After being out of the loop for a while, it's time for a recap.
We left Mysore, India, where we were dancing and doing yoga in early November. From there we partied it up in Goa at a few of their all-night clubs. We survived a tropical cyclone along the West coast of India on our last night there, complete with flooding, dripping cabana roof and bamboo thatch flying every which way. In the middle of all that rain and wind, we found out that Free's best friend Tik and his wife Kate are now proud parents of a new little girl. Kate pulled through a 24 hour labor to bring Lila into the world. We found out about the good news amidst many sobs and laughter in a small phone booth in a dirt parking lot. We hope to celebrate with the new parents amidst more appropriate conditions as soon as possible.
From Goa we flew to Chennai on the East coast of India and caught a rather harrowing express bus ride to Pondicherri. "Pondi" was colonized by the French back in the day and has some lingering vestiges of French architecture and gravity fed sewer systems. Outside Pondi we visited with a friend at Auroville, an intentional community started by a Guru and his chief disciple back in the 60's. We saw a modern temple in the shape of a golden orb called matrimandir. It was one of the most splendid locations either of us have ever explored, we found tranquility defined. After a couple more days staying just off the breakwater in an old French villa, we headed back to Chennai to visit with some family friends.
We only had a quick visit in Chennai, but had a chance to pick up some artifacts to remember India by and make ready for our flight to Thailand. It was wonderful to stay with Kartik's family and continue to add to the litany of inside information I'm collecting on the boy.
Our flight to Thailand went smoothly. We arrived in the early morning in Bangkok and almost immediately considered retiring there down the line. What a fun and spectacular city. We stayed in a hip touristy area near the main river and partied the nights away, enjoying Pad Thai and friendly folks wherever we turned. One highlight was visiting the best rooftop bar in the world and having a few drinks at elevation overlooking the cityscape. We were pretty relaxed about any plans to get to the beaches and finally got our act together whence Free had some down time with his 3rd ingrown toenail of the trip??!
We caught the train to southern Thailand from Bangkok and were almost caught unaware by the calm and cleanliness following our trains in India. Imagine free food and reclining chairs after scams and benches, it was a bit of a switch. We took a bus to the West coast of Thailand and caught a quick sleep before the ferry in the morning to Ko Lanta Island.
Once on the island we rented a motor scooter and started to check out the island. This required Free to get over his long held belief that motorcycles are the devil, he is still wrestling with this while topping 70 kph on the downhills. On a recommendation from a friend who had visited here before, we went to the southern tip of the island to find out about staying in a tree house overlooking the water. We found our treehouse and booked for a couple nights. Then the drama began.
We were awakened by a tree shrew digging through our trash in the middle of the night. This led Jo to start squawking and imagining the various pains of being eaten alive by rats. The morning was a vast improvement with 5am wakeup from a gaggle of roosters competing for loudest crowing. Throw in some husband and wife navigational bickering in a tandem kayak, and you've got a beach front vacation on no sleep. In truth there was a secluded beach and midnight swims along with fun roller coaster type scooter rides through the hills.
We are now well slept and in the more settled Northern part of the island and loving our little beach front cabana with accompanying bar and restaurant on the white sands. Our shack must have been built illegally close to the beach, as we can't see any other structure as close to the waves as ours. It's amazing. The Cognac, Chivas, and Gin drinks are flowing nicely and the running, Thai massage and yoga on the beach are providing the antidotes to our nightly libations.
Next we are off to more deserted islands and then the potential of a raucous full moon part in a few days. From there we head North to the Thai jungles to start our volunteering at an elephant sanctuary.
We have begun to anticipate our return to America and are both excited and anxious. The future will hold for now while we burn the present at both ends.
Friday, November 27, 2009
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Thai Love
Just a quick update here. We have arrived in Bangkok and we are loving it. We're getting massages daily and partying late into the night. We'll be heading to the beaches in a couple days.
