On the flipside

Unlike Columbus, Helen and I actually made it to India. We couldn't help feeling a bit funny as we stepped off the plane and into the sweet jasmine scented air wafting across the tarmac at Jaipur international. Maybe its was just the delirium caused by 24 sleepless hours of travel bouncing from Budapest to Dubai to Jaipur; or maybe it was realizing the historical irony of our situation, that it was because of Columbus' fortunate failure 500+ years ago that we could be here at all, as Americans in India; or maybe it was because we knew that we had crossed a boundary of sorts and that we were now +13 hours ahead of home which, given the inevitability of our round planet, puts us on the return side of our 'half-way-around' mark.

Regardless, arriving in India at 4am after a full day of traveling and after five months in Europe caused a bit of a shock for us. Not the "oh my god" sort of shock but more of a sitting-quietly-while-staring-out-the-windows sort of shock as our taxi raced us through the strange streets of Jaipur. Dawn was breaking and the cows were up..so were the beggars, the cripples, and the homeless families. The hedgerows of garbage, squashed piles of cow dung and open sewers were starting to reek and the gritty fumes of exhaust from dilapidated rickshaws and smoke from numerous roadside cooking fires were already clouding the early morning air.

the frenetic crush of Indian traffic

We checked in to our hotel and slept for almost two straight days. That is to say, we only managed a couple of short ventures into the city for first couple of days..exhausted and dazed we'd quickly returning to the sanctity of the hotel and our English language movie channels. By day three though we had mustered the strength to circle the bazaars and Palaces of the old city.

Palace Guard in Jaipur Palace

Children at play outside the Palace walls in Jaipur old city

Jaipur street vendor in old city bazaar

By day four we managed to hire a rickshaw and tour several of the old Mughal forts capping the hillsides surrounding Jaipur.

parked line of Rickshaws in Jaipur old city

view of greater Jaipur from Tiger fort

And by day five we had relaxed a bit and spent our time visiting some local temples and hand feeding monkeys.

Hand feeding monkeys at Monkey temple outside Jaipur

By day six we had had enough of Jaipur and headed west towards the pilgrim city of Pushkar. Jaipur is a city of 5 million, Pushkar by contrast is a city of only 15 thousand and so is much more manageable by foot. Being a holy hindu site though means no meat, no egg, no alcohol and no public displays of affection. In the Brahma Temple in Pushkar we gave offerings of peace and hapiness to the world in celebration of Gandhi's birthday (Oct2). We wandered the streets bazaars practicing our jedi hand waves and took long walks around the lake stopping to watch the ritual bathers on the ghats and the sunset.

Brahma temple in Pushkar

Street scene in Pushkar

Pushkar Ghats

We've been in India for just over a week now and so far we have nothing but mixed feelings..India can be an incredibly colorful and beautiful place with an equally fascinating history and culture. But it is also a very filthy place as well, with ridiculous levels of poverty. Something about India is very exotic and enticing and yet it is a very tiring place as well. I've tried to capture some various scenes and sentences that I think frame the varied wonder that is India.

We were in Rajastan, one of the poorer states in India.
In Rajastan, women traditionally do not work..some hold jobs of drudgery however as sweepers, street vendors, etc.

lady sweeping at Amber fort

Child labor laws do not apply in India..India in fact is one of the worlds largest offenders of child labor.
On the streets the kids beg in seemingly organized gangs..they ask for food or rupees.. succumbing to one will simply cause the others to rush over and flock around with one hand out and one hand on their bellies demonstrating how hungry they are.
I was accosted by a gaggle of school children wanting me to take their photo in exchange for rupees..they almost pulled me down at one point.

six year old street vendor selling water colors made from crushed rock and vegetables

Colorful ladies in Pushkar during Gandhi day fair selling various fruits and veggies

