Stuff white people like to worry about...

Although this used to be my travel blog, I am going to do a bit of blogging anyway, mostly to maintain my own sanity. I actually could blog about my most recent weekend away, as it had as many ups and downs as some of my travels this fall, and perhaps I will, but first, I wanted to do a slightly different entry.

While on our trip this weekend to Clear Lake, Ca (you should check it out if you like boats, trap shoots, walmart, pretty lakes, warm weather, and general slow pace of life) we decided we needed to start a blog about stuff we worry about.

So, I'm going to start it now and people can maybe add to it. Yes, this may be a copyright infringement on another blog, but I think I'm pretty small-time, so I'm not too worried about it.

1. BPA in water bottles.
This is a very big worry for white people. To the point that we all got rid of our nalgene bottles, bought sigg bottles, and now guess what? REI told me the other day, they stopped carrying the Siggs because they were having issues with the BPA. Nah-ah! So, I guess we're either supposed to go back to Nalgene (clearly marked with BPA-free) or do Klean Canteen. I am still using my Sigg, but I'm sure it's only a matter of time...

2. Arch support in our shoes- our backs hurt, need I say more?

3. Getting brain cancer from your mobile device.
We're supposed to be using our hands-free headsets, right?

4. The carbon footprint of getting the newspaper in paper vs. supporting journalism and paying for what you read.

5. How to eat few pesticides without breaking the bank.

6. Damage to our eyes from sun exposure.

There are lots more...

No camel, no cry; no chapati, no chai!

No, I didn't make up that tag line, wish I could take credit for it. It actually came from the camel driver on my camel safari, but I think it is hilarious. He had a lot of others. Here's a few:

-Camel college, so much knowledge

-1,2,3 India is free, 4,5,6 nothing is fixed, 7,8,9 India is super fine!

-I'm a camel man, in the bloody saaand, imagination, life is your creation, come on camel, let's go party, ah ah ah ah.
-full power, 24 hour

So, India has grown on me a bit. Last weekend, I met up with Joanna and some of her friends in this town called Udaipur. Then I took an overnight bus to Jaisalmer where I did the camel safari. Last night I took a 20 hour train journey back to Delhi, tomorrow night I head back to

the United States. I am so ready to go home, but I'm sure that as soon as regular life sets in I'll wish I was off on an exciting adventure. I feel exhausted. This is beyond a physical or even emotional tired, it is an existential exhaustion. Perhaps that sounds melodramatic, but there's a part of my character that I've never seen before. Just kind of letting the world pass me by.

Since my last India post was not so positive, I figured I should give some of the highlights from the past week or so.

Udaipur--has the reputation for being the most romantic city on Earth. I'm not sure I would go that far, but when sitting on the roof having breakfast overlooking the lake, it certainly makes it to the top 10 or 20 places. I had a good time with the crew there. The shopping was fantastic, lots of original work by artists, but getting around the streets without getting hit by a motorcycle was less pleasant. Life was better on the roof, enjoying the view.

We did a hike up to the Monsoon Palace, which was more like a walk up a paved road where you had to watch out for careening motorbikes. Actually, come to think of it, that's kind of a constant in Rajistan. There is something about Indian Machismo that really gets fulfilled on a motorbike. Up there we saw a

whole bunch of monkeys that came out around sunset. To be honest though, monkeys in Asia are almost as common as dogs. But, I got a few good shots of them.

We also did

a day at this Brittish guy's guesthouse, where we went on another "hike," this time it was mostly on trail, but barely wilderness. We ended up at a cave temple. The dude was pretty cool. He had adopted three Nepali children after their father died and is moving back to Nepal so that the kids can be closer to their family. We weren't clear if the dad had been his partner or had worked for him. He had built this incredible house out in the country. Somehow when you walk in, it was like ahhh, peace. He must have

had a feng shui expert because every angle of the house was interesting. There was a sign as you walk in that said, 'The concept: freedom of body mind and spirit. The goal: Harmony, tranquility, love and friendship.' I think he attained it pretty well. Here's a picture of the little girl he adopted. I thought she was so cute!

