The Rest of India

Eventually returned from Nepal to India & spent a few days in Delhi before continuing west to Rajastan. Didn't have the weeks/months required to explore that area, so continued to Mumbai/Bombay after a few days with friends. I met some nice local city-folk & could see reason to return if such an opportunity arises. I then joined a commune for a week. Interesting experience - you'll have to ask me about it someday. Continuing down the coast I encountered the famed beaches of Goa. Not considering myself much of a beach bum, I anticipated staying a maximum of 2 days. Ended up in a single spot for 2 weeks. Main excuse for the extended stay was a surprisingly decent Thai massage course that a friend & I decided was worth the rescheduling. We found plenty of eager beach bums to practice on and I'm now a certified masseuse. Upon planning my next step toward southern India, I realized I needed more time. Besides, I had Thailand on the brain... So - back to Bangkok.

Nepal

Took the night train from Varanasi, which turned out to be more basic than I was prepared for. I somehow ended up alone in an otherwise empty wagon with windows that provided no effective protection from the frozen draft. Without the blankets typically provided, my only way of keeping vital organs from completely freezing was to adorn every piece of clothing in my pack. My hand towel kept ice from forming on my face. The morning finally arrived as we came to the Nepali border, upon which I removed a half dozen layers of clothing, then crossed over by foot. It took some amount of focus to locate the immigration officials on either side of the border - most folks seem to just walk back & forth between the countries without any formalities.

I spent the first night in Lumbini - little Nepali village outside the location popularized as being the birthplace of Buddha. There was no electricity in the area - but everyone seemed content with the candles. Requested a couple extra comforters to layer on my bed and slept quite well. Awoke to a knock at the door - my bucket of morning bath water was ready. Bathing from a bucket is much easier than it would seem - especially when the water is anything but frigid. Spent the day wandering the grounds surrounding the Buddha's birthplace - along with a few monasteries on the premises. My plan was to take a local bus up to the mountain town Pokhara - an irrationally twisted route that had been the source of multiple horror stories I'd recently heard - but a group of Maoist Communists had blocked the road north by means of a strike. Anyone attempting to break the strike and bypass the group risks a barrage or rocks, fire, or worse. So - I flew to Kathmandu.

Kathmandu is quite a mix of mountain folks - from those choosing a nearby route for a basic weekend trek to those methodically preparing for an attempt at Everest. The locals take advantage of every opportunity to fleece the temporary visitors of any dollars, pounds, euros or rupees. (I bought 4 coats, a sleeping bag, thermals, boots, multiple socks of increasing thickness...) I wandered the city for the first few days with a guy named Al from Australia whom I met on the plane. He had been meditating in a monastery in Lumbini for the past 3 months - during which he'd hardly spoken a single word. He seemed plenty talkative when I stroke up a conversation with him there at the airport. Quite interesting to hear his thoughts on Buddhism and meditation.

So - spent most of the next few days eating decent food - Italian, Israeli, Thai, anything but Indian food... and even a couple steaks! Hoped to finally get to Pokhara and even bought a bus ticket, but the Maoists once again foiled my plan by forcing a strike that closed the hotels and restaurants there. I'll stick around Kathmandu for a bit longer, then make a plan for venturing back to India.

Northern India

Life's indescribably different here in India, but I'm adjusting quickly and enjoying the challenges. Arrived into Kolkata, then took a train a couple days later to Varansi and the sacred Ganges river. Admired the maze of winding alleys and spent time chatting with the locals attending the cremations at the burning ghats. Continued from there to Delhi where I've been most of the past week. I spent my birthday attempting to capture unique shots of the Taj Mahal at sunrise - the second visit this week in search of good light. I'll be leaving tomorrow night for Amritsar, near the border with Pakistan and then spend a couple weeks traveling along the Himalayas. I'll be in Dharamshala for Xmas - seat of the Tibetan government in exile. Plan to stop in Shimla, Rishikesh, Haridwar, Allahabad, Mirzapur and Varanasi once again before returning to Delhi. Should be plenty cold.

