Good Morning Vietnam!

Xin chao (hello) from Vietnam! I’ve already been here for 14 days and time is FLYIN’- must mean I’m having fun! I flew into Hanoi, the capital, located way up in the north, relatively close to China. I spent my first day there learning some Vietnamese basics (I always try and learn “hello” and “thank you” as my passport is getting stamped) and tasting some local specialties- always my favorite part of getting to a new country. The coffee here is fantastic. They brew it fresh right in front of you on the table and add the most delicious sweetened condensed milk. I like it best over ice (made from bottled water, of course). I’m sure it’s terrible for you, which explains why it’s sooo good.

The day after arriving, I left on a tour to Ha Long Bay, a UNESCO world heritage site three hours north of Hanoi, filled with thousands of limestone islands jutting out from the ocean. I boarded my junk (my junk is you…inside joke for Spring Awakening nerds), which is really a wooden Chinese sailboat. There were six other people on my boat- all around my age and all backpacker types. We got along perfectly! We spent the day tanning on the sun-deck (we had gorgeous weather), exploring the ‘amazing’ cave, and swimming and kayaking around the little islands. Our guide told us some very interesting information about Vietnamese burial rituals. After a family member dies, the family will bury them. Sounds normal enough, right? Well, after 3 years, the oldest son in the family has to dig up the deceased and move their skeleton (with all the bones lined up correctly) to a new burial site. This is to give the person in heaven a new home. Sometimes, if the person had a lot of skin on their bones aka they’re a little chubby, there would be more than just skeleton left, but they’d have to move them anyway. This is because people rent their burial spots from the govt and they only give 3 year leases on the land in bigger cities! Can you imagine having to do that? They also burn ‘heaven money’ (not real money) for the deceased to use in heaven. Very interesting indeed. Anyway, I slept on board that night in a very cozy room filled with some baby cockroaches and sadly had to leave around noon the next day to get back to Hanoi. I definitely could have used another day, at least, in that magical place.

That night I met up with my junk friends for pizza and beer (they had Stella Artois!) and some good conversation. This German guy and I had a very interesting discussion about being an American in Vietnam or being German in many places around the world, due to the monstrosities caused by our respective countries. It’s a really strange feeling, because obviously I am not responsible for the Vietnam War (or the American War as they call it here), nor was I even born during it’s run, but I somehow do end up telling the Vietnamese people that I’m an American with a twinge of guilt in my voice. He said he felt the same way when he visited Poland. Only one moto driver has made a comment to me about the war (he just informed me that he fought in it when he was 19, but nothing negative) and some have even said, “I love America!!,” but it still makes me feel weird.

The next day I had some cheap prescription lenses put into my cheap Moschino glasses frames that I bought in Thailand and caught a traditional water puppet show. The puppets are really incredible and the show is all performed in a pool of water, but the lady in front of me was being obnoxious and kept blocking my view, so it ruined things a bit. My favorite way to get around town is by xe om, or motorbike taxi. Basically, you hop aboard someone’s motorbike and they drive you to your destination for less than $1. Don’t worry Mom, they give you a helmet. It was pretty scary at first, though now i love it, and I always hold onto the driver’s shoulders, but it’s such a rush to be caught in the middle of the zooming traffic and a wonderful way to experience the true local way of getting around the city. I’ve heard that the motorbike traffic in Ho Chi Minh City aka Saigon is out of this world and it’s nearly impossible to cross the street. I can’t imagine it being any crazier than Hanoi, so am excited for that experience. At 8:30pm that evening, I caught a train to Sapa, 11 hours north of Hanoi. The ticket was really pricey, but I splurged for the ‘luxury’ cabin after hearing two accounts of people having their luggage/passports/money stolen from the normal train cabins. And luxurious it was- the wooden cabin housed 4 beds, comfortably spaced apart, with free water, coffee/tea, snack, A/C, door with lock, and a cozy pillow and comforter!

Sapa is known for its gorgeous mountainous scenery against green, lush, terraced landscapes and the presence of hill-tribes and their handicrafts. When I got off the bus, it was pouring rain and so foggy that I couldn’t see two inches in front of my face. I’ve never seen fog like this is my life. Anyway, a man came on board and told me that I was at the hotel where I’d booked and I went inside and noticed that the name of the hotel was not the same as the one I’d booked. The receptionist mumbled something about this being the same one and I was so tired that I decided to stay, even though I was totally weaseled into staying there. That was the first time I let myself get scammed like that this whole trip! Oh well. It was a gorgeous room for $4, so who am I to complain?

I braved the blinding fog and pouring rain to explore the Sapa market. The handicrafts are pretty cool- lots of very bright colors and embroidered patterns, but unfortunately the dye runs all over the place, making the tribe women’s hands and arms a mix of green and blue. The most interesting part of the market was where they sold the food.

First off, I kind of veered off the tourist path and walked through a village and was watching a lady kill chickens. She first broke their neck and threw them into a little pile (they were dead, but still moving) and then put them in a huge pot of boiling water and de-feathered them. The feathers came off really easily- I guess because of the hot water? Then she put them in a GRINDER!!!!!! It was vomit-worthy to say the least. It was just blood and guts and gore coming out the other end. Yuck. So then, in the actual food market, they have horse heads(complete with eyes,fur and teeth), horse hoofs with the fur still on the toes, but then the leg is just bone, pig feet and pig heads, tons of whole chickens, just de-feathered, and the kicker was a CAT. The poor cat was just hanging from a rope, with it’s fur still on and everything, only the eyes were gorged out. It was awful. The locals were trying to make me touch it and were laughing at me for being so grossed out. Guess they do eat cat here! Dogs too, as I found out the next day at the Bac Ha Market, 3 hours north of Sapa. This market had even more tribes than in Sapa selling their goods and a live animal market. They were selling live pigs, ox, and dogs. I couldn’t believe it. Unfortunately, despite what I wanted to believe, these animals were being sold for food.

A new friend told me this very interesting story about a Indian Hindu student who conducted an ‘experiment’ at a university in the States. He made up some Chinese restaurant letterhead and on it wrote to all of the dog pounds in his town asking for all of their dogs. As expected, he got hundreds of hate mail and calls. He responded by saying how, as a Hindu, he has to walk past McDonald’s on a daily basis proclaiming, “One Billion Served” of the animal that Hindus worship, so it’s really all about perspective. We think of dogs as man’s best friend and we put them up on a pedestal, but I suppose, as much as it PAINS me to say this, fair game to people who need to eat them to survive.

Anyway, I got back to Hanoi the next morning and met up with my Swedish friend Emma from Chiang Mai and it was great to have a little reunion. That afternoon, I flew to Hoi An, which tops the list for best destination in Vietnam for many a traveler. Hoi An is the town for “walkers and primitive vehicle users,” which basically means it’s all motos and bicycles and a rare taxi or bus every now and then. It was very refreshing to get a break from the mad traffic. I spent nearly all of my time ordering clothes and shoes to be tailored for me. It was heavenly. Basically, you go into a shop (there are thousands, at least!) and either tell them what you want based on pictures you have or based on examples they have in the window. Then they take your measurements in about 30 seconds and tell you to come back 8 hours later to pick up your garment. It’s incredible how fast the whole process is! In the end, I had a bunch of different tailors make me 6 dresses, 2 jackets, 5 shirts, 3 pairs of shoes and 1 pair of boots and I was there for three days. I really like most of the stuff, though the shoes aren’t that great. While walking around town, I noticed a great abundance of chihuahuas! They are everywhere and seem very out of place.

On my last day, I rented a bicycle and rode all over town, soaking up the tranquility. I journeyed the 6km to the beach and back. All of the Vietnamese ladies on the beach cover themselves up from head to toe. Literally, the only part of skin showing on their entire bodies are their eyes. They wear gloves, socks, jackets, pants, hats and “SARS masks” over their nose and mouths and must be boiling in the 90 degree heat, but I bet it’s to keep their skin fair.

To get to my next destination of Mui Ne 20 hours south of Hoi An, I opted for the normal sitting bus, as opposed to the sleeper bus.  A of all, it was cheaper. B of all, and most importantly, I was traumatized from that sleeper bus that Dee and I took in India from Hampi to Goa.  It wasn’t too bad. The first 11 hours flew by (and when I say flew by, I really mean it was horrible and painful) and I made a friend on the second half of the trip, which is always nice.

