Christmas in Ushuaia

Hip Santa with his orange beard

Merry Christmas and Happy New year, wishing you a wonderful 2013. In Argentina Christmas Eve is the big day. So Ruth and I headed out to 8pm mass which was neat. It was packed and the sign of peace in Latin America is not a hand shake but a kiss on the cheek for everyone.  Our hostel had a traditional Christmas dinner of empanadas and beef, how sweet. It was just like the old days of Manning Ave Christmas’ where everyone is packed around the table sitting on benches with no elbow room. Nice memories. At midnight there was a champagne toast and hip Santa with his orange beard arrived and gave us all a Christmas card with Christmas wishes in three languages and a chocolate attached.

Christmas Day in Ushuaia

Christmas day we planned on a meal of spaghetti, the simplest and best traveling meal to make in a hostel kitchen where space is of the premium. We met an Aussie girl who had Christmas crackers and wanted to share them with us, so we enjoyed the cheesy jokes and paper hats. Another enjoyable day. Now I am just finishing up some last minute stuff and heading back to Antarctica, this time on a different boat and to The Falkland Islands, South Georgia and Antarctica. Talk about living in the moment, booked it and less than 24 hours later I will board the ship. Happy New Year from Antarctica, wishing you all the best.  

These photos are of the last day on the boat where we had to rescue our sister ship that broke down in the Drake Passage. We knew Dave was on the boat so we were taking photos of the people on deck and we saw him. They sent a zodiac to our boat and took our engineer with them to fix their boat. He was successful and they arrived a day later than planned in Ushuaia. There is a cool photo of the zodiac being lifted up onto the boat. The other photos are of Christmas in Ushuaia. 

Click on this link for photos from the boat rescue and Christmas Day in Ushuaia

Some day I will figure out how to upload the cool videos of penguins walking, swimming, a penguin chick hatching, cutting through the ice and the Humpback whales breaching, but it will be at least another month before that happens as I will not have internet for the next 20 days. Happy New Year!

PS you know how I had such troubles with ATM's and credit cards not being used in Uzbekistan? Well they take credit cards in Antarctica. The shop that is run by four UK volunteers for four months of the year living in Antarctica with no running water takes credit cards and Uzbekistan doesn't, go figure. If the workers are lucky they get to hop on the odd ship and take a shower and the ships supply them with drinking water.

Antarctica Round One

Antarctic golf with a penguin caddy. 

Antarctica wow, how do I say this, it was so good I am going back. Yes that is right, 10 days of amazing scenery, people, nature and laughs. Not enough time to process what I have seen as there was always so much to see and do. You couldn’t go to sleep because you might miss a whale spotting and it was light out for 22 hours of the day and one wanted to see sunset and sunrise on the icebergs and the on goings on the bridge watching the captain and his crew work there just wasn’t enough time for me to document what has been happening in a blog post or my journal. If you weren’t on deck watching the penguins swim and fly through the air or a humpback whale breaching you were in the lecture room receiving a presentation from one of the eight or so biologists on board to teach you about what you were seeing and then the friends I met, god we had good times and my cheeks are still sore from laughing continuously. The food what can I say, amazing. Backpackers are not use to three courses meals three times a day, wow, Roger the baker and his fresh hot bread at each meal. So on a whim and a prayer is that how it goes, no on a whim I saw a sign listing a last minute deal I couldn’t resist and so I booked it and I leave less than 24 hours later this time for 19 days. So in total it will be almost a month in Antarctica. That was the last continent for me to visit and well it appears I have started the process again. How lucky I am.

Zodiac cruises through the icebergs, spectacular, penguins squawking, seeing a penguin chick hatch, taking the plunge into 0 – 1 degree Celsius Antarctic water, crazy fun, what an experience. Incredible weather, being able to hike up a mountain in my t-shirt one day, going through the roughest sea in the world in record time, not having to puke for the expected two days because God was on our side and made the passage smooth, therefore allowing for an early arrival by seven hours and therefore an extra expedition to land. Hurry up and vacuum your outer cloths so we can get into the zodiac and go to land. They didn’t want to contaminate Antarctica with foreign seeds or plants so a good vacuuming is in order. Seeing seals, having a barbq in Antarctic waters surrounded by beautiful mountains and icebergs, wow what an epic adventure. I am spoiled for sure, but my siblings have been saying that for years. So what else is new, oh yes I am going to Antarctica for a second time. Stay tuned.

A Humpback Whale breaching 

The link at the bottom has about a tenth of the pictures I took, but I tried to limit it for you, even though you could just shoot and not use the view finder as every shot was beautiful.   

PS Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. All the best for 2013. Christmas was different, but great, spaghetti, barbqs and Santa with an orange beard stay tuned. 

A plunge into the Antarctic waters

Just another day at the beach

Click on this link for some of the photos from Antarctica

Check out my friend Ruth's blog also, she documented some of it day by day http://gon​eirianboth​arleat.wor​dpress.com

Antarctica here I come

A chocolate Christmas Tree

Today is the day. I catch the boat to Antarctica, the last continent for me. Wow a pretty cool feeling. I am starting to get excited. The Patagonia region has been beautiful itself and I have been living in the moment enjoying Ushuaia and the great people who I have shared the last few days with. It is neat how when you are traveling your paths overlap with people and because I have had a few days here I know 10 people going on the same boat as me, so one tenth of the people.

Enjoy the holiday season will be thinking of you all sending you warm wishes from the land of ice, but not too warm we don't want it to melt.

