We are in Lima, Peru, staying at a fancy hotel built in 1924. Besides us the Rolling Stones and Ernest Heminway also stayed in the same hotel. Unfortunately we have to leave today. I am excited about getting closer to home. We have been busy since the last time I made a blog posting.
We left Cusco, one of my favorite places, to visit Machu Picchu. It was amazing. The day before going up to the ruins we climbed a neighboring mountain peak and had a great view of Machu Picchu. To enjoy the view we had to hike straight up for over 2 hours and also climb 300+ feet ladders. It was scary, but very cool. The day we visited Machu Picchu we spend the whole day climbing around and exlporing. The ruins were awesome.
We then headed back to Cusco for a couple of days before heading to Bolivia. We had to take a couple of buses to get there and then a minivan to the border. Crossing the border was challenging. However, it was well worth it. We headed to Copacabana, Bolivia, which is a very cool place right on Lake Titicaca. We ended up staying in a great hotel with very comfortable pillows for a whole week. We went hiking all over the place. We also took a boat to Isle del Sol(where the first Incan ruler was born). We hiked all across the island. I loved Copacabana.
We headed back across the border to Peru and went to Arequipa. While there we cruised all over the place and saw all the tourist sights. The whole city and all the buildings were made of volcanic rock. It looked very cool. From there we headed to Colca Canyon(even bigger than the Grand Canyon).
We spent three days in the Colca Canyon. We hiked down into the canyon and out in one day. It was tiring, but worth it. We saw a bunch of Andean Condors(the second largest birds on the planet). They were amazing and were flying over our heads while we hiked. From Colca Canyon we headed to the beach.
We headed to the coast and saw the ocean for the first time in over a month. We hit the beach town of Camana which kind of stunk. Also, it was too cold to go swimming. We then continued north to Ica. Ica, unlike the dump of Camana was cool.
In Ica we headed to the nearby desert oasis of Huacachina. It was a small town completely surrounded by huge sand dunes with a lake in the middle. We got to go sand boarding which was sick. It is just like snowboarding but even cooler. We also got to go on a tour of the sand dunes that go on for over 50 miles in a dune buggy. It was awesome. The dune buggy took us to the top of massive sand dunes that we then got to sand board down. After leaving Ica we headed to the capital of Peru, Lima.
We are now in Lima staying at one of the nicest hotels of our trip. We have been eating great food and getting spoiled watching movies on HBO. Lima is very cool. When we leave Lima we will heading up the coast to several Peruvian beach towns and then going into Ecuador. Email me if you get a chance.
Monday, April 21, 2008
Friday, March 21, 2008
Santiago, Chile, all the way to Cusco, Peru
The all night bus ride to Santiago was cool. We cruised through the Andes Mountains which were awesome.We crossed the border into Chile and it was very cold. Going through customs was easy but the drug sniffing dog was interested in my dad's backpack. Finally he got bored and went to looking for something to eat. We arrived in Santiago, the capital of Chile early in the morning.
Santiago was a very cool city. While we were there we got to go to two great movies, saw some cool historical sights, hung out in the Plaza de Armas, and ate lots of ice cream and other good food. We then caught a 5 hour flight from Santiago to Rapa Nui (Easter Island). The flight was great and I got to watch 2 movies and play video games.
Easter Island, which is stuck by itself out in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, reminded me of Hawaii. It was very warm and sunny. We checked out all the moi statues all over the island. The statues were huge and made out of volcanic rock. We got to go swimming in the ocean at a very cool beach.We also went hiking to see some moi statues in the middle of nowhere and also got to explore an awesome cave. We hitchhiked all over the island and got six different rides from very interesting people. We flew back to Santiago and then headed north toward Peru.
Our next stop was in La Serena, a little town on the coast about 5 hours north of Santiago. While there we had our own kitchen and my mom made the best spaghetti. We saw all the cool sights and some of the 29 Catholic churches in the city. We also went to the beach, but it kind of sucked. We then headed to Copiapo, 5 hours further north. Copiapo was not that great and there was nothing to really see. We did have some tasty empanadas and pizza. We then caught a really long bus to Arica, Chile, by the border.
The bus ride to Arica left in the afternoon and lasted 19 hours. We waited until nearly midnight to get the one meal they served. It turned out to be a tuna sandwhich in a bag that nobody on the bus ate. My mom took one bite and spit it out. My mom and I sat all the way in the back by the restroom and it smelled like urine and other stuff I don't want to talk about. I was barely able to get any sleep. We arrived in Arica and caught a taxi across the border to Tacna, Peru. We explored all the sights of Tacna in about 10 minutes. We did get to rest and eat some good food before heading on to Puno. It was a 12 hour bus ride to Puno.
Puno is a really cool city, but we could only stay one day because we had to meet my parent's friend in Cusco. Puno was really cold because it is high up in the mountains and right on Lake Titicaca (that is really the name of the lake). We got to eat some delicious alpaca that was really good. It was weird eating an animal that I have seen in the zoo. From Puno it was only an 8 hour bus ride. So in 3 days we were on the bus for 39 hours. It was horrible, but we arrived in Cusco, which is a great city.
Cusco is awesome. It is one of my favorite places we have visited on this trip. It is in the moutains and there are Incan ruins everywhere. There are churches that are over 500 years old and neat buildings all over the city. The first night we got here we ate alpaca steaks and Andean trout. We have been eating great food ever since. We hiked up a mountain and checked out some Incan ruins and saw a great view of the valley and the city of Cusco. I am going to be buying most of my souvenirs here in Cusco because there are so many cool things to buy and everything is a good price. Tomorrow we are going to a futbol (soccer) game and then there is some big celebration in the Plaza de Armas. We are then going to explore Machu Picchu which will be great. Email me or make a post on my blog. Bye.
Santiago was a very cool city. While we were there we got to go to two great movies, saw some cool historical sights, hung out in the Plaza de Armas, and ate lots of ice cream and other good food. We then caught a 5 hour flight from Santiago to Rapa Nui (Easter Island). The flight was great and I got to watch 2 movies and play video games.
Easter Island, which is stuck by itself out in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, reminded me of Hawaii. It was very warm and sunny. We checked out all the moi statues all over the island. The statues were huge and made out of volcanic rock. We got to go swimming in the ocean at a very cool beach.We also went hiking to see some moi statues in the middle of nowhere and also got to explore an awesome cave. We hitchhiked all over the island and got six different rides from very interesting people. We flew back to Santiago and then headed north toward Peru.
Our next stop was in La Serena, a little town on the coast about 5 hours north of Santiago. While there we had our own kitchen and my mom made the best spaghetti. We saw all the cool sights and some of the 29 Catholic churches in the city. We also went to the beach, but it kind of sucked. We then headed to Copiapo, 5 hours further north. Copiapo was not that great and there was nothing to really see. We did have some tasty empanadas and pizza. We then caught a really long bus to Arica, Chile, by the border.
The bus ride to Arica left in the afternoon and lasted 19 hours. We waited until nearly midnight to get the one meal they served. It turned out to be a tuna sandwhich in a bag that nobody on the bus ate. My mom took one bite and spit it out. My mom and I sat all the way in the back by the restroom and it smelled like urine and other stuff I don't want to talk about. I was barely able to get any sleep. We arrived in Arica and caught a taxi across the border to Tacna, Peru. We explored all the sights of Tacna in about 10 minutes. We did get to rest and eat some good food before heading on to Puno. It was a 12 hour bus ride to Puno.
Puno is a really cool city, but we could only stay one day because we had to meet my parent's friend in Cusco. Puno was really cold because it is high up in the mountains and right on Lake Titicaca (that is really the name of the lake). We got to eat some delicious alpaca that was really good. It was weird eating an animal that I have seen in the zoo. From Puno it was only an 8 hour bus ride. So in 3 days we were on the bus for 39 hours. It was horrible, but we arrived in Cusco, which is a great city.
Cusco is awesome. It is one of my favorite places we have visited on this trip. It is in the moutains and there are Incan ruins everywhere. There are churches that are over 500 years old and neat buildings all over the city. The first night we got here we ate alpaca steaks and Andean trout. We have been eating great food ever since. We hiked up a mountain and checked out some Incan ruins and saw a great view of the valley and the city of Cusco. I am going to be buying most of my souvenirs here in Cusco because there are so many cool things to buy and everything is a good price. Tomorrow we are going to a futbol (soccer) game and then there is some big celebration in the Plaza de Armas. We are then going to explore Machu Picchu which will be great. Email me or make a post on my blog. Bye.
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
Moving Across South America
We are about to get a bus to Santiago, Chile. It is an over night bus. It will take us 16 hours to get there from Cordoba, Argentina. We have been hanging out in Cordoba for 5 days. It is a very cool place. We are sad to be leaving Argentina, but are very excited about visiting Chile. In just 4 days we will be on a plane headed to Easter Island. I am very excited.
Since my last blog post we went from Colonia to Montevideo, the capital of Uruguay. It was a very cool town and we hung out a couple of days. Next we went up the coast to the resort town of Punte de Este. We ocean was very cold, like at home. It was nice to be back at the beach. We also had the best pancakes of our trip there at a little restaurant. Pancakes were not even on the menu, they just made them special for us. It was great. We then went back to Montevideo before heading into Argentina.
Crossing the border into Argentina was a bit hectic. We ended up getting stuck due to a dispute between Uruguay and Argentina over a lumber mill in Uruguay that was polluting the river that both countries share. The bridge in the town we arrived at was closed to all buses. We ended up taking a taxi part of the way and then hitch-hiking the rest of the way. That night we stayed in some dump hotel by the bus station in a town that I cannot even remember the name of. We got up early and caught another bus to Sante Fe. We enjoyed Sante Fe and explored all the sights before heading onto Cordoba.
Cordoba is my favorite city in Argentina. Although over 3 million people live here, it does not seem like it. The city is cool. It is a very old city and looks similar to a city in Europe. We have explored many interesting buildings, plazas, churches, crypts, and other cool stuff. We have also seen two movies at the theater with Spanish subtitles. We just ate a delicious pizza and bought snacks for our 16 hour bus ride. I will keep you updated as we start to make our way north toward home after our quick trip to Easter Island. Please email me at Kylearoundtheworld@gmail.com if you get a chance.
Since my last blog post we went from Colonia to Montevideo, the capital of Uruguay. It was a very cool town and we hung out a couple of days. Next we went up the coast to the resort town of Punte de Este. We ocean was very cold, like at home. It was nice to be back at the beach. We also had the best pancakes of our trip there at a little restaurant. Pancakes were not even on the menu, they just made them special for us. It was great. We then went back to Montevideo before heading into Argentina.
Crossing the border into Argentina was a bit hectic. We ended up getting stuck due to a dispute between Uruguay and Argentina over a lumber mill in Uruguay that was polluting the river that both countries share. The bridge in the town we arrived at was closed to all buses. We ended up taking a taxi part of the way and then hitch-hiking the rest of the way. That night we stayed in some dump hotel by the bus station in a town that I cannot even remember the name of. We got up early and caught another bus to Sante Fe. We enjoyed Sante Fe and explored all the sights before heading onto Cordoba.
Cordoba is my favorite city in Argentina. Although over 3 million people live here, it does not seem like it. The city is cool. It is a very old city and looks similar to a city in Europe. We have explored many interesting buildings, plazas, churches, crypts, and other cool stuff. We have also seen two movies at the theater with Spanish subtitles. We just ate a delicious pizza and bought snacks for our 16 hour bus ride. I will keep you updated as we start to make our way north toward home after our quick trip to Easter Island. Please email me at Kylearoundtheworld@gmail.com if you get a chance.
Monday, February 18, 2008
We made it to South America; hello from Colonia, Uruguay
Time has been going by very fast since we left Italy. We spent two more weeks in Europe before flying to Buenos Aires, Argentina. We just left Argentina and are now in Uruguay. I had never even heard of Uruguay before I left on this trip. It is a pretty cool place. Today we are headed to the capital and biggest city in the country: Montevideo.
Since I last updated my blog we have been very busy. After having an amazing time in Italy, my new favorite country in the world (besides home), we headed off to Barcelona. We went from Italy to Spain in one day which was not easy. We were on 4 different trains and an all night bus. We had an 8 hour layover in the French city of Marseille. We had a great time cruising around the city and I really enjoyed the old castles (3 of them). We got on the all night bus and woke up at 6:00 a.m. in Barcelona, Spain. We got on the subway to the airport and met our friend Terri who flew in from SLO.
We had 2 fun weeks in Spain. While we there we spent one week at a timeshare resort on the beach (thanks to my grandma) and had a blast. We had a fridge loaded with good food and Terri had brought a lot of great snacks from home, and my dad's work friends sent a bunch of tasty stuff as well. We had a feast for a week. It was like being at home. My dad and I tried to watch the Super Bowl from Spain and had planned a big party. We woke up at midnight only to discover that the sports channel was showing a boxing match from Japan. That stunk! We went to bed and watched the highlights the next day on CNN. I was happy to hear that the Giants won.
We also rented a car that was a lot better than waiting for late buses and trains and we could get places a lot faster. While staying at the beach resort in La Pineda, we explored the ancient Roman city of Tarragona, cruised to the country of Andorra, went to Barcelona and saw cool stuff, and checked out a lot of cool beaches.
We then left our nice beach resort and spent a week on the road traveling to Madrid, Spain. Between La Pineda and Madrid we saw some great places. We went to Granada and saw the Alhambra. We stood in the room where the Queen of Spain said she would pay for Christopher Columbus to search for another route to India and he ended up in America. We went to the Rock of Gibralter (a little part of England at the bottom of Spain). While in Gibralter we saw some of the city built on a big rock, some cool cannons and other guns, and a bunch of wild apes. We almost made it to Africa. We were going to take a boat to Morroco, but the winds were too strong and they cancelled all the boat trips. We also went to Portugal briefly before heading onto Seville, Spain. Next we spent the night inside a fort in Cordoba. The next day we went to Toledo which was my favorite place in Spain.
