Just a quick note to let you all know we are not in Mumbai - thank God. We are currently in Delhi flying to Patna today and then heading to the school in Bodgaya to teach.
Thanks for all the notes of concern. Hopfeully the attacks end ASAP!!!
love k and c
Thursday, November 27, 2008
Friday, November 21, 2008
Got It India
Well we said good bye to Russ and Vera after an amazing trip (more detials on that to follow:-)and flew at 4:30 am after a fun night of sleeping at the airport to Crazy Mumbai (formerly Bombay). We landed in Mumbai not knowing what to expect - hopped in a cab and held on for dear life - there are no road rules and it is okay to scrape the car beside you!
On the ride to the hotel got a look at the city - there is 15 million people living there half of which live in slums or are homeless. It was a pretty sad drive - people are living everywhere, on the shoulder of the highways tarps (homes) are set up, every piece of land has someone living in it - people were sleeping on the islands of the highway, there is no sidewalks because people are sleeping and living on them - it was huge change from turkey and sad adn unbelieveable to not only the poverty but the amount of people living with no homes or water.
We managed to find a place to stay and then tried out luck at eating out and it was amazing!!!!!! The best indian food we have ever had and since then we cannot stop eating everything we see - the food is so full of flavour and taste!! and you can get a gourment meal for two for $7.00! I reccomend coming to India just for the food!
From Mumbia we headed to Mahabaleshwar south and east 8 hours a nice town in the hills and the strawberry capital of the country so we of course had our fill!!
From there we took an interesting ride to Goa, which started by hoping into a cab in Mahabalshwar which drove at least 80 km/hour on a mountain ridge and a one lane road with cars, buses and trucks coming head on and no one pulling over just both drivers hoking at eachother. I had the luck of sitting in the front seat which i don't know if i hated it more or the driver because of my constant scared cries for him to slow the hell down!!!
The cabbie dropped us off at the bus where we got on a sleeper bus to Goa, which is a normal bus made into beds only and no chairs. I use the term sleeper loosely as although we did sleep (a little), I question whether they might change the name to bouncer bus or are you driving on a fuckin' road, or straight down a rocky cliff bus or is there a kid driving the bus, or is the man driver just blind bus or the bounce so high in your sleep you hit your stomach on the ceiling bus or just discount tours, as in discount being alive when you get there!!! Yup' those would be better names for the company.
We are now in GOA where it is hot!!! and beautiful, its right on the coast, so we are chilling out, tanning and hopefully drinking a few beers for a week and then we fly to the school that we are working at.
India has been a great surprise so far - we are both loving it and the food!!! Speaking of which there's a bakery we have to go hit up!!!
Love K and C
For those of you following at home: Mumbai --> Mahabaleshwar --> Goa (Panaji first, then Anjuna Beach)
On the ride to the hotel got a look at the city - there is 15 million people living there half of which live in slums or are homeless. It was a pretty sad drive - people are living everywhere, on the shoulder of the highways tarps (homes) are set up, every piece of land has someone living in it - people were sleeping on the islands of the highway, there is no sidewalks because people are sleeping and living on them - it was huge change from turkey and sad adn unbelieveable to not only the poverty but the amount of people living with no homes or water.
We managed to find a place to stay and then tried out luck at eating out and it was amazing!!!!!! The best indian food we have ever had and since then we cannot stop eating everything we see - the food is so full of flavour and taste!! and you can get a gourment meal for two for $7.00! I reccomend coming to India just for the food!
From Mumbia we headed to Mahabaleshwar south and east 8 hours a nice town in the hills and the strawberry capital of the country so we of course had our fill!!
From there we took an interesting ride to Goa, which started by hoping into a cab in Mahabalshwar which drove at least 80 km/hour on a mountain ridge and a one lane road with cars, buses and trucks coming head on and no one pulling over just both drivers hoking at eachother. I had the luck of sitting in the front seat which i don't know if i hated it more or the driver because of my constant scared cries for him to slow the hell down!!!
The cabbie dropped us off at the bus where we got on a sleeper bus to Goa, which is a normal bus made into beds only and no chairs. I use the term sleeper loosely as although we did sleep (a little), I question whether they might change the name to bouncer bus or are you driving on a fuckin' road, or straight down a rocky cliff bus or is there a kid driving the bus, or is the man driver just blind bus or the bounce so high in your sleep you hit your stomach on the ceiling bus or just discount tours, as in discount being alive when you get there!!! Yup' those would be better names for the company.
