CHASE THE RISING SUN

Highway to Hell...

2009-02-11T05:27:00.001-08:00

The horn screamed, 4am fever, Nepalese music blasting. Just sleeping was an enlightening experience, the noise hurled me awake into jerk reality like limp being torn from a joint. Rivets clicking and clanking, brakes screeching, arms being crushed into rickety armrests, up, down, up, down and so it went on and on, the saga of the non existent road, an endless wild ride. I looked down and life flashed before my eyes, I almost forgot about the gapping rusted hole in the floor board, wheel just below spinning like mad and tons of gravel belting by just waiting to consume clumsy feet. I gasp for air violently awoken from a blissful intoxicating sleep induced by the monotony of diesel engine rhythm. My lungs filled with white smoke filtering in from the cracked windows and holes in the floor, Shiva must of went to war with that rickety old bus. My eyes still blurred from sleep slowly come into focus, the shock of reality! Cat Stevens is in my head singing, "tell me where do the children play?". Now awake I realize it's 5am, the sun is barley coming up and that cloud of smoke that is embedded in my lungs like a blood sucking tick committing me to sing chorus after chorus of coughs is burning trash. A viole stench of charred plastic bags and human waste fills the air. The horn blazes again, my body is pulled this way and that in unnatural contorted positions, stomach in a seaman's knot as I scan out the window into the morning haze. The semi focused images look like a war zone, buildings falling to pieces, fire in the streets, animals roaming curiously searching the heaps of flames for scarps of food. Suddenly it all becomes clear as if awaken from a 36 hour nightmare, we have finally arrived... the bus comes to a screeching halt and an almost incomprehensible voice belows, "DELHI, LAST STOP."

India Indeed. Indeed India

2009-02-10T04:35:00.000-08:00

India. They say you either love it or you hate it. There's no in between. It's a country of extremes; there's no room for gray zones.

I was scared to travel there, even after traveling for 8 months through some pretty rough countries, I still wasn't so sure about it. But I had plenty of time to mentally prepare myself. We had a 2 day delay in Kathmandu due to strikes that shut down the city. And then we had a 36 hour bus ride to Delhi. Yes. 36 HOURS. On a local bus that was so old that the floor was rusted out so badly that you could see the road racing below your feet. (Step gingerly!) In such disrepair that the seats were no longer bolted in place, so our necks were sore with whiplash. And the seat cushions were so worn down that our butts went numb after the 1st hour (only 35 more to go!)

But India. Definitely the most disgusting place I have ever been: The streets are filled with street cows and stray dogs whose main dietary sustenance comes from the overflowing trash heaps, which then roughly travels through their digestive tracks only to be released again on the narrow streets where people walk, sleep and sell vegetables. But! it is also filled with some of the most beautiful palaces and forts in the world, with intricate wood carvings, glass inlays and marble sculptures. Really incredible sites!

India is just a country of opposites. There seem to be no road laws. People will regularly drive up the wrong side of the road, playing chicken with the oncoming traffic and swerving away just in the nick of time. And we had a taxi driver once who was 20 years old and had been driving cabs without a license for over 9 years (do the math). But, when you break a simple rule - like say, slipping through the turn-style in a metro station - they threaten you with guns and jail time. Let me elaborate...

Michael and I were running off to the airport. We bought our 9 Rupee (about 10 cents) token to ride the Metro, and then proceeded to the turn-style. However, when Michael tapped his token to the machine, it failed to open. So he returned to the line to request a new token. He brought his new token to the turn-style and again X! It wouldn't open! He tried 2 more times with 2 more tokens and X! X! The darn thing wouldn't work! After these 4 tries - turn-style, back to line to get knew token, turn-style again, etc. He'd had enough! So when the next person walked through the turn-style, Michael just slid in behind him (it's good to be thin). He took about 10 steps and looked up to see 3 armed men with automatic weapons running at him! They surrounded him and grabbed him by the arm and dragged him off to the security office! Seriously. In the office The Man in Charge says to Michael incredulously, "Why would you do that?!" Michael was flabbergasted (that's a fun word). I mean really. Michael tried to explain the situation, showed the Man in Charge the token he had legitimately bought - the re-issued token that the Man in Charge had even given him! But the Man in Charge still proceeded to scold Michael on the rules of the rail. "There are no excuses. Everyone must use a token to enter the turn-styles no matter how long it takes to get one that works yada yada yada..." The Man in Charge offered Michael a choice: either pay a fine of 200 Rupees (about $4) or spend the night in jail! All the while, I was standing outside the office watching this all happen, completely flabbergasted (I just wanted to use the word one more time). I was ready to refute the charges, but Michael, being on the wrong side of a loaded weapon, conceded to paying the ridiculous fine. Well, fine enough then.

Well, we'll leave it there for now. Tune in next week for the continuation of The India Chronicles! (Does that sound exciting? There are so many more stories to tell. I want to make you all feel hooked like they do on t.v. Maybe I'll just end with...)

To Be Continued....

Lotus Temple (India) Meditation Mantra

2009-01-16T08:11:00.000-08:00

In the womb
white blooming lotus
metal beams reach
high to the heavens
through the window view
birds fly
mocking the concrete
black dots
paint the blue sky
outside

Sun reflecting
off toxic blue pools
a surreal solitude
in there
consuming all faiths as one
an unnatural high
worshiping the natural
like a blind third eye

Metal mental illusion
what is real?
close to god, harmony, spirit
pristine cement flower
withering in contradiction
how can faith be fertile
in something so sterile?

Close your eyes
slip into the void
blackness
nothing (everything is nothing!)
quite
the smell of feet saturates the air
penetrating thought
cough
echo
kid yell
...wake up

Lazy beach bums!

2009-01-16T07:58:00.000-08:00

Sawadee Krap everyone!

Sorry for our laziness on the blog updates, we have been in Thailand for the past month and have been to busy not being busy... Needless to say India was crazy and tiring. We have ALOT of great stories, coming soon I promise.

We'll keep you posted.

Much Love,
Michael and Lauren

P.S. I did and interview recently (while I was in India) with CoinOp (Pinball Publishing's Graphic Culture Catalog) Check it out if you'd like: http://www.pinballpublishing.com/coinop/archives/1139

The Climb

2008-11-18T00:00:00.000-08:00

Buddha's eyes stare down,
mountain top stupa,
you down there
climbing east
up, up, up,
down, up, down
Nepali flat

At night
after dal bat and rice
the high ground
seems upside down
candle light flames flicker
from the hills below
mimicking the stars

Holy Hills and Hot Showers

2008-11-17T23:45:00.000-08:00

Drops dance off pine,
dew,
damp moss covered cedar,
high peaks whistle up there,
silent solitude
mighty tonga's - grandfather stones
watching patiently,
as us hacks huff up hills,
searching for dharma

Light beams in streaks,
sneak through holes in the clouds,
and I say, "It must be a sign from god."
Om Nama Shiva-
there's gonna be hot showers tonight!

Dirt Dharma - Kathmandu, a love poem

2008-11-17T23:26:00.000-08:00

Oh Kathmandu,
how your dirty streets sing to me,
Horns honking like mad from rust box death traps
or ramshackle rickshaws,
QUICK JUMP!
We almost got smashed by a maniac on a motorbike,
three, four, lost count,
wife, brother, child and driver on there

Aimlessly wandering down the broken cobble stone,
weaving through people,
leaping over puddles, burning trash,
dazed by the rainbow haze of signs,
directing you this way and that,
turn the corner,
find something new,
it's all so wild

we press on
through the cloud,
trying not to choke on smoke,
as the sun sets behind the hidden peaks

Oh Kathmandu,
your power cuts inspire
spontaneous romance, candlelit dinners
our mouths water for cheap curry and chipati's,
as we dodge rickshaws and tigerbalm salesmen
hashes? hashes?
trying not to blow our load
on mandalas and turquoise prayer wheels

By Michael Crigler written in Kathmandu at 3am

It's just so Nepal-ing!

2008-11-16T21:48:00.000-08:00

Throughout our journey through Nepal we have had the opportunity to experience some amazing things: we witnessed the cremation of the dead on the banks of a river; we flew in a small prop-plane across the Great Himalayas to view the imposing Mt. Everest; we spent 3 days white-water rafting down the Seti River; we trekked Chitwan National Park in search of rhinos, tigers and the ever-illusive yeti; we rode bicycles, weaving our way around cars, motor bikes, cows and buffaloes in the streets of Pokhara; we have danced with school children in a park framed by snow-capped mountains; we have walked, climbed and hiked for days, and we have ridden in local buses winding precariously up mountain roads. It was been a wonderful ride, if not a bit exhausting. But what has really made our time in Nepal so exceptional are the people we have met along the way. That's who this blog entry is about.

Nepal is known for its hospitality and warm nature. The people of this country are known to be some of the friendliest in the world - and we would definitely have to agree with that. We have, of course, had our run-ins with some pretty awful people (i.e. boob-grabber), but overall we've had a great time with the Nepali people.