If anyone wants to come join us for New Years, we'll be in Bangkok again then!
If anyone wants to come join us for New Years, we'll be in Bangkok again then!
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Of Organic Farms, Festivals, and Visas
Sorry to be out of touch for so long, we've been making some great stories here and its worth telling them.
We were starved for salads a couple weeks back, so we made it to a new friend's organic farm outside Mysore and saw all the good work they are doing. Freeman went swimming in an Indian river and has not yet developed any infections from it. To the contrary, it was a beautiful day for a dip. Jo climbed a tree to get us coconuts. Mind you, she only got about 4 feet up the tree (Jo is about 5' 8" or 9"). Thus, the farm owner's son came to the rescue and showed us how it was done, by scampering the full 18 feet up the tree and hacking down a few choice coconuts for all of us to enjoy. Fresh coconut water hath no fellow.
We also saw a very effective and simple agricultural waste to fuel generator that really got Freeman's gears going on an stellar business idea. This last sentence is intentionally vague so that my entrepreneurial friends don't capitalize on the idea before I get home. Suffice it to say I spend hours every day researching specifics related to my concept and can't sleep much at night, due to nervous excitement. Oh, and we had an amazing organic salad with the farm owners with greens picked straight from their fields. You would be surprised how difficult it has been to find trustworthy salads along our journey.
BAM! CRACK! KA-BOOM!! Diwali kicked up last weekend as knowledge once again proved victorious over ignorance and we struggled mightily to keep all our fingers firmly connected to our hands for many nights. Forget going to New Hampshire to get baby fireworks, go to India and get the big ones that are highly illegal in America. Last Friday the 16th, we walked into a converted garage-made-arsenal and walked out packing some real firepower. We had some basic sparklers, along with stacks of firecrackers, roman candles, and what can only be described as small grenades sans shrapnel. For some of the highlights check out our faces on facebook, where we posted some of the videos that our host, Papu, made on her new video camera. What was not captured on the video is Freeman repeatedly muttering, "this is soooo illegal." Driveway explosions aside, we were very happy to hear that Obama celebrated Diwali as well. As Papu put it well, "he just won the hearts of a billion people."
For those who have yet to put their lives in the hands of an autorickshaw or taxi driver in India, I may not be able to accurately convey the full scope of the next experience, but I'll try. It starts with the visas. Jo and I need our visas for Thailand, as we'll be uprooting from Mysore around the end of the month to meander around Southern India and then head off by Mid-November. This need for visas points us to the local Thai consulate in Bangalore. (At this point we feel obliged to warn you that there is no Thai embassy or consulate in Bangalore.)
That didn't stop us though. Armed with Internet information, we came to Bangalore anyway, hoping to fine a Thai embassy in Bangalore. The fact it was also the Great Indian October Fest and an excellent opportunity to drink too much beer, factored in a bit too. We arrived by train on Friday with an hour to get passport photos for Free and get to the "embassy" and submit our applications for visas. We meet a friendly taxi driver at the station and by drawing a few frames around our heads we make it clear that we are in the market for passport photos. We negotiate a taxi fare and head off into the afternoon. We get to a photo shop and point to the size photos we need and get Freeman's photo taken. The photos get developed in the wrong size. We haggle to get them developed in the right size. We get them in the right size, with Free's "Middlebury" softball shirt featuring front and center and Free's head taking up about a quarter of the upper frame. Freeman is now on edge about whether these photos will pass muster.
We get back in the taxi and begin to head to the "embassy". We have an address from the Thai Embassy website. Aside from the street name, this is useless. Few streets here use addresses and the one we had was mighty vague. Thus we are reduced to repeating our request for "Visas" for "Thailand" as often as possible. Fortunately our taxi driver is on his game and calls around and asks all the other taxi drivers he can find as we are stopped at intersections about where we might get some passport related services. We make it to the embassy. This is confirmed by the fact we drove past Embassy Point, Embassy Square, and Embassy Somearuther buildings and turned into a guarded complex. Before entering we confirm with all the guards present that we are indeed at the Thailand Embassy where we can get our Thai Tourist Visas. This is confirmed again by repeatedly asking the information desk out front as well. It occurs to us at this point that there are quite a lot of Indians and no one resembling a stereotypical Thai national working at the Thai Embassy. We are not dissuaded by this fact.
