South Africa: 12/12/07

After one last walk on the beach at Bulungula we got into the old Landcruiser for the rough two and a half hour journey to the paved road junction. Along the way we picked up and dropped off various people who emerged from the shadows of small round huts, or rondovals, that spotted the country side. We would exchange simple formalities as new passengers climbed in the back with us, but most of the them only spoke the local Xhosa dialect, and we would smile as the clicked their tongues while the spoke. 

The junction consisted of one makeshift shop which sold warm drinks and a small selection of fruit, but there were probably 50 people standing around. None of them seemed to be doing much; women and children sat in the dirt, groups of men huddled together in conversation, their eyes twitching about as though they were being watched by unseen observers. When we stepped out of the Land Cruiser it felt as though the record skipped, and all eyes turned to the two caucasian westerners being dropped off. We cautiously situated ourselves away from the largest group of 20-something men and we watched our driver, Rufus, pull away. 

No more than two minutes had passed before our 'Taxi' arrived. One of the notoriously famous mini-bus transports that would take us to Coffee Bay. The mini-bus itself was more like an old, narrow mini-van that smelled of body odor and upholstery that had never been cleaned. We squeezed into the back seat with our bags, the volume of the stereo went WAY up with Africaans Hip-Hop, and we were off , again, dropping off and picking up passengers who dotted the side of the road. 

In such a transport, safety is a non-factor. The driver raced down the windy, two-lane road, swinging the wheel wildly to avoid the potholes. Actually, they were more like small craters than potholes, a few of which could have swallowed the entire front end of the vehicle. The driver couldn't have been more than 18 years old, and he split his time equally in his respective lane, and the lane of oncoming traffic. But he never slowed down. The music was deafening and the smell of fuel and exhaust gave both Shanon and I headaches and made us want to vomit. All the while we clung to each other in fear. 

At one point there were eight people on board (including the driver), along with an infant who sat quietly on her mother's lap in the front seat. We must have been moving at about 120-140 kph, or 70-75 mph, and coming around a long, sharp turn, when the driver slammed the brakes hard, narrowly avoiding a renegade cow that had wandered into the road. Minutes later it was a dog. People came and went, one had two large crates full of empty beer bottles which he kept stacked in his lap, another with a club foot who carried an old wooden crutch under with one hand, and an old splintered cane in the other. The exhaust became stifling the further we went, and I strained to keep a small window propped open to try and get fresh air. I could feel brain cells retiring from duty and my head reeled.

We passed large groups of people lining the road. All of them seemed to be waiting for something, but no one seemed to be in a hurry. No one except our driver. We would find out later that it was Pension Day, or pay-day, and that everyone was waiting to collect money. What they did for a living, or who paid them remains a mystery, but people gathered en-masse for their stipend.

What a ride. The green hills carry on in every direction as far as the eye can see, and whizzing by the the Xhosa communities we got a chance to see the heart of a Wild Coast community, home of Nelson Mandela, from the backseat of a hell-spawned mini-bus.  

Reflections of the World

Even though we did our best to provide an overview of our experiences while we were abroad, it wasn't always easy to keep the blog updated. This week I've been thumbing through the journal I kept while we were traveling, and laughing at some of the ins and outs of a daily life in far away places. In the interest of keeping these memories alive, or at least in my own interest of self preservation, I've decided to take some of the entries from my personal journal and recreate the experiences here, in hopes that we might all laugh, cry, feel inspired, whatever.

I don't think I'll keep to a chronological order, at least not for now. I fact, the order will likely be random and intermittent, depending on what I feel is  good story to share at the time I choose to share it. Anyway, if anyone still frequents this blog, I hope you find these small insights worth the read. 

Cheers-

Jared 

India: 1/6/08

We met a kid from Israel this morning on the streets of Cabal. He had just arrived in Mumbai the night before. His face was tense and he asked us if we knew somewhere safe to eat, and then followed us down the street to an American style coffee shop. He was 19 years old, traveling alone, and seemed terrified of being in India. Shanon and I thought of the Israelis we encountered in South America, all moving around together in tight networks and finding guest houses that catered specifically to their nationality. But here in Mumbai, this young, solo wanderer hadn't located any 'friendly' faces, was certainly on edge and afraid to eat the food, and admitted that he was ready to leave after 14 hours.

