November 27, Jaipur - the Pink City

Greetings from the Pink City and home of the last Maharaja. We've been here a few days and are enjoying it. Today we saw some neat sun dials at the Astronomy Observatory and outside, Jeff petted a King Cobra! We also walked around the outside of the City Palace and the red sandstone walls of the old city center. Our hotel is pretty nice and gets HBO so we've been catching up on some mind-numbing activities as well. :-)

We had planned to go to a movie here, but after hearing that two cinemas near where we stayed in Delhi were bombed by Pakistanis two days ago killing 60 we haven't gone. For the most part we do feel safe here, but definitely noticed - Liz gets stared at constantly for being "blonde" and Jeff for his long hair.

Originally we were planning just to spend time in Rajasthan, but we are missing the ocean so just decided to go to Goa. First we'll train to Bombay (Mumbai) and then catch a train from there down the coast. We leave tomorrow at 8:30 PM at arrive in Bombay at 2 PM the following day, and hope to be in Goa shortly thereafter.

That's it for our news. Love us

November 25, Agra

Greetings from Shah Jahan's masterpiece creations - the Taj Mahal, Red Fort and Fatehpur Sikri. We arrived Thursday and walked from the train station to the hotel (about 6K) with moto and auto rickshaws haggling the entire way - "hello, only 30 rupies", "hello, only 20 rupies", down to 5 and then zero though I think he would mandate a tip!

Thursday we walked around the Red Fort which was really impressive and gave distant views of the Taj. Building on the fort began in 1565. The fort is 20 meters high and 2.5 km around. It was really amazing. Monkeys everywhere, and the President of China - Hu Jintao - and wife Liu Yongqing - were there.

Friday is the muslim holy day which means that the Taj tomb was closed. So instead, we scouted out a hotel pool to sneak into. We got into the Howard Park Plaza pool which was okay, but once the flies found us we decided to walk around instead and found McDonalds - yum ice cream and french fries!

Afterward we went to buy our train tickets to Jaipur which turned out to be a scene. Liz agreed to hold an Indian woman's space in line while she went to the restroom and a guy would not honor it. He ended up snapping his end in front of Liz's face telling her to shut up, so she did the same back, only towering above him made the noise and motion lounder which drew a lot of attention. He then told her more forcefully to be shut up, so Jeff jumped in and told him to be quiet himself. A few people had to grab the short, annoying, sexist, Indian guy back and then he muttered - "this isn't your country." Liz laughed saying "yeah, it sure isn't." Jeff said, "obviously, you have no respect for women." Drama - it's very obvious that women are 2nd class citizens here and Liz gets leered at by pervy men all the time. Yuck! After awhile our patience snaps and we can't help but tell them their attitudes suck! Most of the time our inner peace is stronger and we ignore it - like ignoring incessant calls of beggars and children - "hello, money..., hello, chocolate... hello, school pen" - and rickshaw drivers. We are definitely not in America! Ha!

Today we went to see the Taj which was great. We got there by 7 AM before the crowds and saw the sun coming up on the large marble structure. Liz wore her saree which the women thought looked really nice. Afterward we went to Fatehpur Sikri by bus which is 1.5 hours each way. It's where Shah Jahan built the perfect city; however there was no water supply so it was never used. There's also a mosque there and workers are still chipping away at stones because it still being worked on.

****Quote of the day****
Taj Mahal, by random tourist exiting the tomb
"Do you smell toe jam?"
No shoes are allowed inside the marble tomb, so unless you have shoe covers on, the toe jam is exposed. Gnarly!

We are now back at the hotel picking up our packs and are off to Jaipur. Our train leaves tonight at 5:45 PM and gets in at 10:30 PM. Hopefully finding a hotel won't be hard. Must run - Love Liz and Jeff

November 22, Mc Delhi

They do have Mc Donalds, but "Mc Aloo [potato] tikka burger" just wasn't what Jeff wanted. Ha! Though the chicken curry sandwich was pretty good.

We've been in Delhi the past 3 days and surprisingly find it to be quite a clean city! Instead of human crap and maggots like Varanasi, there's just typical street trash, fewer lepper beggars and dense smog. :-) We are actually enjoying ourselves and love laughing at the frenzy that constantly surrounds us.

Liz is reading a new book, "Holy Cow" which is based in India and discusses their obsession with marriage and love stories. Combining that with the personal marriage ads in last Sunday's paper, we now check out all couples that are out in public and assume they are on a very akward arranged date. It's comical and now we can't stop watching them. As much as people do stare at us - Jeff's long hair and Liz's attempt at Indian dress, we like looking at them like mini-soap operas. Maybe we miss TV! It's mini-Bollywood episodes live!

