Sunday, April 4, 2010
Welcome to Jordan!
What a change! After India traveling in Jordan felt like being catapulted into civilization and cold weather (9 degrees and rain) at the same time. Everything worked so smoothly: our airport pick up held a massive sign with our name, the hotel had our reservation, was equipped with wifi, satellite TV and fridge.
On the streets we were greeted with a friendly "welcome to Jordan", not only from shop owners, but police, bakers, kids and moms. While driving through the frequent military checkpoints with our rental car, we were always stopped. But not because we looked suspicious, no, the guys at the checkpoints simply were interested in us: 'where do you come from, where are you going, welcome to Jordan'. Jordanians are just generously nice and curious and they are honest people who do not like to bargain or fool you, a rarity in the Middle East and another welcoming change from India.
In our 2,5 weeks in Jordan we were joined by G's mom, who was excited to be on her first independent trip. The team of three traveled very well together. We spent the days looking at old Roman ruins, crusader castles, mosaic floors, and nabataen tombs; relaxing at the Dead Sea and the Red Sea; hiking in the heat through deep canyons, to desert castles and around Petra.
Jordan is a great little country which is easily discovered by car, people are extremely friendly, and they have nice food with mezze and shish kebab the lot. All in all the 2.5 weeks went in a fly and after G's mom returned to Germany, we decided to extend summer again and crossed the Red Sea into Egypt.
On the streets we were greeted with a friendly "welcome to Jordan", not only from shop owners, but police, bakers, kids and moms. While driving through the frequent military checkpoints with our rental car, we were always stopped. But not because we looked suspicious, no, the guys at the checkpoints simply were interested in us: 'where do you come from, where are you going, welcome to Jordan'. Jordanians are just generously nice and curious and they are honest people who do not like to bargain or fool you, a rarity in the Middle East and another welcoming change from India.
In our 2,5 weeks in Jordan we were joined by G's mom, who was excited to be on her first independent trip. The team of three traveled very well together. We spent the days looking at old Roman ruins, crusader castles, mosaic floors, and nabataen tombs; relaxing at the Dead Sea and the Red Sea; hiking in the heat through deep canyons, to desert castles and around Petra.
Jordan is a great little country which is easily discovered by car, people are extremely friendly, and they have nice food with mezze and shish kebab the lot. All in all the 2.5 weeks went in a fly and after G's mom returned to Germany, we decided to extend summer again and crossed the Red Sea into Egypt.
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Incredible India!
Incredible India! This is the claim of a massive ad campaign of the Indian Ministry of Tourism and it is a very good one-liner for our 3 months experience in this country.India is incredible on all scales:
- India is an emerging country as well as one of the poorest countries in the world. We have never seen so much poverty and such a big divide between rich and poor in our lifes. India is developing at a rapid pace, no doubt about it, but it is like the rich pockets are islands in an ocean of poverty. There are people living on the street on every corner, with a small exception of Kerala, the richest state in southern India. There are gangs of street children and as Indians confirmed: begging is big business in India. So remember the scenes from Slumdog Millionaire and you will know what we are talking about. Children are also still abducted and used as beggars, circus kids, servants etc. The overall literacy rate is around 60 per cent, but only at 48 for women. On the gender equality index India ranks 114th out of 134 countries measured. And this is all happening in the year 2010!
- India has an incredible cultural and religious richness. There are magnificent Hindu, Jain and Sikh temples, mosques and Christian churches almost everywhere with richly adored columns and facades where a stream of faithful go in and out at every hour of the day. Some of the temples are over 2000 years old and were built with an eye for detail and proportion that has unfortunately gone missing in modern India. Religious ceremonies take place at home and are ingrained in daily life, in the morning candles are lit and put in house altars, water ceremonies are performed in Rajasthan on every rooftop, incense is spread in Syrian Christian houses in Kerala. There are great colonial buildings in all big cities, most of them dilapidated which gives them a somehow morbid charm. In Rajasthan we visited forts and palaces and you could still feel the grandeur of the height of Maharajahs' times. It is somehow bizarre to think that the Rajs of the time drove around in the desert in a Buick amidst camel and buffalo carts.