Cows in India are sacred..Brahma the chief diety takes the form of a cow..and the Brahman Bull was Vishnu's preferred mount.
Seemingly oblivious to most around them the cows lumber slowly through the streets in their endless, unfettered search for food..eating everything in their path..dropped food, vomit, paper and plastic refuse..the nest in droves in the street corner garbage heaps.
Not all cows are benign though..I've been rammed by two so far and Helen was chased down an alley by one who wanted the leftovers in her hand.
The other downside to public cows is the dung..it litters the street so that you have to constantly be on watch for it..I've already missed several times..

street cow in front of street art

Pushkar mystic musician at sunset

Despite the pervasive filth India is one of the most brightly colored places we have been to.
Silken saris and pashmina shops line the walls of the bazaars creating in rippling technicolor waves.
Every hue is imbued with a deeper mystical meaning, painting the world in history and religion.

Pushkar street scene

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Crowd at Pushkar temple

India it seems has everything..and its all for sale..the bazaar is the medieval heart of the city..it is here that the day occurs. Buying, selling, cooking, packaging, sewing, hammering, resoling, smelting, carving, typing..it is quite amazing actually to just wander and witness all the various tradesmen going about their daily grind..

Pushkar street vendor polishing wares

Pushkar street scene

Pushkar street vendor and cart

Pushkar street scene

Pushkar street scene

Pushkar street scene

Pushkar street scene

Despite the absence of meat, egg and alcohol, Indian cuisine never fails to delight and surprise.

Food Stalls

Food Stalls

Driving down the crowded streets in India you have to share the road with a variety of other man, machine and animal. Wizzing past elephants in a rickshaw mere inches from their bone crushing footfalls gives a new perspective on these animals. Despite their colorful adornments elephants though are treated fairly poorly in India.

Elephants at Amber fort

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mystic outside temple

Brahman Bulls in front of Brahman blue wall

tea time

The other camera

Several people have asked that I (the mrs) write a blog and several people have also wondered whether Ryan was really on this trip as there are hardly any photos of him. So, I thought I'd kill two birds with one stone and post some pics and let them speak for themselves.

Here are some pics from my camera:

Hiking in Cappadoccia valley

Catching up on some reading at a cafe in Krakow

Such a bundle of fun always!

Apparently Asians are not the only ones to sport these photo-squat poses

When in Rome

What are they staring at? (in Agrigento, Sicily)

Thinks he's a war correspondent

Taking in some fresh air in the Austrian Alps

Wondering why there's no one at the Louvre (for future reference, they are closed on Tuesdays!)

Tunnel in underground city of Goreme

Who's shinier?

View from the rooftop of our Florence pension

More Alps

More hiking in Cappadoccia valley

His trying to catch flies face

Ryan being Ryan

It's eatin' time!

Tackled by a wave yet managed to save his beer

Agrigento, Sicily

All in all, we have been having a fabulous time these past several months exploring all the nooks and crannies that Europe has to offer. We of course, will be back to see everything else (and there's a lot) that we haven't seen. And despite the thorns of homesickness, random ailments, and missing seemingly simple comforts of life, we are looking forward to the next big chunk of our trip - Asia... I expect to be inspired, to be tested, and to overdose in the different cultures... as well as the food. Can't wait!

Bye for now

so...

Normally, this blog is updated a week or two after we've already left a country which means that for you, as readers, you are getting old news..by the time you've read the blog we've already moved onto our next country and our next adventure..(man you read slow~!) this blog, however, hopes to catch everyone, including us, up to speed with where we are and what we've been up to..

So. Where are we now? Hungary. Where have we been recently? Everywhere it seems..well not everywhere per se but we've been moving fast this last week and a half.

As you recall..'Previously on Travel Blog'..(jesus, this blog is starting to sound like a bad Aaron Spelling episode)..anyway, last time we blogged we were heading out of Romania and into Budapest Hungary. Upon getting into Budapest we made our way to Deak Ferenc ter, the center of town, to procure some lodging..which, after a brief stop at McDonald's, The ATM and the Hotel service office, we did without further ado. Shortly after checking in to our private zimmer near the Danube and a polite but broken exchange with our new landlady, Gizi, we made our way to the Indian consulate where we quickly handed in our visa applications and were assured of a hassle free, week long processing time by the India consular rep. Excellent news..as our previous attempts had been thwarted in Romania. Next, into the city, Budapest.

