We wrapped up our 10 day trip in Bhutan this morning. It was a great travel experience, and it really is one of the least westernized places I've ever been, which was very cool. That being said, two of the biggest musical artists in the country are Bryan Adams and Akon, so it's not likely to stay that way for long. Check it out as soon as you can if you're interested.
One other thing we noticed was the incredibly quick turnaround from "off-season" to "peak season". When we arrived last week, we were literally the only people in any of the restaurants we ate at for the first few days. After we got back from our trek, the restaurants were all packed. I'd say it's definitely better to go towards the end of the off-season but before peak season officially starts, unless you plan on trekking. As we found out, the off-season is off for a reason, and that reason is daily rain.
Again, we're not living up to our picture-posting duties, since we just got into Calcutta/Kolkata a few hours ago, and we're hungry. But they're coming, I promise.
Side note: we realized in Bhutan that we never wrapped up our stint in Japan, so here it is in 15 words: went to sumo tournament, were very entertained and perplexed, drank some Sapporo, left for Bhutan.
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Monday, September 22, 2008
Tiger Nests, Dragon Paths, and Donkey Porters
We're 7/10ths of the way through our Bhutan trip. Since we last had internet access, we've hiked a few hours up a mountain to see the Taktsang Monastery (also known as the Tiger's Nest), eaten a TON of food, and trekked from Paro to Thimphu along the Druk Path (Druk being Bhutanese for Dragon).
The trek was a great experience overall. We started in Paro with our guide Tinleh, a cook, a helper, a horseman and six donkeys carrying all our stuff. The trek itself wasn't TOO challenging, though we did finish each day huffing and puffing for air (most of the trek was above 3500m). The one downside was on day two when, after a morning of amazing views and perfect weather, it started to rain.
And rain.
And rain.
And I'm not talking a long drizzle here. I'm talking rains of biblical magnitude. Angry torrents from the heavens. For about two hours, we were hammered by rain (and a bit of hail) that soaked through all of our clothes and sleeping bags. That, combined with the cold weather, meant our night's activities (which usually consisted of socializing, tea drinking, reading, and wandering around the mountains) consisted of huddling in a ball and trying not to die.
The rain also transformed the final few kilometres of trail descending directly into our camp into a few kilometres of waterfall - descending directly into our camp. At one point, the trail was totally washed out and we had to spend 15 minutes figuring out how best to ford the river that had taken its place (we eventually found a part narrow enough to jump). We didn't finish that day in the best of spirits.
Fortunately, the rest of the trek made up for it with incredible scenery and a degree of remoteness I've never experienced before. The Druk Path is the most popular trek in the country, and we ran into a grand total of seven other foreigners the entire time (for perspective, we ran into about twice that many monks, a few horsemen, and some villagers camped out in the hills to harvest aromatic plants for incense).
We took tons of pictures, but our present internet situation doesn't allow us to upload them very easily. We'll post them, and some more reflections on Bhutan that don't involve rain (seriously, it's an incredible place, I could write about it for hours), as soon as we get back to India in a few days.
The trek was a great experience overall. We started in Paro with our guide Tinleh, a cook, a helper, a horseman and six donkeys carrying all our stuff. The trek itself wasn't TOO challenging, though we did finish each day huffing and puffing for air (most of the trek was above 3500m). The one downside was on day two when, after a morning of amazing views and perfect weather, it started to rain.
And rain.
And rain.
And I'm not talking a long drizzle here. I'm talking rains of biblical magnitude. Angry torrents from the heavens. For about two hours, we were hammered by rain (and a bit of hail) that soaked through all of our clothes and sleeping bags. That, combined with the cold weather, meant our night's activities (which usually consisted of socializing, tea drinking, reading, and wandering around the mountains) consisted of huddling in a ball and trying not to die.
The rain also transformed the final few kilometres of trail descending directly into our camp into a few kilometres of waterfall - descending directly into our camp. At one point, the trail was totally washed out and we had to spend 15 minutes figuring out how best to ford the river that had taken its place (we eventually found a part narrow enough to jump). We didn't finish that day in the best of spirits.
Fortunately, the rest of the trek made up for it with incredible scenery and a degree of remoteness I've never experienced before. The Druk Path is the most popular trek in the country, and we ran into a grand total of seven other foreigners the entire time (for perspective, we ran into about twice that many monks, a few horsemen, and some villagers camped out in the hills to harvest aromatic plants for incense).
We took tons of pictures, but our present internet situation doesn't allow us to upload them very easily. We'll post them, and some more reflections on Bhutan that don't involve rain (seriously, it's an incredible place, I could write about it for hours), as soon as we get back to India in a few days.
