TravelStream™ news feed for member gayegibson on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/gayegibson en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Tue, 14 Oct 2008 22:26:41 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/gayegibson/1/1224037500/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/gayegibson/1/1224037500/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/gayegibson/1/1224037500/tpod.html Tue, 14 Oct 2008 22:26:41 -0400 Where in the World is Gaye?

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Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

October 14, 2008
Vancouver, BC

First off, I guess I should mention the fact that I never ended up buying the property in Turkey, as I forgot to mention that little detail in my last update. By the time I got all the financing in place, we went back to the owner, and he had sold it to someone else! Apparently that is quite common in Turkey. Oh well, since then, I have bought something much better than property in Turkey, but I'll talk about that later.

After I left Turkey, I went to Dubai to visit Mike and Suzanne, two foreign teachers who had taught at Bond the same time as me. They are now teaching English in Dubai. I got in quite early and took a taxi out to their apartment in Umm Al Quwain, about an hour out of Dubai. It was great to see them again, and we spent the first few hours catching up with what had been happening over the last 8 months. That night, their supervisor, Margaret came over for a drink. We got to talking and I commented on how when I first started thinking about teaching English, Dubai was at the top of my list, but because I didn't have a degree, I wasn't able to get a job there. She said that they really needed kindergarten teachers, and next thing I knew, she had set up an interview for me for the next morning! Apparently in some circumstances, they are able to waive the degree requirements, but unfortunately, not in my case.

I spent the last couple of nights in a hotel right in Dubai doing some shopping. It was pretty hard to do anything outside of going to the malls, as it was extremely hot. Being a Muslim country, they were also observing Ramadan, but it was much more strict there than it was in Turkey. Eating, drinking (any kind of beverage), smoking, chewing gum, etc., were all forbidden until after sunset. In fact, no restaurants or coffee shops were even open until after sunset. How people were able to go without water all day in that heat, I'll never know!

I arrived in Mumbai on a Wednesday, and stayed at a hotel close to the airport. Once I got checked in, I made arrangements to get a sim card, then called everyone I knew, to let them know I was back in India. When I talked to Sunil, we decided that I would spend the next day in Mumbai, then I would head to Ahmednagar on Friday. Early the next morning, Sunil called me to say that he thought I should go there that day instead of the next day. I had no idea what time it was, but my room was still dark. When I looked at my watch, it was 4:45 am(!!!!) Later that morning I went downstairs to the travel desk to make arrangements for a private car to take me to Ahmednagar. I ended up with a small compact car that would take me to Pune, then I would catch a bus from there, or hire another car. On our way to Ahmednagar, Sunil phoned and spoke to the driver and made a deal with him to drive me the entire way. Between Pune and Ahmednagar, we ended up in a car accident. I had been sleeping, but I could feel the driver slamming on the brakes, and it woke me up. The first thing I saw was him grasping the steering wheel and holidng on for dear life. I looked up and saw a huge truck heading straight for us. I figured it was game over for me. My number was up. I've heard so many people who have been in accidents say that it happened so fast, but for me, it seemed like a long time before impact. What a strange feeling - I wondered what the outcome was going to be, and whether or not I would come out alive. How relieved I was to just have been thrown around a bit, and come through it with minor bruises and scrapes. It looked like the truck veered off to the left just before he hit us, so he just clipped the front drivers side of the car. If he hadn't veered off, I would have been a goner. The driver asked if I was okay, then got out of the car to assess the damage, and to see if everyone from the truck was okay. By the time I finally had my wits about me to gather my backpack and get out of the car, a crowd had gathered around me and were just standing there, staring at me. I almost felt like I should have done a song and dance for them! A handful of people who could speak English came over and asked me if I was okay. A man who was traveling on his motor bike with his wife and daughter stopped and asked me if I was okay. He wouldn't leave until he was convinced that I was okay and that I didn't need anything. During this time, I had called Sunil to tell him that I had been in an accident. He called me back shortly after that and told me that he had made arrangements for a car, and Sarita would come and meet me. Apparently I was almost two hours away from their home. I'm not sure what to call it, by the grace of God, good luck, whatever, but a guy came over to me and said that he was on his way back to Ahmednagar after having done a drop at the Mumbai airport. He said he was going back empty and he would be more than happy to take me with him. I called Sunil and got him to speak to the guy, and Sunil assured me that it was okay to go with him. At this point in time, I was a little nervous about getting back in to a car, but I was happy to see that there were three of them in the vehicle, and it was a 4x4 instead of a compact car. It was a much more comfortable ride, and the guy who rode shotgun in the front, assisted the driver. I felt safe. We finally arrived in Ahmednagar, and I was surprised to see that both Sunil and Sarita were waiting for me at the corner to the turnoff for their home, instead of at their home. Boy, was I happy to see them! I stayed in the vehicle, and they followed us to their home on their motorbikes. Although I was off to a bad start, it was great to see them again. I just don't know what I would have done if I had not had my mobile phone with me, or Sunil to contact. Someone surely was looking after me that day when I think of all the things that could have happened.

I arrived in Ahmednagar at the tail end of the Ganpati Festival, a festival honoring Lord Ganesh. The night I got there, we all went in to town to see all the displays that had been set up. They were pretty cheesy, but Indians are crazy about their festivals and their Gods, and there were lots of people out celebrating. Everywhere we went, we were given prasad (sweets), and there were booths set up everywhere selling everything from noise makers to food. It had an almost PNE-like atmosphere.

One night I went to the local temple with Sarita, along with many others in the colony. It was a fairly small group, and after everyone had prayed and received prasad, they wanted me to tell them my history! They were excited to hear that I loved India, and when I finished, they all wanted to ask me questions. I felt like a celebrity!

On the last day of the festival, I went to the temple where Mugda et al, were making final preparations for the Ganesh procession. Mugda described what would happen throughout the night of celebrations. She said that once the temple was finished being cleaned, people from around the colony would slowly gather, and they would parade Ganesh around the colony while people beat on drums, danced and doused everyone with orange powder. She finished off with saying 'it is the best time of people's lives because it brings everyone together'. She also said 'this year's celebrations will have a different energy this year because you will be here taking videos and snaps and participating in the festivities'.

It wasn't long before people of all ages started coming out of their homes to gather at the temple. A handful of the local boys got their drums out and started beating out their rhythm and continued to play the entire time. Lord Ganesh was placed on a wooden trolley, and the procession started with the drummers leading the way. Men danced with men, and women danced with women. Although I couldn't dance anywhere near as good as everyone else, they were thrilled that I joined in. Kids also joined in the dancing, but they were more interested in making sure that no one was left out from being covered in orange powder. One kid kept coming up to me and throwing it at me, but this one time, he came towards me with his hands in the air palms facing towards me, as if he was calling a truce. I raised my hands as well and showed him I had no powder in my hands. He then shook his hand through his hair, ended up with a handful of orange powder, then threw it at me and ran away. Little bugger! It took approximately 2.5 hours for the procession to go a distance that would take less than five minutes to walk. The music played and people danced the entire time. There were times that I would just stand back and watch it all in awe. I sometimes get jealous and wish that as a culture, we would celebrate life like the Indians do.

After the procession was finished, all the statutes of Ganesh were loaded in to a van and driven to the river where they would be thrown in. Imagine all the Ganesh statues at the bottom of the rivers in India!

After the procession, people went home to bathe and get cleaned up from all the orange powder. Mugda told me to make sure that I didn't wash my head, as it is only done after someone dies, and Hindus believe that God is not dead. Shortly after Sujata, Shubhada and I got back from the procession to clean up, Sunil and Sarita got home after being at the funeral of Sunil's friend's mother. They both had a bath washing all over, including their heads. After we got cleaned up, we went back to the temple where there were prizes awarded. They asked me to hand out the prizes and gave me a tapestry bag as a gift.

While I was in Turkey, I received an e-mail from Sunil and Sarita saying that they were planning a trip to coastal Maharashtra, but seeing as I was going back to India, they would postpone it until I got back so I could join them. I remember feeling really touched that they wanted to include me in their family vacation. When I got to Ahmednagar, we didn't really do much of anything, and I was a little disappointed to find out that Sunil had to go to Pune for training. That meant that our trip to coastal Maharashtra would be delayed until he had finished his training. I was pretty anxious to get to Jaisalmer, but the family had postponed their vacation to the coast for me, so I couldn't not go.

On our way to Pune, we had a tire blowout. When it happened, I thought we were going to be in another accident, and I was ready to turn back and never get in a car again. Thankfully, the driver handled the car really well, and was able to safely pull over to the side of the road and change the tire. When we got in to Pune, we met up with Sunil, then went and stayed with some relatives for the night before heading off for an early morning start. We left Pune at 7am, and didn't get to where we were going until 2am. It is only about a six hour drive, but we continually stopped to visit their friends and family members. Unfortunately, when we got to our destination, I got a little upset with Sunil. I told him that if I had known it was going to be all about visiting, then I would have gracefully bowed out from the trip. Sunil explained that the reason that it took so long to get where we were going was because we really needed to get to where we were for the next morning, as they were going to be performing a puja ceremony for their Goddess. Apparently every family in India has a goddess, and they go to perform a puja cermoney for her. After my little outburst, I felt really bad when I went to bed, and wondered what the hell I had done. I had no idea how it was going to affect the rest of our trip. The next day, they perfomred their puja ceremony, and I felt privileged to be able to observe this ritual that every family performs. When the ceremony was over, the Guruji (person who leads the ceremony) asked Sunil who I was. Sunil replied that I was as good as his sister. After making a comment like that, I felt so bad about my outburst the night before. I really didn't mean to sound ungrateful, but whenever I am in Ahmednagar, I am constantly being taken from one place to another to be introduced to people. I guess they don't see a lot of foregeiners, so it is a big deal for them to have one in their home. Although I didn't mind visiting people when I first got to Ahmednagar, after a while, it got really boring for me because after I had been introduced, I would just sit there like an idiot, because I couldn't understand what anyone was saying. Besides, this trip was sold to me by Sunil as seeing 'coastal Maharashtra', and so far, we had only stopped in to visit people on the way to our destination. As much as I love Indian food, it got a bit much after a while, because every time we stopped for a visit, we would get fed. Five full meals in one day was too much for me, especially when we were having a nap afterwards, or sitting in a car for hours on end. I would try to politely decline, but Sunil kept telling me that it was disrespectful not to eat something that had been offered. I think I was also on edge because of the car accident. I was now feeling very nervous about being in a car, and it seemed like we spent most of the day (and the remainder of the trip) in the car. Not to mention the fact that our driver had been working since 7am, and unlike us, he wasn't able to just take a nap when he felt tired. Spending four days in a car is not my idea of a vacation, regardless of whether or not I've been in a car accident. As for visiting 'coastal Maharashtra', we didn't make it to the coast until the next day at 7pm when it was dark.

The day that we were leaving, I was invited by the principal of a makeshift school, to talk to the children. There is a guest house at the temple for the goddess, and a couple of the rooms at the guesthouse are being used for classes. The kids sit on the floor, and use their book bags as their desk. After the principal introduced me, they all said good morning to me, then they sang 'Row, row, row your boat' for me. After that, we were invited to go upstairs to a larger classroom where I gave a speech to the kids, and was then presented with flowers.

After four days of spending pretty much most of the day in the car, I was happy to be dropped off at the train station in Pune to start my journey to Jaisalmer. As nice as it was to visit with Sunil and his family again, I was anxious to get back to traveling on my own.

I booked a ticket for second class, and I was the only girl, and only foreigner in a car of 8 men. The longest part of the trip was overnight to Ahmedabad. Once we arrived in Ahhmedabad, all the men got off the train, and I had the compartment to myself. During the rest of my journey, I met a young boy by the name of Oncar. His English was very good, and we passed much of the time batting a balloon around the compartment. He got lots of exercise chasing after it, and I'll bet he slept good that night. Traveling by train in India is not bad, however, I saw quite a few mice over the course of the journey. I'm not sure if it was the same one running back and forth, but it made an appearance several times. It's funny, because it doesn't phase Indians at all - it's just a part of living in India. The nice thing about traveling by train is that you don't have to worry about crazy car drivers!

I got in to Jodhpur two hours late at 7:45 pm, and there was a car and driver waiting to take me to the Shahi Palace in Jaisalmer. It was only a four hour drive, and not bad because the roads were straight and there was next to no traffic on the roads at that time of the night. We arrived at Shahi around midnight, and it sure felt good to be back at Shahi and in Jaislamer.

When I was in Jaisalmer in February, I met up with Amin, the young boy who won the camel race at the Desert Festival. About two days before I left India in February, he said he wanted to buy another camel. He said he knew of one that was strong like Elton, the camel he rode to his victory. I absolutely love camels, and I got to thinking that if I bought a camel, Amin could look after it. His win at the camel race was his second win, and if he had two camels, then he could train both of them and possibly place first and second at the Desert Festival next year. Not only that, he could use the camel for safaris, and the money he got could go towards feeding him and his family. The seed had been planted. For the next six months all I could think about was buying a camel. I kept in touch with Amin and asked him if he would help me buy a camel and he said he would. The day after I got in to Jaisalmer, I called Amin to tell him I was there, but he was in Manali and wouldn`t be back for a few days. I went in to town to visit people I had met the last time I was there, and after talking to many people and telling them that I wanted to buy a camel and have Amin look after it, it sounded like Amin really didn`t need my help, or another camel. As it turns out, he has an older girlfriend from France who provides a nice lifetsyle for him. Not only that, I discovered that Elton apparently leads the life of Riley. Apparently he doesn't do safaris, and just stays in the village and eats all day. When it gets close to the Desert Festival, then Amin starts training him to race. Here I thought that Amin was hard done by, and got little money from safaris, but it turns out that Elton doesn`t need to do safaris because Amin is already being well looked after. I was a little disappointed, but still wanted to buy a camel. I ran in to a boy I had met last time who worked in one of the shops close to a restaurant where I used to eat. He asked me to come by for chai the next morning. When I told him that I wanted to buy a camel, he said that his uncle had been a camel driver for 18 years, and he would be able to give me some good information on buying a camel.

The next day I met up at the shop where Bhawani works, and he introduced me to Khuba. We started talking about camels, then Khuba offered to take me for a ride on one of his friend`s camels. We went for a short ride, then he took me to the camel house where his friend lives and keeps his camel.

After our camel ride, Khuba took me out to a small camel fair about 7km out of town. There were all kinds of tents set up where people were selling trinkets for camels, chai and food. We wandered towards where most of the camels were, and it was kind of like old home week for Khuba. He saw lots of camels drivers that he used to work with. I felt confident having him with me, as he knew a lot about camels and what to look for. Our first stop was some friends of his who had a camel who sat on his back legs and stretched out his front legs for us. He wasn't for sale, he was just showing off for us! We moved on and met up with a friend of his who was selling a young camel by the name of Johnny B. Goode. He was a nice looking camel, but he was more expensive, and he wasn't trained, which meant that if I bought him, I wouldn't have been able to ride him right away. Apparently it takes a few months to train a camel so that he can be ridden. I moved on, and kind of wandered off on my own. I didn't really know what I was looking for in a camel, but I guess I was just looking for that one that would catch my eye. I came across a fairly large camel that was lying down, and I asked Khuba if he looked okay. He said that he did, but got him to stand up so we could have a better look at him. When he did, he started to poop. Khuba said that it`s bad luck if a camel pees when you are looking at him, but good luck if he poops. Khuba looked at his teeth and determined that he was eight years old. Not a bad age, as some camels live to be around 25 years old. He looked pretty healthy, and had a small hump with soft fur on top. When camels lie down, there is a fairly large oval piece of skin that touches the ground. Khuba said that it's best if this piece of skin doesn't touch either of the camel's front legs, which it didn't. Apparently when it comes to the matter of private parts, size matters. However, in the case of private parts for camels, small is best! Khuba explained that if it is small, then it doesn`t swing back and forth when the camel runs. I`m proud(??) to say that this camel had a small one! Also, he had already been trained, so that meant that I could ride him right away, and he could also be used for safaris right away. So what can I say? I had to buy him - he looked good, and he pooped for me! We told the owner that I was interested in his camel, and he said the price was 21,000 rupees (approximately $465Cdn). I gave the owner 100 rupees as a show of good faith, then we sealed the deal with a cup of chai. Apparently it is tradition when you buy a camel that the previous owner gives the new owner a bunch of food (in this case, branches from some desert bushes) to feed to the camel. I held up the dress part of my outfit, and he placed the branches in it. I then took the branches and fed them to MY camel! He was now mine!

It would seem that most camel owners name their camels after songwriters or songs. I had no idea what I was going to name mine, but going with the theme, I decided to go with Prince. Now I am not a big fan of Prince, but I think the name suits him. He is a very handsome camel, medium brown in colour, and has big, dark eyes with long eyelashes. Apparently, camels represent love. Finally, I have met my handsome Prince!

Khuba made arrangements for Kishor to ride Prince back in to town for me, then we would meet up with them later. We went out and did a bit of sightseeing, then around dinner time, went to meet up with Kishor and Prince. He was just as handsome as I had remembered, and I couldn`t believe that he was mine. Prince was now going to be living at Kewal`s house, and would be looked after by Kewal and Kishor. After spending a fair amount of time with the two of them, I know that Prince will be happy in his new home. The two of them speak enough English that we can understand each other, however, their English has been learned by being around tourists and certainly is not perfect. I'm amazed at how much English many of these camel drivers can speak. Most of them are from villages and have never been educated in Hindi, let alone English. I'm ashamed that I have all kinds of opportunities to learn any language I want, and yet I still only speak one, and here are uneducated people who often speak three or four languages! One day, Kewal showed me that he is learning how to read and write. He brought out his books and showed me his printing (probably a grade one or two level), then he would read the words for me that he had written. I bought him some books and a Hindi/English dictionary so he could brush up on his English for doing safaris. Kewal and Kishor will use Prince for camel safaris, and any money made will go towards feeding Prince, as well as themselves.

That night, Khuba and I went back out to the camel fair to buy some ropes and colourful beads to put around Prince's neck to make him even more handsome!

The next day, I went to meet up with Prince, Kewal and Kishor, and we rode back out to the camel fair so I could pay for Prince. It took us a couple of hours to get out there with me riding Prince and Kewal and Kishor riding Kewal's camel. Khuba rode out on his motorbike, and we met up with him when we got there. Shortly after that, we met up with Prince's previous (previous!!) owner, then we went over to a tent across the street where I got an official receipt saying that Prince was now mine. Of course I was the only foreigner there, and everyone else in the tent just stood there staring at me. Once the exchange of money had been made, the previous owner gave me back 50 rupees (approx. $1.10Cdn) for 'pleasure'. Prince was now 'officially' mine!

Every day that I was in Jaisalmer after I bought Prince, Khuba would come and pick me up, we'd stop for chai, pick up some fruit for Kishor and Kewal then go and see Prince. We would ride for anywhere from two to five hours, then come back and feed and water him. I would also go back in the early evening to water him as well. Most of the time we started our ride going through the lake area. One of the boys would usually lead me to the lake until we got out of traffic. Prince is not used to traffic, and it used to scare him. They told me that it would take approximately ten days before he would feel comfortable walking through traffic. Once we got past the traffic, my feet would come out of the stirrups, and I would take the lead. I was okay at leading him left or right, but Prince seemed to have a problem with my usage of the command for him to get down - 'je'. I guess I need to brush up on my Hindi! Many times we would go for a run, (no run, no fun), but I had a really hard time with bouncing in the saddle. Kishor kept telling me 'lose your body', but somehow, I would always find it, and I felt bad that it would be uncomfortable for Prince. I would watch Kishor and Kewal when we started running, and they always made it look so easy. I guess I just need some more practice. Before turning around to head back home, we would usually stop for a rest (rest is best), and have some of the fruit I had picked up earlier on. During our rides, Kewal and Kishor would serenade me with the only two songs they knew in English, Cecilia, or Country Roads, or entertain me with such sayings as 'no wife, no cry, no chapati, no chai. I loved going out on our rides, just sauntering along through the desert on my Prince! A lot of times we would go the whole ride and not see anyone else, just other animals. It was so relaxing. Whenever we came back from a ride, kids seemed to come from everywhere to welcome us back. One day we got back just as school was getting out. There were kids everywhere waving and shouting hello. I couldn't stop laughing to myself and thought that these are the types of experiences that make traveling so amazing. Whenever I was over visiting Prince, there always seemed to be a crowd of kids gathered either peeking over the fence, or standing on a wall looking in.

When we would take the camels to water, we would walk a few hundred meters from the camel house. I would lead Prince by the rope, and always thought it was so funny to look back and see this huge camel sauntering along behind me. And to think that he was mine! Another command I have to work on is the command for Prince to drink. It is a really weird sound, and I could never seem to get it right. I actually took a video of the boys doing it so I could practice for the next time I go back!

The day before I left Jaisalmer, I was a little concerned, as Prince was not peeing as much as he usually did. Khuba reassured me that it was nothing serious, and nothing that a little medicine couldn't cure. Kewal told me that he would feed him black tea, and that would help things along as well. A couple of days after I left Jaisalmer, I called Kewal to see how Prince was doing, and he told me 'Prince pissing and eating too much' (translated: he is doing just fine as he is eating lots and peeing lots).