- India is a vast country and thus offers a variety of climates which made us use again all of our clothes. In our Xmas holiday on the Andamans we were fortunate to swim in pristine waters and sunbath under coconut trees (swimmers needed only). South India embraced us with humidity day and night, but also a lush and green landscape with endless rice fields and lovely backwater canals in Kerala (long pants only needed at night to fight off the ferocious mosquitoes). The hillside is sprinkled with tea bushes and spice gardens and it does get cold at night. We spent an evening huddled around a fire place in Kodaikanal which is in the hills in Southern India (with all our clothes on)! We were happy to flee sweating South India to Goa where we found a quiet beach and cool nights. In Hampi, the hills were scattered with big boulders, it looks like a giant has played stone lego, just amazing. And finally in Rajasthan, the Thar desert made us wonder how people are surviving in this harsh climate where summer temperatures sore to 48 degrees.
- India is loud, dirty, smelly and just in your face. The holy cows roam the streets, accompanied by dogs, pigs, and goats, everywhere even in major cities. They feed off rubbish and leave a trail of feces behind them. Open sewers and the lack of sanitation facilities as well as waste collection is a challenge for eyes, nose and feet (definitely no flip flops). Traffic is increasing and if there is one rule in the chaos it is to use your horn frequently and loudly. As fascinating as the religious diversity is, if you are woken up every morning at five by squeaking loudspeakers blaring Hindu or Muslim hymns, it can be a bit annoying.
- India's people are a strange bunch. Tourism has been here for over 30 years, but people are still excited to see a white person, they give you the biggest smile in the world. If we went out in the morning hours, busloads of school children would surround us and want to know: what's your name, where are you from? And they had the biggest smile on their face as well. We were stunned to find out that English is not spoken widely, but rather the exception. Thinking about the low literacy rate and poor government schooling system it quickly makes sense why this is the case. People involved in tourism are mostly the 'business' type of guys, whatever you need or inquire they have a brother, uncle, friend who can help you. Because wages are so low, everything works on commission, which is pretty bad because you get shown shops and hotels you really don't want to see. Also in some places - mostly in Northern India - people constantly hassle you if you want to buy something "just looking". This makes sightseeing a bit stressful. Therefore, we sometimes adopted travel nationalities: We were from Uzbekistan and were taxi drivers there. This worked pretty well, people left us in peace or we simple stated that we don't speak English.
In a nutshell, incredible India left us quite indifferent, evoking neither hate nor love (as most friends of ours predicted). We encountered some very puzzling moments and striking beauty of some parts of India, but overall we cannot understand some travelers' euphoria for this subcontinent.
Finally, for your entertainment a typical street scene video of Old Delhi (switch on your speakers!!):
Thursday, December 31, 2009
G&T wish you a Happy New Year from India
It's been a while since we've updated our blog and many exciting things have happened since Nepal. So, we believe the 31st of December is a perfect day to send you all the best wishes for 2010 and also give you a brief update how we like India so far.Speaking of which, how do we like India? Well, to be honest, even after one month here we are still struggling a bit. Our first stop Varanasi was India "full on": fascinating on the one hand with everything that's going around the holy river Ganges (the daily swimming and cleansing rituals as well as the frequent and for anyone accessible body cremations), shocking on the other hand with the huge amounts of waste, its inescapable smell, India's poverty and people using public space as toilet literally everywhere.
After Varanasi we already needed some break by escaping to a lovely mangrove national park south of Kolkata called the Sunderbans where we tried to spot the fearsome Bengal Tiger. Even more relaxing was our two week Christmas holiday on the Anderman Islands. Basicly, we've spent the time sleeping in our bamboo hut, eating fresh fish, reading plenty of books and observing the Islands' perfect underwater life. We even saw a great big turtle as well as an octopus while snorkeling that was pretty special.
So ... now we are back on the mainland, so to speak back to Indian reality and willing to give India another chance. Just today we had a brilliant travel planning day where we decided to spend some more time in Kerala in South India, but also travel to Rajastan which was not on our travel agenda so far. Originally we intended to travel through Iran into Turkey, but recent events make this a not too wise choice. We gladly found a great alternative today!! Keep coming back for the news...
Monday, November 30, 2009
Nepal
Nepal was different to all the other places we have visited so far. Why? Firstly, we did not travel on our own, but had two companions, Andrea and Philipp. This was great, especially as both are keen hikers and as such they chased us up high mountains. Secondly, Nepal's capital Kathmandu is a monster in terms of traffic, people, poverty, dust and dirt. A real introduction to what will come in India (apparently, this is "India light" here). Thirdly, this was a real outdoors country, we - the sunshine daywalkers - did two hikes, all together 18 days of walking 5-8 hours a day. And lastly, it was a country where we had all travel illnesses you can think off, including a visit to a hospital (see the picture story below).
