TravelStream™ news feed for member kristymatt on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/kristymatt en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Fri, 14 Apr 2006 09:32:08 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kristymatt/tokyo2cairo/1143064500/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kristymatt/tokyo2cairo/1143064500/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kristymatt/tokyo2cairo/1143064500/tpod.html Fri, 14 Apr 2006 09:32:08 -0400 Our journey through Asia and the Middle East.

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New York, New York, United States

Five months ago, this day seemed a long time away but here we are, kicking around our apartment in New Jersey! (Not sure we ever pictured New Jersey but it's been fantastic!) At first being back home seemed like just another stop on our trip, exciting with brand new things to do, but now we have finally settled back into the homelife, working and setting up our new place, cleaning up after the cat, and visiting with friends. The words we've included in these entries are the closest we could get to sharing this incredible experience with you. We tried to include the good, the bad and the ugly. At times, our fatique has shown through our words like a threadbare, antique Turkish rug. At other times, I'm sure our excitement seemed over the top. The vascillation between good, great, excellent, incredible and sometimes just plain bad can be pretty tiring so after five months there was no question that we were both ready to come home. Over the past few months, we increasingly felt the presence of a tiny voice in our heads saying it was time to get home. A lot of people (including us) have referred to coming home as returning to the real world. In some ways this may true but it seems that this view shortchanges the quality and appreciation we have for our lives back here.Long-term travel definitely impacts your outlook but we have a feeling we will not fully realize the impact for several months. So far, we're feeling really positive about being back and grateful for the perspective we've gained during our time away. Just as our travels unfolded gradually, we believe the difference in our life will be exhibited in a series of seemingly minor life adjustments. Most of all we discovered or perhaps rediscovered a spirit of adventure and anticipation for the future. The real challenge is channeling that into life here in NYC (or JC as the case may be)! Q&ASo for those of you who haven't been counting, we traveled to 12 countries, 55 cities and stayed in over 60 different beds during our 158 day journey. Not too shabby. We made it pretty much everywhere we intended with a few notable exceptions (Egpyt, Laos and Myanmar). We circumnavigated the globe, taking off towards the west from JFK Airport in October and landing there from the east in March.So what are we going to do now?Since we did succumb and buy TWO Turkish carpets in Istanbul (see photos), we have to earn some money! Matt found some freelance work with his former employers within three days of our arrival home. Kristy started back at Assurant on April 6. We moved into a loft in a converted warehouse in Jersey City, NJ on March 30th. In addition to finding an apartment and catching up on business matters, we spent our first few weeks home catching up with family and friends. We also have been changing our clothes several times a day cycling through our wardrobes just for the feeling of outfits that we haven't been wearing for the past six months. What was your favorite place?Tough question. It's really hard to compare the places we visited and to seperate individual experiences from the trip as a whole but our favorite countries (in order) were: Vietnam, India, Jordan, and Japan. Why? Hard to say, alot of it is just a warm feeling you have looking back at it. But probably what helped put these countries on the top of the list is because we had great personal connections in each place. In Vietnam we spent time with Nhat and her family, in India we travelled with Matt's family, in Jordan we travelled with our freind's Rebecca and Michael, and in Japan we hung out with Mogan and Kei (who had a baby boy, Athi, congrats again guys!).What did you miss the most?Before we left we gave what we thought we would miss: freinds and family, the cat, wearing other clothes and cooking at home. That turned out to be about right. But the main thing you miss is a sense of home. A place where you can stretch out on the couch and watch the tube, throw together some dinner, and just feel comfy.How did the budget work out?Our estimates weren't that off target. Basically if we estimated we could get by on over $70/a day we were ok. If we estimated under that, we didn't make it. Overall, we cut our trip short by about 1 and a half weeks, in order to save some money, and we ended up a little over budget (thanks carpets).Have you experienced culture shock coming back home?Absolutely! This country is incredibly clean and everyone seems so wealthy that it sometimes makes you want to stop on the street and stare at everything going on around you. MTV really cracks us up -- it's as if we're looking at a music video for the first time ever and they look really ridiculous. The subway seems like a dream compared to other crowds and forms of transporation we've experienced. Has everyone bought an iPod since we left? It's also strange to hear English spoken all around you and realize that you can actually understand what people are saying and that they can understand you perfectly well. Ordering a coffee in the morning is a pleasure because it's so easy!Will you ever do this again?I think we'll always love to travel and see new places but I'm not sure we'd do another six month trip anytime too soon. It's exhausting! We would not trade our experience for anything in the world but I think it's one of those things you do once in a lifetime. In the distant future (post retirement) we'd love to be able to travel for a few months at a time. In the near term we want to take some easy, short vacations and hit the Caribbean next winter. Eventually we would like to get back to India (and see the Himalayas which we missed because it was winter) and Vietnam as well. We also are pondering parts of Africa and Argentina.I'm sure there are some questions we've missed so feel free to e-mail us at kristy.matt@gmail.com. Thank you to everyone who has read this travelogue over the past six (plus) months and provided comments and e-mails. The only thing we loved more than writing about our experiences was the comments and e-mails we received from you - our friends and family. It's hard to express how important your support was as we made our way into the East (and then West).
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kristymatt/tokyo2cairo/1142512140/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kristymatt/tokyo2cairo/1142512140/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kristymatt/tokyo2cairo/1142512140/tpod.html Thu, 16 Mar 2006 09:06:41 -0500 Our journey through Asia and the Middle East.