Today we did a little sight seeing and braved the metro which again is very clean. We saw the Red Fort that Shah Jahan built (same emperor that built that Taj Mahal), and then took an hour rickshaw ride through various markets - spice, silver, electrical parts, shoes, and chemicals - in Old Delhi. We saw the big mosque and have also seen the India Gate.

We are staying at the Hare Krishna in the backpacker area which is pretty nice and has a roof top restaurant that is great for morning coffee. When we checked in a few days ago we arrived with 3 bags and now we have 4! We are leaving 2 in storage and heading off to Agra and then Rajastan tomorrow.

That's it for now. Happy Turkey day! Love us

November 18, Varanasi, India

Jeff's first India quote, Varanasi, 11-17-06, "We should put on our closed-toed shoes as there's a lot of shit on the ground.... or just go barefoot and wash our feet at the end of the day."

Rickshaw driver quote (after hassling us for a ride and watching us keep going), "Ride, or are you walking and talking?" Jeff responds - "yah, we are 'walking and talking'. From now on - "no thanks, we are walking and talking".

We survived the 20 hour bus trip from Nepal to India with sore bums. We arrived in the holy city at 1 AM with 3 other tourists and all braved motorized tricycles to the Ghats - river front. With very narrow city streets, the drivers couldn't get us that close so we ended up walking round and round - over dogs, cows, sleeping bodies, roaches, piles of shit, etc. until we found a hotel and got some sleep.

Yesterday morning we changed hotels to one with much nicer common areas - a garden in the center and many balconies overlooking the Ganges, and that actually turned out to be cheaper - 150 Indian rupies per night (44 IR = $1). We also walked around the city a lot and did a sunset boat ride to see the Ghats - cremation sites. The one closest to our hotel had 20+ bodies burning at one time. It was really pretty ghastly - and a lot of dogs fighting and humping and then eating remains - yuck. We also saw one body dropped in whole - babies, pregnant women, and holy men - saddhus aren't burned. Only men are involved in the cremations as women tend to cry and there is no crying aloud as it makes it difficult for the deceased spirit to leave this world.

Today we will walk around a bit more and then we are taking a 12.5 hour night train to Delhi tomorrow. Liz is wearing a red saree today that she bought in Nepal and is excited that her tying job lasted the 30 minute walk this morning without falling off.

Hope all is well with you all. Love Liz and Jeff

November 14, Pokhara

We started the Annapurna circuit trek about a week ago, but just couldn't get into it. The area is gorgeous - reminds us of Yosemite, with lots of waterfalls, green valleys and high snow capped mountains. The culture was neat - but more of the same. We also heard that the Throng La pass was closed and without another way around means you either back track or wait. We walked through little towns, next to schools and rice fields. No "toe touch" photos as we didn't summit anything (Patrick - our signature pic when we get to the top of a mountain/pass). After having done Everest, not too much can compare and we are getting really antsy to get to India and do some fabric and jewelry shopping.

So - we ended up hiking to Bagarchapp in 3 days and then 2 days back. This morning we caught a bus back to Pokhara. We'll leave 11/16 overland to India. We'll go to Varanasi first, then Agra, Delhi and into Rajasthan.

Happy Thanksgiving! Love Liz and Jeff

Nov. 8, Pokhara

From KTM we took the Tourist Bus which was fairly direct to Sauraha which is just outside Chitwan National Park. From there we were hassled by various hotel reps promising cheap, nice rooms without obligation if we would just look. We succumbed to one who ended up showing us this remote run down hotel. When we said we didn't like it and wanted to be closer to town he grumbled and then said he actually owned a 2nd hotel. He took us to a very nice hotel on the river separatng Sauraha from Chitwan. Only we still wanted to be near the town and other dining options. He wouldn't take no for an answer so instead we all agreed on a low price of 150 rs. Because the room rate was low, he then tried to make up for it by asking higher elephant ride and jungle walks. Instead, we booked all activities for the following day with another operator.

That evening the hotel was very insistant and annoying. Instead of telling them we already booked the activities for fear of them really ripping us off in other ways, we said we wanted to wake up early and check out Chitwan on our own at 6 AM. So, the hotel guys locked us in our room and it took 20 minutes to get out.

The next day we had an enjoyable, but bum-hurting, elephant ride. We were fortunate to see a baby rhino and mom. In the afternoon we went for a 45 minute canoe ride and 3-4 hour walk through the park. We saw monkeys, a wild chicken, a crocodile and learned about medicinal plants. Now really isn't the best time to see wildlife in Chitwan as the elephant grass is very tall and thick. We also found a good happy hour place in town and what we thought was a good restaurant - only Jeff's been having tummy problems so is on Cipro. He's doing better, but we think it was something he ate.

