Jimmy and Mary Around The World

Valentine's Day at the Beach - Sharm el Sheik

2010-02-14T00:19:00.000-08:00

Sharm el Sheik resides on the southern most tip of Sinai where the Red Sea intersects with the Gulf of Suez and the Gulf of Aqaba. Based on this location you would imagine it a place very Middle Eastern to say the least.

The truth is however if there were ever a place where the East and West mingled freely Sharm el Sheik would have to be it. You see Arab women dressed in head to toe bathing attire swimming in the ocean along side topless Russian women. Everyone seeming to get along harmoniously.

I believe that you see this co-mingling of people not because we have found a blend of open minded people from around the globe simply sharing the sun together. But that it is a class and socioeconomic relationship. Only the wealthy of the world can afford to go on holiday. So lets assume that all of the Russians are at a minimum, middle class and same with the Arabs. People of similar socioeconomic status will always interact more freely with other people of that same status. It is counterintuitive at first, but how often do you see Warren Buffett actually on the ground in an inner city helping some kid with his math homework. It just doesn't happen, but you do see him on television having an interview with Chinese Bankers or Lunch with Arab real estate moguls. Economics and money trump national allegiances and create alliance not of people with their people but rather with other people with money.

Anyways we had a very wonderful time sitting in the sun and soaking in the ocean for three days in the clean air of the Sinai Coast. It was the perfect vacation from our vacation!

Swimming in the Red Sea

Walking to the beach

The giant Israeli built resort

Sunrise on Sinai

2010-02-01T04:12:00.000-08:00

We left Cairo on a bleak rainy afternoon via bus to the small desert town of Saint Catherine in the Sinai Peninsula of Egypt, bordering Israel and Jordan and surrounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, and the Red Sea to the south, the Suez Canal to the west and Sea of Arabia to the east. We arrived after seven hours on the bus, where we traveled through the town of Suez, under the Suez Canal and through the Feiran Oasis. We arrived in St. Catherine after dark, around 7 PM and were greeted by a friendly Bedouin man, the owner of the Beduin camp we arranged to stay in for the next two nights, the El Milga Bedouin Camp.

When we arrived at the camp we ate a small dinner and packed our bags for our venture out into the holy land in the middle of the night. We slept for a few hours before hoping into a truck and riding a couple kilometers down the road at 2:00 AM. By 2:30 we had found a guide, required by law due to the military presence in the semi-contested region, and were off into the night. The moon was shining brightly as it was the "Wolf Moon" of 2010, the brightest moon of the year. We could not have asked for a more memorable day for the climb up Mount Sinai (2,285 meters) locally known as Gabal Mousa.

We reached the peak in record time, just under 2 hours. We still had two hours before the sun was due to rise over the mountaintops of the holy land. We spent that time staying warm in a small and cozy Bedouin tent drinking tea and trying to understand the stories our guide so enthusiastically told.

Finally it was time for the sun to rise and we walked up a few stone steps to the highest point and watched as the bright red sun rose over the mountaintops to the East with complete awe. This is the very place that God spoke to Moses through the burning bush and provided him with the Ten Commandments, if you believe in the sort of thing. Regardless of your beliefs it was a truly beautiful place worth a visit.

We waited until the sun had fully risen and we began the trek back down the mountain. We opted to take the 3,750 stone "steps of penitence" through the valley down instead of the donkey trail we had taken up. It was nice to see the mountain from the other side, but the steps were often large and definitely gave you a good workout.

We spent another night at the El Milga Bedouin Camp having pleasant conversations about the Israeli Palestinian conflict with a French women, who volunteered in an Israeli kibbutz and British man who was recently denied entrance into Israel.

Overall it was really a beautiful little place that everyone should stay at when visiting Saint Catherine.

The "Wolf Moon" of 2010

Watching the Sunrise.

The Bedouin Tent that kept us warm.

Cairo for a Month

2010-01-03T06:58:00.001-08:00

Today marks the one-month anniversary of arriving in Cairo. Today we went to the Mugamma or government office to apply for our visa extension, to be allowed to stay in Cairo for another two months and be able to come and go twice without penalty. Our first month in Cairo has been a blast and flown by with miraculous speed. We have seen most of Cairo's tourist attractions and gone up to Alexandria to see the sights there.

We have also begun to learn Arabic. We have mastered most of the alphabet, except for those tricky letters, and are capable of sounding out most words, yet of course we never know what they actually mean.

After crossing three rather major highways we made it to our new Arabic language school, theInternational Language Institute or ILI. It is a pleasant building locating in the Mohandaseen neighborhood of Cairo. It is an older part of the city surrounded by small Sheesha bars and cafes. The school itself is recently remodeled and looks like walking into any small university in the States. There are 18 classrooms, a cafeteria, and Internet lab.

Well first we were supposed to take a placement test, to determine which class we should be put in, but of course we have no prior Arabic training and we were simply placed in the very beginner class, called pre MSA or pre Modern Standard Arabic. There are two types of Arabic language, Modern Standard or Fous-ha used in the media and academic texts as well as the Qur'an. Then there is Egyptian colloquial or Aameya, each country has their own Aameya, and it is the language of the people, the language spoken in the street. While Aameya and Fous-ha are different they are about 40% similar. Jimmy and I decided to learn Fous-ha because it is the version of the language that I need to know for my graduate language exam.

At the end of the first week we have learned our new alphabet and a few basic phrases. The pace of the class is quite fast and by the end of our two months of language training we should have a pretty good grasp to hold a basic conversation. However it seems like we have a very long way to go... at times it has been very painful! All I can think about is how long I studied Spanish and how I'm still not fluent yet. However I have to master this language in order to graduate from a masters program so I guess I will find a way to learn it. Jimmy and I have already looked into continuing our study back in Chicago next year. I think it is very romantic that Jimmy wants to learn Arabic with me. He is very brave when it comes to the language, speaking loudly and with no fear, even though it is quite challenging.

Today we get in a taxi outside our apartment on the way to the Mugamma and Jimmy tells the cab driver Mugamma fey Madam Tahrir and the cab driver starts to drive in the right direction. Along the way the cab driver pulls over next to a man in a suit and asks if he speaks English - the man says Aiwa, or yes, and then Jimmy say Mugamma again - the man thinks for a second and says MugammA, Jimmy says Aiwa - ohh MugammA the cab driver says and we are back on our way. One wrong stressed syllable and people have no idea what you are saying. And when you read a word there are invisible accent marks that you have to know to pronounce but cannot see!

The MugammA look like a 1970's large concrete government building. If anyone has seen the apartment complex in Whittier Alaska, it’s similar to that. Upon entry the building was abuzz with people, resembling a metro station or a beehive. We push our way through people up a flight of stairs to the second floor where we walked down winding hallways until we found a sign in English and a form under it for visa extensions. We found a pen filled out the form and waited in a line in front of window 43. When it was our tern the woman told us that we had to go to window 12 - her English was not very good and she spoke very fast. We went to window 12 and were then told to go downstairs and have our documents photocopied, so we did. Back upstairs the women at window 12 examined our paperwork and then told us to go get stamps at window 35 so Jimmy went to get stamps and when he came back the women told us our papers would be processed and we could come back tomorrow and pick them up from window 24! Jimmy was a little annoyed that things were not better organized but all I could think about was how this only took us about an hour and in Argentina when we had to deal with bureaucratic stuff like this it would have taken all day!