Mui Ne is a beach town with a really strange set up. Everything, all hotels, restaurants, and bars are in a 10km strip along the ocean, which makes it difficult to get around and see everything, unless you get moto rides everywhere. I took advantage of my clean air-conditioned, cable-tv’d room and had lots of lazy time. It was WONDERFUL! One morning, I was feeling ambitious and I woke up at 4:30am and hired a moto driver to take me 10 km out of town to see the sunrise from the red sand dunes. It was really beautiful and I got to see that pink sky that I love so much.  He also took me even further out of town to see the white sand dunes, which were spectacular! I befriended these two little kids and they let me use their sand sled to slide down a dune. I was a little scared and pictured myself flying down the hill at 60mph, but it was more like 1mph- very pathetic. The 11 year old girl turned out to be an amazing photographer and took all these cool shots of me on the sand. I gave them some delish mini bananas as a thank you.

One thing to note is that I have suprisingly encountered a few extremely rude people in this country, which is bizarre, because other than the horrible taxi drivers in Bangkok, everyone I usually meet is overly friendly.  It’s not just me either,  every traveler I meet has the same experiences.  I’m not really sure what the deal is, but I’m not a fan of the rudeness. Of course, not everyone is like that at all! There are so many wonderful people going out of their way to help, but I just have encountered more than the usual levels of rudeness here in ‘Nam than anywhere else I’ve visited.

Anyway, today I finally made it down to Saigon where the heat is on (more musical theatre references for ya) and tomorrow I am meeting up with Emily, one of my all-time favorite people from TWC! CANNOT WAIT!!!

Also, I uploaded the start of my Vietnam pics. My jillylawrence photo site was full, so started a new one under my fake travel name of Julia Rye. The link is on the right, nevertheless.

xox and see you all in about a month!

 

A Taste of the Modern World

Hello Singapore! After catching up on the latest movies in KL, I hopped on a bus to cross the border  into Singapore. It was a hell of a lot easier than the bus from Chile to Argentina- this one only took about 5 minutes and was a cinch. I’ve heard lots of hellish stories about people having to pay bribes in order to get their entrance stamp or visas, which is why I’ve been flying across most borders. I’ve been lucky.

While in Malaysia, millions of bed bugs decided they wanted to be my best friends. They wouldn’t leave me alone and decided it’d be fun to sleep with me and ride around town all day on my clothes. Talk about clingy! No, seriously, it was absolutely awful. Their favorite area to munch on was my face- I looked like a 12 year-old with major acne after they finished their feast. Besides how awful I looked, the bites itched like crazy. They were way worse than mosquito bites simply because there was no relief. No matter which creams I applied or how much/little I scratched, the itching didn’t cease for 5 days. NOT FUN! The bites were also all over the rest of my body, but I was mostly concerned with the ones on my face. I stayed in three different rooms at that hostel too, so I guess the entire place was infected, even after they claimed they’d fumigated the joint. They wouldn’t give me any money back either because they insisted it wasn’t their fault. After doing 2 loads of laundry and making my way to Singapore, the bites finally began to subside and are all gone now. I repeat, NOT FUN, but very happy my new bug friends finally decided to ditch me.

Luckily, my hostel in Singapore was bed-bug free and in a central location by this big Mosque on Arab Street. I ended up spending a lot of my time with my Japanese pen-pal Shizuka. I met Shizuka in New Zealand at a hostel in Queenstown in 2005 and we only talked for a few hours in person, but have kept in touch via email ever since. She had moved to Singapore a few months prior to live with her Canadian boyfriend Neil. We spent a day at Sentosa Island, which is this little Disneyland-esque piece of land about 2 minutes away from Singapore itself, complete with fake sand beaches, foam pool parties, and the most southern part of continental Asia. We enjoyed tea poured by the local “tea-master” from a golden pot with a 4 foot long spout, drank some Tiger Beer (made in Singapore), and did some luge-ing down a hill on little sleds. That night, Neil and Shizuka took me to Newton Circus to try some Singaporean specialties from the hawker stalls (basically a giant food court). If you’re alone, you have to find a seat, mark your place with a non-valuable item (most Singaporeans use a pack of tissues or water bottle), go get your food and return to your saved seat, in hopes that no one stole your place or your tissues! I learned the hard way that if you get your food first, you end up wandering around for a good part of an hour trying to find an empty spot with a tray full of boiling soup. 

During my long weekend in Singapore, I tried the following: avocado mousse topped with strawberry ice cream, an avocado/coconut milk shake, Eight Treasures Chinese tea, stingray, and lots of carrot cake (neither carrot nor cake, but actually made from radishes I believe). There’s actually a film at Cannes now called Conversations over Carrot Cake, which was made in Singapore.  

That night, 3 more of Shiz/Neil’s friends joined us at Newton Circus and we searched for a bowling alley for 3 hours and finally concluded that they simply don’t exist in the city/country. We settled for a few games of pool and I stayed out ’til the wee hours of the morning. It was SO nice to have a group of friends to play with!!

The next afternoon, I took the MRT to Orchard Rd to check out the shopping scene. I was way too overwhelmed by the ubiquitous malls. They were EVERYWHERE and all GIGANTIC. I love shopping, but this was just too much. Plus, nothing was cheaper than I’d get at home, so I didn’t make any purchases. I met up with Shizuka and Neil for Moroccan food and a pot of delish mint tea that night and then headed off to Vietnam the next day!

Overall, Singapore IS very very very clean. There are garbage cans on every corner with signs proclaiming, “Singapore- litter free.” The fines for littering are huge. People aren’t even allowed to bring this smelly fruit called durian onto the trains and busses. Of course I asked about the no-gum chewing rumors. Turns out, you are allowed to chew gum…if you can get your hands on it. It is illegal to sell gum there, but if you happen to have it from someplace else, I guess you’re allowed to chew away. Even though I did have some delicious blackcurrant mint gum from Thailand, I didn’t want to risk getting my ass caned!

I think it was really good for me to spend a few days in such a modern country. Being in a place so much like home totally revitalized me for my last month abroad.

I added a link to my Singapore pics in the blogroll.

xo

 

 

Cambodia & into Malaysia

I arrived in the capital of Cambodia, Phnom Penh, early in the morning and got to work right away on seeing the sights. After lunch, I hired a tuk-tuk driver to take me to The Killing Fields and Tuol Sleng Museum of Genocide. Basically, from 1975-1979 the Khmer Rouge, with Pol Pot as their sociopath leader, killed around 2 million Cambodians (no one knows the exact figures).  One of the Khmer Rouge’s mottos was: To keep you is no benefit. To destroy you is no loss.

The killing fields is the area where they actually did the killing. It wasn’t too interesting to see…since it was mostly just a large field with signs indicating where different things were during the genocide times. There is this there bone memorial, which is this huge Khmer style temple/building stacked high with real skulls of the victims that they dug up when the camp was liberated by the Vietnamese in 1980. Isn’t it fascinating that this went on so recently to our lifetime? It’s just crazy. I don’t think that many people my age even knows about it back home. I had no clue before I first came to Cambodia in ‘04. Crazy. Anyway, to save bullets, the Khmer would just smack people over the head with clubs. Or they’d get their kicks from throwing babies into the air and kicking them them. UGH. it’s really just too awful for words. Sorry to be depressing!!

After the ‘fields,’ the museum was even worse. This is an old school that the Khmer turned into a place for torture. Since this happened so recently,  many of the tools of torture are still in tact and laid out for viewing along with photos of the dismembered bodies on which the instruments were actually used. There is also lots of  clothing, along with the victim’s skulls and bones. It all reminded me a bit of going to  Auschwitz. The eeriest part was the haunting photographs of nearly everyone who entered. There were also many photos of the Khmer soldiers, many who  were young boys and girls, as young as 12 years-old. They joined so they wouldn’t starve or be killed like everyone else. For record keeping purposes the Khmer soldiers also took pics of the dead and tortured victims so they could prove to Pol Pot that they were doing a good job. Those pictures are there too, in all their bloody horror. While walking around, I just kept thinking I was literally stepping in blood. It was seriously beyond AWFUL. Our tour guide’s father, brother and 1 sister were killed during Pol Pot’s time.  She, her mom and other sister only survived because they walked into Vietnam as refugees. Did you know the the US bombed the shit out of Cambodia too? Yep- during the Vietnamese War- or as they call it over here- the American War. The name makes sense I guess since they weren’t at war with themselves. The US was trying to get the Vietnamese soldiers out of hiding in Cambodia, and it seems that they couldn’t care less about what it would do to an uninvolved nation. Okay, enough about the horrors I saw in Phnom Penh.