--

Leaving our new friend behind, we caught a taxi and headed an hour north of Mumbai to the train terminal. From the back seat of the car we experienced our first glimpse of the dismal conditions in which people live, in this, the country's most thriving and wealthy metropolis. The small shanty's and lean to's sat directly on the sidewalks so that people's door-steps consisted of the curb and the street. Some were corrugated tin constructions, others were merely old tarps suspended from the concrete wall that backed the roadside neighborhood. People bathed, ate, and did their laundry right there on the asphalt, as small children with no clothes wandered just a few feet from the rushing traffic. We passed thousands of people living like this over the course of just a few miles. Poverty like we've never seen, and the biggest culture shock of the trip so far.

--

We were definitely a spectacle at the train station, and the only caucasian people in sight as far as we could tell. People passing us stared hard. Blatently. Some directly at Shanon, some directly at me, occasionally at both of us. Some would see us and then say something to the others standing close to them, after which a whole group would be staring at us. Sometimes they would point and laugh as they stared; of course we assumed they were laughing at us. Unsure how to react, and growing wary of the eyes on us, I tried my luck at staring back, but it was like trying to stare down a statue. It was a strange feeling, to say the least, and we tend to get it everywhere we've been so far in India. We are strangers in a strange place. As we waited for the train people flooded past us, and the rats scurried along the filthy tracks. It smelled of urine and human shit, and there is no doubt that we aren't used to getting around in this country yet. We feared the worst as we waited for the train. Miraculously, after about an hour of waiting, our train arrived and we climbed on-board.--safe at last from the gawkers and packs of teenage boys who move around together like packs of wolves. Safe at last from that station. 

Now aboard the train, an older couple next to us seem to be complaining to each other about our bags taking up so much space under the blue, vinyl bench, and upset with the fact that we were in the wrong seats when they boarded. We crammed our bags back as far as they would go and offered to move to our respective spots in the tiny berth, and that seemed to satisfy them. We think. Our first encounter with the Indian Railway. 

Just When You Thought it was Safe to Forget About Us

Just in case you were wondering, if you ever leave your home, your friends, your family and most things familiar to you, chances are they will be more or less the same a year later when you return. Now that we've been back in the states for just about four months it seems as though we were never gone at all. Life has a funny way of making it simple to slide back into a regular day routine--especially if you're Shanon and go back to the same job. (Thanks for being the bread-winner.) Anyway, we're alive and well, and back to dealing with the struggles of real life; i.e. bills, jobs (or lack thereof), house tenants, moving, car trouble, dirty dishes, presidential campaigns, etc., etc.  

As Shanon works to save the world one cancer patient at a time, Jared serves food in a local Pub, The Pub to be exact, and tries to figure out the inner complexities of his existence. There are rumors that he might start another blog that targets the cockeyed idiosyncrasies of people and the clever, or oafish, things they do. That may not make sense now, but if he gets around to it you'll see what he means. And no, he won't be talking in the third person when the new blog hits the www, but he will post a link on this site.

For now, enjoy the last of the photos from the final days of our time spent in the N.US and Canada. We hope you've enjoyed reading as much as we've enjoyed sharing. 

Here's to unexpected surprises and life-changing experiences. 

Canada--Several Months Later

We were amazed at the overwhelming response to the inconclusiveness of our blog. Surely, we thought to ourselves, no one is still following the abrupt and uncalled for abandonment of our documentation project. Surely, no one cares to hear about the difficult return to reality after what Shanon has coined, "The year-long weekend." Alas, our faithful viewers have called for a conclusion. Thank you to all our loyal readers who reminded us that we couldn't just stop reporting until there was nothing more to report. For now, here are some pics from our 4,300 mile journey into Canada and back--and in the next week I will add some colorful documentation, as well as an update on our lives back in the real world.  

Oh, Canada!