Our first trek took us to the Annapurna region, famous for its great scenery of 6000-8000m high mountains. We organised a guide and a porter, because we thought that walking alone will be challenging enough, so we spared ourselves carrying our big backpacks as well. This decision proofed to be right as we had to gain 1500m altitude in the first two days and this by walking up stairs the whole time! The trek took us in a loop to the Annapurna Basecamp which is at 4100m altitude. The scenery on the whole trek was amazing and changed with gaining altitude: first rice fields, then rhododendron and pine forest, followed by low bushes. All in front of a panorama of white snow capped mountains. We were extremely lucky with the weather as well, we had blue sky and sunshine for 11 days straight. Every night we stayed at basic lodges which offered 2 beds and wooden walls to separate you from your neighbours (not their snoring), unnecessary to say that earplugs as well as a head torch were essentials. Asian squat toilets and a basic, sometimes hot shower where mostly across a little courtyard. The higher we got the colder it was, especially at night where temperature easily hit the minus 10 degree mark at the two base camps. The huts cooked mostly over open fire or with a 2 stove gas cooker and for such little means they offered a huge variety of food: from spaghetti to pizza to Mars rolls (a Mars bar wrapped in dough and then deep fried). As we were four, we could always order an array of dishes and test most what was on the menu. Surprisingly, the national park authorities were very organised and every lodge offered the same menue, only prices increased with altitude.
After our first trek we had to go back to Kathmandu for a couple of days rest, sightseeing (for Andrea and Phil), visa organisation (for us), and not least laundry. We also witnessed the country's instable political landscape, as a strike by the Maoist party delayed our departure for our second trek by a day. Nepal has abandoned its monarchy last year, but the recent government is at disarray to say the least. A coalition of 22 parties is in charge, but only when the biggest party, the Maoists, don't block the parliament (which happened for the last 5 months).
So a day late, we made our 10hr journey to cover 160km of pretty bad dirt road to reach the beginning of our 7 day Langtang walk. Our second walk led along a river for 2 days until we reached an open valley. We stayed at a village at 3800m and climbed the 4984m high Tsergo Ri peak (a 5000m high mountain for our sake of arguing). Normally, the ascent should be fairly easy, but unfortunately it snowed a couple of days before we arrived and the trail was covered in snow which left us a bit disoriented. Without a trail we then had to climb over big boulders and walk through deep snow to reach the top. Needless to say that boulder jumping above 4500m and with a chilling wind in the face was quite strenuous. Finally, we made it and G could only think of getting back down soon so breathing would be a bit more comfortable, T on the other hand loved the climb up and took the time to film the top (see video below).
After the second trek and another 10hr public bus ride back into the Capital, we soon had to farewell Andrea and Phil, which was very sad as both of them proved to be perfect mountain companions. After their departure, we took life in KTM easy, did some sightseeing, spend another day at the Indian embassy to receive our visa (in total it took us 13 hours over 2 days), and ate a lot to spoil our bodies after nearly 3 weeks of hiking. After a week in KTM we left to our second last destination in Nepal: Chitwan Nationalpark. The park is in the south, so nice warm temperatures compared to KTM where the winter is settling in (4 degrees at night). We chose a nice hotel next to a river where we are currently planning our first weeks in India. We also saw some very interesting wildlife on a jungle walk and on the back of an elephant: 3 crocodiles and 3 rhinos, all wild!
We will leave here soon to see the birthplace of Buddha, which is still in Nepal and then with a lot of good karma that we will gain there, we are off to India.
So, will G&T come back to Nepal on an ongoing basis like so many others? Probably not, although we loved the mountain scenery, we have to admit that we remain "1-2 day warm weather, sunshine walkers" rather than "serious high mountain trekkers". Still, Nepal is a very amazing country!!
