Adventure Around the World

On our whirlwind tour of Rajasthan in India, we realized that it was the first country where we could literally be entertained for hours just by looking out a car window, with the camera poised for all spur-of-the-moment photos. (Plus, with all the death defying driving - it seems to be an international theme - it was a bit hard to not be on the lookout!) You'll be happy to know that we succeeded in taking all of our "ideal" pictures, including a bus so crowded that 10 men rode in the roof rack, families of five riding single scooters, roadside barber stands, and cows roaming city streets. We took a zillion pictures of Jodphur, a city with all the buildings painted a light blue color and got a peek at Indian family life. But even with the fascinating world of everyday India outside the window, every 7 hour drive also means you'll be talking with each other, which is equally fascinating. Our driver, whom we called Guru (he didn't even attempt to tell us his full name) and who called us "maam" (names apparently weren't so important to him either), talked a lot about his life. (We've even got an invitation to his wedding next year, whenever his parents pick his bride.) We learned that, yes, he had once hit someone with his car, and that opium is quite prevalant in India - a truck driver offered some to us at a rest stop (not too many tourists there to say the least). Guru also suprised us in Pushkar by cutting his hair, which he had never cut before due to his religion. The turban came off and his stylish cut was his fascination for the rest fo the trip. And while he told us his father would probably not speak to him for the next 5 months, it was well worth it to look "smart" for the ladies. India blessed us both too, in our own special ways. Leslie, by one of the many local pigeons which had good aim, and Meridtih, by a roaming cow who left a present outside her car door. It brought new meaning to the word dirty.

So India ended much like our whole time there - we were feeling pretty dirty, in awe of the sights (the Taj Mahal really is more beautiful than in the pictures), and at the same time frustrated by the feeling of being scammed for money at every turn. India, while being a relatively inexpensive country, took our money. After 30 minutes of bargaining, we still spent 2-3 times more than other people on everything - point of development for us perhaps. After a small breakdown by Leslie ( I apologize to the postcard salesman somewhere out there), we enjoyed our last few days and headed off to Thailand. Indian food we will miss...

Marking somewhere near our halfway point for the entire trip, Thailand was a welcomed stop and we were all about the beaches. We spent the first 3 days in Bangkok visitng wats (Buddhist temples), a floating market outside the city, and seeing a Muai Thai match ( a cross between kickboxing and ultimate fighting). It was pretty interesting seeing 5'2" Thai men at 106 pounds kicking and punching each other, all the while thinking that I could take one of them down myself. This was until the round with the 160 pounders where with just 2 punches and kicks, one fighter was knocked out and carried off in a stretcher. Had we slept at all on the flight to Bangkok, it would have been more exhilerating, but we were fighting to keep our eyes open. (As a side note - we absolutely love Singapore Air, and not in an "I love ice cream" kind of a way, but much more deeply. Let's just say my United status got us into the lounge with food and drinks, and even coach class has movies, TV, and games on demand. Absolute English-speaking heaven and neither of us slept a wink for the overnight 8 hour flight).

So after the three days in Bangkok, we got tickets to Phuket, a island on the southwestern part of Thailand with a night-life very "active" in the red-light sense of the word. We got an amazing hotel room (a small luxury for the middle of the trip) and have spent our days on the beach, as well as on an organzed trip full of snorkeling, swimming, and visiting the nearby islands (where "The Beach" and "Tommorow Never Dies" were filmed). The relaxation was well needed, but I will admit that our bargaining skills have not improved, and we're spending way too much money here as well. Thai food has been alright (we're missing India in that respect) but Meridith has fallen in love with the watermelon shakes. Even after the escapade in Brazil, we have eaten a lot of the local fruit here and haven't been as cautious of the ice as we should be. But no problems to report on that front (that's something we do NOT miss about Indian food). So with our last day in Phuket, Leslie's planning on getting a 2 hour massage (so this will be ending shortly due to time constraints) and Meridith will be testing her bargaining skills (it promises to be a failure) and trying not to scratch her million and one mosquito bites. One more day at the markets in Bangkok (and getting Leslie's tailored suit) and off to Singapore. We're already excited for the flight - ahhh, movies on demand... (and about knowing someone in Singapore who can plan all our sight-seeing for us)!

