Here, there, everywhere...

Gallery: Mumbai

houdyman — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 23:50:00 GMT

buildings from a colonial time period

Mumbai motions

houdyman — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 23:31:00 GMT

The final city stop on the grand journey around the world was Mumbai, India formerly known as Bombay. We happen to time this visit with the most powerful monsoon rains the city had seen in a long time. In fact, the high tide that registered the day after we arrived was the highest in 100 years. Finally in Mumbai we were also staying with some Couchsurfing hosts who lived in a planned city just outside of Mumbai called Navi Mumbai. Since we were supposed to arrive around 6am on teh overnight train they had given us directions to their apartment located about an hour from the central train station. Our train was an hour late and it was pouring rain but we managed to get with in a half block of their apartment before calling them to meet us. Balram and Saloni greeted us at the door with warm hellos, smiles and clean sandals for their flat. Balram was getting ready for work so after they showed us to our room we settled in and got cleaned up. We said goodbye to Balram and after chatting with Saloni decided to head back into the main historial and tourist area of Mumbai called Colaba. We had taken the suburban commuter rail to their flat and were now taking it back the same direction but even further to the formerly colonial grand railway station called the Victoria Terminus. While the surbaban train was a cheap and mostly efficient way to travel back and forth it was also hugely overcrowded much like the train scenes in the movie Slumdog Millionare. It was fine when we first took it even with our big bags but taking back into the main part of Mumbai was obviously the thing to do as it got more crowded after each stop. Jessica was lucky as each train had at least three cars reserved solely for ladies and these were hardly ever as crowded as the 'dude' cars that I rode in. The main doors were always open so people loved to hang out the door in the wind and each time people got on they pushed further into the middle and if you happen to be in the middle well you got pushed as well. However, nothing was as bad as havign to get off at a stop that was popular for people getting on. On our fourth or so trip on the train I witnessed a guy get repulsed by a the most intense and solid wave of humans trying to enter the train not once but three times. You just had to feel sorry for this guy as you knew when the train stopped exactly what was going to happen. From my standpoint I defended my 1x1x1 space with squared shoulders, steady handgrips and slanted eyes that would repel most surges. It did not help that we were not as familar with all the stops so I had to keep trying to look over shoulders to see which stop we were at. Riding the train for the almost four days we were in Mumbai was an experience I shall not like to repeat anytime soon and one I don't wish for anyone. I suppose some might enjoy the connection you have standing ass to ankle with 50+ sweat guys in a small railway car. Well I am not one of them and if that makes me less culturally sensitive then so be it because I rode the damn trains everyday! I felt sorry for the folks who had to do that everyday either for work or to get home. It was quite maddening for me and something I would not have been able to do much longer. After getting into Colaba we walked around the Victoria Terminus and vicinity, caught some lunch thend found an internet cafe as Jessica was supposed to set up a phone interview while we staying in Mumbai. After taking care of business we decided to head back to Balram and Saloni's flat in Navi.

The next day was supposed to the day of Jessica's phone interview but we soon realized her interviewer was not super organized and he kept trying to call her at random times (with time zone difference) when she was not available or the mobile was not working. The day ended up being a wash because of this so our plans to see more of Mumbai were moved to the next day. We had a nice dinner with Balram and Saloni that evening and went to bed. Sometime in the middle of the night I was awakened by my gurgling stomach and cramps. I suddenly was overcome by what Indians term the "motions" or "loose motions" and what we call the shits! Not sure what I had eaten early as Jessica and I would eat much of the same thing but it was back with a vengence. After my first visit to the bathroom I was up the rest of the night with cramps. By morning I had deposited everything I had in me as my reeling from cramps and lack of sleep. It would appear this day was going to be a wash as well. I began taking medication when it first happen but by midday it had still not taken effect. I was able to eat a little and rest so we decided to brave going into Colaba again and the train!! The rain had actually subsided enough that the sun was coming out so we made the most of it and walked to the water so see many of the wonderful colonial style architecture left over from the days of the English. I was still very weak and crampy but the 'fresh' air was helping a bit. We were also supposed to go out with Balram and Saloni but I was just not up to it so by evening we decided to head back to the flat so I could get some rest.

By the next morning I was feeling considerably better and had not had an 'episode' for over 12 hours. This was our last day in Mumbai as we were flying out late that evening so we had lots of ground to cover. We were also making dinner for Balram and Saloni so we had to be back in time to get dinner ready. We headed our early for our first stop-Dhobi Ghat, the largest outdoor laundry place in Mumbai. Chances are if you send out to have laundry done in Mumbai they will bring it here. There were rows of little private handwashing stations and loads of laundry hanging to dry. Quite impressive if not a bit labor intensive but that is India. Next we headed to Chor Bazaar to find some bargains which we did not although we tried then back towards Balram and Saloni's so Jessica could buy some food for dinner and I could check us in for our flight online. I had also discovered the first-class train car on our ride in which is the same as the others but less crowded and 10 times the price. I opted to ride it on our way back and was pulled off the train when they did a random ticket check at one of the stops. I protested, the guy did not seem to care then put me on the next train through. Since Jessica and I were riding in sepearte cars(she was still riding in the ladies) she did not know this happened to me. Fortunately, there was a train about 5 minutes after the first one so I was not far behind. We split up outside the train station so she could buy food. We met back at the apartment and started making dinner only to have the power go out. This woudl have normally not been too big of a deal since the burners still worked but she was making a pesto sauce which required a grinder run by electricity. It did not appear to be coming back on as we prepared dinner so she improvised and made a reall nice sauce with the pesto ingredients. We had a really nice candlelight dinner with Balram and Saloni and had a chance to talk about their lives and ours, play some cards, etc. They were really nice to us and we felt very at home with them. Balram actually had a brother who lives in Sterling Heights (Detroit), small world! So after dinner we cleaned up, packed and said our goodbyes to Balram and Saloni. We headed off the airport for our 2:30am flight to Frankfurt.

So my loyal readers (the few that are left!) this is it, the last blog from the year long journey. I am not going to wax poetic here about the year I think I have done that periodically in my blog. But a few parting words: There have been lots of people and places that I have written about in this blog. I hope it was as entertaining to read as it was to write. Thanks to all for supporting the chronicle of our journey around the world. Additionally, I know I speak for both of us when I say the year would not have been the same without meeting and befriending many intelligent, caring, honest and interesting people during our journey. If nothing else this year has once again reaffirmed my belief that despite the occassional jerk or jackass, people are genuinly good even without sharing a country, culture or language.

I hope to begin a new blog as our journey continues when we figure out where we are going to live and what we will do once we get there. Until then, keep on traveling and celebrate life one place at a time...

Gallery: Bundi

houdyman — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 17:47:00 GMT

small city in the state of Rajisthan

That was one hot pipe...

houdyman — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 17:30:00 GMT

The train from Sawai Madhopur took us to Kota where we could catch a bus for the one hour ride to Bundi. Kota is big and uninspired so we were happy to catch a bus almost straight away after arriving on the train. Our bus was the first one we had traveled on since Africa that well, reminded us of Africa. It had holes in the floor and ceiling, the windows leaked and it rattled like bones. Good thing it was a short, one hour ride before he arrived to Bundi. At the bus station we caught a ricky to the old city for our hotel which was located in a havali, which are old, large mansions dating back 100 + years that several hotels have renovated to house guests. Ours was just outside the old city walls and pretty nice inside although they were doing some work because it was the monsoon season which means off-season for the city. After settling in we took a walk around the compact old city and get something to eat.

The next day we set out for the fort and old palace that sits above the old city. The Taragarh Fort was constructed in 1354 and is about a 15 minute walk up the hill and is pretty well-preserved. There are also many monkeys who live among the surrounding trees and inside the fort so you must take a stick just in case they get frisky. We had to shoo a few away from certain areas so we could walk around but generally they watch with mild curosity. We also came upon one of two baoris which were like ancient water tanks for residents. This particular one was now being used as a monkey swimming and diving location and they were having a grand time chasing each other and jumping into the water. It was quite a site to see as one does not necessarily think that monkeys like to be in the water like say your average dog. I managed to get one decent picture which shows one jumping off the wall into the water. After the monkey water aerobic display we headed back down the hill to the Bundi Palace with plans to tour it but we were both hungry so decided to save it for another day.