After Udaipur I took an overnight bus to Jaisalmer. It was something of an epic journey. While my first train ride was, let's say, a stretch for my comfort zone, more on the train experience later, the bus was not so bad, at first. I had my own little sleeper compartment where I could pull the window shut. I drugged myself with a bit of dramamine, and off I went to sleep. Although it didn't feel the cleanest, at least I was in my own space and felt like my stuff was safe. I had been warned that the first few hours of the trip would be very bumpy, and they were but after a while things were paved and that was good. At 4 am, someone from the bus company came to wake me up to tell me to switch buses. I was actually pretty amazed that they wake you up, because on the train you just have to keep asking people if this is your stop, and they always say yes, even when its not! But I digress. So, it is myself and this couple from New Zealand, thank goodness I have someone else with me. I had imagined I'd be changing at a bus station. No, this is a deserted street, but the other bus was waiting there as the travel agent had promised. We get our bags and bring them over to the other bus. The guy says, '10 rupees'. We're like, what? '10 rupees, luggage charge.' We're like, no, there's no luggage charge. There wasn't on the other bus. Now, to put things in perspective, 10 rupees is about 25 cents. It isn't the money. It is more that he's trying to extort money out of us in the middle of the night. So, after a few back and forths, he claims its because we don't have a sleeper compartment on this one. Finally, I'm like, let's just pay it. It is certainly not worth losing our bags over. And honestly, he could have said any amount and we would have paid it, right? 100 rupees. Which, in the grand scheme of things is also not much money, but sounds like a lot in the middle of the night.
Then, he tells us to get on the bus. We ask, can we use the toilet first. He points to the street urinal. Now, if you haven't been to India, you have no idea how disgusting these things are. All over India, men are publicly urinating. Either it is just on the street, in a corner or against a wall, or it is in these public urinals. They are basically a tall, recatangular prism with walls on three sides. I don't know why, when I walked in there, I was expecting to see some type of squatter. Oh no, just an opening between the floor and the back wall where they pee into. So, I walk past the Kiwi girl and shes like, 'I don't think these are made for girls.' No, no there not. So, I squat down and pee on the floor there, imagining it will flow back to the opening. To top it off, a number of Indian men from the bus company are watching us. Awesome. I don't actually care, but it is definitely not okay in India for women to be that, let's say, revealed.
Next, we get on the bus, and miraculously my other bus was early rather than late, so we're early for this connection. We're the only ones on the bus and we try to sit up front to feel less of the bumps. Oh no, the luggage tax man comes on and makes us move to the back. We're annoyed that we can't have sleeper compartments, but soon enough, we're glad that we have any seat. Within about 20 minutes, the bus fills to capacity and beyond. He starts sticking people together in the sleeper compartments, making the back row move over and add another. Soon, a fight breaks out because there are way more people than seat. It is all in Hindi, but the thing about Hindi is that it is such an old language that there are lots of words that don't exist, so they just say them in English, especially a lot of nouns. So what I hear is blah blah blah blah, sleeper, blah blah blah. Thus, you kind of know what is going on. Anyway, people are angry that they aren't getting the seat they paid for. And, I can't really blame them, but at the same time, there's clearly way more people than seats so just sit down on the ground so we can go. I put my pashmina over my head so I didn't make eye contact and thus my seat couldn't get taken away. At one point, a woman rang the police. It was crazy. I can't remember if they came because I was kind of in and out of consciousness.
Finally, we get to Jaisalmer, the golden city, which really is quite golden, with a sand castle-looking fort that makes up most of the city. We fight our way through touts and find the guy from the guest house that I had reserved. The Kiwi gal tried to ask the luggage man his name and all of a sudden it was, 'no English.' Funny, you had a lot of English last night. But, we let it go and moved on to the guest house.
While in Jaisalmer I did my final touristy-ness. Bought some more Indian cheap stuff, toured the fort, went on a camel safari and read a lot. The weather was lovely, clear blue skies every day, which was such a treat. I haven't really had non-smoggy or non-foggy skies in a really long time. I met a few other tourists, but didn't end up spending much time with them. Even my camel safari group was pretty quiet and kind of kept to themselves, which made the whole thing kind of boring, but what can you do? The desert was, well, deserted. Very barren and kind of looked them same as far as the eye could see. We did spend our night at these sand dunes, which were pretty incredible. There was really no one around, incredibly peaceful.

We stopped at different villages of untouchables, I guess the lowest caste in India. There we saw a bunch of children who seemed dirty but generally happy. Apparently they can touch dead camels, which I guess other Hindus cannot. So they find dead animals, skin them, and then sell to the towns where shops make bags, journals, wallets, etc, out of the hide. The kids did beg us for money, fruit, pens, etc, but when they didn't get it, they eventually stopped asking. It makes me sad that tourism has turned them into beggars. But at the same time, we are tromping through their villages. I'd rather my tour company actually support the village and do something to help them than just give a kid a pen. But, no matter what, in India, it is hard not to feel pity and guilt. Poverty is everywhere you look. We're all really lucky for all that we have, our ability to travel freely, our safety nets, etc. I don't say that to sound preachy. I've just seen so many disturbing things in the past two weeks, and I'm sure that's just the tip of the iceberg.

After a 20 hour train ride, I think the longest overland travel I've ever done, I made it back to Delhi to spend one more day hanging out with Joanna and some of her friends that I now kind of consider my friends. Sadly, one of her best friends here, Mohit, had to go to a work thing and thus isn't around this weekend. But, we're off today to do some final India shopping. We had thought about getting Henna done, but once we found out it takes 6 hours to dry, we decided against it. Then tonight I head back to the States. Weird how 15 weeks has flown by. When I think about all that I've done and seen, all of the people I've met, and all of the different modes of transportation I've experienced, it feels quite full and I'm satisfied. Of course, there's always more places to see, but there just wasn't time. In some ways it feels like it is still summer, and the last four months kind of didn't happen. People keep asking me what I'm going to do when I get home. I'm thinking, Thanksgiving dinner is high on my list of priorities. No, just kidding, I really don't know, so if anyone has any leads to some job in education or otherwise, send 'em on. I'll be in Chicago Sun-Tues, and then Seattle Tues-Sat. I'll be back in the Bay Area next Saturday night, and I'm excited to see those of you that live out there.

I think this may be it from the travel blog, but perhaps I'll feel moved to write about adventures in the homeland. We'll see. Thanks to all my dedicated readers out there!

Cheers,
Dina

honk, honk, honk honk honk

That pretty much sums it up. So far, I can't manage to get out of crazy cities. Hopefully tomorrow, but really, I'm dubious that it can be a peaceful country. I know nice places must exist, but I haven't been to them yet. Basically, so far, I spend my days witnessing craziness, seeing old forts and palaces, and buying cheap stuff. India is pretty much what I imagined, as I explained in my last post. The streets are crazy, I get overcharged for everything, the food is pretty good and the men are jerks. Okay, not all of them, not the people I know, but most of them on the streets--the shout things at you, touts lie to you on a regular basis, and people are completely unhelpful when you ask them where something is. I've stopped trying to negotiate for taxis bc I have to reserve my energy just to do things like find an internet cafe (took an hour, a taxi, a stomp through garbage, enduring catcalling, and asking about 15 people. Meanwhile, I get here, these are the oldest computers on the planet, there's skype but no headphones, and you have to sign in with your passport # and an address); buy a train ticket (wait in line for an hour, scream at people to wait in line, get to the front there's no sleeper car left, pay an exhorbitant price for a chair car for an overnight trip) or find a restaurant (mostly just sticking to the guide book bc I'm wigged out by people's stories of being sick, which i know, is kind of lame).

