11 total days in Malaysia is hardly enough time to say that you have seen the country. It is definitely too short of a time to attempt to understand the people and the culture. I feel like I have to go back, I should spend more time there, eat more food there, and see more of the diverse landscape, really 11 days is nothing in a country with two very different environments (the peninsula and the island).
What I saw in my 11 days in Malaysia is something that I have yet to experience and come across in my travels. To me it was a large cluster of cultural confusion, it was a diverse country, but diverse only because it contained such large numbers of four different countries and cultures; Indian, Chinese, Thai, and Malay. What I couldn’t figure out the whole time I was there though, is who and what is “Malaysian,” I had a difficult time distinguishing between someone or some cultural things that were truly Malay and those people and things that were just a muddled mix of all the neighboring countries.
I couldn’t really tell what was “Malay” and what was fusion. I guess that is what Malaysia is, a beautiful mix of people and culture, living together happily, from the food to religion, it was all mixed together. If you asked me to describe Malaysia (in the 11 days I was there) I would say, it’s a muddled intermingling of Asia. I liked it, but it confused me, when seeking out “real” Malaysia I felt like I kept coming up empty handed, but perhaps what I saw, what I tasted, what I experienced, and lived amongst, for those 11 short days was in fact what I was looking for the whole time. Maybe that mix, that fusion, the people, the flavors, and the culture it creates is “real” Malaysia. I’ll have to go back to and investigate more.
Monday, December 22, 2008
Malaysia
Kuala Lumpur:
Arriving in the airport at KL after an all night bender with two friends was a bit difficult. The airport was tiny and cramped, the humidity hits you like a bag of bricks as you step off the plane, and the baggage claim has but two wheels that only load one plane at a time. Since Bangkok was shut down due to protests, there was a bit high volume pushed through KL. Needless to say I was sweating, tired, and needed a hotel bed ASAP. 9ringet latter I get on the air asia bus which was about an hour long. KL was pretty much as expected, a slightly chaotic Asian city, to be honest I expected it to be a bit more crazy, but it seemed to have a flow to it, decent public transport, and ENGLISH, most people spoke English which was a treat after being in china for 2 months.
I checked into the Grocers Inn, which is located in China town for a whopping $6 us a night. I spent two days wondering the streets of KL. Hitting up a couple of food markets, hunting down some decent Malaysia food (which was actually difficult), seeing Patronas towers, and simply wondering the streets of KL took up two full days. It is remarkably a small city and it is almost possible to walk the entire thing. The main down town area is easily walk able, and everything else is accessed with ease via bus, or mono rail.
The food, just like the people and culture in KL were a bit confusing for me, as nothing seemed to have a distinct identity. Indian, Chinese, Thai, and Malay make up the major countries and cultures that KL and Malaysia is comprised of, but very often it was difficult to distinguish where one culture ended and the next began, it was a very muddled, intermingling of people, culture, and flavors. Confusing, but good.
Camaroon Highlands,
The highlands lay about 5 hours north of KL by bus, but when your bus is an hour late getting to your station, and when you are a mere 4 kilometers away from your destination and a massive landslide comes and takes out any possible rout, the 4 to 5 hour trip can last well into 8 to 9 hours. I remember opening my eyes from a nice nap on my extremely luxury pimped out bus (Malaysian busses are amazing), and seeing my driver hold up a sign that read, “road closed, land slide” I laughed out load because I thought, hey shit happens, and I was interested to see where and what I was going to be forced to do to get where I wanted to go.
Simply enough it was a 3.5 hour wait for the roads to open back up and the land slide to be cleared. I sat by the bus for a good 30min. before I told the driver I would see him later and charged up the hill and through the jungle roads, passed lines and lines of cars waiting to get through, just as we were. When I get to the slide I was a bit amazed when I saw 3 excavators, and 1 backhoe, going to town on this MASSIVE amount of dirt and mud that had come down and completely blocked any possible rout. It was pretty impressive to watch these drivers clearing the road with ease. Sure 3 hours, a couple of telephone poles, a few trees, and a ton of dirt moved off the road we charged through to the highlands which lay less than 3 min. away by bus.
The highlands was a good place to chill out for a day, relaxing with nothing to do except hike and visit tea plantations. The plantations although cool to see and experience were not all that exciting and I really didn’t spend too much time there. The HIKE on the other hand went from being an innocent walk to a pretty uneventful water fall (30min.), to a 4 hour trek through though the JUNGLE, alone, with just a photo copied crappy map.
After noticing that the water fall was utter crap I decided to turn to map and navigate another rout back so I was not back tracking. The other rout turned out to be beautiful, but slightly stressful when the clearly market trail went from detailed English signs with distances and directions, to Malaysian signs with no distances or directions, to trees marked with orange spray paint. Walking through the jungle alone is one thing, sure it would have been good to go with someone, but when the humidity kicks in, the brush gets supper dense, so dense that getting off your tight narrow path is virtually impossible, the sun begins to disappear because the jungle canopy is just as think as the brush on the ground, and you start to sweat because, well, your alone, and the signs you were fallowing that were in English are just orange paint on a tree leading in two different directions. Yeah, that is when things get a little scary.
Finally after an hour or so of slight panic, some brisk walking, and a few “hail marries” and “our fathers” later I busted into a clearing where thank god there was a clearly market sign with three distinct paths, the one I was looking for, clearly market, just 1.7k away. Down the path I
charged, happy to make an exit of the jungle, I came across a couple whom I said hello to. A conversation breaks out and it turns out that they are from North Carolina and the guy had been living in Malaysia for a few years, I told him my slightly scary story of how I “got lost” and moments ago found a market sign which led me to him. We had a laugh about it but then his wife proceeds to tell me to watch out for the Vipers (poisonous snakes) and that the Constrictors are nothing to worry about. Ok, I can deal with some snakes, but to add to the issue the husband goes on to tell me that 2 years a go a woman and three kids were lost for 3 days in this same jungle, OH, and a TIGER was captured (extremely rare for those parts now a days) in town that same year.
With that new info I literally RAN out of the jungle for my last 1.5k. boarded the bus the next day and was back to KL to meet Marty for a 13 day Malaysian, Thailand extravaganza.
Penang
5 to 6 hour ice cold bus ride from KL to Penang got me and Marty in around 7am, Hotels and Guest Houses apparently book up pretty quick there, so if your going you may want to book
ahead of time (I did my second time down there). Penang, very similar to KL is a complete muddled mix of people and culture, it has its very distinctive Chinese area where I love to indulge in what I call “meat on a hook.” This can be anything from sausage, pork belly, pork tender loin, duck, chicken, etc. etc. simply slow roasted meats, beautifully caramelized, hanging from a hook and chopped to order by a passionate “meat on a hook” vendor whom are typically happy to have a westerner share their passion of food. There is also the Indian Section that is basically INDIA, just less filth, better sanitation, but still with all the flavors, and aromas you get from 
the big Indian cities. Vendors, elbows deep in dahl, sag, chicken gravies, curries of all flavors and textures, nan bread, tandori, and all the classics. I actually ate in little india a few times, my second time back to Penang.
Penang as many backpackers described it, is boring, but for me and Marty, it was a solid day of eating as much as we could fit in our mouths. The Night Market was basically 20+ stalls of Malaysian madness that ranged from “meat on a hook” to Thai inspired noodles, malay chicken wings, and of course, my favorite squid curry which blew me away. Waking up early and heading to the wet market, and eating street food just out side “love lane” was another great experience “curry mee” a lightly seasoned broth with egg noodles, sliced pork, dumpligs was a favorite, god there were too many options.
Besides eating Penang was Not all that exciting, but it’s towns like this that I enjoy the most. Local cities that typically have “nothing to do” always offer you that little extra, that something special that helps you see what a culture and a people are really like. Your tourist areas definitely don’t do this.
Langkawi
Arriving here via ferry from Penang was a cool experience, getting a Moped or “hog” as marty and I called it was probably one of the best things we could have done. Right from the ferry dock, we settled up, back packs and all and took out on the open road, with bight hideous blue helmets we whipped down the road towards, what we hoped a lazy relaxing beach town. Upon arrival we realized yet again that we should have booked a hotel in advance because it probably took up 2 hours and 15 hotels later to find a room, which turned out to be OK in the end but way too much needless time on our “hogs” with heavy backpacks, cooking in the hot Malaysian sun.
A quick dip in the ocean and back on our “hogs” for a trip around the island, up a cable car to the top of the tallest peak of the island, a beautiful sun set, and down back to our hotel to sleep. A very enjoyable day, which we could have stretched into a whole week, but in an attempt to see more and do more, it was on to Thailand from here.
PHOTOS:
http://picasaweb.google.co.in/vaccaro.marc/MarcvaccaroMalaysia?feat=directlink
Arriving in the airport at KL after an all night bender with two friends was a bit difficult. The airport was tiny and cramped, the humidity hits you like a bag of bricks as you step off the plane, and the baggage claim has but two wheels that only load one plane at a time. Since Bangkok was shut down due to protests, there was a bit high volume pushed through KL. Needless to say I was sweating, tired, and needed a hotel bed ASAP. 9ringet latter I get on the air asia bus which was about an hour long. KL was pretty much as expected, a slightly chaotic Asian city, to be honest I expected it to be a bit more crazy, but it seemed to have a flow to it, decent public transport, and ENGLISH, most people spoke English which was a treat after being in china for 2 months.
I checked into the Grocers Inn, which is located in China town for a whopping $6 us a night. I spent two days wondering the streets of KL. Hitting up a couple of food markets, hunting down some decent Malaysia food (which was actually difficult), seeing Patronas towers, and simply wondering the streets of KL took up two full days. It is remarkably a small city and it is almost possible to walk the entire thing. The main down town area is easily walk able, and everything else is accessed with ease via bus, or mono rail.
The food, just like the people and culture in KL were a bit confusing for me, as nothing seemed to have a distinct identity. Indian, Chinese, Thai, and Malay make up the major countries and cultures that KL and Malaysia is comprised of, but very often it was difficult to distinguish where one culture ended and the next began, it was a very muddled, intermingling of people, culture, and flavors. Confusing, but good.
Camaroon Highlands,
The highlands lay about 5 hours north of KL by bus, but when your bus is an hour late getting to your station, and when you are a mere 4 kilometers away from your destination and a massive landslide comes and takes out any possible rout, the 4 to 5 hour trip can last well into 8 to 9 hours. I remember opening my eyes from a nice nap on my extremely luxury pimped out bus (Malaysian busses are amazing), and seeing my driver hold up a sign that read, “road closed, land slide” I laughed out load because I thought, hey shit happens, and I was interested to see where and what I was going to be forced to do to get where I wanted to go.Simply enough it was a 3.5 hour wait for the roads to open back up and the land slide to be cleared. I sat by the bus for a good 30min. before I told the driver I would see him later and charged up the hill and through the jungle roads, passed lines and lines of cars waiting to get through, just as we were. When I get to the slide I was a bit amazed when I saw 3 excavators, and 1 backhoe, going to town on this MASSIVE amount of dirt and mud that had come down and completely blocked any possible rout. It was pretty impressive to watch these drivers clearing the road with ease. Sure 3 hours, a couple of telephone poles, a few trees, and a ton of dirt moved off the road we charged through to the highlands which lay less than 3 min. away by bus.
The highlands was a good place to chill out for a day, relaxing with nothing to do except hike and visit tea plantations. The plantations although cool to see and experience were not all that exciting and I really didn’t spend too much time there. The HIKE on the other hand went from being an innocent walk to a pretty uneventful water fall (30min.), to a 4 hour trek through though the JUNGLE, alone, with just a photo copied crappy map.After noticing that the water fall was utter crap I decided to turn to map and navigate another rout back so I was not back tracking. The other rout turned out to be beautiful, but slightly stressful when the clearly market trail went from detailed English signs with distances and directions, to Malaysian signs with no distances or directions, to trees marked with orange spray paint. Walking through the jungle alone is one thing, sure it would have been good to go with someone, but when the humidity kicks in, the brush gets supper dense, so dense that getting off your tight narrow path is virtually impossible, the sun begins to disappear because the jungle canopy is just as think as the brush on the ground, and you start to sweat because, well, your alone, and the signs you were fallowing that were in English are just orange paint on a tree leading in two different directions. Yeah, that is when things get a little scary.
Finally after an hour or so of slight panic, some brisk walking, and a few “hail marries” and “our fathers” later I busted into a clearing where thank god there was a clearly market sign with three distinct paths, the one I was looking for, clearly market, just 1.7k away. Down the path I
charged, happy to make an exit of the jungle, I came across a couple whom I said hello to. A conversation breaks out and it turns out that they are from North Carolina and the guy had been living in Malaysia for a few years, I told him my slightly scary story of how I “got lost” and moments ago found a market sign which led me to him. We had a laugh about it but then his wife proceeds to tell me to watch out for the Vipers (poisonous snakes) and that the Constrictors are nothing to worry about. Ok, I can deal with some snakes, but to add to the issue the husband goes on to tell me that 2 years a go a woman and three kids were lost for 3 days in this same jungle, OH, and a TIGER was captured (extremely rare for those parts now a days) in town that same year.With that new info I literally RAN out of the jungle for my last 1.5k. boarded the bus the next day and was back to KL to meet Marty for a 13 day Malaysian, Thailand extravaganza.
Penang
5 to 6 hour ice cold bus ride from KL to Penang got me and Marty in around 7am, Hotels and Guest Houses apparently book up pretty quick there, so if your going you may want to book
ahead of time (I did my second time down there). Penang, very similar to KL is a complete muddled mix of people and culture, it has its very distinctive Chinese area where I love to indulge in what I call “meat on a hook.” This can be anything from sausage, pork belly, pork tender loin, duck, chicken, etc. etc. simply slow roasted meats, beautifully caramelized, hanging from a hook and chopped to order by a passionate “meat on a hook” vendor whom are typically happy to have a westerner share their passion of food. There is also the Indian Section that is basically INDIA, just less filth, better sanitation, but still with all the flavors, and aromas you get from 
the big Indian cities. Vendors, elbows deep in dahl, sag, chicken gravies, curries of all flavors and textures, nan bread, tandori, and all the classics. I actually ate in little india a few times, my second time back to Penang.Penang as many backpackers described it, is boring, but for me and Marty, it was a solid day of eating as much as we could fit in our mouths. The Night Market was basically 20+ stalls of Malaysian madness that ranged from “meat on a hook” to Thai inspired noodles, malay chicken wings, and of course, my favorite squid curry which blew me away. Waking up early and heading to the wet market, and eating street food just out side “love lane” was another great experience “curry mee” a lightly seasoned broth with egg noodles, sliced pork, dumpligs was a favorite, god there were too many options.
Besides eating Penang was Not all that exciting, but it’s towns like this that I enjoy the most. Local cities that typically have “nothing to do” always offer you that little extra, that something special that helps you see what a culture and a people are really like. Your tourist areas definitely don’t do this.Langkawi
Arriving here via ferry from Penang was a cool experience, getting a Moped or “hog” as marty and I called it was probably one of the best things we could have done. Right from the ferry dock, we settled up, back packs and all and took out on the open road, with bight hideous blue helmets we whipped down the road towards, what we hoped a lazy relaxing beach town. Upon arrival we realized yet again that we should have booked a hotel in advance because it probably took up 2 hours and 15 hotels later to find a room, which turned out to be OK in the end but way too much needless time on our “hogs” with heavy backpacks, cooking in the hot Malaysian sun.
A quick dip in the ocean and back on our “hogs” for a trip around the island, up a cable car to the top of the tallest peak of the island, a beautiful sun set, and down back to our hotel to sleep. A very enjoyable day, which we could have stretched into a whole week, but in an attempt to see more and do more, it was on to Thailand from here.
PHOTOS:
http://picasaweb.google.co.in/vaccaro.marc/MarcvaccaroMalaysia?feat=directlink
Leaving Hong Kong
I hear my alarm going off, the buzzer, ringing in my ear, my eyes are sealed shut, my head throbbing, and my mouth as dry as could be. I was in my friend Russ’s apartment in Honk Kong where I had stayed the past two nights (if you includ 1 hour of sleep a “night”). I was told if you are going to do Honk Kong correctly you need a good night out on the town, and stumbling through Russ’s door at 6:30am was exactly that, an expensive, but unique night out on the town.