We get to the person we were told is handling Thai tourist visas and are told that we need to go to a different desk around the other side of the building (5 minutes are left to submit our application.) We race around to the other desk. We wait in line. We rehearse our sob-story. Upon reaching the desk, we are told, after a thorough examination of our Indian Tourist Visas, "I can't extend your visa, leave by the date marked on the visa." WHAT!!!!?????
Yeah, we were at the office for registering our status as travelers in India. We were not at the Thai Embassy. (We feel like reminding you at this point that there is no Thai Embassy in Bangalore.) We then begin asking all the police officers we can find on the street that is supposed to have the embassy on it where we can find Thailand's embassy. We are first directed to Embassy Square. There aren't any embassies in Embassy Square. There are corporate offices there. Next we are pointed to Embassy Somearuther building, nope, no embassies there either, just more some bio-tech firms. Last we are directed to Embassy Point. There is more security there, this is promising. We get a big nod from a few different security officers and are waved up to the 1st floor. We arrive at the corporate offices of "Embassy Group". They may sell soap or vaccines, we didn't get the full story. That said, the receptionist is beyond nice and fluent in English. We explain the depth of our confusion and she points us back to the Bangalore travelers registration office across the street where we started, but said that there was a different section that we missed.
We go to that section, they point us to the door with the desk where it was made quite clear to us that we were expected to leave India before our Indian visas expire. We refrain from asking to be told that again and walk to the information desk again. Free explains that we undoubtedly know we are in the wrong place, but need to get to the Thai embassy. The informationist points to desk where we get told to go to the desk that will tell us we have to leave before or Indian visas expire. Jo is sweaty, Freeman is sweatier, the time to submit our visas is now 40 minutes overdue, Freeman refrains from screaming. The informationist walks away. A bystander in line at the information desk asks what we're trying to do. Freeman explains. The bystander/angel points out that there is no Thai Embassy in Bangalore. (Don't say we didn't tell you, at least you were warned.) The bystander/angel does however say that there IS a "Thai Visa Processing Center" down the street we have traversed repeatedly in the last hour. Freeman almost kisses this man, but instead shakes his hand with the vigor of a man hanging by a thread and we proceed down the road.
We arrive at the "Visa Processing Center". It doesn't matter how many buildings there are on the street with prominent names containing the term "Embassy". This office is not located in one of those buildings. We are pointed to the 1st floor. We rehearse our sob story. We flow into the room with all the grace of seemingly injured drunks and begin to gasp out our need to submit-our-forms-even-though-we're-late-sorry-sorry-sorry. "The office is closed." (Internally, we both scream, "WHAT!!!!!??????") Audibly we both stammer, "huh?"
The guard walks us back out of the office door to observe a sign together. The sign reads that the office is closed all day in observance of the Thai king's birthday. Free and Jo begin laughing hysterically, photograph the sign repeatedly and vow to return on Monday when the office opens again...
Then we had one of the best meals of our lives and polished it off with a bottle of Argentinian Malbec. The next day was capped by our win in 10 cup beer pong against an opposing Indian couple who couldn't have been nicer (they didn't have a chance, didn't they know we went to college to learn this sport). After we won we were interviewed by a local tabloid to expound on the finer points of the game and its origins bother in America and India. After a few beers, the interview was nothing but first-class, though we were misquoted (http://www.mid-day.com/news/2009/oct/261009-City-Pubs-10-Pong-drinking-culture-Banglore.htm). Freeman won a solo chugging contest against 4 other guys. Jo nearly won a cricket bowling competition with the wickets made of stacks of beer cans. She was sooo close!
