Round the World in ONE MONTH !

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It is 1994, and in my mind pops an idea ..... how about going round the world ? .
Got exactly a month of vacation time accumulated, so, I start checking ID 90's and passes and places and decided to make the trip. Was married at the time, so, got to convince the other party.
Not making a lot of money at the time, the industry it's actually in bad shape, but I think it's a good idea to do it.
September is the time to go and we get ready and plot the trip, not with lots of detail, usually, in this industry, changes can occur without notice, so, no rigid plans. Got the visa for India, the only country that we will need a visa for and we are ready ! .
We left on the 4 September 1994 from Los Angeles to Denver, first class. From there we took the direct flight to Londown Gatwick, where we spent a day in the city .... never being impressed by London, so it's just a connection. There we took Air Canada to Delhi, I think it was a 14 hr. flight, on the second deck of a brand new Boeing 747-400 ..... great service and food, think we got business.
I remember flying over this hughe row of lights extending kilometers and kilometers into the night .... so, I asked someone, a flight attendant, or another passenger, and was told that we are exactly passing the Pakistan-India border. The lights ? .... well, was told they are there courtesy of the indians so the pakistanis won't be able to pass arms and crap to their budies in the indian side and cause havoc ! ....
We are still some away from our destination, Delhi.
The big 47 landed at Delhi's airport sometime around 2030 hrs. and immediatelly this bad stench invaded the cabin .... smell of burning rubber and trash with other crap ! .... this stench reminded me the difference of cases as we were landing at DPS, Denpasar Ngurah Rai Airport in Bali, when this incense and nice smell invaded our cabin as soon as we landed on board A/C 043, a DC-10-10 from Guam. What a comparison !.
So, we are in India ! .... how exciting ! . We took a cab to a nice hotel, near downtown Delhi and our accomodations were nice ..... later on, in the middle of the night all that turned out bad .... as we listened with dismay how noisy the place was ... there were drug dealers in the corridors of our hotel, and pinps offering their "ho s" to foreigners ! .....
The morning came and we got out to explore the city !, got lots to see ! . Right at the door of our hotel we stopped a rickshaw driver, pedaling a big bike ..... hoped in and asked him to take us round the city .... he took us to the Red Fort ..... as we crawled thru the streets we could see the decay of the city ... beneath layer and layers of crap and signs and trash and more crap we could see in the building's facades their once glorious days ! ... now gone ! .... and then, my wife pointed at me how strange was this deal; people squating everywhere we were going on bricks in the street ...... some of them showing off genitalia and everything ! .... mmmh !, what are they doing ? ...... then we saw the brown matter !, wow !, they are taking a crap in the street ! . Yep.
Rows and rows of buildings just abandoned and lots and lots of people living in the streets, in the sidewalks and in the streets !, make-up shops of all kinds right there, in the streets ! .... a man with a bunch of tools fixing motorcycles, or a lady with a big ass sewing machine making clothes, right there, in the street ! ..... families having breakfast right there, in the floor, with all their belongings, in the sidewalks ! ..... amazing ! . And the buildings behind, abandoned ! ... or , ate least that's what we thought ! .... even though they looked abandoned, there was people living in those ruins of buildings ! . What a place ! ... and I remember, when we visited Bali the previous year thinking "if Bali is this beautiful, imagine the mother of this culture (India) how it is ???" ..... wow ! ... how erroneous was I ! .
Got to the Red Fort and went in among the millions of souls going in and out of it ! .... people everywhere ! .... went out after our visit and took our rickshaw again back to the city. The man hardly was able to move us, felt sorry for him. We went back to our hotel and later on went out again. This time we got a taxi, a car. This dude with his buddy told us that they were going to take us around for about US $20.00, so, we accepted and here we went into the places that were waiting for us in Delhi ! .....
We visited the Gandhi Museum and a bunch of places ..... saw the clothes Gandhi was wearing when a bomb blew him out of this world ! .... those dudes took us all over the city, can't remember all the places we visited, but we saw most of it on board this taxi with our guides. Later on they took us for a nice indian meal to a special place and the food was great ! ...... that much I remember.
Later on they dropped us in our hotel and when I was to pay them wheir twenty bucks they wanted more ..... much more, so, usually those cases end up bad, and I don't usually tend to loose in those cases. I didn't, but they pissed us.
The next day we are walking the streets of downtown ..... dirty as hell ! .... couldn't help to notice how close men are, their demostration of affection is warmer than towards women. And yes, even before you deplane you can read the instructions in the country entry papers that warn you not to demostrate "too much affection towards your female companion/wife" ..... at the restaurant we went this day for lunch, we took a table next to the table of some locals and as we ate, the nostril noises of retrieving mucose matter to be spitted could not let us eat confortably ! ..... my wife was dieying ! .....
We went out again, to walk the streets and see the rest of the city. Right there, in the sidewalks a man in fronto of us makes a sudden stop and moves to the right, towards the wall and starts to pee ! .... right there. Another man, in front of us, as we all walk the crowded streets ..... grabs his nose, blows out and with a fast movement of his hand, throws or disposes of his crap towards us ! ..... we almost jump out of the way, avoiding getting hit ! ..... what a pig, my wife exclamed at the border of throwing up ! ..... yeah, nasty ! .