Toledo, Spain, is a fotress on a mountain top. The old city where we stayed is completely surrounded by the old city walls and looks like a castle. We had a great hotel right in the middle of the fortress. We got to see one of El Greco´s most famous pieces of art. That was o.k., but what I really liked was that Toledo is the place where they make some of the best swords in the world. I bought the coolest sword I could find and sent it home with our friend Terri. I also got a cool little statue of a guy in armour with a sword. They are the best souvenirs I have gotten yet.
We arrived back in Madrid in time to explore the city before catching our plane to South America. We flew from Madrid, Spain to Buenos Aires, Argentina. It was a long flight, over 12 hours long. It was cool because we got to see three movies and one of them was the most recent Harry Potter movie. Also, they fed us good food. We arrived in Buenos Aires at midnight. We had a hard time finding a place to stay. We went to over 10 places before we found a hostel with a room for 3 people. The next day we were all very hot (it is 88 degrees here) and tired. My dad surprised me again by getting a room at the Hilton. It was very expensive ($362 a night) but also very cool.
Yesterday we caught a boat from Buenos Aires to Colonia, Uruguay. We cruised around and explored on bikes and had pizza for dinner. Today we are headed to Montevideo. Send me an email at Kylearoundtheworld@gmail.com.
Since I last updated my blog we have been very busy. After having an amazing time in Italy, my new favorite country in the world (besides home), we headed off to Barcelona. We went from Italy to Spain in one day which was not easy. We were on 4 different trains and an all night bus. We had an 8 hour layover in the French city of Marseille. We had a great time cruising around the city and I really enjoyed the old castles (3 of them). We got on the all night bus and woke up at 6:00 a.m. in Barcelona, Spain. We got on the subway to the airport and met our friend Terri who flew in from SLO.
We had 2 fun weeks in Spain. While we there we spent one week at a timeshare resort on the beach (thanks to my grandma) and had a blast. We had a fridge loaded with good food and Terri had brought a lot of great snacks from home, and my dad's work friends sent a bunch of tasty stuff as well. We had a feast for a week. It was like being at home. My dad and I tried to watch the Super Bowl from Spain and had planned a big party. We woke up at midnight only to discover that the sports channel was showing a boxing match from Japan. That stunk! We went to bed and watched the highlights the next day on CNN. I was happy to hear that the Giants won.
We also rented a car that was a lot better than waiting for late buses and trains and we could get places a lot faster. While staying at the beach resort in La Pineda, we explored the ancient Roman city of Tarragona, cruised to the country of Andorra, went to Barcelona and saw cool stuff, and checked out a lot of cool beaches.
We then left our nice beach resort and spent a week on the road traveling to Madrid, Spain. Between La Pineda and Madrid we saw some great places. We went to Granada and saw the Alhambra. We stood in the room where the Queen of Spain said she would pay for Christopher Columbus to search for another route to India and he ended up in America. We went to the Rock of Gibralter (a little part of England at the bottom of Spain). While in Gibralter we saw some of the city built on a big rock, some cool cannons and other guns, and a bunch of wild apes. We almost made it to Africa. We were going to take a boat to Morroco, but the winds were too strong and they cancelled all the boat trips. We also went to Portugal briefly before heading onto Seville, Spain. Next we spent the night inside a fort in Cordoba. The next day we went to Toledo which was my favorite place in Spain.
Toledo, Spain, is a fotress on a mountain top. The old city where we stayed is completely surrounded by the old city walls and looks like a castle. We had a great hotel right in the middle of the fortress. We got to see one of El Greco´s most famous pieces of art. That was o.k., but what I really liked was that Toledo is the place where they make some of the best swords in the world. I bought the coolest sword I could find and sent it home with our friend Terri. I also got a cool little statue of a guy in armour with a sword. They are the best souvenirs I have gotten yet.
We arrived back in Madrid in time to explore the city before catching our plane to South America. We flew from Madrid, Spain to Buenos Aires, Argentina. It was a long flight, over 12 hours long. It was cool because we got to see three movies and one of them was the most recent Harry Potter movie. Also, they fed us good food. We arrived in Buenos Aires at midnight. We had a hard time finding a place to stay. We went to over 10 places before we found a hostel with a room for 3 people. The next day we were all very hot (it is 88 degrees here) and tired. My dad surprised me again by getting a room at the Hilton. It was very expensive ($362 a night) but also very cool.
Yesterday we caught a boat from Buenos Aires to Colonia, Uruguay. We cruised around and explored on bikes and had pizza for dinner. Today we are headed to Montevideo. Send me an email at Kylearoundtheworld@gmail.com.
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Cruising around Italy: Padova, Ferara, Modena, Bologna, Forli, San Marino, Rimini, Florence, Pisa, Lucca, Rapallo, Cinque Terre, and Portofino
Just a quick update on our traveling around Italy. We have been having a great time, staying in the homes of wonderful people and eating the best food in the world. Here is a short summary of what we have been up to lately.
From Venice we then went to Padova where we saw the amazing Scovengni Chapel and the fine art work of Giotto. Next we went to Ferara where we walked along the ancient Roman walls and cruised through a castle with a moat and draw bridge. Then off to Modena where we saw many old churches and buildings. A short trip to Bologna where we saw the two towers and amazing Plazza Maggiore. From there we took a train to Forli and got a private tour of all the city sights. The next day we traveled to a new country, San Marino. In San Marino, a tiny country on a mountain top surrounded by Italy, we explored two cool castles. Then on the way back we checked out Rimini and saw another great castle and a Roman bridge dating back to 100 B.C. Next we took another train to Florence through the Tuscany countryside. In Florence we saw some of the best art work in the world. We visited the Galleria Dell Academia where we saw Michaelangelo's famous sculpture of "David," and the Galleria Delgi Uffizi where we saw works of many of the best painters in history, such as: Leonardo da Vinci, Botticelli, Raphael, Michaelangelo, Titan, Bellini, Giotto, Rubens and Rembrant's. We also saw other amazing things in Florence like the Ponte Vecchio and the Duomo. We went from Florence to Pisa to see if the tower was really leaning. It was great to see that the Leaning Tower of Pisa had not fallen. We made a trip to Lucca and had a picnic on the Roman walls after exploring the city. Next we headed to Rapallo to hang out on the amazing beaches, hike along the famous Cinque Terre, and kick back in the resort for the rich and famous: Portofino. It has all been amazing.
We are leaving this morning for Genova where Christopher Columbus was born. We will only be in Italy for a few more days before heading onto France, Monaco, Spain, Gibralter, Morroco(in Africa), and Portugal. Then we catch a plane from Spain to Buenos Aires, Argentina.
From Venice we then went to Padova where we saw the amazing Scovengni Chapel and the fine art work of Giotto. Next we went to Ferara where we walked along the ancient Roman walls and cruised through a castle with a moat and draw bridge. Then off to Modena where we saw many old churches and buildings. A short trip to Bologna where we saw the two towers and amazing Plazza Maggiore. From there we took a train to Forli and got a private tour of all the city sights. The next day we traveled to a new country, San Marino. In San Marino, a tiny country on a mountain top surrounded by Italy, we explored two cool castles. Then on the way back we checked out Rimini and saw another great castle and a Roman bridge dating back to 100 B.C. Next we took another train to Florence through the Tuscany countryside. In Florence we saw some of the best art work in the world. We visited the Galleria Dell Academia where we saw Michaelangelo's famous sculpture of "David," and the Galleria Delgi Uffizi where we saw works of many of the best painters in history, such as: Leonardo da Vinci, Botticelli, Raphael, Michaelangelo, Titan, Bellini, Giotto, Rubens and Rembrant's. We also saw other amazing things in Florence like the Ponte Vecchio and the Duomo. We went from Florence to Pisa to see if the tower was really leaning. It was great to see that the Leaning Tower of Pisa had not fallen. We made a trip to Lucca and had a picnic on the Roman walls after exploring the city. Next we headed to Rapallo to hang out on the amazing beaches, hike along the famous Cinque Terre, and kick back in the resort for the rich and famous: Portofino. It has all been amazing.
We are leaving this morning for Genova where Christopher Columbus was born. We will only be in Italy for a few more days before heading onto France, Monaco, Spain, Gibralter, Morroco(in Africa), and Portugal. Then we catch a plane from Spain to Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
I just turned 11 years old in Venice, Italy
I am now 11 years old. Sorry I have not updated my blog for so long. We have been very busy traveling around the world since I last updated you about my adventure. I will try to tell you a little bit about what we have done and seen, but I might not remember everything. Good thing I am writing in my journal every day. I am also keeping a scrap book of all the cool places we are traveling.
We had a great time in Goa, India, and ended up hanging out there for a whole month. It was great and we got to hang out at the beach and jump in the ocean everyday. We also volunteered at the AIDS orphanage. It was sad because they have no parents, but it was also a great experience to spend time there. I got to help a seven year old kid named Mahesh. He could not go to school with the other kids because the sun would irritate his skin. So everyday I got to help him with his homework. It was really cool to be his friend and help him out. When I showed up every morning his eyes would light up which made me feel very good.
Christmas in Goa was very different than at home. I did get a stocking and opened presents before breakfast and went to church, but everything else was different. We went to the AIDS orphange and brought them presents. We watched them play with their toys. They were really happy and were bragging to each other about what they got for Christmas. It was one of my favorite things about our whole trip. We then hung out at the beach all day and jumped in the ocean and body surfed. We had dinner right on the beach and had a feast. After dinner we jumped in the ocean again. We watched the sunset from the ocean.
The day after Christmas we headed to Bombay and then back to Dehli. We had to take trains. The first was 16 hours and then the second was 23 hours. It was like torture. We then got to Dehli and it was freezing cold. Which was better than when we were first in Dehli in September and it was over 100 degrees.
We flew to Hong Kong and had a 9 hour layover. I love the Hong Kong airport. We then caught a plane to the U.K. We landed in London, England, and it was a lot different than India. We hung out with some great people in England for 4 days and celebrated New Year's Eve. I was glad to be in London because it was more like home than anywhere we had been in over 6 months. We explored all the sights in London. I really enjoyed the National Gallary, the Tower Bridge and Big Ben. We spent the night at the airport so we could catch our early morning flight to Iceland. I slept great. It was like camping.
Iceland was cold. We met some nice people who took us on a tour. We saw puffins swimming in the harbor. We went swimming and watersliding at night. The best thing was going to the Blue Lagoon. The Blue Lagoon is a bunch of geothermal pools that you can swim in. It is very hot, but feels great. When we got out I fainted in the shower. The last thing I remember was telling my dad I had to get out because I was hot. The next thing I knew I was lying on a bench and they were giving me Poweraid and chocolate bars. It was cool. I was glad my dad was there to catch me when I fainted. We left Iceland and went back to London. We had a 17 hour layover so we got sleep in the airport again. Lucky us.
We flew to Istanbul, Turkey. It was even colder than Iceland. We exlpored the very old city and saw the Blue Mosque which was great. We also went to the Grand Bazzar. We took a boat and went to the other side of Istanbul. It was a cool old city. From there we caught a bus to Edirne, Turkey, and then onto Bulgaria.
At the border between Bulgaria and Turkey we nearly froze to death as we walked through the snow for over a mile. We caught a bus to Plovdiv, Bulgaria. We saw some cool stuff and got to eat great pizza. We then headed to Sofia, Bulgaria, the capital of the country. It was even colder than Turkey and there was frozen fog that turned everything white. It looked like Narnia with everything covered in frost.
We then caught an all night bus to Sarejevo, Bosnia. We had a short lay over in Serbia. It was not a very comfortable ride. The driver and his two friends were smoking the whole way and smuggled cigarettes across the border. We nicknamed them the 3 Stooges. We got off the bus early in the morning and got the heck out Bosnia. We got another bus to Split, Croatia. This was only a 7 hour ride, but we were tired because we had already been on the bus all night.
We got to Split, an old Roman City built between 200-300 A.D. It was cool. We ate pizza, cheese sticks, and 2 ice creams. We bought a bunch of fruit, but we were too full to eat it. The town which was built around an old palace was like a maze. We explored the city for 2 days and then headed to Italy on another all night bus.
I was turning 11 and did not want to travel all day on my birthday, so we caught an all night bus to Triste, Italy. From there it was only 2 hours more to Venice. Yesterday I turned 11. It was really fun to explore the city of Venice. In the morning we had a great breakfast and then caught the train into the city. I then had the best hot chocolate I have ever had. We saw some cool stuff. Explored the city. We crossed the Grand Canal on bridges. We got lost in the small alleys of Venice. We saw great art work and amazing old buildings. We ate ice cream and chocolate. I got to eat the biggest piece of pizza of my entire life. I got a big chocolate cake and it had candles and everything. My parents sang Happy Birthday as we sat on the steps of a church 100's of years old. We then went to some people's and had the best Italian food ever and ate even more cake. It was the best birthday I have ever had.
Being 11 does not not feel any different than when I was 10. Thanks for all the great Birthday e-mails. It made me good. If anyone else wants to send me an e-mail I won't mind. My e-mail address is Kylearoundtheworld@gmail.com.
We had a great time in Goa, India, and ended up hanging out there for a whole month. It was great and we got to hang out at the beach and jump in the ocean everyday. We also volunteered at the AIDS orphanage. It was sad because they have no parents, but it was also a great experience to spend time there. I got to help a seven year old kid named Mahesh. He could not go to school with the other kids because the sun would irritate his skin. So everyday I got to help him with his homework. It was really cool to be his friend and help him out. When I showed up every morning his eyes would light up which made me feel very good.
Christmas in Goa was very different than at home. I did get a stocking and opened presents before breakfast and went to church, but everything else was different. We went to the AIDS orphange and brought them presents. We watched them play with their toys. They were really happy and were bragging to each other about what they got for Christmas. It was one of my favorite things about our whole trip. We then hung out at the beach all day and jumped in the ocean and body surfed. We had dinner right on the beach and had a feast. After dinner we jumped in the ocean again. We watched the sunset from the ocean.
