow signs to the outside and then they just assume you know where to go. Strange.

     The next day after brunch at the hotel we decided to lay low since LuAnn wasn't feeling well so we hung by the pool and met a young woman from Hong Kong, a kindred spirit with whom we had a nice chat about the state of the world. Then we headed off to see the Flower Dome and Cloud Forest Dome at Gardens by the Bay. They were both great but could have been better lit, as we were there in the evening and some of the exhibits weren't easy to see.

     Our flight the next day was 8PM but we decided to spend the day at the Singapore airport. Yes, that's right, on purpose. That tells you how cool the Changi Airport is. The had everything; pool, free video games, movies, flower gardens galore. There was even a sports bar dedicated to Boston sports teams. Amazing, if somewhat out of place. They had things like license plates from Illinois and Pennsylvania as well and the manager was surprised when I told him those places were nowhere near Boston. The things you see.

     For more Swinging pix of Singapore click HERE and HERE!

     Some observations on Singapore: We loved that it was spotlessly clean, and efficient. We loved that there seemed to be no homeless people, beggars, thieves, scammers or slums that we saw and that the state takes care of its people with things like subsidized housing and medicine. No one seemed to have a single complaint, other than that it was expensive.

     We are a bit troubled that the state clearly has so much power. People obey the law because the punishments are HARSH and the police we saw very obviously had NO sense of humor at all. They looked like they would happily mess you up just for practice. Andy absolutely loved the hot humid weather, LuAnn less so.  

Next up: Special 6 months on the road edition and Istanbul Turkey!

Ubud, Bali and blog makeover

     Friday May 8th we made our way back to Bali on Eka Jaya, one of the fast boat services from Gili Air. I had a nice chat with Omar, one of the boat guys, who said he hoped to study English some more and get his captain's license. I hope he succeeds as he's a very nice kid. Heartening!

     Then we got the shuttle that was supposed include taking us to our hotel but he stopped in the middle of Ubud and made us all get out to get taxis the rest of the way to our hotels. When there weren't any taxis he then squeezed everyone for another 50,000 Rupiah each to finish the job. I was pretty mad, but since it cost me about $3.50 US it wasn't worth a hassle. That kind of crap is my least favorite thing about traveling in The East though. No picture for him!

    We're staying at The Studios, which are fabulous compared to our previous accommodations in Indonesia so far. Ubud is generally cleaner and has been more enjoyable, despite the lack of beach. We walked around a bit, got massages and picked up some groceries for our new kitchen! Making our own yummy breakfast is a joy! The pool is wonderful and it overlooks some gorgeous rice paddies.

     Saturday we went to Antonia Blanco's house, the wonderful museum of the so-called "Dali of Bali". Mostly lots of great paintings of naked Balinese women in fantastical custom made frames. Besides the beautiful building and grounds they had many pretty parrots and other exotic birds, such as this lovely hornbill, both in cages and loose on the grounds. A moment later he took a huge dump but missed me, thankfully.

     In the afternoon we had some lunch at Murni's Warung, which was delish, then walked around some more, got yet another massage, had ribs at the Glove & Stove next door and finally crashed. Today for Mother's Day (!) we went to the Monkey Forest, which was really fun. Those little guys are so cute, if occasionally somewhat terrifying. They have some BIG TEETH. For real.

     I was pretty afraid I would accidentally step on someone's tail and lose a piece of my leg. They were everywhere underfoot, climbing on people, trying to get anything that looked like it might have food in it, and generally humping up a storm. The folks there are trying to preserve the environment there and are doing a good job. The jungle was just spectacular. There were were some awe inspiring trees, such as these:

     There were also some super funny moments like them cannonballing into their pond:

     They also had some cute Timorese deer (Lord knows why) that made a pretty funny noise:

     Afterwards we walked around that part of town and came back for a homemade pasta dinner that couldn't be beat and made a bunch of changes to the blog template for web & phone. Do you use your PC or phone? Did you notice? We hope you like it. We want more people to see & follow our Facebook & Instagram feeds since that seems to be where all the comments go.

     Speaking of comments, we really want to reach more people, share more adventures and interact with our friends, followers, and fellow travelers, so please drop us a line? While I'm asking pretty please, if you could share and/or like our Facebook page and generally point your pals to our blog, we will be ever so grateful. Thanks!

Greetings from Gili Air, Indonesia!

     Gili Air is the right place to do...nothing. There are no cars and no motor bikes, excepting the odd electric one. They do have ponies drawing carts and bicycles. The ponies sound like one imagines Santa's reindeer coming up behind you with their little sleigh bells jingling.

    Despite all the pony carts walking still seems to be the prevalent mode of transport here but this afternoon we rented some fat-tire bikes and rode around the circumference of the island in less than 45 minutes. Man those things are fun on soft sand! Whoohoo!

     There are copious amounts of bars, restaurants and resorts catering to a variety of tastes and budgets, most with wifi. I'm sitting in one such as I type this. I have observed two primary levels of service here. High-level hovering, bordering on obsequiousness and non-existent. Where we are staying I have to interrupt a card game, jam session or wake someone to get service.

     At another hostel I had to have a manager awakened from his nap, at 3:00 in the afternoon, because we just wanted a price on a room, and the kid filling in basically was just the bartender. I find this amusing more than irritating because, hey, it's island time baby. Soon come.