This is the boat I am taking to Antarctica

Click on this link for some more photos from Ushuaia

From Uzbekistan to Argentina

Christmas Market in Madrid

Well I am at the end of the world as they say. I am in Ushuaia the southernmost city in the world. I was 60 hours in transit from Uzbekistan to Argentina, with 31 hours of flying time. I had a day in Madrid and it was nice to be back in a county celebrating Christmas. I ended up in a square where the Christmas market was set up. To be honest it didn’t feel like December to me or Christmas time until I saw the market and heard Christmas music playing. Madrid had a national holiday and it was full of tourists a shock to my system, being back in a first world country and amongst the masses.

Patagonia

Ushuaia Argentina has a great National Park, Tierra del Fuego part of the Patagonia region and I had a great hike/walk there for eight hours with a few hostel mates. What good fun. I have been alone for a month and to have the comic relief of an Irish girl and English guy bantering back and forth was great. My cheeks were sore from laughing. The town is small and it has a great vibe. You see people in the street and they stop you to tell you their news and the verdict on last minute deals on Antarctica trips. Whether they are in or not, what date they are going, who’s boat they are going on?  Dave my roommate is going on Dec 13 and I am going on Dec 14 so that is what we are comparing with.  I now know five people who are going and only one of them came here with the intention of going and getting a last minute trip. All the others are getting over the huge spontaneous purchase they just made because, well you are here and so close, it’s an incredible opportunity. Some are vibrating from excitement and others the cash they just dropped for such a trip. Dave the English guy should work on commission he has been encouraging people to go for it and all of the people he has talked to are now going.  

One foot in Chile one in Argentina

Patagonia is beautiful. It was such a lovely day of walking and great company amongst the mountains. We walked on one trail and could go no further as it was an unguarded Argentina / Chile boarder. So I had one foot in Chile and one in Argentina. 

Oh yes I almost forgot I ran into this group of guys riding BMW motorcycles they rented in Chile for 24 days and are now riding through Chile and Argentina. Oh the possibilities. I love those bikes.

It also takes a bit to get use to the fact that the sun doesn’t set until 11 pm in Ushuaia. A big night out the other day resulted in a potential incredible book, but because of my young audience on this you will have to wait for a beer and me to tell you in person or read the book if I write it when I retire. I can say it is proposed that my boat to Antarctica is a former Russian spy boat this I got from a Lithuanian ex KGB.  

Click on this link for photos from Patagonia and Ushuaia Argentina

Here is the link for the Madrid photos

Tashkent Uzbekistan and the Meat Market

How are you doing for brains?

Well I am back in the land of the living. I have access to the money in my bank again. I was able to finally hit an ATM. The first ATM that has existed in the three cities I have visited in Uzbekistan. Freedom and I was able to use my bank card and not have to do a cash withdrawal on my MasterCard, so even better.

I have been trying to do it on the cheap not knowing if I could get money in this country so it was nice to not have instant noodles for dinner again. I splurged and went to the 17th floor of my hotel for the view and dinner, only one there and the big spender my meal and two drinks cost $9. Up until that point I had spent less than a dollar that day. It was 50 cents for the minibus to the train station (and I had already paid for the train ticket) and then in Tashkent, the capital they have a metro that comes right to the train station and a change and two stops later I popped out literally at my hotel, 30 cents for a metro ride. It was so simple and so cheap.

It was an eight hour train ride that was supposed to be seven, but the train stopped with two hours left in the trip and waited for an hour while the track was being repaired. I arrived to two wedding parties having their pictures done in the lobby of my hotel and this hotel has some people staying in it. I can say as I end my trip in The Stan’s that in my month in Central Asia I did not meet any other tourists, expats, yes, but not tourists.

Today I met a guy from the States who has been here for two months trying to learn the ins and outs of doing business here as he is interested in moving here with his family and setting up some small businesses. There is a lot of potential here but it is quite difficult, so I wish them good luck.

A little tongue action for you?

I always love checking out the scene on the meat market and although this one had some woman it was not that kind of meat market. If you are looking for babushkas they were there and they had brains and you could get some tongue too and there were nice melons in the veggie market but the cool thing of the day was the intestines, sheep heads, brains and of course the tongue. To my vegetarian friends mind your eyes to all others enjoy the meat.

Well The Stan’s have been an experience and a fabulous one at that.

Click on this link for pictures from the Meat Market and Tashkent Uzbekistan

Uzbekistan, Samarkand and Bukhara

Uzbekistan; a five hour proposed trip from Dushanbe to Samarkand or Tajikistan to Uzbekistan was a 12 hour trip. The roads were pitted with huge pot holes and it took over two hours to go 65km on a dirt road to get to the Tajikistan boarder. Then once in Uzbekistan there were paved parts and then the driver would slam on the brakes because the road would drop 8” or a foot and become a gravel road for a section. To the Tajikistan boarder I took a taxi and was the only one in it, $60 then once I walked through the boarder crossing and had my passport checked half a dozen times I caught a shared taxi with three babushka sisters for $25 the rest of the way. I was happy to share with the babushkas, you just never know who you could be partnered up with and babushkas always take you under their wing. So we shared cookies, nuts had a communal lunch and went the 10 hours together sharing more nuts and fruit.

I am not sure the state of gas over here, but there are huge line ups over 3 km’s long with people pushing their vehicles to move them ahead while waiting for gas. Then there are people at the side of the road selling it out of 2 liter pop bottles or other containers.

In Uzbekistan the sites are spectacular. They are covered with blue/turquoise tiles and there are so many mausoleums and medressa’s (Islamic academies or seminaries) that they start to blend together. Samarkand has been remodeled and has pedestrian streets and modern western looking buildings, but no ATM’s. Yes, none. I have never been to a county with no ATM’s, my card has not worked at certain ATM’s before, but this country does not have them and in my opinion this is the Stan with the most tourism and still no ATM’s. Thankfully I carry American money and can convert this on the black market. The rate is better there and it is a well known fact that you change your dollars on the black market. Guys carry grocery bags full of money. I changed $40 twice. Once I got 80 000 in the licensed place and 106 000 on the black market. The largest bill in Uzbekistan is a 1000 and everyone carries wads of money around. A chocolate bar is 2000, less than a dollar or a dollar depending on what rate you are going by. Luckily I had American to use and if I didn’t there is the option of doing a cash withdrawal on your credit card, will need to revert to that in the end probably but in the mean time I am eating two minute noodles and shashlyk (meat roasted over hot coals that costs a dollar) for dinner to keep the American lasting longer.     