The next day I travelled down to the coast to a little beach town called Sihanoukville and stayed there four days.  I laid out by the beach as much as possible, but it was awfully rainy, so I did a lot of reading and going to the ‘cinema,’ which was fantastic. This American guy had set up a huge screen in a room with couches and ottomans and comfy chairs and projected dvds onto the screen. He played three movies a night and I saw at least one every night. One night I watched The Killing Fields, which was nominated for Best Picture at the 1984 Oscars.  It was very moving, especially watching it in the country where it took place. I got a little bored there, being friendless still and all,  so decided to head back up to Siem Reap to revisit the temples of Angkor a second time.

On the 11 hour bus journey, I met a Dutch guy named Ron and finally had a new friend! At the bus terminal in Siem Reap, I picked up another- a Belgian lady named Leila. The three of us stayed at the same place and hired a tuk-tuk to go ‘temple-ing’ the next morning, starting with surnise at Angkor Wat. Our pick-up was at 5am and it was too cloudy to actually see the sunrise, but still great seeing Angkor Wat in that beautiful dawn light. This is what it is supposed to look like at sunrise (not my pic and not what I saw):

The entrance fee for one day around Angkor is $20, more than the Taj Mahal! Just a random FYI- they use US $ in Cambodia, just like in Ecuador. There are such random countries that use our currency.

Anyway, I’m so happy that I went back to the temples.  My Godmother Linda passed away soon after our trip to Thailand and Cambodia in a Scuba diving accident, so going back makes me feel closer to her- especially since the places are so spiritual. I did the “Little Circuit” from 5am-4pm and only saw a few of the 70 temples/monuments of Angkor, including Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom, Bayon (my favorite one with the faces), Elephant Gate, Ta Phrohm (aka Tomb Raider  temple), Chau Say Tevoda, and Elephant Terrace. It was especially exhausting in the heat and humidity, but since it’s currently low-season in Asia, we had some of the temples to ourselves!

The next day I made a spontaneous decision and booked flights to visit Malaysia and Singapore for 10 days and pushed back my flight to Vietnam by 3 days. Those countries were in the original plan, but since I’d cancelled my flight from Singapore to Indonesia, I thought I would just stay in Thailand, Cambodia, Laos (which I won’t make it to), and Vietnam. Ron was heading to Malaysia on May 2nd, and I decided to join him to check it out and stopover in Singapore for a few days too.

That evening, I saw an ad on a tuk-tuk for Raja Yoga and a free hour meditation session so decided to check it out. I thought it would be yoga, as in the postures, but turns out that Raja Yoga is more a type of guided meditation. Yoga actually means “union,” but my mind is just so trained to assume it always means “exercise.”  After the calming session, I asked the Aussie lady running the place what I should do on my last day in Siem Reap and she suggested teaching English at this local school. So that’s what I did!

Ron and I arrived at the school at 8:30 the next morning and stayed until 11am, teaching and playing with the children who ranged from age 3-16. The school is comprised of 3 classrooms with the children separated by skill-level, as opposed to age. There they teach the poorest children in all of Siem Reap and lots of orphans as well who live with the nuns on the school grounds. I visited all of the different classrooms and helped the teachers wih the lesson plans. The teachers hardly spoke any English, so how the hell were they teachingit to the kids? I definitely give them major props for doing their job for probably very litle money. It was difficult jumping right in and teaching because I had no idea what system they used to learn and couldn’t tell if what I was saying was actually sticking with the kids or not. Plus, it was my very first time teaching anything to anyone. We sang a few songs (If You’re Happy and you Know it and Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes) and learned a few phrases in the classroom, but recess time was the best. I taught about 60 kids “duck, duck, goose” and they LOVED it! I don’t think I’ll become a teacher anytime soon, but it was an extremely rewarding experience and I’d love to participate in another volunteer teaching day somewhere in Vietnam. Definitely the highlight of Cambodia for me.

On May 2nd, I flew to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, where I am right now.  KL, as the locals call it, is a big, modern city filled with mega-mall complexes and yummy street food. I was originally planning to travel around Malaysia and possibly go to an island for some snorkelling or the jungle for some canopy-walking and trekking, but ended up just staying here. I’ve really been enjoying being back in a modern city and have seen five movies, so far, since I’ve been here- Lars and the Real Girl (***1/2), Iron Man- at the Imax- (***), Street Kings (**1/4), Fool’s Gold(*) and Over Her Dead Body(*). Today starts the French Film Festival here so will see a few of those today, before making my way by bus down to Singapore tomorrow.  I’m obsessed with the beautifully silver, giant Petronas Towers, but confused about how they rank as far as the world’s tallest buildings go. Let’s just say they’re up there.  I’ve visited the Lake Gardens complex, including the bird park & Islamic Arts Museum, the Batu Caves- a Hindu temple set in giant caves outside the city, the Central Market, Chinatown, Little India, and a riduculous amount of shopping malls, including one with a roller coaster andtheme park inside.  Some American chains they have here include: TGI Fridays, Chilis, Starbucks, Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, California Pizza Kitchen,Gloria Jean’s, PIzza Hut, KFC, and a McDonald’s on literally every corner. No, I have not eaten at any of them.

Ron and I did a day trip to Malacca, where the Dutch ruled from 1641-1795.  We mostly wandered around the colonial city, seeing tons of different sights, but the highlight came in the afternoon. We had just finished dining at a Chinese restaurant (so much Chinese cuisine in Malaysia), when we heard this loud banging and singing coming from somewhere nearby. I thought it was a parade, but turned out to be a traditional Malay wedding celebration. We ran over to see what was going on and the bride’s mother and family invited us to join in the festivities! First, I was led into the bride’s family home to participate in the formal ‘blessings’ of the bride and groom. I wasn’t exactly sure what I was doing, but her Aunt talked me through it. I had to pick up little green leaves/herbs from a bowl and sprinkle them over the seated bride and groom. Next, I cleaned off their hands and picked up a giant portion of yellow sticky rice and placed it in the groom’s hand and guided his hand to feed the bride the rice. Next I did the same with the bride feeding the groom. I suppose it’s a bit like our cake-feeding tradition, except neither bride nor groom were smiling and looked pained eating the rice. I wonder how much they’re force fed during the ceremony? I was given a hard-boiled egg in a porcelain basket as a thank you. Afterwards, we had to eat with the family, even though we had just finished lunch and it was also the Aunt’s birthday so had to indulge in some cake as well. I was stuffed to the brim, but I felt it would have been rude to turn anything down.  I kept saying terima kasih (”thank you”), but everyone insisted they were absolutely honored to have us ‘white folk’ present at the celebration and it made them all very proud! Wow. So strange how some people in the world would admire me just for my pale skin color. I also find it fascinating that nearly every skin product in Asia contains whitening cream- just the opposite of our self-tanners. I chatted with the Aunt for around two hours and asked about the head scarves that a lot of the Muslim women wear. She said that girls start wearing them when they get their first period. How embarrassing- everyone knows when you first start ovulating!!

Last night, I had an interesting conversation.  I was checking out at my internet cafe and the guy behind the desk asked ‘Are you American?’

I replied  ‘Yes.’

He said, ‘Which part of america?’

i answered, ‘Illinois- have you been?’

He says ‘No, I’m IRAQI”

Stunned, I could only muster up, ‘Oh, well yikes, sorry about all
that!!!!’

I’m sure it wasn’t the best thing to say, but the whole exchange was honestly very pleasant and he gave a little nod and a ‘oh, that’s okay’  as I left.  I felt a tad  uncomfortable, since I felt a bit guilty.

Anyway, off to Singapore tomorrow!

I uploaded new pictures to my website- links in the blogroll under Cambodia and Malaysia. Enjoy!

xoxox

 

Top 10s

Life is slow and rainy down here in Sihanoukville, Cambodia- a little coastal town south of Phnom Penh, so I decided to do a top 10 (so far) of my trip highlights. I still have nearly two months to go, so this is a bit preemptive, but why not?