The day after Christmas we headed to Bombay and then back to Dehli. We had to take trains. The first was 16 hours and then the second was 23 hours. It was like torture. We then got to Dehli and it was freezing cold. Which was better than when we were first in Dehli in September and it was over 100 degrees.
We flew to Hong Kong and had a 9 hour layover. I love the Hong Kong airport. We then caught a plane to the U.K. We landed in London, England, and it was a lot different than India. We hung out with some great people in England for 4 days and celebrated New Year's Eve. I was glad to be in London because it was more like home than anywhere we had been in over 6 months. We explored all the sights in London. I really enjoyed the National Gallary, the Tower Bridge and Big Ben. We spent the night at the airport so we could catch our early morning flight to Iceland. I slept great. It was like camping.
Iceland was cold. We met some nice people who took us on a tour. We saw puffins swimming in the harbor. We went swimming and watersliding at night. The best thing was going to the Blue Lagoon. The Blue Lagoon is a bunch of geothermal pools that you can swim in. It is very hot, but feels great. When we got out I fainted in the shower. The last thing I remember was telling my dad I had to get out because I was hot. The next thing I knew I was lying on a bench and they were giving me Poweraid and chocolate bars. It was cool. I was glad my dad was there to catch me when I fainted. We left Iceland and went back to London. We had a 17 hour layover so we got sleep in the airport again. Lucky us.
We flew to Istanbul, Turkey. It was even colder than Iceland. We exlpored the very old city and saw the Blue Mosque which was great. We also went to the Grand Bazzar. We took a boat and went to the other side of Istanbul. It was a cool old city. From there we caught a bus to Edirne, Turkey, and then onto Bulgaria.
At the border between Bulgaria and Turkey we nearly froze to death as we walked through the snow for over a mile. We caught a bus to Plovdiv, Bulgaria. We saw some cool stuff and got to eat great pizza. We then headed to Sofia, Bulgaria, the capital of the country. It was even colder than Turkey and there was frozen fog that turned everything white. It looked like Narnia with everything covered in frost.
We then caught an all night bus to Sarejevo, Bosnia. We had a short lay over in Serbia. It was not a very comfortable ride. The driver and his two friends were smoking the whole way and smuggled cigarettes across the border. We nicknamed them the 3 Stooges. We got off the bus early in the morning and got the heck out Bosnia. We got another bus to Split, Croatia. This was only a 7 hour ride, but we were tired because we had already been on the bus all night.
We got to Split, an old Roman City built between 200-300 A.D. It was cool. We ate pizza, cheese sticks, and 2 ice creams. We bought a bunch of fruit, but we were too full to eat it. The town which was built around an old palace was like a maze. We explored the city for 2 days and then headed to Italy on another all night bus.
I was turning 11 and did not want to travel all day on my birthday, so we caught an all night bus to Triste, Italy. From there it was only 2 hours more to Venice. Yesterday I turned 11. It was really fun to explore the city of Venice. In the morning we had a great breakfast and then caught the train into the city. I then had the best hot chocolate I have ever had. We saw some cool stuff. Explored the city. We crossed the Grand Canal on bridges. We got lost in the small alleys of Venice. We saw great art work and amazing old buildings. We ate ice cream and chocolate. I got to eat the biggest piece of pizza of my entire life. I got a big chocolate cake and it had candles and everything. My parents sang Happy Birthday as we sat on the steps of a church 100's of years old. We then went to some people's and had the best Italian food ever and ate even more cake. It was the best birthday I have ever had.
Being 11 does not not feel any different than when I was 10. Thanks for all the great Birthday e-mails. It made me good. If anyone else wants to send me an e-mail I won't mind. My e-mail address is Kylearoundtheworld@gmail.com.
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
Down to Kerala and Back in Goa Getting Ready for Christmas
We made a trip down to Kerala, in southern India. It was a very long trip and we probably should have just stayed in Goa and skipped Kerala. We were on the train for 16 painful hours. We arrived in Cochi which was o.k., but not my favorite. We did explore the old Fort Cochin which was cool, but not that great. We got attacked for 2 nights in our mosquito infested room. We did get a small care package from home. It contained 4 sticks of deodorant (that my parents desperately needed) and a carton of Chips Ahoy cookies from home. I was as gratetful for the delicious treat from home as I was that my parents did not stink any more. We got the heck out of Cochi and started heading back up north to Goa.
We made pitstops in Mangalore which is kind of a dumpy overcrowded city. My dad got sick and threw up from eating somthing bad. We stayed in a nice hotel room and got to watch movies on HBO (that was the only good thing about Mangalore). Our next stop was at a beach town called Kannur. We had a great time in Kannur, and we splurged and stayed at a fancy hotel right on the ocean. We went swimming in the ocean 2-3 times a day and got to check out a fort built back in the 1500's. From there we made our way back to Goa.
Once back in Goa we headed to a beach town called Palolem. We were not sure what to expect. We were happy to find a place right on the beach. It was a shack that was put together in less than a month, and you could tell it was put together poorly. Our beach shack was 2 feet from the sand and about 40 feet from the crashing waves. The beach was covered in coconut trees, the ocean temperature was perfect and there was an island right off the coast that my dad and I swam out to explore. We had a great time living like beach bums and going in the ocean all day long. We were sad to leave, but after a few days we returned to Benaluim Beach 20 kms north.
We are staying nearly the entire month of December at a house in a beach town called Varca, here in southern Goa. We got to unpack our backpacks for the first time in 6 months. We have a very hard life here. Our days include: going to the beach a couple times a day, kicking back, watching movies, reading books, eating fish and other great food, cruising around everywhere on a motorbike, playing cards, doing some school work, and having a great time. We feel very lucky to have a free place to stay in paradise.
Yesterday I got the chance to volunteer at an AIDS orphanage. While my parents were busy wearing rubber gloves and scrubbing, I got to help a kid named Mahesh. I got to help 7-year-old Mahesh (who has no parents and has AIDS) for two hours with his school lessons. He could not go to school that day because he had an infection and sores all over his body. I felt sad that he has no parents to love him and that he has AIDS. However, Mahesh was very friendly and a happy kid. It was a great experience. We are going to go back again tonight to meet the other 8 kids that live there and bring them small gifts that I brought from home. We are going to be volunteering there every other day while we are in Goa. They don't normally get presents on Christmas, so we are going to see what we can do to make this Christmas special for them. I have a lot to be grateful for as a kid growing up in SLO.
Send me an email at Kylearoundtheworld@gmail.com. Miss you all and I am now half way home and look forward to seeing you all in June.
We made pitstops in Mangalore which is kind of a dumpy overcrowded city. My dad got sick and threw up from eating somthing bad. We stayed in a nice hotel room and got to watch movies on HBO (that was the only good thing about Mangalore). Our next stop was at a beach town called Kannur. We had a great time in Kannur, and we splurged and stayed at a fancy hotel right on the ocean. We went swimming in the ocean 2-3 times a day and got to check out a fort built back in the 1500's. From there we made our way back to Goa.
Once back in Goa we headed to a beach town called Palolem. We were not sure what to expect. We were happy to find a place right on the beach. It was a shack that was put together in less than a month, and you could tell it was put together poorly. Our beach shack was 2 feet from the sand and about 40 feet from the crashing waves. The beach was covered in coconut trees, the ocean temperature was perfect and there was an island right off the coast that my dad and I swam out to explore. We had a great time living like beach bums and going in the ocean all day long. We were sad to leave, but after a few days we returned to Benaluim Beach 20 kms north.
We are staying nearly the entire month of December at a house in a beach town called Varca, here in southern Goa. We got to unpack our backpacks for the first time in 6 months. We have a very hard life here. Our days include: going to the beach a couple times a day, kicking back, watching movies, reading books, eating fish and other great food, cruising around everywhere on a motorbike, playing cards, doing some school work, and having a great time. We feel very lucky to have a free place to stay in paradise.
Yesterday I got the chance to volunteer at an AIDS orphanage. While my parents were busy wearing rubber gloves and scrubbing, I got to help a kid named Mahesh. I got to help 7-year-old Mahesh (who has no parents and has AIDS) for two hours with his school lessons. He could not go to school that day because he had an infection and sores all over his body. I felt sad that he has no parents to love him and that he has AIDS. However, Mahesh was very friendly and a happy kid. It was a great experience. We are going to go back again tonight to meet the other 8 kids that live there and bring them small gifts that I brought from home. We are going to be volunteering there every other day while we are in Goa. They don't normally get presents on Christmas, so we are going to see what we can do to make this Christmas special for them. I have a lot to be grateful for as a kid growing up in SLO.
Send me an email at Kylearoundtheworld@gmail.com. Miss you all and I am now half way home and look forward to seeing you all in June.
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
At the Beach in Goa
We made it to Goa. After 2 and 1/2 months, we are finally back at the beach. Goa is very nice and reminds me of Hawaii. It is sunny all the time, 80 degrees and there are palm trees everywhere. The little beach town we are staying in is called Benaulim and it is very peaceful and quiet. It is very different than the rest of India. We jumped in the ocean the first day we got here and were swimming as the sun was setting. We are loving it.
When we last left you we were in Pushkar and we had to get out of there before the quarter of a million extra people arrived for the annual Camel Fair. From Pushkar we took a 7 hour bus ride to Udaipur.
In Udaipur we stayed with a very nice family. One member of the family was an 84 year old guy. He was a former Freedom Fighter and fought right along with Gandhi for India's independence. He had many interesting stories to tell. The family we stayed with fed us very well 3 times a day. We also visited one of their friends who used to be in the ruling family of Rajastan. They lost their their power and land when India became independent, but they did not lose their money. He owns 4 different 5 star hotels in the area. We got to visit one and went to his restaurant. They treated like royalty and served us tea, french fries that they ate with forks, and the best ice cream I have ever tasted. He also showed us his amazing car collection which included one vehicle that could travel on land and in the water. It was great. While in Udaipur we also checked out the City Palace and many temples, which got a little boring. We were sad to leave Udaipur and our new friends.
Next we caught a 17 hour night bus to Mombai (used to be called Bombay, and most people still call it by the old name). Bombay was the most civilized city we have seen in India. It was almost like we were not in India anymore. There were no cows in the street. People drove in their lanes. Nobody pushed or shoved us the whole time we were there. They are even trying to get people to stop spitting by fining them $5 if they get caught. While there we got to ride around in double decker buses all the time. The buildings looked out of place in India. My parents said the city looked more like it was a city in Europe. I guess I'll find out in a couple of months if they are right. We visited a bunch of museums, art galleries, and old buildings. We stayed with another nice family we had never met before. They also fed us 3 times a day and treated us like we were part of the family. The funniest thing that happened in Bombay was that my mom got pooped on by a bird. She got pooped on not just one time, but 4 times in one day. Now that's bad luck. My dad and I tried not to laugh, but it was hard. We loved Bombay and it was again difficult to leave our new friends and the delcious meals. They even had a servant who waited on us all day long and they had HBO and we got to watch Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest.
From Bombay we caught a 13 hour train to Goa. My dad saved us some money by traveling in sleeper class instead of 1st class A/C. That was fine and we were quite comfortable. We got on the train at 11:00 p.m. and when we went to sleep there were 8 people in our cabin that was designed for 8 people. When I woke up there were 27 people in our cabin. People had snuck into our cabin and nobody ever kicked them out. There were people everywhere. It was crazy. I just stayed in my top bunk and waited to arrive in Goa. If I had gotten up to go the bathroom there would have been 12 people in my bunk in no time. We arrived in Goa around noon. All we had eaten for breakfast was cookies, so we went to lunch when we arrived in Margao. From there we went by tuk-tuk to the beach in Benaulim. We jumped in the ocean and it felt just like the ocean in Hawaii. The next morning we jumped in the ocean again. We also ate the best fish I have ever had in my life 2 days in row. I am tired of being a vegetarian. I didn't want to be one in the first place, but it has not been safe to eat meat most of the places we have been.
We are hanging out in Goa for a few days and then heading by train to Kerala for a week or so. We will then return to Goa for about a month. We may have found a free place to stay in Goa with some guy who has a house by the beach. We will be in Goa for almost the entire month of December. We have already found a couple of Catholic churches. We are trying to decide which one to go to for Christmas mass. Some of the churches were built over 500 years ago. Unilike the rest of India which is over 80% Hindu, in Goa half of the locals are Christian. We already love Goa and are looking forward to relaxing here, eating good food, and swimming in the ocean everyday. We rented a motorbike for the first time in India and we are crusing all over the place. I am having an amazing adventure. Please email me at Kylearoundtheworld@gmail.com. I love getting emails. Thanks.
When we last left you we were in Pushkar and we had to get out of there before the quarter of a million extra people arrived for the annual Camel Fair. From Pushkar we took a 7 hour bus ride to Udaipur.
In Udaipur we stayed with a very nice family. One member of the family was an 84 year old guy. He was a former Freedom Fighter and fought right along with Gandhi for India's independence. He had many interesting stories to tell. The family we stayed with fed us very well 3 times a day. We also visited one of their friends who used to be in the ruling family of Rajastan. They lost their their power and land when India became independent, but they did not lose their money. He owns 4 different 5 star hotels in the area. We got to visit one and went to his restaurant. They treated like royalty and served us tea, french fries that they ate with forks, and the best ice cream I have ever tasted. He also showed us his amazing car collection which included one vehicle that could travel on land and in the water. It was great. While in Udaipur we also checked out the City Palace and many temples, which got a little boring. We were sad to leave Udaipur and our new friends.