Nepal is a developing country and most of the people here live hard, basic lives. Like many developing countries, Nepal has had a pretty tumultuous history. Right now it's in the middle of a huge transformation. It was the last Hindu kingdom, but in May they booted out their king and are now in the process of forming a new democracy. The Maoists are in power. When asked about the new government most people react with nonchalance - "We'll see..." tends to be the general response.

Kathamndu, the capital, has been exploding with people moving in from the small villages either fleeing the fighting in the west (there are several militia groups that have been fighting for power) or in search of better jobs. Kathmandu is a huge urban center and the people here seem quite metropolitan. It's not until you start talking to them that you realize that most of them come from remote villages on far off mountains. Most Nepalese tend to be pretty laid back, in general (well, except for the woman we bought some Mandala paintings from - she was freaking us out!). And their humor doesn't really translate. But, boy, they sure are nice!

When walking through the villages, most of the people will smile warmly and greet you respectfully. Sometimes, if they speak a little English, they will ask you where you are going and where you are from. Every child knows how to say "Hello give one pen!" It's kind of like their mantra. Sometimes they will ask you to take their picture, but then they usually want money. We don't like to support that type of "begging", so we've never paid to take some one'sphoto (that's why we have no pictures of holy Hindu Sadhus). All the pictures we have of people were taken with their permission and then thanked graciously. And it's really all in fairness: when we were in the wonderful World Heritage town of Bandipur there was a school class of 16 year old girls there, visiting from Chitwan. There were about 15 girls and their teacher. One of the girls asked to take a picture with me, so of course I posed with her. But then the whole group wanted to be in the picture, too. So I posed with all of them for each of their cameras to snap the picture. Then they all wanted a picture with me individually. So I posed with each of them one at a time.

And then there was the Indian woman in Pokhara who wanted a picture with me. I guess she didn't speak English, because instead of asking me, she just stood in front of me, pulled my arm around her shoulders and smiled for a camera!

And right after that Michael and I were sitting on a bench (watching the sunrise from behind the Annapurna Range of the Himalayas) when we turned around to see a whole group of Japanese tourists taking our picture. So strange.

We did get to know some of the locals pretty well, and they told us their stories - these stories are made of the stuff people base books on!

Let's take our rafting guide Dil. He speaks great English, dresses really cool and owns a successful rafting company. All amazing feats when we learn that he grew up in a small village on a river in the lowlands of Chitwan. His father died when he was a child, so he lived with his mother and 4 sisters. When Dil was 11 he left home for Kathmandu (without telling his mother!). He arrived there with no money and no contacts. He spent 4 cold nights sleeping on the streets before finding work hauling bricks in a basket strapped to his head for a construction company that paid him with food and a place to sleep. It just so happened that the building that was being constructed was an office for a rafting company. The owner of the company - a single man with no children - took a liking to Dil and made a deal with him. The man paid for him to go to school and gave him a weekly allowance. In return Dil would stay off the streets and go work for him when school was not in session. Dil started rafting when he was 13 years old. He apprenticed for 4 years and became a guide by the time he was 17 (he's now 32).

And the guy we bought some antique Bhutanese tapestries from. Just 5 years ago they built a road to the village where he's from 80km east of Kathmandu. Now it's just an 8 hour bus ride and a 3 hour walk to his home. Before the road, his family had to walk 15 hours to get to Kathmandu (they would leave around 6 in the mourning and arrive around 8 pm - walking the entire day!)

The guy who fixed my dread locks, Suneen is 19 years old. He's studying business at the local university. He comes from a pretty "well-to-do" family. His brother moved to Colorado 4 years ago to go to university - and has not seen any of his family in all that time. Suneen will probably never get to travel abroad and even though he would love to live in America, he most likely will not. Only one child per family gets to study abroad (fair enough). It's now Suneen's responsibility to take care of his parents as they grow older. (He showed me photos of his family - his 88 year old grandfather has beautiful blue eyes!)

I wish I could transport you all here so you could experience Nepal for yourselves. My words and even our pictures (when I get them uploaded) don't do this country and its people justice. I think this has been our favorite country, so far. It hasn't been a perfect visit - there have actually been a few instances that were pretty awful that I haven't written about yet - but the diversity and beauty of the landscapes and the amiability of the people have made our time here really unforgettable!

Never Take for Granted the Top of a Mountain...

2008-11-15T22:16:00.000-08:00

Nepal is like the trekking capital of the world. People flock here from all over the world to hike the numerous and varied mountain ranges. There are treks that can take up to 3 weeks - The Annapurna Circuit and the Everest Base Camp. We chose something a little shorter - the Helambu Trek - which took us 1 week. It was a pretty intense hike with steep inclines; some days spending 3 or 4 hours of straight uphill. On day 1 my my right ankle was sore and by the end of the day it was purple and swollen. I spent the rest of the week limping up the mountains with my ankle wrapped in a bandage and a bamboo pole as a walking stick. I felt really old.

The trek took us through a diverse landscape of rice terraces and deep green valleys, moss-covered trees and flowing waterfalls, past picturesque monasteries and gompas. We stayed in remote village teahouses where the accommodation was as simple and basic as you could get. The nights were cold and there was never any insulation in the buildings. Fresh running water could only be found in outside wells and could never be drank. Showers didn't exist; to bathe we had to pay usually about 50 Rupees (a little less than $1) for a bucket of hot water. Electricity was rare and when it did run it was used for a single light bulb in the common room where we ate our meals. All the toilets were squat toilets. And at least one teahouse was literally infested with cockroaches! The people lived simply in these villages - and I use the word "village" loosely. It was usually just a single family living on a secluded mountainside with no roads in or out - the only way to get from point to point was by the narrow, rocky foot trails. Chickens, goats, cattle and buffalo (I'm really bummed I never saw a yak) roamed freely around the teahouses.

The days we spent on the trek were long and exhausting. Most days we spent between 6 and 8 hours hiking. Day 2 was our longest day. We started in a village called Chisipani (meaning Cold Water) early in the morning and walked for about 10 hours, mostly uphill. As the sun started to set that evening, a cloud moved in around the mountain and we found ourselves walking in a fog so thick we couldn't see 10 feet ahead of us. Then we felt a drop of water. And then another and another and then the sky just opened up and poured freezing cold mountain rain down on us! The guide told us we were only 10 minutes from our teahouse. Michael made a run for it - as best he could. By now the sun had disappeared behind the mountain and the trail had turned into a muddy river torrent. I didn't have my headlamp and waded slowly through the trail. One of our porters, Gokol a Brahmin, caught up to me and grabbed my arm to help guide me through the river-trail. He was carrying 20+ kilos on his head and he was holding me up and helping me not to slip - and he was at least 4 inches shorter than me - and he was just wearing flip-flops! These porters are just incredible! We arrived at the teahouse about a half an hour later, soaked to the bone. But there was a warm fire waiting for us and there was peanut butter on Tibetan bread for dinner!

Nothing else too exciting happened during our trek. Gokol the porter idolized Michael and followed him everywhere, picked him flowers and gave him an Avril Levine pin. The guide kept our minds occupied while we climbed by teaching us Nepali. I now know how to say "What's your name?" (Toepai Ko Nam Kiho?) "Are you OK?" (Toepai lai tchick-sa) and "Don't be lazy!" (Timi alchi nagara)

I discovered a couple things about myself on this trek: first, people who grew up in a state with barely one mountain have no business spending a week hiking in the Himalayas, and if I was to ever attempt to climb Mt. Everest I would definitely be the one to not make it back. I did have a wonderful time, but I will never consider things like hot showers, insulated homes, electricity, and western toilets anything less than luxuries ever again!

A lion posing for us in the Serengeti, Tanzania

2008-10-26T02:16:00.001-07:00

Tanzania, originally uploaded by chase the rising sun.

I am going to do a series of picture blog entries from our travels through Africa. Check out http://www.flickr.com/photos/chasetherisingsun for more pictures of our adventures and feel free to make comments.

Funny sign in Tanzania

2008-10-26T02:13:00.001-07:00

Tanzania, originally uploaded by chase the rising sun.

Ngorongoro Crater, Tanzania

2008-10-26T02:09:00.001-07:00

Tanzania, originally uploaded by chase the rising sun.
I am going to do a series of picture blog entries from our travels through Africa. Check out http://www.flickr.com/photos/chasetherisingsun for more pictures of our adventures and feel free to make comments.

Lauren being all sexy in Zanzabar, Tanzania

2008-10-26T02:02:00.001-07:00

Baobab Valley, Lauren's favorite trees, Malawi

2008-10-26T02:00:00.001-07:00

Malawi, originally uploaded by chase the rising sun.

Lauren even joked (I hope) about naming our first child Baobab Banyan Crigler... oh boy.

I am going to do a series of picture blog entries from our travels through Africa. Check out http://www.flickr.com/photos/chasetherisingsun for more pictures of our adventures and feel free to make comments.