Anyway, here's a couple examples of India at it's most classic.
The metro: for those of you who have been to Buenos Aires or Mexico city and taken the subway there, it is somewhat similar. However, this is even more crazy. First, you wait in line forever to get a token. The lines are extremely slow and as soon as peole are about arm's length away, they start trying to push past the people in front of them and shove their money under the window. Why they don't have machines for buying the tokens, I don't know. The tokens are actually these non-wasteful things that get reused, pretty cool. Plus, the escalator only starts moving when someone walks past the sensor. Places that developed later certainly have more thought toward green energy, etc. Then you go down stairs and there are nice lines for each door. There's police there with sticks pushing people into single file. However, as soon as the sign says 2 minutes, the lines start to inch forward. Then as the train is coming in people start shoving forward. The line goes to hell and it is a bumrush toward the train. Basically, you have to take your shoulder and push into some large Indian man's potbelly until you manage to get onto the train. If you are with someone else, you grab them and pull as hard as you can. But, at the same time this is happening people are pushing their way out in the same manner. Chaos ensues and you're lucky if you are where you are trying to go. Mind you, I saw this on a Sunday, I truly have no desire to see what it looks like during rush hour. H0wever, I would say all of this is preferable to being in rush hour traffic where you see your life flash before your eyes on a regular basis and the honking never stops. I've taken to plugging my ears. I'm consdering starting to wear ear plugs.

The regular train:
You get there, there's no sign telling you what platform, you have to fight your way to an 'enquiry' desk and ask. He says it through a mic so if you are lucky, some other tourist is asking about your same train and you don't have to fight through the throngs of pushy Indian men.
Find the train, it comes, often very late. Climb onto the sleeper car. Character building. I wouldn't use the words clean or modern to describe it. No one checks your ticket as you get on. They come through after a few hours and only check the tickets of the tourists. Couldn't anyone just get on the train without a ticket? I'm befuddled by that one. They don't announce the stops, you just have to ask people and also know about how long it takes to get to your destination. Get off the train, there are touts there try to take you to commission hotels, and next to them, police men threatening them with sticks if they get too agressive with the tourists.

Well, that's enough of a rant for now. I've had some good food, seen the Taj Mahal, done some shopping and seen a lot of tourist attractions. Sorry no photos now, bc the computers are the pc equivalent of apple IIe. I'm pretty sure this is where computers from Western nations come when we throw them out. Probably will have to wait until I get home for them. Which is in 10 days.

Wish me sanity and strength.
namaste
Dina

India- A whole 'nother world

Yes, it is really true. India is very different. And exhausting. And polluted. And loud. And crazy. But, also fascinating and so far, I've been really just laughing at some of the insanity. Plus, I've had Joanna (my friend from college0 and a bunch of her expat friends to help me, so the past two days have been really easy for me. They negotiate the taxis and tell them where to go. I'm staying in Joanna's second bedroom. She's got a french press and Peet's coffee, not to mention cable, a wii, dvr, washing machine, internet and a computer I can use. Overall, this is the best I've had it in months.
But, I'm heading off tomorrow to the Taj Mahal and then I think out to Jaisalmer where you can ride a camel and sleep in the desert.

So, here's how my first two days went. First off, Air India may possibly be the most classicaly Indian Airline in the world. About two weeks ago I get a message that they have changed my flight schedule instead of leaving Bangkok at 9:40am, laying over in Bombay and getting to Delhi that evening, oh they changed it to leave Bangkok at 6:30pm, lay over in Bombay over night and then fly to Delhi in the morning. Just getting in touch with them and communicating what was happening was a nightmare in itself of buying credit for my phone, trying to call chicago during business hours and being put on hold forever as I think of my credit ticking away. So, even though I fought with them, they wouldn't give me a different itinerary. Thus, I did enjoy a number of hours in the Bombay airport between 2-6am whereby I couldn't find an ATM and they only took Rupees so I was so parched my lips were drying out. I mean, they have these kiosks with information about the airport, the weather, news headlines, even games you can play while you are waiting, but no ATM. This is an international airport. And yes they have money exchange booths, but not open at that hour. For sake of brevity, here is the list of how my flight with Air India went.
-5:00pm bus to BKK airport
-6:30pm arrive at airport, check in, asked where my flight printout is, well they never emailed me a new one, so that was impossible to have, three different people have to work on pulling up my flight info since for some reason, my passport isn't enough for an e-ticket
-7:30 go through security
-8:00 board the plane-apparently the idea of calling by rows doesn't exist in Asia, they just sort of all bumrush. I was one of three non-indian people on my plane. Everyone else seemed to be on some sort of corporate retreat or something with matching bags. They were constantly taking pictures of each other in the airport and on the plane until the flight attendant announced they weren't allowed to do that.
Get on the plane, they are all switching seats without waiting to see if someone is in that seat and the flight attendant is getting angry. He keeps telling them to go back to their seats.
Plane starts to take off, this woman decides, oh there's a middle seat next to her friend in my row, clearly she should move there. So she just walks over and starts climbing over me. No discussion or excuse me or anything. I'm like hold on, I'll move across the way.
Fly to Mumbai, it is all fine until we get there and have to circle the airport for a full hour.
12:30 am-land, everyone hops up and starts clamoring to get off. Guy behind me hits my butt to get me to move out of the way! Excuse me. Oh, since we were so late, we have to wait for stairs to attach to the plane and busses to come get us.
1:00am-I'm not kidding, half an hour later, we can get off. Take a bus for 20 minutes to the terminal! Seriously.
1:20am-go through immigration, oh but first you have to go through this ridiculous line where you hand over your swine flu card stating that you don't have it. It gets stamped and then you bring it with you to immigration. All these Indian men are trying to jump the line.
2:00am-collect luggage, go to a domestic connection waiting area. Show my flight info to a guy behind an Air India counter, another guy standing next to him, plus the guy who showed me over to him.
Guy #1: Where are you going?
Me:Delhi
Guy #1: Looks at my paper, searches the computer.
Guy #2Where are you going?
Me:Delhi
Guy #1: searches the computer some more, speaks in Hindi to guy #2.
Guy #3: Where are you going?
Me: Dehi
What is wrong with these people?
Guy #1: Finds the reservation, okay have a seat wait for the bus. There are about 10-15 other people also in this little lounge.
2:30-bus comes, 25 min ride to the domestic terminal. I sit down next to another foreigner and start talking to her. Ask her where she's going, Hydrabad to do a mission. Quite typical actually, a lot of mission groups travel to places like that. She asks about my trip, wow, she thinks that four months on my own so brave, blah blah. Then she asks about my favorite place, whether I've brought electronics with me and whether I've found my faith on this trip. Oh boy. Then she starts spouting on about Jesus being her savior and how she just knows that her son who is into drugs is going to find Jesus for himself and on and on and on. I'm trying to be polite, but I've been traveling for like 10 hours at this point, it is the middle of the night and I'm really just not into being saved right now. Thankfully Air India is announced and I can hop off the bus.
3:00-enter domestic terminal, it is not obvious how to get to departures, go in a sketchy elevator with a weird Indian man.
3:30-Air India opens the check-in counter, go through security.
6:00-My flight is announced, hand over my boarding pass, get on a bus for another 25 minutes! Clearly, where your plane is has nothing to do with what gate they send you to. I'm looking around, does anyone else find this bus ride ridiculous. No, not really. Mostly on this flight were business people who looked like they were going to meetings in Delhi and stuff. Less of a bumrush situation all around.
8:30-flight lands, get my luggage, go outside to find Joanna, she's not there, not sure what to do. I have her number, but there aren't any phones, I don't have any rupees, etc. Finally find an exchange desk, get some money, ask a taxi stand guy if I can use his phone, I pay him 100 rupees, probably more than he's seen in a month, but I didn't care, I needed to find her. She finally comes, apparently Air India has sent her to the International terminal and basically she's been on a wild goose chase for an hour. Finally she finds me, all is well, and we head back to her place.

