In researching a route to Egypt we found a flight on Air Arabia that stops off in the UAE, in Dubai. "You been there?" "No." "Yeah me neither." That's how we found ourselves staying in the Emirates for 2 days. Dubai is currently heralded as the hippest city in the world. In practical terms that means open up your pockets and let the town rape you of your wad. Unlike it's Middle East brethren, Dubai is unable to suckle at the oil-lactating teat as its waning reserves expect to tank out by 2015. But not to be shown up in the [View Full Entry]

---

---

We spelled it out in the last blog: Take. Your. Tiiiiime. So how do we respond? Mammalapuram, 2 nights. Kochi, 2 nights. Mysore, 1 night. Bangalore, 1 night. Goa, 3 nights-- squeezing in Panaji, Old Goa, Baga, Calangute, Anjuna, Benaulim, Colva, Palolem. A lot of running around again but it's cool now as we're deliberately sprinkling in bouts of downtime. Mammalapuram was the beach resort in Tamil Nadu where we arrived during festive Pongal, the annual celebration of good harvest-- similar to our Thanksgiving, which is just an excuse for families to get together and eat. We then heade [View Full Entry]

---

---

Felt a bit burned out over the last couple of days. Couldn't really figure out what it was due to. Actually, we both felt it upon entering the country over 4 weeks ago but secretly suppressed it for fear of ruining each other's holiday. But sensing the growing raggedness on each other's faces, we finally brought it out on the table the other night in Chennai. We just GOT into country- why does it feel like we're already tired of it? At first we credited it to the oversensationalized hype of traveling India. We came in quivering with anticipation (and a [View Full Entry]

---

---

Our Indian visa expires in 28 days and with all of South India and the Golden Triangle yet to be covered, we're starting to feel a pinch. It's hard to squeeze the whole of India in a span of 4 weeks so we're troubling over the itinerary. There's a game show I once saw on the Food Network called Market Madness or something, where contestants are given just one minute to make a mad dash around a grocery store to procure their pickings of supermarket booty. So the dilemma is always, Should I go for the big-ticket items like shrimp or [View Full Entry]

---

---

This may be the first blog in our journal without any complaints. Alright, maybe one-- the oxygen tank I used for my scuba lesson had a leak and ran out while I was underwater, leaving me for my first dive ever, to take in a half gallon of ocean and enter into a death panic (I think that's a pretty justified complaint). But that's it. Was I traumatized to the point that I will no longer venture underwater? Fawk no. I still had the best time. After Port Blair, took the 4 hour ferry to Havelock island where we settled in [View Full Entry]

---

---

Arrived on New Year's Eve in the Andaman capital of Port Blair, which is more an administrative hub than a relaxing beach town. It has a site that you could call a "beach", and would maybe pass as a nice one in fact if you were, say, in NY. But in the context of the Andamans, it was a runt. We couldn't make it to the LP Traveler's destination-island, Havelock, as the last ferry out had already departed before our boat arrived. So we didn't expect a great New Year's bash but we were still looking to get into something celebratory. [View Full Entry]

---

---

Quite an adventure on the MV Nicobar. Well, actually not at all. The 88 hours spent on board saw us simply pacing the ship, climbing between 3rd, 5th and 6th deck to see if, from different angles on board, the scenery might change-- it was all still open sea. Conditions in bunk class were what we expected. A bit promising at first, as we were one of the first to board (the boat directors actually partitioned the crowd between foreigners and locals and allowed the foreigners- 26 total- to board first. Felt mildly embarassed as while Indians jostled heavily in line, [View Full Entry]

---

---

I had joked that with Indian food, you feel it twice-- 'going down' and 'going out'. I would like to amend that statement now, to 3 times-- 'coming up'. I had so valiantly asserted that I would continue to treat my palate to the exquisite spices and curries of Indian fare despite the extra 'reading' time in the bathroom. That was before the 3-hour session of singing my intestines into a bucket. 3 hours...I had purged everything. It was like one of those magic tricks where from a single opening, out comes 83 feet of handkerchief, and a lawn chair, and [View Full Entry]

---

---

I read a clever quip somewhere that Indian food is the cuisine that you taste once but experience twice. We've been in the country 2 days and already got hit with the bug. I believe the only way to steel yourself from the perils of Indian dining would be to go the subway station at 50th street and lick the handrail from bottom to top. It's not stopping us from eating off the street, however. It's absolutely superb dining. I can only imagine it's like heroin-- you know somewhere down the line you'll end up crouched over shivering, but you'll bear [View Full Entry]

---

---

I had my fill of adventure with that bike trip so for the remaining time in Kathmandu we took it easy. The day after was spent on the rooftop of Helena's cafe-- we stayed there basking in the 70 degree sun, listening to the energy of the city below, imbibing San Miguel beer, and nibbling on tuna sandwiches, chips and salsa, chocolate cake and coffee (all for less than $10 US) while leisurely taking in a good book (yes I read-- well ok, it was Time magazine-- alright, People magazine-- it was a pamphlet handed out by one of the tour [View Full Entry]

---

---