Operating on pure instinct and zero sleep, I jump in the shower, pack my bag, say good bye to my very gracious host and run out the door and down to the PACKED commuter subway system. My eyes start to get heavy, my bag on my shoulders, feels like 1000lbs and I wondered why the hell I stayed up to 6:30am, sure the live band was great, but this was painful. I get to the airport after changing subways in “central” and realize that I’m kind of running a bit late. My mouth still dry as can be, my head still throbbing and now I'm running down the terminal, i can see my gate, an empty lobby sent a wave of panic through my body. The attendant smiles as she waves me on, I’m the last one to board my flight.
As I get on my Air Asia flight, I can’t help but notice the profound selective hiring of 20 – 30 year old attractive women who crew the plane as your hostesses, not a man to be seen. Thank god because the outfits were a bit revealing. I sit down in my small cramped seat that was clearly designed for a 4’ tall tiny asian person, and I start to laugh, “I believe in miracles” (wont you come along, you sexy thing), is bumping over the loud speaker. I put my head back and close my eyes, because I made it, soon I would be off to Kuala Lumpur.
Operating on pure instinct and zero sleep, I jump in the shower, pack my bag, say good bye to my very gracious host and run out the door and down to the PACKED commuter subway system. My eyes start to get heavy, my bag on my shoulders, feels like 1000lbs and I wondered why the hell I stayed up to 6:30am, sure the live band was great, but this was painful. I get to the airport after changing subways in “central” and realize that I’m kind of running a bit late. My mouth still dry as can be, my head still throbbing and now I'm running down the terminal, i can see my gate, an empty lobby sent a wave of panic through my body. The attendant smiles as she waves me on, I’m the last one to board my flight.
As I get on my Air Asia flight, I can’t help but notice the profound selective hiring of 20 – 30 year old attractive women who crew the plane as your hostesses, not a man to be seen. Thank god because the outfits were a bit revealing. I sit down in my small cramped seat that was clearly designed for a 4’ tall tiny asian person, and I start to laugh, “I believe in miracles” (wont you come along, you sexy thing), is bumping over the loud speaker. I put my head back and close my eyes, because I made it, soon I would be off to Kuala Lumpur.
Saturday, November 22, 2008
China Stories
Kunming (6hrs after my arrival in China)
I can feel my back vibrating to the beat of horrible dance music, my lungs expand and contract with the painful taste of second hand smoke, my mouth is filled with watery beer, shot glass after shot glass of watery beer, locals screaming "Ganbei!" as they poor you another in an attempt to get them selves drunk as well as the foreigner. A bazar suedo "celebrity status" is the feeling you have as you enter the bar, round after round being purchased for you in an attempt to out drink the foreigner. The funny thing is as you turn the corner and head back to your hostel, you see the same characters that were pushin' beer shots on you for the past hour with their hands against the wall, heads down and vomit flying. Maybe it's a Kunming thing, but god was it fun for a couple of nights, at nothing best a good laugh....
Sichuan bus trip
(Load Angry Chinese Voice).... I have no clue what this guy is screaming at me, was what was going through my head as i stepped on to the 12hr sleeper bus from Shangri La to Southern Sichuan. I look around confused and realize the bus driver wants me to take off my shoes. OK, shoes off, comfortable, not so bad, but one step inside the bus and you can smell the repercussions of the "no shoes policy," this was going to be a long bus ride i thought.
Layed down in my seet/bed I was instantly happy to see that i had my own window, for me it was a god send. Every stinky hard boiled egg that was pealed, every whiff of shoe odor, ignited cigarette, or what ever other foul odor blew my way was resulting in my newly enforced "open window policy."
The bus started moving and again i was happy to be on the road heading towards a new destination with new things to see and eat. the sun was setting in a couple of hours and i knew i was going to be getting some spectacular views of the mountains. As the bus barrelled out of town flying down the road at the helm of my crazy communist bus driver, i didn't think anything of it, i was a little pre-occupied with the grassy planes, massive peaks, and the leaves changing color, the sun set, and all those things that make Shangri La a beautiful place to visit.
Starting in the high elevation the natural rout that the bus was forced to take was filled with hair pin turns, narrow passes, roads that were partially washed away by a recent rain storm/mud slide. this is the type of windy road that one would picture a restored vintage car, convertible, top down meandering effortlessly around each bend. Picturesque mountains in the background and the wind in some lucky persons hair.
I never expected to be drinking in these views while laying down flat on my back , bus window wide open to help aid in the semi toxic foot fumes, while timidly peaking out the window as my extremely large, heavy, and not so docile sleeper bus careens down the mountain weaving around blind corners on the wrong side of the road using the oh so familiar "asian horn honk" to warn any lesser vehicles heading up the mountain that a massive bus was heading their way. Stopping was not an option, this was one roller coaster ride that would make any self proclaimed thrill seeking junky a bit week in the knees. As the night set in and the sun went down, Captain Insane-O (bus driver) decided to chill out a bit, which was fantastic, 12hrs later when i arrived at my destination, i was happy to be alive! take away my partially demented bus driver who handled his multi ton stinky shoeless cesspool like it was a brand new Ferrari and the 12hr ride wasn't that bad!
Sakya (tibet)
Leaving Shegatse on a 4 hour landcruiser drive to Sakya was filled with rural views and small towns, towns i really would have loved to walk through and try to understand. Pulling into Sakya there were rolling brown hills with snow covered peaks in the far distance, i remember thinking this is more representative of "real" Tibet. This is what i have been looking for, for the past 6 days, this is the Tibet that has seemed to escape me. Just a simple small rural town.
What was real tibet though? Is it Potala Palace, a Buddhist sanctuary filled with tombs and thrones of past Dalhi Lamas, is it the Monastery in Shigatsa with over 600 practicing monks, is it the dusty wind blown streets of the small towns, or the barren fields that I have been driving through. Maybe it is a bit of all of these elements, but it is not the Tibet that i have come to see.
Arriving in Sakya was yet another restored monastery asking admission charges for westerners and Chinese tourists alike to come in, poke their noses around, and oogle at the culture and customs of a slowly dieing way of life. After leaving the monasteries of Lhasa i decided that this was not the part of Tibet that i have come to see.
As my tourist group made their way to see the monastery, i slowly began to pick my way up the hill to what i imagined was some ruined old building, some stupas, and a good view of the town. when i got to the top , it was just that, but to me it was so much more. As i took my time and began to look around i noticed all i could hear was the gentle sound of the wind and then pure silence, it was amazingly peaceful. the simple old broken down buildings were more than just that. It was the evidence of the old way of life, the old part of Tibet that i was hoping to catch a glimpse of, now broken down and sitting in a heap, but it was evidence of the pre-Chinese Tibetan life. The quite, the tranquility, and the peacefulness of the hill was reflective of Tibetan culture and quite the opposite of the current Chinese way of life. On top of the hill i could look out and see the small city with a simple way and purpose of life, simply prayer, and survival. burning yak dung for heat, living off the land with simple ingredients, feeding their families and some times even setting up restaurants in their own homes.
looking from east to west the rolling hills become mountains and as i sit again at the foot of the massive Himalayas i can begin to see what MY Tibet is.
The Tibet that i had come to see is the simple life a life that is NOT so heavily influenced and effected by the Chinese. A culture that still remains close to what it was year ago, simple rural living, in honest basic homes. Visiting a persons home for breakfast and helping make my own food in their home, in their kitchen was a great experience. Happy people not asking for money, not asking for anything except the peace and tranquility they have had in their mountain village for years. That is "MY Tibet."
Base Camp
The next time you complain about being cold think about collecting yak shit, drying it on the wall of your house, and then using it for fuel to heat your home and stove, OH you also burn it to cook your food. Being at the food of the tallest point on earth is a bit humbling. looking up and seeing the top of the world is a privlage i wont forget. seeing the sun rise, sun set, and the starts light up the peak is a memory that will not fade quickly. driving away and watching the top of the earth disapear behind lesser hills was a sad feeling, but knowing i was there is a honer i will hold on to for quite some time.
Market experience
Pork reigns supreme here in china, not just pork chops, pork shoulder, or pork tenderloin. I'm talking pork belly, trotters, ears, tripe, full on pork heads and snouts. I love the market, for me it is a learning experience every time i step into one. I always think what are the locals eating. China is a country that can't be summed up by one market, one eating experience, it is too vast too different, and to me absolutely wonderful.
Waking up in the morning and walking past the standard breakfast spot and stumbling into the market is the only way for me to go (no not the DOG market in Yangshou which i opted out of going to see), the fresh food, freshly baked or fryed breads, the noodles, the porridge, the vegetables, and of course the pork. Sitting down to fresh dumplings in Kunming, bean curd in Dali, Grilled Rice Flour "burrito" in Lijiang, Grilled fresh Yak meat in Shangri La, the "hell broth" i drank in Chengdu and chili oil and sichuan pepper corns they infuse in everything, the SANDWICHES (well kind of sandwiches) that i stuffed down my throat in the hutongs of Beijing, and Hong Kong, two days of binge eating.
Market life in China for me was all about some seriously good food!
I can feel my back vibrating to the beat of horrible dance music, my lungs expand and contract with the painful taste of second hand smoke, my mouth is filled with watery beer, shot glass after shot glass of watery beer, locals screaming "Ganbei!" as they poor you another in an attempt to get them selves drunk as well as the foreigner. A bazar suedo "celebrity status" is the feeling you have as you enter the bar, round after round being purchased for you in an attempt to out drink the foreigner. The funny thing is as you turn the corner and head back to your hostel, you see the same characters that were pushin' beer shots on you for the past hour with their hands against the wall, heads down and vomit flying. Maybe it's a Kunming thing, but god was it fun for a couple of nights, at nothing best a good laugh....
Shangri La
Hearing Bob Dylan while walking down the streets in Shangri La was something for me to smile at, hearing his amazingly unique raspy voice forced me to sit down, relax, and truly take in and enjoy where i am. Simple familiarities can bring you back to peace and comfort in a unfamiliar far away places. Cobble stone streets, old wooden homes, half made with brick, thin pain glass windows that a stiff wind could and does blow right through. the homes are strung with Tibetan prayer flags which blow gently in the wind. the weather is cool in the shade, but amazingly warm and comfortable while in the sun. Out in the distance, looking over the roofs covered in slate and old Chinese shingles i can see golden leaves that have changed into their autumn colors all speckled between pine trees. It is a familiar sight that again brings me right back home. with the sun in my face i close my eyes for a moment and continue to listen to Dylan sing "corrina corrina, girl your on my mind...", with my eyes closed i smell the smoke from a house near buy burning wood, either to heat their stove of simply to warm their home. Sitting in the sun, a light breeze blows down the street sending the flavor of a local coffee shop my way. Yunnan coffee, a bitter sweet chocolate aroma and taste, i couldn't ask for a better afternoon while waiting for my bus to take me out of Shangri La and into Sichuan. I think i'll go get my self a cup of coffee.
Sichuan bus trip
(Load Angry Chinese Voice).... I have no clue what this guy is screaming at me, was what was going through my head as i stepped on to the 12hr sleeper bus from Shangri La to Southern Sichuan. I look around confused and realize the bus driver wants me to take off my shoes. OK, shoes off, comfortable, not so bad, but one step inside the bus and you can smell the repercussions of the "no shoes policy," this was going to be a long bus ride i thought.
Layed down in my seet/bed I was instantly happy to see that i had my own window, for me it was a god send. Every stinky hard boiled egg that was pealed, every whiff of shoe odor, ignited cigarette, or what ever other foul odor blew my way was resulting in my newly enforced "open window policy."
The bus started moving and again i was happy to be on the road heading towards a new destination with new things to see and eat. the sun was setting in a couple of hours and i knew i was going to be getting some spectacular views of the mountains. As the bus barrelled out of town flying down the road at the helm of my crazy communist bus driver, i didn't think anything of it, i was a little pre-occupied with the grassy planes, massive peaks, and the leaves changing color, the sun set, and all those things that make Shangri La a beautiful place to visit.
Starting in the high elevation the natural rout that the bus was forced to take was filled with hair pin turns, narrow passes, roads that were partially washed away by a recent rain storm/mud slide. this is the type of windy road that one would picture a restored vintage car, convertible, top down meandering effortlessly around each bend. Picturesque mountains in the background and the wind in some lucky persons hair.
I never expected to be drinking in these views while laying down flat on my back , bus window wide open to help aid in the semi toxic foot fumes, while timidly peaking out the window as my extremely large, heavy, and not so docile sleeper bus careens down the mountain weaving around blind corners on the wrong side of the road using the oh so familiar "asian horn honk" to warn any lesser vehicles heading up the mountain that a massive bus was heading their way. Stopping was not an option, this was one roller coaster ride that would make any self proclaimed thrill seeking junky a bit week in the knees. As the night set in and the sun went down, Captain Insane-O (bus driver) decided to chill out a bit, which was fantastic, 12hrs later when i arrived at my destination, i was happy to be alive! take away my partially demented bus driver who handled his multi ton stinky shoeless cesspool like it was a brand new Ferrari and the 12hr ride wasn't that bad!
Sakya (tibet)
Leaving Shegatse on a 4 hour landcruiser drive to Sakya was filled with rural views and small towns, towns i really would have loved to walk through and try to understand. Pulling into Sakya there were rolling brown hills with snow covered peaks in the far distance, i remember thinking this is more representative of "real" Tibet. This is what i have been looking for, for the past 6 days, this is the Tibet that has seemed to escape me. Just a simple small rural town.
What was real tibet though? Is it Potala Palace, a Buddhist sanctuary filled with tombs and thrones of past Dalhi Lamas, is it the Monastery in Shigatsa with over 600 practicing monks, is it the dusty wind blown streets of the small towns, or the barren fields that I have been driving through. Maybe it is a bit of all of these elements, but it is not the Tibet that i have come to see.
Arriving in Sakya was yet another restored monastery asking admission charges for westerners and Chinese tourists alike to come in, poke their noses around, and oogle at the culture and customs of a slowly dieing way of life. After leaving the monasteries of Lhasa i decided that this was not the part of Tibet that i have come to see.
As my tourist group made their way to see the monastery, i slowly began to pick my way up the hill to what i imagined was some ruined old building, some stupas, and a good view of the town. when i got to the top , it was just that, but to me it was so much more. As i took my time and began to look around i noticed all i could hear was the gentle sound of the wind and then pure silence, it was amazingly peaceful. the simple old broken down buildings were more than just that. It was the evidence of the old way of life, the old part of Tibet that i was hoping to catch a glimpse of, now broken down and sitting in a heap, but it was evidence of the pre-Chinese Tibetan life. The quite, the tranquility, and the peacefulness of the hill was reflective of Tibetan culture and quite the opposite of the current Chinese way of life. On top of the hill i could look out and see the small city with a simple way and purpose of life, simply prayer, and survival. burning yak dung for heat, living off the land with simple ingredients, feeding their families and some times even setting up restaurants in their own homes.
looking from east to west the rolling hills become mountains and as i sit again at the foot of the massive Himalayas i can begin to see what MY Tibet is.
The Tibet that i had come to see is the simple life a life that is NOT so heavily influenced and effected by the Chinese. A culture that still remains close to what it was year ago, simple rural living, in honest basic homes. Visiting a persons home for breakfast and helping make my own food in their home, in their kitchen was a great experience. Happy people not asking for money, not asking for anything except the peace and tranquility they have had in their mountain village for years. That is "MY Tibet."
Base Camp
The next time you complain about being cold think about collecting yak shit, drying it on the wall of your house, and then using it for fuel to heat your home and stove, OH you also burn it to cook your food. Being at the food of the tallest point on earth is a bit humbling. looking up and seeing the top of the world is a privlage i wont forget. seeing the sun rise, sun set, and the starts light up the peak is a memory that will not fade quickly. driving away and watching the top of the earth disapear behind lesser hills was a sad feeling, but knowing i was there is a honer i will hold on to for quite some time.
Market experience
Pork reigns supreme here in china, not just pork chops, pork shoulder, or pork tenderloin. I'm talking pork belly, trotters, ears, tripe, full on pork heads and snouts. I love the market, for me it is a learning experience every time i step into one. I always think what are the locals eating. China is a country that can't be summed up by one market, one eating experience, it is too vast too different, and to me absolutely wonderful.