The city is crowded, hot, muggy and the smog and that stench of burning rubber and crap is there, present all day ! .... so, we don't know where are we going next, but I have an idea. I see this "Government Tourist Office" and we go in to gather info about India.
Where do you wanna go ? .... mountains, beaches, the Himalayas ? .... mmmh !, the Himalayas, that sounds great ! . Well, we have this package for about US $20.00 a day in a houseboat in Shirinagar, in the middle of a lake. Never heard of this place, but sounds great ! . We took it. Prepay for it and got some papers and departed. Tomorrow we are leaving this place for the Himalayas ! .
The morning comes and we get out of this hotel and boarded a rickshaw, but this is a motorbike .... and we hit the road to the airport. Half way there the bike breaks ! .... here's this guy that doesn't know what to do. I get out and see what's going on, I find the problem and fix the bike for him, now we continue the trip to the airport. he pulls to our terminal and we get off, I pay him and I expect my change .... and wait, but the guy is ready to go ... I stop the guy and sked for my change and he says that since the bike broke there's no change for me ! ..... I fixed the bike dude ! .... another bad bad experience, but was worse for the driver. Again, we are pissed, but we are leaving this hole ! .....
Got me two tickets with India Air and we are flying on a brand new, then, A-320 ! ..... we wait for our flight joking and making fun of our adventure .... noticing the signs everywhere telling people to reject dowry, telling them to wash their hands ... their food, etc. What a place ! .
Finally we board our A-320 ...... we took our seats and got ready for the ride ! .... I looked around and looked more and the aircraft looks like shit already and it's very new ! ..... my gasper vent is stuck open with a piece of wood stick ! .... needless to say, the smell in the cabin isn't that great or fine ! .
The announcements come and the door shuts close and we are on our way ! ..... as the aircraft is rolling .... almost vertical, a bunch of people in couch runs to the business class seats ! ...... I'm sooo amused !, as they run upwards, or forward, the flight attendants are getting off their seats and kicking them back to couch ! .... some hit the ground, some fall on empty seats, it's pure chaos !!! ......
Later on, on cruise, the F/A's are passing thru the cabin with two trays ..... mmmmh !, what's that ? . One tray has seeds, the other one cotton balls. I paty attention to what the people are doing with that and noticed how they grab the cotton balls and put them inside their ears, and then they grab some seeds and throw them in their mouth and start to chew. They are anis or licorice.
Food service and the food was good. Afterwards the F/A's pass by again this time with a tray full of sticks, like sticks cut off a three branch or something ! ..... wow !, another sorprise ! .... let's see what people do with those sticks. They take them and then chew on them, make one end soft and then they brush their teeth ! ...... and this is way before the times of being "ecologicaly correct times".
We landed at Shirinagar Airport ..... since it's a pretty high airport, the aircraft came into the landing throttles all the way forward ! ...... we got out of the terminal and the doors close behind us ! .... the feeling of being like in a strip joint in Turkey, or another shaddy country where you know that closing the doors behind you means you got to pay for whatever they say you used or consumed ! ..... that feeling invaded me then ! . The chaos erupts ! ... people calling names, people offering you rides, hotels and more services ! ... then, abruptly, the soldiers surrounded us and started kicking these peoples asses into sumbmission ! ... and the crowd dispersed ...... our driver is in the floor, bleeding. Yes, we are the guys, and helping this dude, we leave ..... the airport sits kind of like a little hill, so we go downhill to his car. There's a man waiting. Nice guys, very friendly and amicable, and likeable ! ...... we got on the car and drove away .... the airport and it's chaos stayed behind ! . The airport, I heard, officially closed until the next flight, maybe tomorrow, maybe not.
We drive the winding streets and pass by rows of soldiers on both sides of the streets, we see people gathered and being counted, we see sandbags and machine guns .... armed soldiers eveywhere ! .... and then we hot our first checkpoint. Men on one side, my wife on the other. Passports !, here they are. What's this ? ... aaah, that ?, another country, we're not from India. Where are you coming from ? ... the USA. Where's that ???. All this thru the interpreter, of course.
Don't know how many checkpoints we went thru, but we passed the scene of a recently happening; this dude came out o street shooting at the soldiers and they gave him a big shower of lead ! .... there was the body in the ground as we passed. Where the hell are we, I thought !!! .....
Got to the center of Shirinagar and to the edge of the water and a canoe was waiting for us to take us to our houseboat. What a beautiful place ! ..... gorgeous architecture, most buildings made out of wood ..... nice and beautiful people, very different than the ones living in delhi, their facial features are different. The lake is gorgeous ! ..... there are lotus flowers all over. The trip took just minutes to reach our boat and we were welcomed by the employees of it with tea. Noticed all of them were armed with AK-47's or handguns ! .... but, hey, Israel is the same way, nothing out of this world, right ? ..... right.
There's another foreigner, a dude from the Netherlands, hardly talked to him, just HI ! .... we went to our room, placed our stuff there and went out for lunch. Where do you guys want to go ? ... you must know you are in a place where civil war is present, as you noticed, and the indian government is killing our people and we are resisting and blah-blah-blah !!! .... wow, a class of Revolution 101 ! . Every day.
