Pondicherry.....where did India go?

After the bus ride from hell, we finally commandeered an auto-rickshaw to our hotel/ashram and immediately noticed a nice change of pace. Pondicherry, the former capital of French southern India was absolutely wonderful, in the spots closest to the beach. Our hotel overlooked the Bay of Bengal and in the mornings you could hear the sounds of the water crashing into the beach through our mosquito nets.

As we walked around and discovered Pondicherry, we noticed that there were too parts.....the French part and the Indian part. The French part had quiet, walkable streets covered with trees! While their Indian counterparts were much more hectic and much less appealing in my own thoughts. Needless to say, we stuck to the French part of Pondicherry for the most part. We even watched a group of older Indian men playing boccie......how European is that?

Love, peace, and soul.

The bus ride to Pondicherry....yikes!

After waking up to the sounds of rain, we ate breakfast at our hotel and then headed to catch the bus to Pondicherry. It was only a 4 hour ride and the trains didn't run as often as the buses. Plus, the bus was cheaper......like $5 for both of us!

Well, there's a reason for the cheap fare......it's so they can cram as many people as possible onto the bus. We got on one bus early and secured seats where we could keep our bags close. As the bus took off, it was completely full with the aisles open. That would soon change as we slowly but surely picked up more passengers until they were two and three deep in the middle aisle of the bus. At one time, I had three to four people pressed up against me during the bulk of the four hour ride. For those of you who think that traveling around the world is all fun and games, think about 4 hours of hot sweaty, Indians pressed up against you while you get hawked oranges, green coconuts, and other items. Think about the horn blaring every 5 seconds all while music is playing in between two bad Indian films on the screens. Oh yeah, I almost forgot.....our bus got hit by another bus! It truly was one of the more wild experiences on my trip thus far. I wish I had enough room to reach my camera and take a picture, but I couldn't hardly move at time!

Needless to say, both Kathryn and I were glad to see that bus ride come to an end.

More later......

Love, peace, and soul.

My travelin partner arrives!

So, after going it on my own for about three weeks, I was definitely glad that Kathryn, whom I met while traveling in Egypt, would be joining me for the second half of my Indian adventure. Not only is it great to have someone to split costs with, it's also great to have someone see all of the same things you are seeing as sometimes it's just too much to describe! You really almost have to visit India just once in your life to take it all in for yourself.

She arrived in Chennai a few hours later than planned, but in tact, and ready to travel. So, we left the airport and found the cheapest and easiest way back to our hotel.....the suburban train! And that's where Kathryn was introduced to her first Indian experience of being crammed into a tight, dark, hot place and being surrounded by sweaty Indian men! It's a wonder she didn't get a taxi back to the airport!

After making it to the hotel, we picked out our plan for the next two weeks: Pondicherry, back to Chennai, Hyderabad (despite the recent blasts), Puri, and then Kolkatta. Pretty aggressive for two weeks, but we built in a couple of days in Puri on the beach. So we've still got some down time.

More later......

Love, peace, and soul

32 hours on a train!

Yeah, that's right, I spent 32 hours on a train from Agra to Chennai......and let me tell you, it wasn't terrible. Traveling in my usual 2nd class A/C compartment I got two decent veg meals and it gave me some time to rest up and read up on Southeast Asia. Plus, every big station stop allowed me the opportunity to get out and stretch my legs for a few minutes. It wasn't terrible, but if it wasn't for Hypnor, I'd never have made it.

Now, would I do it again..........let me thing about that one!

Love, peace, and soul.

The Taj!

So, after arriving in Agra via Delhi (yeah, I know I took the long way from Jaipur via Delhi) and catching an auto-rickshaw (my favorite!), I quickly made it to the rooftop restaurant of my hotel in the Taj Ganj area of Agra. Rumor had it that my hotel had the best view of the Taj and boy where they right! I was amazed at how close I was and quickly wanted to rush down and enter the grounds.....one thing stopped me! That's right, the 750 rupees that I would have to pay to get into the grounds. For those of you not current on your Indian exchange rates, that equates to about $18.75. Wondering what Indian citizens pay to get in? Oh that's easy.........just divide by about 100%. But that's for another post!