Back in North America, things are a little more expensive than they were on the opposite side of the globe. They're also a little bit more like real life--even though we've been doing our best to avoid that. Sorry to have completely slacked on the updates since leaving Asia. We promise to give a conclusion to this blog within weeks when we're back in SLC

We have officially made it to Banff, Canada, and just in time for Canada Day. Our neighbor to the north celebrates in similar fashion to the American 4th of July--fireworks and hot dogs--so I was glad I packed a country-western shirt.

The CPU's up here seem to locked away so people don't spread camera viruses to the machines, so no pictures for now. Again, we promise to update all this soon enough (if anyone is still reading).

Thanks for hanging in there with us--imagery stimulation to come. The Canadian Rockies are a beautiful place, and we saw a Grey Wolf in the wild!

Neat-O, eh!

This is the End...Well, Almost

So much for us keeping the blog up to date. Although there is not alot of news since the last post let me feel you in on the last few weeks.


After our return to Bangkok we settled into the modern Asian city life --taking the bus downtown for movies and shopping (even though we didn't really have money to buy anything), eating PadThai from the street stalls and selling off the last of our guidebooks. We did manage to squeeze in a couple more beach days a few hours outside of Bangkok. Although this island wasn't as spectacular as the paradise in the South, it was nice to wind down on the white sand one last time.


Realizing that we were actually in the last days of our trip took an emotional toll on us. We reminised about the moments in India when we were so fed up with the hassle that coming home to clean the toilet was sounding like a good prospect. What we wouldn't give to have those days back so we could do it all again. What a ride, and what an experience this has been--hard to believe that this is the end.


It's now Monday the 16th, and we landed in SLC yesterday. Let us just state for the record that the most unfriendly, unorganized and chaotic airport in all of the world is LAX. We never had delayed flights or trouble claiming our bags until we came home. We felt bad for all the foreigners who arrived with stars in their eyes at the same time we did--welcome to Los Angeles suckers.

Life back in SLC has been a bit hectic so far--dealing with a broken stove, gas leaks, and a family of racoons living in the eaves of our house. Welcome back to reality.

The plan is still to go to Canada (if we have any money left after this week), and even though our camera is officially broken at the moment--which is why there are no photos right now--we plan on updating the blog a few more times before we truly concede to real life.

Thanks for hanging in there with us this long. We hope you've enjoyed reading as much as we've loved telling it.

The End of Our Continental Swing

**More photos on the way...my camera battery died**


We heard horror stories going into Vietnam about the relentless touts, street salesmen and cyclo-drivers that never allowed a moments rest. It's true that there is usually someone on your heels trying to sell something, but we really decided that after India, everything is relative. In fact, we've really enjoyed Vietnam and its friendly people.

We seem to get stuck in capital cities wherever we go, and Hanoi has been no exception. Luckily, the chaotic streets in this very old city make for an interesting vantage point into the lives of so many urban Vietnamese. Days wandering the streets are hot and sticky, the cafes pricey and trendy, and the Old Quarter with it's narrow streets and alleys is a bombardment of sights, smells and (very loud) sounds.

With about a week left in Vietnam we decided to spend the money for a slightly expensive overnight train to the northern town of Sapa--famous in Vietnam for it's tribal minority villages, their colorful textiles and the sprawling rice terraces that climb the green mountain valleys. Aside from the temperate climate it really was a nice place to see, and it was interesting to see the locals mixing their own culture with the very new 21st century version that has been crammed down their throats. As a result, their persistence and agressive tactics are surprising given that fact that most of the sellers are either 50-70 year old women, or 8-12 year old girls. Regardless, they really are adorable and hard to resist--but when you do resist they can turn nasty on you. eally though, we just wanted something to compare our India train experiences to, and that's the real reason we went to Sapa.

After we returned to Hanoi we immediately braved a public bus a few hours south to a place we had missed on the way in called Ninh Binh. The decision to go there was not made lightly as the last thing either of us wanted to do was deal with the crook taxi drivers required to get us to the station, encounter the henchmen who hang around pulic transportation stops, or just get on a bus in general. Yet, we decided to go for it--and after yelling at the taxi driver for unnecessarily driving us all over the city to get more money, then beating off the reaching hands of the people trying to get us on their bus, we headed to Ninh Binh.