So, we are going to this glacier tomorrow morning. The sun sets in a gorgeous spectacle ! ..... I got my books with me and I'm studying for a final as soon as I return, still in college. Tea, food and relaxation .... don't even notice anymore those AK-47's or the big ass machetes, or the handguns ! .... just relaxation and nothing else ! .....
Next morning, early early got up and go for breakfast. The dutch dude .... nowhere to be find. We leave for those places; a glacier close to the pakistani border, the gardens of Shangri-la ! .... the tea and safron fields ..... soo beautiful ! ... everything, everything ! . The guys we're with are the same ones that picked us up the previous day, nice fellows.
Climbing this hughe mountain we passed this old man on a horseback ..... those "nice guys" start making noises and scared the old man horse ! ..... the horse hits the road hauling ass ! ..... and then it goes off the road, downhill ! ..... those nice fellas are getting a kick out of this and can't stop laughing ! ..... then, later on, and farther away the horse pops up to the road again, but without the old man ! .... and still running like crazy ! . Thos guys are still laughing. I tell them to stop. They send me to hell. I comended them to fuckin stop the car, and they do. I got out the car and go looking for the old fellow ..... down an embankment I found him, bleeding. One of his ears is half away off his face .... cuts and scratches are filling his face ..... took him uphill to the road. There's this stream crossing the dirt road we are in and I took the man there to wash his face. AIDS is relativelly new, and I'm fill with his blood, but I don't think this man is either gay or promiscuous to worry about that. I wash him, and my fellows are growing impacient and trying to right me. Leave the old man there, looking better and we continue our trip.
We camped in the big mountain, overlooking at a distance a big mountain, those guys said it was the K-2 ..... a-ha ! . Cold cold place, I remember I was freezing my bones ! .
Time to eat and this dude pulls out of his packages, because we have been jikking for a while, some food, rice and some curry and veggies and other stuff ..... and he starts to mix all with his bare hands ! ..... he threw some on one plate, passed to my wife. More for me and then for him and the dude carrying the luggage and stuff. We ate and admired this amazing view ! ...... we slept on a shack. The night was soo peaceful .... and early, way early, we got up and continue to the glacier. reached the glacier and started our way down to the car and to Shirinagar. By now I am wearing the big dude's poncho ... it stinks, but kept me warm. It's rainning lightly. The scenery is amazingly gorgeous ! ..... we are at the foothills of the Himalayas !!! .... yeah !!!.
We made it back to our car and start our descent to the city ...... as we passed thru some towns, we made stops. We were, according to them, because we both agreed to agree at everything they sayd, just to stay ok. So, since we were "on their side" they took us to some towns and met some people, their families and we had tea and some food with them. We entered this house in a very small town. The house was two story and made entirely of wood, on the top floor was no furniture, but a bunch of indian rugs in the floor, so we sat there with these people and had some tea and food. They talked and we just look at them. Back to the road again ..... and we entered another town, the indian army had every man rounded and on their knees, checking each one and beating some of them ..... we are stearing at them. Checkpoint after checkpoint ...... men one side, the woman on the other side, and we get padded .... frisked out. No guns ? .... no.
We got back to the boat. Relaxation and tea by the terrace of the boat .... beautiful sunsets. No more going out. Why ? .... who knows, we're at a civil war thorn place ..... there's a mist of rudeness among this people at the boat, but we don't pay much attention ...... time to go to sleep. We do, close our door and I place every night a chair against the knob. We sleep like puppies. Another night, another day doing nothing ..... and these people are acting weird. Tension is developing. Don't know what triggers some "action" in between one of our nice fellas and me, but he endes it by giving me a hug. Peace bro. Yeah. Later on that evening, we sat at the big table for food. The dutch dude's there ..... no talk, as usual, but this time they leave us alone. The dutch dude approaches desperatelly and says "I have someone to get us out of here for 20 bucks, we are kidnapped, are you going ? ...... tonight at midnite !" ..... whaaaat ? .... that 's it. Everybody returns to the dinning room, the coms are over among us. Wow ! . What's going on ???. Tea at the terrace and talk between my wife and I ..... what's going on, do you believe this dude ? . We are not aboout to test this, that's an explanation to the guns and knives ......everything's weird latelly and things are tense. 20 bucks. We're in.
Midnite we open our door. This people sleeps in the floor, guns and everything. We passed this old dude, then later on, in the kitchen, the cook, in the floor too .... and met with the dutch guy. Waited an eternity ..... a slight bump and our canoe has arrived. We get down and here we go.
On the way out of Kashmir and Jamu the dutch told us that from day one the guys at the boat had been getting his stuff and beating him, every day. Wow ! . We were lucky, I guess ...... don't really know what ever happened there ..... it's still like a dream in my memories. Both a good and a bad dream.