Hanging out with some kids on Kande Beach, Malawi

2008-10-26T01:57:00.001-07:00

Malawi, originally uploaded by chase the rising sun.
I am going to do a series of picture blog entries from our travels through Africa. Check out http://www.flickr.com/photos/chasetherisingsun for more pictures of our adventures and feel free to make comments.

Chillin' at lake Malawi, Malawi

2008-10-26T01:54:00.001-07:00

Malawi, originally uploaded by chase the rising sun.

I am going to do a series of picture blog entries from our travels through Africa. Check out http://www.flickr.com/photos/chasetherisingsun for more pictures of our adventures and feel free to make comments.

White water rafting down the Zambezi, Crazyness, Zambia

2008-10-26T01:50:00.001-07:00

Zambia, originally uploaded by chase the rising sun.

Exploring Victoria Falls, Zambia

2008-10-26T01:42:00.001-07:00

Zambia, originally uploaded by chase the rising sun.

A family of elephants, Botswana

2008-10-26T01:40:00.001-07:00

Botswana, originally uploaded by chase the rising sun.

Exploring the Okavango Delta, Botswana

2008-10-26T01:33:00.001-07:00

Botswana, originally uploaded by chase the rising sun.

Bushwalking with the Sans People, Botswana

2008-10-26T01:30:00.001-07:00

Botswana, originally uploaded by chase the rising sun.

I am going to do a series of picture blog entries from out travels through Africa. Check out http://www.flickr.com/photos/chasetherisingsun for more pictures of our adventures and feel free to make comments.

The Lone Lion, Etosha Park, Namibia

2008-10-26T01:27:00.001-07:00

Namibia, originally uploaded by chase the rising sun.

Giraffes drinking, so funny! Etosha Park, Namibia

2008-10-26T01:25:00.001-07:00

Namibia, originally uploaded by chase the rising sun.

Lauren hiking in flippies on the saltflats, Namibia

2008-10-26T01:23:00.001-07:00

Namibia, originally uploaded by chase the rising sun.

Reading Henry Miller at the..., Namibia

2008-10-26T01:20:00.001-07:00

Namibia, originally uploaded by chase the rising sun.

The beautiful Namib Desert, Namibia

2008-10-26T01:18:00.001-07:00

Namibia, originally uploaded by chase the rising sun.

Bushwalking through the Namib Desert, Namibia

2008-10-26T01:15:00.001-07:00

Namibia, originally uploaded by chase the rising sun.

Sunrise on top of Sand Dune 45, Namibia

2008-10-26T01:10:00.001-07:00

Namibia, originally uploaded by chase the rising sun.

Fish River Canyon, Namibia

2008-10-26T01:05:00.001-07:00

Namibia, originally uploaded by chase the rising sun.

CapeTownFlats, South Africa

2008-10-26T01:02:00.001-07:00

CapeTownFlats, originally uploaded by chase the rising sun.

Camps Bay, South Africa

2008-10-26T01:00:00.001-07:00

CapeTown, originally uploaded by chase the rising sun.

On the top of Table Mountain, South Africa

2008-10-26T00:57:00.001-07:00

CapeTown, originally uploaded by chase the rising sun.

Very windy Cape of Good Hope, South Africa

2008-10-26T00:53:00.001-07:00

CapeTown, originally uploaded by chase the rising sun.

Cape Point, South Africa

2008-10-26T00:47:00.001-07:00

CapeTown, originally uploaded by chase the rising sun.

Sailing into a shit storm, CapeTown, South Africa

2008-10-26T00:41:00.001-07:00

CapeTown, originally uploaded by chase the rising sun.

Rainbow Breasested Lilac, Kruger Park South Africa

2008-10-26T00:28:00.001-07:00

Kruger, originally uploaded by chase the rising sun.

I am going to do a series of picture blog entries from out travels through Africa. Check out http://www.flickr.com/photos/chasetherisingsun for more picture of our adventures and feel free to make comments.

Sans Bushmen

2008-10-24T23:20:00.001-07:00

Botswana, originally uploaded by chase the rising sun.

Here is a snap of one of our bushmen guides.

The Sans People (A two part series)

2008-10-23T05:41:00.000-07:00

I wanted to just take a few moments to write about some of the amazing indigenous people we met while we were traveling through Africa - and by indigenous I mean people living close to the earth, in a whole separate cultural system. I know it is a late topic for the blog, but I really wanted to share with you some things we learned and some of the experiences we had while staying with these people who are somehow barley holding on to their culture. Their way of life is very different from our own and some of their practices I disagree with slightly (for instance, the way women are treated in Maasai culture) and some qualities I admire, but largely I like that these people are still in the world and living the way they have lived for thousands of years (unlike our very new way of modern living, which it can and should be debated whether it's working or not...). I will talk about two different people in this series, the Maasai of Tanzania and the Sans People (popularly known as the Bushmen) of Namibia and Botswana. They both loosely interweave in and out of our culture, the Maasi more then the Sans. Some might see this as a spoiling of their original way of life; for instance, I have seen some Massai men talking on cell phones and it's hilarious to see them walking around herding their cattle decked out in traditional wear, weapons, beads and all, talking on a cell phone. But the world is a small place these days and perhaps it's unrealistic to think that a culture of people could live with out mingling even slightly with our "modern world".

The Sans People (Bushmen)
Lauren and I stayed with the Sans People in Namibia for a few short days, a stay I wish we could have extended because they were the happiest and friendliest, most pure-hearted people I had met in a long time. We had a translator with us because they only speak a traditional click language. I have always been fascinated by these people, who were even once thought to be extinct. Just 30 years ago they were hunted in Africa like wild animals (yeah like in the 1970's!, crazy right). In fact their population is so small, (less then 2000) that they can't even be considered a tribe. The Namibian and Botswanian governments kicked them out of the Kalahari Desert (land that they have lived on for thousands of years) because diamonds were found on the land (a typical capitalistic move). Their culture was almost totally wiped out, but thankfully they won a court case in recent years and are now able to move back into the Kalahari and are in the process of trying to repair the deep wounds that have been inflicted on their culture.

The night we arrived we sat under the stars and watched them as they danced and sang traditional songs around a fire. It was awesome. We woke up the next day at sunrise and met our translator and a group of young Bushmen (men and women). We introduced ourselves to them and then they lead us into the bush. Along the way they dug up roots or picked some leaves off of various plants and would tell us what they were used for, be it food or medicinal purposes. Everything they need they get from the land by hunting and gathering and they seem to be quite content without material things. As a community living together they all take care of each other. As we were walking, one of the younger Sans boys was digging up some roots. I asked him what he was going to use it for he told me that he was digging it for an older member of his community to help with his kidney problems.

They have a small skinny build, excellent posture and their bodies are very fit. They wear minimal buckskin clothing with a little tale on the back, mimicking the animals they hunt. On colder days they will wear a buckskin wrap-around cape. The men always carry their bow and arrow and hand drill kit and other small tools, along with an ostrich egg for holding water. When they walk through the bush they are almost silent, (hence their name) blending in with their surroundings so seamlessly that we almost lost some of them as we were walking even though they were only a few meters in front of us. When they tell stories they act them out in dramatic exciting displays that students of Juliart would drool over. We were captivated by their tales, even though we could only make out the fragments of meaning through their performances.

The aura of these people is amazing and they have a gentle kindness in there eyes, and I would be lying if I said that I didn't admire their way of life - living harmoniously and respectfully with the earth. You could tell they are content with everything they have because everything they needed the earth provided it for them. Now I'm not saying that we should all live like the Sans People and make our fires with hand drills, live in stick shelters and eat roots, but I do think that a serious connection with nature has been lost with our culture and that needs to be addressed. We can't deny that there are major problems with the way we live our lives. To the modern person these people would look like impoverished savages, and in our modern terms of thinking they are; but perhaps it is us that are poor and living unnaturally. Maybe we are the real savages? Just a thought...

My next entry will be on the Maasai people of Tanzania and Kenya. Stay tuned for pictures of the Sans People and of me dancing with the Maasai, there might even be video...

* I recently read a book by Gary Snyder, written in 1969 called Turtle Island that I think was way before it's time and I think should be read by every thinking, compassionate human being.

Nepalese, if you please...