Jimmy and I have also been working out everyday, in preparation for Kilimanjaro. We work out before language school - usually around 7 AM - we are always the first and only people at the gym. Most people in Cairo do not work out; they would rather drive one block than walk. Which brings me to another interesting phenomena here in Cairo, Cairo is the king of "take away" anything and everything can be delivered - or take away as it is called here. McDonald's, Subway, Chili’s, TGI Fridays, traditional Egyptian food, ice cream, ANYTHING! It's crazy. The food is delivered by a man who has a moped with a little box on the back zipping around the city in 30 minutes or less. Orders are placed on the Internet and delivered promptly.

All in all our first month in Cairo has been pretty routine - workout, school, coffee, homework, dinner, Skype with the family. Weekends - sleep in, workout, laundry, a new teahouse, explore, dinner, movie. Its been really nice... maybe a little routine compared to what the last four months have been but its been good.

We will keep you all updated with the Arabic and any new adventures that occur, we love and miss you all!

Mary burns all of Jimmy's Clothes

2009-12-29T03:25:00.000-08:00

So our very kind professor mentioned earlier, Scott Hibbard, let us stay at his flat in Cairo while we searched for an apartment. So after spending a few days in Zamalek while searching for said apartment we came back to stay until we can move into our new flat on the first of the year.

So we decided to do a bit of laundry. Ali had just done a load of wash and we threw one in after his. Then we went out to dinner. When we got back from our dinner we decided to throw in just a few more shirts.

Everything seemed to be going just perfectly fine. Maybe thirty minutes later however Mary got up to go to the bathroom. When entering the bathroom she saw smoke rising out of the washing machine and called for Ali and I to come and check it out. We opened the machine and found our clothes smoldering with ambers askew.

Our travels around the world just seem to get more and more interesting as they continue!

Cairo The Beginning

2009-12-27T05:43:00.000-08:00

We hit the ground in style here in Cairo.

We hop in a cap and find our Professor Scott Hibbard's flat in Maadi a small suburb of Cairo. He generously puts us up for a our first week in Cairo and shows us around the town. There are two other DePaul University grads staying with our professor as well.

On our first day we went on a walking tour around Old Cairo and the Citadel. We saw a few different mosques and had a relaxing day.

Through these DePaul friends we met Siad who goes to DePaul but grew up in Egypt. Now Siad has hooked us up hardcore with entertainment and fun. We spent our second day in Cairo out on his boat on the Nile River enjoying the sun.

On the Nile at Sunset

On our third day in Egypt we drove with Siad and his driver up to Alexandria, and had a fantastic time. We started at the Library at Alexandria - the modern version. The old one is about 700 meters off the coast underwater. Then we took a long tour of the Alexandria Citadel. Then we went and had some amazing sea food at the perfect hole in the wall restaurant. Amazing shrimp pasta and soft shelled crabs. Then we went and stayed at his amazing seven bedroom villa.

The Citadel of Alexandria

The Alexandria Library

We then spent a few low key days getting oriented in our new city where we are going to spend three months learning Arabic. We signed up for language classes at ILI.

The next step was finding a new home. Our professor has been amazing but we couldn't stay there forever. So after viewing a dozen different apartments we finally settled on a quaint two bedroom in Zamalek, an island in the middle of the Nile River, and within walking distance of our new language school.

Our new flat

We spent Christmas Eve at the fancy Semiramas InterContinental Hotel, and treated ourselves to Room service. It was a fantastic decision and made being away from our families tolerable. We checked in to our room at 3 pm and didn't leave the room until 2 pm the next day. As we checked out of the hotel Santa Clause came waltzing through the lobby handing out candy canes. We were even surprised with some massages from Kathy as we checked out which we quickly scheduled and enjoyed thoroughly!

On the twelfth day of Christmas

2009-12-24T03:15:00.000-08:00

On the twelfth day of Christmas my true love gave to me... The twelfth floor of the Semiramas InterContinental Hotel a sleeping!

Negotiating the flat down by 1100 Egyptian Pounds so we can afford to live in Zamelek!

Ten flats in Cairo to look at before we find one we actually like!

Nine Countries a traveled in the last few months (Australia, Singapore, Vietnam, China, Mongolia, Russia, United Arab Emirates, India, & Egypt)!

Eight days of love love for Jimmy & Mary!

Seven taxis honking! (Cairo has seven million taxis wildly driving!)

Six cups of Tea in Cairo on the Islamic New Year, but unfortunately no skiing on Chair 6 back in Alaska!

Five continents in the last four months!

(North America, Australia, Asia, Europe, & Africa)

Four wonderful parents, but not four Christmas day dinners!

Three Lovely Sisters!

Two light backpacks!

and

One year abroad!

On the eleventh day of Christmas

2009-12-23T06:12:00.000-08:00

On the eleventh day of Christmas my true love gave to me... Negotiating the flat down by 1100 Egyptian Pounds so we can afford to live in Zamelek!

Ten flats in Cairo to look at before we find one we actually like!

Nine Countries a traveled in the last few months (Australia, Singapore, Vietnam, China, Mongolia, Russia, United Arab Emirates, India, & Egypt)!

Eight days of love love for Jimmy & Mary!

Seven taxis honking! (Cairo has seven million taxis wildly driving!)

Six cups of Tea in Cairo on the Islamic New Year, but unfortunately no skiing on Chair 6 back in Alaska!

Five continents in the last four months!

(North America, Australia, Asia, Europe, & Africa)

Four wonderful parents, but not four Christmas day dinners!

Three Lovely Sisters!

Two light backpacks!

and

One year abroad!

On the tenth day of Christmas

2009-12-22T10:57:00.001-08:00

On the tenth day of Christmas my true love gave to me... Ten flats in Cairo to look at before we find one we actually like!

Nine Countries a traveled in the last few months (Australia, Singapore, Vietnam, China, Mongolia, Russia, United Arab Emirates, India, & Egypt)!

Eight days of love love for Jimmy & Mary!

Seven taxis honking! (Cairo has seven million taxis wildly driving!)

Six cups of Tea in Cairo on the Islamic New Year, but unfortunately no skiing on Chair 6 back in Alaska!

Five continents in the last four months!

(North America, Australia, Asia, Europe, & Africa)

Four wonderful parents, but not four Christmas day dinners!

Three Lovely Sisters!

Two light backpacks!

and

One year abroad!

On the ninth day of Christmas

2009-12-21T10:29:00.000-08:00

On the ninth day of Christmas my true love gave to me... Nine Countries a traveled in the last few months (Australia, Singapore, Vietnam, China, Mongolia, Russia, United Arab Emirates, India, & Egypt)!

Eight days of love love for Jimmy & Mary!

Seven taxis honking! (Cairo has seven million taxis wildly driving!)

Six cups of Tea in Cairo on the Islamic New Year, but unfortunately no skiing on Chair 6 back in Alaska!

Five continents in the last four months!

(North America, Australia, Asia, Europe, & Africa)

Four wonderful parents, but not four Christmas day dinners!

Three Lovely Sisters!

Two light backpacks!

and

One year abroad!