10. Buenos Aires

9. Rickshaw rides in India, especially with Harish (Mysore) and Vicky (Jaipur) or when Dee and I would serenade the drivers with American pop hits

8. Songkran Festival (Thai New Year) aka city-wide water fight

7. Trekking the LangTang region of Nepal for 7 days

6. Soaking up the sun on the Thai beaches with Madison

5. The Taj Mahal in all her wondrous beauty

4. Mahout School outside of Chiang Mai, Thailand (elephant training)

3. The Sivananda Yoga Ashram in India (will be wanting to do another yoga vacation in the Catskills- who will join me?)

2. The Inca Trail- Machu Picchu, the trail itself (completing it), and finding new friends along the way

1. Snorkeling with tons of playful sea-lions in the Galapagos, on three different occasions, alongside sea-turtles, reef sharks,gorgeous fishies and blue-footed boobies flying overhead

I’m sure that I’m missing a ton of top-10 worthy things and will think of them later and feel foolish for not including them, but oh well. Also, a huge highlight was just traveling with Deirdre. We are definitely even closer now than we were before we left, which is certainly saying something as far as travel partners go. I talked to so many people, and know so many people, whose friendships became mangled after trips like ours. We are lucky we decided to do this together. Between Ali (in Australia) and Dee, I’ve been completely blessed.

Now, how about a top-10 list of things I could do without:

10.  My G7 Canon camera getting stolen in San Jose on day #7 of the trip

9.  Days topping 100 degrees constantly. I have been in the summer season since October 27th…with only London and Nepal as my heat saviors (13 days total) and it will be summer when I get back to the states…

8.  The fact that you cannot, or should not, trust anyone because they’ll most likely be lying to you or trying to scam you. It’s heartbreaking to go through counties with that attitude, but it seems essential

7. Drivers in India telling us they’d take us to our destination for the price we had agreed upon, IF we went to 6 shops for them so they got commission. The worst was the driver wanting to take us to a shop on the way to THE AIRPORT TO CATCH OUR FLIGHT!

6. People asking if I like George Bush (goes hand-in-hand with #5)

5. Being told how idiotic we Americans are and how we are all brain-washed

4. Being constantly harassed by drivers, shop-owners, and tour-guides

3. Having to throw toilet paper in the garbage, instead of into the toilet

2. Squat toilets

1. Feeling like a walking ATM machine everywhere I go just because I have white-skin

Trust me, it was a lot harder coming up with the bad times than the good. This trip has been incredible and I can’t wait for more…

xoxox

 

The Land of Smiles

I was not supposed to stay in Thailand for a month. The country pulled me in and wouldn’t spit me out. I got stuck. But a Happy-Stuck.

I was reunited with my Canadian friend Heather (from the India ashram) in Bangkok the night Madison left and ended up staying there with her until April 9th, exploring more temples and doing Bangkok-y things with a great, new friend. We re-visited Wat Pho (now I’ve been three times) and also went to Wat Arun (Temple of the Dawn) and The Grand Palace. The first night, I took her to the night market where Madison and I went to eat street food and listen to the terrible Thai cover bands. This one seemed to favor Fergie. Not a good role-model to have if you are a BOY singer! Boys should not cover Fergie, period. We ate some foods and drank some beers and went to the Mambo Cabaret to catch a Ladyboys show. (click link for more info on ladyboys).

Unfortunately, the 10pm Cabaret show was a no-go because Heather and I were the only audience members present. Instead, we ran up on the stage to “interview” the “ladies” as they were leaving, but their English was terrible, so we just danced on the stage. We attended the 8pm show the next eve and basically it was a bunch of boygirls lip-syncing to all different genres (everything from The Pussycat Dolls to Chinese classics to Thai pop hits) and dancing terrible dances with even more terrible choreography. It was BRILLIANT, to say the least. So bad, that it was so good. Man oh man, was it horrible. In a fun way.

On the 9th, I said good-bye to Heather (I’ll see her again in Vancouver when I’m there in September) and took a 6 hour bus up to Sukhothai. The big attraction there is the National Park (UNESCO World Heritage status) to see all of the really old temples and Buddhas. Sukhothai was the capital before Ayuttahya, which was the capital before Bangkok. I was a little worried about getting around the park, since you are supposed to rent a bicycle to go from site to site and my knee has been giving me major trouble since my Nepal trekking. Luckily, my knee wasn’t a problem, but the insane heat broke me down! I was wringing out my clothes from sweat. I woke up too late and was attempting to bike around during mid-day. Dummy!! On the bus back to town, I met an American couple named Ben and Andrea who had been teaching in an English Village in Korea for the past two years and doing a bit of traveling before heading home to the mid-west. I hung out with them from that point on. Yay for new friends! I was feeling a bit lonely, so was very pleased to meet some new peeps.

It was too hot in Sukhothai with not enough to see, so the three of us boarded a bus to get up to Chiang Mai the next day- another 6 hrs. Unfortunately, we had to stand on the bus for the first 4. Miserable!!! At least it was semi-air-conditioned. Also, it was even hotter in Chiang Mai than Sukhothai, but the Thai New Year festivities were up and running, so I was constantly soaking wet. The Thai New Year is called Songkran and everyone celebrates by pouring buckets of either dirty canal water or freezing ice water on everyone else. From the day I arrived on April 10 until April 16, I was soaking wet consistantly from 10am-8pm. Seriously. Most of the time, I was having a blast. The scene: A bunch of people would camp out in front of a certain bar or restaurant dancing to pop hits and engaging in a city-wide water fight with powerful squirt guns and deep buckets pulling water from hoses or giant trash cans. Everyone else road around in tuk-tuks or pick-up trucks to hit all of the stationary people. I mean, how can that NOT be fun, right? Well…when you want to be dry or start to freeze because of all the ice water, it gets to be not AS fun. Still I found myself saying, “This is the best thing ever!” quite often. I said it to one Canadian guy and he told me I should get a life. Sweetheart.

On my first day of water-fighting action, I was wandering around and ran into this girl and we started talking and decided to “team-up” since we were both alone. Her name is Emma and she’s a Swedish nurse. We hung out for the rest of my time in Chiang Mai, along with Ben and Andrea. She was a good influence on my eating habits, since all she eats is FRUIT! I need her back again.

I was looking into all sorts of activities to do around Chiang Mai: massage course, meditation course, cooking school, trekking or rafting, but ended up choosing to go to Mahout School. I had been looking into a few of these programs listed in the Lonely Planet, but they were all closed because it was too hot. As I was about to book a flight to Luang Prabang, Laos, I ended up randomly asking the tour company if they knew of any other mahout schools in the area. Amazingly, this one guy in the back stood up and shouted, “YES!” FYI, before I go on, a mahout is an elephant trainer. I jumped at this opportunity and signed up immediately to leave for the 3 day/2 night program the next day. As the insane animal lover I am, I would pay any price to have such an intimate experience with such wonderful creatures. And I did. The next morning, after a VERY early g’bye brekkie with Emma, the owner of the elephant camp himself came to pick me up and we drove back to the MaeTaeng Elephant Village, Ban Chang Thai Mahout School, about 50km outside of Chiang Mai.

I was the only “mahout-in-training” there so the schedule followed whatever I wanted to do. First up was watching the elephant show where they play instruments, shoot hoops, play soccer, stack logs, dance, bow, sing, and most importantly, paint pictures. When I was in Chiang Mai in ‘04 I bought an elephant painting of flowers for $10. If you’ve been in my loft, you’ve seen it- the only piece of framed artwork I have- the one that looks like a 6-year-old drew it. Four years later, they are selling the elephant art for $40 for the LEAST expensive one and they go all the way up to $190. INSANE!

So, riding elephants bareback is harder than it looks. Getting up onto them is even harder. They have some big, wide bellies! My main elephant was Pak Boone (5 yrs old) and my other one was Nong Wan (3 years old). Both lady elephants. After riding for three days, the insides of my calves were completely roughed-up from constantly rubbing against their thick, sharp hair. It’s painful. On top of that, think about how your legs feel after horseback riding for a few hours. Now multiply that by 10. My legs felt like complete jelly! I learned lots of Thai to command my elephants to go, stop, nose-up, pick-up, bow, sit down & lay down. I had this little metal hook thing on a wooden pole that I was supposed to use on them to help them listen, but I was very timid with it. Even though they have extremely thick skin and it supposedly doesn’t hurt them, I wasn’t too sure. Plus, they get chained up at night, which I don’t like. Only the two month old baby was allowed to roam free, but only because there was no way in hell she was leaving her mama’s side. I thought they were actually chained together, but the baby was actually just terrified of everything and everyone and, while walking, would weave in and out of mama’s legs. Poor mama probably freaks out every time thinking she might step on her baby! On top of the riding and commanding, I gave my elephants loads of hose-showers, bathed them in the river and took them to the black mud spa, which was their favorite and mine. No one at the camp spoke English very well. I learned lots of Thai and a few Japanese phrases from Naoe, the Japanese mahout studying there for a year. I stayed in a very clean private bungalow, even with a normal toilet and hot shower. I was very impressed! On my last day, as I was saying my elephant good-byes, I went to try and touch the baby and instead of running between her mama’s legs, she started smelling me and ended up ‘hugging’ me with her trunk. I was freaking out and loving every minute…UNTIL she freaked and shoved me. 2 month old elephant babies are strong. She scraped up my collar-bone a little, but I was fine. Overall, it was an awesome experience and one that I, nor my elephants, will ever forget, since an elephant never does.