After a fun day of activities Jeff told the hotel we were checking out the next day which really made them angry as they weren't able to sell us a bunch of over priced activities. Then they lied about the hotel price we had agreed on and tried to charge us tax on the food we had purchased. Hopefully this isn't shades of India... There really aren't that many tourists now so those in the business are exceptionally desperate.

Yesterday morning we left Chitwan by bus to Pokhara. Again we were hassled at the bus stop. We finally got in a cab to take us to the center and at the last second a salesman hoped in and told us he owned the cab and to take us to his hotel. We did look at the hotel, but decided to stay elsewhere.

Pokhara is a beautiful city next to a lake and surrounded by mountains. It is much cleaner and smaller than KTM. Last night after getting our trekking permits ($30 each!) we found a good restaurant that showed Die Hard 3. That was fun drinking wine and relaxing. Jeff's appetite returned as he ate two orders of pasta.

Today we organized our trek. It is quite annoying as just recently a law was passed requiring all trekkers to employ at least 1 Nepali person - either a guide/porter to accompany them. Most trekking companies want $10/day which is a lot considering a nice hotel room with private bathroom costs $1.30 a day. Fortunately we were able to find an agency that understood that really we didn't want a guide or porter, but anyone that would fulfill the requirement. She has a good friend that she phoned that would do it for $5/day. He's young (probably highschool - college), speaks good English, and is looking for guiding experience. Depending on weather - the trek may be 16-20 days. We told him (Krishna) we'd pay $100 even if we are done early. We will also pay for his meals which should be about $1 day as well. He's going to get the paperwork done he needs today and then tonight we'll meet up to plan the rest. We will be leaving early tomorrow (about 6AM) to Besi Shrar which is about 5 hours from here. The trek will finish close to here. He seems happy with the agreement - though the agency operator haggled with us - and it's nice to know that he gets to keep most of the money.

We almost forgot, one of the workers at our hotel got a new puppy today! We were sitting outside in the garden eating breakfast and could hear it crying. Liz had to pick it up and play. It's a cute little - 6 week - puppy. Poor guy had ticks on him. Jeff and Liz took them off as best we could - burning them and then tweazing them out. We then gave the owners rearing tips.

Anyway - this is a super long post. We leave tomorrow to trek around Annapurna. Should be back in 16-20 days. If we are back after Thanksgiving - happy Turkey Day to all. Love Liz and Jeff

November 3 Kathmandu

While the way back down from Everest was mainly downhill, it still had a lot of up. Thus, we are a bit tired and enjoying good food and relaxation in Kathmandu. W found a cheaper guest house than we had previously stayed at with the group and showered for a long time. We dropped off our laundry and have been shopping and exploring. Even had Gelatto for dessert and a few glasses of wine!

Our plan is to be here for a few days before bussing to Chitwan National Park for a mini-safari and then onto Pokhara to begin the Annapurna trek. Love Liz and Jeff

October 29-November 1 Back from Everest to Lukla

10/29 we had hoped to hike up to the top of Kala Pattar before heading back down, but Jeff wasn't feeling that great and Liz was also tired. It was actually quite scary as come to find out Jeff had pulled a pec muscle on his left side that was giving him considerable chest pain. Liz freaked out and started making him take diamox when it wasn't related to altitude at all. We quickly boogied down from Gorak Shep to Lobuje where there were Americans doctors conducting a high altitude study. Jeff got checked out and it was determined to be muscular. Relief! However, during our brief trip up and back we saw 2 helicopters rushing down patients, heard the blades of a 3rd, and heard talks of a 4th chopper being called in. AMS (acute mountain sickness), HAPE (high alititude pulmonary edema) and HACE (cerebral edema) are all very serious and common at these altitudes.

From Gorak Shep we continued down to Dingboche. Spent the 29th there and got our bag which we left. It was much warmer this time. With heavier packs we left Dingboche on 10/30 and went to Namche stopping in Tengboche for a mediocre lunchtime doughnut. 10/31 we left Namche for Phakding, of course not before making our packes even heavier. Jeff bought to "fo-original" ice axes which were taken from previous Everest expeditions in Namache. They are both really neat - one is from France the other Poland - which we think we can use as decorations, and in Phakding Jeff decided that since he couldn't get the Everest beer labels off the bottles that he'd carry out two bottles as souveneirs.

In Namche we were able to make flight reservations back to KTM for 11/2, but we arrived to Lukla on 11/1 early enough that we could still get a flight. That was a scary flight - not only was there turbulence, but we were flying with about 4-5 vocal Maoists on the flight. Security isn't that good - Jeff was able to hand carry the two large glass beer bottles on the plane along with our first aid kit that has scissors and a small scapel.