jkirby's TravelStream™ — Recent TravelPod.com entries

jkirby's TravelStream™ — Recent TravelPod.com entries TravelStream™ news feed for member jkirby on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/jkirby en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Mon, 23 Mar 2009 02:12:58 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com Wei's Yangshuo Culture House — Yangshuo, China http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jkirby/world2007/1186041780/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jkirby/world2007/1186041780/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jkirby/world2007/1186041780/tpod.html Mon, 23 Mar 2009 02:12:58 -0400 Asia, Oceania, and Beyond

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Yangshuo, China

Wei's is a fantastic place.  He includes meals with your lodging and the food is never ending and delicious.  He'll go out of his way to make your time in Yangshuo as great as possible.  Having him zip down to the bus station to pick me up on his scooter put a smile on my face that remained the entire I stayed in Yangshuo.
]]> Cancun — Cancun, Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jkirby/previoustravels/1226000400/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jkirby/previoustravels/1226000400/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jkirby/previoustravels/1226000400/tpod.html Tue, 06 Jan 2009 14:42:43 -0500 Other Trips

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Cancun, Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico

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]]> China Itinerary — Tai'an, China http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jkirby/world2007/1185092520/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jkirby/world2007/1185092520/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jkirby/world2007/1185092520/tpod.html Mon, 21 Jul 2008 16:04:48 -0400 Asia, Oceania, and Beyond

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Tai'an, China

"Patience China.  Patience," me, general address to honking traffic, Wudaokou, Beijing, July 19, 2007 I headed out of Beijing this morning.  My class there continues through Wednesday, but it was just going to be tests, review and a closing celebration.  I figured I might as well use the week to travel since there's a lot I want to see and taking the test has no meaning to me.  Today I'm in Tai'an, a fairly big city with a small town feel at the base of Tai Shan.  Tai Shan is China's most sacred mountain and considered the world's most climbed mountain.  I plan to climb up tomorrow, then head to Putuoshan island via Ningbo via Shanghai via Jinan. Last week I threw together an itinerary for the rest of my travels in China.  I've penciled it out at the end of this entry.  Thoughts If, when taking a piss in a urinal, you feel a warm sensation on your toes, check to see if the urinal has a drain pipe attached. Other Thoughts My mom shared a great article about the couple that started the Lonely Planet.  http://www.nationalgeographic.com/adventure/news/maureen-tony-wheeler-lonely-planet.html The article made me rethink a lot of observations and comments that I have had over the last two months.  Some of their responses mentioned Mongolia, Vietnam, and Nepal.  For Vietnam I remember Ann and Chris mentioning how awesome Vietnam was when they visited ten years ago.  Now most of the travelers I meet share disdain when I ask them about Vietnam.  The Lonely Planet founders said Nepal is there favorite country.  Eeeeey!  I eagerly look forward to arriving there. They also mentioned that they plan on taking part in the Plymouth-Banjul car rally, a car rally that I had toyed on joining with my dad a couple years ago.  I even met up with some ex-participants in London in 2005 to ask them about logistics.  Now I bet there'll be a Lonely Planet publication about it.  Oh well.  Just missed the opportunity to be so cool.  ;) Book Reports I finished Into the Wild and Farenheit 451 yesterday.  I quite enjoyed both.  I can't imagine a better comlement to The Razor's Edge than Into the Wild.  I most enjoyed Krakauer's inclusion of a retelling one of his personal solo climbing adventures into Alaska.  I identified more with Krakauer's style of adventure, ie preparation, than McCandless' though I appreciated the high morals and minimalist approach that McCandless attempted to maintain.  I won't feel so crazy the next time someone acts shocked that I rarely sleep in a tent when camping.  While reading Into the Wild, I felt a connection to Chris McCandless.  He was only 4 years older than me and traveled all throughout the American West during the same period that I was going to Cal Poly and wandering around the same places; places like Grand Gulch, Anza Borrego Desert, Wyoming, Oregon, and Seattle.  I can't forgive him for abandoning a perfectly good Datsun 210 in the desert, though. Regarding Farenheit 451, I could not overcome the irony that I purchased that book in an official, government-sanctioned bookstore in China.  Here's a book crying out against censhorship and television and I bought and read it in one of the few contries today that succeeds in massive censorship.  I found Ray Bradbury's prescience, especially regarding the detriments he felt television would, far more scarily accurate than say 1984 or Brave New World.  He had incredible vision to see--at a time before most people even owned a television--that in the future, today, we would enslave our evenings to television, read less, and begin to have our information controlled by just a few media mongol corporations.  His concerns in 1950 parallel the cry made in Halle Lasn's Culture Jam, written just a few years ago. Itinerary So, here's my plan.  Probably a bit optimistic, but at least, for once, I have a plan.  Shan means mountain. July 22-23 1. Tai'an, Tai Shan July 23-24 2. Putuo Shan Island July 24-25 3. Huangshan July 25-Beginning September 4. Lushan area 5. Guilin area 6. Kunming area 7. Xishuangbanna, time permitting 8. Dali area 9. Lijang 10. Zhongdian 11. Emeishan 12. Chengdu area 13. Xining 14. Urumqi, Xingjang 15. Kanas Lake 16. Yining 17. Kuqa 18. Kashi 19. Taxkorgan 20. Golmud Beginning to Mid September 21. Llhasa 22. Everest Base Camp, Tibet Side Mid to Late September 23. Kathmandu
]]> Oakland, end of the blog — Oakland, California, United States http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jkirby/world2007/1214066400/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jkirby/world2007/1214066400/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jkirby/world2007/1214066400/tpod.html Fri, 11 Jul 2008 12:34:26 -0400 Asia, Oceania, and Beyond

