- Posted around the world from our iPad
Location:ถนนหลวงพ่อฉ้วน,Karon,Thailand
Wednesday, October 31, 2012
Happy Halloween from Phuket, Thailand!!!
Celebrating Halloween 8,333 miles away
- Posted around the world from our iPad
- Posted around the world from our iPad
Thursday, October 25, 2012
Delhi to Jaipur (The Pink City)
Goodbye from India,
We have reached the end of our twenty days in the world's second most populated country. We are jumping on a plane and heading to Thailand where we plan on doing a little bit of everything from city to beach and perhaps some trekking to replace what we missed in India. When we left Manali, we went back to New Delhi for two days before boarding a nine hour bus to Jaipur. Jaipur is only about 160 miles away from Delhi. If my calculations are correct, we averaged just under eighteen miles per hour (stops included). Usain Bolt could have ran there faster than that at a moderate pace although he probably lacks the endurance for that distance. Anyway, we took a city bus instead of the typical fancier tourist busses. We were put in a compartment (sleeper) for two people on the upper level of the bus. It was not the most comfortable of rides, but it was an interesting experience. You just have to make sure to shift every now and again to avoid getting bed sores. Along the way, we decided to take pictures of Delhi to show everyone what condition many of the cities' inhabitants live in. We wish that somebody or organization with a lot of money and time could devote some attention to India to take care of the amount of poverty that currently exists.
First, our cubby hole for nine hours
Now for the pictures. These are peoples' homes and its this way often throughout Delhi and much of India
Two rickshaws thrown in for artistic purposes
This is from Jaipur on the first day we arrived- pigs eating the trash on the side of the road. We got off of the beating path on this day and saw people and animals living in very unsuitable conditions. In Delhi, we saw dogs eating their own feces. This is due to the sad truth that there is not enough food for the people let alone the animals.
On to Jaipur- We saw many beautiful places in this city, but it still has the same problems as other destinations we visited in India; poverty, begging, scamming, pollution. Jaipur is basically divided into two areas, pink city (inside the gates) and the more modern part (outside the gates) Each part is completely different from the other. We stayed right on the border between them, which was nice for exploring.
Day 1- Visit to the pink city and Jal Mahal (the water palace)
Jal Mahal- this palace was beautiful. It was built right in the middle of the water. While we were there, we had a lot of people coming up to us trying to sell us things and trying to get money from us. We have become pretty accustomed to this for the last few weeks, and we want to help everyone so it is hard to know how to react. However, we had a new scam that we hadn't seen yet. We were seated on a bench enjoying our view when two kids with a knife walked up to another kid right in front of us. They said something in Hindi to the other boy and waved their knife at him. The boy handed over what he had in his pocket. We asked the kid, "Are you ok? Did those boys take somethings from you?". "Yes," he replied before asking us for money to replace what had been taken from him. Fortunately for us, we have been around the block for a while now and have seen quite a lot on our journey. We said to the kid, "Those are your friends aren't they?" He no longer spoke English. We later saw them playing together. We were glad that the boys hadn't really taken anything from him and that he wasn't hurt in any way, but its hard to know what is real and what is not at times.
On our walk around the area
The pink city
Hawa Mahal
Day 2- visit to the Amber Palace. We were told by several people that this was the gem of Jaipur and we were not let down. Visitors have the option of taking elephants up to the main gate. We arrived early in the morning which is the best time for tourists to visit the grounds. Foreigners must pay a 200 rupie ($4) fee while natives go for free.
Amber Palace
From the inside
The hall of mirrors
Views from the palace
When we exited the building, we saw these two gentlemen playing some tunes so we decided to snap a photo. Of course they invited us over for a closer view and perhaps a tip at the end. As we got closer, we noticed he had something in a basket.
Mila was less interested in having this cobra around her neck, but she was happy to give it the one finger massage
And we finished off the day with a piece of death by chocolate cake
On to Thailand to take on the start of Southeast Asia!