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Bhutan
After an 8 hour layover in Bangkok, and a 6 hour layover in Calcutta, and a very close brush with some mountains on the flight here, we made it to Bhutan! After a day and a half, I think our verdict on the country is "totally awesome". We'll put up a slightly more detailed summary of the trip once we're back in India with more reliable internet access (though I am pleased that the country without traffic lights does have internet cafes). For now, we're off to go look at some forts and monasteries!
Saturday, September 13, 2008
Honbasho Sumo Action!
We've got very convenient internet access at our hostel right now, which may not be the case for the next few weeks in Bhutan. The country has no traffic lights. They tried to put one in, but it didn't go over very well. Anyways, we figured we'd keep the updates coming as long as we have access.
Today, we found out that one of Japan's three annual Honbasho, or 15-day ultimate sumo tournaments, starts tomorrow, and the stadium is a 10 minute walk from our hostel. We couldn't turn up the chance to check it out, so we're headed down tomorrow afternoon to catch some top-tier sumo action. Both of the currently active Yokozuna, or supreme sumo champions, will be fighting.
Could be awesome. We'll keep you posted.
Today, we found out that one of Japan's three annual Honbasho, or 15-day ultimate sumo tournaments, starts tomorrow, and the stadium is a 10 minute walk from our hostel. We couldn't turn up the chance to check it out, so we're headed down tomorrow afternoon to catch some top-tier sumo action. Both of the currently active Yokozuna, or supreme sumo champions, will be fighting.
Could be awesome. We'll keep you posted.
Friday, September 12, 2008
The Tsukiji Fish Market
Thanks to the magic of the international date line, this post is coming to you from the FUTURE!!! The future is similar to the present, except everyone speaks Japanese for some reason.
We woke up at 3:45am this morning to check out the Tsukiji Fish Market, which holds some sort of fish-based market world record. I forget exactly what. In any case, it was crazy. By the time we got there at 5am, the whole place was barely-controlled chaos, with trucks, scooters, bikes and hand-carts flying around in every direction, all loaded down with sea creatures. Some of them I recognized, others looked like props from a horror movie.
By far the coolest part of the market is the tuna auction, where the morning's tuna catch is laid out in a big warehouse, and restaurant representatives bid on them in a process that resembles a big-city stock market, with more disembodied fins on the floor. And man, those tuna are BIG. For example, this one:
The nicest of the day's tuna can go for more than $10,000 per fish.
After checking out the market we hit up a tiny sushi restaurant, hidden down a side street and behind a big red curtain. Very mysterious. Breakfast sushi is apparently the thing to do around Tsukiji, so we ordered with the time-honoured "point-at-pictures-and-smile" technique. We wound up getting a huge selection of incredibly fresh sushi and sashimi, including a few pieces of "o-toro", a kind of super-fatty tuna that is sort of like the Kobe beef of the fish world. Delicious.
We woke up at 3:45am this morning to check out the Tsukiji Fish Market, which holds some sort of fish-based market world record. I forget exactly what. In any case, it was crazy. By the time we got there at 5am, the whole place was barely-controlled chaos, with trucks, scooters, bikes and hand-carts flying around in every direction, all loaded down with sea creatures. Some of them I recognized, others looked like props from a horror movie.
By far the coolest part of the market is the tuna auction, where the morning's tuna catch is laid out in a big warehouse, and restaurant representatives bid on them in a process that resembles a big-city stock market, with more disembodied fins on the floor. And man, those tuna are BIG. For example, this one:
The nicest of the day's tuna can go for more than $10,000 per fish.
After checking out the market we hit up a tiny sushi restaurant, hidden down a side street and behind a big red curtain. Very mysterious. Breakfast sushi is apparently the thing to do around Tsukiji, so we ordered with the time-honoured "point-at-pictures-and-smile" technique. We wound up getting a huge selection of incredibly fresh sushi and sashimi, including a few pieces of "o-toro", a kind of super-fatty tuna that is sort of like the Kobe beef of the fish world. Delicious.
Skymall
As promised, photographic evidence of the ridiculousness that is Skymall.
The voice-activated R2D2 that led to Mallory's loss of motor control.
The doggy porthole.
The voice-activated R2D2 that led to Mallory's loss of motor control.
The doggy porthole.
Tokyo
We've arrived safe and sound in Tokyo! Since getting in this afternoon, we've made our way from the airport to our hostel, tracked down some delicious, delicious tempura, and spent the rest of the time staring vacantly off into space. 13 hour time change = JET LAG.
No exciting travel stories yet, except for when we were flipping through the Skymall catalog on the plane, laughing at the ridiculous items on sale (a sample product: "doggy fence porthole"... picture to follow in an upcoming post, because it's too awesome not to share), and Mallory totally spazzed out and knocked a glass of water all over the place when she saw the "talking, voice activated R2D2". But really, who wouldn't have done the same?