Phewsh, what a night.

The streets of Delhi are pretty much exactly what I imagined. We take autos (tuk-tuk for my south east asian traveler buddies) everywhere, so we are exposed to the air constantly. After just one day it was black when I blew my nose. There is the honking and general traffic patterns of Vietnam, mixed with the poverty of Cambodia, plus the just general insanity of Asian roads. Cars going the wrong way; trucks, busses, autos, cars, bikes, rikshaws all on the same streets; saw a guy pushing a cart of potato chips open topped on the highway yesterday. I mean, just complete and utter insanity. We've had a few auto drivers who are arguing with other people or just complete maniac drivers, but I'm told this is not the norm. Shantytowns with "houses"made of cardboard, children begging on teh street, garbage everywhere. But also, we went out to one of her Indian friends parents house. Oh my goodness, this might be the nicest house I've ever seen in my life. With probably half a football field as their yard, a pool, amazing rooms, really classy. Incridble place and then her dad sits down and starts chatting us up. It was so funny. It is really normal for Indian 20-somethings to live with their parents, I think until they get married. Which is not that different from a lot of countries actually. But to me, of course, it seems really foreign and strange that they are always talking about family obligations, parents being upset about a broken mirror on the car, etc.

The nice thing about visiting Joanna is that she's got lots of expat friends, most of whom are ethnically Indian and either grew up here and then lived abroad for a while and now are back, or actually grew up abroad and are now here, lots of different situations. But, many of them speak Hindi and of course, understand the culture. So, it has just been a wealth of information and help to meet all of them. Plus, they are great and it is so fun to have a group of friends to hang out with. Yesterday we hung out and watched three episodes of Californiacation, went to brunch, ordered dinner, went to the bookstore, etc. They've all been really welcoming to me and it is nice to see Joanna having such wonderful people to hang out with. I imagine they've all made it bearable for her to be here, because living in Delhi is no cake walk.

Last night we went to a Halloween party at another expat apartment. Yes, a week late, but a lot of people really got into the spirit. We didn't but it was fun to see others dressed up. One of the hosts worked really hard on making an auto out of cardboard to wear. Here's a photo of me and Joanna inside it. Was a fun night, but started to unravel when some creepy Indian guy that no one knew was walking around slapping women's butts and had to be escorted out of the party, but not before he peed all over the floor of the bathroom. Then some other really drunk guy decided to chuck and empty bottle off the fourth story balcony and could have killed someone, thankfully it just hit the ground. However, the security guys claimed a windsheild was broken, which it wasn't, I think they were trying to get money. I don't know, it went on for a while, finally we told Sam the host to just go back inside and forget about it. It wasn't really that insane of a party, but somehow weird things were going on.

Well, that's about all that's happened so far. I've had some incredible food and generally am basically living in the lap of luxury here. I find it funny that many apartments have marble floors throughout but long florescent bulbs like they have in schools. I think there are a lot of odd juxtapositions like that. I'm sure I'll find more as the weeks wear on.

Alright, that's it for now. Namascar.
Dina

Taking stock

Sorry it has been so long since my last post. I've been down on the islands of Thailand where internet is ridiculously expensive so I've had to postpone my blogging for a bit. I'm now back in bangkok and tonight I'm headed to India. I'm excited for new adventures but a bit nervous as well as I've heard some horror stories. But I'm just going to try to relax into the insanity. Plus, I've got the added benefit that Joanna will be there, at least at the beginning to help me get my India legs.

So, let's see, a lot and not a lot has happened to me in the past week and a half. First, I endured about four days of over-land travel to get from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh to Bangkok to Krabi. It was a series of busses, trains and squishy mini-bus. My bus from Phnom Penh to Bangkok was supposed to take 10 hours and it took 14. I paid extra for the "first class bus" but if that was first class, I don't want to see last. More likely, I got taken. Anyway, at the border I had to switch to a mini-bus, which would have been fine, but the driver made about 10 stops, dropping off the cheap cigarettes he bought at the Cambodian border, going to McDonalds 20 minutes outside of Bangkok, picking up and dropping off passengers, the list goes on. I was losing my mind, wishing I'd flown.