On the eighth day of Christmas

2009-12-21T10:24:00.000-08:00

On the eighth day of Christmas my true love gave to me... Eight days of love love for Jimmy & Mary!

Seven taxis honking! (Cairo has seven million taxis wildly driving!)

Six cups of Tea in Cairo on the Islamic New Year, but unfortunately no skiing on Chair 6 back in Alaska!

Five continents in the last four months!

(North America, Australia, Asia, Europe, & Africa)

Four wonderful parents, but not four Christmas day dinners!

Three Lovely Sisters!

Two light backpacks!

and

One year abroad!

On the seventh day of Christmas

2009-12-19T12:47:00.000-08:00

On the seventh day of Christmas my true love gave to me... Seven taxis honking! (Cairo has seven million taxis wildly driving!)

Six cups of Tea in Cairo on the Islamic New Year, but unfortunately no skiing on Chair 6 back in Alaska!

Five continents in the last four months!

(North America, Australia, Asia, Europe, & Africa)

Four wonderful parents, but not four Christmas day dinners!

Three Lovely Sisters!

Two light backpacks!

and

One year abroad!

On the sixth day of Christmas

2009-12-18T08:59:00.000-08:00

On the sixth day of Christmas my true love gave to me... Six cups of Tea in Cairo on the Islamic New Year, but unfortunately no skiing on Chair 6 back in Alaska!

Five continents in the last four months!

(North America, Australia, Asia, Europe, & Africa)

Four wonderful parents, but not four Christmas day dinners!

Three Lovely Sisters!

Two light backpacks!

and

One year abroad!

On the fifth day of Christmas

2009-12-17T08:02:00.000-08:00

On the fifth day of Christmas my true love gave to me... Five continents in the last four months!

(North America, Australia, Asia, Europe, & Africa)

Four wonderful parents, but not four Christmas day dinners!

Three Lovely Sisters!

Two light backpacks!

and

One year abroad!

On the fourth day of Christmas

2009-12-16T00:59:00.001-08:00

One the fourth day of Christmas my true love gave to me... Four wonderful parents, but not four Christmas day dinners!

Three Lovely Sisters!

Two light backpacks!

and

One year abroad!

On the third day of Christmas

2009-12-15T10:03:00.001-08:00

On the third day of Christmas my true love gave to me... Three lovely sisters!

Two light backpacks

and One year abroad!

On the second day of Christmas

2009-12-13T02:04:00.001-08:00

On the second day of Christmas my true love gave to me two light backpacks!

and One year Abroad!

On the first day of Christmas

2009-12-13T01:39:00.001-08:00

In the spirt of Christmas Jimmy and I are writing the twelve things we are grateful for this year. Feel free to write in with what you are most grateful for this year. We love you all.

On The First Day of Christmas My True Love Gave to Me - One Year Abroad!

Dharamsala

2009-12-13T01:37:00.001-08:00

Our guesthouse, the Kunga Guesthouse was not open yet, but the milkman, who arrived at 6:10, assured us that the attached restaurant opened at 6:30. So we waited and soon enough the owner of the guesthouse came upstairs from his private residence and was very accommodating. He gave us tea on the terrace and the “best room in the house” which he said Cindy Crawford stayed in nine years ago when she came to Dharamsala. The room was on the fourth floor with a balcony looking out into the valley below all for only $10 a night! Jimmy and I watched the sunrise and then we crashed until noon, since I did not sleep at all the night before.

When we woke up we showered and walked around the down – it was amazing how Tibetan the people look. 80,000 Tibetan people marched over the Himalayan Mountains to Dharamsala when the Dali Lama was forced into exile here. Its so beautiful here and full of life – a stark contrast to the poor military controlled Lhasa in Tibet. We found a great coffee shop with free wifi – a first here in India and on top of that they serve large good lattes! And waffles. The Moonpeak Espresso is a must if you come to Dharamsala. We had dinner at our hotel, at Nick’s Italian Restaurant, where I had a large salad, which was great. Nick’s is recommended in the guidebook as the best restaurant in Dharamsala.

The next morning we got up early and went for a nice walk. Then back to the Moonpeak and now we are off to see the Dali Lama – well actually just his modest residence, a far cry from the Potala Palace in Tibet – but Jimmy is planning on seeing him. We leave tomorrow; unfortunately, we could stay here for a month as well.

When we arrived in Delhi it was so busy, dirty, and down right overwhelming that we didn’t really like India at first and could not understand why people would ever travel here. But after spending time in rural India we have a whole new appreciation for the country. I’m glad we had the opportunity to experience both aspects – we have learned something for everywhere we’ve been and are so grateful to have each and every experience – the bad with the good!

Rishikesh to Dharamsala (McLoed Ganj)

2009-12-13T01:36:00.001-08:00

Rishikesh is located 263 km northeast of Delhi; a quick four-hour train ride. The guidebook describes the town as the point where the "wooded mountains of Garhwal rise abruptly from the low valley floor and the Ganges crashes onto the plains. The centre for all manner of New Age and Hindu activity, its many ashrams – some ascetic, some opulent – continue to draw devotees and follower of all sorts of weird and wonderful gurus, with the large Shivananda Ashram in particular renowned as a yoga centre. Rishikesh is also as adventure sports hub, with rafting, trekking, and mountaineering all on offer. In addition the arrival of the Beatles, who came to meet the Maharishi in 1968, was one of the first manifestations of the lucrative expansion of the yatra pilgrimage to the town." Jimmy and I stayed at the Green View hotel set back a ways from the center of town next to the Niketan Ashram. It was a quite nice place with great views of the mountains as well as the many monkeys that hug outside our window on the surrounding trees. We arrived and were immediately hit with the sense of calm emitting from every nook and cranny. We spent the next four days sleeping, reading, sitting by the river, drinking coffee and ginger lemon honey tea and people watching form Devraj Coffee Corner. Most people were western and looked like they went into one of the local shops and came out with: Baggy pants of all colors, covered with a long flowing tie die skirt, layers of linen tops, Indian bracelets, henna, dreadlocks, galore. I too wanted to partake in this weird fashion experiment but Jimmy looked at me with big eyes and said “really”?! We spent every night doing yoga for two hours at the Omkarananda Gita Sadan yoga studio. Our teacher was great, a mixture of calm relaxation as well as intensive pushing to stay in the postures longer and stretch further. He really liked Jimmy and everyone in the class was impressed with how flexible Jimmy is for not being an avid yogi.

After four days our time was up, way to short, we could have stayed there for a month, but we had a ticket to go to Dharamsala and so we packed our stuff and spent our last night in Riskikesh admiring the exciting Hindu wedding that was taking place right outside our hotel. The party went on way into the night with great music!