The day I left Jaisalmer, I went to visit Prince once last time. I was feeling pretty sad, as I wasn't sure when I would see him again. I didn't go riding that day, but just went to give him one last hug before I headed to Jodhpur. I spent three nights in Jodhpur before heading to Udaipur to visit Sampat Lal. A couple of days before I got to Jodhpur, there had been over a hundred deaths of people being trampled while they were praying at a temple. There had been a huge sign erected with pictures of all the people who had died. How sad, most of them were so young.

When I was in Jodhpur, the car that I had hired to take me to Udaipur drove up with bald tires and dents all over the car. I told them there was no way I was getting in that car, and wanted a new car and driver. Just looking at the car made me feel unsafe. Within half an hour, I had a new car and driver and was on my way. The drive to Udaipur was awful, and I was glad that it was finally going to be my last long distance road trip in India. When I got to Udaipur and called Sampat Lal, he said he was going to Chittogargh the next day with his friends and wanted me to join them. I told him that I didn't feel comfortable being on the roads in India anymore and that I wouldn't be joining him.

One thing I loved about Udaipur this time is that I saw so many elephants on the streets. Whenever I saw them, I would just watch them, and wander along beside them. One time, one of the elephant drivers asked me if I wanted a ride. Of course I said yes! The elephant knelt down, then I climbed up his tail and on to the seat. Just after he got up, he discovered a well of water, and started spraying himself with it - I almost got soaked by it! The ride was short, but I took more pictures of the elephant and his driver. I love elephants almost as much as I love camels. Not to worry though, I'm not going to buy an elephant . . . . at this point in time.

After Udaipur, I was going to head back to Ahmednagar one more time to pick up a bag I had left there and to say goodbye to everyone. However, the thought of making the journey back there, then having to head back to Mumbai certainly did not appeal to me. I called Sunil to see if he would be able to meet me in Mumbai, and bless his heart, he didn't miss a beat and said he would be more than happy to meet with me there. Sarita and Sunil both took an overnight bus from Ahemendagar to Mumbai, and we spent my last day in India together. Before they left, Sunil said to me, 'On behalf of all Indians, we would like to welcome you back to India'. Late in the evening, I flew out of Mumbai.

After 9.5 of months of traveling, I am finally home. I have had many wonderful experiences, met some wonderful people, and have had some disppointments as well. I'm looking forward to being back and visting with family and friends, moving in to my apartment (I bought it brand new but have never actually lived in it), getting back in to a regular fitness routine, and actually getting a job (I can't believe I just said that!). As much as I love to travel, wherever I roam, there's no place like home! I met many people throughout my travels who can only dream about what I am doing, and not a day goes by that I don't think about how lucky I am that I have my health and the means to be able to do what I love to do.

See you soon,

Gaye
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Istanbul, Turkey

September 4, 2008
Istanbul, Turkey

When Helen and I were in Selcuk, Aydin took us to look at a piece of property, and I fell in love with it. I had never given a single thought to buying property in Selcuk, but the more I was there, the more I fell in love with it. When I expressed interest, Aydin said he had to check with the owner of the property to see if he was willing to sell. When we were in Bulent's shop in Istanbul on Helen's last day, I got a call from Aydin with good news - the property was for sale. After Helen left, I would go back to Selcuk to discuss the purchase of the property.

While I was in Selcuk, I stayed with Aydin. When we would get up in the morning, Aydin would ask 'who doesn't want waffles', and of course I wouldn't say a thing! I helped him make the waffles, slather them with Nutella, then took them over to the shop, where we enjoyed them with the Starbucks coffee I had brought for him.

I went to call Helen one night and when I got back to the shop, Aydin and James were in the middle of selling some carpets to a group of folks from the US. After they had sealed the deal, they invited me in to the shop and we chatted together for a while before heading home at 1:30am. They were going to come back the next morning to work out all the details, and we had made plans to go out for dinner with them the next night.

The next evening, we met up with them in Sirince, then went out for a really nice dinner - Aydin paid. After that, we went and looked at a boutique hotel in the area. The group own a B&B in Washington, DC, and Aydin has dreams to open a boutique hotel of his own in Selcuk.

When I realized that there was nothing else I needed to do in Selcuk for the purchase of the property, I made my way back to Konya to stay with my family again. I arrived in Konya on Monday morning after a long, overnight bus ride from Selcuk. Allattin and Fatime met me at the otogar and took me straight to their home. It was great to see everyone again, and not too long after I arrived, they brought out some food and started repeating the phrase that I heard so often when I visited: 'Gaia, eat, eat'. Not wanting to offend, I ate!

After we got cleaned up from eating, we started making sarma, stuffed grape leaves. I wasn't sure what was in them, but I helped to roll them. I must say that I'm getting quite good at it. After we finished making them, I was able to figure out what went in them so I could try making them on my own. I also watched Gunal make borek, and wrote down how I thought she made it. I figured that once I got back to Aydins' I would try and make it myself.

Eventually, all the kids came over to the house and it was good to see them as well. I know that I shouldn't play favourites, but I have to say that Raziye is still my favourite. She is such a neat kid, and it's hard for me to refrain from giving her a great big hug every time I see her! Unfortunately, while I was there, we ran in to a bit of an emergency. There were five kids altogether, and I only had one balloon left! I blew it up hoping that they would share, then brought out my stash of tattoos to divert their attention from the single balloon.

Around 9pm, Alattin and Nazif came home from the shop. Nazif doesn't usually stay at the home, so it was a nice treat for his family to have him home. His nieces and nephews surrounded him, as it had been a while since they had seen him, and he gave each of them 5YTL. They were REALLY glad to see him after that!

It was that time of year when Ramazan was approaching and people would be making the Haj to Mecca. I remember when I was in Konya five years ago, and we were working on Haj beanies (for lack of a better word). I'm not sure if they are made by hand or machine, but what we would do is take the coloured thread off them, then someone would sew up any loose ends. They would then be put in piles of ten, and I'm assuming Nazif's mom got paid for doing it. One day we were sitting on the ledge outside working on them, and a bunch of kids in the neighbourhood kept walking or riding their bikes past saying 'hello'. After riding by what seemed like a million times, they finally came and started to help. When they left, they were blowing kisses telling me 'I love you'.

One day when I got back from the Centrum, the Demirci house was locked, so Gunal took me to the neighbours house where they were cutting up aubergine (eggplant) and peppers. During the summer, they buy kilos of the stuff, then cut it up and dry it for use in the winter. It's amazing how all the ladies in the neighbourhood will help each other out to get the chore done. It's very social, and of course, goes much faster when there are more hands.
After being in Konya for a few days, it was time to to back to Selcuk to get things organized for purchasing the property, such as getting a tax number and opening up a bank account so my money from home would have somewhere to go. I took an overnight bus back to Selcuk and arrived about 8 am. One night when i was there, I received a text message saying that the reg documents were ready, and that I needed to print them off, sign them and fax them back by the end of the next day. I went to an internet cafe to print them off and then went in search of a fax machine. I guess I was looking lost, so a guy asked if he could help me. I told him I was looking for a fax machine. He showed me a shop where I could get the documents faxed, then he told me that Mosaik Cafe was his, and I should go back for a drink. He said that his wife was American. I went and got the documents faxed, then went to the Mosaik Cafe for a beer. I was chatting with Abit while I had my beer, and he showed me a newspaper article that talked about him and his wife, Catherine. After I finished my beer, he took me down to their carpet shop where Catherine was working. I really wanted to talk to her because I wanted to find out what life in Selcuk was like. We got to chatting, and I discovered that she had written one of the stories in Tales of the Expat Harem. I couldn't remember exactly which one, so when I got back to Aydin's place, I read her story again. We chatted about many different things, one of them being property in Selcuk. Before I had a chance to tell her about the property I wanted to buy, she commented that she wished she had bought property in the area where I wanted to buy because if she had, she would probably be retired by now because the property had gone up so much in value, so that was encouraging. Within a couple of hours, Abit had brought down a woman from New York, and her boyfriend(?) from Morrocco, so our chat was interrupted. We finally realized that it was past midnight, so I told Catherine I would come back again. I told her that I was going to attempt making borek, and she told me to bring some down to her. We bid farewell with the promise that I would take some borek when I went for my next visit.

My first attempt at making sarma turned out okay (they were edible), but Aydin, et al, gave me some tips on what to do next time. I also tried making borek for the first time and was flattered that everyone thought it was so good. Aydin's niece said that it was even better than her mother's borek!

When I was in Selcuk staying at Aydins place, I finally got a call from Apple regarding my computer problems. I had originally contacted a woman at Apple Canada by e-mail, and she responded to me asking me for my mother's phone number so she could give the information to my mother! What the?????? What the heck has my mother got to do with anything??? I sent her another e-mail back saying that I needed for her to talk to me, not my mother, and she responded by getting a woman from Apple in IRELAND to call me!!!! We talked for over an hour, and when she was finished with me, she put me through to Sean in support. The good news is that there is a good chance that I will be able to recover most of my data from my backup when I get back to Vancouver. Although I didn't get the answers I wanted to hear from Apple, I am at least able to continue sending out updates (using the texteditor instead of Word), and am able to surf the net. I am still completely unimpressed with my Mac and with Apple, and once I get back to Vancouver, one of the first things I will do is try and sell it. One good thing about Apple is that because of all the problems I've had, they have agreed to extend my warranty until the end of December, instead of the end of September, so that I can have it properly fixed once I get home. I only wish that all this had happened a couple of weeks in to my stay in Turkey rather than at the end, as most of my stay in Turkey was consumed by my problems with my Mac/Apple.

After a few days in Selcuk, it was time to fly to Istanbul to meet up with Karen. I flew from Izmir to Istanbul in the morning, and met Karen at the airport in the afternoon. We had no problems connecting, and it sure was good to see her again. The last time i had seen her was when i went home for my high school reunion last September, but we never got a chance to really talk. Now we were going to have 2.5 weeks to talk! We made our way to the hotel and rested for a bit before going out for dinner at Mesale Cafe. It's always fun to go there to see the whirling dervishes and to smoke the nargile (water pipe). Helen and I had been there a couple of times and had become friendly with a couple of the waiters. If you really used your imagination, one of them looked like John Travolta, and the other one looked like Antonio Banderas.

The next evening we flew to Konya to stay with my Turkish family. Unfortunately, our plane was late and we didn't get in until 1am, however, Nazif had made arrangements for us to be picked up at the airport and when we got to the house, his mom wanted to know if we wanted anything to eat! We chatted for a bit, then went to bed.

This year Raziye was starting school, so I bought her a backpack, a couple of notebooks, a pencil case and some pencils. Watching her with it brought back memories of when I was going to school. I remember when we used to go out and get our school supplies and I would take them out and look at them many times before school actually started.

In Turkey, when a boy turns six years old, he is circumcised. Not only is he circumcised, but his circumcision is celebrated by all! I remember when we were in Goreme at Bulent's mother's home, and a friend of his came to visit. Bulent explained that his friend's son was going to be circumcised, and he seemed quite proud of this fact. As part of the celebration, the young boy would dress up in a white satin outfit of pants, shirt, cape (yes, cape!) and a hat that resembles that of a bandleader. When I was in Konya for the first time, I remember seeing a young boy wearing the circumcision outfit, being driven around in a car with horns beeping, sort of like a wedding party. He was pumping his arms in the air. We talked about circumcision with Nazif, and he said that this was the first step towards becoming 'manly' for a Turkish male. When I thought back to the young boy in the car pumping his arms in the air, it made me wonder if he had already been circumcised and if not, if he knew of the pain he was about to endure, or maybe he had already had it done, and was thrilled that he had taken the first step towards becoming 'manly'. It seems strange that they would dress up in such an outfit when they are wanting to become 'manly'. Apparently the second step towards becoming 'manly' is finishing your service in the army. At least army fatigues and guns look a little more manly!

After two nights in Konya, Karen took the bus to Antalya to meet up with her friend Ugur. I stayed in Konya, then we both met up again in Selcuk. This time both Karen and I stayed at Aydin's place. While we were there, we met an Australian woman by the name of Frances, who owns a house in Selcuk. She invited us to Pink Bar for a girl's night out in Selcuk, and we got a chance to talk to a handful of other foreign women who are now living in Turkey. After that, Karen and I went to Mosaik Cafe before heading home at 1:30am.

From Selcuk, we went to Bodrum for four nights. When we were in Bodrum, we went to the Panorama restaurant to have a drink and to purposely rub it in the guys face from the Marina Restaurant (the Marina Restaurant is the place that sold us three slices of watermelon for 15YTL. The guy from Panorama told us that we had been ripped off and charged double). When we ordered our beer, we wanted something to nibble on, but they didn't really have anything on their menu that fit the bill. When we mentioned it to our waiter, he said he had something he could give us, and would be back in a few minutes. He came back with a large bag of Ruffles potato chips and proceeded to pour them on to a plate for us. Great, it was just what we were craving! We drank our beer and ate our chips and when we went to pay the bill, the guy had charged us 7YTL for a bag of chips!!! Needless to say, that was the last time we went to Panorama.

While we were in Bodrum, Karen and I went to Gumusluk and went back to the place where Helen and I had fresh tiger prawns. They were just as good this time as they were the first and second times around! We also went to Kos, Greece for a day trip. The worst part of doing a day trip to another country was all the customs formalities. However, once we got it all over with, we enjoyed our day. Kos is a charming little town. It's a lot less crowded than Rhodes, and there are ruins all over the place. After wandering around for a while, we enjoyed a Greek meal, then did some more wandering around. Before we knew it, it was time to get back on the boat and head back to Bodrum. It's so great motoring in to Bodrum and being greeted by St. Peter's Castle.

After four nights in Bodrum, we went back to Selcuk. When we were in Selcuk, we spent a lot of time at Aydin's carpet shop, sitting outside on the cushions watching the people go by and playing backgammon. Across from his shop was a restaurant, and in the restaurant was Musa, a 10 year old boy from eastern Turkey who goes to Selcuk to work for the summer. He has the biggest, darkest eyes you've ever seen, and big, long eyelashes to go with them. His English was very limited, so we couldn't really communicate much beyond 'hello, how are you', but he was always smiling and had huge dimples. That was one word that was added to his limited vocabulary, and every time I saw him, I would point to his dimples and ask him what they were. He never failed me! I felt so sorry for him - ten years old working seven days a week for only $45. However, that seems to be common in Turkey, and it didn't deter Musa from being a happy kid who never stopped smiling. I ended up going back and forth to Selcuk so many times, and it was always so nice seeing Musa again as he'd always flash me his smile and welcome me back.

After two more nights in Selcuk, Karen made our way to the airport in Izmir, and flew back to Istanbul for Karen's last three nights in Turkey. We went back to the Hali Hotel, a hotel that I have been staying at since I first started coming to Turkey five years ago. It was good to be back, but you could tell that Fall was in the air. It felt quite cool after the 44 degree temps in Bodrum and Selcuk. We went to the Grand Bazaar again to pick up some last minute souvenirs for Karen. I had been told on more than one occasion that I looked Spanish and I found it interesting, the number of shopkeepers that would say 'Ola' to me instead of 'Hello'. When you walk through any shopping area, the salesmen will say hello to you in a variety of languages until they hit the one that belongs to you. Must be my exotic looking features that make them think I'm Spanish ;).

Karen's hair, being blonde and curly, was a huge hit in Turkey seeing as they all have dark hair. Many people wanted to touch it, and many people wanted to know if it was real. She was told that it was like 'bonus hair', referring to an ad in Turkey where the woman has an afro. She was called Marilyn Monroe, and the Customs Officer in Greece told her 'Kaarrren, I like your hairs'.

September 1st marked the start of Ramazan, which will last the entire month of September. One of the five pillars of Islam is fasting, and from dawn to dusk, people must fast - no food, no water and no chewing gum the entire time. In Istanbul, there are food stalls set up by the Blue Mosque and there is almost a carnival-like atmosphere. Hundreds of people are out and about getting ready for the call to prayer at dusk which will signal the end of the fast for the day. There are people everywhere - in makeshift restaurants, on benches, on the cement walls that are scattered around the park. The food and drinks are laid out in preparation for the instant that the call to prayer begins. In some areas, a drummer will go around beating on a drum at 4:30am to wake people up so they can eat before the sun rises. They will not be able to eat again until the sun sets. When I was in Turkey five years ago, they celebrated Ramazan during the month of November. It must have been much easier to fast at that time of the year as the days were shorter, and the weather was cooler. The other night I was visiting Bulent at his shop around 7pm, and there was a group of them getting ready to have dinner in his shop. Serkan had brought over a Turkish dish he had made - cut up chicken and vegetables, then slow cooked in an oven for 2-3 hours. It smelled divine. Aytac went and picked up the Coke and the bread, while others laid out newspaper and set the table. The cups were filled with Coke, the soup was ladled out, the bread was broken then everyone sat and waited for the call to prayer. Not one sip or nibble was taken until they could hear the call to prayer as it rang out through the speakers of the minarets. The drinks were raised to their lips, and the food to their mouths as soon as they heard the call to prayer, and not a moment sooner. After dinner, they drank Turkish tea, only this time it was in a large glass, rather than the usual smaller size. Bulent explained that the Turkish men drink tea all day, but they can't during Ramazan. He said that once they have their tea after dinner, they feel very peaceful as they now have the caffeine that they are so used to during the day. He also explained that it's easy to get headaches from not eating or drinking water all day, and many of them are tired after having woken up so early in the morning. How strong their faith must be to be able to go through this process day after day for 30 days!

So here I am, after almost two and a half months of being in Turkey. I can't believe how fast the time flies. Today at 5:00, I will go and pick up my visa for India, then will head to the airport and catch my flight to Dubai. Suzanne and Mike, two of the foreign teachers who were teaching in China the same time as me, are now teaching in Dubai. I will stay in Dubai for five nights, then fly to India. The worst part about leaving Turkey is not knowing when I will be back again, but mark my words, I WILL be back!

Until next time,
Gaye
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Selcuk, Izmir, Turkey

July 31, 2008
Selcuk, Turkey


My last experience with 'customer service' in Croatia came when I was flying from Split to Zagreb where I would catch my connecting flight to Istanbul. My flight was supposed to leave at 1pm, but 1pm came and went, and there was no movement to board the plane, and no announcements as to what was going on. Once I got to Zagreb, I only had 35 minutes to catch my connecting flight, and as time ticked by, I kept thinking that there was no way I was going to be able to catch my connecting flight to Istanbul. I went over to the Croatia Airlines rep to ask what was going on, and she gave no information whatsoever. I advised her that I had a connecting flight in Zagreb, and because it was not a Croatia Airlines flight (even though it was booked directly through Croatia Airlines), she basically washed her hands of any responsibility. When we finally got on the plane, I asked the flight attendant about what would happen with my connecting flight. When she found out that it was not a Croatia Airlines flight, she too wanted to wash her hands of any responsibility, until I told her that I had booked it directly through Croatia Airlines. Thankfully, she came back a little while later and told me that the Turkish Airlines flight was going to wait for me. When we landed in Zagreb, the Turkish Airlines plane was sitting on the tarmac. It was so close that I could have walked over and hopped on. However, I had to board a shuttle bus that would take me to the terminal. I went to the Turkish Airlines counter, and met up with four other guys who were in the same predicament as me. The agent for Turkish Airlines agent made some calls for us, and advised us that even though the plane was still sitting on the tarmac and had not yet taken off, the flight had been closed, and there was no way that they could get us on the plane. We then went over to the Croatia Airlines 'Customer Service' counter to find out when we could catch the next available flight. Unfortunately, everything was booked solid, and the only flight we could get was going to Frankfurt, then to Istanbul. What was originally going to take me three hours and get me in to Istanbul at 5:30 pm, was now going to take me twelve hours and get me in at 2am. As my mom always says, 'to every cloud, there is a silver lining', and this silver lining came in the form of Stefano, an Italian who was also headed to Istanbul and who had also missed his flight. He was headed to Istanbul on business, and his colleagues were lucky enough to get the last seats on the earlier flights. Croatia Airlines assigned us our new flights, and we went to the Lufthansa counter to check in. Stefano had been traveling in business class. He told the agent that we were traveling together and would it be possible to upgrade me to business class so that we could sit together, and it was! That meant that not only would I be sitting in business class on the flights, it also meant that I got to enjoy the business class lounges in Zagreb and Frankfurt. Not only did Stefano make a bad situation better, he got me upgraded to business class to boot! I was surprised that the time passed as quickly as it did. It was great having such an interesting travel companion, and I ended up with an invitation to dinner if I ever make it to Milano!

We finally arrived in Istanbul at 2am, and I said goodbye to Stefano before collecting my luggage, and hopping in to a cab to my hotel. I was pretty tired when I checked in, but did notice that they had a sign advertising wifi. It didn't take me long to get settled in the room, and hit the sack. I was out like a light.