Next we caught a 17 hour night bus to Mombai (used to be called Bombay, and most people still call it by the old name). Bombay was the most civilized city we have seen in India. It was almost like we were not in India anymore. There were no cows in the street. People drove in their lanes. Nobody pushed or shoved us the whole time we were there. They are even trying to get people to stop spitting by fining them $5 if they get caught. While there we got to ride around in double decker buses all the time. The buildings looked out of place in India. My parents said the city looked more like it was a city in Europe. I guess I'll find out in a couple of months if they are right. We visited a bunch of museums, art galleries, and old buildings. We stayed with another nice family we had never met before. They also fed us 3 times a day and treated us like we were part of the family. The funniest thing that happened in Bombay was that my mom got pooped on by a bird. She got pooped on not just one time, but 4 times in one day. Now that's bad luck. My dad and I tried not to laugh, but it was hard. We loved Bombay and it was again difficult to leave our new friends and the delcious meals. They even had a servant who waited on us all day long and they had HBO and we got to watch Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest.
From Bombay we caught a 13 hour train to Goa. My dad saved us some money by traveling in sleeper class instead of 1st class A/C. That was fine and we were quite comfortable. We got on the train at 11:00 p.m. and when we went to sleep there were 8 people in our cabin that was designed for 8 people. When I woke up there were 27 people in our cabin. People had snuck into our cabin and nobody ever kicked them out. There were people everywhere. It was crazy. I just stayed in my top bunk and waited to arrive in Goa. If I had gotten up to go the bathroom there would have been 12 people in my bunk in no time. We arrived in Goa around noon. All we had eaten for breakfast was cookies, so we went to lunch when we arrived in Margao. From there we went by tuk-tuk to the beach in Benaulim. We jumped in the ocean and it felt just like the ocean in Hawaii. The next morning we jumped in the ocean again. We also ate the best fish I have ever had in my life 2 days in row. I am tired of being a vegetarian. I didn't want to be one in the first place, but it has not been safe to eat meat most of the places we have been.
We are hanging out in Goa for a few days and then heading by train to Kerala for a week or so. We will then return to Goa for about a month. We may have found a free place to stay in Goa with some guy who has a house by the beach. We will be in Goa for almost the entire month of December. We have already found a couple of Catholic churches. We are trying to decide which one to go to for Christmas mass. Some of the churches were built over 500 years ago. Unilike the rest of India which is over 80% Hindu, in Goa half of the locals are Christian. We already love Goa and are looking forward to relaxing here, eating good food, and swimming in the ocean everyday. We rented a motorbike for the first time in India and we are crusing all over the place. I am having an amazing adventure. Please email me at Kylearoundtheworld@gmail.com. I love getting emails. Thanks.
Tuesday, November 6, 2007
Traveling all over India
I last updated my webpage in Rishikesh. Since then we have been very busy traveling across India.
After leaving Rishikesh we went to a city called Hardiwar. While there we went on a ski lift up to a famous Hindu Temple on the top of a mountain. We also went down to the ghats on the scared Ganges River and watched all the strange people doing strange things. The Ganges River was way more polluted than in Rishikesh and it was only 1 hour down the river. Hardiwar was o.k. but I liked Rishikesh a lot better. We left Hardiwar and caught a bus to Dehra Dun and then onto Musoorrie.
Musoorrie, a former British Hill Station, was way up in the mountains at over 6,000 feet. Our room had no heater so we had to cover up with 6 blankets. It was so cold you could see your breath in the morning. Musoorrie was good and we had a nice time relaxing. We even went to Domino's for pizza. From there we cruised to a place called Chandigarh.
Chandigarh was a modern city, very different than what we had seen in India. We cruised all over town in cycle rickshaws, ate good food and checked out the Nek Chan Rock Garden. This strange guy (Nek) who worked for the road department would collect garbage from all over the city during the day and would go out at night and turn it into treasure. From 1958 to 1972 he would sneak off into the forest and build sculptures, buildings, and other pieces of art out of the city's trash. He did not tell anyone, not even his wife. When the city eventually found out, he got in trouble and they were going to destroy all of his works of art. However, they ended up changing their minds and turned the place into a museum. They also gave him a job, and a full work crew, to continue making it bigger. It was amazing what that guy could do with garbage. We left Chandigarh and caught another bus to Amritsar.
Amritsar was one of my favorite places in all of India. As we pulled up to this holy city for the Sikhs this lady started talking to my dad and me and asking questions about where we were from. A few minutes later she asked us to come to her house and stay with her family. We were a little nervous about going with her. My parents had always taught me not to talk to strangers and now we were actually thinking about going home with a complete stranger. We ended up going, not knowing what to expect. We were happy to find that they had a very nice house and also a bakery right on the property. For the next 4 days I could eat as many fresh pastries, cookies and cakes as I wanted. It was awesome. The whole family was very friendly and made us feel at home. They were also very generous and fed us way too much food and took us everywhere.
While in Amritsar we got to visit the Golden Temple two times. It was amazing. The Golden Temple is the most important location in the world in the Sikh religion. The temple is surrounded by a scared lake that they believe has healing powers. The first time we saw the temple was at night and there was a full moon. There were gurus chanting and the temple(which is actually made of gold) was very crowded with pilgrims from around the world. It was a great experience. We also went to the border closing ceremony. Every night as the border between India and Pakistan closes there is a ceremony that is like going to a show. It was really neat to watch. They would exchange dirty looks, hurl insults, and clench their fists; then, in the end they would exchange warm handshakes and close the border. While this was happening there were thousands of Indians cheering for their country and at the same time people in Pakistan doing the same. We almost got trampled after the ceremony by a stampede of crazy patriotic Indians. It was a great experience, but I was glad to get out of there without getting hurt.
We were sad to leave Amritsar and our adopted family, but we caught a train and headed to Jaipur. Jaipur, is a famous city in the state of Rajastan. Japiur was cool, and one night we actually got to stay in a palace. We also got to explore the old city and the Amber Fort which was great. We hung out for a few days before heading onto Pushkar.
We are now in Pushkar, which is a small town in the middle of the desert. It is located in the hills and surrounds a scared lake. The Hindus believe the lake was created by Brahma and has healing powers and there are gurus and other spiritual seekers everywhere. This is a very relaxing town and we are going to go on a camel safari while we are here.
From Pushkar we are heading south to Udaipur, then Mumbai (formerly Bombay), and then down to the beaches in Goa and Kerala. We are going to spend over a month kicking back on the beaches and will spend Christmas in Goa. We are having a great trip.
Please email me at kylearoundtheworld@gmail.com and post a comment on my blog.
After leaving Rishikesh we went to a city called Hardiwar. While there we went on a ski lift up to a famous Hindu Temple on the top of a mountain. We also went down to the ghats on the scared Ganges River and watched all the strange people doing strange things. The Ganges River was way more polluted than in Rishikesh and it was only 1 hour down the river. Hardiwar was o.k. but I liked Rishikesh a lot better. We left Hardiwar and caught a bus to Dehra Dun and then onto Musoorrie.
Musoorrie, a former British Hill Station, was way up in the mountains at over 6,000 feet. Our room had no heater so we had to cover up with 6 blankets. It was so cold you could see your breath in the morning. Musoorrie was good and we had a nice time relaxing. We even went to Domino's for pizza. From there we cruised to a place called Chandigarh.
Chandigarh was a modern city, very different than what we had seen in India. We cruised all over town in cycle rickshaws, ate good food and checked out the Nek Chan Rock Garden. This strange guy (Nek) who worked for the road department would collect garbage from all over the city during the day and would go out at night and turn it into treasure. From 1958 to 1972 he would sneak off into the forest and build sculptures, buildings, and other pieces of art out of the city's trash. He did not tell anyone, not even his wife. When the city eventually found out, he got in trouble and they were going to destroy all of his works of art. However, they ended up changing their minds and turned the place into a museum. They also gave him a job, and a full work crew, to continue making it bigger. It was amazing what that guy could do with garbage. We left Chandigarh and caught another bus to Amritsar.
Amritsar was one of my favorite places in all of India. As we pulled up to this holy city for the Sikhs this lady started talking to my dad and me and asking questions about where we were from. A few minutes later she asked us to come to her house and stay with her family. We were a little nervous about going with her. My parents had always taught me not to talk to strangers and now we were actually thinking about going home with a complete stranger. We ended up going, not knowing what to expect. We were happy to find that they had a very nice house and also a bakery right on the property. For the next 4 days I could eat as many fresh pastries, cookies and cakes as I wanted. It was awesome. The whole family was very friendly and made us feel at home. They were also very generous and fed us way too much food and took us everywhere.
While in Amritsar we got to visit the Golden Temple two times. It was amazing. The Golden Temple is the most important location in the world in the Sikh religion. The temple is surrounded by a scared lake that they believe has healing powers. The first time we saw the temple was at night and there was a full moon. There were gurus chanting and the temple(which is actually made of gold) was very crowded with pilgrims from around the world. It was a great experience. We also went to the border closing ceremony. Every night as the border between India and Pakistan closes there is a ceremony that is like going to a show. It was really neat to watch. They would exchange dirty looks, hurl insults, and clench their fists; then, in the end they would exchange warm handshakes and close the border. While this was happening there were thousands of Indians cheering for their country and at the same time people in Pakistan doing the same. We almost got trampled after the ceremony by a stampede of crazy patriotic Indians. It was a great experience, but I was glad to get out of there without getting hurt.
We were sad to leave Amritsar and our adopted family, but we caught a train and headed to Jaipur. Jaipur, is a famous city in the state of Rajastan. Japiur was cool, and one night we actually got to stay in a palace. We also got to explore the old city and the Amber Fort which was great. We hung out for a few days before heading onto Pushkar.
We are now in Pushkar, which is a small town in the middle of the desert. It is located in the hills and surrounds a scared lake. The Hindus believe the lake was created by Brahma and has healing powers and there are gurus and other spiritual seekers everywhere. This is a very relaxing town and we are going to go on a camel safari while we are here.
From Pushkar we are heading south to Udaipur, then Mumbai (formerly Bombay), and then down to the beaches in Goa and Kerala. We are going to spend over a month kicking back on the beaches and will spend Christmas in Goa. We are having a great trip.
Please email me at kylearoundtheworld@gmail.com and post a comment on my blog.
Saturday, October 13, 2007
In Rishikesh India Swiming in the Sacred Ganges River
Hello, everyone, from Rishikesh, India. It was a lot of work to get here from Pohkara, Nepal, but it was worth the effort. We had to take 8 buses, 2 trains, 2 taxis, 2 minivans, an autorickshaw and a temple (looks a lot like a golf cart) to get to Rishikesh. It took 3 full days, but now were are at a very peaceful town right on the banks of the sacred Ganges River and right next to the Himilayan Mountains.
On the way back to India we made a quick stop at a town called Lumbini. This was the town where the Buddha was born back in 632 B.C. It was cool to see the actual spot that the Buddha was born. However, there was nothing really there, not even a restaurant. The place we stayed was a real dump and the entire town was infested with bugs. We had roaches, grasshoppers, gnats, mosquitos, and a lot of bugs I had never seen before swarming around our room. Even under our mosquito nets we were not safe. The next morning I was glad we were leaving.
We crossed back into India the next day and I made one last attempt to talk my parents into staying in Nepal. The month we stayed in Nepal was great and I did not want to leave. They didn't give in and we crossed back into India. You could tell immedaitely that we were back in India because of the smell, the garbage on the ground, the people begging for money, the cows everywhere, the traffic, and the noise. I could not figure out why my parents wanted to come back to all of this. We spent two days non-stop traveling. One day we woke up at 6:00 a.m. and took buses and trains all day long and did not make it to our hotel until midnight. I was very tired when we arrived in a town called Lucknow.
Lucknow is a dirty, polluted, crowded city of nearly 2,000,000 people. There was one cool thing in Lucknow called the Bara Imabara. It was very similiar to the Taj Mahal in Agra, but not as polished and nice. However, what was really cool was that there was a labyrinth(maze) that I got to explore by myself. The people said I needed a guide because it was easy to get lost and dangerous. I ended up talking them into letting me go by myself. Not only did I not get lost, I had to help some adults find their way out of the maze. It was a great time and I did not want to leave. We ended up getting a train out of Lucknow that left at 8:00 at night and we were on the train all night. Night trains are the best and I got to sleep on the top bunk.
We woke up in a town called Hardiwar which is one of the most important cities in the Hindu religion (most popular religion in India and my dad said they believe there are over 10,000 Gods). We did not stay long, but instead took a bus to Rishikesh. We are now in Rishikesh, which they call the yoga capital of the world. Apparently, an old musical group called the Beatles use to hang out here a lot. There are a lot of very strange hippy looking people here.
I really like Rishikesh because there is a beach and we get to go swimming everyday in the Ganges River. It is very cold, but it feels great. This is where the Ganges flows right out of the Himilayan Mountains and it is 1,000 times cleaner than Varanasi where we saw dead bodies floating in the water. According to the Hindus, one dip in the sacred Ganges River will wash away all of your sins. I don't know if that is true or not, but I still like swimming and jumping off the rocks into the river. We are going back in today and everyday that we stay here. My parents took a yoga class yesterday and I sat in the back of the room and tried not to laugh. It was very funny watching my dad try to do all those yoga positions. Tommorow we are going to an orphanage where there are a bunch of kids between the ages of 3 and 11. I am having a great time, and actually like India now. Rishikesh is a lot different than Dehli, Agra, and Varanasi. We are also going to rent bicylces while we are here and get to go white water rafting on the Ganges River. After leaving Rishikesh we are heading to Armritsar and then Dharamsala, India.
Send me an email at kylearoundtheworld@gmail.com. Talk to you later.
On the way back to India we made a quick stop at a town called Lumbini. This was the town where the Buddha was born back in 632 B.C. It was cool to see the actual spot that the Buddha was born. However, there was nothing really there, not even a restaurant. The place we stayed was a real dump and the entire town was infested with bugs. We had roaches, grasshoppers, gnats, mosquitos, and a lot of bugs I had never seen before swarming around our room. Even under our mosquito nets we were not safe. The next morning I was glad we were leaving.