Waking up in the morning and walking past the standard breakfast spot and stumbling into the market is the only way for me to go (no not the DOG market in Yangshou which i opted out of going to see), the fresh food, freshly baked or fryed breads, the noodles, the porridge, the vegetables, and of course the pork. Sitting down to fresh dumplings in Kunming, bean curd in Dali, Grilled Rice Flour "burrito" in Lijiang, Grilled fresh Yak meat in Shangri La, the "hell broth" i drank in Chengdu and chili oil and sichuan pepper corns they infuse in everything, the SANDWICHES (well kind of sandwiches) that i stuffed down my throat in the hutongs of Beijing, and Hong Kong, two days of binge eating.
Market life in China for me was all about some seriously good food!
Tibet
Tibet is a place that has always been on my mind, the highest peaks in the world lay deep with in this semi untouchable Plateau, the Himalayas, Mt. Everest, places that i wanted to see, places i felt compelled to visit. Getting there was not easy and getting around once you were there is a chore if you don't book a tour. Now the current Chinese law is that you must obtain a Tibetan Tourist Permit that can only be done by booking with a group and organizing a tour, pre-packaged and payed in full, all this must be done before you can get on your flight or train to Tibet. SO after 2 failed attempts, Chengdu was the place of Tibet organization, and my access to Tibetan.
A two day sleeper train from Chengdu to Lhasa was not as bad as you think, sure 48 is a bit much but when traveling with 7 others on an organized tour you can find things to do, talk about, and at very least share some beers with while watching the roof of the world pass you by. The train passes the highest elevation (train elevation) in the world, on day two they pass around oxygen connections for those having trouble breathing, so you can get your steady flow of the good stuff. Waking up and looking out the window at 7am on the last day of the train trip to catch a sunrise was pretty awesome, snow covering the ground, the Himalayas in the background and the promise of Lhasa was something to put a smile on my face.
Being in Lhasa was actually something i found more enjoyable than expected, at first it was a city i nearly was willing to pass up and not visit. Being the Hub that was impossible but i thought it would be another big Chinese city. Yes, unfortunately it is overrun by Chinese, the local Tibetan people and culture are well out numbered by the masses of Chinese coming in, but it had its charm and character and still with the constant oppression of the powerful Chinese government you can still wander some back allies and see the Lhasa which used to be (pre chinese Lhasa).
Visiting Potala Palace and the major monetary in Lhasa was a good experience for me in two ways. In one sense it was good to get a little more understanding of the culture, it was good to hear the stories of the Buddhist religion, it was great to get a little more information about the people and the land i came to visit. Potala palace was a shrine of past and the current Dalhi Lama, to witness a nomadic family visiting their Temple (potala palace) and literally crying at the tomb of the 5th Dahli Lama was a experience that was, well... yes humbling to be in a place which holds so much meaning to so many, but also at the same time it was something i found to be wrong.
Paying to go into a holy place is something that i don't know if i like, after leaving Lhasa i decided that i would not go to any more monasteries. the thought of going into a place of worship and poking my nose around, observing a dying culture, to me, was almost like going to a zoo, no i would say it's probably worse. People are praying, worshiping and there i am clearly just there for the experience, it was an out of place feeling that rubbed me the wrong way. I kept thinking if i was in church and a group of non-western tourists rolled in to watch me pray, how would i feel, it was something i didn't like.
Leaving the City and heading into the country side was something that i was extremely eager to do, the excitement of the unknown, the open plains, the mountains, EVEREST, was something that i couldn't wait to see. 6 days of driving around the Tibetan Plateau was awesome, getting a chance to visit smaller towns, more monasteries (which i didn't go in to), stringing prayer flags up at the top of a hill in Shigatse was a once in a life time experience.
The landscapes, the mountains, the Himalayas, the blue rivers, the glaciers on the tops of mountains and in the vallies, the frozen rivers, and the chance to sit at the bottom of Everest. Looking up at the top of the earth, seeing the top of the world, no point being higher than that. It sounds so simple, uneventful, but for me to see the top of the world was something that still sends a chill down my spine. Even though i came for the landscape, the people and the culture of the towns that i visited made it so much more worthwhile.
PHOTOS:
http://picasaweb.google.co.in/vaccaro.marc/MarcvaccaroTibet?feat=directlink
A two day sleeper train from Chengdu to Lhasa was not as bad as you think, sure 48 is a bit much but when traveling with 7 others on an organized tour you can find things to do, talk about, and at very least share some beers with while watching the roof of the world pass you by. The train passes the highest elevation (train elevation) in the world, on day two they pass around oxygen connections for those having trouble breathing, so you can get your steady flow of the good stuff. Waking up and looking out the window at 7am on the last day of the train trip to catch a sunrise was pretty awesome, snow covering the ground, the Himalayas in the background and the promise of Lhasa was something to put a smile on my face.
Being in Lhasa was actually something i found more enjoyable than expected, at first it was a city i nearly was willing to pass up and not visit. Being the Hub that was impossible but i thought it would be another big Chinese city. Yes, unfortunately it is overrun by Chinese, the local Tibetan people and culture are well out numbered by the masses of Chinese coming in, but it had its charm and character and still with the constant oppression of the powerful Chinese government you can still wander some back allies and see the Lhasa which used to be (pre chinese Lhasa).
Visiting Potala Palace and the major monetary in Lhasa was a good experience for me in two ways. In one sense it was good to get a little more understanding of the culture, it was good to hear the stories of the Buddhist religion, it was great to get a little more information about the people and the land i came to visit. Potala palace was a shrine of past and the current Dalhi Lama, to witness a nomadic family visiting their Temple (potala palace) and literally crying at the tomb of the 5th Dahli Lama was a experience that was, well... yes humbling to be in a place which holds so much meaning to so many, but also at the same time it was something i found to be wrong.
Paying to go into a holy place is something that i don't know if i like, after leaving Lhasa i decided that i would not go to any more monasteries. the thought of going into a place of worship and poking my nose around, observing a dying culture, to me, was almost like going to a zoo, no i would say it's probably worse. People are praying, worshiping and there i am clearly just there for the experience, it was an out of place feeling that rubbed me the wrong way. I kept thinking if i was in church and a group of non-western tourists rolled in to watch me pray, how would i feel, it was something i didn't like.
Leaving the City and heading into the country side was something that i was extremely eager to do, the excitement of the unknown, the open plains, the mountains, EVEREST, was something that i couldn't wait to see. 6 days of driving around the Tibetan Plateau was awesome, getting a chance to visit smaller towns, more monasteries (which i didn't go in to), stringing prayer flags up at the top of a hill in Shigatse was a once in a life time experience.
The landscapes, the mountains, the Himalayas, the blue rivers, the glaciers on the tops of mountains and in the vallies, the frozen rivers, and the chance to sit at the bottom of Everest. Looking up at the top of the earth, seeing the top of the world, no point being higher than that. It sounds so simple, uneventful, but for me to see the top of the world was something that still sends a chill down my spine. Even though i came for the landscape, the people and the culture of the towns that i visited made it so much more worthwhile.
PHOTOS:
http://picasaweb.google.co.in/vaccaro.marc/MarcvaccaroTibet?feat=directlink
Saturday, November 15, 2008
CHINA Travel
Kunming
The city its self was pretty good, I spent 5 days here which really was a lot of time but it was nice to get into a routine after being on the road for a month, waking up and going to the same street for breakfast (steamed dumplings, vegetable stuffed bread, and noodles), going back out for lunch, usually something I can point at, and then again for dinner. The city of 1.4 million felt small and comfortable, I enjoyed my time in Kunming. It was a real relaxed city which had everything i needed, department stores, grocery stores, a hostel with tones of information, showeres with HOT WATER, and it was clean. After doing Nepal and India it was nice to be in a more citalized place (not to say china is all that civilized but the accomadation is. Cities like Kunming are easy for me to spend time in, everything is easy, transportaion, food, living, that was somthing i missed and longed for and found it in Kunming for me a good way to recharge the batteries. Simply a relaxed city (minus the very histerical club culture).
YuanYang Rice Terreces
The trip down south to Yuanyang (from Kunming) is a mere 5 hours stinky bus ride filled with people "hawking," Spitting, chewing seeds, eating peanuts, hard boiled eggs, vacumm packed duck legs (room temperature of course), and my personal favorite, chain smokin' cigarettes, it was a great ride! Yuanyang was a hidden little gem though, the town it's self a rather not so blissful place but on sun rise a hour bus ride led me and 3 others deep into the outer edges of the town. In the pitch black the driver pulls over and ushers us out motioning for us to eat. Steam rising out of the conventional Chinese steamer, fresh buns, and hand made noodle soup was on the menu at 5:45am and it was all quite nice. We may have missed the sun rise but really with the amount of Fog and Haze that blanketed the valley it really didn't matter. Note: I hear the winter is the best time to go, less fog, better view, and all the pool are filled with water. Anyway after breakfast we hiked down in to a rural village and into the terraces which were breath taking (I hear this area is the larges rice producing region in the world, don’t quote me on that). Seeing the absolutely breath taking amount of work and toil that goes into producing the terraces, the harvesting process, and ultimately the rice, which is all done by hand is something that can’t be explained unless you really see it your self. Hills filled with terraces, something I found that can not be captured by photograph (shitty whether aside), it is impossible to capture green hills as far as you can see layered from top to bottom in hand carved terraces.
Sun set was rather uneventful as well but the views and the experience was first class. For me it was nice to escape the city of Kunming (regardless of how much I liked it), spending an afternoon in a rural village was a great experience as well, eating local food (lots of pointing, rubbing your stomach in approval, and smiling, Not a lot of talking), it was a great time.
Dali
The bus ride from Kunming to Dali was pretty good, despite the standard issues involved with Chinese bus travel as explained above. The views were great, I’m a big fan of sitting by the window and watching the scenery pass me by, it’s like television for me, accept you are actually doing/ going somewhere. On arrival in Dali (with my new Chinese friend/tour guide/interpreter) we boarded a bus and was off to the Old City which is where all tourist go, all confined with in the walls of the old city, cobble stone-esk streets, beautiful Chinese architecture, it was a great little city. Very hard to explain but a little too touristy for me, my favorite part of the day was waking up early, stumbling down the street to the local vendors and devouring the local street food.
Markets are another passion of mine, no matter what seems to be happening there, it is always fun to get lost in a food market, bean curd (jelly like salad), fresh baked breads (TONS AND TONS OF CHINESE BREADS， something that I was very surprised about. Fruits, vegetables, noodles, and countless different kinds of noodles, some hand made, some not, but all very delicious. Being a tourist isn’t bad but I do have one regret, NOT renting a bike and riding out of town, I love seeing what the locals are doing, not just the city locals, the rural locals are really what interest me.
Lijiang
Now this was a city I liked, MUCH more touristy than Dali, Packed streets during the day, filled with tourists (mostly Chinese tourists). This is the picturesque OLD Chinese city that you imagine when you think of how it was back in the day. Clearly now things have changed and old houses and building have been restored, cheesy crap, craft stores replace peoples homes, and stores that used to exist, but the feel, the look, the architecture is all still there. All the streets lined with canals, water ways that run through the city, and intense connection of canals that used to bring fresh water to the locals and still actually does. Now a bit more polluted with your neighbors waste and tourist trash, but none the less water is supplied to the people through the 2000+ year old water system (I don’t think the locals realize that “shit flows down stream” because you can have a dude cleaning a fish in the water and a 100 feet down have someone washing their cloths… interesting concept).
The city was great and yet another market for me to explore, this one was much better, with great fresh noodles in the morning, a special local bread made 25feet from the front door of my hostel, a sweet bread filled with honey and nuts, and a savory filled with green onion and ham, soups, sweets, and more stir fry. Roaming the empty streets early in the morning, followed by the market during the day (let tourist have the streets of the old city), and then back into the old city by night when the bulk of people have left. One day of touring, exploring, and photographs, the other day of relaxing, eating, sting in sun and drinking some “dali” beer, relaxing, enjoyable day.
Shangri La
Now this was a City much different from the rest, the Bus from Dali to Shangri La started off normal, rolling through rice fields, rural towns and villages but quickly became more and more interesting as time passed. Hills turned into mountains, rice fields turned into plains, and the golden color of the sea of rice changed into the rolling green mountain filled with evergreens, steams became rivers, the farming of pigs turned into that of Yak, and the warmer relaxing Lijiang whether because cold mountain air.
Getting off the Bus I realized this was the Closest point to Tibet I was going to get with out crossing into the almost untouchable of Chinese provinces. The Culture, the people, the feeling, the temperature of Shangri La was that of Tibet. It reminded me a bit of Nepal (which was once a Tibetan province), it was a cold but beautiful place. Here I rented a bike and went for a ride (6 hours) but a hill, down a valley, and into a rural simple but difficult way of life; filled with constant farming and caring for the land, a literally untouched culture. I enjoyed being in Shangri La but my sad realization of crossing into Tibet from this town was yet again shattered, I’m 0 for 2 in my attempts to get to the highest plateau in the world. Shangri La follows the same system of Dali and Lijiang, a modern city with a small section the Old City filled with some tourist, old old stone streets filled with narrow passages, linked with a old water system which runs through the town, cheaper guest houses, old architecture, and uniquely ancient Chinese feel to it.
Chengdu and Jiuzhaigou
Chengdu is a big polluted city, seeing the blue sky or sky at all is a rare occurance. Chengdu had a couple of attactions that were pretty Local. Seeing the Pandas (which i opted out of, i know, i'm lame), going to see the Big Buhdda in Leshan which i did go to see, along with other not so exciting things here and there. My mission in Chengdu was to hit the Chongquing HOTPOT (i should have gone to chongquing for this but i ran out of time), anyways it is a spicy hell broth filled with mouth numbing peppercorns that are native to the area. unfortunatly the server gave me and a couple of guys the watered down version, at first i was bummed at this but after i was able to eat my whole meal with out having my mouth fall off i was kind of apprieciative. there IS NO REASON to have it much spicier than i had it, from then on it's just braggin' rights.
Jiuzhaigou National Park
it is about a 12 hour bus from Chengdu and along this road you can see the real results of the Earth Quake, and it is absolutly horrible. 1000's of holmes were just leveled, streets were washed away, buildings leveled, and towns distroyed. In some areas there are 100's of chinese relief tents poped up all over town to act as temperary support to those who have no where to go. for the most part these were NOT cities, they were rural towns, homes that people have lived in for centuries, and now have nothing, a bit sad.
Jiuzhaigou is absolutly breath taking, I was both fortunate and unfortunate on my trip there. the day i visited the park it was raining, cloudy, cold, and obviously not the best time to wonder the national park, on the other side it was autum and all the leaves were changing color, the water in the lakes and rivers were equaly as spectacular in the rain as they would have been in the sun. Jiuzhaigou is fantastic, i would highly recomend it to anyone in the sichuan area. I would go as far as saying one of the best parks i have been two in my life.
Beijing
Again you may think i'm lame but NO i didn't go to the Forbiden City, too crowded too many tourists, too many people. Summer palace was like going to a big park, relaxing and enjoyable once you get out of the masses of tour groups and head to edges of the estate. Tienamen square was really a big square not too much more than that, historicaly it was cool to visit but when your on more of a culinary mission in beijing things like this don't really seem to get me all worked up. Beijing was all about eating duck for me and i probably had some kind of duck every day i was there, fantastic, the hutangs (sp) were nice to go down and check out, the night market with wierd food was pretty lame, i'm more pumped to go get the real stuff in south east asia, where scorpions are actually on the menu not just there for shock value!
The great wall was a "Great" experience, i took a 4 hour bus out of the city to Simiti which was really worth doing, walked the wall for 4 hours before heading back. The wall was partially restored so when you walk along the crumbled pieces and see the century old stone that was placed there way before your time, you look into the distance and see the expance of how "great" or large it was, you get a bigger understanding of what went into building it and how massive it really is. I liked going to the wall, OH and there were NOT that many tourist which is nice.