After a day at the weekend market in Bangkok, I took the train down to Krabi. Again, I should have just flown, but well, I was trying to save money. And by the time I realized that I wanted to buy a train ticket, well, there was only fan left. So, I figured, it'll be at night, no problem. Well, yes, it wasn't actually that hot. But it was buggy because the windows were open, loud and stuffy.

On top of that, I had these Thai ladies across from me who were very interested in everything I

looking that great by the end no matter what.did, I think because foreigners aren't usually in the fan car. They were kind of strange, kept fixing their make-up and stuff. Seemed

a bit prissy. And then, all of a sudden, a tree kind of whipped one of them in the face, (because the window was open) which knocked the chips out of her hand. She kind of jumps and then quickly grabs her make-up and starts fixing up her face again. Now, mind you, we're on an overnight train. In a fan car. Can't really be

Anyway, I managed to get to Krabi through a series buses and trains, however, I felt I had won a victory because I bought my bus ticket when I got off the train instead of in Bangkok, thus saving myself 120 Baht (about 4 dollars.) Ah yes, it is the little things. I beat them at their own game. Krabi was an odd little town. There was some sort of festival going on, but I couldn't quite figure out what it was for. Lots of people all in white, sort of seeming like they were doing

capoiera or something. Anyway, didn't love Krabi, but I did manage to go kayaking there, which is what I went there for. It was pretty incredible. Kayaked through these caves, saw some cave paintings, saw a set of lizard-type things that I guess have been around since pre-historic times. It fills its cheeks with water and then lives on land for while using the stored water. I got a few photos, but of course, I didn't have the big lens on at the time. Also saw a king fisher bird, which I guess is pretty rare. Ruth, Dad, other birdwatchers, you know about that one? Similar to the lizard problem, camouflaged and small lens. So don't be too excited about the photos. The guide was pretty good. He wouldn't let us use flash inside the cave because it ruins the paintings, picked up cigarette butts, etc. I felt good that hopefully I was giving my money to a company that is doing something to help the environment of Thailand. The guide was also quite knowledgeable, so for once I felt like I was getting my money's worth. Sadly I was with two fat Indian guys who live in Dubai who were a bit lazy on the kayaking, so it was a short stint of actually doing anything. Anyway, was a nice day.

Next I moved on to Railay, some of the best climbing in South East Asia. Well, as you may have guessed, I haven't done much of well, any exercise in the past four months. So here I am ready to do 2 days of climbing on 80m walls. Yes, was a bit painful, but also amazing. You have these views of the clearest green water and white sandy beaches. Just so thrilling. I had to re-get over my fear of heights and try to remember some of my climbing skill, like turn my body, but overall, was fantastic. By the end of the two days my legs were ridiculously bruised, my muscles ached and I had ripped up my hands. But it was all worth it. Here's a photo of my instructor, Tik. He was pretty awesome. Called everything lovely. Which is pretty funny coming from a Thai guy.

Railay was an interesting mix. There are three areas where you could stay. I chose to stay at the more budget area which felt a bit cramped. There were resorts built on every possible inch of the place. When I first got there I thought I was going to lose my mind trying to find a guest house. I walked from the boat with this other single traveler named Ana. We thought maybe we could bargain for two rooms. So we find one place, we talk to the guy, bargain him down to 300 baht for a fan room. Walk all the way up the hill, oh they don't have any fan rooms. Go to another place, it is beautiful, bargain down to 400 baht for each room, go see the rooms, they are like

dankest, nastiest rooms on the island. The rest of the place was awesome but I guess they were showing me the bottom of the barrel. Go to about 3 other places, all around the area, it is hot, carrying my backpack, etc. Finally end up back at the first place! I just give in and pay the 500 baht for air/con, hot water. Oh, and then my hot water doesn't work. I go down to the reception, talk to the woman about it. She says, do you want to change rooms. Yes, please. Someone else comes in, what is the problem, I explain. Okay, follow this woman. So I follow a worker there who doesn't speak any English. She goes about 5 steps towards my room, sees her friend and goes the other direction. I'm like, am I supposed to follow you? She looks at me like, who are you? So I get her to go back to reception, where they speak English. Explain for the third time. They are like, okay, follow her (again, same girl). This time she goes to my room. Checks it, yup, doesn't work. We go back to reception. They talk a bunch in Thai. Do you want to change rooms? I'm ready to lose. Yes...please. Ok, but the room isn't ready. Wait 10 minutes for them to clean it. Ahhh. Okay, well it gets worked out in the end. But there are so many times where I think we've communicated when clearly, we haven't. Ah well.

Had a funny experience eating a papaya salad in Krabi as well. I've really developed my spice-ability, or so I thought. I got a papaya salad from this woman who runs and internet cafe/tailor shop/restaurant/travel agency/whatever else you need. Anyway, figured it would be pretty good since those are the best places. She asks me how many chilis. I say, mmm, 2? Oh my buddha. My eyes were watering. My nose running. My pulse quickened, I was sweating. But it was so good I couldn't stop. My esauphogus was burning. The women were laughing at me. They just looking over being like, you okay? I'm trying to look half-way normal, fine fine. Finally the daughter comes up and offers me some sticky rice. Clearly I should have ordered some to go with my meal, eh? It was hilarious.

Let's see, what else. Well, I love it when the locals try to look out for you. I went in to a pharmacy yesterday to buy some sunblock and a new toothbrush. The woman is like, oh toothbrush, do you also need toothpaste. I'm like, no thanks I have some. Then I get some sunblock. She's like, be sure to reapply every 2 hours. Funny. Then I had a guy who works at a restaurant whose job it is to bring in people. He's kind of an older guy. Anyway, finds out I'm traveling alone and can't really understand that. He's like, oh there's an Austrian woman traveling alone, maybe you can travel together. Then I come back later, oh these kids are going out to the halloween party, maybe you can go with them. On and on. Just very worried I might be alone.