We have submitted our visa applications finally. The photos were accepted. We're in Bangalore for a couple more days. It's been great to catch up with StartingBloc fellows and chill out.
Off to another great meal!
We were starved for salads a couple weeks back, so we made it to a new friend's organic farm outside Mysore and saw all the good work they are doing. Freeman went swimming in an Indian river and has not yet developed any infections from it. To the contrary, it was a beautiful day for a dip. Jo climbed a tree to get us coconuts. Mind you, she only got about 4 feet up the tree (Jo is about 5' 8" or 9"). Thus, the farm owner's son came to the rescue and showed us how it was done, by scampering the full 18 feet up the tree and hacking down a few choice coconuts for all of us to enjoy. Fresh coconut water hath no fellow.
We also saw a very effective and simple agricultural waste to fuel generator that really got Freeman's gears going on an stellar business idea. This last sentence is intentionally vague so that my entrepreneurial friends don't capitalize on the idea before I get home. Suffice it to say I spend hours every day researching specifics related to my concept and can't sleep much at night, due to nervous excitement. Oh, and we had an amazing organic salad with the farm owners with greens picked straight from their fields. You would be surprised how difficult it has been to find trustworthy salads along our journey.
BAM! CRACK! KA-BOOM!! Diwali kicked up last weekend as knowledge once again proved victorious over ignorance and we struggled mightily to keep all our fingers firmly connected to our hands for many nights. Forget going to New Hampshire to get baby fireworks, go to India and get the big ones that are highly illegal in America. Last Friday the 16th, we walked into a converted garage-made-arsenal and walked out packing some real firepower. We had some basic sparklers, along with stacks of firecrackers, roman candles, and what can only be described as small grenades sans shrapnel. For some of the highlights check out our faces on facebook, where we posted some of the videos that our host, Papu, made on her new video camera. What was not captured on the video is Freeman repeatedly muttering, "this is soooo illegal." Driveway explosions aside, we were very happy to hear that Obama celebrated Diwali as well. As Papu put it well, "he just won the hearts of a billion people."
For those who have yet to put their lives in the hands of an autorickshaw or taxi driver in India, I may not be able to accurately convey the full scope of the next experience, but I'll try. It starts with the visas. Jo and I need our visas for Thailand, as we'll be uprooting from Mysore around the end of the month to meander around Southern India and then head off by Mid-November. This need for visas points us to the local Thai consulate in Bangalore. (At this point we feel obliged to warn you that there is no Thai embassy or consulate in Bangalore.)
That didn't stop us though. Armed with Internet information, we came to Bangalore anyway, hoping to fine a Thai embassy in Bangalore. The fact it was also the Great Indian October Fest and an excellent opportunity to drink too much beer, factored in a bit too. We arrived by train on Friday with an hour to get passport photos for Free and get to the "embassy" and submit our applications for visas. We meet a friendly taxi driver at the station and by drawing a few frames around our heads we make it clear that we are in the market for passport photos. We negotiate a taxi fare and head off into the afternoon. We get to a photo shop and point to the size photos we need and get Freeman's photo taken. The photos get developed in the wrong size. We haggle to get them developed in the right size. We get them in the right size, with Free's "Middlebury" softball shirt featuring front and center and Free's head taking up about a quarter of the upper frame. Freeman is now on edge about whether these photos will pass muster.
We get back in the taxi and begin to head to the "embassy". We have an address from the Thai Embassy website. Aside from the street name, this is useless. Few streets here use addresses and the one we had was mighty vague. Thus we are reduced to repeating our request for "Visas" for "Thailand" as often as possible. Fortunately our taxi driver is on his game and calls around and asks all the other taxi drivers he can find as we are stopped at intersections about where we might get some passport related services. We make it to the embassy. This is confirmed by the fact we drove past Embassy Point, Embassy Square, and Embassy Somearuther buildings and turned into a guarded complex. Before entering we confirm with all the guards present that we are indeed at the Thailand Embassy where we can get our Thai Tourist Visas. This is confirmed again by repeatedly asking the information desk out front as well. It occurs to us at this point that there are quite a lot of Indians and no one resembling a stereotypical Thai national working at the Thai Embassy. We are not dissuaded by this fact.
