India is Crazy, but we love it

So, we spent our second full day in India today and I have to admit that we are starting to get enchanted by it. It surprises us at every turn, and while not all surprises are good ones we are falling in love. Today, we had a great day. We started out by buying the train tickets we didn't get yesterday.....it was easier this time. During the process, we met this wonderful Brit named Jody who hung out with us all day. It was great to meet such a nice person, and have an English speaker to do things with. She had just arrived in New Delhi also....so we were on the same level when it comes to understanding India.

First off, we went to the Red Fort. On the way, we stopped and had a smart lunch at a local joint. It was more in line with the prices I expected for food compared to yesterday. Our meals ran about $.75 a piece and they were better than average. From their we trekked over to the red fort and saw the sights. Its a beautiful set of buildings, built by the same emperor who built the Taj Mahal. We spent most of the afternoon there and then headed over to see a Mosque. We think we got ripped off by some con artists, but it was only for $2 so no worries. It was a beautiful mosque, but we only had 10 minutes to see it due to afternoon prayers. From there, we headed back to the metro station through Old Delhi. Old Delhi was intense. The streets are more narrower, there are more touts (hagglers) and beggars. It was intense, but we made it to the metro station after a long walk and several wrong turns. We took the metro to near our hotel and had dinner. Nice meal...now we are home to clean socks and underwear.

Some other thoughts (there are so many going through my head!)
- Its hot. Really hot, like full body sweat hot. Its almost unbearable, but supposedly you adjust.
- At times, I can't believe I am in India.
- We are totally paranoid about cleaning our hands with hand cleaner and are extra cautious about what we eat. (totally inserted for Pickle). For some reason (I think the humidity), I feel very grimy all the time. It might take some time to get used to it, but my days at LSU should prepare me.

First Day in New Delhi

So, we did quite a bit today.....first off, we went to Connaugt Place for some shopping. Ashley bought two shirts and I bought one, all from Fab India. Rebecca, my cousin who frequents and studies India, recommended the store. They had nice stuff, but we thought the prices would be lower. We had an awesome lunch at a place near by....I had the grilled Veggie Kebobs and Ashley had Navartma Korma (sorry for the bad spellings). It was one of the best meals I have had on our trip, yeah it was spicy, but very tasty. From there, we walked around a little bit and window shopped. We also checked out Jantar Mantar, which is a observatory built by Maharaja Jai Singh II. It was very peaceful and interesting to look at. Although it had English descriptions of what each building was, we couldn't exactly figure out why it was built in 1725, other than to study astronomy. It seemed like a lot to do to study the sky. The scenic salmon colored structure had a variety of city wildlife running around - lots of strange looking birds (and the obligatory pigeon) and tons of chipmunks.

After Jantar Mantar and a drop in at the Tourist bureau, we headed to the train station to buy our tickets to Agra. What an experience! We actually never got our tickets (we can't decide how early we want to get in), but we were hassled by 5 people trying to steer us towards their travel agency instead of the train station. Friendly people try to become your "friend" and "help" you out. They are not what they appear, and luckily our guidebook told us what to look for. But one of the con men was very good. Their travel agency was named the same thing as the official booking area, along with being on "the first floor" as our guidebook says. However, after checking it out, we quickly realized that it was not what he claimed. We went back to the train station, and went to buy a ticket but realized that we didn't have enough cash on had. So we elected to weight until tomorrow to pick it up.

After that exhausting experience, we had a nice dinner. Again Indian food, much cheaper than lunch but not as tasty (still pretty damn good though). I have a feeling Ashley and I will gain weight if we don't get sick.