Last we left you we were on our way to Luxor, Egypt on a night train (first class of course!) First class turned out to be 10 hours of sitting upright in a compartment with 4 characters. Among our favorites, a young Egyptian man who was a self-proclaimed philosopher/poet/genius who was the “companion” of an older angry Danish man who had a “problem with women”. We knew it would be a loooong trip when we heard him say “if I’m only going to know them for 10 hours who cares if they like me.” The trip became more bearable when the Danish man proceeded to get drunk, fall over, wet himself, and pass out (quite an improvement over his former state). The remainder of the trip we were entertained by an Egyptian businessman reading our personalities via sketches we made, and refusing offers to have our feet kissed (literally) as well as propositions for three-day flings while in Luxor. Needless to say, it was a memorable trip.


In Luxor we joined a tour for the Valley of the Kings, Valley of the Queens and Queen Hatcheapsuit’s tomb (phonetic spelling). Our guide, Dr. Hadi was hilarious in an understated kind of way. “When you ask me if it’s a good deal and I say ‘yes’ it means yes. When I say ‘yes, yes’ it means no.” Here we explored ancient tombs full of hieroglyphics in various states of preservation and were awed by the amazing history. While attempting to find a felucca (sailboat) ride later that evening, we met a couple of impromptu tour guides, who showed us around the West Bank of the Nile, walked us through the local village (our first non touristy thing this whole trip) and brought us to their favorite hangout for tea and second-hand sheesha smoke. Talking with them, we got the details behind boy/girl relationships in Egypt, family structure in a Muslim house, and how hungry people really are during Ramadan (about ½ of the 4 hour conversation centered around the hunger pains from the day and what they ate after sunset). We decided then that we definitely needed to meet more people during this trip since we were getting bored of each other J The tea shop also marked our first run-in with the squat toilet, which Meridith was very glad to have found.

On our last day in Luxor, we visited the ancient Temple of Karnak where we took 100 pictures and perspired more than we have in months. In the afternoon, we met our friends from the night before for a sunset boat cruise to Banana Island, a destination created for the sole purpose of having a location to take tourists to by boat. After Leslie safely navigated the motor boat to the island (well there was no lasting damage to the boat), we were basically given a 10 minute tour, shown orange, mango and banana trees, then force fed bananas, while our friends counted down the minutes until they could eat. Back on the boat we witnessed/shared our first Ramadan “breakfast” and managed to sneak our hands in for a piece of bread before the food had been devoured.

After three days in Luxor full of seeing ancient ruins (hieroglyphics tend to lose their awe when you view them for 8 hours a day), we were ready for some light relaxation, so we went off to Sharm el Sheik and Dahab in the Sinai Peninsula (to prevent a mass outbreak of heart attacks in the US, we decided to forgo the trip to Israel. Actually, it was going to take too much time in transport, but we’ll let mom believe it was for our safety). We spent four days of beachside bumming, eating, lounging, reading and eating (yes, that wasn’t a typo). Leslie also smoked her first sheesha and made quite an impression on a local waiter/future pen-pal, who will “never forget her”.

With another overnight bus to Cairo (we’ll never learn), we spent our last day shopping with another impromptu tour guide looking to pass the time until he could eat, and our evening viewing the swirling dervish dance (ballerinas have nothing on these guys) with some fellow travelers. We then set off on a 48 hour trip to India with an overnight lay-over in Germany. With many marriage proposals, a few pen-pals and an ever-expanding Arabic vocabulary (we’re at 12 words) we both decided Egypt has been a highlight of the trip so far.