Since the day was mostly done, I decided to make a quick trip to the Agra Fort. Little did I know, but the fort sat about 3kms away from my hotel. So, it was a fun hot, humid walk to the fort and back. But it tired me out early so that I could rest up and try and get an early start to catch sunrise at the Taj Mahal.

The next morning came awfully early and after a quick shower it was down to grab my ticket and get in the security line. The security line was pretty long for guys and it was interesting the things that they wouldn't let you take in: lighters, matches, cigarettes, and MP3 players?! What's the deal with the Mp3 players? Anyway, I hid mine and after the metal detector and the pat down, I was in and on my way to see one of the world's great architectural wonders.

What a wonder it was! I had already seen the sunset the previous night from the roof of my hotel, but seeing it in the early morning was definitely something else. The bright sun shining down the white marble was almost too much at times! I was fortunate to run into two other english speaking world travelers from England, Vickie and Helena, and they were able to hook me up with some good shots of me in front of the Taj.

We ended up spending most of the morning taking in the wonder and even got to meet "the Gardener" of the Taj. He must be one heck of a gardener because he's a lousy photographer. Of all the pictures he took of us, hardly any actually had the Taj in the background. Still, he was an interesting character.

More to come......

Love, peace, and soul.

Not your ordinary day in Jaipur

So, after taking in all of the splendor of Jodphur.....I hoped on a train and went to see Jaipur, the 'Pink City' after the reddish hue of most of the buildings in the old city. Well, my first day in Jaipur was a bit of a waste as the train I was on came in about an hour and a half later than estimated and I scrambled to get the next to last room in the Atithi Hotel. While waiting for the room to open up, I met a french couple and we ended up having dinner together. As it turns out, I would run into them a few days later in Agra as we had similar schedules.



My full day in Jaipur turned out to be a wild day! Let's recap.....on the way to the tourist destinations, I ended up talking about the 2008 presidential election with Vijay, a silver shop owner and gemstone wholesaler (aren't they all) in Jaipur. Figuring that the city palace could wait, I eventually made my way to Vijay's shop, which was not on the main drag and pretty hard to find. After looking at various bits of silver, I finally decided on a ring for my index finger.......one big problem, my ring size is Jimmy Dean! So, after talking with Vijay's brother, we figured out that they could get a ring made for my finger and get it done by that evening, which was critical as my train left later that evening.



So, after talking with Vijay some more, he asked if I wanted to meet his "Guru" who's helped him get his life together. After assuring me that it wouldn't cost me any money (yeah right), I hoped on the back of Vijay's motorcycle and we were off to meet his 'Guru.' After driving a few minutes north of town, we made it to Ajay, the Guru's shop. I met Ajay in a Godfather-esque introduction and had a few minutes of chat time with the Guru. After about a minute or so, the Guru asked for my hand and I skeptically gave it him. He placed his hand over my hand and then closed his eyes. After that, he started telling me things about my life that were all pretty much true. I was truly amazed that this guy knew some of the things that he did......but how? I had no clue. So, after talking to me for a while, he told me that my throat chakra was out of balance and that he could help me get it in balance. I was thinking that this was the big sell and of course, the stone was expensive. I thought, what the heck, and decided to buy it. Besides, it's only money and you can't take it with you when you die.

So, the guru said he would need an hour to make the pendant, then we would do a ceremony and then another ceremony would be done 15 days. So, needing to kill an hour, I turned to Vijay and he suggested that we go to the temple of the Monkey God as it was his holy day and Vijay needed to pray. So, on the motorcycle we hop again and this time we head out into the hills outside of Jaipur. We park at the bottom of a valley and walk up to the temple of the Monkey God, which turns out to be one of the reincarnations of Shiva. So, Vijay goes through room after room in the temple and does his prayers....all the while I'm getting stared at because I am the only non-Indian in this whole temple.