Yangshuo
where i sit at the moment is definitely a summer location (not a november hotspot), the landscape is covered in limestone hills carved out by the Li River. it is absolutly stunning, it is what you picture when you think about green lush hills and a lazy river winding through a spectacular vally of hills. Bike rides through small villages, a bamboo raft down the river, and a hike through fields or orange and pamello trees were all things worth doing. Even taking a wrong turn winding up in small villages ancient villages was a awesome experience, i think i would like to return here in the summer months, and float the Li River better form (inner tube and a 12pk of beer!).
Hong Kong
HK Is just a 12hr sleeper bus away, i have two days there and then out to KL (malaysia).
PHOTOS:
http://picasaweb.google.co.in/vaccaro.marc/MarcvaccaroChina?feat=directlink
The city its self was pretty good, I spent 5 days here which really was a lot of time but it was nice to get into a routine after being on the road for a month, waking up and going to the same street for breakfast (steamed dumplings, vegetable stuffed bread, and noodles), going back out for lunch, usually something I can point at, and then again for dinner. The city of 1.4 million felt small and comfortable, I enjoyed my time in Kunming. It was a real relaxed city which had everything i needed, department stores, grocery stores, a hostel with tones of information, showeres with HOT WATER, and it was clean. After doing Nepal and India it was nice to be in a more citalized place (not to say china is all that civilized but the accomadation is. Cities like Kunming are easy for me to spend time in, everything is easy, transportaion, food, living, that was somthing i missed and longed for and found it in Kunming for me a good way to recharge the batteries. Simply a relaxed city (minus the very histerical club culture).
YuanYang Rice Terreces
The trip down south to Yuanyang (from Kunming) is a mere 5 hours stinky bus ride filled with people "hawking," Spitting, chewing seeds, eating peanuts, hard boiled eggs, vacumm packed duck legs (room temperature of course), and my personal favorite, chain smokin' cigarettes, it was a great ride! Yuanyang was a hidden little gem though, the town it's self a rather not so blissful place but on sun rise a hour bus ride led me and 3 others deep into the outer edges of the town. In the pitch black the driver pulls over and ushers us out motioning for us to eat. Steam rising out of the conventional Chinese steamer, fresh buns, and hand made noodle soup was on the menu at 5:45am and it was all quite nice. We may have missed the sun rise but really with the amount of Fog and Haze that blanketed the valley it really didn't matter. Note: I hear the winter is the best time to go, less fog, better view, and all the pool are filled with water. Anyway after breakfast we hiked down in to a rural village and into the terraces which were breath taking (I hear this area is the larges rice producing region in the world, don’t quote me on that). Seeing the absolutely breath taking amount of work and toil that goes into producing the terraces, the harvesting process, and ultimately the rice, which is all done by hand is something that can’t be explained unless you really see it your self. Hills filled with terraces, something I found that can not be captured by photograph (shitty whether aside), it is impossible to capture green hills as far as you can see layered from top to bottom in hand carved terraces.
Sun set was rather uneventful as well but the views and the experience was first class. For me it was nice to escape the city of Kunming (regardless of how much I liked it), spending an afternoon in a rural village was a great experience as well, eating local food (lots of pointing, rubbing your stomach in approval, and smiling, Not a lot of talking), it was a great time.
Dali
The bus ride from Kunming to Dali was pretty good, despite the standard issues involved with Chinese bus travel as explained above. The views were great, I’m a big fan of sitting by the window and watching the scenery pass me by, it’s like television for me, accept you are actually doing/ going somewhere. On arrival in Dali (with my new Chinese friend/tour guide/interpreter) we boarded a bus and was off to the Old City which is where all tourist go, all confined with in the walls of the old city, cobble stone-esk streets, beautiful Chinese architecture, it was a great little city. Very hard to explain but a little too touristy for me, my favorite part of the day was waking up early, stumbling down the street to the local vendors and devouring the local street food.
Markets are another passion of mine, no matter what seems to be happening there, it is always fun to get lost in a food market, bean curd (jelly like salad), fresh baked breads (TONS AND TONS OF CHINESE BREADS， something that I was very surprised about. Fruits, vegetables, noodles, and countless different kinds of noodles, some hand made, some not, but all very delicious. Being a tourist isn’t bad but I do have one regret, NOT renting a bike and riding out of town, I love seeing what the locals are doing, not just the city locals, the rural locals are really what interest me.
Lijiang
Now this was a city I liked, MUCH more touristy than Dali, Packed streets during the day, filled with tourists (mostly Chinese tourists). This is the picturesque OLD Chinese city that you imagine when you think of how it was back in the day. Clearly now things have changed and old houses and building have been restored, cheesy crap, craft stores replace peoples homes, and stores that used to exist, but the feel, the look, the architecture is all still there. All the streets lined with canals, water ways that run through the city, and intense connection of canals that used to bring fresh water to the locals and still actually does. Now a bit more polluted with your neighbors waste and tourist trash, but none the less water is supplied to the people through the 2000+ year old water system (I don’t think the locals realize that “shit flows down stream” because you can have a dude cleaning a fish in the water and a 100 feet down have someone washing their cloths… interesting concept).
The city was great and yet another market for me to explore, this one was much better, with great fresh noodles in the morning, a special local bread made 25feet from the front door of my hostel, a sweet bread filled with honey and nuts, and a savory filled with green onion and ham, soups, sweets, and more stir fry. Roaming the empty streets early in the morning, followed by the market during the day (let tourist have the streets of the old city), and then back into the old city by night when the bulk of people have left. One day of touring, exploring, and photographs, the other day of relaxing, eating, sting in sun and drinking some “dali” beer, relaxing, enjoyable day.
Shangri La
Now this was a City much different from the rest, the Bus from Dali to Shangri La started off normal, rolling through rice fields, rural towns and villages but quickly became more and more interesting as time passed. Hills turned into mountains, rice fields turned into plains, and the golden color of the sea of rice changed into the rolling green mountain filled with evergreens, steams became rivers, the farming of pigs turned into that of Yak, and the warmer relaxing Lijiang whether because cold mountain air.
Getting off the Bus I realized this was the Closest point to Tibet I was going to get with out crossing into the almost untouchable of Chinese provinces. The Culture, the people, the feeling, the temperature of Shangri La was that of Tibet. It reminded me a bit of Nepal (which was once a Tibetan province), it was a cold but beautiful place. Here I rented a bike and went for a ride (6 hours) but a hill, down a valley, and into a rural simple but difficult way of life; filled with constant farming and caring for the land, a literally untouched culture. I enjoyed being in Shangri La but my sad realization of crossing into Tibet from this town was yet again shattered, I’m 0 for 2 in my attempts to get to the highest plateau in the world. Shangri La follows the same system of Dali and Lijiang, a modern city with a small section the Old City filled with some tourist, old old stone streets filled with narrow passages, linked with a old water system which runs through the town, cheaper guest houses, old architecture, and uniquely ancient Chinese feel to it.
Chengdu and Jiuzhaigou
Chengdu is a big polluted city, seeing the blue sky or sky at all is a rare occurance. Chengdu had a couple of attactions that were pretty Local. Seeing the Pandas (which i opted out of, i know, i'm lame), going to see the Big Buhdda in Leshan which i did go to see, along with other not so exciting things here and there. My mission in Chengdu was to hit the Chongquing HOTPOT (i should have gone to chongquing for this but i ran out of time), anyways it is a spicy hell broth filled with mouth numbing peppercorns that are native to the area. unfortunatly the server gave me and a couple of guys the watered down version, at first i was bummed at this but after i was able to eat my whole meal with out having my mouth fall off i was kind of apprieciative. there IS NO REASON to have it much spicier than i had it, from then on it's just braggin' rights.
Jiuzhaigou National Park
it is about a 12 hour bus from Chengdu and along this road you can see the real results of the Earth Quake, and it is absolutly horrible. 1000's of holmes were just leveled, streets were washed away, buildings leveled, and towns distroyed. In some areas there are 100's of chinese relief tents poped up all over town to act as temperary support to those who have no where to go. for the most part these were NOT cities, they were rural towns, homes that people have lived in for centuries, and now have nothing, a bit sad.
Jiuzhaigou is absolutly breath taking, I was both fortunate and unfortunate on my trip there. the day i visited the park it was raining, cloudy, cold, and obviously not the best time to wonder the national park, on the other side it was autum and all the leaves were changing color, the water in the lakes and rivers were equaly as spectacular in the rain as they would have been in the sun. Jiuzhaigou is fantastic, i would highly recomend it to anyone in the sichuan area. I would go as far as saying one of the best parks i have been two in my life.
Beijing
Again you may think i'm lame but NO i didn't go to the Forbiden City, too crowded too many tourists, too many people. Summer palace was like going to a big park, relaxing and enjoyable once you get out of the masses of tour groups and head to edges of the estate. Tienamen square was really a big square not too much more than that, historicaly it was cool to visit but when your on more of a culinary mission in beijing things like this don't really seem to get me all worked up. Beijing was all about eating duck for me and i probably had some kind of duck every day i was there, fantastic, the hutangs (sp) were nice to go down and check out, the night market with wierd food was pretty lame, i'm more pumped to go get the real stuff in south east asia, where scorpions are actually on the menu not just there for shock value!
The great wall was a "Great" experience, i took a 4 hour bus out of the city to Simiti which was really worth doing, walked the wall for 4 hours before heading back. The wall was partially restored so when you walk along the crumbled pieces and see the century old stone that was placed there way before your time, you look into the distance and see the expance of how "great" or large it was, you get a bigger understanding of what went into building it and how massive it really is. I liked going to the wall, OH and there were NOT that many tourist which is nice.
Yangshuo
where i sit at the moment is definitely a summer location (not a november hotspot), the landscape is covered in limestone hills carved out by the Li River. it is absolutly stunning, it is what you picture when you think about green lush hills and a lazy river winding through a spectacular vally of hills. Bike rides through small villages, a bamboo raft down the river, and a hike through fields or orange and pamello trees were all things worth doing. Even taking a wrong turn winding up in small villages ancient villages was a awesome experience, i think i would like to return here in the summer months, and float the Li River better form (inner tube and a 12pk of beer!).
Hong Kong
HK Is just a 12hr sleeper bus away, i have two days there and then out to KL (malaysia).
PHOTOS:
http://picasaweb.google.co.in/vaccaro.marc/MarcvaccaroChina?feat=directlink
Saturday, October 25, 2008
China Email
This is 100% My Opinion and ONLY my Opinion.
How do you describe a place like China, it's so large, so diverse, it's a confusing bipolar mess, trapped between two very different worlds, but somehow it works. Why do I love this country? I'm not sure but god is it a great place to visit.
On one side you have the old world, homes made of stone, hand made brick, clay, people living off the land eating and selling what they have cultivated, a very simple but hard life. This occurs all over the country, passing dry hot dusty landscapes on a sleeper bus or the train to Lhasa was an eye opening experience. Land that i never would have thought farmable was covered in terraces, water buffalo still being used to plow the earth, dry brittle soil being turned up for farming, and the people live here happily.
As you get out and walk around in towns like this you can see the hardships of peoples lives that they wear on their faces. years of hard work on the field is still a reality to millions of Chinese citizens, in the rice terraces of the south, the fields scattered across most of the country, and in high altitudes of the Tibetan Plateau, the hot sun will weather anybodies skin, it will hunch your backs, wrinkle your faces, and even put a permanent limp on you, a result of many hard years, working a simple but difficult life. This is visible all over china, but still through the hardships, years of rural living, decades of historical Chinese life, through a couple of world wars (whether they knew it existed or not), through life under Mao, and up to the present, these Chinese whom (in my opinion) make up a one half of this "bipolar" culture are wonderful people. always smiling back at you as you pass them in the streets, sometimes offering you a stare of "what the hell are you doing here? HERE OF ALL PLACES" (slightly confused by Western tourism), but overall just happy that you have come to see their way of life and share in their culture. I really loved this part of China.
On the other side you have the rapidly growing economic and industrial part of the country the push for progress no matter what the cost. This is a testament of what china will be, and honestly it is kind of scary, this country is NO joke and when they put their mind and effort into doing something, it will get done. Beijing Tibet Train was finished 3 year ahead of schedule, i mean who finishes a construction project 3 years ahead of time (unheard of), the 3 gorges dame makes Lake Powell in Vegas look like a joke. All i see in china, in the big cities or urban areas is the focused on growth and progress, progress, progress, and more forward progress, it's scary because it almost seems like they are building for the sake of building, knocking older buildings down (10 year old buildings) and throwing up a new one.
This idea of progress in infrastructure i think has also flowed into a life style change of this new generation of wealthier Chinese citizens, carrying umbrellas to shield them selves from the sun, mass consuming, frivolously wasting, and unfortunately adopting all the good but also all the bad aspects of western culture. New Chinese culture is all about the flash, what you have, what you own, and how your are perceived by peers. Over all what i have experienced is always looking forward and never looking back, it's a good way to think but when you flood homes that have been around for centuries (3 gorges), you turn places like Potala Palace in Tibet into a tourist trap, you stand amongst the masses in Tienamen square, or march along the great wall, surely their must be some value on the beauty of the past. The thumping beats of night clubs, flashing lights, mega cities that seem to be popping up everywhere, the rejection of the old ways seems to be the way china is heading. It's funny though because you still have young people getting up and moving so an older person can sit down (on the bus), and there still is many of the culture and customs of what china was and kind of essentially still is, but the forward progress of where this country is heading is slowly changing its culture (my opinion). I don't want to go out and say that it is becoming more westernized because that would make any proud Chinese person shed a tear or two. I think that it's hard to ever say china will be westernized, but honestly as i see the McD's, KFC, and Starbucks, and i hear American pop music playing in Abacronbie-esk stores, i feel a bit of it's unique character slipping away.
With two ways of living and cultural life styles that are so very different, i don't know which one i like more, sure the huge cities are amazingly fun to get lost it, to eat in, to wander around in. the idea of growth and progress is a good thing, but when you see dames put up in Tibet blocking a amazingly beautiful rivers in a landscape that is so scenically stunning, i think you have gone too far. Sure i would not have been able to travel to some of the places i went in china with out this progress, but i think there needs to be a limit. The old way of living is simple, beautiful and i loved visiting old farms, rural landscapes, but with out the progress, roadways, buses, trains, i would never have gotten their or gotten out of there. also with progress comes more english language which isn't always needed but god does it make it easier.
I really loved China, i'm excited to leave and i'm happy to see something new but it will be a place worth returning to, the mix of the old way of living and the modernization is something that some how works for me, you get the best of both worlds!
How do you describe a place like China, it's so large, so diverse, it's a confusing bipolar mess, trapped between two very different worlds, but somehow it works. Why do I love this country? I'm not sure but god is it a great place to visit.
On one side you have the old world, homes made of stone, hand made brick, clay, people living off the land eating and selling what they have cultivated, a very simple but hard life. This occurs all over the country, passing dry hot dusty landscapes on a sleeper bus or the train to Lhasa was an eye opening experience. Land that i never would have thought farmable was covered in terraces, water buffalo still being used to plow the earth, dry brittle soil being turned up for farming, and the people live here happily.
As you get out and walk around in towns like this you can see the hardships of peoples lives that they wear on their faces. years of hard work on the field is still a reality to millions of Chinese citizens, in the rice terraces of the south, the fields scattered across most of the country, and in high altitudes of the Tibetan Plateau, the hot sun will weather anybodies skin, it will hunch your backs, wrinkle your faces, and even put a permanent limp on you, a result of many hard years, working a simple but difficult life. This is visible all over china, but still through the hardships, years of rural living, decades of historical Chinese life, through a couple of world wars (whether they knew it existed or not), through life under Mao, and up to the present, these Chinese whom (in my opinion) make up a one half of this "bipolar" culture are wonderful people. always smiling back at you as you pass them in the streets, sometimes offering you a stare of "what the hell are you doing here? HERE OF ALL PLACES" (slightly confused by Western tourism), but overall just happy that you have come to see their way of life and share in their culture. I really loved this part of China.