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Oakland, California, United States

Well folks, this looks like the end.  I'm back in Oakland, dusting off the resume.  I do have some more thoughts to share that I might become inspired to write, or I might not :).  Thanks for taking the time to read this drivel and share the experience with me.  It's been the trip of a lifetime.  By all accounts the last year has been more than I ever dreamed it would be. I herded yaks across a river in Tibet, pushed a bus for an hour through mud in Cambodia, drove and unstuck a woman's SUV from sand in Siberia, rode horseback through rain, hail and snow in Mongolia, helped assemble a family's yurt--ger--in Mongolia, witnessed a woman survive a suicide attempt by jumping off a bridge in Xinjiang, hired an entire bus in Tibet, pirated seats on a bus hired by a Polish mountaineering team returning from a summit of Cho Oyu, hitched a ride in the back of a dump truck and on the roof of a jeep, rode with three men on the back of a motorcycle in the Himalayas north of Kashmir, blew a transmission in the Outback, a radiator in New Zealand, and a car stereo in Adelaide, sipped butter tea with nomads in Tibet, Xinjiang, and Mongolia, dodged kangaroos and koalas while driving, broke up a fight on a two night night bus ride on the Silk Road, went to a rave on the Great Wall, climbed over 5000 meters every day for 4 days, attended a sheep shearing competition and wrecked a bike during Myanmar's water festival. It's been 15 countries, 12 Lonely Planets, 1 Rough Guide, 6 umbrellas, 34 flights, 5 flat tires on buses, 4 bus breakdowns, 4 Chinese visas, 22 passport pages, 5 sets of iPod earphones, 38 reading books, a dozen lists, 6000 songs rated on my iPod, 3296 photos uploaded, 280 blog entries, 2 tents, 5 mobile phone numbers, 2 cameras, 2 camera repairs, and zero doses of antibiotics :). I saw the Great Wall, the Forbidden City, Lake Baikal, Mt. Everest, Mt. Fuji, the Taj Mahal, Sydney Opera House, the Great Barrier Reef, Ayers Rock, the Ganges, the Mekong, the Yangtze, the Yellow River, and the Irrawaddy. I realize now that I have returned to California that as during the years that I taught high shcool, I've learned a lot about myself by taking this trip.  I've learned what type of regions and cultures I intend to enjoy the most (mountain communities).  I've gained a sharper perspective, I think, on how people see me, gathered from both other travelers and by how my friends have perceived my journey.  I certainly have strengthened my values and reduced my true desires to a solid collection. For more final thoughts on the trip, see my previous entry titled, Frequently Asked Questions. ...later...now down in Mountain View for the day... I'm at Clocktower Coffee, the coffee shop next to my last address a year ago, before I left.  As soon as I walked in the barista totally remembered me and was like, I haven't seen you in forever!  Where've you been?  Ah, that was nice.  So nice.  That's why I had to stop traveling.  I missed that. ...and a couple weeks later... I guess I'm addicted to the blogging thing for now.  I've started a more cynical, no apologies blog at http://jeffkirby.blogspot.com/.  Enjoy.  See you there.
]]> Thoughts on Contrasts from Jaipur, The Pink City — Jaipur, India http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jkirby/world2007/1196771820/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jkirby/world2007/1196771820/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jkirby/world2007/1196771820/tpod.html Fri, 04 Jul 2008 20:46:13 -0400 Asia, Oceania, and Beyond