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Istanbul, Turkey

To buy or not buy, that is the question. It is the agony every first time visitor to Istanbul must go through. You are assaulted at every street corner, tempted by every shop front, and seduced by small glasses of tea and handspun wool. Every fiber in your body says, "Yes, I want to. Yes, take my money. Yes, I want a carpet." But do you have any idea how expensive these things are? My lord, we could go halfway around the world again for the cost of some of these carpets. But they are so nice and would look so good in our living room. (Okay - so we don't have a living room right now, but someday we will.)So that's the torture. Are we willing to part with a month's salary to pick up a really nice souvenir? So far we have resisted. Time will tell if we can hold out until we leave.ImpressionsWe arrived in Istanbul on an ungodly early flight from Amman (4:30 AM flight, thus getting to airport at 3:00 AM and waking up at 1:30 AM). We were met by a driver from our hotel, the Ayasofya, just outside the baggage claim. As we exited the terminal, we zipped our jackets up tighter and pulled on our scarves, because it is cold here. Not freezing, just a damp windy cold that comes off the ocean and seeps through your clothes to chill your bones. Unfortunately, nobody else is to bothered by it (even other American tourists from the South!) so we have to assume that we have gone weather-soft. We used to make fun of friends who spent time in California then came back to the East Coast and complained about the cold, but now we understand and apologize. Because of the weather, it's the off season. But that just makes the touts and their ilk that much more ravenous for business. The amount of tourist hassle here is just as bad (maybe worse) as anywhere we've been, including India. In the Sultanamet neighborhood, where all the big tourist sights, like the Hagia Sofia and the Blue Mosque, are located you can be bothered by someone every two minutes. This guy wants you to buy a carpet, another guy wants you in his restaurant, and yet another guy wants to be your tour guide. After a certain amount of hassle you can't help but crack. Kristy let loose on a wannabe tour guide outside of the Blue Mosque, telling him to "Go away and never say another word to me ever again. Ever." He went away, grumbling. Luckily when you get out of the area, the hassle almost vanishes and people are pleasant and fun to talk to, just as they are everywhere else in the world. Unexpectedly, the Turkish language is quite different than Arabic. It sounds almost Russian, and walking around in the cold weather hearing the Turks speak, you can imagine you're on the other side of the Black Sea, in Odessa or Sevastopol, rather than close to the Middle East. While other cities have packs of stray dogs, Istanbul has packs of stray cats. But they are all fat and look happy, so it doesn't make Kristy sad. We have learned that cats are revered in Islam, perhaps because of a story in which the Prophet Mohammed cut off a piece of his robe, rather than bother the cat that was sleeping on it. The food here is good. Lots and lots of lamb and lots of kebabs (kebap). We have been frequenting a great place that serves a delicious dish of raw minced lamb mixed with parsley and spices which is served wrapped in a lettuce leaf. We call it a Turkish Taco. The downside to the restaurant, like many other places here and in Jordan, is that everyone smokes like a chimney and there's no ventilation. We are looking forward to get back to NYC's restaurant anti-smoking laws.Speaking of America, we have met a nice American couple from Atlanta, Trish and Ted. They are staying at our hotel and we have had a few nice diners and drinks. It's great to chat with people from home and much different than talking with looney-tune long term travelers like us and our past travel companions, Rebecca and Michael (Hi guys - left Morocco yet?). We may even talk each other into braving the Hamam (Turkish Bath). ShoppingThe shopping in Istanbul is some of the best we've seen anywhere. The variety of stuff for sale, the quality of it, and the amount of shops is astounding. The Grand Bazaar, an indoor ancient mall of sorts has around 4000 shops alone. People call from every shop: you like silver?, you want a carpet?, how about my cushions? like this lamp? where are you from? you look beautiful. let me take your money. If you don't feel like participating it's torture. But if you are in the mood it can be great fun. "Sure, I'll take a look at your pillow cushions. You want how much? You're crazy! You must think I'm rich, not the poor traveler I am. If you saw my bank account, you would give me a better price." With the right haggling (lessons learned from the master, Rebecca) prices can drop in half, though of course the vendors claim you don't give them any profits. We recently heard an interesting line which described successful haggling as when both parties feel like they ripped the other one off just a little bit.Which brings us back to carpets.We have visited a few carpet stores, and found one that we really liked. The typical carpet buying experience is as follows: You come to the shop, either on your own initiative or because you were brought by someone (prices in these cases are inflated 30% or more). Bitter tea in little tulip shaped glasses is brought in (free, of course!. The carpets are pulled off their piles, and unrolled, dramatically, one after the other onto the floor. Details of the design or the material (wool on wool, wool on cotton, silk on cotton) are discussed. After a point, the rug salesman says, "Now, lets start eliminating the ones you don't like." So you go through saying yes or no to the carpets and end up with the final winners on the ground. Now you talk price. The less trustowrthy salesman will say something like "This carpet, in the the high season I would sell for $5000, but to you now, I offer $3000." We spit our tea on the floor and say that's much too expensive. You get the idea how it continues. In a better carpet shop they are more resonable and give you more accurate prices. How to tell the difference? We have no idea, but our gut told us that the shop we have spent the most time in (even though we have not bought) is a good place. It's called Mezopotamia and is run by a guy named Ramazan. But we would recommend to all visitors to Istanbul to stop by the Goverment run shop by the Hagia Sofia to see what the set prices are like for various pieces, before you go to a private shop.Anyway, our incredible round the world magic carpet ride is coming to a close on Sunday when we head back to the Big Apple. Hard to believe. We'll post a big wrap up when we get back. Best/Worst lists, etc. Good fun. Looking forward to seeing everyone again soon.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kristymatt/tokyo2cairo/1141925820/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kristymatt/tokyo2cairo/1141925820/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kristymatt/tokyo2cairo/1141925820/tpod.html Fri, 10 Mar 2006 10:27:05 -0500 Our journey through Asia and the Middle East.