The next day we decided to rent bicycles to tour some nearby sites in the countryside. This proved to be not the wisest idea as getting to the outside of the city was a bit challenging through the narrow streets congested with people, cows, motorbikes and occasional cars. At one point Jessica stopped to let a motorcycle pass only to lean against the tailpipe of recently parked one which proceeded to give her a nice burn on her lower leg. We quickly iced it with our water and she decided to carry on even though it was very painful and starting to blister plus we had not even left the city yet. About 2 km outside the walls we stopped to ice her leg again only to have the chain break on her outstanding bicycle rental. So we decided this was not our day to travel by bike so she took my bike and rode ahead to get medicine for the burn while I walked/coasted her bike back to town. After getting back and applying medicine we decided to take it easy for the rest of the day so she could take care of her leg which by now had a good size blister.

The next day was spent planning our next leg in Mumbai and taking care of some business on the internet of course. I also had a phone interview with a South Korean university for teaching English. The power would go out frequently in Bundi so that sometimes dictated what and where we would go. The next day we packed up and caught the noon bus to Kota for our mid-afternoon train to Mumbai, another overnighter. We ended up leaving earlier to Kota then planned because Bundi was having another power outage, this one to last 4 hours. We had stayed an extra day in Bundi because of missing the tigers in nearby Sawai Madhopur so while we were ready to move on we were also not ready to leave the nice, small (by Indian standards)city where we saw and talked to the same people everyday. There was the two artists who always wanted us to stop into their 'studio' to see art or get a portrait done. Or the guy I bought water from at least twice a day. And our new friend Tony, who worked for a small hotel by the town lake and was their one man kitchen guy. He made good breakfasts and was so friendly and trusting he let us leave the first day we went because we did not have enough money on us to pay for breakfast with the promise to return later to cover the difference! It had been a nice respite from the overcrowded and touristly places we had visited previously and a good place to recharge before hitting Mumbai, the largest city in India.

big Taj and baby Taj

houdyman — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 23:46:00 GMT

another overnight train from Varanasi and we stepped out into the hot sunshine at Agra, home of the Taj Mahal. We were supposed to be picked up by our hotel but they were late so we called and waited for 30 minutes. After arriving we waited again for our room to be cleaned so we had breakfast and fended off a ricky driver who wanted to drive us around for the next two days to 'see' the sights. After getting our room we took care of some internet business then made our way to a park on the other side of the river where you can get a sunset view from the back of the Taj Mahal (Taj) from across the river at a park. After being dropped off by a ricky we walked to the river and as we approached it was our first view of the Taj and it is impressive and immense. We took our spot along the riverbank with the other 15 or so whiteys who were also there for sunset. After getting some late-day lite pictures we set off for the hotel as we had an early day ahead of us because we were rising at 5:00am so we could be at the Taj by 6::00am for the sunrise opening. Our ricky driver had other plans and 'convinced' us to go to a cheap locals restaurant for dinner. It was cheap and not too bad but not necessary for us but for him it was his way of starting the 'dance'. The dance is when a ricky or taxi driver takes to a sight and then begins to talk about the other things to see and how he can give the best chance at seeing the sights all for a cheaper price then the next ricky/taxi driver. In the end, once you agree to the tour at the end they take you various shops selling every thing you don't want so he can make a comission. He did his first foray into this shop journey after dinner and instead of agreeing we settled for him taking us to the Taj in the morning and the baby Taj and Fort after with perhaps a visit to a shop or two. It was the best defense we could mount as we were tired and just wanted to get back to the hotel.

The next morning we rose early we went outside to meet our ricky driver from the evening before. He was there, of course and ready to go so after a quick breakfast close to the Taj he dropped us off at the ticket area. We were not the only ones with the idea to see the Taj as sunrise so by the time we arrived there were at least 30 or so people all ready inside and walking through the first courtyard area. After checking our bag and going through security we followed suite and then walked through the first gate into the long fountain area that leads to the Taj. Again, this is a spectacular building that just seems to dwarf anything around it. For those who don't know the background here is a smidge. Built by a Mughal prince in the 17th century as a monument to his beloved wife who died during child birth with their 14th or so child! The man was smitten! It took 17 years to finally build from marble and stone.

The Taj is flanked on the east and west sides with a mosque on one and a traveller's building on the other. It also has minarets on each corner with provide symmetry when looking at it from the front and back. We spent our time making it to the Taj including Jessica taking many, many pictures. The light on the east side was great for about 20 minutes as the sun rose including some glittering gold inlaid through the marble. We split up as I am a faster visitor of sights then she is mostly because she takes many more pictures. I finally went inside the Taj which is a mausoleum with tombs of the prince, his wife and some family members all interned in the basement closed to visitors. I was not as impressed with the inside as the outside, Jessica disagreed and pointed out the inlaid work around the walls. By the time we finished seeing and taking pictures it has been two hours and it was time to head back to our waiting ricky driver. After visiting the bathroom and grabbing some chips we headed across the river again to the baby Taj. This is actually called Itmad-Ud-Daulah's Tomb and is another Mughal mausoleum that was built 20 years before the Taj Mahal. It is reportedly used as the model for the Taj Mahal when it was built. You can see from th pictures it is not on the same grand scale as the Taj but does look similar including the grounds surrounding it. It did not take long to visit baby Taj so after a quick decision by us to skip going into the Agra Fort which was our next stop we were off. We have seen the fort in Delhi and our ricky driver said it was similar so he just parked across the street and we took pictures of the Taj in the distance. THe fort actually housed the Mughal prince who built the Taj after his son took over and imprisoned him in a tower to gaze from afar. The story goes the prince's son got upset when his dad wanted to build a mirror image Taj across the river fearing it would bankrupt the kindgom.

After the fort our ricky driver finally started to put the squeeze on us to visit some of the shops. We relented for a fabric shop so Jessica could look for a batik. Not being impressed with the tour addition I sat in the shop and made myself as disinterested as I could be while drinking the 'complimentary' chai. Jessica finally settled on a batik and a book for her brother/sister-in-law and we were off. She got upset when the ricky driver wanted to take us to another shop and I think he actually felt bad so he took us back to the hotel. We bid him farewell with an imaginary kick-in-the-ass and went to get some lunch and find the internet. We finished our day at a nice local restaurant and with ice cream from one of the many street stands lining the sides. We turned in early as we had an early morning train to catch for our next destintation-Sawai Madhoupor in the state of Rajisthan.

sidenote-there will be no story about Sawai Madhoupor because the main reason we went there was to see tigers in the national park. What we found out after we arrived is that they close the park July-September for the monsoon so were were shit out o' luck with tiger viewings, damn! So we left a day earlier then planned from there for Bundi, our next destination.

Gallery: The 'Taj'

houdyman — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 18:53:00 GMT

Agra-Taj Mahal

Gallery: Burning beds...

houdyman — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 18:51:00 GMT

Varanasi

Come as you are, as you were, as I want you to be, as a friend, as a friend... (Nirvana)

