Unique to Jodpur, the Makhaniya Lassi is the best drink ever. You start with the standard Lassi base--a strong plain full fat curd (yoghurt) with a little sugar-not too sweet. But instead of adding Mango or Banana or any standard Lassi filler, you add saffron and cardamom. The result is mouth watering and lovely to behold-the saffron leaves traces of bright orange streaked throughout, and the cardamom adds small bright green chunks. Yum! I am very sad that we left Jodpur and can no longer have these yummy lassis.
We made it to Jaisalmer at 5 am today on the train from Jodpur. We've pretty much nailed overnight train travel in India. Necessary supplies:
- Eyemask
- Sleepsack (like a sheet but sleeping bag shaped and sewn up the side-packs down light)
- Wool scarf to double as blanket
- Earplugs
- Tigerbalm (to put under your nose to kill the horrible bathroom smell. Even when we're not in 3rd class, we can't seem to get further than a row away from the bathroom. I mean, the hole in the floor of the train that smells like pee.)
Jaisalmer is lovely and we're hoping to meet up with Seema and friends from NYC who are miraculously traveling our very same India route just a couple of days behind us!
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Namaste from Udaipur
We arrived in Udaipur in central Rajasthan at 8 am yesterday--our first overnight train trip in India. Sadly, all that was available was the third class car, and let me tell you--I don't recommend it. It could have been worse, but it was very cold, with very bad smells, very loud snoring, and very hard seats. On the plus side, I had just bought a wool scarf, which I was able to use as a blanket. And, we had no attacks of the bad Delhi Belly on the train. So that was good. Plus it was cheap (about $8 for both of s for the 9 hour trip). It was only 2 hours late, which for India travel is not bad at all.
So we made it and Udaipur is a little Indian gem. It's relaxed and clean and lots of buildings have gorgeous rooftop views of Lake Pichola and the floating palace in the middle of it. (For great views of the city watch the horrible Bond movie Octopussy--which was just saw at a guest house last night and rolled our eyes most of the time. The worst of the worst sexist Bond dialogue and cheesy jokes. But it really does have nice views of Udaipur.)
The monkeys in Udaipur are different than the ones we've seen further east. They are bigger, and lanky, with really long limbs, and incredibly long tails, and black faces. And they can jump really far. Like from building to building. Sam nearly got attacked by one last night, walking up some stairs to the roof and coming face to face with a big papa. They stared at each other for a second from about a foot apart, and then the monkey bared its teeth. Sam nearly fell down the stairs.
Yesterday we went for a long walk to the city palace and along the water and took a boat ride out to Jagmandir Island, which is an old palace ringed by marble elephants-then back to the city for sunset. Tonight we'll head to Monsoon Palace high up on a hill above town for sunset.
So we made it and Udaipur is a little Indian gem. It's relaxed and clean and lots of buildings have gorgeous rooftop views of Lake Pichola and the floating palace in the middle of it. (For great views of the city watch the horrible Bond movie Octopussy--which was just saw at a guest house last night and rolled our eyes most of the time. The worst of the worst sexist Bond dialogue and cheesy jokes. But it really does have nice views of Udaipur.)
The monkeys in Udaipur are different than the ones we've seen further east. They are bigger, and lanky, with really long limbs, and incredibly long tails, and black faces. And they can jump really far. Like from building to building. Sam nearly got attacked by one last night, walking up some stairs to the roof and coming face to face with a big papa. They stared at each other for a second from about a foot apart, and then the monkey bared its teeth. Sam nearly fell down the stairs.
Yesterday we went for a long walk to the city palace and along the water and took a boat ride out to Jagmandir Island, which is an old palace ringed by marble elephants-then back to the city for sunset. Tonight we'll head to Monsoon Palace high up on a hill above town for sunset.
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Holy City Varanasi is Totally and Completely Nuts
Colors, people, corpses burning on pyres, holy men, bhang, cows, goats all mixed together and bathing in the Ganges.Taj Mahal
You can take a lot of pictures of the Taj--it is actually and truly amazing. Breathtaking, even.
The Site of Ghandi's Martyrdom in Delhi
Sam walking Ghandi's last steps in Delhi
Ghandi's room for the last 144 days of his life.Thursday, January 15, 2009
I'm sitting next to a monk at an internet cafe
He's wearing crimson robes and a Patagonia fleece that's the exact same color as his robes. I wonder if he went from store to store trying to match the fleece to the robes, or lucked out on the first try? Or maybe the fleece is standard issue with the robes? I wish I had my camera so I could take a surreptitious picture, but that would be wrong, and I wouldn't like it if someone was taking my picture while I'm sitting here typing and trying to download pictures and whatnot. Which, by the way, is exactly what monks do at internet cafes. We saw dozens of them in Laos, where most men at some point in their lives are temporarily ordained and spent a year or two at a wat. So all over Laos there are these little guys--like as little as 8 or 9, from the looks of them--who are wearing saffron robes and checking their email, or smoking cigarettes behind the temple (I swear!) or riding around town on the back of a tuk tuk.