After the prayers, we head back to the Guru, where we perform the ceremony and he gives me instructions for the ceremony in 15 days. I thank him and then Vijay takes me back to my hotel. He met me later that evening to deliver the ring that I bought from him earlier, specially fit for my Jimmy Dean sausage link finger!

What an odd and interesting day in Jaipur!

More later......

Love, peace, and soul.

Jodphur......a welcome relief

So, after spending a few days in the awe that is Delhi.....I decided it's time to see the country side for a bit. So, I caught an overnight train from Old Delhi train station to Jodphur, out in the Rajasthan state, and on the edge of the Thar Desert. What an amazing town Jodphur would turn out to be!

Jodphur is known as the "Blue City" and within a few minutes of arriving you know why.......as a lot of the buildings are a shade of Indigo Blue. It's pretty neat to see from the ground, but even more amazing when you work your way up to Mehrangarh fort and Jaswant Thanda. These are both 'don't miss' places to see in Jodphur. The fort has been really well preserved, partly due to climate and partly due to concerted efforts by the Maharaja, and has an excellent audio tour......not to mention excellent views of Jodphur below. Jaswant Thanda is a beautiful white marble mausoleum that sits off to the side of the fort in peace and serenity.

Highlights in Jodphur include smoking sheesha......hanging out with Henry, Mike, Rich, and our wonderful hotel owner Yogi, who for such a young man, has done a fair amount of traveling in the U.S.

More later.......

Love, peace, and soul.

Welcome to the Jungle......er Delhi!

I'm here to tell you that everything you read about India is true. It's such a shock on the senses that it truly does take a day or two or three to get used to it all. On arriving into Delhi and clearing immigration and customs, I caught a prepaid taxi to the Paharganj area of town near the New Delhi train station. The Paharganj area tends to be the backpacking area in Delhi. The road was so small that my taxi couldn't make it all the way to the hotel, so I ended up taking a cycle rickshaw to my final destination. With my hotel room intact, I decided to venture out and explore the city.......

The attack on the senses was amazing. The colors, the noise, the smells of urine, feces, and thalis all at once were almost too much. And of course, who can forget about all of the people. People in front, behind, to the side, people just everywhere! It was enough to make your head spin. I just never imagined, especially after some of my earlier travels, that I would be taken so by surprise, but I was. Part of it could have been attributed to the minor cold I picked up on the flight from Addis, but certainly, there was a bit of a culture shock for me.

And in case you are wondering......yeah, there are cows in the oddest of places. I've had to walk around them on the streets, walking into stores, and walking through open air markets. They seem to live on the trash on the streets!

After settling down and exploring Delhi for a few days, I'm off to Rajasthan state to explore Jodphur, the Blue City, Jaipur, the Pink City, and then on to Agra, home of the Taj Mahal, before heading south to Chennai to explore southern India.

More from the road.......

Love, peace, and soul.

A quick look at Addis Ababa

My next stop on the world tour was a bit unplanned and looking back, I probably didn't have the best experience given several factors. I arrived into Addis Ababa late on a Thursday night and was flying out to India on Sunday. So, I had a short time frame to see all that Addis had to offer. Little did I know that August is not the time to visit Ethiopia as it's right in the middle of the heavy part of rainy season. So, I ended up spending a lot of time at my guesthouse, run by Mr. Martin.

When it wasn't raining I did get out and explore Addis and found it to be an odd mix of first world and third world......all on the same street. I would walk down Bole Road and see nice, first world shops, but then turn and look down a side street and see row after row of metal shacks that were reminiscent of the townships in South Africa. On the streets, I saw everything from men dressed in suits, to poor kids sleeping on the streets, their feet with tremendous infections causing extreme swelling of the feet and lower legs. Just an extremely odd mixture.

On my final day in Addis, I spent most of it talking travel, Ethiopian politics, and life with Mr. Martin. He was kind enough to take me to one of his other businesses, which was a wonderful European style spa tucked in quiet area just off Bole Road. It was a nice relaxing way to spend the afternoon before my overnight flight to Delhi......and being relaxed made me fall asleep that much easier.