houdyman — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 20:11:00 GMT

Another overnight train from Kalcutta so Varanasi, home to the probably one of the most sacred places in India-the might Ganges River. This is reportedly the one place you can escape the life and re-birth cycle by being having your body burned at the Ganges River therefore reaching Nirvana. We arrived mid-morning the evenign after we left Kalcutta and made our way to one of the ghats in the city. Ghats are a serious of steps leading to a body of water, in this case the Ganges where bodies are burned and life and death come together. We settled for a cheap hotel at the Assi Ghat at the end of the major ghats in Varanasi with a room overlooking the river. Nothing special about the room except the power went out for at least two hours every night and randomly throughout the day so it got hot in our room with only what the Indians call an air-cooler. We would call it more like a swamp cooler except they lined the sides with hay with water in the bottom. After this we set out for a late lunch and west down the alley to a nothing special cafe. but wait upon further inspection Jessica spied apple pie and ice cream on the menu, well we had to try it. It was divine, at least according to self-proclaimed apple pie afficionado Jessica. Of course after I tried hers I had to have my own piece, yummy! We had pie after every meal, every time we went there which is stay say every day. This was dessert heaven after all the dessert hell we had traveled through in Africa, the Middle East and India-Amen! ok back to the serious stuff.. That afternoon we took a bike ricki to Baranas Hindu University, one of the oldest in India and supposedly the largest in Southern Asia. Once you cross the gate it is almost like another world with much quieter and emptier streets and lots of trees. The campus is very spread out so it is difficult to walk so we had the ricki driver just pedal us around. We also stopped at the largest Hindu temple in the city but it was closed for lunch so we took a few pictures and went back to the ricki for the hotel. Once back we started walking from our ghat all the way to the other end of the city along all the various ghats along the river. There are many, I am not sure how many but because there was a festival going on there was lots of activity which we stopped and admired. We also saw our first burning body, nothing too spectacular and out of resepct to the the families you are not allowed to take pictures. The pictures on my blog are from our sunset boat ride the following evening so from a respectful distance. That night to frequent power outages we read by candle light and headlamp while we sweated in bed. The next day we made our way more into the old part of Varanasi which has man small alleyways leading up from the ghats. We managed to get a lost a few times but managed to always find our way to a road or river. During this time we also saw just how dirty and rundown Varanasi was, especially close the rivers. The Ganges River is not the cleanest river as I am sure most people outside of India realize. But to see it firsthand and how much trash and sewage are dumped in is beyond words. The most frightening and utterly confusing thing for both of us was how many were in the river-swimming, bathing, washing and yes even brushing their teeth! It would seem over the centuries Indians who visit the Ganges regularly have built up a tolerance because I don't think we would have fared as well if we had taken a dip! We also went to the busiest ghat in Varanasi where the fires for buring bodies are going 24 hours a day. We were told by a few of the hospice 'workers' that they burn up to 200 bodies a day! While we were watchign they were 5 different bodies at various stages of burning. It is not as spectacular as one might think, actually quite busy preparing the funeral pyles and stacking the wood, which depening how much money you have can cost very little to a lot depending on the type of wood. We decided to head back to our ghat to catch our sunset boat trip on the river. We had met a CHinese traveler earlier the day before and invited him to join us. Our boatman rowed us up and down the river for an hour as we watched more people play in the river, buffalos wade and bodies burn on the banks. It allworks in haramony, from life to death. After dinner we watched the stars come out from our balacony as we sweated through our shirts. ANother night without much electricity! The next day as we waited for our train we had our last piece of apple pie, mailed some sarees to the Chettys in South Africa and tried to find shade. We made it back to the train station with an hour to spare so we waited on the platform in the stiffling heat with all the Indian people. At 5:20pm we boarded the overnight train for Agra were we shared our cabin with two German girls who had just started their around the world journey, ah those were the days! Besides freezing my ars off at night because of an overactive a/c (be careful what you wish for!) the journey was stress free. The next morning we awoke in the city of Agra, home of the world famous Taj Mahal...

Oh Kalkotta!

houdyman — Wed, 8 Jul 2009 18:54:00 GMT

Well as you can read we decided not to visit Nepal instead opting for Kolkata where we could spend close to a week working with fast internet for job related items. We traveled to Kalcuta on our first train in India with the American Indian boys, Anand and Ankit. They were flying to Bangkok from Kalcuta the next day so after we arrived and found a hotel, we toured the city and celebrated 4th of July with a toast and a round of the Star Spangled Banner in a restaurant!

The next morning we bid farewell to our new friends and wished them a safe and fun journey in Thailand and Cambodia. I warned them one last time about the ladyboys in Thailand after all they are two young eligible bachelors! Oh we also had to settle the "account" with a tailor that the boys paid to have two sport jackets made which were not properly fitting and were late by the time they had to leave for the airport. I am now carrying Anand's jacket through the rest of India, fits nicely by the way...After they left Jessica and I found a little internet cafe close to the hotel and got down to job business. We spent the better part of the next five days on the computer 4-5 hours a day. We wanted to get a head start to the job search process so when we returned to the US we had some things in the hopper. Sorry this will be a bit boring for most to read but sometimes work before play or in this case finding work. We did save the last day for a little sight seeing including a visit to the Victoria Memorial for you guessed it Queen Victoria, a holdover for British colonialism.

One thing was pretty obvious during our stay in Kalcutta-the poverty and filth in the streets. According to a recent article I read while in Kalcutta, the city has more homeless people then both Mumbai and Delhi combined, almost 70,000 people! Of course that is probably too low as it is hard to get an accurate count of homeless folks. The homeless are sleeping on sidewalks, streets, alleys, basically anywhere they can find shelter from the heat and monsoon rains. There are also many, many beggars, it really can get to you how sad the situation is for people. But as we have learned in many poverty stricken places around the world, it is better to give your assistance at a local charity or at least something to eat rather then outright money. Although it is hard to resist we managed to not give out money aside from once in a while when Jess can't take it anymore and gives a little to a half-naked child begging at our feet.

Many people bypass Kolcutta during a visit to India for precisely the reasons I mentioned above-poverty and filth. We actually found Kalcutta to be pleasant and interesting for some of these very same issues. It is not that India does not have these issues across the entire country, it does. Kalcutta is no different it just seems more magnified and part of the city fabric. If ever visiting India give Kalcutta a try, you might find yourself feeling very uncomfortable and relaxed all in one! Next stop the burning bodies of Varanasi...

Gallery: Tea anyone?

houdyman — Mon, 6 Jul 2009 17:40:00 GMT

Darjeeling

Blood letting is so yesterday

houdyman — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 20:45:00 GMT

After a wonderful week in Vishisht we reluctantly returned to Delhi on the 16 hour bus that I got really sick on the way into the mountains. It was of course still really hot in Delhi and crazy busy but we were only staying one night and catching a flight to northeastern India en route to Darjeeling. Darjeeling, made famous by tea and the movie Darjeeling Limited from a few years ago. Darjeeling is also in the mountains so many Indians go there to escape the heat of the summer. Darjeeling also has a famed train that takes about 9 hours between two cities and has wonderful scenery the entire way. However, as discovered before leaving Delhi, Darjeeling also gets the monsoon rains that cover all of India at some point during the summer months, beginning in the south. We got to the airport on Saturday morning for our 2.5 flight and when boarding met two Indian guys who were touring India for a few weeks. They were born in the USA from Indian parents and would both visit India periodically to visit family. Ankit and Anand were both from New Jersey, and were childhood friends. Ankit was just finishing his work as a business consultant before beginning an MBA at U of Michigan in Ann Arbor (small world) in September and Anand lives in DC and works for a quasi-government agency involved with Job Corp. Ananad's family was from southern India and Ankit's was from around the Mumbai area. We struck up many conversations during the flight to Bagadogra (the closest airport to Darjeeling) and they were also going to spend a week there so we decided to share a taxi from the airport to the shared jeep stand after landing. Once we arrived at Darjeeling (which took over 3 hours up a bad mountain road in a cramped jeep) we found a hotel up in the hills of the city (actually the entire city is built in the mountains) and the rain. Apparently the place is gorgeous when there are not clouds everywhere, literally you are in the clouds when it is not raining.

After getting our rooms we took some dinner and the boys began talking about organzing a treking outting. They had originally wanted to trek for 5 days or so but with the rain that seemed like a bit much. So the next day we just sort of hung around the city and took in the local sights. The boys got some info about trekking and found a guy named "Rambo" at least his name sounded something like that to us. He would do a 2 day/1 night trek leaving the next day. After discussing the trek with us they were going to return to Rambo's house to watch the Brazil vs. USA soccer game later that evening and firm up the details. You might remember I mentioned there are many, many stray dogs hanging around cities we have visited, India is no exception. When Anand and Ankit were returning to the hotel after the game it was very late in the night and the normal mild, even a bit playful strays that are walking around the city develop pack mentality late at night. Anand and Ankit were not aware of this change in personality and were harassed by a huge dog pack all the way back to the hotel. The only thing that saved them was two crappy Chinese made umbrellas (Anand's was fully deployed) and two friendly dogs that had escorted them from Rambo's house. Luckily the only violence occured when one bite Ankit's pants but did not draw blood. Word to the wise, when traveling at night in India bring a big stick and perhaps some sausages!