On my first day back in the ‘city’ after mahout training, I was trying to cross a busy one-way street and while I was looking for a break in the traffic, somehow a guy on a motorbike pulled up directly in my walking path. So, of course, I start to cross the street and BAM! run right into his running engine. I have a square of badly burnt skin there now- ouch!

I spent my last day in Thailand (until I come back with Jesi in June) at the Siam Center and Siam Paragon Food Hall. The Siam Paragon, as a mall, is unbelievably huge and extremely modern and has all of the luxury stores one could ever desire: Prada, Chanel, Jimmy Choo, Gucci and then BMW, Lexus, etc. all with car show- rooms. All in one mall! I found the food court extremely overwhelming. I had to go to an internet cafe to distract myself and to keep myself from devouring everything in sight. It’s impossible to describe and unfortunately waaay too big to get a decent picture. Just trust me. Or as my Indian rickshaw driver Vicky would say, “Believe me, trust me.” He emails us still. Here is a sampling of his last email:

……..i never forget you ..i don’t know why i write you e-mail ..but my heart says to write you email. i don’t know why i really respecting you as my best freind… i miss you a lot dear ..if u need any help from my side plz tell me wat i can do for you …i pray just my god u have no any problem in ur life..u have very happy life..i wish u all the time and i never forget i was so lucky first time i met you …u gave me a good impression …. i don’t know why ..whenever u come again to jaipur u can wirte me …i try my best for you ..now i m in jaipur …i draw painting c.u reply soon..

Ah Vicky. Anyway, I digress. I was going to hit up Ocean World, the biggest aquarium in the Southern hemisphere, but after seeing the entry fee of $25, more than the Shedd in Chicago, I ran the other way. I ended up eating my way through the day instead. I had a feeling there wasn’t going to be an Au Bon Pain with bagels and lox in Cambodia! Instead of settling in at a restaurant at home, I figured out that every single little place let you sample a bit of what they sold. IT WAS ABSOLUTE HEAVEN! I adore trying new foods, so tried even the weirdest looking ’stuff.’ I went to the gourmet supermarket (biggest supermarket I’ve ever been in - think larger than Sam’s Club) and everything there was available to sample also. Absolutely delightful!

I took the modern, tv-equipped Sky-Train back to my hostel and as I got off to walk down the stairs, I noticed everyone was frozen in their steps. It reminded me of this:

It lasted for about 2 minutes and I just stood staring in awe and finally it was over. Everyone went back to normal. I seriously thought that the guy who did the thing in Grand Central was doing it in Bangkok. I asked a student-looking Thai (because they often speak English) about it and he said that at 6am and 6pm everyday, the loudspeakers all over play the Thailand National Anthem and everyone stands still. Wow. The people here are extremely patriotic between this, the Long Live the King signs and bracelets (like the Lance Armstrong Livestrong ones), and the National Anthem played before the movies.

I am heading to the capital tomorrow- Phnom Penh- on cheapie Air Asia. 7am international flight, which means I have to BE at the airport (an hour away from my hostel) at 5am. Ugh! I went to Cambodia with my Godmother, Linda, back in Jan. 04 on our Asia trip. I only visited Angkor Wat in Siem Riep, so I will hit up new locations this time. Send some new friends my way please! (Does that sound desperate? I need some to distract myself from eating all the time!)

I also uploaded updated pics to the link called “The Rest of Thailand” in the blogroll on the right. Enjoy!

xoxoxox

 

Sawatdee Thailand

Sawatdee-kaa (hello)! My memory of Bangkok from the last time I was here (Jan. ‘04) was of a noisy, polluted and totally foreign city. Coming from India gave me QUITE the different perspective. This time I find Bangkok clean, well laid-out with amazing public transportation, pretty quiet, and I literally haven’t seen one beggar in the 11 days since I arrived.  It really is all about perspective since I find everything here ridiculously expensive- not compared to the States, but to India (and Nepal was even cheaper). I am staying at the Hostelling International (HI) Sukhumvit, which is the nicest and cleanest hostel I’ve stayed in over the entire trip. Unfortunately, it is far away from most of the main touristy sites, but it’s still in a really nice area. I’m just spending more on skytrain/cab fare this way, but it’s definitely worth it to have a few nights in such a great place. Thailand is extremely hot. It feels like it’s 110 degrees every day, though it’s only 95- big diff- and like 90% humidity. India was like a Chicago winter in comparison.  I had three days here to spend alone until Madison flew in from NYC! Before she came, I mostly took the sky train to a different mall each day and watched movies (No Country for Old Men, In the Valley of Elah, and There will be Blood) and tried new foods.  I didn’t want to do any of the touristy things since I had done them already back in 2004 AND was sure Madison would want to see them. I was also trying to give my bank account a much needed break. On March 29th, I picked Madison up from the airport and we went to this ashram she had researched so she could interview some people about consumerism (the asahram’s focus) for a documentary she is working on. Unfortuantely, no one was there to help (they were all at a wedding?!) so we just headed back to Bangkok straight to a market. Some university kids, including a transvestite named Angel, gave us a lift halfway back to the city. Even though things are much pricier than in India, there is so much more to choose from and such better quality items. Before I come home, I think I will probably buy an entire new wardrobe here!

The next day, we went to the Chatuchak Weekend market- the largest one in SE Asia- over 30 acres of crowded, bustling stalls. It became unbearably hot, so we sought shelter at the Wat Pho temple to check out the gigantic Reclining Buddha, which is 138 feet long and 45 feet high. After wandering around, we ended up each getting our fortunes told by Mr. Rung and his translator. I wasn’t going to, but after my encounter with the guru in Jaipur, I decided I better make sure I wasn’t such a terrible person after all. This guy did my numerology, read my palm and tarot cards. Based on all three things, he made the following conclusions: I will have at least 1 child, marry either a foreigner or a wealthy man at least 10 years my senior, continue to travel my entire life, should work for male bosses so I can charm them (what is THAT supposed to mean?), should work in a creative field, will easily live to be 100, and will be part of High Society by the time I’m 37. Hehehehehehehehehe to all of it! Mr. Rung also mentioned to be wary of my throat (the guru said my throat chakra was blocked) and mentioned how I feel differently on the inside than I portray on the outside (the guru mentioned the ‘mask’ i put up). When starting my tarot cards, the first card he turned over was…THE DEVIL! I was terrified. Luckily, the devil is not satan, but the god of pleasure and unbridled desires. Mr. Rung told me I wouldn’t have a hard time finding boyfriends after that. He also couldn’t stop giggling- he’s over 70 years-old. Ohh man- embarrassing!!! Next we just HAD to get Thai massages at the Wat Pho massage school. It was an hour of heaven. In this kind of massage, the masseuse basically does yoga both on you and to your body. I don’t always love massages, but this one was wonderful. At night, we took a tuk-tuk (Thai version of a rickshaw) to the Patpong neighborhood to catch a ‘ping-pong’ show. It was like a mini-amateur strip club with 5 girls on a tiny stage who would take turns doing strange things with their… ummm…private areas. They shot ping pong balls into the audience (hence the name), pulled out razors, smoked cigarettes, pulled out 20 yards of ribbon, blew out candles, and played instruments like the trumpet and a  whistle. It was all highly unsexual and honestly pretty boring. I don’t even think the guys were that entertained- except for the ones getting personal lap dances!

The next morning, we barely managed to catch our flight down south to Phuket, since we went to the wrong airport first! Ooops! It was raining upon arrival, but luckily the skies cleared and didn’t show a sign of rain until our last day, but even then it wasn’t bad. From there, we ferried over to the ridiculously amazing island Ko Phi Phi (sounds like pee-pee) and stayed in a fan-cooled bungalow for the next 2 nights. The first day we just soaked up the sun, swam around, and I couldn’t stop drinking mango-banana icees, while Madison enjoyed her Singha and Chang beer. Thai beer IS good- gotta admit! That night we celebrated the glorious location with free gin and tonics in the pool given to us by a kindly Australian who was leaving the next morning. Score! We then celebrated THAT by getting a facial (me) and massage (Mad Dawg). On the bed next to me, a young Canadian backpacker was getting a Thai massage, and we taught the Thai ladies how Canadians stereotypically say “eh?” after all of their sentences. By the end of his massage, every time he’d say something like “That feels great,” all of us, including the Thai women, would should “EH?” They thought it was HILARIOUS! The Thais are such gigglers.