Until later.......

Love, peace, and soul.

Ostriches, Crocodiles.....and diving?

After seeing most of the Garden Route, Enid decided to take me inland a bit and check out Oudsthoorn and all this truly Afrikaans town had to offer. Our first stop was a place called Safari, which was an Ostrich farm on the outskirts of town. Oudsthoorn is a bit of an Ostrich town as it sits in a dry area that's perfect for raising Ostriches. On the drive into town you pass a multitude of ostrich farms. We were hoping to get to ride one....or at best sit on one.

We took the tour and learned all about Ostriches and how they are farmed and learned that they are the only bird to produce red meat, which tastes pretty damn good! We also learned that their eggs are extremely strong! Unfortunately, all that beer on the road did me know good and I was going to be too much for sitting or riding on the ostrich, but Enid got a chance and she commented that the birds are stronger then they look.

After our ostrich extravaganza, we headed for our next adventure.......croc diving! Enid had told me that she was going to take me and I had my reservations. I imagined being lowered in a cage in the middle of some swampy river with 15 or so hungry crocodiles! In actuality it was a lot more tame. I was lowered into a fairly clean, temperature controlled pool of water with two languid crocodiles who were interested in catching some sun and not at all interested in me. Still, I was so close that I could actually reach out and touch them, but decided against it.

Until later.

Love, peace, and soul.

The Garden Route beckons....

With Carolyn headed back to the States, I hopped in the car with my friend Enid to see 'her South Africa.' Little did I know that her South Africa would be so beautiful. We left Cape Town and headed east towards the Garden Route.....our destination, Dana Bay, a tiny town on the outskirts of Mossel Bay, the founding point of South Africa and the start of the Garden Route.

We spent a day or two exploring all the towns on the Garden Route, including Wilderness, Knysna, and even heading out to Storms River to see the world's tallest bungee jump at 216 meters. Let me just tell you that the people jumping off that bridge are missing a few screws!

The coast was something truly unique and the scenery was just amazing. It reminded me a lot of the California coast line from San Diego up to San Francisco......ever changing, yet strikingly beautiful.

More later.

Love, peace, and soul.

A dream come true.....and a wild ending

The day had finally come.....ever since my childhood, I had dreamed of cage diving with Great White Sharks, the most feared and misunderstood creatures in the sea. We were both on the top of our games as we made the long drive down to Gansbaai. After a small breakfast, we went out to the boat and loaded up for, what hoped to be, a memorable day.

The boat ride out to Dyer Island, aka Shark Alley, was a rough and fun one. Once there, we grabbed our cage from it's anchor and started preparations. We dropped anchor and got into our wetsuits. I was initially fine, but suddenly found myself with a bit of a headache and motion sickness. I was determined not to let it get the best of me. Although having the boat anchored meant that every wave that hit us was tossing the boat around. Not even 5 minutes into it and one guy lost his breakfast over the edge of the boat. Soon, more than 2/3rds of the boat would be sick from the waves and the smell of the seals, as we were downwind of about 30,000 seals.

"Shark in the water!" was the call that snapped me back. No way was I going to let this pass by. I finally got ready and jumped into the cage with 3 other people. It wasn't as cold as what I thought it was going to be and there was decent space in the cage. We waited as the shark circled the boat and went after the bait. Carolyn joined the cage and it got a bit tighter. Finally, with both of us in the cage, the shark went for the bait, but missed. As he went under the boat, I got a great view and watched him circle the boat ready for his next try. He came and missed and then gave up. So did I. The waves were tossing both Carolyn and I around like dirty clothes in a Maytag washing machine!

Back on the boat, my sea sickness got the best of me, but Carolyn was still game for a few more dives. This time with a lot less participants. She enjoyed each dive she took because there was a lot more room and she didn't feel like she was getting tossed around. I, on the other hand, was reduced to the fetal position to keep from losing my lunch.

