No Specifics! I would respond to your comment, but there is nothing to respond to as you state no specifics as to what offends you. Read my profile paragraph. All other people that commented on this blog left an email address except you. Very cowardly on your part!
I was the American in Delhi Hi Dave,
I was randomly googling Dandoo Palace and your blog popped up. I was the American girl you spoke with in Delhi. It took me a while to figure out it was me, until the part about the massage. :) Anyway, I'm really sorry you had such a crappy time in Kashmir. I promise that I was not in any way affiliated with that company, they weren't paying me anything and I certainly was not "involved" with anyone there. The tour I booked with them in the fall of 2006 went really well-- a little more expensive than if I'd done everything myself, but I wouldn't have even known where to start booking everything so it all worked out. I came back for a second trip (when you met me) and since my previous experience had gone well I decided to book with them again. Again, everything went pretty much according to plan.
My experience in Kashmir could not have been more different than yours. Yes, I found Latif a little insufferable, but tolerable and he did give me the services that I paid for. I felt that the houseboat was decently clean and I was never asked to take a room in the house. Nor was I ever asked to stay away from the other tourists, of which there were several including one guy who had been staying there for over 4 months (which I thought was a little odd- wasn't he bored to tears? I mean really). All in all I felt very taken care of in an EXTREMELY alien environment; admittedly it was a little boring after the sun went down because there isn't much to do. And yes, the Muezzin calling 5am prayer blasting over the lake is very bizarre... but I also thought it was beautiful.
I'm guessing you didn't do the early morning "floating market" trip? That was nice.
Since that trip where I met you in 2008, I've been back to India twice (four trips total so far). I have stayed in touch with the people from the travel agency, but I didn't use their services on these last two trips because I wanted to prove that I could do it myself. And I did, although it was a lot of work to figure everything out. At this point I'm pretty good at it though, especially booking train tickets.
Anyway, I just wanted to say that I'm really sorry your time in Kashmir (and it sounds like in India in general) was so bad. Oh, and the two English girls you met-- the ones traveling for 3 years-- are, in fact, still traveling. They didn't run out of money, and they've had a jolly good time throughout southeast Asia, south America and Australia. We keep in touch. :)
See you,
Jeanie
fell on your blog by chance i love reading travelers' blogs like this one, especially this one because it's a different perspective of the country I'm from.
you've made a pretty good itinerary there and I hope you really did enjoy your trip.
I live to travel. And I appreciate real travelers, not just tourist travelers; real as in the kind of traveling you did.
hope to see some more of your impressions of other places too!
safe trips! ;)
OH MY! How jealous I was to read of your adventure. At 15 yoa I aspire to one day move to Germany and live there. Reading your travel to Tubingen and Rothenberg only made me love the German countryside all the more. I am very jealous of your travel there but an beaming with glee that one day I may visit Germany for myself in person.
disappointed Your pictures are great, but the text is unknowingly bigoted, somewhat offensive, under-educated drivel. And no, you are not a comedic expert.
Thanks Susan Thanks for the shout out there Susan. I loved Hawaii and am contemplating returning for a few months in January and February. Which island do you live on? I went to four Oahu, Maui, Big Island and Kauai. Have you seen my blog entry? They were all special!
Looks Ono!!! =) I am from hawaii and was very impressed with what you have done. Building an imu is very hard work and you have shown me that with teamwork, smiles, ingenuity and a lot of creativity, anyone anywhere can bring a little hawaii anywhere. It made me smile looking at your process. God bless you and job well done!!! Aloha
Nice Photography Great photography Dave! Next year when we are cooking the pig I would like to be on the beer drinking team since you have the picture taking under control. By the way, you never mentioned how your ice cream tasted without the vanilla.
No, I got ripped off when I landed here too ... but not for long! First at the airport train station, the machine didn't like my 500K note so I went to the window where I was charged double. hmmm. then downstairs the conductor said yes, this train goes to your station it didn't just Central. Then the cabbie went twice around the block because he couldn't get to the 'exact' spot I was staying (it was Parkveien! A major street!). And to top it off at the hotel they decided to dock me a night even though I'd told them in time I'd be a day late. At that point I wondered if they were taking tourism tips from the mafia and thought, "I"m onto you people now." :-D Having said all that ... no ripoffs since. And everyone is friendly if you know 'Hallo" and the basic phrases. Have fun those readers coming to Oslo! Jules in Australia (who will be in London in a few days for three weeks)
So That's How You Do It! Bill and I have always wanted to do this and now we have your blog telling us how. Except we have neither tee leaves nor corn stalks. Maybe palm fronds will do?
Wow! Yes someone did take good pictures, but unfortunately those were not taken by you:) You will have to give me money next year Beth, for me to allow you to be the official camera person for the event! :)
Wow! Wow, those are some fantastic pictures!!!! I must question....who was the photographer and did anyone suggest paying her for the great job that she did? I am betting she would have been on site that morning with a smile if she were on the payroll.