-Mila and Scott
- Posted around the world from our iPad
We have reached the end of our twenty days in the world's second most populated country. We are jumping on a plane and heading to Thailand where we plan on doing a little bit of everything from city to beach and perhaps some trekking to replace what we missed in India. When we left Manali, we went back to New Delhi for two days before boarding a nine hour bus to Jaipur. Jaipur is only about 160 miles away from Delhi. If my calculations are correct, we averaged just under eighteen miles per hour (stops included). Usain Bolt could have ran there faster than that at a moderate pace although he probably lacks the endurance for that distance. Anyway, we took a city bus instead of the typical fancier tourist busses. We were put in a compartment (sleeper) for two people on the upper level of the bus. It was not the most comfortable of rides, but it was an interesting experience. You just have to make sure to shift every now and again to avoid getting bed sores. Along the way, we decided to take pictures of Delhi to show everyone what condition many of the cities' inhabitants live in. We wish that somebody or organization with a lot of money and time could devote some attention to India to take care of the amount of poverty that currently exists.
First, our cubby hole for nine hours
Now for the pictures. These are peoples' homes and its this way often throughout Delhi and much of India
Two rickshaws thrown in for artistic purposes
This is from Jaipur on the first day we arrived- pigs eating the trash on the side of the road. We got off of the beating path on this day and saw people and animals living in very unsuitable conditions. In Delhi, we saw dogs eating their own feces. This is due to the sad truth that there is not enough food for the people let alone the animals.
On to Jaipur- We saw many beautiful places in this city, but it still has the same problems as other destinations we visited in India; poverty, begging, scamming, pollution. Jaipur is basically divided into two areas, pink city (inside the gates) and the more modern part (outside the gates) Each part is completely different from the other. We stayed right on the border between them, which was nice for exploring.
Day 1- Visit to the pink city and Jal Mahal (the water palace)
Jal Mahal- this palace was beautiful. It was built right in the middle of the water. While we were there, we had a lot of people coming up to us trying to sell us things and trying to get money from us. We have become pretty accustomed to this for the last few weeks, and we want to help everyone so it is hard to know how to react. However, we had a new scam that we hadn't seen yet. We were seated on a bench enjoying our view when two kids with a knife walked up to another kid right in front of us. They said something in Hindi to the other boy and waved their knife at him. The boy handed over what he had in his pocket. We asked the kid, "Are you ok? Did those boys take somethings from you?". "Yes," he replied before asking us for money to replace what had been taken from him. Fortunately for us, we have been around the block for a while now and have seen quite a lot on our journey. We said to the kid, "Those are your friends aren't they?" He no longer spoke English. We later saw them playing together. We were glad that the boys hadn't really taken anything from him and that he wasn't hurt in any way, but its hard to know what is real and what is not at times.
On our walk around the area
The pink city
Hawa Mahal
Day 2- visit to the Amber Palace. We were told by several people that this was the gem of Jaipur and we were not let down. Visitors have the option of taking elephants up to the main gate. We arrived early in the morning which is the best time for tourists to visit the grounds. Foreigners must pay a 200 rupie ($4) fee while natives go for free.
Amber Palace
From the inside
The hall of mirrors
Views from the palace
When we exited the building, we saw these two gentlemen playing some tunes so we decided to snap a photo. Of course they invited us over for a closer view and perhaps a tip at the end. As we got closer, we noticed he had something in a basket.
Mila was less interested in having this cobra around her neck, but she was happy to give it the one finger massage
And we finished off the day with a piece of death by chocolate cake
On to Thailand to take on the start of Southeast Asia!
-Mila and Scott
- Posted around the world from our iPad
Location:ถนนรามคำแหง,Bangkok,Thailand
Tuesday, October 23, 2012
Manali- Surrounded by Mountains with Nowhere to Hike
Hello family and friends,
We are currently in Jaipur, India sitting in our hostel going through pictures of our last five months of travel. It has been an amazing adventure thus far and we are looking forward to the next chapter of our long vacation. We spent last week in Manali, India which is part of the Himalayan mountain range. We were expecting six days of hiking in pollution free mountains. What we got was beautiful mountains, lots of trash and pollution, and nowhere to trek. There were a couple shorter hikes, which we did, but nothing like we are used to (please see Gosau and Zakopane posts). We ended up walking through the villages instead so at least we got some exercise. It is a bit challenging to be a foreigner in India. We really enjoy blending in with the locals and participating in the culture of each area, but it seems to be impossible to do here. Many people are curious about us, which makes it is hard to mix in. Luckily, on the final day of our stay, we ended up at two beautiful Tibetan monasteries. It is hard to explain the peace we felt when we were inside. It was the perfect place to end up on our last day in Manali and our blood pressure returned to normal :-).