Back in Delhi we decide to visit the Taj-Mahal and go from there on the road ... wherever it takes us. So, we find a place to book our transportation to Agra, that seems relatively close to Delhi, and from there, we'll see. We book a trip, one way in "Tourist Air Conditioning Bus" , cheap, everything's cheap in India. And, here we go Agra !!! ..... we got to the bus, it looks like shit !. Old, no air conditioning, no "tourist "seats, or luxury ..... images of deities and gods all over ..... lots of colors. Here we go .... we hit the road and it takes us forever to leave the city; traffic, and the expension of the big city. When we finally get to the open road, there's no open road ! ..... there are all kinds of things on it; cows, carts pulles or pushed by people, people seating in the asfalt ..... motorcycles, bicycles, pedestrians ..... more animals ..... and the bus, kinds of got to go around all those obstacles. I believe the road to Agra from Delhi it's about 75 Kms. and it took us FOUR hours to get there.
When we got to Agra we got off the bus, walked to the Taj Mahal and went in. There are sooo many people begging for money, of course, because we would give them food and they dumped it. We couldn't even walk a few steps without getting hit by another beggar ! ..... needless to say, I did not enjoy the damn Taj Mahal, actually, we left in a hurry, and pissed because we couldn't enjoy the place as we thought we would ! .
As we were leaving the place, we jumped on a rickshaw, the driver, told us that there was no train station in Agra to Varanasi, but he would take us to this "nice people" at Mangali Brothers, where they have a carpet shop and a tourist office to buy tickets for transportation ! .... we agreed to it.
The first thing this crooks asked was if we had credit cards. Of course. Then they lat us into the shop and office. We saw some people there, but didn't pay attention to them, because they were being thrown out, for being "no good for business", for the Mangalik Bros. place.
This people, the Mangaliks, were trying to sell us some indian rugs, but we declined, so we went into the train tickets and the transportation to the place, another city, where we were to catch our train to Varanasi. Signed off the credit card slip and left ..... on the way out we saw, again, these people on the doorway .... a guy from the Netherlands and a couple from Germany and Poland.
We're going to Varanasi by train ...... we bought a ticket for a chamber with beds for the trip. The trip is at night. We got to the station and boarded this overcrowded train ! ..... is this our car ? ... ck the numbers and yes, this is it, but it looks like shit ! ..... and there are half naked dudes everywhere, three, four per bunkbed ! ..... damn ! . We make our way into the car and started looking for our beds ..... and finally found them. There are a bunch of men in them, so, now I have to kick them off. And I do. They get off no problem. The two beds are one and the other divided by a partition, but both on the lower level. Head to head. So, we take our beds and hug our bags. The trip begins and my wife starts to call me. What's going on ? .... I get up and turn to her. Nothing. Nothing ? .... why are you calling me then. Nothing, not important. Later on she told me that all our one hundred million dude neighbors were stearing at her from the darkness .... seems like we were the only foreigners on that whole train !.
Woke up in the morning and the train is at a station. I peek out the window and there are the big ass signs, but in hindi or sanscrit, can'r understand anything ! . I ask to the people around us, no one understands, I say Varanasi, Benares, and all things around those two names and no one seems to know what the hell am I asking for, they just shake their heads, or lift their shoulders .....
Most of the people is jumping off the train and right there, in the middle of the tracks, there are a row of water faucets and these tons and tons of people are getting an "indian" whower there ..... they get right back on the train and start to get dreesed again, all wet .... this dude gets to close to us, is all naked and starts to shake his briefs, the one day where white, now are a kind of khaki with some stains, I swear ! and the water from his trousers hit us ... I get all bent out of shape and sked him to go somewhere else to do that .....
Finally, since no one can tells us where are we, we decided to stay and the train starts to roll ..... and then we are gone .... somewhere later, close to a town called something like Boxter, a train employee comes by and sure enough, that staion back there was ours. Varanasi was left behind. We got off at that Boxter place. It's a small station and there are nothing, a cow in the middle of the gate, and we wonder how did it get there ! ... and a bunch of people surrounding a dude playing a flute and a basket with a cobra, dancing ..... as we approached, these people started to look at us ..... then, slowly, they started to come close to us .... my wife started to get upset, "here they come !" ..... they look at you without any inhibition, stearing at you, straight. She's all bent out of shape, but we have no place to go. Got to wait for our train, back to Varanasi ! .....
Train arrives and we hopped in, got tickets and the trip is short.
Varanasi is supposed to be a great place. The city is runned by the Ganges River and indian people comes here from all over the world to die there, or simply, to wash in the waters of this river deity ! ..... of course, the city is filty and, well, we get to the task of getting us a room in a hotel. As we walked the streets, we noticed some movement of police and people near the river and we come to find out that an argentinian tourist, a girl, just got raped near by ! ..... it's mid day ! .
Got a hotel room, we take a shower and go out to check the city. It's a nice city, there lots of hinu people in from all over and there are lots of "holy men" walking and offering everyone a prayer or something for some "dow" ..... we got to the riverside and to the temples and just kicked back and observed the movement ..... we got a boat ride thru the Ganges ..... we check out some cremations up and down river .... we got a bit close to some of them, I snap some shots with my Nikon FG ...... people in the ceremony is not to welcomed to us taking pics, so, they throw some rocks at us ..... got back to the city, stroll thru the streets, got some good food, visited the temples, shrines, etc. go to our hotel to get some zzzz's ! .