Budapest is actually two towns that have over the slow course of time grown together..Buda and Pest..true to our form we stayed on the eastern side of the Danube in Pest. Budapest is an amazing city..it is a fantastic mix of new and old..with just about everything you could want within a 10 minutes walk or metro ride. We spent several days wandering the old and new towns..sitting in the squares..riding the metro and busing our selves around town. We really liked Budapest and Hungary as a whole it turns out..we found it to be one of the more civilized corners of Europe without the pretension of the more well known capitals such as Paris or Vienna. The Huns, despite their notorious past as barbarians, are actually a very literate and very polite bunch of people. Book shops litter almost every street corner..affable groups gather at cafes and wine shops, in the metro people waiting to get on the trains actually stand patiently to the side of the doors as people exiting the trains get out..amazing. Nowhere else have we seen such a well functioning society of almost 2 million people as in Budapest.

Chain Bridge over Danube and St. Stephens in background

Budapest, Margaret Island and Danube..Buda left..Pest right

Gypsy lady with flowers in front of St Stephens Church

Budapest skyline

Street in Castle Hill area

Looking from Castle Hill towards Parliament bldg..

Having submitted our applications and seen the town we ventured up to Slovakia for a couple of days..into Bratislava, another capital on the Danube. Bratislava is an interesting town with enough history to balance the hangover form its recent post-communist boom. While staying in a hostel in Bratislava we met a couple of Americans..one of whom's, James', mother happened to have owned a sushi bar near my old house in San Jose..Akochochin..this was a bit of an uncanny coincidence since I used to frequent the place about the time that James worked there..odds are, we agreed, that he probably waited on me once or twice during this time..small world I guess.

Bratislava old square at night fall

Anyway, after checking out Bratislava for a day we discovered that Vienna was only an hours train ride away..we obliged the famed city and spent a nice afternoon wandering amidst the old Hapsburg monuments for an afternoon taking occasional breaks to enjoy the surprising mild weather while sipping cafe and wine at the local street fairs. Back to Bratislava then onto the mountain town of Stary Smokovec in the high Tatras of eastern Slovakia the next day.

Four hours east of Bratislava the north western terminus of the Carpathians erupts into the magnificent massif of the High Tatras. We spent a couple of days here hiking around the lower climes of the already snow covered peaks enjoying the fresh air and the views.

High Tatras rising abruptly over the valley town of Poprad..Stary Smokovec can be seen in the foothills in the background left. we hiked to just below the snowy ridge of the peak on the right..

From Stary Smokovec we migrated north into Poland and onto Krakow. Krakow was a very open and inviting city. It has the compulsory medieval center and functional new town. After spending our first night wandering amidst the old churches and medieval squares and feeding the well kept pigeons we retired to a pool bar for some drinks and games. After swiftly defeating Helen in a best two out of three match of pool she quickly returned the favor in a series of crushing defeats at air hockey. Deciding to split the nights victories we retired to a game of Cricket on the dartboard, which, almost as soon as it was getting interesting ended with a well placed dart setting the games alarm systems blaring loudly and causing the entire game to begin resetting itself..weird. Feeling slightly buzzed and embarrassed we then returned to our hostel to watch the only english channel we ever seem to receive anymore.. CNN.