The next morning, I woke up fairly early, considering I hadn't had that much sleep. Before I went upstairs for breakfast, I booted up my laptop so I could look up my friend Bulent's phone number, as I wanted to let him know that I had finally made it to Istanbul. After I finished my breakfast, I went downstairs to get the password for the wifi, and then went back to my room to log on to the internet. I pushed the button to start it up, and the screen seemed to remain white for quite a long time. I kept reassuring myself that I was just being impatient, but after five minutes, I had this awful feeling that something was wrong. Trying not to panic, I tried shutting down and rebooting, but I still kept getting the white screen. When I called Bulent to let him know I had arrived in Istanbul, I told him that I thought something was wrong with my computer, so he told me to bring it along to his shop and we could look in to getting it fixed. When I got to his shop, we tried booting it up again, but still kept getting the white screen. The thought of losing all my data, and my pictures - over 6,000 of them - made me sick. Seeing as it was an Apple product, the computer guy across the street wouldn't touch it with a 10-foot pole. So, Bulent sent his colleague, Aytac (pronounced iTouch - I thought it was interesting that his name sounded like an Apple product) with me to the 'closest' Apple support center which was 1.5 hours away, one tram ride and two separate metro rides. There is no way I would have been able to find this on my own. When we got there, nobody spoke English so I had to call Bulent, and by passing the phone from me to him and to the service guy, I learned that they had to call Apple Canada to see if my computer was still under warranty. This would take one to three days. They would replace the hard drive, for free, and then try to restore the data. If they were able to do this, there would be a charge of approximately 120 euros, but there was no guarantee that they could restore the data. This was on a Wednesday. Seeing as Apple is closed on the weekend, we had to wait until Monday before I would find anything out about the fate of my computer. I have been a Mac-hater pretty much since I got it back to China and started having problems connecting to the internet. Having the hard drive crash after only having it for nine months was just strengthening my feelings as a Mac hater.

Trying to forget about the fact that I had now lost all my lessons plans from when I was in China, all my music, all my pictures from my travels - over 6,000 of them, I reveled in the fact that I was finally back in Turkey. Just walking the streets hearing the sounds, and seeing the sights made me forget about my computer, at least for a little while. I was thrilled to be back. Ever since I started my travels at the end of December, I could hardly wait to get back to Turkey. I don't know what it is about this place, but there is something that keeps drawing me back. I always feel so comfortable and safe when I'm here.

Although I was a little stressed about my computer when I first met up with Bulent, it was nice to see him again. I first met him in Cappadocia in 2003 where he sold me my first Turkish carpet. We had kept in touch ever since. He is now managing a carpet shop in Istanbul.

The next day, my friend Helen arrived in Istanbul from Toronto. She was going to be in Turkey for about four weeks, but we ended up having to spend two extra nights in Istanbul because of my computer. Helen and I first met in Turkey five years ago, and we both felt the same away about Turkey - like we were home. It was great this time, as we didn't feel the need to be rushing around from one place to another because we had already seen many of the sights. Most of our time was spent just chilling out, visiting with Bulent, and experiencing the Turkish culture.

One day when Helen and I were visiting Bulent in his carpet shop, two girls from Australia, Kate and Alyson came in looking at porcelain. The four of us started chatting and became fast friends. Kate was in the market for carpets, but had been told by many people not to buy them in Istanbul. Once she found out that I had bought a carpet from Bulent, she felt much more comfortable in dealing with him, and ended up buying four carpets from him.

Kate and Alyson were going on a tour around Turkey, and were spending a few extra days in Istanbul before joining their tour. The night before they joined, the two of them, along with Helen, Bulent and I, went to Hamdi Restaurant where Bulent ordered traditional Turkish food for us, and we drank traditional raki! After dinner we went out for a drink, but shortly after we ordered our drinks, my stomach started feeling a little upset. It didn't seem to get any better, so I decided to head back to our room. From about midnight until noon the next day, I couldn't stop getting sick, and having severe stomach pains. Just before noon, I had gotten my medical insurance papers out as I was feeling that I might have had to make a trip to the hospital. Although I had stopped getting sick, the stomach pains persevered. I ended up calling Nazif in Konya, and he asked me if I wanted him to hop on a bus to Istanbul (a 10 hour bus ride) so he could look after me (bless his heart). I assured him that I would be okay, and he told me that I needed to drink some soda water, as the bubbles would relax my stomach. The Turkish seem to have remedies for everything and although feeling a little skeptical about his instructions, I decided I would give it a try. Helen went downstairs for me and came back with a bottle of soda water. I took a sip and immediately got another stomach pain. My first thought was 'I knew this wasn't going to work', but I never had another stomach pain after that. After an hour or so, I called 'Dr. Demirci' back to let him know that his remedy had worked.

On Monday I went back to the support center to pick up my computer before heading off to Goreme and learned that they had replaced my hard drive, and were still in the process of trying to restore my data. This time around, there was a guy who spoke a little bit of English, but he didn't sound hopeful in being able to restore my data.

After I left Istanbul, I booted up my computer to find that they had replaced the hard drive with an older version of Mac OS and with a trial version of Office, even though I had purchased it when I bought my computer back in September. The worst part is that every time I use Word, I get reminded that I have xx number of days before my trial version expires. I would have thought that they would have at least restored my hard drive with what I had originally purchased from Apple, but not so.

Our first stop after Istanbul was Goreme where Helen and I had met five years ago. We ended up going back to the same place where we both stayed five years ago, but ended up staying only one night. It was a little unsettling when the guy asked us if we wanted one bed or two. I wondered if it was normal practice for them to ask that, or did they think we were actually a couple of lesbians??

The next night we stayed at a different place, where the owner happened to be a friend of Bulent's. He gave us a really nice room that had a jacuzzi bathtub, and when he showed us the room, he said it was very romantic. Again, I wondered if he thought we were a couple of lesbians, and almost told him that although my name was Gaye, it was just my name, not my sexual preference! After that, Helen and I were always conscious about what we talked about, as we didn't want people to think that we were a couple.

We did lots of hiking around Goreme and one day when we were out wandering around, we ran in to Kate and Alyson while they were on their tour. We ran up to each other hugging and screaming as if we were long lost friends! We only had a couple of minutes to chat, but we knew we were going to see them later, as Bulent was on holidays in Goreme, and he had invited the four of us to his mother's house for dinner.

Bulent's mom put on quite a spread for all of us, and there definitely was no shortage of food. Shortly after we got there, Bulent's dad came home and regaled us with his stories of how he learned to speak many different languages (some of them he learned overnight!). The end of the meal was topped off with a cup of Turkish coffee, and Bulent's sister-in-law read our coffee cups.

One morning in Goreme I happened to wake up early and when I looked through the window in our room, I could see a hot air balloon floating by in the distance. When I went outside on the terrace, there were hot air balloons all around - I think I counted 16 at one time. It was so peaceful just sitting and watching them floating in the air, then disappear as they sank in to the valleys with only the sound of the hot air disturbing the morning silence.

Our next stop was Konya to visit my Turkish family. Nazif was at the bus station to meet us, and took us straight to his family's home. On the way to the home, Nazif told me that his sister Serap had left a few days earlier to go and work in Ankara. I wondered how I was going to manage staying at the home this time as Serap had been my trusty translator the other times I had been there, and nobody else spoke that much English. We received a hearty welcome when we got to the home, and it felt like no time had passed since the last time I had been there. In true Turkish style, the first order of business after our arrival was a meal. It sure was great to have that home cooking again. I didn't realize how much I missed it until I started having it again.

Not long after we got there, the neighbours started coming over to say hello and again, it felt like no time had passed since the last time I had been there. The only difference was that the kids in the neighbourhood were so grown up now! There have been two more children added to the Demirci family since I was last there, and I couldn't believe how big Raziye was now. The first time I stayed in Konya, Razi was only six months old. How time flies!

It wasn't long before Haava came over to say hello. Haava was 12 years old when I met her, and when I first arrived in Konya at the Demirci home, Haava, Tugba and Fatma used to serenade me with Turkish songs and dance for me while I was sitting out on the porch. I couldn't believe how grown up she looked now. She seemed very confident with herself, and I couldn't believe how much her English had improved. Her vocabulary was amazing, and she asked all kinds of questions. Later in the afternoon, we went visiting around the neighbourhood, and it was so good to see everyone again. We went to Tugba's house for a visit and were told she was at her friend Miriam's house, so we went to visit her there. I had never met Miriam before, but it was good to see Tugba again. When Miriam found out that Helen had a son, she asked if he was handsome. Next thing we knew, she was showing us her dowry, and talking about marrying Helen's son! While we were at Miriam's house, Haava asked me if I wanted to go and get water with her and Fadime at 5:15. When I was in Konya last time, I used to go and get water with the kids every day. There is a central water pump, and the kids go with all kinds of large containers and fill them up with water so they have a supply of water for the day. When 5:15 came along, Haava asked if we should go and get the water. As soon as we got outside, she told us that she had a boyfriend, and we were going to meet him at the water pump. No wonder she had set a specific time to go and get water! As we approached the water tap, he was sitting on the sidewalk, and Haava walked right by him as if he wasn't even there. It was sooo cute! Thankfully for Haava, there was a line up for the water, so it gave her an excuse to sit and strike up a conversation with him. Before long, she was chatting away with him. I had no idea what they were talking about, but she acted like any other 18 year old around a boy they liked. At the risk of raising any suspicions, we left the water area around 15 minutes later, and I'm sure they made plans to meet at the same time the next day.

In the early evening, Helen and I got ready to go in to town to see the Whirling Dervishes. We had seen a Whirling Dervish show at the Mesale Café in Istanbul, but this one was much bigger with 24 dervishes all whirling at the same time. The show was free, and was in the Cultural Center, a beautiful new building that had been constructed since the last time I was there. We met up with Nazif in the Centrum, and he walked us to the cultural center and escorted us to the best seats for the show, before making arrangements for us to meet up afterwards. It was pretty impressive, and I wondered how 24 of them were able to whirl at the same time with their eyes closed and not bump in to each other!

The next day, Nazif gave us a tour of the city and of the Mevlana Museum. On our way to the Mevlana Museum we went to the oldest mosque in the city. I was surprised to learn that the reason that women are segregated from the men when praying is so that the mean can actually focus on praying! Nazif gave us a great tour of the Mevlana Museum and I learnt so much more from him being our tour guide than I had learned the last time I was there.

After we went to the museum, I wanted to go to a store to pick up these candy-covered almonds that I love. I was so disappointed to find that the store was closed. What a nice surprise that night when Nazif called me at his family's home to tell me that he was able to get the almonds for me. When I asked him where he got them, he said he had phoned his friend who owned the candy shop, and he came and opened the store just so Nazif could get the candies for me! I was leaving the next day and he knew that I wouldn't be able to get them otherwise. What a sweetie!

After two nights, Helen and I were off to our next stop of Antalya, and we said goodbye to my Turkish family with the promise of me going back to visit again in August.

When we got to Antalya, we contacted Ugur, a friend of Karen's that she had met through Hospitality Club. Ugur had stayed with her in 2005, and I met him when I was in Vancouver for a visit. We met up with him and his girlfriend for a beer, and then they took us to the beach for a look around. While we were in Antalya, we also visited with Namik, from my Turkish family in Konya. He is working with his uncle in Antalya selling carpets. It was strange to see him there and not in Konya.

While we were in Antalya, I decided to call Apple Canada about the problems with my computer. Because of the language barrier, there was no way that I was going to get anywhere with getting it fixed here in Turkey, so I called them to see what could be done. My first point of contact was with someone by the name of Mike, who felt my pain after I relayed my story of my hard drive crash. He then passed me on to Marlene who was more down to business. After talking to Marlene, I sent a follow up e-mail with all the details we had discussed, and she advised that an agent in Turkey would be in contact with me. As it turns out, it was over a week and I hadn't heard anything from an agent in Turkey so I contacted Marlene again. I was then contacted by someone in Ireland! I have no idea what someone based in Ireland was going to be able to do for me. This is when I first started thinking that there is no way that I am going to be able to get my computer fixed here.

Helen and I had hoped to do a gulet cruise this time around, but the times just didn't seem to work out for us, so we went to Kas for three nights after Antalya. Kas was a place we had stopped when we did our gulet cruise five years ago, and it was just as charming as I had remembered it five years ago. Adnan, the owner of the Meltem Pension, met us at the bus station. Our room was pretty basic, but they had a rooftop terrace that was to die for. To top it off, his wife cooked us a couple of wonderful dinners, and there was never a shortage of food at breakfast. They had a daughter, Irem, who was four years old, and it was quite clear that she only had eyes for her dad. We tried everything to try and get her to smile, but were never successful. As soon as her dad came in to the picture, she was all smiles, and I loved watching the two of them interact. There is no doubt that she loves her daddy.

Adnan took Helen and I to Demre for the day as he had some business he had to attend to. He first took us to the ruins at Myra, and then he took us to a long, deserted sandy beach. We spent a few hours swimming and lying in the sun, then he came back to get us a few hours later.

The next day, Helen and I did a tour to Saklikent Gorge where we hiked through a narrow gorge over rocks and through water, some of it very cold! It was hard getting up and down some of the rocks, and by the end of the hike, we were soaked! It was a great day, having water fights with the other vehicle in our group, as well as with merchants of shops along the way. We would be driving along, and our driver would start honking his horn. I thought it was to let people know that we were coming around the corners. He was letting people know we were coming, all right. It turns out that the horn honking was to alert people that we were coming, and they in turn, ran out to greet us with big buckets of water! It was lots of fun, and very welcome on a boiling hot day. On the way back to Kas, we stopped at Xanthos to look at the ruins, and then stopped at a beautiful sandy beach with turquoise blue water.

While we were in Kas, Helen and I decided that four weeks in Turkey wasn't going to be enough for her, so she called Delta to see what it would cost to change her return flight. When she phoned and found that the cost for the change was within her budget and that there were flights available for her return flight, it didn't take much to twist her arm to make the changes. She now had an extra week in Turkey.

Next stop after Kas was Fethiye, where we went to look at property. When we first got there, it was pretty quiet, and it felt like it didn't have the same charm as it did five years ago. However, after being there for a few hours, it felt good to be back. When we got there, I contacted a realtor who was going to show us some properties there. I have been to Turkey so many times that I felt the next step for me was to buy property, and Fethiye had been my first choice. The next day we met with Pauline at the hotel where we were staying. I was a little disappointed that she hadn't been prepped on what I was looking for, so we spent a little bit of time going over her property listings figuring out where she was going to take us. Before we got there, I had decided that I really wanted to get a place that was close to the water, but after talking to Pauline it sounded like she didn't really recommend places near the water, and she told us about her favourite development, The Viewpoint. We made plans to go and view this new development, and she phoned ahead and told her friend to put on the teakettle. As we were driving out there, we discovered that Pauline had lived in Fethiye for eight years, and was hoping to apply for Turkish citizenship next year. I was surprised that although she had been there for eight years, she could hardly speak any Turkish. She didn't even know the name of the main street; she said she just calls it 'the main street'. I wasn't too impressed by this point.

When we got to the sales office for The Viewpoint, we were introduced to Ismail and Charlotte. I got a little bit frustrated as Charlotte wasted a lot of our time trying to sell us on Fethiye. The mere fact that I was even looking in Fethiye meant that I was interested in Fethiye, and I was mad at myself that I allowed her to waste our time. We finally went and looked at the development, but it was too far away from everything for my liking, and the fact that only 10 % of the development had been sold, and it was almost finished, made me a little leery. Anyways, it was good to get an idea of what properties are like as far as different areas, prices, etc. are concerned.

Before heading to Bodrum, we stopped in Marmaris for two nights. I had never been there before, and was always curious as to what it was like, so we decided to go. From Marmaris, we went to Rhodes in Greece for the day, and although it was nice, it was an expensive day. The hotel we stayed in wasn't the greatest, so it was nice to only stay in Marmaris for two nights.

I had been to Bodrum five years ago, and although it was packed with tourists, the part I like about Bodrum is the marina, and St. Peter's Castle in the background. It was Helen's first time in Bodrum, and she really liked it there, so we ended up spending five nights. We stayed at the Mars Hotel, which is on the quiet side of town. There is a huge disco, Halikarnas, and you can hear the music almost all over Bodrum. When packed to capacity, it holds 5,000 people, and costs 40YTL (approx. $32Cdn) for the cover charge.

Shortly after we got to Bodrum, I got a message from Turkcell, the provider of my mobile phone coverage, saying that my sim card registration had failed. The sim card was fine, but my phone had not been registered, so I wasn't able to use the phone in Turkey anymore. When I purchased the sim card in Istanbul, they should have registered the phone, but they didn't. When I went in to a Turkcell shop, they advised that I had two options. The first one was to have my contract mailed to me so I could get the phone registered, or I could buy a new sim card, and pay to have the phone registered. I couldn't believe they were telling me that I had to have my contract mailed to me, that they couldn't look up the information online. I explained that I was traveling all over Turkey and that I wasn't able to have the contract mailed to me, so they suggested I get a new number, and pay for another sim card! I was so mad and frustrated, and there was no way I wanted to give them my business. I decided that I would wait until I got to Selcuk and get my phone taken care of there.

While we were in Bodrum, we went to the Cleopatra hamam. We were only going to go for the Turkish Bath, but we got talked in to an oil massage, and clay facial afterwards.

We also went to Gumusluk, a small, charming fishing village about 45 minutes away from Bodrum by dolmus. The first day that we went there, we met Farouq, who told us about Rabbit Island. You can get to it by walking through the water at low tide, or by swimming across at high tide. He then proceeded to tell us about the fresh catches of the day, and invited us to come back for a feed of seafood. We walked across to Rabbit Island, then walked around the other side of the island and went for a hike before going back to visit Farouq at his restaurant for a feed of fresh tiger prawns. How nice it was to be sitting at a table right beside the water, eating our fresh prawns, and sipping our chilled white wine. It was so good, in fact, that we ended up going back the next day!

While we were in Bodrum, I ended up getting my hair cut and coloured. It always seems to be such a traumatic experience for me when I go to a place where they don't speak much English. I picked out the colour that I wanted for my hair, but when they started applying it, it was orange!!! They kept reassuring me that it was going to turn out to be the colour that I wanted, but I had a hard time envisioning it when I kept looking in the mirror and all I could see was orange! True to their word, it ended up being the colour that I wanted. The haircut wasn't that great when I walked out, but I've gotten used to it. The pedicure, however, left a little to be desired. My feet were put in a tub of room temperature water to soak. After that, my toes were clipped and painted. No peeling, scrubbing, foot massage, or anything, and they ended up charging me 25YTL. I could have easily painted my nails, and it wouldn't have cost me anything!

While we were in Bodrum the temperatures were usually 45 degrees during the day, and would cool down to around 39 degrees in the evening. With the weather so hot, it's hard to get motivated to do anything, and Helen and I got in to the habit of having a nice cold beer every night. The first night we went to the Marina restaurant. While we were having our beer, Helen suggested ordering watermelon, which is really popular here. After enjoying our beers and three slices of watermelon between us, the waiter delivered our bill of 32YTL! He had charged us 15YTL for three slices of watermelon! At that price, it meant that they were charging 60YTL for a whole watermelon. The standing joke after that was whenever we saw a truckload of watermelons, we always wondered where the armed guards were! We asked to see a menu so we could see the price of watermelon, and the only thing that closely resembled it was a fruit salad for which they charged 12YTL, so he ended up taking off 3YTL. Big deal - it was still overpriced! The next night we walked by that restaurant, the waiter at the Panorama Restaurant next door told us that we had been charged double. He had watched the night before as we questioned the waiter, and said at his restaurant, he would have charged us half. Every night after that, we went to Panorama for our beer, and made a big deal of going there, making sure that the waiter from the Marina Restaurant saw us going there.

After Bodrum, we took a three-hour bus ride to Selcuk. The first order of business after we had checked in to our hotel was to go and get things sorted out with my phone. When I got to the Turkcell office, it turns out that I ended up cutting off my nose to spite my face, as they advised that they were unable to help me there, and that I would have to go to the Turkcell office in Kusadasi (30 mins by dolmus) to get it taken care of. I couldn't believe it, and stormed out!

When I was in Selcuk five years ago, I had met a carpet seller by the name of Aydin. Karen was visiting me at the time, and I remember the two of us went to his shop for breakfast one morning, and then he took us to a local swimming hole. I wasn't sure if he was even still in Selcuk, or if he would remember me, but we went looking for his shop. He is still in Selcuk, and he actually remembered me, and that I was from Canada! We got to talking, and I told him my problems with my phone. He made it sound so sensible and easy when he suggested that I buy a new phone in Turkey. That way I could use it whenever I'm in Turkey, and wouldn't have to worry about having it registered. All I would have to do is buy a new sim card each time. It made a lot of sense to me, and next thing I knew, the telephone guy from next door was in the shop with an inexpensive phone for me to buy. Within half an hour, I had bought the phone, and it was all charged, ready for me to use. Within half an hour, I never gave my failed sim registration another thought. With my phone all fixed up, I started telling Aydin my woes about my computer, how I had lost everything, and how the frustrations with my computer had totally consumed me ever since my arrival in Turkey. Again, he made it sound so sensible and easy when he suggested that I buy a new computer. Karen is coming out to visit me in August, and there was lots of time to order a computer online, have it delivered to Canada, then Karen could bring it over to me. Within a couple of days, I had ordered a new laptop from Dell, and although I'm still sick about losing everything, every waking moment is no longer consumed with how much I hate my Mac. We then started talking about going to look at property when we were in Fethiye, and when he also expressed an interest in real estate, I thought to myself that I should get the hell out now before he ends up talking me in to buying some property!! I just wish I had bought Dell a long time ago, as poor Helen had to listen to me whine and complain about my Mac the whole time she was here.