On the other side you have the rapidly growing economic and industrial part of the country the push for progress no matter what the cost. This is a testament of what china will be, and honestly it is kind of scary, this country is NO joke and when they put their mind and effort into doing something, it will get done. Beijing Tibet Train was finished 3 year ahead of schedule, i mean who finishes a construction project 3 years ahead of time (unheard of), the 3 gorges dame makes Lake Powell in Vegas look like a joke. All i see in china, in the big cities or urban areas is the focused on growth and progress, progress, progress, and more forward progress, it's scary because it almost seems like they are building for the sake of building, knocking older buildings down (10 year old buildings) and throwing up a new one.
This idea of progress in infrastructure i think has also flowed into a life style change of this new generation of wealthier Chinese citizens, carrying umbrellas to shield them selves from the sun, mass consuming, frivolously wasting, and unfortunately adopting all the good but also all the bad aspects of western culture. New Chinese culture is all about the flash, what you have, what you own, and how your are perceived by peers. Over all what i have experienced is always looking forward and never looking back, it's a good way to think but when you flood homes that have been around for centuries (3 gorges), you turn places like Potala Palace in Tibet into a tourist trap, you stand amongst the masses in Tienamen square, or march along the great wall, surely their must be some value on the beauty of the past. The thumping beats of night clubs, flashing lights, mega cities that seem to be popping up everywhere, the rejection of the old ways seems to be the way china is heading. It's funny though because you still have young people getting up and moving so an older person can sit down (on the bus), and there still is many of the culture and customs of what china was and kind of essentially still is, but the forward progress of where this country is heading is slowly changing its culture (my opinion). I don't want to go out and say that it is becoming more westernized because that would make any proud Chinese person shed a tear or two. I think that it's hard to ever say china will be westernized, but honestly as i see the McD's, KFC, and Starbucks, and i hear American pop music playing in Abacronbie-esk stores, i feel a bit of it's unique character slipping away.
With two ways of living and cultural life styles that are so very different, i don't know which one i like more, sure the huge cities are amazingly fun to get lost it, to eat in, to wander around in. the idea of growth and progress is a good thing, but when you see dames put up in Tibet blocking a amazingly beautiful rivers in a landscape that is so scenically stunning, i think you have gone too far. Sure i would not have been able to travel to some of the places i went in china with out this progress, but i think there needs to be a limit. The old way of living is simple, beautiful and i loved visiting old farms, rural landscapes, but with out the progress, roadways, buses, trains, i would never have gotten their or gotten out of there. also with progress comes more english language which isn't always needed but god does it make it easier.
I really loved China, i'm excited to leave and i'm happy to see something new but it will be a place worth returning to, the mix of the old way of living and the modernization is something that some how works for me, you get the best of both worlds!
Friday, October 24, 2008
Leaving Katmandu
On my last day I woke up, packed my bags and stumbled down the stairs to leave me pack behind for the day and tour the city one last time before my 9pm flight out of the country. I had heard from some people that there was the Dashain (Nepali) Hindu festival going on and that there would be plenty to see.
The Hotel manager explains that each house hold will be sacrificing a goat (eating it as well for all you freak vegetarians out there) and Dubi Square (sp?) is where it is all going down. So I packed my camera and charged out the door to witness a goat blood bath. The road was packed as I headed out the door, people were not really working, shops were closed up, and there was defiantly an excitement lingering about. As I started getting closer and closer to the square I
could see butchers sharpening their knives, herds and herds of goats being led down the street, a peddle rickshaw passes me bye loaded with freshly butchered goat, leaving a faint trail of its load dripping behind it, it was not a good day to be a goat.
Now with a bit of a sick twisted excitement I bust into the square expecting to see a goat blood bath, I mean in my overly vivid (I guess sick imagination) I thought there would be goats strung up on posts, dudes in executioners masks hacking the heads off these poor furry bastards, pools of blood everywhere. My twisted “lord of the Flies” vision of little kids holding up goat heads was not exactly what was going on in Katmandu that day.
I did how ever witness a string of 4 goats tied to a wall, while a young kid (no older than 20), his mother, and father (the local butchers) supplied the near by families with their goat sacrifice. What caught my eye was not the pool of blood on the sidewalk, not the intestines, legs, and miscellaneous body parts on the table, not the bloody tree stump that was used as a chopping block, nor was it the woman who had an evil grin on her face as she burnt the hair of the pre-boiled goats head, that was all good with me. It was the 4 other goats tied to the wall watching their buddy get dismembered right in front of their eyes, THAT is what caught my attention on my walk home to the hostel, on my way out of Nepal, the day of the Dashain Festival.
The Hotel manager explains that each house hold will be sacrificing a goat (eating it as well for all you freak vegetarians out there) and Dubi Square (sp?) is where it is all going down. So I packed my camera and charged out the door to witness a goat blood bath. The road was packed as I headed out the door, people were not really working, shops were closed up, and there was defiantly an excitement lingering about. As I started getting closer and closer to the square I
could see butchers sharpening their knives, herds and herds of goats being led down the street, a peddle rickshaw passes me bye loaded with freshly butchered goat, leaving a faint trail of its load dripping behind it, it was not a good day to be a goat.Now with a bit of a sick twisted excitement I bust into the square expecting to see a goat blood bath, I mean in my overly vivid (I guess sick imagination) I thought there would be goats strung up on posts, dudes in executioners masks hacking the heads off these poor furry bastards, pools of blood everywhere. My twisted “lord of the Flies” vision of little kids holding up goat heads was not exactly what was going on in Katmandu that day.
I did how ever witness a string of 4 goats tied to a wall, while a young kid (no older than 20), his mother, and father (the local butchers) supplied the near by families with their goat sacrifice. What caught my eye was not the pool of blood on the sidewalk, not the intestines, legs, and miscellaneous body parts on the table, not the bloody tree stump that was used as a chopping block, nor was it the woman who had an evil grin on her face as she burnt the hair of the pre-boiled goats head, that was all good with me. It was the 4 other goats tied to the wall watching their buddy get dismembered right in front of their eyes, THAT is what caught my attention on my walk home to the hostel, on my way out of Nepal, the day of the Dashain Festival.Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Nepal Recap
Nepal.... Well my biggest mistake was not planning for this part of my trip. After living in Tahoe on and off for 6 years a place like Nepal would have been a perfect place to explore, relax, and enjoy, but instead it was slightly rushed and left only partially discovered (by me that is).
The drive from Sunali to Pokhara was amazing; especially after leaving the chaos of India, if the driver was not absolutely bumping terrible trance/techno remixes I would say that the drive would have been perfect. Windy narrow roads the start out pretty low in elevation and begin the climb higher and higher in to the Himalayas. For me the Himalayas seemed so mystical, so untouched, so unreachable; but here I was cursing through the mountains on my way to a Pokhara a hikers/kayakers/ rafters dream. The villages that I drove through were phenomenal and I remember thinking what a simple life these people live, hard... definitely hard but simple and beautiful.
Pokhara was a dream, relaxing at first, but soon was filled with tourists alike, with their trekking poles, rugged look, it was basically a Patagonia magazine, or better yet a L.L. bean magazine, decked out head to toe in their hot new unused gear walking down the street, mostly middle aged people (with some money) "set out to conquer the world," or the Annapuna mountain range. Being completely unprepared for this it made me laugh because even booking my trek at the last minute, having half the equipment, and probably a fraction of the knowledge, I knew I was better off than these jokers. With that said there were plenty of crunchy people ready to take on the mountain, people who looked like they belonged there, hikers who were actually carrying their packs. It was a cool place to be for a week, Pokhara was an enjoyable city. Advice, get there before the crowds, early September.
Leaving Pokhara I was excited to see what the rest of the country looked like but my fantasy of the pristine Himalayas was just that, a fantasy. With population, poverty, and lack of education comes pollution and an abundance of trash. Nepal was NOT on the level of India but if their population was as high, it would fall to the same fait of their polluted neighbors to the south. the one thing I must credit Nepal for is that they do have garbage cans visibly, and they do know how to keep touristy areas clean, if you venture off the touristy path, watch what you step in because you never know what you may find.
Katmandu: As you creep over the hill after the LONG life threatening bus ride (which if you don't like heights, edges, or windy roads, your absolutely screwed), Katmandu comes into view, a sprawled city with its problems, mostly the same as big Indian cities, but with 1/2 the population. I was preparing for the worst but after arriving in Thamel (backpackers central) I was pleasantly surprised. There were a couple of busy tourist streets that had everything you could ask for; restaurants, bars, internet, English speakers, laundry service, culture, and more pack backers which is nice to see when in a big city. Being in Katmandu was a pleasant surprise, granted I stayed in a hotel which was pushed out side of Themal on a quiet little back street that at first I was a bit upset about, but once I realized how close I was to the heart of everything, it made my stay so much better.
Now in China and writing this blog, I can say my second biggest mistake was NOT taking advantage of having the Himalayas right there, currently struggling to get into Tibet to see the landscape, the Tibetan Plateau, the mountains, the lakes, it just doesn't seem possible. Katmandu and Nepal (although it is NOT Tibet) it still holds the largest mountain in the world and a trip to Nepal side of the Tibetan mountains would have been nice.
PHOTOS:
http://picasaweb.google.co.in/vaccaro.marc/MarcvaccaroNepal?feat=directlink
The drive from Sunali to Pokhara was amazing; especially after leaving the chaos of India, if the driver was not absolutely bumping terrible trance/techno remixes I would say that the drive would have been perfect. Windy narrow roads the start out pretty low in elevation and begin the climb higher and higher in to the Himalayas. For me the Himalayas seemed so mystical, so untouched, so unreachable; but here I was cursing through the mountains on my way to a Pokhara a hikers/kayakers/ rafters dream. The villages that I drove through were phenomenal and I remember thinking what a simple life these people live, hard... definitely hard but simple and beautiful.
Pokhara was a dream, relaxing at first, but soon was filled with tourists alike, with their trekking poles, rugged look, it was basically a Patagonia magazine, or better yet a L.L. bean magazine, decked out head to toe in their hot new unused gear walking down the street, mostly middle aged people (with some money) "set out to conquer the world," or the Annapuna mountain range. Being completely unprepared for this it made me laugh because even booking my trek at the last minute, having half the equipment, and probably a fraction of the knowledge, I knew I was better off than these jokers. With that said there were plenty of crunchy people ready to take on the mountain, people who looked like they belonged there, hikers who were actually carrying their packs. It was a cool place to be for a week, Pokhara was an enjoyable city. Advice, get there before the crowds, early September.
Leaving Pokhara I was excited to see what the rest of the country looked like but my fantasy of the pristine Himalayas was just that, a fantasy. With population, poverty, and lack of education comes pollution and an abundance of trash. Nepal was NOT on the level of India but if their population was as high, it would fall to the same fait of their polluted neighbors to the south. the one thing I must credit Nepal for is that they do have garbage cans visibly, and they do know how to keep touristy areas clean, if you venture off the touristy path, watch what you step in because you never know what you may find.
Katmandu: As you creep over the hill after the LONG life threatening bus ride (which if you don't like heights, edges, or windy roads, your absolutely screwed), Katmandu comes into view, a sprawled city with its problems, mostly the same as big Indian cities, but with 1/2 the population. I was preparing for the worst but after arriving in Thamel (backpackers central) I was pleasantly surprised. There were a couple of busy tourist streets that had everything you could ask for; restaurants, bars, internet, English speakers, laundry service, culture, and more pack backers which is nice to see when in a big city. Being in Katmandu was a pleasant surprise, granted I stayed in a hotel which was pushed out side of Themal on a quiet little back street that at first I was a bit upset about, but once I realized how close I was to the heart of everything, it made my stay so much better.
Now in China and writing this blog, I can say my second biggest mistake was NOT taking advantage of having the Himalayas right there, currently struggling to get into Tibet to see the landscape, the Tibetan Plateau, the mountains, the lakes, it just doesn't seem possible. Katmandu and Nepal (although it is NOT Tibet) it still holds the largest mountain in the world and a trip to Nepal side of the Tibetan mountains would have been nice.
PHOTOS:
http://picasaweb.google.co.in/vaccaro.marc/MarcvaccaroNepal?feat=directlink
Sunday, October 5, 2008
Katmandu
Drive to Katmandu and my Failed attempt into Tibet
After my Hike I boarded a tourist bus that I thought would take 4 hours and be quite similar to the ride I had from Sunali to Pokhara. God was I wrong, the bus took nearly 7 hours and really exposed me to what Nepal is like. I can’t speak for the whole country because I have only seen a VERY SMALL amount of it. As I left Pokhara and began to drive into the country side I was waiting to see more green hills, rice terraces (which I saw), but mostly just more clean, quite country side. Unfortunately what I saw reminded me a bit of India, more poverty, more garbage, and a rural life style that I have now become quite accustom to when dealing with third world counties.
I guess I had higher hopes for Nepal and this vision of pristine beauty, the Himalayan mountains, the tallest peaks of the world, spilling fresh glacial water into the country side which people literally drink right off the mountain (hell I did in my hike). It’s sad to see what happens to some of the cleanest water in the world once it hits the Nepali population. I guess if it was in the US it would be twice as bad with factories dumping waste, fertilizer runoff, and everything else we have going for us. I guess I’m just a bit naïve and want to be a bit more ignorant wishing that these places were as picturesque as I dreamed about.
Katmandu is an interesting place, some travelers are completely bothered by it. I have been here for two days now and have done nothing but eat, walk the busy streets, window shop, and eat some more. For me I am quite happy with this city. Sure it is big and dirty, but as I said I’m getting over that, now it is expected to come into a city and see an abundance of stray dogs, the occasional cow wondering the streets, some chickens picking at trash on the side of the road. I mean come on… if you live in the city and you don’t have a field what are you going to feed your cows and chickens? Obviously trash!!!!
Anyways, I have only seen a small bit of Katmandu and only plan on chilling in the touristy area (Thamel), I don’t plan on seeing the big Peace Pagoda in the center of town, because, well…. After doing ABC, it’s not all that appealing to me, I would rather eat MoMos (steamed Chinese style dumplings with amazing sauces), than haggle for a cab to take me to the center of a busy busy town.
OH, side note. If you are planning on going from Katmandu into Tibet and into mainland China, DON’T. For me it made perfect scenes, it was the natural direction I was heading but the Chinese made things difficult and now $637 later on a one way flight to Kunming China I have to take an alternate rout.
After my Hike I boarded a tourist bus that I thought would take 4 hours and be quite similar to the ride I had from Sunali to Pokhara. God was I wrong, the bus took nearly 7 hours and really exposed me to what Nepal is like. I can’t speak for the whole country because I have only seen a VERY SMALL amount of it. As I left Pokhara and began to drive into the country side I was waiting to see more green hills, rice terraces (which I saw), but mostly just more clean, quite country side. Unfortunately what I saw reminded me a bit of India, more poverty, more garbage, and a rural life style that I have now become quite accustom to when dealing with third world counties.
I guess I had higher hopes for Nepal and this vision of pristine beauty, the Himalayan mountains, the tallest peaks of the world, spilling fresh glacial water into the country side which people literally drink right off the mountain (hell I did in my hike). It’s sad to see what happens to some of the cleanest water in the world once it hits the Nepali population. I guess if it was in the US it would be twice as bad with factories dumping waste, fertilizer runoff, and everything else we have going for us. I guess I’m just a bit naïve and want to be a bit more ignorant wishing that these places were as picturesque as I dreamed about.
Katmandu is an interesting place, some travelers are completely bothered by it. I have been here for two days now and have done nothing but eat, walk the busy streets, window shop, and eat some more. For me I am quite happy with this city. Sure it is big and dirty, but as I said I’m getting over that, now it is expected to come into a city and see an abundance of stray dogs, the occasional cow wondering the streets, some chickens picking at trash on the side of the road. I mean come on… if you live in the city and you don’t have a field what are you going to feed your cows and chickens? Obviously trash!!!!
Anyways, I have only seen a small bit of Katmandu and only plan on chilling in the touristy area (Thamel), I don’t plan on seeing the big Peace Pagoda in the center of town, because, well…. After doing ABC, it’s not all that appealing to me, I would rather eat MoMos (steamed Chinese style dumplings with amazing sauces), than haggle for a cab to take me to the center of a busy busy town.
OH, side note. If you are planning on going from Katmandu into Tibet and into mainland China, DON’T. For me it made perfect scenes, it was the natural direction I was heading but the Chinese made things difficult and now $637 later on a one way flight to Kunming China I have to take an alternate rout.