The next morning we met Rambo and four French guys who were trekking with us for the 1.5 hour jeep ride into the mountains. It was a camped ride (should have been an indication of how the whole thing would be) but we made it to a village close to the Nepalese border and began the steep climb further into the mountains. It rained off and on during the first few hours then we stopped for lunch at some random house for ramon noodles and cheese wine. No, not cheese and wine but cheese in the homemade wine. The French guys loved it, of course, two things so French in one glass, and Ankit and Anand downed their glasses. Jessica and I stuck with hot tea and noodles. We then set off climbing again and about 15 minutes in as I was talking to one of the French guys I noticed my toe was bleeding. Thinking I had cut it unknowingly I just rinsed it off and kept walking. A few minutes later I noticed my other foot was bleeding and upon futher inspection noticed these little black blobs stuck to my feet. I was wearing my trademark Chaco sandals so it was easy to see the leeches that were sucking my blood. About that time other folks started to check their shoes and socks and noticed leeches as well. One of the French guys said they were not poisonous and to wait until the end of the day to pull them off. The four of us decided against that and started pulling them off. I had five in total with one big one hiding under a strap who left a rather large hole that bleed off and on for the next three hours. When we caught up to Rambo he acknowledged the presence of leeches but did not think it was a big deal to tell us so he didn't! We had also crossed into Nepal during this time but it all looked the same to me-green and wet!

We finally arrived at a tiny village of about 5 structures at 2900 m which was our "lodge" for the night. It had been raining pretty good by then so we were all wet and cold so they started a fire and we changed for tea then dinner. I was beginning to believe that our "guide" Rambo was less of a guide and more of an organizer as he just liked to laugh, drink wine and eat. Nice guy and all but not really the experience some of us were hoping for. The family that ran the lodge were very nice and cooked a wonderful Nepalize/Indian dinner of rice, chiapti, dahl and potatoes after which we told jokes and took pictures. Rambo fancied himself quite the joke teller but unfortunately for us his jokes took 20 minutes to tell and the punchlines were often lost on all of us. We turned in quite early to dogs barking at cows and drifted off to sleep. Jessica and I had our own room since we were the only couple.

The next morning Rambo woke us at 5:00am as promised to catch what clearing there was over the Himalayas. It was much more clear then the previous day but most things were still draped in clouds. It was not raining thankfully so after pictures, tea and poridged we set off down or actually up then down the trail to the next village. One thingsRambo was not good at as I described earlier was giving us information. Turns out he had a funeral to attend at 12:00 that day which he told us about that morning. This meant he was hauling ass down the mountain to our last stop and the awaiting jeep that would take us on a severly cramped ride down the mountain to the original village we started at the day before. The trek was over that quickly and as we made our way back to Darjeeling we listend to a mixture of American rap and traditional Hindu music on the jeep stereo while trying to avoid leg and back cramps. It was not raining when we returned to Darjeeling so we made our way up the hill to our hotel to shower and nap. I think for me the trek was much like I had done in SE Asia with wet jungles, rain and hapless guides who are nice people but poor guides.

The next few days we were staying in Darjeeling trying to decide on going to Nepal again and then coming back into India or staying in India and heading to Varanassi, Agra and beyond. It is still raining hard in Darjeeling on Wednesday so it makes it a nice day to be on the internet. Ankit and Anand are leaving for Calcutta on Friday to fly to Thailand Cambodia for a week before heading back to the USA. So with cheap Chinese umbrella in hand and wet feet, we face the rain that is the monsoon season of India! Quack, quack...

Gallery: It's so hot in the D but so cool in the V

houdyman — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 18:56:00 GMT

Delhi/Vishisht

Delhi Belly

houdyman — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 18:39:00 GMT

As we stumbled out of customs/immigration at 3:30am hoping that our airport ride was waiting for us we could immediately feel the heat that is New Delhi in the summertime actually most of the time. Thankfully our ride was waiting with all the other people and my name was written on a little sign, such a nice sight to see at 4am. We traveled through the semi-deserted city and arrived on a small street which looked much busier during the day and walked down a small alley that smelled like pee (there was an outdoor toilet right in the alley) and found our hostel. They let us in and we tumbled into bed for some sleep.

We woke around 11:00am and I went out in search of money since we had no Rupees upon arriving into the country. There was an ATM at the train station just down the once quiet street which was now hustle and bustle that is India-rickshaws, taxis, people, stores selling everything, stray dogs, lots of friend street food and trash! The main street I had to cross to get to the train station was very packed with cars, rickshaws(I call them rickis) so I made a break for it. As I crossed I was a little too fast with an oncoming car and got my foot ran over, as I looked down I noticed the tire tracks across my right toes. Good thing the car was a little one, no harm just sore toes for a day. I got some money and went back to get Jessica so we could get some lunch. We made our way around the area were were staying in and got some tourist info before coming back to the main street with all the stores that bordered the alley of our hostel. As we made our way to dinner down the street I got hit in the shoulder by a bicycle ricki, that one hurt a little more but again no major harm. So we had not been in Delhi for two days and I had gotten hit twice already! What a great start!

The next day we got a late start after we did some internet business with getting our next destinations in India booked. By the time we got outside it was mid-afternoon and so, so blazing hot you just can't imagine unless you live here. We found a ricki and traveled out of the center to the Lotus Temple which was built by the Bahia faith whose temple is open to all faiths for worship. They must have all shown up this day becuase there was a line to get in and you had to remove your shoes and even with the straw mats they laid down to protect yoru feet on the marble you had to run to the shade, our poor little feets were getting fried. The temple was very peaceful inside so we sat and meditated for a few minutes before leaving and catching our ricki to Ghandi's musuem.

This musuem was set up in the house he stayed in for the final 144 days of his life. It also has a wonderful grounds around it including a memorial where he was shot right outside the house as he went to pray one morning. Inside the house are pictures and stories of his life from childhood to after his death. He was quite active in life even before he was more well-known including work as a lawyer in South Africa, all around India and in parts of Europe. There was also an interactive exhibit about this life on the second floor which was an interesting way of helping people learn and appreciate parts of his life. Later that day we also went to a park where there is another memorial to Ghandi and a former Indian prime minister who was also killed by an assassin. Then we made our way to the Red Fort and more importantly by that time the main street that runs from it to get some food. Once there I ended up trying a few things that were uniquely Indian that I did care for and at the Fort we were the subject of many photo opportunities with lots of young Indians, usually young men( I think they liked Jessica, I just happen to be there) and a few families. We had seen different whiteys around the city but apparently we were so photogenic that I thought of starting to charge money as we were getting so many requests.

That night we met a couchsurfing host named Irashad who was hosting a woman from Costa Rica and he took us out for coffee to give us information about Kashimir as we were thinking of going there next. It is in the northern mountains of India and much cooler then Delhi. Turns out we decided to go to Manali and Vishisht instead which is on the way and closer (16 hour bus ride instead of 2 days!) but we enjoyed meeting him. The next day we bummed around the city, did some more business and then took a ricki to meet our bus to Manali. We boarded at 5:00pm but did nto leave until closer to 7:00pm and arrived the next day at Manali at about 9:00am, not a find nights sleep for either of us but we had decided to come to this place in the mountains to relax. So after getting to Manali which seemed busy to us even at 5000 people we immediately took a ricki to Vishisht, another mountain village about 3km away. Both places were located in amazing vacinity of the himalayas so once arriving in Vishisht we spent some time looking for a place that had a view of the mountains. We found a hotel up the on the hill with a private balcony and a view of mountains all around the front, and a river and the village directly below. This was to become our home for the next 5 days when we did nothing I mean nothing that required too much energy. It was our chance take a breather, re-group and take care of some business. So that is exactly what we did so therefore there will not be much in teh blog about Vishisht except the pictures that I already posted, please enjoy these the Himalays are stunning.