While we were in Selcuk, we went to another hamam, and just took it easy. Nights were spent at Aydin's shop sitting on the cushions outside talking, listening to Murselin playing the saz, and eating (cheap) watermelon.

After three laid back days in Selcuk, we headed to the Crown Plaza in Izmir for some more relaxation and a little bit of luxury. We didn't do any sightseeing in Izmir, and spent the last two days of Helens trip relaxing before flying back to Istanbul for her last night.

After we checked in to the Hali Hotel, we went to the Grand Bazaar and the Spice Market for some last minute shopping for Helen, then went to Bulent's shop to say goodbye.

We woke on Helen's last morning to torrential downpours. It was so strange seeing rain after having straight sun and high temperatures for the last five weeks. The airport shuttle was coming to pick Helen up at 7:30 in the morning, so I went downstairs with her to say goodbye. It felt so strange saying goodbye to her, and I couldn't believe how fast five weeks went by. There were a few tears shed, and I'm sure this wasn't our last time together (of course as 'just friends') in Turkey.

The same day Helen flew back home, I flew back to Selcuk and will be here for a few days before heading back to Konya to stay with my Turkish family again. After that, it's back to Istanbul to pick up Karen, and do it all over again.

Before I got to Turkey, I had good intentions to go to Greece for four to six weeks, but now that I am in Turkey, I just can't tear myself away. I know this won't be my last time in Turkey, and I am thankful that I still have six weeks until I have to say goodbye until my next trip here.

Until next time,

Gaye
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Split, Croatia

June 24th, 2008
Split, Croatia

After I left Zagreb, I went to Plitvice Lakes National Park. It's about an hour and a half bus ride between Zagreb and Zadar. Unfortunately, I could only get accommodation for one night, so I took the earliest bus and got there around 10:30 am and went hiking for about four hours, then about three hours the next morning before I had to check out. The bus dropped me off at the entrance to the park, and when I went to ask information where my hotel was, the guy was a little angry that the bus hadn't dropped me off closer to the hotel. It meant that I had to walk about 20 minutes with my backpack up a gravel trail to take a bus that would taker me closer to my hotel, but which still included another 5 to 10 minute walk after that. That was one of my first experiences with the 'customer service' I received in Croatia. I didn't really mind doing the walk, it gave me an opportunity for some exercise, and as I was walking along the trail, I got my first glimpse of one of the beautiful blue turquoise lakes. It was also when I first started clicking pictures, and couldn't seem to stop after that. Once I got checked in to my hotel, I went back and started wandering around the many trails and boardwalks that connected the lakes and waterfalls. Between the turquoise lakes, the many waterfalls, big and small, the blue sky and the brilliant green trees, it was hard to not keep stopping and taking pictures. It would have been nice to stay one more night, but I think I covered a lot of ground in 24 hours.

The next day I continued to Zadar, about an hour and a half from Plitvice Lakes. When I arrived at the bus station, I had my first experience with accommodation being offered as soon as I arrived, but I had already booked a couple of nights in a pension, so I declined. When I walked in to the pension with all my gear, an older gentleman sitting at a table in the lobby told me that I 'looked very heavy'. I certainly hope that he meant that my bag was very heavy; because I was already feeling self-conscious about the weight I gained when I did my Trans Sib tour.

The place I was staying was about a twenty-minute walk out of town, but once I got settled, I walked in to town to have a look around. I knew I was finally on the coast when I spotted a seagull! I walked across the footbridge and headed for the old town of Zadar, which was surrounded by the Adriatic Sea.

When I found out that the place I was staying was full for the next two nights, I went to a travel agency to find private accommodation. This was going to be my first experience staying in private accommodation, and I figured that if it worked out, I wouldn't bother with booking any more accommodation; I would just get private accommodation once I reached my destination. I ended up staying with Olga who had an apartment at the end of the Old Town that had a panoramic view of the Adriatic. Right across the street from her third floor balcony, was a huge Jadrolinija car ferry. Jadrolinija is the company that services the coast of Croatia, and was a name that for me would be associated with Croatia. It was great to sit out on the balcony in the morning drinking my coffee and taking in the sights and sounds of the coast. Olga couldn't speak much English, but every time I would come back at the end of the day, she would say 'good day?' and I would tell her that I had a great day! That was it; I decided I definitely was going to go for private accommodation for the remainder of my time in Croatia.

I went on a boat excursion to Kornati Island one day where I met Rob, an older gentleman from Australia, Kay, also from Australia who has lots of family in Croatia, and Cynthia who is from NZ but is living in the UK. We made our first stop on one of the Kornati Islands where we had about 1.5 hours to swim, hike, whatever. We hiked to the other side of the island, and all went in the water. It was pretty cold at first, but I got used to it after a while. We boarded the boat at 1:30 where they served us a lunch of fish, grilled meat, salad and lots of wine! Just as we finished lunch, we pulled in to another island called Sali, where we had an hour to explore. Walked around for a bit, then had my first of many sladoleds (ice cream). Boarded the boat again, and made the direct trip back to Zadar. All in all, a wonderful day, however, Rob seemed to be getting just a little too friendly for my liking. He was a fair bit older than me, and was wearing a wedding ring. When he talked about traveling, he kept saying 'we' but I'm not sure who the other person was. Oh well, at least it was interesting talking to him about his travels. During the boat cruise, Kay and I discovered that we were staying in the same building, but in different apartment suites. We walked back together, and then met up an hour later after having a shower. We walked to the end of the street where there was a big glass area with lots of lights that changed colour. Reminded me of my disco days. We wandered around Old Town for a couple of hours, and then I went back to Olga's apartment. Kay and I made plans to meet up the next day after she gave me lots of valuable info on Split and Dubrovnik.

I went to Krka National Park on my way to Split, and was quite disappointed, especially after seeing Plitvice Lakes. It was kind of like going to Knotts Berry Farm after having gone to Disneyland. It was beautiful, but as far as I'm concerned, nowhere near as beautiful as Plitvice. After Krka, I caught the bus to Split, but it was late getting in because there had been an accident heading in to Split. The weather was horrendous with thunder, lightening and torrential downpours. The streets were flooded in Trogir when we drove through. Kay and I had talked about meeting up in Split, but when I tried sending her an SMS as well as tried calling her, I had problems getting through. Unfortunately, we were unable to connect. I later found out that Kay had gone to the bus station to wait for me with an umbrella! She had met some locals who gave her a free room that had two beds and she said I could have stayed with her. Not only that, one of the guys owned a bar/restaurant, so he gave her free food and drinks!

When I arrived in Split, Deni, who had rooms that were located really close to the center of town, approached me at the bus station. Her English was great, and she was a really bubbly person, who showed me all the points of interest as we headed to her home.

I spent a very uneventful couple of days in Split before heading to the island of Korcula, Marco Polo's birthplace. When I was going to get my ticket for the boat to Korcula, I ran in to Deni. Apparently she was going to buy a boat ticket for woman who was also staying at her place. On our way out, she introduced me to Ruth, a 75-year-old Jewish woman from New York who owned a house in Korcula, and who had spent her summers there for the past four years.

My last day in Split, I went to Trogir for the day and ran in to Rob . . . . and his WIFE!!! It felt a little awkward for me, but he didn't' seem to mind. Trogir was beautiful. It had a seaside promenade and a marina with a fortress in the background. It was nice to just sit and have a coffee, and watch the world go by. When I went to catch the bus to go back to Split, I went to the bus station, where the bus had pulled in to on our way to Split a couple of nights before. As it turns out, I ended up getting on a local bus which took an hour longer and was more expensive! We stopped at every single stop between Trogir and Split and I was afraid that I was going to miss my boat to Korcula. I raced back to Deni's place just as Deni was getting ready to take Ruth down to the boat with all her luggage. Ruth and I ended up sitting together on the boat, and she told me stories about her very colourful life of when she was a singer in Vegas, and when she recorded an album in Germany. She also talked about the days of when she met Tito's wife, and partied with him and his girlfriend. We became instant friends and the ferry ride to Korcula flew by. As we got closer to Korcula, some of the locals started coming by to say hello to Ruth, as well an archaeologist from the US who owns two homes in Korcula. Ruth explained that she had a guest room in her home, but seeing as she was just getting there for the first time that summer, she didn't have the guest room ready, otherwise she would have offered me a place to stay. I didn't mind at all, and was very happy staying in the room that I did, on the water and right in the heart of Old Town. After I got settled, I went over to have a look at Ruth's house before exploring the town of Korcula.

Over the next few days, I got to see what life in Korcula was like, almost from a local's perspective. Ruth told me that they called her the mayor of Korcula, and she took me around and introduced me to all of her friends. She goes to the same restaurant every night at 8pm, and sits at the same table. Silvano, the owner, is very good to Ruth, and gives her a 50% discount. I joined her for dinner every night, and I also got to enjoy the 50% discount. If Ruth didn't like something about the restaurant, she would tell Silvano, and more times than not, things would change. If the staff didn't like the way something was being done, they would tell Ruth, and Ruth would casually pass the message on to Silvano. Ruth's health was not the greatest, and seeing as there is no hospital on the island, it is a concern for Ruth. However, there are many people who look after Ruth, one of them being the schoolteacher who lives across the alley from her. Every morning she will call out the window to Ruth asking her if she needs anything. She knows that if Ruth's blinds are not up by a certain time in the morning, then something is not right.

Although Korcula is not very big, it is a gorgeous little town. I had decided that I would spend four nights there, and it was good for me to just slow down and take it easy. I went to Ruth's for breakfast every morning, and she served me Starbucks coffee! One night when I was over at Ruth's' before we went for dinner, she played a tape for me of her Vegas days. It was a trip down memory lane for her, and I felt privileged that she invited me to share a glimpse of her past.

I left Korcula and headed to Dubrovnik, where I met up with Juanita who was on my Trans Sib tour. She had booked a hostel many months ago, so I stayed with her and shared the costs. The place we stayed was a family run hostel, and they went out of their way to make us feel at home. Milka was like a mother to all the guests, and she never seemed to stop going.

Our first day in Dubrovnik, we went to the Old City and walked around the wall that surrounds it. As we were standing in line waiting to pay, an older gentleman walked down the stairs we were waiting to go up saying 'they don't take US dollars'. I was so tempted to say 'You're not in the US, why would they accept US dollars?', but I was good, and bit my tongue. Good old cruise ship passengers! We also saw a couple a little bit later that wanted to buy some souvenirs and asked if they accepted US dollars. It reminded me of my cruise ship days when passengers wondered if they could use US stamps for posting mail from another country. Bless! Dubrovnik was beautiful, but it got very frustrating in the Old City when a cruise ship was in port, packed with cruise ship passengers.

As you may or may not know, Euro 2008 soccer is on all over Europe right now. I have been lucky enough to be in Croatia when they have played three games. Boy, they sure love their soccer here! Everyone gets dressed up in the Croatian colours whenever there is a game - even kids! One night Juanita and I went out for dinner and caught the last few minutes of a game where Croatia won. We were surprised that it seemed so quiet, but as we headed towards the main street, it got louder and louder. Cars were honking their horns, people were singing (what I assumed to be) the team song, flares were being set off, and there was just a general sense of celebration. The cops were very serious, and did a good job at trying to keep everything under control, and every now and again, I saw them smile. I'm sure they were just as happy as everyone else that Croatia had won. I'm not a huge soccer fan, but it sure was fun to stand by and watch, and I was also glad that Croatia had won.

After four days in Dubrovnik, Juanita and I parted company, and I went back to Korcula. This time, Ruth had invited me to stay in her guest room. It was nice to see her again, and it was like going back to visit an old friend. She said she had made up a story to the locals that we had known each other for years; otherwise they might have been nervous about Ruth having a total stranger staying with her. I had wanted to leave on the Sunday, because it was a ferry that would go to Hvar, instead of the catamaran. However, Ruth asked me if I would stay one more night, and I said I would. The next day when we were going to get my catamaran ticket, I saw people wheeling their luggage towards the ferry, and was kind of wishing that I were taking the ferry. I had this idea when I got to Croatia that I would be taking one ferry after another, but so far, it hadn't worked out that way. It's very strange, but at the exact moment that I was thinking that, Ruth stopped, pulled me towards her, and gave me a big kiss on the cheek. I knew I had made the right decision in staying one more night.

This time while I was in Korcula, I received a message through Facebook, that Jon and Melissa, a couple from my Trans Sib tour, were headed to Korcula. I checked the date, and realized that they were probably already there. I left the internet café, and went in search of them. Korcula is very small, and it didn't take long for me to find them as they were just sitting down for lunch at a restaurant! We chatted for a few minutes, and then made plans to meet up later for a couple of beers.

Three nights in Korcula went very fast, and before I knew it, my bag was packed once again, and I was heading for the catamaran to take me to Hvar. I had an early morning start, and Ruth, bless her, had gotten up early to make me breakfast and to see me off. She was still in her pajamas, but walked me to the jetty to say goodbye. Hopefully we will meet again in New York when I'm making my way back home.

When I arrived in Hvar, Vlatka approached me for a room. She couldn't speak any English, but she showed me her rooms, and I decided to stay. When I first got settled and paid her, she gave me a big hug and kiss. She is quite tall, and when she hugged me, I would get lost in her arms! Later in the day I realized that she had undercharged me, so when I got back, I gave her the difference. She thanked me, then again, gave me a great big hug and kiss. She doesn't speak any English, except 'su-pair' (super). She would carry on a conversation with me in Croatian, and I would nod my head and say 'ok', (even though I didn't have a clue what she was saying). When I had finally decided that I was going to stay for an extra two nights, I went downstairs to give her the money. When we got everything all sorted out, guess what? She gave me a great big hug and a kiss, and kept saying 'su-pair, su-pair!'

Hvar was beautiful, and I ended up doing a couple of day trips from there - one to the Blue Grotto and the island of Vis, and another to Bol on Brac Island. I used to love walking along the jetty in Hvar looking at all the expensive boats, wondering what it would be like to be traveling on one of them.

As I sit here in my room, getting ready to catch my flight to Turkey, I can't say that I am going to miss Croatia. It is such a beautiful country, but there were so many times where I felt like I was being a pain in the ass just by being here! I found that the people who rented rooms were always so friendly, but other people I came in contact with in the service industry left a little to be desired. I have never felt so unwelcome.

However, there were many good things about Croatia. The natural beauty was amazing! The water was always so many different shades of blue, and always so clean. It was so refreshing going swimming on a sweltering hot day.

The Croatians love their sladoled, and unfortunately, so do I! I got in to the habit of having an ice cream every day, and there were some days where I even had two! There are just so many flavours, and not enough days to try all of them!

It's hard to believe that 29 days have already gone by, and to think that I was only going to spend two weeks here. I'm so glad I decided to give other countries a miss and spend more time in Croatia.

Until next time,

Gaye
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St. Petersburg, Russia

May 5, 2008
Trans Siberian Railway

I have to say that I wasn't looking forward to going back to China, but I arrived in Beijing on April 13th and hopped in a taxi to go to the hotel where my tour of the Trans Siberian Railway would start. Traffic was awful, and at one point the taxi driver turned off the engine, and went to talk to other taxi drivers who were also stuck in traffic. After we got going again, I watched the scenery for a bit, then had a look at a tourism brochure to figure out how I was going to spend the little time there that I had before the tour started. As I glanced up from reading the brochure, we were driving by the huge picture of Chairman Mao at Tianamen Square! We turned left just past Tianamen Square, and my hotel was just down the street. After I checked in and got in to the room, I turned on the TV, and within a minute or so, the video 'We Are Ready', came on. It is the video that was made for the Beijing Olympics and when I saw it, it immediately brought back so many good memories of teaching at No. 1 Middle School, as Jenna and I used it when we did our lesson on the Olympics.

After I got settled in my hotel room, I went out wandering. When I was walking through Tianamen Square, I was approached by a guy and girl who asked me all the usual questions - where are you from, how long are you in Beijing, etc. After talking to them for a bit, they told me that they went to art school, and their school was putting on an art exhibition, and would I like to go and see it. Of course I said yes, and when we got there, they both showed me the beautiful work 'they' had done. They asked me if I had a Chinese name, then the guy proceeded to write it in Chinese characters. Of course they asked me if I wanted to buy a piece of their art, but I told them that I didn't have enough room in my pack. When we came out of the exhibition, they asked me what I was going to do. When I told them I was going back to the hotel, they said they wanted to practice their English with me, and perhaps we could go out for something to drink. We decided to go for tea, as I had never experienced a traditional Chinese tea ceremony. We were taken in to a private room, and a girl came in and proceeded with the ceremony - sterilizing the tea cups (which were a tiny bit bigger than a thimble), then pouring six different kinds of tea over the 30 - 45 minutes we were there. After we had all had enough to drink, we decided it was time to go. The bill came and the total for each one of us was the equivalent of about $30-$35 Cdn. I was shocked at how expensive the tea was, but I politely paid my share of the bill. As we were leaving, I kept trying to work out how it could have been so expensive because each tea that we tried resulted in about six sips. When we got outside, the girl told me that she needed to go to the bathroom, and that I probably didn't want to wait for her because 'it might take a while'. Besides, she was going to catch the bus and go home after that. We bid each other farewell, and I made my way back to my hotel getting madder and madder at myself for being taken by such a scam. The next day when I joined my tour, I discovered that the same thing had happened to three other people on the tour. It's funny, because Beijing keeps saying that they want 2008 to be the best Olympics ever, but I wonder how the many tourists are going to feel about Beijing when they too, are taken by the tea scam.

The next morning I went downstairs to have breakfast and met Gemma, a girl from Australia who was on the same tour as me. She was heading out to the Summer Palace so I quickly had my breakfast, and joined her for a few hours. After the Summer Palace, I went to the Forbidden City. It was so big and there was no way that I was able to see everything there. When I was buying my ticket, I started talking to a guy who was from Alaska. We chatted for a bit, and then when we parted company I warned him about the art/tea scam. He thanked me, but I wonder if he to had been taken as I saw an art container sticking out of his backpack.

Later in the afternoon, I met up with the tour group at 5pm at the hotel. Our tour leader, Michael, was from Beijing. Although he was very knowledgeable about Beijing and it's history, I wasn't too impressed with his skills as a tour leader. He didn't even get us to introduce ourselves to each other!

The next day we went to the Simatai area of the Great Wall. We met early in the morning, and then drove for 2.5 hours to get to where we would start our climb. We all started out at a pretty good clip, and not long after we got started, we were joined by locals who accompanied us on our climb, then of course, tried to sell us something at the end. Michael had warned us that these people would approach us, and if we weren't interested, to just tell them. I thought it was funny because it seemed like many of them weren't able to keep up with us as they were breathing pretty heavily! I didn't have the heart to tell my guide 'no', and she took good care of me. She kept telling me 'MAMANDO' - slowly. Maybe it was for her benefit instead of mine! Whenever we got to one of the towers to take a break, she would bring out her big fan and start fanning me to cool me down. How could I say no to that???? We finally made it to the top, and I was surprised that it didn't take as long as I thought it would. On the way down, my guide, of course, started her sales spiel. I wasn't interested in a book or a fan, but I did end up buying a t-shirt from her - my new pajamas!

The next morning we met at 5:40am to walk to the train station with our bags and board the train. This particular tour did not include an escort on the train, and Michael dropped us off at the train with no instructions on what to do on the train or what to do once we got to Ulaan Baatar. Hmmm, not impressed . . . . .

The train was similar to the one I took to Lhasa, except that there were only four people to a compartment instead of six. Luckily, we were in compartments with other people from the tour and not with any burping or farting Chinese people!

We went through customs in Erlian, China late at night, and had to wait about three hours for the process to be completed. You have the choice of either staying on the train, or getting off and going in to the station, but you can't get on and off the train as you please, as they change the 'bogeys' so that the wheels will fit the tracks in Mongolia. Everyone on our tour chose to go in to the station where there was a small duty free shop, a small supermarket and a bar. I made a trip to the duty free shop and bought my first bottle of Vodka - Stoly! After that, we all went in to the supermarket where it was crowded with passengers buying food for the train, or to take home to Mongolia. The Mongolians seemed to be buying milk, fruit, etc., by the caseloads, and all you could hear was the sound of masking tape taping up box after box of supplies. After we had all spent most of our Yuan on food, we went upstairs to the bar to sit and wait until we could get back on the train. Noel, one of the guys on the tour kept talking about a bottle of Jack Daniels that he had seen in the duty free shop and how cheap it was. He had some Yuan left, so we encouraged him to go and treat himself if that was what he really wanted. He finally relented, and went and spent the last of his Yuan on his bottle. When he got back on the train he decided to have a bit of a tipple. He thought it tasted very weak, and on close inspection of the bottle, discovered that it was in fact Jack DANIEIS, not Jack DANIELS!!! We all had a good laugh, and got lots of mileage out of Jack Danieis for the remainder of the trip. All we would have to do is mention 'Jack Danieis' and we'd start laughing all over again!

Immigration procedures for Mongolia were a bit shorter - only two and a half hours! We all sat on the train as the Customs Officer came through the carriage collecting our passports. It was hard to take her seriously, as she certainly didn't look too official in her uniform with a short skirt, high black leather boots, and patterned black stockings. Some people commented that they were waiting for her to bring out her whip!