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Amman, Jordan

Tonight is our last night in the "true" middle east -- we leave Amman early tomorrow morning (4:30 am) for Istanbul, Turkey (the bridge between the east and west, Europe and Asia). Our travel to Turkey slowly moves us closer to home. I think we'll only be six hours ahead of East Coast time in Turkey. Although the middle east has been one of the closest places to home we've visited, its vast deserts, mountains and occassional fluorescent green valleys make it one of the most foreign-looking place we've seen.On Wednesday the 8th, we traveled from Jerusalem back to Amman via the Sheik Hussein Bridge. This route took us through the Palestinian Territories of the West Bank, so it could perhaps count as visiting another country. We didn't see much on the road, just some goat farmers, a distant look at the town of Jericho, and some secure and desolate looking Israeli outposts. Overall it was an easy taxi trip to the Israeli border and had no trouble reentering Jordan (although we had to pay for another visa because the first one we got was no longer valid - bummer). As we walked through the final checkpoint we came across a group of western-looking people hanging around several big monster safari jeeps and an old firetruck. One of the guys in the group asked the four of us in a very thick New York accent where we were from. We responded that we had traveled from Jerusalem but were from the U.S. It turns out this guy was a NYC fire fighter traveling with a group of people from all over the world through the desert from Jerusalem to Tripoli, Libya. Their trip called Breaking the Ice (www.breakingtheice.org) is aimed at promoting peace and understanding between all nations, and especially in the Middle East. The team includes people from Iran, the U.S., Israel, Iraq, the Ukraine, Afghanistan and many others who have all been impacted by global acts of violence. It turns out that they were having trouble getting some of their satellite communication equipment across the border and had been held up for six hours! We stopped a while and chatted with the group about their mission and about our travels. Michael also videotaped an interview with a few team members. After about a half hour, they were told to get ready to cross the border shortly so we wished them good luck and headed out to get a taxi to Amman. Since it was our last night traveling with Rebecca and Michael, we decided to splurge on a nice Italian dinner (revisiting a spot we enjoyed the first time we were in Amman). We celebrated the incredible adventures we've had in the past two weeks with a bottle of Jordanian wine (really good - can we get this at home?). We'll definitely miss hanging out with Rebecca and Michael but I'm not so sure they'll miss listening to Matt's occasional bouts of snoring through the paper-thin walls at the Youth Hostel in Jerusalem. We really made a great traveling team and we've vowed to travel together again but next time we'll be staying at the Four Seasons!On the 9th, Rebecca and Michael headed out to Casablanca while we spent a lazy day in Amman browsing the shops and trying to stay out of the rain and sleet. We are definitely not prepared for this wintry weather but we're hoping not to have to buy too many more clothes for our stay in Istanbul. In spite of the winter weather, we made the trek to the Dead Sea today for a little swim. It was pretty cold but we couldn't pass up the chance to float in this famous sea. It truly is impossible to sink in the Dead Sea. The extremely salty water sweeps you off your feet onto your back as soon as you get in. Given the fact that we had to wear our fleece jackets down to the water before getting in, we stayed in the water only a few minutes. And since we were at the "local" beach and not at a fancy resort, our pale skin and bathing costumes definitely attracted a lot of attention. As we walked back to the changing rooms and showers some local teenagers began cheering our brave dip into the cold water. Most Jordanians were enjoying their sabbath day (Friday) lounging on the beach having barabcue lunches with their families but not too many people were actually swimming. While we changed and showered, our guide got us a bag full of Dead Sea mud from the beach to take back to our hotel. Apparently, this mud sells for big bucks at the spa stores and is a healing remedy. Kristy is definitely planning to give it a try before we leave. This mud is so valuable we had to sneak it out of the beach area! The guide also brought us to Jesus' baptismal site along the Jordan river and Mount Nebo -- the mountain Moses climbed before his death and where Moses is buried. All these biblical sites can get a little tiring, sad to say. You think seeing Jesus's Baptism site would be somewhat profound but the feeling was more, "Hey look, Jesus's Baptism site. How about that. When's lunch?" Luckily lunch was incredible falafel and Shwarma sandwiches, the best yet. Is it time to go home when you rave more about a sandwich than one of the holiest places in Christendom? Anyway, next stop Istanbul. We'll see how the sandwiches compare.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kristymatt/tokyo2cairo/1141730460/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kristymatt/tokyo2cairo/1141730460/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kristymatt/tokyo2cairo/1141730460/tpod.html Tue, 07 Mar 2006 08:14:11 -0500 Our journey through Asia and the Middle East.

