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Marl, Germany

For those who want to make such a trip or those who simply wonder how we managed all the practical stuff.

The time frame
22.09.2007 - 14.08.2008

How did you get away from your jobs?
Rebecca asked for a sabbatical which they didn't want to grant, so she left the company at her own will. Thomas had just graduated, so he "only" left behind a fantastic job market for engineers. Of course, we were brave and bold and adventurous to do this. But to us, it seemed a natural step.

Logistics
We bought a round-the-world-ticket from BA and Quantas and defined the route with dates and airports in advance. During the trip, we changed the dates at no fee, but the airports remained as they were: Duesseldorf - Buenos Aires - Santiago de Chile - Auckland - Sydney - Bangkok - Mumbai - Düsseldorf.

We tried to do as much over land as we could, we used buses (mostly), trains, boats, rental cars, taxis, rikshaws and even horses. A few times, we cheated and took a cheap flight, e.g. from Buenos Aires to Lima. This was due to either impossible distances, security reasons or blocked roads.

Pack List
Each of us had a Lowe Alpine backpack, Thomas' Apalachan 75+15 l and Rebecca's Cerro Torre 55+10 l, plus a Deuter daypack (23 / 32 l) which we needed especially on treks.
When we left, Thomas' big backpack weighed 17.5 kg and Rebecca's 15 kg.
On August 14th 2008, both big backpacks had the maximum weight, 20kg.

Each of us had the following items:
- one jeans, one light hiking pant, one heavy hiking pant
- one warm fleece, one light fleece (jacket)
- 2 shirts, quick-drying, with short and long sleeves
- ca. 3 t-shirts
- thermo underwear
- ca. 5 sets of underwear and socks (good hiking socks!)
- gloves, beanie, sunglasses, hat
- swimsuit
- hiking boots, flipflops, hiking sandals
- good lightweight jacket (North Face aerial series / Rab neutrino)
- one normal and one trekking towel
- sleeping bag lining
- diary, pens, 2 books (exchanged in hostels and traveller restaurants), mp3 player
- rain covers for the big and the small backpack

Between us we shared
- traveller's set of backgammon, deck of cards
- traveller's loudspeakers
- guide books (up to four at a time)
- toileteries: shampoo, soap, body lotion, sunscreen, lip balm, repellent
- digital camera, rechargeable batteries, charger, plug adaptors
- binoculars
- pac safe, a lockable bag made of meshed kevlar wire
- first aid kit and medicine
- mosquito net, sarong
- clothes line
- pocket knife, lighter, leatherman

Rebecca's extras (she's a lady!)
Two skirts, ballerina shoes, walking poles, purse, hand lotion, mascara

Of course, we bought some new stuff on the way and threw away worn-out stuff such as Thomas' 10 year old hiking boots ... In Pakistan, we added the valuable Shalwar Kameez. But generally, we wouldn't want to bring more or less. Good functional stuff is mandatory, especially for treks, and one set of "Sunday" clothes just makes you feel better in a fancier restaurant or some local's home.
And yes, we sometimes sent a parcel home or had someone take something home for us.

The camera
We used an Olympus Camedia C-740 ultra zoom with 10 fold optical zoom and 3.2 megapixels. It's a great camera, handier than a reflex camera but still with a good quality of colours, sharpness and depth. You saw some of the pictures, you judge.
Since we took between 300 and 1400 pics per country, we had to find a way to transport them home. Our solution was to save the pictures on memory sticks, also in case the camera was stolen. When one stick was full, we duplicated it and sent one stick home to our parents, in a normal envelope. As soon as we received their confirmation, we could overwrite the duplicate stick. With this concept, we only lost about 30 pictures from New Zealand and Argentina - one memory stick got some sort of virus or disfunction.

Security and Insurance
We had a travel health insurance by Dr. Walter, a specialist in long-term travel insurances, e.g. for Au-pairs. The few times we made use of it, it was good.
We did not have a luggage or other insurance, like so many travellers. And we are lucky we didn't.
We were not paranoid but still we were careful. Apart from that short moments at Quito or Buenos Aires bus terminal, that is. In places like bus stations, markets or tourist attractions, we kept a close eye on our valuables. In the country, we normally felt safe enough to carry our stuff quite open.
Of course, there were rules. The wallet never contained more than the day's budget, the rest was in the money belts we wore under our clothes, with passport and credit cards. For our hostels, we had a pac-safe, a portable safe that you attach to a fixed spot in the room, e.g. the radiator.
The pickpockets we saw or experienced ourselves happened because the victim was stupid.
Harassement towards women can be a problem in South America or South Asia. The best protection is a male companion, but also a self-conscious behaviour and appropriate clothing do help a lot.

Money
We only used ATM's. Each had a visa card by DKB which takes no fees for withdrawls abroad. There were a few Euros and Dollars for emergencies in our belts.

Communication
In most places, internet cafes were available. Prices varied, though, and so did our desire to communicate.
Quite a few, but not all internet cafes had USB ports for our memory sticks and the camera.
For phone talks we usually used Skype (except on Christmas), which meant we only called home when it was available (rarely) and our parents were online (usually we made appointments via mail).
We did not bring a mobile phone.

Guidebooks and books
We used Lonely Planet, the backpacker's bible. Some love it, some hate it, we travelled well with it. The New Zealand one is real crap, though.
Quite a few travellers frown upon those who travel with a guidebook. Of course, they lead you to the places where all tourists go, but the reason why everybody goes to the Taj Mahal is that the Taj Mahal is a fantastic monument. We don't believe in this pseudo hippie crap. As long as one remains flexible and open to things that are not in the book, it's good to have one, if only for maps, language, history and major sights.
We set off with the books from Peru to NZ and left the book behind as soon as we left the country. Hostels and backpacker restaurants often offer book exchanges where you can drop one book and pick another one. This way we got to read many interesting books, see below.
In Sydney, we were meant to receive the next set of guidebooks, bought cheaply at an Amazon sale, but the parcel didn't arrive on time. So, we had to buy all guidebooks again which cost us a fortune.
Our best reads:
Mao, Jung Cheng and Jon Haliday
The Great Game, Peter Hopkirk
Extremely loud and incredibly close, Jonathan Safran Foer
Half of a yellow sun, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Vaccinations
Hepathitis, Thyphiod, rabies, Polio, Yellow Fever, Tetanus - that's it.

How did you get your visa?
In South America, we didn't need any. The Australian one, we luckily got at Auckland airport, the one for China in Bangkok (just a week before they stopped issuing them), the Lao, Pakistani and Nepali ones on the border (even though the Chinese officials didn't believe us) and the Indian one in Kathmandu. Easy. Mostly.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/tomandbecky/rtw_2007/1231097580/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/tomandbecky/rtw_2007/1231097580/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/tomandbecky/rtw_2007/1231097580/tpod.html Sun, 04 Jan 2009 08:34:06 -0500 RTW = Rebecca's and Thomas' World trip - the adventure of our lifetime, a trip around the world in more or less 10 months

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Marl, Germany

Some of the most stupid exclamations by people we met and some really stupid signposts.


Peru
A German girl to her friends at a crowded bus stop.
"I payed for a seat so I want to have a seat."

Alex and Lena, a German couple in El Pirata, Mancora discussing the topic socialism, communism, maoism with Rebecca.
Alex: "So communism is actually the same as Buddhism!"



Ecuador
John and Sarah (USA) at Cloudforest Hostel, Chugchillan:
"The Germans are good breeders!"

Johannes, a 19-year-old German about his love affair with a Colombian girl:
"That was pure passion, I can tell you!"



Argentina
Buenos Aires, Christoph from Switzerland and his Dutch drinking companions had a weird toast:
"Spritzen!"
They told us they had been watching many German porns ...



New Zealand
Drunk Kiwi at shabby Empire Hotel, Ross, South Island:
"You know, I hike a lot ... What I see ... The Germans always shit in the bush!"

Road sign:
"Arrive Alive Drive to Survive!

Bathroom sign at Bus Stop Backpackers, Otago Peninsula:
"If it's yellow, let it mellow.
If it is brown, flush it down."