We get to the person we were told is handling Thai tourist visas and are told that we need to go to a different desk around the other side of the building (5 minutes are left to submit our application.) We race around to the other desk. We wait in line. We rehearse our sob-story. Upon reaching the desk, we are told, after a thorough examination of our Indian Tourist Visas, "I can't extend your visa, leave by the date marked on the visa." WHAT!!!!?????
Yeah, we were at the office for registering our status as travelers in India. We were not at the Thai Embassy. (We feel like reminding you at this point that there is no Thai Embassy in Bangalore.) We then begin asking all the police officers we can find on the street that is supposed to have the embassy on it where we can find Thailand's embassy. We are first directed to Embassy Square. There aren't any embassies in Embassy Square. There are corporate offices there. Next we are pointed to Embassy Somearuther building, nope, no embassies there either, just more some bio-tech firms. Last we are directed to Embassy Point. There is more security there, this is promising. We get a big nod from a few different security officers and are waved up to the 1st floor. We arrive at the corporate offices of "Embassy Group". They may sell soap or vaccines, we didn't get the full story. That said, the receptionist is beyond nice and fluent in English. We explain the depth of our confusion and she points us back to the Bangalore travelers registration office across the street where we started, but said that there was a different section that we missed.
We go to that section, they point us to the door with the desk where it was made quite clear to us that we were expected to leave India before our Indian visas expire. We refrain from asking to be told that again and walk to the information desk again. Free explains that we undoubtedly know we are in the wrong place, but need to get to the Thai embassy. The informationist points to desk where we get told to go to the desk that will tell us we have to leave before or Indian visas expire. Jo is sweaty, Freeman is sweatier, the time to submit our visas is now 40 minutes overdue, Freeman refrains from screaming. The informationist walks away. A bystander in line at the information desk asks what we're trying to do. Freeman explains. The bystander/angel points out that there is no Thai Embassy in Bangalore. (Don't say we didn't tell you, at least you were warned.) The bystander/angel does however say that there IS a "Thai Visa Processing Center" down the street we have traversed repeatedly in the last hour. Freeman almost kisses this man, but instead shakes his hand with the vigor of a man hanging by a thread and we proceed down the road.
We arrive at the "Visa Processing Center". It doesn't matter how many buildings there are on the street with prominent names containing the term "Embassy". This office is not located in one of those buildings. We are pointed to the 1st floor. We rehearse our sob story. We flow into the room with all the grace of seemingly injured drunks and begin to gasp out our need to submit-our-forms-even-though-we're-late-sorry-sorry-sorry. "The office is closed." (Internally, we both scream, "WHAT!!!!!??????") Audibly we both stammer, "huh?"
The guard walks us back out of the office door to observe a sign together. The sign reads that the office is closed all day in observance of the Thai king's birthday. Free and Jo begin laughing hysterically, photograph the sign repeatedly and vow to return on Monday when the office opens again...
Then we had one of the best meals of our lives and polished it off with a bottle of Argentinian Malbec. The next day was capped by our win in 10 cup beer pong against an opposing Indian couple who couldn't have been nicer (they didn't have a chance, didn't they know we went to college to learn this sport). After we won we were interviewed by a local tabloid to expound on the finer points of the game and its origins bother in America and India. After a few beers, the interview was nothing but first-class, though we were misquoted (http://www.mid-day.com/news/2009/oct/261009-City-Pubs-10-Pong-drinking-culture-Banglore.htm). Freeman won a solo chugging contest against 4 other guys. Jo nearly won a cricket bowling competition with the wickets made of stacks of beer cans. She was sooo close!