Our planning for our trip to India consisted of buying the Lonely Planet guide in the airport on the way to India. Due in great part to this abundance of planning, Leslie and I were victims of many money-making schemes within the first 10 hours, including a way overpriced hotel at 2 am, taxi drivers who took us where they thought we should go, and a very expensive, kinda inclusive 10 day tour with a personal driver. While our wallets were hurting, we were both very excited to plan nothing and have a well-traveled Indian tell us exactly what to do, where to go, and when to eat, sleep and get in the car. (He is totally open to our suggestions… if only we had some. He even calls himself our “Lonely Planet”.)

Our itinerary has us touring the northern state of Rajistan, visiting Jaipur (the capital), Udaipur (city with many lakes), Jodhpur (the Blue City) and Pushka (haven’t been there yet), with some additional days in Agra and Delhi. We’ve seen exquisite temples (Hindu and Jain), an uncountable number of impressive forts (I think they call everything a “fort”) and have been on a never-ending mission of getting pictures of the cows roaming the streets, a family of 5 on a moped, and any other Indian practice we find crazy. We even saw a Hindi/English Bollywood movie complete with random bursts into song/music video and questionable costume designs. The delights of winding around trucks, animals, and scooters on a two lane “highway” are, however, getting old and Meridith has decided that she definitely prefers the back seat. And to continue with our culinary updates, the food here has been delicious and spicy, and minus a few rushed bathroom breaks, very enjoyable.

Despite the lack of content we’re giving India, this country may consist of 40% of our photo album when we get home. The daily life here is probably more impressive than the majority of the tourist attractions that we spend our days visiting. And while we felt this would be the first country where people didn’t assume we were natives, we continue to confuse people with our ethnic origins. To add to it, we considered purchasing a beautiful sari (the saris the women wear make this desert land extremely colorful) or Punjabi suit, but we opted for our dirty traveling clothes instead. (You’ll undoubtedly notice if we ever get the pictures up!)

Hello from the busy, sprawling, oh-so-hot-even-in-October city of Cairo! I type with the sound of the Islamic call-to-prayer summoning in the background. We've been here two days so far, and have packed in the touristy fun. Yesterday we got lost in the Egyptian Museum (stuff from 5000 years ago- now that's history!), tried to avoid the "I don't know what you're looking for but I've got it!/You looking for a husband?" touts from the salesmen at the bazaar in Islamic Cairo, and today, basically succoumbed to every tourist trap our guidebook warned us about at the Pyramids in Giza. Yes, we rode camels, and yes, we'll be feeling it for the next several days I'm sure... Tonight we're off to Luxor via a train that promises to be sketchy, as it is the only thing here that actually was lower in price than we were informed, rather than double the price, as we've come to find most things here are. Everyone here claims that we look Egyptian (minus the lack of headwrap), but learns otherwise as soon as we stare blankly in response to anything Arabic.

As our timing on this trip has been impeccable so far (yes, that's sarcasm), we find out that Ramadan begins tomorrow, in which Muslims fast during daylight hours. It promises to be fun foraging for food in a country that basically shuts down by day for a month straight. The food here, so far, has been amazingly delicious though, and we remain optimistic. We also just learned that Israel issued terrorist warnings for the Sinai Penninsula beginning tomorrow, so that too, will be exciting and may cause us to re-evaluate our plans for the next week or so.


As for how the rest of our trip to Rio went: rain, rain, rain. Again, stellar timing. Luckily though, we managed to find enough dry time to hang glide from Pedra Bonita, a mountain in the Tijuca Forest (actually more peaceful than scary, contrary to what one might imagine), explore the favelas (ghettos), visit Christ the Redeemer and take a million pictures from every angle, as well as find a lot more foods that we will thankfully never eat again. Unfortunately, due to miscommunications/misinformation (who can really tell when it's in Portuguese?) we didn't get to see a Brazilian soccer game though, which was a bit disappointing, but we'll live. Besides, it wouldn't really compare to Duke basketball anyway. :)


Off to find some food before the Ramadan challenge begins tomorrow...