Vishisht was almost everything we hoped it would be for relaxing, save a weak hot-water heater for showers and so-so clean sheets. I also got a cold during this time so it served as a time for me to heal up and read the huge and good book called Shantaram, which we both recommend. We loved our time in Vishisht and were sad to leave but knew we could have easily spent another three weeks there (we talked about it) as India is a big country and there are lots of great things to see. Ce'la vie!

the big 'I'

houdyman — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 22:27:00 GMT

We said goodbye again to Bianca and Akram the evening before traveling to Israel because we were planning on an early start on Saturday. In Israel with the Sabbath on Saturday most things are not open from sunset Friday to sunset Saturday this also affects the border crossing between Jordan and Israel which has limited hours on both sides. When we got the North bus station in Amman we found a minibus that was going to the border and was cheaper then the shared taxi so we hoped on board. An hour and half later we made it to the Jordan border at the King Hussein/Allanby crossing between the two countries with 30 minutes to spare before things opened. After paying the departure tax again and taking the shuttle bus between the two countries (about 2km), we arrived outside the first Israeli border checkpoint. We waited in line with other shuttle buses and a few VIP vans for the border guards to search the bus. Then we all got off, they checked our passports and we got back on the bus to actually enter the immigration processing building. The most obvious first thing any traveler would notice is the heavily armed border guards walking around all areas with machine guns and a few dogs. One other thing we learned before coming to the border is that most of the immigration officials are women, this stems from the mandatory military service for all Israeli 18 year-olds and the government is just now phasing in women into more combat situations so before they did things like border enforcement and immigration. We also heard they can be real hardasses but we were not even inside yet so we had yet to even interact. When we got off the bus outside the immigration building there was a chaotic "line" to get your luggage scanned and tagged so you could enter without it and pick it up after going through immigration. We quickly learned that if you looked like a tourist and had a few spare dollars, Israeli shekels or Jordanian dinar you could get your bags taken quicker. Having traveled in the Middle East for over a month now we gave a few dinars to the bag guy and were on our way but not before they got yelled at by their supervisor because it seemed this "tipping" practice was not official policy. Once inside we went through our first metal detector/bag search before queuing up to actually talk with an immigration official. I had read that Americans get an automatic 90 day free visa so if they ask how long you staying just say the full amount. Well Jessica did not read the same thing so when the immigration officer asked how long we were staying Jessica said 5 days (which was not enough regardless of the 90 days) and then I said it is at least 7 days. Well of course that raised suspicion so we had wait until another officer came to ask us more questions. I guess we made him feel better since they let us go through after waiting for another 20 minutes. After collecting our bags we were finally outside working on our next issue of how to get to the Tel Aviv airport to meet Julio and Linda. Again, the Sabbath did not help as there not any buses running to the airport it seems everything went to Jerusalem first then you had to figure out a way to the airport since it was between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.

We pulled into Jerusalem having no idea where we were at and it was past 12:00pm and Julio's plane was arriving at 2:00pm. After walking around a little we realized we were in the Arab section of Jerusalem and it would have to either take a taxi to the airport or a shared minivan to Tel Aviv then a taxi to the airport. After comparing the costs we bit the bullet and negotiated a taxi straight to the airport. It did not matter by then because we had already spent our daily budget just on transportation and I just wanted to get to the airport to meet Julio. The drive to the airport was rather quick since hardly anyone was on the road driving and we got to the airport by 2:00pm. We stumbled into the arrivals terminal exhausted but excited that we had finally made it to the airport after leaving Amman, Jordan at 7:00am. After finding the bathroom and then making our way to the flight arrival board I hear this 'Mikey' from behind and we turn to see Julio sitting in the seats in the waiting area. After exchanging hugs and hellos we learned he had landed a little early and had been waiting about 15 minutes. He and Linda were flying separately and her flight did not arrive until after 6:00pm so we just sat down and talked. We were so excited to see and hear a friendly face as it had been since January that we had actually talked to any friends or family in person (except on Skype). Turns out we were exhausted from the day but Julio was well rested having been moved to first class at his connection in New York so he flew all the way to Tel Aviv in first class and had lived it up! We talked about our plans to tour Israel/Palestine for a week then he and Linda were going to fly to Turkey for the second week before coming back to Tel Aviv and flying home to Utah. They had not made any reservations for Turkey yet so Julio started to check prices with some of the last minute airline ticket agencies located in the terminal. At about 6:30pm Linda arrived and after more hugs and hellos we grabbed a cab for downtown Tel Aviv and our hostel. It was after dark when we arrived and checked in, they in their double room and Jessica and I in our dorm rooms. Not too impressed with the staff, we wandered out for dinner, it was after sunset so things were starting to pick up around the city finally!

The next day Julio and Linda were ready to go early ( Linda got up at 5:30am) and Jessica and I were a little slower as our traveling schedule was more of a getting up later and going to bed later. After breakfast we followed a walking tour of some parts around the city then made our way to the beach. Tel Aviv has several beaches and as Jess and I discovered they were much nicer then others we had visited in the Middle East. During this time Julio and Linda also went to more travel agencies to firm up their Turkey travel plans. We finally caught up to the them with more information but still no reservations so we went to a few stores while they sorted out the money thing (American credit cards do not always work abroad) and when we met up the next time they had booked their flights to Turkey! They were leaving on June 12 for Turkey which gave us 5 full days to explore Israel/Palestine before they had to leave. Considering how much history exists in this country this is just a fraction of the time needed. (sounds like a return trip is in order!). We decided to not stay in Tel Aviv for a second night as they were coming back after Turkey so they had more time to explore so we caught the evening bus to Jerusalem and decided to use it has our base for exploring other areas. The bus was pretty typical except there were some loud and obnoxious teenagers sitting right behind us. Julio told them to quiet down which only seemed to make things worse especially since we do not speak Hebrew and had no idea what they were saying. Another Israeli also got into with them on our behalf and told us to walk with him when the bus stopped in case they wanted to 'make trouble'. Turns out they did not and we thanked him and grabbed a cab to the old city for our hostel. We arrived at the hostel and they only had a triple room left which meant they would have to drag in another mattress for the floor which I slept on after Jessica lost the coin toss for bed selection. Again, the next morning Julio and Linda arose early and went for a walk while we slept then we all got ready to tour the old city after finding some breakfast. The old city of Jerusalem is within the old walls that have been rebuilt several times since Kind David founded Jerusalem. We were also going to go on a free walking tour of the old city from the same company that does them in Europe (we took on in Berlin and it was great). During this tour we visited all of the quarters within the old city-Muslim, Christian, Jewish and Armenian and learned about 3000 years of history within 3 hours. The tour was given by a younger Israeli woman who had a master's degree in some sort of Hebrew/Israeli history, she was great and did her best too remain neutral as a Jew but it was hard with so much history in this city especially between Jews and Arabs. We did learn that over the centuries after Jews were kicked out of Jerusalem it has been the Muslims not the Christians who have invited them back to live. Somewhere that got turned around and Jews and Christians became friends and Muslims and Jews became foes. After the tour we took siestas (Julio and Linda were starting to feel the 'heat' from our travel schedule and from the temperature outside we were in the desert after all). The next day they decided to take a tour to Masada, Dead Sea and Jericho and we opted to travel back to Tel Aviv to hit the beach since we would not be able to return to Tel Aviv during the trip. We finally got to Tel Aviv around 1:30 but had to be back in Jerusalem by 7:30pm to meet them for dinner so it was a bit of a waste of transportation money and time but hey it was the beach. I say this not because I am cheap, well I am but also because Israel was really expensive for our meager budget and things were adding up quickly every day so much so that we were going over our budget every day not by a little but by a lot. That evening Julio and Linda treated us to a nice dinner (they felt sorry for us!) and Julio, Lind and I shared a great bottle of Israeli Cabernet Sauvignon. We laughed, talked loud and generally enjoyed ourselves and each other's company. The following morning we made our way up to Mt of Olives to tour other famous sites like the Virgin Mary's tomb, old Jewish cemeteries and fantastic views of the city. That afternoon we took our daily siesta to avoid the heat and then made our way out for dinner. We also made plans to tour the Jerusalem in Lights exhibition that was all along the old city walls however my stomach was not feeling well so we saved it for another night. The next day we made plans to visit Bethlehem so we could see how the Palestinians were living and see were Jesus was supposedly bornفخBethlehem and crossed the checkpoint into the city after about 45 minutes. We got up early to catch the bus into Bethlehem and crossed the checkpoint into the city. As we wandered around the Church of the Nativity we also read literature about how Palestinians were being treated by Israel in their own land. It became pretty clear there were so many disconnects and conflicts between the two cultures that it was not surprising there has been conflict for hundreds of years. We also walked through a refugee camps located within the city. This was a bit surprising to all of us thinking there would be tents set up and more of a camp setting that is typically shown for a refugees. In reality it was more like a very poor part of the city were people live din run-down apartments buildings. After this we walked up the hill to find a tomb area that we had read about only to be thwarted by the enormous and utterly ridiculous wall that the Israeli's have been building to keep Palestinian terrorists out of Israel. The wall is 8 meters high, twice has high as the Berlin Wall and is over 2/3 built throughout the country. There is frequent Palestinian graffiti on the wall including a few words about America's continued funding of Israeli aid which indirectly helps build the wall. It is also covered with barbed wire and there are periodic guard towers. We also visited a house that the wall goes around on all sides and surround the entire house, and then realized the tomb we were searching for in the beginning is on the other side of the wall. This wall was the absolute wrong response to the issue of Palestinians crossing into Israeli lands to insight trouble and further enhanced the division between both peoples. After the wall we walked through the checkpoint back onto the Israeli side which involved going through numerous turnstiles, talking to immigration officers and generally being herded like cattle, again ridiculous. To think that people do this everyday to work on the other side is dehumanizing and unfathomable for most Americans or probably for most people in the world. We also met a Palestinian who went to the University of Michigan but could no longer go back to the US from Israel because he was not allowed to travel to the airport and could only travel to Amman, Jordan if he wanted to fly somewhere.