Not sure of your comment Not traveling is the worst thing to happen. Through traveling you realize there are nice people all over this world and that politicians are the ones who screw things up. They tell you one thing to get your vote and then do whatever they want while in office. I see crazy propoganda all over this world most of which is not true. The people that spread this propaganda normally have never traveled to the country that they spread rumours about. I see it all over Europe and in the US. The cycle of craziness has been happening for 1,000´s of years. European powers were out there fighting wars and colonizing countries wiping out the indigenous people since the 1500´s, but then WWII happened which devastated Europe and banlkrupted many countries and now the US has taken over where Europe left off unfortunately. The world needs better politicians. Politicians that reflect the people. Traveling is good because you learn to separate politics from the people. I went to China for this reason. I suspect they will be the world power in a few years and I wanted to meet those people. They are very nice people and I will know in the future when China does crazy things not to blame the people, but to blame the Chinese government. It is an important distinction to make!
Krakow blog I'm Planning a trip to Krakow and stumbled upon your blog. Appreciate that you took the time to do this as it is helpful for fellow travellers. I assume from the amount of complaints within your blog that you must be American. I'm curious to know if your travels have opened your mind up a bit in terms of adaptating to/ accepting different cultures. Although I am generalizing with this statement... I cannot comprehend why you lot bother to travel!
Tour Guide I agree with you during our travels, it is difficult to get to know people in a country as we only get to meet a very small sampling of them. I met two Irish in Beijing recently that were some of the nicest people that you will ever meet. I talked to a Russian Couple last night and two Iranian girls yesterday as well. They are very nice. The take home message for me has been there are nice people all over this world. Each country's politicians send out the propoganda they want their people to hear. Politicians are corrupt all over this world and unfortunately until politicians start fighting wars I think their will always be wars. All we can do is to keep spreading goodwill each day and hope it becomes contaigous! Happy travels!
tour guide Dave - you did not cause me any offense - I was just stating my opion to what you had written - I am not polish, I am infact irish and have travelled extensivly throughout europe, asia, australia and also the US. Part of ehat I enjoy about the travelling is experiecing other cultures, which what I was saying when I referred to the older people in Poland not fully embracing their emergence from communisum.
As an Irish person, I can also sympathis with you having to put up will the drunken Irish lads in your hostel, unfortunalty, they, painted themselves and probably other irish people in a bad light to you. As you said, this is the problem, the actions of some people tend to set the perception for en entire group - especially if those actions were annoying in the first place!!.
Tour Guide Sorry I have offended you. The tour guide stated in the tour that the allies were criticized for not coming directly to Poland and stated indirectly that maybe it was because the allies did not like the Jews. The allies hated the Jews is what some people would take from her comments. She is telling this story to everyone that comes on her tours everyday. I simply asked her what was the reason that the allies gave and she said they said it was not good war strategy. I said the same kind of thing is going on today, in Darfur for example genocides are happening and the rest of the world is not coming to their aid either. Then totally out of context she said their is no democracy in Iraq either. I did not agree or disagree with the allies strategy just said this kind of thing goes on today in 2007.
With regards to the older people ( these folks I refer to in the text were in their 50's) seeming a little grumpy, your probably right their horrific past may effect them today. Not sure. I was just stating what I observed and how I viewed it. I recently met two extremely nice Polish women in their mid 20's who said they view their country as a sad country. I only spent two days in the country and really did not get a very good sampling of the people. That is their opinion. Everyone is entitled to their opinion.
Again sorry for the offense. Traveling is great. I have learned so much about how the people in other countries live. I have heard American bashing throughout my travels. Sure we make mistakes but we do a lot of good as well that seems to go unnoticed. Whenever your a powerful Country, or on an individual basis whenever you do anything in life, your going to be criticized by someone. People that have traveled the US and met the people tell me they are some of the nicest people in the world and then say they do not like the politics in the US currently (which I do not either). They differentiate however between the people and the politics. People that have not traveled the US lump the two together. I really do not give people much credibility when they criticize a country they have never been to. The people of a nation live in the countryside as well, they do not live in the big City's. Again sorry for the offense!
A year of retirement in my 30's. Progressive thinking or insanity? Maybe a little bit of both. Either answer is fine by me.
Spending 1.5 years seeing as much of the world as possible. It has been a good ride. Feel free to come aboard!
Note: I planned to write a personal diary and then edit the diary for public viewing on this site. I soon realized during my travels that I would not have time to edit my journal writings, therefore what you see is a personal diary. The text was written on trains, boats, planes, buses, in hostels, hotels, homes, restaurants, pubs and often with very ... full info
Lucky Charms
Dave B
No Specifics!
I would respond to your comment, but there is nothing to respond to as you state no specifics as to what offends you. Read my profile paragraph. All other people that commented on this blog left an email address except you. Very cowardly on your part!