We crossed back into India the next day and I made one last attempt to talk my parents into staying in Nepal. The month we stayed in Nepal was great and I did not want to leave. They didn't give in and we crossed back into India. You could tell immedaitely that we were back in India because of the smell, the garbage on the ground, the people begging for money, the cows everywhere, the traffic, and the noise. I could not figure out why my parents wanted to come back to all of this. We spent two days non-stop traveling. One day we woke up at 6:00 a.m. and took buses and trains all day long and did not make it to our hotel until midnight. I was very tired when we arrived in a town called Lucknow.
Lucknow is a dirty, polluted, crowded city of nearly 2,000,000 people. There was one cool thing in Lucknow called the Bara Imabara. It was very similiar to the Taj Mahal in Agra, but not as polished and nice. However, what was really cool was that there was a labyrinth(maze) that I got to explore by myself. The people said I needed a guide because it was easy to get lost and dangerous. I ended up talking them into letting me go by myself. Not only did I not get lost, I had to help some adults find their way out of the maze. It was a great time and I did not want to leave. We ended up getting a train out of Lucknow that left at 8:00 at night and we were on the train all night. Night trains are the best and I got to sleep on the top bunk.
We woke up in a town called Hardiwar which is one of the most important cities in the Hindu religion (most popular religion in India and my dad said they believe there are over 10,000 Gods). We did not stay long, but instead took a bus to Rishikesh. We are now in Rishikesh, which they call the yoga capital of the world. Apparently, an old musical group called the Beatles use to hang out here a lot. There are a lot of very strange hippy looking people here.
I really like Rishikesh because there is a beach and we get to go swimming everyday in the Ganges River. It is very cold, but it feels great. This is where the Ganges flows right out of the Himilayan Mountains and it is 1,000 times cleaner than Varanasi where we saw dead bodies floating in the water. According to the Hindus, one dip in the sacred Ganges River will wash away all of your sins. I don't know if that is true or not, but I still like swimming and jumping off the rocks into the river. We are going back in today and everyday that we stay here. My parents took a yoga class yesterday and I sat in the back of the room and tried not to laugh. It was very funny watching my dad try to do all those yoga positions. Tommorow we are going to an orphanage where there are a bunch of kids between the ages of 3 and 11. I am having a great time, and actually like India now. Rishikesh is a lot different than Dehli, Agra, and Varanasi. We are also going to rent bicylces while we are here and get to go white water rafting on the Ganges River. After leaving Rishikesh we are heading to Armritsar and then Dharamsala, India.
Send me an email at kylearoundtheworld@gmail.com. Talk to you later.
Saturday, October 6, 2007
Leaving Nepal and the Himalayan Mountains and Heading Back to India
We have been in Nepal for a month now and I am very sad to leave. Of the 15 countries I've visited in my life this is one of my favorites. We had a great time trekking in the Himalayan Mountains and we have for the last 10 days been staying next to a lake in Pohkara.
Our trek was not exactlty my idea of fun. We walked all day long and then slept in huts without electricity or running water. While it was very difficult at times it was an experience I will never forget. We left Pohkara and took a bus to Nai Pul. On the bus ride we actually got to ride on the roof of the bus. It was a blast! We aren't allowed to ride on the top of the bus at home and I couldn't believe it when my dad suggested that we ride on the roof with several other people from Nepal. We could see all the snow capped mountains and many waterfalls. It was very cool.
When the bus ride ended we had to hike. It was fun at first, but it never ended. Just when I thought we were almost there we would turn a corner and there would be another trail straight up. The first day it felt like we had hiked for 12 hours, but my parents said it was only 7 hours. We ended up at a small village called Tikedhunga. I got sick that night and wished I was at home in my comfortable bed. I threw up 5 times. I woke up the next morning still feeling sick and couldn't eat any breakfast. My parents told me that I could decide whether we stayed there, went back down or kept on trekking. I decided to keep going up and get it over with. We hiked 8 hours straight up the mountain. The first 4 hours was up stairs made of stones. They never seemed to end. It was the hardest thing I have ever done in my life. My parents were very proud of me and that made me feel good. I just kept on trekking and we ended up at a place called Gorepani and I ate my first food of the day. I was sure hungry and my parents let me order anything I wanted. Thank God, I felt good again.
When we woke up the next morning at 4:30 a.m. we hiked up to a place called Poon Hill and we could see a bunch of Himalayan Mountains including Annapurna. It was awesome. We also met people from all over the world. My dad and I started asking everyone we met on the trail where they were from. We met people from many countries including: Australia, England, Czech Republic, New Zealand, China, Ireland, Korea, South Africa, Isreal, Belgium, Denmark, Sweeden, Switzerland, Japan, U.S.A., Canada, Wales, Venezuala, Argentina, Spain, Italy, France, and even a Tibetan refugee living in Nepal. I had never met so many people from so many different places and they were all very friendly.
We hiked and hiked. I made it all the way to Machapuchhre Base Camp. I was tired, cold, wet and exhausted by the time we arrived. We had been trekking in the pouring rain for two days and I was soaked. We hung out at M.B.C. and dried off our clothes and hung out with a group of people from all over the world. I learned 7 new card games. We learned games from Israel, Switzerland, Belgium, Finland and even one from Nepal called "poop-head." The Nepalese porters and guides showed me card tricks. We ate a bunch of good food and two people gave me candy bars. Now this was fun. That trekking is overrated, but hanging out and playing cards and eating candy bars was great. I could not believe it but we had 7 people invite us to stay in their home if we visited the countries where they lived. We did not even know these people and they were inviting us to stay in their homes. That has never happened before.
The next day we started our trek down. I sure like hiking downhill better than uphill. We got to cross a bunch of rivers which was fun. Sometimes we had to walk right through the river because the trail was underwater. We also saw a waterfall that created a snow bridge. One time my dad wanted to take my picture and where he told me to stand was in a pile of leaches. I had about 10 leaches on my shoes. Luckily they did not get a chance to suck out all my blood. We made it all the way to Chomrong that first night and back to Nai Pul the next night. We hiked for two days non-stop so that we could get back to Pohkara. My parents asked if I might want to come back some day and trek through the Himalayan Mountains again. I don't think so. It was a great experience but I was glad it is over.
We got back to Pohkara and ate pizza three days in a row. It was delicious. When trekking all we really ate was noodle soup, potatoes, eggs, Tibetan bread, banana pancakes and some other nasty stuff that I can't remember the name of. I was glad to be back in Pohkara. We have been riding bicylcles, paddling around the lake in a boat we rented, eating good food, playing cards, and doing school work. My parents are making me go back to India which makes no sense to me. Why can't we just stay in Nepal until Christmas? My parents say that we will have a good time in India and have many interesting experiences. I am not so sure. When we were there for a week before coming to Nepal it was a lot of hard work. Before going back to India we are going to a place called Lumbini where Buddha was born. Then crossing back to India and going to Dharamsala where the Dhali Lama lives. I hope we get to meet him.
Send me an email if you want at kylearoundtheworld@gmail.com or post a blog. Talk to you later.
Our trek was not exactlty my idea of fun. We walked all day long and then slept in huts without electricity or running water. While it was very difficult at times it was an experience I will never forget. We left Pohkara and took a bus to Nai Pul. On the bus ride we actually got to ride on the roof of the bus. It was a blast! We aren't allowed to ride on the top of the bus at home and I couldn't believe it when my dad suggested that we ride on the roof with several other people from Nepal. We could see all the snow capped mountains and many waterfalls. It was very cool.
When the bus ride ended we had to hike. It was fun at first, but it never ended. Just when I thought we were almost there we would turn a corner and there would be another trail straight up. The first day it felt like we had hiked for 12 hours, but my parents said it was only 7 hours. We ended up at a small village called Tikedhunga. I got sick that night and wished I was at home in my comfortable bed. I threw up 5 times. I woke up the next morning still feeling sick and couldn't eat any breakfast. My parents told me that I could decide whether we stayed there, went back down or kept on trekking. I decided to keep going up and get it over with. We hiked 8 hours straight up the mountain. The first 4 hours was up stairs made of stones. They never seemed to end. It was the hardest thing I have ever done in my life. My parents were very proud of me and that made me feel good. I just kept on trekking and we ended up at a place called Gorepani and I ate my first food of the day. I was sure hungry and my parents let me order anything I wanted. Thank God, I felt good again.
When we woke up the next morning at 4:30 a.m. we hiked up to a place called Poon Hill and we could see a bunch of Himalayan Mountains including Annapurna. It was awesome. We also met people from all over the world. My dad and I started asking everyone we met on the trail where they were from. We met people from many countries including: Australia, England, Czech Republic, New Zealand, China, Ireland, Korea, South Africa, Isreal, Belgium, Denmark, Sweeden, Switzerland, Japan, U.S.A., Canada, Wales, Venezuala, Argentina, Spain, Italy, France, and even a Tibetan refugee living in Nepal. I had never met so many people from so many different places and they were all very friendly.
We hiked and hiked. I made it all the way to Machapuchhre Base Camp. I was tired, cold, wet and exhausted by the time we arrived. We had been trekking in the pouring rain for two days and I was soaked. We hung out at M.B.C. and dried off our clothes and hung out with a group of people from all over the world. I learned 7 new card games. We learned games from Israel, Switzerland, Belgium, Finland and even one from Nepal called "poop-head." The Nepalese porters and guides showed me card tricks. We ate a bunch of good food and two people gave me candy bars. Now this was fun. That trekking is overrated, but hanging out and playing cards and eating candy bars was great. I could not believe it but we had 7 people invite us to stay in their home if we visited the countries where they lived. We did not even know these people and they were inviting us to stay in their homes. That has never happened before.
The next day we started our trek down. I sure like hiking downhill better than uphill. We got to cross a bunch of rivers which was fun. Sometimes we had to walk right through the river because the trail was underwater. We also saw a waterfall that created a snow bridge. One time my dad wanted to take my picture and where he told me to stand was in a pile of leaches. I had about 10 leaches on my shoes. Luckily they did not get a chance to suck out all my blood. We made it all the way to Chomrong that first night and back to Nai Pul the next night. We hiked for two days non-stop so that we could get back to Pohkara. My parents asked if I might want to come back some day and trek through the Himalayan Mountains again. I don't think so. It was a great experience but I was glad it is over.
We got back to Pohkara and ate pizza three days in a row. It was delicious. When trekking all we really ate was noodle soup, potatoes, eggs, Tibetan bread, banana pancakes and some other nasty stuff that I can't remember the name of. I was glad to be back in Pohkara. We have been riding bicylcles, paddling around the lake in a boat we rented, eating good food, playing cards, and doing school work. My parents are making me go back to India which makes no sense to me. Why can't we just stay in Nepal until Christmas? My parents say that we will have a good time in India and have many interesting experiences. I am not so sure. When we were there for a week before coming to Nepal it was a lot of hard work. Before going back to India we are going to a place called Lumbini where Buddha was born. Then crossing back to India and going to Dharamsala where the Dhali Lama lives. I hope we get to meet him.
Send me an email if you want at kylearoundtheworld@gmail.com or post a blog. Talk to you later.
Saturday, September 15, 2007
Kicking back in Kathmandu, Nepal
I am sitting in the Kathmandu Valley surrounded by the tallest mountains in the world. They are called the Himalayan Mountains and Mount Everest is the highest. We got to Nepal a week ago and it is a very cool place. We were in India for a week before crossing the border into Nepal. I am glad to be out of India and in Nepal.
India was very challenging. After flying to from Bangkok, Thailand to Hong Kong, China, we caught another plane to India. We arrived in Delhi in the middle of the night. We took a taxi into town to find a place to sleep. As we were walking around we could see hundreds of homeless people sleeping right in the dirt. There was piles of garbage everywhere. Even though it was late at night there were many cars, motorbikes, rickshaws and cows in the streets. You would not believe it but they let the cows go anywhere the want in India. They even wander onto the freeway or into train stations and everbody just goes around them. Something about the people thinking that cows are sacred. I don't get it. After several tries we finally found a place to sleep. I told my dad that the hotel we found was discusting, but he didn't listen. I think he just wanted to get off the dirty streets of Dehli. We woke up the next day and found a better place to stay.
We hung out in Dehli for two days. It was horrible. There are over 11,000,000 people living there and it is crowded where ever you go. There is garbage everywhere. Nobody seemed to be taught that littering is not good. It was early in the morning and it was already 95 degrees outside. People are begging everywhere. It was very sad. There were many kids even younger than me that were living on the streets and begging for food. Why did my parents bring me to this place? We did get to visit the Red Fort which was really old and I liked exploring the buildings of the old military fort. We tried to go inside the museum but we almost suffocated because there were so many people inside and there was no air conditioner or windows. We barely made it out and caught a rickshaw back to our hotel. The only other thing that happened in Dehli was that we were in an autorickshaw(three wheeled little car) and the front wheel fell off. We were o.k. and just jumped into another rickshaw and kept going.
From Dehli we took a train to Agra. I was very glad to leave Dehli. Agra was even hotter than Dehli and we were walking around carrying our backpacks sweating a lot. I thought Thailand was hot, but India is really hot. Plus in India everyone stares at you all the time and wants to touch you. My parents say it is because they don't see a lot of light skinned kids with blond hair and blue eyes. I don't care why they do it, it gets really old. In Agra we visited the Taj Mahal. It was voted one of the 7 Modern Wonders of the World. It was great. Agra sucked, but the Taj Mahal was amazing. It was built hundreds of years ago and looked like it could have built one year ago. It was built out of marble and you could tell they did a really good job. I learned that the artists that built the temple had their hands cut off when they completed the job. Apparently the king did not want them building any other temples as nice as the Taj Mahal that was built for his 2nd wife that died. That is crazy. Instead of telling the builders they did a nice job and maybe giving them a bonus, he instead cut off their hands!