Bukhara is beautiful. It has incredible Medressas, mosques and streets winding you through to the many ancient attractions. The weather was great about +12 degrees Celsius. Bukhara is more authentic than Samarkand and has a wonderful vibe to it. The sites and ancient streets are spectacular to stroll through. It hasn’t been as modernized as Samarkand and therefore is more attractive. It is incredible the craftsmanship that exists over here and from so long ago. The architecture, tile work and brick work is fascinating. Let alone their current embroidery work. Speaking of which, I bought a handmade embroidered jacket today that took the girl 30 days to make. So much for trying to hold on to that American. They don’t know how much money they are losing in their economy by not having ATM’s or letting people pay by credit card there are tons of things I could have bought.  

Click on this link for pictures from Uzbekistan, Samarkand and Bukhara

The pictures with the blog don't do justice for what is included in the above link. Sorry there are tons of photos and I am sure they all start to look the same, but there are so many incredible sites.

Tajikistan, soup kitchen experience

Tajikistan and the city of Dushanbe. Well. It is interesting to say the least and it has a different vibe to it. I felt a little bit on edge and on guard. The people are great to watch, but they look at me too, like I am meat. I am a little tired of being stared at like meat. I even went for the head scarf to fit in a bit more, but it didn’t help. The clothing here is a real mix. The old men wear cloaks and caps, while old ladies or young wear velour tunics and pants in the oddest patterns with big heavy socks and slippers in the street. Then young men and school boys where dark skinny dress pants, shirts and ties and suit coats or a sweater and tie. They seem to be very well dressed and all the same. My western cloths pop right out even though it was a brown raincoat and black pants I was wearing. I forget sometimes it is my eyes, they are all brown and I am blue. Even though I don’t think mine are bright, they are bright to them and the hair. I try to pull it back to hide it, but no use the colour gives it away.

Dushanbe has some very nice buildings and tree lined streets to walk. The food is good and reasonably priced, but accommodation is expensive for what you get. I have a room for $70 a night and it didn’t have heat. So being that again it is a huge hotel and there are no guests, I have two portable radiant heaters in my room to keep me warm. The people do not make much money at all and unemployment is very high so the accommodation costs and rent don’t match up. I was talking with a lawyer from New York who is setting up a project here for a year and needed an office and place to live. She said the rents and cost of living don’t match up with the earnings. Speaking of lawyers I was met at the airport by a guide to take me to my hotel. That was luck too as the mayhem getting out of that airport was crazy and I have never had to wade through people waiting outside like that before. It was a mass of people 50 m deep waiting for one of the three flights that came in. There were long lines at immigration but I got moved ahead and through quickly. Anyway the guy that picked me up was a lawyer but because lawyers do not make much money here he is also a guide and a manager of a chemical plant.

I think the good lord gave me a reality check today. I was having a bit of a day yesterday and was not in a good mood, but I had things put back into perspective today. I was in a café and joined an English woman at her table for lunch and another German woman. Both women’s husbands are working here. I got chatting with the one and she was going to volunteer at a soup kitchen that afternoon. I asked her if she minded if I joined her and it was set. So one hour after meeting this woman we are volunteering in a soup kitchen together. There were five expat women today me being one of them that volunteered in the soup kitchen run by the sisters of charity, or the group that Mother Teresa is part of. We fed 50 people soup, bread and tea. They get a large serving of hearty chicken, noodles, vegetables and bean soup. What they do not eat right away they are loading into any container they have, cut in half pop bottles, plastic bags, jars, anything. They also do the same with their tea, filling up any bottle or jar they have. Some of them will make the soup last for days, while another woman went around and collected the cleaned bones from everyone. She will use them to make her own soup.  It was a great day for me and nice to be able to do a little bit to help the less fortunate and to give me a reality check and wake up call. So I end Tajikistan on a good note.

Click on this link to see photos from Tajikistan and the soup kitchen

  

Kyrgyzstan

Kyrgyzstan fun

This is a long post but be sure to check out the link with the photos at the end as there are tons of pictures and I am really happy with so many of the shots. Many of them are of the locals and they came out really well.

Where do I begin? It has been days of great experiences. Not spectacular sites or famous places, but just small successes and a feeling of accomplishment at the end of each day. Truly each night I think, wow what another incredible day, yeah. It is all about small successes for me here. The Stan’s are not your typical tourist destination and so far I am the only one I know of. So when I get a train to the correct place or bus from point A to point B and see what I set out to see it feels great. Everything is in Russian and I know yes, no, thank you, please and that is about it. So to be making it places with my Russian rail tickets and finding the correct platform or stop, all is good. I have been fortunate to stay at places that have had people who speak a little bit of English at them and I get them to write me notes, like I need a taxi to … Where is the bus to… I would like to buy a train ticket to… All expect the last hotel I was just at. They said they had an English speaking person, but I saw her when I arrived and not again over the next four days. No big deal though, I just walked and took the trolley car number 11 or 29 I knew they would come back to my hotel. 20 cents a ride and a taxi was only ever $4 at max.