No exciting travel stories yet, except for when we were flipping through the Skymall catalog on the plane, laughing at the ridiculous items on sale (a sample product: "doggy fence porthole"... picture to follow in an upcoming post, because it's too awesome not to share), and Mallory totally spazzed out and knocked a glass of water all over the place when she saw the "talking, voice activated R2D2". But really, who wouldn't have done the same?
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Go
As of 6:45pm today, we are officially on the road... except we'll mostly be in the air, but that doesn't have as good a ring to it as "on the road".
As for Mallory's brief allusion to word theft - if you are in Kingston, check out this year's Welcome Back magazine, then check out the article about ultimate travel destinations, then compare the sample itinerary to our itinerary. You might notice they are pretty much identical, and that's because we were interviewed for the article, and they based it around our trip. Only you'd never know it, because our names don't appear in it once! Mildly upsetting. Alas, we'll have to console ourselves with the fact that we're actually on the trip in question.
Next post: on the road!
As for Mallory's brief allusion to word theft - if you are in Kingston, check out this year's Welcome Back magazine, then check out the article about ultimate travel destinations, then compare the sample itinerary to our itinerary. You might notice they are pretty much identical, and that's because we were interviewed for the article, and they based it around our trip. Only you'd never know it, because our names don't appear in it once! Mildly upsetting. Alas, we'll have to console ourselves with the fact that we're actually on the trip in question.
Next post: on the road!
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Commencing countdown, engines on
Holy crap, we leave for Tokyo in 36 hours. We've been planning and talking about this trip for so long, it's surreal to think we're actually about to head out for the great wide yonder. We just got our 100% finalized itinerary from our travel agent today, so I thought I'd post some dates to accompany our rough itinerary outline from a few posts ago. This is the schedule as it stands right now, though we may tweak it from the road as conditions dictate.
Sept. 11: Depart Syracuse for Washington, DC. Undergo insane security screening. A few hours later, depart Washington for Tokyo.
Sept. 12-15: Tokyo
Sept. 15-16: Travel, Tokyo-Bangkok-Calcutta, eventually winding up in Thimpu, Bhutan.
Sept. 16-25: Bhutan.
Sept. 26: Travel, back to Calcutta.
Sept. 26-Nov. 16: India.
Nov. 16: Travel, New Delhi-Beijing.
Nov. 22: Travel (train!), Beijing-Ulaan Baatar.
Nov. 23-26: Ulaan Baatar, Mongolian wilderness.
Nov. 27: Travel (train!), onwards to Russia.
Nov. 28-29: Irkutsk and Lake Baikal.
Nov. 30-Dec. 3: Travel (train!), Irkutsk-Moscow.
Dec. 4-6: Moscow.
Dec. 7: Travel (last leg of the train!), Moscow-St. Petersburg.
Dec. 8-9: St. Petersburg.
Dec. 9: Travel (bus), St. Petersburg to Tallinn, Estonia.
Dec. 10-12: Tallinn.
Dec. 12: Travel, Tallinn-Warsaw-Vienna.
Dec. 13-22: Austria, Switzerland, meandering by rail.
Dec. 22-26: Gryon, Switzerland.
Dec. 27-29: More Switzerland.
Dec. 29: Travel, Zurich to Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
Dec. 30-31: Tanzania, travel to Mt. Kilimanjaro.
Jan. 1-7: Climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro.
Jan. 8-19: Tanzania.
Jan. 20: Travel, Dar es Salaam-Johannesburg-Sao Paolo-Buenos Aires (ugh).
Jan. 21-Mar. 6: South America (generally, Argentina-Chile-Bolivia-Peru, via train and bus).
Mar. 6: Travel, Lima-Toronto.
And that's about it!
Sept. 11: Depart Syracuse for Washington, DC. Undergo insane security screening. A few hours later, depart Washington for Tokyo.
Sept. 12-15: Tokyo
Sept. 15-16: Travel, Tokyo-Bangkok-Calcutta, eventually winding up in Thimpu, Bhutan.
Sept. 16-25: Bhutan.
Sept. 26: Travel, back to Calcutta.
Sept. 26-Nov. 16: India.
Nov. 16: Travel, New Delhi-Beijing.
Nov. 22: Travel (train!), Beijing-Ulaan Baatar.
Nov. 23-26: Ulaan Baatar, Mongolian wilderness.
Nov. 27: Travel (train!), onwards to Russia.
Nov. 28-29: Irkutsk and Lake Baikal.
Nov. 30-Dec. 3: Travel (train!), Irkutsk-Moscow.
Dec. 4-6: Moscow.
Dec. 7: Travel (last leg of the train!), Moscow-St. Petersburg.
Dec. 8-9: St. Petersburg.