Our first trek took us to the Annapurna region, famous for its great scenery of 6000-8000m high mountains. We organised a guide and a porter, because we thought that walking alone will be challenging enough, so we spared ourselves carrying our big backpacks as well. This decision proofed to be right as we had to gain 1500m altitude in the first two days and this by walking up stairs the whole time! The trek took us in a loop to the Annapurna Basecamp which is at 4100m altitude. The scenery on the whole trek was amazing and changed with gaining altitude: first rice fields, then rhododendron and pine forest, followed by low bushes. All in front of a panorama of white snow capped mountains. We were extremely lucky with the weather as well, we had blue sky and sunshine for 11 days straight. Every night we stayed at basic lodges which offered 2 beds and wooden walls to separate you from your neighbours (not their snoring), unnecessary to say that earplugs as well as a head torch were essentials. Asian squat toilets and a basic, sometimes hot shower where mostly across a little courtyard. The higher we got the colder it was, especially at night where temperature easily hit the minus 10 degree mark at the two base camps. The huts cooked mostly over open fire or with a 2 stove gas cooker and for such little means they offered a huge variety of food: from spaghetti to pizza to Mars rolls (a Mars bar wrapped in dough and then deep fried). As we were four, we could always order an array of dishes and test most what was on the menu. Surprisingly, the national park authorities were very organised and every lodge offered the same menue, only prices increased with altitude.
After our first trek we had to go back to Kathmandu for a couple of days rest, sightseeing (for Andrea and Phil), visa organisation (for us), and not least laundry. We also witnessed the country's instable political landscape, as a strike by the Maoist party delayed our departure for our second trek by a day. Nepal has abandoned its monarchy last year, but the recent government is at disarray to say the least. A coalition of 22 parties is in charge, but only when the biggest party, the Maoists, don't block the parliament (which happened for the last 5 months).
So a day late, we made our 10hr journey to cover 160km of pretty bad dirt road to reach the beginning of our 7 day Langtang walk. Our second walk led along a river for 2 days until we reached an open valley. We stayed at a village at 3800m and climbed the 4984m high Tsergo Ri peak (a 5000m high mountain for our sake of arguing). Normally, the ascent should be fairly easy, but unfortunately it snowed a couple of days before we arrived and the trail was covered in snow which left us a bit disoriented. Without a trail we then had to climb over big boulders and walk through deep snow to reach the top. Needless to say that boulder jumping above 4500m and with a chilling wind in the face was quite strenuous. Finally, we made it and G could only think of getting back down soon so breathing would be a bit more comfortable, T on the other hand loved the climb up and took the time to film the top (see video below).
After the second trek and another 10hr public bus ride back into the Capital, we soon had to farewell Andrea and Phil, which was very sad as both of them proved to be perfect mountain companions. After their departure, we took life in KTM easy, did some sightseeing, spend another day at the Indian embassy to receive our visa (in total it took us 13 hours over 2 days), and ate a lot to spoil our bodies after nearly 3 weeks of hiking. After a week in KTM we left to our second last destination in Nepal: Chitwan Nationalpark. The park is in the south, so nice warm temperatures compared to KTM where the winter is settling in (4 degrees at night). We chose a nice hotel next to a river where we are currently planning our first weeks in India. We also saw some very interesting wildlife on a jungle walk and on the back of an elephant: 3 crocodiles and 3 rhinos, all wild!
We will leave here soon to see the birthplace of Buddha, which is still in Nepal and then with a lot of good karma that we will gain there, we are off to India.
So, will G&T come back to Nepal on an ongoing basis like so many others? Probably not, although we loved the mountain scenery, we have to admit that we remain "1-2 day warm weather, sunshine walkers" rather than "serious high mountain trekkers". Still, Nepal is a very amazing country!!
Thursday, November 26, 2009
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
The Stans - Kazakhstan & Uzbekistan
The Stans were originally the highlight of our Bordertrekkers trip. Unfortunately due to G's father illness and her 5.5 week stay in Germany it got drastically reduced to just a week in Almaty (Kazakhstan) and a short 2 week round trip through Uzbekistan. Nevertheless, G&T obviously were really happy to continue their trip and The Stans presented us with some true marvels:
First of all, after nearly three months of Chinese (vegetable) food, Almaty in Uzbekistan was such a welcoming change for T that he had a meet shashlik extravaganza at least twice a day. The Kazakh do know how to do a good skewer of meet and also have great beer to accompany it (Derbes). Apart from that (and the abundance of well dressed Kazakh women), I found Almaty surprisingly boring with typical Soviet style architecture dominating the streets and no real city centre to do people watching. Venturing outside the city, some amazing sites are within a day trip distance from Almaty: First of all Chimbulak, a ski resort, where snow capped mountains can be seen even in summer. And secondly Charyn Canyon, the Grand Canyon of Kazakhstan which with its deep gorges and steep red rocks it does look as impressive as its American counterpart.