Krakow old square

night fall over Krakow old town

Helen feeding Pigeons in Krakow old square..the square actually has a fenced off section with pigeon coops inside..they are city pets I guess

After a couple enjoyable days in Krakow we decided to head south again to pick up our visas from the consulate in Budapest. So again, a 7 hour train ride back to Braislava, a 1 km hike back to the hostel, a 4 hour sleep before catching the freezing cold early morning train back to Budapest, an 8 dollar bribe to the conductor to let us stay in the slightly warmer first class cabin, and then upon arriving in Budapest and after stowing our bags in the luggage check back on the metro and connecting bus and up the hill to the Indian consulate...phew.. Visas approved and passports handed in we sorted out a bed for the night and waited the final 24 hours of processing. Next day we shower, grab our bags, hit the metro and connecting bus..head back up the hill and pick up our passports..this time however they have glued on the inside of page 17 a shiny new India entry visa! Finally..from idea to execution this process has taken us across 4 countries and at least as many weeks. But it is settled now..we have official authorization to enter India on the 27th of this month..which works out well since we have plane tickets for the same day.

Needing a break from our previous weeks hectic travel-sleep-travel-sleep schedule we decided to head to the eastern foothills of Hungary to enjoy 5 relaxing days in the sun soaked wine town of Eger, their Napa valley, which is where we are now. We'll be heading back to Budapest next Tuesday, the 25th, in order to catch our flight to Jaipur India the next day.

town of Eger

stuck in the middle

We've been at a crossroads in our travel plans for sometime now..Our original RTW plan was to tour eastern Europe and the baltics then go northeast to St Petersburg and then down through Moscow, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan then into Western China where we'd then overland it down the eastern Chinese seaboard towards Vietnam.. As it turned out...time, visa costs, availability of travel and weather all bullied us into making alternate plans. Finally, after several several weeks of deliberating options we've finally sorted out how we are going to get to Asia..We found a flight from Budapest that connects us in Dubai to flight to Jaipur at the end of the month. This determined our next vector and sent us north from Bulgaria into Romania in search of Indian visas.

Romania is a fascinating country and despite its location deep in the heart of Eastern Europe it is actually more akin to the western romance cultures than any of the Balto-Slavic cultures that surround it. The Romanian language for instance sounds remarkably like French or Italian..sharing many of the same verb and nouns.. which made it very easy to get around.

We started our Romanian adventure in Bucharest. Bucharest is an interesting city due its turbulent history and is a self proclaimed Paris of the east...but, despite their best attempts to live up to these claims, we didn't really see this side. Yes, Bucharest has large Champs D'Elysse style avenues and yes they have their own Arc De Triumph..but they still failed to capture the joi de vive that Paris exudes. For us Bucharest seemed like any other large western industrial city..with prices to match...I think we payed 40usd fore a hostel room.

Bucharest street scene

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The main reason we came to Bucharest was to sort our Indian visas..which proved as big of a pain in the @ss as it was futile...(i.e. 100%). We got up early and trekked all the way across town to the location of the consulate (as per their website) only to find out that they had apparently moved..the phone number no longer worked either..so after asking every policeman, travel agent and bookstore owner we could find we finally tracked them down to the exact other opposite end of town (of course). With only one hour left to submit our Visa applications that day (since they close noon) the clown at the consulate (who wasn't even Indian) tells us that we need several other supporting documents (hotel reservations, flight tickers, bank receipts, etc..) which of course we didn't have (since they weren't listed on the visa applications requirements page of the website)..he then tells us that it'll take 2 weeks minimum if we're lucky..this of course put dangerously close to our departure date..no bueno. we asked him if there was anything he could to help us or to expedite the processing..he simply shrugged..at which point we started shouting very loud and slowly "but we're american..American!!..comprende amigo~!"..ok, so we didn't actually say this..but still, no luck. Ugh..we decided to opt for plan B which was to get to Budapest as soon as possible and use the consulate there..(their website seemed to indicate that they could process the visa in about a week).

Before heading to Budapest though we decided we had to stop and see Transylvania first...which was actually the real reason for us coming to Romania to begin with..

Once we got out of the Bucharest area Romanian really opened up..the country side is beautiful actually..and with autumn approaching all the leaves are starting to turn colors. An hour or two west of Bucharest our train started up into the Carpathian mountains.. Ever since "Ghost Busters 2" did I want to see the Carpathians..if I remember correctly..Vigo, the villain, was from Carpathia.. Later I learned that Dracula and the werewolf were also from the Carpathians....something about this hairy, apocalyptic, blood-sucking disposition of this eastern european range intrigued me from childhood.