Let’s start with the boarding crossing from Kazakhstan to Kyrgyzstan. I came from Turaz to Bishkek via Marshrutka a minibus/van. It holds 15 people and they take off for the destination when full. My luck has been that they have filled quickly and I haven’t had to wait long. It was an $8 ride and took five hours. At the boarder the immigration guy working asked me if I needed a VISA to cross, he didn’t know. Canadians don’t. Then when they went to stamp my passport another guy went through all the pages and then asked me if this page was ok. I said that was fine. There were four different points to get your passport checked at the different immigration stations and it was like they had never seen a foreign passport. I later found out that they probably haven’t it is not the common boarder crossing for foreigners and at the other one you can sometimes wait three hours to get up to the boarder crossing. This one was quick and easy. I walked across the boarder with my bags and the van soon followed and we were back on the road.   

The hotel in Bishkek was $20 a night and an old tired room. So tired it didn’t have a toilet seat on the toilet nor did any of the rooms. A western toilet with no toilet seat, I just don’t know if that means you squat or sit? Anyway for the price and other than that it was fine, more than fine it had a piping hot shower and good heat so it was excellent.

In Bishkek I was waiting for my Letter of Invitation to come from Uzbekistan via email and then once I had that I had to visit the Embassy in Bishkek to pick up and pay for my VISA. That went through quickly and my appointment with the Embassy went off without a hitch and I was in an out in less than five minutes after I paid my $75 and a VISA was in my passport.

I happened upon a travel agency in my walking of Bishkek and thought I would go in and ask about flights to Tajikistan and get some info on local travel. Well I have been having great luck with travel agents in The Stan’s and I made another friend. Another one where there was absolutely no pressure to buy and a case of people just wanting the best for you in their country. She was the first English speaking person I had talked to in days and she was lovely. She is from Bishkek and is married to an Australian. She invited me to join them for dinner the next evening and I did. We went to a great restaurant and had an excellent meal, wine and evening, they were so kind they even treated me. He is an engineer for a gold mining company that is trying to start up here and has been going through the bureaucracy for years. She went to school to be a Russian teacher, but doesn’t teach. Now get this colleagues a teacher in Kyrgyzstan makes $25 a MONTH, yes a month. The average income is $20 a month. Her friend takes on extra teaching duties such as being the lead for two grades, teaches two full time jobs, they must have staggered start times, shifts for school and is the VP and makes $200 a month.

The land between Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan was flat and the fields were plowed and there was literally tumble weed rolling down the road. Not much out there. Now I have just taken the Marshrutka to Karakol in the east of Kyrgyzstan, six hours $6. It was a beautiful drive around Lake Issyk Kul. It is the second highest alpine lake in the world after Lake Titicaca. An alpine lake is one that is above 1000m. The lake here doesn’t freeze and is surrounded by snow capped mountains. It was a picturesque drive passing through little villages where the locals ride horses, donkeys or are pulled in a wagon or sleigh by a horse or donkey. I wish I could have photographed it all, but they never turn out through a window.

On the ride to Karakol I was sitting beside a woman and her daughter in-law and one year old grandson. She spoke a bit of English and when we arrived in Karakol her son was picking them up and she offered that he would take me to my guest house. Remember I am in a little town, with at max two storey buildings and looks like it is set in the 1950’s. So he picks us up in an old Lada which runs out of gas as we pull into the gas station. Luckily he had a container with gas in the back and put some in and then carried on to the pump and put in $4, then were off. Then we stop to buy a bottle of anti-freeze, not vodka, which is prevalent here, anti-freeze for the vehicle, and then were off again. (Some people use vodka as it is cheaper.) Then we stop at the road side kiosk to pick up Pampers for the baby, which you buy individually, she picked up six and were off again. It blows me away. The woman asked me if I have Face book yet her son comes to pick us up with his gold teeth. It is as if they haven’t learned about proper dental hygiene, as lots of little kids have rotted teeth. But they have Face book.

This time we arrive at where I am staying and it is lovely, oh my, lovely. It is clean, modern, western standards, there is a toilet seat. A beautiful place I could stay here just for the accommodation let alone the scenery (surrounded by mountains.) It is a guesthouse attached to the owner’s house; it has a homey feel and great home cooked meals and I met a tourist! Well no not really he lives in Bishkek and is just here for a few days to relax and get away from the rat race of the city. Yann is from France originally but now owns a wine importing business, two wine bars and a French restaurant. He retired at 38 from the French Air Force, he was a fighter jet pilot and moved to Kyrgyzstan. He showed me some cool videos from missions he was on.

Yann and I ordered a taxi from our guest house to take us around to some of the surrounding villages so we could take some photos and see how they live. The taxi was $5 an hour and was an unmarked Mercedes sedan. I felt a little pretentious rocking up to these villages with no running water and outhouses in it. But we were well received. Yann can speak Russian so we were able to ask the cab driver to stop here and can we go here and he was able to ask the peoples permission to take their photo and make small talk with them. It was a fabulous day. Twice we came upon kids playing with old wooden sleds and I joined them for a toboggan. One group was playing with fire crackers and of course one got something in his eye, so I helped him out even though we don’t speak the same language and tried to flush out his eye with some snow. Survival of the fittest and natural selection Yann says as the elders just sat around and watched him suffer. He quickly recovered and was playing again.

The photos are great if I do say so myself, so be sure to have a look.

The region is known for its apples and you can get a kilogram for six cents. Yann made 3000 bottles of cider in another potential business adventure he is working on. He can make the cider have it bottled, corked and labeled for 12 cents a bottle. The locals are not interested in the business quite yet as they don’t think waiting for six months while it ferments is profitable when you can make vodka in a day and their staple is vodka. What you mean there are other alcoholic drinks?