The south of Thailand was interesting. First of all, it is mostly Muslim which is really different from the Buddhist north. So you've got women in Burkas driving motos, fabric flying behind them. Also, in general, tons of fat Thai people. Super strange, haven't seen that anywhere else in Asia. I had a nice time in Koh Lanta, an island near Railay but it was pretty quiet. I'm not sure if everyone was at the full moon party in Ko Phagnan or what, but there was just no one around. A few families and couples. Luckily, a german couple and these two Irish guys that I had met in Railay also ended up in Koh Lanta, so I sometimes had people to have dinner with. But mostly it was a chill solitary time. Rode a moto out to a cave, laid on the beach, went snorkeling, general beach time experience. It was nice and just what I was looking for before India, but I did start to get a bit antsy by the end. Oh, the full moon, where I thought there would be a party, was quite tame. But they do set off these cool flare things that work under the principles of hot air balloons. There is a silk bag thing that goes around wax that you light and when it gets hot enough it flies up into the sky. Quite pretty, I think it happens across South East Asia on November full moon. Supposed to be for good luck. Joe, one of the Irish guys had bought three, so we each set one off. Sadly, they were the small kind and they never really got off the ground. So, I don't think my wish will come true. Ah well.

Well, I think that's about it for now. Am going to get a thai massage, eat some curry and possibly hit up a movie today before my flight tonight. I considered doing something touristy, but well, I guess I'm lazy. And I think India will be a re-start on that side of things, so I'm mostly just enjoying my last time in Thailand. Alright, 2.5 weeks until I go home.

Cheers,

Dina

Oh the people and places you'll see

There is a part of me that really wants to write a rant-ridden blog. I could go on and on about tourists and the clothes they wear, Cambodians and their seemingly odd montone way of trying to sell you things, the ubiquitous nature of air freshener scent on things like napkins, or the way that children always seem to be in-transit between school and home rather than actually in school. However, I've decided to take a different tack and consider some of the interesting people I've met. Plus, as always an update of my recent activities. I imagine some of those little digs will be in this post and probably some in the future.

Cambodia has been absolutely amazing and interesting. First off, it is gorgeous. Because it is quite flat, you can look out for miles on bright green rice fields, stilt houses, and palm trees. I'm continually amazed by the scenery. In my two short weeks of being in the country I've gotten a very different feel from the people and the way things work than I did in the other South East Asian nations. Of course, if I stayed here a few years I would probably have a much fuller understanding of the culture, but I'm also getting this from expats and locals I've met. Here's my theory: these people have been through so much crap over the years and have just been shat on by their own government time and again, they are all kind of like screw you. For instance, in both Vietnam and Cambodia there is a helmet law for moto drivers. In Vietnam, absolutely everyone wears a helmet. Even moto taxis have an extra one for you, and they really will not drive off until it is buckled under you chin. Here, they only wear helmets when there are cops around. To the point where they signal to each other, cops up ahead, and guys stop and put on their helmets. In a country with so many traffic accidents, why wouldn't you wear your helmet? Because they want to buck the system. No, I'm not following your stupid rules, I'm going to ride without as long as I can. Even if it means having the cops almost yank you off your bike to get you to stop. Yes, cops are extremely corrupt here, so why give them a reason to pull you over? Odd to me. It is just a theory, but Cambodia/Vietnam kind of seems like the New Hampshire/Vermont divide. Neighboring places with similar topography, but Cambodia seems to have the "Live free or Die" vibe to it, while Vietnam is out to develop and become the next Thailand.

So there are many things which I find particularly fascinating about this Country. For instance, when there's an accident, the two parties settle it before moving on. And if you have white skin or are assumed to be rich, you are paying for their bills. According to Simon, a Brit who ran my guest house in Kampot, if you see an accident, make a break for it. If you've caused an accident, make a break for it. Even if you've killed someone. And, get this, if a cow comes into the road and hits you, the cow gets arrested. I'm absolutely not kidding. I guess the idea is that the cow will be sold and that money will be used to pay your medical bills. Kind of a good way of doing things, but hilarious, they take the cow to the station.

The Khmer people are beautiful as a whole, I think they are the most beautiful in south east asia, that I've seen. And actually, many people speak a lot of English, much more than in Vietnam. However, there is a way in which I just don't get the culture. Unlike in Vietnam, the tuk-tuk drivers in Phnom Penh have absolutely no idea where they are going. So I've learned a new trick (this also came from Simon) ask, "are you wearing green socks today?" after each place you tell them that you want to go. If they say yes, find someone else. They just say yes, yes, even if they have no idea what you are saying. If they keep saying yes, move on. I used this trick but actually it didn't totally work when I got a guy to take me to the India Embassy. I asked about his socks, and he registered it was weird question and seemed to know what I was saying. First he tells me that he knows where it is. Then he goes about half a block and turns to look back at me, which way? I tell him, just follow this street, but he doesn't, he turns and gets us so lost he has to stop and ask like 3 other drivers. Then, of course I get there and the Embassy only accepts visa applications from 9-11am and gives back passports from 4-5pm. Of course, it is 3:30 and it is raining, so I wait in the tuk tuk. This guy's got nowhere to be, he's absolutely unfazed. Thankfully, I've got my book (Bryce Courtenay, the Power of One, anyone ever read it? Great book!) Anyhoo, of course I need like copies and all kinds of stuff so I have to go back the next day even if they would have accepted it, which I assure they wouldn't have, the embassy guy was a real intense dude and a rule follower.