Beach close South of Dunedin, South Island. A friendly German to an Englishman:
"Look over there! There are dolphins!"
Englishman checks his guide book and answers:
"No, they can be seen in Kaikoura!"

Road Sign
"Historic Place
Turn Right
300 m"


Guest Book entry by Germans at Lion's Den, Coromandel:
"Sweet ass, we have nice two days here. You can good relax and chillen. On this two days we do so much. On the night it was a little bit too cold but the nice feeling make all good. Good live here. Sweet ass Christian, Britta and Uli"



China
Boten, border crossing Laos - China. Chinese guy on the bus sees us and wonders
- "When these people get children, will they also such (blonde) hair?"

Zhongdian, Yunnan. Old Hippie from Berlin about his Hippie life and religion:
"At the moment, I'd call myself 90% Buddhist, 5% Hindu and 5% Sikh."
"My Ex the second oldest foreign nun in Thailand."

Sign at restaurant toilet in Zhongdian, Yunnan:
"Only pee, no stoll"

Shop sign on main road, Zhongdian, Yunnan:
"Satisfied race thing shop"

Sign above the urinal at Sam's guesthouse, Chengdu, Sichuan:
"One step closer, closer to civilisation"
(The ashtray someone had put on top of the urinal was full of cigarette buds - and pee)

Road sign, Chengdu, Sichuan
"No blowing, slow going"

The only traveller's restaurant in Kashgar, Quinghai. It has an English menu and is praised in the guidebook as the traveller's hole of the area. Rebecca to the waitress:
"We have a question."
The girl:
"Question??? I don't know."

Fellow traveller the at Traffic Hotel, Tashkurgan, Quinghai:
"I'm from Croatia. I came here on a scooter."



Pakistan
Carpet vendor in Karimabad:
"I was a Taliban. But then the Americans caught one of my friends and gave him weapons. So, I decided the whole thing makes no sense and gave up being a Taliban."

Muzaffa, our guide on the Nanga Parbat Trek:
"The guy where we'll stay tomorrow is a Taliban."

Two days before meeting point in Kathmandu, Nepal. Thomas' brother sends an e-mail:
"Fuck! Flight missed!"



Nepal
A jungle lodge in Gorkha Hamlet Hotel, Sauraha. Bugs buzzing outside in the lush garden. When we ask for a mosquito net, the guide says:
"There are no mosquitos here."

Same guide on a trek in Chitwan National Park:
"You are the honey, I am the bee."



India
Barber shop on the main street, Agra:
"Infection-free shaving!"

Signs on road from Manali to Leh
"If you drink whiskey driving is risky."
"Don't be a gama, in the land of the lama."
"Do you go to a party? Then why drive so dirty?"
"Better Mr. Late, than never."
"No hurry, no worry."

Pushy street vendor approaches us in Leh, Ladakh, beating his drums.
"Do you like drums?"
Rebecca:
"I HATE drums!"
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/tomandbecky/rtw_2007/1231075500/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/tomandbecky/rtw_2007/1231075500/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/tomandbecky/rtw_2007/1231075500/tpod.html Sun, 04 Jan 2009 08:29:16 -0500 RTW = Rebecca's and Thomas' World trip - the adventure of our lifetime, a trip around the world in more or less 10 months

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Marl, Germany

R: Hello everybody! After more than four months back in Germany it's time for a resumee.
T: There is much that happened and even more that will happen.
R: We landed in Düsseldorf on August 14th. The two of us had been looking forward to returning home and so had our families. Our Moms, my sister, my friend Sonny and Ursula's daycare kids were there with a (little) red carpet, champagne and German snacks. Our group must have been an unexpected sight at the Arrival area for flights from the UK and Mallorca: two thin blondes in Pakistani dress, crying moms and big excitement.
T: Our welcome committee had to wait a long time, cause we had a long time waiting at the luggage claim. Our backpacks got lost in London but we were happy about the sparkling water 'Selters' at the Lost Luggage office.
R: In the first days at home, we managed to see most of our friends. Miriam had invited some of my best friends to her birthday party (and never told me about it, so it was quite a surprise to see Antje walk in), Thomas had a big drinking session with his friends and I was at my 10-year-graduation from school. Having been a rather ambitious student, most of the people were quite surprised to hear what an unconventional thing I had been doing. And, of course, ALL the girls went "aaaaah" and "oooh" about Thomas' proposal.
T: Naturally, such a promise needs to be fulfilled. After our Big Trip we loved this new, big project. Especially Rebecca went to several wedding dress stores in the very first weeks. Now, we got everything sorted out: the two priests (one Protestant, one Catholic), a beautiful chapel, a rustic Italian restaurant and a crazy Italian DJ. You won't believe we even bought the rings and Rebecca her wedding gown.
R: We ARE good Germans.
Along with the wedding plans came the career plans. While Thomas wrote just a few applications, went to a few interviews and had a job in November, things were more difficult for me. Changing from an IT to a commercial job is not easy and the financial crisis didn't really help. It was quite a frustrating time, you can imagine!
But, in the end, everything happened as desired. Thomas works as an engineer in the windpower industry and I signed a contract before the end of 2008. From February on, I will build and lead the order desk of a small company in Dortmund.
T: Right now, we are searching for a flat in Essen. Rebecca always liked the Ruhrgebiet region and both of us are happy to stay near our home towns and all the relatives and friends we missed.
R: ... finally, we can build our nest ... With the biggest obstacles taken, we were able to enjoy Christmas with our families. We also took our time to review the roundabout 7000 photos, sent greetings to the friends we made on the trip and looked back on 11 months on the road.
T: When a friend asks us about our trip we get to hear always similiar questions ...

Which country did you like most?
Argentina and Pakistan.
Argentina for its overall magnificence in food, people, transport and scenery. Pakistan for its hospitality, mountains and sense of adventure.
China gets special points because it was so controversial, and extreme both in the positive and negative way. We met so many friendly people, Han, Tibetan and Uighur, but on the other hand the political situation was so tangible, so oppressive. No country provided so much food for thought and discussion.
There is no country we didn't like.

How much did it cost?
The round-the-world-tickets cost us 2000 € each, the trip itself about 12000 € each.

Where was the food best?
Argentina. The steaks, the pasta, the cakes.
And worst?
Tibet. Or do you like mutton cooked in old grease, three times a day?

How many pictures did you take?
About 7000, between 300 (e.g. Laos) and 1400 (e.g. China) per country.
These are the values after we deleted all the bad pictures.

How much time did you spend in internet cafes in order to write these #*@^+<' forsaken long blog entries???
Not much. Usually, we wrote the entries on paper, e.g. in the evening while waiting for our dinner. You know, when you've spent all day together, often there's not much to talk about (not enough to cover Nepali cooking times, at least) and so we just wrote these dialogues. In the internet cafes, we only typed them in.

Was it dangerous?
Not in our estimation.
We did get scared more than a few times, e.g. on that horrible night bus from Cuzco to Andahuaylas, during the pickpocket at Quito bus terminal and later the scattered bus window. Thomas was worried when Rebecca got that strange fever in Laos and we both were shocked during our first days in China, when we couldn't communicate. Our problems at the Chinese-Pakistani border were scary and so were the strictly Muslim villages on the Karakorum Highway.
Usually, the situation itself wasn't bad, the adrenaline made us react well to the situation, the fear came later. We think that commuting to work by car every day probably is more dangerous to one's health than such a trip. Of course, the more we experienced, the better and more relaxed we coped with difficult situations.

How did you get along?
Very well. Why else would we get married?
We were both surprised about how rarely we argued. Usually, our travel plans and styles were 100% compatible. Sometimes, one wanted to stay longer in a place while the other one wanted to move on, sometimes we argued about a decent versus cheap accomodation, but in general, we quickly developed a common level of luxury, activity, leisure and demand in each country.
When you travel as a couple, it's usually you against them, the rikshaw drivers, Chinese signposts, pickpockets or unhygienic chefs. We were a great team against all of them!