Fast forward several years and here Helen and I were on a rickety ex-soviet era train jostling up into the dreaded peaks. After 4 or so hours we arrived at our destination, the hill town of 'Brashov' (best said with a heavy Sean Connery accent). Unlike Bucharest, Brashov and its neighboring towns of Rashnov and Bran (as in Dracula) were very cool and the scenery very beautiful. Transylvania in general seems somewhat untouched by the 20th century, which, when mixed with the darkly wooded mountains, the think unibrows and pointed widows peaks of the locals, and centuries old vampire lore really gives a enthralling 'oldy-worldy' sense to the place. We spent several days here eating in restaurants converted from underground catacombs, drinking bulls blood wine, hiking up hillsides to the ruined citadels and fortresses of ancient Moldavian kings, and roaming the old town squares. We even caught a night of the annual Jazz festival going on in town and snapped our fingers to the hip-happening sounds of "Transylvanian Groove" and others (because nothing goes better than Transylvania and jazz..as in jazz-cula? or is it dracu-jazz).

Brasnov Church

Brasnov Street scene

Helen at Bran Castle

Brasnov main street

Rasnov street scene (note the large Hollywood-esque sign on the hill..all the transylvanian towns had these..strange)

Brasnov Main Square

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Reaper on way home from work..

Ryan turning on his 'vampire charm'

Sad to leave, we shortly had to make our way to Budapest to beseech the Indian consulate there for kindly consideration. Again on the overnight train...but this time there was a bit more excitement as we got into a bit of a fight with some 'I think I'm Eminem' styled Romanian punks wearing LA Lakers jerseys, FUBU jogger pants and gold chains...these guys were jack asses..they burst into our cabin at about 3 am where Helen and another guy and I were dozing, smelling of booze and started making a huge ruckus.. laughing, giggling, talking loudly, jabbering on the phone..we asked politley that they attempt a smidgen of quietude or at least hold their discussions in the hall or in the food car..which they not so politely declined to acquiesce to, so after about another half hour of heated verbal exchange they eventually got off to go home to their mama's..seriously..their mama's...after all their posing and posturing as thug gangsters it turns out that one of the guys was on the phone to his mom the whole time trying to arrange a ride from the station..it sounds bad but I would so have loved to for one of them to raise a fist..argh..I would have loved to have smacked them a few times..

oh and this reminds me...Romanian fashion..hahahahah... one word: 'tracksuits'.. the entire country is dressed in Nike, Adidas, or some other off-brand track suits..the kind the Tony Soprano wears when he's 'off duty'...it's friken funny actually..entire families wearing matching tracksuits out for their evening stroll..walking through the towns was like walking through the set of a surreal 70's bad guy movie.. damn funny.

anyway, needless to say, we survived unscathed..Transylvania warrants a visit again..next time we'll camp I think.

The vulgar Bulgar...

Note to self: Taking a night bus or train only really makes sense if you are not crossing any borders.

In the case of the the night bus from Istanbul to Plovdiv, Bulgaria we had to cross the Turkey-Bulgaria border... unfortunately this crossing took place about three hours into the bus ride (~1am) and because Turkey feels the need to do three separate passport checks before letting you leave this process took almost three hours to get through.. then there was the random thunderstorm that landed on top of us as soon as we entered Bulgaria..needless to say we did not get any sleep on the bus that night

Anyway, we arrived red-eyed and delirious at about 7am the next morning at the bus stop in Plovdiv (it really just a rusted old shed with some Cyrillic graffiti scribbled on the side). Stumbling out of the bus and into the damp dawn we struggled to sort out which way was up. Eventually we spotted a cabbie whose broken English was infinitely superior to our non-existent Bulgarian and finally managed to communicate that we were looking for a particular street in Old Town. Turns out we were only about 10 blocks from the street and the hostel we were looking for to begin with so the taxi ride was short. We did get to try out the only Bulgarian we knew however "Da, ees OK"...

