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Sashagfriend - The Adventures of the Goodfriend Girls

I am a high schooler in NYC and I am a traveler. My number one inspiration in life is my mom who has traveled the entire world and is the woman who will be leading me on this 6 week trip we leave for tomorrow. Together we will write about our travels.

We will be using the "Backpacking" method of traveling. One largish backpack and one day pack each is all we will be bringing with us for our adventure. We take pictures constantly and this year we are thrilled to be including videos from our handy dandy mini video camera!!

Get Excited!!!

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Sasha's Map

Map Legend: 12%, 33 of 263 Territories

Maroon

Penny's Map

Map Legend: 40%, 106 of 263 Territories

Maroon

Summer Travels 2008
July 26th 2008 -» August 26th 2008 Summer Travels 2009
July 11th 2009 -» August 22nd 2009

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Joined on: July 9th 2009
Last Login: December 2nd 2009

Blog Entries: 13
Photos: 189

TB Code: [blogger=127865]
Status: BLOGGER

Blogs & Travel Journals

by Sashagfriend, order by Date newest first.

By Sashagfriend
September 28th 2009

Curious Cuisine Asia » Vietnam

Maggots for Sale in the Supermarket

Curious Cuisine By Alessandra (“Sasha”) Goodfriend Last summer I found myself with my mom at a supermarket in Ha Noi, Vietnam staring disgustedly at a box of maggots for sale. I vowed never ever to eat one. 48 hours later I was sitting at dinner, maggot in chopstick mimicking the 12 other people in my host family and running out of excuses that they would understand given the communication barrier. We were trekking in the Hoa Binh province and this was our first taste of Vietnam. We sat on a bamboo floor, 10 feet off the ground in a stilt house [View Full Entry]

Sasha sharing a moment along the trail in the Hoa Binh Province

By Sashagfriend
August 19th 2009

Playing With Fire Asia

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August 17 The story of Koh Samed is about a prince exiled to a kingdom under the sea ruled by a love-sick female giant. A mermaid aids the prince and helps him to escape to Koh Samed by playing a magic flute. Samed is the word for the cajeput tree which is great for firewood… It is here that the early morning bus and ferry took us. We found a bungalow on the beach with buffet breakfast included (also on the beach!). With blue skies, fine, white sand, and waters that invited one to swim for miles (which mom did [View Full Entry]

By Sashagfriend
August 16th 2009

Sawadee Asia

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August 10 We woke up bright and early to hail a cab to Swayamblunath: the Monkey Temple. After walking up the steep stairs for a half hour side by side with the monkeys making their own morning pilgrimage, we were greeted by the sound of morning prayers, incense and monkey mischief. Trying to imagine the Thailand segment of our trip made us nervous so we decided to switch our flight a day early and that night we landed in Bangkok! We listened to Christian rock on the taxi ride from the airport. People say you can tell a lot about [View Full Entry]

By Sashagfriend
August 16th 2009

The DL is on the DL (the Dalai Lama is on the Down Low!!!) Asia

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August 8 Left our ‘no electric, no showers, no water’ hostel at 4:30am. No water means they wash the linens once a year - lovely. It was only when we reached the border that we realized that our Dalai Lama souvenirs were in jeopardy as well as the safety of our Tibetan guide if we were found with the contraband. Although we unpacked our bags on the side of the road and couldn’t find it, we sweated profusely in anticipation. Our tour guide also had a panic attack and screamed at us abundantly…awkward … Maybe it was the “Nihao” smile [View Full Entry]

By Sashagfriend
August 7th 2009

The Long and Winding Road (or - Off and On the Road Agatin) Asia » China » Tibet » Friendship Highway

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August 3 Last night we curled up in bed and huddled around my iPod to watch the movie Passengers. My 2.5 inch screen didn't turn out to seem as small as it actually is and it was a wonderful way to spend the evening relaxing. Since then we've also seen 12 Rounds and the International which is in fact a comment on the hot night life that you can find in these Tibetan towns and also reflects the amount of electricity we were able to tap into in order to recharge our iPods which was in fact a luxury in [View Full Entry]

By Sashagfriend
August 2nd 2009

The Yak Attack or Going Contra the Kora Asia

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August 1 The air is fresh, the food is delicious and life is easier. No facebook, no BBC, no CNN no surprise. And recently: no public bus, no photos of any police people, and no entry to temples without a guide. Women can’t divorce without male consent but of course the man can, and lots of mei yu (don’t have) and bu qu (no go). The Dalai Lama means Dalai=ocean of wisdom and Lama=high. And monks wear shoes with their toes turned up so they do not squash bugs. At dawn we went to the gardens behind the Potala Palace [View Full Entry]

By Sashagfriend
July 31st 2009

Getting Lost on the Great Wall and other Adventures Asia » China

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July 26 With nostalgia and relief, we boarded our Ethiopian Air flight to Beijing. We’d learned much, slowly and belatedly, met with much resistance and fearful self-protection but Dandiwad (thank you) India, we had a wonderful time. The traffic and chaos, Bollywood MTV, tabla and sitar music and the melodic rolling sound of Hindi were left behind with the heat and the dust. Of course, our exit wasn’t exactly as smooth as it might have been. Although there were only 13 people on the flight, the check-in hosts wanted to force us to check one of our bags each. Mom [View Full Entry]

By Sashagfriend
July 25th 2009

Our Precarious Balance with Karma Asia » India

In the clouds

July 23 In Allahabad we had a girls day out. Along with the two other girls from our group we went Temple Hopping. We saw Hamnuman (the monkey god) laying down, the underground temple where we made puja (an offering), a three floor colorful temple, a new white marble middle-class temple, and an ashram for the worker’s relief agency. Great descriptions we know, but we had a wonderful, warm hearted Auto Rickshaw driver, and a good time was had by all. We felt very independent and accomplished. Then we took a four hour train to Varanasi (the city of learning [View Full Entry]

I'd like to thank my mother for bringing me to India

By Sashagfriend
July 22nd 2009

Delhi Belly maybe? Asia » India

Behind the Scenes

July 19 Shimla is shrouded in mist. It floats even into your room like breath on a cold day which makes it really fun during the corkscrew turns throughout the Himalayas. We had contemplated wearing the “scream” masks as a group on the Toy Train yesterday, but thought it would have been much more apt to reflect our mood at dinner last night which set a new record waiting for 3 hours to be served. There was a lovely bon fire at the rooftop restaurant. In case you’re wondering what would be the most important things to pack if the [View Full Entry]

By Sashagfriend
July 18th 2009

Namaste Asia » India

With a little help from the tour guide

July 15 While riding our small travel bus 9 hours from Amistar to Dharmsala mom and i discovered 556 different poses to squeeze and squish and mash our bodies into our seat (with out kicking the people in front or to the side of us...mostly in any case). Mom made the trip pretty embarrassing by interviewing the guy next to us for 6 of the 9 hours non stop. As always we had an adventure at meal time. These seem to be what the waiters believe are the rules of the game: People order for other people, change their minds [View Full Entry]

Here we go on the first overnight train to Armistar!

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