We are now in GOA where it is hot!!! and beautiful, its right on the coast, so we are chilling out, tanning and hopefully drinking a few beers for a week and then we fly to the school that we are working at.
India has been a great surprise so far - we are both loving it and the food!!! Speaking of which there's a bakery we have to go hit up!!!
Love K and C
For those of you following at home: Mumbai --> Mahabaleshwar --> Goa (Panaji first, then Anjuna Beach)
Saturday, November 8, 2008
Ok, so, what exactly are you saying?
Russ and Vera have arrived and seem to be loving Turkey! The only problem seems to be that they don't speak Turkish, and most Turks they don't speak English! Other than that, travelling in Turkey is a piece of cake (isn't it always?)!
After a long awaited arrival and an even longer flight, mom and dad arrived in Istanbul a week ago rearing to go! Dad was on his new Blackberry upon arrival (which we didn't even know he had, let alone knew how to use) sending emails and texts to Jamie, Judy and whoever else, from Istanbul!! Who is this new man! We explored Istanbul for a few days, dodging carpet salesman after carpet salesman, bargaining at the Grand Bazaar (at which mom became a whole different, half Turkish, half French, half Spanish-speaking, negotiating fiend) and sampled Baklava, Turkish Delight, and every Turkish appetizer known to Istanbul! After many enlightening and hilarious conversations with our hostel owners Emrah, Metin and Ali, as well as a night of free entertainment from our restaurant host trying agressively to get any and all tourists to eat in his restaurant (he knew about 6 words in 14 different languages and felt that Macaroni and Fish were his best sellers) it was time to leave for the Cappadocia region... via overnight train!
Mom had graciously booked us private sleeper cars for our 17 hour journey, and dad humbly picked up endless amounts of snacks (including 2 bags of chips, 2 packs of cookies, 2 cans of beans, 12 assorted peices of fruit, 4 chocolate bars, 10 500ml beers, 5 different packs of nuts and a few other "secret" emergency rations) we were set... or were we? As soon as a few fellow passengers started to board the sleeper car with not one, but multiple FULL loaves of bread, and numerous 2L bottles of pop, dad started to sweat. After asking at least 7 times if we thought we needed more food, a panick-stricken dad lept from the train and darted (I haven't seen him run this fast since his last marathon) for the snack stands in search of more chips, beer and provisions. This absolutely hilarious ritual happened 2 more times before the whistle blew and dad collapsed on the his seat, exhausted! The rest of us were in tears! All this and we still had a meal to eat in the dining car; Kristin's first meal on a train and she was very excited. Our gracious host (his name escapes me as I didn't understand him the first time) came around with blankets, pillows and a wonderful smile, and told us in pretty good English "I will be of service to you on the trip and just tell me anything you need". So, accordingly, dad responded excitedly with "what time does the restaurant open?", to which he replied simply "no". "Sorry, dad said, "no"? "No" the man replied again. Although I don't think he really was, dad wanted to be confused, as "no" there is no restaurant meant "no" we don't eat dinner. "No restaurant"?, dad pleaded, "no" the man replied again. And after we all looked at each other thinking the same thing, dad shrugged his shoulders and did what any great dad would do when the restaurant was closed and his family hadn't eaten; cracked a brewski, ripped open the chips and said "bonne appetite"! And the laughter and pigout continued late into the night. (A quick note here to say that he also jumped off the train at 6:00am the following morning to grab breakfast at our only "long" stop on the 17 hour journey).
Cappadocia (the town of Goreme specifically), is like walking into "fairyland" at Disneyworld. It has rock formations like no other place in the world (that we've been to anyway) that look to some like giant mushrooms, others like giant rocky-icebergs, and others still like huge penises. No matter what your perspective, they are quite bizarre and quite large; and they're everywhere. Stranger still are the insane number of caves that have been chiseled out of the rock and at one point around the 3rd century, either lived in or used for Christian chapels or barriel grounds. In fact, we visited a whole underground city, that from ground-level is invisble, but underneath is 8 levels or floors (so far) of rock rooms and full and beautiful chapels. It was constructed and used by Chrisitans as a place to pray and live when the Romans ruled the area. Christianity wasn't official at the time and thus illegal to practice. Quite an astoudning work of architecture! Entire villages could live down there for months at a time undectected by their enemies, and had underground passegeways that connected right to the floors of their homes. They even had a full ventilation system that was an 8 storey tunnel connecting all floors with the outside above and the watertable below!