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Jerusalem, Israel

So where we we last time? Oh yes, stuck in Eilat with no transportation up to Jerusalem. Let us continue. After a rousing session of negotiation in which Rebecca's ruthless bargaining skills almost made a minibus driver cry, we set out on a three hour drive from Eliat to Jerusalem for about $80 US -- a shocking price for four people who are used to paying third-world transportation prices but about a third lower than the driver's initial price. Upon arriving in Jerusalem we were dropped off outside the Damascus Gate and told we would have to enter by foot into the old city where our hostel (Hebron Youth Hostel) was located. The walk through the dark, deserted, narrow, ancient old city was a bit unsettling and the arrival in the youth hostel did nothing to ease our jitters. Although the rooms were clean and the staff incredibly friendly the walls between rooms were the thinnest we've ever experienced. All would have been well since our two rooms shared one wall but alas a very giggly, German couple kept us up until close to 2:00 am when Rebecca finally yelled "Shut the XXXX Up!" through the paper-thin walls. Thankfully, with the exeption of one other giggly German couple, we've had quiet nights since then. Thin walls can actually be an advantage as we can communicate with Rebecca and Michael without leaving bed. Our mornings in Jerusalem always begin early with the peal of church bells from several of the city's Christian churches and Muslim calls to prayer from the area mosques. Jerusalem is the focal point of Christianity and Judaism and considered a holy city by Islam, so it's really no wonder the traditional sites and sounds of religion surround us. Old Jerusalem, where we are staying, is a maze of stone pedestrian passageways that snake by the world's most famous regligious sites -- Judaism's Western (or Wailing) Wall; the Christian Church of the Holy Sepulchre and the Stations of the Cross; Islam's Dome of the Rock. Although neither of us would consider ourselves overly religious, it is impossible not to feel the presence of something greater than yourself when visiting what is said to be the holiest places on earth. Kristy was particularly moved when visiting the Church of the Holy Sepulchre which was built on top of Calvary -- the rock where Jesus was said to be crucified. The church also houses the tomb of Jesus and is a huge draw for all Christian pilgrims visiting Jerusalem. All christian religions have a "stake" in the Church and it's fascinating to think that Catholics, Armenian Orthodox, Baptists, Greek Orthodox, Ethiopian Orthodox and all other Christian's around the world draw their heritage from a single church. They also seem to squabble amongst themselves about floor space to do their various services. We saw one group of Armenian priests bawling out a Catholic group because they wouldn't move it.The stark ruin of the Western Wall, which is the foundation of the second Jewish temple destroyed by the Romans, sits in sharp contrast to the gold topped Dome of the Rock right above it and the heavily gilded churches that lie just a few hundred meters away. The simplicity of the wall is incredibly powerful and we were captivated by the Israelis and Jewish visitors from around the world who prayed at the wall and inserted small bits of paper with prayers into its cracks. (It is said that paper prayers have a better than average chance of being answered). Unfortunately, the Israeli/ Palestinian conflict has resulted in the Dome of the Rock being completely closed to non-Muslims. The elaborate dome which is also a mosque houses the rock from which the prophet Mohammed was said to ascend to heaven. Although we were allowed to walk around the Dome, we were deeply disappointed that we could not go inside especially since the Christian and Jewish religious sites are open to everyone who will submit themselves to security screening. This incident really sparked some discussion among the four of us on the Israeli / Palestinian conflict. Although we have never felt in danger here in Jerusalem it is impossible to ignore the tension between the Jewish and Arab populations living in Jerusalem and other parts of Israel. To be honest, visiting Israel and meeting both the Arabs and Jews that live here it is incredibly frustrating to think that peace may be a long way off. It seems to us that the vast majority of people on both sides want peace but the hardline views on each side keep getting in the way. We've been in Jerusalem for almost a week now and our explorations have led us out of the old city gates a few times. On one trip to New Jerusalem we visited Yad Vasem -- Israel's Holocaust museum and memorial and the Israeli Museum. Both museums were very informative and well-planned, especially in comparison to some of the pathetic museums we've seen in other parts of the world. Yad Vashem was probably the best museum we've ever toured. It had a very successful technique of displaying its information in multiple ways (written or video) that kept the mass of information comprehensible. The Israeli museum has a massive collection that really deserves a full day. Unfortunately we had only a half day so we focused on the highlights including an exhibit containing the Dead Sea Scrolls; an exhibit featuring the interior of a synagogue removed from Cochin, India; and a unique contemporary Japanese special exhibit. Today, we left the old city again to climb the Mount of Olives for a panoramic view of the city. On the way up we visited Mary's tomb and the grotto where Jesus was said to have been betrayed by Judas and subsequently arrested, tried and crucified. Now for some earthly news, Matt's stowaway kidney stone seems to have left us (knock on wood). Our camera is now in the hospital being repaired after it inhaled a little too much sand in Wadi Rum. With our camera on the fritz we've been stealing pics from Rebecca and Michael who have an awesome camera. We're hopeful that our camera will be fixed by Wednesday morning when we return to Jordan. Our fabulous travel companions, Michael and Rebecca, will be leaving us in Amman. They're heading to Morocco for their final weeks and we'll head to Istanbul for our last week. We've had a blast traveling with them and we can't wait to meet up with them again back in the states. You can check out their travelogue at: http://www.amplifi.com/loworbit
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kristymatt/tokyo2cairo/1141402320/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kristymatt/tokyo2cairo/1141402320/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kristymatt/tokyo2cairo/1141402320/tpod.html Mon, 06 Mar 2006 12:47:33 -0500 Our journey through Asia and the Middle East.

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Amman, Petra and Wadi Rum, Jordan