We have submitted our visa applications finally. The photos were accepted. We're in Bangalore for a couple more days. It's been great to catch up with StartingBloc fellows and chill out.
Off to another great meal!
Monday, October 5, 2009
Riding High
We arrived in Mysore, India just before Freeman's birthday and have gotten settled in quite comfortably here. We are staying at one of Freeman's best friend's mom's house outside of Mysore. The house was designed by Freeman's friend, Kartik's Aunt and Uncle and has some very cool environmental features. The house refreshes all its gray water for secondary use in flushing the toilets. The house also collects and filters the roof runoff for use as water in all the taps for cooking, hand washing, and etcetera. The hot water is heated using a solar water heater on the roof, which gets piping hot. It's been fun to feel a bit more integrated with the local landscape.
The rains have come to this part of India finally and are causing a fair amount of flooding. The weather is a bit cooler on average during the days and there have been some excellent rain showers in the evenings and sporadically throughout the days. We just picked up a couple bikes for each of us for commuting into town, and so far only got caught in a mild shower once, we've been lucky.
In town we are both keeping ourselves busy. Jo is taking traditional Indian dance classes for and Free is taking private and group yoga lessons. We usually wake up late and spend the rest of the morning reading, then ride 8.5 miles into town for our afternoon lessons. We're on our way back by the evening in time for dinner a bit after 7:30. Add in some more reading and internet puttering and that's a good day.
We've befriended a retired couple around the corner who are voracious readers and have amassed quite a library. We now have a small stack of borrowed literature and environmental non-fiction to keep us busy for a few weeks. On the book front, don't bother reading Dan Brown's newest "The Lost Symbol". A Dr. Bronner's soap bottle is more engrossing and thematically very similar.
We are both feeling very relaxed and enjoying getting to know one place well, as opposed to bouncing around we were doing for a while. We think about home often and hope you all are well.
Cheers,
Jo and Free
The rains have come to this part of India finally and are causing a fair amount of flooding. The weather is a bit cooler on average during the days and there have been some excellent rain showers in the evenings and sporadically throughout the days. We just picked up a couple bikes for each of us for commuting into town, and so far only got caught in a mild shower once, we've been lucky.
In town we are both keeping ourselves busy. Jo is taking traditional Indian dance classes for and Free is taking private and group yoga lessons. We usually wake up late and spend the rest of the morning reading, then ride 8.5 miles into town for our afternoon lessons. We're on our way back by the evening in time for dinner a bit after 7:30. Add in some more reading and internet puttering and that's a good day.
We've befriended a retired couple around the corner who are voracious readers and have amassed quite a library. We now have a small stack of borrowed literature and environmental non-fiction to keep us busy for a few weeks. On the book front, don't bother reading Dan Brown's newest "The Lost Symbol". A Dr. Bronner's soap bottle is more engrossing and thematically very similar.
We are both feeling very relaxed and enjoying getting to know one place well, as opposed to bouncing around we were doing for a while. We think about home often and hope you all are well.
Cheers,
Jo and Free
Monday, September 21, 2009
India by Train
We are now in Pune, a small city near the mountains Southeast of Mumbai (formerly Bombay). Tomorrow we will be visiting Jo's United World College so Freeman can see where Jo finished up her studies before Middlebury.
So far, our travels have taken us from Delhi through Agra, Jaipur, and Mumbai. wWe landed in Delhi after our flight from Nairobi and saw some of the cultural sights including the Red Fort, Gandhi's Memorial, and the India Gate. We were ushered around a Sikh temple on a holy day and got a small introduction to that religion from an outgoing sikh at the temple. The food was extraordinary and a welcome return to vegetarianism for Free after tasty meat, meat, and more meat in East Africa.