I think that more than one day is needed to see the city, but my wife's tired of India, we got to leave ..... we found this place where we purchased two, one way tickets to Kathmandu, Nepal. The tickets cost about ten bucks each and include the hotel at half way, in the India-Nepal Border. What a deal ! .... we can beat it ! .
We got up in the morning ..... got to go to the bathroom, but there are no towels, no toilet paper ! .... I go out looking for someone to ask for those items, but can't find anybody .... finally after a lot, I find an employee and asked for the things, gave him the room number and left to wait. And we did that; wait and wait for them to come over. As usual, there are things that take place of others; bed sheets make for good toilet paper and even towels ! ..... so, I take my handy Swiss Army Knife and cut-off some pieces and use them as toilet paper, and the rest as our towels ! ..... we're set ! .
As we are leaving on board our rickshaw, this dude behind us is screaming to stop .... we stop and is the hotel employee, he wants me to pay for the sheets I teared off. Yeah, right, I just ignored him and kept on going ......
Got to the bus. It's just a urban bus, again, with unconfortable seats and regular windows, no A/C, no confy nothing ! .... the majority of the people traveling are foreigners, and we see those people from the day before in Agra at Mangalik Bros. And, the ride starts; two days on board this bus and along the road, lots of adventures to come on the way to the foothills of the Himalayas !!! . Got some munchies, some drinks and got confortable to ride the bus. First stop, as always in India and Nepal, the gas station, and the question I always ask ! ..... why, if they know the bus is going on a trip, won't they fuel the bus before the damn trip, not when everybody's on board ??? ...... amazing ! . That's the system, well, we got to go with it.
The bus crosses the big bridge and we away from the city .... slowly, slowly .... pass shops of hugly and bad taste furniture ..... shops, markets, neighborhoods, and shoping centers .... the typical views in India, men loafing in beds everywhere and women working, braking rocks with a hammer and a round thing with a pile of already broken rocks and a bigger pile of big rocks waiting to be broken in small pieces to be used with the wasfalt for the roads ! ...... the valleys come and go and far away you can see the mountains .... the road starts to wind ..... on board the bus we all start to communicate with each others .... there's a couple from Scottland, funny dirty mouths ! ..... there's a couple from Korea and another from Japan, both couples going on a trip to Nepal for some kind of "course" in religion ..... most everyone else is scamming their country's system, the german guy with his polish girlfriend is a butcher, got himself into an ocupational accident and he's been sick for about a year, travels the world with Magdalena, his girl, his check comes to his mom's house and she sends it to wherever in the world he is at the time ! .... nice. The guy from the Netherlands studies painting and the government pays for everything, but he is on vacation for about a year ! ..... us ? .... we only got a month and all those new friends are kind of amused how we are going around the world in only one month ! .......
Remember seeing the monkeys at the side of the roads, once we started to climb the mountains, eating their food and watching the traffic go by ..... so funny ! .
The road went on and on and the sights and sounds were great, we passed little picturesque towns, and bigger cities and we made some "pit-stops" along the way and kept on going, it was overall, fun ! . The evening started to come, the sun started to set when we arrived at the border. The bus stopped and we all got off with out belongings and started to walk ...... a long line in this small village ..... we got to the Indian side, the officials got our passports and stamped them off, and here we go across no man land to the nepalese side. Got some blanc sheets and filled them out and turned in our passports, pay the US $20.00 and got our visa stamped on them, we walked to the other side .... as we walk into Nepal we are approached by a band of kids offering us all kinds of goodies ! ..... hashish ! ..... yes, hashish ! ... everyone is getting some to smoke ..... as some kids approach me, I send them immediatelly to hell, and one of them replies quickly .... "this is Nepal, not India, Nepal good. India, no good !" ...... smart kid, but it was truth, Nepal is not like India ! . The man in charge of the bus takes us to our hotel for the night and, what a hotel ! .... up until now, it's still the hugliest, dirtiest, of all hotels I have ever stayed in in my whole life ! .... I swear !, it was a real dump ! . Smears of crap in the walls, the bed was all bent, the clothes were bad and the door was made of metal, with a big hole for the chain that holded the lock for the room ! .... two wires, holded together turned on the lights ..... a real shit hole ! .
We went up to the terrace, everyone is smoking dope or hashish, we are having a beer ! ..... the airline business, already does piss tests on us. The night's nice, we have a conversation with the new friends and found out about that Mangalik place been a shaddy place, kind of famous for scamming tourist and foreigners ! ...... mmmmh ! .
We go to our room for the night sleep, and decided to sleep dressed. We do not want to ID the meers on the walls and we walk thru the room without touching the walls, or anything else ! .
In the morning I take the bed cloths and throw them in the bathroom floor, so I can step on something relativelly clean, while I take my shower ! ...... the water was cold, cold ! .
Breakfast and we got to the nepalese bus and hit the road, again ! ..... the winding road can't wait. Again, first stop, the gas station. They had the whole damn night to do this, but they have to do it with all passengers on board. No one bitches, but me.
The views are amazing ..... the villages are nicer than those in India and the people different, they look more asian, maybe due to the influence of the tibetans feeing their country back in the time of the invasion by China ! ..... two days in the bus and the day wears down and we don't get to Kathmandu ! ..... and we grow desperated ..... maybe after this next curve we see soemething. Not.