After milling about out front of the hostel for about half an hour wondering if we were in the right area we finally spotted the lady from the hostel coming up the road..or rather she spotted us...I think our ridiculously large rucksacks gave us away.. We checked in and on our way up to the room to nap we hear that Scorpions song, "Wind of Change", playing on the TV downstairs.. it was somewhat surreal and ironic since that song was written back in 1990 to celebrate the collapse of Soviet hegemony and the re-opening of eastern Europe (places like Bulgaria for instance) to the rest of the world...and here we were..anyway.

Plovdiv was ok..it had a really great Roman amphitheater ruin that was better preserved than anything we had seen to date; and the old town with it cobbled streets and restoration era mansions was cozy. Still we only stayed one day before moving on to Veliko Turnovo near the Romanian border... and this is where out next adventure began.

Getting around Bulgaria was particularly confusing. First of all the alphabet is Cyrillic (e.g. like Russian).. which, forgive my ethnocentrism here, looks like a two year old's first attempt at typing. Trying to find your way to the local автостанция to buy two tickets for a ride to Велико Търново is just confusing.. To complicate matters, the standard yes/no head signals are backwards in Bulgaria..they nod their heads for 'no' and shake them 'yes'. So even after I manage to sort out the above nonsense and get our bus tickets to VT, when I asked the driver of the bus that I thought was ours I get a head shake 'no'..or rather a 'yes'..but then confusion sets in..did he shake his head 'no' and mean 'yes' because he's Bulgarian? or did he know that I wasn't Bulgarian and shake his head 'no' in my language..the only option left was to reconfirm with a "Da?"..which would most would cause them to look at you with the same disdain that one looks at a child with on their twentieth round of "I know you are but what am I?"

Even the simple things like trying to nod 'yes' to the waitress gesturing about whether or not I want milk in my coffee ends up backwards. Over time we tried to adjust and remember the backwardness of it all but 34 years of ingrained social-linguistic training is hard to subvert..mostly our attempts found us making big wobbly circles with our heads..like a life sized bobble head doll..which for all we know means 'see you next Tuesday' in Bulgarian..

History it seems is punctuated by these funny little moments of decisiveness that over time blossom into strange cultures and customs. Take driving on the right side of the road for instance. This American tradition was born out of the teamsters wagon drivers in the late eighteenth century because of the lack of a driver seat on the wagon. The Castillian lisp is purportedly traced back to a fourteenth Spanish king who popularized the speech impediment. Where this flagrant violation of the natural order of head shaking comes from in the Bulgarian culture is any ones guess.

Anyway, we spent a couple of cools days in VT hiking around the hillside town. We met a cool Kiwi couple who was also on a their world trip honeymoon..their travelblog has some funny comments about Bulgaria that's worth reading (http://taneandlauren.blogspot.com/2007/09/good-bad-and-bulgarian.html). We also met a really awkward hotel owner who went on about people from California all being rich, about how he hates lawyers and about why the gypsies are evil.

In general Bulgarians are a funny bunch..they have really bad fashion sense (think a pink stripped jump suit with matching feather boa). The store owners don't seem particularly interested in helping customers..most of the time when you order something they give a strange shrug that is somewhere between bored and 'whatever' that seems to say "well ok..if you want that I guess I could sell it to you..(sigh)". The country is really poor I guess and so maybe I can understand their malaise..what they really need I think is the invigorating tonic of ten thousand greedy capitalists moving in revamping their cities..houses are cheap..30k euro gets you a nice two story four bed town home in the hills above VT.

anyway..after VT we took a bus north on our way to Bucharest Romania.

a puppet player playing his puppets in bulgarian street...

our street in bulgaria (eastern europe apparently hasn't discovered underground cabling yet..almost every street in everytown we've been in is littered with wires and cables hanging across the streets..)

the hill castle sound and light show as seen from our window... (this was neat to see actually as the entire hillside lit up..)