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Published: November 7th 2006
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Greetings from Jaipur in the India State of Rajasthan!
I've been out of the U.S. for 19 days now and it's officially time to get this blog off the ground! First, what is this blog all about? In answer to your question (I guess it was actually my question) ... this is going to be my online journal for maps, photos and stories while I travel in India for the rest of the year and throughout 2007, when I'll be living and working in East Africa with the Jane Goodall Institute. I'd say it's mostly for me AND mostly for you. We'll find out as we go.
Even though I'm half-way across the globe, I want to start back at the beginning when I first left Bainbridge Island, WA, so I'm jumping back in time. Now that we're on the same page, let's get started!
I worked my last day at IslandWood on October 13 and proceeded directly to the Michael Franti/Spearhead show in Seattle for some great music. Even though I wouldn't depart for another five days, the Friday night outing turned into one of my final few opportunities for pure enjoyment and relaxation with
friends. Afterwards, I was on a mission to condense my entire life into a backpack, or at least those posessions that I'd bring along for the trip, and to get my apartment into boxes for storage as most of the bulky furniture had been gone for weeks. I owe lots of thanks to the friends who helped to pack, move, wrap, schlep, lent me their minivans, and otherwise keep me company during this final head-spinning stretch. Thank you so much!! I miss you, so please come for a visit any time.
I only slept seven total hours during my last two nights in Seattle. Between packing, moving, sending some final emails, and attempting to watch Return of the King (I had already watched the first two Lord of the Rings in the previous week as a send-off) there were not enough hours in the day. Actually, that's not true. There were
just enough hours in the day to finish everything. On departure day, October 18, I closed the doors on my apartment at exactly 5:30 pm, one hour before my last ferry ride from Bainbridge to Seattle. I took the last boxes over to storage and returned some items
to IslandWood, including the car I was driving, and got a ride to the ferry. For the first time, emotional breakdown. It really, really hit me that I was not just traveling, but moving away. I spent the whole ferry ride on the phone and then headed to Shelley's apartment for pizza dinner (photo1).
After a shower, Kennet drove me to the airport and the trip officially began! Soon, I would be en route to India (via Tapei for a layover and 27 hours in Bangkok) but before I could say Namaste, fate dealt me the first travel coinky-dink moment while still in the airport. Just as I passed through security, I ran into Martin, a friend and colleague who I've worked with at both Sierra Club and IslandWood over the past few years. The two of us had been unable to connect by phone or in person for the few weeks preceeding my departure, so the chance encounter provided a great opportunity to catch up about the trip, and helped set me at ease before the long journey.
Then, just after 1:30 a.m. on October 19, 2006 I hopped on one of those ginormous trans-Pacific planes, bound
Khao San Road
Bangkok's 24-hour Backpacker Headquarters for Taipei. Though long, the flight was relatively uneventful. I slept a lot (remember that part about not sleeping much the few days prior?) ate one meal of stir-fry chicken and noodles (it was China Airlines, after all) and watched the Da Vinci Code on the personal/on-demand movie player in the seat in front of me. Not bad.
Tapei was a short, three-hour layover which provided me the opportunity to purchase a case for my digital camera (duty free!) and to have another meal. This is the second time I've flown from the west coast of the USA overnight to China. I'm not sure there's anything more surreal than waking up in a jet-lag stupor having missed an entire day by crossing the international date line, only to get off of a plane in China. It's a unique experience.
Anyway, I soon left for Bangkok, where I had just over a day to start adjusting to life on the road (photo2).
Fortunately, I had the foresight not to try and squeeze in too much exploring in Thailand. I had already booked a hotel near Khao San Road in the Banglamphu area of Bangkok, which was on the
direct airport bus line. So after an hour of traffic-laden transport, I arrived, checked-in, and went promptly to sleep.
I awoke in the early evening and decided to cut my hair, trim my beard, shower, etc. for some needed refreshment. Afterwards, I plopped down on the chair and for the first time a real panic arose, though it only lasted for about 25 seconds. It was that internal blood-boiling feeling as I thought to myself,
What did I just do? I'm in Bangkok, en route to India then Africa, with no return ticket to speak of. What am I thinking.
The enormity of this trip came upon me in an instant. In all honesty it was brief, very brief. And I haven't had an episode like that since, though I'm sure there will be more down the road. We'll see. But I just focused on the moment at hand, and realized that I had things to do!
I ventured out with a few errands to run. First dinner, just cashew chicken, I couldn't risk getting sick with spices before another international flight. Second,
Life of Pi, which I was about 50 pages into upon departure but I was reading a borrowed copy from a friend of a friend. Luckily, I went right to my favorite book stand on Khao San and found
Gandalf
Yes, that's Gandalf in Minas Tirith talking to Pippin. And yes, I'm a dork. a copy in no time! (photo 3)
Third, more sleep.
The next day I ventured out for a nice long walk and indulged in an hour of Thai massage. Without question, it was the perfect refresher after the long journey behind me. Soon, I'd be heading to the airport for Delhi (including a nice Pad Thai lunch prior to departure), but the flight would be a mere three-and-a-half hours to India (photo 4).
Now the reason this entry doesn't bring us up to the present, is that after a day or so in Delhi, I'd be trekking with a group of NOLS alumni to the Pindari Glacier in the Northern India state of Uttaranchal, where we'd be camping in small Himalayan villages, very far from internet access. Hence the delay in my first post. That said, there are a few other things I'd like to mention:
Lord of the Rings/Return of the King. As stated earlier, I was attempting to finish the entire trilogy before departure, yet I was only able to watch about 90 minutes of the final chapter. Enter travel coinky-dink moment number two. On the second night in Delhi, I turned on India
3K
A Hindi Mile Marker in the Himalaya
Uttaranchal, India HBO before bed and guess what was on ... you got it, Return of the King! I'm not kidding. Not only that, but the movie was only about an hour from the beginning, so I overlapped with just a little of what I has managed to watch at home, and then stayed up until 1:00 a.m. finishing the movie. This didn't actually help me to get over jet lag, especially since we were departing the hotel five hours later. But clearly, I would not have changed the channel for anything at that particular moment in time (photo 5).
Next, a map. This is done through this web site but powered by google. I encourage you to zoom in on way points and check out some of the locations (this should get more interesting when I do more than just hop on a trans-oceanic flight)
Departure Map Now, all photos from the departure:
Departure Photos Finally, some sneak previews (all remaining photos) of what's to come in the next posts!
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Alisa
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Congrats!!
You're doing it!!! Yay! So exciting to hear from you. I'm eating up every detail already. News for you: I'm engaged! Maybe we'll come visit in Africa if we feel ambitious about the honeymoon? :) Cheers to you. Eat up some extra superlicious Indian food for me. -Alisa