We get to Kathmandu at the end of the second day, to a empty lot in the middle of nowhere ..... and the bus stops and we get off and there's a bunch of people yielling at us, offering us hotel, or guesthouse rooms, cheap ! ..... we all go for the cheapest and end up in that place .... now we jump into this rickshaw-motorcycle, in the back. We are about seven adults there, all cramped.
We bounced in the streets of Kathmandu and go to our guesthouse ..... it's a nice guesthouse, owned by tibetans in exile and it is on the road taking you to the Swayambunath Stupa ..... there's one carpet factory right across it, employing children to work all three shifts and we got to see the kids working in the middle of the night ! ...... This people welcome us very nicely and take us to our rooms. We got a nice room for about US $4.00 ! ..... the german and Magdalena, his polish girl, got the next room for the same price and the dutch guy got something like a clost for about one buck a night ! ..... got accomodated and get out to explore the city ! .... to get lost in the small coble stone streets ! .
The guesthouse was kinda like a big house, but had lots of room space, lots of windows and access to everywhere. It was located west of the Tamil neighborhood, which is where most guesthouses are, and basically, the city of Kathmandu, then, was somehing like a "free spirit people's destination" ..... it has changed a lot since then ! .....
The very first day, in the Durbay Square, the government of the city threw out a party honoring foreigner visitors, we were there, all the people that came in the bus. We got a ticket at the entrance and with that ticket came a gift at the end of the celebration, I got me this little hand drum, my wife got a free meal at a local restaurant, as well, as the rest of the fellows we were with; the german, the polish girl, the dutch dude .... we ate there after the celebration.
This party was a bunch of dances and folkloric things, pretty nice to get an idea of the nepalese culture, when it was over, everyone left to do their own things and we went for the free diners.
While my wife was eating, I left to the square and found myself exploring the plaza. There are a bunch of tables set up with merchandise on one side of the square, and they sell anything from gurka knives to human ceremonial skulls, or parts of them, together with other human bones and conch shells turned into musical instruments .... while walking thru the stands I noticed those monkey skulls and goats, decorated nicely, and then something cought my attention ..... mmmh !, that looks human, I said. I picked up this skull and yes, looks like a homo sapiens sapiens head ! ..... how much, I enquired. US $135.00. I threw at him my offer, US $10.00 ! ..... and here we went into the barganing game ! .... I ended downing the price to 35 bucks !, got all excited and runned, not walked, back to the restaurant where my wife and the frineds were. Guess what I found ??? .... a human skull decorated reall nicelly and got the price down from 135 to 35 bucks ! .... can we buy it ?. No, what are we going to do with a human skull in the house ... blah,blah, blah ! ..... where are you going to put it ?. On top of our fireplace !. I don't want human remains in my fireplace ! ... I don't want human remains in my house ! . That was the end of my excitment ! . But ! ..... for eight bucks I got me only the top of the skull, which detaches and it's used as a plate. At least I got me something.
Our stay in Kathmandu consisted in long walks, exploring the different temples, stupas and things, the shops ..... the different parts of Kathmandu ! ... that magic and exotic destination ! .....
Remember seeing a movie, shortly before our trip. It was about this european family going there by train, and the trip was soooo exotic and fill with adventures. At that moment that became "our next destination". Of course, the movie presents the city as something completelly different to what it really is ....
Nights at a cafe, drinking some beer, a cup of coffee, exchanging travel experiences and book reviews with friends and strangers, just having a good time. Late at night, going back to our guesthouse. I remember lots of stray dogs barking all night ! ..... and, early in the morning hours, before the sun was up, the monks going to Swayanbhunath Stupa in procession, chanting and playing some kind of timbals, or bellas as they walk pass our place ..... light sleep. Yeah, maybe, but guess your senses are open to all new sounds and smells and sights.
remember finding, by accident the Everest Steak House ..... it's this blue house, near the Tamil in an intersection of like three streets and they have the best steaks in town ..... delicious and sooo cheap !, something like four bucks for a big plate of lean meat, maybe a cut such as mignon. And the chili sauce in a bottle, great and with the right amount of heat for the food !. In this trip we discovered the lassi, a drink of yogurt with fruits mixed just right .... refreshing and delicious ! .
As you walk the streets of the city, you get to see ladies selling meat sitting in the floor, with a hand held weight machine, weighting the meat of the cow or buffalo they killed yesterday ...... the meat right there in the ground. remember thinking, how close we are to Tibet and we can't go; short of time and the wait for the visa and the excursion all the way to Lhasa ! .....
Before the trip, I went to the chinese embassy in L.A. and filled the visa application for the trip to Tibet. When my number was called, I approached the window, handed my aplications and the guy look at them .... look at me and asked, where I wanted to go and visa for where in China. To Tibet, please, with a big smile. The officer looked at me, and called those two guys behind me and told them, "hey guys, this guy wants a visa to go to Tibet !" ..... they all laughed. It didn't hit me until later. What did I say that was so funny ? .... The officer handed me the passports, and the visa aplications and said, you can't get a permit to go there.
