AfricaBound

Have we mentioned that time flies? We’ve been back home for 10 days now and we’ve been busy catching up with friends and family and getting our “normal” lives back in order. We’re currently staying with Jordan’s parents until we figure out whether we want to rent a condo as we did before (perhaps even in the same building), or if we’re ready to take the plunge into home ownership in this real estate obsessed city. Fortunately we both managed to get jobs back with the same companies we worked for before the trip and we’ll be starting those on January 9. We even returned home to the same cell phone and vehicle that we’d left behind. Same city, same jobs, same car, same phone number…honestly it feels like we never left. 500 days, 18 countries, ... read more

We've been busy lately, racing around the country using Japan's amazing train network. And thanks to our Japan Rail pass, we can use the trains as much as we want. So we'll start with Kyoto where we really only spent one day of tourism despite spending three nights in the city. That's probably sacrilege considering Kyoto is considered by many to be the best city in the whole country. We have our reasons for this which we'll get to shortly. For the day we had booked 8 hours of private guide service to show us around which was apparently enough to take us to 3 or 4 highlights. Just a small slice of what Kyoto has to offer. So we started out with the most famous site in Kyoto, Kinkaku-ji temple or the Golden Pavilion followed ... read more

Our first impressions of Japan? Wow! After flying in from Delhi, it's like night and day. We're not trying to be disrespectful to India, but Delhi and Varanasi are two of the dirtiest and noisiest places we've been to. Our impressions are only enhanced by the fact that Tokyo is amazingly spotless. Coming into town on the train from Narita airport we couldn't help but notice that there was not a single piece of trash along the railway tracks...not on the streets, not anywhere! Walking around town was even more of an eye-opener. We could actually walk...on wide sidewalks...without looking at our feet the whole time. And wait...it's eerily quiet too. Sure there's plenty of traffic on the roads, but in the three days we spent in Tokyo we only once heard a horn. Traffic obeys ... read more

We arrived in Amritsar in the evening after a long travel day that was spent in jeeps followed by a train. Once checked into our hotel, we boarded cycle rickshaws and made our way to the Golden Temple, the holiest place of worship for Sikhs. It's an impressive place and is beautifully illuminated at night. We arrived in time to witness the daily ceremony where the Sri Guru Granth Sahib (Sikh holy book) is transported from the temple to the Akal Takhat for the evening. We also experienced the "free kitchen" a communal dining area where anyone regardless of race or religion can eat for free 24 hours a day. It's an incredible operation where they are constantly serving food and clearing plates. The next morning we returned to the temple for sunrise, although we miscalculated ... read more

Well, it's been an exciting and very busy introduction to India. We've been planning this section of our trip for quite some time now. Kathie's parents expressed some interest in joining us somewhere on our travels and the topic of India kept coming up. So back in April we finally went ahead and booked a couple of tours with Intrepid. At this point in our trip we're getting a bit tired of the constant logistics of booking accommodation, transport, itinerary planning, etc. So we figured it would be a nice change to book a tour and just be passengers for a while. We arrived in Delhi on the afternoon of the 16th and Kathie's folks arrived the next morning. It was an exciting reunion as we had not seen each other in over a year. We ... read more