The city itself was nothing special, but we rented a motorbike and cruised the beautiful countryside through the karst landscape, visiting a small National Park and a primate rescue center along the way. It also seems that the mosnsoon season has begun, and everywhere we go is starting to get heavy rain. In this motorcycle culture everyone rides their with a massive poncho that covers themselves and the whole bike--and nobody slows down when the rain starts.

So that's that. Vietnam is through--the last country on our tour of South East Asia. Yesterday afternoon we flew back to Thailand where we will spend our final 10 days. Strange to think that it's been three months since we were first here...back then we were saying how weird it would be to back in Bangkok, because that would mean the end of the trip. We'll see if we can get another wrap up post between now and the time we come home though. But don't tune out yet, we really are going to Canada where I'm sure there will be plenty more adventures.

Busy life in the North

We are still in Vietnam and enjoying our stay very much. The north has a little different feel than the south, a little crazier and hectic with hints of India chaos and pestering, but still great. We spent 5 wonderful days in the very atmospheric town of Hoi An. Wow, I need to go back there with the girls because the shopping (i.e. custom taylors that will make anything and everything for you at a very, very cheap price). It was hard to walk around the place and not buy much. Like many places we've been we keep saying that if we were here on a shorter vacation and had some slush money, oh the amazing things we could buy. So, if anyone needs a fresh new custom suit, winter coat, wedding dress, or anything else go to Hoi An.

Aside from the shopping, the town was old and crumbly and so dang cute. It looked like a modern designer came through and created this old french look, exept that it was authentically old and french and a designer couldn't recreate the buildings to look as great as these. Exploring the streets and buildings was a highlight of Vietnam.

We took a scooter one day and visited China Beach which was a popular spot for the U.S. troops to have a day off while over here during the war. The beach was nice and empty but the currents were too strong to swim. We had and interesting lunch on the beach (no menu's in english) and I think that this is the hardest country so far to be a quazi vegetarian, everything is made of meat, and strange meat at that. We stopped at some interesting temples and mountains made of marble on the way back to Hoi An.

After Jared successfully pried me away from Hoi An (seriously ladies, go there) we went to Hue to see some more historical stuff. We are getting a little board of temples, forts, stupas, palaces, museums, etc... but there is still so much to see while we are here, so we must press on. The town itself wasn't real great, but we did see old cities ruined by the wars and masoleums for the past emporers who ruled in the 1800's.

We left Hue a little early so that we could get a visa extension in Hanoi before ours expired. This required taking an overnight bus (haven't done one of those in a while) to Hanoi, the Capital city of Vietnam. It is interesting to see the difference in the local people of the north v.s. the south. Its more hurried up here and the sellers/taxies/touts are more persistent and in your face but it is buzzing with life. We took a short overnight tour of Halong bay but probably should have done one more day. The tour itself was cheap but wasn't great (setting aside the rats and cockroaches on the boat, I guess its like they say, you get what you pay for), but the bay was absolutely beautiful. We slept on the boat with a great family from Australia who made us feel part of their own since we were the only outsiders. We swam and kayaked for a bit around the bays limestone Karsts and saw a few caves that were all lit up with different colored lights (felt a bit hoaky and disneylandish, but much of the tourists sites are like that here in Vietnam). It would have been nice to have our own boat and guide to explore more of the bay, but we enjoyed the beauty regardless.

North Into the Monsoon

You may have noticed we aren't as consistent in our blog postings as we once were. Maybe we're lazy now, maybe it's the unpredictable internet connections of SE Asia. Regardless, accept our most humble apologies.

After our stint in Ho Chi Mihn City we veered off the beaten track a bit and visited Dalat--the honeymooners capital of Vietam. Set amid man-made lakes, concrete statues of various animals, and green terraced hills as far as the eye can see, this is the first place we've visited in the past two and a half months where we haven't been dripping sweat around the clock. In fact, at several thousand feet above sea level, we actually got to enjoy putting on our shoes and long sleeve shirts for a few days. Praise Buddah! Unlike it's ill-mannered alter-ego that we visited in India, Mt. Abu, Dalat was a pleasant town with a colorful (yet smelly) market, nice waterfalls nearby, and a generous helping of the strange touch Vietnam puts on areas of interest--such as neon halos around Buddah or the Virgin Mary, swan-shaped pedaloos for the lake, or 15 foot high concrete tigers.

