Infra Urban planning in India has always been very reactive. People rush to different cities in search of opportunities and the cities are barely able to cope up with this influx. As a result of this infrastructure in terms of roads, sanitation, lodging ,communication everything works under maximum load. As it crumbles civic authorities try to make some amends.
Combined with this locals and all those who are traveling are least respectful of anything that that is not personal or religious. Cleanliness is practised only inside and not outside. Be it a beautiful lakeside or a wonderful hill station , no one wants to carry garbage back. In the absense of a proper garbage bin , they drop it anywhere and everywhere.
Somehow I feel that with some good advertising ( like Athithi Devo Bhava / Incredible India ads) by Aamir Khan, certain sections of the domestic tourists have started appreciating the clean factor. But its a long way to go in the towns and cities where residents are living in filthy conditions and huge slums stay put.
I write a blog and a few days back I posted a few notes on this "http://travelpi2.blogspot.in/2012/10/traveling-with-responsibility.html".
Let me know if you have any suggestions.
haha, i love it.
reason for going to oz: to see a platypus. i didn't even know they were from there but my friend had a stuffed platypus growing up.
hey when are you guys coming to BC? does my e-mail address show up for you?
you guys should come visit me!!!!! i am still living in burnaby. :)
i need some hamilton flavour, i'm feeling homesick, lol.
Platypus Neat sighting! My one view of a platypus was so brief and from such a distance that I did not count it as real.
Meanwhile, Orion is right side up and the temperatures are up and down and up and down. Snow one day. + 19 the next. Below freezing the next. Windy almost all of the time. Springtime in Ontario. Some plants beginning to bloom including the Coltsfoot. (Still looking for a blue one.)
Car Trips Adventure, adventure! I did not do any driving in Oz but the road you were on sounded both very beautiful and very dangerous. Glad you survived. I had not even heard of the 2nd most photographed place in Oz. I do have many photos of the red rock. From a distance, from up close, from some caves at the bottom, and from the top. That too was a great adventure. Looking forward to hearing about Taz.
Car Trips Sounds as if you are having fun even if you are losing your memory. Just for the record, I've still not seen any Coltsfoot up or in bloom in spite of the fact that they could be up and blooming by this time of year. Perhaps they heard the forecast for snow on Wednesday? Oh well, the Red-wing Blackbirds, Song Sparrows, Robins, and American Woodcocks are all back and singing as well as the Spring Peepers. Won't be long and we will complain about the heat instead of the cold.
Car? Coltsfoot? OK, you have been away from reality too long. Bought a car? Hard to believe!
I realize that you have been gone a long time but Coltsfoot has never been blue even in the cold. It is bright yellow and is most often misidentified as a strange dandelion. Yes, good for coughs but not the first flower of the year; that honour goes to Skunk Cabbage. That being said, the Coltsfoot should put in an appearance any day now. My early date for it is March 15. (A new early date for Skunk Cabbage this year - February 18.)
Watch for snakes when camping. Australia has some of the only snakes in the world that will chase humans.
Oz My daughter, Dawn, who died in a car crash while hitchhiking in Australia, went to school in Adalaide University. Very neat place. The art museum in town was a good visit and there was a game park of some sort there that we visited with lots of the local animals available to see. I loved all the green space in Adalaide. Hope you have a good visit but, as usual, be careful.
wow, a year already?
Sounds like the trip of a lifetime, but I miss you guys!
Anytime I have sauerkraut on toast (I still cheat sometimes) with hot sauce and nutritional yeast, I think of you two :)
<3
Declare EVERYTHING coming in to Australia. If you can consume it, make sure it is declared. At least that way the worst that will happen is they'll seize your goods, otherwise they will seize them and fine you. If you're bringing any foodstuffs, it will likely be seized unless its commercially packaged/processed. Kind of sucks, but the customs agents should be fine as long as you're upfront with them.
My experiences with them have been pretty painless, but I was also coming in from Canada/USA and not bringing food...
Give me a shout if/when you end up in the Sydney area!
Food Bagels, hummus and kraut? Never tried that. I do have some questions in my mind but will give it a go as I do like all three.
I grew up with different music and traditions so my favourite concert was probably at the Maraposa Folk Festival on Toronto Island listening to some flute music played by Pete Seeger minutes after he had made the flute by burning holes in bamboo over a small campfire at the side of the stage. Different strokes for different folks.
Looking forward to hearing about Oz adventures.
Soon to Oz Bali sounds very neat or at least the part you are in. So many places that you have been visiting I have to look up on a map.
I wonder how Darwin will be for you. I arrived in the middle of their winter (July something) and almost died of the heat. I know you two have much different thermostats than I or you would not have lasted in Asia as long as you have but I still wonder about how Darwin will feel to you. Good luck and yes expect to be shocked at prices compared to where you have been. Watch out for salt water crocodiles!
