The Vietnamese don't mess around with their cafes. Forty lawn chairs
and accompanying tables setup on the sidewalk, not clustered, but
facing the street. Unabashed people watching. The world is our
television. A sidewalk barber, unseen since India, plies his craft to
my right as the sun dips lower. A fresh pack of "craven" brand
cigarettes stowed away in my backpack, a gift for a chain smoking
crony. What a name. My tummy tum has been filled with pho
and bon mi. Approximately one dollar each. God I've missed bread. The
bon mi rolls are extraordinary. Fluffy inside, crusty outside, adding
texture to the combination of chicken, julienne cucumbers, peppers,
lettuce and a hint of chili infused basil. My munchings brought
envious stares from shirtless gaggles of loafing middle aged men as I
ambled down to destination unknown. At the cafe all heads snap to
attention as a Russian Michellan man staggers past moping his doughy
brow in the suns last dying rays. The spectacle passes, the show goes
on, all from the comfort of my street side living room.

I made it to Vietnam. Showed up without a visa, so I was forced to pay
a bribe, but all is well. It was better than being forced back onto a
plane to Malaysia. And kind of exciting. My first of many "Back in 'Nam" stories. 

Email to Family

Wrote this email about a week ago to my parents / sister and decided it would make a good blog post...

Hey there everyone, sorry I haven't called lately. I am 11-12 hours ahead in time zone and the internet cafe's here open late and close early so it's really hard to get a call through when anyone would be awake. We are leaving northern thailand and heading all the way back south to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia tomorrow or the next day. To help you with what that actually means, please take a look at this link: Google Maps: Chiang Mai to Kuala Lumpur Its a long ride back - about two days by bus. Its a good thing the buses here are ridiculously nice and put our american greyhounds to shame. The public transit in general here seems mostly ahead of the united states. If we just took a fraction of the money we spend in foreign wars and put it into public transit we would probably all have personal hovercrafts with robot chauffeurs instead being outdone by tiny southeast asian countries. Maybe its because they have more asian drivers here, so they want everyone on public transit....eh eh eh jokes!

We just completed a 4 day motorbike ride through the hills. It was pretty nice except that its slash and burn season meaning a large portion of the countryside was literally on fire. (slash and burn=burning last years crop to clear it out for the spring season and return some of the nutrients to the soil). The sky was smoky for hundreds of miles and at many points the sides of the road were blazing high with flames and cows eating ashes or something else they seem to have found delicious. The views could have been a little less post-apocalyptic. You ever see that movie "The Road"? It was kinda like that except no one was eating babies.

I was riding a rather seasoned motorbike. It had a lot of character. On day one the rear tire blew out on me and I found out the whole rear rim was missing 8 spokes. One of these broken spokes jammed itself through the rim and into the tire, puncturing it. Fixing it was quite easy though. Stopped at a roadside shack where an old man fixed the tire and then we stopped again just down road from the old man where a retarded guy replaced my spokes. He was not full on retarded, but was unable to speak and made up for it by gesturing about and making loud mumbling noises. This gave me a glimpse of what we must look like to the Thai people when waving our arms about speaking incomprehensible English. Fortunately his verbal inabilities did not detract from the special guy's talents at replacing my spokes. He appeared to be an ace mechanic. 3 dollars spent and we continued happily on our way.

On day 3 I crashed the bike in a pothole that a normal motorcycle might have just bumped through. I was not driving a normal motorcycle, so immediately upon hitting this pothole the bike and I parted ways to embark on separate journeys across the expanse of gravel and bumps in the road ahead. Luckily i am very experienced at falling off//into/over things and it appears that the bike had also had also had its fair share of crashes in decades past, so i was able to ride it for another day and a half to successfully complete our trip (yes, mom i was wearing a helmet. it was baby blue).