Please enjoy the following pictures from our stay:
The view from our cottage- so far so good. We thought to ourselves, "we have arrived!!!"
Ok, the mountains WERE beautiful
Hadimba Temple- At the entrance to the temple, you can take pictures with yaks and the fluffiest bunnies
Nature, meet people- you can't blame it all on the locals because the sanitation department in India is non existent. When people finish their food/ drinks, they throw the remains on the ground and it goes where the wind takes it. Those who do throw their trash in a bin have to burn it on the side of the road or the bulls eat it for an afternoon treat
We walked over twenty kilometers this day through village after village until we reached Naggar. We were rewarded with some very nice views.
A temple in Naggar
Our lunch- we ate under this gigantic umbrella and had the place all to ourselves.
We finally found a hike to Jogni waterfall- Hindu people come here to pray and meditate
A few things we saw on the way to Jogni falls
Donkeys carrying bricks on a trail
Vishisht Temple
This little guy needs a home- we considered putting him in our pack, but we didn't want to starve him of oxygen
You can do it
A final message we left for those who come behind us- this was right at the most beautiful part of the hike
Manu Temple
Monkeying around on our way back from Manu temple to the Tibetan monasteries
One monkey
Two monkeys
Three monkeys
Tibetan monastery number one
Tibetan monastery number two
Living in harmony
We are leaving India in two days and flying to Thailand for....well we aren't so sure yet. We are starting in Bangkok and then heading to Phuket and Chiang Mai perhaps. Does anybody with experience have any other suggestions? On a final note, It will take us a while to process all of the stimuli we encountered in India, but we are blessed to have been able to experience it all.
-Mila and Scott
- Posted around the world from our iPad
We are currently in Jaipur, India sitting in our hostel going through pictures of our last five months of travel. It has been an amazing adventure thus far and we are looking forward to the next chapter of our long vacation. We spent last week in Manali, India which is part of the Himalayan mountain range. We were expecting six days of hiking in pollution free mountains. What we got was beautiful mountains, lots of trash and pollution, and nowhere to trek. There were a couple shorter hikes, which we did, but nothing like we are used to (please see Gosau and Zakopane posts). We ended up walking through the villages instead so at least we got some exercise. It is a bit challenging to be a foreigner in India. We really enjoy blending in with the locals and participating in the culture of each area, but it seems to be impossible to do here. Many people are curious about us, which makes it is hard to mix in. Luckily, on the final day of our stay, we ended up at two beautiful Tibetan monasteries. It is hard to explain the peace we felt when we were inside. It was the perfect place to end up on our last day in Manali and our blood pressure returned to normal :-).
Please enjoy the following pictures from our stay:
The view from our cottage- so far so good. We thought to ourselves, "we have arrived!!!"
Ok, the mountains WERE beautiful
Hadimba Temple- At the entrance to the temple, you can take pictures with yaks and the fluffiest bunnies
Nature, meet people- you can't blame it all on the locals because the sanitation department in India is non existent. When people finish their food/ drinks, they throw the remains on the ground and it goes where the wind takes it. Those who do throw their trash in a bin have to burn it on the side of the road or the bulls eat it for an afternoon treat
We walked over twenty kilometers this day through village after village until we reached Naggar. We were rewarded with some very nice views.
A temple in Naggar
Our lunch- we ate under this gigantic umbrella and had the place all to ourselves.
We finally found a hike to Jogni waterfall- Hindu people come here to pray and meditate
A few things we saw on the way to Jogni falls
Donkeys carrying bricks on a trail
Vishisht Temple
This little guy needs a home- we considered putting him in our pack, but we didn't want to starve him of oxygen
You can do it
A final message we left for those who come behind us- this was right at the most beautiful part of the hike
Manu Temple
Monkeying around on our way back from Manu temple to the Tibetan monasteries
One monkey
Two monkeys
Three monkeys
Tibetan monastery number one
Tibetan monastery number two
Living in harmony
We are leaving India in two days and flying to Thailand for....well we aren't so sure yet. We are starting in Bangkok and then heading to Phuket and Chiang Mai perhaps. Does anybody with experience have any other suggestions? On a final note, It will take us a while to process all of the stimuli we encountered in India, but we are blessed to have been able to experience it all.
-Mila and Scott
- Posted around the world from our iPad
Location:Road No 1,New Delhi,India
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