I've also had some interesting encounters with kids who are selling me things. By and large this is quite annoying. Especially at the temples, where they scream out in a montone, all one word type of phrase, "hellomadaaaam, colddrinkforyoooouuuu? Pinneapplebananaaaaa? Ifyoubuy, youbuyfromme, okaaaaaymadaaaam? Maybelaterrrrrrr?" On and on and on. It doesn't mattter if you say no thank you, ignore them, copy them, etc. Nothing works, they do not let up. However, sometimes the kids are really funny. For instance on my bus trip from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap we stopped at this market. Other tourists get off the bus and I hear the typical, "ifyoubuy, youbuyfromme, okaaaayy?" and I thought I do not want to get off this bus. But, I did and these were the cutest kids ever. So chill, wanted me to buy, but when I didn't, took a different tack. This one little kid asks me, how old are you? I am a bit taken aback, so I say how old are you. "8, how old are you?" So I tell him, 30. You should have seen his face. Shock registers. "Why you look so young if you so very old?" I crack up. "30 is old?" "Yes, very old, but you look very young." I was dying. He had conned me with his cuteness, I had to buy 50 cent pinneapple from him.

Then I spent the rest of the time taking photos of these beautiful girls, who also wanted me to buy from them, but weren't whiny about it the way many of the child sellers are. Instead, they try to appeal to your sensibilites. "You can save for later, you will be hungry" etc. This one little girl was like, "banana? pinneapple? spider?" I'm like, spider? She turns and shows me her shoulder with this giant hairy thing crawling on it. I kind of pull back in horror. She thinks this is so funny and all her friends start to gather round. I'm like, "you like that?" "Oh yes, very tasty." Soon after it was time to go and all my little friends bid farewell and wish me good luck and happiness. Adorable. Oh, and all the girls are wearing the classic Asian female outfit of matching pajama sets. Hilarious. I think the thing is to get outfits made of the same material top and bottom, that looks smart, but if you can't have that, then you wear pajamas, bc they match.

Today at the temples I had another funny one. She spoke in the typical monotone, but also tried to move away from the basic script. She's trying to sell us postcards and i'm so tired I take the approach of just looking at her and shaking my head no. So she keeps going, "If I tell you the president, the vice president, the capital and the population of the united states, you buy from me?" I didn't, but we started quizzing her, she knew France's president and population, Vietnam, Korea, the list went on. All in this glassy-eyed monotone, but somehow it was fascinating to me that she knew it. She must have some incredible memory. Yes, she does this all day, but population of Korea? Anyway, probably should have given her something, but I didn't.

Lot's of people warned me about Cambodia, saying it feels really poor, they don't leave you alone. Which is true, but somehow it feels really cool when you find those interesting kids or guides with whom, however fleeting, you kind connect with. And in a way, it is a lot more contact than I had in other countries with locals. That's looking on the bright side, and if I had been writing this yesterday, after a day of humid temple-climbing and people hawking stuff, and my tuk tuk driver not going where I wanted, it would have been a different story. However, after a nap and some food I'm able to think a bit more globally about the whole experience.

In terms of tourist friends, I've spent the past week with Bjorn, the Belgian from the last post, and Justin, a typical agro new yorker. It has been quite a change of pace as Bjorn is quiet and somewhat introspective and Justin is ADD and sorta spazy. Justin and I went to the sunrise at the temples this morning. It was cool, sadly the colors weren't as awesome as I would have liked, but I'm glad I managed to get out of bed for it. Being around Justin is something of reminder of why I live on the West Coast. He's fun and will say pretty much anything to get a reaction, but he also voted for Bush and makes racist comments and is rude to the locals. We had some good times but I was ready to move on and be on my own for a bit.

So, I've moved on from Siem Reap, after two full days of viewing temples. They were pretty amazing, but I was pretty much ready to register with the temple burnout foundation of cambodia by the end of the second day. I know people warned me to get a guide but I didn't so I pretty much just took a lot of photos and climbed around for two days.

While on the bus today, I began to think about the many parts of this culture that I do not understand (I guess here comes the ranty-ness).
-The number systems--simply put, things do not go in order. For instance the streets in Phnom Penh, I was all excited thta they are numbered. You know, like New York or Chicago. Oh no, there is no rhyme or reason to the way they are numbered, you might be at street 187 and the next one is 156 and then after that 195. And they don't all go the same direction either. Same thing with the restaurants near Angkor Wat. They're numbered, but they don't go in order.
-the use of headphones doesn't seem to have caught on. A number of locals have music on their phones, but none of them have headphones, so they just play it out. And not quietly either.
-the way every child's voice sounds exactly the same when they are trying to sell you things.
-karaoke on busses--why oh why is that what they play? I mean, so loud and just the most budget cheesy videos that go with them. Like women in traditional clothes with socks and shoes on (pretty much all asian people are in some sort of a flip flop or heel at all times) dancing in a circle. I couldn't tell if watching the videos was giving me some insight into the culture or not. Like, is that what Cambodian weddings look like? They sometimes even have poor children jumping into streams, a very common occurence here.
-The incessant asking you if you want a tuk-tuk. I literally told a guy today that even if I needed one, I wouldn't go with him bc he was following me and pestering me.
-knowing when I am understood and not understood. As I mentioned above, Simon taught me the green socks trick. However, other times I'll really think we're on the same page and boy am I wrong. So Bjorn had never really had street food. It can be a bit intimidating when you first venture into the world of dirty floors of a restaurant, stalls outside, unidentifiable foods. So, I tell him, I'll show you, its easy. You look for a place where others are eating and you get what they get by pointing. Well, we didn't totally follow those rules. I saw a little restaurant that was really someone''s front of their house, pretty typical. It is breakfast, I figure we'll get some eggs and rice. So through a great deal of pointing and acting out a chicken, I ask for coffee, no sugar, no milk, and eggs. She seems to get it, brings us over the best coffee I've had in Cambodia. I'm feeling pretty good. See, local spots are the best. Then she points to noodles, you want that. I'm like, okay, eggs on noodles, why not? Literally, she had pointed to the eggs at the beginning. She goes away and brings us back this oily reddish meat stew thing on top of noodles. I was stunned. I really thought she and I had connected. We ate a bit of it and then went to pay. She shows me her index fingers both up, okay 11,000, a little under $3 for both of us. I gesutre, for one or for both? She shows 5 for me, 6 for him for the extra coffee. So we give her the money and she kind of looks at me, nods and smiles and points back and forth to me and herself, a gesture which I assume means, wow we really understand each other. Oh yeah, crystal clear lady.