2008-10-22T01:09:00.000-07:00

What an adventure! We've been in Nepal for just over a week now, and we just got back to Kathmandu after a 4 day walk around Kathmandu Valley. The city of Kathmandu is chaotic, polluted, crowded and dirty. The streets are narrow; barely even built wide enough for horse and carriage. On our first day here we got caught in a traffic jam of tricycle rickshaws, motorbikes, bicycles, and pedestrians. We were literally at a standstill while on foot for a full few minutes. Cars are a curse to Kathmandu. They brought them here in 1955, piece by piece, carried on the backs of porters, before there were even roads and petrol. That was a mistake. There are no emission regulations (of course) and there is so much pollution that shoots out of the exhaust of all these millions of cars that the air is turned black. Since Kathmandu is a valley, you could just imagine all the smog that just sits above the city. Breathing can be difficult and everyone here is constantly coughing up phlegm (sorry to be gross). Seriously, everyone from the dude serving you dinner to the little kid asking for a pen - they are all hocking loogies!
But gosh, we are loving Nepal! The people here are the most wonderful, friendliest, most helpful people we have met on our travels so far. The country is beautiful and exotic. In every alleyway, around every corner is a shrine or a temple, either Hindu or Buddhist - the 2 religions harmoniously coexist side by side in this little newly communist country (they just booted out their king in May).
OK, so what have we been up to? We spent the first few days just hanging out in Thamel - the backpacker district of Kathmandu - sleeping off jet lag, eating(!), orienting ourselves. We visited a huge Buddhist temple in Bodnath just outside the city. It was so tranquil and clean!
On Friday we put on our hiking shoes and headed for the hills! We went to a bus stand to wait for a bus that was supposed to arrive at 1:30. We waited for 3 hours. The bus never came. We walked back to our guesthouse, and the next morning we took a cab to the small village of Nagarkot, at an elevation of 7200 ft. in the foothills of the Great Himalayas. It was a 2 hour drive up narrow, winding roads (they love to use their horns here - around corners, as they pass, when they come up behind another car - it's constant!) We found a guesthouse easily enough when we arrived in Nagarkot and spent the day wandering around the village. The views were spectacular! The snow-capped peaks stark white against the blue backdrop. It was like the mountains were just suspended there. We took a walk down the steep side of a mountain through a jungle to an old Hindu temple. We were looking for a large temple - which we never found - but we found the ruins of a very old temple - well, it was a rock with red paint on it.
That night we climbed a hill to watch the sunset into the mountains. At the top of this hill was a little shack with an Om flag flying on top. Inside the shack sat a Sadhu (a holy Hindu man), named Naga Baba. He was a little crazy, but he invited us to share some Nepali tea and sacred herbs with him, so we of course accepted! I have no idea what he said the entire time, but he shouted a lot and said his name repeatedly, "Naga Baba!" It was definitely a holy experience.
After we climbed down from our "high" hill, we had a candlelit dinner (sounds so romantic, but every dinner here is candlelit since they cut the power for the whole country for 3 hours every night from around 6ish). There were some locals dancing around a t.v. screen to Nepali music in the bar of our guesthouse and as we were about to head off to bed, they invited us to join them. So what the hell! Have you ever tried to dance to Nepali music? Have you ever even heard Nepali music? Think high-pitched, quick, short beats. So we kind of just jumped around and waved our arms. It was pretty crowded in this little square of makeshift dance floor. There was only one other girl, Pispa, and she we pretty drunk. All the guys wanted to dance with me trying to put their hands on my boobs - what is it with these people?? And Pispa wanted Michael to take her to her room. It was getting a little weird, so we decided to leave. When we were saying goodbye to everyone, one of the dudes reached out a grabbed my boob. Seriously. He put his hand on my right boob and squeezed! WTF!! So I smacked him *SMACK* square in the face. Holy cow, it was such a loud smack. No one saw what happened, but they all heard the smack. I yelled out, "You're friend here is a total perve and just grabbed my boob! That's so not cool!" Michael nearly lost it. He had some choice words for the fellow, but I'm sure you can what was said. We are not violent people, but Michael's fists were clenched and I had to pretty much pull him out of the bar. Oh boy, so much excitement.
We woke up early on Sunday, in time to watch the sunrise over the Himalayas. And then we headed off down the road, following a 7 year old map, towards a town called Dhulikhel. The first hour was all uphill to the highest point in the area. We passed through some military training camps and said "Namaste", to some locals hauling everything imaginable in baskets hung from their heads. At the top of the hill I climbed a lookout tower (Michael is afraid of heights) and I could see mountains from the Langtang Lirung in the west all the way to Lhotse in the east, and even the tiny, dot peak of Everest in the distance. It was the clearest morning they've had all season and it was so beautiful.
We headed on downhill from there, and it was pretty much downhill for the rest of the day. We walked through villages with names like Nala and Kavre. As we walked all the village people we passed would greet us "Namaste!" and ask where we were going, where we were coming from, and what country we were from. They all love to give directions and help you along the way. You say "We're going to Dhulikhel." and they point the way, even if there is no other path to take. We met one boy who's brother is at school in the States. He asked for our address so he could give it to his brother, and then he showed us a shortcut!
We had lunch in a town called Banepa (best veggie burgers!). Michael had actually been pretty under the weather with a cold, and at this point we had been hiking for like 6 hours (with 15 pound packs). We were both pretty beat, but Michael was starting to feel pretty ill. We were only 4 km from our destination town, Dhulikhel, and I convinced him that we could walk it, instead of making the stress of finding a bus. Big mistake. Those last 4 km were all up hill on a paved highway, with stinky diesel trucks and buses zooming past. Not good. Michael was not doing so hot. But we made it to the outskirts of town, and then this odd, wonderful man named Ojis (but his English name was Michael and he was so excited about that) found us. He asked us if we needed a guesthouse, but we already had one booked, which happened to be owned by his uncle! What luck! Ojis walked us through the winding streets, through a hidden Shiva temple, up a steep, narrow path through a jungle to a guesthouse located on the edge of a mountain in the middle of an organic farm overlooking the valley and the Himalayas in the distance. Yeah, it was pretty much AWESOME!
Michael woke up the next morning feeling pretty lousy, but he persevered and decided he wanted to move on and not spend the day in bed. We got a bit of a later start, but that was OK, since we only hiked for 3 hours. We were hiking to a village called Namobuddha, built at the base of a Tibetan monastery with the same name (the Namobuddha temple was built at the place where a Buddha gave his life to a starving tigress so she could feed her cubs). The hike (as described to us by Ojis) was up up up and then down down down and then up up up. And boy was it. The first hour we climbed up 1,000 stairs. There were a bunch of school girls walking there, too, and they kept encouraging us to continue on. Then we walked down down down through tons of little farming villages (something like 80% of the population are farmers working for absent landowners). All the little children in the village would run out as we passed through, "Hello! Give me one pen (sweet / money)!" Sometimes we pretended not to understand them, but most of the time we just ignored their requests so as not to encourage that kind of interaction with foreigners.
We made it to Namobuddha in the early afternoon, and we were the only tourists in the entire town. (Actually, we saw only one other tourist the whole time we were walking). It was a pretty sleepy town. There was one motel, the Namobuddha Motel, where we had lunch and where we rented a room for the equivalent of $4. It was as basic a room as you can guess: 2 beds - planks of wood lain in a frame with a thin, lumpy cushion (?) on top. The bathroom was outside around the corner, and it was a squat toilet. There was no running water. For water you had to go out into the town square to the village well.
We climbed up to the Tibetan monastery at the top of the mountain to watch the sunset. Michael made friends with one of the stray dogs who followed us down and spent the rest of the evening with us (stray dogs in Nepal are like stray cats in Egypt - they're everywhere!).
Michael was feeling better yesterday, and it was a good thing, too, because we had quite an adventure! Our plan was to walk from Namobuddha (down down down) 2 hours to the town of Panauti where we would catch a bus to take us to the town of Patan, just outside of Kathmandu. So we walked down down down 2 hours to Panauti. Panauti has an impressive Shiva temple on the outskirts, and we thought it would be a nice place to have a rest and a cold drink. We walked to the temple center to sit in the shade. First of all, the town was filthy. I mean, smelly, dirty, trash everywhere, a sickly cow tied to the suspension bridge to greet you. So we walked over the wire suspension bridge, hung over the most polluted river I have ever seen - people fishing and washing in it - into the temple complex. As soon as we sat down at the base of one of the shrines a man with bettel-stained teeth sat next to Michael. He said he wasn't a beggar and he wasn't trying to sell us anything; he just wanted to practice his English. We weren't really in the mood, but we didn't want to be rude, so we invited him to speak with us a bit. He was "frank" with us and told us he was a "drunkard" and he just drank some alcohol (at 11:30 in the morning). He used to teach English at the primary school, but then he (points to head) "went mental". He smelled something awful and he was sitting pretty close to Michael. I felt bad, but we didn't really want to sit there with him. He told us where to find the buses and so we were off again - back over the scary suspension bridge (dodging a beggar woman who looked like a troll), to the main part of town. The town was eerily silent. There was a cluster of buses and trucks in a square so we walked to that and tried to ask some people what bus would take us to Patan. Some drunk dudes tried to offer us some information, but we don't know what they said. Then we found some clean, young guys, and they were like shining gems in a pile of poo! They spoke almost perfect English and told us that there was no transport running - there was a strike! A bus driver had been killed like a month ago, and the government has done nothing to find his murderer, so all the truck and bus and cab drivers in that district were on strike. Our options were now to either stay in Panauti (which was a sh*thole) or walk another 3 hours to the next district to a town called Saga where we would maybe find a ride to Kathmandu. AH! Our legs were sore, our backs were killing us, we were hot, and we hadn't showered in 3 days! But we weren't staying in Panauti!
So we were off again - walking to the town of Banepa (where we'd have lunch) and then on to Saga where we would maybe find a ride and if not, then on even further to the bigger town of Bhaktapur. We were walking walking walking - luckily it was a pretty straight shot and not up or down hill at all. The only things on the road were pedestrians, yaks, bicycles, and motorbikes (kind of an eerie preview of our future...) There were special minibuses running with a sign in the window "Tourist Only". We tried (unsuccessfully) to wave them down. After the third one past us Michael yelled, "We're tourists! Why don't they put us on one of those?!" Well, we never got a ride on a special, air conditioned minibus, but we did get a ride on something almost as good! We got a ride on a wooden bicycle cart! The kind that they usually haul goods or animals to market on! It was awesome! Some dude pedalling one offered us a ride to Banepa for the equivalent of $1.25, so we hopped on! Some people we passed on the street were laughing at us, but we were laughing at them because we had a ride and they didn't!
Back in Banepa we had lunch (best veggie burgers, again!) and started walking on to Saga, when this shady dude came out of nowhere and asked if we wanted a cab. He said it so quietly, like he was offering us drugs or guns or something. Michael said, "Why, do you have one?" (cuz I really need a fix man...) You have to picture: there are no cars to be seen anywhere, all trucks and buses are abandoned on the side of the road, some are even just left in the middle of the street; so some guy offering us a taxi was like totally unexpected. He led us through some spooky backstreets to where his cab was hidden. We climbed in and were off to Patan! Our original destination! As we drove out of the city, however, we drove into a crowd of protesters waving red flags. The cabbie slowed the car and unrolled the window as the angry-looking group encircled us. I have to say that I was pretty terrified for about 30 seconds. The mean-looking protesters looked in the cab, saw that we were tourists, smiled and waved us on! Man, they love tourists here!
We made it safe and sound back to the craziness of the Kathmandu Valley and found a nice clean guesthouse in the heart of Patan. Now we rest up for the next few days before we head off again, this time on a tour, to trek this beautiful country!