When we got back chris and i went to a very legit honda service center where the technician gave some unsettling responses while looking at the bike; "Oh no good! Very bad! Motor bad! Alignment bad!". The damage was assessed at 2,700 baht (about 90 bucks) and would take 2 days to repair. This was not an option because our Thai visas expire in 3 days. I risked bringing it back to the rental shop and throwing myself at their mercy. When i got there and handed the keys over, the guy tried to start it, realized it doesn't start, then rolled it into the shop, and just threw down the kickstand appearing satisfied with there being no indication it would ever run again. He then gave our passport back, and said "thank you". Trying my best to be honest as it seemed these people had no idea how much damage i caused, i showed them what happened pointing to the bent shifter, twisted foot peg, and the front tire (which was kind of bent to the right). The entire front of the bike above the tire including the mangled cargo basket was visibly askew pointing off to the left and drooping a bit as if it had motorcycle palsy. The electronics in general were shot after the incident and i had to kick start it and keep gassing it for the engine to remain running. They ignored all of this and with a pipe and hammer started banging/bending things until the whole thing reached a shape somewhat resembling a motorcycle and charged me 200 baht (about 7 dollars). Maybe they have been waiting for someone to run it into the ground and officially total it so they can finally cash in with their insurance company and get a new one to take its place? More likely were distracted by the 8 shiny new spokes on the rear wheel. Either way there was no need to ask any questions. By the time they took my payment, put it in the drawer and looked back up, I was halfway down the street.

Overall, it was a great success! We are back in Chiang Mai and I just had some delicious noodles for a dollar. Life is good. Hopping on a luxury bus tomorrow to begin the long journey back to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to greet the Bott family who arrive on the 16th. I hope i can call sometime soon. By the way, no need to worry about me, i just had a little road scrape on my elbows like when i was a kid and would fall off the bicycle. Flying off of a 2 wheeled machine was instantly recognized as a familiar sensation and i was not hurt. Tuck and roll works best when practiced. Love you/talk to you soon.

Western Comforts and New Years in Mumbai

 

 

Chris and I departed Diu on a 10 hour overnight bus to Mumbai. The inside of the bus smelled inexplicably like rotten fish, which unfortunately was concentrated somewhere near or around where we were sitting in the very back. I even believe the odor managed to gradually increase as the night went on. Stepping off the bus in Mumbai felt like completing the process of being eaten, digested, and excreted from a large whale. Mumbai immediately came across as a clean, rich, western city with tons of delicious street food. This is exactly what both of us were looking for after the filthy bus ride and 2 weeks in northern india. A welcome respite from the dusty trail. As a whole the city is not all clean and has one of the largest slums in all of asia, but we stayed in the nicer areas as we had about enough filth and the goal was to participate in minimal tourist activities. Just stroll around the city, eat, and relax.

We wandered around the upscale tourist area of Connaught by the Gates of India, an enormous archway on the waterfront by the glamourous Taj Hotel. After the first night, we moved slightly north to the Fort Area, which was just as nice but more quiet and had less tourists. Soon it was new years eve and as a result of various posts on reddit and couchsuring, we pulled together a group of 12 people to meet up for dinner and bar hopping in Bandra. Bandra is a very rich area in Mumbai full of trendy bars / restaurants. After shopping around, we found and purchased some "real people clothes" to wear for the evening as our backpacking shirts and pants are not the attire you would find on any self respecting human being.

Cricket At Oval Maidan - Mumbai

I found a massive multi story Levi's (Levis is considered high end clothing here) and gave in to buying a pair of 501's for $90 dollars motivated partially by the irony of buying my most expensive jeans in India, which were made in America. After being so cheap for so long and counting every penny spent it also felt great to buy something unnecessary and expensive for a change. After changing and cleaning up in the employee bathroom on the roof of the levis building, we were looking sufficiently presentable enough to go meet our new friends for dinner at an italian restaurant. After many drinks and some delicious food we went out to an indian version of an american punk rock bar where we gathered around a table drinking pitchers of kingisher beer and listening to an eclectic mix ranging from the Ramones to Journey . It was fun to spend new years with people from different parts of the world.