We spent one day cruising the cool hills, checking out the sites, and weaving through traffic, and I'm proud to report I've become quite the master of the Asian motorbike. Luckily, there are only a fraction of the people in Dalat as there are in Saigon, so the ride was reasonably safe. As a funny side-note, people wear very fashionable helmets in Vietnam--they're equipped with attachments that shade from the sun, or add a nice personal touch. In fact, they seem to be so popular that people rarely seem to take them off. Whether at the market, walking down the street or fishing on the lake, a good percentage of the people seem well prepared to step into a construction zone. When all else fails, do as the locals do when visiting your friendly local pagoda.

Regardless of the strange structures around town and the excessive head protection, the cool climate was the relief we needed. If only it could last all the way to Hanoi. We stayed an extra day in Dalat because we didn't want to go back to the heat and humidity, but we've since moved down from the hills to Nha Trang, on the coast of the South China Sea. Needless to say we've back to scorching heat, and countless moto-bike drivers who are all competing to give you a ride somewhere. It seems as thought the further north we go the more frequent the rain is becoming, too. We actually had one night that the rain started about 6:00 pm, and by 7:30 we were crossing the main road in town with the water nearly up to our knees--we've never seen anything quite like it. Further along down the coast we made another quick stop in a less toursted area and enjoyed a day and a half of hard rain while cruising the quiet coast on bikes. With not much to do and not many menu's in English we moved on after just two nights, but Shanon and I did look good in plastic bags.

Up the coast we go...we will try to be more diligent about the blog, in this our final month overseas. We fly back to Bangkok on the 3rd of June, and then should be stateside on the 14th, and in SLC on June 15th. Yikes!
A few minutes of r&r between thunder storms.

Loving Vietnam

Here we are, alive and well, hangin with the commies in Viet Nam. We sucessfully crossed the boarder into our last planned country on our original agenda.

We came from Cambodia to the border via the Mekong river by slow boat, which was really great. Life on the mekong is slow and muddy. Some of the people live in floating houses right on the river. Very interesting.

We spent our first night in a city called Chau Doc which really didn't have much to it, but was nice to see the daily goings on in the river city. We took off the next day via bus (which was broken down for an hour or so) and boat to the island of Phu Quoc which was absolutely amazing. It was quiet and although there were enough bungalows and resteraunts to eat at, there wasn't hoards of tourists outnumbering the locals. Most of the tourists that were there we from Vietnam anyway. There also was a nice lack of anyone trying to sell you trinkets and junk on the beach. Our bungalow right on the white sand beach looking out over the amazing waters was really, really cheap. It seemed to be what Thailand was (so we hear), 20 years ago before the influx of foreigners. Very nice. We stayed for 4 nights and if Jared would have let me, I think I would have stayed for much, much longer. We lazed the days away in our hammocks and watched the local fishermen working their nets from our porch. It seemed like this place was changing fast with major construction sites throwing up resorts all over. It may just be another gigantic upscale resort island in a couple of years, so we were glad to see it before it changes too much.

Against my pleadings, we left the island and headed for the city of Can Tho which was located right in the heart of the Mekong Delta. We really liked this place and spent a wonderful morning on the river with our wonderful tiny boat guide.

He took us to the biggest floating market in the Delta and we watched the local people go about their grocery shopping, fruit haggling, and meat cooking rituals. We also visited a rice paper factory, snake farm and land market while on our boat tour. The land market was absolutely insane, seriously there were snakes, fish, crabs, frogs and all other random things jumping out of buckets and flopping around our feet. We got some great fruits there including my new favorite fruit-the incredibly sweet and juicy mangosteen.

We also got to participate in the April 30th celebrations- which is for the victory of N. Vietnam over S. Vietnam-pretty much the end of the American (Vietnam) war. So fun, full of random street snacks, motorcycle chaos, and yes a stage with what I assume is Vietnams finest performers. White suite wearing, dance move throwing, high voiced singing stage hounds. Awesome!