Who did you meet?
There are many people we will never forget. Jose, the Pirata of Mancora. The Leon family in Ecuador, especially Cesar and Carmen Ines, with their incredible hospitality and warmth. Sara and John from the USA, who were building a sustainable eco-house and were looking for a good self-composting toilet. In Tierra del Fuego, our host Hector made quite an impression with his adventurous biography and his tango dancing. Or the young monk we met in Laos, with the big feet and the keen questions in complicated English. The Tibetan bar owner in Dali who told us so many sad stories about himself, but who was happy to become a father soon. Of course, we won't forget Alex, the Australian we travelled with in China and who is now the proud father of twins. Oh, and the crazy elderly Hippie we met in Zhongdian, China, who had travelled to India by bus in the seventies. In Pakistan, Karim took us to his sister's house, a wonderful experience. The two Israeli girls (an honor to their race) and Shane from Ireland, we did that crazy jeep trip with them to Ladakh, India. Just to mention a few.
We don't expect to see any of them again, but who knows? Surely, they all made this trip a worthwhile experience - thank you very much!!!

Did you feel homesick?
Sometimes, the vibes were bad, very bad. One of us was sick, we had just been trapped in a scam, the hostel was bad, the people were weird or it had simply been raining all day. Then, we wanted to go home. This feeling never lasted long. Only in the last weeks before we returned, when Germany and our home were a frequent topic, we started to look forward.

Would you do it again?
Yes. Without hesitating.


We thank you all for following our travel blog, all the mails we received during our time on the road and all the happy reunions here in Germany. We wish you all the best for 2009 and Happy Travels!

Thomas & Rebecca
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/tomandbecky/rtw_2007/1218513480/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/tomandbecky/rtw_2007/1218513480/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/tomandbecky/rtw_2007/1218513480/tpod.html Tue, 12 Aug 2008 11:00:31 -0400 RTW = Rebecca's and Thomas' World trip - the adventure of our lifetime, a trip around the world in more or less 10 months

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Mumbai (Bombay), Maharashtra, India

After almost a year into our blog, you may now lean back for some really big news.

R: Our last days in Leh were rather eventful ...
T: You can say that! We had been waiting for two weeks to find a group for our 6000+ m mountain. We found two nice French women who had cycled from Manali across all the passes to Leh.
R: They were fit and willing to attempt Stok Kangri with us, a 6130 m peak close to Leh. We knew it would be hard and I considered my chances of making it to the top rather low.
T: After their altitude training and mountaineering experience in the French Alps, Sophie and Anne seemed to be well-prepared. I was confident that both of us could make it to the top, too. So, we had a strong group pf 4 people.
R: Our guide was called Dao and came from Darjeeling, like the cook and his aide. All 3 prooved to be excellent companions. Dao was ever-helpful, experienced and caring. The two guys in the kitchen tent prepared the most incredible food - we even had a pizza one night!
T: It was a really luxurious trek: we didn't have to carry anything apart from camera and water, the rest went on the mules. Arriving at the camp site, the staff would unload the mules, pitch the sleeping tents, dining tent and kitchen tent and prepare an afternoon snack for us.
R: In all that, it was similar to our Santa Cruz trek in Peru - only far more expensive!
On the first 2 days, the scenery was nice, but brought little change: canyons in all shades of brown and red, snow-capped peaks above and a fast flowing river next to us. It only became colder every night as we gained altitude. From Stok village (3600m) to Camp I (4500m) to the base camp (5000m).
T: We expected that we would have problems to breath at the BC but we felt quite okay. The worst thing, as we got there clouds covered the sun and it got colder. We prepared for the coming climb by doing nothing and had a very early dinner at 5pm. We had to get up at midnight to climb Stock Kangri so we got to bed at 7pm.
R: It was a strange thing to climb up the mountain in zig zag, in complete darkness, one headlight after the other. Technically, it was easy, but the lack of sleep and the strange hour were hard, more for others than for us (in spite of my persisting stomach problems). At one point, our guide made us stop in the darkness - we had reached the glaciar, time to put on crampons. Walking on a glacier actually isn't a bad thing. I rather like it. Fortunately, we had done that before, in Argentina, and our guide knew his way across the glacier.
T: Thousands of stars twinkled in the black sky and made snow fields or the glacier shine. Unfortunately, some stars were covered by clouds by the time we reached the glaciar. One hour later the morning dawned and swept the last stars away just to reveal unfriendly, dark clouds in the east. Bad luck.
R: By that time, we had crossed the glacier and climbed a steep slope. The narrow ridge we stood on, revealed black clouds to the Zanskar range and slightly overcast but calm weather on our side. The summit seemed close enough to touch ... We climbed over snowy rocks for another few meters, then it started to snow, the summit disappeared in the clouds and visibility became dangerously low. It was only ca. 100-200m to the summit, but we decided to turn around. We had cracked the 6000m borderline and now we intended to live on. Safety first.
T: There were some people attempting the ascent but mostly roped. The lines looked like lemmings in slow motion. Well, our guide had no ropes and, as there was anyway nothing to see, we turned back. On the way down we took a longer route to avoid snow fields and the glacier in most parts. We did not have to put on crampons, as one of us had no crampons anymore. A very selfish Czech guy had ventured off from the group and the guide to attempt the peak alone. Well, that's fine except when he carries crampons for one of us!
R: Surprisingly, even I had felt well all the time, no problems with the thin air or exhaustion. How proud I was! But now, the descent seemed endless and tiring. We reached the base camp at about 10.30, after 9 hours - I could hardly keep my eyes open, my feet hurt and my back was just one big pain. We had reached the 6000m alright and we were happy and proud, but for the rest of the day and the following night all we could was to sleep and eat (well, not much eating for me with the stomach still upset).
T: Yes, since we came to the subcontinent, Rebecca is also plagued by the travellers diarrhea. I was very impressed of her.
The staff surprised us this night with a meal as if we had reached the summit. They served all kinds of vegetables, pizza and the best, a sinful sweet tart with Stok Kangri written on top of it.
R: As you can imagine, we slept more than well that night. I woke up in the wee hours when Thomas scrambled out of the tent. At 6.00, our guide brought hot tea to our tent - wake-up-call! I was cold and tired and short-sighted when I climbed through the door. I turned left towards the "toilet". Thomas stopped me and told me to look to the right.
And there, on the grass in front of our tent, Thomas had laid it in rocks, large enough for my weak eyes and surely a lot of work, THE sentence:
"Marry me princess."
T: I had woken up at 5 in the morning and been collecting rocks, some of the slim, hand-long slates that lie scattered everywhere. After the work was done and I had watched the result thoughtfully, I returned to the warm sleeping bag. I knew that at 6am the wake-up call would come and it would be given hot, sweet tea. A perfect wake-up for Rebecca on this special day.
While sitting in the tent and drinking the first sips of tea I could hardly wait to get out the tent. Rebecca just brought out a short 'Of course' (Aber natuerlich), before we embraced each other. And of course, I said thousand nice things I won't tell you now for the highest promise (5000m). Finally, I got more words out of Rebecca which were: 'But now, I really have to go to the toilet'. Life goes on...
R: Indeed it does! Toilet, tooth brushing and then quickly to breakfast - we had to start walking at 7.30 h. Nobody noticed our new rings and Sophie and Anne even folded their tent on Thomas' stone art. Later they said they only realized a big grin on our faces, but blamed it on the 6000m mark.
From the base camp we walked all the way back to Stok village. A bad land slide had come down two days before and completely changed the scenery of the valley we had hiked up three days before. It was not easy to walk on the slippery uneven surface with multiple difficult river fordings.
While we were walking, we chatted with this and that friend from the climb. Judith from Germany was the first to hear what had happened that morning. As the word spread, we got lots of embraces and envious looks. Pressure definitely was up for Remis from France whose sweet Emilie constantly clapped Thomas on his back. "Great job," she said.
That night, we celebrated with our friends, though just a little because everybody was tired from the long trek.
T: It was not the most beautiful trek on the RTW, but the most memorable one. I made not one, but two dreams come true. The one to reach the 6000m mark (and having a g-friend who did it makes me especially proud) and more important to make her a proper and special promise for the many years to come.