*We really do love the culture and the people here, so we apologize if we sound at all negative in any of my blogs. It can all just be a little overwhelming at times, and we really do just want to give you our raw, uncensored perspectives and experiences.

Egypt in Retrospect

2008-10-12T09:53:00.000-07:00

Observations of Egypt:

Before we left home my sister, Dani, the anthropologist gave us some advice that I keep close in mind whenever experiencing a new culture/country. She said "There's no best or worst way to live. Just different." What she means is that when traveling for a while, or spending a long time in a different culture, it's easy to lose yourself. You can either become so immersed and impressed with this new and different culture that you start to view your own with disdain. Or on the other side of that, you could be disgusted with the culture you are visiting and see your culture and home as superior. I'm sure you've picked up on my allusions to my disdain for Egypt in my emails about our experiences here. As much as I'd like to sound impartial and give you a view of Egypt that is neutral and fact-based, I'm not an anthropologist. And while I'll be one of the first to point out the many flaws of my own culture, I'm also a glass-half-full kind of girl. All that being said, here's my impression of Egypt:
Egypt kind of looks like a country recovering from a war. The buildings are dilapidated and crumbling. In fact, yesterday a building in Alexandria just collapsed, killing 12 people. There is no sense of organization or order here. The country would do good from a pressure cleaner and a coat of paint. No one takes care of the public places. Stairways, hallways, spaces between shop fronts are filthy. But people do take care to keep their immediate property clean. There is no trash removal, and the few trash cans that are placed throughout the cities are quickly stuffed to the brim and overflowing. Empty lots, fields, alleyways are filled with trash. It seems like all progress ended in 1960. The public busses, most of the cars, and most of the architecture are all from the 50s. I guess corruption really ruined this country. Our tour guide, Mamdoh, told me that Egypt was quite industrialized throughout the first half of the century. But it really all just stopped.
Michael and I experienced some of this corruption first hand one afternoon while having lunch. We were sitting on a bench outside a restaurant, just off the sidewalk. Actually our view was pretty spectacular: we could see the pyramids of Giza if we looked over and through the throng of traffic on the street. While we were sitting there, a man dressed normally in a button-down shirt and pants, wearing a gun in a holster on his hip walked by us. He smiled as he walked by and said, "Hello!" He took a few more steps, before stopping and turning around to come speak with us. He didn't come that close, keeping about 10 ft. between us. He said, "Hello. Welcome!" (They all say that here) Michael and I smiled back, apprehensively. We didn't say anything. Then the man said, "English?" So, we both kind of nodded, but still, we didn't say anything. The man looked around, then pointed to the gun in his holster and said "Police." So I gave him the thumbs up. Then he said pointing to his chest, "Not normal police," shaking his head. Puts out his hand, "Give me money." Michael and I were dumbfounded. We just continued to stare at him blankly, heads cocked. He stood there for another minute or two, asked for money a couple more times, pointed to his gun a bunch, but we didn't budge. Finally the man got bored and walked away.
Everyone wants you to give them money! There were 6 of us riding in the back of a pickup truck through a non-touristy town called Dawar (or something like that). As we drove through the village 3 little boys, around 10 years old, ran up and jumped onto the back of the truck. The smallest one yelled, "Hello how are you!" (like they all do). So we all yelled back "Hello!" They were cute kids. Then the boy put out his hand, palm up and said, "Money!" So Michael leaned forward, put out his hand, palm up and said "Money!" The boy was confused. He tried again, "Money." Then we all leaned forward, hands out, palms up, "Money!" we all yelled in unison. The boy laughed nervously and tried one last time before jumping off and running away.
But then there's the waiter who gave us a big bottle of water for free at the restaurant. And the other waiter who took my flip flop from me when it broke and fixed it with a nail, and wouldn't even accept our tip. And the guys who own the hostel where we are staying who are just gems!
Fashion also seems to be lost here. Color is cherished, and no color combo is wrong. Yellow and green were a favorite of the girls of Alexandria.
Boys hold hands and link arms with their friends. This is not at all considered homosexual. Mustaches are revered as studly. Greasy hair is handsome.
They seem to like meaty women. Or at least the Bedouin do. While having dinner at our Bedouin friend's house in Bahayira, his creepy half brother showed us some videos on his cell phone of thick women wearing tight clothes, showing off their cleavage belly dancing. It was quite provocative and disturbing. Some of the videos looked homemade. He was giggling scandalously like he was showing us porn.
Men will take every opportunity possible to touch a boob. The donkey boy who helped me onto my donkey in Luxor picked me up under the arms with a hand on my right boob. While driving in the front seat of a taxi one of the girls in our tour had her boob brushed several times as the taxi driver pointed out sights.
Our Bedouin friend showed me how to tie my scarf like the Muslim girls do. Then he told me that I looked pretty now!
If I was Muslim I'd have to wear the scarf over my eyes since my hairline runs into my eyebrows.
High speed Internet does not exist in Egypt.
Music sound quality does not exist in Egypt. All music is ALWAYS garbled.
There are stray cats EVERYWHERE.
Little babies have the faces of grown men.
Grown men have a wolfish quality about them.

The sights are worth the visit, but no one needs to spend a month here.
I think we've overstayed our welcome.

