Advertisement
Published: August 12th 2007
Edit Blog Post
Wow, it has been along time (and six cities, in two countries) since i have posted here. this site was down for a while and ive been running around alot, but now i have lots to say! (advance apologies, the shift is not working well, so dont expect capitol letters).
In short, Nick and I spent one day in Shanghai- it was over 100 degrees F, so that stunted the fun automatically, and overall I have to sa that i didnt really enjoy the city as much as yangshuo. we did see the shanghai museum which is also sort of an art gallery, it has some REALLY old artifacts and some impressive art peices, but its a museum and involves no rafts or mountains, so it automatically is less fun. the best part about shanghai is the skyline- it has the most incredible buildings (architecturally) that i have even seen (sorry, including NY and tokyo)- and its lit up beautifully at night, which is worth just walking around. (but if you want to go upin any high building to see it, prepare to empty your wallets- the city is expensive). I parted ways with Nick, promising to call him when i
bamboo rafting
down the yulong river get to london (some day, im sure) and lifted off for my next adventure.
I had a short (seven hour) layover Thailand, in which i had to stay in the airport due to some regulations, so i spent the time catching up on my Indian history and learning about everything India from my lonely planet guide book. by the time i got to Mumbai in India, i was an hour delayed and Mara and Ash were freaking out a bit, but they found me and all was well.
If I haven't explained, Mara and I are friends from before college and Ash is a friend of hers who I knew in high school and now goes to rutgers with me- ash grew up in india and has much family in india. Ash's family is all over india but she centers herself in a city called Pune- which is four hours outside of Mumbai. For the first night, we stayed with her aunt and cousin in Mumbai, which was really nice- had some authentic indian for the first time (first of many many many times).
An aside about Indian food. it is fantastic. 99% of the time it
is vegiterian because India is a Hindu nation, which preaches not violence toward all living things, so i can be adventurous and try things- and it is always good. it has inspired me to try to cook indian food because indian restaurants are expensive in american and i wont be able to go back to a diet with no indian food. its in my blood now.
the next day we went to pune, to stay with her family that she stays with when she is in india most of the time. this house is her grandparents, aunt, uncle, and two cousins (and this is considered a small house with very little family). Her family is great and it was a great experience to live in a real indian household (different than just backpacking and staying at hostels ) Her cousins are very cute, one of whom speaks a little english, but both of whom liked me very much and enjoyed throwing balls at my head. Her grandfather
Scaling the wall
action shot of my rock climbing, Yangshuo spends time each morning in meditation in front of a small, personal shrine- her grandparents are both very religious. i have been learning alot about eastern religions on my trip and its nice to finallybe able to ask questions- Ash knows alot and whatever she doesnt know, her family will be able to fill in.
The first two dayswere spent slower compared to my usual mode of traveling- we did some shopping (well, mara and ash did some shopping. i did some walking around while they shopped). Got intergrated slowly into India (also a change for me). Got some fantastic home cooked meals and hospitality. We also met with a travel agency to plan our trip in the north- the travel agency is owned by her aunt's cousin and so we were getting really incredible deals and this is way to ensure that we can see more ina shorter period time- mainly we payed for flights to and from the north, hotels the whole way (more stars than i thought was necessary, but there were differing opinions), and 24 hour driver (cheaper than it sounds... remember- this isnt america and a driver is something that is very common here).
my sweet ride
My electric bike- it is p-i-m-p. these things have allowed to get more done in a shorter time, though they didnt come to a small bill- in the end, they were worth it.
After three days in Pune, we went off on our journey through the north. our itenerary is as follows: Udaipor, Jodhpur, Jaipur, Agra (home of the taj mahal, #1 wonder of the world), Haridwar (the top of the gangese river, the most holy site in Hinduism), And Dehli. THen we fly back to Pune and will spend three days at historial beautiful caves at Elorra, Ajunta, and Aguranabad (or something like that). Ash willspend two daysin mumbai while mara and I may hop down for a one day tour of goa and then I fly home.
though I admit that i am already a few days into the trip in the north, iwill save it for my next post as my internet hour is running out. Pictures next time, I promise- i have many many pictures.
so far: 39 days. 18 cities. 3 countries. 665 pictures. 4 videos. alot alot of stories. and counting.
thanks for keeping up,
mark
Advertisement
Tot: 0.144s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 10; qc: 29; dbt: 0.112s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Rochelle
non-member comment
You're ablogging again!
Glad to see a new blog after a long silence! We're waiting to see all the pictures and hear all the stories! Rochelle and Sorin