The next morning, we hopped on a long-tail boat for a full day tour around the islands surrounded Phi Phi for some major snorkeling action. One of the stops was on Monkey Beach, where wild gibbons were honestly ATTACKING the tourists. In India, people said that monkeys stole babies and bit people often, but I never saw any of it. These little monnkeys were jumping onto people’s legs and biting them. I stayed far, far away. We also went to Maya Bay where they filmed the movie The Beach starring Leo. It was like a wild jungle that meets the crystal clear waters and white sand. The day trip was really nice, except it included watching the sunset from the tiny boat, which was thrashing about in the heavy waves and making everyone on board completely sea-sick. The sunset was gorgeous, just sooo not worth the nausea!

In the morning, we took the ferry to Krabi and made our way to Ao Nang Beach. This time, our room was air-conditioned, which really makes all the difference when it’s so hot out. We headed to the beach, did our usual swimming/laying-out routine, played some paddle-ball and took a water taxi to Phra Nang Cave to explore a different area. The next day, our last full one on the beaches, we took another water taxi to Chicken Island, which was my favorite place of all. It was even more gorgeous than the rest of the beaches and during low-tide, you could walk across the ocean to an entirely different island. I kept feeling little stings while in the water and just assumed it was from the salt, but found out that I was constantly being stung by the particles of dead jelly-fish. It stung, but not enough to make me get out of the water. Even though I used an spf 50 sunscreen and applied it a fresh coat about every 30 minutes, I am more tan than ever before. Brown is more like it. Madison got pretty burnt though- she didn’t have a base like me. I’ve never been THAT much of a beach girl, but this was definitely the best beach vacation ever. Jesi just booked her ticket to come visit me back there in June and I’m already counting down the days til I get to go back.

We eventually HAD to go back to Bangkok and went right from the airport to this awesome night market, got some stall food, and watched some live Thai music. Surprisingly, it’s really hard for me to find vegetarian food here. Luckily I eat seafood, otherwise I’d just be living on steamed veggies and white rice! Our last day was the best one in Bangkok. We slept in and then went to this temple for a meditation lecture. I was thinking it would literally just be a lecture, but we got a private, 2 hour lesson on Buddhist Mindful Meditation for free. It was interesting and a little different from the meditation I’d learned at my ashram in India. It really made me miss the ashram life though! I think two weeks there was too much, but I would love to do something like that again for a week session. I’m definitely going to look into doing something like it in SE Asia for sure.

SUPER-SADLY, Madison left this morning at 6am and I’ve been wallowing in the rainy Bangkok weather all day. I’m in Bangkok ’til the 8th, and then heading up north to Sukhothai (I think).

I also posted pics today from Madison’s visit so you can see for yourself what an amazing time we had. I miss her so much already!!!!

Sawatdee-kaa!!!!

 

 

Up in the Himalayas

I think, as a traveler, I utilize a pretty good mix of planning and spontaneity, but arriving in a new country that I knew nothing about and didn’t have a guidebook for, I kind of freaked! I was crazily begging fellow backpackers for their guidebooks at the airport, just to sneak a peek of what I was getting myself into. Before boarding the plane, I was smart enough to find out that even though Nepal borders Tibet, neither the Maoist rebels nor the Olympic protestors, were a current issue in Kathmandu.  Phew! Guidebookless and with only 10 days to spare, we immediately sought out different trekking agencies to see what sort of trekking we could afford- both money and time-wise.  After doing some comparisons, we chose Trailfinders, and were all sorted out to leave on an 8 day trek through the Langtang Region of the Himalayas the next morning. This region was Nepal’s first named Himalayan National Park (in 1971) and is home to the Tamang people- relatives of Tibetans, so it promised to be both absolutely stunning and a unique cultural experience.

At 6am on March 16th, we went down to the lobby of our guesthouse to meet our guide Milan (pronounced Millin) and our porter Ihmal.  As the trek went on, we found out that Milan and Ihmal were half-brothers and were just reunited 2 months prior to our trek after not seeing one another for 16 years. Milan was 27 and Ihmal was 19 (supposedly- his age kept changing) and was the TINIEST little man and so shy! He didn’t understand/speak English, but didn’t really even attempt to communicate with us. He didn’t even speak to Milan until day 4 of the trip, when they really started to bond and learn about each other after 16 years. Anyway, we hopped on a very crowded local bus for Syabrubesi, an 8 hour drive from Kathmandu. Now I know I’ve said this before, but this REALLY was the worst, bumpiest, scariest bus ride I’ve ever had in my life! I really can’t imagine anything ever topping this one. We basically drove on the edge of a mountain the entire time on completely unpaved road. There were about 50 people (plus goats and chickens) riding on TOP of our bus- I seriously have no clue how they possibly managed. 

 Somehow, we arrived (alive) in Syabrubesi around 6pm to rest up for day 1 of trekking the next day.  After a bowl of hot porridge, me, Dee, Milan and Ihmal started up the trail and into the Himalayas. The beginning was hot and pretty flat, but the trekking got progressively harder as the day went on. I, of course, had my trusty walking stick to make it all a bit easier, but was much more out of breath than I was on the Inca Trail. My throat and chest was congested and I was starting to get a cough, so I attributed it to that. I just hoped I wasn’t getting altitude sickness- luckily that never happened. Along the way, we stopped at different ‘tea-houses’ for many a hot, lemon tea to perk us up. Every single tea-house had the exact same menu so I ate the same thing for 8 days straight- porridge or a pancake with peanut butter for breakfast, noodle soup or macaroni with egg, veg and cheese for lunch, and a momo (Tibetan empanada-kinda) or macaroni with egg,veg, and cheese for dinner.

The first night of trekking we stayed at the Tibetan Guest House (nearly every guest house had this same name) and were cooked our dinner by the sweet Tibetan owners on their Tibetan stove. It’s basically a wood-burning stove with holes on top of it, where they place the pots and pans, and the fire heats it from there. There is a picture of one in my Nepal picture link for a better idea. All there was to do at night is either play cards, read, journal or chat, since there were no TVs and no heat! It was too cold to do anything else!!!!!!! We usually went to bed before 9pm. I had trouble sleeping every night, even wearing all of my clothes (including my fleece and a down jacket) and snuggled under a down sleeping bag and blanket. This obviously just made my cold even worse, and I sniffled constantly as we were walking. It snowed two of the nights. On the 4th day, it was snowing in the morning, so Dee and I sang all the Christmas songs we could think of, since we were in boiling hot Santiago over Christmas and didn’t get white ones.

On the trail, we had to look out for roaming yaks, cows, goats and yak-cow mixes (dzos). I ate some yak cheese (tasted like parmasan), but wouldn’t go near the yak curd. One afternoon, we attempted an excusion to see the Langtang Glacier, but after realizing we would have to go through an un-trodden path of slippery snow while walking on a cliff, we decided to turn back. It was NOT worth the risk. I think Milan thought we were babies, but who cares. Plus, he was incredibly impressed with our walking speed, even with me wheezing the whole time. I guess people usually walk for 15 mins, rest for 10, then continue, but we plodded along only stopping for lunch and a few lemon teas, until we reached our destination. Milan was a real riot. He was a total sweetheart, but OVERLY attentive! He would literally RUN over to us if we needed anything or to bring us our food- it was a little much, but his intentions were good.

We all obviously ran out of things to talk about quite often, so I had a lot of thinking time. I really enjoyed just mulling over life while looking at the incredible scenery. In total, over the 8 days (really 6 days of trekking since 2 days were taken up by bus rides to and from Kathmandu), we walked about 75 miles. I’d say 2/3 of it was either uphill or downhill also. I messed up my right knee from all the downhill trekking- it’s so jolting on your joints and bones! Overall, I had an absolutely BRILLIANT time and I’m sincerely so glad that I did it, but I think 6 days of trekking in mostly freezing cold weather without a way to ever warm up is a little much. I don’t think Mt. Everest is in the stars for me!