Keepin it real with the Bedoins

2008-10-10T09:14:00.000-07:00

We just came back from the most beautiful place I have ever been. We left crazy Cairo by bus on Tuesday. Pretty standard as far as busses go, but it took 2 hours just to leave the city (part of the fun is getting there right?) and then another 4 hours through the endless deserts to the Bedoin oasis town, Bahayira.
We were picked up from the bus stop by our guide Mohammad and after a quick lunch at the Sahara Camp we headed into the desert (where I thought we already were since we're in Egypt, but they make a pretty big distinction between town and desert). Our driver was a maniac. Well, all drivers in Egypt are crazy, but I think this guy was trying to intentionally freak us out - accelerating around corners, sliding on the sand, we even went air borne over a hill like in the movies! No joke! I don't know what his name was -either Ahmed or Mohammad since that's what every one's name is. He didn't speak English, but he would burst out with these really weird noises like a cat screaming or Donald Duck yelling. He was weird.
Anyway, we drove through the Black Desert into the White Desert (each named appropriately), making a stop at Crystal Mountain. This used to be a big mountain made of crystal, but I guess after years of visitors taking home bits of the crystal as souvenirs it's been reduced to a small mound of rock. Kind of sad, but still pretty.
We arrived in the New White Desert just in time for sunset and watched the sun sink into the desert. The White Desert is filled with pure white limestone. It's pretty flat with these crazy rock formations jutting out of the ground all over the place. When the sun was setting these rocks were illuminated opalescent. It was so beautiful.
We camped in the Old White Desert that night, under the stars. (From what we could decipher from Mohammad's broken English is that the New White Desert is new because people just recently started visiting it and the Old White Desert is old because it's pretty saturated with tourists).
I should say here that we were with another couple who were from India, Sathya and Uma. They were wonderful! Uma is a professional traditional South Indian dancer and vocalist, so after dinner she serenaded us with a traditional song. It was beautiful. Then Mohammad and the driver sang us an Arabic song while the driver drummed along on an empty water jug. Then Michael pulled out his harmonica and played everyone some blues. Then the driver joined in with some Arabic beats on his water jug and Uma sang along. It was an interesting mix.
Next day we packed up camp and drove to the Magic Spring (stopping on the way to take pictures of a rock that looked like a chicken, and a very old acacia tree). This is where we parted ways with Sathya and Uma. The driver left to take them back to Bahayira and Mohammad and we stayed to hang out at the Magic Spring all day. Do you remember in the Disney movie Aladdin, when Genie and Aladdin stop at that oasis in the middle of the desert after the Genie gets Aladdin out of the cave? Well, I think that was filmed at the Magic Spring (except that the pond was cement). Seriously. Desert for miles with not a tree or shrub anywhere. Except this little palm tree clustered oasis. There was a little shade shelter made out of palm fronds where we lay all day. And just a few meters away was a cave built into a hill that was an ancient tomb. We spent the day just reading, writing postcards,catching up in our journals, sleeping, and watching the camel caravans stop to take respite at the spring. And it wasn't even that hot. It was actually really quite comfortable in the shade (if you ignored the flies which were everywhere!)
A new driver, Ahmed, came for us around 4 and we continued on through the White Desert. This guy drove just as crazy as the last - up insanely steep inclines, stopping on perilous cliffs. He took us to Flower Rock where we collected ancient volcanic rocks shaped like flowers (imagine that), and then into Acabat which literally took my breath away. I was seriously almost moved to tears by the beauty of this place. (Don't laugh). The cliffs were pure white and the sand was orange and red and purple. And when you looked at the rocks on the ground, you realized that they were fossilized coral and seashells. We camped here that night. Mohammad and Ahmed cooked us dinner and then we all just stared at the stars until we fell asleep. It wasn't a very good sleep though. It was crazy windy and we were getting covered by sand. I actually woke up the next morning with a little cold.
We drove through the Black Desert yesterday and stopped in a Bedoin village. I wasn't feeling too great, so we didn't stay for long. They took us back to the Sahara Camp in Bahayira where we had rented a little hut and we slept for most of the afternoon. Mohammad invited us to his house for dinner, so we went. It was really pretty awkward and uncomfortable. He's a Bedoin and he lives with his parents and his younger, unmarried sister. Mohammad was very nice, but it was a very strange experience. Pretty much, Michael and I just sat in his room for most of the evening, just staring at each other.
Anyway, we caught the bus back to Cairo today... which actually didn't take us back to Cairo but stopped in Giza, so we shared a cab with a Finnish couple back over the Nile. And we're here in Cairo for the next 3 days. We're really looking forward to moving on to Nepal!

Egyptians sure like their shiney

2008-10-06T08:41:00.000-07:00

(clothes that is...they bedazzle everything!)

Hi Everyone! Well, we made it back to Cairo after traveling through Egypt for the past 2 weeks. We have seen and done so freakin' much I'm not sure where to begin, so just bear with me a bit.
Let's see...We started our tour by visiting the Egyptian Museum. This place is filled with artifacts from all the dynasties of ancient Egypt. Highlights were King Tut's treasure room and the mummified animals room. It was really hot inside the museum (I was surprised there was no ac, but I guess they haven't done much to renovate since they opened it in like 1900), and crowded. There were so many tour groups and so many languages, it was crazy.
After the museum we drove across the Nile to Giza to visit the pyramids. It's as impressive as you think it is. And hot. (OK, we'll just say that all of Egypt is hot). We saw the Sphinx. I was actually surprised by how small it is. I expected it to be huge, but it was considerably smaller than the pyramids.
That night we took a night train for like 14 hours south to Aswan. That was fun. It was like being in a movie. The waiters in the bar car were belly dancing. They were kind of creepy.
Aswan was beautiful. We rode camels into the desert at sunset. We had dinner on Elephantine Island at a Nubian family's home. And we drove in a police convoy 3 hours to the temples at Abu Sembel. There are 2 huge temples here for Ramses II and his wife Nefetari. In the1960s they embarked on a huge project to move these temples to prevent them from sinking into the lake that was created when they built the High Dam. Ramses II was a narcissistic bastard and after declaring himself a god, he built all these temples for himself. He did love his main wife though, so he built her a temple, too (even though he put 4 statues of himself at the front, and 2 of her). Anyway, the temples are really impressive and the hieroglyphics are really well preserved. You could still see the original paint inside!
After Aswan, we spent 2 glorious days just floating up the Nile on a traditional sailing boat called a felucca. This was definitely the highlight of our trip. We just lounged around all day as the felucca zigged and zagged it's way along the river. We swam in the Nile (it's much bluer and cleaner than you would imagine). And we had a support boat that looked kind of like steam ferry from the Mississippi River where we ate our meals and went to the bathroom and showered and stuff. On one of the days, we stopped at a sandy part of the shore and jumped off the top deck of the support boat into the river. That was the most fun! We spent our nights on the felucca dancing with the crew and Michael bought a drum, so he played with them.
The feluccas took us to Luxor where there are more monuments and artifacts and temples than anywhere else. We rode donkeys to the Valley of the Kings where we visited tombs of 3 different pharaohs. And then we went to the temple of Queen Hetshepsuit. She was the only queen to declare herself a pharaoh, but after she died her successor tried to erase all evidence of her. But her temple survived and it's huge (3stories)! We also visited Karnak temple which is the largest temple complex in all of Egypt. There were these columns there that could hold 400 people standing on the top (just to give you an idea of it's size). When I eventually get our pictures uploaded you'll see what I mean. UNESCO has given like billions of dollars to Luxor to uncover all the monuments that are buried under the city. Right now they are in the process of removing all these buildings from one of the main streets to uncover a lane that is lined with hundreds of sphinxes. The sphinxes lead from Luxor temple on the Nile to Karnak temple.
After Luxor we took another night train up to Alexandria. We weren't too impressed with this city. We spent one day visiting all the monuments: the library (ancient Alexandria was a huge education center and the library held some of the most important books of all time, before it was destroyed... twice, now it's just a really big modern library... I guess more like a symbol of what it used to be). Inside the library they had a couple small museums. There was one museum dedicated to a movie about ancient Egypt that never got made. I thought that was funny. Like why is there a museum for something that didn't happen? Anyway, we visited the Roman catacombs (disappointing since they are now empty), we visited the Pillar of Pompey which is just this really tall pillar that is the only remnant of an ancient temple. And we visited a Roman theater. After visiting Luxor, all these monuments seemed a little less impressive. We spent the afternoon in Alexandria on the beach of the Mediterranean. Not as nice as it sounds. Alexandria (well all of Egypt) is really really dirty. Oh, and it's like 85% Muslim. So you can't just go to a public beach in your bikini (well unless you want to get groped). There's only one beach in the whole city where it's OK and safe to wear a normal bathing suit and that's at a private beach called the Greek Club. It's only like $5 to go in. But the beach was crap. It was a beach in the middle of a marina. There was trash everywhere and the water was disgusting. We had fun though, just hanging out, drinking wine, playing cards.
We left Alexandria at night to drive to Mt. Sinai. That was my birthday! We stopped in the middle of the desert to celebrate in the morning. Our tour guide had a cake for me and a birthday hat. It was awesome. When we arrived at Mt. Sinai we first took a tour of St.Katherine's monastery where they have Moses's well and the burning bush (I don't really get that that's the original burning bush) and St. Katherine's finger (OK gross). There were a ton of Christian pilgrims here.
And then we climbed Mt. Sinai! It took about 2 1/2 hours to climb to the top, but we got there in time for sunset, and it was just awesome (this was another top day on the tour...and not just because it was my birthday). We had to climb down in the dark which was a bit of a challenge, in fact one of the girls we were with tripped and cut up her leg pretty badly. We spent the night at the hotel owned by the monastery. It was stark. But we drank a lot of wine to celebrate my birthday. Everyone in our tour was great. It was definitely one of the best birthdays ever!
After Mt. Sinai, we went to the Red Sea to stay at a resort in Dahab.The resort was pretty, but everything seemed really half-assed. We went snorkeling the first day, and the reef was just off the shore. The water was so blue and the fish were plentiful and colorful. Dahab itself reminded me a bit of Elat in Israel. Very touristy with a board walk and shops and all.
Our last day on our tour we rode ATVs into the desert and on the beach and visited a Bedoin village. We got incredibly dusty, but it was fun. After that, one of the women in our tour, Laura, treated me to a massage at our hotel as a birthday gift. Best massage ever! They made me get totally naked and started it off by sitting me in a sauna for a few minutes. Then the woman had me lie down while she soaped me up and scrubbed me down. Then she hosed me off with cold water and put me in a cold jacuzzi with hot tea to sip for a few minutes. Then she brought me into the room for my massage. She climbed onto the table and yanked and pulled and cracked all my limbs. It was wonderful! I spent the rest of that day just sleeping on the beach. Michael went snorkeling again and then he played beach volleyball (haha have you ever seen him play volleyball?) and then he went down the water slides in our hotel's pool (we stayed at a resort!). Gosh it was so much fun!
Our experiences in Egypt as a whole have been good and bad. We have seen some really incredible things and made some really good friends on our tour, but the culture here has made some things pretty rough. You really can't trust anyone. EVERYONE is trying to rip you off, even the freakin' children. It's really dirty here. They still use donkeys and camels for work which is really cool, but they are horrible to them, beating and whipping and starving them (Michael has to constantly fight the urge to punch these guys in the face everytime he sees one of them hitting a camel). And they're really sexually repressed. I've been groped a couple times by random dudes. Not cool. And there's like nothing for us to eat. It was Ramadon for the first 10 days we were here, so you couldn't really find anything to eat during the day, unless it was geared to specifically tourists (ie.really overpriced). And past that, they really don't have much vegetarian food. All we have eaten is spaghetti (sometimes with tomato sauce), bread, french fries, bread, bababnough, bread, tahini, bread, falafels, and oh yeah, bread. Literally. We are scared to eat any raw fruits or veggies, and they don't really have too much in the way of cooked vegetables. We have been drinking a lot of Turkish coffee though. That's really good. And cold hibiscus tea. And we spend most nights in coffee shops smoking sheesha. Overall we are happy. But I don't think we ever need to come back to Egypt.
Tomorrow we take a bus for 4 hours out to Bahayira which is an oasis in the western desert. We'll take a 2 day safari into the Black and White deserts. I'm really excited for that. Then we'll come back to Cairo again for a couple of days before flying off to Nepal! Oh boy this trip is going fast! Anyway, thank you, everyone who sent me birthday wishes (and it's OK if you didn't b/c I'm sure most of you didn't even know it was my birthday...I'm 26 now...holy cow!) OK, Salaam! (That's like the only Arabic word I've managed to learn, other than Baksheesh which means "tip". Oh, and emshy which means "go away". Very useful)