Other musings:
- Poverty. We knew it would be poor, but were never sure what to expect. We have seen the odd beggar and low quality housing, but its actually a little better than I imagined.
- The smell. Besides the smog, the smells are not quite as overpowering as I was under impression they would be. Yeah, there are some stinky spots (just as their were in Rome), but not too bad.
- Wireless. We have a wireless connection in our room (crazy) but its not working right now. I get connected but it doesn't get any data. If and when I can get it work, you will get some pictures.
- Stares. Everywhere we go people stare at us. They glare at you. Rebecca said to just to think you are a super model, but its somewhat creepy.
- Friendliness. Besides the friends mentioned above, everyone is very interested in talking to you....asking where you are from, why you are here, what you will see while you are here, etc. Its quite refreshing as that didn't really happen that much the last two months.

Ok, that is a long post and I am sure boring to most. But so far, so good on India, but it has exhausted me. Thank god they speak English....yeah its hard to understand sometimes, but they speak it!

Passage to India

Yesterday morning I awoke at 5am filled with thoughts of all the things that could possibly go wrong.....such as a missed connection, lost luggage, hotel problems and the like. I couldn't get back to sleep despite knowing that I had a very long day in front of me. However, as the day wore on, the dread turned to excitement and as we left the Delhi airport customs at 1:20am, both Ashley and I were positively giddy.

To avoid delay and frustration, we arranged for a driver to pick us up from the airport and take us to the hotel. The ride into Delhi, which is quite polluted, was insane. The driver zigged, zagged, honked, flashed his lights, and drove where I didn't think there was actually a road. Ashley likened it to Mr. Toad's Wild Ride at Disney. I can only imagine what it would have been like if there had been serious traffic, and cows present.

Anyway, after a nice ambian sleep in, we enjoyed a breakfast in our courtyard. Today we are going to buy some clothing, and the like.

To India

After 64 nights, 7 countries, 6 currencies, 26 rooms, 4 airplane, 27 trains, 19 buses and a whole lot of fun, we head to India tomorrow. We are both nervous and excited about India. It will be nice to see a different culture, namely one not based on Judeo-Christian thought patterns. At the same time, India is till developing and I have heard that the poverty can be crushing to visitors.

I would expect our updates to the blog will be slightly sparser and fewer pictures, but we will try to record our thoughts as we go along.

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Some Good Europe Memories

There are some stories of things that have happened to us that I would like to codify for myself, so I don't forget. Here they are:
- Ashley the navigator. Normally, I do the navigation in cities but one night Ashley used her crafty ability to guide us home. It was in Eger and we had visited Valley of the Beautiful Woman (cheap wine), and we were a little tipsy. Anyway, we get near our apartment but we can't find the building I was walking around in circles trying every door, Ashley insisted we try a path, I just knew was the wrong way. Turned out to be the right way....
- In Prague, we needed to buy some mosquito repellant (additional supplies, we have plenty but just to be safe for India). Anyway, we went to a few sporting good stores and looked. We couldn't find any, so we asked the sale clerk where we could get some. He said "In Czech Republic, we have very special mosquito repellant. Its called Off."
- Ashley and I have some code names for different types of people. For instance, when anyone packs a lunch we say they must be Dutch as the Dutch are notorious for not buying anything when they visit. Whenever we see people making out, we call them Hungarians. All over Hungary, we saw people making out.....but not really anywhere else. If we see really drunk people, we call them Slovakians. As one day we saw a passed out man when we arrived in Levoca and he was still there when we left.
- We don't cram in a lot of sights when we travel, but we do wander around a look. I call this wandering aimlessly. We took this to a new level in Rome, as we were on a tight budget and the metro system sucked.
- Trying to recreate American foods. Sometimes we both wanted something familiar....so we tried to find it or recreate it. It almost always came out terrible. We have given up on some things.

I am sure there are other stories that I would like to remember.....but I can't.

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American Football

We have been in Prague for the last few days with a low key attitude. We are not forcing in a lot of sights, instead focusing on preparing for India. We have been doing a lot of shopping for India - we bought me some new shoes and some medical supplies along with a travel guide to Thailand.