The night we got back to Kathmandu, Dee and I celebrated with Long Island Iced Teas and delicious wood-fired pizzas and decided to get our noses pierced! She’d had it done before, so I insisted on going first so I wouldn’t bail. I chose a little diamond stud. Yeah, it hurt like hell, but I love it! It’s very tasteful. I’m totally like Elaine from Seinfeld when she got her nose pierced in India (Nepal is close enough-love an excuse for a good reference).

The next day was our last FULL day together. Dee was staying in India to meet up with Ravi, the boy she met and became smitten with when we were in Ecuador. They’ve been in touch via email continuously ever since and decided to travel for two months in India together. I was not going to play third wheel and wanted to check out South East Asia and stick to our original plan, so I flew to Bangkok. We had our goodbye at the Delhi airport and after our hug and seeing her drive off in the rickshaw, I nearly hopped on a plane to NYC instead of one to Bangkok. I was really sad to be alone after six months of Dee and I tied at the hip- we had turned into a married couple by the end. We had an incredible time together!! I couldn’t be happier that we ended it all with our trek in the Himalayas. We literally ended on a high.

 

 

 

The End of India

I seriously cannot believe I haven’t posted since before I saw the Taj Mahal. Uh oh! Well, I’ll get right to it then.

After arriving in Agra around 10am, we ate our typical breakfast of muesli, curd (yogurt), honey and fruit, and hired our typical rickshaw driver to tote us around for the day. It really is the best, cheapest and most timely option.  We first were taken to Itmad-Ud-Daulah’s Tomb or the Baby Taj, which had really intricate details and was gorgeous. Dee and I had a hard time understanding who actually was buried inside the tomb though, because there were WAY more tombs than people mentioned on any of the info boards. Maybe they just threw in some  no-name people for show? Next was a view of the Taj (the big mama one) from the back-side, which was supposed to be incredible since not that many people see it from this view. Besides an old woman plowing into Dee and Bollywood filmmakers filming a commercial there, it wasn’t anything too special and just made me extra restless to see it from the proper view. We begged our driver to take us to the Taj (and no, NOT a Mughal Village where they make handicrafts for cheap- aka commission for the rickshaw driver when we buy over-priced goods), and after a lot of huffing and puffing and head wagging from him, we were dropped off at the East Gate.

The Taj Mahal is actually a mausoleum that was completed in 1653 for one of Shah Jahan’s wives- Mumtaz Mahal. Nice place to spend an eternity!! After he built the mausoleum, he was imprisoned in Agra Fort (though he had a nice view of the Taj) supposedly for wanting to build an exact mirror image of the Taj Mahal, but in black, across the river for his own burial. This would have been way too expensive, so the Emperor put him in prison for his grandiose plan and to make sure it wouldn’t come to fruition. Most people seem to think this is probably just an old wives’ tale though it’s an interesting theory.  After receiving free water and shoe coverings (for paying a shitload to get in), my first view of the Taj literally took my breath away. First, it’s GIGANTIC! After seeing it from so far away and in pictures and even from the back view, nothing prepared me for the grandness of it all. Also, it’s not pure white like it looks in most pictures (or at least in my brain), but more of a cream-color. We explored for about an hour and 1/2, did multiple photoshoots, and finally copped a squat on a section of the Taj facing the river in the back. There we started a tally of how many Indians asked us to take pictures with them (mostly men, but some women too) or with their babies. I think we got up to around 30. We literally just sat there and people swarmed! It’s been happening since we arrived in India, but I still was not used to it. Finally, when one man wanted to videotape us (lord knows for what reason…) we drew the line and stopped doing photo ops. Or we tried anyway, but it’s hard to say no with no good reason, when someone nicely asks you to take a picture with them. It’s all just so strange that it’s practically endearing. Plus, I don’t need any more people in the world thinking Americans suck! We did feel like celebs though…again. We wanted to stay for sunset to see the colors change, but it was a cloudy day and we weren’t going to be able to see the sun anyhow, so we went to a restaurant, watched Romeo+Juliet (Baz’s version), and boarded our train to Varanasi around 8pm.

In many books and blogs, people have described their experiences all over India as being “overwhelming” or “nauseating” or “unbearable.” I never once felt this way UNTIL I stepped foot onto the ghats (steps) in Varanasi descending down to the Holiest of Holy rivers- Ganga herself- the Ganges River. It took about 30 minutes for the disgust to sink in after walking along the ghats from cremation site to temple to cremation site. The sight and smell of burning bodies, human waste, buffalo, goats,cows, Sadhus, and beggars, along with the thought of all the dead bodies floating in the river, was “overwhelming,” “nauseating” and “unbearable.” I have a very strong stomach and honestly thought I might vomit into the Ganges. Not like it would matter- I have never seen a more pollluted body of water in my life. As taken from Wikipedia (resource extraordinnaire), Hindus believe that bathing in Ganga remits sins and…ensures release of a person’s soul from the cycle of its transmigrations and over 100,000 pilgrims visit the city each year.  Watching people bathe or doing laundry (counter-productive?) in this river of filth added to my queasiness.  I even saw a Western girl going for a dip! I was extremely tempted to ask for her email address so she could later fill me in on all of the diseases she contracted from stepping foot into the Ganga. Now, I wish I didn’t have such an aversion to the filth, as I would love to remit my sins and release my soul, but no such luck. After we couldn’t stand it anymore, we took a rickshaw back to our hotel through the extreme traffic and pollution of ’downtown’ Varanasi. The next morning, we took the requisite sunrise boat ride on the river, which was really nice and relaxing, and was glad no floating dead people rammed into our canoe. Holy men (Sadhus), animals, children under 10 and people killed by cobra bites aren’t cremated, but just weighted down with rocks and put into the river and sometimes pop up!After, we enthusiastically packed our bags and cut our time in Varanasi short, with the decision to try and get up to Nepal! I didn’t manage to find a super-cheap flight from Varanasi to Kathmandu (the capital of Nepal toDelhi (where my flight to Bangkok was taking off on March 26), so we made an instantaneous decision to immediately board an overnight train to Delhi and figure out getting to Nepal from there. We wanted to get out of Varanasi and needed to get to Delhi anyway, so it would be a win-win situation. We arrived in Delhi after an 18 hour train ride (was only supposed to be 12), immediately went to a travel agent and booked a flight for a 10 day spur of the moment trip to Nepal! The goal of the trip was to do some trekking in the Himalayas, but we figured we’d just book a trek once we were there instead of worrying about it from Delhi. I realized it was my last night in India, so I took Dee out for a nice Indian meal and we got a good night’s sleep.

 

 

 

TONS of new pictures

Hi all,

Just arrived in Bangkok this morning at 630am, but couldn’t check into my hostel bed until 2pm, so took the time to upload all of my pictures from India and Nepal. All of the new links are in the blogroll (named Karnataka, Goa, Mumbai, Jaipur, Taj Mahal, & Nepal) so enjoy!

xox

Jillian

 

Holy Cows and Painted Elephants

It’s only been 15 days since I last posted, but it feels like so much more time has passed. India is a crazy, crazy land.  I have learned the true meaning of never knowing what to expect from one minute to the next.  From taking rickshaw drivers for their first slice of pizza to having my chakras read by a guru to getting nudged by a cow in the middle of traffic whilst wagging my head to the tunes of The Venga Boys- every second is an unexpeceted adventure.

I’ve visited quite a few destinations in these past days- usually never spending more than 3 days per city. It would be fantastic to linger longer, but that’s not a luxury that I’m afforded being in India for only 2 months. I’ll describe the places, but really the best thing to do is look at the pics (if I can ever find an internet cafe fast enough to upload them!). First was Hampi, where the accomodation was AWFUL at best, but the sights were magical. The town rests between these gigantic rounded boulders that are actually very similar to the Devil’s Marbles in the Australian outback. The difference is these boulders have 500 year-old temple ruins set in them. One morning we got up ridiculously early to go on a bike ride to see the temples outside the town limits, but had to turn back by 11am because the heat was already too much. It was HOT in Hampi, man. Boiling! We spent most lazy afternoons in the shade at this place called The Mango Tree, just absorbing chai after chai and journaling. 

We couldn’t get a train from Hampi to Goa, so instead we had to take a ’sleeper’ bus. I figured that this bus would be like all of the overnighters in South America, but NO SIREE! The bus was just a little taller than a normal bus and was filled with bunk beds- not a seat in sight. Dee and I had to SHARE a bed that was smaller in width than a twin sized bed, completely filthy, and we couldn’t even come close to stretching out our feet because our stuff had to all go by our feet.  We had no choice but to cuddle all night long during the 13 hour journey. We were lucky that we knew each other- some of the beds were filled with two strangers! Can you imagine how awkward that would be?! To make matters worse, the road from Hampi to Goa was seriously the BUMPIEST road that exists in the entire universe. Every five minutes, I would be flung into the air- literally like a foot off the bed. Not pleasant- let me tell you. However, it was all worth it when we arrived in Candolim, Goa on my 26th birthday.