Route for the next couple weeks in purple on the map ->

Thailand... Malaysia... Singapore... India...

I hope to eventually include updates for the last month or two in SE Asia, but have now made my way to India. Gandered the Taj Mahal earlier this evening - now headed on a train back to Delhi. Might be making updates via Twitter if I don't find internet more often than I have lately... so check there if you feel like it (link over there ..>). Good food so far!

southern thai islands

i visited koh phangan for a night during a huge beach party. every phase of the moon initiates these giant gatherings, and this was a full moon. so, thousands of people on the beach, enourmous speakers pumping techno and r&b, oversized flaming jump ropes...it was nuts, but it was worth seeing. i rented a motorbike and toured the island in the morning. it's small, but there are amazing beaches and mountains.

koh tao is a small island with a pair of 7-11's and a few dozen dive shops. it's a popular scuba diving destination, so we spent a lot of time underwater. we found a bungalo on sairee beach with a handful of foreign dive instructors: a couple of irish, a canadian, and an australian. the water was clear as glass for a few days, and then it got a bit milky. during a night dive the water was full of bioluminescent plankton. so when we turned off the flashlights and shook our hands around; everything looked like it was covered in tiny glowsticks.

the most surreal experience was swimming with a whale shark. i was so close, it could have eaten me. but they're mild creatures, and they don't crave humans. they're as big as they sound; like a cadillac with fins. as i was jumping out of the boat to put on my diving gear, it swam right at me. i got a good look as it floated slowly by with a school of following fish. breathing compressed air underwater is such a strange feeling. i thought about not dying, and i thought about how we live above water, more or less unaware of the vast majority of the earth; which is covered in water. and i realized how little i know about the town i grew up in, aside from this foreign sea kingdom.

a massage a day keeps the chiropractor away

everything is in bangkok. we flew in at midnight from tokyo and headed to our hotel. the night was just starting, as we passed street vendors food carts: mobile kitchens. it's a cart with a gas powered frying pan, and a table full of spices and raw foods. we went out for a snack and ordered som tam (green papaya salad) and some barbecued meats. the food is unbelievably good, everywhere. i've never eaten so much and paid so little (about $2 for a meal). since we don't look local, we would have to specify that we liked the food spicy. and this still wouldn't do the trick, so we would have to tell them how many peppers we wanted: 3, 4, 5... depending on how much we wanted to sweat.

you can shop for almost anything in the city at a great price. they have a lot of gorgeous fabric, but they also sell cheap electronics. and anything you want in knock-off brands, clothing and accessories. i went to a huge weekend market and got lost in the aisles. it felt like walking through a small city with no street signs, and it just kept repeating itself.

my lower back has been in pain for the past few years, but especially the past few months. and for about $7 you can get a traditional thai massage for an hour. they stretch your arms, legs, and crack your back, aside from hitting all the pressure points in your entire body. every massage was a little different, and they all make you feel like you're floating for the next several hours.

communicating with most people was difficult, since my thai vocabulary is limited to the names of only a few entrees. but we met some locals that speak good english, and they were extremely helpful in showing us around.

japanese railways

japan was such a sweet place. the first few days we were at yokota air base. we stayed with our sister cindy and her kids, who have been living there about three years. they're extremely entertaining. and it was a nice break from traveling the past couple months. i felt like i was at home; washer and dryer, hot water, american groceries, taco bell...and everyone takes dollars instead of some foreign currency that i can never remember what the exchange rate is.

the bullet trains in japan are just as fast as they sound. there's a few types, and they all travel over 200 miles/hour. it feels like riding a smooth airplane, over land. it's the best way to get around. the whole system is very non-american; efficient, punctual and proper. we bought a 7-day rail pass in hong kong before arrivng in tokyo. after visiting sendai, kyoto, hiroshima, fukuoka, nara, and some smaller towns, i found that nagoya was one of my favorite cities. i stayed with a local friend that i had met in hawaii. he cooked authentic food, like egg rice (hot rice, raw egg) and udon (fat noodles), and introduced me to a lot of other locals as we cruised around on his moped.