So, being in this land, the neighbor country to the south, sharing those magic mountains, the same people, counting the refugees, the culture that they aported to Nepal, and the food, all ..... everywhere you look you see Tibet related things in Kathmandu, so, you get this false idea that you are soo close to the country ! ....
The last day in Nepal we went to visit Bhaktapur, basically alike Kathmandu but not as big .....
We headed up to the airport to catch Thai Airways to Bangkok. Said goodbye to all our buddies and departed this magical city ..... such a trip, what a nice place. We have to come back ! . And, yes we actually did several times in our intent to go to Tibet ..... many more times.
The boarding process with Thai is great, you get welcomed by two or three flight attendants wearing their gorgeous silk dresses, "sawsdee !" they greet you, and the girls get an orchid clipped to their dresses or lapels ..... beautiful girls, so exotic, so good looking ! . the seats in the aircraft are confortable, colorful and clean .... thai boarding music and in the screens sights and sounds of Thailand ! ..... threw our luggage on the overheads and sat confy for the three plus hour trip to the Capital of the kingdom of Siam ! .
Aircraft food isn't great, but we have been off an aircraft for a while, so this is not too bad .....
Arriving into BKK and right away, as we deplane, there are some doctors asking us, as we pass by where are we coming from. We said India, Nepal ...... that was it. They took us appart to do a quick check on us. What happens is that there was an outbreak of "plague" and they don't want this propagating to the rest of the world ! ..... so, we go thru a check out. We are ok, so we continue ..... I remember we had our hands soo dry that the skin was peeling off, same with the sole of our feet ! .... so, when they took us to the check out, I thought we had it ! .....
As soon as we are released, I go to a payphone to call the US and check on my credit card. When in Agra, I used my corporate American Express from the company and after hearing the rumors from other travelers about that Mangalik place, I'm somehwta concerned. After a while I get thru and yes. I got tagged by those bastards from MANGALIK !!! ..... they got me for about US $ 5,000.00 ! .
We get off the airport and straight to Kao San Road on board an urban bus ..... it's already night and the bus is full of commuters ans some "farang", like us. Got to Kao San and straight to our hotel, the Siam, back then there were still some of those buildings on stilts because there was still water under them, like if the place was a little lake or something. I remember seeing a street dog with only two legs, one in the front and another one in the back, and the damn dog walked like nothing was missing in his body ! .
So, right away we go downstairs, to the streetside restaurant and got our tall Singha Beer as a cure for the heat of bangkok's night ! .... at the same place, then, we used to have delicious food at a very, very cheap price, my favorite was a whole bowl of seafood, with fire and everything served like gulash in Hungary on a kettle with a little stove bellow it ! .... all kinds of seafood in the plate, with lemon grass, and all kinds of spices ..... amazingly delicious ! . And, more beer, and more beer for the heat of the night ! .... then a walk thru the street, check out the latest of crap being sold in the little shops there ....
The next morning we took a tuk-tuk to the kings palaces, but, amazingly enough, suddenly there was a "crazy sale" of blue saphires and related jewelry in all the shops of Bangkok, "everybody's going crazy buying because it's soo cheap !" ..... this dude's taking us for a ride, but, this "trip" includes a stop over at a jewelry for a crash course in ID 'ing blue saphires. The price for the tuk-tuk to the kings palaces, one way is about 50 Bath, but if we take his "offer", it will cost us only like 20. What are we going to lose ? .... let's go. We got to the jewelry and, on the way, this dude stopped over and asked, in english, people at what looked as random, if they knew about the "big sale" of blue saphires in the city's jewelries ! ... of course, everyone was in, and replied yes.
Jewelry in Thailand is beautiful and can be, relatively cheap. 24k gold stuff for the price, per weight, as if it was 14k gold in the states. So, we have nothing to lose, let 's have some fun.
The crash course wasn't bad .... actually interesting ! ..... once over, our part was done. Let's go buddy. What, you're not buying anything ? .... nop. He was pissed because he didn't get any comission, but deal is a deal and he took us there .... we had a good day at the palaces and temples, we saw the Golden Buddha, the other big, big Buddha, and all kinds of attractions.
Later on that evening we had a delicious massage and some foot reflexology, all four hours for about six bucks !, can't beat it ! . After that, to Patpong !, the red light district of BKK ! .....
We took a tuk-tuk and got there. We went into one of those joints and watched some thai boxing ..... half of the chicks there were dudes one day, or still are nowadays ! ..... some beers, some fun, we go out to check in the streets the latest on knock-out copies of anything; watches, perfumes, shirts, jeans, you name it, they have it for few bucks ! ..... Gucci, Armani, Polo, CK, etc. and they look just like the originals, just a few details on the "QC department" that don't, a tread here, a pocket, when the original doesn't have one, and so on ! ...... at the end of one of the streets of Patpong there was always this person, a lady or a dude, with a big kettle and inside this kettle, he would have some roaches, grasshoppers, and other insects cooked and spiced and ready to eat. So, we stopped by and check it out. I remember I got me one grasshoper and it was hughe ! .... with my Singha in one hand, I popped the thing in my mouth and chase it with the beer ! ..... not bad, I had those things in Oaxaca, Mexico before, but the mexican ones are way smaller ! .... and no, they do not taste like chicken ! . Some tourists were next to me and when they saw me chowing it, they almost threw up. We eat cow, but when we eat a grasshoper, it makes people sick ? ... C'mon !.
