September 28, 2009 – Day 277 – Varanasi, India

The train was late getting in by a few hours but it afforded us some honest views of India. Rolling into the station we were faced with flattened piles of garbage covering acres of land in which people walked, shat and lived. Stray dogs and children pick over the garbage on the ground, chaotic traffic on the roads below with horns blaring for any or no reason at all, cows and goats roam the city and life in general moves furiously and noisily all around.

Peanut Vendor on the ghats

September 16, 2009 – Day 265 – Kathmandu, Nepal

A wasted day in the Indian embassy waiting to pay for a single sheet of paper that may or may not result in an actual Indian visa. For a more exciting evening, we reached back to our Tibetan roots (ok, well, not technically) and visited the Baudha Stupa.

Taxi to the Stupa

September 12, 2009 – Day 261 – Tibet

Woke up smelling like a smoked yak. Compliments of the incompetent woman who can only seem to produce smoke instead of fire and her endless piles of unwashed yak scented blankets. Every time the fire would start to get going she would douse it with a health heep of sheep shit until we finally had to tell her to stop and just let it be. It was better to be cold than to die of smoke inhalation.

Everest in the Morning, Tibet

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September 11, 2009 – Day 260 – Everest Base Camp, Tibet side

A full day of driving with only a few stops along the way. Lunch was in a tiny unpleasant town with nothing to offer but a warm, cheap meal. We had traditional Tibetan noodles, a kind of thick noodle soup in a yak broth for about $0.45.

Everest at night

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August 22, 2009 – Day 241 – Shanghai, China

Through the splattering of fat rain drops descending upon our heads, we still managed to have a good time dodging the crowds at the “antiques” market (tourist market with overpriced souvenirs and trinkets, very few antiques, and huge crowds) next to Yuyuan Gardens.

Stuck in the downpour

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June 14, 2009 – Day 171 – Goreme, Turkey

We clamoured up the hill past the stunning wildflowers of pink, purple, vibrant blue, and bursting yellow. It was our first outdoor glimpse of the countryside. In the morning light it was even more splendid and just unbelievably beautiful. Having surveyed our surroundings, we slid back down the hill and crossed the road. We traveled along a tiny stream running alongside the road lined with more wildflowers. (for more on Cappadoccia click here)

The Hill

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June 4, 2009 – Day 161 – Amman, Jordan

After a wretchedly smelly 3 hour mini-bus ride with our luggage stacked on top of our laps, crammed into tiny bus seats and enclosed on either side with people who do not wear deodorant (not a dis but merely a statement of fact) in the hottest climate on earth where a person breaks a sweat just sitting up in bed in the morning, we were more than happy to arrive in Amman and breathe some fresh air. Did I mention that everyone closed their bus windows because they were a bit “chilly” while we suffocated and sweat buckets in the back corner of a tragically packed, stinking, smelling bus?

Well, we grabbed a taxi to a cheap hotel and enjoyed the ”high” option of our ceiling fan and watched TV movies all afternoon, barely leaving to feed ourselves. It’s nice to have a day to not do anything. This heat really saps all our energy and desire to do anything at all. Well, except watch English TV…

Day 18 – Travel day – Panajchel, Guatemala to Flores, Guatemala

We decided to cut out of Panajchel. It’s pretty boring and very touristy, very much not our kind of place. So, we bought a bus ticket up to Flores to see Tikal (the whole reason we came to Guatemala). Read the rest of this entry »

Day 14: Antigua, Guatemala

Got into Antigua around noon and after checking into the a really cool hostel (Hostel 5, $7 per bed with breakfast and in-room unlimited WiFi included!) we grabbed some much-needed lunch at Piccadilly’s (not very local, I know haha) for a surprisingly good price. We heard the bustling down then street and just had to check out the huge outdoor market! Read the rest of this entry »