When things go wrong We travelers like to talk about the times when things go wrong and the resulting adventure. I myself try not to plan ahead so much and it got me in trouble when it turns out that say there is no public transport in that city or that there is a convention in town and 99% of hotels are booked.We also realize that they happen very rarely and that the belief that things work out generally is a beneficial one.
Are you going to spend as much time in the rest of Indonesia as in Sumatra? I'd love to hear about the East.
Cat Shit Coffee? Can't quite get my head around the cat shit coffee. Perhaps because we have two cats in the house recovering from spay/neuter surgery and I am dealing with a lot of cat shit everyday. I think I can skip the coffee drinking and the motorcycle noise too but the hike to the mountain lake sounded wonderful.
Expect noise of chainsaws and hammers if you go to Queensland Australia in the near future as they recover from a "storm of the century" cyclone, just in case you missed that news.
Getting warmer here. Wind chill up to -16 this morning instead of - 20 something.
Its supposed to be the worst snowstorm here in three to four years and I'm at work. There weren't any customers for a couple hours so I figured I'd see how you guys are doing. Isn't technology an amazing thing!
hey! Hey, I just wanted to touch base and say I'm so glad you guys are healthy and happy. At my moms in KL they had a mosque right across the street too so that made me laugh about the loud prayers. I missed you most on christmas eve when we had our same old bash and watched 'critter christmas'. It was a different crowd that came this year but still fun. Well I'm at work right now so gotta go
Second the caution. I did not see too many car accidents in Asia but it's the most likely cause of death. The idea is to get off a bus when you determine that the driver is reckless; but then again, how can you tell when they're all like that.
Volcanos and buses My only experience with volcanos was Vesuvius. No, I take that back; Kilimanjaro was also an old volcano. In any case, neither were active and not as exciting as your volcano hike. I wonder what "safe" distance was. I suspect not as close as 5 metres but who knows.
The bus trip that my daughter and I took from Nairobi to Aurusa (sp?) was at least in a modern van but we had 16 + luggage in a van for 12 and I was unable to move a cm in any direction and my legs were in so much pain at the end that I could barely move. Yes, travel is so much fun at times. I continue to enjoy your travels from the comfort of my desk chair. (You are missing all the floods in Queensland. 8 metre walls of water going down valleys and washing out towns and people.)
It's fascinating that they would have sharia law there. I'm in Bangladesh, a heavily Muslim country, but here they don't have problems with fanaticism. The part with alcohol is ubiquitous across cultures: religion is a manner of convenience.
I could identify with you when you spoke of being unsure whether the guide would set you up for an ambush in the forest. There are numerous situations when me or other travelers are invited to pass through dark alleys or into a house surrounded by burly men. You want to be polite and you want to remain an optimist who believes that most people are good natured. However you don't want to put your self at risk (oh and your loved one, that would be harder for me). Things just work out however.
Coral Reefs I am sorry to say that the only coral reef I have ever seen is a fossilized one near Tobermory on the Bruce Trail. No colours except greys. I was impressed with your views there.
No noisy New Years Eve for Fleur-Ange and I. I did a New Year's Eve Resolution Run - 5 k - and then we came home, ate, read books for a while and then went to bed. The new year made it in anyway without our help.
Cold temperatures here but still not much snow. We do have ground cover and it would be possible to ski with old skis that are already rock damaged but I would not take good skis out. So it goes. No eating or sight seeing adventures here so I have to rely on you to make my life more interesting. Thanks!!!
Update! Revised Southeast Asia Route
India: check. Up, down and all around.
Malaysia part1: done. beaches, farms and fun.
Thailand part 1: down. Crags, curry and rain.
Lao: Laid back and loved it.
Vietnam: we became half human, half noodle but left early as we weren't having fun
Cambodia: as awe inspiringly beautiful as it was socially depressing. Either way Cambodia Rocked.
Thailand Part 2: Soaked up sun in the land of smiles
Sumatera, Indo: It's rough in the jungle, and friggin beautiful
Bali, Indo: This place makes you feel like a dirty rotten tourist (but its uber pr... full info
Snehansu
non-member comment
Infra
Urban planning in India has always been very reactive. People rush to different cities in search of opportunities and the cities are barely able to cope up with this influx. As a result of this infrastructure in terms of roads, sanitation, lodging ,communication everything works under maximum load. As it crumbles civic authorities try to make some amends. Combined with this locals and all those who are traveling are least respectful of anything that that is not personal or religious. Cleanliness is practised only inside and not outside. Be it a beautiful lakeside or a wonderful hill station , no one wants to carry garbage back. In the absense of a proper garbage bin , they drop it anywhere and everywhere. Somehow I feel that with some good advertising ( like Athithi Devo Bhava / Incredible India ads) by Aamir Khan, certain sections of the domestic tourists have started appreciating the clean factor. But its a long way to go in the towns and cities where residents are living in filthy conditions and huge slums stay put. I write a blog and a few days back I posted a few notes on this "http://travelpi2.blogspot.in/2012/10/traveling-with-responsibility.html". Let me know if you have any suggestions.