The punk rock place closed down at 2 and we went to a tiki themed bar where we waited outside to get in. The cops had temporarily shut everything down, but 15 minutes later the owner payed a the appropriate bribe to stay open until 5am. This is completely normal. Being the only group of white people in the bar we received lots of attention from groups of indian men, who were fun to talk to as all seemed very well educated and one of them bought me a shot of Jack Daniels. It was all around good times. We walked out around 5 and once i had finished drunkenly calling anyone at home whose phone number i remembered and telling them I'm in the future and we all have flying cars (10 hours ahead here), it was time to start heading back. We split 2 taxis between everyone and got back to Connaught to catch the sunrise at the gates of India. Crashing in our buddy's room we slept until 5pm that day and got a train the day after that to head south to the beaches in Goa and Karnataka. I wish i had some photos to post, but chris has all the new years shots on his camera and he is at a yoga ashram for the next couple weeks.

A little left to fill in and i will be up to date and making current posts. Right now, I am heading to Sri Lanka in a couple days to go surfing while chris stays at the yoga ashram and makes his way to sri lanka to meet up again 2-3 weeks from now. Adios!

Christmas In Diu

The beach was just the change up we needed after months in the mountains and high plains. The cold had begun to nip at our heels. We were ecstatic to arrive at the island of Diu, just off the southern coast of the largely Muslim and alcohol free state of Gujarat. The island is unique for two reasons. From 1535 to 1961 Diu was a Portuguese colony and trading post. It also serves alcohol, making it the only watering hole for about 800 kilometers. The result is a charming island half covered by Indian men drinking with reckless abandon.

After nearly 24 hours of train and bus travel we stepped off the bus into the blinding heat of midday. The air smells strongly of the fish market across the street. We rented scooters and crossed the island from east to west on winding roads dotted with dilapidated churches.

For the price of a Motel 6 we took a room at the island most exclusive resort. The Hotel Radhika staff stifled their scoffs as Jay and I rolled in wearing shorts, flip flops and our grungy backpacks. Diu is off the tourist trail, attracting few foreign tourists to its mediocre beaches. Most travelers head further south to Goa or Kerala for the holidays. We chose the island because it sounded interesting and was the nearest to our prior location in Rajasthan. As a result we were the only white dudes at the resort, distinctly different from the conservatively dressed Indians that surrounded us in the hotel lobby. I smiled as I noticed a small plastic Christmas tree alongside a statue of the elephant god, Ganesha.

Indian and Muslim cultures being very conservative, the beach scene seemed bizarre to us. Nagao beach was wide and long but almost entirely empty. Whereas most of us hit the beach to lay down our towels in quiet seclusion, the Indians cluster tightly together in order to chat. There were no blankets, umbrellas or swimmers in sight. Adults were fully clothed, women wearing full length saris while the men who managed to stumble out of the bars looked as if they were about to meet a client for their 2pm. Children splashed in ankle deep water, most unable to swim. We laid out our towels away from the throngs and went for a swim. Indians occasionally walked up to us to take pictures and ask where we were from.

In the name of sociological inquiry Jay and I frequented the local bars of Diu town. Most of the bars were identical, like cozy caves smelling of stale beer. No women were ever present in the bare bones, utilitarian pubs. The men drank either watered down whiskey or strong malt liquor. We happily slurped down tall Kingerfisher beers and observed the spectacle of grown men acting like high school girls at their first party.

Our five days on Diu were spent lounging on the beach, riding scooters along the back roads or feasting on Portuguese inspired seafood dishes. It was enjoyable but somewhat sad. A hollow feeling rested in our chests as we went through the motions of holiday. Luxurious hotels, relaxing surf and good food is no replacement for a loving family during the holidays. Half way across the world, we wished we were home for Christmas.

