http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/hellotrain/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from hellotrain en-us Sun, 29 Nov 2009 19:49:11 +0000 Sun, 29 Nov 2009 19:49:11 +0000 It's been five months since we returned from our twoyearlong 15country adventure. Within days of our return reverse culture shock quickly ceded to the bliss of hot showers comfortable beds home cooking and washing machines. After 23 months of laundering clothes by hand in freezing water followed by mosquitoridden nights on buginfested beds America seems truly luxurious. We've been takin http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Colorado/Telluride/blog-243983.html We blame Bollywood. After two weeks surrounded by cameras and selfimportant men shouting Action going back to still pictures just wouldn't cut it. That was also about the time we discovered that Jenny's pointandshoot had a video function. Result How to Get Lost a montage of our favorite video clips from India Thailand Laos and Cambodia. Check it out at httphellotrain.blip.t http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/blog-213767.html Wanted 40 foreigners to go on an allexpensespaid cruise for two weeks to the postcardperfect Lakshadweep islands and sun themselves by the pool in the background of a major Bollywood production. Qualifications willingness to work 12hour days and ability to clap hands in rhythm to Hindi pop music. Check and check. Our first time in Mumbai Bollywood was a distant glimmer of glamour. Wers http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Maharashtra/Mumbai/blog-164497.html On the morning of March 5 everything shut down. Buses stopped running. Stores closed shop. Tourists holed up in their hotel rooms not daring to step foot outside. No it wasnrsquot a terrorist threat or political riots but one of Indiarsquos liveliest festivals Holi a giant multicolored waterfight that brings anarchy to all of India. We fell victim to Holi in Pushkar a small but highl http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Rajasthan/Pushkar/blog-146079.html Rajasthan is the ldquoland of kingsrdquo where every city has a fort and every fort has a history chock full of daring soldiers and captivating maidensmdashall the stuff fairy tales are made of. Udaipur our first stop in the state was a fine place for Jenny to live out her longsuppressed princess fantasies. There are no fewer than three stunning palaces in and around the lakeside cit http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Rajasthan/Udaipur/blog-140898.html When arriving in Baroda state of Gujarat we had a bizarre experience right off the bat. While checking in at the holeinthewall hotel office Randy and the hotel manager were interrupted by a ldquosadhurdquo holy man in search of enlightenment. He was draped a long orange robe and dangling gold jewelry with a painted face and wild hair. Exactly what happened next remains a mystery s http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Gujarat/blog-137051.html Cold Australian beers before us. Chips and salsa burning our tongues. French posters framed on the wall. A table full of loud Nigerians across the room. So where are we Where else but Mumbai India ldquoI want another beerrdquo says Jenny.ldquoMy armpits smell like curryrdquo says Randy. And from these humble beginnings inspired by intoxication in a back alley bar the hellotrain http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Maharashtra/Mumbai/blog-133323.html Unfortunately this is where our African journey ends. For our final blog we decided to throw together a bit of Hellotrain miscellany. From the buoyant waters of the Dead Sea to the baboonblanketed slopes of the Simien Mountains from Jenny getting attacked by a monkey on a leash to Randy getting attacked by a sewer grate from awful falafel in Egypt to mouthwatering matoke in UgandahellipWe sa http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Kenya/Nairobi-Province/Nairobi/blog-51333.html As if Africa didn't have enough problems the continent came with volcanoes. Imagine facing poverty disease and war and then one day a wall of lava comes and swallows up your home. This was a reality for residents of the Congolese city of Goma when the neighboring volcano Mt. Nyiragongo erupted in 2002 and destroyed a large part of town. People were forced to flee to Gisenyi on the Rwandan s http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Congo-Democratic-Republic/blog-49507.html The grass is always greener on the other sidehellipunless yoursquore in Rwanda. In the ldquoLand of a Thousand Hillsrdquo the scenery is so constantly spectacular that the camera never quite makes it back in the bag. Whether itrsquos tea plantations terraced hillsides or rainforest therersquos something stunningmdashand greenmdasharound every corner. Even in busy downtown Kiga