In Agra we spent a day visiting old temples and seeing the "Baby Taj Mahal" (an earlier mausoleum in a similar though less grand architectural style) on the first day. Then in the late morning on the second day we went to see the big daddy Taj Mahal. It is epic. It's the size of an enormous graveyard and it holds two people. The mausoleum itself defies description. We also got a chance to visit a modern palace at the Oberoi Hotel there in Agra. We had a chance to have a few drinks there and walk the opulent grounds.
In Jaipur we toured more old forts and saw the sunset from a hilltop fort overlooking the pink city. That night we even got a chance to watch a fun Bollywood movie in a huge local cinema. Suffice it to say that Freeman's uncle Chris would have gone nuts and Free's dad would have loved it. Everyone was talking to the actors and screaming at the characters to do or not do different things. It was much more like a rowdy live theater scene than what Americans or Europeans are used to in a cinema. We loved it. Freeman's "hardy guffaws" fit right in, indeed he felt meek in comparison to the outbursts all around us.
Then we took the overnight sleeper train from Jaipur to Mumbai for 19 hours. It's a bit like falling asleep in a massage chair set to "shake". We were in Mumbai long enough to buy a copy of Dan Brown's newest book and catch our train to Pune. This was probably the first real stereotypical Indian train adventure for Free. Much of the trip was along a high ridge between two mountain ranges with breathtaking views. Add in ample and worthy beggars interrupted by snack vendors and chaiwallas galore along with a few pushy gentlemen trying to find their seats and you've got a good time. Did we mention the sweat or the staring?
The staring is worth a moment. We often joke that the horns on our forehead are coming in quite nicely, as we attract ample staring wherever we go. By 'staring' we don't mean prolonged glances, mind you. By staring, we mean walking close enough to really get a good look and then investigating every visual aspect of your person, then moving on to regard you at a distance. Luckily we have always felt safe and honored in a way, it's just a new thing to enjoy.
We're off to do some more walking around and see Pune a bit. We miss our friends and family and wish each of you all the best. Stay in touch.
Cheers!
So far, our travels have taken us from Delhi through Agra, Jaipur, and Mumbai. wWe landed in Delhi after our flight from Nairobi and saw some of the cultural sights including the Red Fort, Gandhi's Memorial, and the India Gate. We were ushered around a Sikh temple on a holy day and got a small introduction to that religion from an outgoing sikh at the temple. The food was extraordinary and a welcome return to vegetarianism for Free after tasty meat, meat, and more meat in East Africa.
In Agra we spent a day visiting old temples and seeing the "Baby Taj Mahal" (an earlier mausoleum in a similar though less grand architectural style) on the first day. Then in the late morning on the second day we went to see the big daddy Taj Mahal. It is epic. It's the size of an enormous graveyard and it holds two people. The mausoleum itself defies description. We also got a chance to visit a modern palace at the Oberoi Hotel there in Agra. We had a chance to have a few drinks there and walk the opulent grounds.
In Jaipur we toured more old forts and saw the sunset from a hilltop fort overlooking the pink city. That night we even got a chance to watch a fun Bollywood movie in a huge local cinema. Suffice it to say that Freeman's uncle Chris would have gone nuts and Free's dad would have loved it. Everyone was talking to the actors and screaming at the characters to do or not do different things. It was much more like a rowdy live theater scene than what Americans or Europeans are used to in a cinema. We loved it. Freeman's "hardy guffaws" fit right in, indeed he felt meek in comparison to the outbursts all around us.
Then we took the overnight sleeper train from Jaipur to Mumbai for 19 hours. It's a bit like falling asleep in a massage chair set to "shake". We were in Mumbai long enough to buy a copy of Dan Brown's newest book and catch our train to Pune. This was probably the first real stereotypical Indian train adventure for Free. Much of the trip was along a high ridge between two mountain ranges with breathtaking views. Add in ample and worthy beggars interrupted by snack vendors and chaiwallas galore along with a few pushy gentlemen trying to find their seats and you've got a good time. Did we mention the sweat or the staring?