We woke up the next morning, had coffee and went to catch a taxi to the train station. We were way early again! But it makes Jimmy more comfortable so… we waited for four hours at a small train station outside Rishikesh, it was not the main station that we arrived at but another smaller one just outside the city. The train was only suppose to stop for two minutes so we did need to be there early to make sure we got on. When the train finally arrived we quickly got on and showed our waitlisted ticket to the attendant he informed us in broken English that no second class cabins were available so we were relegated to the third class cabin, which our guide book said was supposed to be an experience! When we got on I was the only women in the entire car and was stared at for two hours until another woman got on. There was also only one lower bunk available so Jimmy and I were crammed in there together. Our train ride north was ten hours, most of which Jimmy slept but I couldn’t, I watched a movie, listened to music, etc. It was finally 2 am and I woke Jimmy up because we were suppose to arrive a 2:20. However we were not sure which stop would be ours so we went to find the train attendant who was sleeping. We debated if we should wake him up and finally did because we had no idea what to do and where to go. We finally woke him up and he came and opened the door of the train while we were pulling into a station and announced that we weren’t there yet. He then went and sat on our bunk and fell back asleep. A couple more dark stops went by and then we came to Chakki Bank, the train attendant sat up and gave Jimmy and nod as the train was slowing down. Jimmy looked at me and said just jump out. I looked at him and then felt the weight of 35lbs on my back – I am not going to jump I told Jimmy! I thought he was going to push me but the train started to slow and finally came to a stop. We got out and found many taxi’s outside at 3 am. We got one and asked to be taken to Dharamsala, a three-hour drive away. We got in an off we were into the night. Our driver got lost several times, which made me very nervous because the roads were all torn up and we drove through sever shanty towns. Jimmy was fast asleep but I woke him up at several points because I was sure our driver was taking us to the place where he was going to keep us and ask for a hostage ransom or we were about to be hit by a on coming truck! But alas we arrived safely to Dharamsala at 6 am.

Jaipur to Rishikesh

2009-12-13T01:13:00.000-08:00

Our second day with our driver was much better! We woke up early and spent the whole day seeing the tourist sites of Jaipur, the Pink City. It gets its name from the color that was used in the building materials of the structures throughout the city. Set in a desert landscape with tropical flowers popping up all around as well as a natural lake surrounded by a promenade on the northern end, which has a castle built in the center, Jaipur is actually a strikingly beautiful place. It is also made quite exotic with painted elephants roaming the streets alongside large camels pulling carts. And the most beautifully dressed women in vibrant colorful saris whipping by on the dozens of motorbikes that line the roads.

We started our day at the Amber Palace, set up in the hills above Jaipur built in 1639. The main entrance is a large open courtyard with a grand staircase leading into the palace on its southern end. The palace consisted of formal meeting rooms, guest quarters, royal living quarters, a hammam or Turkish style bath, and many gardens all spreading over three levels with a massive footprint. Everything was carved in stone. One of the royal entertaining rooms consisted of thousands of little mirrors laid in marble, which were to give off light at night when oil lanterns were lit. It was a truly beautiful site, inside and out, even day and night. At night there is a dramatic light show that runs from 7pm until 11!

The next stop was the Hawa Mahal or the Palace of the Winds, it was built in1799 to enable women of the court to watch street processions while remaining in hiding. The building is five stories and decked out with hundreds of finely screened windows and balconies. Again everything had extensive intricate carvings throughout the whole structure.

Next was the Jantar Mantar, an enclosed grassy park built in 1728 – 1734 by Jai Singh to hold his larger than life astronomical devises. The park looks like a large modern art installation with the largest sundial on earth as well as devises leading to the study of astrology, a very important element of Indian culture.

After walking through the park we walked across the street to the Jaipur City Palace, which was also built by Jai Singh in 1720, and is still occupied by the royal family of Jaipur today. The palace has not lost any of its original splendor, each doorway and gateway is heavily decorated, each chandelier intact and each hall guarded by turbaned guards decked out in full royal garb.

After spending two and a half hours wandering through the palace and its attached museum we headed for a late lunch at the City View Garden restaurant. Jimmy tried a new dish, not chicken curry, but Jaal Frezi, which is chicken with green peppers, onion and garlic in a thick red sauce, and we split a basket of Naan bread. Naan is the best food in India, safe, filling, and pretty much always the same. The funny thing about my love of Naan is that it started in Alaska! My totally cool dad brought me to the new trendy Nepalese restaurant – Yak and Yetti’s and that is where I had my first Naan. Now everywhere we go in India I have to order it!

After lunch we went back to the hotel for an afternoon siesta and a little reading and then it was time for dinner. Our driver took us to a great Indian restaurant where there was traditional Indian dancing. After a great dinner and a show we went back to the hotel because we had an early start in the morning – we were off to see the Taj Mahal!

The next morning we woke up early and drove for five hours to the town of Agra where the Taj Mahal is located. Agra has two stunning architectural features, the well known Taj Mahal commissioned in 1632 and finished in 1653 and the Agra fort constructed in 1565 -1573. We first visited the Taj Mahal and our driver arranged a guide to take us through. Our guides name was Lanna and she was quite knowledgeable and helpful. After buying our tickets she pushed us to the head of the every long line, cutting in front of a lot of people. She pushed Jimmy into the men’s line and we stood patiently in the women’s. I was a little shocked at this but wasn’t really sure what to say and when I went to open my mouth she quickly said, line to long, not enough time and pushed me up to the guard who checked my purse after I walked through a medal detector. On the other side of security Lanna started with the history of the Taj Mahal. It was interesting to note that the structure was built by a Muslim king, which I didn’t know, and that the city of Arga is a large Muslim center and the people are very well known for there inlayed carvings which they have been doing in Agra since the period the Taj Mahal was built. Also interesting was the king who commission the structure for his wife, Shah Jahan, wanted to have another palace tomb built for himself across the Yamuna River, that would be a black palace to contrast with the white Taj Mahal, however the kings son felt that his father had already spent to much time and money building the Taj Mahal and he had his father arrested and thrown in prison. The platform of where the kings black palace would be is still visible across the river. After the history lesson, Lanna was quite active in positioning Jimmy and I, to take our picture, which was very sweet of her. Then we walked up the twenty-two stairs and into the tomb. Lanna brought a mini flashlight to show us how the inlayed flowers light up when light is shown on them. The craftsmanship was amazing. As we existed Lanna told us that the structure on the north end of the Taj was a mosque that is still in use today and on the southern end was a guesthouse that mirrored the mosque in architecture to give balance. There were also beautiful manicured gardens throughout. After leaving the Taj Mahal we went to another factory to see how the marble is cut and designed. After a shorter but just as elaborate presentation, as we had at the textile factory, we said we were not interested in buying anything. We were then shuttled through five more rooms holding everything anyone could want to buy that seems “Indian” we left and got back in the car.

Our next stop was the Agra Fort which Lanna again gave a great history lesson on and after a couple of pictures and another glimpse of the Taj Mahal across the river we were off again for another long drive back to Delhi.

There was a lot of traffic and road construction but we made it back to Delhi around 8:30 pm and our driver dropped us off at our new hotel, the Royal Residency. We were a little nervous about the drop off, because our driver told Jimmy on our first night with him, were he got drunk, that his clients usually tip him $20 US a day for his services. He was an alright guy, I mean we were a little annoyed the first night, but other than that he was ok, but we didn’t feel that he deserved $60 in addition to what he was already getting. Especially when that is more that one days budget for us on this trip! When we got out of the car Jimmy went to shake his hand and he said where is my tip. Jimmy explained that he was just thanking him and then gave him his tip, which he seemed satisfied with as he drove off.