We got out of Agra beause it was very hot and dirty. From there we caught an all night train to Varanasi. The train was great. Each cabin has 6 bunks. I got to sleep on the top bunk. In the morning my mom and dad said they didn't sleep very good. I don't know why, I slept great. I liked Varanasi a lot more than Dehli and Agra. We stayed there for a couple of days. Varanasi is one of the most important cities in the world for Hindus. The people who practice the Hindu religion belive that there are 330,000,000 Gods. That seems strange. How do they even remember the names of the all the Gods? Anyways, they come from all over the world to bathe in the sacred Ganges River that flows through Varanasi. The river is huge and we got up at 5:00 a.m. and rented a boat to go out on the river. We watched the sunrise and saw 1,000's of people bathing in the river, washing clothes, brushing their teeth, and performing all sort of religious rituals I had never seen before. We also saw people being cremated right along side the river. You could actually see the people being burnt on huge piles of wood. I could barely believe my eyes. It was a strange experience.
Hindus believe that the water of the Ganges is so sacred that if you jump in the water one time it will wash away all the sins of your entire lifetime. That is why pilgrims travel so far to bathe in the river. There was no way I would ever jump in the river. It was nasty. It looked like and smelled like raw sewage. When we were on the boat you could see all kinds of stuff floating on the surface and we even saw part of a body float by one time. The water is some of the most polluted water in the whole world. However, this did not stop them from jumping in and even drinking and brushing their teeth with the water. Yuck! I was worried one of the guys who was paddling our boat would splash water on us. I was glad to get off the river. We also visited all kinds of temples in Varanasi which was pretty boring. Next door to Varanasi is s town called Sarnath where Buddha taught his first lesson on Buddhism after becoming enlightened It was o.k., but I was ready to leave.
We left Varanasi and headed to Bodigaya. Bodigaya was where Buddha sat under a bodi tree and gained enlightenment. There are all kinds of religions in India, but Hinduism and Buddhism are the two biggest ones. We sat under the same tree that Buddha became enlightened under. It was cool. The town of Bodigaya is the most important town in the whole world for people who pratice the Buddhist religion. We also explored all the temples and momestaries built by all the Buddhist countries of the world. At one temple we actually sat down and meditated with about a 100 monks.
From Bodigaya we headed up to Nepal. It ook us two full days to get from Bodigaya, India, to Kathmandu, Nepal. We had to take a lot of buses and it sucked. These buses were horrible. No air conditioning, lots of dust, people crammed inside and bumping into you, nothing to do, and lots of sweating. Just when I thought we were done. We had to get on another bus. We did not see any other tourists and everyone was staring at us all day long. It was hard to find food that was safe to eat and would not make us sick. On one of the days we were traveling we ate just one meal. Also, finding bottled water that was safe to drink was not easy. My dad said that there is a scam that is very popular in India right now where they fill up the empty bottles with tap water and make it look like new bottled water. The tap water will make you very sick in India beause of all the tiny bugs inside it. Discusting. So finding save water was tricky and there were times that I got very thristy beafore we could find safe water.
I was very glad to make it to the border of Nepal. India was rough traveling and I was ready for a break. My parents said that Nepal would be a little more relaxing and a lot cooler as it is in the mountains. As we left India the police at the border made us pay a bribe to get our passports stamped. My dad was not very happy about the corrupt police officers making tourists pay bribes. He did manage to negotiate the bribe to a smaller amount and I did not have to pay a bribe because I am only 10 years old. I don't get it.
When we crossed into Nepal, I hit country #8 of my around the world trip. When we got to the immigration office the Nepal officials also tried to get us to pay a bribe.This time my dad refused to pay any bribe at all. This did not make the police happy, but eventually they let us enter the country even without paying any bribe. We took a minivan for 8 hours to Kathmandu. It was a lot better than the buses of India and a lot more comfortable. We road through the foothills of the Himalayan Mountains and saw some amazming views. We arrived in Kathmandu and it was nice and cool.
Kathmandu is a city of about 1,000,000 people sitting in a valley surrounded by mountains. There are temples and Buddhist stupas everywhere. We are eating good food like pizza everyday. I have gotten to buy some really cool souveniers for really cheap. Yesterday I bought a small sword for less than $1! It is even better than the swap meet at home. Everyday we exlpore Kathmandu and the surrounding cities and see all these temples and shrines. I am about "templed out." Yesterday, though my dad and I got to help paint an important Tibetan Buddhist temple here in Kathmandu. I painted yellow and my dad painted blue on this statute of a God with 6 arms and 3 eyes. It was cool. I can't believe they let a 10 year old help paint the temple. I did the best I could with the paint brush because I knew how important the temple was to the Tibetans. Since the Chinese kicked them out of their country many of them came to Kathmandu and northern India to live. They are very friendly people and they seemed very happy that a 10 year old from American wanted to help them paint their temple.
I love Kathmandu and don't really want to leave. I would rather stay here for the next couple months and not go back to India. We have decided that we will stay longer in Nepal than we had planned. Right now we are preparing to go on a trek in the Himalyan Mountains. We are going on an 11 day trek on the Annapurna Circuit and then cutting over to Annapurna Sanctuary Trail. We are going to be treking very high in the mountains and into the snow capped Himalayan Mountains. We are going around Kathmandu buying jackets, hiking boots, gloves, wool hats, and other stuff we need. We could not bring all this stuff from home because it would be too heavy and our backpacks were already so full. We hired a guy named Nilem who will act as our porter and guide. I am very excited about hiking in the Himalayan Mountains. I know it will be hard to hike for that long and up higher than I have ever been in my life, but I know it will be a great experience.
I feel very lucky to be taking this trip and seeing all the cool stuff I get to see everyday. There are a lot of kids that are not as lucky as me and my friends at home. There are kids my age that don't go to school because they have to go to work. There are kids are that homeless and have to beg for food. There are kids that will never get to travel outide of the town they live in. I have a lot to be grateful for and I know how lucky I am to be here in Nepal getting ready to go on a trek in the highest moutain range in the world.
Please send me an email at Kylearoundtheworld@gmail.com and post a comment on my blog. I really enjoy hearing from people at home. Oh yeah, my parents make me do homework all the time even though we are on vacation. Talk to you guys later.
India was very challenging. After flying to from Bangkok, Thailand to Hong Kong, China, we caught another plane to India. We arrived in Delhi in the middle of the night. We took a taxi into town to find a place to sleep. As we were walking around we could see hundreds of homeless people sleeping right in the dirt. There was piles of garbage everywhere. Even though it was late at night there were many cars, motorbikes, rickshaws and cows in the streets. You would not believe it but they let the cows go anywhere the want in India. They even wander onto the freeway or into train stations and everbody just goes around them. Something about the people thinking that cows are sacred. I don't get it. After several tries we finally found a place to sleep. I told my dad that the hotel we found was discusting, but he didn't listen. I think he just wanted to get off the dirty streets of Dehli. We woke up the next day and found a better place to stay.
We hung out in Dehli for two days. It was horrible. There are over 11,000,000 people living there and it is crowded where ever you go. There is garbage everywhere. Nobody seemed to be taught that littering is not good. It was early in the morning and it was already 95 degrees outside. People are begging everywhere. It was very sad. There were many kids even younger than me that were living on the streets and begging for food. Why did my parents bring me to this place? We did get to visit the Red Fort which was really old and I liked exploring the buildings of the old military fort. We tried to go inside the museum but we almost suffocated because there were so many people inside and there was no air conditioner or windows. We barely made it out and caught a rickshaw back to our hotel. The only other thing that happened in Dehli was that we were in an autorickshaw(three wheeled little car) and the front wheel fell off. We were o.k. and just jumped into another rickshaw and kept going.
From Dehli we took a train to Agra. I was very glad to leave Dehli. Agra was even hotter than Dehli and we were walking around carrying our backpacks sweating a lot. I thought Thailand was hot, but India is really hot. Plus in India everyone stares at you all the time and wants to touch you. My parents say it is because they don't see a lot of light skinned kids with blond hair and blue eyes. I don't care why they do it, it gets really old. In Agra we visited the Taj Mahal. It was voted one of the 7 Modern Wonders of the World. It was great. Agra sucked, but the Taj Mahal was amazing. It was built hundreds of years ago and looked like it could have built one year ago. It was built out of marble and you could tell they did a really good job. I learned that the artists that built the temple had their hands cut off when they completed the job. Apparently the king did not want them building any other temples as nice as the Taj Mahal that was built for his 2nd wife that died. That is crazy. Instead of telling the builders they did a nice job and maybe giving them a bonus, he instead cut off their hands!
We got out of Agra beause it was very hot and dirty. From there we caught an all night train to Varanasi. The train was great. Each cabin has 6 bunks. I got to sleep on the top bunk. In the morning my mom and dad said they didn't sleep very good. I don't know why, I slept great. I liked Varanasi a lot more than Dehli and Agra. We stayed there for a couple of days. Varanasi is one of the most important cities in the world for Hindus. The people who practice the Hindu religion belive that there are 330,000,000 Gods. That seems strange. How do they even remember the names of the all the Gods? Anyways, they come from all over the world to bathe in the sacred Ganges River that flows through Varanasi. The river is huge and we got up at 5:00 a.m. and rented a boat to go out on the river. We watched the sunrise and saw 1,000's of people bathing in the river, washing clothes, brushing their teeth, and performing all sort of religious rituals I had never seen before. We also saw people being cremated right along side the river. You could actually see the people being burnt on huge piles of wood. I could barely believe my eyes. It was a strange experience.
Hindus believe that the water of the Ganges is so sacred that if you jump in the water one time it will wash away all the sins of your entire lifetime. That is why pilgrims travel so far to bathe in the river. There was no way I would ever jump in the river. It was nasty. It looked like and smelled like raw sewage. When we were on the boat you could see all kinds of stuff floating on the surface and we even saw part of a body float by one time. The water is some of the most polluted water in the whole world. However, this did not stop them from jumping in and even drinking and brushing their teeth with the water. Yuck! I was worried one of the guys who was paddling our boat would splash water on us. I was glad to get off the river. We also visited all kinds of temples in Varanasi which was pretty boring. Next door to Varanasi is s town called Sarnath where Buddha taught his first lesson on Buddhism after becoming enlightened It was o.k., but I was ready to leave.
We left Varanasi and headed to Bodigaya. Bodigaya was where Buddha sat under a bodi tree and gained enlightenment. There are all kinds of religions in India, but Hinduism and Buddhism are the two biggest ones. We sat under the same tree that Buddha became enlightened under. It was cool. The town of Bodigaya is the most important town in the whole world for people who pratice the Buddhist religion. We also explored all the temples and momestaries built by all the Buddhist countries of the world. At one temple we actually sat down and meditated with about a 100 monks.
From Bodigaya we headed up to Nepal. It ook us two full days to get from Bodigaya, India, to Kathmandu, Nepal. We had to take a lot of buses and it sucked. These buses were horrible. No air conditioning, lots of dust, people crammed inside and bumping into you, nothing to do, and lots of sweating. Just when I thought we were done. We had to get on another bus. We did not see any other tourists and everyone was staring at us all day long. It was hard to find food that was safe to eat and would not make us sick. On one of the days we were traveling we ate just one meal. Also, finding bottled water that was safe to drink was not easy. My dad said that there is a scam that is very popular in India right now where they fill up the empty bottles with tap water and make it look like new bottled water. The tap water will make you very sick in India beause of all the tiny bugs inside it. Discusting. So finding save water was tricky and there were times that I got very thristy beafore we could find safe water.
I was very glad to make it to the border of Nepal. India was rough traveling and I was ready for a break. My parents said that Nepal would be a little more relaxing and a lot cooler as it is in the mountains. As we left India the police at the border made us pay a bribe to get our passports stamped. My dad was not very happy about the corrupt police officers making tourists pay bribes. He did manage to negotiate the bribe to a smaller amount and I did not have to pay a bribe because I am only 10 years old. I don't get it.
When we crossed into Nepal, I hit country #8 of my around the world trip. When we got to the immigration office the Nepal officials also tried to get us to pay a bribe.This time my dad refused to pay any bribe at all. This did not make the police happy, but eventually they let us enter the country even without paying any bribe. We took a minivan for 8 hours to Kathmandu. It was a lot better than the buses of India and a lot more comfortable. We road through the foothills of the Himalayan Mountains and saw some amazming views. We arrived in Kathmandu and it was nice and cool.
Kathmandu is a city of about 1,000,000 people sitting in a valley surrounded by mountains. There are temples and Buddhist stupas everywhere. We are eating good food like pizza everyday. I have gotten to buy some really cool souveniers for really cheap. Yesterday I bought a small sword for less than $1! It is even better than the swap meet at home. Everyday we exlpore Kathmandu and the surrounding cities and see all these temples and shrines. I am about "templed out." Yesterday, though my dad and I got to help paint an important Tibetan Buddhist temple here in Kathmandu. I painted yellow and my dad painted blue on this statute of a God with 6 arms and 3 eyes. It was cool. I can't believe they let a 10 year old help paint the temple. I did the best I could with the paint brush because I knew how important the temple was to the Tibetans. Since the Chinese kicked them out of their country many of them came to Kathmandu and northern India to live. They are very friendly people and they seemed very happy that a 10 year old from American wanted to help them paint their temple.
I love Kathmandu and don't really want to leave. I would rather stay here for the next couple months and not go back to India. We have decided that we will stay longer in Nepal than we had planned. Right now we are preparing to go on a trek in the Himalyan Mountains. We are going on an 11 day trek on the Annapurna Circuit and then cutting over to Annapurna Sanctuary Trail. We are going to be treking very high in the mountains and into the snow capped Himalayan Mountains. We are going around Kathmandu buying jackets, hiking boots, gloves, wool hats, and other stuff we need. We could not bring all this stuff from home because it would be too heavy and our backpacks were already so full. We hired a guy named Nilem who will act as our porter and guide. I am very excited about hiking in the Himalayan Mountains. I know it will be hard to hike for that long and up higher than I have ever been in my life, but I know it will be a great experience.