After a night on the train we arrived in Ulaan BaaTar and were met by our local tour leader - Man. Everyone instantly liked him - he was a young, cool guy who was friendly, knowledgeable and had a great sense of humour. We checked in to the hotel, and discovered that there was no hot water available after being overnight on the train! However, they did have free wifi! After getting settled in the hotel, Man took us out to change money. It was very windy, with dust blowing all over the place, and Man told us we had arrived in the 'brown' season. As we walked around town, I noticed that the women were dressed very fashionably, and that boots were very popular.

We went out for dinner as a group that night, and discovered for the first time that service in restaurants is extremely slow! It's probably not a good idea to go out for dinner when you start to feel hungry; as you will be starving by the time you finally get your food! Ulaan Baatar is similar to Vancouver when it comes to restaurants, in that you can get almost any kind of food. After dinner we headed back to the room for an early night, but were awakened at 2am when a girl came in to our room. I was woken up when I thought I could hear someone trying to open our door, so I sat up to be able to hear a bit better. Just after I sat up, a girl opened the door and walked in to our room. I screamed out, 'what are you doing?' and I think she was just as shocked as I was! She quickly ran out and slammed the door behind her. The next morning we told the front desk what had happened, and they checked their video security footage. It looked like the girl was staying in the same room on another floor and got a little confused, but it was a little unsettling that her key was able to open our door!

My first impressions of Ulaan Baatar were not that great with the dust and all, however, when we woke up the next morning to a gorgeous sunny day with blue skies and white puffy clouds, my opinion changed pretty quickly! We were taken on a city tour, and apparently it was graduation day for many university students. Everywhere we went, students were dressed up and cracking open bottles of champagne. After the city tour, we made our way out of town to a ger camp where we would spend the next two nights.

When we were driving to the ger camp, we had to go through a checkpoint where there was a guard who lifted a gate for us to get through. He was accompanied by who I presumed was his son, who was wearing a Spiderman costume with dark sunglasses. He must have been all of about four years old. I figured this was a perfect opportunity to bring out my balloons. It was so cute as he slid his sunglasses down his nose to watch me blow up the balloon, probably wondering if it was going to be for him. When I finished blowing it up, I stepped off the bus and handed it to him. No sooner had I given it to him than the wind blew it out of his hands. He immediately went running after it, and when I realized that he wasn't going to be able to catch it, I started calling out to him to let him know that I had more balloons. However, he was too focused on trying to catch the balloon, so he kept going. The balloon was moving at a pretty good clip, and when he realized that he wasn't going to be able to catch it, he sat down and started to cry. It just broke my heart, so I quickly started blowing up another balloon. Gemma dug in to her bag and brought out a piece of string, so I tied it to the balloon and ran over to the little boy. As I was approaching him, I kept calling out to him to show him the balloon, but he was too upset to look up. When I finally reached him, I touched him on his knee, and said 'look'. When he looked up to see the balloon, the tears stopped, and he broke in to a big smile. I tried tying it around his wrist, but he wouldn't have any of it, so I tied the string through the zipper of his jacket, and that way, he could hold it in his hand. I then asked him to turn around, and we waved to everyone on the bus who had been watching. I hopped back on the bus, and we all bid farewell to a very happy Spiderman.

En route to our ger camp, we came across two gentlemen with their horses, and an eagle. We all got off the bus and took turns taking pictures holding the eagle. I always thought I was pretty strong, but I couldn't believe how heavy it was and almost dropped the bird when it was first placed on my arm! When we first met up with Man, I had asked him if we were going to get a chance to ride camels, and he had said that it wasn't part of the tour. As we were all standing around taking pictures with the eagle, Man came up to me and said the men were going to get their camels. I looked off in the distance, and a couple of camels came prancing towards us. They are so different from the camels in India. They are very fluffy, have two humps, and keep whimpering. I fell in love with them instantly and of course, had to have a ride!

After our brief stop, we continued to the ger camp, and arrived in the late afternoon. I was surprised at how roomy the gers were inside. There were three beds, a small table, and a small metal stove in the middle with a pipe that went through an opening in the ceiling. Beside the stove was a well stocked bucket of wood. We had a couple of hours to get settled, then made our way to a larger ger where we ate all our meals. I was surprised at how warm it was inside. After dinner, we headed back to our ger to go to bed and discovered that a cold wind had picked up. As we got settled in to bed, a woman came in and proceeded to stock the stove with wood, and then light a fire for us! We went to bed snuggled up under the comforter, watching the shadows of the fire from the stove dance on the walls, while listening to the howling winds outside.

The next morning we awoke to thunder, lightening and pouring rain. Two guys came in around 7am to cover the opening in the ceiling and to light the fire in our stove. I was in my glory all cuddled up in bed as the storm raged outside. Later in the morning it turned out to be gorgeous, and you never would have known that there had been a storm earlier on.

We spent the day taking it easy, then going horseback riding. Later in the evening it seemed to get quite cold, and the next morning when we woke up, it was so cold that the rainwater that had gathered in the plastic the day before was frozen. Again someone came in to the ger to light our stove before we had to get ready for breakfast.

On our last day at the ger camp, after we had packed up, we went to visit a nomadic family. I was surprised how roomy, homey and warm their ger was. We were given tea and curd as the old man told us about his son/daughters and how they were studying abroad. Here we were in a traditional Mongolian ger in the countryside of Mongolia looking at pictures of this man's family members standing in front of the Eiffel Tower. He would tell Man about his family, and then Man would translate for us. After talking about his family, he would say 'that's the news', and we'd all laugh.

We stayed one more night in a hotel in Ulaan Baatar before boarding the train to head to Siberia. When we boarded the train, a gentleman came around changing our remaining tugrik in to rubles. If we had too many smaller notes, he would hand them back and say 'souvenir'.

Going through border patrol in Russia was a little unsettling. While the Customs Officers were checking our passports, there were guards going through the train lifting up floorboards, and checking the ceilings. After the Customs Officer took our passports, her assistant asked us to leave the compartment, and he proceeded to search under our beds, then pulled the ceiling panels down and searched the roof.

After two days on the train, we arrived in Irkutsk where we were met by our local tour guide Ivan, who whisked us off to two days at a home stay in Lake Baikal. I wasn't sure what to expect but was pleasantly surprised when we were taken to an A-frame log cabin right across the street from Lake Baikal. We got settled in to our rooms, and then went downstairs for a much appreciated breakfast of Russian pancakes, tea and coffee.

After breakfast, we walked to the Lake Baikal museum, and then went on a chairlift ride for a gorgeous view of the lake. It was pretty cold outside, and the lake was still frozen. However, the signs of spring were on the way, and when you walked alongside the lake, you could hear the ice cracking as it started to melt.

That night we went out for dinner to a restaurant close to our home stay. I was surprised at how expensive everything was, and how unfriendly the waitresses were. Ivan explained that they are there to take your order, not to be your friend.

The next day we went for a hike with Sacha, a retired school teacher. We hiked for a couple of hours, then had lunch on the beach which consisted of mashed potatoes, sausage, salami, cucumber, tomato, dark chocolate, oranges and Russian cakes. It was so good! We hiked back along a different trail. Sacha explained that if we had been there two weeks earlier, we would have gone back by walking on the lake, but it was starting to thaw and not really safe for walking.

After our hike, Patrick, Juanita, Herman, Simon and John went for a dip in frozen Lake Baikal. I was a big chicken, and decided to take pictures instead of partake. They all got in to their bathing suits, went in to the sauna to get warmed up, then came out and dove in to the lake. The people where we were staying had made an opening in the ice for them to go in. After a dip in the lake, it was back in to the sauna. Simon, John and Herman went in for a second time, and Patrick went in for a third time!!

On our last day at Lake Baikal, we went to see the wooden church - Church of St. Nicholas. St. Nicholas for Russians is the same as St. Christopher for Catholics - protector of travelers. After that, we headed back for a night in Irkutsk. After we checked in, Noel, Lee and I went out in search of the internet. Ivan gave us directions on how to get to the closest internet café. Now most of the time, I admit that I am directionally challenged, but this time I swear that I went exactly where he told me to, but we couldn't find the internet café anywhere. He told us that it was in a language institute, but after asking a handful of people by saying 'internet café' and pretending to type, we were finally lead to a computer classroom in the school!! Oh well, at least we got to check our e-mail and it didn't cost us anything. How strange that we were in a language institute, and nobody could speak English!

I had to keep watching myself from whistling whenever I was inside a building in Russia. It's habit for me to whistle to a tune that I hear, but Ivan explained that apparently when the soldiers were coming through to destroy homes, they were whistling, so whenever Russians hear whistling in confined spaces, it's not a good thing.

We didn't go to many Russian restaurants, but I did try some Borsch. It was okay, but certainly nothing to write home about. They like to use sour cream in a lot of the dishes served there, and it was really tasty. Whenever you order a meat dish in Russia, you also have to order any side dishes, at an extra charge. It can get very frustrating eating at restaurants, as many of the things that are listed on the menu are not available, or they will tell you that it's 'finished'. Once you have finally decided what you want to eat after you discover the selection is now very small, it usually takes an hour or more from the time you order your food to the time it finally arrives. You definitely need to go to a restaurant BEFORE you start feeling hungry.

We boarded the train for our four-day journey, and were in a car with quite a few Russians. In the two cars beside us were two young boys - Maxsim, probably age 4 and Danielle, probably age 6. They were not brothers, but they were close enough in age that they automatically became friends. Maxsim had blonde hair, and wandered up and down the corridor rambling on and on and on in Russian. Whenever he talked to any of us, we would speak to him in English, but it didn't seem to bother him that we couldn't understand what he was saying, and he just kept rambling. He was absolutely adorable! Danielle was also cute, as he was missing his two front teeth. On our first night, I brought out my bag of balloons, and it provided a couple of hours of entertainment for them and for me. Balloons certainly have a way of bridging the communication gap. By 9pm, they were both out like a light.

The next day we spent the day playing cards, Maxsim and Danielle joined in. It was so funny because Maxsim was still rambling - he just never stopped!

As much as I love train travel, I have to admit that I wasn't too crazy about the idea of having to spend four nights on the train. However, I was surprised at how fast it went. It was kind of nice not having the pressure of having to do anything or go anywhere. The highlight of the days were stops where we could get off and load up on more junk food, or waiting for the meal car lady to come around selling meat pies, potato pies, or pizza (beer too!).

A typical day on the train consisted of getting up around 9am, then going to get some hot water to make coffee. After having breakfast, I'd make my way to the bathroom to brush my teeth. I think it's important to note that there are no showers on the train, and toilets are locked when the train is at a station. One has to be very careful to time bathroom breaks appropriately. After that I would read, play cards, visit other compartments, listen to music or have a nap. After all, it can get quite tiring doing absolutely nothing!

After three nights on the train, Maxsim and his mom were getting off. We didn't get to their stop until about 11:30 pm, and most of us stayed up to say goodbye to him. His mom had him all bundled up for the cold weather, and he was still rambling on and on. I was so sad to see him go. I just wanted to put my arms around him and never let him go. The next morning was so quiet without hearing his little voice. Unfortunately, Daniel got off the train as well, but we don't know when, and never got a chance to say goodbye to him.

We arrived in Moscow at 4am, and were picked up by the driver and taken to our hotel. At the hotel, our tour leader Svetlana, for the last leg of our tour, met us. We were given a couple of hours to have a sleep, and then we were to meet in the lobby at 10am for a tour of Red Square and the Kremlin. After being on the train for four days, Juanita and I pooled our dirty clothes and started filling out the form to have our laundry done by the hotel. Once we added everything up, we calculated that it was going to cost approximately $198Cdn! We nixed that idea, and I got out my laundry soap and started doing it by hand. Unfortunately, Noel and Lee put their laundry in to have it done by the hotel, and it ended up costing them $250Cdn. The worst part is that they don't have dryers in Russia, so everything came back to them wet!! We knew that everything in Russia is outrageously expensive, but that was ridiculous!

We all met in the lobby for the city tour, and it was absolutely amazing seeing St. Basils' Cathedral and the Kremlin in person. At the end of our tour, we wanted to go and see the Faberge eggs, but Juanita and I had booked tickets to see Mama that evening, so we were unable to go.

When we booked the tickets, we never thought to ask if the performance would be in Russian or English. Sure enough, the performance, including the music, was in Russian! Even though we couldn't understand the language, we still really enjoyed the performance. I was seated by a large, older, Russian gentleman who was very serious and seemed to never smile. Once the lights went down and the music started, I could see him tapping his hand on his leg to the rhythm of the music, and his whole body shook when he laughed. By the end of the performance the whole audience was dancing and clapping to the music, and even the gentleman next to me was shaking his booty! On the way out, he gave us a nod and a smile. That was my fourth time seeing Mama Mia. I could see it ten more times and never get sick of it.

The next day was a free day, and after a leisurely morning, a group of us went out and saw the inside of Christ the Savior Cathedral, wandered around looking at souvenirs, then went back to Red Square to see the GUM Department Store. It was huge, and absolutely beautiful inside! May 1st was a holiday, and Red Square was packed! It was interesting to see the women all dressed up for a day of shopping.

The next evening, we hopped aboard our last train to take us to St. Petersburg. This was an overnight trip, and very short compared to the last one I had done. We arrived in St. Petes at 7am, and were picked up by our driver and taken to our hotel. Svetlana gave us a couple of hours to shower and have breakfast, and then we met in the lobby for a city tour.

Everyone seemed to keep saying that St. Petersburg is much better than Moscow and they weren't wrong. If I had been shown pictures of St. Petersburg and asked to guess where it was, I would have never guessed that it was in Russia. It is an absolutely beautiful city with lots of parks, waterways, restaurants, etc. Although Nevsky Prospekt was pretty busy on a Saturday afternoon, it certainly didn't seem like a city of 4 million. Besides the cold winters, I would imagine it would be a great city to live in, and I could definitely see myself teaching English there. It might not even be that bad in the winter if the homes have central heating. The only thing I didn't like about St. Petersburg (or the rest of Russia for that matter) is the fact that it is legal to drink beer on the streets, and it wasn't uncommon to see someone walking around the streets with a beer as early as 7am. We also saw quite a few people who had a few too many.

After our city tour, Gemma and I went for a boat ride along the Neva River, then headed back to the hotel to get cleaned up for dinner. Although the tour wasn't over for another two nights, Melissa and John were leaving the night before the last one, so we all went out for a last group dinner.

The next day we met Svetlana at the Hermitage, and saw only a small portion of the 3 million pieces on display. After that, there was time for a quick lunch, some souvenir shopping then back to the hotel to get ready to go and see Swan Lake - in St. Petersburg, Russia!!!! I consider myself a seasoned traveler, but there are still times when I say to myself 'here I am in (fill in the blank) doing/seeing/going to (fill in the blank). Seeing Swan Lake was one of them.

As we wandered back to the hotel after the ballet, I kept thinking that three weeks had gone by way too fast, and I definitely wasn't ready to leave St. Petersburg yet - there was still so much exploring to do, pictures to take and restaurants to try!

When I first considered taking the trip, I weighed the pros and cons between doing it on my own, and doing it on a tour. I don't really consider myself a tour person, but am glad that I decided to do the tour instead of on my own. I think it would have been very lonely being on the train for the long stretches by myself. Not only that, if I hadn't booked the tour, I probably wouldn't have gone back to China, and probably would never have ended up taking this incredible journey.

As our friend in the ger camp would say, 'That's the news'.

Until next time,

Gaye
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Kuala Lumpur, Wilayah Persekutuan, Malaysia

April 12, 2008

Five years ago, when I did my first solo trip for a year, Thailand was my first stop. It seemed to take a while for me to 'get in the groove', and I never felt that I did justice to Thailand. Time seemed to fly by, and before I knew it, it was time for me to leave, and I hadn't even done the beaches in the southern part of Thailand. I always wondered what they were like, so this year, I decided to go and find out.

After almost twenty-four hours of traveling, I arrived in Bangkok in the wee hours of the morning of Sunday, March 24th. I had a hotel room booked for the evening of the 24th, and I figured I'd have to wait around for check in time at 2pm. However, when I arrived at the hotel, my room was ready, so I was able to check in right away.

Lisa, the girl I lived with in China, was now teaching English in Bangkok, working for a place called Wall Street. Later in the day, I gave her a call, and we made arrangements to get together that evening. It was great to see her again, hearing about her travels to Thailand, and hearing all about working for Wall Street. She is thrilled with the company, and after talking to her, it has renewed my interest for teaching English again. A couple of days later, we met up with Graham and Eilidh, a couple from Scotland who taught at Bond the same time we did. It was great to seem them again, and we had a mini Bond reunion.

I spent about four nights in Bangkok, then headed to Hua Hin to meet up with Dan, who I had met in Vietnam during my travels in 2003. He was only there for a few more days, and was then heading back to Vancouver. After he left, Lisa met me in Hua Hin, and we spent a couple of nights there before we both headed back to Bangkok. I then had the dreadful (and expensive!) task of applying for all the visas I needed for my tour on the Trans Siberian Railway. I ended up spending a week in Bangkok waiting for my visas to be processed before I could move on to the south. While I was in Bangkok, I did a couple of side trips. One to Kanchanaburi to see the Bridge over the River Kwai, and one to Lopburi where there were loads of monkeys. I could have spent the whole day just watching them. At one of the temples, there seemed to be hundreds of them, and I don't know how the shopkeepers there managed to stay sane, because the monkeys were constantly jumping around on the roof of their shops, plus they would try to steal anything they could! I ended up buying some food for the monkeys, and when one of the monkeys felt that I was being chintzy with my rations for him, he decided to climb on me and grab more right out of my hands!

With my visas finally sorted out, I caught the bus to Chumphon where I stayed the night before catching the ferry to Koh Tao. Koh Tao was a nice little island, but getting around in a taxi was very expensive! On Koh Tao (and many of the other islands), there is a set price, and you are at their mercy, because there is no other means of transportation. On some of the islands, taxi fares were comparable to what I would pay at home - sometimes even more! Graham and Eilidh were in Koh Tao the same time as me, so we met up in some lame Irish bar, then went out for dinner together. After Koh Tao, I went to Koh Samui. Although it was nice, it seemed very much like Koh Tao, only a little bigger. It seemed to have the same beaches, the same restaurants, the same tours, the same shopping, etc. I only stayed a couple of nights, but while I was there, I went waterballing (www.samuiwaterball.com) which was a bit of a rip-off, and also had a foot peel, foot massage, manicure and pedicure on the beach. Kind of a nice way to end the day - being at the mercy of a masseuse while you relax and listen to the waves lapping up on the beach. As I moved further south, I found that the beaches were the same, and besides the fact that the people who worked there were Thai, it felt like I could have been anywhere in the world. I must say that I wasn't really that impressed with the beaches in Thailand, and I'm kicking myself now for spending so much time in Thailand when I could have been spending it in Malaysia.

I finally left Phuket and flew to Langkawi in Malaysia where I stayed in the Langkapuri Beach 'Resort'. Unfortunately, it seemed to be the farthest thing from a resort. However, it was right on the beach, so that was good.

I went out wandering after I got settled in my room, and was surprised that the place seemed so quiet. There didn't seem to be many people on the streets, and many of the restaurants and shops were closed. I found the same thing the next morning when I tried to find a place to go and have breakfast. I later found out that it was the low season, hence the lack of tourists. I stayed two nights in Langkawi, then headed to the bright city lights of Georgetown on Penang.

I stayed in a great place in Georgetown. It was pretty basic, but it was clean, and the staff was practically falling over themselves trying to make my stay more pleasant. The day after I got in, I went to the Botanical Gardens in hopes of seeing some monkeys, but no such luck. From the Botanical Gardens I hiked up to Penang Hill. It was 5kms straight up, and by the time I got to the top, there wasn't a piece of my clothing that was dry! I wandered around for a bit, then decided to walk back down another way. Thank goodness I asked someone about it, as it was 17KM long - it would have taken me forever, to go down! I decided to take the easy way out, and took the funicular car back down to the bottom.

I stayed two nights in Georgetown, then headed for the cooler climate of the Cameron Highlands for some much needed trekking. On the bus, I met Danielle from Holland, as well as Soren, a travel writer from Denmark. Soren had spent a lot of time in India, and it was great to exchange stories with him. I stayed at a place called Father's Guest House, and an hour or so after I got there, I met up with Graham and Eilidh. They had already been in the Cameron Highlands for a couple of days, and were leaving the next day. The three of us went out for dinner that night, and we ended up running in to Danielle, the girl I met on the bus. What a small world - Graham and Eilidh had also met Danielle in Georgetown!

The day after I got to the Cameron Highlands, I took a tour to the mossy forest. It included a stop in the tea plantations and we learned all about tea. After the tour, I had the driver drop me off at the butterfly farm. Just after I got inside, the heavens opened up, and it started to pour! There was actually quite a lot to see there other than the butterflies. Even though I had killed a bunch of time there, the rain still hadn't subsided by the time I was finished, so I decided to move on to the Rose Center. The place was huge and had so many different kinds of roses. It reminded me a lot of my dad - he would have loved it there!

The next day I did a trek and met a guy from Sweden on the way up. When we got to the top, we meet an insect catcher. He was sitting by himself on a stump at the top of the mountain with what looked like a big, green, butterfly net. We were talking to him when all of a sudden he jumped up and waved his net around in the air so he could catch a bee that was flying by. He took out his little plastic bottle laden with chloroform, put it over the bee (still inside the net), put the lid on top, and waited a few seconds. When he was sure that the bee was drowsy, he took it out of the net and popped it in to his bottle. He said that sometimes he goes up there for hours and never catches anything!