After settling into our room we went and had dinner and then came back to check the Internet. The next morning we were going to leave for Rishikesh and we had not heard from our travel agent if our train tickets from Rishikesh to Dharamsala made it off the wait list. Just as we were discussing this, a man at the hotel came up to us in the lobby and said our tickets had arrived and that we had a phone call. Our travel agent said our tickets were still waitlisted but to call and see what our status was two hours before the train was suppose to leave, he gave us the number and said our tickets were on the house, another sign we paid him to much, but oh well.

The next morning we were up early again, 4 am this time to catch our 5:30 train to Rishikesh. We opted not to shower because the Royal Residency was also the royal house of cockroaches, a common occurrence, that I am getting use to throughout our travels. The hotel arranged a taxi that took us to the train station; we were there early with plenty of time to find our train. Our train ticket was an electronic ticket, similar to what you print out when you fly, we went to the ticket counter to ask if we needed to exchange the piece of paper for hard tickets and when we were waiting in line a man came up to us and asked what we were waiting for, saying he worked at the train station, we explained and he took our ticket and looked at it. Then he explained that we needed to come with him across that street because our seats were in fact “WS” or what he said was a “waiting seat” and that we needed to have them confirmed. It was early and we were both tired and as we followed the man across the busy street I knew something was not right. Our travel agent had said that these seats on this train were good. When we got to the office another man examined our tickets and said we had to pay him $50 US to confirm the seats. That was it, I had, had it, I said we were calling the travel agent and we were not going to take this anymore, I was kind of yelling – but I was really pissed off, the man quickly gave our piece of paper back and said that our seats actually were confirmed and wrote a giant OK across our paper. We left the office and again crossed the busy street back to the train station. We found our train and boarded it. Later as we were on our way, the train staff brought us tea and coffee and breakfast, our WS was not waiting seat it was with service! However, even though Delhi was very frustrating we were on our way to peaceful yoga and so after breakfast we fell fast asleep and when we woke up we were in Rishikesh.

Jaipur

2009-12-13T00:16:00.001-08:00

This morning we woke up and had breakfast at the hotel. After breakfast we went downstairs and checked out and met our driver who would take us to Jaipur. We loaded our bags into the car and were off, the drive would take 6 hours our driver said. Jimmy and I immediately fell asleep and did not wake up until we stopped for lunch; our driver teased us that we slept so long. We had a nice lunch of chicken curry and naan bread and then it was back in the car for more driving. After lunch Jimmy and I were awake and the traffic on the road became more and more interesting to look at. Among the cars, trucks and bicycles that were on the road there were also monkeys and then camels and the Elephants! It was an amazing landscape as well green grass and vegetation and pink tropical flowers. Our driver was good, but pretty aggressive always using the horn and passing.

We arrived at our hotel around 3 pm and checked into our room, which we were informed was a suit and then we were given the key with a wink. We were then shown upstairs to our room, which is actually quite large and beautiful. After a quick freshening up we went back downstairs and our driver said he was going to take us to take photos of the towns old fort and the water palace and then he informed us we would go to a textile factory and then he invited us to his friends child’s birthday party. We knew we would probably have to go to some kind of factory or restaurant or something where our driver would get a kick back for taking us there so we went with it. After taking pictures we drove to the factory. We then listen to an hour presentation, a little over the top, of how pieces were made and by whom – we saw, both block art as well as intricate needle work done on both silk and cotton, done by poor and widowed women in the surrounding villages. I wanted to get a shirt and we looked around for Christmas gifts as well, skirts, shirts, shoes, blankets, pillow covers, and suits were all taken out for us to choose from, all at a “good price”. After settling on two shirts and one gift for someone back home we said we were done. Jimmy and I then decided that we might just want to go to dinner ourselves and skip the birthday party.

However, our driver would not here any talk of this and he then took us upstairs above the factory and started to poor beer and opened a bag of chips. He said that this was where the party was; Jimmy asked where the child was who’s birthday it was – our guide responded at home, Jimmy said “where is home” our guide said 100 km away! Then the owner of the factory came into the room and sat down to have dinner with us, the men drank and wanted to talk about America and business, mostly with Jimmy. Dinner came and we ate out of a communal dish with our hands and there was much talk of honesty and integrity and much drinking. Finally when dinner was over our driver was to drunk to drive us home, so the man so kids birthday it was, who ended up being the cook and waiter of our meal, basically the servant, had to drive us back to the hotel.

When we got back Jimmy and I just looked at each other – in disbelief of what just happened?

72 Hours of Mayhem

2009-12-13T00:04:00.000-08:00

We arrived in Moscow at 5 in the morning after our 77-hour stint on the train. When the train pulled into Moscow station Jimmy and I practically ran off the train onto the platform and into the semi fresh air! The train station was beautiful it looked like Monet's Arrival of the Normandy Train, Gare Saint-Lazare 1877, which hangs at the Art Institute in Chicago, the sun was just coming up and light could be seen in the sky through the partial glass roof, the steam of the train, the bustling of the people, the selling of pastries, we were totally mesmerized, we had arrived to a familiarity, similar to Europe. We quickly found the metro and were happy to learn that it started running at 5:30 so after a look around the beautiful train station we went to the underground. Unfortunately the train was running on a relaxed European schedule and did not arrive until 6. However we were not to annoyed due to the extreme beauty of the metro station, deep under ground – the deepest metro we had ever been in was decorated with stained glass, ornate lighting, classic and clean wooden benches with iron work on the sides, marble and tile made up the floor and rounded tube ceiling, it was truly a work of art, as was every other metro station we went to throughout Russia, complete with blast doors which made it a totally safe, livable bomb shelter constructed during the war. The trains were also classic, painted green, with attention to detail, and clean too! After boarding what we were pretty sure was the correct train, since all the stops were written in Russian and our guide book as well as the email we received from Hostel World confirming our hostel booking listed the metro stops in a Russian English. We went two stops as we were instructed to do, but when we came up to the street, it was twilight and we were standing next to a McDonalds. We had no idea where to go from there – the email directions made it seem like we were supposed to see the hostel. Jimmy suggested that we walk “this way” so we started to walk but blindly. We came to a large street and decided to hop into a cab. The cab driver drove for quite some time and through many winding back alleyways. Finally we arrived at the Godzillas Hostel, we would have never been able to find the place without the cab drivers help. Now it was time for the payment, throughout our travels, taxi drivers have shown to be overcharging scam artisst and should be taken warily, so when we asked how much it was, in a country we already new was very very expensive, we both cringed with anticipation. “How much you think” the cab driver asked us, “$5” Jimmy replied, “Deal” the cab driver said and Jimmy handed over $5 with a smile. We went inside the hostel and it was by far the cleanest, up to date, nicest hostel we had stayed in so far, and it should have been for what we paid for it, $70 for a double room! Our room was not ready yet so we took showers and stored our bags and went in search of coffee and a new adapter or possibly charger for the laptop that had been fried since day two of the train trip. Moscow was beautiful, everywhere I turned I wanted to take a picture, old apartment buildings, cafes, streetlights, and then we came to the Kremlin! Amazing. We walked and walked in search of an apple store, one side of the Kremlin and then back again, totally lost but loving it. We finally found a store, not the store, and bought a new adapter, we plugged the computer in and it worked! I was really worried it was totally fried, even though Jimmy told me repeatedly that it was not.