it seems like every person i spoke to was so sincere. when i would ask for diections, they would often stop what they were doing and show me where to go, and they may even walk part of the way with me just to make sure. it was unbelievable how nice they were.

our dad and his wife, rose met up with us in japan. we all stayed at the new sanno military hotel with cindy's family. there's a lot to see in tokyo, and we hardly scratched the surface. my favorite, the fish market at 5 am. our nephew, mason joined us, and i think he liked it the best. nearly all of the tuna in the world is routed through here. they hold an auction, and there's endless stalls of exotic fresh fish. it was like walking through a raw, edible aquarium.

kamakura is a town with a huge buddha. he's bigger than a tank. and you can crawl inside of him, and look at his organs. there's not really organs, but you can go inside through a staircase and see how they built the huge statue.

there's a trick art museum south of tokyo with all sorts of displays and interactive wacko things that make your mind bend. the kids love it there, but it's pretty cool for adults too. like a room with a sloped floor and ceiling, so it looks like the people on opposite sides are giants and midgits (pc: little people). before we went to the museum we took a tram up this mountain nearby, and there's a monkey park on top. the monkey keeper comes out and makes the animals do tricks for the tourists. then he gives them some bananas, and they make a mess everywhere. it smelled terrible, like monkeys or something. the walk down the mountain was herendously strenuous. but we survived, and wished we would have just taken the tram again. good thing we didnt' hike up.

Tokyo, Sendai, Kyoto, Kobe, Hiroshima

September 22-23rd
We arrived in Tokyo and caught a military bus to Yokota AFB to meet up with our sister Cindy and her tykes. We spent the weekend being entertained by our nieces and nephews - Mason, Ivy, Calla and Hunter. On Monday we activated our rail passes and headed north to Sendai. We rode the Shinkansen bullet train - at a speed of about 285KM/H (177 MPH). That was plenty impressive, until we slipped undetected onto the latest and greatest Nozomi N700 train a few days later and hit a top speed of 363KM/H (225MPH)! We spent a day in the Asakusa area of Tokyo before continuing South. Sushi at the always impressive Tsukiji was worth the trip alone - Dus going all out by downing a tasty morsel of raw horse meat.


September 24th - Kyoto
Without hotel reservations in Kyoto, we headed to an all night spa where I'd stayed the night on a previous trip - only to find the building that housed it to be quite closed. Only 11pm or so at that point, we took a moment to enjoy some curry before continuing our search for shelter. The next few locals we asked regarding suggestions for places to sleep seemed quite convinced that the only option was a less than meager hotel charging a more than meager amount. Our optimism/luck took us about a block from that point to what turned out to be one of our favorite sleeping experiences of the trip - Rumor Plaza & Spa. The experience was surprisingly similar to the one I'd had previously at the other location. We stashed our shoes in small lockers and received keys for larger lockers inside the complex. At the next locker we changed into the local attire - cotton shorts and a mini-kimono of sorts. Next stop was the spa, where one showers while squatting on a little plastic chair before plopping into one of the pools of water at various temperatures. A sauna there had a TV playing strange game shows with even more bizarre commercials. I doubt I'll ever comprehend Japanese television. Upon reaching adequate prune’age, we wandered the other levels of the establishment and discovered a decent eatery on the top floor. By then it was a bit late, so we made our way to the "relaxation room" comprised of perhaps a hundred impressively narrow bunk beds/stalls and slumbered until they kicked us out around 9am. As long as you have a pair of ear plugs, a night in one of these spas seems to pass without much effort.

The next day we continued south toward Hiroshima, stopping briefly in Kobe to experience the beef we'd heard so much about. The place we chose prepared the impressively marbled meat Teppanyaki style. I think we both felt the unique experience worth the impressive cost - with some of the cuts going for somewhere around $150 per pound!

We finally reached Hiroshima and stayed at a guesthouse that had just opened that day. They had a little party with local foods for their guests, then led the pack of foreigners to a nearby karaoke complex for hours of something the Japanese seriously love - for whatever reason. Next day was spent wandering the city and perusing the various museums, exhibits and monuments devoted to the infamous bombing. They've done a decent job of presenting various factors that led up to the event – though plenty more focus on the aftermath of course.