R: After a few more relaxing and sunny days in Leh, we flew to Mumbai. Here, we are staying with Tobias and Verena in their flat near the seaside. There is not much to do, especially due to the monsoon. We are merely preparing for our flight home on Wednesday, doing some final souvenir shopping and chat with the two expats. The trip is over. I am engaged. Wow.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/tomandbecky/rtw_2007/1217159280/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/tomandbecky/rtw_2007/1217159280/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/tomandbecky/rtw_2007/1217159280/tpod.html Sun, 27 Jul 2008 09:11:08 -0400 RTW = Rebecca's and Thomas' World trip - the adventure of our lifetime, a trip around the world in more or less 10 months

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Leh, India

In Yangthang
R: Imagine sitting on a rock with the best man in the world leaning to your legs. Imagine the sound of an icy clear stream gushing over the rocks behind you, down to the plateau and into the irrigation channels. Imagine the patterns the wind draws into the barley fields. The village is behind the fields, at the far end of the plateau, on a sheer cliff. It's a bunch of whitewashed houses with stacks of hay and firewood on the flat roofs. Beyond that, row after orw of mountains pile up, red, brown, burgundy (yes!), yellow. The highest row is topped with snow.
T: The sun will set soon and we are in a good mood after 5 hours on the move. We had been very lazy after Nepal and fell that moving our legs and chatting on the trail is just the right thing. By the way, this 2-day-trek is a preparation for my big dream to climb a 6000+ peak ...
T: Lazy we were indeed, but who can be active in that Indian heat?! From Varanasi, we tool a formidable night train to Agra. There, I recovered from my terrible cold, not easy in that hot, humid climate. But the Taj Mahal! I'm serious, it's worth the journey, wherever you are. In the eerie light of dusk, it turns blueish, sort of shine-through, like fine porcelain.
T: Fragile, that are also the miniature Taj Mahals the many many bad souvenir shops sell. Usually, the marble is fake - soapstone. But the real Taj seems to be undestroyable when you get closer and closer. You see it in different ways whenyou are far or near. From far it is one of the most beautiful buildings, from close the beauty of the white building AND its thousand filigrane details are breathtaking.
R: Yes. Now everybody understands, Thomas.
Close up, it's creamy-white, imposing in its size and delicate in its carvings. It surely is one of the most beautiful buildings in the world. And built for love it was! A Mughal ruler built it as a mausoleum for his 2nd and favourite wife. Romantic, isn't it?
T: Well, I did not feel that romantic: I had just once again serious problems with my digestion system. But anyhow, the Taj was doing its magic and I forgot for a while. We sat frequently on the marble steps or on the marble floor and enjoyed the view from different angles.
R: Now that I had recovered, Thomas got sick. It's amazing how we always manage to never get sick at the same time! The heat & humidity, the questionable hygiene, it all proved too much for our bodies. So, we decided to leave for the only spot in India where the monsoon is bearable or doesn't hit: Himachal Pradesh and Ladakh in the Northwest (due to unrest, curfews and bombings, Kashmir had to be cancelled).
T: The hill station of Shimla which was our first stop on the way to Ladakh was the summer residence of the British during the empire. We could understand they liked it, because the climate was very British: cold and wet.
R: Well, well! Cool & pleasant I'd say, with daily showers. While Thomas recovered, I explored Shimla with its beautiful colonial houses, the Victorian church, magnificent mountain panoramas & hordes of Indian tourists. These are of a very different kind than the Chinese. Rather than in huge guided groups, they travel in extended families, choose their own hotels and eat in good restaurants. Much more pleasant! Of course, a place like Shimla is only affordable for the well-off, so I was surrounded by beautiful silk shalwar kameez and spoiled kids demanding expensive popocorn & ice-cream.
T: Shimla's main street is pollution free which means cars and smoking is prohibited. Since there are no Taxis and the Indian families usually don't like to walk much, you can see lots of people on the squares or the many viewing platforms just watching, nursing their ice-creams, eating pink candy floss (Zuckerwatte) or cradling their kids in the rented prams. The prams! These are pimped with all sorts of electronical entertainment devices: toy-keyboards, talking telephones and more noisy stuff.
R: Florian, Brigitte, Trine - I had these prams shipped to your houses for your little new ones...
T: Next stop was Manali (I confused it frequently with Manila, Philippines.).
R: Manali, as a matter of fact, seems to be the capital of Israel. All shops sell colourful Hippie clothes, restaurants advertise Falafel and Hummus (often even in Hebrew!), the laundry wallahs speak Hebrew and the streets are full of dreadlocked, orange-clad, noisy Israeli youngsteres smoking the local wild ganja. Great!
T: For us, it wasn't a place to stay a long time but a good stopover to organise a 3 day Jeep trip to Ladakh. I could eat normally again so I tried to put on weight with Western, Israeli and Italian food as well as with the many bakeries. I enjoyed doing nothing while Rebecca did some shopping in the hippie clothes shops.
R: We were lucky to meet two fantastic Israeli girls (the older, the better is my impression with this people) and Shane from Ireland, who needed just two more people for the their jeep.
It was a hard, long drive, but a truly beautiful one. On the first day, we left the green Manali valley and with it the clouds and rain. There was a traffic jam on the way to the pass, because so many Indian tourists were going up to the snowline.... Quite funny how they looked in their rented one-pieces and gum boots! For their small car and the heavy trucks, the steep gravel road was quite difficult, but our fantastic driver sped along the queue wherever he could.
T: We arrived after a tiring 8hours drive and were glad we didn't make the trip in 2 days which would have been 4h more on the road on this day. By choosin the more comfortable 3 days option we could sleep this night in Keylong, a Tibetan village in a narrow valley. The second day was planned to be a short 5h ride so we started for a walk to a nearby Gompa in the morning. Well, we never reached the monastery but got lost on the way.
R: After the lush green Himachal Pradesh Valleys, Keylong had seemed rather dry to us: a small oasis perched on a ridge above a river, surrounded by gray-brown mountains. But the road to Ladakh took us through far more inhospitable country, true mountain deserts, brown, gray, black rocks and loose gravel with the occasional glacier. An endless, empty moonscape.
T: There was not much to see apart from road workers from Bihar province, poor hard-working people producing the tarmac by hand and living in 3m x 3m mud brick huts along the road. Some signs demanding sensible driveing on the narrow road were very entertaining, too. We saw some jewels like
- 'Safety on the road means safe tea at home'
- 'Peep, peep, don't sleep!'
- 'If you drink whiskey, driveing is risky'
- 'Don't sleep or your family will weep'
After the 5h ride, the barren landscape changed into a flat, broad and greenish valley with a deep canyon cutting through it. To both sides of the valley imposing red-coloured mountains rose and yak or goats were grazing on the valley floor.
R: We ahd crossed a 5000-something pass that day and our camp for the night was at 4200m. There was no village, no river, nothing except a few camps with tents. At his altitude, we had a restless, cold night in a cramped tent we shared with Shane. The thin air makes sleeping really difficult, so that when we left the next day, I was tired after only 3hrs sleep.
T: We were back in the seats of the Jeep at seven o'clock and were heading up to Tanglangla (5330m), the second highest motorable part of the world and the highest point above sea level we got so far! Of course, we made a break and explored the place. Shane, Rebecca and me had even the crazy idea to test our running skills and ran 50m. That is enough to make you breathless and feel dizzy at this height! After we got back in the car and down the pass, we drove through the first Ladakhi villages. We saw some small Tibetan monasteries on cliffs, countless eld and new stupas everywhere and beautiful, white-washed Tibetan houses amidst green fields. The driver was speeding down the now quite good road, he seemed to be in a hurry.
R: We raced along a liveley little stream until we reached the Indus. Surprisingly, it didn't look that much smaller than hundreds of km downstream in Pakistan.
We reached Leh after some breathtaking 7-8 hours. Entering town you wonder why all the pain to get to this dusty, sun-burned place. But in fact, Leh is an oasis above the Indus valley, surrounded by dry brown mountains (not unsimilar to the Sinai), but irrigated by ancient channels and thus green and pleasant.We stay in a small hostel between potato and cabbage fields, shaded by poplars and apricot trees. Leh has a fascinating old town with whitewashed houses and a huge old castle towering above. In the short tourist season (the passes are only open for 4 months), it's bustling with travellers (mostly from the Holy Land), Falafel, Pashmina shawls and internet cafes, but it's a pleasant place, if only for the wonderful, dry, mild climate.
T: Honestly, we did what all the other travellers do here. Relaxing, strolling from one shop to the next, doing extensive souvenir shopping and planning a bit ahead what else we could do. We decided to climb a 6000+ mountain.
R: We'll try to do.
T: As we are staying already at 3500 m, we can acclimatise just by doing sightseeing which includes climbing up to stupas, the Leh palace or the castle. This is done in one or two days, but we still did not get our group for our 6000+ mountain and to use our time, we set off for a self-organised 3-day-trek
R: The walk from Likir to Yangthang was supposed to take 5 hours, but we did it in 4 1/2, with an hour lunch break. The trail took us through some spectacular desert canyons and simple Ladakhi villages. In Yangthang, we stay in a local house and dine with with the family, homestlye.
Back in Leh
On our last day, we visited Alchi and its stupendous monastery - fantastic murals! That gompa might rate the most beautiful of all Himalayan Buddhist temples we've ever seen.
Believe it or not, we only have 2 1/2 weeks left! In Shimla, we changed our flight home to the 14th of August. So, from Leh we will fly to Mumbai to see Thomas' brother and sister in law and that's the end of our RTW.
Can't believe it myself.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/tomandbecky/rtw_2007/1215308400/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/tomandbecky/rtw_2007/1215308400/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/tomandbecky/rtw_2007/1215308400/tpod.html Mon, 07 Jul 2008 06:42:30 -0400 RTW = Rebecca's and Thomas' World trip - the adventure of our lifetime, a trip around the world in more or less 10 months