I feel very lucky to be taking this trip and seeing all the cool stuff I get to see everyday. There are a lot of kids that are not as lucky as me and my friends at home. There are kids my age that don't go to school because they have to go to work. There are kids are that homeless and have to beg for food. There are kids that will never get to travel outide of the town they live in. I have a lot to be grateful for and I know how lucky I am to be here in Nepal getting ready to go on a trek in the highest moutain range in the world.
Please send me an email at Kylearoundtheworld@gmail.com and post a comment on my blog. I really enjoy hearing from people at home. Oh yeah, my parents make me do homework all the time even though we are on vacation. Talk to you guys later.
Thursday, September 6, 2007
Off to India
I am leaving for India tommorow. I loved Hong Kong, Thailand, Burma, Laos, Vietnam, and Cambodia. I am sad to leave S.E. Asia but I am exicted about our next adventure.
Yesterday we got to bring food to the poor people here in Pattaya. It was sad to see the kids living in the slums in little shacks made of anything they could find.Today we are volunteering at the orphange where we are going to hold and feed the babies. Then we are going to bring food to the people in the jail. I have seen a lot of things on our trip that I never saw at home. It has been a good experience, and I am learning a lot about life and people in other countries.
Tonight my dad has a surprise for me and I have not guessed what it is yet. Tomorrow we are flying to India where we will spend 4 months in India, Nepal and Sri Lanka. Don't forget to read my last posting I made on August 29th. All my friends started school and even though I miss them a lot I am glad I didn't have to go with them. Send me an email and make a posting and give my email address to anyone who wants it. Thanks.
Yesterday we got to bring food to the poor people here in Pattaya. It was sad to see the kids living in the slums in little shacks made of anything they could find.Today we are volunteering at the orphange where we are going to hold and feed the babies. Then we are going to bring food to the people in the jail. I have seen a lot of things on our trip that I never saw at home. It has been a good experience, and I am learning a lot about life and people in other countries.
Tonight my dad has a surprise for me and I have not guessed what it is yet. Tomorrow we are flying to India where we will spend 4 months in India, Nepal and Sri Lanka. Don't forget to read my last posting I made on August 29th. All my friends started school and even though I miss them a lot I am glad I didn't have to go with them. Send me an email and make a posting and give my email address to anyone who wants it. Thanks.
Monday, August 27, 2007
Circle around SE Asia, now back at the beach in Thailand
We went up to northern Thailand and stayed with a guy named John. I got to do some really cool things. We went fishing, ate home cooked Thai meals, hiked in caves, climbed up to a temple on a mountain top, and went swimming at the bottom of a waterfall. We had such a great time we didn't want to leave.
From there we went up to Laos. In Laos we hung out in the capital of Vientienne. We rented biclycles and cruised all over seeing all the temples, museums, and other stuff. We got a bus north to Vien Vang. That place is great. We floated down the river in innertubes and went on a bunch of rope swings into the river. on some of them you would fly 30-40 into the air before letting go. It was awesome. We also went into a bunch of caves and got to swim up a river inside a cave. We road bicycles to one cave temple and on the way back it started raining. The rain never stopped. It was pouring and we got drenched. We were riding through huge puddles and it didn't matter because we couldn't get any wetter.
Next we left Thailand for the country of Vietnam. I didn't know anything about Vietnam except that my grandpa fought in a war over there a long time ago. To get to Laos we had to ride on three separate buses. One of them was riding in the back of a pick-up truck. There was not just people crammed in there but also pigs, rice, and a bunch of other stuff. At one point I counted 26 people stuffed in the back of the small pick-up truck. We were sure glad to get off that bus. Two days later we were at the border of Vietnam. It was a lot of work getting there and then the guys at the customs wouldn't let us in the country. They said it was because my mom did not have a second picture ID card. My dad said they were just trying to shake us down for some money. A couple of times they said, "You go back Laos." I did not want to take miserable buses back to Laos for two days. It took almost 2 hours before they finally let us into the country and in the end we did have to pay a small bribe.
In Vietnam we went to a lot of cool places. My favorites were China Beach, Na Trang (where we kicked back on the beach for 6 days, and they had a cool water amusement park), and the Cu Chi Tunnels. The network of tunnels went underground for 250 miles. My dad and I got to actually crawl through the tunnels that were used by the Viet Cong soldiers during the war. They lived in these tunnels for over 20 years. The Americans did not even know they were there for a long time and set up a base right above the tunnels. Crawling in the tunnels was cool, even though my dad got scared and I had to help him find the way out. It was so small at places that we had to crawl on our hands and knees.
While in Vietnam we also went to the capital of Ho chi Minh City, which they use to call Saigon. It was a big city and people were riding motorbikes everywhere. Even kids around 8-12 years old were riding motrbikes in the streets. It was very dangerous just crossing the street. We almost got run over a bunch of times. After awhile we would just walk out in the middle of the street and hope they didn't run us over. They were good at dodging us. We also got to ride in a bicycle rickshaw where a guy pedaled us all over the city. It was cool.
From Vietnam we took a taxi to the border and then a bus to the capital of Cambodia. The capital was called Phnom Penh and I liked it a lot. We cruised all over the place and saw some interesting stuff. One of the most interesting places was called Tul Sleng. It was a place where they locked up people and tortured them. They had this really mean guy who ran the country about 20 years ago and he hurt and killed a lot of people. In four years he killed somthing like 20,000. The place where they locked up and hurt the people was a school. I could not even imagine what it would have been like. I learned that they would take kids away from their parents and make them work in the rice fields. If the kids did not work good enough they would he tortured and their parents would be killed. When they were done torturing the people at the school they would take them to this place called the Killing Fields and kill and bury them. We went there and saw the graves that they had dug up. You could still see bones and pieces of old clothes in the ground. They also had a temple they built that had thousands of human skulls. It was creepy. It is hard to believe that somebody could be so mean and hurt so many people. It was very sad, but I was glad I got to visit Tul Sleng and the Killing Fields.
From there we went to Siem Reap and saw Angkor Wat. It was awesome. There were temples built over a 1,000 years ago. I don't know how they were still there all those years later. The coolest part was that you could climb on them all. You could climb anywhere you wanted, except when my mom would say, "Kyle don't climb up there it is too dangerous." I don't know why she was worried. I am a good climber even in my flip flops. We got up before 5:00 to see the sunrise. I don't know what the big deal about the sunrise was, but it did look pretty cool seeing the sun rise over the temples. We had our own private tuk-tuk driver that took us all over the place. It was great. That night we got to eat at a nice place that had an all you can eat buffet and Khmer dancing. The dancing was kind of lame, but the food was great. By the end of the day we were exhausted.
After Angkor Wat we took two buses back to Pattaya, Thailand. We were on the bus for over 11 hours, and one of them was 6 hours on a dirt road. It sucked. I was glad to be back in Pattaya where they have all kind of cool stuff to do. Yesterday we went to the movies, swimming, out for a great dinner, and then a Thai foot massage. This is the good life. We are going to hang out here for 6 days before flying to India. I am having an awesome trip so far. I feel bad for all my friends who are going back to school. Please send me an email or make a post on my blog.
From there we went up to Laos. In Laos we hung out in the capital of Vientienne. We rented biclycles and cruised all over seeing all the temples, museums, and other stuff. We got a bus north to Vien Vang. That place is great. We floated down the river in innertubes and went on a bunch of rope swings into the river. on some of them you would fly 30-40 into the air before letting go. It was awesome. We also went into a bunch of caves and got to swim up a river inside a cave. We road bicycles to one cave temple and on the way back it started raining. The rain never stopped. It was pouring and we got drenched. We were riding through huge puddles and it didn't matter because we couldn't get any wetter.
Next we left Thailand for the country of Vietnam. I didn't know anything about Vietnam except that my grandpa fought in a war over there a long time ago. To get to Laos we had to ride on three separate buses. One of them was riding in the back of a pick-up truck. There was not just people crammed in there but also pigs, rice, and a bunch of other stuff. At one point I counted 26 people stuffed in the back of the small pick-up truck. We were sure glad to get off that bus. Two days later we were at the border of Vietnam. It was a lot of work getting there and then the guys at the customs wouldn't let us in the country. They said it was because my mom did not have a second picture ID card. My dad said they were just trying to shake us down for some money. A couple of times they said, "You go back Laos." I did not want to take miserable buses back to Laos for two days. It took almost 2 hours before they finally let us into the country and in the end we did have to pay a small bribe.
In Vietnam we went to a lot of cool places. My favorites were China Beach, Na Trang (where we kicked back on the beach for 6 days, and they had a cool water amusement park), and the Cu Chi Tunnels. The network of tunnels went underground for 250 miles. My dad and I got to actually crawl through the tunnels that were used by the Viet Cong soldiers during the war. They lived in these tunnels for over 20 years. The Americans did not even know they were there for a long time and set up a base right above the tunnels. Crawling in the tunnels was cool, even though my dad got scared and I had to help him find the way out. It was so small at places that we had to crawl on our hands and knees.
While in Vietnam we also went to the capital of Ho chi Minh City, which they use to call Saigon. It was a big city and people were riding motorbikes everywhere. Even kids around 8-12 years old were riding motrbikes in the streets. It was very dangerous just crossing the street. We almost got run over a bunch of times. After awhile we would just walk out in the middle of the street and hope they didn't run us over. They were good at dodging us. We also got to ride in a bicycle rickshaw where a guy pedaled us all over the city. It was cool.
From Vietnam we took a taxi to the border and then a bus to the capital of Cambodia. The capital was called Phnom Penh and I liked it a lot. We cruised all over the place and saw some interesting stuff. One of the most interesting places was called Tul Sleng. It was a place where they locked up people and tortured them. They had this really mean guy who ran the country about 20 years ago and he hurt and killed a lot of people. In four years he killed somthing like 20,000. The place where they locked up and hurt the people was a school. I could not even imagine what it would have been like. I learned that they would take kids away from their parents and make them work in the rice fields. If the kids did not work good enough they would he tortured and their parents would be killed. When they were done torturing the people at the school they would take them to this place called the Killing Fields and kill and bury them. We went there and saw the graves that they had dug up. You could still see bones and pieces of old clothes in the ground. They also had a temple they built that had thousands of human skulls. It was creepy. It is hard to believe that somebody could be so mean and hurt so many people. It was very sad, but I was glad I got to visit Tul Sleng and the Killing Fields.
From there we went to Siem Reap and saw Angkor Wat. It was awesome. There were temples built over a 1,000 years ago. I don't know how they were still there all those years later. The coolest part was that you could climb on them all. You could climb anywhere you wanted, except when my mom would say, "Kyle don't climb up there it is too dangerous." I don't know why she was worried. I am a good climber even in my flip flops. We got up before 5:00 to see the sunrise. I don't know what the big deal about the sunrise was, but it did look pretty cool seeing the sun rise over the temples. We had our own private tuk-tuk driver that took us all over the place. It was great. That night we got to eat at a nice place that had an all you can eat buffet and Khmer dancing. The dancing was kind of lame, but the food was great. By the end of the day we were exhausted.
After Angkor Wat we took two buses back to Pattaya, Thailand. We were on the bus for over 11 hours, and one of them was 6 hours on a dirt road. It sucked. I was glad to be back in Pattaya where they have all kind of cool stuff to do. Yesterday we went to the movies, swimming, out for a great dinner, and then a Thai foot massage. This is the good life. We are going to hang out here for 6 days before flying to India. I am having an awesome trip so far. I feel bad for all my friends who are going back to school. Please send me an email or make a post on my blog.
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Roughing it in Thailand
We ended up spending a week in Phuket. I had a great time and did not want to leave. I got to teach a class of Thai 1st and 4th graders. My friends and teachers back home will never believe me, so I had my dad take a picture to prove it.
We left the main part of Phuket Island and got to spend 2 nights at the nicest 5 star resort in all of Thailand. It was the bomb. It had 3 swimming pools! One was only for adults, they called it the "relaxation pool," but we went into it anyways when it was raining and nobody seemed to care. I don't even know why they call it a relaxation pool, it just seemed like any other swimming pool. Not only did we end up having to leave the Marriott, but the very next night my dad made me stay in a $6 hotel that did not even have air-conditioning. It stunk.
The next day the bus never showed up so my dad came up with this great idea to hitch-hike. Doesn't my dad know that it is not safe to hitch-hike? The worst part was that he made me stand there with a sign that said, "Ranong." I didn't even know what "Ranong" meant. When I asked my dad what it meant all he would say was, "Just hold the sign up so the cars can see it." After 10 minutes, 2 Thai women who hardly spoke any English gave us a ride. They were nice except they shared some wierd food with us that my parents made me try. It was nasty. They dropped us off at a Buddhist Temple after what seemed like 4 hours, but my parents said it was only an hour and a half. We hitched-hiked another ride and got picked up by a Thai man with 7 kids in the cab of his truck. Who were all the kids? Were they all his, or was he a soccer coach taking the team to a game out of town? My questions were never answered because he didn't speak any English and just pointed to the back of the truck. My dad said that meant we could ride in the back of the truck if we wanted to. Heck yeah, I jumped right in. I'm not allowed to ride in the back of a truck at home. It was cool. It started to sprinkle which was o.k. Then it started to rain. I huddled between my mom and dad and tried to stay dry. Then it started to pour. It was like I jumped into a swimming pool with all my clothes on. It was great. I like hitch-hiking. I will never forget the ride from Phuket to the border of Burma.
The next day we went to Burma and it rained even more. It looked the same as Thailand and the people were very nice. We had to take a bus and then a boat in the rain. It was a lot of work to just get a stamp in our passport. I don't know why Thailand makes you leave the country every 30 days. I don't get it. AnywayS, we then took a bus to a town called Surat Thani. It looked like we were going to stay there for the night, and my dad would probably find some cheap hotel room that he claimed was a "real bargain" which really just meant a"dump" room without air-conditioning. I talked my parents into taking the all night cargo ship to Ko Samui Island that left at 11:oo p.m. It was a real adventure that I'll never forget. I got to explore the whole ship and we slept on these thin mats on the ground. It was cool. I don't know why but my parents said they couldn't sleep all night. I slept great. We woke up and were in Ko Samui. It was like being in Hawaii only people don't speak english and the ocean water was clearer. We did some cool things and stayed at a nice resort with a swimming pool, a ping-pong table and a fooseball table. It was awesome. We also hiked up and went swimming in pools at the bottom of waterfalls. We even got to swim behind two waterfalls and stand behind the water. It was the bomb. I hated to leave Ko Samui, but when we did my mom and dad wouldn't let us take the all night cargo ship. I tried to talk them into it, but they said, "No way."