7 day Annapuna Base Camp Hike
7Day Annapuna Base Camp Hike
So after feeling absolutly jealousy that I didn’t do my homework and research a bit more on Nepal and the trekking, I decided to bite the bullet and do the hike. Despite the recently broken back, and terrible shape that I’m in (especially after eating like a pig in Delhi). Regardless it was one of the best things I could have done.
The trip started off with a bit of a hitch, since there is a big festival the day I was supposed to start there were NO cabs to drop me off at my starting point, so instead of walking 12-15 kilometers it turned into about 25 – 30 kilometers which with a 20+lbs backpack took me around 11 hours. Rolling into the first “tea house” (basically motel in the mountains, some nicer than others, some with hot water some not, some with squat toilets some with “western toilets”), was great when I arrived there the other guides and guests were amazed we walked the distance we did since it took most groups 2 days to reach the point we did and they took a taxi to the drop off point which we didn’t have the luxury of doing.
Oh, yeah… “we” being me and my guide/porter, since I tend to hurt myself doing stupid stuff I decided it would be wise to hire someone to hike this thing with me. He would have carried any thing I asked, but I was a bit to proud to let him do that. Not to mention you get a sense of pride and accomplishment of carrying the gear you need to the top and back. What’s the point of doing it if you can’t do it your self. The smiles and acknowledgement that I would get from locals and other guides that saw me carrying my own gear was gratifying enough. Many people hike this alone without guides and porters and carry their own stuff, but bringing a guide and carrying your own stuff is something no one else does (maybe I’m a idiot and should have let him carry it?). Regardless I would not let my self fall into the category with over weight Europeans, sweating and littering all over the track, or your typical Asian tourist who is only carrying his/her own digital point and shoot camera and an umbrella to shield them from the sun… freakin’ embarrassing. Also god knows what these people pack because the poor porters are carrying bags twice the size of them, hair dryers, a month of cloths, photo albums, who knows but some of these peoples bags were huge.
Anyways day one was a bit rough, it was a long day filled with rice terraces which I am still in awe with, and 100’s and 100’s of slate/rock steps. I don’t know what psycho decided to create this entire hike into steps and rock pathways but unless you have calves and thighs of steel, there is NO amount of stair master that can put you in training for this hike.
So after feeling absolutly jealousy that I didn’t do my homework and research a bit more on Nepal and the trekking, I decided to bite the bullet and do the hike. Despite the recently broken back, and terrible shape that I’m in (especially after eating like a pig in Delhi). Regardless it was one of the best things I could have done.
The trip started off with a bit of a hitch, since there is a big festival the day I was supposed to start there were NO cabs to drop me off at my starting point, so instead of walking 12-15 kilometers it turned into about 25 – 30 kilometers which with a 20+lbs backpack took me around 11 hours. Rolling into the first “tea house” (basically motel in the mountains, some nicer than others, some with hot water some not, some with squat toilets some with “western toilets”), was great when I arrived there the other guides and guests were amazed we walked the distance we did since it took most groups 2 days to reach the point we did and they took a taxi to the drop off point which we didn’t have the luxury of doing.
Oh, yeah… “we” being me and my guide/porter, since I tend to hurt myself doing stupid stuff I decided it would be wise to hire someone to hike this thing with me. He would have carried any thing I asked, but I was a bit to proud to let him do that. Not to mention you get a sense of pride and accomplishment of carrying the gear you need to the top and back. What’s the point of doing it if you can’t do it your self. The smiles and acknowledgement that I would get from locals and other guides that saw me carrying my own gear was gratifying enough. Many people hike this alone without guides and porters and carry their own stuff, but bringing a guide and carrying your own stuff is something no one else does (maybe I’m a idiot and should have let him carry it?). Regardless I would not let my self fall into the category with over weight Europeans, sweating and littering all over the track, or your typical Asian tourist who is only carrying his/her own digital point and shoot camera and an umbrella to shield them from the sun… freakin’ embarrassing. Also god knows what these people pack because the poor porters are carrying bags twice the size of them, hair dryers, a month of cloths, photo albums, who knows but some of these peoples bags were huge.
Anyways day one was a bit rough, it was a long day filled with rice terraces which I am still in awe with, and 100’s and 100’s of slate/rock steps. I don’t know what psycho decided to create this entire hike into steps and rock pathways but unless you have calves and thighs of steel, there is NO amount of stair master that can put you in training for this hike.
I can talk for hours about the trek, but instead I’ll just say that it was phenomenal, something I was very happy I did. What should have taken me 8 days (8 relaxing days), me and Krishna did it in 6 which was a record for him since we walked from Pokhara with out a cab (something he rarely does). The Scenery changed as the elevations climbed higher. It started off with rice terraces, progressed into the bamboo jungles with waterfalls and lush green growth everywhere, and eventually led up past where trees grown into a valley surrounded by snow covered peaks where small grasses and wildflowers were the only things that could grow.
A.B.C. (Annapuna Base Camp) was a sight to be scene, 360 degrees of snow covered peaks, I woke up at 5:30am to make the final assent to ABC before sun rise, as I got there I could see stone piles with Tibeten prayer flags flying everywhere, it was a scene out of a movie, it was beautifully surreal. I stayed at base camp for about 6 hours, took about 200 pictures, relaxed had a cup of tea, soaked in the sights and then slowly started my decent back down the mountain. It was near impossible to turn my back on such a beautiful place. Knowing that the clouds would roll in any minute and blanket the peaks made leaving a bit more do-able, but still it was hard.
Recommendations: don’t be a dumb ass and only get a 15 day visa, get the 30 day, and take your time doing the hike. Hike 4 to 6 hours a day start at 6am or 7am which most people do and quite by 1 or 2pm. The Tea houses are great, most owners are very accommodating and since I went with a guide the price per night was cheaper about $1.25 usd a night. All up I was spending about $10 a day and eating pretty hardy a night and even knocking back a couple of roxies with my guide (locally brewed millet wine), tastes like a watered down Grapa, after hiking for 8 hours it put me right to bed. If your doing the hike it should be enjoyed a bit more, I loved every minute of it but having the opportunity to space it out a bit more would have been nice. Oh and stay an extra day at the top and bring some warm cloths because at night it gets down around 20 degrees.
A.B.C. (Annapuna Base Camp) was a sight to be scene, 360 degrees of snow covered peaks, I woke up at 5:30am to make the final assent to ABC before sun rise, as I got there I could see stone piles with Tibeten prayer flags flying everywhere, it was a scene out of a movie, it was beautifully surreal. I stayed at base camp for about 6 hours, took about 200 pictures, relaxed had a cup of tea, soaked in the sights and then slowly started my decent back down the mountain. It was near impossible to turn my back on such a beautiful place. Knowing that the clouds would roll in any minute and blanket the peaks made leaving a bit more do-able, but still it was hard.
Recommendations: don’t be a dumb ass and only get a 15 day visa, get the 30 day, and take your time doing the hike. Hike 4 to 6 hours a day start at 6am or 7am which most people do and quite by 1 or 2pm. The Tea houses are great, most owners are very accommodating and since I went with a guide the price per night was cheaper about $1.25 usd a night. All up I was spending about $10 a day and eating pretty hardy a night and even knocking back a couple of roxies with my guide (locally brewed millet wine), tastes like a watered down Grapa, after hiking for 8 hours it put me right to bed. If your doing the hike it should be enjoyed a bit more, I loved every minute of it but having the opportunity to space it out a bit more would have been nice. Oh and stay an extra day at the top and bring some warm cloths because at night it gets down around 20 degrees.
Saturday, October 4, 2008
Pokhara
Pokhara,
I woke up early, Bob, Sara, and I walked into town. It was quiet, peaceful and at 7:30am there were just a few kids walking around selling freshly baked goods on the side of the road. Compared to India this was what I was looking for, not to mention I was walking lake side into a town about the size of Tahoe City (by the lake), but a legit city of Pokhara pushes back into the hills, a part of town that I never made it to, nor does any tourist.
We rented some Bikes ($1) for the whole day and started riding around town, past the touristy area and around the lake (lake no bigger than Waccabuc), again the hills around me were filled with rice terraces which amaze me. The quietness of the area was something I fell in love with, I think if I flew straight to Pokhara I would not have appreciated it as much, but since most tourists come here via Katmandu (big city) or India their appreciation for the area is MUCH MUCH greater. Cruisin’ around the lake was nice, it was warm, and the sun was finally out.
The town its self is filled with restaurants, little gift shops, very touristy, all catering to the same types of people, trekkers, rafters, kayakers, crunchy people, an outdoors persons dream. Being completely oblivious to what I was walking into, I felt a bit caught off guard because both my Israeli friends and American friends were planning a 17+ day hike to the Annapurana mt. Range, something that I quickly became very jealous of.
Pokhara was great, I climbed up to a look out point which over looked the lake (3.5 hour hike), did some more biking, and even got a cab up to another look out for the sunrise, it was an great place. Being a moron and only getting a 15 day visa I knew my time was running out and on my 4th day I went to a trekker guide shop with Bob and Sara so they could discuss their hike with someone who has done it thousands of times. At this point the wheels in my head began to spin and I really thought I should just go for it and do a small hike. I talked to a guide, and booked my 7 day Annapuna Base Camp hike which is roughly a 40 mile hike, up hills, across rivers, through valleys and up to a glacier.
Being accident prone I decided to rent a guide/porter for $11usd a day who would carry what ever I asked him to and lead the way on the hike. I departed a day and ½ later.
Pokhara, was a great town, worth staying in, the views of the Annapurna Mt. Range in the morning (before clouds rolled in) was phenomenal, the people are friendly, and coming from India it was an awesomely relaxing time.
I woke up early, Bob, Sara, and I walked into town. It was quiet, peaceful and at 7:30am there were just a few kids walking around selling freshly baked goods on the side of the road. Compared to India this was what I was looking for, not to mention I was walking lake side into a town about the size of Tahoe City (by the lake), but a legit city of Pokhara pushes back into the hills, a part of town that I never made it to, nor does any tourist.
We rented some Bikes ($1) for the whole day and started riding around town, past the touristy area and around the lake (lake no bigger than Waccabuc), again the hills around me were filled with rice terraces which amaze me. The quietness of the area was something I fell in love with, I think if I flew straight to Pokhara I would not have appreciated it as much, but since most tourists come here via Katmandu (big city) or India their appreciation for the area is MUCH MUCH greater. Cruisin’ around the lake was nice, it was warm, and the sun was finally out.
The town its self is filled with restaurants, little gift shops, very touristy, all catering to the same types of people, trekkers, rafters, kayakers, crunchy people, an outdoors persons dream. Being completely oblivious to what I was walking into, I felt a bit caught off guard because both my Israeli friends and American friends were planning a 17+ day hike to the Annapurana mt. Range, something that I quickly became very jealous of.
Pokhara was great, I climbed up to a look out point which over looked the lake (3.5 hour hike), did some more biking, and even got a cab up to another look out for the sunrise, it was an great place. Being a moron and only getting a 15 day visa I knew my time was running out and on my 4th day I went to a trekker guide shop with Bob and Sara so they could discuss their hike with someone who has done it thousands of times. At this point the wheels in my head began to spin and I really thought I should just go for it and do a small hike. I talked to a guide, and booked my 7 day Annapuna Base Camp hike which is roughly a 40 mile hike, up hills, across rivers, through valleys and up to a glacier.
Being accident prone I decided to rent a guide/porter for $11usd a day who would carry what ever I asked him to and lead the way on the hike. I departed a day and ½ later.
Pokhara, was a great town, worth staying in, the views of the Annapurna Mt. Range in the morning (before clouds rolled in) was phenomenal, the people are friendly, and coming from India it was an awesomely relaxing time.
NEPAL (sunali to pokhara)
NEPAL,
After a long stay (19 days, which seemed a lot longer), I busted through the boarder into Nepal. My biggest mistake was being cheap and only getting a 15 day visa which you must pay in USD for ($25). The Boarder town on Sunali which is both India and Nepal, is very representative of India, cluttered, dirty, people haggling you to buy just about anything. Needless to say I was NOT interested in staying in Sunali longer than I had to. Unfortunately I just missed the bus to Pokhara so I was forced to sit around for an extra 3 hours. Instead I asked a tour company how much it would be for a private van and seeing it was only $15usd for a 6 hour van ride in comparison to a 12 hour cramped bus ride ($9usd), I managed to scrape together 2 miserable French women (who insisted on eating a full sit down meal before leaving and stopping ½ way for tea), two Israelis who were awesome, and an American couple from Alaska who I wound up rooming with in Pokhara for a couple of days.
The Van ride was phenomenal, it started off slow and we were stopped by the Maoist Rebals who insisted the driver pay them to pass, which he did. Slowly out of the dirty town and in the distance I saw blue skies and the out line of Mountains! At this point all India had done for me was give me rain and humidity, sure I got some sun here and there but for the most part it was overcast and cloudy. So blue skies was something to smile about. The drive began to climb higher and high and before I knew it the road got bumpy, narrow, and a bit dangerous, the driver was bumping some horrible tunes, but I was all smiles. A awful re-mix of “what is love” (night at the Roxbury song) came on and I started twitching my head like the SNL skit, the Americans sitting behind me laughed at it, but the sour French bags, and the Isralies had no clue what I was doing… oh well.
Anyways the drive was great, my sickness that India had given me was starting to clear and breathing in fresh air felt great. The van climbed for quite some bit, whipping past tiny villages that hung onto the cliff side, kids waving at us as we drove by, stopping for tea actually wasn’t that bad. We pulled over at a small village (no tea for me), and I just walked up and down the road, it was so peaceful with HUGE green hills towering over me and the view of layers upon layers of rice terraces was just off in the distance. As we got back in and continued the drive, more and more rice terraces littered the landscape. I really was in awe in how amazing these structures are, carved into the hill, layer after layer after layer.The drive ended at lake side in Pokhara, Bob, Sara (two Americans), and it got out and found our first cheap hotel. The Marco Pollo.
After a long stay (19 days, which seemed a lot longer), I busted through the boarder into Nepal. My biggest mistake was being cheap and only getting a 15 day visa which you must pay in USD for ($25). The Boarder town on Sunali which is both India and Nepal, is very representative of India, cluttered, dirty, people haggling you to buy just about anything. Needless to say I was NOT interested in staying in Sunali longer than I had to. Unfortunately I just missed the bus to Pokhara so I was forced to sit around for an extra 3 hours. Instead I asked a tour company how much it would be for a private van and seeing it was only $15usd for a 6 hour van ride in comparison to a 12 hour cramped bus ride ($9usd), I managed to scrape together 2 miserable French women (who insisted on eating a full sit down meal before leaving and stopping ½ way for tea), two Israelis who were awesome, and an American couple from Alaska who I wound up rooming with in Pokhara for a couple of days.
The Van ride was phenomenal, it started off slow and we were stopped by the Maoist Rebals who insisted the driver pay them to pass, which he did. Slowly out of the dirty town and in the distance I saw blue skies and the out line of Mountains! At this point all India had done for me was give me rain and humidity, sure I got some sun here and there but for the most part it was overcast and cloudy. So blue skies was something to smile about. The drive began to climb higher and high and before I knew it the road got bumpy, narrow, and a bit dangerous, the driver was bumping some horrible tunes, but I was all smiles. A awful re-mix of “what is love” (night at the Roxbury song) came on and I started twitching my head like the SNL skit, the Americans sitting behind me laughed at it, but the sour French bags, and the Isralies had no clue what I was doing… oh well.
Anyways the drive was great, my sickness that India had given me was starting to clear and breathing in fresh air felt great. The van climbed for quite some bit, whipping past tiny villages that hung onto the cliff side, kids waving at us as we drove by, stopping for tea actually wasn’t that bad. We pulled over at a small village (no tea for me), and I just walked up and down the road, it was so peaceful with HUGE green hills towering over me and the view of layers upon layers of rice terraces was just off in the distance. As we got back in and continued the drive, more and more rice terraces littered the landscape. I really was in awe in how amazing these structures are, carved into the hill, layer after layer after layer.The drive ended at lake side in Pokhara, Bob, Sara (two Americans), and it got out and found our first cheap hotel. The Marco Pollo.
India Recap
India Recap,
Again this is my experience and only my experience.