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Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India

Rebecca: Hello from India!
We finally arrived in our last country, the hippie travel mekka, the country of crazy travel tales, the mystical, the fantastic, the exotic India.
Thomas: And indeed, it is the most colourful and vibrant country, we visited so far. We only arrived yesterday but these yesterday and today yields enough material to make a first entry about India. By the way, I do not have diarrhea, yet.
R: Getting to India was under the Motto how many mistakes can I make in one day.
Mistake No. 1: We did not fly.
Mistake No 2 : We booked our bus too late, so we had the worst seats from Kathmandu to the border.
Mistake No. 3: We travelled via Lumbini, the birthplace of the historic Buddha, one of the most boring places in the workld.
T: Lumbini is 1hour from the border crossing which means we needed somebody to organise the transport in the early morning.
Mistake No. 4: We did not only book the transport to the border crossing but also the Indian bus from there to Varansasi. In the Lonely Planet, every single line about this border crossing says not to trust any travel agency that claims to organise Indian transport.
R: As if turned out, we should have listened. The border formalities the guide took us through were pretty straightforward.
But then, in the shabby Indian border toiwn,m there was not bus to Varanasi. We had not expected much but a direct transport with booked seats. Well, the agent seemed to be surprised, talked to many people and had us marched around th place with full luggage for a while until he declared there was no direct bus today and that we should take that old rattletrap to Ghorakpur, the next town and transport hub.
T: We refused. 'If we don't get what we booked we want our money back!', we explained to him. Of course, he refused. He found thousand excuses, that the bus scheduled for 8.30am had a break-down, he did not have enough money, he could not call his boss, blablabla...
R: 'So we go to the police!' we threatened. He agreed, to our surprise. But, of course, he first had us march in the other direction to a bus that was about to leave and pressure us into going to Ghorakpur. I almost killed him! The police were very friendly, actually they seemed to know our agent and his scam.
T: I asked the police if I could cross the border again to get the money back. 'No problem' they told us friendly. The boss of the travel agency on the Nepalese side was very polite, called me gentle and I got a chai (tea). We bargained a bit about the price because
Mistake No. 5: We did not have a receipt from the other agent in Lumbini.
Finally, we agreed on a price and I thought I can get my money and leave. Well, he still tried to sell tickets for buses or trains. I did not drink my chai (smelled a bit like urin...).
R: As if we'd ever do business with them again!
T: And still, after this was clear he tried to rip me off with bad exchange rates - we had paid Nepalese Rupies but I wanted to have Indian Rupies, of course. He then tried to give me money in both currencies.
R: In the end, 3 hours after entering India, we finally left the border in an old, uncomfortable bus. Gorakhpur was dirty, muddy and uninspiring. The train station looked like a refugee camp: it was hot, stuffy, there was garbage and people were standing, sitting and lying in the waiting hall, the entrance and on the platform. And I am not talking about someone haere and there, the place was really full, so many people.
Mistake No. 6: We let these overwheming impressions push us into trying to leave quickly. So, ...
Mistake No. 7: We believed the lady at the tourist counter that the slow train to Varansi takes 7 hours and hopped on.
T: This slow train would have been only 1 1/2 hours slower than the Express train. But not in our case: Either the 7 hours were a lie or we were really delayed. So we reached Varanasi finally after 11 hours ride in a cheap uncomfortable train. Believe it or not, we decided that we like India still on this train with the steel-barred windows and a car full of simple benches.
R: This is nothing we could explain, we simply liked it. The wet fields with freshly planted rice, the colourful sarees of the women, the oxen or the friendly fellow passengers. I don't know. In Varanasi, at 2am, there were no unerving touts at the station and few people were sleeping on the platforms.
T: We found a motor-rickshaw to stel more of our money and to bring us to our prebooked hotel. Finally, we were allowed to lie tired in an air-con cooled room. Next (late) morning, we decided to leave this pricey accomodation in a boring part of Varanasi and find something near the ghats (riverside) in the old town.
R: A motor-rickshaw took us through busy streets with market stalls, saree tailors, bangle shops, chai stalls and people, people, people. Many traffic jams were caused by morone cowss standing in the middle of 2 busy lanes. We had to walk the last 500m because vehicles are not allowed in the narrow lanes of the old town. In spite of walking around with full luggage, only few touts molested us.
Where is the hassle-India we expected?
T: It may be that our filter for any words like 'my friend', 'rickshaw', 'change money', 'best sth.' are enhanced after 9 month. But really, the touts are not worse than in South America or South East Asia, even the stories to get attention are the same. The only difference is that Indian touts or beggars only want you to improve your karma by giving them sth. And the biggest difference is that India offers a lot of distraction from the touts: the omnipresent smell of spices, errant cows or goats blocking the way, the unique mixture of voices, Rickshaw bells, bike horns, shreeking monkeys playing on the rooftops or the sounds of a distant ceremony.
R: Varanasi's old town is a wonderful maze of narrow winding streets, high old houses with balconies and, of course, the ghats, the wide staircases leading down to the Ganges. Pilgrims flock to Varanasi to bath in Mother Ganga from these ghats - and in order to die. This place is considered the holiest to die, be cremated and thrown in to the river, promising a better next reincarnation and a step closer to the Nirvana. On the so-called 'burning ghats', families wash their deceased in the river and then put them on huge funerary pyres. Not exactly a nice sight, especially from close-up, but, surprisingly, there was no strong smell.
T: During the monsoon, most of the ghats are under water, which means just a few stone steps are visible. The best way to see the various ghats is by boat. So, we let us row against the strong current of the holy river to watch the holy bathing (although I consider it unhealthy...), the filling of little water tanks, the lively crowds on the steps and some Japanese tourists in another boat.
We are positively surprised by India: poverty, touts, temperatures and pollution are bearable and we rather enjoy our time here, where every second could show up with a new unbelievable event. Like the one, where we got into the Golden Temple that bears a sign 'Not allowed for Non-Hindus'. But that's a story to be told later...
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/tomandbecky/rtw_2007/1213955700/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/tomandbecky/rtw_2007/1213955700/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/tomandbecky/rtw_2007/1213955700/tpod.html Fri, 20 Jun 2008 07:33:42 -0400 RTW = Rebecca's and Thomas' World trip - the adventure of our lifetime, a trip around the world in more or less 10 months