It took us two days to get from our hotel in Ko Samui back to Bangkok. To get back we had to take: an hour ride in the back of a songthaew(pick-up truck with bench seats), a shuttle bus to the boat, a 3 hour boat ride, a 2 hour bus, a 3 hour ride in a minivan, a horrible night sleep in a $6 hotel with a fan, a 5:30 a.m. alarm clock, a 6 hour 3rd class train ride that was nearly 2 hours late leaving, a 3 hour bus ride, a 1/2 hour local bus ride and a 10 minute tuk-tuk(3 wheel taxi) ride. Why couldn't we just take a plane or an overnight bus?
On Monday morning we went to the India and Vietnam embassies. It was very boring. They took our passports and said we had to come back in 5 days. I can't figure out why it takes that long. But at least we could hang out for 5 days in Bangkok crusing around in tuk-tuks and eating banana panckaes all the time. Then my mom and dad said we were leaving and that Bangkok was a "zoo" and that they wanted to go to the beach for a few days. Sounded good to me. We went to a town called Pattaya which is nice, but not as nice as Ko Samui or Phuket. We rented a motorbike and are crusing around having a good time.
The next part of our trip will be back to Bangkok to get our visas and then going to northern Thailand. We will then head across the border and make a circle through Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia. My dad says the traveling is going to get rougher. I think this means he just doesn't want to pay for air-conditioning. I may not be able to update my blog for awhile, but please sign my guestbook. Click on "sign my guestbook." No excuses, it is very easy. Ask for help from a kid if you can't figure it out.
I am sad to leave paradise here at the beaches in Thailand. However, my parents say it is all part of the adventure. The first night of our trip was in Hong Kong and we were looking for a place to sleep in what my dad said was the backpacker zone of the city. The places we were checking out were a total dump. My mom said it fairly standard for budget travel in thrid world countries. Whatever that means. I turned to my dad and said, "Dad, we are not staying here!" My parents started laughing. I wasn't trying to be funny. Well we did end up staying there, and we survived. I am having a great time and it seems like we have been on the road for 3 months. Talk to you later and please make a posting on my blog.
We left the main part of Phuket Island and got to spend 2 nights at the nicest 5 star resort in all of Thailand. It was the bomb. It had 3 swimming pools! One was only for adults, they called it the "relaxation pool," but we went into it anyways when it was raining and nobody seemed to care. I don't even know why they call it a relaxation pool, it just seemed like any other swimming pool. Not only did we end up having to leave the Marriott, but the very next night my dad made me stay in a $6 hotel that did not even have air-conditioning. It stunk.
The next day the bus never showed up so my dad came up with this great idea to hitch-hike. Doesn't my dad know that it is not safe to hitch-hike? The worst part was that he made me stand there with a sign that said, "Ranong." I didn't even know what "Ranong" meant. When I asked my dad what it meant all he would say was, "Just hold the sign up so the cars can see it." After 10 minutes, 2 Thai women who hardly spoke any English gave us a ride. They were nice except they shared some wierd food with us that my parents made me try. It was nasty. They dropped us off at a Buddhist Temple after what seemed like 4 hours, but my parents said it was only an hour and a half. We hitched-hiked another ride and got picked up by a Thai man with 7 kids in the cab of his truck. Who were all the kids? Were they all his, or was he a soccer coach taking the team to a game out of town? My questions were never answered because he didn't speak any English and just pointed to the back of the truck. My dad said that meant we could ride in the back of the truck if we wanted to. Heck yeah, I jumped right in. I'm not allowed to ride in the back of a truck at home. It was cool. It started to sprinkle which was o.k. Then it started to rain. I huddled between my mom and dad and tried to stay dry. Then it started to pour. It was like I jumped into a swimming pool with all my clothes on. It was great. I like hitch-hiking. I will never forget the ride from Phuket to the border of Burma.
The next day we went to Burma and it rained even more. It looked the same as Thailand and the people were very nice. We had to take a bus and then a boat in the rain. It was a lot of work to just get a stamp in our passport. I don't know why Thailand makes you leave the country every 30 days. I don't get it. AnywayS, we then took a bus to a town called Surat Thani. It looked like we were going to stay there for the night, and my dad would probably find some cheap hotel room that he claimed was a "real bargain" which really just meant a"dump" room without air-conditioning. I talked my parents into taking the all night cargo ship to Ko Samui Island that left at 11:oo p.m. It was a real adventure that I'll never forget. I got to explore the whole ship and we slept on these thin mats on the ground. It was cool. I don't know why but my parents said they couldn't sleep all night. I slept great. We woke up and were in Ko Samui. It was like being in Hawaii only people don't speak english and the ocean water was clearer. We did some cool things and stayed at a nice resort with a swimming pool, a ping-pong table and a fooseball table. It was awesome. We also hiked up and went swimming in pools at the bottom of waterfalls. We even got to swim behind two waterfalls and stand behind the water. It was the bomb. I hated to leave Ko Samui, but when we did my mom and dad wouldn't let us take the all night cargo ship. I tried to talk them into it, but they said, "No way."
It took us two days to get from our hotel in Ko Samui back to Bangkok. To get back we had to take: an hour ride in the back of a songthaew(pick-up truck with bench seats), a shuttle bus to the boat, a 3 hour boat ride, a 2 hour bus, a 3 hour ride in a minivan, a horrible night sleep in a $6 hotel with a fan, a 5:30 a.m. alarm clock, a 6 hour 3rd class train ride that was nearly 2 hours late leaving, a 3 hour bus ride, a 1/2 hour local bus ride and a 10 minute tuk-tuk(3 wheel taxi) ride. Why couldn't we just take a plane or an overnight bus?
On Monday morning we went to the India and Vietnam embassies. It was very boring. They took our passports and said we had to come back in 5 days. I can't figure out why it takes that long. But at least we could hang out for 5 days in Bangkok crusing around in tuk-tuks and eating banana panckaes all the time. Then my mom and dad said we were leaving and that Bangkok was a "zoo" and that they wanted to go to the beach for a few days. Sounded good to me. We went to a town called Pattaya which is nice, but not as nice as Ko Samui or Phuket. We rented a motorbike and are crusing around having a good time.
The next part of our trip will be back to Bangkok to get our visas and then going to northern Thailand. We will then head across the border and make a circle through Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia. My dad says the traveling is going to get rougher. I think this means he just doesn't want to pay for air-conditioning. I may not be able to update my blog for awhile, but please sign my guestbook. Click on "sign my guestbook." No excuses, it is very easy. Ask for help from a kid if you can't figure it out.
I am sad to leave paradise here at the beaches in Thailand. However, my parents say it is all part of the adventure. The first night of our trip was in Hong Kong and we were looking for a place to sleep in what my dad said was the backpacker zone of the city. The places we were checking out were a total dump. My mom said it fairly standard for budget travel in thrid world countries. Whatever that means. I turned to my dad and said, "Dad, we are not staying here!" My parents started laughing. I wasn't trying to be funny. Well we did end up staying there, and we survived. I am having a great time and it seems like we have been on the road for 3 months. Talk to you later and please make a posting on my blog.
Wednesday, July 4, 2007
Island Hopping in Southern Thailand
We liked the pool and waterslide that we snuck into at the Hilton so much that we ended up staying there. It was a blast. We then jumped on a bus that went all night long. When we first got on the bus I was excited because there was a movie playing on the video player. However, it was a terrible movie and not in English and was very loud. It was not easy to falling to sleep, but when I woke up it was 10 hours later and we were in Krabi, in southern Thailand. We hung out at the beach in a town called Ao Nang for 5 days and did some really cool things. My dad rented a motorbike and we cruised all around for a couple days. We visited the Tiger Cave Temple which is a famous place, but kind of boring. We rode to a national park with a waterfall, but we got caught in a rainstorm and they would not let us even see the waterfall because it was too dangerous. We went on a hike to a secluded beach and went swimming. We found a bunch of monkeys that were living in some trees on the beach and fed them bananas. We road in a longtail boat to this place called Railay Bay and rented a kayak. We kayaked to our own beach and also out to an island. After kayaking we sat on a beach and ate banana fritters while we watched a soccer game being played on a beach. We road into the jungle and went to this place where I got to ride an elephant. My elephants name was Honey and it was fun to ride and its hair was prickley when I road on its neck and it was bleading from a wound and the flies were sucking it blood during the entire ride. It was cool. After the ride I got to feed Honey some pinapple.
We left Ao Nang and took a snorkling boat trip the the island of Ko Phi Phi. On the way we stopped and went snorling at a place called Bamboo Island. There were so many fist it was like swimming in a fish tank. We also stopped at Phi Phi Ley where they filmed some movie called, "The Beach," which I have not seen. We went snorlking a bunch of other places and saw like a 100 different kinds of strange fish. We arrived in Ko Phi Phi and it was very hot and boring. We stayed in this dump motel that my dad found called the Gypsy Motel, which was cheap but had no air conditioning. We sweated all night long. I was very happy when I heard we were leaving the next morning.
We jumped on a boat to the island of Phuket.Phuket is way better than Ko Phi Phi. We ended up at this great hotel called the Coco Palace Resort. We were the only guests and it had a great pool that had a waterfall and hot tub. We also had an air conditioner. We stayed there for two days and swam a lot and went boogie boarding in the ocean. The ocean is warm, but very salty. The waves were great. When you get out of the ocean your swim suit is dry in two minutes. We are now kicking back at another part of the island called Patong Beach which is great. They have everything here and I even got to eat pizza for dinner last night. Thai food is good, but pizza is the best.
I get to go to a school and teach a class of 1st through 6th graders here in Phuket. I am a little nervous, but it should be fun and interesting. Thailand is cool. I am having a great time and thinking about everyone back home. Click on "sign my guestbook" and leave me a message.
We left Ao Nang and took a snorkling boat trip the the island of Ko Phi Phi. On the way we stopped and went snorling at a place called Bamboo Island. There were so many fist it was like swimming in a fish tank. We also stopped at Phi Phi Ley where they filmed some movie called, "The Beach," which I have not seen. We went snorlking a bunch of other places and saw like a 100 different kinds of strange fish. We arrived in Ko Phi Phi and it was very hot and boring. We stayed in this dump motel that my dad found called the Gypsy Motel, which was cheap but had no air conditioning. We sweated all night long. I was very happy when I heard we were leaving the next morning.
We jumped on a boat to the island of Phuket.Phuket is way better than Ko Phi Phi. We ended up at this great hotel called the Coco Palace Resort. We were the only guests and it had a great pool that had a waterfall and hot tub. We also had an air conditioner. We stayed there for two days and swam a lot and went boogie boarding in the ocean. The ocean is warm, but very salty. The waves were great. When you get out of the ocean your swim suit is dry in two minutes. We are now kicking back at another part of the island called Patong Beach which is great. They have everything here and I even got to eat pizza for dinner last night. Thai food is good, but pizza is the best.
I get to go to a school and teach a class of 1st through 6th graders here in Phuket. I am a little nervous, but it should be fun and interesting. Thailand is cool. I am having a great time and thinking about everyone back home. Click on "sign my guestbook" and leave me a message.
Monday, June 25, 2007
Quick stop in Hong Kong and onto Thailand
Hello everyone. The 14 1/2 hour flight was tiring after the first five hours. When we got off the plane it was nighttime but it was way too hot. Like 95 degrees of something. After getting of the plane we caught a train, then a bus, then walked to our hotel. Then we unloaded our stuff and caught a ferry boat and then another bus, and then walked to the tram to the Peak in Hong Kong where you could see the whole city. We then walked back to the boat adn went to the other side of the island back to hotel and crashed out. The next day we cruised around on a double-decker bus in search of the annual Dragon Boat Race Festival.
We jumped back on the plane and 5 hours later landed in Bangkok, Thailand. Bangkok is a cool city with lots of motorscooters and tuk-tuks(1,000's of them at every intersection). After hanging for 3 days in Bangkok exlporing all the temples, the 100 foot standing Buddha, the Emerald Buddha, and the solid gold 14 foot Buddha, and the Grand Palace. The Thail people must really like this Buddha character. Then we took a bus to Hui Hin, right on the beach. We snuck into the Hilton Hotel's pool, that even had a waterslide. We missed our bus so we ended up staying at the Hilton. It was awesome and I got to swim all day long and play pool and ping-pong. We are now in Krabi after a 10 hour overnight bus ride. Today we jumped in the Inidan Ocean and rented a motorbike and got caught in a monsoon rain storm. I'm having a great time, I'll talk to you guys later.
We jumped back on the plane and 5 hours later landed in Bangkok, Thailand. Bangkok is a cool city with lots of motorscooters and tuk-tuks(1,000's of them at every intersection). After hanging for 3 days in Bangkok exlporing all the temples, the 100 foot standing Buddha, the Emerald Buddha, and the solid gold 14 foot Buddha, and the Grand Palace. The Thail people must really like this Buddha character. Then we took a bus to Hui Hin, right on the beach. We snuck into the Hilton Hotel's pool, that even had a waterslide. We missed our bus so we ended up staying at the Hilton. It was awesome and I got to swim all day long and play pool and ping-pong. We are now in Krabi after a 10 hour overnight bus ride. Today we jumped in the Inidan Ocean and rented a motorbike and got caught in a monsoon rain storm. I'm having a great time, I'll talk to you guys later.
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All my belongings
Ready for departure
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All in the family
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