We're in Delhi now, staying in New Tibet, a quiet refuge full of Tibetans in the northern part of the city (thanks to Matt who recommended it). We got in at about 2 am after flying for 25 hours (that's right--Delhi is basically right next to Singapore, our previous stop, but because we bought our tickets with miles instead of cash, we could only fly into Delhi through PARIS. Which I assure you, is really far out of the way).
Singapore was great. We weren't expecting much, other than the big treat that we got to catch up with our friend Justin, but it was a really great city. We ate tons of delicious food at hawker stalls (highlights were the raw fish and Singapore noodles) and mostly fixed some belly problems we'd been having since Laos, and did a whole lotta laundry. Like finally washed everything in our bags for the first time since we hit the road in November. And Justin, who has been living there for nearly three years but is moving to Nanjing China in just 2 weeks, really showed us a good time. We went for a long walk through the city, including the Arab district, the colonial quarter and the crazy harbor and skyscrapers of downtown. We went to the best food courts and street stalls and had our final night's dinner in the red light district before saying goodbye. We're already trying to figure out how we might get to Nanjing to visit in the not too distant future.
We're in Delhi now, staying in New Tibet, a quiet refuge full of Tibetans in the northern part of the city (thanks to Matt who recommended it). We got in at about 2 am after flying for 25 hours (that's right--Delhi is basically right next to Singapore, our previous stop, but because we bought our tickets with miles instead of cash, we could only fly into Delhi through PARIS. Which I assure you, is really far out of the way).
Singapore was great. We weren't expecting much, other than the big treat that we got to catch up with our friend Justin, but it was a really great city. We ate tons of delicious food at hawker stalls (highlights were the raw fish and Singapore noodles) and mostly fixed some belly problems we'd been having since Laos, and did a whole lotta laundry. Like finally washed everything in our bags for the first time since we hit the road in November. And Justin, who has been living there for nearly three years but is moving to Nanjing China in just 2 weeks, really showed us a good time. We went for a long walk through the city, including the Arab district, the colonial quarter and the crazy harbor and skyscrapers of downtown. We went to the best food courts and street stalls and had our final night's dinner in the red light district before saying goodbye. We're already trying to figure out how we might get to Nanjing to visit in the not too distant future.
Monday, January 12, 2009
Friday, January 9, 2009
Border Crossings by Land Are Hilarious and Awesome
We had a GREAT Christmas--my sister Meli and mom Janet came to visit in Vietnam. Lucky us! It was such a treat to see them. We had a beautiful 3.5 beach days in Phu Quoc Island--sharing Tiger Beers at sunset over the ocean, eating yummy seafood, and just hanging out--it was dreamy.
We had a crazy trip through Cambodia to get to the island, which is claimed by both Cambodia and Vietnam, right off the coast at the border. It's 90% national forest and has a long, lovely beach down the western side. We were coming in from Siem Reap (Angkor Wat--amazingly beautiful!) and Phenom Penh. From Phenom Penh, we took a 4 hour bus to Kep on the southern Cambodian coast. On the way, we stopped at road stops where little kids were selling their usual wares--pineapple and mango and cheap bracelets--but also the Cambodian culinary specialty--deep fried spiders! Like huge, tarantula style spiders. Yuck. We did not eat them, even though I think we're pretty adventurous eaters.
Kep has the best "bus station" in the world--the road just kind of peters out at the ocean, and on the side of the road is an open air restauant that serves grilled crabs with a spicy hot sauce for dipping. Now we're pretty seasoned crab eaters and will always love Chesapeake Bay crabs--but I have to say, these were the most meaty, unbelievably delicious crabs I've ever had. Yum. Helped us forget about those spiders! At Kep, we hired a tuk tuk (basically a motorcycle driver that pulls a cart with you in it) to drive us to the Cambodia/Vietnam border. We pretty quickly ran out of pavement and found ourselves on dirt roads, bouncing like crazy among water buffalo, salt farms (where the farmers spread ocean water in thin layers over the ground and let the sun bake off the water--then they use big rakes to comb the salt into big piles) and a million little kids. The kids' favorite thing was to see us and our blonde heads and shriek "HELLO!" and then laugh hysterically and run away when we said hello back. It felt like we were celebrities for about an hour and a half of driving through the countryside--no other cars, no pavement, only kids who were VERY excited to see us, and water buffalo up to their noses in mud.