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Jaipur, India

On the last non-stop train that I took from Delhi to Amritsar, I sat in an upholstered, reclining chair in an air-conditioned cabin while over the course of the next 4 hours the stewards served me a liter water, mango juice, a sandwich, two packages of cookies, candy, a carafe of tea, soup, lentils, curry, vegetables, rice, chapati, and ice cream.  They had to bring the food or clear my tray constantly during the four hour ride.   Meanwhile, three cars away, second class seating consists of unreserved wood benches in carriages with no glass, only bars covering the windows.  So many people pile into the second class cars that people will be sitting under the benches and hanging out the open doors as the train rolls by.India's a country of contrasts.The contrasts in colors and smells astound me.  A pack of women will pass me dressed in dazzling pink, yellow, orange or green saris while I trudge through a grey street littered in manure, stagnant water and trash.  Varanasi's brightly colored steps down to the river dazzle the eyes.  Meanwhile, grey smoke rises from 13 fires cremating bodies, fires that burn all day and all night. My nose fills with the delicisous aroma of fresh curry.  Then I turn the corner and become overwhelmed by the amonia stench of human urine.  Ten feet later the pleasant smell of chai comes to me from a street vendor on my right, then a water buffalo lets loose his bowels to my left.Sikh monks chant continuous prayers at the Golden Temple, filling the massive, otherwise silent courtyard with holy reverence.  Then I exit to the street on the other side of the walls and I have to plug my from the constant honking of rickshaws, motorcylces and kamikaze taxi drivers.Last night pulling into Jaipur I witnessed at least five weddings with a thousand or more attendees.  We ran into an American today who told me he's here partly to attend a wedding of a rich Indian family.  He said the wedding cost around half a million US dollars.  A half hour later two skinny, tear streaked, filthy 7 year old girls are hanging from our auto rickshaw begging for one rupee.  On the way back through the same intersection a few hours later I noticed that there were about twenty similar kids living on the boulevard median. In McLeod Ganj the hotel room had clean sheets, two blankets, down comforters, a brand new, tiled bathroom with piping hot water, a balcony, fresh paint and nothing broken.  The manager and his son never stopped smiling.  It cost 400 rupees ($10).  In Siliguri the hotel room walls were covered in skid marks.  Flies buzzed all night.  The hot water never came on and I had to argue with the manager when he insisted I was wrong.  The sheets hadn't been cleaned.  There was a plastic kiddie table, two patio chairs and an army surplus cabinet for furniture.  The top of the cabinet had never been dusted.  It cost 450 rupees. 
]]> FAQ — Oakland, California, United States http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jkirby/world2007/1213994280/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jkirby/world2007/1213994280/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jkirby/world2007/1213994280/tpod.html Thu, 03 Jul 2008 12:49:35 -0400 Asia, Oceania, and Beyond

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Oakland, California, United States