After our task was accomplished it was time for coffee, again another search. We finally found the Starbucks we were after on Arbat Street, a wonderful alley-like walking street with artists painting outside and its claim to fame, the Wall of Peace. We entered the Starbucks and walked up to the counter and to our surprise, nothing was in English – we had been traveling for three months and everywhere we have gone, even China had English, but not this Russian Starbucks or any other place in Russia for that matter. Russia was the first country we encountered where English was not spoken; it was a very rare occurrence when we encountered an English speaking person outside the hostels. So I tried to order my vanilla latte and a hot chocolate for Jimmy, the process took about fifteen minutes and finally some how got the point across to the barista, who continually spoke to me in very stern Russian the entire time. After our coffees we walked around some more, visiting the Cathedral of Christ Our Savior and other sites. The next time we looked at our watches it was 5:30, so we started to walk back to the hostel. However it took us quite a long time to get back because we got completely lost – we were so lost and tired and did not want to walk any more. When we got our bearings we found a place for dinner – again no English spoken, but picture menus, which worked just as well. We ordered some serious meat, which we were both really excited about since the food in China was basically rice 24/7. Jimmy teased me as I ate the sausage and sauerkraut that this was the food of my ancestors and he had never seen me so happy – the strange thing is I was totally happy, usually I’m a salad kind of girl but for some strange reason the totally greasy and unhealthy sausage was calling my name. After dinner we went back to the hostel and crashed, since we had been up since 4 in the morning.

The next morning we slept in late and when we woke up we laid in bed for a long time, not wanting to go get on another train, but also really wanting to see St. Petersburg. Finally we got up packed up our bags and checked out. The manager of the hostel wrote down the train type we wanted to take to St. Petersburg in Russian and we went to the train station to buy our tickets. After navigating the metro – which was really not that complicated but for some reason we kept getting lost we finally arrived at what we thought was the train station. After waiting in line for 20 minutes it turned out we were wrong and the correct train station was further down the street. Finally we arrived and again stood in line and when it was our turn we handed the piece of paper to the women behind the counter and she looked at it for some time and then started speaking to us in Russian. She went on and on and we just looked at her, thinking lady I have no idea what you are saying, and she just kept going. Finally she became fed up and put us on some train that was to leave from another station at 10 pm tonight for what we gathered. We went back to the hostel, grabbed some coffee and our bags and then it was time to go find our new train station. We were definitely leaving for the station early but Jimmy gets a little nervous still on the days we travel so we went early. We arrive at the station with plenty of time and read. Then it was time to board yet another over night train. However this train was first class all the way – it looked like a hotel inside, we had the top bunks AGAIN! But I didn’t really care because it was so nice; soon we settled into our cabins and fell asleep. Early in the morning I woke up and the train was stopped, there was no platform outside and I knew that St. Petersburg was the last stop so I didn’t think much of it and fell back asleep. A little while later Jimmy woke me up saying it was 9:30 am and we were suppose to arrive in St. Petersburg at 7. I told him about the stop and he was sure we missed it and we traveling on to some other city. I thought there were to many people still on the train for that to be the case and even though the train schedule was in Russian I knew it said St. Petersburg was the last stop. The hours ticked by and we had no idea what was going on, we talked to the women who shared the cabin with us and through sign language she said we would not be arriving until 6 or 7 pm. The train was apparently running late. There was no dinning car on the train and we did not have any food besides a Toblerone, which was consumed at about noon. Other people on the train were in the same hungry boat and finally the train made a detour to some small town and a large truck pulled up beside it and off loaded tons of food. Then the train attendants spent the next five hours making and delivering food to everyone on the train. We had chicken soup, and chicken with barley and bread. The whole experience was quite an ordeal. Finally when the train arrive there were many people on the platform and many of them ran onto the train to see there loved ones, carrying flowers and gifts, which was nice but seemed a little unusual since many people made the commute from Moscow to St. Petersburg regularly.

We found a cab and bargained the price down and were off to our hostel. We arrived at the Green Light a short time later and checked in by now it was 8:30 pm and we were both tired and a little grumpy. When we checked in, the hostel had lost our reservation and there were no double rooms and then they made us register our visas, which we were told you didn’t have to do if you were only going to be in a city for a couple of days. The registration process cost money and so we were both a little annoyed but then they wanted to charge us some kind of service charge, and then Jimmy got angry and said we were leaving. The women quickly apologized and said it was no longer a problem. After all this we went to our room and turned on our computer. The phone had had no service since we left Moscow and so we were unable to see the 15 messages we had. But we saw the emails. While I was reading – Please Call Home Immediately, Jimmy announced that the train before ours had blown up on it way to St. Petersburg, the train we were originally suppose to be on. I couldn’t believe it, terrorists in Russia, we could have been killed. All in all a very crazy experience. We called our family and told everyone we were alright and went to bed.

The next morning we booked a flight back to Moscow, not wanting to risk any further delays on the train because we had to catch a flight to Dubai the following afternoon. We walked all around St. Petersburg, which was a true European city, churches, palaces, art. We bought a black and white painting to remind us of our time in Russia, as well as a Russian doll. Finally it was back to the hostel to get our bags and off to the airport. The flight was short only 50 minutes and we were back in Moscow, it was 9:30. We got a bus that took us to the train station and then caught an airport express train to the city and then took the metro back to the hostel. By the time I was putting the sheets on our bed in another dorm room it was midnight.

The next morning we were up early again. I did a little work for graduate school, which I have still had a hard time focusing on and then it was off to the airport again for another flight. We arrived, had a quick coffee and then boarded our first Emirates flight ever. Emirates is the nicest airlines we have been on thus far, and I think it would be hard to beat, it is totally amazing. We had a great meal watched two movies and didn’t get any sleep.

We arrived in Dubai at 11 pm and decided to sleep in the airport, which was nice and had lounge chairs that we were able to snag and camp out for the night. Unfortunately my love of coffee got the better of me and I had a latte at 12:30, needless to say I didn’t sleep a wink. Jimmy got some sleep but not me I was up on the computer, reading, walking around and before I knew it the sun was up. Jimmy was refreshed and ready to see Dubai so we left the airport and headed into the city.

First stop, the mall of the Emirates, which was equipped with anything and everything you could ask for. We had yet another coffee; then it was off to see the indoor ski hill, which I thought would be lame, but was actually pretty cool. Then Jimmy got to hold a falcon that a man dressed like a Saudi prince was carrying around the mall. Finally we went to see some hotels, Dubai is kind of like Las Vegas, the hotels are amazing, right on the water and totally first class. By the late afternoon I was totally exhausted, something coffee could not even fix. So we took the train back to the airport and I passed out on the ride back. We made it through security and to our gate where I passed out again.

Then it was time to board another plane, again Emirates. We had another fabulous meal and another movie and then we were in Delhi, time 2:30 in the morning.