Dec. 9: Travel (bus), St. Petersburg to Tallinn, Estonia.
Dec. 10-12: Tallinn.
Dec. 12: Travel, Tallinn-Warsaw-Vienna.
Dec. 13-22: Austria, Switzerland, meandering by rail.
Dec. 22-26: Gryon, Switzerland.
Dec. 27-29: More Switzerland.
Dec. 29: Travel, Zurich to Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
Dec. 30-31: Tanzania, travel to Mt. Kilimanjaro.
Jan. 1-7: Climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro.
Jan. 8-19: Tanzania.
Jan. 20: Travel, Dar es Salaam-Johannesburg-Sao Paolo-Buenos Aires (ugh).
Jan. 21-Mar. 6: South America (generally, Argentina-Chile-Bolivia-Peru, via train and bus).
Mar. 6: Travel, Lima-Toronto.
And that's about it!
Sunday, September 7, 2008
Drugs and Higher Education
Less than one week until we embark on a round-the-world adventure! Since we last "talked" to you lovely friends/family/internet stalkers, Bryce and I have been ultra busy preparing for the trip and doing the things that occupy our lives when we are not traveling. Surprising to learn, but we don't just plan travel outings and play cricket all day. For me, that means finishing up another summer of work at my super awesome job camping in the arctic (sometimes they ask me to do geology). For Bryce that means successfully defending his masters, which I'm pretty sure means we have earned the titles of Master and Mistress of Science. You may be asking yourself: "Why would they wait until after they had become qualified scientists to leave on this debt-inducing trip?". WELL, a master's is actually extremely useful while traveling! Consider the following scenarios in which our advanced degrees will come in handy:
Me: Geology/Toxicology
Here is how I picture it going down: We're in Russia near a nickel smelter when suddenly all the citizens of the surrounding city come down with asthma! The government offers a 5 million dollar reward to the person/scientist/witch who can identify the cause of the epidemic. That is when I step in and say 'HA! Did you consider the NICKEL SMELTER?!?!' and everyone is shocked and had never thought of that before and then I get the money and we all have vodka and Bryce and I become the next czar and czarina of Russia as a reward.
Bryce: Civil Engineering
We get stranded in the Mongolian steppe after our train leaves without us. Fortunately, I am able to use my mastery of alternative construction techniques to build us a mighty shelter that is both structurally and culturally appropriate, while also reducing energy use. Just not, like, a real building. More of a scale model. Like three bags of dirt, stacked on top of each other. The rest of the shelter is recommended as "future work".
Grad school taught us life skillz.
Though we've both been busy, we have had the time to begin packing, a feat which is much more complicated than we could have anticipated. As of right now, we have SEVENTEEN different drugs in our first aid kit (only one of which is a neurotoxin). One of us is going to have to sacrifice some clothes to fit this in the bag... and it's not going to be me.
Due to slowwww emailing on the part of our travel agent, we are still missing two visas: China and Russia. We can get the Chinese visa tomorrow, but it looks like we might have to get the Russian one in India! Sketchy... so hopefully that works out. If not, we'll have to think of some alternate plan or else sneak into Russia. We will just wait for a national guard holiday.
More posts to come, including a fascinating story about WORD THEFT! Check back soon!
Me: Geology/Toxicology
Here is how I picture it going down: We're in Russia near a nickel smelter when suddenly all the citizens of the surrounding city come down with asthma! The government offers a 5 million dollar reward to the person/scientist/witch who can identify the cause of the epidemic. That is when I step in and say 'HA! Did you consider the NICKEL SMELTER?!?!' and everyone is shocked and had never thought of that before and then I get the money and we all have vodka and Bryce and I become the next czar and czarina of Russia as a reward.
Bryce: Civil Engineering
We get stranded in the Mongolian steppe after our train leaves without us. Fortunately, I am able to use my mastery of alternative construction techniques to build us a mighty shelter that is both structurally and culturally appropriate, while also reducing energy use. Just not, like, a real building. More of a scale model. Like three bags of dirt, stacked on top of each other. The rest of the shelter is recommended as "future work".
Grad school taught us life skillz.
Though we've both been busy, we have had the time to begin packing, a feat which is much more complicated than we could have anticipated. As of right now, we have SEVENTEEN different drugs in our first aid kit (only one of which is a neurotoxin). One of us is going to have to sacrifice some clothes to fit this in the bag... and it's not going to be me.
Due to slowwww emailing on the part of our travel agent, we are still missing two visas: China and Russia. We can get the Chinese visa tomorrow, but it looks like we might have to get the Russian one in India! Sketchy... so hopefully that works out. If not, we'll have to think of some alternate plan or else sneak into Russia. We will just wait for a national guard holiday.
More posts to come, including a fascinating story about WORD THEFT! Check back soon!
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