One thing we did do was try to catch some American Football. On Saturday, we headed to a sports bar and watched Arkansas-Bama. It was nice to see some football (I am jonesing for LSU football)....and there were even three SEC fans in attendance. We had a lively debate on why we were rooting for the pigs over Bama and some beers. Overall a good time. Last night, we went and watched the last half of the Steelers-Bengals matchup at a different bar. The ambiance at this one was much nicer, as the were the prices for Pivo. But NFL does not draw me in like college football.....but still a nice change of pace.

This afternoon, we wandered around Prague catching Hrad Castle, Wasinlinsky Palace, and Charles Bridge. All of them were nice sights, but seriously touristy. Nonetheless Prague has a certain old world enchantment to it.

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Italia

As you may have gathered from our blog entries, both Ashley and I really like Italy. We are so glad we added it. Of particular note is the historical aspect. Everywhere you turn there is something major related to western history. Its truly astonishing that this small country could have so much to do with the way we live, act and think today. But it does. In addition, we loved the people. They have a zest for life that is infectious - and its a joy to interact with them. Finally, we also really liked the food and wine.

On the negative side, the transportation system is not the greatest. Every train we rode on was at least 10 minutes late, many over an hour late. The Rome mass transit system also seems to be in a sorry state of repair and doesn't connect the pieces efficiently (at least for a tourist). Also, the Euro wreaks havoc on budget minded travelers.

Things that only interest me
- Books I read. I polished off a Dick Francis novel along with Donna Leon's Death in a Strange Country (thanks mom).
- Music I listened to. The inefficient Italian rail system gave me plenty of time to listen to music including Camera Obscura, Clap Your Hands and Say Yeah, Decemberists, Busdriver, DJ Shadow, Jackie Brown Soundtrack, Built to Spill, Radiohead, Rage Against the Machine, and probably a few others I can't remember.

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Updated Itinerary

I wanted to provide an updated itinerary so the family will have some travel details.
- Tomorrow (Sept 22) we head back to Prague for 5 nights.
- On Sept 27th our destination is New Delhi via Frankfurt. On Oct 1, we jet to Agra to see the Taj. On Oct 3, we take off for Jaipur and then Mumbai on Oct 6. From their our schedule can take two different paths depending on what happens with us being able to change our flights on Indian Air.
- On Oct 17th, Bangkok is where our flight lands, but we will probably head to north Thailand. On the 25th, we have 5 nights at a resort in Hua Hin. We are keeping an eye on the situation in Thailand to determine whether its safe to head there. From what we have seen, we think it is; however, if violence breaks out we will change our destination.
- From there, its off to Australia on Nov 1 (arriving on the 2nd), then to New Zealand on Nov 21st.

Just wanted to provide an update as we have no idea what the internet situation in India will be like. We suspect internet access will be readily available, but are not 100% sure.

Finally, I want to say thanks to Maria....yet again. She was the one who said we HAD to go to Rome. We followed her advice and are glad to see all of this great old stuff (Ashley uses a different word, but this blog is meant for family reading).

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Roman Holiday

So far, we have enjoyed Rome quite a bit but we are on a tight budget as my mom, Ervin, Pic and Diane can attest. Since our room eats up over 70% of our budget (ouch!), we don't have a lot of walking around money. But this has not stopped us from seeing things - today we spent only 13 euros but managed to see Santa Maria della Vitterio, St Peters including the Pieta, the Pantheon, and St Ignacio - all famous (well sort of famous) things. Plus we learned a lot by snooping in on tour groups.....when in Rome.

In fact, we walked into Santa Maria unintentionally. We couldn't find the national museum of Rome (free), but we saw this and said let's walk in. Turned out to be one of the highlights of the day. The church was Michaelangelo's last architectural work which was built on the Roman Dioclesians baths (our loyal readers know how much we love baths).

You gotta love Rome.

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Florence

On Sunday, we day tripped it into Florence to catch the birthplace of the renaissance. It was quite a sight, we checked out the Douma and the Academia with the highlight being David. David truly was a sight to behold, I understand why many scholars call it the greatest sculpture ever. The Douma was just ok.