Yala Habibi! One of the few things we have learned to say in Arabic, it translates roughly into "Let's move it, baby!" That's a pretty good slogan for our time in Jordan. It may not be the biggest or the wealthiest country in the middle east, but Jordan definitely has the richest tradition of courtesy and kindness that we've experienced so far. It's a wonderful feeling to arrive and hear echoes of "Welcome to Jordan" from every corner (we actually heard it first from some people on the plane flying in!). Sure, some of the people want you to come visit their shops but you really do get the feeling that they are very sincere in their hospitality. This wealth of hospitality combined with a modern, cosmopolitan feel and some of the most beautiful scenery we've come across has made Jordan a high point of our trip.AmmanOur first night in Amman, we walked from our hotel over a few of the cities higher hills to the third circle in search of some dinner. We didn't know what to expect of Amman and were thinking we would end up with some falafel or schwarma in some hole in the wall restaurant. Boy were we wrong. We ended up at a flash place called Bonita's which served Italian food and wine in a fancy setting. While the Italian food wasn't the best we've ever had, the Jordanian wine really hit the spot (are they exporting to the USA?) and the atmosphere was much appreciated. We were also pleased to chat with a fellow American diner who works in Iraq but maintains an apartment and office in Amman. A retired cop, this guy had all the energy and enthusiasm of a man a quarter of his age. It was fascinating to chat with him about his impressions of the situation in Iraq and he kindly treated us to desert at another Italian place down the street called Romero's, which was next door to a sushi place. We liked the desert so much we went back the next night for dinner. Who knew Amman had sucha happening restaurant scene? In addition to eating, we also toured Amman's sites including a Roman amphitheater situated in the middle of the downtown area. Mostly, we just had a good time hanging around town, drinking delicious cups of mint tea, and soaking in the pleasant atmosphere. We're definitely looking forward to returning to the Amman area after we finish our stint in Israel.Petra It's impossible to capture the scale and impact of Petra. Petra is a city some thousand years old that was carved from solid rock in the walls of a desert valley by the Nabatean people. It made it into the popular world by appearing as the location of the Holy Grail in "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade", which is where Matt first saw it and vowed that someday he would visit. It is sometimes called the "8th Wonder of the World", and named in addition to the Pyramids in Egypt as the most incredible sights in the Middle East. Check out the pics for a visual.We traveled to Petra with our friends from Washington DC, Michael and Rebecca. If you don't remember them, take a look at our earlier planning entries. They were the awesome couple we met who were also planning a six month trip, and as we discussed the similarities in our lives all we can think of is the traveler creed "Same same, but different". Seriously, they must be our doppelgangers. Although we've traveled over the some of the same ground, the world's a big place and our timelines never crossed until now when we are both in the Middle East in final weeks of our trips. Our taxi driver to Petra, Nidal, must have had a headache before we even left the city limits with all the chatter and laughter that comes with catching up and swapping war travel stories! We had all been looking forward to traveling together for several months. With infinite patience, Nidal pointed out sites along the way and stopped us off at a very unique and rustic hotel called the Tower Hotel in the Dana Nature Preserve. Although the hastily constructed, primitive themed rooms were a little bizaree, the spectacular desert view more than made up for it. Our lunch of hummus, pita, lamb meatballs, salad and french fries kept us going all afternoon as we toured Shofar -- an ancient crusader castle, complete with secret passages and ancient cannon balls, courtesy of Saladin who conquered it and kicked out the Europeans. What was amazing was that we were just about the only people there, and got a private tour complete with actual "artifacts" as souvenirs.We continued on and had no sooner arrived in Wadi Musa (the town closest to the ancient city of Petra), than we set out again on a tour of Petra by night. This is a special program run by the Jordanian Tourist Authority three times a week involving a dramatic 2km candlelit walk through desert canyons to the Treasury (a building used in the filming of Indiana Jones). Like most other structures in Petra, the Treasury was carved completely out of a sandstone cliff-face. Thanks to it's sheltered position from the elements it is fairly intact. The city, which dates back to 60 BC, thrived as a center for trading caravans traveling through the middle east until its gradual decline in the 14th century. It lay undiscovered by the West for almost 500 years but was consistently inhabited by local Bedouin tribes. In 1812, a Swiss man disguised as a Muslim pilgrim discovered the city and it has gained more and more attention as the years have passed. We explored the tombs and caves of Petra for two days before heading further into the desert for a little camping trip to Wadi Rum -- the setting for Lawrence of Arabia.Wadi RumEveryone knows Kristy's not much of a camper but with the promise of beds inside the tents and spectacular scenery, our merry four-some left Petra for the wilds of Wadi Rum. We visited it under the guidance of Mohammad Asri Hamadeen of Zaman Tours (sales@zamantours.com)-- the best guide and 4x4 driver in Petra. Mohammed took us off-roading to amazing rock formations, natural stone arches and enormous sand dunes. We couldn't help feel like we were in a car commercial, especially when Mohammad drove us up the side of one of the arches! Our camp for the night, created in the style of the Bedouins, was surprisingly comfortable. We enjoyed a few beers by the fire and ate a hearty dinner. Mohammed took us out further in the desert for some star gazing before we all collapsed wearily in our tents outfitted with a double mattress. Bright and early the next morning, we hopped on a few camels and trekked around the outside our camp. It turns out Kristy is a natural with the camels. The photos speak for themselves. Most amusing about the camel ride was the Bedouin guides who spent the whole time screaming into their cellphones. You think that would be annoying but it actually added to the atmosphere. Before leaving Wadi Rum for Aqaba and the Israeli border, we took a ride out to the remaining set pieces of Lawrence of Arabia which was filmed in 1962 but still standing. Our four-some turned into six with the additional of a lovely couple from Melbourne, Australia. After a quick visit and a cup of arab coffee with Mohammed's family in Aqaba, he kindly drove us to the Israel / Jordan border where we spent the better of the next two hours running the security gauntlet. It's true what they say about Israeli security -- it's the best in the world. On the positive side, we felt sure no shady people were getting through that border. On the not so positive side, the thorough bag searches caused us to miss the last bus to Jerusalem. How's that for a cliff hanger? Tune in next time and we'll tell you what we did about it!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kristymatt/tokyo2cairo/1140953820/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kristymatt/tokyo2cairo/1140953820/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kristymatt/tokyo2cairo/1140953820/tpod.html Sun, 26 Feb 2006 08:43:52 -0500 Our journey through Asia and the Middle East.