That evening we had our last dinner together as Julio and Linda were leaving at 5am for Turkey the next morning. Over dinner we talked more about the Palestinian/Israeli conflict especially in the context of actually experiencing it on the ground and not through the media. It is also telling because Julio has had an interest in becoming a Jew over the last year but I think perhaps he was beginning to question this idea. As we said goodbye to our friends we wished them safe travels, thanked them for coming to visit us in Israel/Palestine and looked forward to seeing them again in a few months back in the USA. We also reflected on how different our experience had been for us having spent of 6 weeks traveling through Arab countries. Generally, (with a few great exceptions) Jews that we had interactions with throughout Israel were not as warm or welcoming as Arab people we had met in various countries. I think Jessica and I both felt much more comfortable and welcomed in Arab countries compared to our visit in Israel/Palestine. This seems counterintuitive considering the long-standing

relationship and support the United States had had with Israel over the last 60 years. While we both enjoyed Jerusalem and Tel Aviv for their energy, history and more western feel compared to Arab countries, the people generally treated us differently. I think this comes from a new and real fear that Israelis have with President Obama. This became apparent in speaking with an Israeli woman one evening at dinner. She told us most Israelis liked George Bush if not his policies in other parts of the world, definitely his treatment of Israel. She was however very uncertain about how Obama would treat Israel especially since he had just spoken in Cairo to the Arab world the week before. Whatever Obama's intentions are for Israel only time will tell. In speaking with Palestinians they are much more optimistic about their future with Obama as president. Regardless, it seems that the unequal support that has existed over the last 50 years in this part of the world seems to be shifting in a direction that makes some new groups nervous or happy depending on your situation. This is not my usual soapbox about the conflicts in the Middle East but more of a semi-informed reality of spending time on the ground in this part of the world. This also does not reflect some hatetred for Arabs or Jews but more my opinion on how I view things possibly changing over the next few years. To be continued…

We crossed back over the border into Jordan back to Amman (it is much easier to leave Israel then enter, hmmm…) for a few days to recuperate and relax before flying to our final leg of our journey. The mysterious, spiritual, and diverse country of India is our next destination. We have both been looking forward to visiting India for many months and can hardly believe this is our last stop on the world tour. The time has disappeared faster then anyone can imagine as a year is such a small fraction of you life, and while we are all very connected around the planet, the world is still such a big place to travel around. We are again staying with our Couchsurfing friends Bianca and Akram, this time for longer and hope to visit the Dead Sea from the Jordanian side before leaving for India on Tuesday. The pictures from Israel/Palestine are posted on the blog and any new ones from Jordan I will post in the Jordanian galleries. Cheers and ciao until and India. صث

Gallery: the mj factor

houdyman — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 21:35:00 GMT

israel

miami of middle east

houdyman — Sat, 6 Jun 2009 06:39:00 GMT

Our next stop- the embattled country of Lebanon. This was a recent addition to our tour itinerary, before we entered the Middle East we had not planned on visiting Lebanon. However, during our travels through the region we heard wonderful things about the country, the people oh and the food so we decided to take quick tour. Because we were the only whiteys on the bus we had to spend more time at the border getting our visas. At the border we met the nicest and friendliest border patrol person in almost all of our travels. He was very welcoming, his English was strong and he even gave us a good exchange rate when we had to turn in some dollars to Lebanese Lyre. The country is small so it does not take much to travel through it so we figured 5 days was enough. Our first stop was the shores of Tripoli where after going through at least 5 military checkpoints we were dropped off in the center of town. One of the first things you do notice after entering Lebanon besides the beautiful Mediterranean Sea is the presence of armed soldiers along many parts of the road. It is a constant reminder that the tensions between various factions held over from the civil war in the 1970s and 1980s have not disappeared, and as we quickly learned there are national elections on June 7. We also quickly learned once in Tripoli that like the border guard that issued our visas, Lebanonese are friendly and helpful. After exiting the bus with our bags I went to ask where we were at meanwhile Jessica was approached by numerous people to offer assistance. Once I returned to where she was with the bags she had it all figured out. We walked to the hotel that we wanted to stay at only to discover not only was this one full but so was the backup across the alley. We hoofed our way down the street to the third backup which was neither as nice or clean as the first two. No matter, we were only staying one night maybe two before heading down the coast towards Beirut. Tripoli is not a big city so it is easy to walk around which we did that evening found a great sweet shop, an internet café and dinner. Jess was still not feeling well so she had to be a little selective in her food choices. That night we decided to scrap going to Byblos on the coast and instead head into the mountains of Northern Lebanon to a town called Bcharre. So that morning we began the walking tour of old Tripoli which is known for its centuries old soap making. We had met some Canadians in Aleppo who had just visited Tripoli and told us about an old guy named Ali who showed them around the city as his hobby. After walking around for a little while we happen to run into Ali in front of Tripoli's oldest mosque, he promptly began our informal tour and preceded to take us around the entire old city in about two hours stopping to meet interesting old shop keepers, buy nasty Lebanonese coffee and some tasty freshly squeezed grapefruit juice. He told us he used to be an official tour guide for the city but now only did it because he liked to share the city with visitors. He had lived all over the world so his English and Spanish was strong, and he loved to talk. At the end we thanked him and bid him farewell as we had to eat some lunch and catch our minibus up the mountain to Bcharre. While eating lunch we met some young Lebanonese who tried to teach us some Arabic and shared stories of Tripoli. Late afternoon we boarded the bus for the 1.5 hour trip into the mountains. Just outside of Tripoli at one of our stops we picked up a guy named Ritchie, who was Lebanonese but had lived in Boston for 4 years. He was from Bcharre and was going home for the weekend and was happy to talk about everything Lebanonese including its not so glorious past. Turns out Bcharre where he is from is part of the Christian stronghold were many Lebanonese lived during the civil war. With the elections coming up tensions were indeed a little heightened according to Ritchie. Ritchie was a bigger fellow and kind of carried a wannabe Mafioso persona as he pointed out all the big houses on the hillsides owned by interesting characters. According to Ritchie you could make lots of money in Lebanon the only problem was with the bankrupt political system. As we wound our way up the mountain the valley split and villages began to spring up clinging to the sides of the rocks. It became clear this was an incredibly beautiful part of Lebanon and we were happy that we changed our plans. It was also the birthplace of the famous Lebanonese poet and artist Khalili Gibran which as it turned out is one of Jessica's favorite authors from when she was a young woman, they have a nice little museum dedicated to his life's work. So it was a double bonus for us and Ritchie wanted to meet later that night after we found our hotel for some nightlife. Bcharre or specifically the area above it is also famous for the last stand of cedar pine trees left in what once was a huge forest of them where wood was shipped to Egypt and beyond back in antiquity. It also had Lebanon's ski resort, yes they have skiing in Lebanon as was evidenced by the snow still clinging to the upper mountainsides. We checked into the again overpriced 'hotel' more like someone's house that they rented out the rooms for and met some Americans traveling through the middle east. We don't meet many Americans and it turns out they were teaching English in Egypt and Yemen so we wanted to talk about their experiences as we were interested in teaching English somewhere in the world.