     There are quite a few diving centers with diving, snorkeling, paddle boarding and free diving classes and trips available. We went on a snorkeling trip and saw a great many fish, including my beloved flying fish, many huge sea turtles and coral in every shape, size and color.

     I should mention from the look of the pictures that the weather throughout Indonesia, since we arrived here at the tail end of the rainy season, has been pretty much the same everyday. Super clear, sunny and nice in the mornings, clouding up in the afternoons and lightly raining in the evenings. All in all pretty fine; not too hot, not too anything.

     Otherwise we've mostly been relaxing, bicycling or walking around, eating, reading, writing and painting or playing guitar, respectively. The big deal here was the Mayweather-Pacquiero fight. The Kentucky Derby didn't make a wave and we missed it, though admittedly it happened in the middle of the night for us. The news from the US barely reaches us, unless we are actively looking for it, and for that I'm grateful. It's nice not to have Faux News blaring from every TV. Instead we watch this:

     As we approach our six-months-on-the-road date we've been spending some time trying to figure out where to go next and what to do...after. Other than small bits of income from art and music we really haven't been trying to earn money or look for "real" jobs, as such. In general we've been too busy traveling and seeing all the things there are to see in the world.
   
     I started working on that a little bit while I'm here, updating my LinkedIn profile, especially the "where I'm looking" part, in cities like Charleston SC, New Orleans LA, Austin TX, and San Diego CA. Trying to explain in a resume that yes, I quit a great, safe, secure, high-end job in the Northeast, sold all my stuff and traveled internationally for a year is challenging. It doesn't fit neatly into a bullet point. Saying I'm a "travel blogger", while true, doesn't do much for my "career track" but I'm working on it at least. I'm open to suggestions so please drop a line if you have any! I'm open to doing almost any kind of work as long as I can do it remotely, or wherever I am, so let me know if you have anything? Thanks!

     One thing that came up is the ridiculous feeling that, if I decide to come back to the US and work for a while, I am somehow failing. Isn't that silly? I don't have to live up to anyone else's expectations. It's true that I don't really want to go back to "cubicle life" but I hope I'll be able to parlay my various skills into a gig that works for my future employer, my wife, and myself.

     Anyway, theres always the possibility that something else will present itself in the interim but at least I'm thinking about it in a way that's not all "No, please no!" LOL

Sanur, Bali + Nusa Lembongan & Nusa Cenigan

     In Sanur, Bali we were staying in a lovely little place off the noisy street but near the beach, the bakery, laundry and all the stuff we needed. We've see many beautiful little birds, especially my favorites- the tiny midnight blue swallows. They were way too fast to get a picture of but I think they are Pacific Swallows.  They also have lots of huge screechy bats! None of them got in our hair though. We spent a lot of the time in the pool.

     We went to the UluWatu temple and saw the cliffs and a great fire dance where they were accompanied by 40 guys chanting these crazy rhythms. It was really cool.

     Sadly, the traffic and general pollution level throughout Bali is much worse than we expected. Similar to, if not worse than, anywhere in Thailand. We got a driver to take us to the Peninsula and it was pretty depressing. Nusa Dua was a giant, mostly empty playground for rich, white people. The beaches were a little cleaner but in general it was sad. We came to Sanur because it was reputed to be one of the less messed up beaches in Bali.

     Oh man, tons of plastic trash everywhere. Very disappointing. Wherever we go I have to beg people not to put everything in an individual plastic wrapper, and then a bigger plastic wrapper. They seem positively puzzled by it. Where are the religious leaders, in this obviously religious place, to tell people the Gods would like it if you stopped wrecking this planet with garbage? OK, that's depressing, so we headed off to the island across the bay, Lembongan.

     In general, this was better because there are no cars. It's all scooters, and a few pick-ups. The beaches were cleaner and places like Tigerlilly's, where we stayed, are really making an effort to combat the plastic trash. They use and sell glass straws and only use refillable glass or steel water bottles. This is where we saw a poster stating that 30 million plastic bottles are used in Bali every month! No wonder there is a problem. The problem persisted on Lembongan though. Anywhere that wasn't obviously someone's property was pretty well filled with plastic garbage. Someone said it was because when everything was put in banana leaves people just tossed them, but hadn't caught on that plastic never goes away.

     Moving on, we went across the crazy one lane suspension bridge to Cenigan to stay at The Palms. They sent a tiny truck to get our luggage to the bridge, walked it across, and got another tiny truck on the other side. It was quite the operation.

     One great thing about this stuff is being able to stay at (for us) really upscale places cheaply. Less than $50 a night in the US gets you the skankiest sticky-floored, foul-smelling motel room imaginable. Here? It gets you this:

     OK then. The aforementioned problems are still present, but again less since it's a smaller place. The main thing here is seaweed farming and fishing, followed by tourism. The roads are amazingly bad. By far the worst I've seen in any country yet. Barely paved, barely one lane and totally messed up.  Supposedly they are getting repaved "soon" for some value of soon. Fun to drive a scooter on though, if you like adventure and a sore butt. But then there's this:

And this:

And this:

Needless to say, I didn't jump.

     Next we are off to the even more remote Gili Air. No cars allowed. They have horses. And carts. Seriously! 

     I am cautiously optimistic that Bali, Indonesia, and in fact the world, will catch on that life depends on humanity getting a handle on its trash problem. Take a lesson from New Zealand and take action before all the beautiful places in the world are wrecked.