http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Rwanda/blog-48538.html If Kampala was in the United States it would come with a Surgeon Generalrsquos Warning. Between the exhaustclouded streets of downtown and the deathdefying motorcycle taxis ldquobodabodasrdquo that weave through it residing in the city may be hazardous to your health. But like most things that come with such warnings Kampala can be addictive. Coffee shops with character friendly En http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Uganda/Central-Region/Kampala/blog-44808.html It was midnight when we crossed the border from Kenya to Tanzania on the overnight bus. And since buses arenrsquot allowed to drive at night in Tanzania the driver pulled over in the first town and everyone slept for six hours we curled up on the bus seats while others made beds of cardboard and sprawled out on the sidewalk til the sun came up and we could continue. Late in the morning we arri http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Tanzania/blog-43034.html On the overnight train from Nairobi to Mombasa we felt as if wersquod stepped back to the days of British colonialismmdashblack waiters in pristine white uniforms serving threecourse meals to a car full of European travelers while hundreds of Africans fought for elbow room on the crowded benches of third class. Supposedly the train once even featured a seat in the front from which men in kh http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Kenya/Coast-Province/Mombasa/blog-41565.html After crossing the border into Kenya we arranged to catch the first lorry heading south towards Nairobi. We paid before actually seeing the vehicle. That was our first mistake. The truck that soon stopped in front of us had 20 cows crammed in the bed and a skeleton roof of thin metal bars that crisscrossed above the cattle. We climbed atop the steel frame secured our backpacks and butts as much http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Kenya/Nairobi-Province/Nairobi/blog-38788.html Welcome to Anytown Ethiopia. Yoursquove just stepped off a crowded bus your ears are ringing from the music that blared for the past 8 hours and the blood is slowly returning to your legs. The bus arrived on the main dirt road through town a way lined with unmarked wooden shacks that serve as restaurants bars shops and houses though itrsquos difficult to tell which is which. The street http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Ethiopia/blog-32484.html Our second time in Addis Ababa we met a German aid worker and stayed at his apartment inside the guarded USAID compound. Henning showed us the city as he knew it the local shiro restaurants the decadent diplomats and his views on the city's political turmoil. Together we celebrated New Year's at a classy party held in a mansionturnedartgallery overlooking the city. Our backpackers' attire http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Ethiopia/blog-36497.html When taking the ferry from Sinai to Jordan you have two choices slow and slower. The difference is 10 and about 6 hours. We boarded the slower boat and for the next 8 hours bumped elbows with the hundreds of young Egyptian men crossing the border in search of work. In our boredom we got to talking with an older Jordanian car salesman who assured us that we as Americans would be very welcome i http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Jordan/blog-29032.html Our passports were scrutinized no fewer than seven times at police checkpoints on the road from Cairo to Dahaba route that took us over the Suez Canal and along the perimeter of the Sinai Peninsula. Sinai is Africa's link to the Middle East and its desolate landscape has a long history of war and border disputes. The mountainous desert supports little life besides rugged Bedouins and wild camel http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Egypt/Sinai/Dahab/blog-27674.html To say that Cairo is chaotic and overwhelming is an understatement. Noisy crowded dirty aggressive claustrophobic and intrusive all apply to this city that's home to 20 million people13 of Egypt's entire population. From the moment we stepped out of our hostel on the first day we felt as if we'd entered a different world. Here the streets are shared by taxis pedestrians stray cats don http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Egypt/Lower-Egypt/Cairo/blog-25256.html Ah Egypt where the Nile flows north to Lower Egypt and we headed south upstream. We were confused too. We took a day train from Cairo to Luxor 9 hours for a whopping 6 to get a feel for the Nile Valley landscape. Egypt's geography is comprised of only 4 fertile landmostly this narrow strip of palm trees and crop fields along the Nile through which the train tracks and the highway run. The http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Egypt/Upper-Egypt/Luxor/blog-26226.html