October 12, 2009 – Day 291 – Agra, India

Up at the hour at which no one looks good, we headed out to the train station at 4:30AM. It was still dark and the streets were not as deserted as you might imagine.

Stunning

October 5-7, 2009 – Day 284-286 – Khujuraho, India

Got stuck here because train tickets are absolutely impossible to come by for the next few days. We left on the 7th destined for Delhi after a few very uneventful, rainy days in Khurjuraho. We will spare you the details and leave only crazy scorpion bugs.

Our roommate, Esteban

October 1, 2009 – Day 280 – Varanasi, India

With nowhere to go and nothing really to do, we spent the day hanging around the quiet ghat between Small Burning ghat (where they burn the bodies of the deceased and the ashes are swept into the river) and Assi ghat. It was a nice place away from the smoke.

Universal bath time

September 27, 2009 – Day 276 – Gorakhpur, India

So this is it: Today we cross into India. Taking a deep breath we got out of the rickshaw at the border and walked into the dust cloud, chaotic moving mass of our first taste of India. We had taken a local bus from Sauraha to the border and then a rickshaw the remaining 2km to the Nepali immigration office. It was a quick stamp out and we crossed unsteadily beneath the grimy once-white arch bearing the greeting in plain terms, “WELCOME TO INDIA.” Thanks…I think.

Inside the train station

September 6, 2009 – Day 255 – In transit China to Tibet

Very long, irritating train ride. Beautiful scenery, inconsiderate cabin mates (hard sleeper with 6 bunks; ours are bottoms this one and only time…ugh), looking forward to a real meal not consisting of almond crackers and oreos.

Saben on the train

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We met very few independent travelers in China. In fact we were told repeatedly by others travelers along the way that traveling independent in China was near impossible. So in light of that we thought we would put together a quick Travelers tip post on how to survive China.
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September 3, 2009 – Day 252 – Chendgu, China

Overall an unusually cruel and terrible travel day on a Chinese train. Got to Sim’s and finally we were able to collapse into the confines of a quiet room with movies and showers and a real meal that was not ramen noodles.

September 4, 2009 – Day 253 – Chengdu, China

Lots of errands to run today in preparation of our approaching Tibet trip! Gathering supplies and meeting our 2 travel mates to-be. Seem like cool guys. Laundry day!

September 5, 2009 – Day 254 – Chengdu, China

Saben is sick with Lin’s yak flu (sorry!) and took the day off. Laundry got rained on during the night and now not only smells weird but completely refuses to dry. This evening at 7pm we set out for the train station to embark on a 3 day journey to Lhasa, Tibet. It took 3 security checks, photos of our passports, and a smokey waiting room until we were ready to board our mobile home. Good riddance China, Tibet here we come!

August 23-24, 2009 – Day 242-243 – Beijing, China

Yesterday was a boring day for posting. Only exciting thing to happen was that we discovered we had bought tickets for the soft sleeper bullet train to Beijing despite our numerous pleas for “hard sleeper.” Granted it was a really, really nice train and it got us to Beijing in only 10 speedy hours.

Ahh now thats more like it

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July 26-27, 2009 – Day 213-214 – Guilin, China

This was a very bad day because we had to leave today and forgot to book ahead of time for our night train to Kunming. The 18 hours it was scheduled to last turned into 25 hours due to a landslide in this rather unpleasant seasonal weather (humid, hot, rainy, and generally shitty summer).

Yeah...thats ramen soup

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July 20-21, 2009 – Day 207 – Shenzhen, China

Due to the impracticalities of crossing the border needlessly, we arrived in Shenzhen via metro to the train station (direct train to LuWu Station from Kowloon, very nice) to find that there are no open spots available on the train to Guilin for today.

In the station

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