We called the night off and went back to Kao San Rd. ..... got some T-shirts, got some other stuff to take home and got ready for our departure.
Next morning, way early, got up, shower and go out to catch a taxi to the airport. We are flying to Manila with Thai, again.
It's soo early and the traffic is unbeliavable ! ..... we make it on time for departure, boarded, got our greetings from those gorgeous flight attendants and got our seat. Not sure, but I believe it was a 47 and we got the middle seats, because next to me was a captain of a big ship, from Norway, he had been home, now he was going back to catch up with his boat and crew and continue to America. And on the side of my wife was a girl coming from the UK to say goodbye to her best friend, in a prison in Malaysia, or Singapore and condemned to death for drug traffic ..... who knows, it's been a while since then and that's not clear in my mind anymore, but, I remember the girl and the captain.
Got to Manila's Aquino Airport, not a bad airport, pretty new, back then, and nice. taxi to the center of the city, Macati .... got a hotel and went out to have some food, beer and fun ..... so crowded, so humid and lots of traffic and people everywhere ! .... not a fan of Manila, but we had fun there. The next day we went to Intramuro and the Cathedral .... remember seeing people sleeping in the benches of the church, guess it's cooler there than anywhere else, due to the high ceilings ! .... food's great, people's nice .... fun c day in Manila and we got to get ready for our next stop; Guam !.
We catch our DC-10-10 from Air Micronesia to Agana, Guam ! ..... it's soo good to feel at home on those aircraft from the Continental system ! ...... the boarding music on the DC-10, as we board is playing with some really relaxing videos of the different destinations of Air Micronesia, Palau, Chuuk, Ponphei, Marjuro, Hawaii, Yap, Bali ..... "fly with the warmth of paradise .... see it with your eyes .... Continental Micronesia !!!". Beautiful ! .
The flight's just fine .... the flight attendants are gorgeous and soooo nice !. We arrive into Guam early and go to the city ..... we rent a car and got us a hotel and the next day go around the island ! ..... it is a beautiful island and has beautiful beaches. There's a lot of remains from WW II and we go and visit some of them ..... some cold, cold beer, our hotel and the day's over ! .
The next day we catch our flight to Honolulu ..... another seven hours across the mighty Pacific Ocean ! ..... I think my ass it's flat by then of being seated for such a long time ! .....
Got to Hono and, well, that's a tourist detination and we kind of avoid it, so we just take our connecting flight to LAX, we want to go home ! .
Two hours in the ground and another five plus in the air to LAX and we are home ! ..... one month and we went around the world in that time, against the sun. The itinerary was: Los Angeles to Denver, to London Gatwick, to Delhi. Then the ground trips, from Delhi to the different places within India, then Nepal, then Bangkok, then Manila, then Guam, then Honolulu, then, home to Los Angeles ! .
Got home and got bad news ... a big lay off is coming. And that deal with the carpet shop in Agra, yes, it was real. I contacted American Express and they told me that "I bought five indian rugs from this place" together with my train tickets ! ..... NO. I didn't buy those rugs. Oh, yes, you did, sir ! ..... godamnit, how can you argue with me about what I buy or not ?, those crooks are ripping me off and you are helping them !. Yes, the merchants in some countries in the world can do that, on top of that, without their authorization, the sent merchandise, cannot be returned and it goes straight into the big auctions taken place all over the country courtesy of our credit cards, rats, like the Mangalik Brothers in Agra India and other merchants without scrupuls all over the world, and customs ! .... so, yes, I had to go, when they arrived, and pick up my five indian rugs. I drove to Beverlu Hills to a carpet shop to get them evaluated, because they were worth $5,000.00 and, obviously, they were not worth that much ..... more like $800.00 for the five of them. So, now I'm all pissed off ..... I left a space bellow the ticket's price and the Mangalik rat left the last space, for the total, blanc .... so, he just added the rugs and the grand total came to five thousand bucks ! .... ha, that was something else.
With it's ups and downs, the trip was a great experience in our lives ! ..... so many places in only one month of vacation .... and we complied with the time. Lots of fun, yes, it was exhausting, but, always fun.

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Photos

Shrinagar, Kashmir, India
The terrace in our houseboat in the middle of the lake in Shrinagar, Kashmir, where we were held againts our will .....

Kathmandu, Nepal
at the stupa, in the city .......

Kathmandu
the human skull I bought at the Durbay Square, in Kathmandu for about US $35.00 ...... together with two Gurka knives I pass that thru nepalese customs, of course, before 9/11, and then threw the backpack in BKK, thru NRT all the way to IAH, and then LAX, passing all customs and revisions .... made it home.

Shirinagar
I think this was the cook at the houseboat .....

Shrinagar
those are the driver and "my buddy" ..... some of the dudes that kept us captive .....

Shirinagar
the driver and buddy .....

Shrinagar
the sunset at our houseboat ....

Shrinagar
a view of the lake .....

Shrinagar
another view of the lake .....