BootsnAll Travel Network



Parting Gifts Courtesy of India

April 18th, 2009

The return to Kenya has been a real flop.  I left India sick, but seemingly OK.  I was lethargic the first few days, but OK.  We spent last weekend in Meru celebrating the lives of Pam’s grandparents (Bengi is 86 and spry… that’s about 106 for Americans!) and by Sunday I was more than OK.  Unfortunately, Monday night things slipped way backwards.  After a test – I’ll spare you the details – I have been diagnosed with three parasites including giardia.  Thank you, India!  Now I am taking medications that make me nauseas and more lethargic.  The alien I was prepared to see ripping out of my belly is dying, though.  I’m only half-way with the meds and I know they have not totally killed the beast.  I’m in bed about 18 hours a day.  The other six are pretty fried on the couch.  Definitely concerned!  I lost this whole week 🙁  I feared India going in due to something like this and I can only say that it was a miracle that I went almost five weeks without that fear being reality.  After the last few days, I seriously doubt I will go back to India even though I have a page of want-to-sees/dos for there. 

The filthiest place on earth is also dangerous for your health!  And I have no suggestion for how one could avoid this unless they really do not enter India.  This can be done by only staying at the highest-end resorts/hotels and really never leaving them.  When I was there looking for places to stay I was laughing about how most hotels are less than $25 per night ($4 is easy to find) and then the top places were $500 or more.  How could there be such a big difference?  Easy!  The cost of bringing first-world standards like cleanliness into India must be phenomenally expensive.  If the workers are allowed to leave the premise, they probably sterilize them when they re-enter.  And I am not joking nor am I trying to be cruel.

Tags: ,

Horrible and Fantastic

April 13th, 2009

This seems to be the phrase coming out of my mouth when people ask me how India was for me.  Let’s say I saw some really amazing sights and I saw the worst sights of my life.  I was happy to leave – maybe a week too late since the seasonal heat caught up to us in some very hot areas between Calcutta, Bodhgaya and Varanasi.  But I also look forward to returning someday to see southern and central sections of the country as well as many of the parks full of wildlife.  And I would really like to be there during warmer months for Kashmir.  I can’t really tell you that I like or understand anything about Indian society.  I am more perplexed by it all than I was when I arrived.  I would feel really bad about this after spending five weeks there, but the following quote from Paul Bowles at least makes me believe I am not the only one with this problem: “Now, after traveling some eight thousand miles around the country, I know approximately as little as I did on my first arrival.  However, I’ve seen a lot of people and places, and at least I have a somewhat more detailed and precise idea of my ignorance than I did in the beginning.”

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: ,

Out of the Big Sewer

March 23rd, 2009

As I wrote before, I was not enamored with Agra.  I kept calling it Agar… isn’t that the stuff in a petri dish in which one grows mold or other cultures?  Fitting name as far as I am concerned.  The highlight of Agra was sitting above the Host Hotel enjoying a beer and watching the Taj through sunset.  Above the scum, we could enjoy the beauty of the architecture, watch the ever-present monkeys and watch the birds, most notably the pigeons controled by their young masters.  Unfortunately, my lasting images of Agra are of opium addicts, the most dangerous tuk-tuk rides of my life, the unbelievable stench of raw sewage and the little boy who walked to the edge of the wall above the hotel room, looked down at me with a scowl and proceeded to urinate towards me.  We left Agra as soon as possible on a train to New Delhi headed to Shimla in the north.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: ,

Dust People

March 23rd, 2009

The first time I saw one, I was in Kampala, Uganda during my first walk around town.  She was sitting on the sidewalk breast feeding her infant.  It was difficult to determine the two different bodies.   Both were covered with dust and dirt and their tattered clothes were basically the same color as the dirt and dust on their skin.  I had never seen anyone so dirty except images of coal miners coming out of the mine.  I was quite freaked by how she looked and the fact that she was carrying a baby.  I turned and walked away as soon as I saw the wild look in her eyes.  Oh my!  I saw a few more in Kampala that same trip and I started thinking of them as the dust people.  They all looked just as dirty as the first one, their torn clothes were also the same dirt color and they always have the crazed look in their eyes and no shoes on their feet.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: ,