Mummy Love,
Lauren and Michael

PS Stay tuned for more pics being uploaded soon at www.flickr.com/photos/chasetherisingsun

*I just need to amend this. Since writing this entry last week we have discovered a wonderful traditional Egyptian dish called koshary that is completely vegan! It's a dish the Coptic Christians eat when fasting (they don't eat any animal products for one month), and it was created to contain all the nutrients you need. It's a bowl of noodles, rice, macaroni, grilled onions, lentils and chick peas all covered in a tomato, garlic sauce. It's so good! We found a place around the corner from our hostel. It's 3 stories big and all they serve is koshary. It's called The Koshary. It's always busy. When you go in and sit down you just say if you want big or small and then a minute later you're eating. There's no menu since that's all they serve. So awesome.

Holy Hyena!

2008-09-20T08:12:00.000-07:00

Hello all from the singing city of Cairo! It's hot. And noisy. Car horns beeping. Mosque's singing. And it's crowded. And almost everyone here is trying to rip us off. But we just ate this awesome dinner for $2 each and we have an awesome view of the Nile River and the Cairo Tower from our hostel window, and all for under $10 a night!
Since Zanzibar - We drove to Arusha, Tanzania and from there safaried off into the Ngorongoro Crater and the Serengeti. I don't even know where to begin to tell you how awesome that safari was! It was just awesome! We had an afternoon game drive into the Ngorongoro Crater on the first day. Does anyone know where Ngorongoro gets it's name from? Anyone? Well, I'll tell you. The Ngorongoro Crater sits in the middle of the Maasai people's territory, and the Maasai people are nomadic cattle herders. They put bells around their cows necks, and before theTanzanian government prohibited them from living there, the crater was full of the Maasai and their cows, and you could just hear the sound of the cow bells throughout the crater: ngoro ngoro ngoro. That's what a cow bell sounds like. Say it out loud, you'll hear it.
OK, so we were in a safari truck with 4 others and our guide, Simba (his name is lion in Swahili!) The crater is not very big, but a ton of animals live there - all the cool ones, except for giraffe, it's too steep for them - so you're pretty much guaranteed to see a lot. Here's a quick run down of all the awesome stuff we saw: A rhino which is really rare there. 7 lions and a couple of cubs. A female ostrich doing a mating dance and then a male ostrich chasing her at full speed around and around in circles. A cheetah!!!! One of only 3 that live in the crater! A hippo humping another hippo. And - are you ready for it? - The best thing we've seen yet! A hyena chase and take down a full grown wildebeest on it's own!!! Do you know how rare it is to see that?? Our guide has been doing this for 6 years and he's only seen 12 kills. And to see a hyena, alone, take down a full grown wildebeest! Just crazy! I'll spare you the details since it was pretty gory, but we did get some pretty good shots and we do have a video of it (whenever I get around to uploading those photos).
OK, so we camped on the ridge of the crater that night and all night long we could here wild bush pigs sniffing around our tents and zebra wandering through our camp. Next day we drove to the Olduvai Gorge and looked into the valley where they found some of the oldest fossils, and the oldest foot prints of man. It was neat, and the museum was interesting, but you can't see the footprints anymore since they covered them back up to protect them.
Then we drove into the Serengeti! The Serengeti! Speaking of Serengeti, does anyone want to take a guess at how that got it's name? No? I'll tell you. The Maasai called it the Siringet - meaning endless plain - but when the mzungus (white men) came they couldn't say Siringet, so they called it Serengeti.
It really was so beautiful and seemingly endless. One of the first things we saw when we got there was a huge male lion lying atop a giant rock, like he was posing for us. At the bottom of the rock was another male lion, sleeping, and just across from them on another rock were 2 female lions. We were so close to them!
What else did we see? Well, baboons and monkeys and zebra and ostrich and gazelles and hartebeast, well tons of different antelope, and elephants and the only one of the big 5 that we hadn't seen yet: the leopard! We saw a female leopard and her 2 cubs hanging out on a rock! That was great. And we saw more lions after that. And the next day we saw 5 cheetahs - one with her cub stalking gazelle. And a lioness nursing her baby cub right on the side of the road! So awesome!
OK, after all that we drove back to Arusha where we went for a village walk through a Maasai village. They are the most photographed tribe in the world, and they really are beautiful and wear wonderful colors. And well, that's pretty much it.
After Arusha we drove to Nairobi, Kenya, which has been the cleanest, friendliest city we have been to so far. We didn't spend enough time there. And then we flew into Cairo late late late last night. And we had a bit of a fright with our cab driver, but all is OK. Our hostel is on the 7th floor of this really dilapidated apartment building, but it is really so wonderful and (amazingly) clean. I uploaded some photos on our flickr page today (I'm trying to catchup!) www.flickr.com/photos/chasetherisingsun The rest of Paris and some of our time volunteering at Enkosini. Enjoy them!

Zanzibar is a magical place

2008-09-11T07:49:00.000-07:00

We are sitting in an internet cafe in Stonetown, the capital of Zanzibar, a tiny little dot of an island in the Indian Ocean. It's as beautiful as you think it is. Since we last updated you all we left Zambia after spending way too much time in expensive Livingstone, and drove to Malawi. The scenery is getting more and more beautiful as we drive further away from flat, arid Botswana. Malawi is pretty small, but they say over-populated and impoverished. Statistically somewhere between 30 and 35% of the population has HIV/AIDS, and more than half the population is under 15 years old. The population of children was very noticeable. We spent 4 days camping on the beaches of Lake Malawi which is this huge fresh water lake that sits between Malawi, Tanzania and Mozambique. When I say we camped on the beach, I mean we were right onthe sand, and if there was a tide our tent would have been swept away.The sand was coarse, but white, and the water was crystal clear, blue. There was a pretty decent surf. It was like the perfect beach: just as beautiful as being on the ocean, but with out the salt. One day, Michael and I rented a canoe and snorkle masks and we canoed out to this tiny, rocky island in the lake. The canoes weren't like our N. American canoes. They weren't very stable and we had to keep stopping to bale out water (we were using our snorkle masks). Some ofour friends capsized a couple of times, but that was OK, because there are no sharks in Lake Malawi. We snorkled around the island for a couple of hours. It was like swimming in a fish tank; it was crazy clear. And the fish were the brightest, most colorful fresh water fish I've ever seen! Neon blues and purples. Then we climbed on the island for a little bit. The rocks were black and hot on our feet. A giant fish eagle swooped down and came within a couple of feet from knocking Michael in the head. The view from the top of the island was ridiculous. There are mountains that just poor into the beach.The next day we went on a village walk just outside our campground. We went with a pretty big group. There was one main guide, Jon, and about a dozen and a half other "guides" who walked with us, ultimately trying to sell us stuff. We walked through the village and Jon showed us one of their water pumps and explained how they build their homes.