Rajasthan Recap

It has been a while since the last post in Nepal and a lot has happened since then, so i will start to fill in the gaps with our trip from Nepal south through Rajasthan all the way through Gujarat where we spent our christmas on the island of Diu on the Arabian Sea.

Having finally got all our papers in order for departure, we hopped a flight from Kathmandu, Nepal to Delhi, India. We had both swore we would never return to Delhi, but I was very interested to see the place again with desensitized eyes gained from 3 months in Nepal. Looking at my journal now i realize it has almost been a month since the last post. Sorry.

December 15 - New Delhi - The view out the window of the plane was absolutely stunning - the Himalayan mountains running as far as you can see along the horizon. A 2 hour flight was much better than the 2 day bus ride we took to get to Kathmandu. From the airport we took the metro train, which was awesome. The most beautiful train i have ever been on and was more like the starship enterprise than a train. When we got to the stop at Paharganj i did not want to leave my futuristic air conditioned spaceship and step into the madness, which seemed centuries behind. Delhi was not so bad the second time around. Having grown numb to the population density and aggressiveness of the city we wandered around excited by all the street food and ate various snacks while waiting for our overnight train to Jaipur.

December 16/17 - Japiur, Rajasthan - We arrove after an all night train to relentless touts (salespeople) outside the train station in our face shouting to get into their rickshaw. It was 5 in the morning. Being very tired with little patience we shoved/cursed our way past these animals, found a guesthouse and passed out until 11. We walked around all day and saw very little of interest in this dusty city. Taking advantage of the cheap alcohol we bought some bacardi, coke, and limes returning to our room to spend the evening watching satellite tv in our really luxurious room. The evening was spent watching Its Always Sunny in Philadelphia and Madmen on FX. It was glorious. The following day we left Jaipur to take a bus to Bundi having heard some good things about the town.

December 17/18/19 - Bundi, Rajasthan - After a 5 hour bus ride through endless fields of yellow flowered mustard plants that stretched to the horizon, we arrived in the small town of Bundi. Bundi is dense with alleyways, temples, and stepwells. Every building is painted a different color of pastel with blue being the most dominant and popular color. Above the city on a hill is an enormous palace and fort where we spent an entire day wandering the monkey infested ruins. Felt like Indiana Jones climbing around the ruins scaring off the aggressive monkey troops. We ate some delicious food - Rajasthan is known for spicy cuisine, and spent evenings lakeside at our guesthouse with two other americans from the northwest staying in the next room. We took the night bus to Udaipur on the 19th.

December 19th/20 - Udaipur - The night bus from Bundi was a terrible experience. We spent extra to get the "sleeper" bunks not knowing the road was so rough there would be no sleep. The bus would hit enormous bumps in the road every minute or so and launch us off our beds, sometimes hitting the low ceiling above or against the walls. It was like laying in a box slightly larger than a coffin that was being shaken around by a giant ape for 9 straight hours. Arriving in Udaipur our rickshaw driver attempted persistently in an obvious attempt to rip us off. With no sleep at all and being banged around all night there were little patience for this kind of behavior. We fought with him for a while as he pretended to not have any change for our 100 rupee note when we clearly saw him hide the money from us. We got the change ourselves, paid him less than he asked for and released a torrent of relentless swearing on him and those responsible for his bottom dwelling existence. The shouting was followed by a nap and then exploring the city. Udaipur was beautiful with ornate buildings all around a large lake. It was very relaxing and had many outdoor cafes to read on the waterfront and there was excellent food. The original plan was to stay here and take cooking classes, but we still had to cross the entire state of Gujarat to get to Diu for Christmas, so the next day we took an over night train followed by a 4 hour bus ride. After a day and a half of travel we were in Diu on the 22nd. The beach was a welcome site after 3 months in Nepal. Chris will pick up with the next post on Christmas in Diu.