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Dubai, United Arab Emirates

First of all, Matt would like to formally apologize to toddy. In our last entry Matt blamed a particularly unpleasant night of stomache problems on a drink of the local alcohol, toddy, in Kerala, India. This reckless assignment of blame has turned out to be incorrect. The stomache ailment was due to an unknown stowaway we have had with us since our first days in India. The stowaway is a kidney stone.The StowawayYes, a kidney stone has been the cause of Matt's issues over the past month. The morning of our second day in Dubai, Matt woke up with a pain in his lower right side, very similar to what he had felt on previous occasions. We decided that a visit to a doctor was in order, and were told that a hospital was within walking distance. The hospital was a very clean, orderly and professional place (specializing in Maternity), and a nice Indian doctor sent Matt off to have an untrasound. After making the required joke enquiring if it was a boy or a girl, he was told that yes indeed there was a stone. To be exact, a stone called a calculus, about 6mm long and 1mm wide. The doctor made a call to a urologist and we trekked out to another hospital and had another ultrasound, an x-ray, and finally a CT scan. All the time we were thinking, "What on earth is this going to cost?!" Luckily, when the time came to pay the bill it was all less the price of a single x-ray back in the states. But even so, we're glad we had travel insurance. After looking over the results of the various tests the doctor declared the best treatment was hydrotherapy (a fancy way of saying drink lots of water, take a load of pills and wait for it to pass). That was a relief as the other option was a procedure involving several long tubes which sounded less than pleasant, to say the least.Can We Catch a Break?We really should have known that our good travel luck was about to run out when we arrived in Dubai to discover that the hotel we had booked with Expedia five months ago and paid in advance didn't really exist!!! After three hours and visits to two different hotels we got tough and demanded that they find another hotel within ten minutes or we were checking into the Burj Al-Arab (at $2,000 a night) and billing them. They quickly came up with another alternative -- a new, full-service apartment on the outskirts of Bur Dubai. Despite the fact that it had just opened, it looked very lived in. At that point, we didn't feel like arguing anymore and just wanted a place to put our packs and go to sleep.We awoke early the next morning ready for a full day of sightseeing. Kristy looked out the window and was shocked to see it was raining! Before coming to the UAE we had read that it NEVER rains in Dubai. It turns out that's not true. The hotel front desk claimed it was the first time it rained in a year. Luckily it wasn't much rain but the city has no drainage at all so it still flooded. The best part was that it rained again two days later. The front desk told us again that it was the first time it rained in a year. Right!!! On a positive note, our apartment had a washing machine. With a newfound love of doing laundry, Kristy began to wash her clothes one at a time to ensure that they were getting really clean. To save time, Matt decided to wash all his clothes at once. Bad choice as his new red shirt from India turned all of his clothes (and Kristy's favorite white socks) pepto bismal pink. On top of the kidney stone, it's just insulting to face a drying rack of pink clothes. Now, Matt needs some new pants and a few new shirts. Kristy is bravely continuing to wear her socks.Thankfully, we did manage to squeeze in some touring in between washing clothes, fighting with hotels and hanging around hospitals. We took a walking tour of the area of the old creek where Dubai first grew as a trading port specializing in pearls and gold. We checked out the gold souk and bought the required mosque alarm clock. It was a nice walk but it turns out the best way to see Dubai is to get yourself some wheels. So the next day we rented a car and set off to see what we could. And the place is impressive. Everywhere you look there are towering construction cranes putting up new highrises. In some areas it looks as though entire new cities are being built from scratch. We saw the Burj-al-Arab, the hotel/icon of Dubai (from the outside only, of course) and stopped by one of the famous malls, this one equipped with an indoor ski resort. We also got lost. Repeatedly. We got lost out in the desert trying a different route back to Dubai. We got lost in the industrial areas trying to find the hospital again so we could pick up our CT scan. We got lost in the neighboring state of Sharjah trying to find our hotel. Renting a car is a real double edged sword, freedom to control your own fate but a responsibility to know where the hell you are going. It would have helped to have a good map.We're currently in Amman and happy to report that we're experiencing much better luck. Amman isn't much to look at but the people are friendly and the food is great. We'll give more details in the next entry. We're still traveling with the stowaway and a huge envelope full of x-rays, CT scan films and ultrasound pics but we see brighter days ahead. Completely unrelated to our string of bad luck in Dubai, we have set our return date to March 19. We'll be bouncing between NYC, New Haven and Maine for a few weeks before getting back to the real world. While we are definitely looking forward to coming home we are also excited to be spending our final weeks here in the Middle East.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kristymatt/tokyo2cairo/1140335280/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kristymatt/tokyo2cairo/1140335280/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kristymatt/tokyo2cairo/1140335280/tpod.html Sun, 19 Feb 2006 03:04:16 -0500 Our journey through Asia and the Middle East.