When we were in Costa Rica at the very beginning of our adventure, Dee and I discussed how we wanted to spend our birthdays. For mine, I said I wanted to get a room at a nice hotel and watch Seinfeld episodes on DVD and eat junk food all day long. That’s exactly what I did! I booked us the least expensive room at the Lemon Tree Resort and they upgraded us to a HUGE suite for no extra cost. It was SO fancy pants and had a DVD player and movies to rent from the front desk. They didn’t have Seinfeld, but we managed to rent Aladdin and The Sound of Music, even though the speakers were messed up and everyone sounded like chipmunks. My birthday consisted of watching movies, ordering room service, drinking Bacardi Bay Breezers at the swim-up pool bar, and napping in the oversized king-size bed in the freezing cold A/C! I mean, really, what a fantastic vacation from my vacation. Unfortunately, that night I started feeling some tummy rumblings and I haven’t been 100% since. A few days before I got sick, I definitely jinxed myself by saying aloud, “If we’ve made it a month in India without getting sick, I bet we’re in the clear.” Stupid!

After our glorious two nights at the Lemon Tree, the Menezes family picked us up from Anjuna to take us to Madgao. Our friend Susan from The College of Wooster is marrying the nephew of this family, so his Indian uncle Desi took on the responsibility of doing EVERYTHING for us while in Goa. He set us up in a beachside apartment (for free) and took us out and paid for every meal and everything we needed- including medicines (which we needed a LOT of)! Our days out with Desi consisted of visiting some sights and then sitting and sitting and sitting…for multiple hours at a time. We got pretty bored, but Desi seemed to be enjoying himself doing nothing, so we endulged him as our host. In the sitting time, we did a lot of chatting. His family has a lot of money for Indian standards and I found his tolerance for lower class people extremely low. He hated a lot of things, but I think Russian tourists and people from South India topped his list. He also won’t let his children (ages 11 and 16) read Harry Potter or swim in the ocean. He went to NYC and didn’t leave his hotel room because he was scared of being shot. Obviously, he was in complete disbelief of how Dee and I’s parents would actually let us TRAVEL AROUND THE WORLD at age 25. Obviously we butted heads a lot, but we managed to keep our mouths shut in respect.  I don’t usually spend a lot of time with such conservative people, so it was fascinating to listen to him. The fact that his kids weren’t allowed to read Harry Potter beyond KILLED me!!! Painful. Goa is known as the party state of India, but Dee and I didn’t experience that side at all. Partly due to being sick and partly because we only did stuff with the Menezes. Clearly from the above description, partying wasn’t on their agenda.

Next up was Mumbai/Bombay 12 hours north of Goa in the next state- Maharashtra. We only had two and 1/2 days there and one goal- to be an extra in a Bollywood movie.  On our first day, after breakfast, I announced to Dee “we NEED to find a phone to call this casting agent to book us on a shoot.” Literally, not more than 5 seconds later, a young guy approached us with a business card for Cute Look Productions asking us to be an extra! He was heaven-sent. He told us to meet him at 3pm at McDonald’s (since obviously all westerners should know where it is) and we’d be in a song and dance scene. He said they’d do our hair and make-up and provide us with costumes and we’d get paid 500Rupees (about $12.50) for working from 3:30-8pm. We couldn’t wait! We spent the morning doing the recommended Lonely Planet (the backpacker’s bible) walking tour and met up with him at 3. The shoot was set-up at an abandoned old factory and we found out it was for a music video, not an actual Bollywood movie. The video was the first for this boy band called F4*- the winners of last years’ Indian Idol! The cheesiness factor was at a solid 12 out of 10. I’ve never seen anything like it. I will be dying until it comes out on youtube so you can see for yourself. The group consisted of four boys in their early 20’s (typical of a boy band), but they could NOT dance- they just basically moved their arms around and did strange rap video-type moves. One scene, for example, had them dressed all in white against a white background with a giant dove painted on it. Then, two ‘animal handlers’ (I’d call them animal abusers actually) were throwing doves across the camera frame so it looked like they were flying. In case you couldn’t figure it out, the song is about peace and freedom. Obvious and cheesy much!?! Finally, at 10pm, two hours after we were supposed to have finished, we began our scene. At the beginning of the day there were about 10 white girls, but by scene-time Dee and I were the only token white girls left! In our scene, the boys just exited their car (license plate F4* with neon F4* sign hanging from aboveof course) and we played their REALLY EXCITED fans. I had a poster with Abhi’s face on it covered in lipstick kissies and I had to hug him and have him autograph it- screaming and jumping up and down all the while. After 10 takes, it was exhausting work!!! It’s going to look beyond ridiculously cheesy on film too. CANNOT wait to see it!!! We received our promised $12.50 for 8 hours work. Oh India.

I had just finished reading this AMAZING book called SHANTARAM, which takes place in Bombay. The author describes the city so well that after 900 pages, I felt like I’d been there and knew everything I wanted to see just from the book. We ended up hiring a driver to taxi us around on Bombay Day 2 because of the heat and our limited time. First stop was the Mahalaxmi Dhobi Ghat where hundreds of men wash thousands of pounds of laundry every day. Each man has his own ‘cubicle’ with dirty looking water and a large rock that he uses to pound the dirt out of the clothes. I asked why only men are allowed to work there and the women said it’s because laundry is such backbreaking labor. Next, we went to the Mahalaxmi Temple, which is a Hindi temple dedicated to Laxmi- the Goddess of Good Fortune. I’ve found that the temple scene in India is very similar to my experiences at temples in China, in that EVERYONE pushes to get to the front. I had to throw a few elbows just to get my puja (blessing) from the priest. The people going to worship are RUDE! It’s just such a contradiction, being that it is a holy site with a holy purpose. I am learning to greatly value the order that we have in the US of A! We Americans sure do know how to wait patiently in lines and exit airplanes and busses in an orderly fashion. Anyway, next we went to the Haji Ali floating mosque, which was the first mosque either of us had ever visited. We both felt very uncomfortable inside for a variety of reasons. A of all, Dee was wearing cut-off denim shorts and neither of us had head coverings and B, we simply didn’t know the procedure or where to stand or what to do as it was prayer time. We left in a hurry, though it was an interesting place for sure. Bombay has a large Parsi population- a religious sector originated in Persia, who believe that the earth is sacred. Therefore, instead of burying or cremating their dead, they leave them out to corrode while vultures eat the flesh. The place where they pile the bodies in Bombay is within the Towers of Silence. We tried to go see these Towers, but it is off limits to everyone except Parsis.

After Bombay, we flew to Jaipur up in Rajasthan. It was semi-miserable because there was no air-conditioning for most of the flight- being in a confined space 40k feet in the air with NO air flow in the hot weather is not enjoyable. It was Women’s Day (did you know March 8th is International Women’s Day?!) so all of the ladies on board received a free sandwich and lychee juice! I felt bad for the man next to me who was staring longingly at my paneer sandwich. I don’t know too much about how women are treated here, but I’ve mostly talked to men and NONE of their wives actually worked in a job- just tended to household duties. I can’t imagine just making chapattis all day long. Ugh. Jaipur is a REALLY busy place- it’s the capital of Rajasthan- and known at the ‘Pink City,’ though everything is actually more salmon-colored. We hired drivers for both days– it’s really just the only way to get around to see everything as public transportation doesn’t seem to exist. Today, our driver Vicky (he is a boy with a girl’s name- very common), took us to see his Guru. He read our chakras and energy. He said he disliked me from the instant I walked into the room- meanie! He did say some very interesting stuff though, including that I shouldn’t go back to the city where I was living before this trip because bad energy was there. He also stated that I need to do creative work, I have lower back and knee pain, and low iron (all true). He said my throat chakra (communication skills) was blocked and I need to lower the mask I tend to put up. Great. Other than all that, he said I have fantastic energy. I don’t necessarily believe everything he said at all, but there were some points of good insight.

Off to Agra to see the Taj Mahal tomorrow at 6am and then moving on to the very holy city on the Ganges River- Varanasi- tomorrow night!

Love,
Madam Jillian
** Everyone here calls me madam - I feel as if I run a brothel! **