Ashley and I decided to check out some monks chanting, which Dianne's guidebook (Frommer's) indicated started at 4:30. Pic and Dianne opted for some window shopping due to the steep climb up to the church. Well, once we climbed up to the top (it was quite a climb), we discovered that it was actually at a different time. Naturally we were disappointed and it cemented the fact in our mind that Frommer's guidebooks suck. Anyway, we headed back to Lucca where we had a great dinner at a local trattoria.

Overall, all of us (including Pic and Dianne) have really loved Italy....mainly for the following reasons
- Wine. You can get quality wine at low prices (<$3.50), its better than many a $10 bottle I have drunk in Denver. Also, house wines at restaurants are very tasty.
- People. The people of Italy have quite a bit of character - we have really enjoyed interacting with them as they are friendly.
- Food. Its really good, especially the pizza and the salami.

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Drinking in Lucca

Drinking in Lucca
Originally uploaded by Flightplan.

Pic and Dianne in Treviso

Pic and Dianne in Treviso
Originally uploaded by Flightplan.

Tools of the Trade

It has come to my attention that some people are under the impression that we are just posting these blog entries from internet cafes. This is not the case.....every blog post was written on a PDA (HP Ipaq 1955) and posted to the blog via a wireless connection. We have a mini fold out keyboard that we type our blog posts on, then we walk around looking for wifi (wireless) signals in various towns. And thus this is how pictures and blog entries are loaded on the web.

We are not spending this much time in internet cafes, we normally write them on our PDA at night and then find a wifi hotspot the next day. So far we have been able to find a wife signal almost everywhere we have been.

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Treviso

On Weds after another long travel day, we arrived in Treviso and met up with the Rubes. Its a little town about 20 miles from Venice. A friend from my work is from Treviso and arranged some nice accommodation with a family friend. We day tripped it into Venice (see flickr for pics) yesterday and today we just enjoyed Treviso.....as its been raining a lot!

I have to say that its been very nice to be Italy. Its like we have been hanging out in another world in eastern Europe and to get to the west is a relief. Its nice to see a complete modern infrastructure plus western style conveniences. Yeah, Italy is old but its closer to the style of living we are accustomed to (or were???). 

Note - for some reason our uploading photos from Flickr to the blog is NOT working. Very annoying, so here it is without the picture of the rubes enjoying a glass of wine.

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Croatia......

Croatia......
Originally uploaded by Flightplan.

I have to admit that both Ashley and I loved Croatia. The scenery, the people, the food and most of all the company made our visit to Croatia one of our favorites stops so far. Of notable interest was the crystal clearness of the water. Every body of water we saw was crystal clear. You could see straight to the bottom every where you looked including the lakes at Plitvice. That brings up the scenery.....every time we turned our head we saw majestic and breathtaking scenery. From the vistas over the ocean to the countless waterfalls in Plitvice, every view was a good one.

The people we met were also of notable interest. We loved our landlords across the board, and most of the tourists we met were friendly also. The food was also yummy, mostly Italian but we also had tasty pork roast.

Things that only interest me....

- Music I listened to. Did a lot of jamming on the bus rides including Tad, Sugar, Wolf Parade, Guided by Voices, and the Microphones.

- Books I read. Not much reading this time around....but I did read a chunk of the India guide book, along with some short stories.



Finally, we met up with the Pic and Dianne today, good to see more family.

Sobe in Zivogosce

Sobe in Zivogosce
Originally uploaded by Flightplan.

Aches and Pains

Aches and Pains
Originally uploaded by Flightplan.

Throughout our journey we have gotten a few aches and pains here and there. For instance, I hurt my back in Hungary. Nothing serious as the pain went away pretty quickly, but it still hurt. We have both gotten our fair share of bruises, which is surprising since I hardly ever bruise.

Anyway, right now we are suffering from our two most serious injuries. Ashley slipped and fell on some algae by the coast and banged up her butt. It was quite amusing to watch it happen, but I can tell it really hurts. As you can see from the picture, I have been bitten by something on the arch of my right foot. We think it was a sea urchin, but we are not really sure. It hurts to walk but appears to be getting better.