Frequently Asked Questions What was your favorite country?  Why?  Mongolia.  Outside the capital city of Ulan Batar you are in a country bigger than Texas with just a couple million nomads roaming through vast tracks of rolling green hills, mountains, canyons and lakes.  It's a lot like British Columbia, Alberta, Wyoming, Idaho, or Montana.  The scenery's incredible and the people are unbelievably friendly and good-natured.  Except for the capital city I stayed in felt tents (gers) the whole time.  Many of my best memories come from Mongolia: Billgay my driver, constructing a family's ger, riding horseback at Lake Hovsgol, seeing Przewalski's horses.Did you ride horses in Mongolia?  yupDid you stay with nomads in Mongolia?  How did you arrange it?  Yes. Any guest house in Ulan Batar can arrange an entire tour of Mongolia.  I paid about $65 a day for our driver, the beloved Billgay, his 4WD Russian van, and fuel which I split three ways with two other travelers.  We paid about $6 a day each to room and board in each ger which Billgay arranged for us. How long were you gone?  One year exactly.  Coming back exactly one year from when I left was a coincidence.  I had a very decisive urge to return and it just so happened that I found the best fare a year to the day from when I left. What made you decided to come back?  As everyone who has traveled for a long period of time tells me, if you're going to go away from home for that long the only way to really do it is to find a place to live for awhile during the trip.  I certainly agree.  I guess my obsessive compulsive nature kept me going up until about New Zealand.  I thought that my visit with Ann and Chris in Auckland had rejuvenated me but really what it had done was made me realize how much I missed living in one place for a bit and how much I missed friends and family.  After New Zealand, going to Myanmar really surprised me in a good way and so it gave me a little bit more motivation.  Once I left Myanmar, though, and got back into the more crowded backpacker circuit of Southeast Asia, my enthusiasm waned.  Combine that with the heartbreak I felt over Cyclone Nargis wreaking havoc on already havoc-wrecked Myanmar right about the same time, and I just couldn't justify traveling while not being in the mood to travel. Is there anywhere you want to go back to?  I want to go back to all the countries I visited.  The first one I'd go back to is Tibet.  Regardless of China's meddling and the difficulties they impose on Tibetans and independent travelers, I loved Tibet and Tibetans.  I didn't see nearly as much as I wanted to see in Tibet and I had no idea how vast the region is.  Outside the main tourist areas there are hardly any tourists and I can't wait to get back there and explore more.  Did you stay in hostels the whole time?  No.  I--like most backpackers--stayed primarily in hostels in China, Japan, New Zealand and a lot in Australia.  That's because any other accommodation in those countries is too expensive.  In Australia I also camped a lot.  In Thailand, Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia, India, and Nepal, I stayed in private rooms in guest houses since accommodation is much cheaper there.  In Mongolia I stayed primarily in gers. What do you miss the most?  Family, friends, and carne asada burritos from the taco shop at the corner of 13th street and Center City Parkway in Escondido.  Oh, and my bed.  What's the most difficult part of traveling for so long?  Two things: first, having to figure out how to live in a new place every day or 2 or 3.  That means having to find a place to sleep every two or three days, learn new streets, figure out the affordable way to get around, figure out what there is to see and do and weigh that against what you want to see and do and what you have time to see and do, and figure out where the markets and affordable and good restaurants are.  (On the other hand, I really took a lot of pride in how I had evolved so that every few days I easily adapted to a new town amongst sometimes stressful conditions).  I have to say that I constantly met fascinating wonderful and fun people (and an occasional douche bag) every day of my journey.  The second most difficult part of the trip comes from having to say goodbye to those people after you just get to know them and the resentment that you start to build up internally over having to force yourself to meet knew people everyday despite knowing that they're going to be fascinating and wonderful people. Are you glad you made a travel blog?  Yes and no.  Yes because I would never be able to remember everything that I did now that I'm back.  What I recorded along the way I hold precious.  If I had relied upon me gathering all the memories, stories and photos in a similar fashion now that I'm back, it simply would not happen.  It also was a great way to not have to repeat the same e-mails to family and friends.  Countless people have told me how much they appreciated being able to see where I was and what I was doing.  It allowed me to have meaningful interaction with lots of dear people while I was away.  It also kept me motivated at times to make a conscious effort to remember and record colorful or fascinating experiences.  I took a lot more beautiful (and even more crappy) pictures than I would have if I didn't have a blog to feed every few days.  On the other hand, I did have to spend quite a lot of time parked in front of a computer uploading pictures at an Internet cafe when instead I could've been out sipping butter tea with a Tibetan monk or parasailing from a mountain top or hiking to the top of a hill or having a conversation with an Indian shopkeeper about the meaning of life.  And, both a good and bad aspect of the blog is that I really exposed my personality, flaws, strengths and cherished memories to the world in a way I have never done that before.  It can be rather startling to hear back from people in e-mail and in person as to how they perceived what I wrote, whether it's because they accurately perceived what I wrote and were somehow touched or offended or confused or whether they were a complete stranger and were surprised, like me, to find a picture of themselves in my blog. Have you had reverse culture shock coming back?  