All the little kids came running out to us and I walked with 3 little ones. At one point I got distracted, giving them each a turn at being picked up, and when I looked up again my group was gone; I was left behind. It was OK though because my friend, Seone was left behind too and a "guide", Dan, stayed behind with us. Well, Dan ended up giving Seone and me our own personal tour and it was great. We met his pregnant sister, and we met a grandmother bringing her grandson back from the clinic with a sore on his leg. And Dan showed us how they grow cassava (one of their main staples) and he dug the root of one up for us so we could try it. It was great! (Dan was ultimately trying to sell us stuff too, so Michael and I bought a small painting from himfor like $4).The next day after that we went to another village, Chimtuba, and we bought this awesome teak carved chair of giraffs and a baobab tree for$15 and a coke. That was fun. And then we hung out on the beach withsome of the local boys and Michael showed them his sketch book and gave one of them his bracelet. They were really cool. At first they tried to sell us stuff, too, but when we showed them we had no money, they just hung out with us. I got the camera and they were all fighting with each other to get their picture taken. They loved to pose and then see the picture on the digital camera. So now we're in Zanzibar, Tanzania. Tanzania is more picturesque and more colorful than the other African countries we've seen so far. Well, maybe not more picturesque, just different. It's more Eastern influenced (squat toilets). Zanzibar is ridiculously beautiful. Wespent 2 days on the beach. The sand is like flour - soft and powdery.The water is like neon blue and warm. We tried to go snorkling oneday, but all of the sudden we found ourselves swimming in a swarm of jellyfish. We freaked out a bit and got out of there. We didn't really get stung, just little pin pricks, but it was crazy scarey. That night we went for a walk on the beach. We sat just looking at the stars, andt his Massai guy came and sat with us. His name was Yacob. He's from the Massai tribe on the main land and I guess owners of shops bring the tribal guys out to the island to help them sell stuff. Yacob was awesome. He didn't speak much English, but we taught him some more words, and he tried to teach us some Swahili. We hung out with him for like 2 hours.Yesterday we took a tour of the island. We went to the old slave market, and palace ruins, and an old Arab fort, and then we took a tour of a spice plantation. Zanzibar is the spice capital of theworld. For lunch they served us fresh fruit from the farm: oranges, passion fruit, custard melon, mango, mangostein, rambutan, bananas, pineapple, and teas: lemon grass, marsala, and ginger. It was great.Then they showed us how all the spices are grown, and this guy climbed up like a 30 foot coconut tree (I don't really know how tall it was -I'm really bad at estimating, but it was freakin' tall) and he dropped down a bunch of conocnuts, so we had coconut milk and meat for desert. Last night we had dinner at a vegetarian restaurant! and then walked around a night market. We've discovered that if we tell people that we're from America (b/c everyone asks) they want to sell you shit and they try to rip you off. So now we tell people we're from Dry Tortuga. No one knows where or what that is, so they just leave us alone, orthey just chat with us. It's good. Well, we go back to Dar es Salaam, Tanzania today and then to Arusha and then to the Ngorogoro Crater and then the Serengeti and then Nairobi and then Cairo. We are happy and having a wonderful time. We'll upload more pictures when we get some time, and I'll try to update our blog. I know, I've beenslacking.

Floatin' down the Zambezi!

2008-08-29T08:02:00.000-07:00

Well we made it to Zambia on Tuesday and this is the first day we made it into town. We are staying at a camp ground about 2 km from town,but a $10 cab ride. Everything here is super expensive! The internet at the campground costs $6 an hour! By far the most expensive we've seen so far. They suggested not walking to town, b/c elephants roam around and you could get trampled. Well, after spending 3 days at the campground with nothing to do, we decided to risk it. Seven of us took the hour walk to the shops, and here we are. We didn't see so much as a bird, let alone an elephant! I think they just told us not to, to cover their own asses. Anyway, we are still having an incredible time! Since I last wrote (was that Monday?) we took a ferry across the Zambezi River to enter Zambia from Botswana. That was really neat, but we weren't allowed to take any pictures b/c it was a border crossing. Once in Zambia we drove to Victoria Falls and spent a couple hours walking around, taking pictures. It's the dry season right now, so the falls aren't at their biggest, but they are still spectacular! I would venture to say more spectacular than even Niagra Falls. Unfortunately, the best viewsare from the Zimbabwean side, so needless to say we won't be getting to see those. It's actually safe in Zimbabwe at the falls, but it would cost like $150 to get a Zimbabwe visa that we'd only need for a couple hours. Oh well. On Wednesday we went white water rafting down the Zambezi River, starting just below the falls. It was probably the most fun I've ever had!!! Definitely the highlight of the trip so far. There were 7 of us from our group that went. We had to climb down the side of the gorge to get in the rafts at a point they call the Boiling Point. Our guide's name was Baby Face! He was great. After giving us some pointers and having us jump in the water to practice getting back in the raft (the water was actually quite comfortable), we spent 2 hours floating along the rapids. We went through 9 rapids, and walked around 1. There were 3 class 5 rapids which are the highest grade you can do commercially (the one we walked around was a class 6!). It was scary, but so much fun!!! Our raft capsized once on one of the class 5 rapids, but I never fell out (the raft actually fell over me), and everyone stayed with the raft. And on another class 5 our raft literally went verticle and we surfed a wave for a few seconds before crashing down again. We all thought for sure we were going to flip, but we didn't. But our guide was catipulted out of the raft when we landed, so all of the sudden we were floating down the river backwards with no directions! But before we knew it, a guide from a boat that had 2 guides was jumping into our raft and directing us along. So we were all OK (and we picked Baby Face up just a bit further down the river). It was seriously an awesome day! I wish we could do it again! Yesterday we just hung out at our campsite (did laundry), hung around the pool. Livingstone is really very expensive, so we won't be doing too much. We are here until Sunday when we drive into Malawi.

The Kalahari and The Okavongo Delta

2008-08-25T07:40:00.000-07:00

We're in Botswana now - Kasane, Botswana. It's hot and dry here... it feels like the freakin' Kalahari! Wait, it is! We woke up before dawn this morning to go on a game drive in Chobe NP. It was wonderful. We had a great guide who took us out an hour longer than planned because he kept trying to get us to see lions and leopards (which we kept missing - oh well). But we saw tons of hippos and crocs and and elephants (Chobe is known for their elephant population - they have over 40,000 in just 18,000 sq. km) and we saw sable antelope (probably the prettiest antelope) and baboons with their little babies and black-faced impala. It was a good drive. This afternoon we are going on a riverboat game drive for 3 hours and we're told that's supposed to be even better. Since we last had access to the internet we spent a night in Maun, Botswana and then we headed into the Okavongo Delta - the highlight onthis trip so far. We drove into the delta and then got into these traditional canoes called mokoros. There were 2 people and a poler who drives and steers in each mokoro. Our poler's name was Oates. He was the best! He stopped at his village on our way to the island we were going to be camping on, and invited us in to meet his family. It was wonderful. Everyone in his village grew up there and they are all polers. Oates learned when his father made him his own mokoro when he was only 6. Then he took us to a small island where we set up camp, and that afternoon he took us to a place he said was safe from hippos and crocs (ok?) so we could go swimming (we swam in the OkavongoDelta!!!) and then he let Michael try poling the mokoro, so we zigged and zagged our way in and out of the reeds back to our island. That night they took us on a game walk, and while we were still on the mokoros we were charged by a huge bull elephant. All the polers were really scared so they all scattered and hid us in the reeds. That night all the polers sang and danced for us around the camp fire. The next day we went for a game walk again in the morning, and then the polers took us back to the mokoro station. On the way back, a hippo came up out of the water and knocked the mokoro next to us, almost tipping it over. No one fell out and no one was hurt, but they say we were all crazy lucky b/c that hippo could have done some serious damage and killed us all!

Enkosini on a quad

2008-07-30T09:38:00.000-07:00

Enkosini, originally uploaded by chase the rising sun.

From the Savanna of South Africa!

2008-07-29T07:15:00.000-07:00

Sorry it's been a while since our last update, but we were hustling & bustling in Paris for a week, and since leaving the City of Lights wehave been far far away from any cell signals and internet connections (we had to drive an hour just to get this connection, which could bedropped at any moment). Pretty much, we've been living in Paradise! Our days here at Enkosini (the volunteer project we are currentlyworking on) have so far consisted of fire scouting (it's the dryseason), ripping out miles of barbed-wire fencing (thank goodness forthat tetanus vac.; the wounds on our arms bear the story of our labor), digging holes, playing with adorable, baby vervet monkeys, and hiking for miles upon miles through the mountains, with the rangers keenly on the look out for poachers. For Michael's birthday on Friday (thank you for all the emails!), we celebrated by visiting an untouched, unspoiled waterfall of indescribable beauty. That evening Lauren and one of the other volunteers (there are only 2 others) even attempted to make him a birthday cake - using the sparse ingredients we could scavenge and pull together at the ranger station (our home for 3 weeks). Our muscles are sore, but we are happy. We miss you all very much -you are in our thoughts! Write us when you can - we enjoy hearingwhat's happening in your worlds. And we promise to write you back,update our blog, and upload new photos as soon as we get a decent connection. Much Love and Buy a Donkey (Afrikaans for "thank you" - for real!),
Lauren and Michael