So that's the update for now. I'm headed to Bangkok by bus tomorrow as the flight was too expensive. Then I'll be there for a day or so and take the train down to Krabi, the south of Thailand for some snorkeling, sea kayaking, rock climbing and possibly diving. After a mini-cation from all my hard sightseeing and challenging life, I''ll venture to India in 2 weeks. All bets are off on that one...

xoxo,
Dina

p.s. sorry it took me a couple days to actually publish this post because I need to upload some photos. This one over here just cracked me up. It should say Rabbit Hut Bungalows. For all my Jewish and jew-aware goys out there...

Living large in Kampot

When I embarked upon this trip I wasn't really sure what I was looking for. I knew I was going to escape the norm, learn something about the world and people, and have some fun. Interestingly, and I guess not that surprisingly, mostly what I've learned and discovered seems to be within me. For instance, I've learned to read. Yes, I actually knew how to read before I came, in fact, I taught children how to do it. But I couldn't really do it. I couldn't sit down for an hour or two and really read. And think about the characters and find new meanings in books that relate to my situation. And now I can. And I do. I've read so many books sometimes it can even be a challenge to get new ones if I'm not in a super touristy spot. Perhaps that is more about a general sense of slowing down and relaxing that is much easier to have when your daily obligations are finding a place to sleep and eat and take photos of something cool.

In a way this whole trip feels quite self-serving. Like I see these Cambodian women who will thread your legs, massage you, paint your toe nails. I mean, they'll do absolutely anything to make money for their families. And there are the tourists, sitting there like kings and queens just absorbing or taking it all. Yes, we're contributing to their economy and hopefully we aren't breaking too many cultural norms, but there's something about it that feels somewhere between human zoo and personal spa.

However, it has been an incredible experience, and hanging out with my new friend Bjorn that has reopened my eyes to the fact that I'm in Asia. I kind of have to remind myself of that every week or so. Take photos of everyday life that I've just gotten really used to: people eating at stalls on the street, the architecture, the motos with tons of people on them, the little stores and restaurants. I'm not going to be here forever (only a little over 5 more weeks) and it is a little like, wake up Dina, look around you, you don't see this every day.

This trip is about living and experiencing. With that, I finally conquered my fear of moto bikes that I've had since I tried to ride one in Cuba about 5 years ago. For those who don't know, I didn't make it out of the parking lot that day. Couple that with my bad bike accident right before I left and you can imagine I was a little nervous. But after 10 weeks of riding on the backs of them, I finally decided, how hard could it be? Well, let me back up. I'm in this cute and sleepy river town of Kampot, Cambodia. It is something of an expat mecca--almost every guesthouse is owned by a mixed couple of foreigner married to a local. There are good restuarants and just a generally chilled out atmosphere. There is little traffic and it was a beautiful sunny day. I woke up on Wednesday with absolutely no plan for what I was going to do that day. I wasn't sure if I was staying in town or not. I met a guy named Bjorn from Belgium as I walked out of the guesthouse to look for coffee and breakfast. He told me he was in search of good coffee and we became fast friends. So after I skyped with Matt and Marissa, I was in this great mood and Bjorn comes back and says, ''I think it is a good day to ride motos to Kep'' a seaside town about 20 km from here. He also didn't know how to ride a moto, so it was a bit of an adventure. I was hoping to find someone who did know how to ride to help me, but hey, here was my opportunity, time to seize it.

My first ride down the street was frightening. My hands were shaking, I didn't want to give it too much gas so I was kind of moving in short spurts. I tried to stop and I wobbled and quickly put my feet down. I looked back, ''I don't think I can do this.'' Bjorn's just smiling, ''just go slow, you can do it.'' So I turned around, tried again, still shaking. Mind over matter, I can do this. By my third circle my body relaxed and I was like, okay, this is easy. So off we went, down the countryside, my max speed was about 25 km/hr, but it was thrilling. The bright green rice paddies, the children screaming hello, the farmers working their fields, riding the buffalo, bicyclists carrying massive amounts of grass, vegetables, etc. There was just so much to see and at the same time, I was a driving a moto!

We reach Kep, took us about an hour, as I said, I was going 25, and hey, it was 20 km away, so you do the math. But we got there, found some shacks that served up amazingly cheap crab, and other seafood. We ordered a bunch and sat back to enjoy the view of the ocean. Our trip home was just as amazing, I even managed to go about 40 km/hr! I have a new found joy and pasttime. I mean, you just can't come to Asia and not learn to drive a moto. It is such a part of the culture here, I'd really be missing out.

Other than that I've had some other great experiences here in Kampot. Yesterday we headed out to this cave and we had this child as our tour guide. This is actually quite common. You show up to a place, a some child walks you in and out and expects a tip. But this was different. This was one of the best guides I've had on my whole trip. He knew all about the cave, knew how to hold the flashlight so we could see where to step, showed you where to mind your head, just so professional. He said he was in grade 7. It was amazing. We happily gave him and his crew a couple of bucks upon leaving.

That's it for now. I also have done a few not very exciting but chill little river boat rides, hiked pretty much straight up Bokor mountain and back down and had a massage by a blind person. Overall Kampot is one of my favorite places on my trip but I am ready to move on. I'm headed out to a small island called rabbit island for a day or so before I head back to Phnom Penh to get my visa for India.

Hope all is well with all of you. I enjoy hearing from all of you, even the everyday details of your lives, but I know everyone is busy. Lot's of photos up at on picasa.

xoxo
Dina