Oh my god, yes!  Before I came back I just laughed and waved my hand at the suggestion that I would experience reverse culture shock upon return.  What an idiot I am!  Flying over LA and landing at and walking around LAX really threw me more than I expected.  Even though I recognized the freeways and layout of Los Angeles, I was astonished at the sprawl and how uniquely Southern California it was.  It was familiar yet a distant memory and also felt foreign which lent an eery quality to my familiarity; as if my memory was warped and from an earlier life.  Familiar but different from what I remembered pretty much explains the rest of my culture shock.  Somehow I had much fancier memories of all things American.  Maybe while trying defend parts of America (no, not Bush, not the war, not our obsession with cars, especially not with SUVs) while I was away, I had forgotten about some of its rough edges.  Or maybe it was that I had projected the niceness of Australia and New Zealand back onto the streets of America.  Here streets and sidewalks are a lot shabbier than I remember.   People are definitely fatter than I remember.  We definitely drive way more SUVs and are far more dependent on cars than I remember.  Everything is centered around roads and parking lots.  On the other hand I recall a lot of conversations where I was trying to explain how diverse the population is in the States.  Now that I'm back I see that the States are far more diverse than I even remember.  I guess I just got used to the way life was before I left and I had to go away to really see it in new eyes.  It's one of a thousand reasons why this trip was everything I ever dreamed it would be and more. Did you find that you were treated worse being an American?  No.  And I'm proud to report that almost all Americans I met were open-minded, friendly, laid back, globally thinking, informed people.  Is that because the bulk of tourists that I interacted with were independent backpackers and all backpackers, generally speaking, are open-minded, friendly, laid back, globally thinking, informed people?  Yeah, probably.  But the point is that the Americans abroad that I met fit in just as well as everyone else.  I had countless European tourists tell me how pleasantly surprised they were by the many delightful Americans they had met.  (And I had 3, yes, count them, 3, Brits tell me, "I didn't think Americans were funny.") Are you glad to be home?  Yup What do you miss from being on the road?  I miss the richness of new daily experiences.  Did you get sick while you were gone?  Luckily, no, not really.  I did get a cold every time I switched from a temperate climate to a hot, Asian country.  And, like all the other travelers I knew in Darjeeling that day, I caught a flu bug there.  It only lasted for 24 hours, though, so that's really not so bad.  Other than that, I made it through without a single injury or even a minor illness.  I am very lucky.  Strangely enough, two days after I landed in the US, I got an infected bug bite which swelled up into a huge patch of cellulitis about the size of a gardening spade which is by far more painful than anything I've experienced in a few years and required my first doctor's visit in 18 months.  Bizarre.  I like to think that I stayed healthy because I stayed active, washed my hands regularly (and I refuse to use disinfectant or baby wipes) and regularly ate at road side stalls and a local cafes (though I certainly ate at a lot of tourist cafes and western fast food places).  The last two might be the opposite of what others would say. How many pictures did you take?  My best guest: about 11,000 Should I bring a mosquito net?  No   Anything unordinary I shouldn't leave home without? 3 pairs of ear plugs, about 40 passport size photos and a USB device to read your camera's memory card.  If you've never slept with ear plugs, then buy a few different varieties to get used to it.  They're a must. You can make cheap passport photos yourself.  You're going to need them constantly at borders or if you take any kind of course anywhere.  Upload a picture to costco.com.  Photoshop it ahead of time to make sure that your head's going to be about the right size, then just order a bunch of wallets from Costco and cut them down to passport photo size.  The next time I time I take a trip to a tropical area I'm going without taking any luggage whatsoever.  Seriously.  Board the plane with a pair of Chacos, a pair of shorts, a lightweight cotton collared shirt, a ball cap, an iPod, camera and cell phone in your pockets, a money belt with your passport, $1000 cash, an extra credit card, an extra ATM card, a regular wallet with $50 cash, a credit card, a drivers license, and an ATM card.  Take a small day pack with sunscreen, bug repellent, a deck of cards, nail clippers, ear plugs, passport photos, a pocket knife, a toothbrush, toothpaste, a razor, shaving cream, deodorant, bathing trunks, a few changes of underwear, a couple extra shirts, a journal, a pen, a couple large ziplocks for papers and such, a small quick dry travel towel, a couple books to read (always keep a couple to trade), chargers for phone, iPod, and camera, USB card reader for your camera's memory card, iPod cable.  Pick up Lonely Planets along the way.  Except in China, you'll find extra, fake, and used Lonely Planets everywhere.  Your pack shouldn't be more than about 9 kilos at the most.  If you're debating the need for something, leave it behind.  If you desperately need something, you'll easily be able to get it along the way.
]]> Back in Oakland — Oakland, California, United States http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jkirby/world2007/1211558280/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jkirby/world2007/1211558280/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jkirby/world2007/1211558280/tpod.html Thu, 26 Jun 2008 17:01:41 -0400 Asia, Oceania, and Beyond