I also spent a night in a Four Seasons Hotel on the shores of Lake Issyk Kul $50 a night. It was nice looking and amongst beautiful mountains and had a beach, pool, bowling alley, tennis courts etc the only one of its kind in the Region. But it wasn’t like a Western Four Seasons, even though they were going for that the toiletries were not well stocked and what was there was not full so no stocking up. But there was a toilet seat, a hot shower and I went in the pool and used the sauna. It was a weird feeling to be there after having just spent time in the villages with no running water and out houses. I was one of three guests at the resort that can accommodate over a thousand.  The other two guests were the Diplomat and Ambassador for Hungary in Central Asia and the Director of Foreign Affairs for Hungary. So that was an interesting evening. We had dinner together, went bowling, played pool and had drinks. Erno and Imre were their names, just a regular night, hanging with Hungarian officials, as you do.

It was a little odd to be in a bowling alley after having spent the previous day with kids riding sleighs older than me.

Then I arrive back to Bishkek to the hotel I was staying at to pick up my laundry. They had four days but it is Kyrgyzstan so it was still on the line and they gave it back to me frozen, lovely. I put it in my bag anyway I was trying a different place for the night. I went to a way better hotel and met some more lovely people. Steven and Asher were in town for the elections. They are from the UK and are Election Observers and consultants. They travel all over the world observing electoral processes. So they joined me for dinner as well as their very nice translator. We all went to Yann’s French Restaurant Ratatouille. He was just arriving when we were and was with an American guy Daniel who owns the Café in Karakol (six hours away) where we had went when we were there, so the six of us had an amazing meal. I had pumpkin cappuccino soup, duck breasts as my main and an incredible dessert of ice cream in pastry covered in hot fudge sauce. I could eat like that every day, it was amazing and wine too and all of this for…$20. Imagine. It would be at least a $100 meal back home.  

Click on this link for pictures from Kyrgyzstan

Kazakhstan, Turkistan, Shymkent, Turaz

All is well in Kazakhstan. I have been on the move by train, bus, taxi and foot. I have met some very lovely people along the way that are more than willing to help. There are not many people who can speak English, but I think I have lucked out and been able to find them. It is funny they all want to know why I chose here of all places to come. They don’t understand my wish to see the Stans. I think that I should keep track of how many times I get asked why did you come to Kazakhstan and why are you not married; they also don’t get that one.

I took a 14 hour night train to Shymkent and then a four hour bus ride to Turkistan to see the Yasaui Mausoleum (pictured on the left). It was an interesting visit. That is all that is there besides a really small town, so I took many photos to make it worth my visit. Again people are intrigued that I am a tourist here, sometimes they think I am a journalist. But when I say no a tourist, they say why Kazakhstan? I say why not? Well you think I am kidding when I say I am the only tourist here, well there must be others, but at the motel I just stayed at they have 40 rooms and I was the only one at the place. It is worth mentioning too as I felt like my room was a fish bowl. It had 14 foot high ceilings and two walls of glass partially covered with a curtain. It had a store like feel to it. I later found out that it use to be a mall that they converted to this motel and that I was staying in a former store. The main level is still shops and is attached to a hotel.

I arrived in Turaz and visited the market, I was a little leery of taking my camera out, but decided to and the babushkas loved it. I took photos of them and then would show them the picture and they would light right up and start smiling and giggling. So today there are some intestine, liver and sheep’s heads for you, sorry to the vegetarians in the crowd.

On the train between Shymkent and Turaz I shared the car with three other women and a three year old. The one woman spoke a little bit of English and loved hearing about my trip and looking at the pictures on my camera. She was adamant that I not take her picture, “secret” she said. It turns out I was traveling with a secret service police officer for the president. She was lovely and as it is the thing to do on trains, you share food; she fed me, bread, bananas, an orange, kabasa and a boiled egg. She wasn’t interested in my two minute noodles but we split one of my chocolate bars between the four of us.   

Click on this link for photos from Kazakhstan, Turkistan, Shymkent and Turaz

Kazakhstan, Almaty

I have arrived in Kazakhstan and it was an interesting arrival with a bag search at customs. The person who wanted to do it didn’t speak English and I am not sure if she just wanted a new watch or what because she kept pointing to her wrist and when I would show her my watch, she would say new and I would say no, not new. Then another guy comes, again the wrist thing, then rings, then necklace. Hello I have a backpack, no jewelry and no place in that backpack for anything with my snowsuit in there. Then the third guy comes and he can speak English and he wants to know if I bought any jewelry or have a new watch. No, ok show us the bag. Oh, only cloths, yes, only cloths. Ok show her and then go. Fine. But the funny part is that they were not checking the numerous other people coming from Abu Dhabi (that’s where we were coming from) with their huge duty free bags and I mean huge and each person had two to four bags of shopping. The overhead storage on the plane was full because of all these peoples shopping. If you wanted jewelry you picked the wrong person.

Then the “taxi” ride. He quoted one price and then changed it to 12 times the original price once we got to the hotel. Luckily I was able to get out of the car with my bags and not have him take off with them as we were arguing over the price. I went into the hotel and again luckily the girl on the desk spoke a bit of English which the driver said no one at that hotel does. He must have been hoping. So she and he get into it too and I end up paying four times what he said and the price I had expected to have to pay from my Lonely Planet book. It was not a nice way to start off here, but I think my Zen state is back now and hopefully this post is not too negative. But it makes for a good story.

I had a great walk around Almaty with a nice trip through a market where you could watch a guy butchering a cow in his truck and a nice babushka gave me free dill pickles. There is a really cool looking Russian Orthodox Church that even though it doesn’t look like it is it made entirely of wood, even the nails are wood.  

All is going much smoother than when I arrived. I have met very friendly people who are willing to help with everything. It has been wonderful. I got some invaluable information on the area and neighboring countries from David at Stan Tours. He was wonderful and helped me get my Visas; I know he will read this, so thank you. You are very kind and extremely knowledgeable thank you for giving me all the information and who could have thought that you would do all that for me for free. You are lovely, thank you.  So Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan here I come.