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Kochi, India

As our thoughts start to turn to the final leg of our trip and returning to New York, it's surreal to have spent a month in a country that could not be more different than home. On the other hand, perhaps it makes sense afterall as India, just like New York City, has a way of getting under your skin. We have heard it said a hundred times and now we can attest to the fact that India is an all-encompassing experience full of challenges leading to equal if not greater rewards. More simply, as we wrote in our first entry from Delhi,"India is hard work but it's worth it."It's hard to summarize our time in India but we'll do our best. What We've DoneWe've traveled from Delhi to Kochi by plane, train, boat; bus and car; we've eaten as many different types of Indian food as we could including the Mughali food of the North and the spicy food native to the South; we've run the range of emotions from rage, disappointment, disbelief, amusement to joy and beyond on a daily basis; we've experienced both kind and opportunistic Indian people; we've had our fiercest autorickshaw battles here in India and finally learned how to tell a driver in no uncertain terms that we will NOT be visiting any of his friends shops so he can get a kick back; we learned as much as we could about the spiritual side of India (most notably Hinduism and yoga) and developed a deeper appreciation for this current which seems to run beneath all of India. India is such a huge country with so many different cultures within it, our travels and experiences here have most of all helped us be better at adjusting and keeping our minds open to the cultural differences we discovered at each new stop on our journey. What We Haven't DoneWe never really got as good as we wanted to be at bargaining but we tried really hard; we were never really stopped in our tracks by intestinal problems although we did succumb a few times for blessedly short periods; we avoided a visit to an Indian hospital thanks to the some fabulous British physicians we met in Kochi (FYI - Kristy's sprained ankle is now officially on the mend just in time to browse the souqs of Dubai); we could never really understand some of the more illogical traffic patterns and regulations of India; we never got used to the rock hard beds at almost all of our hotels (except for Master Paying Guesthouse); we have not become Hare Krishna's. While I think we can pat ourselves on the back for keeping an open mind as we traveled through this difficult country, it's an overstatement to say we've mastered the zen of India. I think a few more visits to this fascinating place are definitely in order.Well, you know we love lists so here's a summary of our Indian highlights:1. Visiting Delhi (especially spending time with Matt's family at Master Paying Guest House and taking Avnish's Hidden Delhi Tour).2. Relaxing in Goa (fishing, yoga, just laying around).3. Seeing the elusive tiger in Mudumalai National Park4. The beautiful day hike through forests and tea plantations in Ooty.5. The crazy six-person rickshaw ride we took home from dinner to our guesthouse in Ooty (we are still waiting for that photo!).6. Finally eating pizza after a very long time in Kochi (who cares if it was Pizza Hut!)8. Hearing the way indian people use an odd tense when talking, ie - "You are much liking your dinner?"Budget-wise we did pretty well in India. We stayed within a reasonable range of our estimated $90 a day budget although India can definitely be done for less. We met a couple from Canada who were doing it on 1000 rupees a day, which is about 20 dollars US. Not our style for sure, but incredibly it can be done. On the Topic of FoodIndia can provide some of the greatest dining and some of the most tedious. We have had some delicious meals, especially in Delhi at places recommended by Avnish, and some thoroughly bland meals, especially in the South, which is ironic since the food is reputed to be so spicey. And we can say for sure, that there really is nothing worse than bland Indian food. Luckily, even your mistakes don't hurt too bad, at least on the wallet, a common amount for a meal for two was in the range of 4 Dollars US. And amazingly, aside from the pizza hut, and the delicious (though notorious) meal at the Imperial in Delhi, we ate nothing but Indian food during our whole time here. That's a feat we did not achieve in any other country we've visited.One last issue that has amused us to no end: The Indian Head Bobble. It's a bit hard to explain but Indian people sort of waggle their head from side to side sometimes while talking to you or each other. We have not quite figured it out, but suspect it is sort of like a nod of agreement or perhaps ambivalence and sometimes dismissal. We have found ourselves starting to do it a bit, but still can't fully explain it. We guess it's just one more mystery to solve on our next visit.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kristymatt/tokyo2cairo/1140175920/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kristymatt/tokyo2cairo/1140175920/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kristymatt/tokyo2cairo/1140175920/tpod.html Fri, 17 Feb 2006 07:49:54 -0500 Our journey through Asia and the Middle East.

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Alleppy, India

For our last week in India we booked ourselves on a tour of the state of Kerala. The five-day, four night tour, which was amazingly affordable by US standards, included a driver, hotels, some meals, admission fees and an overnight on one of those famous Kerala Backwater tour rice barges. The travel agent we worked with worked up the itinerary to include different boat trips on four out of five days of the trip. We were happy to have someone else figure all the travel out for us even if we ended up feeling like the earth was rocking gently back and forth for five days. Our private tour began in the city of Kochi where John the driver picked us up in a little un-airconditioned compact car called an Indicab. (Airconditioned cars and rooms would have bumped us from a Standard tour to a Superior tour -- an expense we just couldn't justify given our past splurges!)John drove us four hours into the Western Ghats to a national park called the Periyar Tiger Preserve. Despite it's name, people usually see more elephants, bison, deer and wild boars than tigers at Periyar. Our first day was spent touring a spice plantation and watching a very interesting native Keralan dance performance called Kathakali. John informed us that we had to attend the 4:00 pm performance that day in order to be back to the hotel before dark and make the park curfew. Curfew? That wasn't in the brochure. Apparently the curfew is to protect you from the wild animals but we had a sneaking suspicion that John just wanted to go hang out with his other driver friends. No matter, we passed a very pleasant evening at the hotel with some lovely folks from Boston. Now, About Those BoatsWe got up early the next morning to catch a 7:00 am wildlife boat tour through a manmade lake in Periyar Park. This boat tour is billed as the best way to see wildlife living in the park. Anticipation was running high but our hopes were dashed when after our two hour cruise the only wildlife we saw was a mangy boar and a rowdy bunch of college girls from Bangalore who seemed to take an unusual shine to Kristy.Not to be deterred, upon hearing from other tourists that the last boat of the day was the best to see wildlife, Matt promptly bought tickets for another two hour boat ride at 4:00 pm. Since it was Valentine's Day, Kristy went along. On the second ride we saw a broad range of animals including our friend the wild boar, bison, deear and a family of wild elephants (with two baby elephants!!!). It was definitely worth the second trip. Following the ride, we were quickly ushered back to the hotel so we could make curfew.Our third day of the trip brought us to a town in Kerala's backwaters called Komarakom for a little rest and a sunset cruise. The sunset lake cruise in a wide, wooden dugout canoe propelled by a man with a long bamboo stick was really beautiful and made our stop worthwhile. The only downside to Kumarakom was the hotel which was an attractive heritage home with a very strange staff. Curiously, it consistently took the staff an hour to prepare any meal including toast and tea. Alternatively, they were hyper-attentive in every other way -- constantly knocking on our door to see how we were or if we wanted to order anything! We left feeling relieved to be moving on to our next boat trip from Alleppy. Our nice (but not fancy boat) was a rice barge converted into a one bedroom / one bath boat with kitchen, dining area and lounge deck. The staff outnumbered us 3:2 -- the captain, the engineer and the chef. All this and food for only $100 US! We started our leisurely cruise through the backwaters at around noon. After a brief fish purchasing stop where Matt romantically purchased Kristy a Valentine's king prawn for lunch, we sailed on a bit until the chef had prepared fresh fish and of course the king prawn. Kristy enjoyed her King Prawn but Matt was a lukewarm on the food. We cruised a bit longer and stopped at around 5:30 pm to tie up for the night. Once anchored, we took a walk through a backwater village. Judging by the reactions we received, this wasn't a well-worn travelers path. Most folks were freindly but we were barked at when we tried to enter a hindu temple. Oh well, can't win every time. After our little walk, we boarded the boat for dinner. Back at the boat we sampled a little of the local brew called "toddy" which is feremented coconut juice (made by the guy down the raod and delivered in a recycled water bottle). Unfortunetly by this time, Matt's lukewarm response to lunch had turned into a more serious gastrointestinal issue (the toddy probably did not help). He retired for the night while Kristy wolfed down dinner and slipped off to dreamland. When morning broke, Matt was feeling a lot worse since he had not slept much, tossing and turning and cursing the riceboat, the mosquito net, and toddy. Kristy felt great until the boat pulled into dock at around 9:30 am. She jumped off the boat with her pack on her back and promptly fell and twisted her ankle. The ride back to Kochi was really pathetic. John drove like a madman in what seemed like a desperate effort to get us off his hands and we both groaned everytime we hit a bump, Kristy clutching her ankle and Matt clutching his stomach! When we arrived at the Fort House hotel, we began making arrangements for a hospital visit with the front desk. Apparently two British doctors staying at the hotel overheard our conversation and saw Kristy hopping around on one foot and offered to take a look at it. After a careful examination, they said it didn't appear to be broken and recommended that we wait and see how things progressed. (They both seemed a little put off by Indian hospitals so we're going to trust their judgement). We are carefully monitoring the ankle and touring Kochi by auto rickshaw in the meantime.So, after all these boat rides and our extensive driving tour of Kerala what have we learned?1) The evening boat at Periyar is definitely better for spotting wildlife than the morning boat.2) Stay outside the park at Periyar so you can stay out later than 6:00 pm.3) It may be worthwhile to spring for the Superior tour for the AC car alone.4) Stay away from toddy.5) Never, ever jump from a rice barge with your pack on your back and expect to land safely.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kristymatt/tokyo2cairo/1140175740/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kristymatt/tokyo2cairo/1140175740/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kristymatt/tokyo2cairo/1140175740/tpod.html Fri, 17 Feb 2006 07:23:57 -0500 Our journey through Asia and the Middle East.