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Pokhara, Nepal

Rebecca:
Namaste from Nepal!
We cheated. We had planned to do a long overland route from Thailand through China to Nepal, originally via Tibet but then through Pakistan and India. Well, we made it as far as Pakistan, but then we decided to cheat. Going through India would have delayed us by at least a week, 5 days to get an Indian visa (not easy in India's arch rival Pakistan) and at least 3 days travel from Lahore to Kathmandu. Since we wanted to meet Thomas' brother and cousin with their wives in Nepal, we decided to fly from Islamabad to Karachi and then on to Kathmandu.
Mark and Monique had already arrived in Kathmandu and Tobias and Verena were meant to arrive on Saturday. But they missed their flight, so the for of us happened to arrive in Kathmandu on Monday, scheduled for the same time. What a coincidence!
Nepal's capital is a cool place with narrow streets and old houses, heaps of hostels, souvenir shops and travel agents. After 6 weeks off the beaten track we quite enjoyed this touristy thing, especially because the Nepali are rather relaxed in their business attitude. But since Mark and Moni had been there for almost a week and were desparate to get out into the countryside, we just quickly initiated the complex visa process (the kind of people you meet at the Indian embassy, you won't believe it!) and then went to Pokhara.
That's another touristy place in Western Nepal, prettily located by a lake and with wonderful mountain views. In the dry season, that is. Now, in monsoon, it usually rains all afternoon. After one last night at a comfortable hotel (for 4 euros), we boarded the tiny airplane that crossed the Annapurna mountain range to Jomsom. Verena and I had 1000 euro seats right behind the pilots. We flew close to the mountains and glaciars - great views, but nothing for those scared of flying.
In Jomsom, we hired two porters and started the Jomsom trek. The first two days, we walked up to Muktinath, at about 3.800m quite hard for the others, but easy for Thomas and myself. This area ethnically is Tibetan and so is the scenery: dry mountains with snow-covered peaks, wild streams and austere villages with terrace fields. The lodges here are simple, but OK. I loved it, but the others were glad to leave the high altitude. Further down, it was tropical, hot and humid. For most of the time, we had been walking on a stupid jeep track, but on day 4, Thomas, Tobias and I rebelled and ventured off on a steep and rocky side track. Big fun!
In Tatopani, we soaked in hot springs after the trek and in Galopani we climbed Poon Hill to watch the sunrise. The last 3 days were off the jeep track, which was strenuous, but great.
Compared to the other treks we've done so far, Jomsom was nothing special, not in the rainy season. But we were lucky enough to get some great views of the 6.000 to 8.000m Annapurna peaks every now and then. Only twice did we really walk in the rain. Probably the best thing about the trek was the company, with all the talking, singing and cards playing. After 8 days, we reached the road in Naya Pur from where we caught cabs to Pokhara: big beds, hot showers, fresh clothes and BEER.
This morning, we watched Germany beat Portugal (what a great game! Schweini, Klose and Ballack ta their best!) over breakfast, then I had a massage - life after the trek can be sooooooooooooo relaxing!
It's already June. And we want to be back in Germany in August - so soon! We have developed a different attitude towards time, that's for sure. We think less in dates than in countries, regions, activities. Here in Nepal, we realize that we probably won't like the monsoon time in India too much, so we'll probably limit our stay there to Kashmir, Agra, Varanassi and Mumbai, maybe a beach or two further South. Not a lot.
So many things have happened while we were tripping around the world. Friends got engaged or pregnant, changed jobs, invited to parties and moved to other cities. Sometimes, I feel we'll have hard times catching up on these things, they are so difficult to follow up via mail. That's nonsense, of course, but still it's hard to imagine being back ...
Well, it's still a long time to go until then and we are looking forward to every minute of it.
Talk soon!
Rebecca
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/tomandbecky/rtw_2007/1212253440/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/tomandbecky/rtw_2007/1212253440/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/tomandbecky/rtw_2007/1212253440/tpod.html Fri, 20 Jun 2008 07:28:14 -0400 RTW = Rebecca's and Thomas' World trip - the adventure of our lifetime, a trip around the world in more or less 10 months

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Hunza, Pakistan

R: Yes, we are in Pakistan now. That might come as a surprise to you since it has never been on our route. But with Tibet closed, we looked for another overland route and the one across the Khunjerab Pass and then through Pakistan seemed a good replacement. But until Kashgar, we weren't quite sure if we could get a visa on the border. So we kept these plans to ourselves.
Leaving China was not that easy. We would have thought that entering Pakistan without visa might be difficult, but in fact, leaving China without that visa was the problem.
T: Yeah, not that some of get worried: The remote and less-inhabited Northwest of Pakistan, the Hunza Valley, is just a safe place as anywhere in a Western country. No, we are not crazy to go to Pakistan and we will avoid cities.
But the one's who are really crazy are the Chinese!
After 8 month on the road now, we know some land borders. And border officials are not very nice, usually. The Chinese officials were the worst we had the honour with: They were annoying, rude and incompetent.
By the time we reached the final official of three checking procedures, we got a bit nervous. The final stage of the procedure was checking the passports and this is where they tried to find our Pakistani visa.
Well, we knew 100% for sure that we would get one at the Pakistani immigration. Unfortunately, the Chinese had a 100% different opinion.
R: We treid everything: showing the Letter of Invitation by our travel agent, being nice, being noisy, threatening and reasoning with them. The latter had the least impact. They refused to call their Pakistani colleagues, allegedly they didn't have the phone number. But how, then, could they be so sure that they didn't issue visa on arrival, if they never talked to the other side??? Well, that game went on for one hour and we becambe more and more frustrated. How could they be so stubborn? So ignorant of the outside world?
We gave up and asked the cool Croation travellers on our bus to ask the Pakistanis to call China and explain.
So, while the bus went across the pass without us, we desperately tried to find someone in Pakistan who would be able to convince the stupid bureaucratic lot of Han Chinese. It cost us a fortune in internet & telephone!
T: We knew from a very friendly Pakistani businessman that the Chinese would reopen the office in the afternoon. So we went their and tried to find an immigration official. It took us a while, but shortly before the whole lot of immigration officials finished their ridiculous parade from their quarters to the immigration office, one official called us to him. This Mr Wei was telling us good news that our friend (whoever it was, the Croats or the travel agent?) had called and that we would be allowed to leave China on the next bus, next morning.
R: We had his "special permission", he said, smiling as if doing us a favour, his fat, white, flabby face content with his own professionalism. I almost exploded! 600 Yuan (60EUR) we had lost because of his incompetence & stubborness and he didn;t even bother to apologize, never mind replace the money.
Well, that nigth we were invited to a Tadjik 1st bithday (combined with circumcision? why else the big party in a restaurant with live singer, dance & loads of tea?) which slightly made up for the misadventure.
Procedures were straightforward the next day, thorough scanning of the goods leaving the country and impertinent checking of the people who did. But most of the staff were in the picture and stamped us out, stiffly and formal.
T: Unbelievable, to have problems leaving a country instead of having trouble to enter a country.