The next day I took the Super VIP bus to Kuala Lumpur, or KL as the locals call it. I have to say that the bus ride was probably the best ride I've done in all my travels. The seats were like first class airline seats, the scenery was beautiful, and the bus driver drove at a normal speed. Graham and Eilidh were already in KL, and we were going to meet up to celebrate Eilidh's 30th birthday. We stayed at a place called stayorange.com. The idea is that the rooms are very clean and basic, but boy are they small! There was only room for a single bed, my backpack, and a space to walk into the bathroom (which was see through glass - I guess to make it appear bigger!). Anyways, it was only for the night, and it was in the heart of Chinatown. Once I unloaded my bags, I went and had a look around Little India.

That night the three of us went out to celebrate Eilidh's 30th birthday. First of all, we went out for a really nice dinner, and Eilidh and I polished off two bottles of wine. It was such a treat drinking nice wine out of an actual wine glass! After dinner, we went around the corner to a bar and proceeded to try many of the fancy drinks they had on order. There was a live band that was playing, and a DJ playing music on the breaks. I kind of lost track of time, but I guess the band stopped playing around 1am, and the DJ started playing music full time. There was another girl, Angel, who was also celebrating her birthday that night, and the DJ invited both the birthday girls up on to the bar (literally on the bar) to dance! A little bit of dancing on the bar, a little bit of dancing on the dance floor, a little bit of having a laugh with the locals, and before we knew it, it was 4am, and the bar was closing. My, how time flies when you're having fun!

Unfortunately, we didn't have as much fun the next morning, as check out time was 11am, and we were still feeling the effects from the night before wee hours of the morning. There were no windows in our rooms, so it was very dark and still felt like we should have been sleeping. We quickly packed our bags, and headed over to Starbucks to see if they had anything that would put us out of our misery before catching our flight to Sabah.

We got to Sandakan in the early evening, and after getting settled in our hotel, we went out in search of food. It was only 8pm, but it felt like the town had shut down for the night. Luckily, we were able to find the night market, but it was pretty dead as well, and we were the only foreigners there. However, I had a good feed of fresh corn on the cob, and roasted chicken.

The next day Graham and Eilidh left for their jungle trekking adventure, and I had a few days to kill in Sandakan. Trust me, there is nothing to do in Sandakan, and I was glad when it was finally time for me to go to Turtle Island.

I was picked up at my hotel at 8:30am and taken to the Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Center, the meeting point for most of the tours. From there, we took a bus to the jetty where we caught our boat to Turtle Island. We cruised through a mangrove forest before heading out in to the open waters. We got to Turtle Island in the early afternoon, but what we had come to see wasn't going to happen until some time later that night. I walked around the entire island in about 30 minutes, then spent a couple of hours on the beach. We met in the dining hall at 6:30 where we were given a briefing on what was going to happen that night. We were all there to witness a mother turtle laying her eggs. It was explained to us that it could happen anywhere from 8pm until 6:30am the next morning, when we were to leave. There were no guarantees as to when the mothers would come up on the beach to lay their eggs, and our guide told us that when we heard the call 'turtle' from the Park Ranger, that we shouldn't wait for her, but head in the direction of the ranger's voice. The group the night before were lucky, as their mother turtle had started laying her eggs at 8:05, five minutes after the ranger started work that night. We had dinner, then settled in to wait for the call. I went and sat on the beach under the stars, and just after 10pm, the ranger calmly came up and said 'it's turtle time'. We followed him to where the mother had dug her nest and proceeded to watch her lay her eggs. Although I was a little disappointed that we didn't get to watch the whole process from the beginning (the mother coming out of the water, making her way up the beach, then digging the nest), it was still pretty amazing to watch her lay her eggs. As she started dropping them one by one, they were picked up by the park staff, and put in a bucket where they would be taken to the island's hatchery. After she finished laying her eggs (there were 59 of them!), she covered up the hole she had dug (thinking the eggs were still there), then the park staff measured her. The next step of the process was taking the eggs to the hatchery, burying them in a protected environment, and waiting for them to hatch. The last part of the process was releasing any hatchlings in to the wild (there were two that night). Although it was a long day to experience an approximately 30 minute process, it was still pretty amazing. The next morning, I went down to the beach and saw many tracks made by other mother turtles, making their way up the beach to make a nest and lay their eggs.

The next day was a two-night stay at Uncle Tan's Jungle Camp. I was picked up at the Orangutan Center and taken to Uncle Tan's headquarters where they fed us lunch, then prepped us for our trip. They kept mentioning the fact that the accommodations were very basic, and that the camp had been flooded a couple of weeks before. Apparently it was still very muddy (what an understatement!), and they recommended a pair of rubber boots. We were taken to the camp by boat, and almost immediately, we started to see some wildlife. When we got to the camp they were right - the place was extremely muddy and the accommodations were basic, but hey, we were in the middle of the jungle in Borneo! The two days were packed with boat rides and a jungle trek. On the first night we were there, we went out on an evening boat ride to look for wildlife. I didn't care if we spotted anything, it was enough for me just to be out on the water, under a star filled sky, listening to the sounds of the jungle. Over the two days, we saw a scorpion, an orangutan, tons of monkeys, (lots of them around the camp site trying to steal food!) birds, crocodiles, large lizards (mini dinosaurs!) and wild pigs.

After my jungle trek, I had three nights in Sepilok, where the Orangutan Center is located. I didn't really have enough time to venture anywhere else, but I was okay with that, because I love orangutans, and I was happy to spend three days with them. Unfortunately, the rehab center turned out to be a bit of a rip-off. You pay the equivalent of about $13Cdn (including camera), and you only get to spend approximately 30 - 45 minutes (2 times a day) watching them on a feeding platform. I was hoping that I would be able to do some walks through the forest in hopes of seeing them in their natural habitat, however, the trails in the forest were closed, so I was limited to just seeing them on the feeding platform. Mind you, it was pretty neat seeing them at the feeding. - When I first approached, I could see some of the orangutans swinging along the ropes to the feeding platform. They sat there waiting for the workers from the center to bring them bananas. One of the bigger orangutans kept getting sick after eating the bananas, and for some reason, kept eating his vomit. I felt so bad for him because he looked like he really didn't feel well, because he laid slumped over on the platform. He would eat a couple of bananas, then throw them up. Pretty well all the other orangutans (with the exception of one of the smaller ones) had left the platform, and the one that was getting sick was still there. It was almost like he didn't have the strength to leave. I felt so sorry for him, and was actually a little worried about him, so I asked the crew from the center about it. They reassured me that this was normal, and there was nothing wrong with him.

Seeing as there wasn't really anything else to do in Sepilok, I changed my flight, and came to KL a couple of days early.

I treated myself to a stay at the Crowne Plaza, and it's been nice living in a bit of luxury after having been in the jungle. My room has a view of the Petronas (Petro-nas) Towers, and it's close to lots of malls and attractions. KL is a beautiful city with lots to offer. It is very clean, modern and everyone here speaks English.

Tomorrow I leave for China, where I will pick up my tour on the Trans Siberian Railway on the 14th. If I had to do it all over again, I would have waited and done the tour at another time, instead of including it with all my other travels. It seems like my travels up until now, have revolved around the April 14th tour date, and having to get visas, etc. sorted for the trip. It's very frustrating trying to get everything organized from abroad. To make matters worse, I ended up having problems with Trek Escapes, the company that I booked the tour with. When I was trying to decide whether I was going to do the train on my own or with a tour, I started looking at the Trek Escapes web site where I found a tour for three weeks, costing $2595. When I finally made the decision to take a tour and went to book it, the price had gone up to $3395!!! When I asked the travel agent about it, she said that the price increase was normal. An $800 price increase in one year??? I finally ended up booking the tour through the Edmonton office of Trek Escapes, as it seemed that whenever I contacted the travel agent in Vancouver, she was always very busy, and it sometimes took almost a week for her to get back with information on my inquiries. Besides, I was booking from China, so it didn't matter which office I used. Fast forward to Bangkok. For the tour, I needed to get three visas, one for China, one for Russia and one for Mongolia. When I was filling out the application for the Russian visa, it asked me the date that I would arrive in Russia. I started looking through the e-mails that I had received from Jim (the travel agent) to see if they included a detailed itinerary. As I started searching through the e-mails, I started clicking on links to see if they had info with the dates of arrival in to Russia. One of the links took me to the web site of the tour operator (Geckos) and lo and behold, there was my tour for $400 less!!! When I contacted Jim to inquire why I had to pay $400 more, he said he would look in to it for me. A few days later, his colleague, Karen, contacted me. Apparently Jim was on holidays and she was looking after his clients. She asked me for the URL of the web site again, and interestingly, when I clicked on the link, I got the message that the page was no longer available. What a coincidence that it was no longer available immediately after I had brought the price discrepancy to their attention!! A few weeks went by and I kept getting the odd e-mail saying that they were 'still looking in to it', and would contact me when they found something out. I finally contacted them again, and got a message back from Jim saying something about the exchange rates, and I got the feeling that he was trying to brush me off. However, after I told him that what he was telling me wasn't acceptable, and that I was going to lodge a complaint with the Better Business Bureau, he seemed to be more sympathetic, but still explained that there was nothing he could do. I have now booked my last tour with Trek Escapes, and I will be going on my tour, paying $400 more than my travel mates. Oh and by the way, if you look at the Geckos web site today, the price for my tour is still quoted as $2995!

Until next time,

Gaye
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Jaisalmer, India

India
Exchange rate: $1US = 37.45 rupees


I arrived in Mumbai at 8pm on December 30th, and took a taxi to my hotel - The Taj President. I decided that I would splurge and stay in a nice place for my first two nights to ease myself back in to traveling, and to ease myself back in to India. The hotel was really nice, and my room overlooked the Arabian Sea. As we drove through the streets of Mumbai, the number of slums we saw was heartbreaking. It seemed that India hadn't changed at all since the last time I had been here. It stunk, it was crowded, it was filthy and dusty, it was noisy and I was absolutely thrilled to be back!

When I got up in the morning I contacted Sunil to make arrangements for going to Ahmednagar. Before I left China, I told him I would contact him the morning after I arrived in Mumbai. When I spoke to him, he said that he was expecting my call the night I arrived, and was worried that my program (plans) had changed. I assured him that I was definitely going to Ahmednagar, and that I would see him the next day. Before we hung up, he told me to call his brother, Sanjay, who would make any arrangements for me to take the bus to Ahmednagar. I went downstairs for breakfast, and reveled in having my first Indian meal - dosa. When I came back up to the room, I called Sanjay and we made arrangements for me to meet him at the bank where he worked at 3:30. This gave me a little bit of time to go for a walk along Marine Drive (aka the Queen's Necklace), a street that runs parallel to the Arabian Sea. There seemed to be a constant honking of horns while I was out for my walk, and it took me a while to get used to the fact that they were honking at cars on the road, and I no longer had to worry about watching out for cars on the sidewalk like I did in China.

I got to the bank and met up with Sanjay for the first time. He said that he knew all about me and had seen pictures of me from when I had visited Sunil and his family in 2003. He immediately took me on a tour of the bank and introduced me to the people in the bank. The first group of ladies I met presented me with a card, a calendar and a Union Bank wallet. I sat and chatted with a woman by the name of Jane. She advised me that the bank was government run, so it was okay for her to sit and chat with me. When she found out that I was from Canada, she told me that she wanted to immigrate to Canada, but in order to do so, she needed a job offer. In the next breath, she asked if I could offer her a job. I didn't have to GIVE her a job, just a job offer!

After our tour of the bank, Sanjay took me to the Gate of India, where we made plans to meet up the next day and he would take me to Badlapur where he lives with his wife and two boys.

As I sat in the lobby of the Taj President on New Years Day waiting for Sanjay to come and pick me up, I watched guests parade in to the hotel for New Years Day celebrations in all their finery - men in their brocade jackets, and women in their colourful saris and salwar kameezes. Young boys were dressed up like little princes, and one girl had so many beads and jewels on her dress that you could hear it swish every time she walked. I secretly hoped that Sanjay would be late so I could continue to watch this free fashion show.

I got my wish, and when Sanjay finally came and picked me up, we headed to the train station where we caught the train to Badlapur. It is a two hour train ride from Badlapur to Mumbai, and Sanjay does the commute every day. After we got to Badlapur and I had settled in a bit, his wife put makeup on me, then dressed me up in one of her saris. She put one on as well, then Sanjay got a professional photographer to come over and take pictures of us all dressed up.

Before dinner, we went in to town to go to the market to pick up vegetables for dinner. On the way home, I was introduced to pani poori. They are small, round shells that are filled with a mixture of lentils or potatoes. You get can it sweet or spicy, and the idea is to pop the whole thing in your mouth. They were sooo good! I lost track of the number that we ate, but we ate quite a few, and the grand total came to 10 rupees.

When we got back, I went around visiting with different neighbours in the building. Everywhere I went I was invited to have some chai, and everyone wanted to know where I was from, why I was traveling, and of course, if I was married. I'm still trying to come up with the perfect answer to give people when they ask why I'm not married. In a country where marriages are arranged, it's hard for them to understand the concept of not being married, never having been married, and not wanting to be married!

We had a wonderful dinner afterwards, and they insisted that I sleep in the only bed in the house when it was time to go to bed. There were three adults and two children who slept on the floor, and me in a double bed to myself. I couldn't believe I had only met these people a few hours earlier!

They next day, they saw me off with a gift of a hand-made bag, a snack of dosas and made sure I made it on the bus for Ahmednagar. In five hours time I would finally be seeing my Indian family!

Sunil met me at the bus and we had to get a rickshaw to carry all my bags. We went straight to his house where Sarita was waiting for us. It was so good to see them again, and it felt like no time had passed since the last time we had seen each other. Just as they did last time, they welcomed me to their home with a bouquet of flowers. We spent many hours talking and getting to know each other. I told them that I had done the Macau Marathon, and when they noticed my Ironman tattoo, I explained to them what a triathlon was, and about the Ironman distances. After that, whenever they introduced me to someone new, even though they were speaking in Hindi, I always heard the words 'marathon' and 'triathlon'.

Not long after I arrived there was a steady stream of visitors to their home - neighbours, relatives, work colleagues, even the son of a work colleague who I had met the last time I was there. He was quite young when I met him, and I remember when I went to the bank where Sunil worked and they had a party for me, he had presented me with a stamp and coin collection. It's hard to believe that he is now studying to become a pilot. He is such a nice boy.

When I arrived at Sunil and Sarita's home, they showed me that Shubhada, their youngest daughter, had written a note for me on the chalkboard welcoming me to Ahmednagar. Not long after I got there, Sujata, their oldest daughter, got home from school. She looks exactly the same, but of course, she is five years older. After a while, I went out with her to pick up some food for dinner. It was strange riding on a motorbike with her, as she had been so young the last time I saw her. She was a good driver and I felt totally safe with her.

One afternoon we went up on the roof of Sunil's building to fly kites. Kite flying is very big in India, and there is even a kite flying festival in the middle of January. All the kites that I saw were very basic, small, square kites made out of fly paper, but they used a type of string that had glass in it. There is quite a technique to flying kites, and it looks like it's all in the wrist action. It's good to have two people flying the kite so one can control the string, and the other can control the kite. When we were up on the roof flying our kite, as I looked around, there were groups of young boys on other rooftops, also flying their kites. It took no time for Sunil to get his kite in the air and it wasn't long before it was soaring with all the other kites. It was fun to watch him tug on the string and make the kite dance. However, it wasn't long before there was a bit of a battle going on between our kite and the kites of the young boys on the next rooftop over. The idea is to cut down your opponents kite, hence the glass in the string. Sunil explained to me how to cut your opponents kite, but it wasn't long before the young boys had cut ours down. As we looked over to the next rooftop, they were jumping up and down, punching their fists in the air in celebration of their victory. We ran downstairs to get another kite, and it wasn't long before it was up in the air, and we were ready for battle. This time the victory was to be ours, and I reciprocated with jumping up and down and punching my fist in the air as well. I would have loved to be around for the kite festival in Ahmednagar, but I'm not so sure I would have been very sportsmanlike if I had.

Sarita cooked some amazing meals while I was staying with them, and I got to try so many different things that I never would have had the opportunity to try had I just been ordering off a menu. She had so many canisters and containers holding different spices or ingredients for the many different meals we had. Every time we had a meal, she told me what it was and how it was made, but I told her that if I ever got a job in India (and I have definitely been thinking about it!), she would have to come and live with me to teach me how to cook. I would never remember which spice goes in which dish, and which accompaniment goes with each meal.

Since I've been in India, I've been eating so much. The food here is such a fabulous change from the food in China. It is so flavourful and tasty! It feels like there is a party in my mouth every time I eat! I am the world's pickiest eater, but I have been trying everything, and there hasn't been one thing that I haven't liked. I'm a real snacker, and even the snacks here are so good!

While I was in Ahmednagar, I ended up buying myself a sari. I had told Sarita before we went to the shop that I wanted a red sari. Red is my favourite colour, and in China, it means good luck. However, in India, it means danger. When Sarita saw the look of concern on my face after telling me that, she reassured me that it would be fine for me to get a red sari. We went to many shops, and the drill was the same everywhere we went. There are large foamies all over the floor of the shops covered in white cotton sheets. After taking off your shoes and sitting on the foamies, they proceed to bring out a selection of saris to see what style you want, then they bring out many saris in the colour and style that has been selected. Each time they show you a sari, they open it up, and if it isn't selected, then it goes in to a bin where people are employed to fold them back up again. I was very picky about the sari I wanted, and knew in my mind what I wanted. I could usually tell before they opened it up whether or not I would like it, and I felt so bad that even though I gave it a 'no', they would still open it up. We went to many different shops before I chose a beautiful red sari with gold trim. After buying the sari, I had to have a blouse made, buy a petticoat, and have a lining put on the bottom of the inside of the material. I had no idea there was so much to buying/wearing a sari. Once I had everything I needed, Sarita showed me how to put on the sari, then made me do it by myself. Before I put it on, Sarita got some powder and put a dab of it on the sari, as she said they always bless new clothes. I also did a video of her putting her sari on, so that when I get back home I will be able to put it on without Sarita's help (hopefully!).

The same night I bought my sari, I bought a salwar kameez (aka Punjabi dress). A salwar kameez is a long tunic that is worn over a pair of oversized pants with a scarf, known as a dupatta, which is draped in front of the tunic. Some of them are absolutely beautiful, and they come in every possible colour you could imagine. I could easily live in India just so I could wear a salwar kameez every day! I bought a salwar kameez, and when I went to pay for it, Sunil said that him and Sarita also wanted to buy one for me. As if they hadn't done enough for me already!

The same night that I bought my new clothes, Sunil took me to the bank where he works. He is in a different branch from the last time I was here, and as he did last time I was here, he introduced me to everyone in the bank, then they welcomed me to Ahmednagar (and their bank) with a bouquet of flowers. Soon after I arrived in Ahmednagar, Sunil's home was beginning to look like a florist shop!

In the building where Sunil and Sarita live, there is a table tennis club in the basement, and Sunil asked me if I would talk to the kids in the club about my travels. He also had a friend who was cycling from Kanyakimuri (the very southern tip of India) to about 100km from Ahmednagar, and while he was passing through Ahmednagar, asked him if he would talk to the kids about his cycling trip. Sunil introduced both of us to the kids, then had one of the kids present each one of us with a flower. After we gave our talks, the kids wanted me to play table tennis with them. I embarrassed myself for about three minutes, then asked to watch them play. The coach and one of the boys got a game going, and boy were they good! They sure put me to shame.

After talking to the kids at the club, Mugdha, a 24 year old girl who lives down the street, asked me if I would go to her house to meet her parents. It was so funny, because she was so excited to be talking to a foreigner. In fact, she was so excited to be talking to me that she said she hoped I would come to India for her wedding. She wasn't sure when it would be, but her parents were in the process of looking for a husband for her, so it could be any time soon.

Shortly after we got there, a bunch of the kids from the table tennis club stopped by Mugdha's house, and were asking for my autograph, my mobile number and my e-mail address - I felt like a celebrity. One of the girls from the club then wanted me to go to her house. I felt bad because I felt like I was being pulled in so many different directions. I'm sure that Mugdha wanted me to stay a little longer, but I wanted to make a quick visit to Ashiwarya's house before heading back to Sunil and Sarita's house for dinner. On the way to Ashiwarya's house, she commented that 'it's going to be hard to show you my house madam with no current' (power). It just so happened that that night was when there was a power outage - a common occurrence all over India. Of course when I got to their house, their mother was cooking dinner, and they insisted that I have something to eat. It's a wonder that my clothes still fit after all the eating I've done since I got here.