Tiger Tales

March 23rd, 2009

The number one thing to see in India for me was tigers. India’s parks provide the best opportunity to see wild tigers in the world, but I was a bit skeptical. India’s government has been pumping up the census numbers for years and their protection of the tigers has been scandalous including the realization in 2005 that one of its top parks (Sariska) had lost all of its tigers to poaching using poison and perpetrated by its own staff. A dead tiger is worth $10,000 in India and maybe ten times that once it gets to China so in a country where most make less than two dollars per day the tiger’s days are limited.  I think the only chance the tigers have is through tourism.  To improve our odds, I chose Ranthambhore National Park in Rajasthan because it is a dry deciduous forest landscape which provides excellent viewing and the tigers are known to be active during the day and also known to ignore humans watching from their jeeps or trucks.  It’s also a park that has embraced community-based conservation where the community benefits from the park revenues and through tourism.  Furthermore, I booked a full-day and two half-day jeep rides ahead so that we would not be stuck in the loud, diesel belching “canters” (trucks with seats) with 20+ talkative tourists. The research and planning paid off fantastically.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: ,

The Big Taj

March 18th, 2009

Now, I don’t even know where tobegin.  The past two weeks in Rajasthan were fantastic.  We noticed a change yesterday arriving in Agra.  A new state and a new world as far as I can tell.  Rajasthan had its ups and downs, but overall it was great.  Since the terrorist attack in November in Mumbai, India has clamped down.  Internet was virtually non-existant in Delhi and Rajasthan.  Every hotel had it and none worked.  Internet cafes were unseen.  Finally, I discovered that it has been tightened because of threat.  I have to provide ID and fill out paperwork to use it.  Another country giving into the terrorists!

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: ,

Back on the Road

March 3rd, 2009

Not getting to India has been nagging on me for a year.  So, I now have the opportunity and will take it.  I will be in India’s north and maybe Nepal with a friend, Mr. X, March 3rd through April 7th.  Although I have been very busy since returning to Kenya with Pamela, I do have stories to post about USA and other past stuff.  More to come…

Tags:

License to Kill

March 3rd, 2009

While taking a breather from Kenya, I should probably tell a few stories.  While in USA I screwed up and did not renew my international driver’s license.  It’s about the dumbest thing I have for travel given that AAA just issues it to me after I show my California DL and pay a few dollars and it is a very insecure document especially compared to a real license.  But the world seems to like it over the real thing so I carry it.  Mine expired in August and I certainly had the hour to spare in Santa Rosa to get a new one, but I did not.  I went to the Kenya Revenue Authority because I was told that they would renew it for me.  Nope.  So I went to Kenya AA (no that is not a program for alcoholics although I chuckle every time someone tells me they are going to AA for a driving class or test). 

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags:

Relaxed in Phnom

October 15th, 2008

For a small-feeling city of only 2.5 million citizens, Phnom Penh has become one of my favorite places.  I woke up the day after the Killing Fields and S.21 prison/museum knowing that it would be a way better day.  Can only go up from yesterday.  Cambodians are truly the most humble, gracious and happy people I have found on my trip.  They are a lot like the Vietnamese except Vietnam is at a cranking, crazy pace compared to this calm city.  I have never seen people so comfortable on the back of the motodups – small motorbike taxis – no Mom I never take them and I always wear a helmet.  They’re small bikes, but smaller people with four adults sitting comfortably or even two side-saddle girls behind the driver – they face away from each other. 

 

I was astonished to be in the pool at the Kabiki hotel and noticed just bird chirping and very little city noise.  Bangkok’s constant noise is not totally appreciated for its volume until one escapes it.  It is cooler here than Bangkok, but that is splitting hairs.  Main feature of the weather is high humidity and thunderstorms threatening and hitting multiple times per day.  I’m still sweating out of control, but acclimatizing more each day and I am starting to enjoy the heat and water. 

  Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: ,

Somber in Phnom

October 12th, 2008

Sophan picked me up this morning and we headed to Choeung Ek Memorial or the Killing Fields.  The site is just out of the capital, Phnom Penh, but at 20 kph Sophan took his sweet time getting us there.  Almost all the road surfaces that I have seen are paved and its pretty good pavement so things are light years ahead of much of Africa even here in Cambodia when it comes to infrastructure and transport.  I come to this with an inside-of-Africa mentality and I am once again shaking my head regarding what Africans and non-Africans have managed to do (read: NOT DO!!!!!!) over the past 50 years.  If Sophan can be so slow and not out of the ordinary at least here, what would he drive like around Nairobi?!  Anyway, we finally arrived at what is a rather small site which was disturbing and almost not real.  I thought it was underwhelming.  But that is because it’s a simple place with little humanity… until you get to the pagoda with hundreds of skulls…

 

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: