Nate and Shelly’s Travel Blog

Sunset at the Koh Tao Resort

Today feels like the calm before the storm.  We’re just wrapping up a 4 day trip to the quiet island of Koh Tao where there’s little to do except relax.  Tomorrow afternoon two of our friends from the U.S. ,Tri and Billy, arrive and we’re going to spend the next 8 days in Thailand with them.  We’re a little nervous about what lies ahead and we’re sure there will be lots of late nights.  They both have distinguished partying credentials, Tri was president of his college fraternity and Billy was a 3 year starting offensive lineman for Washington State Univeristy.  Right now all we can do is concentrate on hydrating before they arrive.    

In the meantime, our days have been pretty uneventful since there’s not much to do on a tiny, secluded island.  Shelly continues to work on her tan at the hotel pool and is as dark as a coffee bean.  While she’s tanning I’ve been able to go diving every morning.  I think I’m currently up to 9 dives in Thailand and it’s nice to get some exercise.  The sites around Koh Tao are amazing and are probably the best in the Gulf of Thailand.  I’ve seen plenty of grey sharks, moray eels, barracuda, and trigger fish. 

A few shots diving around Koh Tao

I also rented a scooter to get around the island and it cost a measly 200 baht (about $7 US) for 24 hours.  I barely fit on it, but it does the job.  The hardest part is just remembering to drive on the left side of the road, which I will probably never get used to. 

The last 4 days, Shelly and I have been recharging our bodies after 2 months of long, hard travel. We’re on the island of Koh Samui and are staying at the Baan Bophut Hotel.  Our room is probably 100 meters from the quaint beachfront town of Fisherman’s Village, which is full of shops and fun restaurants.   In fact, I’m typing this post in one of Shelly’s favorite shops.  It’s a chic Chinese B&B that also includes a women’s shoe store, a small Internet cafe’, and a beachfront cocktail bar. Shelly can’t imagine a more complete, perfect business to run. 

Above is the view from my computer of Shelly’s favorite shop.  The beach and cocktail bar is behind me, while the B&B is above.

Unlike previous countries, we haven’t seen any historical sites or even taken a taxi outside the village to explore other parts of the island.  It sounds boring, but it’s just what we needed.  Our days have been spent lounging on the beach, watching $2 DVD’s bought from street vendors (Michael Clayton… very bad, Juno… very good), and getting $6 Thai massages.  Shelly’s friends will also be happy to know that she got fitted yesterday for a custom-made suit and a few dress shirts.  They’ll be ready for re-sizing today and the finished product will be done tomorrow.  She also bought another pair of shoes, so she’s now up to 5 for the trip.   

As for me, on Thursday I updated my Open Water certification and went diving at a site called Sail Rock.  It took 1.5 hours to get there on a small, diesel fuel-bleching boat and some of my fellow divers lost their breakfast on the way out… not the best way to start a day of diving.  The water was relatively clear at the site and I was able to see schools of barracuda and tuna.  Sail Rock is known for its hollow chimney that starts about 16M underwater and exits at about 6M.  It was pretty amazing to ascend and descend a few times through the chimney. 

Lastly, I need to say a few words about the place where we’re staying, the Baan Bophut.  I would highly recommend staying here if anyone reading this post is coming to Koh Samui.  Each room has a full beachfront view, DVD player, the best bed we’ve slept on in 2 months, and the location is ideal.  The staff is amazing and the hotel’s dog named “Black Head” is never far from our sight.  The staff is so friendly that one of them offered to make us a traditional Thai meal one night.  He whipped us up some butter fish, which is a fried garlic-encrusted white fish, and some Thai curry crab.  Just thinking of the meal still makes my mouth water.  

Tomorrow, we’re taking a boat about 60KM north of Koh Samui and are spending 4 nights in Koh Tao.  The island is the main place to dive in the Gulf of Thailand and I plan on going every morning.  Most of the island accomodations are pretty primative, so we’re staying on a beachfront bungalow with no telephone, t.v., or hot shower.  It should make for an interesting few days.  A few more random pics from Koh Samui:        

Shelly teaching a local boy “Rock, Paper, Scissors”… he won 3 out of 5 and struck a pose. 

Our walk home after a typical Thailand rain storm 

This is Shelly reporting in to finish off our India experience for you.   Nate has now sufficiently hassled me about not being as active in the blog-writing department as I could be, so I promised to write at least one blog post per country.  In my defense, I have been doing a lot of work behind the scenes including researching spelling for some of the obscure places we’ve visited, editing grammar, selecting pictures, tagging references, etc.  But, I know (Brynne), I should be better about writing posts.  So, I’ll pop in from time to time.  However, I think you’ll all agree that Nate is doing a fabulous job keeping you up-to-date on our adventures and sharing insights along the way. 

After cruising through Kerala, we flew back into the lion’s den of civilization with a 2-day trip to Mumbai, home to the busiest train station in Asia, along with about 14 million+ residents.   We stayed in Colaba, right in the heart of the city and it turned out to be a perfect outpost. We were within walking distance to everything that we wanted to see and do while we were there.  We walked to the India Gate, the Taj Hotel, through the street vendor corridor, and to great restaurants and shops.  We were even strategically located about a block from a trendy uppercrust nightclub, known for being a celebrity hotspot.  Of course, this meant that it was tops on our list for our first night in town. 

Although we didn’t have any star sightings, we did feel transported to another world while inside.  It was very NYC—Asian Buddha statues like at Tao, a sleek bar with every type of imported (read EXPENSIVE) alcohol imaginable, and beautiful people in Western designer clothes (definitely no sarees or lunghis here).  Although we had a great time sipping the familiar cocktails of choice from home, sitting at the bar and soaking in the great people-watching, we couldn’t help but feel a tinge of sadness at the thought of the countless homeless and needy men, women and children that were laying on the streets literally just outside the bar.   To see this type of disparity up close was really hard.  It’s one thing to be confronted with poverty and begging while walking around during the day, innocently looking up to admire architecture or famous locations.  But, it is another thing to sit inside a plush bar drinking $10 cocktails when there are children outside the doors who could eat for a month on that same $10….  But, alas, that is all part of the experience of India as it is continuing to find its way, develop new social programs, work on improving the environmental conditions, and prosper as a new financial powerhouse in global economics.

During our 15-day trip through India, there were 2 things on our list of quintessential Indian experiences that we still hadn’t been able to cross off—-cricket & Bollywood.  Well, I’m happy to report that we did just that on our Sunday afternoon walk through Mumbai and both experiences were worth the wait.  As fate would have it, there was a cricket match in progress on the field right across the street from the Eros Cinemas where we bought our tickets to see Jodhaa Akbar.

Even though the entire movie was in Hindi with no subtitles, it was fun to be there watching the action on the big screen.  Jodhaa Akbar is set in many of the places that Nate & I had visited in Rajasthan and allowed us to follow along with the storyline because of our new understanding of the historical importance of Akbar’s rule in India.  But, even with the beautiful Ashwarya and Hithrik onscreen and the basic comprehension of the plot, the 90 degree Indian sunshine was calling us out.  After 2 hours, during the classic “Intermission” which is common during these marathon Bollywood 3-4 hour movies, we snuck out to catch a little cricket on our way back to the hotel. 

That night, we had the opportunity to do something we hadn’t done in over a month and a half….we had dinner with someone we knew.  Our friend Devu had recently moved to Mumbai and we were lucky enough to meet him for drinks and dinner.  His girlfriend Leigh was also in town visiting from NYC, so we had a great double-date together.  First, we hit the spectacular rooftop bar at the InterContinental, overlooking the Arabian Sea.  After that, Devu took us to one of his favorite seafood restaurants where we drank  Indian wine and ate more food than we needed.  A good time was had by all.  We look forward to staying in touch with them as they continue working out the logisitics of a trans-Atlantic relationship.   They are truly a great couple and we look forward to having them up to Seattle to visit during one of our summers.

The next day, our flight to Thailand left at the ungodly hour of 5:20am, which meant a 2:00am wake-up call.  Ugghh.  So, after 3 hours of sleep, a 4 hour flight to Bangkok, a 5 hour layover (luckily, they had a huge shopping mall inside the airport), followed by a 1 hour island flight, we made it safely to Koh Samui, Thailand. 

Our home for the last 3 days 

Life is good.  It’s not hard getting up in the morning with a warm cup of coffee to watch the sun rise over the Keralan backwaters.  Over the past two months, it’s probably the most peaceful and restful place we’ve been.  Now that we’re done, it’s a wonder why anyone coming to India would not spend at least a few days cruising these waterways and enjoying the rural Indian life here.  

Watching the palm trees and rice paddies go by

For three days and two nights, the boat above was our home and is modeled after a traditional  Indian “rice barge”.  It was just Shelly and I and our four person crew, who we added to our list of international friends.  Life on board was pretty simple and went something like this… wake up, drink coffee and eat breakfast, go back to sleep, eat again and drink local beer (note: Kingfisher is good), watch palm trees go by, eat dinner and drink local beer, play Donkey (local card game) with the crew until bed time, and repeat the next day.

On our second day, the crew made something special for us.  The chef whipped up a traditional Keralan meal, which is typically served at weddings.  We went local and ate off banana leaves with our hands.  It was a neat experience and the crew hovered over us as we ate to make sure every bite was perfect and to our liking.  The picture below was our lunchtime spread. 

During our travels, we only set foot on land for about an hour as we toured a local village.  The picture below is of Shelly sporting her Indian dot, given by the crew, with some local school children who were all clamoring to get in the picture. 

Lastly, below are some pictures to give you idea of what the palm tree lined backwaters are about.  They are maze of freshwater canals that total about 900 km in length and have been used for hundreds of years as the “highways” for southwestern India.  The first picture is of one of the crew steering our boat down one of the narrower canals.  The second is of Shelly watching the sun go down on our final night.      

Tomorrow we head to Mumbai for a quick 2 day layover before departing for Thailand.  Shelly promises to write our final India post so stay tuned!

The last few days have been some of the most relaxing of our trip.  From the moment we stepped off the plane in Cochin, we knew the next 6 days were not going to be like those spent in Delhi, Agra, and Jaipur.  Everything down here is laid back, from the clothing, the attitudes, and the street vendors.  It’s also about 85 degress and sunny, which means we finally feel like we’re on vacation.  

Even the cows found a cool place to rest 

We spent most of yesterday touring around the historic city of Fort Cochin, seeing the few historical sites, and doing a little shopping.  Over the last 500 years, the Fort was controlled by several countries (Portugal, Spain, Britian) so its history is an eclectic mix of those cultures.  There were many Christian churches and even a Jewish synagogue… not something we’re used to seeing in India.  We also visited the area of town where they use Chinese fishing nets to harvest the catch.  I think they’ve used them here too long because they didn’t catch much, but it was fun to watch anyway.   

In Cochin, we’re also able to have alcohol with our meals unlike up north.  In Jaipur, for instance, both the restaurants and even our hotel didn’t serve alcohol.  On hot days like this and after a tough day on the Indian streets, it’s nice to kick back and relax with a cold one. 

Tomorrow we’re driving south to catch our houseboat down the Kerela backwaters.  We’ll be cruising for two nights so the next time we post will be from Mumbai, India before we depart for Thailand.  Bye for now.   

Well, we did it, we survived the Indian tourist mad house known as the Taj Mahal and have the pictures and memories to show for it.  Our journey to the Taj took about six hours from Delhi as we weaved our way in and out of oncoming traffic.  In India, there are no traffic lanes and directional dividers like in The States.  You drive by dodging oncoming traffic, which can an include buses, cars, motorbikes, humans, livestock, and farming equipment.  After our spirited 190km drive we finally made it to Agra, India, which is probably the filthiest place on earth.  As we entered the city we made a brief stop at Akbar’s Tomb, which was nothing too special, but we captured one of our best photos of the trip…

It’s kind of artsy or something you’d see in a Lonely Planet book, but I like it.  Shelly saw these two women walking by and I quickly snapped the photo.  Maybe we’ll send it to National Geographic when we return 🙂

Eventually we made our way to our hotel and were able to mentally “get back to neutral” before heading out to the Taj and see it at sunset.  We arrived that evening about 4:30 p.m. and successfully navigated through the onslaught of vendors, con artists, and anyone else wanting our money and finally saw what we came to see.  The Taj Mahal was amazing and worth the sacrifice.  It was packed with people, but everyone there was just soaking up the moment and enjoying the experience.  For those that don’t know, the Taj Mahal is basically a mausoleum built by a Mughal Emperer for his favorite wife after her death.  After taking off our shoes, we were able to walk inside the Taj and see their marble caskets.  Below are a few other pictures of us at the Taj:

Walking around in my socks…

Shelly reflecting on the magnitude of the experience… actually, I just caught her while she wasn’t looking. 

The classic shot, which Shelly had to fight through crowds to get.

The next morning, we drove to Jaipur, which is known as the “pink city”.  It’s home to some of the best bazaar shopping in India and also some great historical sites.  We spent most of yesterday just walking around the old part of town, dodging in and out of shops, and checking out our surroundings.  On our walk were able to view the Hawa Mahal (a.k.a. Palace of Winds), which is where the Maharaja’s harem of women used to be housed.  Apparently, each of his women had a window and could peer out and view city life below.  Gauging by the number of windows, he must have had quite the stable of Indian women…   

Other than that, everything is going well with us and no “Delhi Belly” or other intestinal ailments to report (knock on wood).  Life in India is definitely a stark contrast from anywhere we’ve been and it’s a real learning experience.  There’s such a mix of good and bad that it’s hard to process it all.  It’s rampant poverty, beautiful women in sarees, amazing historical sites, stifling pollution and trash, great food, crazy traffic, kind people, and male public urination all rolled up into a ball.  That last one I still have problems with since it doesn’t matter where we are, someone is peeing on a wall.  I suppose that’s enough for today.  We hope everyone is doing well back home and we’ll write again soon.  

Our time in Delhi has come to an end and once again we’re sad to say goodbye to a place.  Before taking this trip, we heard a lot of bad things about Delhi and how we should only stay here in order to see the Taj Mahal and cities like Jaipur.  Shelly and I actually found Delhi to be very fun and we could have spent several more days here.  Oh well, we’ll just have to add this to our list of “places we need to return to”. 

We spent most of yesterday touring the city’s historical sites and continuing our Delhi shopping experience.  Our day started with a stop at Qtub Minar, which is the main signature site in Delhi.  Qtub Minar is to Delhi what the Space Needle is to Seattle and most postcards have it pictured somewhere on them.  Qtub Minar also confirmed what we had briefly learned the day before while touring the Red Fort— Shelly and I are like animals in a zoo in India… at least for kids.  Everywhere we go, kids on school fieldtrips want to say “hi”, shake our hands, and take pictures with us.  It got to the point where we had to make a quick exit to the gate because we couldn’t take two steps without someone wanting to talk to us.  According to the hotel staff, it’s because many of the children are from rural areas and rarely see anyone from the West.  Below are a few pictures of our Qtub Minar experience.

Shelly being questioned (and examined) by a group of school girls

A picture of us with some teenage boys… love the pose with those blue pants

And finally, the site we came to see

After Qtub Minar, we drove over to the Lotus Temple, which is very similar to the Sydney Opera House.  We walked around it for a bit and then did a little shopping at a local market.  After 1.5 months of traveling, we finally bought some large items for our house—two Indian silk woven rugs.  They cost a quarter of what we could get them for in the U.S. and included free shipping so we figured why not.  Anyway, below is a picture of the Lotus Temple.

Last night, we ventured out of our hotel and had dinner at one of the nicest restaurants in Delhi called Veda.  It’s traditional Indian food in a modern, upscale setting.  The staff there were amazing, always smiling, and having a great time, save one… the cashier.  This was like an open invitiation for Shelly to talk to him and within a minute, she had a picture with him.

Shelly with Veda’s cashier and his picture perfect smile

By the end of the night, the restaurant manager was over at our table talking to us and telling us about their recent critic reviews, expansion plans, etc.  They also moved us over to their nightclub section and put me in the “captain’s chair” to kick back and relax.  Overall, it was a great experience and if anyone’s in Delhi, we would recommend eating there.   They also had the cleanest and nicest bathrooms we’d seen in over a month, another positive. 

O.k. I have to run and grab breakfast before we depart for Agra to see the Taj Mahal at sunset.  One last thing, yesterday we also finalized our plans in India since we had none when we arrived.  Today we’re going to see the Taj Mahal and spend the night in Agra.  Tomorrow we depart for Jaipur and spend 2 days touring the city.  After that, we fly down to Cochin and stay for 3 days before taking a private 2 day backwater cruise on a rice boat.  We’ll then fly up to Mumbai for a few days before catching our flight to Bangkok.  Bye for now…  

The Chandni Chowk street market

After flying through 4 countries in 24 hours, we arrived yesterday morning in Delhi, India tired and excited about the two weeks ahead.  We were quickly introduced to the Indian way of life when our airplane had to stop 20 ft. short of our gate because a stray dog was lying on the tarmac.  After a few minutes the dog finally moved, we made our way through customs and to our hotel, The Manor Delhi, by about 6 a.m.  We spent most of the day sleeping, eating, and relaxing before tackling Delhi. 

Today we ventured out of the security of our hotel and into the streets of Delhi for some sightseeing and shopping.  Our day started with a stop at Humayun’s Tomb, which was the precursor and inspiration for the Taj Mahal, and we walked around the grounds for about an hour.  We then headed to the Red Fort and the Chandni Chowk, known to be a chaotic and claustrophobic Indian street market.  We spent about 3 hours walking through the shops and made our way to the end of the street and the area known as Spice Market.  I think we’ve been desensitized to crazy streets and bad drivers because Shelly and I didn’t think it was that bad.  We actually found our time walking the street to be fun and enjoyable.  The vendors were not nearly as agressive as those in Cairo and were very friendly.  The smell was powerful, but for everything bad there were the smells of incense, spices, and flowers to counter the odor. 

I was also introduced today to Indian McDonald’s and tested out the Vegatarian menu.  For 20 Rupees (50 cents US) I had a McAloo “Tikki” Burger.  Instead of beef, my burger consisted of a falafel patty topped with sliced tomato and special sauce on a regular bun.  I have to say, it wasn’t half bad and for 50 cents, it may be my Indian “go to” meal when nothing else looks good.

Our experiences in Peru, Argentina, and Egypt also prepared us well for the Indian Tuk Tuk drivers.  Tuk Tuk’s are little motorized buggies that crowd the streets of South Asian countries and are a cheap way to get around town.  We took three of them today and each tried running a scam on us… to no avail.  The first tried taking us to his buddy’s gift shop en route to Humayun’s Tomb.  The second tried selling us additional “sightseeing” on our way to the Red Fort. And the third pulled over on our way back to the hotel to re-negotiate our rate.  All attempts were squelched and the drivers reluctantly got us to our destinations at the original, agreed upon rates. 

Lastly, Delhi seems to be plagued with power outage problems.  Last night our very nice (and expensive) hotel lost power problably 2 or 3 times.  After touring the streets of Delhi, I now know why their power grid is prone to failure.  Below is a picture of the powerlines in Old Delhi.  How anyone knows what’s going on with this mess will remain a mystery with me…

A typical Delhi wiring job  

In transit to our next destination, India, Shelly and I spent a day in Nairobi, Kenya waiting for our departure flight.  With the political crisis and recent violence, we were hesitant to stay in Kenya and even considered cancelling our entire African safari (which we’re now glad we didn’t).  The locals said that since the violence they’ve seen an 80% – 90% drop in tourism and we saw this first hand.   Many of the places we visited were very quiet and in some cases we were the only visitors.  If anyone is traveling to Nairobi soon, we thought it was safe and business as usual.  We didn’t see any excessive security or police presence and people were shopping and living normally.