While I was staying in Ahmednagar, I was invited to go to Pune to visit Sunil's sister and his uncle. I had met his aunt and uncle during my last stay, but I had never met his sister. Deepak, his 19 year old nephew, contacted me. What a nice kid! He came and picked me up at the bus station and took me to his home. Of course the first thing we did when I got there was have a cup of chai. After that, Deepak's sister Dipti, gave me a mehndi on my arm - it was absolutely beautiful! After that, they dressed me up in a sari and we took pictures. Later on, they took me out to some temples in Pune, then we met Deepak's dad for dinner. The next morning, I went to a yoga class with Sunita, Sunil's sister. I didn't understand a lot of what was said, but the teacher was very good at showing me what I needed to do. Later in the morning, we headed over to Sunil's uncle's place. The last time I was there, their son Sachin was about to get married. Even though they had just met me, they invited me to the wedding. I was told that they even had a sari I could wear. I really wanted to go to the wedding, but I had already booked my flight to Nepal. Once I got to Nepal, I looked in to getting a flight back to India, but was unsuccessful. It was strange to be there five years later meeting his wife, and their three year old daughter. I explained to his wife that I had wanted to go to the wedding, so she got her photo album out and showed me their wedding photos. They were absolutely beautiful! Indian weddings are so colourful, and the brides wear so much jewellery. The next thing she did was bring out her jewellery box with all her wedding jewellery, dressed me up in her jewellery, then we took pictures. Their daughter Rhea was quite shy with me when I first got there, but it didn't take long before she warmed up and started showing off for me. Of course before I left, I was told that the next time I come to India, I have to set aside at least three or four days aside so they can show me around.

Sarita belongs to a ladies group where every month they do something different. When I was visiting, she asked if I would like to join her for the day's program, and I gratefully accepted. First of all, we went to the meeting spot where we would be driven out to our venue for the day. She introduced me to her friends, and I immediately felt comfortable with all of them. The day was spent with a lot of laughs. Many times I couldn't understand what they were saying, but one of them would say something, then they'd give each other a high five and burst in to fits of laughter. Even though I couldn't understand what they were saying, I could help laughing myself.

There were many great memories created while I was in Ahmednagar, and I couldn't believe how fast eight days flew by. Just before I left to catch the bus to start my travels around Rajasthan, Sunil told me to get my camera out one last time. As I was leaving, they were going to perform a long life ritual for me. Once they started, I burst in to tears. I guess it finally hit me that I was leaving and I had no idea when I was going to see them again. The last thing they did before I walked out the door was put a dollop of curd in my hand, as Sunil said 'this will make the man come sooner'. I sincerely hoped that what he meant to say was that I would meet a man sooner, rather than later.

When I was on the bus going to Udaipur, a guy by the name of Tarun came and struck up a conversation with me just before we got in to Udaipur. He seemed nice enough. He was on his way back from Ahmedabad where he had been taking French lessons. He is in the tourism business, and there are lots of French people visiting India. We talked about many things, and he told me about his NGO (non governmental organization) that he had set up to help poor kids. When we got to Udaipur, he said he would help me get settled in the place I was going to stay which I thought was very nice. I called him up a couple of days later and got together with him. Seeing as he was in the tourism business, I asked him about things go see. He recommended watching the sun set from the Monsoon Palace, and he said that his friend could take me there. I asked him how much his friend would charge, and he told me between 250 and 300 rupees. Out of curiosity I asked at my hotel how much it would cost, and they told me 150 rupees. It finally hit me that no wonder this guy was being so nice to me - he was making commission off me. I also figured that I probably got charged more for my room, as he made it look like he was the one that had recommended that I go there, in turn, getting commission. I can't believe that I let that happen!

The day before I left Udaipur, I went out wandering just outside of town. While I was out walking, I met an older gentleman by the name of Sampat Lal Jain. He was very excited to meet me, and invited me to have chai with him. He kept calling me Gaye Gibson (instead of just Gaye), and wanted me to stay for at least another day so that he could show me around Udaipur. I told him that I had already made my plans to move on to Jodhpur the next day. He told me that he goes to that same place every day, and the next time I came back to Udaipur, I would find him there, unless he had died. We chatted for a bit, then hiked up to a temple that was close by. After that, he dropped me off close to my hotel, as he had to go to work.

From Udaipur, I took a six hour bus ride to Jodphur, but only ended up staying two nights. The fort at Jodphur was pretty interesting, but other than that, I can't say that I was really impressed with Jodphur. I guess the coolest thing was seeing one of the guides at the fort in Jodphur wearing Jodphurs. He looked like he was off to play polo after his day at the fort. While I was at the fort, I went to see a palm reader, Mr. Sharma, who was recommended by the Lonely Planet. I'm not sure if I really believe all that stuff, because he told me some things about my personality that just weren't true. He asked me if there was any cancer in my family and when I told him yes, he told me that I wouldn't get cancer. I have decided to believe him on that one. He then asked me if I was married, and when I said no, again, I had to try and explain why I wasn't married. He seemed quite sad that I wasn't married, and said that he thought I would get married soon. So much so, that he gave me his e-mail address so that I could let him know how things worked out. He seemed to be rooting for marriage and me!

When I was leaving Jodhphur, there was a guy at the bus station who was telling me about good places to stay in Jaisalmer. He gave me a brochure for his hotel, and he warned me about touts in Jaisalmer. His name was Abdullah. When I got to Jaisalmer, a guy got on the bus and came up to me saying that he was Abdullah's brother, and he was going to take me to his hotel first before we went to Abdullah's hotel. I couldn't believe that he ended up being a tout, and after they showed me their hotel, I decided it was definitely a place that I didn't want to stay. I had originally planned to stay at a place called Shahi Palace, as it had been highly recommended in the Lonely Planet guide. I gave them a call, and not only did they have a room, but they said they would come and pick me up to take me there. They showed me a couple of rooms, and I decided to go for the cheaper one. The rooms were pretty nice, but it was the rooftop terrace that sold me. It was made up of a number of balconies, all which had a view of the fort. At night when the music was on, and the fort was lit up, there was nowhere else on earth that I would have rather been. In fact, I think I can safely say that the rooftop terrace at Shahi Palace is one of my favourite places in the world. I had originally planned to stay for three nights, and ended up staying for eight. I just found it really hard to tear myself away. There isn't a lot to do in Jaisalmer so there was much time spent on the rooftop terrace just whiling away the hours. Evenings were the best when I would sit on the terrace under the stars, wrapped up in a warm, fuzzy blanket, listening to the music and gazing up at the fort. And to think that I wasn't even going to go to Jaisalmer because it seemed so far away.

From Jaisalmer, I went to Pushkar, but it wasn't really my cup of tea. It's a very hippy dippy town, and every other person had dreadlocks. I've never been a fan of dreadlocks - you never know what might be lurking in them! The shopping was the same as every other place I had been, and although the ghats were interesting, I just didn't feel the need to linger in Pushkar.

After Pushkar it was off to Jaipur for two nights, where I went to the Raj Mandir Theater to see a newly released Bollywood movie. After that it was on to Ranthambhore to hopefully spot some tigers. I stayed at a place called Ranthambhore Bagh, and the best part about it was the heater in the room! Everywhere I had been in Rajasthan had been freezing cold, and I found that I was wearing layers of clothes just to try and stay warm. Getting out of bed on those cold mornings and having to hop in the shower was extremely unpleasant, so it was nice to have the warmth first thing in the morning to take away the chill.

Ranthambhore was a nice, relaxing two days made up of a safari in the early morning, and one in the afternoon. The one in the morning was absolutely freezing, and it was hard to focus on anything other than keeping warm! As luck would have it, I saw a tiger on our safari in the afternoon. It was pretty far away, and I would have much preferred to see it walk across the path of our canter, but I was glad to see one just the same. I'd still love to see one up closer, but I guess I can now check off the box 'see tigers in India'.

After Ranthambhore, I went to Agra to visit my friend Sameer. We had met in Nepal in 2003, and had kept in touch ever since. I went to Agra when I was in India in 2003, and even though I was only there for a day, I was sick the whole time. I arrived in Agra on January 31st, and on February 1st, I started to feel sick, just as I had five years before. Thank goodness Sameer and I were able to have a good visit on my first night there, because most of the rest of my time in Agra was spent sick in bed. After the second day in bed, Sameer made arrangements for the doctor to come and see me at the hotel. I ended up having a fever of 101. The doctor prescribed five different tablets and a bottle of cough syrup. After about 4 days of being in bed, I decided to go and spend a couple of hours at the Taj Mahal. It wasn't far from my hotel and I figured it would be a good way to ease me back in to the land of the living. I wandered around for a bit and would take breaks where I would just sit there and think about how this amazing place had been built out of love. I bet every single woman that goes to the Taj Mahal wishes they had someone who would build a Taj Mahal for them!

After Agra, I spent another wonderful five days with Sunil and Sarita in Ahmednagar. I flew from Agra to Mumbai, and I had asked Sunil to organize a car for me from Mumbai to Ahmednagar. Not only did he arrange it, but both he and Sarita made the trip from Ahmednagar with the driver to pick me up in Mumbai - a seven hour trip there, and seven hours back after they picked me up from the airport! It was good to see them again, and I felt like I was home.

After more late night chats, delicious meals and lots of visiting, Sunil told me that he thought I was one of a kind from Canada, and they felt very lucky to have met me. I have to say that I feel lucky to have met them as well. My experiences in India wouldn't have been near as good as they have been had I not spent time with Sunil and Sarita. I just wish there was a way that they could come and visit me in Canada.

Even though my visa for India was good until February 26th, I had originally planned to stay in India until the end of January, then move on to Thailand. However, the more I traveled around India, the more I realized that I just wasn't ready to go at the end of January. When I was in Agra, I decided that I would extend my stay in India, and go back to Jaisalmer for the Desert Festival.

When I made my arrangements to go back to Jaisalmer, I decided that I would stop in Udaipur for a couple of nights not only to break up the journey, but also to see if I could find Sampat Lal again. I ended up staying at Udai Niwas, the place I had stayed the last time I was there, and it was so nice that everyone recognized me and welcomed me back. The next morning after I had my breakfast, I went out in search of Sampat Lal. I wasn't 100% sure how I got to the place I met him last time, but I went with my instincts, and they turned out to be right. I walked the length of the boardwalk, but alas, there was no Sampat Lal. I couldn't remember what time I had met him last time, so I decided to wait for a bit to see if he would show up. After all, the last time I met him, he said he goes there every day and would be there the next time I came to India, as long as he hadn't died. True to his word, about ten minutes later, he came sauntering down the path. I recognized him by his coat and his cap. At first he didn't recognize me, but then I reminded him about the last time we had met, and he was thrilled that I had come to Udaipur just to meet up with him. Soon after we met up, three of his friends started walking towards us. He introduced me to them, and explained that they met there every day for tea and to get some exercise walking. However, this time, instead of having tea, we went and picked up some snacks, and then we were going to head out to a lake nearby. On the way to the lake, one of them asked me if I 'would take some beer'. At first I just thought that they were curious if I liked beer. I didn't realize that they were actually going to pick up some beer to drink right away. After all, it was still only 11:00 in the morning. We drove to a lake just outside of town, and there I was, sitting on the bank of a beautiful lake, with four older Indian gentlemen, drinking beer - my forehead perspiring, my nose running, and my lips tingling from all the spicy Indian snacks we had just consumed.

In the evening, Sampat Lal took me to his friend's jewellery shop. His shop was next door to his home, so he called his granddaughter to come and get me, and she took me to their home and introduced me to her brothers and sisters. Soon after, Sampat Lal and his friend, Mr. Prem, came to the house with snacks and a bottle of whiskey! Mr. Prem couldn't speak English, but Sampat Lal translated for me that Mr. Prem wanted me to stay for a couple more days so he could throw a party for me! He also wanted me to stay for a month so I could teach him English. The night was spent eating spicy Indian snacks, drinking whisky and taking many pictures.

After two nights in Udaipur, I flew to Jaisalmer. It was great to be back in Jaisalmer, and even better to be back at Shahi Palace. I was there for a few nights before I met Ida from Denmark who was also staying at Shahi Palace. We yakked for a couple of hours over a couple of beers, then went out for dinner. After dinner we went back to Shahi Palace and just hung out on the rooftop terrace. The next day we met upstairs for breakfast, then we went to watch the procession for the start of the Desert Festival. As we headed to the procession, a guy in a white gown and turban came running up to us to ask us if he could take our picture. There were a lot of dignitaries from the bank across the street, and they wanted a picture of a foreigner changing money at their bank during the Desert Festival. I was more than happy to oblige, and they actually got me to sit on a camel that was all dressed up, for the picture. After that, they wanted to interview both Ida and I and told us that we would be on the news the next day. First, my fifteen minutes of fame in China, and now my fifteen minutes of fame in India!

We walked over to the stadium where the day's festivities would be taking place and waited for the procession to arrive. After about 45 minutes of waiting, we could finally hear the music from the procession, and could see men riding camels high above the crowds of people. There were lots of camels all decorated and you could hear them coming by the bells attached to their legs. The men riding the camels were dressed up in different traditional costumes. India sure knows how to put on a parade - nothing like we have at home! I followed the procession in to the stadium and wandered around just soaking up the atmosphere and watching all the camels. As I was admiring them, a young boy by the name of Amin came up and asked me if I wanted to go for a camel ride. Of course I couldn't say no, so he helped me on the camel, and away we went. Instead of just wandering around the stadium, he took me through the streets of Jaisalmer, and we ended up at the stadium where the festivities were going to be held the next day. It was absolutely amazing and better than any organized camel safari I've been on. As we were riding along, there were tons of kids coming up saying hello and walking alongside the camel. We also came across a funeral procession as we were heading to the stadium. There must have been about thirty men dressed in their white garments, and the ones at the front were carrying the dead body. The body was in plain sight, but was covered up to the neck in a white sheet, with flowers scattered over the sheet. Amin told me they were taking the body to the cemetery for their caste, where they would burn the body. On our way back in to town, we could see the smoke from the burning of the body.

Amin advised me that he would be racing his camel the next day two days, as we watched a guy at the stadium practicing for the races. He told me that the winner of the race on the second day at the Sam sand dunes, would receive 11,000 rupees. We took a bit of a break at the stadium, then started heading back to his home where he took the blankets off his camel, and we walked the rest of the way back in to town. While he was getting things organized for his camel, I received a call from Sampat Lal in Udaipur. He was asking when I was going to be leaving, and wanted to know if I could go to Udaipur one last time before leaving India. He said he really liked me, and thought I was very polite! He is going to Malaysia with his wife in April, so I told him that we might see each other there, and I assured him that if I didn't make it back to Udaipur this time, that I would definitely visit him the next time I came back to India.

Amin and I wandered back to the stadium to watch the festivities continue - the Mr. Desert Festival, and the Ms. Moomal competition. After a while, I couldn't stand the heat any more, and headed back to the hotel for a bit of a rest before the afternoon activities. In the evening, we met back at the stadium to watch the cultural show.

The next day started a little bit later, so I was able to sleep in a bit. Ida and I had breakfast, then walked out to the stadium, about a kilometer out of town. It was still pretty early when we got there, but it was so neat just seeing all the camel drivers with their camels waiting around for the festivities to begin. Things in India move very slowly, and even though the day was supposed to start at 10am, it was much closer to 11 before anything actually commenced. I wandered around the grounds taking tons of pictures of the camels - I absolutely love them! It was pointed out to me that the army camels were much bigger than the privately owned camels. It was explained that the army camels eat free meals, whereas the privately owned camels eat when the owners have been working and have money. If they don't have money, their camels don't eat. There were many camel owners at the festival giving free rides in hopes of getting some business for camel safaris. Every time I was offered a camel ride, I just couldn't resist the opportunity - I could have ridden all day long. The day was supposed to end at 12:30, but with the way things run in India, the program didn't end until close to 3pm. By that time, I was pretty tired from all the sun and dust, and just wanted to go back to the hotel. I had hoped to see Amin in his camel race that day, but I didn't get a chance to talk to him. After a rest and a bit of freshening up, Ida and I went back to the stadium at 4:30 to watch the camel tattoo show. It was absolutely amazing, and made me fall in love with the camels even more. It was just like the RCMP musical rides that we have back home, but the only difference was that it was with camels. Photo opportunities were amazing with the lighting just right, and a view of the fort in the background. Too bad I didn't have a decent camera. I ran in to many of Amin's friends that evening and they advised that he was on his way to the Sam sand dunes, where the camel races were going to be the next day. They don't have camel trailers here, so Amin had to ride his camel out to the dunes that night, as it was about a six hour trip. It was important to do it the night before instead of on the day so his camel (Elton) would be well rested for the race. As Ida and I were leaving the stadium one of Amin's friends insisted that I have a ride on his camel before going back to the hotel. Of course I couldn't resist, so I told Ida I would meet her back at the hotel. In the end, we rode around the stadium for a bit, then he took me back to the hotel on his camel. A wonderful ending to a wonderful day.

The last day of the festival was spent lazing around in the morning, as the festivities didn't start until 4pm in the Sam sand dunes, which were about 40km out of town. Shahi arranged a jeep for a bunch of us to go out there, and we made it there just after 4. Even though the program said that the races started at 4, they didn't actually start until 5. When we left the hotel, it was really windy, and unfortunately, it was windy out at the dunes as well. There was sand and dust blowing for most of the day, and we ended up with sand everywhere! There were thousands of people at the dunes, and I figured that it would be pretty hard to try and find Amin. However, I took my place close to the finish line in hopes to get a chance to see him. Between all the people and the dust, it was pretty hard to see anything. There were three heats of races, then the last race with all the winners of the heats. Waiting for the last race to begin seemed to take forever, but I was thrilled to see Amin and Elton galloping across the finish line to a number one victory. No sooner had he crossed the finish line than he was whisked away by the organizers - he was now a celebrity! The crowds of spectators swarmed the winner, and it was hard for me to get close to him to congratulate him. When I finally got to him, he seemed a little dazed, but had a smile a mile wide. We stayed to watch the awards ceremony, and I was thrilled when they called his name and presented him with his trophy and prize winnings of 11,000 rupees. Amin makes 100 rupees a day doing camel safaris, so the money will really make a difference in his life. We talked to him briefly and made plans to meet the next day before he went off to bask in his glory.

After the races, we went to watch the cultural show in the desert. As I sat there looking around at the crowds of people (apparently 40,000) and the camels, listening to and watching the cultural program, I couldn't help but think that life was good. My thoughts quickly turned to sadness as I realized that I would be leaving in two days time. I definitely was not ready to leave Jaisalmer, or India yet. And to think that originally, I wasn't even going to go to Jaisalmer, let alone go back a second time.

India is quite a place, and I've heard many people say that you either love it, or you hate it - there is no in between.

In India, when you meet someone for the first time, they will ask you 'what is your good name?' I'm always tempted to say 'well, I don't know if it's a good name because I always get teased about it, but in any case, it's Gaye'. It would seem that the name/word 'Gay(e)' has the same meaning in India that it does in North America, in China, and probably everywhere else in the world. It seems to get more complicated when they ask the next set of questions about my family - husband, children, boyfriend, etc. When I tell them that I'm not married (never have been) and don't have any children, they are shocked and always ask why. I attempt to tell them that I like my freedom so that I can travel, but I wonder what goes through their minds. Seeing as their marriages are still arranged, they must be thinking - hmm, her name is Gaye, she's not married and she doesn't have a boyfriend. Either she IS gay, or there must be something wrong with her if her parents STILL can't find a husband for her! I've finally resorted to introducing myself as 'Gayle'.

Many times when I'm out wandering around, I'll have people come up to me and strike up a conversation, as they want to practice their English. They ask all the usual questions, like 'what is your good name', 'what country', and 'what is your job?' When they ask where I'm from and I tell them I'm from Canada, they will either ask 'English or French part', or they will start rattling off the names of cities in Canada until they get the right one. I've even had some tell me the capital of Canada. They would have done well on my lesson on Canadian Culture at No. 1 Middle School.

The other day I met a couple of older boys who asked me all the usual questions. When they asked me my job and I told them I was an English teacher, they got all excited and heartily shook my hand, almost as if they felt they had won the English speaking lottery and would be able to speak perfect English after our five minute conversation.

I have to say that I've been quite disappointed with interactions with many of the kids in India this time around. I'm not sure if it's the difference between north and south or 2003 and 2008, but when I was here five years ago, kids kept asking for 'one pen'. This time they ask for one pen, and if you say no, they just come right out and ask for ten rupees. The worst part is that it's not just kids. I've had teenagers come up and ask for ten rupees as well. Here is a conversation I had with a little girl the other day. It went like this:
Little girl: 10 rupees?
Me: No
Little girl: 10 rupees?
Me: No
Little girl: 10 rupees?
Me: No
Little girl: 10 rupees?
Me: No
Little girl: 10 rupees?
Me: No
Little girl: 10 rupees?
Me: No
The conversation was finally ended when a man walking along the street said to the little girl 'NO!' Thank goodness for that!

It's interesting traveling this time around after having taught English in China. I have found that the English that people speak in India is much better than the English spoken in China (at least in Zhongshan). It surprises me how many people speak English and how well it is spoken (although it is certainly far from perfect). I'm amazed at how much English they speak when they don't have exposure to it every day. I also find it interesting that English is taught in schools, just like in China, but the level of English in India, to me, seems to be much higher than that in China. Maybe all that studying in China isn't such a good thing after all!

Even though it's only been a couple of months, China seems like a million miles away, and I have to admit that I don't miss life in China at all. Now that I'm away from it, I realize just how much I had been missing. It is such a treat traveling in India, compared to China. Pretty well everyone that you talk to speaks at least a little bit of English. The food is amazing, the people are extremely friendly, and even though there is so much poverty, I have never once felt threatened for my personal safety or security. Not only that, even though life can be tough in India, people always seem to be happy, and never complain. There is so much culture in India, and they really know how to celebrate life.