India, is indescribable in words, its name alone brings so many feelings and emotions to my mind. India is an intense saturation of the senses, just hearing a towns name brings a specific sight, smell, taste, sound, and touch that will never be erased from my mind. Unlike an place I have ever been India is truly a unique place to visit.
I will say this, it is not a place for everyone, you have to be prepared for what you are about to step into (in my case, SHIT a few times), and even if you think you are ready for it, your NOT.
Mumbai, the over whelming amout of pollution and poverty, mixed with the immense population is what blew my away. This was to the extent I never thought possible, garbage everywhere, people sleeping anywhere, animals, feces, foul odors, beautiful aromas, friendly people, cold people, beggars, thieves, pollution, and over population, people and animals living in sub standard conditions. It was simply mind blowing. It was a way of life I have never seen, never experienced, never thought was possible. In a way It was quite depressing, but in order to survive mentally you have to rise above it and take the good with the bad, put them together and turn it into one big experience. To get the opportunity to look into someone else’s culture and experience their way of living is a privilege and to judge or criticize would be unfair. I’m happy to have experienced it but I’m glad it is not my life
Goa was a different experience a much greener lush landscape away from all the B.S. involved with the city life. A tourism based life with distinct seasons and off seasons (the off season being filled with rain which I was so lucky to enjoy). Even in the rain it was a pleasant place to visit and it gave me a better understanding of Indian Culture. I liked Goa, I wish I could see it in tourist season, I was happy with where I was and getting a chance to eat some food while being a bit more carefree (eating in Mumbai I was very selective) was great. On that note I did break the seat off the toilet in my hotel room at 2am on a mad dash to release some spicy Vindaloo that I sampled a few hours earlier. Goa, good food, more relaxed, and a lot cleaner than the rest of the places I visited in India.
Delhi was amazing but i attribute that to my experience and my host. Staying with a new friend Kerrun and his mother was excellent, taking me in and showing me another side of India was something I had yet to experience. As a traveler you can only scratch the surface, but having an inside point of view, a guide, a cultural mentor, a LOCAL, is an experience you can never put a price on, for me it made my time in India worth while.
I think with out my Delhi experience my view of India would not have been accurate or better yet my opinions would have been overall a LOT harsher.
Agra, Lucknow, Gorakupur, and train travel was a bit of a ZOO. I met some amazing people along the way, but the train was a disaster for me, being sick, not being able to find my seat, and walking aimlessly was not my cup of tea. The train was confusing but great, squat toilets that empty directly onto the track, an unavoidable culture of just taking your trash and throwing it out the window, a car system which still confuses the hell out of me (how you find your car is still beyond me when ½ the time they are labled and the other ½ they are not), yeah train travel was interesting.
The garbage thing got me though, I mean it’s not just on the train, it’s every where, people just throw trash where ever they want, I didn’t see one trash can until I got to Goa, it’s baffling. Kerrun explained it to me best I think. “People of India don’t know how to think ahead” he explained it to me with buildings, road ways, and major infrastructure, but you can translate it into people just throwing trash where every they like as well. It is a serious problem that no one is thinking about (at least no one I can see).
I can write for ever and I have only seen a tiny portion of a huge country. When I think of India I can still HEAR the blaring horns honking uncontrollably everywhere, I can still SMELL the foul odors of feces, animals, body odor, as well as the beautiful aromas of the food, I can still TASTE the masala which is masterfully blended into everything, I can still FEEL the humidity, heat, and perspiration, and I can still SEE the millions of people living below the poverty line in hard, very hard living conditions.
My experiences in India were limited, only seeing a small portion of a huge country. My recommendations are these:
Visit another Asian City first to warm you up to the insanity and maybe even desensitize you a bit.
Do your homework, don’t try to wing it because it is a tough place.
Travel with someone, no hostiles makes meeting people more difficult and it isn’t a bad place to have someone with you especially to experience the insanity.
PHOTOS:
http://picasaweb.google.co.in/vaccaro.marc/MarcvaccaroIndia?feat=directlink
Again this is my experience and only my experience.
India, is indescribable in words, its name alone brings so many feelings and emotions to my mind. India is an intense saturation of the senses, just hearing a towns name brings a specific sight, smell, taste, sound, and touch that will never be erased from my mind. Unlike an place I have ever been India is truly a unique place to visit.
I will say this, it is not a place for everyone, you have to be prepared for what you are about to step into (in my case, SHIT a few times), and even if you think you are ready for it, your NOT.
Mumbai, the over whelming amout of pollution and poverty, mixed with the immense population is what blew my away. This was to the extent I never thought possible, garbage everywhere, people sleeping anywhere, animals, feces, foul odors, beautiful aromas, friendly people, cold people, beggars, thieves, pollution, and over population, people and animals living in sub standard conditions. It was simply mind blowing. It was a way of life I have never seen, never experienced, never thought was possible. In a way It was quite depressing, but in order to survive mentally you have to rise above it and take the good with the bad, put them together and turn it into one big experience. To get the opportunity to look into someone else’s culture and experience their way of living is a privilege and to judge or criticize would be unfair. I’m happy to have experienced it but I’m glad it is not my life
Goa was a different experience a much greener lush landscape away from all the B.S. involved with the city life. A tourism based life with distinct seasons and off seasons (the off season being filled with rain which I was so lucky to enjoy). Even in the rain it was a pleasant place to visit and it gave me a better understanding of Indian Culture. I liked Goa, I wish I could see it in tourist season, I was happy with where I was and getting a chance to eat some food while being a bit more carefree (eating in Mumbai I was very selective) was great. On that note I did break the seat off the toilet in my hotel room at 2am on a mad dash to release some spicy Vindaloo that I sampled a few hours earlier. Goa, good food, more relaxed, and a lot cleaner than the rest of the places I visited in India.
Delhi was amazing but i attribute that to my experience and my host. Staying with a new friend Kerrun and his mother was excellent, taking me in and showing me another side of India was something I had yet to experience. As a traveler you can only scratch the surface, but having an inside point of view, a guide, a cultural mentor, a LOCAL, is an experience you can never put a price on, for me it made my time in India worth while.
I think with out my Delhi experience my view of India would not have been accurate or better yet my opinions would have been overall a LOT harsher.
Agra, Lucknow, Gorakupur, and train travel was a bit of a ZOO. I met some amazing people along the way, but the train was a disaster for me, being sick, not being able to find my seat, and walking aimlessly was not my cup of tea. The train was confusing but great, squat toilets that empty directly onto the track, an unavoidable culture of just taking your trash and throwing it out the window, a car system which still confuses the hell out of me (how you find your car is still beyond me when ½ the time they are labled and the other ½ they are not), yeah train travel was interesting.
The garbage thing got me though, I mean it’s not just on the train, it’s every where, people just throw trash where ever they want, I didn’t see one trash can until I got to Goa, it’s baffling. Kerrun explained it to me best I think. “People of India don’t know how to think ahead” he explained it to me with buildings, road ways, and major infrastructure, but you can translate it into people just throwing trash where every they like as well. It is a serious problem that no one is thinking about (at least no one I can see).
I can write for ever and I have only seen a tiny portion of a huge country. When I think of India I can still HEAR the blaring horns honking uncontrollably everywhere, I can still SMELL the foul odors of feces, animals, body odor, as well as the beautiful aromas of the food, I can still TASTE the masala which is masterfully blended into everything, I can still FEEL the humidity, heat, and perspiration, and I can still SEE the millions of people living below the poverty line in hard, very hard living conditions.
My experiences in India were limited, only seeing a small portion of a huge country. My recommendations are these:
Visit another Asian City first to warm you up to the insanity and maybe even desensitize you a bit.
Do your homework, don’t try to wing it because it is a tough place.
Travel with someone, no hostiles makes meeting people more difficult and it isn’t a bad place to have someone with you especially to experience the insanity.
PHOTOS:
http://picasaweb.google.co.in/vaccaro.marc/MarcvaccaroIndia?feat=directlink
Agra, Lucknow, Sunali, Train Travel
Agra, Lucknow, Sunali, Train Travel.
OK, so after spending a couple of days with Kerrun which was great, organized, peaceful, and even relaxing regardless of being in a HUGE city in India, I now am faced with getting on the train and getting to the Nepal boarder. Delhi to Agra by train turned out to be a very very interesting experience.
Kerrun booked me a ticket all the way through to 2 hours from the Nepali boarder so I had my tickets purchased and all I had to do was get there… not so hard right? Well first of all there is nothing labeled at the platforms in Delhi so I have no clue what train is what, and how to figure out which actually car on the train I am supposed to be in. A ton of questions later I board a train seconds before it takes off (thank god it was the right one). From here I have a 5 hour journey to Agra (home of the Taj Mahal). Well after wondering the cars for about an hour, trying to figure out which one I belong in and where my seat is, I give up, sit beside an open train door in between cars and watch the scenery pass me by, it was actually quite nice, peaceful, and definitely and educational experience because with in the hour I sat by the open door I witnessed a couple of people come and heave garbage over my shoulders out onto the tracks, a grown woman go up to a train platform, turn around to face all the people standing on the platform and squat and take a piss, as well as meet a new Indian friend who just wanted to attempt to speak English while escorting me back to his seat so we could chat it up (he later helped me find my seat). I may be explaining this lightly but at the time, finding my seat took 2.5 hours and really was a huge pain in the ass.
Agra, I arrived at night and took a auto rickshaw to a hotel that I searched out online (again thank god for planning ahead). Got to the hotel and my rickshaw driver began to pitch me the idea of him taking me around the city the next day and dropping me off at the train station for my next departure, he had a good price so I agreed.
Taj Mahal, I woke up early to see the sun rise over the Taj and it turned out to be a flop, overcast, cloudy, but very peaceful, I saw the Fort which was nothing in comparison to the Taj, and did a bit of touring with my new rickshaw driving friend, he turned out to be pretty cool and took me to rug making factory which was surprisingly interesting, we went to a market, and he took me to a roof top restaurant to watch the sun set on the Taj, all cool things.
At this point I came down with the sweats, chills, and really didn’t feel so hot, in a panic I showed every type of pill down my throat that I had with me, and went to wait for my next HELLISH train ride to Lucknow. At this point not feeling good and having to board a train with the experience I just had getting to Agra I was scared shitless. It turned out that I found my train, car, and seat right away, definitely and act of god. Lucknow turned out to be a hell hole, a dirty little industrial city (I’m totally judging), but in it’s defense all I did was go from the train to a hotel, sleep, and back to the train. If I didn’t feel like hell I would have stayed at the tracks for 6 hours or walked around but I needed the sleep.
Gorakapur was my next stop, this train almost as confusing as my first (2 hours from the Nepal boarder), I rolled in there around 11:00pm and again would have charged for the boarder but felt obligated to sleep, so another auto rickshaw to another filthy hotel. Got some sleep and woke up early to a very very exciting day. As I headed towards the bus station on a pedal rickshaw a random charges my rickshaw screaming SUNALI, SUNALI, SUNALI which is the name of the boarder town. He pointed to a land cruiser, told me it would be 100rs ($2.25), so I hoped into a packed 12 person deep land cruiser for 1.5 hours to the boarder. The ride, if not so cramped would have been great, the views were rural, less trash and pollution, but sitting 4 people in the front seat and watching the driver change gears with the stick shift between some Hindu man’s legs was an interesting ride.
The Boarder: from the bus drop off the boarder is about 1 mile hike through utter madness, cars, busses, motorcycles are all jammed in trying to cross, it is a disaster. Pushing through the mess you have to check out of India at an UNMARKED booth where some random dude is just stamping passports, I exchanged some money, and ran like hell until I reached the boarder because after 19 days of India the MT. of Nepal were calling my name.
Nepal info to come….
OK, so after spending a couple of days with Kerrun which was great, organized, peaceful, and even relaxing regardless of being in a HUGE city in India, I now am faced with getting on the train and getting to the Nepal boarder. Delhi to Agra by train turned out to be a very very interesting experience.
Kerrun booked me a ticket all the way through to 2 hours from the Nepali boarder so I had my tickets purchased and all I had to do was get there… not so hard right? Well first of all there is nothing labeled at the platforms in Delhi so I have no clue what train is what, and how to figure out which actually car on the train I am supposed to be in. A ton of questions later I board a train seconds before it takes off (thank god it was the right one). From here I have a 5 hour journey to Agra (home of the Taj Mahal). Well after wondering the cars for about an hour, trying to figure out which one I belong in and where my seat is, I give up, sit beside an open train door in between cars and watch the scenery pass me by, it was actually quite nice, peaceful, and definitely and educational experience because with in the hour I sat by the open door I witnessed a couple of people come and heave garbage over my shoulders out onto the tracks, a grown woman go up to a train platform, turn around to face all the people standing on the platform and squat and take a piss, as well as meet a new Indian friend who just wanted to attempt to speak English while escorting me back to his seat so we could chat it up (he later helped me find my seat). I may be explaining this lightly but at the time, finding my seat took 2.5 hours and really was a huge pain in the ass.
Agra, I arrived at night and took a auto rickshaw to a hotel that I searched out online (again thank god for planning ahead). Got to the hotel and my rickshaw driver began to pitch me the idea of him taking me around the city the next day and dropping me off at the train station for my next departure, he had a good price so I agreed.
Taj Mahal, I woke up early to see the sun rise over the Taj and it turned out to be a flop, overcast, cloudy, but very peaceful, I saw the Fort which was nothing in comparison to the Taj, and did a bit of touring with my new rickshaw driving friend, he turned out to be pretty cool and took me to rug making factory which was surprisingly interesting, we went to a market, and he took me to a roof top restaurant to watch the sun set on the Taj, all cool things.
At this point I came down with the sweats, chills, and really didn’t feel so hot, in a panic I showed every type of pill down my throat that I had with me, and went to wait for my next HELLISH train ride to Lucknow. At this point not feeling good and having to board a train with the experience I just had getting to Agra I was scared shitless. It turned out that I found my train, car, and seat right away, definitely and act of god. Lucknow turned out to be a hell hole, a dirty little industrial city (I’m totally judging), but in it’s defense all I did was go from the train to a hotel, sleep, and back to the train. If I didn’t feel like hell I would have stayed at the tracks for 6 hours or walked around but I needed the sleep.
Gorakapur was my next stop, this train almost as confusing as my first (2 hours from the Nepal boarder), I rolled in there around 11:00pm and again would have charged for the boarder but felt obligated to sleep, so another auto rickshaw to another filthy hotel. Got some sleep and woke up early to a very very exciting day. As I headed towards the bus station on a pedal rickshaw a random charges my rickshaw screaming SUNALI, SUNALI, SUNALI which is the name of the boarder town. He pointed to a land cruiser, told me it would be 100rs ($2.25), so I hoped into a packed 12 person deep land cruiser for 1.5 hours to the boarder. The ride, if not so cramped would have been great, the views were rural, less trash and pollution, but sitting 4 people in the front seat and watching the driver change gears with the stick shift between some Hindu man’s legs was an interesting ride.
The Boarder: from the bus drop off the boarder is about 1 mile hike through utter madness, cars, busses, motorcycles are all jammed in trying to cross, it is a disaster. Pushing through the mess you have to check out of India at an UNMARKED booth where some random dude is just stamping passports, I exchanged some money, and ran like hell until I reached the boarder because after 19 days of India the MT. of Nepal were calling my name.
Nepal info to come….
Delhi
Delhi,
Now before I begin to talk about Delhi or the rest of India I have to add that this is MY experience and ONLY my experience. What i have learned especially with what i took out Delhi is that it’s your personal experiences that really shape how you feel about a place. For me, getting a chance to see Delhi more like a local than a tourist, while having some inside information, really added to the experience.
I arrived in Delhi and picked up a prepaid cab to my new friend Kerrun’s apartment. At this point I had never met him but he is a friend of a friend whom I have been traveling with up to this point (Cristina). For me this was the thing I had been waiting for, a real experience in eating, seeing, and learning about Indian Cuisine. No longer than 30min. after arriving at his apartment and getting to meet back up with Cristina we hoped into a cab and headed to Old Delhi, the one place I was really looking forward to. I really was excited to see windy narrow streets mobbed with people, and filled with interesting smells and tastes (no sarcasm at all, the packed streets of Old Delhi was on the top of my list of places to see).