It took forever to get through customs, in the hot, un-air-conditioned room. Finally when we made it to baggage claim it took one hour! For our bags to get off loaded yes one hour. Then we walked out to get a taxi. We prepaid for one and walked with our slip out to the curb. A man approached us and said he would take us to the car, Jimmy followed, we were instructed to look for a black and yellow car and a black car with a yellow strip on the roof did pull up and Jimmy got in, I looked at him half asleep and said “are you sure this is the right cab”? He assured me it was and so away we went. Five minutes later we were stopped on the dark side of the road and our “cab driver” said he would be right back! I looked at Jimmy, slightly more alert now and said this is the part were they take us in the back ally and harvest our organs, Jimmy looked a little nervous as well. Our guy came back eventually and we got underway again. After two hours of driving “trying” to find our hotel and stopping at a travel agency that could find us a new hotel, Jimmy called our hotel for directions. Five minutes later we arrived at Tara Palace. Yet another scam to top off a very long 72 hours, it was now 7 in the morning. We checked in and the hotel informed us that we made our reservations for December 2, 2010! But they had a room for us. We went upstairs and crashed not waking up until 4:30 in the afternoon.

When we woke up I had terrible stomach cramps, I was sure that I had contracted malaria in my short time here in India. Jimmy was not convinced, he said I needed water and more sleep, so he went to get water and I slept pretty much until the next morning. When we woke up, we finally showered and decided to see India. We went downstairs and arranged everything for the next two weeks, trains, planes and automobiles. After everything was scheduled we visited the Red Fort and the cities largest mosque that was very near our hotel. Then we came back to the hotel and took an arranged car tour of the city. It was so nice to have someone drive us from place to place, the simplicity of the day was helpful, because we were experiencing a little bit of culture shock with the large amount of people, poverty and trash everywhere. Our driver even took us to dinner and waited for us. After dinner we went back to the hotel and were able to Skype with the family for a while. Everyone was good and we were glad were could talk. Finally it was off to bed because we had to get up early for another car ride – to Jaipur, the pink city.

Russian Soldier Forces

2009-12-12T05:34:00.000-08:00

Between Irkutsk and Moscow we went through a half dozen or so roommates in our four berth train compartment. First we had a pleasant elderly couple headed to there winter home in the middle of no where Siberia – it seems people would want to visit a nice warm beach in the winter but not this couple. They were with us for the first full twenty hours or so. Then after they left we had two young girls join us. They were only on for about eight hours or so and did not speak the slightest little word of English. After they left we got two new men and neither of them spoke any English at all but they had lots of tasty foods, which they willfully shared with us. This was very appreciated since we were now into about fifty hours on the train and had exhausted our food supplies and the dining car left a little to be desired. At last when these two men go off we were left with a good six to eight hours of privacy before they next group of people got on.

So there we were sitting down to dinner on our first night of the 77-hour stretch of train between Irkutsk and we were surrounding by a bunch of young men headed into Moscow for some military training after spending the last few months hunkered down in a Russian base in the middle of Siberia. They were ready to party and little did we know how much they wanted to party. So we started talking to these guys and working our way through a conversation of horribly broken English, but it was fun and the beers kept coming. And these weren’t just any beers they were 6% 24-ounce cans of intense Russian beer. So after about six of these we were having a lot of fun and the war propaganda movies were put on the TV and I was told that I was now a Russian soldier too. One of them then proceeded to take his shirt off and trade it with mine. So after eight beers or so I stumbled back to our cabin to find my beautiful Mary awake and reading and in no mood to deal with my diluted state of wellbeing.

Now a hangover is never a fun thing but usually a few Advil and a couple of glasses of water later you are ready for your day. Not this time – this time we were on a train for another full 48 hours and the train was going over a particularly bumpy section of track for a few thousand miles. This left the upset stomach and headache plenty of room to grow only worse as the day past.

So at last I learned my lesson and this is a lesson everyone needs to follow when riding on the Trans Siberian and drinking with the Russian Army – They have been in a bunker for the past winter doing nothing but shooting their AK-47 and drinking beer. Do not try and keep up with them and certainly do not except the last beer.

Trans Siberian Train - Ulaanbaatar Mongolia and Irkutsk Russia

2009-12-06T10:03:00.000-08:00

The Trans Siberian is the world’s longest set of trains tapping in at … kilometers and reaching from Beijing to St. Petersburg and even farther with a few connecting trains you can make your way virtually anywhere in Asia and Europe. We began our little adventure in Beijing after a few splendid days in China’s capital.

Our first stop along the way was Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. Now this is the world’s second most ugly city only after Chengdu. We stepped off the train after 22 hours to find ourselves in a terribly chilly -29 degrees Celsius. Now back home it gets that cold regularly but back home you get in your toasty warm car and drive wherever you need to go. And most people do that in Ulaanbaatar also, but not us we walked all around the city. Once you got out of the city though and into the Ger town (similar to Alaskan yurts) you get to truly appreciate the splendid scenery of the rolling hills and snow capped peaks. Our short stay in Ulaanbaatar was spent viewing a ceremony at the local monastery, walking around for brief moments in the frigid cold, and enjoying good coffee at Café Amsterdam. After just two days we were ready to move on.

We boarded the train again and with us came the entire merchant army of Mongolia with jeans and boots and coats and socks galore ready to be sold across the border in Russia. Now we were told to be careful and what not on the train but we had no idea it would be like this. There were people everywhere, stuffing clothes into the pillowcases. Tapping jeans around their calves under their pants. One women had a dozen socks squeezed down her shirt.

As we exited the car Mr. Kim, our hostels proprietor, told us for the third time “do not let anyone try to give you anything or have you hold anything or let them even put anything on your bed, I’m very serious, I’m very worried about you!” “Ok, Ok” Jimmy told him “thank you for the advice.” We walked across the street and into the train depot out of the cold. Mr. Kim’s friend got us our train tickets for a “good price” $80 US but when he gave them to us he regretted to inform us only the top bunks were the only seats left available – however he assured us that these were his personal favorite and were really “better” – better my ass I thought and quickly told Jimmy we decided that if our train was as empty as the last, then we would just move cabins – we would even pay if we had to. The train station however was packed; little did we know how packed. I quickly went to the bathroom and by the time I was back the station had cleared out. The train was not due to leave for 45 minutes, but people were quickly boarded so we followed suit. Once on board we found our cabin, I bunks 2 and 4. And someone had already been in there with boxes covering the beds. We put our packs away in the compartment above the bunks and while Jimmy was trying to arrange them, a woman came in with probably twenty pairs of jeans – unpacking some of them stuffing them into the bed pillows. As she did this she smiled at us – as we sat nervously facing her and her smuggling ways. A man poked his head in and he was carrying ten pairs of giant leather fur lined boots stamped with “Made in Mongolia” across the sole. The woman motioned to our beds and the man quickly began to pile the boots atop of our bunks. We quickly jumped to our feet trying to explain that we needed to sleep up there and the boots would have to find another home. More and more boots kept coming but luckily they were now going under the seats instead of on our beds. Three people were now in the room arranging the boots, one man had a notebook and was keeping inventory. More jeans came, socks, facemasks – outside our cabin blankets moved by and vests and purses, even the train attendants were storing goods in their rooms. Hiding anything they could. The man in our room seemed to be one of the leaders of this whole operation. Once the stuff in our cabin was mostly organized he closed and locked the door and stripped down and changed into what we were told was the Trans-Siberian uniform as mentioned in The Lonely Planet – The Adidas tracksuit. After he changed his phone rang which sounded like an orgasming woman and had what seemed like short business call. Then the door opened back up and circus began again! At first I was a little worried especially after watching the movie “Trans-Siberian,” but there seems to be some rhythm and normalcy imbedded in the madness.