Almaty is surrounded by mountains and I was able to head out to them by local bus, 50 cent bus rides are great. The views (before the thick fog came in) were amazing. The weather quickly changed here and it went from being a no jacket day to being bundled up in a scarf, toque, winter coat and looking to have a pair of boots day. At one point I was freezing and it has now gone from me have three showers a day to get the sweat off of me to having three to warm up. I did invest in a pair of winter boots today though, so no more wet, cold feet.

In the mountains outside of Almaty is Medeu where they have an outdoor speed skating track, what a beautiful setting to skate in. Further up the mountains was the ski hill and lots of hiking in the area. 

Click on this link for pictures from Almaty Kazakhstan

Maldives

Having fun diving in the Maldives.

The Maldives are wonderful. Wow if you would like a little bit of paradise you should make a trip to the Maldives. There are over 2000 islands. I am on a little one called Asdu Sun Island and you can walk around its perimeter in less than 5 minutes and easily kayak around the island. There are about 30 bungalows on the perimeter of the property facing the beach and only seven of them are occupied right now. There are 13 guests on the island. There is one restaurant/bar an office and a dive shop. It is a wonderful, authentic, unspoiled beachfront and island, beautiful and relaxing. The turquoise water and coral around this island are the best I have ever seen. The coral is vibrant and there are huge schools of fish it is like swimming into a wall of them at times. Today I was so close to a sea turtle I could touch it. I have seen eagle rays, huge ones, over 3 ft in diameter. I saw two Moray eels when I was diving. It was also huge. It was about 9 ft long and a foot deep with a jaw that spanned about 10 in.  There are tons of table coral. They are flat and look like tables, hence the name. There are unicorn fish; they have a “horn” coming out their front. There are tones of beautiful, colourful fish. One of my favorites is the Sweet lips. They are yellow and black with strips on their bodies and spots on their tails. It is like swimming and diving in an aquarium. This morning there were hundreds of dolphins swimming close to the island, jumping and spinning in the air, it was like being at a Sea World show, but better, it was in their natural habitat and amongst a beautiful setting. What a way to eat breakfast, watching a dolphin show from my table.

Asdu Sun Island is pictured on the right. 

The plane ride into the main island was really cool. I came in at night and you know how the runway is lit to guide the pilots in? Well those runway lights are in the water here and the plane was so low for what seemed like such a long time over the water. The plane looked like it was 5 feet above the water. The wind from the jets was pushing the water. It was really cool. I was happy to have the window seat.

Once I came out of the airport right there at the exit was the water and a boat was waiting there to take me to the island I was staying on. It was a speed boat and took 45 minutes to get there in the pitch black a little unnerving. I was the only passenger and there were 7 men on the boat. Which part was the unnerving part, the pitch black or 7 men? I just chatted them up and kept their minds preoccupied.  Luckily that made many eyes to watch out for boats, islands, coral and waves. A few times we went crashing over waves and smashing back down.  

If you get the chance make a trip here if you are a diver or like snorkeling this is the place for you. Wow!

I got some great underwater pictures as well. Man underwater cameras have come a long way since I use to buy the disposable ones. The dive shop had a new one they were trying out and I was able to get some of the photos from our dive. This is an Anemone that we saw.   

Click on this link for photos from the Maldives

Halloween, Backwaters and being blessed by an elephant, India and Sri Lanka

Happy Belated Halloween! We celebrated in style by carving watermelons and dressing up. It was a great time had by part of the group. There was a Thai Boxer (Michelle), a peacock (Emma), a pirate (Gabby), a cat (Cornelia), a pumpkin (Nadia) and Effie from the Hunger Games (Me). Pumpkins weren’t available so watermelons were used instead, a flashlight on a cell phone as a candle and you have a carved “pumpkin.” What creative backpackers can pull off when they use their imagination and check their packs for supplies and what you don’t have you pick up at the market or souk for less than a dollar.

I was blessed by an elephant. At one of the many temples we have visited they had an elephant for you to be blessed by. Give your donation (20 cents) to the guy or put it in the elephants trunk and it gives it to the guy for you and then it lifts its trunk and places it on your head giving you blessings. It was a cool experience and a heavy trunk.

Grace we had to be sure to keep our windows closed at one hotel to keep the monkey visitors out, I got a picture of the sign for you.

We went to a museum where they had the cloth that Gandhi was wearing when he was shot.

We visited a spice garden and had a home cooked meal served at their house on banana leaves. Their garden was jammed pack with spices and plants. It was thick jungle like and we saw some cool spiders there also, how appropriate being Halloween. We went to a tea plantation and factory. It was very informative and the aroma great. The smell of tea was thick throughout the air. We couldn’t take pictures inside the factory. But here goes the description. They pick the leaves by hand or by hand using clippers. They cut it so that there are two leaves and a bud on each piece. It gets dried, chopped, mashed, dried and packed. It goes from being a bright green leaf to looking like ground dirt. As we were driving there were women picking so we were able to stop and check out their efforts in the tea fields.

We had a home stay in the Backwaters it would have been nicer to have had more time there. The Backwaters are manmade rivers that flow through Kerala. There was wealth there and our home stay was in a huge house with many bedrooms and common areas. Not what I expected to see in India. The children are picked up by boat or canoe so I got some school boat and school canoe photos. Mable was the daughter of the people we were staying with and we had extra watermelons so we continued Halloween for another day and carved them with her, a first for her to celebrate Halloween.