Cruising through Croatia

Cruising through Croatia
Originally uploaded by Flightplan.

On Tuesday after a long travel day (2 trains, 1 bus and 1 long hike up hill), we met up with my mother and Ervin. I can't tell you how nice it was to see a familiar face! It was so relaxing to see a loved one. We had a nice dinner on a patio overlooking the gulf of kavarnar in Croatia. It was truly scenic.

We got up in the morning and rented a car and drove down to the Makarska Riveria getting a room in Zivogosce ( you're guess is as good as mine in how to pronounce it). Ashley utilized her crackerjack German skills to secure our lodging, a nice room in a private home with balconies overlooking the Adriatic Sea.......very relaxing. Today we went swimming in the Adriatic, and although it was very rocky (no sand on the beach) and chilly, we truly enjoyed the experience. Our bathing spot was right near the nude beach, so we had some nice views. Tomorrow we go to Dubrovnik.

Musings on Hungary

Musings on Hungary
Originally uploaded by Flightplan.

Both Ashley and I really enjoyed Hungaria (as Ashley and I often mistakenly call it). It was a nice change of pace from the Slavic countries, and felt more like Western Europe than any other place we have visited. From the sights to the architecture to the cosmopolitaness of the people, Hungary is more like Germany or France than Czech Republic or Poland.



We particularly loved Budapest. What a beautiful city. The architecture was amazing, and the sights offered a view into Hungarian life, history and art. Plus, for the most part they were either dirt cheap or free. And while it was tough utilizing the maps offered by our guidebooks to get around, the mass transit system is very efficient and expansive. We also truly enjoyed the food.



The only problems we had in Hungary was the language. Hungarian is quite foreign and we had a difficult time pronouncing and understanding it. We are not quite sure how they make those sounds from the letters. Luckily Ashley speaks some German (which is spoken heavily in every country we have visited) plus many Hungarians speak English. I guess they know Hungarian is too hard for foreigners to learn???



Things that will only interest me

- Music listened to. I did a lot of listening of music in Hungary including Tool, Sonic Youth, Yo La Tengo, Wilco, Architecture in Helsinki, and Olivia Tremor Control.

- Books I read. Just finished the biography and am starting on a collection of short stories.

Hévíz

For the last couple of days, we have been in the Lake Balaton region. At first when we were traveling by train to the region, we almost skipped it. The train was packed with a younger crowd and it just did not look like fun. That afternoon, our impressions were deepened as we saw a slightly sleepy little town with not much going on and severely limited food choices. However, we decided to try the thermal lake nearby, its in Hévíz. Suddenly we were quite impressed. Its a rather smallish lake by lake standards, but its thermal. It was about 85 degrees inside the waters. We just laid in the waters all afternoon and relaxed on rented swimming belts (inner tubes). We enjoyed it so much we are going back today.

Again we are staying in a rented room in someone's house. This is our fourth experience with such accommodation, and so far the reviews are mixed. In Krakow we hated it as the owner was snooping. In Poprad we loved it as the owner was very generous, it was cheap, comfortable and convenient. We tried it in Eger, and while the owner could not have been nicer, the accommodation was just ok. We definitely like this one, as the owner does our dishes. Plus it has cable TV, with CNN International, Sport 1, Sport 2 and Eursport. Yesterday we watched Andre Agassi lose. Ok it was in Hungarian but sports and home videos are watchable in a foreign language.

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Saint Right Hand

Saint Right Hand
Originally uploaded by Flightplan.

On Thursday, we headed to the Bazilika, or St. Stephens Church. Its the largest church in Hungary and one of the most impressive we have ever seen. The highlight was seeing St. Stephen's preserved right hand. This is quite a bizarre holy relic. We also checked out the contemporary art museum and the museum on the history of war, which gave us more insight into Hungary's role in WWII.