Around 7:30 pm the women who had been stuffing jeans into our pillow cases got off the train at one of the stops and then it was just the man in the room with us, and periodically his friends giving him more items to store. Around 8:30 the man came into the room and tried to communicate with us that this women standing behind him in the doorway needed to hide. He put his two pointer fingers over his head to look like horns and gave a very menacing look as the women climbed but on the bunk next to Jimmy and moved our bags, which were stored in the overhead compartment, and then wiggled her way behind them. She was not a small woman mind you and I will never forget her frantically trying to get her very large rear end up into the compartment. The train attendant came around to check tickets and as I handed my ticket over our large stow aways eyes peered out from behind our packs and smiled. After the attendant was gone the woman climbed down and started helping arrange things just like the woman before her, except this women stored socks in her bra, she wore pants she was going to sell as well as boots and then she taped more pants to her legs underneath the jeans she was already wearing. I went to the bathroom a short while later and every Mongolian person on the train was wearing the same outfit, leather boots, jeans and a sweater, I didn’t know whom they thought they were fooling. As we pulled into the Russian boarder station the women looked at me and asked me to put jeans in my bag – saying “No problem, No problem” – I said “No thank you, No thank you” with a smile. She quickly stuffed the jeans under the bedding as the customs official slid open the door. The official looked around going to far as to pull open the roof of the overhead compartment and after what seemed like a very long time we all passed over our documentation. Our Mongolian guests declared nothing and after taking down our information the official moved on to the next cabin. There was a ceremonious high five and then everyone relaxed. It took about three hours to get across the boarder and once the train moved on into Russia the traders began giving all the merchandise back to the original owner, Jimmy and I fell asleep before the job was done. We woke up the next morning to the smell of sausage, cheese and beer – our Mongolian friends were passed out but it looked like they had had a feast before going to bed at who knows what hour. The train stopped a couple of times before we reached our destination of Irkutsk and whenever we pulled into a station the merchants would get off the train and try to sell their goods to those on the platform. We arrived in Irkutsk early in the afternoon, another couple from Mr. Kim’s hostel was also going to be staying in Irkutsk at the same hostel we were. We were all met by an employee of the hostel and transported by trolley car to the hostel. We arrived to a very communist looking apartment block and climbed three flights of stairs upon arriving to an old apartment that had been converted into a hostel with two large bedrooms, kitchen and one bathroom. That night we all went out to dinner – at a nice pub called the London Bar. The couple we were with, Greame and Stephanie were from the UK and had been teaching in Korea for the last year – they were so excited to be going home and to be able to finally find a proper pub. After dinner we walked home in the snow, Irkutsk was a beautiful little city and the snow made it even more enchanting – Jimmy made a snow angel. The next day we went with Greame and Stephanie to Lake Baikal, where we had lunch and walked around. Then we went back to Irkutsk and collected our bags and Jimmy and I were off to the train station once again. This time we embarked on our longest leg to the journey thus far – 77 hours straight on the train!

Trans Siberian Beijing – Ulaanbaatar

2009-12-06T09:49:00.000-08:00

It is currently 10:00 pm November 17, 2009. Jimmy and I are in berth 5 of train compartment II of train car 3 of a train headed north to Ulaanbaatar Mongolia. We boarded this train at 7:15 am and embarked on our journey a half hour later. Our journey within a journey – our journey throughout China, which lasted longer, than expected, is over – we traveled much of the county and saw both big cities and rural towns, nature and pollution. We also spent time with my mom and John. I miss mom, Martha and Mags right now – in the next compartment over, number II, a family of six has settled themselves in the four-berth cabin and the children are laughing – loud! They sounds so full of life and happiness, other than that the train car is mostly quiet, except for the noise coming from outside, as they are changing the wheels of our train over to the Mongolian size gauge. A process that occurs every Tuesday and Wednesday and is suppose to “protect” the country from foreign invaders, silly now when places could be taken out in minutes from the air. Just now Jimmy talks about resources being devoted towards the “war on terror” contributing to the financial crisis as stated in the book In the Fed We Trust which he has been reading for the last couple of hours on the iPhone. Crazy world we live in sometimes. The train is empty – the family of six and the woman in our cabin and that is it. Our roommate is about 40-45 I would say, has a large what I would assume to be Mongolian face – no eyebrows only tattoos, black curly hair and she was dressed in all black, leather boots, black pants, black fur coat and when we entered the car she dominated the space with her very large figure. She quickly changed into her “train attire,” baby blue thermal pants and top, green capri stretch pants, a red sweater and a large wool scarf rapped around her stomach. Quickly after we got on board we fell asleep and slept until around noon – with occasional bathroom breaks for me – my lame coffee made me have to pee. The western toilet was a little scary looking at first, it looked dirty but it was just really really old. Our roommate fell asleep to – it was early and freezing in the train, everyone was immediately under the covers, where were of little help. Jimmy and I had to cuddle close to stay warm. But eventually we had to move around – we readjusted ourselves and made some hot tea. We then decided to watch a TV show we downloaded in preparation for the trip – One Tree Hill. After two episodes it was time to go exploring. We walked through a cabin that looked like our but a little nicer and then! Through two cabin cars that were amazing – dark wood paneling, only two beds in each, with a chair, totally first class. Then we came to the dining car, which was also nicer than the others we had had in China. After a coke and a Heineken we ventured back to our cabin for some lunch from the snacks we brought for our ride – we had aunts on a log, gold fish, and some weak banana bread – nothing like Kitty’s back home – we love and miss you! After lunch we played cards, Spades, Jimmy won, he actually is pretty good and then reading and a little nap. Oh ya and by the way our roommate slept this whole time. When I woke up it was 5:15 pm – our roommate was up and staring at Jimmy like a juicy steak. I picked up the kindle and began to read deciding not to wake Jimmy and frighten him and I guess let our roommate continue her feast she looked so happy. The attendant brought customs forms, which we filled out when Jimmy woke up and then around 7 we went back to the dinning car for dinner. Our last meal in China was chicken, green peppers and onions sautéed in a sauce that tasted like nothing more that slat, and a small bowl of rice. After dinner we played several games of cards which Jimmy won at spades again and I won at gin, then we were asked to leave because they were “closing” which in China means its time for the crew to party. We went back to our cabin and decided to watch one of our movies “Just Married” about a couple on their honeymoon and the struggles they go through traveling together – they only new each other a year before they got married, even though Jimmy and I have been together for eight years now, some things about traveling can put a toll on the relationship – Jimmy’s good to me and knows that look I give him that’s its to dirty and to make sure he wears his shoes everywhere and at all times J. Halfway through the movie we stopped and the customs officials came on board and got our passports – then they took them – we weren’t to worried until the train stated to move again and we were passport less – the train attendants assured us the officials were on board with us – probably drinking in the dinning car – anyway we went a short distance to the place where they change the wheels and here we are. Shortly there after we got our passports back, got off the train and bought some water and then it was back on to go back to sleep. We got to Ulaanbaatar the next day in the afternoon and it was -15 outside! We were really in Mongolia.