I have left India now and am in the Maldives. I had a stopover in Sri Lanka and with permission from the Chief Immigration officer I was allowed to leave the airport and have an afternoon in Sri Lanka waiting for my transfer. I just asked if I could go out of the airport and it was ask this person at transfers, ask this person at Immigration, ask the Chief Immigration officer who asked someone else and it was yes, yes. It sounds complicated but only took 10 minutes. So I changed $10 for the day if you can believe it and still had over $2 left after taking 4 bus rides, two tuk tuk rides, buying three drinks and a key chain. A good cheap excursion and better than sitting in the airport all day. Also because I was in transit I was given a free meal at the airport that I ate once I returned. I wasn’t delayed this was my regular scheduled flight but when I arrived I was told that people in transit must go to the transit desk so I did and they gave me a meal voucher. It was unusual, but nice.

It was a great month in India with great people and wonderful experiences.    

India, Sri Lanka, Halloween, Backwaters and being blessed by an elephant photos. Click on this link to see them

India, Mudumallai, Mysore and Mamallapuram

With this toe ring I they wed. Today we crashed four weddings before we even brushed our teeth this morning. If you are married you have a toe ring on your second toe. So part of the ceremony is putting on the toe ring amongst smashing coconuts, throwing flowers, washing peoples feet in milk and yogurt and putting a third eye on their forehead.

We were not dressed in our finest with our hair done or teeth brushed. We had just gotten off a 12 hour night train and went to see a temple on our way to breakfast when there were four weddings taking place at the same time at the temple. We were invited to have front row seats and at the end our pictures taken with the not so happy couple. The bride did not smile throughout the ceremony and it made us wonder what it was all about. Was this the first time she saw her husband? Arranged marriages in India. Did she have a love relationship and wasn’t allowed to pursue it and had to marry this guy? Who knows?  But like I said all this done before we even brushed our teeth after that “lovely” night train with 64 other people in our car. Weddings in the South take place on Sunday at 8:30am.

In Mysore we happened upon elephants in the back of trucks being transported after a festival. There must have been a least a dozen and the elephants were all painted up for the festivities.

Mysore has a beautiful palace that is even prettier at night because it is illuminated with full size light bulbs all over the whole structure.

We went to Chamundi hills temple with the masses and witnessed bananas being pelted at the monument and coconuts being smashed all in offerings to the gods. There were thousands of people there. Then we came down a thousand or more steps with the masses on their pilgrimage.

We went to a village and saw that families there live with their cows and livestock inside the house in the main living space. One side of the open room was the TV and the other side was shi**ing cows and ox. I have never seen the animals right in the house before. This village was old school as well with buckets they send down the well on a rope to retrieve water.

These are wild elephants we saw as we were driving down the road.

We stayed in another jungle “resort.” There were elephants along the perimeter when we went to go back to our bungalow from dinner in the main area. We were all spread out along the property and the others had wild elephants outside their door in the night. They could see the droppings and branches down off the tree in the morning. There were cannon like sounds going off in the night to ward off the animals. We went on a Jeep Safari and saw lots of spotted deer, peacocks and elephants, but no tigers.

We have been spending lots of time on the road and seeing lots of country side. The bus we had left a lot to be desired as far as a/c and leg room were concerned. We did happen upon a livestock auction that we stopped to check out. You can get a “nice” cow and calf for $400. There were ox there too and we witnessed a guy shaving off part of the horns with a large knife to make them look cleaner.

Oh yes a cow head butted me the other day as I was walking down the street in Mysore. Cows are everywhere roaming freely and this one just decided it was going to push into my torso with its head and horns.

In Mamallapuram (which is on the East Coast of India) we had bicycles for the day to ride around to the many stone archeological sites. The bikes were interesting. Hard seats with narrow handle bars which made for difficult turns but a great way to get around in this laid back backpacker town with not much traffic.

There is a great big boulder here that they call the butterball, and many ornately carved out elephants, gods, animals and temples.  

Barry the 70 year old former doctor went to the hospital today as he was having some urinary problems or prostate problems and wanted a urine test done. His emergency room visit cost 350 rupees or $7. Yes $7. It was a short lived illness as he was swimming only a few hours later and feeling much better.

A few people have had the Delhi belly this week and have been down for the count for a few days.

We have been able to get some nice seafood in this town and I have taken advantage of the jumbo tiger shrimp and calamari. They bring it out to the table for you to see it before it is cooked.

A cyclone has been going through the south of India but luckily we have only had heavy rain and there doesn’t seem to be any in our current town. It was a good day to have it rain as we spent 10 hours in a bus. When we arrived in Madurai the streets were barricaded off and there seemed to be demonstrators all over the place. At the hotel there is a notice that no alcohol is to be served for two days under government mandate. It must be to keep the protestors in line.

Click on this link for more photos from the South of India

Kochi, South India

South India: Pictured are the Chinese fishing nets in Kochi.

We have been in Kochi and are now in the jungle after an 11 hour day of trains and non air conditioned busses. South India is very different in comparison to the north. It is very lush, green and quiet. But very hot and humid, 100% humidity and it made it hard to breath with the thick air in Kochi.

Kochi is a nice town on the west coast with lots of fish and cultural shows. They follow traffic rules and do not excessively use their horns. Our ears don’t know what to do with the quiet. We took a ferry to see the different peninsulas in Kochi. We had a great all you can eat lunch for $2 served on a banana leaf. The food just kept coming, served at our place out of silver buckets. Bottomless curries.

We are now in the jungle and took a hike today. Luckily I didn’t have a run in with the leeches but some did just small trickles of blood. There are wild elephants in the area and there are watch towers manned in the evening to protect the farmer’s crops from the elephants coming to raid them.

Click on this link for photos from Kochi and the Jungle in India

Varanasi Days 13 - 14 India

Day 13 and 14: Varanasi India

The photo waas taken on the Ganges in Varanasi.

The 12 hour night train to Varanasi went well. There were about 60 beds in the train car and they were separated into areas of eight, triple bunks and then two length ways across when in most trains it would be the corridor, not here, pack them in and make a small alley way through. Each area of eight is only separated by curtains, no doors to lock just curtains. It was interesting; I slept ok with my ear plugs in.