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Periyar National Park, India

There are photos here, but see the next entry for the text.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kristymatt/tokyo2cairo/1139747580/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kristymatt/tokyo2cairo/1139747580/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kristymatt/tokyo2cairo/1139747580/tpod.html Sun, 12 Feb 2006 08:45:08 -0500 Our journey through Asia and the Middle East.

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Ooty, India

After spending many days in the vast flat areas of India, we headed to the hills for a little of the cool mountain air. Our destination -- Ooty (also known as Udhagamandalam, but for understandable reasons no one actually calls it that) in the state of Tamil Nadu. Besides being the summer capital for the British government in Madras, Ooty has always intrigued us because it has such a funny name. We were thrilled to discover that the town is more than just a name, attracting both Indian tourists as well as westerners. But it is still fun to say; Ooty, Ooty, Ooty...To get to Ooty we hired a car for the five hour drive from Mysore at the very reasonable price of 1500 rupees (nearly a thousand rupees less than the quote from our hotel, by the way). The drive took us through tea plantations, around hairpin turns up to an elevation of about 1800 meters. The driver was very cautious and gentle with his car, slowing nearly to stop before gently rolling over the numerous potholes. While it's nice not to be bashed around in the back of a car, it's maddening to drive at 5 miles an hour as buses and motorcycles zoom around you, horns blaring (especially when you have to pee). The drive gave us some fantanstic views, but the highlights were found as we drove through Mudumalai National Park, which is about halfway between Mysore and Ooty. As soon as we entered the park grounds we spotted a pair of Cheetal Deer munching away on the roadside grass. Being the city slickers we are, we told the driver to pull over and took some photos (or "snaps" as they are called here). We then drove on, only to find dozens of deer further up the road. Moving a little further we saw a few tame elephants, wild peacocks, and a new type of monkey for us called a langur monkey. The langur has a dark coat and a white face and is a bit larger than the standard "temple monkey" which we see everywhere. Who would think you would get to the point of saying, "oh look, another monkey. neat." About a kilometer past the park headquarters we had our best sighting. The driver pointed straight out of the front windshield, down the road, and shouted "Tiger!" We scrambled forwards in our seats and looked out and indeed about 50 meters up the road, a tiger was nonchalantly crossing the road. We were all stunned, driver included, because seeing a tiger in India, even if you go on some serious national park trekking, is an extremely rare event. To see it cross the road in front of your car, as you are just passing through, seems incredible. We were particularly thrilled given our sorry history of wildlife expeditions, which we have discussed earlier. The tiger sighting was a highlight of India and of our entire trip.Once in Ooty we checked into a homey place called the Reflections Guesthouse. A nice feature of the guesthouse is the local guide named Anthony they work with to run treks through the surrounding hills. We signed up for one and the following morning set out with a nice group of people to see the sights. Throughout the 7 hour, 12K hike we passed through tea plantations, high plains, scrub forests, and hilltribe villages. The kids in the villages all loved to see themselves on our digital cameras so much that Matt had to finally claim the camera was broken in order to escape their clutches. More hiking brought us to a high ridge with stunning view of the surrounding planations and forests. Matt had his binoculars out and was scanning the forest for glimpses of wild elephants or tiger. But lightening did not strike twice. Can't complain.We ended the day with a dinner out with two other couples we met on the trek; Fran and Seren from the UK (we make sure to say the UK because Seren is from Wales, so you can't say they are English - as we finally got straight) and Tyler and Mairi from Toronto, who were on their own seven month long round the world trip. Great fun which we ended by us all piling, local style, into one tiny autorickshaw. A photo of the ridiculous event will be coming as soon as we get it sent to us (ahem, attention Fran and Seren; Mairie and Tyler). Mutual invitations to visit were passed all around so we expect to have some visitors just as soon as we have a home for people to visit.
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