We are now in Saigon, which has been full of strange emotions. The city is full of wartime sites and museums. We have been to a few which were heart renching and hard to see. This country seems to have been in war for decades on end and it is amazing that the people have thrived through it all. The museum for the American war (aka Vietnam war) was so sad (the agent orange section was near unbearable) and a bit anti-american but very interesting to see it through the Vietnamese eyes.

Vietnam has been really great so far and has intrigued us in many ways. First of all is the food-I am begining to understand that these people happily eat anything that walks, crawls, swims, hops, slithers, flies or anyother creature that well...lives. We haven't loved the food, but its interesting none the less. Secondly-yes, the locals all wear those conical straw hats... everywhere, and the women all wear some sort of matching brightly patterned pajama suit. Not quite sure what thats about, but they look comfortable. One more thing, they all drive motorcycles, hardly any cars. In a city of 6.5 million people and no traffic laws this makes for interesting walks (yes, they even drive on the sidewalks) and wonderful afternoon moto watching breaks. Priceless. I am sure this country will continue to intrigue us as the weeks roll on.

Whirlwind Cambodia--AKA the Nutshell

Last time we checked in we were finishing some great, hot days in the southern end of Laos. We've come a long ways since then, and without really thinking about time--only about how to stay cool--we are now ending our stay in Cambodia. Here's a recap of the past few weeks. With as many photos as I could tolerate uploading on these incredibly slow machines.

Like always, border crossings can be interesting experiences, and heading into Cambodia from Laos was no exception. Delays, sizzling hot bus journeys, and a slew of people trying to get our dollars. All in a days work. Our first stop, the trash laden town of Kratie, was primarily for one reason and one reason only. To see the mysterious and near-endangered Irawaddy Dolphin of the Mekong River. After two boiling days and several attempted scams by our guesthouse, we did manage to see the strange mammals--from a distance. In fact, I don't even have a picture worth showing. Hindsight reveals that we could have done without this stop, which was something like a waste of money and and another long, expensive bus journey. (Seems to be the norm in this country.) Live and learn.

Our next destination was the grand prize of any trip to Cambodia, and what I do believe is the last large monumental site (i.e. Macchu Picchu, Taj Mahal) we will see on this trip. The city is Siem Reap and the place is the amazing Angkor Wat. Did I sat amazing? Yeah, I meant really amazing. Some of the structures here date back as far as 800BC, and they were built with incredible precision and have truly withstood the tests of time. Unreal to see, and near impossible to imagine how these cities, temples and complexes were constructed so long ago.

Beacause Siem Reap and the surrounding area was indeed just a few degrees cooler than hell itself, we started our tour days in the back of a tuk-tuk at about 5:30 am. By 9:00 we had each departed with about gallon of sweat, and by Noon we would try and be back in the city and in a cool place before complete meltdown. The bonus of getting up so early, besides beating the sun for a few hours, is that sunrise is a really wonderful time to be at the sites. Also, being up so early ensured we would beat at least some of the tourist buses that transport--what in numbers could have been-- small armies or Thai, Chinese and Japanese tourists.

With the heat, two days of sight seeing was enough. Siem Reap was a nice enough town (with excellent burritos Shanon would like to add), but Angkor is the attraction and there's not much else to see or do, so we hopped another bus and headed onward to the tumultuous capital of Phnom Penh.

The history of this country, and this city are start reminders of the dark past the country has experienced over the last 50 years. Although modern in places, the city itself is still regarded as a frontier town choke full of drugs, guns and prostituion (or so they say). It is also home to the notorious 'Killing Fields' and the S-21 prison camp (former high school) where Cambodia experienced genocide in the late 1970's. A humbling experience to witness the wicked ways of men. Rich and poor, old and new--that would be a good summary of the city itself.

And with that, we're off to Vietnam. Starting in the south and working our way north, this is the last country we had scheduled in our original itinerary so be sure and stay tuned. We're also busy scheming several different ways to end the trip itself....possibly wrapping it all up with something a little closer to home. When we know, you'll know.

Camera Update: Our camera does in fact have a virus and we are trying to fix it, but with minimal success so far. Hence fewer pictures than usual. So sorry, I know you'd rather look at photo than read my ramblings.