It is my last day in India, and I'm certainly not ready to leave. I absolutely LOVE India, and will definitely be back again. Hmmm, maybe I could go to Thailand and get another three month visa for India . . . .

Until next time,

Gaye
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Zhongshan, Guangdong, China

December 30, 2007

Well, it finally happened - I'm in love! His name is Andy. He is short, wears glasses and is totally obsessed with Mickey Mouse! Andy is nine years old, and was a student in the New Concept class that I taught on Saturdays at Bond. He would always tell me I was funny and laugh at my jokes, and tell me that my classes were interesting. His English is amazing, and when I first started teaching the class, I felt that Andy should have been in a more advanced class. You see, every time I got the students to do some reading, Andy would always be looking at the more advanced lessons and I constantly had to tell him to pay attention to the lesson we were doing. It got to the point where I approached Alice, our Director of Studies, because I felt that Andy was probably bored and needed to be in a more advanced class. She asked if he was disrupting the class, and other than the fact that we always had to wait for him to flip back to the right page, he wasn't a disruption. Alice said she would speak to his mother about it. According to Andy's mother, he was not bored in my class, he liked me, and he liked the class. So, he ended up staying in the class, and he really started to grow on me. After the talk with his mother, he still looked at the more advanced lessons, but he would put his hand on the page where we were reading so we didn't have to wait for him to flip back!

As I said, Andy is obsessed with Mickey Mouse, and anything to do with Walt Disney or Disneyland. There were many times when Andy would start naming off facts and figures about Mickey Mouse as soon as I set foot in the classroom. During the breaks, I would come back and he would have written something on the whiteboard to do with Mickey Mouse. He had a Mickey Mouse book, Mickey mouse pencil case, Mickey Mouse everything! At the end of our classes, we usually played hangman for the last ten or fifteen minutes. One day, one of the students got up and used the name of one of the girls in the class as the word to guess. After that, Andy put his hand up for a turn. I thought for sure his puzzle would have something to do with Mickey Mouse, and was quite surprised when he announced that it was also the name of a girl in our class! As I looked around, I started to smile as I remembered that one of the girls in our class goes by the name of - you guessed it - Minnie!! If Walt Disney only knew how much joy he has brought to this little boy's life!

On November 24th, we held another fundraiser for Shirley, our friend who is battling cancer. This time around, I got more people on board to help out with the organization, and we approached Bond to help us with setup costs. We had 100 posters printed up which were displayed all over town, and we handed out over 5,000 flyers. This was going to be big. In fact, I was worried that we would have too many people and not have anywhere to put them all! This time around, we had Lenny (bless his heart), one of my Chinese students to help us out. He knew Shirley from before, and kept saying that he wanted to help her out, but he didn't know what to do, so I invited him to help us out. There is no way we could have done what we did if we didn't have Lenny on board. He contacted the local newspaper and TV station, and a group of us were interviewed before we held the fundraiser. The story was about a group of foreigners helping out a local person, and it ran on page A4! Unfortunately, the night of the fundraiser didn't see the huge crowds that I expected (or hoped for), but everyone that was there sure had a lot of fun! The newspaper came back for a follow-up story, and I was interviewed by the local TV station (my 15 minutes of fame in China!). In the end, were able to raise enough money for two more treatments for Shirley (she has three more left). I saw Shirley for my last time the other night, and she looked really good. Her hair is growing back in, and her spirits continue to be high. She said she went for some blood tests last week, and the results were good. What a great feeling to know that we were able to help her out in some small way.

The Bond Christmas party was held the night of December 23rd from 7:30 to 9pm, and it was a lot of fun. A visit was made by Santa and Mrs. Claus (aka Graham and Eilidh from Scotland), and the kids seemed to have a good time. There were two little girls who came to the party with angel wings on their back. They were about five years old and really did look like angels. As if they weren't cute enough, one of them was missing her two front teeth! Many of my students attended the party, some of them bearing gifts. Cherry gave me a painting that she had done of the Chinese characters that mean happiness. When I get back to Vancouver, I'm going to have it framed. Andy was there with his mom, and he gave me a card that he had made. In the card, he wished me safe travels, and said if I go to Tokyo, don't forget to go to Disneyland ☺

Thursday was my last day of teaching at No. 1 Middle School, and I'm proud to say that I held it together while I was saying goodbye. Well, for the most part. There was one instance where one of my students, Ben, sat down for his testing. He sat down and did the reading, and although he made one mistake in the reading, his spoken English was flawless. After he finished the test and I saw the look on his face as he went back in to the classroom, punching the air and yelling 'yessss', the tears welled up. I guess it finally hit me that I wouldn't be seeing these kids again. Some of my best memories and experiences have been at No. 1 Middle School. (Oh my God, here I go again, just proofreading this!)

The last few weeks we had been doing testing. Although it was nice not having to prepare lessons, there wasn't as much interaction with the students as I would have liked. Having said that though, I attended some of their functions outside of school, and it was great to see them in an environment where they weren't studying! At the beginning of December, I went to their sports day. Unfortunately, I had to work at Bond in the morning, but I went for the afternoon. It was so nice to see them in a fun environment, and it was nice to see some of them in clothes other than their uniform (when I first started teaching at No. 1 Middle School, I thought the uniforms were a great idea however, near the end, for me, they represented too much studying and not enough fun)! I had so much fun, and could hardly walk five steps without having one of the students coming up and wanting to take my picture. As we were leaving, some of the students wanted us to autograph their shirts! The next week they had a dance competition, and when I arrived, I was escorted to the front where the judges sat, so I could take some good pictures. Again, it was wonderful to see them outside of the classroom, and I was amazed at how good they were! Yesterday, Jenna and I went to a New Years show that they put on at the school. I was pretty good for the most part, but I have to admit there were a few times when the tears started to flow. Again, it was hard for me to think that I would probably never see these kids again. They have made my experience in China an amazing one!

It's Sunday, December 30th, my last day in Zhongshan. I still can't believe that I have been here for one year. When I look back on it, it seems to have gone fast, however, there were times when I thought it would never end. I have learned many things over the last year, and if I had to do it all over again, the only thing I would change is the length of my contract. Although I've really enjoyed my experience here, I am definitely ready to move on. The last few months have been extremely frustrating for me as I realize more and more that all the students ever seem to do here is study. They never seem to get a break. Even if there is a holiday, they have to make up for the classes on weekends - they never get any free time. If I could have one wish for the students in China, it would be that they could have at least one day where they didn't have to study, and they could just be kids. A day where they didn't spend it sleeping or playing computer games, and where they could just have fun. I know that they don't know anything different other than studying, but as a westerner, I got really frustrated with the amount of studying they do. I don't know how many times I heard that all the studying the students do is for the one test they write to get in to a good university. 'If they study hard now, they will have a good life later on'. They start studying English as young as two years old! It doesn't stop once they get in to university either. Because there are so many people in China, there is always so much competition for good jobs, so they have to constantly study and get good grades. We have no idea how lucky we are in Canada to actually have lives outside of school.

I am now sitting in the Hong Kong airport waiting for my flight to Mumbai. I spoke to Sunil last week, and have made arrangements to call him tomorrow morning. He said something about going to Pune first, then on to Ahmednagar where he lives with his family. It will be great to see him, his family, friends and colleagues again.

After India, the plan is to go to Thailand, Cambodia, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, take the Trans Siberian train from Beijing, through Mongolia to Russia, on to Poland, the Czech Republic, Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Turkey, Ireland, Scotland, Iceland and Greenland, then back to Canada. I should be back in Canada some time in September. Of course the plans could change at any time, but that's the rough outline. I can hardly wait to get back on the road again.

I hope everyone has a Happy New Year, and all the best in 2008 to each and every one of you!

Until next time,

Gaye
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Zhongshan, Guangdong, China

Macau Marathon 2007

December 2, 2007

After eight months of training, I finally completed my tenth marathon! On December 2, 2007, I crossed the finish line of the Macau Marathon at approximately 11:15 am. As far as marathons go, it was probably the worst one that I have ever done, and as far as training goes, it was the most challenging.

I got the idea for doing the marathon one day when I went to Macau. I was having lunch at the Westin reading 'Talk', the local tourist newspaper, when I read an article about the Macau Marathon in December. It had been a long time since I had done any long distance running, and I had had an arthroscopy done on my knee last year, so I wasn't sure if I would even be able to do another marathon. However, the seed had been planted, and when I got back to Zhongshan, I set up a training schedule for myself.

As I said, the training for this marathon was the most challenging, as I had to run in conditions I had never experienced before. It wasn't as easy as just putting on my running shoes and going for a run. There were a lot of logistics involved as I was dealing with temperatures and humidity that I wasn't used to, as well as not being very familiar with the city (at least for the purposes of long runs). First of all, I set up my runs based on time. I had no idea what my pace was anymore, but I based my runs on a ten minute mile. Next, I had to figure out a route that would take me the distance I needed to go without getting lost, and provide me with lots of water stops along the way. Seeing as I always did my long runs in the early morning, I had to make sure that I would be on a route where there would be stores open so that I could replenish my water supply. Sometimes the temperatures were already over 30 degrees at 6am, and I would go through the water quickly. I usually wore a small suitcase around my waist to carry everything I needed. I also had to wear those silly sweat bands around my wrist, as I would start sweating the moment I stepped outside. Having all that worked out, I then had to deal with the runs themselves, and there were many memorable ones. Seeing a runner in Zhongshan is a rare sight. Seeing a foreigner in Zhongshan isn't as rare as seeing a runner, but there aren't many foreigners here. Seeing a foreigner running in Zongshan is almost unheard of, and I got many stares whenever I went out for my runs. There were many times when people would crane their necks to stare at me, and I thought they were going to get in to an accident! There were also times though, where I would get a smile, a thumbs up, or a hello. One time, I even got a bicycle escort when I got lost! I will also never forget the time I went out for a run in the rain, thunder and lightening. I had a woman stop her car, roll her window down and ask me if I needed help. I assured her that I was okay, and actually wanted to be out running. On the same run, I had a girl run beside me holding an umbrella over my head! While I was out on my runs, there were many times where I had to deal with mangy dogs. Normally, I am not scared of dogs, however, some of the dogs that came running after me were pretty scary looking. I had no idea what they were going to do, so I would go running after them! For the most part, it usually scared them away, but there were times, that they would come running back after me. I'm happy to report that there were no incidents with dogs in my eight months of training, but I bet there were many Chinese people shaking their heads when they saw me running after their dog! Although there were many times I went out running and the sun wasn't shining, I would come home after my run, take off my clothes, only to find tan lines! However, once I had a shower, I would discover that my 'tan lines' were gone. I used to get so filthy running in the streets of Zhongshan, and I can't help but wonder if my clothes and skin got that dirty from running, what did it do to my lungs?

As marathon day got closer and closer, I started to get worried about whether or not I would be able to finish the marathon in time. Most marathons have a cut off time of six hours, but this one had a cut off time of five hours. Although most of my marathon finish times have been around the four hour mark, I had no idea what my finish time would be, because I had no way to measure the distance of my training runs - I had just been going on time, not distance. My biggest concern was not being able to finish in time, and having to tell my students that I wasn't able to do it. I kept telling myself that if I had to crawl across the finish line, I would do it.

By the end of November, the long runs were done, and the only thing left was mental preparation.

Luckily, I was able to get one of the other foreign teachers to teach my Saturday classes at Bond so I was able to go to Macau the day before the marathon instead of in the evening after a long day of teaching. My friend Liz was coming from Canada for a visit, and would be there to support me for the marathon, as well as my friend Judith, another foreign teacher in Zhongshan. I met Liz at the Macau ferry terminal at 11:30, then we went to the hotel and checked in. After we checked in, we went in to Taipa town for lunch, then went to the Macau stadium to pick up my race package. The packet pickup was pretty low key and uneventful compared to other marathons that I've done. There is usually some kind of fitness fair that goes along with packet pickup, but in Macau, you pick up your race number, your timing chip, and you're done - a bit of a letdown. Later on in the afternoon, we went to Largo Senada to do some shopping, then met Judith, and went for an Italian, carbo-loading dinner. After that, it was back to the hotel and an early night to bed!

I must say that I slept pretty darn good for the night before a marathon! The marathon started at 6:30, and we were up at 4:45, as I wanted to give myself lots of time to eat breakfast and get to the starting line. When we got there, it looked like the doors to the stadium were closed. There was a crowd of people with race numbers standing around outside, so we stood with them. It started getting closer and closer to starting time, so Judith and Liz said goodbye and went to go and get a seat in the stadium. They came back a few minutes later to tell me that lots of the runners were getting in to the stadium through a side entrance, so I also went in through the side entrance.

I was surprised that there weren't more spectators in the stadium, however, it was still pretty early. The gun went off at 6:30, and I took a deep breath and tried to focus on what lay ahead. I quickly got in to my pace, and was feeling pretty good. Whenever we passed by a distance marker, I would check my watch, and do a quick calculation to see how I was doing. Not bad. However, as time went on, the runners thinned out, the sun came out, and it started to get tough. There were many lonely stretches, and there were no spectators to offer support. Even the people directing traffic for the marathon didn't offer a smile or any kind of support as you ran by. The only entertainment on the whole course was a group of Portuguese dancers at the back of the Wynn Hotel, and a Chinese dragon accompanied by drummers beating on a drum, along a long, lonely stretch out by the airport. By this time, there were not many people who were doing the full marathon. I had told myself that at 30 kms, I could do a 10 min walk/1 min run, however, I abandoned that plan and started doing it at 28kms. As the sun got hotter and there were less and less people, it got harder and harder, and the words of the late Rob Leviton, 'pain is temporary, pride is forever' kept running through my head. At one of the distance markers, I did a quick calculation and realized that if I was going to make it across the finish line under 5 hours, I needed to run straight through. Not finishing was not an option. As I got closer to the finish line, I saw people who had already finished, walking away from the stadium with their medals around their neck. Oh, how I wished that was me! As I ran down the road approaching the stadium, I saw Liz and Judith cheering for me. I was so happy to seem them but wondered why there were there and not at the finish line as originally planned. It didn't take me long to realize why.

The best part of doing a marathon is crossing the finish line to friends, family and total strangers cheering you on. As I rounded the last corner to head in to the stadium, I gathered myself together for my big finish. How disappointing when I ran in to an EMPTY stadium! No music, no friends, no spectators, no cheering, nothing but total silence!!! It was AWFUL!!! As I crossed the finish line, I was handed a t-shirt, a towel, some food and water and shown the exit. I soon found out from Liz and Judith that they tried to get in to the stadium, but weren't allowed in. It sure was good to see their familiar faces after such a letdown finish!!

The only good part of the Macau Marathon was my recovery. After we went back to the hotel and I had a shower, the three of us wandered around Taipa Town before Liz and I went and checked in to the Venetian Hotel. I didn't feel any stiffness in my legs as we were wandering around. The next morning when I got out of bed I was a little worried that I would feel stiff, but not at all. Not even two days later!

Yes, as a treat, Liz and I checked in to the Venetian Hotel for one night before going back to Zhonghsan. It was pure luxury! We each had a queen sized bed and it was soooo comfortable! The bathroom had a shower as well as a huge bathtub. We even had a sunken living room. It was pure heaven and a well deserved treat after the marathon. Too bad we didn't have any luck at the casino!

The best part about doing the Macau Marathon was being able to show my students my finishers' medal. Normally, I don't care about the medal, but this one was so important for me as I wanted to be able to show my students that I achieved my goal and completed the marathon. And show them I did. I got many 'woah's the equivalent of our 'wow', or 'cool'. The week before I did the marathon, we had done a lesson on the Beijing Olympics. Seeing as my finishers' medal was silver, many of my students wanted to know if I came in second ☺ I was also able to show my medal to a gentleman who I would often see outside of Bi Hua Li when I was finishing my training runs. He couldn't speak any English, but as I was running towards home, he would stand up and salute me. When I was going home one day after we got back from Macau, I saw him outside. I showed him my medal, and a brochure (which was in Chinese) for the Macau Marathon. It didn't matter that he couldn't speak English. His smile said it all.

It's now been close to a month since I did the Macau Marathon, and I haven't done a run since then. In fact, after I finished the marathon, I took off my running shoes and threw them away! I'm thrilled to have finally completed marathon number ten, and at this point in time, I don't really feel the need to do another marathon any time soon. Although my memories from the Macau Marathon have not all been good ones, if I had to do it all over again, I wouldn't change a thing. It's all been a part of my experience here in China, and I wouldn't change it for the world!

Until next time,

Gaye
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Zhongshan, Guangdong, China

November 16, 2007

Well, I can't believe that we're already half way through November! I had good intentions to send out an update after I got back from Vancouver at the beginning of October - where does the time go?

Although my visit to Vancouver was short, there was enough time for me to go to my reunion, do some visiting, and get in my food fixes!

My reunion was a blast, although I was a little disappointed that it ended so early (it ended around 2am, but it was supposed to go until 4)! Oh well, it was lots of fun, and it was great to see everyone again. I can hardly wait for the 40th!

When I got back, I finally bit the bullet and registered for the Macau Marathon. I can't believe that it's only two weeks away. My longest run so far has been 3.5 hours, and I'm supposed to do a 4 hour run this weekend. However, when I was in Hong Kong this last weekend, I took a fall, and my knee is still bugging me. I went for a short run today, and it seemed to be okay, so I'll give it a try on Sunday. When it gets this close to marathon day, I always find that I worry about anything that could go wrong (injury, cold, etc.) before the big day. I'm not in as good of shape as I usually am, and am a little concerned about whether or not I will make it across the finish line in the allotted time. This is the third time that I have trained for marathon number ten, and I want to finally be able to complete it! Not only that, I can't imagine having to tell my students that I didn't finish. If I have to crawl across the finish line, I will!!

Less than two months now until the end of my contract. In some ways, the time has flown by, and other times, it has gone so slow that I thought I'd never make it to the end. Bond has asked me to stay a few extra days in order to finish off the term, and I have told them I will. I should be finished on January 5th, and head out of Zhongshan on January 6th. My plan is to start heading back to Vancouver, but in a roundabout way. My first stop will be India where I will go and visit my Indian family, and do the Rajasthan Desert, as I never got to do it in 2003. I had quite a time trying to contact Sunil and his family in India through e-mail, but when I did, I got a reply from him telling me that he had received my e-mail and 'got very much happy'. He also told me that when he told his friend Mr. Karp (who I met when I was there in 2003) that I was coming for a visit, Mr. Karp 'was also turned very happy'. I don't know who is more excited about my visit - me or them! I have been told that when I come to visit, I can not be in a hurry, as everyone has his own plans with me.

After India, I will go back to Thailand to the beaches, Cambodia to see Angkor Wat (these are two places I missed on my travels in 2003), then on to Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, back in to China to Beijing to do the Trans Siberian Railway in to St. Petersburg in Russia, on to Poland, Czech Republic, Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, then on to Turkey (of course!). My friend Helen will be meeting up with me in Turkey for three weeks. It should be fun and will bring back a lot of memories, as Helen and I met in Turkey in 2003. While I am in Turkey I will also go and visit my Turkish family in Konya. After I leave Turkey, I will head to Ireland to visit two of the foreign teachers who are here at Bond, then on to Scotland to visit two more teachers who are also at Bond. After that, it's on to Iceland and Greenland, and finally back to Canada. I figure I will be home some time in August or September 2008.

Only one more week of lessons at middle school, then we start doing oral testing. It has been a little bit different this term in that we have a rotation of students every three weeks, whereas last term it was only two. We have only had to come up with three different lesson plans for one grade, and four for another. Although testing can get quite boring, we won't have to plan any more lessons, and the students are particularly polite to us, as they want us to give them a good mark!

The last lesson we did was on Canada, and it was good fun. We gave them lots of information about Canada, then asked them questions to see what they remembered. One of the questions we asked was 'What does R.C.M.P stand for?' The choices we gave were:
1) Regal Canadian Mounted Police
2) Rich Canadian Money People
3) Really Cool Mounted Police
4) Royal Canadian Mounted Police

It took a few tries before I could say numbers 2 and 3 with a straight face, but it was even harder to keep from laughing when some of the teams actually PICKED number 2 or 3!

Middle school seems to have been quite different this term, and I'm not sure why. For some reason, it doesn't seem to be as much fun as it was last term. I don't know if the lessons weren't interesting enough, or the time of year (beginning as opposed to the end) made a difference in their interest levels. The students have been great on campus, but the classes haven't been as much fun as they were last semester and it has been quite a challenge to get them interested. Maybe I didn't present the lessons very well.

Our friend Shirley continues her battle with, and treatment for, cancer. We are having another fundraiser for her on November 24th, and this time (we're hoping) it's going to be big! We are calling it 'A Night of Western Promise'. John, the owner of Bond, has been very generous and given us money to have posters and fliers professionally printed to advertise the event. We have also been interviewed by the local newspaper, so hopefully that will provide some advertising as well. One of my ex-students, Lennie (bless his heart), has been a huge help in getting things organized and having to deal with Chinese people. There is so much we couldn't have done without his help. He kept saying that he wanted to help Shirley out, but he didn't know what he could do. When I told him that we were doing the fundraiser, he said that he wanted to help. He said that it feels good to be able to do something for Shirley and I have to say that I agree with him!

Until next time,

Gaye
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