In the spirit of caves and weirdness, we all stayed in a Cave hotel, which Kristin has decided she can live in permanently. Quite a cool experience that left us humming the Flinstone tune more often than not! Tonight we are off to see the famous Whirling Dervishes for the first time, and tomorrow onto another UNESCO world heritage sight at Pummukale (googlt that! ;-)
Miss you all and will write again soon!
Love K and C, and Vera and Russ
For those of you following at home, Istanbul --> Cappadocia --> Konya --> Pummukale
After a long awaited arrival and an even longer flight, mom and dad arrived in Istanbul a week ago rearing to go! Dad was on his new Blackberry upon arrival (which we didn't even know he had, let alone knew how to use) sending emails and texts to Jamie, Judy and whoever else, from Istanbul!! Who is this new man! We explored Istanbul for a few days, dodging carpet salesman after carpet salesman, bargaining at the Grand Bazaar (at which mom became a whole different, half Turkish, half French, half Spanish-speaking, negotiating fiend) and sampled Baklava, Turkish Delight, and every Turkish appetizer known to Istanbul! After many enlightening and hilarious conversations with our hostel owners Emrah, Metin and Ali, as well as a night of free entertainment from our restaurant host trying agressively to get any and all tourists to eat in his restaurant (he knew about 6 words in 14 different languages and felt that Macaroni and Fish were his best sellers) it was time to leave for the Cappadocia region... via overnight train!
Mom had graciously booked us private sleeper cars for our 17 hour journey, and dad humbly picked up endless amounts of snacks (including 2 bags of chips, 2 packs of cookies, 2 cans of beans, 12 assorted peices of fruit, 4 chocolate bars, 10 500ml beers, 5 different packs of nuts and a few other "secret" emergency rations) we were set... or were we? As soon as a few fellow passengers started to board the sleeper car with not one, but multiple FULL loaves of bread, and numerous 2L bottles of pop, dad started to sweat. After asking at least 7 times if we thought we needed more food, a panick-stricken dad lept from the train and darted (I haven't seen him run this fast since his last marathon) for the snack stands in search of more chips, beer and provisions. This absolutely hilarious ritual happened 2 more times before the whistle blew and dad collapsed on the his seat, exhausted! The rest of us were in tears! All this and we still had a meal to eat in the dining car; Kristin's first meal on a train and she was very excited. Our gracious host (his name escapes me as I didn't understand him the first time) came around with blankets, pillows and a wonderful smile, and told us in pretty good English "I will be of service to you on the trip and just tell me anything you need". So, accordingly, dad responded excitedly with "what time does the restaurant open?", to which he replied simply "no". "Sorry, dad said, "no"? "No" the man replied again. Although I don't think he really was, dad wanted to be confused, as "no" there is no restaurant meant "no" we don't eat dinner. "No restaurant"?, dad pleaded, "no" the man replied again. And after we all looked at each other thinking the same thing, dad shrugged his shoulders and did what any great dad would do when the restaurant was closed and his family hadn't eaten; cracked a brewski, ripped open the chips and said "bonne appetite"! And the laughter and pigout continued late into the night. (A quick note here to say that he also jumped off the train at 6:00am the following morning to grab breakfast at our only "long" stop on the 17 hour journey).
Cappadocia (the town of Goreme specifically), is like walking into "fairyland" at Disneyworld. It has rock formations like no other place in the world (that we've been to anyway) that look to some like giant mushrooms, others like giant rocky-icebergs, and others still like huge penises. No matter what your perspective, they are quite bizarre and quite large; and they're everywhere. Stranger still are the insane number of caves that have been chiseled out of the rock and at one point around the 3rd century, either lived in or used for Christian chapels or barriel grounds. In fact, we visited a whole underground city, that from ground-level is invisble, but underneath is 8 levels or floors (so far) of rock rooms and full and beautiful chapels. It was constructed and used by Chrisitans as a place to pray and live when the Romans ruled the area. Christianity wasn't official at the time and thus illegal to practice. Quite an astoudning work of architecture! Entire villages could live down there for months at a time undectected by their enemies, and had underground passegeways that connected right to the floors of their homes. They even had a full ventilation system that was an 8 storey tunnel connecting all floors with the outside above and the watertable below!
In the spirit of caves and weirdness, we all stayed in a Cave hotel, which Kristin has decided she can live in permanently. Quite a cool experience that left us humming the Flinstone tune more often than not! Tonight we are off to see the famous Whirling Dervishes for the first time, and tomorrow onto another UNESCO world heritage sight at Pummukale (googlt that! ;-)
Miss you all and will write again soon!
Love K and C, and Vera and Russ
For those of you following at home, Istanbul --> Cappadocia --> Konya --> Pummukale
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