Varanasi is another large city and the sounds of Varanasi are honk, honk, honnnnnnnnk, continuous honking 24 hours a day. It is necessary to wear ear plugs while sleeping and even that doesn’t block it out. The pollution is intense and it has made me happy that we have visited villages and small towns along the way as the traffic is crazy and it is so busy.

The Ganges River is in Varanasi and being around it has been a life lesson. The vibe in that area is incredible. Hindu’s cremate their loved ones on the banks of the river. There are continuously fires burning along the side and you know that that is a person. We took a sunset and then a sunrise boat trip along the Ganges and saw many fires burning at night and in the morning. They cremate their loved ones along the river bank and then put their ashes in the river.

The fires are bodies being cremated.

If you are a monk or a pregnant woman they don’t cremate them so they are tied to a rock and sunk in the Ganges. Then people bath in this river and do their laundry too. That is a bit much.

We were in an alleyway and a body came past us on a bamboo stretcher and then when we were walking to a temple on the bank we saw a body stacked up amongst firewood ready to be burned. It is a very spiritual place and Hindu’s are to visit at least once in their lifetime and send a marigold flower and candle down the river making a wish.

Our guide made an Amazing Race for us through Varanasi and it was wicked. My team was awesome and we won! Yeah team. We were to take a minimum of three modes of transport and if you count piggy backing like we did we took 11 modes. It was awesome. For team spirit we wrapped scarves on our heads kind of like turbans and struck out to three temples, a bakery, a lassie shop (like a yogurt shake) and had to buy the cheapest Shiva statue we could find. While getting receipts for purchases along the way and it is India there are no cash registers for receipts. It was a ton of fun and we were efficient and our guide was shocked when our team made it back an hour and an hour and a half before the others. We got 98 points the others 84 and 80.

Got to love India the power just went out again. Good thing this thing has battery backup. It usually goes out at least a few times a day.  

Click on this link for photos from Varanasi India, remember there are captions there so you know what the photos are about

Orcha and Alipura India

This guy was hanging out front of the castle.

Day 10: Orchar and Alipura

We had a fantastic day today. It was filled with cool palaces, temples and cultural experiences. I feel like I have been snap happy with all the photos, but I have actually been holding back as the bus and tuk tuk rides have been incredible but you cannot capture it through the bus window or at the chaotic rate that a tuk tuk moves. In the bus today we were stopped for a train crossing and the road was in chaos. While sitting there, there was a guy plucking a chicken and people going to the bathroom anywhere. The smell of urine emanates and I am sure I have seen over a hundred people peeing now.

We did a cooking class today. It was $5 and that included the meal of what we made that is shown above. There must have been about 10 dishes. I took pictures of the recipes so those that want to make them can. The food turned out really well and it was an excellent experience in a villager’s home. It was all vegetarian dishes.

We went to a paper factory and watched paper being made out of scarps of material. In the factory there was a large pile of certificates just laying around that said Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery on them, anyone can be a doctor here, just need to put your name on that piece of paper. No problem.

There are beautiful ruins, castles and temples in Orcha that we visited. One is the Raj Mahal. The castle was beautiful and there are many neat temples along the river. The structures reminded me of Ankor Wat in Cambodia.  

We are now in Alipura staying in a castle. The rooms are very cool and quite large. Each one is different and ours has many curtains throughout it like a palace. They have a lot of character and we are the only ones here. There is marble everywhere. In Michelle and Zeena’s room their beds have mirrors on the head and foot boards.

It is Michelle’s 23 birthday so we had a party. Nothing like dancing in the courtyard of a castle to cassette tapes while having some Indian rum. The hotel staff went 30 km’s away to get her a “milk cake” (made out of condensed milk), as they do not do cakes over here or birthday cakes. It had the edible tin foil on it. They also put up balloons.

The monkeys were out in full force today Grace. Got you some pictures.

Day 11: Alipura to Khajuraho

We took a bus for 2 hours to Khajuraho Temples or the Western Group Temples. On the way we drove by an accident between a local bus, which are usually packed to the gills and a transport truck. Today we learned that 17 people died in the accident and 19 people were injured and in the hospital.

We visited the Khajuraho Temples which were very neat and from 950 AD. They were discovered in the 20^th century covered with jungle growth. They reminded me of the temples at Ankor Wat, but these ones are covered in erotic carvings and Karma Sutra poses. They are very graphic and some of the photos are x-rated.

This morning a group of us was up and doing yoga with a guru at 6am for a two hour class on the roof top patio of the palace. What a backdrop. Barry was camera happy and documented the class in photos on all the participants cameras.

We walked through the village today and continually saw people at the local wells collecting water. We saw a woman sitting in her door way surrounded by children while she worked making cigarettes. If she makes 1000 she gets $2.

We visited the hospital where it costs 2 rupees to see the doctor and 50 rupees are needed to make $1. At the hospital it had about half a dozen rooms. We saw the delivery room and at the wash station it appreared they were reusing the rubber gloves.

We visited the village police station where they had two cells, one for woman, with a curtain and one without a curtain for men.

We also went to a school and provided the school with school supplies. They do not have desks and sit on a runner of carpet with their note book. They practiced their ABC’s for us with a leader at the front instructing the group and they did their numbers for us.

We just happened to walk up the street and see a goat giving birth.

The woman make patties of manure and hay with their bare hands and use this patties as fuel for cooking.

We are off to a 12 hour night train tonight to Varanasi and will be spending a couple of nights there. Our guide has arranged an Amazing Race activity that is to take 3 -4 hours for us to do in teams. Should be fun.

Click on this link for photos from Orcha and Alipura, remember the captions are there so you know what you are looking at