For our day in Nairobi we visited an elephant orphanage where they raise baby elephants that have lost their parents to poaching.  We also toured the Karen Blixen museum (from the movie “Out of Africa”) and, as with most attractions that day, we were the only travelers there.  Below is a picture of Shelly and I in front of her estate.

We also spent a good part of the afternoon searching for Bata brand safari boots.  While in Tanzania, many of the local guides and bush pilots wore these boots and raved about them.  Shelly had to find a pair and after searching in three shops we finally found a size 5.  For those keeping track, this is her 4th pair of footwear bought on the trip (2 pairs of tango shoes in Buenos Aires, 1 pair of Prada boots in Milan, and now safari boots in Nairobi).

Lastly, we couldn’t stop in Nairobi without visiting the restaurant, Carnivore.  This is probably the most famous meat house in Africa and known for serving exotic roasted meats.  We probably tried 15 different kinds, including ostrich and crocodile.  The restaurant was also the brief unveiling of my mustache (I’ve since shaved it off).  A few weeks ago, our friend Cooper sent Shelly and I an “URGENT” email, which had an article about mustaches.  According to the article, they are gaining in popularity and are a sign of respect and dignity.  So Coop, if you’re out there, here’s a week’s worth of growth… and respect.

Our final three nights on safari were spent doing morning and afternoon game drives in the Serengeti (means “endless plains” in Swahili).  This park is known for the annual Wildebeest migration and the predators that prey on these animals.  Upon entering the park, we were suddently driving through thousands of Wildebeest that extended out as far as the eye could see.  February is also the time when the Wildebeest have their offspring so we were able to see hundreds of little ones that were just a few weeks old.  After an hour of driving to get through the Wildebeest herd, we toured other areas of the park and saw the animals that live on the Serengeti.  Below are some of our favorite shots.  Keep in mind that we brought a Canon point and shoot camera for our RTW trip so these pictures are as close as they appear.

A male lion resting about 10 ft. from our Land Cruiser

Hippos at the local watering hole

One of eight cheetahs we saw on the trip

A baby baboon and his parents

Crocodiles sunning on the beach

Our time on the Serengeti also allowed us to get to know our fellow safari companions and crew a whole lot better.  Shelly and I are in agreement that we met the funniest person we’ve ever met in our lives on this safari.  Gary (from Vancouver, B.C.) is a Johnny Cash “tribute artist” who, according to him, has tried “unsuccessfully for 30 years to become an alcoholic”.  When we first met him, we were a little unsure what to think, since he was heading out on safari with black cowboy boots, a button up shirt with only one middle button buttoned, and a cowboy hat with mesh around the top for ventilation.  Within an hour of meeting him we couldn’t stop laughing and didn’t until the trip was over.  By the end of the trip all he had to do was open his mouth for Shelly to start laughing, whether what he was about to say was funny or not.  Gary was also our morning wake-up call and would sing some Johnny Cash as we all stumbled out of our tents. 

Gary being Gary and riding a baby rhino

Countering Gary on the trip were two very serious women, Ann and Vivian.  Ann and Vivian (both originally from South Africa and Zoologists on holiday) were probably 80 years old going on 18.   They would run to the Land Cruiser each morning as we all gathered for a game drive and didn’t tire during the trip.  They have done 17 day treks in Nepal and were easily the hardest women we’ve ever met.  As Gary put it, “all they need is a change of clothes and a bird book”… which summed them up perfectly.  

The group from left to right: Ann, David, Gary, Vivian, Raymond (guide), Shelly, and me

Our guide, Raymond, and 4 person crew also made lasting impressions on us.  They were some of the kindest and most hard working people we ever met.  For 7 days that had a smile on their face and truly enjoyed what they were doing.  We also had the opportunity to learn each of their life stories and learned about their families and culture.  They were also extremely fascinated with our iPod’s and had never seen them before.  When we arrive back in Seattle in April, there may be a care package with a few iPod’s going back to Tanzania. 

Our last morning with the camp crew

On our flight out of the Serengeti to Arusha, a nearby volcano was erupting.