The staring is worth a moment. We often joke that the horns on our forehead are coming in quite nicely, as we attract ample staring wherever we go. By 'staring' we don't mean prolonged glances, mind you. By staring, we mean walking close enough to really get a good look and then investigating every visual aspect of your person, then moving on to regard you at a distance. Luckily we have always felt safe and honored in a way, it's just a new thing to enjoy.
We're off to do some more walking around and see Pune a bit. We miss our friends and family and wish each of you all the best. Stay in touch.
Cheers!
Saturday, September 12, 2009
India!
We have safely touched down in India. We are exploring Delhi for a few days before making our way south. We'll give more information on our time in Delhi before long, but for now we need to get out there and live it.
Snacking on pappadam,
Jo and Free
Snacking on pappadam,
Jo and Free
Monday, September 7, 2009
From cargo ships to candle-lit dinners on the beach
Zanzibar here we come! We had imagined this day for months and were looking forward to the six-hour ride under a starry sky and were only too excited to jump onboard at 2.00am. Little problem....the ship was a cargo boat that was ferrying coconuts. Alas, we arrived in Zanzibar after sitting, lying, squating and kneeling on coconuts for a-quarter-of-a-day while moving at 5 miles per hour.
That said, it was an incredible cool night as the boat gently rocked through the deep azur waters and at sunrise Freeman even watched shoals of fish swim around the boat as the captain softly hummed; but don't ask Jo, she spent the entire night barfing into a plastic bag and wondering why bile tastes so bitter. It's official Jo and Free will never take a cruise together! The rest of the commute (1.5 days) consisted of another boat ride and a car ride with 10 people (Four in front, five at the back and 1 in the trunk.)- Ouchhh! By the time we got to the pier we were certain that our trip back to Nairobi will consist of one plane flight.
However, the moment we stepped on Kendwa beach our hearts melted as we have never ever seen a place so beautiful. The powdery white sand seeps between your toes as you walk on the expansive beach littered with shells. The sun gently tingles your skin but not too much; while the ocean consists of alternate azur and cobalt strips and you only need to swim 20 metres to see stunning corals reefs. The locals placed flowers on our bed and made us feel like we were long lost friends coming home and on Saturday night we danced the night away at the Full Moon party then jumped in the ocean for a 2.00am swim. Yes, everyone should visit Kendwa Beach in Zanzibar. It's paradise.
We are now back in Zanzibar's stone town. We will miss Kendwa but we cannot wait for India. T minus 2 days.
Mwah,
Jo and Free
That said, it was an incredible cool night as the boat gently rocked through the deep azur waters and at sunrise Freeman even watched shoals of fish swim around the boat as the captain softly hummed; but don't ask Jo, she spent the entire night barfing into a plastic bag and wondering why bile tastes so bitter. It's official Jo and Free will never take a cruise together! The rest of the commute (1.5 days) consisted of another boat ride and a car ride with 10 people (Four in front, five at the back and 1 in the trunk.)- Ouchhh! By the time we got to the pier we were certain that our trip back to Nairobi will consist of one plane flight.
However, the moment we stepped on Kendwa beach our hearts melted as we have never ever seen a place so beautiful. The powdery white sand seeps between your toes as you walk on the expansive beach littered with shells. The sun gently tingles your skin but not too much; while the ocean consists of alternate azur and cobalt strips and you only need to swim 20 metres to see stunning corals reefs. The locals placed flowers on our bed and made us feel like we were long lost friends coming home and on Saturday night we danced the night away at the Full Moon party then jumped in the ocean for a 2.00am swim. Yes, everyone should visit Kendwa Beach in Zanzibar. It's paradise.
We are now back in Zanzibar's stone town. We will miss Kendwa but we cannot wait for India. T minus 2 days.
Mwah,
Jo and Free
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