On arrival we hopped into a pedal rickshaw (thanks to Kerrun speaking Hindi) and down the narrow passageways we went. Past street vendors frying up all kinds of foods, bags filled with spices of all kinds, people selling any and everything you can imagine, people sleeping in the streets, pissing in the streets, living in the streets, Old Delhi is a sight to see. For me it was a pretty awesome day, but as I said it’s the personal experiences that make an overall difference in how you feel about a place.
Kerrun took me around the city the next day and we did some local things, I saw where his mother worked, places he goes, and restaurants he eats in. It was nice to not be afraid of what I was ordering, not just because of not knowing what it was but also because in India I was always on guard of weather or not it was safe for me to eat. Getting a chance to branch out with someone to guide me on eating and ordering was amazing.
Over all it was the good feeling of having someone with me who was easy to get along with and so willing to help me accomplish what I wanted to learn. Kerrun brought me into a 3 star hotel and actually hooked me up with one of the Chefs whom I got to shoot the shit with, discuss Indian basics, and get a lot of questions answered that still boggled my mind. It was an experience that I was very grateful for.
Overall I really liked Delhi, but I can see how I may be singing a different tune if I hadn’t had such a good guide and accommodating host. I can see how many tourists fall into the trap of being turned off by the city, in comparison to Mumbai, Delhi is a much cleaner city (but that is in comparison to the filthiest place I have ever been), there is a bit more organization to it, but over all it is a big Indian city, dirty, populated and unless prepared, very easy to be overwhelmed by.
Now before I begin to talk about Delhi or the rest of India I have to add that this is MY experience and ONLY my experience. What i have learned especially with what i took out Delhi is that it’s your personal experiences that really shape how you feel about a place. For me, getting a chance to see Delhi more like a local than a tourist, while having some inside information, really added to the experience.
I arrived in Delhi and picked up a prepaid cab to my new friend Kerrun’s apartment. At this point I had never met him but he is a friend of a friend whom I have been traveling with up to this point (Cristina). For me this was the thing I had been waiting for, a real experience in eating, seeing, and learning about Indian Cuisine. No longer than 30min. after arriving at his apartment and getting to meet back up with Cristina we hoped into a cab and headed to Old Delhi, the one place I was really looking forward to. I really was excited to see windy narrow streets mobbed with people, and filled with interesting smells and tastes (no sarcasm at all, the packed streets of Old Delhi was on the top of my list of places to see).
On arrival we hopped into a pedal rickshaw (thanks to Kerrun speaking Hindi) and down the narrow passageways we went. Past street vendors frying up all kinds of foods, bags filled with spices of all kinds, people selling any and everything you can imagine, people sleeping in the streets, pissing in the streets, living in the streets, Old Delhi is a sight to see. For me it was a pretty awesome day, but as I said it’s the personal experiences that make an overall difference in how you feel about a place.
Kerrun took me around the city the next day and we did some local things, I saw where his mother worked, places he goes, and restaurants he eats in. It was nice to not be afraid of what I was ordering, not just because of not knowing what it was but also because in India I was always on guard of weather or not it was safe for me to eat. Getting a chance to branch out with someone to guide me on eating and ordering was amazing.
Over all it was the good feeling of having someone with me who was easy to get along with and so willing to help me accomplish what I wanted to learn. Kerrun brought me into a 3 star hotel and actually hooked me up with one of the Chefs whom I got to shoot the shit with, discuss Indian basics, and get a lot of questions answered that still boggled my mind. It was an experience that I was very grateful for.
Overall I really liked Delhi, but I can see how I may be singing a different tune if I hadn’t had such a good guide and accommodating host. I can see how many tourists fall into the trap of being turned off by the city, in comparison to Mumbai, Delhi is a much cleaner city (but that is in comparison to the filthiest place I have ever been), there is a bit more organization to it, but over all it is a big Indian city, dirty, populated and unless prepared, very easy to be overwhelmed by.
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Goa (India)
Goa,
what a blissfully quiet place in comparison to Mumbai. Flying into the Airport and looking out the window of our cab (Cristina is still with me in Goa) was like breathing in a breath of fresh air. Literally, going from the insane maze of overcrowded poverty filled streets of Mumbai to the green lush palm filled streets of Goa was an amazing change of pace.
When landing in Goa we headed straight north to Anjuna beach which would have been nice if it was not dumping down buckets and buckets of rain. The roads get windy and narrow and unless you have a knowledgeable taxi driver getting spun around is not a hard thing to do. We didn’t stay in Anjuna beach though since accommodation was pretty minimal and we were forced to pay a bit more than planned in an average location. During Peak season (october 15th to March), Anjuna is the place to be with bars, out door parties, beach to relax on, in off season it can be a wet, desolate place.
Candolim was the next town we stayed in which had a bit more going on that Anjuna, bigger town, cute streets, tons of Portuguese influence (the whole state of Goa was colonized by the Portuguese). I can picture the beach filled with people, bon fires, music, dancing, and festivals all winter long. Palm lined beaches, good surf and a rather lively town, all things that make a good beach vacation. Unfortunately I was blessed with rain and boarded up shops. Not the worse thing in the world, a little R n’ R after a rather interesting stay in Mumbai was good.
Panjim is where I spent the rest of my stay in Goa, a small city of about 90,000 people that has all the stuff one needs. Bars, restaurants, friendly people, and centrally located in the state, making travel a lot easier. Renting a car (with a driver of course, is actually the only way I have gotten around so far in India) here was a great idea. From Panjim we went to an organic Spice Plantation called Sahakari Spice Farm. One of the more enjoyable things I have done, lunch and a tour for 300rs which is about $9usd, the car ride to and from the spice plantation was 1000rs. The Farm was great though, vanilla, cardamom, cinnamon, turmeric, coffee, banana, nutmeg, coco, were all grown here. Great experience. I also got a chance to go to a wildlife preserve actually was a zoo, saw a king cobra (in a pen) which is absolutely terrifying even in an enclosure, for me just the drive around Goa on the way to the perserve was worth the trip, palm trees, rural life, cows all over the road, a relaxed life. people here may be poorer financially but wealthy in life style and happiness. Goa was a great place to visit, i can only imagine how crazy it would be in busy season.
Also I have gotten the chance to cook in another woman’s home, Renee who I read about online. 4 two hours cooking sessions which is probably one of the most expensive mistakes I have made so far. The woman is lovely but the course is worth a fraction of what she charges, and paying all upfront was not a great Idea, those are the mistakes we make as travelers… oh well.
RECOMMENDATIONS: when landing in Goa have a place to stay or at very little an address, name or phone number of a place you are planning on visiting. Some of the beach towns only have one or two hotels and prices can go sky high when they know it’s night time and you are in a pinch to get into your room and go to bed. Also the MOST IMPORTANT THING, do come when the weather is nice, tourist season is probably a bit crazy but when you come in off season most everything is boarded up, closed, or in preparation of the busy times (October – April). If you find your self there in off season head to the Capital of Goa, Panjim which is what I did, a small city smack in the middle of the state with easy access to most touristy things.
what a blissfully quiet place in comparison to Mumbai. Flying into the Airport and looking out the window of our cab (Cristina is still with me in Goa) was like breathing in a breath of fresh air. Literally, going from the insane maze of overcrowded poverty filled streets of Mumbai to the green lush palm filled streets of Goa was an amazing change of pace.
When landing in Goa we headed straight north to Anjuna beach which would have been nice if it was not dumping down buckets and buckets of rain. The roads get windy and narrow and unless you have a knowledgeable taxi driver getting spun around is not a hard thing to do. We didn’t stay in Anjuna beach though since accommodation was pretty minimal and we were forced to pay a bit more than planned in an average location. During Peak season (october 15th to March), Anjuna is the place to be with bars, out door parties, beach to relax on, in off season it can be a wet, desolate place.
Candolim was the next town we stayed in which had a bit more going on that Anjuna, bigger town, cute streets, tons of Portuguese influence (the whole state of Goa was colonized by the Portuguese). I can picture the beach filled with people, bon fires, music, dancing, and festivals all winter long. Palm lined beaches, good surf and a rather lively town, all things that make a good beach vacation. Unfortunately I was blessed with rain and boarded up shops. Not the worse thing in the world, a little R n’ R after a rather interesting stay in Mumbai was good.
Panjim is where I spent the rest of my stay in Goa, a small city of about 90,000 people that has all the stuff one needs. Bars, restaurants, friendly people, and centrally located in the state, making travel a lot easier. Renting a car (with a driver of course, is actually the only way I have gotten around so far in India) here was a great idea. From Panjim we went to an organic Spice Plantation called Sahakari Spice Farm. One of the more enjoyable things I have done, lunch and a tour for 300rs which is about $9usd, the car ride to and from the spice plantation was 1000rs. The Farm was great though, vanilla, cardamom, cinnamon, turmeric, coffee, banana, nutmeg, coco, were all grown here. Great experience. I also got a chance to go to a wildlife preserve actually was a zoo, saw a king cobra (in a pen) which is absolutely terrifying even in an enclosure, for me just the drive around Goa on the way to the perserve was worth the trip, palm trees, rural life, cows all over the road, a relaxed life. people here may be poorer financially but wealthy in life style and happiness. Goa was a great place to visit, i can only imagine how crazy it would be in busy season.
Also I have gotten the chance to cook in another woman’s home, Renee who I read about online. 4 two hours cooking sessions which is probably one of the most expensive mistakes I have made so far. The woman is lovely but the course is worth a fraction of what she charges, and paying all upfront was not a great Idea, those are the mistakes we make as travelers… oh well.
RECOMMENDATIONS: when landing in Goa have a place to stay or at very little an address, name or phone number of a place you are planning on visiting. Some of the beach towns only have one or two hotels and prices can go sky high when they know it’s night time and you are in a pinch to get into your room and go to bed. Also the MOST IMPORTANT THING, do come when the weather is nice, tourist season is probably a bit crazy but when you come in off season most everything is boarded up, closed, or in preparation of the busy times (October – April). If you find your self there in off season head to the Capital of Goa, Panjim which is what I did, a small city smack in the middle of the state with easy access to most touristy things.
Mumbai (India)
Flying from JFK direct to Mumbai (bombay) India was an experience in it's self. Leaving the very organized, well understood, non confusing (english speaking) world that i live in and landing directly in one of the stranger places i have been was pretty awesome, to say the least.
Mumbai is exactly what you may expect in a extremely populated Indian City, millions of people, thousands of motorcycles and scooters, and hundreds of different smells, some good, and many bad. The sad reality of the level of poverty is apparent even as you step out of the airport into the HOT sticky humidity. From the Airport to the Hotel a good 45min. ride I saw high rise apartment buildings, slums and ghettos, people sleeping on the street or anywhere they could lay their head, as well as every other kind of accommodation in between.
The experience of Mumbai was good for me though. I managed to Cook in two different people’s homes. One lady named Deepa who runs an Indian tour web sight www.mumbaimagic.com, and the other named Tejal whom is starting the same type of business (vintejsuvsha@yahoo.com). Both were lovely people but Tejal’s class was absolutely wonderful, held in her small home about an hour from Colaba (where I was staying). Her husband was amazing and after cooking, Chicken Tikka, Butter Chicken, and some other Indian delights, sipping on locally made palm, ginger, and rice wine was not a bad thing either. Having organized activities like cooking and meeting people who could give you advice and genuinely enjoy inviting you into their home was something I will always remember. I highly recommend cooking with Tejal if, ever in Mumbai (around 2500rs which is around $60usd).
Besides cooking I was fortunate enough to have a friend with me who decided to partake in cooking, sight seeing, and exploring the city. Cristia was definitely a “light” in a very confusing “dark” place, having someone with you to watch your back and share costs in India is NOT a bad thing, I was fortunate to have such an amazing travel partner to share the experience with me. Touring the city, cooking, and exploring on our own was a good way to soak in the culture. Luckily for the two of us it was the time of the Genish (Hindu god) Festival and the streets were very festive and there was tons of culture to be absorbed.
RECOMENDATIONS: Although i probably wont return to Mumbai it did how ever have some VERY interesting things to see. When arriving in the airport my best advise it to get the pre-paid yellow cab to your hotel, There are multiple pre-pay counters that will charge you MORE than you should be charged, be sure to get the yellow cab. I stayed in Colaba area which is the farthest south you can go in Mumbai. Traditionally it is a tourist area although i saw very few tourists there. The few restaurants i frequented did cater to the tourist crowd. the hotel that i stayed in was called Bentley's Hotel and cost around 1050 Rupees a night which is roughly $26usd. Kind of expensive when you are thinking in terms of back packing and although there were much cheaper options, bed bugs, dingy hotels, with stinky rooms was something i kind of wanted to stay away from. I Landed in Mumbai on the evening of September 4th and departed on the 9th. I would say that 2 full days is ALL you would ever need in Mumbai.
Lastly India is a crazy, LOUD place to visit, be selective in what you eat and where you eat, don’t be surprised to see things that you have never seen before or that you never expected to be possible (grown man sleeping on the median of a highway during mid day traffic… I hope he was sleeping). Expect crazy drivers, crazy roads, more horn honking that you can even begin to imagine, and if you can’t handle some foul smells (along with many pleasant ones) than the immensely huge industrial city for Mumbai is NOT for you
Mumbai is exactly what you may expect in a extremely populated Indian City, millions of people, thousands of motorcycles and scooters, and hundreds of different smells, some good, and many bad. The sad reality of the level of poverty is apparent even as you step out of the airport into the HOT sticky humidity. From the Airport to the Hotel a good 45min. ride I saw high rise apartment buildings, slums and ghettos, people sleeping on the street or anywhere they could lay their head, as well as every other kind of accommodation in between.
The experience of Mumbai was good for me though. I managed to Cook in two different people’s homes. One lady named Deepa who runs an Indian tour web sight www.mumbaimagic.com, and the other named Tejal whom is starting the same type of business (vintejsuvsha@yahoo.com). Both were lovely people but Tejal’s class was absolutely wonderful, held in her small home about an hour from Colaba (where I was staying). Her husband was amazing and after cooking, Chicken Tikka, Butter Chicken, and some other Indian delights, sipping on locally made palm, ginger, and rice wine was not a bad thing either. Having organized activities like cooking and meeting people who could give you advice and genuinely enjoy inviting you into their home was something I will always remember. I highly recommend cooking with Tejal if, ever in Mumbai (around 2500rs which is around $60usd).
Besides cooking I was fortunate enough to have a friend with me who decided to partake in cooking, sight seeing, and exploring the city. Cristia was definitely a “light” in a very confusing “dark” place, having someone with you to watch your back and share costs in India is NOT a bad thing, I was fortunate to have such an amazing travel partner to share the experience with me. Touring the city, cooking, and exploring on our own was a good way to soak in the culture. Luckily for the two of us it was the time of the Genish (Hindu god) Festival and the streets were very festive and there was tons of culture to be absorbed.
RECOMENDATIONS: Although i probably wont return to Mumbai it did how ever have some VERY interesting things to see. When arriving in the airport my best advise it to get the pre-paid yellow cab to your hotel, There are multiple pre-pay counters that will charge you MORE than you should be charged, be sure to get the yellow cab. I stayed in Colaba area which is the farthest south you can go in Mumbai. Traditionally it is a tourist area although i saw very few tourists there. The few restaurants i frequented did cater to the tourist crowd. the hotel that i stayed in was called Bentley's Hotel and cost around 1050 Rupees a night which is roughly $26usd. Kind of expensive when you are thinking in terms of back packing and although there were much cheaper options, bed bugs, dingy hotels, with stinky rooms was something i kind of wanted to stay away from. I Landed in Mumbai on the evening of September 4th and departed on the 9th. I would say that 2 full days is ALL you would ever need in Mumbai.
Lastly India is a crazy, LOUD place to visit, be selective in what you eat and where you eat, don’t be surprised to see things that you have never seen before or that you never expected to be possible (grown man sleeping on the median of a highway during mid day traffic… I hope he was sleeping). Expect crazy drivers, crazy roads, more horn honking that you can even begin to imagine, and if you can’t handle some foul smells (along with many pleasant ones) than the immensely huge industrial city for Mumbai is NOT for you
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