When the road got too bad, we got on the back of two motorbikes--the drivers put our packs up on the handlebars and gave us helmets and we held on tight in the back--bouncing over crazy dirt roads all the way to the border. We were grinning ear to ear--a very memorable way to enter Vietnam--and we didn't even have to bribe anyone at the border! We already had our visas so it was smooth sailing getting in.
We spent the night in a nowhere town called Ha Tien and got the morning boat to Phu Quoc. Ha Tien did have the distinction of offering us our cheapest lodging yet, at less than $5. Then, as you know, we had some great days with mom and Meli and we were very sad to see them go. They are intrepid travellers and really great beachgoers.
The central coast of Vietnam was amazing and we had a great time working our way up-the marble mountains rise up right out of the ocean at China Beach--and we spent a few days in this crazily picturesque town called Hoi An, which I really recommend. It sits right on a river and there are these beautiful colored fishing boats that come in and out--this is where the photos of us on the boat below with the smiling lady were taken--and old wooden houses with balconies (think "The Quiet American"--delicious food, beautiful local fabrics.
We had a crazy trip through Cambodia to get to the island, which is claimed by both Cambodia and Vietnam, right off the coast at the border. It's 90% national forest and has a long, lovely beach down the western side. We were coming in from Siem Reap (Angkor Wat--amazingly beautiful!) and Phenom Penh. From Phenom Penh, we took a 4 hour bus to Kep on the southern Cambodian coast. On the way, we stopped at road stops where little kids were selling their usual wares--pineapple and mango and cheap bracelets--but also the Cambodian culinary specialty--deep fried spiders! Like huge, tarantula style spiders. Yuck. We did not eat them, even though I think we're pretty adventurous eaters.
Kep has the best "bus station" in the world--the road just kind of peters out at the ocean, and on the side of the road is an open air restauant that serves grilled crabs with a spicy hot sauce for dipping. Now we're pretty seasoned crab eaters and will always love Chesapeake Bay crabs--but I have to say, these were the most meaty, unbelievably delicious crabs I've ever had. Yum. Helped us forget about those spiders! At Kep, we hired a tuk tuk (basically a motorcycle driver that pulls a cart with you in it) to drive us to the Cambodia/Vietnam border. We pretty quickly ran out of pavement and found ourselves on dirt roads, bouncing like crazy among water buffalo, salt farms (where the farmers spread ocean water in thin layers over the ground and let the sun bake off the water--then they use big rakes to comb the salt into big piles) and a million little kids. The kids' favorite thing was to see us and our blonde heads and shriek "HELLO!" and then laugh hysterically and run away when we said hello back. It felt like we were celebrities for about an hour and a half of driving through the countryside--no other cars, no pavement, only kids who were VERY excited to see us, and water buffalo up to their noses in mud.
When the road got too bad, we got on the back of two motorbikes--the drivers put our packs up on the handlebars and gave us helmets and we held on tight in the back--bouncing over crazy dirt roads all the way to the border. We were grinning ear to ear--a very memorable way to enter Vietnam--and we didn't even have to bribe anyone at the border! We already had our visas so it was smooth sailing getting in.
We spent the night in a nowhere town called Ha Tien and got the morning boat to Phu Quoc. Ha Tien did have the distinction of offering us our cheapest lodging yet, at less than $5. Then, as you know, we had some great days with mom and Meli and we were very sad to see them go. They are intrepid travellers and really great beachgoers.
The central coast of Vietnam was amazing and we had a great time working our way up-the marble mountains rise up right out of the ocean at China Beach--and we spent a few days in this crazily picturesque town called Hoi An, which I really recommend. It sits right on a river and there are these beautiful colored fishing boats that come in and out--this is where the photos of us on the boat below with the smiling lady were taken--and old wooden houses with balconies (think "The Quiet American"--delicious food, beautiful local fabrics.
New Year's Eve in Hanoi
New Year's Eve in Hanoi--with these beautiful lanterns. Hundreds are in the sky over central Hanoi.
Sunday, January 4, 2009
There are 3 million motos in Saigon
Lonely Planet says there are 3 million motos in Saigon, and it really does look like an army of riders coming to get you at every traffic light. We learned how to cross the street, which was a big feat. Close your eyes and don't change pace.
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