Dus and I each had our own schedules by then - so he took a train down to Fukuoka for a bowl of noodles while I took a short ferry to spend the evening with some little deer on Shrine Island. Dus spent the rest of the weekend with a friend in Nagoya while I made my way back to Tokyo to meet up with Pops and Rose at the airport.

Guangzhou, Macau, Hong Kong, Shenzhen

Our last major stop before leaving China was Guangzhou - an all around decent city that likely had more to offer than we managed to see in the short time we spent there. Formerly known as Canton, this region is responsible for much of the Chinese cuisine the Western world would recognize. Dus and I took a local's advice and sought a specific restaurant to try their famous "pigs feet" - prepared in a sweet and sour sauce. The portion that arrived looked massive - but upon further inspection, we could not find a single morsel of meat hiding within the fat and skin. I hadn't expected much, but the absolute lack of meat was quite a surprise. To be fair, the sauce was quite delicious - so we mixed that with our rice and called it dinner. I still miss the food and spices of Sichuan. From Guangzhou we crossed into Macau via a land border that more resembled a shopping mall. We exercised restraint in not stuffing our packs with the cheap electronics and knock-off iPods for sale, which would very possibly have been confiscated by the friendly customs agents waiting anxiously a few hundred yards away.

Macau was surprisingly decent. The newest casinos looked remarkably similar to those found in Vegas, particularly the Wynn & Venetian. We had some great Portuguese influenced meals - and of course hot Portuguese egg tarts for breakfast. We stayed with a new friend named Patricia who went out of her way to show us the local culture. Hong Kong was the next stop - only an hour away via hydrofoil. We stayed in Kowloon, a choice I might not repeat the next time in the area. Hong Kong seems to me to be an excellent mix of East and West - not in the awkward way many Asian destinations seem to exemplify when their only expressions of the West are banana pancakes, ice cream shakes and television episodes of Friends tirelessly shown within the backpacker cafes. I'm always glad when my trips include a few days in HK.

We apparently missed China at this point - so we crossed back over the border to Shenzhen for one last gander. Dus rode on his train - or on a railroad owned by a company owned partially by him (though shortly after which he sold the stock)... I spent my time looking for random Chinese electronics and spare batteries, then ate an average pizza before returning back to Hong Kong. After more than two months, we finally abandoned overland travel for a flight to Japan - though we had considered taking a boat more than once.

Guangxi Province: Guilin, Yangshuo, Longsheng

About a day's train journey to the East from Yunnan, we encountered much warmer weather near Guilin. We arranged a funky little boat to carry us down the Li River from Guilin to Xingping, then hitched a ride on something similar to a golf cart to finally reach Yangshuo. We considered staying within the small city - but decided instead to head to the boonies to stay at a unique guesthouse called The Giggling Tree. It turned out to be a great decision as the next few days turned out quite spectacular - smack in the middle of picturesque karst mountains. We borrowed bikes and pedaled most of the day through rice fields, then hired bamboo rafts to float us back downriver to the guesthouse - one of my favorite experiences in China. Dus and I awoke one morning well before sunrise in order to hire a hot-air balloon to float us a few thousand feet above the valley below. I snapped off over 350 photos during the hour we were in the air.

Dustin's version of events:

one of the most beautiful landscapes we saw in china was in yangshuo. we rode down the li river on a bamboo boat between tall limestone pillars, overgrown with shrubbery. and we saw amazing views from a hot air balloon at sunrise. we even noticed some cracks in the floor of the balloon basket we were standing in; but it seemed to carry scott, myself, and the navigator just fine, 3651 feet above the ground.

another fabulous site was the rice terraced fields of longshen. crowds of chinese and foreigners visit this site to view the progressive phases in the cultivation of this staple food. stairs lead through a large village to the top of the hills where you can see rice growing for miles; green for another couple weeks. my favorite part of this village was the hot peppers drying under the sun in piles near the sidewalk. it felt like walking through a spicy paradise.