We freshened up and walked down the hill to meet Ritchie at the St Saba cathedral which is right in the center of town. This is a beautiful cathedral which had been recently restored. We were kind of late meeting Ritchie but he was not there anyway so we waited around and finally he arrived. After a shitty dinner of hamburger/chickenburgers because nothing was open at 10:30pm Ritchie did not have a car in the village we met his cousin to travel up to Cedars for some nightlife. While we waited Ritchie and his cousin Charlie heard there was some trouble between some rival political candidates on the road going by our hotel up to Cedars so he advocated waiting at his apartment next to the cathedral until his cousin gave the all clear. That never happened, and in the meantime we bluetoothed songs from our mobile phones and watched the movie Slingblade while drinking some herbal tea. By 1:30am we were both exhausted so we bid Ritchie farewell and walked back to our hotel. The next day we planned on hitching a ride up to Cedars about 15 minutes up the mountain and then visiting the Khalili Gibran before catching the last bus to Beirut. The next morning after breakfast and catching up with the American English teachers we walked up the road towards Cedars to hitch a ride. We got picked up by a guy we recognized from the bus the day before. About 5 minutes into our ride we came around a corner and a big Mercedes was trying to pass on a curve coming down hill. We were heading straight towards him and did not quite miss the front as he stuck the driver's side door which caused us to careen into a telephone pole on the side of the road then crashed into some large rocks on the side of the road before coming to a dead stop. After quick check if everyone was ok we got out of the car as both our driver and the other driver started yelling at each other. Jess and I appeared to be ok, no blood or otherwise but maybe a little sore the next day. We were not quite sure what happened next as there is no insurance like in the US or police that come to the scene. More people began to stop and get out of their cars as ours was on the side but the Mercedes was parked right in the middle of the road into oncoming traffic. Our car belong the driver's older brother so he called him and he arrived a few minutes later in a taxi van that I guess he owned. The older brother and the other driver then began yelling at each other while more people gathered and we waited on the side. Our car was really damaged and not going to be running anytime soon, the Mercedes was not as damaged and after about 5 near miss accidents he moved it out of the road. The older brother told us to wait because there was some accident "decider" was supposed to arrive to assign fault and damages. Meanwhile they continued to argue periodically while we watched. No one seem to really care if we were all right but just argued back in forth. About 30 minutes later another car pulled up and parked in between the both cars and a guy got out, about a minute later he was screaming bloody murder at the older brother and the many men who had stopped to offer "assistance" had to restrain the two as they were about two come to blows. They got the new back into his car which drover away about 25 feet before stopping again with the guy jumping out and running after the older brother again screaming bloody murder. This was now happening all right in front of us and since we can not understand Arabic were not quite sure what to make of it since it seemed this new really angry guy did not have anything to do with what had occurred. The bystanders finally got this guy to leave and things calmed down, after which the older brother told our original driver, his brother to take us up to Cedars in his taxi. As we traveled up the mountain to our original destination after waiting about 1.5 hours on the side of the road we talked about the surreal experience that we had just been a part of. That conversation was quickly replaced by concern for how shitty our guy was driving again! Fortunately, we made to Cedars without further incident, quickly thanked him and jumped out of the van in one piece! The town of Cedars is more like a ski town with lots of chalet like hotels, ski rental places and a few restaurants, it looked like it would be quite charming during the winter. We walked up the road 15 minutes to where the stand of cedars lies, donated the entrance fee and walked around the trails through the trees. It was nice and relaxing, and a beautifully sunny day to be out walking amongst this last stand of cedars that had once been very important to the ancient middle east. All around there were trees, higher mountainsides with snow still holding on and a few ski lifts. One could only imagine how nice it could be in the winter. We headed back down the road to find a ride into Bcherre. We walked a little distance without much luck until a guy on an ATV came whizzing by and said he would give us a ride down the mountain. This seemed pretty unsafe and unintelligent considering we had been in a car accident just three hours prior but we also did not want to walk an hour down into the village. He took us both on but stopped after a little bit because it was too unstable with all three of us on so he took Jessica down and came back for me. After I met up with Jessica she told me he tried to get fresh with her but she put him in his place. He also did not take us the entire way into town so we hitched a ride with a young college student whose names was Jess and her boyfriend's name was Michael, must have been fate. She took us all the way to the museum and dropped us off which saved us some time.

The Khalili Gibran museum is set in an old monastery that Khalili used to visit when he was younger and very much enjoyed. Apparently one of his wishes before he died was to inhabit the property after the monks moved out. This never happened but his sister bought the property and after years of work in 1975 a group of his admirers turned it into a museum to honor Gibran's life. I did not know anything about his work except what Jessica had told me about but I did admire some of his paintings. This visit was much more important to Jessica and she enjoyed touring the small museum and the beautiful grounds which were filled with roses and overlooked the stunning valley below. Gibran's most famous work, The Prophet, was the book that Jessica had first read that got her interested in his work. Believe it or not they did not have any English copies in the gift shop but the museum found a copy and Jessica bought it for me to enjoy. It is a very special gift from a very special person that I will treasure for many years. We made our way back to the hotel to get our bags and await the bus to Beirut. Overall, Bcharre was one of our favorite places to visit in all of the Middle East and perhaps throughout our trip. The setting is gorgeous, the village is quant and the people are very welcoming. It is worth a visit for anyone in Lebanon or the Middle East.

The bus to Beirut took way too long mostly because we navigated through people driving through the streets of various cities waving election flags and signs, and honking horns. Ok we get it, you support so and so, enough already! We got to Beirut later then we thought and were dropped off after dark somewhere that we had no idea where it was in the city. We hailed a cab who of course did not know where he was but managed to find the hotel. We were going to meet our new American friends we met in Bcharre, Nater Tater (Nate) and Qbert (Quincy) in Beirut at one of two hotels. They hail from Berkley, educated at Brown University, Nate has been teaching English in Yemen and Quincy is starting med school in July at UC Davis. The first one had no dorm rooms and the double was way overpriced so we walked to the second one close by where Nater Tater (Nate) and Qbert (Quincy) had already gotten a room with four beds. They were out on the town so we made ourselves at home, me in the cot because there were only three beds and got ready for bed. Nater Tater and Qbert came back and we said our hellos and went to bed. The boys went south for the day and Jessica and I toured the city. Much of Beirut is ok, about 75% of it is new within the last 10 years. There are tons of huge new buildings, fancy shops and lots and lots of expensive cars. It seems if you do not drive a German car you can not live in Beirut. Of course there are also reminders of the civil war like the bombed out old Holiday Inn building which is still standing in the midst of all the new construction, big holes and all. Apparently, it is still structurally sound and there are plans to do something with it like open it as a hotel again! After walking for several hours we made it to the American University of Beirut (AUB) campus which is located right on the Mediterranean Sea and is quite large. We walked around campus, had some lunch and just relaxed amongst all the students milling about. Towards the end of the day we made our way back after finding a really nice grocery store that had lots of things we had not seen for a while like peanut butter. Nater Tater and Qbert came back and we made plans to go out for shisha after we made dinner. After our dinner of pasta and cheese we both crashed while the boys spent time on the internet so we both decided to stay another day and leave for Damascus the following day. We got up late the next day and the boys convinced us to go the Jeitta Grotto outside of Beirut for the morning. IT was a 20 minute taxi drive away and although a bit spendy and Disneylandish, the caves and boat ride were pretty cool. Unfortunately, I have no good pictures because photography is not allowed underground. This is Lebanon's most visited tourist attraction, with good reason it is quite cool, even better then the Lewis and Clark caverns in Idaho! We made our way back to the hotel and split up in search of an internet café in A/C. The Virgin Megastore was reported to have one but did not so we made our way back over to the AUB campus for one near there. We found one, spent some time there and then made our way to the cornice along the water for the sunset hoping to run into Nater Tater and Qbert. We enjoyed the nice sunset even though the coastline and water are dirty and polluted but apparently cleaner then it used to be, really? I guess we get spoiled in the US with our clean beaches and water. We did run into Nater Tater and Qbert, found some quick dinner then smoked shisha together to end the evening. The next morning we got up semi-early, made our way to the bus station to find a minibus taxi to the border. Nater Tater and Qbert were also going to Damascus so we went all together plus Nater's got some Arabic skills which helps considerably when negotiating things like transportation. We got a minivan to the border and submitted our passports for the long visa wait to enter Syria again. They also have a nice duty free and some grass, so we ate lunch, read and took naps. After 4.5 hours and $16 each we got our visas for Syria. We walked across the border, found a minibus to Damascus and we were once again in Syria which we both quite liked as having missed the country a little. The minibus dropped us off just outside the center of the city, we caught a taxi and traveled back to the hostel we stayed at during our first visit to Damascus. Jess, Nater Tater and I were all happy to be back in Damascus as we all love the city. It was Qbert's first time so we wanted to have a nice dinner, same place I ate my birthday dinner ate before we left the next day for Amman.