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Oakland, California, United States

(I consolidated what used to be this entry into the last entry of this blog)
]]> Sacramento and Sonoma — Sacramento, California, United States http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jkirby/world2007/1211683020/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jkirby/world2007/1211683020/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jkirby/world2007/1211683020/tpod.html Thu, 26 Jun 2008 16:55:37 -0400 Asia, Oceania, and Beyond

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Sacramento, California, United States

I had an absolutely fantastic and relaxing time visiting and catching up with Scott and Michele in Sacramento.  They made a delicious and fresh dinner of tuna, grilled veggies, and couscous and we were joined by Dave, Mel and Aliya which really made it delightful to have my college roommates, Mel and Scott, and I back together and able to catch up.  I also enjoyed a great day with my son, Morgan, exploring, having fun, and catching up in Sonoma and Napa counties.  (I moved to the final entry the Frequently Asked Questions entry that I originally wrote here)
]]> Decompression — Palo Alto, California, United States http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jkirby/world2007/1211401020/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jkirby/world2007/1211401020/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jkirby/world2007/1211401020/tpod.html Thu, 26 Jun 2008 16:51:35 -0400 Asia, Oceania, and Beyond

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Palo Alto, California, United States

Thank you Christina, Emily, Val, Dave, Naveen, Adi, Kerry, Andy, Linden, Jeannette, Keri, Jason, Girish, Justin, and Luz Maria for making it to Happy Hour at Pedro's on Thursday night!  I can't tell you how awesome it was to catch up with you all and see everyone.  Thanks!  I love you guys.(if you're looking for the decompression thoughts that I originally wrote here, I moved them to the final entry).
]]> Rainy Calgary — Calgary, Alberta, Canada http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jkirby/world2007/1213236720/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jkirby/world2007/1213236720/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jkirby/world2007/1213236720/tpod.html Sat, 21 Jun 2008 17:05:23 -0400 Asia, Oceania, and Beyond

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Calgary, Alberta, Canada

Enjoyed the incredible hospitality of Keith and Jessica's friends, Jared and Christina.  Stayed inside mostly, visiting, reading, drinking coffee, avoiding the rain.I had to say goodbye to my road trip companions, Keith and Jessica, as they headed back east on their 2000 mile journey back to Nashville.  Here are some quotes from our time together, Jessica: What's wrong, Honey? [as to why Keith didn't pump gas but instead got back in the car and started to back up]Keith: This is a diesel pump.Me: Oh, is that why it says 'Diesel' on it?Keith: Probably.  I don't read Canadian.(later)Jessica: We're looking for a street called 24A.Kieth: This is one's 24...maybe they meant 24, eh?Bacon Salt.  Because everything tastes better with bacon.  A wise man once told me, 'Leftovers are for women'     Keith, reminding me of an earlier quote of mine when I couldn't finish my gigantic plate of pork.  I finished, eventually.  Bastard.Don't hate the player, hate the game      Keith, quoting his former college roommate, Paul.This place'd be a lot cooler with beer     Matt, commenting on the cajun cafe he took us to in BozemanMassey, I'd like to just pop you in the nose     Carlos, repeated threat to KeithJust give me 5 more minutes     CarlosI'm a simple man.  I love chopping down trees and algorithms.  Is that so hard to understand?     Carlos
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