After this episode as a (quite long) intro) we finally come to a summary what we feel about China.
We often had difficulties to understand a Chinese mindset and after travellin gthrough China for 7 weeks I am sure I would be crazy if I was to fully understand Chinese. Like most other travellers we met, we have a very ambiguous relationship to China. On the hate-side of our love-hate of China are:
- Hygiene: toilets, letting the Children use the street as a toilet and men take a leak where they want, spitting, smoking everywhere, no deodorant - and they look down on the Tibetans because they consider them "dirty", quite a joke
- pollution: rubbish management, river damming & pollution, air pollution through growing industry & traffic
- politics: oppressive dictatorship that ridicules its people with propaganda news & restricts us in our travelling
- lack of nature: many people mean little space for nature, many natural wonders spoiled by hordes of tour groups, loud speakers and tacky souvenir stalls
- people we didn't like: Chinese tour groups, Chinese bureaucrats, smelly middle-aged men
- language: very few people speak English, our desperate efforts to speak some Chinese were fruitless because no-one made an effort to understand our bad pronounciation

R: On the other hand, many things were greta, unforgettable and simply wonderful.
- food: Baba bread, Gongbao chicken, Sean's potatoes, Laghman noodles ...
- diversity (though the government try to reduce it to tourist circuses): tropical forests and alpine highlands, spicy tofu and shish kebab, sloped roofs and mosque domes
- people we liked: the young generation - friendly, curious and even a hint of individualism, Tibetans, Uighurs
- the tea drinking culture
- safety: as in many totalitarian regimes, petty crime is rather low - a relaxed way to travel

China was a great experience, surely the country we learned most about through travelling in it. So interesting how many clichees are met and still so many aren't, so many things happening and changing and moving the world and our own lives. Yet, we don't think we will return, not as long as there is this kind of regime, this kind of growth-by-all-means cultrure.
If you are interested in this fast-moving nation, we highly recommend reading "Mao" by Jung Cheng & Jon Haliday and :China shakes the world".

So, now we are in Pakistan. Do we like it? No ... we LOVE it!
Karimabad is the centre of the Hunza valley, an cradle of regional culture. The people are Muslims of the Ismaili sect directed by the Agha Khan, and thus very open-minded and modern. I don't wear a scarf and neither do most of the local women. On the contrary, they make an effort to distance themselves from any kind of Muslim extremism.
Descendants of Turc tribes, many have a dark skin and stunning blue eyes, sometimes reddish hair. As in most Muslim countries, hospitality is taken seriously here. So, we've already been invited for tea and dinner at a local house, had a shepherd showing us the way to the glaciar and many many people simply interested in our well-being.
The scenery is just amazing: snowy peaks above 7000m, deep valleys and green oases with fruit orahcrds and gushing canals. There are glaciars, dark green pastures with sheep and goats, old adobe houses and a majestic fort high above the village.
We were close to K2, the 2nd highest mountain in the world, have seen several 7000+ peaks and will trek to the base camp of Nanga Parbat next week. Himalayas, Parmir and Hindukush - three of the most famous mountain ranges in the world meet here. Just imagine!!!
Oh, and the food is great, too.

One of my childhood dreams was to see Lhasa and Mount Everest. Another one was to see Nnga Parbat (killer mountain for many German mountaineers) and the Hunza valley (paradise for my favourite writer Dervla Murphy). So, as far as I can tell now, we took the right decision.

Well, folks, you'll probably hear more when we are in Nepal, in about 10 days.

T&R
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/tomandbecky/rtw_2007/1212092040/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/tomandbecky/rtw_2007/1212092040/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/tomandbecky/rtw_2007/1212092040/tpod.html Fri, 20 Jun 2008 07:22:32 -0400 RTW = Rebecca's and Thomas' World trip - the adventure of our lifetime, a trip around the world in more or less 10 months

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Gilgit, Pakistan

Thomas:

We spent a short time in Pakistan but it deserves a full entry here, not only the few lines we throw in the last time.
Entering overland from China means travelling the Karakorum highway, an adventure itself. Karakorum means 'crumbling rock' and the approx 700km of road from the border to the Chittar Plain north of Islamabad do not deserve the name highway. We felt a sudden change from the broad and brandnew part on the Chinese side to the Pakistani part of the Karakorum after the Khunjerab pass. The road was covered with dangerous potholes, some glaciars were pushing the moraines very, very close to the road and landslides were demanding the drivers skills. Crumbling Rock!
And what you can on and around the road! Famous for Pakistan, you meet 50y old Bedford trucks with coulourful decorations and soundmaking little chains on the front bumper. Public transport is a small minivan, a Hiace, crammed with people and heavy loads on the roof. But people are not limited to travel in trucks or vans or cars. They also travel in herds on the roof of buses, jeeps or minivans managing the potholes, landslides and sharp bends of the Karakorum somehow. We even saw some men sitting on the cow catcher of a Bedford truck. Jesus! Ah yes, I forgot to mention the lazy dogs, cows or goats that cleared reluctantly the road in villages. Around the Karakorum, the scenery is breathtaking. A car has not enough windows to see it all. Before we located ourselves at Karimabad, we stopped at Passu to see the narrow glaciar creeping into the valley and the longest suspension bridge in Hunza.

Arriving in Karimabad, the heart of the Hunza valley, we were put into the best place of the town. We had met our agent and guide on the border and as part of the package Karim had arranged our room here and it was fantastic. We were asked if we want to have a master bed and said of course. Wow, what a bed. Wider than long! And we had TV with English channels not showing Propaganda TV like in China.
We had a great time in Karimabad, before we started for a 1-day Rakaposhi (7788m) Base Camp (BC) Trek and four days to the Fairy Meadows which are whatered by the glaciars of Nanga Parbat (8126m).
We met nice people with a very open-minded mentality and great hospitality (see last entry). Whether for business or just out of friendliness you drink a cup of tea here. Of course, when we visited the tailor who made our shawar kameez (traditional cloth) we had to drink a cup of tea. Same with the carpet trader. We did not plan to buy a carpet, but now we a have great hand-woven carpet. It was just to beautiful and will be great in front of the TV. I could write so much more about Hunza, its famous Apricot and all kind of fruit trees, the blossoming potatoes, the almost ripe wheat fields and the live-giving irrigation system. In the background, you can always see the ice and snow-covered peaks of several 6000 or 7000m peaks, especially the impressive Rakaposhi. Well, we went there for the Trek, but Rebecca did not feel well at all (maybe some non-ripe fruits from Hunza or too much Hunza water (apricot schnaps the day before) and the weather was really bad. Our guide Mushafa called Rakaposhi a women covered in a burkha...

But let me finish this entry with the Nanga Parbat BC Trek. Rakaposhi was soso for us, but after Rebecca recovered one day in Gilgit, the main trading town on the Karakorum, we were much more lucky with Killer Mountain. Named like that after the many unsuccessful and often deadly attempts, made especially by Germans, we were blessed to survive in calm and sunny conditions.
The trek starts with a 1 hour long jeep ride along the Raikut Valley. The dirt road is carved in the mountain and often there is hardly a foot between the jeep and the abyss. We were used to some dangerous roads but we could not believe our guide that nobody died on this narrow road till now.
The trail started, of course, with a cup of tea at a teahouse. While walking the three hours up to Fairy Meadows, we always had a fine view on Nanga Parbat, only some clouds drifting every now and then around the peaks. Actually, we learned, that it was not the highest peak of the Nanga Parbat range what we saw all the time but two smaller peaks that block the view to the top. However, we saw the best panorama ever. From Fairy Meadows, which seems artificially green between all those snow and rocks, you see soooo many snowy peaks of the Karakorum, Hindukush and the Himalaya that you feel like being on the top of the world.
After a night in a cozy wooden cottage, just as you would a imagine a cottage in a 'Heidi film', we climbed to a 4500m high view point. Puh. Exhausting but rewarding. On the last full day we climbed to the Base camp, situated on an island between the Raikut and the Nanga Parbat glaciars. The contrast between the green of the meadows and the ice was even stronger here. We came down to Gilgit the next day and after a night there, we drove the last 400km along the Karakorum Highway.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/tomandbecky/rtw_2007/1211120640/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/tomandbecky/rtw_2007/1211120640/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/tomandbecky/rtw_2007/1211120640/tpod.html Mon, 26 May 2008 08:26:18 -0400 RTW = Rebecca's and Thomas' World trip - the adventure of our lifetime, a trip around the world in more or less 10 months

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Yushu, Qinghai, China

In the last 10 days we have been travelling with a great-great travelmate. This Australian guy, Alex, accompanied us on our way to another Tibetan adventure from Songpan, where we met on the horse trek, to Yushu, approaching the Tibetan (TAR) border from the north this time.
Well, not only the travel mate was great, we had a great time in a Tibetan region without regretting the hardships that came with our trip to Yushu.