Before dinner I caught a shave with the little old barber on the same small street as our hostel. I had been growing somewhat of a beard since November so he had to do a little extra work but I always wanted a shave with a straight razor. It was pretty nice and smooth although my neck was a bit sensitive. He left the big fumanchu moustache for looks and we were off to dinner of mezze and mint lemonade. Dinner was again excellent but the mint lemonades were late and too sour, oh well we know how they are supposed to taste! Some ice cream dipped in pistachios to finish off the night and we were all set. Jessica and I were catching the mid-afternoon bus back to Amman so the next morning we said farewell to Nater Tater and Qbert, did some shopping for cheap sundries like shampoo, spent some time on the internet and caught the public bus to the bus station. We left our new favorite city Damascus behind for Amman so we could complete our final leg in the Middle East tour in the Big I otherwise known as Israel were we are meeting my best friend Julio and his wife Linda. This is so exciting for us since they are the only two of either our friends or families to come visit us somewhere in the world, can't wait! Look for the Israel blog soon…..Until then mas alama and shuckran for reading.

paris of the middle east

houdyman — Wed, 3 Jun 2009 01:18:00 GMT

Well after 3.5 hours, two pee breaks and lots of ready and browsing the duty free shops we got our Syrian visas! Whew, we knew it would be a bit of a wait but you never know they can be a bit willy at the border especially as we is Americans!!! TO BE CONTINUED...

HERE IS THE REST OF SYRIA...

After leaving the wonderful city of Damascus our next destination was Palmyra in the eastern part of the country about 3 hours by bus. The ruins of Palmyra are from Queen Zenobia who reportedly took on the Romans and got her ass handed to her and they sacked the city. We made our way into the city center with an Australian couple we met on the bus to an average hotel in the guidebook. They did not like it but it was fine for us since we were only staying one night. We checked in and toured the town. According to what we read after 2001 tourism to the area went way down and it sure looked like it in 2009. We also read the hotel and restaurant people will fight and tell lies about each other to attract business, it only happened to us once at dinner but it was to another couple that we overheard the bad mouthing about another restaurant. That evening we climbed to the top of the hill outside of town to visit the citadel at sunset. The view around the mostly desert valley was pretty stunning and we perched ourselves on a rock just outside the citadel to take in the setting sun. The next morning we awoke semi-early and made our way to the ruins. The ruins are spread out over several kilometers and you can just walk around through everything except the Temple of Bel which you have to pay an entrance fee. We saved that one for last and much to our disappointment we paid and entered. The temple is a bit of a letdown if you have seen many Roman type ruins in different countries. We reflected on the fact that it also did not help that we were tired and it was taking something really spectacular or unique to peek our interest heavily. The place was next on our tour of Syria. It was getting hot by the time we finished so we made our way back into town, grabbed some lunch and a taxi to the bus station café. Turns out they told me the wrong times for the bus to Homs, our next destination so we had a two hour wait at the café. Jessica continued to read her massive 900+page book and I read and walked around. We finally caught the bus late afternoon to Homs for our next visit, the Crac de Chavaliers.

Crac de Chavaliers lies in the mountains just west of Homs. It is an old crusader castle that has had many occupiers over the centuries but has been left in marvelous condition considering all the fighting that has happened. You can not get there directly from Homs so once arriving at Homs you have to find a minivan to the village where the Crac is located. Supposedly in the evening there few if any running to the village but we wanted to push onto Crac instead of staying in the ho-hum city of Homs. I managed to find a guy going to the village in 30 minutes and after agreeing to an inflated fare because of our extra baggage we were off. It only took an hour before we began the ascent into the mountains were the castle sits. The terrain looks nothing like what one would expect the typical desert landscape of the middle east to appear. It is green with terraced hillsides growing olives, etc. and red tile roofs. We nicknames it the "Tuscany of the Middle East" in homage to Beirut which is nicknames the "Paris of the Middle East"(which it is not as just like Tuscany, there is only one Paris). We made up the mountain to a turn off and the driver of the minivan did not want to take us up the hill to our first hotel destination so we got our and met a guy on a motorcycle who said another cheaper hotel was just up the hill next to the Crac. We had also stopped right below the castle and it was indeed impressive from what little we saw from the outside. We hoofed it up the hill and met Nassir the hotel owner who promptly showed us a dirty and overpriced room which we took(we had read about the place so we were not surprised) and after a decent dinner we bedded down. The next morning after breakfast(we got a late start) we made our way to the castle. The castle had some mist around it and the weather was chilly much like it could be in the English countryside while visiting castles and the like. We entered the castle and were amazed at how preserved the castle was inside with huge corridors and rooms, a moat, big towers and an amazing view of both sides of the valley below. We took our time through the castle because there was so much to see including how the Muslims had converted the original Christian chapel inside to a mosque which is quite common from the Crusades and vice-versa. It was a great castle and well worth the hype about how great it was, I personally would have liked to live in it that is of course if I did not have to pay the heating and cooling bills. After the castle we grabbed our bags and waited for a minivan to catch back to Homs and the bus station. The first driver waiting by the castle wanted too much money so we started to walk down the hill into the village but not before running into our Spaniard friend Victor that we met in Damascus. He did not get his Iranian visa so we he was touring around more of Syria while he waited. We said a quick hello and goodbye and caught another minivan just around the corner from the castle. Back in Homs we bought our bus tickets to Aleppo, grabbed some quick food and were off. We got into Aleppo about three hours later which is in the northern part of Syria. Aleppo is supposed to be more conservative then Damascus so I actually put on a pair of pants, a big deal for a shorts wearing guy like me! We arrived at the bus station and after about 30 minutes realized it was not the station we had read about that was close to the city center. This station was actually much further away and not within walking distance as the other one had been. We also quickly realized that unlike Damascus the use of English in Aleppo was much less infrequent so we had some difficulty trying to negotiate our way into the center without taking an overpriced taxi. We finally settled into a minivan and were dropped off close the museum which was according to our map close to the hostel we wanted to stay at. The problem was we were not quite sure which direction to travel in from the drop-off point but a friendly young guy named Mustaffa walked with us to our hotel. He was a Syrian from a town close to the Iraqi border but studied architecture in Aleppo. He gave us some parting advice as we walked up the stairs to the hotel. Most of the people in Aleppo were Iraqis or very sympathetic to the Iraqi cause except the hotel owners, they were mostly Syrians. He told us being American was probably not the best thing to advertise, no problem we said and instantly became Canadians for the next few days.

After checking into the "last" room which was nice and private but hugely overpriced compared to other rooms in Syria was made our way around the 'hood'. Aleppo is famous for its souqs (centuries old alleyway shopping districts) but we decided to save those for the next day. We did find some sweet juice stands close to the hotel and promptly bellied up to the 'bar' for some juice. The next day we toured the souqs hoping to find some deals or at least just some interesting things to look at. We did spend some time in a shop with a young lad who wanted to practice his English named Talha(sp). He offered us tea and he and his neighbor shop guy(a dirty old man we thought) made jokes and talked about life in Syria. We said goodbye and made our way to the citadel in Aleppo. It was also on top of a hill overlooking the city but in the city(all citadels are) but decided against a visit as the inside was not well preserved we had read. We then made our way to the Christian quarter with the help of another young lad for some late lunch mezze (appetizers) and cold drinks. The Christian quarter in Aleppo is very European looking with lots of narrow stone alleyways and shops tucked into little corners. They even have some old Christian churches which we had not seen much of except for the Christian quarter in Damascus. We found an overpriced but cute place to eat then made our way back to the hotel. Aleppo was to be our last stop in Syria before catching the bus and crossing the border into Lebanon. That evening however, Jessica began to get sick, bad stomach cramps and by morning was very achy and in much pain. We decided to stay another day so she could rest the entire day and try to get better. That extra day for me involved being nursemaid for Jess, going to the internet and figuring out how we were going to get back to the bus station that was outside of the center. I did manage to take the public bus to the station, buy tickets and return to find Jess getting a little better that evening but not much. But like a trooper the next day she and I packed up our stuff, caught the bus to the station and then the bus for Lebanon. She was still not feeling well but was able to ride the bus.

We were sad to leave Syria, the people and the country had treated us well and welcomed us warmly into their country. The food was tasty and as we were told once by a Syrian, all Middle Eastern food originated from Lebanon so it only got better the closer you were to the country. Yum, yum.

Gallery: Beruit

houdyman — Wed, 3 Jun 2009 01:08:00 GMT

"paris of the middle east"

Gallery: Tripoli

houdyman — Wed, 3 Jun 2009 01:07:00 GMT

shores of Lebanon

Gallery: Bcharre

houdyman — Wed, 3 Jun 2009 01:07:00 GMT

in the mountains of Lebanon