Arriving in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, felt like leaving Asia and entering the Middle East. Huge Islamic bazaars and mosques as opposed to Soviet style basilicas, Muslim women dress code as opposed to Western style fashion, more Uzbek language as opposed to just Russian.
After finally meeting G at the airport in Tashkent, the two of us went on a "Arabian Nights" / "1001 Nacht" trip through the ancient cities of Khiva, Bukhara, and Samarkand with a side excursion to the horrible environmental disaster site of the Aral sea. All three cities were scattered with old mosques and medressas (Islamic schools) dating back to the 13th century (after the Mongols left most of Central Asia destroyed). All buildings were true marvels of old times and had beautiful tile work on display, mostly held in blue colours. However, due to a keen renovation government programme, most of the old buildings were a bit over renovated and quite often it was hard to imagine that the site in front of us dated back nearly thousand years. Somehow it felt like walking within a giant museum rather than a living old town. Nevertheless, all buildings were very impressive and Bordertrekkers recommend Uzbekistan as a travel destination (G more than T).
A welcoming change to old buildings although quite daunting was the trip to a desert landscape formerly known as Aral Sea. A too ambitious Soviet project to grow cotton in a desert lead to an impressively complex irrigation system all over Uzbekistan, but also to a disastrous disappearing of the lake and many related health problems for the people living there. We visited the fishing village of Moynak where old fishing ships are stranded on sand. Apparently, since the start of the cotton project in the 60s, water levels fell by 18 meters and the lake has declined to 10% of it original size!!
So ... The Stans fascinated us enough to put them on the list of potential destinations in the future, but we will make sure to come in summer (when it's warm) and seriously brush up our Russian (as communication without Russian is difficult).
First of all, after nearly three months of Chinese (vegetable) food, Almaty in Uzbekistan was such a welcoming change for T that he had a meet shashlik extravaganza at least twice a day. The Kazakh do know how to do a good skewer of meet and also have great beer to accompany it (Derbes). Apart from that (and the abundance of well dressed Kazakh women), I found Almaty surprisingly boring with typical Soviet style architecture dominating the streets and no real city centre to do people watching. Venturing outside the city, some amazing sites are within a day trip distance from Almaty: First of all Chimbulak, a ski resort, where snow capped mountains can be seen even in summer. And secondly Charyn Canyon, the Grand Canyon of Kazakhstan which with its deep gorges and steep red rocks it does look as impressive as its American counterpart.
Arriving in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, felt like leaving Asia and entering the Middle East. Huge Islamic bazaars and mosques as opposed to Soviet style basilicas, Muslim women dress code as opposed to Western style fashion, more Uzbek language as opposed to just Russian.
After finally meeting G at the airport in Tashkent, the two of us went on a "Arabian Nights" / "1001 Nacht" trip through the ancient cities of Khiva, Bukhara, and Samarkand with a side excursion to the horrible environmental disaster site of the Aral sea. All three cities were scattered with old mosques and medressas (Islamic schools) dating back to the 13th century (after the Mongols left most of Central Asia destroyed). All buildings were true marvels of old times and had beautiful tile work on display, mostly held in blue colours. However, due to a keen renovation government programme, most of the old buildings were a bit over renovated and quite often it was hard to imagine that the site in front of us dated back nearly thousand years. Somehow it felt like walking within a giant museum rather than a living old town. Nevertheless, all buildings were very impressive and Bordertrekkers recommend Uzbekistan as a travel destination (G more than T).
A welcoming change to old buildings although quite daunting was the trip to a desert landscape formerly known as Aral Sea. A too ambitious Soviet project to grow cotton in a desert lead to an impressively complex irrigation system all over Uzbekistan, but also to a disastrous disappearing of the lake and many related health problems for the people living there. We visited the fishing village of Moynak where old fishing ships are stranded on sand. Apparently, since the start of the cotton project in the 60s, water levels fell by 18 meters and the lake has declined to 10% of it original size!!
So ... The Stans fascinated us enough to put them on the list of potential destinations in the future, but we will make sure to come in summer (when it's warm) and seriously brush up our Russian (as communication without Russian is difficult).
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