On the last round, right before heading in to port, Carolyn got the experience of the day as a Great White went straight for the bait right in front of the cage and rattled the cage as he took his prize! What an experience and Carolyn let out quite the shriek of joy. Too bad I was still in the fetal position.

More later.......

Love, peace, and soul.

Cape Point......truly amazing views

With morning coming early and every one's favorite tambourine nursing quite the hangover, we ventured out on the Cape Point tour with the Baz Bus. The day promised to be a beautiful one as the famous Cape Town weather finally turned good for us. Clear skies and low winds.....what a wonderful combination.

We went out from Cape Town and went down through Camps Bay and Clifton....which reminded me of the drive from Santa Monica to Malibu. We then stopped off at Houts Bay in time to check out the ferry out to the seal colony. The winds picked up and the waves were not good for Carolyn and her hangover, but she powered through. We then tried to go to Champman's peak, but the road was closed due to some debris blocking the road. So, over the mountains we went and stopped off at Muizenburg to check out the town at the heart of False Bay. Then we finally made it to Simon's Town for a quick check on the penguins.

After hanging out with the penguins, we finally made it to Cape Point National Park and got out to stretch the legs with a nice bike ride through some of the park to build up our appetite. After the bike ride and lunch, it was off to Cape Point and the Cape of Good Hope, the most southwestern point of Africa, whatever that means?

The views were amazing and we got to do a bit of climbing around both Cape Point and the Cape of Good Hope. The views were truly outstanding and sometimes the camera just can't capture all that the eye can take in........truly amazing.

Until later........

Love, peace, and soul.

South African Wines and the Tambourine player!

After getting Carolyn acquainted to South African time, and getting her introduced to that famous Cape Town weather, we ventured out to check out some of the local wineries in the Western Cape. Our guide Robbie, was wonderful in getting us from winery to winery and giving us plenty of information on wine and wine growing in the Cape. The wines were really tasty and typically South African.

All in all, we went to 4 different wineries and tasted about 6 or 7 wines at each winery. So, we were feeling no pain that afternoon when we got dropped off on Long Street. We killed an hour or so and then found our way to Cafe Mojito for the 5-6pm R13.50 (aka <$2) cocktail special. That, of course, led to dinner and more drinks and then out to The Dubliner for more......wait for it........more drinks!

Before I knew it, I had a full blown tambourine player on my hands! Rockin out, dancin up a storm, and generally 'owning the crowd.' Our little tambourine player had quite the night and everyone enjoyed her 'mad skillz,' but she paid the price in the morning.

More later.....

Love, peace, and soul.

Shocker!

I know this post is kind of pointless, but I just wanted to say that I had a shockingly good time at Helen's birthday celebration!

More later......

Love, peace, and soul.

Cape Town!

Well, after a long and arduous journey, we finally made it to Cape Town! And what a day to come into a beautiful city! The skies were clear and the city was absolutely stunning when we drove in from the north. We got the "post card pictures" of Cape Town with Table Mountain in the background and Table Bay in the foreground. It was an amazing way to see the city and good to finally get to our destination.

After arriving in the northern Cape Town suburbs, which were quite posh, we hoped on smaller mini buses to head off for a township tour of Langa Township and to have lunch in Guguleta Township. The townships are a nice word for the black slums where most of the blacks were displaced to during the apartheid era. The tour was pretty interesting, but I couldn't help but think that I was literally walking through a human zoo. I mean, here we are, very privellaged, walking through a township and staring and learning about the underprivelaged. It was very humbling for sure.

After the township tour, we all went back into town and the group started to split up. In retrospect, I wish I would have taken the cable car up to Table Mountain as it was a beautiful day and it was the last day the cable car was working before shutting down for annual maintenance. I didn't realize that the weather was going to change and pretty much just be crappy for the next couple of weeks.

Oh well! The lessons we learn, but it was okay as the whole next week was spent waiting for Carolyn to arrive anyway! I will definitely be back to Cape Town in the future as it's a great town with a lot to do and a lot to see.

More updates later.

Love, peace, and soul.