From Chengdu, we went by train, our first hard-sleeper train, to Xining to take a sleeper-bus to Yushu from there. Instead of taking the most obvious route through the western Sichuan province to the southern Qinghai province, we had to take a train going almost to Xian in Gansu province before reaching the capital of Qinghai, Xining. 22 hours on the train in China! Well it was far better than we expected and not very different from a "DB Nachtzug" in Germany. A compartment had 6 bunks, 3 on each side, a table between and hot water from thermos. We were prepare with heaps of food (especially cup-noodles and some beer) and killed the time by playing cards, chatting or reading. Remarkable was once again the change in culture when you come from a Chinese city and ride the rails through the countryside. People were crossing the river (a big river) with heavy loads on footstep-stones or since it was harvest time they cut the wheat by hand and threshed the corn. Again, a few kms from a city you feel hundreds of years away.
Xining was only meant to be a stopover to Yushu, but we enjoyed the food and the atmosphere of the nightmarket so much that we wished we could have stayed longer. Just for more tasty kebaps, pilaw rice, fried potato slices or candied fruits. Hmm, and the muslim bakeries had such great cookies and cakes. It was the first bigger Chinese town (we had avoided them so I do not know many) I like somehow. The mix of Han Chinese, Hui (Muslim Han) Chinese and some Tibetan people together with the good food compensated for the architectural crimes committed in all the sprawling Chinese cities.

Our sleeper-bus to Yushu was almost as adventurous as our time in Yushu. For the frequent reader, you know the story about smells of middle-aged Chinese and smoking in sleeper buses. Tibetans are not better and as a matter of a fact they are famous for not washing frequently. Rebecca got a berth at a window to get some fresh air as a relief from the encircling smokers. During the night, when we crossed some 4500+m passes on, the advantage of having a window turned into big disadvantage: In the morning, a thick cover of ice nearly glued Rebecca to the window. What Alex discovered was even worse. He woke up from cold air coming through the window of a Tibetan left to him. He could'nt figure out what he was doing under his blanket in a strange and uncomfortable position but it dawned him after he heard the rustle of a plastic bag underneath the blanket and saw it flying through the window shortly afterwards. He was still not sure if it was true what he just had seen but he really had seen a guy shitting into a plastic bag right next to him.
Telling toilet stories, the hotel we found in Yushu, called Monastery hotel, was a mess. The monks seemed to be very religious and spent their time rather with praying and meditating than cleaning rooms or sanitary facilities. The room was still bearable if you don't mind dirty floor, fresh blankets that still have greasy spots and flies. But the toilets had not seen cleaning since the Tang dynasty. Additionally, the toilets were not far from our room so we still had the smell in our room. There are better mornings than taking a deep breath after waking up and quickly forget about breathing deeply due to the bad smell. So we changed hotels and from now on, we loved Yushu.

We made our way up to the hill where the monastery of Yushu looked over the city. After getting a pretaste by grasing yaks and white stupas leading the way to the main square of the monastery complex, we had the great luck to meet an English speaking Tibetan who wanted to train his English on us and took us for a tour through the monastery. So we got the full taste of this 500 monks monastery, taking a glimpse into the full main
temple where the Lama resided over his "Om mane padme om" praying monks. We would not have dared to come near to the praying monks without the encouraging words of our nice guide. After a visit to the (warm) kitchen with massive pots of rice and vegetables and donating a little money for good luck, our guide led us to the novice school of the monastery. Fantastic! The two teachers let us take group pictures with the little monks, the youngest counting 10years, and spend nearly an hour with us talking about our countries and their policies but especially about philosophy and religion.
Here in the monastery, we were asked the most curious and - for us - weird questions. Even before visiting the novice school, Alex was asked if it is right that Australia is a nomad's country and how many yaks they have there?!!! Everybody seemed to be very interested how many buddhists are in our countries and when people start to learn about buddhism. We learned also, that the number of monks is limited in the monastery by the Chinese and the reason we could visit Yushu at all in these times, that it was always well-controlled by the Chinese army. In fact, monastery and army barracks were not far from each other and every day you could see soldiers parading the streets of Yushu. After this fantastic experience standing in front of a buddhists class next to the blackboard and discussing with the teachers, we climbed further up the hill behind the monastery.
Rebecca, plagued by her cold caused by the frosty bus windows, capitulated after half an hour and walked back to take a nap in the new hostel, while Alex and me climbed the from one hill top to the next always saying: "Er, the next top is right over there, let's go!" So we made it finally to the snow line.

By the way, we were so glad to have a Alex with us for dinner, because he was studying Chinese on the trip and spoke enough to order some food. Still, he had some difficulties understanding the Tibetan-influenced Chinese. It's a pity, that Tibetan is not taught at school and the new generation of Tibetans will only learn their language at monasteries or in extra classes.
The next day, we set off to go to the 20km-away Princess Wencheng Temple by the monastery bus, driven by monks and having a the Dalai Lama picture on the windscreen. The damp, chilly temple had an ancient atmosphere (some of the rock-carved buddhas date back to the 9th century). The road leading to the temple and the surrounding hills and mountains were covered in countless prayer flags. We followed the kora, a way encircling all Tibetan temples or monasteries, and were stunned by the forest of prayer flags. Three giggling Chinese girls crossed our ways and we had to throw prayer papers, take pictures with them and throw prayer papers in the blue sky again. We went by foot to the next Tibetan monastery situated on a cliff. After admiring the huge rockcarved buddha we climbed the kora again and continued to a nearby sky burial site.
Some Tibetans still practice the sky burial, where the corpse is cut into pieces and even the brain is extracted and presented to the vultures. Well, quite pragmatic in a country where most of the year the ground is frozen and vultures circle for food.
As it was late afternoon we set off to the main street in the valley to catch a ride back to Yushu. We hoped to hitch one of the cars and right the first 4WD we tried stopped. To get to the streets we had to cross a long plain before where we felt so small.

Next day, we said for another adventure in the Tibetan landscape and culture, this time exploring the East of Yushu. After trying to walk along the main road we gave up and flagged a bus down and arrived at a mani, a Tibetan prayer wall. A mani is a big pile of stones, usually with prayers written onto the stones, but this one is the biggest in Tibet and has some of the oldest prayer stones in it. The whole prayer whole measured approx. 100m times 50m so we didn't find these old ones which must have been somewhere in the middle of the piled rocks. It was wonderful to see the old grannies turning their prayer-wheel in one hand and counting the perls on their prayer-necklace in the other hand circling the prayer wall. After Rebecca had enough of the cow that loved to lick her hand we tried to move on the the next monastery.
After long bargaining with a minivan driver we walked on along the main road, leaving the minivan driver with his astronomical prices. Soon, the minivan caught up with us and after a few times of the same procedure we got into the minivan for a sensible price.
The monastery seemed deserted when we walked the dirt road along little white stupas to the main square in front of the main hall. When we heard the "Om mane pad me om" from the inside of the temple we knew why. The ceremony hall was filled with red-robed monks on their benches and Tibetan buddhists sitting along the wall. After a encouraging nod of a monk we joined the ceremony. When the deep singing of the monks stopped the people along the wall started their praying melodies. It seemed that walking so many koras improved our luck that much that we came just right in time for this here. We almost spend an hour in the temple, before we left and walked our way back to the prayer wall. It was 2h walk and we crossed a village where children joined our walk with many "Hello" and "Tashi delek" and a lot of curiosity about our cameras and the pictures of them.
At the prayer wall we finally got a regular bus back to Yushu and another great day in the Tibetan part of the Qinghai region ended for us. This place was so much Tibet as we could have imagined if we had gone through the Tibetan Autonomous Region.
Though the place had his natural beauty and the Tibetans are so welcoming people, we could discover the oppression by the Chinese and the hardships they have to endure. Before I start to write more about this, I think this entry has to come to an end but I am sure we all share the same symphaty for Tibet.

Tashi delek
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